seekeroftruth
Well-Known Member
Luke 13:10 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.
Dr. Luke is back to reporting on the healings. This one could have gotten Jesus thrown out of the Temple. Jesus worked on the Sabbath. Look at verse 15... He called those synagogue leaders "hypocrites". Ooohh could you imagine what would happen if someone called the local preacher a hypocrite? They'd be drummed right out of the church! We all know the churches have hypocrites in the pews, lots of them, but no one is allowed to say it to their faces. We are not even allowed to think the preacher is a hypocrite!
This poor woman had been hunched for 18 years!
Remember, they thought sin did this to the woman. They couldn't heal sin. This was one of those back ailments that were incurable in the days of Jesus. I bet it was a slipped disc. Heck, they can't fix all the slipped discs people complain of now, I know they didn't have Xray or cortisone shots back then. They definitely couldn't go to the local drug store and pick up some Aspercreme. So, they called it sin and went on with their business. Oh, and she better send her sin offering! I wonder if she got a monthly bill for the sin offerings over those 18 years.
Ok back up.... look at verse 14. The synagogue leader tried to turn the people on Jesus! See, it says "the synagogue leader said to the people". He didn't talk to Jesus about it. He didn't ask Jesus to stop. [He probably knew better.] He went right to the social media of the day. He talked to the people and pointed out "error" of Jesus' ways. I wonder, did he preach a sermon on the ills of healing???
Jesus turned it back on the synagogue leader. "You lead an ox to water on Sabbath.... why not heal a hunched over woman?"
Now check out verse 17. The people were delighted! His opponents were humiliated.
Come on.... we all know these synagogue leaders were born to the job. Just because of their name, they were born into service in the synagogue. They thought their poop didn't stink because they were the leaders. They had power and they wielded it daily. They lorded the power to toss someone out of the temple!
Jesus could heal that woman and they couldn't. They would not tolerate that.
You can lead an ox to water....
