Sabbath Lesson

August 22, 2010
Luke 13:10-17

The woman in Luke’s story has been unable to stand up straight, seeing only the ground around her feet, for many years. She has dealt with it for a long time. There is no reason for Jesus to have done something ‘right away.’ He could have waited until the Sabbath was over to heal her, and everyone would have been happy – but, he didn’t. Instead, he makes a statement. It isn't the only time Jesus has healed on the Sabbath, or healed while teaching in the synagogue (or both) or the first time he's provoked the religious leaders. For him, it was a teaching moment and another lesson about God.

So, what was Jesus trying to say? Was it something about his power to heal, something about the hypocritical Pharisees, or was it something else? Maybe the fact he mentions the word ‘Sabbath’ five times provides a clue. Maybe the point he is trying to make is about how Sabbath is observed – or why we do the things we do in ‘honoring’ God.

Looking back on my life growing up, an important part was my grandparents who lived right across the lane. Their house being only a short distance away, we spent a lot of time over their, playing in the yard (and in the barn), climbing mulberry trees north of the house, or listening to the record player. Sundays were a special day. Always after going to church (which grandpa and grandma never attended), was dinner at their house and an afternoon that began by reading the Sunday comics. Often relatives or friends would drop by and spend a good part of the afternoon visiting. For Grandpa and Grandma, it was a day away from ceaseless housework and the never-ending work of the farm. It was a day of rest; a day involving people, a day of connecting and a day for caring. This was their Sabbath. If only they had gone to church like they were suppose to.

Both Jesus and the leader of this synagogue took Law and Scripture seriously. Where they differed was in their understanding of God. For the leader of the synagogue, and for the Pharisees, God (and God’s law) was there to be obeyed. The law was to be followed – to the letter, no exceptions. God expected it. The key to his reality was: “Keep God happy, and everything will work out right.

But Jesus saw it differently. "The Sabbath was made for people, not people for the Sabbath." (Mark 2:22) William Loader points out that "[Jesus’] basic teaching is that God's will is always... focused on people's well being. God's chief concern is not to be obeyed... God's chief concern is love and care for the people and creation." The key to Jesus’ reality was: “Look after God’s people and creation, and everything will work out right.” This is ‘the Sabbath lesson.’

Looking back, to an earlier time growing up, the Sabbath meant something. It was important. Stores were closed on Sunday and things you could do the rest of the week you couldn’t do on Sunday. In rural Iowa, breaking the Sabbath was frowned upon, it was something a person didn’t do. Keeping the Sabbath was a serious and sometimes costly badge of one's faith and faithfulness to God. Things were a lot different back then. There were more families in church, Sunday school classes were full, and everyone went to church on Sunday morning. People followed what the Bible said; they knew what they should do on the Sabbath to make God happy and they did it.

Or did they? Luke makes his point very clear in today’s gospel reading. It is Jesus, he says, who heals the woman. But it is the Lord who answers the leader of the synagogue and calls him a hypocrite. Imagine what that must have felt like, to be rebuked by Jesus because what you thought you had figured out was completely wrong and when it came to your own reality of God, you were exactly the opposite of what you wanted to be. Perhaps Luke’s story of Sabbath healing is intended to help us face our own reality of God and how we too sometimes get things twisted around. This is ‘the Sabbath lesson.’

I don’t know if it was clear or not, that my grandparents did not go to church on Sunday mornings. You see, church was not part of their Sabbath. At one time that concerned me a lot. However, today I realize they honored God every Sunday in ways every church could learn from – by making it a day of rest, a day to connect with family around the table and with distant relatives and friends who would ‘drop by’ for a visit. It was a day of hospitality and healing, a day of caring and connecting. As I look back on their reality now, it seems a lot closer to Jesus’ lesson of what Sabbath should actually be - ‘looking after Gods people and creation’ rather than just keeping God happy.

Sunday for my grandparents was a day of promise, a day they looked forward to, a day they truly welcomed. It was for them a sample of God’s dominion to come; it was a good thing, a gift from God. It was a day of hope in the midst of difficult times. The Reverend Barbara Brown Taylor writes of knowing “people who can do five things at once who are incapable of doing nothing.” Included in my grandparent’s day of rest was, by today’s standards, a lot of “doing nothing” yet in it everything that mattered.

Sabbath is not about keeping God happy. Know that God loves you and wants good for you... it isn’t a matter of doing the right thing... or God won't love you? God's chief concern has always been the love of God’s people and creation… not in our keeping laws. This is ‘the Sabbath lesson.’ As the bent-over woman's gaze was "lifted up," may our perspective, too, be raised to new and deeper faithfulness and praise of God.