Wow – did this message from ever “shake me up” when I read it this week!  Just when I think I have my “spirituality” figured out, God lovingly gets my attention with DRAMA filled history like this from Luke 13: 15-17.  Whew – what a scene this must have been when Jesus is rebuking the religious leaders for getting on his case for not “resting” on the Sabbath – in this case “healing” a crippled woman!  Just imagine this scene - 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.   Luke 13:15-17

Now here is the part my Kiwanis friends, that really shook me up this week.  Pastor Kerry Nelson unpacks this scene this way…Jesus puts the leader of the synagogue in his place.  In so doing, my sense is that this story presents us with one reality and one choice.

Here is the reality – we are all people broken by sin.  It might not be as obvious as a bent spine and a walking stick, but we are broken nonetheless.  The Bible is clear about that – “for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God” is a pretty inclusive statement.

We are all that woman, carrying the burdens and the questions and the struggles of our lives weighing us down, sucking the life out of us.  Every single one of us.  That is simply a reality!

But this story also presents us with a choice.  How will we respond?

Will we respond like Jesus or like the leader of the synagogue?

Will we understand that God sees our pain and wants to love us back to wholeness?

Will we respond with compassion and understanding to those hurting people around us?  Will we do our part toward the healing of the sin sick souls of ourselves and others?  Will we cooperate with the good work that God wants to do in our lives?

OR, will we respond like the leader of the synagogue?  Will we hide behind rules and regulations and traditions and decorum and forget the reasons why God brings us together in the first place?

Healing is up to God.  How we respond is up to us – and how we respond either cooperates or refuses to cooperate with what God is up to.

I’ll tell you what I know of God.  God’s intentions to bring health and wholeness into the lives of his people, into all creation, didn’t end that day that Jesus healed that old woman.   That is what God has always, is always, and will always be interested in doing.   God isn’t through with any of us yet.

Sometimes our healing will come suddenly, other times slowly, and sometimes we won’t be healed at all but will be given strength and hope and patience that we might endure our suffering without losing our faith.  But God’s isn’t through with any of us yet.

There always have been and always will be plenty of Christians who think just like the leader of that synagogue.  And it doesn’t help.  It doesn’t help anybody, anytime, period.  It isn’t who we are called to be and it isn’t what we are called to do.

As the people of God we are called to continue the ministry of Jesus NOT to continue the ministry of the leader of that synagogue!

I know some people didn’t like what Jesus did that day.  And some people won’t like what happens when the church of Jesus opens it doors, hearts and arms to all broken people and then walk together toward health.  But the crowds did.  They rejoiced at the wonderful things that Jesus did.