Luke 13:10-17
Eleventh Sunday after Pentecost
August 24, 2025
Naming pain
In Sister Outsider, Audre Lorde contends that naming the roots of pain, suffering and injustice is critical for healing and transformation. Lorde differentiates unexamined suffering from that which is named: “Pain is an event, an experience that must be recognized, named, and then used in some way in order for the experience to change, to be transformed into something else, strength or knowledge or action.”
Naming pain and suffering is also very much akin to the Buddhist notion of mindfulness of the roots of suffering. In The Heart of Buddha’s Teaching, Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh explains the Second Noble Truth of Buddhism in this way: “After we touch our suffering, we need to look deeply into it to see how it came to be. We need to recognize and identify the spiritual and material foods we have ingested that are causing us to suffer.” An adage that can be drawn from these insights is that whatever we don’t name, we reinscribe. In other words, if we don’t name suffering and injustice for what they are – suffering and injustice – they become normalized.
The bent woman
I wonder if something similar is happening in Luke 13:10-17. The bent woman’s illness is linked to a crippling “spirit” (v. 11) and satanic bondage (v. 16). The story reveals an apocalyptic worldview where humans are caught in a struggle between the destructive powers of evil and the life-giving power of God. There are death-tending forces in the world that disfigure and diminish human life and all creation. And these forces are fighting on this woman’s back! Furthermore, this has been going on for 18 long years, and no one has named it so that healing and liberation could occur.
The word “apocalyptic” originates from the Greek noun apokalypsis and the verb apokalyptō, both of which refer to revelation or revealing — words that also carry nuances of unveiling, exposing, unmasking and disrupting. So, what Jesus is doing in this story is exposing the power and systems of evil that are diminishing the woman so they won’t continue to be reinscribed, and the result is liberation.
However, the fact that Jesus exposes these evil forces after the woman suffered for 18 years shows how often suffering and injustice are normalized — sexism, racism, homophobia, classism and authoritarianism can become so ingrained that they seem normal, so much so that it can be shocking when someone finally exposes it. The debate regarding the timing of Jesus’ healing of the woman, specifically whether it should occur on the Sabbath or at another time, may be considered a valid point of intra-Jewish discussion. However, the appropriateness of performing the healing itself is generally not in question, as it constitutes an essential aspect of ministry.
Exposing the “crosses” of our lives
Indeed, exposing or naming pain and suffering is what Jesus has called us to do. You may remember that in the synoptic gospels (Matthew, Mark and Luke), Jesus calls his disciples to “take up their cross and follow me” (Mark 8:34). In this seminal verse, Jesus is not telling his disciples to accept crosses or suffering as the will of God—a common (mis)interpretation of this verse. Crosses – crucifying, death-dealing realities – continue to litter the landscape of our world, and by “taking them up,” disciples are called to identify, expose and resist them.
Cross-bearing is an apocalyptic act in that it aims to expose and dismantle the powers of the world that distort and deface God’s good creation. Luke is framed by a distinctive understanding of cross-naming — it is quotidian, existing in the daily aspects of life, and this has profound implications for how we approach our ministry. Luke builds upon Mark’s text on cross-exposing, adding “daily;” “Let them…take up their cross daily” (Luke 9:23). This edit suggests an intensification of Mark’s notion of cross-exposing, as well as a particular manner of cross-naming within the everyday. In other words, according to Luke’s Jesus, we are called to expose and name evil and suffering in the details of our daily lives, whenever they happen.
In his book The Prophets, Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel describes the prophet as one who is “thrown into” the world and is scandalized by what they see. Heschel draws a stark contrast between ordinary sight and prophetic vision: “To us, a single act of injustice – cheating in business, exploitation of the poor – is slight; to the prophet, a disaster. To us, injustice is injurious to the welfare of the people; to the prophet, it is a deathblow to existence; to us, an episode; to them, a catastrophe, a threat to the world.”
Luke’s Jesus is a prophet, and he calls us to follow him by naming, exposing and pursuing the liberation of whatever deforms and defaces God’s good creation, wherever and whenever we see it.
Questions for reflection on Luke 13:10-17
- What do you think of the adage that if we don’t name suffering and injustice for what they are, they become normalized?
- What do you think of the apocalyptic worldview expressed in Luke’s story, where humans are caught in a struggle between the destructive powers of evil and the life-giving power of God, and where death-tending forces are deforming human lives?
- How might we be called to expose and name evil and suffering in our daily lives whenever and wherever we see it?
View the corresponding Order of Worship for the Eleventh Sunday after Pentecost.
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