Daily Devotional • November 6
A Reading from Luke 13:10-17
10 Now he was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath. 11 And just then there appeared a woman with a spirit that had crippled her for eighteen years. She was bent over and was quite unable to stand up straight. 12 When Jesus saw her, he called her over and said, “Woman, you are set free from your ailment.” 13 When he laid his hands on her, immediately she stood up straight and began praising God. 14 But the leader of the synagogue, indignant because Jesus had cured on the Sabbath, kept saying to the crowd, “There are six days on which work ought to be done; come on those days and be cured and not on the Sabbath day.” 15 But the Lord answered him and said, “You hypocrites! Does not each of you on the Sabbath untie his ox or his donkey from the manger and lead it to water?16 And ought not this woman, a daughter of Abraham whom Satan bound for eighteen long years, be set free from this bondage on the Sabbath day?”17 When he said this, all his opponents were put to shame, and the entire crowd was rejoicing at all the wonderful things being done by him.
Meditation
Jesus is healing on the sabbath. He did this back in Luke 4 as well when he cast demons out of a suffering man in Capernaum. That time, there was no disapproval from the crowd who were “amazed” rather than offended. In this instance, though, someone does take offense: the leader of the synagogue who sees the healing as a violation of the commandment to rest from work. Jesus makes his argument and wins it, leading to the community rejoicing. This catches my eye: the common thread of shared humanity.
This ailing woman is given dignity and identity by her role in the community. She is referred to by Jesus as a “daughter of Abraham.” She is an inheritor of the covenant — she is a sister, a fellow-pilgrim, a member of the sacred family of God. Her suffering and diminishment due to her physical condition not only impinge upon her life, but make a difference to the shared life of the community. Her healing is a shared celebration, and her restoration to health brings joy to the crowd. I think there’s more going on than just a crowd pleased to see a spectacle, or people who wish to see a powerful wonder-worker who might in time do some special favor to them. No, I think the point is deeper and more beautiful: we are bound to one another, entwined in our suffering. I am not free until my sister has been liberated. Then, I rejoice.
The Reverend Cara Greenham Hancock is a deacon serving in the Anglican Church of Australia, as a curate at the parish of St Stephen and St Mary, Mount Waverley.
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Daily Devotional Cycle of Prayer
Today we pray for:
The Diocese of Puerto Rico – The Episcopal Church
The Church of the Holy Spirit, Lake Forest, Illinois