The Consequences Of Their Rejection (13:28-35).
The parable having been completed the actual facts are now described. Having been refused entry through the door of salvation they will suffer the deepest possible regret. This passage parallels that where there were stewards both good and bad who would be called to account (Luke 12:41 on), for He had come to send fire on earth which would cause great disruption and judgment and division between families (Luke 12:41-53). Here too God's stewards are called to account, and here also everything will end in judgment for those who have rejected Him.
Analysis.
a “There will be the weeping and the gnashing of teeth, when you shall see Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and all the prophets, within the Kingly Rule of God, and yourselves cast forth outside” (Luke 13:28).
b “And they will come from the east and west, and from the north and south, and will sit down (recline) within the Kingly Rule of God” (Luke 13:29).
c “And behold, there are last who will be first, and there are first who will be last” (Luke 13:30).
d In that very hour there came certain Pharisees, saying to him, “Get you out, and go from here, for Herod desires to kill you” (Luke 13:31).
c And he said to them, “Go and say to that fox, ‘Behold, I cast out demons and perform cures today and tomorrow, and the third day I am perfected', nevertheless I must go on my way today and tomorrow and the day following, for it cannot be that a prophet perish out of Jerusalem' (Luke 13:32-33).
b “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, which kills the prophets, and stones those who are sent to her! How often would I have gathered your children together, even as a hen gathers her own brood under her wings, and you would not!” (Luke 13:34).
a “Behold, your house is left to you desolate, and I say to you, ‘You shall not see me, until you shall say, Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.' ” (Luke 13:35).
Note that in ‘a' there is desolation, while there are also those who bless the Lord, and in the parallel there is desolation, while Jerusalem, representing Israel, will not be able to come to Him until they bless Him. In ‘b' the prophets and those who believed them will come from everywhere to the Kingly Rule of God, while in the parallel those who slew the prophets, whom He wished to gather to Him, will not come. In ‘c' the first will be last and the last first, and in the parallel we have the contrast between Herod and Jesus. Central to the whole is Herod's desire to kill Jesus.