These illustrations are based on Luke 13:10-17
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Sermon Opener - A Crippling Spirit - Luke 13:10-17
I want to encourage you to do something. If you have never read Victor Hugo’s memorable novel, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, pick up a copy and read it. Hugo uses an interesting literary technique in the story. The reader is allowed to see the basic decency and humanity of Quasimodo, the hunchback, while the crowd sees him only as a monstrous freak. The story, in its essence, is part tragedy, and part hope.
Our text this morning, not surprisingly, comes from Luke’s Gospel. This story also, is part tragedy and part hope. Luke is the only Gospel writer who records this event in the life of Christ. But Luke, being a physician, would have been drawn to a story like this. He does not go into a lot of detail. In only three verses he tells us that there was a woman who was a hunchback. We do not know her name; we do not know about her family background. We know that she has had this condition for eighteen years. The implication is that she had not been born with it. Perhaps it was a calcium deficiency, a spinal injury, or genetic, or some extreme case of osteoporosis. We don’t know. We are simply told that a spirit has crippled her. Jesus called her over and said, “Woman, you are set free from your infirmity.” We are told that she suddenly stood erect, and began praising God.
I am not quite sure what to make of this spirit. But, in some way it is responsible for this woman’s tragic circumstances. As we take a closer look at this story there are other spirits at work. There is at work...
1. The crippling spirit of the woman.
2. The legalistic spirit of the synagogue ruler.
3. The joyful spirit of the congregation.
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The Bent-over Woman - Luke 13:10-17
As was his custom, Jesus went that Sabbath morning to the synagogue for worship. As he was preaching and teaching, he happened to glance toward the fringe of the crowd where he saw a very crippled woman. She was bent over and was unable to stand up straight. When he inquired, Jesus was told the woman had been that way for eighteen years.
Can you imagine? For nearly two decades this woman spent every waking moment bent double. When she went to the market she did not see the distant green hillsides. She saw only the dirt path in front of her. Instead of the smiling faces of passing children, she saw the tops of dusty sandals. The Gospel writer tells us that the Master was deeply moved by her plight. Jesus called the woman toward him. He laid hands on her and said, "Woman you are set free from your ailment." Immediately the woman stood up straight and she started to praise God. This irritated one of the leaders of the synagogue. This fellow, we assume a Pharisee, began to criticize Jesus for healing the woman on the Sabbath. "There are six days on which work ought to be done. Healing equates to work and there is no excuse for working on the day set aside for rest and worship." This religious leader believed keeping the law more important than caring for people.
The man's attitude outraged Jesus. The Master responded that the law permits untying and leading a donkey to water on the Sabbath. Certainly the law should care more for the needs of people than animals. The law should make an exception for unleashing this daughter of Abraham who has been kept from drinking from the waters of abundant life for eighteen years. I assume that Luke, who remembers this story in his biography of Jesus, recorded the event because of this confrontation with the leader of the synagogue. That disagreement offers the most to learn. However, I want us to focus on that bent-over woman. If we don't look closely, we might assume Jesus healed the woman of a physical disease of the spine like osteoporosis or scoliosis. At first hearing, it does seem that when Jesus laid hands on her and told her to stand up straight, the power of God flowed though our Lord's fingers, into her back, and healed a physical defect.
While plausible, that is not what Luke says…
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Everyone’s a Critic
One night at Birdland, the legendary jazz bar, Cab Calloway was introducing a promising young saxophone player. As the sax player finished his set, a self-appointed jazz critic came over to him and said, in front of Cab, "You aren't that good, man. All you can do is play like Charlie Parker."
Cab took the young man's sax and handed it over to the critic. "Here," he said, "you play it like Charlie Parker."
Isn't it true that whenever you are trying to do something significant, somebody comes around to criticize? Busybodies. The world is full of them.
King Duncan, Collected Sermons, www.Sermons.com
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Trusting the Healing Touch
Author Max Lucado tells about his boyhood days of playing football out in the West Texas fields. The fields where Max and his friends played were full of grass burrs that stuck in their skin. Sometimes, after a big tackle, a player would have a leg or arm full of grass burrs. They stung horribly. The game came to a stop while the player pulled out each of the burrs. Some players wanted to keep on playing in spite of the burrs, but it was usually too painful. Lucado trusted no one but his father to pull out the burrs. So he would leave the game, go home, and get his father to pull out every last burr, then he would return to play.
Friends, there are burrs that only our Father can remove. Fortunately God will remove them if we trust ourselves to Him.
King Duncan, Collected Sermons, www.Sermons.com
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A Revolution in Seven Verses
Walter Wink, in his book Engaging the Powers, suggests that Jesus' action represented a revolution happening in seven short verses. In this short story, Jesus tries to wake people up to the kind of life God wants for them. He often talks about the Kingdom of God where people have equal worth and all of life has dignity. But in the latter part of his ministry, he begins to act this out. In the midst of a highly patriarchal culture Jesus breaks at least six strict cultural rules:
1. Jesus speaks to the woman. In civilized society, Jewish men did not speak to women. Remember the story in John 4 where Jesus spoke to the Samaritan woman at the well. She was shocked because a Jew would speak to a Samaritan. But when the disciples returned, the Scripture records, "They were astonished that he was speaking with a woman?" In speaking to her, Jesus jettisons the male restraints on women's freedom.
2. He calls her to the center of the synagogue. By placing her in the geographic middle, he challenges the notion of a male monopoly on access to knowledge and to God.
3. He touches her, which revokes the holiness code. That is the code which protected men from a woman's uncleanness and from her sinful seductiveness.
4. He calls her "daughter of Abraham," a term not found in any of the prior Jewish literature. This is revolutionary because it was believed that women were saved through their men. To call her a daughter of Abraham is to make her a full-fledged member of the nation of Israel with equal standing before God.
5. He heals on the Sabbath, the holy day. In doing this he demonstrates God's compassion for people over ceremony, and reclaims the Sabbath for the celebration of God's liberal goodness.
6. Last, and not least, he challenges the ancient belief that her illness is a direct punishment from God for sin. He asserts that she is ill, not because God willed it, but because there is evil in the world. (In other words, bad things happen to good people.)
And Jesus did all this in a few seconds.
Mickey Anders, Bent, adapted from Walter Wink, Engaging the Powers
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Shame on You!
I was waiting my turn to see the emergency room doctor when a young mother came through the doors with her child, maybe three or four years old. The little girl was crying and the woman who, I took to be the child's mother, was holding a bloody handkerchief over the little girl's mouth. She looked around frantically for someone to help and rushed to the desk and said, "My daughter's been hurt and I need to see..." She was cut off in mid-sentence, "You need to take a seat and wait for one of the clerks to sign you in."
"But my little girl was hit in the mouth by a..." She was interrupted again. "Please take a seat ma'am, someone will be with you shortly."
Just then, the ER doctor walked in and said to the woman at the desk, "Shame on you... this little girl needs help right now!" He motioned to the woman and the little girl and led them to an examining room.
Briefly, (and guiltily) I wondered when my turn to see the doctor might come, but -- if I live to be a hundred years old, I wonder if I will ever see another time when a person's pain so clearly wins out over the system's protocol. "Shame on you!" I love it! The physician was looking at a child's pain. The clerk was looking at the hospital's procedure.
John Jewell, Shame on You!
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Living in a Plastic Bubble
I feel as though I live in a plastic bubble. It surrounds me, but it cannot be seen. I see everyone around me, I hear them speak. Behind their words, they hide from me. They look at me and think they know me. But they don't see my bubble, they don't look long enough to see it. I try to talk with them, to share myself, but my words return, unlistened to. And nobody hears.
I move through the days insulated in my protective bubble. I reach out to ones that I love, but they don't notice. They don't feel my need. When I extend my hand, no one takes it. Heavy hearted, I withdraw it, vowing never to offer it again. I call to those around, I beg, "Please, help me. Please touch me. Please love me." And nobody hears.
Though not made of plastic my bubble is real. It is comprised of many things. The sting of harsh words, spoken thoughtlessly. The heartache of love unrequited. The disappointment of a trust broken. The guilt of mistakes past. The terror of, again, being rejected. These things envelop me, isolate me; in my torment I scream, but it is silent. And nobody hears.
I sought escape from my invisible prison. I looked for someone, some person who would see my bubble and free me of it. I searched for years, to naught. And then, when all seemed hopeless, I turned my eyes in a new direction. There he stood, arms outstretched, beckoning me. He spoke to me. He touched me.
Then I understood what I should have always known. Through all the empty years and broken dreams, I never had been alone. He was always there, just waiting for me to call. I closed my eyes and whispered, "God, please help me. Please touch me. Please love me."
And he heard.
Mark Trotter, Collected Sermons,www.Sermons.com
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Safe, but Trapped!
There once was a loving couple who had the wife's elderly mother living with them. Their concern was for her security while both of them went away to work each day. They finally seemed satisfied after they had devised a system of twelve different locks and bolts for the front and back doors of the house! The only problem was that they overlooked the old woman's technical ability to operate all these devices. When a friend would want to call on her during the day, or when she would want to go out and enjoy the backyard, she had to turn down such opportunities because she didn't know how to get all the locks and bolts open! She ended up being a daytime prisoner, all in the name of feeling "secure." One doesn't even want to think of what might have happened if there had ever been a fire in the house. Her children had good intentions but carried them too far. The Sabbath, too, needs to be guarded, but the religious leaders of Jesus' day carried things too far.
Richard W. Patt, All Stirred Up, CSS Publishing
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Born to Greatness
There was a certain man who went through the forest seeking any bird of interest he might find. He caught a young eagle, brought it home and put it among the fowls and ducks and turkeys, and gave it chicken food to eat even though it was the king of birds.
Five years later, a naturalist came to see him and, after passing through the garden, said ‘That bird is an Eagle, not a chicken.’
‘Yes’ said the owner, ‘but I have trained it to be a chicken. It is no longer an eagle.’
‘No,’ said the naturalist, ‘it is an eagle still; it has the heart of an eagle, it has the wing span of an eagle, and I will help it soar high up in to the heavens.’
‘No,’ said the owner. ‘it is a chicken and will never fly.’
They agreed to test it. The naturalist picked up the eagle, held it up and said with great intensity. ‘Eagle thou art an eagle; thou dost belong to the sky and not to this earth; stretch froth thy wings and fly.’
The eagle turned this way and that, and then looking down, saw the chickens eating their food, and down he jumped.
The owner said; ‘I told you it was a chicken.’
‘No,’ said the naturalist, ‘it is an eagle. Give it another chance tomorrow.
So the next day he took it to the top of the house and said: ‘Eagle, thou art an eagle; stretch forth thy wings and fly.’ But again the eagle, seeing the chickens feeding, jumped down and fed with them.
Then the owner said: ‘I told you it was a chicken.’
‘No,’ asserted the naturalist, ‘it is an eagle, and it has the heart of an eagle; only give it one more chance, and I will make it fly tomorrow.’
The next morning he rose early and took the eagle outside the city and away from the houses, to the foot of a high mountain. The sun was just rising, gilding the top to the mountain with gold, and every crag was glistening in the joy of the beautiful morning.
He picked up the eagle and said to it: ‘Eagle, thou art an eagle; thou dost belong to the sky and not to the earth; stretch forth thy wings and fly.’
The eagle looked around and trembled as if new life were coming to it. But it did not fly. The naturalist then grabbed its head and made it look straight at the sun. Suddenly it stretched out its wings and, with the screech of an eagle, it flew out of his hands and mounted higher and higher and never returned. Though it had been kept and tamed as a chicken, it was an eagle.
You see. You take us humans and put us among the ducks, and turkeys, and chickens in this world and give us rules to live by and tell us that we are moral people so long as we live by those rules, and we will contently live out our lives in meager existence. But you let someone like Christ come along, straighten our backs, and point our head toward the heavens, and then suddenly we realize we are sons and daughters of Abraham. We are God’s chosen people. We are not chickens; we are eagles!
Brett Blair and Staff
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ADDITIONAL ILLUSTRATIONS NOT IN OUR EMAIL
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Sermon Opener - Mulliganeers, All – Luke 13:10-17 by Leonard Sweet
Way back in cold old February, fourth grader Patrick Timoney came face-to-face with what “zero degrees” really mean. Not “zero degrees” Fahrenheit, but “zero degrees” of tolerance.
It seems Patrick had taken some of his favorite Lego toys to school to show off to his buddies. Any parent of young children can tell you those little, tiny Lego guys are natural born killers.
They hide in the couch to poke you when you sit down.
They stab you in the foot as you cross the floor.
They can single-handedly destroy expensive vacuum cleaners, dishwashers, and washing machines.
Patrick’s favorite Lego toy was an inch-and-a-half tall policeman figure. The Lego policeman came armed with his own teeny-tiny gun. That minuscule piece of plastic succeeded in getting Patrick kicked out of school. It seems the “zero tolerance” policy about bringing “weapons” on school grounds extended to include that Lego ornament, that toothpick-sized armament.
Sorry, but sometimes “zero tolerance” makes “zero sense.” At least zero common sense.
A “zero tolerance” policy is what the synagogue leader was advocating in today’s gospel lesson. Charged with keeping the reading and reflection of the Torah on the straight and narrow, this officious official couldn’t see beyond the letter of the law, beyond the jot and tittle of his title. No “work” on the Sabbath meant strict adherence to every stated restriction. No “work” on the Sabbath meant avoiding every rabbinically-vetoed activity.
In other words, the synagogue official had come to see the Sabbath as one great big “thou shalt not.” Instead of being a celebration of the divine presence, Shabbat became a cell to quarantine human activities and confine the Spirit…
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Celebrate Restoration
How many businesses have gone bankrupt because they forget their existence depended upon serving their customer? Initially, there is a hunger in eyes of the entrepreneur to "serve the customer." An overarching attitude of “I can do that!”
The business booms and slowly they can't keep up with sales. Managers manage and consultants consult, but they don't know the customer. They know the government, laws, taxes, they create forms and policy. Sales and service people spend more time looking down at paper than up at people. The customers become the government bureaucrats, accountants and the attorneys who track the "bottom line" but don't add to it.. Soon, every dollar that changes hands costs $0.75 in paperwork.
This was what had become of the church in Christ’s day; and it is what has become of too many churches today. The woman in this story was released from 18 years of binding pain. A true community would fall to its knees in worship of Jesus; forget the tithing plea and the worship order — they would just sit in awe of God’s mercy. Yet, this religious leader sees the woman as a distraction to his liturgical sensibilities. One Saturday morning, the Bearer of Salvation walked into this man’s synagogue and he sent him packing -- without so much as a membership card.
In Luke’s Gospel, this was Christ’s last visit to a synagogue. Our Lord extended his hand to the religious one last time and they would not shake it. In the process, they look like fools; they go from being indignant to being humiliated.
Where am I in this picture? Am I the fool who can’t move aside for Jesus? Am I the hypocrite who is left hardened in ritual while the need for healing cries out all around me? Am I the idiot who can’t see the point of the text because an ‘i’ was left undotted or a ‘t’ was left uncrossed?
Lord, remind me that my salvation is based upon the "woman who is set free" and not following the proper protocol for worship and ritual. Let me celebrate restoration — not analyze its doctrinal soundness.
Jerry Goebel, There Are No Wimpy Christians in Heaven
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Sickness Rearranges Priorities
In 1971, in Plano Texas, a woman by the name of Linda gave birth to a boy she named Lance. She did what many mother’s do with boys. She molded his temperament by involving him in a variety of sports. He soon showed an aptitude as an athlete and by the age of 13 his skills were confirmed when he won the Iron Kids Triathlon—a combination of swimming, biking and running. Three years later at the tender age of 16 he became a professional triathlon athlete. When most children were trying to compete at their local high schools, and entering armature competitions, Linda’s boy was making money as an athlete.
He worked hard and sometimes his training would take him to the edge of the state to the Oklahoma border where he would call his mom. Mom, he would say, I’ve gotten too far out again and the sun is setting. Can you come get me? And off she would go riding under the darkening big skies of Texas to pick up her boy in the family car. It was now becoming obvious that he was not going to be a triathlon athlete. In one of the three skills of the triathlon he was excelling, excelling beyond the skills of men twice his age and experience. At the age of 18 he qualified to train with the U.S. Olympic team in Colorado Springs, Colorado. His behavior nearly cost him his high school diploma but private classes were arranged which enabled him to graduate. He continued to excel in his chosen sport gaining recognition around the world and then it happened. News which brought his career to a climatic end – or so it seemed at the time.
In 1996, in the middle of a race, excruciating pains forced him to quit. Test revealed advanced testicular cancer which had spread to his lungs and brain. The once athletic and vibrant young man underwent three operations and began the most aggressive form of chemotherapy. Now, his career was the least of his worries. Doctors said he had 50/50 chance and the cancer left him scarred physically and emotionally. He said, the ailment completely changed his life and his priorities. Sickness, real sickness, rearranges life.
Brett Blair and Staff
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Becoming Our Best
If we really want to be healed, we have to be honest about our condition, and it's hard to be straight with ourselves, especially when, like the leader of the synagogue, we're pretty satisfied with things the way they are. It's hard to straighten up! But sometimes, by the grace of God, we are presented with a challenge that calls forth our best. What we discover is that by giving our best we become our best. Life is full of opportunities to become more.
A few years ago a doctor published this personal testimony, this confession, in a noted medical journal:
I considered myself one of the best and the brightest. Having just left a prestigious residency and fellowship program, I thought I was honed to a fine medical edge. My first law of medical practice was soon declared: "A wheelchair outside the treatment room door means trouble and should be avoided at all cost." Because it means that your skills may not keep things under control.
Nevertheless, I violated that law one day, and after taking a deep breath I stepped over a wheelchair, opened a door and met John. He was a referral from a colleague, and I was silently furious because John, age 14, had cerebral palsy, was painfully deformed and was extremely ill. He had been abandoned by his parents at an early age, knew few friends and lived in a foster home. And there he was now in my treatment room.
John also had widespread cancer. During the next year, numerous and prolonged hospitalization were required to keep him partially comfortable. He never complained and showed uncommon courage; nonetheless, his care became an increasing ordeal.
Finally, after a particularly frustrating day for the two of us, John grabbed my arm and said, "I'm sorry to be such a burden to you."
That night he died.
I've never forgotten John and the lesson he taught me. He taught me that there was more to me than I gave myself credit for being. He taught me that giving my best is to become my best. He taught me that life is full of opportunities to become more. And to think I almost missed it.
Michael D. Powell, Straighten Up
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Rules and Routine
Any classroom teacher, especially one with a large number of students, will quickly confirm the importance of rules and regulations in keeping a classroom running smoothly and even in keeping the students happy. Everyone likes to know how the people around them are going to behave and when things are going to happen. There is real safety in knowing the people around you will honor the rules. There is also real security in following a routine and knowing what will happen next. Rules and routines are an important part in establishing a safe and positive classroom.
However, if you ask any classroom teacher if they ever make exceptions to the rules, you will probably get a resounding YES! There are always situations that demand a little flexibility. There are always students who need a second or third chance, a little extra time on a test, or a little special protection now and then. The teacher might even admit that every now and then one of the other students will object to this rule bending, like the synagogue leader in this text. Some kids can’t stand to see someone else ‘getting away with something.’ One teacher I know diffuses this situation by asking the protesting student, “If you were cut, would you need a band-aid? If you were not cut, would you need a band-aid? Sometimes, things happen that require special action….I’m just using a band-aid.”
Jesus was, of course, using more than a band-aid in his dramatic healing of a woman who had been sick for 18 years, but his message was the same. Sometimes the person needs to come before the rule.
Staff,www.eSermons.com
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New Wine in Old Skins
Twice in our text we are told that the woman has had this illness for 18 years (probably a word connection with the 18 who died in 13:4). What difference would a few hours make? Why heal her on the Sabbath day and purposely cause all the conflict that such a "work" would create? Note also that the word "Sabbath" occurs five times in our text.
Robert Capon deals with that topic in Between Noon and Three. It is part of his defense in writing an offensive story/parable that is the majority of this book. He relates his deed to Jesus' actions in Matthew 12, but they relate just as well to the miracle in Luke 13. He writes:
...his breaking of the sabbath seems pointless and unnecessary. He is not performing a good deed that, if delayed, would become un-performable. This is not a man who needs immediate rescue, not a man lying unconscious in a burning house. This is not even a man whose case is like the one Jesus cites to justify the healing -- a sheep fallen into a pit who would drown if left till sundown. The Pharisees are reasonable men. Of course they would pull out the sheep. If you care to make a rather Latin-style theological argument for them, you might have them reason that since the Sabbath is the chief sacrament of the order of creation, it may lawfully be broken only if some significant individual instance of that order is in danger of imminent and irreversible disordering.
But that is not the case here. This man has had a withered hand for years [or a woman being ill for 18 years]. Why in God's good name can't Jesus wait out the afternoon and cure him without flying in the face of the Torah? Why can't he sit with him till sunset and use the time to fix the man's mind on the graciousness of God? Why can't they search the Scriptures together and set the stage so that the healing will be seen in all its unquestionable rightness? What is the point of this unnecessary muddying of the water? ...
Whenever someone attempts to introduce a radically different insight to people whose minds have been formed by an old and well-worked-out way of thinking, he is up against an obstacle. Their taste, as Jesus said, for the old wine is so well established that they invariably prefer it to the new. More than that, the new wine, still fermenting, seems to them so obviously and dangerously full of power that they will not even consider putting it into their old and fragile wineskins.
But try to see the point of the biblical imagery of wine-making a little more abstractly. The new insight is always at odds with the old way of looking at things. Even if the teacher's audience were to try earnestly to take it in, the only intellectual devices they have to pick it up with are the categories of the old system with which it conflicts. Hence the teacher's problem: if he leaves in his teaching a single significant scrap of the old system, their minds, by their very effort to understand, will go to that scrap rather than to the point he is making and, having done that, will understand the new only insofar as it can be made to agree with the old -- which is not at all. [pp. 140-142]
Capon concludes that if Jesus had waited until sundown, his wonderful miracle would have supported the people's expectations of a victorious and immortal messiah -- one "who is coming to punch the enemies of the Lord in the nose."
Brian Stoffregen, Exegetical Notes
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Bravery and Courage
In January of 1982 an Air Florida jet crashed into the icy Potomac River in Washington, D.C. After the crash, there was a helicopter that was trying to rescue people from the downed plane. It dropped a line and one woman grabbed it and the helicopter began to drag her toward the shore. But the woman was so cold and tired that she couldn't hold on and so she dropped back into the icy Potomac. At that moment a man on the shore jumped in the cold waters and quickly swam to her aid and saved her life. His name was Lenny Skutnik.
Now I don't know anything more about Lenny Skutnik than that. But that one incident was enough to tell me that he's a very compassionate, courageous and brave individual. You just have to look at the videotape to see that. There's no doubt about it. Of all the people there, he alone jumped into the icy water to save the woman. He was a hero and his actions exemplified bravery and courage.
Some instances are like that. You only have to observe a person doing one thing and that one action tells you a lot about the person doing it. The story that we have before us about Jesus is like that. What we have here is an insight into the heart of Jesus. And what it shows us is the great compassion of Jesus.
Laurence Veinott
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Sabbath Rest
There is a story told of a wagon train on its way from St. Louis to Oregon. Its members were devout Christians, so the whole group observed the habit of stopping for the Sabbath day. Winter was approaching quickly, however, and some among the group began to panic in fear that they wouldn't reach their destination before the heavy snows. Consequently, several members proposed to the rest of the group that they should quit their practice of stopping for the Sabbath and continue driving onward seven days a week.
This proposal triggered a lot of contention in the community, so finally it was suggested that the wagon train should split into two groups - those who wanted to observe the Sabbath and those who preferred to travel on that day. The proposal was accepted, and both groups set out and traveled together until the next Sabbath day, when one group continued while the other remained at rest.
Guess which group got to Oregon first?
You're right. The ones who kept the Sabbath reached their destination first. Both the people and the horses were so rested by their Sabbath observance that they could travel much more vigorously and effectively the other six days of the week.
James Love, Sabbath
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A Limitless Stream
A woman appeared with a spirit that had crippled her for 18 years. I wonder if the spirit's name was scoliosis. I imagine the woman bent forward with a large hump on one side of her back, struggling to breathe. He called her to him, invited her to choose to make her way close to him. He gently prepared her for the healing he offered by his announcement: "You are set free." Then when he saw that she was ready and that she wanted this freedom, he laid hands on her and allowed his power and his love to release her from suffering. She knew immediately that God welcomed her praise. But the leader of the synagogue was annoyed. This wasn't the sort of disorder he wanted in his synagogue. Jesus called him (and us) hypocrites for resenting the surprises of God's freedom. We are often tied to the safety of our manger, our food stores, our little boxes where we have found both nourishment and condemnation. Jesus sets us free to come to the water of life that flows from him in a limitless stream.
Katherine Hilliard
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A Community Event
One of the best studies of women in the gospels I know isDo What You Have the Power to Do, by Helen Bruch Pearson, published by Upper Room Books. I can't do any better with this series of encounters of Jesus with a woman, a religious leader, and a congregation than Helen's own words.
"The healing of the bent-over woman was not a private event. After the public rebuke of the synagogue ruler by Jesus, the entire congregation got involved. This healing was a community affair. Everyone experienced empowerment. They all [rejoiced]. In a sense, they were all set free from the bondage of a tradition that placed more importance on keeping the law than on responding to the welfare and needs of human being. When the bent-over woman was healed, they all stood straighter. Indeed, no healing is without its positive social side effects for the entire community."
Wesley White, quoting Helen Bruch Pearson
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A Spirit of Joy
For 7 years, from 1999 through 2005, I experienced the joy that synagogue must have experienced as I watched the Tour de France. Remember the story earlier about Linda's boy Lance who contracted cancer? We all watched him years ago win for 7 consecutive years the Tour De France. The Tour De France the world's biggest sporting event. It is a grueling four week 2000 mile (3,200 km) bicycle race through French mountains, towns, and country sides. And it was won by a young man from Plano, Texas who nearly lost his life to cancer. A feat I cannot come close to grasping. How do you come back from those kind of odds and do that well?
I'll tell you how. It is because you are surrounded by people who take joy in the well doing of others. It because you have a mother like Linda and a spouse and children who love you. It is because you have coaches and friends who are interested in your well-being. They don't pick you apart at every turn. And then a little miracle of healing doesn't hurt either.
Never count people out. If they are sick, heal them. If they are down on their luck, assist them. If they are not up to a task, teach them. If they have a burden, lift it. If they have failed, encourage them. Jesus provided for this woman what no one else could have a whole body. He healed her. Now, there is no way the synagogue ruler could have healed this woman's back, but the very least he could have done was show her some respect and provide her some dignity and at the very least celebrate with her. That I think is the lesson Jesus would have us learn. We cannot all be healers but we can treat one another like sons and daughters of Abraham. As people who have worth in the eyes of God. My friends, this will give you, and me, a spirit of joy!
There are spirits at work in this world. Which spirit is at work within you? Is it a crippling spirit? Is it a legalistic spirit? Or, is it a spirit of joy? Whichever it is, will make all the difference in your life and in the life of others. Amen.
Brett Blair, www.Sermons.com
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A Touch of the Master's Hand
It was not only the physical condition of this woman that was restored on that Sabbath day. Many scholars point to this text as the place where Jesus restored the dignity of all women. Jesus argues that this crippled woman is of more importance to God than livestock because she is a daughter of Abraham. And so, with the touch of his hand he not only restores her health but her place in the community. It reminds me of the song by the Christian artist Wayne Watson "The Touch of the Master's Hand," which coincidentally the lyrics were a poem written by a woman by the name of Myra Brooks Welch. Listen to her words:
Twas battered and scarred, and the auctioneer
Thought it scarcely worth his while
To waste much time on the old violin,
But held it up with a smile.
"What am I bidden, good folks," he cried,
"Who will start bidding for me?
A dollar, a dollar" --then, "Two!" "Only two?
Two dollars, and who'll make it three?
Three dollars, twice;
"Going for three --" But no,
From the room, far back, a gray-haired man
Came forward and picked up the bow;
Then wiping the dust from the old violin,
And tightening the loose strings.
He played a melody pure and sweet
As sweet as a caroling angel sings.
The music ceased and the auctioneer
With a voice that was quiet and low,
Said what am I bidden for the old violin?
And he held it up with the bow.
A thousand dollars, and who'll make it two?
Two thousand! And who'll make it three?
Three thousand, once; three thousand twice;
And going, and gone!" said he.
The people cheered, but some of them cried,
"We do not quite understand
What changed its worth?" Swift came the reply:
"The touch of the master's hand.
And many a man with life out of tune,
And battered and scattered with sin,
Is auctioned off cheap to the thoughtless crowd,
Much like the old violin.
A "mess of pottage," a glass of wine;
A game -- and he travels on.
He's "going" once, and "going" twice,
He's "going" and "almost gone."
But the Master comes and the foolish crowd
Never quite understands
The worth of a soul and the change that's wrought
By the touch of the Master's hand.
I think Ms. Brooks understood what happened to the crippled woman and how one touch can transform a life.
Sermons.com Staff
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Life Is Supposed To Be Enjoyable
When Jesus healed this hunchbacked woman, a perfectly good deed caused contention. In our own lives, we can have such an experience. There is, for instance, the proverbial mother of the bride, who takes a wonderfully fine day, such as her daughter's wedding, and turns it into a tension-filled day preceded by months of laborious planning and followed by months of regret and fatigue for everyone else in the family. Thank God that such Victorian concepts of executing everything "just right" have faded somewhat, so that most social occasions these days turn out to be what they were intended for -- a good time of relaxation, fun, and pleasant conversation.
When you think of it, just about everything in life is supposed to be pleasant and enjoyable, and can be! But it seems like so much that was meant to be pleasant and enjoyable is marred by contention: our childhood, our school days, marriage, family life, our jobs and careers, and on and on. Likewise here, an act of kindness on the Lord's day ends in an uproar.
Richard Patt, All Stirred Up