Lifting up the Bowed Down

10 On a Sabbath Jesus was teaching in one of the synagogues,

IT'S MORNING, JESUS
You are high and lifted up, seated at the right hand of God the father.
From that lofty place you rule and reign, commission and care, comfort and give, heal and bless.

Praise be to your name.
Glory.

11 and a woman was there who had been crippled by a spirit for eighteen years. She was bent over and could not straighten up at all.

From your place in heaven you see our need on earth. You know today, those bent over and bowed low by sin. You know today those bent over and bowed low by errant life-style, dark and dangerous habit, self-misunderstanding, cultural shaping, will-full sin.

This woman could not straighten her body, so she could not look upwards or forwards. The shape of her body was a symbol of people who are stunted and distorted by ignorance, prejudice, anger or malice. As it was, she could see only the dirt at her feet, as many people can see only the bad side of things. She could not look up and see the possibilities before her. She could not see the smiles on people’s faces. She could not see the sky. She could only see downwards to the dirt.

Jesus told her that she was free from what had twisted her body into a deformed shape. He put his hands on her, and immediately she was able to straighten her body. She could look upwards, and she could see forwards. It was not just her body that was healed, but her soul as well. Her immediate response was to praise God


Thank you God,, for the light you give when you are present. Thank you Lord Jesus for your insight into our lives, your power over our rebellion, your Holy Spirit to convict and convert our waywardness.

12 When Jesus saw her, he called her forward and said to her, "Woman, you are set free from your infirmity."

You have the power Jesus, to set us free today.
You have the authority to call us forward, to move us from the place of hiding into the very center of your will. By your Holy Spirit, you still call men and women forward, to deal with their captivities.

Some today, Lord are captive to pride.
They want to be in charge. They believe too highly in themselves.
They surrender to you, only to the point that they still retain power.
They are not broken.
So, too, some are captive to greed and lust and envy and sloth and love of possessions and gluttony. Their appetites for more rob them of what they have.
Their comparing eyes destroy the beauty and gentility of the landscape before them...the beauty of their own husbands, wives, children, neighbors, friends.

13 Then he put his hands on her, and immediately she straightened up and praised God.

Do put your hands on us today, Jesus.
That we may be healed. Your hands are the hands of God, that scooped man from the dusty earth. Your hands are the scarred hands, the sacrificed flesh, that saves the world of judgement, appeasing the Father's wrath.
Your hands are the hands that...
held the scroll of truth
touched the blind man
cleansed the leper
multiplied the loaves and fish
wrote in the sand

14 Indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, the synagogue ruler said to the people, "There are six days for work. So come and be healed on those days, not on the Sabbath."

15 The Lord answered him, "You hypocrites! Doesn't each of you on the Sabbath untie his ox or donkey from the stall and lead it out to give it water?

16 Then should not this woman, a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has kept bound for eighteen long years, be set free on the Sabbath day from what bound her?"

17 When he said this, all his opponents were humiliated, but the people were delighted with all the wonderful things he was doing.

(Luke 13)