Pentecost 12 Luke 13:10-17 8/22/04

"Crippled POV"

Okay, it’s a congregation participation sermon again. I’d like everyone to stand up. Now, bend over, like you imagine the crippled woman in our gospel lesson would have been.

*What is your point of view when you are crippled like her? What is immediately before your eyes? Imagine that this is how the world would look to you all the time.

*Try looking around. What does the world look like from this point of view when you have to screw you head around?

*How does it feel when I, an upright leader of the synagogue/church greet you?

*Imagine what it would be like to go through life - day after day - for years like this. Think of the physical and emotional pain you would feel.

*The woman must have made some adjustments and accommodations so she could cope with her disability, but think what it would do to your self-esteem, confidence, sense of competence to be like this for years.

*How unbelievably free she must have felt after Jesus touched her and she was able to stand up straight. No wonder she praised God and even more after she heard Jesus call her a daughter of Abraham - women were never referred to that way.

Now you may resume your normal posture, sit down and take a second to send a word of thanks up to God that no matter what ailments or problems you may be suffering, you are not crippled like this unnamed woman.

Unfortunately, even though we are not crippled physically like her, we may suffer from a crippled POV. Our lesson says that she had "a spirit that had crippled her." Another translation calls it a "spirit of weakness." I think this gives a clearer, more useful picture. It wasn’t a spirit like a demon, but rather a weakness in her body - what today we might call a congenital defect or degenerative disease- that caused her to be crippled.

We tend, I think, to picture the woman as old, but what if she wasn’t. What if she was relatively young or middle aged? What if this condition started when she was a child or teen? What wounds might have been inflicted by being teased by other children? What scars might she carry into adulthood from being a less attractive member of society? How did it effect her marriageability - a major concern for women of Jesus day who not only depended on a husband for support and security, but also for a sense of identity. How then did what happened to her over those eighteen or more years of disability effect how she felt about herself and her life, her relationships and even her feelings toward God?

Surely, the woman’s experience being bent over effected her point of view. It is unlikely that she felt hopeful, serene, fulfilled, happy or whole. This in turn may have effected how she related to the world around her. It is very hard not to feel bitter and show it, when you are forced to always look down. You might try to hide it and may think you do, or may feel that the world owes you tolerance because of what you suffer, or you may just be in so much pain you don’t care. Was this how the woman felt before Jesus spoke to her?

What spirits of weakness might be causing us to have a crippled POV? We may be feeling weighed down by financial problems - perhaps even bent double by dunning notices and calls from collection agencies. Or, even if its not that bad, it’s hard with the bleak economic predictions we hear to believe a day will come when you can slow down, relax and enjoy life a bit. In this condition - from this point of view - it’s difficult to see anything but the dirt of the long road ahead.

Or, a spirit of weakness may relate to difficulties in relationships. A marriage may be at a bumpy place, some word or act may have created a rift between us and a friend, or we may be harboring anger and resentment toward a family member who let us down, failed to see a need, wasn’t there when needed. The pain of broken relationships can twist our spirits more painfully than spastic muscles can distort our bodies.

At a deeper level still, there is the spirit of weakness that comes with a badly wounded psyche. This may come from the experience of personal failure, unfair expectations placed on us, life issues we just didn’t know how to work through or all too often, childhood abuse of some kind. Hurting, angry people too often cripple other vulnerable people, especially children, because they don’t know how, or haven’t the extraordinary courage needed to find relief for their pain in a healthy way. And so a cycle of suffering goes on with one generation begetting another, each more twisted than the one before. And with each person spreading the pain to others because of a crippled point of view about their own self worth.

This all may sound terribly depressing and hopeless. I’m sure that the crippled woman had times too when she felt she would always walk in her own shadow. But, just see what happened!

Jesus called her over, declared her to be free and cured her. He then went on in his debate with the synagogue leader to call her a daughter of Abraham - an unheard of title for one who was considered to have about as much value as an ox or donkey - maybe less. With this Jesus adds the healing of her psyche - her self-image, her confidence, her feelings - to the healing of her body.

Jesus doesn’t limit His call to healing to people long ago. Being touched by Jesus isn’t beyond our ability to experience. Being raised to uprightness or new life isn’t just part of a nice Bible story.

If we listen, truly listen, we too can hear Jesus call us. We may fear that even allowing Him to touch us may hurt more than we can bear, and that seeing ourselves with the crippled point of view we’ve had will be too much to cope with, but Jesus’ touch is gentle and the suffering He endured for us will give us the strength we need. We may have to put some effort into developing a new point of view, but His Spirit will guide us. We may have to take some relational risks - the woman’s first steps standing upright were surely shaky - but Jesus will be by our side and uphold us. We may have to learn new ways of thinking about ourselves, life and others that reflect a different point of view and it is hard to let go of old ways of thinking, but Jesus knows our hearts and will patiently lead us.

We can, by His grace, stand up straight and our new, whole, point of view will lead us to join the woman in praising God. For we are even more than sons and daughters of Abraham. We are children of God.