13:10–11 Jesus teaches regularly in the synagogues (Luke 4:15, 31) and other venues (5:17–18; 19:47; 21:37), and on this occasion—as is almost certainly the case in many other situations—he is teaching on the Sabbath. A woman is present who is so disabled with disease that she has been bent over and unable to stand up erect for eighteen years (cf. 4:33). We are told that the problem comes from a spirit, and thus the disease is demonic. There is no evidence here that the woman has sinned. Demons afflict human beings in a sinful world.

13:12–13 Upon seeing the woman, Jesus calls her over. We see again Jesus’ love for and compassion for women, for he notices and attends to her. Many men in the ancient world ignored women and failed to see or engage with them (not uncommon today, either), but Jesus is compassionate and has a deep love and concern for women. Jesus pronounces this woman free from her sickness. He does not ask first if she believes but instead heals her by his sovereign and creative word, showing the same power as the creator God, who brought the world into existence by his word. Jesus’ word of healing is also accompanied by his laying of his hands upon her; there is healing in his touch (cf. 4:40; 5:13; 6:19; 7:14; 8:44; 22:51), which itself is a mark of compassion in a world in which many probably avoid the woman because of her disfigurement. Jesus’ word and touch are effective, and the woman immediately gives praise and glory to God (cf. 5:25).

13:14 The ruler of the synagogue is not happy with the healing; he represents the religious leaders looking for reasons to condemn Jesus (cf. 6:7). He does not see a human being in front of him, one freed from a terrible malady, but instead is annoyed and frustrated because he feels that a command of God has been violated. In his mind healing on the Sabbath is work, and thus Jesus has contravened the fourth commandment (cf. Ex. 20:9; Deut. 5:13). The synagogue ruler has the same churlish spirit as that of the older brother in the story of the prodigal son, and thus he cannot rejoice in what God has done in Jesus (cf. Luke 15:25–30). He points out that work is fitting six days a week but not on the Sabbath—and he counts Jesus’ healing as such work.

13:15–16 Jesus does not countenance such a reading of the Sabbath, discerning that the synagogue ruler has completely missed the purpose of the Sabbath, for the ruler sees it merely as a rule to be kept and punctiliously observed. He has a beam in his eye and thinks he sees a speck of sin in Jesus’ (cf. 6:42). In fact, he is a hypocrite because he does not follow the same rules when it comes to his animals (cf. 14:5). If an ox or donkey needed water on the Sabbath, he would lead it away from the feeding trough to give it water—and rightly so! What he fails to see is that human beings are more important than animals.

Jesus could have argued that speaking a word of healing and laying hands on a woman is scarcely work! But he takes the matter to higher level. He wants all to see that a human being is before them, a daughter of Abraham, a precious person who has endured pain, discouragement, and doubtless depression for eighteen years (cf. 13:14). The synagogue ruler objects that Jesus has done what should not have been done (“ought,” Gk. dei; v. 14), but Jesus argues to the contrary, saying that the woman “ought” (edei) to be freed on the Sabbath. The Sabbath is the most fitting day of all to heal because it is a day of rejoicing, freedom, and liberation, pointing back to the Lord’s liberating his people from Egypt. There is no better day for the Lord to set free those bound by Satan (cf. 8:29).

13:17 The net result is that Jesus’ adversaries are put to shame. In contrast, Jesus is vindicated and shown to be in the right, for the people rejoice at the wonderful things he is doing. The crowds are more sensible than the religious leaders; they recognize God’s work and see that a woman has been delivered of a frightening malady. In an honor/shame culture, this shaming of the opponents is not a minor matter, for those who are shamed are shown to be wrong. Indeed, the shaming here anticipates the eschatological shaming that will take place at the final judgment (cf. Rom. 9:33; 10:11; 1 Cor. 1:27). Perhaps this is an allusion to Isaiah 45:16, in which those who make idols will be shamed; the religious leaders are not actually serving the one true God.