The Rev. Kenneth H. Saunders III
Trinity Episcopal Church
Towson, MD
RCL Year C - 14 Pentecost (Proper 16) - August 25, 2013
What bends us out of shape??? Why is it, when we don’t get our way, our first instinct is to
act like kindergarten children and get bent all out of shape? Bent out of shape
because we don’t want to do something, or we don’t think that we need to do
something… We contort ourselves and
grimace at the mere thought of accepting something that we don’t personally
like. Why is it so hard for us to unbend from the old “norms” – the
way things have always been done, and bend in ways that help give new life and
vitality into our community. We get all bent out of shape at the most unlikely
sources… but as we know, it’s not God that twists, it’s us that do the
twisting… it’s not God who destroys, it is us that are
self destructive. Our God saves… no
matter how bent out of shape we get, no matter how shaken we get, when we reach
out, God is right there to make it right… to heal us, to restore us and to give us new life.
Last week, we heard the passage of Jesus, longing to bring fire
to the earth, and “getting things cooking.” I have often used the idiom that I “shake”
the snow globe. If we think about it, that’s one way to keep it going. I had a
snow globe as a child, you know, one of those glass balls with a winter scene inside
and water and flecks of white that looked like snow. I would keep it on my night stand, and before
I went to bed, I would shake it! And if I woke up in the middle of the night, I
would shake it again! It was a way of
keeping it going… of keeping the snow
falling… So the snow would fall, and then
the scene in the globe would be complete.
See, we are all part of the scene… The scene that God
created for us… And I will admit… I do things in order to “shake” the snow
globe sometimes, to keep the things going that Jesus started. To make us feel a
bit uncomfortable with the way things are, and make us think about the way
things could be. Shaking the snow globe is a wonderful process of examination
and reexamination… of shaking up and loosening the insecurities that we hold on
to that are of this world and not the next… After the shaking it up we see the solid eternal things that
are of God that remain. What remains is that grounded and steady truth of God… the
root of the power of relationships and community… the love of God that binds us
all together. The problems is, whoever is doing the shaking… that sometimes
folks don’t like the way the snow globe has been shaken, and they get upset for
one reason or another. This can cause us
to get all bent out of shape.
Jesus is teaching in the synagogue on the Sabbath. The
scripture says that a woman with a crippling spirit has been bent over and not
able to stand up straight for 18 years… Without her asking, in one word and a
laying on of hands, Jesus heals her from her ailment and restores her to
perfect health… She immediately stands up straight and begins praising God. But in doing that one profound act of healing
and mercy, Jesus shakes the snow globe of society and disrupts the status quo.
The leader of the synagogue gets all bent out of shape and
accuses Jesus of breaking the law because he healed on the Sabbath. But, like
people so often who get bent out of shape, he doesn’t come to Jesus and
confront him directly, he keeps saying to the crowd – accusing Jesus – sort of
like going behind Jesus’ back. But Jesus sets it right, comparing his actions to
simply giving water to a donkey or ox.
Jesus restores dignity and gives new life to the woman, setting
her free from her disorder, from the demons that torment her and bend her out
of shape. When we get bent out of shape about something, our tendency is to
grimace, and contort our faces to show people that we are not happy, we talk
behind backs and accuse wrongly, especially if we think that our way of life is
being challenged or disrupted… especially
if we think our snow globe is being shaken.
When this happens, there is only one answer… to let the
eternal love of our Lord Jesus Christ reach out to us and touch us and heal us…
and help us loose our grip from whatever demon it is that is tormenting us and
so gravely holding onto us… We need to allow Jesus to show us a way of trust in
God and the eternal solid things that should be the focus of our attention.
It is our only way to keep things going… Jesus “got things cooking” by bring the
consuming fire to the earth last week. Now it’s up to us to keep things going.
The way I see it, we have 2 choices: either we act like the
crippled woman and let ourselves be healed and restored stand up straight, and
praise God… Or we can be like the
Synagogue leader and get all bent out of shape, accuse, and talk behind peoples
backs, and complain about others and the way things are…
It is when and only when we surrender ourselves to Christ's
Lordship, and completely give ourselves over, and live for Him that we begin to
see the things that bend us out of shape are really meaningless.
So, will we accept Christ as he attempts to mold us and form
us into his image, restoring us and making us whole? Or will we reject Christ and think we have it
all figured out by ourselves and continue to walk around all bent out of shape?
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