Jesus does wonderful things—He heals the sick, forgives the sinner, frees the captive, and fiercely loves!

Transcript

August 17-18, 2019

Pastor Joe Wittwer

Summer Bible Series

What I love about Jesus!

Luke 13:10-17 (p. 896)

Opening:

Today, we are going to read a really cool story about Jesus breaking the rules to heal a crippled lady. Jesus valued people over protocol. I love that about Jesus! In fact, there’s a lot in this story that I love about Jesus. That’s what we’re going to talk about. And, we’re going to kick off Love Week! Let’s start by standing and singing; we’re going to use some songs to tell Jesus we love Him!

 

Introduction and offering:

ILL: Eileen wanted nothing to do with God. In fact, when her daughter told her that someone at school had been talking to her about God, Eileen was so upset that she couldn’t sleep that night.

At midnight she went downstairs and picked up a Bible. She couldn’t remember the last time she had been to a church, nor had she ever opened a Bible on her own. When she opened it now, she noticed it was divided into an “old” part and a “new” part. She decided to start with the “new” part, figuring the book may have been updated.

So in the still of the night she sat on her living room floor and began to read the gospel of Matthew. By 3 a.m. she was in the middle of John’s gospel and found, as she puts it, that she had fallen in love with the person of Jesus. “I don’t know what I’m doing,” she prayed to God, “but I know you are what I want.”

Jesus has that effect on people. He’s amazing. Today we are continuing our Summer Bible Series in the gospel of Luke with a story about Jesus that just makes me love Him more. Here it is:

Luke 13:10–17 (p. 896)

10 On a Sabbath Jesus was teaching in one of the synagogues, 11 and a woman was there who had been crippled by a spirit for eighteen years. She was bent over and could not straighten up at all. 12 When Jesus saw her, he called her forward and said to her, “Woman, you are set free from your infirmity.” 13 Then he put his hands on her, and immediately she straightened up and praised God.

14 Indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, the synagogue leader said to the people, “There are six days for work. So come and be healed on those days, not on the Sabbath.”

15 The Lord answered him, “You hypocrites! Doesn’t each of you on the Sabbath untie your ox or donkey from the stall and lead it out to give it water? 16 Then should not this woman, a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has kept bound for eighteen long years, be set free on the Sabbath day from what bound her?”

17 When he said this, all his opponents were humiliated, but the people were delighted with all the wonderful things he was doing.

Here are five things from this story that I love about Jesus.

Offering:

Jesus’ habit of weekly worship.

The story opens on a Sabbath with Jesus teaching in a synagogue. It’s easy to read right over this because it’s so ordinary: Jesus was always in a synagogue on the Sabbath. It’s where you’d find Him every Sabbath.

Luke 4:16 He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom.

Different translations render this, “on the Sabbath day, he went into the synagogue as usual, or as he always did, or as was his custom or habit.” What did Jesus do on the Sabbath? He went to worship at the synagogue. Why did He do this?

First, Jesus was an observant Jew, one who followed God’s Law. Of course, the Sabbath was #4 of the Ten Commandments. Every 7th day on the Sabbath, God’s people were to stop working, rest, remember and worship God. Jesus honored God by obeying His law—including the Sabbath.

But what was the purpose of the Sabbath law? On another occasion Jesus was being accused of violating the Sabbath because he allowed His hungry disciples to pluck some heads of grain. Jesus answered his accusers:

Mark 2:27 “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.”

The Sabbath was made for