This passage from Hebrews says, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever.” What does that actually mean?

Let’s take a moment to think about how much has changed since the time Abraham settled in the Land of Canaan. In Abraham’s time, about 1900 BC, the bronze age, the region had large families or tribes that were mostly herdsmen and semi-nomadic, moving their flocks around in the region. There was some agriculture and there were a few cities, but they were small. Damascus, Syria for example, was around 1,000 to 2,000 people. They had no written language, no written law, and only basic tools and weapons. The chariot was the technological edge.

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There is a lot to consider in today’s Gospel, particularly Jesus’s healing touch and his teaching about what honors God on the sabbath. But let’s not rush past the opening sentences.

“Now Jesus 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.”

Here she is, crippled and unable to stand up straight, and going to church. We must not rush past her effort, which is an expression of great faith. Even now, we are among people who make a similar effort, people for whom it takes a great deal of time and struggle to get ready for and get to church.

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When we went to Israel a few years ago, I asked our guide if we could go to Jericho. It was not on our itinerary, but I really wanted to go. It is one of the oldest cities in the world. It is the lowest city in the world. And I love the story of Jesus calling Zaccheus out of the sycamore tree.

We visited a store that is adjacent to the archaeological site of the original city. It has an observation deck where you can go up three or four floors and see the site from above. One of the interesting facts is that the walls fell outwards. If an invading army were to storm the walls and break through them, they would have fallen inward.

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