Commentary on Matthew, Mark, Luke - Volume 2.pdf

<strong>Commentary</strong> on Matthew, Mark, Luke - Volume 2
LUKE 13:10-17
Luke 13:10-17
10. And he was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath. 11. And, lo, a woman who
had a spirit of infirmity during eighteen years, and was bent down, and was altogether unable to
lift up her head. 279 12. Whom when Jesus saw, he called her to him, and said to her, Woman, thou
art delivered from thine infirmity. 13. And he laid his hands on her, and immediately she stood
upright, and glorified God. 14. And the ruler of the synagogue answering, being offended because
Christ had performed a cure on the Sabbath, said to the multitude, There are six days on which
we ought to work: on them therefore come, and you shall be cured, and not on the Sabbath-day.
15. And the Lord answering said to her, Doth not each of you, on the Sabbath, loose his ox or his
ass from the stall, and lead him away to watering? 16. And must not this daughter of Abraham,
whom Satan hath bound, lo, eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath-day? 17. And
while he was saying these things, all his adversaries were ashamed, and all the people rejoiced on
account of all the glorious actions which were done by him.
I have resolved to place in immediate connection some events which are detailed by Luke alone,
without a direct reference to dates; for on that point, as we have formerly mentioned, the Evangelists
did not care much about exactness. We shall afterwards find a more suitable time for returning to
the Harmony of the Three Evangelists.
11. And, lo, a woman Here is related a miracle performed on a woman who was cured, and the
offense which the malignity of the Jews led them to take up, because our Lord had cured her on a
Sabbath-day Luke says that the woman was held by a spirit of infirmity, so that her body was bent
by the contraction of her nerves. As the nature of the disease is no farther described, it is probable
that it was not one of an ordinary kind, or which was understood by physicians; and, therefore, he
calls it a spirit of infirmity. We know that diseases of an unusual and extraordinary kind are, for
the most part, inflicted on men through the agency of the devil; and this gave the more striking
display of the divine power of Christ, which triumphed over Satan. Not that Satan rules over men
according to his pleasure, but only so far as God grants to him permission to injure them. Besides,
as the Lord, from whom alone all our blessings flow, makes his glory to shine with peculiar
brightness in those blessings which are more remarkable, and of rare occurrence; so, on the other
hand, it is his will that the power and tyranny of Satan should be chiefly regarded in extraordinary
chastisements, though his agency is likewise employed in those more gentle applications of the
rod, which we experience from day to day.
12. Woman, thou art delivered In this miracle, as well as in others, Christ exhibited a proof
both of his power and of his grace; for in this manner he testified that he had come for the purpose
279 “Laquelle estoit courbe, et ne pouvoit aucunement se dresser;”— “who was bent down, and was quite unable to stand
upright.”
107
John Calvin