Stand Tall

Remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy

Stand Tall

August 25, 2013          Luke 13 and Jeremiah 1          13^th after Pentecost

(Michelle’ s adoption court delay - tell the story)

It’s the Sabbath!   The day when the focus of life is shifted from the worries and cares of everyday life and instead focused on God.  It’s the Sabbath!  This is the time between Friday night sunset and Saturday night sunset, when time is sacred.    It’s the Sabbath!  This is when families gather in their homes and in their synagogues and participate in rituals that have been handed down to them from generation to generation.  It’s the Sabbath!  And it is time to light the candles and say the prayers and partake in the special food, but more importantly, it is time to remember – remember who they are and whose they are.  It’s the Sabbath!  And it comes around once a week and it is sacred time, time set aside for God, which means that no one works, and stores are closed and business transactions are put on hold for 24 hours.  It’s the Sabbath!  So instead of work we are supposed to use the Sabbath...to connect to our creator, and be re-created, and to be re-newed, and to be re-juvenated.  For the Sabbath is a gift a gift from God to the people a day set aside in a week to nourish and nurture and be restored to right relationship with God.  It’s the Sabbath!  And some gather as a family in their homes pray and light candles, share a meal and practice the Sabbath rituals.  It’s the Sabbath and others gather as a community in the Synagogues to listen to pray, to light the candles to listen to scriptures, and talk about them and practice the Sabbath rituals.

On one such Sabbath, in a small synagogue in the ancient Meditarian world, Jesus was in the midst of the worshipers that day.  And while he was teaching and sharing scripture, he notice a woman in their midst.  No one else seems to notice her – this may be because they have seen her so often, she is almost invisible to them – or this may be because she is infirmed – and people who have disabilities are often invisible – and this woman was disabled- she was bent over – she walks with a shuffle – for when you are bent over and can’t see in front of you, you would have to walk slowly and carefully so you did not run into anything or anyone – and as she shuffled passed – Jesus calls her over – lays his hands on her – and she stood up – she stood tall for the first time in 18 years.

Kay Heuy writes:  On the way to Jerusalem, while Jesus is teaching in a synagogue, a "bent-over" woman passing by evokes Jesus' compassion. Does the woman ask for healing? No. Does Jesus seem to care that it's the Sabbath, when healing non-life-threatening conditions is not permitted? No. Without being asked, he calls her over to him, and sets her free from her longtime ailment by placing his hands on her, just as one would in blessing. And the woman is blessed, and freed, and has sense enough to recognize the source of the freedom she's been given at last, freedom from the little bit of square footage she's been limited to visually for almost twenty years. Now, is everyone amazed and grateful to witness such a thing?  

No, indeed. The leader of the synagogue is in fact upset by this breach of the Law and tells the crowd, which undoubtedly includes many others in need of healing (aren't we all?), that they should come back tomorrow, when the timing will be more "appropriate" for such things as healing.

“This woman's ailment may not threaten her life, but her life is so precious that each day is a gift and an opportunity to praise God. We are fortunate in many ways in our culture, but we are burdened, too. For example, many children in our society are as pressed down as the bent-over woman with schedules that leave them no time to play or to just "be" with their families, friends, and nature. We adults are the same way. Our health and the well-being of our families, our churches, and our communities are affected.   We are bent over with stress and worry.

Look at the rocks we have on the communion table – are there any there that resonate with you?   Do you carry around burdens that weigh you down.  Envy, jealousy, apathy, anger and fear are all heavy burdens to carry.  Jan Richardson asks the questions:   “What are the habits, patterns, and rhythms by which we live our lives? Do they enable us to live in freedom, fully open to the presence of God? Or does our way of life hinder us from this? Are there patterns and habits that, over time, have become confining, keeping us bound and bent and feeling less than whole?  What are we carrying around that weighs us down?

These burdens are not just words we use to explain some weightless emotions we carry inside –these burdens of grief and sorrow and apathy and intolerance and greed – they attach to our human frames and weigh us down.  It sets deep down in our bodies and has a hold on us.  A hold that is physical.

Ten years ago my first marriage was ending – and my first pastoral relationship was drawing to a close – it was a time of anxiety, fear, sorrow, heartache, and a mired of others emotions I struggled to name.  I thought I was handling things very well and that no one could see the burdens I was carrying.  I prided myself on my ability to go into worship each week and lead service and preach the sermon.  I also went about my daily tasks, I thought, with dignity and grace.  But every once in a while I would notice that I would have my arm crossed over my heart – and often I would find myself sitting all wrapped up, with my knees drawn up to my chin and my arms wrapped around my legs – and when I was talking to people or visiting with them, I would often place my hand on my head and hold it there.   My body was bent over and twisting itself in knots - in the emotions of that deeply troubling time and even though in my head I was handling all the pain that was coming my way, my body told a different story.  It was only after time had passed, months and months had passed that I began to feel my body relax, that I began to straighten out and release all the emotional burdens that were weighing me down.  The healing took a long time, because the burdens were very heavy.

I think that the healing that Jesus offered the woman in the synagogue was remarkable for it was immediate and transformational.  But, you know, we are offered this type of healing – this touch of wholeness from the Christ –often however, our healing is over a longer period of time.  Our healings are gradual – but they are healings none the less.  And over time we are able to lay aside the burdens we carry – this is Christ gifts of healing to us.  Our willingness to be open, to the healing touch of Christ and to witness the miracle even when it is gradual like the a slowly opening flower instead of the immediacy of the bent over woman.

Kay Heuy again:  “Sabbath observance, rather than being a burden, challenges us to make a regular spiritual practice of setting aside a time of peace and rest, but even more, to immerse ourselves during that "special" time in the promises of God, the promises that sustain us each day, during "regular" time, too. As the bent-over woman's gaze was "lifted up" to God in praise, perhaps our perspective, too, will be raised and will lead us to new and deeper faithfulness and praise.”

The story really portrays Jesus as keeping the Sabbath because he sees it differently, and because he has a different sense of timing. The time is now for God's grace and healing, not later. This is an urgent matter. Jesus has just spent much of the previous chapter speaking about "the hour" and about the ability to see what is really important. This woman's ailment may not threaten her life, but her life –like our life - is so precious that each day is a gift and an opportunity to praise God. According to Barbara Reid, "When the purpose of Sabbath rest is to be free to praise God, Jesus deems it necessary to free a bound woman so as to do precisely that." What matters to Reid in this text is Jesus' timing, because "Jesus is urgent that now is the time of salvation" (The Lectionary Commentary).

 

Liz a Presbyterian minister shared this :  “Our gospel today, though it speaks of physical appearance, takes us to a much deeper place.
A place where rules are broken, where conformity is cast aside.
A place where what you see is NOT what you get.
Because the love of God confounds expectation.
And allows miracles to happen.
Allows despair to become hope.
Allows dire straits to become places of possibility.
Allows the trials of life to become places of growth.
And allows those on whom we would look down or pity to teach us the most valuable lessons about life and about the transforming love of God.
We're very good at jumping to conclusions.
At deciding how things will turn out before we've even given them a chance.
At dismissing the possibility of being surprised by joy
We're bent down by rules and expectations.
Just as burdened as the Daughter of Abraham whom Jesus healed on the Sabbath.
And when we close ourselves off to new possibilities we limit that slow winding work of God.

So let us be open to the possibility of God’s healing power in our midst – releasing us from the burdens we carry.  The time of God’s healing power is now – today in this Sabbath place of worship – the healing hands of Jesus are extended to you – for you to lay down the burdens that you carry – to place them amongst the stones on the communion table and then to walk from this building – erect – standing tall – and praising God for the blessings and the healings and the daily miracles that we live.

Thanks be to God, Amen.