Sermon 2007 08 26

There are many things which bind us and keep us from becoming all that God wants us to be. Sometimes it's something personal, our lacks and failings, physical handicaps or attitudes or addictions. Sometimes it's exterior things: violence, threats or rules and regulations or cultural norms.

Two thousand years ago, in the days described by the Gospel lesson, worship on the Sabbath followed very strict guidelines. Not only worship, but everything that had to do with the Sabbath and, in fact their everyday life; how people dressed, what they ate, what they were allowed to do. In the Temple or Synagogue there were strict rules about where people would sit or stand. The men were in the centre of the Synagogue, but the women and children had to stay either in a balcony or in a section off to one side and often screened off in some way.

We can be astounded by this, and yet, it hasn't been that long since our rules and regulations were pretty restrictive regarding who could have any real power in the Church. It has only been since 1976 that the Anglican Church of Canada has ordained women! Imagine that!

More subtle norms regarding behaviour at liturgy remain.

There's an old story about an Anglican Church -- a "nice" church, a "respectable" church. One Sunday the people of that congregation had gathered for worship, all decked out in their Sunday-go-to-meeting best, when a man walked into the sanctuary who just didn't seem to belong. He was scruffy in appearance and ragged of dress. He smelled of beer (which, judging from his lurching walk, he had consumed in great quantity the night before.) The usher handed the man a bulletin, and motioned him toward an out-of-the-way pew. Ignoring his suggestion, the visitor staggered down the centre aisle to the front pew, and planted himself there. So far, so good, thought the ushers -- that is, until the minister began his sermon. "Hallelujah!" shouted the newcomer. The minister gave him a stern look, and continued on. Not a moment later, the visitor interrupted him again. "Praise the Lord!" he proclaimed. One of the ushers came over and whispered to him, as nicely as he could, "Sir, we don't do that here!" "But I've got religion!" the man objected. "Yes, sir," said the usher. "I'm sure you do. But you didn't get it here!"

When Jesus was teaching in the Synagogue he was supposed to keep to the rules. There was a liturgy to follow and customs to maintain. He didn't just bend the rules - he mashed them.

In the middle of his sermon he sees a woman away off to the side who is crippled - she is bent over double and has been this way for eighteen years. Her posture reflects her place in society. She is humbled - for in her world illness was thought to a sign of sinfulness. What courage it took for her to even walk into this Synagogue. The reading says not only that she was physically handicapped, but that she had a "spirit that crippled her." Her dis-ease is more than just physical.

As always, Jesus sees the whole person and is moved to interrupt the wonderful liturgy. He "calls her over." What an outrage! He stops the liturgy! He addresses a woman directly! And on the Sabbath! And in the holiest place in the town! Not only was she a woman, but she was an unwell woman and, thus, unclean! And even more than this, he call her to come into the centre, where women are not allowed! Of course the leader of the synagogue is indignant! How could he not be?

What did Jesus do when she got there? How did he speak to her? She was bent over double - "quite unable to stand up straight."

I can see him crouching right down to look up into her face. This is Jesus, remember, our God who stooped down to be among us. Our God who came down in the greatest humility to be one of us, and to be the humblest of us - born in a barn and laid in a feeding trough. Yes, I think Jesus gets down to speak to her. The crowd is stunned into deep silence. He smiles up at her and places his hands on her tells her that she is freed. And the Gospel says, "Immediately she stood up straight and began praising God." Halleluiah! Praise the Lord! Halleluiah!

The liturgy is in shambles - demolished! And this woman is healed. She is not only cured of her ailment - she is healed. Her body and her spirit are whole again.

So often we are defined, or define ourselves, by our lacks and failings and disease.

A priest friend of mine named Janet, from my last diocese, told me about her experience of a children's day camp one year. She had been haunted by the experience because, once most of the children had gathered, one of the leaders spoke up and said, "O.K. everyone, can we have all the boys on this side of the room and all the girls at the other side of the room.

As the crowd in the centre of the room started to thin out, Janet became aware of a small girl in a wheelchair who had a very sad expression on her face with silent tears spilling over and falling. Janet went up to her and asked her what the problem was and the girl burst out, "The man said for all the girls to go over there, and for all the boys to go over there, but he didn't say where the wheelchair people were to go."

Janet was horrified because this little girl didn't think of herself as a little girl at all, but as a wheelchair person. She thought that she had been excluded in the instructions of the leader. "Imagine", Janet said to me, "That this girl's deepest sense of her being was that she was crippled."

It is hard to figure out what it is that gives people their sense of identity. Their physical characteristics, to some degree, their personality, their talents: I think a lot of it has to do with their experiences: their memories.

Perhaps you know someone who has a crippling spirit, such as the woman had in the Gospel lesson. Perhaps you have a crippling spirit yourself.

So I ask you now: what's your dis-ease? What is it that impedes you? What is it about you that humbles you? What bends you over double and casts you outside of the circle? What spirit is crippling you? What is stopping you from moving forward in your life and being whole?

The good news of today's Gospel is that Jesus heals. He gathers us in - he brings us into the centre of the circle and sets us free. We have to listen to hear him call us. And we have to have the courage to come to him. But Jesus will notice you - and if you come to his call, he will not just cure you - he'll heal you and make you whole. Halleluiah!

Take time this week to listen for Jesus' call. May you have the courage and faith to come to him, and to be healed. Amen.