The Road Devotional | Lent 2024 Copy

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.” The Lord answered him, “You hypocrites! Doesn’t each of you on the Sabbath untie your ox or donkey from the stall and lead it out to give it water? Then should not this woman, a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has kept bound for eighteen long years, be set free on the Sabbath day from what bound her?” When he said this, all his opponents were humiliated, but the people were delighted with all the wonderful things he was doing. 

Here we see Jesus breaking the “rules” by healing a woman on the Sabbath day. As reminded by this example (and others like it) God’s Grace isn’t confined or bounded by rules, regulations, and tightly held legalism. God’s Grace cuts through all that to offer freedom for those who are oppressed.

Q. Where have you used the excuse of a law or custom to keep you from being a co-operator or partner of God’s Grace to someone else? How have you used God’s name to keep from being present with others who are vastly different from you?

The woman in the synagogue represents the many who find themselves bound by physical, emotional, or spiritual afflictions. Like her, we may feel bent over and unable to stand tall in the face of life’s challenges. Jesus responds to those who criticize him by reminding them that they let their animals out to meet their essential needs on the Sabbath. Shouldn’t this woman deserve to seek the essentials in her life on the Sabbath as well?

Q. What do you need to be set free of in your own life?

God, thank you for the liberating grace revealed through Jesus Christ. May we, like the woman in the synagogue, experience the freedom that comes from Your healing touch. Help us embrace the Sabbath as a day of encountering Your transformative power.

Amen.