Visual Link to Luke 11<\/strong><\/span><\/h4>\nThe visual image of a woman bent over and unable to stand up straight recalls Jesus\u2019s woes to the pharisees and scribes in Luke 11. In his critique of the lawyers, Jesus says that they \u201cload down people with heavy burdens\u201d but will not lift one finger to lighten the load (11:46), presumably because, like the Pharisees addressed in 11:39\u201344, they are too preoccupied with the pursuit of honor and outward piety to notice the oppressed in their midst. As Jesus puts it to the Pharisees: \u201cYou pay tithes of mint and rue and every garden herb, but neglect justice and the love of God\u201d (11:42). <\/span><\/p>\nThen, in 13:11 we encounter a visual representation of Jesus\u2019s earlier teaching. The woman is doubled-over because of her ailment, quite unable to stand up straight. Will anyone \u201clift a finger\u201d to help her? To this point she has been invisible; she \u201cjust then appeared\u201d (\u03ba\u03b1\u1f76 \u1f30\u03b4\u03bf\u1f7a) in the synagogue. Jesus sees her (\u1f30\u03b4\u1f7c\u03bd \u03b4\u1f72 \u03b1\u1f50\u03c4\u1f74\u03bd) when others did not and calls her over to heal her. Even after the healing, however, the woman remains invisible to some of the others gathered in the synagogue. Their focus on outward piety in the form of Sabbath observance blinds them to the woman and leads them to \u201cneglect the justice of God\u201d that might be carried out in this moment. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nThis visual link will only be available to the audience who sees or hears a performance of Luke\u2019s gospel that includes at least Luke 11\u201313. In that setting, however, a storyteller could emphasize the link by using a similar body posture when describing the person \u201cburdened with heavy burdens\u201d in 11:46 and introducing the woman \u201cquite unable to stand up straight\u201d in 13:11. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n
The Synagogue Leader\u2019s Campaign<\/strong><\/span><\/h4>\nThe most noticeable storytelling choice in this performance is my decision to repeat the complaint from the leader of the synagogue three times. The NRSV translation (which is the basis for the performance) captures the imperfect force of the verb (\u1f14\u03bb\u03b5\u03b3\u03b5\u03bd) by indicating that the leader \u201c<\/span>kept<\/span><\/i> saying to the crowd\u201d that healing should take place on the other available days of the week. (Other translations, like the NIV or ESV, do not attempt to communicate the iterative force of the imperfect verb in their translations.) I noticed this translation choice as I was committing the story to heart and pondered what it might imply. I imagine an iterative progression moving from the leader wondering about the question to himself, to building consensus by asking others sympathetic with his position, to finally confronting the woman publicly. To emphasize this progression, I present the first two iterations as questions seeking confirmation and the final announcement as a direct address to the woman. In another performance space, the storyteller could communicate the progression by moving to different parts of the room for the first two iterations (drumming up support from the crowd) and then using eye contact and a gesture (maybe a pointed finger) to directly address the woman. <\/span><\/p>\nThis final, open confrontation with the woman triggers Jesus\u2019s response. To defend the vulnerable woman, Jesus\u2014now referred to as \u201cthe Lord\u201d by the narrator\u2014responds with a sharp accusation that marks an abrupt shift in his tone from earlier in the story. He moves from tender care for the otherwise invisible woman to harsh critique of those who would keep her bound. <\/span><\/p>\n
The Intersection of \u201con the Sabbath\u201d and \u201cset free\u201d<\/strong><\/span><\/h4>\nTwo repeated (and related) phrases tie this story together: \u201con the Sabbath\u201d and \u201cset free.\u201d First, to set the scene, we hear that Jesus is teaching \u201con the Sabbath.\u201d The leader of the synagogue is indignant that Jesus heals \u201con the Sabbath\u201d and sternly states that healing should be done on the other six days of the week, but not \u201con the Sabbath day.\u201d Jesus responds by noting that each of them leads their livestock to water \u201con the Sabbath\u201d and affirms that the woman should also be freed from her bondage \u201con the Sabbath day.\u201d This repetition not only reminds us about the setting; it also highlights contrasting understandings of appropriate Sabbath behavior. <\/span><\/p>\nTo oversimplify, we might say that the leader of the synagogue represents an understanding of the Sabbath as it\u2019s described in the Ten Commandments in Exodus 20:8\u201311, while Jesus embraces the language about the Sabbath in the retelling of the Ten Commandments in Deuteronomy 5:12\u201315. The description in Exodus anchors Sabbath observance in the creation story. After six days of \u201clabor\u201d God rested on the seventh day of creation. And just as God ceased from his work on the seventh day, so should his people\u2014including slaves, animals, and aliens. For the synagogue leader, it\u2019s a small sacrifice for the woman to come on other days for healing in order to preserve the holiness of God-imitating rest on the Sabbath.<\/span><\/p>\nOn the other hand, Jesus argues that freeing things from bondage (whether it\u2019s oxen, donkeys, or the ailing woman) is not contrary to Sabbath observance; it\u2019s precisely the kind of thing someone <\/span>should do<\/span><\/i> on the Sabbath. This emphasis coheres with the rationale for Sabbath observance in Deut 5. There, the command to rest is anchored in the exodus story rather than the creation story. God\u2019s people rest as a way to remember and celebrate that they have been freed from bondage in Egypt. God\u2019s people should rest and give rest to their animals and slaves because, when they were slaves in Egypt, \u201cthe Lord your God brought you out with a strong hand and outstretched arm\u201d (Deut 5:15). If that is why they keep the Sabbath, then nothing could be more appropriate \u201con the Sabbath\u201d than setting people free from bondage. <\/span><\/p>\nIn this way, the repetition of \u201con the Sabbath\u201d is related to the repetition of \u201cset free.\u201d When Jesus initially speaks to the woman, he tells her that she has been \u201cset free\u201d (\u1f00\u03c0\u03bf\u03bb\u03ad\u03bb\u03c5\u03c3\u03b1\u03b9) from her ailment. Though this is a unique way for Jesus to announce healing in Luke\u2019s gospel, it fits the context. Since the narrator attributes her ailment to being bound by a spirit (13:11, 16); it\u2019s fitting that he describes her healing as being set free. The language also relates to the differing understandings of the Sabbath. Jesus argues that his interlocutors readily \u201cfree\u201d (\u03bb\u03cd\u03b5\u03b9) their oxen and donkeys on the Sabbath. Why, then, would they oppose \u201cfreeing\u201d (\u03bb\u03c5\u03b8\u1fc6\u03bd\u03b1\u03b9) a daughter of Abraham from her bondage on the Sabbath (13:15\u201316)? At this point, the two repeating phrases converge, marking the climax of the story: God is honored on the Sabbath when his people join him in freeing the enslaved from bondage. <\/span><\/p>\nIn my performance, I emphasize the confluence of these repeated phrases by carefully annunciating each phrase when it occurs so that that it will catch the audience\u2019s attention. Then, using a combination of volume, facial expression, and gesture, I mark Jesus\u2019s plea to set the woman free as the high point of the story. It might also be helpful, in other tellings, to create a visual link by using a similar gesture when Jesus first announces to the woman that she has been set free.<\/span><\/p>\n[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Performance Notes:\u00a0 [NOTE:\u00a0Special thanks to the Come before Winter ministry team traveling to Namibia in June 2019. They were the first to hear me tell this story, and the insights that resulted from the discussion that followed have shaped the notes below.]\u00a0 This compact story delivers a significant punch for the hearer. We see on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8023,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[198180,198157],"tags":[198162,198180,198167],"class_list":["post-53","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-luke","category-performances","tag-cliff-barbarick","tag-luke","tag-luke-13"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/storiesforthesojourn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/storiesforthesojourn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/storiesforthesojourn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/storiesforthesojourn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8023"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/storiesforthesojourn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=53"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/storiesforthesojourn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":328,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/storiesforthesojourn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53\/revisions\/328"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/storiesforthesojourn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=53"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/storiesforthesojourn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=53"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/storiesforthesojourn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=53"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}