Chapter Heading
Luke 13: Repent or Perish, O Jerusalem!
General Outline
1-5. Galilean gossip & “repent or perish”
6-9. The Parable of the Barren Fig Tree
10-17. The bent woman healed on the Sabbath
18-19. The kingdom of God: like a mustard seed
20-21. The kingdom of God: like a measure of leaven
22-30. The narrow door & the goyim at able with the Patriarchs
31-35. Jesus’ lament over Jerusalem who kills the prophets
Brief Summary
Jesus comments on current events, teaching His disciples to see all calamity as an opportunity for personal repentance. Rather than question whether “they got what they deserved,” consider it an opportunity for self-examination. Jesus then begins to issue warnings to Jerusalem via the Parable of the Fig Tree. Jerusalem & the Jews are the fig tree, which Jesus has gone up to three years in a row since His ministry began. He does not see repentance and faith, but self-righteousness. He heals a woman on the Sabbath, incurring further anger for “working” on the Sabbath, even though He is fulfilling the will of God by making straight what Adam’s sin had made crooked. He tells two Parables of the Kingdom, the Mustard Seed & the Leaven. Both speak to the seeming insignificance of God’s Word at work. A simple Word is sown (a tiny mustard seed) and measured out (a pinch of yeast) into the soil or the pile of flour. It takes time and water (Holy Baptism, anyone?) but both the seed and the leaven become great: the tiny seed becoming a great tree, the teaspoon of leaven raising a large loaf. But Jerusalem refuses The Word Incarnate. Judgment Day will be too late for repentance & faith, so Jesus calls us today. The Jews who rejected Him will watch (from Hell) as the Gentiles who repented gather at Table with Jesus & the Patriarchs. Jesus weeps over Jerusalem, knowing that she will not repent and believe in Him despite His love for her (→Ezek 18.32; 33.11; 1 Tim 2.4, 6; 2 Pet 3.9).