Luke 13:11-13–A Sabbath Day Healing 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. Each miracle of Christ has features peculiar to it and is designed to impart particular spiritual lessons to us today. What can we learn relating to the salvation of our souls from this wonderful work of healing of our blessed Lord? Notice first the place where the healing occurred. On the Sabbath Day Christ was teaching “in one of the synagogues” (v.10). On God’s holy day this is the place where we ought to be. Jesus, who is Himself the Lord of the Sabbath (Mark 2:28) has set us a perfect example. After His temptation by Satan He came to Nazareth. There he attended the synagogue on the Sabbath “as his custom was” (Luke 4:16). Do we meet those who say, “I don’t have to go to church to be a Christian”? The example of Christ should silence them. Our love for the Lord’s Day is a good measure of our love for the Lord Himself. A day of worship and fellowship with other believers is a foretaste of heaven. And Jesus still ‘teaches in the synagogue’ today, for we may hear His voice in the preaching of the gospel and His Word and Spirit will make us wise unto salvation. We then see the person who was healed. Surely, if any had an excuse not to go to public worship then this woman had! For eighteen long years her spine had been badly deformed. Her condition was painful, unsightly and embarrassing. There seemed to be no cure. Yet she was present in the house of God. Did she know that Jesus would be there? Did she desire to meet Him? When we go to worship it should be in the spirit of those Gentiles who cried to Philip at the Passover, “Sir, we would see Jesus” (John 12:21). The woman was “a daughter of Abraham” (v.16). That is a title for a believer. Jesus spoke of Zacchaeus as “a son of Abraham” after his conversion (Luke 19:9). “They which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham” (Gal.3:7). How was it then that she was “bound” by Satan? Perhaps she had not long been converted. We do know from Scripture that it was Satan who brought sin and misery into this world. We know too that for His own wise reasons God may permit the devil to exercise his malign influence even with regard to believers. Job is a great example – a most godly man yet the object of the devil’s attacks. We are not to expect perfect health in this imperfect world. Finally we learn of the power which accomplished the healing. Unusually, there was no spoken request from the woman that the Lord might help her. Yet the Lord knew the unspoken yearning of her heart. The healing was immediate and awesome: the woman suddenly stood up straight, with no trace of her former affliction remaining. Who would not trust himself to this mighty Saviour? This is a picture of sin, its effects and cure. Like this poor woman, our lives are crooked through sin and our sight is set only on the things of this world. Even when we hear the gospel our wills are so perverse that we cannot and will not look up to God. But grace is able to renew us and release us. It will enable us to look to Jesus and to have heaven in our sight. Turn to Christ and ask forgiveness for your sin. May the Lord do for our souls what He did for this woman, to the glory of His name.