Okay, we are going to play a little game and someone is going to win a
prize. So, let’s get started.
I want everyone to raise their hand.
Okay, if you have red on I want you to lower your hand.
If you have on sandals I want you to lower your hand.
If you are a female, raise your hand . . . no, wait, that’s not
right. Let’s start over. Everyone raise your hands.
Okay, if you are over 70 years old lower your hand.
If you have blue on, raise your hand.
If you are male, lower your hand . . . no, wait, that’s not right
either. Let’s try this again. Everyone, raise your hands.
If you have blue eyes, lower your hand.
If you have pants on, lower your hand.
If you have a necklace on, raise your hand . . . no, that doesn’t seem
right either . . .
Okay, everybody can lower their hands.
How did that game make you feel?
A little frustrated? A little
anxious? Mad? Well, good, because that was the whole point
of this little game . . . to get you to feel.
To get you to feel what it is like when run into a situation in which
you don’t really know what is going on, the rules keep changing, and nothing is
getting accomplished. People experience
this all the time in their lives, especially those who are considered “border
people” . . . people who live on the fringes of society.
Our story this morning begins on the Sabbath . . . the holy day set aside
for rest . . . the day in which God’s children are to do nothing that would be
considered work or that would distract them from worshipping God. Jesus is teaching in one of the synagogues. There in the congregation is a woman who had
been crippled for 18 years. Jesus calls
her forward, blesses her, lays his hands upon her, and heals her. A pretty exciting moment in church calling
for celebration and joy, wouldn’t you say?
But, no . . . this only upset the leader of the synagogue who preached
out to the congregation against Jesus.
Basically he told the congregation that Jesus was breaking the Sabbath .
. . sinning against God . . . and, be a general nuisance. If Jesus wants to heal people let him do it
on any of the other six days of the week, but the Sabbath is not for healing!
Well, a line had been drawn in the sand.
Jesus rose up to the occasion and crossed the line. He reprimanded the leader of the synagogue .
. . called him a hypocrite. He pointed
out to the leader that none of them sitting or standing there in the synagogue
were innocent . . . all were guilty of breaking the commandment dealing with
the Sabbath . . . that all have and would take the time to tend their animals
on the Sabbath if they were thirsty. So,
why shouldn’t this crippled woman . . . a child of God . . . valued more than
any animal . . . be healed?
Of course what Jesus is doing is pointing out the inconsistency . . .
the incongruency between what the people say and what they do. And, the congregation listened . . . pondered
his words, and the writer tells us that they were delighted with what Jesus was
saying and doing.
This story invites us to ponder . . . to ponder the ways in which our
own understandings, rules, customs, and habits of what is right and proper
hinder the work and will of God. It
invites us to ponder how our version of the “Good News” really becomes the “Bad
News” for those who are not a part of the circle of faith as we see it . . .
those who are on the outside looking in . . . those who are on the
borders. It invites us to ponder whether
or not we might be the hypocrites.
In most of the communities where I have served as a pastor, the churches
and service agencies teamed up to create a system to help those who were in
need within the community and traveling through the community. In particular, because they were always being
taken advantage of, these communities created a system to safeguard
themselves. Usually the person needing
assistance would contact a church. The
church would then inform them that they needed to contact the local police and
get a “green card”. The police would
take down their information, run a quick background check, and then issue the
card. The individual then could take the
green card to the local Salvation Army, where again, they were asked for
information . . . gave up their green card, and received their assistance . . .
and, it was explained, that they could only receive such assistance about six
times a year—and, they would be keeping track.
Have any of us ever experienced being hungry and having to ask for
food? It is not a pleasant
experience. Have any of us ever been
homeless and needed shelter? It is not a
pleasant experience. I think that you
know what I mean, and you may have experienced for yourself already. I have heard stories from more than a few of
you about the hoops that you have to jump through, the run-arounds you endure,
the confusion, the anger, and frustration of having to deal with insurance
companies, retirement plans when you need help for medical issues. You keep running up against those who rail at
you about the Sabbath and keeping it holy.
The very things that are meant to help are a greater sin than just doing
what needs to be done to help.
All of our understandings, rules, customs, and habits have become chains
that bind more than they are to help.
Our systems of assistance and help have become more cumbersome and
burdensome than they are to help. And,
why? God calls us through Jesus to help
those less fortunate than ourselves . . . calls us to feed the hungry . .
.clothe the naked . . . shelter the homeless . . . heal the wounded . . .
comfort the bereaved . . . to include those on the borders of society . . . to
bring all into God’s family. So, why is
it so hard to do this? Because . . .
. . . because that is just the way that things are done . . . the way
that things have always been done. It is
the Sabbath . . . damn us if we are to actually do God’s will and help someone on
the Sabbath! It wouldn’t be right.
Or, would it?
The bottom line is simple in this story . . . heal the woman. That is the work and will of God, and Jesus
recognizes it. He breaks the Sabbath to
allow the woman to walk. Jesus went for
the greater good, and so should we when it comes to doing God’s will through
Jesus. We should let go of control and
allow God to have control. We should
consider the ways in which our own understandings, rules, customs, and habits
of what is right and proper have hindered the will of God. We should ponder them and break those bonds
so that we might ourselves fulfill the will of God . . . that we might become
proclaimers of the Good News of release, recovery, and freedom for all of God’s
children. Amen.
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