HEALING OF THE BENT WOMAN Luke 13

HEALING OF THE BENT WOMAN Luke 13:10-17
Today’s gospel provides an account of one of the many healings

performed by Jesus. He is teaching at a synagogue and notices a woman
who is crippled, incapable of standing up straight. She is deeply stooped
over, bent nearly in half, and she has walked through life this way for 18
years. Imagine her experience of the world. What has her posture made
her unable to see and experience as others do? What facial expressions
has she missed? What views of the world have escaped her? How has
her periphery been drawn in and limited by her physical condition. 18
years is a long time to live so constricted and constrained. What in her
surroundings did she have to convert to accommodate her ailment? In
other words, how did the experience of constriction, result in the
constriction of her world?
In this gospel, Jesus calls her over and touches her – perhaps offering
her an intimacy often withheld from her. She immediately stands up and
begins to praise God. It’s an extraordinary moment, captured in just
four verses. She was constricted, constrained, forced to live small. Now
she has expanded, her spine has extended; her head has risen – exultant
and exalting. Imagine that.
The gospels present us with many stories of Jesus extending physical
healing. These stories are interspersed with his teachings on the nature
of the kingdom of heaven, and with accounts of humanity’s difficulty in
comprehending the good news he offered. I suspect that many of the
physical healings we read about serve as metaphors for the spiritual
healing that is at the heart of the gospel and of the kingdom of heaven
that is ever taking shape around us.
Where do we feel spiritually bent, or crippled? Where are we cowed
over, stooped, or experiencing too small a view of the world around us?
I think of things like fear, jealousy, anger, insecurity, perfectionism, and
efforts to control life or other people. These can, over time, become
habits that diminish our spirits and constrain our capacity for joy, love,
and for living the lives we were designed to live. They can be habits
that keep us small and stooped. Where do these habits come from if we
were designed to experience so much more?
"Connection is why we are here. We are hardwired to connect with
others, it’s what gives purpose and meaning to our lives, and without it
there is suffering.”
"Shame, is the fear of disconnection – it’s the fear that something we’ve
done or failed to do, an ideal that we’ve not lived up to, or a goal that
we’ve not accomplished makes us unworthy of connection".
Research indicates that every human being struggles with shame on
some level and part of being truly human, part of living wholehearted
lives, is to learn resilience in the face of it. But what am I talking about
when I talk about shame? Isn’t that more the terrain of those who have
experienced deep trauma or been part of abusive religious communities?
How does it manifest for the rest of us?
Shame whispers in our ears, “You are not enough. You’re not smart
enough, not powerful enough, not accomplished enough, not talented
enough.” It proclaims, “You are too weak, too needy, too messed up,
too brainy, too awkward, too fat.” If we shake that off, it ask us, “Who
do you think you are?” This voice is the opposite of the voice of love.
And when this voice has power in our lives, it makes giving and
receiving love very difficult – because it presents acceptance and love as
unachievable. And it teaches us that joy is fleeting.
It all sounds pretty dire. Except that in the gospels we see Jesus
proclaiming over and over again that love is abundant and that we are
loved deeply and passionately by God. The gospels denounce the lie
that we are not enough or that we are too much. They answer the
question, “Who do you think you are” by answering quite simply, the
one who is beloved of God. The gospels tell us, “You have been formed
in love, you have been made to experience great love, and you get to
extend great love. Therefore, shame need not have power over you.”
We are embraced by a love that offers this kind of transformation, this
kind of renewal. Sometimes the renewal comes suddenly and release is
immediate. These are the moments of great clarity that can take us by
surprise and break open a view of heaven in an inescapable way. Other
times, the renewal comes slowly and steadily, perhaps at first escaping
our notice. We may in fact grow impatient and wonder why old habits
seem so resistant to change. And here’s the rub. We experience love
profoundly when we have moments of suddenly standing tall. We also
experience love profoundly even as we continue to stoop – because love
is extended regardless of our habits and our fears. Love is steadily
offered, abundantly poured out. It is in our freedom from needing to be
perfect, that we can come to understand aspects of love that are harder to
see when everything is in place. Sometimes in our infirmity we catch
the note that draws us deeper into the song of grace.
At the start of this sermon I asked you to consider how the bent
woman’s posture might have limited her view of the world. Now I’d
also ask you to consider, what has she seen from that stance? What has
she been able to perceive that others miss, their eyes fixed more directly
outward? What intricate details has she noticed that are often
overlooked by those moving so quickly through life? What joys has she
discovered that, as it turns out, are not limited to those who can stand
tall? What has she learned in the midst of constriction?
I don’t mean to suggest that her healing was unimportant; it was in fact,
a cause for great joy. As it is for us when we experience healing. But
there is an incredible joy that can be found in discovering that nothing is
wasted in the economy of God. Not even our struggles to believe that
we are truly loved as God promises that we are. Not even our feelings
of powerlessness to change old habits out of sheer force of will.
Not even shame is wasted, if in the hands of love, it is transformed into

empathy, compassion, and mercy for others.
In their fearlessness they are a people capable of great love – even love
to a stranger. They promise me, with what strikes me as incredible faith,
that I too will come to love them as they already love me.
This kind of belonging and acceptance offers me a profound experience
of the kingdom of heaven. It reminds me of what this community of
faith gets to practice together and to extend to all those who are in our
lives. Freedom, joy, fearlessness.
Not even shame is wasted, if in the hands of love, it is transformed into
empathy, compassion, and mercy for others.

HEALING OF THE BENT WOMAN Luke 13

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

HEALING OF THE BENT WOMAN Luke 13

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

HEALING OF THE BENT WOMAN Luke 13

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

HEALING OF THE BENT WOMAN Luke 13:10-17

Today’s gospel provides an account of one of the many healings

Not even shame is wasted, if in the hands of love, it is transformed into

You might also like

Pfad - The Proxy pFad of © 2024 Garber Painting. All rights reserved.