The gospel: be loosed!
As I am writing this, I am curious as to what Webster defines the word “loosed.” It reads, “Set free; released.” Let this float around in your mind while you read.
There once was a woman, a woman never seen. A woman who was never acknowledged. A woman who was an outcast in society. Even though she was due her common dignity, no one paid her any mind. All this woman could see was the ground; she could not look up and see the sky. Imagine not seeing the clouds, the blue skies, the birds flying. When she slept, she could not rest on her back; she had to lie in a different position every night to ease the discomfort and pain.
This woman has spent all her money on doctors, chiropractors, and churches, but her spine remains horribly bent and constricted towards the lowest realm, the realm where everything is trampled and walked over. She can’t walk freely, but can only see the feet of those who do. Can’t freely sit but can only see her feet. Everything she does just falls right back down into the hopeless ground. What a discouraging, pitiful, and depressing condition. But what is even worse is that there is no one to help her. Some conditions seem incurable, and the treatment of some pat on the shoulder and a bowl of soup is the glimmer of clouds and blue skies for this woman.
But, it gets worse, she has been in this place for 18 years. Imagine the birth of an infant to the day they graduate from high school. A whole generation passing by, and all this woman can see is a partial horizon, a horizon of the bottom half of life. 18 years of agony, agony that you just get used to. 18 years of a broken record. 18 years of Groundhog Day. 18 years of Christmas, Thanksgiving, New Year’s, and 18 years of going to church every Sunday.
Did such a woman exist? Yes, she did. Long ago, the woman I describe to you in our modern-day example existed in the time of Jesus. This woman, with a bent and broken spine for 18 years, one day went into her local synagogue, just like every other day, like every other week for the past 18 years. Only, there was someone else in the synagogue. It was a pleasant surprise! She had no idea what she was about to encounter.
A gracious man was speaking and talking in this synagogue. There was something about this man that was different from other men. When he spoke, it seemed as if he commanded attention without asking for attention. His words pulled you and reached a place that words had never reached before. This woman came to the synagogue virtually unnoticed by everyone for the past 18 years. But today someone else saw her. Certainly, the woman could not see the man looking at her; she was glued to the ground, or at best, trying to look up in pain.
But then, words echoed to this woman. They didn’t echo to anyone else. They echoed to her. The olive tree has so many branches, and is it not a wonder why the dove rests upon a weak, flimsy, decayed branch when there were so many other wonderful branches? But no, the words echoed to her, like the dove to that little branch. Words she had never heard in over 18 years. Think of all the words she heard! But no, these words had something else to say. The first words she heard were,
“Come forward” (Luke 13:12).
The synagogue must have been silent. Yes, drown with the boring and dry synagogue leaders teaching from their interpretive boringness of the Torah and Prophets, and traditions. But now, it was even quieter. A woman is being summoned by a man, but not just any man, a man who happens to be the God of Abraham, Jesus Christ.
All eyes are on her now, and she is in the presence of Christ. Now she is seen. Now all are watching her. The synagogue will never forget, nor will this woman, for what is about to be said and take place,
“‘Woman, you are loosed from your infirmity!’ Then He put His hands on her and immediately she straightened up and glorified God” (v. 13)
Uproar of praise! Uproar of glory offered to God! A synagogue deserted of life, now the life of the party in God! A woman who never had a voice now declares authentic praise like a psalmist in the temple! A spine no more bound! Touched by the hand of God! A spine resurrected!
Ah, now it would make sense why the boring synagogue leader was jealous of Jesus. I am sure we have all met those “Debbie Downers” in our lives who get envious of our joy and want to steal it. They attempted to steal the joy, steal the healing, by accusing her and Jesus of breaking the Sabbath, but Jesus was having none of it! The giver and writer of the Law of Moses quotes one back to them, shaming the synagogue leaders into even more silence as the crowds in the synagogue dance, rejoice, and be merry in God!
Please, hear the gospel in this. In many ways, you are like this woman; hopelessness, sin, fear, depression, and torment have all bent your spiritual spine down to the ground. You no longer look up, you don’t see a future, a horizon where God has an everlasting life for you. But, little do you know, the same hands that healed the woman's spine have also healed you.
“They pierced My hands and My feet (Psalm 22:16).
Jesus was not going to let His hands only serve to heal this woman’s spine, but to heal the whole world from the binding power of sin to all who believe. I want you to see that nail that had to be driven through the hand of Jesus was to loose you from the wages of sin. Christ sought you out before you could seek out His cross. Just like this woman could not see nor expect this gracious Jesus to be in her synagogue one Sabbath day, let the element of surprise of God also reach your heart, who lovingly had you in mind as the nails drove through His only begotten Son.
That nail going through the flesh of Christ, attaching Him to a wooden cross, with blood dripping out, was the cost of the true healing you need from sin. The only way His hand could fully loosen you from the real suffering and infirmity.
Christ’s love goes beyond the synagogue, beyond the daughter of Abraham, beyond the children of Israel; that blood was spilled for the whole world, the sins of all the nations, tribes, tongues, races, and people. Once you see your sin being the hammer to the nails that pierced Jesus, will you, like that woman in the synagogue, be washed, healed, and cleansed, and glorify God as He resurrects your dead spirit through the powerful living Jesus raised from the dead!
Let me just make one more closing remark. What damaged the woman’s spine was not her poor choices, not her failure to maintain good posture, or keeping up with her exercises. It was Satan who authored the infirmity upon her and damaged her body. And keep in mind, it was not the woman’s faith that saved her. It was a divine gift. So, to a certain extent, our damage isn’t always from our choices, but the fact remains, we are all guilty of the cross, and the cross is where Christ laid down His healing hands once and for all, a divine gift to us forever. He is our eternal Savior and Healer!