Bent over

Luke 13:10-17

Maybe it’s because my back has been acting up quite a bit over the past few weeks (chiropractor time this afternoon), but I have found myself wondering about the bent-over woman’s response. Not so much what the story tells us – that as soon as she straightened up she began to praise God – because that makes perfect sense and is easy to both understand and picture. No, what I wonder about is how this all impacted her relationship with the worshipping community where her reconciliation took place.

I suspect she was well known in the town, at least by sight. I have encountered a few folks who suffered from this physical condition and it has always made me very aware of my own back and neck. Having an interest in the metaphors life presents, I also tend to envision such folks carrying overwhelming burdens. I mean, it has to be true at least on the face of it, given the natural limits the position imposes, from reaching items on higher shelves at the market to the difficulty moving through a crowd when people often don’t see you coming then quickly look away in embarrassment when they have nearly walked over you. But there are no doubt also social implications, both for the woman in the story and those who even now share the affliction. Some will be so uncomfortable they will go out of their way to avoid having to even see, much less interact with the bent-over ones. Others will have more questions than one has either the time or patience to answer, perhaps including the one Jesus’ students asked about one blind man – who sinned, the person, their parents or even ancestors further back.

But this woman was either sufficiently accepted in her community or had enough internal strength to be part of the worshipping community. She may have prayed as well and persistently as she knew how over the years for God to remove the burden from her, to allow her to stand up straight and tall. Maybe she had come to believe that she somehow deserved to be crippled, whether due to some concept of Who-She-Really-Was or a waning belief in any God both powerful enough and loving enough to answer such prayers. Clearly her synagogue leader had nothing to offer her in this regard; he probably made no more attempt than I would to intervene on her behalf, being sure he held far too little personal power and alignment with God to pull off any significant improvement. Then this wandering man some called Rabbi and others Teacher or Master showed up, took one look at her and the unexpected miracle became a reality in a moment! Straight and tall! Free from the binding up! Able to look people in the eye! Who would be able or even willing to restrain their joy or hold back their praises even long enough to get outside or wait for the service to conclude?

But then, there is the synagogue leader, someone she may have believed stood in her corner, knew her and would have relieved her if he could have, raising his voice to protest what just took place! Inconceivable! She is healed . . . reconciled . . . freed from the satan’s binding . . . praising God . . . what could possibly be worthy of complaint? No, not just complaint; abasement, a clear attempt to shame both healer and the healed for not finding a more opportune, less offensive time to transact this miracle! An untimely miracle, coming as it did on what the leader believed to be the wrong day! Would you come back to a church where such a miracle took place and was condemned in such a way? Man, we are all scurrying around to try to be sure what we offer is authentic, challenging but not overwhelming, with just the right balance of technology and musical styles to hold onto those who have traditional tastes and still attract and hold onto those with post-modern sensibilities!

I wonder if this was the woman’s last day in that worshipping community? And perhaps the beginning of her commitment to aligning with God instead of human practices, with God’s life-giving intentions instead of life-diminishing rules?