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.
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So much stood out to me in this passage. First, I just can’t help but see how Satan has lured God’s people into focusing so much on the legalistic that they had abandoned the spiritual. I mean, they were hardcore about that Sabbath. More than what God ever intended for it. I see the church do this even today…with things that should be minor and we make major. Also, I love the parallel to our lives here. I believe some of us have been bound by past failures, temptations, etc and for years we have been walking around crippled from what God had intended for us. We have been given grace to be set free from those things that bind. Jesus was handed over and bound so that we didn’t have to be. Allow Jesus to tell you today what He told the woman…today you are set free. Then, straighten up, drop the chains, and live a life of praise to God for what He has done.
A Journey With Jesus 