The story of Jesus healing the crippled woman
teaches us a powerful lesson about freedom from bondage. Just as the woman’s deformed back was
healed after long suffering, so too can we be lifted up and freed from our own captivity
by the healing touch of our loving Savior. As Jesus is teaching on the Sabbath in a
synagogue, a woman, who is severely hunched over catches his eye. She has suffered for 18
long years in this debilitating state. As one who is bent over and unable to lift herself up,
she not only would have been literally looked down upon by others but most likely figuratively as
well. Anciently people often saw infirmities “as a result of God’s disapproval” because of sin or
unworthiness. Luke states that the woman suffered from “a spirit of infirmity” which could point to
some sort of mental or spiritual struggle as well. Perhaps this also meant she felt shame or
depression because of her imperfect body. Fortunately, there is One in the
crowded synagogue who does not look down upon this woman. Jesus sees her among
the people and calls her to him. Bravely, she pushes past those who can stand straight and tall,
and with her imperfect body, comes to Christ. He then reaches out his hand to touch
her. Jewish men did not customarily touch women whom they were not related to. They
feared it could make them ritually unclean. Nevertheless, he lays his hand upon her and says,
“Woman, thou are loosed from thine infirmity.” The original Greek word here for “loosed”
means to be released or liberated. Immediately, for the first time in almost two decades,
she is able to rise and stand straight. The Jewish leaders were not impressed.
They immediately began to criticize Jesus for performing this miracle on the Sabbath.
While Jesus had not broken the law, he had broken down what was known as the “oral law.” For years,
the leadership had built a barrier or a fence, so to speak, around the laws of God with a series
of cultural traditions or rules in an attempt to prevent one from breaking any commandments. As
these barriers became more and more restrictive, it distanced the people from the true purpose
of the law, hiding it from their view. Jesus exposes the hypocrisy of these supposed laws by pointing out that the true purpose of the
Sabbath has been lost. He teaches that this holy day is set aside for the Lord’s work.
It is a day to commemorate the creation, for remembering the deliverance from
slavery in Egypt, and to praise God. The woman has come to be refreshed spiritually, as
have all the others. What better day to be healed than on the Sabbath day! How fitting that
once made whole, she glorifies the Lord, for it is especially on this day we are
to pay our devotions unto the Most High. Jesus declares, “You hypocrites! Doesn’t each
of you on the Sabbath untie your ox or donkey from the stall and lead it out to give it water?”
If even the Jews can give water to their animals on the Sabbath, when better for this
woman to drink of the living water? When studying the scriptures, we gain a
better understanding of this account by looking at its context. With this in mind, let’s
consider what Jesus taught immediately before and after his miraculous healing of this woman
as it will add greater insights to these events. Before the story of the healing, Jesus
was telling the people at the synagogue the story of when the tower of Siloam had
collapsed, crushing 18 people (the same number of years this woman had suffered).
Just as these people were killed through no fault of their own, so too had this woman
done nothing wrong to suffer this infirmity. By connecting these two stories, we can learn
that even bad things can happen to good people. After the woman is healed and able to stand
straight once again, Jesus does something remarkable. He calls her by a name that only
appears once in the Bible—Daughter of Abraham. The Jews saw Abraham as the
greatest of the patriarchs, and that the promised blessings came through
him because of his and Sarah’s faithfulness. Jesus makes sure that those at the synagogue
that day understand that despite how they might see her, the Lord sees
her true worth and divinity. Later in the chapter, Jesus shares two short
parables, one of the mustard seed and one of the leavened bread. He explains that even the tiniest
of seeds can grow into a tree. Even a little bit of leaven, or yeast, when added to flour will
permeate the dough producing large loaves of bread. He possibly shares these parables to help
the people see the great importance of this woman, and each of us, as a child of God. Perhaps after
years of seeing her bent over, others could not imagine the good this woman could do. However in
her is a seed, albeit small, that contains what Peter calls her “divine nature.” No one should
discount the divine potential of this small woman. This woman had spent 18 years looking down. Her
myopic, or limited view, would have been focused on the rocks, dirt, and the ground below her
feet. Now her field of vision has broadened and she can look directly into another’s eyes. Now
others can see the light of Christ in her eyes and that she has always had the
ability to bless those around her. In the challenging world we live in today,
we can feel like we are in bondage. Crippled with feelings of unworthiness, grief, depression,
and anxiety, we might not see our own self-worth or feel we can lift ourselves up. We might
compare our bodies given to us by God to what the world tells us
perfection should look like. It can be easy to just focus on the ground below
us failing to see the blue majestic skies above. We might wonder if we are somehow
unworthy or unloved by God when our own towers of Siloam fall down
crushing us and holding us captive. But like this crippled woman, we too have the
potential to be magnificent. We can stand tall knowing we are children of our Heavenly Father
and partakers of the covenant of Abraham. Jesus always sees our true divinity,
no matter where we may be focusing our gaze. With so much demanding our time and
attention, God has given us one day each week, the Sabbath day, to focus on Him and do
His work. He is beckoning us to come to Him so that our spirits can be lifted up and we can
be refreshed and made whole. He wants us to be free from what binds us. And then, like
this woman healed by the Master’s touch, we too can praise and glorify the name of
our Lord and Savior, even Jesus Christ.
