The Crooked Woman

^{Luke 13:10-17 ESV}

^{A Woman with a Disabling Spirit}

¹⁰ Now he (Jesus) was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath. ¹¹ And behold, there was a woman who had had a disabling spirit for eighteen years. She was bent over and could not fully straighten herself. ¹² When Jesus saw her, he called her over and said to her, “Woman, you are freed from your disability.” ¹³ And he laid his hands on her, and immediately she was made straight, and she glorified God. ¹⁴ But the ruler of the synagogue, indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, said to the people, “There are six days in which work ought to be done. Come on those days and be healed, and not on the Sabbath day.” ¹⁵ Then the Lord answered him, “You hypocrites! Does not each of you on the Sabbath untie his ox or his donkey from the manger and lead it away to water it? ¹⁶ And ought not this woman, a daughter of Abraham whom Satan bound for eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath day?” ¹⁷ As he said these things, all his adversaries were put to shame, and all the people rejoiced at all the glorious things that were done by him.

My intention was to start a blog series of devotionals with more of a Bible study feel to them.... you know more meat and potatoes type stuff. I had planned to start in chapter 1 of the book of Luke just because that's what book I'm studying right now. But last week this passage in Luke 13 captivated me and the Lord has brought it to my mind everyday since. So, I would like to promise you that I'm going to post a devotional type post for women everyday but lets be honest, I'm a homeschool mom of 3 and sometimes it just may not get done. But I do plan on posting as the Lord lays things on my heart and hopefully it will turn into an everyday source for women looking for guidance during their daily quiet times or in addition to. 

So when I read this passage last week, there were 3 words that jumped off the page at me and they were, "Jesus saw her." Have you ever felt looked over, put on the back burner, forgotten, unimportant or unappreciated? As women we live here on a daily basis. Another woman walks in the room that we see as better than us, prettier than us, or more put together and there we are..... feeling overshadowed and overlooked. I believe the root of those feelings stem from pride most times, but that's a lesson for another day. My point today is this, no matter how you feel..... Jesus sees you and He thinks your important enough to die for you. You aren't forgotten. You were on His mind as they drove the nails through his feet and hands. Jesus saw you that day and He has seen every day, every minute, and every second since. 

This no-name woman in this passage spent 18 years bent over and couldn't stand up straight. I refer to her as "the crooked woman." Just stand up for a second and bend over and try to raise your head and look at the ceiling. Its quite a strain on the neck and that's assuming she was even able to bend her neck to raise her head up at all. Here is my point, she could barely look into the face of the person standing before her. For 18 years she spent everyday looking down at the ground. Talk about feeling unimportant and forgotten. But Jesus saw her, called her, and touched her. At the very sound of His voice, the crooked is made straight. On the surface this passage seems to just be about Jesus healing a woman of a physical ailment that was caused by an evil spirit. But I believe this passage is supposed to show us more about this woman's heart and Jesus transforming her from the inside out. The crooked is made straight!

As you read the rest of the passage it is evident that Jesus has ruffled the feathers of this synagogue ruler. This guy was more concerned with the "rules" they had assigned to the Sabbath day than he was for people. Religious law trumped one of the 2 greatest commandments we are given...... To love others as we love ourselves (Matt. 22:37-40). He put rules, religion, and law over people. The very people we are told to love and that Christ hung on that cross for. Jesus says in Matthew 22 to depend all of the law on the 2 greatest commandments..... to love the Lord and to love others. Can you imagine how things would change if everything we did stemmed from those 2? 

Today, I laid out in my hammock in the backyard facing the back where all the trees are. I looked up at these trees that for several months now have been barren. They are beginning to show the signs of spring. As Jesus whispered to my heart once again.... I see you..... tears streamed down my face as the reality sunk in deep. The creator of those trees who commands them to bloom in the spring and strips them bare for winter sees me just where I am and reaches out to touch me anyway. He loves us that much. He loves us so much so that even though He knew ahead of time the times in our lives when we would turn our backs to Him and try to take our own paths, He would still CHOOSE to go to that cross and suffer in our place. He sees the deepest parts of us that we try to hide from the world and yet loves us still and reaches out to touch us even in our own filth. What a Savior we have in Jesus!!! 

My hope is that through this passage in Luke, that you walk away knowing that Jesus sees you. He sees the clean house that you spent all day on, He sees the hurt that runs deep that maybe you've carried around for far too long, He sees the sin that you need to repent of, He sees the broken parts of you and even though He sees it, He still wants to transform and touch your life because He loves you in a way that I believe, we will never be able to grasp this side of Heaven.