Healed on the Sabbath
I’d like to turn this scripture on it’s head a bit this morning. The way this story is usually preached or told is to focus on the fact that Jesus “broke the rules” by healing someone on the sabbath. Especially, since it wasn’t an “emergency situation” that required tending to on the traditional day of rest.
I want to focus on the woman. This woman, who had been in pain for 18 years, asks for help. I assure you, that after 18 years of pain? This WAS an emergency for the woman. Jesus saw her pain, and instead of telling her to come back another day, he healed her. He ended her suffering. But this healing couldn’t have happened if the woman, ON THE SABBATH, hadn’t come to him and asked for help. She advocated for herself and for her health, and her self-advocacy was rewarded. Yes, even on the sabbath. She was both brave and vulnerable. And that bravery and vulnerability led to her healing. She came to be healed, to be changed, to be whole. And she did that on the sabbath.
This woman suffered from chronic pain. 18 years of chronic pain. Studies have shown that chronic pain can increase blood pressure and heart rate. It can also affect the immune system and increase risk for heart disease. People who suffer from chronic pain can have muscle problems, limited mobility, depression, anger, and anxiety. Living with chronic pain means that sometimes you need help getting dressed, that you can only do “one big thing” a day, or that you can’t sleep well because you’re never quite comfortable at night. It also means that healthcare providers might not take you seriously or that an injury could go untreated for weeks or months because you didn’t realize you were actually injured. On top of that, women’s pain is less likely to be taken seriously than men’s. In fact a woman in pain might wait 50 percent longer to be treated in an emergency situation. If she IS treated. Women’s pain is often perceived as imagined or exaggerated, and in fact, women are “more likely to be treated less aggressively in their initial encounters with the health-care system until they ‘prove that they are as sick as male patients’” And if that woman happens to be a person of color or someone for whom English isn’t a first language? The wait and the struggle could be amplified further.
Now, I don’t have any true concept of what healthcare looked like in Jesus’ day, but my guess is that this woman’s pain was also ignored- that she was also probably written off as crazy or as “deserving” of the pain as some sort of punishment for a perceived sin of some sort. I don’t know for sure. What I do know is that her pain was so bad that she dragged herself out of her home and down to where Jesus was speaking- to be healed, to be changed, to be whole And she did that on the sabbath.
I know how she felt. I have fibromyalgia, and therefore I live with chronic pain. On most days, I live at about a 6 on the traditional 10 point pain scale, but on some days I can’t function at all. I know what it feels like to come home from work and not have the energy left to do anything else that day. I know what it feels like to have an injury but be told “oh, that’s just your fibro” rather than someone ordering an x-ray or an MRI. So I understand how this woman must have felt. And I can certainly imagine what it took for her to flag down Jesus for much needed healing.
The woman in our story was in pain and out of spoons and no one would help her. AND it was the sabbath, and the one person who MIGHT be able to help just happened to be in town.
So she found the strength to go see Jesus. And instead of dismissing her or saying, “sorry I can’t help you today, because it’s the Sabbath,” Jesus healed her. On the sabbath. Because there was no excuse for letting her continue to suffer. He knew he could help her, and rather than adhere to the law, he helped her. Sometimes, the needs of others transcend the law.
I think about all of the people who have gotten in trouble for doing things like adding quarters to a parking meter or handing out cold water at the border. The needs of others transcends the law in these moments. I think of cancer patients who have purchased cannabis illegally- their need for relief transcended the law. And yes, I realize this is a slippery slope- that there’s a fine line between need and want, and that laws are laws for a reason.
But religious law? No one would be harmed by Jesus healing on the sabbath. No one’s business would suffer loss. The only harm that could have been caused in this moment would be from ignoring this woman’s cry for help. And Jesus understood that, in the case of the Sabbath, compassion overrides rest.
Let’s return our focus to the woman again. She was in a position where she had to advocate for herself- no one approached Jesus on her behalf, no one sent for Jesus- she found the strength to get out of bed, struggle across town, and approach him directly. She was her own advocate.
Life with chronic pain is like that- you have to learn to be your own advocate. You have to fight to have an MRI because you know that some pain feels different than other pain. You have to remind your doctors that one diagnosis doesn’t cover all of your symptoms and your disease isn’t a scapegoat for anything else that might possibly come up. You have to read- a lot. You have to know which medical and non-medical interventions have been used with success and which ones are a money-grabbing farce. Does this supplement or that one actually work, or is someone trying to take advantage? Has the doctor heard of this latest study on your disease? Will your insurance cover an experimental treatment? Just keeping up with the research can cost you spoons you didn’t have to begin with!
I imagine that this woman, after eighteen years of pain, knew what worked for her and what didn’t. She had likely tried every possible treatment and cure available to her at the time. There are those who argue that what was ailing the woman was her “spirit” or that she was bent over with shame or sin. I think that’s too easy. I think it’s much too easy to try to place the blame on the person who is hurting. And yet? Studies have shown that “our feelings of empathy for others may depend on the extent to which we believe they’re responsible for their suffering.” Surely this woman had done something to deserve her pain- she had brought it on herself. It’s easy to believe that and then believe that Jesus’ healing her is almost metaphorical- that he removed the burden of her “sin.”
I just can’t think that way. I can’t believe that illness or pain is a punishment. I just don’t think it works that way. I don’t think that folks who suffer from chronic pain deserve it in any way. And I sincerely believe that Jesus helped this woman to overcome her pain. She came to him to be healed, to be changed, to be whole. On the sabbath. And he healed her. He changed her. And he made her whole. On the Sabbath.
If we go back to the story- to Jesus and the woman in pain, we see that Jesus gave a really good example of how to treat someone. He didn’t judge. He didn’t offer her a magic elixir. He didn’t shame her for her ailment. He welcomed her. He made time for her. He loved her enough to heal her on the sabbath. With his loving compassion, he changed her life. With his love, he showed us how to care for others- to help them heal, to help them be changed, to help them feel whole- EVEN on the sabbath. Let us live by his example.
Amen.