Luke 11

1 At one place where He was praying, when He rose from His knees one of His disciples said to Him, "Master, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples."

2 So He said to them, "When you pray, say, `Father may Thy name be kept holy; let Thy Kingdom come;

3 give us day after day our bread for the day;

4 and forgive us our sins, for we ourselves also forgive every one who fails in his duty to us; and bring us not into temptation.'"

5 And He said to them, "Which of you shall have a friend and shall go to him in the middle of the night and say, "`Friend, lend me three loaves of bread;

6 for a friend of mine has just come to my house from a distance, and I have nothing for him to eat'?

7 "And he from indoors shall answer, "`Do not pester me. The door is now barred, and I am here in bed with my children. I cannot get up and give you bread.'

8 "I tell you that even if he will not rise and give him the loaves because he is his friend, at any rate because of his persistency he will rouse himself and give him as many as he requires.

9 "So I say to you, `Ask, and what you ask for shall be given to you; seek, and you shall find; knock, and the door shall be opened to you.'

10 For every one who asks, receives; and he who seeks, finds; and to him who knocks, the door shall be opened.

11 And what father is there among you, who, if his son asks for a slice of bread, will offer him a stone? or if he asks for a fish, will instead of a fish offer him a snake?

12 or if he asks for an egg, will offer him a scorpion?

13 If you then, with all your human frailty, know how to give your children gifts that are good for them, how much more certainly will your Father who is in Heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!"

14 On once occasion He was expelling a dumb demon; and when the demon was gone out the dumb man could speak, and the people were astonished.

15 But some among them said, "It is by the power of Baal-zebul, the Prince of the demons, that he expels the demons."

16 Others, to put Him to the test, asked Him for a sign in the sky.

17 And, knowing their thoughts, He said to them, "Every kingdom in which civil war rages goes to ruin: family attacks family and is overthrown.

18 And if Satan really has engaged in fierce conflict with himself, how shall his kingdom stand?--because you say that I expel demons by the power of Baal-zebul.

19 And if it is by the power of Baal-zebul that I expel the demons, by whom do your disciples expel them? They therefore shall be your judges.

20 But if it is by the power of God that I drive out the demons, it is evident that the Kingdom of God has come upon you.

21 "Whenever a strong man, fully armed and equipped, is guarding his own castle, he enjoys peaceful possession of his property;

22 but as soon as another stronger than he attacks him and overcomes him, he takes away that complete armour of his in which he trusted, and distributes the plunder he has collected.

23 Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever is not gathering with me is scattering abroad.

24 "When a foul spirit has left a man, it roams about in the Desert, seeking a resting-place; but, unable to find any, it says, `I will return to the house I have left;"

25 and when it comes, it finds the house swept clean and in good order.

26 Then it goes and brings with it seven other spirits more malignant than itself, and they enter and dwell there; and in the end that man's condition becomes worse than it was at first.

27 As He thus spoke a woman in the crowd called out in a loud voice, "Blessed is the mother who carried you, and the breasts that you have sucked."

28 "Nay rather," He replied, "they are blessed who hear God's Message and carefully keep it."

29 Now when the crowds came thronging upon Him, He proceeded to say, "The present generation is a wicked generation: it requires some sign, but no sign shall be given to it except that of Jonah.

30 For just as Jonah became a sign to the men of Nineveh, so the Son of Man will be a token to the present generation.

31 The Queen of the South will awake at the Judgement together with the men of the present generation, and will condemn them; because she came from the extremity of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; but mark! One greater than Solomon is here.

32 There will stand up men of Nineveh at the Judgement together with the present generation, and will condemn it; because they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and mark! One greater than Jonah is here.

33 "When any one lights a lamp, he never puts it in the cellar or under the bushel, but on the lampstand, that people who come in may see the light.

34 The lamp of the body is the eye. When your eyesight is good, your whole body also is lighted up; but when it is defective, your body is darkened.

35 Consider therefore whether the light that is in you is anything but mere darkness.

36 If, however, your whole body is penetrated with light, and has no part dark, it will be so lighted, all of it, as when the lamp with its bright shining gives you light."

37 When He had thus spoken, a Pharisee invited Him to breakfast at his house; so He entered and took His place at table.

38 Now the Pharisee saw to his surprise that He did not wash His hands before breakfasting.

39 The Master however said to him, "Here we see how you Pharisees clean the outside of the cup or plate, while your secret hearts are full of greed and selfishness.

40 Foolish men! Did not He who made the outside make the inside also?

41 But as to what is within, give alms, and instantly all is clean in you.

42 "But alas for you Pharisees! for you pay tithes on your mint and rue and every kind of garden vegetable, and are indifferent to justice and the love of God. These are the things you ought to have attended to, while not neglecting the others.

43 Alas for you Pharisees! for you love the best seats in the synagogues, and you like to be bowed to in places of public resort.

44 Alas for you! for you are like the tombs which lie hidden, and the people who walk over them are not aware of their existence."

45 Hereupon one of the expounders of the Law exclaimed, "Rabbi, in saying such things you reproach us also."

46 "Alas too for you expounders of the Law!" replied Jesus, "for you load men with cumbrous burdens which you yourselves will not touch with one of your fingers.

47 Alas for you! for you repair the tombs of the Prophets, whom your forefathers killed.

48 It follows that you bear testimony to the actions of your forefathers and that you fully approve thereof. They slew, you build.

49 "For this reason also the Wisdom of God has said, `I will send Prophets and Apostles to them, of whom they will kill some and persecute others,'

50 so that the blood of all the Prophets, that is being shed from the creation of the world onwards, may be required from the present generation.

51 Yes, I tell you that, from the blood of Abel down to the blood of Zechariah who perished between the altar and the House, it shall all be required from the present generation.

52 "Alas for you expounders of the Law! for you have taken away the key of knowledge: you yourselves have not entered, and those who wanted to enter you have hindered."

53 After He had left the house, the Scribes and Pharisees commenced a vehement attempt to entangle Him and make Him give off-hand answers on numerous points,

54 lying in wait to catch some unguarded expression from His lips.

Luke 11 Commentary

Chapter 11

The disciples taught to pray. (1-4) Christ encourages being earnest in prayer. (5-13) Christ casts out a devil, The blasphemy of the Pharisees. (14-26) True happiness. (27,28) Christ reproves the Jews. (29-36) He reproves the Pharisees. (37-54)

Verses 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.

Verses 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.

Verses 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.

Verses 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.

Verses 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.

Verses 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.