Luke 14:1;7-14

This passage occurs in the Revised Common Lectionary, Year C, most recently on August 28, 2025.

Summary:
At first glance, this passage seems practical moral advice with a heavenly reward. Jesus' use of δοξα (doxa) and δοξη (doxe) suggest something deeper is going on. δοξη is a fairly uncommon word meaning "banquet." In fact, in the OT, the people who throw such banquets are normally Persian kings! Also unusual is the word δοξα, or glory. Although it is a fairly common word, here it is translated unusually as "honor." This is possible, but really stretches it. The word is not really a word one would associate with mortals. In fact, the last time we heard the word in Luke's Gospel was when the angels announced Jesus birth. These two words, in other words, are fairly out of place for a typical meal. Which suggests that what is at the stake (and not steak) is hardly a common meal, but the feast of the humbled yet exalted one! He is the one to whom glory will be given.

Key Words:
δοξα (14.10; "honor"): Normally we think of δοξα as glory (Think OT and the "glory of the Lord"). Here, however, it is translated as honor...well, maybe. Luke only uses this word three other times. When Jesus is born and the angels sing (2.9 and 14) and when the people cry out during Jesus' entry in to Jerusalem. The context permits translating δοξα as "esteemed." However, it has such divine implications that it points us back to Christ, to the one to whom glory is given.

δοξη (14.13; "meal"): This word is very rare in the New Testament; only used twice. The other time it is in Luke when Levi, the tax-collector, invites Jesus to his house. When this word is used in the OT, it normally refers to banquets put on by Persian kings. In other words, this is a big, rich party that few can actually host.

If you put these words together, you get a very surprising twist at the end of the story:  Who is invited to this feast of glory?  Jesus commends us to invite those on the outside.  Jesus here is introducing table fellowship to the unthinkable.

δικαίων (form of δίκαιος, 14.14)  It is a humbling reminder that even in the Gospel of Luke, there is a limit to inclusion, a limit to salvation.  The resurrection if for the righteous.  Which leads to the question -- who is righteous and how are they made righteous?  Here you might find a way to a broad and expansive tent, but heaven isn't for sinners as they are, but sinners made righteous by Christ.  The gate does narrow (see 13.24).

Other words worth pondering:
ταπεινοω (14.11; "humble"): This word is often paired with exalts (υψοω).  In Philippians 2 and Hebrews 12, we are reminded that Jesus humbles himself that he might be exalted.

μακαριος (14.14; "blessed"): This is the word Luke (and Matthew) use for the beatitudes, "Blessed are..."

καλεω (14.7; used 7 times in this passage!; "invite") This word is used virtually very sentence. It means invite and call.  If we think about this parable as a reference to God, then we get a new name for God in vs 10:  The one who has invited or called you.  God as one who calls!  (I still remember one of my first chapel services at Luther Seminary, during orientation week.  A Greek/NT professor preached on this text and focused on this word!)

αισχυνη (14.9; "disgrace" or "shame"): One would expect to find this word quite frequently in the NT, especially given the 'fuss' about honor/shame societies (see my post for the previous week's lectionary Gospel!). While this word appears quite frequently in the OT, it is rather rare in the NT. This might be an avenue for more reflection. Is Jesus neglecting this dynamic in his society?  Is it so much a part of the world that the writers do not need to mention it?  In this case, Jesus seems to be appealing to people's sense of honor and shame, telling them that seeking honor is itself shameful.

Aside: One of the places "shame" (αισχυνη) is used in the NT is Philippians 3:19 -- "their glory is their shame." Classic line.

Sentence deconstructed:
και εγενετο εν τη ελθειν αυτον εις οικον τινος των αρχοντων των φαρισαων σαββατω φαγειν αρτον και αυτοι ησαν παρατηρουμενοι αυτον

14.1 On one occasion when Jesus was going to the house of a leader of the Pharisees to eat a meal on the Sabbath, they were watching him closely.

και εγενετο : This is a typical way to begin a sentence. It simply means: "And it happened." It is unnecessary.

εν τη ελθειν αυτον : Technically this is an "articular infinitive with preposition." This means a couple of things. It combines a preposition (in) with an article (the) with an infinitive (coming). Literally: "In the coming." You have to translate the preposition as an adverb: "While he comes..." The problem with an infinitive is that it is, well, infinite. This means it is un-conjugated. You don't know who is doing the action. So, to indicate this, they stick the subject of an infinitive clause in the accusative. In this case, auton, or he.

εις οικον τινος των αρχοντων των φαρισαων: "into the house" is fairly straight forward. The rest is a genitive where we just put in a lot of "ofs": 'of one of the leaders of the pharisees.'  Worth contemplating that the Pharisees had leaders.  Those seeking holiness found a way to hierarchy very quickly...

σαββατω : The sabbath here is in the dative; here this is a dative revealing when something happens, ie, "on the sabbath." So you can combine this with the earlier infinitive (we are still in the infinitive phrase here): "When Jesus went on the sabbath into the house of one...pharisees...

φαγειν αρτον: Here we have another infinitive, which completes the other verb, "went" as in, "he went to eat." Oddly enough, the object of this infinitive phrase is also in the accusative, "arton" or bread. In an infinitive phrase, both subject and object can be in the accusative!

και αυτοι ησαν παρατηρουμενοι αυτον: Let's take care of the "autoi"s here. The first is plural, they; the second is mas. sing, him. 95% of "auto"s are not going to be translated as "self" or "very" but are simply pronouns.

ησαν παρατηρουμενοι: A really complex way of making a verb in the imperfect -- put an imperfect for of "to be" with a perfect tense participle. Used quite frequently with middle/passive verbs. But simple to translated: "were watching."

Luke 13:10-17

This passage occurs in the RCL year C, most recently August 24, 2025.

Summary:  I do not think our culture needs to hear words encouraging us to ignore the Sabbath.  Clearly we are in the entirely opposite place than the Jewish world of 2,000 years ago.  What is the consequence?  We are bound by our exhaustion, our stress and our love of our works.  Jesus comes to free this woman from Satan's chains and evil spirits.  I argue that if Jesus were around today, he would seek to free us from the chains that our lack of Sabbath structure imposes on us.

2025 add-on: A reflection on honor/shame

Note for 2028:  I ended up, in 2025, preaching on being seen

Key words on healing
λυω (luo, "free"; 13.15;13:16): "...untie his ox; should not this woman...be set free."  This word appears in two consecutive verses, however, we likely miss this.  First because the English translators translate the word differently in verses 15 and 16.  Second, it appears in a slightly more difficult form as λυθηναι in 13:16.  The verb, which many of us know from all sorts of conjugation charts, means "to loose, to set free." Jesus makes a play on words here: You set free your animals; I set people free. 

This passage puts this illness in terms of binding and releasing in two other places.  We are told in verse 12 that Jesus απολελυθαι the woman.  This word, essentially a linguistic sibling to λυω means "release."  Jesus even says that the woman was in δεσμος (chains, 13:16; also used as verb in this sentence).

ανωρθωθι (from ανορθοω, "straighten", 13.13): "...she stood up straight"  This verb comes from the prefix/preposition "ana" which means upright or again and the adjective "ortho" meaning straight. It simply means straighten up or restore. It is not an especially common word in the Bible, but it recalls the words from the book of Psalms: "The LORD opens the eyes of the blind. The LORD lifts up those who are bowed down (146:8)." [Technical note:  The Psalm translation is in a slightly different order.]

ασθενειας  ("weakness," 13.11)  This word does not necessarily mean crippled or hunched over.  It simply means "frailty, weakness, want of strength."  The ambiguity around her illness creates a potential for connection with this woman.  It could be physical, it could be emotional, it could be spiritual, it could be communal.  It is unclear if the spirit was causing her infirmity; or she simply has a spirit that could be described as frail.  In the end, she will have multiple layers of healing

• Physical:  She stands up
• Spiritual:  She glorifies God
• Communal:  She is called by name, by Jesus, in front of everyone (Child of Abraham) and restored to a place of honor.

παντελες (13.11): "could not straighten up at all..." The word builds "pan", meaning "all" and "teles" meaning complete together for a 1-2 punch, like a baseball announcer shouting "it could...go...all...the...way."  The woman was bound up over herself so she did not have the power to stand up into her full measure.

Honor/Shame

καταισχύνω ("be put to shame", 13.17)  Increasingly, I have tried to pay attention to words around shame and honor.  First, this is a matter of understanding the biblical world, which was likely more of an honor-shame society than ours today.  Shame, as opposed to guilt, is not necessarily the internal feeling of remorse, but the social embarrassment at reducing the social rank of one's family or clan.  What mattered was not so much that your sin was forgiven, but that your social standing was restored.  You can see how in many situations, Jesus' work of forgiveness and healing were intended to retore the person to community and in fact, a good status within that community, not simply to address the individual's failures or limitations.

Second, this has incredibly powerful missiological implications.  (A good summary of the differences between honor-shame and guilt-innocence cultures can be found here -- the book this website references is a great read!)  In the last 300+ years, as Western cultures have grown increasingly individualistic, we have tended to have more of a guilt-innocence paradigm for understanding life and therefore Scripture.  This has meant that our understanding of atonement and salvation tends to be understood in terms of guilt and innocence.  This category of thinking is unlikely an effective way to formulate and communicate the Gospel to shame-honor cultures.  This may help explain the ineffectiveness of the Christian missionary efforts in Asian, Middle eastern and African cultures where honor-shame dynamics are more important than guilt-innocence.  There has been an incredibly renewed interest among missionary movements to attend to the honor-shame (and power-fear) dynamics at work in the cultures where they work but also the Gospel narrative itself!

Third, I wonder if our culture may actually becoming more honor-shame as we worry less about abstract rules for moral conduct.  We spend more time signaling our virtue to others rather than worrying about our own righteousness before God.  But I also wonder if we are living a new world that is based on honor-shame but it is individualistic rather than communal.

Fourth -- least importantly -- there is some sense that "καταισχύνω" means disappoint.  

• Hope does not put us to shame(καταισχύνω), because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. (Romans 5:5)

In this light, it is interesting to think that Jesus disappointed the leaders of the synagogue!

However, I think the better interpretation, within an honor-shame dynamic is to see that Jesus gives her honor and reduces their social rank by upstaging them.

Other words

διδασκων (didaskoon, participle meaning "teaching", 13:10)  A reminder that Jesus is teaching on the sabbath.  He continues teaching until the end.  Perhaps a reminder that good teaching isn't just about content, but about transformation!  (Also this is the last time Jesus is in a synagogue!)

χειρας ("hands", 13:13)  Jesus touches her!  A reminder that the word is embodied and incarnate.  He speaks, but he also touches.

αγανακτων (aganakton, meaning "indignant", 13.14): "Indignant because Jesus..." The word here has its root in "agony." The people watching are in agony over Jesus performing a healing!  How easy it is to get upset about mercy!

εθεραπεθσεν (from θεραπευω, "therapy", meaning "heal", 13.14): "healed" The word began in Greek by meaning service to the Gods; almost like worship! It became to mean, it seems, service that the Gods could render, namely, healing.

υποκριται (hypocrites, 13.15):  This word came right into English!  (The rough breathing mark over the υ means it is sounded hy.)  The word literally means "down judge-er/answer-er." It comes from theater, where the person has to speak to the people from a different height than the others. It came then to mean someone who pretends.

I might also add something about δει...

Total breakdown of 13:11
και ιδου γυνη πνευμα εχουσα ασθενειας ετη δεκαοκτω και ην συγκυπτουσα και μη δυναμενη ανακυψαι εις το παντελες

NRSV Luke 13:11 And just then there appeared a woman with a spirit that had crippled her for eighteen years. She was bent over and was quite unable to stand up straight.

The sentence begins with "και ", typical for a Greek sentence and essentially translatable by either "and" or a "period."  It can also mean but, even, more, also, etc...

The next word is "ιδου " This word, like the Hebrew hennah means "pay attention!" It does not describe what happens in the narrative, but it is a direction for the reader.

"γυνη πνευμα εχουσα ασθενειας" Before we parse this, let's just stick in the word-for-word translations: "woman spirit having weakness." The specific cases (accusative verses genitive) help here, but one can probably deduce this reads: "a woman having a spirit of weakness." For modern readers we'd like to take out the word "having a spirit" and replace it with "illness" but this limits the connection we will make later when Jesus says that Satan had this woman bound.

The participle "εχουσα" looks like an aorist because it has an "s" toward the end, but this is a feminine marker! Sigh! How does one translate this participle? Because there is neither a "the" (definitive article) nor a helping verb anywhere near by, you can assume it is a circumstantial. If we then use the formula "A woman, under the circumstance of having, an ill spirit" we see we can toss out the formula and just roll with it, "A woman having a ill spirit."

"ετη δεκαοκτω" 18 years.

και ην συγκυπτουσα ; Here we come to a supplementary participle. You will come to love these because your brain in English already thinks this way.  If you see a form of a "to-be" verb (ie, ην) next to a participle, you can read it like in English -- just stick in the basic translation of the words -- "The woman was bent over." This is the very complex way in Greek of forming the imperfect tense!

και μη δυναμενη ανακυψαι: This is a train wreck by Luke! He basically continues to leave the helping verb, here δυναμενη (to be able) as a participle. This means he must use "μη " for a negative instead of "ou" (all non indicative no-s should be μη and not ou). He then connects it with an aorist infinitive. Ouch.  At the end of the day: "was not able to stand up"

εις το παντελες: This use of εις here basically makes the adjective, παντελες, an adverb because it now describes the action of standing up straight.  The way Luke writes this little tidbit here though leaves a very poetic end to the sentence:  "She was not able to stand up into completeness."  Her not standing up had an impact in her life beyond simply being hunched over.