LUKE 13:10-17

10 Now he was teaching in one of the synagogues on the sabbath.

11 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.

12 When Jesus saw her, he called her over and said, "Woman, you are set free from your ailment."

13 When he laid his hands on her, immediately she stood up straight and began praising God.

14 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."

15 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?

16 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?"

17 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.

They say that rules are made to be broken.  If that’s true then there’s a bus driver down in Florida who didn’t get the memo.  According to the Associate Press this sad story actually took place several years ago.  It all started when a Greyhound bus driver kicked an 80 year-old woman off his bus at 3 o’clock in the morning.  The elderly woman who walked with a crutch and didn’t see or hear very well found herself at a truck stop that was still 80 miles from her home just outside Tampa, Florida.  The woman, Antonia Sanabria  was on her way home after celebrating her birthday with her daughters in Ocala, Florida.  Now  the problem as far as the bus driver was concerned wasn’t the elderly woman herself. The problem was the birthday present that her daughters gave her.  The birthday present was a tiny puppy named Cookie and according to the rules Greyhound doesn’t allow pets on its busses.  So, the bus driver made the elderly woman get off the bus.  Then he called a security guard and left.  The poor woman was terrified.  She thought she was going to be arrested.  Fortunately, the security guard had a little common sense.  He got the elderly woman a sandwich and something to drink.  He then called the local sheriff’s department and when the deputies arrived the teamed up with the deputies from four different community to ferry Mrs. Sanabria to her home.  The next morning when she woke up she found a bouquet of roses with a card that said, “We want you to know there are still some nice people in the world.”  It was sent by the deputies from the Hillsborough Country sheriff’s department.  Mrs. Sanabria later said, “I’ve never seen so many people so nice with me – an old lady….Love has a lot of names – compassion, respect, friendliness.” 

That’s what happens when a person needs to feel important.  You kick an elderly woman off your bus in the middle of the night in the middle of nowhere.  It sounds a lot like the fiasco that occurred that day in the synagogue doesn’t it?  Apparently, the leader of the synagogue also didn’t get the memo telling him that rules are made to be broken. That’s why he got angry when Jesus healed that poor crippled woman who had been suffering for 18 years.  “There are six days on which work ought to be done. Come on those days and be cured…”  That’s what he said.  

The leader of the synagogue’s attitude was “Come back tomorrow” and because of that he comes across as a bit of a stickler and a stinker…a man who has absolutely no compassion in his heart for others.  He sounds like the businessman who was accused of being a greedy self-centered miser.  The businessman took exception to the accusation and insisted that he wasn’t like that at all.  “Just look at my mother,” he said, “I couldn’t stand to see her scrubbing office floors night after night after night.  So, you now what I did? I went out and bought the building where she worked.”  The other person was impressed.  “Your mother must have been very happy when you did that,” he said. “Oh she was,” the businessman replied. “Especially after I moved her to the day shift.”

That’s what happens when a person needs to feel important. It’s an attitude that says I’m not a nobody.  I’m a somebody.  I’m an important person.  I’m in charge which means I’m the one who gets to tell you what you can and can’t do.  That’s the real reason why the leader of the synagogue was furious that day.  He wasn’t furious because Jesus broke the rules.  He was furious because Jesus was undermining his authority.   The leader of the synagogue was an important man and what’s more he wanted everyone to know that he was a very important man. Now to tell you the truth things today aren’t all that different. 

I say that because we live in a society where it’s important to be important.  That’s why it matters what college you attend.  That’s why it matters what kind of car you drive and what community you live in and what you do for work.  You can even see it in the battle over immigration.  Behind the war of words is a fear that if we let all these foreigners into our country there’s going to be more of then and less of us.  When that happens we won’t be in charge anymore.  We won’t be as important as we used to be.

It makes me think of an old episode from “All In The Family.”  Do you remember the episode where Archie gets stuck on an elevator?  If that isn’t bad enough Archie finds himself standing there with a wealthy black businessman and a poor Puerto Rican janitor.  After Archie makes one of his bigoted remarks the Puerto Rican janitor gets angry and gives him an earful.  “Mr. Bunker,” he says, “just remember this is America and in America I am equal to you.”  When Archie hears that he’s horrified.  He points to the black man and says, “Equal to me?  You ain’t even equal to him.”

We laugh at ourselves in that humor because it shows us that there really is an unspoken pecking order. Yes….we live in a society where it’s important to be important.  That’s why the words that Jesus spoke to the leader of the synagogue are still important for us today. After the leader of the synagogue complains about the woman being healed on the sabbath Jesus backs him into a corner.  Jesus accuses him of being a hypocrite.  Jesus proves to everyone that what he’s really worried about isn’t the rules  What he’s really worried about is being important.  Jesus says to him, “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?"

As far as Jesus was concerned the woman who was healed that day wasn’t the only crippled person in the synagogue that day. The woman was bent over because she was physically crippled. The leader of the synagogue, however, got all bent out of shape because he was spiritually crippled.   He had no common sense in his head and no compassion in his heart.

That’s what happens when it’s important to be important.  You get angry when a woman who is suffering is healed on the Sabbath.  You kick an elderly women off your bus in the middle of the night in the middle of nowhere.  Your values and your priorities get all bent out of shape.

When it’s important to be important it means you end up accruing more and more material things and those status symbols becomes more important than loving the least among us.

When it’s important to be important it means you find it harder to forgive because your pride gets in the way.

When it’s important to be important it means your job comes before your marriage and your family.

Many years ago, Robert Schuller, the founder and former pastor of the Crystal Cathedral learned that lesson the hard way. It seems that Dr. Schuller was on a whirlwind tour promoting one of his books.  The tour took him to eight different cities in four days.  It was an exhausting schedule on top of his day to day duties as the spiritual leader of the Crystal Cathedral.  One morning Dr. Schuller sat down to go over his upcoming schedule with his secretary.  She reminded him that when they got back to California he was scheduled to have lunch with the winner of a charity raffle.  The winner of the raffle paid $500 for the privilege of having lunch with the famous Dr. Schuller.  The good reverend was quite pleased that his presence was so highly valued and he was probably feeling important until he discovered that the person who paid $500 for his undivided attention was his own daughter.                 (Steve Farrar titled, Standing Tall: How a Man Can Protect His Family)

We live in a society where it’s important to be important.  People will tell you that good to be important but Jesus will tell you that it’s more important to be good.   That day in the synagogue Jesus healed a woman who was bent over in pain.  She walked into the synagogue with her eyes looking down at the ground in front of her and after she was healed she was looking up at Jesus and praising God.  Now I ask you isn’t that what life is really to be all about?  Amen.

Rev. Dr. Richard A. Hughes

August 25, 2013