Stories About Rule Keeping vs. Rule Bending

By Dan Carew, Lay Preacher

Today’s Gospel selection from Luke might be filed under “Stories About Rule Keeping vs. Rule Bending.” 

This encounter between Jesus, the religious leader and the woman with a crippling, and likely excruciatingly painful, physical ailment takes place in “one of the synagogues on the Sabbath”. This concept of the Sabbath is central to this story. 

What do we need to know about the Sabbath to make sense of this interaction between Jesus and the religious leader? 
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First, observing the Sabbath is a long held Jewish custom dating back to Moses, Mt. Sinai and the ten commandments from Exodus chapter 20 (and again in Deuteronomy Chapter 5). In the list of commandments, “keeping the Sabbath” is the fourth commandment, and has its roots in the creation story from the book of Genesis. On this day, the 7th day, God commanded the Israelites not to do any work; no one in their family and none of their livestock, as well as “the resident alien” in their towns. During the Sabbath there are a number of forbidden labors - such as kindling a fire(Ex. 35:3), carrying a load (Jer. 17:21-22), making bread and acts of construction. 

The purpose of the Sabbath is to emulate God, who after “working” six days, rested on the seventh day. It is a time for remembrance, reflection and consideration of God’s Covenant; a time to be with family and community; and a time to gather in the synagogue. All noble things and if you are a faithful follower, you would want to adhere to the guidelines set forth to preserve the sanctity of the occasion, or because you feared imminent demise, or a combination of both. And so our first point of tension in this encounter - What is allowed on the Sabbath? 

So, here on this Sabbath day, Jesus is teaching in one of the synagogues. This is nothing out of the ordinary for Jesus or for the Gospel of Luke. Where we are in the timeline of Luke’s writing, we are in a new account of Jesus’ ministry, as prior to this encounter, Jesus had been speaking to crowds, and was chipping away at superstition, sin, and ill-fated circumstances; in this account in the synagogue, he is definitely chipping away, or rather tearing down something, but we’ll get that in just a bit. 

During this time of teaching, a woman appears and is described as having a “spirit” that had “crippled” her. She was “bent over”, “unable to stand up straight”, and had been suffering this ailment for 18 years. In our modern day medical definitions she might be diagnosed with an inflammatory bone disease, something that poses great mobility challenges. According to the account, it seems she did not come seeking Jesus or taking any action to get his attention, nothing out loud and publicly that we know of. However, imagine how her gait and posture would’ve looked as she moved about along the fringes outside of the synagogue, at the edge of those gathered - she might catch one’s attention. This may be the cause for Jesus’ response, as he pauses his teaching to take action and call her over; our second point of tension in the encounter - a rabbi calling a woman to him … in the synagogue … a woman with a crippling disease … oh, and on the Sabbath. 
At this point, the tension is palpable. There she is, right in front of Jesus. He speaks to her, “woman, you are set free from your ailment”, lays his hands on her, and then she immediately stands up straight and praises God. There is beauty in this interaction. He makes no commentary about her salvation or the cause of her ailment, only that she has been set free from it. 

This beautiful moment is quickly soured by the leader of the synagogue. Who has become “indignant” - you know being angry or annoyed at unfair treatment! Then things start to get ugly. The leader turns to the crowd - not to Jesus and not to the woman, but the crowd, a classic marker for people who are passive aggressive. He complains to the crowd about Jesus’ infraction against the Sabbath and the woman’s intentions to be cured. Did you see what Jesus did? He cured that woman! On the Sabbath! That’s not right! It’s unfair! That’s not what we do! We cure on the other six days, not on the day of rest! 

Let me be clear, the way power-hungry people respond to any sort of threat to their status, power or privilege manifests in nearly the same way. Regardless of whether we are talking about a human interaction 2000 years ago, or in recent history, there’s always some sort of gnashing of teeth, inciting of a mob, scapegoating, avoiding responsibility, or spinning the narrative so they are the victim. It is no different as we see with this religious leader. He rebukes Jesus for “working” on the Sabbath, and the woman for not coming on the “other six days” to be cured. Hearing this religious leader’s response makes me indignant! And maybe like me, you want to grab him by the scruff of his robe and give him a piece of your mind. But we can take a breath because Jesus comes with the verbal smackdown. 

“You Hypocrites!” 

We heard this phrase last week in the Gospel selection, and I think while it is to be taken as a rebuke to the actions of the religious leaders, I would also like to think that it is Jesus’ way of saying to the passive aggressive leader, “How ‘bout you say that to my face?”. It also should be pointed out that Jesus is responding in the plural - it is no longer one individual. Perhaps there are other religious leaders present, or he is including the crowd in this rebuke as they’ve become complicit with the leader. 

“Does not each of you on the Sabbath untie his ox or his donkey from the manger, and lead it away to give it water?” 

This part of Jesus’ response is the first part of a rabbinic tool known as Qal Va-Ḥomer, which is used for interpreting scripture logically, and means “light and heavy”. Here Jesus is pointing out a minor case where there is an exception to a rule in order to justify a major, or “heavier” case. 

In this instance, is it ok for you to provide for the needs of your livestock on the Sabbath? Is it ok for you to do something in your own interest? Something that benefits you? Jesus might’ve had in mind the passage we heard read this morning from the book of Isaiah,

“If you refrain from trampling the Sabbath, 
from pursuing your own interests on my holy day; 
if you call the Sabbath a delight 
and the holy day of the LORD honorable; 
if you honor it, not going your own ways, 
serving your own interests, or pursuing your own affairs; 
then you shall take delight in the LORD …” 

Continuing with the verbal smack down … 

“And ought not this woman, a daughter of Abraham whom Satan bound for eighteen long years, be set free from this bondage on the Sabbath day?” 

Here Jesus closes out the Qal Va-Ḥomer logic with the “major” response. If you can give your livestock some water on the Sabbath, surely this woman, a “daughter of Abraham”, you know one of us, who has been suffering for 18 long years, doesn’t need to wait another day. She can be cured today, right now. Her value is greater than that of your livestock. 

I would also like to note that I do not believe the woman is “demon-possessed” but rather suffering a physical ailment. In his commentary on this Gospel passage, Ira Brent Driggers states, “Luke goes so far as to call her condition a form of Satanic bondage (verse 16), which is an ancient apocalyptic way of saying her condition violates God’s will for her life (and is not her own fault!). To be clear, she is not demon-possessed.” 1

This response from Jesus is very much in sync with a couple of other instances where he challenged the conventions of the Sabbath. Earlier in the Gospel of Luke, Jesus encounters a man with a crippled hand. During that encounter he questions the religious leaders whether it is “lawful to do good or to do harm” on the Sabbath. In a similar account in the 12th chapter of Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus proclaims “how much more valuable is a human being than a sheep!”(v.12) and, “the Sabbath was made for humankind, not humankind for the sabbath…”(v.27). 

And in another encounter with the religious leaders, documented in the Gospel of Matthew and Mark, where Jesus and His disciples pick and eat grain from a grainfield on the Sabbath, Jesus responds to their rebukes with “something greater than the temple is here” (Mt.12:6). 

Where do we go from here? 

In a revamped version of Sunday Bloody Sunday, (in the documentary Stories of Surrender), Bono sings, “Is religion now the enemy of the Holy Spirit guide?” I think that is what Jesus is trying to point out in the encounter in Luke as well as others in the Gospels of Matthew and Mark. In that time in history, the religious leaders (and followers) allowed the following of regulations, laws, cultural norms, and mores to supersede the value of human life and dignity. This still happens today. In the harassment and exclusion faced by our LGBTQIA+ siblings. In the targeting of our siblings from other countries residing here legally and illegally. It is happening to nearly every person on the margins, and outside of power, prestige and privilege. 

We should be seeking a greater good by continually reflecting upon ourselves and the institutions we ascribe to, asking is it good for someone else and others? Or just me and my beliefs? Me and my community? Sometimes the “rules” we follow for ourselves are not the “rules” everyone else should follow. In his commentary on this passage of Luke, Emerson Powery states, “We must be diligent to recognize what theological ideas we hold dear that disallow full participation from others…And, do religious traditions help us to become that kind of community or do they hinder our desires?” 2

We should operate from an abundance mindset versus a scarcity mindset by emulating the God described in Psalm 103. We should be “full of compassion and mercy, slow to anger and of great kindness.” 

I haven’t always been Episcopalian. When I was in high school, I was attending a church of a different denomination and was relatively new to the Christian faith. I had decided that I wanted to be baptised, which was the full immersion type. However at that time, I was the only one in my family attending church - I was quite serious and intent on it. I did not have my driver’s license, and my mom was unable to give me a ride. I also think I was somewhat embarrassed to ask someone else for a ride… to my baptism. So, I did something I had done a number of times before - I asked if I could take the car to the church for the baptism. My mom said yes with one stipulation, if I got caught she would claim that I had stolen the car. So, I drove myself to the church, got baptised and drove back home, incident free, feeling more committed and closer to God. 

I willingly broke a “law of the land” to pursue something that I felt spiritually was the next step in my journey towards closeness with God. And while what I did was ultimately between me and the Maker, we as God’s people are called to love, care, and support others. So, are there actions we should be taking that are Christlike and very much in line with God’s vision for humanity revealed through Jesus, actions that go against some regulation of the church or the state or some government entity? 

To quote the prophet Micah, it's always a good time to “Do Justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with our God” (6:8). 

Amen. 
 
 1 Driggers, Ira Brent, Commentary on Luke 13:10-17; 
https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/ordinary-21-3/commentary-on -luke-1310-17-4



2 Powery, Emerson, Commentary on Luke 13:10-17. 
https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/ordinary-21-3/commentary-on -luke-1310-17-3

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