SERMON - 12th Sunday After Trinity

Isaiah 58:9b-14

Hebrews 12:18-29

Luke 13: 10-17

The episode from the ordinary synagogue on an ordinary Sabbath day, shows our Lord causing a fair amount of trouble. The synagogue ruler saw his authority slipping away, and took action, “There are six days for work. So come and be healed on those days!” he told the assembled crowd. He could see his power over the people slipping – because the rules concerning the observance of the Sabbath were a great proportion of his work, and the mystique he held was being seriously eroded.

His outburst didn’t do him any good though, he seems to have been humiliated – the crowds had seen enough and they were delighted.

Jesus didn’t win any friends with the management of the synagogue, but in all fairness that wasn’t his fault. They had rested their authority on rules that had been laid down then interpreted; there was no movement, no flexibility. The whole system was based on their power over others, and not the freedom that God brings us.

The woman in the story, who had been bent double with a serious problem was the ideal person to heal in the synagogue that day.

She had been bent double, as if pushed down by some invisible force. She was unable to straighten, and her world view was changed as a result. It was as if she were carrying a huge burden. Jesus heals her with the words “you are free”.

The people of God in the synagogue were also pushed down, suppressed by an invisible and irresistible force. The force of rules interpreted by someone else. They would spend as much of the Sabbath worrying about whether they had broken rules, as they would praising God.

They too were set free as they laughed at the synagogue management. They too were having a terrible disability lifted from them. Their dependence in the leadership – without which they felt they couldn’t worship was leaving them for a time.

The event in the ordinary synagogue on an ordinary Sabbath tells us two vitally important things.

Firstly, that we are the people of God and we are free. And that each and every one of us, whether male or female, black or white, rich or poor, able bodied or disabled, we are equally loved in the sight of God. And that is what scares people whose authority rests on rules.

If we are all equal, what then is the status of the leaders? Each one of us is “Free to worship GOD without fear, holy and righteous all the days of our life.”

Secondly, Our Lord is telling us that the Sabbath is for rejoicing and worship. It is a day when us free people get to turn towards God and consider what we are here for.

I remember that a few years ago, I was chatting in the street to a woman who lived in a small council flat with a large dog. We chatted about the usual, and when she asked the inevitable question about what I do for a living, and got the answer, she told me HER story about church. (Everybody has at least ONE story about church. It might be one that makes them attend throughout their life, or more usually it is one that stops them from coming at all….)

It seems that she was asked to leave a church because she took her dog.

“What do you think about that?” She said!

She looked for my response intently; I could feel her staring at me, not wanting to miss a twitch, a grimace or a frown! It was like being on display in the zoo, I think.

I told her, rather jokingly, that if the dog was in church it meant that she was in church. And to be in church was no bad thing for her on a Sunday. Rather pleased with myself, I added…”The dog might even like the sermon!” She pondered awhile. She obviously didn’t get the answer she wanted, so……

She told me the story again….(have you ever noticed that sometimes people will repeat the same story again – straight after finishing it for a first time….)

I replied in the same manner….still smiling.

Now, don’t worry I am not suggesting that we should have animals in church at services, but what I am suggesting is that this woman was expecting me, as a Priest, to be more interested in rules than in freedom. Her burning question was not about God, faith, the incarnation and the glorious resurrection, or the life-giving Holy Spirit, it was about the place of pets in Church.

Somewhere along the line, in the minds of some, we have reverted back to the legalistic approach, forgetting that we are FREE to worship God without fear.

The following Sunday, I was waiting in the vestry, waiting for a bark or a growl to see whether she had come to church….she didn’t come though.

I sometimes wonder what would have happened if she did.

I need to clarify ONE important point here though. I am not suggesting that we should be a church with NO RULES. We have rules and we have beliefs. We have the creeds and we have the liturgy, all of which help us to get close to God, worshipping him in our own way.

In today’s readings it is clear that the whole point of the Sabbath is the change of gear for us. As the children say to me “chill out”. And today, we should all be “chilling out” because we are invited and encouraged to remember what it means to be part of a CHURCH, and to have a FAITH.

Surely the Sabbath should be our opportunity to relax, unencumbered by the rules that surround us for the rest of the week. We should be able to rest in the knowledge that

Any given Sabbath in any given church, is the right time for us for us to do these things.

This is the day when we should think of our own needs and wants, offering them up before God, trusting that he will provide for us.

Have a good Sunday!