Thomas J Parlette
“Three Questions”
Luke 13: 10-17
8/21/22
Have you ever wanted to trade lives with someone for just a day or two – just to see what it’s like to be them. I don’t know if you’re familiar with the Freaky Friday series of movies. The first one came out in 1976, and since then, three more versions of that movie have been made. Freaky Friday is actually part of genre of movies called body-swap movies. Some of the more well-known ones are 13 going on 30, with Jennifer Garner, Like Father Like Son, Vice Versa, All of Me, with Steve Martin and Lily Tomlin sharing a body, and perhaps the best one of all, Big, starring Tom Hanks. In some of those movies, they don’t actually swap bodies, sometimes they swap ages, experiencing life as themselves but older. In each of the movies, the characters get a new perspective on life from their swap. They come away with a deeper sense of empathy and respect for the struggles of other people or people of a different age.
I wonder what we would learn if we could swap bodies, or just sit down for 30 minutes or so with the woman in this Bible story today. The story begins, “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 18 years. She was bent over and was quite unable to stand up straight.” Crippled by a spirit for 18 years. Unable to stand up straight for all that time. I wonder what questions we might ask her. A good place to start might be, “What do you miss about your old life? What can others do to help you? What do you wish people understood about your condition?”
The story continues, “When Jesus saw her, he called her over…” Think about that for a moment. What if I called you up to the front of the church this morning – no warning, no explanation, just come on up here for a minute - what would you do? Would you smile and say, “Sure, on my way.” Or would you maybe cringe a little, slump down in your seat and avoid eye contact? Or just shake your head and wave off the request.
Most people aren’t comfortable getting called to the front of any kind of gathering. And Jesus calls a woman who is so bent over that she can’t stand up straight at all. Put yourself in her shoes. What must she be thinking? “Who is this guy? What does he want with me?” I wonder how she felt as she made her way through the crowd of worshipers to stand beside him. I think one good question to ask her would be “What did you expect when you came to Jesus?
In fact, that’s a good question for all of us to consider. What did you expect when you came to Jesus? What did you expect when you came to church today or turned on our livestream? Maybe you expected a guilt trip. Maybe you expected a little wisdom, a little inspiration, a little comfort to brighten your day. A little music and a funny story or two. Or maybe your only expectation was to have a donut. Or maybe, like the crippled woman in the story, you’ve been waiting and hoping for so long that you are afraid to expect anything. Maybe you’ve gone numb. The Greek word Jesus uses to describe this woman’s condition means “weakness.” I can understand someone who has spent 18 years struggling under a spirit of weakness would be too numb to expect anything anymore. Why get your hopes up, you know.
I once read about a man named John Patterson who grew up hearing about a God of anger and judgment in his childhood church. Not surprisingly, Patterson grew up into an angry adult who didn’t want anything to do with God. But his life changed when he attended a church that taught him about God’s love and mercy. He never expected to meet the God he met in the life of Jesus. He said, “To say I was surprised by God’s love would not be sufficient. I was completely overwhelmed. I asked God over and over to forgive me and told God whatever life I had left, no matter how much or how little, I wanted it to count.”
One year after John Patterson’s life-changing experience with God’s love, he was scheduled for a heart transplant. He was only 49 years old. On the night before his surgery, John’s surgeon came to him and told him about a 17-year-old boy who was dying. Would he be willing to give up his donor heart and let this boy have it instead. John had no idea when he might get another heart – if ever. But with his new found confidence in God’s love – he agreed to let the boy have the heart meant for him. The boy’s surgery was a success – and a week later, another heart became available for John.(1) He sure did make his life count.
It’s hard to find a story in the Gospels where people got what they expected from Jesus. In fact, almost every person who walks away from an encounter with Jesus is surprised, overjoyed, challenged or changed in some way. But when you read through the Gospels, you will see one undeniable thread: Jesus is always looking to transform people’s lives with God’s truth, God’s healing and God’s love. Sometimes people fell to his feet in gratitude. Sometimes people plotted to kill him. But no one was neutral. An encounter with Jesus will always challenge you or change you.
That brings up a second question for the crippled woman. How did the world look different after Jesus set her free from this spirit of weakness? Only those set free from a burden truly know how to praise God. It is only through our suffering that we understand the power of joy. Luke only needs one sentence to show us what this moment meant to the crippled woman. “When he laid his hands on her, immediately she stood up straight and began praising God.”
Dr. Sanduk Ruit, a surgeon in Nepal, has performed cataract surgery on more than 100,000 Nepalese citizens. He has literally restored sight to blind eyes. Dr. Ruit grew up in a small village in Nepal. His parents were illiterate. The closest school was 11 miles away. Dr. Ruit’s village had no electricity or medical facilities. In spite of all the challenges his family faced, Dr. Ruit’s parents were determined to get their son an education.
Coming from the background he did, Dr. Ruit’s accomplishments are considerable. But his greatest accomplishment is pioneering a cataract microsurgery technique that does not require the advanced machinery necessary for cataract removal in the U.S. or Europe.
Ali Gripper, a journalist, interviewed Dr. Ruit and was given permission to observe the responses of patients when their bandages were removed right after they underwent surgery to restore their sight. Gripper writes, “They squint, and then slowly look at their own clothes and hands. Then, as their line of vision expands out at faces, neighbors, then further afield to buildings, mountains, the sky. They break into ecstatic smiles or cry with pent-up relief. Some get up to dance.”
“In a moment, the patient starts looking ten years younger. They come into the eye camp led by someone, hunched, withdrawn, and they leave walking upright, beaming and proud.” (2)
I think that’s the way the crippled woman left the synagogue that day – walking upright, beaming and proud and praising God all the way home.
It’s sad that we don’t know more of her story. We get to see her when Jesus sets her free, but we don’t know what happened next for her. If it’s true that the most important moment in a person’s life is when they come to Jesus, the second most important moment is when they decide what to do with their transformed life.
In fact, that’s the third question we might ask this once crippled woman: What will you do now. What’s next? Now that Jesus has changed your life, what will you do with the rest of your life?
Another good question for us all to consider. How do you put praise into action when you walk out of these church doors or turn off your TV or computer. How do you share the transforming power of Jesus with other people who want be set free from their burdens?
In January 2007, a young couple in Knoxville, Tennessee – Channon Christian and Christopher Newsom – were brutally tortured and murdered. Channon’s father, Gary Christian, had been a devoted Christian all his life. But as he left the police station after learning the details of his daughter’s death, he screamed at the sky.
“I’m done with You,” he screamed at God. “I don’t want You in my life. I don’t need You in my life, and I don’t trust You with anything.”
Gary was consumed with rage and fantasies of revenge against his daughter’s killers. For the next 10 years he stayed away from church and any thoughts about God. He started a motorcycle club called the Shepherd’s RC. This club held a special ride each year to raise funds for college scholarships in Channon’s memory. The Newsome’s and the Christians advocated for a new law in Tennessee, the Channon Christian Act, which was passed in 2014, that put limits on how criminal defendants and attorneys can negatively portray the victim of a crime.
On Easter 2017, some members of the Shepherds RC motorcycle club invited Gary Christian to their church. The message that morning was on Jesus’ encounter with Peter after Jesus’ resurrection. You remember that Peter had denied Jesus three times and abandoned him and yet the first time Jesus meets Peter after the resurrection, he forgives him and restores him to his place as a disciple.
A few weeks later, on the Sunday of their annual ride for Channon, the Shepherds RC members convinced Gary to attend church with them again. After church, they headed to the cemetery to visit Channon’s grave. The only thing Gary could think about on their ride that morning was the recent sermons he’d heard. He says that when they finally got to Channon’s grave, he asked God, “Just like You did with Peter, restore me. Take me back, Lord.” And that’s just what God did. Ten years after Gary Christian screamed at God in the police station parking lot, he was finally set free from his burden of anger and hatred.
Today, Gary Christian speaks to churches and other groups about his spiritual journey and the restoration he found in Jesus. He has spoken to more than 30,000 people, and never charges a fee. He says, “I told God that I would tell my story in every corner of the world if he restored me. And if just one person rededicates their life to God – then it’s worth it.”(3)
We don’t know much about this crippled woman in the synagogue. She disappears from the scriptures after this encounter with Jesus. In fact, she disappears from her own story very quickly. The leader of the synagogue quickly changed the focus to whether or not Jesus should be healing on the Sabbath in the first place. It’s a shame that no one at the synagogue that day appears to offer anything but indignation at this woman’s healing.
It would have been nice to hear her perspective on what this all means and what she’s going to do now. But we do know one thing for sure. If we come to Jesus with a burden that is weighing us down – physically or spiritually – Jesus will see that need and will bring healing. And just like the crippled woman, we will be able to stand up straight, praise God, and be on our way, beaming and proud, to share our story of the transforming power of God through Jesus Christ.
And for that, may God be praised.
1. Dynamic Preaching, Vol. XXXVIII, No. 2, p 76.
2. Ibid… p 77.
3. Ibid… p 77-78.
