REFLECTIONS TODAY
Today’s Gospel narrates how Jesus cures a woman who has been crippled for 18 years. The synagogue leader reacts negatively about it because it happens on a Sabbath. The Sabbath is the day of rest (Gn 2:2). It must be kept holy (Ex 20:8-11). But how can one make the Sabbath holy? Is it by observing the Sabbath Law to the letter, or is it by understanding the spirit behind the Sabbath Law and acting on it? God blessed the Sabbath and made it holy (Gn 2:3) so that we may experience the fullness of life with him. The Sabbath is a time to be with God. The woman has been suffering for a long time, and Jesus sets her free of her infirmities. The woman, when healed, “stood up straight” (anōrthōthē, “restored”) and she “glorified” (edoksazen) God. Jesus brings the woman back to God, setting her free of anything that may separate her from God.
Do we realize that, when separated from God, we are also crippled? Do we recognize the need to restore our relationship with God? When was the last time we brought somebody back to God?
Gospel • Lk 13:10-17
Jesus was teaching in a synagogue on the sabbath. And a woman was there who for eighteen years had been crippled by a spirit; she was bent over, completely incapable of standing erect. When Jesus saw her, he called to her and said, “Woman, you are set free of your infirmity.” He laid his hands on her, and she at once stood up straight and glorified God. But the leader of the synagogue, indignant that Jesus had cured on the sabbath, said to the crowd in reply, “There are six days when work should be done. Come on those days to be cured, not on the sabbath day.” The Lord said to him in reply, “Hypocrites! Does not each one of you on the sabbath untie his ox or his ass from the manger and lead it out for watering? This daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has bound for eighteen years now, ought she not to have been set free on the sabbath day from this bondage?” When he said this, all his adversaries were humiliated; and the whole crowd rejoiced at all the splendid deeds done by him.
Source: “365 Days with the Lord 2022,” St. Pauls, 7708 St. Paul Rd., SAV, Makati City (Phils.); Tel.: 632-895-9701; Fax 632-895-7328; E-mail: [email protected]; Website: http://www.stpauls.ph.