It was the Sabbath, and Jesus was teaching in the Synagogue. Way against the back wall, standing in the deep shadows was a woman, crippled for the last eighteen years. Her contorted posture so bent over that she couldn’t straighten up…her meager life consisting only of excruciating pain both physically, mentally, and spiritually. Though the trip to the Synagogue had been exhausting, with people gawking and pointing her out, she was eager to hear Jesus speak…wanting nothing more than to get a glimpse of this Man of God everyone was talking about. She came with no expectations of being healed…on the contrary, she was resigned to the fact that this was her hopeless life. But Jesus had other ideas. He picked her out of the shadows and called her forward to the very front of the Synagogue. You could hear the murmurings of the crowd as she slowly made her way up front…”Why is she here? Who allowed her to come in? What is He going to do?” Jesus then bent down in order to look into the woman’s eyes and compassionately said, “Woman, you are set free from your infirmity.” He then carefully and lovingly placed His hands on her and it says she immediately straightened up and stood erect. Her reaction to this healing was to praise God, because for the very first time in eighteen years this woman could look ahead as she walked and not at the ground. How many of us are walking through life today bent over…burdened with unspeakable pain that has us bent over with shame, condemnation, and hopelessness? Jesus wants to take that burden that’s weighing you down and has you looking at the ground…He’s saying to you, “Come to Me.”
Safetypinlove 