Title: Do unChristians Find Us unChristian?
Text: Luke 13:10-17
Thesis: Christ-like Christians are a blessing to God and a delight to others.
Introduction
The story of “The Trojan Horse” comes to us out of Greek mythology. It is the story of how the Greeks laid siege to the ancient city of Troy which, at that time was a major crossroads between Europe and Asia. For ten years the Greek navy and army attempted to breach the walls of Troy but were unsuccessful. So they decided to pull-a-fast-one in a last ditch attempt to get into the city.
The Greeks then built a huge wooden horse that was to serve as a victory trophy for the Trojans. They hid 30 elite soldiers inside the horse, towed it up to the city gates, boarded their ships and sailed away. The next day the people of Troy opened their gates and rolled the horse into the city to celebrate their victory over the Greeks.
However, that night the Greeks sailed back into the harbor and the men inside the horse climbed down, opened the city gates and let the invading Greek army into the city of Troy and the Trojans were defeated.
A “Trojan Horse” has come to refer to any trick or strategy used to get a target to invite an enemy or a foe into what is meant to be a secure place. It is a ruse.
That’s why we don’t let anyone we don’t know into our homes. Deliverymen aren’t always deliverymen so-to-speak. People and things are not always who and what they appear to be.
Those use computers know that if you receive an e-mail from someone you do not know or a suspicious spam or pop-up, you do not open them… you delete them immediately and send them packing to the trash bin. The e-mails and pop-ups often look and sound very good but they are actually mal-ads or malicious ads. They are viruses that look good but once in your computer they search for and steal personal information and/or infect and destroy your programs.
These viruses look good but inside they are malicious and evil in their intent. They say they love you but they don’t act like they love you.
In our story today Jesus spoke very pointedly to a man and those in sympathy with that man’s brand of spirituality and called them “hypocrites.” They were Trojan Horses. They were mal-ads, i.e., malicious advertisements for their faith.
In our story today Jesus demonstrates what it means to be Christ-like while another religious leader demonstrates what it is like to be a mal-ad for his faith. Jesus shows us that the Christ-like person sees people.
I. Followers of Christ “see” people.
On the Sabbath Jesus was teaching… and woman was there who had been crippled by a spirit for eighteen years. She was bent and could not straighten up at all. When Jesus saw her… Luke 13:10-11
It is the Sabbath and Jesus is teaching. A woman Luke described as having suffered the crippling affects of an illness for eighteen years. She is described as bent so severely that she could not straighten up. For eighteen years she suffered the crippling affects of some form of degenerative disease in her spine.
The story is featured in the artwork on the front of your worship folder where we see the bent woman leaning on a cane, the sympathizing Christ and the happy people in the background.
We’ve seen folks with a similar malady. They are bent and a bit twisted at the waist. They look miserable and you wonder if it is just inconvenient and a little uncomfortable or if they are suffering excruciating pain.
I doubt that she was trying to draw attention to herself. I imagine it took a good deal of courage and internal fortitude for her to get up and out and go to church. It would have been much easier to stay home. I doubt she liked having people notice her and then quickly avert their eyes so as to not stare at her as she made her way. Unless a person is a total narcissist who enjoys having others observe their misery, most of us do not care to be spectacles.
Her infirmity is said to have been caused by an evil spirit. In other words, Satan had made her sick. We know Satan can do that. Those familiar with the story of Job know that Satan is willing to destroy our health in order to get us to falter in our faith.
Unfortunately, health often defines who we are. She was a crippled woman. But Jesus saw her as a woman who was crippled.
• We can see a diabetic or we can see a person who has diabetes.
• We can see a stroke victim or we can see a person who has had a stroke and needs to use a walker.
• We can see an alcoholic or see a person who struggles with alcoholism.
• We can see a divorcee or we can see a person who is trying to put her life back together.
• We can see an unemployed person or we can see a person who is in need of a job.
The important thing to see in Jesus Christ is that he did not see her disfigurement and avert his eyes. He did not try to ignore her or avoid making eye-contact. He spoke to her. He told her that she was free from her infirmity and then he touched her and immediately she straightened up.
Jesus was all about looking into the eyes of a person, speaking into the ears of a person and then extending his hands to give that person a lift up.
CNN World ran a story on March 18, 2010 about a 19 year old Afghan woman. She had been promised in marriage by her father when she was just 8 years old in a practice called “Baad.” “Baad” is a practice according to Pashtuni law that is enacted to settle a dispute between two families.
When she was 16 her father handed her over to her father-in-law to be and his family. Her husband was away fighting with the Taliban so she lived with his family as a prisoner and a slave.
After two years she could take it no longer and escaped to Kandahr Province where she was briefly imprisoned as a run-away. He father-in-law eventually found her and returned her to his family home where she met her husband for the first time. He had come home to take her to Taliban court for dishonoring his family. The Taliban court ordered that her nose and ears be cut-off, an act carried out by her husband and she was left to die. But she did not die. Two relief organizations worked together to get her help and protection. (http://afghanistan.blogs.cnn.com/2010/03/18/shaming-her-in-laws-costs-19-year-old-her-nose-ears/)
Just this month Time Magazine ran her photo on the cover and featured her story in the August 9, 2010 issue. The good news in the story is that the heads of the Grossman Burn Foundation from the LA area heard her story and have had her flown to Los Angeles, found her a host family and is funding the surgical reconstruction of her nose and ears. (http://www.cleveland.com/nation/index.ssf/2010/08/afghan_girl_whose_nose_ears_cu.html)
When Jesus saw that young woman he did not see a freaky nose less face… he saw a young woman who had been savagely abused and in desperate need of a helping hand.
In our story there is the Christ-like example but there is also an unChrist-like example.
II. UnChrist-like people see problems rather than people.
Indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, the synagogue ruler said to the people, “There are six days for work. So come and be healed on those days, not on the Sabbath.” Luke 13:14
This man is not pictured in the artwork on the front of your worship folder… if he were, he would be the man with the huge, disapproving scowl on his face.
This was not the first time religious people had taken offense at Jesus’ activities on the Sabbath. In Luke 6 Jesus was again teaching in the synagogue on the Sabbath. There was a man there with a shriveled right hand. But there were also some religious leaders there who were watching Jesus like a hawk to see if he would do something horrible like heal someone. Jesus did not disappoint them. He invited the man to come forward and stand in front of the crowd. He then spoke to the people gathered in the synagogue asking: “Which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save a life or to destroy it?” The bible says that Jesus looked around and then said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He did so, and his hand was completely restored.
But his critics were not pleased. They were in fact furious and began to discuss with one another what they might do to Jesus. Luke 6:6-11
In our story the synagogue ruler is indignant and takes a pot-shot at Jesus by reminding the people that healing was work and if they wanted to be healed they should come to church during the week rather than expect to be healed on the Sabbath. If Jesus wanted to be a do-gooder, he needed to do his do-gooding on a work day and not on the Sabbath.
The ruler of the synagogue was a deeply religious man. The Taliban, who cut-off the nose and ears of a teenage girl, were deeply religious men. The ruler of the synagogue thought the woman with the bent back could have waited until the next day to be healed. And the Taliban believed the girl got what she deserved.
To those who are malicious advertisements for their faith, the man healed of his withered right hand, the woman whose back was made straight and the woman with the making of a new nose and ears are not cause for celebration… they are cause to condemn the good will and the good deeds of others.
That is what happens when people see problems rather than people.
Jesus did not let the ruler of the synagogues hypocrisy slide. Jesus condemned him in no uncertain terms.
III. Christ-like people unashamedly defend the doing of good for others.
Jesus answered, “You hypocrites! Doesn’t each of you on the Sabbath untie his ox or donkey from the stall and lead it out to give it water? Then should not this woman, a daughter of Abraham whom Satan has kept bound for eighteen long years, be set free on the Sabbath day from what bound her?” Luke 13:15-16
Jesus offered a fairly simply “lesser to greater” argument.
He pointed out that the same people who condemn him for freeing a woman who had been suffering for eighteen years on the Sabbath, had no qualms about taking their ox or donkey out for drink of water on the Sabbath.
Jesus felt it was petty and pretty hypocritical to care more that a donkey get a drink of water on the Sabbath than for a woman who had suffered for eighteen years. Surely, a sick woman merits as much compassion as a thirsty donkey.
People do get pretty attached to their pets and sometimes even value the love of their pets over their love for their children. On June 17, 2010 the Miami New Times ran an article about Gail Posher. When Ms. Posher died she left a 3 million dollar trust fund and an 8.3 million dollar mansion to her dogs. She also left 26 million dollars to her body guards and staff, so she was not entirely skewed in her generosity. But in the mind of her son, who was given only a measly 1 million dollars – she cared more for her dogs than for her own son. My suspicion is that there is more to that story that might explain the disparity in her generosity.
It’s not bad to love and pamper a pet nor is it bad to lead a donkey out to get a drink of water… it just becomes hypocritical when we will do for an animal what we would deny for another person.
Conclusion
When it was all said and done, the woman was well and Jesus had put the hypocrites in their place and the bible says, “the people were delighted with all the wonderful things Jesus was doing.” Luke 13:17
This week Bonnie asked me if I’d seen the cover of the August issue of Denver Magazine 5280... the one with Tim Tebow featured on the cover with the text “John 3:16” printed in the back paint under his eyes.
I had not and went on to get all cranky.
And I said something like, “If Tim Tebow wants to be respected as a Christian he needs to worry first about playing well and not about the signage he paints on his face to alert the world that he is a Christian. If he wants to make Jesus proud and be a positive influence for his faith on the football field… then play well and earn the favor of the people you want to influence. Otherwise a great witness is pretty much nullified by bad performance.
So is Tim Tebow “The Second Coming” quarterback who will return the Broncos to their former glory? The article begins, “Look at Tim Tebow. Look at all his 6-foot 3-inch, 245 pound All-American frame, his cropped hair, his Roman nose and those eyes… yes the eyes that sit atop the eye-black emblazoned with scripture.” (John 3:16)
• So is Tim Tebow a follower of Christ?
• Is Tim Tebow sincere about his faith?
• Is Tim Tebow living a consistent Christian life before his teammates?
• Is Tim Tebow respected as a hard working athlete?
• Is Tim Tebow’s life not a great pro-life story?
• Is there anything wrong with Tim Tebow wanting to speak to his faith by writing John 3:16 on his face during a ball game?
Am I a grumpy old hypocrite who should be delighted by the wonderful things God is doing in and through his life? Yes… I am afraid I have been. I think I would prefer to be identified with Jesus in this story rather than with the grumpy synagogue ruler who saw problems rather than people.
God gets no good or glory when people profess to be good Christians and behave hypocritically.
God is blessed when people are delighted by the good things Christ-like people do for the good of others and the glory of God.
