News arrives of Galileans murdered by Pilate in the middle of their own worship, and Jesus refuses to treat their deaths as proof of some extra guilt — He points the question back at everyone listening instead. A fig tree that has produced nothing for three years gets one more year, on the word of a gardener willing to argue for it. A woman bent double for eighteen years is healed on the Sabbath, and the man running the synagogue is angrier about the day than he is glad for her. And when the Pharisees warn Jesus that Herod wants Him dead, expecting Him to run, He doesn’t.
A study in Luke 13 · Arthur Baldwin · StandUp4Jesus.Org · 25 min read
Except Ye Repent, Ye Shall All Likewise Perish
“There were present at that season some that told him of the Galilæans, whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. And Jesus answering said unto them, Suppose ye that these Galilæans were sinners above all the Galilæans, because they suffered such things? I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.”
Luke 13:1-3
“The disciples of Christ did not venture to express their ideas until they had heard the opinion of their Master. … Yet they looked for Christ to denounce these men as sinners above others. Great was their surprise at His answer.”
Ellen G. White · Christ’s Object Lessons, p. 213
Even His own disciples expected the usual verdict — that suffering this specific must mean sin this specific. Jesus refuses the entire premise, and turns their curiosity about other people’s tragedy into a question about their own hearts.
“Or those eighteen, upon whom the tower in Siloam fell, and slew them, think ye that they were sinners above all men that dwelt in Jerusalem? I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.”
Luke 13:4-5
“As Jesus talked with the disciples and the multitude, He looked forward with prophetic glance and saw Jerusalem besieged with armies. He heard the tramp of the aliens marching against the chosen city and saw the thousands upon thousands perishing in the siege.”
Ellen G. White · Christ’s Object Lessons, p. 213
A political massacre and a construction accident, two very different kinds of tragedy, receive the identical response — not an explanation of why they happened, but a warning about what will happen to everyone who hears the news and does nothing with it.
“A certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard; and he came and sought fruit thereon, and found none. Then said he unto the dresser of his vineyard, Behold, these three years I come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and find none: cut it down; why cumbereth it the ground?”
Luke 13:6-7
“The generation to whom the Saviour had come were represented by the fig tree in the Lord’s vineyard—within the circle of His special care and blessing. … God in His Son had been seeking fruit, and had found none.”
Ellen G. White · Christ’s Object Lessons, p. 214
This parable answers the two calamities just described with a third image entirely — not sudden destruction, but patient, undeserved delay.
“And he answering said unto him, Lord, let it alone this year also, till I shall dig about it, and dung it: And if it bear fruit, well: and if not, then after that thou shalt cut it down.”
Luke 13:8-9
“The owner and the dresser of the vineyard are one in their interest in the fig tree. So the Father and the Son were one in their love for the chosen people. … Jesus did not in the parable tell the result of the gardener’s work. … Its conclusion rested with the generation that heard His words.”
Ellen G. White · Christ’s Object Lessons, p. 216
The parable ends without telling us whether the tree ever bears fruit. Jesus leaves that ending unwritten on purpose — because the people listening to Him that day were the ones who would go on to write it themselves.
Loosed From Thine Infirmity
“And, behold, there was a woman which had a spirit of infirmity eighteen years, and was bowed together, and could in no wise lift up herself. And when Jesus saw her, he called her to him, and said unto her, Woman, thou art loosed from thine infirmity. And he laid his hands on her: and immediately she was made straight, and glorified God.”
Luke 13:11-13
Found in no other Gospel, this healing is one of the few in the record where Jesus acts before anyone asks Him to. Eighteen years of being bent double have not brought this woman to beg for healing that day — He simply sees her, and calls her forward.
“And the ruler of the synagogue answered with indignation, because that Jesus had healed on the sabbath day, and said unto the people, There are six days in which men ought to work: in them therefore come and be healed, and not on the sabbath day.”
Luke 13:14
“The Lord then answered him, and said, Thou hypocrite, doth not each one of you on the sabbath loose his ox or his ass from the stall, and lead him away to watering? And ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan hath bound, lo, these eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the sabbath day?”
Luke 13:15-16
The ruler’s objection is not really about the calendar. It is that he can imagine untying an animal on the Sabbath without a second thought, but cannot yet imagine that a woman’s eighteen years of bondage deserves at least the same mercy an ox gets every single day.
“And when he had said these things, all his adversaries were ashamed: and all the people rejoiced for all the glorious things that were done by him.”
Luke 13:17
Strive To Enter In At The Strait Gate
This site’s own study of Matthew 13 already covers the parables of the mustard seed and the leaven in full.
“It is like a grain of mustard seed, which a man took, and cast into his garden; and it grew, and waxed a great tree; and the fowls of the air lodged in the branches of it.… It is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened.”
Luke 13:19, 21
“Then said one unto him, Lord, are there few that be saved? And he said unto them, Strive to enter in at the strait gate: for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able.”
Luke 13:23-24
“There are many in the broad way who are not fully satisfied with the path in which they walk. They long to break from the slavery of sin, and in their own strength they seek to make a stand against their sinful practices. They look toward the narrow way and the strait gate; but selfish pleasure, love of the world, pride, unsanctified ambition, place a barrier between them and the Saviour.”
Ellen G. White · Thoughts From the Mount of Blessing, p. 143
The questioner wanted a number. Jesus gives him a doorway instead — not because the number doesn’t matter, but because the question that actually determines it is not “how many” but “will you.”
“And they shall come from the east, and from the west, and from the north, and from the south, and shall sit down in the kingdom of God. And, behold, there are last which shall be first, and there are first which shall be last.”
Luke 13:29-30
How Often Would I Have Gathered Thy Children Together
“The same day there came certain of the Pharisees, saying unto him, Get thee out, and depart hence: for Herod will kill thee. And he said unto them, Go ye, and tell that fox, Behold, I cast out devils, and I do cures to day and to morrow, and the third day I shall be perfected.”
Luke 13:31-32
Found in no other Gospel, this exchange shows Jesus refusing to be rushed by a threat from the very ruler who had already beheaded John the Baptist. “That fox” is not an idle insult — it names exactly the kind of danger Herod represents: not open strength, but cunning and cowardice, a predator who works by stealth rather than a direct fight.
“Nevertheless I must walk to day, and to morrow, and the day following: for it cannot be that a prophet perish out of Jerusalem.”
Luke 13:33
His itinerary is not set by Herod’s threats, but by an appointment already fixed for Jerusalem — the city this whole travel narrative has been steadily approaching since the ninth chapter of this Gospel.
“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, which killest the prophets, and stonest them that are sent unto thee; how often would I have gathered thy children together, as a hen doth gather her brood under her wings, and ye would not! Behold, your house is left unto you desolate.”
Luke 13:34-35
This site’s own study of Matthew 23 already covers this same lament, spoken again by Jesus near the very end of His ministry, in full. Here in Luke it arrives earlier, and reads almost as a summary in advance of everything the fig tree parable at the start of this chapter already warned was coming — a generation of undeserved patience, still not yet out of time, but running very low on it.
