Luke 13 & 14 study

Luke 13

Luke 13:1-5

“God’s Law, or his Word, is meant to penetrate the secret chambers of the heart, not merely be displayed externally like words chiseled in stone or written on parchment.” R. C. Sproul

Perhaps the mention in this paragraph of two recent disasters, one a political atrocity and the other presumably a sheer accident, arose directly out of what Jesus had just said (‘There were some present at that very time who told him …’, 13:1). Since Jesus had just condemned those who refused to see any significance in the ‘signs of the times’, his questioners may well have quoted to him the massacre of the Galileans in order to ask what the spiritual significance of that event was supposed to be. From Jesus’s reply, it seems that they will have jumped to the conclusion that, as there is no smoke without fire, so there is no suffering without sin. Deaths as shocking as those of the men of Galilee slaughtered during a religious service, or as pointless as those of the men of Siloam buried in the collapse of a tower, surely mean that the victims must have been very bad to deserve such a fate.

Michael Wilcock, The Savior of the World: The Message of Luke’s Gospel, The Bible Speaks Today (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1979), 137–138.

13:2–3. Jesus turned the theological issue around. Is this punishment for sin? Do persecution and death prove the victim to be a greater sinner than those who do not suffer? The one who was looking suffering square in the face as he marched to Jerusalem denied such a theological outrage. He reminded them that everyone has sinned (see Rom. 3:23). All deserve to die. Each person has only one hope in face of personal sin. Each must repent, turn from sin, and turn toward God in obedience and dedication. “Do not try to create a hierarchy of sin,” Jesus declared. “Do not try to make others greater sinners than yourself. You have sinned. You deserve to die. You must repent.”

Trent C. Butler, Luke, vol. 3, Holman New Testament Commentary (Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 2000), 220.

(3.) This is not a world of retribution. Good and evil are mingled; the good and the bad suffer, and all are exposed here to calamity. (4.)

Albert Barnes, Notes on the New Testament: Luke & John, ed. Robert Frew (London: Blackie & Son, 1884–1885), 87.

“Death and corruption” The consequence of original sin.

a. His coming in the past As a simple matter of history, the coming of Jesus into the world in the times of which we are reading was the coming of a judge and divider. These events from the days of his incarnation are factual examples of what happens whenever the light comes and shows up how things really are. The passage we have just considered is perhaps the clearest instance of this in the present section. Jesus is the owner of the fig tree who ‘came seeking fruit’. Metaphorically, he comes into the vineyard, and by his inspection of the tree its fate is decided. Literally, he comes into the synagogue, and the result of his coming is that the crippled woman is physically ‘made straight’ (13:13) while the president of the synagogue is shown to be spiritually warped. There is the distinction made plain. ‘As he said this, all his adversaries were put to shame; and all the people rejoiced at all the glorious things that were done by him’ (13:17). His coming into the world in the first century of our era was not, however, to be his only coming. Others are spoken of in this section. All of them, though, are comings of a judge, and the divisions made by Jesus in the days of his flesh are foretastes of the judgment he makes whenever he comes to men.

b. His coming in the future There lies ahead for every man a final encounter with Jesus the judge. It may be at death, when he hears the words which in the parable of 12:16–21 God speaks to the rich fool: ‘This night your soul is required of you.’ It may be at the return of Jesus, ‘when he comes’ as the householder came back unexpectedly (12:37, 43). In either case it is the end of opportunity, and one’s finished life is laid open before the Judge’s eye. He will then divide all whose minds have been centred on the things of this life from all whose treasure has been in heaven. This future coming is both certain and final. From the judgment of that day there will be no appeal. It will be the ‘day of wrath’ of which Paul writes in Romans 2:5–8, ‘when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed’—when ‘he will render to every man according to his works: to those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honour and immortality, he will give eternal life; but for those who are factious and do not obey the truth, but obey wickedness, there will be wrath and fury’. The equivalent passage in Matthew’s Gospel is the description of all nations gathered before the Son of man’s judgment throne, to be separated ‘one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats’, and to go, on the basis of that divisions, either into eternal punishment or into eternal life.

c. His coming in the present In the meantime, he comes to men even now, day by day, with the good news of the kingdom of God. ‘It is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom’ (12:32). While there is still time, he makes clear that, whereas some have closed with the offer and become his disciples, others have still not accepted it. Throughout the section he exposes the wisdom of the former and the need of the latter. Unspoken but implied is the urgent appeal to heed the lessons of the previous two sections, as to how man must come to seek God in penitence and emptiness, and how God will then come to meet man in salvation and blessing. Will those lessons be heeded, or not? This is the judgment.

Michael Wilcock, The Savior of the World: The Message of Luke’s Gospel, The Bible Speaks Today (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1979), 139–141.

This parable is to be taken in connection with what goes before, and with our Saviour’s calling the Jewish nation to repentance. It was spoken to illustrate the dealings of God with them, and their own wickedness under all his kindness, and we may understand the different parts of the parable as designed to represent—1st. God, by the man who owned the vineyard. 2d. The vineyard as the Jewish people. 3d. The coming of the owner for fruit, the desire of God that they should produce good works. 4th. The barrenness of the tree, the wickedness of the people. 5th. The dresser was perhaps intended to denote the Saviour and the other messengers of God, pleading that God would spare the Jews, and save them from their enemies that stood ready to destroy them, as soon as God should permit. 6th. His waiting denotes the delay of vengeance, to give them an opportunity of repentance. And, 7th. The remark of the dresser that he might then cut it down, denotes the acquiescence of all in the belief that such a judgment would be just. We may also remark that God treats sinners in this manner now; that he spares them long; that he gives them opportunities of repentance; that many live but to cumber the ground; that they are not only useless to the church, but pernicious to the world; that in due time, when they are fairly tried, they shall be cut down; and that the universe will bow to the awful decree of God, and say that their damnation is just.

Albert Barnes, Notes on the New Testament: Luke & John, ed. Robert Frew (London: Blackie & Son, 1884–1885), 88.

13:27. “I do not know you,” Jesus replied. “You can see all you want. You can converse all you want. You can hear all I teach. You can be present with me throughout my ministry. You have not known fully who I am and what I am up to. You know me not! You refuse to believe me, practice my word, enter my kingdom. I never knew you! I never knew the way you try to travel to get to heaven. Your way of tradition and law does not work. I have been calling for you to come, follow me. Now time for that is over. I can only call, Get away from me, worker of unrighteousness. You had your chance. No more. Judgment comes. Get ready for the judge.”

Trent C. Butler, Luke, vol. 3, Holman New Testament Commentary (Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 2000), 224.

13:31-35

Urgency is not the same as panic. The words we have just read, in Jesus’s message to Herod, themselves remind us that he is the Master of time. In every case, wherever one man is honestly seeking the way in to the kingdom, wherever another is faithfully pointing it out, the Lord knows how long the process requires. Before time began, indeed, he had allowed quite as much of it as would ever be needed for the purpose of saving all who would ever want to be saved. Jesus’s words about the narrow door of urgency do not entail panic preaching or stampede decisions. But they do focus on the all-important Now, and the necessity of an honest use of the present moment.

Michael Wilcock, The Savior of the World: The Message of Luke’s Gospel, The Bible Speaks Today (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1979), 144.

13:34. Jesus grieved over this murderous city. He would gladly sweep its citizens under his wings like a mother hen. But the chicks would not come. They scrambled away in all directions. Messiah came to Jerusalem, and Jerusalem ignored him. 13:35. Ignoring God brings disastrous results: Israel is abandoned once again as it was in exile six hundred years earlier. Their opportunity is gone. Never again will they see him until it is too late. Then he will be clearly recognized as Messiah, coming again, this time as judge of the world. Then they will sing the words of Psalm 118:26 and welcome Jesus as he comes in God’s name to deliver his people. But the song of praise will be too late for those to whom Jesus is speaking. MAIN IDEA REVIEW: Dedication to God’s mission shows in one’s love for people, not in one’s protection of a religious system.

Trent C. Butler, Luke, vol. 3, Holman New Testament Commentary (Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 2000), 225.

PRINCIPLES • Repentance is necessary for a person to enter the kingdom. • You have only a limited time to repent, so do so today. • Religious rules can prevent a person from knowing Jesus as Savior. • The kingdom may appear small and insignificant, but it is growing quietly into the world’s most significant institution. • Entry to the kingdom comes in narrow, simple ways. • Those who enter God’s kingdom may not be the people you expect. • Jesus called on his followers for total dedication, and he demonstrated this to them in Jerusalem.

APPLICATIONS • Repent now of your sins and follow Jesus. • Do not postpone your repentance until tomorrow, since the time is short. • Give attention to human needs rather than to religious rules. • Have confidence that God is at work growing his kingdom even when you cannot see much evidence of it. • Enter the kingdom by listening to God’s Word and practicing it, not by maintaining religious tradition. • Realize that people you least expect may go ahead of you into the kingdom. • Believe in Jesus’ death as the way to salvation.

Trent C. Butler, Luke, vol. 3, Holman New Testament Commentary (Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 2000), 226–227.