Some among the crowd told Jesus how Pilate, the Roman governor, had his soldiers slaughter some Galileans and mix their blood with the temple sacrifices. Jesus challenged the idea that these Galileans were ‘worse sinners’ than all the others because of how they suffered. For Jesus the severity of their suffering was not necessarily related to their severity of their sins. Jesus exhorted his hearers that they were also in need of repentance or they would likewise perish. Jesus mentions eighteen people who were killed when a tower in Jerusalem fell on them and said they were not ‘more guilty’ than others in Jerusalem. According to Jesus everyone is in need of and is responsible to repent! When we see others suffering, we are not to judge them to elevate ourselves. Human suffering is a ‘wake up’ call for all of us to repent for we know what we actually deserve. (13:1-5)
According to
Jesus tragedies with human causes (Galileans massacred by Pilate—13:1) and tragedies with natural causes
(the fallen tower—13:4) cannot be
directly linked the sin of sufferers. Those experiencing tragedies are not
necessarily worse than those who are free from them. When we see people suffering
it should evoke compassion and instill within us an attitude of repentance. The
suffering of others is no reason to judge them or to think of ourselves as
better than others. We ought to live a life of ongoing repentance knowing that
God in Christ does not treat us as our sins deserve (Psalm 103:1-12).
Jesus tells a parable of a man with a fig tree in his vineyard. He has
patiently looked for fruit on this fig tree for three years, but has found
none. Now the owner concludes that because
the tree is wasting good soil it should be cut down. The caretaker asks for
another year to dig around the tree and fertilize it. If after another the tree
bears fruit great, but if not then it is to be cut down. (13:6-9)
A fig tree
should mature after three years, and yet after three years the tree is still barren
(13:6–9). The owner wants it cut
down, but the caretaker asks for another year to fertilize that it might bear
fruit. Consequently, it is God’s prerogative to exercise patience. He expects
that we bear the fruit and the absence of temporal judgment is a sign of God’s
patience and is not necessarily a sign of his approval. God’s patience and kindness
ought to lead us to repentance and we are to bear the fruit of repentance as
well (Romans 2:4, Lk 3:8).
Next we find Jesus teaching
in the synagogue on the Sabbath when a woman with a severely curved back
enters. She is so bent over that she can’t even stand up straight. He disabling
condition was being caused by a spirit that had been oppressing her for
eighteen years. Jesus sees her all hunched over and unable to look up or into
another person’s face. When Jesus sees her, he calls her forward in front of everyone.
Jesus announces that she is set free from her infirmity and he places his hands
on her. Immediately she straightens up and gives praise to God! (13:10-13)
Jesus heals the woman
of her severely curved back and delivers her from the spirit that had afflicted
her for eighteen long years. She is standing upright praising God, but this angers
the synagogue leader. He rebukes the crowd for coming to be healed on the
Sabbath and not on a work day. Jesus rebukes this as hypocrisy,
for they untie their farm animals and lead them to water on the Sabbath. If an
animal can be refreshed on the Sabbath, why would it be wrong to restore a daughter
of Abraham on the Sabbath? The woman has been bound by Satan for eighteen years
and restoring her health on the Sabbath is God honoring. This humiliates Jesus’
opponents, the crowd elated with the wondrous things Jesus was doing. (13:14-17)
Picture this woman
with her severely curved back shuffling into synagogue to hear a sermon. The
preacher, Jesus, calls her forward and
addresses her saying, “Woman, you are set
free from your infirmity”. Jesus touches her and immediately she straighten up and praises God (13:10-13). The synagogue leader is indignant that this has occurred
on the Sabbath (13:14). Jesus exposes
their hypocrisy since they untie their
animals and lead them to water on the Sabbath (13:15). This is a daughter of
Abraham (13:16) bound for eighteen
years and the Sabbath was about entering God’s rest (Hebrews 4:9-11). The Sabbath
day, and particularly the Jubilee Sabbath, was about restoration and liberation?
Wouldn’t it have been entirely appropriate that a daughter of Abraham to be transformed
on the Sabbath day? In their zeal for ceremonial holiness these leaders had
turned Sabbath-keeping into a burden void of real compassion. Jesus wouldn’t stand
for it, and boldly stood against it.
Then Luke records two short parables about the kingdom. The kingdom of God can be compared to a mustard
seed that a man plants which becomes a tree and birds land in its branches. It
is also like yeast that a woman mixed into about sixty pounds of flour until it
worked all through the dough. In both examples the kingdom starts of small and imperceptible,
almost undetected. In each case the seemingly insignificant beginning has a recognizable
longer term result. The seed becomes a tree that birds perch and the yeast is
worked into the dough and causes the whole dough to rise.
The two parables
are closely connected. The mustard seed is a small seed (Mark 4:31) and yeast
is only a tiny proportion that is added to the dough. Yet, the seed developed
into a tree in which birds take refuge (See Nebuchadnezzar’s dream tree; Daniel
4). The tiny portion of yeast causes the dough to double or triple in size (13:19, 21). These examples demonstrate
how God’s kingdom works (13:18, 20).
Jesus’ kingdom has a small and humble beginning, with only a few committed disciples.
However, in time by God’s grace and power this small group spreads throughout
the whole world.
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