Woman bent double Luke 13;10
It had started when I was in my late teens. At first it was just a dull ache at the bottom of my back. i thought it was caused by carrying wood for the fire and grain at harvest time and then later my three children. But it was an ache which didnt go away when I rested and then after a while my lower back strted to become very stiff. By the time I was in my mid twenties I couldnt really bend over much at all and then as the years went on I started to bend over too much. By the time I was thirty I was pretty much bent ovre double and in alot of pain every day. I didnt sleep well. i found it really difficult to look after my children and of course I couldnt work.
My husband was kind and tried to be understanding but basically I was a useless wife to him. We had spent alot of money at the apothecary on lotions and potions and herbal tinctures and none of them had any effect on the state of my back. So all I could do was pray and do the best I could on the days when the pain was slighty less severe.
Then, one sabbath, I was in the synagogue and the most amazing thing happened. A visiting Rabbi was preaching that week and had been talking about the sabbath itself. I wasnt paying a massive amount of attention. It was hard for me to see what was going on and because I was bent over so much I also found it hard to hear. The other women round about me were chatting away - I wish they wouldnt do that because I really would like to be able to hear the teaching - when one of them nudged me and said ' He's talking to you'. I turned my head to look at the woman next to me and she was already taking me by the elbow and telling me to stand up. So I stood up.
The Rabbi was standing at the front with his hand out pointing at me and saying ' Madam would you mind coming down here please?' The whole place was so quiet you could hear a pin drop - this was a most unusual thing to happen on a sabbath. Any time in fact. I felt all eyes on me as I shuffled my way to the front wondering what on earth was going on. I really hoped he wasnt about to make a spectacle of me in public by telling everyone my condition was caused by my sins. I'd heard that all my life. I couldnt repent any more than I already repented every day. Id confessed every sin i could think of. Id said every prayer. I'd payed my tithes. I didnt need yet another religious leader telling me I wasnt trying hard enough.
I got to the Rabbi and he reached out and put his hands on my head. Again, this was most unusual, but I didnt have time to think about it because at the same moment I heard him say ' Be released from your infirmity!' and my back snapped upright and I found myself looking straight into the face of the Rabbi. Everyone in the synagogue gasped. And then the women started to cheer and clap, I could hear my sons shouting and I think I heard my husband sobbing. I screamed. I was so shocked. I felt amazing, as though a pulse of light was vibrating through my spine and before I could stop myself I threw my arms round the Rabbi and gave himm a huge hug. He laughed and began to sing a song of praise to God - I joined in and so did the rest of the congregation. It was a glorious joyous amazing chaotic moment of wonder
The leader of the synagogue stepped up looking very stern and slapped his hand down on the altar causing everyone to stop singing. He called the room to order and then, addressing Jesus, proceeded to reprimand him for healing me on the sabbath! Can you believe that? Jesus was angry. He said ' You are such hypocrites! You happily choose to ignore the law when your ox or donkey needs water on the sabbath. You will ' work' to untie it and lead it to drink so that it wont die, because it is valuable to you and you need it. But you would leave this woman, a daughter of Abraham who has been in pain for 18 years, you would leave her tied up and not allow her the water of life I offer her just because it is the sabbath? Seriously? ' At this the leader of the synagogue looked embarassed and at a loss how to reply, meanwhile the congregation had broken out into applause several people who were sick or disabled started to make their way to the front to ask Jesus to pray for them.
That day I walked home upright and pain free with my husband and children and my life began. Everything from that point was new. Everything was a delight. Jesus changed the lives of everyone in our family that day and we all loved him for it. My sons became followers of Jesus and my husband and I determined to support him in any way we could. Which eventually led us to an upper room in Jerusalem and us learning a foreign language in an afternoon. But thats a story for another day.
My husband was kind and tried to be understanding but basically I was a useless wife to him. We had spent alot of money at the apothecary on lotions and potions and herbal tinctures and none of them had any effect on the state of my back. So all I could do was pray and do the best I could on the days when the pain was slighty less severe.
Then, one sabbath, I was in the synagogue and the most amazing thing happened. A visiting Rabbi was preaching that week and had been talking about the sabbath itself. I wasnt paying a massive amount of attention. It was hard for me to see what was going on and because I was bent over so much I also found it hard to hear. The other women round about me were chatting away - I wish they wouldnt do that because I really would like to be able to hear the teaching - when one of them nudged me and said ' He's talking to you'. I turned my head to look at the woman next to me and she was already taking me by the elbow and telling me to stand up. So I stood up.
The Rabbi was standing at the front with his hand out pointing at me and saying ' Madam would you mind coming down here please?' The whole place was so quiet you could hear a pin drop - this was a most unusual thing to happen on a sabbath. Any time in fact. I felt all eyes on me as I shuffled my way to the front wondering what on earth was going on. I really hoped he wasnt about to make a spectacle of me in public by telling everyone my condition was caused by my sins. I'd heard that all my life. I couldnt repent any more than I already repented every day. Id confessed every sin i could think of. Id said every prayer. I'd payed my tithes. I didnt need yet another religious leader telling me I wasnt trying hard enough.
I got to the Rabbi and he reached out and put his hands on my head. Again, this was most unusual, but I didnt have time to think about it because at the same moment I heard him say ' Be released from your infirmity!' and my back snapped upright and I found myself looking straight into the face of the Rabbi. Everyone in the synagogue gasped. And then the women started to cheer and clap, I could hear my sons shouting and I think I heard my husband sobbing. I screamed. I was so shocked. I felt amazing, as though a pulse of light was vibrating through my spine and before I could stop myself I threw my arms round the Rabbi and gave himm a huge hug. He laughed and began to sing a song of praise to God - I joined in and so did the rest of the congregation. It was a glorious joyous amazing chaotic moment of wonder
The leader of the synagogue stepped up looking very stern and slapped his hand down on the altar causing everyone to stop singing. He called the room to order and then, addressing Jesus, proceeded to reprimand him for healing me on the sabbath! Can you believe that? Jesus was angry. He said ' You are such hypocrites! You happily choose to ignore the law when your ox or donkey needs water on the sabbath. You will ' work' to untie it and lead it to drink so that it wont die, because it is valuable to you and you need it. But you would leave this woman, a daughter of Abraham who has been in pain for 18 years, you would leave her tied up and not allow her the water of life I offer her just because it is the sabbath? Seriously? ' At this the leader of the synagogue looked embarassed and at a loss how to reply, meanwhile the congregation had broken out into applause several people who were sick or disabled started to make their way to the front to ask Jesus to pray for them.
That day I walked home upright and pain free with my husband and children and my life began. Everything from that point was new. Everything was a delight. Jesus changed the lives of everyone in our family that day and we all loved him for it. My sons became followers of Jesus and my husband and I determined to support him in any way we could. Which eventually led us to an upper room in Jerusalem and us learning a foreign language in an afternoon. But thats a story for another day.
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