Walking Upright

Now he was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath. And there was a woman who had had a disabling spirit for eighteen years. She was bent over and could not fully straighten herself. When Jesus saw her, he called her over and said to her, “Woman, you are freed from your disability.” And he laid his hands on her, and immediately she was made straight, and she glorified God. But the ruler of the synagogue, indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, said to the people, “There are six days in which work ought to be done. Come on those days and be healed, and not on the Sabbath day.” Then the Lord answered him, “You hypocrites! Does not each of you on the Sabbath untie his ox or his donkey from the manger and lead it away to water it? And ought not this woman, a daughter of Abraham whom Satan bound for eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath day?” As he said these things, all his adversaries were put to shame, and all the people rejoiced at all the glorious things that were done by him. Luke 13:10-17

My mother is often known to comment when asked how she is, "87 and still upright!" She walks with a cane for stability, but for someone who has had back and knee problems she is really doing well. Sometimes she even moves like a kid, especially when she has a grocery cart in front of her. It is almost impossible to catch up with her as she dashes about the store. And it is a lovely thing to watch her revel in her freedom and independence when so many others of her age are restricted and so limited. She feels blessed and child like and as her child I am grateful for her health and her enjoyment of life.

Jesus healed a women who was bent over, in pain, with every step a horror and a trial. He healed her and the religious folks around him were incensed because it happened on the sabbath, on the Lord's Day, on the day of rest. God forbid good things happen in church, God forbid that miracles, freedom and release happen in the places and times of worship! This woman was so grateful and yet others made her feel as if she has participated in something bad. Because it didn't fit with the way things were always done, it made people angry at Jesus, at God and at the woman who no longer suffered.

Today, I ask that God can use me for freedom, release and miracles, even if the time and place don't seem right. I ask God to strengthen and use me as an instrument of release and freedom for those who are so desperate to be freed from pain and anxiety. May we all ask God to bring miracles tot he most unlikely places, so that God's light and love might shine on all.