Remembering to Remember

Pentecost 13 C   8/22/10

Luke 13:10-17

Grace and peace from our Father in heaven, and from our Lord and savior Jesus Christ.

They say the memory’s the second thing to go. Now if I could only remember the first thing. And who this “they” are.

My memory has never been good in some respects, but with age—it’s getting a bit spotty. And that’s rough for me as a pastor. Cause people expect me to remember names and dates and meetings and other things—anniversaries. I tell them I have to focus on the “here-after.” You know what the hereafter is, right? It’s when I need something from Joanne, so I get up to go from my office to hers. A scant twenty feet or so. But enough to forget what it was I wanted. That’s life in the hereafter—I no longer know what I’m here after!

Memory. In the Harry Potter books, memories take on the form of silvery strands of glowing spun recollections. In my estimation, memory and memories are more like droplets of mercury. They’re a roly-poly, slippery, inherently dangerous, but way cool. Remembering grounds who we are, and yet it is elusive and ever-failing. Once you think you have it, it’s gone!

An eighty year old man and his wife were having problems remembering things, so they decided to go to their doctor to make sure nothing was wrong. After checking the couple out, the doctor told them that they were physically okay but might want to start writing things down, making notes to help them remember things.

Later that night while watching TV, the old man got up from his chair and his wife asked, “Where are you going?”

He replied, “To the kitchen.”

She asked, “Will you get me a bowl of ice cream?”

“Sure.”

Then his wife asked him, “Don’t you think you should write it down so you can remember it?”

“No, I can remember that.”

“Well, I also would like some strawberries on top. You had better write that down cause I know you’ll forget that,” his wife said.

“I can remember that, you want a bowl of ice cream with strawberries.”

She replied, “Well, I also would like whipped cream on top. I know you will forget that. Write it down.”

With irritation in his voice, he said, “I don’t need to write it down, I can remember that.” He went into the kitchen.

After about 20 minutes, he returned from the kitchen and handed her a plate of bacon and eggs.

She stared at the plate for a moment and said, “You forgot my toast.”

Listening to today’s gospel you might have thought it was about a healing. And it was, and it wasn’t. Hearing today’s story from Luke, you might have deduced it was all about those religious leaders in Jesus’ day and their overly strict interpretation of the law. And again, it was about that—and it wasn’t.

What this passage is about is memory. It’s about remembering. Not remembering the strawberries for the ice cream. Remembering the Sabbath day. The third commandment. Write it down—oh, wait—God already has. In stone. Remember the Sabbath day, and keep it holy. That’s what this gospel story is about.

But in case you think that the main point of the passage is that you don’t have to keep the Sabbath if it’s a healing, you’re only getting half the impact of this provocative encounter. Healing can indeed occur on a Sabbath day. Not because human need supersedes God’s Law. But because it fulfills God’s law. Jesus’ healing of this woman on the Sabbath day is not an exception—it is the law being carried out. Healing is remembering the Sabbath day.

Now, obviously, there’s a good bit of difference in the Christian Sabbath and the Jewish Shabbat. And there’s a good bit more to remembering the Sabbath day than what first comes to mind. Leisure activities. Laying on the beach or in a hammock. No work. That’s part of it, as the meaning of the Hebrew word Shabbat, indicates. It means “to cease, to end, or to rest.” A day of rest was a novel thing back in biblical times—especially when the people of Israel were in captivity. A day of rest in our society is also something we can’t seem to totally embrace, either. We either go ahead and work as usual on the Sabbath. Or we so fill the down time with activities and chores, that we need a Sabbath to rest from our Sabbath!

But even if you were to sleep all Sabbath day long, you’d still not be getting at the heart of the commandment. For that we must turn to the source, the Hebrew bible (or Old Testament), and a resource that will help us learn what shabbat is all about for our Jewish brothers and sisters. And that prestigious resource is…JewFAQ.org. Seriously. Good information. From it I learned that, for Jews, the Shabbat is kept by zakhor and shamor. Zakhor being “to remember,” and shamor, “to observe.”

First zakhor—remembering. Two things.

1. God rested on the seventh day of creation. When they in turn rest on the Sabbath, Jews are remembering that God is creator of all things. Now, if God almighty Yahweh King of the universe, can take time out to rest, certainly the world won’t fall apart if we rest from our trivial labors!

2. In Deuteronomy 5:15, when Moses presents Israel with the ten commandments, he reminds them that it was the LORD who brought them out of the land of Egypt, where they were slaves, it was the LORD who led them out with his outstretched hand, who also commanded them to observe the Shabbat.

Thus remembering the Sabbath includes remembering that you are free. Free then, from the bonds of slavery. Free now, if we remember, from the things that hold us in bondage in this modern day world: Over-extended credit, a dead end job, a house that won’t sell, back to school, the tarnished face of what was supposed to be the golden years. Free to realize that you can’t make it on your own, but that God is with you all along the way. You don’t go it alone. Remembering the Sabbath frees us for a while from the life draining ness of the world, and fills us up with the memory of who we are. Who all of us are—including Christopher Chase, who will be baptized into God’s family this day. Sabbath is for remembering we are god’s and nothing will ever change that.

Shamor. Observe. The way Jews observe the day of rest and freedom is to set aside work—or more precisely, creative work. Like God resting from his creating on day seven. We observe the Sabbath mainly by attending worship.

Jesus kept this particular Shabbat by curing a woman whose malady had kept her separated from the community at large (also due to the Law). Jesus was a Jew. He knew what her was doing. Breaking the Sabbath? No. Remembering the Sabbath. With a remembrance that brings the past into the present and the present into the past and the future dancing and playing a fiddle!            Jesus radically remembers the Sabbath by freeing her from her isolation and despair and physical ailment  and social networking problem. What Jesus does shouts out: This is Shabbat! This is zahkar and shamor! This is who we are! You are free!

As we gather on this Sabbath, what shall we remember? Shall we remember who we were as a church once upon a not so long ago. Abundantly benevolent? Does this thermometer thingee remind you of our shortfall in giving to the wider church? Or does it remind you that we are The Messiah Church of God—and we will fill that tube with plastic golf balls and the church’s offering plates with funds to help strat new churches, care for the hungry, educate new pastors, tend to the  old and forgotten and so many more things.

Will we came to worship joyfully, excitedly, eagerly, on time, and ready to feed on each other’s energy and the body and blood of Christ Jesus, the ultimate remembering? Will we fulfill the promises we made as parents of young ones at their baptisms—to bring them to church, give them the scriptures, teach them to pray, and model for them a godly life?

Will we keep the Sabbath day holy not by doing the crossword, but by creatively working to free people who ar ebound – bound in poverty, addicition, or affliction.

Yes we will! As Living Reminders of Christ’s presence, we will reconnect ourselves and others into the good news that human existence, with its highs and lows goods and bads is a part of the rushing river of God’s existence, which brings it new meaning, new value, and new joy and hope.

Memory. Baptize in the triune name of God. Taje and eat, take and drink. To remember me, said Jesus. Jesus is our Shabbat .

One more illustration that shows you may not remember everything, but that at least what you do remember is precious.

Two elderly couples were enjoying friendly conversation when one of the men asked the other, “Fred, how was the memory clinic you went to last month?”
“Outstanding, ” Fred replied. “They taught us all the latest psychological techniques, visualization, and association. It made a huge difference for me.”
“That’s great! What was the name of the clinic?”
Fred went blank and he thought and thought, but couldn’t remember. Then a smile broke across his face and he asked, “What do you call that flower with the long stem and thorns?”
“You mean a rose?”
“Yes, that’s it!” He turned to his wife . . . “Rose, what was the name of that clinic?”

Remember the Sabbath. You are free! (write it down). AMEN