Grace Evangelical-Lutheran: August 2010

Sunday, August 29, 2010

Luke 14,1-14. The 13. Sunday after Trinity

In the Name of Jesus

Luke 14,1-14
13. Sunday after Trinity, Proper 17C
29. August 2010

O Heavenly Father, our great Providence, we know that we live in a world full of sorrow and suffering on account of our sinfulness and the curse that You have spoken to us in judgment. We endure physical infirmities as well as ridicule and rejection from the world which often rewards those of like mind. Many in this world are ignored by the powerful, the rich, the blessed. In poverty many live simple lives that do not measure up against the charming and influential of this world. As Christians, we bear a double burden for we often are lampooned by the godless and heretics simply for our faith in Jesus Christ. As You did in the Holy Gospels, bring down the proud and mighty and uplift the humble and meek, so that they all may see and believe in Your Son, Jesus Christ our LORD. Amen.

Our sermon text for this morning, dear brothers and sisters, is from the Gospel according to Luke where the holy evangelists write: One Sabbath, when Jesus went to dine at the house of a ruler of the Pharisees, they were watching Him carefully. And behold, there was a man before Him who had dropsy. And Jesus responded to the lawyers and Pharisees, saying, ,,Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath, or not?“ But they remained silent. Then He took him and healed him and sent him away. He said to them, ,,Which of you, having a son or an ox that has fallen into a well on a Sabbath day, will not immediately pull him out?“ And they could not reply to these things. This is our text.

Jesus asked the question: ,,Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?“ His opponents (the lawyers and the Pharisees) would not answer. Jesus had uncovered their hypocrisy: yes, they would break the law to rescue a valuable animal that had fallen into a pit, but they seemed reluctant to help a sick or crippled person.

On another occasion, Jesus said: ,,The Sabbath was made for man; man was not made for the Sabbath“ (Mark 2,27). The law was given to reveal sinful nature, curb criminal activity, and enlighten us into the way of living the just and righteous life. The Sabbath was given so that: 1. we comprehend that we do not worship Yahweh with all our heart and mind because we do not rightly and fully fear, love, and trust Him; 2. we are commanded to set aside a day to worship Yahweh; and 3. we learn what rich blessings Yahweh showers upon those who regularly hear His Word preached and receive His Sacraments.

Jesus also says that man was not made for the Sabbath. The force and power of the Sabbath lies not in the resting, but in the sanctifying, so that to this day belongs a special holy exercise (LC, Ten Commandments, para. 94). Here is where Jesus’ opponents violated the commandment: they excelled at keeping the written letter of the law, but they utterly failed to keep the spirit of the law. The written letter of the law is: abstain from all work and worship Yahweh. The spirit of the law is: if your neighbor is in need, then you offer help, even if it is on the Sabbath.

The answer to Jesus’ question is: yes, it is lawful to heal on the Sabbath. To prove His point Jesus healed the man with dropsy. This poor man was retaining water, which may have indicated his kidneys were not working properly or that he had the beginning of congestive heart failure. According to the Mosaic law, the man with dropsy was unclean (Leviticus 13,2), and therefore he could not approach the temple. Jesus worked on the Sabbath because His neighbor was in need.

You and I, are like the man in Luke 14; we are all sick unto death. We are born sinful and daily do wicked things. No matter how well we keep the law, we will never earn a single merit towards our forgiveness and salvation. The law shows us that we are in dire need of a physician who will cure us of our sin-sickness. Without a doctor, our sinful nature will lead to death and eternal separation from Yahweh.

Therefore, Christ Jesus began His ministry by proclaiming: ,,Those who are well have no need for a physician, but those who are sick. I have not arrived to call the righteous but to call the sinners to repentance“ (Luke 5,31-32). Furthermore, He said: ,,The Son of Man is lord of the Sabbath“ (Luke 6,5). And again: ,,It is lawful to do good and save life on the Sabbath“ (Luke 6,9). Jesus healed on the Sabbath seven times in the Holy Gospels (Luke records three of those occasions). Not only did Jesus heal people of their infirmities, but He also forgave individuals of their sins and raised people from the dead.

The Epistle to the Hebrew tells us: ,,there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God“ (4,9). The apostle here refers to the Sabbath rest that is eternal life. Christ Jesus our LORD arrived to give us eternal life. In the Old Testament, the Sabbath, the day of rest and fellowship with Yahweh and fellow believers through the Divine Service (Gottesdienst), was also the earthly foretaste of eternal life. In Holy Scripture, the prophets often use the literary device known as type : antitype. A ,,type“ is a person, thing, action, event, ceremony, structure, or number in the Old Testament that prefigures a fulfillment of the ,,type“ in the New Testament. The Sabbath rest is the type, and eternal life is the antitype. The Sabbath rest is the promise, and eternal life is the fulfillment. Both the Sabbath rest and eternal life are intimately connected to Jesus Christ who is the Heavenly Father’s only Son. In our solar system the planets orbit the sun which gives light and heat to the planets and keeps life thriving on the Third Rock from the Sun we call the Earth. The Sabbath rest and eternal life orbit the Son of God who gives and sustains everlasting life.

Jesus, therefore, proclaims in our Gospel text that it is good, right and salutary, yes, it is necessary, to heal on the Sabbath. Jesus also forgave people their sins and raised the dead as a manifestation of the greater work He would accomplish soon with His crucifixion and resurrection. Jesus desires to give us life, yes, life abundantly (John 10,10).

And so, we gather each Sunday, the Christian Sabbath, to sing the liturgy of the Divine Service (Gottesdienst). Where two or three gather in the Name of Jesus, He Himself has promised to be in our midst (Matthew 18,20). Every Sunday we gather together, and Christ our LORD finds us who are miserable sinners, exhorts us to recognize and confess our damnable sinfulness, and then He heals us with the powerful medicine He prescribes that is the very words from His lips, the Absolution that proclaims that He forgives our many sins.

We are condemned by the law and burdened with the curse for sin. The gospel brings us the sweet mercy of Yahweh’s love and forgiveness. The gospel is a like a summer rainstorm that relieves us from the hot blast of the scorching law. Christ does not let the dictates of this world nor human traditions stop Him from healing and forgiving us. Jesus is our Sabbath rest and our eternal life, for He is our crucified and risen Savior who has redeemed us from the curse of sin and the condemnation of the law. Amen.

Let us pray. O Christ Jesus, our Physician and Healer, You declare that everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted. By humbling Yourself upon the cross, You have exalted us so that in You we have redemption and eternal life. Amen.

One Message: Christ crucified and risen for you!

All Scriptural quotations are translations done by The Rev. Peter A. Bauernfeind using the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia, 4th Edition © 1990 by the Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart, the Novum Testamentum Graece, Nestle-Aland 27th Edition © 1993 by Deutsch Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart, and the New Testament Greek Manuscripts, Luke © 1995 by Reuben Joseph Swanson.