Choosing Compassion Series

"Choosing Compassion"

Luke 13:10-17

A sermon for 10/2/22

Seventeenth Sunday after Pentecost

Pastor John Bright

Luke 13 10 Now He was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath. 11 And behold, there was a woman who had a spirit of infirmity eighteen years, and was bent over and could in no way raise herself up. 12 But when Jesus saw her, He called her to Him and said to her, “Woman, you are loosed from your infirmity.” 13 And He laid His hands on her, and immediately she was made straight, and glorified God.

14 But the ruler of the synagogue answered with indignation, because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath; and he said to the crowd, “There are six days on which men ought to work; therefore come and be healed on them, and not on the Sabbath day.”

15 The Lord then answered him and said, “Hypocrite! Does not each one of you on the Sabbath loose his ox or donkey from the stall, and lead it away to water it? 16 So ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has bound—think of it—for eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath?” 17 And when He said these things, all His adversaries were put to shame; and all the multitude rejoiced for all the glorious things that were done by Him.”

Pause right there. Those words I just read; they were “Breathed by God”! God wants you to hear His Word right now! So, what is your response? Do you want to transformed by that Word or do you want to be informed about the words? You must choose.

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This week we saw the utter destruction from Hurricane Ian. These scenes of suffering and need tug at our heart strings. What follows are the folks like God’s Pit Crew and Samaritan’s Purse who travel into the midst of hurting and spread the love of God in tangible ways. We see folks like the Cajun Navy who bring their boats and rescue people from the flooding all day and all night. Charities, like the Red Cross, bring food and water. Many private companies, both big and small, help in many ways. The list goes on and on, but they all share one thing – compassion for those affected by a disaster.

This type of compassion – the kind you need to go on a mission trip or help kids right here who are at risk – is the very compassion we read about in 1 John 3 “17 But whoever has this world’s goods, and sees his brother in need, and shuts up his heart from him, how does the love of God abide in him? 18 My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth.”

Do we always choose compassion like this? No – all of us have made the choice to put follow the rules and not help. God forgives us for these choices and offers us tomorrow to change. Praise God!

The Healing, v.10-13

Luke 13 10 Now He was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath. 11 And behold, there was a woman who had a spirit of infirmity eighteen years, and was bent over and could in no way raise herself up. 12 But when Jesus saw her, He called her to Him and said to her, “Woman, you are loosed from your infirmity.” 13 And He laid His hands on her, and immediately she was made straight, and glorified God.

We have seen different types of miracles worked at the hands of Jesus during our journey through the Gospel of Luke. We have read about healing of physical bodies. That’s one we are usually ready to accept. Then, we have read about Jesus casting demons out of people. For most folks, this one is a little harder. Now, we are presented with an account of these two at the same time – a physical condition caused by the demonic. This is the point at which I lost most of you! So I might as well go all in –

When I was serving in Bedford we started having weekly prayer meetings where we would invite folks to the altar and pray for them. One of the women who came to most of these evening services was at the altar one night. I asked her what was her prayer need. She answered, “I’m so angry at my mother.” I told her she needed to forgive her and gave her a prayer to pray – “Lord, I choose to forgive (fill in the blank) for (fill in the blank) or (what she did to me).” I also gave her directions to keep praying it over and over. She started and when she got to the “what she did to me” part, the floodgates opened up – tears and great sobs. This went on while we prayed with other folks. After a time, she got very quiet and I could hear her praising God. Several folks went to her and started praising God – it was infectious! Finally, she looked at me and told me it felt like a thousand-pound weight had been lifted off her. She stood and turned to leave the altar and walked right out of her shoes. She had suffered from swelling in her legs for years with no help from medical treatment so her shoe laces were as wide as they would go. She looked down and realized all the swelling was gone. It was another time of praising God. In the weeks and months that followed, she kept walking in forgiveness and her legs were not swollen.