Reading 1
Eph 4:32–5:8
Brothers and sisters:
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
as a sacrificial offering to God for a fragrant aroma.
Immorality or any impurity or greed must not even be mentioned among you,
as is fitting among holy ones,
no obscenity or silly or suggestive talk, which is out of place,
but instead, thanksgiving.
Be sure of this, that no immoral or impure or greedy person,
that is, an idolater,
has any inheritance in the Kingdom of Christ and of God.
Let no one deceive you with empty arguments,
for because of these things
the wrath of God is coming upon the disobedient.
So do not be associated with them.
For you were once darkness,
but now you are light in the Lord.
Live as children of light.
Ps 1:1-2, 3, 4 and 6
Responsorial PsalmR. (see Eph. 5:1)
Behave like God as his very dear children.
Blessed the man who follows not
the counsel of the wicked
Nor walks in the way of sinners,
nor sits in the company of the insolent,
But delights in the law of the LORD
and meditates on his law day and night.
R. Behave like God as his very dear children.
He is like a tree
planted near running water,
That yields its fruit in due season,
and whose leaves never fade.
Whatever he does, prospers.
R. Behave like God as his very dear children.
Not so the wicked, not so;
they are like chaff which the wind drives away.
For the LORD watches over the way of the just,
but the way of the wicked vanishes.
R. Behave like God as his very dear children.
Gospel
Lk 13:10-17
Jesus was teaching in a synagogue on the sabbath.
And a woman was there who for eighteen years
had been crippled by a spirit;
she was bent over, completely incapable of standing erect.
When Jesus saw her, he called to her and said,
“Woman, you are set free of your infirmity.”
He laid his hands on her,
and she at once stood up straight and glorified God.
But the leader of the synagogue,
indignant that Jesus had cured on the sabbath,
said to the crowd in reply,
“There are six days when work should be done.
Come on those days to be cured, not on the sabbath day.”
The Lord said to him in reply, “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?
This daughter of Abraham,
whom Satan has bound for eighteen years now,
ought she not to have been set free on the sabbath day
from this bondage?”
When he said this, all his adversaries were humiliated;
and the whole crowd rejoiced at all the splendid deeds done by him.
Meditation: Luke 13:10-17
“You are set free of your infirmity.” (Luke 13:12)
A few years ago, “WWJD” made the rounds of popular Christianity. Bumper stickers, bracelets, embroidered patches all asked the question: “What would Jesus do?” St. Luke tells in today’s Gospel what Jesus did do. He saw a woman who had suffered a crippling infirmity for eighteen years. And when he saw her, he stopped everything and healed her.
Apparently, no one minded that Jesus had performed this miracle of healing and compassion. They complained only that he had picked the wrong day to do it. But Jesus demonstrates here what St. Paul would later write to the Corinthians: “Now is a very acceptable time; behold, now is the day” (2 Corinthians 6:2). Not later, not some vague time in the future. God wants to act now. He wants to pour out his healing and his love in ways we can see and feel and experience now. He is Emmanuel, God-with-us, now.
Do you believe that you are precious to God? Jesus tells us that not even a single sparrow falls to the ground without the Father seeing it (Matthew 10:29), and you are far more valuable to him than a sparrow! Picture Jesus interrupting his teaching in a synagogue to heal this woman. Would he do any less for you? Of course not!
So is there something in your life that you feel has a hold on you? Something that is keeping you bent over in fear, shame, or hurt? Jesus wants to set you free. And he can do it now! He doesn’t delight in seeing his people suffer. He gets no joy out of our prolonged anxiety or guilt. He wants to see all of us standing straight and tall, completely convinced of our dignity in him.
Ask him to set you free today. Whatever is weighing you down, place it before him. Don’t let any little voice whisper to you that it’s not the right time or that there’s a better time. Ask him now. Present yourself before him today—now. No prayer goes unanswered. The answer may be surprising, unusual, or easy to overlook, but God always answers. So ask him now.
“Jesus, you lift up all who are bowed down. Lift me up today, and set me free. Heal me so that I can praise and serve you today and forever.”
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