In a culture with commercial activity available twenty-four
hours each day, seven days each week, for many people attending to the Sabbath
is quaint. What they miss is the radical freedom God’s command to “remember the
Sabbath day and keep it holy” means for those who are bent-over from hard work.
Release from daily labors is for the sake of joy––for remembering that we have
been created out of dust, for recognizing that we are kin to all living things,
for refusing to be used for someone else’s material gain one-seventh of our
lives.
This is a day to remind the assembly of all the reasons
God’s word calls us to gather, sing, hear, prayer, hear, eat, and give to the
church’s mission at least one day each week. We cannot hear it too much.
Luke 13: 10-17
“The leader of the synagogue, indignant because Jesus had
cured on the Sabbath, kept saying to the crowd, ‘There are six days on which
work ought to be done; come on those days and be cured, and not on the Sabbath
day’” (Luke 13:14).
Can you imagine …a religious leader who was upset that a
congregant came to the service in order to be healed? . . . [M]ost of us [come]
because of tradition, obligation, or habit. Some may even gather for social
reasons: to meet friends at the coffee hour, to find a “nice Christian” spouse,
to keep up on the parish gossip. . . . Do you come like the woman who appeared
in the synagogue, disabled, broken, and looking for healing? Perhaps we do not
come here for healing because we do not see ourselves like the broken woman in
one of the gospel selections for today. We cannot stand up with the dignity
that is ours as children of God, because our pain cripples us and weighs down
upon us. Whether we stand in the pulpit or sit in the pew, all us should gather
to be healed in this sacred space on this holy day. – John Paul Salay
Isaiah 58:9b-14
Written in the sixth century BCE,
this prophetic passage targeted those religious professionals and other
religionists who focused on outdoing each other in their meticulous observance
and strict adherence to piety. The prophet emphasizes that what God requires of
worship is not the details of practice, but the emphasis of caring for one
another and observing the Sabbath to take delight in God, not focusing on
individual interests. Isaiah makes clear that when the hungry are fed and the
people's needs are met, God's people will be the light to those around them,
leading people in the way of the Lord. – Carrie L. Lewis La Plante
Hebrews 12:18-29
Lest we think that we can fit God
into a box that we can handle, the preacher uses the images of a blazing fire,
darkness, gloom, a tempest, the sound of a trumpet, an overwhelming voice, none
of which can be encompassed or confined. The description of the theophany at
Sinai (vs 18–21) inspired by Exodus 19 is juxtaposed with the image of Mount
Zion, the heavenly Jerusalem (vs 22–24). However, rather than the fearful
gathering that is depicted on Mount Sinai, the gathering on Mount Zion is
festive with innumerable angels, and Jesus is pictured as the firstborn of the
royal family. This is the same mountain, but now Jesus is the mediator of the
new covenant for God's people before the divine judge, and Jesus is the atoning
sacrifice for all.
In verses 25–29, the hearers are
reminded not to ignore God when God is speaking. God is the ultimate judge, and
no one, on his or her own, can escape this judge who will shake the foundations
of earth and heaven, all of the created reality. However, those who follow God's
way and have faith in Christ have already been given the gift of an unshakable
kingdom, and in that the hearers can take consolation. . . [and] serve God with
appropriate worship. – Carrie L. Lewis La Plante
John Paul Salay
is Loyola University’s Minister of Liturgy and the Rite of Christian Initiation
of Adults (RCIA).
Carrie L.
Lewis La Plante is pastor of Redeemer Lutheran Church (ELCA) in Indianola,
Iowa.
Homily Service 40, no. 9 (2007): 42-52.
