Even though Jesus has purchased our complete redemption, Satan tries to make us feel as if we still belong to him. He brings us into situations that confuse us and takes our focus off of the deliverance that now belongs to us as children of God.
Christians are often blind to the needs of others because we’re so focused on our own needs. And because of this, Satan’s attacks go unchallenged. Well this morning, we’re going to see how Jesus dealt with an attack that had gone unchallenged for 18 years. We’re going to see how Jesus put Satan on notice and shows the people what it means to belong to my Father.
We’re going to look at Luke 13:10-17, the record of the woman with a spirit of infirmity.
(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
Do you see the last part of verse 11 where it says “and could in no wise lift up herself? In the Amplified Bible it reads this way: “… bent completely forward and utterly unable to straighten herself up or to look forward.”
This woman had a spirit of infirmity, “a weakness in the body caused by a demon.” Do you see that word of? It’s in the genitive case and means “the origin of something or the cause of something.”
You could read this phrase as “an infirmity caused by a spirit”. I want you to see this lady. She was bent over with her face nearly level with her knees. One writer describes her condition this way: “She was so twisted and bent over with arthritis that she couldn’t even look up.”
Every time this woman walked into the synagogue, she reminded the congregation how utterly powerless they were and how utterly powerless the religious leaders were. For 18 years she came needing deliverance. For 18 years she left needing deliverance.
For 18 years Satan had deceived the congregation and the religious leaders. They believed there was nothing that could be done for her. Can’t you hear the demon declaring “I’m the real power here – not God!”?
Now get this … no one expected things to change. Every Sabbath the people came expecting nothing and every Sabbath they received nothing. They came to fulfill their religious obligation, their religious duty.
Now I want you to really see this woman. (Walk to the back of the sanctuary and bend over like the woman.) She’s coming through the doors. She can’t look up so she looks at the floor. As she walks she holds on to the pew and turns her head so she can see sideways. No one in the congregation pays her any attention. A child runs up to her and asks “How you doing Miss So and So? Let me help you find a seat.” She takes her by the hand to an empty seat. Some in the congregation turn, see them, smile and turn around.
What this means to us today:
Many of us go to church with little expectation beyond what we see week after week. Yes, we go up for prayer. We even give in the offering when it’s time. But to say we truly expect God to do something in our lives – well, admit it – that’s something all together different.
When we live our lives like this Satan owns us. You might even say he’s bought us back without payment. When this happens, Satan looks at Jesus and says “You went through all that for nothing. I still own them.” Now let that sink in.
(12) And when Jesus saw her, he called her to him, and said unto her, Woman, thou art loosed from thine infirmity.
What’s the first thing Jesus does? He SEES the woman. The woman had been coming to the synagogue for 18 years and the people no longer saw her condition. Satan had dulled their sense of compassion. He had stolen their hearts.
Can you imagine what went through the minds of the people as Jesus fixed his eyes on her? Can you imagine the silence? Jesus had begun to teach and then suddenly, he stops. Everyone in the synagogue turns around to see who he is looking at. Even the woman probably pauses not knowing she is the center of attention.
The next thing Jesus does is “called her out.” He SPEAKS to her. Get this picture. The woman is coming into the sanctuary. She’s slowly and deliberately making her way up the aisle. As she passes one of the pews, she hears Jesus call to her: “You there, the lady in the aisle who is bent over.” The woman stops. Jesus says, “Yes, I’m talking to you.” She can’t look up to see who is calling her. Imagine what’s going through her mind? “Who is this calling me?” “Why is he calling me?” “What have I done?” “What does he want?” You see, not only has Satan stolen her physical wholeness, but after 18 years, he has stolen any hope she has of ever being able to walk normally again.
When Jesus publicly announced the beginning of his ministry in Luke 4:18, he said he came to “to set at liberty them that are bruised. The word bruised means “to crush the strength of someone.” In this record, the woman has certainly had her strength crushed – physically, mentally and emotionally.
First John 3:8 says that the “son of God was manifested that he might destroy the works of the devil.” Destroy means “to loose or set free.” Jesus, in this record, is simply doing what he came to earth to do – to free this woman from Satan’s bondage. Acts 10:38 says “God anointed Jesus with the Holy Ghost and with power and he went about doing good and healing all those that were oppressed [overpowered] by the devil, for God was with him.”
I want you to hear the last part of this verse from the Amplified: “…He went about doing good and, in particular, curing all who were harassed and oppressed by [the power of ] the devil, for God was with him.”
What this means to us today:
Just like this woman, Satan tries to overpower us mentally, physically, and emotionally. Each time he gets us to focus on our circumstances rather than the redemption that we have through the blood of Jesus, he has, in a sense, brought us back from Jesus without payment. Jesus was the only one who SAW this woman and who knew what her true condition should be. And when he SAW her, he simply gave her what was already hers “by covenant.” Deliverance.
The same is true for us today. Until we SEE people, we won’t be able to give them what is rightfully theirs as part of their inheritance. Until we see people, Satan looks at Jesus and says, “See how they’re so wrapped up in their own problems, they don’t even see the needs of their brothers and sisters. So you see Jesus, you went through all of that for nothing.”
One other point: the fact that Jesus SEES the woman implies he is looking for an opportunity to demonstrate his Father’s love and compassion. How about you? Do you look for opportunities to demonstrate God’s love and compassion? Or do you act like the members of the synagogue and not see people who have needs?
(13) And he laid his hands on her: and immediately she was made straight, and glorified God.
After Jesus SEES her and SPEAKS to her, the third thing he does is TOUCH her. He was making it clear that she is the focus of his attention. He is telling this woman that today is going to be very different from the past 18 years of Sabbaths. But more importantly, through his words and actions Jesus tells her “I know you’re here. I love you. My Father loves you. You are important to my Father and to me. I want you to know this today.” When the woman is delivered, who gets the glory? God.
What this means to us today:
So many Christians go through life never really experiencing Jesus’ love. Yes, they talk about it. They sing about it. They preach about it. But in reality, what they say and preach is an act of duty. It’s what they’re supposed to say and preach. Sometimes, we Christians are hypocrites. We really don’t have an intimate relationship with their Heavenly Father. Who is going to admit they really haven’t experienced Jesus’ love? And when that happens, Satan looks at Jesus and says “You died for nothing. I still own them.”
We must help people come to know what it’s like to be loved by Jesus. And that can only happen when we love them. We demonstrate the Father’s love when we SEE people, TALK to them, and TOUCH them.
(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 com and be healed, and not on the Sabbath day.
Hold your place here and turn with me to Matthew 23:23. Jesus is talking to the religious leaders: Woe onto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.
Jesus hates religion. We should hate religion too. The word answered means “to give a judicial answer.” What question was the ruler answering? The deliverance that took place on the Sabbath. He viewed it as “works” and according to Exodus 31:12-17, works were forbidden on the Sabbath. The religious leaders had elevated the Sabbath to a place that no longer resembled God’s original intent.
For 18 years this woman came to the synagogue and for 18 years the religious leaders, by their actions, told her: NOT TODAY. Performing our rituals and our traditions are what we’re here for today. Deliverance is not part of the agenda.
In fact, this ruler is so arrogant that he says there are six other days on which she can be delivered. “Pick any of those days but not the Sabbath!” But for 18 years she has lived with this demon controlling her body. 18 years!
During that time, she has seen 936 Sabbaths come and go – days the synagogue ruler says are not available for deliverance.
During that time, she has seen 5,634 non-Sabbath days come and go – days the synagogue ruler say are available for deliverance.
And yet, the woman never receives deliverance. Her house of worship is a place of activity, not a place where the power of God is manifested.
What this means to us today:
Satan wants us to believe that if we need deliverance, no matter what it may be, today is not our day. And what pains our Heavenly Father is to see men and women who are responsible for feeding and caring for the flock agree with Satan by acting like hirelings. Rather than follow the example of the Chief Shepherd and lay down their lives for the flock, they’re letting the wolf – Satan – catch and scatter their sheep. It’s no wonder that so many Christians still act and respond like they’re at Satan’s mercy (and that’s an oxymoron!).
If Satan can convince us that our inheritance (physical, mental and emotional prosperity) is not available to us today, we will go through the motions when we pray. We will go through the motions when we confess the word. We will go through the motions when we come up for prayer. And when this happens, Satan looks at Jesus and says “See, you died for nothing. I still own them.”
(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?
Jesus is not happy. He calls the ruler a hypocrite. For many years I thought a hypocrite was someone who said one thing in public but said another behind closed doors. This word means more than that. A hypocrite is a “play-actor”. It implies arrogance and a lack of sincerity and genuineness. The ruler pretends to be zealous for the law; he is showing everyone how righteous he is. The first time this word is used is in Matthew 6:
(2) Therefore when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, they have their reward.”
Hypocrites have no heart; they do everything for show. You see, a hypocrite plays a role so convincingly that people really believe that’s who he is.
Do you remember the program “Lost is Space?” The villain, Dr. Smith, was played by Jonathan Harris, who lived in Minnesota. When he appeared in public, people said unkind things to him. They would tell him he should have died in that meteor storm. Stuff like that. Why? Mr. Harris played his role so well that people couldn’t distinguish between the man and the actor.
That is how the Holy Spirit helped me understand what Jesus was saying. “You play your role as synagogue ruler very well. People believe you’re holy and righteous and that you speak for my Father. But I see your heart. You don’t have a clue about how my Father feels about this woman. You’re here today doing your daily duty and nothing more.”
What this means to us today:
When we repeat the things that we’ve been taught, but we haven’t put them into practice and our lives haven’t changed – then we’re hypocrites. We’re performing for our audience. God doesn’t need performers – people who know what to say and how to say it. He needs people who are living examples of what He says.
(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 wee ashamed: and all the people rejoiced for all the glorious things that were done by him.
Here Jesus is comparing the deliverance of the woman, a descendant of Abraham, to the loosing of animals who need watering. This is what Jesus is saying: “Each Sabbath every one of you unties your ox or donkey from its stall, leads it out for water, and thinks nothing of it. So why is it wrong for me to untie this daughter of Abraham and lead her from the stall where Satan has had her tied these 18 years?
Do you see the symbolism?
One of the most disturbing things about the body of Christ today is that we have leaders who don’t SEE, who don’t SPEAK, and who don’t TOUCH those who need to know that God loves them, cares about them, and knows that they exist. Many are more concerned about sticking to the program rather than making room for God.
Satan has done a masterful job of getting Christians to believe that ritual and tradition are what it takes to get into the presence of our Heavenly Father. To paraphrase a line Tom Cruise used in Jerry McGuire: “Ritual and tradition are not even in the same vicinity as the presence of God.”
Let’s close with I John 4:16-18 and then Galatians 6:10.
(16) And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love, and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.
(17) Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world.
(18) There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear has torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love.
Now Galatians 6:10: As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith.
You are here today to destroy the works of the devil. If you don’t believe that, then you’re a hypocrite. You’re just playing a role. You really don’t understand the Father’s heart. You really don’t understand how much he loves you.
But, if you do believe you are here to destroy the works of the devil, when you see people hurting, you will know that you can do the same thing Jesus did. The next time you see someone hurting, walk over to that person, look at them, encourage them by speaking the word to them, and then give them the kind of hug that lets them know “you’ve just experienced a little bit of God’s love. Hall
