Jesus was teaching in a synagogue on the sabbath. And a woman was there who for eighteen years had been crippled by a spirit; she was bent over, completely incapable of standing erect. When Jesus saw her, he called to her and said, “Woman, you are set free of your infirmity.” He laid his hands on her, and she at once stood up straight and glorified God.
After Jesus had cured the woman, the leader of the synagogue approached him, indignant that Jesus cured on the sabbath. Jesus replied by calling the leader a hypocrite and saying how it was fitting that the woman be healed from bondage by Satan on the sabbath day, the day when God rested from all the work he had done in creation. In the many healing miracles Jesus performs, most of the time people approach Jesus to be healed; they raise their hand and call for help. In today’s Gospel reading, however, Jesus calls to the woman to come to him to be healed. There is great comfort in knowing that there may be times when I don’t know well enough to ask God for healing; instead, when I am crippled by a spirit, he comes to me out of love. As Jesus says of the woman, I could say of myself: “ought she have not been set free on the sabbath day from this bondage?"
God, you know me better than I know myself. Wherever I am crippled by a spirit and have infirmity because of it, come heal me even if I am not fully aware of the kind of healing I need. Free me, so that as the woman stood erect and glorified you, I can cease from being stooped over and do the same. Whatever prevents me from living in your love, shatter the obstacles that bind; break through that darkness and bring healing so that the glory may be yours. As Paul says in the first reading: “For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light.”
Lord, you bring me in your presence the foundation on which I long to build this day. You are the light that leads me out of confusion and darkness as I take on tasks and interact with others. How will I live in love, compassion, and forgiveness today, as Paul encourages? Teach me to please you in my words and actions, and teach me to desire this more and more today and every day.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment