Year A Proper 24 WED 2023 Lawful

 Year A Proper 24, 25 October 2023

St. James the Less Episcopal, Ashland, VA

“Lawful”

Collect: Almighty and everlasting God, in Christ you have revealed your glory among the nations: Preserve the works of your mercy, that your Church throughout the world may persevere with steadfast faith in the confession 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.

Matthew 12:1-14

At that time Jesus went through the cornfields on the sabbath; his disciples were hungry, and they began to pluck heads of grain and to eat. When the Pharisees saw it, they said to him, ‘Look, your disciples are doing what is not lawful to do on the sabbath.’ He said to them, ‘Have you not read what David did when he and his companions were hungry? He entered the house of God and ate the bread of the Presence, which it was not lawful for him or his companions to eat, but only for the priests. Or have you not read in the law that on the sabbath the priests in the temple break the sabbath and yet are guiltless? I tell you, something greater than the temple is here. But if you had known what this means, “I desire mercy and not sacrifice”, you would not have condemned the guiltless. For the Son of Man is lord of the sabbath.’

He left that place and entered their synagogue; a man was there with a withered hand, and they asked him, ‘Is it lawful to cure on the sabbath?’ so that they might accuse him. He said to them, ‘Suppose one of you has only one sheep and it falls into a pit on the sabbath; will you not lay hold of it and lift it out? How much more valuable is a human being than a sheep! So it is lawful to do good on the sabbath.’ Then he said to the man, ‘Stretch out your hand.’ He stretched it out, and it was restored, as sound as the other. But the Pharisees went out and conspired against him, how to destroy him.

I won’t say that those who fixate on what is “lawful” have misplaced priorities, but I have heard this joke:

A very successful lawyer parked his brand-new Porsche in front of the office, ready to show it off to his colleagues. As he opened the door, a truck came along, and completely tore off the driver's door! The attorney immediately grabbed his cell phone, hit speed dial for 911, and had a policeman there in 3 minutes. Before the officer had a chance to ask any questions, the lawyer started screaming hysterically. He had just picked up the Porsche the day before, and now it would never be the same, no matter how good a job the body shop does.

After the lawyer finally wound down from his rant, the cop shook his head in disgust and disbelief. "I can't believe how materialistic you lawyers are," he said. " You are so focused on your possessions that you don't notice anything else."

"How can you say such a thing?" he responded indignantly.

The cop replied, "You didn't even notice that your left arm is missing from the elbow down! It must have been torn off when the truck hit you."

"OH, NO!" screamed the lawyer in shock. "Where is my Rolex?!?"

Last Sunday I mentioned that the people trying to catch Jesus over the taxes question asked if something was “lawful.” Lawful is such an interesting word. If you are busy keeping the law, you can miss the spirit and intent of said rule so easily. Being lawful is not the point, righteousness is. And as Jesus came to teach us, our righteousness is found in our faithfulness, not our lawfulness.

Jesus’ disciples were hungry and plucked the heads of grain to eat. It was the Sabbath. But the Pharisees, who were playing self-righteous games of gotcha were there to condemn.

Then they asked about curing somebody on the Sabbath. Once again, they were trying to have adventures in missing the point. It is not about the when but about the what. God wants us to do good. The point of the Sabbath was not a time period but rather about God having the lead role in our lives. We set aside a day to remind us that God is in control and we can be faithful. It is not about “Thou shalt not!”

We do not avoid doing good just because it is the Sabbath. Sabbath is a time out from the ordinary, not from avoiding everything, even the good or necessary.

The irony here is that the “work” that was to be avoided on the Sabbath included walking, but here the Pharisees are following Jesus and his disciples around. I guess that part did not count when playing Gotcha.

So when you think about obeying the law, think of why we do it, not whether we are keeping the law or not. It is so easy, too easy, to put the cart before the horse. Amen