Chapter BY Chapter

Luke 13 – The Narrow Door

 

This passage is as follows:

 

There were some present at that very time who told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices.  And he answered them, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered in this way?  No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.  Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them: do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who lived in Jerusalem?  No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.”

 

And he told this parable: “A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came seeking fruit on it and found none.  And he said to the vinedresser, ‘Look, for three years now I have come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and I find none.  Cut it down.  Why should it use up the ground?’  And he answered him, ‘Sir, let it alone this year also, until I dig around it and put on manure.  Then if it should bear fruit next year, well and good; but if not, you can cut it down.’”

 

Now he was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath.  And behold, there was a woman who had had a disabling spirit for eighteen years.  She was bent over and could not fully straighten herself.  When Jesus saw her, he called her over and said to her, “Woman, you are freed from your disability.”  And he laid his hands on her, and immediately she was made straight, and she glorified God.  But the ruler of the synagogue, indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, said to the people, “There are six days in which work ought to be done.  Come on those days and be healed, and not on the Sabbath day.”  Then the Lord answered him, “You hypocrites!  Does not each of you on the Sabbath untie his ox or his donkey from the manger and lead it away to water it?  And ought not this woman, a daughter of Abraham whom Satan bound for eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath day?”  As he said these things, all his adversaries were put to shame, and all the people rejoiced at all the glorious things that were done by him.

He said therefore, “What is the kingdom of God like?  And to what shall I compare it?  It is like a grain of mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his garden, and it grew and became a tree, and the birds of the air made nests in its branches.”

 

And again he said, “To what shall I compare the kingdom of God?  It is like leaven that a woman took and hid in three measures of flour, until it was all leavened.”

 

He went on his way through towns and villages, teaching and journeying toward Jerusalem.  And someone said to him, “Lord, will those who are saved be few?” And he said to them, “Strive to enter through the narrow door.  For many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able.  When once the master of the house has risen and shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and to knock at the door, saying, ‘Lord, open to us,’ then he will answer you, ‘I do not know where you come from.’  Then you will begin to say, ‘We ate and drank in your presence, and you taught in our streets.’  But he will say, ‘I tell you, I do not know where you come from.  Depart from me, all you workers of evil!’  In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God but you yourselves cast out.  And people will come from east and west, and from north and south, and recline at table in the kingdom of God.  And behold, some are last who will be first, and some are first who will be last.”

 

At that very hour some Pharisees came and said to him, “Get away from here, for Herod wants to kill you.”  And he said to them, “Go and tell that fox, ‘Behold, I cast out demons and perform cures today and tomorrow, and the third day I finish my course.  Nevertheless, I must go on my way today and tomorrow and the day following, for it cannot be that a prophet should perish away from Jerusalem.’  O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it!  How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!  Behold, your house is forsaken.

 

And I tell you, you will not see me until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!’”

 

(End of Passage)

 

In the last chapter, Jesus stressed the importance of always being ready for the master.  The master is Jesus.  We need to be ready for his return by treating people right, helping others, witnessing, and reading scripture.  When we start chapter 13, Jesus immediately begins by using a situation at hand to point out the need for something even more important that people need to make sure about.

 

Verses 1-9,

 

Now there were some present at that time who told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices.  Jesus answered, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way?  I tell you, no!  But unless you repent, you too will all perish.  Or those eighteen who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them - do you think they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem?  I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish.”

Then he told this parable: “A man had a fig tree growing in his vineyard, and he went to look for fruit on it but did not find any.  So he said to the man who took care of the vineyard, ‘For three years now I’ve been coming to look for fruit on this fig tree and haven’t found any.  Cut it down!  Why should it use up the soil?’

 

“‘Sir,’ the man replied, ‘leave it alone for one more year, and I’ll dig around it and fertilize it.  If it bears fruit next year, fine!  If not, then cut it down.’”

 

There were some people in the crowd that day who tried to get Jesus to launch a political or even an armed attack upon an injustice which Pilate had earlier carried out upon some Galilean worshipers.  The governor Pilate had caused the blood of these worshipers to be mixed with the blood of the sacrifices which they had brought to the temple.

 

Although this incident is not exactly recorded elsewhere in the pages of history, we do know of other cases where Pilate’s orders had caused people to be killed in the temple (Archaeology and Pontius Pilate in Bible History Online site).  Josephus recounts an incident in which Pilate spent money from the temple to build an aqueduct.  Pilate had soldiers hidden in the crowd of Jews while addressing them and, when Jews protested his actions he gave the signal for his soldiers to randomly attack, beat and kill – in an attempt to silence Jewish petitions.  The blood of these particular worshipers had certainly run down on to the animals which they had brought to offer as sacrifices.

 

As usual, Jesus refrained from being drawn into any political discussion (or armed revolt).  Instead, he asked the people around him “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way?” (13:2).  In asking this Jesus was putting the onus back on them.  In a sense he was saying: “don’t talk to me about those who have died.  I’m not going to say whether these were worse sinners than those who were not murdered.  I am not going to say whether we should vindicate these people.  What I am going to do is remind you that you need to think about your eternal salvation.  What I am going to remind you of is that you are all sinners” He meant “stop worrying about those from the past, and start thinking about your own relationship to God.”  Then, with great solemnity he said “Unless you repent, you too will all perish” (13:3).

​

To reinforce what he was saying, Jesus reminded them of a case where some Judeans were killed.  Apparently the tower near the Pool of Siloam had fallen and killed eighteen people, and these were all from Jerusalem.  So, he seems to be saying that it wasn’t only Galileans who died in accidents.  Death and sickness do not always come about as a judgment from God.  The thing to consider is whether these Galileans or these citizens of Jerusalem were greater sinners than those who were not killed.  He meant that everyone is a sinner in God’s sight, and all need to repent and turn to God (Garry de Vries, former Bible Teacher https://www.quora.com/Where-did-the-reference-in-Luke-13-1-to-Pilate-mixing-the-Galileans-blood-with-the-blood-of-sacrifices-come-from).

 

Jesus challenges the crowd.  They must repent or they will be like any of these people that had their lives taken away unsuspectedly.  So it is today.  Your life might be snuffed out at any moment.  You might catch the Coronavirus.  You might get in a car accident.  You never know when your life will end, and after that it is too late to repent.

 

What is Jesus saying about the fig tree?

 

Jesus is relating this to the need to repent.  Time is limited for each and every person.  You have a limited amount of time to repent and be right with God.  After that, your fate is sealed.

 

Why does God give us only a limited time?  Wouldn’t it be more gracious of him to heal everyone and let us live forever?  Atheists will say this, by the way.  Actually it wouldn’t because then we could live forever and keep on sinning.  In Genesis 3:22-23, God takes the

 

Tree of Life away from man so that he cannot go on sinning and still live forever.

 

And the Lord God said, “The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil.  He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever.”  So the Lord God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken.

 

In Genesis 6:11-13, God tells Noah that he is going to wipe out the human race because of their violence.

 

Now the earth was corrupt in God’s sight and was full of violence.  God saw how corrupt the earth had become, for all the people on earth had corrupted their ways.  So God said to Noah, “I am going to put an end to all people, for the earth is filled with violence because of them.  I am surely going to destroy both them and the earth.

 

In Luke 5:14, Jesus tells a leper to not tell anyone that he was healed.  He does this because it is more important for Jesus to tell people how to have eternal life than to heal them.  It is a good thing that we have a limited time actually.  This is a matter of urgency, the presence of death in the world bears that urgency to our minds.

 

Next Jesus has another incident which he uses to teach people his ways.

 

Verses 10-17,

 

Now he was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath.  And behold, there was a woman who had had a disabling spirit for eighteen years.  She was bent over and could not fully straighten herself.  When Jesus saw her, he called her over and said to her, “Woman, you are freed from your disability.”  And he laid his hands on her, and immediately she was made straight, and she glorified God.  But the ruler of the synagogue, indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, said to the people, “There are six days in which work ought to be done.  Come on those days and be healed, and not on the Sabbath day.”  Then the Lord answered him, “You hypocrites!  Does not each of you on the Sabbath untie his ox or his donkey from the manger and lead it away to water it?  And ought not this woman, a daughter of Abraham whom Satan bound for eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath day?”  As he said these things, all his adversaries were put to shame, and all the people rejoiced at all the glorious things that were done by him.

So here we have another Sabbath day healing.  Is the ruler of the synagogue complaining about the healing Jesus did because it is prohibited in Jewish law?  There is nothing against this in Jewish law.  The synagogue ruler is probably complaining about it because he is part of the Jewish hierarchy at that time and feels threatened that people might follow Jesus instead of him.  He is trying to tell God how things should be done.  There are people that tell God how things should be done.  They might say things like, “If Jesus is real should come to my door today and introduce himself.”

 

How do you answer such an objection?

 

First of all, he has already proven his resurrection.  He doesn’t need anyone else to prove it.  We have a list of 1st century named eyewitnesses to the resurrected Jesus.  These are:

 

Peter

Andrew

James

John

Matthew

Philip

Bartholomew

Thomas

James, son of Alphaeus

Thaddaeus

Simon the Zealot

Mary Magdalene

Mary, the mother of James and Joseph

Salome

Joanna

Paul

 

In addition to this, Jesus appeared to over 500 people at one time.  These testimonies are preserved in the gospels.  In addition to that, we have forensic evidence on the Shroud of Turin that proves that he did indeed die and come back to life.  People that deny that Jesus lived, died, or rose from the dead have zero named 1st century eyewitness to their belief and they have no material evidence to support their belief.

 

Second, their making such a demand is putting themselves above God.  This is what the original sin is.  Adam wanted to be like God.  Adam wanted to be the one to decide what was good and what was evil.  For that sin, God took away the Tree of Life so that man could not continue sinning and live forever.

 

Some people may demand that Jesus heal everyone and make it so everyone lives forever.  Once again, God isn’t going to do that because that is why he took away the Tree of Life.  When God killed everything on the earth with a great flood saving only Noah, his family, and the animals on the ark, he did so because the violence of men was great.  So, God isn’t going to heal everyone and just give them eternal life.  God has ordained what his way is.  We can either follow Jesus and believe in him so we will be with Jesus in heaven, or we can go to the place of eternal death.  One way or the other everyone is going to stop sinning.  You can choose which way you want to do it.

 

Some people say that the only thing we have are texts that were written over and over for hundreds of years.  These same people have exactly zero ancient texts that support their beliefs.  Now if you take all the ancient Greek texts that are not Biblical, they will stack up to about 4 feet high.  If you take all the ancient Greek manuscripts of the Bible and stack them up, they go as high as the Empire State Building.  This is how important people thought the message was in the Bible.

 

Jesus then gives a couple illustrations.  Verses 18-21,

 

He said therefore, “What is the kingdom of God like?  And to what shall I compare it?  It is like a grain of mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his garden, and it grew and became a tree, and the birds of the air made nests in its branches.”

And again he said, “To what shall I compare the kingdom of God?  It is like leaven that a woman took and hid in three measures of flour, until it was all leavened.”

 

Now we know how small a mustard seed is, and what a tree looks like.  A measure of flour is about 20 pounds of flour.  So, this woman put some leaven, probably yeast, in this flour and all of it became leavened.  What is Jesus saying with these illustrations?

​

1. That the kingdom of heaven will increase in the world.

2. That the kingdom of heaven will increase inside of a person.

 

After this, we have another scenario.  Verses 22-30,

 

He went on his way through towns and villages, teaching and journeying toward Jerusalem.  And someone said to him, “Lord, will those who are saved be few?” And he said to them, “Strive to enter through the narrow door.  For many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able.  When once the master of the house has risen and shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and to knock at the door, saying, ‘Lord, open to us,’ then he will answer you, ‘I do not know where you come from.’  Then you will begin to say, ‘We ate and drank in your presence, and you taught in our streets.’  But he will say, ‘I tell you, I do not know where you come from.  Depart from me, all you workers of evil!’  In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God but you yourselves cast out.  And people will come from east and west, and from north and south, and recline at table in the kingdom of God.  And behold, some are last who will be first, and some are first who will be last.”

 

Someone asks Jesus, “Will those who are saved be few?”  In a short sentence, what was Jesus’ answer to this?

 

Yes, there will be only a few.  Jesus says to strive to enter through the narrow door because the way to be saved is narrow.  In John 14:6, Jesus says, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”  Some people today will say that all religions should be included.  Some people say that it is mean to tell children if they don’t believe in Jesus they’ll go to hell.  This is what I tell those people: What kind of monster would try to keep men, women and children away from the love, peace, and eternal life that Jesus has promised and proven?  If God is a real God, he wouldn’t provide a way of salvation and then say “Gee, you can also get it from the fake gods.”  The unique thing about Jesus is that he didn’t just promise eternal life, he proved it!