|
 |
This reading can only be understood in the context of Isaiah
58 as a whole.
The first part of this chapter was the Lectionary reading for Ash Wednesday. For those of us who can’t quite remember that far back, here is a quick resumé - Isaiah was telling Israel that although their actions made it look as if they were seeking God, in fact it was all show. The problem was, and this was why Isaiah’s words were necessary, was that they didn’t realise it. They thought that they were doing everything as God had commanded. Isaiah told them that all their religion was sham and God had had enough of their complaints that their prayers were not being answered. Just before today’s reading Isaiah told the people that fasting was not about impressing others but was rather about making them think about the rights of others; or as one of the commentaries puts it: The practice of fasting is not rejected, but a true spirit behind it is expressed only when it is backed by concern for ‘doing’ righteousness especially for the poor and needy. If they will only take this on board then Isaiah told them: You shall call and the Lord will answer. This reminded them and us that what we consider to be unanswered prayer results from the way that we approach God. Towards the end of the passage we heard, Israel was reminded about the importance of keeping the Sabbath as a day for honouring the things of God. Which brings us to the Gospel reading.
The story that we heard today comes just after Jesus had told the parable of the fruitless fig tree suggesting that it should be cut down as it was wasting soil. The tree was seen to represent the fruitlessness of Israel. We have just heard that Jesus was in the synagogue teaching. Seeing a crippled woman he broke off from his teaching and healed this woman who had been crippled for eighteen years. No doubt he was prepared for the response from the leader of the synagogue, after all this was the third healing on the Sabbath that he had done and been reprimanded for, and he took the opportunity to explain.
First, however, we need to understand that the Jewish view of such physical illness was that it was a consequence of sin and so the Rabbis would have felt that the woman deserved her illness. She had no right to expect to be healed at all and certainly not on the Sabbath. And it was quite clearly stated in the Ten Commandments that the Sabbath was a day of rest for everyone including slaves, but not presumably for Rabbis who were teaching in the synagogue. No doubt they, like our clergy, had their day of rest at another point in the week. But what Jesus takes great pains to explain is what the Sabbath is about, that it was over and above being a ‘day of rest.’
Canon Melinksy in his book ‘Healing Miracles’ put it like this: Jesus reclaims for the Sabbath its proper nature, as a day of joyful liberation, freedom from toil, freedom from evil, freedom for God, a veritable foretaste of the kingdom of heaven; he claims that his freeing the woman so long bound by Satan is the due fulfilment of the purpose of the Sabbath……Jesus is not concerned for the nicely calculated less or more, but for an absolute conquest of evil, a present triumph for the power of the kingdom. Yet again Jesus is challenging the ‘letter of the law’ with the ‘spirit of the law.’
So what does all this have to say to us? The Ten Commandments formed the basis of Jewish Law but there were many other laws that the Jews were expected to obey; on the other hand Jesus reduced the Ten Commandments to just two:
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 neighbour as yourself. (Luke 10:27, spoken
by lawyer in response to Jesus).
So there you have it. Love God unequivocally, and
your neighbour in the same way and all shall be well! And that is true but unfortunately when one tries to make this into the law of this land, and even of the Church, is a bit more complicated than this. Even with the best of intentions laws can be unhelpful and even in a civilised society looking at the greater good it is all too easy for the individual to disappear. For instance look at the rules for Health and Safety: these were introduced for just this reason, to make the world a healthier and safer place. But ultimately they have become so restrictive that employers are terrified of breaking them. Children are protected from danger in one part of the world, only to be faced with it elsewhere. Unable to recognise the danger they are put at greater risk.
Now I don’t propose that the Church challenges these rules but they do show how difficult it is to bridge the gap between caring on the one hand and restricting freedom on the other. The Church itself is not free of systems which undermine the individual and how the Church responds to individuals’ needs. The General Synod is trying to work its way though difficult decisions at the moment. It is listening to individuals who have different interpretations of the Bible about such issues as Women Bishops, remarrying divorcees, sexuality issues and so on. Often Synod can be seen to be a place where all are listened to and cherished. But sometimes there may be no middle ground and then there is the challenge of how to deal with the dissenters. This does stray somewhat from today’s readings but shows the problem of how to put individuals at the forefront of our concern when making decisions for a community.
The Sunday of today is radically different from how it was when I grew up. There were times when I got rather bored and listening recently to Tony Hancock in his ‘Sunday Afternoon’ sketch brings back memories. But generally Sunday was a time when families spent time together. They may have gone to church together, or they may have had a lie-in and sat down to brunch. There was usually sport to watch and for many families it was a special time. For several no doubt Sunday evening was spent on homework that needed to be done by Monday morning and that may have involved the whole family too!
When the new Sunday Trading laws came in initially we were told that no one would be forced to work on Sundays but that soon changed. Sunday, rather than Saturday, suddenly became a time when there was a lot of sport for youngsters. Now the family day, if it exists at all, is spent going round a shopping centre or doing the weekly shop at the supermarket or ferrying children to matches. That special time at the beginning of the week has changed or disappeared. There is not a great deal that we can do to change this law; there was a time of discussion before the Law was introduced. The Church and individuals put across their concerns and objections but the Law is there and many people are very happy about that.
But I wonder how many of us make a point of keeping one day, possibly even Sunday, as a special day? A ‘day of joyful liberation, freedom from toil, freedom from evil and freedom for God’ as Canon Melinsky put it. I have no doubt that it is important that we try to do just that. Of course every day should have time spent on prayer and studying the Bible but we need more than that. As Jesus said in Mark’s Gospel:
The Sabbath was made for humankind, and
not humankind for the Sabbath, so the Son of Man is Lord even of the
Sabbath. (Mark 2:28)
This is how Exodus puts it:
But the seventh day is a sabbath to the
Lord your God……. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the
sea, and all that is in them, but rested on the third day; therefore
the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and consecrated it.
It really is all about celebrating all that God
has done for us and keeping the Sabbath shouldn’t be a form of penance
but a delight. What could be better than spending quality time with God and friends or family? If you don’t do it at the moment, try and make it a priority! I have no doubt that God will richly bless you.
Amen