Old Testament reading & Gospel linked by idea of sabbath
what people can/can't; should/shouldn't do
Leader of synagogue has a strong sense of what sabbath was for
– a letter of the law kind of guy,
And law says,
Remember the sabbath day & keep it holy;
The law says,
it is a day set aside for God – so you shall rest & do no work.
Strict rules around this – what constituted work, what was allowable.
Not to observe it properly was a big no-no.
Then there were the people of Israel Isaiah speaks of.
Again, they understood the letter of the law.
They followed it in form,
felt that they were fulfilling their religious requirements
– but clearly not!
God accuses them of trampling the sabbath,
pursuing their own interests on God's holy day,
going their own ways,
serving their own interests
& pursuing their own affairs
which is not just to say they did as they pleased,
but that others were hurt in the process
– they weren't attending to the needs of the hungry and afflicted.
The deeper meaning of sabbath was lost for both the leader & the Israelites...
the idea of sabbath as gift;
as an opportunity for rest, renewal, restoration of relationship
- 1st & foremost w/ God,
and secondly w/ each other.
2 ditches
Sabbath/Sunday as dour day of obligation
(ex. Puritans – no work, but no fun either!);
pure religious obligation that becomes a burden.
Going to church is one thing,
but to set aside an entire day as holy,
as centered on God;
a day when we deliberately disconnect in large part from the world
& deliberately seek to reconnect w/ God – yikes!
Alien, foreign concept.
We tend to fall in the other ditch
– where the sabbath
(Sunday for most Christians)
is just like any other day
– Go to church (maybe)
and then we pursue our own interests & own affairs
- running errands,
- going shopping,
- cleaning up the house,
- finishing homework that's due 1st thing Monday morning
– and we tend to head into the week almost as stressed and overwhelmed
as we ended it on Friday (if you have a Monday -Friday kind of job!)
But sabbath isn't supposed to be either of those things.
It's not a joyless day of boredom & obligation,
nor is it a day just like all other days w/ a little God sprinkled in.
God intends sabbath to be a gift,
a day of being set free,
of being restored.
Gospel shows us one clear example:
Crippled woman,
who came to synagogue on the sabbath for who knows what reason
– her own sense of religious obligation, routine, companionship, inspiration?
But not expecting to meet Jesus;
not expecting him to pick her out of the crowd & call her over;
not expecting him to say,
“Woman, you are set free from your ailment”
and yet feeling it happen as he spoke the words,
as he laid his hands on her,
immediately able to do what she hasn't done for 18 years
– stand up straight,
able to look at the world around her from a new perspective,
not having to crane her neck to see up,
not tied to looking at the ground, at people's feet,
but being able to look at them face-to-face
and immediately praising God,
recognizing that this is what sabbath is for
– for connecting with God,
for acknowledging the One who set her free,
to rejoice with the community gathered around her
as they joined in prayer and praise and worship
for the wonderful things Jesus was doing
– esp. this wonderful thing,
this amazing healing that happened right before their eyes!
That's really at the heart of the sabbath
– it is a gift from God to us,
a chance to rest
(an obligation, actually);
an invitation to trust God more than ourselves
– that God can & will guide & provide for our needs
even if we take a time-out from “doing” once a week
(which is part of what was going on in the Isaiah reading);
an opportunity to remember together
all of the ways that God has and will set us free
from all the things that bind us, that hold us down
– whether they are physical or spiritual or relational;
a chance to celebrate &
to share God's promise of deliverance with all that we meet,
so that together,
we might recognize & acknowledge the One who does all this
and rejoice together,
praising and worshiping God,
and so be drawn back into restored relationships with God and with each other...
Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment