The Sabbath & Completeness

The Gospel appointed for the daily prayer of the Church is taken from the 13^th chapter of the Gospel according to Luke who recounts the story of Jesus healing on the Sabbath:

Now he was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath. And just then there appeared a woman with a spirit that had crippled her for eighteen years. She was bent over and was quite unable to stand up straight. When Jesus saw her, he called her over and said, ‘Woman, you are set free from your ailment.’ When he laid his hands on her, immediately she stood up straight and began praising God. But the leader of the synagogue, indignant because Jesus had cured on the Sabbath, kept saying to the crowd, ‘There are six days on which work ought to be done; come on those days and be cured, and not on the Sabbath day.’ But the Lord answered him and said, ‘You hypocrites! Does not each of you on the Sabbath untie his ox or his donkey from the manger, and lead it away to give it water? And ought not this woman, a daughter of Abraham whom Satan bound for eighteen long years, be set free from this bondage on the Sabbath day?’ When he said this, all his opponents were put to shame; and the entire crowd was rejoicing at all the wonderful things that he was doing. (Lk. 13: 10-17).

The leader of the synagogue is “indignant.”  The original Greek uses the word ἀγανακτῶν which means “angered” or “incensed.”  The leader is angry because Jesus cured a woman on the Sabbath.  What was the source of the leader’s anger?  Why was he angry?  In the face of the miracle of the cure, the leader says that there are 6 other days when Jesus could have cured her instead of doing it on the Sabbath.  The leader has forgotten the purpose of the Sabbath.  On the Sabbath day, the world was complete.  Part of honoring the Sabbath is to remind us that we are called to be complete persons in God.  Is there a better day for Jesus to have restored the woman to completeness and wholeness? I don’t think so.

Let us pray:  Gracious God, in You we live, move and have our being.  Through Your Son and our Savior, Jesus Christ, You have restored us to completeness.  Send Your Holy Spirit to sanctify all that we do so that it may be for Your greater glory and honor.  Amen.

CALENDAR REMINDERS

Saturday, 10 November, we will have a second work day at the Community Garden. Following on Karen Lehr’s report to everyone in Church on Sunday, we have an opportunity to reach out to work with the Scott School in our Community Garden. Please keep this opportunity in your prayers

Thanksgiving in nearly upon us. Please remember St. Vincent’s House and bring a food donation for the food pantry and place it in the St. Vincent’s basket in the narthex of the Church.

We will have a pot luck lunch for our Thanksgiving celebration at St. Augustine’s this year.

Please remember everyone on our prayer list, especially all of those who are recovering after Sandy.

Your servant in Christ,

Fr. Chester J. Makowski

St. Augustine of Hippo Episcopal Church
Galveston, Texas 77550