Luke 13:10-17 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.
THE DEVIL IN THE DETAILS
Text: Luke 13:10 -17
I read this funny anecdote about halfheartedness. It goes like this…
“These days, not everyone has compassion. Recently I heard about a Psychiatric Hotline. [If you] “…dialed the number …” [you would] “... receive the following options:
“If you are obsessive-compulsive please press 1 repeatedly.
“If you are co-dependent, please ask someone to press 2.
“If you have multiple personalities, please press 3, 4, 5 and 6.
“If you are schizophrenic, listen carefully and a little voice will tell you which number to press.
“If you are paranoid-delusional, we know who you are and what you want. Just stay on the line while we trace this call.” (Edward K. Rowell and Bonne L. Steffen. Humor for Preaching and Teaching. Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1996, p. 85). We can see the humor to each of these scenarios. Yet, it is no laughing matter when you or someone you know has suffered for a long time without a healing solution. We don’t want a phone call solution, we want a Savior who can heal us and save us!
The woman in today’s text suffered for eighteen years before she got a healing solution. Many have speculated what it was that made her bend over because she had been troubled by a spirit all of those years. Was it spiritual, mental, physical? Was she abused? Was it scoliosis? Was it osteoporosis? No matter what it was, Satan was the cause of it. This condition caused her not to be able to stand up straight.
Often, when there is something wrong in us and in our world Satan is the cause of it. There are even many today who cannot be free because of how Satan has bound them. Paul reminds us that “… we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 6:12 ESV). How many are bound today by Satan in the darkness of our culture here in America?
Consider 1 Corinthians_14:33 For God is not a God of confusion but of peace (ESV). Jesus had come to bring peace in the midst of confusion. 1 John_3:8 reminds us that “The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil” (ESV). Three things we can glean from today’s text are community, contradiction and compassion.
COMMUNITY
Can communities contradict their purpose? God’s purpose is for us to grow inwardly in our faith and outwardly in our fellowship that we might be fruitful for His kingdom.
1) Inclusiveness: How much unity is there in community? The answer to that question depends on the given community.
2) Exclusiveness: For some, its Jesus and me or Jesus and those just like us.
3) Discipleship: God does wants us to grow inwardly but God also wants us to be fishers of men who lead others to the Lord Christ. Christ called us as disciples to be the light of the world and salt of the earth (Matthew 5:13 -16).
4) Visibility: The light cannot be concealed and the salt must not be contained. How can we share something that we are trying to hide?
Is the Body of Christ a club or a church?
1) Context: When we explore how this text is placed in Luke we see the first part of Luke 13 (verses 1- 5) is about repentance which means to confess, repent and make a 180 degree turn.
2) Fruitfulness: The second part of Luke 13 ( verses 6- 9) is about the barren fig tree. The tree is symbolic of Israel and her call to be a light to the Gentiles (Isaiah 49:6) because Israel has not been fruitful in leading others to God.
3) Witness: Luke 13:10 -17 is in many ways a mirror reflection of the fruitless fig tree as is expressed in the resistance of the synagogue president who objects that Jesus healed someone on the Sabbath.
William Barclay gives us an excellent insight into the nature of the true church. He writes: “Suppose a great doctor discovers a cure for cancer. Once that cure is found, it is there. But before it can become available for everyone, it must be taken out to the world. Doctors and surgeons must know about it and be trained to use it. The cure is there, but one person cannot take it out to all the world; a corps of doctors must be the agents whereby it arrives at all the world’s sufferers.
“That precisely is what the church is to Jesus Christ. It is in Jesus that all people and all nations can be reconciled to God. But before that can happen, they must know about Jesus Christ, and it is the task of the church to bring that about. Christ is the head; the church is the body. The head must have a body through which it can work. The church is quite literally hands to do Christ’s work, feet to run upon His errands, and a voice to speak His words.” (10,000 Sermon Illustrations. Copyright © 2000 By Biblical Studies Press, L.L.C. All Rights Reserved www.bible.org [source Morning Glory, Sept.-Oct. 1997, p 1). The synagogue was supposed to be a place where people could gather to experience God’s presence. The people who worshiped at the synagogue were called to be God’s corp of people to do His work in the world. The church is the Body of Christ in the world for the transformation of the world.
CONTRADICTION
What is the contradiction in this miracle story?
1) The synagogue: The synagogue was a place where the people of God gathered for worship.
2) Jesus and synagogues: Luke 4 tells us that Jesus began His ministry from a synagogue announcing that “the Spirit of the Lord who anointed Him was upon Him to preach good news to the poor, to proclaim the release of prisoners and recovery of sight to the blind and the liberation of the oppressed” (Luke 4:16 -17). This was the last time that Jesus was allowed to preach in a synagogue. If the synagogue was a place of worship then why was the president of the synagogue protesting someone’s healing? Wasn’t he out of character with who he was supposed to be as one of God’s representatives?
Do you see another contradiction?
1) The synagogue president: The apparent contradiction is the objection of synagogue president to the miracle---this healing on the Sabbath.
2) Hypocrite: He was hung up on keeping the law. Yet, he had a double standard for untying an animal to get water on the Sabbath but object to this lady being “untied” where she had been bound---bent over by Satan.
3) Mercy: If God had mercy then why did those who were supposed to represent God lack mercy?
“A man was caught in traffic and could not go anywhere. The man behind him honked and honked. The first driver got out of his car and went back to the driver behind him. He opened the door and yelled in some abusive language for honking. The second driver simply replied “your bumper sticker says, ‘Honk if you love Jesus’.” (Roy B. Zuck. ed. The Speaker’s Quote Book. Grand Rapids: Kregel Publications, 1997, p. 15). Obviously, the man with the bumper sticker made a fool of himself because he did not measure up to its message! We are fooling ourselves if we think we are completely free of momentary incidents of hypocrisy. It is in those moments that the devil is in the details!
There can be no question about how the devil is often in the details of things! Where God has placed people to plant for His kingdom, the enemy Satan has been busy planting counterfeits sowing weeds among the wheat (Matthew 13:25).
I once asked a man in the community to come to church and he pointed at the church I was serving and said too many hypocrites go there. I reminded of a story where someone said the same thing to a preacher who invited him. I also shared with him what that preacher said in his response to him “We have room for one more.”
COMPASSION
How many have been healed by compassion?
1) Details: The devil is extremely busy in the details of all that goes on today both in religious settings and out in the world. How many are being hindered and not able to stand because of what Satan has done to them? How many has he deceived to think that they are not able to look up, or look for help or the atmosphere of fellowship among wounded healers touched by God’s grace?
2) Distortion: Satan will always try to distort the truth.
Can our actions speak louder than our words? What good are rules that exclude if they cannot demonstrate God’s love though our love?
"After an accident in which she lost her arm, Jamie refused to go to school or church. Finally, the young teen thought she could face her peers. In preparation her mother called her Sunday school teacher and asked that he not call attention to Jamie. The teacher promised, but then he got sick on Sunday and had to call a substitute.
At the conclusion of the lesson that day, which was about inviting friends to church, the substitute teacher led the class in doing the hand motions to the familiar children’s poem:
Here is the church,
Here is the steeple.
Open the door
And see all the people.
Jamie’s eyes filled with tears. A thirteen-year-old boy sensed Jamie’s pain and knelt beside her. With one hand apiece, they supported each other, making the church, steeple, and people.
Together they illustrated what real church is".
(Craig Brian Larson 7 Phyllis Ten Elshof eds. 1001 Illlustrations that Connect . [source within: — Billy Waters, Teacher Touch (Cook, 1999)]. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2008, p. 46).
Satan wanted to distort the truth in such a way as to keep the girl in this story bound with embarrassment but Christ’s love won the day. Jesus teaches us that God’s love makes the difference when it goes the distance.
In the Name, of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
