As He taught the Scriptures Luke tells us: "Behold, there was a woman which had a spirit of infirmity eighteen years, and was bowed together, and could in no wise lift up herself." Luke 13:11

That day Jesus did something astounding for the dear lady! He healed her of a paralyzed back. She had been "bowed together and could in no wise lift up herself."

Then, at Jesus' Word; "She was made straight." She could again walk uprightly, after eighteen long years!

What a miracle!

As I began to ponder our Text today, memory brought me a lovely little bit of information. I mean the fact that Luke, Doctor Luke, gives us manifold truth about the ladies who were around Jesus. More by far than any other writer in Scripture.

For example, only Luke tells us about Mary's cousin Elisabeth!

Only Luke gives us the full story of the Virgin Mary's visit from Gabriel the angel! Only Luke records Mary's song of praise, the Magnificat!

Only Luke mentions Anna the godly lady at the Temple when Baby Jesus was presented to the Lord.

Only Luke gives us any news about Joanna the wife of Herod's steward or Susanna who accompanied Jesus and "ministered unto Him of their substance."

Only Luke tells us about Jesus raising the dead son of the widow of Nain!

Furthermore Luke adds the details about Mary and Martha who were sisters.

He knows and writes about Mary Magdalene also.

Even Luke highlights the women in Jesus' parables! The lady sweeping to find the lost coin, Luke 15, is not mentioned elsewhere in Scripture.

The word "woman" occurs 19 times in Matthew and 19 more times in Mark, but 43 times in Luke! And that's not even counting Acts, which he wrote too.

And of course Luke has women near the Cross and carefully marking the burial place of our Lord! "And the women also, which came with him from Galilee, followed after, and beheld the sepulchre, and how his body was laid." Luke 23:55

I just mentioned Acts, think of Lydia and Priscilla and prayer meetings attended only by women apparently ... until Paul and Silas arrived!

What I am saying is this: Little wonder Luke follows the leadership of the Holy Spirit and includes this paralyzed woman in His Gospel!

You dear Ladies who are reading here today ... or you men who are married to them ... thank God that Jesus cares for us all, including the women!

At synagogue that day ... "Behold, there was a woman" ... and did she ever get some good news!

Praise the Lord!

                                                                               --- Dr. Mike Bagwell

He's the Divine Physician!

He even called Himself one!

In fact, Matthew and Luke both record His statement. "But when Jesus heard that, he said unto them, They that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick." Jesus here is saying that He is that Physician, the One who can make men whole! But Mark more fully quotes our Lord: "When Jesus heard it, he saith unto them, They that are whole have no need of the physician, but they that are sick: I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance." Mark 2:17

In the Jewish Temple one Sabbath Day around 30 or 31 AD our Lord preached. He noticed among the congregation a lady, a sick lady. Doctor Luke tells it best: "Behold, there was a woman which had a spirit of infirmity eighteen years, and was bowed together, and could in no wise lift up herself." Luke 13:11

The verb "echo" means "to have" or "to hold."  This woman was possessed by an evil spirit. Either it had her ... or she, unknowingly, was holding onto it!

Jesus with great discernment, really with omniscience, saw that this woman's problem was not her back as much as it was her heart. Her battle was spiritual every bit as much as it was physical!

She was being controlled by a "spirit of infirmity!" The Greek, "pneuma astheneia," means a "spirit" of "weakness." The noun "pneuma" can mean breath, wind, air or spirit.  And "astheneia" means without strength.

Maybe her back was not the problem! An old demon of weakness had seized her, robbing her of vitality and muscular strength. So much so ... she could not even lift herself into an erect position!

She had been afflicted with this issue eighteen years too! Humanly speaking, Jesus was only twelve years of age when this lady contracted this demon!

The expression  "bowed together" translates a medical term! From the pen of a physician! How do we know Luke is a doctor? Paul told us in Colossians 4:14. "Luke, the beloved physician, and Demas, greet you." Paul was such a Preacher that he needed a personal physician to accompany him nearly everywhere he went!

"Bowed together" is spelled "sugkupto," verbally meaning "bent" and prepositionally "with" or "alongside." I think the picture we are being given is a woman who was "bent" into two halves! Her upper torso drawn down touching her lower torso! How uncomfortable that would be ... for just one day! Not to mention eighteen years!

She "could in no wise lift up herself." Now we have another "kupto" verb. This time it's "anakupto," to "bend" oneself "upward!" She could not straighten herself!

This verse is written tersely and accurately ... much like a doctor's precise diagnosis would read on an ancient medical chart!

We now know what's wrong with this poor lady.

If we can only figure out how to help her!

Oh, I forgot!

Jesus was there!

He can speak the word and she will be made whole!

Come back tomorrow!

Let's watch Jesus care for sinners!

                                                                             --- Dr. Mike Bagwell

She had been plagued by her malady for 18 long years. A "back" problem!

She had been "bent double" all that time, stuck in that awkward and no doubt painful position!

If her problem concerned her backbone, or any other bone for that matter, she would have needed an orthopedic specialist. In today's terminology anyway.

If it had been nerve related, the muscles not receiving the stimuli from her brain, she would have needed a neurologist.

Amazingly, Jesus perfectly fulfilled the role of both these kinds of physicians!

Furthermore, our Lord diagnosed her condition as having to do with a "spirit," demon related! In that case we have entered the realm of the psyche. Jesus is a psychologist, par excellence!

Once Jesus healed a deaf man. Then He was an otologist!

And several blind men! Jesus next was an ophthalmologist!

And those who had dropsy, excessive swelling due to fluid retention, needed an internal medicine physician! Jesus handled that very well too!

Caring for the children, even a little girl age 12 who had died, a pediatrician is necessary! Enter the Lord Jesus!

With leprosy, an infectious disease specialist is critical! Jesus even handled those cases superbly!

The Saviour occasionally gave surgical advice too! Something about plucking out an eye or amputating a hand!

He could heal the ladies too. One, with a female problem, had bled for 12 years. Jesus did what all the gynecologists of Israel could not do, He healed her immediately!

And talk about family practice, Peter's mother-in-law could attest to the ability of God's Son to cure fevers!

Come to think of it, He was a pretty good cardiologist too! At least he took my sinful old heart and gave me a new one!

What a Physician!

Aren't you glad He made a "house call" and found you one day?

Let's all thank Him today!

                                                                             --- Dr. Mike Bagwell

Subsequently: "And when Jesus saw her, he called her to him, and said unto her, Woman, thou art loosed from thine infirmity." Luke 13:12

Jesus saw her! The verb means "to pay attention to" someone! To observe. But notice the propriety and modesty of the verb's "tense." It's an aorist participle, meaning that the look was relatively brief and not a flirtatious gaze. Once Jesus noticed her, He decided. She was to be healed that Sabbath day!

Jesus "called" her. "Prosphoneo" means to "sound" out a word or two, particularly "toward" someone. Again we have an aorist verb, Jesus only called once. "To invite a person to your face" is one accurate definition.

Next comes Jesus' very words! He spoke to her. "Lego" in this precise form suggests the conversation was completed in an appropriate amount of time. Jesus did not linger in her presence.

Watch: Jesus first saw with discernment, next He summoned her, then He spoke to her! Three "s" words and that lady is well!

Again we have a living illustration of the Power of God's Word!

Next, in the vocative case, the lady is called "woman." The first time "woman" is used in the Bible God had just created Eve! That's in Genesis 2:22. The last time the word occurs, Revelation 17:18, the wicked city of Babylon is being destroyed, compared to an ungodly woman! The first woman is in Heaven today. The last one will be in Hell. What a difference! By the way, the noun "woman" is spelled "gune" (pronounced goo-nay') and is the basis for our English words gynecology and misogyny.

Then Jesus pronounced her "loosed!" The verb "apoluo" means "to loose" one "away from" a burden or hindrance! But notice this please. While the other verbs in this verse have been "aorist," meaning that the action was completed at some point in the past, this verb is "perfect," action already finished but with accompanying presence tense results!

She was "loosed" and stayed that way!

Its first New Testament occurrence is when Joseph refused to "put away" Mary when He learned she was expecting a baby, baby Jesus! See Matthew 1:19. It's last use is when Timothy was "set at liberty" from prison in Hebrews 13:23.

What did Jesus do for this lady? He "divorced" her and this terrible sickness she had for so long! Woman and weakness ... here separated for ever! Jesus also "set her free." No longer will she be in chains to her disease!

And remember that "infirmity" is a fusing of two Greek words meaning firstly "no" then secondly "strength." A "spirit of infirmity" had robbed her of life and vitality and physical stamina. But that wicked spirit was dismissed that glorious Sabbath day!

Perhaps this is just another miracle to the diligent Bible students who analyze Jesus' works. After all, He worked several dozen of them! But to this lady ... it was the greatest miracle of all!

                                                                                      --- Dr. Mike Bagwell

One of the most unique of His mighty works concerns a woman who had been paralyzed for eighteen years.

In one verse we are given some of the details. "And he laid his hands on her: and immediately she was made straight, and glorified God." Luke 13:13

Jesus actually touched her. "Epitithemi" means to place something upon something or someone. Here it's Jesus' Hands. Those were Holy Hands and Powerful Hands, yet caring Hands.

Then healing came ... "immediately!" This adverb is "parachrema" in Greek. "Chrema" means that which is useful or needful! That which has value or wealth or price! "Para" of course just means alongside. The combined expression suggests "on the spot" or "at the thing itself" or just "instantly!" By itself "chrema" can and does in the King James Bible mean money or riches!

"Was made straight" translates one Greek word, "anorthoo." It means to make erect or to set up straight or rear again or to rebuild or to lift up! See the root stem "ortho" in our words orthopedic or orthodox, straight bones for children or straight Bible doctrine!

The lady, no doubt being religious, then glorified God!

Think with me. Though bent double, she continued going to church for eighteen years! That's faithfulness!

No wonder she praised God so!

"Doxazo," glorified in English, is a word that means to express one thoughts or estimate or opinion or evaluation of someone! She had some mighty great things to say about the One Who healed her that day!

Physical benefit led to spiritual expression!

How very appropriate.

"Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning." James 1:17

Is there anyone reading here today whom God has saved? Birthed you into the family of God? Washed your sins away?

Then ... we too had better glorify Him a while!

Amen!

                                                                                 --- Dr. Mike Bagwell

One with a back-bending paralysis.

One who had been afflicted eighteen years!

But someone got upset!

"And 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." Luke 13:14

The ruler of the synagogue was a man who directed the services. The job is properly spelled "archisunagogos" and means the chief ("arche") leader ("ago" = to lead) of the people. He lead them alongside ("sun") himself each time they met.

The verb "answered" carries within itself the Greek verb "to judge!" It's "apokrinomai." This man answered with disdain toward our Lord.

"Indignation" is a noun based upon the verb "aganakteo." It means the state of being very grieved or displeased! In emotional pain!

Why was this man so upset?

Because Jesus had "healed" the lady on Saturday, on the Sabbath. Healed is in Greek "therapeuo." Our word therapy is therein plainly visible.

The word for "people" is "ochlos" and really just means a crowd or a multitude. It's a far cry from the tender terms Scripture uses in regard to the Church!

Jesus is now going to be accused of working on the Sabbath!

This ruler of the synagogue has a smart mouth, if you ask me.

He ... "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."

Now he is bitter not only toward Jesus, but the woman too!

The verb "ought" is "dei" and means necessarily, or out of compulsion, must be!

And "work" is a form of "ergon" and means to labor. See our word energy here. Jesus spoke seven short words to this poor woman and He was accused of expending eight hours of hard labor! He only spoke five words in Greek, the number of grace!

Here are a bunch of man-made rules about the Sabbath. Jesus did NOT violate the Law of God by helping this lady. Neither the letter of the Law nor the spirit of it was broken by our Lord.

Today's Lesson just proves how critical some folks are going to be ... even at Church! No matter what is done ... judgmental attitudes will surface.

And often they come from those who have attended Church the longest or who hold high positions of honor and should know better!

Maybe the critic was trying to please the Pharisees back in Jerusalem. When this kind of upheaval arises, whether in synagogue or church, some kind of "politics" or "power struggle" is usually involved!

Before the glorious Sabbath day that Jesus came to the synagogue in our Text, I just wonder how long it had been since someone there had been "made straight!"

Think about it!

                                                                                 --- Dr. Mike Bagwell

But He could also be quite bold in His denunciation of sins like hypocrisy or pride, among many others.

Once when Jesus had healed a lady on the Sabbath day, a confrontation developed when the ruler of that synagogue rebuked Jesus!

"And 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." Luke 13:14

Jesus then responded with brilliant logic and awesome power! Luke 13:15 tells us: "The Lord then answered him, and said, 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?" It's this 15th verse that we are studying today.

Remember that the Greek verb "answered" often contains the root word "krino." See if you can "spot" it ... "apokrinomai." This "krino" expression means "to judge or discern or precisely determine a matter." Jesus is responding to this ruler with forethought and omniscience!

Even the verb "said," a derivative of "lego," suggests logic and orderly thinking. Jesus was Wisdom personified! He still is! And always will be!

Then, here it comes!

"Thou hypocrite!"

The word is spelled in Greek "upokrites." It also is "marked" with a rough breathing indicator which means in pronouncing it the "h" sound is added at its beginning. So we get "hupokrites" or just hypocrites in English! This is called a "loan word" from Greek to English. It means one who judges or decides  "under" a false pretense! It was often used of Greek play actors who put on "masks" to hide their identity, to take on the role of another!

I believe Jesus is saying to this religious leader; You know better than criticize this miracle! You are talking this way to please the Pharisees or Scribes! You are assuming a role that your heart does not believe!

Jesus reasons here from the lesser to the greater! Since even their interpretation of the Law of Moses allowed the proper care of livestock on the Sabbath ... could not then this woman be healed of her disease? Is she not more important than an animal?

To untie ("loose" in Greek = the verb "luo") an ox is the very same thing Jesus is said to have done to this "bound" lady! Back in the actual healing verse, verse 12, Jesus said to her: "Woman, thou art loosed from thine infirmity."

Jesus could have loosed an ox and no one would have said a word ... even on the Sabbath! But Jesus "loosed" a paralyzed woman, and the ruler of the synagogue got upset!

The noun "stall" is spelled "phatne" and is used 4 times in the King James Bible. Three of those times it is translated "manger" and once, here, it is rendered "stall!"

Even the action performed on the ox or ass is rather dramatic. "Lead away" is represented by the verbal adjective "apagagon." This word is built upon a root ("ago") that means "to take by laying hold of" or often just "to bring." But Jesus intensifies "ago" here with the prefix "apo." It shows determination in leading what appears to be a reluctant animal! Yet this concentrated effort was not considered work on the Sabbath! It was regularly allowed.

The effort Jesus expended healing this poor lady was much less than the work ox handling required, not to mention donkey handling!

Of course as the verse clearly states this is not leading the animal to work! Or to the market! But to simply get the necessity of water, a drink!

I would say this lady got a drink of Something that day too!

Water, everlasting water, living water!

And no, we have not "skipped" to John chapter four either!

Talk about defeating one's adversary, Jesus did so here!

I think I shall not enter into a disagreement with the Son of God!

None of us could prevail!

And do remember, He is the Judge!

Jesus not only healed the lady, He defended her too!

Good news, Believer friend, Jesus saved us ... and defends us as well! He is our Advocate! Our great High Priest!

Thank God for salvation ... and all that follows too!

                                                                              --- Dr. Mike Bagwell

Consider the woman at the well, the man born blind, Zacchaeus and Matthew the tax collectors, and the lady with a paralyzed back in Luke 13.

All were given credibility and worth by the presence and help of our Lord!

When a barrage of criticism erupted that Sabbath day, the day Jesus "loosed" or healed that woman who had been "bent double" for eighteen long years, Jesus defended her!

His very words were: "And ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan hath bound, lo, these eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the sabbath day?" Luke 13:16

Still talking to and reasoning with the ruler of the synagogue, Jesus is justifying this lady's healing.

She is not only a human being, and a lady at that ...

She is also a "daughter of Abraham," a Jewess!

She is among God's "Chosen People!"

Once Jesus initially denied healing to a Gentile lady's daughter ... because she was NOT a Jew! He told her: "I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel." Matthew 15:24

But this lady in Luke 13 is a daughter of Abraham!

By the way, Jesus eventually healed even the Canaanite lady's daughter too! After her Mom's brilliant display of faith!

But with this Jewish woman, no faith is even mentioned!

She in fact did not even ask for healing!

She was a member of a group of people who were called "the apple of God's eye!"

And folks are upset about HER healing?

The verb "bound" is interesting. It is spelled "deo" and means to tie or fasten or put into chains! Here the devil, "a spirit of infirmity," a wicked demon ... takes a woman and constricts her completely!

The devil promises freedom ... but delivers slavery!

The first time "eighteen" is used in the Bible, all by itself ... we read: "So the children of Israel served Eglon the king of Moab eighteen years." Judges 3:14

"Eighteen" appears first in the context of slavery, servitude!

But Jesus, this day at synagogue, "looses" or "frees" the slave!

The noun "bond" is "desmon" in Greek and is once translated "chains." Here's that one time: "And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day." Jude said that in verse six of his Epistle.

Yes, this lady was truly "loosed!"

And that's a good picture of salvation!

                                                                                 --- Dr. Mike Bagwell

Luke discusses these in his great Gospel.

"And when Jesus had said these things, all his adversaries were ashamed: and all the people rejoiced for all the glorious things that were done by him." Luke 13:17

A sick lady had been healed.

Her back was bent over and she couldn't straighten it. For eighteen years she did not stand up!

She, being at church one day when our Lord preached, caught his attention. Then it happened.

Luke records: "And, behold, there was a woman which had a spirit of infirmity eighteen years, and was bowed together, and could in no wise lift up herself. And when Jesus saw her, he called her to him, and said unto her, Woman, thou art loosed from thine infirmity. And he laid his hands on her: and immediately she was made straight, and glorified God." Luke 13:11-13

But a truly liberal, not to mention legalistic, preacher objected! And yes, these two traits do often grow in the same heart.

"And 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." Luke 13:14

But Jesus' answer silences them all!

What Wisdom and logic and prudence and understanding!

What Biblical thinking!

"The Lord then answered him, and said, 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 from this bond on the sabbath day?" Luke 13:15-16

Now Luke, the Holy Spirit inspired editor, tells us: "And when he had said these things, all his adversaries were ashamed: and all the people rejoiced for all the glorious things that were done by him." Luke 13:17

We need to examine that 17th verse a bit.

After Jesus' comments, his "adversaries" were ashamed!

The word for "adversaries" is "antikeimai." Really it's a present participle. "The people laying against Jesus, standing against Him, opposing Him" are pretty good ideas of the meaning here.

The verb "ashamed" is spelled "kataischuno" and means to be disfigured or disgraced, hence ashamed. The prefix, "kata," just intensifies its meaning. To be disgraced and embarrassed downward! In 1st Corinthians 1:27 this word is translated "confounded!" In 1st Corinthians 11:4 it is "dishonored!"

Think of the "shame" and "disgrace" and "ignominy" that will be poured upon the wicked, rebellious, lost reprobates at the Judgment Bar of God! Public contempt!

But the common people, unlike the enemies, "rejoiced" at Jesus' Words and Works! They delighted in Him! The verb "tense" here is called "imperfect." The action, once begun, did not cease ... right up to the time Luke was writing this account!

Jesus' "glorious" deeds prompted their glee! "Endoxos," the adjective here, means "held in high esteem, illustrious, noble, honorable!"  Filled with the very Essence of the Godhead!

The verb "done" is the Greek present participle "ginomai" and carries the idea of something that's been "born" or "created" into existence. Jesus made this miracle "come to pass!" He spoke it into being!

He can do that!

He can even save a soul!

Generate a new birth!

Read with me John 5:24. "Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life." Get the part where the new believer "hath everlasting life!"

Amen!

That's "ginomai" in powerful form!

                                                                                 --- Dr. Mike Bagwell