Jesus demands repentance
13
📚At that same time some were present who told him about the Galileans, whose blood Pilate 📖 had mixed with their sacrifices.2 📚And Jesus in answer said to them, “Do you think that those Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered this way? 3 📚I tell you, No. But unless you repent, you will all perish just as they did.
13:2-3 When great disasters come on people, we may be tempted to think they deserve those disasters because they were worse than others. See notes at Job 4:7-9; 8:3. This may actually be so in some cases (2 Pet 2:5-7). But this was not so in the case of these Galileans and often may not be so. The Lord Jesus wants us to learn a lesson from disasters – the need to repent and not to think we are better than those who suffer. Disasters could as justly come on us as on them. Note on repentance at Matt 3:2.⚜
4 📚Or those eighteen who were killed when the tower in Siloam fell on them, do you think they were worse sinners than everyone else who lived in Jerusalem?
5 📚I tell you, No. But unless you repent, you will all perish just as they did”.
The parable of the barren tree
6 📚He also spoke this parable: “A certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came and looked for fruit on it, and found none.
13:6 In speaking of the fig tree here the Lord Jesus may have had both individuals and the nation Israel in mind. See Matt 21:18-22 and notes. The man who had the fig tree signifies God. The man who takes care of the vineyard signifies His servants or perhaps the Lord Jesus Himself. We may be sure that God is always observing what men do and do not do, and is always removing some from earth and patiently waiting for a limited time in the case of others. Every life without good fruit is in danger – Matt 3:10; 7:19; Isa 51:1-7; John 15:2, 6.⚜
7 📚Then he said to the man taking care of his vineyard, ‘Look, for three years I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree, and haven’t found any. Cut it down. Why should it use up the ground?’
13:7 Men who do not bear fruit for God are simply taking up space on His earth to no purpose. Should He permit them to remain indefinitely?⚜
8 📚And he answered and said to him, ‘Sir, let it alone this year also until I dig around it and fertilize it. 9 📚And if it bears fruit, good; and if not, then after that you can cut it down.’ ”
13:6-9 This parable, found only in Luke, connects with the verses above and speaks of God overseeing the affairs of men and in His wisdom bringing judgment on them. He may use men like Pilate to do this, or falling towers, or any other means. See Lev 26:14-33; Deut 28:20-29; Jud 2:14-15; Isa 10:5-6; Jer 14:11-12.⚜
13:8-9 The man who took care of the vineyard by interceding for the fig tree delayed judgment at least for a while and, if the fig tree began to bear fruit, turned judgment away altogether. Compare Gen 18:22-33; Ex 32:7-14, 31, 32; Ezek 22:30-31. Where would any of us “fig trees” be, if the Lord Jesus didn’t pray for us incessantly? (Rom 8:34; Heb 7:25).⚜
Jesus heals a woman on the Sabbath
10 📚And he was teaching in one of the synagogues 📖 on the Sabbath 📖. 11 📚And, suddenly, a woman was there who had a spirit of infirmity for eighteen years, and she was bent over and could not straighten up at all.
13:11 An evil spirit (demon) can cause various physical infirmities – Matt 9:32-33; 12:22; Mark 9:25. But this does not give us the right to think that every illness of every kind is the work of a demon.⚜
12 📚And when Jesus saw her, he called her and said to her, “Woman, you are set free from your infirmity”.
13 📚And he laid hands on her, and immediately she was made straight, and glorified God. 14 📚And the ruler of the synagogue responded with indignation because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, and said to the people, “There are six days in which men ought to work. Therefore come and be healed on those days, and not on the Sabbath day”.
15 📚Then the Lord answered him and said, “Hypocrite! Does not each one of you on the Sabbath untie his ox or his donkey from the manger, and lead him off to water?
13:15 He called them hypocrites here because they had two standards, one for themselves, another for others. And they cared more for the welfare of their animals than for human beings whom they were commanded in the law to love – Lev 19:18.⚜
16 📚And should not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan 📖 has bound now for eighteen years, be set free from this bond on the Sabbath day?”
13:16 She was a descendant of Abraham the forefather of the Jewish nation.⚜
17 📚And when he had said these things, all his adversaries were put to shame 📖. And all the people rejoiced because of all the glorious things that were done by him.
Illustrations about God’s kingdom
18 📚Then he said, “What is the kingdom of God like? To what shall I compare it? 19 📚It is like a mustard seed, which a man took and threw into his garden, and it grew and became a large tree, and the birds of the air nested in its branches”.
20 And again he said, “To what shall I compare the kingdom of God? 21 📚It is like yeast, which a woman took and hid in three measures of flour, until the whole was leavened”.
Jesus speaks of the one way of salvation
22 📚And he went through the cities and villages, teaching, and travelling toward Jerusalem. 23 📚Then someone said to him, “Lord, are only a few saved?” And he said to them,
24 📚“Strive 📖 to enter through the narrow gate, for many, I say to you, will try to enter and will not be able.
13:24 Jesus is saying that an individual should not speculate about the number of people God may save, but make sure he or she is among them.⚜
25 📚When once the master of the house has gotten up and shut the door, and outside you begin to stand and knock at the door, saying, ‘Lord, Lord, open to us’, he will answer and say to you, ‘I do not know from where you are.’
26 📚Then you will begin to say, ‘We ate and drank in your presence, and you taught in our streets.’
13:26 They should have understood that the opportunities they had to hear His Word only increased their guilt, since they did not obey it.⚜
27 📚But he will say, ‘I tell you, I do not know from where you are. Depart from me, all you evildoers.’
28 📚“There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth when you see Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, and you yourselves thrown out. 29 📚And they will come from the east and the west, and from the north and the south, and will sit down in the kingdom of God. 30 📚And indeed there are those who are last who will be first, and there are those who are first who will be last”.
31 📚That same day some of the Pharisees came, saying to him, “Get out and leave here, for Herod wants to kill you”.
13:31 Matt 14:1. Did they vainly imagine they could get rid of the Lord Jesus by frightening Him?⚜
32 📚And he said to them, “Go and tell that fox, ‘Look, I drive out demons, and I perform cures today and tomorrow, and the third day I will reach the goal.’
13:32 A fox has a reputation of being a sly animal. But Jesus had no fear of Herod or anyone else as He went toward the goal set before Him. The Lord Jesus knew what He was going to do and what would happen to Him and how and when He would finish His course on earth – v 33; Matt 16:21; 17:22-23; John 7:30.⚜
33 📚Nevertheless I must go on today, and tomorrow, and the following day, for it cannot be that a prophet should perish out of Jerusalem.
13:33 This was spoken ironically. Many prophets had been killed in Jerusalem and Jesus knew He would die there, and not at the hands of Herod in some other place.⚜
Jesus expresses sorrow over Jerusalem
34 📚“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets, and stones those who are sent to you, how often I would have gathered your children together, as a hen gathers her brood under its wings, and you were not willing! 35 📚Now your house is left to you desolate; and truly I say to you, you will not see me until the time comes when you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.’ ”