Don't Get Bent Out of Shape
Luke 13:10-17
A Sermon By Dave Redick
Hwy 20 Church of Christ, Sweet Home, OR
[Author's Note]*

For eighteen years this dear daughter of Abraham was dominated by her illness. She was bent over at the waist - creased most unnaturally at the middle. She couldn't straighten up. In a kind of forced humility, or perhaps better said, a forced humiliation, she saw life from the level of half her stature. The horizon of her vision was the dusty realm of wagon ruts and camel hoof prints. Bent double, she had to look at the people she met at a strange and unnatural angle. Her life had become a forced bow.

Introduction

A group of golfers was watching a fellow player who was having somewhat of a bad day. His frustration finally boiled over at the 13th hole as the poor guy placed shot after shot into the pond. In complete exasperation, the frustrated golfer picked up his golf bag, spun around like a discus thrower, heaved the whole thing into the middle of the lake, and stormed off the course. His observers figured that would be the last they would see of him.

Moments later, though, he returned. As he waded into the water the other golfers smiled as they recognized his embarrassment. Obviously, he had "come to his senses." He fished out the dripping bag, unzipped a pocket on the side, and took out his car keys. He then wound up and flung the bag once again, this time even further into the lake. Then he went home.⁽¹⁾

I think most of us, in our quieter, more contemplative moments, would agree that getting bent out of shape like this frustrated golfer is not the best way to do things. It can cost even more than a set of golf clubs.

Sometimes though, you have no control over getting bent out of shape.

"What was that you said, Dave? No control over getting bent out of shape? How can you say that when we know that you have stood up there in front of us on numerous occasions and exhorted us to control ourselves when we get angry?"

I stand by my statement. Sometimes you have no control over getting bent out of shape, and I cite as my proof the story of the lady in Luke 13:10-17 who was quite bent out of shape, yet it wasn't her fault in the least way.

(Read Luke 13:10-17)

OK. I confess. I made a play on words to get your attention. I was just playing with your head. We really should control our anger so don't go away saying we don't need to. There is however, a theme in this passage of getting bent out of shape. It is suggested at least three times in these seven verses. We'll look at each one. If you consider more carefully you'll find (1) A bent out of shape lady; (2) A bent out of shape leader, and (3) A bent out of shape law.

Let's look more closely at each one.

I. The Bent Out of Shape Lady.

(Read v. 10-13)

For eighteen years this dear daughter of Abraham was dominated by her illness. She was bent over at the waist - creased most unnaturally at the middle. She couldn't straighten up. In a kind of forced humility, or perhaps better said, a forced humiliation, she saw life from the level of half her stature. The horizon of her vision was the dusty realm of wagon ruts and camel hoof prints. Bent double, she had to look at the people she met at a strange and unnatural angle. Her life had become a forced bow. One can imagine without much difficulty how she was regarded as she shuffled by others on the dusty streets. There would be those people, common to the visibly handicapped, who quickly looked away when her sideways glance met their stares. The innocent questions of children would be heard: "Mommy, why is that lady bent over like that?" Hers was a sad condition.

Luke tells us her sickness was caused by a spirit. I'm not entirely sure how to take that. The King James and American Standard Versions both translate this in the metaphorical sense, saying that this woman had a "spirit of infirmity." Paul used a similar phrase in Romans 8:15 when he spoke of "a spirit of slavery." The New American Standard and the New International make it sound like a demonic spirit caused her sickness. That is further supported by verse 16 that says this woman was "bound by Satan." I'm not sure which it is so I'll leave the translators to work it out. I really have no problem accepting it either way.

There are those modernist scholars who take issue whenever the idea of demonically caused illness is raised in the New Testament. They say, "Come on. In a day of modern medicine and microbiology, you don't believe that all disease is caused by demons, do you?"

No I don't. And neither did the New Testament writers. To be sure, they attributed some illnesses to demon possession. This may be one such case. But in other cases of illness they did not mention demons.⁽²⁾ I'll leave further discussion of it to another time.

Bent as this lady was however, I want you to notice that her priorities were a lot straighter than many in our day that walk erect.

Verse 10 tells us that this incident happened in one of the Synagogues on the Sabbath. What was this lady doing in the synagogue? If we apply the standards many use today, she had the perfect excuse for skipping worship! I know lots of people who have a lot less trouble than this lady did who say they simply cannot make it to church. Hey, her condition would give an entirely new meaning to the concept of uncomfortable pews. Can you imagine the contortions that she would have to go through to get her twisted body to conform to standard seating? What was she doing in the Synagogue? She should have been home relaxing, knowing she had a good excuse for her absence. She could have added her reason to the list of other common ones we hear a lot these days:

	"We've been really busy remodeling our house."
	"I've been working six days a week and I need Sundays to rest."
	"It's so hard to get the kids up and ready on Sunday mornings."
	"We've had company now for three weeks and they aren't church goers."
	"Our business is going so well we just have to work on Sundays."

Folks, can we be honest among ourselves for just a moment? When people are consistently absent from the assembly of God's people, the problem is seldom any of these things I've mentioned or the host of other excuses that are used. The problem is priorities. Too many other things come before God. Most people usually figure out a way to do the things they really want to do. If you struggle with the issue of regular church attendance, I suggest that you take a long and honest look at your relationship with God. He sees right through any disingenuous excuses so it does little good to raise them to Him. He sees hearts. Is He first priority in yours? If not, then none of the rest of this stuff matters anyway.

This lady had endured a bent body for eighteen years but she made it to church. Doesn't that say something about excuses?

Just one more thing before we leave this bent out of shape lady: Notice that her healing was the result of her presence in the synagogue that day, not the cause of it. There is no indication in the text that she came looking for healing. She just came to the assembly where God's people were as was probably her custom. Jesus saw her and called out to her. She didn't see Him and call to Him. She was simply seeking God in worship and in that process of putting God first in that manner, she found the solution to her life's biggest problem.

It sounds to me very much like Jesus' statement in Matthew 6:33: "But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added to you." God has clearly promised to take care of our needs if we put Him first. (That's why I mentioned priorities in what I said earlier.)

I'm afraid that it is quite possible today to have very straight bodies and very bent priorities.

Let's move on now to the:

II. The Bent Out of Shape Leader.

(Read v. 14)

Before we look into specific issue this livid leader brought up, I want to notice his tactics. Who was he mad at? He was mad at Jesus. To whom did he address his anger? It says, "he began saying to the multitude." Do you know anyone who does that? They get mad at someone and go to everyone except the one they're mad at and vent their anger?

It has been my observation over the years that when a person is angry with you but addresses it to someone else, it usually means one of two things. It means either that this person is in reality a coward who doesn't want to face your response or he doesn't have a valid case for his anger but is looking for support from those who put emotions ahead of reason.

For Christians on this issue of venting anger toward others rather than dealing directly with the one you're mad at, the teaching of Jesus is very clear.

He said in Matthew 18:15, "And if your brother sins, go and reprove him in private; if he listens to you, you have won your brother."

Not much room for public rebukes in that is there?

I think of the example of Nicodemus who came to Jesus privately by night.⁽³⁾

I think also of that fine example of Priscilla and Aquila who, after detecting that Apollos was not accurately presenting the gospel,

"they took him aside and explained to him the way of God more accurately."⁽⁴⁾

In the church, if our interest is really the truth and the concern is really for the soul of the one that we're angry with (the synagogue leader was interested in neither with Jesus) then this private or semi-private approach should be our normal mode of operation.

Of course, if our motives are something else - if we merely want to discredit or silence the one were mad at or vent our spleen (like this synagogue leader) - we'll hang it out there in public for all to see. We'll hold to the hope of enlisting those emotional types on our side who usually act before they think - the same mentality that made up the lynch mobs of the old Wild West.

If you have a "beef" with someone, don't bring it up in public or run all over the country telling others. Go privately.

OK. Let's look again at the Synagogue official's stated objection in verse 14. "There are six days in which work should be done; therefore come during them and get healed, and not on the Sabbath day."

That sounds innocent enough, doesn't it? On the surface it sounds like he was really concerned for the day of rest God has commanded in the Ten Commandments and the Law of Moses. Why could not this lady have come to be healed on Friday or Monday or some other day of the week? After all, no work was supposed to be done on the Sabbath. What right did she have to interrupt the proper observance of God's day of rest? Of all the nerve!

So what was the issue behind all of this controversy of healing on the Sabbath? Was Jesus really in violation of the Law of Moses? After all, this wasn't the first time His opponents brought this issue up.

I see two things to note. First, with regard to his statements that she should have come to be healed on some other day, it doesn't appear to me that this lady came to the Synagogue to be healed. I've already pointed out that in verse 12 it says that Jesus saw her and called to her. She wasn't calling to Him. He took the initiative. If anyone was breaking the Sabbath, it was Jesus.

Secondly, notice that in verse 15 Jesus called this synagogue leader and the other leaders he represented "hypocrites."

A hypocrite is a person who says one thing and does another. He pretends to be something he is not. He binds things upon others that he himself is unwilling to live by. He has one standard for others and a different, more lenient standard from himself. If I taught "you shall not steal" but was a thief on the side, I would be a hypocrite. So what was it that these men were requiring of others that they were not observing themselves?

To answer that question I want to turn your attention to one more bent out of shape issue in this passage:

III. The Bent Out of Shape Law.

The Synagogue official in this passage and others like him had taken God's law and bent it out of shape in an effort to make it conform it to their own selfish desires.

(Read v. 15-17)

Jesus makes a humiliating point: "You guys do more for your animals than your argument allows me to do for this poor lady."

His point pivots on those little words "untie" in verse 15 and "release" in verse 16. Both words translate the same Greek word, which means "to loose or release."

"You hypocrites!" Jesus says. You are willing to release an animal on the Sabbath to take it to get a drink of water and relieve its discomfort that is only a few hours long. Yet you are unwilling for me to release a woman like this on the Sabbath - a daughter of Abraham no less - who has been bound for 18 long years."

Those who objected to Jesus healing on the Sabbath were not really concerned about the Sabbath law. Had that been their real concern they would have recognized that they were in violation of their own premise! No, all this talk about concern for the Sabbath was a ruse. It was simply a cloak for their true hatred for Jesus. To be sure, their traditions had the appearance of genuine concern for God's law. In actuality they had managed to get around their determinations wherever it was inconvenient to them. They were preaching one thing and doing quite another.

According to the Jerome Bible Commentary, the Mishnah (that uninspired interpretation of God's law handed down and added to hundreds of years after the Law of Moses was given) covered the tying of knots among 39 different kinds of forbidden Sabbath work.⁽⁵⁾ You couldn't tie a knot on the Sabbath, they said, because it was work and thus a violation of the third commandment. Yet later on in the same writings⁽⁶⁾ there were exemptions for certain kinds of knots (like the one's necessary for tying your ox in the stall or tying your wife's clothing on her body). Thus, according to their traditions, they had certain knots considered legal and certain knots considered illegal - issues they had determined from generations of detailed haggling and about which they were dead serious. They had all these many intricate laws - even though God's law only said, "Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of the LORD your God; in it you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter, your male or your female servant or your cattle or your sojourner who stays with you."

It was bad enough that they added things to the law of God. But then to carefully construct their teaching so as to exempt themselves from what they required of others was hypocrisy.

Jesus hadn't broken the law of God by healing this woman on the Sabbath. God's Sabbath law was never intended to forbid the doing of good. Jesus made that clear in Matthew 12:12 where He said with words unmistakable, "So then, it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath." Earlier in that same passage⁽⁷⁾ He pointed out to His critics that the hardest working people on the Sabbath day were the priests working in the temple, yet they weren't guilty. God never intended that they refrain from worship, or from acts of mercy, or suspend acts of necessity on the Sabbath. He simply wanted them to rest one day a week from their selfish pursuits and delight in their relationship with Him.

Perhaps the clearest statement of God's intent for the Sabbath is made in Isaiah 58:13-14. Listen to what it says to ancient Israel: "If because of the Sabbath, you turn your foot from doing your own pleasure on My holy day, and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy day of the Lord honorable, and shall honor it, desisting from your own ways, from seeking your own pleasure, and speaking your own word, then you will take delight in the Lord, and I will make you ride on the heights of the earth; and I will feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken."

God wanted them to take time to enjoy Him on the Sabbath, not bury one another in squabbles about which kinds of knots they could and couldn't tie and most certainly not use their conclusions to ignore the needs of another suffering human being!

Do we wonder why Jesus was so harsh in His condemnation of them?

So what does all this have to do with you and me? Sadly - a lot.

It is yet today a common thing for people to wrangle over hundreds of trivial issues while missing the real meaning and delight of the law God has given. How long is long? How short is short? How much is enough? How much is too much? Can this be eaten but not that? Can I wear this cut of clothing but not that one? Volumes are written on these things. On and on it goes, with contestants biting and devouring one another in the Name of the Lord while the joy of standing in the grace of God and enjoying His presence is buried so deeply that no one remembers it anymore.

If you want a fuller discussion of it, read Romans 14 where Paul addresses the issue of human opinions in disputable matters. I won't take the time to read that chapter now but I will read what I consider the punch line. It's in Romans 14:17. Paul says, "for the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit." If our wrangling about things not clearly spelled out in Scripture takes us away from that truth, then we are no better than this ancient synagogue official and rightly deserve the same rebuke Jesus gave him and others who did this.

I'm afraid that many Christians today still carry around their "Mishnahs" - their own personal commentaries on God's word - all 39 sections of them with their hundreds of little rabbit trail sub-divisions that they feel they must bind on everyone else - all the while unable to see in so many cases that they violate their own tenants.

My greatest fear is that such "faith" is so bent out of shape that it no longer resembles the faith once for all delivered to the Saints.

Conclusion

So here we have a lady, a dear Jewish lady, who was all bent out of shape. She was bound and bent over by Satan - hopelessly deformed and unable to stand upright. Then Jesus called to her, cast Satan out, and made her able to stand straight in God's presence.

That is exactly what Christ continues to do today. Because of the crippling effects of sin, Satan has bound every one of us. We can no longer stand upright in the presence of God. Our sin keeps us bent over.

Then Christ calls us, casts Satan out, and makes us able to stand upright in God's presence. Just as this bent lady was healed physically that day so many years ago, so we are healed spiritually by accepting God's offer of salvation.

If you have never accepted His offer, why don't consider it right now? If you believe Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God strongly enough to confess it before others, if you'll make up your mind to turn away from the things you know are wrong, if you'll submit to being baptized for the remission of your sins and then do your best to live for Him, you can finally straighten up and stand in the presence of God -

Confident against death.

Confident against judgement.

Confident about eternal life.

The choice - until that certain day when God removes it from you - is yours. Why not make it today?

[Author's Note]* The "Bent Out of Shape" metaphor was suggested to me by a sermon by Bob AuBuchon. His message is at:
http://scan.missouri.org/~aubuchon/042599am.html [Back]
1. Michael Hodgin, 1001 HUMOROUS ILLUSTRATIONS FOR PUBLIC SPEAKING (Michigan: Zondervan Publishing House, 1994), p. 168. [Back]
2. Representative examples: Case of paralysis - Matt. 9:6; Case of internal hemorrhage - Mark 5:25; Case of lameness in feet - Acts 14:10. [Back]
3.John 3:2 [Back]
4. Acts 18:26 [Back]
5. Mishnah Shabbath 7:2 [Back]
6. Mishnah Shabbath 15:1-2 [Back]
7. Matthew 12:5 [Back]