NOTES for Luk 13:10-17

When healing a woman who had suffered from a serious affliction for eighteen years, Christ pays no attention to the day on which He does it. He acts too quickly to have time to think about it. Elsewhere in the Gospel, Jesus does not always heal the sick at once, but speaks with them, finds things out, and asks questions; in this story, however, He can be said to act without deliberation. Seeing the bent-over woman, He hastens to her and sets her on her feet, thereby provoking the Pharisees' displeasure. Their displeasure inadvertently makes us wonder whether these teachers of the faith were blind. Had they looked not at the law but at the actual person, such grievous suffering would hardly have left them in doubt about the need for immediate healing. Their reaction speaks for itself. When the Pharisees encounter a miracle of God, they begin checking whether it conforms to the canons; the woman, meanwhile, begins to glorify God.