Basic Questions

1. Identify as completely as possible the person in need (e.g., age, ethnic origin, religion, gender, social status).
   Woman in a synagogue was crippled by a spirit and could not straighten up.

2. What was the immediate, obvious need?
   Woman was crippled and could not straighten up.

3. Who took the initiative in effecting the healing?
   The person in need? Others? Jesus?
   How was it expressed?
   Jesus called the woman forward, told her she was set free, and put His hands on her. The woman never asks to be healed.

4. Describe the actions or process leading to the healing; that is, what was said (e.g., questions, requests, commands) and what was done (e.g., approaching, following, touching, publicly/privately), and by whom?
   Jesus called the woman forward, told her she was set free, and put His hands on her. Immediately she straightened up and praised God.

5. Did the person in need or someone else verbally express faith? Non-verbally? Describe how and by whom faith was in involved in this healing.
   Faith was not expressed.

6. What were the evidences that the person was healed?
   The woman straightened up and praised God.

7. What were the reactions to the healing?
   The woman praised God.
   The synagogue ruler was indignant because Jesus healed on the Sabbath.
   Others were delighted.

8. What in this narrative led Jesus to minister healing to the person in need?
   Compassion, and challenge of leader's authority.

Digging Deeper

This account seems to address some important questions about healing: the time and place for healing, and the matter in which it is done.

1. Where did this healing take place?
   In a synagogue.

   When Jesus saw her, he called her forward. What does this mean, from what you might know about synagogues? Would this also have caused some indignancy, in addition to the question about healing on the Sabbath?
   This interrupted the normal "flow" of things. This interruption would have upset some people - especially those in charge.

   Are there right and wrong places, or better places for healing to take place? Is for example, Lourdes a special place, if so why?
   This story shows that there is no right or wrong place or time. Jesus healed on the Sabbath because God does not rest from showing his mercy and love, ever.

2. In the eyes of the synagogue ruler, healing was work, so healing on the Sabbath was breaking the Law. How does that apply to the emergency room on Sunday?
   Emergencies are different, they cannot be planned.

   Would you schedule elective surgery for Sunday? Is there a right or wrong time, or a better time for healing?
   Elective surgery would probably be planned for a different day. This story shows that Jesus healed on the Sabbath even when no emergency existed. The woman was like this for 18 years - she could have waited one more day. Again, it shows that God does not rest from showing his mercy & love. (v15) shows the healing ministry should be part of daily care.

   Other than confronting the Jewish establishment, do you think there is a reason why so many of Jesus' healings took place on the Sabbath?
   What better day to show God's love and mercy, and share the kingdom of God?

3. When Luke says, "crippled by a spirit" and "whom Satan has kept bound" he implies there is an evil spirit of infirmity from which the woman needs to be set free. How am I to understand that? What is the connection, if any, between evil and sickness or deformity?
   In this case the woman's physical illness was due to a demon. This does not mean that every crippled person has a demon. It does show that sometimes Satan can cause physical illness.

   In his commentary, Matthew Henry talks about the "bent of the soul" in addition to the bent body. What is he driving at?
   Satan can "bind" the soul as well as the body.

4. What lesson(s) have you learned about healing from this account?
   The woman never asks to be healed. Jesus calls her.

   Jesus healed on the Sabbath because God does not rest from showing his mercy and love, ever.

   The healing ministry is part of daily care.

   There is no right or wrong place or time to pray for healing.