Friday, March 3, 2023
Now he was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath. And behold, there was a woman who had had a disabling spirit for eighteen years. She was bent over and could not fully straighten herself. When Jesus saw her, he called her over and said to her, “Woman, you are freed from your disability.” Luke 13:10-12
Jesus Know and Cares
When we are suffering, there is never a time that God feels further away. The silence is deafening when we call out to Him and it doesn’t seem that He is listening or, He just doesn’t care about us. Notice in the verses above that Jesus was not indifferent to the hurt, pain and despair this woman was going through. She did not go unnoticed by Jesus, and neither do we, no matter how abandoned we feel in our pain and suffering. You do not ever need to think that Jesus is not aware of your situation or unmoved by your tears. Jesus is not indifferent to or willing to ignore your pain
Jesus has an eye for the hurting. He noticed the woman and called to her even though there is no record that she ever approached him. He reached out to her in the midst of her pain because He is aware and concerned with her hurts - and all of our hurts.
This was not a typical way to conduct the synagogue service. Jesus' response to her was not socially expected or even accepted. Women in that culture were generally thought little of and usually ignored. Why then did Jesus take notice of her and make a point to respond to her need immediately and publicly? Because Jesus notices and cares for hurting people! He has great compassion on those who are burdened, depressed, overwhelmed, and often ignored by people in general.
Yes, Jesus cares for all people but those who were hurting always seemed to receive special attention and responses from Him. In New Testament times women, lepers, prostitutes, tax collectors, and widows were the most oppressed, ignored, hurting, and hopeless of people yet these are the very people to whom Jesus ministered most often and most powerfully.
Some people have an erroneous idea that God does not take personal and emotional interest in us petty humans. This just isn’t the truth. Jesus expressed compassion for the hurting on numerous occasions and He is the perfect expression of God the Father. You may not understand many things that you are going through or why your prayers go unanswered, unlike the woman in the scriptures above, but you can be confident that God notices and cares about your pain.
We have a Lord who notices the hurting and has compassion on the burdened. As His followers, we have the responsibility to do the same! We should not be indifferent to the hurting or unresponsive; to the sorrowful and troubled. When we fellowship together we should take the time to give attention and sympathy toward those in need. When we pray, we should care enough to genuinely pray for those who are hurting, confused, sick or in pain. Hurting people should not be an afterthought in our prayers or our daily lives rather they should be our priority. Reach out to someone today that you know is hurting. Let them know that Jesus cares about them, you care about them and you are praying for them.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. For as we share abundantly in Christ's sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too.
2 Corinthians 1:3-5
2 Corinthians 1:3-5
