GOSPEL OF LUKE - Chapter 13

Luke 13:1-3  Turn to God

About that time some people came up and told him about the Galileans Pilate had killed while they were at worship, mixing their blood with the blood of the sacrifices on the altar.  Jesus responded, ‘Do you think those murdered Galileans were worse sinners than all other Galileans?  Not at all.  Unless you turn to God, you, too, will die.  (MSG)

Luke 13:1-3

         Jesus debunks the theory that sin can be measured by severity and punishment falls accordingly.  The ‘bad things only happen to bad people’ theory, and REALLY bad things…likewise.  No!!  Sin is sin, death is death, and God is God.  All sin can be forgiven, regardless of nature, if God is put at the center of life, if repentance is genuine.   God does not punish with natural calamities.  Perhaps that was the mode of choice in the Old Testament, but Jesus came to change all that.  Bad things sometimes happen to good people too! That’s life, not God punishment!  No one is more deserving than anyone else.  Our punishment is often internal, of our own doing, when we turn away from the source of life: God.  We all have the opportunity to make and live that choice.  The sooner, the better.

       

LUKE 13:14-17  Sabbath Work

The meeting-place president, furious because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, said to the congregation, “Six days have been defined as work days. Come on one of the six if you want to be healed, but not on the seventh, the Sabbath.”

But Jesus shot back, “You frauds! Each Sabbath every one of you regularly unties your cow or donkey from its stall, leads it out for water, and thinks nothing of it. So why isn’t it all right for me to untie this daughter of Abraham and lead her from the stall where Satan has had her tied these eighteen years?”

Luke 13:14-17

When he put it that way, his critics were left looking quite silly and red-faced. The congregation was delighted and cheered him on.  (MSG)

            The Pharisees seemed to continually try and catch Jesus breaking the Jewish laws of Moses, in this case, the fourth commandment to honor the Sabbath Day.  But Jesus muddies the water of ‘work’.  Are not the Pharisees working on the Sabbath?  Does ‘work’ change when it is work in honor of God?  Perhaps the intention of the commandment is more ‘honor the Sabbath day’ and honor God!  What if we were to make a Sabbath time EVERY day?  What if our work is in service to God?  What if, just imagine,  we were to live Sabbath all the time?  What a way to honor and glorify our God! 

^{Luke 13:18-21   Parables of the Kingdom}

Luke 13:18-19

Then he said, “How can I picture God’s kingdom for you? What kind of story can I use? It’s like a pine nut that a man plants in his front yard. It grows into a huge pine tree with thick branches, and eagles build nests in it.”    He tried again. “How can I picture God’s kingdom? It’s like yeast that a woman works into enough dough for three loaves of bread—and waits while the dough rises.” (MSG)

        Everyone, no matter how insignificant, has the potential of the grain of yeast or tiny seed to grow the Kingdom of God.  With each act of kindness, service, or charity, our seeds grow, our yeast expands, God’s presence is made known.  Each time we honor one another, we honor God, and the Kingdom grows. 

        How well am I nurturing my seed of God’s Kingdom?  How warm and hospitable is the environment for the yeast of my Kingdom bread?  May the Spirit continue to work within me and grow.