Scene: Jesus at the job centre
Laura Digan
August 29, 2025
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Luke 13: 10-17 (NIVUK)
10 On a Sabbath Jesus was teaching in one of the synagogues, 11 and a woman was there who had been crippled by a spirit for eighteen years. She was bent over and could not straighten up at all. 12 When Jesus saw her, he called her forward and said to her, ‘Woman, you are set free from your infirmity.’ 13 Then he put his hands on her, and immediately she straightened up and praised God.
14 Indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, the synagogue leader said to the people, ‘There are six days for work. So come and be healed on those days, not on the Sabbath.’
15 The Lord answered him, ‘You hypocrites! Doesn’t each of you on the Sabbath untie your ox or donkey from the stall and lead it out to give it water? 16 Then should not this woman, a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has kept bound for eighteen long years, be set free on the Sabbath day from what bound her?’
17 When he said this, all his opponents were humiliated, but the people were delighted with all the wonderful things he was doing.
Jesus coming alongside as a friend to sit beside a woman at a job centre.
“I’ve been trying. I’ve been trying so hard to get a job. Application after application sent in only to receive rejection after rejection.
The constant rejection grinds you down. It clings to you. What is it about me that people don’t like and don’t want?
I’m weary. I can’t face it anymore, I’m ready to tell them to shove their job seeking, when I meet this guy in the job centre.
I’ve never seen a smile like his before, so big and bright. Beaming! I thought: here is a right weirdo smiling away in the job centre. He sat down next to me and started talking, making jokes about the wait. I wasn’t in the mood to talk but there was something about him that just made me open up. I told him how I couldn’t find a job, how I was fed up with the constant rejection, how I wanted to give up. He asked about the work I had done before. He asked about what I had wanted to be when I was little. I told him I’d wanted to be a teacher but that hadn’t happened. I had to get a job straight after school instead of going to University. He said well why not go now? Or go to college?
Then the woman behind the desk shouted my name and I had to leave him. But he has sparked something in me. The possibility of a different life. An opportunity I need to investigate!”
Prayer:
Lord Jesus
Help us to see you
In those we encounter
Offering your life
Your light
Amen
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