Sermon for October 2

Pentecost 11-C

8/24/22 St. John’s

Luke 13:10-17

 

I am trying to learn to loosen up. Stop sweating the small stuff, being so rigid, focus more on what might be important to Jesus.

 

And Jesus talks a lot in the bible about people needing to loosen up. Seriously. There is a Greek word it and everything. It’s Luo. I know that because I had to study Greek in seminary and it was the first verb we learned. Luo, to loose, and I thought what a weird word, what does that even mean. But come to find out, it’s a very important word in the bible, it’s all over the plane in NT. In fact Jesus uses it three times in today’s gospel reading, that’s why I bring it up.

 

The first time is when he sees a woman in the synagogue who is bent over has been for years, has spirit in her that is crippling her, Luke says. Jesus calls her over and he frees her from this spirit; he says “woman, thou are loosed from your ailment.” Our translation says “set free” but it’s that funny little verb “luo” in the old King James Version he actually says “woman, thou art loose!” It’s that funny little word.

 

And he even to help her loosen up he laid his hands on her. And she stood up straight and praised God. She is healed. She’s loosed.

 

And by the way there is a whole gigantic international ministry called “Woman thou are loosed.”  It’s this mega-church thing led by TD Jakes. They do huge tours all over the world, I found it on the internet this week they are going to be in Atlanta in September and hundreds of thousands of women, attend these concerts and preaching and prayer. It’s all based on this one verse. And so many of these women testify that they are loosed, from whatever is holding them back physically, emotional, mental, on their spiritual journeys. By the power of the Spirit they are set free, they are loosed. That’s how they feel. Woman, thou art loosed.

 

It’s a great word isn’t it. It makes me think of balloons being let loose, of tension being loosened, letting go and letting God, drained of all the stuck-ness being let go of. You ever feel stuck? Jesus wants to loose you. Woman, thou art loosed.

 

And then the second time Jesus says loosen up in this story it’s translated as “untie.” There are lots of different ways to translate this word. The leaders of this synagogue who go after the woman, interesting, and say she shouldn’t been healed the woman on the Sabbath there are six other days. They were freaking out because it was against the rules and Jesus actually talked to her and touched her so you can imagine. They attack the woman and then Jesus calls them hypocrites and says you loose your ox or your donkey on the Sabbath and you say this woman shouldn’t be set free, shouldn’t be loosed, the third time. He criticizes these stuck religious leaders. Loosen up. And they are the people who really need to loosen up. They are so stuck in their ways they would rather see this woman continue to suffer than to be healed. I think there’s a lot of that stuck-ness in our world. Gridlock.

 

So he says “loosed” three times in this one passage. But when you start looking for it you see that this word is all through the NT. Jesus heals a man who can’t speak – he loosens up his tongue, same word. Jesus says the temple will be torn down, pulled apart– same word. He gives the disciples the power to forgive people, to free them from bondage to their sins – to loose people’s sins. In Revelation he breaks open the seal to the book of life – he loosens it.

 

So much of Jesus’ mission on earth, or even as the risen Christ had to do with loosing. Loosening up people, institutions, power structures so they feel the Spirit of God – let the Spirit in.

 

Jesus really wanted the whole temple worship thing loosened up with its, laws, he  came and just shook everything up. Some people might think that when Jesus cleansed the temple they might tell him to loosen up but I think he was being loose when he did that. Loosened up doesn’t mean, oh everything’s cool. It’s all good. Sometimes maybe being loosed allows us to respond in authentic ways to wrongs that need to be righted. Jesus didn’t come to destroy the law but to fulfill it, to focus on the real essential meaning of the law. For that you need to be little loose.

 

So yes, one way to look at the spiritual path is to continue to be loosed, to expand,  it is to be healed, to be set free, to let go of unhelpful ideas, to break open the seal. That is what Jesus calls us to do and always has.

 

And we can do it what Jesus sets us free from, what we are loosed from, is our sin. Because, we are forgiven.

 

So, yeah, I’m trying to loosen up.  My prayer for the whole world is that we can all be loosened up and we can all let go of sweating the small stuff and focus more on what matters to God.