Jeremiah 1:4-10 – Before I formed you in your mother’s womb I knew you. Do not say, “I am too young.” I will give you the words you are to speak for me.
OR
Isaiah 58:9b-14 – God’s chosen fast:Remove the yoke from among you, the pointing of the finger, the speaking of evil, if you offer your food to the hungry and satisfy the needs of the afflicted, then your light shall rise in the darkness and your gloom be like the noonday.
Psalm 71:1-6 – In you O Lord, I have taken shelter. Let me never be confounded. I have trusted you since you pulled me from my mother’s womb.
OR
Psalm 103:1-8 – Praise the Lord who forgives your sins, heals your diseases and delivers you from the Pit.
Hebrews 12:18-29– Jesus, mediator of a new covenant. The blood of Jesus replacing that of Abel.
Luke 13:10-17– Jesus heals a crippled woman on the Sabbath
This story of healing provides an opportunity to talk about healing and perhaps have a service of healing, ELW, p. 276. If you do leave plenty of time for it. Consider using James 5:13-15 as the epistle reading:
13 Are any among you suffering? They should pray. Are any cheerful? They should sing songs of praise.
14 Are any among you sick? They should call for the elders of the church and have them pray over them, anointing them with oil in the name of the Lord.
15 The prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise them up; and anyone who has committed sins will be forgiven.
Bent Over
I. Diagnosis: How about this woman? The woman in today’s story did not have the benefit of clinics, hospitals and health care we take for granted today. She is left to turn to one of the traveling healers, like Jesus of Nazareth.
Luke tells us that she has an 18-year-old problem of a crippling spirit, that has left her hunched over and unable to stand up straight. It is at this point that she approaches Jesus, who happens to be preaching in the synagogue on the Sabbath.
What’s her problem? She can’t stand up straight? Is this really the problem, or is it a symptom of a deeper problem?
Jesus suggests the latter. This is not just a physical problem, like scoliosis. Luke’s diagnosis is that she has a crippling spirit. Other versions read “a spirit of weakness.” For the gospel writer, this is a spiritual, not just a physical problem. It is a physical problem with a spiritual source. I wonder: How many of our physical problems have spiritual roots?
And what’s with this “bent over” business? One of our dog’s favorite things to do is to get a hold of a piece of paper, preferably something really important to us, like a sermon draft, or paycheck, and rip it into a billion microscopic pieces. I don’t know why he does this. I believe he has some kind of disorder. Gonna get him some Prozak. When we come in, and he sees the look of shock on our face, and we say “Crockett!” what does he do? He crouches over. Crouching is the position of shame.
Could the root of this woman’s problem be shame? Could it be that her own feelings of guilt, or worse, society’s indictment of her, has left her feeling shameful? A society that claims that women are the source of lust, women are the reason for the fall of humanity, women are a lesser form of life, can impute a wordless patina of shame.
This is a theme throughout Jesus’ ministry. In John 8 the woman caught in the very act of adultery is being set up for a stoning while the man with whom she supposedly committed adultery is nowhere to be found.
It still happens today. A woman in Sudan is sentenced to stoning for adultery. It is ironic that women are sentenced to death for adultery at an astronomically higher rate than men. What’s that about?
A woman in Saudi Arabia is sentenced to ten lashes for driving a car.
The woman in Luke’s story is bent over, physically and spiritually. Perhaps she has been consistently put to shame.
II. Healing: Jesus sees her and he touches her! He lays hands on her. A man touching a woman in a first-century Semitic society is a faux pas – an incredible breach of etiquette. This is what Jesus does, time and time again. He reaches through her shame. He breaks through the barriers of sin and shame that we have created, and that society has imposed upon us.
And he says, “Woman” – emphasizing her femaleness, her low stature in this patriarchal society – “Woman, you are set free from your ailment.” Immediately, we are told, she stands up straight, and begins praising God. This is the goal of Jesus’ ministry: to reach through our shame, and set us free, so that we might stand up straight and praise God.
“I have come,” he says, “to set free the oppressed, to release the captive, and to raise up children to Abraham. No one would have considered this woman a child of Abraham. Men became children of Abraham by circumcision. Women became children of Abraham through their husbands in this society. Jesus is straightening out her bent life, step-by-step.
III. Detour: Now there’s a problem. Someone has a problem with all of this. Guess who? The religious leaders. Isn’t that disappointing? The very people that should be cheering. But healing on the Sabbath is against the rules. They’ve forgotten why the law exists it the first place. Why is working on the Sabbath against the law? Because it’s not good for you! We would do well to heed the Sabbath, but we don’t keep the Sabbath to fill God’s quota. We do it because it’s life-giving. Our bodies need rest and refreshment.
What happens when the law gets in the way of our health and healing? What happens when the law gets in the way of loving God and neighbor? What takes the higher priority?
It’s the leader of the synagogue who speaks. Notice he does not even address Jesus. Luke tells us he addresses the crowd. There’s a word for this in family systems therapy. It’s called triangling. Happens in churches, in families and at work.
Jesus, however, addresses him directly, in shocking terms, “You hypocrites!” Jesus speaks with startling clarity, does he not? And shocking bluntness. “Do you not untie (set free) your donkey on the Sabbath to give it water?” If you set free your animals, shouldn’t this woman, this daughter of Abraham also be set free? Jesus restores her back, and her dignity, by calling her a daughter of Abraham. I’m sure that got their attention.
The synagogue leader and the woman have more in common than we realize. The woman is physically bent from her affliction. The ruler is bent out of shape (“indignant”) by his legalism. Notice Jesus responds to her with compassion and to him with anger. Interesting.
And when he said this, Luke tell us, “his opponents were put to shame.” Why do they feel shame? Because they know, they know they are wrong. You don’t feel shame if you’re right. You feel shame when you believe you’re wrong.
IV. Prognosis: Okay, what’s the point of all this?
1. Don’t let the law get in the way of compassion. Don’t be a Pharisee. The law is a guide to help us love God and love neighbor. Keep the spirit of the law at the heart of your faith and practice.
2. Jesus’ mission is to release the captive, free the oppressed, and to raise up children of Abraham. Make that your mission too. Be about the business of recognizing those who are enslaved, and respond to them with compassion and care. Don’t let your legalism get in the way of Jesus’ healing!
3. Healing is about freedom from bondage. Ask yourself, how you are in bondage? What is the greatest bondage you face? To what are you captive? From what would Jesus like to set you free today?
4. Remember, all of life comes to an end. Physical healing is temporary. Spiritual healing is eternal. Seek first the kingdom of God…
5. Hold fast to this: Jesus is not interested in shaming, but in over-coming, over-ruling, and over-riding the shameful judgment. He does not stand over us in judgment, but Jesus stands under God’s judgment with us, placing his hands on the illness of our bent condition. Jesus is God’s compassion, the love of God in the flesh. His hands were outstretched on the cross because of this offensive grace, that overruled the rules and regulations of God’s law. By sharing in the deadly consequences of our sin, he has “shamed” sin, death, the devil, and even the law for its execution of God’s own Son; and by his resurrection, he has provided for us the ultimate healing: We are set free from our bondage, and freed to stand up straight, and praise God.
Yours in Christ,
Michael Rinehart
August 19, 2013 at 10:22 am
this followed along beautifully after Pastor Peter Marty’s sermon on shame yesterday, the difference between shame and guilt …Jesus was not guilty but he did have to experience shame. We all experience shame at one time or another..