The Kingdom of God
I am currently participating in a cohort to learn about spiritual direction and what it looks like to walk with others as they explore their longing to encounter God more deeply. This past weekend our group gathered together for our intensive to discuss what we’ve been reading and to learn from each other. This time always feels like a gift - as men and women from a variety of backgrounds come together around the common ground of Jesus and his deep love for all people.
During our time together we read from Luke 13:10-17. We were asked to pause and imagine the narrative from the viewpoint of someone in the passage. I haven’t been able to stop thinking about this passage and wanted to share it with you too.
Luke 13:10-17 (The Bible for Everyone)
One sabbath, Jesus was teaching in one of the synagogues. There was a woman there who had had a spirit of weakness for eighteen years. She was bent double, and couldn’t stand fully upright. Jesus saw her and called to her. ‘Woman,’ he said, laying his hands on her, ‘you are freed from your affliction.’ And at once she stood upright, and praised God. The synagogue president was angry that Jesus had healed on the sabbath. ‘Look here,’ he said to the crowd, ‘there are six days for people to work! Come on one of those days and be healed, not on the sabbath day!’ ‘You bunch of hypocrites!’ replied Jesus. ‘You would all be quite happy to untie an ox or a donkey from its stall on the sabbath day and lead it out for a drink! And isn’t it right that this daughter of Abraham, tied up by the satan for these eighteen years, should be untied from her chains on the sabbath day?’ At that, all the people who had been opposing him were ashamed. The whole crowd was overjoyed at all the splendid things he was doing.
I’ve read this narrative before on numerous occasions and heard sermons about it too. But as we sat in that space, quietly considering what was happening from the view of a particular person, I found myself imagining being the woman.
I imagined this woman faithfully showing up to the synagogue week after week. For 18 years she had been hunched over, probably in pain, still trying to maintain her home and her responsibilities. Maybe she came in and talked with her friends, or maybe she sat quietly, but either way, she showed up to worship God. Maybe in the early days of her pain, people had tried to comfort her or help her, but now it’s been so long they might not even pay attention anymore.
But that day, Jesus was with them. And Jesus saw her. He didn’t just wave and say hello. He noticed that her body was in pain. He called her to him, he touched her body, and he freed her from her pain. She responded by worshipping God. This woman who had been hunched over all these years could now stand upright again. Her pain was gone.
And yet, the response in the synagogue was not one of celebration for her healing, but rather of rebuke that Jesus would have the audacity to heal someone on the Sabbath.
So, Jesus addresses the rebuke. He calls them hypocrites and reminds those in the room that they untie their oxen and donkeys to take them for water on the Sabbath. Then he asks the question - isn’t this woman, who is part of the family of Abraham, worthy of having her chains untied too? Shouldn’t she also be set free on the Sabbath? Finally, with these words, the people rejoiced at her healing.
I imagined what it must have meant for this woman to hear Jesus acknowledge her worth and to stand up for her rights as a part of God’s family.
If you continue reading Luke 13, in verses 18-21 Jesus talks about the kingdom of God. In these verses, he likens God’s kingdom to a mustard seed and to yeast. Two things that spread quickly and are quite invasive.
Jesus has arrived and so has God’s kingdom. And with it, things that have been disordered are going to be rightly ordered - even if it feels uncomfortable and even if it looks different than expected.
That is what the woman experienced that day - God’s kingdom. She encountered Jesus, was reminded of her worth, and was healed in her body. She was set free in every way. I am confident she was never the same.
~ Melissa