"Unbending Love"

         This morning I want us to try not only to hear the Bible story but also to experience it with our bodies. If you’re able, I invite you to stand (or remain seated) now and bend forward as far as you can from the waist. Hold that position for a minute. What do you notice about the way you feel? What can you see and what can you not see? What can you do and what can you not do? [Be seated please.] Imagine you’re the woman Jesus healed on the Sabbath. Imagine what your life may have been like.
         There was a time when you were young, just a child. And you used to run and play underneath the warm Palestinian sun. You’d sing and dance with your friends. You giggled about boys. You picked wildflowers and took them to your mother. In the evening, you gazed at the moon and stars, and wondered how the world could be so big.
         In time, you got older. You married and had your own children. And life was good.
         But then it happened. Little by little your back began to ache. And no amount of ointment or rubbing helped. It was as though an invisible force began to bend you forward. Each day it was a little worse. The doctors of your time were no use. And finally, you were bent over completely.
         Your little girl would come to you. “Mama, what’s wrong? Mama, pick me up.” But you could not. No more running. No more dancing. No more gazing up at the moon and stars at night. You shuffled to the market, and paid for your goods. As best you could you tried to look up at people as you talked. And your world became smaller and harder and more painful. You were the bent over woman. Eighteen years you were bent over. 6570 days. 157,680 hours. 9,460,800 minutes. You were the bent over woman.
         But then one day everything changed. You’d gone to the synagogue for worship. And this man Jesus, the one everybody had been talking about, saw you. He called you over. You shuffled to a spot in front of him. And without asking he simply said, “Woman, you’re set free from your aliment.” He laid his hands on you. And immediately you straightened up, and began to praise God. And you could pick up your daughter and swing her around. You could look people straight in the eye. You could run and dance and gaze up the moon and stars. Your world became bigger, and easier, and less painful. And you praised God, because Jesus had unbent you. And Jesus had unbound you.
         But a religious leader of the time was all bent out of shape. He didn’t talk to Jesus and he didn’t talk to you. He just kept fussing to the crowd, “There’re six days a week for working. Get healed on those days, not on the Sabbath day!” A rule had been bent and broken.
         But this Jesus said to him and his followers. “You hypocrites! You know you’ll untie and water your ox or donkey on the Sabbath. And how much more should this woman, this daughter of Abraham, whom Satan bound for eighteen long years, be set free on the Sabbath!”
         So Jesus’ opponents, these ones who would hold fast to rules but neglect human need, were bent down with shame. But the crowd kept rejoicing because Jesus’ love was unbending. Jesus’ love unbent the back of that poor suffering woman. And Jesus’ love was unbending against those who wanted to keep the woman in her bondage just to satisfy some rules.
         Jesus’ love is still unbending. Jesus’ love is unbending in his church, the Body of Christ. Through the church, the living Christ is unbending, unbinding oppression.
         When the church speaks out against prejudice based on age or sex or race or sexual orientation, or economic status, Christ’s love is unbending.
         When the church calls for living wages for the working poor, Christ’s love is unbending.
         When the church speaks truth to big business and government hypocrisy, Christ’s love is unbending.
         When the church goes into developing nations, shares the good news, and teaches agriculture and hygiene, and sends doctors and nurses to heal the sick, Christ’s love is unbending.
         When the church takes ordinary Christians, you and me, and gives us hope, reason to live, meaning to our lives, Christ’s love is unbending.
         Christ’s love is unbending as justice is done in society and the church is Christ’s instrument.
         And Christ’s love unbends the sin of the world with grace. You see, we’re bent over with the weight of sin. And the world cries two things, “It doesn’t matter. Just pretend it doesn’t exist. And the sin will go away.” Or the world cries, “Just try harder to be good. If you would just try harder, you would stop sinning.” But we know better. The sin does not disappear when we pretend it doesn’t exist. And even when we try harder, we still cannot get ourselves out from under our mistakes.
         But Christ’s love lifts the sin from us. Christ’s love unbends our tired backs, so weary from carrying the weight of our sin.
         Christ’s love is unbending. Christ’s love unbends and unbinds oppression. Christ’s love unbends us from carrying sin. And Christ’s love cannot be stopped. You see, Christ’s love is unbending. Amen.