Rev. Pritcher recalls Orthodox Jewish neighbors who broke Sabbath rules to help with an emergency, mirroring Jesus healing on the Sabbath despite religious objections. Both examples show that rigid law-following can miss God's kingdom in action. A commitment to truth extends beyond simply knowing what is good and right. It insists there be an alignment between what one knows and what one does grounded in compassion.
In the neighborhood of my childhood, there were two synagogues, and almost all of my neighbors were Orthodox Jews. Most were very devout. I could tell by the way they lived.
My closest friends, next-door, went to a Hebrew academy. They wore a yarmulke, or hat or lace on their heads, even when they came by to play. They were careful about the Sabbath: no homework, no cars, no electricity for television, cooking or gaming. They were careful to follow the rules.
At the same time, I observed that they never let the rules interfere with the way they interacted with us. As strict as they were, they showed in so many ways that they believed people were more important than things.
For example, one Saturday morning, my father brought home a new freezer. That was unusual for him. He avoided noisy outdoor activities on Saturdays out of respect for their Sabbath. But the old freezer had unexpectedly stopped working, and he was rushing to save the frozen food which was thawing.
When he began to steer the new freezer down the basement steps, he saw that he had a problem. The dimensions were all off—he couldn’t guide it like he needed to. And we were too young to be much help.
About that time, Mr. Gross and his son, Zev, were walking back from synagogue. They heard my father huffing and puffing and immediately understood the situation. They quickly jumped in to help him get the freezer into place. And in that one simple act they broke their law: remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy. They did it readily and voluntarily—and over my father’s loud protests—because for them, people were more important than things.
Our discussion today begins with Christ’s Sabbath day activities, but it’s about much more than that, isn’t it? It is about the idea of law and grace, and how those two things work together to make us people of God. We need them both if we are to be people of God.
The prevailing view at the time of Jesus was that becoming godly people was a result of being part of the right nation, following each and every law of the covenant. Jesus himself often stated that he didn’t come to abolish the law. Yet in today’s Gospel, when Christ heals the woman, he is clearly in violation. And we might wonder why he would do that.
The leaders of the synagogue wondered the same thing. There are six days in the week for work, they say. In their view, healing is work, not to be performed on the Sabbath.
Pharisees weren’t such bad guys. They were just intent upon following the law of Moses and they worked hard to get it right.
So why would Jesus call them hypocrites?
He’s questioning their understanding of the Rule of God, the Kingdom of God. The word hypocrite comes from a combination of Greek words meaning ‘under’ and ‘deficient in sifting or understanding.’ In calling them hypocrites, Jesus is just saying that though these men know their rules, they cannot recognize God’s Kingdom in action—happening right before their eyes. We might say that they can’t see the forest for the trees.
But Jesus can. If it is acceptable on the Sabbath to untie or unbind domestic livestock from a manger in order to take them to water, he says, then it should, at least, be permissible for this woman to be released or unbound from her physical affliction on the Sabbath. That should be clear to us all.
When I have questions about what all of this means—and sometimes I do—I remember my next-door neighbor and his family and their faithful example. Some folks may have responded differently to our quandary on that Sabbath day. Some would have probably asked ‘Herman, what were you were thinking? My father wondered and did ask him why they did what they did.
To which Mr. Gross replied, using a Hebrew scriptures reference, that ‘our ox was in a ditch’. And his first impulse was not to use the law to ignore our need. His first impulse was to use the law to help us. He believed that that was what would honor the spirit of the law.
Today we have laws designed to protect all of us, especially the vulnerable: the poor, the food insecure, the unhoused, strangers, and ones who suffer in body or in mind.
But much as we see in today’s gospel passage, laws can be ignored—or interpreted in such a way that they become a burden on the very ones they are designed to relieve. And that reflects a new, ominous spirit at play—the opposite to the spirit Jesus modeled. Jesus would call that the work of a hypocrite—one who may well know what is right, but cannot or will not recognize it in action. One who is missing the forest for the trees.
Sometimes people think that being committed to truth is simply about head knowledge. No, someone who is really committed to truth will also make sure that they put it into action and know when to do so.
Christ didn’t allow such a distortion of the law and neither did Mr. Gross and Zev. They went out of their way to create a space where law and grace could come together to make something beautiful. I learned about that sort of thing in Sunday School. I saw it happen with Mr. Gross and Zev. And that encourages me to keep looking for opportunities create such a space. What shall we create today?
