Liberation from the Lilliputians

Luke 13:10-17

This morning I would like to begin with a fable. This is a very famous fable from Jonathon Swift. I would like to take this fable and slightly alter it to meet the needs of our day.

Gulliver and the Lilliputians:
Gulliver needed to be set free from the thousands upon thousands of little ties and knots, strings and threads, that were holding him down, killing him and his freedom.

The meaning: It is the nature of human institutions, whether they be government, schools, churches, social conventions to put thousands of little regulations on people in order to hold them down, tie them down and control them.

Examples:
Apply for welfare or food stamps, or whatever you apply for to the
Federal government, and you will quickly find that there are Lilliputians involved in the system. The strings they use are miles of red tape, a myriad of rules and regulations.

Now, I know what some of you are probably thinking. You’re thinking, “Pastor, those rules and regulations are important. Without them, people would take advantage.
And you are correct. The point of this message is not to criticize government rules and regulations. Rules and regulations are indeed a necessity of any institution. God is keenly aware of this, hence the 10 commandments.
However, the point of this message is to make clear that sin has a way of convincing us that the rules and regulations within the institution are more important than the original purpose of institution itself. With tongue firmly in cheek, the point of this message is to give us someone to blame for this institutional sin. The Lilliputians did it! :-)

It is the nature of sin within our institutions, whether they are governments, schools, or even churches to start with rules and regulations that serve to support and make viable the very good purposes behind the institution, but then cause the institution to drift asleep to the original purpose allowing the Lilliputians to take over. When we wake up, we find that a very subtle shift has been made, where the original purpose of the institution was to serve people, but instead, the people are now forced to serve the institution. It happens again and again. When this happens serving the legal needs of the institution become more important than the real needs of the people. Sin turns the institution into a god and then holds the people hostage to the system.
This is what Lilliputians do.

Gospel:
It is precisely the attitude of Gulliver awaking to find that he has been strapped down by the Lilliputians with thousands of little strings (regulations) that the Gospel lesson speaks to us about today. In the Judaism of that time in history, their religion had become an institution of a thousand rules and regulations. The original purpose was to help people praise God and compassionately serve one another. But instead, the Lilliputians snuck in somewhere along the course of history and took over. They convinced the Jewish people that all the traditions, the rules and regulations, were more important than a genuine faith in God or compassionate service to the neighbor. The Lilliputians made the people become preoccupied with rules and traditions and they began to serve the institution as if it were god. Like Gulliver, the people were held down like prisoners; powerless and dying beneath the constraints of an institution that God had intended for the purpose of freeing people for worship and compassion.
Believe it or not, on of those Jewish regulations in Jesus’ day was that a person could not be healed on the Sabbath day of rest. Can you imagine such thoughts today? All hospitals will care for patients six days a week but not care for them on Sunday? Fortunately, such thoughts would not fly in our society. Fortunately, our society has come to realize that Sabbath Rest has little to do with a list of prohibitive blue laws.

The Church:
Now, I know that many of you, like myself, miss the days when Sunday was set aside for church. We long for the day when the church might return to its place within our society of dominion over the activities of Sunday. But, in truth, we must confess that this period of blue laws was not genuinely about praising God and serving our neighbor. It was actually about placing societal rules and regulations in place that would maintain a certain level of power and control over people. These regulations benefitted our institution, but they did not encourage faith in God. They did not allow for the freedom to Worship, and serve our neighbor.

Far too often, the primary purpose of the church becomes misguided by Lilliputians. Sometimes, it begins to feel like the purpose of the church is to preserve our religious customs, rules, regulations and rituals, more so than doing the compassion of God. The rules, regulations and rituals take on a life of their own, and preserving them becomes more important than doing and being the compassion of God.

Jesus offers liberation
By healing a woman on the Sabbath, Jesus reveals to us a new vision for what Sabbath truly means. Sabbath Rest is not found through a list of prohibitions placed upon us one day of the week. Sabbath Rest is to be set free from the labors of sin. When Jesus broke from tradition in order to heal the woman on the Sabbath, he offered liberation for all of us. Jesus liberated us from the Lilliputians– freedom from those religious customs that we think are somehow God-given but are not.

I would like to give you a couple of examples. These are based on true stories, but are easily applicable to just about any church institution from around 1975.

Examples #1
I grew up on Appalachian WV Lutheran legalism. I have come to learn that this is very much like the Midwest. Garrison Keillor describes this most succinctly on the side of a coffee mug I have at home: "I’m a Lutheran. We are modest people and we don’t make a fuss. And it sure would be a better world if they were all as modest as us. We do not go for whooping it up, or a lot of yikkety-yak. When we say hello, we avert our eyes and we always sit in the back. We sit in the pew where we always sit, and we do not shout Amen. And if anyone yells or waves their hands, they’re not invited back again."
One day, Susan, the musician and choir director at my church caused quite a stir. She even provoked the pastor to pay a special visit to straighten things out. Everyone came home from church that day talking about it. For the anthem on this one dreadful morning, Susan, had given a choir member permission to play a tambourine.

Example #2
In my church it was deemed that certain people were more religious than others by the depth of their knowledge of the bible and their ability to recite passages from memory. This obviously meant that some people were more Christian than other people. The more Christian people were those who especially loved their church traditions. They were given positions of authority and influence. They came to worship more often, and were the first to tell you if you were behaving somewhat less Christian than them. Those who didn’t come to church, or those who came visiting had to prove themselves to the authorities that they were worthy before those with influence would truly accept them and invite them into the active ministry.
I remember the year that Sally was elected to church council. She was a relatively new member. She had moved to the area about five years prior and had quickly gotten involved in the church. But, what’s five years of membership compared to those who spent their lifetime in that congregation. Sally wanted to run for church council. But, there were three strikes immediately against her. First, she was a woman. The people of my church said, “Women were not to be leading the church. This was simply unheard of. Women were meant to be taking care of the children. There must be something wrong with a woman who wants to do such a thing.” Second, she was “too new” some said. She had been a member only five years. Third, others didn’t like her because she was divorced. They said, “Divorced people shouldn't be allowed to serve on the church council because they won’t be good role models for our children.” Sally was not elected and left the church soon after that. We never heard from her again. But, I don’t think many people went looking for her either.

Example #3
I also remember the time when a black man and white woman came visiting my church together. They were married and it seemed like everybody in the congregation had a problem with that. There was something unnatural about it they said. It violated God’s laws of nature they said. Needless to say, this couple didn’t stay too long at my church either.

All of these rules and a myriad of others are traditional interpretations of the Bible and ever so subtly, those religious interpretations and traditions became more important than living out the compassion of Christ. This subtle shift in the rules, from people serving the institution rather than the institution serving people, is the work of those sinful Lilliputians.

Jesus is our liberator from the Lilliputians.
Jesus liberates Christianity from our biblical interpretations, traditions and from what we think Christianity ought to be. Liberated from this institutional sinfulness we are set free. Free to truly worship God. Prohibitive Blue laws are not the way to Sabbath freedom. Think about it. You all had a variety of options that you could have done on this beautiful Sunday morning. You were free this morning to Worship God, and you listened to call of the one you pray to, the one you call Lord, and you came to church. That’s Sabbath freedom! We are free for genuine compassion to our neighbor. There are no laws demanding that you volunteer in ministries—no prohibitive guilt forcing you to do this or that or you’re going to Hell. NO! Jesus has saved you by his death and resurrection. Those who believe this ""Good News" are liberated from guilt and despair—the labors of sin. This means you have the freedom to serve your neighbor. Therefore, you have heard the call of the one who has freed you and you have come here, made yourselves a part of this church, committed yourselves to the work of this church. This is the freedom given to you by Christ. We are liberated from all the societal rules and regulations that hold us back from worshiping freely and serving our neighbor freely.

Jesus liberated us all when he broke the rules to heal that woman on the Sabbath. Now, as Paul says, there is nothing that separates you from the love of God. NOTHING! Therefore, come one come all. Let every mixed up, sinful wretch of a person come. Let everyone who the Lilliputians have put down, held down, or imprisoned come to meet this Jesus and be set free. Let all of us "holier than thou Christians" come seeking forgiveness and be set free as well. Let this place be for all a place of welcome — and let that welcome be the healing touch of Jesus — just as his touch healed a woman on one Sabbath long ago.
Amen