J.C. Ryle's Devotional Thoughts on the Gospel of Luke. Section 86. A Crippled Woman Healed. Luke Chapter 13, Verses 10-17.

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

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. 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? 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.

We see in these verses a striking example of diligence in the use of means of grace. We're told of a woman who had a spirit of infirmity 18 years and was bowed down and could not straighten up. We do not know who this woman was. Our Lord's saying that she was a daughter of Abraham would lead us to infer that she was a true believer. But her name and history are hidden from us. This alone we know, that when Jesus was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath, this woman was there.

Sickness was no excuse with her for staying away from God's house. In spite of suffering and infirmity, she found her way to the place where the day and the word of God were honored, and where the people of God met together. And truly she was blessed in her deed. She found a rich reward for all her pains. She came sorrowing, and went home rejoicing.

The conduct of this suffering Jewess may well put to shame many a strong and healthy professing Christian. How many, in the full enjoyment of bodily vigour, allow the most frivolous excuses to keep them away from the house of God? How many are constantly spending the whole Sunday in idleness, pleasure-seeking, or in business, and scoffing and sneering at those who keep the Sabbath holy? How many think it a great matter if they attend the public worship of God once on Sunday, and regard a second attendance as a needless excess of zeal akin to fanaticism? How many find religious services a weariness while they attend them, and feel relieved when they're over? How few know anything of David's spirit when he said, I was glad when they said to me, let us go into the house of the Lord. How lovely are your tabernacles, O Lord Almighty. Psalm 122 verse 1, Psalm 84 verse 1.

Now what is the explanation of all this? What is the reason why so few are like the woman of whom we read this day? The answer to these questions is short and simple. The most have no heart for God's service. They have no delight in God's presence or God's day. The carnal mind is enmity against God. The moment a man's heart is converted, these pretended difficulties about attending public worship vanish away. The new heart finds no trouble in keeping the Sabbath holy. Where there is a will, there's always a way. Let us never forget that our feelings about Sundays are sure tests of the state of our souls. The man who can find no pleasure in giving God one day in the week is manifestly unfit for heaven. Heaven itself is nothing but an eternal Sabbath. If we cannot enjoy a few hours in God's service once a week in this world, then it is plain that we could not enjoy an eternity in His service in the world to come.

Happy are those who walk in the steps of the woman of whom we read today. They shall find Christ and a blessing while they live, and Christ and glory when they die.

We see secondly in these verses, the almighty power of our Lord Jesus Christ. We are told that when he saw the suffering woman of whom we are reading, he called her to himself and said unto her, woman, you are loosed from your infirmity. And he laid his hands on her. That touch was accompanied by miraculous healing virtue. At once, a disease of 18 years standing gave way before the Lord of life. Immediately she was made straight and glorified God.

We need not doubt that this mighty miracle was intended to supply hope and comfort to sin-diseased souls. With Christ nothing is impossible. He can soften hearts which seem hard as the nether millstone. He can bend stubborn wills which for 18 years have been set on self-pleasing on sin and the world. He can enable sinners who've been long poring over earthly things to look upward to heaven and see the kingdom of God. Nothing is too hard for the Lord. He can create and transform and renew and break down and build and quicken with irresistible power. He lives who form the world out of nothing and He never changes.

Let us hold fast to this blessed truth and never let it go.

Let us never despair about our own salvation. Our sins may be countless. Our lives may have been long spent in worldliness and folly. Our youth may have been wasted in soul-defiling excesses of which we are lamentably ashamed. But are we willing to come to Christ and commit our souls to Him? If so, then there is hope. He can heal us thoroughly and say, you are loosed from your infirmity. Let us never despair about the salvation of others as long as they are alive. Let us name them before the Lord night and day, and cry to him on their behalf. We may perhaps have relatives whose case seems desperate because of their increasing wickedness, but it is not really so. There are no incurable cases with Christ. If he were to lay his healing hand on them, they would immediately be made straight and glorify God. Let us pray on and faint not

That saying of Job is worthy of all acceptance. I know that you can do everything Job chapter 42 verse 2 Jesus is able to save to the uttermost

We see lastly in these verses the right observance of the Sabbath day asserted and defended by our Lord Jesus Christ. The ruler of the synagogue in which the infirm woman was healed found fault with her as a breaker of the Sabbath. He drew down upon himself a stern but just rebuke. You hypocrite, does not each one of you on the Sabbath lose his ox and his donkey from the stall and lead it out to give it water? If it was allowable to attend to the needs of animals on the Sabbath, then how much more to attend to the needs of human beings? If it was no breach of the fourth commandment to show kindness to oxen and donkeys, then much less to show kindness to a daughter of Abraham. The principle here laid down by our Lord is the same that we find elsewhere in the Gospels. He teaches us that the command to do no work on the Sabbath was not intended to prohibit works of necessity and mercy.

The Sabbath was made for man's benefit and not for his hurt. It was appointed to promote man's best and highest interests, and not to debar him of anything that is really for his good. It requires nothing but what is reasonable and wise. It forbids nothing that is really necessary to man's comfort.

Let us pray for a right understanding of the law of the Sabbath. Of all the commandments that God has given, none is more essential to the happiness of man, and none is so frequently misrepresented, abused, and trampled underfoot.

Let us lay down for ourselves two special rules for the observance of the Sabbath. For one thing, let us do no work which is not absolutely needful. For another, let us keep the day holy and give it to God.

From these two rules, let us never swerve. Experience shows that there is the closest connection between Sabbath sanctification and healthy Christianity.