Transforming Encounters: The 40-Day Challenge (Luke)Sample

That Sabbath, a woman who had been bent over for 18 years was also in the synagogue. She had a severe deformity that made her life very difficult, and many things impossible. She could not raise her head to look someone in the eye, she could not reach anything or anyone, and pain was a part of her everyday life.

There were probably many people in the synagogue who wanted to be close to Jesus, which made it very difficult for this woman to approach him. She was invisible in the crowd.

But then a turning point occurred that changed her life. Jesus noticed her. This may have been the first time in her illness that someone had truly seen her. Jesus decided to bend down and look her in the eye, touch her, and heal her. He gave this woman the opportunity to look up again, straighten her back, embrace her loved ones. She was visible again.

Jesus once again showed that for him the person is always before the law, the crowd, the disease, or the sin.

Perhaps we ourselves sometimes feel hunched over under the burden of worries, illness, sin, weakness, dissatisfaction, fears. Perhaps we feel that under this burden even Jesus doesn't see us in the crowd.

Be encouraged today, and come before Jesus no matter what situation you are in, because He certainly notices you, and can change your life.