Study 31. Luke 13:1-17. 14/7/23

 17. The Jews looked at tragedies and concluded that the victims must have deserved it. But what lesson should the people have learned from the sudden deaths (13:1-5)?

The people raised a question in conjunction with the idea of judgment in the preceding passage. They linked tragedy directly with personal sin (cf. Jn 9:2). Suffering in this view is proportional to the extent of sin. In response, Jesus raised yet another example of disaster/evil and delinks this from personal sin (the Gk for 'offenders' is 'debtors')

 This passage gives insight into the Biblical perspective on moral and natural evil. 

1. Suffering is not directly related to personal sin.
2. Jesus assumes that suffering is what all men deserve. None is innocent.
   
3. Some will receive judgment in this life, but allwill receive similar judgment in the next.
   
4. The lesson drawn is that we must 'settle our affairs' (12:58) with God before we are similarly judged.

The Bible does not speak of God as permitting evil because man's free will led to the consequence of the Fall (the 'broken world' view). Rather, theconstantly affirms that God is sovereign over evil, and ordains evil through secondary causes who remain morally responsible, in order to achieve His good and holy purposes.

 Does disaster come to a city, unless the Lord has done it? (Am 3:6)

I form light and create darkness;
    I make well-being and create calamity;
    I am the Lord, who does all these things. (Is 45:7)

 God's sovereignty over evil is clearly seen in the Cross (Lk 22:22, Ac 1:16, 2:23, 4:27-28). It is in the Cross also that God bears evil, rather than being distant from it.

The book of Job portrays disaster, tragedy and sickness as under the sovereign hand of God, whose purposes we cannot always fathom. God declines to explain Job's suffering

 

18. What does 13:6-9 tell us about

a. God's character

God has standards and expectations. He is slow to punish, but His patience is not unlimited.

b. Jesus' mission

 After 3 years, the likelihood of fruit-bearing is low. Another chance is given. Jesus' ministry may be seen as the final opportunity for Israel to repent.

c. The response God expects of His people?

Repentance and fruit bearing.

19. Hypocrisy was a recurring theme in Jesus' words for His people (12:1, 56; 13:15). How did the synagogue ruler and others show hypocrisy in their attitudes toward people, animals, Jesus, and the sabbath (13:10)

This is the last time Jesus is recorded to have taught in a synagogue or even to have been in one...

There is no indication that the woman believed in Jesus, or indeed that she knew him at all. Jesus himself took the initiative. He pronounced her cured, laid his hands on her and she was made straight. (Morris)

 

The ruler of the synagogue spoke to the people, not to Jesus. The woman praised God, not Jesus.

Jesus calls out all those who disagreed with His healing on the Sabbath as 'hypocrites'. At one level, the ruler of the synagogue did not have the guts to address Jesus directly. At the most fundamental level, he was willing to treat animals well, but not people in need. There was inconsistency in the way they applied the Law. They loved their animals more than they loved their application of the law, which they loved more than they loved people.

The meaning of the Sabbath as a gift of rest and freedom had been forgotten and perverted into rules.