Free For Service
A Sermon by the Rev. Peter De Franco
August 21, 2022
Luke 13:10-17
Now he was teaching in one of the synagogues on the sabbath. And just then there appeared a woman with a spirit that had crippled her for eighteen years. She was bent over and was quite unable to stand up straight. When Jesus saw her, he called her over and said, “Woman, you are set free from your ailment.” When he laid his hands on her, immediately she stood up straight and began praising God. But the leader of the synagogue, indignant because Jesus had cured on the sabbath, kept saying to the crowd, “There are six days on which work ought to be done; come on those days and be cured, and not on the sabbath day.” But the Lord answered him and said, “You hypocrites! Does not each of you on the sabbath untie his ox or his donkey from the manger, and lead it away to give it water? And ought not this woman, a daughter of Abraham whom Satan bound for eighteen long years, be set free from this bondage on the sabbath day?” When he said this, all his opponents were put to shame; and the entire crowd was rejoicing at all the wonderful things that he was doing.
Imagine, just imagine, if you lived most of your life with your head facing the ground. Unlike most of us who look people in the face, you would face their feet. Imagine, just imagine, if your back was so bent that you lived in this state where the only way to see somebody was if that somebody bent down to look you in the eye. That bent over woman holds center place in today’s Gospel.
The people in her village gathered on the Sabbath and she did everything possible to be there since she heard that Jesus, the renowned healer and teacher, was visiting that town. We know nothing of her desire, nothing of her longing for healing. But we do know that for eighteen years she lived with this bent back and we can imagine that her heart headed toward healing.
She arrives late for the service since Jesus is already teaching in the synagogue. As soon as she enters Jesus sees her. Jesus sees her pain and invites her to come forward. Listen to the words he speaks to her: “Woman, you are set free.” While our reading of the story says she stood up straight, thus making her the one who moves from a bent over position, the original Greek says that “she was straightened up.” God is lifting her face from staring at the ground to looking at others eye to eye.
Imagine, just imagine Jesus bending down to her, looking her in the eye, as he touched her and brought her healing. God comes to this woman, as God comes to all healed by Jesus. Jesus is the one who liberates her from the control of forces which held her captive.
Such liberation shows the reign of God, a time of healing and liberation, dawning in the person of Jesus.
From Luke’s Gospel, we learn that Jesus sets people free that they might serve others. Jesus models for us this life of service. He teaches those who hunger for God’s Word. He feeds those whose stomachs cry for bread. He heals those whose body ache for wholeness. The healing of this bent over women Jesus describes as a liberation, setting her free. Her freedom opens her for service.
Freedom for service of others.
Jesus comes to us with that same offer of freedom. Each of carries something heavy which weighs us down. Each of us can move to a deeper intimacy with Jesus, looking him in the eye as he gazes into your eyes. That freedom which Jesus brings us opens our lives to service.
Perhaps a sermon on service during August will not find a ready ear to hear or a willing heart to respond. During the summer months, most of us are focused on rest and relaxation rather than service. Yet the call to service still echoes from requests to help in our Thrift Store, to liturgical ministries for our worship and emails looking for volunteers to respond to possible threats to our church.
Over the years, our church has served as a center of worship and fellowship for our members. We served as a center to find rest and inspiration to go out during the week in faithful service in our work and families. Our church community has changed. We are becoming a center from which we can serve others. Our Thrift store provides a service in the community where people can find clothing and household items at reduced prices. We need people to work the cash register and assist customers looking for materials. Out Thrift Store also provides people with an opportunity to meet the members of our church and perhaps to find a place to worship with us.
However the same core of people regularly come out to manage the Thrift Store. In all these people who regularly manage the Thrift Store, I notice something that unites them: They have made this ministry their ministry. They have committed themselves to make this ministry succeed. Each of them has entered into the freedom which the bent woman experienced. Their eyes are lifted and they see clearly and they serve.
Each of us needs to find some place where we can serve, where we can invest ourselves and where we can commit ourselves to make our church succeed. God has called each of you to this place. God has a plan for each of you in this place. God invites you to see that you are called. For Jesus speaks to each one of you: “You are set free.” You are set free to serve.