Luke 18

1 And he made a story for them, the point of which was that men were to go on making prayer and not get tired;

2 Saying, There was a judge in a certain town, who had no fear of God or respect for man:

3 And there was a widow in that town, and she kept on coming to him and saying, Give me my right against the man who has done me wrong.

4 And for a time he would not: but later, he said to himself, Though I have no fear of God or respect for man,

5 Because this widow is a trouble to me, I will give her her right; for if not, I will be completely tired out by her frequent coming.

6 And the Lord said, Give ear to the words of the evil judge.

7 And will not God do right in the cause of his saints, whose cries come day and night to his ears, though he is long in doing it?

8 I say to you that he will quickly do right in their cause. But when the Son of man comes, will there be any faith on earth?

9 And he made this story for some people who were certain that they were good, and had a low opinion of others:

10 Two men went up to the Temple for prayer; one a Pharisee, and the other a tax-farmer.

11 The Pharisee, taking up his position, said to himself these words: God, I give you praise because I am not like other men, who take more than their right, who are evil-doers, who are untrue to their wives, or even like this tax-farmer.

12 Twice in the week I go without food; I give a tenth of all I have.

13 The tax-farmer, on the other hand, keeping far away, and not lifting up even his eyes to heaven, made signs of grief and said, God, have mercy on me, a sinner.

14 I say to you, This man went back to his house with God's approval, and not the other: for everyone who makes himself high will be made low and whoever makes himself low will be made high.

15 And they took their children to him, so that he might put his hands on them: but when the disciples saw it, they said sharp words to them

16 But Jesus sent for them, saying, Let the children come to me, and do not keep them away, for of such is the kingdom of heaven.

17 Truly I say to you, Whoever does not put himself under the kingdom of God like a little child, will not come into it at all.

18 And a certain ruler put a question to him, saying, Good Master, what have I to do so that I may have eternal life?

19 And Jesus said to him, Why do you say that I am good? No one is good, but only God.

20 You have knowledge of what the law says: Do not be untrue to your wife, Do not put anyone to death, Do not take what is not yours, Do not give false witness, Give honour to your father and mother.

21 And he said, All these things I have done from the time when I was a boy.

22 And Jesus, hearing it, said to him, One thing you still have need of; get money for your goods, and give it away to the poor, and you will have wealth in heaven; and come after me.

23 But at these words he became very sad, for he had great wealth.

24 And Jesus, looking at him, said, How hard it is for those who have wealth to get into the kingdom of God!

25 It is simpler for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a man who has much money to come into the kingdom of God.

26 And those who were present said, Then who may have salvation?

27 But he said, Things which are not possible with man are possible with God.

28 And Peter said, See, we have given up what is ours to come after you.

29 And he said to them, Truly I say to you, There is no man who has given up house or wife or brothers or father or mother or children, because of the kingdom of God,

30 Who will not get much more in this time, and in the world to come, eternal life.

31 And he took with him the twelve and said to them, Now we are going up to Jerusalem, and all the things which were said by the prophets will be done to the Son of man.

32 For he will be given up to the Gentiles, and will be made sport of and put to shame:

33 And he will be given cruel blows and put to death, and on the third day he will come back to life.

34 But they did not take in the sense of any of these words, and what he said was not clear to them, and their minds were not able to see it.

35 And it came about that when he got near Jericho, a certain blind man was seated by the side of the road, making requests for money from those who went by.

36 And hearing the sound of a great number of people going by, he said, What is this?

37 And they said to him, Jesus of Nazareth is going by.

38 And he said in a loud voice, Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me.

39 And those who were in front made protests and said to him, Be quiet: but he said all the more, O Son of David, have mercy on me.

40 And Jesus, stopping, gave orders that he was to come to him, and when he came near, he said to him,

41 What would you have me do for you? And he said, Lord, that I may be able to see again.

42 And Jesus said, See again: your faith has made you well.

43 And straight away he was able to see, and he went after him, giving glory to God; and all the people when they saw it gave praise to God.

Luke 18 Commentary

Chapter 18

The parable of the importunate widow. (1-8) The Pharisee and the publican. (9-14) Children brought to Christ. (15-17) The ruler hindered by his riches. (18-30) Christ foreshows his death. (31-34) A blind man restored to sight. (35-43)

Verses 1-8 All God's people are praying people. Here earnest steadiness in prayer for spiritual mercies is taught. The widow's earnestness prevailed even with the unjust judge: she might fear lest it should set him more against her; but our earnest prayer is pleasing to our God. Even to the end there will still be ground for the same complaint of weakness of faith.

Verses 9-14 This parable was to convince some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others. God sees with what disposition and design we come to him in holy ordinances. What the Pharisee said, shows that he trusted to himself that he was righteous. We may suppose he was free from gross and scandalous sins. All this was very well and commendable. Miserable is the condition of those who come short of the righteousness of this Pharisee, yet he was not accepted; and why not? He went up to the temple to pray, but was full of himself and his own goodness; the favour and grace of God he did not think worth asking. Let us beware of presenting proud devotions to the Lord, and of despising others. The publican's address to God was full of humility, and of repentance for sin, and desire toward God. His prayer was short, but to the purpose; God be merciful to me a sinner. Blessed be God, that we have this short prayer upon record, as an answered prayer; and that we are sure that he who prayed it, went to his house justified; for so shall we be, if we pray it, as he did, through Jesus Christ. He owned himself a sinner by nature, by practice, guilty before God. He had no dependence but upon the mercy of God; upon that alone he relied. And God's glory is to resist the proud, and give grace to the humble. Justification is of God in Christ; therefore the self-condemned, and not the self-righteous, are justified before God.

Verses 15-17 None are too little, too young, to be brought to Christ, who knows how to show kindness to those not capable of doing service to him. It is the mind of Christ, that little children should be brought to him. The promise is to us, and to our seed; therefore He will bid them welcome to him with us. And we must receive his kingdom as children, not by purchase, and must call it our Father's gift.

Verses 18-30 Many have a great deal in them very commendable, yet perish for lack of some one thing; so this ruler could not bear Christ's terms, which would part between him and his estate. Many who are loth to leave Christ, yet do leave him. After a long struggle between their convictions and their corruptions, their corruptions carry the day. They are very sorry that they cannot serve both; but if one must be quitted, it shall be their God, not their wordly gain. Their boasted obedience will be found mere outside show; the love of the world in some form or other lies at the root. Men are apt to speak too much of what they have left and lost, of what they have done and suffered for Christ, as Peter did. But we should rather be ashamed that there has been any regret or difficulty in doing it.

Verses 31-34 The Spirit of Christ, in the Old Testament prophets, testified beforehand his sufferings, and the glory that should ( 1 Peter. 1:11 ) that they would not understand these things literally. They were so intent upon the prophecies which spake of Christ's glory, that they overlooked those which spake of his sufferings. People run into mistakes, because they read their Bibles by halves, and are only for the smooth things. We are as backward to learn the proper lessons from the sufferings, crucifixion, and resurrection of Christ, as the disciples were to what he told them as to those events; and for the same reason; self-love, and a desire of worldly objects, close our understandings.

Verses 35-43 This poor blind man sat by the wayside, begging. He was not only blind, but poor, the fitter emblem of the world of mankind which Christ came to heal and save. The prayer of faith, guided by Christ's encouraging promises, and grounded on them, shall not be in vain. The grace of Christ ought to be thankfully acknowledged, to the glory of God. It is for the glory of God if we follow Jesus, as those will do whose eyes are opened. We must praise God for his mercies to others, as well as for mercies to ourselves. Would we rightly understand these things, we must come to Christ, like the blind man, earnestly beseeching him to open our eyes, and to show us clearly the excellence of his precepts, and the value of his salvation.