Jesus Heals on the Sabbath
12th-13th century
Mosaic
Cathedral of the Assumption, Monreale, Sicily
In Luke 14:1-6, on a Sabbath day Jesus visits the home of a Pharisee, where there is a man suffering from dropsy, a condition in which the joints and body cavities swell up with fluid. Jesus heals him and discourses on the question of whether it is lawful to do so on the Sabbath.
In the image, the sick man has the swollen belly characteristic of dropsy, and his left knee seems a bit more swollen than one might expect in a healthy person. Jesus blesses him with his right hand while his left grasps his wrist. Three disciples stand behind him; behind the sick man the Pharisee points disapprovingly.
The inscription above reads IESUS IN DOMO CUIUSDAM PRINCIPIS PHA[R]ISE[ORUM] SANAT YDROPICUM DIE SABATI, "Jesus in the home of a certain chief of the Pharisees heals a man with dropsy on the Sabbath."
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Read more about the cure of the man with dropsy.
Photographed at the cathedral by Richard Stracke, shared under Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike license.