He was teaching in a synagogue on the sabbath. 11 And a woman was there who for eighteen years had been crippled by a spirit; she was bent over, completely incapable of standing erect. 12 When Jesus saw her, he called to her and said, “Woman, you are set free of your infirmity.” 13 He laid his hands on her, and she at once stood up straight and glorified God. 14 But the leader of the synagogue, indignant that Jesus had cured on the sabbath, said to the crowd in reply, “There are six days when work should be done. Come on those days to be cured, not on the sabbath day.” 15 The Lord said to him in reply, “Hypocrites! Does not each one of you on the sabbath untie his ox or his ass from the manger and lead it out for watering? 16 This daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has bound for eighteen years now, ought she not to have been set free on the sabbath day from this bondage?” 17 When he said this, all his adversaries were humiliated; and the whole crowd rejoiced at all the splendid deeds done by him.
The Sabbath rest was important in the OT (Lv. 23:24). No servile work should be done by man, slave, or beast (Deut. 5:12-15) and man should rest as God rested (Gen 2:2-3). Jesus cured a woman in a Synagogue on the Sabbath who was crippled by an unclean spirit for 18 years. Jesus broke the bonds of evil that had held her captive (Lk. 4:18; Is. 61:1). The leader of the Synagogue and the crowd took exception because Jesus was breaking the Mosaic Law by working on the Sabbath (Ex. 23:12). The woman glorified God when she was healed, but the Synagogue leader saw Jesus’ act of the healing as an offence against God. He was so sure that he knew how and when God should act that he did not even see in front of him the presence of the Kingdom of God when Israel would be restored. He had no need of the repentance about which Jesus was preaching. An ox and an ass were both of lesser value than the woman so if the Law said that the ox and ass should rest from their labors on the Sabbath should not the Synagogue leader want the woman to rest from her burden of 18 years on the Sabbath?
Salvation is not for the healthy or for males only. Women, the sick and all who heed Jesus’ call belong to the Kingdom of God. Works of compassion are expected from the religious and their leaders every day, but even more so on the Sabbath (Mk. 2:27). The Jewish leaders made sure they complied with the letter of the Law but disregarded the intent of the Law (Mt. 15:8-9).
Almighty God, grant us the wisdom not to judge the worthiness of each other, but to place value on helping those who count as nothing in the eyes of others, and help those separated from God to break free from the bonds of sin or illness that enslaves them. This we pray through Christ our Lord. Amen!
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References
Chiu, José Enrique Aguilar, et al. The Paulist Biblical Commentary. Paulist Press, 2018.
Faculty of the University of Navarre. The Navarre Bible: New Testament Expanded Edition. Expanded Edition, Four Courts / Scepter, 2008.
Brown, Raymond Edward, et al. The New Jerome Biblical Commentary. Upper Saddle River, NJ, United States, Prentice Hall, 1990.
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