Breaking the Word

He 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. (Lk 13:10-17)

Jesus was teaching in the Synagogue. This woman could not have been inside the Synagogue because women were not allowed to enter into the synagogue in those days. Even now they are not allowed except in certain modern synagogues. Probably the woman was waiting outside the synagogue where Jesus was teaching.

She was sick for eighteen years. The long duration of suffering should make anyone feel for her and make anyone ready to do some good to her. Anyone who sees a person in such a condition would not be counting the rules and regulations. Natural and normal reaction would be go out to help a person in such a need. If there was any reaction against her then the person who has such an opposite reaction would be inhuman.

Jesus was divine and was the son of God. His incarnation made him feel one with the people especially the suffering people. He identified himself with the suffering people of his time. His identification was so much that he wanted alleviate the sufferings of the people. He demonstrated that humanness consists in alleviating the sufferings of the others. In this the people also recognized his divinity.

When the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together, and one of them (a scholar of the law) tested him by asking, "Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?" He said to him, "You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment. The second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments." (Mt 22:34-40)

Here we have three of the four groups that always opposed Jesus. The three are: Pharisees, Sadducees, Scribes (a scholar of the law). The fourth one is the group of priests. These groups were controlling the society on religious, economical, cultural and legal (sacred laws) areas. People could not move out of their clutches. Jesus himself was under their control and they were trying to pin him down. When one could not succeed the other group tried to control him.

When the lawyer asked him which was the greatest of all the commandments, Jesus answered him saying the first commandment, implying that there are other important commandments. If Jesus had answered saying the first commandment only, then the lawyers would say that he had no human concern. If he had said the other way about then they would say he had no religious concern. They tried to trap him.

The whole religion is rooted on two commandments: love of God and love of neighbour. When the people of Israel left Egypt they came out with two rules: one God and one people. The same is explained as love of God and love of neighbour. Everyone one who wanted to be a follower of Jesus had to keep these two in mind: God and persons.