Jesus deepens Sabbath: 14th after pentecost

The holy gospel according to Luke (13:10-17)

¹⁰Now Jesus was teaching in one of the synagogues on the sabbath.

       ¹¹And 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.

       ¹²When Jesus saw her, he called her over and said,

              “Woman, you are set free from your ailment.”

              ¹³When Jesus laid his hands on her,

                     immediately she stood up straight and began praising God.

                            ¹⁴But 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.”

                            ¹⁵But the Lord answered him and said,

                                   “You hypocrites!

                                   Does not each of you on the sabbath

                                          untie your ox or your donkey from the manger,

                                                and lead it away to give it water?

                                   ¹⁶And ought not this woman,

                                          a daughter of Abraham and Sarah

                                                whom Satan bound for eighteen long years,

                                                       be set free from this bondage 

                                                              on the sabbath day?”

                            ¹⁷When Jesus said this,

                                   all his opponents were put to shame;

                                          and the entire crowd was rejoicing

                                                at all the wonderful things that Jesus was doing.

The gospel of the Lord.

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[Deep breaths]

“If you refrain from trampling the sabbath,” Isaiah says, “¹⁴then you shall take delight in the Lord”

What does that even mean anymore?  It used to be, and particularly in orthodox Judaism still is the case, that, among other things, on the Sabbath there was a limit on how many steps you could take—how far you could go—and you couldn’t light a fire or turn on a light.  Not too long ago in this country, it meant that stores were closed on Sundays.  It was the day of rest.  The day to pause, breathe deep, and not work.

But those don’t fit with our TV and internet, car-driving culture.  For those of us who work, we oftentimes work outside the stereotypical 9-5 workday or Monday through Friday workweek.  Then there is the work of housekeeping on top of it—how does that fit in?  Is it work to tend the garden and sweep the floor or is that Sabbath?

And for those of us who don’t work for a paycheck—whether it’s because we care for children or because we’ve achieved that nebulous title of “retired”—what does Sabbath look like?  If Sabbath is a break from “work,” is our whole life now Sabbath by default?  Is it that easy or simple?  Is it that unintentional?

What counts as Sabbath and what doesn’t? 

If we are watching or playing sports, does that count? 

Does playing computer games count?  What about when you sit down for a game of solitaire and look up to find that hours—not minutes as you’d thought—have passed?  What about getting online or on Facebook for one thing and clicking on links until the whole evening is gone and it’s past your bedtime?  Zoning out mindlessly in front of the TV?

In our gospel reading for today, Jesus steps into these messy wonderings about what Sabbath really is.

Jesus is just hanging out at the synagogue teaching, like ya do, and a woman comes by, bound up and curved over.  She is unable to look up or look forward and as she shuffles along the periphery, minding her own business, Jesus notices her.  She is not asking for his attention or begging with faith that he will heal her, and yet Jesus notices her and calls her over anyway.  Curious, and maybe a bit cautious from all the “religious folks” who keep misusing her to talk about sin, she shuffles over to Jesus.

And this is where Jesus broadens and deepens the meaning of Sabbath.  Having taken the time to notice this woman, he doesn’t condemn her or lift up her situation as an example of the effects of sin as some might have expected.  Instead Jesus frees her from her ailment.

Jesus, in this one encounter and subsequent confrontation, liberates us all from a restrictive understanding of Sabbath.  Jesus makes Sabbath more than a day or a set of rules about behavior.  Now Sabbath includes:

1-the space to notice others and to notice how the Holy Spirit might be at work.

2-freedom from the things that bind us.

3-restoration of people and communities.

Jesus notices the woman.  As we have prayed this year as a community of faith—whether it was on street corners in Epiphany or church building basements in Lent—we have been finding small Sabbath moments, opening ourselves to notice the world around us and to glimpse what the Holy Spirit is up to in this community.

After noticing her, Jesus frees this woman from what binds her.  That is the power of grace—God’s love—in our lives.  Because God loves you—I mean really loves you—in the things you’re ashamed of, the things you wish you could take back, the regrets and jealousies.  Jesus loves your whole self.

The gift and fact that God loves you. right now. and there’s nothing you can do to make God love you any less and there’s nothing you can do to make God love you any more                         makes.  You.  Free.  God’s grace and love frees you from the pressure to be perfect or to live up to unrealistic expectations.  Jesus brings us a new kind of Sabbath and frees us with the woman from these pressures that bind us.

In freeing her, Jesus also restores this woman to the community and this community to the woman.  Prior to her encounter with Jesus, she was not recognized as a full part of the community.  As with most women of the time, she was probably off to the side and since she was unable to look up or forward, not fully included in the life of the community. 

Jesus changes that.  Jesus brings her from the margins to the center, from shuffling to celebrating and praising God.  Jesus brings her to the center, frees her from what kept her bound and facing only the ground, and connects the community back to her.

As one who is marginalized and off to the edge, Jesus brings her physically and spiritually to the center.  Her experience and her life become the focus for Jesus, the heart of the Sabbath.  In this Jesus also restores the whole community, which has been lacking while she was not included.  The community becomes more whole as it is able to connect with and recognize this woman.

In these ways, Jesus breaks open Sabbath itself.  And so also breaks open our Sabbaths.  Even in our TV, internet, and work-driven lives, Jesus brings a new meaning for Sabbath, a meaning bigger and deeper than a “day off.”  Whether we set apart an entire day or incorporate Sabbath moments in our lives throughout the week, Jesus creates the Sabbath space for us to notice, to be freed and to be restored. 

Together we all live fuller lives, grounded in God’s love for each person, from every country and race and from every situation in life.  Jesus creates endless opportunities for us to be renewed in worship as we confess our sins and receive forgiveness, as we pass the peace—seeking reconciliation with others, as we receive the bread and cup—new life and nourishment for us. 

There are endless ways each day and each week that Sabbath comes to us, in deep breaths, playing, reading, and praying.  And at the heart of it is Jesus’ presence with us all. together.  Jesus’ Sabbath restores and frees us the whole community and the whole body of Christ.