Sunday, August 22, 2010

Time after Pentecost, Lectionary 21
Isaiah 58:9b-14
Psalm 103:1-8
Hebrews 12:18-29
Luke 13:10-17

…then shall thy light rise in darkness, and thine obscurity be as the noonday…

From the June/July issue of Reader’s Digest Magazine: “Lending a hand after hours may make your day job more enjoyable. Researchers from the University of Konstanz in Germany studied more than 100 people who worked five days a week and also volunteered for about seven hours weekly. What they found: Work felt less burdensome the day after a volunteer stint—even if the unpaid duties, like fire and rescue work, weren’t exactly relaxing. The study suggests that if you really want to shed job stress, vegging out may not be the best way to do it, says lead author Eva J. Mojza, PhD. Challenging extracurricular activities will yank your attention away from the demands of your career and send you back to work with the satisfaction of a job well done.”

If you type “benefits of community service” into your search engine, you’ll find hundreds of websites and articles describing the health benefits of serving others. A document from the Corporation for National and Community Service notes that volunteering can have a positive effect on physical and mental health because the volunteer experiences a sense of accomplishment and self-worth. We find a sense of purpose in our work, including that work we do without pay. Volunteers are generally more satisfied with their lives, and because they are content they have fewer factors that lead to stress related disease. The volunteer also benefits in mental and emotional health. Volunteers experience stronger relationships, better social skills and general happiness. Some studies even suggest that volunteers live longer lives.

I found it interesting that the studies generally show greater benefits for the older people who volunteer than those in younger generations. I suppose part of that has to do with the fact that youth are usually healthier than the elderly. However, one study suggested that much of the volunteer work done by youth is mandatory for school and extracurricular activities. My own children have been required to do work for school. They don’t always want to even get out of bed, and they often have no choice about the work they have to do, so it is understandable that they might not benefit as much from their volunteering. Yet, I’ve seen in their lives the same sense of accomplishment and joy when they have done volunteer work they enjoy.

I know that I’ve felt healthier and happier in the months since I started volunteering at Morgan’s Wonderland, an ultra-accessible theme park designed for those with special needs. I have to laugh because I serve as a doorman, opening the door for the guests as they arrive. I have other tasks, but the most important thing I do is make every person who comes to our door feel welcome. A monkey could do my job, so my job satisfaction has nothing to do with accomplishing something great. It has everything to do with ensuring that each and every person receives the love and care they need.

A few months ago I greeted a man who came to the park to volunteer. He was a very accomplished man, having been a teacher and school principal. He was highly educated and very intelligent. He came with a resume, ready to choose a volunteer task that would use his talents and experience in great ways. He said to me, the doorman, “I know every job is important, but I don’t want to do any menial tasks. I have too much to offer.” He filled out an application and I passed it on, though I’m not sure whatever happened to him, but I was under the impression that if he had to serve like the rest of us (being happy with whichever task we are given) he wasn’t interested. My first impression of this man was not good: he was demanding and seemed angry that the park would not meet his needs while he was so graciously giving his time and talents. I’m not sure volunteering would have the same benefits for that man as it has for those who joyfully arrive each day to smile at the guests and play with them in the park.

Isaiah tells us that if we do right to our neighbor “then shall thy light rise in darkness, and thine obscurity be as the noonday.” He tells us that if we do what is right, then God will be with us and will care for us. He writes, “Jehovah will guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in dry places, and make strong thy bones; and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not.” Do you see a parallel? Strong bones and watered gardens are healthy. Doing good is good for us.

Isaiah goes on to talk about keeping the Sabbath. Now he has taken the list of right living to a religious level. Not only are we, the faithful, to do what is right to our neighbor, but we are to give honor and glory to God. It is well and good for us to volunteer, to feed the hungry and to ensure freedom for the burdened, but Isaiah reminds us that there is more to living a righteous life. God is to be the center of it all, including the good works that we do. Instead of demanding to have great and important tasks to complete, we are called to pursue God’s purpose, to delight in God’s grace. We might benefit from doing volunteer work, but we’ll be truly blessed when we live according to God’s ways. Those blessings do not come from the good works, but from the faith of the one pursuing God’s purpose.

I don’t think the synagogue leader would argue about doing a good thing for God’s people; he probably would not have mentioned it if Jesus had healed on a Monday. However, the leaders were concerned about the power and authority Jesus manifested and they had to find a way to discredit Him. The Sabbath rest was important to God’s people, so important that it had (and for some still has) a long list of regulations.

The religious leaders, in trying to establish an answer to the question, “What is work?” came up with a list of thirty nine actions that are the basis of all work. The thirty nine melachot are the most basic actions of which all work is made. The first thirteen are involved in the baking of bread – planting wheat, plowing the field, reaping grown wheat stalks, binding sheaves of wheat, threshing, winnowing, sifting kernels, grinding, sifting flour, kneading dough and baking. The next eleven are used for making clothing – shearing, bleaching, combing and dyeing wool; spinning and weaving thread/yarn, making two loops (as an anchor on which to base material); sewing two threads together, separating two threads, tying a knot, loosening a knot, sewing two stitches (to attach sections of material) and tearing (other threads and material) in order to sew two stitches. The next seven are part of hunting and leatherworking – trapping deer, slaughtering it; flaying, salting, curing, scraping and cutting its hides. The final eight encompass all other types of labor – writing two letters, erasing (old text) in order to write two letters, building, demolishing, extinguishing a flame, igniting a flame, striking the final blow (finishing a project) and carrying (an object) from one domain to another.

I’m not sure how curing the sick falls into this list of prohibited work, but the rabbis in Jesus’ day had established that healing was work and could not be done on the Sabbath unless it was a matter of life and death. Of course, the healing was normally done by the rabbis and priests, so it may have been a way for them to ensure a day from their work. Whatever the reason, the law meant Jesus should not have done that kindness for the woman wracked with pain. Jesus answers the complaint, “And ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan had bound, lo, these eighteen years, to have been loosed from this bond on the day of the Sabbath?”

Now, the leader might have argued, “She’s been ill for so long, couldn’t she wait one more day for healing?” I know that I don’t mind putting off something for another day, especially when it isn’t an emergency, but Jesus saw it from another point of view. He saw her suffering and didn’t want her to suffer for even another minute.

How often do we put off until tomorrow what we know we should do today? We think, “I’ll volunteer tomorrow when I have more time.” Or, “I’ll donate to the food bank when I have a few more dollars in my bank account.” Or, “I’ll fight for my neighbor’s freedom when I’m not so afraid.” We find a million different reasons to wait, but each one is no more than an excuse to put off doing what it right. Jesus knew that God would be glorified by His good work more than God would have been glorified by ignoring the woman’s need. She received healing and praised God; God was glorified by Jesus’ kindness and by the woman’s song of thanksgiving.

In the Gospel lesson Jesus calls the religious leader a hypocrite because he insists on obeying the law but will have mercy when his own interests are at stake. There is a tension in our relationship with God. He demands so much from His people, as we can see in the laws listed in the scriptures. Even worse are the demands of Jesus, of perfection, holiness, and sinlessness. Throughout the scriptures, like in today’s Old Testament lesson, we see the benefits of obedience. It seems as though we are blessed because we obey. Yet, blessedness is not the result of obedience but of faith. God’s people have had faith (trusted in God) and yet failed over and over again to be faithful. Stories like that of Abraham and Sarah show us that God’s grace comes not to those who are good enough or worthy enough or holy enough, but to those who believe. Righteousness is not the product of rightful living but of a right relationship with God, knowing that human flesh is sinful and God is merciful.

Tension has always existed between God and His people. In the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve went their own way and ate the fruit of the tree based on the word of the serpent, rejecting the Word of God. Cain killed Abel because he was jealous of Abel’s relationship with God. Even those who had faith—like Abraham, Moses, Rahab, Gideo, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel and the prophets—failed to be faithful. They doubted God, they doubted His grace, and they doubted His plan. They were afraid, uncertain and worried. They went their own way, though by God’s grace they were brought back into a relationship with Him.

In today’s passage from Hebrews we are reminded of the way the people reacted to God’s presence on Mt. Sinai. In Exodus chapter 19, we hear that God came like a dark cloud, with lightning and thunder and a great trumpet blast. The mountain was engulfed in fire. Everyone in the camp trembled in fear. The writer of Hebrews tells us that they could not bear to even listen to the Word of God because they were afraid. It was much the same for the people in Jesus’ day. They trembled, but not at the foot of the mountain. They trembled at the foot of the Law. Out of fear that they would do something against God, they listened to the council of the leaders who burdened them with these long lists of laws and taught that God’s grace depended on their obedience. They did not trust in God’s grace. That’s where the tension always begins.

The writer of Hebrews gives us two visions of life under the rule of God. In the first there is fear. The people stand at the base of Mount Sinai, receiving the Law as given to Moses. That mountain was fearsome—not even an animal could set foot on it. Anyone who touched it would be stoned. The people were so frightened by the sound of God’s voice that they begged Moses to be an intercessor. Even Moses was terrified and trembling with fear.

In Christ we have something much different; in faith we know that the Sabbath is not a list of rules but a time to focus on God. We are blessed when we worship as our needs are satisfied: our bones are made strong and our gardens watered. In the Sabbath we see the mercy of God, His forgiveness, His healing, His grace. We will delight in Him and He will lift us to the heights of the earth. He will bring us closer to Him. He will build on the relationship that He has brought by His grace. He will ease the tension because we’ll see that the Sabbath is gift.

Our Psalm for today is a song of praise and thanksgiving to God for His grace. The psalmist recognizes the need to let his light shine in the world. We shine our light in songs of thanksgiving but also in acts of mercy. We know we will be blessed when we do the good things God calls us to do, but we are reminded that God’s blessings are not earned. God does not save us because we have done good works. It is because we are saved that we share the grace of God with others.

I don’t think that man at Morgan’s Wonderland would have experienced the real benefits of volunteer work. He wasn’t there to help others but so that others would see his greatness. As far as I could see, he had no real concern for the people who visit our park or for the other volunteers. He said he wanted to do good works, but the reality seemed to be exactly the opposite: he wanted good to be done to him. For the man, each visit to the park would have been a burden because he was doing the work for all the wrong reasons.

The leader of the synagogue had fallen into the same trap. He was doing good works by keeping the Sabbath, but he was doing it for all the wrong reasons. He refused to heal because of the law, but he forgot that God’s mercy is not confined to our times and days. He rejected Jesus’ power because he was concerned about his own power. We might have to do some good works because they are required or because there’s no one else to do them, but let us always approach everything we do with the knowledge that God has promised that we will be blessed by every morsel of food we share and every chain we break for another. In this way we not only remind ourselves of God’s grace, but we shine it to the world.