13 Now there were some present at the same time who told Yeshua about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices. ² He answered and said to them, “Do you suppose that these Galileans are worse sinners than the rest of the Galileans because they have suffered these things? ³ No, I tell you! But unless you repent, you all will perish the same way.

⁴ “Or those eighteen upon whom the tower in Siloam fell and were killed, do you suppose that they are worse sinners than all the people living in Jerusalem? ⁵ No, I tell you! But unless you repent, you all will perish the same way.

⁶ Then Yeshua began telling this parable: “A man had a fig tree he had planted in his vineyard, and he came looking for fruit on it and found none. ⁷ So he said to the gardener, ‘Indeed, for three years I‘ve come searching for fruit on this fig tree and found none. Remove it! Why does it use up the ground?’

⁸ “But answering, the gardener said to him, ‘Master, leave it alone for this year also, until I dig around it and apply fertilizer. ⁹ And if it bears fruit, good. But if not, cut it down.’”

Teaching by Example at the Synagogue

¹⁰ Now Yeshua was teaching in one of the synagogues on Shabbat. ¹¹ And behold, there was a woman with a disabling spirit for eighteen years, bent over and completely unable to stand up straight. ¹² When Yeshua saw her, He called out to her and said, “Woman, you are set free from your disability.” ¹³ Then He laid hands on her, and instantly she stood up straight and began praising God.

¹⁴ But the synagogue leader, indignant that Yeshua had healed on Shabbat, started telling the crowd, “There are six days in which work should be done^[a]—so come to be healed on those days and not on Yom Shabbat!”

¹⁵ But the Lord answered him and said, “Hypocrites! On Shabbat doesn’t each of you untie his ox or donkey from the stall and lead it away to give it drink? ¹⁶ So this one, a daughter of Abraham incapacitated by satan for eighteen years, shouldn’t she be set free from this imprisonment on Yom Shabbat?” ¹⁷ When Yeshua said these things, all His opponents were put to shame; but the whole crowd was rejoicing at all the glorious things done by Him.^[b]

Teaching throughout the Towns and Villages

¹⁸ So Yeshua was saying, “What is the kingdom of God like? To what shall I compare it? ¹⁹ It is like a mustard seed, which a man took and dropped into his own garden. It grew and became a tree, and the birds of the air nested in its branches.” ^{[c] 20} Again He said, “To what shall I compare the kingdom of God? ²¹ It is like hametz, which a woman took and hid in three measures of flour, until it was all leavened.

²² And He continued on His journey through the towns and villages, teaching and making His way to Jerusalem. ²³ And someone said to Him, “Master, are only a few being saved?”

Then Yeshua said to them, ²⁴ “Make every effort to enter through the narrow door; for many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able. ²⁵ Once the Master of the household gets up and shuts the door, and you’re standing outside and begin knocking on the door, saying, ‘Master, open up for us,’ then He will say to you, ‘I don’t know where you come from.’ ²⁶ Then you will start to say, ‘We ate and drank in Your company, and You taught in our streets.’ ²⁷ But He will say, ‘I tell you, I don’t know where you come from. Get away from Me, all of you evildoers!’”^[d]

²⁸ “There will be weeping and the gnashing of teeth when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, but you yourselves thrown out. ²⁹ And they will come from the east and west and from the north and south, and they will recline at table in the kingdom of God. ³⁰ And indeed, some are last who shall be first, and some are first who shall be last.”

A Warning to Move On

³¹ In that hour, some Pharisees came up and said to Yeshua, “Get out and leave from here, because Herod wants to kill You!”

³² But Yeshua said to them, “Go and tell that fox, ‘Indeed, I’m driving out demons and performing healings today and tomorrow, and on the third day I will reach My goal.’ ³³ But I must keep going today and tomorrow because it just can’t be that a prophet would perish outside Jerusalem.

³⁴ “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem who kills the prophets and stones those sent to her! How often I longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing. ³⁵ Look, your house is left to you desolate!^[e] For I tell you, you will never see Me until you say, ‘Baruch ha-ba b’shem Adonai. Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!’^[f]”

A Dinner Conversation on Shabbat

14 Now when Yeshua went into the home of one of the leaders of the Pharisees to eat a meal on Shabbat, they were watching Him closely. ² And there before Him was a man swollen with fluid. ³ So Yeshua said to the Torah lawyers and the Pharisees, “Is it permitted to heal on Shabbat, or not?”

⁴ But they kept silent. So Yeshua took hold of him and healed him, and He sent him away. ⁵ Then He said to them, “Which of you, with a son or an ox falling into a well on Yom Shabbat, will not immediately pull him out?” ^{[g] 6} And they could not reply to these things.

⁷ Yeshua began telling a parable to those who had been invited, when He noticed how they were choosing the seats of honor. He said to them, ⁸ “When you are invited by someone to a wedding, don’t take the seat of honor, for someone more highly esteemed than you may have been invited by him. ⁹ Then the one who invited both of you will come to you and say, ‘Give up this seat.’ And with shame, you would proceed to take the lowest seat. ¹⁰ But when you are invited, go and recline in the lowest seat so that when the one who invited you comes, he may say to you, ‘Friend, move up higher.’ Then you shall be honored in the presence of all those who are dining with you. ¹¹ For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”^[h]

¹² Then Yeshua was also saying to the one who invited Him, “When you host a luncheon or dinner, don’t invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors. Otherwise they might invite you in return as your payback. ¹³ But when you host a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind; ¹⁴ and you will be blessed, since they cannot repay you. You will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”

¹⁵ Now hearing this, one of those dining with Yeshua said to Him, “Blessed is he who eats bread in the kingdom of God.”

¹⁶ But Yeshua said to him, “A certain man was hosting a large banquet, and he invited many. ¹⁷ At the time for the banquet, he sent his slave to tell those who had been invited, ‘Come, everything is already prepared.’

¹⁸ “But every one of them began to beg off. The first said to him, ‘I bought a farm, and I’m obligated to go out to see it. I’m asking you to have me excused.’ ¹⁹ Then another one said, ‘I’ve purchased five teams of oxen, and I’m going to check them out. I’m asking you to have me excused.’ ²⁰ Still another said, ‘I’ve married a wife, so I cannot come.’^[i]

²¹ “The slave came and reported these things to his master. Then the master of the house got angry and said to his slave, ‘Quickly go out into the squares and alleys of the city and bring here the poor, the maimed, the blind, and the lame.’

²² “And the slave said, ‘Master, I have done as you instructed, and still there is room.’

²³ “So the master said to the slave, ‘Go out into the thoroughfares and fenced areas, and press them to come in so my home may be filled. ²⁴ For I tell you, none of those men who were invited will taste my banquet.’”

Telling Parables Along the Road

²⁵ Now great crowds were traveling with Yeshua; and He turned and said to them, ²⁶ “If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his own father, mother, wife, children, brothers, and sisters—and yes, even his own life—he cannot be My disciple. ²⁷ Whoever does not carry his own cross and follow Me cannot be My disciple.

²⁸ “For which of you, wanting to build a tower, doesn’t first sit down and figure out the cost, to see if he has enough to finish it? ²⁹ Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and isn’t able to finish everything, all who see it begin to mock him, ³⁰ saying, ‘This man began to build and wasn’t able to finish!’

³¹ “Or what king, going to make war against another king, won’t first sit down to consider whether he is able with ten thousand to confront the one coming against him with twenty thousand? ^{[j] 32} If not, while the other is still far away, he sends an ambassador and asks for peace. ³³ So in the same way, whoever does not renounce all that he has, cannot be My disciple.

³⁴ “Therefore, salt is good; but if the salt should lose its flavor, how shall it be made salty again? ³⁵ It is not suitable for the soil or for a manure heap—it is thrown out. The one who has ears to hear, let him hear.”