Stand Up Straight! - A Reflection on Luke 13:10-17


Now he was teaching in one of the synagogues on the sabbath. And just then there appeared a woman with a spirit that had crippled her for eighteen years. She was bent over and was quite unable to stand up straight. When Jesus saw her, he called her over and said, “Woman, you are set free from your ailment.” When he laid his hands on her, immediately she stood up straight and began praising God. But the leader of the synagogue, indignant because Jesus had cured on the sabbath, kept saying to the crowd, “There are six days on which work ought to be done; come on those days and be cured, and not on the sabbath day.” But the Lord answered him and said, “You hypocrites! Does not each of you on the sabbath untie his ox or his donkey from the manger, and lead it away to give it water? And ought not this woman, a daughter of Abraham whom Satan bound for eighteen long years, be set free from this bondage on the sabbath day?” When he said this, all his opponents were put to shame; and the entire crowd was rejoicing at all the wonderful things that he was doing.

 

We find many stories of Jesus and the apostles healing people in the Bible. Many of these stories are about paralyzed — or crippled — people being healed. I wouldn’t be surprised if there was a reason for this that went beyond the obvious. Let us look at this story of a crippled woman that Jesus healed to see if we can extract some deeper insights. The woman is introduced in this manner: “As Jesus was teaching in the synagogue there appeared a woman with a spirit that had crippled her for eighteen years. She was bent over and was quite unable to stand up straight” (Luke 13:10-11).

 

We are given three facts about this woman. One, her crippling was demonic in nature because Scripture says she was “crippled by a spirit” (Luke 13:10). Two, “she was bent over”. Three, she was “completely incapable of standing erect.” Her ailment is described three times. Now, if you were in a healing ministry, and you saw a woman who was crippled, what would you do? Go to her, right? But Jesus does something different, and there are lessons to be learned from what he does. 

 

One, instead of going to her, he calls her to him. Two, he declares she is free of her infirmity. “Woman,” he says, “you are set free from your ailment” (Luke 13:12). And three, he lays his hands on her (Luke 13:13a). The result: she stands up straight and praises God (Luke 13:13b). Ok. So, what are the lessons to be learned? You see, even though we may not be physically crippled, many of us — nay, most of us! — are emotionally crippled. Years of hurt and rejection and failure and struggle have paralyzed us to the point where we don’t think we can function normally any more. Some of us have just given up.

 

I can understand this — the temptation to just quit. When we are hurt over and over and over again and there just doesn’t seem anything that will stop the pain; when we are rejected constantly and continuously and get to the point where we begin to think we are useless; when we have failed in something we have put our hands to so many times that we start to believe we are good for nothing; or when we struggle to deal with something that is totally out of our control — then we start to wonder what the point of all of it is. We might as well just quit. Have you quit? Are you thinking of quitting? That’s the demonic spirit telling you to do this.

 

Well, there is hope because Jesus is calling out to you now. He is declaring to you: You are set free from your ailment. And he is laying his hands on you. Now: Stand up straight. And praise God. Because we are not ordinary people; we are born of God. And everyone born of God overcomes the world and all that the world throws at them (see 1 John 5:4). Remember: we are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed (2 Corinthians 4:8-9). We have victory in Christ (1 Corinthians 15:57). 

 

So, stand up straight!

 

Watch a video of this reflection by Aneel Aranha here: https://youtu.be/mBXRCB1cBLY

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