The Church of St.
Paul & Incarnation, Jersey City NJ
August 25, 2019
Year C, Proper 16:
The Eleventh Sunday after Pentecost
Jeremiah 1:4-10
Psalm 71:1-6
Hebrews 12:18-29
Luke 13: 10-17
Bent, But Not Broken
Even
if you don’t recognize the gospel lesson I just read, it probably feels kind of
familiar to you.
In
this story of Jesus healing a woman who had been bent for eighteen years there
are elements and themes that we find elsewhere:
Jesus
teaches in the synagogue.
Jesus
heals on the Sabbath.
The
religious establishment gets unhappy with Jesus while the people rejoice at the
good work he is doing.
Although
the elements are familiar, this story is found only in Luke – Luke, a masterful writer who in just a few words
paints a vivid scene for us.
We
begin with Jesus teaching in the synagogue on the Sabbath, which is presented
as an unremarkable event, when suddenly a woman who has been bent for eighteen
years appears.
No
one remarks on her suddenly showing up.
It
doesn’t seem that she even knew that Jesus was teaching that day.
She
doesn’t seem to come to the synagogue hoping for a miraculous healing.
Instead,
it’s the Sabbath and so as a faithful Jew this bent woman does what Jews did
then and do to this day: gather for worship and prayer.
Notice
that even if the woman was already aware of Jesus’ reputation as a
miracle-worker, the woman does not ask Jesus to heal her.
No,
this time Jesus doesn’t wait to be asked.
Jesus takes the
initiative, calls her over, and says, “Woman, you are set free from your
ailment.”
He
lays his hands on her and, for the first time in eighteen long years she is
able to stand up straight.
And,
we’re told she immediately begins praising God.
Which
seems like the perfect response, right?
But,
not everybody is happy.
The
leader of the synagogue objects to Jesus healing on the Sabbath, the day of
rest, the day when no work is supposed to be performed.
Now,
it has to be said that the synagogue leader has a point.
The
Law was clear that Jews were allowed to save a life during the Sabbath – in
fact, they were required to do so –
but that’s not what happened here.
This
woman, who had been bent for so long, could surely have hung in there a little
while longer - until sunset when Jesus could have healed her without any
objection.
But,
what we know and what the synagogue leader doesn’t, is that Jesus is not just
an amazing teacher and powerful healer. He is the Son of God, and God is not
bound by Sabbath rules, as important as they are.
God
is always free to heal and to bless as God chooses.
Amen.
But,
as I’ve reflected on this passage, I keep thinking about the woman bent for
eighteen years.
I’ve
mentioned to you before that I’ve been trying to get out for a long walk most
mornings, following a route around the neighborhood that includes a loop around
Lincoln Park.
And,
during my walks I’ve been trying to pay close attention to what’s going on
around me and to also trying to remember to look up, to see the vastness and
beauty of the sky, the grandeur of creation.
While
I’m in the park, I’ve been looking carefully at the many trees.
In
my ignorance, I can’t name many of them but I can appreciate their shapes,
their height, the colors of their leaves, their apparent health or disease.
And
there are a few trees that are quite bent – they remind me of the woman in
today’s story – they’re quite bent - but they don’t break – they don’t break because
they have deep roots.
Like
all good writers, Luke tells us only what is necessary to make his point.
So,
we’re never even told the name of the woman bent for eighteen years and, in
fact, she never even speaks in the story.
But,
we’re given just enough information to get a sense of her.
Even
today, osteoporosis and other spinal ailments are painful and present many
challenges for the people afflicted by them.
Getting around or
even sitting comfortably becomes increasingly difficult.
It becomes a
challenge to make eye contact with others.
There’s the risk
of falling and making a bad situation even worse.
And, perhaps,
people like the bent woman have to endure the pity of others or even people
turning away in fear, too afraid to face their own possible future.
But, this bent
woman of the ancient world, bent for eighteen long years, she doesn’t give up –
she doesn’t stay at home curled up as safe and as comfortable as possible.
No, instead, she
drags herself out and to the synagogue, not expecting a miracle but simply to
gather with her Jewish sisters and brothers, to hear the Scripture, to pray to
the God who knew her just as well as God knew the Prophet Jeremiah – the God
who knew her even before she was formed in the womb.
It seems her
appearance in the synagogue that day was routine.
No one shouts out
something like, “Hey! Look who’s here!” or the dreaded “Long time, no see!”
No, she’s probably
a regular at the synagogue.
Bent, but not
broken.
Deeply rooted.
Later this
afternoon, many of us will gather outside to remember and commemorate the 400th
anniversary of the arrival of the first enslaved Africans in English North
America.
We will remember
and honor them and the millions more who followed, people who were uprooted in
the cruelest and most violent ways imaginable.
Those who survived
the horrific voyage were sentenced to lives bent over fields, and stoves and
tables – sentenced to a life where every effort was made to strip away their
dignity.
And, yet.
And, yet, what we
also remember is that these same people were able to put down roots here, able
to put down roots in the most inhospitable soil imaginable, and not just
survive but, in a truly miraculous un-bending, somehow create a new, rich, and
beautiful culture that is the most American of all.
The enslaved
people were able to put down roots in God, the God who knew them before they
were formed in the womb, the God who never forgot their human dignity, the God
who hates injustice and has a special love for all the bent people of the
world.
Today we live in
an uprooted world.
Not only do people
ignore the Sabbath, they – we – no longer know who we are and whose we are.
We’ve forgotten
the old stories.
We no longer sing
the old songs.
We are uprooted.
It’s one of the
reasons why false prophets and hucksters are able to lead so many astray.
And, so on this
day when we remember a bent but not broken woman, rooted in her tradition - today,
when we remember those first bent but not broken enslaved people - today when
so many of us are uprooted, I challenge myself and I challenge you to put down
deep roots, to put down roots in our community here, to put down roots in the
God who knew us before we were formed in the womb.
Put down deep
roots so that no matter how strong the storm, with God’s help, we may be bent,
but we will never be broken.
Amen.
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