Luke 11

Jesus teaches about prayer

And it happened that as he was praying in a certain place, when he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples”.

11:1 Praying was a continual practice of Jesus, mentioned more often by Luke than any other Gospel author (references at Luke 5:16). The request of the disciples indicates they realized how little they knew about prayer. This realization probably came by observing Jesus’ life of prayer. Now also disciples will be aware of their need to learn to pray. Compare Rom 8:26. If we learn to pray we will be learning the most spiritual, the greatest and most blessed activity that human beings can do.

Notes on prayer at Luke 18:1-7; Gen 18:32; Matt 6:5-13; Rom 8:26-27; Eph 1:17; 6:16; Phil 4:6-7; Col 1:9; 1 Thess 5:17; Heb 4:16; 10:19-22; 11:6; Jam 1:5-8; 5:16-18; 1 John 5:14-15.⚜

2 And he said to them, “When you pray, say,

Our Father who is in heaven,

Hallowed be your name.

Your kingdom come.

Your will be done,

on earth as in heaven.

3 Give us day by day our daily bread.

4 And forgive us our sins,

for we also forgive everyone

who is indebted to us.

And lead us not into temptation,

but deliver us from evil”.

5 And he said to them, “Which of you will have a friend, and will go to him at midnight, and say to him, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread, 6 for a friend of mine on his journey has come to me, and I have nothing to set before him?’ 7 And from inside he will answer and say, ‘Don’t trouble me. The door is now locked, and my children are with me in bed. I can’t get up and give you bread.’ 8 I say to you, Though he will not get up and give him the loaves, because he is his friend, yet because of his persistence he will get up and give him as many as he needs.

11:5-8 This story teaches the need of prayer and one essential element in successful praying – persistence. In ourselves we are as those who “have nothing” – nothing of spiritual value that can help others. And we come to Him who has everything. God is not reluctant to help those who come to Him (as the friend in this parable was), but He will test the genuineness of our faith (Matt 15:21-28; 1 Pet 1:7-8; Heb 11:6; Jer 29:13). He wants us to earnestly seek Him. And through our seeking Him and our persistent praying He will be better preparing us for the proper use of the things we ask of Him.⚜

9 “And I say to you, Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 10 For everyone who asks receives; and he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks it will be opened.

11 “If a son of any father among you asks for bread, will he give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a snake instead of a fish? 12 Or if he asks for an egg, will he offer him a scorpion? 13 If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him?”

11:13 Matt 7:11 has “good gifts” instead of “the Holy Spirit”. Jesus here is more specific and promises the greatest of all gifts – God gives the Holy Spirit to those who do not have Him. We should remember that Jesus gave this promise before the Holy Spirit was given to all believers as He is now – John 7:39. Now all who belong to Christ, all believers in Him, have the Holy Spirit – see Rom 8:9. But if anyone is struggling with doubts about whether he has the Holy Spirit living in him, let him look at these words of Jesus and see how willing God is to give His Spirit.

It seems to the author of these notes that this promise may also be used in seeking the fullness of the Holy Spirit, for it reveals God’s heart, His gracious character that delights to give what we need. Surely God is just as willing to give the Spirit’s fullness as He is to give His Spirit (for notes on the Spirit’s fullness see John 7:37-39; Acts 1:5; Eph 5:18). This is one of the very greatest of God’s “good gifts”. This fullness is received by going in child like faith to the Heavenly Father and asking and receiving directly from Him (1 John 5:14-15).⚜

Jesus is slandered by religious leaders

14 And he was driving out a demon, and it was mute. And it came about that when the demon had gone out, the mute person spoke. And the people were amazed.

15 But some of them said, “He drives out demons through Beelzebub the ruler of the demons”.

16 And others, testing him, demanded from him a miraculous sign from heaven.

11:16 Verse 29; Matt 12:28.⚜

17 But he, knowing their thoughts, said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself is ruined, and a house divided against a house falls. 18 Now if Satan is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand? I say this because you say I drive out demons through Beelzebub. 19 But if I drive out demons through Beelzebub, through whom do your sons drive them out? Therefore they will be your judges. 20 But if I drive out demons with the finger of God, without doubt the kingdom of God has come to you. 21 When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own palace, his possessions are secure, 22 But when someone stronger than he comes upon him and overpowers him, he takes from him all that armour in which he trusted, and divides up the spoils. 23 He who is not with me is against me, and he who does not gather with me scatters.

24 “When an unclean spirit has gone out of a man, it goes through dry places, looking for rest, and finding none, it says, ‘I will return to my house which I left.’ 25 And when it comes, it finds it swept and put in order. 26 Then it goes and takes with it seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there; and the last state of that man is worse than the first”.

Jesus speaks of true blessedness

27 And as he spoke these things, it happened that a certain woman in the crowd raised her voice, and said to him, “Blessed is the womb that bore you, and the breasts which nursed you”.

28 But he said, “Instead, blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it”.

11:27-28 Observe here the teaching of the Lord Jesus on what makes people blessed. It is not any possible physical or family relationship. Blessedness comes only by a personal relationship to God, by obedience to His Word.⚜

Jesus faces an evil generation

29 And when even more people had gathered together, he began speaking, “This is an evil generation. They are looking for a miraculous sign, and no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah the prophet. 30 For just as Jonah was a sign to the Ninevites, so also the Son of man will be to this generation. 31 The queen of the south will rise up at the judgment with the men of this generation, and condemn them, for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and now a greater than Solomon is here. 32 The men of Nineveh will rise up at the judgment with this generation, and will condemn it, for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and now a greater than Jonah is here.

33 “No one lights a lamp and puts it in a secret place, or under a basket, but on a lampstand, so that those who come in may see the light. 34 The light of the body is the eye. Therefore when your eye is good, your whole body is full of light; but when your eye is bad, your body also is full of darkness. 35 So watch out that the light that is in you is not darkness.

11:35 Jesus puts responsibility on men where it belongs. Light here stands for truth, for spiritual understanding. God gives light to all, but men can love darkness rather than light, and they can back away from the light they have and turn into darkness the light that has shined on their minds (John 1:9; 3:19-21; 8:12; 12:46. Compare Rom 1:18-23, 25).⚜

36 Therefore, if your whole body is full of light, with no part dark, the whole will be full of light, as when the bright shining of a lamp gives you light”.

Jesus reveals the character of the religious leaders

37 And as he spoke, a certain Pharisee asked him to eat with him. And he went in and sat down to eat.

11:37 Luke 7:36; 14:1. The Pharisees as a group were opposed to Jesus, but individually some of them were very curious about Him and open to His message. See John 3:1-2.⚜

38 And when the Pharisee saw this, he was surprised that he had not first washed before dinner.

39 And the Lord said to him, “Now you Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and the dish, but your inner part is full of greed and wickedness. 40 You fools! Did not he who made the outside also make the inside? 41 But give away what is inside as charity, and then all things are clean to you.

11:41 They needed a cleansing from the greed and wickedness within them. This would result in giving their possessions to the poor. This was the aim of Jesus in His dealings with the rich young ruler (Matt 19:21-24). People changed in heart will no longer worry about ceremonial washings.⚜

42 “But woe to you Pharisees! For you give tithes of mint and rue and every kind of herb, and pass by justice and the love of God. These you should have practiced without leaving the other undone.

43 “Woe to you Pharisees! For you love the seats of honour in the synagogues, and greetings in the marketplaces.

44 “Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like unmarked graves, which men walk over unaware”.

11:44 Matt 23:27-28. It was considered defiling to walk on a grave (Num 19:16). So contact with these grave like Pharisees made people unclean. What a blow this was at the pride of these religious leaders who thought they were better than everyone else!⚜

45 Then answered one of the lawyers and said to him, “Teacher, by saying this you are insulting us too”.

46 And he said, “Woe to you also, you lawyers! For you load men down with burdens hard to carry, but you yourselves do not touch those burdens with one of your fingers.

47 “Woe to you! For you build the tombs of the prophets, and your fathers killed them. 48 In fact, you are giving testimony that you approve of the deeds of your fathers. For indeed they killed them, and you build their tombs. 49 Therefore, the wisdom of God also said, ‘I will send them prophets and apostles, and some of them they will kill and some persecute,

11:49 Compare with Matt 23:34.⚜

50 so that the blood of all the prophets that has been shed from the foundation of the world, may be required of this generation, 51 from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah who perished between the altar and the temple. Truly I say to you, it will be required of this generation.

52 “Woe to you lawyers! For you have taken away the key of knowledge. You yourselves did not enter, and you hindered those who were entering”.

11:52 They were the teachers, the gurus to whom the people listened. Instead of imparting true spiritual knowledge of God’s Word, they perverted the Word and obscured the truth. They were neither the first nor the last to do so. And they tried to keep people from coming to Christ – Matt 23:13.⚜

53 And as he said these things to them, the scribes and the Pharisees began to oppose him fiercely, and to ply him with questions about more things, 54 setting a trap for him and seeking to catch words from his mouth, so they could accuse him.

11:53-54 They should have repented and wept out their confession before His feet. Instead they hardened themselves in their self righteousness and pride.⚜