There were some present at that very time who told him about the
Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. And
he answered them, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse
sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered in this
way? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise
perish. Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and
killed them: do you think that they were worse offenders than all
the others who lived in Jerusalem? No, I tell you; but unless you
repent, you will all likewise perish.”
And he told this parable: “A man had a fig tree planted in his
vineyard, and he came seeking fruit on it and found none. And he
said to the vinedresser, ‘Look, for three years now I have come
seeking fruit on this fig tree, and I find none. Cut it down. Why
should it use up the ground?’ And he answered him, ‘Sir, let it
alone this year also, until I dig around it and put on manure. Then
if it should bear fruit next year, well and good; but if not, you
can cut it down.’”
Now he was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath. And
behold, there was a woman who had had a disabling spirit for
eighteen years. She was bent over and could not fully straighten
herself. When Jesus saw her, he called her over and said to her,
“Woman, you are freed from your disability.” And he laid his hands
on her, and immediately she was made straight, and she glorified
God. But the ruler of the synagogue, indignant because Jesus had
healed on the Sabbath, said to the people, “There are six days in
which work ought to be done. Come on those days and be healed, and
not on the Sabbath day.” Then the Lord answered him, “You
hypocrites! Does not each of you on the Sabbath untie his ox or his
donkey from the manger and lead it away to water it? And ought not
this woman, a daughter of Abraham whom Satan bound for eighteen
years, be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath day?” As he said
these things, all his adversaries were put to shame, and all the
people rejoiced at all the glorious things that were done by him.
He said therefore, “What is the kingdom of God like? And to what
shall I compare it? It is like a grain of mustard seed that a man
took and sowed in his garden, and it grew and became a tree, and
the birds of the air made nests in its branches.”
And again he said, “To what shall I compare the kingdom of God?
It is like leaven that a woman took and hid in three measures of
flour, until it was all leavened.”
He went on his way through towns and villages, teaching and
journeying toward Jerusalem. And someone said to him, “Lord, will
those who are saved be few?” And he said to them, “Strive to enter
through the narrow door. For many, I tell you, will seek to enter
and will not be able. When once the master of the house has risen
and shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and to knock at
the door, saying, ‘Lord, open to us,’ then he will answer you, ‘I
do not know where you come from.’ Then you will begin to say, ‘We
ate and drank in your presence, and you taught in our streets.’ But
he will say, ‘I tell you, I do not know where you come from. Depart
from me, all you workers of evil!’ In that place there will be
weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham and Isaac and
Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God but you yourselves
cast out. And people will come from east and west, and from north
and south, and recline at table in the kingdom of God. And behold,
some are last who will be first, and some are first who will be
last.”
At that very hour some Pharisees came and said to him, “Get away
from here, for Herod wants to kill you.” And he said to them, “Go
and tell that fox, ‘Behold, I cast out demons and perform cures
today and tomorrow, and the third day I finish my course.
Nevertheless, I must go on my way today and tomorrow and the day
following, for it cannot be that a prophet should perish away from
Jerusalem.’ O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the
prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I
have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood
under her wings, and you were not willing! Behold, your house is
forsaken. And I tell you, you will not see me until you say,
‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!’”
