1Now at the same time some had come to tell him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices. 2And he answered and said to them, “Do you think that these Galileans were sinners worse than all the Galileans, because they suffered these things? 3No, I tell you, but unless you repent you will all perish as well! 4Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them—do you think that they were sinners worse than all the people who live in Jerusalem? 5No, I tell you, but unless you repent, you will all perish as well!” 6And he told this parable: “A certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came looking for fruit on it and did not find any. 7So he said to the gardener, ‘Behold, ˻for three years˼ I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree and did not find any. Therefore cut it down! Why should it even exhaust the soil?’ 8But he answered and said to him, ‘Sir, leave it alone this year also, until I dig around it and put manure on it. 9And if indeed it produces fruit in the coming year, so much the better, but if not, you can cut it down.’ ” 10Now he was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath. 11And behold, a woman was there who had a spirit ˻that had disabled her˼for eighteen years, and she was bent over and not able to straighten herself up completely. 12And when he saw her, Jesus summoned her and said to her, “Woman, you are freed from your disability!” 13And he placed his hands on her, and immediately she straightened up and glorified God. 14But the ruler of the synagogue, indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, answered and said to the crowd, “There are six days on which it is necessary to work. Therefore come and be healed on them, and not on the day of the Sabbath!” 15But the Lord answered and said to him, “Hypocrites! Does not each one of you untie his ox or his donkey from the feeding trough on the Sabbath and lead it away to water it? 16And this woman, who is a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan bound ˻eighteen˼ long years—is it not necessary that she be released from this bond on the day of the Sabbath?” 17And when he said these things, all those who opposed him were humiliated, and the whole crowd was rejoicing at all the splendid things that were being done by him. 18Therefore he said, “What is the kingdom of God like, and to what shall I compare it? 19It is like a mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his own garden, and it grew and became a tree, and the birds of the sky nested in its branches.” 20And again he said, “To what shall I compare the kingdom of God? 21It is like yeast that a woman took and put into three measures of wheat flour until the whole batch was leavened.” 22And he was going throughout towns and villages, teaching and making his journey toward Jerusalem. 23And someone said to him, “Lord, ˻are there only˼ a few who are saved?” And he said to them, 24“Make every effort to enter through the narrow door, because many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able to, 25when once the master of the house has gotten up and shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and knock on the door, saying, ‘Lord, open the door for us!’ And he will answer and say to you, ‘I do not know where you are from!’ 26Then you will begin to say, ‘We ate and drank in your presence, and you taught in our streets!’ 27And he will reply, saying to you, ‘I do not know where you are from! Go away from me, all you˻evildoers˼!’ 28In 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 yourselves thrown outside! 29And they will come from east and west, and from north and south, and will recline at the table in the kingdom of God. 30And behold, some are last who will be first, and some are first who will be last.” 31At that same hour some Pharisees came up and said to him, “Go out and depart from here, because Herod wants to kill you!” 32And he said to them, “Go and tell that fox, ‘Behold, I am expelling demons and performing healings today and tomorrow, and on the third day I will complete my work.’ 33Nevertheless, it is necessary for me to be on the way today and tomorrow and on the next day, because it is not possible for a prophet to perish outside Jerusalem. 34“Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How many times I wanted to gather your children together ˻the way˼ a hen gathers her own brood under her wings, and you were not willing! 35Behold, your house has been left to you! And I tell you, you will never see me until the time will come when you say, ‘Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord!’ ”