Luke 13:10-17
On a Sabbath Jesus was teaching in one of the synagogues, and a woman was there who had been crippled by a spirit for eighteen years. She was bent over and could not straighten up at all.
When Jesus saw her, he called her forward and said to her, 'Woman, you are set free from your infirmity.' Then he put his hands on her, and immediately she straightened up and praised God.
Indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, the synagogue ruler said to the people, 'There are six days for work. So come and be healed on those days, not on the Sabbath.' The Lord answered him, 'You hypocrites! Doesn't each of you on the Sabbath untie his ox or donkey from the stall and lead it out to give it water? Then should not this woman, a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has kept bound for eighteen long years, be set free on the Sabbath day from what bound her?' When he said this, all his opponents were humiliated, but the people were delighted with all the wonderful things he was doing.
After the Lord healed the woman who's been possessed by demon for 18 years, there were two types of reaction:
First, it was the reaction of the woman. Once she was healed, she immediately gave glory to God, and I believe that is the normal reaction from anyone who has experienced healing by God. Every time we witness God's healing, we always have incredible joy, and it's hard for someone to imagine without ever witnessing it. Many believers are living under the bondage of rationalism, and they are lost expectation for God, or they don't even believe that miracles will happen, which is quite pitiful. Christians often become "old Christians" who have lost great expectation for God; they don't believe that God can accomplish miraculous things nor that God will actually do things in their lives in personal ways.
Second reaction is that of the synagogue ruler. He was furious when he witnessed the miracle, because it defied the tradition upheld by the synagogue, for healing on the Sabbath was not allowed. He only saw the rule, but not the joy of the woman after she was healed. Actually, the real purpose of the Sabbath is to let people be healed, freed and delivered; people often only focus on tradition, but miss the will of God and His work. May God give us a soft heart, help us to happily accept God's correction, and let us not become stumbling blocks for others.
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