Hang in there

“One Sabbath Jesus was teaching in one of the synagogues, and a woman there had been disabled by a spirit for eighteen years. She was hunched over and could not stand up straight. When Jesus saw her, He called her over and said, “Woman, you are set free from your disability.” Then He placed His hands on her, and immediately she straightened up and began to glorify God.

But the synagogue leader was indignant that Jesus had healed on the Sabbath. “There are six days for work,” he told the crowd. “So come and be healed on those days and not on the Sabbath.”

“You hypocrites!” the Lord replied. “Does not each of you on the Sabbath untie his ox or donkey from the stall and lead it to water? Then should not this daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has kept bound for eighteen long years, be released from her bondage on the Sabbath day?”

When Jesus said this, all His adversaries were humiliated. And the whole crowd rejoiced at all the glorious things He was doing.” - Luke 13:10-17

 I love this story for many reasons but mainly because my King shines so blindingly in it that I simply love Him more for it. 

This woman was beyond despair. For eighteen years she's been tied by Satan like an animal to the point 'she was hunched over and could not stand up straight.' Not because she was unwilling, but because she couldn't stand up straight.
She had to have been whole at some point. She had to have been happy and free. Maybe she liked flowers and despised people who talked nonsense, who knows. But at some point she began to slouch, then hunch over until she couldn't stand up straight anymore. And she had lived with her head down and spine bent for eighteen years. Shrinking into herself more and more. Unable to look up towards heaven. Her vision had shrunk to whatever her feet treaded on. She probably looked as if she was searching for a hole to sink in, or a grave. I don't think she would have minded finding one.

 
There are a lot of people walking about that way. Their disability is mental not physical. People that get burdened with some mental or emotional load that gets so heavy that even if they would want to they can't 'get up'.
There is a passage in one of my favorite books, Everything is illuminated, by Jonathan Safran Foer, that illustrates perfectly this state of mind:

“He awoke each morning with the desire to do right, to be a good and meaningful person, to be, as simple as it sounded and as impossible as it actually was, happy. And during each day his heart would descend from his chest into his stomach. By early afternoon he was overcome by the feeling that nothing was right, or nothing was right for him, and by the desire to be alone. By evening he was fulfilled: alone in the magnitude of his grief, alone in his aimless guilt, alone even in his loneliness. I am not sad, he would repeat to himself over and over, I am not sad. As if he might one day convince himself. Or fool himself. Or convince others--the only thing worse than being sad is for others to know that you are sad. I am not sad. I am not sad. Because his life had unlimited potential for happiness, insofar as it was an empty white room. He would fall asleep with his heart at the foot of his bed, like some domesticated animal that was no part of him at all. And each morning he would wake with it again in the cupboard of his rib cage, having become a little heavier, a little weaker, but still pumping. And by the mid afternoon he was again overcome with the desire to be somewhere else, someone else, someone else somewhere else. I am not sad.”

It's hell to even imagine one day living that way. Now stretch your mind as far as it can go and imagine years. Eighteen years.
You might say, 'that happens only to those that don't know God, those that know Him are filled with joy'. I beg to differ and allow me to elaborate.
The woman in the story was a 'daughter of Abraham'. Jesus calls her that. If that wouldn't have been the case, He would have called Satan her father like we know He did when He spoke to the pharisees and sadducees (John 8:39-44). But she was a daughter of Abraham. She wasn't possessed by the devil, that's why Jesus doesn't cast out any spirit. She had just been tied by Satan like she wasn't human anymore but an ox or a donkey. And to her credit, tied as she was, she had a fighting spirit. She didn't hide in her home, she kept going to the synagogue. One little step at a time, Sabbath after Sabbath, month after month, year after year. Satan did the worst he could to her. He managed to tie her, bowed her head and bent her spine. But that's all he could do. I don't believe he was holding back, he's not the type to do that. Just look at Job. Satan doesn't hold back when he goes after someone. He doesn't spare a field, a cow, a child or one's own skin. I don't believe Satan was holding back when he went after this woman either. She was, 'hard-pressed on all sides, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.' (2 Corinthians 4:8-9)
As sad as her state was, she wasn't without hope. She kept going to the synagogue looking for the only One who could help her. And one day He showed up. Not in the way she expected, but there He was. Standing above everybody else, teaching them. And He sees her. No, He didn't just observe an oddity. He didn't just take notice of her presence. He SAW her. Flaws, qualities, potential, tears, despair, worn out … He sees her. The tiny form, a shell of a former self, that probably went in and out of rooms without anyone ever sparing her a second glance. But oh, she had His attention. He traveled the heavens and time itself to reach her in her need. He calls her over and she comes. Just in case I need to point it out for people unacquainted with a synagogue, what Jesus did was simply insane. You have a bimah, a raised platform where the rabbi or the guest speaker stands to speak to the congregation, the aron kodesh, the place where the Scrolls of Torah (Law), Ketuvim (Scriptures) and Neviim (Prophets) are kept. You have the men's section split by a mechitzah (partition) from the women's section. The two do not mingle. Now imagine the rabbi not just looking at the women's side, but calling out to a woman and asking her to come to him. Crazy! Yet, Jesus doesn't care. After all, that's why He's here. “You are free from your disability”, He says to her and touches her, and she's released. Just like that. On the wrong day to do a miracle of course, but Jesus isn't playing any religious games. He unties her and she's free.
As expected, there's outrage. Not aimed at Jesus, but at the woman, “There are six days for work,” he told the crowd. “So come and be healed on those days and not on the Sabbath.”. No knight in shining armor could ever shine like my King when He defends this woman, “You hypocrites!” the Lord replied. “Does not each of you on the Sabbath untie his ox or donkey from the stall and lead it to water? Then should not this daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has kept bound for eighteen long years, be released from her bondage on the Sabbath day?”
His way of working offends my and your religious sensibilities. But He's alright with that. He's not about keeping my/your delusions alive. He's about setting people free. From whatever ails them. In whatever way He sees fit. It doesn't matter that 'it's not done this way', it doesn't matter that it's not 'scriptural' in my/your view. Hearts take precedence over anything. It's not my business and your business either how He chooses to free anybody. Only He knows how long those long years have been for a broken heart. No it cannot wait until you find it acceptable. It has to be done now!

If you're the woman in the story, I pray you hang in there. Fight even if your battle is reduced to waking up in the morning and getting dressed. Fight even if it means all you can do is put one foot in front of the next. Even if you have to split your existence into minutes because even hours seem to break you. But hang in there! I promise, help is on the way. He knows exactly where you are. Don't stop asking for His help. I know what it's like to have only one prayer for years, 'I am here, everything is pulling me away, even I want to leave, but I am here.' I pray you'll have the fortitude to endure the storm, the perseverance to continue to hope one day at a time and the awareness that He's the only One who can help you.
If you're the leader of the synagogue in this story and you just feel the need to point out the obvious, do me a favor --
no, do yourself a favor and be quiet. You speak of things you do not understand or ever could. Believe me, I know what it's like to have The King of glory look you in the eyes and tell you, 'you hypocrite!' Better to avoid that experience if at all possible, but if you insist I am sure He can oblige you.

Lord, You know I have been both the woman and the hypocrite. You Know all things … Thank You for … everything. One day I'll be able to find a better word that encompasses everything. Or maybe I'll just be quiet. You'll understand.

by Cristina Pop