I want to share with you this morning some reflections on the appropriateness of touch. It
is a subject that not everyone is comfortable with, and there are actually rules in most places of public interaction
today governing what is acceptable and unacceptable when it comes touching another human being. It has affected
public education, the office space, and the church alike, not always because touching has some evil intent connected
with it, but because it is often unsolicited, can be misinterpreted, and is highly invasive to those who prefer
distance and the sanctity of their own space.
That's why we have rules; to protect those who want to be protected, because not every pregnant woman wants to
feel that anyone can walk up to them in the grocery store and pat them on the stomach, most parents would be horrified
to see their child caught up in a stranger's arms, and not every man is comfortable being grabbed around the shoulders
by a colleague. It does make it difficult for those of us who are natural born huggers to "get with the program,"
but difficult is not always bad, and a sensitivity to who wants to be touched and who does not is essential for
everyone.
The problem in terms of faith systems however, is that they are always filled with experiences that involve touch.
God touches our lives, we administer the water of baptism, we extend the right hand of fellowship, we pass the
peace of Christ, we pray for the sick, bless couples in marriage, and commit the dead to their eternal rest with
a touch. Even the sign of the cross is administered by a human hand.
It highlights the age old controversy about the good of rules vs. the rule of good. In other words, it is most
important to know the exception to the rules when that exception empowers God's grace. We know for example that
there are rules of life and death, but we thank God everyday for the resurrection which breaks every rule of human
understanding to proclaim something even more important!
Such discernment requires great faith, and faith leads us to consider the wonder and power of God acting through
Christ, challenging us to not be afraid. The ancient Israelites told Moses in Exodus 19 that they did not want
to hear from God directly, it was too frightening to consider what God might challenge them to do. Just like them
we know this is especially true whenever our understanding of what is holy and of God is being "shaken."
It's the question being asked in both the epistle and gospel lessons today. What constitutes "acceptable worship"
and what is acceptable within the context of a worship service? Today's gospel lesson involves such a service,
a healing touch, and a controversy.
It also provides us with a concrete illustration of last week's instruction on how the coming of Jesus causes division
- how it separates day from night - good from evil - the righteous from the un-righteous - the rules from the rule
breakers. It is an illustration of how love can expose emptiness and reveal even legitimate things that are not
right.
In this case it involves a "the leader of the synagogue" who spoke out in defense of the sacred traditions
of worship. Jesus on the other hand raises the question of whether it is better to keep the "letter of the
law" by NOT working on the Sabbath, or the "intent of the law" by performing the holy task of restoring
wholeness (holiness) to someone in need.
Looking at the progression in this chapter one would note that it starts with two discussions about judgment, both
of which seem to highlight a certain degree of mean spiritedness. Just before this incident Jesus had remarked
about suffering and the mistake of misinterpreting it as a judgment from God.
He had addressed a current controversy involving some Galileans that Pilate had slaughtered, and eighteen people
who had been crushed to death when the tower in Siloam fell upon them. He followed those instructions with a parable
about what seemed to be a useless fig tree and the plea for a little more patience that it might have time to produce.
The action then turns to today's story which also has a sincere but rather mean spirited leader, a victim not coincidentally
of eighteen years of suffering,...and ends up with three parables of the kingdom, all of which are overflowing
with an abundance of life, grace and growth.
As you picture this worship service in your mind it is important to remember that the posture for prayer in Biblical
times, as in Israel today, was not a kneeling, bent over position, with head bowed and eyes closed, but an upright
one with hands outstretched and rhythmic movement. Within this crowd, an unnamed woman, who asks for nothing, so
bent at the waist she cannot pray according to custom, or even look up to see her fellow worshippers has found
her place. We are told that she was crippled by a spirit, not just a strained back, or calcium deficiency, but
a state of mind that had drained her very life force from her.
Every congregation, including this one has people who are bent over by burdens no one should be forced to bear.
They know the shame of sexual abuse, the regret of failed relationships, homes plagued by addiction, verbal and
physical mistreatment, the loss of a child, and the emptiness caused by years of being told how worthless and pitiful
they were.
Like this woman they become weighed down internally, no longer asking to be healed, seeing their her condition
as inevitable and passively accepting their fate. She may have been so crippled that she was even unable to see
the face of Jesus…but he 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.
You may say - Stop: That's a break in the rules. You are supposed to ask. You are supposed to have great faith.
You are to be told "Your faith has made you well."
You know how easily we get upset with things that disrupt the order of worship? This or that is out of place, a
misprint in the bulletin, that child crying behind you, the person coughing, or even providing assistance to a
visitor in a way that disrupts your concentration. I've even heard complaints about how unsettling it is to have
people "pass out" in the middle of the sermon no less!
So I love it when Jesus is disruptive in worship, when he breaks the rules to free someone like me who may be so
"bent out of shape" from burdens that life has dealt them that they have lost all sense of hope. He clearly
addresses the tension that exists between being faithful, which is what we should all try to do, and being grace
filled for those times when faithlessness is overwhelming. It's baptizing those babies whose parents have questionable
motivations because that child deserves as much of
God's grace as the rest of us. It's saying you did a terrible thing…but you are a human being and that's why God
forgives us.
Jesus is the arbiter of a new covenant in which it is not okay for some to carry a disproportionate burden. This
is an opportunity for all of us to look at how much privilege we have compared to so many others. Why do we think
it's okay to continue with the status quo while people are walking around in need of liberation?
Who are we to determine what's important and what's not?
I doubt many of you have ever heard of a man named Whitcomb L. Judson, but he is a very important man who has made
all of our lives a lot easier, and we should thank him everyday. In 1891 he was working on a big project for the
city of Chicago, helping them to create their first mass transportation system.
One of Whitcomb's friends had a father with severe arthritis, the kind that can make your fingers bent, curled
up and hurting so badly that it is impossible to do even the simplest of tasks. Now back then clothes and shoes
had lots of little tiny hooks for connecting parts together. This man with arthritis could not work all those little
hooks on his shoes, so this man's son asked Whitcomb to invent a shoe fastener that was easier to use than the
hooks that would give his father back his dignity.
Even though Whitcomb was really busy with his great, big transportation project, he wanted to help his friend's
father. So Whitcomb looked for a way to make shoes easier to keep on. And that's how he invented the zipper. At
the time, nobody cared much about it, and it didn't sell well.
When Whitcomb L. Judson died, he never knew that someday people all over the world would use the zipper. He didn't
do it to get famous or to make a lot of money; he invented the zipper because there was an old man with hurting
fingers who needed some better way to keep his shoes on.
I wonder which of Whitcomb L. Judson's inventions is more impressive to God: the great big system of transportation
in the city of Chicago, or the little zipper? I would guess that God likes the zipper more, because it was made
out of love and caring.
Jesus once said that the first shall be last and the last first. We don't know exactly what Jesus meant, but we
know Jesus likes it when one of his followers shares even a cup of water with someone who is thirsty. Let's remember
that sometimes little things we do for others can be very big things in God's eyes - the most important thing of
all. That can involve touching or being touched, and whether or not we are comfortable allowing others to touch
those places in our lives where we hurt and hide, let us all pray that God touches us in such a way that we are
free to be the Church.
|