10 One Sabbath day as Jesus was teaching in a synagogue, 11 he saw a woman who had been crippled by an evil spirit. She had been bent double for eighteen years and was unable to stand up straight. 12 When Jesus saw her, he called her over and said, “Dear woman, you are healed of your sickness!” 13 Then he touched her, and instantly she could stand straight. How she praised God!
14 But the leader in charge of the synagogue was indignant that Jesus had healed her on the Sabbath day. “There are six days of the week for working,” he said to the crowd. “Come on those days to be healed, not on the Sabbath.”
15 But the Lord replied, “You hypocrites! Each of you works on the Sabbath day! Don’t you untie your ox or your donkey from its stall on the Sabbath and lead it out for water? 16 This dear woman, a daughter of Abraham, has been held in bondage by Satan for eighteen years. Isn’t it right that she be released, even on the Sabbath?”
17 This shamed his enemies, but all the people rejoiced at the wonderful things he did.
18 Then Jesus said, “What is the Kingdom of God like? How can I illustrate it? 19 It is like a tiny mustard seed that a man planted in a garden; it grows and becomes a tree, and the birds make nests in its branches.”
20 He also asked, “What else is the Kingdom of God like? 21 It is like the yeast a woman used in making bread. Even though she put only a little yeast in three measures of flour, it permeated every part of the dough.”
Luke 13:10-21
Dear God, these last two parables about the mustard seed and the yeast are interesting to consider when they are accompanied with the Sabbath healing story before them. And, for Luke, they are part of the same story. Luke makes it seem like Jesus said these words right after he challenged the Pharisees for their hypocrisy. So who is the mustard seed? Who is the yeast? I think it’s Jesus. I think he’s the one growing into a tree for us. I think he is the yeast in our lives and then in the world. And he was right. His life became Christianity, which I think is the largest religion in the world.
Okay, I just looked it up. Apparently, Christianity is 2.4 billion people and Islam is 1.9 billion. It said Judaism is only 15 million, so we will consider that as part of the rounding error for Christianity and say that 4.3 billion people about of the earth’s 7-ish billion people trace their faith back to Abraham. That seems very “yeast-y” of you. Maybe there’s something to this Yahweh. Maybe you’re really there, growing in us. Sometimes unhealthily. Sometimes we taint you, misrepresent you, and even pervert what you’re trying to do in us with our own selfishness and insecurities. We are very flawed, after all. But when you are doing your thing in us and we are doing the simple thing of loving you and loving others, it’s remarkable.
Going back to the things I get frustrated with people over, I hope the things that frustrate me are the things that frustrate you. I hope we are aligned in that way. I know you got frustrated and continue to get frustrated (even with me), so I think it’s okay for me to be frustrated. I just need to be frustrated by injustice, lack of mercy, unkindness, and meanness. If I start allowing myself to get frustrated because someone isn’t following a legalistic rule I think they should then I just need to pray for them that they will work it out with the Holy Spirit. I guess I just need your discernment at any given time.
Father, I adore you. I lay my life before you. How I love you. Jesus, I adore you. I lay my life before you. How I love you. Spirit, I adore you. I lay my life before you. How I love you.
I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,
Amen
Emails to God 