Bent Out of Shape
When I’ve watched the “America’s Got Talent” TV show, without fail, there is always a contortionist who can bend their limbs every which way. I grimace and can hardly watch them. Literally, we can say: “They are all bent out of shape!”
Sometimes, we experience aches and pains and laugh about it. Maybe you’ve heard the old story about the man who bends over to tie his shoelaces and then thinks “What else should I do while I’m down here?” But sometimes the pain and suffering are unbearable.
‘Getting bent out of shape’ isn’t only a term we use for physical strengths OR ailments. Sometimes we use it for people who get all bent out of shape and are cantankerous and grumpy about this or that. They are incessant complainers by nature.
In the Bible (Luke 10:13-17), we read about a woman who had been bent over for eighteen years. When Jesus saw her, He called her over and said, “Dear woman, you are healed of your sickness!” Then He touched her. Instantly she could stand up straight. How she praised God!
In that same story there was an angry, cranky synagogue leader whose soul was bent out of shape. He says: “There are six days of the week for working, Come on those days to be healed, not on the Sabbath.” But Jesus has no time for this sort of hypocrisy. He reminds the leader that he, himself, is working on the Sabbath Day.
That reminds me about those back then and now who get bent out of shape because a young person comes to church wearing shorts or bent out of shape when a baby or child is screaming in church.
But Jesus has a different agenda. The Sabbath Day is a day to meet God. It’s a day for people who feel burdened by life, and they can lay down their burdens. It’s a day for hurting people to find healing.
Sometimes it’s not our bodies but our souls that get bent out of shape. God wants to reach into our hearts and heal our wounds. We are called to be the hands, feet, and heart of Jesus where wounded souls can find love and healing.
Jesus lived His life on the principle of love — love for His Father in heaven, and love for the people God sent Him to save.
‘When Jesus laid his hands on the woman, immediately she stood up straight and began praising God’, and ‘the entire crowd was rejoicing at all the wonderful things that He was doing’.
It is almost as if Jesus couldn’t help not notice this woman. Love just pours out of Him. He cannot help noticing the invisible ones, cannot help loving them, cannot help healing them. Without even being asked, Jesus reaches out to heal this bent over woman. He sees her and her obvious need.
And He sees it in you and me. He says to us, “I love you. Come to me. Let me heal you. Let me take all that is bent out of shape in your life and make it straight.”