The woman may as well be invisible. Crippled by a disease in her spine that has kept her hunched over for the last 18 years, it has been that long since she interacted face to face with anyone or been able to see what the world above knee level looks like. Her affliction keeps her in constant, acute pain made all the worse by the religious leaders who insist that God is punishing her for something. Maybe it’s true? Maybe God really doesn’t care about her? Maybe she is invisible?
Though this particular woman’s story comes from Luke 13, the reality she represents might just as soon come from our own mouths. Don’t we know the pain of feeling invisible? Do we not have aches in our bodies that keep us housebound? Do we not wonder if our absence around town is noticed or missed? I know there are days I long for someone, anyone, to see the real me, with all my struggles and sorrows, and meet me with compassion. When it doesn’t happen, it can feel like I am invisible to an indifferent world or an uncaring God.
But the story in Luke doesn’t let me stay in that headspace for long. Jesus is on the lookout for those who walk through life unnoticed and today he finds the bent woman. He calls to her, touches her hunched body, speaks words of life over her, heals her affliction, and restores her to her community. She never approached Jesus for healing or asked him to do any of this. Fact of the matter is he saw her even when she couldn’t see him.
The beauty of the Christian confession is that what Jesus did then, he continues to do now. The God of all creation has His eyes peeled for those who are hurting and afflicted, who feel invisible and unnoticed. You don’t have to do a thing in order to get His attention. He is aware of you and His concern is for you. Granted, it may not always feel that way, especially if your suffering runs deep and lasts a long time, much like the woman in our story.
And that’s the second part to the story. Often God’s love for others is expressed through the words and actions of His people, the Church. Maybe this story is a reminder to the Church that we are to imitate Jesus’ actions of seeing the “invisible” of society, of noticing the unnoticed, of calling out to them so they can hear His voice, of speaking words of life over them so they know their worth, of drawing near to them so they know His love.
I don’t think Jesus just happened to see this woman. I think he was actively looking for her. I think noticing the unnoticed was a habit worn into him through practice. Which means it can be for us, too. Question is, will we who follow Jesus dare to pick up his habit of seeing the invisible?
Joshua Gorenflo and his wife, Kya, are ministers at Kenai Fellowship, Mile 8.5 on the Kenai Spur Highway. Worship is 11 a.m. on Sundays. Streamed live at kenaifellowship.com.
