Luke 13
BSASBJesus calls His hearers to repent now, and He warns that a fruitless life cannot count on endless time. He frees a crippled woman on the Sabbath and describes the quiet, unstoppable growth of God’s kingdom. He urges people to enter the narrow door while it is open, then grieves over Jerusalem, which will not come to Him.
Luke 13:1
Some people bring Jesus news of a recent atrocity. Pilate had Galileans killed while they were offering sacrifices, so their blood mingled with the blood of the animals. The report invites Jesus to comment on why such things happen.
BSA: mixed (“mingled, combined”): The horror is the blending of human blood with the sacrifices, as if worshipers were killed at the altar itself.
Luke 13:2-3
Jesus rejects the idea that the victims were worse sinners than others. Then He turns the question on His listeners. Everyone needs to repent, and without repentance all face ruin. Tragedy is a warning to look at our own hearts.
BSA: repent (“change your mind, turn away from sin”): Repentance is a real change of mind that leads to a changed direction.
See also: John 9:1-3.
Luke 13:4-5
Jesus gives a second example, this time an accident. A tower near the Siloam pool fell and killed eighteen people. Again He denies that they were more guilty than their neighbors, and again He repeats the call to repent. Death can come suddenly to anyone, so no one should put off turning to God.
Luke 13:6
A man plants a fig tree in his vineyard and expects fruit from it, but finds none. In the Old Testament Israel is often pictured as God’s vineyard or fig tree. The parable asks what God finds in the lives He has planted and cared for.
BSA: fruit (“the product of spiritual growth”): God looks for a life that actually shows the growth He has made possible.
See also: Isaiah 5:1-2.
Luke 13:7
The owner has waited three years, which is long enough, and he orders the tree cut down. A barren tree is not harmless, because it takes up soil that could grow something fruitful. Patience has limits, and a fruitless life wastes what God has given.
BSA: years (“a period of testing and patience”): The three years show that the owner has already been patient for a long time.
Luke 13:8-9
The vinedresser pleads for one more year. He will dig around the tree and feed it, and then it can be judged. This shows mercy and a real chance to change, but the chance does not last forever. God’s patience is meant to lead us to bear fruit.
BSA: Sir (“Lord, Master, a term of respect”): The keeper speaks humbly, as a servant pleading with his master for something undeserved.
See also: 2 Peter 3:9.
Luke 13:10-11
On a Sabbath Jesus is teaching in a synagogue. A woman is there who has been bent double for eighteen years by a spirit of weakness. She could not straighten herself. Her long suffering sets the scene for what He does next.
BSA: disabled (“crippled, bent over”): Her body was physically bowed down, and the cause was spiritual oppression.
Greek: συγκύπτουσα (synkyptousa, G4794) — “bent together, bowed double.” The word paints a woman folded over, unable to lift her eyes. It shows how heavy and how long her burden was.
Luke 13:12-13
Jesus sees her and calls her to Him. She has not asked for anything. He speaks freedom to her, lays His hands on her, and she stands straight at once. Her first response is to praise God. Jesus meets her need before she even asks.
BSA: set free (“released, loosed, forgiven”): Jesus speaks of her healing as a release, as if a rope had been cut. glorify (“praise and honor”): Her healing at once becomes worship.
Greek: ἀπολέλυσαι (apolelysai, G630) — “you have been released.” This is the word for loosing a prisoner or untying something bound. It is the same picture Jesus uses when He later speaks of her bondage.
Luke 13:14
The synagogue leader is angry, but he does not speak to Jesus directly. He scolds the crowd and tells them to seek healing on the other six days. He is guarding the commandment about rest, but he has missed the mercy of God in front of him.
See also: Exodus 20:9-10.
Luke 13:15-16
Jesus calls them hypocrites. They untie their animals and water them on the Sabbath, so surely a woman, a daughter of Abraham, may be loosed from Satan’s long grip. Her need matters more than an ox’s thirst. The Sabbath is a fitting day for freedom.
BSA: bound (“tied up, fastened”): Jesus describes her illness as a captivity, as though she had been tied up for eighteen years.
See also: Luke 14:5.
Luke 13:17
His opponents are put to shame, because they cannot answer. The ordinary people rejoice at all the wonderful things Jesus is doing. His works divide the crowd, and some are hardened while others delight.
BSA: humiliated (“ashamed, put to shame, dishonored”): Their argument collapsed in public, and they lost face before the crowd.
Luke 13:18-19
Jesus compares the kingdom of God to a mustard seed. It starts tiny and unimpressive, but it grows into a large plant where birds find shelter. God’s reign begins in small, hidden ways and ends in something large enough to shelter many.
BSA: mustard seed (“a small, insignificant grain”): The kingdom’s beginnings look unimpressive, yet they carry real life.
See also: Ezekiel 17:23.
Luke 13:20-21
Next the kingdom is like leaven, or yeast, which a woman works into a large amount of flour. Three measures is enough for a big batch of bread. The yeast is hidden, yet it works quietly until the whole batch is changed. God’s kingdom works from within, and nothing finally stops it.
BSA: mixed (“hid, blended”): The leaven disappears into the dough and does its work out of sight.
Luke 13:22
Luke reminds us that Jesus is on a journey. He moves through towns and villages, teaching as He goes, and His face is set toward Jerusalem. Everything He says in these chapters is shaped by that destination.
Luke 13:23-24
Someone asks whether only a few will be saved. Jesus does not give a number. He tells the person to strive to enter the narrow door. Many will try to enter later, when the door is shut. The urgent question is whether we ourselves are going in now.
BSA: effort (“to strive, to struggle”): Entering is not casual. It takes determined, wholehearted commitment. narrow (“restricted, difficult”): The door is a single way in, and it is not easy to pass through.
Greek: ἀγωνίζεσθε (agōnizesthe, G75) — “strive, struggle as in a contest.” Our word agony comes from this Greek word. It describes an athlete straining every nerve to win.
See also: Matthew 7:13-14.
Luke 13:25-27
There comes a time when the master shuts the door. Those outside plead that they ate with Him and heard His teaching. But being near Jesus is not the same as knowing Him. He answers that He does not know them, and He sends them away. Real faith shows in a life that belongs to Him.
BSA: know (“am unaware of, do not recognize”): He says there is no real relationship, however close they were in outward ways.
See also: Matthew 7:22-23; Psalm 6:8.
Luke 13:28-29
The shut-out will weep when they see the patriarchs and prophets inside the kingdom. Meanwhile people from every direction will take their places at the feast. God’s table is bigger than anyone expected, and some who assumed they belonged will miss it.
BSA: table (“a place of fellowship and communion”): The kingdom is pictured as a shared meal with God and His people.
See also: Matthew 8:11-12.
Luke 13:30
Jesus ends with a saying that overturns expectations. Some now regarded as last will be first, and some now regarded as first will be last. God does not rank people by status or by privilege.
Luke 13:31
Some Pharisees warn Jesus that Herod wants to kill Him and urge Him to leave. Herod Antipas ruled Galilee. Whether the warning was kind or a trick, it tries to turn Jesus away from His path.
Luke 13:32
Jesus calls Herod a fox. He sends back a message that He will go on with His work of casting out demons and healing, and the work will reach its goal on the third day. He is not driven by fear or by a king’s threats. His timetable belongs to His Father.
BSA: fox (“sly and cunning”): The word describes Herod’s craftiness and his lack of real greatness. goal (“purpose, mission”): Jesus speaks of finishing a mission that has been given to Him.
Greek: τελειοῦμαι (teleioumai, G5048) — “I am being completed, I reach the goal.” The word speaks of bringing something to its intended end. Jesus sees His coming death and rising as the completion of His mission.
Luke 13:33
Jesus says He must keep on going for these days because a prophet must die in Jerusalem. He says it with a touch of sorrow. He is not trapped by events. He is walking on purpose toward the place where God’s messengers have so often been rejected.
Luke 13:34
Jesus cries over Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets. He has longed to gather her people as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings. The tender picture shows the heart of God. The sad ending shows that people can refuse His shelter.
BSA: unwilling (“refused, did not want”): The tragedy is not that He would not protect them but that they would not come.
See also: Psalm 91:4.
Luke 13:35
Because they refuse Him, their house is left to them empty. Jesus may be speaking of the temple, or of the whole people and city. He promises they will not see Him until they say a blessing on the One who comes in the Lord’s name. The words come from a psalm of welcome.
BSA: desolate (“empty, uninhabited”): The house is left deserted, without God’s protecting presence.
See also: Psalm 118:26.