I was in a good mood this morning until I reached Luke 13:10 in my daily Bible reading. What I read there troubled me.
It's about a Sabbath day when Jesus was teaching in a synagogue. In the congregation was a woman, unnamed, "bent over" (osteoporosis?), "crippled by a spirit for eighteen years."
When Jesus spotted her (he rarely seems to miss these kinds of people), he called her forward, and with a touch of his hands and a simple statement—"Woman, you are set free from your infirmity"—he healed her. Eighteen years of misery: vanquished.
"She straightened up and praised God," the story says. For a moment I speculated on how her praising of God differed from the "praising" that might have been going on among the rest of the crowd? I bet this lady had no need for a microphone or an invitation to speak. I wonder if she danced?
One would think that this healing event would thrill everyone in the building. That everyone would dance. ...
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