Pentecost 12 Sermon: Lawful Healing
Preached on Luke 14:1–14
12th Sunday After Pentecost — Proper 17C
1 September AD 2019
Title: Click to hear the MP3 of Lawful Healing.
Summary: God gave mankind the Sabbath for our benefit. Even before the Fall, regular rest and refreshment was part of His plan for us. After that dark day and throughout all time thereafter, our need for Sabbath healing only intensified.
Finally, however, physical and mental rest is never enough. The things truly sapping our strength stem from sin — that which is part of us and that which fills Creation. Only forgiveness in Jesus Christ brings full healing and an everlasting “Sabbath rest for the people of God. (Hebrews 4:9)”
Text: One Sabbath, when [Jesus] went to dine at the house of a ruler of the Pharisees, they were watching him carefully. And behold, there was a man before him who had dropsy. And Jesus responded to the lawyers and Pharisees, saying, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath, or not?”
But they remained silent.
Then he took him and healed him and sent him away. And he said to them, “Which of you, having a son or an ox that has fallen into a well on a Sabbath day, will not immediately pull him out?” And they could not reply to these things.
Now he told a parable to those who were invited, when he noticed how they chose the places of honor, saying to them, “When you are invited by someone to a wedding feast, do not sit down in a place of honor, lest someone more distinguished than you be invited by him, and he who invited you both will come and say to you, ‘Give your place to this person,’ and then you will begin with shame to take the lowest place.
“But when you are invited, go and sit in the lowest place, so that when your host comes he may say to you, ‘Friend, move up higher.’ Then you will be honored in the presence of all who sit at table with you. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”
He said also to the man who had invited him, “When you give a dinner or a banquet, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors, lest they also invite you in return and you be repaid. But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you. For you will be repaid at the resurrection of the just.” Luke 14:1-14
Scripture quoted from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®, © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Audio: Click to hear the MP3 of Lawful Healing.
NB: A few people have had problems trying to play the inline audio with Windows Media Player. If this occurs, you can either change to QuickTime or another default browser player, copy and paste the link directly into a selected player, or download it to your computer, where it seems to work regardless of which player. Several folks have suggested VLC Player from VideoLAN.
Other Readings: Psalm 131; Proverbs 25:2-10; Hebrews 13:1-17
12th Sunday After Pentecost — Proper 17C
1 September AD 2019
Title: Click to hear the MP3 of Lawful Healing.
Summary: God gave mankind the Sabbath for our benefit. Even before the Fall, regular rest and refreshment was part of His plan for us. After that dark day and throughout all time thereafter, our need for Sabbath healing only intensified.Finally, however, physical and mental rest is never enough. The things truly sapping our strength stem from sin — that which is part of us and that which fills Creation. Only forgiveness in Jesus Christ brings full healing and an everlasting “Sabbath rest for the people of God. (Hebrews 4:9)”
Text: One Sabbath, when [Jesus] went to dine at the house of a ruler of the Pharisees, they were watching him carefully. And behold, there was a man before him who had dropsy. And Jesus responded to the lawyers and Pharisees, saying, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath, or not?”
But they remained silent.
Then he took him and healed him and sent him away. And he said to them, “Which of you, having a son or an ox that has fallen into a well on a Sabbath day, will not immediately pull him out?” And they could not reply to these things.
Now he told a parable to those who were invited, when he noticed how they chose the places of honor, saying to them, “When you are invited by someone to a wedding feast, do not sit down in a place of honor, lest someone more distinguished than you be invited by him, and he who invited you both will come and say to you, ‘Give your place to this person,’ and then you will begin with shame to take the lowest place.
“But when you are invited, go and sit in the lowest place, so that when your host comes he may say to you, ‘Friend, move up higher.’ Then you will be honored in the presence of all who sit at table with you. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”
He said also to the man who had invited him, “When you give a dinner or a banquet, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors, lest they also invite you in return and you be repaid. But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you. For you will be repaid at the resurrection of the just.” Luke 14:1-14
Scripture quoted from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®, © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Audio: Click to hear the MP3 of Lawful Healing.
NB: A few people have had problems trying to play the inline audio with Windows Media Player. If this occurs, you can either change to QuickTime or another default browser player, copy and paste the link directly into a selected player, or download it to your computer, where it seems to work regardless of which player. Several folks have suggested VLC Player from VideoLAN.
Other Readings: Psalm 131; Proverbs 25:2-10; Hebrews 13:1-17
Labels: forgiveness, Gospel, healing, luke 14, Pentecost 12, proper 17, rest, sabbath, series c
posted by Xrysostom | 10:00
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