Woman You are Set Free

From the Gospel according to Luke:

Now Jesus was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath. and just then there appeared a woman with a spirit that had crippled her for eighteen years. She was bent over and was quite unable to stand up straight.

When Jesus saw her, he called her over and said, “Woman, you are set free from your ailment.” When he laid his hands on her, immediately she stood up straight and began praising God.

But the leader of the synagogue, indignant because Jesus had cured on the Sabbath, kept saying to the crowd, “There are six days on which work ought to be done; come on those days and be cured, and not on the Sabbath day.”

Jesus answered him and said, “you hypocrites! Does not each of you on the Sabbath untie his ox or his donkey from the manger, and lead it away to give it water? and ought not this woman, a daughter of Abraham and Sarah whom Satan bound for eighteen long years, be set free from this bondage on the Sabbath day?”

When he said this, all his opponents were put to shame; and the entire crowd was rejoicing at all the wonderful things he was doing.

Today there are many things keeping women bent over--patriarchy, sexual violence, and poverty to name a few. But there are also many signs of hope, women finding their power, men working as allies for gender equity, and communities coming together to set women free and enable them to stand tall.

If you'd like to learn more about the global status of women, check out the Spring issue of A Matter of Spirit (the quarterly justice journal that I edit at the Intercommunity Peace & Justice Center).

In the words of Jesus, "Woman you are set free!"