“What really matters”

By Rev. Michael Stonhouse

Meditation – Sunday, August 21, 2022

Luke 13:10-17 (Forward, p. 23) CEV p. 1079

Sometimes we humans make much ado out of things that are not really at all important. In fact, we have a saying that reflects this propensity. We speak of someone ‘making a mountain out of a molehill.’ This error, this failing on the part of us humans, was something that Jesus forced to deal with repeatedly during His earthly career. We see something of this in today’s reading from Luke.

A woman is there in the synagogue, infirm and hunched over with a back aliment for the last eighteen years, basically a cripple, a hunchback. Rightfully, at least that is, according to the ‘fence’ laws put together by the legal authorities to prevent an infringement of the Sabbath, Jesus should not have healed this woman. It was not an emergency and so He should have had her wait. After all, after eighteen years, one day should not make that much of a difference!

That is what the rules said. But, to Jesus, there is something more important than rules, and that is people, people in their hour of need. And so, rather than wait, He heals her there and then, even though it is not part of the Sabbath. That is because He loves, and cares about happens in our lives. That is why we can always come to Him in faith about anything, and everything, in our lives. That is what really matters, at least to God. Amen.

Forward notes: “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’” (verse 14).

“When I broke my foot, life changed dramatically. I couldn’t drive or stroll in my yard or even climb my porch steps. Imagine what it must have been like for the woman Jesus healed. Bent over for 18 years, she must have struggled to hug her children, cook for the family, and even get dressed.

“Yet here she is, determined to go to the synagogue to hear the new teacher. What a lesson she learns! This woman, unidentified and unimportant by the standards of the day, is the one to whom Jesus gives special recognition. Not only does he heal her, but he also elevates her by calling her a daughter of Abraham. His payment? Her ability to stand straight and begin praising God!

“Despite that, Jesus is reprimanded for working on the sabbath. We, too, are asked to weigh law against healing, compassion against rules, love against ritual. Our decision will change our lives—and the lives of others—forever.”

Moving Forward: “What needs healing in your life? Take it to Jesus in prayer.”