Luke 11:1-4
It was a common request for a disciple to ask the teacher to instruct him. In prayer, the teachers offer had their 'signature' prayer; a prayer that was taught to students across the years. Anyone hearing that prayer knew it belonged a particular teacher. John's prayer was no doubt one of repentance. It was improper to interrupt a prayer, so when Jesus was done praying, one of His disciples asked to be taught about prayer. Strangely enough, this has become known as the Lord's prayer, when it is really the disciples prayer.
The elements or precepts of prayer are:
- Our Father in heaven. It's not to get His attention or to eliminate any confusion about who you are praying to. No, it is for us. It serves as our reminder we are approaching the God of the all things. He's our Creator, Almighty, Holy, Sovereign God. He invites us into His presence and we should remember our place before Him. It is to come in humility, but also knowing we come with the boldness of knowing Him. There's an element of intimacy.
- His Name is Yahweh, I AM. He isn't named after anything, nor is He like any other thing. He is; and He relies on nothing nor does He require anything. His name is also Jesus and there is no other name under heaven by which we must be saved.
- His Kingdom come. Serves to remind us that it is coming. We aren't defined by the here and now. We are sojourners passing through this kingdom, as citizens of another. We long to go home to that kingdom.
- His will be done. His plan and timing is perfect. He knows the end from the beginning, the length of our days and much more. His knowledge of us is perfect and therefor He knows what is best for us. We don't come to Him to have our way, but to have His will done in our life. To have His will on earth is a desire to have a new heaven and new earth. This is the idea of a restored Garden of Eden in which man might again walk with God in the cool of the day.
When heaven comes to earth, there will be no more tears, no more pain, no more sorrow. Suffering will end, words like cancer, abuse, addiction, hatred, anger and despair will be forgotten. We will have glorified bodies living in His light and love.
- Our daily bread. This is a request that God would gives each day, the bread we need. Our source of sustenance is Him, all good things come from His hand, all food and drink.
- Forgiveness of sins. Our sin is a moral failure, a missing the mark or perfection set by our creator. Our sins put us in debt to Him, a penalty is owed for sin. The penalty of sin is death though, the righteousness is in the blood. For us to be forgiven, someone else must pay our debt. Of course, we know this is Christ.
- Forgiving others. This kind of rolls up with His forgiveness of us, but since this is such a hard thing for us to do consistently, I decided to give it its own bullet. It doesn't seem possible for us to receive such an amazing grace from Him and then act as judge, jury and executioner to those who offend us. We live in a world looking to be offended, searching for a hook to hang their misery on. Brothers and sisters in Christ who have humbled themselves under the mighty hand of God, repented and trusted in Christ, must get good at this. Matthew records Jesus' teaching that said our Heavenly Father will deliver the unforgiving to tortures if they do not forgive their brother his trespasses.
- Don't lead us into temptation. This is a request that God not allow us to walk into a setting where we will fall into the hand of the enemy. It's a request to not lead us where we'll get our self in trouble.
- Deliver us from the evil on. This ties closely with the previous line. When we do get in trouble, when we do fall and suffer under his hand, we asked that the Father would deliver us from Him. Our prayer is that he would rescue us, bind our wounds and care for us once again.
The prayer is similar to that which is given in Matthew and Luke but also different enough to think it is a variation of the prayer taught by Jesus at another place and time. There's no reason to think that He didn't have variations of the prayer when He taught it to men.
Luke 11:5-8
As part of the teaching of the makeup of prayer, He also instructs them on the attitude toward the prayer. We can imagine approaching our friend at midnight as he's tucked in bed with his kids. Notice that the man coming to the door is coming for the benefit of another, not for himself. He's asking for food for the friend on a journey. The man who initially denies the request finally gives in and offers the bread. However, it wasn't offered because they were friends, it was because of persistence. Persistence in intercession for another will pay off.
Luke 11:9-10
In our prayers, we can anticipate the kindness and generosity of a loving God. He gives us three commands:
Ask: To ask is to believe He can and will answer. To ask is to share our heart as it becomes more like His. We take our broken heartedness, pain and sorrow to Him because if it breaks our sin stained heart, how much more will His perfect heart be broken over the need.
he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. (Hebrews 11:6)
Seek: This is putting all your energy and efforts into pursuing Him, not just to get our request, but to be in relationship with Him. We have to be purposeful in our seeking. It's just too easy for us to get distracted in this world and in this life. Seeking is a lifelong endeavor, an integral part of our great journey.
Seek the Lord while He may be found,
Call upon Him while He is near. (Is 55:6)
Knock: The door will not be opened if you do not knock. It points back to the persistence, knock and knock again and keep knocking on behalf of the needs of another. The door will be opened to you.
Who is this for? Verse 10 says it is for everyone. Sometimes feel like their prayer isn't good enough, as if they don't know where to put the thee and though so it sounds real good. I have news for you though. You don't need to meet a minimal number of fancy words. You don't need any audible words. You pray with your heart. When we pray together, we verbalize our heart to join together. A pastor's prayer is no better than an small child. The response to our asking, seeking and knocking is an answer to our prayer. It could be a resounding 'yes', but sometimes it is 'no'. Other times its 'not now', or it could 'never.' When we come in faith, we trust that He knows best. Part of our relationship with Him is accepting His will, even when it makes no sense to us.
Luke 11:11-13
The son asking for bread reflects the disciple's prayer, "gives us day by day, our daily bread." What kind of father, when asked by any son, would give the child a stone? Isn't it fascinating that Satan gave Jesus a stone after fasting for 40 days to tempt Him to use his power to turn it into bread? Can you imagine a child being hungry and asking for fish only to be given a snake? Or, handed a scorpion when he asked for an egg. What a sick and cruel joke. The son expected normal care and compassion. Even sin-stained, fallen and messed up human fathers wouldn't act in such a cruel way. How much more than can we expect from our perfect, heavenly Father? Matthew said our Father in heaven gives us 'good things' while Luke said the Father would give us the Holy Spirit. God would provide Himself to the life of every one who asks. Have you asked?
The casting out of the demon sets up the next section where He will be challenged about the source of His authority or power to do such a thing. How did anyone really know that a demon was cast out? The possessed man had been mute. With the parting of the demon, he began to speak. This was witnessed by the multitudes. This seems to have been an everyday occurrence when walking with Jesus. What was noteworthy about this incident is not the miracle but the response to it.
Luke 11:16-23
Mark told us it was the scribes who made the accusations that Jesus was casting out demons by the power of Beelzebub. The name means 'lord of the flies'; the dung god. If you were the god of the dung pile, you would be the lord of the flies. This was a Canaanite deity seen and understood to be Satan.
Note: the Testament of Solomon was a collection of demonology and exorcists recipes. These writings support a tradition that Beelzebul was one of the angels who mated with mortal women before the flood and having hybrid offspring. Supposedly Beelzebul became the master of spirits after the flood.
The accusation was made in the crowd, not to confront and seek truth, but to defame and disqualify. This was likely done in response to the marveling of the crowd at this mute man being delivered from this spirit. This accusation and taking the clear work of the Holy Spirit and attesting it to Satan is the unpardonable sin, the blasphemy of the Spirit, according to Matthew (Matt 12:31-32). When Jesus told this man his sin was unpardonable, did it bother him? Later, when Jesus rose again, did this man have a sense of loss?
How strange they would ask for a sign, when they just saw a mute begin to talk when Jesus cast out a demon. They wanted a sign from heaven though. What were the thoughts Jesus knew? We don't know for sure but Jesus ignored their request. This seems to be the request of fence-sitters. While they see miracles, they want to a miracle done for them. Did they simply want to control Jesus and have miracles on demand?
The accusation makes no sense. Why would Satan cast out his own demons, damaging his own base of power and control? Any kingdom that attacked itself would not stand. There were Jewish exorcists in those days. They used incantations and spells to supposedly ward off demons. These were accepted, yet they now stood in this multitude and rejected the work of Jesus. The miracles Jesus did were signs to authenticate the message of a coming kingdom of God. It seems these miracles were works of the Holy Spirit since it was considered blasphemy of the Spirit when they said it was of Satan. Jesus challenged them though; if they were going to question the power behind his miracle, they must also question it with the Jewish exorcists. If Jesus is casting out demons by God's power, then what were these Jewish exorcists using? If a mute began to talk, this was an obvious testimony of a changer and a work of authority and power. Was there such a display by these Jewish exorcists? If they did display such things by delivering folks from demons, it was by the same power Jesus used. If they had no such display, one must consider whether they were frauds. Either way, Jesus and the work He did was to be examined and a decision made. Because if this kingdom was, in fact, upon them, they would want to know; everyone would need to know about this kingdom and make a decision of whether they would be a citizen of it.
The 'stronger than he' is here and casting out the strong man. He comes upon and overcomes the strong man. The spoils are taken and the strong man takes nothing with him when he goes. Jesus lays down the principal that He who was not with Him was against Him; the one not gathering with Him scatters. This sounds similar to the previous passage where Jesus answered the question about others baptizing that weren't authorized by the disciples (9:50). Jesus said, he who is not against us is on our side. These men had not made a conscious decision they weren't with Jesus. In fact, they were doing what they thought were the works of God. In this passage, the works of the devil were clearly against God making them an enemy.
It seems that a disembodied spirit is seeking a host. They were thought to live in dry and arid desert places where the work of God was supposedly scarce. But even there, the work of God was present. Finding no rest, they attempt to return back to where they had come. The house swept and put in order is the idea of the cleansing of that person from the demon. Yet, if that place is not inhabited by the Holy Spirit, then the demon not only returns but brings others with it. The last state is worse that the first having seven times the demons and more wicked than at the start.
From the crowd comes a lone voice of a woman declaring the mother of Jesus blessed. This is a declaration that she believes He is her messiah. Mary said the same about herself (1:48); that she would be called blessed when the world learned about Jesus. It's said the desire of every woman had been to bare the messiah. There was no greater possible blessing. This blessing fell on Mary and this woman recognizes that. But the blessing of Jesus wasn't just for Mary. Jesus turned her declaration into a teaching moment. Everyone could experience the blessing by hearing God's word and doing it.
Luke 11:29-32
The crowd had two responses to the demon being cast out from the mute man. Jesus answered the accusation of being under the authority of a demon power. Now, He would answer those who sought a sign. They wanted a direct sign from God in heaven before they would believe. They had just seen a mute man begin to talk but that wasn't enough. They wanted their own sign, something that was meaningful to them. They didn't want a messiah as much as they wanted a genie or a magician.
Among the thickly gathered crowed, everyone sought something from Jesus. However, there were very few who would trust Him. The crowds saw a lot of things that served as testimony to the authenticate Jesus. However, it wasn't popular, it wasn't beneficial and so far, it did not seem necessary. These things and more keep people from Christ today. Jesus declared them an evil generation and they would get no sign but that of Jonah. Why was Jonah such a powerful sign to the Ninevites? It was probably his arrival. Had he stepped off a boat preaching repentance it would not have been nearly as effective as getting vomited up from a whale on dry land. He must have been a site having spent 3 days in the digestive juices of the whale. Some believe he would have been bleached a ghostly white. He was a man who came from the grave, from the deep of the waters of death. Jesus will be a sign in the same way.
The queen of Sheba is held up as a example of one who came from great distance, going out of her way to seek the wisdom and its source. She, a gentile, went to great lengths. Yet, this great multitude stood before one greater than Solomon and scoffed. The men of Nineveh will stand as witness against this generation. They would rise up with the Queen of the South and judge these Jews who did not believe. They repented at the preaching of Jonah. And again Jesus declares Him self 'the greater'. He was greater than Solomon and greater than Jonah.
Luke 11:33-36
Luke repeats Jesus Parable of the lamp, which showed up in chapter 8. The lamp would be put on a stand to maximize the affect of the light, for all to see it. The eye is the lamp to the body. Jesus relates the good eye as an indication of the light throughout the person. Likewise, a bad eye indicates a body of darkness.
These people saw a man delivered from an evil spirit. They laid their eyes on God the Son. He was right there in front of them, in their midst. They saw Him with their eyes, yet they would not believe. They refused to allow the light in. They had a 'bad eye'; an eye of wickedness or selfishness.
Luke 11:37-41
Luke liked this setting of Jesus with the Pharisee. Dinners like these weren't uncommon for teachers to speak of deep things and work out their thoughts about something. Others would attend the dinner as observers to hear and learn from the wise men.
Jesus accepted the gracious offer and went in and sat down to eat. The Pharisee was stunned that Jesus had not washed. While it wasn't part of the Mosaic law, it was the Pharisee tradition to wash hands and feet prior to eating. Jesus didn't forget or have anything against washing. He set this up to point out the hypocrisy. They placed too much weight on the minor things and let the big things pass by. If they showed as much concern for cleansing their hearts as they did their hands, they would be much better off.
Don't miss the intensity of Jesus' accusation. He said they (the Pharisees, not just this one) were full of greed. The word means to eagerly, even violently, pursue and grasp at material wealth beyond any need. The word is translated extortion and plundering in other places. This kind of greed has nothing to do with how much you have. Both rich, poor and everyone in between can be ate up with this. The other accusation is that of wickedness. The word means depravity, malice or perversion of virtue and moral principles. Then He topped off the insult by declaring them foolish, devoid of wisdom and common sense. This kind of rebuke in the Old Testament referred to someone who was blind to God. "The fool said in his heart, there is no God!"
They had a disconnect between their piety and the heart. Outwardly they were very religious men. Jesus saw the inward parts and saw a darkness, a lack of light. There should be a consistency between the condition of one's heart and the outward expression of their faith and religious duties. He suggested they give alms with love for God and for the poor, this had the effect of cleansing the heart. Giving alms with love and obedience was to replace the almsgiving that was done with dark pride, and esteem or applause from others. Genuine concern from others and meeting their needs purified the heart. Then the outward expression reflected the inward parts.
Luke 11:42-44
The 'woe' declarations were a denunciation of the Pharisees and their ways.
- Woe to the Pharisees – They went to such a fine degree to tithe the tiniest of things. The items listed were spices or herbs that came from leaves. They cut and parsed to get their tithe right while justice flew by. The law didn't require the tithing of rue, but to show their righteousness, they did so anyway. They were to seek justice, pursue justice and be purveyors of such. Justice and the love of God were the major things they had not done. These they were supposed to do while not leaving the other undone.
- Woe to the Pharisees – They loved to be honored, to be fawned over, to receive gifts and accolades, applause and seats of honor. The best seats in the synagogue were the seats at the front, facing the crowd. They could be seen by all. In the market, they enjoyed people making way for them. For some to announce their presence, to hear whispers and see eyes lowered in respect.
- Woe to the scribes & Pharisees. – Jesus called them hypocrites. It was an accusation of being phony, pretending to be one thing but in reality being something else. Their pious appearance hid their wickedness, much like an unmark grave was not seen but still held corruption, decay and uncleanness.
Luke 11:45-52
The rebuke and chastening Jesus offered the Pharisees offended the lawyers. In telling Jesus, did they hope to silence Him or maybe elicit an apology? Possibly, what they got was some of 'woes' of their own.
- Woe to lawyers – They lawyers were experts in the law. They could tell everyone, everything they needed to do. They had set themselves up as the authority. Their reading of the law loaded burdens on men to the point of weighing them down or crushing the life out of them. Yet, the lawyers seemed to have exempted themselves form the law.
- Woe to lawyers – They built the tombs of the prophets as if to honor them. Yet, they denied the words of the prophets; and in doing so they were like their fathers who killed them. The only prophets they honored were dead ones. They had no respect of a prophet and his words. There would be a reckoning for the blood of the prophets from this generation. It was a warning of judgment. Did they hear?
- Woe to you lawyers – as experts in the law, they were to help people understand and benefit from it. They were to unlock the wisdom of God's word. Instead, they had lost the key. They didn't seek wisdom for themselves, nor did they allow anyone else to pursue it.
It's as if they decided to prove Jesus point. The parable of light and darkness had come to life right there. The resentment was out in the open and now held equally by Pharisees and the lawyers. They attacked Him verbally. They examined Him relentlessly in an effort to trip Him up, to trap Him in His words, to bring an accusation or charge against Him. The language used is that of a hunter seeking to overcome the hunted. In this, they display the inner darkness of which Jesus spoke.
©2020 Doug Ford
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