He
was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath day. Behold, there was a woman who had a spirit of infirmity eighteen years, and she was bent over, and could in no way straighten herself up. When Jesus saw her, he called her, and said to her, “Woman, you are freed from your infirmity.” He laid his hands on her, and immediately she stood up straight, and glorified God. The ruler of the synagogue, being indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, said to the multitude, “There are six days in which men ought to work. Therefore come on those days and be healed, and not on the Sabbath day!” Therefore the Lord answered him, “You hypocrites! Doesn’t each one of you free his ox or his donkey from the stall on the Sabbath, and lead him away to water? Ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan had bound eighteen long years, be freed from this bondage on the Sabbath day?” As he said these things, all his adversaries were disappointed, and all the multitude rejoiced for all the glorious things that were done by him.
Luke 13:10-17
Luke 13 [6.] He spoke this parable. “A certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came seeking fruit on it, and found none. He said to the vine dresser, ‘Behold, these three years I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree, and found none. Cut it down. Why does it waste the soil?’ He answered, ‘Lord, leave it alone this year also, until I dig around it, and fertilize it. If it bears fruit, fine; but if not, after that, you can cut it down.’”
Luke 13 [10.] He was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath day. Behold, there was a woman who had a spirit of infirmity eighteen years, and she was bent over, and could in no way straighten herself up. When Jesus saw her, he called her, and said to her, “Woman, you are freed from your infirmity.” He laid his hands on her, and immediately she stood up straight, and glorified God.
Luke 13 [14.] The ruler of the synagogue, being indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, said to the multitude, “There are six days in which men ought to work. Therefore come on those days and be healed, and not on the Sabbath day!”
Luke 13 [15.] Therefore the Lord answered him, “You hypocrites! Doesn’t each one of you free his ox or his donkey from the stall on the Sabbath, and lead him away to water? Ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan had bound eighteen long years, be freed from this bondage on the Sabbath day?”
Luke 13 [17.] As he said these things, all his adversaries were disappointed, and all the multitude rejoiced for all the glorious things that were done by him.
Luke 13 [18.] He said, “What is God’s Kingdom like? To what shall I compare it? It is like a grain of mustard seed, which a man took, and put in his own garden. It grew, and became a large tree, and the birds of the sky live in its branches.”
Meaning:
This is the last time Luke records Jesus teaching in a synagogue. On his journey to Jerusalem, he heals a woman who has been bent double for eighteen years, and the healing provokes an angry protest from the synagogue ruler. Jesus’ reply reveals what the Sabbath is truly for: setting people free.
- “a woman who had a spirit of infirmity eighteen years”
Luke, the physician, describes her condition carefully. She was bent over and “could in no way straighten herself up.” Luke calls it “a spirit of infirmity,” and Jesus later says that Satan had bound her. The Bible does not treat every illness as demonic, but here a spiritual bondage lay behind her physical condition. Peter later summed up Jesus’ ministry: he “went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him” (Acts 10:38).
She did not ask for healing. Jesus saw her, called her and spoke first: “Woman, you are freed from your infirmity.” Then he laid his hands on her, a touch of compassion, and immediately she stood up straight and glorified God. Here is the fulfilment of the mission Jesus announced in the synagogue at Nazareth, “to proclaim release to the captives” (Luke 4:18).
- “There are six days in which men ought to work”
The synagogue ruler was in charge of the services. He was angry, but instead of confronting Jesus directly he scolded the crowd. He quoted the commandment, “You shall labor six days, and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to Yahweh your God” (Exodus 20:9-10). In his view, healing was work, and people should come on the other six days.
Luke records other Sabbath healings that brought the same conflict: the man with a withered hand (Luke 6:6-11) and the man with dropsy (Luke 14:1-6).
- “Doesn’t each one of you free his ox or his donkey from the stall on the Sabbath”
Jesus answers with an argument from their own practice. Everyone untied their animals on the Sabbath and led them to water; no one thought this broke the law. If an ox could be loosed from its stall for a drink, how much more should a suffering woman be loosed from her bondage?
Jesus calls her “a daughter of Abraham,” a title of honour. She belongs to God’s covenant people and is heir to his promises. Later Jesus says of Zacchaeus, “he also is a son of Abraham” (Luke 19:9). The Sabbath, which recalled God’s deliverance of his people from slavery, was the most fitting day of all for her release. In Mark Jesus says, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath” (Mark 2:27).
- “all his adversaries were disappointed, and all the multitude rejoiced”
The scene ends with two responses. His opponents were put to shame, while the woman’s praise spread to the whole crowd.
The Significance of Luke 13:10-17
- Jesus sees those others overlook
Jesus noticed the woman and called her forward. He sees and cares for the weary and the burdened.
- Compassion above rule-keeping
Religious rules can become a reason not to help. Jesus asked, “Is it lawful on the Sabbath day to do good, or to do harm?” (Mark 3:4). True obedience to God includes mercy.
- Freedom in Christ
Jesus still sets people free from what binds them, whether sickness, sin or spiritual oppression. Those he frees, like this woman, respond by glorifying God.
Cross-References:
Luke 4:18: "to proclaim release to the captives," Jesus’ mission announced in Nazareth.
Acts 10:38: "who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil," Peter’s summary of Jesus’ work.
Mark 2:27: "The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath." The purpose of the Sabbath.
Luke 14:5: "Which of you, if your son or an ox fell into a well, wouldn’t immediately pull him out on a Sabbath day?" A similar argument on another Sabbath.
Conclusion: On a Sabbath in a synagogue Jesus freed a woman who had been bent over for eighteen years, and she stood up straight and praised God. The synagogue ruler objected that healing was work, but Jesus showed that if people untied animals on the Sabbath, a daughter of Abraham bound by Satan should certainly be set free. The Sabbath, a day remembering God’s deliverance, was the right day for her release.
PIB Scriptures are derived from the World English Bible