Luke 13: 10-17

This gospel story tells us about a woman who is described as the bent woman or the crippled woman. She doesn’t appear to have a name other than the one based on her disability. She doesn’t have an identity other than that of a victim.

Currently, it is no longer appropriate to call people deaf or blind or crippled or schizophrenic. We say visually impaired or hearing impaired and sometimes we may find the correctness a little amusing. But, surely, these are good attempts to free people from labels that pigeonhole them and discriminate against them.

She is in this story for everyone else who is named in a similar way: slow, stupid, worthless, troublemaker, bad-news or wimp!

She encounters Jesus and he heals her. She can stand up straight, look ahead rather than down. Jesus addresses her in a new way; no longer as victim but as ‘a daughter of Abraham’. Her life has been renamed and if this story has any relevance for us, then that is the real miracle Jesus performed.

Jesus means to name us! He will not let us be limited or put down by the names or labels the world wants to put on us. We are sons and daughters of God. Our life counts and we can take our place in striving for a better world based on the divine promise of liberation for all.

Rev. Chris Howard
27th August, 2007