An overly personal reading

For more commentary on this week's readings, see the Reflections on the Lectionary page, which includes Owens's current Living by the Word column as well as past magazine and blog content. For full-text access to all articles, subscribe to the Century.

When I read this passage from Luke I immediately remembered an exegesis paper I once wrote after reading an article by a doctor about what disease the woman might have. He concluded that she has a certain kind of arthritis—the same kind I had been recently diagnosed with. This gave me a sense of immediate connection with the woman in the story.

Such personal identification is homiletically useful. When preparing a sermon, I often spend time in lectio divina on the text I’m going to preach, in order to listen to the text prayerfully and discover where it speaks to me. The discovery that I’m allowed to do this—indeed, that I should do it—was very liberating for my sermon preparation, though it ran counter to what I’d been taught in seminary.