Compel Them to Come In

Passages: Luke 13:1-21; John 10:22-42; Luke 13:22-35; Luke 14:1-24; Luke 14:25-35

Some who are present tell Jesus about Galileans killed by Pilate, and he uses the report to warn that all will likewise perish unless they repent — then tells the parable of a fig tree given one more year to bear fruit before it's cut down. In a synagogue on the Sabbath, he heals a woman who had been bent double for eighteen years, over the ruler's objection. Months later, at the winter Feast of Dedication in Jerusalem, the crowd surrounds him in Solomon's porch demanding a straight answer about whether he is the Christ. Continuing toward Jerusalem, he's warned that Herod wants to kill him, and he laments over the city that kills its prophets. At the house of a leading Pharisee on the Sabbath, he heals a man with dropsy, then tells a parable about a great banquet whose invited guests all make excuses, so the host fills his table with the poor, the crippled, the blind, and the lame instead. To the great crowds traveling with him, he says plainly what it costs to be his disciple.

We are in a Luke-John Harmony. Today's episode covers: Luke 13:1-21; John 10:22-42; Luke 13:22-35; Luke 14:1-24; Luke 14:25-35 (Repent or Perish; the Crippled Woman and Two Parables; The Feast of Dedication; The Narrow Door, Herod's Threat, and Lament over Jerusalem; Healing on the Sabbath and the Great Banquet; The Cost of Discipleship).