Bent No Longer: The Healing That Broke the Rules

Eph 4:32—5:8, Psalm: 1, Lk 13:10-17

My dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ,

For eighteen years, she could not stand up straight. Eighteen years of staring at the ground, of seeing only feet and dust, of being overlooked and dismissed. She was a daughter of Abraham, but she was bent, broken, and bound. And then Jesus saw her. He called her over. He laid His hands on her. And immediately, she stood up straight and glorified God.

But not everyone rejoiced. The synagogue leader was indignant. “There are six days when work should be done. Come on those days to be healed, not on the Sabbath.” He was more concerned about the rule than the woman. He had forgotten why the Sabbath existed. He had forgotten that the Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. Jesus exposes the hypocrisy: “Does not each of you on the Sabbath untie his ox or his ass from the manger and lead it out for watering? This daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has bound for eighteen years—ought she not have been set free on the Sabbath?”

The crowd rejoiced. But the leader was humiliated. Because Jesus had revealed the truth: mercy is the heart of the law. The Sabbath is not a cage; it is a gift. It is a day of freedom, of healing, of restoration. And the One who gives the Sabbath is the One who heals on the Sabbath.

Saint Paul, in his Letter to the Ephesians, tells us how to live as children of the light. “Be kind to one another, compassionate, forgiving one another as God has forgiven you in Christ. Be imitators of God, as beloved children, and live in love, as Christ loved us and handed himself over for us.” He warns against the works of darkness—immorality, greed, foul talk, bitterness, anger, slander. These are the things that bind us. These are the things that keep us bent over. But we are called to stand straight. We are called to walk in love.

The woman was bound by a spirit of infirmity. We can be bound by other things: resentment, addiction, fear, shame, unforgiveness. We can be bent over by the weight of our past, unable to look up, unable to see the face of God. But Jesus sees us. He calls us. He touches us. And He sets us free.

Pope Francis has said, “The Lord never tires of forgiving; it is we who tire of asking for forgiveness.” Saint John Paul II, in his encyclical Dives in Misericordia, wrote, “Mercy is the greatest attribute of God, and it is the mission of the Church to bring that mercy to the world.” And Saint Augustine, contemplating the healing of the bent woman, said, “She was bent over by sin, but the Lord straightened her. She was bound by Satan, but the Lord set her free.”

What does this mean for us? We are called to be set free. We are called to stand up straight. We are called to walk in love, to forgive as we have been forgiven, to be kind and compassionate. And we are called to be instruments of healing for others—to see the bent-over people in our lives and to bring them to Jesus.

Today, let us examine our hearts. What is binding us? What is keeping us bent over? Let us ask the Lord to heal us, to set us free, and to help us stand up straight. And let us be like the woman who, once healed, glorified God.

For the Sabbath is not a burden. It is a gift. And the Lord of the Sabbath is the Lord of mercy. Amen.

May God bless you all!