August 25, 2019
Luke 13:10-17
This might sound weird to most of you, considering I’m a lawyer and all, but I’ve never really liked rules. Most rules don’t account for the unfolding of life, which is never as black and white as the rule makers envision. As a result, rules often feel too rigid and too burdensome to truly be helpful. For instance, listen to this story that I came across recently,
At some point in time, and maybe still today, Greyhound bus lines had a rule that no pets were allowed on its buses. On its face, some would see such a rule as legitimate and necessary, while others wouldn’t understand this rule at all. Yet I hope everyone would agree that kicking an 87-year-old woman off the bus in the middle of the night isn’t the best course of action. Well that is exactly what happened one night at a rural truck stop in the state of Florida. A 20-year veteran driver kicked an 87-year-old woman off his bus and justified it because she had a tiny puppy named Cookie with her. Now, it didn’t matter that she was returning home from her birthday party where she received Cookie as a gift. It also didn’t matter that she was 80 miles away from her home, or that it was 3 o’clock in the morning. Apparently, it was clear in his mind that a rule was a rule and there could be no exceptions. Ever!
So, he did what strict rule followers always do, followed the letter of the law and summoned a security guard to escort her and Cookie off the bus. Now, I have no idea what the other passengers were saying or thinking, but it seems clear that nothing would have changed this driver’s mind. The thing is, on the one hand I understand his actions because I live in a house which oftentimes feels dominated by rule followers and a rule is a rule. On the other hand, this driver’s actions make no sense. For me, this situation required him to choose a different path, one that the rule and its makers never could have envisioned until it happened that night… it required him to see the honest and equally justifiable needs of a human being and meet those needs. Like so many, this driver simply couldn’t, or maybe wouldn’t, meet those needs because after all, a rule is a rule.
*************************
How easy is it for us to not recognize the needs of others? Whether we are so busy living our own life that we can’t really see anything else, or we make the choice not to see. It seems easy for us to not see the needs of others. This past week a few of us were having a conversation in the office about why certain types of churches might be so attractive while others might not. We discussed topics like music and worship style, which are always the first things talked about no matter what group is discussing the topic. We also talked about theology, which I believe was my doing because I continue to be baffled by how large certain types of churches have grown, when the theology being pushed is oppressive to others, especially women. Sadly, in my mind, preaching a theology rooted in God’s desire to liberate the oppressed isn’t currently as attractive as rock bands and video screens.
We then talked about human connection, and more specifically about the difficulty in truly connecting with other people. We discussed how the church was historically a place where such connections could be made, (there is a reason we call ourselves a “church family”) but how that has changed over time. This difficulty in true connection has many causes, I believe, like ones who go to church always giving off the appearance that everything is good in their life. Or, as one of us said toward the end of that discussion about church growth, “maybe people choose certain churches, with certain worship styles because they know they can hide from those around them.” Such an idea both intrigued me and caused me to feel sad, because the more I’ve thought about it, the more I believe there is some level of truth to it, and for good reason. Overall the church has not historically been that kind to people who don’t or can’t hide their true self.
****************************
Just consider for a moment how the church leader reacted to the woman who entered the synagogue in today’s text – he couldn’t even bring himself to focus his attention on her and her needs. In fact, he doesn’t even seem to celebrate her praising God, which one would think a Church leader would appreciate. Instead, when the leader spoke, he spoke to the crowd, but his words were actually about her and they are words of admonishment. Maybe this leader thought this was a teachable moment and the focus of how not to live was her, a woman who had been living in a crippled state for 18 years. A woman unable to look up. A woman who for 18 years had been imprisoned, both in her body and surely in her mind. A woman whose body had been preventing her from standing up, and whose community had been preventing her from the dignity of being fully human. And what lesson was this church leader trying to teach? Rules are rules and you are only supposed to bring your needs on certain days. Apparently in his mind, liberation was only supposed to happen on certain days and because it happened on a day it was not supposed to, the rule had been broken and when rules are broken people must be admonished.
Do you find it ironic that this woman actually never asked Jesus to help her? I know I do. In fact, this unnamed woman in this story doesn’t speak, although the text does say that upon standing straight up, she immediately praised God. Maybe she was coming to the synagogue hoping to hide out from the other people while also hoping to worship God. The thing is, her physical stature prevented her from hiding her needs. She had been imprisoned for 18 years and Jesus, ever true to his stated mission of bringing good news to the poor – of proclaiming release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind - of letting the oppressed go free, (Luke 4:18-19), did the only thing he could do, liberate her from that imprisonment. And her response was one of praise while the church leader’s response was one of admonishment.
Letting rules blind us to the needs of others is tragic. Letting rules stop us from helping liberate someone is heartbreaking, especially when churches and church leaders are leading the charge by claiming rules are rules. Luckily, Jesus was teaching that day too, and his lesson is the one to be remembered. His lesson is actually rooted in the ever-evolving story of God and God’s people and it seems the only person in today’s story who couldn’t see that was the church leader. Yes, Jesus was teaching about sabbath, but not the pharisaic version of sabbath where everyone refrained from all work everywhere, except of course taking one’s cattle to water. Jesus was teaching about sabbath as the undertaking of holy work. Jesus was teaching about sabbath as doing the work of liberation. And to make sure, Jesus’ lesson on sabbath is firmly rooted in the Old Testament book of Deuteronomy.
Where the church leader’s control of sabbath was rooted in cumbersome rules which left people imprisoned and continued their longstanding bondage, Jesus is teaching about a religious observance that remembers and honors the liberation of God’s people.
****************************
When put this way, the choice seems clear doesn’t it? I wonder why in reality, though, choosing the holy work of liberation seems so hard. Maybe it’s because we choose to hide because our fear of vulnerability feels too strong. Or maybe it’s because our leaders encourage us to be happy, or at least fake it till we make it. Or maybe it’s because rules are rules and we feel obligated to follow those rules to stay in someone’s good graces.
The good news is, there are others rules we could live by if we so choose. Those other rules respect all of God’s creation and to follow those rules requires taking part in the holy work of liberation and love. It is the stories of those who live by those other rules that inspire. It is the stories that make us feel good and open us up to feel the good in life and those stories are out there if you look. They come in the form of a police officer being called at 3:00 o’clock in the morning to escort away an 87-year-old woman and her puppy Cookie. You see, when that police officer showed up, he chose the holy work of loving a neighbor. Instead of adding to her fear, he showed her love. What could have become even more terrifying for this 87-year-old woman, who walked with a crutch and had trouble seeing and hearing, became a story of love which all began with the officer getting her something to eat and drink and ended with five officers from five different jurisdictions escorting her home safely.
When later asked about this experience, she said “I’ve never seen so many people so nice with me, an old lady. They gave me love, respect, attention. They gave me compassion, respect, friendliness.” Instead of allowing rules to imprison her, they all chose the Holy work of liberation which is the work of the Sabbath!
[PRAYER]
Amen!
Luke 13:10-17
This might sound weird to most of you, considering I’m a lawyer and all, but I’ve never really liked rules. Most rules don’t account for the unfolding of life, which is never as black and white as the rule makers envision. As a result, rules often feel too rigid and too burdensome to truly be helpful. For instance, listen to this story that I came across recently,
At some point in time, and maybe still today, Greyhound bus lines had a rule that no pets were allowed on its buses. On its face, some would see such a rule as legitimate and necessary, while others wouldn’t understand this rule at all. Yet I hope everyone would agree that kicking an 87-year-old woman off the bus in the middle of the night isn’t the best course of action. Well that is exactly what happened one night at a rural truck stop in the state of Florida. A 20-year veteran driver kicked an 87-year-old woman off his bus and justified it because she had a tiny puppy named Cookie with her. Now, it didn’t matter that she was returning home from her birthday party where she received Cookie as a gift. It also didn’t matter that she was 80 miles away from her home, or that it was 3 o’clock in the morning. Apparently, it was clear in his mind that a rule was a rule and there could be no exceptions. Ever!
So, he did what strict rule followers always do, followed the letter of the law and summoned a security guard to escort her and Cookie off the bus. Now, I have no idea what the other passengers were saying or thinking, but it seems clear that nothing would have changed this driver’s mind. The thing is, on the one hand I understand his actions because I live in a house which oftentimes feels dominated by rule followers and a rule is a rule. On the other hand, this driver’s actions make no sense. For me, this situation required him to choose a different path, one that the rule and its makers never could have envisioned until it happened that night… it required him to see the honest and equally justifiable needs of a human being and meet those needs. Like so many, this driver simply couldn’t, or maybe wouldn’t, meet those needs because after all, a rule is a rule.
*************************
How easy is it for us to not recognize the needs of others? Whether we are so busy living our own life that we can’t really see anything else, or we make the choice not to see. It seems easy for us to not see the needs of others. This past week a few of us were having a conversation in the office about why certain types of churches might be so attractive while others might not. We discussed topics like music and worship style, which are always the first things talked about no matter what group is discussing the topic. We also talked about theology, which I believe was my doing because I continue to be baffled by how large certain types of churches have grown, when the theology being pushed is oppressive to others, especially women. Sadly, in my mind, preaching a theology rooted in God’s desire to liberate the oppressed isn’t currently as attractive as rock bands and video screens.
We then talked about human connection, and more specifically about the difficulty in truly connecting with other people. We discussed how the church was historically a place where such connections could be made, (there is a reason we call ourselves a “church family”) but how that has changed over time. This difficulty in true connection has many causes, I believe, like ones who go to church always giving off the appearance that everything is good in their life. Or, as one of us said toward the end of that discussion about church growth, “maybe people choose certain churches, with certain worship styles because they know they can hide from those around them.” Such an idea both intrigued me and caused me to feel sad, because the more I’ve thought about it, the more I believe there is some level of truth to it, and for good reason. Overall the church has not historically been that kind to people who don’t or can’t hide their true self.
****************************
Just consider for a moment how the church leader reacted to the woman who entered the synagogue in today’s text – he couldn’t even bring himself to focus his attention on her and her needs. In fact, he doesn’t even seem to celebrate her praising God, which one would think a Church leader would appreciate. Instead, when the leader spoke, he spoke to the crowd, but his words were actually about her and they are words of admonishment. Maybe this leader thought this was a teachable moment and the focus of how not to live was her, a woman who had been living in a crippled state for 18 years. A woman unable to look up. A woman who for 18 years had been imprisoned, both in her body and surely in her mind. A woman whose body had been preventing her from standing up, and whose community had been preventing her from the dignity of being fully human. And what lesson was this church leader trying to teach? Rules are rules and you are only supposed to bring your needs on certain days. Apparently in his mind, liberation was only supposed to happen on certain days and because it happened on a day it was not supposed to, the rule had been broken and when rules are broken people must be admonished.
Do you find it ironic that this woman actually never asked Jesus to help her? I know I do. In fact, this unnamed woman in this story doesn’t speak, although the text does say that upon standing straight up, she immediately praised God. Maybe she was coming to the synagogue hoping to hide out from the other people while also hoping to worship God. The thing is, her physical stature prevented her from hiding her needs. She had been imprisoned for 18 years and Jesus, ever true to his stated mission of bringing good news to the poor – of proclaiming release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind - of letting the oppressed go free, (Luke 4:18-19), did the only thing he could do, liberate her from that imprisonment. And her response was one of praise while the church leader’s response was one of admonishment.
Letting rules blind us to the needs of others is tragic. Letting rules stop us from helping liberate someone is heartbreaking, especially when churches and church leaders are leading the charge by claiming rules are rules. Luckily, Jesus was teaching that day too, and his lesson is the one to be remembered. His lesson is actually rooted in the ever-evolving story of God and God’s people and it seems the only person in today’s story who couldn’t see that was the church leader. Yes, Jesus was teaching about sabbath, but not the pharisaic version of sabbath where everyone refrained from all work everywhere, except of course taking one’s cattle to water. Jesus was teaching about sabbath as the undertaking of holy work. Jesus was teaching about sabbath as doing the work of liberation. And to make sure, Jesus’ lesson on sabbath is firmly rooted in the Old Testament book of Deuteronomy.
Where the church leader’s control of sabbath was rooted in cumbersome rules which left people imprisoned and continued their longstanding bondage, Jesus is teaching about a religious observance that remembers and honors the liberation of God’s people.
****************************
When put this way, the choice seems clear doesn’t it? I wonder why in reality, though, choosing the holy work of liberation seems so hard. Maybe it’s because we choose to hide because our fear of vulnerability feels too strong. Or maybe it’s because our leaders encourage us to be happy, or at least fake it till we make it. Or maybe it’s because rules are rules and we feel obligated to follow those rules to stay in someone’s good graces.
The good news is, there are others rules we could live by if we so choose. Those other rules respect all of God’s creation and to follow those rules requires taking part in the holy work of liberation and love. It is the stories of those who live by those other rules that inspire. It is the stories that make us feel good and open us up to feel the good in life and those stories are out there if you look. They come in the form of a police officer being called at 3:00 o’clock in the morning to escort away an 87-year-old woman and her puppy Cookie. You see, when that police officer showed up, he chose the holy work of loving a neighbor. Instead of adding to her fear, he showed her love. What could have become even more terrifying for this 87-year-old woman, who walked with a crutch and had trouble seeing and hearing, became a story of love which all began with the officer getting her something to eat and drink and ended with five officers from five different jurisdictions escorting her home safely.
When later asked about this experience, she said “I’ve never seen so many people so nice with me, an old lady. They gave me love, respect, attention. They gave me compassion, respect, friendliness.” Instead of allowing rules to imprison her, they all chose the Holy work of liberation which is the work of the Sabbath!
[PRAYER]
Amen!
