In A Synagogue On The Sabbath
In Lk 13:10 we see that Jesus was teaching in a synagogue on the sabbath. While he was there, he taught on the need for repentance, he spoke a parable about a fig tree, and he healed a woman which had a spirit of infirmity.
The Need For Repentance, Lk 13:1-5
Some who were there told Jesus about the Galilaeans whom Pilate had killed while they were offering sacrifices. Apparently, the attitude of those who told him was that these Galilaeans must have been especially bad sinners to die this way. Notice how Jesus replied to them in v.2.
Whether in religious societies or pagan cultures, men generally assume that a cruel death is indicative of a wicked life. Eliphaz, Job’s friend, certainly believed this, Job 4:7-9. Yet, we are not to suppose that we are better than others who have suffered worse.
We are all in need of repentance. Jesus said, “Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish”. No matter how good a person lives down here, if he doesn’t repent, he winds up in hell fire just like the wickedest sinner who ever lived.
Jesus reiterated v.3 in v.5 after giving them another example of some who died by being crushed under a tower that fell. It’s not the manner of your death, but rather your destination after your death that should concern you.
Considering repentance, many preachers and teachers have argued over repentance to the point of splitting microscopic hairs. The simple point of repentance is that you turn. In Acts 26:18, Paul turned them from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God. In Acts 26:20 Paul preached that they should repent and turn to God. Turn to the light; turn to God. Don’t make something so plain and simple so ambiguous and complicated.
The Parable of a Fig Tree, Lk 15:6-10
In this parable, we find a doctrinal as well as a spiritual application.
Doctrinally, the fig tree represents Israel, Hos 9:10, Joel 1:7. The three years represent three years of Jesus’s earthly ministry to Israel. Letting it alone for another year includes the last 1/2 year of Jesus’s ministry and the beginning of the apostles’ ministry. The digging and dunging represent the very hard preaching against the scribes and Pharisees in passages like Matt 21-23. Sure enough, the fig tree was cut down in 70 AD. Like John the Baptist preached, “every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire”, Matt 3:10.
Spiritually, the parable reveals the Lord’s desire to see fruit in our lives. If he doesn’t, after a while, he will dig and dung us hoping we will bear fruit. It’s hard on us but productive. If that doesn’t work there’s nothing left to do but “cut it down”, v.9.
A Woman Which Had a Spirit of Infirmity, Lk 13:11-17
This woman had been bowed by a spirit from Satan for eighteen years. When Jesus saw her, he called her to him and healed her. She didn’t seek Jesus out, he called her.
Yet the ruler of the synagogue complained because Jesus healed her on the sabbath. Therefore, he told the people not to come to be healed on the sabbath day.
With that, Jesus called the ruler a hypocrite because even he looses his ox or ass on the sabbath and leads him away to watering. All the more this woman “whom Satan hath bound, lo these eighteen years” should “be loosed from this bond on the sabbath day”.
“All the people rejoiced for all the glorious things that were done by him”. And, indeed, the ruler of the synagogue should have rejoiced, as well. What a miracle had just been performed and what a blessing to this poor woman who had been infirm for so many years.
Instead, this ruler and “all his adversaries” were ashamed. They opposed Jesus because they hated him, not because he healed this woman on the sabbath. Complaining about healing her on the sabbath was just a “legal” excuse.
Concerning infirmity, we learn from this passage that some infirmities are actually not medical. Rather they are spiritual and they require a spiritual remedy. By the same token, though, not all infirmities are healed solely by a spiritual remedy. For example, Isaiah instructed those attending to Hezekiah to apply a lump of figs to his boil and then he recovered, 2 Ki 20:7.
Bible believers have a tendency to spiritualize every ailment and to only prescribe spiritual remedies. Often, obviously, these don’t work. Bible believers can be as judgmental as Job’s friends. If it’s spiritual, God can heal it, just like he healed this woman. But if it’s medical, get your doctor to help you. Paul’s last companion was a beloved medical doctor, 2 Tim 4:11; Col 4:14.
To study the previous lesson, click on Three Things To Know. To study the next lesson, click on Mustard Seed, Leaven, and the Strait Gate.