August 26, 2007

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13^th Sunday after Pentecost

Please Read Luke 13:10-17

Read also Jeremiah 1:4-10, Psalm 71:1-6, Hebrews 12:18-29

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

.     Divine Impulsiveness     .

Maintaining no office hours,

the Great Physician

nevertheless made house calls,

and when necessity demanded,

went out of his way to bring healing.

His schedule was dictated

more by the need that he beheld,

and an inner impulse to do good.

True, he would take time off,

hiking to some wilderness setting

like a mountaintop,

to renew his strength in prayer. 

But when he saw someone in pain,

he acted!

And nothing could deter him

from offering a healing touch. 

Nothing! 

No ancient law, no sacred tradition. 

Not even the holy Sabbath,

or the strict preachments of the orthodox.

Such conduct was bound

to get him into trouble.

But never mind!

The woman was healed,

and what legalism can rival that?

I measure my life by his.  

It troubles me that my goodness

is too calculated, too limited,

too bound by others’ expectations,

too incomplete. 

And when the opportunity for service

presents itself, I find myself

too prone to put off till tomorrow

what needs to be done today.

Lord, grant to me that divine impulsiveness

that sets me into motion,

without regard to who is looking,

or who might criticize

when I behold a person in pain or need.

Grant this, I pray,

in the Healer’s Name, Amen.

                                                                                           --- rvc

*** D I S C L A I M E R ***

The Weekly Lessons are based on the lectionary texts for the week – usually the Gospel lesson. They are not designed as a formal commentary.  Rather, they are the personal reflections and original compositions of The Relay Online editor, Rev. Robin Van Cleef, and offer a jumping off point, using the scriptures as triggers to thought, imagination, and (we hope) empowerment.  As you read them, let your own imagination play, and let the Spirit speak to you, leading you where it will.  The Gospel Lessons reflected on this site may not be copied, reproduced or otherwise manipulated elsewhere on the internet without the expressed consent of the author.

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