10th Sunday of Luke
Oops!
Last February, my wife and I traded in one of our cars for a new one … well, new to us anyway. Then, a few months later, I got a letter in the mail saying that car had unpaid parking ticket from March.
That wasn’t possible. I hadn’t owned the car then. I thought a simple email to the city would solve the problem. After all, I had paperwork from the dealership saying I no longer owned the car.
Boy, was I wrong!
I took me weeks to get the whole thing resolved. Somewhere between the dealership, the state, and the city, someone dropped the ball on the official paperwork, so, according to Parking Services, I still owned the car.
The city was relentless. They were insistent that I pay this ticket, even though I didn’t own the car when the ticket was issued.
Only after conversations with people at four different DVS locations, the dealership, Duluth’s Parking Services, and even the mayor (city council members ignored me), and working eight-hours over two months, was I finally able to be rid of this parking ticket.
Who has the time for this!?!
Through the whole process, it felt like the city had no interest in serving its citizens. Instead, its purpose was to collect money, even if unjustly.
Now, the City of Duluth does do a lot of good things, and this isn’t a rant against our city government, but it does illustrate how institutions become ridged. The intent of laws and regulations get overlooked, and, in the place good intentions, we get relentless legalism. And, this is exactly what was happening in Jesus’s day.
Ugh!
Today, we saw Jesus heal a woman who had been sick for 18 years. Her infirmity had caused her to be hunched over all this time. Can you imagine the difficulty she must have had going about her daily life? Can you imagine the constant pain she would’ve been in?
So, imagine her relief when Jesus came along and healed her. It’s a joyous occasion. It’s time to celebrate!
But, what happened? How did the authorities react?
Well, they felt threatened by Jesus, so they turned to legalism. Jesus had healed on the Sabbath. That’s technically against the law. No one should be practicing medicine when you’re supposed to be studying scripture. Shame on him! They were demanding that he pay a parking ticket for a car he no longer owned!
In ignoring the intent of the Sabbath—a day of worshiping God and remembering how God had acted to free his people, to heal his people—the religious authorities were looking out only for themselves. They felt their authority slipping, and so they exercised their power to enforce the letter of the law.
In doing this, they were being fundamentalists. They were holding tight to their beliefs, which only allowed them to see the world the way they wanted to see it. When you can only see the world ordered one way, it doesn’t leave room for people like Jesus who do things differently. It doesn’t allow for flexibility, creativity, or even growth. When you become legalistic, it doesn’t leave room for compassion.
We’ve all been there. How often have we found ourselves arguing with someone? I’m right and you’re wrong! How often have we been stubborn, indignant, and hot under the collar? How many times have we felt panicked because things weren’t going our way?
And what happens? We end up making ourselves unhappy. We’re nothing more than opinionated and hardheaded. We’re stiff and inflexible.
Aha!
I think the woman’s infirmity is a sign of what fundamental inflexibility does to a person. It doesn’t just make you indignant—how Luke describes the Judean authorities—it also made this woman sick.
I think it’s no accident that she was bent over and couldn’t straighten herself. The rigidity of the religious authorities had made her stiff and inflexible as well. It’s almost as if their fundamentalism had become contagious. Her body is a physical sign of their mental attitude.
But, along comes Jesus with a healing touch. God isn’t rigid and harsh. God isn’t a fundamentalist. He’s compassionate and loving. He gives his law as an instruction, not a prison.
Listen to what St. Paul tells us today,
Christ … has broken down the dividing wall of hostility, by abolishing in his flesh the law of commandments and ordinances … making peace, and … reconcil[ing] us both to God … bringing the hostility to an end. And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near; for through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father.
In other words, Christ is only legalistic about abolishing the law that binds us and causes our backs to be stiff.
Christ is a healing presence, and there’s no better way for us to also be healed than to turn to God in prayer.
Whee!
As Orthodox Christians, we have access to one of the most powerful things on earth: Hesychasm, which means silence. This is the practice of the Prayer of the Heart, also known as the Jesus Prayer.
In practice, it’s very simple. Traditionally, we stand or sit in our icon corner. If we’re seated, we simply close our eyes, bow our head, and softly say, “Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me.”
With each breath in, we focus on the first part of the prayer, “Lord Jesus Christ …” And, with each breath out, the second half, “… have mercy on me.” And, then we repeat it.
As we pray, our minds descend into our hearts. There we find Christ.
As we do this, our minds will also race and jump thought to thought. In fact, emotions may also bubble to the surface. But, don’t worry. Take note of the thought or the emotion and let it go. Refocus on the words, “Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me.”
Through this prayer, we have to be gentle with ourselves. Pretend you’re feeding a baby. As we all know, babies aren’t the best as staying focused at meal time. They get distracted. They play with their food. They get grumpy and loose interest in being fed. But, what do we do? We gently remind them that it’s feeding time and that they should take the food on the spoon. So, it is with our minds. If we’re get distracted, we need to gently remind our minds to refocus on the prayer: “Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me.” We don’t have to believe every thought or emotion that pops into our head.
By letting the thought or the emotion go, we’re letting go of the story we tell ourselves about that emotion.
For example, say I had a fight with my wife over who has to take the garbage out, so, as I pray, I start to feel anger. By letting it go to focus on Christ, I’m also letting go of my stubbornness about who takes the garbage out. The story I tell myself about being right vanishes, and I’m released from my indignation.
Over time, emotions we feel are transformed. Perhaps instead of anger, it becomes compassion for my wife. When this happens, I’m freed and healed. I draw closer to Christ.
It’s the same with any emotion: anxiety, fear, sadness, or even happiness, and satisfaction. Our goal is to just be in the presence of Christ. To be with him in joy.
Yeah!
The goal of Hesychasm is to reach apatheia, which means dispassion. This is a freedom that means we are not controlled by our passions, our emotions, or our every thought. We are able to focus our minds on what is important: loving God and neighbor.
Imagine what would have happened if the religious authorities had practiced the Jesus Prayer. Perhaps, instead of being threatened by Jesus, they wouldn’t have been controlled by their fear. They wouldn’t have felt threatened by Jesus who offers a new way to God.
If the Pharisees has practiced Hesychasm, perhaps they would have been filled with joy that Jesus had healed the woman! Imagine how the woman would have felt to be received warmly by her religious community?
Or, imagine what it would have been like if the woman hadn’t lived under the rigid control of the Pharisees in the first place? Would she have been struck with a stiff back? Would she have free from the very beginning? I think it’s she would have been.
This is the power of the Jesus Prayer. This is the healing power we’re given as Christians. And, with this power, we rejoice at all the glorious things done by Christ.
Amen.