1 There were some present at that very time who told him of the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices.
Individuals other than the disciples are present and inform Jesus of some current news about men who are from Galilee who had been killed and their blood mixed in with the temple sacrifices by Pilate. Considering the importance of blood in both its substance and usage to the Hebrews (Leviticus 17:11 “For the life of the flesh is in the blood; and I have given it for you upon the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood that makes atonement, by reason of the life.”) this is both a horrific insult as well as sacrilegious and it is inferred by Jesus response in later verses, that these messengers of the news perceive it to be as a divine punishment for sins that they themselves are free of.
2 And he answered them, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered thus?
3 I tell you, No; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish.
Jesus rhetorically asks “do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who dwelt in Jerusalem?”. An indication that those who lived in Jerusalem saw themselves as above those of Galilee where Hebrews dwelt with gentiles and maybe this is why they saw them as worse sinners. Jesus then goes on to say if the people of Jerusalem do not repent they will also pay the same price.
4 Or those eighteen upon whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them, do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who dwelt in Jerusalem?
5 I tell you, No; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish.”
Jesus gives another example of an event of 18 who died when the tower at Siloam fell on them in Jerusalem, asking if they would apply the same logic before they can answer he provides the same conclusion as the last, if you do not repent you will perish the same way. Important to note Siloam was the location of a healing pool also known as the lower pool mentioned in Isaiah 22:9 and John 9:1-11, a place of historical and holy importance because of its deliverance of healing from God.
We could posit that the individuals killed by the tower are even more holy (by the audiences perspective) or at least people associated with holiness and now Jesus’ message of repentance is more solid, taking examples of people considered not holy and those considered very holy both suffer if they do not repent because they neither are reaching God’s standard.
6 And he told this parable: “A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard; and he came seeking fruit on it and found none.
7 And he said to the vinedresser, ‘Lo, these three years I have come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and I find none. Cut it down; why should it use up the ground?’
8 And he answered him, ‘Let it alone, sir, this year also, till I dig about it and put on manure.
9 And if it bears fruit next year, well and good; but if not, you can cut it down.’ ”
Jesus continues with what seems like an unrelated parable about a vineyard where a master comes to the vinedresser asking him for fruit but the vineyard has not produced any so the vinedresser asks for more time to produce it and if it does not then the master can cut it down. This vineyard imagery goes back to the prophet Isaiah in Isaiah 5 where there is also a mention of a tower over the vineyard. The people of Israel is the vineyard and the beloved in Isaiah or the master in Jesus’ parable is God who seeks to reap the fruits of what he has sown. “The sacrifice acceptable to God is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.” Psalm 51:17 repentance is the fruit of sacrifice that God seeks from his vineyard and if these fruits are not offered those fruitless fig trees (the people) they will be cut down or cut out of God’s family.
The use of three years in the parable may be of significance also as Jesus’ ministry will also last three years. This would place God the Father as the Master and the vinedresser as God the Son with the fruits being the apostles of which there would be one fruitless tree in the harvest, Judas, who commits suicide and is cut out of the garden. The general purpose of the passage is for Jesus to realign the perspectives of the Jews speaking to him who are still in the line of thinking that bad things only occur to bad people and also the bad things that happen have a much worse ending than initially perceived because they are separated from God without repentance
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