Jesus healed a crippled woman on the Sabbath as he made his final trip to Jerusalem. He had healed on the Sabbath before and been criticized. (Luke 6:6-11, 14:1-6, Matthew 12:1-8, 11-12, John 5:1-18) The synagogue ruler was reasonable because, from his point of view, the people could have waited a day to be healed and thus not disrupted the service, including reading the Word and the sermon, thus breaking established worship order, and according to them, the Sabbath law calling for rest. The religious leaders had narrowly defined what it meant to rest and not rest on the Sabbath. The religious Jewish leadership had taken God’s direction, “Remember the Sabbath… on it you shall not do any work…” (Exodus 20:6) to extremes that were not acceptable to God. Jesus often pointed this out. The traditions that they created became a burden.
From the woman’s point of view, she had to be healed now because she did not know if Jesus would be in her village tomorrow. She was desperate and Jesus is the helper of the despondent. Why wait for tomorrow to be healed when Jesus is here now waiting for you to come and be healed?
From Jesus’ point of view, this woman was a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan had kept bound for eighteen long years. Jesus untied her from her stall and led her to his healing water. From Jesus’ point of view, the synagogue ruler was a hypocrite who suppressed the woman. He did not care that she was set free from Satan’s chains. The man was more concerned about his status than praising God.
From the people’s point of view, they were delighted with all the wonderful things Jesus was doing. Whose view do I have? Jesus’? The synagogue ruler’s? The woman’s? Or the people’s?
