From the Daily Lectionary for Wednesday in the Twenty-Second Week after Pentecost
Luke 13:10-17
Now he was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath. And just then there appeared a woman with a spirit that had crippled her for eighteen years. She was bent over and was quite unable to stand up straight. When Jesus saw her, he called her over and said, “Woman, you are set free from your ailment.” When he laid his hands on her, immediately she stood up straight and began praising God. But the leader of the synagogue, indignant because Jesus had cured on the Sabbath, kept saying to the crowd, “There are six days on which work ought to be done; come on those days and be cured, and not on the Sabbath day.” But the Lord answered him and said, “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?” When he said this, all his opponents were put to shame; and the entire crowd was rejoicing at all the wonderful things that he was doing.
Remember the context of not only this Gospel, but the whole of New Testament literature: Palestine is occupied by a totalitarian regime whose calling card is fear, oppression, and violence. And yet the healing ministry of the church goes on. Despite the burden of imperial rule, and despite convention (Jesus heals on the Sabbath), the raising up of the abused and ostracized persists. Mary, the mother of Jesus, spoke of this dynamic in the prologue of Luke’s Gospel, and proclaims that this presence of love in the world will restore the world entire to its true humanity. It is love that bends the arc of the universe.
I write these words as we await the results of our election. It could go either way, but remember, good people, the prophecy, that love will stand in the end. No powers or principalities can change that in the grand scheme of things. Perhaps our work as the church is to remind a broken and fearful population to trust the promise that the world is made to heal; that the world has the capacity to know the truth; that the world has the capacity to love; and, that God is with us in the process.
As Christian folk we do not despair, nor do we fear. Our message of hope is needed now more than ever. Lean on your faith with enlightened and bold persistence. I promise, with some patience, you will not be disappointed.
A Prayer for Social Justice (BCP p. 823)
Grant, O God, that your holy and life-giving Spirit may so move every heart in the people of this land, that barriers which divide us may crumble; suspicions disappear, and hatreds cease; that our divisions being healed, we may live in justice and peace; through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.
