Luke chapter 13

vs 1

In other words, Pilate killed them while they were doing their sacrifices. If you read Josephus, you will see that Pilate sent real mixed messages to the Jews - one day he would bow to their demands to remove idols from their beloved Jerusalem, and the next day he'd kill a thousand of them for asking the same thing.

vs 2

So Jesus poses the question - were these people the subject of such suffering and death because it was some sort of punishment for their sin?

vs 3

No, Jesus answers vehemently. But note that he did call them sinners. Not any worse than a 'normal sinner', but still sinners. And they still died. So it wasn't their death that was special, but the fact that they died shows that they were sinners. And all sinners must repent, or they too will perish (of course all people will die, Jesus isn't saying that if the Galileans had reptended that they would have lived forever - although he might be saying that if they'd repented to him, he wouldn't have killed them).

vs 4

Perhaps guilty of not following OH&S standards.

vs 5

If you just read these last 5 verses literally, you could be well tempted to think that Jesus is promising some sort of immortality serum. And yes, in a way he is. But he's not promising that you won't have to die first. But you wouldn't know it just from that passage.

vs 6

Time for another parable. A fig tree without fruit. You assume the guy was looking in season.

vs 7

Very economically efficient with the soil, this man. But also angry that he hasn't got any tasty figs.

vs 8

But his servant offers, instead of butchering it with an axe, to take extra special care of it, to show it special attention, and to give it every good chance to bear fruit.

vs 9

And then, only then, make the decision. This parable isn't about the owner being impatient or hot-headed. He has waited for 3 years for this tree to give fruit. His servant is not just asking to give the tree a fair chance - it's had that. He's asking to give it an extra-special chance. To give it above and beyond normal treatment, and see if that makes any difference. If Jesus came to cause division, he came to do it by giving us an extra-special chance to bear fruit, and to then divide the fruit bearing trees from the fruitless trees. And, of course, the fruitless trees are not going to be happy with the fruit bearing trees.

vs 10

As you do on a sabbath.

vs 11

Erk, that sounds horrible. For Luke being a doctor, I might point out that he certainly attributes a lot of these illnesses to spirits.

vs 12

And for her, it was more than an illness - it was a prison sentence. 18 years of that condition must have been truly terrible. It must have limited her freedom to do a lot of things. But now she is set free. Jesus always chooses his words well.