“Healing Freedom” Colchester Federated Church, August 24, 2025, Eleventh Sunday after Pentecost (Luke 13:10-17)

Today’s text from the Gospel according to Luke concerns a conflict between Jesus and a fellow Jew who led a synagogue.  Last week we contemplated Jesus’ difficult words: “I came to cast fire upon the earth.  How I wish that it was already ablaze!  I have a baptism I must experience.  How I am distressed until it’s completed!  Do you think that I have come to bring peace to the earth?  No, I tell you, I have come instead to bring division.”[1]  We considered that the lessons Jesus was teaching his disciples on the journey to Jerusalem were so important that it required focused attention and strong speech.  Sometimes who Jesus was and what he was about caused division, even within families.  That was the cost of discipleship.  Though there was also the joy of discipleship—the joy in discovering a faith that still sustains us through it all.

Today we witness division and some of that costly discipleship as we continue our summer exploration of the Gospel according to Luke.  This conflict revolved around the observation of the sabbath and Jesus and the synagogue leader’s differing views on the matter.  Before we are too hard on the synagogue leader, let’s remember that commandment about the sabbath from the 10 Commandments given by God to Moses.  In Exodus we can read: “Remember the Sabbath day and treat it as holy.  Six days you may work and do all your tasks, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God.  Do not do any work on it—not you, not your sons or daughters, your male or female servants, your animals, or the immigrant who is living with you.  Because the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and everything that is in them in six days, but rested on the seventh day.  That is why the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.”[2]  The sabbath was declared to be a holy day of rest. 

Our Gospel story begins innocently enough because Jesus heals a woman who had been disabled for eighteen years.  She had been bent over and was unable to stand up straight.  Jesus sees her, calls her over, and said, “Woman, you are set free from your sickness.”[3]  Jesus lays his hands on her and she immediately stands up straight and begins praising God.  Luke tells us that the leader of the synagogue is indignant.  Not necessarily because Jesus heals this woman, but because Jesus healed her on the sabbath.  The synagogue leader says to the woman, “There are six days during which work is permitted. Come and be healed on those days, not on the Sabbath day.”[4] 

It appears that he’s even more upset at the woman than he is at Jesus.  He’s angry with this woman who came to the synagogue while Jesus was teaching.  She shows up perhaps hoping to be healed, but not outright asking Jesus to do so.  It’s Jesus who sees this woman, as he often saw those whom others ignored on the margins.  It’s Jesus who calls her over.  It’s Jesus who declares her free from her sickness and lays his hands on her to make it so.  Though the synagogue leader is incensed that this woman (whose name we will never know) dared to show up for healing at the synagogue on the sabbath itself.  Because remember the sabbath is a holy day of rest and not meant for work. 

But Jesus isn’t having it.  After healing her and after hearing this woman insulted, Jesus speaks to anyone who may be holding similar views: “Hypocrites! Don’t each of you on the Sabbath untie your ox or donkey from its stall and lead it out to get a drink.  Then isn’t it necessary that this woman, a daughter of Abraham, bound by Satan for eighteen long years, be set free from bondage on the Sabbath day?”[5]  The crowd rejoices for the wonderful things that Jesus is doing to give this woman new life.  Meanwhile Jesus’ opponents are put to shame for their hardened hearts.

It is important to view this passage as depicting a conflict within a religious tradition.  This reminds me of one of our Jewish guides (Jared) who told our group when studying in the Holy Land that he’s observed over the years that Christians tend to argue with each other about orthodoxy (right beliefs) whereas Jews tend to argue with one another about orthopraxy (right practices).  I think this is a helpful way to understand this story.  Because this is what we see in our Gospel text with Jesus and the synagogue leader (both Jewish men) arguing with one another about how to observe the sabbath.  This is an orthopraxy conflict (about right practices for sabbath observation).  Both of them would have understood the importance of remembering the sabbath day and treating it as holy.  It becomes a conflict due to their differing views of how the sabbath should be remembered. 

Work is prohibited on the sabbath after all.  That was the rule of the day within the Jewish community.  Sabbath observances are still important for Jews in modern times.  Though the sabbath is observed differently by adherents of Orthodox, Conservative, and Reform Judaism.  Some of us may remember that Connecticut once had “Blue Laws” that designated what activities were prohibited on Sundays.  The Blue Laws were statutes dating back to Puritan days.  We may have some context for this story ourselves in our small state.  Some of us may even remember that on Sundays (the sabbath day for Christians) some stores were not open, sports and other recreational activities were not played, and the sale of alcohol was prohibited.  That seems like a long time ago, though a few of these laws are sorta still on the books depending on the town.  When we truly consider the matter, Sabbath observances have been debated by Jews and Christians in our respective traditions and even in modernity.

All of this to say, the fundamental question in our Gospel story becomes—is the healing that Jesus performed for this disabled woman on the sabbath considered work?  The synagogue leader said yes.  Jesus counters by stating that oxen and donkeys are untied on the sabbath and led away to water.  If animals are set free from their bondage on the sabbath, shouldn’t this Jewish woman (this daughter of Abraham) be freed from her bondage on the sabbath? 

Jesus’ ministry was all about liberation.  Jesus once said, “I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.”[6]  The crowd goes wild because Jesus freed this woman for new life, and they witnessed the miracle.  Jesus came that we may have life and have life abundantly.  The timing of the healing was beside the point.  New life in Jesus Christ was the point. 

In the end, there are any number of issues that religious folks don’t see eye to eye about.  Whether we are arguing about right beliefs or right practices, there will inevitably be differences of opinion within religions and even within denominations and local churches.  We can remember that conflict is normal.  There will be different ways of living out one’s faith within our Christian tradition.  There will be times when we simply cannot understand why another person feels that way about something when we may believe the exact opposite.  It’s a conundrum.  Though it’s a conundrum that always needs to be weighed with Jesus’ call to love God, love our neighbors, and love ourselves in mind.

Because Jesus chose a side.  Jesus chose to heal on the sabbath, knowing that some would consider what he did to be work.  He healed on the sabbath because Jesus was standing up for what he believed in his heart to be right.  He was standing up for a person who didn’t demand healing.  He was standing up for a woman that he could see with eyes of compassion.  He was loving his neighbor.  Jesus saw this woman and claimed her as a daughter of Abraham.  It was like saying—she’s our sister, and can we treat her as such?  For that is truly holy.  God desires freedom all the time.  Thanks be to God.  Amen.

[1] Luke 12:49-51, CEB.
[2] Exodus 20:8-11.
[3] Luke 13:12.
[4] Luke 13:14.
[5] Luke 13:15-16.
[6] John 10:10, NRSVUE.

Photo by Rev. Lauren Ostrout.