Reflections for Youth - Breaking the Rules

It's just about back to school time! I've been thinking about the rules this week.  A young person that I know and love is heading off to kindergarten and told me recently about all the things he was excited about. New friends, crayons, and meeting his new teacher made his list.

He was a little worried though because he told me there were probably "a lot of new rules" that he would have to learn.

Yup, buddy - the world is full of rules. Get used to it!

In our Gospel lesson for this Sunday, Jesus, while teaching in a synagogue was confronted by some folks when he didn't follow the Sabbath rules. (No surprise there, eh?) 

Read Luke 13: 10-17 

The Sabbath is a day of rest for the Jewish people. In the time of Jesus, there were many rules about honoring the Sabbath as a day of rest. There were rules about what people could and could not do to honor the Sabbath.  According to Luke, Jesus was teaching in a synagogue on the Sabbath.  A woman shows up who was bent over and could not stand up straight. She had been this way for 18 years.

Jesus, upon seeing the woman reaches out and touches her and says, “Woman you are free.”
And very slowly she was able to stand up. And she was healed and the Bible said she praised God.

But—the leader of the synagogue was not pleased.  Healing on the Sabbath was "frowned upon." The man in the synagogue was very angry that Jesus broke the rules and he said, “Today is a day of rest—you should not have healed her on the Sabbath.”

He said you “can work six days a week if you want—but you shouldn’t do any work on the Sabbath and that includes healing. “

What do you think Jesus said?

Jesus said “Don’t you feed and take care of your animals on the Sabbath? Animals need food and water every single day. This woman has been bent over for 18 years—she needed to be healed today.”

The Bible says that after Jesus spoke the leader and the crowd felt terrible. Perhaps they knew that Jesus was right and the compassion that he showed for the woman was more important at that moment than following the rules. 

Rules are necessary to keep us safe, help us make good choices, make the things we do more efficient and fair. There is no doubt that the rules are important. But, I am thinking this week about when taking care of someone in need outweighs the rules. Jesus teaches us about compassionate in Luke's narrative. Compassion is holy.  Jesus cared about people in need and asks us to do so, too. 

Things to think about this week: 

• Jesus knew the rules - but when he meets the woman in need his compassion and desire to help her superseded his need to follow the rules.  Jesus didn't want to waste any time healing the woman who had spent 18 years bent over.  What would the world and life be like from this perspective? Can you put yourself in the woman's position and imagine what it would be like to navigate the world from that view? What can you do to see things through other's eyes?
• Jesus calls out the hypocrisy of the synagogue leaders who are angry with him for healing or "working" on the Sabbath. He points out that they care for their animals with food and water on the Sabbath - giving what they need to be cared for. Yet, they call him out for helping a long-suffering woman.  Where do you see the hypocrisy in the rules of your community? What do you think Jesus would do about it?