Hi everyone. Welcome back to logical Bible study. The goal of this podcast is to help you understand the scriptures better and in particular The Gospel reading from today's mass, we want to help you understand what the words really mean before you go to mass ideally so that you can have a really good foundation in
the literal sense of scripture. And so when you go to mass and you hear a homily which is probably more going to be based on the spiritual sense of scripture, you have that literal sense of scripture to drawn as the foundation. And so we do a verse by verse Catholic academic exegesis of the Gospel reading of the day. And today, we're going to look at Luke chapter 13 verses 10 to 17.
One Sabbath day. Jesus was teaching in one of the synagogue's, and a woman was there who for eighteen years had been possessed. East by a spirit that left her enfeebled. She was bent double and quite unable to stand. Upright, when Jesus saw her, he called her over and said, woman, you are rid of your infirmity
and he laid his hands on her. And at, once she straightened up and she glorified God, But the synagogue official was indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath and he addressed the people present, there are six days, he said when work is to be done come and be healed on one of those days and not on the
Sabbath. but the Lord answered him, you Hypocrites, he said, is there one of you who does not untie his ox or his Donkey from the manger on the Sabbath and take it out for watering And this woman, a daughter of Abraham whom Satan has held bound. These 18 years was it not right
to untie her Bonds on the Sabbath day. when he said this all his adversaries were covered with confusion and all the people were Overjoyed at all the Wonders he worked So a really interesting texts were going to look at today and let's start by thinking about the context. So Jesus, as he is in most of this middle section of Luke. He's on the way to Judea is on the road, and it's getting towards the last phase of his
ministry. His stopping along the way, at various places and the particular story we have today. In Luke, it's only found in Luke's gospel, you won't find it in Matthew, Mark, or John now, Jesus has already done. A similar healing to this already earlier in Luke, he's healed them. And with the withered hand, that was in Luke chapter 6, and that's found in all three synoptic gospels. Now, this particular incident is
different. It's not the man with the withered hand, who's being healed on the Sabbath. We're going to see here a woman who's healed on the Sabbath and this is only found in Luke, so it might be a story that you may not have heard before. So we start at verse 10 that says one Sabbath day. So this would be Saturday in that culture. All Jews had to attend the synagogue on the Sabbath. Jesus was teaching in one of the synagogue's. So he's on the road to Judea
here. So he's probably teaching in a local synagogue between Galilee and Jerusalem. So, Jesus will be a traveling preacher and every now and then synagogues, if there was a famous preacher in town, they would invite the preacher to preach at their Sabbath synagogue service. And that's probably what's happened here. Verse 11, a woman who was there for 18 years had been possessed by a spirit that left her enfeebled Well, literally what it says.
There is a woman who had a spirit of infirmity for 18 years. So a woman, is there in the synagogue that day who has been possessed by a demon of some sort for 18 years, which causes her to have trouble standing up straight often. We don't like to think about demons having this power. But certainly, in the New Testament, there are many demons who have the ability to affect people's bodies and cause diseases. So, we have here a woman who is has Bent over for 18 years as a
result of a demon. So there's Echo, is here of a different woman earlier. Remember the issue of the woman with the issue of blood for 12 years, that was in chapter 8 and now we have another woman, who's been affected by a demon for 18 years now. If that number 18, sounds familiar to you from previous episodes, it should.
So the episode just before this in the weekday cycle, when we looked at the start of Luke Chapter 13, there's another mention of 18 there and some Scholars think There's when we, when looky and mentions, this woman who's been affected for 18 years, he's doing that deliberately to link to the previous passage about 18. So earlier in, Luke 13, Jesus talked about at our, who fell on 18, people.
And now we have a woman who's been infected for 18 years, so maybe there's a link there but it's not entirely clear what that link might be. It could just be a coincidence that 18 is mentioned twice within the span of about 10 versus. So she was bent double and quite unable. Able to stand upright. So maybe this demon is inhabiting her back but it's not entirely clear verse 12. When Jesus saw her, he called
her over. So the woman's in the synagogue and Jesus is in the synagogue, notice Jesus Takes the initiative here, he calls the woman over, which is interesting because he often does this on the Sabbath. He's the one that sort of takes the initiative to do these healings on the Sabbath and there might be reasons for that and he says to her a woman. Now, some people have taken that to be quite Insulting for Jesus, to call a female woman in that
culture, that was not an insult. It's actually the equivalent of what we today would say as Madam. So, it's quite a polite form of address. So woman, you are rid of your infirmity and he laid hands on her. So Jesus lays hands on her as he does in many other places and there's immediate healing. She's stands upright. The verb here in Greek is passive. So it implies that God is the
one who has acted to heal her. She's been healed by God at once she straightened up and she glorified God, or you can say she praised God. So this woman who's been affected for 18 years, which is a long time. She recognizes. This is the work of God that
she's been healed. And she Praises God, Now, we get to verse 14, the synagogue, official, or you can trains like that, the ruler of the synagogue, so he and his the picture who is a synagogue, official, or ruler of a synagogue apparently, this was a man in that culture who is chosen by the local Elders to care for the physical arrangement of the local synagogue and its arrangement
for worship services. So that were in charge of, they weren't like the Pharisees who had teaching Authority, but they were in charge of the synagogue itself so they made sure everything was set up. Well, for worship, and they probably sort of, with the the MC. If you like for worship services at synagogues today, the Jews of today still have this role, though. It's sometimes called the president of the synagogue.
So he stands up and his indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath. Now, the Old Testament is clear that no work is to be done on the Sabbath. That's very clear from The Ten Commandments. But what's not specified in the Old Testament, is what exactly counts as work. The Pharisees in Jesus day had come up with a complex system of classifying, what did count as work and what didn't and in their mind healing counted as work, notice that the synagogue president.
The ruler of the synagogue. He doesn't question or deny whether a healing has happened. He basically admits that this woman has been healed, so he's not denying that but he, he takes issue with the fact that she's been healed and he addressed the people present. So This ruler of the synagogue uses this opportunity to speak to the crowd in the synagogue and to remind them of the rules about the Sabbath.
And the Jewish teaching about that, probably he's trying to discredit Jesus here or maybe he's worried that the people might be misled by Jesus. Now, Jesus has already had a confrontation with the Jewish leaders in a synagogue, about the Sabbath that's already happened earlier in Luke.
So earlier in his ministry, while he was in Galilee, he's already had conflicts in synagogues about the role of Of healing on the Sabbath, particularly the story with the man, with the withered hand, you were probably remember that one, but those earlier stories happen in Galilee.
Now, Jesus is on the road to Judea, he's in a very different part of Israel. So the people who are here, who are present on this occasion, they probably don't know what Jesus teaching is on the matter because they not From Galilee, they didn't see him or hear about his teaching about the Sabbath because they don't live in Galilee. So Jesus is going to revisit with the judeans hear, what his You taught the galileans about the Sabbath.
But first, the synagogue leader, says he speaks to the crowd. There are six days when work is to be done. So that will be every day except the Sabbath and the foundation of this is Exodus. 20:8-11 he says to them come and be healed on one of those days and not on the Sabbath. So the synagogue leader is basically reprimanding the woman and probably the crowd by extension for seeking healing. On a Sabbath day, he saying you should Not do that. Now, this man thinks God is on his side here.
He's not recognizing that. God has been the one who's just done the healing. Now, this might sound ridiculous to us the fact that, this man has just seen a healing, but he gets up and takes issue with it. That seems ridiculous to us. But remember the Jews in Jesus time, believe that God punished
people severely. If they don't keep the Sabbath, there's several places in the Old Testament where God specifically punishes Israel, because they're not keeping the Sabbath. So by the time of Jesus They have the Jews had become very protective of the Sabbath. They basically saw breaking the Sabbath law as the equivalent of burning, the national flag, you should not do that.
So, in a sense, they are right to be afraid of violating the Sabbath, but what they don't realize is that God, is there present in the person of Jesus and he's about to give the definitive interpretation of the Sabbath. Now Jesus stands up and says to the man Hypocrites. Now that word there means stage actors, so a hypocrite was one who claims to be something, but does something else in his actions and we still have that same word today.
So if someone who says one thing, but their actions betray them, in this case, Jesus means hypocrite in the sense that the Jewish leaders claim to follow God's Sabbath but they actually break several of its Lords. When it's convenient, they actually break this up with pretty regularly and he's going
to give some examples of that. He says is there one of you who does not untie his ox or his Donkey from the manger on the Sabbath and take it out for watering so many in that culture, iron boxes and other animals. And it was pretty much on most days they would go and give water to their animals by taking them away from the manger, which is like the place they're kept and leading them to water, which
would probably be outside. Now that's actually forbidden by the Sabbath laws in Deuteronomy 5 verse 14. God makes it pretty clear that you're not supposed to do any kind of work involving animals and that would include taking them to water. So the fact that they are doing that in Jesus time is an example that they really don't.
Follow it all the Sabbath laws, just they pick and choose them now, Jesus, Focus. You is going to be on this phrase, untying who here does not untie his ox or his donkey, literally what that means in the Greek is setting free who on the Sabbath does not set free his ox or his donkey and of course the Jews would do that on. The Sabbath so that the animals could go and get water. So Jesus here is going to focus on the untying part of that phrase.
So he now says in verse 16 and this woman a daughter of Abraham so he's gesturing to the woman has just healed, he calls her a daughter of Abraham. So he's saying that this is a Jewish woman who is in Covenant relationship with God. And that means he, she ought to be cared for by the Jewish leaders. She has a right to worship God and Jesus wants her to be able to do just that he says this woman, a daughter of Abraham whom Satan has bound these 18
years. So notice that Jesus himself affirms that Satan can be responsible for physical conditions. He says that Satan has been on this woman and notice that Jesus knows how long she's been ill for 18 years. Apparently the woman didn't tell her that. Tell him that she did, he just knows that she's been affected for 18 years so he says to the Jewish crowds here was it not rice to untie her Bonds on the A now the Greek word here for. Was it not right?
It's actually ought or to not this have been done so it's kind of like this Divine imperative. It must be done. This is God's will. It must happen. Notice? Jesus here. Does not address the healing law. Specifically, he doesn't enter into a debate, about what counts as healing, what counts as work. He doesn't go down that track and that might be because Jesus knows that the Pharisees at that time had genuine teaching Authority and so Jesus is
largely responsible. Specs that and he doesn't enter into debates about whether specific laws should have been made and that kind of thing, he respects their Authority. So instead what he does in these discussions is he directs the Jews back to more fundamental principles that they have forgotten about. In this case, Jesus is going to
point this out. He's going to say the Jewish law, technically, forbids, taking your animal for water on the Sabbath, but they do it. So Jesus says that logically, if it's okay to take your animal and untie it, then it should be 0. K to untie a person's Bonds on the Sabbath since humans are worth more than animals and the Sabbath is supposed to be all about restoration for humans. That's his point. Since this woman has been tied up by Satan. It does not violate the Sabbath
to untie her bonds. So, Jesus is making argument from the Lesser to the greater and he often does that kind of thing. The implication is he doesn't say this explicitly, but it might be implied that all healing of humans on the Sabbath is acceptable. And whenever A human is healed on the Sabbath, it does not violate the Sabbath that's implied. Now Jesus makes a different line of argument in the earlier incident with a man with a withered hand.
He doesn't talk about it in terms of untying in Luke chapter 6, when the man with the withered hand is healed on the Sabbath there. He asks, the Jewish leaders, is it against the law on the Sabbath to do good, or to do evil to save life or to destroy it. And he also says, in that incident, the Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. Jesus comes to the same basic conclusion here but he uses a
different line of reasoning. So once again, here we see Jesus giving the Sabbath, it's authoritative interpretation, he is the lord of the Sabbath and that's what he calls himself in
6:5. So it's another example of Jesus remaining the Jews that the Sabbath is made for man, not man for the Sabbath and he talks about it in terms of untying bonds here, it seems that Jesus actually sees the Sabbath as the most suitable day to relieve the oppressed Of their physical burdens because he seems to take the initiative in all of these Sabbath healings. And we know that Jesus has come to bring Liberty to the oppressed.
That's what he said in his inaugural sermon at Nazareth, earlier in Luke and the Sabbath is the weekly Jubilee day of rest, it's supposed to be a day of rest, that's what God gave it for. In fact, the Sabbath was instituted by God as the Fanta to model the final rest in heaven, when there will be no more suffering. So it seems appropriate that suffering. They could be eliminated as far as possible on the Sabbath.
Some Scholars think there's possibly also a connection here to this idea of a new Exodus. So the Sabbath the original Sabbath was given after the first Exodus so Deuteronomy verse 5:15 talks about the connection between the Sabbath and The Exodus. The whole point of The Exodus was so that God's people the Jews can rest and worship him in
a new land. So the healing of the crippled woman here on the Sabbath, My signal, Jesus mission to lead New Israel. In a new Exodus from bondage, but not bondage of pharaoh this time, bondage of Satan and his leading people out of that so that his people can worship him forever in heaven. Jesus has truly come to bring Liberty to the captives and we know that from his speech in Luke chapter 4 and this is an example of that. He's come to bring Jubilee rest physically.
Verse 17. When he said this all his adversaries notice, it says all his adversaries. Apparently there's several of them here in the room. Listening to him. They were covered with confusion or more. Literally, they're put to shame. So Jesus has shown here by his words at the Jewish leaders, do not rightly, understand God's law and that's quite shameful for them. They're supposed to be in charge of God's law and teaching it to the people.
But Jesus has shown that really they're not following it and understanding it this phrase, his adversaries were To shame that might allude to Isaiah 45 verse 16, which says all who oppose him shall be ashamed and disgraced and in context of Isaiah that's about God, the savior of Israel. Now if that's supposed to be an implied connection there and that would certainly fit with the way Luke does things.
Luke is subtly. Implying that Jesus is God by sort of highlighting this phrase which matches a phrase from the Old Testament which is about God. And all the people were Overjoyed at all the Wonders he worked. You can translate that all the people rejoiced at the Glorious things that were done by him. So the people in this synagogue on this day, imagine being there on this day. They believe that he was sent from God and they glorified God as a result.
So they show the right response, the response, the Jesus hopes, they would show. Jesus has come to point people back to God, and it's succeeded on this occasion. But of course, the Jewish leaders don't show the right response. They're just indignant and ashamed. Now Jesus apparently has more to say in the synagogue. He hasn't finished speaking yet, so we're going to see what he has to say, to the crowds in the synagogue in tomorrow's episode in particular.
Let's now turn to the catechism to see what it says about this passage. So there's one key reference, which is in paragraph, 582 about Jesus and the law in presenting with Divine Authority, the definitive interpretation of the law. Jesus found himself confronted by certain teachers of the law who did not accept his interpretation of the law guaranteed, though, it was by the Divine signs that accompanied it. This was the case, especially with the Sabbath laws for he
recalls often. Rabbinical arguments that the Sabbath rest is not violated by serving God and neighbor which
his own healings did. So there this paragraph about Jesus, interpretation of the Sabbath, it mentions that Jesus uses rabbinical arguments and that's pretty much what he does here by talking about the law and the way that they interpret the Sabbath law and the way they violate the Sabbath law so that's quite a good paragraph in understanding the church's teaching and what Jesus had to say about the Sabbath law and I'll include that paragraph in the show notes.
Thanks once again for listening today. If you're helping if you are benefiting from this approach to scripture and it's helping you engage more deeply in the masses readings. I'd love to hear from you. Please send an email to logical Bible study at gmail.com. Tell us what you like about the podcast, send through any questions you have and please continue to tell other people about the podcast so we can all grow in our knowledge and love of God.