You Can Lead A Donkey To Water, But...

Luke 13:10-17

I am of the belief that one of Jesus' biggest pet peeves is hypocrisy. Although as a word it only appears a dozen or so times as being said by Jesus, the stories attached to that word show Jesus' in a more than usual irritated state of mind.

Take today's reading as an example. While teaching in a local synagogue, Jesus sees a woman who is visibly in deep pain, and according to Luke she's been this way for a very long time. Jesus pauses from his teaching and calls the woman over and, with a single touch, heals her. The woman is so filled with joy from having her pain taken away she enthusiastically praises God.

Enter the bad guys.

The leader of the synagogue becomes so "indignant" at the healing he stands up and tells the woman, and anyone else who may be in hearing distance, that absolutely no healing should be done on the Sabbath. As the great Dr. Moreau would say, "What is the law?!"

Jesus' simple, yet frustrated reply: "I get it about the Sabbath, but seriously, don't you untie and take your donkey to drink water? Why then should not these people be untied and given the relief they seek?" (Yes, that was paraphrased.)

These days I'm paying a lot more attention to what the experts say about why the 20 and 30-year olds aren't in our churches. The reason most given is because our churches are irrelevant. They say we aren't providing the thing young people are seeking: truthfulness. These young people, churched or unchurched, understand that the true mission of Christ was to heal the relationships which were torn apart by a rigid adherence to things which really didn't matter.

Our churches talk about a God that loves everyone, but lives in a way that shows the opposite. Our churches say you are welcome, unless you're different than us. Our churches preach we will all go to heaven, except those who don't live by our rules. Our churches teach community and all-accepting love, but not for those of you who don't conform to our ideas.

If the Christian churches are to remain a viable pathway towards God we need to take a good look at ourselves and understand that if we take our donkeys to get a drink of water on the days we're not supposed to, then it's okay to do the same for our brothers and sisters.