This sermon was preached at St Peter’s Evangelical-Lutheran Church, Public Schools Club, Adelaide, 9am
Grace, mercy and peace be to
you from God our Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ.
Which of you, having a son or an ox that has fallen into a well on a Sabbath day, will not immediately pull him out?
Prayer: May the words of my
mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable in your sight, O Lord,
our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen.
Today in our Gospel reading we read about an event described in the Gospel of Luke where Jesus goes to the house of one of the rulers of the Pharisees, and heals a man, and also tells a number of parables. The particular parable that we read about today is where Jesus speaks about taking a lower place at a wedding banquet, rather than a higher place.
Our Gospel reading begins where it says: One Sabbath, when he went to dine at the house of a ruler of the Pharisees, they were watching him carefully.
In the Gospels we are constantly coming across the Pharisees, who were the religious experts and theologians in the time of Jesus. When we hear the word Pharisee today, it usually has bad, negative connotations for us, and if someone were to call someone else a Pharisee, it would usually be an insult. However, in these times, a Pharisee was a very well-respected person. They were well educated, pious, religious people, theologians, leaders, and all that kind of thing. We might think of various people like this that we know, and we would never think of them as Pharisees. It’s not a bad thing to be educated, and educated in theology—it’s not a bad thing to be pious or religious, to be a theologian or a leader.
However, when it comes to Jesus and his teachings, there is something very special about him, because sometimes, educated people don’t understand things as clearly as the uneducated people, and such like. For example, St Paul and St Luke were both very educated people. St Paul was a Pharisee who converted to the Christian faith, but only after he had been a violent persecutor of Christians. St Luke, too, who wrote the Gospel of Luke and the book of Acts, was a doctor, a highly-educated man. But then also, St Peter and St John and many of the other disciples were fishermen, uneducated men who worked hard for a living. So, we can see that sometimes God uses educated people and sometimes he uses uneducated people. Sometimes scientists only listen to scientists, doctors only listen to doctors, but sometimes Jesus says something that completely shatters everything we ever knew. It’s a bit like being a candlemaker who could never have imagined for a moment what it must be like to have a light-bulb, let alone invent one and make one. Sometimes we understand this in the church well: it’s not unusual for an uneducated person to express the wonderful truths and realities of the Christian faith much clearer than someone who has a PhD in theology.
In 1 Corinthians, St Paul says: For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart. Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?
The main thing, if people are educated, is that they always have to be careful not to use their book-smarts as a means to justify their conscience. There are many clever people who use their cleverness to cover up their sin, or their false beliefs. We always need to be careful. There’s something very special about reading about the conversion of Matthew, where it says, Jesus said to him: follow me, and he rose and followed him. That’s it! The Word and the person of Jesus had such an effect that he just stood up, left everything and went with Jesus. The same thing happened with the Ethiopian eunuch, who after a reasonably short conversation with Philip the evangelist, asked to stop his chariot and be baptised immediately.
Of course, we should think carefully about things, but when we listen to the words of Jesus, and when we are in a situation to learn from him, then we must submit our whole mind to him as if we know absolutely nothing at all, and there is nothing that we already know that could possibly be more important. Remember the passage about Mary and Martha, where Martha is fussing about in the kitchen. Jesus says: Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.
So we come to our reading, where Jesus goes to the house of the ruler of the Pharisees. Here we see the Light of the world, who created light, the sun, the lightning and thunder and electricity, paying a visit, as it were, to these candlemakers! We read that they were watching him carefully. They were not watching Jesus with the attitude of learning from him and submitting their minds and hearts to their Maker and their God, but in such a way that would catch him out with something, and be able to say: “Aha! We are the experts, and we are able to solve the great problem, what is really wrong with Jesus.”
We read: And behold, there was a man before him who had dropsy. And Jesus responded to the lawyers and Pharisees, saying, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath, or not?”
Now, dropsy was a fluid condition, which caused terrible swelling in a person. This person was there before Jesus. And Jesus asks the lawyers and Pharisees: It is lawful to heal on the Sabbath, or not?
Now, in the Old Testament, God had commanded the Jewish people to keep the Sabbath day holy, and in such a way that they should do no work on that day. Of course, the whole purpose of keeping the Sabbath was so that they could dedicate this day and this time to their sanctification, to being made holy. The commandment says: Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. And so what it is the thing that makes us holy? It is the Word of God, and so this commandment has especially to do with going to the place where people can hear the Word of God, and hear it read and preaching and expounded, and all that kind of thing.
But the Pharisees made such a big deal about not working on the Sabbath, that they became almost quite silly in their self-righteousness about what they could and couldn’t do, what do we define as “work” and what isn’t technically “work”. Even today, amongst Jewish people, I have heard that there are some people who won’t use light-switches on Saturdays, or go up in an elevator, and all kinds of things, because they think that it would come under the banner of “work”.
Now, Jesus puts this question to them: Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath, or not? When Jesus puts his hand on a person, and miraculously heals him, and takes away his debilitating medical condition, is this technically “work”? Is Jesus breaking the Sabbath?
Now, if we read the beginning of the book of Genesis, we read that God created the world in six days, and even God didn’t need to fill a whole week with his work! And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done. Now, this is a great and wonderful mystery, that God should rest. But this is not to say that God was worn out and exhausted and was sapped of all his energy after a long week’s work! No—of course not! God rests on the seventh day, to manifest and show to us his great, perfect and divine peace. And when people rest on the Sabbath, and hear the Word of God, God shares his divine peace with us, and works on us through his Word, and sends us the Holy Spirit.
Every time these Pharisees had gathered together on the Sabbath in the synagogue, God was working on them to heal them and to teach them. Now, Jesus is in their midst, and there is a sick man there, and Jesus actually demonstrates to them what the Sabbath is all about, namely, it is for the benefit of our healing, our refreshment, our nourishment at God’s table. It is for drawing living water from God’s fountain, for the refreshment of our minds and our hearts and our bodies. And so, of course, Jesus is here in their midst to give this man with dropsy this wonderful gift.
So, after Jesus asks these men this question about healing on the Sabbath, we read: They remained silent. The experts have their mouths shut. Then [Jesus] took him and healed him and sent him away.
Now, Jesus asks them a further question: Which of you, having a son or an ox that has fallen into a well on a Sabbath day, will not immediately pull him out? And we read once again: And they could not reply to these things. Silence, silence, silence. It is the Sabbath and their mouths are shut. It is time for God to teach them, Jesus himself to do the talking and for them to do the listening.
They all know that if there is some terrible thing happening on the Sabbath, an accident, or a tragedy, that they will do something about it immediately. If their son, or even an ox, an animal, falls into a well, of course, they’re not going to yell down to their son, and say: “Sorry, lad. I can’t help—it’s the Sabbath. You’ll have to wait until tomorrow.” Of course, no one would do this! Jesus says, you wouldn’t do this to your son, and you wouldn’t even do that to one of your farm animals.
Actually, in one of my former parishes, there was a farming couple who had beef cattle on their farm. They attended church very regularly. But once or twice I remember it happening that the cows got out and were blocking the highway near their house. And so they weren’t at church that week, because they had to get their cows back in. Could you imagine if the people at church had shaken their heads, and said, “Tsk! Tsk! They should’ve been at church.” Could you imagine if the police came to assist the traffic on the road, and the couple said, “Sorry, we can’t do anything now. We have to go to church!”
Jesus is talking about precisely these situations to the Pharisees. Of course, there is some work that needs to be done on the Sabbath, but anyway, Jesus is always working on the Sabbath, he is always working on us, he is working to breathe out his Holy Spirit and to sanctify his people, to make them into living temples of his Word, and to heal and refresh them, and to share with them the perfect peace of his divine rest.
Now, in our reading there is also a parable where Jesus speaks about people at a wedding feast. We see these puffed-up Pharisees, with all their knowledge and sense of self-importance, putting themselves in the important position in the kingdom of God. We also see a man with dropsy in a low position. But Jesus exalts the man with dropsy, and heals him, whereas the Pharisees are silenced and put to shame. Jesus says at the end of the reading: For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.
However, instead of looking in detail at this parable, I’d like to dedicate some time in the remainder of our sermon today to a question which comes up again and again, and is important for us to consider. Why is it that Christians worship on Sundays rather than Saturdays?
In our reading we are talking about Jesus healing on the Sabbath. Today, we sometimes meet different Christians who are considering this question, and think: maybe we should all be worshipping on Saturdays instead of Sundays. After all, Jesus, being a Jew himself, worshipped on Saturdays, which is true.
There is even a group, the Seventh Day Adventists, who make a very big deal about this, and accuse Christians of breaking the commandment, by worshipping on the “wrong day”.
However, there are a couple of things we need to think about. Luther, in the Small Catechism, gives this explanation to the Third Commandment, Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. He writes: We should fear and love God, so that we do not despise preaching and his Word, but hold it sacred and gladly hear and learn it. Notice here, that nothing is really said about the day of worship, but rather about the Word of God and preaching, and about hearing it and learning it, and learning and hearing it gladly, with a joyful heart, with a willing attitude. As it says in the Psalms: I was glad when they said to me, Let us go to the house of the Lord. I will go the altar of God, to God my exceeding joy. How lovely are your dwelling places, O Lord of hosts. My soul longs for, yes, faints for the courts of the Lord.
Now, this is a really fine point that Luther makes, because in the New Testament, if we go through the Ten Commandments, and look at how the apostles teach them, we will find all of the commandments reiterated there, and taught in such a way that takes into account the life and ministry of Jesus, and his sacrifice and death on the cross. However, when it comes to the Sabbath, nowhere does it say in the New Testament that people must be diligent not to work on Saturdays. There are many passages which talk about hearing and learning the Word of God, and many examples of preaching and teaching, and of Christians gathering together. But to worship on Saturdays like the Jews is not promoted in the same way. In fact, in Colossians, St Paul writes: Let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath. Also, we see in Acts 20, the example of the gathering on the first day of the week. On the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread, Paul talked with them, intending to depart on the next day. Also, in the beginning of the book of Revelation, St John speaks of himself in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, not the Sabbath day, the Saturday, but the day of the Lord’s resurrection, the Sunday.
So, in worshipping on Sundays, we are celebrating the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, following the example of the apostles. Jesus rose from the dead on Sunday, he visited his disciples eight days later on Sunday, and also the Day of Pentecost with the giving of the Holy Spirit was on the Sunday too. And also, we worship on Sundays, not because there is a law about the day, but we do it out of freedom, to hear the Word of God whenever we can. Sometimes, of course, we worship on other days of the week, like on Good Friday, or whatever day of the week Christmas happens to be. Some churches even hold daily services, which is a wonderful thing, when a church is of that kind of size where people can come along on a daily basis.
Now, many people are not convinced about these things. Many people, like Seventh Day Adventists, or Jews, or even Muslims, will accuse us of changing the day of worship. There were events in history where Emperor Constantine and particular popes made a law about these things, and forbade Christians to worship on Saturdays. People say that it was their fault. No, it wasn’t their fault—they solved an ongoing dispute with heavy-handed, political methods, but that it is a completely different issue.
Sometimes, when it comes to the Scripture, we see in the Old Testament many rules and regulations about food, like eating pork, or festivals and days of worship, which we Christians today no longer follow. And so, many people accuse us of changing the law. It’s not that we changed the law, it’s that the law no longer applies now that Jesus has died and risen from the dead.
Also, sometimes in the Old Testament, there are some rules where it says, you must keep this forever. Even about the Sabbath it says in Exodus 31: The people of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, observing the Sabbath throughout their generations, as a covenant forever. Actually, there are two words for “forever” in Hebrew. One means, forever and ever, Amen. The other means, as long as the conditions are the same. For example, a husband and a wife might say, “I will be true to you forever”. What they really mean is, as long as you’re alive. Once the person is dead, the other person is quite free to marry someone else. The same goes for the day of the Sabbath. As long as we are waiting for the Messiah, the Sabbath and the food regulations remain in place. But now that the Messiah has come, and Jesus has risen from the dead, the situation is completely different.
The way I often explain it is like this. Let’s say a young woman lives by herself, and she is visited by the postman who delivers her letters. There are very strict rules about where the postman is allowed to go: he can only talk to her at the letterbox or the front door. He is not allowed to go inside the house, or help himself to food, or sit in the chairs, or go to bed there. But let’s say, years later, this postman and the young woman fall in love, and they get married. Now, the postman and the young woman share a house and a marriage and home and a family, and so the rules are completely different. It would be quite silly if the postman and his wife only spoke to each other at the front door still, because that is the law for postmen. Sure, he might still be a postman, but now the rules are different, because he is now her husband!
And so, the same goes for us as Christians. Yes, for the Jewish people, there were many rules that they followed, because God had only allowed them limited access to his presence. And so what we read in the Old Testament is as if they are only allowed to visit God at the post box and the front door. But now, that Jesus has come, and has died, and has risen, and has sent his Holy Spirit, and has given us the full forgiveness of our sins, we now have access to God’s house, and so the relationship is completely different. The old external regulations about worshipping on a Saturday, or keeping Jewish festivals, or eating certain food, no longer apply because the relationship is completely different.
Of course, we still gather as Christians to hear the Word of God. The Word of God is our living water, our life, our nourishment. We need to hear the Word and the preaching, because we need to recognise in ourselves our profound sinful condition, and our great need for Jesus. And when the Holy Spirit has broken our stony hearts, and convicted us of our sin, then we need to pointed to Jesus, our Saviour, who has offered himself in our place, and died for us, and risen for us. He forgives our sins, he has baptised us into his kingdom, and he continually works on us, to sanctify us and to share with us his perfect peace and perfect rest which surpasses all understanding. Jesus is our Shepherd, our Life, our Healing, our Health, our Teacher, our Guide, our God, the Head of the church, our fountain of life, our living water, our medicine, our doctor, who exalts the humble, and is our wonderful Encourager, and Friend, our Advocate, and Comforter. We meet him even today on the day of his resurrection, to receive from him the Holy Spirit and the wonderful gifts of the Holy Spirit, not simply to speak to him at the post box, but to be full members of his household, even to meet him as our beloved bridegroom, and to live with him in his house. This is our Jesus who is the Lord of the Sabbath, who breathes on us and shares with us his perfect and divine peace and rest. Amen.
The peace of God which surpasses all understanding guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment