Rules vs. Wholeness

Luke 13:10-17

Now he was teaching in one of the synagogues on the sabbath. And just then there appeared a woman with a spirit that had crippled her for eighteen years. She was bent over and was quite unable to stand up straight. When Jesus saw her, he called her over and said, "Woman, you are set free from your ailment." When he laid his hands on her, immediately she stood up straight and began praising God. But the leader of the synagogue, indignant because Jesus had cured on the sabbath, 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." But the Lord answered him and said, "You hypocrites! Does not each of you on the sabbath untie his ox or his donkey from the manger, and lead it away to give it water? And ought not this woman, a daughter of Abraham whom Satan bound for eighteen long years, be set free from this bondage on the sabbath day?" When he said this, all his opponents were put to shame; and the entire crowd was rejoicing at all the wonderful things that he was doing.

Imagine the scene:  there in the synagogue is Jesus, the exciting teacher who has stirred things up all around, and he is there teaching and preaching.  It’s the sabbath, and therefore the synagogue is full of people, all there to fulfill their religious requirements.  All eyes are on Jesus.

All eyes, that is, except for a pair of a woman, probably hiding in the back, as she has done for the past 18 years.  Her eyes are focused downwards, toward her feet which has been the only way she’s been able to look for almost 2 decades.  Her view for all those years has been of the area around her feet and slanted glances in other directions.  She has been bent over at the waist permanently.  After 2,000 years it’s a little difficult to make a diagnosis; her condition may have been medical or it could have come from too many years of difficult labor.

Luke, the author of our gospel, was a doctor and he says that she was crippled by a spirit that kept her that way.  Luke, by the way, is the only one of the gospel writers to include this story in his account.  Luke the doctor remembers this story and includes it in his gospel.  Perhaps his training had made him more attuned to the healing stories of Jesus.  Luke also includes more women in his gospel.  So it’s natural that a healing story about a woman would catch his attention more so than the other gospel writers.

Jesus is teaching and notices the woman who likely has spent years trying not to be noticed.  Illness and crippling diseases were seen as caused by sin, so the bearer of any ills has not only to deal with the disease but also the social stigma.  So keeping a low profile was probably a part of this woman’s life: keeping out of people’s way, as best you can when you can’t see them, was standard operating procedure for her. 

Jesus, for whatever reason he chooses, decides to heal the woman.  Why this woman, we have to wonder.  Surely there must have been plenty of other people there who needed healing. Don’t we all need some sort of healing, after all?  Was she the most noticeable, hunched over as she was at the back of the room?  No friends or relatives approached Jesus about her.  He just picked her out of the crowd that was gathered there that day. 

Now we don’t notice it but Jesus stepped over the bounds of the rules of their society in two ways that day:  first, he healed on the sabbath, healing being a form of work and working on the sabbath is definitely not allowed; second, he touched the woman, which is something a man just doesn’t do, at least not a woman to whom he’s not related.  We can almost feel the shock and excitement in the air as the crowd witnesses this act that crosses boundaries and breaks open rules that have long guided their world.

Maybe this is what Jesus was talking about in some of the verses that precede this passage, which were the lectionary reading from the gospel last week.  In those verses, Jesus spoke about bringing division into the world, confusing words from the one we call the Prince of Peace.  But certainly Jesus divided the crowd that day into two parties:  the crowd who was electrified by his boundary-bursting healing and the religious leaders who could only see the laws that had to be followed…and weren’t being followed.  Division was clearly a part of Jesus’ ministry, at least it was on this day. 

In the controversy that arises, the leader of the synagogue, no doubt urged on by his fellow religious leaders, says that healings can happen any day of the other six days of the week besides the sabbath.  Following that comment, Jesus then lets loose on them.   He calls them hypocrites, which is as strong an accusation then as it is now.  He points out that the rabbis have taught that it is permissible to untie an ox or a donkey so as to give them a drink of water on the sabbath, another activity that is considered work.  Surely if God cares about donkeys and oxen that much, God will care enough about one of God’s daughters to heal her, sabbath or not.

Actually, Jesus refers to the woman as a “daughter of Abraham” which is the only time that term is used in the whole of the New Testament.  In any case, she is worthy of Jesus’ attention as a child of God.  She is worthy of Jesus’ healing ministrations whether its the sabbath or not.

Jesus breaks all bounds to unloose this woman from her own bounds; that which has bound her in her stooped condition for all these years.  She couldn’t wait another day for her healing and Jesus knew that.  The healing must come now, on the sabbath, on the day when no work is to be done.

The critics of Jesus could fume and fret all they wanted.  But Jesus was not going to give an inch.  This was an important event that needed attention right now.  Jesus chose healing, and caring, and wholeness over the rituals and rules that had governed his culture for centuries.  Jesus opted to bring that daughter of Abraham to completion over the strictures that would have bound him as tightly as that woman herself was bound by her condition.


How often do we choose rules and rituals over healing and wholeness?  How often do we opt for the status quo rather than bringing our world a little closer to God’s realm?  I think it’s more often than we’d like to admit.  I think too often we take the attitude that it’s just easier to get along than it is to stir up trouble.

Oftentimes our rules are around possessions for example and what we own being what we are.  The unspoken rules of our culture are that more is better:  the more you possess the better you are.  There’s even a movement within Christianity called the prosperity gospel which says that if God really loves you, God will reward you with greater wealth and more possessions.  And too often, we do like to think that’s true.  For many of us, in fact, it might be a comforting thought. 

Though we might disagree with the premise of this belief, we don’t often act like it.  We too often go along with the rules and rituals of our culture and work hard at accumulating rather than seeking the justice that God would have which distributes wealth among all of us, throughout all of God’s children.

Jesus healed the woman who was bent over at the waist against several proscriptions of his day.  But he saw a chance for wholeness for one of God’s children and he seized the opportunity.  May we be watchful to guard against ways that we might be more like the religious leaders of Jesus’ time, holding tightly to rules and rituals of our culture that no longer serve us.  May we be more like Jesus, bursting forth through boundaries that serve no purpose other than to keep things as they are.

Never Alone

Hebrews 11:29-12:2

By faith the people passed through the Red Sea as if it were dry land, but when the Egyptians attempted to do so they were drowned. By faith the walls of Jericho fell after they had been encircled for seven days. By faith Rahab the prostitute did not perish with those who were disobedient, because she had received the spies in peace. 

And what more should I say? For time would fail me to tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets—who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, obtained promises, shut the mouths of lions, quenched raging fire, escaped the edge of the sword, won strength out of weakness, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight. Women received their dead by resurrection. Others were tortured, refusing to accept release, in order to obtain a better resurrection. Others suffered mocking and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. They were stoned to death, they were sawn in two, they were killed by the sword; they went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, persecuted, tormented— of whom the world was not worthy. They wandered in deserts and mountains, and in caves and holes in the ground.
Yet all these, though they were commended for their faith, did not receive what was promised, since God had provided something better so that they would not, without us, be made perfect. 
Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who for the sake of the joy that was set before him endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God. (NRSV)

We know precious little about the book of Hebrews.  We have no idea who the author was; we don’t know who the intended audience was; and we’re not exactly sure when it was written.  But on some of these points we can make guesses or good estimates based on the information within the book itself.

As Dan Clendenin, the author of a weekly website I often turn to in my sermon preparation called “Journey with Jesus,” put it,  “The recipients of the letter are second-generation believers who heard the gospel from first-generation Christians (2:3). The text's elegant Greek, its quotations from the Greek translation of the Hebrew Old Testament (LXX), and its distinctly Jewish themes all suggest that the readers were a community of Hellenistic Jewish believers.”

So that tells us something.  Clendenin goes on to explain that since the book doesn’t mention the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem in the year 70, it was probably written sometime before then. 

But it’s clear that the original recipients were under some sort of persecution.  Given that they were second-generation hearers of the gospel, that put it later in the century, rather than nearer to the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus in the thirties. 

Of course, we all know the famous story about Nero fiddling while Rome burned.  Whether that’s true or not, whether Nero actually played some musical instrument during the conflagration that devoured parts of Rome in the year 64, we do know that he sought to blame the fire on the Christians of the time.  Nero was not, we might say today, the most stable of rulers.  Mental stability doesn’t seem to go hand in hand with being a ruler, as we know from some of the rulers who held sway during the last century, such as Hitler, Stalin, Mao, and Hussein. 

Nero, though, in his attempts to pin the fire on the Christians of the time, went to great lengths to persecute them, making a sport of the manner he would kill them.  He would dress them up in animal skins to be mauled to death by dogs before cheering crowds.  They were crucified and set on fire to light the night.  To put it mildly, it wasn’t always easy being a Christian during this era.

And so the author of Hebrews needs to encourage his little flock of believers through the persecutions that they may be facing.  With the oppression of mighty Rome on one side and a distrustful Jewish leadership on the other, they indeed needed all the encouragement they could get.

So when encouragement is needed, where does one turn?  To the great cloud of witnesses that surround us.  I can’t help but wonder whether Oscar Hammerstein had this passage in mind when he wrote a particularly stirring bit of lyrics from the musical “Carousel” with his collaborator Richard Rodgers.

When you walk through a storm
keep your chin up high
and don’t be afraid of the dark.
At the end of the storm
is a golden sky
and the sweet, silver song of a lark.
Walk on through the wind,
walk on through the rain,
though your dreams be tossed and blown.
Walk on, walk on with hope in your heart
And you’ll never walk alone,
you’ll never walk alone.

Indeed, we find we are not alone when the storms buffet us and toss us about like a dried leaf.  Because the author of Hebrews, along with the more recent prophetic words of Oscar Hammerstein, reminds us that all around us are those who have been through trials and tribulations and are here for the specific purpose of cheering us on.

In “The Message” bible, Eugene Peterson translates one of our verses from Hebrews this morning in this way:  “God had a better plan for us: that their faith and our faith would come together to make one completed whole, their lives of faith not complete apart from ours.”  I like that image; that without the faith of those who have gone before, those who have struggled before, those who have persevered before, my faith is incomplete.  And likewise, without my faith, theirs does not attain fulfillment.  Both parts of the puzzle are necessary to complete the picture.

We don’t face the same turmoils that Christians of the first century faced, without a doubt and we thank God for that.  But the struggles of those early Christians live on in and through us.  Because of their struggles and persecutions, through their faith, we are able to be the worshipping community that we are today. 

The author of Hebrews knew his congregation and in his writing, he picked out some of the superheroes of the faith:  starting with Abraham and Moses, just prior to today’s reading and including Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, and Samuel.  These were names that the original recipients would have known quite a bit about.  And doubtless a list like that generated another list in the hearers’ minds.  Much as it does today.

We can remember Martin Luther King, Jr., Dietrich Bonhoeffer, and Oscar Romero, who would have turned 93 on this very day had he not been assassinated 30 years ago.  King, Bonhoeffer, and Romero knew the cost of faith even in the 20th century.  All three paid with their lives for their faith and are martyrs of our time.  And each of them is in the cloud of witnesses that surrounds us now, urging us forward, telling us to hold on and hold tightly to what is dear.

We do not walk alone.  We are indeed surrounded by witness after witness after witness  who urge us to run the race before us with perseverance.

Impressionism as Avant Garde

Dear Friends,

Allen and I went to the de Young Museum recently to see the “Birth of Impressionism” special exhibit that is running there right now.  If you have even the slightest interest in visual arts or painting, you should find time to see this show.  It traces the beginnings of impressionism with works from the Musée d’Orsay in Paris, which is going through renovations at present.  The show runs at the de Young until 6 September. 

Impressionism, which found its home in Paris at the end of the 19th century, was a sharp departure from the classical art that had been the standard prior to this era.  Impressionist painters couldn’t get their paintings hung in the salon and had to have their own shows, for which they were derided, in order to be seen. 

These paintings that we now hold in such esteem, that are truly masters, were avant garde by the standards of the time.  Some laughed at the artists who were producing them and very few took them seriously.  What a difference a century can make. 

We have to be careful what we deride and consider foolish, and not just in the world of art.   For what we think today is impossible or too far out there for reality may soon become not only possible, but the new standard.

The ruling about Proposition 8 by Judge Walker is another such change that, not too long ago, would have been considered a foolish goal.  Marriage between two people of the same gender would have been thought of as too far out for any reasonable person to think about.  Even among gay and lesbian people, not that long ago, marriage seemed such an unattainable goal that it was deemed not worthy of putting effort into.  But here we are with a federal judge declaring that it’s a constitutional right.

Watch what you consider outré or avant garde...it may soon be the norm by which all else is measured.

Peace,
Gerry