What does Luke 13:10 mean?

Despite the Pharisees' growing disapproval of Jesus, He is still popular with the people. A synagogue leader asks Him to teach. Synagogues are local places of worship where Jews and curious Gentiles learn from biblical scholars on the Sabbath as well as other times. The synagogue leader oversees the service, including choosing who should speak. The speaker would read a passage and elaborate on what he thinks it means. Often, speakers were travelers or lived in different areas and provided a different point of view.

Jesus teaches differently than other guest speakers. The scribes—lawyers who are experts in the Mosaic law and its application—validate their interpretations by quoting rabbis and other scribes. Jesus teaches without citation. He merely explains what the passage means and how it applies to His audience. The first time He spoke, "they [the people] were astonished at his teaching, for he taught them as one who had authority, and not as the scribes" (Mark 1:22).

The religious leaders are confused and insulted by Jesus' ministry. He has incredible insight into the Jewish Scriptures, but He condemns the pious Pharisees and their academic scribes (Luke 11:37–54). His miracles are astounding, even to the point of healing a man born blind—something never before recorded (John 9:1–7, 24–25). But sometimes, as here, they catch Him performing a miracle on the Sabbath, breaking their sacred extra-scriptural rules (Luke 13:11–13). Surely, they think, someone who does that can't speak for God.

This extended unit began with a section on the kingdom of God (Luke 12:1—13:9). In both this section (Luke 13:13–35) and the next (Luke 14:1—15:32), the leading story is Jesus healing on the Sabbath and how the religious leaders react. Next is another section on the kingdom of God (Luke 16:1—17:10). Then two sections in which the leading story is about unseemly, denigrated people begging Jesus for healing, followed by more truth about salvation and the kingdom of God (Luke 17:11–19; 18:35–43).