Bent, Not Broken
10 On a Sabbath Jesus was teaching in one of the synagogues, 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. 12 When Jesus saw her, he called her forward and said to her, “Woman, you are set free from your infirmity.” 13 Then he put his hands on her, and immediately she straightened up and praised God. 14 Indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, the synagogue leader said to the people, “There are six days for work. So come and be healed on those days, not on the Sabbath.” (Luke 13:10-13)
Jesus encountered a woman suffering from a bent back while he was teaching in the synagogue, and he healed her. A synagogue leader then told all the people that there were six days to come and be healed, not the sabbath. Was he cruel and heartless? Why would he keep this woman, or anyone, from being healed on any day? Throughout the Old Testament, God’s people are reminded to keep the sabbath day holy - to work six days and the seventh day was a day to the Lord. This is found in Genesis, many times in Exodus as well as in Deuteronomy and Leviticus. The prophet, Isaiah, also discussed it several times.
Clearly working on the sabbath was a serious matter so, grasping this seriousness, we might be inclined to have some compassion for the synagogue leader who spoke against Jesus “working” on the sabbath. However, while the rules against work on the Sabbath are many, there are no rules that prohibit showing mercy and compassion on any day. This woman was truly in need of Jesus' compassion.
It’s likely that lying down or sitting were the only comfortable positions for this woman. Yet, Jesus encountered her in the synagogue which, both historically and today, has served as a gathering place for prayer, instruction, and community fellowship. This was a woman actively seeking a relationship with her God and her community. She was refusing to be invisible - out of sight and out of mind.
We are all bent or bound in different ways - physically, mentally, emotionally. And God's healing comes to us in different ways. What impossible has God allowed you to see as possible? What ways have you seen God make when there seemed to be no way?
God sees and values us in the midst of, not in spite of, our various conditions of dis-ease. We may be bent but we are not broken because we know the One who creates us, redeems us, sustains us and makes us whole.
1 Bless the LORD, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name. 2 Bless the LORD, O my soul, and do not forget all his benefits-- 3 who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases, 4 who redeems your life from the Pit, who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy, 5 who satisfies you with good as long as you live so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's. 6 The LORD works vindication and justice for all who are oppressed. 7 He made known his ways to Moses, his acts to the people of Israel. 8 The LORD is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. (Psalm 103:1-8)
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