You Are Set Free
Luke 13:10-17 (KJV)

 



Dr. William S. Epps, Senior Pastor

Sunday, August 21, 2022
10And he was teaching in one of the synagogues on the sabbath. 11And, behold, there was a woman which had a spirit of infirmity eighteen years, and was bowed together, and could in no wise lift up herself. 12And when Jesus saw her, he called her to him, and said unto her, Woman, thou art loosed from thine infirmity. 13And he laid his hands on her: and immediately she was made straight, and glorified God. 14And the ruler of the synagogue answered with indignation, because that Jesus had healed on the sabbath day, and said unto the people, There are six days in which men ought to work: in them therefore come and be healed, and not on the sabbath day. 15The Lord then answered him, and said, Thou hypocrite, doth not each one of you on the sabbath loose his ox or his ass from the stall, and lead him away to watering? 16And ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan hath bound, lo, these eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the sabbath day? 17And when he had said these things, all his adversaries were ashamed: and all the people rejoiced for all the glorious things that were done by him.
Luke 13:10-17 King James Version (KJV)
 
Introduction
 
It has been suggested that the healing miracles of Jesus speak to the deeper need of humanity. Each one in its own way points to the healing we all need. The healing that humanity needs is made available in Christ. 
 
The healing miracles of Jesus are all quite different. (1) People came to Jesus (Luke 5:12). Once when he was in one of the cities, there was a man covered with leprosy. When he saw Jesus, he bowed with his face to the ground and begged him, "Lord if you choose, you can make me clean". (2) People were brought to him who were infirmed (Luke 5:17). One day while Jesus was teaching, some men came carrying a paralyzed man on a bed. They let him down through the tiles in the middle of the crowd. (3) Jesus was asked to go see a person (Luke 8:40). Jairus begged Jesus to come to his house for he had an only daughter, about twelve years old, who was dying. (4) Jesus was interrupted as he traveled (Luke 18:35). As he approached Jericho, a blind man was sitting by the roadside begging. When he heard a crowd going by, he asked what was happening. They told him, "Jesus of Nazareth is passing by". Then he shouted, "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!" (5). Jesus saw persons and took the initiative to respond to their situation (Luke 13:10-17). 

Consider what it means that the healing, which humanity
needs, is available in Christ.  
Monday, August 22, 2022
The person in the passage today did not come to Jesus; she was not brought to Jesus, Jesus was not asked to go see her, nor did she interrupt Jesus. Jesus saw her and responded to what He saw. 
 
She showed up in the synagogue and Jesus was there. I guess something is to be said for being in the right place at the right time. It seems as though she had a practice of attending the synagogue on the Sabbath. What thoughts must have filled her mind week after week, month after month, year after year. We are not told a lot about her situation but we are told enough to get a glimpse of what occurred.  
 
This story is eloquent in expressing this deeper need of humanity. Let's explore the situation which is contained in the passage. The description of the sufferer is so accurate in its detail. Her presence gives us a hint of her faith.  
 
It was the Sabbath, a holy day, set aside for special activity. It was Jesus' custom to go the synagogue on the Sabbath (Luke 4:16). It is good to look forward to a special day.  A day where you can reflect on your life, regain focus, reorder your priorities, renew, replenish, and refresh yourself. While God is present everywhere, there is something about being in fellowship with kindred souls. We are admonished in Hebrews 10:25, "forsake not the assembling of yourselves together as is the custom of some."  We all need a special place where we can affirm our allegiance, bolster our beliefs, foster our faith, reinforce our resolve. We need a special day in a special place, a break from the ordinary monotonous routine of the daily grind. We need a special place built and set aside for a special purpose. 
 
William James, (a philosopher and psychologist, was instrumental in establishing Harvard's psychology department, which at its inception was tied to the department of philosophy) reminds us that all our life is but a mass of habitsRegardless of their nature, our habits make up our life. Habits shape your life far more than you probably realize. Habits are very strong. In fact, our brains cling to them at the exclusion of all else, including common sense. It has been estimated that 40 percent of actions you perform each day aren't actual decisions, but habits. Not only are habits important, they grow stronger and stronger over time and become more automatic. Make sure you have the right habits. They create neurological cravings: A certain behavior is rewarded by the release of "pleasure" chemicals in the brain. 
                  
Consider what it means to have a habit of worshipping on a
special day in a special place.  
Tuesday, August 23, 2022
There appeared a women on a special day in a special place with a spirit that had crippled her for eighteen years. (18 years / 6574 days / 936 weeks / 216 months. She was bent over and was quite unable to stand up straight. 
 
But in the synagogue on the Sabbath, she had appeared as she has many times before. But this time was different. We don't know whether anyone interacted with her on those other occasions. But on this occasion she captures the attention of Jesus who was teaching. Whether the lesson was about what would follow, we are not told. All we know is that in the midst of teaching, Jesus saw her.  
 
Jesus sees her.  12And when Jesus saw her.
 
The Lord sees you. It is good to be seen. 
 
Carlyle Marney in his book “The Recovery of the Person” raises the question “who sees the whole person”? The doctor sees the patient / the mechanic the car / the sales person a potential buyer / the lawyer a litigant. Notice the silos into which we characterized people, labeling people and putting them in categories such as consumers, conservatives, moderates, liberals, and radicals, you name it. Then there are even those labels that are denigrating and derogatory, demeaning and devaluing humanity and personhood. The Whole Person Concept says that a person is made up of 4 quadrants – body, mind, heart and spirit, which are filled with aspirations, beliefs, desires, and longings.
 
The movie Avatar popularized the phrase “I see you.” Among the tribes in Northern Natal in South Africa, the tribes greet each other with “Sawu bona” which in the English language is equivalent to saying, “hello.” The phrase “Sawu bona”
literally is defined as I see you.” (If you are a member of the tribe you would reply, “Sikhona,” which in English is the equivalent to saying, I am here.”
In the blockbuster movie "Avatar" when they say, “I see you” it means, "I see the love and your feelings, your being and your essence."
 
Consider what it means to be seen.  
Wednesday, August 24, 2022
"Invisible Man" was the only novel written by Ralph Ellison; it was written in the 1940s and published in 1952. The book's protagonist is an anonymous character who is a Black male living in the southern part of the United States of America who eventually moves to New York City.

Invisible Man reflected many of the social issues faced by Black people in the years leading up to the Civil Rights Movement. As a Black man, the narrator feels that society overlooks him because of his race, leading him to question his identity, value and worth.

Jesus see us, the essence of who we are with all the potential of being made and fashioned in the image of God. The Lord sees you, mind, body, spirit and soul. The Lord sees that we are all bent, broken, and burdened in some way, shape or form.  
 
Consider some of the ways in which we are bent. We are bent by certain conditions, calamities and bitter contention. We are damaged by dilemmas, disabled by distress, impaired by injurious incidents, incapacitated by ignominious insensitivity, wounded by wickedness.   
 
Jesus sees you. 

There’s not a friend like the lowly Jesus, no not one, no not one. 
None else could heal all our souls’ diseases,
No not one, no not one. 
Jesus knows all about our struggles,
He will guide 'til the day is done,
There’s not a friend like the lowly Jesus, no not one!
No not one!
 
Consider what it means that we are all bent and in
need of being straightened up. 
Thursday, August 25, 2022
Jesus called to her12And when Jesus saw her, he called her to him, and said unto her, Woman, thou art loosed from thine infirmity
 
Jesus calls her over, telling her she is set free from this spirit of infirmity that has crippled her. What the Lord said to her, she needed to hear. He gave her a word of assurance that would alleviate her affliction. The Lord's power to liberate is stronger than any fetter that holds. Isn’t that what we all need, a word of assurance that will alleviate our apathy, adversity and anxiety?
 
Oh, how we need to be loosed from the infirmities that grip our society individually and communally.  We can’t seem to straighten ourselves out. We use labels that describe people in less than desirable ways. The descriptions are not benign but pejorative in the way they are interpreted and understood. The labels continue to fractionalize and politicize people into a them-against-us way of behaving and relating. 
 
Jesus calls us to let us know that we can straighten up. Jesus looses us from what causes us to bends.    
 
Personal ailments inhibit, prevent and restrain us. Bondage obscures our sight.
She was in bondage to a spirit that bent her over. She was bent over with her eyes to the ground. She could not look up but was constrained to looking downNot only could she not look up, she could not straighten up. She could not look up because she could not straighten up and she could not straighten up because she could not look up.  Here is a picture of human helplessnessHow often have you heard someone say, I just can't seem to get myself straight? (We find ourselves confined by circumstance beyond our control, we are hindered by our habits that we chose, isolated by our idiosyncrasies, prevented by prejudice, restrained by rebellion, restricted by resentment and separated by selfishness.) We are bent, broken and can’t straighten ourselves out. 
 
Jesus calls to us. 13Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. 14You are my friends if you do what I command. 15I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. John 15:13-15
 
What a friend we have in Jesus, / All our sins and griefs to bear!
What a privilege to carry / Everything to God in prayer!
Oh, what peace we often forfeit, / Oh, what needless pain we bear,
All because we do not carry / Everything to God in prayer!
Have we trials and temptations? / Is there trouble anywhere?
We should never be discouraged— / Take it to the Lord in prayer.
Can we find a friend so faithful,
Who will all our sorrows share? / Jesus knows our every weakness;
Take it to the Lord in prayer.
Are we weak and heavy-laden, / Cumbered with a load of care?
Precious Savior, still our refuge— Take it to the Lord in prayer.
Do thy friends despise, forsake thee?
Take it to the Lord in prayer! / In His arms He’ll take and shield thee,
Thou wilt find a solace there.

I can hear my savior. Listen to Jesus calling you friend. 
 
Consider what it means to have the assurance that will
alleviate our affliction - whatever it is. 
Friday, August 26, 2022
Finally, the Lord touched her
 
Without being asked, Jesus calls her over to him, and sets her free from her longtime ailment by placing his hands on her in blessing. And the woman is blessed and freed, and has sense enough to recognize the source of the freedom she's been given to look forward at the world around her, and to move through it with confidence. Now, everyone is not amazed and grateful to witness such a thing? The synagogue leader, being faithful to his understanding of Sabbath rest, tells the crowd, which surely includes many others in need of healing (aren't we all?), to come back tomorrow, when the timing will be more "appropriate" for such things as healing. Wait a little longer, he says. However, Jesus sees the Sabbath differently, and has a different sense of timing. The time for God's healing reign is now, not later: this is an urgent matter. Jesus spent much of the previous chapter speaking about "the hour" and about the ability to see what is really important. This woman's ailment may not threaten her life, but her life is so precious that each day is a gift and an opportunity to praise God.
 
Jesus has the word and the touch to straighten us out - bent and broken, crippled or maimed, the Lord has a word to alleviate any distain, brokenness and shame. The Lord includes and give a sense of belonging to those who have been isolated and discarded.
 
She sidestepped to Jesus and He touched her and she straightened up. The Lord laid hands on her. With His touch she did what she had not be able to do for eighteen years. 
 
The power of touch. It's no secret that a pat on the back or a peck on the cheek can make you feel special. But experts now say that the right kind of touch can lower your blood pressure, and improve your outlook.
 
Researchers are studying everything from hugs to high fives. "Touch is a much more sophisticated system than we ever realized," says Matthew J. Hertenstein, Ph.D., an associate professor of psychology at DePauw University.
 
Consider what it means to be touched by the Lord Jesus. 
Saturday, August 27, 2022
"She was made straight." After eighteen years of such apparent physical deformity, immediate erectness became hers. Contracted muscles were relaxed, the curvature of the spine vanished, and all at once she stood erect - a lovely specimen of a woman. What He did in the physical realm for this woman, He is able to accomplish behaviorally, emotionally, psychologically and spiritually in our lives. Our lives are bent and crooked in many ways and things need to be made straight (Isaiah 42:16). 
 
The woman glorified God. The immediate manifestation of divine power was followed by immediate gratitude. Although she was so badly deformed, she was constant in her attendance at the synagogue to worship and praising God, but this momentous day resulted in the pouring forth of her thankfulness in a continuous strain of praise. 
 
The people rejoiced. All her friends, fellow-worshipers in the house of God, who knew of her piety and sweet resignation under severe trial, likewise "rejoiced for all the glorious things that were done by Him." 
 
Jesus has the word and the touch to straighten us out, bent and broken crippled or maimed. The Lord includes and gives a sense of belonging to those who have been isolated and discarded.
 
Conclusion

The healing touch that does so much
Shackled by a heavy burden
Beneath a load of guilt and shame
Then the hand of Jesus touched me
And now I am no longer the same.
He touched me, yes, he touched me
And all the joy that floods my soul
Something happened and now I know
He touched me and made me whole.
Since I met that blessed Savior
Oh, since he cleansed and made me whole
I will never cease
to praise him I'll shout it while eternity rolls.
Cause he touched me, yes, he touched me
And all the joy that floods my soul Something happened and now I know
He touched me and made me whole...
 
Consider what it means to praise the Lord for what the Lord does for you.   

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