1About that time some men from Galilee country were killing some animals to give them to God, and the big boss, called Pilate, came with his soldiers and killed those men. Their blood mixed in with the blood of the animals they killed. Then some people went and told Jesus about those men.
2Jesus said, “Do you reckon those men did more bad things than all the other men from Galilee? Is that why God let Pilate kill them?
3No. That is not right. Listen, all of you mob do bad things. You have to stop doing bad things and turn to God. If you don’t turn to God, you will die, just like those men died.
4And you know about the high building in Jerusalem city, at the place called Siloam. It fell down on to 18 people, and killed them. Do you think those people did more bad things than the other people in Jerusalem, so God let them die like that?
5No. That is not right. Listen, all of you mob do bad things. You have to stop doing bad things and turn to God. If you don’t turn to God, you will die, just like those people died.”
6Then Jesus told them this picture story. He said, “A man had a garden with grape vines and fruit trees growing in it. One of those fruit trees was called a fig tree. That man often used to go to that garden, to see if there was any fruit on that tree, but he didn’t ever find any fruit.
7So he talked to his workman, that looked after the garden. He said, ‘Look, this is no good. I have come here for 3 years looking for fruit on this tree, but I never found any. So chop it down and get rid of it. We can’t let it go on like this. It is using up the ground and giving back nothing to us.’
8But his worker said, ‘Wait, Boss, give it one more chance. Leave it for another year, and I will look after it properly. I’ll dig around it and put some fertilizer stuff on it to help it grow,
9and it might get fruit on it next year. If it doesn’t, then we can chop it down.’”
10One Saturday Jesus was teaching people in a Jewish meeting house. Their Jewish law said that nobody can work on a Saturday. It was their rest day.
11There was a woman there with bad spirit inside her. A long time before that, the bad spirit went into that woman and made her back crooked. That bad spirit lived in her for 18 years, and all that time her back was bent over. She couldn’t stand up straight.
12Jesus saw her in that meeting house and said to her, “Come here, lady. You are better now. You are free from that sickness.”
13Then he put his hands on her, and straight away she stood up straight. She said, “Oh God, you are really good.”
14But the boss of that meeting house was angry, because Jesus made a sick woman better on their rest day. So he told the people, “Listen, you mob. There are 6 days for work each week, so come on any one of those days and get him to make you better. But Saturday is our rest day. Don’t come on Saturday.”
15Jesus said to him, “You mob are wrong. You say one thing, but you yourselves do something different. You work on Saturdays too. You see, you keep bullocks and donkeys tied up in your yards, and every day you untie them and take them out to a water hole to let them drink. You do that on Saturdays too.
16Now look at this woman here. She belongs to Abraham’s family. But the boss of the devils, called Satan, he made her back bad a long time ago. It’s like he has kept her tied up with this problem for 18 years. So why can’t I untie her, even on a Saturday?”
17When Jesus said those words, the bosses of that meeting house were ashamed, but all the people were happy, because Jesus was doing a lot of really good things there.
31At that time, some of the law men called Pharisees came and said to Jesus, “The big boss called Herod wants to kill you, so you have to clear out. Go away from here.”
32Jesus said, “Herod is a bad man, and he is tricky, like a wild dog. Tell him that I’m forcing bad spirits out of people, and I’m making sick people better, and I’ll keep doing these things for a bit longer. Then I’ll finish my work.
33But I have to keep going now, and for a bit longer, till I get to Jerusalem city. That’s the place where they kill people that tell God’s messages.”
34Jesus talked to the people that lived in Jerusalem city. He said, “Oh, you Jerusalem mob. You never listen to the men that tell you God’s messages, but instead you kill them. Yes, you throw stones at them to kill them. Listen, I wanted to look after you mob, just like a chook looks after her chicks and covers them with her wings so that nothing can hurt them. I often wanted to look after you like that, but you never let me.
35So now God is leaving you. He will not look after you, or your city, or his ceremony house there. You mob will not see me again until the day comes when you will say, ‘This is God’s man coming to us, and we want God to be really good to him.’”
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