Amy C Walters

A Woman with a Disabling Spirit | Luke 13:10-17

When Jesus heals a woman who had been disabled for 18 years, the synagogue ruler rebukes her for coming to be healed on the Sabbath. Jesus points out that the ruler treats his animals better than he was treating the women, a daughter of Abraham. It shows us that how we see people impacts how we treat them.

When Jesus sees the suffering and the needs of a woman who is bent over and disabled, he responds with tenderness and compassion, healing her. But the synagogue ruler, by contrast, seems harsh and uncaring. We’ll look today and why he responds that way. 

After Jesus heals the woman, the synagogue ruler rebukes everyone, saying, “There are six days for work, so come for healing on those days, not on the Sabbath.” This rebuke is aimed at Jesus, at the woman, at the crowd, at anyone else there who might dare break his rules for the Sabbath.

This reaction seems so out of place in light of the incredible miracle that Jesus has just done. This woman had been crippled for 18 years, and Jesus heals her immediately. This should be cause for worship, but instead the synagogue ruler responds in criticism.

I think Jesus’ response to the ruler and to others who oppose his work reveals a little bit about why he responds that way. He begins with, “You hypocrites,” and then he uses an illustration. “Doesn’t each one of you on the Sabbath untie his ox or donkey from the stall and lead it out and give it water? Then should not this woman, a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has kept bound for 18 long years, be set free on the Sabbath from what bound her?”

Jesus points out that the religious rulers make the effort to care for their animals even on the Sabbath. They untie them, they lead them out of the stall, they water them. They treat their animals better than they treat this woman.

They won’t even leave their animals to suffer for one day. But this woman has been suffering for 18 years! She should be released from her suffering that day, and not have to wait for later in the week. 

Jesus refers to the woman as “a daughter of Abraham,” a term that isn’t used anywhere else in Scripture. But there’s a lot that it communicates. 

First of all, it tells us that she is family to the synagogue ruler. They are related. He is a son of Abraham, she is a daughter of Abraham. They are family. 

Second of all, she is part of God’s chosen people. This woman who is disabled, who maybe the synagogue ruler had overlooked all this time, she is a chosen one of God. 

Also, this woman is an heir to the promises that God gave to Abraham. You can read about those promises in Genesis 12. 

So, Jesus is saying, look at this woman. She is worthy of more honor than your animals are. You take care of your animals. How much more should care for this woman and show compassion to her?

In the previous passage, Luke 13:1-5, Jesus talks about some tragic current events that have happened. And he says, “Do you suppose that those people that these tragedies happened to, that they suffered more because they are worse sinners?” This was a common ideology in that day, that those who were suffering must have sinned to deserve it. 

We don’t know if that’s what’s in the synagogue ruler’s mind to make him respond the way he does, but it seems to align. If he believes that she deserves the suffering, there is no room for compassion or seeing her with dignity. 

It’s interesting because in that same passage, Jesus also talks about the need to repent. Those people didn’t suffer more because they’re worse sinners, but each one of you needs to repent.

When we think somebody is suffering because of their sin, it’s easy to project the lessons that God is trying to teach us onto them. We try to deflect. This sermon I’m hearing, that other person really needs to hear it because that’s their issue. They’re a worse sinner than I am. 

That’s what we see with the synagogue ruler. He tells everyone that they need to repent of not treating the Sabbath correctly, when really it’s his own heart that needs repentance. 

I think what Jesus is showing us in this story is that how we see people impacts how we respond to them. If the synagogue ruler sees this woman as a terrible sinner, who is afflicted because of her sin, then she is the one who needs to repent, not him. And if she’s suffering because of what she’s done, then he can treat her worse than he does his animals. 

I, too, can struggle with a wrong view of people. I love to get stuff done. I have my to-do lists and I relish checking things off. And so if I’m rushing through my day trying to get things done, I lose patience quickly with people who slow me down. My response reveals what’s going on in my heart. I realize that I see them as obstacles, not people made in God’s image. 

One of the first churches my husband and I were a part of brought in a new senior pastor. I chatted with his wife after church on his first Sunday there. As she looked around at the people in the sanctuary, she said, “There are a lot of problems here.” It broke my heart. These were people that I loved. We had been serving among them, and yes, they had their flaws. But to come in the first day focused only on problems set the tone for their ministry. They treated people as problems because they saw them like that. 

Be careful how you see people because it impacts how you respond to them. Remember what Jesus shows us here, the dignity of this woman and our own need to repent.