Daily Bible Reading 6th October 2026 // Luke 13:1-9
1 There were some present at that very time who told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. 2 And he answered them, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered in this way? 3 No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. 4 Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them: do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who lived in Jerusalem? 5 No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.”
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 vine dresser, ‘Look, for three years now 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, ‘Sir, let it alone this year also, until I dig round it and put on manure. 9 Then if it should bear fruit next year, well and good; but if not, you can cut it down.’”
The application on the individual level is so obvious as almost not to need statement. Trench quotes the early Father, Theophylact, as saying: 'Christ came thrice, by Moses, by the prophets, and thirdly in his own person; He comes, when application is made to the individual - in childhood, in manhood, in old age'. But the appeal of the gospel does not always stretch into old age. God often gives a man an appointed time, a span of years, then calls him to give an account. A limited time of opportunity, a period of years, for example, in a certain place, then He takes us somewhere else; a period of years in a certain job, or at university - then comes the accounting, the reckoning, and opportunity passes, never to return that way again, in that particular place. How very solemn this is! But we must note this: although the thrust of these verses is undoubtedly the idea of reckoning and judgment, we must recognize that divine judgment is never harsh (though it is frightening); and it is a caricature of reality to think of God as simply a vengeful Deity. The opposite is true, in the parable, and in all Scripture (cf 2 Peter 3:9b; Ezekiel 33:11). Here, the great Vine-dresser pleads for the life of the tree and would fain avert its doom, when one thinks of how the door of repentance has been opened by the preaching of the Word, by the influence of godly lives on those for whom it pleads, by the providences that have shaped and guided all their way - in face of all this, one wonders just how much more digging and fertilising such lives are going to need, before they turn to Christ and commit themselves to Him for salvation!