Love Is the Highest Duty (8/21/16)
"God Touches Jeremiah's Mouth," detail from the Winchester Bible
On Sunday, August 21st, I delivered one of my last sermons at FUPC, Houston. It's hard to believe that my journey here is nearly at its end. Yesterday we looked at one of Jesus' stops along his journey to Jerusalem, when he healed a crippled woman on the Sabbath.
Sermon
Good morning!
Wow, it seems kind of empty in here. Where is everyone? Guess we won’t need any
extra chairs this morning. All kidding aside, I thought last Sunday’s service
was wonderful. I am so happy for you folks! I know that Pastor Emily will serve
you well and I look forward to hearing about all the great things that are in
store for this congregation.
Many
of you have been asking where I’m going to serve next. The answer is, I just
don’t know—yet! But I will tell you that I’m in conversations with three different
congregations and I think my prospects look good. Two of those congregations
are here in Western Pennsylvania; both of those positions are interim
positions, like my position here at Houston. The other congregation is out in
the Midwest; it is an installed position. I really want to be an installed
pastor; I don’t want to make a career out of interim work. However, if I were
offered that position, I would have to move far away from my family and friends
and I’d have to build a new support structure in my life. That’s kinda scary.
The choice isn’t clear or easy. Of course, I haven’t been offered anything.
This
morning’s lesson from the Gospel of Luke presents a deceptively simple story. Jesus
is teaching in a synagogue when he’s approached by a woman with a spirit that
had crippled her for eighteen years. Jesus heals the woman and then the leader
of the synagogue calls out Jesus for healing the woman on the Sabbath, a clear
violation of the Fourth Commandment.
One
can read too much or too little into this passage. For generations, “it was
taken as simply another one of Jesus’ healings.”[1]
It’s also possible to focus too closely on Jesus’ dispute with the leader of
this synagogue. The gospels are filled with examples of Jesus mixing it up with
the religious authorities, sparring with the scribes and the Pharisees. Generations
of Christians have been told that Jesus simply set aside the Law of Moses.
Those interpretations, or misinterpretations, may be rooted in these stories of
Jesus healing people on the Sabbath or feeding people on the Sabbath. This
story ends with Jesus shaming the leader of the synagogue, who argued against
healing the woman on the Sabbath.
Let’s
be absolutely clear about one thing, Jesus doesn’t throw the Fourth Commandment
out the window. The Sabbath is to be kept holy. The language of the commandment
is clear: there are six days for working; the Sabbath is set aside for worship
and rest. Over the centuries, Jews and Christians have spent a great deal of
time debating the definition of work to determine which actions are permissible
on the Sabbath. Even in Jesus’ time, saving a life would be permissible on the
Sabbath, but only if a person were in imminent danger of death.
The
woman in this story had been afflicted for eighteen years. She wasn’t about to
die from her condition. In theory, Jesus could have waited another day. And
that’s why it’s a problem for the leader of the synagogue—the woman’s life was
not in danger. Yet Jesus heals her on the Sabbath without hesitation.
When
the leader of the synagogue accuses Jesus of working on the Sabbath, Jesus
responds: “You hypocrites! Does not each of you on the Sabbath untie his ox or
his donkey from the manger and lead it away to give it water?” Clearly, feeding
the animals was not seen as a violation of the Fourth Commandment is Jesus’
time. I suspect none of you would see it that way either. Peggy, Thurman, did
either of you feed the horses this morning? Becky, what about you? Did you slop
the hogs?
What’s
really important to understand is that Jesus’ response is perfectly Jewish.
That is, he’s making a thoroughly Jewish argument for why it was permissible to
heal the woman on the Sabbath.
Using a principle
common among the rabbis, Jesus challenges his opponents to reason from the
lesser to the greater. Since the woman is a daughter of Abraham, should they
not do more for her than for an animal? If an animal were bound, they would
untie it from the manger and lead it to water on the Sabbath. Yet here was a
woman who had been bound by Satan for eighteen years. Should she not be set
free, even on the Sabbath?[2]
Jesus is able to shame the leader of the synagogue
because Jesus’ argument comes straight out of Jewish ethics! And the most
ethical duty is to heal the woman.
Remember,
too, that this story takes place during Jesus’ journey to Jerusalem. This
journey forms a major segment in the Gospel of Luke—about ten chapters, in all.
This is Jesus’ journey toward the cross, and on this trip he’s not just telling
the disciples how to live, he’s showing them how to live. He’s not just telling
them what their duties are, he demonstrates those duties. In short, Jesus
models proper ethical teaching.
And
what are the highest duties? Earlier on this journey, a lawyer asks Jesus what
he must do to inherit eternal life. The answer: “You shall love the Lord your
God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength,
and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself.” Love God and love your
neighbor. That story also appears in the Gospels of Matthew and Mark, where
these are identified as the two greatest commandments. This is vitally
important, so it gets repeated very often.
In
healing this woman, Jesus restores her to physical and spiritual health. She
can go about her life; she can be a full member of the community. She is no
longer afflicted by an unclean spirit, so she can worship and she should not be
shunned by members of the community. In short, Jesus restores her dignity. The
woman responds properly: She stood up straight and immediately she began
praising God! Think about that for a second. She responds by showing her love
for God. She responds physically, as she stands straight up, and she responds
verbally by praising God. Now hold that thought for just a second.
Do
any of you remember the first sermon I preached here at Houston? I know most of
you were here, but in case you weren’t taking notes . . . the title was “Love
Is an Active Verb.” When we hear the word love, in English, we think of love as
a state of being. I say, “I love God” in the same way I might say I love pizza
or I love the Steelers, or even, I love my mother. All of those statements show
a state of being, but none of them call me to action. I don’t have to show that I love pizza or the Steelers.
But the word love has a very different sense in Hebrew; it implies action on
the part of the one who loves. In Hebrew, to say you love God means that you
will act on that love in a visible way.
The
woman in this morning’s gospel story shows her love for God in a visible and
audible way. When she was afflicted with the spirit that crippled her, she was
not able to fully love God or her neighbors. Jesus restored her to that place
in which she could fully live into the greatest commandments. Love is the
highest duty—love of God and love of neighbor. As soon as Jesus heals the woman
in this story, she begins to do her duty. And she does it in a way that
everyone can see and hear. Jesus restores this woman to righteousness. What
could be more fitting and more appropriate on the Sabbath? Thanks be to God.
Amen!
BENEDICTION
Now, Beloved,
as you depart from this place, remember that love is the highest duty—love for
God and love for your neighbor. Remember, too, that love is more than just a
state of being, it is an active verb. So use your talents, your time, and your
treasure to show your love for God. Go forth and be instruments of God’s peace
and reconciliation. Do not return evil for evil to any person, but know that we
are all loved by God, and that we are called to reflect that love to everyone
we meet. This is the truth and the love in which we were created. Go forth and
live fully and abundantly into that love. In the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord,
let all God’s children say, Amen!
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