Printer Friendly VersionToday I want to discuss the concept of rules with you. For some
of you the word “rules” has stirred a worried feeling inside you.
You know who you are. You are the ones who drive more the 5 mph above the
speed limit or chatter when the pastor is delivering the message. But others
of you are thrilled because you are thinking finally someone is going to say
something to get the pesky youth pastor or children’s pastor to leave
the place like they found it. Well I hate to burst your bubble, but I’m
not here to change anyone. God may change you though. Let’s see what
God has to say about rules.
This morning we are going to take a look at Luke 13:10-17 in
which Jesus heals a crippled woman on the Sabbath. Jesus was teaching in a
synagogue. Many would be gathered round to listen to Jesus including the synagogue
rulers. A woman entered who has been crippled over for 18 years. No one noticed
her. No one in the crowd saw her. But Jesus noticed her. He called her to
himself. Did you notice how she did not call Jesus, but He called her? He
saw her affliction and her need. He healed her through His touch. She had
not asked to be healed as so many others had before her. She walked into the
synagogue one day without any expectations other than to worship God, and
she walked out healed. Her first impulse was to thank God by rejoicing and
praising God. Her day turned out to be great, full of joy and happiness.
But it was not so for some of those who witnessed this healing.
The synagogue rulers were angry with Jesus because He had broken the law by
healing on the Sabbath. Jesus could have six days a week to heal the rulers
didn’t darn step over the line by healing on the Sabbath. It was simply
unacceptable for the keepers of the law. They would not have it, and they
let Jesus know just how they felt.
But Jesus, always the wise teacher, reprimanded the synagogue
rulers and their supporters for their ignorance of the law. He rebuked them
for allowing the watering of animals on the Sabbath, yet they would deny a
woman to be set free from the bonds of Satan just because it happened to be
the Sabbath. For them an animal should be treated better than a chosen woman
of God. You see some people made the law the most important thing and had
forgotten about the will of God. They made the law, the rules, guide their
actions rather than letting God’s will for their lives guide their actions.
Jesus was straight up with them and called their sin hypocrisy.
It’s not so different today. We too get caught up in personally
living right with Jesus. We make sure we regularly attend church, tithe, and
stick to our daily study of God’s word regardless of anything else in
the world. We strive to live this “perfect” Christian life for
ourselves and in the process lose sight of the lost, the suffering, and the
“least of these” we encounter in our daily lives.
Dan, a good friend of mine, has a passion for reaching out to
trailer park kids. He spends his summers loading up vans to bring these kids
to church just so they can get fed and hear that Jesus loves them even when
it may feel like no one else cares about them. Dan has revealed to me stories
of the moms who tells their kids they won’t be fed today since they
will be getting a free meal from the church. He has shared with me stories
of children who cry because the vans are only picking up the teens on that
particular day. They cry because they want nothing else than to be on the
van and be loved like only Jesus can love them. This is what Dan does best.
But Dan’s program needs funding by the church. So he must
go to the church board meetings before the summer begins. One would think
it would be easy, but not so. One man sits on the board and has decided budgets
aren’t being paid, so the money that would go to feed children, spread
the gospel, and share the love of Jesus will go to administration outside
Dan’s church. Now before any leaders get upset with me, I fully believe
budgets need to be paid, but do the rules behind paying budgets mean a church
can’t take 200 dollars and share the healing love of Jesus? Sometimes
we get so caught up in doing things right we forget to do the right thing.
There is always hope for us in Christ Jesus. If we look back
to Luke, we can find the answer to the problem of the sin of “hypocrisy.”
Jesus was fully aware of the laws of God more so than anyone ever could be
fully aware. Jesus knew the laws before He decided to heal the crippled woman.
Remember she did not ask for or expect His help. Jesus knew the right thing
to do regardless of the day of week it was or any person’s desire to
keep the law. Jesus knew it was important to keep God’s will. Jesus
knew the Sabbath laws did not restrict the will of God’s activity or
plans on any given day. God desired this crippled woman be healed that day,
and His will be done. Of course it took Jesus to notice the crippled woman
as no other in the synagogue had bothered.
It is the same for us today. We fail to notice those who need
our help, our loving hand, or our time. We fail to notice because we are human
and imperfect, yet with Christ all things are possible. Jesus calls each of
us to respond to a life of what theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer calls “costly
grace.” Jesus calls us to leave behind our old lives, our self-will,
and follow Him submitting ourselves to His will. It is the call to die to
self-will so the will of God comes first. We are to be the presence of Jesus
in the world.
We start out living in this world for ourselves by doing what
is right simply because we know it is right. But then Jesus comes along and
becomes part of our lives. Then one day Jesus begins to pull us into this
life of Christian service, and we say to ourselves: I guess I’ll go
along for the ride because it’s the right thing to do. But something
funny happens to us. We decide today is the day I’m going to live for
Jesus. I’m going to lay it all down because He laid it all down for
me on the Cross. I’m going to give up my will in exchange for His will.
Jesus does something to us through the power of the Holy Spirit. He changes
our heart. The rules seem to become less important than living in God’s
will in our lives, than looking to Jesus for the example of a life to be lived.
We no longer look at the homeless person sitting on the street asking for
a handout the same way. We see him the way Jesus sees him. Our hearts can
break for the single mom struggling to put food on the table for her children
by working two jobs. And one day we decide to anonymously send her a gift
card to the local grocery store. We see her the way Jesus sees her. When summer
comes and children show up to be fed and hear the gospel, we no longer see
grimy faces on boisterous children, but we see a child in need of the kind
of love only Jesus can give. We see the children the way Jesus sees the them.
When we live in God’s will, we are no longer the same not because of
anything we have done. No, we could never love like Jesus of our own will.
We have given up our will. The will of Jesus and the will of the Spirit are
now within us. We can now have eyes like Jesus. We can see the world the way
Jesus sees the world.
If you’re tired of living life your way and doing things your way, Jesus has a better plan. You can have the eyes of Jesus, I want to invite you to submit your life and will to Christ today. Let us pray:
