Luke 13: 10-17
Now Jesus 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.
New Revised Standard Version, copyright 1989, by the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved. USCCB approved.
We Don’t Have to Live in Pain
It's amazing what we can get used to—chronic migraines, debilitating arthritis, persistent back pain, excruciating nerve damage. Pain that would send most of us to the hospital are conditions others manage every day. They adapt, find ways to function, and eventually accept what once seemed unbearable as part of everyday life.
The woman in today's Gospel is one of those people. She spent eighteen years bent over in pain, eyes forever fixed on the ground. Then, Jesus heals her. Her pain is gone, she stands, raises her eyes toward heaven and glorifies God.
Physical pain isn't the only suffering we learn to live with. Resentment we've carried for years. Anxiety that influences every decision. Guilt that convinces us we're defined by our mistakes. We become so accustomed to our suffering that it becomes our status quo.
But, Jesus sees us as we are, calls us to himself, and heals us. In doing so, he reminds us that we don't have to keep living with the pain. We just need to let him into our pain and open ourselves to the healing power of his love and mercy.
—Jackie Schulte is the Head of School and Dean of Faculty Formation at Creighton Preparatory School in Omaha, Nebraska.
Prayer
Lord Jesus,
Free us from the burdens we have grown accustomed to carrying.
Give us the humility to bring our pain to you and the faith to trust in your healing power.
Through your love and mercy, help us find freedom from all that keeps us from you.
Amen
—Jackie Schulte