Eye To Eye - A Sermon for Sunday August 24 2025

GOSPEL: Luke 13:10-17

The holy gospel according to Luke.

Glory to you, O Lord.

Jesus heals a woman on the sabbath, offering her a new beginning for her life. When challenged by a narrow reading of the sabbath command, Jesus responds by expanding “sabbath work” to include setting people free from bondage.

10 Now [Jesus] 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 to 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 being done by him.

The gospel of the Lord.

Praise to you, O Christ.

The professor enters the classroom and looks at her students.

Twenty years ago,

She would raise her voice over the loud chatter;

“okay, class, settle down, let’s begin.”

She doesn’t say this anymore.

Now she enters the classroom to silence,

and says;

“Okay class, phones away, let’s begin.”

Perhaps more than ever,

we are strangers in the crowd.

We used to pass the time in conversation,

now with necks bent down,

we scroll.

COVID happened and we forgot how to talk to one another.

Political polarity is prevalent;

and we don’t remember how to talk kindly

amidst conflict.

Society is changing fast,

leaving some of us behind.

You know what I want?

I think you want it too…

I want people with whom

I can see eye to eye.

I want to see eye to eye with my family, my children,

when it comes to our goals as a family.

I want to see eye to eye

with my colleagues and congregation members,

when it comes to God’s will for the Church.

I want to see eye to eye

with my friends,

to know my voice counts,

and that I’m safe with them.

And when I’m in conflict with someone,

I still want to look each other in the eye,

in kindness and respect.

We all need people with whom

we see eye to eye,

with whom we are on the same page,

people that we agree with.

We all seek to find this belonging with like-minded people.

It happens here at church,

and at the hockey rink,

and around crib boards and sewing machines.

For 18 years, this un-named woman at the synagogue

had a unique perspective on a broken world.

She had an ailment that bent her at the waist.

In order to look someone in the face,

she would have to turn her head

and look up at an angle.

For 18 years,

she could not look anyone eye to eye,

By posture alone, this woman had certainly gotten used

to being a lower being,

pardon the pun.

Being bent at the waist,

being a lower being became her norm.

We don’t know much about this woman:

we don’t know her name,

only her ailment

and that she worshipped at the synagogue.

I wonder if she had children or grandchildren,

siblings, nieces, nephews.

She certainly had neighbours.

It is quite likely that she was taken care of,

either by family or by the people of the synagogue.

But, I wonder, before Jesus showed up,

if anyone ever took the effort

to kneel down before her,

to really look her in the eye?

A word on Sabbath:

I don't think this healing story

is meant to subvert the Sabbath.

Jesus is not anti-Sabbath.

Jesus is Jewish, by lineage and by religion.

Luke does not try to hide this.

Jesus is teaching at the synagogue on the Sabbath.

Teacher’s among us know that

teaching can be hard work.

Jesus is working on the sabbath,

healing on the sabbath.

Yet Jesus is certainly pro-sabbath.

Jesus is showing us something deeper here.

We find the roots of the Sabbath

with the Ten Commandments:

Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy,

and Sabbath’s roots with God’s work of creation:

that God laboured 6 days and rested on the 7th,

so ought the people of God

allow for a day of rest on the Sabbath.

Sabbath is part of the covenant

between God and God’s people:

It is part of the promise of the everlasting relationship

between God and God’s people.

Sabbath has a purpose;

as Jesus said in Mark 2:27

“The Sabbath was made for humankind,

not humankind for the Sabbath”

Sabbath is not for God’s benefit, per se,

rather Sabbath is a gift for the people:

for the benefit of the people,

rest for the people.

Jesus teaches us that Sabbath - like its roots

is about release from bondage;

Israel released from captivity in Egypt,

and everyone - slaves and animals -

now get a day off.

Sabbath is about liberation.

In fact, Jesus says that it is most appropriate

for this woman to be restored

on the Sabbath day.

A word on the healing:

On this particular Sabbath,

Jesus says the necessity is not to the law of

working for 6 days and resting on the 7th.

The necessity is that this woman

be released from her captivity.

The need is for God’s healing and liberation to be experienced,

and it cannot wait until sundown.

The Sabbath is not about rules that keep us apart

but rest that allows us to stand face-to-face,

eye to eye,

with God and one another.

The un-named woman’s ailment

is understood to be caused by spirits:

in particular a “spirit of weakness”

It is not important to the gospel writer

how exactly this miracle occurs.

There is little detail:

Jesus lays hands on her, and Jesus speaks.

The key is Jesus’ proclamation:

“Woman, you are set free from your ailment.”

immediately she stood up straight

and began praising God.”

The literal Greek text doesn’t say she stood up straight,

but rather the text says that she was restored.

The ailment wasn’t so much removed;

she was restored to wholeness,

restored to freedom of body

when Jesus laid hands.

There’s an important book:

Amy Kenny’s “My Body Is Not A Prayer Request:

Disability Justice In The Church.”

To borrow from her book:

We are created in the Image of God.

This includes able bodies,

and disabled bodies.

Disabled bodies are made in God’s image too.

This is the same with skin colour

or gender differences.

God’s creation is very good - and diverse.

The Gospel is not about fixing bodies

that deviate from the norm,

The Gospel is about fixing society

to make it inclusive of all bodies.

Jesus certainly lifted up this woman,

he healed her,

and just as important:

Jesus restored her to community.

Another way of putting it:

Jesus saw her,

and looked her in the eye,

so that the rest of the community

can look her in the eye.

Jesus met this woman where she was at:

the crowd might think that she deserves the ailment,

some people today still believe that

disability is a punishment for sin.

But Jesus knows better.

She doesn’t deserve the ailment,

she deserves the name Jesus gave her:

Child of Abraham.

She is named one of God’s people:

She is in covenant with God.

She is an equal part of God’s family,

whether bent at the waist or not.

After 18 years of looking up at people

out of the corner of her eye,

18 years of people thinking she is a sinner

who deserves this ailment,

She can finally rise up.

She can be taken seriously.

She can finally look at her family and her neighbours

eye to eye.

When God is at work,

expect captives to be released.

We might think of captivity as illnesses,

or perhaps a prison cell for criminals,

but captivity is a broad concept.

Captivity can be addiction:

we can be held captive by alcohol,

or self medicating,

sometimes our possessions possess us,

and hold us captive.

Here’s a little story I’ve shared with some of you before,

I find it captivating, pardon the pun.

A couple years ago, in the middle of the COVID pandemic,

the Men’s Breakfast met here on a Saturday morning,

We had a guest speaker, a medical professional

fairly well known to the group.

He was talking about COVID,

and sharing facts and anecdotes.

During the question period,

one of our members shared some thoughts on COVID

that were perhaps controversial.

It made me a touch uncomfortable;

and I wasn’t alone.

I looked around the table at that moment,

and almost every man stopped looking at each other.

Almost everyone picked up their phone.

Some just looked at it, and put it back.

Some started scrolling.

When things are uncomfortable,

we seek comfort -

and what’s more comfortable right now

than the dopamine releasing smart phone?

I found myself doing it too:

just picking up the phone

when I need a little comfort.

It’s like we’re trying to solve our social awkwardness

by looking at our phones

which is just creating more social awkwardness.

When we are uncomfortable,

we ought to turn to God,

the real source of comfort.

Whether it be the Sabbath or not,

God is at work bringing liberation.

When God is at work, expect captives to be released.

That captive might just be you.

You and I might not be bent over at the waist,

but our society’s ailment, our captivity

has us bent down at the neck with scrolling thumbs.

The Smartphone possession is possessing many.

When God is at work, expect captives to be released.

Expect those things that might hold you back

from truly loving your neighbours

and serving your God

to be removed.

Perhaps by faith,

instead bent necks and scrolling thumbs,

we can lift or face and hands

and see the image of God in our neighbour.

By faith, you can let go of

the things that you do to yourself

that hold you back, that keep you captive.

You see, we are all just like this unnamed woman.

You are no longer some mere un-named person

defined by your ailments

and your standing in the community.

In baptism,

we are all given the best name there is:

Child of God.

You are part of God’s covenant,

We are all God’s family.

Jesus is looking you in the eye.

May God give us eyes of faith

to see the people who go unseen,

and look them in the eye.

May we live as children of the covenant,

trusting that all bodies are made in God’s image.

May God lift us up from our captivity,

that like the unnamed woman,

we too might be seen eye to eye.

Thanks be to God. Amen.