The woman had been sick for eighteen
years. Eighteen years! Considering that the average lifespan at
Jesus’ time was probably forty years, to be disabled for eighteen of them was a
great burden! This makes the synagogue
ruler’s response all the more shocking … and heartless.
It is striking that Jesus speaks of this
healing in terms of bondage and freedom.
Using the example of caring for one’s animals, Jesus said, “Does not
each of you on the Sabbath untie his ox or 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?” He
is accusing them of caring more about their animals than this person – a child
of Abraham and a child of God!
Often the Christian faith is perceived
as a set of rules. Good Christians do
this that or the other thing. The world
perceives Christians a judgmental, intolerant, even unkind. What Jesus did was actually to set people
free.
Jesus said that anyone who sins is a
slave to sin. (John
8:34) This means that when we
pronounce God’s forgiveness to people we are actually setting them free.
We get confused as to what freedom
actually means. As Americans we often
speak of freedom in terms of being able to do what we want. Christian freedom has more of the idea of
being what we were meant to be. The part
of doing what we want comes in as we begin to want more and more of God’s will
for us as we struggle against our sinful desires.
Our compassion on others and our efforts
to free people from sinful oppression flow from the fact that we too were bound
in sin. Jesus’ death on the cross frees
us because He hung in our place. His
death is given to us by faith, and once a slave dies she is no longer a
slave.
We live in freedom in Christ, and in Christ
we get to set people free.
Lord Jesus, I have often preferred rules and
bondage to the freedom and forgiveness You won.
Free me again and use me to free others with the Gospel. Amen.
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