Jesus healing on the Sabbath

Glory to Jesus Christ. In the name of the Father,

and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

I hope and trust that all of you had a good Thanksgiving

holiday, one in which there was thanksgiving

to God. I was happy to see so many of you here

on Thursday at the liturgy, and so happy on Monday

as well when we had a big crowd in the altar.

And we were all rejoicing. I know many of you

have been traveling. I'm grateful that you've

returned safely. Now we all return more intensely

and intently, hopefully, to Advent. For the fast,

directing ourselves towards Christmas and all

that means. What a marvelous gospel. I think

it will help us to orient ourselves. towards

Christmas. Let's think of the story, the account

that you heard for a moment. Jesus was teaching

in a synagogue as he was invited to do frequently.

What was he teaching? Well, just before the account

that you heard, St. Luke tells us that he was

teaching a parable. Now, It doesn't say this

specifically in the scriptures, but I have to

imagine that this is exactly what Jesus was doing

at that synagogue. Synagogue is a place of gathering

for the Jewish people. It's not the temple. The

temple is where the sacrifices take place. The

synagogue is a place of prayer, to hear the Psalms,

to hear a sermon, to have some hymns. It's a

gathering place for the community. And Jesus

is teaching this parable. He says, Certain man

had a fig tree planted in his vineyard. And he

came seeking fruit on it and found none. Then

he said to the keeper of the vineyard, look,

for three years. Now, does that remind you of

anything? Jesus' ministry was for three years.

He's being very specific. Look, for three years

I've come seeking fruit on this fig tree. and

find none. Cut it down. Why does it use up the

ground? But he answered him and said to him,

Sir, let it alone this year also, until I dig

around it and fertilize it. If it bears fruit,

well, but if not after that, you can cut it down.

And then Jesus saw this woman in the synagogue.

And he heals her. He touches her. He says, woman,

though it loose from your infirmity. And everyone

is praising God. They see this incredible thing

because this woman who is bent over, cannot see

the sky, cannot lift up her face to pray. All

she can do is bend over like some kind of animal.

You know, mostly it's only humans that can walk

upright and see like this. Mostly, not totally,

but mostly. Everyone's praising God for this

miracle. And they know that they are in the presence

of the Messiah. Everyone except one man. This

grump. Well, more than a grump, and I'll tell

you why. There are six days in which you can

work. But on the Sabbath, you don't. So come

and get healed another time. 18 years this woman

has been suffering. And there's this, what a

tragic contrast we have. Here's this woman bound

by Satan, unbound by Jesus Christ. Here's this

grump in charge of worship. Envious. Envious.

Local synagogue leader. He's bent by envy. He

cannot rejoice. And he has a pretext. It's not

just that he's a stickler for the Sabbath day

rules. Oh, it's not just that. In fact, he was

envious when Jesus healed the woman, but I have

no doubt that he was scheming on how to convict

Jesus because the Pharisees were already plotting,

says St. Matthew, against Jesus, how they might

arrest and destroy him. The Old Testament law,

as Numbers 15 tells us, Any kind of work is prohibited

on the Sabbath. Now, this man had an idea of

what that meant. It wasn't just one thing. But

Numbers 15 says one could receive the death penalty

for breaking the Sabbath law. So this man thinks

he's finally caught Jesus. He can turn him in

to the Pharisees. His work is over. Shows the

ugliness of envy. It's the Advent season. If

you pay any attention to ads, envy may strike

you. Be very careful. Let's look at this woman.

She was certainly following the Lord's commandment,

in specific, the fourth commandment, to remember

the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. But because

the Lord blessed the Sabbath day, And sanctified

it. Incidentally. Let me remind you. That Sunday

is not the Sabbath day. We keep the Sabbath day.

In the Orthodox Church. Every Saturday pretty

much. Is dedicated to the commemoration of those.

Who are resting in the Lord. Who have gone before

us. Who have died already. Commemoration of the

departed. Of course all that goes back to Holy

Saturday. When we proclaim. the Lord's victory

over death, that he is resting from all his work.

The Sabbath is the seventh day. Sunday is the

eighth day. Now, what does that mean? Oh, that

sounds very interesting. It's a number thing,

right? No, the eighth day is the day of the kingdom,

the day of the resurrection, the day without

evening. There's that beautiful line in the Akathist,

glory to God for all things, that we did a portion

of on Thursday. I see thy dwelling place, fiery

and purple, gold and blue. They speak prophet

-like of the ineffable beauty of thy presence.

Calling to us in their majesty, we turn to the

Father. When I was in Italy, I saw all these

old churches, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th century churches

with mosaics in the apse. Christ surrounded by

saints or with the Theotokos. And in those Ab's

mosaics. And I never knew this before. There's

these beautiful purple, red lines, varied colors

behind him, looking like waves. But it's exactly

this. It's the last day and the new day of the

kingdom. That's Sunday. That's why we come here,

to glorify the Lord risen from the dead. Our

faithful observance of Sunday must be far beyond

what the Jews do with Sabbath day. Because it's

about our resurrection. It's about the coming

of Christ. Will we be ready for his coming? Joyfully

ready to meet him as he comes, as St. Paul says

in Thessalonians. That's just incidentally. This

faithful woman came on the Sabbath. Probably

every Sabbath. In spite of what must have been

excruciating pain from her infirmity. How could

a person like that sit, stand, sleep? In spite

of her embarrassment, probably from being stared

at, whispered about, made fun of. Oh, they probably

said, she must be a sinner. Great sinner. Otherwise,

why would God afflict her with this? It's so

cruel. And here she was, faithful, although in

pain for 18 years, and she puts God first. She

puts God first, which is what we do now over

everything else as we make our way through the

current of this world towards Christmas. We put

God first. She didn't ask to be healed. She didn't

cry out like the blind man in Jericho. She didn't

make a spectacle of herself by disrupting the

teaching. And Jesus is saying this parable and

then interrupts it and walks over to her. She

was just there to listen, to hear, and to be

saved. Her faith and her struggle led her to

this moment. And Jesus recognized her humble

and attentive heart. And he walks over to her

and touches her and she is healed. Jesus sees

each one of us. He knows all our struggles. He

knows all our doubts. He knows how we are bound

by some sin. And believe me, I know most of us

have a repetitive sin that we feel bound by.

Jesus can loose us if we but remain faithful

to him. And yes, we have to struggle a little

bit. We have to return to him over and over again.

Sometimes that repetitive sin is there to keep

us humble, to keep us faithful. Otherwise, we

would lose connection with him. Jesus loosed

her. He unbound her as he does with us and our

sins. You are set free. You are loosed, he says.

And that's what happens in confession too. How

might we be also bent and bound, brothers and

sisters? Remember, Jesus was teaching the parable

of the unfruitful, the barren fig tree. This

should give us pause. He was teaching that man,

the synagogue worship leader, about something

specific. That man's gone. That synagogue no

longer exists. The message is for us. This is

a time when we should produce fruit. What kind

of fruit? Peace of heart? Love? Charity for the

poor? Prayer? Worship? Forgiveness? love of our

enemies, and all those things that the Lord commands,

and he lays out in the Beatitudes, which we hear

every week. Grasp that. Grasp the fact that we

should be fruitful servants of the Lord. Grasp

the fact that he can loose us from our sins.

We each have them. This man in the gospel didn't

know it, but he is much worse off than this 18

-year -bound woman. Because he won't open himself.

There's plenty of us that don't do that, that

do that as well. Let's give glory to God. Ask

him to reveal to us our own weakness, our own

bound sins, and give him glory for loosing us

and saving us. Amen.