Aug. 25, 2013, 14th Sunday After Pentecost

Luke 13:10-17

  10 On a Sabbath Jesus was teaching in one of the synagogues, 11 and a woman was there who had been crippled by a spirit for eighteen years. She was bent over and could not straighten up at all. 12 When Jesus saw her, he called her forward and said to her, "Woman, you are set free from your infirmity." 13 Then he put his hands on her, and immediately she straightened up and praised God.
    14 Indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, the synagogue ruler said to the people, "There are six days for work. So come and be healed on those days, not on the Sabbath."
    15 The Lord answered him, "You hypocrites! Doesn't each of you on the Sabbath untie his ox or donkey from the stall and lead it out to give it water? 16 Then should not this woman, a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has kept bound for eighteen long years, be set free on the Sabbath day from what bound her?"
    17 When he said this, all his opponents were humiliated, but the people were delighted with all the wonderful things he was doing.

Two haunting questions raised by this text:

“Do Christians (we) hide behind obscure biblical passages and ancient prejudices as a way of avoiding the call to be a healing presence in the world?”  Lisa W. Davison

Consider homosexuality as one example.  Do we hide behind the few verses of Scripture which seem to condemn homosexuality, so we don’t have to face the many verses of Scripture which call us to be “gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.” (Ps. 103:8) as Jesus was!  Thus being a healing presence in the world.


How do we keep the Sabbath today?

Weekly worship is still with us, yet few of us worship weekly.
Sunday is still a “special” day yet it is full of that which happens the rest of the week.

Reflect on these words from Gary E. Pelukso-Verdend, a United Methodist pastor at Phillips Theological Seminary inTulsa, OK.

“Keeping Sabbath is also a weekly reminder of God’s household economics in which economic justice is a foundational virtue of any society and in which the value of liberation for the bound takes precedence over normal prohibitions.  In today's 24/7/365 globalized and commercialized economy, keeping Sabbath thus understood will involve striving that rises to the level of agony.  We Christians have little external support for Sabbath stewardship.  It is not easy to be a good steward of time, money, energy, and attention in a world that never sleeps or rests, in which faith in the global economy sometimes crosses over into idolatry.”