The woman with an infirmity for 18 years (Notes)

Saint Luke - Chapter 13

The woman with an infirmity for 18 years. J-J tissot

[10] Erat autem docens in synagoga eorum sabbatis.
And he was teaching in their synagogue on their sabbath.

And He was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath. The Sabbath was a festival on which the Jews came to the synagogue to hear the Law and its interpretation, as Christians on the Lord’s day come together to hear mass and the sermon. Christ chose this time and place for the following miracle, that it might be public, and that He might confute and instruct the Pharisees, when speaking against it on account of the Sabbath.

[11] Et ecce mulier, quae habebat spiritum infirmitatis annis decem et octo : et erat inclinata, nec omnino poterat sursum respicere.
And behold there was a woman, who had a spirit of infirmity eighteen years: and she was bowed together, neither could she look upwards at all.

And behold there was a woman. “The spirit of infirmity, that is, an infirmity sent by the evil one,” says de Lyra. Euthymius, “The devil of weakness not suffering her to live.” The Arabic reads, “With whom was a spirit of infirmity for eighteen years, and she was bowed together and was not able to stand up by any means.” This infirmity was a curving and bending of the whole body, so that the woman was compelled always to walk bent and stooping. Observe that diseases are often sent by the devils, through the permission of God, for sins or other reasons. Ver. 16 shows the cause of this infirmity, “This daughter of Abraham, whom Satan hath bound.” Thus the devil afflicted Job with various diseases, chap. 2. The same is seen in Ps. 78:49, and Matt. 9:23. The devil, therefore, made this woman crooked and bent, to compel her always to look down upon the earth.

Eighteen years. It was, therefore, an inveterate and incurable disease, and as such could not be healed by the physicians.

And was bowed together. Looking towards the ground, (cernua) crooked, with her head and back bent downwards—nay, she was less able even than a beast to look up at the sun and heavens, but must always look down at the rocks and the earth. For at the creation (Gen. 1.)

Os homini sublime dedit, cœlumque tueri

              “God gave to man a lofty countenance, And to regard the heavens commanded him. 

Jussit, et erectos ad sidera tollere vultus,—

              Bade him to lift his form erect, and gaze Upon the starry host,”— 

that he might look up at the sun and the heavens, and, by a heavenly life, journey towards God on high, and be received into heaven and there enjoy the blessedness of the divine vision; for, as S. Basil says in the Catena, “We should seek heavenly things, and rise above those of earth.” The devil, then, to turn men from heaven, makes them look downwards, so that they see, love, and pursue only earthly things.

[12] Quam cum videret Jesus, vocavit eam ad se, et ait illi : Mulier, dimissa es ab infirmitate tua.
Whom when Jesus saw, he called her unto him, and said to her: Woman, thou art delivered from thy infirmity.

And when Jesus saw her (the Arabic has “Jesus looked upon her;” with the eyes, that is, of both body and mind; with the eyes of grace, pity, and mercy), He called her to Him, and said to her, Woman, thou art loosed, &c. “Loosed,” that is, thou shalt be dismissed; thou art healed; healed by Me, through the laying on of My hands, as followed. For Christ seems to have done two things at the same time: to have laid His hands upon her, and so healed her, and to have said, Thou art loosed. He said, “Thou art loosed,” and not “I loose thee,” to sharpen the woman’s faith. For Christ often ascribes healing and salvation to His touch, to show the virtue of His word and contact, for in the same moment in which He touched this woman, He healed her. “There was a divine virtue,” says S. Cyril in the Catena, “in the flesh of Christ, by which in an instant He worked great and wonderful miracles. As when He said ‘This is My Body,’ He transmuted the bread into His Body, as He transubstantiates it daily in the Mass. For, to have said, This is My body, is to have made it so; as in the words, ‘He spake and it was done.’ ” Hence, Titus, “By a word, assuredly most divine, and by a most perfect heavenly power, He removed the infirmity of this woman.” Lastly, the words “Thou art loosed,” that is, thou art freed, shows that the woman had been bound by Satan, constrained, kept down, as by a chain, so that her head appeared fixed to her knees and thighs. This bond Christ loosed, and thus made her erect. For Christ came to destroy the works of the devil.

[13] Et imposuit illi manus, et confestim erecta est, et glorificabat Deum.
And he laid his hands upon her, and immediately she was made straight, and glorified God.

And He laid His hands on her. The hands signify the power of Christ, His authority, rule over diseases and devils; and equally His loving-kindness and beneficence, by which He conferred the benefit of healing upon the woman, through the beneficence of His touch.

[14] Respondens autem archisynagogus, indignans quia sabbato curasset Jesus, dicebat turbae : Sex dies sunt in quibus oportet operari : in his ergo venite, et curamini, et non in die sabbati.
And the ruler of the synagogue (being angry that Jesus had healed on the sabbath) answering, said to the multitude: Six days there are wherein you ought to work. In them therefore come, and be healed; and not on the sabbath day.

And the ruler of the synagogue answered with indignation. With indignation, because he envied Jesus the glory of a miracle by which He had shown Himself, before the whole synagogue and people, to be greater than the ruler. This man made religion and zeal for the observation of the Sabbath the cloak of his feeling. He is therefore called a hypocrite by Christ. So S. Cyril in the Catena. “When the ruler of this ungrateful synagogue saw the woman made suddenly erect by a mere touch, and celebrating the great acts of God, he sullied his zeal for the glory of the Lord with envy, and censured the miracle as if he would show himself solicitous for the Sabbath.” Observe the word “ungrateful.” He ought to have been grateful to Christ and to have given Him thanks for having honoured himself and the synagogue, and distinguished it by this miracle. But envy had so blinded him, that he thought the glory of Christ his own dishonour and disgrace, for he was unable to perform such and so great acts, himself. So Saul ought to have given thanks to David for slaying Goliath, the dread of himself and of all Israel. But envy made him so perverse that he thought the glory of David his own ignominy, imagining that David was preferred to himself, and that he himself, though the king, was placed below him. This is the living image of envy—the mask of religion—veiled and cloaked.

[15] Respondens autem ad illum Dominus, dixit : Hypocritae, unusquisque vestrum sabbato non solvit bovem suum, aut asinum a praesepio, et ducit adaquare?
And the Lord answering him, said: Ye hypocrites, doth not every one of you, on the sabbath day, loose his ox or his ass from the manger, and lead them to water?

The Lord then answered him, and said, Thou hypocrite. Hypocrites who feign sanctity abroad, when within they are full of envy and malice. S. Chrysostom in the Catena: “Christ rightly called him a hypocrite, because he had the face of one who observed the law carefully, but the mind of cunning and envy. He was not disturbed for the Sabbath and its violation, but because of Christ, because He obtained glory.” I have treated the subject at length, Ecclus. 1:29, on the words ne fueris, and 2:14, Væ duplici.

[16] Hanc autem filiam Abrahae, quam alligavit Satanas, ecce decem et octo annis, non oportuit solvi a vinculo isto die sabbati?
And ought not this daughter of Abraham, whom Satan hath bound, lo, these eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the sabbath day?

This daughter of Abraham. The argument of Christ is most applicable and forcible, showing that the healing was not a servile act, but one liberal and divine, and therefore, not only not unworthy, but rather most worthy, of the Sabbath—for the Sabbath, nay, even God Himself, the author of it, was wonderfully sanctified and made glorious, as S. Irenæus shows when he says that, “Christ, in healing the sick on the Sabbath day, acted not contrarily but according to the law.” Christ then compares, opposes, and prefers the bond and release of the woman to the bond and release of the ox and ass.

Again, every word contains a pregnant antithesis. In the first Christ compares, and prefers the woman, as a daughter of Abraham, to the ox or ass. 2. He compares and prefers the spiritual bond and deliverance of the woman to those of the ox and ass. 3. The woman had suffered this bondage for eighteen years. The ox had borne its tether, and therefore its thirst, only an hour or two. 4. The setting of the ox free was a long and troublesome work, but the healing of the woman was the act of a moment, in which the obligation of the Sabbath could in no way be violated. 5. By this release the woman was restored to perfect health and sanctity, but the ox only drank a little draught of water. Lastly, He convicts the ruler and the Pharisees of inhumanity, because, in the words of Bede, “he postponed the healing of a human being to care of cattle.”

[17] Et cum haec diceret, erubescant omnes adversarii ejus : et omnis populus gaudebat in universis, quae gloriosae fiebant ab eo.
And when he said these things, all his adversaries were ashamed: and all the people rejoiced for all the things that were gloriously done by him.

The glorious things that were done by Him. The Syraic—In all the miracles which were done by His hand.

Totus tuus ego sum 

Et omnia mea tua sunt;

Tecum semper tutus sum:
Ad Jesum per Mariam