Note: This series is written as a first-person narrative to present Jesus in the context he walked in with the unknown disciple that narrates introducing my thoughts and sparking more ideas with his questions. Enjoy.
On a Sabbath, Jesus was teaching in one of the synagogues. He’d been invited to speak by the leader. The crowd was sitting and listening when I noticed someone standing in the back. A woman was there. She was bent over and could not straighten up at all.
“Who is that,” I asked our host. “It must be painful to sit and move.”
“She’s been that way for 18 years.”
Jesus, as he spoke, was meeting the eyes of different people, and he saw her. Jesus called her forward. She shuffled to the front, her eyes downcast. Jesus said to her, “Woman, you are set free from your infirmity.”
Then he gently put his hands on her, and immediately she straightened up and praised God.
The synagogue leader who I had asked who she was, said to the people, “There are six days for work. So come and be healed on those days, not on the Sabbath.”
Jesus turned and looked at him, anger in his eyes. He answered him, “You hypocrites! Doesn’t each of you on the Sabbath untie your ox or donkey from the stall and lead it out to give it water? Then should not this woman, a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has kept bound for eighteen long years, be set free on the Sabbath day from what bound her?”
When he said this, all his opponents were humiliated. They dropped their heads in shame. The people were delighted with all the wonderful things he was doing.
Then Jesus asked, “What is the kingdom of God like? What shall I compare it to? It is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his garden. It grew and became a tree, and the birds perched in its branches.”
Again he asked, “What shall I compare the kingdom of God to? It is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into about sixty pounds of flour until it worked all through the dough.”
The Kingdom of God is small but growing. Today had been another victory.
A Ronin's Journey 