Trinity Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)

Sermons 

In the first story, described by Luke in Chapter 4:33-36, Jesus was teaching in the synagogue in the town of Capernaum. On that sabbath day, he encountered a man with an unclean demon and drove it out of the man. In that story, Jesus had a dialogue with the unclean demon who spoke for the man, who himself was unable to speak. The people in the synagogue were "amazed" by what they saw, but – unlike what had happened earlier when Jesus had been teaching on a sabbath at the synagogue in his home town of Nazareth (cf. Luke 4:16-30) – no one in Capernaum complained about Jesus’ actions. On the contrary, the people declared, ". . . with authority and power he commands the unclean spirits, and out they come!"(4:36). As a result, reports about Jesus began to spread throughout the region.

A second "curing on the sabbath" story is reported in Luke 6:6-11. On that sabbath, Jesus entered the synagogue and taught – and observed there a man whose right hand was withered. Fully aware that the scribes and the Pharisees were watching to see if he would do another cure on the sabbath, Jesus called the man with the withered hand to "Come and stand here." After the man got up and stood there, Jesus asked the people, "Is it lawful to do good or do harm on the sabbath, to save life or to destroy it?" (v. 9). Then, after Jesus looked around at all of them, he said to the man, "Stretch out your hand." The man did so, and his hand was restored. Luke closes the story by reporting that the scribes and Pharisees "were filled with fury" (v. 11).

This morning’s lesson is the third "curing on the sabbath" story, but we will hold off dealing with it until we examine the final story, which comes at the beginning of chapter 14.

There, in verses 1-6, Jesus cures a "man with dropsy." This is the only one of the "curing on a sabbath" stories that does not occur at a synagogue, but instead takes place as Jesus was going to the house of a leader of the Pharisees to eat a meal on the sabbath. They probably had just finished being in the synagogue, and Luke reports that the lawyers and Pharisees were watching Jesus closely as they walked along together. On the way from the synagogue to the house, they encountered a man with dropsy (what we would call edema, the abnormal accumulation of fluids in the body). Seeing this man, Jesus asked the lawyers and Pharisees, "Is it lawful to cure people on the sabbath, or not?" (v. 3). But they were silent. So Jesus took the man and healed him and sent him away. And then Jesus said to the lawyers and Pharisees, "If one of you has a child or an ox that has fallen into a well, will you not immediately pull it out on a sabbath day?" (v. 5). But none of them were able to reply to this pointed question.

In all three of these "curing on the sabbath" stories, Jesus approached the afflicted persons and took some action to eliminate their suffering. In the first case, the people were amazed at Jesus’ action in silencing and then driving out the demon. In the second case, Jesus silenced and infuriated the scribes and Pharisees as he restored the man’s hand. In the final case, Jesus silenced the lawyers and Pharisees before curing the man and then sending him away without a word being said by the man.

With these stories in mind, we now can consider the story of Jesus’ cure of "the stooped woman." As we shall see, there are some important similarities – and differences – between this story and the other three that we have considered.

According to Luke, Jesus was teaching in a synagogue – in an unnamed town – on the sabbath. And just then a women appeared who had been crippled for eighteen years. Her condition is described in the Greek text as "a spirit of weakness," which could be understood either as a physical or mental condition. Whatever the cause of her condition, she was unable to stand up straight. Then, Jesus called out and said to her, "Woman, you have been set free from your illness." Then, Jesus placed his hands on her, and immediately she reacted by standing up straight and began glorifying God.

Did you notice: only in this woman’s story did Jesus actually lay hands on the afflicted person. This is important because, in ancient times, the "laying on of hands" not only was meant to cure, but also to serve as a blessing.

Did you also notice that, unlike the men who were cured in the other three "curing on the sabbath" stories, this woman was the only one who made a response for what had happened to her. And her response was appropriate to Jesus’ action: the woman glorified God!

At this point, the woman disappears from the story and is replaced by the synagogue leader, who charges Jesus with acting improperly on the sabbath. Jesus answered him by employing the classic rabbinical strategy of arguing from "the lesser to the greater." In this case, Jesus calls the synagogue leaders "hypocrites" for being willing to untie a ox or donkey to give it water, but unwilling to free the woman from her bondage – i.e., her illness. To drive home his point, Jesus even goes so far as to call the woman a "daughter of Abraham," a genealogical attribution unique in Luke’s description of women.

(By the way, the only other time when Jesus describes a woman as a "daughter" is in the story of the woman who had been suffered from hemorrhages for twelve years. Remember? She was the woman in the crowd who came up behind him and touched the fringe of his clothes (Luke 8:43ff.). In response to her actions and her words of explanation, Jesus said to her, "Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace.")

In recognizing the stooped woman as a "daughter of Abraham," Jesus put all his opponents to shame. In the end, the entire crowd rejoiced at "all the wonderful things that he was doing" (v. 17). The crowd’s positive reaction reminds us of the first story of curing on the sabbath, when Jesus drove out the man’s demon and the crowd was amazed.

This story of the healing of the stooped woman is distinctive in several ways. First, like the story of the Good Samaritan, it appears only in Luke’s Gospel. Second, it is the only one of the four Lukan stories about curing on the sabbath to deal with a woman as the afflicted individual. Third, it is the only one of these stories in which Jesus actually lays hands on the afflicted person, thus providing her with both a cure and a blessing. Fourth, she is the only one of the afflicted persons who began praising God upon being cured. Finally, the stooped woman is the only afflicted individual in these four stories to whom Jesus gives special recognition as "a daughter" of the great patriarch Abraham. In this way, Jesus lifts her out of her marginal position within first-century Jewish society and places her in a place of honor. No wonder that the leader of the synagogue was so furious with Jesus!

Now, we might agree that this is all well and good. Like the story of the Good Samaritan, it is a nice story with a nice message. But what does it have to do with any of us?

For eighteen years, the woman had suffered in her circumstances. And there is nothing in the story to suggest that she ever had tried to rid herself of this "spirit of weakness." But along comes Jesus, who lays hands on her and sets her free from her ailment. He does this not because of what she had done or not done, but simply because of who she was – in this case, "a daughter of Abraham." Perhaps the key is that she responded to Jesus when he saw her and called her over. She did not just stand there in her bent-over way and do nothing. Nor did she try to run away to avoid dealing with Jesus’ call to her. Far from it! In front of all the people assembled at the synagogue, the woman had the courage to come over to Jesus. At that moment, he laid his hands on her – and cured her on that sabbath nearly two thousand years ago.

Would we come over to Jesus if we were called? Too many of us feel "bent-over" in body and in spirit from the burdens of work and family life. All too often, modern American life seems to leave us with no sense of joy and even less sense of amazement at what God has provided for us. How have we ended up in such a terrible state of affairs? Living in one of the richest societies in the world, enjoying far more of the world’s plenty than we have any right to claim, many of us still find time to complain about our situations.

When I was young, my mother was always saying to me and to my younger sisters, "Stand up straight!" At the literal level, she was referring to our physical posture. But, like all good mothers, Jewish and otherwise, my mother also was conveying a more subtle message. She was telling us that we needed to pay attention to our "posture" broadly understood. We needed to go beyond ourselves in caring about and caring for the world. We needed to have a strong sense of social justice, we needed to be passionate about the political process, we needed to find ways of helping out those who were bent over from economic burdens, and we needed to lift up those suffering from illness. We needed to do all of this, not just for others but also for ourselves. For in caring for others, we could stand upright.

Like my mother, God calls us to stand up straight. No matter how crippled we may feel, God has a place for us every day, including the sabbath. In this bent-over, crooked, and sin-filled world, we are far more like the stooped woman than we are willing to admit. Like her, we need to be willing to answer God’s call to us. Only in this way can we get right with our neighbors, get right with the world, and get right with God. All we need to do is to "Stand Up Straight!"

Amen.

©2007 Van Kemper (email: rkemper@trinitypresdallas.org)