Luke 13:10-17 2025 Commentary

To tell you the truth, this encounter is the Ordinary Time text that strikes the most fear into me as a church professional. The ease with which this synagogue leader takes out his frustration about the “wrong business” being done on the Sabbath, the way he automatically goes into the mode of stealing the woman’s joy and celebration of being healed, and the outright hypocrisy Jesus catches him in, are all stark warnings to those of us who are part of the establishment or institution and “know” how things ought to be done.

For all intents and purposes, this healing on the Sabbath day appears to be the problem. I’ve written in the past about how sad it is that this synagogue leader now sees being part of God’s healing as work. It seems as though, according to the institution, expressing need to God and God’s representatives no longer belongs to the Sabbath day. Ironic, isn’t it, given the Sabbath day’s call to rest and considering that it is described as being made for us because of that very need? Baked into the original law about the Sabbath is that we are needy people.

Jesus freely heals this woman—the text makes no mention of her pleading, begging, or even thinking of asking for healing from Jesus. She was just there, as herself, presumably to worship. She, the suffering person that had been crippled for eighteen years, was there to be with God and God’s people.

And the God who sees, sees his beloveds in need in the midst of the crowd. The God who made the Sabbath for restoration decides to put the law into action. Jesus calls her forward, pronounces her healed, puts his hands on her so that she was made to stand up straight (passive verb).

Sit with that scene for a moment in your imagination. Wonder what that woman might have felt as Jesus called to her. Had she been someone who had come looking for help before? Had she already faced the wrath of men like the synagogue leader, who saw her need as a nuisance rather than a calling? What sort of faith and hope did she have as she kept coming to synagogue, bent over, eyes literally looking at people’s feet, unable to see a smile or kindness in someone else’s eyes? Without even considering the physical pain she was in, it’s not difficult to start to imagine the social isolation and suffering she was subjected to by this crooked bondage. So when she is healed, she celebrates and won’t stop (imperfect verb).

As the woman rejoices continuously, the synagogue leader begins to shout at others: “Don’t do what this woman has done! Not the time or the place!” He can’t even direct his anger at the person who actually caused it—that is, he chooses instead to be angry at who he thinks is still the weaker party. Instead of telling Jesus he is in the wrong, he tells the woman who has simply received this amazing gift that she, and anyone who thinks that they’d like the same done to them, are the ones doing wrong.

What is so disruptive about healings? What is the problem with worshipping and praising and celebrating what God has done? To name a few, again, speaking as someone that is part of the establishment. What happens when Jesus goes away and I’m not able to heal like he did? What happens if I’m the one who needs healing but am too afraid to admit it? And on the less positive side, what if I’m afraid that once people are healed, they won’t come back? What if they take their tithes and offerings with them? What if they stop listening to me? Whether our concerns are about our own doubts about God or ourselves, with introspection it becomes clearer and clearer how our own stuff becomes part of the bondage others are under as we neglect or refuse to be part of God’s freedom.

This is what gets Jesus up in arms. He meets the synagogue leader and offers a word of rebuke. From the way the leader sees this woman, the way he treats this woman, and the way he represents God, things need to change. If the synagogue leader receives Jesus as the crippled woman did, he too might be healed. Jesus tells the leader that he treats his animals better than he treats those in this crowd. That healing is a matter of life and death for human beings—especially for God’s family. The limits this leader has set are more akin to the bondage that Satan had put on the woman than they are to the purpose of the Sabbath that God designed. They say they are on God’s side, but they’re really helping the other guy.

But not everyone is this way. Many in the crowd have taken up the healed woman’s joy and are reverberating her celebration of God. They know the true meaning and power of God’s gifts and the freedom they bring. Good news cannot be denied or thwarted. May we be wary of stomping it down.

Textual Point

Exegetes see this as Jesus fulfilling the words from Scripture he spoke in Luke 4.18 and the prophetic description of the Saviour in Isaiah 45.16, when people are put to shame for their idols, confused by the way of the Lord.

Illustration Ideas

The word for being crooked, i.e., a crook, is taken from the literal meaning of being bent, like the crook of a staff. Would it help us to think of this temple leader as a crook? He wants to steal this woman’s joy and celebration at healing, and he wants to steal other people’s opportunities for healing. By doing so, he is stealing the purpose of the Sabbath, and stealing his fellow person’s dignity. Using such language helps us contend with the seriousness of his sins and perhaps helps us be more keen to let the Spirit make our own crookedness straight.