The Gospel of Luke 13:1-17 Patience with a fig tree
Luke 13:1-17 · Vern Peterman · Jan 3, 2016
Gospel of Luke, No. 54
Holly Hills Bible Church
https://www.hollyhillsbiblechurch.org/teaching/messages/4926525205071

Transcribed from the recording by SermonAudio, so expect the occasional misheard word.

Good morning. We'll soon go into this passage here. One thing we didn't get a slide on, however, was Craig and Jessica had their baby boy, Atticus, born this last week. And so we'll get the details and, oh, there's some really cute pictures. Anyway, get those all up there next time around. Now, we are beginning here. this second half of the Gospel of Luke. We finished up chapter 12, which is by chapter count the end of the first half, and as we begin the second half according to the Gospel written by Dr. Luke, It's just a few months away, time-wise, from the so-called triumphal entry, crucifixion and resurrection.

It will take us longer than a few months, however, to get there, since we're going bit by bit here. We are not going to have a halftime show. Sorry, not going to have that. We did think, however, about maybe having a football-designed Bible cover for you. But anyway, probably won't do that either.

There's lots of unique material here in Dr. Luke's gospel. He wrote most likely after Matthew and Mark, and so he was aware of that. He had connecting points. In a few cases, there's some overlap, but lots of unique material as well. And Dr. Luke was not an eyewitness to these events that he's recording. He drew from others that he said and wrote were eyewitnesses. But lots of unique material from the very start all the way to the end of the Gospel of Luke. Dr. Luke chose to include content that is unique to his specific gospel. And then he also connected up, and in a few cases, overlapped with Matthew and Mark.

Now, the other thing to just kind of keep in perspective is we're at the halfway point here. We've been moving through the Gospel of Luke, been going verse by verse, or at least sentence by sentence in some cases, but explaining each verse as we go along. We're not just doing this to pack our heads full of Bible knowledge, however. We are intent on beholding the Lord Jesus Christ through his word. And that remains our focus as we continue on through the Gospel of Luke. So we're beholding the living Word of God through the written Word of God. It's an essential aspect of our fellowship with Him.

So here's Luke 13.1, and now on the same occasion there were some present who reported to Him, that is to Jesus, about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices. At first you may scratch your head and say, what does that mean? Well, let's explain that.

First of all, I want to find out about this guy Pilate. Pilate reigned from 26 to late 36 AD, or actually the record is such that it's possible early 37 AD. So, at any rate, about 11 years was his reign. Though Pilate showed some mercy in his reign here and there, he's known mostly for his severity. And let me give you one instance.

Pilate used funds collected for the temple to build an aqueduct in Jerusalem. And actually, it extends down to Bethlehem. And portions of it are still visible down that direction. But he actually used funds that were supposed to be for the temple. And it appears that Caiaphas was complicit with him in doing this.

But a number of the Jews protested, and the protest was suppressed with military force, even killing a number of people. So Pilate was not disinclined to misuse funds and to suppress people, even to the point of death, if necessary, to enforce his point. Now how about this, mixed with their sacrifices, what that means, the Galileans had done something that offended Pilate either before or at the same time as they offered their sacrifices. And this would be at Passover time, that would be the offering of sacrifices. So Pilate had them killed. We're not quite sure what the cause was for that, but nonetheless, that's the meaning of the text here.

The Romans were sometimes cooperative with the Jews' laws and traditions, particularly when it was almost certain that there would be some kind of a reaction. So, for example, they would ordinarily leave the bodies on crosses for days and days and days. But on the day of Jesus' crucifixion, they took them off because the next day was a special Sabbath. Other times they responded with military suppression, ending in loss of life for protesting Jews. And that just happened repeatedly.

Here's Luke 13, 2 and 3, and Jesus said to them, Do you suppose that these Galileans were greater sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this fate? I tell you no, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. Now this is according to the greater sinners theory.

And it was common in the Jewish culture to view those who had bad things happen to them as being judged by God for having done bad things. So what would happen is something bad would happen to somebody, the Jews would draw this conclusion, oh, since something so bad happened, you must have done some sin And so they would, if possible, go and investigate and try to find out what that sin was for which God punished them. And if necessary, bring more punishment. So make it worse.

So that was their greater sinners theory. There are problems with that idea that bad things only happen to people who have done bad things. Here's the pool of Siloam, which is the area where this tower would have been. And so we see examples of this mindset of the greater sinners theory. Several places in Job where Job's friends are telling him, well, you must have done something really awful to have such awful things happen to you, right? And so that mindset is there.

We see it indicated in the Gospel of John, chapter 9. Actually, the whole chapter, but the first few verses are enough to show the point. So we'll read that, John 9, 1-3, As he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth, and his disciples asked him, Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he would be born blind? And Jesus answered, It was neither that this man sinned nor his parents, but it was so that the works of God might be displayed in him. So do all bad things result from bad things done, from sins done? No. In this particular case, Jesus spells out, this is one thing, it's so that the works of God might be displayed. Imagine this man had been going along for all these years and just now having it revealed why he was born blind, which sounds like a bad thing, but no, it's a good thing.

So Jesus didn't support this tradition, and in fact he corrected it multiple times, and that was one we just read in John chapter 9, and he actually emphasized the point here in this instance in Luke 13. There are other reasons. Sometimes bad things happen to people for reasons other than they've done something bad. The truth is, a lot of times bad things happen and it has nothing to do with someone having done something bad, right?

And we read John 9, 1-3 would be an example of that. And by the way, that sort of investigation into why did you have this bad thing happen was fairly standard. And Pharisees particularly would go and investigate these things and see if more punishment was necessary.

In our own lives, God works all things together for the good, that we are conformed to the image of Christ, even those things that are really bad. And we are free to say some things are really awful. We can say some things are really awful, but the good is that we are conformed to the image of Christ. That's the good purpose that God will use, even of things that are really awful. God will use things that are bad to grow and to teach us. The bad things that happen, they are never accidental. Never accidental.

One of the things that I've said, and I can say it in my own life, I can say it in the lives of others, greater pains have greater purpose. Greater pains have greater purpose. And that's a key thing because it's easy for us to get focused on the pain instead of saying, God, what's your purpose in this? God may also use bad events for discipline. What do I mean by that? Discipline is not punishment. Discipline is intended to teach us to get back on the path of fellowship with Him and with others. That's what discipline is for.

So God has other purposes, and of course one of those that Jesus mentioned is so that the works of God might be shown. So God has other purposes besides what people were concluding here among the Jews, that something bad happened to you because you did something bad.

So Jesus turns around and says, repent so as to believe. The greater sinner's theory has us focused on trying to hunt down what may be wrong, the wrong causes for bad things, and also has us focused on the doing of things, and also has us tended to focus on sin. Is it a good idea to focus on sin?

Not so much. So there's a lot of reason for Jesus to correct this problem. And so we're going to see He actually corrects it twice. He brings up another instance, and nope, Repent so as to believe. In the biblical context, the word repent means to change one's mind, but to end up in belief.

Okay? Repent. So some people say, well, in order to be saved, you have to repent and believe. Well, yeah, you will sometimes see that, but the repenting is to end up believing, right? In the biblical context. Jesus points to the need for everyone to repent, okay? And that means for everyone to believe, right? End up believing.

To repent biblically means to change one's mind is to end up and believe. And that's a key thing to get the complete act. So when you hear repent, it's not just, boy, I sure feel bad about that, right? But it's to change one's mind and end up in belief. That's a very key understanding. Jesus was saying essentially that all must believe or perish, right? Everyone must believe or perish.

Avoiding the worst sins, and that's what these guys were focused on, avoiding the worst sins is not enough, and it's not going to do it, and it's not the approach that Scripture takes us, is it? So Jesus brings up a second example, or do you suppose that those 18 on whom the tower of Siloam fell and killed them were worse culprits than all the men who live in Jerusalem? I tell you no, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. So in what was apparently another contemporary tragedy, we have no record of this event aside from this passage here, 18 people were killed when the tower collapsed on them at Siloam, probably somewhere around that pool that we showed earlier here. So by Jewish culture, it would have been assumed that the 18 people who were killed had all done something wrong so as to deserve death.

So you think about it, you did not want to have something really bad happen to you. And why? Because everybody else would assume that you've done something really bad. So you'd really want to avoid having anything bad happen. Of course, this Tower of Solomons is completely accidental, right? But Jesus said that everyone needs to repent so as to end in believing. He underscores it again a second time. Here is another tower around the perimeter of Jerusalem, just to give you an idea. A tower like that falling would certainly hurt people if they were there. In this case, it's right next to a gate, so you'd have people passing by, and then if the tower fell, it would certainly hurt people.

The reality is that instead of looking for the greater sinners, and instead of looking for the really big sins, both Isaiah 53.6 and Romans 3.21-24 underscore every single one of us is astray and needs to repent. That is, to end up in belief.

So Isaiah 53.6 says, All of us like sheep have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way, but the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on Him, to fall on Christ. And so, all of us are in need of believing. not just avoiding the worst sins and not just trying to find out what terrible sin was committed so that this awful thing happened. There's Romans 3, 21 through 24, but now apart from the law, the righteousness of God has been manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets. Even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ to all those who believe, for there is no distinction, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus." All have sinned. All of us like sheep have gone astray. It's the universal human need to believe and therefore be saved and not just avoid the worst sins.

So Luke 13.6, he began telling this pair of bulls. All right, anyway, groaner, terrible. Okay, here we go. 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. You know, on the farm we used to have a fig tree. The problem is we put the pigs, you know, fence around the pig tree and put the pigs in it, and they eat the fig tree. So anyway, but this one, you know, went looking for fruit, and it just wasn't growing, and there weren't any pigs involved, most assuredly, because this is telling the Jews, right?

Alright, so a fig in a vineyard, okay? Israel is pictured as a fig tree and as a grapevine, both in the Old Testament, okay? We give some of the references there in the line above. So both a fig tree and a grapevine were pictures of Israel. So Jesus was leaving no doubt when you have a fig tree right there next to the vineyard. He was making reference to the nation and people of Israel in this parable that he's telling.

The law of Moses did not allow cutting down a fruit bearing tree. This is Deuteronomy 20, 19 and 20. You couldn't cut down a fruit-bearing tree. It had to be fruitless, right? So by the letter of the Law of Moses, this tree could be cut down. But this is a parable, and Jesus is trying to teach a lesson here. So, 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, right?

So the man was indeed justified looking for fruit from the fig tree, because after all that's what it's supposed to do, and had done so now for three years. He's looking for, and now will it bear fruit, now will it bear fruit. By the law of Moses, he could have the tree cut. At this point in time it was allowable. It had gone three years without bearing any fruit, so He was okay with that and he actually told the vineyard keeper. Yeah, go ahead and do that but This is a parable.

So he's wanting to illustrate something Jesus had been conducting his ministry in Israel for a few years now and it found very little response to his proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom here you have The God man, okay fully God and fully man and He himself, being the Messiah, presenting himself and his message, and very little true response. Yes, the crowds came. Yes, people did seem to respond favorably, and they surely appreciated the free healthcare. But, there was little true spiritual response.

So here's Luke 13, 8 and 9, and he answered him and said to him, let it alone, that is the vineyard keeper, 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. So the vineyard keeper asked for a chance, okay, just a little bit more time, and I'll do some things to try to stir up this tree to produce. So just as this vineyard keeper asked for more time for the fig tree to produce more fruit, including digging in some fertilizer around the tree, the drip line of the tree, Jesus was going to give the people more time to respond. And Jesus would continue to present the truth of the gospel to the people of Israel, even present the truth to the leaders of the nation of Israel, who were being most unresponsive, and on into the spring of the next year. It's amazing that God shows mercy. Let's ask this question. Does God know what's going to happen? Yeah. God knows exactly what's going to happen. He still shows mercy and grace. He still shows mercy and grace.

Even to the Jewish leaders who are hardening their hearts, who have already begun plotting, They're hardening their hearts to Christ. They're hardening their hearts to His message. Jesus told the Jewish leaders, and this is John 8, 24, Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins, for unless you believe that I am He, you will die in your sins. He gives them warning. You must believe that I am He or you'll die in your sins.

Mercy and grace are characteristics of God himself. They're not something God decides to express, and it's just arbitrary, but they're characteristics of God himself, and that's displayed in him giving more time. Even presenting the gospel to those he knows will not respond and believe.

So here's Luke 13.10, and he was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath, Now, meetings in the synagogue on the Sabbath were conducted according to tradition, and it's very interesting.

All these meetings typically had a similar outline throughout Israel, similar outline as to what was going to happen in the meetings and the schedule and how that would take place. And so it was something about which there was more traditions, right? Lots of traditions.

Since Jesus was recognized as a rabbi, He would be given authorization to teach frequently. And he was even recognized as a rabbi, even by those who opposed him. And so he, when it was said, OK, can I teach this next Sabbath? And the leader of the synagogue, the ruler of the synagogue, would just frequently just say, well, of course. So the synagogue ruler would be the one who would authorize Jesus to teach. Each synagogue, and by the way, that's a Greek name, not a Jewish name, right? So each synagogue had a synagogue ruler, and then that ruler would typically have someone assigned to handle the scriptures there. And so the synagogue ruler would set things according to his arrangements and the traditions that they put in place here.

So Luke 13, 11, and there was a woman who for 18 years had had a sickness caused by a spirit, and she was bent double and could not straighten up at all. Now I've been bent double myself, that's usually after a good joke. But this woman, 18 years, 18 years of what? I'm going to hear about this, Roger is shaking his head.

The woman who was bent over completely had a condition that was caused by a spirit which we would also call a demon or a fallen angel. Dr. Luke, as we have seen, does not attribute every malady to demons. Sometimes people mistakenly think that all these gospel writers, they were so ignorant that they just attributed everything to demons, and that's not the case. He would identify when demons were behind a problem and the symptoms were varied.

In this particular case, the woman was bent over, had been for 18 years, and he attributed it to a demon. The poor woman here had had this condition for 18 years. Can you imagine? You can't stand up being bent over and hunched over like this for 18 years. Wow.

So here's Luke 13, 12 and 13, when Jesus saw her, he called her over and said to her, Woman, you are freed from your sickness. And he laid his hands on her and immediately she was made erect again and began glorifying God. So Jesus knew ahead of time that there would be objections to his healing this poor woman. He calls her over anyway and heals her anyway. Healing was done by this verbal pronouncement, you're freed, and by the laying on of hands.

Jesus called her over to talk to her, and this would have been contrary to customs, several different reasons. One is, she's a woman, and so that would have said, no, you don't talk to her. Touching her would have been contrary to customs, so everything he did was socially wrong.

There was a bigger issue, however, the synagogue ruler was going to bring up. So, Luke 13, 14, "...but the synagogue official, indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath..." Oh! Terrible, right? "...began saying to the crowd in response, there are six days in which work should be done, so come during them and get healed, and not on the Sabbath day." It's very interesting that he spoke to the people and not really to the woman or Jesus. So, healing the woman was not on the synagogue schedule. Tradition wouldn't be on there.

It was also considered work. They had 39 different points of consideration as to what was work. And they had only certain exceptions listed. Healing would fall under medical treatment. And so working here, you know, doing the healing was considered medical treatment or work. So there's only special exceptions. It was only allowed in an extreme emergency where it would save a life. So for this woman, you know, she can wait, the synagogue ruler thought, she can wait one more day and get healed tomorrow, right? Wait till the sun goes down, then get healed.

But no, that's not how Jesus is going to do it. So the synagogue ruler goes and starts talking to the people. I think that's interesting. You kind of wonder what he was thinking. But instead of correcting Jesus for doing the healing, he turns to the people and says, don't come here to get healed, except any day but the Sabbath. So what is astounding here is the synagogue ruler doesn't seem to recognize that Jesus has just performed an extraordinary miracle. This woman had apparently been coming into the synagogue, you know, quite a number of times for years, most likely. And now she's healed. And what does he want to do? What does the synagogue ruler want to do?

He wants to talk about, you know, that's not a good thing. He wants to talk about, you're supposed to do that on another day and not today. So Luke 13, 15, But the Lord answered him and said, You hypocrites, does not each you on the Sabbath untie his ox or his donkey from the stall and lead him away to water him." Now there's actually more behind that verse than is immediately apparent.

So Jesus directed his words to the synagogue ruler and said, hypocrites in plural however, because all the Jewish leaders there and Jewish leaders elsewhere opposed healing on the Sabbath, and they considered it work because it was medical treatment, unless it was for saving a life and that sort of extreme emergency, it was simply not allowed on the Sabbath. It was prohibited. So Jesus pointed out that the ones who thought that healing on the Sabbath was bad would still take and untie their donkey or their oxen and take them to water, right? But the Jews had another problem in their traditions.

So here we see on page four this diagram. What would happen since the Sabbath day's journey they defined as 2,000 cubits. A Sabbath day's journey would be 2,000 cubits. What if the distance from your house and barn, and usually those were put together, What if the distance from your house and barn was more than a Sabbath day's journey away?

No problem. Because we've got special laws for special people. And here's how they would do it. They would go and put some kind of a structure. I mean, it could be flimsy. It could be some sticks and a piece of cloth. But some kind of structure over the water well.

And as long as you could take your animal from the house and barn and take it over to the water well with some kind of a little flimsy structure over the top of it, that's a home. So you take your animal up to a Sabbath day's journey and then it's a Sabbath day's journey away from the well and you're going to your second home. So you're still okay. But the rabbi said you had to get most of the animal underneath the roof of this flimsy structure that you put over the well. Not all of it, just most of it. And that's the second home for the animal, and so then it's okay. So you can break the law as long as you can find some way around it. So that was their little trick.

So Jesus was referring to all these little extra rules that they had, and you guys will not just take your animal and lead him off to water, but if the water well is farther away, you can come up with justifications for getting there. Oh, and by the way, you could have other water wells farther along and keep doing the same thing, have homes along the way. So you go as far as you want, basically. as long as you follow the rules. So, Luke 13, 16, And this woman, a daughter of Abraham as she is, whom Satan has bound for eighteen long years, should she not have been released from this bond on the Sabbath day?

Now, Jesus called this woman a daughter of Abraham. That is an interesting phrase. It's the only place it's ever used in the whole Bible. But he called her a daughter of Abraham. Well, a Jewish man would have considered her of lesser value and esteem as a woman. If you're going to do something, do it for a man, not for a woman. That would be their thought. That wasn't Jesus' thought. So this term, daughter of Abraham, is one that he uses to point to, you know, she's descended from Abraham too. That men would frequently go and claim descendancy from Abraham, but not the women.

Jesus does not value this woman any less. Any less, because she's a woman. Jesus says, whom Satan has bound. Now, Satan is not mentioned earlier in this. Satan has bound this woman in the sense that the demons are in the hierarchy under Satan. It's not that Satan is personally involved. Jesus said that this woman had been released from 18 years of bondage under Satan's binding, which had her doubled over.

Her response had been to praise God, which was an appropriate thing to do on a Sabbath, right? So what's so wrong about that? It would be especially great an event for those who had known her as this bent-over woman for a long period of time. So Luke 13, 17, as he said this, all his opponents were being humiliated, which they loved, of course. And the entire crowd was rejoicing over all the glorious things being done by him.

Now the ones who viewed healing on the Sabbath as prohibited work for which the synagogue ruler was apparently a spokesman were humiliated. So this is why Jesus would say not just you hypocrite, but you hypocrites, plural. So all the rest of them for which he was being a spokesman.

We don't read of the synagogue ruler or anyone else coming back with any words in response to what Jesus said. The usually admired Pharisees and scribes and those who followed them were humbled. This kind of brings home the point, how much better it is to be humble before the Lord than to be humbled by the Lord? These Jewish leaders here didn't get that point. And that started with not realizing who he is. This isn't just a rabbi you're talking to. You're indirectly rebuking the Messiah.

And when the Messiah comes, what will he do? He will, in fact, heal. And he will do it on the Sabbath, too. Now to think about this, Jesus Christ will be the judge of all at some point, and those judgments are not all at the same time and for the same things. We'll be taking a look at that when we get to chapter 16 of this Gospel of Luke.

But to fail to misunderstand who He is and what He has done and will do is a terrible thing. A terrible thing. If a person gets Who Christ is wrong, it doesn't matter whatever else that person gets right. Nothing matters as much as getting right who is Christ.

And that's true for all of us. Let's pray. Lord, we thank you that you have revealed yourself because you want us to know you. You want us to walk with you. You want us to fellowship with you. And we thank you for the things that you've revealed here, because you love us, you care for us, and you care about even an individual person. And no law will get in the way of that. We thank you for your amazing mercy and grace. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.