The People v. The Sabbath

Luke 13.10-17

“But the leader of the synagogue … kept saying to the crowd, ‘There are six days on which work ought to be done; come on those days and be cured, and not on the Sabbath day.’”

You know what? I think the leader of the synagogue was right! You think so too, don’t you? Admit it! You’re sitting there thinking to yourselves: Jesus, Lord, I love you with all my heart, but for goodness’ sake don’t you know that we’re not supposed to work on the Sabbath?

I know we’re not supposed to work on the Sabbath, because the Bible tells me so. Genesis 2.2-3: “And on the seventh day God finished the work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all the work that he had done. So God blessed the seventh day and hallowed it.”

Exodus 20.8-10 – this is one of the 10 Commandments: “Remember the Sabbath day, and keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work. But the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God; you shall not do any work.”

You see, I’m right! The synagogue leader was right! We’re not supposed to work on the Sabbath. And I know that a lot of people agree with me. Just a week ago today, last Sunday afternoon, I was in Wal-Mart shopping for a new DVD that I just had to have that day, and I fell into conversation with another shopper, who was looking for a new TV – not that there was anything wrong with his old TV, he just wanted a newer one.

Anyway, this other shopper also happened to be a good Christian, and we both agreed, standing there in Wal-Mart last Sunday, shopping for things that we just had to have that day, we agreed that is was truly sad that so many people work on the Sabbath.

After all, the Bible tells us we shouldn’t work on Sundays. Then again, the Bible tells us lots of things. How about this, just one chapter after the Ten Commandments, Exodus 21.7: “When a man sells his daughter as a slave, she shall not go out as the male slaves do.”

Or this, skipping along a few verses, Exodus 21.20-21: “When a slaveowner strikes a male or female slave with a rod and the slave dies immediately, the owner shall be punished. But if the slave survives a day or two, there is no punishment; for the slave is the owner’s property.”

Or this one, getting back to the main point, Leviticus 16.29-31: “This shall be a statute to you forever: in the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month, you shall deny yourselves and do no work … it is a Sabbath of complete rest to you, and you shall deny yourselves; it is a statute forever.”

A statute forever! Tenth day of the seventh month, a Sabbath of complete rest – forever! How many of you observe July 10 as a Sabbath day each year? If you don’t, you’re not following the commandments of the Holy Bible!

How many of you have sold your daughters into slavery? Okay, how many of you have wanted to? I thought so. The Bible says it’s okay to do so, as long as she doesn’t leave the house the way the male slaves do.

How would you feel about someone who owned slaves? And especially, how would you feel if a slaveowner struck one of his slaves with a rod, but because the slave suffered in agony for two or 3 days before dying, the slaveowner says he shouldn’t be punished? According to the Bible, the slaveowner would be correct!

My point is that we don’t always follow the laws of the Bible, or at least the laws of the Old Testament. The reason we don’t follow them is very simple: the laws of the Old Testament were written for a specific group of people who lived in a specific place at a specific time in history. It’s quite obvious, when you really take the time to read them, that most of the Old Testament laws couldn’t possibly apply to us today.

And if some of them don’t apply to us today, why should any of them apply to us? Whoa, now we’re getting into some dangerous territory. Does this mean that none of the Old Testament laws are valid, today? What about the Ten Commandments? They’re laws of the Old Testament; are we supposed to disregard them?

Well, as Christians, disciples of Jesus Christ, we know that we’re supposed to follow Jesus’ commandments, right? So what does Jesus have to say about all of this?

When the man often identified as the rich, young ruler asked Jesus how to enter the kingdom of heaven, Jesus told him to keep the commandments – specifically mentioning murder, adultery, theft, lying, and honoring your parents, all part of the Ten Commandments.

When Jesus was asked to name the greatest commandment, Jesus didn’t hesitate. Jesus chose Deuteronomy 6.5: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might.” Jesus then went on to say that another commandment was just as important – Leviticus 19.18: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

Jesus quotes from the law. Jesus teaches the law. And yet, at times, Jesus blatantly disregards the law. What’s up with that?

We have to look at the parts of the law that Jesus taught. Love God. Love your neighbor. In the episode with the rich, young ruler, the young man informed Jesus that he had, in fact, always followed all the commandments. So Jesus said, “One thing more you need to do: sell all you have and give it to the poor.”

The commandments that Jesus taught all had to do with love and compassion. They all had to do with caring for others. That’s what Jesus had to say about all this. Oh, and Jesus had one other thing to say. In Mark 2.27, Jesus said, “The Sabbath was made for the people, not people for the Sabbath.”

So, where does this get us, in the argument between Jesus and the leader of the synagogue? I think it tells us that they’re both right. Technically, the leader of the synagogue is right: the law does in fact say that we’re not supposed to work on the Sabbath. But Jesus is right, too, because Jesus says that people are more important than the Sabbath. People are more important than the law. And that is the lesson we need to remember.

Jesus was teaching in one of the synagogues. Interestingly enough, this is the last time, in Luke’s gospel, that Jesus enters a synagogue. Maybe the word got around: Don’t let this guy teach in your synagogue! Anyway, Jesus is teaching in the synagogue, and in walks this woman who has been crippled for 18 years. When Jesus saw her, he called her over.

Now, you see, here I am identifying with the synagogue leader, again. I mean, come on, we’re in the middle of a worship service. Being a good Methodist, I know that you don’t just stop in the middle of worship and call someone up to the front.

If it was me, I’d check my bulletin. Nope, no mention of a healing service, today. “Sorry, lady, the healing services are on Thursdays; ‘Come on those days, and be cured, and not on the Sabbath day.’ Now let’s stand and sing our hymn of invitation.” That’s what I would do.

But that’s not what Jesus did. Jesus called this woman up to the front. Jesus laid his hands on her. Jesus healed her. Jesus didn’t stop to check the bulletin. Jesus just did what needed to be done, because people are more important than the Sabbath – people are even more important than the order of worship in our bulletins.

Jesus says, “You hypocrites” – and, dear Lord, I’m afraid Jesus is talking to me! – “You hypocrites! You go out to eat on Sunday afternoon. You go to Wal-Mart to pick up a few things, things that you don’t really need all that badly, things you could do without until Monday. Then you stop and buy gas, and maybe an RC Cola. You come home and discover a leaky faucet and complain that you can’t get a plumber on Sunday.

“You hypocrites! You do all these things, and then you complain because the healing of this poor woman wasn’t in the bulletin, it disrupted our order of worship, and we didn’t get out the door until 5 after 12, and the Baptists got to the Cardinal Café before we did. You hypocrites! This poor woman was unable to stand up straight for 18 years, but in the name of Order and Method you would have had her wait to be healed.”

Yes, I very much fear that Jesus is talking to me. I fear that I am, in fact, the leader of the synagogue. It’s me Jesus is talking to, it’s me to whom Jesus is saying: People are more important than the Sabbath, people are more important than laws, and order, and method. Is Jesus talking to you, too?

Jesus is not saying that you and I are wrong when we go out to eat on Sunday afternoons, or when we do a little shopping. I doubt that Jesus minds a bit when we do that. Jesus is saying that we’re wrong when we put laws ahead of people.

We – you and me, as the church – we are called to minister to people, not laws. We are called to bring healing to people. We are called to heal people’s brokenness: their broken hearts, their broken souls.

Jesus refers to this woman as a “daughter of Abraham.” Jesus could just as easily have said, “This woman is created in the image of God.” Singer-songwriter Nichole Nordeman’s song, “Wide-Eyed,” offers some wonderful imagery on this subject:

“When I met him on a sidewalk, he was preaching to a mailbox, down on 16th Avenue. And he told me he was Jesus, sent from Jupiter to free us, with a bottle of tequila and one shoe. He raged about repentance, he finished every sentence with a promise that the end was close at hand. I didn’t even try to understand.

“He left me wide-eyed, in disbelief and disillusion. I was tongue-tied, drawn by my conclusions. So I turned and walked away, and laughed at what he had to say, then casually dismissed him as a fraud. I forgot he was created in the image of my God.

“Not so long ago, a man from Galilee fed thousands with his bread and his theology. And the truth he spoke quickly became the joke of educated, self-inflated Pharisees – like me.

“And they were wide-eyed, in disbelief and disillusion. They were tongue-tied, drawn by their conclusions. Would I have turned and walked away, and laughed at what he had to say, and casually dismissed him as a fraud? Unaware that I was staring at the image of my God?”

If we had been there, how would we have responded to Jesus? Would we have followed him? Or would we have casually dismissed him as a fraud? Would we have complained that he was upsetting the status quo, that he wasn’t following the law? Hard questions.

But you know what’s so wonderful? Not only was this woman who was healed created in the image of God, but so am I. So are you. And Jesus says that we are all important! Jesus says that all of us here today are more important than the law, we are all more important than the Sabbath.

There’s no doubt that Jesus is talking to me, this morning. Is he talking to you, too? Are you the leader of the synagogue? We – all of us – we are called to bring healing to the people who need it. We’re not called to spout a bunch of laws at them.

We don’t bring healing to people by pointing out what they’re doing wrong. We bring healing to people by bringing people to Jesus. We can heal people’s brokenness by bringing people to worship with us on Sunday mornings – bringing them to this place, consecrated to the worship of our Lord, the place where they will hear Jesus spoken and prayed and sung.

I’m not backing down: the synagogue leader was right. The Sabbath is important. The law is important. Worship is important. But the importance of the Sabbath, the law, and worship, their importance comes from what they have to offer to the people.

The church, this congregation, is important only as long as this church is here for the people. If we begin putting the law ahead of the people, we will cease to be a vital part of the body of Christ.

People are more important than the law. We are called to bring healing to the people. We can’t let the law get in our way. The law exists for the people, not the people for the law.

Our mission, at Timothy [McNeil] United Methodist Church, is to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world. We are not called to bring people to the law. We are called to bring people to Jesus.