1Now there were some present at the same time who told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices. 2Jesus answered them, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered such things? 3I tell you, no, but unless you repent, you will all perish in the same way. 4Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them—do you think that they were worse offenders than all the men who dwell in Jerusalem? 5I tell you, no, but, unless you repent, you will all perish in the same way.”
6He spoke this parable. “A certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came seeking fruit on it and found none. 7He said to the vine dresser, ‘Behold, these three years I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree, and found none. Cut it down! Why does it waste the soil?’ 8He answered, ‘Lord, leave it alone this year also, until I dig around it and fertilize it. 9If it bears fruit, fine; but if not, after that, you can cut it down.’”
10He was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath day. 11Behold, there was a woman who had a spirit of infirmity eighteen years. She was bent over and could in no way straighten herself up. 12When Jesus saw her, he called her and said to her, “Woman, you are freed from your infirmity.” 13He laid his hands on her, and immediately she stood up straight and glorified God.
14The ruler of the synagogue, being indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, said to the multitude, “There are six days in which men ought to work. Therefore come on those days and be healed, and not on the Sabbath day!”
15Therefore the Lord answered him, “You hypocrites! Doesn’t each one of you free his ox or his donkey from the stall on the Sabbath and lead him away to water? 16Ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham whom Satan had bound eighteen long years, be freed from this bondage on the Sabbath day?”
17As he said these things, all his adversaries were disappointed; and all the multitude rejoiced for all the glorious things that were done by him.
18He said, “What is God’s Kingdom like? To what shall I compare it? 19It is like a grain of mustard seed which a man took and put in his own garden. It grew and became a large tree, and the birds of the sky live in its branches.”
20Again he said, “To what shall I compare God’s Kingdom? 21It is like yeast, which a woman took and hid in three measures of flour, until it was all leavened.”
22He went on his way through cities and villages, teaching, and traveling on to Jerusalem. 23One said to him, “Lord, are they few who are saved?”
He said to them, 24“Strive to enter in by the narrow door, for many, I tell you, will seek to enter in and will not be able. 25When once the master of the house has risen up and has shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and to knock at the door, saying, ‘Lord, Lord, open to us!’ then he will answer and tell you, ‘I don’t know you or where you come from.’ 26Then you will begin to say, ‘We ate and drank in your presence, and you taught in our streets.’ 27He will say, ‘I tell you, I don’t know where you come from. Depart from me, all you workers of iniquity.’ 28There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth when you see Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and all the prophets in God’s Kingdom, and yourselves being thrown outside. 29They will come from the east, west, north, and south, and will sit down in God’s Kingdom. 30Behold, there are some who are last who will be first, and there are some who are first who will be last.”
31On that same day, some Pharisees came, saying to him, “Get out of here and go away, for Herod wants to kill you.”
32He said to them, “Go and tell that fox, ‘Behold, I cast out demons and perform cures today and tomorrow, and the third day I complete my mission. 33Nevertheless I must go on my way today and tomorrow and the next day, for it can’t be that a prophet would perish outside of Jerusalem.’
34“Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, like a hen gathers her own brood under her wings, and you refused! 35Behold, your house is left to you desolate. I tell you, you will not see me until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!’”
Who were the Pharisees and Sadducees? There were four political and religious parties that influenced Jewish society at the time of Christ, the Sadducees and Pharisees (who were also spiritual leaders), the former who were connected to the Temple, were theological liberals, and consorted with Rome. Conversely, the Pharisees were teachers of the law.
The Zealots wanted to overthrow Rome in favor of national independence. They were fanatical about the Law and saw themselves as warriors for God. They believed the pagan Roman Empire as the enemy of God, and thought it was their duty to engage in military resistance against Rome.
Opposite to the Zealots were the Herodians, who supported the rule of king Herod and were supporters of Roman rule.
In contrast to the Zealots were the Sadducees and Pharisees. The Sadducees are traditionally thought to have had their beginnings with Zadok, the high priest under King David, but their actual beginnings were with the Hasmonean “priest-kings” in the 2nd century B.C. At the time of Christ, they were economically affluent, politically powerful, religiously liberal, and represented by most of the high priests. Many served on the council known as the Sanhedrin. Holding only to the Law of Moses (the first five books of the OT), they denied the resurrection of the dead, life after death, eternal punishment, a literal kingdom, the existence of angels, and God's control of history (see Matt 22:23; Acts 4:1-2; 5:17; 23:6-8).
The Pharisees, on the other hand, were religious conservatives whose cause probably derived from the Hasidim, their name meaning "to separate." They arose roughly at the same time as the Sadducees, perhaps as a reaction to them. Many had a distrust of the priesthood and chose to study the law on their own, and were considered doctors of the Law. Like the Herodians, another political party in Israel, though less influential, they favored local political autonomy. Like the Sadducees, they were well represented on the Sanhedrin. Unlike the Sadducees they held to the Talmud, Mishna, oral and rabbinic tradition with fanatical zeal. They believed in God's intervention in the affairs of men through angels, and a future kingdom in literal fulfillment of God's promise to David. Their most notable difference with the Sadducees was their adamant belief in the resurrection of the body, and life after death (see Paul's exploitation of this dispute in Acts 23:5-8). For all of their differences, Jesus warned His disciples against "the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees," which was later identified as their teaching (Matt 16:6-12). Both groups were spiritually blind, self-righteous, sign-seeking, and hypocritical (see Matt 3:7; 16:1; 22:29; 23:1-39; Luke 12:1).