Trinity 8 Service

Luke 13:10-17

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.

Before our text, Jesus had spoken of some bad things that had happened to some good people. That kind of thing always captures our attention, doesn’t it? We might even find ourselves wondering, Why does it happen? Why does God let it happen; right?

Jesus had been told about certain Galilean Jews who’d been brutally murdered by the Roman ruler Pilate—adding, gruesomely, that he had mingled their blood with their sacrifices. Then, He’d pointed out eighteen who’d died when the tower in Siloam had fallen on them. He’d said about both cases, that those people weren’t somehow getting what they deserved. There just are bad things that happen in this world. They happen even to faithful people (and we have to say that God, in His wisdom allows them; He’s in control—we wouldn’t want it to be any other way, so it can be difficult to understand sometimes). One of the important things these incidents remind us of, is that this is a corrupted world from which the LORD aims to rescue us, exchanging it for a perfect eternal kingdom that He has prepared, and for which He has prepared us. That’s the goal of our lives. And He was reminding them not to lose sight of that. They must repent of their sins and be prepared for God’s kingdom.

In our text for today, a woman has been tormented for eighteen years by an evil spirit. The spirit has been inflicting a disability upon her. She’s bent over, suffering terribly, we might imagine.

People in her time tended to think a person in that position must somehow have deserved it. We might think of that question Jesus’ disciples asked Him one time: “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind (John 9:1)?” Jesus’ comments then were similar to now. He’d said, Neither; it was an opportunity for God’s power to be shown in the person. Then He’d healed the person, showing God’s power. When we think about bad things happening to good people (ourselves, too), we might recognize them as opportunities for us to put our trust in the loving God Whose good intentions toward us are clearly presented in Scripture.

Of course, there’s an example of it in our text. Jesus suddenly, without even being asked to do so, calls out this afflicted woman, and heals her disability (removing the demon). Think of the instantaneous relief she must have felt. She was at peace, now. It being the Sabbath, we might even say she was at a certain sort of rest.

That Sabbath connection is real. Jesus points it out. There’s sort of a lesson being taught in this text about the Sabbath’s purpose. The synagogue ruler who sees what Jesus has done, has one perspective. St. Luke says he’s indignant at what he has seen. Why?—we might wonder. Why would anyone consider wrong to have been done? As Jesus points out, a woman bound by Satan for eighteen years (can you imagine anything more horrible?) has been freed from the bondage. She’s no longer suffering. Why should anyone be indignant, or offended, or irritated about that?!

We wonder it; but every one of us has the nature that produces…that. We have a nature that lives to justify itself, to see God’s Law as something we can obey in order to earn His approval, to think of ourselves as just a little bit more correct than other people.

This synagogue ruler sees the Third Commandment very simply. He states it in the text in a direct quote: “There are six days in which work ought to be done.” He even takes the opportunity to review the rules for all of those who are present. Anyone wishing to be healed is just going to have to come on one of those other days; but not the Sabbath. Not only aren’t they supposed come asking for Jesus’ help in a matter like this, but might presume it would even have to go farther than that. If they’re to please this synagogue, they might best also avoid even coming around on the Sabbath if they have any sort of visible ailment because this mad healer is going around healing people on sight—even without their asking. AND THERE IS TO BE NO BEING RELIEVED OF TORMENT, OF PAIN, OF SUFFERING, OF BONDAGE TO SATAN ON THE DAY OF REST, FOR PETE’S SAKE. Ironic?

Jesus has a different perspective. Hypocrites; that’s what He calls this man, and all who think like him. Hmm. But isn’t he right, that people aren’t supposed to work on the Sabbath? Yes. That is the law that God has given for a specific purpose. But then, (responds Jesus), what about when you—synagogue ruler and the like—on the Sabbath, untie [your] ox or [your] donkey from the manger and lead it away to water it? Why would you do such a thing, when by almost any definition it would have to be called work? And of course the answer is that the animal needs water every day. To neglect doing that work would be to make the animal suffer. That would be wrong, too. So, even though this man and his companions have this very strong policy on the Sabbath law, they have considered this matter of watering their animals to be an exception. Where the Sabbath law and the law of compassion, of love come up against each other, the law of love wins out—when it comes to their animals.

But their exception doesn’t work for people, evidently. It seems that what the synagogue ruler and his like are interested in doing, is sort of wearing a sign that says, KEEPING THE SABBATH LAW, FOR THE RECORD. And they want to recognize others who maybe aren’t (according to their definition), and point them out, saying, NOT KEEPING THE SABBATH LAW. Then they point back at themselves, KEEPING THE SABBATH LAW, and then at the other people: NOT KEEPING THE SABBATH LAW. They’re legalistic. They like the law because they imagine themselves measuring up to God’s requirements through it. In the end, they wouldn’t see themselves as being in need of any savior, because the Law is their savior. According to the way they’re interpreting the Sabbath law, they don’t see themselves as having any problem in keeping it.

And we said this same nature is in all of us. And it’s visible sometimes. We pick out certain things in the Law that seem not to be such a problem for us, and then point out those sins when we see them in others (like hypocrites). We don’t want the spotlight to be on the things that are really a big problem for us, so we turn the light away from those things in ourselves, and highlight what we think presents us well. Meanwhile, we relish pointing out others’ difficult sins.

Sometimes people are really big fans of sermons that pound the law against certain sins. They’re thinking, Pastor, we need to be speaking out against this outrage (that they’ve seen on the news or whatever). It isn’t a sin that’s a problem for them; but they think: we need to sock it to these real sinners out there. But we don’t preach the Law so that others squirm in their seats; there’s plenty that we need to be squirming in our seats about. It doesn’t do you any good to hear about other peoples’ sins; you need to be hearing about your own. You need to hear that because of them you’re condemned. You’re in great need of a solution to that problem of your sin.

You and I have been standing with the synagogue ruler and his friends whenever we have been hypocritically insisting on the letter of the law toward other people, but letting ourselves off the hook. No matter how much our nature might want it, we won’t save ourselves through the Law; we will always need a savior from sin and death, just as much as any other people.

If there was a headline written about this text it would be: Jesus frees a person from bondage on the Sabbath. He puts her at a certain sort of rest. How fitting, when the Sabbath’s purpose is to remind us of the heavenly rest God has in store for us. And how fitting that Jesus is the One Who gives her this rest, because the eternal rest is His doing as well. He’s the one in whom there hasn’t been any hint of hypocrisy, but upon Whom was placed all hypocrisy committed in the past, present, and future of the world. He was punished for your sins of legalism, and of lovelessness when it comes to other peoples’ sins.

At the end of the text it says the people rejoiced at all the glorious things that were done by him. We started out talking about bad things happening to good people. The thing we always have to keep in mind is that the story of our lives is about a good thing happening bad people. God’s mercy covers our guilt. Jesus’ blood—the forgiveness of sins that comes thereby, is His mercy for us. In your Baptism, a good thing was happening to a bad person (bad in the sense of inherently corrupt, sinful, unworthy of God’s kingdom). The good news of Jesus’ atoning blood happened to you, so that you were rescued from punishment and made an heir.

We talked about the relief the woman in our text must have felt at being freed from bondage, about being healed—the rest she must have felt on that Sabbath. When you think about the Sabbath, think about it’s purpose—not as some T to cross for those who want to think of themselves a good people, but of being relieved of your bondage to sin and death. Think of being restored to your Creator, made whole and fit for His eternal kingdom. Think of that good thing as having happened to you by God’s grace in Jesus the Christ. Amen.