Luke 13:10–21 CSB
10 As he was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath, 11 a woman was there who had been disabled by a spirit for over eighteen years. She was bent over and could not straighten up at all. 12 When Jesus saw her, he called out to her, “Woman, you are free of your disability.” 13 Then he laid his hands on her, and instantly she was restored and began to glorify God. 14 But the leader of the synagogue, indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, responded by telling the crowd, “There are six days when work should be done; therefore come on those days and be healed and not on the Sabbath day.” 15 But the Lord answered him and said, “Hypocrites! Doesn’t each one of you untie his ox or donkey from the feeding trough on the Sabbath and lead it to water? 16 Satan has bound this woman, a daughter of Abraham, for eighteen years—shouldn’t she be untied from this bondage on the Sabbath day?” 17 When he had said these things, all his adversaries were humiliated, but the whole crowd was rejoicing over all the glorious things he was doing. 18 He said, therefore, “What is the kingdom of God like, and what can I compare it to? 19 It’s like a mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his garden. It grew and became a tree, and the birds of the sky nested in its branches.” 20 Again he said, “What can I compare the kingdom of God to? 21 It’s like leaven that a woman took and mixed into fifty pounds of flour until all of it was leavened.”
Main Idea: Christ’s Kingdom is powerfully working, even though it’s not according to people’s expectations.
Three aspects of Christ’s Kingdom:
#1: Compassionate Power (vv. 10–17)
In this passage, we see the Lord’s grace as he is teaching on another Sabbath, something we have already seen in Luke. In fact, we have seen it twice (4:31–41 and 6:6–11).
He is teaching on the Sabbath, and verse 11 tells us that a woman was there who had been disabled by a spirit for over 18 years. More specifically, it was such that she could not straighten up. You can imagine the frustration and likely the painful muscles that came as she tried to move around while bent over.
In verse 12, Jesus sees her, and he calls. The Word that created the heavens and the earth came, and spoke a word of freedom to this woman. He declares, “You are free of your disability.”
Here we see the compassionate grace of the Lord Jesus. We have no indication that the woman is pleading for Jesus to heal her, but he sees her in her weakness and infirmity. He is not so focused on teaching that he loses sight of the hurting in front of his eyes.
He calls out to her and then notice in verse 13 that he lays his hands on her, which is a sign of blessing. For instance, in Matthew 19:5, he lays his hands on the children. In Luke 4:40, it tells us, “When the sun was setting, all those who had anyone sick with various diseases brought them to him. As he laid his hands on each one of them, he healed them.”
Contrast the Lord’s grace with the response of the leader of the synagogue. In verse 14, the text says that the leader was “indignant,” or angry. What is he angry about? He is angry because Jesus performed this healing on the Sabbath. As we have studied previously, the Jewish leaders developed a series of oral laws around God’s revealed laws in the Old Testament.
Along those lines, the Jewish religious teachers came up with all sorts of rules about what constitutes working on the Sabbath. This healing broke their rule about the Sabbath. Therefore, the leader rebuked the crowd, telling them to seek healing on other days besides the Sabbath. He allows his sense of law to override grace and compassion. His sense of tradition and man-made laws have dulled his compassion for the needy and broken in front of him.
What does that look like today? Do we view the needy around us as a nuisance or an obstacle to ministry? Do we prioritize what has been done instead of what could be done to highlight God’s grace and compassion?
But Jesus confronts the man’s hypocrisy. He points to the fact that this man would lead their livestock to water on Sabbath because they need water to survive. Caring for the needs of animals is not seen as a work.
Jesus uses a lesser-to-greater argument here. If you see the need for caring for the animals, how much more so should you care for a woman who is in need right in front of you? This is not Jesus trying to undermine God’s law. Rather, he is showing that the man’s understanding of the law is hypocritical.
There is an important lesson for us to learn here: there will be times when we must directly confront a false teaching. In other words, there are times when Christians must be confrontational. We must respond in boldness to show the emptiness and inconsistency of anti-gospel views.
Peter gives us a helpful explanation here:
13 Who then will harm you if you are devoted to what is good? 14 But even if you should suffer for righteousness, you are blessed. Do not fear them or be intimidated, 15 but in your hearts regard Christ the Lord as holy, ready at any time to give a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you. 16 Yet do this with gentleness and reverence, keeping a clear conscience, so that when you are accused, those who disparage your good conduct in Christ will be put to shame. 17 For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God’s will, than for doing evil. (1 Pet. 3:13–17)
Thus, one aspect of the Kingdom is that Jesus demonstrates gracious and compassionate power. It’s power extended to care for the helpless and to vanquish the power of Satan.
As Christ’s Church, do you know that we have been given power by the Spirit of Christ to carry out his Kingdom mission? Brothers and sisters, how are we striving to show the same love and compassion to the hurting and needy around us?
#2: An Unexpected Power (v. 18–19)
Having seen the compassionate power of Christ’s kingdom, Jesus moves into a different lesson in verses 18 and 19. Notice the “therefore” in verse 18.
He gives a description of the Kingdom’s power, and he points us to the garden. It’s currently warming up a bit, and people are making preparations for their Spring garden. Jesus describes his kingdom as a mustard seed that is sown in the garden. As some of you may know, the mustard seeds are known to be tiny. Many are 1–2 millimeters in size. But what do they produce? They sprout and can grow into a tree (although it’s technically a shrub) that can reach over 20 feet.
If you hold the mustard seed in your hand, there’s no way you look at it and think, This will produce a plant that will loom over all of the others in the garden. But that’s exactly what happens.
It’s also important to note that Jesus is alluding to an Old Testament passage in Ezekiel:
22 “ ‘This is what the Lord God says: I will take a sprig from the lofty top of the cedar and plant it. I will pluck a tender sprig from its topmost shoots, and I will plant it on a high towering mountain. 23 I will plant it on Israel’s high mountain so that it may bear branches, produce fruit, and become a majestic cedar. Birds of every kind will nest under it, taking shelter in the shade of its branches. 24 Then all the trees of the field will know that I am the Lord. I bring down the tall tree, and make the low tree tall. I cause the green tree to wither and make the withered tree thrive. I, the Lord, have spoken and I will do it.’ ” (Ezekiel 17:22–24)
There, Israel is compared to a cedar tree that produces branches in which birds of the air may find shelter and shade. In Luke 13, the seed is the mustard seed, and this cedar grows. This isn’t Jesus getting his gardening wrong. Rather, Jesus is highlighting the small, seemingly insignificant seed with the massive, sturdy product.
Jesus teaches that the Kingdom has unexpected power, like the potential of growth in the mustard seed is unexpected.
The Kingdom is unexpected because of how it is established. It’s not a massive movement with political or military might. If he were establishing the kingdom today, I don’t think He’s the type who would be orchestrating a massive viral movement on social media. Rather, the kingdom of heaven on earth starts with a carpenter’s son and a small group of common men. It comes through death, not taking life but giving life.
You can imagine the crowds walking away from the crucifixion, thinking that was just another religious teacher who had fallen flat. But that was only the beginning. The Lord sent his Spirit, and he continues to use weak people to do extraordinary work.
#3: A Pervasive Power (v. 20–21)
Not only does Christ’s kingdom have an unexpected power, it is also a pervasive power. We see this as Jesus compares the Kingdom to leaven that is mixed into a large amount of flour. What happens? The leaven impacts the entire amount of flour, causing it to rise. Notice the amount of flour here: fifty pounds. That’s a lot of flour.
In order to leaven that much flour, you actually don’t need a ton of leaven, depending on what type you are using. A little bit has a far-reaching effect.
What is this teaching us? Christ’s kingdom would not be limited to a small swath of land in the Middle East nor would it be limited to the first century. Christ’s kingdom would prevail against all rival kingdoms, including Satan’s kingdom. This heavenly kingdom would stretch to the nations.
As Jesus tells his disciples in Acts 1:8:
Acts 1:8 CSB
8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come on you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
Christ’s kingdom affects every aspect of life, and it stretches to every inch of land on this earth. In other words, his kingdom speaks to my entire life—my relationships, my resources, and my aspirations. But it also has a cosmic impact, stretching to the most remote places in the world.
Illustration: Just this week, I was a listening to a podcast called “The Storm in the Desert.” It tells of God’s amazing work that He is doing in the Middle East in countries such as the United Arab Emirates. That nation has a large portion of the population who are from other nations, and the Lord has allowed multiple vibrant churches to be started (with the permission of the Muslim leaders there), and those churches have been a major sources of reaching unreached people groups who move to the UAE. Christ’s kingdom is expanding!
This is a promise, but also this is a call for us to embrace this truth. When we talk about missions, we are not dreaming of making the Kingdom something that it was never intended to be. We are simply carrying out the very nature Christ’s kingdom because He is the Lord of heaven and earth.
Brothers and sisters, let us go forth boldly, knowing that we are citizens of a kingdom that cannot be shaken because our King has conquered all.
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