The Gramazin Blog
23
Aug
Jesus Heals a Crippled Woman on the Sabbath
Take Every Passage to Prayer - Volume 2, The Gospels
Friday August 23, 2024
Luke 13:10-17
Father, thank You for all You have done for me. All that You have provided. All the protection You have given me. All of the direction. I thank You for salvation itself. Father, please give me a deep joy for the gifts that You give me. Please protect my joy from those who love to be joy-killers. I also pray that You will prevent me from being a joy-killer myself. Amen.
Father, days and weeks have gone by after the encounter in Jerusalem at Solomon’s colonnade. Jesus most likely had continued to travel from village to village in the region of Perea, teaching in the synagogues, and healing people. His disciples had joined Him on the journey.
On one particular Sabbath, Jesus was teaching in one of the synagogues in the region. A woman was in the synagogue who had been crippled by Satan for 18 years. She was bent over and could not straighten up.
Jesus had compassion on the woman, with particular sympathy that she has suffered with this for such a long time. He invited her to come to Him. Why did Jesus not go to the crippled woman? There may be several reasons.
- Though the woman was bent over, she could still walk, perhaps with a cane. Jesus may also have known that the woman had friends who would assist her.
- Jesus wanted her front-and-center with Him where everyone in the synagogue could witness her healing.
- The walk to Jesus was a test of her faith. How much faith did she have? Was she willing to walk the last 100 painful steps with her condition, certain that she will be healed? Was her slow walk to Jesus a testimony to the watching crowd of someone determined to be healed by Him? Was her short walk a metaphor for us in the 21st century, that we are not going to make excuses, but we are willing to suffer the aches and pains of walking through life if our destination is to be face-to-face with Jesus?
Jesus released her from the bondage of her illness. He touched her and the disease left her immediately. He put a decisive end to the bondage Satan had put on this woman. Let there be no doubt who is in charge: Jesus, who is the Son of God, is far superior to Satan, who is a mere angel.
The text tells us she was able to immediately stand straight, her osteoporosis gone from her. What did she do next? She praised You. She gave You the glory for her healing. She praised the God who cared about her suffering and who had put an end to her suffering. She praised not only Your power to heal but also Your desire to heal. Her praise of You linked Jesus to You, that You were working through Him. Her praise brought glory to Jesus as well.
Father, it is natural to our sinful nature to destroy the joy of somebody else. Humans rationalize that if someone else is celebrating good news in their life, we need to steal their joy from them so that they can return to the kind of misery we are in. How do we do that?
- Disbelief and Pessimism. “You misunderstand this. You aren’t really healed. You’ll wake up tomorrow and you’ll be bent over again.”
- Guilt. “How dare you enjoy being healed when so many other people are suffering? You should be ashamed of yourself. Besides, you were healed on the Sabbath. That violates our laws. You are guilty.”
Such was the case with this woman’s healing. The leader of the synagogue that Jesus and the woman were in accused them both of breaking the law. He scolded them, saying they had six other days during the week to have this healing. They should not have chosen the Sabbath.
Jesus was indignant about the synagogue leaders’ poor character.
- Hypocrisy. He pointed out that the synagogue leaders will lead their thirsty animals to water on the Sabbath and that too could be considered work. They perform work on the Sabbath, but they are criticizing Jesus and the woman for doing work on the Sabbath. This is, as Jesus labeled it, the very definition of hypocrisy.
- Lack of compassion. He pointed out that this Jewish woman had suffered for over 18 years with this miserable disease. Why make her wait another day for healing? Now is the time to deliver someone from bondage. Not tomorrow. Not next week. Not next month. Not next year. Now.
The text tells us that the synagogue leaders were humiliated. In other words, they had no retort to the accusations against them that Jesus had made. It was obvious to everyone in the synagogue, including the leaders, that they were hypocritical, and they were lacking compassion. They had no counter argument to make. They looked like jerks and fools after Jesus had disclosed their heart attitudes to the crowd.
The text tells us that the people delighted in “all the wonderful things (NIV)” that Jesus was doing. The word “all” is inclusive of the humiliation of the synagogue leaders. It is reasonable to suggest that the crowd viewed the self-righteous synagogue leaders with the kind of disdain many Americans may have towards politicians today. It may be that Jesus didn’t reveal the synagogue leaders’ hypocrisy to the crowd so much as He was the one who had the courage to say what everyone in the crowd already thought about these men. When the synagogue leaders were humiliated, the people rejoiced. Amen.
This is not necessarily demonic possession. It is most likely demonic persecution. In Job chapter 2, Satan asks for permission not to possess Job but to strike him with a severe illness. It is likely something similar happened to this woman 18 years before, when Jesus was approximately 12 years old (about the time He went missing and His parents found Him in the synagogue).
She may have had osteoporosis. This disease is prevalent among the older population, suggesting this was an older post-menopausal woman, anywhere from her late-40s to early 70s in age.
Let’s think this through. This is a culture without bikes, cars, telephones, a postal service, or emails. A distance of even two miles is enough to prevent Jesus and the woman from ever crossing paths with one another. The only time during the week that Jesus is most likely to see her is when both of them come to the weekly meeting at the synagogue. A Sabbath healing is not one of seven choices. It is the only choice for the woman to encounter Jesus. With a crowd of onlookers, it is also the only choice for a public display of Jesus’ healing powers. Therefore, the statement that Jesus had six other days to heal this woman does not pass the reason test. The synagogue leader was most likely fairly intelligent and knew in his thoughts that his statement doesn’t make sense. Therefore, we must consider what is really driving his resistance to this healing – jealousy that Jesus is receiving all of this love and glory and he is not. The accusation about violating the Sabbath was a grasp for something to deflate Jesus’ ministry, and popularity, without having to admit that jealousy is the driving emotion.
Is Jesus merely assuming what the synagogue leaders do with their thirsty animals on the Sabbath? No. Jesus must have had knowledge in order for the accusation of hypocrisy to have impact. If Jesus were wrong, the synagogue leaders would have jumped on that and made a big deal that would have spread far and wide that Jesus had made a false accusation and, therefore, He was not perfect. Jesus either 1) had divine awareness, given by the Holy Spirit, as to what these men did on the Sabbath when Jesus wasn’t looking or 2) heard eyewitness reports about the synagogue leaders leading their animals to water on the Sabbath or 3) witnessed with His eyes the synagogue leaders leading their animals to water or 4) knew they owned animals and that animals get thirsty on the Sabbath and that someone must lead them to water for their survival. If the synagogue leaders assigned the task of giving the animals water to a servant, they are still guilty of hypocrisy as they condoned their servants work on the Sabbath but not the work of Jesus to heal this woman on the Sabbath.
We know she was Jewish because Jesus called her a “daughter of Abraham.” There are two possible meanings for this description of her: 1) Jesus was acknowledging the cultural bias Jews had against Gentiles which could explain, but not excuse, their lack of compassion for her had she been a Gentile. However, she was Jewish and, therefore, the synagogue leaders should have had the heart to care for one of their own people. 2) It is also possible that Jesus was referring to her faith. A child of Abraham can be a child by blood, Jewish, or by spirit, having faith in the promises of God that a Savior would come. It is likely this woman believed that Jesus was the promised Messiah, and it was her belief in Him that led Jesus to call her “a daughter of Abraham.” It is also likely that her belief in Jesus made her an enemy of the synagogue leaders who not only hated Jesus but also anyone who believed in Him.
Consider the depth of the poor character of the synagogue leaders. This Jewish woman had most likely been attending this synagogue for decades. There had been ample time for the synagogue leaders to get to know her and soften their hearts to her situation. However, they treated her like she was a virtual stranger. These leaders with hardened hearts were not in the business of caring for the people in their synagogue.
