Healing and teaching

God’s love and grace

God’s love is displayed in Jesus; the exact representative of Him (Heb1:1)

God’s grace is made known in Jesus (Jn1:17)

Gods love and grace may come contrary to the establishment.

In our passage this morning we will see God’s grace, forgiveness given, then parables spoken to encourage but also to warn.

Our Passage

Luke 13:10–11 NASB95

10 And He was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath. 11 And there was a woman who for eighteen years had had a sickness caused by a spirit; and she was bent double, and could not straighten up at all.

Luke 13:12–13 NASB95

12 When Jesus saw her, He called her over and said to her, “Woman, you are freed from your sickness.” 13 And He laid His hands on her; and immediately she was made erect again and began glorifying God.

Luke 13:14–15 NASB95

14 But the synagogue official, indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, began saying to the crowd in response, “There are six days in which work should be done; so come during them and get healed, and not on the Sabbath day.” 15 But the Lord answered him and said, “You hypocrites, does not each of you on the Sabbath untie his ox or his donkey from the stall and lead him away to water him?

Luke 13:16–17 NASB95

16 “And this woman, a daughter of Abraham as she is, whom Satan has bound for eighteen long years, should she not have been released from this bond on the Sabbath day?” 17 As He said this, all His opponents were being humiliated; and the entire crowd was rejoicing over all the glorious things being done by Him.

Luke 13:18–19 NASB95

18 So He was saying, “What is the kingdom of God like, and to what shall I compare it? 19 “It is like a mustard seed, which a man took and threw into his own garden; and it grew and became a tree, and the birds of the air nested in its branches.”

Luke 13:20–21 NASB95

20 And again He said, “To what shall I compare the kingdom of God? 21 “It is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three pecks of flour until it was all leavened.”

What do you notice in this passage?

Who was teaching (v.10)? And how do you know?

It is Jesus and you have to look all the way back to (v.2).

Where was the woman who had sickness (v.11)?

In the synagogue (v.10)

What was the cause of the eighteen year sickness (v.11)?

Caused by a spirit.

When Jesus saw her, what did He do (v.12-13)?

Called her

Spoke to her

Touched her

Who did the synagogue official speak to about his indignation (v.14)?

He spoke to the crowd, not to Jesus

What does Jesus call them? and what example does He use as illustration (v.15)?

Hypocrites

You loose your donkey on the Sabbath

How does Jesus describe the healed woman (v.16)?

Daughter of Abraham

Bound by Satan for 18-years

How did the opponents feel, and what did the crowd do (v.17)?

were being humiliated.

The entire crowd was rejoicing.

What does the Lord compare the kingdom of God to (vv.18-19)?

A mustard seed that grew to become a tree.

He uses another illustration (vv.20-21), what is it?

Leaven, leaven that was hidden

(Transition) I think you can see in this passage that as a follower of Jesus, a kingdom dweller, we are to extend grace and compassion to others. I will present a view I found interesting in studying for this too, which is a warning, an admonishment about the kingdom too. So stay tuned in as we go,.

The Healing

Just a simple point, by this time many were out to kill Jesus, yet was still welcomed in some synagogues.

The woman is suffering from a spirit of infirmaty, that gave her a downward look on life. Never able to see the stars, or feel the sun in her face, she could describe the dirt around her, the feet of people around her. She was like a woman walking around looking for a grave as Spurgeon put it.

This was a spiritual problem. There was some spiritual reason for this. Guzik in his commentary said: “We are foolish to think that spiritual issues cause ‘all’ physical problems, but we are also foolish to think spiritual issues can ‘never’ cause physical problems.

Jesus shows His inclusiveness in the kingdom here. One who was considered unclean was called out by the Lord and “loosed” of her infirmity.

Wiersbe says in his commentary and it is pretty insightful “This woman is sometimes used as an example of a believer who can be demon possessed. Yet as godly as she may have been, she was not born again by the Spirit of God, because the work of Jesus had not yet been accomplished on the cross. We believe that Christians cannot be demon possessed; not because they are good, church-going people, but because they are new creatures in Jesus Christ, and off limits to demonic possession and control.”

Jesus spoke with compassion and authority and then gave her a compassionate touch.

We can assume she had been religious, going to the synagogue for the 18-years, yet it is when she met Jesus that everything changed and she was loosed.

Spurgeon says: “He might have called to her from a distance, and said, ‘Be healed,’ but He did not , for He wished to show His special sympathy with such a sad case of suffering.”

Jesus has the same compassion today for man, He wants to loose the bonds that tie us, keep us bound to things in this world that hold us down.

Application: Amidst the hustle and bustle of public life, you might encounter individuals who are emotionally burdened or marginalized. Emulate Jesus’ compassion by committing to engage one person in need each week—whether offering a listening ear to a friend going through hardships, volunteering at a shelter, or simply smiling at strangers. This small act can significantly uplift their spirits and serve as a powerful reminder of God’s love and presence in difficult times.

Mercy overcomes legalism

Ah here we see mercy and compassion over tradition and legalism. Human tradition should never take precedence over divine compassion.

Can we fault the synagogue official for trying to protect the Sabbath?

Jesus had done a wonderful thing, but he let tradition about working on the Sabbath be higher than the work of God on the Sabbath.

The official could not heal by touch or authority any day, but complained about Jesus doing it on the Sabbath day.

“He had not even the courage to speak directly to Jesus. He addressed his protest to the waiting people, although it was meant for Jesus.” (Barclay)

An application: we may want to reflect on our own life where we may be prioritizing rules, or traditions over showing compassion and mercy.

May we be a people who make an effort to show love, care, and compassion even if it is against the status quo, the established norms.

Jesus speaks up with authority and confronted the hypocrisy of the official.

Think about what Jesus said, implied, if you would help an animal that is bound on the Sabbath would it not be important to help a woman, a daughter of Abraham, one bound by Satan for 18-years?

Jesus adversaries were put to shame, in humiliation, and the crowd could not deny the work of Jesus on the woman and they rejoiced.

Like the people in the synagogue may we rejoice when we see the hand of God working in people.

Kingdom growth parables, or warnings?

Jesus compares the kingdom to a mustard seed, starts small, grows to provide a place where birds can perch.

Now yes the kingdom started small, the apostles and a total of 120 people, then grew and continues to grow.

Now, there was a commentator Guzik through brought this to light about that.

The mustard tree, really would be a bush, a plant that would grow to a bush, would not normally be a tree where birds would perch.

In scripture trees are sometimes used to describe governments, evil governments at that. The tree like this can be found in the dream Daniel interpreted for Nebuchadnezzer (Dan4:10-16).

“A close study of birds as symbols in the Old Testament and especially in the literature of later Judaism shows that birds regularly symbolize evil and even demons (ref: Rev18:2)” this was a quote take from Carson.

Now in Guzik’s writing he comes to Morgan and has this to say. “This parable accurately describes what the kingdom community became in the decades and centuries after the Christianization of the Roman Empire. In those centuries the church grew abnormally large in influence and dominion, and was a nest for much corruptioin, ‘Birds lodging in the branchs most probable refers to elements of corruption which take refuge in the very shadow of Christianity.”

So, is the Lord speaking this as an encouragement to the believers and an admonishment to the others? You can decide that, I just wanted to present the information

Jesus compares the kingdom to leaven (yeast) that was mixed in 3 pecks (about 60 lbs) of flour. A little leaven impacts the whole loaf.

Again you can see how something small can impact a lot.

The kingdom of God is expansive and transformative.

We are to be transformation agents by helping to plant mix the leaven and to work it to help it to grow and to permeate society instead of society permeating the church.

Now as for the admonishment let me give you this.

Leaven is consistently used in scripture of sin and corruption (consider Exo12:8, 12:15-20). The people were told to look out and remove any and all leaven.

France in his commentary ways “Both the content and the context point towards this being a description of corruption in the kingdom community.”

The picture was out of the ordinary this woman was mixing what would be enough for 100 people, so it was unusual.

The woman hid it and to the Jews hearing this it would have been very offensive since they did everything they could to get rid of it, to sweep it out of the house. Again turning to France.

“This certainly isn’t a picture of the church gradually influencing the whole world for good. Even as the recent experience in the synagogue showed religious corruption of some sor, Jesus announced that His kingdom community would also be threatened by corruption and impurity.”

Now Morgan takes a different approach saying that the leaven represents the “paganizing influences” brought into the church while the mustard seed, the tree, teachings the growth of the kingdom into a great power.

Application:

Beware of hypocrisy, examine yourself for any that may be in you, or in the church, be ready to stand up for compassion over legalism. Stand up for God’s grace and mercy over traditions, celebrate God’s work.

Know that just as Jesus impacted, we too can impact for Jesus, be ready to follow His example.