Proper 16C / Ordinary 21C / Pentecost +11

August 25, 2019

God - Out of the Box

St. Luke 13:10-17

Jesus Heals a Crippled Woman

10 Now he was teaching in one of the synagogues on the sabbath. 11 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. 12 When Jesus saw her, he called her over and said, “Woman, you are set free from your ailment.” 13 When he laid his hands on her, immediately she stood up straight and began praising God. 14 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.” 15 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? 16 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?” 17 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.

Grace and peace to you from our Lord and Savior, Jesus, the Christ.

Rabbi Wing, our Jewish friend from Temple Beth-El, tells us that in her Jewish tradition the Hebrew Scripture is viewed as a conversation, an argument, if you will.  God’s people are invited into a conversation or at times argument with Holy Writ. 

The Scripture is not some codified book of moral law, although it contains such laws.  The Scripture is not simply a narrative history of the people of God, although it contains the people’s story.  Holy Scripture is written for the sake of revealing and arguing for a certain view of God.

So God’s people have this back and forth conversation with Scripture – the living Word talks back to us and we change and grow.  The old arguments continue as our tradition evolves.  “On the one hand…on the other hand.”

Like Tevye in Fiddler on the Roof when one of his daughters wants to marry the Taylor and not be part of the pre-arranged marriage.  Tevye has this inner debate.  “One the one hand – tradition!”…”on the other hand I see in her eyes that she loves him…”

The back and forth of Christ and his first century counterparts take the form of conversation and debate – arguments for a certain view of God.

Today’s Gospel reading reveals such a debate and unveils two contrasting ways to relate to God – God in a box, or a God free to unburden and heal.

The setting is a local synagogue on the Sabbath.  Jesus is teaching.  A bent over woman, probably with osteoporosis, comes hobbling in and of course would be noticed.  Women were outside the prevue of the gathered community.  They had their place and it was subject to men.

One can imagine that she just wanted to get a closer look and be near to Jesus – like Mary who sat at the feet of Jesus just a few chapters prior to this incident in Luke’s Gospel. 

This unnamed bent over woman does not solicit Jesus for any help, nor did she necessarily have faith in Jesus.  She was merely present in her condition and Jesus notices.

Now Jesus could have let it go and be none the worse for it.  Jesus could have gone on with his teaching, his message for the day, but no, oh no Jesus interrupts his teaching time and when he saw her simply said,

“Woman, you are set free from you ailment.”  Then he stepped down from his place of speaking and did yet another gesture.  He touched her, he laid his hand on her and she stood up straight and began praising God.

The religious leaders offered a good argument to the crowd.  “There are 6 days in the week – come back and be healed on one of those days.” 

A reasonable argument – Jesus could have respected the Sabbath prohibition to work and simply told the woman to come back tomorrow. A reasonable argument – common sense!  What is one more day for a woman who has lived with this ailment for eighteen years?

Jesus does not mince words to make his point.  “You know, you religious folks caught up in the rules of the Sabbath are hypocrites.  You even have a Sabbath rule that allows you to take your ass – your donkey – from the manger and lead it away to give it water.  So, if you are so flexible in the rules to help a donkey – how much more – a daughter of Abraham – why not set her free from this oppressive evil in her life?”

“Daughter of Abraham” – why that would have been offensive to the religious law keepers at the time of Jesus – there are sons of Abraham – but to claim a woman as a ‘daughter of Abraham’ that would raise the ire of those with whom Jesus was arguing.

Lest we forget - in the first century women had little or no status.  If they had any status it was due to their husbands.

So an unclean woman, a marginalized person, enters the synagogue.  Jesus stops his teaching, heals her, touches her, and claims her as a daughter of Abraham in the face of Sabbath prohibitions.

The crowd goes wild and applauds his action.  They hear and see Jesus going back to the real intention of the Sabbath laws – love of neighbor.

Luke is the editor, the writer of this gospel.  What purpose is served by Luke telling this story of Jesus healing a woman who has been disfigured by some ailment and doing so on the Sabbath?

Luke’s message:  God does not put up with the status quo for the hurting and oppressed.  God steps in with the power of compassion and touch and healing.  When rules get in the way of justice – Jesus stands with justice.

You can’t put God in a neat little box of rules that anticipates and pre-figures God’s response.  Jesus gets out of the box.  Jesus participates in a deeper justice of a compassionate God who unburdens the oppressed and heals the hurting. 

Legalists – rule keepers love rules especially when the rules do not affect them.  It is easy for legislatures to cut back programs that help people in need when it affects no one they know.  It is easy to put in place additional laws that restrict and burden voters when everybody you know can afford and have access to ID’s.

Legalists - rule keepers suddenly become more flexible when the weight of the rule presses heavily on someone close to them.  When the weight of a rule is felt on their own backs the rule keepers become more flexible.

Embryonic stem cell research suddenly becomes plausible for leaders and politicians when a family member will benefit.  Positions on gay marriage suddenly soften or shift when a son our daughter comes out.   When it hits close to home one can begin to see injustice and even unintentional cruelty in a rule one might ordinarily support.

In our own lifetimes we’ve seen how unjust laws can oppress people.  As we commemorate the 50^th Anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King’s March on Washington we need to remember that unjust laws that oppress and burden – that bend people over need to be reformed.

We need to remember our baptismal promise and God’s call for us to strive for justice and peace in all the earth.  It is part of what we promise in Holy Baptism – to strive for justice and peace in all the earth. 

The letter of call to ELCA pastors enjoins them to speak on behalf of the poor and oppressed. 

Remember that God cannot be put into our boxes of rules but breaks the box of any rule that gets in the way of genuine compassion and justice.

Norman Habel – OT professor wrote about ‘This Jesus’ of St. Luke – this God – out of the box.  This Jesus meditation is printed on your insert.

This Jesus

This Jesus.

God, he’s beautiful.

I mean, he’s really great.

he’s not at all pretty

or “sick-beautiful”

like those pictures of him

that Christians hang on their walls.

He’s not like that at all.

He’s real.

He’s got soul.

What he did is something else.

There’s nothing like it.

You see,

when this Jesus came on the scene

God was like a stranger to people.

Oh, they thought they knew God,

but they didn’t really.

Jesus knew God.

That’s why he did not fit in

with other people.

He was himself.

He didn’t have to copy anyone.

He did what he had to do

and kept on doing it until

they couldn’t take it any longer.

So they killed him.

He did his thing

because he was Jesus.

He wasn’t trying to be someone else.

He was tough.

He cut through all the phony ideas

of the priests and leaders.

and told them the truth.

And he still does.

He really knows the truth about God,

and it’s wild.

“Your God is a stranger,”

he keeps saying,

“and you keep building a wall

to keep God away

because you’re scared to face him,

I mean, really face him.

Well, I can bust any wall,

any evil, any box you make for God

or for yourself.

“I busted the biggest prison of all

when I jumped out of my grave

and showed the world

that God is not some stranger,

or sleeping grandfather.

“He’s your Father and mine.

You kicked him out of your house,

but you can’t get rid of him

and you can’t kill his love,

any more than you can kill me.

Your Father and I

have started a revolution

to break open every house,

family, city, room, heart,

society, organization, planet

that locks people’s lives

and blocks their view of God.”

This Jesus is beautiful.

[source: Interrobang by Norman Habel, pages 29 & 30]

Amen