I have come to set the captives free
by Craig Heidenreich
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When Jesus saw her, he called her over (Luke 13:12a).
Have you ever dealt with a chronic problem like the poor woman in this passage – 18 years bent double? Long-term suffering is one of the hardest tests of our character, and we can even start to doubt whether God is listening at all. Sometimes our suffering is internal and does not even show on the outside.
What a comfort to read in verse 12 of this passage that ‘Jesus saw her and called her over’. Even when we do not know it, our Lord is watching over us for good.
Jesus began his earthly ministry, declaring, ‘I have come to set the captives free’, and this is certainly demonstrated in this story. How amazing it must have been to see the woman straightening up, and what a ‘walking testimony’ she would have been to the villagers in the days that followed.
However, verse 14 says there was an indignant synagogue official. It is astonishing that in the midst of all the joy that day, there was pushback from someone. Humans can really miss it sometimes, and there is a warning here for us to not get so invested in the system that we miss when the Holy Spirit moves.
The leader of the meeting wanted things to be orderly with the focus on the plan for the day. When Jesus showed up, he directed the attention to a woman in need (an insignificant woman). The leader had an idea of the letter of the law, while Jesus demonstrated the spirit of the law, saying, ‘should she not have been released from this bond on the Sabbath day?’
Let us make sure that all our religious activities and forms serve the needs of people and do not exist as an end to themselves.
Lord Jesus, thank you for showing compassion to this poor woman, and thank you that we can dare to hope that you ‘see’ us as well. Help us, Lord, to ‘straighten up’, be free of Satan’s influence and show compassion to others. Amen.
Craig enjoys making friends with people from other countries and trying to learn a few words of greeting in their languages. He says it’s fun to see the joy on a person’s face to hear their mother tongue. When he has some spare time, he is happy renovating the home he recently purchased in Kapunda, South Australia.
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