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Speaker: Rev. Shine Thomas
Posted on: 2011-05-01
Series: Miracles of Jesus

Introduction

We are living in a postmodern world where the technology is very advanced. Everything changes and happens very fast and people are more dependent on technology and machines. There is very less value for individuals. People have become selfish, jealous, opportunists and very often what we get out of them is hurt, rejection, and pain. Usually when we go through such experiences in life we think if anyone really cares for us. We usually feel lonely and rejected and some sometimes even tend to think ‘does God ever care for me?’

This morning we are going to see the character of God’s care. We are also going to see how God’s care for us is proportionate to our response to him.

Brief Background

Jesus in his ministry on earth tried to reach out to the Jews of his time but was rejected by them. In today’s passage Jesus was teaching in a synagogue on a Sabbath day. The Jewish Sabbath begins at sunset on Friday, and most synagogues still have services on Friday evening, so this passage is probably about the Sabbath on a Friday night. By now the opposition against Jesus is growing, and this is the last time in Luke’s gospel that we find Jesus in a synagogue.

Luke 13:10-17 10 On a Sabbath Jesus was teaching in one of the synagogues, 11 and 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. 12 When Jesus saw her, he called her forward and said to her, “Woman, you are set free from your infirmity.” 13 Then he put his hands on her, and immediately she straightened up and praised God. 14 Indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, the synagogue leader said to the people, “There are six days for work. So come and be healed on those days, not on the Sabbath.” 15 The Lord answered him, “You hypocrites! Doesn’t each of you on the Sabbath untie your ox or donkey from the stall and lead it out to give it water? 16 Then 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?” 17 When he said this, all his opponents were humiliated, but the people were delighted with all the wonderful things he was doing.

As Jesus was teaching in the synagogue he saw a woman who had been crippled for 18 long years. She was bent out of shape for 18 years. Satan bends people but praise God for Jesus Christ who is in the business of straightening people. From his scripture let us see how Satan bends people.

1. Bent out of shape due to physical illness

Being sick is definitely not a good position to be in life and moreover she was sick for 18 long years. Disease, sickness, and death is the direct result of man’s fall in the Garden of Eden but one day Jesus will conquer disease and death for ever. But while we are on earth there is sickness and according to the Bible there are 3 basic causes of sickness.

a. Breach of God’s natural law. Neglecting rest when the body is tired and worn; misuse of drugs and body against the law of nature.

1 Corinthians 3:16-17 16 Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in your midst? 17 If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy that person; for God’s temple is sacred, and you together are that temple.

Cigarette, alcohol, drugs destroy God’s temple and by using them we are calling sickness on ourselves.

b. Breach of God’s moral law. We can see this in the case of the sick saints in the Corinthian church who refused to judge themselves before the Lord’s Table.

1 Corinthians. 11:28-31 28 Everyone ought to examine themselves before they eat of the bread and drink from the cup. 29 For those who eat and drink without discerning the body of Christ eat and drink judgment on themselves. 30 That is why many among you are weak and sick, and a number of you have fallen asleep. 31 But if we were more discerning with regard to ourselves, we would not come under such judgment.

Sin leads to sickness.

c. The third cause of sickness is that of Satan. This can be seen clearly in the life of Job. Job was inflicted in his body not because of his sins but by Satan.

Some sickness is brought forth by the devil.

Remember not all sickness you are suffering is because of your sins. The devil sometimes inflicts you with sickness. Coming back to the crippled woman she had been sick not because of any other reason but Satan. The Bible makes it very clear that she had been sick because of a spirit. The spirit brought forth the sickness. Understand some of you here are suffering in your body because of Satan and today you are going to be delivered in the name of Jesus Christ.

Listen, when the devil inflicts you with sickness he will misguide you by giving the symptom of a very similar sickness. How much ever you treat you will not be healed and whatever scans or tests you conduct your sickness will not be revealed because physically you are well but your symptoms are brought forth by the devil.

This woman had been in this condition for the past 18 years. She may have been educated. She may have wealth. She may have come from a good family. This is all worth nothing in that she was not well, she could not look up. I do not know if this had been a progressive disease or it can upon all at once. Whatever it was, she had not seen the stars or the sun for the past eighteen years. This is an advanced state of osteoporosis and some of the problems associated with this disease is that the longer she lived, the worse she became. The longer she lived, the worse, her pain became. By every passing day her spine was getting curved and curved. No one ever seemed to be bothered about her plight.

She had a physical problem, emotionally she was down, low self esteem, probably low on finances because of prolonged treatment. Physical bondage can affect people in different ways. Surely, it is a very hurting position to be in. Throughout the Bible we can find a people who are hurt and lonely. King David once felt the same. Psalm 142:4 Look and see, there is no one at my right hand; no one is concerned for me. I have no refuge; no one cares for my life.

Praise God Jesus cares for us. Luke 13:12 When Jesus saw her, he called her forward and said to her, “Woman, you are set free from your infirmity.”

Jesus knows and cares for hurting people.

She did not go unnoticed by Jesus. See Jesus knew her condition. Jesus knew her hurt, her pain and the despair this woman was going through. Remember Jesus has an eye for the hurting people. He noticed and called to her even though there is no record that she ever approached him. He reached out to her in the midst of her pain because Jesus was aware and concerned with her hurts and today Jesus is concerned about your hurts. Jesus not only cares for hurting people, Jesus is powerful enough to heal our hurts.

Jesus is powerful enough to heal our hurts.

Luke 13:13 Then he put his hands on her, and immediately she straightened up and praised God.

If the only thing Jesus can do is sympathize with us then we are still hopeless and it does not make any difference in our life. The good news is that Jesus is not only compassionate but He is also powerful to heal our hurts. He can lose our bondages, and He can change our situation.

There is no situation that my God cannot change, no matter how bad your condition is Jesus can change your life today. This was the worst kind of medical condition. A medical condition that to this day does not have a cure, yet this did not pose a problem for Jesus. She had also been in this situation a long, long time but again that was not a problem for Jesus. I want you to understand that nothing you are going through or ever will go through is beyond the power of Jesus Christ to heal and restore.

You may have suffered for many years as this woman did but you can still be hopeful. There is hope because there is Jesus. Never ever give up hope! No matter what type of problem, hurt, or bondage you may be facing you can be hopeful because Jesus cares for you and Jesus is powerful to heal your hurts.

I know some of you may have been hurting for a long time and you have lost hope. I know some of you no longer really expect Jesus to supernaturally intervene in your situation or need. I can relate to that discouragement because I’ve been there. I know many of you have questions of God and I cannot answer every question you may have, nevertheless I do encourage you to look at this story and renew your faith and expectations. Let your faith be strengthened by God’s word. Keep your hopes up because Jesus still heals the hurting people.

Now, this poor woman as we know was crippled and bent out of shape and Jesus healed her. But if we really look into this story there are other bent people out here. Luke 13:14-16 14 Indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, the synagogue leader said to the people, “There are six days for work. So come and be healed on those days, not on the Sabbath.” 15 The Lord answered him, “You hypocrites! Doesn’t each of you on the Sabbath untie your ox or donkey from the stall and lead it out to give it water? 16 Then 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?”

The poor woman who had been set free was praising the Lord, and all her friends were rejoicing and shouting, “Hallelujah, Praise the Lord!” But the leader of the synagogue couldn’t stand it. This was out of the ordinary, and he didn’t like it one bit. He became indignant–bent all out of shape. In the midst of the rejoicing, he jumped to his feet and ordered everyone to be quiet and stop rejoicing. He was bent out of shape by the religious laws.

2. Bend out of shape by religion

Listen, the Jews and their leaders were blind and strict followers of the law. They were very carried away by their religion and laws but never hesitated to twist the laws whenever they wanted. In today’s passage Jesus was still trying to reach out to the Jews and straighten their thoughts, so we find Him teaching in a synagogue on a Sabbath day. On Sabbath you are not allowed to work and you are prohibited from getting work out of others too including animals. Jesus healing the crippled woman was technically work done and Jesus was indeed breaking the Sabbath. I feel deliverance of a bonded person was more important than Sabbath but the Jews were adamant on their religion.

Many of us are bent out of shape by religion. Here are some religious traditions:

a. Some of us may say,” Well I was baptized as a child and my religion says I do not need any more baptism.” Well the Bible says whoever believes and is baptized will be saved. So if I want salvation I need to believe and be baptized.

b. Observing Lent.

c. Maybe some of you are telling I am from this religion, I am from that and I feel Jesus also came to establish another religion. Listen, religion bends people with its rituals and rules but Jesus Christ gives us freedom. Jesus Christ came to set us free in our thinking and from our spiritual bondage.

Do not be bent over by your religious upbringing. Satan wants to cripple you in your thoughts by what your religion says. Do not go by religion, go by what the Word of God has to say.

Now coming back to the woman we know that Jesus healed her on the Sabbath and it was against the law, but if we carefully study the verses following this we find Jesus had a reason for the healing.

Luke 13:15-16 15 The Lord answered him, “You hypocrites! Doesn’t each of you on the Sabbath untie your ox or donkey from the stall and lead it out to give it water? 16 Then 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?”

Listen, the Jews were not even supposed to water or feed their animals on the Sabbath. The rabbis argued that to dumb animals and not give them food and water is cruelty and it was perfectly legal to loose animals from their stalls and water them. Now Jesus’ argument was that if it was perfectly normal to loose a beast from a stall and give water on the Sabbath surely it was right in the presence of God to loose this bonded woman from her sickness. Jesus accused them of treating their animals better than they treated people. They gave more emphasis on their traditions and customs.

3. Bend out of shape by traditions

The synagogue president was like a man who loved customs and systems more than people. We do not know for certain but I suppose this woman had been a member of that synagogue for 18 years and none of the leaders of the synagogue really cared for her for 18 years, but now when she was healed there was objection because their customs were broken.

Many of us are saved and delivered but the devil has bent and crippled us with the worldly traditions. We still follow them. Remember, traditions and customs are good if it helps an individual but if ceases to do good to people then we should think about them twice.

Some traditions

a. Traditional worship. Yet there are some of us who say, “Well I was brought up in a traditional background. We are not used to lifting up our hands in worship, we are not used to shouting, we are not used to speaking in tongues, these are all not right.” The Bible says when the Holy Spirit came all these were evident. Acts 1:8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you.

Acts 2:1-4 1 When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. 2 Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. 3 They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. 4 All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.

b. Cat crossing the way.

c. No financial dealings on Tuesdays.

d. Tradition of rings and Thali for Christian weddings.

One of the greatest problems we are facing is that we are giving more importance to the system, traditions, and customs than the individual. People no longer look at man and his problem but they look collectively as a system. There is no more value for people in the present world. People are segregated on the basis of colour, cast, religion, country etc. A man ceases to be a person and becomes a member of a group or an organization. Now, the Jews weren’t the only ones with religious traditions. The Pentecostals have religious traditions, too. The Baptists have religious traditions, some Assembly of God churches have religious traditions and it is time to break loose from these traditions and give importance to the Word of God.

Now, Jesus came to place individuals before the system or organization. It is only Jesus who gave more importance to individuals and their rights. Jesus defended the value of the ordinary people.

Today if you are bent over by physical, religious, or traditional bondage Jesus is powerful enough to free you from those bondage.

In the passage today we can find 2 people totally bend over and crippled – The woman who had been suffering for 18 years and the Synagogue leader who had been crippled in his thoughts by religion and customs. Listen, the woman was healed whereas the synagogue leader continued in his condition. If we are unwilling to respond like the synagogue leader then it becomes difficult for us to come out of our bondage.

Conclusion

Jesus by healing this woman called in criticism on himself. See Jesus could have met this woman after Sabbath and healed her which would have gone well even with his critics. Why did Jesus heal her the moment he saw her suffer? This shows that it is not God’s will that any one should suffer one moment longer than it is necessary. God understands your suffering and God does not want you to continue in your suffering. If you are physically sick - He can heal you. If your marriage is troubled - He can restore it. If your ministry is a mess - He can repair it. There is nothing beyond the power of Jesus Christ. Jesus cares for you and today he is here to heal your hurts and heal your sickness and suffering. Let’s Pray.