Jeremiah 1:4-10, Luke 13:10-17
“She was bent
over and quite unable to stand up straight. When Jesus saw her, he called her
over and said, “Woman, you are set free from your ailment?
In last week’s passage from Luke,
Jesus announced that he had not come to earth to bring peace but division. Our passage
today gives us a taste of how bitter that divided place can be. The rigidly
religious Pharisee stands up next to a “daughter of Abraham,” a woman literally
bent over for so long that she could not possibly stand up straight even if she
wanted to.
Between the one
who was bent and the one who was unbending, Jesus stands, in the divided place:
ready to teach, set to heal, and good to go—all upon the Sabbath day. He heals
the body-bent woman, and the very first thing she does is rise up, and the very
next thing she does is praise God for
this totally unexpected and unbeckoned goodness.
The entire crowd
witnessed the healing, and the very first thing they did was rejoice, and the
very next thing they did was rejoice
even more. “Just look at all the wonderful things Jesus is doing right before
our very eyes!”
Any of you ever
had back trouble? I started having back trouble at 11 years old, the result of
a gym-class game of dodge ball gone awry. A few years ago I had a bout with sciatica—a
crippling pain in the lower back. I had to hold perfectly still; I did not want
to move an inch; if I moved, I believed I might break. No position was
comfortable.
About
80 percent of the adults in the U.S. have been bothered by back pain at some
point. More than half said the pain severely limited their daily routine for a
week or longer, and 88% said it recurred throughout the year. Lower-back pain
disrupts many of the normal activities of life: [sleep, work, weight, sex]. Although
lower-back pain is the fifth most common reason people go to a doctor, many of
those with more prolonged pain don't see a health-care professional because of
cost concerns or because they do not think professional care can help them.[1]
After 18 years
of suffering, the bent-over woman had probably given up on doctors and
medicines, too. Notice, however, that she had not given up on God, for she was
there in the temple on the Sabbath.
For a moment
now, let’s put ourselves in her body. Bend over your knees and look down. What
do you see? Turn your head to the left; to the right. How far can you see? Remain
bent over; now try to look up here at the pulpit. Not easy, is it? Terribly
uncomfortable, I know; almost impossible to do . . . if you cannot—or will
not—bend.
Just think: here
was this woman who could see only about 4 square feet of ground beneath her,
and she was in the presence of the greatest healer who ever walked the face of
this earth; yet, she never asked for his help. It was Jesus who called to her! [You can sit up now.]
When the woman
brought her body, bent, to Jesus, when she gave herself and her condition to
him completely, the Lord touched her and proclaimed, “Woman, you are set free
from your ailment” (Luke 13:12b). The woman stood up straight, and she praised
God for the power in Jesus’ hands that changed her life.
How many of us
have come here this morning with a body, mind or spirit bent under the weight
of a constant condition? Is there a problem, an edgy situation, a hurt, a heart
break, an anger, an empty nest, a grudge, an illness, a spirit of pain and
unrest that is crippling you? Has this “ailment” reached the point of spilling
over its boundaries, disrupting the normal aspects of your life?
Do you believe
that there is nothing that can be done for you; that there’s no one who can
help you? Have you forgotten all the wonderful things Jesus can do for you?
To the bent-over
woman, Jesus said, “Come to me”; he calls to us as well. “Come to me, all you
who are weary and heavily burdened, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28).
And what is this
rest? It is Sabbath, the day that God proclaimed holy. The author Alice Walker
said, “Anybody can observe the Sabbath, but making it holy surely takes the
rest of the week.”[2] There
is healing in the presence of the holy; there is holiness in the presence of
the healer.
In the Body of
Christ, we are able to be in the presence of the healer at any and every moment.
So what does
that mean? It means we bend but do not break; it means we live in faith and
hope, not in rigidity and religion. It means Sabbath, and what better day is
there than the Sabbath to heal and be healed?
Friends, Christ
is the one who offers his people and his church the miracles of new beginnings,
no matter what ails us. We may be bent over, struggling, feeling invisible and
alone, but we are also the sons and daughters of God. Praise God! For God gave
us the Son who came to set us free from whatever divides body and soul.
Let’s fill
ourselves from the fountain of God’s grace and rejoice at all the wonderful
things Christ is doing for us, his beloved Body, bending before him, knees
bowed in thanksgiving for Christ’s gift of new beginnings. Amen.
August
25, 2013
First
Parish Federated Church of South Berwick, ME
The
Reverend Donna Lee Muise, Pastor
