On Sabbath

If you remove the yoke from among you,

the pointing of the finger, the speaking of evil,

if you offer your food to the hungry

and satisfy the needs of the afflicted,

then your light shall rise in the darkness

and your gloom be like the noonday.

I’m not sure there would be much there, there if this morning’s gospel was just a story about the legalese about enforcing the sabbath.

I’m not sure there would be much reason for us to be here on a Sunday morning if we took much of what we might first read in the gospels as, well, gospel truth.

Because at first glance this morning’s readings seem to be about some guy getting mad that his congregation was astir about Jesus healing on the Sabbath, a day of rest.

And frankly, I can understand he leader of the synagogue’s point.

The Lord will guide you continually,

and satisfy your needs in parched places,

and make your bones strong;

and you shall be like a watered garden,

like a spring of water,

whose waters never fail.

Even today with all of our machines that take us places faster and our work lives more efficient requiring less physical effort, we still have problems with rest, with taking time to reflect on ourselves, where we are headed, focusing on God.

We are busy and busied with many things, band practice to drivers ed, a quick dinner, and then catching up on emails before a 5 am wake up that will give us a chance to beat the morning rush hour.

It is a routine sometimes rewarded with material wealth and a mumbled thank you as you make your 5th drop off or pick up of the evening, but we are lacking sometimes with the spiritual release realized with focus attention on our selves and with God.

Your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt;

you shall raise up the foundations of many generations;

you shall be called the repairer of the breach,

the restorer of streets to live in.

I am very much in favor of finding sabbath in the quiet, in the unbusy silence of a world slowed down.

And if that is only what this morning’s story was about, then maybe we could spend time focusing on Sabbath, sitting in the quietest contemplation wondering about God’s place in each of our lives, but again, I do not think that is what today’s gospel is about.

Because Jesus, being Jewish, does not really have an argument against sabbath.

He’s read Isaiah, probably more closely than some of us, and we just read it this morning.

And Isaiah is all about sabbath this morning.

If you refrain from trampling the sabbath,

from pursuing your own interests on my holy day;

if you call the sabbath a delight

and the holy day of the Lord honorable;

if you honor it, not going your own ways,

serving your own interests, or pursuing your own affairs;

then you shall take delight in the Lord,

and I will make you ride upon the heights of the earth;

If you refrain from trampling, from pursuing your own interests, if you call it a delight, then you will ride upon the heights of the earth.

If you honor the sabbath, if you do not serve your own affairs, then you shall take delight in the Lord.

And to this I say, YES!

Yes, yes, yes.

We need the sabbath, we need rest, we need to step outside our busy lives and sit and rest and for some of us, that is why we gather.

Because this is the time of the week where we get to recharge, reflect, grow and the go into the world refreshed and grateful.

Yet this morning’s gospel can be misconstrued.

This is not so much a legalese argument against breaking sabbath but rather the promise of liberation within the gift of God’s creation.

Let’s think about Isaiah again and wonder if that is who Jesus is drawing upon when he heals the woman who has been unwell for eighteen years.

Is Jesus truly breaking the sabbath when he healed this woman for he did not pursue his own interests, he did not chase after his own affairs.

He served others, he healed others, he touched this woman with the healing hand of God and relieved her of this spirit that left her incapacitated for so long.

This is not an argument that no work should be done on the sabbath as much as it is what is allowable work on this day?

I would hope if a fire broke out at this moment, we would all be called to help put it out.

And here Jesus is pointing out this very fact, that some work is okay, and most of all, the liberating, freeing work of God is most appropriately performed on this day as it is on others.

“Woman,” said Jesus, “You are set free!”

And she was free from the spirit that kept her down for those so many years.

And so this is not so much a debate about whether to do something or nothing on our days of rest, it can also be seen as a debate about what can be done overall on these days.

Again, turning to Isaiah,

if you offer your food to the hungry

and satisfy the needs of the afflicted,

then your light shall rise in the darkness

Our sabbath work, our sacred duty is to serve all and lift up each other.

Part of that work is done through prayer, some of that work is performed physically.

The distribution of food to the hungry is just as lifegivingly important on a Wednesday as it would be on the sabbath.

If we offer our food to the hungry, then our light shall rise in the darkness, a beacon of hope, a spark that could light the world with kindness and the shared love of Jesus Christ.

It seems to matter not when that work is performed as long as that work is performed.

Jesus is leading us to a point of liberation and light.

We are freed through Christ and we share that freedom when we share God’s word and God’s kindness.

And then sabbath becomes sacred when we share in the word and work God wishes us to pursue.

Sabbath becomes less sacred when we make this day only about ourselves and our selfish interests.

And it is from these actions, sometimes big, sometimes small, that we manifest, that we show to the world the kingdom of God is here and it is now.

Amen.