# Luke 13 📖: The Narrow Door [[📚 Explore the Bible Books]] [[-Luke Overview]] | [[Luke 12]] | [[Luke 14]] > [!info] Table of Contents > [[#📜 Scripture Text (NET)]] > [[#📖 Verse-by-Verse Commentary]] > [[#🤔 Interesting Facts / Historical and Cultural Insights]] > [[#🧠 Chapter Summary]] > [[#✝️ Christ in This Chapter]] > [[#🔎 Key Observations / 🛟 Life Application]] > [[#💬 Discussion Questions]] > [[#✍️ Key Verses to Remember]] > [[#🔗 Related Passages]] > [[#🙏 Devotional Reflection]] > [[#📂 Internal Notes]] ## 📜 Scripture Text (NET) (The NET Bible: New English Translation. Biblical Studies Press, 2005) ### A Call to Repent **Principle**: We ALL need JEsus. [[#Verse 01.]] Now there were some present on that occasion who told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices.  [[#Verse 02.]] He answered them, “Do you think these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered these things?  [[#Verse 03.]] No, I tell you! But unless you repent, you will all perish as well!  [[#Verse 04.]] Or those eighteen who were killed when the tower in Siloam fell on them, do you think they were worse offenders than all the others who live in Jerusalem?  [[#Verse 05.]] No, I tell you! But unless you repent you will all perish as well!” ### Warning to Israel to Bear Fruit **Principle**: God has so much mercy. [[#Verse 06.]] Then Jesus told this parable: “A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came looking for fruit on it and found none.  [[#Verse 07.]] So he said to the worker who tended the vineyard, ‘For three years now, I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree, and each time I inspect it I find none. Cut it down! Why should it continue to deplete the soil?’  [[#Verse 08.]] But the worker answered him, ‘Sir, leave it alone this year too, until I dig around it and put fertilizer on it.  [[#Verse 09.]] Then if it bears fruit next year, very well, but if not, you can cut it down.’” ### Healing on the Sabbath **Principle**: Don’t be stopped by the words of others. [[#Verse 10.]] Now he was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath,  [[#Verse 11.]] and a woman was there who had been disabled by a spirit for eighteen years. Shewas bent over and could not straighten herself up completely.  [[#Verse 12.]] When Jesus saw her, he called her to him and said, “Woman, you are freed from your infirmity.”  [[#Verse 13.]] Then he placed his hands on her, and immediately she straightened up and praised God.  [[#Verse 14.]] But the president of the synagogue, indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, said to the crowd, “There are six days on which work should be done! So come and be healed on those days, and not on the Sabbath day.”  [[#Verse 15.]] Then the Lord answered him,“You hypocrites! Does not each of you on the Sabbath untie his ox or his donkey from its stall, and lead it to water?  [[#Verse 16.]] Then shouldn’t this woman, a daughter of Abraham whom Satan bound for eighteen long years, be released from this imprisonment on the Sabbath day?”  [[#Verse 17.]] When he said this all his adversaries were humiliated, but the entire crowd was rejoicing at all the wonderful things he was doing. ### On the Kingdom of God **Principle**: God can do much with little. [[#Verse 18.]] Thus Jesus asked, “What is the kingdom of God like? To what should I compare it?  [[#Verse 19.]] It is like a mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his garden. It grew and became a tree, and the wild birds nested in its branches.” [[#Verse 20.]] Again he said, “To what should I compare the kingdom of God?  [[#Verse 21.]] It is like yeast that a woman took and mixed with three measures of flour until all the dough had risen.” ### The Narrow Door **Principle**: Staying free requires attention/ [[#Verse 22.]] Then Jesus traveled throughout towns and villages, teaching and making his way toward Jerusalem.  [[#Verse 23.]] Someone asked him, “Lord, will only a few be saved?” So he said to them,  [[#Verse 24.]] “Exert every effort to enter through the narrow door, because many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able to.  [[#Verse 25.]] Once the head of the house gets up and shuts the door, then you will stand outside and start to knock on the door and beg him, ‘Lord, let us in!’ But he will answer you, ‘I don’t know where you come from.’  [[#Verse 26.]] Then you will begin to say, ‘We ate and drank in your presence, and you taught in our streets.’  [[#Verse 27.]] But he will reply, ‘I don’t know where you come from! Go away from me, all you evildoers!’  [[#Verse 28.]] 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 thrown out.  [[#Verse 29.]] Then people will come from east and west, and from north and south, and take their places at the banquet table in the kingdom of God.  [[#Verse 30.]] But indeed, some are last who will be first, and some are first who will be last.” ### Going to Jerusalem **Principle**:Keep doing good, not matter the pressure. [[#Verse 31.]] At that time, some Pharisees came up and said to Jesus, “Get away from here, because Herod wants to kill you.”  [[#Verse 32.]] But he 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 will complete my work. [[#Verse 33.]] Nevertheless I must go on my way today and tomorrow and the next day, because it is impossible that a prophet should be killed outside Jerusalem.’  ## Jesus’s Lamentation Over Jerusalem [[Matthew 23]] **Principle**: Jesus loves us, even when we do not return it. [[#Verse 34.]] O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those who are sent to you!How often I have longed to gather your children together as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you would have none of it!  [[#Verse 35.]] Look, your house is forsaken! And I tell you, you will not see me until you say, ‘**_Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord!_**’” [[Psalm 118]] [[Luke 14]] ## 📖 Verse-by-Verse Commentary ###### Overall. ###### Verse 01. ###### Verse 02. ###### Verse 03. ###### Verse 04. ###### Verse 05. ###### Verse 06. ###### Verse 07. ###### Verse 08. ###### Verse 09. ###### Verse 10. ###### Verse 11. ###### Verse 12. ###### Verse 13. ###### Verse 14. ###### Verse 15. ###### Verse 16. ###### Verse 17. ###### Verse 18. ###### Verse 19. ###### Verse 20. ###### Verse 21. ###### Verse 22. ###### Verse 23. ###### Verse 24. ###### Verse 25. ###### Verse 26. ###### Verse 27. ###### Verse 28. ###### Verse 29. ###### Verse 30. ###### Verse 31. ###### Verse 32. ###### Verse 33. ###### Verse 34. ###### Verse 35. ## 🤔 Interesting Facts / Historical and Cultural Insights 1. Pilate's killing of Galileans while they offered sacrifices (13:1) is not recorded anywhere else, but it fits what other sources say about his harsh rule. 2. The tower of Siloam (13:4) likely stood near the Pool of Siloam in the southern part of Jerusalem. 3. Fig trees were often planted in vineyards (13:6). A tree that bore nothing for three years (13:7) was taking up good soil. 4. The healing of the woman bent over for eighteen years (13:11) is found only in Luke. 5. Jesus calls her a "daughter of Abraham" (13:16), a phrase found nowhere else in the New Testament. 6. Jesus points out that people untied their animals on the Sabbath to give them water (13:15), something their own traditions allowed. 7. The yeast was mixed into three measures of flour (13:21), about fifty pounds, enough bread to feed a crowd. 8. Some Pharisees warned Jesus that Herod wanted to kill Him (13:31), showing that not every Pharisee was hostile to Him. 9. Jesus called Herod "that fox" (13:32), an image of a sly and destructive person. 10. Jesus' lament over Jerusalem (13:35) quotes Psalm 118:26, the words the crowds would shout when He entered the city (19:38). ## 🧠 Chapter Summary > [!note] 🌱 Still growing. This section is on its way. ## ✝️ Christ in This Chapter Christ is the One who longs to gather Jerusalem's children as a hen gathers her chicks (13:34). He sets the bound free (13:16) and is the door through which people enter the kingdom (John 10:9). ## 🔎 Key Observations / 🛟 Life Application > [!note] 🌱 Still growing. This section is on its way. ## 💬 Discussion Questions 1. Jesus said tragedies do not prove the victims were worse sinners, but they call all of us to repent (13:2-5). How should we respond when we hear about disasters? 2. Jesus freed a woman who had been bent over for eighteen years, and the crowd rejoiced (13:13, 17). Why did the synagogue leader miss the joy? 3. Jesus told people to strive to enter through the narrow door (13:24). What does that kind of effort look like for someone saved by grace? ## ✍️ Key Verses to Remember - 📖 verse 3: Unless you repent, you will all perish as well. - 📖 verse 24: Strive to enter through the narrow door. - 📖 verse 30: Some who are last will be first, and some who are first will be last. - 📖 verse 34: Jesus longs to gather Jerusalem's children as a hen gathers her chicks. ## 🔗 Related Passages - 🔗 [[John 09#Verse 02.|John 9:2-3]] - Suffering is not always caused by one's own sin. - 🔗 [[Isaiah 05#Verse 01.|Isaiah 5:1-7]] - God looks for fruit in His vineyard. - 🔗 [[Matthew 07#Verse 13.|Matthew 7:13-14]] - The narrow gate. - 🔗 [[Isaiah 02#Verse 02.|Isaiah 2:2-3]] - The nations stream to God. - 🔗 [[Matthew 23#Verse 37.|Matthew 23:37-39]] - Jesus laments over Jerusalem. - 🔗 [[Psalm 118#Verse 26.|Psalm 118:26]] - Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord. - 🔗 [[John 10#Verse 09.|John 10:9]] - Jesus is the door. ## 🙏 Devotional Reflection 📝 SOAP: [[Luke 13 - SOAP|God Alone Measures True Worth]] ## 📂 Internal Notes