CAMINANDO WITH JESUS: Healing the Spirit

Pentecost 11, Proper 16 | August 25, 2019

By the Rev. Allen Waller

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Now Jesus 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.

- Luke 13:10-17

 
Every Fourth of July there is a lot of talk about freedom. It is on the Fourth that we Americans remember back to a time when our forefathers fought on and off the battlefield for the freedom to govern themselves. The freedom they sought was a freedom that had to be won – and something many died to secure. But there is a distinction between the freedom one gains through battles won and the freedom one is granted by another through no effort of one’s own. 

Our national freedom is an example of the former, while the woman we read about in Luke 13:6-9 is an example of the latter. For 18 painful years she had lived with a crippling illness. It is doubtful she ever imagined living a life free of her illness. So can you imagine the surprise, the relief, the excitement and the joy this woman must have felt when a wandering stranger named Jesus came to town, touched her injured back and instantly healed her?  What a moment that must have been for everyone present, but especially for her!

Maybe you are someone who lives with a condition like hers, or maybe you know a person who does. Maybe you are simply able to imagine such an illness and sympathize. Regardless, if you had the power within you to grant someone the same freedom from illness Jesus granted he woman, would you do it? Of course you would – we all would. While we can only wish for the ability to set people free from illness of the body, when it comes to illness of the soul, we Christians have a lot more to offer than we think.   

For many in today’s world, “healing” relates only to the healing of a person's body or mind. But what about the healing of one's spirit, the real heart and soul of who one is? In Matthew 9:1-8, Jesus identified that the greater illness of the paralyzed man before him was a hidden illness, an illness in the soul, and one that every human throughout history has been infected by to some extent. It is the sickness brought on by sin. Much as physical sickness infects the body, so sin infects the soul. As physical illnesses can affect how we live on a daily basis, so too can sin affect how we live on a daily basis.

You might be thinking, “Unless a person is a murdering war criminal, that person's sin is not something to worry about as much as a physical illness.” But ask yourself this: Which of these, physical illnesses or human sin, did Jesus come to this earth to die for? Moreover, if the gospel is the good news that we have been set free, then what have we been set free from? Death - death is what we are set free from, the same death that comes upon us all when the infection of sin grows to full maturity (James 1:15).  

Read Luke 13:10-17 again. What is this passage really about? Is it simply about the woman who is healed, or is the real focus the bad example being set by this proud, hypocritical and unloving (thus, sinful) ruler of the synagogue who is upset by Jesus’ actions? If we agree the synagogue ruler is the focus, then that might explain more about the nine verses (Luke 13:1-9) preceding today’s passage and why they center on the subjects of sin, judgement and the need for repentance. Yes, we do see Jesus’ healing abilities in this passage, but more than that we see a shining example of the hidden and terminal infection of sin in the life of the synagogue ruler, one who at the time would have been viewed by most as an example of righteousness par excellence.

Now looking more at the synagogue ruler, do you see yourself in him? Do you better see in yourself the symptoms of that infection called sin we all have spreading through our soul? Simply admitting you see the illness of sin is not what makes one a Christian. Instead, the Christian is the one who sees the illness and has accepted the treatment: to have the sins forgiven, to be set free. Like the disabled woman in today’s passage, this life-altering freedom is not something we have earned, through merits or through fighting. Rather, it is one we have been granted by another. So how do we respond to such gracious freedom? In the same way we do when we receive Communion: "in remembrance that Christ die for thee,” and to "feed on him in thy heart by faith, with thanksgiving” (BCP 338). 

The Rev. Allen Waller is the rector of St. Timothy’s, Raleigh.