Christ healing an infirm woman on the Sabbath, by James Tissot (1886-1896)
Patrick Comerford
Next Sunday, 25 August 2019, is the Tenth Sunday after Trinity (Trinity X).
The appointed readings in the
Revised Common Lectionary, as adapted for use in the Church of Ireland, are in two groups: the continuous and the paired readings.
The readings are:
Continuous readings: Jeremiah 1: 4-10; Psalm 71: 1-6; Hebrews 12: 18-29; Luke 13: 10-17. There is a link to the continuous readings
HERE.
Paired readings: Isaiah 58: 9b-14; Psalm 103: 1-8; Hebrews 12: 18-29; Luke 13: 10-17. There is a link to the paired readings
HERE.
‘She was bent over and was quite unable to stand up straight’ (Luke 13: 11) … an illustration in the Ottheinrich Bible (1530-1532)
Introducing the readings:
The readings next Sunday are about calling and about out willingness to respond to the call of God, the call to become part of the Kingdom of God.
Jeremiah hears the word of God, who has known him from his conception, and who calls him to bring God’s message not just to Israel but to the nations and the kingdoms.
The psalmist acknowledges that God has called him since he was conceived and calls on God to protect him against the wicked, the evil and the oppressor.
The reading from the Letter to Hebrews reminds us that we are called to be part of the Kingdom of God, ‘to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem.’
The Gospel reding reminds us that Christ’s call comes to all, regardless of age, gender or physical appearance. There is no discrimination in the Kingdom of God.
‘I appoint you over nations and over kingdom’ (Jeremiah 1: 10) … flags of the nations flying on the promenade in Bray, Co Wicklow (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)
Jeremiah 1: 4-10:
We are starting on a series of readings from the Book of the Prophet Jeremiah that continues until 20 October (Trinity XVIII), interrupted on one Sunday with a reading from the Book of Lamentations (6 October), Jeremiah’s bitter weeping and intense sorrow over the destruction of Jerusalem.
The people of Israel have strayed from God’s ways. In the late 600s BC, King Josiah guided the people back to the worship of God. He removed all practices of foreign worship and made Jerusalem the one place of worship. The Prophet Jeremiah played a key role in Josiah’s reforms.
At the beginning of this book, ‘the word of the Lord’ comes to Jeremiah. This phrase is found throughout the book, and the message Jeremiah proclaims is God’s word.
The Hebrew word translated here as ‘formed’ (verse 5),
yashar, is a technical term for created, like a potter forms clay into pottery, or God forms humanity from the clay of the earth (see Genesis 2: 7-8).
God knows Jeremiah from the very first moment of his existence, and consecrated him, or set him aside, for God’s purposes, to be ‘a prophet to the nations’ (verse 5).
Jeremiah responds, protesting. He is still young and without experience, probably in his 20s. Remember how Moses too responded to God’s call in a similar way (see Genesis 3: 11, 13; 4: 1, 10, 13). But God rebukes this response and promises to be with him. He then commissions Jeremiah through the symbolic action of touching Jeremiah’s mouth (verse 9), and sends him out to the nations and the kingdoms of the world, ‘to pluck up and pill down, to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant’ (verse 10), to do away with corruption and ungodliness, to promote ethical conduct and godliness.
‘Be a strong rock, a castle to keep me safe’ (Psalm 71: 3) … Springfield Castle, Co Limerick (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)
Psalm 71: 1-6:
The psalmist turns to God in his search for refuge, and asks God to be his place of safety, his ‘strong rock and castle (verse 3, NRSVA) or ‘stronghold’ (the Psalter in the
Book of Common Prayer).
He pleads with God to rescue him from the wicked, the evildoer and the oppressor (verse 4).
He has trusted in God since he was born, and knows that God has sustained him since he was conceived (verse 6). Now he promises to praise God for the rest of his life.
‘But you have come to … innumerable angels in festal gathering’ (Hebrews 12: 22) … angels at the throne of Christ in a fresco in Ravenna (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2017)
Hebrews 12: 18-29:
We are coming close to the end of our readings from the Letter to the Hebrews, which conclude the following Sunday.
In this reading, the voice of God is clearly identified with Christ. The anonymous writer contrasts how the assembly at Mount Sinai received the Covenant with God through Moses (see Exodus 19, Deuteronomy 4: 10-15), with the way Christians enter into the new covenant with God through Christ.
Just as the assembly was called by Moses before God at Mount Sinai, we are called before God through Christ on Mount Zion, a poetic way of referring to and embracing both Calvary and the New Jerusalem.
We are called into the city of the living God, into the Communion of Saints, the heavenly Jerusalem. The kingdom that Christ has brought is unshakable, permanent, and we invited into the presence of the God we worship.
‘He was teaching in one of the synagogues on the sabbath’ (Luke 13: 10) … looking from the women’s gallery at the bimah or reading platform in the Pinkas Synagogue in Prague (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)
Luke 13: 10-17:
In the story of the healing of the woman who has been crippled for 18 long years, Christ shows through word and deed what it means to be part of the Kingdom of God. He heals this woman but also affirms her as a ‘daughter of Abraham’ (verse 16), a full member of Jewish society and the faith community. The kingdom is equally open to all without any discrimination based on gender or physical appearance.
After 18, long years, this woman does not ask to be cured, and no one asks on her behalf. It is Christ who notices her and calls her over (see verse 12).
As he is teaching, he is at the
bimah in the centre of the synagogue, so calling her over places her in the centre of the assembly. For Christ to notice her, he has to turn around to see her. It is worth noticing here, of course, that the word conversion means to turn around.
This woman’s response to Christ’s words and deeds is to speak out and to praise God (verse 13). Anyone could speak in the synagogue, so long as they were men and members of the Jewish community. This woman is not only healed but given her places in the community of faith, in the Kingdom of God.
This story and the leader of the synagogue contrast with the earlier stories of Jairus, the leader of a synagogue, whose 12-year-old daughter is dying, and of the woman who has been suffering from haemorrhages for 12 years (see Luke 8: 40-56).
Christ’s response to criticisms of his healing on the sabbath relies on religious tradition to rebut any opinions that religious tradition has been violated. Untying an ox or a donkey on the sabbath is forbidden in one part of the
Mishnah, but it is permitted, even encouraged, in another place.
Christ unties or sets free this woman who was tied to Satan. If you untie animals on the sabbath, why not humans?
Christ refers to this woman as ‘a daughter of Abraham.’ In 4 Maccabees, which is not in the Bible for most churches but is an appendix to the Greek Bible, the mother of the
Seven Maccabean Martyrs is acclaimed twice as a ‘daughter of Abraham’ (see 4 Maccabees 15: 28, 18: 20). So, it is a title not without precedence, but it is unusual, and comes at a very late stage in Judaism.
The crowd who rejoice in what Jesus says and does. They realise that the Kingdom of God is open to all when God calls them and when they turn to God.
The Kahal Shalom Synagogue in Rhodes, with the women’s gallery behind and above the tevah (Photograph: RhodesPrivateTours.com)
Reflecting on the Gospel reading:
This story reminds me of the
Kahal Shalom Synagogue (‘the Holy Congregation of Plentiful Peace’), the last surviving, functioning synagogue on the Greek island of Rhodes, and the
woman who gave me a tour of that synagogue many years ago.
The interior of the synagogue follows the traditional Sephardic style of having the
tevah or reading platform in the centre, facing south-east towards Jerusalem. Behind it and above is the balcony, created in 1935 as a result of a liberalisation of religious policy, for use as a women’s prayer area. Before that, the women sat in the rooms beside the south wall of the synagogue, and could see into the main body of the synagogue, through curtained openings. Those rooms are now used for the Jewish Museum of Rhodes.
The woman who showed me around the synagogue and the museum, Lucia Modiano Soulam, was bent over and then in her 80s. She was an exceptionally brave woman with an extraordinary story. She was a survivor of Auschwitz and spoke Greek, Ladino, Italian, a little French and Turkish and very little English.
Because there are only seven Jewish families left on Rhodes, the synagogue depends on tourists to make up a
minyan, and to lead public prayers.
As a family, we attended a sabbath service in the synagogue as her guest, and she sat with us, so that there were two women among a congregation in which the
minyan was made up thanks to Israeli and American tourists.
I think of her as having been captive to Satan in Auschwitz for many years because of the sins of so many men. Now she was old and bent over, but taking her place in a synagogue where once she would only have been seen in the balcony above and behind the
tevah, or behind the screens and curtains in the adjoining women’s rooms.
In her suffering, Lucia had become, truly, a Daughter of Abraham. She died in 2010.
Some questions:
Which images leap out at you in this story?
Which characters leap out at you in this story?
Perhaps Jesus, but in what role? As teacher (verse 10, verses 16), keen observer of humanity (verse 12), healer (verses 12-13), Lord God (verse 15), judge (verse 15), affirmer (verse 16) or wonder worker (verse 17)?
The woman? She is unnamed, but so too is the town in which this synagogue is located.
How do you image her? In her previous physical condition? Or as she looks after Jesus heals her?
The leader of the synagogue (verses 14 and 15)? He too is unnamed.
Who are the hypocrites in verse 15? Who are the opponents in verse 17? The leader of the synagogue and …?
The ox and the ass (verse 15)?
Abraham (verse 16)? Apart from Jesus, Abraham is the only other character named in this story.
The crowd (verses 14 and 17), the many? The fickle crowd who rejoice now, like the crowd who rejoice at the entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday?
And, to test your imagination, if this had been a lost Gospel passage and you came to it as a first-time reader, who would you identify with initially?
Let us look at some of the figures in this story.
What makes this woman unusual, or what makes this healing story unusual? Like many of the women in the Gospels, she remains anonymous. So, who can she be compared with?
Apart from the Apocryphal commentary in 4 Maccabees, no other woman in the Bible is referred to as a daughter of Abraham. Indeed, the Book Genesis records no named daughters of Abraham, and the rabbis argued over whether Abraham had any daughters (see
Babylonian Talmud, Bava Batra, which records an argument between Rabbi Meir and Rabbi Yehuda). So, seeking to compare her with a daughter of Abraham, or with other women in the New Testament, is chasing after shadows.
Yet, although the description of the woman as ‘daughter of Abraham’ is unusual, it is placed first in the Greek sentence (verse 16) as a position of emphasis. We are all familiar with discussions about how this stakes a claim for her as a true heir to the covenantal relationship with God. But there are two men in Saint Luke’s Gospel that she might be compared with too:
1, The unnamed rich man in the story of ‘Dives’ and Lazarus (Luke 16: 19-31) addresses Abraham as ‘father’ or ‘Father Abraham’ (verses 24, 27, 30), and Abraham address the rich man as ‘Child,’ but the child of Abraham is the outsider who is brought in.
In next Sunday’s story, Christ shows what it means to be a citizen of God’s kingdom – through his actions. He heals this woman and calls her a ‘daughter of Abraham,’ which makes her, remarkably, a full member of Jewish society. Christ is saying the kingdom is open equally to women and to the sick and disabled.
2, The description of the woman as daughter of Abraham is matched later in this Gospel when Christ insists that Zacchaeus is ‘a son of Abraham’ (Luke 19: 9), a point that is also made in the face of a crowd, this time a crowd that rejects Zacchaeus as a sinner. Think of how this woman’s physical position of being bent over is symbolic in the way that Zacchaeus is short in statute.
It is also worth noting too that the woman does not ask to be cured, and no one asks for this on her behalf. Christ notices her himself (verse 12). This involves a turning round. She enters while Christ is teaching. If he has the scrolls in front of him, he is facing forward in the bema in the synagogue, and so she is behind him, either above in a balcony, if it is a large synagogue, or hidden behind a curtain in a smaller synagogue. She is unlikely to have been visible to Christ unless he turns around.
What does Christ do?
He turns around, and he calls the woman over. He tells her she is free, and he lays his hands on her. He has not yet addressed her as ‘Daughter of Abraham.’ So it is not this label that causes offence.
Is it calling the women into the centre of the assembly? The ritual implications for many men present are outrageous and even incalculable.
There are five responses worth noticing:
● of the woman;
● of the leader of the synagogue;
● of Jesus;
● of all his opponents;
● of the crowd.
Those responses are:
● To stand up and praise God (the woman, verse 13);
● Indignation (the leader of the synagogue, verse 14);
● Judgment and teaching (Jesus);
● Shame (his opponents);
● Rejoicing (the crowd).
Ever since this story was written, I imagine, the synagogue leader has been typecast as the bad guy. Yet it is he who twice describes what Christ does as healing (θεραπεύω,
therapeuo, twice in verse 14). Would he have been seen as the ‘bad guy’ on the day itself? Can you imagine telling the story from his point of view?
His indignation is neither unusual nor outrageous, but is justified given who he is speaking on the behalf of, given the religious culture within which he is operating.
His first concern may have been for the men in his synagogue who risked being ritually tainted on the day. He voices his objections not when Jesus calls her over, not when he lays his hands on her, but only when she stands up and praises God.
Twice in our text we are told that the woman has had this illness for 18 years (probably a word connection with the 18 who died in Luke 13: 4). What difference would a few hours make? Why heal her on the Sabbath day and deliberately stir up all this conflict? We should note that emphasis is provided by the word sabbath occurring five times in the text.
Jesus’ breaking of the sabbath seems pointless and unnecessary. He is not performing a good deed that, if delayed, could not be performed at a later time. This is not a woman who needs immediate rescue, or who is caught upstairs in a burning house. Having waited 18 years, she could wait until after sundown.
For the Pharisees, the Sabbath is the chief sacrament of the order of creation, so it is reasonable for them to argue that it may lawfully be broken only if some significant individual instance of the order of creation is in danger of imminent and irreversible disordering. If the woman has been able to bear her disability for 18 years, surely Christ can wait out the afternoon and heal her after sunset without flying in the face of the Torah? Why can he not wait until sunset? In the meantime, he and the synagogue elders could search the Law and the Prophets together, and then the healing could be seen in all its unquestionable rightness.
Perhaps if Christ had waited until sundown, his wonderful miracle would have supported the people’s expectations of a victorious, triumphalist Messiah. But he constantly announces the coming kingdom in words and deeds that run counter to their expectations for the kingdom.
One way of dealing with a message we do not want to hear, is to shoot the messenger. Perhaps Christ could have spent all day arguing with the synagogue elders about whether or not it was legal to heal this woman on the sabbath – while she remained ill.
But why does the leader not direct his words to Christ? Instead, he addresses his complaints to the woman and to the crowd. He does not doubt Jesus’ ability to heal, and it is the woman’s action rather than of those of Jesus that he condemns. He has no problem about her coming to synagogue or coming for healing. Instead, he upbraids her for coming on a Saturday, and he tells her to come for healing on any one of the other six days of the week. Yet, it does not appear that this woman comes seeking healing. She asks for nothing. Her release comes through Jesus’ own initiative.
What is the significance of Christ’s rebuttal? It is clever, for while untying an ox or a donkey on the sabbath was forbidden in one part of the
Mishnah or Jewish book of laws, it was permitted in another. If you untie animals on the sabbath, why not humans?
We should be aware that in his rebuttal, Christ does not attack traditional Judaism. He simply offers one of a number of traditional points of view. This story continues the story in Luke 4 of Christ reading from and teaching from the scroll in the synagogue. He is now putting into action in the synagogue what he has taught in the synagogue.
Meanwhile, Christ has set free or untied the woman. But what was she tied to? To her disability and her infirmity? To Satan? To her community’s refusal to accept her? To one interpretation of what could or could not be done on the sabbath?
Her ailment is described literally as ‘a spirit of illness’ (verse 11) and ‘weaknesses’ (verse 12). The word ἀσθένεια (
asthéneia) is used in both verses. Its literal meaning is without strength of body, in other words weakness or incapacity. Often this inability to do something is caused by a physical problem, such as disease or illness.
The result of Christ’s action is ἀνορθόω (
anorthoo) (verse 13), literally ‘to set straight again.’ But it also means ‘to restore,’ ‘to rebuild,’ or ‘to set right again.’ Figuratively, Christ restores her to the Abrahamic covenant.
Jesus says to the woman, ‘… you have been set free,’ ἀπολέλυσαι (
apolélusai) ‘from your weakness’ (verse 12). The NRSV translates it with the present tense, ‘you are set free.’ This word απολουω (
apoluo) is not usually associated with healing. Its general meaning is ‘to loose,’ to unbind, to release, to send away, even to divorce (see Matthew 5: 32; 19: 3, 7, 8, 9). It can refer to the bandages used to tie a woman to her husband. It is closely related to the word λύω (
luo) used twice by Christ in this story: to ‘untie’ an ox or donkey (verse 15) and to ‘set free’ from bondage (verse 16).
Finding some meanings in this story:
Is this a story about controversy and division? Or is this a story about healing, wholeness and restoration?
Given the two synagogue settings I have referred to, is this a story about the practical relationship between what we believe and what we do – getting the balance right between being and doing?
The woman is not named in this story, and, once she stands up and praises God, she disappears from the story, never to be seen or heard again. She is written out of the controversy at the end of the story. So is it a story about her, or about the reaction of the crowd, our reaction, to the promise of restitution and wholeness that Christ offers?
Apart from teaching that women and people with disabilities have a place in the centre of the community and at the heart of the kingdom, are there other meanings to be found in this story? What is it saying to us may be more important a question than what is it saying about the woman.
An icon of the Nativity of Christ … the ox and the ass are inseparably linked with the manger, but are not mentioned in the Gospel accounts of the Nativity
A closing image:
The words for ‘bound’ and ‘bondage’ in verse 16, δέω (
deo) is only used in one other place in this Gospel, when it is used for the ‘tied up’ colt (see Luke 19: 30, 33).
This leads me to the images that strike me in this story that include the ox and the ass in the manger. Of course, the ox and the ass in the manger are not mentioned in the Nativity narrative in Saint Luke’s Gospel. This is a popular image that is drawn from the Old Testament. In the Book Deuteronomy there is prohibition on tending to crops with a bull and a donkey side by side. But the ox and the ass later acquire a Messianic symbolism: ‘The ox knows its owner, and the donkey its master’s crib; but Israel does not know, my people do not understand’ (Isaiah 1: 3).
The ox and the ass also make for some Talmudic and Mishnaic verses relating to Messianic prophecy, in which the bull becomes the symbol of Joseph and the donkey is interpreted as the Messiah’s vehicle of choice – and so there is a Messiah from the houses of Judah and Joseph.
Some questions for discussion:
When should we do things in the church we believe are right, and only deal with the repercussions afterwards?
When do we need to discuss and come to an agreement before taking action?
What holds people in bondage?
In what ways does legalism bind them?
How are we held in bondage to past successes, defending our habits by saying: ‘This is the way we’ve always done it’?
Does the way we behave in our churches on Sundays free people or keep them tied up?
‘Now he was teaching in one of the synagogues on the sabbath’ (Luke 13: 10) … inside the Etz Hayyim Synagogue in Chania, Crete (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)
Luke 13: 10-17:
10 Now he was teaching in one of the synagogues on the sabbath. 11 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. 12 When Jesus saw her, he called her over and said, ‘Woman, you are set free from your ailment.’ 13 When he laid his hands on her, immediately she stood up straight and began praising God. 14 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.’ 15 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? 16 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?’ 17 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.
Let your merciful ears, O Lord,
be open to the prayers of your humble servants;
and that they may obtain their petitions,
make them to ask such things as shall please you;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
The Collect of the Word:
O God, the judge of all,
through the saving blood of your Son
you have brought us to the heavenly Jerusalem
and given us a kingdom which cannot be shaken:
fill us with reverence and awe in your presence,
that in thanksgiving we an all your Church
may offer you acceptable worship;
through Jesus Christ our Lord,
who lives to intercede for us,
now and for ever.
The Post Communion Prayer:
O God,
as we are strengthened by these holy mysteries,
so may our lives be a continual offering,
holy and acceptable in your sight;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
‘I appointed you a prophet to the nations’ (Jeremiah 1: 5) … national flags flying outside an hotel in Tsesmes, Crete (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)
Suggested Hymns:
Jeremiah 1: 4-10:
631, God be in my head
589, Lord, speak to me that I may speak
624, Speak, Lord, in thy stillness
597, Take my life, and let it be
Psalm 71: 1-6:
2, Faithful one, so unchanging
459, For all the saints who from their labours rest (verses 1–3)
668, God is our fortress and our rock
557, Rock of ages, cleft for me
595, Safe in the shadow of the Lord
Isaiah 58: 9b-14:
206, Come, let us to the Lord our God
647, Guide me, O thou great Jehovah
497, The Church of Christ, in every age
Psalm 103: 1–8:
1, Bless the Lord, my soul
686, Bless the Lord, the God of our forebears
688, Come, bless the Lord, God of our forebears
349, Fill thou my life, O Lord my God
366, Praise, my soul, the King of heaven
365, Praise to the Lord, the almighty, the King of creation
660, Thine for ever! God of love
47, We plough the fields and scatter
374, When all thy mercies, O my God
Hebrews 12: 18-29:
646, Glorious things of thee are spoken
220, Glory be to Jesus
668, God is our fortress and our rock
619, Lord, teach us how to pray aright
638, O for a heart to praise my God
281, Rejoice, the Lord is King
Luke 13: 10-17:
124, Hark the glad sound! the Saviour comes
104, O for a thousand tongues to sing
514, We cannot measure how you heal
‘Praise, my soul, the King of heaven’ (Hymn 365) … the creation depicted in a dome in Saint Mark’s Basilica, Venice (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2018)
Scripture quotations are from the
New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicised Edition copyright © 1989, 1995, National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
http://nrsvbibles.org
Material from the
Book of Common Prayer is copyright © 2004, Representative Body of the Church of Ireland.
The hymn suggestions are provided in
Sing to the Word (2000), edited by Bishop Edward Darling. The hymn numbers refer to the Church of Ireland’s
Church Hymnal (5th edition, Oxford: OUP, 2000)
He was teaching in one of the synagogues on the sabbath (Luke 13: 10) … a scroll in a synagogue in Prague (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)
