Week 19 of the Church year
കൂനിയുടെ ഞായർ
In the synagogue on the Sabbath there is a woman who has not been able to stand up straight for eighteen years. Jesus calls her over and sets her free, and the synagogue leader is furious.
While Jesus teaches in a synagogue on the Sabbath, he sees a woman bent over for eighteen years. He calls her, lays his hands on her, and she stands straight and praises God. The synagogue leader objects; Jesus answers that she deserved freedom on the Sabbath.
Kpiptho is the Syriac name for the bent woman. The fifth Sunday of Lent reads her healing.
Nobody asked Jesus to heal her. He saw her, and he called her over.
ഈ ഞായറാഴ്ചയുടെ വായനകൾ
The Good Samaritan: who proved to be a neighbour?
At Nain, Jesus raises a widow’s only son and gives him back to his mother.
God blesses Noah: every human life is precious, for people are made in God’s image.
Babylon falls; we tried to heal her, but she could not be healed.
The Lord has given me the tongue of a teacher, to sustain the weary with a word.
A teacher tells how he searched for wisdom from his youth.
Have compassion; do not repay evil for evil, but bless.
Offer yourselves as a living sacrifice; rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep.
Jesus frees a woman bent over for eighteen years, on the Sabbath. This is the Gospel of the day.
Open in five scenesGod blesses Noah and protects every human life. Isaiah’s servant is given words to sustain the weary. The Good Samaritan and the widow of Nain show mercy that does not wait to be asked, and Romans calls us to rejoice and weep with others.
References follow the official lectionary of the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church. Your parish may read them in a different order.
Pick a scene to see what happens in it and what is easy to miss.
Jesus is teaching in a synagogue on the Sabbath. A woman is there who has had a spirit of weakness for eighteen years. She is bent over and cannot straighten up at all.
She is in the synagogue on the Sabbath. After eighteen years she is still coming to worship.
Jesus sees her and calls her over: woman, you are freed from your weakness. He lays his hands on her, and at once she straightens up and glorifies God.
She did not ask for anything. Jesus is the one who notices her.
The leader of the synagogue is indignant. He tells the crowd: there are six days for work. Come and be healed on those days, not on the Sabbath.
He speaks to the crowd, not to Jesus. It is easier to scold the people than the healer.
Jesus calls them hypocrites. Each of you unties your ox or donkey on the Sabbath to give it water. Should not this daughter of Abraham, bound eighteen years, be untied on the Sabbath?
“Daughter of Abraham” is a title of honour found nowhere else in the New Testament. Jesus restores her standing as well as her back.
His opponents are put to shame, and the whole crowd rejoices at all the wonderful things he is doing.
The leader worried about the crowd; the crowd turns out to be on the woman’s side.
The verse to keep
“എന്നാൽ സാത്താൻ പതിനെട്ടു സംവത്സരമായി ബന്ധിച്ചിരുന്ന അബ്രാഹാമിന്റെ മകളായ ഇവളെ ശബ്ബത്തുനാളിൽ ഈ ബന്ധനം അഴിച്ചു വിടേണ്ടതല്ലയോ എന്നു ഉത്തരം പറഞ്ഞു.”“Ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham whom Satan had bound eighteen long years, be freed from this bondage on the Sabbath day?”
The bent womanകൂനിയായ സ്ത്രീ
Unable to stand straight for eighteen years, still at worship on the Sabbath.
Called kpiptho, “bent”, in Syriac
The synagogue leaderപള്ളിപ്രമാണി
Responsible for the order of the service. He objects to healing on the Sabbath.
“—”
കണ്ടു, വിളിച്ചു, സ്വതന്ത്രയാക്കി
For eighteen years this woman saw mostly the ground. She could not look people in the face. She still came to the synagogue every Sabbath, bent over, probably sitting at the back. Nobody expected anything to change, perhaps not even her.
Jesus sees her. That is the first thing Luke tells us. He calls her to come forward, in front of everyone, and lays his hands on her. She stands up straight for the first time in eighteen years, and the first thing she does with her new posture is praise God.
The synagogue leader is more worried about rules than about her. Jesus answers that the Sabbath is exactly the day for setting people free. Many people around us are bent under something heavy: grief, debt, shame, illness. Lent is a time to look up, notice them and ask what we can do to help them stand.
കുടുംബമായി സംസാരിക്കാം
What weighs you down at the moment? What would help you stand up straighter?
Two minutes after the audio. Everyone gets a turn, and nobody is interrupted.Notice one person who seems weighed down this week, and do one practical thing to lighten their load.
Lord Jesus, you saw the bent woman and set her free. See what bends us down, lift us up to praise you, and open our eyes to those around us who cannot stand. Amen.
The whole year
Every Sunday of the Church year, season by season: readings, the Gospel and a question for the family.
Sunday 5 of 7 in Great Lent