Proper 16

I welcome your comments. I know I preached entirely too fast but I got a little excited over my message. A sociologist will always get excited for a text about loving others and ignore laws that oppress.



In the name Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Let us pray, “Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to you, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.” Psalm 19:14

Why Jesus? Why? I mean tell me, why do you always have to pick a fight? You know the leaders do not like it when you do work on the Sabbath. I mean come on Jesus. You do this all the time. You are going to get the leaders angry and the people riled up. Then Rome is going to get involved and probably kill us all or threatens to tear down our temple. Our temple Jesus. You know the one that has been built, destroyed, built, destroyed, and finally built again by Herod. We got protection now Jesus. Why do you have to always throw a wrench into it? Just sit there and be quiet. Things aren’t that bad.

Well maybe things are that bad. Maybe Jesus did need to heal the woman that very instant. We know Jesus was not in the business of just sitting around idly by while some injustice was happening. But at the same time, I know some of you, well maybe it’s just me, might be wondering, “Why did Jesus always have to make a scene?” As I sat at my desk pondering this question, I found myself going back to an even larger question--“Why was Jesus given to us?”

This question has remained a mystery for the church for centuries. Thousands of Christians, theologians, pastors, priests, and even Popes have tried to answer the age old question--“Why was Jesus given to us?” While we have some suspicions and theories we cannot nail down an exact answer as to why Jesus came to be with. I worry about those Christians who say with surety, “I know why Jesus came” because every time we come up with a theory, it just opens the door to another question. Those that say Jesus came to die can never get pass the next question why did Jesus have to die. Doesn’t God love us? Why couldn’t God just forgive us? You see, it creates a snow ball effect. One answer leads to another question which leads to another answer and then another question. We do not need to know why Jesus came but we do need to respond to his teachings, commands, life and actions. Particularly the action today’s reading—ensuring the wellbeing of all no matter the circumstances. Unfortunately, that tends to upset people.

In almost every story, Jesus upsets another person by telling them they are wrong and there old way of doing things is not good anymore. Jesus never holds back but calls out individuals who are no longer following Gods word or they are not open to a new way of understanding God’s word. Jesus does not let injustices go unnoticed. Jesus will even call out his own friends when they are wrong. Just look at Peter. It does not matter who you are or where you come from, Jesus has a message and the world will hear it.

What Jesus is preaching is not all that unheard of. It has been preached for thousands of years before by prophets and angels--Love one another just as God has always loved you. It is the message that the prophet Isaiah is preaching:
Isaiah 58: 10-12
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.
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.
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.
Every time I hear a text like this on, I give myself a little bop on the head. It is a “duh” moment. Maybe Jesus did have a point in this situation. Maybe Jesus was not doing something radical here. Maybe Jesus is not doing the wrong thing. Maybe what Jesus is doing is following the will of God. MAYBE WE ARE WRONG AND JESUS IS RIGHT. (I know it’s a crazy idea but Jesus knows a things or two.)

So why was the synagogue leader wrong? Brian Stoffregen writes:
"It is the synagogue leader who calls Jesus' actions "healing" (therapeuo in v. 14 twice) -- and thus a "work".
But misses the boat.
“He doesn't see it as the fulfillment of Isaiah's prophecy of releasing from bondage -- or a re-enactment of the Exodus journey from slavery to freedom."
He misses the grace of God. He doesn’t open his mind to the big of God’s love and God’s grace. How many times have we missed the big picture? How many times have we made a bad call all in the name of keeping the law or keeping the word of God? Humans will always be tied down the legalities of a situation and forget look at the big picture because of sin.

This sin condemn us. It reminds us of how we just cannot make the cut. But the cross changed that. God took an instrument of torture and death to show us that love can exist anywhere-That God can even love us broken and sinful. That is what the cross shows us and the same message is being said in our gospel text today. Yes, God does care about laws but God cares more about us and that is made visible in the cross.

The welfare of God’s creation always come first. It is foolish to think that this woman who had been bent over 18 years, crippled and a social outcast for 18 years, could not receive healing by Jesus on the Sabbath. Even a donkey is given water by his master. It makes no sense that a poor, crippled woman is not able to receive nourishment far beyond what simple water could ever do for her but an animal is. This was not just a healing of her aliment but also a restoration of her status--and status meant everything to the people in this day. Robert Capon writes, “if Jesus had waited until sundown, his wonderful miracle would have supported the people's expectations of a victorious and immortal messiah -- one ‘who is coming to punch the enemies of the Lord in the nose.’” Jesus was not an immortal messiah who came in with guns blazing. Jesus came and taught that we need to start caring more about people and less about tradition or laws.

We all have some kind of aliment that cripples us. We all have something that has kept us bent over, unable to stand up straight. We are not perfect and we are not immune from being an outcast. Simply by confessing our Christian Faith we create ourselves as an outcast because we believe there is something more to this world than status and wealth. What the world tells us is of great wealth we respond with the cross--a symbol of shame, death, pain, torture. The cross represents everything the world tells us to avoid but we, as Christians, cling to it. The cross is where we find salvation and love. The cross is where we find the true wealth of the world. The cross is where we see a man--who told us to love one another, who told us to think differently about who God is, who stood up to leaders that denied the poor life, who stood up for a woman bent over for 18 years and released her from her bondage, who broke the law to save the lives over—-the cross is where we saw a good man crucified. The cross is where we see the innocent killed but brought back to us on the third day. Jesus stood up for those who could not stand up for themselves. We all have an aliment and maybe, just maybe, we should take Jesus’ advice and begin to care for each other--ignore what the world tells us to do and just care for each other just as Jesus cared for this woman.

In the name Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.