Jesus Puts People First

I am continuing to work through the Gospel of Luke this morning.  I love this story of Jesus healing a women - Luke 13:10-17 NIV:

[10] "On a Sabbath Jesus was teaching in one of the synagogues, [11] and a woman was there who had been crippled by a spirit for eighteen years. She was bent over and could not straighten up at all. [12] When Jesus saw her, he called her forward and said to her, “Woman, you are set free from your infirmity.” [13] Then he put his hands on her, and immediately she straightened up and praised God.

[14] Indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, the synagogue leader said to the people, “There are six days for work. So come and be healed on those days, not on the Sabbath.”

[15] The Lord answered him, “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? [16] Then should not this woman, a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has kept bound for eighteen long years, be set free on the Sabbath day from what bound her?”

[17] When he said this, all his opponents were humiliated, but the people were delighted with all the wonderful things he was doing."

As I am reading this story I imagine a couple of things - based on the text.  It appears that it was while Jesus was teaching that He saw the women and called her forward.  The temple was a busy place and I am wondering if He was teaching in one area and happened to see her walk by, all bent over. I think this is totally the way Jesus would have been, for He always had time for the individual.  Anyway, without any hesitancy or fear, He calls her over and without any statement of faith on her part, any comment from Jesus on her sin or anything, He sets her free. He just lays hands on her and immediately she straightens up.

So often we think we need to negotiate with the Lord for our healing, or get our lives right, or fast or pray, or whatever.  Here we have a lady who Jesus calls forward and heals without so much of a question or comment, other then the statement from Jesus concerning her healing.  I love the simplicity of this encounter, and the fact that the women immediately understood what had happened and praised God.

This may not seem like a huge miracle, but it was significant enough that it was repeated long enough for Luke to be able to write about it some 30-50 years later, depending on your dating of the gospel of Luke.  Recently I had a knee injury where I wasn't able to straighten my knee out for 2 weeks.  This injury required that I completely change many things in my life to accommodate the injury.  I was so ready to be able to straighten it out after surgery.  Imagine being bent over for 18 years.  Sleeping, standing, sitting, carrying, cooking, anything and everything was affected by this infirmity.  Muscles and bones would adjust over time to the point she probably couldn't have straightened, even if whatever was causing it was removed.  In an instant Jesus did just that, but also healed her muscles and bones and joints, for she immediately stood up straight.  Imagine being able to look people in the eye for the first time in 18 years.  Wow!

The fact that the synagogue leader immediately stood up and told the people that they could come on other days for healing tells me there was probably already a line forming in front of Jesus with people wanting to be healed.  It is amazing that this leader was so worried about the religious duties of the temple that he missed the importance of the women being set free.  The temple was supposed to be a place where people worshipped God, and she breaks into wild praise, and he tries to shut it down.  While this might seem far fetched, I wonder how many churches would do the very same if someone interuppted the pastor's preaching or the program flow to get healed and start praising God?

Jesus will have nothing to do with this stupid attitude and brings the focus back to the women.  Don't for a moment think that God is more concerned about a worship service than He is about each and every individual in the room.  Jesus tells the story of the man who leaves the ninety-nine to go find the one that is lost (Luke 5:4-7), and that is His heart.  He Loves our worship, but not because its good music, but rather because we are expressing individually our love for him.  God does not love programs or preaching more than people, and it is my prayer that we, as the church, start demonstrating this aspect of the Father's heart.

Finally, it is my prayer that the people would once again be delighted by the wonderful things that the Lord is doing in their midst.  The Lord desires to touch us, heal us and set us free, and the church is supposed to be the vehicle through which that occurs.  We are His representatives, and we are called to do the same things that He did.  Lord, help us to once again, through the power of the Holy Spirit, do wonderful things.

Amen!