Luke 13:10-17

August 25, 2019

The Rev. Todd R. Goddard, Pastor

Rush United Methodist Church

Luke 13:10-17

 

Now he was teaching in one of the synagogues on the sabbath. And just then there appeared a woman with a spirit 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.

 

Prayer.

 

This magnificent Gospel passage,

Only found in St. Luke,

Gives us a unique path directly to the heart of Jesus.

 

In the Gospel of St. Luke

Pay attention to who Jesus sees.

 

Jesus sees a woman who was invisible.

Literally, she was bent over;

Curvature of the spine, for one reason or another,

Placed her face outside the field of vision of nearly everyone.

 

Loss of eye contact leads to distance.

Social distance increases,

Revealing increased isolation.

Her name is forgotten.

Her identity assumes the name of the least common denominator: “woman.”

 

This woman’s withdrawal from family, friends and synagogue

Reveals another imperfection.

The community’s indifference is exposed.

 

It is as if

One day

She disappeared.

 

For 18 years

She got the cold shoulder.

Her name was not remembered,

Her story was forgotten, and

Nobody cared.

 

It’s kind of like dropping out of church and no one noticing.

 

Pay attention to who Jesus sees.

 

A spirit had crippled her, Luke reports.

The language and history are clear.

Luke uses the language at hand to report that

Her condition violates God’s will for her life.

This woman is not demon possessed,

As is often assumed.

Through no fault of her own, she is tragically broken.

 

She is broken,

Not only because of her physical impairment,

But because her physical limitation

Makes her invisible to the community

And makes it impossible for her to fulfill God’s will for her life.

 

This woman is bound

And imprisoned by her chronic inability to stand up and be seen.

Until Jesus sees her.

Until Jesus calls her over.

Until Jesus laid his hands on her.

 

She is healed.

She stands up straight.

She is seen and the community is made whole once again.

The imperfection has been repaired as if it never happened.

She is liberated to once again serve the Lord, and

Her immediate response is praise!

 

Jesus restores her identity:

She is a daughter of Abraham.

Jesus proclaims what healing has done:

This daughter of Abraham has been set free from bondage this sabbath day to love and serve the Lord!

 

Set free.

Liberated.

It’s as if it is God’s will to heal.

(Of course, it is!)

God desires the broken to be healed.

 

Pay attention to who Jesus sees.

Jesus sees

The tragically broken.

When seen

The bound are liberated and set free.

 

All of which

Begs us to ask the existential question:

Who are the tragically broken that Jesus sees, yet we do not?

Who are the people unable to fulfill God’s will for their lives

Because they are broken and unnoticed?

 

You’ll never see if you don’t go looking.

 

………….

 

This past week I went looking;

I was privileged to join the Outreach team from our church

That serves lunch downtown once a month

Volunteering with “A Meal and More Ministries.”

 

Healthy meals are served to members of our community who are not seen:

Sons and daughters of Abraham

Who struggle with addictions and homelessness,

Unemployment and mental health issues,

Tragically broken families and former lives.

 

This was Wednesday’s menu: salad, Cajun roast chicken, mashed potatoes, macaroni salad, mixed vegetables, buttered bread, and a cupcake for desert.

 

One woman came to the counter and asked for fruit.

The chef smiled warmly.

Without hesitation, he served up a heaping bowl of fruit from a refrigerated pan.

He cryptically said to me, “We don’t serve fruit because no one eats it.”

 

(Puzzled) I was looking, but I wasn’t seeing what Jesus was seeing.

 

The chef told me her story:

This woman is addicted to heroin.

Her boyfriend of over twenty years died three months ago of an overdose.

All her family has died, either of overdose or of other causes.

She is all alone.

She only eats fruit: one bowl every Wednesday and one bowl every Sunday.

That’s all she eats.

“That’s why I always have fruit in the fridge and I fill her bowl full.”

“Just as you did it to one of the least of these … you did it to me,” he explained. (Matthew 25:40)

 

Two bowls of fruit a week doesn’t cure her addiction

But it does liberate this woman from isolation.

For a time she is fed; her stomach and her soul.

She is filled by the grace and mercy of the ministry and

By the social unity of those seated at her table.

 

Alan the chef sees a daughter of Abraham as if he was looking through the eyes of Jesus,

Because he is.

 

…………….

 

Who does Jesus see that we don’t?

You’ll never see if you don’t go looking.

 

Sometimes broken vases are obvious;

They’re shattered.

Nothing is left but rubble.

A big mess.

It’s easy to look for the tragically broken and find rubble.

 

Once aware, a response can be immediate:

Think about a family left homeless after a house fire, or

Communities flooded after a natural disaster, like Hurricane Katrina.

 

The need is obvious.

Glasses aren’t needed.

Everyone can see what needs done.

Everyone pitches in and helps as each are able.

Some pray, some fundraise, some donate, some travel and muck out basements.

There’s something for everyone.

 

Sometimes a broken vase has a fatal crack;

Even though it looks intact.

The crack is turned to the backside,

Hidden from public view.

Looking requires searching,

Active seeking,

Intentionally engaging

The world as if we are the eyes and hands of Jesus.

Because we are.

 

When I think of hidden brokenness,

I think of caregivers;

People who give up life, jobs, freedom, everything …

To care for an aging loved one,

To care for a disabled spouse or child, or

To raise grandchildren, or great grandchildren.

Caregivers may look like they’re holding it all together,

But may be frantically struggling just to keep from being sucked under the flood and drowned.

 

Look for caregivers in the community.

When you see one,

Reach out to one.

A prayer. A gift. A visit. An embrace.

 

When I think of hidden brokenness,

I think of people who struggle with addictions, anxiety, or depression.

The stigma is too embarrassing to reveal to anyone

Other than one’s most trusted confidants.

The tragically broken are awash in a storm

Of guilt,

A sense of moral failure,

And a fear of being judged.

 

Look for people and families that struggle with addictions and mental health problems.

When you see one,

Reach out to one.

A prayer. A gift. A visit. An embrace.

 

………….

 

Actively looking as if looking through the eyes of Jesus

Requires intentional effort and willing sacrifice.

 

It is not sufficient to see the humanitarian crisis

Simply by watching network or cable news stories from our Southern border.

 

To see,

To bring healing to the broken,

To liberate those who are bound,

Requires me to go;

To intentionally travel to the source of bondage.

This is why I travel on short-term mission trips to Guatemala.

 

I’d never see the homelessness and malnutrition

If I wasn’t there

Building houses and passing out food.

I’d never see the violence done, especially to women and children,

If I didn’t distribute clothing and shoes.

I’d never know the isolation of bent over sons and daughters of Abraham

If I failed to take part in fitting people to wheelchairs.

 

My invitation to you:

Join me.

Come, look and see, and heal

Next August

When I hope to return to Guatemala.

 

……………….

 

It is God’s will to heal

The tragically broken,

The nameless,

The invisible.

 

It is God’s will to liberate the bound:

Caregivers,

Those living in slavery to addiction,

Those suffering from mental health issues,

Families hungry, homeless, victimized, neighbors near and far away.

 

Look and see,

beloved members and friends of Rush.

Look and see as if you are the eyes of Jesus,

Because you are.

 

Look and see as if you are the healing hands of Jesus,

beloved people of Rush, our friends and our guests,

Because you are.

 

Seek the tragically broken of the world,

Because healing mean liberation.

Liberation is life,

Even eternal life.

Amen.