Luke 13:10

Luke 13:10, in plain English

One Sabbath, Jesus was teaching in a local synagogue. It sounds routine, but what's about to happen will be anything but ordinary.

Why it's here

Jesus often taught in synagogues -- it was part of His regular rhythm. But this particular Sabbath will produce a dramatic healing and an equally dramatic confrontation.

Who's speaking

Luke sets the scene simply and briefly for one of the most moving healing stories in the Gospels.

Where it sits in the story

A normal Sabbath in a normal synagogue is about to become unforgettable. Jesus is about to see someone who's been suffering for eighteen years, and He won't look away.

The scholarly reading

Luke notes Jesus teaching in a synagogue on the Sabbath (en mia tōn synagōgōn en tois sabbasin). This setting establishes the context for a Sabbath healing controversy that follows.

Language and setting

Jesus regularly taught in synagogues, demonstrating His engagement with established religious institutions. The Sabbath setting is crucial because the subsequent healing will provoke a debate about Sabbath observance and compassion.

Voice

Luke provides the narrative transition to a new episode in Jesus' ministry.

Significance

A simple scene-setting verse that establishes everything needed for the confrontation that follows: a synagogue, a Sabbath, and Jesus teaching. All the ingredients for a clash between mercy and law.

8‘Sir,’ the man replied, ‘leave it alone again this year, until I dig around it and fertilize it.

9If it bears fruit next year, fine. But if not, you can cut it down.’”

10One Sabbath Jesus was teaching in one of the synagogues,

11and a woman there had been disabled by a spirit for eighteen years. She was hunched over and could not stand up straight.

12When Jesus saw her, He called her over and said, “Woman, you are set free from your disability.”

Read all of Luke 13 — A bent-over woman is healed on the Sabbath, a mustard seed grows into a tree, and Jesus weeps over Jerusalem's refusal to come home.