Word for the day by Christian Education Forum

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Christ who redeems
Luke 13:10-17
Vs 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?” 
In this portion we see Jesus, on a sabbath, healing a woman in a synagogue who was crippled and bent over for 18 years. We see Jesus liberating her from a bondage that kept her captive to sickness. His act of redemption is characterized by the following: 
  1. Seeing the unnoticed
Being crippled and unable to stand straight for the last 18 years, this woman would have been pushed back and neglected whenever she came to worship. She would not have been counted as a significant person worthy of people’s attention. Surely there would have been other people who vied for prominence – the rich, the haughty or the trouble-makers in the congregation. But here we see Jesus looking to the congregation who have come for worship and noticing this crippled woman. And then Jesus calls her over and brings her forward. She had nobody to speak for her. She wasn’t an attention seeker herself. She did not call out to Jesus for healing. Yet Jesus makes a difference in her life, seeing how she had been humble and unnoticed in the presence of God. Jesus heard her silent painful prayer even when she was quiet and humble.

Whether in our churches or communities, so many things and people vie for our attention. In the midst of that, are we missing the needy, who are quiet and unnoticed? There may be people in pain who quietly go about bearing their burdens, and yet silently yearn for a smile and a sincere conversation from us. They are at a danger of being overlooked by us. Can we be like Jesus to them? 
  1. Understanding the heart
We see the synagogue ruler rebuking the silent congregation instead of rebuking Jesus. He would have been jealous of Jesus rise to prominence in a place where the synagogue ruler was supposed to be the leader. Also, he would have been indignant because Jesus broke a rule of not healing on the sabbath. Jesus understood the heart of the synagogue leader. And so Jesus explains his actions by calling out the hypocrisy of people who would break the sabbath rule as per what suited their convenience. The act of untying the ox or donkey from the manger and leading it to water would have been forbidden on the sabbath if all work had to be banned in strict sense of the term. Yet Jesus shows that if animals are worthy to be redeemed from hunger and thirst, that woman who was under the bondage of sickness was far more worthy of redemption. Jesus calls her a daughter of Abraham, thus calling out their hypocrisy by which they had ridiculed or discriminated against her all these years and not counted her as one among their own. Through his words Jesus calls the woman as a part of the Abrahamic community that the Jews prided in, worthy of God’s and his people’s redemptive work.
 
Jesus understood the heart of a woman who faithfully worshiped for 18 years despite being sidelined by people in her community. Jesus understood the heart of the synagogue leader who was indignant at the weak. How is our heart when we gather for worship? It is only by being humble in God’s presence and opening our hearts to those in pain that we show Christ-like qualities. With that, we join in the work of the Savior who redeemed the silent, the hurt and the captive.
PRAYER
Lord, help us to have eyes and hearts of compassion like you, so that we may see and reach out the people in pain around us, Amen.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY
God hears the silent prayers of a sincere heart.

Rev. Thomas John, Carmel Mar Thoma Church, Boston
Christian Education Forum, Diocese of NAE of the Mar Thoma Church

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