a teaching moment

from my sermon on 8/22/10 from Luke 13:10-17

Bent...she was bent over...crippled, unable to stand up straight, bound by her condition. I want you to experience what it was like for her. Bend over, look down...that's what she saw all of the time. Look down...that's what others did to her...looked down upon her.

Maybe it was purely physical, maybe she had scoliosis, curvature of the spine. Maybe it was something else. Since the text says she had a "spirit" of infirmity, maybe we could say being bent over was more of a metaphor. Maybe she bore the weight of the world on her shoulders...she could have been a "hero" child, super-responsible, trying to take care of everything and everybody. Some of you know what that is like. Maybe she had an addiction...alcohol or another drug ...and felt the shame of that, we say of someone in that condition thay they have a monkey on their back. Some of you know what that is like. Some of United Methodist Women are reading a book right now about women in some cultures whose only supposed value is in getting married....who are treated more like an object than a person. Some of you may know what that is like. Maybe she was under heavy load of debt, we say today that someone has a "crippling debt." Some of you know what that is like.

Since it is the start of school tomorrow, maybe to be bent over is take that backpack upon your shoulders. Those notebooks and pencils don't weigh very much, but add textbooks, and then add your parents expectations--"Make good grades, go to the right college, get a good job, make lots of money"--and you start to get bent over.

Maybe you are a teacher and you are feeling the weight of getting started--you don't have your class rolls yet, gradespeed is not up to speed, you are going to block schedule, the copier is broken. Some of you know what that is like.

Jesus comes along, right into our midst, and the text says, "now he was teaching.." Jesus is always teaching, especially in this part of Luke. Jesus is on a long journey from Galilee to Jerusalem, and it takes him 10 chapters to get there. The path is not logical; it's theological. Jesus is trying to teach his followers, all of us, who he is, what he wants us to do and be.

He is in the synagogue on the Sabbath. Say what you will about Jesus, he was faithful in worship. He is a good model to follow.

And does the woman cry to him? Does she ask for help? Does she proclaim her faith? No, it's Jesus who take the initiative. He notices her. The one everyone overlooks and looks down upon, he sees. He calls to her. He pronouces the word. Does he say, "be healed, be saved, be well, your sins are forgiven?" No, he says that he set her free.

It is that way with us. Jesus takes the initiative. He won't let us hide. He seeks us out. He says the word that sets us free. Where in your life do you need to hear that today? Where in the world do we need to hear that word of freedom?

Immediately the woman stands up straight. She has new life, new dignity. Jesus calls her a daughter of Abraham. She praises God.

But the leader of the synagogue is indignant. Ouch, this gets close to home, because I am sort of the leader of this congregation. The leader is a rules and regulations kind of guy. He knows his Old Testament. What commandment talks about the sabbath? The fourth one. It is interesting that the 4th commandment is given in 2 different places. In Exodus 20, we are to remember the sabbath and keep it holy because God worked 6 days in the creation of the world and rested on the 7th. In Deuteronomy 5, we are to keep the sabbath because once we were slaves in Egypt and now have been set free.

Jesus wants us to be set free, even, especially on the sabbath. When is the right time to do what is the right thing? Right now!

The crowd rejoices. A woman is set free from 18 years of being crippled. We are about to rejoice. Our sabbath is Sunday, the first day of the week, the day we celebrate Jesus rising from the dead. Last Sunday, I was so proud of you as wave after wave of you came out to the Blunn Creek apartments on Woodward St, near St. Ed's U. You were getting it ready for Igor to come home. Igor, this 20 year old student from Macedonia was injured in a swimming accident 2 months and 3 weeks ago, and was paralyzed. He has made much progress in that time, but still has a long way to go. In the hot sun, last Sunday, you were bringing a couch, beds, dressers, towels, entertainment center, tv's, kitchen utensils, food, and drinks. Lizzie who has been in a wheelchair for some years now was pitching in by checking everything out to see if her chair fit in all of the spaces. It was a time of rejoicing because Igor was coming home the next day.

And the next day, Monday, Igor left the hospital and came home. But he didn't immediately go to the apartment. He came home to this church, to God's house. Igor wheeled into the front of this sanctuary and sat before the altar and looked up at this cross. We allowed him the time and space to do that. Then we gathered around him and prayed a prayer of thanksgiving. I asked him later, "What was going through you?" He said, "It was like a great weight was being lifted off."

This is what the world needs--at school, at work, at home, in the neighborhoods--to be set free. When is the right time to do it? Right now. That is what Jesus is teaching.