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For 18 years an ailment had caused her to be bent over. For 18 long years she had become accustomed to looking at the ground while others took for granted the beauty of the clouds
and rainbows, the stars and the moon. For 18 years she had been unable to look into the eyes of her neighbor. And even worse, for 18 years, when tears fell from her own eyes,
most people never even noticed because she was always facing downward. In fact, after a while, people began to stop taking note of her at all. When she entered a room,
no one spoke to her, no one asked if they could help her with her bags, and no one held the door open for her. And when she didn't show up at the temple at her usual time,
no one called on her. When she made her way down the street, some people even made a point of avoiding her by walking on the other side of the road. You may think I'm making this up.
Too much poetic license, you say. But it's true. I know it's true because that’s how we continue to deal with people who are bent over today. It doesn't have to be a physical ailment
like the woman in this morning's text, but it may be. Instead of taking the time to get the address or phone number of the person in the hospital or the person
who can’t make it to church because of an ailment, instead of personally dropping them a card or giving them a phone call, we rely on reports from the pastor, from Facebook,
or the prayer list because we either don't want to take the time to connect with them ourselves or we feel awkward in doing so. And if the person's prognosis is long-term –
18 years for this particular woman – then we simply stop asking about the health and welfare of the one we haven't seen in a while. And for all practical purposes, that person becomes invisible,
like the woman in our text. Instead of asking about the people, we need to be intentional about checking in on the people. But it doesn't have to be a physical ailment that bends us over
and causes us to be invisible. There are lots of things in this world that bends our spirits to the breaking point. Poverty is one of them. Our own county experiences a 27% poverty rate.
That means that, on the average, one out of every four people you encounter each day is living below the poverty line. And if you aren't encountering those people,
then that means you're walking on the other side of the street. Just around the corner, Caritas assists with food, rental assistance, utility assistance, prescription costs, and clothing.
And it's not unusual for them to serve a hundred or more families with all of these services, all within a single day. And around the globe, organizations like Church World Service
help people with emergency disaster relief; refugee displacement; and basics, such as food, water, and education. But for all practical purposes, these people have become
invisible to us. We remember to give thanks for our own blessings and abundance, grateful that God has saved us from what our neighbors go through each day. But we tune them out as
we help ourselves to a second serving of food. And because we can't help everyone, we choose to help no one. Another thing that bends the spirits of people to the breaking point
is transphobia and homophobia. Within our community the transgender population is so underground that they can't even find each other to create their own community.
The fear for their jobs, their family relationships, their very lives are so big and so real that they have chosen isolation as a way of life. They have become as invisible as the woman in
this morning's text, not out of choice, but as a way of survival. Although the new anti-gay law in Russia has sparked growing calls from the global gay community and its supporters
for a boycott of Russia's upcoming Winter Olympics, what about the other countries? Jamaica is often cited as the most homophobic place on earth due to its rampant homophobic and
transphobic violence. A month ago, 17-year-old Dwayne Jones was dressed as a female and dancing with a man at a party in Montego Bay when a woman recognized him and informed
the other guests that Dwayne was actually a boy. According to a radio station, the party-goers then set upon the teen, chopped and stabbed him to death, and then dumped his body in bushes
along the roadside. In Uganda, sentences for homosexuality range from 14 years to life imprisonment. And if the country's Anti-Homosexuality Bill is passed, not only can a person
receive the death penalty for homosexual conduct, but anyone, including family members of LGBT people, can be prosecuted for not notifying authorities within 24 hours
if they know someone who is gay, with sentences of up to three years in prison. Another clause states that Ugandan citizens can be prosecuted for homosexual activities that take place
outside the nation's borders. Yes, whether we're talking about extreme cases around the world or the more subtle examples of transphobia and homophobia within our own backyard,
hatred of the LGBTI community is alive and well, and it withers the spirits of those it doesn’t outright kill. And what are we taking the time to do about it? There are many other things
that cripple our spirits, things that keep us from standing upright, preventing us from being the whole and complete creations that God intended us to be, things that even kill our spirits:
things like gender inequality in society and the workplace; things like negative body images that result in the growing epidemics of bulimia and anorexia; things like racial discrimination that
gives rise to violence, supremacism, and even international wars. You probably have your own list of things that kill our souls and cripple our spirits. But the good news of Jesus Christ
is a message of liberation and resurrection. Neither physical death nor spiritual death has the last word with Jesus. Jesus came to proclaim good news to the poor, to set the oppressed free,
and to proclaim freedom for the prisoners of both body and spirit. In this morning's text he liberated a woman who had been bent over for 18 years, a woman who had come to
accept her condition to the extent that she never even asked for healing, possibly because she assumed she was beyond healing; a woman who had become so invisible that no one,
not her peers or anyone even spoke on her behalf. And Jesus liberated this woman and healed her by doing three things which I will briefly mention in the time we have left.
First, he saw her. Jesus saw her when no one else seemed to. This woman who had become invisible to her neighbors was seen by Jesus. He saw her humanity and he saw her suffering.
If we are going to be agents of healing, we need to open our eyes to the people around us. We need to be willing to acknowledge the suffering and injustice that is going on all around us.
And we need to look into the eyes of our neighbor without flinching and without turning away. The next thing Jesus did was to affirm her dignity by speaking to her. The woman who had been
ignored by everyone around her, this woman who had come to accept her lot in life, who had probably given up any hope of looking as an equal directly into the eyes of another human being –
Jesus spoke to this woman. Once we see the things in this world that cause suffering, we must not remain silent. We need to speak to the issues of oppression.
We need to engage them and become involved. We can’t continue to turn away from the suffering in the world if we are going to call ourselves people of faith. And finally, Jesus laid hands on the woman.
He touched her with kindness. And it wasn't until she had received that touch that we read she was able to stand upright. We can see the suffering of others, and we can even say all
the right words, but until we actually touch the lives of other people through our actions, until we connect with them and engage in a way that goes beyond our kind words,
then no healing is ever going to take place and no spirits will be raised up. We are called to be agents of healing. Each of us. Not just the pastor. Not just certain leaders
within the congregation. Each of us. And so the question before us today is what are we doing to heal the suffering in the world? What do we see when we look around us?
Do we offer words of encouragement and blessing or do we hurriedly and awkwardly turn away? And how are we touching the lives of those who are desperate for healing?
If we are willing to struggle with these questions, I think we will be well on our way to being the authentic body of Christ that God has called us to be: a people called to proclaim liberty
to the oppressed and comfort to the afflicted. If we just look, we will see all around us the crippled, bent over, and broken spirits of people. With Jesus as our model,
may we each be willing to look into the face of suffering and not turn away. May we offer words of blessing. And may we find a way to touch the lives of those who seek healing.
In so doing, we honor God and we fulfill the commandment to love our neighbor as ourselves. Amen.