“THE HEALER AND THE HYPOCRITES”
LUKE 13:10-17

I. Introduction
When I came to saving faith in the Lord Jesus Christ I wanted to tell someone about it. Well, I was a new believer but I was also naïve. I assumed that one of the people who would be the happiest about my conversion would be the Lutheran Pastor who had mar-ried Ginny and me five years earlier. I made an appointment with him to tell him the good news that I had been born again and was now a believer.

His response was not what I expected. It was, to say the least, most discouraging. He told me that I had become a Christian when I was baptized as a baby. He told me that I had become a member of the Lutheran Church when I was twelve years old and passed my exam on the contents of Luther’s Small Catechism. He told me that I didn’t need to be “born again,” and that I would “get over it” once I got away from “all those Bap-tists.” Talk about throwing cold water on a hot fire!

Needless to say, I left that meeting confused. This man was a dignified and learned reli-gious authority. After all, he wore that snow white collar and had a big cross hanging around his neck. Then on Sunday he wore white robes draped in purple and gold, and he knew the whole liturgy by heart. Not only that, he prayed in “King James English.” He must have known what was right and wrong and what was true and false. He must have. I knew that I didn’t. But I never talked to him again. And I never went back to his church or, for that matter, to any other, for more than five years.

I have since learned a few things. Among them is this: One of Satan’s most useful and effective tools in keeping multitudes from the living Christ is their love of dead religion.

As we’ve continued to work our way through Luke’s gospel, we’ve seen Jesus repeatedly confronting powerful and respected religious leaders. Human intuition would tell us that Jesus’ primary targets would be pagans, idol-worshippers, and atheists. Wouldn’t they be the ones He would approach with the truth of the gospel? Wouldn’t they be the ones whom Jesus would be the most concerned about?

There were times when He did that, but Jesus’ main battles, His most heated words, and His most scathing condemnations were not for pagans, idol-worshippers, and atheists. They were for the religious leaders, the religious elite, those pious hypocrites who infil-trated the synagogues then, and who still infiltrate the church today. They’re the ones who do the most to keep individuals from a life-changing transformation of the heart. They’re the ones who perpetuate the need for religious duties, rituals, and traditions that blind their followers to the reality of a relationship with the Person of Christ.

There are numerous passages in the gospels where Jesus drives home this truth. He does so in no uncertain terms.
One of these is found in Jesus’ response to the Pharisees when they criticize Him because He ignores their religious traditions.
*Mark 7:6-9
6 And He said to them, “Rightly did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it
is written, ‘This people honors Me with their lips, but the heart is far from Me.
7 ‘But in vain do they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the precepts of men.’ (Isaiah 29:13)
8 “Neglecting the commandment of God, you hold to the tradition of men.”
9 He was also saying to them, “You nicely set aside the commandment of God in order to keep your tradition.”

On another occasion Jesus condemns the Jewish religious leaders for keeping converts farther far from God than they are themselves.
*Matthew 23:15
15 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you travel about on sea and land to make one proselyte (convert); and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves.”

There is no end to the self-righteousness, the arrogance, the stunning legalism, and the utter hypocrisy of the religious leaders of Jesus’ day. In this morning’s passage in Luke we will see Jesus facing off against these people yet again. This time He embarrasses them and exposes their false religion in front of a crowd of their followers. Can you imagine how this ratchets up the religious leaders’ hatred for Him?
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II. Review
In recent weeks we’ve seen Jesus’ warn the Jewish leaders and their followers that even though they can read the weather, they can’t to read “the signs of the times” – the most significant of which is that their Messiah has come and is now walking among them.

Last week we saw Jesus warn them, through the parable of the barren fig tree, that if they did not repent and produce the fruits of repentance, they would be cut down and thrown into the fire. Yet despite these warnings, virtually all of the religious leaders continued to oppose Jesus at every turn. So they “watched Him like a hawk” hoping that He would say or do something for which they could ridicule Him, accuse Him, and condemn Him.

That takes us to this morning’s text in Luke’s gospel.
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III. Text
What follows is Jesus’ last recorded teaching in a synagogue. His disdain for the Jews’ Sabbath laws has been a major cause of dissension between Him and the Jewish leaders. The forced observance of these laws was at the very heart of first-century Judaism. So any violation of them made the religious leaders livid. It isn’t hard to see why.
The forced observance of these laws gave the leader’s authority and power over the peo-ple. Therefore, any challenge to those laws was a challenge to that authority and power. They simply would not stand for it. But what they failed to understand was that Jesus had absolute authority and power over the Sabbath. Had the Jews submitted to Him and His Word, they would have known that. He had already told them who He was. In Luke 6:5 Jesus said, “The Son of Man is the Lord of the Sabbath.”
*Luke 13:10-17 (Please stand with me in honor of reading God’s Word.)
10 And (Jesus) was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath.
11 And behold, there was a woman who for eighteen years had had a sickness caused by a spirit; and she was bent double, and could not straighten up at all.
12 And when Jesus saw her, He called her over and said to her, “Woman, you are freed from your sickness.”
13 And He laid His hands upon her; and immediately she was made erect again, and began glorifying God.
14 And the synagogue official, indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, began saying to the multitude in response, “There are six days in which work should be done; therefore come during them and get healed, and not on the Sabbath day.”
15 But the Lord answered him and said, “You hypocrites, does not each of you on the Sabbath untie his ox or his donkey from the stall, and lead him away to water him?
16 “And this woman, a daughter of Abraham as she is, whom Satan has bound for eighteen long years, should she not have been released from this bond on the Sabbath day?”
17 And as He said this, all His opponents were being humiliated; and the entire multitude was rejoicing over all the glorious things being done by Him.

The Jews had become victims of their own religion. The fact is that even the religious leaders knew they couldn’t keep God’s laws. But what could they do about it? Instead of repenting, instead of admitting their guilt, and instead of humbling themselves before God and seeking His forgiveness, they hardened their hearts and set about to make rules, regulations, and rituals they could keep. Welcome to the world of man-made religion!

But, of course, obeying all their rules, regulations, and rituals didn’t work because they couldn’t even keep the laws they made up. So they proceeded to make more laws and then they made exceptions for themselves while enforcing their laws on everyone else. It’s easy to see why Jesus called them hypocrites, isn’t it? Isn’t it amazing how much that sounds like our government today? Our law-makers pass countless laws and from which they exempt themselves. The hypocrisy in Washington is almost beyond belief. (back to Luke 13:10)
As Jesus is teaching in the synagogue we see that the Jewish leaders, men who claim to be spiritually rich, are in fact, spiritually bankrupt. They claim to be spiritually alive, but they and their religion are spiritually dead. Their response to Jesus’ miraculous healing of the woman proves that they have hard hearts and no ability to discern truth, not even when He, the Author of all truth, is standing in their midst.
*Luke 13:10
10 And (Jesus) was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath.

The passage begins with a simple matter-of-fact statement. Jesus was teaching in a local synagogue. There were hundreds of these synagogues in Israel. They were the place where the people would congregate to hear the truths of God’s Word (OT) read, taught, and applied to their daily lives. But synagogues had no full-time teachers, so if there was no one capable of teaching, they had to rely on the local elders to do the best they could.

When Jesus taught in a synagogue there was virtually always some conflict, some “push-back” if you will. You would expect that, since the religious leaders hated what the Lord had to say. He invariably indicted their system of legalism, good works, self-righteous-ness, hypocrisy, and false religion. And His message was always the same; repent and believe the gospel.

Even today, whenever this simple message, this basic truth, is preached and taught, it causes conflict. It brings hostility down on those who proclaim it because it opposes all man-made religion. Man-made religion and the Gospel of Jesus Christ do not coexist because they cannot coexist.
*Luke 13:11-13
11 And behold, there was a woman who for eighteen years had had a sickness caused by a spirit; and she was bent double, and could not straighten up at all.
12 And when Jesus saw her, He called her over and said to her, “Woman, you are freed from your sickness.”
13 And He laid His hands upon her; and immediately she was made erect again, and began glorifying God.

The exact nature of this woman’s malady is unknown. The word “sickness” (“infirmity” or “crippled,” depending on your translation) is “asthĕnĕia,” meaning “weakness” or “with-out strength.” It implies that in addition to her spinal deformity she even had difficulty walking. This had not just happened to her. She had suffered with it for eighteen years.

It seems that she was late for the service and came in when Jesus was already teaching. That’s a reasonable assumption because the Greek text in v. 11 introduces her with the words, “kai idou” (“and behold”). She enters the synagogue and takes her place in back on the side where the women and children always sit. Jesus sees her, takes pity on her, and stops teaching. Can you picture the scene?
Here is this woman all the way in back. There is Jesus up at the front. Wouldn’t you think that Jesus, knowing that she has such a difficult time moving, let alone standing up and walking to the front of the synagogue where He is – wouldn’t you expect Him to go to her? I would, but I would be wrong. He doesn’t go to her. Instead, He calls her to Him. Don’t miss the symbolism in this. Don’t miss the beauty of it.

Look again at v. 12. “He called her over…” I think there’s real drama here. The woman doesn’t jump up and run to Him. She can’t. And He isn’t going to go to her. She must go to Him. What a scene! Her walk to the front must seem to take forever. It must be a slow, painful, and even agonizing thing to watch. But every step she takes brings her closer to the Lord. And I think every step she takes reaffirms her faith in Him.

Wouldn’t it be fascinating to see the reaction of the religious leaders who are present as they watch this spectacle unfold? It’s safe to assume that they’ve had little or no compas-sion for this woman. It’s safe to assume that because we already know they were con-vinced that such an affliction as the woman suffered from was the result of her own sin.

These religious leaders taught her suffering was her just reward for her sins. It was, they believed, God’s punishment. Then add to that the first-century Jewish perception of all women as second-class citizens, and you can imagine the degree to which this woman suffered, not only physically, but socially and psychologically as well. (back to v. 12)

Finally, she makes her way to the front where she is now the center of attention. Notice that she doesn’t ask Jesus to heal her. Why? She doesn’t need to ask because the Lord knows her heart. Furthermore, she has already demonstrated her faith. She has done so before Him and before the entire congregation of the synagogue.

Jesus doesn’t wait. He says, “Woman, you are freed from your sickness.” That’s it – no
hesitation. What a lesson for all of us!

Are you a believer? Do you have faith in Christ? Then what’s keeping you from going to Him with your troubles, with your fears, with your hurts, and even with your doubts? Go to Him! Have you considered the possibility that He’s waiting for you to act on your faith in Him? Time and time again, when Jesus healed someone, He commended them for their faith. Here are just five examples…

1. To a woman who has been bleeding for twelve years –
“If I only touch His garment, I shall get well.” Jesus turning and seeing her said, “Daughter, take courage; your faith has made you well.” (Matthew 9:21b-22)

2. To two blind men –
“Do you believe that I am able to do this?” They said to Him, “Yes, Lord.” Then He touched their eyes, saying, “Be it done to you according to your faith.” (Matthew 9:28c-29)

3. To a Canaanite woman with a demon-possessed daughter –
“Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David…Lord, help me!” Jesus…said to her…
your faith is great; be it done for you as you wish.” (Matthew 15:22b, 25b, 28a)

4. To blind Bartimaeus –
“Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” Jesus…said, “Call him here.” And casting aside his cloak, he jumped up, and came to Jesus…Jesus said, “What do you want me to do for you?” “Rabboni, I want to regain my sight!” And Jesus said to him, Go you way; your faith has made you well.” (Mark 10:48b, 49a, 50-51, 52a)

5. To a repentant prostitute who washed Jesus’ feet in the Pharisee’s home –
“He said, ‘Your sins have been forgiven…Your faith has saved you…’” (Luke 7:48, 50)

“Your faith has made you well…Be it done to you according to your faith…Your faith is great; be it done for you as you wish…Your faith has saved you.”

And there are still other examples, but I think you get the point. Jesus’ didn’t come to fix every physical problem and heal every physical disease. He came to fix our spiritual problem and heal our spiritual disease.

Man’s ultimate problem, our terminal illness, has nothing to do with our physical condi-tions. The Lord’s healing of physical maladies was a picture of His power to heal the ultimate spiritual malady – sin. Jesus’ unleashes that power in you when you exercise your faith in Him. (repeat) That’s not some faith-healer or neo-Pentecostal rant. There is no “slaying in the spirit” here, no a “second work of grace” that can only be proven by speaking in tongues.

The Word of God teaches that the Holy Spirit’s power is seen in every true Christian. That power indwells every true Christian. It seals, gifts, and fills every true Christian. The Holy Spirit’s power teaches us, leads us, and when, “…we do not know how to pray as we should, the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words…” (Romans 8:26b)

But, having said all of that, it is also true that we must exercise faith if we expect to see God work in us. There is a wonderful example of this truth in Joshua. When Israel was about to cross into the Promised Land, the priests were to carry the Ark of the Covenant across the Jordan River. God told Joshua that He would stop the waters and the ark would cross the river on dry ground, just as the nation had crossed the Red Sea.

But here is the salient point. And it is a wonderful example of God unleashing His power when we exercise our faith. God did not tell Joshua to bring the ark to the water’s edge and then stand there waiting for the river to stop flowing before the priests carrying the ark could cross over. Rather, He told Joshua…
*Joshua 3:8
8 “You shall…command the priests who are carrying the Ark of the Cove-nant, saying, ‘When you come to the edge of the waters of the Jordan, you shall stand still in the Jordan.’”

They were to walk into the Jordan and STAND STILL in it. Before God would stop the waters the priests had to exercise faith that God would stop the waters as He said He would. They had to overcome their fear and trust God to do what He said He would do.
*Joshua 3:15-17
15 …when those who carried the ark came into the Jordan, and the feet of the priests carrying the ark were dipped in the edge of the water (for the Jordan overflows all its banks all the days of harvest),
16 that the waters which were flowing down from above stood and rose up in one heap, a great distance away at Adam, the city that is beside Zarethan; and those which were flowing down toward the sea of the Arabah, the Salt Sea, were completely cut off. So the people crossed opposite Jericho.
17 And the priests who carried the Ark of the Covenant of the LORD stood firm on dry ground in the middle of the Jordan while all Israel crossed on dry ground, until all the nation had finished crossing the Jordan.

What a lesson! When we exercise faith, God works. Now turn back to Luke 13:13 and the woman in the synagogue with Jesus. “And He laid His hands upon her; and immedi-ately she was made erect again, and began glorifying God.” I guess!

Without directly confronting Satan’s power (He identifies Satan as the cause of her malady in v. 16), without even mentioning it, Jesus drove it from her. She was instantly, completely, and permanently healed. Now someone may be looking at the text and asking, “Where does it say all of that?” Well, sadly, in English it doesn’t, but in the original Greek it does. The perfect tense of the Greek verb indicates nothing less.

Think of your own salvation. The moment Jesus healed your terminal disease, that is, saved you from your sin, you were instantly, completely, and permanently saved. That sickness, that terminal illness, is gone forever. Shouldn’t we be glorifying God?

And shouldn’t this synagogue, where this miracle has taken place, be worshipping and glorifying God as well? And shouldn’t the leaders of this congregation be at the forefront of such worship? You might think so, but not so fast. (back to Luke 13:14)
*Luke 13:14-17
14 And the synagogue official, indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, began saying to the multitude in response, “There are six days in which work should be done; therefore come during them and get healed, and not on the Sabbath day.”
15 But the Lord answered him and said, “You hypocrites, does not each of you on the Sabbath untie his ox or his donkey from the stall, and lead him away to water him?
16 “And this woman, a daughter of Abraham as she is, whom Satan has bound for eighteen long years, should she not have been released from this bond on the Sabbath day?”
17 And as He said this, all His opponents were being humiliated; and the entire multitude was rejoicing over all the glorious things being done by Him.

In v. 14 you see legalism and false religion carried to an almost unbelievable degree. What is more important? Is it the dictates of the particular religious system or love and concern for the people? What an indictment of first-century Judaism! “It doesn’t matter what kind of burdens we put on the people, so long as our rules, our regulations, our rituals, our rites, and our religion stand unchallenged.”

This is precisely kind of thing that led Martin Luther to write and post his Ninety-Five Theses condemning the Roman Catholic practice of selling indulgences. Indulgences were sold for the purpose of getting the souls of the dearly departed out of purgatory. Catholic theologian Johan Tetzel promoted a little jingle to get people to buy the indul-gences. “As soon as the coin in the coffer rings, the soul from purgatory springs.” This is religious spiritual abuse at its worst.

No one knows how much money was raised through indulgences, but the amount must have been staggering. One wonders if the Pharisees of Jesus’ day would have marveled and said, “I wish we would have thought of that.”

In Luke 13:13 a great miracle has taken place. But in Luke 13:14 spiritual blindness and dead religion doesn’t care. God has moved on the Sabbath and man accuses God of pro-faning the Sabbath! How can you even reason with such blindness? How can you open their eyes? You cannot! If the Holy Spirit doesn’t do it, it won’t be done.

In v. 15 Jesus zeroes in on the utter hypocrisy being displayed before Him, and in v. 16 He openly puts the religious leaders to shame in front of their own people. Now I’m paraphrasing here. “You hypocrites! On the Sabbath you care for the needs of your ani-mals, but what about the needs of this woman? Should her suffering continue on the Sabbath?”

In v. 17 the leaders of the synagogue are “called out” and humiliated in front of their own people. They’re put to shame and they should be. But there is no indication that they’re humbled in the sense that they repent and put their trust in Jesus. However, the people in the congregation are amazed at what they’ve seen. The text tells us that they rejoice “over all the glorious things being done by (Jesus).”

This incident in the synagogue provides us with a wonderful picture of the sovereignty of God’s miraculous work in salvation. While Jesus passes by the religious and self-right-eous hypocrites, he chooses the humble and broken to deliver from their burden of sin.
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IV. Conclusion
What can we learn from this passage?
First, we can learn how hard the human heart can be and how spiritually blind unbelief really is.

Second, in this incident with the woman in the synagogue, we can readily see how salva-tion is a release from Satan’s bondage and sin.

Third, we can see how dangerous and ultimately futile it is to put our religious practices and preferences above the needs of people. Battles over music, controversy over various activities, and other issues of style must be recognized for what they almost always are – distractions that rarely have anything to do with true spirituality, the salvation of souls, or the glory of God.

Fourth, we can see what tremendous damage legalism and hypocrisy do to profane and destroy the glory of God, and the testimony of Christ, His church, and us, His people.

But the thing that has spoken most clearly to me this week is how God works when we exercise faith in Him and His eternal promises. Remember the priests carrying the Ark of the Covenant? Remember all of those hurting people who went to Jesus? Some went to Him for physical healing and some went to Him for spiritual healing. But they all found the same thing – salvation by grace through faith, “…and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God (Ephesians 2:8b)”

“Your faith has made you well…Be it done to you according to your faith…Your faith is great; be it done for you as you wish…Your faith has saved you.”

~ Pray ~