Isaiah 58: 9b-14 / Psalm 103: 1-8 / Hebrews 12: 18-29 / Luke 13: 10–17
This
is the written version of the homily given at Flohr’s Evangelical Lutheran
Church (ELCA) in McKnightstown, Pennsylvania on Sunday, August 25, 2025 by Fr.
Gene Tucker, Interim Pastor.
“LEGACIES RECEIVED, LEGACIES CREATED”
(Homily
text: Luke 13: 10–17)
The dictionary defines the word
“legacy” in this way: 1. Money or property left behind in a will; and 2.
Something resulting from and left behind by an action, event or person.
So, using the second definition given
above, we, as Americans, have inherited a legacy, stemming from our nation’s
founding (250 years ago, next year). We, as members of Flohr’s Church, also
share a legacy, coming to us from our parish’s 240-year history this year. Our
families, or the schools, or places we’ve worked, all provide us with a legacy.
This morning’s Gospel reading has a lot
to do with legacy. Or, to be more specific, a legacy that had been forgotten or
overlooked, and a legacy that was being created which history would judge.
If we think about it, the process of
living is one of receiving a legacy of some sort, and then, a process of living
into that legacy in some way (as I think about it, it might entail living into
the good aspects of a legacy, or it might entail overcoming negative aspects of
it). And, as we do so, we are creating a legacy of our own, something that we
will pass along to those who know us, those we’ve worked with, those we’ve gone
to school with, or perhaps those in our communities or families.
With this background in mind, let’s
turn our attention to today’s Gospel.
Luke tells us that Jesus was teaching
in a synagogue. It was the Sabbath day. A woman was present who had been bent
over for eighteen years. (Today, we might say that she was suffering from a
severe case of osteoporosis, or some similar condition. But Jesus uses the
language that the people of the day could understand to describe why she had
suffered as she had, saying that Satan had bound her.) Jesus then heals her of
her condition, and immediately, she stood up straight. But the ruler of the
synagogue confronts Jesus, and says, “There are six days in which work ought to
be done. Come on those days and be healed, but not on the Sabbath day.”
The bottom line in the comment about
doing good things on the Sabbath day is that the rules seemed to be far more
important than the welfare of people. In the time of our Lord’s earthly
ministry, that was a common attitude.
The problem is that proper observance
of the Sabbath day (which is, of course, one of the Ten Commandments) is a good
thing to be doing. In observing the Sabbath day, God is telling us that setting
aside a time to slow down, to rest, to be about the things of God, are all good
things to be doing. (And, we might add, an important lesson for our society
today, which seems to be always on the go.)
But what happens when the rule about
keeping the Sabbath becomes, not a beneficial thing, but something that is far
more important than the welfare of human beings?
It is to this aspect of what the ruler
of the synagogue said that Jesus responds, saying, “You hypocrites! Don’t each
of you untie your animals and lead them to water on the Sabbath day?” The
obvious answer is, yes, they do, all of them.
The Lord’s response makes use of a
rhetorical device known as “lesser-to-greater”. Jesus says that each one of His
hearers would lead their animals to water on the Sabbath day, so how much more
important is a human being’s welfare, even if caring for that welfare takes
place on the Sabbath day.
There is a recognition that certain
things will have to be taken care of on the Sabbath day. That’s Jesus’ point.
Likewise, the rabbis in Jesus’ time realized that people would have to walk a
certain distance on the Sabbath day, so they came up with an acceptable
distance a person could walk on that day. It was about three-quarters of a
mile.
What part of the legacy of being
children of Abraham, part of God’s chosen people, had these people forgotten?
It surely seems as though they’d lost sight of some part of the legacy that God
had given them, for the strict observance of the Sabbath day had taken first
place in their concept of what are the right things to be doing.
It might be that the thing they’d lost
sight of is that the rules that God had given them are important, but the
people whom God had created are also important. Sometimes, people are faced
with having to make decisions between what seem to be competing requirements.
Like the woman who had the condition in the synagogue: healing her was a good
thing to be doing, even if it took place on the Sabbath.
The observance of the Sabbath day had
taken on an importance of its own, one that was connected to being children of
Abraham, being observers of the Law of Moses. Observance of the Sabbath became
an identifying marker of their ethnic and racial identity in the face of the
harsh and pagan Roman occupation.
We said a moment ago that each one of
us has inherited some sort of a legacy. We also said that we, each one of us,
is creating some sort of a legacy that we share with others, and which we will
leave to others once our relationship has ended in some way.
The stuff of legacy figures into our
celebration of life for a person whose earthly journey has come to an end. In a
funeral, for example, we often give thanks for the gifts that a person was
given, and the use that person made of those gifts, given and shared with
others. Those things comprise their legacy, left to us.
Perhaps we might reflect on our own
life’s journey this morning. Could we ask ourselves, “Is there evidence in my
life that God is active in my life in some way or another?” Another question we
might ask ourselves is this one: “What sort of a legacy am I creating in my
day-in-and-day-out interaction with others? Is the manner of my life such that
someone can see evidence of God’s presence in my heart and mind?”
Might we pray that the Holy Spirit will
open our minds to see clearly the legacy we are weaving as we make our way
through life? After all, that’s the most important and central thing we can be
about.
AMEN.
