This seemingly small act by Jesus allowed this crippled woman to see anew, worship anew... by being lifted from a bent over and crooked position to an upright position where she could look into eyes wherein lived the divine love of God pouring forth onto the beloved creations of God. Jesus said, "Woman, you are set free from your ailment." Later on in his argument with the temple official he uses that same word, translated for us as set free, again. Another translation is loosed from, to set loose. Jesus loosed her from the ailments which kept her bent over and captive for eighteen years. Jesus loosed her to see anew, to worship anew, to rejoice anew in the kingdom being created and proclaimed among us.

That homeless man, who brought me up short, who woke me up so to speak, with his statement, "Hey it can't be that bad" is an example of a seemingly small thing, at little cost to the speaker that helped me turn a corner in my life. Vicki's phone call to me and pressure on me to apply for a job that I was uncertain about, loosed me from pessimism and cynicism and was a simple kindness to a stranger that yielded a substantive and manifest result. Those Holy Cross monks up there on the Hudson River, chanting and praying away, whether you or I are there or not, are an example of individuals following their life's call and in so doing they provide strength because of how their Rule of Life can have enormous ripple effects on others. That homeless man helped to unbind me from my sorrow and allowed me to find the kingdom's presence among us here and now. Vicki's reaching out to an unemployed stranger opened my eyes to seeing love and caring in a different way. The knowledge of those monks chanting sets me free, and provides me strength to rejoice in and to live into what comes my way in life and live into the kingdom God has created among us. Small, seemingly insignificant acts help create the Kingdom among us.

Sure this Gospel also has to do with loving systems and rules and regulations more than people, about getting lost in those rules and regulations and systems and losing sight of the people about whom those rules and regulations are meant to help. But that's another sermon.... Today a number of questions come up for me from this passage. I am sure there are others that can be considered, but I am going to propose four questions for us to consider that look at this Gospel from different perspectives:

• From what do we need to be set free? From what do we need to be loosed?
• What is binding us, forcing us to be bent over, focused on the ground and our feet, and not the world around us? What is getting in the way of our rejoicing at the happenings and wonder of the kingdom being created and proclaimed all around us?
• What seemingly small act of kindness can we do for someone that will: loose, set free, unbind another to allow them to fully participate in the kingdom?
• Would we recognize a similar small act of kindness done to us, one that sets us free, sets us loose, unbinds us to worship, rejoice and be full members of the kingdom, reveling in the unfettered love pouring forth from God's eyes?