Jesus Heals On The Sabbath
JESUS HEALS ON THE SABBATH
LUKE 13:10-17
Sabbath do’s and don’ts shouldn’t become so fixed that basic needs are neglected.
This story bears all the marks of direct reporting. It is the last instance in this Gospel of an appearance in the synagogue. The places of regular assemblage were closing to the Lord’s teaching, as the opposition of the Pharisees grew. The woman, the text runs, had a “spirit of infirmity.” Luke could speak only in the language of his day, if he hoped to be understood by the people of his day. Dr Rendle Short points out that the woman’s affliction was arthritic, with severe rigidity and deformation of the spine. The sense of firm and painful resistance to all efforts to straighten the back gave rise to the figure of speech: “a spirit of infirmity.”
The leader of the synagogue emerges vividly from the brief account. He was chairman, in common Jewish practice, of a local board of ten men, who were in charge of the synagogue of the neighborhood. He does not dare to confront his visitor directly. He rebukes him indirectly (13:14) with an exhortation to the congregation on Sabbath-keeping. It was pharisaical “play-acting” of the first order, and earned the Lord’s prompt retort. Sham and posing was a sin which stirred his righteous indignation. Compare Matthew 23.
The detailed Talmudic provisions for the care of stock on the Sabbath laid it down that water could be drawn for ox or ass on the seventh day, but that it must not be brought to the animal’s mouth. Men who reduced religion to such meticulous absurdity could look with indifference both on human affliction and human deliverance. Hence the confounding of his adversaries, and the joy of those who found the religion of their leaders an anxiety and a burden.
Notes 13:11: in spite of her infirmity, she attended the house of God—does this rebuke us? 13:12: the language of faith—it anticipates the fact. 13:16: a “daughter of Abraham”—physically and spiritually (“she praised God”). “Whom Satan bound”—not a concession to superstition: the spiritual “first causes” of infirmity are often underrated.