Luke 13
13
Repent or Perish
1At that time, # Mt 21:18-19; Mk 11:12-14 some people came and reported to Him about the Galileans # Jn 4:45 whose blood Pilate # Mt 27:2 had mixed with their sacrifices. 2And He # Other mss read Jesus responded to them, “Do you think that these Galileans were more sinful than all Galileans because they suffered these things? # Jn 9:2 3No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all perish as well! 4Or those 18 that the tower in Siloam # Jn 9:7 fell on and killed — do you think they were more sinful than all the people who live in Jerusalem? 5No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all perish as well! ”
The Parable of the Barren Fig Tree
6And He told this parable: # Lk 5:35; 12:16 “A man had a fig tree that was planted in his vineyard. He came looking for fruit on it and found none. # Mt 21:18-19; Mk 11:13 7He told the vineyard worker, ‘Listen, for three years I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree and haven’t found any. Cut it down! # Mt 7:19; Lk 3:9; Jn 15:2; Rm 11:22 Why should it even waste the soil? ’ # Is 5:2
8“But he replied to him, ‘Sir, # Or Lord leave it this year also, until I dig around it and fertilize it. # Lk 16:3 9Perhaps it will bear fruit next year, but if not, you can cut it down.’ ”
Healing a Daughter of Abraham
10As He was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath, # Lk 4:31; 6:6 11a woman was there who had been disabled by a spirit # Lit had a spirit of disability # Mt 8:17; Lk 4:33; 6:18; 7:21; 8:2,29; 9:39 for over 18 years. She was bent over and could not straighten up at all. # Or straighten up completely 12When Jesus saw her, He called out to her, # Or He summoned her “Woman, you are free of your disability.” 13Then He laid His hands on her, # Mt 19:15; Mk 5:23; 6:2,5; 8:23; Lk 4:40 and instantly she was restored # Ac 15:16; Heb 12:12 and began to glorify God. # Jn 11:4
14But the leader of the synagogue, indignant # Mt 20:24; 21:15; 26:8; Mk 10:14,41; 14:4 because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, responded by telling the crowd, “There are six days when work should be done; # Ex 20:9; Ezk 46:1 therefore come on those days and be healed and not on the Sabbath day.”
15But the Lord answered him and said, “Hypocrites! # Lk 6:42 Doesn’t each one of you untie his ox # Lk 14:5,19; 1Co 9:9 or donkey from the feeding trough # Lk 2:7,12,16 on the Sabbath and lead it to water? # Mt 12:11; Lk 14:5 16Satan # Mt 4:1,10; Ac 13:10 has bound # Mk 5:3; 15:1; 2Tm 2:9 this woman, a daughter of Abraham, # Gn 16:15; Jn 8:37; Heb 2:16 for 18 years — shouldn’t she be untied from this bondage on the Sabbath day? ”
17When He had said these things, all His adversaries # Lk 21:5; 1Co 16:9; Php 1:28; 1Tm 5:14 were humiliated, # Ps 132:18; Is 45:16 LXX; 1Pt 3:16 but the whole crowd was rejoicing over all the glorious things He was doing. # Is 12:5
The Parables of the Mustard Seed and of the Yeast
18He said, therefore, “What is the kingdom of God like, # Mt 13:31-32; Mk 4:30-32 and what can I compare it to? 19It’s like a mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his garden. It grew and became a tree, and the birds of the sky nested in its branches.”
20Again He said, “What can I compare the kingdom of God # Mt 13:33 to? 21It’s like yeast # Mt 16:6,11-12; Mk 8:15; Lk 12:1; 1Co 5:6-8; Gl 5:9 that a woman took and mixed into 50 pounds # Lit 3 sata ; about 40 quarts of flour until it spread through the entire mixture.” # Or until all of it was leavened
The Narrow Way
22He went through one town and village after another, teaching and making His way to Jerusalem. # Lk 9:51 23“Lord,” someone asked Him, “are there few being saved? ” # Or are the saved few? (in number); lit are those being saved few? # Mt 22:14; Lk 18:26; Ac 2:21; Rm 9:27; Eph 2:8; 1Pt 3:20; Rv 3:4
He said to them, 24“Make every effort to enter through the narrow door, # Mt 7:13-14 because I tell you, many will try to enter and won’t be able 25once the homeowner gets up and shuts the door. # Mt 7:22-23; 10:33; 25:12 Then you will stand # Lit you will begin to stand outside and knock on the door, saying, ‘Lord, open up for us! ’ He will answer you, ‘I don’t know you or where you’re from.’ 26Then you will say, # Lit you will begin to say ‘We ate and drank in Your presence, and You taught in our streets! ’ 27But He will say, ‘I tell you, I don’t know you or where you’re from. Get away from Me, # Ps 6:8; 2Tm 2:19; Heb 3:12 all you workers of unrighteousness! ’ 28There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth # Mt 13:42,50; 22:13; 24:51; 25:30 in that place, # Mt 8:11-12 when you see Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, # Mk 1:15; Lk 4:43 but yourselves thrown out. 29They will come from east and west, from north and south, and recline at the table # Lk 12:37 in the kingdom of God. 30Note this: Some are last who will be first, and some are first who will be last.” # Mt 19:30; 20:16; Mk 10:31
Jesus and Herod Antipas
31At that time some Pharisees came and told Him, “Go, get out of here! Herod # Mt 14:1 wants to kill You! ” # Mt 14:5; Mk 6:19; Jn 7:19-25; Ac 5:33
32He said to them, “Go tell that fox, ‘Look! I’m driving out demons and performing healings today and tomorrow, and on the third day # Very shortly I will complete My work.’ # Lit I will be finished # Heb 2:10; 5:9; 7:28 33Yet I must # Ac 3:21; 17:3 travel today, tomorrow, and the next day, because it is not possible for a prophet # Mt 2:23; 21:11 to perish # Mk 8:31 outside of Jerusalem!
Jesus’ Lamentation over Jerusalem
34“Jerusalem, Jerusalem! # Mt 23:37-39; Lk 19:41-44 She who kills the prophets and stones # Heb 11:37 those who are sent to her. # 2Ch 24:20-22; Mt 21:35; Lk 20:15 How often I wanted to gather your children # Ps 147:2; Is 62:1,4 together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, # Dt 32:11; Ps 17:8; 36:7 but you were not willing! # Jn 5:40 35See, your house # Probably the temple; Jr 12:7; 22:5 is abandoned to you. # Is 64:11; Jr 12:7; 22:1-8 And I tell you, you will not see Me until the time comes when you say, ‘He who comes in the name of the Lord is the blessed One’!” # Ps 118:26; Mt 21:9; Lk 19:38; Jn 12:13 # Ps 118:26
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© 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2009 by Holman Bible Publishers, Nashville, Tennessee. All rights reserved.
Luke 13
13
Unless You Turn to God
1-5About that time some people came up and told him about the Galileans Pilate had killed while they were at worship, mixing their blood with the blood of the sacrifices on the altar. Jesus responded, “Do you think those murdered Galileans were worse sinners than all other Galileans? Not at all. Unless you turn to God, you, too, will die. And those eighteen in Jerusalem the other day, the ones crushed and killed when the Tower of Siloam collapsed and fell on them, do you think they were worse citizens than all other Jerusalemites? Not at all. Unless you turn to God, you, too, will die.”
6-7Then he told them a story: “A man had an apple tree planted in his front yard. He came to it expecting to find apples, but there weren’t any. He said to his gardener, ‘What’s going on here? For three years now I’ve come to this tree expecting apples and not one apple have I found. Chop it down! Why waste good ground with it any longer?’
8-9“The gardener said, ‘Let’s give it another year. I’ll dig around it and fertilize, and maybe it will produce next year; if it doesn’t, then chop it down.’”
Healing on the Sabbath
10-13He was teaching in one of the meeting places on the Sabbath. There was a woman present, so twisted and bent over with arthritis that she couldn’t even look up. She had been afflicted with this for eighteen years. When Jesus saw her, he called her over. “Woman, you’re free!” He laid hands on her and suddenly she was standing straight and tall, giving glory to God.
14The meeting-place president, furious because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, said to the congregation, “Six days have been defined as work days. Come on one of the six if you want to be healed, but not on the seventh, the Sabbath.”
15-16But Jesus shot back, “You frauds! Each Sabbath every one of you regularly unties your cow or donkey from its stall, leads it out for water, and thinks nothing of it. So why isn’t it all right for me to untie this daughter of Abraham and lead her from the stall where Satan has had her tied these eighteen years?”
17When he put it that way, his critics were left looking quite silly and red-faced. The congregation was delighted and cheered him on.
The Way to God
18-19Then he said, “How can I picture God’s kingdom for you? What kind of story can I use? It’s like an acorn that a man plants in his front yard. It grows into a huge oak tree with thick branches, and eagles build nests in it.”
20-21He tried again. “How can I picture God’s kingdom? It’s like yeast that a woman works into enough dough for three loaves of bread—and waits while the dough rises.”
22He went on teaching from town to village, village to town, but keeping on a steady course toward Jerusalem.
23-25A bystander said, “Master, will only a few be saved?”
He said, “Whether few or many is none of your business. Put your mind on your life with God. The way to life—to God!—is vigorous and requires your total attention. A lot of you are going to assume that you’ll sit down to God’s salvation banquet just because you’ve been hanging around the neighborhood all your lives. Well, one day you’re going to be banging on the door, wanting to get in, but you’ll find the door locked and the Master saying, ‘Sorry, you’re not on my guest list.’
26-27“You’ll protest, ‘But we’ve known you all our lives!’ only to be interrupted with his abrupt, ‘Your kind of knowing can hardly be called knowing. You don’t know the first thing about me.’
28-30“That’s when you’ll find yourselves out in the cold, strangers to grace. You’ll watch Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and all the prophets march into God’s kingdom. You’ll watch outsiders stream in from east, west, north, and south and sit down at the table of God’s kingdom. And all the time you’ll be outside looking in—and wondering what happened. This is the Great Reversal: the last in line put at the head of the line, and the so-called first ending up last.”
* * *
31Just then some Pharisees came up and said, “Run for your life! Herod’s got your number. He’s out to kill you!”
32-35Jesus said, “Tell that fox that I’ve no time for him right now. Today and tomorrow I’m busy clearing out the demons and healing the sick; the third day I’m wrapping things up. Besides, it’s not proper for a prophet to come to a bad end outside Jerusalem.
Jerusalem, Jerusalem, killer of prophets,
abuser of the messengers of God!
How often I’ve longed to gather your children,
gather your children like a hen,
Her brood safe under her wings—
but you refused and turned away!
And now it’s too late: You won’t see me again
until the day you say,
‘Blessed is he
who comes in
the name of God.’”
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THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson. All rights reserved. Used by permission of NavPress. Represented by Tyndale House Publishers.