The healing of the bent woman: a narrative interpretation of Luke 13:10-17.

The Episode

And he was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath.

A   And look, a woman having a spirit of weakness for eighteen years,
B   and she was bending over double
C   and was not being able to straighten up completely.
A'  And seeing her, Jesus called and said to her,
B'  "Woman, you have been set free from your weakness," and he put his
    hands on her.
C'  And at once she was straightened and praised God.
    But answering, the synagogue ruler, being angry that Jesus healed on
    the Sabbath, declared to the crowd,
a   "Six days exist on which work ought to be done.
b   Therefore come on those and be healed
c   and not on the day of the Sabbath."
    But the Lord answered him and said,
a'  "Hypocrites! Each one of you on the Sabbath, does he not loosen his
    ox or his donkey from the manger and, leading it away, give it
    drink?
b'  And this woman, being a daughter of Abraham whom Satan bound for
    eighteen years,
c'  ought not she be loosed from this bond on the day of the Sabbath?"
    And when he said these things, all the ones opposing him were put
    down to shame, and all the crowd rejoiced over all the glorious
    things that were done by him. (1)

Introduction

By the time we meet Jesus, the woman, and the synagogue ruler in this episode, previous stories in Luke have drawn the original hearer deep into the world of this intricate, powerful tale. Readers have witnessed magnificent birth stories and the abiding relationship between two faithful women. They have heard punctuating annunciations, prophecies, and testimonies about Jesus. Hearers have listened to Jesus announce his mission to the poor, the captive, the blind, and the oppressed and call his disciples. They also have witnessed Jesus' teaching, seen him heal and cast out demons, stood near as he related with undesirables, watched him break Sabbath laws, and experienced his defiance of powerful leaders.

Luke presents Jesus as an earth-shaking, justice-seeking prophet of God who has an undeniably essential role in ushering in the rule of God. Prolepses of God's rule appear through many aspects of Jesus' actions in Luke. Jesus' ministry of healing exemplifies the mercy inherent to God's coming reign. The episode of the healing of the bent woman in Luke 13 illustrates one way that God's rule is made manifest among God's people. Luke tells this particular healing story in such a way as to demonstrate two Lukan themes: (1) Mercy is the basis for interpreting the law, and (2) The lowly are raised and the mighty are brought down.

Mercy and the law

The annunciation of Jesus' mission in Luke 4:18-19 illustrates the overall plot of Luke's entire narrative: that God anointed Jesus to address a nation troubled by social inequity. (2) Quoting Isaiah, Jesus describes himself as the fulfillment of the following verses:

    "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
    because he has anointed me
      to bring good news to the poor.
    He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives
      and recovery of sight to the blind,
      to let the oppressed go free,
    to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor."

From this point in the story forward, Jesus' mission includes acts of mercy that reveal the prominent place of liberation in God's kingdom.

Luke fills his Gospel with a number of stories that reflect Jesus' compassion and mercy for the poor, the sick, the infirm, and the oppressed. The cleansing of a leper (5:12-16), the healing of the centurion's servant (7:1-10), the raising of the widow's only son at Nain (7:11-17), and the healing of the Gerasene demoniac (8:26-39) are paradigmatic of Jesus' merciful actions toward those in need. The uniquely Lukan parables of the Samaritan who serves as an unlikely agent of healing for a battered traveler (10:25-37) and of the father who welcomes home his prodigal son (15:11-32) offer examples of the value Jesus placed on mercy.

Throughout Luke's Gospel, the narrator takes pains to show that Jesus proposed mercy as the lens through which to interpret the law. Rooted in the holiness tradition of Moses, the religious leaders regard the law as central to Israel's culture. The laws of this holiness tradition established proper order both in creation and in Israel's temple system, and the religious leaders were charged with upholding the holiness code that set the people of Israel apart. (3)

Though an heir of the same holiness tradition, Jesus adheres to a radically different interpretation of how the law ought to guide one's life. Jesus displays merciful compassion toward the sick, the sinful, and the infirm--directly in the presence of religious leaders who question the lawfulness of his actions. Luke's narrative illustrates such "unlawful" acts of mercy in the stories of the healing of the paralytic (5:17-26), the Sabbath healing of man with withered hand (6:6-11), the forgiveness of a sinful woman (7:36-50), our episode of the healing of the bent woman (13:10-17), and the healing of the man with dropsy (14:1-6). Though not explicitly in the presence of established religious leaders, Jesus also disregards holiness laws in stories like the healing of the woman with a hemorrhage (8:43-48), the cleansing of the lepers (17:11-19), and eating with tax collectors and sinners (as with Zacchaeus in 19:1-10).

Luke portrays Jesus, then, not as one who abrogates the laws of Israel but as one who reinterprets them. For Jesus, the law is only valid when understood through the lens of merciful action that serves the needs of the poor, the sick, and the infirm.

A mighty reversal: The lowly are lifted and the mighty brought down

Our analysis of the bent woman's story will show that the woman, through her healing, is lifted up from a disadvantaged and lowly state. By contrast, the synagogue leader, who was thought to have advantageous power and high authority in the community, is brought down through Jesus' shaming confrontation. This motif of reversals--upsetting the expectations set by a group or society--is one of Luke's favorites. In Luke's Gospel, the rich are poor and the poor are rich (1:53, 6:20, 16:19-25); the exalted are humbled and the humbled are exalted (14:11, 18:14); losing is saving and saving is losing (9:24, 17:33); the last are first and the first are last (13:30); low is high and high is low (1:52, 13:10-17). The powerful reversals of the expected norms are "the challenge the Kingdom brings to the complacent normalcy of one's accepted world." (4)

This continual challenge to the accepted social order has long stood as one of the key functions of the prophets. Luke's successful uses of reversals are legitimated, in part, by connecting Jesus with the prophets of ancient Israel. Indeed, Jesus' cultural role in the Gospel is that of a prophet who functions much like previous Israelite prophets. Jesus' cries for justice for the marginal remind hearers of the plea that the first prophets lifted up time and time again in public spaces where crowds gather. When Moses and Jethro name judges, God calls them specifically to appoint those attentive to the most vulnerable. The prophets Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Amos, and Micah reminded way ward children of Abraham and Sarah of the essential elements of their covenantal bond with Yahweh that demands justice, care, and inclusion for all members of the community. Jesus' place as prophet and the bent woman's place among her sisters and brothers join to remind readers that this healing--on the Sabbath--is vital to the life of Israel and the laws of God.

In his use of parables, Luke challenges oppressive boundaries and favors inclusion of the marginal. Luke's treatment of the parable of the great banquet provides a fine example of Luke's emphasis on elevating the status of those considered "outside" the analogous "king's" great banquet. After inviting the rich, religious, and so-called "proper citizens" and receiving their many excuses why they are too busy to attend, the narrator says that the king extends the invitation to the "poor, the crippled, the blind, and the lame" (14:15-24)--folks just like the bent woman. The parable concludes with the same message Jesus delivers to the unwelcome synagogue leaders in our story when he states that none of the original invitees "will taste my dinner." Similar treatments follow in virtually all of the parables that are unique to Luke (the Good Samaritan, the Prodigal Son, the Widow and the Judge, and the Rich Man and Lazarus). In the same vein, Luke's unique story of the bent woman also surprises the reader. The supposedly righteous synagogue leader is brought down to shame, while the woman, formerly crippled and excluded from her community, is lifted up to a place of honor.

The Sabbath healing in Luke: A type-scene

A good narrator uses various literary tools to weave the plot lines of a story. One such tool that Luke and the other Gospel writers often use is that of recurring type-scenes. A type-scene repeats certain characters, situations, interactions, and discourse throughout the narrative. Through these elements of repetition, the narrator sets up patterns that lead the reader to develop certain expectations about the ensuing episode. (5)

One of Luke's favorite type-scenes is that of healing. Stories such as the healing of the centurion's servant (7:1-10), the raising of the widow's son at Nain (7:11-17), the raising of Jairus' daughter (8:40-42, 49-56), the healing of the hemorrhaging woman (8:43-48), and the cleansing of the ten lepers (17:11-19) share many common characteristics: the suppliant previously has heard of Jesus; the narrator introduces the suppliant and his or her problem; the suppliant comes to Jesus for healing (on his or her own or through a surrogate); the healing occurs; and faith is directly linked to the healing.

Three healing stories in Luke, however, contain two features not found in the other healing stories. First is the feature of controversy with established religious leaders, and second is the setting on the Sabbath. Thus, the stories of the man with a withered hand (6:6-11), the man with dropsy (14:1-6), and our episode of the bent woman (13:10-17) together create a unique category of type-scene: the type-scene of Sabbath healing. (6)

The Sabbath provides the temporal setting for each of these stories. Each unfolds in the presence of religious leaders: two of them take place in a synagogue (6:6-11, 13:10-17), and one happens on the way to a Pharisee's house. The narrator then points to the presence of a person with a malady. Rather than approaching Jesus as in other healing stories, however, the infirm person is either already present or simply appears on the scene. There is no indication that any of the infirm persons are seeking healing, presumably because it is the Sabbath. Instead, Jesus initiates the healing, after which interpretation of Sabbath law comes into question, either by Jesus' initial questions to religious leaders (6:6-11, 14:1-6) or by a religious leader's annoyance at Jesus' apparent disregard for Sabbath work laws (13:10-17). Controversy with religious leaders ensues, and Jesus emerges victorious in the conflict, leaving the religious leaders angry, shamed, or silenced.

While a type-scene functions to create a pattern of repetition for the hearer of a particular story, each type-scene also introduces variations and/or new elements into the story. The introduction of variant features into the type-scene of Sabbath healing leads the reader to notice particular details and emphases that stand out from our episode in relation to the other Sabbath healing type-scenes.

The story of the bent woman introduces several feature variations into the type-scene:

* The infirm character is a woman, and Jesus calls to her in the synagogue.

* The duration of her infirmity is highlighted. The woman has been bent for 18 years. (The number 18 may be a reference to the number of individuals who were killed when the tower of Siloam fell upon them in 13:4. These 18 people died through no fault of their own. Repeating the number 18 in this pericope, then, suggests that the woman's infirmity is not her fault; it is not to be interpreted as a "punishment.")

* Her condition is attributed to a spirit and then to Satan.

* Jesus places his hands on the woman.

* The woman praises God in response to her healing, highlighting the connection between Jesus' work and God's saving power.

* The presence of a crowd is lifted up, adding intensity to the public nature of this synagogue setting.

* The religious leader speaks, addressing the crowd rather than Jesus.

* Jesus publicly defends the woman, naming her "daughter of Abraham," and publicly shames the religious leaders.

* The crowd rejoices at Jesus "glorious works."

The woman

The narrator introduces the woman early in the episode through a series of parallel lines. (7) The narrator gives little clue about why the woman is in the synagogue on this particular Sabbath day, saying simply that she "appeared." Because she is crippled by a "spirit of weakness," the narrator reveals that the woman has been unable to straighten up completely for 18 years. A few lines later in the story, the woman's condition is again attributed to evil powers; she has been bound by Satan.

Although each of the Gospels contains stories that convey a belief in spirits and spirit-aggression, John Pilch notes that this motif seems particularly prominent in Luke. (8) This episode is not an exorcism, but the fact that the woman's condition is attributed to an evil spirit connects her with other possessed people in Luke. According to Robert Tannehill, the woman's "spirit of weakness" can refer to various sorts of ailments, infirmities, or illnesses. (9) Taken in its ancient context, the notion of illness or infirmity does not point simply to a physical illness but also relates to social and personal perceptions of socially disvalued states. The presence of an evil spirit within and the reality of an infirm or un-whole physical condition provided cause for the bent woman to be labeled "unclean." Unclean persons were seen as a threat to the collective purity of the people of Israel. (10) Thus, the combination of evil spirit and infirm body in the woman creates a double marginalization of uncleanliness that would have restricted her to the outer edges of her community. Perhaps the narrator's choice to describe the woman's condition as "bent over" illustrates, at least in part, her low social position.

Even though a "spirit of weakness" has kept the woman from straightening up for 18 years, the story offers on evidence that she seeks to be healed by Jesus. Her inaction implies that the woman knows that approaching Jesus for healing on the Sabbath day would be illegal. Instead, Jesus summons the woman and places his hands on her. We are told that she was straightened at once and began praising God. The fact that the woman praises God rather than Jesus is significant here. Jesus is the instrument of the woman's healing, but she recognizes that God's work within Jesus restores her. Jesus' healing proclamation "you have been set free" emphasizes further that God has done the work of making the woman strong. God's mercy is mediated through Jesus, and the woman appropriately names God as the subject of her praise.

Later in the episode, the synagogue ruler suggests that infirm people ought not to present themselves for healing on the Sabbath. Jesus responds with support for the woman, however, revealing two essential points for understanding the significance of this story. First, Jesus identifies her as "this woman ... a daughter of Abraham." Luke's Gospel reserves such an honored title for only one other person, Zacchaeus. Second, Jesus describes the woman's healing as an act of "setting free" or "loosing" one who has been bound.

Understanding the importance of Abraham's role in Luke's Gospel reinforces the significance of naming the woman a daughter of Abraham. The core of the scriptures for Luke lay in the First Testament prophecies to David and, before David, to Abraham. (11) For Luke, Abraham functions to represent God's originating covenant and promise to the Hebrew people. Part of God's fulfillment of the covenant made to Abraham is realized through radical reversals. Mary, for example, sings of such reversals in 1:50-55. In her song, Mary describes how the powerful are brought down and the lowly are lifted up, the hungry are filled and the rich are sent away empty. (12) For her, all of these reversals connect directly to God's steadfast love and to God's faithfulness to the covenant God made with Abraham: "He has helped his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy, according to the promise he made to our ancestors, to Abraham and to his descendants forever." Mary's song illustrates that God's promise to Abraham and his descendants can be fulfilled only through radical social upheaval in which the powerful are brought down and the lowly are lifted, the hungry are filled and the rich are sent away empty.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

When Jesus calls the woman a daughter of Abraham, then, he essentially names her share in the blessing of Abraham's progeny and binds her forever to God's faithfulness and mercy. Placed first in the Greek sentence as a mode of emphasis, Jesus' use of "daughter of Abraham" reflects this Gospel's emphasis on the radical inclusion in God's election and faithful promises. Turid Karlsen Seim rightly notes that the woman does not become a daughter of Abraham at Jesus' naming; rather, she is already and has always been a child of the promise. (13) Jesus' public affirmation of the woman's place in Abraham's lineage points simply to the woman's restored place with her people.

Jesus says that the woman has been set free from Satan's bondage. Luke's use of the language of "loosing" or "setting free" points the reader back to Jesus' proclamation of mission in chapter 4, where part of God's saving work through Jesus involves setting prisoners free (v. 18). Significantly, the woman's freedom also comes on the Sabbath--the day that serves as a remembrance of the Jubilee in which all debts are forgiven and all slaves freed. The liberation of a daughter of Abraham is total, encompassing both the physical healing that restores her to health and the social healing that restores her place in the Jubilee community of promise.

Jesus in relation to the woman

Jesus acts with shocking boldness in relation to the woman in this episode. He is teaching in the synagogue on the Sabbath day when she appears. Apparently moved by compassion for the woman's condition, Jesus takes initiative for her healing. Seeing her, he calls her over to him and places his hands on her, ignoring any potential impurity or defilement that may come from touching a bent woman bound by an evil spirit. Highlighting the authority of Jesus' words and actions, the result occurs immediately after he declares the woman's freedom from her weakness: the woman is straightened "at once."

Not only does Jesus heal the woman by loosing her from Satan's bond, Jesus also becomes her advocate. He defends her to the crowd when the synagogue leader suggests that her Sabbath healing is tantamount to lawbreaking. From Jesus' point of view, the merciful act of healing fits perfectly with his interpretation of what it means to fulfill God's law. Not only does he heal her, but he also engages in dialogue so that the woman is doubly lifted up from her marginalized position as the powerful ones rejecting her are brought down to shame.

The synagogue leader

The synagogue leader takes center stage just after Jesus' healing actions that led to the restoration of the bent woman. The hopeful mood created through this healing encounter is quickly interrupted when the synagogue leader responds with anger about what has just taken place. Indignant at Jesus' seeming disregard for the law, the leader addresses the gathered crowd: "Six days exist on which work ought to be done. Therefore come on those and be healed and not on the day of the Sabbath."

Jesus responds directly to the synagogue leader and calls him and all those like him "hypocrites." When Jesus continues his discourse in a way that reverses the synagogue leader's view of the law and what "ought" to be done on the Sabbath, the leader and all those like him are put to shame.

Before we consider the character of this leader and his reactions to Jesus, it will be helpful to understand the leader's roles and responsibilities. (14) The honored office of synagogue leader, acquired by election, appointment, or inheritance, served a wide range of practical and spiritual leadership. Duties included regulating worship, choosing Torah readers and prayer leaders, inviting other people to preach, and contributing to the building and restoration of the synagogue building. The leader also represented the congregation to the community and to outside authorities, functioning as the synagogue's ambassador to the world beyond the synagogue walls.

As a person of public authority in the congregation, this leader had a specific view about the healing that had just taken place. First, his response falls clearly within the expectations of his position. Part of his work involves regulating what happens within the walls of the synagogue, and outright disregard for Sabbath law is unacceptable. Second, the leader's interpretation of the law is at stake in the face of Jesus' public Sabbath healing. The leader in this episode interprets the Scriptures in much the same way that the Pharisees and other leaders do throughout Luke's Gospel--they tend to understand the legal prescriptions of the law of Moses as literal and binding. The holiness system promulgated by the established Jewish leaders was, in their minds, scripturally based and obligatory for a set-apart and holy nation. A healing on the Sabbath flies in the face of such an interpretation of the law.

According to the synagogue leader, then, Jesus' flagrant lawbreaking denigrates the holiness that should define his behavior as faithful and God-fearing. Jesus' "law-breaking" action also dishonors the synagogue leader personally as one charged with enforcing Sabbath law. For the leader, the only appropriate response to Jesus is anger. The leader's rhetoric of response reinforces his indignation by using the strict language of Sabbath law to rebuke both Jesus and the woman.

The leader displays his point of view about Jesus when he responds publicly to the healing of the woman. Jesus, the synagogue leader, and the woman in this episode are immersed in a culture that centers on the core values of honor and shame. (15) According to the rules of this culture, one person's honor may be challenged through word or action in almost any instance. When such a challenge occurs, the one whose honor is at stake is expected to respond in such a way that preserves his honor. Such a game of challenge and riposte can happen appropriately only between two people who enjoy relatively equal honor in the eyes of the public. When the synagogue leader addresses the crowd rather than addressing Jesus directly in response to the Sabbath lawbreaking that has just occurred, one may deduce that the synagogue leader does not perceive Jesus to be on equal social footing with him. Hence, Jesus' actions do not warrant direct response. Jesus, however, believes that he himself acts out of the higher authority of God's power and, rather than slinking away shamed by the leader's public retort to his actions, Jesus responds directly to the synagogue leader. Using the strong language of hypocrisy, Jesus exposes the inconsistency between the leaders' (plural) Sabbath interpretations and their own Sabbath activities. They perceive Jesus' Sabbath healing action as lawbreaking, but they themselves loosen their livestock, lead it away, and give it drink on the Sabbath. This, too, is "work" according to Sabbath law, and Jesus exposes the leaders' anger at healing as two-faced and hypocritical.

The crowd, being even lower than Jesus in the honor-shame society, rejoices at Jesus' response to the synagogue leader and all those opposing Jesus. Though at first glance the crowd's presence may seem insignificant, its role in this scene is crucial. Matters of honor and shame must be witnessed publicly in order to be recognized as valid. As such, the crowd's response to the interactions between Jesus and the synagogue leader is instrumental to the outcome of the honor-shame challenge that is taking place. Jesus has exposed the leaders' hypocrisy, and the crowd rejoices. In so doing, the crowd publicly affirms Jesus' place of honor while the leaders' once mighty positions become humiliated positions of shame.

Jesus is not the only one honored, however. He has not only defended himself but has also publicly advocated for the woman. He calls her a daughter of Abraham in the presence of religious leaders and before a crowd that once would have seen and treated her as one of lowly position. Jesus' witness to the woman's share in Abraham's progeny raises her up to a place of honor at the same time that Jesus' opponents are brought down to shame.

Jesus in relation to the synagogue leader

As we have seen, Jesus confronts the synagogue leader swiftly and harshly. Using a series of parallelisms, the narrator shows how Jesus challenges each of the points that the leader made in his earlier admonition to the crowd:

a   (Leader) "Six days exist on which work ought to be done.
a'  (Jesus) "Hypocrites! Each one of you on the Sabbath, does he not
    loosen his ox or his donkey from the manger and, leading it away,
    give it drink?"
b   (Leader) "Therefore come on those and be healed ..."
b'  (Jesus): And this woman, being a daughter of Abraham whom Satan
    bound for eighteen years, ought not she be loosed from this
    bond ..."
c   (Leader) "and not on the day of the Sabbath."
c'  (Jesus) "on the day of the Sabbath?"

Jesus' words portray him as an advocate for the woman, and the language Jesus uses to confront the leader places this episode in continuity with Jesus' articulated mission of liberating and releasing captives. Jesus' confrontation turns on its head the synagogue leader's interpretation of the law. Finally, Jesus' words and actions function to shame the synagogue leader and all the ones like him.

The woman in our story has experienced the gift of holistic healing through Jesus. Not only her physical health has been restored, but her newly "clean" body allows her to be socially healed as well. The synagogue leader's role is to maintain proper observance of the Sabbath, and thus he is adamant that people in need of healing ought not present themselves in the synagogue on the Sabbath day. Jesus, however, interprets the law differently and publicly advocates for the woman against the leader's criticism of her presence there.

Jesus' comparison between the woman's situation and the treatment of livestock sets up several points of contrast. Jesus first affirms that this woman is a daughter of Abraham, not an animal. She is a child of God's promise, utterly deserving of honor and dignity whether or not she suffers from weakness or infirmity. Further, while the animals that are loosed for drink on the Sabbath must wait only a short time to be relieved of their thirst, this woman has been waiting eighteen long years to be loosed from her bondage.

The drastic contrast between the leaders' name, "Hypocrites," and the woman's name, "Daughter of Abraham," also emphasizes the woman's place in God's reign over against the law-bound religious leaders. The language "daughter of Abraham" connects the hearer with John's preaching in Luke 3. In this passage, John warns the people that being recognized as a descendant of Abraham necessarily includes acts of repentance. Specifically, John's admonition tells those who would hear that bearing the good fruit of repentance means caring for and sharing with the poor and the marginalized. Any tree that does not bear such fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire (3:9). In this light, then, the leaders who respond hypocritically to God's in-breaking kingdom as illustrated in the daughter of Abraham's story will receive no share in God's reign.

Jesus has also chosen carefully the words of his confrontation to connect the daughter of Abraham's healing with his previously announced mission of proclaiming release to captives. Rather than describing the woman's restored condition as "healed" or "cured," Jesus uses forms of the word [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII], "to loose" or "to release." The religious leaders untie ([TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII]) their cattle on the day of the Sabbath in order to lead them to water. How much more, then, should this woman, daughter of Abraham, be loosed ([TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII]) from her captivity on the day of the Sabbath? She becomes an example of Jesus' freeing proclamation, liberated to experience shabbat in her very being.

In the synagogue leader's recitation of Sabbath law, the narrator employs notable use of the Greek word [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] ("it is necessary," "ought"). Only six days exist on which work ought ([TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII]) to be done. He declares that the Sabbath is not made for work, thus forming the basis of his critique against Jesus' healing. In his response, Jesus cleverly picks up on the leader's use of the word [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII]. The leader cites the necessity of observing the Sabbath in accordance with the law. "Six days exist on which work ought ([TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII]) to be done." Jesus, however, cites the much greater necessity of freeing a human being from whatever has bound or diminished her. "And this woman ... ought ([TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII]) not she be loosed from this bond on the day of the Sabbath?"

Jesus does not abrogate the Sabbath by his apparent lawbreaking. Rather, he reinterprets it according to the covenants made to Abraham and David whereby God acted in mercy to elect unlikely people as recipients of blessing and promise. (16) According to Jesus' interpretation of the law, God's chief attribute is mercy, not holiness. As such, mercy is lifted up as the norm, the lens through which the law is interpreted.

As we have seen, Jesus' public confrontation results in the shaming of his opponents and the raising up of the woman. The good news of liberation for the woman--and for the crowd--stands as a supreme challenge to the established religious community. God's reign is breaking into the world through the ministry of Jesus, but not everyone will be included. The daughter of Abraham's story is surprising, indeed, for it tells the community that the ones like her--crippled, excluded, on the margins--will share in God's reign. Those who fail to do the work of God's just kingdom--caring for and sharing with the poor and marginalized--will have no share in the kingdom of God.

Conclusion

The story of the bent woman points to two major Lukan themes. First, the law is appropriately interpreted only through the lens of mercy. Second, in Luke's Gospel the lowly are lifted and the mighty are brought down. Far from being disparate themes, however, Luke tells the story of the bent woman in such a way that mercy--particularly the woman's healing--becomes a matter of lifting the lowly and bringing down the mighty. Witnesses to and participants in Jesus' actions catch a glimpse of what God's coming rule entails. The marginalized are healed and reintegrated into a society that prefers to ignore them. They are raised up, liberated to assume their rightful place in God's realm. The keepers of the law, conversely, are brought down from their assumed places of honored authority, rejecting the prolepsis of the rule of God and thereby removing themselves from a place at the feast. The major sociopolitical implications of a story such as this certainly would not have been lost on a first-century hearer.

As the primary protagonist in the larger Lukan narrative, the impact of Jesus' role in this episode is perhaps most significant. First, Jesus' words and actions reveal clearly that he values people and their well-being over rules and the law. Second, Jesus' activity emphasizes his commitment to stand at the margins with those who are outcast rather than on the side of established leadership. These two realities, combined with Jesus' unapologetic shaming of "powerful" ones that do not share his values, create a profoundly countercultural message to an original hearer. If the hearer is a woman who also feels the weight of exclusion and marginalization, one can only imagine the liberation of being publicly affirmed as a "daughter of Abraham."

1. The letters at the left-hand margin illustrate parallelisms. Repeat words or cognates are italicized.

2. David Rhoads, The Challenge of Diversity (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1996).

3. The Social World of Luke-Acts: Models for Interpretation, ed. Jerome Neyrey (Peabody: Hendrickson, 1991), 276-77.

4. John Crossan, as quoted by John York in The Last Shall Be First: The Rhetoric of Reversal in Luke (Sheffield: JSOT Press, 1991), 32.

5. Robert Alter, The Art of Biblical Narrative (New York: Basic Books, 1981).

6. Robert Tannehill, Luke (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1996).

7. See the translation at the beginning of this article for visual clues to parallelism.

8. John Pilch, "Sickness and Healing in Luke-Acts," in The Social World of Luke-Acts, ed. Jerome Neyrey, 196.

9. Tannehill, Luke, 65.

10. Turid Karlsen Seim, "The Gospel of Luke," in Searching the Scriptures, vol. 2, ed. Elisabeth Schussler Fiorenza (New York: Crossroad, 1994).

11. Neyrey, "The Symbolic Universe of Luke-Acts," in The Social World of Luke Acts, 295.

12. Abraham is also linked to radical reversals in 3:8, 13:28, 16:22-31, and 19:9.

13. Karlsen Seim, "The Gospel of Luke," 737.

14. Claudia J. Selzer, "Rulers of the Synagogue," in Anchor Bible Dictionary (New York: Doubleday, 1992).

15. See Bruce Malina and Jerome Neyrey, "Honor and Shame in Luke-Acts: Pivotal Values of the Mediterranean World," in The Social World of Luke-Acts, ed. Jerome Neyrey, 25-67.

16. Neyrey, "The Symbolic Universe of Luke-Acts," 296.

Heidi Torgerson

Intern, St. John Lutheran Church

Stamford, Connecticut

[e-mail]