Eighteen Long Years

In one paragraph

Pastor Carl opened in Luke 13 with a brief healing account that he admitted he almost passed over, then found himself genuinely convicted by. The message traced the contrast between the woman who was freed and glorified God, and the synagogue leader who was indignant, and it pressed the congregation to examine which posture they bring to what God is doing around them. Jesus was teaching in a...

Read together

1. Psalm 107 mentioned as the possible source of 'let the redeemed of the Lord say so', preacher was not positive of the reference
2. Luke 13 the main passage for the sermon, the healing of the bent-over woman on the Sabbath
3. Luke 6 disciples walking through a grain field on the Sabbath and being accused of harvesting and threshing
4. Matthew 12 disciples walking through a grain field on the Sabbath, parallel account to Luke 6
5. Luke 4 Jesus' first sermon in Nazareth where he proclaimed his mission to heal, give sight to the blind and have the lame walk
6. Exodus 29 the synagogue leader quoted it to say there are six days during which work should be done
7. Hosea 6:6 Jesus cited it saying he desires mercy not sacrifice, and the knowledge of God
8. James 1 read as a benediction, every one should be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to become angry

Talk about it

1. Pastor Carl mentioned that when we hit the word 'Sabbath' in these stories, we know trouble is coming. What does that pattern reveal about how religious tradition can work against the very people it was meant to protect?
2. The synagogue leader had watched this woman bent over double for eighteen years, possibly in his own assembly, and his response to her healing was indignation. What do you think had to be happening in his heart for that to be his first reaction?
3. Pastor Carl shared honestly that at the men's intensive he stayed angry for forty-two hours and felt completely justified in it. He said we tend to feel self-righteous about our own anger because it comes from how we understand things. When has your own sense of being right about something kept you from seeing what God was doing?
4. Jesus compares the kingdom of God to a mustard seed and to leaven, two things that start almost invisibly small and then work their way through everything around them. Where have you seen that quiet, spreading kind of growth in your own life or in someone close to you?
5. James 1 closes the sermon with the reminder that human anger does not produce the righteousness God desires. What does it look like practically, in your day-to-day life, to be slow to anger rather than slow to see what God might be doing in a situation that frustrates you?