One
Sabbath day as Jesus was teaching in a synagogue, he saw a woman who had been
crippled by an evil spirit. She had been
bent double for eighteen years and was unable to stand up straight. When Jesus saw her, he called her over and said, “Dear
woman, you are healed of your sickness!” Then he touched her, and instantly she could stand
straight. How she praised God! But the leader in charge of the synagogue was
indignant that Jesus had healed her on the Sabbath day. “There are six days of the week for working,”
he said to the crowd. “Come on those
days to be healed, not on the Sabbath.”
But the Lord replied, “You
hypocrites! Each of you works on the
Sabbath day! Don’t you untie your ox or
your donkey from its stall on the Sabbath and lead it out for water? This
dear woman, a daughter of Abraham, has been held in bondage by Satan for
eighteen years. Isn’t it right that she
be released, even on the Sabbath?” This
shamed his enemies, but all the people rejoiced at the wonderful things he did. Luke 13:10-17 (NLT)
So this woman was healed on the Sabbath…some big crime, eh?
More than thirty years ago my wife, Elizabeth had something of the
same experience. One day she noticed a
lump in her chest, and we began the worrying process.
On a Saturday evening while we were visiting her parents,
Elizabeth showed the lump to her mother, who examined it, felt it with her own
hands and ordered my wife to get it checked.
Elizabeth made a mental note to call the doctor on Monday.
That next day we went to church.
It was Pentecost Sunday, and the sermon and music were all about the
fire of God coming down, and the birth of the church. While we stood and sang a hymn about the Holy
Spirit’s touch, Elizabeth felt a burning in her chest. Feeling for the lump she could find
nothing…and to this day there has been no evidence that there ever was anything
there.
Except, of course the testimony of three people who know beyond
all doubt there was something there before the Great Physician visited on that
Pentecost Sunday; that lump was burned away by the hand of God…ON THE LORD’S
DAY!
A young child drew a wonderful picture of a church. The stick people figures going in the front door were bent and
dejected. Emerging out the back door
were other, larger, straighter stick people.
The child’s Mom asked what the meaning was. The little girl replied That’s how it is when you go to
see Jesus; when you go in you’re all broken-down…He straightens you up and you
feel much better!
For You, Today…
How many bound
and bent people do you know?
And, this week, will they see in
you the One who can make them straight?
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