Monday of
the 30th Week in Ordinary Time
October 26, 2015 8:30am
Today’s gospel is one of those
passages that we have to see on two levels.
There is this woman who is “bent over, completely unable to stand
erect.”
This physical condition is
attributed to a spirit.
In Jesus’ day, that was how they
understood many physical ailments and psychological problems.
We all know what happens.
Jesus frees her of the infirmity
and “this woman immediately stands up
straight and glorifies God.”
Now, the more obvious level of
the story is the physical.
Jesus miraculously heals this
woman.
The less obvious level is the
spiritual.
Jesus enables this woman to stand
up straight.
He gives or restores to her a
sense of dignity and esteem.
Jesus enables her to look at him,
to look at God in the face, maturely, as an adult.
Now she is no longer spiritually
crippled and bent over, cowering before God and fearful of God.
Now she is at peace, confident,
assured of God’s love and of her own worth.
And beyond that, this woman stands
in great contrast to the leader of the synagogue.
She is freed of the rigid
interpretation and application of the religious law or practice that the
religious leader is trying to maintain and impose.
Jesus lifts all of this off of
her shoulders so that she can stand up straight.
In contrast, the leader of the
synagogue is the one who is truly bent over and unable to see God.
Why? Because he is burdened and blocked by his own rigid
interpretations and applications of the religious law.
Someday I want to do a fuller
homily on this gospel.
It has good lessons even for
today.
In fact, I think Pope Francis is
trying to do for all of us exactly what Jesus does for this woman today.
