“Bent over and unable to stand up straight”

Luke 13:10-17



Pastor Tom Johnson, August 25, 2013

The woman who is bent over and unable to stand up straight comes across Jesus’ path at a time of religious debate over the Sabbath, the day of rest. The Third Commandment says, “Remember the Sabbath Day, by keeping it holy. You shall work six days—Sunday through Friday—but on the seventh day—Saturday—you shall do no work.” For people who spent hundreds of years in slavery under Pharaoh, the Sabbath was a gift—a welcome day off. Even beasts of burden—working farm animals like oxen and donkeys got a day off. And so, when Jesus heals the woman who is bent over, the leader of the synagogue starts to condemn Jesus. Jesus is working on the Sabbath because Jesus is healing on the Sabbath. Healing is working. Apparently.

But the fact remains that the woman is bent over on the Sabbath. She is putting undue strain on her lower back. She is carrying the weight her upper torso on muscles not designed to bear the heavy burden. Her body is overworked. There is no Sabbath day for her bent over body—no rest for her wearied body and soul. It is worth noting that the cause for condition is a mysterious one. Our text says that a spirit crippled her for 18 years. Jesus calls it both an “ailment” and a “bondage.” It is both a spiritual as well as a physical burden that she bears. The woman is bent over and “quite unable to stand up straight.” There is no mind over matter for this woman. You cannot just tell her to get over it, think positive, and stand tall. Telling to her just snap out of it will not work. She cannot do it. She is most certainly in bondage as Jesus describes her condition.

Jesus provides an open door or window for us to view this woman with empathy. She did not choose her condition. She is a victim of an ailment that cannot be easily explained or remedied. And we all can think of someone we know—or perhaps it is we ourselves—who have been sabotaged by injury, illness, or psychological ailment. And like the poor woman in our text, we are bent over, unable to hold our heads high. What has bent you and me over in the past? What has us bent over now? There is something dehumanizing about this condition. Humans are supposed to stand vertically. We are not supposed to move about almost on all fours with our arms hanging down like our ape cousins. Luke, our Gospel writer, is a physician. By telling us she is quite unable to stand up straight, he is giving us his professional, medical assessment. She has a chronic back condition—that is to say, with no end in sight. It does not take a lot of imagination to understand how frustrating it is to not be able to pull ourselves up by our own boot straps—to be powerless to break free from whatever bonds that bind us—doubled over with the wind knocked out of us.

The leader of the synagogue would rather have the woman suffer than violate his narrow interpretation of Mosaic Law. That is why Jesus’ response to the leader of the synagogue—what we would call the chair of the local congregation—is both deeply compassionate and simply hilarious. Jesus says, “You hypocrites! You religious faker and belly acher. Let me tell you phony this spirituality is. You are more humane to oxen and donkeys than you are to your own species! On the day of rest, you will grant respite to your beasts of burden—you will untie them from their bonds for a day, feed, and water them—but you will leave this poor woman bent over and quite unable to stand up straight.

Jesus invites us to leave heartless, inhumane religion behind us—to view ourselves and those around us with compassion. He invites us to not judge but pray and labor for people to be delivered from their debilitating conditions and to experience the respect and love of the human family. Jesus does not call this woman a cripple. He calls her “a daughter of Abraham.” How incredibly beautiful and progressive for a man to address a common Israelite woman with a royal name! Jesus not only causes her to stand up straight but also gives her the dignity to hold her head high. He elevates her not only back to her stature as a human being but views her with God’s promise to Abraham to make for him a nation of kings and queens and to bless all the families of the earth.

This is Jesus we are talking about. Jesus is the one who takes on our humanity, bends over to bear our crosses, and is the only one able to stand up straight bearing the weight of sinful humanity. In his death and resurrection, we stand tall and guiltless forever.

“The entire crowd was rejoicing at all the wonderful things that [Jesus] was doing,” our text says. Jesus led them to worship. They witnessed and heard the stories of what God was doing in the lives of those around them. They listened and they learned. And together they straightened up. They raised their chins and voices high. And together, they gave God all the praise, honor, and thanks. That was a true Sabbath Day. That is true worship. That it true spiritual rest. And it is ours today.