14:1 And {1} it came to pass, as he went into the house of {a} one of the chief Pharisees to eat bread on the sabbath day, that they watched him.
(1) The law of the very sabbath ought not to hinder the offices of charity.
(a) Either one of the elders, whom they called the sanhedrin, or one of the chiefs of the synagogue: for all the Pharisees were not chief men of the synagogue Joh 7:48; for this word Pharisee was the name of a sect, though it appears by viewing the whole history of the matter that the Pharisees had much authority.
14:1 Teaching in Parables
SUMMARY OF LUKE 14:
Healing on the Sabbath. The Chief Seats at a Wedding Feast. The Rule for Inviting Guests. The Parable of the Great Supper and the Excuses. Bearing the Cross Essential to Discipleship. Counting the Cost.
One of the chief Pharisees to eat bread on the sabbath. In despite of the rigid ideas of the Pharisees concerning work on the Sabbath, it was made a day of feasting. Meet the Sabbath with a lively hunger; let thy table be covered with fish, flesh, and generous wine is a rabbinical precept.
They watched him. Though pretending hospitality, on the watch for grounds of accusation.
14:1-6 This Pharisee, as well as others, seems to have had an ill design in entertaining Jesus at his house. But our Lord would not be hindered from healing a man, though he knew a clamour would be raised at his doing it on the sabbath. It requires care to understand the proper connexion between piety and charity in observing the sabbath, and the distinction between works of real necessity and habits of self-indulgence. Wisdom from above, teaches patient perseverance in well-doing.
