Blind to the Good

Wednesday, November 5, 2008 -- Week of Proper 26

Today's Reading for the Daily Office (Book of Common Prayer, p. 991)
Psalms 72 (morning) 11:73-96 (evening)
Ecclesiasticus* 43:23-33
Revelation 16:1-11
Luke 13:10-17

* found in the Apocrypha; also called the Wisdom of Jesus Son of Sirach, or just Sirach

She had been bent over for eighteen years. She had suffered a crippling ailment for so long. After that many years, these things can seem normal and intractable. Eighteen years is the time it takes a child to grow from first grade through high school. It is close to a generation.

Jesus sets her free from her ailment. "When he laid his hands on her, immediately she stood up straight and began praising God."

What relief. What hope. The future opens to new possibility. For so long -- burdened, bent down, unable to look forward, inflexible, marked by others as broken and disabled. Now she can stand up straight and face the world with full stature.

But some people can't see it. Or they see it and find something to object to. Some people can't recognize the good. Their worldview blocks their vision of the real. The leader of the synagogue speaks for them. He is indignant. Jesus cured this woman on the sabbath. That opens up a host of energies.

This leader has been the protector of the sabbath. The sabbath is a good thing, a gift from God. The gift of rest for one day of every weekly cycle. The sabbath had become an institution, with rules and regulations about what is acceptable and unacceptable on the sabbath. The synagogue leader believes that to lay hands upon someone and to heal them is work. Thou shalt not work on the sabbath. He is certain about these things. So certain, that he is furious with Jesus' action. He is blind to the good thing that has happened right in front of his face. His ideals, his values, his highest aspirations for himself and his community make him unable to rejoice that this woman has been freed from her eighteen year bondage.

Jesus offers him an "out." Deuteronomy 22:1-4 commands that we rescue a neighbor's wandering cattle or one that falls into threat. Sabbath interpreters had said that such a rescue was allowable on the sabbath. They also said it is okay to water your livestock on the sabbath. Jesus suggests, if you can act on the sabbath with such compassion for an ox or donkey, shouldn't the same compassion be shown to this daughter of Abraham?

It says that when Jesus said this, "his opponents were put to shame." I wonder about that. Was their shame the remorse that changes them? Were they able to see anew, and be glad? Or was it a bitter shame? The shame that makes them want to strike back and get even. Did their anger at Jesus' freeing this woman from eighteen years of suffering get even harder, so that they will now turn their energy toward the darkness. Instead of defending something good -- the sabbath -- will they now shift to attack what they believe is bad -- this sabbath healer who has shamed them?

Not everyone can see the good and rejoice in it. Even this event of liberating a woman who has been bent down and burdened for eighteen years is laden with controversy. The misinterpretation can become ever more exaggerated. What starts as a debate between competing values sometimes can turn personal and ugly. This is the kind of thing that got Jesus killed.

Lowell

_____________________________________________

Audio podcast: Listen to an audio podcast of the most recent Morning Reflections from today and the past week. Click the following link: Morning Reflection Podcasts

About Morning Reflections
Morning Reflections is a brief thought about the scripture readings from the Daily Office of Morning and Evening Prayer according to the practice found in the Book of Common Prayer of the Episcopal Church.

Morning Prayer begins on p. 80 of the Book of Common Prayer.
Evening Prayer begins on p. 117

An online resource for praying the Daily Office is found at www.missionstclare.com
Another form of the office from Phyllis Tickle's "Divine Hours" is available on our partner web site www.ExploreFaith.org at this location -- http://explorefaith.org/prayer/fixed/index.html


The Mission of St. Paul's Episcopal Church
is to explore and celebrate
God's infinite grace, acceptance, and love.

Visit our web site at www.stpaulsfay.org

Our Rule of Life

We aspire to...
worship weekly
pray daily
learn constantly
serve joyfully
live generously.

Lowell Grisham, Rector

St. Paul's Episcopal Church
Fayetteville, Arkansas