Luke 13:10-17--A Woman with a Disabling Spirit

Luke 13:10-17
English Standard Version
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A Woman with a Disabling Spirit
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.

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What does Luke point out right away in this passage?  Notice that once again, it's the Sabbath and there is going to be some conflict that arises because of a healing/miracle that Jesus will do.  I'm not sure if the person was planted in the crowd by the Pharisees this time, but Jesus if so, Jesus doesn't wait for them and calls the woman over to Himself because He wants everyone to see what He's about to do.  Jesus want to draw attention to the fact that He is the Lord of the Sabbath and the King of Kings and Lord of Lord, the Lord of Heaven and Earth, that even the demons must be subject to--the Lord of All Creation.

She had not been able to straighten herself and was bent over for 18 years.  We would never think to attribute such a condition to a demon today.  We would look for a medical reason and try to heal it with medicine or surgery, but the text is clear here that this infirmity was caused by a spirit that afflicted her and interfered with the normal function of her physical body.  However, Jesus doesn't speak directly to the demon as He normally would but instead tells the woman "You are free from your disability."  Those are great words because I can tell you from personal experience that a disability can feel like you are imprisoned by it sometimes.  Jesus came to set the captives free and those weren't specifically those who were in jail or prison cells like we would normally think of, but those who were in bondage to sin and death and the curse of sin and the Law.

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Jesus did not simply speak to her to heal her, but He reached out to her and laid His hands on her.  This upset the ruler of the synagogue where Jesus had been teaching.  To be invited to teach was an honor, but the traditions of the Pharisees did not differentiate between the Son of God doing a miracle to heal someone on the Sabbath (which was the day that belonged to Him anyways) and a physician practicing normal medicine on that day (and Jesus' answer tells us that even that isn't necessarily a bad thing because Jesus seems to tell us that it's never the wrong time to do good for someone when it is within your power to do so).

Jesus points out the hypocrisy of these traditions and rules that say that it is okay to lose a donkey or ox so that it can go get water to drink, but freeing a woman who is much more valuable than any livestock because she is human, and a child of Abraham at that, is somehow immoral to them?

Notice the different reactions to this.  There are a group of people referred to as His enemies who were put to shame and become angry.  They cannot see the good thing that has happened and they refuse to glorify God for what has happened.  Everyone else though sees the miracle that has happened and they celebrate the freedom this woman has received, rejoicing and glorying in the things that had been done by Him--things that only God can do.  The may not quite made that connection, but they knew it was something to be celebrated.  Different people can see the same miracle and respond to it differently because they have different things going on in their hearts.  It is not for lack of evidence that the religious leaders did not believe, but they had hard hearts and had made up their mind that this person could not be the Son of God, He was not the Messiah, and they would not cede authority to Him for they loved their power and position.  The more He made it clear that He was the rightful Lord of Heaven and Earth and the King of the Jews, the more they hated Him and would move from trying to discredit Him to trying to arrest Him to trying to kill Him.  We are at a tipping point where they are concerned that Jesus is going to stir up the people during a religious feast/festival again and one where Jews from the whole world will be in Jerusalem.  This was supposed to be their time to shine as religious leaders (in their minds, it was really for glory to be brought to God, but they had made it all about themselves) and they did not want to share any of the spotlight with Jesus.  So there is going to be even more and more tension and we will see division in how people respond because of the condition of their hearts.  We'll see this unfold over the next several chapters.