Today's post is by guest writer Lucas Ward.
In Luke 13:10-17, Jesus heals a woman with a "spirit of infirmity". This spirit caused her to be bent over, unable to straighten up. The healing was done on the sabbath, which caused a stir. Jesus' answer, based out of Deut. 5:12-15 which told the Israelites that the Sabbath was to be a reminder being freed by God from Egyptian slavery, is extraordinary. "What better day to free a daughter of Abraham?" Today, I want to focus on a minor point.
Jesus often healed in response to someone's act of faith. "Your faith has made you whole" almost seems like the Lord's catchphrase. This was not the case in this instance. Jesus is teaching in the synagogue and sees this poor woman who had been suffering from this evil spirit for eighteen years. He has compassion on her. He heals her. The compassion of the Lord is not surprising.
What is surprising is that this woman, bent over and surely in significant pain, unable to straighten up and surely mocked by unruly children everywhere, was in the synagogue on the Sabbath. When I think of all the excuses I have used to miss a church service and compare them to her, I am ashamed. Somehow "my back is sore" or "I'm just too rundown" doesn't seem nearly as valid.
Jesus had compassion on her when He saw her. He only saw her because she was at the synagogue service, despite her misery. Maybe there is a lesson there.
Hebrews 10:25 "Forsaking not the assembling of yourselves together, as the custom of some is . . ."
Lucas Ward
In Luke 13:10-17, Jesus heals a woman with a "spirit of infirmity". This spirit caused her to be bent over, unable to straighten up. The healing was done on the sabbath, which caused a stir. Jesus' answer, based out of Deut. 5:12-15 which told the Israelites that the Sabbath was to be a reminder being freed by God from Egyptian slavery, is extraordinary. "What better day to free a daughter of Abraham?" Today, I want to focus on a minor point.
Jesus often healed in response to someone's act of faith. "Your faith has made you whole" almost seems like the Lord's catchphrase. This was not the case in this instance. Jesus is teaching in the synagogue and sees this poor woman who had been suffering from this evil spirit for eighteen years. He has compassion on her. He heals her. The compassion of the Lord is not surprising.
What is surprising is that this woman, bent over and surely in significant pain, unable to straighten up and surely mocked by unruly children everywhere, was in the synagogue on the Sabbath. When I think of all the excuses I have used to miss a church service and compare them to her, I am ashamed. Somehow "my back is sore" or "I'm just too rundown" doesn't seem nearly as valid.
Jesus had compassion on her when He saw her. He only saw her because she was at the synagogue service, despite her misery. Maybe there is a lesson there.
Hebrews 10:25 "Forsaking not the assembling of yourselves together, as the custom of some is . . ."
Lucas Ward
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