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.
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