Assumption

Assumption

Luke 13:10 – 17

Rabbi Rev. Dr. Michael H. Koplitz

Luke 13:10 Now Jesus was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath. 11 And

there was a woman who for eighteen years had had a sickness caused by a spirit; and

she was bent over double, and could not straighten up at all. 12 When Jesus saw her,

He called her over and said to her, “Woman, you are freed from your sickness.” 13 And

He laid His hands on her; and immediately she stood up straight again, and began

glorifying God. 14 But the synagogue leader, indignant because Jesus had healed on the

Sabbath, began saying to the crowd in response, “There are six days during which work

should be done; so come during them and get healed, and not on the Sabbath day.” 15

But the Lord answered him and said, “You hypocrites, does each of you on the Sabbath

not untie his ox or donkey from the stall and lead it away to water it? 16 “And this

woman, a daughter of Abraham as she is, whom Satan has bound for eighteen long

years, should she not have been released from this restraint on the Sabbath day?” 17

And as He said this, all His opponents were being humiliated; and the entire crowd was

rejoicing over all the glorious things being done by Him.

In the Gospel of Luke, the 13th chapter starting on verse 10 and going to 17 we have

the story of Jesus going into the synagogue on the Sabbath day and healing a woman

who had some kind of spine ailment that made her hunch over. She had suffered with

this for some 18 years.

The number 18 is significant because, in Hebrew, it corresponds to the word for “life.”

In Scripture, the number 18 carries two meanings, and the one we focus on here is

renewal of life.

Imagine being hunched over for 18 years and then being healed in a single moment.

Your entire existence would change! There are countless things you cannot do when

you are permanently bent over.

I once knew a man who lived in that condition because arthritis had invaded his spine,

leaving him permanently hunched. He told me about all the things he could do when

he was young that became impossible as he grew older because of that ailment.

Now, picture the transformation when healing comes. After 18 years of limitation, life

is renewed. That is the power of God’s restoration—a reminder that no matter how

long the struggle, He can bring new life instantly.

What makes this healing different from others? The key detail is that it happened on

the Sabbath. According to Luke’s Gospel, the Pharisees in the synagogue objected to

Jesus performing this healing because it was on the Sabbath. That raised a question for

me: Why was healing considered wrong on the Sabbath?

My research led me to the 39 activities prohibited on the Sabbath in Jesus’ day. I

examined the list—twice—and found no mention of healing. So why was it considered

wrong? It was believed at the time that healing required violating one of those 39 rules.

For example, one rule forbade grinding anything into powder. The Pharisees assumed

Jesus had ground something into powder for the healing, and that assumption became

the basis for their objection.

But here’s the point: it was an assumption. And that’s what this message is about—how

often do we make assumptions that turn out to be false?

Think about it: how do we know if Jesus ground powder that day? Maybe He did it the

day before. Perhaps several days before and simply carried it with Him. Or perhaps He

didn’t use any powder at all. The Gospel says He laid hands on her. Could He have

known something like chiropractic methods and simply adjusted her back so she could

stand up? Many of you have been to a chiropractor—I have too. You lie on the table,

the chiropractor places hands on you, and you hear that cracking sound as your

vertebrae realign.

One of the things that we do is we assume that ancient people didn’t know a lot about

medicine. However, if you read your Scripture carefully, you will find out they knew an

awful lot about how the body worked. Plenty of times they had solutions to problems

that they didn’t understand how it happened, but it happened. If you got an infection,

there was a certain root that you would grind up into a powder and put a little water in,

and you would make a little ointment that would get rid of your infection. They didn’t

know how the infection occurred; they just knew there was a solution to fixing it. We

don’t give enough credit to ancient people and their knowledge of biology and