WEEKLY BIBLE STUDY

Luke 13:10-16

This is lesson is about Jesus’ encounter with a woman, but the lesson can apply the same to the life of a man.   

 10 And he was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath.

 Jesus was there that day to teach a lesson to the congregation. He had a specific message in mind, he wasn’t just generally speaking; he was there with a purpose.

 11 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.

 We can look at the Greek meanings to some of these words to get a better understanding.

Spirit - life, breath, wind, disposition

Infirmity - feebleness of mind, weakness

Bowed - stoop, to be completely overcome by

Jesus wasn’t here to attend to the physical needs of the people but their spiritual needs. Look at the spiritual implications of this lesson: this was a woman whose disposition (natural tendency of mind) was a state of feebleness and weakness. For eighteen years she lived in circumstances that were so dreadful that her physical body suffered. She was completely overwhelmed by the events of life: one filled with disappointments, pain, loss, anger, and abuse, the list is endless.

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

Jesus noticed this woman was in a condition that she didn’t belong in. He called her, he could have called a number of people; he chose her. Jesus chose to use this woman; a woman that most likely saw herself as good for nothing and unworthy. The world would look at a woman like this and see only her weakness; Jesus saw her worth. Before she could reach her potential she had to be freed from the bondage that had been holding her down. Jesus did just that. He freed her from the chains that were placed on her; all of those things that caused her face to look to the ground.

13 And he laid his hands on her: and immediately she was made straight, and glorified God.

When the hand of Jesus was on her she was made to rise again, to stand upright. Notice that Jesus is the one who gives freedom, not the one who gives bondage and oppression.

 Verse 14 details the scrutiny of Jesus for healing on the Sabbath.

 15 the Lord then answered him, and said, Thou hypocrite, doth not each one of you in the Sabbath lose his ox or his ass from the stall, and lead him away to watering?

 16 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?

 You have to love it when Jesus tells people to have a Coke and a smile! Who is more important this woman or a donkey? By calling her a daughter of Abraham, Jesus was saying, “She’s one of mine.”, this is the key to the whole lesson that Jesus was teaching. What was the source of this woman’s problems and who caused her to be bound? Satan! He has been causing trouble for women from the beginning. Women became the object of his hatred way back in Genesis when God put an enmity between thee [Satan] and the woman. (Gen. 13:15) 

Jesus came that we could have abundant life; he wants to keep us free from the chains of bondage that Satan puts on us. What chains of bondage does Satan have on you, what is keeping your face to the ground? Is there something that is in the way, keeping you from being what God called you to be? Don’t be a slave of Satan; you don’t have to let him have that power over you. Today Jesus can free you from those chains.  

God Bless!