Scripture Passage
Worship Video
Worship Audio
Sermon Script
Bent Over
Today we see a woman who was bent over. She was unable to stand up straight. She lived like this for 18 years. Not an easy life.
Her life was crooked in a literal sense. She always had to see people sideways, from the corners of her eyes. She couldn’t see people straight. Always a sideways glance. That was how she had to see the world.
Not only was she bent over physically but her existence became shrunk. It was all shrivelled up.
She came into the synagogue after Jesus started teaching. In other words, she was late coming for the worship. Maybe, she sneaked into the service after everyone was gone into the service, hoping that she wouldn’t be noticed. She wanted to see this famous healer. Like the woman who touched Jesus’ clothes in secret. She could never take for granted what most people took for granted. Even for worship, she could not come freely. Other people could come early and they even had their own seat but not this woman. She had to sneak in.
This disease did terrible things to her. It took away confidence, a sense of worth, and a sense of dignity. Actually it was not the disease that did terrible things to her; it was people, it was her society who did terrible things to her. People forced her to live in shame and embarrassment.
She might have had many other beautiful qualities as a person. But to people, she was only a bent over woman. Crooked woman! That became her identity.
But not to Jesus. To Jesus, she was a precious child of God, a daughter of Abraham. That meant she was a child of God’s promise.
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?’(Luke 13:16)
How often do we see others in that way? We don’t really see people’s beautiful qualities. We tend to paint a person by what is obviously visible and obviously negative. Whether by a physical appearance, or by a certain character, or a trait. In that way, people can be very prejudiced and judgmental.
Set Free
We are conditioned to see people and see the world in that way. As she had to see the world sideways, people are conditioned to see the world in only one way they know. And they think that their way is the only way and the best way. And they judge others who don’t see the world in their way.
That was what the leader of the synagogue did. He wasn’t happy that she was healed. When he saw that this woman who lived a hell like life for 18 years was healed, he wasn’t happy. Simply because it happened on the Sabbath.
Listen to what he said.
There are six days on which work ought to be done; come on those days and be cured, and not on the sabbath day. (Luke 13:14)
He learned to see the world only in one way. He learned to see life only in one way. He learned to see Sabbath only in one way. And he judged Jesus because Jesus didn’t see the world in the way he saw it. That’s why he was upset. He didn’t even realize how crooked his view was.
The purpose of Sabbath is to loose us from the bondage. Loosing us means to set us free from the hands that bind us
That was what Jesus said to this woman.
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?’(Luke 13:16)
God set apart one day as a special day after creating everything. He set that day apart so that he could sanctify the creation he just created.
By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. Then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done. (Genesis 2:2, 3)
We all need healing. We all need to be sanctified.
The Right Spirit
You all deserve to live a good life not necessarily because you are good but because God wants you to live a good life. God did not let you come into this world to live a miserable life. God has blessed you and sanctified you so that you can live a good life. God gave us the Sabbath so that we can live a good life. That’s why Jesus healed this woman on Sabbath. Jesus wanted her to live a good life. That’s why he loosed her from her bondage on Sabbath. What’s wrong with that?
But the leader of the synagogue could not see that because his minds were set in one way and he could not see any other way. Only thing he could think about Sabbath was not to work. Not on healing.
God wants to heal us. God wants to straighten our existence.
This was my inner voice on August 18.
It is God who gives you a right spirit. When God gives you the right spirit, your life can be straightened up. It is God who heals the crooked spirit that leads you to a crooked way. Ask God to give you the right spirit. Everything in your life will be straightened up.
Jesus gave her the right spirit. Jesus healed her. Jesus straighten up her life.
She had a crooked body but who was really crooked? The leader of the synagogue. She had the crooked body but he had a crooked mind.
The moment we think we don’t need to be healed… The moment we think we know it all… The moment we think my way is the only way… Our spirit will start deteriorating.
Confidence About God
The broken spirit, the humble desire to be healed – that straightens up our existence. You don’t need to live a shrivelled existence any more. You can stand straight up. You can stand tall. New confidence will fill you up.
It is not confidence that insists on one’s own way. It is not a blind confidence. It is not confidence you made for yourself. You will become crooked with that kind of confidence. It is not confidence that comes from success. Rather it is confidence that comes from failure.
It is confidence in the midst of that brokenness. It is not confidence about you. It is confidence about God.
It is confidence Paul had.
When I am weak, I am strong. I can do all things through him who strengthens me. Nothing in the world can destroy this kind of confidence. Ultimately, you can overcome any situation. Your life will be straightened up.
When people go through suffering, they may come out of suffering all right. But many of them develop a very crooked mind. The way they see people becomes crooked. It is because they try to overcome their suffering on their own. They don’t experience the grace of God.
Let us not do that. When we go through suffering, let us seek God. Let us seek God’s grace. We will come out of our suffering straightened, not crooked.
God will straighten our existence. We will see the glory of God.
That was what Isaiah saw.
Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low: and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain. Then the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all people shall see it together, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken. (Isaiah 40:4, 5)
That’s what God will do for us, and for this world.
Leave a Reply