I read a number of books that I really enjoyed one summer in the 70’s. They were Catch 22, A Confederacy of Dunces, and Hard Times. This is an unusual trio, but all of them had images that stuck with me, and I would think about. I would read these every summer for probably the next 20 years probably. Maybe it was only 15, but I read those books every year for a long time. I came across my copy of Catch 22 this past summer and read it again for old time’s sake.
Catch 22 was written by Joseph Heller. Heller was a bombardier during World War II, and the book is essentially on his experiences in the Army Air Corps with an eye to humor. If you are thinking MASH might have borrowed this idea in a different context, I would agree.
Captain Yossarian is a bombardier on a B-25 in the Mediterranean. He wants to be excused from combat flight duty, because it is so dangerous. The only way he can be excused is to be diagnosed as insane by the flight surgeon.
However, it is clear that no sane person would want to fly combat missions. By trying to get excused, Yossarian demonstrates that he is, in fact, sane and therefore fit to fly. Heller called this dilemma Catch 22. It is a situation where the rules just won’t let you win.
Catch 22 became so popular because we have all felt like we have been there and done that. Life sometimes presents us with odd situations or odd rules that leave us nowhere to turn.
In our Gospel lesson today, Jesus has run into one of those odd laws. He heals a woman on the Sabbath, and is immediately taken to task by the leader of the synagogue, who instructs the crowd:
“There are six days on which men ought to work.
Therefore come on those days and be healed,
and not on the Sabbath day” (v. 14).
We wonder how anyone could be so stupid. This woman has been stooped over for eighteen years. For most of her adult life, she has been unable to look people in the eye. Her posture prevented her from breathing properly. It stopped her from getting exercise. It would almost certainly doom her to an early death.
The woman is healed by Jesus. Everything that had been wrong for eighteen years was suddenly right. It was like being freed from prison.
When Jesus cured this woman and she stood up straight for the first time in eighteen years, Luke says that “she stood up and began praising God” (v. 13). How could anyone find fault with that?
Now I want to hold out some sympathy for the synagogue leader. The fourth commandment prohibits work on the sabbath and a rule is a rule.
The Fourth Commandment says:
“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.
You shall labor six days, and do all your work,
but the seventh day is a Sabbath to Yahweh your God.
You shall not do any work in it,
you, nor your son, nor your daughter,
your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your livestock,
nor your stranger who is within your gates;
for in six days Yahweh made heaven and earth, the sea,
and all that is in them,
and rested the seventh day;
therefore Yahweh blessed the Sabbath day,
and made it holy” (Exodus 20:8-11).
That seems pretty clear. It’s the longest of the Ten Commandments. God must have been really serious about not working on the Sabbath.
The synagogue leader was responsible for making sure that his townspeople observed the law. He had a job to do, and he was trying to do it.
In my heart though I know this guy is wrong. Then Jesus says he is wrong. Jesus said:
“You hypocrites!
Doesn’t each of you free his ox or his donkey from the stall on the Sabbath,
and lead him away to water?” (v. 15).
In other words, if God’s law allows you to take care of livestock, doesn’t it also allow us to take care of people?
So we think it is OK to heal the woman. Jesus says it is OK. The story has a nice ending.
So what does this story have to do with us?
For one thing, it shows us that it isn’t always easy to know what is right thing and what is wrong. We can run around with a rule book in our hands and spend all our time thinking about how someone is an idiot. We all know people who think they have all the answers to some social issue and they can find a verse or two in the Bible that seems to back them up. They think they have all the answers.
The issues are different today. We have politics for example and whatever the crazy issue is on Facebook this nanosecond. Then there is global warming. We have opinions and that is fine. Given any opinion you have, it wont take you more than five minutes to find a web page and a YouTube video to back you up. You can find a Bible verse or two that seem to support slavery or polygamy or not eating shrimp if those are issues important to you.
The problem is when we no longer deal with other people in a charitable way. The 4th commandment is a lot more authoritative than some web page or YouTube video, and Jesus himself demonstrates today that charity and compassion are more important than a strict reading of the 4th commandment.
Jesus tells us to love God and to love our neighbor. In this story, he shows us what it means to love our neighbor. It means helping where help is needed, helping when help is needed, and doing what is needed. Love is an action verb, and Jesus is showing us how to love.
Jesus helped this woman, and all the people rejoiced. We don’t want to be this woman who suffers for eighteen years. We also don’t want to be the man who is too busy judging others to help someone.
My hope is that all of us can use the gifts God has given us to be a blessing to others this week. We might not be able to solve all the world’s problems, but we can help someone and make a difference.
We serve God by serving others.
I have said these words in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Sermon preached by Fr. Tom at St. Thomas Episcopal – Plymouth
August 25, 2019; Eleventh Sunday of Pentecost – Proper 16
Jeremiah 1:4-10
Psalm 71:1-6
Hebrews 12:18-29
Luke 13:10-17