Lent Day 29: The selfie moment

Wherever Jesus went, big crowds always were near him. Getting close and managing a conversation with Jesus was a difficult task. Whenever celebrities and famous people come to a place, it is similar to this. There are people who want to get close, people who want to touch the person and people who want to say something. The bouncers or security keep them away and create a secure ring.

So many people wanted to see Jesus and so they followed him wherever he went. Not everyone managed to get close though. The able bodied, the well connected and the numerous disciples themselves kept getting close. When celebrities walk to the location where an event is planned, they sometimes stop unplanned. This could be when they see a child, youngsters and even an odd old lady. The security won’t be able to say no even though they feel there is a threat to the celebrity. This selfie moment with that lucky person will be something they savor for their entire lifetime.

In St. Luke 13: 10-13, we see such a selfie moment for a woman who was weak and bent over for eighteen years. The bent would have prevented her from seeing many of the people passing and would have also prevented them from noticing her. It was a fortunate thing that Jesus managed to notice her. Her bent would have prevented her from standing straight with him, with his hand over her shoulder. But Jesus then unlike many of us, who would be satisfied with a selfie with the weak woman and then sharing the selfie in our Instagram account, calls her and tells her that she is freed from her weakness.

Imagine the joy of the woman who would have looked people straight in the eye after a gap of eighteen years! Jesus then lays his hand upon her and she is made straight. The selfie moment is not one taken with her eyes down, with submission and in surrender. Rather the selfie moment comes with a confident, self-reliant and liberated woman, who becomes the darling of the crowd. So much that it irritates the ruler of the synagogue who makes a big speech about the sanctity of the Sabbath. The truth would have really been that he did not get a selfie moment with Jesus, whereas the woman at the margins, the unseen and unheard woman, becomes the centerpiece.

We will all have our selfie moment with Jesus. The more we are oppressed, the more he will see us. The more we are pushed to the margins, the more he will call us loud. The more we are bent with our troubles and problems, the more he will touch and heal us. Yes, our selfie moment will be a moment of happiness, healing, liberation and acceptance. Amen.

Picture credit- www.margmowczko.com