-/\/\-----------------------------------------------------------------
\ / HEARTLIGHT(R) Magazine -- http://www.heartlight.org/
--\/------------------------------------------------------------------
August 8, 2008
/--- Turn Today's Verse into a Poster ---------------------\
Create beautiful 18"x24" posters from any Bible verse!
You can add your own personal note, making them great for
gifts or awards. See the selection:
\--- http://ads.heartlight.org/email/50/ -----------------/
=========================== TODAY'S ARTICLE ==========================
Bent Out of Shape, by Patrick D. Odum
On a Sabbath Jesus was teaching in one of the synagogues, and a
woman was there who had been crippled by a spirit for eighteen
years. She was bent over and could not straighten up at all. When
Jesus saw her, he called her forward and said to her, "Woman, you
are set free from your infirmity." Then he put his hands on her,
and immediately she straightened up and praised God (Luke 13:10-13
TNIV).
She was bent out of shape.
Eighteen years she had been crippled, nearly two decades of shuffling
through life, head down, looking at peoples' shoes. We'd call it
osteoporosis, maybe, or arthritis? Luke gets to the level of spiritual
reality when he blames the woman's affliction on a "spirit."
Having seen my grandmother stoop more and more as the years went by,
and knowing the pain she was often in, I guess I sympathize with this
unnamed woman. I wonder if she was bitter and angry at the hand her
body had dealt her, or if, like my grandmother, she somehow managed to
remain joyful and optimistic. Either way, sometimes she'd have to think
with longing, wouldn't she, about a time long ago before pain and
deformity had shackled her -- about a time when she was younger and
taller and straighter, when she walked with step light and head high?
He was bent out of shape, too. With him it was just a little less
noticeable.
He was a synagogue ruler, so on the outside at least he must have
looked good enough and respectable enough for the elders to put him in
charge of operations for their village synagogue. He would have been
responsible for the upkeep of the building itself, as well as for the
services that went on inside. Maybe he was well-known, or wealthy, or
influential. Maybe he was particularly pious. Whatever the reason, if
it happened in, around, or to the synagogue, he was responsible for it.
But he was just as bent out of shape as the crippled woman who was a
part of his synagogue. His particular deformity was of heart and mind,
though no less real than the woman's spinal stenosis. Its cause was a
lack of theological imagination. His was a condition that made it
possible for him to stand right in the middle of God's glory and power
and think only about whether the order of worship was being followed.
The two -- spine-twisted woman and heart-twisted synagogue ruler -- met
one Sabbath. Or maybe they didn't. Whether they met each other or not,
they both met Jesus. And it's probably not overstating the case to say
that it was a meeting neither forgot as long as they lived.
As a visiting Rabbi, Jesus was asked to teach on that Sabbath -- almost
certainly by the synagogue ruler himself. The teaching normally would
have consisted of the Rabbi commenting on the texts assigned for that
day with traditions, parables, and instruction. It was all done in a
certain way, with a certain spirit, and the synagogue ruler would not
have suffered lightly any action that might possibly have been seen as
a disruption.
Given that, maybe you can understand his discomfort when Jesus calls
this woman -- a woman –- to stand before the assembled congregation.
"You're free from your infirmity," he says. And at his touch she is.
She stands straight for the first time in eighteen years.
And that's when we see how bent out of shape the synagogue ruler really
is. "Indignant" -- that's the word Luke uses to describe him. To put it
more colorfully, he freaks. Blows up. Has a conniption. A hissy fit.
With great gravity and dignity, no doubt, he stands up and in his best
"Shhh ... We're in the synagogue" voice informs the congregation that
the healing they've just seen doesn't count, because it was done on the
Sabbath. "There are six days for work. So come and be healed on those
days, not on the Sabbath."
Maybe you need Jesus to unshackle you!
Well, that's just laughable, of course. Ridiculous on its face, because
clearly God has placed his stamp of approval over the whole proceeding
by healing the woman in the first place. And so Jesus -- Luke calls him
"the Lord" here, as a point of emphasis -- sticks a pin in this
puffed-up, self-important religious policy wonk. "You phony," he says
-- with a smile on his face, I think, because this is funny stuff --
"Don't you untie your ox or donkey and lead him out to get a drink on
the Sabbath? That's all I did -- I untied this woman so she could
finally be free from the bonds Satan had put on her. Isn't it
especially appropriate that be done on the Sabbath -- the day of rest?"
Well, I don't know if the woman appreciated being compared to livestock
or not, though something tells me she didn't mind so much. What we know
is that the people of the synagogue get it, even if their leader
doesn't get it. They're delighted, Luke tells us. They're delighted at
what they see God doing through Jesus. It might not fit in the order of
worship or have Jerusalem's imprimatur, but they know an act of God
when they see it.
I said before that I relate to that woman. But I relate to the
synagogue leader, too, maybe more than I want to admit. I know the
value of a well-planned worship service. I know the importance of good
exegesis in our Bible reading. I know that not everyone should teach a
Bible class or preach a sermon or stand before the congregation, and I
know that things in church are to be done "in a fitting and orderly
way." So I get Mr. Synagogue Leader, I really do. I get what he was
trying to do.
But along the way he lost something. He lost his sense of wonder and
joy at God's power and grace and love and unpredictability. Somewhere
along the line he shackled his heart to a set of rules and traditions
and to a processed, plastic, mechanical God who does exactly what his
people expect him to. And no more. Somehow he made a vocation of
defending the dead weight to which he had bound himself. And it was
being shackled to that dead weight that had him bent out of shape.
And I hope that if that ever happens to me, someone will have the sense
to stick a pin in my pomposity. Or at least tell me to get out of God's
way. The fact is that often it's the very people who are well-versed in
Scripture and leaders in churches who get bent out of shape when things
don't go according to plan. A new Bible translation. A different order
of worship. A new ministry. A different class of people coming through
the doors. A fresh take on an old tradition. Never mind what God might
be doing; all we can see is our narrow view of God being trespassed
upon.
I'm just saying that if you're feeling bent out of shape about
something or the other, then maybe the problem is that you need to go
back to Jesus. Maybe you need him to unshackle you from the burdens
that weigh you down and restore the freedom and joy of your first
encounter with him. Nothing would make him happier. Nothing would make
you happier. And nothing would make the people around you happier.
After all, they need a God who sets twisted, broken people free.
---------
(c) 2008 Patrick D. Odum <p.d.odum@gmail.com>.
RELATED LINKS:
* Rabboni
http://www.heartlight.org/feature/sf_990331_rabboni.html
* Tender Savior
http://www.heartlight.org/wjd/matthew/0608-wjd.html
* Why Tim?
http://www.heartlight.org/articles/200010/20001005_why.html
* Faith Web
http://faithnet.faithsite.com
This article can be found on the web at:
http://www.heartlight.org/articles/200808/20080808_bent.html
=========================== FEATURED PRODUCT =========================
CAPTIVATING: UNVEILING THE MYSTERY OF A WOMAN'S SOUL, by John & Stasi Eldredge
Many Christian women are tired, struggling under the weight of the
pressure to be a "good servant," a nurturing caregiver, passionate
lover, or capable home manager. What Wild at Heart did for men, this
book can do for women.
http://shopping.heartlight.org/cgi-shl/link?251
Find more great books, CDs and videos at the Heartlight store! With
each purchase you make, you're helping to support Heartlight's
ministry. Thanks SO MUCH for your help!
HEARTLIGHT DAILY EMAIL /\/\
===============================================================\ /===
http://www.heartlight.org/ \/
Visit HEARTLIGHT on the web for even more articles, plus music,
devotionals and more for your Christian walk!
ABOUT HEARTLIGHT:
Heartlight, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) religious non-profit organization.
Donations are welcome and tax-deductible! Find out how to help!
http://www.heartlight.org/support
EDITOR: Phil Ware, phil@heartlight.org
HOW DO I SUBSCRIBE?
It's FREE! To subscribe send a blank email to:
join-heartlight@maillists.heartlight.org
HOW DO I LEAVE?
To unsubscribe send a blank email to:
heartlight-unsub@maillists.heartlight.org
STILL HAVING TROUBLE?
If our automated unsubscribe system isn't working for you,
send an email to mailmaster@heartlight.org and let us know
what list you would like to leave. We'll take care of you.
======================================================================
