Sermons:
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If You Were There
Luke 13:10-17
Hans-Erik Nelson
Main Idea: Jesus has a message for each person in this story--and one final
message that is for all of them.
Imagine yourself as a character in this story. Go ahead, use your
imagination!
There are four distinct characters. One of them is Jesus. You can't choose to
be Jesus--David Koresh and Jim Jones tried that and it didn't work out too well
for them or their followers.
That leaves three.
The first character is the woman who had been stooped over for eighteen
years. If you have had long troubles in your life, you may identify with her.
The second character is the leader of the synagogue. If you are annoyed that
people get healed on the day of rest, or if you are a stickler for the rules,
you cross every "T" and dot every "I", this may be the part you could play.
The last character is a person in the crowd who cheers and praises God when
Jesus heals the woman and shames the leader of the synagogue. If you are a
person who is excited when other people are blessed, if you like to praise God,
or if you long for the truth to be spoken and are thankful when it is, then this
could be you.
Everybody ready? Do you know which character you are in the story? Good,
because Jesus has a message for every character in this story, and if you are
identifying with one of these characters, there is a message in it for you.
The most provocative message is for the woman who gets healed. Jesus says,
"Woman, you are set free from your ailment." What's really amazing about this
statement is that there's no record of the woman ever asking to be healed! In
all sorts of other stories people ask to be healed, or their friends ask for
them to be healed, or their parents ask, and so on. Or sometimes they make such
a nuisance of themselves it's obvious that they need some help from Jesus, and
then he helps them.
But not this woman. Jesus just heals her, without her asking for it.
Remember the story of the thief hanging on the cross next to Jesus? The one
who realized that he himself deserved the cross, but that Jesus didn't? In a
sense he recognized that Jesus really was who he said he was, and he was able to
say it out loud. Well, Jesus told him, "Truly, I tell you, today you will be
with me in paradise." It's a great story, and it's a reminder to us not to get
too rigid about what a person has to do to be in paradise with Jesus. The thief
on the cross wasn't baptized. He didn't go to Sunday School. He didn't feed the
poor, or shelter the homeless, or give his testimony. But he had faith. And
Jesus saved him because of his faith, and perhaps, he saved him also to show us
something. He saved him to show that HE decides who gets saved, and that HE can
save anyone he wants to, no matter what formula we've come up with.
Maybe something similar is going on with this woman who got healed. Jesus is
saying, in effect, "I can heal whoever I want to, whatever day of the week I
want to, and you don't even have to ask me to heal you first." And so we can
talk all we want about how we need to come to Jesus for healing and renewal, but
sometimes he just reaches into our lives without us asking and gives it to us
anyway. I know he does this, because I've seen it in myself, and I've seen it in
other people. It's a funny kind of grace, maybe even the best kind--the gift
that we get without even asking for it.
So… If you feel like you identify closely with this woman, then the message
to you from Jesus is this: "You are healed in your body. And I healed your body
not because you asked, but because I can and I wanted to, and because I know
that you needed it. I did it because I love you so much. And though I care about
healing your body, I want you to know that I am only stopping here for a short
time on my way to the cross, where I will heal your soul as well."
If you identified most closely with the leader of the synagogue, the one who
got annoyed at Jesus for healing the woman on the day set aside by law for
resting, then Jesus has a totally different message for you. Here is what he
says: "You hypocrites! Does not each of you on the sabbath untie his ox or his
donkey from the manger, and lead it away to give it water? And ought not this
woman, a daughter of Abraham whom Satan bound for eighteen long years, be set
free from this bondage on the sabbath day?"
Ouch! If you're like this leader, then Jesus just called you a hypocrite!
When other people call you names you may be able to shake it off. But Jesus
tells the truth all the time. Not only that, he knows all the truth all the
time. In fact, he IS the truth, so what he says is all about reality. That
"hypocrite" name really stings because it was spoken by none other than truth
personified. Ouch!
But Jesus has more. He is using the system of laws that the leader of the
synagogue just quoted, and quotes another law right back to him.
"So, the law says we aren't supposed to work on Saturdays, is that right?"
"Yes, of course." [continue]
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