Worthy of Healing

Inspired by Luke 13:10-17:

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

From The Episcopal Lectionary.

May the words of my mouth and the meditations of all our hearts be acceptable unto your sight oh Lord, my Strength and my Redeemer… Amen.

So in the ultimate sense of irony, I wrote this sermon with the pillows on my bed stacked up, my heating pad on my back, having gone to yoga that morning- and having used this heated massager on my back the night before that I got off of TikTok Shop. I’ve had back problems on and off since I was roughly 18 years old after a car wreck. I don’t know if it’s something you’ve ever experienced but it’s pretty miserable stuff.

I hadn’t had a flare up like this in quite a while- until this week. Until this lectionary, and I have to read it. You can’t tell me that God doesn’t have a sense of humor. 

So here in Luke, we have Jesus healing a woman in the synagogue. And he’s fussed at for doing so on the Sabbath. Now I can tell you, as someone who has had back issues myself for …. 41 minus 18 is 23 years…. If someone could wipe out this issue on the sabbath I’d have the same reaction as this woman. 

But aside from that- after talking to Ben, I can relate to this woman on a few other levels. You see, I often talk over my sermons with Ben even before I write them. I don’t quite have the license yet that allows me to be set off on my own for sermons. And Ben pointed out in our conversation that this woman maybe wasn’t seeking out Jesus per se. I mean, she had had this ailment for 18 years. It doesn’t say she was seeking Him out. In fact, it doesn’t tell us anything at all about why she was there. She simply appeared. I’d like to think that she was seeking anywhere she could be comfortable, perhaps even… safe?

I get that. Both in a physical sense but also metaphorical. You see I recently posted a video about not trying so hard. It was framed as a lesson for teenagers to stop trying so hard- to stop forcing themselves into places where they aren’t welcome. Because we’re all children of God and beautifully made as such. And shouldn’t we be in places that see us the same? And – a step further- shouldn’t we also create spaces for those who don’t feel welcome elsewhere?

Jesus does this here. He heals her yes, but in doing so he makes her welcome. Comfortable.

I think so often the danger in this passage is that people often focus on the healing and the miracle of Jesus and leave it at that. As if to say that if you aren’t healed then that’s on you and you don’t have enough faith. How dare you?

To do so over simplifies Jesus and does violence to his actions. But it also commits an act of violence to those who are healed by erasing them. Which I think also makes it easy to do in our every day lives. To see people that we think need healing- and to do the simple work of making a few sandwiches on a given day but not addressing the systematic failures that led to their needs to begin with. Dismissing their further needs. To wring ones hands and cry out we don’t know what to do when children are starving- and the solutions are right in our grasp. 

And I don’t know if you’ve ever noticed this- but so many times the people being healed by Jesus, receiving grace, are those who are dismissed by everyone else. 

I feel like I say it ad nauseam sometimes but if I am it’s because the lesson here is consistent: just like what I wanted to tell people in my audience of videos: create places where everyone is welcome. Heal those who aren’t receiving grace anywhere else. Through those actions- we will work towards creating a better world. One that is worthy of the sacrifice that Jesus laid before us in being nailed to the cross- so that his death was not for nothing, but is received with honor.

What can we do to help in healing? What can we do to help others? How can we create spaces for others? I think this is going to look different for everyone- but for me, I want so much to help combat loneliness. It’s something I’ve felt so deeply at so many points in my life, even as a child. And it feels like the best way to take something that has been a consistent pain into a positive.