It is quite possible that the sudden appearance of this stooped woman in the synagogue was deliberately arranged. Jesus' enemies guessed that, once He saw her, He would be filled with compassion and would heal her. But, because it was a Sabbath day, He was clearly in breach of the law. The chief of the synagogue was indignant that the healing had taken place on the sabbath. "There are six working days on which to be cured; the sabbath is not one of them," he said.

In a way, of course, the ruler was perfectly right. A woman who had lived with this kind of ailment for 18 years could easily have waited for just one more day to be cured. But that was not the point, as Jesus made perfectly clear. He accused the synagogue head and his like of pure hypocrisy. There was not one of them who would hesitate to take their ox or donkey from its stall on a sabbath day in order to give it water. They put the needs of animals before that of a human being. He could not marvel at the healing power of Jesus and the deep compassion behind it. He could not see that he was in the presence of God's very power. How often do we fail to see the hand of God in our daily lives?