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175. Lightening The Load


Luke 13:10-17
Key Verse: "Woman, you are set free from your infirmity."
Luke 13:12B

Here we go again, with another confrontation on the Sabbath! This time it's a poor old woman who has suffered for eighteen years. Jesus does battle for her, offering relief, not only from her physical burden, but from her spiritual ones.

Was she depressed due to her infirmity? Was her suffering brought on through some act of sin, as we speculated concerning the man in John 5:1-15? Again, as with the man, we do not know. In God's infinite grace, her story is buried with her. All we need to know is that she was crippled by a spirit for eighteen years, (Luke 13:11) and Jesus released her from its grasp, (Luke 13:12-13).

What I find interesting in this story, is the response of the leader of the Synagogue in which Jesus is teaching. He does not address Jesus directly. Instead, he turns to the people. Was he looking for support? "There are six days for work. So come and be healed on those days, not on the Sabbath." (Luke 13:14B) Healing might have been work for him, but not for Jesus. It was worship.

Jesus, in typical fashion, does not hold back. He addresses the Synagogue leader, but he makes sure that the people hear as well. Jesus basically points out that the attitude of this leader is to treat his animals better than his fellow human being who was, not only created in the image of God, but is of the same nationality as himself. She too is of the chosen race, yet the man's ox obviously enjoyed more compassion than his own distant sister through Abraham. (One can observe that even today, some people treat animals more humanely than they treat other humans,)

Again, the twisting of the Sabbath and the oppression of religion is brought forward for Jesus to address. He would not walk away and wait for tomorrow when He could relieve her suffering today! Again we are reminded of His stated mission, "The Lord has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom to the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners," (Isaiah 61:1 & Luke 4:18-19). 

This is what He came to do then and this is what He came to do for you today. He longs to release you from whatever is weighing you down and holding you back. The Psalmist says: "Praise be to the Lord, to God our Savior, who daily bears our burdens. Our God is a God who saves; from the sovereign Lord comes escape from death." (Ps. 68:19-20) I struggle daily to remember to hand my burdens to the Lord for Him to carry. When I succeed, I walk a little straighter and hold my head a little higher, just as this woman experienced, because I am no longer carrying my burden alone. I am released from its crippling effects on my soul. May He also help you with yours.

Hymn: "Don't Forget the Sabbath"
also: the Cares Chorus


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