Knowing The Word in Luke 13:10-17

A Woman with a Disabling Spirit

13:10 Now he was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath. 11 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. 12 When Jesus saw her, he called her over and said to her, “Woman, you are freed from your disability.” 13 And he laid his hands on her, and immediately she was made straight, and she glorified God. 14 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.” 15 Then the Lord answered him, “You hypocrites! Does not each of you on the Sabbath untie his ox or his donkey from the manger and lead it away to water it? 16 And ought not this woman, a daughter of Abraham whom Satan bound for eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath day?” 17 As he said these things, all his adversaries were put to shame, and all the people rejoiced at all the glorious things that were done by him.

Comments

Jesus continued to have disputes with his opponents over the right use of the Sabbath. This the last recorded time Jesus was in a synagogue. The woman’s spine was fused in a rigid, painful mass. There was no indication she knew or believed in Jesus before the healing, but she did indicate the source of her healing by praising God. With this, the ruler of the synagogue became indignant. Jesus called those who agreed with the ruler “hypocrites.”

The rabbis cared for animals, explaining loopholes in the law for how they can be taken care of on the Sabbath. Jesus made the comparison that these rabbis care more about animals than about people, especially this woman being afflicted by Satan. He came to overthrow Satan, and was doing it. He tried to get them to think of exactly what the Sabbath meant. God rested on the Sabbath because all his good creation work was finished. Yet sin had corrupted God’s creation, and there was work to be done, work Jesus did to restore God’s creation. Yet these people were blind to it.

The woman, however, saw and experienced the work of Jesus and praised God, which is what we are called to do on the Sabbath. And yet the ruler of the synagogue did the exact opposite. Public opinion was on Jesus’ side, and the kingdom he brought was having an impact!

Application

This story is not an example of situational ethics, where one gives up a Sabbath ordinance on behalf of the good of another. Jesus teaches that the ruler and his followers wrongly understood both the Sabbath and the heart of God, including the heart of God’s law. How do you approach the Sabbath in your life?

Additionally, the ruler was blind to the movement of God. Have you been blind to the work of God before? Sometimes looking back, we can see the hand of God in things we rebelled against or tried to put down. That can lead us to a time of repentance.

Prayer

Father, help me to worship you in spirit and in truth, that I may know your holiness that enlivens my spirit and nourishes my mind with your truth.