Luke 13:1-21

13:1 | While no record of this incident exists apart from Luke’s, the Roman governor Pontius Pilate had proven himself capable of killing Jews who displeased him or who somehow opposed his policies. The crowd apparently wanted to see Jesus’ response to Roman slaughtering righteous Jews as they performed their Jewish religious duty.

13:2-5 | A prevalent belief during this time was that severe calamities happened only to people who deserved God’s judgment; the truly righteous were spared this suffering. This was an idea that Jesus repudiated. The precariousness of life in a fallen world should prompt everyone to take stock of their spiritual condition.

13:6-9 | Jesus told several parables relating to vineyards, each representing Israel. According to OT law, no one was to eat fruit from newly planted trees for the first three years; the figs in year four belonged to God (Lev. 19:23-25). God gave Israel ample time to repent and bear fruit (Isa. 5:2; Matt. 3:7-10). Eventually, however, judgment would come.

13:10-13 | For the final time, Luke describes Jesus teaching in a synagogue on the Sabbath. Well aware that certain Jews banned healing on the Sabbath, Jesus loosed the woman from her debilitating conditions. The word appears in the perfect tense and the passive voice, meaning that the Lord freed her from her condition so she would never again be so burdened.

13:17 | Luke often highlights the reaction of the audience to Jesus’ actions. This instance may be especially significant, since it signals a growing rift between the joy of those who delighted in Jesus’ works and the anger of the religious leaders.

13:18-21 | As Jesus drew nearer to Calvary, He emphasized His teaching on the kingdom of God. In the mustard seed parable, He described how it grew from something tiny into something massive. In the second parable, He depicted its growth as inevitable, just like yeast (leaven) working its way through a lump of dough. In both parables there is a delay between inception and full realization.