04 October 2026 - Keith Warrington - The Woman Who Couldn't See the Sun

Oct 04, 2026

Devotional

Day 1: When Jesus Stops His Sermon to See You

Jesus notices the overlooked before performing miracles. A woman bent double for 18 years expects nothing, yet Christ’s gaze pierces her isolation. He halts his teaching, not for the important or deserving, but for the one hiding in shadows. His seeing is an act of love that redefines worth. To be seen by Jesus is to be pulled from dust into divine focus. [15:27]

“And there was a woman who had had a disabling spirit for eighteen years. She was bent over and could not fully straighten herself. When Jesus saw her, he called her over and said to her, ‘Woman, you are freed from your disability.’”
(Luke 13:11–12, ESV)

Reflection: Where have you internalized the lie that your struggles make you invisible to God? How might Jesus’ deliberate gaze shift your posture today?

Day 2: Called to His Space While Still Bent

Jesus invites the woman to stand beside him—unhealed, ashamed, and uncertain. He prioritizes proximity over perfection, choosing her brokenness as his platform. This act defies religious norms, declaring that belonging precedes transformation. His call is not a reward for readiness but an invitation to be redefined. [18:30]

“Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”
(Matthew 11:28, ESV)

Reflection: What part of your life feels “too messy” to bring near Christ? How does his command to “come” challenge your assumptions about worthiness?

Day 3: The Scandal of Touch Before Healing

Jesus lays hands on a woman deemed unclean, risking ritual defilement. His touch communicates acceptance before cure, breaking the chain of shame. Physical contact in her culture meant contamination, but Christ’s fingers rewrite the rules: holiness heals rather than judges. [22:19]

“And he laid his hands on her, and immediately she was made straight, and she glorified God.”
(Luke 13:13, ESV)

Reflection: Where have you believed your pain distances God? How might Jesus’ intentional touch reframe your view of his nearness?

Day 4: Renamed “Daughter” in the Spotlight

Christ addresses the woman as “daughter of Abraham”—a title reserved for covenant heirs. He replaces her identity of shame with one of lineage and legacy. This naming happens publicly, forcing the crowd to reckon with her God-given dignity. [25:28]

“Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine.”
(Isaiah 43:1, ESV)

Reflection: What labels of failure or inadequacy has life given you? How might embracing Jesus’ name for you change how you stand before others?

Day 5: Straightened Backs and Unbent Praise

The woman’s first act of healing is worship—not self-inspection or doubt. Her body testifies to grace, her voice redirecting attention to God. Physical healing becomes communal invitation: miracles exist to magnify the Healer, not just alleviate suffering. [30:44]

“Immediately she was made straight, and she glorified God. But the ruler of the synagogue, indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, said to the people, ‘There are six days in which work ought to be done. Come on those days and be healed, and not on the Sabbath day.’”
(Luke 13:13–14, ESV)

Reflection: Where has your focus on personal transformation overshadowed gratitude? How might your story of grace redirect others to Christ’s heart?

Sermon Summary

Jesus came not only to save, but to reveal exactly what God is like. The Son is not inferior to the Father. The Son is the perfect image of the Father, carrying the Father’s heart into the world. Luke’s story of the bent-over woman therefore shows the heart of the Father, the Son, and the Spirit toward people who feel forgotten.

The woman has spent eighteen years looking down. Her fused spine has bent her double, but her world has bent her lower still. Her disability makes her small in the eyes of her community, her womanhood leaves her subordinated in a male-dominated culture, and the assumptions around her condition tell her that God must be against her. The dust becomes the place where she thinks she belongs because everybody else has looked down at her too.

Satan has bound her, not necessarily by causing her condition, but by taking advantage of it. Fear, memories, painful experiences, hopelessness, and self-destructive habits can function in the same way. Jesus can break that grip. Jesus is keen to see bondage lose its hold on lives that have been damaged by things beyond their control.

Jesus sees the woman before he heals her. His gaze is not a passing glance across a crowd. His attention settles on the person hidden in the corner, the person with no expectation that anything good could happen. Jesus stops for the overlooked woman because she becomes his priority.

Jesus calls her to come to him while she is still unhealed, vulnerable, and physically bent. The platform becomes the place where everybody can see her standing with Jesus. Jesus does not wait for perfection, cleanliness, or confidence before inviting her into his space. His call says that she has not intruded, pushed in, or made a mistake. He wants her there.

Jesus touches her before the healing. Jewish assumptions would have labelled her ceremonially unclean, but Jesus refuses the fear that impurity can contaminate him. His touch says that nothing in her condition stops her belonging in his community. His words go even further. Jesus calls her “daughter” and “daughter of Abraham,” giving her an identity far greater than the caricature formed by her suffering.

Jesus then heals her immediately and completely. Luke calls him “the Lord,” making clear that this is God in human form. The woman stands tall, sees the light, and glorifies God. Jesus still sees, calls, speaks to, and receives people who feel bowed down, and gratitude becomes the fitting response to such remarkable attention.

Key Takeaways

1. Jesus sees the overlooked person. Jesus notices the woman whom everybody else has learned to overlook. His gaze is cultivated concern, not casual observation or disappointed scrutiny. Hiddenness before people never means invisibility before Christ. [74:46]
2. Jesus calls people before they heal. Jesus invites the woman into his space while her weakness is still visible to everyone. Her vulnerabilities do not disqualify her from nearness to him. His invitation comes before the transformation, not as a reward after it. [80:42]
3. Jesus touches what others avoid. Jesus touches the woman when religious fear would have kept every other hand away. His holiness is not threatened by human brokenness. His embrace declares that shame, pain, and perceived impurity cannot keep a person outside his welcome. [82:40]
4. Jesus gives a truer identity. Jesus calls the unnamed woman “daughter” and “daughter of Abraham.” Her disability has become the label others use, but Christ speaks a deeper name over her life. His words restore belonging before her body is restored. [84:30]
5. Jesus breaks every crushing bondage. Jesus recognizes that Satan has exploited the woman’s suffering and bound her beneath it. Fear, memory, hopelessness, and destructive patterns can press people down in similar ways. Christ’s authority reaches beyond the visible wound to bring real freedom.

## [70:05]

Youtube Chapters

[00:00] - Welcome
[55:14] - Jesus Reveals the Father
[57:12] - A Woman Bent Low for Eighteen Years
[59:49] - Luke 13 and the Questions of the Text
[62:39] - A Life Marked by Exclusion
[68:10] - Satan’s Grip and Jesus’ Freedom
[71:29] - Jesus Includes the Excluded
[73:46] - Jesus Sees Her
[76:53] - Jesus Calls Her Into His Space
[81:48] - Jesus Touches the Untouchable
[84:30] - Daughter of Abraham
[86:33] - Immediate and Complete Healing
[88:32] - When Life Bows People Down
[90:27] - Gratitude Before the God Who Sees

Bible Study Guide

Bible Reading

Luke 13:10-13
“Now he was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath. And behold, there was a woman who had had a disabling spirit for eighteen years. She was bent over and could not fully straighten herself. When Jesus saw her, he called her over and said to her, “Woman, you are freed from your disability.” And he laid his hands on her, and immediately she was made straight, and she glorified God.”

Observation questions

What details does Luke give about the woman’s condition, and how long had she lived with it?
What four actions does Jesus take toward the woman before Luke describes her standing straight? [01:13:46]
Where is Jesus teaching when he sees the woman, and what does his decision to stop and address her show about her place in that gathering? [01:15:32]
What is the woman’s response after she is healed, and what does that response reveal about the direction of her attention?

Interpretation questions

Jesus sees the woman before she asks for anything and before she is healed. What does this show about how Jesus regards people who feel unnoticed, ashamed, or unimportant? [01:16:00]
Jesus calls the woman to come to him while her weakness is still visible. Why is it significant that Jesus welcomes her into his space before her circumstances change? [01:20:32]
Jesus touches the woman before healing her, even though others may have viewed her as unclean. What does this action communicate about Christ’s holiness and his welcome of wounded people? [01:22:40]
Jesus calls her “daughter” and “daughter of Abraham,” giving her a name greater than the label formed by her suffering. How can Christ’s words reshape a person’s identity when pain, failure, or other people’s opinions have become their main label? [01:24:39]

Application questions

When have you felt overlooked, pushed to the side, or as though you did not matter much to God or others? What would it look like to receive the truth that Jesus sees you with careful, loving attention? [01:14:46]
Is there a weakness, struggle, disappointment, or area of shame that makes you feel you need to “get better” before coming close to Jesus? How does his invitation to the woman challenge that belief? [01:20:42]
What fear, painful memory, hopeless thought pattern, or destructive habit may be keeping you bent low right now? What is one honest step you could take this week to bring it into the light before Jesus and a trusted believer? [01:10:02]
Jesus gives people a truer identity than the one created by their suffering. What labels have you accepted about yourself that Jesus may want to replace with the truth of your belonging to him? [01:25:05]
Who in your everyday life may be overlooked, avoided, or made to feel like an outsider? What could it look like this week to see, welcome, speak kindly to, or draw near to that person in a way that reflects Jesus? [01:23:07]
The woman’s first response was to glorify God. What are specific ways you can practice gratitude this week for Christ’s attention, welcome, and mercy in your life? [01:30:42]

Sermon Clips

37s

#JesusMeetsUsInOurBrokenness

“But I haven't made a mistake. I've called you to be where I am. And here, listen to this. He's called you to be with him when she is unhealed, when she is physically ugly, when she is traumatized by her illness, with all her vulnerabilities and weaknesses and inadequacies on show, it's in that setting that Jesus has a powerful message to say to her, in this state, not when you're healed. Hey. We'll get to that later. But in this state, I want you to be with me now when you're not perfect, when you're not pristine.”

35s

#YouBelongWithJesus

“Before he heals her, when she's in this vulnerable state, he touches her because he wants her to know that nothing is going to taint her coming from him. He's not going to be contaminated by anything untoward in her life or in her physique, but she needs to know that he wants her to know that I'm touching you because you are part of my space. You are part of my community. He embraces her as if to say nothing is stopping us being together.”

40s

#SeenByJesus

“She is not expecting anything from him. She is not even aware of the fact that Jesus is looking at her. Doesn't matter. He is looking at her. She doesn't ask to be healed. She doesn't expect to be healed, but he's looking at her. This tiny, overlooked, sidelined, most unimportant person in the synagogue becomes the most important person in the story. He's looking at her just like he's looking at you, just like he's looking at me.”

36s

#PreciousToGod

“Well, if anybody needs a message like that, it's us. Because we are never good enough for him, and he knows that, and he knows that we know that, and we know that he knows that. But he still wants us to be with him in our vulnerabilities because that doesn't faze him. He wants us to know how precious we are to him, which is not a a throwaway catchphrase that somehow we need to say to each other from time to time because it makes us feel good. This is a reality. This is a truth. This is a picture of who god is and Jesus manifests it.”

41s

#JesusSeesYou

“We are that woman. And Jesus sees us. He calls us to him, to his space, to speak to us, to do as good. It's remarkable. It's so remarkable that it's almost not true. How could possibly be that true? But it is. That's why we have the record in the gospel of Luke. And remember Jesus is in effect saying, listen. If this is me, just remember that there's the spirit who's exactly the same, there's the father who's exactly the same. The three of us, we are committed to you who don't feel that anybody is.”

48s

#DaughterOfAbraham

“And then he uses a phrase that he never uses of anybody else in his ministry as far as it is recorded in the gospels. He calls her daughter of Abraham. Now you know that Abraham is the most powerful significant Jewish hero. He's the one who started the faith of Judaism. He's the one who God used to bring about the nation of Israel that that God was going to adopt to be his community in those eras. And this lady who seems to have no reason why she should be called the daughter of Abraham except that Jesus has identified her as the daughter of Abraham. Nobody else gets this special term, but she does. He wants her to know it.”

85s

#YouAreGodsDaughter

“She who doesn't have many speaking to her because of who she is. Why should anybody want to speak to her? He speaks to her. And when ordinarily people speak to her, she's never too sure who it is he's speaking because it's so difficult for her to raise her eyes or her head to be able to see who's communicating with her. But he speaks to her and and I'm saying, Jesus, why do you need to do that? Why do you do it? Well, he does. This woman who for eighteen years has lived in an era of silence. She doesn't know who's speaking to her. She can't raise her head to who he is. What's she going to say? Well, I didn't read this, but it's in the next couple of verses. Let me tell you what he's going to say to this lady. The first word he says is daughter, daughter. There's no father who's brought this lady to Jesus, no members of her family who brought this lady to Jesus, but she knows that her status is daughter. This is a term of extreme affection on his part. It's a gesture to her to say, you don't know how special you are, do you? You just see yourself in the caricature of being a paralyzed woman. Let me just rephrase who you are. Let me repaint you. You are daughter.”

35s

#HealingFromThePast

“Well, Jesus can break it. And that's our first lesson about Jesus, and there's only two to take heart. But the second one is even better. But the first lesson is that Jesus is keen to help us be transformed when issues outside of ourselves, like fears and memories and painful occasions in the past, and when hopelessness, when they grip us, Jesus is keen to see how that grip can be taken from our lives.”

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