Set Free

 

Luke 13:10-17

August 21, 2022

 

            I anticipate pain. As odd as that sounds I do. I anticipate pain. The way that anticipation manifests itself is that I always keep some form of pain relief nearby. At home we have aspirin, acetaminophen, ibuprofen, and various and sundry other means of pain relief. I have roll-on analgesics in the bathroom. There are pain meds in my nightstand. I have some naproxen sodium in my desk in my office. I’m pretty sure there is something in my purse; and I have a small sample pack of pain relievers tucked into the console of my car. Like I said, I anticipate pain.

            That’s because the pain I deal with the most is headache pain. I get migraines. I’ve been fortunate in this last year or so to have to deal with them less because my doctor put me on a really good medicine, but I still have breakthroughs. Ironically, when I was trying to write this sermon, I was dealing with the beginnings of a migraine. At my migraine’s worst, I’ve wound up in urgent care and the ER because the pain got so bad. My migraines feel like there’s a knife stabbing me repeatedly over one eye. Adding to the pain in my head is pain in my neck and shoulders. Declaring it’s not fun is an understatement. Most of the time a migraine for me has meant relentless pain for about three days. Three days where I manage to function, but just barely. Three days that while I’m experiencing that painm, feel like an eternity.

            If three days of a migraine feels like an eternity, I can’t begin to imagine how 18 years must have felt. That’s how long the woman in this passage from Luke’s gospel had been bent over, unable to stand up straight. The scripture doesn’t tell us specifically that the woman was in pain, but surely staying stooped over, crippled, unable to straighten even a little bit, must have been painful. Whatever the physical illness may have been that bound this woman, it was one that kept her stooped and bent over for close to two decades. 18 years of pain.

            Yet, this crippling disease did not keep this woman from coming to the synagogue on the Sabbath. There is nothing in the text to indicate that she came there looking for healing on that day. I believe she came because she wanted to worship, nothing more. She does not seek Jesus out. She does not beg him to heal her. There are no concerned friends or family members who intercede with Jesus on her behalf. Perhaps she had heard of him and the healings he had been performing, but if we go strictly by the text, we only read that Jesus sees her, not the other way around. Jesus is teaching when he sees this woman, so stooped I suspect it hurt just to look at her. Jesus calls her over and proclaims that she is set free from her ailment. He lays his hands on her and immediately she stands up straight. Her back, crooked and bent for 18 years, is now straight.  

            This is what we know. She came to the synagogue and Jesus saw her. Being as bent over as she was, I doubt that she could have seen him. But Jesus saw her. Jesus called out to her, and he healed her. And when she finally stands tall once more, what is her response? She praises God. Immediately on being healed, she praises God.

But the praise is interrupted by the leader of the synagogue. He is outraged. He is indignant that Jesus has cured this woman on the Sabbath. The Law was clear – healing on the Sabbath could only happen in critical, emergency situations. What was critical about this woman’s situation?  She was bent over for 18 years! What difference would one more day make?  The leader might have been furious with Jesus, but he does not confront him directly. He turns to the crowd, venting his ire on them. He chastises the worshippers who were gathered there.

            “There are six other days of the week. Come to be healed on those days, not on the Sabbath.”

            You don’t mess with the Sabbath. The Law was clear, specific as to what could happen on the Sabbath and what could not. A non-urgent healing that could have happened on any other day did not qualify for a Sabbath healing. There’s no doubt that Jesus knew this. Yet Jesus did in that moment what he had done before. He saw a person in need, and he chose to help, Sabbath or no Sabbath.   

            When the Synagogue leader expresses his disapproval to the crowds over what has just happened, Jesus does not hesitate in his reply.  

            “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? And ought not this woman, a daughter of Abraham who Satan bound for eighteen long years, be set free from this bondage on the Sabbath day?” 

            If you’re willing to unbind your animals on the Sabbath, then why not set this woman free as well? Isn’t this the right response to her suffering, whether it happens on the Sabbath or any other day of the week? Karoline Lewis from WorkingPreacher.Org suggested that a sermon title for this passage should be, “If Not Now, When?” I had already picked my title when I heard this, but next time I preach on this passage, that is the title I’m using.

            If not now, when? As so often happened, at Jesus’ words all his opponents, his naysayers, were put to shame. This was not the first time Jesus butted heads with the religious professionals over what should and shouldn’t happen on the Sabbath. He hadn’t hesitated to heal on the Sabbath in other instances. His disciples had been seen gathering food on the Sabbath. I guess some folks might make the case that Jesus didn’t care too much about the Law. Jesus stated that with his coming, the Law had been fulfilled. Yet I’m not convinced that this is about Jesus not caring about the Law. I think Jesus did care; he cared deeply. But Jesus cared about the intent of the Law, just as he cared about the intent of Sabbath. 

            When I was growing up the Sabbath was a day when a lot of things were not supposed to happen. I’m old enough to remember Blue Laws – civic laws that restricted stores and other places of business from being open on Sundays. My parents lived under much stricter restrictions about Sabbath than I did. And the rules their parents had for the Sabbath were even stricter. And so it went for each generation. 

When I was a little girl, and read the Little House books by Laura Ingalls Wilder, I remember reading her description of the Sabbath when she was a little girl and thinking,

“Boy! Am I glad I don’t have it so hard!”

Our understanding of the Sabbath was much like this Synagogue leader’s. There were strict rules about what could and could not be done. But what was the intent of the Sabbath? It was a day to rest. God rested after creating the world. When the Hebrews were enslaved in Egypt, they were slaves. If the master expected them to work seven days a week, 24 hours a day, they did. There was no such thing as downtime, weekends, leisure, or rest and relaxation. When God gave them the Sabbath it was a gift. It was a gift of time. It was a gift of rest. The restrictions about what could and could not be done were not meant as punishment, but about keeping away the distractions that kept that rest from happening. The Sabbath was a day given by God to enjoy God and all the good things of and from God. If not now, when?  

            Jesus understood that intent. He also knew that the religious leaders and the people they led no longer did. Just as he modeled what it meant to be in relationship with God and one another on every other day of the week, he also modeled that relationship, that community on the Sabbath. God intended the Sabbath day for rest, for renewal, for relationship. But how can it be a day of rest for a woman who has suffered for so long? How can their relationship with God and with one another be well and whole when one of them is so obviously broken? 

            When Jesus healed the woman, he didn’t set aside the Law. Instead he saw past the codification of the Law that had blinded the people to what God really wanted. He saw the woman with compassion, and with justice. Wasn’t this woman a captive? Wasn’t she bound by a spirit that held her down, literally, for 18 years? When Jesus healed her, he set her free. He released her just as he promised he would release all those held captive. It seems to me that not only did he straighten her back Jesus gave her new sight as well. 

            If you were to constantly live in a stooped position, what would be in your line of vision?  The hard ground. The feet of other people. Looking up at the world around you would have been nearly impossible. When Jesus straightened her back, he also gave her new sight. She could now see the world in a way that had been closed off to her for 18 years. No wonder she praised God! Not only was she set free, but she was also able to see again. She could see the fullness of God’s creation once more. Jesus set her free from pain and for life!

I think he gave the crowd new eyes as well. I wonder if that’s the crux of this passage.  It’s not just about what should or shouldn’t be done on the Sabbath day. It’s about being set free to see God and the Sabbath and one another with new eyes. 

            Jesus did not set the people free from God’s Law. He set them free from a skewed belief that compassion was restricted to only certain days of the week. He set them free from restrictions that hindered their relationship with God and one another. He set them free from the idea that the Sabbath was just a day of do’s and don’ts, rather than a gift from God. Jesus set them free and gave them new vision to see that God’s love was more than just a nice idea, but a reality he lived fully. On that Sabbath day he set them free.

            How do we need to be set free? What is that binds us? What keeps our backs stooped and our eyes seeing only the ground beneath our feet? What binds our hearts and minds? How do we need to be set free? Is our time together in this place a means of liberation, or is it another way to keep our eyes closed? Do we feel the liberating Spirit of God moving in our midst, or are we bound to the narrow legalism that the religious leaders of Jesus’ time and our time conveyed? Are we set free in this place to love God and to love one another?

            Whatever it is that binds you, binds me, I pray for freedom. May Jesus set us free this day and every day. May Jesus straighten our backs, realign our vision, and set us free to praise God. If not now, then when?

            Let all of God’s children say, “Alleluia.”

            Amen.