0817 Trinity XVII: Covenantal Collapse

more serious. The New Unger’s Bible Dictionary defines it as:

... a symptom of a number of diseases, mostly of the heart, liver, kidneys, and brain, causing collections of water in the cavities of the body, or on its surface, or in the limbs. (New Unger’s Bible Dictionary, p306)

Basically, you swell up. I don’t think it’s particularly pleasant. Jesus healed this man, but He did so on the Sabbath, which is what got Him in a LOT of trouble.

III. Setting the Stage

As anybody who has had any familiarity with the Gospels knows, Jesus and the Pharisees were not on the best of speaking terms. Have you ever experienced a tense relationship with someone? One that has a long history of insults, offenses, anger, and the like? This is especially egregious in a family relationship where there is no way out, day after day. Each time you see this person it just takes one little word, or perhaps simply a glance, and you are at each other’s throats like cats and dogs. Jesus’ family was like that. No, I don’t mean Joseph and Mary; I’m talking about Abraham’s big family, the Hebrews, that Jesus both created and was born into. Listen to St John:

Jesus said to him, "Rise, take up your bed and walk." And immediately the man was made well, took up his bed, and walked.
And that day was the Sabbath. ... For this reason the Jews persecuted Jesus, and sought to kill Him, because He had done these things on the Sabbath. (John 5:8-16)

What is it that inspires such vitriol, such caustic responses? They wanted to kill Jesus because He healed on the Sabbath? What could possibly be going through their minds? Well, let’s try some Old Testament passages, which was the Bible of the day. First, from Exodus:

Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it. (Ex 20:8-11)

You hear this every week in our liturgy. It seems clear enough. Listen to Jeremiah expound on this theme:
Thus says the LORD: "Take heed to yourselves, and bear no burden on the Sabbath day, nor bring it in by the gates of Jerusalem; nor carry a burden out of your houses on the Sabbath day, nor do any work, but hallow the Sabbath day, as I commanded your fathers. But they did not obey nor incline their ear, but made their neck stiff, that they might not hear nor receive instruction. And it shall be, if you heed Me carefully," says the LORD, "to bring no burden through the gates of this city on the Sabbath day, but hallow the Sabbath day, to do no work in it, then shall enter the gates of this city kings and princes sitting on the throne of David, riding in chariots and on horses, they and their princes, accompanied by the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem; and this city shall remain forever. And they shall come from the cities of Judah and from the places around Jerusalem, from the land of Benjamin and from the lowland, from the mountains and from the South, bringing burnt offerings and sacrifices, grain offerings