Date: August 18th & 21st
Preacher: Pastor Ashley Rosa-Ruggieri
First Reading: Isaiah 58:9b-14
Psalmody: Psalm 103:1-8
Second Reading: Hebrews 12:18-29
Gospel: Luke 13:10-17
Have you ever been in a situation where there was an issue going on around you that could be addressed, but others with you said, this is not an appropriate time? Let me give you an example… A colleague of mine once told me that there was a Sunday where she was leading worship, and a visitor came in who was a mother with a baby and a toddler. The beginning of worship went fine, but around when the readings and sermon happened, the mother was struggling to keep her toddler still, while also holding her baby. My colleague, while she was preaching, noticed this, and noticed that no one around was helping, in fact some were glaring or scooting farther away from the family.
And so, when it was time for the hymn of the day after the sermon, she came down the aisle from where she normally sat behind the altar, and told the visitor about some of the resources they had to help little ones with worship. After the service was over, congregants came up to the pastor and said things like: “Why would you go talk to someone in the congregation during worship?” and “We would have welcomed her after the service.” And “Pastor, I just don’t think that was an appropriate time to do that.”
We live in a society where there are social rules, sometimes written and sometimes unwritten, that can get in the way of people receiving what they need from the community. This story from a colleague is one example of how this could play out in a congregation, but there are other possibilities. Structures are set in place to create a clear path of action, and if someone goes outside of that path, issues can arise. As we look at our Gospel story this week, I want us to consider situations like these in our world today. Our passage from Luke is set during a worship service on the Sabbath, and features Jesus, a woman who has been bent over and unable to stand for 18 years, a worshiping community, and synagogue leaders. The woman enters into worship, crouched over as she always is, and Jesus calls to her and tells her that she is healed. She goes to him and immediately after he places his hands on her, she stands up and praises God. Then we have the response from the synagogue leader who was present.
Before digging in deeper to that response, one note I want to make is that we should not villainize the synagogue leader of this story. There are times and places where structures are helpful and contribute to community aid and health. We need those paths of guidance in our world sometimes, they are not inherently bad. Instead, I want us to consider when we have been like the synagogue leader and placed these systems we have in place over the well-being of our neighbor. In this case, I would say that the system is no longer functioning in a way that uplifts community, and so it no longer deserves our support when that support creates difficulties rather than solutions. So, let’s continue. The leader speaks after the woman is healed and shouts over the crowd, “There are six days that work should be done, so come on one of those days to be healed, and not on the sabbath.” Imagine someone walking into a worship service, who was in pair or needed something, and then they are told, today is not the appropriate time, come back tomorrow.
At first, you may think to yourself, I could never do that. But I would challenge you to consider those among us who have been in need of some form of care, and their pain or hunger or poverty has been brushed off continually for days, months, or years because they did not show up at the appropriate time or place. Sometimes when God shows up is not convenient and sometimes it even seems inappropriate for the context, and yet God shows up in those spaces. If we learn one thing from our scriptures today, it is this: It is always the appropriate time to care for our neighbors. Jesus’s response to the religious leaders is that the context of the sabbath may not allow work, but that does not make an act of helping a neighbor inappropriate. He points out that people might lead their animals to water on the sabbath, but a woman from their community comes to worship among them and she should be denied this healing because it is the sabbath? He calls them hypocrites for how they treat this woman, who has suffered 18 years of pain, and yet when she is healed and cared for, she is shamed for not coming on the right day. But like I said, it is not that protecting things like the sabbath is bad on its own, it is when our pride and self-interest of maintaining a system over caring for our neighbor becomes the result.
Our Isaiah reading this week is very helpful when explaining this difference, so I am going to read it again. It is split into two parts, but I am going to read the second part first. READ ISAIAH 58:13-14. This passage calls the sabbath holy, that it is a time of delight, that it is honorable to the Lord. The sabbath is not bad. And, the sabbath is also not a time to pursue ones own interests or affairs. The sabbath is not the time to let our pride of properly maintaining the sabbath get in the way of helping others. Upholding a system above the needs of people is not the way of the Lord.
Now, the first part of the passage, the part right before this. READ ISAIAH 58:9b-12. Removing the yoke of neighbors and the pointing of fingers, offering food to the hungry, and satisfying the needs of the afflicted, these are the things that the Lord is leading us to do in our community, in our world. These are the things that uplift all among us, and rebuild ancient ruins, turning them into strong foundations for the future generations. We are not God, we are not Jesus, which means we will never get it right 100% of the time. That should not stop up from recognizing the needs of our neighbor, and stepping in to care for others, despite the systems that may try to shame or say the time is inappropriate for that action. I will end today by simply repeating the message this passage is giving us this day to consider and to act upon: It is always the appropriate time to care for our neighbors. Thanks be to God.