“Christ Calls”
“Christ Calls”
Year C Eleventh Sunday after Pentecost August 21, 2022
Isaiah 58:9b-14 Psalm 103:1-8 Luke 13:10-17
Pastor Andy Kennaly, First Presbyterian Church, Sandpoint, Idaho
Isaiah’s passage begins with the word, “if.” The pattern is if, if, then, if, if, if, then. It also goes from talking about God and what God will do if the people do what’s suggested, to God talking personally to the people.
“If” is descriptive, but also has a choice quality. It recognizes there are certain things happening that are not beneficial. “If” leads to a description of the benefits that come from change.
Notice it starts out with a metaphor, an image, called, “the yoke.” A yoke is a harness, something that holds against pull, drag, and resistance. It goes over the neck of an animal, perhaps a mule or ox, some beast of burden weighted down by a load. If there is a yoke as the image, what is it that has the people in bondage?
There’s a list: “the pointing of the finger, the speaking of evil.” These are the first “if” section. If these don’t happen, and you also “offer 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.” Notice the darkness is still there, and the gloom; they don’t go away. But something else is introduced. Rather than total darkness or abandoned to gloom, there is added light.
As the LORD, which, with all capital letters means God Almighty, as the LORD guides, we see this is a continual situation. God Almighty is always guiding, and satisfies needs in parched places. Again, notice there are still parched places, they don’t go away. The difference is, needs are met along the journey, with God. This makes “bones strong; you shall be like a watered garden.”
With the heat this summer, you can definitely tell what gardens get water and what gardens are dry. In August things turn brown, fire hazards go up, and the ground gets crunchy. “A well-watered garden” in a desert environment is a real gift. But not only that, Isaiah amps it up as God adds to the if/then and throws in a “you shall.” “You shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water, whose waters never fail.”
The people of Isaiah are experiencing exile, so to hear “your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt” sounds so hopeful, very encouraging, and divinely redemptive. No one was exempt from the destruction and the pain. All the people have a key role to play, and they live in a pivotal time.
It’s the people who “shall raise up the foundations of many generations” and the people will be called “the repairer of the breach, the restorer of streets to live in.”
Today our Vision and Ministry Task Force shares a report after worship down in Fellowship Hall. This follows weeks and months of study. We too are in a pivotal time. The systems that have gotten us this far don’t work anymore. People want the institution to survive. That’s part of the conversation. We too, like the ancient Hebrew people, are discerning the if/then conversations.
One of the key aspects of the remaining part of Isaiah’s passage says, “If,” based on the honoring of the Sabbath, of keeping the delight of a holy day. In one form or another, four times in that last section of if/then, four times the people are encouraged to refrain, as it says, “from pursuing your own interests on my holy day, not going your own ways, not serving your own interests, or pursuing your own affairs.” If they honor the sabbath, then the people shall delight in the LORD. It’s the LORD who then makes them ride the heights and the LORD who then feeds them with a heritage, and it’s the LORD who speaks this.
In Luke, Jesus teaches in one of the synagogues on the sabbath. This passage is filled with hot button issues, cultural trip hazards, and subtle aspects as well. One is that it’s the Sabbath, the day the people have been told for centuries to honor. As you can guess, lots of rules, codes of conduct, and expectations had formed over the years and what started as an invitation to freedom has become oppressive and harsh.
Let’s notice this dynamic for a moment. Something creative comes, lifegiving, positive, and yet somehow the helpful spirit of the new thing gets corrupted, coopted, and confused. The words may stay the same, the practice is still the same, the rules meant for guiding; but the attitude is different, and the positive creativity regresses and although the practice continues, it is now in a deficient mode. This deficiency has the opposite effect and is life-draining, oppressive, and a reversion, not to the healthy aspect of a practice, but to unhealthy aspects.
This passage from Luke is a Wisdom teaching that invites us to let go of the deficient so God may reveal what unfolds, because this is what’s needed for health and healing, for life to flourish. These passages show the difficulty of moving beyond the judging mind; of getting past measuring, counting, rigidity of rules, clinging to identity, and the struggle with anger, power, and control. Jesus shows us the healing peace of unitive consciousness, divine Presence, and Deep Time freeing us from lesser concerns or false identity.
Luke shares a similar structure as Isaiah’s prophetic passage. Both start out general, like Jesus’ teaching in “one of the synagogues.” No details on which one. “Just then there appeared a woman with a spirit that had crippled her for eighteen years.” No name for the woman, but the number 18 adds some detail. No mistake it’s 18. This has a biblical symbolism for bondage, both in terms of suffering and in getting released. 18 can also symbolize life, so Luke is showing there is life in Christ, and Christ releases people from bondage, especially in Luke where we see preferential treatment for the poor and the marginalized. All this, simply by having her ailment for 18 years.
Sounds like a long time, 18 years, but it’s sandwiched, bracketed by immediacy. Jesus is teaching, and “just then” the woman appears; Jesus “laid his hand on her, immediately she stood up straight and began praising God.”
The leader of the synagogue seems to have forgotten Isaiah’s four reminders to not focus on your own ways, serve your own interests, or pursue your own affairs. This leader becomes “indignant.” That’s the same as enraged, or really angry. This pissed off church leader was doing a great job following the rules, doing what was expected, defending the faith, and upholding the tradition. What that frustrated leader yells at the people about not doing work on the Sabbath and coming back later on the six days to find healing, was spot on as far as honoring the Sabbath. That leader stakes it all on that command and tries to protect the people from God’s judgement against them for not honoring it as tradition had defined it.
But Jesus points out another part. Jesus recognizes that what was meant for creative care and loving expression and depth of relationship and wholeness, and goodness, was now deficient. Not only that but the deficient mode was getting defended and promoted by empowered people like this leader. Jesus calls them, on it. “You hypocrites!” He uses the word for actor, like they have the role, they’ve got the script, and they’re playing their part, but the heart of it is gone and they’ve lost it. The truth was, she could’ve come back on the six days, and they would not heal her. They had labeled her like society labeled her. A woman, infirm, and the judgmental patriarchy kept her in bondage, socially, religiously, spiritually, and culturally. Her physical condition reflects all these other aspects as well. They are in the judging mind, the dualistic consciousness.
Jesus shows us what a restorer of the breach looks like, and what honoring the Sabbath does when he calls her something else. Earlier he had called her, “Woman” as he invites her to come near where he was. That was probably a boundary violation, as women and men were separated. Luke really shows us the outsider brought in as now Jesus calls her, not “woman,” but “a daughter of Abraham.” She is an important part of covenant life, of lineage that includes her in God’s promises of not only restoration, but transformation.
“When he said this, all his opponents were put to shame.” Jesus reminds them of their responsibility, of their calling by Christ to love and serve and welcome and honor. The entire crowd rejoices at all these things.
Isn’t that nice? Isn’t it wonderful that there’s a crowd! You get the image of a full synagogue with people amazed at the creative Spirit at work. We would love that as a church, for a crowd to share our amazement at who God is and what God has done in our lives. But there is no crowd, is there? There’s a breach. Today we talk about the lack of crowd and the trends that we experience. It helps us feel like we’re doing something if we come up with suggestions on how to get more members. But, really, it’s in the heart that the if/then resonates.
Christ calls us to nothing less than transformed consciousness. Covenant people, in Christ, are not rigid rule keepers, not exclusive gate keepers, but people open to God’s invitation to allow life to unfold in new ways that honor the creative movement of the Spirit. Love is first priority, and it’s from the heart where we learn that in not pointing the finger or speaking evil, or allowing our unfiltered egos to run the show, or getting swept up in our fears of failure or diminishment or change; it’s in the heart God fills us, leads us, changes us. This sets a foundation for generations.
As we live through complicated times, may we come alongside the ancient Hebrews, come alongside the people in the synagogue, and celebrate the rejoicing as Christ’s call set us free, both now, and even forever. Amen.