Luke 13:10-21

Luke 13:10–21 ESV

10 Now he was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath. 11 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. 12 When Jesus saw her, he called her over and said to her, “Woman, you are freed from your disability.” 13 And he laid his hands on her, and immediately she was made straight, and she glorified God. 14 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.” 15 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? 16 And ought not this woman, a daughter of Abraham whom Satan bound for eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath day?” 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. 18 He said therefore, “What is the kingdom of God like? And to what shall I compare it? 19 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.” 20 And again he said, “To what shall I compare the kingdom of God? 21 It is like leaven that a woman took and hid in three measures of flour, until it was all leavened.”

Introduction:

Disability in our world is normal but it should be abnormal.

Effects of the fall.

Romans 8:20 ESV

20 For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope

Disability is a more obvious form of the brokennesss that is common to human expereience. It’s a normal part of life in an abnormal world.

Luke’s theme - clarity about who Jesus is

The Kingdom of God plays a large part thematically in Luke as well.

In today’s passage, Jesus announces the kingdom with a miracle and then with two parables.

I. When Jesus heals people, things happen. (v. 10-14)

It was obvious this woman had a disability. You look at her and see her problem.

We don’t know the specific name for the infirmity but medical experts have suggested that it was “spondylitis deformans.” This is a condition where the bones of the spine fuse together in to one rigid mass.

This would have affected everything in her life.

Her dignity seemed diminished to those around her. When we are confronted with disability like this, much like last week when we talked about tragedy, even those of us who know the joy of the Lord may be tempted into self-pity. Based on what we saw in the passage last week we could understandably wonder if some people around her assumed that her disability was connected to some personal sin on her part. “What had she done to deserve this?” There is a reason that Luke ordered these accounts in the way he did.

She was in the synagogue. She was a daughter of Abraham. Abraham was a man of faith.

Romans 4:3 “3 For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.””

She belonged to the community of faith. That’s why she came to the synagogue despite her condition. She went to learn, to worship.

J. C. Ryle said,

“The conduct of this suffering Jewess may well put to shame many a strong and healthy professing Christian. How many in the full enjoyment of bodily vigor, allow the most frivolous excuses to keep them away from the house of God!… How many find religious services a weariness while they attend them, and feel relieved when they are over!”6 And yet, where there is a will there is always a way. Let us never forget that our feelings about Sundays are sure tests of the state of our souls. The man who can find no pleasure in giving God one day in the week, is manifestly unfit for heaven. Heaven itself is nothing but an eternal Sabbath. If we cannot enjoy a few hours in God’s service once a week in this world, it is plain that we could not enjoy an eternity in His service in the world to come.”

Jesus knows the hearts of men and women. I love that he points out how this was not her fault. In the beginning of the encounter we are told that she had a disabling spirit. And then in verse 16 we find out from Jesus that this woman was crippled by the cruelty of Satan. We get confirmation of the diagnosis. This is the only place where Luke describes someone having a disabling spirit. Luke was a doctor and knew that her condition had a supernatural cause.

Now, at this point I need to warn you not to overspiritualize things by attributing every illness or medical difficulty to a direct attack from Satan. Not everything you go through is a spiritual attack. Some people will use these verses, specifically verse 11 to try to make this case. They misunderstand this.

Philip Ryken writes,

“We should be careful not to attribute every medical difficulty we have to a direct attack from Satan. Some Christians misinterpret Luke 13:11 to mean that all of our physical (or spiritual) troubles are caused by some demonic “spirit.” Yet as mysterious as it may seem, God sometimes allows his people to suffer a spiritual attack that causes a physical disability, and this was a clear example. The woman was bowed low by demonic oppression. Her physical trouble was caused by spiritual torment. Satan’s cruelty in crippling this woman is only one example of the hatred he has for all of us.” - Philip Ryken

Morally and spiritually we all come to the point of being bent and bowed by our weaknesses and realize we don’t have the strength to free ourselves from them.

The woman’s crippled disability is a picture of our own state of spiritual oppression. We can not cure ourselves from the spiritual sickness of sin that is on every last one of us. Without Jesus stepping in as our atoning sacrifice, we are, as the Westminster Confession says, “utterly indisposed, disabled, and made opposite to all that is spiriutally good.” But God is able to save. God is willing to save. Jesus came to seek and save that which was lost.

A. He saw her.

B. He called her over to where He was.

C. He freed her.

He laid His hands on her. Most religious leaders wouldn’t have direct contact with a woman in public. Many people wouldn’t touch a disabled person. Yet, we often read about Jesus touching the untouchable and loving the world’s unlovable. And the results were:

D. She was immediately made straight.

E. She glorified God.

She stands up straight and immediately gives glory to God. Her heart is full of thanksgiving for being made well and out of that heart springs praise. Some of us don’t have a thankful heart bursting with praise because we haven’t really been healed yet. Some haven’t been forgiven and don’t know the thankful praise of a healed and redeemed heart. Your disability may not be physical but it’s for sure spiritual. Jesus saves us from our spiritual disability. This physical healing we see is a picture of how Jesus does that. He saves us from the brokenness of our sin. It’s a picture of salvation.

Jesus is the God who sees.

He saw the woman. He sees you in your sin.

He calls us by the power of the Holy Spirit to Himself. Jesus has this same compassion for us right this minute. Never think of your situation as being beyond help. Jesus sees the need in our life. No matter how bad your case is or how long you have been in this bondage to whatever you are in bondage to, Jesus can still save you.

Ryken again writes, “We do not need to wait even one day longer. He can deliver us from guilt by forgiving our sins. He can loose us from sin and from Satan by sending the Holy Spirit to take control of our lives. He can heal all the deformities our souls have suffered in this fallen world. One day, by the power of his resurrection life, he will deliver us from all our physical disabilities as well. Jesus has not promised full deliverance in this life, but in the life to come.”

I was just talking with a friend this week about how our bodies break down as we age. We fight it because it’s not the way we were created to be.

This miracle of Jesus is another sign of his divinity and a proof that when He returns He will being the ultimate cure for what ails us.

II. When people misunderstand the purpose of the Sabbath. (v. 14-17)

When Jesus does something we can rightly call radical in someone’s life, there tends to be a couple of different responses. One we have already discussed is that it elicits praise from the person and awe at those around them. But for some it brings on opposition to what Jesus is doing and that is evident here in the words and attitude of the ruler of the synagogue where this miracle had taken place. The ruler was the head of a religious community and should have been nearly the holiest person around. But instead we find him to be callous to those in need. Instead of joining in and glorifying and praising God for what He had just done in their presence, he found fault with Jesus. We see in this man the same attitude that some of the Pharisees exhibited when they would get angry that Jesus would heal on the Sabbath.

This man was a rule follower. He wouldn’t lift a finger to help anyone on the Sabbath. He speaks up but doesn’t direct his words to Jesus and instead speaks to the crowd.

Luke 13:14 ESV

14 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.”

He thought she should have waited and come back another day. The irony in this is that he himself could do nothing to heal her and this day was the day when Jesus was present. And the ruler of the synagogue likely wouldn’t have healed her on the Sabbath even if he did have the power because he was more concerned with following the regulations. Only Jesus had the power to heal and He was ready and willing to do it right away.

You may say to me, “Pastor, you’re being hard on the man because he was trying to honor the Sabbath. Isn’t that one of the Ten Commandments.” Well yes, I’m glad you mentioned that. Let’s take a look at that particular commandment in the book of Exodus.

Exodus 20:8–11 ESV

8 “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. 9 Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. 11 For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.

Now, what the religious establishment in those days had done is in order to avoid breaking the law of Moses, they set up a bunch of extra-biblical rules around the commands of scripture to keep anyone from getting close enough to break those rules. They expected everyone to keep these rules. But they were not biblical in and of themselves. The man’s problem was that his heart was on keeping rules and not glorifying God by showing mercy.

Jesus points out the hypocrisy.

But before we get to what He says to him, I want you to notice the title Luke uses for Jesus.

Luke 13:15 ESV

15 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?

“…the Lord…”

This is significant. Luke is quoting Jesus speaking as Lord. He is the Lord of the Sabbath. And the Lord of the Sabbath points out that this man and any associates of his are guilty of hypocrisy.

They were willing to take care of their animals on the Sabbath but not to care for this woman. If we look at some of the later Jewish writings we find some very particular regulations for watering livestock on the Sabbath. They were allowed to lead their animals to water as long as they didn’t carry anything. They could not hold the bucket for the animal to drink out of but they could draw water and then pour it into the trough for the animal.

These were manmade regulations. They were meant to keep people from working on the Sabbath and breaking it. However, God did not parcel out what did and did not count as work Even with all of their legalism the Pharisees found a way to care for their animals. What if they cared for people as much as they care about their animals. Or if they cared about people made in God’s image as much as they cared about following extra-biblical regulations.

The man was hard hearted. He was cold to the woman’s suffering. He was indifferent to it. Let us never find ourselves indifferent to suffering. He thought he had a good reason theologically for opposing this healing happening on the Sabbath. He thought it to be against the law of God. For him the Sabbath was as day of worship and rest but not a day for mercy.

Jesus rebukes the man for his callousness to needs of others around him. The man’s words, attitude, and lack of caring action, revealed that he did not have a theological problem but a spiritual problem. His heart was hard and callous. He misunderstood the purpose of the Sabbath.

The issue was his resistance to grace born out of that hardened heart. He thought of his human traditions as more important than the suffering woman, or anyone else for that matter. In defending the traditions of men he kept people from grace. Let it never be said of us that we defend tradition in such a way that it keeps people from grace.

Do you see this heart in yourself? Is your heart where Jesus wants it to be? Is your heart soft to those in need of grace around you? How easy is it for you to come up with a spiritual sounding excuse for not showing mercy to someone? Jesus calls us to show others the same sort of grace that He has shown to us on the cross and with the empty tomb.

Worship and rest were not the only purposes for this day but also the showing of compassion to people in need. The commandment to keep the Sabbath was never meant to keep us from works of mercy or necessity.

Something about the previous interaction prompted Jesus to teach on the kingdom of God, which is one of the themes you see in Luke’s gospel account. Let’s look at the two parables that Jesus gives in verses 18 through 21.

III. Two descriptions of the kingdom (v. 18-21)

Luke 13:18–21 ESV

18 He said therefore, “What is the kingdom of God like? And to what shall I compare it? 19 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.” 20 And again he said, “To what shall I compare the kingdom of God? 21 It is like leaven that a woman took and hid in three measures of flour, until it was all leavened.”

At first reading this may seem unconnected to the previous interaction except for that one word, “therefore”. There may be a couple of ways that it connects. The ruler was opposing Jesus and these two parables illustrate how God’s rule will continue to grow even facing strong opposition. Another connection may be that Jesus was pointing to this miracle, one woman being healed, was a sign of things to come. The personal rescue of one person which may seem insignificant to the world but grows to be something that takes over. One scholar suggested that

“ The woman’s salvation contained the seed of the devil’s defeat and the glory of God’s kingdom. This one healing miracle “would one day spread to the bounds of the universe, until creation herself would be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the sons of God, and all in heaven and earth would find security, satisfaction and delight in the magnificence of his dominion.”2 Therefore, Jesus followed his miracle with two parables about the spread of the kingdom of God.” (Ryken again)

In these parables we can see two principles of the growth of the Kingdom.

Extensive

- Just as the leaven spreads through the whole lump of dough, the kingdom spreads and effects the whole person and the whole world. It’s transformative. We must not lose the part of our message that explains that Jesus changes us.

2. Intensive

- The growth may not happen quickly but when you look back after a long time it is huge. Like a tree.

There is a danger in over interpreting these parables.

From what seems like an insignificant beginning like a mustard seed, the kingdom grows. At times it is invisible in its growth and almost imperceptibly slow until it reaches every nation with transforming power.

When you look at the mustard seed, it’s hard to imagine that it will become a big tree that birds will nest in. When you look at a bowl of flower it’s hard to imagine that when it’s leavened it will grow and be enough to make a large pizza.

Think of the message of the gospel with it’s small beginnings.

God creates one man - Adam

God makes a covenant with one man - Abraham.

Dynasty over Israel - David

New covenant of salvation through one man, Jesus Christ.

The Nativity Story

Seemingly small and insignificant

born to an unwed mother in a backwater town

raised in a carpenter’s house

becomes a promient teacher

dies a criminal’s death

followers run about when He gets killed

buried in another man’s tomb

first adherents to the movement were small in number, probably not exceeding 1,000 in the whole world when He ascended.

First preachers were a few fisherman and publicans - most unlearned men

Started in a despised corner of the earth in the Roman empire

It’s message calls for you to admit that you are at enmity with God from birth and due His just wrath.

A crucified Messiah was a stumbling block to the Jews and foolishness to the Greeks

It’s spread brought persecution on any friendly to it, even to the point of death

If ever something had seemingly small beginnings… It was the gospel of the Kingdom of God.

Without God this whole thing would have fallen apart. It’s a miracle of God that we have the gospel. It’s His work though the ages. Like that leaven spreading undetected to every corner of the dough.

Ryken writes, “Yet from that small and seemingly insignificant beginning, the kingdom of God grows. It grows

because there are life in its seed and yeast in its leaven. It grows because it has all the power

of God within it. It grows by his life-giving grace, and nothing can stop it from growing.”

The kingdom spreads and grows because it has the power of God in it. And there is just as much of Christ and the power of God here in this room as there is in a big church in the suburbs. We should live like we believe that.

Conclusion:

Sometimes it’s hard to see the kingdom growing but we have a guarantee that it will grow. That doesn’t mean that our church will get huge. It means that people will come to know Jesus and the influence of the kingdom will spread. We don’t know what that will look like. We are simply called to be faithful.

John 12:24 ESV

24 Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.

The kingdom is subversive.

Chales Wesley Hymn, “veiled in flesh, the God head see.”

When Jesus was dying on the cross, who could have perceived that he was offering His life as a payment for sin? The kingdom grows behind closed doors in bedrooms and living rooms when people kneel and repent of their sin and ask Christ to forgive and save them. The kingdom advances and grows when we talk about Jesus at work and people want to know Him. The kingdom grows when we live out our faith in a way that gives credence to our words and people believe the gospel. The kingdom grows when we give our time to work with children and talk about Jesus with them. The kingdom grows when a prisoner meets Jesus through a prison ministry. The kingdom grows when we share Jesus with our neighbors over dinner. The kingdom grows in ways we often don’t see with our eyes but it still grows and will grow until it reaches the nations. In ancient Jewish writings “the birds of the heavens” refers to Gentiles. I believe that in these parables Jesus is talking about more than the size of the kingdom. He’s talking about the global reach of the kingdom. The gospel is far reaching and changes everything.

How Jesus heals people with the gospel… eternal healing… glorious healing… resurrection bodies…

One of the ways we get to glorify God is by showing mercy to people. Gregory of Nyssa on defining mercy:

“A voluntary sorrow which enjoins itself to the suffering of another.” This is the kind of mercy that Jesus has shown us. Came as a man, like us, joined himself to our suffering and took on the greatest of all sorrows.

Apply -

Preach the Kingdom

It is not always recognized or accepted.

Be Confident - We are not on the losing side.

The point of the parables is not now fast the kingdom grows but that in any event, it grows. God will accomplish His purpose. The question is what are you doing to take part?

Pray.