Kingdom Building
August 25, 2019
Scripture Reading: Luke 13:10-17
But the leader of the synagogue, indignant because Jesus had cured on the sabbath, kept saying to the crowd, ‘There are six days on which work ought to be done; come on those days and be cured, and not on the sabbath day.’ But the Lord answered him and said, ‘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? And ought not this woman, a daughter of Abraham whom Satan bound for eighteen long years, be set free from this bondage on the sabbath day?’ When he said this, all his opponents were put to shame; and the entire crowd was rejoicing at all the wonderful things that he was doing. –Luke 13:14-17
The word sabbath, a day of rest ascribed in the Jewish faith, derives from the word sabath which means to cease, desist, rest, take an intermission*. The Sabbath Day’s origin lies in the example set by God in the story of creation found in Genesis when God worked for six days creating the world and on the seventh day rested. We know the wisdom of this advice because we live it. Our bodies and minds can only take so much use before they start to falter and need a good night’s sleep and a change of pace from constant work. The leader of the synagogue in our scripture above is calling Jesus out for breaking the requirements of sabbath by healing a woman.
Jesus’ healing of the woman is secondary to the discussion of what is important in our relationship with God. Indeed, healing others is very important to God, but that is not the primary focus of this scripture. The story seems to answer the question posed in Micah 6:8: what does the Lord require of you?
The Commandment to keep the Sabbath day Holy, to be set apart, consecrated; is the fourth of the Ten Commandments serving as a segue between our relationship with God (to have no other god’s before God, to worship no idols, to not use the name of God wrongfully) and our relationship with others (honor your father and mother, do not commit murder, do not commit adultery, etc.) To be whole we need a relationship with God that establishes our life priorities. We take the time of sabbath to remember who we are and whose we are which is necessary for us to treat our fellow human beings with the justice God prescribes for us.
The Ten Commandments are telling us what not to do. Jesus in the scripture above is showing us what to do. Jesus models for us many instances described in other scriptures of withdrawing to pray, caring for ourselves so we can care for one another. In this scripture Jesus is modeling loving our neighbors as we love ourselves, which sometimes means our sabbath must be rescheduled.
Prayer: Creator God, help us not get so caught up in the rules we live by that we cannot see and meet the needs of others we meet along the way. Amen.
*https://biblehub.com/hebrew/7673.htm
All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.