Words of Jesus

Thursday April 23, 2026

Luke 13:10-13  “Now he was teaching in one of the synagogues on the sabbath. And there was a woman who had a spirit of infirmity for eighteen years; she was bent over and could not fully straighten herself. And when Jesus saw her, he called her and said to her, “Woman, you are freed from your infirmity.” And he laid his hands upon her, and immediately she was made straight, and she praised God.”

 RSV

Jesus said: “Woman, you are set freed from your infirmity.” He did not say be healed or well.  She was set free.  This sounds like more than a physical issue.  It especially sounds like a spiritual issue when one also looks back two sentences to the comment: “been crippled by a spirit for eighteen years”.  Once again, like the paralyzed man who had been lowered through the roof to Jesus (Luke 5), healing by Jesus is spiritual as well as physical.  He heals our relationship with God.