Pentecost 13, Year C

August 26, 2007

The Rev. Dena Cleaver-Bartholomew

I was in my former parish in Michigan one fine, summer Sunday when, in the middle of announcements, I heard a thunderous noise. The children from the summer Sunday School program had been released to come into worship and, in a spurt of energy and enthusiasm, had forgotten the many admonitions they had received to walk quietly up the wooden ramp that was built along the outside of the worship space and slip into the pews with their parents. Instead, they were running full tilt up the ramp, maximizing their noise making potential. Nearly every head swiveled in the direction of the ruckus. Some people looked alarmed, some amused, while still others scowled at the disruption. This variety of reactions was not a surprise, for the parish had had very few children until recent years, and those who preferred their liturgy accomplished ‘decently and in good order’ did not always appreciate the exuberance of the children. Tension hung in the air for a moment and I said: “Ah, the joyful noise of children. Would that we all were that excited to come to church.”

As we all know, St. James’ was not the first parish to encounter this dilemma. Faithful people can differ dramatically in their worship preferences. From relaxed and family friendly, to formal and traditional, to high church, low church, charismatic or contemporary, there are many ways in which people seek to worship and serve God. Our hope is that whatever outward form our worship takes, it is grounded in a sincere desire to respond to God in a way that pleases God.

In today’s reading from the Gospel according to Luke we find Jesus behaving in a way that challenged the common understanding of what it meant to observe the sabbath as would be pleasing to God. To the leader of the synagogue, who was in charge of keeping worship running ‘decently and in good order,’ the expectations of keeping the sabbath were clearly delineated in the Law: “Six days you shall labor and do all your work. But the seventh day is a sabbath to the LORD your God; you shall not do any work....” Yet here was Jesus, doing work on the sabbath! This was not even an emergency, for which an exception could be made. The woman had been crippled for eighteen years, why not wait one more day? If Jesus had waited, then the woman could have been healed, the Sabbath would have been observed properly, and everyone could have been happy. Why create controversy?

Controversy, however, was not the point. Instead, Jesus was living out his call as he had defined it previously. At the beginning of his ministry Jesus had quoted from the prophet Isaiah, saying: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me…He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives…to let the oppressed go free….” In this story, when Jesus saw the woman at the synagogue and called her over, he said “Woman, you are set free from your ailment.” While the leader of the synagogue sees work being done on the sabbath, Jesus puts the focus on fulfilling part of his call, declaring that the woman has been set free from bondage. Both are right. Jesus, however, moves the emphasis from strictly correct observance of the Law to compassionate fulfillment of it. Jesus does not neglect the Law, instead he engages in a shifting of perspective, so that the humane response allowed within the Law can be extended to include the woman.

Shifting perspective can be a real challenge. Even when we seek earnestly to do the right thing, to pray the right way, to read and understand the Bible, or to live out God’s call to us, we may be surprised to find that God’s perspective can be very different than ours. Jeremiah certainly sounds surprised in today’s reading. Upon being informed by God that he has been appointed as a prophet to the nations Jeremiah responds: “Ah, Lord GOD! Truly I do not know how to speak, for I am only a boy.” God remains undaunted by this honest confession. Jeremiah is truthful enough to admit that he is not qualified to be a prophet. What he learns is that God knows him more intimately than he could have imagined, and that it is God who has chosen him, God who has given him the words he is to say, and God who will sustain him. He has all of the qualifications needed to be a prophet because God has supplied them. Ironically, his prophetic career centers around proclaiming a message designed to help God’s people shift their perspective, for they fail to see themselves as the unfaithful people God sees them to be. It is because they cannot, or will not, see themselves in a new way that they rebuff their chance to repent and be redeemed.

The Rabbi of Lelov once taught:

A man cannot be redeemed until he recognizes the flaws in his soul and tries to mend them. A nation cannot be redeemed until recognizes the flaws in its soul and tries to mend them. Whoever permits no recognition of his flaws, be it man or nation, permits no redemption. We can be redeemed to the extent to which we recognize ourselves.

Jeremiah, upon being called to be a prophet, immediately recognized his lack of preparedness for the task and confessed it. It was then that God promised his presence and provided Jeremiah with words. When Jeremiah confronted the northern kingdom of Judah with God’s words, both the people and its leaders refused to see their flaws. “I will not be angry forever,” said the LORD. “Only acknowledge your guilt….” God offered compassion but the people could not see that they needed it. They were as bound as the woman in the Gospel reading, yet they failed to comprehend it.

It is a challenge to leave ourselves open enough to shift perspective when God calls us in a new direction. It is always a temptation to be convinced of our own rightness. The people of Judah were conquered by the Babylonians and led into exile because they did not repent and allow themselves to be redeemed. The leader of the synagogue was certain of his understanding of the Law and challenged Jesus on the basis of it. We do not know if this encounter led him to change. Yet both Jeremiah, who was aware of his lack of qualifications, and the woman in the Gospel, who experienced her crippling condition every day for eighteen years, were touched by God. They knew their imperfections only too well, which left plenty of room for God to create change. Humility, it seems, is an excellent partner to openness.

Now, as we approach a new school year, celebrate the arrival of a new rector, or anticipate the resumption of business as usual for the fall, we too are called to listen carefully to where God might be calling us. Alongside our confidence that God is with us, we need to cultivate the humility to allow God to lead the way, which may take a few unexpected twists and turns. God calls us to be honest about ourselves, both our strengths and our failings, for God sees them all and offers us compassion. If we are open, who knows in what surprising ways God might choose to set us free?

Amen