The Spirit of Liberation: From Bondage to Sonship

Voice over by Esther Han

Rom 8:12-17, Psalm: 67, Lk 13:10-17

My dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ,

The Christian life is a passage from one way of living to another—from a spirit of fear to a spirit of adoption; from being bent over by burdens to standing tall in the freedom of God’s children. Today’s readings offer us a powerful icon of this transformation, contrasting the bondage of legalism with the liberating power of God’s Spirit.

In the Gospel, we meet a woman who has been “crippled by a spirit” for eighteen years. She is utterly bent over, incapable of standing erect. Her physical condition is a poignant image of a soul weighed down by sin, by suffering, or by the heavy burden of a religion that has lost its heart. Jesus sees her. He does not wait for her to ask for help. He takes the initiative, calling her to Him and declaring, “Woman, you are set free of your infirmity.” He lays His hands on her, and immediately she stands up straight and begins to glorify God.

But the reaction of the synagogue leader is telling. Indignant that Jesus has performed this work of mercy on the Sabbath, he scolds the crowd, insisting there are six days for work. He represents a religion so focused on the rules that it has forgotten the person the rules were meant to serve. Jesus’ response is sharp and brilliant: “You hypocrites! Does not each one of you on the Sabbath untie his ox or his ass from the manger and lead it out for watering?” If they show compassion to an animal on the Sabbath, how much more should this daughter of Abraham, “whom Satan has bound for eighteen years,” be set free? The law of love triumphs over a loveless interpretation of the law.

This dramatic healing is exactly what Saint Paul describes in the Letter to the Romans. He tells us we are not debtors to the flesh, obliged to live according to its selfish desires. That path leads only to a deeper spiritual bondage, a perpetual bending in on ourselves. Instead, he proclaims, “For those who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God.” Through Baptism, we have received a new spirit—not a spirit of slavery that keeps us in fear, like the leader of the synagogue fearing a rule violation, but “a Spirit of adoption, through whom we cry, ‘Abba, Father!’”

The woman stood up straight because she was restored to her true dignity. We, too, through the Spirit, are enabled to stand erect and call God “Father.” This is the ultimate healing and liberation. We are no longer slaves, but sons and daughters, and if children, then heirs with Christ.

The challenge and comfort for us are clear. Where in our lives are we still bent over? Are we crippled by guilt, by fear, by the weight of others’ expectations, or even by a scrupulous practice of our faith that has become a burden rather than a joy? Jesus desires to touch us today, to say, “You are set free.”

And are we, at times, like the synagogue official, quick to judge others based on our own narrow understanding of the rules, rather than seeing their need for mercy? Pope Francis constantly urges us to be a field hospital, where healing comes first.

Let us open our hearts to the liberating Spirit of adoption. Let us allow the Lord to straighten our backs so that we may stand tall in the dignity of God’s children, living not in fear, but in the freedom of love, crying out with confidence, “Abba, Father!” Amen.