“Delighted With All The Wonderful Things He Was Doing”
Luke 13:10-17
To begin, allow me to speak to the title to this morning’s message. The folks in the Synagogue that day weren’t so much delighted in “things” that Jesus was doing, oh sure, they were, but they were probably more delighted that He put His opponents in their place.
There was once a loving couple who had the wife’s elderly mother living with them. Their concern was for her security while both of them went away to work each day. They finally seemed satisfied after they had devised a system of twelve different locks and bolts for the front and back doors of the house. The only problem was that they overlooked the old woman’s technical ability to operate all these devices. When a friend would want to call on her during the day, or when she would want to go out and enjoy the backyard, she had to turn down such opportunities because she didn’t know how to get all the locks and bolts open. She ended up being a daytime prisoner, all in the name of feeling “secure.” One doesn’t even want to think of what might have happened if there had ever been a fire in the house. Her children had good intentions but carried them too far.
The Sabbath needs to be guarded as well, but the religious leaders of Jesus’ day had carried things too far, thus the “delight with all the wonderful things He, Jesus was doing.”
While serving the Plains Church, I found myself to be a bachelor one weekend and instead of cooking decided to treat myself to a supper out. There I was, enjoying the peace and quiet and my dinner, minding my own business, and then something grabbed my attention that changed me for the rest of that evening, for several days to follow, and even yet today. What got my attention was a young boy sitting with his family who looked like he was in obvious pain. I don’t know about you but the sight of a child in pain or in tears really tugs at my heart. I told someone just this week that those St. Jude commercials on television get my waterworks going almost every time [which is what they are intended to do I’m sure]. In my past life this probably wouldn’t have bothered me that much and I for sure wouldn’t have done anything about it, but I couldn’t just sit there anymore and witness this, so I got up from my dinner and I walked over to the little boy and said: “Hey champ, are you okay?” What the boy’s parents or anyone else around their table would think never crossed my mind; all I knew was that I needed to reach out to this young man.
As I got closer to the table I noticed the stitches and Band-Aids that were on his face, and his mother told me that he had gone through some surgery that day and wasn’t feeling too good. Why in the world had they subjected him to this pain while they seemed to enjoy feeding their faces I couldn’t understand. Why didn’t they have him at home where he could be comfortable? I didn’t go there with his parents, probably wasn’t any of my business; but the sight of this young boy upset me terribly. Several times that night I prayed for him; didn’t know his name, where he lived, or what his surgery was for, but I prayed. I prayed for him the next day and I even mentioned my story in church that Sunday, and I prayed some more for several days. I think about him often. I wonder how he’s doing. If he has grown up and lived a normal life. If he understood why I just had to reach out to him that night; if he ever remembers my touch and question: “Hey champ, are you okay?” I’m convinced that it was something God put together, our chance encounter, me feeling compassion for another and wanting to do something, anything; and acting on that feeling. I’m convinced that because Jesus reached out to me, I want to reach out to others, and you need to know this morning that Jesus has reached out to you my friends and He wants you to do the same.
While attending Course of Study at Emory one summer I arrived early for my preaching class and had a conversation with our teacher, Dr. B. Wiley Stephans. Wiley was the Senior Pastor of a 10,000 member UMC in Dunwoody. I asked him with all he must have had on his schedule why he fought the traffic every day in the summer to teach our class. He commented how much he enjoyed sitting and listening to those of us called late in life to the ministry; he said hearing our newfound passion and to see what God is doing in our life reminded him of his call, his early ministry, and the transforming power of God.
We are all called by God for some kind of ministry. This is something we discussed in our Brown Bag Study this past Tuesday. The title of the chapter we were discussing was, Answering Email. Even in the mundane of life we can be in ministry. What might God be calling you to do in His kingdom and even beyond?
Saint Luke is the only Gospel writer that shares this story found in our Gospel lesson this morning; but Luke, being a physician, would have been drawn to a story like this. Jesus is teaching in the Synagogue on the Sabbath, something He regularly did. Since He is teaching, He would have been sitting front and center; Rabbi’s always sat to teach. The other major character in our story for today, the woman who had been crippled for eighteen years, would have been sitting in the back of the room, lucky that she was even there.
We don’t know much about this woman, we don’t even know her name. Why had she come there that day, was she a regular or was she there simply because she had heard Jesus was going to be there? Luke seems to know that she suffered for eighteen years; is this something she was born with or something she contracted later in life? I say that she would have been sitting in the back not because she was a good Methodist and that was her pew but because that’s where the women would have sat. Women also weren’t permitted to participate actively in the worship being offered up front to the men; indeed, they were not even supposed to speak, which further enhances this text.
Jesus sees her back there, and like I was by that little boy, is moved by compassion. So, He calls her out and invites her to the front. Can’t you imagine her embarrassment? Every eye in the place must have been on her. Everyone must have been wondering what He was doing; why He was calling this woman to the front; who is she anyway? And then right there in the middle of all the men gathered for worship He touched her, and not only did He touch her, but He set her free from her infirmity. How dare He do such a thing, and on the Sabbath to boot! It was against the Jewish law of that time for a man to touch a woman in public unless they were married or closely related.
The leader of the Synagogue complains, not to Jesus, but to the woman and the others gathered there that day: “There are six days for work. So come and be healed on those days, not the Sabbath.” I like the examples that Jesus used to put this man in his place; “ox and donkey,” kind of fitting don’t you think? Just like He will do for you or for me, Jesus defends this woman and the others in the crowd.
Why was healing considered work? The religious leaders saw healing as part of a doctor’s profession, and practicing one’s profession on the Sabbath was prohibited. The synagogue leader could not see beyond the law to Jesus’ compassion in healing this handicapped woman. Jesus shamed him and the other leaders by pointing out their hypocrisy. They would untie their animals and care for them, but they refused to rejoice when a human being was freed from Satan’s bondage.
The compassion of Jesus was instantly moved when He saw this woman; yet His compassion was for more than just a physical cure. In His eyes bodily sickness, even though not necessarily the result of transgression was always the sign of deeper ill: the sickness of the soul. Thus, the healing by Jesus was a sign and promise of a deeper health.
What Jesus said to the Synagogue leader was not against what the Sabbath stood for, He never broke the Sabbath; but He was standing against the strict rules of the Sabbath. What He was saying is that the worth of a human life, even in this case a woman, is more important that that of an ox or a donkey. Jesus went regularly to worship and to teach on the Sabbath. The Sabbath was meant for the praise and prayer of God; and that’s exactly what this woman does. Luke writes that when Jesus touched her: “Immediately, a favorite word of the Gospel writers, she straightened up and praised God.”
In January of 1982 an Air Florida jet crashed into the icy Potomac River in Washington, D.C. After the crash, there was a helicopter that was trying to rescue people from the downed plane. It dropped a line, and one woman grabbed it, and the helicopter began to drag her toward the shore. But the woman was so cold and tired that she couldn’t hold on and so she dropped back into the icy Potomac. At that moment a man on the shore jumped in the cold waters and quickly swam to her aid and saved her. His name was Lenny Skutnik.
I don’t know any more about Lenny Skutnik than that. But that one incident was enough to tell me that he’s a very compassionate, courageous, and brave individual. You just have to look at the videotape to tell that. There’s no doubt about it. Of all the people there, he alone jumped into the icy water to save the woman. He was a hero, and his actions exemplified bravery and courage.
Some instances are like that. You only have to observe a person doing one thing and that one action tells you a lot about the person doing it. The story that we have about Jesus this morning is like that, and we have many more. It’s through these stories that we can see into the heart of Jesus. And what they show us is the great compassion of Jesus.
If we have Jesus in our heart, we too can have that compassion; we too can touch the lives of others to both empower and redeem. We may not be able to bring the physical healing that Jesus could bring because we don’t have that ability, but by telling others about Him and inviting Him into their presence we can bring healing into the lives of others.
Jesus reached out to touch this woman and she was healed—not eventually but the scripture says immediately—and she praised God.
Jesus reached out and touched me—called me to ministry—equipped me for my work—and gave me the compassion to walk up to a complete stranger—a little boy—and ask him if he was okay—to touch him—to pray for him. [Couldn’t do that before His call on my life]
Some of you are hurting today. Some of you might be bent out of shape a little. Jesus is reaching out for you as well; or at least He wants to! Are you ready to be straightened out? Are you ready to praise God?
Eastman First Methodist Church 