“A spirit of infirmity”

The Infirm Woman healed on the Sabbath.

(The Gospel History, Section 102)

And he was teaching in one of the synagogues on the sabbath day. And behold, a woman which had a spirit of infirmity eighteen years; and she was bowed together, and could in no wise lift herself up. And when Jesus saw her, he called her, and said to her, Woman, thou art loosed from thine infirmity. And he laid his hands upon her: and immediately she was made straight, and glorified God. And the ruler of the synagogue, being moved with indignation because Jesus had healed on the sabbath, answered and said to the multitude, There are six days in which men ought to work: in them therefore come and be healed, and not on the day of the sabbath. But the Lord answered him, and said, Ye hypocrites, 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 had bound, lo, these eighteen years, to have been loosed from this bond on the day of the sabbath? And as he said these things, all his adversaries were put to shame: and all the multitude rejoiced for all the glorious things that were done by him.

Commentary by J. R. Dummelow

Lk 13:10–17. The woman with a spirit of infirmity (peculiar to Lk). The story is told not so much for the sake of the miracle, as for the light it throws upon the question of sabbath observance. It is the only case of Christ’s preaching in a synagogue recorded in the latter part of the ministry.

Lk 13:12. He called her] An unasked-for cure.

Lk 13:14. Said unto the people] The ruler durst not openly rebuke Jesus, but indirectly censured Him by censuring the people.

Lk 13:15. Loose his ox] The rabbis, while permitting attention to beasts on the sabbath, did so grudgingly: ‘It is not only permitted to lead a beast to the water on the sabbath, but also to draw water for it, yet so that the beast draw near and drink, without the water being carried to it and set down by it.’

Lk 13:16. Satan hath bound] The Jews attributed such ills to Satan. It is not implied that the woman was of evil life.

“A spirit of infirmity”

(The Saviour of the World, Vol VI Book IV Poem LVIII)

A spirit of infirmity! Ah, me,
Who may the woman’s broken spirit see,
As there in synagogue she takes her place
On Sabbath days, if haply she may trace,
Through ritual of reading, prayer and praise,
Some sign that God remembereth her days?

Men see the poor soul creep, together bent,
Nor care that body to the spirit lent
Its downcast attitude, its springless gait,
Its deep depression nothing can elate;
With loathing pity they the wretch pass by,
Nor the poor prisoned soul within descry.

Then enters One who sees and knows the whole,
The long confinement of the fettered soul
Held eighteen years within that painful cage,
In secret suffering that He could gauge
Who knows how flesh upon the spirit preys,
And gives complexion to the leaden days.

“Daughter of Abraham,” she! And Jesus knew,
Through her long bondage, how her spirit true
Had sought her fathers’ God; no alien she:
Her crookéd body He bids straightened be:
Sudden, she stands erect,—ah, glad surprise!—
A marvel in the Jews’ unfriendly eyes:

No longer pressed to earth, her spirit leaps
Beyond her body’s state; she Sabbath keeps,
She, also, with a song of joyful praise
To Him who knows oppresséd folk to raise!
The jealous Jews regard with envious eye
The wonder that their hate might not deny;—

They turned them to the people—nor dared chide
Him, who for th’ infirm woman had defied
Their niggard reading of God’s liberal law;
“There be six days,” say they, “in which to draw
To Him for healing, whom ye choose instead
Of Abraham’s God who hath our fathers led!”

Their futile wrath they on the people spent,
Nor blamed they Christ for whom their rage was meant!
But He, no subterfuge will He allow;
With each of us He deals, as “Thou,” and “Thou”;
“Ye hypocrites, who each will break the law
As his own interests or pleasure draw,

“How dare ye simulate a righteous wrath
That she, afflicted child of Abraham, hath
Been loosed from bondage on this Sabbath day,
Come to her Father’s house to praise and pray?
Whom Satan binds, be they not more to you
Than ox or ass whose bonds ye fain undo?”

What manifestings of the love Divine,
Escaping from the tale, upon us shine!
How good to know the infirmities we bear
In the Eternal Pity have due share;
That bondage of the flesh He comprehends,
And how the spirit fain its bonds transcends;

That, children of Abraham’s God, we yet remain
Tho’ many years of slavery enchain;
That, straight, the struggling soul from bonds set free
Will rise to where the blessed spirits be,—
The house of God, the place of praise and prayer,
Where joyful breathes she her own native air!

And all the multitude rejoiced to see
This infirm woman set at liberty
From bonds had held her nigh a score of years:—
“What shall Messias do when he appears
Greater, more gracious, than this Man hath wrought—
Reducing all His adversaries to nought?”

St. Luke xiii. 10–17.

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