See His Face

Reverend Philip Stringer

Luke 13:10-17

LET US PRAY: Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. Feed us with your Word, and speak to our hearts, that we may love and serve only you, now and forever. AMEN

Today’s texts are an invitation for us to celebrate the grace of God and for us to be joyful about life and God’s presence in it with us -- but, as it turns out, this is an invitation harder to accept than we might believe.

You may have been to the Wright Brothers Memorial on the Outer Banks at Kitty Hawk — but you probably also know that Orvil & Wilbur Wright weren’t from North Carolina. They ran a bicycle shop in Dayton, Ohio, where they developed their theories of flight and designed their flyer. They came here, to Kill Devil Hills, NC, to apply their theories to practice. And they succeeded -- and everybody in the world can simply look up — see the vapor trails of jets — and see where the door they opened has led. It was a huge turning point in science and civilization.

They actually conducted four flights that day before the flyer became un- flyable. Later that day the brothers sent a telegram to their father in Ohio to share the news. Here is what it said:

“Success four flights Thursday morning all against 21 mile wind <STOP>

started from level with engine power alone <STOP>

average speed through air thirty one miles <STOP>

Longest 57 seconds <STOP>

Inform Press <STOP>

Home for Christmas <STOP>”

Their sister rushed the telegram to the Dayton News.

The heading for the article in the paper the next day read, “Popular Local Bicycle Merchants Home for the Holidays.”

To the author of that article, I would simply say, “Aim higher, my friend. Aim higher!”

The leader of the synagogue in our gospel reading today was indignant because he had a narrow view of what it means to “keep the sabbath day holy.” But more than this, he had a narrow view of God. A narrow view of what God is like, how God operates and what is pleasing to God. Perhaps all of that can be summed up by saying he had a narrow view of what is good and right and what is the meaning of life.

You and I are in danger of this narrow existence, too. Every time we draw a line between following the rules and being compassionate. Every time we feel indignant because something done isn’t “proper.” Every time our heart is cold or hardened toward another person.

The leader of the synagogue missed the fact that a miracle had happened.

He missed the joy on the woman’s face.

He missed the praises to God -- the celebration of God’s grace.

He missed it all because there are rules you’re supposed to follow.

He was being selective in the sources that shaped his vision, of course.

The Old Testament is filled with verses telling about what is pleasing to God. Our first reading today is a wonderful example:

If you remove the yoke from among you, the pointing of the finger, the speaking of evil, if you offer your food to the hungry and satisfy the needs of the afflicted, then your light shall rise in the darkness and your gloom be like the noonday.

But like the editor of The Dayton News, we can have a hard time seeing the larger picture, too. Sometimes it seems to me that we get so busy trying to save the church that we forget to BE the church!

Today, we have proclaimed to us what I hope that leader of the synagogue eventually heard too: That Jesus sets us free, just as he freed the woman who had been crippled.

I love good order as much as anyone and certainly recognize the importance of sound doctrine. But our mission as the church is not to defend Jesus and preserve truth. Jesus can take care of himself and the Holy Spirit -- the Spirit of Truth -- will preserve the gospel. OUR JOB is not to save the world. Our job is to love the world in Jesus’ name.

If you think about that, that in itself ought to make you happy!

All of us know what it is like to be weighed down with anger -- to be all worked up about something we think isn’t right. And we all know people who just complain all the time -- they are constantly critical and are always pointing out the faults of others. Rarely, I think, does anyone aspire to be like them.

Instead, when we think of people who are happy, they are people able to let go -- able to accept -- able to forgive. They are people who treat others with kindness.

This is the life that we are called to, yet so often it seems to elude us.

Perhaps the difficulty is that, like the leader of the synagogue, we have a hard time looking at the moment and seeing it for what it is. We have a hard time seeing the world and ourselves for what we are. Instead, we see what we want to see -- or only what we expect to see.

When I was in college I took an ornithology class -- bird watching. We traveled with our professor, Dr. Kreckler, to various parks and forests and waterways. I had never seen a wild turkey before and I was really hoping to see one.

There were maybe 15 of us on this dirt road in the woods, and suddenly this huge dark bird took to flight from the ground and flew across the road -- maybe 8 feet in the air -- and I blurted out “it’s a turkey!”

There stood Dr. Kreckler -- even-keeled and as deadpan as ever -- and he said, “a turkey BUZZARD, maybe.” And he was right, of course. It was just a turkey buzzard, but I was all geared up to see an actual turkey, so that is what (I thought) I saw.

Perhaps we as the church are a little too eager -- and confident in ourselves. We’re like Al Haig, who was Secretary of State when President Reagan got shot. Do you remember? -- Vice President Bush was out of town somewhere and Al Haig called together the press and declared, “I’m in charge!”

Of course, anybody serving in his capacity must think about scenarios in which he or she might have to step in as president -- And he was only trying to dispel fears -- but he seemed just a little bit too eager to be in charge, and he never really recovered from it politically.

When we think that it is our job to define truth and police the church and our neighbors and communities -- we overstep ourselves. And the problem with taking on the role of judge is that we’re not qualified.

Too easily we look at the world and say, “no.”

God looks at the world and says, “yes!”

The disciples did it, too. They pushed the children away from Jesus.

They asked Jesus if he would like them to pray for fire to rain down on villages that didn’t welcome him.

They pushed aside a blind man who was calling out for help.

They were uncomfortable with Jesus speaking with the woman at the well.

They even said, “no,” to Jesus when he told them what he must do.

The leader of the synagogue was simply doing the same thing as they.

This is not what they -- or we -- are called to. When we look at this story and try to see ourselves in it, it’s not supposed to be as the leader of the synagogue -- or if it IS where we see ourselves, we should see the invitation that was set before him to see something more.

To see where we best fit into this story, we need to look at the woman. We read that when she came in, “she was bent over and was quite unable to stand up straight.” I pictured her doubled over, straining her neck and eyes to see just a little way ahead of herself -- and able to see only the feet and lower legs of the people around her. A narrow view of the world, to be sure.

Then Jesus 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.”

Presumably, she is standing in front of Jesus, so when she stood up straight, she was looking straight into the face of Jesus. She looked into the face of Jesus and began praising God . . . Which means, in not-so-many words, she celebrated. She began saying, “YES!” to the love and grace of God.

We are the baptized children of God.

We have been forgiven, set free.

We don’t fear the law.

We don’t have to worry about tomorrow

We know that wars will cease and tears will stop flowing and death will be no more.

We know that what is broken will be healed and what is lost will be restored.

We know that we have been reconciled -- set free to love all people no matter who they are or what they do.

All of these things are ours by God’s grace.

When you and I live by faith in God’s grace is when we truly begin to see the world clearly -- like a crippled woman who can suddenly stand and see the world around her.

It is only when our world view is shaped by grace that we see God’s grace in all places.

The woman stood and looked into the face of Jesus and praised God.

Do you hear what I am saying! It is only when you and I are able to look into the face of our neighbor -- and even our enemy -- and see the face of Jesus, that we will truly know what it means to be free. Only then will we know what it is to be truly happy and alive with the abundance of life God intends for us.

Jesus looked beyond the letter of the Law, to the heart of God that is behind it — and he acted accordingly. Jesus sets us free to do the same. He sets the church free to look at the world around them and to discern how God is calling them to reinterpret their views in light of God’s grace. He sets us free to discern how God might be calling us to interpret the scriptures differently, to view social norms and practices differently.

That is why the roles of women in the church have expanded; why our view of marriage and human sexuality has expanded; why our work for peace and justice and advocacy has evolved, and why what we learn about health and mental illness and medical knowledge and science — of physics and cosmology and ecology, biology — how none of these things is incompatible with our faith. Because Jesus has set us free to stand and see in new ways, how God is present and at work in the world around us.

Don’t get sucked in by those who want to spread fear and division and tell you that we have to destroy our neighbor because our neighbor wants to destroy us.

Don’t listen to those who tell you that the way to preserve what is good is to take up the ways of those who do evil. It’s easy to get sucked into the negative — complaining about everything that’s wrong here and there.

But our calling -- and God’s desire -- is quite simple.

“If you remove the yoke from among you, the pointing of the finger, the speaking of evil, if you offer your food to the hungry and satisfy the needs of the afflicted, then your light shall rise in the darkness and your gloom be like the noonday.”

AMEN