Jesus: The Son of Promise

A Woman with a Disabling Spirit

13:10–21 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. 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 Mustard Seed and the Leaven

18 He said therefore, “What is the kingdom of God like? And to what shall I compare it? 19 It is like a grain of mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his garden, and it grew and became a tree, and the birds of the air made nests in its branches.” 20 And again he said, “To what shall I compare the kingdom of God? 21 It is like leaven that a woman took and hid in three measures of flour, until it was all leavened.”

Let me ask you a question. Are you waiting on a Miracle?

Have you been waiting for something you simply can’t do under you own power? Something nothing short of the miraculous can accomplish? Right now there is probably something that comes to your mind. You didn't have to think hard or long to figure out what that thing is because you have been living with it day in and day out.

The woman in todays passage was in a similar position. She had been waiting on her miracle. Her miracle was to stand up straight again.

Verse 16 tells us why… 16…this woman, a daughter of Abraham whom Satan bound

Bound/Bent over… She was literally bound by the enemy. If you think about the language Jesus’s uses, being bound, her inability to stand upright makes sense. She was literally bound like with shackles or chains so that she could not stand straight.

Dis-abled… This must have made life difficult. How hard would it have been to do ordinary tasks? Can you think of going through out you everyday without the ability to stand straight? How much harder would things be? What things would no longer even be possible. It was a Dis-abling spirit. It was literally preventing her from living an effective and full life.

The enemy disables… The enemy of God seeks to disable God’s children. To prevent you from living an effective and full life. If he can bind you with something and limit your potential he will. Limiting you could be something as simple as a thought or idea for you to buy into. Like the one He got Adam and Eve to buy into, Gods holding out on you, there is more in store for your outside of Gods plan for your life than there is in it. What a destructive and disabling lie to buy into. It cost mankind everything.

God seeks to en-able… The Lord though is nothing like the enemy. Where the enemy disables Jesus Christ enables.

John 10:10 “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.”

The enemy came and stole 18 years away from this woman. But the Lord came and restored what they enemy took.

14 But the ruler of the synagogue, indignant.… As if what the enemy stole wasn't bad enough the synagogue leader wasn’t on her side either. He would have been similar in position to a pastor of the modern church. The enemy had bound her and the minister of the house isn't concerned with her.

Their belief system… Remember their belief system about the sick and suffering? They thought those that suffered deserved what that were receiving. Jesus directly confronted that belief that just two passages before this when He spoke to the crowds.

Lk 13:2. 2 And he answered them, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered in this way? 3 No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. 4 Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them: do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who lived in Jerusalem? 5 No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.”

Had he been praying for her?… How many years had she been bound ? 18. If he was concerned about her don't you think He would have sought God for her healing by then? And if He had been seeking God for her healing what would His first response to her healing have been? Wouldn't it have been joy that God had done the miraculous in this woman's life?

She needed a miracle… The woman needed a miracle. She was on her own and no more able to heal herself than she was able to cast the enemy out of her life.

Why should you continue to Hope?

You might be tempted to just give up on your situation. Nothing has changed yet so why would anything change now. Its been so long and you have tried and prayed and believed but nothing has happened.

Keeping going… I want to encourage you to continue waiting, praying and believing. Don’t give up.

Nothing in this woman's life had changed, until everything changed all at once.

18 years… I want you to remember it had been 18 years that this woman had been waiting to get her miracle.

Jesus found her in the synagogue… Where did Jesus find her when he came? In the synagogue, her local church. It’s been 18 years and she is still gathering together in the name of Yahweh, seeking Him. This woman had not given up on God.

Bent over and still in church… Can you imagine how hard it must have been to make it to synagogue every week? Bent over and laboring on foot to the place of worship.

Painful… Can you imagine how painful It must have been to be constantly bent over? I am assuming she was bent over forward, but wouldn’t it be even worse if she want bent side way’s?

The enemy puts us in contorted positions… I have seen people before in some pretty contorted conditions. The enemy left her in a position she never wanted to be in. Isn't that what sin is like every time we let it enter our lives. It puts us in position we don't want to be in.

Separated by her condition… Can you imagine how she was treated when she did get there? Probably avoided right? She was visibly different than everyone else present. She’s not well and the rulers say its because of some kind of sin and judgement. No one would have wanted to be around her.

Still seeking God no matter what… So here she is. In the Lords house alone, disabled, in pain, bound by the enemy for years and years, and still seeking God.

I don't know what your going through. I don’t know how hard it has been.

Rejected by those around you… Maybe you have been rejected by those around you because of what your going through. Maybe they have given up on you and even distanced themselves. Maybe someone who should have been there for you like the synagogue ruler has turned their back on you.

I want you to know that Jesus will never turn His back on you.

In pain… Maybe where you are stuck causes you great pain. Maybe its not even physical. Maybe its spiritual and emotional.

Disabled… Maybe what you have been going through has crippled you like the disabled woman. Maybe it has kept you from living a full life.

Waiting for year and years… Maybe it has been going on for so long its harder to remember what life was quite like before it. 18 years later probably makes like before it seem like a dream.

What others don’t know you have been suffering with the Lord does. He didn’t forget this bound woman and He hasn’t forgotten you. There is hope.

This woman received her miracle, and so can you.

12 When Jesus saw her, he called her over… The Lord had blessing for her. He was going to sozo her, sozo is the greek word for saved, means healed, saved and delivered amongst many other things

Delivered… She was freed, from what had been binding her, the enemy.

Healed… immediately she was made straight.

Saved… She was saved “this woman, a daughter of Abraham”. She was in a right covenant relationship with God, otherwise He would not have called her a daughter of Abraham, the patriarch who received Gods covenant promise.

He called her over… She wasn't made well until she stepped out in faith and let Jesus get ahold of her.

The Lord had something for her but she had to act first… Sometimes the Lord will ask you to take a step of faith before you see your break through.

Why should you continue to hope in your God?

13 And he laid his hands on her, and immediately she was made straight… It was immediate.

Nothing to Everything… Let me remind you once again. Nothing in this woman's life had changed, until everything changed all at once.

She went from 18 years of nothing to everything all at once.

The Sabbath day… Jesus healed this woman on the Sabbath, the day of rest. There isn't day, a time or place where God is not willing to reach out to his children.

Mark 2:27 “And he said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.”

Mankind Gods highest creation… God saw that mankind was very good after He created them. Greater everything else that He created. All around Him everything was supposed to support man, in His ultimate purpose, to glorify the Father. The earth, the sun, the moon, the plants and the animals. All of it was meant to support man. The Sabbath was meant to restore and refocus and Gods most cherished creation mankind. It was not meant to be used as an excuse to all His cherished creation to suffer.

But the ruler of the synagogue was indignant… It doesn't matter if others are against you. Your God is for you.

Romans 8:31 “What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?”

What God says, not others… The synagogue ruler had nothing good to say. Not even praise that Gods mighty had had worked a miracle. But what does it matter what others says? It’s what your God says that changes everything.

John 5:25 ““Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming, and is now here, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live.”

He spoke her healing… Did you notice in the passage that it was what Jesus said that healed her. “Woman, you are freed from your disability.”

His voice not theirs… Don't let what others say determine your faith and Hope. Let what your God says do that.

The Kingdom Come

Kingdom Teaching… Jesus transitions from healing the woman to speak to the same audience about to the Kingdom of God. “The Kingdom of God is like… “

What does the Kingdom of God have to do with the woman’s miraculous healing?… Why is He jumping around?

Remember what John the Baptist preached as He prepared the way for Jesus?

Mt 3:2.Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand

Did you know Jesus preached the same thing?

Mt 4:17 17 From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

How did Jesus teach the disciple to pray?… Our Father who art in Heaven hallowed by thy name they Kingdom come, thy will be done...

The connection between healing and the Kingdom… Jesus taught them in that moment about what the Kingdom of God what like, because they were supposed to make the connection, that the woman healed, was the Kingdom of God come. The woman’s healing was the Fathers will, if it wasn’t He wouldn’t have healed her.

Connection three measures of flour/the garden… Lets go deeper. What the connection of the garden and the three measures of flour to the Kingdom of God?

Abraham and three measures… The three measures of flower should have kindled recognition to the Israelites. It’s recorded somewhere else in Gods word, and it has to do with their father of faith Abraham. Ge 18:1-6 And the Lord appeared to him by the oaks of Mamre, as he sat at the door of his tent in the heat of the day. 2 He lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, three men were standing in front of him. When he saw them, he ran from the tent door to meet them and bowed himself to the earth 3 and said, “O Lord, if I have found favor in your sight, do not pass by your servant. 4 Let a little water be brought, and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree, 5 while I bring a morsel of bread, that you may refresh yourselves, and after that you may pass on—since you have come to your servant.” So they said, “Do as you have said.” 6 And Abraham went quickly into the tent to Sarah and said, “Quick! Three seahs of fine flour! Knead it, and make cakes.”

Three seahs of flour… A seah is meant to measure dry wieght. A measure is mean to measure liquid weight, but the are equivalent to each other. Three seahs of flour or three measures is equal to 22 liters or 50 pounds of flour. Stop and think about how much bread that would make. Abraham was being very inviting and hospitable. Extremely welcoming. To add to that He also slaughtered a calf and provided curds and milk. Remember he is a nomad at this stage in His life. He is living in the desert in tents. This an extravagant meal that took considerable preparation.

Adam and the garden… The mustard seed growing in the garden should have brought them back to them the garden account with Adam and Eve.

What they have in common… What do they both have in common? Abraham at the oaks of Mamre and Adam and Eve in the Garden? God Himself visited mankind in both of those places.

What was the message to the original audience? It was the Fathers will that this woman be healed this day and it was God Himself, in person, that did it.

What is His message to us?

With hospitality towards God, like with the three measures of flour, welcoming Him into your life, and with just a little bit of faith, like planting the mustard seed, the tinniest of seeds, the tinniest amount of faith, in the garden of your heart, God will meet you in that place. Like He did Abraham under the trees of Mamre, like He did the woman in the synagogue.

The Son of Hope

For whatever is waiting on there is Hope.

Christmas/different scripture… I thought I would be preaching in a different section of scripture this close to Christmas. But God showed me how the birth of His Son was directly linked to this story.

Lets look a section of scripture from Matthew.

Mt 1:18–23.The Birth of Jesus Christ 18 Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. 19 And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly. 20 But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21 She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” 22 All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet: 23 “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel”

21 She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”

That word save in Greek is sozo… We talked about it briefly earlier. What’s sozo’s definition? It means to make sound; to save; to preserve; to heal; to restore; to be healed; to recover; to keep; to rescue from danger; from death; to be made whole; to be saved; salvation from the penalty of death

Jesus will sozo his people… Jesus will make sound, save, preserve, heal, restore, recover, keep, rescue from danger; keep from death, make whole His people, save from the penalty of death.

He have Hope because He came… We are a people with Hope because that Son, the Promised Son, came. That’s what happened in that synagogue. The son of promise showed up that day and the Kingdom of God came with Him. He showed up that day for the disabled woman. He showed up that day for everyone who would hear his words and respond.

He showed up for everyone… He showed up for her. He showed up for them as well, even if they didn’t yet recognize it. He showed up that day for us for us as well.

In fact, there has been a day He showed up on your behalf already. The day of His crucifixion. The day He got on the cross to pay the penalty you owed.

Put to shame… When He got on that cross He put His enemies to shame. “17 As he said these things, all his adversaries were put to shame,”

Put your accusers to same… When He got on that cross He put to shame everyone in your life who said you would never amount to anything. Everyone who ever said you will never be more that your sins or failures. Look where your God has brought you to now. Your here to receive from Him.

What did they know… What do your accusers know? What did His accusers know? Not the end of the story, because at the end of the story our God wins and we win with Him.

Psalm 132:8–18 “Arise, O Lord, and go to your resting place, you and the ark of your might. Let your priests be clothed with righteousness, and let your saints shout for joy. For the sake of your servant David, do not turn away the face of your anointed one. The Lord swore to David a sure oath from which he will not turn back: “One of the sons of your body I will set on your throne. If your sons keep my covenant and my testimonies that I shall teach them, their sons also forever shall sit on your throne.” For the Lord has chosen Zion; he has desired it for his dwelling place: “This is my resting place forever; here I will dwell, for I have desired it. I will abundantly bless her provisions; I will satisfy her poor with bread. Her priests I will clothe with salvation, and her saints will shout for joy. There I will make a horn to sprout for David; I have prepared a lamp for my anointed. His enemies I will clothe with shame, but on him his crown will shine.””

I have prepared a lamp for my anointed.… Christ, means anointed one. Jesus Christ is the promised, anointed Son, Who would save Gods people.

He came on a mission to sozo the people of God.

Luke 4:16–21 “And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up. And as was his custom, he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and he stood up to read. And the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” And he rolled up the scroll and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. And he began to say to them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.””

proclaim good news to the poor… This is our Good news. Jesus Christ came.

proclaim liberty to the captives, set at liberty those who are oppressed... He set that woman free. He can set you free from what binds you too.

Isaiah 40:31 “but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.”

Closing

So what can you do to reach your break through?

The woman took three simple steps the find her break through.

Be there… She was there. When Jesus showed up to that church that day she was there. She put her self in a place where she was seeking God.

Put yourself in a place you expect to meet with God.

Listen… The woman heard Jesus’s call for her to come closer. She was not only in a place seeking Him she had a heart that was listening for what God had to say.

Actively seek to hear His voice in your life.

Answer… The woman answered Jesus call. She didn’t just hear what He had to say, she obeyed. When Jesus said come closer, she said yes.

When He calls you answer Him.

Proverbs 3:5–6 “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.”

Lamentations 3:25 “The Lord is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him.”

The stakes are high. Will you give up on God before you have seen your miracle? Or will you persevere and Hope in Him? Will you continue in Faith until you see your break through.

For to us a child is born, to us a Son is given.

The Son came. Will you place you Hope in Him.