Luke 13:12-13 - You Are Healed

When Jesus saw her, he called her over and said, "Dear woman, you are healed of your sickness!" Then he touched her, and instantly she could stand straight.
Luke 13:12-13

What impresses me most about this scene with Jesus is how deeply He sees into each person and his/her needs in a very compassionate way. Jesus is teaching when the woman comes in, and he heals her of the evil spirit which had crippled her for eighteen years. He halts his important teaching (disregarding the legalistic company he is in) to deal with a person who had possibly been written off as hopeless by the majority in attendance.

I'm also moved by the woman's courage. The text doesn't say that she seeks Jesus out for healing, but ... she shows up. I'd think in eighteen years' time she had tried everything to improve her condition, perhaps even seeking healing in the very temple she attends here. Maybe she had lost all hope of being cured. Despite her physical problems, she is still in attendance at the temple, indicating that, in the midst of it all, she hadn't given up her faith.

This woman reminds me to never give up in the difficult places. Sometimes we have a thorn in the flesh that isn't going to go away and must learn to lean on God's sufficiency. Other times God decides to heal us for His glory. We don't get to choose which situation we find ourselves in, and we don't know what God plans to do with our struggles.

All we can do is continue doing what we know to be right and good, trusting that God knows best and that he does see us, including the causes of and cures for what ails us.