ON A SABBATH Jesus was teaching in one of the synagogues, 11and a woman was there who had been crippled by a spirit for eighteen years. She was bent over and could not straighten up at all. 12When Jesus saw her, he called her forward and said to her, “Woman, you are set free from your infirmity.” 13Then he put his hands on her, and immediately she straightened up and praised God.
14Indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, the synagogue ruler said to the people, “There are six days for work. So come and be healed on those days, not on the Sabbath.”
15The Lord answered him, “You hypocrites! Doesn’t each of you on the Sabbath untie his ox or donkey from the stall and lead it out to give it water? 16Then should not this woman, a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has kept bound for eighteen long years, be set free on the Sabbath day from what bound her?”
17When he said this, all his opponents were humiliated, but the people were delighted with all the wonderful things he was doing.
Original Meaning
JESUS HAS FREQUENTLY called the people to repent. In a miracle only Luke narrates, we discover whether the Jewish religious leadership (e.g., the Pharisees and synagogue rulers) have responded to this call. Have any of them taken a closer look at him and recognized their accountability in refusing his message? This event is a “mirror miracle,” because it repeats activity earlier in the book (4:31–44; 5:12–26; 6:6–11) and allows us to see in the replay whether anything is different in terms of response to Jesus. The rebuke in verse 15 shows nothing has changed, so new warnings will surface in 13:22–35.
A second major theme in this text is the portrayal of a battle with Satan, the source of this woman’s bondage. Luke’s remarks here reflect back on the imagery of release in 4:16–30, indicating that release has a crucial spiritual dimension in the cosmic struggle between Satan and Jesus.1 Just as 10:18 and 11:14–23 tie Jesus’ work to this cosmic conflict, so this text highlights the battle, showing the diminishing authority of Satan. As a result, Jesus’ ministry reveals God’s compassion.
This is the first miracle since 11:14 and is one of the last Luke records. The miracle in 14:1–6 will show the reaction here is not a fluke, but is part of a pattern of response. So the event has a defining importance in the Gospel’s story about the reaction to Jesus.
Jesus is in a synagogue. Among the people is a woman who has suffered for eighteen years from the presence of a spirit that caused her to be weak and bent over (presumably her physical situation involved either some type of bone degeneration or muscular paralysis). Since Luke does speak of disease by itself when he wishes, there is obviously more than a medical problem here. The mention of the length of her suffering underscores the seriousness of her condition. In this culture, being a woman and suffering from such a malady makes her an outsider on two counts.2 Jesus notices her and immediately tells her that she is “set free from [her] infirmity.” He lays hands on her, and she straightens up immediately. Luke loves to note instant healing (4:39; 5:25; 8:44, 47, 55; 18:43). This would have been cause for immediate rejoicing except for one fact: It was the Sabbath.
The synagogue leader argues that the healing could have waited. Jesus has violated laws of working on the Sabbath (Ex. 20:9–10; Deut. 5:12–14). It is crucial to see what his work consists of in order to appreciate the complaint. Jewish tradition was particular about Sabbath labor. In the Mishnah, the book of Jewish tradition from the late second century, we are given a list of thirty-nine activities prohibited for the Sabbath (Shabbat 7:2). Other texts outline the limits for how one handles cattle on the Sabbath (Shabbat 15:1–2; 5:1–4; ʿErubin 2:14). The rules are specific, though it is not clear precisely which rule Jesus has violated. All he has done is to address the woman and touch her.
Jesus responds sternly, addressing those who agree with the synagogue ruler as “hypocrites.” He cites an example of their own practice by raising a question that in Greek expects a positive reply. Do they not lead their donkey or ox to water on the Sabbath? The ʿErubin and Shabbat texts noted above discuss an example much like this, indicating that such practices did occur. The only limit was the length of travel a person was permitted on the Sabbath (at Qumran, the limit was 2000 cubits [about 3000 feet]), but leading cattle to water was permitted.3 If people show so much compassion to animals on the Sabbath, how much more compassion should a human receive!
Jesus drives the point home. Should not this woman, bound by Satan for eighteen years, be set free on the Sabbath? What more appropriate day for this to happen to a daughter of Abraham, a daughter of promise? What more appropriate day to defeat Satan and release people from his bonds than the day of rest when God is to be contemplated? Here is a day to remember God and celebrate the goodness of his healing grace. The connection of this language to the remarks of 4:16–30 is obvious. Jesus is exercising his ministry of deliverance and release. He is Lord of the Sabbath (6:5). Yet Jesus’ approach to the issue is the exact opposite of the Jewish leadership’s view.
The reaction is instantaneous. The leadership stands humiliated, while the crowd is delighted with what Jesus has done. In the cosmic battle over the woman, a ministry of compassion has emerged. Those who wish to apply the rules improperly stand rebuked. Legalism stands condemned.
Bridging Contexts
THE MAJOR ISSUE in this text is not the debate over Sabbath activity, but what stands behind it. Sabbath practice was not a highlighted issue in the early church (Rom. 14:5), since different believers did different things on the Sabbath; but the call to have compassion was important.4 The text emphasizes that it is appropriate to be compassionate all the time, and it is Jesus’ compassion that causes the crowds to rejoice. The synagogue leader, however, is so bound up on his rules that he cannot rejoice in the blessing of deliverance that has taken place.
Another timeless issue is the debate about Jesus’ authority bound up in this event. If Jesus has the authority to heal and God endorses that authority on the Sabbath by giving him power to effect this healing, then what does that say about Jesus? In the Jewish view, God would not endorse a violation of his Sabbath law, so where does the power come from to reverse the condition of the woman that Satan is responsible for? That source cannot be Satan, since he is responsible for the woman’s condition; thus, the healing must be divine (11:14–23). God is at work through Jesus, so the entire event reinforces the authority of Jesus, furthering the claim Luke makes for his right to call for a response to Jesus.
We also see illustrated in the passage the depth of hardheartedness. Jesus has repeatedly warned the Jewish leadership and his generation about the risk of rejecting him. He continues to reinforce his claim, but many keep on challenging what he does. They even stretch the “nonlabor law” on the Sabbath to try to discredit him. But in the healing God casts a vote for the challenged teacher. The healing shows whose side God is on. The issue of choosing Jesus in light of who he is and what he does is of paramount importance in any era.
A worldview issue also surfaces here. Westerners tend not to consider the possibility that some conditions are not just physical, but carry a hostile spiritual dimension. We treat sickness as merely that. We tend to treat violence in people as merely that. Though hard to ascertain, the possibility of spiritual dimensions in certain situations should make us more sensitive to prayer for these conditions, so that spiritual resources can be brought to bear (James 5:14–15).
I will never forget talking with one of my students who worked in the state penitentiary for years. He reported account after account of inmates who engaged in demonic activity. Even the unbelievers among the guards sensed that something paranormal was involved in the attitude of those inmates. One prisoner, for example, nicknamed “the meanest man in Texas,” could bounce back immediately from the harshest of blows with a night stick and keep attacking others. Others even wore tattoos proclaiming their allegiance to the devil. These examples may be more extreme than this woman’s illness, but they show how real these forces can be in the lives of people. So we should access divine aid, especially when we are not certain of the source of such conditions.
When it comes to the demonic, no one has spoken more eloquently that C. S. Lewis in The Screwtape Letters.5 The whole book is worth reading and reflecting on, especially in an era that has seen an increase in interest in Satan. Here are a few key citations:
There are two equal and opposite errors into which our race can fall about the devils. One is to disbelieve in their existence. The other is to believe, and feel an excessive and unhealthy interest in them. They themselves are equally pleased by both errors, and hail a materialist or a magician with the same delight.
[Screwtape to his devil assistant]: It is funny how mortals always picture us [devils] as putting things into their minds: in reality our best work in done by keeping things out.
[Screwtape to his devil assistant]: Our policy, for the moment, is to conceal ourselves.
What Lewis understands so well and pictures so powerfully is that the devil either wants us to be consumed with his presence and power or else conclude he is not there at all. A healing like this tells us to be aware but not afraid, for God is more powerful than anything such hostile forces can throw at us.
Contemporary Significance
AS WITH MANY texts in the last few chapters, this one also calls for a response to Jesus. The leaders’ failure to respond reveals just how stubborn unbelief can be, even in the face of widespread testimony and evidence. They represent the stubborn unbelief that can be found in many places. We have made this point enough in other texts, so we will not develop it further here.
The image of salvation as release from Satan’s clutches is the major positive picture in this text. Jesus has come to free us from the prison of Satan’s grip. The woman has been shackled by a physical condition, but Satan’s presence is also manifest in this situation.6 He can damage both physically and emotionally, causing us to depend on substances or behaviors that are compulsive and destructive. Whether the challenge is being “bent over” and “brought low” by alcohol, drugs, sex, or some other debilitating situation, Jesus’ deliverance is designed to free us up to relate to him in a way that enables us to shed the limitations Satan sometimes chains us with.
As John 9 shows, not every illness or debilitation is tied to Satan; but when he strikes, we need to be assured that in God we can face and overcome whatever comes, regardless of the physical outcome. Such conditions may be reversed suddenly or over time, or transcended in the life to come; but the picture of physical deliverance here serves notice that deliverance is possible through Jesus. The establishing of a relationship with God and the access to the power of God’s presence in his Spirit empower us with resources to renew our lives. Any time is appropriate for such a move towards restoration. It is what Jesus’ ministry—and the church’s ministry today—are all about.
Finally, we must be careful not to let our pursuit of religious practices according to our preferred custom outweigh our responsibility to be compassionate. Many churches have battled over the role of music or other elements of church practice that are not issues of spiritual significance. We must not allow the tyranny of comfort in practice or even the tyranny of keeping to some type of predetermined schedule prevent us from being sensitive to others around us.