True Sabbath
Proper 16 Year C Luke 13:10-17
True Sabbath
The Rev. Brett P. Backus
“And the entire crowd was rejoicing at all the wonderful things that he was doing.”
Today's message is about true sabbath. It is about both our ability and necessity
as Christians to successfully encounter God in and through God's work. Sabbath.
So, in the Backus family, church participation was not really a choice. I was so used to this idea in fact, that when my bedroom door would open, at what seemed to a teenager to be some ungodly hour, and my mother would tell me plainly that it was time to get up for church, I didn't even try to argue or fuss because I already knew that this battle in particular was a complete and utter waste of time. Though it seemed unpleasant at the time, as I reflect on this family discipline, I am now very thankful. I am thankful for the respect for and value of the sabbath day that has been instilled in me over the course of my life by my parents. However, I must admit that I did not actually get a lot out of church as a teenager, or at least I did not think so then.
Sure, I was certainly fed by participating in the Eucharist, as I assume anyone who grows up receiving communion is. Yet, at that time, I was much more comfortable calling the mountains my church. After all, that was where I truly felt the presence of God. For me, to honor the sabbath day, the Lord's day, was to commune with nature and with friends. It was about relaxation and enjoyment, and about not working. It was definitely not about dragging my lazy tail out of bed, putting on uncomfortable clothes, singing old hymns that I really didn't like, shaking a hundred hands with a forced smile, and listening to some clergy person drone on about greek translations. Please take note, I hardly ever make mention of Greek translations! For me truly honoring the Sabbath did not necessarily mean going to church.
I share this with you all today, because this morning's Gospel lesson made me reflect on my view of the Sabbath throughout my life and now. It made me question anew whether or not I truly honored the Lord's day then, or for that matter, whether or not any of us truly honor the Lord's day now. You see, Jesus' actions in this morning's Gospel had an awful lot to say to the Pharisees and religious elite about the sabbath. As I thought about this Gospel reading and prepared for this sermon, I also began to realize, somewhat unexpectedly, that Jesus' message to the Pharisees, just may not be all that different for each of us today. Jesus has a lot to say to us this morning about true sabbath.
Already a suspicious character in the eyes of the Pharisees, Jesus shows up at the synagogue to teach on the Sabbath. As if that were not enough to already raise eyebrows, He then decides to perform a healing on a crippled woman in front of everyone, an illegal action that would be considered “work” and a violation of the Sabbath under Jewish law, and an action that would unfortunately typically be punishable by death. But Jesus did not do this to simply stir up trouble, and this is what I want us all to realize today. I want us to see that Jesus was doing much, much more through the healing he performed than we might think at first, and that we all today, as a Christian community, have something important to learn from His actions.
You see, the truth is that through His actions in today's Gospel, Jesus brought back the Sabbath. He did not break the Sabbath, He resurrected it; brought it back from the dead. The reality is that the observance of the sabbath day in Jesus' time was already broken. It had gotten so weighed down, and had so many legal attachments and amendments made to its original decree, that any spiritual component or benefit of the practice seems to have been almost completely snuffed out by the time Jesus came along. So Jesus' actions, though seemingly radical and contrary, were more like a fulfillment of the law and authentic observance of the Sabbath. They served as a kind of loud cry for God's chosen people to return to their roots where the intention of Sabbath observance would be to honor, celebrate, and glorify God, not to blindly adhere to man made restrictions and additions to what was once a purely spiritual practice.
When Jesus laid His hands on that woman and healed her of her affliction, He not only smashed the man made tradition of non action on the Sabbath day, but He also simultaneously lifted up the reality that true Sabbath was about doing God's work. He highlighted the fact that true Sabbath is about freedom, not restrictions. What better way to honor God on God's day than to liberate an oppressed child of God? What better way to do the work of God on God's day than to choose to Love? To love the other, to love the lower, to set one's self aside in order to serve another and celebrate our freedom from the bondage of sin through the ultimate act or work of Love in Jesus. Those who witnessed Jesus' actions and heard His words could not possibly ignore. To them, like it or not, Jesus' message about Sabbath was clear, and today His message about Sabbath should be clear to us as well.
So what then is the message for us this morning? What are we taking home with us today?
Jesus' actions in this morning's Gospel not only brought those around Him on that day back to the very core and true intention of Sabbath observance, but they also call each of us back to the heart of true Sabbath as well. You see this morning, Jesus' actions make me realize that some of my past views of Sabbath observance were wrong. Not that there is no good to be found in seeking God in nature or spending quality time with friends as I once did in honor of the Sabbath, but Jesus reminds us that this day just simply is not about us.
It is not about how much or how little we do. It is not about providing us with a good excuse to relax and enjoy ourselves. What Jesus teaches us today is that if the Sabbath is about us at all, it is only in the sense that we have to learn to put ourselves aside. We have to learn to put ourselves aside in order to love one another, in celebration, and enabling the work of God to be done.
Now, as I see it, the good news is that, in a very real sense, we already do this. The bad news, however, is that we too often forget that this is what it is all about. Though it somewhat pains me to admit, only because it happens so often, it would seem as though my parents were right yet again. They just might have had the right idea in not making my church participation optional, because it turns out that today's Gospel has made me realize that this is the best way to observe the sabbath day. This, what we are gathered together to do today, what we are doing right now, the liturgy, literally meaning the work of the people, and I would dare to add the spiritual work of the people. This, at its best, and when enacted with pure intentions, is how I believe God desires to be honored on the Sabbath day. We just sometimes need to be reminded.
Could it be that all too often we, like the Pharisees, forget what sabbath is really all about because we find ourselves too preoccupied with earthly and shallow things? Could it be that we all too often miss the true point of sabbath because we have made it more about ourselves than about God? At our worst, I think that the answer is yes. How easily we seem to forget that what we are doing here and what this day is really about is our celebrating and giving thanks for our freedom, and taking that message of Love through word and action out into the world. How easily we seem to forget that the tools we need to steer us in the right direction are already here, in our possession; our history, our tradition, our liturgy, the very words on our lips and in our hearts as we pray and sing each Sunday morning. The Eucharist we participate in is a sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving, and just as the title of the person who leads us suggests, it is a powerful act which is intended to be a celebration! How easily we forget indeed.
This morning, Jesus speaks to us all in a powerful way. He shows us that in reality, we are each that person who was healed in today's Gospel. We are all that child of God who Jesus, setting Himself aside and acting out of love, has set free. However, Jesus' message also reveals to us the sad truth that somehow we all too often end up finding ourselves looking much more like the Pharisees from today's lesson, too centered on ourselves to notice anything else, and too worried about the things of this world to remember what this day is really about. The truly Good News though, is that Jesus' voice can be heard in this morning's Gospel calling us to return. It calls us back to the place we truly ought to be, and gives us a chance to return. Just as Christ called for the return and restoration of the Sabbath day, He calls its restoration in our lives now, and for the return of each of us as well.
It may sound a bit strange at first, but through Jesus' words and actions, today's Gospel calls us all to be part of the crowd. To be a part of the crowd that rejoices with Jesus because of the work of God that He has already done. To be a part of the crowd that rejoices with Jesus because of the work of God that He is doing. To be a part of the crowd that rejoices with Jesus because of the work of God that we will help Him do now. You see for us, Brothers and Sisters in Christ, this is observing true Sabbath. This is how we each truly honor God on God's day, by coming here and whole heartedly participating together in the life altering and infinite celebration of God's Love.
“And the entire crowd was rejoicing at all the wonderful things that he was doing.”
Amen.
True Sabbath
The Rev. Brett P. Backus
“And the entire crowd was rejoicing at all the wonderful things that he was doing.”
Today's message is about true sabbath. It is about both our ability and necessity
as Christians to successfully encounter God in and through God's work. Sabbath.
So, in the Backus family, church participation was not really a choice. I was so used to this idea in fact, that when my bedroom door would open, at what seemed to a teenager to be some ungodly hour, and my mother would tell me plainly that it was time to get up for church, I didn't even try to argue or fuss because I already knew that this battle in particular was a complete and utter waste of time. Though it seemed unpleasant at the time, as I reflect on this family discipline, I am now very thankful. I am thankful for the respect for and value of the sabbath day that has been instilled in me over the course of my life by my parents. However, I must admit that I did not actually get a lot out of church as a teenager, or at least I did not think so then.
Sure, I was certainly fed by participating in the Eucharist, as I assume anyone who grows up receiving communion is. Yet, at that time, I was much more comfortable calling the mountains my church. After all, that was where I truly felt the presence of God. For me, to honor the sabbath day, the Lord's day, was to commune with nature and with friends. It was about relaxation and enjoyment, and about not working. It was definitely not about dragging my lazy tail out of bed, putting on uncomfortable clothes, singing old hymns that I really didn't like, shaking a hundred hands with a forced smile, and listening to some clergy person drone on about greek translations. Please take note, I hardly ever make mention of Greek translations! For me truly honoring the Sabbath did not necessarily mean going to church.
I share this with you all today, because this morning's Gospel lesson made me reflect on my view of the Sabbath throughout my life and now. It made me question anew whether or not I truly honored the Lord's day then, or for that matter, whether or not any of us truly honor the Lord's day now. You see, Jesus' actions in this morning's Gospel had an awful lot to say to the Pharisees and religious elite about the sabbath. As I thought about this Gospel reading and prepared for this sermon, I also began to realize, somewhat unexpectedly, that Jesus' message to the Pharisees, just may not be all that different for each of us today. Jesus has a lot to say to us this morning about true sabbath.
Already a suspicious character in the eyes of the Pharisees, Jesus shows up at the synagogue to teach on the Sabbath. As if that were not enough to already raise eyebrows, He then decides to perform a healing on a crippled woman in front of everyone, an illegal action that would be considered “work” and a violation of the Sabbath under Jewish law, and an action that would unfortunately typically be punishable by death. But Jesus did not do this to simply stir up trouble, and this is what I want us all to realize today. I want us to see that Jesus was doing much, much more through the healing he performed than we might think at first, and that we all today, as a Christian community, have something important to learn from His actions.
You see, the truth is that through His actions in today's Gospel, Jesus brought back the Sabbath. He did not break the Sabbath, He resurrected it; brought it back from the dead. The reality is that the observance of the sabbath day in Jesus' time was already broken. It had gotten so weighed down, and had so many legal attachments and amendments made to its original decree, that any spiritual component or benefit of the practice seems to have been almost completely snuffed out by the time Jesus came along. So Jesus' actions, though seemingly radical and contrary, were more like a fulfillment of the law and authentic observance of the Sabbath. They served as a kind of loud cry for God's chosen people to return to their roots where the intention of Sabbath observance would be to honor, celebrate, and glorify God, not to blindly adhere to man made restrictions and additions to what was once a purely spiritual practice.
When Jesus laid His hands on that woman and healed her of her affliction, He not only smashed the man made tradition of non action on the Sabbath day, but He also simultaneously lifted up the reality that true Sabbath was about doing God's work. He highlighted the fact that true Sabbath is about freedom, not restrictions. What better way to honor God on God's day than to liberate an oppressed child of God? What better way to do the work of God on God's day than to choose to Love? To love the other, to love the lower, to set one's self aside in order to serve another and celebrate our freedom from the bondage of sin through the ultimate act or work of Love in Jesus. Those who witnessed Jesus' actions and heard His words could not possibly ignore. To them, like it or not, Jesus' message about Sabbath was clear, and today His message about Sabbath should be clear to us as well.
So what then is the message for us this morning? What are we taking home with us today?
Jesus' actions in this morning's Gospel not only brought those around Him on that day back to the very core and true intention of Sabbath observance, but they also call each of us back to the heart of true Sabbath as well. You see this morning, Jesus' actions make me realize that some of my past views of Sabbath observance were wrong. Not that there is no good to be found in seeking God in nature or spending quality time with friends as I once did in honor of the Sabbath, but Jesus reminds us that this day just simply is not about us.
It is not about how much or how little we do. It is not about providing us with a good excuse to relax and enjoy ourselves. What Jesus teaches us today is that if the Sabbath is about us at all, it is only in the sense that we have to learn to put ourselves aside. We have to learn to put ourselves aside in order to love one another, in celebration, and enabling the work of God to be done.
Now, as I see it, the good news is that, in a very real sense, we already do this. The bad news, however, is that we too often forget that this is what it is all about. Though it somewhat pains me to admit, only because it happens so often, it would seem as though my parents were right yet again. They just might have had the right idea in not making my church participation optional, because it turns out that today's Gospel has made me realize that this is the best way to observe the sabbath day. This, what we are gathered together to do today, what we are doing right now, the liturgy, literally meaning the work of the people, and I would dare to add the spiritual work of the people. This, at its best, and when enacted with pure intentions, is how I believe God desires to be honored on the Sabbath day. We just sometimes need to be reminded.
Could it be that all too often we, like the Pharisees, forget what sabbath is really all about because we find ourselves too preoccupied with earthly and shallow things? Could it be that we all too often miss the true point of sabbath because we have made it more about ourselves than about God? At our worst, I think that the answer is yes. How easily we seem to forget that what we are doing here and what this day is really about is our celebrating and giving thanks for our freedom, and taking that message of Love through word and action out into the world. How easily we seem to forget that the tools we need to steer us in the right direction are already here, in our possession; our history, our tradition, our liturgy, the very words on our lips and in our hearts as we pray and sing each Sunday morning. The Eucharist we participate in is a sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving, and just as the title of the person who leads us suggests, it is a powerful act which is intended to be a celebration! How easily we forget indeed.
This morning, Jesus speaks to us all in a powerful way. He shows us that in reality, we are each that person who was healed in today's Gospel. We are all that child of God who Jesus, setting Himself aside and acting out of love, has set free. However, Jesus' message also reveals to us the sad truth that somehow we all too often end up finding ourselves looking much more like the Pharisees from today's lesson, too centered on ourselves to notice anything else, and too worried about the things of this world to remember what this day is really about. The truly Good News though, is that Jesus' voice can be heard in this morning's Gospel calling us to return. It calls us back to the place we truly ought to be, and gives us a chance to return. Just as Christ called for the return and restoration of the Sabbath day, He calls its restoration in our lives now, and for the return of each of us as well.
It may sound a bit strange at first, but through Jesus' words and actions, today's Gospel calls us all to be part of the crowd. To be a part of the crowd that rejoices with Jesus because of the work of God that He has already done. To be a part of the crowd that rejoices with Jesus because of the work of God that He is doing. To be a part of the crowd that rejoices with Jesus because of the work of God that we will help Him do now. You see for us, Brothers and Sisters in Christ, this is observing true Sabbath. This is how we each truly honor God on God's day, by coming here and whole heartedly participating together in the life altering and infinite celebration of God's Love.
“And the entire crowd was rejoicing at all the wonderful things that he was doing.”
Amen.
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