He was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath day. Luke 13:10 WEB
If you are familiar with Christian testimony, you likely have heard instances of healing and unsolicited acts of kindness received by those who seek the truth of God. In this portion of chapter thirteen of Luke’s gospel, Jesus is teaching in a synagogue on the Sabbath. When the Lord sees a woman suffering, Christ sets her free from her affliction and causes a controversy for healing her on the Sabbath.
The religious leaders of the day followed strict man made rules for working on the Sabbath. We are directed by the word of god to remember the Sabbath and keep it holy. And so, the synagogue leader perceived it as a crime against God to perform work on the seventh day.
Healed on the Sabbath
Scripture reveals that the woman healed suffered from a spirit of affliction that lasted for eighteen years. After healing the woman who was bent over and could not straighten her posture, Jesus’ critics became indignant. The leader of the synagogue says to the gathered crowd in Luke 13:14, “There are six days in which men ought to work. Therefore come on those days and be healed, and not on the Sabbath day! WEB”
Jesus’ response is recorded in Luke 13:15-16 which reads, “ 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?’ WEB”
Good Works on the Sabbath
Revealing the holiness and goodness of God, Jesus teaches the opposite of the hypocritical legalistic prohibition against doing good works on the Sabbath day. Jesus famously teaches in the next chapter of Luke that it is legal to do good works on the Sabbath asking legal experts and the Pharisees in 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?
Our Lord’s reasonable message and teaching concerning the legality of good works on the Sabbath day pleased the majority of the crowd that gathered around him. However, it humiliated the traditionalists. Jesus’ deeds and words exposed their cold hearted legalism, for the fraud that it was. For this reason, Jesus began to accumulate powerful enemies.
Prayer: “Father God, thank you for the truth taught by our Lord and Savior. Thank you for the reasonable and kind message in your word. Help me to do good things as often as I can. Help me to be more like the Lord. In Jesus name – Amen”
Yesterday’s Devotional: The Tradition of Men
