June 19, 2026
Please use the comment section on this page to share insights from today’s reading OR your own personal Bible reading.
Reading along with us in 1 Chronicles and Luke? Here’s today’s reading:
Luke 13 (NIV)
Repent or Perish
1 Now there were some present at that time who told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices. 2 Jesus answered, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way?…..Continue Reading
The parable of the mustard seed and the leaven is something I have always read as a good thing. Something little like our faith can open the door for God to bring great transformation, revival in our hearts, and spur us on to share and spread the gospel to so many. But I read a commentary recently that also used these two parables in reverse to imply that the same can happen when we let even the smallest sin creep in as well. A little fear and doubt can bring about the destruction of our faith. A little taste of power turned Pharisees into Jesus’ enemy. I guess it made me think about the great need for protecting our hearts and minds. Just the same way a little faith can empower us with the Holy Spirit, a little sin can spread and destroy as well. We need to keep our eyes, hearts, mind fixed on Him!
Luke 13
“Blessed are those who come in the name of the Lord.”
Jesus is subtly and not so subtly warning the Jewish leaders that their legalism and understanding of who He is will prevent them from entering the kingdom of God.
“I tell you, no; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish.”
Luke 13:3 NKJV
“Then he said to the keeper of his vineyard, ‘Look, for three years I have come seeking fruit on this fig tree and find none. Cut it down; why does it use up the ground?’”
Luke 13:7 NKJV
Fig tree = Israel
“So ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has bound—think of it—for eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath?””
“Then one said to Him, “Lord, are there few who are saved?” And He said to them, “Strive to enter through the narrow gate, for many, I say to you, will seek to enter and will not be able. But He will say, ‘I tell you I do not know you, where you are from. Depart from Me, all you workers of iniquity.’ “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, but you were not willing!”
Luke 13:23-24, 27, 34 NKJV
Luke 13 : 10 always amazed at the hypocrisy of the synagogue ruler . when Jesus heals the woman who had been crippled by a spirit for eighteen years , all he can say is you have six days to be healed so come on one of those days and not on the sabbath.
Repentance here is toward Jesus, turning from rejecting who He is to accepting Him and believing Him. He is the only way to salvation, and rejecting Him will cause people to perish. He is the narrow way that many will refuse to accept. Not because they can’t, but because they are unwilling. And although God is frustrated by the lack of fruit of the Jews, He is willing to give them a chance to come to Jesus before they are cut down. And their blindness is shown in not even being affected by Jesus’ power because they are hyper focused on that great work being done on the Sabbath. And yet the people understand their hypocrisy. And the kingdom that Jesus is bringing grows from little and permeates a lot even though little effort is put in. It depends on the power and grace of God and not the effort of men! And yet Jesus has great compassion on the lost, especially the lost Jews who He is living, working and teaching right in front of. But if they do not recognize who He is, then they cannot receive what He has to offer.
Like 13
Psalm 120; Ezekiel 40; Luke 13
“And He was passing through one city and village after another, teaching, and proceeding on His way to Jerusalem. And someone said to Him, “Lord, are there just a few who are being saved?” And He said to them, “Strive to enter through the narrow door; for many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able. Once the head of the house gets up and shuts the door, and you begin standing outside and knocking on the door, saying, ‘Lord, open up to us!’ and He then will answer and say to you, ‘I do not know where you are from.’ Then you will begin saying, ‘We ate and drank in Your presence, and You taught in our streets!’ And yet He will say, ‘I do not know where you are from; leave Me, all you evildoers.’ In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth when you see Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, but yourselves being thrown out. And they will come from east and west, and from north and south, and will recline at the table in the kingdom of God. And behold, some are last who will be first, and some are first who will be last.””
Luke 13:22-30 NASB2020
To quote Dietrich Bonhoeffer “the one who believes obeys, and the one who obeys believes”. We see in the verses I quoted above that one does not have a genuine saving faith if all they have is an external claim of faith from hearing and being adjacent to the things of God while being a completely unrepentant evildoer; but a genuine saving faith is marked with repentance.
However if there is unrepentant sin in our lives, we don’t force ourselves into repentance by our own strength; but grow in our faith by the power of the Holy Spirit which will naturally (or, I guess, supernaturally) lead to repentance all on its own.
Luke 13
So dislike the narrow way when spoken in scripture. Does Satan win that many in the end? Will hell be that much more filled than heaven? We say that they refused to believe. Yes. But who is blinding their eyes and hearts?
It is only man’s will that leads them to hell. They will not be able to blame anyone else.
Jesus sets people free from their infirmity when the timing is right, not when man thinks it should take place. Keep our eyes on Him and trust Him and He will give us what we need in His good timing. The kingdom of God grows and prospers and produces all kinds of good fruit. The narrow door is the door that leads to righteousness and salvation. All who go through it will take their place at the feast in the Kingdom of God. And the Lord loves us as a hen gathers her chicks under his wings. Bask in the warmth of His love and let its light cast out all fear when we are anxious and afraid.
Luke 13
Luke 13