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Luke

About this book
Chapter 13

1 Now there were some present on that occasion who told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices. 2 He answered them, “Do you think these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered these things? 3 No, I tell you! But unless you repent, you will all perish as well! 4 Or those eighteen who were killed when the tower in Siloam fell on them, do you think they were worse offenders than all the others who live in Jerusalem? 5 No, I tell you! But unless you repent you will all perish as well!” 6 Then Jesus told this parable: “A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came looking for fruit on it and found none. 7 So he said to the worker who tended the vineyard, ‘For three years now, I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree, and each time I inspect it I find none. Cut it down! Why should it continue to deplete the soil?’ 8 But the worker answered him, ‘Sir, leave it alone this year too, until I dig around it and put fertilizer on it.⁠ 9 Then if it bears fruit next year, very well, but if not, you can cut it down.’” 10 Now he was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath, 11 and a woman was there who had been disabled by a spirit for eighteen years. She was bent over and could not straighten herself up completely. 12 When Jesus saw her, he called her to him and said, “Woman, you are freed from your infirmity.” 13 Then he placed his hands on her, and immediately she straightened up and praised God. 14 But the president of the synagogue, indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, said to the crowd, “There are six days on which work should be done! So come and be healed on those days, and not on the Sabbath day.” 15 Then the Lord answered him, “You hypocrites! Does not each of you on the Sabbath untie his ox or his donkey from its stall and lead it to water? 16 Then shouldn’t this woman, a daughter of Abraham whom Satan bound for eighteen long years, be released from this imprisonment on the Sabbath day?” 17 When he said this, all his adversaries were humiliated, but the entire crowd was rejoicing at all the wonderful things he was doing. 18 Thus Jesus asked, “What is the kingdom of God like? To what should I compare it?⁠ 19 It is like a mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his garden. It grew and became a tree, and the wild birds nested in its branches.” 20 Again he said, “To what should I compare the kingdom of God? 21 It is like yeast that a woman took and mixed with three measures of flour⁠ until all the dough had risen.” 22 Then Jesus traveled throughout towns and villages, teaching and making his way toward Jerusalem. 23 Someone asked him, “Lord, will only a few be saved?” So he said to them, 24 “Exert every effort to enter through the narrow door because many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able to. 25 Once the head of the house gets up and shuts the door, then you will stand outside and start to knock on the door and beg him, ‘Lord, let us in!’ But he will answer you, ‘I don’t know where you come from.’ 26 Then you will begin to say, ‘We ate and drank in your presence, and you taught in our streets.’ 27 But he will reply, ‘I don’t know where you come from! Go away from me, all you evildoers!’⁠ 28 There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth when you see Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and all the prophets in the kingdom of God but you yourselves thrown out. 29 Then people will come from east and west, and from north and south, and take their places at the banquet table in the kingdom of God.⁠ 30 But indeed, some are last who will be first, and some are first who will be last.” 31 At that time, some Pharisees came up and said to Jesus, “Get away from here because Herod wants to kill you.” 32 But he said to them, “Go and tell that fox, ‘Look, I am casting out demons and performing healings today and tomorrow, and on the third day I will complete my work. 33 Nevertheless I must go on my way today and tomorrow and the next day, because it is impossible that a prophet should be killed outside Jerusalem.’ 34 O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those who are sent to you! How often I have longed to gather your children together as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you would have none of it!⁠ 35 Look, your house is forsaken! And I tell you, you will not see me until you say, ‘Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord!’”

Texts in conversation

Compare Luke 13:8 and Apocalypse of Peter 1:8

New Testament · Early Christian

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Summary

In Luke, the gardener pleads for one more year to dig and fertilize the unfruitful fig tree. The Apocalypse of Peter merges this with the Olivet parable, identifying the tree as Israel and the reprieve as Israel’s last chance before the end.

Passages

Luke 13:8

New Testament
6 Then Jesus told this parable: “A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came looking for fruit on it and found none. 7 So he said to the worker who tended the vineyard, ‘For three years now, I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree, and each time I inspect it I find none. Cut it down! Why should it continue to deplete the soil?’ 8 But the worker answered him, ‘Sir, leave it alone this year too, until I dig around it and put fertilizer on it. 9 Then if it bears fruit next year, very well, but if not, you can cut it down.’”
75–85 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in Luke

Apocalypse of Peter 1:8

Early Christian · Revelation of Peter
8 The Lord answered and said to me: Do you not understand that the fig tree is the house of Israel? It is like a man who planted a fig tree in his garden, and it bore no fruit. He sought its fruit for many years, and when he found none, he said to the keeper of his garden: Pull up this fig tree, so it does not make our ground unfruitful. And the gardener said to God: Let us rid it of weeds, dig the ground around it, and water it. If then it bears no fruit, we will at once remove its roots from the garden and plant another in its place. Have you not understood that the fig tree is the house of Israel? Truly I tell you, when its twigs have sprouted in the last days, false Christs will come and stir up expectation, saying: I am the Christ, who has now come into the world. And when Israel perceives the wickedness of their deeds, they will turn away from them and deny him, even the first Christ whom they crucified, and in this they sinned a great sin. But this deceiver is not the Christ. And when they reject him, he will slay with the sword, and there will be many martyrs. Then the twigs of the fig tree, that is, the house of Israel, will sprout forth: many will become martyrs at his hand. Enoch and Elijah will be sent to teach them that this is the deceiver who must come into the world and do signs and wonders to deceive. Therefore those who die at his hand will be martyrs, and will be counted among the good and righteous martyrs who have pleased God in their life.
100–150 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in the Apocalypse of Peter

References

“... This is the parable of the barren fig tree, elsewhere found only in Luke’s Gospel (13:6-9). I have argued elsewhere that the author has drawn this parable not from Luke, but from some independent tradition of the parable. The important point, however, is that the author is doing what other early Christian interpreters of the parables also sometimes did: he is assuming that the imagery common to the two parables must have a common meaning. Therefore one parable can be used to interpret the other. The second parable, the barren fig tree, tells how for many years the fig tree failed to produce fruit. The owner proposes that it be rooted out, but the gardener persuades him to allow it one more chance of fruiting. This fruiting of the fig tree is treated by our author as equivalent to the sprouting or budding of the fig tree in the parable of Matthew 24. He correctly perceives that in the parable of the barren fig-tree, the fig tree represents Israel, and the contribution which this parable makes to the interpretation of the other is that it establishes that the fig tree is Israel ...”
Richard Bauckham, The Fate of the Dead: Studies on the Jewish and Christian Apocalypses, NovTSup 93 (Leiden: Brill, 1998), 181–182.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

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Luke 13:8 and Apocalypse of Peter 1:8

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