“Intervention” – Sermon on Aug 25, 2013
August 25, 2013
Scripture: 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 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.
Sermon: Intervention
by Rev. Doreen Oughton
So we have a healing story this morning, and a debate with a synagogue leader about what it means to keep the Sabbath. The woman healed has been bent over for 18 years. Can you imagine? Jesus sees her as he is teaching, and he calls her over, tells her she is set free, and lays his hands on her. Immediately she straightens up. Can you imagine witnessing such a thing during your worship service? And then can you imagine the synagogue leader complaining to others about such a miracle because it was done on the Sabbath? In his mind, this healing act breaks the laws of the Sabbath that no work be done. Jesus argues with him, asserting that he did not work – he did not heal so much as set free from bondage. There must be some allowance in the Sabbath laws for untying or releasing where there is not allowance for healing. So is Jesus just playing games, renaming his actions to avoid the accusation of law-breaking? Or is there something else going on?
The Hebrew scriptures give us two different justifications for the day of rest. In Exodus 20, God says to Moses, “For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but rested the seventh day; therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and consecrated it.” But in Deuteronomy, Moses expands on this, saying to the people as we heard in the first reading, “Observe the Sabbath day and keep it holy; you shall not do any work …” no one, not son or daughter or slaves or livestock, so that so that male and female slave may rest as well as you. He reminds the people that they were once slaves, who were released from their bondage by God’s mighty hand, and this is why we must keep the Sabbath. In this second example, keeping Sabbath is inextricably connected with freedom from bondage. Jesus notes that livestock are untied and led to water, so why can’t this daughter of Abraham be untied on the Sabbath?
There is something unusual in this story in the way that Jesus intervenes in this woman’s life. Usually he heals after he has been asked for healing. People cry out to him for mercy, people who’s illnesses or disabilities are quite obvious – blindness, seizures, paralysis, leprosy – and still Jesus almost always asks what they want from him. But this woman doesn’t call to him, doesn’t approach him, can’t even look at him really. It seems he doesn’t ask her if she wants him to heal her, though he might have when he called her over and we are just not told that. But it seems he just declares her released, touches her, and she stands right up. And we are told that she is grateful, that she immediately begins praising God.
The passage says that the woman was bent over and quite unable to stand up straight, and had been that way for 18 years. I imagine she’d become quite adept at getting around in her bent over formation, knew the ground well. I’d guess it was a strain to look up at people’s faces, so she was, perhaps, more familiar with their voices, with their footwear even. Would she have heard Jesus’ voice from where she was? Would she have known it, would she have known about him? I wonder if Jesus knew that her condition kept her from asking for help because she didn’t know help was possible.
When I think about this story of the woman whose condition keeps her from asking for help, a story of a woman in bondage, I can’t help but associate it with the disease of addiction. When I worked in addictions treatment, part of my work was with people who came voluntarily seeking help, but a good deal of it was in what was called “Intervention Services,” working with clients who were mandated into treatment, usually as a result of a run-in with the law. I’d like to talk a bit about addictive disease if you’ll indulge me. I think it is relevant and important. If you already know this stuff, I believe it can’t hurt to be reminded, and if you don’t already know it, you may find it very helpful indeed. And if you have questions and would like to continue the conversation downstairs as we make lunches, I would just love that.
(Talk about addiction, denial, intervention).
Now if you have ever watched the show “Intervention” or ever tried to steer a loved one toward treatment and recovery, you know it doesn’t always end with someone standing up straight and praising God, as Jesus’ intervention did. But we can leave the results to God and model ourselves on Jesus anyway when we see people suffering, whether from physical deformity or illness, mental illness or addiction. We can see them instead of turning away. We can call to them and let them know that they are indeed part of a community. If we know of possibilities for healing that they just can’t see because of their illness, we can declare to them what is possible, all the while treating them with the utmost respect and love. We can proclaim to others their status as beloved children of God, who deserve to be set free rather than condemned. We can worry less about propriety and worry more about mercy and release. We can, like Jesus, keep the Sabbath as a time to honor liberation, knowing that none of us are truly free while some are still in bondage. May it be so.
