TEXT: "_And, behold, there was a woman which had a spirit of infirmity
eighteen years, and was bowed together, and could in no wise lift
herself up. 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._"--Luke 13:11-13.
These verses present to us one of the most interesting stories
imaginable--of interest to us first because it is one of our Lord's
miracles, and one has only to study these manifestations of his power
to be persuaded of his divinity; interesting, again, because it is the
account of a remarkable recovery from a great infirmity, for instead of
bondage which had held this woman for eighteen years we behold her
standing upright glorifying God. But it is all the more interesting to
us because it presents a picture of what may be called the overflow
ministry of Jesus, of which there are many instances--as, for example,
the account of the staunching of the issue of blood when the woman
touched the hem of his garment. He was going upon another errand, but
was so filled with virtue that when one of the multitude at his side
touched him, by faith healing was the result. And, again, we have an
illustration in the raising of Jairus' daughter, and once again in the
rescue of the widow's son from death. He was on his journey across the
country and beheld the funeral procession coming. Mr. Moody used to
say that Jesus broke up every funeral he attended, and he stops long
enough in this journey to restore this boy to his broken-hearted
mother. Again, in the case of the woman of Samaria, when he is going
about his Father's business, he stops by the wellside to rest, and even
in his resting moments forgives a woman's sins, so that under her
influence an entire city is moved. Would that we could learn that it
is the overflow of our lives that gives power to our Christian
experience! This text is one of the best illustrations of this truth
in the life of our Savior.
I
Many lessons might be drawn from this scripture, the first of which
would be his power to uplift womanhood; but this is so well understood
that it is unnecessary to take a moment of time to discuss it, except
to say in passing that all that woman is today she owes to Jesus of
Nazareth. She was as truly bound as this afflicted woman, and just as
truly was she set free. But I prefer rather to let the woman of
Samaria illustrate many Christians to-day who are bound in one way or
another and so are shorn of power. For this suggestion I am indebted
to my dear friend, the Rev. F. B. Meyer, a brief outline of whose
sermon I recently had the privilege of reading.
She was a daughter of Abraham, as we read in verse 16, "And ought not
this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan had bound, lo,
these eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath day?"
And therefore she was like many children of God whom we know. What it
is that binds them we cannot always tell. With this person it is
fashion, and with that it is earnings; with another it is pride, and
still another selfishness; with this one it is the encouragement of
some passion, and with still another it is the practice of some secret
sin. It is not necessary to describe the bondage; it is true, alas,
that many of us are sadly crippled in our influence because of these
things, for this woman was just as truly bound as if she had been in
chains. When Jesus entered the synagogue his eye saw her instantly,
and he detected her difficulty. He is in the midst of us to-day, and
while we are unconscious of the bondage of the one who is beside us, he
understands it perfectly. That minister who has lost his old power and
is therefore an enigma to his people, that church officer who is out of
communion and whose testimony has lost its old ring of genuineness,
that young woman bordering on despair because in her heart she knows
she is not right with God, and that young man whose character is being
undermined by the cultivation of a secret sin--all these are known to
him. He looks them through and through, and not a point of weakness is
hidden from his gaze.
Note again, that she was powerless to help herself. I doubt not that
she had tried again and again to lift herself up. She had been unable
to turn her eyes upward to see the stars, her vision had been centered
upon things below, and in this way she is like many a Christian
attempting to be satisfied with earthly things and making life a
miserable failure. The Scriptures declare that she "could in no wise
lift up herself," and I have been told that this expression is the same
word which is used in another place in the Epistle to the Hebrews,
where Jesus is said to be able to save to the uttermost; so that really
the Scriptures mean that she tried to the uttermost to lift herself up
and failed, and that she had gone to the uttermost in the matter of
bondage, and then because Jesus is able to save to the uttermost he set
her free; or, in other words, her need was met by his power. Oh, what
an encouragement to know that the thing which has been your defeat and
mine he may easily conquer! It is a striking picture to me; he laid
his hands on her and said, "Woman, thou art loosed," and she stood
straight and glorified God.
Some years ago there came into the McAuley mission, in New York City, a
man who was, because of his sin, unable to speak and was bound down
until, instead of standing a man six feet high, as he should have done,
he was like a dwarf. He came to Christ in the old mission, and when
kneeling at the altar he accepted him, as if by a miracle Jesus set him
free also, and when he stood up the bonds were snapped that held him,
and he had his old stature back again. His speech, however, was not
entirely recovered. It is the custom in the mission for one to observe
his anniversary each year and to give a testimony. Whenever the
anniversary of this man occurred he always had another read his lesson,
then he would stand before the people bowed down as he had been in sin
and suddenly rise before them in the full dignity of his Christian
manhood, glorifying God in his standing. This was like the woman of
the text, and oh, that it might be like some one reading this who,
bound by an appetite or a passion, shall be set free by the power of
God!
The difference between this woman in the one case bound and wretched
and in the other straight and glorifying God is the difference between
Christians bound by appetite, pride or sin and when set free by the
power of Christ. It is the difference between the average Christian
experience and what God means we should be.
Two things this woman had--first, his word, when he said, "Woman, thou
art loosed"; and, second, the touch of his hand as he laid his hands
upon her. Both of these privileges we may have.