“Bent-over Woman”

(Luke 13:10-17)

Now Jesus was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath.  And just then there appeared a woman with a weakness that had crippled her for eighteen years.  She was bent over and was quite unable to stand up straight.  When Jesus saw her, he called her over and said, “Woman, you are set free from your ailment.”  When he laid his hands on her, immediately she stood up straight and began praising God.  But the leader of the synagogue, indignant because Jesus had cured on the Sabbath, kept saying to the crowd, “There are six days on which work ought to be done; come on those days and be cured, and not on the sabbath day.”  But the Lord answered him and said, “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 whom Satan bound for eighteen long years, be set free from this bondage on the Sabbath day?’  When he said this, all his opponents were put to shame; and the entire crowd was rejoicing at all the wonderful things that he was doing.

            My next door neighbor back in Wellington was Lois.  She was in her 80’s in those days, and she was really spunky.  She pushed her old lawn mower around her property, hung her clothes on the line every Monday, rode her big old ‘50’s bicycle around town, including to the Lorain County Fair about a mile away. 

I finally was able to make friends with Lois because she liked my dog.  He reminded her of the dog she had as a child growing up on the farm.  Lois was very opinionated: she did NOT like the Doberman who belonged to the pastor before me; she wouldn’t come and share a meal with us because “she only liked her own cooking.” 

And Lois was the stereotypical bent-over woman, with what we might today call osteoporosis or scoliosis, but it didn’t keep her from doing most of what she wanted to do.  Still, when I would see her walking her cat several times a day, I imagined how hard it must have been for her to see where she was going and how hard it must have been to hold her head up given her infirmity.

            If you didn’t know Lois or if you were put off by her appearance, you might just have ignored her or written her off.  She could have been invisible if she hadn’t been so darned spunky and outspoken.

            Speaking about bent-over women leads me to our Gospel story today.  Picture the person who was described in the story—a woman with a spirit…some translations say a weakness or an illness—that had crippled her for 18 years.  She was bent over and quite unable to stand up straight.  Can you see her with her walking stick attempting to get around?  Can you see her struggling to see where she is going?  Can you see her coming to the synagogue to worship, hurrying in her own way to get to her place among the women, attempting to stay out of the way of the men? 

We really cannot understand, then, how shocking it must have been for Jesus to call her over to himself.  She must have been terribly frightened about what was coming.

            A woman in the time of Jesus was invisible at best, a non-person.  This one had spent 18 years being miserable and probably treated horribly.  So—you must see that even being noticed by Jesus was stunning.  …But he not only noticed her, he called her to him.  Over she came, making her way painfully, barely able to raise her head far enough to meet his gaze.

            He spoke: “Woman, you are set free from your ailment.”  He laid his hands on her.  She stood up straight, and she began to praise God.  This sick woman—probably considered old in those days—this invisible person, this non-person—was important enough to Jesus to notice and, then, to break Sabbath law to heal her.

            Indeed, Jesus set the woman free from her burden, the burden that caused her to be bent over, that allowed her to be treated as less of a person, the burden that had made her unable to fulfill her potential.  Jesus set her free.

            Now, I don’t want to minimize those who suffer from this ailment, but I have to say that there have been times in my life when I have felt like a bent-over woman.  I have known others, too, who have been so burdened with their cares and worries that they looked bent-over.  The truth is that what some of us carry around is heavy stuff.

            In fact, I think that some folks spend their whole lives accumulating hurt and pain and cares and burdens—and it gets heavier and heavier.  Their shoulders are more and more bent.  And you know how it goes, for some people, the more they take on, the more is expected of them.  “…Oh,” we think, “so and so will do that.  She does such a good job.”  You’ve heard it said, I’m sure, “Ask a busy person to do a job, and they will get it done.”

            People and institutions take advantage of folks who are willing to take more and more upon themselves.  Churches have been some of the worst offenders.

            Then there are those who are bent over, but no one can tell because they keep a big secret about it.  They put on a happy face, and no one is the wiser.   Maybe they are ashamed of their situation, so they keep it to themselves: the parents of the addicted teen, the person who lives in fear of losing their job, the husband or wife who is living with the ugly truth of a marriage gone bad, the person who is gay or Lesbian or trans and afraid to let the world know who they are, the person with shameful debt, the child of an alcoholic who cannot bring friends to their home, the person with mental illness who is desperately trying to appear “normal.”

            These are some of those with burdens so heavy, yet with nowhere to go with them and no one to help ease the load.

            Imagine one of them or one of us coming into worship and being summoned by Jesus.  “Woman or man, you are set free from your burden.”  He lays his hand on him or her, and the person rises up, no longer bent-over.

            Imagine yourself set free from your burden—your burden of pain or grief or shame or sadness or anger.  Freed of the burden of guilt that you may have said the wrong thing, that you didn’t measure up at your job or your home, that you felt like a failure to your parents, your spouse or your children.  Imagine being able to stand tall, free from worries about money, free from responsibility for loved ones, from a job that you’re not suited for. 

Picture Jesus laying his hands on you, helping you to stand up under that which you must carry, giving you the strength for what you must do and taking away what you shouldn’t have to carry.

Never mind that it’s the Sabbath.  Never mind that you sometimes feel invisible or unworthy or like a second-class citizen.  Jesus cares first and foremost about the person, not the law.  Jesus sees each and every one of us as a treasure too precious to be wasted….

            Now, …imagine a church (and this is not ours, at least right now, but it is the description of so many others) a church that is bent over with its burdens: a building that is aging and suffering from maintenance not performed, finances that are preventing the church from hiring needed staff or doing ministry in its setting, worship that is not attracting new blood. 

But this is maybe us: members who are growing older and becoming infirm and unable to attend, a fine history that may not be valued in the community, members who are over-worked, programs that would be amazing, but everyone is too tired to volunteer.

            And are there opportunities in our communities to try to make a difference in our fractured world, and, yet, we feel too over-burdened to respond to the need.

            Does any of this sound familiar?  Folks, do you sometimes feel like the bent-over woman?  Do you sometimes feel as though the burdens are too heavy and the road too long?

            …Well…We all need Jesus to call us over and heal us. 

We all need Jesus to save us from our burdens. 

We all need Jesus to help us see a new way. 

We all need Jesus to open our eyes so that we may see. 

We ALL need Jesus to open our ears so that we may hear God’s will for our community. 

We all need Jesus to show us how to do ministry in our setting and with the gifts and graces we have been given. 

We all need Jesus to teach us how to trust each other and to move forward, whatever that path may be.

We all need Jesus to inspire us to act for the goodness of all. 

…We all need Jesus’ healing hands no matter what the rules are. 

We all need Jesus….

            Yesterday morning 12 of us and hundreds of others were part of the Pride Parade in Akron.  It was great!  If anyone felt burdened with anything, I tell you, we were inspired by each other, by everyone who was there marching and watching.  So much joy.  So much freedom.  So much inspiration.  It was such an uplifting event.

            …And so, Jesus looked up from his teaching in the synagogue and saw a woman struggling, and he called her to himself, declared her free of her burden and laid his hands upon her.  Her spine unfolded as she slowly lifted her head to the heavens and praised God with her whole heart, soul, mind and body.  She was free, she was proud, she was all that God had made her to be, no longer shackled by her heavy burden.  …May it be so for each of us, for our church, for our community, for our nation, for our world.  Amen.