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?” Luke 13:16 NRSV
Jesus saw a lady bent double, who had been so for 18 years. Without her asking, he healed her and she immediately stood straight and praised God. All the synagog leader could think though was this should not have been done on the Sabbath.
That is the way the faithful servant of God saw things, the revelation he had, God ordained, central to the utterances of God to Moses; a practice that identified the faithful being forgotten.
In the story we see the compassion and generosity of Jesus. We see how God views the ordinances of Moses. We see the failing of a system and the importance of people and that, all that is of God is only good.
The challenge to our hearts might be to ask, what are we faithfully following, which maybe God revealled to us, that is keeping people away from Jesus, bent double and afflicted?
Let me sing for my beloved my love-song concerning his vineyard: My beloved had a vineyard on a very fertile hill. He dug it and cleared it of stones, and planted it with choice vines; he built a watchtower in the midst of it, and hewed out a wine vat in it; he expected it to yield grapes, but it yielded wild grapes. Isaiah 5:1-2 NRSV
Knowing Jesus, tasting and seeing the fruits of his planting, is a joy. If it tastes bitter then it probably is.
Grapes growing outside my back door.
Jesus has called us to discern, let our yes be yes and no be no and pledge only allegiance to him. Any church government that does not embody the hierarchy of the Spirit and how the Spirit is, as the wind and the voice that speaks in the heart, the vineyard of the beloved, is not Christian, is corrupt.
This prophecy was for then and is for now, especially if we believe our selves to be the heirs of Israel.
Levels of authority and models that look more like a corporation, demanding oaths and pledges to doctrines, persons or systems, are not Christian. Though Christ may choose to use them as he would a donkey, churches need to remember that they are as clanging cymbals without love. The gifts are not for status, and the building is the people.
If this sounds a bit reactionary, we’ll it’s what Jesus taught.
Jesus is the Way the Truth and the Life and nobody comes to the Father except through him. Jesus is the Word made flesh, the Word that enlightens all and divides Luke 12:49-56.
There is that of God in every person, as George Fox learnt; this I believe is the light that reveals Jesus and brings life not by the power of man but of God. Read the Bible and let God speak. Be still, rest in the peace that is the gift of Jesus, and let God speak. Trust in the faithfulness of God in the promise of Jesus, to yield fruitfulness.
Recognise that what the Bible says of Jesus helps us discern the voice of God in the scriptures, tradition and nature. What Jesus speaks in our hearts will not demand that we hate or do less than love even our enemies. If it doesn’t sound like Jesus, even in the scriptures, then let Jesus speak, the Jesus you know, who says to you,
“Again, you have heard that it was said to those of ancient times, ‘You shall not swear falsely, but carry out the vows you have made to the Lord.’ But I say to you, Do not swear at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God, or by the earth, for it is his footstool, or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. And do not swear by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black. Let your word be ‘Yes, Yes’ or ‘No, No’; anything more than this comes from the evil one. (Matthew 5:33-37 NRSV)
We know good fruit when we see it. A good tree bears good fruit. Discern the tree and reject man made hierarchies for Christ’s sake. There is only one hierarchy, one sacred rule in the church, love.
Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who for the sake of the joy that was set before him endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God. Hebrews 12:1-2 NRSV
Sell your possessions, and give alms. Make purses for yourselves that do not wear out, an unfailing treasure in heaven, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Luke 12:33-34 NRSV
There is a demand in the scriptures. Faith, like grace is not easy; keeping us safe from the ravages of religion but also the weapons of the religious exciting judgement.
Grace is a gift from God and faith trusts God’s faithfulness to exercise grace as we falter in godliness. Each we recieve from God to return to God in what we do and say.
When we feel far away from the ideal, we are reassured that in works of thankfulness, hospitality and generosity, God works in us and through us. Through these works we deepen our knowledge of God. Freely recieved they are freely given.
Come now, let us argue it out, says the Lord: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be like snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool. Isaiah 1:18 NRSV
‘When the LORD first spoke through Hosea, the Lord said to Hosea, “Go, take for yourself a wife of whoredom and have children of whoredom, for the land commits great whoredom by forsaking the Lord .” So he went and took Gomer daughter of Diblaim, and she conceived and bore him a son. ‘ Hosea 1:2-3 https://my.bible.com/bible/2016/HOS.1.2-3
I suspect there will have been some interesting conversations around the dinner table today, unless of course the children were taken out of the service!
The still small voice, that speaks in silence, spoke to Hosea as a loud angry God. A bit like Hosea really.
‘But I will have pity on the house of Judah, and I will save them by the Lord their God; I will not save them by bow, or by sword, or by war, or by horses, or by horsemen…
” Yet the number of the people of Israel shall be like the sand of the sea, which can be neither measured nor numbered; and in the place where it was said to them, “You are not my people,” it shall be said to them, “Children of the living God.” ‘ Hosea 1:7,10 https://my.bible.com/bible/2016/HOS.1.7,10
That’s more like it.
For me the Bible is all God’s word, speaking; it’s all in red letters. I ask that Jesus is my teacher and Jesus says,
‘“So I say to you, Ask, and it will be given you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you. For everyone who asks receives, and everyone who searches finds, and for everyone who knocks, the door will be opened. ‘ Luke 11:9-10 https://my.bible.com/bible/2016/LUK.11.9-10
The still small voice speaks, and I seek to go beyond myself into the mystery that is God to hear. I don’t want to hear Jesus as me, I want to hear him as he is. Jesus stands between the full presence of God and human experience with its suffering and joy, privilege and want. Scholarship helps, community helps, tradition may help: Jesus offers a welcome to seekers.
Our place of gathering, is not only to hear, sing and pray, it is around a table of remembering, a sharing of wine and bread, recalling the brokenness of Jesus and his life poured out for us.
As a child and a parent, the regular gathering to eat was important, and sometimes it was very hard, but in the eating we could start to forgive and be healed. To be sent down from the table was a searing punishment, to end a meal in an argument scarred.
In many traditions, the table is approached after an act of seeking God’s mercy and forgiveness, forgiving others, praying as Jesus taught.
‘And forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive everyone indebted to us. And do not bring us to the time of trial.” ‘ Luke 11:4 https://my.bible.com/bible/2016/LUK.11.4
We know we are fallible, Luke calls us evil,
‘If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!” ‘ Luke 11:13 https://my.bible.com/bible/2016/LUK.11.13
But in our reading, we have the gift of the Holy Spirit, and, even though we might be the only one left standing, we can be reassured that what we hear is important and when heard with a contrite heart can be trusted.
‘As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, continue to live your lives in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving. See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the universe, and not according to Christ. ‘ Colossians 2:6-8 https://my.bible.com/bible/2016/COL.2.6-8
I have heard it said that if we feel God is saying a particular thing, a good practice is to pass all we hear through the filter of the teachings of Jesus,
‘“Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.
“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.
“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.”
Takeley Chapel 