"Choosing Compassion"
Luke 13:10-17
A sermon for 10/2/22
Seventeenth Sunday after Pentecost
Pastor John Bright
Luke 13 10 Now He was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath. 11 And behold, there was a woman who had a spirit of infirmity eighteen years, and was bent over and could in no way raise herself up. 12 But when Jesus saw her, He called her to Him and said to her, “Woman, you are loosed from your infirmity.” 13 And He laid His hands on her, and immediately she was made straight, and glorified God.
14 But the ruler of the synagogue answered with indignation, because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath; and he said to the crowd, “There are six days on which men ought to work; therefore come and be healed on them, and not on the Sabbath day.”
15 The Lord then answered him and said, “Hypocrite! Does not each one of you on the Sabbath loose his ox or donkey from the stall, and lead it away to water it? 16 So ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has bound—think of it—for eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath?” 17 And when He said these things, all His adversaries were put to shame; and all the multitude rejoiced for all the glorious things that were done by Him.”
Pause right there. Those words I just read; they were “Breathed by God”! God wants you to hear His Word right now! So, what is your response? Do you want to transformed by that Word or do you want to be informed about the words? You must choose.
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This week we saw the utter destruction from Hurricane Ian. These scenes of suffering and need tug at our heart strings. What follows are the folks like God’s Pit Crew and Samaritan’s Purse who travel into the midst of hurting and spread the love of God in tangible ways. We see folks like the Cajun Navy who bring their boats and rescue people from the flooding all day and all night. Charities, like the Red Cross, bring food and water. Many private companies, both big and small, help in many ways. The list goes on and on, but they all share one thing – compassion for those affected by a disaster.
This type of compassion – the kind you need to go on a mission trip or help kids right here who are at risk – is the very compassion we read about in 1 John 3 “17 But whoever has this world’s goods, and sees his brother in need, and shuts up his heart from him, how does the love of God abide in him? 18 My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth.”
Do we always choose compassion like this? No – all of us have made the choice to put follow the rules and not help. God forgives us for these choices and offers us tomorrow to change. Praise God!
The Healing, v.10-13
Luke 13 10 Now He was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath. 11 And behold, there was a woman who had a spirit of infirmity eighteen years, and was bent over and could in no way raise herself up. 12 But when Jesus saw her, He called her to Him and said to her, “Woman, you are loosed from your infirmity.” 13 And He laid His hands on her, and immediately she was made straight, and glorified God.
We have seen different types of miracles worked at the hands of Jesus during our journey through the Gospel of Luke. We have read about healing of physical bodies. That’s one we are usually ready to accept. Then, we have read about Jesus casting demons out of people. For most folks, this one is a little harder. Now, we are presented with an account of these two at the same time – a physical condition caused by the demonic. This is the point at which I lost most of you! So I might as well go all in –
When I was serving in Bedford we started having weekly prayer meetings where we would invite folks to the altar and pray for them. One of the women who came to most of these evening services was at the altar one night. I asked her what was her prayer need. She answered, “I’m so angry at my mother.” I told her she needed to forgive her and gave her a prayer to pray – “Lord, I choose to forgive (fill in the blank) for (fill in the blank) or (what she did to me).” I also gave her directions to keep praying it over and over. She started and when she got to the “what she did to me” part, the floodgates opened up – tears and great sobs. This went on while we prayed with other folks. After a time, she got very quiet and I could hear her praising God. Several folks went to her and started praising God – it was infectious! Finally, she looked at me and told me it felt like a thousand-pound weight had been lifted off her. She stood and turned to leave the altar and walked right out of her shoes. She had suffered from swelling in her legs for years with no help from medical treatment so her shoe laces were as wide as they would go. She looked down and realized all the swelling was gone. It was another time of praising God. In the weeks and months that followed, she kept walking in forgiveness and her legs were not swollen.
Some of you may have trouble with this – I only present what I know to be the truth. You may want to try to find a natural explanation. Let me tell you what I believe – she was bound up by a spirit of unforgiveness that had caused a physical manifestation in her body. When she started forgiving her mother, that spirit/demon had to leave and so did the physical manifestation. Back in Luke 8 we covered the story of the Gerasene Demoniac. There was a manifestation of the demonic that had cast him out of the society – he acted crazy. After his deliverance we read: Luke 8:35 “Then they went out to see what had happened, and came to Jesus, and found the man from whom the demons had departed, sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind. And they were afraid.”
Two questions arise that I want everyone to hear my answer:
• Are all physical and emotional/mental illnesses caused by demonic activity? NO! I always said that I would never deny my child $5 of antibiotics and I still prayed for healing.
• Are any physical and emotional/mental illnesses caused by demonic activity? YES! This scripture presents us with this truth and I have seen it with my own eyes more than once.
We are witnessing a surge of addiction following the pandemic lockdowns. Let me share a personal truth with you – all addiction has a demonic component and it needs to be addressed for folks to walk in the freedom of the Holy Spirit. That’s my firmly held belief and I am sticking to it!
Response of the Religious Folks, v.14
Luke 13:14 But the ruler of the synagogue answered with indignation, because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath; and he said to the crowd, “There are six days on which men ought to work; therefore come and be healed on them, and not on the Sabbath day.”
For these folks, doing work on the Sabbath day was a huge deal. It is clearly addressed in the Old Testament: Deuteronomy 20 “8 “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. 9 Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. 11 For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.” This is the 4th Commandment.
There was a long list of activities that were not permitted on the Sabbath – from sundown on Friday until sundown on Saturday. There were other lists that were permitted but had limitations. I will return to one of these later. Not really sure what the synagogue ruler is calling out at work because Jesus has spoken to her and touched her. These are not on any list.
Anybody remember the old Blue Laws in Virginia? There were restrictions on what you could buy on Sundays at the store. It was only 10 years ago that Virginia ABC stores started opening on Sunday – but only in the afternoon. In 2019, they started opening at 10am. Ever try to go to Chick Fil a on a Sunday? They are all closed. It was a business model Truett Cathy was told would fail. The growth of that franchise is now studied in business schools as a great success.
Remember – we all need a spiritual Sabbath. We need physical and emotional rest. It doesn’t come from a list of dos and don’ts on a certain day of the week. We can make any day a Sabbath.
The Compassion of Jesus, v.15-17
Luke 13 15 The Lord then answered him and said, “Hypocrite! Does not each one of you on the Sabbath loose his ox or donkey from the stall, and lead it away to water it? 16 So ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has bound—think of it—for eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath?” 17 And when He said these things, all His adversaries were put to shame; and all the multitude rejoiced for all the glorious things that were done by Him.
I want to share a similar scripture in the next chapter: Luke 14 “3 And Jesus, answering, spoke to the lawyers and Pharisees, saying, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?” 4 But they kept silent. And He took him and healed him, and let him go. 5 Then He answered them, saying, “Which of you, having a donkey or an ox that has fallen into a pit, will not immediately pull him out on the Sabbath day?” 6 And they could not answer Him regarding these things.”
Having compassion on your animals is in view in both of these passages. Those Sabbath rules allowed for the rescue of an animal and animals could be watered – with a restriction on how far you could lead them (3000 feet or just over half a mile was permitted in the Qumran writings). Why is Jesus bringing up these examples of showing compassion to animals?
In Bible Study I go into detail on something like this. Jesus is making an argument – “from the lesser to the greater.” It goes like this – if you are willing to show compassion to animals by rescue or care on the Sabbath, how much more should you show compassion to people on the Sabbath?
Do we put limits on compassion? It’s confusing to me. I see folks in our culture who will fight to defend the rights of polar bears and whales and kittens but they will march and scream for the right to kill a child in the womb up to and beyond birth. I guess you already know that I am pro-life – so much so that I am opposed to the death penalty. WHAT! I just lost some of you… again. I just can’t see a limit to compassion for the life of a person from the womb to the tomb. How does that compassion work itself out in practical ways? Well, when I was teaching all my kids to drive, they were told to NEVER swerve for an animal. You take your foot off the gas and even gently use the break but don’t swerve and lock up the wheels – that’s how you flip a car. I tried to get them to see that the life of the driver and passengers were more precious than that animal in the road. It’s up to them if they want to start pulling over to move the little turtles to the side of the road – I never do. Sorry if that’s your thing.
We are called to be compassionate because we are called to live a life that looks like Jesus Christ:
Mark 1 “40 Now a leper came to Him, imploring Him, kneeling down to Him and saying to Him, “If You are willing, You can make me clean.” 41 Then Jesus, moved with compassion, stretched out His hand and touched him, and said to him, “I am willing; be cleansed.” 42 As soon as He had spoken, immediately the leprosy left him, and he was cleansed.”
Matthew 14:14 “And when Jesus went out He saw a great multitude; and He was moved with compassion for them, and healed their sick.”
John 11 “33 Therefore, when Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her weeping, He groaned in the spirit and was troubled. 34 And He said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to Him, “Lord, come and see.”
35 Jesus wept. 36 Then the Jews said, “See how He loved him!”
How many of us know that John 11:35 is the shortest verse in the Bible? How many of us know that verse is a picture of the compassion Jesus had for His friends? I fear we have become too calloused and too hardhearted to be moved to tears at the suffering of others – it’s hard! Compassion, like what we see here in these verses, moves us beyond the tears to the place where help is needed. I pray this church can keep doing just that – NO MATTER WHAT COMES! Amen.
TEACHING SHEET
"Choosing Compassion"
Luke 13:10-17
10/2/22
This week we saw the utter destruction from Hurricane Ian. Those who help all share one thing – compassion for those affected by a disaster. This type of compassion we read about in 1 John 3 “17 But whoever has this world’s goods, and sees his brother in need, and shuts up his heart from him, how does the love of God abide in him? 18 My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth.”
The Healing, v.10-13
What is happening here? We see a physical condition caused by the demonic. Are you ready to accept this? Maybe not.
Back in Luke 8 we covered the story of the Gerasene Demoniac. There was a manifestation of the demonic that had cast him out of the society – he acted crazy. After his deliverance we read: Luke 8:35 “Then they went out to see what had happened, and came to Jesus, and found the man from whom the demons had departed, sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind. And they were afraid.”
Two questions arise that I want everyone to hear my answer:
• Are all physical and emotional/mental illnesses caused by demonic activity? NO! I always said that I would never deny my child $5 of antibiotics and I still prayed for healing.
• Are any physical and emotional/mental illnesses caused by demonic activity? YES! This scripture presents us with this truth and I have seen it with my own eyes more than once.
Response of the Religious Folks, v.14
For these folks, doing work on the Sabbath day was a huge deal. It is clearly addressed in the Old Testament: Deuteronomy 20:8-11
This is the 4th Commandment.
There was a long list of activities that were not permitted on the Sabbath – from sundown on Friday until sundown on Saturday. There were other lists that were permitted but had limitations.
Remember – we all need a spiritual Sabbath. We need physical and emotional rest. It doesn’t come from a list of dos and don’ts on a certain day of the week. We can make any day a Sabbath.
The Compassion of Jesus, v.15-17
There is a similar story recorded in Luke 14:3-6. Having compassion on your animals is in view in both of these passages. Why is Jesus bringing up these examples of showing compassion to animals? This an argument – “from the lesser to the greater.” It goes like this – if you are willing to show compassion to animals by rescue or care on the Sabbath, how much more should you show compassion to people on the Sabbath?
We are called to be compassionate because we are called to live a life that looks like Jesus Christ:
Mark 1:40-42
Matthew 14:14
John 11 35 Jesus wept. 36 Then the Jews said, “See how He loved him!”
I fear we have become too calloused and too hardhearted to be moved to tears at the suffering of others – it’s hard! Compassion, like what we see here in these verses, moves us beyond the tears to the place where help is needed. I pray this church can keep doing just that – NO MATTER WHAT COMES! Amen.
