Sermon on Luke 14:1-6, for the 17th Sunday after Trinity, "Day of Rest and Gladness"
· The first part of our Gospel today is a confrontation between Jesus and the Pharisees about the Sabbath. It’s not His first bout with them. First it was a complaint about His disciples eating grain on the Sabbath. There Jesus asserts that He is the Lord of the Sabbath. Then, a second time, He heals a man with a withered hand on the Sabbath, and again, they were closely watching Him to find a reason to accuse Him. Like our reading, Jesus ask them (ch. 6): “ I ask you, is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do harm, to save life or to destroy it? ” Then, in chapter 13, it gets even more heated as Jesus heals a woman at the synagogue who was crippled by an evil spirit. This time, the ruler of the synagogue rebuked Jesus for this act of mercy, saying: “ There are six days in which work ought to be done. Come on those days and be healed, and not on the Sabbath day. ” The Lord answered: “ You hypocrites! Does not each of you on the S...