Prayer for the Sick: Infirmity
The Woman with the Spirit of Infirmity
Luke 13:10-17 [show] Now he was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath. And there was a woman who had had a disabling spirit for eighteen years. She was bent over and could not fully straighten herself. When Jesus saw her, he called her over and said to her, "Woman, you are freed from your disability." And he laid his hands on her, and immediately she was made straight, and she glorified God. But the ruler of the synagogue, indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, said to the people, "There are six days in which work ought to be done. Come on those days and be healed, and not on the Sabbath day." Then the Lord answered him, "You hypocrites! Does not each of you on the Sabbath untie his ox or his donkey from the manger and lead it away to water it? And ought not this woman, a daughter of Abraham whom Satan bound for eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath day?" As he said these things, all his adversaries were put to shame, and all the people rejoiced at all the glorious things that were done by him. (ESV)
There are various ways of looking at the healing of this woman. If we focus only on her condition, its cause and the release from it, then you might choose from the following to gain additional insight. Later, I’ll be adding a page that compares the various methods that Jesus appears to have applied in healing. Nevertheless, his prayer time was away from the people and alone with the Father, so he had little need to offer prayer for the sick and afflicted in public. Instead, he simply confronted the condition with authority.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary:
Our Lord Jesus attended upon public worship on the Sabbaths. Even bodily infirmities, unless very grievous, should not keep us from public worship on sabbath days. This woman came to Christ to be taught, and to get good to her soul, and then he relieved her bodily infirmity. This cure represents the work of Christ’s grace upon the soul. And when crooked souls are made straight, they will show it by glorifying God. Christ knew that this ruler had a real enmity to him and to his gospel, and that he did but cloak it with a pretended zeal for the sabbath day; he really would not have them be healed any day; but if Jesus speaks the word, and puts forth his healing power, sinners are set free. This deliverance is often wrought on the Lord’s day; and whatever labour tends to put men in the way of receiving the blessing, agrees with the design of that day.
Additional Perspectives:
Article at Christian Books for Women
An Inner Healing Perspective at Psychology for Living
Comments
*
To prove that you're not a bot, enter this code
