Saturday, August 20, 2022

The Sunday Lectionary Readings Sunday, August 21, 2022 — Eleventh Sunday after Pentecost

Jesus Heals a Crippled Woman
Luke 13:10-17

The Sunday Lectionary Readings
Sunday, August 21, 2022 — Eleventh Sunday after Pentecost
 Jeremiah 1:4-10; Psalm 71:1-6; Hebrews 12:18-29; Luke 13:10-17
[Ordinary 21, Proper 16]
(Revised Common Lectionary Year C)

Opening Prayer


As We Gather Here
(Words for the above video)
As we gather here in the harbour of your safety
We thank you for fellowship and family.

We ask that you will strengthen us, restore us and inspire us with your love.
Lord, would fill us with your peace
So that as we journey onwards
We would pour out your love and grace to others.
We ask that our souls would catch the wind of your spirit
so that we would take your promises to all the earth.

Amen.

The Collect (Book of Common Prayers)
Grant, O merciful God, that your Church, being gathered together in unity by your Holy Spirit, may show forth your power among all peoples, to the glory of your Name; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Prayer of Confession
Isaiah’s people—the people of Israel returning home from long exile—sought in the Prophet’s words guidance for building God’s kingdom: Offer food to the hungry, Reach out to the afflicted, Remove the yokes of oppression and injustice, Overcome despair and complaint in struggle.

We too, struggle with this guidance, and too often fail in our attempts to build community.

Holy One, forgive us. Take away whatever holds us back. Show us the way to confidence and generosity so that we may be known as your people: Repairers of the broken places and Restorers of streets to safety and peace.

O God, with your help we can change and bring you glory.

Assurance of Pardon
Though we may have strayed, when we come to Jesus, the mediator of the new covenant, we can be sure that the kingdom we are offered cannot be shaken.  We will not be abandoned; indeed we will have continual guidance. Each time we feed the hungry and satisfy the needs of the afflicted we grow in the strength of our faith and our bond with God.  We are changed.  Praise be to God; this simple miracle is made available to all of us, God’s children.


First Reading
Jeremiah 1:4-10
Jeremiah’s Call and Commission
1:4 Now the word of the Lord came to me saying,

5  “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you,
   and before you were born I consecrated you;
   I appointed you a prophet to the nations.”

6 Then I said, “Ah, Lord God! Truly I do not know how to speak, for I am only a boy.” 7 But the Lord said to me,

   “Do not say, ‘I am only a boy’;
   for you shall go to all to whom I send you,
   and you shall speak whatever I command you.
8  Do not be afraid of them,
   for I am with you to deliver you,
   says the Lord.”

9 Then the Lord put out his hand and touched my mouth; and the Lord said to me,

   “Now I have put my words in your mouth.
10 See, today I appoint you over nations and over kingdoms,
   to pluck up and to pull down,
   to destroy and to overthrow,
   to build and to plant.”

Psalm 71:1-6 In te, Domine, speravi
1  In you, O Lord, have I taken refuge; *
   let me never be ashamed.

2  In your righteousness, deliver me and set me free; *
   incline your ear to me and save me.

3  Be my strong rock, a castle to keep me safe; *
   you are my crag and my stronghold.

4  Deliver me, my God, from the hand of the wicked, *
   from the clutches of the evildoer and the oppressor.

5  For you are my hope, O Lord God, *
   my confidence since I was young.

6  I have been sustained by you ever since I was born;
   from my mother's womb you have been my strength; *
   my praise shall be always of you.


Second Reading
Hebrews 12:18-29
12:18 You have not come to something that can be touched, a blazing fire, and darkness, and gloom, and a tempest, 19 and the sound of a trumpet, and a voice whose words made the hearers beg that not another word be spoken to them. 20 (For they could not endure the order that was given, “If even an animal touches the mountain, it shall be stoned to death.” 21 Indeed, so terrifying was the sight that Moses said, “I tremble with fear.”) 22 But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, 23 and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, 24 and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.

25 See that you do not refuse the one who is speaking; for if they did not escape when they refused the one who warned them on earth, how much less will we escape if we reject the one who warns from heaven! 26 At that time his voice shook the earth; but now he has promised, “Yet once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heaven.” 27 This phrase, “Yet once more,” indicates the removal of what is shaken—that is, created things—so that what cannot be shaken may remain. 28 Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us give thanks, by which we offer to God an acceptable worship with reverence and awe; 29 for indeed our God is a consuming fire.


The Gospel
Luke 13:10-17
Jesus Heals a Crippled Woman
13:10 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 away to give it 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 that he was doing.


Here ends the Lessons

Click HERE to read today's Holy Gospel Lesson message

The Nicene Creed
We believe in one God, the Father, the Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, of all that is, seen and unseen.

We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, eternally begotten of the Father, God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, of one Being with the Father. Through him all things were made. For us and for our salvation he came down from heaven; by the power of the Holy Spirit he became incarnate from the Virgin Mary, and was made man. For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate; he suffered death and was buried. On the third day he rose again in accordance with the Scriptures; he ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father. He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead, and his kingdom will have no end.

We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son. With the Father and the Son he is worshiped and glorified. He has spoken through the Prophets. We believe in one holy catholic and apostolic Church. We acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins. We look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come. Amen.

Closing Prayer


Lord, thank you that we are a family in Christ. Help us to share his love and legacy with everyone that we encounter this week. May we lavish Christ’s abounding goodness upon our families, friends and colleagues. Holy Spirit, come and equip us in our workplace, guide us in our school life, and inspire us in our neighbourhood. May we be your hands and feet to the needy, your words of affirmation to the oppressed and your arms of comfort to the lonely.

Thank you for choosing to use us to bring your kingdom here on earth.
Amen.

Optional parts of the readings are set off in [square brackets.]

The Bible texts of the Old Testament, Epistle and Gospel lessons are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Church of Christ in the USA, and used by permission.
We are sorely tempted to institute rules that limit our ability to love. In God's kingdom love always trumps rules as Jesus heals a crippled woman on the sabbath.

“Cure for an Aching Back” The Sermon for Sunday, August 21, 2022 — Eleventh Sunday after Pentecost


Our Gospel message comes to us today from the 13th chapter of Luke, beginning with the 10th verse.

Now he was teaching in one of the synagogues on the sabbath. 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. When Jesus saw her, he called her over and said, “Woman, you are set free from your ailment.” When he laid his hands on her, immediately she stood up straight and began praising God. 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.” 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 away to give it water? 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?” When he said this, all his opponents were put to shame; and the entire crowd was rejoicing at all the wonderful things that he was doing. (Luke 13:10-17, NRSV)

All mighty God, we thank you for your word and the way that you in it revealed to us who you are and what you’ve done for us in Christ. Now, as we open that word, we pray that your spirit may be present, that all thoughts of worry or distraction may be removed and that the Spirit will allow us to hear your voice. And so, oh God, fill us with your spirit through the reading and proclamation of your word this day. We pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.


“Cure for an Aching Back”


It is unexpected and agonizing. You reach over to pick up a package, bend down to tie your shoe, or put out your arms to scoop an “arms-up” child… and suddenly, something goes terribly wrong. You know it in an instant. A wrench. A tweak. A tear. A back muscle, or disk, or nerve… something has gone completely “off-line.” In the twitch of a muscle, moving becomes misery.


Even if you’ve never studied anatomy ever, you are immediately an expert in just how intimately connected your back is to your arms and legs, neck and shoulders, hands and feet. Everything anywhere near your back hurts. When there is a “wreck” around the “super highway” of our nervous receptors, all of the other roadways in our body, muscles, and nerves all suffer together.


In the “back-to-school” shopping ritual, a new backpack is one of the most essential and expensive family purchases. Dozens of kids will walk to school in the coming weeks. Most of them will have a backpack. Does it seem to you, too, that every year our kids’ load becomes heavier?


In fact, there is genuine concern among medical professionals about the long-term effects of this “weightiness” on young children’s nerves, bones and muscles. Long-term studies are underway to follow up on the muscular-skeletal impacts that may result from years of hauling around pounds and pounds of books, sports gear, computers, and all the other portable “necessities” our kids carry on their back ten months out of the year. In later life, the back-packer may develop the newly named syndrome of “backpackilepsy.”


Notice how our story begins, “One Sabbath day, Jesus was teaching in a synagogue. A woman was there who was severely disabled. Her body was all bent over.” Even with her pronounced deformity, she was in the synagogue on the Sabbath. I admire her. I wonder if I would have that kind of courage to be in public with that kind of condition.


Even more important, she had not allowed her physical condition to impair her relationship with God. She had been this way for eighteen years; all bent over and unable to rise. The pain was sometimes severe. Yet, her habit was to be in worship to praise her Maker. That’s devotion.


I know people who will miss church if they have a slight headache. Or if there is a threat of a bit of rain or the threat of sunshine for that matter, for there are so many other things you can do when the weather is nice. But here was this woman where she was supposed to be on this particular Sabbath: in worship. And because she was there, she received a very special blessing from God.


The visit of Jesus to a local synagogue reported in this week’s text is unique to Luke. It is the last time this gospel writer specifically locates Jesus in a temple. In an earlier episode (6:9), Jesus healed someone on the Sabbath, which raised the hackles of the religious establishment. Jesus is “teaching” in the synagogue, so obviously, he had been recognized as a qualified leader and scholar of the Torah.


Yet the moment this woman appears in the synagogue, “bent over” and “quite unable to stand up,” he focuses on her and her disability. It is unclear just how separated men and women were in first-century synagogue services. Usually, in a two-story synagogue, the women were upstairs. Still, for Jesus to single out and call forward a woman to the center of the temple during the Sabbath was highly unusual.


Jesus not only called a woman forward. He called an obviously diseased woman into his presence. In this first century world, when one had a disease, it was viewed as a sign of divine displeasure. Remember the story of the man born blind (John 9)... what was the disciple’s question? Who sinned this man or his parents? This woman’s physical condition suggested a spiritual shortcoming.


Here is the setting. Jesus has been invited on the Sabbath to address the congregation. You have the synagogue ruler off to the side who has invited him. Then you have the congregation who has heard so much about this young man from Nazareth. They are excited to have him there in their hometown synagogue. That’s the scene. The stage is set. Entering in is bent over, a frail woman knew throughout the small community. They call her the cripple.


Society has a way of dehumanizing us. We fail to see our worth before God when we allow this to happen. The hunchback was, in the synagogue ruler’s opinion, only a woman and of little value. The Mosaic Law was more important than a woman, let alone a disfigured one.


Jesus deals head-on with a debilitating back issue. When Jesus sees the woman walk into the synagogue, he calls forward without her ever seeking him out. She is “bent over and quite unable to stand up straight.” Luke doesn’t tell us her name. We do not know if she was rich or poor, someone who was honored or ostracized. All we know is that she was perceived as one who had endured “a spirit” that had crippled her, bent her in half, for the past eighteen years. We also know that despite that affliction, she still attended worship in the synagogue during the weekly Sabbath ceremonies.


Medically, this disease is probably what physicians today call Ankylosing spondylitis (Marie-Strumpell disease, Bechterew’s disease), a fusion of the spinal bones. Early in the condition, sufferers often find the pain somewhat relieved when they lean forward. So they often go through the day leaning slightly forward, and gradually their spine begins to fuse. The more they lean in order to relieve the pain, the greater the angle until a patient might be bent almost double, as the lady in our story. Even today, we don’t have any medicines that can actually cure this condition. (1)


In this Jewish religious culture that is highly patriarchal, Jesus breaks at least six strict cultural rules:


1) Jesus speaks to the woman. In a civilized society, Jewish men did not speak to women. Remember the story in John 4 where Jesus spoke to the Samaritan woman at the well? She was shocked because a Jew would speak to a Samaritan. But when the disciples returned, the Scripture records, “They were astonished that he was speaking with a woman?” Jesus jettisons the male restraints on women’s freedom in speaking to her.


2) He calls her to the center of the synagogue. He challenges the notion of a male monopoly on access to knowledge and God by placing her in the geographic middle.


3) He touches her. Oh my gosh... He touched her... which revokes the holiness code.


4) He calls her “daughter of Abraham,” a term not found in any of the prior Jewish literature. This is revolutionary. In Jewish theology, it was believed that women were saved through their men. To call her a daughter of Abraham is to make her a full-fledged member of the nation of Israel with equal standing before God.


5) He heals on the Sabbath, the holy day. That was considered work. It would be breaking the 3rd commandment. As a Rabbi, He should know better.


6) Last and not least, he challenges the ancient belief that her illness is a direct punishment from God for sin. He asserts that she is ill, not because God willed it, but because there is evil in the world. (In other words, bad things happen to good people.)


And Jesus did all this in a few seconds.


Luke writes that Jesus was frustrated at their legalism: “You Hypocrites!” What one could have written... “Give me a break! Everyone one of you... don’t you untie your donkey or ox and lead them to drink on the Sabbath? Of course, you do! Why should this woman not receive God’s mercy...”


“If you had known what these words mean, ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the innocent.” Jesus is quoting the O.T. Prophet Micah 6:8 “This is what the Lord requires... To act justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with your God.” The Son of Man is the Lord of the Sabbath and one greater than the Temple is here in your midst.” (Matthew 12:12, 6-7, NIV)


The Divine Cloud of the Old Testament was now standing in from of them in the person of Jesus… The “Cloud” had moved from the temple to the person who was healing the blind, curing the lame, raising the dead... but what was their response?


When Jesus healed a man with a withered hand on the Sabbath, Matthew writes, “they plotted how to kill him.” (Matthew 12:14, NIV)


Now, all things being equal, the news that our heavenly Father has used His Son’s death and resurrection to forgive and redeem us really ought to be the end of this message. All things being equal, just about everyone ought to grasp the obvious fact that Jesus’ death and resurrection show the depth and intensity of God’s love for us. All things being equal, if you can figure out that storm clouds will bring rain and winds which blow from the south will warm things up, you ought to be able to grasp this fundamental truth: God loves you. All things being equal, everybody ought to be brought to faith by the Holy Spirit.


All things being equal, the Pharisees should have known that the One who heals the lame, cures the blind, and raises the Dead... is more than a great prophet... all things being equal... but it challenged their authority, their control, their self-righteousness...


Of course, things aren’t equal, and not everybody believes Jesus is their Savior or that God really cares. Things aren’t equal because sin, Satan, and this world work very hard to make people question the Lord and His intentions toward them, precisely what the Pharisees were doing.


When Jesus was doing His ministry on earth, the devil used some respected and often well-to-do men called Pharisees who really relished telling others that God was angry with them. These Pharisees made up and tried to force people to obey laws that God had never given, which were so strange that God would never have thought of them.


Let me give you an example. When the Lord handed down His Ten Commandments, He said, “Remember the Sabbath Day and keep it holy.” The Pharisees, however, felt God’s Law was woefully inadequate and dreadfully incomplete. Believing God had not finished the job, the Pharisees felt a moral obligation to tell other folks exactly how the Sabbath day should be remembered. They drew up rules on exactly how far a person could walk, precisely how much a person should work, and defined just when an individual should do that work.


Then, when people broke one of these new commandments they’d never heard of and which God had never given, the Pharisees looked down their noses and sarcastically said, “You’re a sinner. I don’t like you, and God doesn’t like you either.”


If some woman was childless, the Pharisees were pretty sure her condition was some kind of punishment from God. If someone was born blind or lame, the Pharisees were convinced that an angry God had said, “See, I told you this kind of thing would happen if you sinned.” With the Pharisees around, it’s not surprising that people felt they were in a no-win situation with the Lord.


Of course, the Pharisees are long since gone. You can take out your telephone book, go to the Yellow Pages, and you won’t find the office of a single Pharisee listed. Let us trust in Jesus. Let us do what the Lord requires... To act justly, and love mercy, and walk humbly with our God.  


Amen.



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1. Source: Healing the Woman with a Bent Back by Dr. Ralph F. Wilson www.jesuswalk.com

Scripture taken from the New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)® Bible, copyright © 1989 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Sermon contributed by Rev. Clarence Eisberg.
Jesus breaks all the Jewish rules.... no wonder the Pharisees wanted him dead. He is the “cloud” of the O. T. in their midst. One Sabbath day, Jesus was teaching in a synagogue. A woman was there who was severely disabled. Her body was all bent over.

The Morning Prayer for Sunday, August 21, 2022

 


The Morning Prayer
Sunday, August 21, 2022


Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.

Dear Father in heaven, let our thoughts be filled with all that is honorable, just, pure, gracious, good, and praiseworthy. We want to await your Spirit, not giving way to anxiety, but showing ourselves worthy to be your children. We want to be your children, who can rise above even the most difficult conditions and maintain a quiet trust, to the glory of your Spirit within us. Protect us now and always in your divine peace. Amen.

Verse of the Day for Sunday, August 21, 2022

 


Verse of the Day
Sunday, August 21, 2022


Psalm 42:8
By day the Lord directs his love, at night his song is with me—a prayer to the God of my life.
“The Lord directs his love”: This statement of confidence interrupts his laments, providing a few gracious gulps of divine “air” under the cascading inundations of his trial and tormentors.

When people worship and praise God, they become aware of His magnificence. Suddenly, the circumstances of life begin to pale when compared to the greatness of God.

Peter cried for help, and Jesus helped him. David puts his faith in God, and God is there in the day and in the night to help him. Are you about to sink in the problems of this life? Reach out and Jesus will help you. Pray to the Father in the name of Jesus, and He will answer your prayers. Help is as near as your next prayer.