Sermon: Sabbath -- Saying Yes and No
One Sabbath in Capernaum Jesus heals two people (and breaks a number of Sabbath and purity laws in the process). That night (when the Sabbath is over, probably because they don't want to break any Sabbath laws and have the Pharisees mad at them, too) the people of the town crowd around the house where he is, with their ailments and their ailing, and Jesus heals them all. Their ailments set them apart, make them seem cursed by God, and make them less-than-equal to other members of the community (do we still treat any classes of people this way today?), and Jesus sets them free to be part of the kingdom of God that he says is now. Then, the next day, after spending time in prayer, although there are still more people to be healed, Jesus leaves town.
Two things stand out for me in this story. One is the Sabbath and the way it seems to bring out the devil in Jesus. The Gospel tells story after story about Jesus and the Pharisees being at loggerheads about how best to keep Sabbath with God. It's how it all starts, and remains such a running battle all the way through to the bitter end (and we know who holds the power in that dispute.)
The other is the way Jesus doesn't seem to listen. Just think of all the voices Jesus doesn't heed -- sometimes doesn't even allow to speak, in this story:
- the Pharisees and other traditionalists, and their understanding (which most people happily accept) of how best to honour God on the Sabbath
- the demons of his time (whose "common sense" he knows, from his own 40 days in the wilderness, can be very persuasive)
- his own disciples who simply want him to go back to where he was, to satisfy the people's desire for more healing -- and what can be wrong with that?
Does keeping Sabbath help open Jesus to listen to other voices? If so, what are they?
And does this have any effect on what Sabbath is for us?
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