Jesus Healed A Crippled Woman

10 And he was teaching in one of the synagogues on the sabbath.

11 And, behold, there was a woman which had a spirit of infirmity eighteen years, and was bowed together, and could in no wise lift up herself.

12 And when Jesus saw her, he called her to him, and said unto her, Woman, thou art loosed from thine infirmity.

13 And he laid his hands on her: and immediately she was made straight, and glorified God.

14 And the ruler of the synagogue answered with indignation, because that Jesus had healed on the sabbath day, and said unto the people, There are six days in which men ought to work: in them therefore come and be healed, and not on the sabbath day.

15 The Lord then answered him, and said, Thou hypocrite, doth not each one of you on the sabbath loose his ox or his ass from the stall, and lead him away to watering?

16 And ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan hath bound, lo, these eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the sabbath day?

17 And when he had said these things, all his adversaries were ashamed: and all the people rejoiced for all the glorious things that were done by him.

As we look at this story we notice that this woman had one of the worst illnesses recorded in the Bible. She had a severe illness; she was stricken by a severe infectious disease.

But beside her having some issues going on in her body and that she had just got healed, she really had some other problems going on, she was having problems with the people.

But if you notice the problems didn’t arise because our Lord Jesus healed her, but the problems arose because the Lord healed her on the Sabbath day.

They were upset because this healing that the Lord was doing was not just a onetime deal, but because Lord healing of people on the Sabbath day which was a reoccurring source of contention between Himself and the religious rulers.

And if we really looked at this, the ruler of the synagogue was a bunch of hypocrite because they treated animals better than he treated people. They would rather take care of animals then the men and women of God.

And let’s be honest here. Because suppose the woman would have come to the synagogue on another day. Could Jesus had healed her on another day without any issues? Of course not, because there are some people that no matter what you do, or what you say they will always have something bad to say.

No matter how many people are getting healed, no matter how many people are getting saved, and no matter how many people are being delivered there will always be some haters in the crowd.

And that makes me wonder. I wonder how many needy people come to church looking for love, looking help and relief, and go away disappointed because of some hypocrites, some hell raisers, or people keeping up dissension or discord. How many people leaving the church because church members are fighting against one another? Lying on one another and just being messing.

And one of the great tragedies of religion is that religion needs are often placed before man and their needs. But what I love is that Jesus met this problem head-on.

PTMC my question is, when are we going to trust God, and not how things look. When are we going to believe the Word of God, and not lean to our on understanding?

This woman had a spirit of infirmity that had plagued her for eighteen years. Dr. Luke described her condition as “this spirit of infirmity” as thou she had a curvature, a curving, a bend, a twisting or a bending of the spine. This really sounds like some form of arthritis where the joints of the spine were fused together.

Her illness was chronic, and incurable, and because of it she was bowed down by Satan or, you could say “bent double.”

This poor woman could not lift herself up.

Here was a woman in a desperate condition.

She was an unfortunate victim who was an object of pity. This was probably one of the most terrible cases of physical infirmity that the Lord dealt with on earth.

And only Luke mentions this bent-over woman who had spent the previous eighteen years staring at the floor. She was unable to stand up, sit up, look up, or even straighten up. Her back was crooked, arched and humped.

Here is the text. Jesus and His disciples had traveled through her city on their way from Galilee to Judea. They entered the synagogue on the Sabbath to teach, because that was the Lord’s practice; to be in the Synagogue, or in church if you will every Sabbath. (pause)