Sabbath Healing: Where Law and Grace Collide

 Luke 13:10-17         

            There was a little girl named Liz who was suffering from a rare & serious disease.  Her only chance of recovery appeared to be a blood transfusion from her 5-year old brother, who had miraculously survived the same disease and had developed the antibodies needed to combat the illness.  The doctor explained the situation to her little brother, and asked the little boy if he would be willing to give his blood to his sister.  He hesitated for only a moment before taking a deep breath and saying, "Yes I'll do it if it will save her."  As the transfusion progressed, he lay in bed next to his sister and smiled, as everyone else did, seeing the color returning to her cheeks.  Then his face grew pale and his smile faded.  He looked up at the doctor and asked with a trembling voice, "Will I start to die right away?”  Being young, the little boy had misunderstood the doctor; he thought he was going to have to give his sister all of his blood in order to save her.   

            Our text for today enacts a similar type of healing.  Healing that is done to provide life more abundantly.  Healing that puts the neighbor’s interests at a high priority.  Healing provided by Jesus, the one who would later give his life for the life of the world.

            This text finds Jesus in the synagogue on the Sabbath.  On this holy day Jesus enters a holy place.  For the Jewish community the Sabbath is a day for rest and renewal.  Keeping the Sabbath was part of the law.  This law, along with others, was given to the Israelites after their Exodus from Egypt.  This law commanded them to rest, to set aside time, one whole day, to rest their bodies and their livestock.  This was good news for them after spending time in Egypt as hardworking slaves, never having any time off. 

            So, Jesus enters their holy place on this holy day of rest and he breaks the law of the day.  He works on the Sabbath.  More specifically, he heals on the Sabbath.  Now he is not an uninformed citizen, he knows the laws.  He knows what is acceptable and what is not.  Regardless, he makes an exception to the law.  He sees a woman who is crippled and bent over.  She has been this way for eighteen years.  He thinks she shouldn’t live one more day like this.  So right then and there, Jesus sets her free from her ailment and heals her.

            The leader of this synagogue is upset with Jesus.  He cannot believe that Jesus would break the law of the day and heal this woman.  The leader of the synagogue is probably worried that if we start making exceptions to the law then we will never stop.  If there are enough exceptions to a law then it doesn’t carry much power anymore.  This exception to the law is more than just an exception.  This is grace.

            Often there are moments where the law needs to be interrupted with a little bit of grace.  Sure, the law is important because it helps order our lives and keep the peace.  The law sets boundaries.  Jesus doesn’t just forget about the law, but he provides a new interpretation of the law, which has some grace in it.  He does not think the law should have the ability to withhold life, grace, and freedom from this woman.  He thinks she deserves to be healed and she deserves that today, not tomorrow, when it would be more socially acceptable.

            So, what can we, as people living in the 21^st century, take away from this lesson of healing on the Sabbath?  First we can learn the importance of the law.  The law of the Sabbath is also a law that is important in our lives.  It is part of the law, the Torah, the Ten Commandments.  The 3^rd commandment, as you may remember, is “Remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy.”  We are all in need of some rest and renewal.  We each need to find some time, preferably a whole day, to call our Sabbath.  When we factor in our work schedules and other events that day will not likely be the same for all of us, but it should provide the same rest and renewal.  I am often reminded that we all do not rest on the same day when I have my day off on a day that is a work day for most and when I work on days like today, when many others are allowed a day for Sabbath time.

            We can also be reminded of the new commandment and the greatest commandment that Jesus gave “Love God and love your neighbor.”  In summarizing the whole law he gave us this ultimate command of love.  This is the love that Jesus shows to the synagogue leader and to the crippled bent over woman.  In so doing, it is the love he calls us to share as well.  Love that knows no boundaries.  Love that crosses all boundaries.  This commandment of love is what bridges the gap between the law and the grace of this healing story.

            Through this lesson we also learn the importance of grace.  This is grace that often breaks into our world and provides healing and wholeness.  It is grace that sometimes interrupts the law and comes when we least expect it.  Nevertheless, it heals us.  It picks us up when we are crippled and bent over from the weight of the world, either physically or metaphorically.  It gives us life and life more abundantly.  It reminds us of the one who gave his life for the life of the world. 

Just like Liz’s brother said, “I will do it if it will save her,” Jesus says to us and to the bent over woman, “I will do it if it will save her.”  Jesus’ grace can and will save our lives on this day of Sabbath and everyday, and for that we say “Thanks be to God.”  Amen.

Homelessness and The Rich Man

 Luke 12:13-21

           Last week I had the opportunity to travel with the high school youth to Seattle for a mission trip.  Our trip was organized through Flathead Lutheran Bible Camp in Montana.  Our main mission was to better understand homelessness in the city of Seattle and at large.  We spent time assisting with a variety of feeding ministries throughout Seattle.  We served dinner at three homeless shelters, prepared and served a lunch for over 200 people, and visited the compass center, which is the umbrella of services for the homeless population in Seattle. 

The opportunity to serve was wonderful, but I think the conversations we had were even more meaningful.  We were able to sit down and talk with our homeless brothers and sisters at each of these service opportunities.  It was through those conversations that we learned that the face of homelessness is different than our preconceived ideas had led us to believe.  Homeless people are a lot like us in many ways.  They are educated.  They have traveled.  They have had or still do have items that are worth a decent amount of money.  They have nice clothes and look put together.  If you saw them on the street you might not even know that they are homeless.  They don’t carry all their belongings around with them.  They have jobs.  They are appreciative of what they have.  They are trying to get out of homelessness.  Of course all of those things are not true for every homeless person we met, but many of them shocked us with their stories of somewhat normal lives that had been turned upside down in one swift moment.  Often it was difficult for them to talk about that one moment that had changed their life and made them homeless, but they were very quick to tell us about how their lives had been and what they had done.  Their willingness to share their stories helped us recreate the image of homelessness in our minds.  Homelessness is no longer faceless for us.  We now know some of the faces of homelessness.

This experience made me read our text for today in a different light.  In the homeless shelters that we visited individuals have permanent beds.  At the foot of each bed is a space for them to keep their belongings.  That space is two plastic totes or bins.  The lids must be able to close and they are stacked.  I tried to imagine what I would put into those two plastic containers and I couldn’t even begin to think of what I would have to get rid of to downsize that far.  All it takes is an immersion in urban homelessness to realize that I am like the rich man.  We are like the rich man. 

Want to make this parable more contemporary?  Ariel, from the Little Mermaid, is also like the rich man.  You remember her little tune:

Look at this stuff, isn't it neat?

Wouldn't you think my collection's complete?

Wouldn't you think I'm the girl

The girl who has everything?

Look at this trove, treasures untold

How many wonders can one cavern hold?

Looking around here, you'd think

Sure, she's got everything.

I've got gadgets and gizmos a-plenty

I've got who's-its and what's-its galore

You want thing-a-mabobs?

I've got twenty

But who cares? No big deal. I want more.

It is so very easy to be greedy.  It is so easy to tear down our barns and build bigger ones, doing so only so we have more room to keep things for ourselves.  This text confronts us, you and me, and it confronts our habits of greed.  It confronts our sinful nature.  “St. Augustine once said that God gave us people to love and things to use, and sin, in short, is the confusion of these two things.”  Our love of things is what gets us in trouble.  It distracts us from loving the people around us, which was God’s intention.

            Sure having money provides stability for us and our family, which is important.  Money creates jobs, which allow others to have an income.  Money provides shelter, food, clothes, and transportation.  Money does benefit us, but it is not meant to be stored up in a greedy way.  Money can be used to bless the lives of others, too.  It can be shared.  Money in some ways gives us life.  It does not give us the life that Jesus promises to us.  It does not provide full, abundant, eternal life.  Money is only temporary.  It is only needed here on earth.  It is not needed in death.  “A seasoned pastor once said, “I have heard many different regrets expressed by people nearing the end of life, but there is one regret I have never heard expressed. I have never heard anyone say, ‘I wish I hadn’t given so much away. I wish I had kept more for myself.’” Death has a way of clarifying what really matters.”

All it takes is the words Jesus says to the rich man to make us consider how we live our lives.  Jesus says, “You fool!  This very night your life is being demanded of you.  And the things you have prepared whose will they be?”  If your life was demanded of you today who will inherit your things?  Will they benefit your next of kin, maybe a spouse or child?  Are they intended to be given to some of your favorite causes?  Will they be used richly toward God?  Jesus’ words, even though they may sound a bit scary and fearful, should point us in the right direction.

That direction is back to the promises made at our baptism.  In the waters of baptism we shed our sinful clothing and are clothed with Christ.  We die with Christ and are raised with him as well.  In that dying we are to put to death our earthly desires, according to Colossians.  That list of earthly desires includes greed and a myriad of other things.  In letting go of greed and other earthly desires we are made new by Christ and his love for us.  In letting go of greed we also are freed to be rich toward God.

So, instead of living like the rich man, tearing down our barns and building larger ones, or like Ariel, singing of all the things that we want, let’s live proclaiming a different story, let’s live singing the story of the abundant gifts God has given. Let’s proclaim the story of salvation that was given to us in our baptism through Jesus’ life, death and resurrection.  And in response to all that has been given to us let’s be rich toward God.  Amen.