May 25, 2025
Luke 13:10–17 ESV
Now he was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath. 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. When Jesus saw her, he called her over and said to her, “Woman, you are freed from your disability.” And he laid his hands on her, and immediately she was made straight, and she glorified God. 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.” 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? And ought not this woman, a daughter of Abraham whom Satan bound for eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath day?” 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.
Discussion Question:
What lessons regarding the Law and Satan’s power was Jesus trying to convey to the people?
Discussion Summary:
This woman did not approach Jesus. He was the one who noticed her and called her over. He did not ignore those on the sidelines but engaged those who needed his help. She had come to the synagogue demonstrating her faith in God even in her affliction. Jesus responded to her faith.
Jesus had earlier in chapter 6, verse 5 declared himself to be Lord of the Sabbath. It would be through his death that he would be able to offer to all a true rest from the labour of sin. We read in Leviticus 25 that as the sabbath is every 7 days, and every 7 years there is a sabbath year where the land lies fallow, so on the 50th year (following 7×7) there was a year of jubilee in which all captives were released, debts pardoned and land redistributed to the tribes. Jesus is illustrating this grand sabbath lesson as foretold in Isaiah 61:1.
Satan as the “god of this world” has blinded the eyes of men that they cannot see (2 Corinthians 4:4). Figuratively, people are in bondage to him and cannot free themselves. They are in effect leashed like an animal. While the religious leaders would have unleashed an animal on the sabbath to lead it to water, they denied the unleashing of this woman by healing her.
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