Were the Pharisees Trying to Put Jesus on Display?

Luke 14 begins with Jesus being invited to the home of a Pharisee on the Sabbath for a meal.  But it seems a rather odd set up.  Jesus arrives and they are all "watching him closely".  This seems to be a key detail to the story.  Because then, as if out of nowhere, a man who had dropsy suddenly appears.  Is it too odd to be a random occurrence?   At this apparently exclusive Sabbath meal Jesus is invited to, there is a man in need of healing.  AND an audience.  Experts of the law and Pharisees are on hand, watching intently.  This is not a new situation for Jesus.  He’s healed on the Sabbath before. 

            But this feels like it is somehow ‘on demand’, something of a deliberate show.

            Jesus looks to the gathered leaders, “Is it lawful to cure people on the sabbath, or not?”  Again, not a new debate.  Jesus says ‘yes’ (and heals) while the leaders have been angry in their denials of this as work.  “Pick another day…”  But today, they say nothing.  They sit in silence.

            There might be a couple of reasons for this.  They might be gathering evidence to use against Jesus.  Breaking Sabbath is a major offence against the law of Moses.  Not that this has ever stopped Jesus.  Or maybe they just don’t know.  Maybe something has actually gotten through to them.  Sabbath-breaking is a repeated theme.  Maybe they've gathered to try and settle actually division amongst the “experts”.  Personally, I think that extends too much grace in their direction, but that’s me.

            “So Jesus took him, and healed him, and sent him away.”

            They wanted a show?  Jesus gave them a show.  But not without a challenge.  “If your kid or your ox falls down a well on the sabbath, who would not immediately break the rules of sabbath to pull them out?”  Luke records, “And they could not reply to this.”  First time Jesus asked, they chose not to reply.  This time, there is no reply they can give.

            Was this a show?  Was Jesus being set up?  Well, the previous times of Sabbath debate between Jesus and the leaders, it is 'in the moment'.  As in the synagogue on a Sabbath morning where there is someone to be healed.  Or when the disciples plucked grain on Sabbath.  In this case, it seems like a stage was set for the leaders to witness Jesus 'perform'.   Whatever we are to believe, this appears to be the last debate over the Sabbath that Jesus has in the gospel of Luke. 

            The piece to remember is that the leadership was left without response.  They would not take a stand on the question one way or the other.  And Jesus left them hanging.  And Jesus is not done with them yet.

Peace,

pastor pete

What’s The Big Deal About Sabbath?

Our Sermon for Sunday, August 24, 2025   

So what’s the big deal about the Sabbath?  Please understand, I am not doubting it or questioning it’s authenticity or its strength.  But last week’s sermon was about how the very presence of Jesus does not bring peace but divisions to family, to the world…that felt bigger, more overwhelming.

            Not that something very significant is not happening here.  Nor is this the first time there has been a conflict over “Sabbath”.  Jesus is in the synagogue on a Sabbath morning.  This time, it is a woman who has been bent over because of her ailment for eighteen years.  Could be arthritis of the spine maybe?  Something with the sciatica?  When Jesus says that Satan has bound this woman for eighteen years, is he talking about some kind of actually demonic debilitation?  Or that the pain is so bad, Satan couldn’t do any worse? 

            In the light of Jesus’ healing, does it really matter?  The conflict is rather simple.  The leaders of the synagogue try to roust the congregation to condemn Jesus for when He did what He did.  The leaders have nothing against Jesus healing, in principle.  Just not on the Sabbath.  There are six other days in the week.  Why not one of them?  Have a disciple get the woman’s contact information, go find her on Sunday.  “Call my office, we’ll set something up.”

            Why are the leaders so gung ho about Jesus’ timing?  Consider the case law built up around the commandment we shared this morning.  ⁸ “Remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy. ⁹ Six days you shall labor and do all your work. ¹⁰ But the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God; you shall not do any work—you, your son or your daughter, your male or female slave, your livestock, or the alien resident in your towns. ¹¹ For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but rested the seventh day; therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and consecrated it.

            “Case Law” means legal principles that evolve on a literal legal case by case basis.  Let me give you a modern example.  Elevators in conservative Jewish neighborhoods in Jerusalem are programmed, on the Sabbath, to move continually, opening and closing on every floor.  The reason?  Pushing a button causes a spark of electricity.  This is considered making fire.  This is a forbidden activity on Sabbath.  Kind of weird right?  At least from our point of view.

            Let me give you a Biblical example.  During the Exodus, God fed the people in the wilderness with manna.  Showed up every morning, melted away with the dew.  They gathered what they needed for the day.  They could gather more, but store it overnight and it got maggoty.  Maybe the earliest example of refrigeration issues.  Well, this happened Sunday to Thursday.  On Friday, they were ordered to gather double portions, enough for the Sabbath.  Because there Sabbath is the day of rest and God takes care of His people.  Kind of weird right?  At least from our point of view.

            This is the backdrop of our gospel conflict.  The leaders of the synagogue have the convoluted case law and Jesus is like, “I am freeing this woman of pain.”  Jesus has already had a direct confrontation with leaders in the synagogue about healing.  This time, the leaders go for rumor, innuendo, on the sly.  Get the congregation on their side.  Don’t speak to Jesus directly, just take it to everyone else. 

            Jesus’ response?  Drag it into the open.  Don’t leave rumors hidden in whispered crowds, “You hypocrites! Does not each of you on the Sabbath untie his ox or his donkey from the manger and lead it to water? ¹⁶ 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?”   The leaders are treating this woman, debilitated by pain, as less important than their own domestic animals when it comes to Sabbath. 

            The story ends well, the people cheer for Jesus.  Or, to make it properly bible-ee, “When Jesus said this, all his opponents were put to shame, and the entire crowd was rejoicing at all the wonderful things being done by him.”

            It’s a great moment, don’t get me wrong.  Jesus is absolutely right.  Healing is his thing.  Miracles his stock and trade.  But Sabbath?  I went to Christian schools growing up.  I was the kid who put off doing his homework till Sunday because, you know, Sabbath, day of rest, can’t do it now.  Bible says so. 

Honestly, it is not hard to understand why Sabbath has lost the importance that the gospel attaches to it.  Saturday is the Sabbath of the Bible of Jesus, while we use Sunday.  There is no place in the Bible where there is an addendum to the Ten Commandments that says something like “And thou shalt shift the Sabbath to the First Day of the Week because this is the day that Jesus rose from the dead.”  But that’s exactly what we did.  Officially, we call it “the Lord’s Day” over and against and, frankly, alongside “Sabbath”. 

            I personally consider the proper theological stance to be one of expanding Sabbath to the whole weekend.  Yes, I am being tongue in cheek here, but the division of Saturday and Sunday runs deep.  There are Christians for whom our Sunday is Saturday, because there is no explicit shift in Scripture from one day to the other.

            But instead of running down that rabbit hole, I would observe instead that the seriousness with which Sabbath was taken in the time of Jesus has been reduced to almost nothing in our present day and age.  There are some blue laws-no shopping on Sunday (but no requirement to go to church instead)-still in effect in Bergen County, but North Jersey was always kind of weird.

            Thus the question of why Sabbath is a big deal, if it isn’t salvation level stuff, is it?  What’s the big deal?  It is a big deal because Jesus faces off a number of times with the leadership over the issue of the interpretation of Sabbath.  I understand that, but I am not seeing, well, its relevance to our lives today.  I struggled with this question.  And I can tell you, when the Holy Spirit finally opens things up, it can be really annoying.   

            In this case, it was a mental note to look at the passage again, but this time from the point of view of ‘What in this passage connects most closely to our experience on the Lord’s Day? (on Sunday)’  Especially in light of this being our healing service.  So verse 13, “¹³ When he laid his hands on her, immediately she stood up straight and began praising God.”  That has never happened to me in a healing service, I have never been graced with God’s power to bring a miracle nor has anyone ever starting dancing in praise from a burden lifted.  If that happens this morning, someone got smelling salts?  Because if I am laying on hands, I am quite certain I will faint on the spot. 

The piece that connects most directly is “and she began praising God”.  There is not simply a link to our healing service but a connection from Jesus’ Sabbath to our Lord’s Day, praising the Lord in song and voice and prayer.    

            Could Jesus have healed her on any of the other six days that are not Sabbath?  Of course He could have.  And for how many others, isn’t that exactly what he has done?  But on this Sabbath, this is the day that the Lord has made, let us rejoice with a woman healed, a woman who can now stand straight in her community, let us all raise our hands and praise the Lord.    

            Because God set this day aside for humanity.  That’s what Jesus says.  Sabbath is made for the needs of humanity, we were not made for the “needs” of Sabbath.  And we have set this Sabbath aside for the liturgy of healing.  We take all that we believe in the power, wisdom, might, love, and grace of God, offered to us in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ as the centerpiece of all that He has done for us, affirmed in our hearts by the indwelling Holy Spirit that moves alongside our own hearts and sprits; we take all that overwhelming, omnipotent power of the Almighty, and we concentrate it for a special time to this spot front and center of the church.

            Today, and for each healing service, we invite people to take that extra step, you have prayed, you’ve texted your prayer buddies (and we have some available if you need them, see me after church), you have opened a concern to the whole community with prayers added to our prayer list in the News of Heaven and Earth, and yet there in more, in the here and now, in the moment, you and God and one humble pastor who talks too much and still does not completely believe that God wants me as an intermediary…for Jesus…

            That’s the big deal about the Sabbath.  God knows how busy we are, and God started at creation by writing His name in our calendars and saying “This time is for us.”  All that busyness, for life, for our families, for our work in Jesus, for our work in the world, God has taken one day out of seven and said, “This is for us.”  Then comes the hard part, our response.  Us taking the gift of God and living into it.  This in a world of sin and brokenness that actively tries to undercut every moment.

            On this day, we are required to pause (but how many of us do?)  We have time to praise.  We have time carved out for us by God’s command that is, like everything Jesus had gone, is FOR US.  This is the time where, each first Sunday, we share the Lord’s Supper, because this sacrament is given us by Jesus and is central to who we are.  Each fourth Sunday, we share a liturgy of healing, because we are a broken and sinful people who the Lord continues to put back together in the love of Christ.  But that is SO important, that we focus Sabbath-time, God-given time, to make it happen. 

            So, in this season of summer, we look forward to a new program year, there is more coming.  How shall we make intentional intergenerational ministry, for all ages in our church family?  In a world where Christians seem to spend more time talking about what we DO NOT, how do we build the certainty in explaining what actually makes us servants of the Living God?  There is a plan that God has for us to uncover.  And we have the gift of Sabbath, the day to take a breath, to praise the Lord, to worship Jesus, to lay aside busyness for blessedness.  Lay aside the whole arc of salvation and all that entails for me, for us-the church, for our presbytery, for our communities, for our goals, plans, ministries, next steps, what shall we do, when shall we do it…and for a day simply to exist in the grace, in the love, in the wonder, of being children of the Living God?

            That’s why the Sabbath is a big deal.

Amen.

Peace,

pastor pete

What Makes the Sabbath So Wonderful?

 In our passage this week, Jesus is very angry.  Our passage is Luke 13:10-17:

¹⁰ Now he was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath. ¹¹ And just then there appeared a woman with a spirit that had crippled her for eighteen years. She was bent over and was quite unable to stand up straight. ¹² When Jesus saw her, he called her over and said, “Woman, you are set free from your ailment.” ¹³ When he laid his hands on her, immediately she stood up straight and began praising God. ¹⁴ But the leader of the synagogue, indignant because Jesus had cured on the Sabbath, kept saying to the crowd, “There are six days on which work ought to be done; come on those days and be cured and not on the Sabbath day.” ¹⁵ But the Lord answered him and said, “You hypocrites! Does not each of you on the Sabbath untie his ox or his donkey from the manger and lead it to water? ¹⁶ 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?” ¹⁷ When he said this, all his opponents were put to shame, and the entire crowd was rejoicing at all the wonderful things being done by him.

          It is not the first time Jesus ‘gets into it’ over the Sabbath.  The odd thing is that no one who argues with him is arguing against what he does, usually healing, but rather WHEN Jesus is doing it.  There are six other days in the week.  That is true, but is that the point?  Jesus gets REALLY mad at the synagogue leaders.  Calls them hypocrites.

          But notice something about the synagogue leader?  He doesn’t talk to Jesus.  He talks to the people in the pews.  He tries to get them on his side as he spreads rumors about Jesus.  “Doing this on the Sabbath…who does he think that he is…”  Not a friendly conversation by any means.  And talking behind Jesus’ back!  Jesus does not respond well to that.

          See what Jesus says.  He tells them all that it is okay if the leader of the synagogue will untie his donkey or ox from its manger and give it water BUT Jesus is not supposed to cure a woman who has been suffering for eighteen years.  What does that say about them and their God of the Sabbath?  How do you argue with someone who asks you if you believe a crippled woman is less important than giving water to your animals?  On God’s Day?

          Because that is what the Sabbath is.  God rested on that Day after six days of creation.  God made that day holy.  God put the rules for keeping it Holy into the Ten Commandments.  This is a big deal.

          Here is something else to think about.  How often do we really think about the Sabbath?  Jesus seems to have His sharpest conflicts with the leaders in Jerusalem over issues surrounding the Sabbath.  I can see why.  The leaders have added so many rules, it’s like this day is more important than God.  And when something becomes more important than God, we call that an idol.

          In the gospel of Mark, Jesus says that the Sabbath was created for us, and we were not created for the Sabbath.  Means we need this day, the day does not need us.  We need a day that God made Holy.  Life has got enough pressures in it. 

          But in the whole Scripture lesson today, what is best for the Sabbath?  The healing is pretty cool, but then the woman straightened up and praised the Lord.  And isn’t that the best thing we can do when we come to worship?

 

Peace,

Pastor Peter

When the Knowledge of Being God's Only Begotten Son Weighs Upon Our Precious Lord Jesus

             Luke 12:49 takes us into a revelation of Jesus' frustration.   

            Hebrew 4:15 provides us the context for these feelings.  "For we do not have a high priest (Jesus) who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who in every respect has been tested as we are, yet without sin." 

            Jesus is not only tested, but reacts as we might.  We see anger displayed when Jesus drives the money changers out of the temple.  We see sorrow expressed when Jesus is in the Garden of Gethsemane.  But frustration?  Anticipatory frustration no less. 

            We know from Luke 9:53 that Jesus “was headed toward Jerusalem”.  It is the journey to His death and resurrection.  While he has discussed what will happen, His disciples cannot understand the full extent of what is to come.  Only Jesus understands the full weight of what is going to come.  In our passage today, it finds expression.    

            “I have come to cast fire upon the earth, and how I wish things were already ablaze.”  Is this the fire of Pentecost?  The fires of the end times?  Jesus wants to 'light it up', get it done.  It isn't done yet but Jesus is feeling the weight.    

              “I have a baptism with which to be baptized, and what constraint I am under until it is completed!”  That may sound rather innocuous at first, like the words from the hymn, “Baptized in water, sealed by the Spirit…”  But do the verses from Romans 6 cast a different light?  

            ^4 “Therefore we were buried with him by baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we also might walk in newness of life. ⁵ For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.”

            We focus on the parts where ‘we also might walk in newness of life’ and ‘we will certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his’.  That is cause to rejoice.  This is when things are complete.  But Jesus is on the 'before' side of all this.  Can we even imagine 'what constraint' He is under?  Knowing what is to come?  

            We can speculate.  His is a miserable, torturous, painful, solitary journey into death, long before He is buried that we might be buried with Him.  Besides the physical journey, there is the spiritual one where He carries the burden of punishment for ALL our sins upon his body.  He is under the constraint, the obligation, to carry through with that burden, for us.    

            To name his feelings 'frustration', or even 'anticipatory frustration', how completely inadequate are those words for what Jesus is feeling?  But whatever word, whatever name, remember what He suffered to make us free.   

Peace,

pastor pete

In The Words of the Great Philosopher, "What, Me Worry?"

             Worry, a human survival strategy?  A way of warning the self about shortages in key areas of human need?  Jesus says not to worry about food, not to worry about clothing.  He is calling upon us to undercut our hardwired reactions to basic survival strategies? 

            But maybe Jesus is not thinking about survival when he challenges his listeners.  Perhaps he is addressing a crowd that is assured of the basic needs of survival.  Perhaps it is not a matter of having food to eat, but deciding what to have from a variety of choices?  Is it somehow a matter of social competitiveness?  What do my neighbors have to eat?  What more should I have?  That kind of social competition might be easier to consider in clothing, easier to show the world what I am wearing than what I have on my dinner plate. Or, more importantly, what I am wearing is better than what you are wearing...and I worry if I am right about that.

            If we continue to look at the metaphors Jesus then employs, that of ravens who are fed without barns to store, that of lilies that are clothed in raiment more splendid than Solomon, only to be burned with the grass tomorrow, I don’t know if these help sort the question of survival versus social standing.

            Except that maybe that doesn’t matter either.  Its about worry, not what is worried about.  It is about a state of emotional being.  If Jesus does not distinguish what exactly we are worrying about, do we need to parse meaning even further?    

            The answer to worry is that ‘God provides’.  That’s fine when faith is involved.  God promises us the treasure of heaven.  It is God’s good pleasure to give us the kingdom.  He even calls upon us to sell our possessions to give alms.  But that is not where Jesus wants us to end up in this passage.  Jesus does not want to curtail our activity.  Its not a matter of peace replacing worry.  It is a matter of peace curtailing a destructive activity, worry, to entail another, constructive activity, in the Lord.

            Worry takes energy, mental, emotional, and physical.  Jesus calls for us to invest that energy elsewhere, deliberately.  “Be dressed for action and have your lamps lit.”  Be ready for the return of Jesus.  Stand there and wait for the bridegroom to come home?   No, prepare for the master’s return.  The promise of the Lord is that all we worry about is taken care of in the power of the Living God.  That’s the peace we have, it is the peace we act from.

            Be dressed for action, have the lamps lit, take this blessed assurance that Jesus is mine and share it with the world!  Where there is worry, work in the Lord to assuage that worry, to demonstrate the reality of our faith that Jesus provides.  Wade into the world in the name of Jesus.  We are not standing around waiting to ascend with Jesus into heaven.  We are action-oriented, committed to the world around us, doing the work of Jesus’ followers in preparation for the day of His return.  Then, in the end, when Jesus does return, He will take care of us in turn.

Peace

pastor pete

Placing Our Energies: Worrying Vs. Preparedness Our Scripture for Sunday, Aug. 11, 2025: Luke 12:22-40

Passage for Sunday: Luke 12: 22-40 

Note: The lectionary passage is Luke 12: 32-40, but that feels like a passage sundered.  The longer piece feels more intact as ‘one'.

²² He said to his disciples, “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat, or about your body, what you will wear. ²³ For life is more than food and the body more than clothing. ²⁴ Consider the ravens: they neither sow nor reap, they have neither storehouse nor barn, and yet God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds! ²⁵ And which of you by worrying can add a single hour to your span of life? ²⁶ If then you are not able to do so small a thing as that, why do you worry about the rest? ²⁷ Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these. ²⁸ But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will he clothe you, you of little faith! ²⁹ And do not keep seeking what you are to eat and what you are to drink, and do not keep worrying. ³⁰ For it is the nations of the world that seek all these things, and your Father knows that you need them. ³¹ Instead, seek his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well.

³² “Do not be afraid, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom. ³³ Sell your possessions and give alms. Make purses for yourselves that do not wear out, an unfailing treasure in heaven, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. ³⁴ For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

³⁵ “Be dressed for action and have your lamps lit; ³⁶ be like those who are waiting for their master to return from the wedding banquet, so that they may open the door for him as soon as he comes and knocks. ³⁷ Blessed are those slaves whom the master finds alert when he comes; truly I tell you, he will fasten his belt and have them sit down to eat, and he will come and serve them. ³⁸ If he comes during the middle of the night or near dawn and finds them so, blessed are those slaves.

³⁹ “But know this: if the owner of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have let his house be broken into. ⁴⁰ You also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.”

Luke 12: 22-40 “in other words.”  (It's a way of reflection, of 'getting at' what the passage speaks to me).

Do not let your worries be about what you eat, about body image, about your wardrobe.  Consider the ravens, they eat, they don’t have barns, but God cares for them.  You are worth so much more in the eyes of heaven.  And worrying, does that add an hour to your life, does it improve any part of your body image?  If you cannot control the small stuff, why worry about the stuff that is out of your control?  Consider the lilies, God gives them a better wardrobe than Solomon’s finest, but here today, gone tomorrow… 

God takes care of the ravens, takes care of the flowers, how much more will God do for you?  Don’t worry about this stuff.  Nations worry about this stuff, and God knows what we need.  Aim for God’s kingdom instead.  It is God’s good pleasure to give us the kingdom.

So, instead of collecting possessions, sell them, give alms to support the less fortunate.  Make a wallet for the treasure of heaven, which does not wear out, which is unfailing, which is guaranteed 'theft-proof', where no moth or critter can infest and destroy.

Put your treasure there, because where your treasure is, your heart will surely follow.

You want to be ready for something?  Want something to work toward?  Be prepared for action like servants expecting their master after a wedding reception.  Be prepared for whenever he gets home, whether midnight, later…or earlier into the morning.  Because if you are ready, instead of serving, you will be seated and waited upon by the master for your alertness.

If a homeowner knows when the thief is coming, he will be ready to prevent anything from being stolen.  But the Son of Man, after He has ascended, is coming back at an unexpected hour.

And some first thoughts…

            On first reading, our passage looks like Jesus is laying out a contrast.  Where should people of faith invest their energies, personal, emotional, psychological; and where should they not?  Although, its actually flipped, first where not to invest these energies and then where to invest these energies.

            Don’t worry, because God is in control.  Be prepared for Jesus’ return, because God is in control.  In Jesus lies our treasure, in this life and in the life to come.

An observation...

            It felt a little awkward as a reader to be talking about the return of Jesus so 'early' in the gospel narrative, well before Jesus' death, resurrection, and ascension.  This is where Gospel differs from Fiction, for example.  In a Novel, chapters build toward a climax and a resolution.  In the Gospel, each segment is written against the background of the whole story of Christ.

Peace,

pastor pete