Luke 13:10-21 - Power and Persecution
Notes
Transcript
Handout
Introduction:
Pastor Nouh Yattara was born into a nomadic Muslim family. He shared his testimony on Voice of the Martyrs Radio recently. He talked about his life of fear as a Muslim. He was afraid of so much. He was afraid of superstitions, demons, and death. However, this all began to change after he ended up at a school near a Baptist mission in Mali.
Over time and despite much persecution, he came to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ through a woman named Elaine from the Baptist mission.
He later was called to be a missionary and shared how the Lord helped him overcome his lifelong fears. He was equipped by God to have the courage to step out in faith. He faced persecution from his family, from his community, and from others.
He continues to minister as a Baptist pastor in Timbuktu, Mali despite the persecution that continues. He continues to see the power of Christ saving lives despite Mali having a 95% Muslim population. He says that believers in Mali are often overcharged by merchants, cursed by their mothers, beat by their fathers, and rejected by their friends.
At one point, he was forced to seek asylum in the US because of the threats to his life. Yet, he has since gone back and is preaching again.
He asserted that that many die for nothing and so he might as well die for Christ if that be what happens.
Brothers and sisters, the power of Christ is still moving despite the persecution that happening.
Today we are going to see the power of Christ working while He was ministering on earth. And even then, persecution was heating up. Yet, Christ continued to persevere, and He calls us to persevere as well. The Kingdom of God has come. Let us continue to work in His strength and power.
Read Full Scripture:
Now he was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath.
And behold, there was a woman who had had a disabling spirit for eighteen years. She was bent over and could not fully straighten herself.
When Jesus saw her, he called her over and said to her, “Woman, you are freed from your disability.”
And he laid his hands on her, and immediately she was made straight, and she glorified God.
But the ruler of the synagogue, indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, said to the people, “There are six days in which work ought to be done. Come on those days and be healed, and not on the Sabbath day.”
Then the Lord answered him, “You hypocrites! Does not each of you on the Sabbath untie his ox or his donkey from the manger and lead it away to water it?
And ought not this woman, a daughter of Abraham whom Satan bound for eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath day?”
As he said these things, all his adversaries were put to shame, and all the people rejoiced at all the glorious things that were done by him.
He said therefore, “What is the kingdom of God like? And to what shall I compare it?
It is like a grain of mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his garden, and it grew and became a tree, and the birds of the air made nests in its branches.”
And again he said, “To what shall I compare the kingdom of God?
It is like leaven that a woman took and hid in three measures of flour, until it was all leavened.”
Prayer
The Kingdom of God has come with the coming of Christ. Despite the sinful opposition Jesus was facing while ministering on earth, it was clear that God was moving. And we know that God continues moving today as well.
As we go through our Scripture today, we see three ways that the Kingdom of God has come. The first is…
I. The Kingdom of God Has Come With Power (10-13)
I. The Kingdom of God Has Come With Power (10-13)
Now he was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath.
Luke now tells us about a time where Jesus was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath. The synagogue was the local house of worship for the Jews. It was not a place for sacrifice and did not have a full-time pastor or teacher. However, there would be a ruler of the synagogue who was able to approve men to teach. Jesus, having garnered quite a reputation by now, was given the opportunity to teach this Sabbath.
Until now, Jesus had made it a habit of His to preach in the synagogues. As He went from town to town, He often would go to the local synagogue to teach. However, it is very interesting that this is the last time we see Jesus teaching in a synagogue throughout the book of Luke.
As Jesus was teaching, a woman entered the synagogue that changed the situation in a mighty way as we will see in a moment.
And behold, there was a woman who had had a disabling spirit for eighteen years. She was bent over and could not fully straighten herself.
Luke then moves on to say behold which is a word used before a proclamation oftentimes. It means to be sure to look and see. It means to be sure you are paying attention. It is often used as the beginning of an important announcement of something imminently occuring.
The announcement was that there was a woman who had come in. This woman, we are told, had a disabling spirit and had been suffering for 18 years. She was bent over and could not fully straighten herself.
There have been many medical attempts to explain this condition. There are plenty of conditions that can cause one to be bent over like this. However, this was likely a severe condition that we might have a hard time explaining medically. This condition was sent by a demon - and namely it is attributed to Satan in verse 16.
It seems unlikely that this woman was demon-possessed. We are not told that she was disruptive or had a divisive demeanor. In fact, she doesn’t even initiate this encounter at all. In most cases of demon-possession that Jesus encountered, the demon would cry out something regarding the nature of Jesus being God! But this woman doesn’t even seem to acknowledge Jesus.
It seems more likely that she is just attending synagogue as usual. It seems that this woman had experienced an affliction like Job did (Job 2:7). Job was a righteous man but yet experienced terrible afflictions caused by Satan. However, these afflictions were not because he was demon-possessed. Instead he remained righteous through it all.
We are going to get to the climax of this scene in a moment, but there are is an important application here that we need to understand for our own lives.
This disabled woman continues going to worship.
Don’t miss this. This woman can barely walk. We can’t imagine the pain she is experiencing day by day with her back issues. It is likely that with each step she has muscle spasms almost bringing her to knees. She likely has nerve pains that shoot down her legs and maybe even into her arms. Yet, she continues to remain faithful.
Not only through her ailments but also through the judgment of others. The Jews of that time looked down upon those who were disabled. They believed that all disability, illness, and sickness was due to the sin of that person or their parents.
And so those who saw her likely looked down upon her because of her condition.
This disabled woman stands as a strong conviction for us today, doesn’t she?
What about us, friends? Do we not come to worship because we are sleepy? Do we not come because we don’t want to get up? Do we not come because we are a little sore from doing too much the day before? Do we not come because we have something seemingly better to do?
These questions are not asked to guilt anyone. There are certainly situations of illness and disability that may keep one from coming at times. In extreme examples, some may be permanent shut-ins because of disability and illness. In those cases, we need to reach to those who cannot come and be the hands and feet of Christ to them.
But these questions are asked to search our hearts and be sure that we are as dedicated to worshipping the Lord as we should be.
This woman believed that worshipping God was worth the pain and suffering. I pray that each of us do as well. Jesus deserves our praises and worship each Lord’s Day and frankly - He deserves it every day!
After this woman makes her way into the synagogue, possibly trying not be noticed because she was likely looked down upon, Jesus calls out to her…
When Jesus saw her, he called her over and said to her, “Woman, you are freed from your disability.” And he laid his hands on her, and immediately she was made straight, and she glorified God.
Again, note that the woman does not approach Jesus for healing. Jesus actually instigates this interaction. He initiates the communication. Note that He also doesn't ask if she wants to be healed. He doesn't ask about her faith. Here is another Scripture that goes against faith healing false gospels. Although faith is an important aspect of healing much of the time, God sometimes moves in mighty ways despite man's lack of faith. We see that here.
He matter-of-factly tells this woman that she is freed from her disability.
He then lays His hands on her and immediately she is made straight and she glorified God.
This is a time for celebration. This woman is excited and praising God.
She has been afflicted for 18 years. Can you imagine the pain and suffering that she must have felt. Can you imagine the judgment that she felt from others around her. She was plagued by a demonic force that had left her body in pain constantly. But now she is free from this oppressive disability.
You would think that everyone would be celebrating. However, like so often that we have seen in this Gospel of Luke, the religious leaders are not happy that Jesus has done this.
The Kingdom of God has certainly come with power. Jesus has displayed this power. However, it is also true that…
Scripture References: Genesis 3, Joshua 7, Job 2:7
II. The Kingdom of God Has Come with Persecution (14-17)
II. The Kingdom of God Has Come with Persecution (14-17)
But the ruler of the synagogue, indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, said to the people, “There are six days in which work ought to be done. Come on those days and be healed, and not on the Sabbath day.”
The synagogue ruler is indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath. To be indignant is to have passionate displeasure. He is angry about what has just happened.
He scolds the woman - even though she had not asked to be healed - as well as others that are present. He tells the people that there are six days in which work ought to be done and to come on those days to be healed and not the Sabbath day.
This synagogue ruler has no leg to stand on when it comes to His argument as we will see in a few moments. There is no regulation in the Law that healing cannot be done on the Sabbath. Frankly, there is not even anything in rabbinic regulations that would say this was a sin. This criticism is misguided and legalistic.
I also find it somewhat comical that he makes this comment about them coming a different day to be healed. My question to this synagogue ruler would be who was going to heal them? Was he going to? It wasn’t like Jesus was a stationary person and would be back each day that week! He had no ability to offer healing to others.
Instead of responding the way that he did, he should have been like Jairus who responded with faith back in Luke 8:41 as he implored Jesus to heal his daughter. Jairus was a synagogue ruler and humbled himself before Christ. But this man responds to Jesus with harshness and legalism.
I do find it interesting that he did not have the guts to go toe to toe with Jesus. He ended up rebuking the woman and the others there instead of addressing Jesus directly. He is trying to indirectly rebuke Jesus by rebuking the others.
As we will see, Jesus is going to have none of this…
Then the Lord answered him, “You hypocrites! Does not each of you on the Sabbath untie his ox or his donkey from the manger and lead it away to water it? And ought not this woman, a daughter of Abraham whom Satan bound for eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath day?”
Jesus now uses one of his favorite words when he describes the religious leaders. He calls them hypocrites. Obviously this synagogue ruler had others who were going along with him in his indignant rebuke to the woman and to others there.
Jesus goes on to explain why He calls them hypocrites this time. A couple of weeks ago we saw that He called many of His hearers hypocrites because they refused to use the same logic when they interpreted the weather as they should have used when interpreting the confirming the signs and prophecy fulfillments that revealed Jesus as the Messiah.
However, this time they are hypocrites because what they say is not lining up with what they do when it comes to the Sabbath.
He reminds them that they untie their ox or donkey from the manger and lead it away to water on the Sabbath. Wouldn't that be considered work? If healing on the Sabbath is considered work, then what they were doing for taking care of their animals on the Sabbath would certainly be work.
He points out the hypocrisy of their legalism.
Jesus claims that this woman who is a daughter of Abraham, namely a Jew, is of much more value than an animal.
He calls them out with a rhetorical type question:
You would take care of your animals, but you would not take care for one of God's chosen people?
The crowd responds favorably to what Jesus has just said. Listen to verse 17…
As he said these things, all his adversaries were put to shame, and all the people rejoiced at all the glorious things that were done by him.
Those who are hearing this interchange rejoiced at the glorious things that were done by Jesus. It is clear that Jesus wasn’t done with the miraculous healing that Luke has just recorded. It says that they rejoiced at all the glorious things that were done by Him. In other words, He likely did more wonderful works that day.
This reminds me of the John’s final statement at the end of his Gospel. Listen to John 21:25:
Now there are also many other things that Jesus did. Were every one of them to be written, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written.
There were so many other things that Jesus did that we don’t even know yet. And there are so many things that God has done throughout the ages that we don’t know yet as well. We will be able to glorify God for all His wonderful works one day!
Getting back to our account here though… the more Jesus taught and did wonderful works, the more His adversaries were put to shame.
They had no comeback for His argument. The disdain from the religious leaders will continue to grow until the crucifixion. But for now, the people are rejoicing at the works of Christ.
We have seen that the Kingdom of God has come in power and has come with persecution. Finally we see that…
Scripture References: Luke 8:41, John 21:25
III. The Kingdom of God Has Come With Perseverance (18-21)
III. The Kingdom of God Has Come With Perseverance (18-21)
He said therefore, “What is the kingdom of God like? And to what shall I compare it? It is like a grain of mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his garden, and it grew and became a tree, and the birds of the air made nests in its branches.”
Jesus moves on to let the people know what they are seeing. They are seeing the Kingdom of God which has arrived with the coming of the Messiah. As we have discussed before, the Kingdom of God has been inaugurated, but it will not be fully consummated until the second coming.
However, they were seeing great signs that the Kingdom of God had certainly come.
He gives a couple of illustrations of how the Kingdom of God had come.
The first is a grain of mustard seed. This small mustard seed starts off so humble. This reminds me a lot of the manger scene we think about at Christmas time. Christ was born in such a humble way - as a little baby, to a poor family, in an oppressed people group. How could this little baby change the world?
Even after the crucifixion and resurrection, some might wonder how big the Kingdom of God could possibly get. He appeared to 500 believers in Galilee (1 Corinthians 15:6). Right before the Holy Spirit fell at Pentecost there are only 120 people gathered together (Acts 1:15). However, within hours this number jumped to three thousand! And the Kingdom has continued to expand since then - more and more people have been added to the kingdom year by year.
But back to the mustard seed - how could this little seed turn into a tree? It seems miraculous that a seed the size of around 1 mm could grow into a tree around 12-15 ft high.
And this tree provides a place for the birds of the air to make nests in its branches.
As far as the interpretation of this parable goes, there are multiple ways some people look at it, but it seems clear that the following are the examples here:
The man who plants the seed is God who has sent His son to be the Savior of the world.
The seed is Christ - namely the Gospel including His birth, His death, and His resurrection. He is the source of life for all of the branches.
The branches are the Church. We are to be connected to the Source of life - namely Christ.
Jesus, elsewhere, calls Himself the vine and us the branches in John 15:5:
I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.
He supports and nourishes the body of Christ - namely the Church. This is such a great illustration from Jesus. Apart from Him we can do nothing.
And finally,
Most commentators agree that the birds of the air are the unsaved who benefit from those who are in the Kingdom of God.
Some will benefit temporarily from the church. Consider those who find friendship with believers but are not truly saved. Or consider those who are blessed by missional giving and missional work in communities around the nation and around the world. Some find shade from the trials of life by those who are a part of the Kingdom.
But how much better is it when others are blessed to actually join as branches in Christ as well. We pray hard for the expansion of the Kingdom of God!
As we prepare for our month of prayer starting tomorrow, may we pray zealously that the tiny branch of CrossPointe can grow and impact our world through the Gospel.
Jesus has one other illustration as well in regards to the perseverance of the Kingdom…
And again he said, “To what shall I compare the kingdom of God? It is like leaven that a woman took and hid in three measures of flour, until it was all leavened.”
This second parable reinforces the point from the first. Yet, Jesus gives a different example here.
He compares the Kingdom of God to being like leaven added to flour. This is one of the few places where leaven is viewed in a good way. We discussed how leaven is almost always bad in the Bible earlier in our study through Luke when Jesus warned against the leaven of the Pharisees (Luke 12:1).
However, here and in the parallel account of Matthew 13:33, we find the only instances in the New Testament of leaven being good!
The leaven mentioned here stands for the Gospel and the advancement of the Kingdom of God through the Gospel.
And this leaven is added to three measures of flour which was enough flour to feed around 100-150 people. The woman hides the leaven in the flour and yet even this small amount of leaven gradually works through the large batch of dough. The working of the yeast (or leaven) is done under the surface. We might not always see it, but God is always at work. There have been many times in ministry that I have asked what God was doing. I didn’t see anything externally changing for a time period. And yet, it inevitably becomes obvious that He is working and has been working under the surface! He is drawing people to Himself. He is growing believers as well.
This Kingdom growth through the whole batch of dough also reminds me of the Great Commission of Matthew 28:16-20 as well as the saints of Revelation 7:9. The Kingdom of God shall spread to all peoples and tribes and nations. We are in the process of trying to make that happen even from our small church plant. We give funds to the cooperative program which supports the International Mission Board. One of the big mission projects for the IMB is reaching unreached people groups. Although we know that not everyone will be saved - in fact most will reject the Gospel as we see in the Scriptures as Jesus describes the narrow way and the broad way that we will be going through next week, we want every people group to have an opportunity to hear the Gospel in their own language.
We understand that we are not going to take the world over by our own efforts and works. There are some false teachers who preach dominionism - they preach that we can take over this nation and the world through the Gospel. But the Bible is clear - we are not the world’s saviors - Jesus is.
The Scriptures, instead, urge us to persevere as we continue advancing the Kingdom of God. We are to continue preaching the Gospel even in the presence of persecution. And one day, one glorious day, Christ will return! After a time of tribulation, He will restore order in His creation. He will right all the wrongs. He will overthrow all wicked governments and authorities. One day the Kingdom of God will be fully consummated! May we rejoice in that promise!
Scripture References: 1 Corinthians 15:6, Acts 1:15, John 15:5, Luke 12:1, Matthew 13:33, Matthew 28:16-20, Revelation 7:9, John 16:33
Conclusion:
As we come to a close, we need to realize that the Kingdom of God has already come. It will be fully realized one day, and we look forward to that day. However, we must not miss the power of Christ in this world even now. Despite the persecution that we will face, Christ has overcome this world (John 16:33). Knowing this truth, may we persevere in the faith and continue working to advance the Gospel through evangelism and discipleship.