The Hunch Back
“And behold there was a woman who had a spirit of infirmity eighteen years, and was bent over and could in no way raise herself up. But when Jesus saw her, He called her to Him and said to her, “Woman, you are loosed from your infirmity.” … and immediately she was made straight, and glorified God.” Luke 13: 11-12
It must have been an exciting service to attend. Luke, a doctor himself, describes this healing scene vividly and in great detail. A woman bent over for over 18 years goes to the synagogue where Jesus happens to be preaching. Aren't you glad when Jesus is in the house? God can move anywhere, but will certainly move in His house! Sure, the lightning can strike anywhere, yet, lightning is drawn to that metal rod, so also the Lord’s power is drawn up in His house. We often don’t realize how many pains we bear, how many doubts we carry, and how much misery we hang on to when we consistently ignore going to the House of God. But I digress.
This woman suffers perhaps from one of those other painful conditions of the back where the curvature of the spine has been permanently misaligned. It probably causes excruciating pain for her to even try to straighten it so she has gotten accustomed to being bent over. Much like when you wake up with a sprain in your neck, and by the end of the day you have learnt to avoid the movement that causes the pain. You learn to walk with your head tilted a bit. You learn to be a hunch-back. Yet, she is a daughter of Abraham, and a worshipper, and she goes to the synagogue. Jesus notices, calls her, and says, “Woman you are loosed!” And she is set free! In an instant the One who had spoken the world into existence had spoken, and the woman was delivered. The Bible says that she was immediately straightened.” She came to the service as a hunch back, and went home with a straight back.
May I engage your imagination here a bit. This woman was bound up for 18 years, and she had accommodated her lifestyle to being bent-over. Imagine if this woman who glorified God now goes back to her home. As she enters her home, she realizes the door is short. After all she never needed a door too tall – she was a hunch back. Even the chair she sits on is accommodated to her. The table she dines from is low so she can eat as a hunch back. In fact, as she walks around and does things she unconsciously hunches back – that is what she is used to. Her world has been accommodated. Everything around her has been accommodated to her hunched back. Before she could “in no wise lift herself up” but now she sometimes “does not want to lift herself up”. She hunches sometimes because it is easier than to stand straight up. It is a demand of the miraculous deliverance that she recreate her world without, and her habits within if she is going to live with the full benefits of her deliverance. If she will not do that she might as well have been left as a hunch back! May I say that that is often the demand we ignore. We want the miraculous regeneration, but will not meet its demand to do what it takes to live a life purchased for us by Holy blood! We often tend to live as hunch backs after being loosed!
There was a time when sin had full control. There was a time when nature caused it so you could in no wise lift yourself up. You were in bondage. You were in darkness and confusion. You tried yet had no understanding. In all your efforts you could not lift yourself up. Then Jesus came along, and proclaimed – “You are loosed”. You believed, and you had a miraculous regeneration. You felt it – you had been straightened. But then you faced daily life. And the world was more accommodated to your being a hunch back, and though loosed you started walking around as a hunch back! A hunch back due to their posture can see more of themselves, and lot less farther. When we live like one, we cannot see much beyond our own desires and become short-sighted.
I do not know the source of this story, but a story that sounds like the Beverly Hillbillies is told of a man named Yates who operated a sheep ranch in West Texas during the great depression. The business was in dire straits, and he ended up living on subsidy. His days were full of care and financial concerns for the family until a seismographic crew explored his land and found oil. Eighty Thousand barrels a day from the first well! He spent his days in poverty because he did not know what he possessed!
Friend, are you finding yourself accommodating to the world around you? Living as a hunch back when the Lord has loosed you? Do you know what you possess? One of the lies we believe is that we are only human and over time we will overcome our infirmity, and so we keep on living like hunch backs. But God in Jesus has provided us the power to overcome our infirmities. We do not have to live with besetting sins. We do not have to live in despair. We only need to run again to Jesus and hear the words, “You are loosed!”.
Then stand straight up and resist everything that forces us to be a hunch back again!
Danesh Manik
It must have been an exciting service to attend. Luke, a doctor himself, describes this healing scene vividly and in great detail. A woman bent over for over 18 years goes to the synagogue where Jesus happens to be preaching. Aren't you glad when Jesus is in the house? God can move anywhere, but will certainly move in His house! Sure, the lightning can strike anywhere, yet, lightning is drawn to that metal rod, so also the Lord’s power is drawn up in His house. We often don’t realize how many pains we bear, how many doubts we carry, and how much misery we hang on to when we consistently ignore going to the House of God. But I digress.
This woman suffers perhaps from one of those other painful conditions of the back where the curvature of the spine has been permanently misaligned. It probably causes excruciating pain for her to even try to straighten it so she has gotten accustomed to being bent over. Much like when you wake up with a sprain in your neck, and by the end of the day you have learnt to avoid the movement that causes the pain. You learn to walk with your head tilted a bit. You learn to be a hunch-back. Yet, she is a daughter of Abraham, and a worshipper, and she goes to the synagogue. Jesus notices, calls her, and says, “Woman you are loosed!” And she is set free! In an instant the One who had spoken the world into existence had spoken, and the woman was delivered. The Bible says that she was immediately straightened.” She came to the service as a hunch back, and went home with a straight back.
May I engage your imagination here a bit. This woman was bound up for 18 years, and she had accommodated her lifestyle to being bent-over. Imagine if this woman who glorified God now goes back to her home. As she enters her home, she realizes the door is short. After all she never needed a door too tall – she was a hunch back. Even the chair she sits on is accommodated to her. The table she dines from is low so she can eat as a hunch back. In fact, as she walks around and does things she unconsciously hunches back – that is what she is used to. Her world has been accommodated. Everything around her has been accommodated to her hunched back. Before she could “in no wise lift herself up” but now she sometimes “does not want to lift herself up”. She hunches sometimes because it is easier than to stand straight up. It is a demand of the miraculous deliverance that she recreate her world without, and her habits within if she is going to live with the full benefits of her deliverance. If she will not do that she might as well have been left as a hunch back! May I say that that is often the demand we ignore. We want the miraculous regeneration, but will not meet its demand to do what it takes to live a life purchased for us by Holy blood! We often tend to live as hunch backs after being loosed!
There was a time when sin had full control. There was a time when nature caused it so you could in no wise lift yourself up. You were in bondage. You were in darkness and confusion. You tried yet had no understanding. In all your efforts you could not lift yourself up. Then Jesus came along, and proclaimed – “You are loosed”. You believed, and you had a miraculous regeneration. You felt it – you had been straightened. But then you faced daily life. And the world was more accommodated to your being a hunch back, and though loosed you started walking around as a hunch back! A hunch back due to their posture can see more of themselves, and lot less farther. When we live like one, we cannot see much beyond our own desires and become short-sighted.
I do not know the source of this story, but a story that sounds like the Beverly Hillbillies is told of a man named Yates who operated a sheep ranch in West Texas during the great depression. The business was in dire straits, and he ended up living on subsidy. His days were full of care and financial concerns for the family until a seismographic crew explored his land and found oil. Eighty Thousand barrels a day from the first well! He spent his days in poverty because he did not know what he possessed!
Friend, are you finding yourself accommodating to the world around you? Living as a hunch back when the Lord has loosed you? Do you know what you possess? One of the lies we believe is that we are only human and over time we will overcome our infirmity, and so we keep on living like hunch backs. But God in Jesus has provided us the power to overcome our infirmities. We do not have to live with besetting sins. We do not have to live in despair. We only need to run again to Jesus and hear the words, “You are loosed!”.
Then stand straight up and resist everything that forces us to be a hunch back again!
Danesh Manik
posted by Danesh Manik | 4:33 PM
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