A Personal Encounter With Jesus Vs. Religion Without Him

This was the sermon from today.  I'm going to quickly go through what my Pastor said, but I also saw a lot of different connections that he didn't have time to make or take a look at.


The text comes from Luke 13:10-17: 10 Now vhe was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath. 11 And behold, there was a woman who had hadwa disabling spirit for eighteen years. She was bent over and could not fully straighten herself. 12 When Jesus saw her, he called her over and said to her, “Woman, you are freed from your disability.” 13 And he xlaid his hands on her, and immediately she was made straight, and she yglorified God. 14 But zthe ruler of the synagogue, indignant because Jesus ahad healed on the Sabbath, said to the people, b“There are six days in which work ought to be done. Come on those days and be healed, and not on the Sabbath day.” 15 Then the Lord answered him, “You hypocrites! cDoes not each of you on the Sabbath untie his ox or his donkey from the manger and lead it away to water it? 16 And ought not this woman, da daughter of Abraham whom eSatan bound for eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath day?” 17 As he said these things, fall his adversaries were put to shame, and gall the people rejoiced at all the glorious things that were done by him.

Basically, I'm going to quickly go through the points, and then go through them again with the connections that I saw.

I.  Crippled By Satan

Found in verses 10-11.  Re-read those.  You'll notice how the woman's faith may be indicated by her presence there.  She was 'crippled' for 18 years.  She probably went to the synagogue regularly, despite the fact that people probably were horrified by her.  She wanted to be straight again, so she never missed the opportunity to be healed.  It just so happens that Jesus was there, so He did it for her.  You'll also notice that Jesus knows that there was a disabling spirit tormenting her and keeping her body from being straightened.

II.  The Compassion of Jesus

Found in verse 12, you'll see that Jesus was full of compassion.  He was always full of compassion for those who were hurt.  If you feel hurt, He has compassion for you.  And nothing will beat His compassion for you.  Nothing.

For another point, if we really become and grow to be more like our Savior, we will see people through His eyes of compassion.

III.  Criticism by Leaders.

In verse 14, we see a shocking contrast between Jesus and this ruler of the synagogue.  Where Jesus was filled with compassion, the leader of the synagogue was attached to his rules.  Thus, he valued rules and really didn't care about relationships.  Religion without Jesus is always more concerned with rules than with people.  And we see that again and again, Jesus put His adversaries to shame for the Glory of God.


Now I'll work back through the text again, this time really with what I see.




In my Pastor's sermon, I found the first point to really stand out.  The point, but actually the name of the point, because it got me going on a slightly different track.  This whole situation that Jesus deals with shows all sorts of things.  It even pictures what Jesus was going to do.


This girl of 18 years has certainly been through a lot.  She was despised by a lot of people for coming to the synagogues the way she was.  I really feel like Jesus is saying something more through this instance.  I see the fact that she's full of faith.  However, she's still human.  She's bound to Satan's power.  Although she desires to be straight and perfect by Jesus' side, she can't be.  Jesus calls out to her, and grabs her.  When He died on the cross, He reached out to our position and unbound the chains that the devil had so neatly wrapped around us.  It was too complicated for us to get through, but Jesus could see clearly and unwound it with His blood.


Then as my pastor moved on to the second point, I was reminded...of my past.  Of who I was.  Of how insane I was.  But Jesus was compassionate, picked me up and told me, "My child, release your hold of judgment on yourself...I have already paid the full price.  Learn by my example, and I will help you with all of my ways.".  Jesus is really compassionate.  Every other religion without Jesus...it's just a bunch of rules that leave you feeling hopeless, because you can't really 'attain' the high levels of what you should do and be.  Because of the rescue from my insanity, Jesus has lead me to feel that I can be of help to those people who have been in my same circumstance.  So this is how I know that I am becoming more like my Savior:  I can feel His compassion for people.  Granted, I show compassion only for the group that I feel compassionate about, but that's because I really want to love them the way that Jesus did for me.  I feel compassionate.  Not perfectly compassionate as my Savior was, but compassionate nevertheless.


The reaction of the leader was interesting.  Read again what he said.  Then, read Jesus' response.  Oh, how I wish I had Jesus' way with words!  He was really making SEVERAL different comparisons when he spoke of the donkey.


The first was that the leaders treated their animals better then human beings.  My pastor did make that connection.  I'm sure he knew this, but he didn't communicate the other things that I saw.  There was real importance in what Jesus was saying.  Think of it this way:  They untied the donkeys and led them to water so that they could drink.  My friends, if the donkeys were not untied to be able to get water, wouldn't they die?  Now you understand Jesus' reasoning and outcry in his reaction.  It wasn't literally this way, but you could say that the girl was the donkey in need of water...and she had to be moved in order to receive it.


It was that important.  The girl needed to be rescued, and she was.  She was healed.  In the same way, we may be bound in to something by Satan's doings.  We're bound in human flesh.  Jesus removed our chains by taking the wrath that was deserved for us.  We are crippled by the Devil's acts.  The Devil takes great pride in keeping us bound, by confusing us with lies.  Despite Satan's thinking of his chains, Jesus is stronger.  He's great enough to remove the chains.  And He humiliates the Devil by doing so.


When He beckoned the girl to come to Him, He beckons US.  He cries out to us, "Come to me!  I'll be glad to remove your chains!  I love you more then your sinful ways, so I'll change them."  And He does.  He gives us His word, He gives us His Holy Spirit to help guide us in the right place.  Everything He throws at us, there is a reason for.  God will use it down the road for His Glory.  I can tell you that right now through personal experience.


I love how Luke keeps building this up.  The leader of the synagogue...He was absolutely ridiculous.  His thoughts were wrong by God's Word, and illogical in every right.  Man's Pride in his rules and 'ability to abide by them' really makes him lose sight of the picture.  He seems not to care that this girl is hurting!  She's bent and tired of the years spent that way.  He doesn't even think, "Hey, that's cool for that girl to be...suddenly straight".  When we get truly involved with rules that make us lose compassion for people, we are HORRIDLY in the wrong.


The crowd was rejoicing, however.  They got it.  A girl was just healed from a serious problem.  The leaders didn't.  Jesus humiliated them.  He continues to humiliate His adversaries today through helping His church reach out and help the broken-hearted.  It happens the same way:  Every time a lost person is found and saved, rejoicing echoes around the Heavenly Host.  Sure, it ticks off the Devil to the point that he does everything damaging as possible, but it doesn't matter.  Our Savior is victorious, and will always be.