Called to Action, and Renewal

Jeremiah 1:4-10, Psalm 71:1-6, Luke 13:10-17

In our scriptures today we hear of Jeremiah, who is anxious about being called as a prophet because he’s only a boy.  Yet God affirms his gifts for this line of work, and he’s going to need that affirmation, because being a prophet is not an easy job.

And we know it’s not an easy job because in this week’s Gospel, Jesus, that prophet of prophets, gets into loads of trouble with the religious authorities for healing a woman on the Sabbath.

So...what exactly is the Sabbath, and why is it such an issue?

The Sabbath comes from the word ‘seven,’ as in, ‘on the seventh day, God rested.’  It’s one of the 10 commandments, to remember the Sabbath day, and keep it holy.  Everyone in the Jewish tradition was supposed to rest on the Sabbath.  You could not plow fields or harvest or grind grain or fix your roof or any number of other tasks, especially if they were your means of business.

You were also to make sure you gave any employees or servants you have an opportunity to rest and spend time with their families, and you were to ensure that your livestock, such as your donkey or oxen, had time to rest from their labors.  This was to help prevent the exploitation of workers or other vulnerable people by the ‘big bosses,’ so to speak, and certainly, people who did hard physical labor six days a week, would need a day of rest!

Observing the Sabbath was so important that it carried some heavy penalties--including the punishment of death for violating the command to rest.  You could act to save a life, but even the dead had to be buried either before or after the Sabbath day--after the crucifixion on Good Friday, Jesus had to be buried before sunset, or have his body left up on the cross until Sunday morning.  It will not surprise you to learn that violating the Sabbath was one of the reasons the religious authorities wanted Jesus crucified.

What does Sabbath look like today?

For some folks, Sabbath looks much the same as it did in ages past.  In modern-day Israel, the most conservative groups of Jews block off streets to vehicle traffic and everyone walks everywhere--perhaps to the park, or more especially to the synagogue, and nothing else is open in the conservative neighborhoods.  When I lived there I found it tough if I ran out of milk or needed a taxi, but otherwise it was really quite...peaceful.

Much of the 20th century labor movement recognizes the Sabbath--the need for at least one day of rest, giving us our weekend, and limits on the hours many employees in physically demanding jobs may work.  In fact, the concept of the Sabbath gave us our first Sunday Schools in this country, in the early 20th century, primarily to give child laborers a day of rest from the sweatshops by offering large group religious instruction.

In our 24/7 world, perhaps it is now harder than ever to observe a full 24 hour day of rest.

After, all, how many of us, thanks to technology, can be reached by our workplace any time of day or night--or weekend? How many of us may never feel like we’re truly away from work--even on vacation? How many of us feel anxious if we don’t check our work email even when we’re at home with our families?  How many of us wonder if we’ll still be employed if we don’t answer emails, texts or other messages immediately?

I have a pastoral colleague who has perhaps more guts than I do, and in the signature line of her email, writes, “I ordinarily do not answer emails on Saturdays and Mondays.”  Therefore, everyone with whom she emails knows her policy well in advance.  After all, if it’s a true pastoral emergency, she’ll probably get a phone call.  She has found it important in an active ministry to ensure that the time she spends with family, is time when her full attention is given to her family.  Other pastors are starting to take note.

After all, religious leaders are supposed to lead by example, to demonstrate what Sabbath truly is, and how to keep it holy.  No doubt the religious leaders challenging Jesus thought that was exactly what they were doing--stopping this radical sinner in his tracks.  But Jesus, the true leader, demonstrated the true intent of Sabbath.  He was teaching in the synagogues, as any good rabbi would do on the Sabbath; and folks were listening, as any good folks would do.  And then he turned everything they knew upside down.

So, what is lawful on the Sabbath?

There’s a long list of things that are forbidden on the Sabbath, but by comparison, the list of things that are good to do is relatively simple.  Sabbath is a time to rest, beginning at sundown the day before.  It’s time to get out for a walk and take the long way home.  It’s time to reconnect with your family.  You light the candles, put on the good china, have a simple but fulfilling meal, and pray together, like doing devotions at the dinner table.  

It’s also time to reconnect with your significant other.  Put mildly enough, some Sabbath time needs to be spent in the bedroom.  You have six other days to be too tired, have a headache, or be arguing with your partner.

Sabbath starts and ends with worship.  Traditionally, you head to synagogue twice, once in the evening and once the next day, for worship and study of the Scriptures.  After all, perhaps you’ll be too busy the rest of the week to study them.

And to make all this possible, there is a Day of Preparation.  You clean the house and make the food ahead of time, so that it can be enjoyed with a minimum of effort, and the day can be truly a day off--traditionally speaking--for women as well as men.

*A detailed description of Shabbat in conservative Jewish households may be found at: http://www.jewfaq.org/shabbat.htm.

Not Just a Weekly Thing

So, that’s your regular weekly Sabbath.  But there are other kinds of Sabbaths, which are kind of big breaks from our lives of work.  Jewish people have larger, multi-day holidays which are classified as Sabbaths.  Some folks, particularly in academia, get seventh-year sabbaticals, taking a year off to travel, study, and get re-charged so they can return to the work of teaching and leadership, which can be rather draining.

And I would argue that it’s a Sabbath to be healed of a condition which has crippled you for eighteen years.  It’s significant that the healing in today’s Gospel is taking place in a synagogue, where the woman continues to come despite obviously great difficulty getting there.  I would also note the woman wasn’t even necessarily healed because of her level of faith, according to the Gospel text, but because Jesus saw her, and did the right thing--breaking the laws, but also fulfilling God’s intent.

God has called us to action, and action for good.  Sometimes, we need to break with human rules or convention in order to do good, to come to someone’s urgent aid.  But God has also called us to times of rest and renewal.

And that is the point of Sabbath, both big and small:  to have time for activities that bring rest,  re-newal, re-creation,  and re-juvenation (literally, “to make young again”).

So, what are you doing later today, on this Sabbath?  You here in the room have come to worship and praise God.  What will you do today to make yourself new, to make yourself feel young again, or to create within yourself or your family a new sense of well-being and wholeness?

Where will you walk?  Where will you find your drink of water?

Maybe this isn’t such a bad Sunday to think on these themes, when children prepare to go back to school and there is only one real week of summer vacation left.

I know for myself, August zoomed right by, with some seriously long days in the office, considering all that is needed to get ready for September, and maybe once all the lovely lawn concerts in our area ended, which had made it so appealing to make a picnic and take the kids, it seemed more pressing to tackle lengthy to-do lists.  Soon the workweeks, crammed with many tasks and needs, crept longer and longer.  I finally realized this week how just plain tired I was, and now I’m trying to practice what I preach, and will hopefully undo this pattern over the next few days.  So far, we’ve been out on some good walks, to enjoy the kids singing and dancing in the park, playing in the sand, or just to hold Maya (our three month old) a little longer.  After all, they grow up so fast.

What is causing you to feel bent down and burdened?

You might have noticed that line at the end of Jeremiah, when God gives the power to tear down and to build up.  This power isn’t given to fulfill any personal whim, but to dismantle what needs to be dismantled.  The illness the woman had, needed to be dismantled.  The woman needed to be built up, healed, to stand up straight.  The systems which forbade healing on the Sabbath needed to be dismantled.  Systems of human concern for one another, rooted in love, needed to be built up.  This is God’s justice, that love prevail.  That people be unburdened, and not exploited.  That we be created anew.  That we be motivated not by fear and not by legalism, but solely by love.  Thanks be to God!

Prayers for This Week:

Syria, Egypt, all who have died in the violence

Colombia, where 140 young people were kidnapped by armed militia in a village this week.

Equality and unity among people of all races, on the 50th anniversary of the ‘I Have A Dream’ speech

For our earth, and the wise stewardship of all creation

For all who are sick, or nearing the end of their earthly lives

For outreach efforts and new ways of being aware of our community

Back to school children and their families, including ‘empty nesters’