Two episodes of Jesus healing people, burdened with diseases which affected the function of their bodies.   Both were burdened, but neither had life-threatening conditions.  They were, after all, out and about.  One, the bent woman, out for worship at the Synagogue that Sabbath morning.  The other, the man with dropsy, out for dinner at neighbor’s home on a Sabbath evening.  Both burdened.  And both healed.  Both, set free from their burden, on the Sabbath.   And that’s the rub. 

The first was the woman who was bent, doubled over.  Her spine has curved, the combination of age and a deficiency of calcium.   Can you see her?   You’ve seen others like her.  Doubled over, Luke says. For 18 years. 18 long, miserable years. Jesus sees her. Jesus calls to her, and puts his hands on her. 

I imagine Jesus, reaching out to touch her. It would have been difficult to reach under to touch her face.   It would have been awkward to try to embrace her. I imagine Jesus touched her, where she could be touched--laid hands on her deformed spine. The tender touch of healing, saying to her, “Woman, you are set free.  Set free.

And the bent woman, stands up. Miraculous!  His compassion sets her free as surely as if chains and shackles had been broken apart.  While the woman is unbent, the Synagogue ruler gets twisted in a bunch. 

He’s bent all out of shape. She’s no longer bent over, yet he’s now all tied and twisted, because the rules, the law has been compromised.  After all, a rule is the true, straight line against which all things can be aligned.  You can’t “bend” a rule, or you won’t have anything against which to measure.  The Synagogue ruler wants to protect the rule meant to keep things straight.  The law put things in order, “There are six days for work. You ought to come and be healed on those days, not on the Sabbath,” the leader of the Synagogue says.

Six days for work.  Hear it?  The rule, or law here in question, is the Sabbath. The letter of the law, says that no work can be done on the Sabbath. It is a day to honor and worship God, and rest. So, by gum, you SHALL REST! Meaning, no work.  People even counted their steps to avoid breaking the rule.  The leader of the Synagogue believes Jesus’ touch has constituted work, and therefore must be prohibited.  Check the calendar that keeps the rule, that keeps the order.   There is time for human work, and time for God’s mandate for rest.   The leader of the Synagogue mistakes compassion for work, and therefore invokes the rule.  But Jesus questions whether obedience to God or obedience to the calendar is most important. 

Obedience to God is to accept the gift of Sabbath as God’s path to renewal.  Rest.  Reflection.  Connecting to the Creator.  Obedience to the calendar meant disconnected obedience for obedience’s sake.  A celebration of authority for authority’s sake.

Instead, Jesus understood the intent of the Sabbath. To rest, as God rested, so as to be made new. To be refreshed, released from burden, and strengthened.  Jesus argues that the intent of the Sabbath is to unburden any living one.  To be set free, no different than untying one’s working animals so that they might drink and be refreshed.

The other instance is a man we meet today in Luke’s gospel is a man burdened with dropsy.  Dropsy is an old term for the swelling of soft tissues due to the accumulation of excess water.  Today one would say the man had edema, retaining fluid perhaps due to congestive heart failure.  Can you see him?  You’ve seen others like him.  The swollen ankles and labored breathing from fluid building on the lung, the result of a weakened heart muscle.  Jesus was preparing to sit down for dinner, when he saw the man, led him away, and healed him.

 But the tension over the calendar, the law was there still.   Jesus asked before leading the man away, “so, can I or can’t I?”  After the incident with the woman now unbent, no one has anything to say.   But you can feel the awkward silence.   Jesus leads the man away and again, unburdens him. 

It’s still an issue when he returns, for he feels compelled once again to compare the compassion he has shown to the compassion they would have for their own animals.   “What one of you wouldn’t pull your ox from a well on the Sabbath?” he asks.   Indeed, more effort, exertion and well, work would be employed in such a task than anything Jesus did to heal the man from the fluid building up in his tissues.

In both instances, Jesus chooses to model God’s compassion over adhering to God’s law out of context.   Compassion trumps the calendar, every time.   Compassion before the rules.  

You know, that’s what I like most about the United Methodist Mexican American Ministry?  The care center here in Dodge City and the other centers across southwest Kansas put compassion before the rules.

Last week, I had a gentleman ask me if the Care Center makes sure the people coming to seek help were all legal.   I told him that I didn’t think that was the job of the care center, just as it is not the job of the church.   The Care Center, and indeed the church is called to follow Christ. . .the same Christ who puts compassion before the law.   Who says that any human being is worthy of at least the same compassion we might have for an animal.  To help ease the burdens of those who are hurting, to offer compassion through food, clothing, medical assistance, and an encouraging word is only to do what our Lord did.  Without regard to the law’s demands.   Compassion comes first. 

Mexican American Ministries’ compassion is available to all, without regard to skin color, native tongue, age, gender, race or religion.  It has been showing Christ’s compassion for nearly 35 years, helping Hispanic and Latinos, Anglos, Asians, Eastern European immigrants, and others who are burdened by poverty, hunger, and lack of medical care.

The ministry of MAM is modeled after Christ’s, and it’s a ministry of which we can be very proud.   I do hope you will take a moment to join our friends at the Dodge City Care Center for lunch for a freewill offering, and stay to tour the facilities and hear the story of the ministry that happens there.

Christ, clearly aims to free the ruler, indeed to free the world, to care and be compassionate. That the rule of our hearts, that which straightens things out, will be the rule of God. The rule of the Kingdom, come on earth as it is in heaven.