God's Sabbath
This is the sermon I preached on 8/21 at St. Timothy and St. Mark Lutheran churches. The text is Luke 13:10-17.
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Some people are noticed wherever they go. You
can’t miss them. But then, some of us are barely seen because of our stature or
lack thereof. When you’re short, it is hard to get noticed in a crowd of much
taller people. I will never forget a conversation that I had with one of the
clerks at Microtel in Olean when I came for my interview with the church
council of my first call. The clerk asked the Council president how he would
recognize me. The president's response
was, “She’s very short!”
In today’s gospel, Jesus was not teaching in the
temple in Jerusalem, rather he was in a small town synagogue. The bent-over
woman was likely well known in her village and people were so used to her that
they no longer paid any attention to her and her ailment. After 18 years of
being this way, she was invisible to other villagers.
But Jesus saw her, not because she arrived
after he had started teaching. Jesus was not giving her the evil eye. because
her arrival was disruptive to his teaching. Jesus saw who she was and what
her need was. From the outset, Jesus took the initiative.
Once again, Jesus is doing what he does best. He
is turning the world upside down. He is loving and healing those whom many
consider marginal at best, which is what the coming of the reign of God is all
about.
In other gospel stories the sick call out to
Jesus or seek him out. From what Luke tells us, this woman came for no other
reason but to worship on the sabbath. She was not out to make a spectacle of
herself or to draw attention to herself in any way. The bent over woman was
simply a worshipper with a need, so Jesus healed her.
After Jesus touched the woman, she stood up
straight. The Greek word anortho means to stand up. It is also
used for the rebuilding and restoring of a fallen structure. By healing the
woman, Jesus lifted her up and restored her to her rightful place as a daughter
of Abraham. She was reestablished in her community. She was freed from the
painful grip of the devil. When Jesus heals, he heals the whole person, which
involves far more than just physical restoration.
Because Jesus healed the woman on the sabbath, he
stirred up all kinds of trouble. The sabbath was meant to be a day of rest and
worship. Observing the sabbath had become an important way of nourishing and
maintaining Jewish identity. The issue was not that Jesus healed, but when
he healed.
The role of the leader of the synagogue was to
make sure that everything happened in good order. He was to maintain the
reading and faithful teaching of the law. The leader ensured that those on his
watch behaved properly.
Because healing was seen as work, it would have
been prohibited. From Jesus’ perspective, the sabbath rules, which were
supposed to refresh and renew the soul, were not doing what God had intended
for them to do.
Can we imagine how much work it must have been
for the bent over woman to get up and get dressed and walk to the synagogue?
Can we imagine how difficult each step must have been?
The synagogue leader could not see what
God wanted to accomplish. He couched his objections in the language of “ought.”
Since he was the synagogue leader, he knew the divine will of God. He did not
address Jesus directly, but rather scolded him by addressing the crowd,
assuming they would agree with him. The woman’s condition was not
life-threatening. She had survived like this for 18 years. What difference
would a day make?
But Jesus the Lord had his own divine ought
which motivated him to demonstrate the triumph of mercy over
rules. The synagogue leader was quoting
from Deuteronomy that one should not work on the sabbath. However, the custom
had become that one could untie an animal so it could drink.
So Jesus’ argument was:
If an animal
can be untied, how much more a daughter of Abraham, who has been
bound by Satan for 18 years?
If you can
loose the bonds of an animal on the sabbath as well as the rest
of the week, how much more necessary is it for God to free this woman on
the sabbath?
Jesus was
pointing out that what would be done for an animal would not be allowed for a tormented
human being!
That’s why
Jesus referred to the synagogue ruler and his ilk as hypocrites. Their
interpretation of scripture and God’s law totally missed the divine purpose and
spirit of bringing deliverance and setting the captives free.
Once again, lines are drawn and Jesus brings
division. There were two distinct reactions to Jesus’ argument. Jesus’
opponents were shamed while the crowd rejoiced and praised God for his
wonderful works.
The lesson that God is teaching us today is that
when we are hurting, God sees us too. Jesus lifts us up, makes us whole in the
waters of baptism and restores us to the beauty of being temples of the Holy
Spirit.
We are nourished by Jesus’ body and blood at the
Eucharist. We are nourished by God’s Word and we are nourished by our
fellowship together as God’s people.
As children of God who have been redeemed and
made new by Christ how do we see those around us? Do we see the
homeless, the foreigner, the hungry and the forgotten as Jesus saw the bent
over woman or do we simply ignore them like the villagers?
God did not do all the incredible things he has
done for us because we were such wonderful people. When we were dirty, sinful,
and outside of the kingdom of God, God rescued and restored us.
In the tension between the rules and human need,
between human and divine oughts, Jesus brought God’s dominion into the
present reality of a suffering woman. As we leave this place, will we bring
God’s reign into the present reality of those with whom we come in contact or
will we simply walk past them?
Amen.
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