There are two hobbies I really enjoy. One is gardening; the other is baking—especially pizza making. Now, if gardening and baking aren’t your thing, you might want to take it up with Jesus, because they are literally the two things he mentions in our passage today.

When it comes to gardening, I’ve only been at this for a few years, since I’ve owned a home, but I never cease to be amazed at the stark contrast between how a garden starts and how it finishes. What I mean is, when a garden starts, especially if you start from seed, you start with these tiny little specks of matter. If I held a seed in my hand right now, you wouldn’t be able to see it. And then you bury them in the dirt. And weeks later, they come alive. Up pops a living green thing. And given enough time and the right conditions, barring any disease or pests, you get something big, beautiful, and delicious. And you’re beautifying the landscape and providing all sorts of resources for birds and pollinators. It’s stupendous.

When it comes to pizza making, I’m gonna tell you right now, the water matters (the softer the better), but more than that, it’s all about the slow ferment. The slow ferment. If you want decent pizza, you just can’t make the dough the same day and pop it into the oven. Not gonna work, at least it’s not gonna taste as delicious as it could. Trust me. Instead, make your dough—combine the water, flour, salt, sugar, oil, and that magical thing called yeast. Again—something super tiny! And you really don’t need a lot of it! Just a tiny bit. My pizza recipe calls for .5% yeast compared to the flour. Just a couple of grams. So you combine it and then you make your dough balls and put them in the fridge for about 72 hours. Cover them so no air gets in. This is very important. Why? Because you want to give the yeast time to work, especially at low temperatures. Slow but steady. And when you keep checking on it, what do you see? It’s gotten a little bigger. And then bigger. And bigger. And that’s all because of the yeast! And by the time you eventually shape your pizza, add your toppings, and pop it into a screaming-hot oven on a steel or a stone, you will have something that is wonderful and puffy and delicious. Why? The yeast has done its work! Yeast, or leaven, is another thing that starts small but ends big and awesome, and it affects everything.

Do you see it? God has sprinkled these images, these pictures, all around us. And in today’s passage, we learn that they are pictures of the KINGDOM. According to our passage today, the kingdom of God is like a seed, and it’s like yeast, or leaven.

18 He said therefore, “What is the kingdom of God like? And to what shall I compare it? 19 It is like a grain of mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his garden, and it grew and became a tree, and the birds of the air made nests in its branches.” 20 And again he said, “To what shall I compare the kingdom of God? 21 It is like leaven that a woman took and hid in three measures of flour, until it was all leavened.” Luke 13:18–21.

Now, just before these verses about the seed and the leaven, there’s a whole other section about a woman who is healed by Jesus. But the sections are connected, and you know that they are connected because in v. 18 it says “therefore.” There’s a therefore at the beginning of v. 18, and so we want to ask, what is the therefore there for? Well, it’s there to show us that this whole passage is about the kingdom of God. The whole passage. Not just the part with the two parables, but the part before that with the woman and the healing. Jesus explains the healing in terms of the kingdom, and thus the whole passage is about the kingdom of God.

In particular, throughout this passage, Luke is saying to us, he is beckoning us: SEE the kingdom of God. It’s all around you. Do you see it? See the kingdom of God. That’s the big idea for today. Luke, and we would say Jesus, want us to see, want us to know that the kingdom of God exists, and that it’s breaking into our world today, ever since 30 AD. And that it’s growing and growing and growing. See the kingdom of God.

And the passage, therefore, shows us three ways that we can see the kingdom of God. We want to see, recognize, the kingdom of God, but the question is how. Well, there are three ways. First, see the kingdom of God 1. Through Jesus’s freeing power. 2. Through the true aim of the Law. 3. Through its slow and surprising growth.

Let’s look at each of these one at a time.

1. Through Jesus’s freeing power (vv. 10–13)

Our passage today takes place after a break from the previous passage. We have been in a long section of teaching, but now there is a break because it says in v. 10, “Now he was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath.” There’s a change in scene, or a break, and now he was teaching in a synagogue. In fact, this is the last time Jesus will be in a synagogue in Luke’s Gospel.

And then we read, “11 And behold, there was a woman who had had a disabling spirit for eighteen years. She was bent over and could not fully straighten herself.” It’s not clear exactly what medical condition this was. There are some theories, but it’s not the point. What we know is a) it was really difficult; she was bent doubled over, b) she had dealt with this issue for eighteen years with no relief (think back to a moment when you were 18 years ago), and c) it was actually caused by a demonic spirit. We know that because later on in v. 16 Jesus says that Satan had “bound” her.

Now, this raises questions, but I’ll get to that in a minute. But next, it says, “12 When Jesus saw her, he called her over…” Notice who takes the initiative here: it’s Jesus. The woman doesn’t present herself to Jesus. She’s probably resigned to her fate, but Jesus sees her, Jesus cares about her, Jesus acts.

“12 He called her over and said to her, ‘Woman, you are freed from your disability.’ 13 And he laid his hands on her, and immediately she was made straight, and she glorified God.”

Jesus acts. He takes the initiative toward this dear suffering woman, this child of Abraham. He calls this woman over, tells her she is freed, lays his hands on her, and immediately she is healed. And she responds by glorifying God. Wow. What can we learn from this? I think there are a few things the Spirit wants to show us through this part of the passage.

First, Jesus sets captives free. Jesus sets the captives free! In fact, this idea, this theme, about Jesus’s freeing power, goes all the way back to Jesus’s very first appearance in a synagogue, back in Luke 4. Do you remember this?

*And as was his custom, he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and he stood up

And as was his custom, he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and he stood up to read. ¹⁷ And the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written,

¹⁸ “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, ¹⁹ to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

And then he says

²¹ “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” 

Liberty to the captives! Liberty to those who are oppressed! Do you hear that? Jesus, reading from Isaiah chapter 61, casts his whole ministry in terms of proclaiming good news and setting free those who are captive. And so, back now in Luke 13, we see him doing this! Setting free the captives. That’s the first thing we learn: Jesus sets the captives free.

But second, we can go a little further and tie it to the kingdom. We can say that the kingdom of God is all about freedom. Beyond just the fact that Jesus sets the captives free, which is amazing, there’s a wider point here about the kingdom of God. How do we know that? Remember the “therefore” in v. 18. Jesus wants us to see that what he’s doing here in the synagogue is not just some isolated incident of compassion. It’s tied to something bigger and more beautiful. It’s tied to the kingdom.

So what is the kingdom of God?

The kingdom of God simply means God’s reign and rule on earth, especially, in this era, through the church of Jesus Christ. The kingdom of God is not tied to a single geographical place like Israel or America. It is not tied to one single institutional expression of the Church, whether Citylight or one of the historic churches. No, it shows up anywhere and everywhere that God is especially active, piercing the domain of Satan, especially through his people, the church.

Theologian Geerhardus Vos put it this way: “To him [Jesus] the kingdom exists there, where not merely God is supreme, for that is true at all times and under all circumstances, but where God supernaturally carries through his supremacy against all opposing powers and brings man to the willing recognition of the same.” He’s saying that the kingdom is God’s reign and rule on earth, particularly where we see him conquering all opposing powers and helping people recognize that.

So the kingdom of God is right here, right now, in this place, Citylight Manayunk. But it’s also all around the country and the world, wherever true churches exist. Not just in the U.S., but also in places around the world where the people of God are—places even like Morocco, China, the Middle East, Iran, wherever the church of Jesus Christ is present and growing.

But the thing about the kingdom is that it’s both a now and a not-yet. The kingdom of God is NOW—it’s already here. It shows up in preaching, conversion, acts of mercy, exorcism, and healing. But it’s also NOT YET—it hasn’t come yet in its fullness. That’s why later on Jesus gives the illustrations about the mustard seed and the leaven. But we’ll get to that in a bit.

So the kingdom of God is about freedom. That’s why Paul says in Galatians 5:1, “It is for freedom that Christ set you free,” and why he says in 2 Corinthians 3:17, “Where the Spirit of the Lord is there is freedom.” Freedom!

So see the kingdom of God, especially through Jesus’s freeing power. What does this mean for us? How can we apply this?

Well, here’s a question: Where are you still bound?

There are so many ways we can be bound by Satan. Let’s start where the passage starts: it could be illness. Now, not all illness is caused by Satan. I’m not saying that. But apparently at least some of it is—that’s what Jesus clearly says here. So how about you? Are you bound by illness, whether physical or mental, that is caused by Satan? That has a spiritual cause? Jesus has come to set you free from that! Sometimes he does it instantly; other times it may take more time.

And if you’re like, “How do I know? I’ve never even considered that possibility before. I’ve been dealing with X, Y, or Z for years, and honestly, this thought never crossed my mind.”

Well, it’s real simple: ask. Ask Jesus to free you, in simple faith. “Jesus, this thing I’ve been dealing with, if there is any spiritual causality to this, would you release me from it? I want to be free and want Satan to have no dominion in my life.”

Or ask me, one of the other pastors, or a trusted Christian friend to pray this for you. And then see what happens! You may experience immediate freedom. Or it may be a “not yet.” God may say to you what he said to the Apostle Paul when he asked to be freed from a spiritual attack from Satan: “My grace is sufficient for you and my power is made perfect in weakness.” It might be a now; it might be a not yet. But either way, you WILL be free. Jesus came to set the captives free.

If you’re not sure about this, talk to me or talk to one of your pastors if you would like further guidance.

But it might not be illness. All of us are, or were, bound by sin. Are you bound by sin? Addiction? Stuck in loops? Bad habits and bad ways of thinking or being that you just can’t seem to get out of?

Friend, Jesus has come to set you free! He can free you today! If you have never given your life to Christ, if you have never repented of your sins and trusted in Christ and Christ alone for your salvation and freedom, you can do that today. Today can be the day you do that. You can come to Jesus, and he will set you free from sin’s penalty and set you on a course of getting free from its power.

Or, if you are a Christian but are still experiencing bondage in some area of your life, maybe today is the day when Jesus wants to set you free from what is holding you back. Come to Jesus.

In addition to experiencing freedom for ourselves, we can also, as disciples of Jesus, help others find freedom in Christ. This doesn’t have to look dramatic. It can also look like the ordinary, everyday work of making disciples of Jesus to the glory of God.

But whatever your freedom story—whether illness, addiction, oppression, or sin—the passage gives us all a very clear way to apply this: glorify God.

Immediately she was made straight, and she glorified God. (Luke 13:13)

Glorify God! That means that she straight-up praised God! Christian, if Jesus has set you free, whether decades ago when you first came to Christ, whether last year when you overcame that sin or addiction, or today as you are hearing this, respond to Jesus’s freeing power by glorifying God—praising him!

Or just glorify God for the freedom that someone else has found, like the people in the synagogue. Only one was healed, but they all glorified God.

In a few minutes after the sermon, communion, and baptisms, we will have a time of singing together, and I want to especially invite you at that time to think back on your past freedom, or the freedom of another, and give glory to God!

The kingdom of God is here, and we see it through Jesus’s freeing power. That’s the first point.

But second, we see the kingdom of God through the true aim of the law.

2. Through the true aim of the law (vv. 14–17)

Back to our text, notice what happens immediately after Jesus sets the captive free. Does everyone glorify God? No!

14 But the ruler of the synagogue, indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, said to the people, “There are six days in which work ought to be done. Come on those days and be healed, and not on the Sabbath day.”

Ugh, there’s one in every crowd. Instead of rejoicing that this woman has been set free, instead of glorifying God that the kingdom has broken through, the synagogue ruler, whose role was to make sure that the law and commandments were read and taught properly each Saturday, freaks out.

Why? Not because of what Jesus did per se, but when he did it.

You see, long ago, God had instituted the Sabbath for his people Israel. This was one day a week, Saturday in fact, when God’s people, Israel, were to completely rest from their labors. They weren’t allowed to do any work. And apparently the synagogue leader is seeing Jesus’s healing as work.

Notice that he doesn’t even have the guts to confront Jesus, but he yells at the other people and calls out the woman. But Jesus jumps in immediately.

Now, the interesting thing is that Jesus doesn’t disagree with him. He doesn’t say, “No, it’s not work. Get off my back.” Instead, he accepts the premise that it’s work, but he shows him that there is a certain type of work that was always OK to do on the Sabbath:

15 Then the Lord answered him, “You hypocrites! Does not each of you on the Sabbath untie his ox or his donkey from the manger and lead it away to water it? 16 And ought not this woman, a daughter of Abraham whom Satan bound for eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath day?”

Now, there’s something going on here I want you to see. You can’t really see it in the English, but you can see it in the Greek. And it’s this: that word for “untie” and the word for “loosed” are the same word!

In other words, it’s like Jesus is saying, “Hey, you LOOSE your ox or donkey on the Sabbath to water it, don’t you? (Yes, they do.) Well, if you’d loose an animal on the Sabbath, why isn’t it OK to LOOSE this woman—an image-bearer, a daughter of Abraham—on the Sabbath? Surely, if the lesser thing, loosing the animal, is OK, then the greater thing, loosing an image-bearer, is OK too, right?”

That’s why Jesus calls them hypocrites. They will loose the lesser thing but not the greater thing: a fellow image-bearer. The rabbinic tradition was united in understanding Torah to require compassion to animals in distress; how much more an image-bearer.

What Jesus is really getting at here is that the Sabbath principle of rest, as good and godly as it was, had some obvious exceptions, and the reason it had common-sense exceptions is that the Sabbath, like the whole Old Testament law, was always pointing to something more. It has a true aim beyond itself. In fact, it’s pointing to the Messiah and his kingdom.

You see, in the Old Testament God gives his people hundreds of commands—613, by the count of the rabbis. Some of these were unique to Israel, while others still definitely apply today, like do not murder and do not steal. But whether we are talking about the more moral parts of the law or the more ceremonial parts of the law, all of them ultimately point to the Messiah and his coming kingdom. The true aim of the law is to point to Jesus and his kingdom!

That’s why Jesus, in Mark 8, declares all foods clean—because the exterior cleanliness the kosher law demanded was a pointer to the interior cleanliness that only the Messiah provides! That’s why the Apostle Paul can say that Christ is the end, or goal, of the law for everyone who believes.

When it comes to the Sabbath in particular, the Sabbath was always meant to point beyond itself, to the coming rest in the kingdom of God. That’s why the writer of Hebrews says, “So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God.” (Heb. 4:9 ESV)

The Sabbath principle of rest was actually meant to be a pointer to the coming kingdom of God, the ultimate Sabbath for God’s people. To say it another way:

James Edwards: “For Jesus, the essence of Sabbath is not the postponement or avoidance of the work of God, but the completion of the work of God.”

Now, this is all very theoretical, but how can we apply this? Four quick ways.

First, learn to read the whole Bible in light of Jesus. The whole Bible. Old Testament, New Testament. Realize that all of the Bible—the law, the writings, the prophets—all points to Jesus! Consider getting a good study Bible, like the ESV Study Bible, to help you do this.

Second, be open to serving on your Sabbath. I hope that everyone here takes a day of rest, sets aside one day in seven for rest and worship. But our text helps us see that it is also appropriate to serve on your day of rest—especially in kingdom work that helps set the captives free. This doesn’t mean wearing yourself out so that it’s no longer restful, but don’t guard your rest so strongly that you turn a blind eye to opportunities to serve.

Serve on a Sunday morning. Serving Social on 9/27 or Connect Card. Some of our CGs serve at Whosoever Gospel Mission on Sunday evenings, preparing a simple meal and service for men who are getting free from the captivity of addiction. What a beautiful way to serve God and his image-bearers who are finding freedom from addiction in Christ!

Now, notice v. 17:

17 all his adversaries were put to shame, and all the people rejoiced at all the glorious things that were done by him

which brings us to the third and fourth applications.

Third, check your heart. Real quick, the synagogue ruler’s heart was so hardened that he couldn’t legitimately rejoice over this evident work of God right in front of him. How do you respond when you see the work of God in someone else’s life? Do you genuinely rejoice? Or do you get jealous because God did for them what he hasn’t yet done for you? Or upset because the work of God happened in a way you didn’t expect or outside of what you consider the normal bounds?

If you can’t genuinely rejoice at the genuine work of God in another life, another church, another context, then check your heart. Don’t be put to shame.

Fourth, once again, rejoice! Jesus’s opponents—there were apparently more than one—instantly knew Jesus had them, and they were put to shame. But all the people rejoiced! Jesus has done glorious things, and they are worthy of rejoicing.

Someone once said the kingdom of God is a party. Our times of worship together on the Lord’s Day are times of rejoicing! This is the day the Lord has made; it is the Lord’s Day, and we get to celebrate the glorious resurrection of Jesus! Let’s rejoice exuberantly.

See the kingdom of God in every aspect of God’s good law.

But third, see the kingdom of God:

3. Through its slow and surprising growth (vv. 18–21)

Having seen all these things, Jesus takes the opportunity to teach the people, to lay out what it all means.

18 He said therefore, “What is the kingdom of God like? And to what shall I compare it? 19 It is like a grain of mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his garden, and it grew and became a tree, and the birds of the air made nests in its branches.” 20 And again he said, “To what shall I compare the kingdom of God? 21 It is like leaven that a woman took and hid in three measures of flour, until it was all leavened.”

Jesus takes these two examples from ordinary life. I’ve already talked about them. What both have in common is that something small and common and ordinary grows in a surprising way over time into something large and life-giving and unignorable.

And if you’re wondering, “Why does Jesus say these parables just here?” Here’s why: he just performed what was, for him, a simple and minor healing, but it is pointing toward something far, far greater.

It’s like the saying, “You ain’t seen nothin’ yet.” Might not be good grammar, but it’s good theology. It’s like he is saying, “You think a woman being freed from being bent over for 18 years is a big deal? What about when you see the entire creation being set free from its bondage to death and decay? What about when you see not just freedom from this sin or that sin, but freedom from the very possibility of sin in the coming kingdom? What about when we see not just minor victories and advancements here in Philadelphia, but literally the entire universe praising God like it was meant to?”

You ain’t seen nothin’ yet.

“Out of the most insignificant beginnings, invisible to human eyes, God creates his mighty Kingdom, which embraces all the peoples of the world.” (Joachim Jeremias)

How do we apply this?

First, remember that the best is yet to come. We rejoice in our victories; we rejoice in our triumphs. Victory over a sin, healing from an illness. But we don’t put our ultimate hope in things like these because there is a far, far better world to come. The coming kingdom of God, when all the children of Abraham through faith in the Messiah are gathered in and the earth is renewed and set free!

And for those of you not yet set free, for those who are groaning now, for those who are deeply suffering now, whose hearts are breaking now, know that your freedom is coming. We groan and we wait and we sow and we leaven, but the seed will become a mighty tree, and the yeast will become a banquet that satisfies every hungry soul. The best is yet to come. Be patient.

Second, see the kingdom in the small things. Do not despise the day of small things (Zech. 4:10). The Lord sees your small acts of kingdom freedom, the seemingly insignificant things we do every day to show the incoming power of the kingdom.

Like parents to your small children who need such massive amounts of patience and guidance. He sees your little “God bless yous” at the checkout counter in the grocery store. He hears your quick prayers uttered in response to that text from your men’s or women’s thread.

CG leaders, he sees the hours of preparation you put in week after week, preparing meaningful Bible discussions. CG members, he sees the answers you offer in response to those questions, sometimes tentatively, sometimes weakly, but you have no idea how the Lord has used your weak, small, tentative comment to literally change somebody’s life in your group that night.

Citylight, he sees every card you left, every conversation, however tentative and brief, you had at our 1000 Doors outreach events last year. He has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the wise, and he uses our small, weak, mustard-sized, yeast-sized grains of obedience to grow and grow and grow and grow until the whole earth is filled with the glory of God as surely as the waters cover the seas.

One way to put this, among other things, the day of the kingdom of God will be a day of surprises, when we are all completely astonished, dumbstruck, at how God will have taken our small, mustard-sized and leaven-sized acts of faithful obedience and turned them into consequences of earth-shattering importance. Do not grow weary in doing good, but remain faithful.

Where do we go from here? Here’s where: we go to the cross.

For this same Jesus, who unveiled for just a moment the earth-shaking power of the kingdom in this small and simple healing, was going someplace. He was on the way to Jerusalem, where he would soon suffer and die at the very hands of the people he came to set free.

On the cross, Jesus, the King of the universe, gave up his freedom and willingly laid his life down. He literally had his hands and feet nailed to a cross! Though the true King, he exchanged his rightful crown for a painful crown of thorns. And he did this, the Bible says, so that we who put our faith and trust in him could become truly free, freed from the power of sin, Satan, death, and Hell.

And what’s more, he rose again to demonstrate beyond a shadow of a doubt that he was and is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, who will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead and usher in the kingdom in all its fullness.

If you are here without Christ today, turn to him and be saved. Repent of your sins and trust in Jesus Christ—his perfect life, death, and resurrection—for the forgiveness of your sins. And be freed from everything from which we could not be freed by the law of Moses or by our vain efforts to make ourselves acceptable to a perfectly holy God.

And Christian, keep growing in the grace and knowledge of the gospel. Walk in the freedom Christ has purchased for you, for “it is for freedom that Christ has set you free.”

And rejoice, for the King has come, his kingdom is here, and the best is yet to come. Let’s pray.