A lot of us with computer jobs can end up a little bent over. It can happen with sewing jobs and sorting jobs, too, any job, really, where you are spending your time bent over, looking down, while you tend to the clothes, tools, or spreadsheets you are mending, working, or sorting. It doesn’t take much to make for the bent over position to start causing pain and tightness that moves across your body. Down your arms, up into your neck, across your shoulders and back, muscles pull and misalign. Body parts far away from the initial constriction feel the consequences of the repeated turning inwards and down. Being bent over can be painful. And, when your body is bent in pain and stuck in pain, you carry that pain with you in all you do. And, other people, if they are paying attention, will see you there, unable to stand up straight.

     Jesus heals a lot of people in the Gospels. That is why some people seek him out, because they want to be healed or they want someone they love to be healed. They follow him to lakeshores and out into the wilderness for healing. They shout his name as he walks by. They reach out to touch him, in hopes that some of his grace is sticky enough to cling to them, and bring healing with it. As Fred Craddock points in his commentary on the text, the bent over woman does none of these things. She simply shows up at synagogue, like many faithful people with and without chronic pain. And, Jesus saw her.
Scripture tells us that she’s been hurting for a long time. We are also told that her physical condition is a product not of a repetitive stress injury but of a spirit that was harming her. I would encourage any modern-day readers to avoid assuming that someone with a visible disable is possessed by a spirit. Visibly disabled people have enough problems without other people making assumptions about the state of their souls. While the authors and curators of our scriptures often use physical disfigurement as a shorthand for spiritual disfigurement, we don’t have to, and in fact, it can harm disabled people when we do. It is probably wiser to pay attention to what the author wants to show us about Jesus through his actions than make judgements about the woman based on her stature.

     In his commentary on the text, David Jacobsen talks about it being both a healing story and a pronouncement story. It is a healing that tells us how we should understand our obligations to God and to each other. How ought we demonstrate our faith in God? But offering care to someone who needs it. Scripture tells us that Jesus would often go to Synagogue on the Sabbath, read Torah, and offer up insight with the other men. Jacobsen believes that the arguments are intended to demonstrate Jesus’ deep connection to his community, not place him outside of it. Because he knew their shared religious law well, he knew that the Torah, the law, had been given to God's people to help them organize their whole lives in service to God and neighbor. These conversations about Torah show us a people who are always trying to figure out how to follow their religious laws in the response to what they are facing on that day. It points to a living and breathing tradition. The common arguments we see between Jesus and the Pharisees show us that they all took the law seriously but they often disagreed on how to live it out.

     As I have said before, religious observance was always a dynamic tradition, an on-going conversation woven throughout Jewish life for literally thousands of years. It hasn’t stopped, in fact. So, we should not be surprised to see Jesus involved in this conversation about religious observance. It was the kind of conversation and argument he’d heard his whole life.  And, likely so had the woman who needed healing. Jeannine K. Brown pointed out that this same synagogue that Jesus had entered to discussed the law had probably been a source of support for this woman throughout the whole of her illness. I don’t imagine that she showed up at the service that day assuming her health would be at the center of a debate about Torah.

     Brown, in her commentary, helps give some contour to the argument Jesus is having for those of use unfamiliar with all of the ins and outs of first century Jewish Torah interpretation. It is a faithful reading of Exodus 31:14 to say that the Sabbath has been set aside for the people of Israel to rest from certain kinds of work. As there was a whole process around healing not described in this story, but that I’ve read about in some part of John, some of the activities around being granted official status of “being healed from a spirit” would have been considered work. And, following Jesus to synagogue in order to seek healing would have been considered work (though it’s not clear that the women did this).

     Importantly, according to Brown, Jesus does not argue that people should be doing forbidden work on the Sabbath. He argues that healing is not one of the restricted kinds of work. For example, you’re allowed to offer food and care for animals on the Sabbath, like untying a beast of burden so that it may have a measure of freedom while the humans rest. The woman who has been tormented by spirits so terrible that she could not stand up was certain bound. Did she also not deserve freedom? As Brown says, “What better day to heal (bring freedom) than on the Sabbath?” Jesus was not the only Jewish person to every argue that mercy was the most important quality to use to figure out how to live on the Sabbath. But, he definitely wanted to make sure his values were clear.  God is always honored in acts of mercy. God is always honored in liberation. God is always honored when those who have been bound up are finally set free, even if the unbinding upsets our understanding of what right religion is.

     What are the proper bounds of God’s mercy? This is a question that comes up for me pretty regularly when I’m trying to figure out what to do with our deacons’ funds. I was taught when I was called as pastor that we try to only share up to a certain limit and try to share with someone only once a year. Also, we don’t usually give people cash. We call and pay bills directly or write a check directly to the landlord or CMP or whatever bill someone needs help with. We are a small congregation. We have to be wise stewards of the money we give to other people, so we create bounds on the money we steward so it is as helpful as possible to as many people as possible. Sorting out how to be generous while also being reasonable and not over-extending the resources of the church is a pretty dynamic question for me.

     In the early days of the pandemic, when gas was expensive and it was hard to work and people were being pushed out of housing, it seemed like a good time to raise how much money we would share with someone. At the time, keeping people housed seemed like the Christian thing to do. Still does, actually, five years in, when it’s even harder to find affordable, low-income housing in our town. Off-season hotel room are at least double what they were when I started here eleven years ago, and the extended stay motels all cost at least a hundred more dollars a week.

     It seems to me like part of the reason we set aside so much more money for the deacons’ fund back at annual meeting in January was because we knew that responding faithfully to the reality of this moment meant renegotiating some bounds of how we share money with our neighbors. We decided, rightly, that it was the time to be more generous. But, I’ve still gotten three calls for help this week that totaled all together about $2000. I knew we could for sure help with one of them. The other two are still up in the air while I wait for some calls back. Even with the funds that the Friends meeting now donates for us to manage with our Deacons’ Funds, we couldn’t cover all of what’s left, even if we should or wanted to do.

     I don’t tell this story as a fundraising push. Not every call we receive is one we can help, for lots of reasons. Our boundaries are good ones at this moment. I tell this story in hopes of demonstrating that it wasn’t just Jesus and the Pharisees constantly navigating how to live out their faith in changing times. It’s us, too, and this question of mercy is a live one. I have undoubtedly missed opportunities to help someone stand up straight after years of pain. I also know that the help we offer has been just the right mercy at just the right time for people who really needed it. May we not forget that part of our call to follow Jesus is the call to evaluate if what is needed it this moment that might not have been needed in others. Jesus offered mercy. May we be unafraid to do the same.

Resources consulted while writing this sermon:
​Jared E. Alcántara: https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/ordinary-21-3/commentary-on-luke-1310-17-6
David Schnasa Jacobsen: http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=2956
Jeannine K. Brown: http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=665
Fred Craddock, Luke (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2009).
An interesting discussion of the changes kosher food: Gastropod Podcast, "Keeping Kosher: When Jewish Law Met Processed Food": https://gastropod.com/keeping-kosher/

Scripture: Luke 12:32-40 New International Version 

“Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom. Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will never fail, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. 

Watchfulness 

“Be dressed ready for service and keep your lamps burning, like servants waiting for their master to return from a wedding banquet, so that when he comes and knocks they can immediately open the door for him.  It will be good for those servants whose master finds them watching when he comes. Truly I tell you, he will dress himself to serve, will have them recline at the table and will come and wait on them. It will be good for those servants whose master finds them ready, even if he comes in the middle of the night or toward daybreak. But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have let his house be broken into. You also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.” ​

      One of my favorite people in just about any situation is the person with the big purse. That purse has everything. Need a stick of gum? She has three flavors. A band-aid? She has multiple skin tones. Some Neosporin? She has that, too. A sewing kit, some safety pins, a tiny un-opened bottle of super glue, some mole skin in case you are getting a blister, small scissors, nail clippers, a bottle of Excedrin, and a rain poncho. All of these things are found within fathomless depths of her pocketbook. She probably has those little strawberry candies with the loud plastic wrappers. And, a pair of spare socks. And, some Kleenex.

     If something unexpected happens, this person is ready. She will be able to bandage up, stitch together, and feed most problems as they arise. She probably is also dealing with a lot of back and shoulder pain from carrying around so much stuff. I don’t know if it’s because once she got caught without what they needed and decided “Never again!” or if it’s because she is just prepared people with a purse full of contingencies plans... whatever the reason, she has just about anything you’d need. Like a scout, she is always prepared!

     In last week’s sermon, I noted that the book of Luke is leery of the idea that possessions will bring you security. Rather than wading into a family argument about inheritance, Jesus had told a story about a rich guy who God called a fool when he was going to build bigger barns to store an unexpectedly large harvest. Scholars I read suggested that the issue was that the man had only been thinking and planning with himself rather than consulting with others on how to share the abundance. He was kind of the opposite of the person with a big purse. She’s usually toted around all of what she has in order to help someone else out! Not just protect herself.  Today’s reading is some more of the follow-up to Jesus’ response to the man who had asked him to weigh in about inheritances.

     Jesus saw that at the core of these questions about stuff are questions about security. How will I have what I need to stay safe, or survive, or feel happy? Jesus, the itinerant preacher, living under the whims of the Roman government, was not inclined to think of safety in terms stuff he had. He likely had very little. He had learned that the security he sought to bring to others would not come with the collection of things or money. There’s a part of Jesus’ response to the man that we haven’t read together but you may have heard before. “Consider the ravens: they neither sow no reap, they have neither storehouse nor barn, and yet God feeds them.... consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; yet I tell you, even Solomon in al his glory was not clothed like one of these.” The security this man, and his disciples, were seeking would not come from things. Instead, it would come from God.

     “Strive for God’s Kindom, and these things will be given you as well.” That’s the verse directly before today’s reading. Today’s reading tells you how to strive for the kindom. I’ll give you a hint. It does not involve hoarding. Also, importantly, as Fred Craddock notes in his commentary on Luke, “Seek God’s kingdom, yes, but do not add the kingdom to the list of things about which to be anxious.” Instead, as Craddock describes the first verse in our reading saying, each of us should seek God’s kindom “in the firm belief that it is God desire to give it to you.” God is not going to play keep away with Grace. Instead, God will fish around in that big bag until she finds what you need, be it strawberry candy, some Lactaid, or a pair of tweezers.

     Jesus says to sell your possessions and give the money to those who need it. That is a pretty clear directive against amassing wealth. Craddock calls this Jesus offering us liberation from covetousness and anxiety through acts of generosity. Jesus, who is leery of keeping too much stuff because he knows we get easily tempted to spend time protecting the stuff rather than loving our neighbors, does talk about getting a purse, but it’s not like one of those big Dooney and Burke purse the church grandmothers have. Instead, it is a metaphor for your actions and your attention. Hold on to the things that can be worn away by the world. Guard your generosity and compassion because those are your true treasures. And, where your treasure is, that is, when you treasure caring for neighbor and tending your relationship with God, your heart will be there as well.

     In turning our attention to caring for those who need it, we are paying attention to God. “Be dressed for action and have your lamps lit.” Pay attention. Because God can and will show up in surprising places and you don’t want to miss it! Readiness for God does not come in the form of building a bunker and hiding away from the world. Instead, Craddock argues, readiness for God comes from continuing faithfulness to your duties to God and neighbor.

     E. Trey Clark, in his commentary on this text, says, “Amid the dominance of fear in our modern world, Jesus’ words can sound like an impossibility.” We live in an abundant world. We are surrounded by productive land and people. There is enough, if only it is shared. Clark quotes the Christian Mystic Howard Thurman who “suggests that while fear can serve as ‘a kind of protective mechanism” for the disinherited, ultimately, it can lead to “death for the self.’” This scripture invites us not live in the anxiety that comes from not having access to what you need. Instead, as Clark shares from Thurman, “we ought to live in the fundamental reality that each one of us is ‘a child of God, the God of life that sustains all of nature.’” We can then understand ourselves to be connected to each other through God, and are called to be put to work contributing to one another’s flourishing.

     Keep your lamps trimmed and burning so that God’s light shines forth. God will show us the way forward, with each other, into the reign of love and justice. With our purses of provisions for the journey, ready to respond to needs as they arise, we can be ready to be a part of the kindom of God. Shine the light a little brighter. And, make sure to share something sweet. We have to keep our strength up for the journey.

Resources consulted while writing this sermon:
​E. Trey Clark: https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/ordinary-19-3/commentary-on-luke-1232-40-6
Fred. B. Craddock, Luke (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2009)

     Have you ever had someone try to loop you into an argument that you don’t want to be in? That sure seems like what is happening to Jesus at the beginning of this reading. A random person asks him to help settle an inheritance dispute. We all know how messy arguments over inheritance can get. They can break families. Because questions of inheritance deal with family and cultural traditions, individual ideas about loyalty and fairness, and the connections between love and money, the emotions of the people in the family can be intense. They must be if you ask some random traveling teacher to get involved in the argument.

     In notes on this text, Marion Soards’ points out that there are rules about how to set up an inheritance when you have more than one son in Deuteronomy 21:17. It says that the elder son is to get twice the inheritance. Then person in the crowd, likely a younger son, wants the inheritance to be evenly split. Jesus opts not to wade into the specific argument, and, instead tackles the issues that were making the question about inheritance emotionally complex. He said, “Take care! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of possessions.” If you want more than what was coming to you, why is that? Do you have greater need? Greater fear that you won’t have enough in the long run? Do you think it would be more fair? Or, do you think having more stuff makes your life more meaningful?

     Jesus said you can’t let your stuff give your life meaning. Jesus doesn’t want to wade into the argument about how much inheritance these brothers should get. He does want to talk about a person’s relationship to the stuff they have and what that can mean for their relationship with God. Jesus talks about all this using a parable about a rich man with a good farm.

     The rich man had a good year and the land was pretty productive. Jesus said that the farmer then tried to figure out what to do with all he had grown since he’d grown so much more than normal. What he decides to do is to tear down his barns and build bigger ones. The scripture tells us that the man said, "I will say to my soul, Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years: relax, eat, drink, be merry." God intervenes with a reality check: "You fool. This very night your life is being demanded of you. And the things you have prepared, whose will they be?" Talk about a rude awakening. Jesus takes a somewhat surprising turns and says, "So it is with those who store up treasures for themselves but are not rich toward God." How do we know that this rich man hasn’t been rich towards God?

     Look, I thought we were supposed to be saving money? Fidelity says to save 15% of your income for retirement and start as soon as possible. Jennifer Wyant points out that many of us in Western Cultures have learned that amassing wealth so that we can eventually “eat, drink, and be merry” in retirement is the dream scenario. It’s not like, as she points out, Jesus tells us that this guy got his money by cheating people. He just had a lucky year and was trying to make the best of it. Wyant argues that his mistake wasn’t in how he made the money, but in “what he believed it could do for him.”

     I might argue that sometimes money can buy happiness. Or, maybe not exactly happiness, but having enough money would lighten an enormous load on tons of people. Money may not be able to give your life meaning, but it does keep food in bellies and roofs over heads. It is certainly easier to think about what makes life meaningful when you’ve got enough food to eat. That being said, money can’t fix every problem. And, being worried about protecting your money can cause a lot more.

     In the book of Luke, which, of the four Gospels, is the most explicitly concerned about the well-being of the poor, the author of the Gospel is consistently suspicious of the wealthy. In her commentary on this text, Meda Stamper points out so many examples from other parts of the Gospel.

     There is Zacchaeus in Luke 19, who is wealthy because he took advantage of people in his role as tax collector. We understand him to be committed to Christ when he promises to give half of his possessions away and pay back those whom he defrauded. His wealth was an impediment to his faith. In Mary’s song, God sends the rich away empty (Luke 1:52-53). In Luke 6:24, they will receive woe rather than the kingdom of God. There’s an awful rich man who gets eternal torment after death in the Lazarus story in chapter 16. And, like Zacchaeus, the rich young ruler in chapter 18th will only get eternal life if he gives away all his stuff.

     In Luke, wealth is a burden and a distraction. It makes you focus on your own well-being too much. Elizabeth Johnson, in her commentary on this text, points out that this rich man doesn’t talk to anyone but himself about what to do with his unexpected bounty. He talks to himself about his money. He congratulates himself on his good fortune and good planning. He tells himself to relax because he's got his own future figured out. Where is everybody else? I mean, he's a farmer with a lot of land. It is very unlikely that he has done all this work on his own. Why isn't he consulting with anyone else about these important decisions in his life? He doesn’t even give a perfunctory thanks to God, like singers do when they get a Grammy.

     As Johnson notes, “The rich man’s land has produced abundantly, yet he expresses no sense of gratitude to God or to the workers who have helped him plant and harvest this bumper crop. He has more grain and goods in storage than he could ever hope to use, yet seems to have no thought of sharing it with others, and no thought of what God might require of him.”  A foundational action in the Christian faith is to share what you have. This man says nothing about what he could do for others with the abundance he has done nothing to earn. Meda Stamper points out that the only other time the word fool is used in Luke is in Luke 11:40, where Pharisees are said to be foolish on account of greed and neglect of the call to work for God’s love and justice. This man is likely called a fool for the same reason.

     Have you ever heard the phrase “a budget is a moral document?” It means that we can see what a person or a group’s priorities are based on how they spend their money. People and groups put their money in what they think is most important in their lives. Do we fund independent journalism, or do we build a fancy ballroom? Do we feed poor people, or do we build detention centers? I’ve known churches to ask, “do we spend our money on upkeep of a building or do we spend it on serving our neighbors?” We’ve got all manner of barns and storehouses. How do we know we’re storing the things the way Jesus wants us to?
Let us remember the example of the old-fashioned barn-raising. If a building needed to go up, a family assumed they couldn’t do it all by themselves. They would put the call out for help, and everyone who had time, tools, skills, and food to share would show up. They’d work together and, in the end, have a functioning storehouse. But, the work was only possible because the people did it together. What we have is not our own and we can’t take it with us. May we use what we have for God and God’s creation. In doing so, we will be a part of the kindom coming in this world.

Resources consulted while writing this sermon:
Jennifer S. Wyant: https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/ordinary-18-3/commentary-on-luke-1213-21-6
Marion Lloyd Soards' notes on Luke in The New Oxford Annotated Bible: The New Revised Standard Version with Apocryphya, ed. Michael Coogan (New York: Oxford University Press, 2001)
Meda Stamper: https://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=2923
Elisabeth Johnson: https://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=1725