Repent or Perish
Jesus asks if the Galileans were worse sinners because of the way they suffered. He says no, but you will suffer and perish like they did unless you repent.
I'm not sure who Jesus is talking about, I also don't understand why someone who suffers would be a worse sinner, I guess maybe because God is punishing them for sins? I dunno, at any rate, he says repent or you will have a similar fate.
The Parable of the Barren Fig Tree
Jesus told the parable of a guy who had a fig tree which had been planted on his land and for 3 years had not born fruit. He said to his servant to cut it down, why waste the land if it is not producing. The servant said to give it one more year, he would spread manure around and it would bear fruit next year.
This story is hilarious given the interaction Jesus had with the fig tree in Matthew
A Woman with a Disabling Spirit
Jesus heals a woman, the ruler of the synagogue says Jesus should not have done that because it is the sabbath. Jesus says they are hypocrites because they do things like feed their livestock on the sabbath. Why can't a woman be loosed from the bonds of satan on the sabbath? His adversaries were put to shame.
I love this story. I hate following tradition just for the sake of tradition. Traditions are fun and they have a lot of great things about them, but when they don't serve a purpose or get in the way we should get rid of them (or maybe just loosen the rules up a bit when appropriate)
The Mustard Seed and the Leaven
The kingdom of God is like a mustard seed which grew to become a tree which the birds made their nest in. It is like leaven that a woman hid in 3 measures of flour until it was all leavened.
uhh, the kingdom of God grows I guess?
The Narrow Door
Someone asks Jesus if everyone trying to get into the kingdom of God get in. Jesus says it is a narrow door, many will try to get in and won't make it. Outside will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Not sure if I am missing something here but it basically sounds like Jesus is saying many will try to get in and fail. I don't like it.
Lament over Jerusalem
Someone tells Jesus that Herod is trying to kill him. Jesus says he was going to heal people for the next 3 days but now he has to leave because he should not perish away from Jerusalem.
I think that is what this section said, it's fairly confusing. This whole chapter has been confusing, maybe it's just my brain this morning.
I have trouble understanding what he means in the beginning as well. I tried to explain it to myself a few different ways, but none of them seem to make sense. =/
ReplyDeleteI think you summed up stuff pretty well and I don't really have much to add to what you said except the part about the few getting saved. It's interesting to compare this analogy with a few other vesed.
http://www.biblestudytools.com/esv/passage.aspx?q=luke+13:23-28;matthew+7:7-8;luke+11:9-10
In the other stories he says that people who seek will find.
That is a really good link comparing those 2 verses. In one he says "seek and you shall find" and in the other he is saying many will seek and fail. When I first read your comment I thought maybe he used different words but it is similar wording and the context seems similar. This is one of those times it would be nice to be able to go back to the original language. I'm not sure how much semantics can help, but maybe there is subtlety there that we can't see. Either way, it seems pretty bad.
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