Luke 13,18-35
The Mustard Seed and the Leaven
18 He said therefore, What is the kingdom of God like? And to what shall I compare it?
19 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.
20 And again he said, To what shall I compare the kingdom of God?
21 It is like leaven that a woman took and hid in three measures of flour, until it was all leavened.
The Narrow Door
22 He went on his way through towns and villages, teaching and journeying toward Jerusalem.
23 And someone said to him, Lord, will those who are saved be few? And he said to them,
24 Strive to enter through the narrow door. For many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able.
25 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.
26 Then you will begin to say, We ate and drank in your presence, and you taught in our streets.
27 But he will say, I tell you, I do not know where you come from. Depart from me, all you workers of evil!
28 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.
29 And people will come from east and west, and from north and south, and recline at table in the kingdom of God.
30 And behold, some are last who will be first, and some are first who will be last.
Lament over Jerusalem
31 At that very hour some Pharisees came and said to him, Get away from here, for Herod wants to kill you.
32 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.
33 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.
34 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!
35 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.
Hello everyone, I am Kiki. The Chinese name of our second phase of the program is “读经大讲堂”. The English name is “Bible study”.
We will adopt a relaxed, also enjoyable learning mode to take you into a new learning world. Each time I will make a personal summary and analysis from the perspective of a learner, and then Sister Ingrid will help me conduct in-depth learning and problem discussions with everybody.
I hope that such an interesting and interactive process can bring a new knowledge experience to you all. The following is my interview with Sister on related issues. Today is the 39th lecture on the Gospel of Luke.
Everyone is welcome to leave a message in the comment area for discussion!
2. My summary of Luke 39th-time study:
Well, everybody! Firstly, this is still my today’s personal study summary.
Jesus told two short stories about God’s kingdom.
A mustard seed is tiny. But when planted, it grows into a big tree with birds nesting in its branches. God’s kingdom starts small but becomes large enough for everyone.
Leaven is also small. A woman hides it in flour, and soon the whole dough rises. God’s kingdom works from the inside, quietly changing everything.
Then someone asked Jesus, Will only a few be saved? Jesus answered with a narrow door.
You must really try to go through it. Later the master shuts the door. People knock and say, We ate with you! But he says, I do not know you. Knowing Jesus is not enough. You must truly follow him.
Then he said people will come from east, west, north, and south to sit in God’s kingdom. Some who are last will be first.
When warned that King Herod wanted to kill him, Jesus called Herod that fox – sneaky but not powerful.
Jesus kept healing people and heading to Jerusalem.
Finally, Jesus felt sad for Jerusalem. He wanted to gather its children like a hen gathers her chicks, but they refused. Their house would be left empty.
Yet one day they will say, Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Then they will see him again.
Now let Ingrid sister make a further summary.
3. Sister’s comment from my studying summary:
Hello sister, you already have told the most important things. Something to mention again is that a mustard seed is so small that you hardly can see it, and leaven in a dough you can see neither.
The same was with the kingdom of God. People thought a lot of things, that Jesus will be the new ruler of Israel on earth and things like that. But only a few understood that the kingdom of God begins invisible in their hearts.
Then Jesus talks about the narrow door, answering the question how many will be saved. He says that it is not easy to find and to enter. We have to strive. When we see an empty door before our inner eyes now, we have to lay down a lot of things, because there is not a lot of space to go through.
So, we have to ask ourselves what hinders me to go through. In the parable of the Sower, we already heard about the lusts of the vanity and the sorrows of the world, who are like thorns which make the seed die.
So, there can be all kinds of richness, like richness in wealth, sorrows, and a lot of things of burden, which make it impossible to go through a narrow door. We first have to deal with our burden, then we can go.
In the next verses Jesus explains that being part of the kingdom does not depend on acquaintance to him, but on delivering entirely over to him.
He talks in the text to the Jewish, who thought and think that they are saved because of being children of Abraham, Isaak, and Jacob.
But here, Jesus says that a lot of people from the whole world will come to sit at his table. In other words, that the kingdom of God is for the gentile, who are discriminated by the Jews as well.
When Jesus talks about the first and the last, he is talking about the Jewish who were the first and the Gentiles, who are the last. But in delivering over to Jesus, we will become the first, and Jesus has a plan for the Jewish in the end of the time, so they are the last who hear the message of the Gospel once again.
The Pharisees knew that Jesus would go to Jerusalem, and they tried to keep him away by the argument that Herodes is there. Jesus calls him fox, being aware that these Pharisees are foxes too, because they wanted to hold him away with that little trick.
Then Jesus is crying over Jerusalem, because he knows what will happen. He does not cry about his crucifixion, even he prayed some days later asking the Father if there is another solution.
He is crying because he knows that Jerusalem will be destroyed and the Jewish people cast out to be persecuted in all the world until the time we are living now, when they could go back in the year 1948 and found the country Israel again.
But even they have their own country now, they do not have peace and calmness until that day when they will say, Blessed is him who comes in the name of the Lord, and they will look and cry about him they have tortured and pierced.
4. Q list part: base on Luke 39th items:
Okay. Base on above Bible study content, now let me ask Sister some related questions.
We hope the following questions can be helpful to our brothers and sisters who have just become Christians.
1. How is a tiny mustard seed like the kingdom of God?
It is very small, that you hardly can see it. The kingdom of God is like a mustard seed, too. It began in Jerusalem with a very small amount of people and begins in the heart of the people who love Jesus with a very small longing to know him.
Even we have today mega-churches and we see the branches of the mustard tree, the amount of them who went through the narrow door and delivered over entirely to Jesus is small.
2. What happens when a woman hides leaven in three measures of flour? What does that teach about God’s kingdom?
First, you do not see the leaven, because it has the same color as the flour. But when the dough is working and the flour becomes stronger and more, and the bread a good taste when it is in the oven, you see that there is more than just flour.
3. Jesus talks about a narrow door. Why is it hard to enter, and what does the door represent?
The door represents the entrance to the narrow way. When we entered the door, we still are not there, but we are going on the way to heaven.
The door is narrow, as I already have mentioned, because we have to lay down a lot of things there. Earthly joy that does not come from God, being a money lover, the sorrows we bear in our heart, in other words everything that parts us from God.
4. Some people ate with Jesus and heard him teach, but still got locked out. What went wrong?
They thought they will get saved, because they are Jewish and religious. They knew about God and some of them the whole law in memory. But being saved does not mean knowing that there is a God. Most all people on the earth know about a God. But having a relationship with the living God who created heaven and earth and his son Jesus Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit will save us and open the narrow door for us.
5. What does weeping and gnashing of teeth mean? Why would people feel that way?
It is the place of torment. At the moment, the hell is empty. But people who did not believe in Jesus and saved their soul in live time already are in a very bad place. At the day of judgement, they will be taken out there and thrown in the lake of fire.
We see in the parable of Lazarus and the rich man a few episodes ahead what it means to be there.
6. Who are the people coming from east, west, north, and south to sit in God’s kingdom?
The gentiles, in other words, people who does not belong to the people Israel.
Common people like you and me.
7. Jesus said, Some who are last will be first, and some who are first will be last. Give an example of this.
The first are the Jews, because they heard first about God, the last are we, the church, because God has a deal with us now, in the second place. Then we will go to heaven first, God will deal with the Jews again, and they will go to heaven last.
8. Why did Jesus call King Herod that fox? What kind of person is a fox?
A fox is a very clever animal. Here, Jesus called King Herod a fox, because he wanted to put him on the same level as the Pharisees who asked him.
Both, the Pharisees and King Herod wanted to kill him and did it in the end.
The fox here is in contrast to the hen, too. A fox will kill a hen, and so Jesus preached about his death once again to the people around him, who did not notice it. They thought he is saying an insult to Herodes.
9. Jesus wanted to gather Jerusalem’s children like a hen gathers her chicks. What feeling does this show?
It is a very tender image, that Jesus wants to gather chicken under his wings. It shows that God never wanted Jesus to be killed and Jerusalem destroyed and the Jewish suffer until the day now.
He wanted to keep them safe, but they did not want. All the time they had other Gods and did what they wanted to do outside God’s plan for them.
10. Jesus said they will not see him again until they say, Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. What does that mean?
At the end of the time, when we, the church of Jesus Christ, are already in heaven, then God will take up his relationship with the people of Israel again.
At one of these days, they will know and see what they have done with Jesus and that he was really the Messiah, and they will repent for what they had done with him.
Then they will cry about this, and Jesus will kill the Antichrist who is on the earth at this day and establish his 1000 kingdom of peace for us all.
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