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13
Repent or perish
1 Now at that time there were some present who told Him about the Galileans whose blood Herod had mixed with their sacrifices. 2 So in answer Jesus said to them: “Do you suppose that those Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered such things? 3 Not at all, I tell you, but unless you repent you will all likewise perish! 4 Or those eighteen on whom the tower of Siloam fell and killed them; do you suppose they were worse offenders than all others living in Jerusalem? 5 Not at all, I tell you, but unless you repent you will all likewise perish!”* We never know when a tornado or earthquake may come our way; the best thing is to walk with God, and thus not have to fear a sudden exit.
Parable of a barren fig tree
6 Then He told this parable: “A certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came looking for fruit on it and found none. 7 So he said to the gardener: ‘Look, for three years I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree and have not found any. Cut it down; just why must it waste the soil?’ 8 But in answer he said to him, ‘Sir, let it be this year also, until I dig around it and apply fertilizer, 9 in case it produces fruit—but if not, then cut it down.’ ”† The Lord's use of ‘three years’ is doubtless deliberate; He may well have been referring to His own ministry in Israel. In that event the owner would be the Father, and He Himself would be the gardener. The three years of public ministry He had already spent had not produced the desired fruit.
Jesus heals a woman bound by Satan
10 Now as Jesus was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath, 11 He saw a woman there who had been crippled by a spirit for eighteen years—she was bent over and could not straighten up. 12 So He called her over‡ In a synagogue the women were separated from the men, so He called her over to the men's side. and said to her, “Woman, you are loosed from your infirmity!” 13 He placed His hands on her and immediately she was made straight and started glorifying God.
14 But the ruler of the synagogue reacted with indignation, because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, and he said to the crowd, “There are six days in which one should work; therefore come and be healed on them, and not on the Sabbath.”§ Of course the woman had not come to be healed; she came to worship God. It was the Lord's initiative, so the ruler's complaint was really directed at Him. 15 So the Lord answered him and said: “Hypocrites! Does not each one of you on the Sabbath loose his ox or donkey from the stall and lead it away to water? 16 So ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan* By using the enemy's proper name, Jesus is declaring that it was actually Satan who was behind the problem. kept bound during eighteen long years, be freed from this bond on the Sabbath day?” 17 When He said these things all His adversaries were put to shame, while all the crowd was rejoicing over all the glorious things that were being done by Him.
Two parables
18 Then He said: “What is the Kingdom of God like, and to what shall I compare it? 19 It is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his garden; and it grew and became a sizable tree, and the birds of the air perched on its branches.”
20 Again He said: “To what shall I compare the Kingdom of God? 21 It is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into three measures of flour, until it was all leavened.”
The narrow gate
22 He was traveling through various towns and villages, teaching and journeying toward Jerusalem. 23 Then someone said to Him, “Lord, are the ones being saved few?” So He said to them: 24 “Exert yourselves to enter through the narrow gate, because many, I say to you, will try to enter and not manage it. 25 When once the master of the house gets up and shuts the door, and you begin to stand outside and knock on the door saying, ‘Lord, Lord, open to us!’ and in answer he will say to you, ‘I do not know you; where are you from?’ 26 then you will begin by saying, ‘We ate and drank in your presence, and you taught in our streets.’ 27 But he will say: ‘I tell you, I do not know where you are from. Depart from me, all you workers of iniquity.’† The Lord is stating plainly that there are many who think they are in the Kingdom, but actually are not.
28 “There will be weeping there, and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the Kingdom of God, but you yourselves being thrown out. 29 They will even come from the east, the west, the north and the south, and recline in the Kingdom of God. 30 Yes indeed, there are last who will be first, and there are first who will be last.”
A word for Herod
31 On that same day some Pharisees approached saying to Him, “Get out of here and go away, because Herod wants to kill you.”‡ Those Pharisees may just have been trying to scare Jesus. The metaphor ‘fox’ was doubtless understood by His hearers, but we have since lost the relevant cultural information. 32 He said to them: “Go tell that ‘fox’, ‘Take note, I am casting out demons and performing cures today and tomorrow, and on the third I will be perfected.’ 33 Nevertheless I must keep going today and tomorrow and the day following, because it is not credible that a prophet should perish outside of Jerusalem!
Jesus laments over Jerusalem
34 “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, she who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, like a hen gathers her brood under her wings, but you were not willing! 35 So then, your house is left to you desolate. I tell you that you will definitely not see me until the time comes when you say, ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!’ ”§ See Psalm 118:26. John 10:22-39 probably happened between verses 33 and 34 here. That ‘Feast of Dedication’ would have fallen on a Monday, December 17, 29. Here Jesus leaves Jerusalem, to return only at the ‘triumphal entry’.

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*13:5 We never know when a tornado or earthquake may come our way; the best thing is to walk with God, and thus not have to fear a sudden exit.

†13:9 The Lord's use of ‘three years’ is doubtless deliberate; He may well have been referring to His own ministry in Israel. In that event the owner would be the Father, and He Himself would be the gardener. The three years of public ministry He had already spent had not produced the desired fruit.

‡13:12 In a synagogue the women were separated from the men, so He called her over to the men's side.

§13:14 Of course the woman had not come to be healed; she came to worship God. It was the Lord's initiative, so the ruler's complaint was really directed at Him.

*13:16 By using the enemy's proper name, Jesus is declaring that it was actually Satan who was behind the problem.

†13:27 The Lord is stating plainly that there are many who think they are in the Kingdom, but actually are not.

‡13:31 Those Pharisees may just have been trying to scare Jesus. The metaphor ‘fox’ was doubtless understood by His hearers, but we have since lost the relevant cultural information.

§13:35 See Psalm 118:26. John 10:22-39 probably happened between verses 33 and 34 here. That ‘Feast of Dedication’ would have fallen on a Monday, December 17, 29. Here Jesus leaves Jerusalem, to return only at the ‘triumphal entry’.

© 2016 Wilbur N. Pickering, ThM, PhD