This week, we’ve seen the miraculous, healing power of God in the lives of women. Each story has shown us the incredible value that God has for healing women of all ages. We’ve seen Jesus’s encounter with women who had been sick for only a little while. Others, like the woman with an issue of blood, had been sick for quite a while. Today we meet another woman with a years-long illness. Luke 13 introduces us to a woman who had been crippled for eighteen years. Eighteen years. Unlike the woman with the issue of blood, this woman was able to enter the temple and interact with her religious community. However, she was still in pain. Due to an issue with her spine, she was permanently bent over. How painful it must have been!
All of that changed once Jesus saw her. One Sabbath day, he called her over to himself and laid his hands on her (Luke 13:12–13). Immediately, she straightened up, something that she had not been able to do for nearly twenty years. What was her response? She began to glorify God. Can’t we imagine the tears of joy and relief she must have cried that day? And wouldn’t we expect those around her—those who knew of her years-long disability—to rejoice with her? Something else happens instead.
The time and place of the woman’s healing angered the ruler of the synagogue. The Jewish leaders in Jesus’s day had imposed strict laws on top of the Mosaic law. Healing on the Sabbath day was considered an act of work and thus prohibited. However, Jesus rebuked the religious leaders and insisted that the Sabbath was the perfect time for this woman’s healing to occur. But Jesus didn’t just call her a woman. He called her a daughter of Abraham.
Notice how Jesus, in a few sentences, showed how valuable this woman was in his sight, calling her a daughter of Abraham. Let’s not miss the significance of this phrase, which certainly wasn’t lost on the religious leaders. The Jews took great pride in being the children of Abraham, nearly considering themselves religious royalty.
Jesus not only showed the value of this woman by healing her, but with one phrase, he revealed her true identity. As a daughter of Abraham, she was entitled to healing and restoration as much as anyone else. And so are we.
I think the biggest lie I struggle with is feeling worthy… Worthy of having my opinions matter, especially as a woman. So many times it’s been communicated that I am TOO emotional, TOO opinionated, TOO passionate about things that matter to me. People, especially Christians in my experience, don’t like big feelings so they offer platitudes or run away.
Ooooh, this is such a painful truth, Rachel: "People, especially Christians in my experience, don’t like big feelings …" I find it so strange, because Jesus had really big feelings! He turned over tables in the temple. He wept over Jerusalem. He partied with all the wrong people, and we know He must have spent a lot of time doing this, because the people who didn’t like Him called Him ‘a glutton and a drunkard’! And He had lots of passionate opinions, too, that didn’t go over so well to His listeners. I rejoice in the way God made you, sister!
Such great feedback, ladies! I appreciate you!
Yes ! Being on fire for Jesus especially can cause people to look at you strange. It’s like they think you should put it in a box and only bring it out at Sunday school.One of my most favorite reactions is their face when I ask them if I can give Jesus a message for them because he’s a friend of mine ,when they use his name in vain.I love it when people want you to pray for them when you ask that’s the best! It’s especially fun when they say ,your religious what do you think? So be bold we are daughters of Abraham! We should always have an answer and be prepared for our boldness!
I was real active in church and my community. When I broke my ankle during a flood we had, things changed. my ankle didn’t heal right now it’s dislocated. All the doctors say I shouldn’t be walking, but I am.
I believe my faith in God had a lot to do with me still walking. I pray and read the Bible daily, even though I don’t have a way to church, I watch my church online. I participated with studies online.
I really enjoy this series of studying.
When I was younger, I often got.called a lesbian because I played softball and I rarely had a boyfriend. When I got older, I was accused of sleeping with soccer players I worked with; I was a virgin… These were shots taken at a more surface level of my identity, but I know that, no matter what people say about me, I am a child of God created in His image and people’s opinions simply don’t matter.
How hurtful! Jesus sees the heart!
I was called stupid and worthless with no common sense, by my family. There was a lot of verbal abuse in my home and outside of my home. When I was a child I had a weight problem and I was constantly being called fat, ugly, and stupid. It took many years to heal from the abusive words and lies. I am loved, protected and cherished by God and by Jesus! and I know I matter and I no longer listen to nor believe the lies.
That I am not enough as a wife and that I am not a good daughter or daughter-in-law.
I am His child and my identity is found in Him alone.
Too often I have believed I was "less than" or "unworthy" because of my weight or appearance. The words people of spoken over me, the expectations of culture, and the lies of the devil defeated me. Then I encountered Ephesians 2:10 – For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
This verse is full of so much hope for me. It not only tells me that I am God’s Handiwork, but also that I am valued and purposeful in his plans. This verse continues to help me fight the lies.
wow! I know just how you are feeling I feel this same way… I am going to read this and hope that it has the same effect on me… I have struggled with my weight all of my life and have been made to feel less then many times by many people and it is the hardest feeling in the world to get passed and it gets harder the older I get and the fact that I am making my kids feel like there is something wrong with me and they are picking up on the feeling of worthlessness when all they care about is me loving them and making time for them.. weight or worth is never an issue for them unless they see that it is for us.. Now believing that everyday is the hard part!
I can remember growing up and my appearance always being “not good enough” in my mothers eyes. This “oh have you makeup on” or “why don’t you curl your hair” or “wears the lipstick”. I was not necessarily a “princess girly girl type”, but I was a girl, dressed appropriately for my gender, I just liked to be natural and spend time outside, ride bikes, camp, fish and be free to be me. The lie I was told was “you aren’t good enough”. Like the woman was healed, Jesus heals all through His love and I can have tested assurance that I am a Child of God and favored by the Almighty Father.
What this scripture tells me is I AM GOOD ENOUGH. I am valued, loved, wonderfully, beautifully HIS.
I had really curly hair in high school. other girls would make fun of it any call me poodle. they would even prank call me and leave messages pretending to be advertisements for hair straighteners. I found it comical and immature, but it would make me get upset with my hair and try to straighten it. Now they are using tools to curl their hair lol
I have been told and made to feel worthless, but my God says I’m fearfully and wonderfully made and that I am a child of God.