Day 48: Set Free

Luke 13:10-14

On a Sabbath Jesus was teaching in one of the synagogues, and a woman was there who had been crippled by a spirit for eighteen years. She was bent over and could not straighten up at all. When Jesus saw her, he called her forward and said to her, “Woman, you are set free from your infirmity.” Then he put his hands on her, and immediately she straightened up and praised God.

Indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, the synagogue leader said to the people, “There are six days for work. So come and be healed on those days, not on the Sabbath.”

Comments

Prisons come in many forms, not all of which are made by society to hold those who have run afoul of the law.

Here was a woman held captive for eighteen years by a crippling infirmity that would not allow her to stand up and live her life.

The synagogue leader was an unknowing captive as well, imprisoned by a religion in which rules and regulations took precedent over people’s needs.

Jesus set the woman free; the religious leader chose to stay in his confinement.

Reflections

Are you held captive by the opinions of others, desire for success, anger, alcohol, lust or anything else? Have you chosen to remain imprisoned rather than reach out to God for freedom and new life?

If God has set you free, have you offered hope and new life to others who are still imprisoned?

Prayer

Give me courage and wisdom, Lord, to find freedom in you from the things that confine me.