THE thirteenth chapter of Luke's gospel presents in vivid terms certain scenes in the great drama of human redemption which show the determination of mortal mind to resist every advancing step of spiritual Truth. In his parables Jesus was unsparing in his condemnation of the error which claimed to control men in the name of God, but which had no good fruits to show in support of its arrogant assumptions. What most enraged his adversaries, however, was the unanswerable argument of healing which always accompanied or followed his declarations of truth.
Here we are told of the healing of a poor woman who for eighteen years had been "bowed together, and could in no wise lift up herself." It matters little by what name the disease was called at that time, or how it would be diagnosed today, for the all-important thing is the spiritual law by the operation of which she was set free. It is, however, very likely that she had been led to believe that her suffering came from God, directly or indirectly, as so many are taught today, and this belief would paralyze the energies which if unhindered would lift any one up. In Science and Health (p. 205) Mrs. Eddy says that "a belief in many ruling minds hinders man's normal drift, toward the one Mind, one God." It was little wonder that the woman was bowed down, when all those around her held over her the false belief in disease which denied the omnipotence and omnipresence of the one infinite Mind, and her healing meant that she was set free from false belief respecting God and man.
When Jesus saw the woman he simply told her that she was free,—not that she would be, or might be, but that as God's child she was always free. His words were: "Woman, thou art loosed from thine infirmity." The result was that, she was immediately healed; and what is even more important, she "glorified God." We would naturally suppose that all present would have done the same, but no! The ruler of the synagogue indignantly charged the great Healer with violating the law; but Christ Jesus forcefully repelled the accusation and at the same time settled forever a most important point in theology, when he said it was Satan, not God, that had bound the woman, and that the Sabbath was honored by this healing work.
