Proper 19, August 21, 2022

Lucas 13:10-17

Rev. Neli Miranda

 

“She was bent over and was quite unable to stand up straight…” (13,11).

 What tremendous weight this woman was carrying!      

Luke tells us that this woman had a spirit that had crippled her for eighteen years. How should we read this spirit that had crippled her so terribly?  A bone disease that had gone untreated?  Physical and emotional weight due to heavy, tireless housework? Social and religious obligations? 

 Despite her condition, she attended the synagogue on the Sabbath day, surely with great difficulty.  What had moved this woman to come to the synagogue despite her limited and strained mobility?  Perhaps she was a woman of great faith, a woman devoted to worshiping with her community. Maybe she hoped to find relief and liberation by participating in the Sabbath celebration.

 Deuteronomy tells us that at the heart of the Sabbath celebration resided a sense of liberation, joy and rest, “Remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the LORD your God brought you out from there with a mighty hand …” (5,12-15). Every Sabbath celebration was then an opportunity to celebrate the liberating presence of God, to rejoice, to rest, and to give rest to the tired, to remove yokes, to liberate the oppressed. However, it seems that the Sabbath celebrations at the synagogue had not provided any relief to this woman for eighteen years.

On this Sabbath day, she comes to the synagogue as usual, but it seems that she arrived late because Jesus was already teaching. Maybe her difficulty walking had prevented her from arriving on time. So, while Jesus was teaching, this woman’s peculiar image appeared, and she walked over to the women’s section in the synagogue, which was behind the men’s section. The women’s area was further away from the center, where Jesus was teaching. The tortured image of this woman moved Jesus so profoundly that he could not continue his teaching. . . he wanted to free her from her painful, tortured situation.

So, breaking with the liturgical order, Jesus stopped teaching and called her to the center where only the most important men sat. Undoubtedly, while she walked to the center, she could feel the weight of everybody’s eyes on her and the weight of the social and religious rules that had bent her. Just imagine for a moment. . . a despicable woman approaching the center of the synagogue reserved only for the most important men of the city! What a scene!!

This image makes me ask myself and I ask you, too. . .

Should our temples have special seats reserved for special people? Shouldn’t those seats be reserved for those who suffer from physical dysfunctions or those who have special needs?

When the bent, crippled woman reached the center of the synagogue, Jesus said to her, “Woman, you are set free [loosen] from your ailment” (13,12). Then, he laid his hand on her and immediately she stood up straight and began praising God.  Jesus did not use the words cured or healed; instead, he said freed (or unbound), which could have meant that she did not have an organic disease but that she was bound or enslaved to external forces that oppressed and bent her.

Jesus released this burdened woman, thus fulfilling the Sabbath day intention of liberation and rest. In freeing her, Jesus proclaimed liberation, joy, and rest on a day of celebration that had been oppressed by the religious leaders. Ridiculous rules had made of the Sabbath celebration a burden instead of a blessing. Thus, while the liberated woman was praising God, the leader of the synagogue, who represented an oppressive religious system, was indignant because of Jesus’ act of liberation.

Sisters and brothers, are we those who maintain an oppressive religious tradition that binds people instead of freeing them? Or are we followers of Jesus who proclaims liberation and lifts the burdens of all those with a bent back?

Today’s Gospel reminds us of Jesus’ main mission declared at the beginning of his ministry, “[God] has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor” (Luke 4,18).  Is our mission the same as Jesus’ mission? Let’s remember that as Jesus’ disciples, we are called to proclaim liberation, joy, rest and forgiveness in our celebrations.

Sisters and brothers, are you carrying a great weight today and have identified with the bent-over woman in the synagogue?   If so, as we celebrate this Sunday’s worship and the risen Jesus, I ask that we listen to Jesus’ words, “You are set free from your burdens.”

Praise God! Amen.