In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, one God, Amen.
A sinner comes to the Church. She is unlike me—she is strange, unusual, she does not fit in and speaks in a unusual voice. She has not come because of me but in spite of me. Yes indeed, she is a sinner and is bearing the consequences of her sin. She is bowed to the ground, born down by the weight of her sin, and sees in the ground the earth to which she will be destined, “For dust you are,” says the Lord, “And to dust you shall return.” (Genesis 3:19)
I, on the other hand, have been raised up by the Lord. I may stand straight so that I might cast my vision to the heavens: it has been granted to me that I may contemplate the things of God, holy things, divine things. And this woman interrupts my self-righteousness. I see her facing towards the earth and I am discomforted: this is not because she is different from me nor that she is a great sinner, I am discomforted since whereas she looks to her destiny in the earth because she has been ensnared, I can look to the heavens but I still am focused on the earth. Her situation convicts me: I am worse than she for I name Father, Son and Holy Spirit while being focused on death.
Christ, dear brothers and sisters, has freed us from slavery to sin and the tyranny of death, Christ has led captivity captive. We no longer need fear death for it is defeated: and while we still must go through dying, unless the Lord appears first, we laugh in the face of death, and while sin still lies at our door we are given the tools to rule over it. (compare Genesis 4:7) But I am still tempted by death—it is easy to understand, it has a finality to it, it ends whatever I become—and any reminder of it destroys me. I see a sinner and it reminds me of the hypocrisy in my life, I see a sinner and I want her removed from my presence because I see in her a reflection of me, I see a sinner and I want to condemn rather than pity her entrapment and work for her release.
A sinner comes to the Church, and the Lord says to her freely and straightforwardly “Woman, you are freed from your infirmity.” And she stands up straight and looks to the heavens glorifying God. And I am scandalised. She does immediately what I should have been doing from the start and I look for excuses, any excuses, for my lack of faithfulness. Yet the only excuse for my own staring into the earth to which I shall return is, “There are six days on which work ought to be done; come on those days and be healed, and not on the sabbath day.” And I know the stupidity of what I say, but I need to say something. And Christ puts my stupidity to shame.
My dear brothers and sisters in Christ, for us to be faithful to Christ and trust in the Resurrection, we must turn away from the tyranny of death and turn towards the heavens. And when we see sin, and when we see the Lord releasing others from sin, we must be encouraged to continue our struggle, to grow in faithfulness, to become more and more in the likeness of God. All who are sinners are welcome in our community, not that we justify sin but that we release them because we ourselves have been released. Let us, therefore, be encouraged to fight sin and reject death, let us return to the embrace of our God and Saviour through His Church, let us be alive and aflame with the Light of Christ that we may be a beacon to all who desire freedom and truth. Let us, dear brothers and sisters, repent that we my be alive in Christ and inheritors of eternal Life.
That we may offer true praise, glory and worship to our Lord Jesus Christ, Who has released us from captivity to sin and fear of death, together with His unoriginate Father and the All-holy, Good and Life-giving Spirit. Amen.
Brethren, walk as children of light (for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true), and try to learn what is pleasing to the Lord. Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them. For it is a shame even to speak of the things that they do in secret; but when anything is exposed by the light it becomes visible, for anything that becomes visible is light. Therefore it is said, “Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give you light.” Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise men but as wise, making the most of the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery; but be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with all your heart.
— Ephesians 5:8–19
At that time, Jesus was teaching in one of the synagogues on the sabbath. And there was a woman who had a spirit of infirmity for eighteen years; she was bent over and could not fully straighten herself. And when Jesus saw her, he called her and said to her, “Woman, you are freed from your infirmity.” And he laid his hands upon her, and immediately she was made straight, and she praised God. But the ruler of the synagogue, indignant because Jesus had healed on the sabbath, said to the people, “There are six days on which work ought to be done; come on those days and be healed, and not on the sabbath day.” Then the Lord answered him, “You hypocrites! Does not each of you on the sabbath untie his ox or his donkey from the manger, and lead it away to water it? And ought not this woman, a daughter of Abraham whom Satan bound for eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the sabbath day?” As he said this, all his adversaries were put to shame; and all the people rejoiced at all the glorious things that were done by him.
— Luke 13:10–17