Loosed - Luke 13:11-17

In verse 10 Luke says that Jesus “was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath.” I’m not sure if that means that the lessons on repentance we just talked about were done on the Sabbath or if this was another day in which he was teaching. Whatever the situation was, on a Sabbath day, while Jesus was teaching he saw a woman who had “a spirit of infirmity eighteen years, and was bowed together, and could in no wise lift up herself.” We don’t really have a lot of detail on what she might have had, but it sounds really severe and not only severely limited her quality of life but was probably also incredibly painful. Jesus, as always, had compassion on her and “called her to him, and said unto her, Woman, thou art loosed from thine infirmity.” She was immediately healed, and glorified God.” What a joyous occasion! What cause for celebration and thanksgiving she had and all those around her! But what was the response? “The ruler of the synagogue answered with indignation, because that Jesus had healed on the Sabbath day, and said unto the people, There are six days in which men ought to work: in them therefore come and be healed, and not on the Sabbath day.” I feel like this reaction is one of those times when you have to stop and think “wait, this man just spoke a word and a woman who was terminally ill was completely healed. This is something that has never happened before, and you’re mad because of what day of the week he performed this miracle on?” It seems like we are at the point of ridiculousness here. It’s like being angry with someone for helping another person change their tire in the middle of the freeway because they didn’t turn on their flashers fast enough or something crazy like that.

Jesus was not pleased with the ruler’s response answering, “Thou hypocrite, doth not each one of you on the Sabbath loose his ox or his ass from the stall, and lead him away to watering? And ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan hath bound, lo, these eighteen years, be loosed form this bond on the Sabbath day?” It’s a fair question, if they really want to take this super strict observance of the Sabbath to its full extent, there shouldn’t be any manner of farm work or house work done on the Sabbath at all. In fact, the only thing that would be authorized would be lying in bed all day and not moving at all. Don’t get me wrong, that sounds like the best possible day to me, but surely you’d have to get up and go to the bathroom, you or the kids would get hungry and need to be fed, the animals couldn’t go the day without food or water or milking. It’s like when I used to work on Sundays, I am blessed that I’ve only had to miss church for work twice in my whole adult life, but I worked at a hospital. People still got sick and injured on Sundays, everyone wasn’t magically healed on Saturday night and reinjured the same exact way on Monday morning. People were still sick and still needed care, even though it was on Sunday. Jesus’ point is that life still had to be lived on the Sabbath, and that healing someone using God’s power was an appropriate way to keep the Sabbath day holy.

It is difficult to look at this ruler’s stance on Jesus’ healing the woman as righteous indignation for a disrespect of the Sabbath. Honestly, the ruler’s opinion was more about the desire for control over a man who was clearly spiritually superior to himself, and not at all about honoring God. The IM notes that Jesus uses the word “loose(d)” twice in speaking to the woman and the ruler, and asks how keeping the Sabbath day holy can loose us from Satan’s grasp? For me, as I put the Savior’s desires and commandments first in my life, a power to make better choices comes with it, as well as a desire and motivation to be a better person and be closer to the Savior. An enabling power, that’s the definition of God’s grace, we show that God is important to us, and he empowers us to continue to grow spiritually. As we grow spiritually, we are able to resist Satan’s temptations easier and our desire to do evil lessens. It doesn’t sound like it makes sense, but this is what happens in real life, it has happened to me, and I am grateful. The IM says, “After the Savior healed the woman who had suffered a physical affliction for 18 years, the leader of the synagogue where the healing occurred complained because the miracle had been performed on the Sabbath day. The Savior’s response taught that it is lawful to do good things on the Sabbath day and that those who teach otherwise are hypocrites. From this response, we learn the importance of looking for good things we can do on the Sabbath day rather than becoming overly concerned with what we cannot do.”