This post is adapted from a sermon I preached at First Lutheran Church in St. Peter, Minnesota, on January 15, 2012, and at Calvary Lutheran Church in Minneapolis on January 22, as those two congregations celebrated Reconciling in Christ Sunday. The scripture lessons for the day included Deuteronomy 5:12-15, Colossians 2:16-23, and Mark 2:23-3:6.
Last weekend I was listening to one of my favorite shows on National Public Radio, "This American Life." It featured a segment about a school in New York City, the Brooklyn Free School, where students decide everything about how the school will be run. Which classes will be offered, course schedules, all the rules that govern life at the school--everything is decided by the students. Anytime someone has an issue they want resolved, they can call an all-school meeting and bring the matter before their classmates. That's how decisions are made at the school.
Several years ago, one student called a meeting to address the rise of technological gadgets in the classroom. She complained that they were becoming a distraction to her classmates and creating a poor learning environment. The majority of her classmates apparently shared her concerns because the school ended up adopting a "No Screens Week" policy. Every other week computers, smart phones, video games, and anything else with a screen would be off limits to students.
But recently another student called an all-school meeting to propose eliminating the rule. "We need to be able to do research," he said, "and it's hard to do that without a computer. Research should be encouraged, but when you do it, you get in trouble." After a heated debate, he and his classmates voted to throw out the policy.
The "No Screens Week" rule was intended for good. It was supposed to promote a healthier learning environment. But when it was strictly enforced, the rule actually caused harm. It prevented students from doing the work they were there to do.
Most rules--the rules our parents set for us when we’re children, the laws that govern our society, and the Ten Commandments and other biblical laws--these rules are intended for good. They are supposed to help us live a happier life. But sometimes, when we lose sight of their intended purpose, rigid enforcement of the rules can actually cause harm.
We don’t usually think of the Old Testament laws as a gift. Most of us Lutherans have been taught that the law points out our failures. The law says what we’re supposed to do and we always fall short. Through the law, we realize we are sinners and recognize our need for Christ. But really, the law is first and foremost a gift from God. It was given by God to show us how to live in harmony with one another and with all of creation.
Take the third commandment, the Sabbath commandment, today’s first reading from Deuteronomy. "Observe the Sabbath day and keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work. But the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God." Why are we to observe the Sabbath? That’s actually a pretty interesting question. The Ten Commandments appear in two different places in the Old Testament, both in Exodus and in Deuteronomy. When this commandment is given in Exodus, it refers back to the creation story. In six days, we are told, God made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and God rested on the seventh day. So we, too, should work six days and rest on the seventh. But the Deuteronomy version of this commandment, the version that was read here a few moments ago, says something different. "The seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God," it says. "You shall not do any work--you, or your son or your daughter, or your male or female slave, or your ox or your donkey, or any of your livestock, or the resident alien in your towns, so that your male and female slave may rest as well as you. Remember that YOU were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord brought you out from there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm; therefore the Lord your God commanded you to keep the Sabbath day." The Deuteronomy version of the Sabbath law commands that the Israelites aren’t supposed to do any work--and they’re not supposed to let their children or even their livestock do any work, either--so that their slaves may rest, too. "You remember what it was like to be a slave in Egypt," the reasoning goes, "so treat your slaves with compassion and, once a week, give them a break." A people who have known slavery, who have known suffering, ought never impose suffering on anyone else. That’s the message that comes through loud and clear. The Sabbath commandment is given as a gift. And it’s a gift that isn’t just for the Israelites. Deuteronomy makes a special point of saying that the reason no work is to be done on the Sabbath is so that slaves might have an opportunity to rest. The gift of the Sabbath law is a gift for everyone, including and especially those on the margins, those on the fringes of society.
That’s some important context for today’s gospel lesson. In this story from the gospel of Mark, it's the Sabbath and Jesus and his disciples are walking through fields, and as they go, they pluck heads of grain. "What are they doing?" the Pharisees ask, appalled. "Why are they doing what’s not allowed on the Sabbath?" Jesus turns to them and says, basically, "Because they’re hungry, that’s why."
In the next scene, Jesus is in the synagogue when a man with a withered hand comes before him. Jesus calls the man forward and the Pharisees take notice. They watch intently as Jesus tells this man to stretch out his hand. Moments later, Jesus has healed the man, and the Pharisees are furious. At the end of the story, they leave and conspire to have Jesus killed, this man who blatantly defies the commandments.
When it becomes an end in itself rather than a means to a more just and peaceful world, a rule that is intended for good can become an instrument of harm. Like the students who discovered that a "No Screens Week" hindered their ability to learn, sometimes we discover that legalistic enforcement of rules can actually cause suffering rather than guiding us into more abundant life.
The Sabbath law, like all rules, is intended as a gift. At the heart of this commandment is concern for people on the margins of society who are especially susceptible to mistreatment and abuse. And in today’s gospel lesson we see how these very people can be hurt by rigid, legalistic enforcement of the Sabbath commandment. It is not in keeping with the spirit of the Sabbath law to refuse to feed the hungry or offer care to those in need of healing. Treating the Sabbath requirement as an end in itself rather than a means to a more just society actually twists it into something that inflicts suffering on people desperately in need of our care and protection.
Today is the day when this congregation marks Reconciling in Christ Sunday. It’s a day when we celebrate the presence of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people in the life of the church and reiterate that all--even and especially those accustomed to marginalization--are welcome to participate in the life of this congregation. And it’s a day to remember all the ways that rigid, legalistic enforcement of tired old rules has harmed LGBT people in the past and continues to hurt them today. Not so long ago our church enforced a rule that prevented gay and lesbian clergy in committed relationships from serving as pastors, even as it became clearer and clearer that enforcing that rule wasn’t helping anyone. Finally, when we could no longer deny that the rule was hurting more people than it was helping, we changed the rule.
This is also a time when our state is considering a constitutional amendment that would permanently restrict marriage to the union of one man and one woman in Minnesota. Some people say their faith forces them to support this proposed amendment, but my faith leads me to speak out against it. During the debate last spring in the state legislature, many lawmakers pointed out that this constitutional amendment would help no one but would hurt a lot of people. In his time, when Jesus saw the law being used in ways that harmed people he refused to play along. He knew that the law was intended as a gift to protect those who are susceptible to mistreatment and rejected any distortion of the law that would inflict suffering. I take my faith seriously and I take the Bible seriously, and that’s why I’ll be voting no in November when this constitutional amendment is put to a vote.
Whether we’re talking about classroom rules, the rules parents lay down for their children, banking regulations, or the Ten Commandments, rules are a gift that show us how to build more harmonious relationships and create a more just and peaceful world. Rules are intended to protect those who are vulnerable to abuse or mistreatment. Something has gone awry when rules become the very source of that kind of suffering. In those times, thanks be to God for the example we have in Jesus, who challenges us to practice resistance and model a more faithful way.
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