The Miracles of Jesus
Miracle # 25
“Jesus Heals A Woman With A Bent Back”
Luke 13:10-17
Tonight we are going
to be considering another of the Sabbath miracles. This miracle is found only in the
gospel of Luke. Like the other healings that occurred on the Sabbath, it offended the religious leaders. Although
the rabbis’ rules made allowance for a physician treating a person with a
life-threatening emergency on the Sabbath not such allows were made for chronic illnesses. These illnesses were
expected to wait for treatment on another day.
The Ten Commandments outline the principle of resting on the Sabbath in the Fourth Commandment (Exodus 20:8-11). But by the time of Jesus’ ministry – Sabbath-keeping was being interpreted by rabbis was an impossible bundle of legalist rules.
The opposition to Jesus is growing and
“Now
He was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath. (11) And behold, there was a
woman who had a spirit of infirmity eighteen years, and was bent over and could in no way
raise herself up. (12) But when Jesus saw her, He called her to Him and said to her,
"Woman, you are loosed from your infirmity." (13) And He laid His hands on her,
and immediately she was made straight, and glorified God. (14) But the ruler of the
synagogue answered with indignation, because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath; and he said
to the crowd, "There are six days on which men ought to work; therefore come and be
healed on them, and not on the Sabbath day." (15) The Lord then answered him and
said, "Hypocrite! Does not each one of you on the Sabbath loose his ox or donkey from
the stall, and lead it away to water it? (16) "So ought not this woman, being a
daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has bound - think of it - for eighteen years, be loosed
from this bond on the Sabbath?" (17) And when He said these things, all His
adversaries were put to shame; and all the multitude rejoiced for all the glorious things
that were done by Him.”
The Background
of the Miracle (vv.10-11)
“Now
He was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath. (11) And behold, there was a
woman who had a spirit of infirmity eighteen years, and was bent over and could in no way
raise herself up.”
As Jesus was teaching he saw a woman with a
bent back, who had been unable to straighten herself and stand upright for eighteen years.
Here in the South we have an expression “bent out of shape” when we are upset
about something that has happened we say, “Boy he was bent out of shape.’ There are really two individuals in this story that
are “bent out of shape.” The woman is “bent out of shape” physically and the other was the head of
the synagogue that was “bent out of shape”
spiritually. Both are in their own way
equally bound. The woman was bound by “a spirit of infirmity”
the man was bound by a spirit of legalism.
The words used to describe this woman’s
condition are not the words usually used to mean an illness, disease or injury. In verse
eleven he uses the phrase “bound by a spirit” and
in then in verse twelve he uses the word “infirmity”
(asthenia)
which doesn’t mean sickness caused by disease it means weakness.
The exact nature of this woman’s
physical ailment is unknown though it was obviously some sort of curvature of the spine,
which could have been caused by osteoporosis or a condition called Marie-Strumpbell
Disease (Amkylosing Spondylitis). If it is the later this is a chronic progressive
form of arthritis that result in the fusion of the spinal bones, even today there is no cure
for this condition. Early in the course of the disease, sufferers often find that the pain
is relieved somewhat when they lean forward. So they often go through the day leaning
slightly forward, and gradually their spine begins to fuse. The more they lean in order to
relieve the pain, the greater the angle, until the patient might be bent almost double, as
the lady in our story.
The Elements
of the Miracle (vv. 12-13a)
“But
when Jesus saw her, He called her to Him and said to her, "Woman, you are loosed from
your infirmity." (13) And He laid His hands on her, and immediately she was made
straight…”
I want you to notice
that Jesus is not indifferent to the hurt, pain and despair that this woman was going
through. She did not go unnoticed by the Lord. Jesus deeply cares for people who are
hurting. You may not understand many things that you are going through and you may feel
like your prayers are not being heard, but you can be confident that Jesus notices and
cares about your pain.
Jesus compassion would
be nice but of limited comfort and encouragement if that were all He could offer us. If
all Jesus could do is sympathize with our pain, we would still be hopeless. But the good
news is that Jesus is not only compassionate He is powerful!
Jesus called to this woman and announced
that she was loosed from her infirmity. Then he touched her and she straightened up. He
cured her of a condition that to this day we do not have a cure.
The Effect of
the Miracle (vv. 13-17)
It aroused the Praise of This Woman (v 13)
“….
and immediately she was made straight, and glorified God.”
This was not a gradual
recovery. There was no lingering convalescence. Immediately she was made straight.
As a response to her
healing the woman “glorified God” that is she
poured forth her joy in a continuous strain of praise.
It aroused the Protest of the Religious Leaders (vv.
14-17)
In marked contrast, as
the woman poured out her adoration upon the Lord the ruler of the synagogue poured out his
anger. As she became no longer “bent out of shape” physically he became
“bent out of shape” emotionally and spiritually.
· The Ruler’s Rebuke (14)
“But the ruler of the synagogue answered with
indignation, because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath; and he said to the crowd,
"There are six days on which men ought to work; therefore come and be healed on them,
and not on the Sabbath day."
Luke describes the ruler of the synagogue
as indignant (aganatkteo) or angry, because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath.
He is angry because the artificial and arbitrary Sabbath rules are being broken. He even
quotes Scripture (Ex. 25:4) to support his position. But it is one thing to
quote Scripture it is another to apply it correctly.
The ruler of the synagogue was the one
responsible for keeping order in the services during the Sabbath services. This healing
done on the Sabbath by Jesus so scandalized the ruler of the synagogue that he rebuked
Jesus. But this man lacked the courage to rebuke Jesus face to face and addressed his
remarks to the crowd.
As we stated earlier this man is also
bound, he is bound by the chains of legalism.
Max Lucado wrote, “Legalism has not pity on people. Legalism makes my opinion - your
burden; makes my opinion – your boundary; makes my opinion – your obligation.
Nothing will keep a Christian more immature than trying to keep a long list of rules.”
[Up Words. May, 1993]
· The Lord’s Response (15-17a)
“The
Lord then answered him and said, Hypocrite! Does not each one of you on the Sabbath loose
his ox or donkey from the stall, and lead it away to water it? (16) "So ought not
this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has bound—think of it—for
eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath?" (17) And when He said these
things, all His adversaries were put to shame…” Jesus calls this man a hypocrite. This word
described the Greek actors who held masks over their faces to represent the person they
portrayed. It came to mean any one that was guilty of playacting or inconsistency
– pretending to be some one that they were not.
I want to deal with at least three areas
in which this ruler’s objections which were hypocritical. First, he says that
there are six days on which people can be healed. How many healings do you think occurred
in that synagogue? Do you think that this woman could have come back on the following day
and been healed? Not if Jesus were gone. I suspect that this woman was a “regular”
at this synagogue, there is little to suggest that she found sympathy (let alone healing)
in 18 years. How could the ruler of the synagogue dare to even suggest that healing would
be available at some other time?
Secondly, if we read between the lines in
this story, you understand this man who is the leader in worship, as well as
in teaching in the synagogue is not at all happy with what is happening. While most of
those present were actively praising God - worshipping as they had never done before -
this leader was doing everything possible to “shut down” what was
going on.
Third, the greatest hypocrisy was that he
points out that even the most legalistic among them, the Pharisees, untie
their animals on the Sabbath to give them water. Jesus accused the religious leaders of
hypocrisy because they would routinely sanction “breaking the Sabbath” for the
benefit of one of their animals, but not for the benefit of this woman, a daughter of
Abraham. Their compassion was selective, self-centered, and hypocritical. He points out
how much more precious this poor woman whom he has loosed after she has literally been
tied in knots for years by Satan, than a mere animal. It is the argument from the lesser
to the greater.
When Jesus calls this woman a “daughter of Abraham” (v. 16) means more than just that
she was racially a Jew, it means that she inherited Abraham’s faith.
When it says that his “adversaries
were put to shame” it does not mean they felt shame, but means that the
emptiness of their claim to represent God was exposed to the people.
It Aroused a Celebration
from the Crowd (v. 17b)
“… and all the
multitude rejoiced for all the glorious things that were done by Him.”
The people responded honestly and favorably to the things which Jesus did.