10-13 Now Jesus was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath.  And there was a woman who had had a disabling spirit for eighteen years. She was bent over and could not fully straighten herself.  When Jesus saw her, he called her over and said to her,  “Woman, you are freed from your disability.” And he laid his hands on her, and immediately she was made straight, and she glorified God.  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.” 15-16 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?  And ought not this woman, a daughter of Abraham whom Satan bound for eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath day?” 

17 As he said these things, all his adversaries were put to shame, and all the people rejoiced at all the glorious things that were done by him. 18-21 He said therefore, “What is the kingdom of God like? And to what shall I compare it?  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.” And again he said, “To what shall I compare the kingdom of God?  It is like leaven that a woman took and hid in three measures of flour, until it was all leavened.” Luke 13:10-21 English Standard Version

It's easy to gloss over these verses and miss not only what an amazing miracle it was, but also the incredible relief this poor previously deformed lady must have felt. She had suffered for eighteen years. No wonder that upon being healed she gave all glory to God! (vs 10-13) Notice too that she had not called Jesus' attention to her plight, it was Jesus who noticed her and reached out in compassion. That's true of the whole story of salvation. We were not looking for Him, He came looking for us! What a contrast all this was to the synagogue ruler's objection in vs 14.

This is the sort of problem that comes when God's teachings may be in our head - but His compassion isn't in our heart. It's when someone thinks that righteousness comes from rituals and rules rather than a right relationship with God. Apart from exposing the ruler's hypocrisy, can you see how the illustration of the donkey and ox (vs 15-16) can apply to people and animals today?

I'm on thin ice here, but speaking as someone who loves animals, we are on the wrong track if we value animals more than people! Jesus' argument moves from the lesser to the greater. If the ruler cared enough for his beasts of burden, how much more ought he to have cared for a woman under such a great burden! It was man and woman who were made in God's image, not the myriads of delightful creatures He made.

Verse 17 tells us the positive impact all of what Jesus said and did was having on many of the people. So why do you think Jesus then gave the two illustrations we see in vs 18-21?

It can only be conjecture on our part, but I think it may have been because many of them were perhaps beginning to think God's Kingdom was surely about to appear. The things Jesus did were greater than even the prophets of old. But what did the two illustrations teach about God's Kingdom?

It wasn't going to appear in a dramatic way with fanfare, pomp and military power. Rather it would seem as small and insignificant as a mustard seed, and as 'out of sight' as yeast in dough. But like the seed and the yeast, it was going to grow beyond expectation and continually spread throughout the world. We are not to continually want the dramatic and the miraculous; but we are to show the same compassion that Jesus showed to the woman He healed that day. And as we go about telling others about Jesus, and reaching out to those bowed under Satan and sin, so lives will be healed and the Kingdom will grow and spread.