Luke 13

Luke 13:1

Now on the same occasion there were some present who reported to Him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices.

(a) The same occasion. Jesus is speaking to a massive crowd that is effectively besieging him (Luke 12:1).

(b) Galileans. Soldiers sent by Pilate murdered some Galileans who were making sacrifices at the temple. It was an evil act that caused some to wonder whether the victims had been punished by the Lord (see next verse).

(c) Pilate; see entry for Luke 3:1.

Luke 13:2

And Jesus said to them, “Do you suppose that these Galileans were greater sinners than all other Galileans because they suffered this fate?

Do you suppose they were murdered because they were bad people? When bad things happen to people we cast about for reasons to make us feel safer. “They had it coming. They shouldn’t have been there. They were running with the wrong crowd.”

Luke 13:3

“I tell you, no, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.

(a) No. These Galileans were innocent, no better or worse than anybody else. Bad things can happen to anyone.

(b) Repent. Turn to God.

To repent literally means to change your mind. In a biblical sense, repentance is not an isolated intellectual act but a response to spiritual revelation that leads to transformation. In context, Jesus is inviting us to change our unbelieving minds and receive the glad tidings of God’s grace and forgiveness.

Note that there is no suggestion of sin or penance in this context. In the new covenant, repentance does not mean “reform your sinning ways.” In the old covenant, repentance implied a turning from sin (see for example; 1 Kings 8:35, 47-48, 2 Chr. 7:14, Eze. 14:6, 18:30, Jer. 36.3). But in the new covenant, repentance involves a turning to God (Acts 20:21). Paul preached that we should “repent and turn to God” (Act 26:20). Repentance and faith are two sides of the same coin and both are a response to God’s love and grace. Repentance is the ability to receive the truth that sets us free. It’s a change of mind that causes us to see as God sees and think as God thinks. To repent and believe is the same as “hear and believe” (Acts 15:7).

See entry for Repentance.

(c) Perish. Jesus does not use the word that means die, but a stronger verb (apollumi) that means to destroy or be lost. As usual, he is looking beyond physical death to the final outcome of those who do not put their faith in God’s only Son. “Whoever believes in him shall not perish, but have eternal life” (John 3:16).

Luke 13:4

“Or do you suppose that those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them were worse culprits than all the men who live in Jerusalem?

Do you suppose these eighteen were bad sinners as well, deserving of God’s judgment? No, they died in an accident. Their goodness or badness did not come into it. Death comes to all, sometimes unexpectedly.

Luke 13:5

“I tell you, no, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.”

(a) Repent; see entry for Luke 13:3.

(b) Perish; see entry for Luke 13:3.

Luke 13:6

And He began telling this parable: “A man had a fig tree which had been planted in his vineyard; and he came looking for fruit on it and did not find any.

(a) Parable. The Parable of the Barren Fig Tree arose from two tragedies. First, Pilate had murdered some Galileans while they were worshiping at the temple. Then a tower in Jerusalem fell, killing eighteen people (Luke 13:1–5). One tragedy was an evil act, while the other was a tragic accident. When tragedy strikes, it’s natural to ask: Why did this happen? Were the victims guilty of some sin? Was this divine judgment? To these questions, Jesus gives an emphatic answer: “I tell you, no” (Luke 13:5a).

God is not the author of evil, yet he is often blamed when bad things happen. If an earthquake levels a city, a gas leak destroys a building, or a disease takes a child, some will say, “God is punishing us. There must have been some sin, and God is balancing the books.” This is a cursed and faithless way to live.

Jesus came to reveal a God who loves you like a father. When people refused to believe his message, he told them a story about a barren fig tree. The fig tree represents those who rely on themselves instead of trusting God. They are cursed and spiritually barren because they do not receive the grace God offers them. The parable warns the self-righteous to repent before it is too late.

Perversely, some use the parable to promote the very unbelief Jesus warns against. They say, “Unproductive Christians are cut down, so produce fruit for Jesus.” Or worse, they claim you are not a genuine Christian unless you are fruitful. These kinds of messages inspire fear (“God may chop me”) and anxiety (“Have I done enough?”). They cause people to fall from grace and become barren.

(b) A fig tree. In the Old Testament, Israel is sometimes portrayed as a fig tree (Hos. 9:10, Joel 1:7). The Jews listening to the parable would have understood that Jesus was talking about them.

(c) Vineyard. Fig trees were sometimes planted in vineyards. Figs were complementary crops that provided an alternative source of food. To sit under one’s own vine and fig tree was to live in peace and prosperity (1 Kgs. 4:25, Mic. 4:4, Zec. 3:10).

(d) Fruit reveals the health of the tree. “Every good tree bears good fruit” (Matt. 7:17). A fruit tree that does not bear fruit is likely a sick and dying tree.

Luke 13:7

“And he said to the vineyard-keeper, ‘Behold, for three years I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree without finding any. Cut it down! Why does it even use up the ground?’

(a) Three years without any figs means the tree is unlikely to ever bear figs. The time has come to make some hard decisions.

For three years, Jesus had been preaching the good news of the kingdom. He healed the sick and delivered the oppressed to show people that God is good and that he loves them. Yet many refused to believe his message. They chose to believe the lie that God sometimes punishes people by knocking down towers. Their foolish unbelief was heartbreaking to Jesus. “Unless you repent, you will all likewise perish” (Luke 13:5b). In other words, “If you don’t change the way you think about God, you will be lost for eternity.”

(b) Without finding any. The fig tree had leaves but no fruit. Fig leaves remind us of Adam and Eve’s futile attempts to cover their shame (Gen. 3:7). They represent our self-righteous attempts to deal with sin and guilt.

(c) Cut it down. Time is running out for the unbelieving generation.

(d) Use up the ground? A barren fig tree deprives the vineyard of nutrients and moisture. It uses resources that could be allocated to more productive ends.

Jesus had proclaimed the good news throughout Galilee and Judea, but the result was often apathy or hostility. It was time to take the message elsewhere. Soon, he would instruct his disciples to “go and make disciples of all nations” (Matt. 28:19), and they would carry his message to the ends of the earth (Acts 1:8).

Luke 13:8-9

“And he answered and said to him, ‘Let it alone, sir, for this year too, until I dig around it and put in fertilizer; and if it bears fruit next year, fine; but if not, cut it down.’”

(a) Let it alone. The original verb aphiēmi is sometimes translated “forgive,” as in “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing” (Luke 23:34). The vineyard-keeper is asking the owner for more time, more grace. He believes in the fig tree just as Jesus believed in Israel. No matter how badly people treated him, he served them to the end and died with forgiveness on his lips.

(b) Fertilizer. Manure. A fig tree is a hardy tree that usually needs little care, but this fruitless tree needs help. The vineyard-keeper will do all he can to help it bear fruit.

(c) Next year. “Give it more time.” Why hasn’t God judged the world already? He gives us time to repent because he is not willing that any perish (2 Pet. 3:9).

(d) If it bears fruit next year, fine. Some twist Jesus’ words into a call for productivity and performance. “Produce fruit or be cut down.” But Jesus is discussing fruit, not works. We don’t produce fruit by striving and toiling, but we bear his fruit by abiding in the Vine (John 15:5). The fruitful believer is the one who renounces all forms of self-righteousness and puts their trust wholly in the Lord (Jer. 17:7–8).

(e) Cut it down. The self-righteous unbeliever has no future.

And with that, Jesus ends the parable. What happens next? Does the fig tree bear fruit or get cut down? That’s a question only we can answer. The message of the Barren Fig Tree is that life is short, and no one knows how much time they have. Those who reject God’s grace will perish, but those who put their faith in the Son he sent will live and bear much fruit. They will be like trees planted by streams of water, which yield their fruit in season and whose leaves do not wither (Ps. 1:3). 

Luke 13:10

And He was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath.

(a) Synagogues. Jesus often preached in the Jewish assemblies or synagogues; see entry for Luke 4:44.

(b) Sabbath. The Sabbath was the day of rest mandated in the Law of Moses (Ex. 31:14, Lev. 23:3). The Sabbath day began at sunset on Friday and ended on sunset on Saturday.

Luke 13:18

So he was saying, “What is the kingdom of God like, and to what shall I compare it?

(a) The kingdom of God. In his account of the parable, Matthew has the kingdom of heaven. The kingdom of heaven and the kingdom of God are synonymous; see entry for Matt. 3:2.

(b) Compare. The parable of the Mustard Seed is a similitude rather than a story. Jesus is making a simple comparison between one thing (the kingdom of God) and another (a mustard seed).

The parable of the Mustard Seed appears in Luke, Matthew 13:31–32, and Mark 4:30–32. In Matthew and Luke it is followed by the parable of the Leaven. Both are similitudes, or simple comparisons, rather than stories. They form a pair, each illustrating the growing influence of God’s kingdom on earth.

Luke 13:19

“It is like a mustard seed, which a man took and threw into his own garden; and it grew and became a tree, and the birds of the air nested in its branches.”

(a) Mustard seed. Unlike Matthew and Mark, Luke does not mention the small size of the mustard seed (Matt. 13:32, Mark 4:31).

(b) A man. Since this parable is a similitude (see previous verse), we do not need to search for meaning in every detail. If the man represents anyone, he is surely the Son of Man who sowed the good seed in the parable of the Wheat and Weeds (Matt. 13:37). Jesus has the lead role in many of his parables. He’s the Sower, the Samaritan, and the Shepherd.

(c) Threw or cast or sowed (Matt. 13:31).

(d) Garden. Matthew and Mark have the man sowing the seed in his field and on the soil respectively (Matt. 13:31; Mark 4:31).

(e) Tree; see entry for Matt. 13:32.

(f) The birds of the air; see entry for Matt. 13:32.

Luke 13:20–21

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

(a) Compare. Like the parable of the Mustard Seed, the parable of the Leaven is a similitude rather than a story. Jesus is making a comparison (Luke 13:18) between one thing (the kingdom of heaven) and another (leaven).

(b) The kingdom of God is synonymous with the kingdom of heaven; see entry for Matt. 3:2.

(c) Leaven; see entry for Matt. 13:33.

Luke 13:25

“Once the head of the house gets up and shuts the door, and you begin to stand outside and knock on the door, saying, ‘Lord, open up to us!’ then He will answer and say to you, ‘I do not know where you are from.’

Outside is the natural habitat of the unbeliever. Jesus was often “inside” with the believers and true disciples (Matt. 12:48–50, Mark 4:10), while those outside were the sceptics and unbelievers (Matt. 12:46–47, Luke 8:20).

Luke 13:27

and He will say, ‘I tell you, I do not know where you are from; DEPART FROM ME, ALL YOU EVILDOERS.’

Evildoers are unbelievers. Since the work of God is to believe in the One he sent (John 6:29), an evildoer is someone who rejects the Son (Heb. 10:29).

Luke 13:28

“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 yourselves being thrown out.

(a) In that place. Outside the kingdom, in the “outer darkness” (see Matt. 8:12).

(b) Weeping and gnashing of teeth. When the self-righteous and religious find themselves out in the dark and cold, they will react with anger and violence. See entry for Matt. 8:12.

(c) Gnashing. To gnash your teeth is to grind your teeth in anger (Job 16:9, Lam. 2:16). The original word for gnashing (brygmos) means snarling or growling. Those who heard Stephen speaking of heavenly things that they could not see, snarled like dogs. Then they lunged at him and killed him (Acts 7:57–58).

(d) The kingdom; see next verse.

(e) Being thrown out. Those who reject Jesus have no place in his kingdom. They are thrown out or expelled by their unbelief (see previous verse).

Luke 13:29

“And they will come from east and west and from north and south, and will recline at the table in the kingdom of God.

(a) They will come. All nations will come to the banqueting table of the Lord as prophesied by Isaiah. and echoed by Jesus himself (Is. 25:6, Luke 14:21–23)

Before he died, Jesus told his disciples that he would send his messengers to the four corners of earth to gather the elect (see entry for Matt. 24:31). The prophecy was fulfilled in the Book of Acts. Since the Day of Pentecost the nations have been streaming to his church.

(b) The kingdom of God is synonymous with the kingdom of heaven; see entry for Matt. 3:2.

Luke 13:30

“And behold, some are last who will be first and some are first who will be last.”

Last who will be first. Those who strive to be first, best, and greatest in this world may find themselves at the back of the line, while those who are the last and the least are received as honored guests. It’s not that God has anything against hard workers and winners. It’s just that things which are highly valued in this world—ambition, self-promotion, and self-righteousness—are not valued by God (Luke 16:15). And those things the world dismisses as weak and foolish, God chooses to shame the strong and confound the wise (1 Cor. 1:27).

Luke 13:31

Just at that time some Pharisees approached, saying to Him, “Go away, leave here, for Herod wants to kill You.”

(a) Pharisees; see entry for Matt. 3:7.

(b) Herod Antipas the tetrarch; see entry for Luke 3:1.

(c) Wants to kill you. Herod the tetrarch of Galilee had killed John the Baptist (Luke 9:9). Now he wanted to kill Jesus.

On several occasions people plotted or tried to murder Jesus (Matt. 26:59, Mark 14:55, Luke 4:30, 22:2, John 5:18, 7:19, 25, 11:53). But none succeeded. Jesus would freely lay down his life for all. No one would take it from him (John 10:18).

Luke 13:35

“Behold, your house is left to you desolate; and I say to you, you will not see Me until the time comes when you say, ‘BLESSED IS HE WHO COMES IN THE NAME OF THE LORD!’”

In Luke’s account these words come before Palm Sunday, but in Matthew’s gospel they come after (Matt. 23:39). Palm Sunday was the day the crowds welcomed Jesus into Jerusalem shouting: “Hosanna to the Son of David. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord” (Matt. 21:9). In the old days, to say a prophet came in the name of the Lord was to recognize him as a true prophet of God (Deut. 18:22). So when the people of Jerusalem hailed Jesus as coming in the name of the Lord, while singing the salvation song of Psalm 118, they were saying, “We recognize you as the true Savior.”

The Pharisees did not recognize Jesus as Savior so they were offended by the singing (Matt. 21:15). So Jesus told them, “You will not see me again until you sing the same tune.”

For three years the religious rulers of Jerusalem had seen Jesus up close, yet they did not believe he was who he said he was. So Jesus tells them, “You have seen me and not believed. Now you will not see me unless you believe.” They would not see him again except by faith. The religious leaders had rejected Jesus, but he had not rejected them. If they were to cry, “Lord, save us,” he would be there. The moment they saw him as a blessing from the Lord, they would be blessed.

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