25/08/2026
Sunday Sermon
Title: Be Unbowed
Text: Luke 13:10-17
Minister: Paul Gatero, Rev.
Introduction
Jesus was teaching in one of the synagogues when He spotted this woman who had an 18-year-old condition that bent her back. She did not seem bothered by her condition but Jesus could tell it was an issue.
Luke says that when Jesus saw her, He called her to Him and said to her, “Woman you are loosed from your infirmity.” Jesus then laid His hands on her and she was immediately made straight and glorified God.
In response to the indignation expressed by the ruler of the synagogue following the healing of the woman on the Sabbath, Jesus confirms that the woman had been bound by a demon.
“So ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has bound – think of it – for eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath?”
Quite obviously, this woman had a chronic medical problem, caused by a demon. She had lived with it for so long till she became numb, to a point of owning the problem. It took Jesus to come to her rescue, through a miracle.
Barren fig tree
As we ponder the kind of life exemplified by this woman, I want us to look closely at her and examine her infirmity and, in particular, in the light of the parable of the barren fig tree told by Jesus in Luke 13:6-9.
The story of the woman with a bowed back is joined to the story of the fig tree by a conjunction. Luke starts the woman’s narrative with the word ‘now.’ This may mean that the story of the woman is the vivid mirror of the parable.
In this parable, Jesus talks about a rich man who own a vineyard. This man, entrusts the care of the vineyard to a keeper. The keeper faithfully tends to the vineyard as is expected of him.
But there is a particular fig tree the owner takes keen interest in. This fig tree grows to maturity, attaining fruiting age. The owner comes and around the first year of its maturity expecting fruits but finds that it has not borne fruit.
This scenario replicates in the second year and third year much to the disgust of the owner of the vineyard. Fed up with the fig tree’s unfruitfulness, the rich man orders the vineyard keeper to cut it down.
The vineyard keeper pleads with the rich man to give it one more year to test if its prospects will change. He offers to provide it with a more intensive care and add manure for the additional one year.
If the tree does not produce fruits after the intensive care, the keeper says that the owner may then cut it down.
This narrative is expounded in the story of the woman with the bowed back. Her bowed back mirrors the unfruitfulness symbolized by the fig tree. It has a pedigree owner, a dedicated husbandman and is within perfect season.
But all these conditions have been rendered of no effect to the fig tree. It cannot bear fruit. The owner wishes to get rid of it. The keeper however feels that with one more chance, the tree may bear fruit.
The rich owner is God the Father and the keeper is Jesus Christ. The father is unhappy that the fig tree is fruitless. Jesus stands in the gap and offers to ‘dig around the tree and give it manure to awaken its fruitfulness.
In that effort, Jesus comes to the synagogue. As He ministers, He spots the woman with the bowed back. Full of compassion, the Lord calls out the woman from the congregation and restores her perfect posture.
Spirit of Infirmity
Apostle Luke says this woman had a spirit of infirmity and was bent over. In other words the apostle is telling us that the woman had been bowed by the evil spirit. She presented with a physical condition whose causative agent was a spirit.
Luke, himself a trained medical doctor, uses the Greek word Astheneias for infirmity. This word, Astheneias, is a derivative of the Greek word Ostheneia which means weakness, indicating the inability to produce results.
According to the Revised International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, Luke’s use of this terminology indicates a case of spondylitis deformans, an arthritic condition in which union (Ankylosis) of disks and vertebrae produces an abnormal curvature of the spine (Kyphosis).
Medical research ranks arthritis as one of the major psychosomatic disorders. These are medical disorders that develop when mental stress and distress cause or make a physical condition – and its symptoms – worse.
Note, an infirmity is not just a disease. It is a condition that persists in an individual for a long time. In the case of the bowed woman she had lived with the condition for 18 years.
Infirmity is persistent. It disables. An infirmity is not easy to keep under wraps. The devil likes to parade his ‘victories’ in a show of dominance, conquest and power.
Longevity numbs the affected person to accept the infirmity as normal and as part of what defines them. One is bound to it, both in the eyes of the public and in their own eyes.
This woman’s infirmity came upon her some 18 years back to this date when Jesus met her. An infirmity is therefore not a birth defect. Neither is it part of a person’s heritage. It comes to someone at some point in their lives.
Bowed
Luke further uses these words to describe this woman’s condition, ‘…bent over.’ The physical presentation of her condition was a bowed physique. Her back was curved, and I presume, forwards.
What, one may ask, does a bowed physique represent? Is there any symbolism in our daily lives that we can draw from this condition? I have outlined a number of things that point to a likelihood that someone is spiritually bowed.
Firstly, this is a deceptive posture that one is making progress. It may seem like one has an advantage because the bend is not backwards but forwards. In the many athletic races I have seen, runners always lean forward at the starting line.
This in my own view, is akin to someone who falls into temptation, only to find themselves bound in degrading lifestyles. We must guard ourselves against deception, particularly, wrong ideas that seem to proffer some benefit.
Jesus in John 8:44 said, “You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a lair and the father of it.” – Read deception.
Secondly, by being bowed, this woman faced downwards and could not face upwards. It is like every day of the 18 years, she could not aspire for better. She only saw that which lay around her feet therefore giving her a very limited view of life.
This had several implications: (1) Near stressors always looked larger than life meaning she only focused her effort at navigating them, (2) She could only see that which seemed to offer immediate gratification and not that which may be of greater good at a distance and…
(3) to paraphrase the words of Luke, ‘she could in no way lift herself up,’ a bowed person compromises all the time. His or her standards are defined by the prevailing circumstances (temptations).
In general therefore, being bowed is like constantly staring at those things that are ‘beneath’ and taking comfort that, at least, you are above them. Due to the numbed sense of adaptability, there are things which are below your estate that still feel ok to live with.
Thirdly, being bowed means that one only imagines that their kind of weakness is unique to them and the rest of society owes them recognition. Jesus, seeing right through this kind of attitude, told the bowed woman that she was loosed from her infirmity – Luke 13:12.
I am of the view that Jesus could see that the woman put on her condition like a badge of honour. She knew it wasn’t normal, but she thought that since it defined her, society owed her recognition as a bowed woman.
Instructively, many people rarely think that when you have a condition or situation it affects a lot more people than just the one. Especially, because only you appears to be crooked or bent, one doesn’t feel like their condition has implications on others.
Be unbowed
This bowed woman, in spite of the fact that she was bound by a demon, always came to the synagogue for teachings. Though wearing her deformity like a badge of honour, she loved the place of holy spiritual instruction.
It may have been many years of church attendance without any change of status. But her love for the word of God was undiminished. This only meant that it was going to be a matter of time and God would straighten her up.
In one of those occasions, Jesus came to her synagogue to teach the word of God. Three things happened: (1) Jesus saw her, (2) He called her to Him and (3) He laid His hands on her and immediately she was made straight.
To be seen by Jesus means that His eyes were not only focused on her. His eyes were moving forth and back in the congregation, glancing at different people here and there. But this one moment, He spotted her.
Jesus scanned through her life in the spiritual realm and saw how she had been deformed. Jesus could see her thought patterns. He could see every streak in her character and history and every thought in her heart.
Without conducting a verification parade, Jesus saw her. He singled her out. Her day of deliverance had come. He singled her out and must have said, “You, yes you, with a bent back.” When you linger in the presence of God, He is able to see that which is wrong about you, without prejudice.
Without prejudice, Jesus called her to Himself. Without prejudice, Jesus is calling out someone to Himself today. If you heed to His call, He will do as He pleases. He is good and His mercies are new every morning and endures forever – Psalms 106:1, 107:1.
Finally, Jesus laid His hands on her and she was made straight. Her bent back was straightened up. She was finally loosed from the spirit of her infirmity, because of the touch of Jesus.
Conclusion
Jesus talks to us about our failings and frailties because He has seen them in us. He wouldn’t want to leave us crooked. By calling us out, He is simply passing judgment to the contrary spirit in us and not us. We owe it to Him and to ourselves to answer to His call.
When the Lord laid His hands on the bowed woman, He was reaffirming God’s ability and willingness to mould us back to His original purpose. He is aware that we have been bowed. He may have something against us. But if we obey, He will mould us afresh.
The miracle of the bowed woman must teach us today that we can be unbowed. We must not leave the presence of God today with a crooked and deformed personality. Let’s allow the Lord to straighten us up.
