Luke 13(10–35)

Introduction

We spent our time last week on the passage which runs from verse 35 of chapter 12 to verse 9 of chapter 13. And those verses were all about the coming of the Lord and what it means for us. And, of course, there was his first coming, when he came into the world as one of us and was born to the virgin Mary. And then there’s his second coming, which has not happened yet, but which will certainly happen one day.

And the Lord said that he came the first time to bring fire and division on the earth. Fire represents judgment. And while his coming into the world means peace for those who believe in him, it also means fire and judgment for those who do not believe in him. And since some believe and some do not, then his coming brings division. The world is divided. In fact, families are divided and natural ties are strained and broken, because some in one family believe while others in the same family do not. In one family, the parents believe, but a child does not. And in another family, it’s the reverse, because the child comes to a living faith in the Saviour, but the parents do not believe and don’t understand it and disapprove of it. Families are divided. Friendships are divided too when one person is converted to faith in christ and that person’s former friends cannot accept it. The Lord’s coming on the earth brought fire and judgment, because not everyone believes. And it brought division.

And the Lord also spoke about his second coming. No one knows when he will return, because he’ll come like a thief in the night and at an hour we cannot anticipate. But he will surely come. And we must be ready for his coming. We must be like good and wise servants who are ready for the return of their master. And so, we must be ready for the Lord. And if we’re ready, then when he comes, he’ll invite us to sit and to enjoy the wedding supper of the Lamb, that great feast which all of God’s people will eat and enjoy in the presence of the Lord, when Christ himself will serve us. And together we’ll celebrate his victory over sin and Satan and death.

And how do we get ready for the Lord’s return? We get ready for the Lord’s return by believing in him, because whoever believes in Christ the Saviour receives forgiveness and peace with God. And so, we can look forward to Christ’s coming, because his coming will not mean judgment for those who believe, but salvation and eternal life and everlasting joy in the presence of the Lord.

And those who believe are to live as Christ’s faithful servants in the world. We’re to use whatever gifts and abilities and talents and skills he’s given us to love and serve the people around us, because that is the will of God for us and this is how we bring glory to his name.

And in the last part of last week’s passage, someone in the crowd referred to a terrible incident which had happened when Pilate killed a group of Galileans. What happened to them was awful, of course. But the Lord said to the people around them that they all needed to repent. They all needed to turn from their life of sin and unbelief and they needed to turn to God for forgiveness. They all needed to repent, otherwise they would all perish. What happened to the Galileans was bad, but they should regard it as a warning to them of the judgment to come if they do not repent.

God is patient with us. He’s like the gardener of the fruitless fig tree who wanted to give it one last chance to produce fruit. And so, God is patient with us. He’s delaying the judgment to give sinners time to repent. But while he’s patient, his patience will not last for ever and the day is coming when Christ will come again to judge the living and the dead and to punish the wicked and to give eternal life to all who trusted in him.

That’s what we were thinking about last week. Today’s passage begins with a miracle: the Lord healed a crippled woman who was in the congregation in the synagogue where the Lord was teaching. And that led to a dispute with the ruler of the synagogue who objected to the Lord healing someone on the Sabbath Day.

The passage also contains two parables or sayings about the kingdom of God: the kingdom of God is like a mustard seed and the kingdom of God is like yeast.

And then the Lord was asked a question about whether only a few will be saved. And the Lord replied by saying how some will be excluded from the kingdom of God, but ultimately people will come from east and west and north and south to take their places at the feast in the kingdom of God.

And the passage ends with the Lord saying that he must keep going on his way to Jerusalem, because that’s the place where prophets die. And though he will die, he spoke of the time in the future when he will come again.

And so, what’s the passage about? It’s about a number of things, but perhaps the one theme that unites the parts together is the kingdom of God. By healing the woman, the Lord demonstrated once again that he is God’s Spirit-Anointed and Conquering King. We then have two parables or sayings about the kingdom. Then he says that not everyone will enter the kingdom, but many will. And Christ the King has to die in order to save his people.

The Kingdom of God

Since I haven’t said much about the kingdom of God recently, let me begin by reminding you of what the Bible says about it.

And it begins with God who is the king over all that he has made in heaven and on earth, the invisible and the visible creation. As we heard on Wednesday evening from Psalm 95, the Lord is the great God, the great king above all gods. He is king over every power and authority and there is no one over him to whom he must give an account. On the contrary, we must give an account of ourselves and our lives to him, because he rules over us and everything else. The depths of the earth are in his hands, as are the mountains peaks. They all belong to him, because he made them.

But when God created the heavens and the earth and all that they contain, he appointed Adam and Eve and their descendants to rule over the earth on his behalf. And so, after creating them in his image, it says that he blessed them and said to them: ‘Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground.’ God appointed them to rule over the other creatures. And he also appointed them to subdue the world. That is, they were to bring it under control and to develop it, to open up what God had made and to work it and shape it and to develop it. They were to do so as God’s ambassadors or representatives on the earth, ruling over the animals and subduing the earth on God’s behalf.

And yet it all went wrong when Adam and Eve listened to the serpent, who was the devil in disguise, instead of listening to the voice of God, who commanded them not to eat the fruit from the tree of knowledge. Instead of listening to God their King, they listened to satan. And so, sin came into the world. And from that moment on, they were no longer kings and queens, ruling the world, because now they were taken captive by satan to do his will; and sin ruled over them as did death. And so, everyone who is descended from them in the ordinary way is born a sinner and they are sinfully inclined to do evil, instead of doing what was right in the eyes of the Lord. And death came into the world as the wages of sin and it spread to the whole human race and to everything else.

However, God still loved the world, even though it was spoiled because of our sin. God still loved the world and he was not prepared to give it up completely to sin and satan and death. And in time, he set apart the people of Israel for himself and he made them his kingdom on the earth. Every aspect of their life was to be governed by the will of God as revealed to them in his law. And his law directed how they were to worship him and how they were to live together as a nation. God was their king, but he appointed priests to oversee their worship and he appointed kings to rule over their life together. And they were to be a light to the nations, pointing the pagan nations to the one true God who is king over all and to the hope of a new heavens and earth, where all that is wrong in this life will be put right and where all of God’s people — gathered from every nation of the world — will serve him in righteousness. And God announced to his people that he was going to send them a new and better king who will rule over them on God’s behalf and who will deliver them from their sin and misery and who will enable them to live in that new and better world to come.

Of course, the people of Israel were still sinners and instead of doing what is right, they were sinfully inclined to do what is wrong. And though the Lord was patient with them, and though he sent them prophets to warn them, they did not listen. And so, he sent them into exile, far away from the Promised Land, which was left desolate, while his people were taken away as slaves.

Years later, the Lord graciously and freely brought them back to the Promised Land. But though they were back in the Promised Land, they were not free, because they were ruled over by a foreign king. And yet, it was in those days, that an angel announced to the virgin Mary that she would give birth to a son and that her son will be king over God’s people. And when her son grew up, he went into a synagogue and read from the prophet Isaiah about God’s Spirit-Anointed and Conquering King who was coming to proclaim and to provide peace and freedom for his people. And after the reading, he announced to the people that that Scripture had now been fulfilled. It had now been fulfilled because he is God’s Spirit-Anointed and Conquering King and he had come to save them from their sin and misery and to establish God’s kingdom on the earth.

Verses 10 to 17

And that brings us to verses 10 to 17 of today’s passage where we see Christ the King in action.

Luke tells us that the Lord Jesus was teaching in one of the synagogues one Sabbath. You’ll perhaps know that their synagogues were similar to our churches, because the people would meet on the Lord’s Day for worship and instruction. And on that particular day, the people were being instructed by the Lord Jesus.

Luke then tells us about this woman who was there. She had been crippled by a spirit for eighteen years. In other words, she suffered some kind of disability. Luke tells us that she was bent over and could not straighten up at all. It doesn’t appear that she had come to be healed. It appears she had come to the synagogue to worship the Lord and to hear the reading and preaching of his word. But on this particular day, God’s Spirit-Anointed and Conquering King was there and he called her forward and announced to her that she was now set free from her infirmity. What did Isaiah’s prophecy say about God’s Spirit-Anointed and Conquering King? That he would proclaim freedom for prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind and that he would release the oppressed. And that’s what the Lord announced to this woman: she was released from her oppression, freed from her disability. And the Lord put his hands on her and immediately she straightened up and she began to praise God. As I’ve said before, the Lord Jesus put out his human hands and by the power of God the Holy Spirit, who was working through him, he healed her. And so, he restored her broken body to the way it was meant to be.

And that’s a sign of what the king will do for all his people. When he comes again in glory and with power, he’ll restore all of our bodies to the way they were always meant to be. There will be no more infirmity, no more disease, no more death, or weeping or sorrow or pain. And in the meantime, he’s restoring us inwardly, isn’t he? He’s restoring us inwardly in the image of God, freeing us more and more from the power of sin in our lives and enabling us to do what is good and right in the eyes of the Lord. And when he comes again in glory and with power, he’ll complete that work and set us free from the power of sin completely so that every inclination of our heart will be to do what is right.

And as a sign of that, as a token of that, the Lord healed the woman and restored her broken body. Since he is God’s Spirit-Anointed and Conquering King, he conquered this woman’s disability and he set her free from her misery.

The ruler of the synagogue was indignant. He was annoyed with the Lord Jesus. He was annoyed, because it was the Sabbath Day. As far as he was concerned, healing someone of their infirmity was a form of work. And, work is forbidden on the Sabbath Day. And so, he said to the people: There are six days for work. Come and be healed on one of those days and not on the Sabbath Day which is for rest. And perhaps a number of them in the congregation were nodding along to what the synagogue ruler said, because the Lord began his reply with the words, ‘You hypocrites’. That’s ‘hypocrites’ in the plural. The synagogue ruler was not the only hypocrite who was there that day and a number of them were thinking the same thing as the ruler. And they were hypocrites because, while they were willing to untie their ox or donkey from its stall on a Sabbath Day, they were unwilling to let this woman be released from her disability on a Sabbath Day. They were willing for a donkey to be freed, but they were not willing for a woman to be freed. Shame on them for such hypocrisy and for such unkindness. And in this way, God’s Spirit-Anointed and Conquering King was able to subdue his enemies who were left feeling humiliated.

And before we move on to the next passage, it’s worth saying that it was fitting for the Lord to heal the woman on the Sabbath Day, because our weekly day of rest points forward and anticipates the eternal rest which all of God’s people will enjoy in God’s everlasting kingdom in the new heavens and earth, where there will be no more sickness or sorrow or disease or death or crying or pain, because Christ our King will do away with all of those things; and he’ll give us perfect peace and rest and happiness in God’s presence for ever.

Verses 18 to 21

Let’s move on now to verses 18 to 21 and these two parables or saying which tell us what the kingdom of God is like.

In verse 18 the Lord asked, ‘What is the kingdom of God like? What shall I compare it to? And in verse 20 he asked again: ‘What shall I compare the kingdom of God to?’ So, what is it like? It’s like a mustard seed and it’s like yeast. It’s like a mustard seed which a man took and planted in his garden. And what happened to it? It grew, didn’t it? And it didn’t just grow a little, it grew a lot so that it became a tree and birds of the air came and perched in its branches.

And what’s the point of this comparison? It’s to teach us that the kingdom of God grows. Christ the King came to establish it and it’s been growing ever since he died and was raised and ascended into heaven and it will continue to grow throughout the world until he comes again.

The way into his kingdom is through repentance and faith; and the doorway is opened to all who turn from their unbelief and sin and who turn in faith to the Saviour. So, through faith in Christ, we’re united to him and we become members of his kingdom on the earth.

And his kingdom is growing throughout the world, because Christ sent his apostles into the world to proclaim the good news. And he continues to send preachers into the world to proclaim the same good news. And he enables his people throughout the world to repent and believe so that they enter into it. Though the preaching of the good news of Christ’s death on the cross for sinners seems like weakness and foolishness to many, so that they do not believe, nevertheless God uses this weak, foolish message to call his people into his kingdom. He calls them by his Spirit who uses the preaching of the good news to convince and convert sinners to faith in Christ.

And in this way, the kingdom of God grows in the world as more and more people are converted to faith in Christ and enter his kingdom. And one day Christ the King will come again and every power that stands against him will be overthrown and his kingdom will then fill the whole earth and every knee will bow before him and every tongue will confess that he is Lord. His defeated enemies will be sent away to be punished for ever; and his victorious people will live with him for ever. And so, his kingdom will grow and grow and grow and in the end it will fill the earth.

Think of King Nebuchadnezzar’s dream which we read about in the book of Daniel. about the large statue made up of different metals. And then a rock was cut out and the rock struck the statue so that it broke into pieces. And the rock grew and became a large mountain that filled the earth. And Daniel explained that the large statue stands for all the kingdoms of the world, which are destined to perish. They will not last. They will all come to nothing. And the rock which struck the statue and which became a mountain stands for Christ and his kingdom which will grow and grow until it fills the earth. His kingdom was once a small rock. It was once like a mustard seed. But it will grow and grow and grow until it fills the earth and nothing and no-one can thwart it.

And his kingdom is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into a large amount of flour until it worked all through the dough. The image of yeast working its way through a large amount of flour conveys the idea once again that the kingdom will grow. But the image of yeast differs from the image of the mustard seed, because yeast penetrates and influences the flour. Yeast changes the flour and makes the dough rise. And so, this image speaks to us about the way the kingdom of God penetrates the whole of life and the whole of society. Its influence spreads throughout the world and it changes the world, just as yeast changes the dough.

So, Christ the king works in the hearts and minds and wills of his believing people to change us and to renew us in God’s image. By nature, or by birth, we are sinfully inclined to do what is wrong. But because of Christ’s renewing work in us, he enables us more and more to do what is right and to be the people we were always meant to be, freed more and more from the corrupting power of sin.

And Christ our King enables us to do what is right in every area of our lives: in the home with our family; in the workplace with our colleagues; in school and college with our classmates; in church with our fellow believers; in the community with our fellow citizens. Christ the King is at work in us and he changes us from the inside out.

And changing us affects the world around us, because we’re now seeking to do good to the people in our life instead of doing what is evil. We’re now honest and truthful and respectful and hard-working and kind and considerate and compassionate and we’re full of the fruit of the Spirit. And when we see things in the world around us which are wrong, we try with God’s help to put them right. Think of the enormous impact believers in the past have had on society because they were committed to making the world around them a better place.

And so, we gather together on Sundays for worship and instruction and fellowship. But then, just as the leaven must be taken out of the jar and mixed into the dough, so we must go out into the world and into society to serve Christ our King in all the different areas of our life. We must go back into our neighbourhoods and into our schools and colleges and into the workplace and into our clubs and societies and so on. Instead of remaining inside the church building, we’re to penetrate the whole of society. And in every place we go, and in every area of our life, we are to seek his kingdom and his righteousness. In other words, we are to seek to do what is right in the eyes of Christ our King and to live according to his will in the world and to change what needs to be changed. And he helps us by his Spirit. And in this way, his kingdom leavens the world around us and it influences it for good and for God’s glory.

Sin still exists. And sinners will still oppose Christ’s work in the world. The devil still rages against his kingdom. And so, perfection will never be obtained in this life and God’s kingdom will not fully come until Christ the King comes again. But even though perfection will never be obtained in this life, we must still serve Christ our King in our daily lives and pray for his kingdom to spread far and wide throughout the world and penetrate and influence the whole of society for its good and his glory.

So, what is the kingdom of God like? It’s like a mustard seed because it grows and grows and grows until it fills the earth. And it’s like yeast, because it penetrates all of life and affects everything for good.

Verses 22 to 35

Let’s move on now to verses 22 to 35. Someone asked the Lord whether only a few people will be saved. Apparently Jewish rabbis were asked this question all the time. And so, since it seemed to someone in the crowd that the Lord Jesus was a rabbi, let’s ask him what he thinks. But instead of answering the person’s directly, the Lord used his question to underline the point that whether there are many or few, each one of us needs to be certain about our own destiny. He says that we’re to make every effort to enter through the narrow door. So, the doorway into the kingdom is narrow. And we’ve all had that experience of having to squeeze through a tight opening. And it’s not easy, is it? Not everyone can get through a narrow opening. And not everyone will get through the doorway into the kingdom of God. Many will try, but will not be able to. And since that’s the case, then we need to make sure that we do what’s necessary to get through it.

And then he says that, while the door is now open, it will one day be shut. He uses the image of people standing outside a house, after the door has been shut, but the owner of the house will not open it for them. The time to get in has passed. They left it too late.

They then say that they know him: We ate and drank with you. You taught in our streets. And it seems he’s no longer thinking of the owner of the house, but he’s thinking of himself and he’s thinking of the end of time. People will say to him on the last day that they knew him. They ate and drank with Christ when he was on the earth. They heard him teach them in the streets. But he will say to them that he doesn’t know them or where they have come from. And he will send them away.

Where will he send them? To that place of weeping where there is gnashing of teeth. He’s referring to hell, isn’t he? And he says that they will see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God. So, Abraham and the others are in the presence of God in the life to come. But those who did not enter when they had the chance will be thrown out for ever. And Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and the prophets will not be the only ones in God’s kingdom in the end. There will be people from the east and west and the north and south. They will come from everywhere, from all the nations and they will come into the kingdom of God in the life to come and will take their places at the feast.

And so, many will be saved. Many will enjoy eternal life in the kingdom of God in the life to come. Many will be saved. But not all will be saved. Some will be shut out. They are the ones who did not make the effort to squeeze through the narrow door. And what does it take to squeeze through the narrow door? It takes repentance and faith. Repentance and faith are what we need to slip through the narrow door and into eternal life. Turning from our unbelief and disobedience and turning with faith to Christ, because whoever believes in him is united to him. And whoever is united to him will live with him for ever.

And they will live with him, because Christ our King was determined to keep going on his journey to Jerusalem, because Jerusalem was the place where prophets died, and he must die in Jerusalem for the salvation of his people.

There in Jerusalem, he gave up his life on the cross as the ransom to pay for all that we have done wrong. There in Jerusalem, he shed his blood to cleanse us of our guilt. There in Jerusalem, he suffered the wrath of God so that we can have peace with God for ever and the hope of everlasting life and peace and joy in God’s everlasting kingdom, which is coming now and which will be completed when he comes again.