NOT ON MY DAY OFF!

Lectionary passage: Luke 13:14-15 (NRSV) - But the leader of the synagogue, indignant because Jesus had cured on the sabbath, kept saying to the crowd, "There are six days on which work ought to be done; come on those days and be cured, and not on the sabbath day." 15 But the Lord answered him and said, "You hypocrites! Does not each of you on the sabbath untie his ox or his donkey from the manger, and lead it away to give it water?

Jesus heals a woman on the sabbath.
Picture by Standard Publishing

The leader of a synagogue      
while acting like a demagogue,
said to a cripple “Go away!
We don’t cure on the sabbath day.
Our tasks for six days we don’t shirk,
but on the sabbath we don’t work.”

What if you heard your pastor say
“Don’t bother me on my off day.
Don’t have an accident or die
on Monday, when you know that I
am not available to call
for any reason ---none at all!”

How can a Christian minister
dare say to a parishioner
“I’m on the job six days a week,
so do not call me up or seek
my help in some emergency
the day I’ve set aside for me.”?