Luke 13:10-17

Now He was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath. 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. But when Jesus saw her, He called her to Him and said to her, “Woman, you are loosed from your infirmity.” And He laid His hands on her, and immediately she was made straight, and glorified God. 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.”

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? 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?” 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. (Emphasis mine)

So here again, we have another instance of “straining the gnat and swallowing the camel.” (See chapter here) The ruler of the synagogue was so indignant that Jesus “worked” on the Sabbath, that he missed the miracle of a woman, who had been deformed for 18 years, getting her healing. Jealousy may have been in play here, as people who are jealous can see every little thing wrong. But they totally overlook anything good. Jealousy will also keep you from rejoicing at someone else’s good fortune.

The woman had been in bondage to an infirmity, a bodily disfigurement, for 18 years with no relief. She probably had pain too because of it. My grandmother had kyphosis, which was an abnormal curve of her middle spine. I think she always had some back pain.

Jesus laid His hands on the woman and said she was loosed from the deformity. She immediately straightened up in front of everyone. All the people could see this healing. This is one of those instances where we don’t read in the text that the woman had any faith for this. She was simply sitting in the synagogue listening to Jesus teach. We don’t know what He was teaching, but we could probably say with some certainty that her faith was most likely aroused while He taught. Jesus called her a daughter of Abraham, and inferred that because of that, she had a legal right to be healed, no matter what day of the week it was. Healing was something guaranteed to the Jews in the Old Testament covenant. So healing should not be unusual for believers to experience in the New Testament. It shouldn’t be thought of as unusual. It should be normal for a community of faith.

Jesus also called out the reason for the woman’s infirmity….satan had bound her. Satan was the source of her disfigurement. Jesus dealt with that and she was healed and life got a lot better after that!

Praise the Lord! Jesus has defeated ALL the works of the evil one.