August 25, 2013
The Rabbi Bear
Everything was going smoothly at a very elaborate wedding in a large church. The Wedding March was about to be sounded from the pipes by the organist as the wedding party strolled in and took their places.
It was time for the flower girl and her young escort to come down the aisle.
But, the boy stopped at the end of every pew, frowned, showed his teeth, then growled loudly.
After the wedding the groom asked the boy, “Why did you behave so badly? What was the growling about?”
The boy replied, “I was just trying to be a good ring bear.”
We have our traditions and sometimes we don’t even understand them. This is certainly the situation we find in our focus Scripture of Luke 13:10 through 17. Jesus is in the Temple on the Sabbath, and this is not the first time we have read about Him teaching there. However, as you heard moments ago, it wasn’t the teaching that really ticked off the Temple leader, a strict follower of the Law.
You may not have thought much about the effort that goes into teaching Scripture, whether it be on Sunday, Saturday or Wednesday night, but somebody has to study, gather the information then present the message in a way that promotes positive change in lives of the hearers.
If you use computers, you have seen a notice on the screen before you download certain files, that asks, “The software you are about to download will change your computer. Do you want to allow this?” In the context of moral teaching, the same is true. Permission is granted by the fact that you subject yourself to the teaching by either sitting in the pew or classroom, or listening on the radio or viewing by TV, or even reading a book or the Bible. You expect change or reinforcement of values and principals through knowledge by presentation of the Word of God. So yes, you do want to change mental files for a better code of conduct.
Teaching through presentation or preaching is not effortless. The Temple leaders, priests and rabbis forbade the people from doing anything on the Sabbath, which is a directive from the Torah. See Exodus 20:8 through 11. Talk about hypocrital actions! The people are not supposed to work this sacred day but the teachers and leaders are?
As the story goes in Luke 13, Yeshua is teaching without objection, which is, in essence, working. Picture this in your mind. A woman walks into the temple who is obviously crippled. She shuffles in, bent over and cannot walk upright. Modern medicine indicates this condition was likely caused by intensive labor coupled by a lack of calcium in her diet. So, she was likely a hard-working poor woman suffering from malnutrition. Any teacher standing in front of an audience would notice a person walk in who is in that condition because everyone else in the room walks upright. Seeing her, the Master is, as usual, full of compassion for her, and decides to take immediate action without her request to be healed. Verses 12 and 13 describe the scene very well. They read, “Jesus saw her and called her and said to her, “Woman, you are cured of your sickness. And he laid his hand on her and immediately she straightened up and praised God.”
What did Immanuel actually do? He spoke to her and put His hand on her. Oh wow, He must have been exhausted! What horrible work He did on the Sabbath! That’s certainly the Temple leader’s attitude that morning. This guy, supposedly a priest or rabbi, full of criticism, immediately and angrily shouted, “There are six days in which men should work; in these days you ought to come and be healed, and not on the Sabbath day.” Were these words meant to embarrass Messiah or shut the woman up? Remember, she didn’t ask to be healed, so why was the priest so upset with her? Was the demonstration of the Power of God in this woman’s body so profound on the audience that the leader felt diminished in his role? It certainly appears so. But, was he wrong in his attempt to enforce the law by forbidding work on the day of rest?
The connection the leader failed to make was that the real work was not on the part of Jesus; he just called on the power of God to make this woman well. If it was God who gave the Law, and God who did this, was it not in God’s prerogative to break His own rule, if He was in violation? Was it a breaking of the Law to heal this woman or a misunderstanding by a leader protecting his reputation?
Like the ring bearer at the wedding who failed to understand the word, this Temple leader spoke before engaging his brain. Yet, the incident was an opportunity to teach some important lessons to the crowd. He, Yeshua responded with, “Oh hypocrites, do not each one of you loose his ox or his donkey from the manger, and go with it to give it [a] drink? This one daughter of Abraham, and behold, the adversary has bound her for eighteen years; was it not necessary for her to be loosened from this bond on the Sabbath day?”
Wouldn’t it have been cool if Yeshua had opened the Torah just then to Isaiah 61? This passage reads, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me; he has sent me to bring good news to the oppressed, to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and release to the prisoners; to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor…”
That leader and others in the room who opposed the Master were ashamed of their reaction, and the crowd rejoiced over all the wonders which were done by His hand. This means they knew of other miracles the Christ had performed, and if they had not witnessed a miracle before, they certainly did this day.
While the focus scripture ends at verse 17, the next verse is one that continues lessons from the past two weeks, and is truly the focus of this story. The Anointed One said to them, again, after healing the woman, “To what is the kingdom of God like? And to what shall I liken it?” As this chapter continues, the kingdom is explained with more descriptives, such as a mustard seed that grows in a garden with care and attention. The next one used in the Teacher’s lesson was leaven placed in flour to change the result of baking. Yet, the lesson began with this woman who was healed as a demonstration of how the kingdom of God reaches out to humanity, or even one person, with healing and service, like a planting or demonstration. Mustard seeds and leaven are small things that have huge results when introduced to soil and flour. This woman’s healing was a demonstration of what wholeness does to a person when a few words spoken and a touch were done in the name of His kingdom. And, does it matter what day of the week such things are done in God’s name? When there was a need, He just filled it. Sound familiar? The secret of success for us is, “find and need and fill it.” The same is true for the kingdom of God.
In this case, the woman walked in and a need was immediately seen, and Messiah filled it! Success!! The rest of the audience, while stunned by the event, saw such compassion and care demonstrated and the lesson became powerful; so powerful that the leader of the Temple, or in our terms, the pastor, objected! This leader may have been like some in our time—more interested in their kingdom than God’s.
A look at this story from the woman’s point of view means perspective more familiar to us. There are times when we face adversity or monumental tragedy, either in our bodies, or families or relationships. Depending on our level of faith or need for healing, we either come closer to the family of God and the kingdom, or we move away and blame God for what happened. This woman suffered for 18-years. Had she been coming to Temple all that time, or praying she would be healed? Like with her, our moment of healing will come when we are made whole, but only if we remain faithful and loyal to the kingdom and His righteousness. That Sabbath day, this woman did not verbalize that she wanted to be healed, but perhaps she had been praying that God would see her need, because He certainly did.
We know this condition had been a plague on her life for 18-years, and from Jewish customs we can rightly deduct that she likely had to rely on the Temple to live. Her condition would have meant she could not do normal tasks, like bring water from a well. With the perception that an evil spirit possessed her, who would want her for a wife? Was she a widow? We don’t know, however divorce laws were so easy and lenient that if she ever had a husband, he might have sent her packing. We do know she was in the Temple on the Sabbath where she intended to meet God. And, since the people there praised God for her healing, she also must have known of the Master’s reputation for compassion and meeting needs.
Why did it take so many years for the will of God to be shown in this woman’s life? Again, we don’t know. Could it have been that she had just come to the realization that Yeshua could heal her? Did she not consider herself worthy? Had she been putting off going to Temple thinking she didn’t have the right clothes? If her husband had kicked her out, did she think God wouldn’t want her if a man didn’t? Her condition began when Messiah was 15, so was this event at the right moment in His life? All these things may be involved in the events that Sabbath day, yet the only thing that really counted was that she met Jesus, and the biggest curse she faced was lifted. What if she had decided to sleep in that morning or was willing to accept still another day in her condition? What if she had decided to go to a doctor the next day, when physicians of the time commonly spread dung or tar on a wound, or waited until a certain moon phase to give treatment?
The lesson being taught by Yeshua in Luke 13 is actually one of service and how Christians should give service to humanity to build the kingdom of God, even if that work feels insignificant to us. We must learn that wherever the issue or need, whether it presents itself to us on Sunday or any other day, must be met and treated like the Master would. And, we are awarded the power to meet those needs, according to John 14:12 and 13, which reads, “He who believes in me shall do the works which I do; and even greater than these things he shall do, and whatever you ask in my name, I will do it for you, so that the Father may be glorified through His Son.” Do you see how having that ability promotes the kingdom, just as Yeshua did in the Temple that Sabbath morning? He was showing us what to do, even on a Holy Day or day of rest.
The story of this healing in the Temple is interesting, containing many great lessons, still this passage has been preached for years as if it pertained to working on Sunday. My own Grandfather, Joe Moore, who was an intenerate farmer with 13 young mouths’ to feed during the depression, told us grandchildren a story about the year that he was late planting his cotton crop on the farm between Cordell and Mountain Park, Oklahoma. As the story goes; the seeds rotted in the ground and there was no crop. Why did the seeds not sprout? Grandpa blamed it on his planting on Sunday. While the loss of a crop was devastating to the family’s welfare, this faith-filled man saw it as a testament to the validity of Scriptures that we should not work on the Lord’s Day of rest. Yes, my Grandfather believed in going to church and listening to the Word of God, not considering that the pastor was working that day, and that kind of work is not considered as breaking the commandment.
How many of us today will hurry out of the church at noon, joke with the pastor about keeping the sermon short, or encourage an earlier starting time so we can beat another congregation to the café for “Sunday Dinner” so we can rest? What about the people who work Sunday morning to prepare the meal so we can follow the commandment to “rest”? Perhaps we are a bit like the Temple leader who was happy to teach rest on the Sabbath, but content to let Messiah do the work, then object when He so accurately demonstrated the Kingdom.
I rather doubt this idea will be carried out, but still wonder what would happen if a church hosted a Sunday-noon meal for the staff of their favorite café or restaurant staff, just to let them have one Sunday as their day of rest? If that happens, do invite me so I can see reactions from the café staff for myself! I’ll pay for the food I eat. Would not this be a way of promoting the kingdom of God? Would this not be a demonstration that those who serve us should also be served?
The ultimate lesson from the verses in Luke 13 is that we as followers of the Master have our orders. We must not dismiss a person’s suffering and call it “the will of God,” to work against suffering with everything in us so that the one in distress knows that the kingdom of God has come upon them to overcome whatever evil may have caused their affliction or problem. This action means we are on God’s side, joining in the struggle of bringing good news to the oppressed, such as the Coptic Christians in Egypt who are being murdered and whose churches are being burned by terrorists. When a need walks in our door or becomes evident to us, we must not claim it as “their problem” and walk away expecting them to be there for us when we are in trouble.
Speaking of our own doors; what suffering in your [our] town needs to be addressed? What child will go to bed hungry tonight, or hide under their bed while parents fight or use illegal drugs? Do we recognize the pain in another Christian’s life then use the power we were promised to do something about it?
Too often we behave like the priest or rabbi in the Temple that Sabbath morning, ready to criticize good another has done just because that action caused attention to be focused away from us. Must we be glory-seekers or members of the kingdom?
Luke 10:25 through 37 is a passage we have previously covered, yet it perfectly fits here and is a reoccurring theme in Luke. The Good Samaritan took action to meet a need while not walking away from his own responsibilities. The Samaritan didn’t instantly heal the man beaten and left for dead by the side of the road, but did what he could, going above and beyond recognition of the problem. Remember that the Samaritan lived by a different version of the Torah and did not agree with many things taught in the Temple, yet his service to humanity meant action. The injured man he helped was blessed by a visit from the kingdom of God, even through a Samaritan who believed differently than the Jews.
What need is already in front of you? Is it time to serve the ones who have been serving you? Do you need a visit from somebody in the kingdom of God to know and understand your need?
Matthew 23:11 is the formula for greatness in the kingdom. It reads, “He who is greatest among you, let him be your servant. For whoever exalts himself shall be humbled; and whoever humbles himself shall be exalted.”
We may make mistakes, like the boy who thought he was the “ring bear,” yet he did the best he could with the understanding he had.
In the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, amen.
©2013, J. Tilton
