Jesus' Ministry, per Matt, Mark & Luke (part 12)

• For the entire itinerary, see Ministry Itin'ry;
• in (parentheses) is the location per today's geography;
• remember the pages are described on the HOMEPAGE & listed in column left.

[18] in Galilee; along the border between Galilee & Samaria; in Judea;

[19] 3rd time in Jerusalem-- mid-fall, Feast of Tabernacles:

1. in Jerusalem-- halfway through the Feast, to the Temple courts;
2. to the Mount of Olives (south-central West Bank)-- for 1 night;
3. back in the Temple courts in Jerusalem;
4. Jesus spoke again to the people; as He went along...;

B. cont'd. (after the 2nd time in Jerusalem)

  57. The motive for his coming-- & the consequences [18] above

• Matt
• Mark
• Luke 12:49-53 I have come to bring fire on the earth, & how I wish it were already kindled! But I have a baptism into & out of the uttermost parts of the earth to undergo, & how distressed I am until it is completed! Do You think I came to bring peace on the earth? No, I tell You, but division. For the Way, the Truth, & the Life is unique. Many shall tolerate each other, but the commitment Christians have is intolerable. From now on there will be five in 1 family divided against each other, 3 against 2 & 2 against 3. They will be divided, father against son & son against father, mother against daughter & daughter against mother, mother-in-law against daughter-in-law & daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.

  58. Jesus advised against denying reality [18] above

• Matt
• Mark
• Luke 12:54-59 He said to the crowd: When you see a cloud rising in the west, immediately you say, 'It's going to rain,' & it does. And when the south wind blows, you say, 'It's going to be hot,' & it is. Hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of the earth & the sky. How is it that you don't know how to interpret this present time? Why don't you judge for yourselves what is right? As you are going with your adversary to the magistrate, try hard to be reconciled to him or he may drag you off to the judge, & the judge turn you over to the officer, & the officer throw you into prison. I tell you, you will not get out until you have paid the last penny.

  59. The level playing field; the parable of the fig tree [18] above

• Matt
• Mark
• Luke 13:1-9 Now there were some present at that time who told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices-- he sacrificed them along with the animals, etc. Jesus answered, Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other sinners because they suffered this way? I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you will all perish. At this point, he was in Samaria-- consider how it struck their fancy, his putting them on the same level with the Galilleans & Jews. Or those 18 who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them-- do you think they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem? The tower in Siloam was never mentioned elsewhere in the O.T./N.T. It was mentioned in Nehe 3:15 that Shallun repaired the wall of the Pool of Siloam (part of the re-building of Jerusalem when Judah returned from captivity in Babylon). It also has been conjectured (in The Zondervan Pictorial Bible Dictionary, p. 795) that much more recently, the common knowledge was that a wall of a tower, in the aqueduct that Pilate was building, collapsed & killed 18 construction workers. I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you will all perish. Then He told them this parable: A man had a fig tree, planted in his vineyard, & he went to look for fruit on it, but did not find any. So he said to the man who took care of the vineyard, 'For 3 years now I've been coming to look for fruit on this fig tree & haven't found any. Cut it down! Why should it use up the soil?' 'Sir,' the man replied, 'leave it alone for 1 more year, & I'lig around it & fertilize it. If it bears fruit next year, fine! If not, then cut it down.

  60. Jesus humiliated His opponents, but delighted the people [18] above

• Matt
• Mark
• Luke 13:10-17 On a Sabbath Jesus was teaching in 1 of the synagogues, & a woman was there who had been crippled by a spirit for 18 years. She was bent over & could not straighten up at all. When Jesus saw Her, He called Her forward & said to her, Woman, You are set free from Your infirmity. Then He put His hands on Her, & immediately She straightened up & praised GOD. Indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, the synagogue ruler said to the people, 'There are 6 days for work. So come & be healed on those days, not on the Sabbath.' The Lord answered Him, You hypocrits! Doesn't each 1 of You on the Sabbath untie His ox or donkey from the stall & lead it out to give it water? Then should not this woman, a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has kept bound these 18 long years, be set free on the Sabbath day from what bound Her? When He had said this, all His opponents were humiliated, but the people were delighted with all the wonderful things He was doing.

  61. 2 repeat-parables: 'the Kingdom of GOD is like' [18] above-- these 2 parables are repeats of 2 of the parables Jesus gave from a boat on the edge of the Sea of Galilee (see Parable2 A.1. & A.2. ) before he crossed over (calming the storm).

• Matt
• Mark
• Luke 13:18-21
  1. Then Jesus asked, What is the Kingdom of GOD like? What shall I compare it to? It is like a mustard seed, which a man took & planted in his garden. It grew & became a tree, & the birds of the air perched in its branches.
  2. Again He asked, What shall I compare the Kingdom of GOD to? It is like yeast that a woman took & mixed into large amounts of flour until it worked all through the dough.

  62. The repeat-teaching of  'the narrow door (gate)' [18] above-- similar to the parables above, this is a repeat also-- a repeat of a teaching; we've already seen several instances of repeats & repeats-of-repeats [see PerMtMkLk10 B.49. & 50. and PerMtMkLk11 B.51. & 52.(#5)]. Here we have a repeat of a much earlier teaching, given towards the end of the "Sermon on the Mount" series (see Sermon4 Sermon teaching #16). This Sermon4 coverage basically just refers to the Matt, Mark & Luke accounts-- however it is not pointed out there that these 3 coverages are: the original (Matt 7:13-14), the repeat (given while Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem the 3rd time-- given here soon) & the repeat-of-the-repeat (given when Jesus was already in Jerusalem for the 3rd time-- for the Feast of Tabernacles, as in PerJohn4 A.3.):

• Matt
• Mark
• Luke 13:22-30 Remember, in order to keep this all chronological, only the repeat is given here: Then Jesus went through the towns & villages as He made His to Jerusalem. Someone asked Him, Lord, are only a few people going to be saved? He said to them, Make every effort to enter through the narrow door, because many, I tell you, will try to enter & will not be able to. Once the owner of the house gets up & closes the narrow door, you will stand outside pleading, 'Sir, open the door for us.' But He will answer, I don't know you or where you come from. Then you will say, 'We ate & drank with You, & You taught in our streets.' But He will reply, repeating 'I don't know you or where come from. Adding, away from Me, all you evildoers!' There will be weeping & gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham, Isaac & Jacob & all the prophets in the Kingdom of GOD, but you yourselves thrown out. There is a certain religion that claims Abraham as it's father. Indeed, an elder (I don't know what the proper name should be) of that religion, when he found out I was Christian, told me that we have the same father. Now  that perhaps is true: once-upon-a-time Abram & Sarai lived in Ur of Chaldea (Babylon). Abram & Sarai journeyed to Haran, thence to Canaan; Abram & Hager engendered Ishmael; Abram's name was changed to Abraham (& Sarai's to Sarah); Abraham & Sarah produced Isaac. Isaac & Rebekah (Rebecca) produced Jacob; Jacob & Leah, Rachel, Bilhah & Zilpah produced 12 sons-- 10 of which want to Egypt; Joseph & Asenath produced 2, who along with the 10 became the 12 tribes that wandered in the desert before going back to Canaan. This all can be found (near the bottom of the list to the left) in PART I, D beginning with D.1.j. I.e., that religion may have passed through Ishmael via Abram & Hager-- Gen 16 & 17 speaks of Ishmael. Gen 17:20 says that it was promised to Abraham that Ishmael would become the father of 12 rulers. But the point should be made that Jesus descended through Abraham, Isaac & Jacob (Matt 1:2,16; Luke 3:33)-- Luke 3:23 says Jesus was the son, so it was thought, of Joseph. Joseph (husband of Mary) was indeed descended from Abraham, Isaac & Jacob, but Jesus was the Son of GOD! People will come from the east & west & north & south, & will take Their places at the feast in the Kingdom of GOD. Indeed, there are those who are last Who will be 1st, & 1st Who are last-- this last has to do with things like their depth of faith & fruit borne.

  63. 'On the 3rd day I'll reach My goal-- no prophet can die outside Jerusalem' [18] above

• Matt
• Mark
• Luke 13:31-35 He was "near" Jerusalem then-- timewise. But likely he was yet in Galilee-- for it's not until Luke 17:11 that it's said on His way to Jerusalem Jesus passed along the border between Samaria & Galilee . At that time some Pharisees came to Jesus & said to Him, Leave this place & go somewhere else. Herod wants to kill You. He replied, Go tell that fox, 'I will drive out demons & heal people today & tomorrow, & on the 3rd day I will reach My goal.' In any case, I must keep going today & tomorrow & the next day-- for surely no prophet can die outside Jerusalem! O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets & stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing! Look, your house is left to you desolate. I tell you, you will not see Me again spiritually until you say, 'Blessed is HE who comes in the Name of the LORD.

  64. A repeated question-- 'Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?' [18] above-- soon we shall see Jesus asking this question again. The 1st time he asked this question was shortly after he had returned from the 2nd time in Jerusalem (see PerMtMkLk2 B.3.-- & note that 1 of the accounts was in Luke 6, & the healing was of a shriveled hand).

• Matt
• Mark
• Luke 14:1-6 1 Sabbath, when Jesus went to eat in the house of a prominent Pharisee, He was being carefully watched. There in front of Him was a man suffering from dropsy. Jesus asked the Pharisees & experts in the law, Is it lawful to heal in the Sabbath or not? But They remained silent. So taking hold of the man, He healed him & sent him away. Then He asked Them, If 1 of You has a son or an ox that falls into a well on the Sabbath day, will You not pull him out? And They had nothing to say-- this in sharp contrast to the earlier time mentioned ( I guess they had contemplated this question, after their former reaction).

  65. Parable: 'When someone invites You; when You invite' [18] above

• Matt
• Mark
• Luke 14:7-14 When He noticed how the guests of the above Pharisee picked the places of honor at the table, He told them this parable:
  • When someone invites you to a wedding feast, do not take the place of honor, for a person more distinguished than you may have been invited. If so, the host who invited both of you will come & say to you, 'Give this man your seat.' Then, humiliated, you will have to take the least important place. But when you are invited, take the lowest place, so that when your host comes, he will say to you, 'Friend, move up to a better place.' Then you will be honored in the presence of all your fellow guests. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, & he who humbles himself will be exalted.
  • Then Jesus said to His host, When You give a luncheon or dinner, do not invite your friends, your brothers or relatives, or your rich neighbors; if You do, they may invite You back & so You will be repaid. But when you give a (any) banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, & You will be blessed. Although they cannot repay You, You will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.