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복음서 10–19장: 예루살렘을 향한 여정

예수님은 잃어버린 자를 찾아 구원하러 오신 구주이십니다.

누가는 자세히 살펴본 내용을 바탕으로 차례대로 기록했습니다. 세례 요한과 예수님의 탄생을 풍성하게 묘사하며, 가난한 이들과 여성들, 소외된 이들과 죄인들을 향한 예수님의 긍휼을 부각합니다.

저자: 의사이자 바울의 동역자인 누가 · 기록 연대: 기원후 60–80년경으로 추정

책 개요, 구조와 핵심 구절
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1하루는 예수님이 어떤 곳에서 기도하셨다. 기도를 다 마치시자 한 제자가 “주님, 요한이 그의 제자들에게 기도하는 법을 가르쳐 준 것처럼 우리에게도 가르쳐 주십시오” 하였다. 2그래서 예수님은 제자들에게 이렇게 기도하라고 말씀하셨다. “아버지, 아버지의 이름이 거룩히 여김을 받게 하시고 아버지의 나라가 속히 오게 하시며 3우리에게 날마다 필요한 양식을 주소서. 4우리가 우리에게 죄 지은 사람들을 용서합니다. 그러니 우리의 죄도 용서해 주소서. 그리고 우리가 시험에 들지 않게 하소서.” 5예수님은 제자들에게 다시 말씀하셨다. “너희 중 어떤 사람에게 친구 하나가 있다고 하자. 그런데 그 친구가 한밤중에 찾아와서 ‘여보게, 빵 세 개만 꾸어 주게. 6한 친구가 여행 중에 나를 찾아왔으나 대접할 것이 없어서 그러네’ 하고 말하면 7그가 안에서 ‘나를 괴롭히지 말게. 이미 문은 닫혔고 아이들과 나는 잠자리에 들었으니 지금 일어나 줄 수는 없네’ 하고 거절할 수 있겠느냐? 8내가 너희에게 말하지만 그가 비록 자기 친구라는 이유 때문에 일어나 주지는 않을지라도 그가 끈질기게 졸라대기 때문에 일어나 그에게 필요한 것을 줄 것이다. 9“그래서 내가 너희에게 말한다. 구하라. 그러면 받을 것이다. 찾아라. 그러면 찾을 것이다. 문을 두드려라. 그러면 열릴 것이다. 10누구든지 구하는 사람은 받을 것이며 찾는 사람은 찾을 것이요 두드리는 사람에게는 열릴 것이다. 11너희 중에 아들이 생선을 달라는데 생선 대신 뱀을 주며 12계란을 달라는데 전갈을 줄 아버지가 있겠느냐? 13악한 사람이라도 자기 자녀에게는 좋은 선물을 줄 줄 아는데 하물며 하늘에 계신 너희 아버지께서 구하는 사람에게 성령을 주시지 않겠느냐?” 14하루는 예수님이 벙어리 귀신을 쫓아내시자 귀신은 나가고 벙어리 되었던 사람이 말을 하기 시작하였다. 사람들은 이것을 보고 놀랐으나 15그들 가운데 어떤 사람은 “그가 귀신의 왕 사탄의 도움으로 귀신을 쫓아낸다” 하였고 16또 어떤 사람은 예수님을 시험하려고 하늘에서 오는 기적을 요구하기도 하였다. 17그러나 예수님은 그들의 생각을 아시고 이렇게 말씀하셨다. “어느 나라든지 서로 싸워 갈라지면 망하고 한집안도 서로 싸워 갈라지면 망한다. 18너희는 내가 사탄의 도움으로 귀신을 쫓아낸다고 하는데 만일 사탄이 서로 싸워 갈라진다면 어떻게 그의 나라가 설 수 있겠느냐? 19내가 사탄의 도움으로 귀신을 쫓아낸다면 너희를 따르는 사람들은 누구의 도움으로 귀신을 쫓아내느냐? 그러므로 그들이 너희 재판관이 될 것이다. 20그러나 내가 하나님의 능력으로 귀신을 쫓아낸다면 벌써 하나님의 나라가 너희에게 와 있는 것이다. 21강한 사람이 철저하게 무장을 하고 자기 집을 지킬 때에는 그의 재산이 안전하다. 22그러나 그보다 더 강한 사람이 달려들면 그가 믿고 있던 무기와 재산을 다 빼앗길 것이다. 23나와 함께하지 않는 사람은 나를 반대하는 사람이고 나와 함께 모으지 않는 사람은 흩어 버리는 사람이다. 24“더러운 귀신이 어떤 사람에게서 나와 물 없는 곳으로 다니며 쉴 곳을 찾았으나 얻지 못하였다. 그래서 귀신이 ‘내가 나온 내 집으로 돌아가야겠다’ 하고 25가 보니 그 집이 깨끗이 소제되고 정돈되어 있었다. 26그 귀신이 가서 자기보 다 악한 다른 귀신 일곱을 더 데리고 들어가 거기서 살자 그 사람의 나중 상태가 처음보다 더 비참하게 되었다.” 27예수님이 이 말씀을 하실 때 군중 가운데서 한 여자가 큰 소리로 “당신을 낳아서 기른 분은 참 행복합니다!” 하고 외쳤다. 28그러나 예수님은 “하나님의 말씀을 듣고 실천하는 사람이 더욱 행복하다” 하고 말씀하셨다. 29더 많은 사람들이 모여들자 예수님은 이렇게 말씀하셨다. “이 악한 세대가 기적을 요구하나 요나의 기적밖에는 보일 것이 없다. 30니느웨 사람이 요나의 기적을 본 것처럼 나도 이 세대에게 그와 같은 기적을 보일 것이다. 31솔로몬의 지혜를 들으려고 땅 끝에서 왔던 남방 여왕도 심판 때에 일어나 이 세대 사람을 죄인으로 단정할 것이다. 자, 보아라. 솔로몬보다 더 위대한 사람이 여기 있다. 32요나의 전도를 듣고 회개한 니느웨 사람들이 심판 때에 일어나 이 세대 사람을 죄인으로 단정할 것이다. 자, 보아라. 요나보다 더 위대한 사람이 여기 있다. 33“사람이 등불을 켜서 밀실에 두거나 그릇으로 덮어 두지 않고 그것을 등잔대 위에 올려놓는 것은 들어오는 사람이 그 빛을 볼 수 있도록 하기 위해서이다. 34눈은 몸의 등불이다. 네 눈이 성하면 온 몸도 밝을 것이고 네 눈이 나쁘면 온 몸도 어두울 것이다. 35그러니 네 속에 있는 빛이 어둡지 않은가 살펴보아라. 36너의 온 몸이 밝아 어두운 데가 없으면 마치 등불이 너를 비출 때와 같이 온 몸이 밝을 것이다.” 37예수님이 말씀을 마치시자 한 바리새파 사람이 함께 식사하자고 예수님을 초대하였다. 그래서 예수님이 들어가 식탁에 앉으셨는데 38이 바리새파 사람은 예수님이 식사 전에 손을 씻지 않는 것을 보고 놀라는 표정을 지었다. 39그래서 예수님이 이렇게 말씀하셨다. “너희 바리새파 사람들은 잔과 접시의 겉은 깨끗하게 하지만 속은 탐욕과 악으로 가득 차 있다. 40어리석은 사람들아, 겉을 만드신 분이 속도 만드시지 않았느냐? 41너희가 가진 것을 가난한 사람들에게 주어라. 그러면 모든 것이 너희에게 깨끗해질 것이다. 42“바리새파 사람들아, 너희에게 불행이 닥칠 것이다. 너희는 박하와 운향과 온갖 채소의 십일조는 바치면서 정의와 하나님께 대한 사랑은 저버렸다. 그러나 십일조도 바치고 이것도 버리지 말았어야 했다. 43바리새파 사람들아, 너희에게 불행이 닥칠 것이다. 너희는 회당의 높은 자리를 좋아하고 또 시장에서 인사받는 것을 좋아한다. 44너희는 평평한 무덤과 같아서 사람들이 그 위를 걸어다니면서도 무덤인 줄 모른다.” 45그때 한 율법학자가 예수님께 “선생님, 이렇게 말씀하시니 우리까지 모욕하시는 것이 아닙니까?” 하였다. 46그래서 예수님이 다시 말씀하셨다. “너희 율법학자들에게도 불행이 닥칠 것이다. 너희는 지기 어려운 짐을 사람들에게 지우고 너희 자신은 손끝 하나 까딱하려 하지 않는다. 47너희는 너희 조상들이 죽인 예언자들의 무덤을 꾸미고 있다. 48너희 조상들은 예언자들을 죽였고 너희는 그들의 무덤을 꾸미고 있으니 사실 너희는 너희 조상들이 행한 일을 인정하고 있음을 증거하고 있다. 49그래서 하나님은 그의 지혜로 말씀하셨다. ‘내가 그들에게 예언자들과 사도들을 보내겠다. 그들이 더러는 죽이고 더러는 핍박할 것이다.’ 50그러므로 세상이 시작된 때부터 지금까지 죽음을 당한 모든 예언자들의 피에 대하여 이 세대가 책임을 져야 할 것이다. 51내가 분명히 말해 두지만 아벨의 피로부터 제단과 성전 사이에서 죽음을 당한 사가랴의 피에 대해서까지 이 세대가 죄값을 치르게 될 것이다. 52너희 율법학자들은 지식의 열쇠를 가지고 있으면서도 너희 자신도 들어가지 않고 또 들어가려고 하는 사람도 못 들어가게 막았다.” 53예수님이 거기서 나오시자 바리새파 사람들과 율법학자들이 예수님을 아주 적대시하고 여러 가지 질문을 하여 54예수님이 하시는 말씀에서 잡아갈 구실을 찾으려고 노리기 시작했다.
주석 4
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Benson
Luke 11
Benson Commentary Luke 11:1 And it came to pass, that, as he was praying in a certain place, when he ceased, one of his disciples said unto him, Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples. Luke 11:1-4 . As he was praying in a certain place — Our Lord’s whole time was occupied, either in instructing his numerous followers, or in confirming his doctrine by miracles of mercy, wrought for the relief of the afflicted, or in the exercises of devotion. This evangelist has mentioned Christ’s praying much more frequently than any of the other evangelists. He tells us, Luke 3:21 , when he was baptized he was praying; Luke 5:16 , that he withdrew into the wilderness and prayed; Luke 6:12 , that he went out into a mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer; Luke 9:18 , that he was alone, praying; and soon after, that he went up into a mountain, and as he prayed was transfigured, Luke 9:28-29 ; and here, that he was praying in a certain place. Whether he was now praying alone, and the disciples only knew that he was so, or whether he prayed with them, is uncertain; it is most probable they were joining with him. One of his disciples said, Lord, teach us to pray — Inform us what we ought especially to desire and pray for, and in what words we ought to express our desires and petitions. It seems this disciple had not been present when our Lord, in the beginning of his ministry, gave his hearers directions concerning their devotions; or, if he was present, he had forgotten what had then been said. As John also taught his disciples — The Jewish masters used to give their followers some short form of prayer, as a peculiar badge of their relation to them. This, it is probable, John the Baptist had done. And in this sense it seems to be, that the disciples now asked Jesus, to teach them to pray. Accordingly he here repeats that form which he had before given them in his sermon on the Mount, and likewise enlarges on the same head, though still speaking the same things in substance. And this prayer, uttered from the heart, and in its true and full meaning, is indeed the badge of a real Christian: for is not he such whose first and most ardent desire is the glory of God, and the happiness of man, by the coming of his kingdom? who asks for no more of this world than his daily bread, longing meantime for the bread that cometh down from heaven? and whose only desires for himself are forgiveness of sins (as he heartily forgives others) and sanctification? When ye pray, say — And what he said to them is undoubtedly said to us also. We are therefore here directed not only to imitate this in all our prayers, but frequently, at least, to use this very form of prayer. For an explanation of this prayer, see the notes on Matthew 6:9-13 . There are some differences between the form in Matthew and this recorded here; by which it appears it was not the design of Christ that we should be always confined to the very words of either form; for then there would have been no difference between them. One difference, indeed, which the reader will probably notice, is in the translation only, which ought not to have been, where there is none in the original; and that is in the third petition, as in heaven, so in earth; whereas the words are the very same, and in the same order, as in Matthew; but there is a difference in the fourth petition: in Matthew we pray, Give us daily bread this day; here, give it us [ ??? ’ ?????? ] day by day: that is, Give us each day the bread which our bodies require, as they call for it; not, Give us this day bread for many days to come; but, as the Israelites had manna, let us have bread, to-day for to-day, and to-morrow for to- morrow; that thus we may be kept in a state of continual dependance upon God, as children upon their parents, and may have our mercies fresh from his hand daily; and may find ourselves under fresh obligations to do the work of every day in the day, according as the duty of the day requires, because we have from God the supplies of every day in the day, according as the necessity of the day requires. Here is, likewise, some difference in the fifth petition. In Matthew it is, Forgive us our debts, as we forgive; here it is, Forgive us our sins, (which proves that our sins are our debts,) for we forgive; not that our forgiving those that have offended us can merit pardon from God, or be an inducement to him to forgive us; he forgives for his own name’s sake, and his Son’s sake: but this is a very necessary qualification for forgiveness: and if God have wrought it in us, we may plead the work of his grace, for the enforcing of our petitions for the pardon of our sins; Lord, forgive us, for thou hast thyself inclined us to forgive others. There is another addition here; we plead not only in general, we forgive our debtors, but in particular we profess to forgive every one that is indebted to us, without exception. We so forgive our debtors, as not to bear malice or ill-will to any, but true love to all, without any exception whatsoever. Here also the doxology in the close is wholly omitted, and the Amen; for Christ would leave his disciples at liberty to use that, or any other doxology, fetched out of David’s Psalms; or rather, he left a space here to be filled up by a doxology more peculiar to the Christian institutes, ascribing glory to the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Luke 11:2 And he said unto them, When ye pray, say, Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in heaven, so in earth. Luke 11:3 Give us day by day our daily bread. Luke 11:4 And forgive us our sins; for we also forgive every one that is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil. Luke 11:5 And he said unto them, Which of you shall have a friend, and shall go unto him at midnight, and say unto him, Friend, lend me three loaves; Luke 11:5-8 . And he said, &c. — “Having, by a short form, taught his disciples that they were not in prayer to use a multiplicity of words, with vain repetitions; he proceeded to caution them, on the other hand, against coldness, indifference, and slackness in their supplications. The evil of this, and the necessity of asking affectionately, with importunity and perseverance, he taught them by a parable; in which he showed them, that importunity, that is, earnestness and frequency in asking, are the proper, natural expressions of strong desires, and, by consequence, that God very properly requires these things in men, before he bestows on them such favours as they stand in need of, just as he requires them to be earnestly desirous of these favours before he blesses them therewith.” — Macknight. Which of you shall have a friend, &c. — As if he had said, Who is there of you that has not observed the efficacy of importunate requests? If, for instance, he shall have a friend, and shall go to him at midnight — The most unseasonable time imaginable for asking a favour; and say unto him, Friend, lend me three loaves — Do me this favour on account of our mutual friendship; for a friend of mine — One to whom I am particularly indebted; in his journey is come to me — Having travelled so late and long, my friend is both weary and hungry; and I have nothing to set before him — A case certainly very urgent. And he from within — Being of a churlish disposition; shall answer and say, Trouble me not — Do not disturb me thus at so late an hour; what you ask will put me to a great deal of trouble: the door is now shut — And must have its locks and bolts opened, and my children are with me in bed — Or as ?? ?????? ??? ??? ’ ???? ??? ??? ?????? ????? , may be rendered, my servants, together with me, are in bed. My servants are in bed as well as myself, and probably they are fast asleep, so that there is nobody at hand to give you what you want. I cannot rise and give thee — You cannot expect that I will rise and give you the loaves. I say unto you, Though he will not rise, &c. — This man, though he would not yield to the calls and influence of friendship, yet will he be prevailed upon by the force of importunity; because it shows both the greatness of the supplicant’s distress, and the earnestness of his desire. Luke 11:6 For a friend of mine in his journey is come to me, and I have nothing to set before him? Luke 11:7 And he from within shall answer and say, Trouble me not: the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot rise and give thee. Luke 11:8 I say unto you, Though he will not rise and give him, because he is his friend, yet because of his importunity he will rise and give him as many as he needeth. Luke 11:9 And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you. Luke 11:9-10 . I say unto you, Ask, &c. — Pray frequently, and be most earnest and importunate in your prayers, because thus you shall obtain whatsoever you ask agreeably to the will of God. For if importunity would prevail thus with a man that was displeased at it, much more will it prevail with God, who is infinitely more kind and ready to do good to us than we are one to another; and is not displeased at our importunity, but accepts it, especially when the object of it is spiritual mercies. If he do not answer our prayers, and grant our requests presently, yet he will answer them in due time, if we continue to pray and exercise faith in his power, love, and faithfulness. Ask, therefore, what God in his word authorizes you to ask, and what you are persuaded it would be for God’s glory that you should receive, and it shall be given you — Either the thing itself which you ask, or that which is equivalent; either the removal of the thorn in the flesh, or grace sufficient to enable you to bear it. Of this we have an assurance from Christ’s own mouth, who knows his Father’s mind, and in whom all the promises of God are yea and amen. But we must not only ask, we must also seek, in the use of means; must second our prayers with our endeavours; and in asking and seeking, we must continue urgent, still knocking at the same door, and we shall at length prevail. For every one that asketh receiveth — Even the meanest saint shall have his petition granted, that asks earnestly, importunately, and in faith. This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him, Psalm 34:6 . When we ask of God those things which Christ, in the above prayer, has directed us to ask, namely, that his name may be sanctified; that his kingdom may come, and his will be done; — in these requests we must be importunate, and must never hold our peace day or night. See on Matthew 7:7-8 ; where the same passage occurs. Luke 11:10 For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened. Luke 11:11 If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone? or if he ask a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent? Luke 11:11-12 . If a son shall ask bread of any of you — Further to assist your faith on these occasions, reflect upon the workings of your own hearts toward your offspring. Let any of you, that is a father, and knows the heart of a father, a father’s affection to, and care for, a child, say, if his Song of Solomon ask bread to satisfy his hunger, will he give him a stone — In the shape of a loaf? or, If he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent — Which has some resemblance of a fish; or if he ask an egg, will he offer him a scorpion — Which, instead of nourishing him, might sting him to death? Naturalists tell us, that the body of a scorpion is very like an egg, especially if the scorpion be of the white kind, which is the first species mentioned by Ælian, Avicenna, and others. Bochart has produced testimonies to prove that the scorpions in Judea were about the bigness of an egg; and therefore there, a white scorpion being very like an egg, might to children, who were not capable of distinguishing the one from the other, be offered in place thereof, if the person so doing meant that it should sting and destroy them. These different instances are mentioned by Jesus, in order that the doctrine which he is here inculcating might make the stronger impression upon his hearers. See on Matthew 7:9-11 . Luke 11:12 Or if he shall ask an egg, will he offer him a scorpion? Luke 11:13 If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him? Luke 11:13 . If ye then, being evil — If ye, who are, at least, comparatively evil, and perhaps inclined to a penurious and morose temper, yet know how to give good gifts to your children — And find your hearts disposed to relieve their returning necessities, by a variety of daily provisions; — if earthly parents, though evil, be yet so kind; if they, though weak, be yet so knowing, that they give with discretion, give what is best, in the best manner and time; much more shall your heavenly Father — Who has wrought these dispositions in you, and who infinitely excels the fathers of our flesh, as in power, so also in wisdom and goodness, be ready to bestow every necessary good, and even to give the best and most excellent gift of all, his Holy Spirit, to them that sincerely and earnestly ask him; a gift, inclusive of, or followed by, all the good things we ought to pray for; more than which, with its effects and consequences, we do not need, to make us wise, holy, happy, and useful; the Holy Spirit being the source of spiritual life to and in us here, and the earnest of eternal life hereafter; a gift which, therefore, it concerns us all earnestly, constantly, and perseveringly to pray for. Observe well, then, reader, both that it is our indispensable duty to ask this gift, and that we have all possible encouragement to believe that, if we ask aright, we shall not ask in vain. For as certainly as God’s power enables him, so certainly does his goodness incline him, and his promise bind him, to give it, and that to all those that ask as they are here directed. Luke 11:14 And he was casting out a devil, and it was dumb. And it came to pass, when the devil was gone out, the dumb spake; and the people wondered. Luke 11:14-23 . And he was casting out a devil — See on Matthew 9:32-34 ; and Matthew 12:22-23 . Some said, He casteth out devils through Beelzebub — These he answers, Luke 11:17 . Others, to try whether it were so or not, sought a sign from heaven — These he reproves, in the 29th and following verses. Beelzebub signifies the lord of flies, a title which the heathen gave to Jupiter, whom they accounted the chief of their gods, and yet supposed him to be employed in driving away flies from their temples and sacrifices. The Philistines worshipped a deity under this name as the god of Ekron: from hence the Jews took the name, and applied it to the chief of the devils. He, knowing their thoughts, &c. — See this whole paragraph explained, on Matthew 12:25-30 . A house divided against a house — That is, one part of a family divided against, and contending with, an other part, falleth, cometh to inevitable ruin. If I cast out devils by the finger of God — That is, by a power manifestly divine. Perhaps the expression intimates further that it was done without any labour: no doubt the kingdom of God is come upon you — Unawares, unexpectedly; so the expression, ??????? ?? ’ ???? , implies. When a strong man armed — Alluding to Satan, strong in himself, and armed with the pride, obstinacy, and security of him in whom he dwells. Luke 11:15 But some of them said, He casteth out devils through Beelzebub the chief of the devils. Luke 11:16 And others, tempting him , sought of him a sign from heaven. Luke 11:17 But he, knowing their thoughts, said unto them, Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; and a house divided against a house falleth. Luke 11:18 If Satan also be divided against himself, how shall his kingdom stand? because ye say that I cast out devils through Beelzebub. Luke 11:19 And if I by Beelzebub cast out devils, by whom do your sons cast them out? therefore shall they be your judges. Luke 11:20 But if I with the finger of God cast out devils, no doubt the kingdom of God is come upon you. Luke 11:21 When a strong man armed keepeth his palace, his goods are in peace: Luke 11:22 But when a stronger than he shall come upon him, and overcome him, he taketh from him all his armour wherein he trusted, and divideth his spoils. Luke 11:23 He that is not with me is against me: and he that gathereth not with me scattereth. Luke 11:24 When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through dry places, seeking rest; and finding none, he saith, I will return unto my house whence I came out. Luke 11:24-26 . When the unclean spirit — See notes on Matthew 12:43-45 . Luke 11:25 And when he cometh, he findeth it swept and garnished. Luke 11:26 Then goeth he, and taketh to him seven other spirits more wicked than himself; and they enter in, and dwell there: and the last state of that man is worse than the first. Luke 11:27 And it came to pass, as he spake these things, a certain woman of the company lifted up her voice, and said unto him, Blessed is the womb that bare thee, and the paps which thou hast sucked. Luke 11:27-28 . As he spake these things, a certain woman, &c. — While Jesus thus reasoned, in confutation of the Pharisees, a woman of the company, ravished with his wisdom, and perhaps believing him to be their long-expected Messiah, expressed her admiration of his character in an exclamation upon the happiness of the woman who had the honour of giving him birth; a thought very natural for a woman. But he said, Yea, rather, blessed are they that hear the word of God and keep it — As if he had said, The blessedness which you prize so much, and which could be enjoyed by one woman only, however great, is far inferior to a blessedness which is in every one’s power, namely, that which arises from the knowledge and practice of the will of God. If even she that bare me had not attended to this, she would have forfeited all her blessedness. Luke 11:28 But he said, Yea rather, blessed are they that hear the word of God, and keep it. Luke 11:29 And when the people were gathered thick together, he began to say, This is an evil generation: they seek a sign; and there shall no sign be given it, but the sign of Jonas the prophet. Luke 11:29-32 . When the people were gathered thick together. — It seems, on this occasion, the multitude gathered round him in a great crowd, and pressed upon him, in expectation that he was going to show them the sign from heaven which some of them had required from him. But he repulsed them, by telling them that they were an evil race of men, who discovered a very perverse disposition, in seeking signs after so many miracles had been wrought by him; for which reason no greater sign should be given them than those they were daily beholding, except the sign of the Prophet Jonas. See notes on Matthew 12:38-42 . They repented at the preaching of Jonas — But it was only for a season. Afterward they relapsed into wickedness, till (after about forty years) they were destroyed. It is remarkable, that in this also the comparison held. God reprieved the Jews for about forty years: but they still advanced in wickedness, till, having filled up their measure, they were destroyed with an utter destruction. Luke 11:30 For as Jonas was a sign unto the Ninevites, so shall also the Son of man be to this generation. Luke 11:31 The queen of the south shall rise up in the judgment with the men of this generation, and condemn them: for she came from the utmost parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and, behold, a greater than Solomon is here. Luke 11:32 The men of Nineve shall rise up in the judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: for they repented at the preaching of Jonas; and, behold, a greater than Jonas is here. Luke 11:33 No man, when he hath lighted a candle, putteth it in a secret place, neither under a bushel, but on a candlestick, that they which come in may see the light. Luke 11:33-36 . No man, when he hath lighted a candle — The meaning is, God gives you this gospel-light, that ye may repent. Let your eye be singly fixed on him, aim only at pleasing God; and while ye do this, your whole soul will be full of wisdom, holiness, and happiness. But when thine eye is evil — When thou aimest at any thing else, thou wilt be full of folly, sin, and misery. On the contrary, If thy whole body be full of light — If thou art filled with holy wisdom, having no part dark, giving way to no sin or folly, then that heavenly principle will, like the clear flame of a lamp in a room that was dark before, shed its light into all thy powers and faculties. For a fuller explanation of these verses, see notes on Matthew 5:15 ; Matthew 6:22-23 ; Mark 4:21-22 . Luke 11:34 The light of the body is the eye: therefore when thine eye is single, thy whole body also is full of light; but when thine eye is evil, thy body also is full of darkness. Luke 11:35 Take heed therefore that the light which is in thee be not darkness. Luke 11:36 If thy whole body therefore be full of light, having no part dark, the whole shall be full of light, as when the bright shining of a candle doth give thee light. Luke 11:37 And as he spake, a certain Pharisee besought him to dine with him: and he went in, and sat down to meat. Luke 11:37 . And as he spake, a Pharisee besought him to dine with him — Our Lord having proved the truth of his mission, against the malicious cavils of his enemies, in the manner above stated, when he had made an end of speaking, one of the Pharisees present invited him to dine with him. It is not said whether he gave him the invitation as a mark of respect for him, or with an insidious design. The severity with which Jesus reproved the superstition of the Pharisees, while he sat at meat with them, and the malice which they discovered, in urging him to say things offensive to the magistrate or to the people, make it probable that the latter rather was the case. Nevertheless, he accepted the invitation, and went along with the Pharisee, and sat down at table without washing, as, it seems, all the other guests had done. And when the Pharisee saw it, he marvelled, &c. — Expressed great surprise at our Lord’s showing such an open contempt of their traditions. And the Lord said, Now ye Pharisees — Probably many of them were present at the Pharisee’s house; make clean the outside of the cup, &c. — Ye are at great pains to keep every thing clean that touches your food, lest your bodies should be defiled in eating; but ye are at no pains to keep your minds clean from pollutions that are incomparably worse, — the pollutions of rapine, covetousness, and wickedness. Ye fools, did not he that made that which is without, &c. — Did not he, who made the body, make the soul also? Wherefore ye are grossly stupid and foolish, not to see, that, if God requires purity of body, because it is his own workmanship, he will much more insist on purity of mind, which is the nobler part of human nature. And therefore, instead of that scrupulousness with respect to meats and washings, which engrosses so much of your attention, you ought to apply yourselves to the duties of justice, mercy, and charity, as an evidence that your hearts are right with God, that you love him better than the world, and prefer the pleasing of him to amassing wealth, or attaining any temporal good. It is justly observed here, by Dr. Macknight, that “we are not to imagine alms-giving was particularly mentioned by Christ, in his exhortation to the Pharisees, because it is of greater value and necessity than the other virtues. He recommended it to that sect, because they were generally remarkable for their covetousness and extortion, vices which must be repented of, by making restitution to those who have been injured by them. And when these cannot be known or found, the compensation must be made to the poor, as having the next right; because what is given to them is lent to God; but the Pharisees were of an incorrigibly stubborn disposition, which no instruction, however mild or persuasive, could influence; wherefore our Lord, on this occasion, wisely treated them with a kind and wholesome severity, denouncing most dreadful woes against them for being so zealous in the ceremonial institutions of religion, while they utterly neglected the precepts of morality.” Wo unto you — That is, miserable are you. In the same manner is the phrase to be understood throughout the chapter; for ye tithe, &c. — Ye pay tithes of these things, and pass over judgment and the love of God — Ye show such care and exactness in performing ceremonial precepts, that ye do not neglect even the least of them; but the great duties of godliness and righteousness, of the love of God and all mankind, and the duties of truth, justice, mercy, and charity, flowing therefrom, ye utterly neglect, as things of no importance in comparison. Nevertheless, these ought ye to have done — The duties of piety and morality ought to have been the principal objects of your care, while, at the same time, the other should not have been left undone. See on Matthew 23:23-26 . Luke 11:38 And when the Pharisee saw it , he marvelled that he had not first washed before dinner. Luke 11:39 And the Lord said unto him, Now do ye Pharisees make clean the outside of the cup and the platter; but your inward part is full of ravening and wickedness. Luke 11:40 Ye fools, did not he that made that which is without make that which is within also? Luke 11:41 But rather give alms of such things as ye have; and, behold, all things are clean unto you. Luke 11:42 But woe unto you, Pharisees! for ye tithe mint and rue and all manner of herbs, and pass over judgment and the love of God: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone. Luke 11:43 Woe unto you, Pharisees! for ye love the uppermost seats in the synagogues, and greetings in the markets. Luke 11:43-44 . Wo unto you, for ye love the uppermost seats in the synagogues, &c. — Here he denounces the judgment of God against them for their pride, which was so excessive, that it appeared in their carriage in the streets, and at all public meetings. See on Matthew 23:6-7 . Wo unto you, scribes and Pharisees — In this wo he joins the scribes with the Pharisees, and condemns the hypocrisy of both. For ye are as graves, &c. — Under a show of humility and contempt of the world, you are proud, voluptuous, and rapacious, and so resemble concealed graves, which are apt to pollute those who walk over them. Or, as graves appear not when overgrown with grass, so that men are not aware till they stumble upon them, and either hurt themselves, or, at least, are defiled by touching them, so your deceit, hypocrisy, and wickedness are not discovered, being hid under the appearance of strict sanctity which you put on; but, nevertheless, these your vices defile and injure many. On another occasion Christ compared them to whited sepulchres, fair without, but foul within. See on Matthew 23:27-28 . Luke 11:44 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are as graves which appear not, and the men that walk over them are not aware of them . Luke 11:45 Then answered one of the lawyers, and said unto him, Master, thus saying thou reproachest us also. Luke 11:45 . Then answered one of the lawyers, &c. — A doctor, or interpreter of the law. The Jewish lawyers (as our translation not very properly terms them) were the most considerable species of scribes, who applied themselves peculiarly to study and explain the law. Probably many of them were Pharisees, but it was no ways essential to their office that they should be so. What touched the person here speaking was, that our Lord, in his last wo, Luke 11:44 , had joined the scribes with the Pharisees. Master, thus saying, thou reproachest us — The rebuke which thou hast given the scribes and Pharisees in so general a way, affects us lawyers also. And he said, Wo unto you also, ye lawyers — The lawyers, even of the Pharisean denomination, had done unspeakable mischief by their erroneous interpretation of Scripture, which they perverted to favour the tradition of the elders as much as possible, and so bound heavy burdens on men’s shoulders, which they themselves would not touch with one of their fingers. Jesus, therefore, spake his mind freely concerning them also, laid open their character, and denounced further woes against them. Wo unto you, for ye build the sepulchres of the prophets — He blames them for building the sepulchres of the prophets, because they did it from no regard to the murdered prophets, though in words they pretended to venerate their memory, but in order to make an ostentation of their piety. Truly ye bear witness that ye allow the deeds of your fathers — By all your conduct you show that inwardly, in your minds, you approve of the deeds of your fathers, who persecuted the prophets; for they killed them, and ye build their sepulchres — You are men of precisely the same character and disposition with them; hypocrites, who covered the grossest acts of wickedness with the specious appearance of piety. For like them you pretend great reverence for the ancient prophets, while ye destroy those whom God sends to yourselves. Ye therefore bear witness, by this deep hypocrisy, that you are of the very same spirit with them. Or, more at large, thus: “From your known disposition, as well as from your open practice, which is to trample upon the laws of God, as often as they stand in the way of your wicked purposes, and particularly from your persecuting the messengers of God, one is obliged to think that you build the sepulchres of the prophets whom your fathers killed, not from any pious regard for God, whose messengers they were, nor to do honour to the prophets themselves, but to do honour to their murderers, as approving of their deeds, and intending to perpetuate the memory of them to posterity with applause. The great men among the Jews always possessed the true spirit of politicians. In the time of the prophets they made no scruple to kill persons, whom they knew to be the messengers of God, because, forsooth, the good of the state required it. In our Saviour’s time, Caiaphas, the high- priest, openly avowed this principle in a full meeting of the grandees. For when some were opposing the resolution of the major part of the council, who had determined to kill Jesus, and urged the unlawfulness of the action, he told them plainly that they were a parcel of ignorant bigots, who knew nothing at all either of the principles or ends of government, which render it necessary oft-times to sacrifice the most innocent for the safety of the community. Therefore also said the wisdom of God — Agreeably to this the wisdom of God hath said, in many places of Scripture, though not in these very words, I will send them prophets, &c. — Because you imitate the ways of your fathers, by persecuting the messengers of God; because you carry your wickedness to as great a pitch as your fathers did; for these reasons God hath declared his last resolutions concerning you: he hath said, I will send them prophets and apostles, yea, and my beloved Son, notwithstanding I know they will persecute and slay them: That the blood of all the prophets, &c. — That by this last and greatest act of rebellion, the iniquity of the nation being completed, God may at length testify how much he was displeased with this people from the beginning, for persecuting and murdering his prophets, and that by sending upon the generation which completed the iniquity of the nation, such signal judgments as should evidently appear to be the punishment of that great and accumulated wickedness, committed by them in their several successive generations. Verily I say, It shall be required of this generation — And so it was within forty years, in a most astonishing manner, by the dreadful destruction of the temple, the city, and the nation. The justice of such a procedure every thinking person will acknowledge, who considers that sins committed by men, as constituting a body politic, can only be punished in the present life; the proper punishment of national sins being national judgments, even such judgments as dissolve the transgressing state. And these the providence of God thinks necessary for its own vindication, always inflicting them upon nations, when the measure fixed upon by God for punishment is filled up, that the wrath of God being revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness
Expositors
Luke 11
Expositor's Bible Commentary Luke 11:1 And it came to pass, that, as he was praying in a certain place, when he ceased, one of his disciples said unto him, Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples. lete_me Luke 18:1-14 Chapter 11 CONCERNING PRAYER. WHEN the Greeks called man ? ???????? , or the "uplooking one," they did but crystallize in a word what is a universal fact, the religious instinct of humanity. Everywhere, and through all times, man has felt, as by a sort of intuition, that earth was no Ultima Thule, with nothing beyond but oceans of vacancy and silence, but that it lay in the over-shadow of other worlds, between which and their own were subtle modes of correspondence. They felt themselves to be in the presence of Powers other and higher than human, who somehow influenced their destiny, whose favour they must win, and whose displeasure they must avert. And so Paganism reared her altars, almost numberless, dedicating them even to the "Unknown God," lest some anonymous deity should be grieved at being omitted from the enumeration. The prevalence of false religions in the world, the garrulous babble of mythology, does but voice the religious instinct of man; it is but another Tower of Babel, by which men hope to find and to scale the heavens which must be somewhere overhead. In the Old Testament, however, we find the clearer revelation. What to the unaided eye of reason and of nature seemed but a wave of golden mist athwart the sky "a meeting of gentile lights without a name" now becomes a wide-reaching and shining realm, peopled with intelligences of divers ranks and orders; while in the centre of all is the city and the throne of the Invisible King, Jehovah, Lord of Sabaoth. In the breath of the new morning the gossamer threads Polytheism had been spinning through the night were swept away, and on the pillars of the New Jerusalem, that celestial city of which their own Salem was a far-off and broken type, they read the inscription, "Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God is one Lord." But while the Old Testament revealed the unity of the Godhead, it emphasized especially His sovereignty, the glories of His holiness, and the thunders of His power. He is the great Creator, arranging His universe, commanding evolutions and revolutions, and giving to each molecule of matter its secret affinities and repulsions. And again He is the Lawgiver, the great Judge, speaking out of the cloudy pillar and the windy tempest, dividing the firmaments of Right and Wrong, whose holiness hates sin with an infinite hatred, and whose justice, with sword of flame, pursues the wrong-doer like an unforgetting Nemesis. It is only natural, therefore, that with such conceptions of God, the heavens should appear distant and somewhat cold. The quiet that was upon the world was the hush of awe, of fear, rather than of love; for while the goodness of God was a familiar and favourite theme, and while the mercy of God, which "endureth for ever," was the refrain, oft repeated, of their loftiest songs, the love of God was a height the Old Dispensation had not explored, and the Fatherhood of God, that new world of perpetual summer, lay all undiscovered, or but dimly apprehended through the mist. The Divine love and the Divine Fatherhood were truths which seemed to be held in reserve for the New Dispensation; and as the light needs the subtle and sympathetic ether before it can reach our outlying world, so the love and the Fatherhood of God are borne in upon us by Him who was Himself the Divine Son and the incarnation of the Divine love. It is just here where the teaching of Jesus concerning prayer begins. He does not seek to explain its philosophy; He does not give hints as to any observance of time or place; but leaving these questions to adjust themselves, He seeks to bring heaven into closer touch with earth. And how can He do this so well as by revealing the Fatherhood of God? When the electric wire linked the New with the Old World the distances were annihilated, the thousand leagues of sea were as if they were not; and when Jesus threw across, between earth and heaven, that word "Father," the wide distances vanished, and even the silences became vocal. In the Psalms, those loftiest utterances of devotion, Religion only once ventured to call God "Father;" and then, as if frightened at her own temerity, she lapses into silence, and never speaks the familiar word again. But how different the language of the Gospels! It is a name that Jesus is never weary of repeating, striking its music upwards of seventy times, as if by the frequent iteration He would lodge the heavenly word deep within the world's heart. This is His first lesson in the science of prayer: He drills them on the Divine Fatherhood, setting them on that word, as it were, to practise the scales; for as he who has practised well the scales has acquired the key to all harmonies, so he who has learned well the "Father" has learned the secret of heaven, the sesame that opens all its doors and unlocks all its treasures. "When ye pray," said Jesus, replying to a disciple who sought instruction in the heavenly language, "say, Father," thus giving us what was His own pass-word to the courts of heaven. It is as if He said, "If you would pray acceptably put yourself in the right position. Seek to realize, and then to claim, your true relationship. Do not look upon God as a distant and cold abstraction, or as some blind force; do not regard Him as being hostile to you or as careless about you. Else your prayer will be some wail of bitterness, a cry coming out of the dark, and losing itself in the dark again. But look upon God as your Father, your living, loving, heavenly Father; and then step up with a holy boldness into the child-place, and all heaven opens before you there." And not only does Jesus thus "show us the Father," but He takes pains to show us that it is a real, and not some fictitious Fatherhood. He tells us that the word means far more in its heavenly than in its earthly use; that the earthly meaning, in fact, is but a shadow of the heavenly. For "if ye then," He says, "being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him?" He thus sets us a problem in Divine proportion. He gives us the human fatherhood, with all it implies, as our known quantities, and from these He leaves us to work out the unknown quantity, which is the Divine ability and willingness to give good gifts to men; for the Holy Spirit includes in Himself all spiritual gifts. It is a problem, however, which our earthly figures cannot solve. The nearest that we can approach to the answer is that the Divine Fatherhood is the human fatherhood multiplied by that "how much more" a factor which gives us an infinite series. Again, Jesus teaches that character is an important condition of prayer, and that in this realm heart is more than any art. Words alone do not constitute prayer, for they may be only like the bubbles of the children's play, iridescent but hollow, never climbing the sky, but returning to the earth whence they came. And so when the scribes and Pharisees make "long prayers," striking devotional attitudes, and putting on airs of sanctity, Jesus could not endure them. They were a weariness and abomination to Him; for He read their secret heart, and found it vain and proud. In His parable { Luke 18:11 } He puts the genuine and the counterfeit prayer side by side, drawing the sharp contrast between them. He gives us that of the Pharisee, wordy, inflated, full of the self-eulogizing "I." It is the prayerless prayer, that had no need, and which was simply an incense burned before the clayey image of himself. Then He gives us the few brief words of the publican, the cry of a broken heart, "God be merciful to me, a sinner," a prayer which reached directly the highest heaven, and which came back freighted with the peace of God. "If I regard iniquity in my heart," the Psalmist said, "the Lord will not hear me." And it is true. If there be the least unforgiven sin within the soul we spread forth our hands, we make many prayers, in vain; we do but utter "wild, delirious cries" that Heaven will not hear, or at any rate regard. The first cry of true prayer is the cry for mercy, pardon; and until this is spoken, until we step up by faith into the child-position, we do but offer vain oblations. Nay, even in the regenerate heart, if there be a temporary lapse, and unholy tempers brood within, the lips of prayer become paralyzed at once, or they only stammer in incoherent speech. We may with filled hands compass the altar of God, but neither gifts nor prayers can be accepted if there be bitterness and jealousy within, or if our "brother has aught against" us. The wrong must be righted with our brother, or we cannot be right with God. How can we ask for forgiveness if we ourselves cannot forgive? How can we ask for mercy if we are hard and merciless, gripping the throat of each offender, as we demand the uttermost farthing? He who can pray for them who despitefully use him is in the way of the Divine commandment; he has climbed to the dome of the temple, where the whispers of prayer, and even its inarticulate aspirations, are heard in heaven. And so the connection is most close and constant between praying and living, and they pray most and best who at the same time "make their life a prayer." Again, Jesus maps out for us the realm of prayer, showing the wide areas it should cover. St. Luke gives us an abbreviated form of the prayer recorded by St. Matthew, and which we call the "Lord's Prayer." It is a disputed point, though not a material one, whether the two prayers are but varied renderings of one and the same utterance, or whether Jesus gave, on a later occasion, an epitomized form of the prayer He had prescribed before, though from the circumstantial evidence of St. Luke we incline to the latter view. The two forms, however, are identical in sub stance. It is scarcely likely that Jesus intended it to be a rigid formula, to which we should be slavishly bound; for the varied renderings of the two Evangelists show plainly that Heaven does not lay stress upon the ipsissima verba . We must take it rather as a Divine model, laying down the lines on which our prayers should move. It is, in fact, a sort of prayer microcosm, giving a miniature reflection of the whole world of prayer, as a drop of dew will give a reflection of the encircling sky. It gives us what we may call the species of prayer, whose genera branch off into infinite varieties; nor can we readily conceive of any petition, however particular or private, whose root-stem is not found in the few but comprehensive words of the Lord's Prayer. It covers every want of man, just as it befits every place and time. Running through the prayer are two marked divisions, the one general, the other particular and personal; and in the Divine order, contrary to our human wont, the general stands first, and the personal second. Our prayers often move in narrow circles, like the homing birds coming back to this "centered self" of ours, and sometimes we forget to give them the wider sweeps over a redeemed humanity. But Jesus says, "When ye pray, say, Father, hallowed be Thy name. Thy kingdom come." It is a temporary erasure of self, as the soul of the worshipper is absorbed in God. In its nearness to the throne it forgets for awhile its own little needs; its low-flying thoughts are caught up into the higher currents of the Divine thought and purpose, moving outwards with them. And this is the first petition, that the name of God may be hallowed throughout the world; that is, that men's conceptions of the Deity may become just and holy, until earth gives back in echo the Trisagion of the seraphim. The second petition is a continuation of the first; for just in proportion as men's conceptions of God are corrected and hallowed will the kingdom of God be set up on earth. The first petition, like that of the Psalmist, is for the sending out of "Thy light and Thy truth;" the second is that humanity may be led to the "holy hill," praising God upon the harp, and finding in God their "exceeding joy." To find God as the Father-King is to step up within the kingdom. The prayer now descends into the lower plane of personal wants, covering (1) our physical, and (2) our spiritual needs. The former are met with one petition, "Give us day by day our daily bread," a sentence confessedly obscure, and which has given rise to much dispute. Some interpret it in a spiritual sense alone, since, as they say, any other interpretation would break in upon the uniformity of the prayer, whose other terms are all spiritual. But if, as we have suggested, the whole prayer must be regarded as an epitome of prayer in general, then it must include some where our physical needs, or a large and important domain of our life is left uncovered. As to the meaning of the singular adjective ????????? we need not say much. That it can scarcely mean "tomorrows" bread is evident from the warning Jesus gives against "taking thought" for the morrow, and we must not allow the prayer to traverse the command. The most natural and likely interpretation is that which the heart of mankind has always given it, as our "daily" bread, or bread sufficient for the day. Jesus thus selects, what is the most common of our physical wants, the bread which comes to us in such purely natural, matter-of-course ways, as the specimen need of our physical life. But when He thus lifts up this common, ever-recurring mercy into the region of prayer He puts a halo of Divineness about it, and by including this He teaches us that there is no want of even our physical life which is excluded from the realm of prayer. If we are invited to speak with God concerning our daily bread, then certainly we need not be silent as to aught else. Our spiritual needs are included in the two petitions, "And forgive us our sins; for we ourselves also forgive everyone that is indebted to us. And bring us not into temptation." The parenthesis does not imply that all debts should be remitted, for payment of these is enjoined as one of the duties of life. The indebtedness spoken of is rather the New Testament indebtedness, the failure of duty or courtesy, the omission of some "ought" of life or some injury or offence. It is that human forgiveness, the opposite of resentment, which grows up under the shadow of the Divine forgiveness. The former of these petitions, then, is for the forgiveness of all past sin, while the latter is for deliverance from present sinning; for when we pray , "Bring us not into temptation," it is a prayer that we may not be tempted "above that we are able," which, amplified, means that in all our temptations we may be victorious, "kept by the power of God." Such, then, is the wide realm of prayer, as indicated by Jesus. He assures us that there is no department of our being, no circumstance of our life, which does not lie within its range; that "The whole round world is every way Bound with gold chains about the feet of God," and that on these golden chains, as on a harp, the touch of prayer may wake sweet music, far-off or near alike. And how much we miss through restraining prayer, reserving it for special occasions, or for the greater crises of life! But if we would only loop up with heaven each successive hour, if we would only run the thread of prayer through the common events and the common tasks, we should find the whole day and the whole life swinging on a higher, calmer level. The common task would cease to be common, and the earthly would be less earthly, if we only threw a bit of heaven upon it, or we opened it out to heaven. If in everything we could but make our requests known unto God that is, if prayer became the habitual act of life we should find that heaven was no longer the land "afar off," but that it was close upon us, with all its proffered ministries. Again, Jesus teaches the importance of earnestness and importunity in prayer. He sketches the picture for it is scarcely a parable of the man whose hospitality is claimed, late at night, by a passing friend, but who has no provision made for the emergency. He goes over to another friend, and rousing him up at midnight, he asks for the loan of three loaves. And with what result? Does the man answer from within, "Trouble me not: the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot rise and give thee"? No, that would be an impossible answer; for "though he will not rise and give him because he is his friend, yet because of his importunity he will rise and give him as many as he needeth" { Luke 11:8 }. It is the unreasonableness, or at any rate the untimeliness of the request Jesus seems to emphasize. The man himself is thoughtless, improvident in his household management. He disturbs his neighbour, waking up his whole family at midnight for such a trivial matter as the loan of three loaves. But he gains his request, not, either, on the ground of friendship, but through sheer audacity, impudence; for such is the meaning of the word, rather than importunity. The lesson is easily learned, for the suppressed comparison would be, "If man, being evil, will put himself out of the way to serve a friend, even at this untimely hour, filling up by his thoughtfulness his friend's lack of thought, how much more will the heavenly Father give to His child such things as are needful?" We have the same lesson taught in the parable of the Unjust Judge { Luke 18:1 }, that "men ought always to pray, and not to faint." Here, however, the characters are reversed. The suppliant is a poor and a wronged widow, while the person addressed is a hard, selfish, godless man, who boasts of his atheism. She asks, not for a favour, but for her rights that she may have due protection from some extortionate adversary, who somehow has got her in his power; for justice rather than vengeance is her demand. But "he would not for awhile," and all her cries for pity and for help beat upon that callous heart only as the surf upon a rocky shore, to be thrown back upon itself. But after wards he said within himself, "Though I fear not God, nor regard man, yet because this widow troubleth me, I will avenge her, lest she wear me out by her continual coming." And so he is moved to take her part against her adversary, not for any motive of compassion or sense of justice, but through mere selfishness, that he may escape the annoyance of her frequent visits lest her continual coming "worry" me, as the colloquial expression might be rendered. Here the comparison, or contrast rather, is expressed, at any rate in part. It is, "If an unjust and abandoned judge grants a just petition at last, out of base motives, when it is often urged, to a defenseless person for whom he cares nothing, how much more shall a just and merciful God hear the cry and avenge the cause of those whom He loves?"* (*Farrar.) It is a resolute persistence in prayer the parable urges, the continued asking, and seeking, and knocking that Jesus both commended and commanded { Luke 11:9 }, and which has the promise of such certain answers, and not the tantalizing mockeries of stones for bread, or scorpions for fish. Some blessings lie near at hand; we have only to ask, and we receive - receive even while we ask. But other blessings lie farther off, and they can only be ours by a continuance in prayer, by a persistent importunity. Not that our heavenly Father needs any wearying into mercy; but the blessing may not be ripe, or we ourselves may not be fully prepared to receive it. A blessing for which we are unprepared would only be an untimely blessing, and like a December swallow, it would soon die, without nest or brood. And sometimes the long delay is but a test of faith, whetting and sharpening the desire, until our very life seems to depend upon the granting of our prayer. So long as our prayers are among the "maybes" and "mights" there are fears and doubts alternating with our hope and faith. But when the desires are intensified, and our prayers rise into the "must-be's," then the answers are near at hand; for that "must be" is the soul's Mahanaim, where the angels meet us, and God Himself says "I will." Delays in our prayers are by no means denials; they are often but the lengthened summer for the ripening of our blessings, making them larger and more sweet. And now we have only to consider, which we must do briefly, the practice of Jesus, the place of prayer in His own life; and we shall find that in every point it coincides exactly with His teaching. To us of the clouded vision heaven is sometimes a hope more than a reality. It is an unseen goal, luring us across the wilderness, and which one of these days we may possess; but it is not to us as the wide-reaching, encircling sky, throwing its sunshine into each day, and lighting up our nights with its thousand lamps. To Jesus, heaven was more and nearer than it is to us. He had left it behind; and yet He had not left it, for He speaks of Himself, the Son of man, as being now in heaven. And so He was. His feet were upon earth, at home amid its dust; but His heart, His truer life, were all above. And how constant His correspondence, or rather communion, with heaven! At first sight it appears strange to us that Jesus should need the sustenance of prayer, or that He could even adopt its language. But when He became the Son of man He voluntarily assumed the needs of humanity; He "emptied Himself," as the Apostle expresses a great mystery, as if for the time divesting Himself of all Divine prerogatives, choosing to live as man amongst men. And so Jesus prayed. He was wont, even as we are, to refresh a wasted strength by draughts from the celestial springs; and as Antaeus, in his wresting, recovered himself as he touched the ground, so we find Jesus, in the great crises of His life, falling back upon Heaven. St. Luke, in his narrative of the Baptism, inserts one fact the other Synoptists omit that Jesus was in the act of prayer when the heavens were opened, and the Holy Ghost descended, in the semblance of a dove, upon Him. It is as if the opened heavens, the descending dove, and the audible voice were but the answer to His prayer. And why not? Standing on the threshold of His mission, would He not naturally ask that a double portion of the Spirit might be His that Heaven might put its manifest seal upon that mission, if not for the confirmation of His own faith, yet for that of His fore runner? At any rate, the fact is plain that it was while He was in the act of prayer that He received that second and higher baptism, even the baptism of the Spirit. A second epoch in that Divine life was when Jesus formally instituted the Apostleship, calling and initiating the Twelve into the closer brotherhood. It was, so to speak, the appointment of a regency, who should exercise authority and rule in the new kingdom, sitting, as Jesus figuratively expresses it { Luke 22:30 }, "on thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel." It is easy to see what tremendous issues were involved in this appointment; for were these foundation-stones untrue, warped by jealousies and vain ambitions, the whole superstructure would have been weakened, thrown out of the square. And so before the selection is made, a selection demanding such insight and foresight, such a balancing of complementary gifts, Jesus devotes the whole night to prayer, seeking the solitude of the mountain-height, and in the early dawn coming down, with the dews of night upon His garment and with the dews of heaven upon His soul, which, like crystals or lenses of light, made the invisible visible and the distant near. A third crisis in that Divine life was at the Transfiguration, when the summit was reached, the border line between earth and heaven, where, amid celestial greetings and overshadowing clouds of glory, that sinless life would have had its natural transition into heaven. And here again we find the same coincidence of prayer. Both St. Mark and St. Luke state that the "high mountain" was climbed for the express purpose of communion with Heaven; they "went up into the mountain to pray." It is only St. Luke, however, who states that it was "as He was praying" the fashion of His countenance was altered, thus making the vision an answer, or at least a corollary, to the prayer. He is at a point where two ways meet: the one passes into heaven at once, from that high level to which by a sinless life He has attained; the other path sweeps suddenly downward to a valley of agony, a cross of shame, a tomb of death; and after this wide detour the heavenly heights are reached again. Which path will He choose? If He takes the one He passes solitary into heaven; if He takes the other He brings with Him a redeemed humanity. And does not this give us, in a sort of echo, the burden of His prayer? He finds the shadow of the cross thrown over this heaven-lighted summit for when Moses and Elias appear they would not introduce a subject altogether new; they would in their conversation strike in with the theme with which His mind is already preoccupied, that is the decease He should accomplish at Jerusalem and as the chill of that shadow settles upon Him, causing the flesh to shrink and quiver for a while, would He not seek for the strength He needs? Would He not ask, as later, in the garden, that the cup might pass from Him; or if that should not be possible, that His will might not conflict with the Father's will, even for a passing moment? At any rate we may suppose that the vision was, in some way, Heaven's answer to His prayer, giving Him the solace and strengthening that He sought, as the Father's voice attested His Sonship, and celestials came forth to salute the Well-beloved, and to hearten Him on towards His dark goal. Just so was it when Jesus kept His fourth watch in Gethsemane. What Gethsemane was, and what its fearful agony meant, we shall consider in a later chapter. It is enough for our present purpose to see how Jesus consecrated that deep valley, as before He had consecrated the Transfiguration height, to prayer. Leaving the three outside the veil of the darkness, He passes into Gethsemane, as into another Holy of holies, there to offer up for His own and for Himself the sacrifice of prayer; while as our High Priest He sprinkles with His own blood, that blood of the ever lasting covenant, the sacred ground. And what prayer was that! how intensely fervent! That if it were possible the dread cup might pass from Him, but that either way the Father's will might be done! And that prayer was the prelude to victory; for as the first Adam fell by the assertion of self, the clashing of his will with God s, the second Adam conquers by the total surrender of His will to the will of the Father. The agony was lost in the acquiescence. But it was not alone in the great crises of His life that Jesus fell back upon Heaven. Prayer with Him was habitual, the fragrant atmosphere in which He lived, and moved, and spoke. His words glide as by a natural transition into its language, as a bird whose feet have lightly touched the ground suddenly takes to its wings; and again and again we find Him pausing in the weaving of His speech, to throw across the earthward warp the heavenward woof of prayer. It was a necessity of His life; and if the intrusive crowds allowed Him no time for its exercise, He was wont to elude them, to find upon the mountain or in the desert His prayer-chamber beneath the stars. And how frequently we read of His "looking up to heaven" amid the pauses of His daily task! stopping before He breaks the bread, and on the mirror of His upturned glance leading the thoughts and thanks of the multitude to the All-Father, who giveth to all His creatures their meat in due season; or pausing as He works some impromptu miracle, before speaking the omnipotent "Ephphatha," that on His upward look He may signal to the skies! And what a light is turned upon His life and His relation to His disciples by a simple incident that occurs on the night of the betrayal! Reading the sign of the times, in His forecast of the dark tomorrow, He sees the terrible strain that will be put upon Peter's faith, and which He likens to a Satanic sifting. With prescient eye He sees the temporary collapse; how, in the fierce heat of the trial, the "rock" will be thrown into a state of flux; so weak and pliant, it will be all rippled by agitation and unrest, or driven back at the mere breath of a servant-girl. He says mournfully, "Simon, Simon, behold. Satan asked to have you, that he might sift you as wheat: but I made supplication for thee, that thy faith fail not" { Luke 22:31 }. So completely does Jesus identify Himself with His own, making their separate needs His care (for this doubtless was no solitary case); but just as the High Priest carried on his breastplate the twelve tribal names, thus bringing all Israel within the light of Urim and Thummim, so Jesus carries within His heart both the name and the need of each separate disciple, asking for them in prayer what, perhaps, they have failed to ask for themselves. Nor are the prayers of Jesus limited by any such narrow circle; they compassed the world, lighting up all horizons; and even upon the cross, amid the jeers and laughter of the crowd, He forgets His own agonies, as with parched lips He prays for His murderers, "Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do." Thus, more than any son of man, did Jesus "pray without ceasing," "in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving" making request unto God. Shall we not copy His bright example? shall we not, too, live, labour, and endure, as "seeing Him who is invisible"? He who lives a life of prayer will never question its reality. He who sees God in everything, and everything in God, will turn his life into a south land, with upper and nether springs of blessing in ceaseless flow; for the life that lies full heavenward lies in perpetual summer, in the eternal noon. The Expositor's Bible Text Courtesy of BibleSupport.com . Used by Permission.
Illustrator
Luke 11
Lord, teach us to pray. Luke 11:1 The Christian taught to pray G. Bradley, M. A. I. WHAT THE REQUEST IMPLIES. 1. A conviction of the importance of prayer. This, in this ease, seems to have had its origin in the habits and example of Christ. He prayed often and much; in sorrow, and in joy; alone, and with His disciples. 2. This request implies also some knowledge of the real nature of prayer. The disciples had heard their Master pray. They had witnessed His fervour, the seriousness, the abasement, and perhaps something of the elevation, of His spirit in His supplications, and their understandings were opened. Prayer appeared to them in a new light. Before, it was a ceremony; it was now an inward, spiritual service. They regarded it for the first time as the work of the heart, and conscious that their own hearts had hitherto been but little engaged in it, their request was, "Lord, teach us to pray." They wished their prayers to be in future of a higher and more spiritual character, and, beyond this, they scarcely knew, perhaps, their own meaning or object. 3. An impression, too. of the difficulty of prayer is plainly to be traced in the disciples' words. And this undoubtedly sprung out of their conviction of its importance, and their newly-acquired knowledge of its real nature. That which is so important must, they concluded, be done aright; and that which is so spiritual, they were conscious they could not do at all; and thus they were constrained to seek help and instruction. 4. Besides intimating a conviction of the importance, the real nature, and the difficulty of prayer, it plainly indicates also a desire for an increased ability to pray. II. How MAY WE EXPECT SUCH A PETITION AS THIS TO BE ANSWERED? In the instance before us, it was answered at once. We owe to it the well-known prayer we call the Lord's prayer — a model of supplication, which claims at once our admiration and gratitude. But with all its excellencies it is in itself powerless. It could not teach these disciples to pray. It showed them indeed what their prayers ought to be, but it did not communicate to them the power of making their prayers like it. Our Lord well knew this. Accordingly, as soon as He had given His disciples a pattern for their supplications, we find Him immediately directing them where to go for the ability to follow it. He sends them to the Holy Spirit for the inward principle of prayer, urging them to importunity in their petitions for His grace, and assuring them at the same time that their importunity shall not be lost. How then does this Holy Spirit teach us to pray? In many ways. Among others, in these four: 1. By discovering to us our spiritual poverty; showing us our wants and helplessness, or giving us a more lively sense of them. 2. Affliction, too, is often made to answer the same gracious end. 3. At other times Christ stirs up the soul to prayer, by glving it an enlarged view of the Divine promises and goodness. 4. Sometimes the Holy Spirit carries us yet farther. He teaches us to pray by giving us clearer views of Christ as a Mediator and Intercessor. You are aware, brethren, that I might still go on. I might say, Christ teaches us to pray by much that is passing around us, by what we call accidents — events that make, perhaps, a whole parish or nation start; crushing, and crushing in an hour, the hopes and prospects and happiness that seemed almost out of the reach of decay or change. And He teaches us by deliverances, by bringing us to the edge of some precipice, and then, as our foot goes over it, snatching us away from it; showing us in the same moment our danger and our deliverance. ( G. Bradley, M. A. )
Matthew Henry
Luke 11
11:1-4 Lord, teach us to pray, is a good prayer, and a very needful one, for Jesus Christ only can teach us, by his word and Spirit, how to pray. Lord, teach me what it is to pray; Lord, stir up and quicken me to the duty; Lord, direct me what to pray for; teach me what I should say. Christ taught them a prayer, much the same that he had given before in his sermon upon the mount. There are some differences in the words of the Lord's prayer in Matthew and in Luke, but they are of no moment. Let us in our requests, both for others and for ourselves, come to our heavenly Father, confiding in his power and goodness. 11:5-13 Christ encourages fervency and constancy in prayer. We must come for what we need, as a man does to his neighbour or friend, who is kind to him. We must come for bread; for that which is needful. If God does not answer our prayers speedily, yet he will in due time, if we continue to pray. Observe what to pray for; we must ask for the Holy Spirit, not only as necessary in order to our praying well, but as all spiritual blessings are included in that one. For by the influences of the Holy Spirit we are brought to know God and ourselves, to repent, believe in, and love Christ, and so are made comfortable in this world, and meet for happiness in the next. All these blessings our heavenly Father is more ready to bestow on every one that asks for them, than an indulgent parent is to give food to a hungry child. And this is the advantage of the prayer of faith, that it quiets and establishes the heart in God. 11:14-26 Christ's thus casting out the devils, was really the destroying of their power. The heart of every unconverted sinner is the devil's palace, where he dwells, and where he rules. There is a kind of peace in the heart of an unconverted soul, while the devil, as a strong man armed, keeps it. The sinner is secure, has no doubt concerning the goodness of his state, nor any dread of the judgment to come. But observe the wonderful change made in conversion. The conversion of a soul to God, is Christ's victory over the devil and his power in that soul, restoring the soul to its liberty, and recovering his own interest in it and power over it. All the endowments of mind of body are now employed for Christ. Here is the condition of a hypocrite. The house is swept from common sins, by a forced confession, as Pharaoh's; by a feigned contrition, as Ahab's; or by a partial reformation, as Herod's. The house is swept, but it is not washed; the heart is not made holy. Sweeping takes off only the loose dirt, while the sin that besets the sinner, the beloved sin, is untouched. The house is garnished with common gifts and graces. It is not furnished with any true grace; it is all paint and varnish, not real nor lasting. It was never given up to Christ, nor dwelt in by the Spirit. Let us take heed of resting in that which a man may have, and yet come short of heaven. The wicked spirits enter in without any difficulty; they are welcomed, and they dwell there; there they work, there they rule. From such an awful state let all earnestly pray to be delivered. 11:27,28 While the scribes and Pharisees despised and blasphemed the discourses of our Lord Jesus, this good woman admired them, and the wisdom and power with which he spake. Christ led the woman to a higher consideration. Though it is a great privilege to hear the word of God, yet those only are truly blessed, that is, blessed of the Lord, that hear it, keep it in memory, and keep to it as their way and rule. 11:29-36 Christ promised that there should be one sign more given, even the sign of Jonah the prophet; which in Matthew is explained, as meaning the resurrection of Christ; and he warned them to improve this sign. But though Christ himself were the constant preacher in any congregation, and worked miracles daily among them, yet unless his grace humbled their hearts, they would not profit by his word. Let us not desire more evidence and fuller teaching than the Lord is pleased to afford us. We should pray without ceasing that our hearts and understandings may be opened, that we may profit by the light we enjoy. And especially take heed that the light which is in us be not darkness; for if our leading principles be wrong, our judgment and practice must become more so. 11:37-54 We should all look to our hearts, that they may be cleansed and new-created; and while we attend to the great things of the law and of the gospel, we must not neglect the smallest matter God has appointed. When any wait to catch something out of our mouths, that they may insnare us, O Lord, give us thy prudence and thy patience, and disappoint their evil purposes. Furnish us with such meekness and patience that we may glory in reproaches, for Christ's sake, and that thy Holy Spirit may rest upon us.