The Lord drives away this woman's illness with the most divinely fitting and sovereign command, and lays His hands upon her, so that we might know that this holy flesh bore the power and operation of the Word. For it was His own flesh, and not that of someone else existing separately from Him and as his own person, as it seems to the impious Nestorius. Such is the goodness of the Lord, and thus He had mercy on His creation!
Lk. 13:14. At this, the ruler of the synagogue, indignant that Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, said to the people: There are six days in which one ought to work; come on those days and be healed, and not on the Sabbath day.
Lk. 13:15. Lord said to him in answer: Hypocrite! Does not each of you untie his ox or his donkey from the manger on the Sabbath and lead it to water?
Satan, having first bound the woman, was vexed at her liberation, since he desired to inflict even more evil upon her, and so he binds the ruler of the synagogue with envy and through his mouth blasphemes the miracle. Thus he everywhere opposes what is good! This man is indignant that the healing was performed on the Sabbath, but the Lord reproves him with the excellent example of irrational animals.
Lk. 13:16. And ought not this daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has bound for eighteen years, to have been loosed from this bond on the Sabbath day?
Lk. 13:17. And when He said these things, all who opposed Him were put to shame; and all the people rejoiced at all the glorious deeds done by Him.
Therefore not only he, but all the others also who "opposed Jesus were put to shame" by such words of His. For it was very foolish to forbid the healing of a person on the Sabbath on the grounds that inactivity was supposedly prescribed on the Sabbath. So those who opposed Jesus were ashamed of these words of His, while "the people rejoiced at... His deeds." Whereas they did not rejoice at His deeds but were consumed with envy at the miracles of Christ, the people, benefiting from the signs and receiving the healings, rejoiced.
Understand these miracles, perhaps, also in relation to the inner man. For the soul becomes bent over when it inclines toward cares only for worldly things and thinks of nothing heavenly or divine. This is also why it is said that she had been ill for eighteen years. For whoever transgresses in keeping the commandments of God's Law, which are "ten," and is weak in hope of the "eighth" age (Book 2, Chapter 1), is bent over for eighteen years. Is not the one who, being attached to the earth and constantly sinning, violates the commandments and does not accept the age to come, bent over? But the Lord heals such a soul on the Sabbath and in the synagogue. For when someone gathers within himself thoughts of confession (for Judah means confession) and keeps the Sabbath, that is, inactivity in evil, then Jesus heals him not by word alone, saying to him: you are freed from your infirmity, but also by the laying on of hands.
Lk. 13:18. And He said: "What is the Kingdom of God like? And to what shall I compare it?"
Lk. 13:19. It is like a grain of mustard, which a man took and planted in his garden; and it grew and became a great tree, and the birds of the air sheltered in its branches.
The Kingdom of God is likened to "a grain of mustard seed." And the Kingdom of God is the teaching and preaching, for through preaching it reigned in the souls of men. As mustard is small in appearance but has much power, so also many despise the evangelical teaching and consider it foolishness, but if a person receives it and plants it "in his garden," that is, in his soul, then it produces a great and spreading tree, and "the birds of the air," that is, people who desire to soar to the heights, "lodge in its branches." For those who rise above earthly things find rest in the branches of the preaching, that is, in expansive thoughts. For example, Paul received a seed, a brief instruction from Ananias, but having planted this seed in his well-cultivated garden, he produced branches, that is, abundant and good teaching (Acts 9:17–22) and epistles, in which those lofty in mind and wisdom found shelter not only in that time, such as the Corinthians, Dionysius, Hierotheus, and very many others, but also those who lived in all ages.
Under the mustard seed one may also understand the Lord Himself. In appearance, as the son of a carpenter and exceedingly poor, He was not great. But when He fell into the heart of the earth, through death and burial in the tomb (John 12:24), then He put forth beautiful branches — the apostles, under whom all those find rest who formerly were tossed about by every wind of error, for example, the pagans, who are like birds on account of the easy inclination of their mind in any direction, their susceptibility to deception, and their great fickleness. For all such who go astray are like the birds of heaven, that is, of the air.
Lk. 13:20. And again He said: to what shall I liken the Kingdom of God?
Lk. 13:21. It is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened.
The divine teaching "is like leaven, which a woman," that is, human nature, "took and hid in three measures of meal," that is, in body, soul, and spirit, so that all was sanctified, as the blessed Paul says (1 Tim. 4:5), and became one lump of dough through communion with the Holy Spirit.
By the woman you may understand the soul, and by the three measures its three powers: the mind, the heart, and the will. Whoever hides the word of God in these powers will make them entirely spiritual, so that neither will the mind doubt the teaching, nor will the heart and will strive toward what is unreasonable, but they will be leavened and become like the Word of God.
Lk. 13:22. And He went through the cities and villages, teaching and journeying toward Jerusalem.
Jesus "went through the cities and villages, teaching." He did not go through the small villages alone, with neglect of the cities, as those who wish to deceive the simpler folk do; nor did He go through the cities alone, with neglect of the small villages, as those who wish to display themselves and attain glory do; but He went everywhere, as the common Master, or rather, as a Father caring for all. Did He not go only through the outlying cities, where there were fewer experts in the Law, while avoiding Jerusalem, as though fearing reproaches from the lawyers or dreading death at their hands? This cannot be said. "And directing His path," it says, "toward Jerusalem." For where there are more who are sick, there the physician must be found all the more (Matt. 9:12).
Lk. 13:23. Someone said to Him: Lord! Are there really few who are being saved? And He said to them:
Lk. 13:24. Strive to enter through the narrow gate, for, I tell you, many will seek to enter, and will not be able.
Few are those being saved, because the narrow gate cannot admit many.
Lk. 13:25. When the master of the house rises up and shuts the door, then you, standing outside, will begin to knock at the door and say: Lord! Lord! open to us; but He will say to you in answer: I do not know you, where you are from.
The "master of the house" is the Lord. He calls all people to be filled and to delight in inexhaustible blessings. Those who are diligent strive to enter before the hour of the meal itself. But for the lazy and those who arrive after the hour of the meal, the doors are shut. And what is the hour of the meal if not the present life? It is truly the most excellent time for preparation for spiritual nourishment. When the master of the house "rises," that is, rises for judgment, and "shuts the door," that is, the path of virtue, along which one cannot walk after departing from this life (for we can walk the path of virtue only in this life), then although those who lived here negligently will "knock at the door," for only then with useless repentance will they seek the path of virtue, calling upon it with bare words, without deeds, as if with blows and knocking; yet the master of the house, having rightly locked the doors, will act as though he does not even know where they are from. He will act justly in doing so, because they are of the devil, and the Lord knows His own (2 Tim. 2:19).
Lk. 13:26. Then you will begin to say: we ate and drank in Your presence, and You taught in our streets.
This is spoken generally to the Israelites. For Christ is from them according to the flesh (Rom. 9:5), and with them He ate and drank.