Read Luke 13:10–21
Questions from the Scripture text: What was Jesus doing (Luke 13:10)? Where? When? Who else was there (Luke 13:11)? What had caused her infirmity? For how long couldn’t she do what? Who saw her in Luke 13:12? What did He say to her? What did He do to her (Luke 13:13)? What happened, how quickly? How did she respond? Who else responds (Luke 13:14)? With what attitude? Why? Whom does the ruler of the synagogue address? What does he tell them to do? What does he tell them not to do? Whom does Luke 13:15 say answers? What does the Lord call the ruler? What does the Lord point out that they do for whom/what? What does the Lord call the woman (Luke 13:16)? Who had bound her? For how long? What was a good day for Satan’s bond to be broken? What did the Lord’s sayings do to whom (Luke 13:17)? But what did the multitude do? For what? What does He then ask (Luke 13:18)? Like what does He say the kingdom is (Luke 13:19)? What did the man in the word picture do to it? What happened to the mustard seed? What does He ask in Luke 13:20? Like what does He now say the kingdom is (Luke 13:21)? What did the woman in the word picture do to it? What happened to the leaven?
In Luke 13:18–21, Jesus is basically saying, “you’ve hardly seen anything yet.” Verse 18 starts with “then” (“δέ” i.e., “but/and” for the Greek readers), letting us know that Luke gives us Jesus’s comments in connection with Luke 13:10–17 as a whole, and verse 17 specifically.
It was a pretty big deal. Satan himself had doubled over this poor woman for 18 years (Luke 13:16), but Jesus had declared the Sabbath as “Freedom From Satan Day” (n.b. His “ought” in verse 16, which is the same Greek word as the ruler’s “ought” in Luke 13:14; “δεῖ” i.e. “it is necessary” or “isn’t it necessary”).
The ruler subscribed to the idea that Sabbath regulations ought to feel crushing, but Jesus said that it’s actually mandatory to be freed on the Sabbath. This dear woman seems to have had that idea/hope. Here she was, 18 years into being doubled over by the devil, but she was still in church to hear the soul-freeing words of Jesus Christ (Luke 13:11)! We should all have her idea of freedom. And when Jesus unbound her, the very first thing she did was glorify God (Luke 13:13). Jesus has His compassionate eye upon us to free us on the Sabbath day in His holy assembly (Luke 13:12). And we should desire that all would come to Jesus and be freed by Jesus, Lord’s Day by Lord’s Day.
So it was, in fact, a pretty big deal. And the crowd’s reaction of rejoicing at Christ’s glory (Luke 13:17) is the right reaction. It’s the reaction that we should have every week as Jesus saves sinners, sanctifies saints, and hastens the final coming of His kingdom in its fullness.
It’s this last part of His Sabbath-workings that Jesus is focusing upon in Luke 13:18–21. He’s telling us that what happened to that daughter of Abraham (cf. Luke 13:16) that day at church is actually part of a larger program for ALL of the children of Abraham. The kingdom of God, the kingship of Jesus, is something that He is determined to do until it is done for all upon whom He has set His electing love. And that’s something truly to rejoice over. Glorious things are done by Him (end of Luke 13:17) every Lord’s Day, and we should be participating and celebrating “Freedom From Satan Day” as “Thy Kingdom Is Here And Thy Kingdom Come Day” every single week. Truly, it is The Lord’s Day!
In what ways do pursue and participate in Jesus’s freeing us from Satan every Lord’s Day? How do you celebrate that? How do you help others find this freedom and keep this focus?
Suggested Songs: ARP146 “Praise the Lord” or TPH153 “O Day of Rest and Gladness ”
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