The Silent, yet Sound Faith
Fr. Dr. Joshi Varghese, Bhilai
(Diocesan Education Officer & PRO, Calcutta Diocese)
Evening: St. Luke10: 25-37, Morning: St. Luke 7:11-17, Before Holy Qurbana: Gen 9: 1 -7, Jer 51: 1-9 Is 50: 1-5, Barazeera 51: 13 – 30 Holy Qurbana: I Pet 3: 8-16 Rom 12: 1- 15
St. Luke 13: 10-17
Healing of the crippled woman is one of the six miracles unique to the Gospel of Luke. The healing is also peculiar as Jesus healed her without any request from her or others.
a. An inclusive Worshipping community
“… the entire crowd was rejoicing at all the wonderful things that he was doing” (Lk 13:17).
St. Luke emphasises that the woman was crippled for eighteen years. “She was bent over and was quite unable to stand up straight” (13:11). It would have been extremely difficult for her to travel, yet in spite of her physical problem she used to attend the Synagogue worship on the Sabbaths. The foremost reason behind her attending the Synagogue would be her deep faith and love for God. Another reason for her regular attendance would be the worshipping community, which welcomed her and accepted her. They treated her as one among them despite her being crippled. She felt at home among her fellow faithful. When she was healed, they didn’t grumble about the possibility of Sabbath being broken, rather rejoiced at the miracle.
A woman who actively participated in the Church services suffered a stroke and was bed ridden. After a few months she recovered partially and was able to walk with support. On a Sunday , after many months, she attended the Church service. After the Holy Qurbana, as all others went to the offertory, she waited to join the queue at the end. She looked at other women to support her as she struggled to walk, alas, no one cared to help her. This hurt her and she stopped going to the Church (which can’t be condoned) and said ‘if they don’t care for their sister, would God care to be there?’ This incident might be an exception but it shows how heartless a worshipping community can become.
The worshipping community of the crippled woman shall serve as a model on how to be an inclusive and accommodating community. The Church, represented through the worshipping communities/ parishes, is a place of consolation for the afflicted and tormented. It should be a place where all are accepted as they are; the rich and the poor, the sick and the healthy, the sinner and the saint, the man and the woman. Are our parishes able to accommodate everyone as the ‘son/daughter of Abraham’? Or are they still labelled and divided on the basis of the differences in wealth, health, ancestry, language etc.? When a tragedy befall, in the form of sickness, accident or death, it’s commonplace to see many offering their sympathy, visiting and praying for those who are affected. But as time passes, everyone gets used to that start overlooking the ill-fate. This often happens in case of prolonged illness or terminal illness. The woman who was crippled for eighteen long years draws our attention towards the chronically ill, who need our presence and prayers.
The leader of the synagogue was indeed a religious man. He ensured that all the religious duties assigned to him are executed without fail and also the people religiously followed all the rules and regulations, especially pertaining to Sabbath. He meticulously followed the laws that he could have been chosen as the “Synagogue leader of the year’. He was concerned not about how many attended the worship but did those who attend follow all the rules. In short he was more concerned with the law than with the people. He did not allow anything which could possibly question the status-quo of the system.
But Jesus was concerned about the people who attended the Synagogue. He cared less about the system. Hence Jesus said “The Sabbath was made for humankind, and not humankind for the Sabbath” (Mk 2:27). Jesus can be viewed as a People Leader who inspired and transformed people.Social and religious systems have been made for the welfare of the humankind. If these systems oppress people, then there needs to be a re-interpretation and overhauling of the system so that it would enrich the people. The touchstone of an organisation should be how much is it contributing to the welfare and transformation of the people. Any religion, organisation or country to become transformational shall follow Gandhiji’s words to “recall the face of the poorest and weakest man you have seen, and ask yourself if this step you contemplate is going to be any use to him”. Such an attitude would help us to treat others as sons/ daughters of Abraham (Lk. 13:17) and not as inferior to ‘an ox or donkey’ (Lk. 13:16).Church is called to follow the path of Jesus in liberating people from their bondages and not to encumber the people with rigid laws similar to that of the leader of the Synagogue.
Jesus, as a leader, respected the system but vehemently opposed whenever it turned oppressive. He was not against the system or law but outrightly rejected it whenever it lost its ‘spirit’. He gave more importance to the spirit of the law than to the letter itself.
Conclusion
The gospel passage reveals that the role of the true religion is to liberate people from the bondages; to straighten up from their crippled lives. People are to be dealt with compassion and not under the stern scrutiny of oppressive laws for we are called to “bring good news to the oppressed”.The crippled woman had a sound and deep faith in God. Her silent faith was loud enough to be heard by God and to be healed.
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