Freedom Ministry

On the Sabbath Day, Jesus healed the woman with the crippled hand. Jesus declared the woman “freed” from her infirmity (Luke 13:12); the redemptive function of the Sabbath is now expressed more explicitly. The verb “to free” is now used to clarify the meaning of the Sabbath.

It is difficult to believe the verb was used by Christ accidentally, since in the brief narrative it recurs three times, though in the English RSV translation it is rendered “to free”, “to untie”, “to loose” (Lk 13: 12, 15, 16).

The imagery of Christ - on the Sabbath - freeing a victim bound by Satan’s bonds (Lk 13:16), recalls Christ’s announcement of His mission “to proclaim release to the captives” (Lk 4:18; Isa. 61:1-3). The liberation of a daughter of Abraham from the bonds of Satan on the Sabbath represents the fulfillment of the Messianic typology of the day.

This fulfillment by Christ of the Old Testament Sabbath symbology does not imply, as suggested by some, that Christians therefore are free from the Sabbath to gather on the first day.

Rather, that Christ - by fulfilling the redemptive typology of the Sabbath - made the Day a permanent, fitting memorial of the reality, namely, His redemptive mission.

Undoubtedly, for the woman and for all the people blessed by the Sabbath ministry of Christ, the Day became the memorial of the healing of their bodies and souls, of the exodus from the bonds of Satan into the FREEDOM of the Savior.