March 19, 2023
Religion and churches are known as having a certain way you are supposed to do things.
Many years ago, Kevin and I were copastors. Our church had a fundraiser, a ham supper. A bunch of us got together to prepare for the supper. We cut the ham. We all used tiny paring knives to cut ham into pieces. This really bothered Kevin. He wondered, “Why not use the right knife for the job?” Kevin has always been a fan of good cooking knives. We’ve had friends come to our house before, and Kevin has a big butcher knife in his hand. Once he was cutting something up in the kitchen, and he came out and reprimanded one of our kids. Kevin didn’t realize it, but his knife was still in his hand. Our friends got a chuckle out of that. He looked dangerous! Another time, a friend came over, and Kevin was in the kitchen with a huge butcher knife in hand. Kevin turned to say hello, and our friend was intimidated by that knife! Kevin has never injured anyone, but If you come over, take a few steps back, just in case!
The point is Kevin is all about having the proper knife for cutting food, and it must be sharpened. So here we were in a church using tiny, dull old paring knives, which Kevin considered the wrong knife for the job. The next day when we all gathered to prepare food for the ham and dandelion supper, Kevin shows up with his cutting board and big butcher knife. Whack, whack, whack, he cuts the ham up in no time at all. The people in the church kitchen were horrified. That’s not how you do it! We always use the paring knife. I think they valued that it took them a LOOOOONNNG time to cut the ham, which gave them more time to fellowship and talk to each other. Kevin didn’t understand their thinking. But he realized he should go back to cutting the ham with a paring knife. There were just some rules you have to follow.
Churches have rules, whether it’s don’t dance, (if you saw the musical last week, Footloose, there’s a minister who doesn’t want dances!) Another rule could be don’t eat meat on Friday. There could be a rule on what music is or isn’t allowed. There can be rules about the clothes you can or can’t wear to church. Maybe that’s the reason you left a church in the past: you couldn’t keep the rules, or you didn’t want to keep the rules, or you thought they just didn’t make sense.
Today we’re going to talk about Jesus and the rules and about a time Jesus was in a synagogue and he broke the rules! What is going on and what does God think about all this!
Religious leaders were often perplexed by Jesus. Doesn’t he understand the commands of our faith? Why doesn’t he, and why don’t his disciples follow the rules? Why does he eat with sinners?
We’re on the section of Luke where Jesus is on a journey, a slow one, up to Jerusalem where he will be crucified. He has set his face towards Jerusalem. Jesus talks about how he will suffer and die. He knows where he is headed and what will happen. But even though he knows breaking the rules in the synagogue could get him in trouble, some things are too important to be silent about! So, on the journey to Jerusalem, in front of everyone in the synagogue, Jesus breaks the rules!
While Jesus was teaching in a synagogue, he sees a woman who was bent over and couldn’t straighten up. When Jesus sees her, he called her forward. He didn’t hide what he was going to do. Jesus said, “Woman, you are set free from your infirmity.” Then he put his hands on her, and immediately she straightened up and praised God.
The synagogue leader didn’t like that Jesus healed her, because he believed, you HAVE to keep the Sabbath, the seventh day, holy, that means you don’t do ANY work on the Sabbath. In his opinion Jesus, by healing the woman, violated the command to keep the Sabbath.
Think about how a person can understand things backwards. Nobody has children so there will be someone to play with the toys! Couples don’t say nobody is playing with the toys, we should have some kids, so the toys won’t be bored. We all know, children aren’t for the benefit of the toys. It’s the other way around.
The same goes for rules. God did not create us so there would be someone to keep his rules. God’s commands are for the benefit of His people. God is for people. God is for you. God loves you more than he loves rules.
God loves you more than his commandments. When you get this reversed, when you think we are here to keep God’s rules to make him happy, then people get hurt. So many people have taken a verse of God’s word and used it to justify terrible things: like the holocaust, slavery, etc. When the rule is most important, people get hurt. People are more important than rules. God loves you more than he loves rules.
Jesus responds to the synagogue leader, “You hypocrites! Doesn’t each of you on the Sabbath untie your ox or donkey from the stall and lead it out to give it water?” Jesus is right: If you have an animal, you have to feed it and give it water every day. You can’t say, “Sorry, it’s the Sabbath!” Everybody would have some activity where they would say, well this is ok to do on the Sabbath. And they would take care of their animal, or their kid or whatever. Jesus is saying, since everyone finds an excuse to do some work on the Sabbath, 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? The woman is a child of God, she’s been crippled for many years. The Sabbath, the seventh day is a day that sets people free. Isn’t the Sabbath the perfect day for her to be healed? God made the Sabbath for the benefit of his people, so, we got some rest. Because God loves us.
Verse 17 says Jesus’ opponents were humiliated. What Jesus said made sense and they had no response. But the congregation who heard that people are more important than rules? They were delighted with Jesus and the wonderful things he was doing. It’s wonderful to see people made whole, and God’s love poured out on people through Jesus!
The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.
Now what does that mean about us and the rules? First thing, if you’re a sinner (and we’re all sinners) you are invited to follow Jesus! We see in all the gospels, especially in the gospel of Luke, Jesus was all about the outsiders, outcasts, and outlaws. Jesus would seek you out and invite you as you are to follow.
If you are a follower, you are invited to yield to Jesus. You don’t have to say yes to a list or say yes to a law. You are saying yes to Jesus, who said this is my commandment, that you treat other people the way I have treated you. You love others, the way I have loved you. You don’t follow a list or a law. You are invited to follow a person, Jesus.
My challenge for you this week is to answer this question: what role did rule-keeping play in your experience of religion? Maybe you followed rules that, as you look back, seem weird, don’t make much sense. Maybe rules are why you decided not to be religious. So, think about rules in your experience of religion.
Jesus came to a synagogue, and in front of everybody he broke the rule. Because he knew, God loves people more than he loves rules. The Sabbath is made for YOU, so you get rest, so you can enjoy God. Rules are important, but people are even more important. Our faith is based in Jesus. We follow him, we do what he did and love as he did. Jesus set a woman free from illness. As we follow him, Jesus sets us free! Amen.
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