Eighteen years is a long time. Try to imagine that you have been sick for eighteen years, whatever illness that might be. It leaves you in pain and makes your life miserable, and you have consulted many doctors, spent a great deal of money, traveled to many places but nothing seemed to help. And now, there is that one opportunity to receive healing -- the Son of God is here, and He is willing to touch you and restore you to full health. Would you like to miss that opportunity? Of course not! You and I would do anything to be there and to receive healing. The poor woman from the gospel reading was “for eighteen years had been crippled by a spirit; she was bent over, completely incapable of standing erect,” and when finally she received the grace of healing, the leader of the synagogue said “There are six days when work should be done. Come on those days to be cured, not on the Sabbath day.” How irrational that accusation sounds! Jesus proves to us that if there is someone who needs our help and our attention, we can’t be making any excuses. For God, it is more important to show our care and love to others, than to observe a holy day of Sabbath.
