Sermon for June 3, 2018

Pentecost 2B- June 3

Mark 2:23-3:6

            Glenna knows that when I pass away I want my ashes spread on the green of hole #12 at the golf course in Chester. It’s the signature hole on the course—a par 5 which requires hitting over water twice to get to the green, which is surrounded on 3 sides by water. It is a beautiful hole.

            But one of my favorite memories of that hole involve the 9-year-old son of a Little League baseball coach. I was helping coach the infielders on that team; & the head coach’s son was our shortstop. He was also taking golf lessons in Chester that summer. His dad didn’t golf; & anyway, he had a “real” job where he had to be a work every day. So, if the boy wanted to practice, his mom had to take him AND his 4-year-old little sister.

            The mom was bemoaning this fact one day at practice; & I offered to take the boy golfing with me. So, each week we would walk 9 holes together on the Chester course. When we played the back 9 & got to hole #12 one day, we saw turtles on the pond that separated the first part of the fairway from the second part. Some were swimming in the water, while others were sunbathing on large rock in the middle of the water. We were so intrigued that we pulled our carts to the side of the fairway, sat down on the grass, & watched the turtles. When other golfers came up behind us, we would stand & wave them through. Most were incredulous that we were just sitting there, taking our time watching turtles.

            I tell that story because today we hear a lot in our Scripture readings about taking Sabbath rest. For me, those times sitting by the pond on hole #12 watching the turtles was Sabbath rest—no matter what day of the week it happened to be.

            When we turn back the pages of time, & of scripture, & read the creation story in Genesis 1, we find God, after creating the heavens & the earth stepping back to look at the glorious work of creation & exclaiming, "This is very good! " Having said that, he took the next day off, resting from the overwhelming work of creating. And apparently, the Lord really enjoyed that day off; because He decided that humankind should reap the benefit of time away to rest as well.

            Refreshment of both body & soul was so important to God that he called it Sabbath, & blessed such time by stamping it "holy." Rest is holy. Renewal is essential & sacred for continued alertness & good attitude.

            Jesus & his disciples were making their way through a grain field one day when the disciples decided to pluck some of the grain & eat it because it was the only food available to them at that moment. The ancient laws of the Old Testament were rigid concerning Sabbath observance. Food which would be eaten on that day was to have been prepared the day before. But Jesus had come to make life easier by fulfilling those old laws so that they no longer proved a burden to the people of God. So, in the custody of his protective grace, the disciples were permitted to pluck the heads of grain & eat them.

            Well, the Pharisees in this encounter represent human resistance to God's grace by their unyielding determination to hold onto the strict observance of the letter of a law. The law’s true meaning & holiness was buried beneath their human & legalistic interpretation.

            Later, in the synagogue during worship, Jesus withered hand & he knew that the man wouldn’t be permitted to stay there in his present state. He had already said that the Sabbath was made for humankind; & now, in the presence of the Pharisees, he proved it by curing the withered hand, knowing that this miracle that provided relief to a suffering individual,& other incidents like it would cost him his life because human nature resists grace & pardon & even healing.

            Despite the rapid pace of life today, God still extends to us the invitation to seek proper rest & holy reflection. That’s why Jesus & his disciples went from grain field to synagogue, from feeding the body to feeding the spirit. The idea fostered by the Pharisees that ‘humanity was made for the Sabbath’ continues to be a wildly popular theology--that God created the law & humanity needs to live up to it or else we are lost.

            The alternative theology, which Jesus poses here, is that ‘the Sabbath was made for humanity.’ In that sense, God is chiefly known as love; & the law is given for humanity’s good.

Jesus created disturbance because he wanted life to change so that the people of God wouldn’t be smothered by laws, but embraced by grace & renewal.

            Time away from our normal daily tasks is a gift from God, to be cherished for its own sake, & for its opportunities for rest. Attending church with family & friends can help instill a certain holiness to the time of rest & renewal. But such rest & re-creation can occur on any day of the week, not just on Sundays.

            Keeping the day of rest holy includes worship & prayer & praise & rest from what is wearing you down. May we all seek such time & find our bodies & our souls restored. Amen.