Faith Heals the Woman with the Spirit of Infirmity 

Jesus spoke at the Philadelphia synagogue by arrangement with Abner on a Sabbath day in late February 30 CE. Near the end of the service, Jesus noticed an elderly woman who was bent in form and looked terribly unhappy. He immediately understood that she was not really ill but was suffering from a “spirit of infirmity.” Because of some underlying emotional attitudes, she had lived a life of debilitating depression and fear for many years. Jesus came down from the speaker’s platform and touched her shoulder; he told her that she could be freed from this spirit of illness if she would only believe.

The woman believed what Jesus said, exercised her faith, and immediately stood straight, praising God. Everyone who knew her saw the transformation and was convinced that Jesus had healed her of spirit possession, which was thought to cause all manner of diseases.

Even though the congregants of this synagogue were friendly towards Jesus, its ruler was a very unfriendly Pharisee. He scolded Jesus for performing a healing on the Sabbath. But Jesus returned to the lectern and accused the Pharisee of hypocrisy, saying that this same ruler would think nothing of untying and leading an animal who needed to be watered on the Sabbath. He explained how much more important it was to free this long-suffering woman from her bondage and lead her to the water of life and liberty, even though it was the Sabbath.

The people rejoiced with the woman but were so unhappy with the Pharisee in charge and his negative attitude that they replaced him with a follower of Jesus.

Through an arrangement made by Abner, Jesus spoke in the synagogue in Philadelphia on a Sabbath day late in February 30 CE. That same day, he had healed the man with dropsy who had come to the Pharisee’s breakfast. Near the end of the service, an elderly woman in the audience caught his notice. She was bent over, distorting her form, and looked very unhappy. This woman suffered from the kind of depression that has its roots in fear; she had no joy in her life. Of course, Jesus could see all of this with a glance, and he took pity on her. He knew she was not truly diseased but that she had an attitude of suffering that had become second nature to her; she had become accustomed to believing that she was weak and sickly. He went to her and touched her on the shoulder, saying: “Woman, if you would only believe, you could be wholly loosed from your spirit of infirmity.”

Upon hearing these words spoken to her, the woman who had been imprisoned by fear and depression for nearly twenty years believed what Jesus said to her and, by her faith in him and his words, straightened up immediately. And when she did and felt herself standing straight again, she began praising God in a loud voice. People who knew this woman believed that she had a real physical disorder, and when they saw her standing tall, they naturally thought that Jesus had healed her. In their minds, this disorder of hers was thought to be the result of spirit possession or that it had a physical origin. But this woman was delivered from the mental and emotional bonds of fear and depression that had made her appear to be diseased.

Most people there that day were friendly towards Jesus, but the synagogue ruler was one of the unfriendly Pharisees. He also believed that Jesus had healed the woman of a physical disorder; he resented the fact that Jesus presumed to do such a thing at all, and he was very resentful that he did it on the Sabbath. He stood up and said: “Are there not six days in which men should do all their work? In these working days come, therefore, and be healed, but not on the Sabbath day.”

So, Jesus returned to the speakers’ box and answered the Pharisee by saying: “Why play the part of hypocrites? Does not every one of you, on the Sabbath, loose his ox from the stall and lead him forth for watering? If such a service is permissible on the Sabbath day, should not this woman, a daughter of Abraham who has been bound down by evil these eighteen years, be loosed from this bondage and led forth to partake of the waters of liberty and life, even on this Sabbath day?”

At this, the woman continued to glorify God, and the congregation was delighted at her happiness and rejoiced with her. But they were not happy with the Pharisee and his negative pronouncement. Because he was so critical of Jesus, they replaced him with one of Jesus’ followers.

Jesus often performed this kind of service to people who were not actually sick of body but distressed in mind and emotion. When exposed to Jesus and his strong and beneficent personality, many who suffered this way experienced a sudden transformation in their mind and spirit. This kind of healing looked like miracle-working, but it resulted from their expectant faith.