The Sabbath is a Gift    Luke 13:10-17

Have you ever identified stress points in your life? What are those symptoms that start to appear when we are operating on overload? We’re in the grocery store and you duck behind the next counter or zip to the next isle because you don’t feel like talking with a person you recognize? You avoid eye contact. You are curt in a conversation with someone you love. You sense a edge of cynicism in your thoughts. Your body language exposes your hidden anxiety? Sooner or later something has to give to regain perspective.

Today’s gospel lesson is about the Gift of the Sabbath in our lives. On this day God urges us to look beyond our own interests. This is God’s day. It is God’s gift to us.

As we’ve worked through the gospel of Luke in our lectionary texts—we’ve found that Luke
has a keen eye for the outcasts of society. He also clearly focuses upon the lot of women in 1st century Palestine. Luke had a compassion for those whom society pushed aside and that compassion came to him through the eyes of Jesus. This specific story is unique to Luke.

Picture with me this poor woman. She perhaps was so bent over that she was constantly looking at the ground–not even able to meet people eye to eye. In addition to her physical burden—she carried the weight of societal judgment. In her day—physical infirmity was often equated with sin. Even if she couldn’t see the eyes of those looking at her she probably felt their stare. This was coupled with the fact that she was a woman in 1st century Palestine. This nameless woman’s identity was bound by her gender and infirmity. It was a heavy heavy load. She had carried it for eighteen years and he was duly humbled by her condition.

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Luke 9: 51-62

A Samaritan Village Refuses to Receive Jesus

51 When the days drew near for him to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem. ⁵²And he sent messengers ahead of him. On their way they entered a village of the Samaritans to make ready for him; ⁵³but they did not receive him, because his face was set towards Jerusalem. ⁵⁴When his disciples James and John saw it, they said, ‘Lord, do you want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them?’^{* 55}But he turned and rebuked them. ⁵⁶Then^* they went on to another village.

Would-Be Followers of Jesus

57 As they were going along the road, someone said to him, ‘I will follow you wherever you go.’ ⁵⁸And Jesus said to him, ‘Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.’ ⁵⁹To another he said, ‘Follow me.’ But he said, ‘Lord, first let me go and bury my father.’ ⁶⁰But Jesus^* said to him, ‘Let the dead bury their own dead; but as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God.’ ⁶¹Another said, ‘I will follow you, Lord; but let me first say farewell to those at my home.’ ⁶²Jesus said to him, ‘No one who puts a hand to the plough and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.’

Looking Forward

In our global society—we are living in a day when our consciousness of world problems seems to be overwhelming. In recent years we seem to be bouncing from one crisis to another. Our country has been facing two prolonged wars that have overshadowed in time all of our previous conflicts. Louisiana and the southern coast are still recovering from Hurricane Katrina five years ago, which then, was the costliest natural disaster in our nations history. Now the oil spill in the Gulf threatens to dwarf that disaster with implications for generations to come. At the end of 2008 our economy collapsed following reckless and unsustainable lending practices in the housing market not to mention Wall Street’s greed. The economic crisis has had global affects most recently with the collapse of Greece’s economy and its affect on Europe. Even now unemployment is high and our economy is attempting to recover but with no certainty for sustainability.  We as human beings hunger for good news. We need a renewed perspective on all that we are facing.

Almost two decades ago (1991) a wonderful story of the human dilemma was portrayed in the movie, Grand Canyon. A story that focuses on the individual lives of East LA residents, it explores race relations, poverty, and the overwhelming problems of life that affect us all. One of the central characters was an East Los Angeles tow truck driver, who every year, would make a sojourn to the Grand Canyon in order to gain a wider perspective on life. When he was able to see his life from the larger expanse of creation, he regained a new perspective on himself, enabling him to respond to the challenges of a pervasive hopelessness in his impoverished community as well as the challenges of his own personal problems.

As spiritual beings and followers of Christ we do not live our lives in a vacuum. The problems of the world affect us all. This, coupled with our family lives and daily issues we face as individuals, make these challenging days for us. When we come to worship we bring with us the cares of the world and concerns for our lives. We seek a renewed perspective on our faith and how we are called to live.  This morning, the good news of Jesus’ words come to us reminding us that Jesus’ call upon our lives is attainable if we keep our eyes focused upon him.

Jesus’ words, however, are not easy to hear. We see in our gospel text this morning that following Jesus in no easy task. It is clear that there is a cost to follow him. This raises for us a question we confront every day: what is the cost in our lives for following Jesus?

This story marks an important turning point in the ministry of Christ. He is setting his eyes on Jerusalem when three would-be disciples approach Jesus.

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Nehemiah 8:1-3, 5-6, 8-10    Luke 4:14-21

When we read the Scripture lessons every Sunday morning in worship, we do so in stride. In fact, that could often describe our approach to worship in general. In the words of Annie Dillard, words we use in worship are “things we have learned we can say to God without being killed.”
We often have a very lackadaisical attitude when the scriptures are read. We respect them and expect them to be read in worship. Perhaps we are so familiar with them we do not anticipate hearing anything new. We read the gospel lesson and conclude with the words: THIS IS THE WORD OF THE LORD. We say it without missing a beat. But what impact does this Word of the Lord have upon our lives?

Contrast what is often our approach, with our text from Nehemiah. The people of God had returned from exile. Jerusalem was in ruin and the walls were leveled. (Picture the scenes we’ve seen in Haiti this past week). Nehemiah drew his people together and against great odds rebuilt the wall. When it was completed they asked Ezra the priest and scribe to bring forth the law of Moses, the Word of the Lord and to read it in the public square. When he opened the scriptures all the assembly stood up to listen. They were almost 50,000 in number who had gathered. Ezra read from early morning to midday, the congregation standing all the while. And all the people wept when they heard the words of the law of God. They were moved to the very core of their being.

Let’s be honest. For the most part we do not like to be disturbed. That’s true on several levels but I suspect it is also true in worship. We want to hear confirmation that we are doing well. We prefer affirmation that confirms our lifestyles are in synch with God—to hear that we are doing all the right things. But if you have lost everything you have known, as was the case with the Israelite people, you hear things in a different way. The Word of the Lord fell on their ears like rain on parched soil.
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