Gospel: Luke 13: 10-17
There is great irony in today's Gospel story. The Sabbath was instituted by God as a day of healing and restoration, a day of liberation from the drudgery of work and the curse of Adam. It was intended for resting in God, allowing God's healing to animate our tired frames. Yet, the Pharisees object to Jesus healing someone on the Sabbath day - not the first time they have objected so. They object to a person being healed on the very day intended for our healing and restoration.
This incongruity is what happens when the legalism of religion overtakes its spirit. The Pharisees, and we as well, have reduced the Sabbath to an obligatory attendance at a religious service, and heaven forbid if anyone in need should come before our assembly to ask our help and upset our liturgical regimen. We do not see the liturgy as part of a larger healing and restorative part of the Sabbath day. We do not see it as part of our obligation to be healing instruments for others in the world.
Today is a day for us to reflect on how we might make the Sabbath a day of healing. We might reflect on how God calls us to be instruments of healing in our world today. What concrete expression of healing can we bring to the world in our actions? This was the work Jesus brought into the world, the work to which we are called as disciples of the Lord. How might we bring Sabbath and Jubilee to others as Jesus did?
No comments:
Post a Comment