Sermon by Pr. Craig Mueller on the Second Sunday after Pentecost
You Pharisee. I bet you’d resist being called that word. It’s downright derogatory. It’s as bad as being called a ___. I’ll stop!
A Pharisee is judgmental, hypocritical, self-righteous, hyper-legalistic, right? It’s a slippery slope, though. That’s not far from labeling an entire religion as Pharisaic.
For today: no Pharisee bashing. In fact, I’d like to speak on their behalf. Pharisaism (now that’s fun word!) was a lay reform movement in first century Judaism. Sounds good to me! They were resisting the pull to be assimilated into the culture and lose their religious identity. Pharisees were upstanding. They were devout. They were pillars of their community. To paraphrase an old comic strip, “We have met the Pharisees, and they are us.”
You can see how religion gets a bad name in our gospel today. Less important things are disproportionate to important things. Like what can and cannot be done on the Sabbath!
But before we get all judgy and throw out all organized religion because of some overly hard-core religious types (and we all know a few). Jesus comes along and resists the trap the rule-followers are setting up for him. But Jesus remains a practicing, Sabbath-observing Jew. He doesn’t throw it all out.
Let’s look at the two scenes in the gospel. Scene one. Jesus and his people get busted for plucking grain on the sabbath. But let’s be clear! They are not stealing grain. They are plucking grain. On the Sabbath. Oh no! They should have thought ahead, right? Packed snacks. Brought a picnic.
But Jesus comes right back at the Pharisees. I hear a little snark. Remember our faith hero, David, Jesus says? When he was hungry, he entered the house of God and ate some of the holy bread. Bread that is only for the priests! And then he gave some to his hungry companions.
If someone walked into our church and was hungry, wouldn’t we take them to the kitchen or find some coffee hour treats. Would we give them some of the “special holy Jesus bread” we’ve prepared for communion.
Jesus is on a roll, though. The Sabbath is a good thing, he says. It was made for humankind. Not as a legalistic rule to follow.
The thing is: David was a fugitive. He was fleeing Saul. The holy-bread-sharing priest was meeting the need of a weary traveler!1
Scene two. In the synagogue all the eyes are on Jesus. Will he heal the man with the withered hand. On the Sabbath? The man isn’t asking for it. Surely it can wait for tomorrow. It’s not like he needs to go to Urgent Care right now.
Is Jesus using this scene to make a point? Does he want to get a rise out of the rule-keepers? If they are going to trap him, he will trap them. “Is it lawful to do good or to do harm on the Sabbath, to save life or to kill?” And that shuts them up.
And then Jesus fumes. The Greek word suggests rage. At the Pharisees! How stubborn and rigid they can be. Without a shade of nuance. Thank goodness that doesn’t define us!
And then Jesus does it. He resists the taunts. And heals the man with the withered hand. In plain sight. On the sabbath. And that is the beginning of the end. He’s got to go, his enemies say to one another.
The man with the withered hand. Oh, there will be more healings and more exorcisms. Jesus will stand up to destructive powers that cripple and destroy life. Divine power will restore and renew!
Decades ago stores were closed on Sunday. And the day felt different. Now we live in a 24/7 world. Every day is alike. No distinction between work and rest. We’re always on. And when technology takes over, it gives us the illusion that we are in control of our lives.
A week ago I was in northeast Indiana and saw a number of Amish men on the road, complete with horse and buggy. Talk about being counter-cultural. I’m sure we’d resist going that far!
But a little resistance—might be good for body and soul. Walter Brueggemann wrote a well-known book called Sabbath as Resistance: Saying No to the Culture of Now.” He’s a Christian and he’s all for Sabbath: whether it is Sunday, or a day off, or even a couple hours. What is he challenging us to resist? Everything being urgent and immediate. No time to slow down and rest. Because we are always achieving, accomplishing, performing, possessing. We want more, eat more, drink more, spend more.
Abraham Joshua Heschl was one of the greatest Jewish writers of the past century. And one his principal themes was the importance of Sabbath.
Heschel argues that we have lost a sense for the sacred. As we master the physical world through technology, we become desensitized to the grandeur and beauty of life—both in the natural world and in the faces of other people. In our rush to industrialize, we have become so focused on gaining economic and political power that we have forgotten our ultimate purpose: to serve as co-creators with the Divine in establishing a just and compassionate world.2
Are you resisting Sunday as a day of rest? A day to worship? A kind of optional day, not really important anymore?
The Sabbath is a gift for humankind. The Spirit aids us in resisting the pull of our surroundings. And draws to things that matter. A simpler life. God. Nature. Other people. Justice and compassion.
God liberates us from the fantasy that we are defined by our work and that we are the ones in control.
Why do we need Sunday as a day of rest, a day of grace, a day of worship, a day different from every other day?
Because we forget. We forget who we are and whose we are.
Are you still resisting it?
Let us welcome Sunday. The Lord’s Day. Time away from our busy, frantic lives. Time to be still and receive the Christ who comes among us in word and meal. To heal, to liberate, to make whole. Sabbath. A day not about doing, but being.
Welcome, Sunday! Happy Sunday! The best day of the week. This day of rest. This day of gladness. This day in paradise. This day unlike any other!
1 Insights in today’s sermon from: https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/ordinary-09-2/commentary-on-mark-223-28-31-6
2 Rabbi Or Rose, https://hebrewcollege.edu/blog/heschels-vision-of-the-sabbath-a-contemporary-challenge/