Luke 13:10 He was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath day. 11 Behold, there was a woman who had a spirit of infirmity eighteen years. She was bent over, and could in no way straighten herself up. 12 When Jesus saw her, he called her, and said to her, “Woman, you are freed from your infirmity.” 13 He laid his hands on her, and immediately she stood up straight and glorified God.
14 The ruler of the synagogue, being indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, said to the multitude, “There are six days in which men ought to work. Therefore come on those days and be healed, and not on the Sabbath day!”
15 Therefore the Lord answered him, “You hypocrites! Doesn’t each one of you free his ox or his donkey from the stall on the Sabbath, and lead him away to water? 16 Ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham whom Satan had bound eighteen long years, be freed from this bondage on the Sabbath day?”
17 As he said these things, all his adversaries were disappointed and all the multitude rejoiced for all the glorious things that were done by him.
Again, teaching in a synagogue on the Sabbath, Jesus encounters and heals a woman who had been afflicted by a spirit for eighteen years. Rather than rejoicing and praising God, the rulers of the synagogue became indignant and chided Jesus. Upon hearing the reprimand, Jesus won the admiration of the crowd by answering, “…You hypocrites! Doesn’t each one of you free his ox or his donkey from the stall on the Sabbath…?” Don’t you let your animals out of the barn and into the pasture even on the Sabbath?
Seeing the crowd agree with Jesus, the leaders of the synagogue were disappointed. They were losing their power and prestige.
Luke 13:18 He said therefore, “What is God’s Kingdom like? To what shall I compare it? 19 It is like a grain of mustard seed which a man took and put in his own garden. It grew and became a large tree, and the birds of the sky live in its branches.”
20 Again he said, “To what shall I compare God’s Kingdom? 21 It is like yeast, which a woman took and hid in three measures of flour, until it was all leavened.”
The use of the transition therefore indicates that there is a connection between what had just happened — all the multitude rejoiced for all the glorious things that were done by him — and the point that Jesus was about to make. Though the synagogue leaders opposed Christ, the multitude rejoiced. In other words, the Kingdom was growing just like a tiny mustard seed grows into a great tree that houses birds. Three measures of flour will make 20 large loaves of bread enough to feed one hundred people, and yet just a little bit of yeast causes the whole batch of dough to rise. Christ’s Kingdom, though tiny, is beginning to grow.
Jesus’ audience of first century Jews living under Roman occupation expected the Kingdom of God to arrive in unmistakable power to overthrow their oppressors. But Jesus is explaining the seemingly upside-down metrics of the Kingdom. It starts as a tiny seed or a small packet of yeast and grows almost imperceptibly. In fact, in hindsight we have witnessed what the early Christians could have hardly imagined – that tiny mustard seed of the Kingdom has now grown to fill the whole earth with billions of Christians just as Christ promised.
Luke 13:22 He went on his way through cities and villages, teaching, and traveling on to Jerusalem. 23 One said to him, “Lord, are they few who are saved?”
He said to them, 24 “Strive to enter in by the narrow door, for many, I tell you, will seek to enter in and will not be able. 25 When once the master of the house has risen up, and has shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and to knock at the door, saying, ‘Lord, Lord, open to us!’ then he will answer and tell you, ‘I don’t know you or where you come from.’ 26 Then you will begin to say, ‘We ate and drank in your presence, and you taught in our streets.’ 27 He will say, ‘I tell you, I don’t know where you come from. Depart from me, all you workers of iniquity.’ 28 There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth when you see Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and all the prophets in God’s Kingdom, and yourselves being thrown outside. 29 They will come from the east, west, north, and south, and will sit down in God’s Kingdom. 30 Behold, there are some who are last who will be first, and there are some who are first who will be last.”
Thinking of the tiny mustard seed growing so slowly that the growth is almost imperceptible, a disciple asked Jesus, “Are they few who are saved?” Rather than directly answering the question, Jesus used the occasion of the question to again turn the topic back to the urgency of making a decision now for Christ. Many in Israel, particularly the religious leadership, rejected Christ. They thought they could live like they wanted to now, following their shortsighted desires giving no thought to where they will spend eternity. Those who eat, drink, and make merry, Ecclesiastes 8:15 forget that one day the door to the Kingdom will be shut. Those who rejected Christ will be standing outside knocking on the door, begging, “Lord, Lord open to us.” But it is too late. The Lord will answer, “I don’t know you, because in this life they rejected him. It is appointed to men once to die and after that the judgment.” Hebrews 9:27
For three years they had rejected Christ, placing their confidence instead in the fact that they were the chosen descendants of Abraham. They didn’t think that they were sick so they thought they had no need of the Great Physician. They thought that they were privileged. They believed themselves to be first, but Jesus said that they would actually be last: locked out. On the other hand, the Gentiles throughout the world will come from the east, west, north, and south. Gentiles, who formerly were last, having no part in God’s Kingdom, will be grafted in, becoming first. Ezekiel 37:1-23, Romans 11:11-32
Luke 13:31 On that same day, some Pharisees came, saying to him, “Get out of here, and go away, for Herod wants to kill you.”
32 He said to them, “Go and tell that fox, ‘Behold, I cast out demons and perform cures today and tomorrow, and the third day I complete my mission. 33 Nevertheless I must go on my way today and tomorrow and the next day, for it can’t be that a prophet would perish outside of Jerusalem.’
34 “ “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, like a hen gathers her own brood under her wings, and you refused! 35 Behold, your house is left to you desolate. I tell you, you will not see me until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!’” Psalm 118:26
I don’t want to get too deep in the weeds here, but look at Christ’s response to Herod.
Is it Christ-like to insult and mock political leaders who oppose and seek to murder Christians?
Listen to God’s answer to that question.
The One enthroned in heaven laughs;
the Lord scoffs at them.
He rebukes them in his anger
and terrifies them in his wrath, saying,
I have installed my king
on Zion, my holy mountain.
Psalm 2:4-6
Make no mistake about it, Satan is powerful and can do us great harm. Herod is powerful and could have had Jesus killed. Political leaders today around the world have it in their power to persecute Christians, but we have two incomparable sources of power and comfort.
First, we understand the big picture: our Savior is reigning, and has prepared a place for us in heaven. John 14:1-3
Second, we have been equipped with the power of the Holy Spirit so that we may accomplish our mission here on earth. We are able to, put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. Ephesians 6:11
Jesus knew that his fate was to be crucified in Jerusalem during Passover. That is what the original Passover was all about. The lamb without defect was sacrificed and eaten, in preparation for the exodus from slavery in Egypt. The lamb’s blood was sprinkled on the doorposts of the home of each believing Jewish slave. We too were slaves: slaves to Satan. Christ came to set the prisoners free. Those who have confessed their sins and accepted the blood sacrifice of Christ on their behalf are set free. We commemorate our exodus from the kingdom of Satan and into Christ’s Kingdom of light by taking communion, symbolizing the flesh and blood of Christ, the Lamb of God that bought our freedom.
In thinking about Jerusalem, Christ laments that he has spent three years nurturing Jerusalem and teaching of his Kingdom longing to gather [their] children together like a hen gathers her own brood under her wings. Three years looking for fruit on the fig tree of Israel. But Jerusalem, represented by the religious leaders of Israel, refused. And because they rejected their Messiah, their house will be desolated. As the Book of Revelation describes, that is exactly what happened. In 70 A.D. God used the Roman army to destroy the apostate religious leaders who crucified Christ, a topic that Christ will address in greater detail in Luke 21.