Continuing the journey, Luke now turns us to a story of Jesus healing on the Sabbath. It is a great illustration of what is going on as a whole. God's people have a spirit of weakness, they are bent double and unable to straighten up, they have been bound up by the satan for many years. With a word and a touch Jesus is able to return her to her royal and priestly position, praising and giving glory to God. What Jesus has done for this woman, he longs to do for all God's people.
So what is the problem? Well, the synagogue leader made it out to be a violation of the law (healing on the sabbath)and what had become a central feature of their national identity. The underlying story is that this traveling rabbi walked into his congregation and did a miracle and interrupted protocol and probably the sermon he'd been working on all week. So Jesus calls him out on it. You are here, preaching the word of God and then God moves in your midst to set a woman free and you accuse me of violating the day of rest? You are just play acting (a hypocrite). Jesus goes on to school his opponents on their interpretation of the scriptures and they are embarrassed because he is right and they are supposed to be leading the people of God , but they do not repent...they hate him for it all the more.
Jesus then tells these two small parables about a mustard seed and a bit of leaven. This relatively small act of healing on behalf of this poor woman and her heartfelt gratitude and repentance toward glorifying God is what the Kingdom of God is like. This bitter,against the grain humiliation before God of the leadership to bring them back into the true service of God is what the Kingdom is like and it will grow and it will accomplish the purposes of God.
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