And he was teaching in one of the synagogues on the sabbath. 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.
How lovely is it to see Jesus so mercifully engaged on his own day! Oh! what a lesson, beyond a thousand precepts, to his servants who minister in his word and ordinances, to be active on those holy occasions in holding forth their divine Master.
There are numberless beauties in this miracle of our Lord, not one of which ought to be overlooked, but under the Holy Ghost's teaching brought home to our hearts. And, first; let such as are too easily prevailed upon to stay from ordinances for trifling sicknesses, and frivolous excuses, behold this poor woman, whom eighteen years infirmity, and when bowed together, unable to lift up herself, could not keep back from the synagogue. Oh! who shall calculate the mass of sin on this one account only, in this Christ-despising day of our sinful country! Let any of Christ's little ones, of long infirmity, look at this woman and take comfort. She was a daughter of Abraham, no doubt spiritually so, and yet how long and deeply exercised! Let them consider this. Next look to Jesus. He called her before she called on him! Yes! it is sweet to trace the openings of grace. There is no warmth, no love in the sinner's heart, till Jesus puts it there. Observe the instant power of Jesus. Oh! how soon, thou dear Lord, canst thou make thy people whole! And, observe the blessed effects in the poor woman's heart. She glorified God. This will always be the sure consequence of grace. When the Lord leads us to see our mercies, the same grace leads us to acknowledge them.
But, Reader! mark the contrast, in the ruler of the Synagogue. Was there ever such barefaced impudence, and hypocrisy! To pretend to a reverence for the Sabbath; and yet manifest such bitterness against the Lord of the Sabbath. But how blessed the answer of Jesus! And how blessedly the matter turned to the disgrace of the ruler, and to the triumph and glory of Christ. I cannot pass away from the view of this man, and those adversaries of Jesus that were present, without begging the Reader to remark with me, how much the Lord's preaching was directed against this class of people. His threatenings are all against Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites. Publicans and harlots the Lord encouraged to come to him; but those Pillars of the temple as they considered themselves, the Lord pronounced upon the whole of them the most awful woe. Matthew 23:13-39
But the most beautiful part in the miracle remains to be noticed. This poor woman was a daughter of Abraham; but yet Satan had bound her! Yes! she, and every son and daughter of Abraham, though they belong to Christ, in the union-grace of the Church, being chosen in Christ, before the world began; yet are they all involved in the Adam-fall of nature, until Christ claims his own, and brings them out. Reader! what saith your apprehension of the truth of God to this statement? Certainly you cannot but know the bondage of sin and Satan, whether eighteen years, or as many more or less, if one like the Son of Man hath made you free. Bowed together you once was, and unable to lift up yourself, if so be Jesus' power and sovereignty in grace you have felt, I pray you to read that sweet Psalms 142:1, and see the case described; and then let your heart answer to yourself, what you know of it, by soul experience.