Whether Visible or Invisible

 The two parables of Luke 13:18-21 are simple. Contextually they follow the healing of the "bent over" woman in the previous verses. The connection might not be so clear. In one parable mustard seed is thrown into a garden. Though small, the seed is visible and exposed. In the second parable the leaven is hidden in three pecks of meal, more than a bushel of meal. One lies seen on the ground, and the other is hidden within the meal. Both have potential to influence and affect their respective environments.

 

However, the seed on the ground is vulnerable to the very birds who could benefit most by leaving the seed alone. A bird could eat the mustard seed lying on the ground and forfeit future branches and future seed that this seed would produce. How often do we eat our seed instead of investing it for future benefit? The bird who eats the seed often destroys it. The synagogue ruler did not want the practice of Jesus, i.e. healing on the Sabbath, to become the norm. He did not want this mustard seed of example to turn into a tree. So he sought to devour the seed and to render Jesus' example null and void. It was too late. The vulnerable seed on the ground was already germinating in the hearts of the crowd. They were already beginning to nest in its branches. It is also true that even when birds do devour plants, they often inadvertently spread the seeds through their droppings. Acts 8 is a good example of how those who tried to destroy the faith only spread it, and the very one who tried the most to stop its spread was the very one God used to spread it throughout the Gentile world. Ironic isn't it?

 

Now the leaven is more subtle. It is not visible. It is hidden in the meal. It will so integrate with the meal that you will not be able to tell one from the other. This is the secret workings of the kingdom. We often do not know what effect something has until years later. We don't see how a word hidden in some one's heart is growing and what it might produce. The evangelism of Acts 2 which resulted in 3000 baptisms was outward and dramatic. The teaching of Eunice and Lois hidden in the heart of young Timothy was more subtle. Which had more kingdom effect, Peter's one sermon or Timothy's life?

 

The lesson is clear. Both visible and invisible means are used by God to further the kingdom. A bold act may produce dramatic results. A secret kindness may also. We know the reaction of the synagogue ruler and the healed woman, but was there a little child there in the crowd that day who saw, heard, and never forgot, and who grew up to change the world more than all the others? God knows. For us, we must never stop throwing seed into the garden and hiding yeast in the meal.

Bent Over

 Eighteen years is the span of time from birth to high school graduation. That is a long time to be bent over. This daughter of Abraham (Luke 13) suffered and cried for a very long time. In my ministry some of my greatest sympathy is reserved for folks with back problems. When my back hurts I get an adjustment or two and I am okay, but many find little relief day in a day out. There is no way to lie down that does not hurt. They can't stand long without hurting. When I think of "bent over" I think of my grandmother Hattie Myers from Kentucky. She had a hump on her back. I never knew it to slow her down, but as I see it through adult eyes today I know she must have been in great pain most of the time. Yet she quilted, washed clothes in a ringer washer out back, made a garden without a tractor, kept chickens, mended the roof with grandpa (this was the only time I saw her in pants, overalls to be exact), and upholstered furniture. She sat humped over a sowing machine for hours at a time.

The woman of Luke 13 was doing what she always did on the Sabbath, attending synagogue. Did she know there was a visiting Rabbi that day? Would it have mattered? She was going to "church" because that is what you do on Saturday (or Sunday). Jesus was into His lesson. We are told what the topic was that day. This is when he spies this hunched over woman in the crowd. At that precise moment what crossed over the mind of the Savior of the world? What was the "mind of Christ" as He looked out from the pulpit? Was he thinking of agendas, schedules, completing His message, what others would think, the order of worship, or getting out on time? Here is what I see.

Jesus thought: "I am not too busy with teaching to put into practice what I am teaching." Which is more important, teaching or putting the teaching into practice? Well both are important, but if we are constantly teaching and never obeying, what good is that?

Jesus thought: "I feel compassion for that dear old lady in the second row who cannot straighten up." Jesus was not so into His message that He could not see the pain of another and feel something.

Jesus thought: "I know why this woman is bent over like that, and I know what to do about it." Jesus saw more than curvature of the spine. He saw spiritual affliction caused by a spirit directed by Satan himself. Jesus saw a battlefield. Others saw an old woman.

Jesus thought: "I will heal her now and deal with objections later." Jesus knew what day it was and He knew what kind of reaction He would get from the Jewish leaders, but this did not stop Him from doing the right thing. Jesus cared not for what others thought.

Jesus thought: "This is a teachable and worshipful moment." Jesus stopped His teaching to create a teachable moment that neutralized the evil powers in the spirit realm, enraged the spiritual opposition of the Jewish leaders, produced worship led by a woman, and caused an entire crowd to rejoice.

A woman had been humiliated by Satan. A synagogue ruler was humiliated by Jesus. A woman was freed by Jesus. A synagogue ruler was indignant and enslaved by his own pride. A woman stood up straight and walked out of that synagogue. A ruler was bent out of shape and walked out bent over.