She Was Healed On The Sabbath Series

Text: Luke 13:10-17, KJV 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.

Introduction: Many times in the Gospels we read where Jesus went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day. Sometimes, at the synagogue, He performed miracles of healing. Diseases, of course, are usually caused naturally or are the result of coming in contact with a sick person. Other times, diseases were the result of unclean spirits. This was one such case. Jesus healed a woman and defended what He did when a synagogue official protested.

I The Woman With The Health Problem

God made people “male and female” in the beginning; Adam was the first to be created from the dust of the ground and then God made Eve by taking a rib from Adam’s side. Even in Jesus’ day, the time when He was physically ministering to people on this earth, He reinforced the idea that God made “male and female (compare Genesis 1:27 and 5:2 with Matthew 19:4)”.

Even though there is a difference between male and female in terms of genetics or biology or any other reason, one unifying principle still exists. That principle is that no person is to be denied access to God because of their gender. Paul would later write that there is no difference at all between ethnicity, gender, or anything else (Galatians 3:28).

It’s also clear that both men and women share a common problem, namely, sickness! As mentioned, sometimes the sickness is just the result of a virus or other contagious disease but sometimes, the sickness was because of a demon. And this incident in the synagogue wasn’t the first time our Lord had to deal with that kind of a problem. Very early in His ministry, He was in contact with a man with an unclean spirit (Mark 1:21-27) and then He was brought face to face with another man who had a “Legion” of unclean spirits (Mark 5:1-20). This was no problem for Jesus: He simply cast out the demons or evil spirits and every person who had that condition was immediately healed!

So now, on a Sabbath, in a synagogue, Jesus finds a woman who had a “spirit of infirmity” and, even worse, was bowed together—we might say she was “doubled over”—and had a hard time lifting herself up. And, Luke adds, she had been in that condition for 18 years!

Would she ever receive healing?

II The Teacher With The Solution

Luke’s narrative is simple and respectful. He first says that the woman was in the synagogue but still in her condition. One wonders what the other worshipers might have said or pondered when they saw her. The important thing, however, is that Jesus saw her and He called her to Himself.

It’s true that Jesus used different methods when He healed people. Sometimes He healed people from a distance—examples: the Roman centurion’s servant (Matt 8:5-13), the son of the nobleman at Capernaum (while he was speaking to Jesus at Cana, several miles away per John 4:46-54!), and the Syro-phoenician woman’s daughter (Mark 7:24-30). Other times He delivered people from demon oppression and/or possession (Mark 1:23-27, 9:14-30; Luke 8:26-39) by simply using His words. On still other occasions He actually touched people, just like He did for this woman at this particular time.

This brings us to the moment of healing. Jesus and others are in the synagogue, the woman was one of the people there (v.11), and Jesus sees her. Not only did He see her, He laid both of His hands on her and then said, “Woman, thou art loosed!”, or, in more up to date terms, “You’re set free!” from her medical problem. Immediately, Luke records, she was healed! She could stand up straight—not possible for 18 years—and she glorified God.