And, behold, there was a woman which had a spirit of infirmity eighteen years, and was bowed together, and could in no wise lift up herself. And when Jesus saw her, he called her to him, and said unto her, Woman, thou art loosed from thine infirmity. And he laid his hands on her: and immediately she was made straight, and glorified God. And the ruler of the synagogue answered with indignation, because that Jesus had healed on the sabbath day, and said unto the people, There are six days in which men ought to work: in them therefore come and be healed, and not on the sabbath day. The Lord then answered him, and said, Thou hypocrite, 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 hath bound, lo, these eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the sabbath day? And when he had said these things, all his adversaries were ashamed: and all the people rejoiced for all the glorious things that were done by him. (Luke 13:11-17)
She was bent over for 18 years. She couldn’t hug those she loved or look her children in the eyes. She likely couldn’t wash her dishes or sweep her house. She couldn’t have normal relations with her husband or rock her child or grandchild to sleep.
But then she met Jesus one Saturday and her life changed, most remarkably and for the better.
I was studying this and seeing several spiritual applications from the account. Among them are these.
1, She had a physical disability or infirmity. I had a spiritual infirmity. It was sin.
2. Satan was the one who bound her. Satan is the one who had bound me in sin.
3. She could, in no way, lift up herself. I could, by no means, lift myself from sin.
3. It was the touch of Jesus, that loosed her from the bondage of the infirmity. That touch loosed me from the bondage of sin.
4. Once loosed, she immediately began to glorify God. Once loosed from sin, I must do the same.
I began very early this morning, studying in this very Bible text. At midday, as I traveled, from another state, back home again, I got a call from my husband to tell me that my mother-in-law was extremely weak and likely would not make it through the day. By 6 pm, word came that she had left us for that timeless realm. I’d not been able to make it back before she passed peacefully, though I tried.
I immediately thought about the slow death she had died—the long goodbye of dementia— and that her infirmity— in fact, all infirmities of this life—are the indirect work of the devil. They are the bindings of Satan, in a real sense. When my sweet mother-in-law left us, she could, in no wise, physically lift herself up. But now she’s been lifted from that bondage and carried by angels to the bosom of Abraham. It’s as if the Lord has said to her “Woman, thou art loosed!”
Tonight, she is loosed from physical disability. She is loosed, forever, from the presence and power of Satan. She is loosed by the touch of Jesus. On that day, eight or so decades ago, when Maggie Colley was baptized into the death of Jesus (Romans 6:3,4), she figuratively touched him, was forgiven, and she was fitted for heaven. Because of the Savior’s loosing, I can be around the throne one day soon, with this, my husband’s loving mother, who was always far better to me than I deserved.
I’m so thankful for the lifting when I cannot lift, the loosing, when I cannot loose, and the touch of the Savior. I’m constrained, like the woman of Luke 13, to glorify Him with all I have.
