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Not long ago, I saw her in the parking lot in front of Safeway, getting into the passenger seat of a car across the aisle. Her back was hunched so far over that, even when she tilted her head back as far as it would go, she was still looking down. It was a lovely day. There was a gentle breeze. Wispy clouds danced across the blue sky. A couple of young women chatted next to the display of hanging plants, while a boy practiced his skateboard skills on the walkway, but the woman missed it all. All she could see was the cracked asphalt, with its oil stains and flattened fast food cups. As I got out of my car, I couldn’t help wondering what her life must be like. It made me sad. I could imagine the pain in her back as she went about her business, and I found myself hoping I would never be hunched over like that. I found I couldn’t get her out of my mind. Then I read today’s Gospel lesson. “She was bent double, and quite unable to stand up straight.” To understand the lesson, we need to understand a bit about the first-century Mediterranean peoples’ worldview. In their understanding, the Most High God had supreme power, and dwelt above the blue dome above them, and above the water that was above the dome. Most believed that there were other, less powerful gods and goddesses beneath – literally beneath – the Most High God, along with good spirits, angels and other heavenly messengers, and demons, which had the power to cause illness in human beings. The Most High God was, literally, the most high, the highest up, of all of them.
You’ll notice that in many inclusive translations of our Hebrew scripture, “Most High” is substituted for the more common, “Lord,” neither of which is in the original Hebrew. “Most High” is a good translation because it describes how the people understood God. In the case of this story, being bent double would likely have been attributed to a demonic spirit keeping her from standing up straight. For the people of Luke’s community, there was an obvious double meaning in saying someone was bent double and quite unable to stand up straight. In the story, the demonic spirit physically caused the woman to become hunched over. The demonic spirit had also prevented her from turning her face upward, towards God. Of course, there are many ways in which demonic spirits can cause people to become bent double, keeping them from standing up straight and turning their faces toward God. Being bent double can be literal, but it’s also a metaphor. In the story, Jesus is the mediator of the Most High God’s healing power. Jesus can free her from the demonic power that keeps her bent double, so that she is able to stand upright again, to turn her face upwards, towards God again. But the leader of the synagogue is horrified, not because Jesus has healed woman, but because Jesus has broken the rules. “It’s just fine to heal people, but we don’t go around healing people on the Sabbath. That just isn’t done.” Let me be clear: This story is not, in any way, an anti-Judaism story. Jesus and all his disciples were Jewish. Rather, for Luke’s community, both Jesus and the leader of the synagogue represented tendencies within their own Christian community. The leader of the synagogue represented institutional religion, and its tendency to put rules and tradition above the real needs of people – people whom God loves. In contrast, Jesus represented divine compassion that has no time for rules and no concern for traditions when they keep God’s beloved children “bent double.” They would have heard clearly that, when the rules of institutional religion get in the way of caring for people, those rules and those who enforce them are aligned with demonic powers, and not with Christ. That tension between institutional religion and the real needs of people still exists today. There’s an old joke: What are the 7 last words of the church? And the answer is, “We’ve never done it that way before.” The corollary is, “We’ve always done it this way” – so of course we can’t do something different. Every custom served a purpose at one time, and sometimes the custom is still a good one when we keep our priorities straight. For example, in most congregations, worship leaders wear vestments originally designed for use in poorly-heated gothic churches in Northern Europe. But, these past few Sundays, it’s been too hot to wear layers of clothing, and pastors I know are wearing as little as possible. There comes a time when comfort is more important than custom. In our gospel story, Jesus gives priority to kindness and compassion, while the leader of the synagogue prioritizes religious customs over the need to heal someone who is hurting. That God heals her is a sign of God’s favor, which is altogether lost on the leader of the synagogue. He’s busy reprimanding Jesus for getting out of line. He’s aligned with demonic powers, not because he is Jewish, but because he lacks compassion and chooses custom over kindness. The point of this story is that it is God’s desire that those who are bent double be freed immediately of whatever weighs them down, and those who love God do not allow custom or tradition to get in the way. All too often, institutional religion – not just “the ELCA” or “the synod,” but also congregations and individuals within congregations … All too often, institutional religion keeps people bent double for the sake of maintaining the rules or customs, when God would have whatever troubles people healed immediately. We fail to act for the sake of tradition. For the sake of the way we’ve always done it before. God sent Jesus to release us from whatever has us in bondage. To release us from whatever weighs so heavily upon us that we are “bent double.” And God sends us out, as the hands and feet and voice of Christ, to release those who are bent double, and unable to stand up straight. God’s work. Our hands. “She was bent double, and quite unable to stand up straight.” What weighs on you? What demonic spirits keep you from being able to stand straight and tall? What interferes with your ability to raise your eyes and your arms to God in praise? God sent Jesus to free you from that bondage. Today, in this place of worship, Jesus comes to you and me as he came to that woman in the synagogue two thousand years ago and proclaims, “You are set free from that which troubles you!” We are the woman in the story, and we are free! And, as followers of Jesus, who have been baptized into his death and resurrection, we are to be about the business of setting others free. That’s not especially easy. It’s certainly not comfortable. As the leader of the synagogue could tell us, it’s far safer to protect the traditions and rules of the church than to act with radical compassion. That’s why Luke has included this story in his telling of the Good News. Luke knew his readers were torn between maintaining the status quo and being Christ-followers. In the story, we are Jesus – and we are the leader of the synagogue. “She was bent double, and quite unable to stand up straight.” Think about it: How often have you heard good people, church people, say that the church should stay out of politics? The fact is that the word politics comes from the Greek “polis,” which means city, or town. Saying the church should stay out of politics is, literally, saying the church should stay out of what goes on in our city, our town, our community. That God doesn’t care about anything that happens outside of the church walls. We know that isn’t true. Over the past month, I’ve been hearing the stories of the work you do, at the Harvard Elementary across the street, and at Nourish. Of course, you believe God cares about what goes on in the community. The fact is that our country is founded on the premise that the government should not interfere in the practice of religion, but there is nothing in either scripture or in our country’s Constitution that says church should stay out of politics. The notion the church should stay out of politics is, more than anything, an excuse for not getting involved. It’s an excuse for not allowing our faith to inform our political decisions. When our decisions are not informed by our faith, we vote in favor of our own comfort, our own interests, our own pocketbooks – and those whom God loves, daughters and sons of Abraham – are left bent double, unable to stand straight and tall. Sometimes, when we choose not to help, we recall the saying that “God helps those who help themselves.” But you won’t find that in the bible. You’ll notice that Jesus didn’t wait for the woman bent double to notice him; rather, he noticed her plight and took the initiative. That’s what God does with us, and that’s how God would have us behave towards one another. “She was bent double, and quite unable to stand up straight.” This coming Saturday is the commemoration of African Landing Day. Four hundred three years ago, in late August, first the first enslaved Africans arrived in Virginia and were sold to landowners there, and history was changed forever. Drawings show the Africans standing up tall and strong as they are led off a ship. I wonder how long it took before they were bent double, and unable to stand up straight. I think about the despair and anger of an African American grandmother in a congregation I served recently, an educated woman, a college professor, as she told me how afraid she is when her son or grandsons drive to the grocery store, wondering if this is the trip when they’ll be stopped by police. Wondering if they’ll make it home. I drove by the penitentiary at San Quentin almost every trip to every congregation I served over more than twenty years. When I saw the inmates outside, I couldn’t help noticing how many of them were descendants of slaves. People of African descent are incarcerated at more than five times the rate of white people. If Black and Latinx people were incarcerated at the same rate as white people, prison and jail populations would decline by almost 40%. When I think about being bent double, I think about the effect mass incarceration of the descendants of slaves has on whole families, whole neighborhoods, schools, industries…. Mass incarceration of Black people is a systemic problem. The yoke of mass incarceration, police violence, and bigotry weighs down the African American people, a demonic spirit that bends them double, so they are quite unable to stand up straight. And we, the Body of Christ, are called to step outside of our comfort zone to bring healing. To help them stand straight, and tall. We who are white are called to use our privilege to break the yoke of oppression. “She was bent double, and quite unable to stand up straight.” But the Most High God released her from the demonic spirit that bound her. Through Jesus, the Most High God set her free. Through Jesus, the Most High God sets us free from demonic spirits that bind us. Through Jesus, the Most High God sets us free to act with the radical compassion of Christ. And I wonder: Who is bent double here in the Tacoma area, who needs to know how deeply the Most High God loves them? Who is bent double here in Tacoma, who needs to know there’s a place they’re welcome, where people will help them stand straight, and tall?
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