Proper 16 (21) – Year C
ELEVENTH Sunday after Pentecost: August 24, 2025
Gospel Lectionary Text
Luke 13:10-17
13:10 Now he was teaching in one of the synagogues on the sabbath.
13:11 And just then there appeared a woman with a spirit that had crippled her for eighteen years. She was bent over and was quite unable to stand up straight.
13:12 When Jesus saw her, he called her over and said, "Woman, you are set free from your ailment."
13:13 When he laid his hands on her, immediately she stood up straight and began praising God.
13:14 But the leader of the synagogue, indignant because Jesus had cured on the sabbath, kept saying to the crowd, "There are six days on which work ought to be done; come on those days and be cured, and not on the sabbath day."
13:15 But the Lord answered him and said, "You hypocrites! Does not each of you on the sabbath untie his ox or his donkey from the manger, and lead it away to give it water?
13:16 And ought not this woman, a daughter of Abraham whom Satan bound for eighteen long years, be set free from this bondage on the sabbath day?"
13:17 When he said this, all his opponents were put to shame; and the entire crowd was rejoicing at all the wonderful things that he was doing.
Context
Welcome to the Eleventh Sunday after Pentecost. In this week’s Gospel, Jesus heals a woman who has suffered for 18 years with a spirit that has bent her in half, stealing her ability to stand tall. The religious leader responds with indignation that Jesus would heal on the Sabbath. The irony here is thick: that which exists to bring healing and restoration has become a tool of oppression, keeping hurting women bent in half.
The ancient Greek myth of Procrustes’ bed, which predates Jesus, is equally absurd. Procrustes offered lodging to travelers along the sacred way between Athens and Eleusis. But his hospitality came with a gruesome price. He had a bed and would force his guests to fit its dimensions. If a person was too tall, he amputated their legs to fit the bed; if too short, he stretched them until they reached the bed's length. Procrustes was committed to maintaining the perfect bed, at all cost.
So too is the absurdity of maintaining the Sabbath at the expense of those for whom it exists.
Humans are not resized to fit the Sabbath bed, crippling those in need of rest. Instead, Jesus adjusts the Sabbath bed to fit the needs of real people. He breaks with tradition to heal the woman, so she can stand tall. Jesus is the “Lord of the Sabbath” (Mark 2:27–28), and reminds us that the Sabbath is a flexible thing that can take many shapes. After all: the Sabbath was made for us, not us for the Sabbath.
Question
What is the purpose of the sabbath if not to free us for life? If this is true, what impossibly heavy burden are you carrying, and what is the shape of the sabbath rest that will free you?
Reflections
Praying Eucharistically - Weekly Homily by James Alison:
Understanding the Bible anew through the Mimetic Theory of René Girard.
Poetry
excerpt from Away From Dogma
by Edmund Hirsch
One night in Portugal, alone in a forlorn
village at twilight, escaping her parents,
she saw a full moon baptized on the water
and the infallible heavens stained with clouds.
Vespers at eventide. A ragged procession
of fishermen’s wives moving down to the sea,
carrying candles onto the boats, and singing
hymns of heartrending sadness. She thought:
this world is a smudged blue village
at sundown, the happenstance of stumbling
into the sixth canonical hour, discovering
the tawny sails of evening, the afflicted
religion of slaves. She thought: I am
one of those slaves, but I will not kneel
before Him, at least not now, not with
these tormented limbs that torment me still.
Prayer
This week, the call to prayer comes from the Street Psalms Centering Prayer:
Come, Holy Spirit, wild and free. Do as you please. Shine your light on me that I might see things as they are, not as I am. Free me to act in your name with courage, creativity, and compassion.
