Bend or Break
Sermon by Deacon Marlene C. H. Hogue
August 24, 2025
Proper 16 Year C
n today’s Gospel lesson from Luke, we find Jesus teaching. He loved to teach, he was often found teaching, or as is often found in rabbinic culture, arguing his points. Jesus was always ready to seize on the teachable moment wherever he found himself, and here we are in the synagogue, and on the Sabbath, no less. And almost immediately we hear of the healing of the bent over woman. What a life she must have lead for those 18 years of not being able to stand up straight. She was there to hear the word, to listen to him preach, she was just minding her own business, probably heading toward a seat, and Jesus calls her over . . .
Think about that . . . What must the world look like for her? Could she have a conversation, could she have seen that path ahead, could she do one of my favorite activities, to look up at the sky, especially on a starry, starry night? All she could see on a regular basis without twisting and contortion is the dust and the dirt underneath her feet.
I know a young woman who has had that same issue, and for a longer period of time. She was born with Cerebral Palsy, and because of it, she has only been able to look at people at an angle and look ahead sort of askance. (Again, approximate what it might look like for her.)
Think about how life might be like. This young woman is fortunate, because her physicians were able to accomplish a surgery to help straighten up her posture. It’s not perfect, and maybe some folks would ask why to have it done if it wasn’t going to completely fix the problem, but I imagine the world has opened up for her, she says it has. The surgery kind of makes her lean back now, but she’s able to use an arm to straighten herself up when necessary, and for her it’s been a miracle and life changing.
Consider again the bent over woman.
What is the first thing the woman did upon her healing? She began to praise and to glorify God. As Mother Nozi likes to say, “Hallelujah!”
Consider again the bent over woman. What is the first thing the woman did upon her healing? She began to praise and to glorify God. As Mother Nozi likes to say, “Hallelujah!”
Afflicted by a spirit, it says here, for 18 years. What kind of spirit do you think it could be that would do that? What sort of spirit could get us so contorted that we might not be able to easily get unstuck, short of a miracle?
No matter, someone afflicted so, not even able to stand up straight. To many people that is a huge part of what separates people from the other animals—our ability to stand upright and walk well on two legs. And here we have the leader of the synagogue reprimanding Jesus for having restored the woman’s dignity, her humanity, by healing on the Sabbath.
What does Jesus respond? Hey! Even you untie your animals to take them for a drink, even though it’s the Sabbath. Ought not this woman, a Child of Abraham, just like you, who has been afflicted for the past 18 years, doesn’t she deserve to be set free? Doesn’t she deserve to receive Living Water? Isn’t she worthy of being healed, especially on the Sabbath?
It’s as if Jesus tells the people who admonish him for healing on the Sabbath that there is no better day for it! Mercy, on the Sabbath! Healing on the Sabbath! Life-giving on the Sabbath. Liberating on the Sabbath. Transforming, on the Sabbath. Isn’t that what the Sabbath is all about, truly? For Jesus the care of human beings is itself a religious virtue that takes precedence over rites, rituals, and the any social systems they ensure. And here Jesus reminds us that the care for God’s people in need is at the heart of our faith.
Our faith, which we hear in Jeremiah, is something we are CALLED to do. These words were not just meant for Jeremiah, they were meant for us, as well. God has always known us, God has always been with us, God has always meant for us to live in right relationship with him. And what does that look like? We read God’s message in Jeremiah today: before you were formed in the womb I knew you. Before birth, I consecrated you, I set you apart for service. And as God has told all those he has sent, don’t worry that you are young, or don’t worry that you get tongue-tied, or don’t worry that you don’t feel smart enough, don’t be concerned you have a bad sense of direction, or you’re not the sharpest cookie. God informs us that he is quite able to refashion our thick tongues, that is, our inadequacies. We need to remember that God doesn’t call on us because we’re super-duper. God often calls unlikely people in unlikely times and circumstances—He does not call the equipped. He equips the called.
And one thing I am certain about, we are ALL called. Most assuredly. We are called to be in right relationship with God. We are called to take part in God’s working his purpose out in Creation, to honor God’s priorities, to be participants in the bringing forward of the Kingdom, and we are called to be in loving relationship with one another, to love every other.
So where does all that leave us today? As we move into these next weeks, what is keeping us from living out the call on our lives? My challenge for us is to think about what in our lives may have us bent over. What is it that may be keeping you from seeing the path, the sun, the stars? What is it that may be keeping you from seeing straight? What has you so pretzel-twisted that you aren’t able to stand up straight, in order to truly live out God’s call on your life? And once we’ve begun figuring that out for ourselves, consider if, like the bent over woman, we are open to Jesus calling our name, and are we ready to be healed? And, will we shout, “Hallelujah!”?
