Set your eyes and heart on Jesus today as you read these words from Luke.

“Now he was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath. And behold, there was a woman who had had a disabling spirit for eighteen years. She was bent over and could not fully straighten herself. When Jesus saw her, he called her over and said to her, “Woman, you are freed from your disability.” And he laid his hands on her, and immediately she was made straight, and she glorified God. But the ruler of the synagogue, indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, said to the people, “There are six days in which work ought to be done. Come on those days and be healed, and not on the Sabbath day.” Then the Lord answered him, “You hypocrites! Does not each of you on the Sabbath untie his ox or his donkey from the manger and lead it away to water it? And ought not this woman, a daughter of Abraham whom Satan bound for eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath day?” As he said these things, all his adversaries were put to shame, and all the people rejoiced at all the glorious things that were done by him.”

Luke 13:10-17

Eighteen years is a long time. Even longer when all of them a spent hunched over unable to fully straighten yourself. There would be shame. Loneliness. We would be shunned by some, laughed at by others. And how would we would deal each day with frustration…for 18 years? We would lose hope.

But this woman continued to seek God. She was in the church (synagogue) that Sabbath Day. Do you think it was easy for her?

Now, fix your eyes on Jesus once again. When Jesus saw her, He called her to Him and healed her. Read His words to her again:

“Woman you are freed from your disability.” Luke tells us this happened immediately. There was no delay…the effect must have been spectacular. But Jesus wasn’t interested in theatrics, He was concerned about her heart.

Take those words personally.

We can put our names in place of the word woman. Try it. Say the sentence aloud. “—— you are freed from your disability.” But you are thinking, “I don’t have a disability.” I am not bent double like that woman was.

Physical disability is only one kind. Spiritual disability is the other…sin disables us in ways we do not realize. Both of us are disabled by sin. Like woman’s physical disability, we do not have the ability or power to heal ourselves. One example of the grip of sin on a human is the hypocrisy of the synagogue leader. We are guilty of hypocrisy too-and much more. It is only Jesus who can say to us “You are freed from your disability.” And like the woman…we are freed-immediately from our sins-ALL of them.

Then like all the people (v.17) we can rejoice at all the glorious things that Jesus does-then and today. Say it aloud again…

“————, you are freed from your disability.”

Jesus heals today.

He sees us in our need.

We are wise to go to Him when He calls.

The woman did.