Standing Tall

Who is the bent-over woman in Luke 13? Just another nameless character in the gospels who point to the extraordinary abilities of Jesus? I don't think so. I think it is time she received due recognition as an archetype of strength and resilience.

All we know about the bent-over woman s that she has lived as a cripple for 18 years and is a "daughter of Abraham" who is in the synagogue to worship on the Sabbath. I understand this to mean that despite her disability, she is still an accepted and devout member of the Jewish community. My curiosity about her is piqued and I'd like to know a lot more, like does she have a husband and kids? Is she wealthy? How does she get through her daily life all bent over? Is she in pain? Does she have friends? Who cares for her needs? What does she think of Jesus?

Having lived this way for so long, I picture her to have a strong character - resilient, determined, courageous. Yet I also recognize her faithfulness and her humility as she comes for prayer and worship each week. And we note that Jesus heals her without her asking.

Archetypically, she stands for all women everywhere, all people everywhere, who have survived being burdened, bent over by life and the unfair systems humanity has created. She is the one who has been resilient, who has kept going despite the weight on her shoulders, despite the lack of equality, despite the fear of abuse, or pain of past abuse, despite the lack of respect. When life and the systems of this world would keep her hunched over, she is the one released by divine love to stand tall, to proclaim her worth, her equity, her talent, her beauty, her intelligence.

Our religious, political, societal and sometimes even familial systems even today continue to keep women bent over, hunched and burdened.

Our religious systems may have come a long way in women’s rights and equality from the time of the bent over woman, but in Christianity alone there are still Roman Catholics, Southern Baptists, Mormons, Missouri and Wisconsin Synod Lutherans, Orthodox and others who refuse to ordain women. Roughly 20% of clergy in the US are female, but only 12.9% of lead/senior pastor roles are filled by women. Just this February the Southern Baptist Convention ousted its second-largest congregation – Saddleback Church, the renowned California megachurch founded by pastor and best-selling author Rick Warren — for having a woman pastor.

Even if women are allowed to be pastors, that does not mean that we receive the same pay, opportunities, or respect.

Politically women cannot hope to have laws and policies that protect their rights when women are not equally represented on our government. Currently, only 29% of the house of representatives and 25% of the senate are women. According to one article I read, at this rate it will take another 100 years for women to equal men in political representation. This is also true for any minority person.

One example of this is that there no US federal law that provides a right to paid family or medical leave. Among 41 countries, the US is the only one lacking paid maternity leave. Without taking us down a rabbit hole of political issues, suffice it to say that there are many.

Social structures around the world still enforce many abusive, and unequal practices.  It's hard to believe that in this day and age there are 15 million child brides every year. Some cultures still practice genital mutilation. In the US, one in three women who have been in a relationship have experienced physical and/or sexual violence committed against them by their partner. One in six women in the US will be the victim of rape or attempted rape. And recent figures show that women currently earn roughly 77% of what men earn for the same work.

Let’s go back to the scripture for a minute. After Jesus calls the bent over woman to him and heals her, the head of the synagogue publicly admonishes him saying, “There are six days for working. Come on those days to be healed, not on the Sabbath.”

The comment refers to one of the 10 commandments: keep the sabbath holy. Deuteronomy 5:12-14 says: “Honor the Sabbath day and keep it holy, as Yahweh, your God, commanded. For six days you will labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to Yahweh your God.

But Jesus isn’t about to leave it here with the synagogue leader referring only to the first part of that commandment. Jesus takes the entirety of the passage from Deuteronomy into account:

Deuteronomy 5:14-15 says: 

“You will do no work that day, neither you nor your daughter nor your son nor your workers – women or men – nor your ox nor your donkey, nor any of your animals; nor even foreigners among you. Thus your workers – both women and men – will rest as you do.

Remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt and that Yahweh, your God, brought you out from there with a mighty hand and outstretched arm; because of this, Yahweh, your God, has commanded you to keep the Sabbath day.”

The Sabbath itself is a reminder of the Israelite’s release from captivity; Jesus brings this to life once again when he heals the bent-over woman. He basically shames them by reminding them of this and saying, “You hypocrites! You give your animals rest and feed and water them. Does not this woman – a faithful Jewish woman – deserve rest and release from what has held her in bondage for all these years?” There is no biblical or religious paradigm in which is it ok to allow, or ignore, or excuse the bondage of any being. The work of God is about helping people to stand tall – worthy, equal, safe, liberated, whole and fulfilled.

The bent-over woman is the archetype of one who, with the power of the divine within and around her, breaks out of what has limited her life and stands tall, inhabiting the fullness of spirit she was given.

She is every woman who has stood tall after being beaten.

She is every woman who has stood tall after bearing unspeakable grief.

She is every woman who has stood tall after being dismissed and ignored.

She is every woman who has stood tall after being told she wasn’t worthy, or smart enough, or good enough.

She is every woman who has stood tall despite what the world continues to say about her abilities, her emotions, her intuition, and her supposed weaknesses.

She is every woman who has stood tall and said no

She is every woman who has stood tall and not played the game.

She is every woman who has gone on even after years of being burdened and bent low.

She is you and me when we draw on our strength and courage to stand tall and go on, no matter what life may have thrown at us.

And who will this bent over woman be now that she stands tall? She will be the one to help others stand tall.

Love & Light!

Kaye