Call to Repentance

Luke 13

Now there were some present at that time who told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices. Jesus answered them, “Do y’all think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered this way? No, I tell y’all! But unless y’all repent, all y’all will perish likewise. Or do y’all think those eighteen who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them were worse offenders than all the other humans who live in Jerusalem? No, I tell y’all! But unless y’all repent, all y’all will perish as well.”

Then he told this parable: “A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he went looking for fruit on it but didn’t find any. So he said to the vineyard worker, ‘Look, for three years, I have been coming to look for fruit on this fig tree and haven’t any. Cut it down! Why should it waste the soil?’ He answered, ‘Sir, leave it alone for one more year, while I dig around it and fertilize it. If it bears fruit, fine; if not, after that, you can cut it down.’”

Healing a Woman on the Sabbath

Now Jesus was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath, and a woman was there who had been disabled by a spirit for eighteen years. She was bent over and could not straighten herself up at all. When Jesus saw her, he called her over and said, “Woman, you are freed from your infirmity.” Then he laid his hands on her, and immediately she stood up straight and began to glorify God.

But the ruler of the synagogue was indignant that Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, and he said to the crowd, “There are six days when work should be done. So y’all should come and be healed on those days, not the Sabbath day!”

The Lord answered him, “Hypocrites! Wouldn’t each one of y’all untie your ox or donkey from the stall on the Sabbath and lead it to water? Then shouldn’t this woman, a daughter of Abraham whom Satan had bound eighteen long years, be untied from this bondage on the Sabbath day?”

When he said this, all his adversaries were humiliated, and the whole crowd rejoiced for all the glorious things he was doing.

How the Empire Grows

Then he said, “What is the Empire of God like? What might I compare it to? It is like a mustard seed which a man took and planted in his garden. It grew and became a tree, and the wild birds nested in its branches.”

Again he said, “What might I compare the Empire of God to? It is like yeast that a woman took and mixed in three measures of flour until all of it was leavened.”

Take The Narrow Door

Then Jesus traveled throughout the towns and villages, teaching as he made his way toward Jerusalem. One said to him, “Lord, will only a few people be saved?”

He told them, “Y’all must make every effort to enter through the narrow door, because, I am telling y’all, many will seek to enter in and will not be able. Once the master of the house gets up and has shuts the door, y’all will stand outside and knock on the door, saying, ‘Lord, open up for us!’ But he will answer y’all, ‘I don’t know y’all or where y’all come from.’ Then y’all will say, ‘We ate and drank in your presence, and you taught in our streets.’ He will say, ‘I tell y’all, I don’t know where y’all come from. Depart from me, all y’all evildoers.’ In that place, there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth when y’all see Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and all the prophets in the Empire of God, but y’all get thrown out. Then people will come from east and west and north and south, they will be seated at the banquet table in the Empire of God. But indeed, some who are last will be first, and the first who will be last.”

Jesus the Mother Hen

At that time, some Pharisees came up and said to Jesus, “You must go and leave this place, because Herod wants to kill you.”

He said to them, “Y’all go and tell that fox, ‘I cast out demons and perform cures today and tomorrow, and on the third day I complete my work. Besides, I must travel today and tomorrow and the next day, because it is not possible for a prophet to die outside of Jerusalem.’

“Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I longed to gather your children together, like a hen gathers her own chicks under her wings, but y’all refused! Look, y’all’s house is abandoned. I tell y’all, y’all will not see me until y’all say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord [YHWH]!’”+Psa 118:26