Jesus' Victory Over Evil: Sabbath Rest and Freedom

Well, good morning everyone. This morning we continue our series that we've been following in recent weeks from Luke's Gospel.

So if you want to follow it, it's Luke chapter 13 and the paragraph that begins at verse 10, which is on page 1046 of the Church Bibles. I'm going to read those verses in a moment, but before I do, let's pause and let's pray, shall we? In John's Gospel, we read of one occasion when some Greeks approached one of the disciples and said, Father God in heaven, that is our prayer this morning. That is our desire that we would be those who see and know your son, Jesus Christ. Father, if we don't know the Lord Jesus, we ask that you would enable us by your grace to know him. If we know Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, we ask that by your grace you would enable us to know him better, to know him more joyfully this day. And we ask these things, Father, in his most precious name, Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.

So Luke chapter 13, verses 10 to 17, page 1046 then in the Church Bibles. I still want to call them pew Bibles, but I was reminded we don't have pews here, so it's a church Bible, isn't it? Okay. On a Sabbath, Jesus was teaching in one of the synagogues, and a woman was there who had been crippled by a spirit for 18 years. She was bent over and could not straighten up at all. When Jesus saw her, he called her forward and said to her, Woman, you are set free from your infirmity. Then he put his hands on her, and immediately she straightened up and praised God. Indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, the synagogue leader said to the people, There are six days for work, so come and be healed on those days, not on the Sabbath.

The Lord answered him, You hypocrites. Doesn't each of you on the Sabbath untie your ox or donkey from the stall and lead it out to give it water? Then should not this woman, a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has kept bound for 18 long years, be set free on the Sabbath day from what bound her? And when he said this, all his opponents were humiliated, but the people were delighted with all the wonderful things he was doing. I wonder what thoughts or questions come into your mind when you hear that story read. Perhaps we're thinking, what exactly was her problem? What was it? What is this crippling spirit that she had?

Does it mean that she was in some way demon-possessed? Luke doesn't say that, does he? He doesn't say that explicitly. There are occasions in the Gospels that speak of people being demon-possessed. Was that the case here or not? If not, what does he mean by a crippling spirit? What is today, or was it something that simply happened during that time when Jesus walked the earth and the powers of darkness were trying to combat him? If it does happen today, how do you know?

How can you tell? All of those are understandable questions, but I want to suggest they're not the right questions, or they're not the best question to ask this morning. They're not the best questions because they're not questions that this passage... You see, the Gospels come to us, and in a sense this is true of every part of the Bible, of course, but the Gospels in particular, they come to us not just as historical reports for our interest, they come to us not even just as a biography of a man. The Gospels in their entirety and each individual episode in the Gospels, they come to us as proclamation from God. Proclamation that is from God and is about his Son, Jesus Christ. So although I certainly believe that the Gospel events that really happened, the Gospels come to us more like sermons than a biography.

So the most important question, the best question, if you like, that we can ask of this passage this morning is what does it say, what does it proclaim, what does it declare to us, either about God in general or about the Lord Jesus Christ? And I want to suggest this morning that there is one very simple overarching message in this episode. Although as we explore that message, I'm going to break it down into two parts. I think there are two dominant themes in this story that we're meant to take notice of. What does it say? What does it proclaim? What does it declare to us, either about God in general or about the Lord Jesus Christ? And I want to suggest this morning that there is one very simple overarching message in this episode.

Although as we explore that message, I'm going to break it down into two parts. I think there are two dominant themes in this story that we're meant to take notice of, themes that, if you like, together proclaim this overarching message. So what is the message of this passage?

What are we meant to see? What are we meant to hear? What are we meant to understand as we read this story? Well, I want to suggest to you that it proclaims very simply that Jesus is the one who has victory over all evil in our lives.

Not particularly profound, but it is important that Jesus is the one who has the victory over all evil in our lives. So what makes me say that?

What are we meant to see in this passage? How does it illustrate? How does it demonstrate? How does it proclaim that? And I want to say that this passage proclaims that message in two ways. It proclaims it in what Jesus does, and it proclaims it in what Jesus says. So first of all, in what Jesus does, this passage proclaims his victory over all the evil in our lives in this way, that in the action of Jesus in this story, we see him setting his people free, setting them free from all evil.

Now, freedom in a general sense is a precious thing, isn't it? Human beings value freedom. To be deprived of freedom is either a punishment, depending on the circumstances, or torture. In his inaugural address when he became president of the United States, John F. Kennedy said these words. He said, Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, to assure the survival and the success of liberty. In other words, freedom. Now you might say, well yeah, that's the sort of thing politicians say, isn't it?

Sounds good. Politicians make these promises. They're not always able, not always willing to deliver on them, but the Lord Jesus Christ is. He always delivers on the promises of God. And in this episode, we see Jesus setting somebody free. So if you look at it, the setting is the synagogue.

The synagogue was for the Jews a place of worship and of teaching. There was only one temple, as you know, in Jerusalem where the sacrifices were performed, but there were many synagogues. And they were places of worship and teaching. And we read in verse 11 that there was a woman there, so she was part of the worshipping community, it seems. There was a woman there who had been crippled by a spirit for 18 years. She was bent over and could not straighten up at all. Sounds horrific, doesn't it?

Now, as I said, we could speculate on the precise nature of her condition, but that's not really the point. What Luke would have us see, or perhaps we should say what God, as he inspires Luke to write, would have us see, is what Jesus does. And what Jesus does is to set her free. Verse 12, when Jesus saw her, he called her forward and said to her, Woman, you are set free from your infirmity.

Then he put his hands on her and immediately, notice that, this wasn't some gradual, oh, I think she's getting better, you know, over the next few weeks kind of thing. This was very dramatic, instantaneous, very visual, unmistakable. Immediately, she straightened up. Now, at this point, we might be saying, well, that's great, isn't it?

You know, good for her. You know, I'm pleased for her. Eighteen years of suffering in that way. But what's that got to do with me?

Here, this morning. I'm not suffering in the same way or with the same condition that she was suffering. In one sense, of course, in one obvious sense, that's true. But in another sense, it isn't.

Because you see, there's a sense in which every, each and every human being is bound. Each and every human being by nature is captive to that intrusion of evil into God's good creation. We often call it sin, don't we? Ever since the fall of Adam, you all know the story and it's an important part of the Bible. Adam and Eve created perfect in all things. Perfect in their relationship with God. Are led, aren't they, into rebellion against him. Instigated by the forces of evil.

Now, the Bible doesn't tell us precisely how or when Satan and his cohorts fell. It suggests that they did at some point, some unknown point. But we simply know in Genesis chapter 3 that this evil in the personification of a serpent. created perfect in all things, perfect in their relationship with God, are led, aren't they, into rebellion against Him.

Instigated by the forces of evil. Now, the Bible doesn't tell us precisely how or when Satan and his cohorts fell.

It suggests that they did at some point, some unknown point, but we simply know in Genesis Chapter 3 that this evil in the personification of a serpent tempts Adam and Eve, lures them away from God. And you all know the story and the consequences are catastrophic. As a result of their rebellion, sin and suffering and evil and death enter our world. And each of us lives with the consequences of that. Each and every human being lives with the reality of that. Each and every human being is, if you like, bound as this woman was bound by the forces of evil. The Apostle Paul, for example, writing in one of his letters, Paul writing to Christians in Ephesus, but writing to remind them what was true of them before they became Christians, Paul wrote this, And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air. Who's that?

The evil one. The spirit who is now at work in the sons of disobedience, says Paul, among whom we all. Each of us is born with what the Bible commonly calls a sinful nature. Each of us, in a sense, not exactly like this woman, but each of us, in a sense, is bound by a nature that does not know God and cannot know God. And that's what Jesus came to set us free from. And he did so by his death on the cross. Now you might say, ah, now why are you bringing the cross in this morning?

I don't see the cross mentioned anywhere in this passage. Not explicitly. I know Luke will say a lot about the gospel. I know that on a few occasions Jesus predicts his death, but I don't see any predictions of the cross here. He just sets her free. And yes, on one level we can say the cross is nowhere in this episode. And yet the cross is everywhere in this episode. Dominated as this story is by this image, this notion of being set free.

You see, one of the, you'll all know that the Bible uses various words to describe what it is that Jesus has done for us on the cross. And one word that New Testament writers use to describe the cross is redemption. The idea of being set free. And that New Testament word redemption is derived from, it's related to the New Testament word ransom. Because that's what you do, isn't it? When you pay a ransom, you set something or someone free. If somebody kidnaps a person and their family pay the ransom, they're paying for that person to be freed and to be restored to them. And those words, the word redemption and the word ransom, are in turn derived from or related to the word or the verb to loose.

Not to lose, to loose. You know what you do with your shoelaces? You loose them, you untie them. This notion of loosing, of setting free. And that's a theme that runs through this story. I think the English translations don't actually sort of bring out the consistency of it. So let me just use that word deliberately.

So verse 12, when Jesus saw her, he called her forward and said to her, woman, you are loosed from your infirmity. Verse 15, when he's using this illustration of animals, he says, doesn't each of you on the Sabbath loose your ox or donkey from the stall, literally manger actually, and take it to give water?

Verse 16, therefore should not this woman whom Satan had bound be loosed from the evil that bound her? This is the first great theme in this passage, that Jesus is the one who sets free. Jesus himself said, didn't he, of himself, that he came not to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many. A ransom that brings redemption, a ransom that looses, that sets free those whom he calls to himself. And Jesus sets us free by dying in our place, bearing our sin, suffering the wrath that we should bear, and he does that on the cross. Jesus is the one who has victory over the evil in our lives. We see that firstly then in what he does. He sets somebody free.

But then that principle, the principle of Jesus' victory over evil in our lives, is seen secondly in this passage in what Jesus says. Because in the words of Jesus, we see him reminding and promising his people rest. Sabbath rest. You might say, well hang on a minute, Andrew, how did you get that from this episode? Well let's dive back into the story again.

He set somebody free. But then that principle, the principle of Jesus' victory over evil in our lives, is seen secondly in this passage in what Jesus says.

Because in the words of Jesus, we see him reminding and promising his people rest, Sabbath rest. You might say, well, hang on a minute, Andrew, how did you get that from this episode? Well, let's dive back into the story again.

Look at your Bibles with me again. Notice verse 10, Luke tells us that this happens on a Sabbath.

And have you noticed in your reading of the Gospels how often it is that Jesus heals on the Sabbath? It almost seems at times that he goes out to heal on the Sabbath. And it always brings him into trouble, doesn't it, with the religious leaders. It's the Sabbath day then, and Jesus calls this woman and he sets her free. And at that point, onto the scene, onto the stage, comes this synagogue leader or synagogue ruler, as some translations put it in verse 14. So who was he?

Well, synagogue meetings in Jesus' day were not unlike church services nowadays in terms of the things that happened. So there would be congregational singing, there would be prayers, there would be a reading from the scriptures, obviously the Old Testament, and there would be a sermon based on those scriptures, and then there would be a blessing at the end.

And the synagogue leader or the synagogue ruler, he wasn't a Jewish priest, he was a lay person, he was an elder in the community, who basically organised all of that. So he's the one who sorted out who was going to read the scriptures and so on.

We might in today's parlance call him the worship leader. Or perhaps in a more secular setting, we might call him the emcee, the master of ceremonies or the compere. Anyway, he comes onto the scene after Jesus has healed this woman. And we read in verse 14, look at verse 14, we're told that he was indignant. Not because Jesus had healed this woman, but because he had healed this woman on the Sabbath. And he says, verse 14, there are six days for work, so come and be healed on those days, not on the Sabbath. What a pompous windbag. I'm sorry, but Jesus actually calls him far worse, so I can get away with calling him a pompous windbag.

Notice he doesn't deny that this woman has been healed. How can he? It was very dramatic, it was instantaneous, it was visual. You couldn't deny it. He doesn't deny that the woman has been healed. And notice also that he doesn't address Jesus. He makes this ridiculous pronouncement to all the people present. And Jesus responds, verse 15, the Lord answered him, you hypocrites.

Interesting bit of grammar there, isn't it? The Lord responded to him, singular, but said, you hypocrites, plural. I think Jesus is addressing not just this synagogue leader, but perhaps all the cronies and yes-men who were nodding their heads in agreement as he spoke. Jesus exposes their hypocrisy. He exposes their legalism. We might say he exposes the emptiness of their religious rituals. And he uses this interesting illustration. He says, verse 15, doesn't each of you on the Sabbath loose, untie your ox or donkey from the stall and lead it out to give it water?

Then should not this woman, a daughter of Abraham, in other words, somebody chosen of God, should this woman whom Satan has kept bound for 18 years, should she not be loosed? Should she not be set free on the Sabbath day from what bound her? And that brings us to the second dominant theme in this passage. I said that the first theme was this idea of being loosed, of being set free. Have you observed what the second dominant theme is? It's the Sabbath. This passage is only, what, eight verses long? And yet Sabbath occurs, I think, five times.

Verse 10, it was on the Sabbath that Jesus was teaching in the synagogue. Verse 14, the synagogue ruler is indignant because healing is on the Sabbath.

He also says in that same verse, don't come to be healed on the Sabbath. Verse 15, Jesus says, don't you untie your animals on the Sabbath and take them out to water?

And then finally verse 16, therefore, should not this woman who has been bound by Satan for 18 years, should she not be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath? And the answer, the implied answer, is a resounding yes! Yes, she should be. The synagogue ruler had said the opposite, hadn't he? He said, oh, there are other days to be healed, don't come on the Sabbath and be healed. He was wrong. Now I know we live in a culture nowadays where you're not supposed to say that anybody's view is wrong, are you?

But hey-ho, he was wrong. He was as wrong as wrong could be. He was Mr. Wrong of Wrongsville. It couldn't be more appropriate to set her free on the Sabbath. What was the point of the Sabbath? Well, according to Old Testament law, the Sabbath reminded people of two things.

It reminded the people that God is the God. to be. He was Mr. Wrong of Wrongsville. It couldn't be more appropriate to set her free on the Sabbath. What was the point of the Sabbath? Well, according to Old Testament law, the Sabbath reminded people of two things.

It reminded the people that God is the God who has created everything, and it reminded them that God is the God who redeems his people. So, for example, in Exodus chapter 20, when Moses gives the Ten Commandments, when he gets to the fourth commandment about the Sabbath, what is the reason that he gives for keeping the Sabbath?

He says, well, because in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore, the Lord blessed the Sabbath day. But then a few years later, when God's people are waiting to cross over into the promised land, and Moses delivers basically three sermons reminding them of all that God has said and done, which is basically the book of Deuteronomy, when he reminds them of the Ten Commandments, Moses now gives a second reason for keeping the Sabbath.

So Deuteronomy 5 verse 15, he says that they're to keep the Sabbath for this reason. You shall remember that you were a slave, in other words, bound in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God brought you out from there, redeemed you with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. Therefore, the Lord your God commanded you to keep the Sabbath. The Sabbath was to be a reminder to God's people that God is the one who has created everything and that God is the one who redeems his people. But as the Bible story unfolds, there's a third significance to the Sabbath.

The Sabbath also, those first two reasons look back, God as creator, God as redeemer, but thirdly, the Sabbath looks forward. It looks forward to rest. Not just the kind of rest that I hope I'll have this afternoon when I put my feet up for a couple of hours, I might even nod off, who knows? No, the Sabbath looks forward to an eternal rest. A rest that will be a rest from all evil, all sin, all suffering, all death. A rest that God's people will one day enjoy. But a rest, be very sure of this, a rest that is found only in Jesus.

Jesus himself said, come to me all who labour and are heavy laden and I will give you rest. So it couldn't be more appropriate, could it, for this woman to be set free on the Sabbath, the day that reminds us that God is the creator of all things, that God is the one who redeems his people and that God is the one who will one day bring us into an eternal Sabbath where there is no more evil.

This passage then proclaims to us Jesus as the one who has victory over all evil in our lives. We see it in what he does, he sets somebody free. We see it in what he says, reminding his people of the great Sabbath principle and all that that speaks of and all that that promises. Now I began by saying that the Gospels come to us not just as historical records to arouse our curiosity, they come to us not just as biographies, but the Gospels are God's proclamation.

And God's proclamation calls for a response from you and me. So what response is this episode in Luke 13 calling for?

Well let me, as we move to a close, let me suggest two responses that this passage I think suggests to us when we see what Jesus does, when we hear what Jesus says. I think firstly this story, this episode challenges us to acknowledge the evil that binds us and separates us from God. We usually call it sin, don't we? To acknowledge that it is Jesus and Jesus alone who sets us free. In a nutshell, it's a challenge to come to Jesus. To come repentant for sin, to come trusting in Jesus and in Jesus alone for redemption, to be set free. Now it's not for me to say, no human being can see into the hearts of another human being, but as you sit here this morning, if you think, well I'm not sure that I really have acknowledged that.

I may believe in God, but have I acknowledged those things? Am I trusting in Jesus and Jesus alone to be set free? Well, if you're not sure, if you've got questions, perhaps today is the day, I don't know.

Do have a word with somebody afterwards, if you have any concerns or speak to one of the elders or somebody that you know. But then I think the second response that this passage implies concerns us all.

As we read this together, I think this is an invitation to glorify God. If you're not sure, if you've got questions, perhaps today is the day, I don't know. Do have a word with somebody afters if you have any concerns, or speak to one of the elders or somebody that you know. But then I think the second response that this passage implies concerns us all.

As we read this together, I think this is an invitation to glorify God. That's what the woman does, isn't it, in the story? It's interesting actually, we don't hear the woman speak. Sometimes in the Gospels we hear people speak, don't they?

Sometimes people will come to Jesus and ask for healing, either for themselves or for somebody else. This woman doesn't. She doesn't actually ask Jesus for anything. Jesus calls her, draws her to himself, and sets her free. But then we are told, verse 13, when he put his hands on her and immediately she was straightened up, she did what?

She praised God. Or better, and more literally, she glorified God. Because that is the appropriate response, isn't it? To knowing that Jesus has set us free. To glorify God. So shall we do that now?

Sermons will often end, won't they, with a prayer maybe from the preacher, and then there might be a pause, an announcement of what's going to happen afterwards, and then the final hymn. But we're going to cut all of that out this morning.

This morning we're going to do all that the other way round, as we draw to our close in thinking about these verses. If you know that Jesus has set you free, if you know you have that sure and certain promise of eternal Sabbath rest, how can you not glorify God? Let's do that, shall we? Let's stand and sing, to God be the glory.