Luke 13

¹At that very time, some people arrived and reported to Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their own sacrifices. ²In response, he said to them, “Do you suppose that these Galileans were worse sinners than all other Galileans because they suffered this? ³No, I tell you; but unless you change your hearts and minds, you will all perish in the same way. ⁴Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them—do you suppose they were more guilty than all the other people living in Jerusalem? ⁵No, I tell you; but unless you change your hearts and minds, you will all perish just as they did.”

⁶Then he told this parable: “A man had a fig tree that had been planted in his vineyard. He came looking for fruit on it and found none. ⁷So he said to the vinedresser, ‘Look, for three years now I have been coming to look for fruit on this fig tree and I find nothing. Cut it down! Why should it even exhaust the soil?’ ⁸But the vinedresser replied to him, ‘Sir, leave it alone for just this one year, until I dig around it and throw in some manure. ⁹If it produces fruit in the future, fine; but if not, you can cut it down.’”

¹⁰Now Jesus was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath. ¹¹And look! There was a woman who had carried a spirit of weakness for eighteen years. She was bent over double and was completely unable to stand upright. ¹²When Jesus saw her, he called her over and said to her, “Woman, you have been set free from your weakness.” ¹³He placed his hands on her, and instantly she was made straight again and began to glorify God.

¹⁴But the ruler of the synagogue, indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, said to the crowd, “There are six days in which work ought to be done; come on those days and be healed, and not on the Sabbath day!” ¹⁵The Lord answered him and said, “You performers! Does not each of you on the Sabbath untie his ox or his donkey from the feeding trough and lead it away to give it water? ¹⁶And this woman, being a daughter of Abraham whom Satan has bound—look!—for eighteen years, was it not necessary for her to be released from this bond on the Sabbath day?” ¹⁷As he said these things, all his opponents were put to shame, and the entire crowd rejoiced over all the glorious things being done by him.

¹⁸Therefore he said, “What is the kingdom of God like? To what shall I compare it? ¹⁹It is like a mustard seed that a man took and threw into his own garden. It grew and became a tree, and the birds of the sky nested in its branches.” ²⁰And again he said, “To what shall I compare the kingdom of God? ²¹It is like leaven that a woman took and hid in three large measures of flour until the whole batch was leavened.”

²²He continued his journey through cities and villages, teaching and making his way toward Jerusalem. ²³Someone asked him, “Lord, are only a few people being saved?” He said to them, ²⁴“Struggle with all your might to enter through the narrow door, because many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not have the strength. ²⁵Once the master of the house has gotten up and shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and knock on the door, saying, ‘Lord, open up for us,’ he will answer you, ‘I do not know where you come from.’ ²⁶Then you will begin to say, ‘We ate and drank in your presence, and you taught in our main streets.’ ²⁷But he will say to you, ‘I do not know where you come from. Get away from me, all you workers of injustice!’ ²⁸In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth when you see Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, but you yourselves being thrown outside. ²⁹People will come from east and west, and from north and south, and will recline at the table in the kingdom of God. ³⁰And look! Some who are last will be first, and some who are first will be last.”

³¹At that very hour, some Pharisees approached and said to him, “Leave and get away from here, because Herod wants to kill you.” ³²He said to them, “Go and tell that fox: ‘Look, I am casting out demons and performing healings today and tomorrow, and on the third day I reach my goal.’ ³³Nevertheless, I must continue my journey today, tomorrow, and the next day, because it is inconceivable for a prophet to be destroyed outside of Jerusalem.

³⁴Jerusalem, Jerusalem! The city that kills the prophets and stones those sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together just as a hen gathers her own brood under her wings, but you were not willing. ³⁵Look! Your house is left to you abandoned. And I tell you, you will not see me until the time comes when you say, ‘Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord!’”