I got this question in response to the sermon from a couple headed out the door to their Sunday activities this past week. My first reaction: I really blew that sermon. And the answer to the question: yes and no. While I don’t pretend to the know the heart of Jesus I have to wonder if that is Jesus’ answer as well.
This passage in Luke is not so much about the miracle of the bent woman made straight, though that is significant, but rather Jesus’ clarification of God’s law, God’s heart. Jesus doesn’t say that the laws are unimportant, because they are. The law keeps people safe, helps us make sense of life, encourages relationship living.
Jesus offers a different interpretation. Laws might make living good but it is grace that makes life abundant and great. When asked what was the greatest law, Jesus said love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul and mind, love your neighbor as God loves you. The law of love is clear: love God, love people. Add in “make disciples” and you’ve got the three core purposes of the church. Love trumps law every time.
To make his point even clearer, he reminds the leaders of the synagogue that on the Sabbath they NEED to untie their ox or donkey to transfer it from the manger to the trough so that the poor creature wouldn’t die of bloat before sunset and their investment safe for another day.
This unnamed woman, whom no others but Jesus saw, was a daughter of Abraham, someone even more valuable than an ox or donkey. Of course, out of love, grace and mercy, so that she doesn’t have to suffer one more day, is Jesus going to heal her on the Sabbath. It was the kindest thing to do. This is the heart of God, that we should also act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with our God.
And what better day than the Sabbath for setting us free from the bondage of sin, death and the devil! She’s waiting 18 long years. It’s never too early to be released from what holds us captive, what weighs us down, what keeps our head bowed in shame, what prevents us from being in relationship with each other. That’s what the leader missed. Laws are good but love – freeing, grace -filled, life giving, courage building love — is even better.
Love wins. That’s what the world really needs to hear. There is release for the captives. The church is willing to heal, even if it’s on the Sabbath, that evil can be named and that those who have bent backs from the weight of systems that are unjust, that perpetuate bondage, will be told “stand up!” beloved of God. You are made in God’s image and that makes you holy and good and worth it!
Stand up and keep on praising God!