Time after Pentecost, Lectionary 21
Isaiah 58:9b-14
Psalm 103:1-8
Hebrews 12:18-29
Luke 13:10-17
Jehovah is merciful and gracious, Slow to anger, and abundant in lovingkindness.
There is a tension in the relationship that God has always had with His people. He demands so much from His people, yet blessedness is not the result of obedience but of faith. Throughout the ages God’s people 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.
There seems to be a contradiction between the Old Testament lesson and the Gospel. In the passage from Isaiah, the blessedness is dependent on the people’s response to God’s offer, “If you do this, then this shall happen.” In verse 13, they hear that if they honor the Sabbath and refrain from pursuing their own interests on that day, then they will delight in the Lord and He will raise them up before the nations. They will know the promises that God gave to their forefathers and dwell in them.
Yet, in the Gospel lesson we see Jesus trampling on the Sabbath. He does work; at least He does something that is considered as work by the religious leaders. He heals a woman who has been infirm for eighteen years. There was no reason why the woman could not wait one more day. That one day would not have made much difference to her. Jesus could have done both – honored the Sabbath and healed the woman by waiting just one day.
However, it is hard to imagine how the healing act of Jesus could be considered work. I am sure that the people had the same questions in that day. As a matter of fact, the question of “work” caused the religious leaders to assemble to establish exactly what constituted work. The people wanted to be told what they could and could not do because they were afraid that if they did something wrong then they would be sinful and suffer the consequences. It is likely that the society in which she lived thought the woman with the infirmity was guilty of some sin, which is why she had lived hunched over for so long. I suspect that she’d been to the rabbis for healing many times in those eighteen years. The lack of healing may have been credited to some unknown sin for which she was being punished – perhaps even defiance to the Sabbath command.
So, the people would have welcomed a list of things they could do and could not do on the Sabbath, just to be safe. We’ve done it throughout history, even in the church. There were regulations against many of the things we like to do today. Many states still have blue Laws on the books, statutes designed to enforce moral standards, most particularly establishing Sunday as a day of rest and worship. It was illegal for stores to be open, for businesses to be in operation. Several decades ago, some stores began testing the law. The punishment for being open was a fine and it did not take long for those big box retailers to realize that even with the fine, overhead and salaries they still made money. There is a long history for the changing of these laws, but I suppose that the states also realized that the financial gain from taxes was greater than the fines they were imposing on the stores, so the blue laws have almost completely faded away. It was a slow process – a process that began with one store testing the system and then the entire world following in those brave footsteps.
The blue laws were not necessarily a bad thing. If the stores were closed, that meant that the people who would have worked could be home with their own families, enjoying the rest and the worship. Now someone has to be scheduled for the Sabbath day so that the business will be staffed for the customers who wish to use their services. Even some banks are open on Sundays. This past Saturday we purchased some appliances from one of those big box retail stores. They guarantee a next day delivery, meaning that those delivery men were going to have to lift heavy appliances on a Sunday. There was no immediate need for the appliances, so we scheduled the delivery for Monday.
When we think about doing work on the Sabbath, we have a question to ask – what is the purpose of the work? For those store owners, the work meant more money and a little inconvenience to the employees and a small fine was worth their gain. For us, there was no reason for the men to have to work on a Sunday, so we decided to wait.
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.
As we look at this list, imagine what we could not do if we had to live by these laws. Even on our day of rest, most of the things we enjoy doing in our leisure time could be found unlawful. We could not take notes at Bible study because we could not write two letters. We could not even sign the checks we put in the offering plate because we could not write our names. We could not drive a car because we ignite a spark and then we could not turn off the car because we would be extinguishing a fire. We could not wear shoes with laces. We could not even carry a cup of coffee from the fellowship area of our church to the bible study room.
The rabbis and Jewish leaders had created a list of laws making almost everything sinful on the Sabbath. It is hard to imagine, even with this list, how they might have seen Jesus’ healing as unlawful. What did He do? He said a word and touched her. He was in the synagogue to share God’s Word with His people. He was a visiting rabbi, speaking about the scriptures and the kingdom of God. Saying a word of grace such as He did for the woman could not have been considered work. “Woman, thou art loosed from thine infirmity.” It was a matter of justice for the woman. He set her free. Isaiah tells us what it would be like if everyone were set free from their prisons. “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.” That Word of grace and the healing of the woman was a sign of the coming kingdom.
But He also touched her. When He laid His hands on her shoulders, did He give her a little squeeze? Did He use a therapeutic touch by massaging her muscles that had been out of use for so long? Did they think that Jesus’ touch constituted kneading and was thus unlawful? The leader reminded the people that there were six days for work and they should come to the synagogue on those days to be cured, but the woman did not approach Jesus for healing. He called out to her. He invited her into God’s grace. He reached out to her in her infirmity and changed her life.
The religious leader had no authority to attack Jesus’ teaching or His actions, so he blamed the people. He told them not to come seeking healing on the Sabbath, but Jesus answered his charge. He answered it with a loophole in the law – it was ok to untie a donkey and lead it to water because it was a life saving action. It is ok to free the donkey on the Sabbath to save its life. “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?” In Luke 9 Jesus asked the leaders whether or not it was lawful to do good or to do harm on the Sabbath, to save life or to destroy it. They could not answer. Again Jesus caught them in a hypocritical attitude, they were put to shame.
It seems so contradictory to read this week’s Old Testament lesson and the Gospel together. In one we are reminded that we’ll be blessed by keeping the Sabbath. In the other we see Jesus breaking the Sabbath. Martin Luther is quoted as having said, “Sin boldly.” What does that mean for us today? It means that we will face times when we have to make a choice between two sins. Jesus faced the sin of work on the Sabbath and leaving a woman in suffering. He chose mercy. We might have to break a law to save a life or change a life. So, when we know that we have to sin, we do so boldly knowing that Jesus is our Savior and that God is full of mercy and forgiveness. The choice is not whether or not to sin, because in this world we will sin. The choice is whether or not we will do good for another or whether we will choose to do what is only best for ourselves.
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.
The entire story of God that is found in the Old Testament tells of the tension that existed between God and His people. We hear how they had faith, how they lost faith, how God saved them and how they had faith again. Over and over again the people turned away from God’s grace to stand in the presence of other gods. It is easier to worship a god that doesn’t talk back. It is easier to worship a god that has only so much power and does your bidding. The Lord God Almighty is too powerful. He is impossible to control. He is impossible to destroy. We would rather ignore Him, to turn the responsibility of listening to what He has to say to someone else, like the Hebrews did with Moses. If we do not like what has been said, we can justify our actions by claiming that it is only the word of a man that we are ignoring.
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 – those who established these long lists of laws and taught that God’s grace depended on their obedience. They were burdened by the Law rather than trusting in God’s grace and that created tension between God and His people.
In Isaiah, God tells us that if they keep the Sabbath holy and honorable and if they call it a delight, then they will find joy in the Lord and He will bless them. In the time of Jesus, keeping the Sabbath holy and honorable meant obeying that list of laws perfectly. They could not work – they could not do anything that might have its basis in those thirty-nine actions. Yet what if something occurred that required disobedience? What if a cow fell into a hole and needed to be lifted out or it would die? What if a sick child required lifesaving measures? What if a stranger came to the door needing assistance? What would be the right thing to do?
It seems like every year during the hot summer months we hear a story about a child that perishes because he or she is left in a car. What if you were passing by the car and noticed the child trapped inside. You can not locate the mother immediately and the child looks like he or she is about to be sick. There is no policeman nearby. The only way into the car is to break a window – an act against the law. Would you do so for the sake of the child? Would you walk away to avoid the risk of prosecution and damage to your own reputation? Which action would be honorable and holy? Which action would please God – mercy or obedience to the law?
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 listen for them and speak it to them. Even Moses was terrified and trembling with fear. In Christ we have something much different. In Christ we see that the Sabbath is not a burden but a gift. In the Sabbath we see God’s grace as we are blessed with not only satisfied needs and strong bones, watered gardens and ruins that are rebuilt. 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.
There is blessedness in keeping the Sabbath. There is joy to be found in worshipping with our brothers and sisters in Christ, peace to be found in the rituals of our faith. Yet there may come a time when we will be required by mercy to reach out our hand, to do a good work, to save a life even when it means disobeying some law.
Martin Luther is quoted as having said, “Sin boldly.” What does that mean for us today? It means that we will face times when we have to make a choice between two sins. Jesus faced the sin of work on the Sabbath and the sin of leaving a woman imprisoned in her suffering. He chose mercy. We might have to break a law to save a life or change a life. So, when we know that we have to sin, we do so boldly knowing that Jesus is our Savior and that God is full of mercy and forgiveness. The choice is not whether or not to sin, because in this world we will sin. The choice is whether or not we will do good for another or whether we will choose to do what is only best for ourselves.
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. When we are newly saved, praise flows so freely and good works seems so natural. As time passes, the praise and good works do not disappear but they become more like a chore and a burden. We pile on ourselves our own sets of rules to keep out of trouble. As we become established in a community, we fall into the trap of expectations, doing what the community deems is right and losing touch with the grace of God. That is why the Sabbath is so important, why it should remain a time of rest and restoration. In Bible study, in worship, in the receiving of the sacraments we are reminded over and over again of God’s mercy. A word of praise, a song of thanksgiving and we are reminded of all that God has done. In this way we not only remind ourselves of God’s grace, but we shine it to the world.
A WORD FOR TODAY
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