Hear and Answer Your Call

Pentecost 11 Proper 16

August 21, 2022

Fr. Tim Nunez

One of the interesting sights in Jerusalem, or in New York, are these Jewish guys wearing black suits with white shirts buttoned all the way up, no ties, wearing black hats with ringlets of hair hanging down. They are what Jews call “the religious” or you may have heard of them as ultra-Orthodox or Hassidic Jews.

It surprised me to learn that they are not one group. There are differences in their hair, the shape of their hats, the width of the brim and so on that signify which school or tradition or rabbi they follow, which may be tied to a place or country – say Lithuania or Ukraine – from which their group came. Why are there so many flavors of ultra-conservative Jews?

Those differences are rooted in how they interpret the Hebrew Bible, or what we call the Old Testament. Recall that the Old Testament has many parts that are distinct. There are the five books of Moses, the Pentateuch, Genesis, Exodus, Number, Leviticus and Deuteronomy that contain among other things the Law of Moses, starting with the Ten Commandments. There are histories, Joshua, Judges, Ruth, Kings, Chronicles, and so forth. There are five books of wisdom (Psalms, Proverbs, Job, the Song of Solomon and Ecclesiastes) and there are the prophets, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, etc.

Christians add the Gospels, history in Acts, many letters and the prophetic Revelation to John. It's a lot to balance. Depending on how you prioritize those parts, how much you study them and upon whose interpretations you place more weight, all of that frames how you think and how you live. Schools of interpretation arise. Individual interpretations are about as numerous as individuals. I try not to look at all that as “Who’s right?” so much as recognizing that we all have different perspectives, different experiences, different cultures and different needs. God is trying to reach us where we are in ways we can hear him.

It’s so helpful to have the summary of the Law: Love God and Love your neighbor. It’s so helpful to have the person and example of Jesus. It’s so helpful to have the Holy Spirit. Yet we have all manner of denominations in the Church - over 40,000 last time I looked - plus God knows how many non-denominational churches reaching us where we are. What we find is that these distinctions fade rather quickly when we are faithful to mission, to God’s call upon our very lives.

Look at how this plays out in today’s Gospel.  We find Jesus in a familiar spot. He’s healing an unnamed woman in an unnamed place on the Sabbath, releasing her from an evil spirit and thus from Satan, the Accuser, who had bent her over for 18 years. He touches her and she stands upright.

The synagogue’s leader objects based upon his interpretation of the Law. He quotes from the fourth Commandment precisely and applies it. Slam dunk, right? “Says it right here,” he thinks.

But there’s more to it than that, more to scripture than just the Law. If we look at the fullness of it, we hear the voice of The Lord, speaking through his prophet Isaiah, “…when you satisfy the needs of the afflicted…” all these good fruits will come from it. “Your light shall rise…gloom shall be like the noonday…needs satisfied in parched places…bones strong…waters never fail…ruins rebuilt…” and so on.

And regarding the Sabbath, “…if you call the Sabbath a delight…if you honor it, not serving your own interests…you shall take delight in The Lord” and he will make you ride the heights of the earth.

That puts a different spin on observing the Sabbath, doesn’t it? Was Jesus serving his own interests? No. Jesus always serves his Father’s interests, and he is serving this woman’s interests. And the very fact that she was healed is proof enough that God is ok with it. God healed her after all!

Doing the right thing at the right moment, and by that I mean the godly thing at the godly moment, is always acceptable.

Most Christians shifted the Sabbath to the Lord’s Day. The Care Center has a Community Kitchen where different churches take a Sunday to feed lunch to anyone from the community who shows up. They may be homeless, poor, we don’t know. We used to do it years ago and signed up for four Sundays this year, once a quarter. Two have been done already and the Youth Group will do it in a few weeks and again in December.

Our youth leaders, Zach and Allie Kapphan, sure hope the youth and their families will step up. If they do, it will be a great opportunity to experience the Holy Spirit working in and through them. They will not be pursuing their own interests, but The Lord’s.

Our Wednesday night program will resume September 7th. The choir will be back in its regular routine. Amy Gammons has a great program for the elementary kids. Davis Willette asked me a few weeks ago if we could form a Youth Band. I’m thrilled by that idea and we will do it. Few of them actually play an instrument but they are youth and they will learn! Zach and Allie have a full program for them as well. I’ve picked a series called “Mission Possible” by Tim Tebow which will help us connect with God’s call on our lives. The whole point of all of that, choir included, is to help people engage and respond to Jesus.

I know that’s appealing. Tebow, after all. And I hope it meets people where they are and encourages them to get on with whatever mission God has for them in the season of life they are in. But I don’t know. And last year, last spring in particular, we had a very hard time finding people to volunteer for the Wednesday night dinners.

Today is Connection Sunday, the whole purpose of which is to connect you with a ministry that fits you.

We have many ministries within the church that will happily receive your help. We invited the Care Center and Idols Aside Ministries, who we will hear from shortly, to be here for Connection Sunday as they each have many needs for volunteers. These are exciting ministries.

It’s not “What do I have to do to be made holy?” It’s “What must I do because I have come to grips with the fact that God loves me, and I love him and I know I’m supposed to do something about that.”

And when you do, “…you shall take delight in The Lord” and he will make you ride the heights of the earth.

AMEN!