TEXT: Luke 13: 10-21 NRSV
LEGALISM
Is there anything more frustrating in this life than people who would stop good things—even miracles—from occurring because of some legalistic technicality?
The very idea of justice being thwarted by some tiny, persnickety technicality can trigger outrage. A cop forgets to read Miranda rights during an arrest, a signature on a wrong line prevents key evidence from admissibility, biases and prejudices vented along the way—all can take the clearest, open-and-shut case and turn it into months of nitpicking definitions and exorbitant lawyers’ fees.
We can see the same thing happen in reverse—some good thing thwarted by a technicality as it today’s text.
Jesus elsewhere accuses religious leaders of “straining out gnats while swallowing camels.” This is not only a humorous hyperbole but a scathing criticism of legalism in general. For eighteen years a poor woman has suffered being bent double, but synagogue president was not having any miracles in his synagogue during the sabbath.
BENT DOUBLE
Camptocormia is the medical term for bent spine syndrome—being bent double and unable to stand. The condition is closely associated with Parkinson’s disease and also muscular dystrophy. Luke the physician didn’t have these terms so he just called it “a spirit,” which in this case means of unknown cause or origin. Jesus sees her and obviously has great compassion. He knows better than anyone that it is the sabbath. Notice that he does not cast out the spirit—this is not an exorcism—nor does he otherwise exhibit any kind of healing ritual. He simply announces, “Woman, you are set free from your ailment.”
The word for ailment is literally weakness or frailty, as in “Woman, you are set free from your weakness and frailty.” He announces that her healing is complete; she just has to recognize the truth of it and stand up straight.
Notice how simply Jesus heals her. “Woman, you are set free from your weakness and frailty.” He simply announces that her healing is complete; she just has to recognize the truth of it and stand up straight, which she does when he touches her.
It’s not about technique—the hows and whats of healing practices—knowing the right procedures, prayers, or mumbo jumbo. It is simply accomplished by Christ. It’s not doing the right thing in order to be healed. Jesus asks nothing of her. He doesn’t even ask her if she believes in him; he simply announces her healing and she is healed.
It’s also not about the Mosaic law or the traditions of the elders; it’s not about the Sabbath; it is simply about justice—doing what is right regardless.
SYNAGOGUE DRAMA
The role of synagogue president is to make sure that everything in the synagogue takes place according to Scripture and the traditions of the elders. It seems he doesn’t seem to care or even notice that the woman’s life has been transformed. As soon as the woman stands up straight he steps forward to rebuke her for coming to be healed on the Sabbath.
"There are six days on which work ought to be done; come on those days and be cured, and not on the sabbath day."
“Too late,” she says. Maybe not, but we have a case of a religious man who is so focused on doing what is right and proper that he totally misses the miracle before his eyes. He is blind to the work of Christ, and blinded by his adherence to legal precedents. He says, “There is nothing in the Presbyterian Book of Order about this kind of healing, but first it should have been brought before the Session. This just isn’t the Presbyterian way!”
A JUST REBUKE
Jesus stands above rebuke. In him we see a spirit that is beyond the law, one with authority over and above Scripture and all the traditions of the elders. Jesus stands above the law, and we should as well. If that sounds a bit disturbing, it’s because in our regular experience, someone who thinks they’re above the law is rightly accused of unmerited privilege or even narcissism. We think this because most who play at being above the law are essentially anti-law—people who violate the law in order to take something for themselves. We are right to be opposed to such attitudes. Even so, there are others who, technically, act above the law but for good purposes.
We have no problem with ambulances, fire trucks, and police cars driving through red traffic signals when in the line of duty. Can we even imagine someone saying, “Well yes, the fire department did keep my house from burning down, but… they did drive through several red lights, AND they parked the truck in a curb that was clearly marked red for no parking, so…I guess their authority is less than perfect.”
Likewise, Jesus proclaims that the divine work of healing knows no bounds from the law. He rebukes the synagogue leaders, calling them hypocrites who would gladly fetch an animal out of danger on the sabbath and cut themselves moral slack for doing so, but when Jesus miraculously heals a human being, they find something to gripe about. Paul puts it well in Galatians 5:22-33:
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against such things.
BIGGER STORY
There is a bigger story at work here than the mere healing of the woman. The healing presents us with a motif that plays out on many levels.
The story in not just about the woman but about those who are like her. It is about Israel, bent double an incapable of rescuing itself from either sin or Roman occupation.
It is about first century Judaism, which was bent double in obedience to the law and the traditions surrounding the law that had long accumulated to become laws of their own. And not merely laws, but the very substance of Jewish faith, such that they, bent double with eyes toward the ground, were blind to the blossoming messianic ministry before them.
It is about humankind, bent double with sin and hopelessly without direction, unable to stand up straight and perceive its salvation.
It is about our world today, bent double with war, injustice, greed, and every possible combination of the seven deadly sins.
It is about you and me, for within each of us there are mechanisms that keep us bent double, self-absorbed, self-interested, and incapable of rightly descrying the landscape of life and reality.
Like the woman, we and our world utterly depends upon that same power to stand us up straight. That power is announced by Christ and is Christ.
We too do well to live above and beyond mere law in service of the higher good God desires for us and for all people. When our focus rises above the law and rests on the fruits of the Spirit—love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control—we act above and beyond the law, but in the spirit of the law. When our heart and will is drawn forward to be near and like Christ, these fruits grow in us and become our motivation. Our wants and desires are transformed and we come to serve God’s kingdom by doing what we want most sincerely. Doing goodworks—acts of mercy, kindness, peace, joy, love, etc.—are no longer religious duties requiring personal effort; they are our heart and we just do them because it becomes our nature to do them. No self-righteousness added or acquired.
MUSTARD SEEDS & YEAST
Jesus says this kingdom is like a mustard seed that grows into a large tree, or a measure of yeast that fills out the whole lump of dough. What exactly does this mean? From something very small a very large effect is precipitated.
You’ve probably heard of the Butterfly Effect. In 1972, Edward Lorenz, one of the pioneers of Chaos Theory, gave a speech entitled: Does the flap of a butterfly’s wings in Brazil set off a tornado in Texas? In chaos theory, very small details in initial conditions can play a huge role down the line.
We also know it as the ripple effect: a tiny stone dropped into the water spreads out and has multiple effects as it travels.
The good that Jesus did in his humble ministry as a backwater, itinerant rabbi reverberated out and changed the world. You and I are called to be a part of that same, ongoing ministry and we should be bold in proclaiming its power and affects.
We too announce the presence of Christ because he is here.
We announce—simply pronounce—that healing has come because he has died to conquer all sin and death.
We proceed gratefully in the light of that proclamation pursuing justice and healing because he has announced it and he still empowers it.
We renounce legalism and our adherence to it. We renounce the false securities it promises and seek instead to live by the Holy Spirit, who will turn our hearts to bear fruit as their new nature.
When the Holy Spirit is at work, we too have butterfly wings. We too are drops in the water which have enormous, unforeseen, and immeasurable affects.
May God’s touch stand us all upright!