Eleventh Sunday after Pentecost: Jeremiah 1:4-10; Psalm 71:1-6; Hebrews 12:18-29; Luke 13:10-17
The woman appeared, bent over by a spirit that had crippled her for eighteen years. She cannot stand up straight. Jesus sees her, and calls her over. “Woman, you are set free from your ailment.”
My first reaction on reading this week’s gospel is to think about the pain of the woman. Eighteen years! It must have been so hard. But as I read it over, I was increasingly struck by Jesus’ response. He calls her over, and does what is needed. He doesn’t make a big fuss, he just does it. And then he defends his actions (healing on the Sabbath) by reminding his critics of what they do for their animals on the Sabbath. Why not help a human, let alone a “Daughter of Abraham”?
What really strikes me is that this is a direct response with little fuss. There was no committee or study group, no resolution. Just a need and a response. That is rare in the world today. Our congregation has run out of the yellow bags that we used to give out, but one of the things that I liked about having them was the availability of a direct response to need. If you’re hungry, I have food for you. We can’t always do this: I don’t always have food with me, or money. And many needs, from housing to immigration issues to health care, cannot be dealt with so easily.
We may not be able to act so directly, but when thinking about “what would Jesus do”, thinking about how to make our response to the many needs of the world as straightforward as possible is a good first step.