Luke 13:10-17

Butler's Comments

SECTION 2

Repentance in Doctrine (Luke 13:10-17)

10 Now he was teaching in one of the synagogues on the sabbath. 11And there was a woman who had had a spirit of infirmity for eighteen years; she was bent over and could not fully straighten herself. 12And when Jesus saw her, he called her and said to her, Woman, you are freed from your infirmity. 13And he laid his hands upon her, and immediately she was made straight, and she praised God. 14But the ruler of the synagogue, indignant because Jesus had healed on the sabbath, said to the people, There are six days on which work ought to be done; come on those days and be healed, and not on the sabbath day. 15Then the Lord answered him, You hypocrites! Does not each of you on the sabbath untie his ox or his ass from the manger, and lead it away to water it? 16And ought not this woman, a daughter of Abraham whom Satan bound for eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the sabbath day? 17As he said this, all his adversaries were put to shame; and all the people rejoiced at all the glorious things that were done by him.

Luke 13:10-14 Attack: This is another occasion when Jesus had been invited to give the Sabbath teaching in one of the Jewish synagogues. This particular synagogue is somewhere in Judea (probably in Jerusalem). This is the hotbed of religious orthodoxy. There was a woman who had a spirit (Gr. pneuma) of infirmity (Gr. astheneias, lit., lack of strength, weakness). She had something that kept her bent double (Gr. sugkuptousa) and unable to stand erect for eighteen years. Apparently it was another case of demon possession. Luke calls it a spirit of infirmity and Jesus attributes her predicament to some binding by Satan (Luke 13:16). Note, there is no suggestion of immorality in this woman's life. She was the victim of Satanic activity without any deliberate or conscious surrender to wickedness on her part. Why? We do not know. Perhaps the ancient incident in the life of Job (Job 1:1-22) may furnish some explanation. There is not even the slightest hint that this demonic invasion of her body had caused any immoral effects in her life. Here she was in the synagogue on the Sabbath. Evidently Jesus saw in her a faith that stood above some of the religious leaders and He called her a daughter of Abraham. Jesus did not grant that appellation to every Jew!

Jesus saw her. He called to her, Woman, you are freed from your infirmity. Then He laid His hands on her, and immediately her twisted and bowed frame straightened up and she continually praised God. Jesus did not have to lay His hands on her to effect the healing. He could heal with a word (He cast the demon out of the daughter of a Syrian woman with a word, Cf. Matthew 15:1-39; Mark 7:1-37). When Jesus healed it was immediately and permanently. Luke uses the Greek word apolelusai, perfect tense verb meaning, loosed and continually loosed. The healing was immediate, complete, unquestionable, unhysterical and without prolonged efforts to convince the woman she had been healed. Jesus probably laid His hands on her to make it absolutely clear that the powers of deity were in Him.

People with compassion and a common-sense judgment of what is good, right and true, would have joined the woman in rejoicing and giving praise to God. But not everyone in that synagogue had this kind of fundamental honesty and compassion. This healing was unquestionably an act of deity. The ruler of the synagogue was indignant (Gr. aganakton, originally signified physical pain or irritation). The official of the synagogue was angry because Jesus had broken a rabbinical tradition. The Old Testament Law specified only a few Sabbath restrictions. On the Sabbath, the Jew could not:

a.

Do any work (Exodus 20:9-10)

b.

Plow or harvest (Exodus 34:21)

c.

Kindle a fire (Exodus 35:3; Numbers 15:32-36)

d.

Bake or boil food (Exodus 16:23)

e.

Tread the winepress (Nehemiah 13:15)

f.

Haul goods to market (Nehemiah 13:15)

g.

Trade or sell (Nehemiah 13:16; Amos 8:5)

The main thrust of the Sabbath legislation was not negative. The prohibitions of the Law were to force a spiritually-immature people to concentrate on the real issues God ordained the Sabbath for:

a.

to give men an opportunity to trust completely in God for providing all they needed for sustenance (Exodus 16:22-29).

b.

to be for man an opportunity to sanctify himself to God's holy way of life (Exodus 20:8 ff.; Leviticus 16:31), a day for afflicting the soul in repentance and thinking God's thoughts.

c.

to be a day set aside for worshipping the Lord in sacrifice and offerings (Numbers 28:9 ff.).

d.

to be a day for men to do good to their fellow manto let their servants and sojourners find rest and help (Exodus 23:12 ff.; Deuteronomy 5:12-15).

The seventh day is no longer legislated as a special day since the Law was nailed to the cross (cf. Colossians 2:14; Galatians 5:2-6; Ephesians 2:14-16; Romans 14:5-9, etc.) in the death of Christ, His death abrogated the entire Law of Moses, fulfilling it, suffering its penalty, and instituting a better covenant. But Christians are to live a sabbath-kind-of-life. The Old Testament prophets kept predicting that the Messianic age was to be a sabbath-kind-of-life (cf. Isaiah 56:1-4; Isaiah 58:13-14; Jeremiah 17:19-27; Isaiah 66:22-23; Ezekiel 44:24; Ezekiel 46:3). In Hebrews 4:9 the Greek word, sabbatismos, is translated, a sabbath rest. It is a word not found anywhere in all the Greek language until Paul uses it there. Paul coined this word to express or illustrate the experience of spiritual rest he said Christians are to have in their New covenant relationship in Christ. The Christian should live a sabbath-kind-of-life every day of his lifenot just one day.

The major portion of the Jewish people never did comprehend the higher and more spiritual essence of the Law of Moses, including the Sabbath legislation. The people of the days of prophets, for the most part, profaned the Sabbath (cf. Amos 8:4-6; Ezekiel 20:12; Ezekiel 22:8; Ezekiel 22:26; Ezekiel 23:38, etc.). After the captivities of the Jews, myriads of rabbinical traditions were accumulated and enforced regarding the Sabbath. There are thirty-nine kinds of forbidden Sabbath activity in the rabbinical tractate called Shabbath. The list includes such things as tying or untying a knot, seizing any prey, writing two letters of the alphabet or sowing seed. In addition to these specific rules, there was a huge collection of traditions argued by some as binding and not binding by others. Some argued such absurdities as:

a.

It was unlawful to eat an egg laid upon the Sabbath since the hen had broken the Law by laying the egg on Sabbath.

b.

It was unlawful to slaughter an animal on Sabbath, unless it was a lousesome would only allow that the louse's legs might be plucked off on Sabbath.

c.

Women were not allowed to look into a mirror on Sabbath lest they brush loose hairs from their shoulders and be working on Sabbath.

Some of the more liberal and conscientious rabbis held that it was legitimate to fight in self-defence on the Sabbaththat other religious duties might supersede the Sabbath such as keeping certain of the great feasts and circumcising a Jewish male-child. The saving of life takes precedence over the Sabbath (so says, Yoma 85a), so that anyone being assaulted or anyone dangerously ill (life-threatening illness) could be assisted on the Sabbath. The more rigid rabbis would have no part of such liberalism and forbade any kind of ministration to the sick on the Sabbath.
The effect of such multiplication of traditions and extreme legalism about the Sabbath (and rites of purification, etc.) was that many Jews, including the rabbis, learned devious and hypocritical ways to evade them. For instance, since on the Sabbath one might only travel a Sabbath day's journey (six stadia, or seven-eighths of a mile) a fictitious domicile would be invented, so that from that point it was within the Law to start off on another six stadia.

Luke 13:15-17 Answer: Jesus denounces the hypocrisy of the rabbis here in His reminder, Does not each of you on the sabbath untie his ox or his ass from the manger, and lead it away to water it? Edersheim notes that rabbinic tradition in the Talmud provided for water to be drawn for beasts on the Sabbath. Jesus is showing the vicious perversity of this rabbinic legalism which would allow a beast to be watered, but not a faithful worshipper of God to be released from the malicious cruelty of Satan's invasion of her body. The hypocrisy of the ruler of the synagogue is evident:

a.

He was pretending to censure the crowd, but was really aiming at Jesus. But the ruler. said to the people. (Luke 13:14)

b.

He blamed the woman for coming to the synagogue for healing when he knew she came to worship. She had no idea Jesus would heal her.

c.

He placed institutional values above human values.

d.

He was more concerned about his animal property than the Sabbath. He was only pretending to hallow the Sabbath!

It is so easy to lose the sense of values with respect to people in a highly technological and institutionalized society. There is even the danger in the church that we will manipulate, count, organize, systematize and institutionalize until people lose their identity. Let the church beware! Jesus makes it plain, It is lawful to do good on the Sabbath (cf. Matthew 12:12).

God rested from His creative work and on the seventh day began His eternal sustaining or sanctifying work (cf. Genesis 2:1-3). It is as Jesus said, My father worketh until now, and I work. (John 5:17). God continues doing good, even on the Sabbath. In fact, doing good is God's way of resting. Rest, as God defines it, is not the cessation of work, but the doing of holiness which brings peace, satisfaction, joy, spiritual growth. That is rest!

Luke used the Greek word deo which is translated in English ought. Deo is much more intense than two other Greek words (opheilo and chre) translated ought. Deo means it is binding, it is obligatory, it is inevitable, it is proper and right. There is no hint of any other option or alternative in this word. Jesus is saying that ethically and theologically, the need of this daughter of Abraham takes precedence over Sabbath laws, and especially over Sabbath traditions. The Sabbath was made for man's highest goodnot man for the Sabbath. Jesus is saying that doing good, even in this particular case, is exactly the purpose for which God instituted the Sabbath. Not only was the woman's body delivered from Satan's invasion, knowledge of Jesus-' deity was given her so she might accept the Messiah and His kingdom.

The irrefutable righteousness of Jesus-' answer to the attack of the ruler of the synagogue had two results:

a.

His adversaries were put to shame, The Greek word kateschunonto means they were confounded or dishonored. It is doubtful that Luke is referring to their shame in connection with any repentance. Jesus-' answers exposed His adversaries-' hypocrisy.

b.

All the people rejoiced. They rejoiced not only that the woman had been delivered from her physical malady, but also that they had seen divine truth about God's love for man and the real truth about the Sabbath.

Applebury's Comments

Healing a Woman
Scripture

Luke 13:10-17 And he was teaching in one of the synagogues on the sabbath day. 11 And behold, a woman that had a spirit of infirmity eighteen years; and she was bowed together, and could in no wise lift herself up. 12 And when Jesus saw her, he called her, and said to her, Woman, thou art loosed from thine infirmity. 13 And he laid his hands upon her: and immediately she was made straight, and glorified God. 14 And the ruler of the synagogue, being moved with indignation because Jesus had healed on the sabbath, answered and said to the multitude, There are six days in which men ought to work: in them therefore come and be healed, and not on the day of the sabbath. 15 But the Lord answered him, and said, Ye hypocrites, 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 had bound, lo, these eighteen years, to have been loosed from this bond on the day of the sabbath? 17 And as 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.

Comments

teaching in one of the synagogues.Luke reports a good many such incidents, but there is a reason for doing so in each case. This miracle had a two-fold purpose: (1) To teach a lesson about the kingdom of God and (2) to help a person whom Satan had bound for all those eighteen years.

a woman that had a spirit of infirmity.This is probably another case of demon possession, for the woman had a spirit of weakness, that is, the spirit had caused her to be weak. It was impossible for her to straighten up, and she had been that way for eighteen years. Satan had bound this daughter of Abraham, a faithful person in spite of her affliction.

Woman, thou art loosed from thine infirmity.Jesus laid His hands on her and immediately she was able to straighten up. But she had already been set free from the infirmity. A person who had been for so long in her condition would scarcely be expected to realize that it was possible to straighten up. The old habit would have to be overcome. The touch of the Master's hand gave the necessary encouragement, Jesus did the same for the demon possessed boy (Mark 9:27).

And the ruler of the synagogue.The woman glorified God for what He had done for her, but the ruler of the synagogue indignantly condemned Jesus because He had done this on the sabbath, Was this just a pious attempt to discredit Jesus so that he might hold his own power over the people? At any rate, Jesus made his remarks look rather foolish.

the Lord answered him.He was the Lord of the sabbath and knew why the regulation had been given. It was not just for pious pretense or hypocritical display. He said, You hypocrites, does not each one of you on the sabbath loose his ox or his ass from the stall and lead him to water? Then shouldn-'t this daughter of Abraham whom Satan had bound these eighteen years be loosed on the sabbath? Who could say no?

all his adversaries were put to shame.They were seemingly placing more value on animals than human beings. They should have been ashamed. But the people rejoiced over the glorious thing that had been done.

Man's work could be done in six days; but there was no time limit for the glorious work of God. And what better day was there to loose a faithful daughter of Abraham whom Satan had bound?