“Living in the Spirit: Be Set Free From Bondage”
- Luke 13:10-17
August 26, 2007
Dr. Michael C. Yarbrough

          Hear the tension in Jesus’ teachings: “Leave the dead to bury the dead.”  “Carry no purse, no bag, no sandals.”  “Shake the dust off your feet.”  “Go and do likewise.”  “Beware of all covetousness.”  “Sell your possessions and give alms.”  “Be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour.”  “I came to cast fire upon the earth.”  “Not peace but division.”  Wow!  Taken all together, they aren’t very easy to hear – are they?

          The lectionary for today is about healing.  Sounds simple enough, but sometimes even healing somebody got Jesus into trouble.  Jesus, a practicing Jew, was in a local synagogue to observe the Sabbath.  While he was there, a woman, stooped over to the point of disability, entered the synagogue.  Whatever her debilitation, Luke says that she had suffered under its burden for eighteen years.

          Jesus spotted her and called her over to him.  Luke does not suggest that she was seeking a cure or that Jesus quizzed her about her beliefs.  She didn’t even know who he was.  Jesus took the initiative!  She did not come there to plead or beg for mercy.  She is not some great model of faith whose sinless-ness or prayers healed her.  She was just an island of twisted flesh around which flowed a sea of worshippers.

          Jesus picked her out of the crowd and laid his hands on her and said, “Woman, you are set free from your ailment.”  At that moment her back was straightened.  She raised her hands in exuberant praise.  This is an example of God’s radical gift of grace!

          Again and again, Luke recounts stories of Jesus’ life in which he sets people free from whatever has been keeping them from living life fully.  For Luke, Jesus’ ministry is a “ministry of liberation” that shows Jesus’ power over the evil forces present on earth.  It is an indicator that the Realm of God is a place of healing, joy, freedom, and reconciliation.  The way Luke tells it, through Jesus, the new Realm of God is already beginning to replace the old world of suffering, strife, and oppression.

          Tension was immediately present at the healing of the stooped woman.  Jesus’ actions were a violation of Sabbath laws.  After all, were there not six other days each week when the woman could have been healed?  Even touching the woman in the synagogue broke the rules of ritual purity before worship.

          Jesus responded to the complaints of the temple leader forcefully: “You hypocrites,” he said!  He pointed out the hypocrisy of allowing a tethered animal to be loosed for watering on the Sabbath, but not for a daughter of Abraham to be loosed from a condition that made her suffer for eighteen years.  What’s wrong with this picture?

          The synagogue leader was sincere.  His intentions were to do the “right” thing.  The tension in the story comes from the disagreement on what the “right thing” is.  Jesus’ answer raised the question: “why should kindness and compassion be stifled by the Sabbath?”  It is clear from the story that some people advocated the humane treatment of farm animals on the Sabbath but not the same treatment for human beings!

          The religious leaders were embarrassed by Jesus’ answer to them.  The crowd, which is almost always true in Luke, was on Jesus’ side.  They laughed and sang in praise about the wonderful thing Jesus had done.

          This story in Luke calls attention to our own spiritual attitudes.  Jesus’ extravagant grace is great if it is directed toward us.  But maybe, when it pours out – gushes out – like the flow of an uncapped fire hydrant, onto others, WE DON’T LIKE IT!  And in those moments, we are too much like the synagogue leader.

          The Realm of God is like a group from a church who goes down to Micah Ministry on a Monday night, and opens up the clothing bank so that the poor might have some clothes to wear.  What a delightful moment it ought to be!  But, too often, there is a “fun-buster” who says, “Don’t you think we take away people’s initiative to work and to buy things for themselves when we give away all these good clothes for doing nothing?  Heck – they might turn around and sell them to get money!”

          Synagogue leaders grumbled at Jesus.  We grumble to God.  Displays of Jesus’ radical grace make our inner spirits uncomfortable, and so we complain.  When Christ shows mercy, the house divides.  Now – if we are the ones to receive God’s free “goodies” – to be loosed – to be released – then that’s an altogether different matter – right?  You are in bondage, you know.  Sure, you are!  Don’t ask me “to what?”  I don’t know.  But the possibilities are endless.

          Do you have a fear of others who might take your job?  Are you in bondage to what money can buy?  Do you worry about what other people think of you?  Are you clinging to a philosophy of life or a religious belief system that no longer fits the ambiguities of life?  Are you selfish?  Is your stomach constantly being knotted by inner guilt?  Do you live by a set of inappropriate inner commandments that direct your relationships and your actions?  Are you afraid of rejection?  Do you relish power over other people’s lives?  Are you living and suffering with a physical condition around which your daily schedule revolves?  Is it hard for you to make long-term commitments?  Are you a complainer?

          We are chained to the old creatures that we were before we decided to give our lives to Christ.  We are bound to forms of personal oppression and bondage from which we need to be set free!  Jesus’ ministry was to unbind the cords that choke our physical and spiritual lives.

          When we are ready to be released from the influences that do not make our lives whole or happy – when we are ready to turn ourselves over to the One we call Lord – the Realm of God will break through into our lives and things will happen.  Some ineffective religious structures will be jeopardized.  The calm and comfortable status quo will be disrupted.  Peace becomes tension.  Houses are divided.  But healing finds us.  And we are set free from the bondage that imprisons us.

          When the Realm of God becomes the place in which we decide to live – we will awaken each morning full of purpose, ready to spend time doing something meaningful.  To be set free from our bondage is to experience spiritual contentment, knowing that God’s love is growing within us – and is spreading everywhere.

          Luke’s good news for us today is that there is enough love from God to set us free from whatever chains that hold us.  The good news is that Jesus, in a ministry of liberation, is ready to recognize us, call us over to him, lay his hands on us, and claim us.

          Would you like to live your life in the richness that God offers?

          This morning, I would like to lead you in a guided silent prayer for your release.  I will suggest some things for you to silently pray for that can lead to a renewal of your life in Christ.

          Let us pray.

          Begin by naming to God some of the influences in your life that you know are not Christ-centered.

          Tell God about any desires or aspects of your life that are destructive to yourself or to others.

          Now briefly express to God what you wish was different about your life.

          Ask God for release from the old ways that have a hold on your thoughts, your feelings, and your actions.  Visualize handing them, one by one, to God.

          Now give thanks to God for the power of the Holy Spirit at work in the world – and in the church – and in your life.  Give God thanks for Christ’s ministry of liberation.  Thank God for the new thing that will now happen in you.

          --- O God, you have heard these deep and hidden yearnings within us.  You know our hearts and our thoughts.  Make us new again.  Set us free from our bondage.  For we pray it in Jesus’ name.

Amen.