Let me make one statement before we begin. I love rules. I love them. I love rules and policies and plans. They make me feel secure. I love the consistency of rules. If you do this, then this happens, if you do that, then that happens. In my perfect world, there would be a clearly stated rule for everything, and everyone would abide by said rules, and it would be very orderly and safe.
Except, here is the problem with this. The world doesn’t work that way because the world, unfortunately, is full of people. And people are not predictable. People do not always follow the rules and act in an orderly and consistent manner. This, as a rule-follower, is very frustrating for me. If we all just played by the rules, I want to shout at these rebels, everything would work out fine. Of course, that too is also not true. There is also the potential for problems with the rules themselves because rules are written and interpreted by people. Which means some rules are not good rules. Some rules are written by people in power to hold onto power and hurt other people. I shutter to think of what horrors my rule-following tendencies might have meant in the Jim Crow era south, for example, or Hitler’s Germany.
Then there are good rules, rules that are orderly and good and life giving, that are interpreted poorly. Poor interpretation of a good rule is I think exactly what we have going on in our Gospel reading for today. So before we get into the reading itself, let’s talk a little bit about Sabbath keeping, what it is, and what it’s for.
Sabbath is from the Hebrew verb “shabbot,” which means to cease or to rest. It has its origin in the Summerian word, “sa-bat,” “sa” from the word for “heart” and “bat” for “rest.” So sa-bat, shabbot, is literally “heart rest.” Sabbath-keeping has its basis in the idea that humans cannot work all the time, we need time to rest, recover, recharge, in order to be at our best. Studies prove this idea correct. There is not a direct correlation between hours worked and productivity. For a while more hours equals more accomplished, but we reach a point where the law of diminishing returns kicks in, and we become less and less able to function. There is also a humanitarian aspect of Sabbath-keeping. For the ancient Israelis, Sabbath rest applied not just to them, but to their slaves and animals as well. It was a day for everyone, Jews and non-Jews alike, to rest, relax, and reconnect, not just physically, but mentally and spiritually as well. In the subsistence culture of antiquity, an entire day devoted to rest would have set the Jews apart from their neighbors, reflecting God’s promise that they were a nation set apart by God.
Sabbath in the Jewish tradition is a day to refrain from work. The Jews remember that God is the creator by refraining from everything created. But that does not mean that the Sabbath is supposed to be somber. Quite the opposite, actually. There are a lot of “thou shalls” in Sabbath law. Jews are encouraged to be joyful on the Sabbath, to dress in their finest clothes, to have guests over to share the Sabbath meal with them. Fasting is forbidden on the Sabbath, and sex is encouraged. The Jewish tradition personifies this day of rest, honoring her as “Sabbath queen,” and at the close of the Sabbath a special prayer is said, along with spices “to restore the soul saddened by the departure of this day.”
Rest, relaxation, reconnection with one’s creator physically, mentally, and spiritually. Study of scripture to gladden the soul, communal meals with friends and family, good food, good company, good conversation. What does this not sound like? The expectation of our Pharisees in the Gospel reading today.
Our reading opens with Jesus teaching in a synagogue on the Sabbath. Study of Torah is encouraged on the Sabbath, because the study of the Torah is not considered work, it is a joy. Remember, this is not the twenty-first century, where so many of us have desk jobs. In a subsistence culture, the ability to do nothing all day but sit and study would be the height of leisure, a luxury available to only the wealthiest, were it not for the Sabbath. And Jesus, remember is a devout Jew. Jesus is in the synagogue on the Sabbath because that is where a Jew is supposed to be on the Sabbath. So the problem that was about to emerge was not with the Sabbath itself, it is about the way the Pharisees were applying their understanding of the Sabbath.
So Jesus was in the synagogue, and all of a sudden he saw a woman who had been bent over for eighteen years. So Jesus called her over and said, “woman, you are set free from your ailment.” Did you catch that; Jesus called her over. People often came to Jesus for healing, but this doesn’t seem to be that. We don’t know why she was in the synagogue that day. Maybe she’d come for healing. Maybe to hear Jesus teach. Maybe she went to the synagogue every Sabbath, but because of her infirmity, no one had noticed her before. Why ever she was there, she seemed to have been minding her own business until Jesus called her over, laid his hands on her, and healed her.
And then, the reading says, “immediately she stood up and began praising God.” Except, that’s not actually a good translation of the Greek. A better translation is, “immediately she was stood up and began praising God.” She was stood up. It happened to her. On a day set aside for not doing work, the woman did no work on the way to her own healing. Even the act of standing up is a thing that was done to her. She, for the first time in eighteen long years, eighteen years where every step must have felt like such agonizing work, experienced the true, reconnecting, rejuvenating power of Sabbath rest. And the freedom of the burden of those eighteen twisted years made her shout for joy at what God had done for her.
But the Pharisees were mad. And in a way, I get their anger. They had built their entire lives around following the rules, and suddenly it felt like the rules that gave their lives purpose, were just being done away with. I get it, but I also have to admit the problem with their logic. The law, which was a good law, but the law as they were interpreting it only benefited them. Sabbath is about rest, reconnect, and rejuvenation, and they were trying to turn it into a day where everyone saw just how good and faithful they were. They were using this life-giving law in a way that kept others from life.
See here’s the thing about laws. They really are good. We need them. Humans need order and structure to be able to flourish. As tempting as anarchy might seem, it is really not good for us. I mean, at the most juvenile example, think about how sick you feel if you throw out the food pyramid and eat nothing but ice cream for a day. Feels great at first sure, but by the end, not so much. Even the Kingdom of God has laws, because too much freedom is itself a form of oppression. But the laws in the Kingdom of God are always freeing. The laws in the Kingdom of God area always life-giving. The laws in the Kingdom of God always draw us closer into relationship with God and with each other, always bring us into our best selves, always encourage, empower, and strengthen us. If a law does not do that. If it separates someone, hurts someone, oppresses someone, or puts someone down then it is either not God’s law, or it is not being applied correctly.
So for those of you who, like me, are rule-followers, Good news! God is pro-rules. In the Kingdom of God there is order and structure. But here’s the challenge for us rule-followers, in the already and not yet of our current reality, not all rules are God’s rules. So there are times when we have to break the rules in order to experience the kingdom and to bring the kingdom to others. It is not, my dear rule-following siblings, as clear cut as we would really prefer.
And for those of you who are rebels, who live to break the rules, Good news! Just because it is a rule, doesn’t mean it’s good. We need to go out and shake the structures so that God’s freedom can prevail. And we need people like you to lead the charge, and to drag us rule-followers along. But here is your challenge. The kingdom of God is a team sport. Be careful that your love of challenging everything does not lead you to isolation or individualism. Some rules bring life, and are there for a reason. Freedom is not the same as anarchy, tempting as it might sound.
Good news for rule-followers and rule-breakers. But challenge for both of us too. Confusing and frustrating and freeing and life-giving, yep, sounds about right for our creative, challenging, bringing order from chaos and upending the order of death to wrest life from its clutches God. God is predictably unpredictable. That is the beautiful, wonderful, life-giving nature of resurrection. Amen.
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