Wednesday
Evening Bible Study
August 29, 2001
Introduction
Jesus is on His way to Jerusalem for the final time. He is making His way south, going from city
to city, teaching in the synagogues.
:10-17 Healing the woman on the
Sabbath
:10 And he was teaching in one of
the synagogues on the sabbath.
:11 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.
spirit – pneuma – spirit;
the third person of the triune God; the spirit, i.e. the vital principal by
which the body is animated; a spirit, i.e. a simple essence, devoid of all or
at least all grosser matter, and possessed of the power of knowing, desiring,
deciding, and acting
infirmity – astheneia –
want of strength, weakness, infirmity
bowed together – sugkupto (“together”
+ “stooped”) – to bend completely forwards, to be bowed together
lift up – anakupto – to
raise or lift one’s self up
in no wise – panteles –
all complete, perfect; completely, perfectly, utterly
Jesus is teaching in a synagogue.
A woman who goes to the synagogue has had this “infirmity” for eighteen
years. She’s been bent over in two,
unable to stand up straight.
It might be that the “spirit” was a demonic spirit, it could be that it was
an “attitude” of weakness that kept this woman doubled over.
:12 And when Jesus saw her, he called her to him, and said unto her, Woman,
thou art loosed from thine infirmity.
saw – eido – to see; to
perceive with the eyes; to pay attention, observe; to inspect, examine; to know
he called her – prosphoneo –
to call to, to address by calling; to call to one’s self, summon
thou art loosed – apoluo (“away
from” + “loose”) – to set free; to let go, dismiss, (to detain no longer); to
let go free, release
infirmity – astheneia –
want of strength, weakness, infirmity
The way Jesus describes this is as if the “infirmity” were something like a
wooden post or a rock, and the woman is tied up with a rope to the post. She is “bound” to this “infirmity” and Jesus
is declaring that she is not untied from it.
:13 And he laid his hands on her: and immediately she was made straight,
and glorified God.
he laid – epitithemi – to
put or lay upon
immediately – parachrema –
immediately, forthwith, instantly
she was made straight – anorthoo
(“again” + “straight”) – to set up, make erect; of a deformed person
glorified – doxazo – to
think, suppose, be of opinion; to praise, extol, magnify, celebrate; to honour,
do honour to, hold in honour; to make glorious, adorn with lustre, clothe with
splendour
Lesson
Who’s in the spotlight?
Jesus has performed a miracle in such a way that He brought glory and
attention to God the Father.
(Mat 5:16 KJV) Let your light so shine before men, that
they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.
We tend to do things in a way to bring attention to ourselves. After all, it’s rather a nice thing to have
someone tell you that you are wonderful.
But when you’re serving the Lord, hopefully God is the One doing the work.
You might say, “But Jesus is God, and so what would be
wrong if the attention had gone to Jesus?”
Nothing would be wrong. But
Jesus is setting a wonderful example of ministry for us. Even He didn’t draw attention to Himself, He
drew attention to the Father.
The Holy Spirit works in the same way.
(John 16:13-14 KJV) Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is
come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but
whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will show you things to
come. {14} He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall show it
unto you.
When the Holy Spirit is truly and completely working in a
person’s life, the attention will be going to Jesus, not the Holy Spirit and
not to the person.
I heard Pastor Chuck teaching on Leviticus 10 and he brought out a point
that I had never thought about:
(Lev 10:1-3 KJV) And Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, took
either of them his censer, and put fire therein, and put incense thereon, and
offered strange fire before the LORD, which he commanded them not. {2} And
there went out fire from the LORD, and devoured them, and they died before the
LORD. {3} Then Moses said unto Aaron, This is it that the LORD spake, saying, I
will be sanctified in them that come nigh me, and before all the people I will
be glorified. And Aaron held his peace.
I usually will talk about Nadab and Abihu and that the
“strange fire” was probably some kind of incense that the Lord had not
prescribed to them. I will also point
out that later on in the chapter (Lev. 10:9), God commands Aaron and his sons
not to be drinking when they are doing their priestly duties. The suggestion is that the sons might have
been drunk at the time.
But Pastor Chuck noted how Moses commented that God had
said,
“and
before all the people I will be glorified”
Perhaps part of what was happening was that Nadab and
Abihu thought they belonged in the spotlight.
Here is the first instance of the Israelite worship being done according
to the Law, God sends fire from heaven, and all eyes are being drawn to the
Lord.
And Nadab and Abihu jumped up to get into the spotlight.
Whenever God is doing a work, it seems that there are
always people around who want to mess things up.
I heard Pastor Chuck say that at times he is reluctant to
open up a meeting to the work of the Holy Spirit because he knows that once the
Holy Spirit begins to work, there will be some person who will want to jump
into the spotlight and grab all the attention and ruin the work that the Holy
Spirit is doing.
I think I understand.
When we get to the part of our service tonight where we
are waiting on the Lord, I want to encourage you to be sure you quiet yourself
down and can hear God’s whisper in your ear.
I think that sometimes we get this thought in our head about something
we ought to share or pray about, and we get so freaked out about speaking up in
front of others that we might not wait for God to show us if and when we are to
speak.
I wonder if God isn’t just looking for people to work through in such a way
that when the work gets done, God gets the credit, not the person.
The Bible says,
(2 Chr
16:9 KJV) For the eyes of the LORD run
to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show himself strong in the behalf of
them whose heart is perfect toward him. Herein thou hast done foolishly:
therefore from henceforth thou shalt have wars.
:14 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.
Here comes someone to ruin what God is doing.
ruler of the synagogue – archisunagogos
– ruler of the synagogue. It was his duty to select the readers or teachers
in the synagogue, to examine the discourses of the public speakers, and to see
that all things were done with decency and in accordance with ancestral usage.
indignation – aganakteo –
to be indignant, moved with indignation, be very displeased
had healed – therapeuo –
to serve, do service; to heal, cure, restore to health
the people – ochlos – a
crowd; a throng; a multitude
ought to – dei – it
is necessary, there is need of, it behooves, is right and proper
It is necessary, it is proper, it is right for men to work six days a
week. There is nothing wrong with this
statement. The idea of the “Sabbath”
was to make sure that people took a day to rest and seek the Lord.
to work – ergazomai – to
work, labour, do work; to trade, to make gains by trading, “do business”
:15 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?
hypocrite – hupokrites –
one who answers, an interpreter; an actor, stage player; a dissembler,
pretender, hypocrite
The word “hypocrite” comes from the
Greek theater. The ancient Greek actors would have masks showing happy faces or
sad faces that they would hold up while they spoke. They were “play acting”,
pretending to be somebody they weren’t.
This leader of the synagogue, along
with others, would play the part of a caring, kind individual when they took
care of the needs of their ox or their donkey, but in reality, their lack of
caring showed up by how they didn’t care for people.
loose – luo – to
loose any person (or thing) tied or fastened; to loose one bound, i.e. to
unbind, release from bonds, set free
Jesus purposely uses the same basic word that was used to describe what He
did for this woman, He “loosed” her.
ox – bous – an ox, a cow
ass – onos – an ass
stall – phatne – a crib, a
manger
to watering – potizo – to
give to drink, to furnish drink; to water, irrigate (plants, fields etc.)
Lesson
Care for the right things
Jesus is pointing out that the people seemed to be showing more concern for
their oxen and donkeys than they did for other people.
This leader of the synagogue cared more that things were done with his
approval, according to how he thought they ought to be done, than that God was
at work and people were being helped.
He was more concerned that the synagogue stay a “comfortable” place, than
that he be stretched and challenged, and God be at work.
God cares about people. Jesus cares about others.
Illustration
TANGLED HAIR
Beth was sitting at an airport terminal, waiting to board a plane. She was
sitting there with several other people who were also waiting, whom she did not
know. As she waited, she pulled out her Bible and started reading. All of a
sudden she felt as if the people sitting there around her, were looking at her.
She looked up, but realized that they were looking just over her head, in the
direction right behind her. She turned around to see what everyone was looking
at, and when she did, she saw a stewardess pushing a wheelchair, with the
ugliest old man sitting in it, that she had ever seen before. She said he had
this long white hair that was all tangled and such a mess. His face was really,
really wrinkled, and he didn’t look friendly at all. She said she didn’t know
why, but she felt drawn to the man, and thought at first that God wanted her to
witness to him. In her mind she said she was thinking, “Oh, God, please, not
now, not here.” No matter what she did, she couldn’t get the man off of her
mind, and all of a sudden she knew what God wanted her to do. She was supposed
to brush this old man’s hair. She went and knelt down in front of the old man,
and said “Sir may I have the honor of brushing your hair for you?” He said
“What?” She thought, “Oh great, he’s hard of hearing.” Again, a little louder,
she said, “Sir, may I have the honor of brushing your hair for you?” He
answered, “If you are going to talk to me, you are going to have to speak up, I
am practically deaf.” So this time, she was almost yelling, “Sir may I please
have the honor of brushing your hair for you?” Everyone was watching to see
what his response would be. The old man just looked at her confused, and said
“Well, I guess if you really want to.” She said, “I don’t even have a brush,
but I thought I would ask anyway.” He said, “Look in the bag hanging on the
back of my chair, there is a brush in there.” So she got the brush out and
started brushing his hair. (She has a little girl with long hair, so she has
had lots of practice getting tangles out, and knew how to be gentle with him.)
She worked for a long time, until every last tangle was out. Just as she was
finishing up, she heard the old man crying, and she went and put her hands on
his knees, kneeling in front of him again looking directly into his eyes, and
said “Sir, do you know Jesus?” He answered, “Yes, of course I know Jesus. You
see, my bride told me she couldn’t marry me unless I knew Jesus, so I learned
all about Jesus, and asked Him to come into my heart many years ago, before I
married my bride.” He continued, “You know, I am on my way home to go and see
my wife. I have been in the hospital for a long time, and had to have a special
surgery in this town far from my home. My wife couldn’t come with me, because
she is so frail herself.” He said, “I was so worried about how terrible my hair
looked, and I didn’t want her to see me looking so awful, but I couldn’t brush
my hair, all by myself.” Tears were rolling down his cheeks, as he thanked Beth
for brushing his hair. He thanked her over and over again. She was crying,
people all around witnessing this were crying, and as they were all boarding
the plane, the stewardess, who was also crying, stopped her, and asked, “Why
did you do that?” And right there was the opportunity, the door that had been
opened to share with someone else, the love of God. “We don’t always understand
God’s ways, but be ready, He may use us to meet the need of someone else, like
He met the need of this old man, and in that moment, also calling out to a lost
soul who needed to know about His love.”
:16 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?
hath bound – deo –
to bind tie, fasten; to bind, fasten with chains, to throw into chains; Satan
is said to bind a woman bent together by means of a demon, as his messenger,
taking possession of the woman and preventing her from standing upright
bond – desmon – a band or
bond
be loosed – luo –
to loose any person (or thing) tied or fastened; to loose one bound, i.e. to
unbind, release from bonds, set free
Jesus taught twice about binding and loosing –
(Mat 16:18-19 KJV) And I say also unto thee, That thou art
Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall
not prevail against it. {19} And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom
of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven:
and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.
(Mat 18:18 KJV) Verily I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall
bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth
shall be loosed in heaven.
If I understand this correctly in the light of this story with the crippled
woman, the people we minister to are to be “loosed” from their bondage, the
demons are to be “bound”.
:17 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.
were ashamed – kataischuno –
to dishonour, disgrace; to put to shame, make ashamed; to be ashamed, blush
with shame
adversaries – antikeimai –
to be set over against, opposite to; to oppose, be adverse to, withstand
rejoiced – chairo – to
rejoice, be glad; to rejoice exceedingly
glorious – endoxos – held
in good or in great esteem, of high repute; illustrious, honourable, esteemed;
notable, glorious; splendid
Lesson
Church ought to be a place for
healing
I’m afraid that sometimes I have made the church to be a place for
conviction and condemnation in my teaching.
But God’s desire is that church ought to be a place for healing and
forgiveness. It should be a place where
those who are bound are set free. It
should be a place where those who are under heavy burdens can be released.
:18-19 Mustard Tree
:18 Then said he, Unto what is the kingdom of God like? and whereunto shall
I resemble it?
:19 It is like a grain of mustard seed, which a man took, and cast into his
garden; and it grew, and waxed a great tree; and the fowls of the air lodged in
the branches of it.
I’ve heard Pastor Chuck say that when he was in seminary that one of his
professors told him to never attempt to teach the parables until you’ve been in
the ministry for twenty years.
There are two completely different ways of looking at these next two
parables.
The first way is to look at this in a positive light, that the
kingdom of God only needs a little seed to take root and grow until it becomes
huge. The idea is that all it takes is
a person opening up their heart to God’s Word, and before you know it, hundreds
of people will come to the Lord.
There’s truth to this, but I’m not sure that’s what Jesus is saying.
The second way is to look at this in a negative light.
This tends to follow more the principle that the symbols in Jesus’ parables
stay constant. Seeds always mean one
thing, birds always mean something, etc.
Seeds in Jesus’ parables are a picture of God’s Word. The sower threw seeds on the ground (Mat.
13) representing the spreading of God’s Word.
Birds seem to be negative, demonic in nature. Some of the birds (Mat. 13) ate the seeds, being a picture of
Satan destroying the work of God in people’s lives.
Also, though a mustard seed is little, and though a mustard seed grows into
a large bush, they don’t grow into a “great tree”. There is something bizarre, abnormal about this kind of growth.
Here’s how I see this parable –
In context, Jesus has just performed a wonderful miracle in healing this
woman. And as soon as He heals this
woman, His methods are attacked.
Something wonderful has happened, but in the middle of a wonderful
thing, something ugly occurs.
I think Jesus is responding to this ruler of the synagogue and saying
something like this,
In God’s kingdom, there is a kind of growth that can occur
where things can get larger than they might normally get. Churches can grow bigger than they might
normally get. And when things get big
like this, you will find problems lurking in the branches. There will be people who are not led by God
who will be involved. There will be
ugly things happening, even in the church.
:20-22 Leavened bread
:20 And again he said, Whereunto shall I liken the kingdom of God?
:21 It is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of
meal, till the whole was leavened.
:22 And he went through the cities and villages, teaching, and journeying
toward Jerusalem.
Again, there are two completely different ways that people will interpret
what Jesus is saying here.
First, some people look at this in a positive way.
Some people look at this as how the gospel is able to permeate a
community. One person gets saved and
then another and another.
Again, though this can happen, I’m not sure this is what Jesus is saying.
Second, there is a negative interpretation on this parable.
Leaven is ALWAYS a picture of sin or evil.
Paul warned the Corinthian church to take care of the sin that had become
to be accepted in the church. He warned
the Corinthians that they would all be affected by sin that was not dealt with.
(1 Cor 5:6 KJV) Your glorying is not good. Know ye not that
a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump?
The way leaven (or “yeast”) works is through decay and putrification. As the leaven mixes in with the bread dough,
it begins to break down the flour and produces chemical reactions that release
gases and the dough rises.
You only need to put a little pinch of yeast into a lump of dough and if
you let the lump sit long enough, the yeast will eventually permeate the entire
lump of dough.
Again, this parable is very similar to the preceding parable. The idea is that sometimes a little
wickedness can creep into the church.
And if you aren’t careful, it can eventually affect everyone.
This leader of the synagogue had a horrible attitude about Jesus healing
this woman. Attitudes like this can be
destructive in a church.
Lesson
Your attitude affects others
I don’t want to go overboard with this.
Sometimes we can try to find excuses and point fingers at other people,
“The reason why this particular program isn’t succeeding is because there’s sin
in the church”. That may or may not be
the case.
But my concern is mostly when we get to adopt the attitude that our own
personal views or sins don’t really affect things much one way or the other.
This is not really about “sin” as much as it is about attitude.
The ruler of the synagogue was stuck in a rut that led to the hindering of
the work of God in his synagogue.
He only wanted God to be at work in ways that fit his own conception of how
God should work.
Do you long for God to be at work in your life? Do you long for God to be at work in our church?