Though we don t know her diagnosis, we do know her presence captures the attention of Jesus.

Transcription

1 The Daughter of Abraham Today s scripture opens with Jesus, teaching in one of the synagogues. For Jesus and his fellow religious Jews, this is no ordinary day- this is the sabbath. This is a holy day; a day set aside for worship and rest. And on this holy day, a sick woman appears. We don t know her specific ailment. But hunched over, she looks like the weight of the world is on her shoulders. The text says she s bent over, unable to stand up straight. Though we don t know her diagnosis, we do know her presence captures the attention of Jesus. Now remember, Jesus was in the middle of teaching on the sabbath. And being Jesus, it s a safe bet he was saying something pretty important. Jesus could easily ignore this bent-over woman, at least until he was finished teaching. No need to let her disrupt him or distract from his lesson. It would be reasonable for Jesus to simply approach the woman at a later, more convenient, more appropriate time. But this is one of things I love about Jesus: he allows himself to be interrupted. Rather than marching forward with the agenda; rather than ignoring her and just sticking with the program, Jesus stops his lesson and calls this woman over- a woman described as having a spirit that had crippled her for eighteen long years. Of course he could ve waited. After all, healing was a kind of work- and working on the Sabbath was strictly prohibited. This woman had been sick for eighteen years, I mean really, what's one more day? Was it really worth it? Was she really worth it? Jesus thought so. Jesus doesn t hesitate- he knows she s suffered long enough. As far as he was concerned, today was the day of her liberation and healing. Now I m going to pause here- and invite you all to do something. If able, I invite you to stand up. Now, bend your backs and hunch over and for the next few moments, stay in this position. Think about how this feels in your body. Feel the curve of your spine. Maybe the crick in your neck. Notice the tension in your muscles. What do you see? What can t you see? Who you can t see? Imagine being in this posture as you go about your daily routine. As you walk, as you work, even as you worship. Now imagine being in this position for 18 long years. Just imagine. How would it impact you physically? Spiritually? Emotionally? Imagine how being in that position (for 18 years!) might limit your ability to connect and communicate.

2 Imagine how it could prevent you from looking another person in the eye- and how it might affect your relationships. Thank you. Please be seated. As some of our own bodies may now attest, this woman was likely in extreme physical discomfort. There s little doubt she was in need of bodily healing. But it seems she was also in need of a deeper healing; a healing that restored her relationally, as well as physically. A healing from her isolation, as much as her illness. Now, we know God s intention for us is community and intimacy; both with God and with one another. But there are so many things that tempt us to hide, and bend in on ourselves. Be it self-inflicted or imposed by others, it s easy to become isolated. There are countless reasons we can feel cut off from each other- and shut out from communities, even our communities of faith. Last week I was having a conversation with someone who was in deep, emotional pain. He was soulsick; he was lonely- and so tired of being alone. I asked if he might consider finding a church. He told me he tried, but every time he attended he found himself crying. I suggested that perhaps crying in church wasn t a bad thing, After all, I said, church is supposed to be a place where we can be vulnerable- and share our pain with others. No you don t understand. he told me. I didn t cry in church because I felt connected, I cried because I felt so alone. It troubled and saddened me that he felt especially alone in church- among God s people- in the very place we tell stories about a God who befriends the friendless and loves the left out. We went on to talk and cry together. We lamented his estrangement and isolation. He was depressed and anxious. His stomach was in knots. The weight of it all was crippling. The burden of his loneliness was, quite literally, making him sick. Like my beloved friend, the woman in today s scripture also experienced the burden of isolation. For 18 long years this woman was afflicted, not only physically but relationally. And how does Jesus respond to this woman? What does he do? In the middle of his teaching, Jesus calls her- into the middle of the crowd. Jesus invites this woman- who for nearly two decades has been on the farthest edges of her community- and brings her into the center. Encircled by the followers of Jesus and the religious establishment- Jesus reinstates the woman as a part of the community.

3 For Jesus, healing is never skin deep. For Jesus, healing isn t just about restoring one s body, it's about restoring one s whole life. For Jesus, healing isn t just about renewing one s flesh, it's about renewing one s relationships. Throughout much of scripture we see how God uses relationships and communities to create liberating pathways to wholeness. Perhaps that s why Jesus heals her spiritually and socially before he heals her physically. The text tells us that when Jesus saw her he called her over and said, "Woman, you are set free from your ailment." First Jesus SAW her. He really SAW her. He recognized and acknowledged her. This ill & isolated woman, nearly invisible to those around her, is finally SEEN. After he sees her, Jesus calls her over, and declares Woman, you are now set free! BEFORE she even stands up, she is set free. She is liberated from her ailment of invisibility- made visible by Jesus. She is set free from her isolation, called by Christ into the center of her community. After she is seen, called, and restored to her community she is then restored in body. Jesus touches the woman, and for the first time in 18 years, she stands up straight! Now restored in spirit and body, the woman does the only thing that makes sense she praises God! I don't know about you, but personally I think it would be great if the story ended there. But it doesn t. Because, although the woman was praising God, some of the onlookers were not. In fact, some were deeply offended. We are told one person in particular, the leader of the synagogue, was indignant because Jesus had cured on the sabbath. In fairness, Jesus was breaking the rules. The leader of the synagogue was just asking Jesus to follow standard, religious protocol. But Jesus cleverly asks, "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(her) bondage on the sabbath day? Jesus suggests that if it s okay to untie their donkeys for some water, perhaps it s okay for him to unbind a woman for some healing. Jesus schools his critics on what the sabbath is really about. Jesus says the Sabbath is not only about rest it's also about restoration. Jesus reminds his opponents that part of the reason they were called to observe the sabbath in the first place- was to remember their own deliverance from slavery in Egypt. For Jesus the sabbath is more about people, than protocol. It s more about relationships, than rules.

4 But when Jesus restores the woman on this day (of all days) he isn t breaking sabbath- he s fulfilling it. He s demonstrating how sabbath-keeping is always deeply connected to freedom. He s reminding God s people that justice and piety go hand in hand. And the once bent over woman? She embodies the sabbath practice of re-membering. Her body members- the members of her physical body- are literally re-membered. As Jesus opponents are put in their place, the woman's body is put back together. Like her ancestors who were set free from their bondage in Egypt, she too- is set free: she experiences her own liberation, no longer enslaved by the chains that bound her. For many of us, this is a relatable story. Even if we don t suffer from an illness like the woman, most of us know what it's like to feel cut off from others. Many of us know what it feels like to be spiritually weighed down or emotionally bent out of shape. Most of us know what it's like to feel left out and lonely. Some of us even know how soul-crippling it can be to feel invisible. But this story assures all of us there is healing and hope. It gives us a peek into God s restorative justice and healing power. It s really an incredible story. Just one thing about this story has always bothered me. Well, not about the story itself but about the way the story has often been titled. Over the years countless commentators and many-a-preacher (including myself!) have referred to this story as the story of the Bent Over Woman. As if that s all she is- a bent-over woman. It s like saying her illness is her identity. But here's the thing: that s not how Jesus saw her! Jesus never calls her the bent over woman. Jesus calls her a Daughter of Abraham. Catch that? A daughter of Abraham. This is the only place in scripture this title is used. We ve no doubt heard of Father Abraham and his many sons. (Perhaps, like me, you even sang a childhood song about them with corresponding body movements.) But here, on the sabbath, in front of the crowd and the religious authorities, Jesus brings our attention to a daughter of Abraham. And by calling her a daughter of Abraham- the woman s identity is not rooted in her infirmity. Her identity is rooted in her inheritance. Jesus reminds not only the woman, but all those looking on, that she is a beloved child of God. She is not her illness! She is an heir of God s covenant promises. Friends, this story (the story I propose we now all refer to The Story of Abraham s Daughter ) is chock full of gospel good-news. Or as you Kiwi s might say, it has HEAPS of Good News.

5 It describes a God who sees us, just as we are, with all our broken bodies and crooked ways, and loves us anyway. Today s story describes a God who calls us away from our caves of isolation and our cliffs of despair into places of connection and hope. It shows us a God who is willing to be interrupted (and even break some rules) for the sake of religious misfits and social outcasts. The Story of Abraham s Daughter bears witness to a God who claims us and names us as children of the covenant. It reminds us we belong to God in spirit and in body, in sickness and in health, in life and in death. But even as we stand with the confidence of being God s own beloved children, we also remember God told Abraham that he and his people would be blessed in order to be a blessing. In God s Story, no one is ever blessed in order to feel spiritually superior or cosmically warm and fuzzy. God s people are blessed and set free in order to bless, and in every other way, love others. Yes, we are reconciled to God and to one another through Jesus. But we are reconciled for a purpose. We are reconciled- that we may participate in the ministry of reconciliation. We are extended the friendship of God- that we may extend friendship to the friendless. We are offered the radical hospitality of Christ- that we may offer that same hospitality to others. We are liberated from our own isolation, that we may become a community for those who are lonely. --- The truth is, regardless what we decide to call this story, it s not just about Abraham s Daughter. It s about how we are all invited to bring our whole selves to Jesus. It s about Jesus telling us we are worth it, even when others have told us we weren t. It s about Jesus restoring and reconciling our own relationships, that we may set free from all that binds us. And ultimately, it s about being a blessing to others. So when we leave here today, let us go trusting that the same One who restored Abraham s Daughter also sees us, calls us, names us as his own, and sets us free- so that we may be ambassadors of healing and hope in God s beautiful, broken world. Amen.