Broken Bonds                          Luke 13:10-17

Today I want to continue in our examination of the events of Jesus life as they are recorded in Luke’s Gospel.

 In our reading we have Jesus in the synagogue teaching on the Sabbath. And then enters this woman. She’s crippled, probably in pain; we’re told she can’t even stand up straight.

Verse 11, “…there was a woman who had a disabling spirit…” We’ve seen Jesus cast out demons before but as I studied this I don’t think demons are the problem here. In verse 12 when Jesus talks to her he says, “Woman, you are freed from your disability.”

In English “disability” means a condition that limits one’s activities, but I think the original Greek gives us a better understanding. The word translated here as “disability” is “anapiria” and it can mean impotence, incompetence, even enslavement. When I saw this it opened my mind to see this scene not just about a disabled woman Jesus helps but as something much bigger. Here is a woman who feels impotent, enslaved by the weight and demands of her life.

Here again notice this woman is not named and therefore it gives her the ability to represent all mankind. How many people feel this way in life? We’re weighed down, over burdened by the demands of our lives. Jobs, family, home; it can get overwhelming at times. The clamor of life can get overwhelming when we look at all we need to get done. It can feel like a physical weight on our shoulders.

And what can all of this do to us? For this woman it caused her to be bent over. It kept her looking down, looking at the earth. For us this demonstrates that if we let them, the challenges of this life can cause us to look down; to look at earthly remedies to our situation instead of looking up toward God. This is why I say at the end of our service, “Keep your eyes pointed up toward heaven.” I say this as a reminder that the answers and help we need in life comes from God.

Now this woman crippled as she is has traveled to the synagogue and she’s been coming in this condition for eighteen years. This is powerful and important. All her suffering and she is still worshiping God. All her suffering and she still persisted in her faith because whether or not she was ever healed, she knew God was worth her worship. She shows all of us that when we hurt, that is not the time to turn from your faith; it’s the time you should run towards it.

In the Old Testament book of Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego were about to be put to death by King Nebuchadnezzar. In Daniel 3 they tell the King, “…our God…is able to deliver us from the burning, fiery furnace…but if not…we will not serve your gods…”

These three as well as the woman in today’s reading all teach us that no matter what is going on in our lives, no matter how painful or difficult things may be; God is still God and he deserves our attention, our worship and our praise.

So we see this bent over woman enters the synagogue, and then we have Jesus notice her and call her over to him. Jesus could have easily walked over to her, why make her come to him? Here is another demonstration of a Biblical truth we’ve looked at before; Jesus calls out to everyone no matter the condition of your life, but it’s our choice if we approach him or not.

As I continued to look at these verses I began to see other layers in them. Those people in the synagogue that day saw her struggle in her condition to approach Jesus. Many people who look to Jesus also struggle to approach him. Maybe you weren’t raised to believe in Christ, maybe you think you did too many things wrong for him to welcome you, maybe it’s fear of what others will think; there are many reasons why people don’t turn to God.

Those people in the synagogue have probably seen this woman for years. I bet some of them pitied her; there could have been those there that were repulsed by her condition. Notice the first word Jesus says to her when she’s in front of him, “Woman.” Luke does this several times in his Gospel and it’s actually a sign of respect. Jesus sees this woman as someone who is significant to God and he addresses her as such.

Verse 12 “Woman, you are freed from your disability.” This woman bent over by her disability approaches Jesus and is healed. When we concentrate on our needs we are spiritually disabled by our sin; approach Jesus and be freed, be forgiven your transgressions by God himself.

Verse 13, ”And he laid his hands on her and immediately she was made straight…”

Mark 1:41, “(Jesus) stretched out his hand and touched him and said, ‘Be clean.’”

Both of these examples show me that Jesus is intimately and physically involved in our lives.

As you’ve heard me say, “Jesus is the example we should look to as we live our lives.” This does not just apply to prayer. Jesus shows us by his example that to help others our intervention should be direct and personal. It’s easy to just write a check or to put money in a basket; I know I’ve done it. It’s not necessarily bad but God asks us to be more personal than that. God tells us in our relations with those in need, that despite their condition, poverty or disease; we give them our respect, our time and attention; our understanding that they are God’s creation and that they are worthy of us because they are worthy of God.

Several years ago we had a mentally and emotionally challenged young man as a neighbor. He would sit on his porch in the summer and he always wanted to talk with me when I got home from work. Conversation was difficult and there were times when I would just get out of the car and go in the house without looking in his direction. That was a poor demonstration of my Christianity. I know Jesus took that sin of mine to the cross and it has been removed from me but knowing this I try very hard not to repeat that behavior.

So we see that Jesus and this woman have several things to teach us but so does Jesus interaction with the Priest. Verse 14, “…the ruler of the synagogue, indignant because Jesus healed on the Sabbath…”

Again here is God showing us how he wants us to interact with others. When someone is going against God yes we have an obligation to say something but to get indignant or hostile, no.

This also shows us that God is in control and available twenty-four seven. We may not see what God is doing behind the scenes so we should not deny someone ourselves because we don’t see God in their lives. I’m not saying we do it deliberately but we can all miss seeing God and his work simply because we focused on our own lives or like this priest, we are focused on propriety. We must remember that God works in the dusty and dirty places.

Verse 15, “You hypocrites! Does not each of you on the Sabbath untie his ox or donkey…and lead it away to water it?”

There are a couple of things in this verse but I’m only going to go over one. We can all do things we know go against our Christian ideals; as I said I could avoid my neighbor and all the reasons I had in my head don’t matter, I was not living out my beliefs. So doing this should I criticize someone else for similar behavior? I don’t believe I should. I do believe I should use my example to gently show them what God wants us to do.

This account of Jesus in the synagogue gives us several things to contemplate and reflect on. Examine what’s in your life that is causing you to look to earthly things instead of heavenly ones. God is King and deserves our praise no matter what is going on in our lives. Look beyond another’s poverty or disease or condition and see them as Jesus does; see them as worthy creations of God; worthy of his attention and of ours. Our intersession with others should be direct and personal. Everyone is a work in progress, I certainly am; try to see them that way and not as a failure.

And last; by healing this woman on the Sabbath, God tells us that no matter the day, no matter the time; eight on a Tuesday evening or two in the morning on Saturday, Jesus is ready to reach out and free you whenever you approach him.

God bless you.