45L Luke 13:10- 17

The Spirit that Disables 13:10-13

English Standard Version (Chapter 13)

10 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.

This session of synagogue teaching came complete with a living example to again display publicly the ability of Jesus to heal someone who was crippled/incapacitated/ disabled/ or infirm. Not to mention, He was not afraid to heal on the Sabbath even though it was in front of His most major critics and individuals who wanted Him dead: the religious folk. The Scribes, Pharisees and synagogue rulers were seemingly bent on keeping Jesus in check. It may be hard to keep in check the man who calmed the storm and created the universe, and brought back people from the dead.

The synagogue was a hot spot for rigidity. This is the hall of the frozen chosen. In the midst of this stalled religious machine was a lady who for 18 years, “count ‘em” 18 years of limited physical action because of this “disabling spirit.” In verse 18(which we have not read yet) it says she was bound by Satan. That means there are spiritual warfare implications. We have already seen the definitions of this disability already in the previous paragraph of this lesson. There was a specific ailment that left her so weak she was disabled. One account by a commentator says this:

The woman’s deformity is described by A. Rendle Short as ‘spondylitis deformans; the bones of her spine were fused into a rigid mass’

Leon Morris, Luke: An Introduction and Commentary, vol. 3, Tyndale New Testament Commentaries (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1988), 240.

This is firmed up by A.T Robertson who said that the words here, of bent over “in this spot only ,”speaks to curvature of the spine. This and the limitation of movement speaks to a very long 18 years for her. Perhaps she was noticed because her heart was crying out for help. She was not rebuked in any way. Sometimes, it just helps to be in your place on the Lord’s day, and then things happen.

The synagogue was unable to provide healing help. Not all disabled people are controlled by spirits like this one we are reading about. This particular spirit could have been a family spirit or also known as a “familiar spirit.” That is something that has plagued a family for perhaps a long period of time. It could have been a local spirit controlled by the local principality or power. It was not a “God thing.” Nonetheless, she was not rejected by the Savior.

We see a similar described spirit in Acts 16:16, and it also showed up at a time of prayer, or it was attracted to a religious activity, while apostles were assembled. This one was connected to no good. But for good or for bad, nonetheless she showed up and Boom:

“ And it came to pass, was we went to prayer, a certain damsel possessed with a spirit of divination met us, which brought her masters much gain by soothsaying: the same followed Paul and us, and cried, saying, These men are the servants of the most high God, which show unto us the way of salvation, and this she did many days. But Paul being grieved, turned and said to the spirit, I command thee in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her. And he came out the same hour.” Acts 16:16- 18.

In this case, there was nothing wrong with her message, but the unchanging repetition drove even Paul crazy. Paul and the apostles needed no introduction by demonic spirits. Paul dispatched the manly spirit (he came out) just by speaking.

Jesus did not just speak to this one but He also laid hands on her and she was made straight. Did you notice, this woman of our passage in Luke did not say anything to call attention to her problem. Jesus spoke to her need from a crowd of people at the synagogue. The cure was quick with Jesus saying “Woman, you are freed...” After getting to stand up straight for the first time in 18 years, she glorified God. No longer bound by Satan, she lets her lips praise.

Jesus addresses the Healing Controversy 13:14-17

English Standard Version (Chapter 13)

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 ruler of the synagogue is described as indignant or irate. We could also frame it with “much indignation!” this is like today’s “road rage.” When people get steamed to boiling over something that happens right before their eyes that they have no control over. The “ruler” was supposed to be in charge and obviously he took his job seriously, to the point of not making much sense to the people at the synagogue. As he gets his rebuke form the Son of God, you can imagine the rage of being embarrassed in front of his peers. Yet, those of us who are reading this on the other side of the cross and the empty tomb, cannot comprehend that a man would not have the grace to rejoice of a great thing happening in his spiritual assembly.

I can almost say for certain, the problem was not a sabbath problem. It was the envy of their religious hearts. The problem was approached from one of the “talking points” of the day that they were using to discredit Jesus. The Son of God, throws it back in their face because using a Sabbath argument on the Lord of the Sabbath just isn’t going to work. Their anger has blurred their common sense reasoning. That is where Jesus hits him, right in the middle of his hypocritical accusation:

English Standard Version (Chapter 13)

“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.”

Surely a religious leader would have more compassion for a human being than for an animal? It says “all,” and I really mean “all”, of the religious leaders or “ adversaries” were put to shame. The result of this confrontation put the glorious things done by Jesus directly into the spotlight. The people rejoiced. I believe there is a sense also of the people who rejoiced is that they also were feeling that sense of freedom that Jesus Christ offered that the synagogue leaders did not. After all, if we consider adversaries today to the cause of Jesus Christ, who is the first one we think about? That would be the main adversary , the devil. Let God arise, and let His enemies be scattered!