Isaiah opened the world of compassion by encouraging us to feed the hungry and care for the
afflicted so that our “light will rise in the darkness,” creating “strong bones” as we will be called
the “repairer of the breach.” Right alongside compassion, Isaiah teaches us to keep the Sabbath
holy, to refrain from trampling the sabbath with our own desires and interests. Compassion and
sabbath keeping are also at issue in our gospel lesson. A lesson that only Dr. Luke, the
physician, records. READ Luke 13:10-17
I recently discovered Grey’s Anatomy on Netflix. It came out when I had two toddlers at home
and I did not have time for Dr. McDreamy. But it explores powerful themes, human nature,
medical ethics, and relationships. One patient presented bent over at the waist after many
surgeries and treatments. Our first glimpse of this young patient is her returning from the
bathroom and the looks on the intern’s faces because all she can see is the floor and we only see
her face once she sits in bed. Her body is set in a 90-degree bent position which contributed to
her hardened response to life.
I start here, because when I first read this passage, I thought of someone with a hunched back yet
mobile. But there is more going on. “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” (Sermons.com). “She had gotten used to looking at people out of
the corner of her eye, by looking up and sideways. On this particular Sabbath, there was a
special excitement at the synagogue, where she regularly went to worship. A Galilean preacher
and prophet, Jesus of Nazareth, had arrived in town and would be teaching there. She and the
others in town had heard reports about Jesus–how he talked about God’s reign arriving soon and
how he healed sick people. She was not sure how many of the rumors to believe, but she was
trying not to get her hopes up. Her life already had too many disappointments to count”
(Working Preacher, Jeanine K Brown).
“Perhaps (her ailment) 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 ailment.’ We are told that she
suddenly stood erect, and began praising God” (Sermons.com, Brett Blair).
Who here would love to hear Jesus say, “you are set free from your ailment”? That persistent
lower back pain, your shoulder that gives you trouble, the digestive symptoms that keep you
trapped in your home, the cancer you are fighting or you hope never returns, the depression that
darkens your world, your heart issues, the vision that limits your night driving, your mental
status that is not what it once was, the COPD that diminishes your activities. Who wants to hear
Jesus saying, you are set free from your ailment, set free from the ailment that first popped into
your mind. I wish I could say if you had enough faith your ailment would be healed. But that is
not how faith works. Yet naming your ailment helps us have compassion for the woman’s
ailment. When Jesus walked on earth, he manifested God’s healing powers, he removed the
crippling spirit from the woman. Whatever aliment you struggle with could certainly be thought
of as a crippling spirit, even though today we have much better medical knowledge and care.
Yet before Jesus healed her, he first saw her. Women at this time were valued mostly for bearing
children. “She lived in a society in which the voices, needs, and rights of men were usually
privileged, and the voices, needs, and rights of women were usually ignored… According to
New Testament commentator James R. Edwards, “People with physical deformities were
expected to remain socially invisible, especially if they were women. Women rarely if ever
approached rabbis, nor did rabbis as a rule speak to women… She endured two types of pain: the
intense psychological pain of being rendered invisible and the torturous physical pain of having a
debilitating condition. We do not know whether she suffered silently or loudly, but we do know
that she suffered greatly” (Working Preacher, Jared E. Lacantara).
In her suffering, Jesus showed her compassion. Jesus saw her, saw her pain, touched her and
healed her. The origins of the word compassion mean to “to suffer with” while also motivating
action to alleviate the suffering. The action Jesus took was laying hands on the woman,
unleashing divine power. And “Immediately she stood up straight” (13). But the Greek actually
reads, she “was straightened up” — assuming God as agent. (God straightened the woman’s
back.) God not only “set free”, but “straightened” her in the synagogue on the Sabbath”
(Working Preacher, David Schnasa Jacobsen).
As you know, working on the Sabbath was strictly forbidden. So, the religious leader pleaded
with the crowd to come on the other days of the week. But Jesus took issue with this. Not
challenging the law, because Jesus was teaching in the synagogue on the Sabbath, in line with
Jewish tradition. But Jesus’ compassion for the woman gave valuing the woman and her
suffering precedent over the religious practices. “Jesus sees past (the) customs to a person in
need…(Jesus asks, isn’t this woman, a daughter of Abraham, a daughter of the covenant, of more
value than the animals you untie to get water on the sabbath?) She is the only woman who gets
this (daughter of Abraham) title in the Gospel of Luke. Jesus calls Zacchaeus a “son of
Abraham” (Lk 19:9). It is curious that (Jesus) gives sacred titles to two religious outsiders. (And
yet) John the Baptist declared to the people that if they did not hear and heed, then God would
“raise up children to Abraham” from the stones instead (Lk. 3:8). (Compassion and sabbath,
seeing vs. rules.) For those who are religious or who like being religious about their religiosity,
remember: When you do not see others, Jesus confronts you. The church is not meant to be a
country club, a health spa, or a gated community, but rather a place where those who are seen
and freed by God are empowered to see others with eyes of faith” (Working Preacher, Jared E.
Lacantara).
Our ailments help us have compassion for the woman. Maybe our ailments help us help others.
Remind us that we all suffer from something. Of course, we still pray for God to heal our
ailments, and the ailments of others, but we also offer grace and compassion to those we meet.
Our faith community is a place we are reminded that our calling from Christ is one of
compassion, more than religiosity. A place we worship a God who sets free and straightens
those who humbly come to the Lord. We have experienced the grace of God through Jesus
Christ, and we are to share that grace with those who come to us, whether bent over, weighed
down, full of self, or simply lonely.
As for the woman who was bent at 90 degrees on Grey’s Anatomy, the surgery allowed her to
walk upright and the joy on the faces of the doctors was lovely.
“The healing of the bent-over woman” (in Luke) one commentator wrote, “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 beings.
When the bent-over woman was healed, they all stood straighter” (Sermons.com, Wesley White,
quoting Helen Bruch).
May we all stand up straighter, breath more deeply, see more clearly thanks to the compassion
we have received from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.
