Today’s gospel reading is really sad. But I’m not talking about the woman who was bent over for 18 years in physical pain. No, I’m talking about the religious leaders who were bent over in spiritual pain. Here we have a woman described as being bound by Satan for 18 years healed by the love and care of Jesus. But instead of rejoicing, celebrating and thanking Jesus for his care and compassion we have the leader of the synagogue, indignant because Jesus had cured on the sabbath. And he berates the woman and 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.
One begins to wonder whether the true aim of Jesus’ healing was not the woman and her physical pain but to heal the crippled hearts of the religious leader and the Pharisees who’s so called “righteousness” was tainted by hypocrisy. Jesus could easily have found the woman the following day and healed her and no one would have complained. After 18 years of suffering what would one more day have mattered for the woman?
Sadly there are still some denominations that insist on Sabbath observance by Christians in that we are commanded to worship on Saturdays – the 7th day of the week – whereas most Christian denominations worship on the first day of the week. God is available Saturdays, Sundays, Wednesday – anytime. But on the other hand we also have some who believe that Christians are not under the law at all. That we have been freed by the Gospel to do whatever we want. We see a similar tension in the New Testament with James and Paul. St Paul says we are saved by grace through faith and not works. Whereas St James says that faith without works is dead. Can both be true? Yes they can and I think Martin Luther explained it very well when he summed up what we call the 3 uses of the law – and that will also tie in to our reading from Hebrews today.
The first use of the law is the law that shapes society and brings order to our lives – whether Christian or not. We call it law and order. Luther called it a “curb” that keeps our behaviour following the right and safe path. So we have laws that prohibit certain things – stealing, violence, murder – just as the Ten Commandments have. It keeps society in good order otherwise we would have what’s known as anarchy. All societies have laws that shape their behaviour.
Then there was the 2nd use of the law. This is the law of God from which we get the 10 Commandments by which we examine our lives before God. Luther said the 2nd use of the law is to act like a mirror to remind us of our fallen nature before God. When we become complacent in our lives before God we are urged to re-read God’s law and see ourselves in relation to it. We might justify our behaviour as to why we act in certain ways but the law of God is to remind us that there are no excuses before God. We might think we’ve kept the commandments – I haven’t murdered anyone – but John reminds us that everyone who hates his brother is a murderer. Jesus reminds us that if I look at another person with lust I’ve committed adultery in my heart. Oh well, we’re not perfect. We try our best to keep most of them. But then James reminds us whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it.
So there is no escaping the 2nd use of the law as none of us love God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength – AND our neighbour as ourself. But the 2nd use of the law was not to break us but to remind us of God’s grace. That none of us can keep God’s commandments and so we need God’s forgiveness. Which is what Jesus was trying to point out to the Pharisees: 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? Don’t you show grace to your animals? How much more should God show grace to his children.
And so we don’t justify, ignore or explain our indiscretions but we run to God, through Jesus Christ our Lord, for his forgiveness. And without any doubts or hesitations, God’s grace through Jesus Christ comes to us to announce our forgiveness. And this is where, for forgiven, saved Christians, the law of God comes to us in a new and different way which Luther calls the 3rd use of the Law.
Having been forgiven by God’s grace – living under God’s grace – does not mean the Law is abolished. No. In fact Jesus himself said that – Do not think that I have come to abolish Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. And since Jesus has fulfilled the demands of the law, the law now become for us a freeing gift of God. It’s a gift from God to enable us to love God with all our heart and to love our neighbour out of love and not by commandment or coercion.
So now as I keep the commandments it’s out of love. I don’t steal from my neighbour – not because it’s wrong but because I love my neighbour. I don’t hurt my neighbour – not because it’s wrong and I’m afraid of God’s judgment – but because I love my neighbour. And so it’s so freeing to live life out of love and not fear. And that was the difference with the Pharisees. They were obeying the law but in a way that was not showing love to their neighbour but living out fear. And that’s the danger we have if we are living out our obedience to God’s law through legalism rather than Gospel oriented as Luther called following the Third Use of the Law.
Our Hebrews reading makes the same distinction. It compares Mt Sinai where God revealed his Old Covenant law to Moses – it was such a frightening place that if the Israelites or even one of their cattle touched the base of the mountain they would die. And when the saw the lightning and fire and smoke billowing from the top of Mt Sinai the people were frozen in fear. They said to Moses – “Speak to us yourself and we will listen. But do not have God speak to us or we will die.”
That’s not the sort of relationship God wants with us – and it is certainly not the relationship that our mission to the world will have results. Instead, the writer of Hebrews says – But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant.
And this is the difference – the Old Covenant which was law based. The New Covenant which is grace based. The Old Covenant which was followed by legalism. The New Covenant which is followed by love. The Old Covenant which we had to fulfill 100%. The New Covenant which has been fulfilled by Jesus. The Old Covenant which required sacrifices for the forgiveness of sins over and over again. The New Covenant where Jesus was sacrificed for us – once and for all.
Jesus has set us free from legalism but not free from the greatest commandments of loving God with all our heart and our neighbour as ourselves. Jesus has fulfilled the legal requirements and demands of the law and has set us free to love God and neighbour. And what a freeing gift to know that our relationship with God is not one of fear of judgment and we should also lead people to experience that same freedom.
Jesus did not deny the Sabbath but reminds us that the Sabbath was made for humans and not humans for the Sabbath. And that goes for all the Commandments of God – they were made for us to help us to live in peace and harmony with one another and especially with God.
We don’t want to be like the Israelites under the Old Covenant living in fear or keeping others in fear of God but living under grace. And let us share that experience with others who continue to be bent over under the weight of whatever it is that prevents them from knowing the grace of God as we do.
