On a Sabbath day Jesus was teaching in one of the synagogues. A woman who had been crippled by a spirit for 18 years was there. 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.

The spirit which had kept the woman a cripple could not have been a benevolent one. Many of us are crippled by the adversary in our thoughts and actions. As children of God we are entitled to a full abundant life but the prince of darkness keeps us captive and crippled so that we could not be joyfully vibrant and active as the Lord wants us to be. Just as the woman’s physical deformity kept her vision fixed on the ground, our spiritual deformity keeps us earth bound. We are unable to lift our eyes and understand spiritual truth because we are under the control of the spirit of the world. The woman did not seek the help of Jesus but He, who invited all the weary ones, assuring them of good rest, called her. Yes, the call is there. Many of us do not yet realize that we are crippled in life and need a saviour who could straighten up our messy life and bring hope to us.

Jesus saw her. God saw the Israelites who struggled in their captivity. He also saw Hagar in her acute agony and brought deliverance to her. The world might fail to see what we are going through but God sees the grief that lies buried in our eyes under the covering smiles.

When Jesus saw the crippled woman He said that she was out of her infirmity .When He put His hand on her, she straightened up and saw Jesus. She would not have seen Him until then. Only when Jesus touches us we will be able to look at Him face to face. Until then, our eyes will be glued on the earth, It is His grace and our search for Him that can bring healing to our deformed vision and soul.

The woman was healed because she went to the synagogue to hear Jesus. She did not make her deformity an issue and excuse but went to listen to Jesus. God makes Him self available to those who earnestly seek Him.

Let us seek Him, who identifies our deformity and comes forward to heal us and lift us from our focus on the world and its glamour.

Dr. (Mrs.) Edriana Jeyasingh