The Way - Day 011 (Luke 11)

Pastor Tom's Journal on Today's Reading:
Luke 11:1-13
I believe Luke followed up this incident at Mary and Martha's house with a very fitting lesson to His disciples concerning the importance of spending time alone with God. One day Jesus was praying and His disciples approached Him saying, "Lord, teach us to pray, as John [the Baptist] also taught his disciples" (11:1). The disciples had personally observed Jesus' prayer life and wanted to know how they could also fellowship with God in prayer. In response to their question, Jesus provided these words: "When you pray, say: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done On earth as it is in heaven. Give us day by day our daily bread. And forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone who is indebted to us. And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one" (11:2-4). This prayer was not to be merely recited, but to be an example of the elements which should be involved in prayer. The Lord's prayer consisted of elements such as praise to God, submission to God's will, dependence on God's provision, confession of sin, and protection from evil. Again, this prayer should not be thoughtlessly repeated but rather provide a model for us to follow.

In conjunction with His teaching on prayer, Jesus also teaches them about perseverance in prayer by telling them the parable of the persistent friend. In this parable Jesus tells about a man who goes to his friend's house at midnight saying, "Friend, lend me three loaves; for a friend of mine has come to me on his journey, and I have nothing to set before him..." (11:5-6). The man inside the house reacts to this man's request saying, "'Do not trouble me; the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot rise and give to you..." (11:7). Jesus then reveals the meaning of this parable saying, "I say to you, though he will not rise and give to him because he is his friend, yet because of his persistence he will rise and give him as many as he needs" (11:8). Persistence is one of the keys to right praying. If a person believes something is important enough, he will continue asking God to answer until he receives his request. Unlike the man inside the house who initially turned his friend away, Jesus invites us to pray; furthermore, Jesus says, "So 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. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened" (11:9-10). Why should we be bold in asking? Jesus says that even earthly fathers, who are sinful (by nature), know how to give good gifts to their children, so "how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!" (11:11-13). The greatest gift a person could receive is the Holy Spirit who indwells those who believe. Even though we no longer pray for the coming of the Holy Spirit (He has already come, see Acts 2), the Holy Spirit lives in us and prays on our behalf that we would do the will of God (Romans 8:26).

Luke 11:14-32
In these verses, the rejection of Jesus and His message begins escalating and people question the true identity of Jesus as well as by what authority He performs miracles. Luke writes concerning an event that precipitated this rejection. Jesus cast a demon out of a mute man and when the man finally spoke, the crowds who had gathered marveled (11:14); however, some accused Jesus of casting out the demon using the demonic power of Beelzebub, which is Satan (11:15). In reality, these people were accusing Jesus of being possessed with the power of Satan. Since Jesus knew what the people were thinking, He responded by exposing the illogical reasoning that Satan would cast out his own demons (11:17-18). Furthermore, Jesus exposed the inconsistency of those who accused Him because their own Jewish exorcists also cast out demons and claimed that it was the power of God (11:19-20). If the Jewish exorcists could claim the power of God when they cast out demons, then Jesus also had that right.

Jesus then tells about a strong man, Satan, as well as a stronger man, Himself. The strong man is only strong until another who is stronger comes along and overtakes him. In this case, Jesus defeated the power of Satan by casting out the demon and instead of being used for evil, the man would be used for good (11:21-22). Jesus then warned those listening concerning the false exorcists whose power to cast out demons was only temporary. Even though they cast out a demon, it would eventually return and have greater power than before (11:23-26).

Luke then documents Jesus' words to the crowd, "This is an evil generation. It seeks a sign, and no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah the prophet. For as Jonah became a sign to the Ninevites, so also the Son of Man will be to this generation" (11:29-30). Not willing to believe Jesus' spoken words, the Pharisees demanded a sign to prove that His message was genuine; however, Jesus informed them that there would be no supernatural sign to confirm His message. When Jonah appeared to the Ninevites, they believed his words without ever seeing physical proof of the events which occurred in the belly of the whale (see the book of Jonah). Jesus also wanted the people to believe His words without having to demonstrate a miraculous sign. Jesus then spoke concerning the queen of the South who traveled a far distance to see Solomon because she heard that he was the wisest man to ever live (11:31; 1 Kings 10). She made the journey based on what she had heard without having visible proof.

In our day, God has given us His written word which testifies of salvation and hope through Jesus Christ, but some people refuse to believe God's word because they desire visible proof. We must not be like the crowd Jesus spoke to in these verses, but rather believe Jesus based on what He has already said.

Luke 11:33-54
Jesus spent much of His ministry teaching the truth to those who would listen - sometimes they would respond by obeying and proclaiming the truth while others would ignore and reject it. In Luke 11:33 Jesus teaches His listeners concerning the proper response to the truth and tells the parable of the lighted lamp saying, "No one, when he has lit a lamp, puts it in a secret place or under a basket, but on a lampstand, that those who come in may see the light." The lamp represents the word of God (the truth) and when a person willingly receives it, he should share it with others rather than keeping it to himself. Jesus then uses the eye as the entryway of these teachings and He declares, "The lamp of the body is the eye. Therefore, when your eye is good, your whole body also is full of light. But when your eye is bad, your body also is full of darkness" (11:34). When the eye focuses on truth, the body will be full of light; but when the eye focuses on that which is evil, the body will be full of darkness. Jesus cautions those listening about what they permit to come into their eye and He says, "Therefore take heed that the light which is in you is not darkness. If then your whole body is full of light, having no part dark, the whole body will be full of light, as when the bright shining of a lamp gives you light" (11:35-36). The people listening to Jesus had every opportunity to respond to the truth, but many chose to ignore the truth and would spend their lives living in darkness.

As Jesus spoke, a Pharisee invited Him to eat at his home, but when Jesus arrived to dine, the Pharisee was surprised that He did not "first wash before dinner" (11:37-38). The Pharisees were a religious group consumed with outward rituals and numerous man-made traditions while ignoring the condition of a person's heart. When Jesus perceived that this man was disappointed over His "lack of respect" for the ritual washings He said, "Now you Pharisees make the outside of the cup and dish clean, but your inward part is full of greed and wickedness. Foolish ones! Did not He who made the outside make the inside also?" (11:39-40). There was something seriously flawed in the religious views of the Pharisees because they obsessed over everything concerning the outward appearance and actions but at the same time ignoring the true nature of their heart. Although the Pharisees gave money, they ignored "justice and the love of God" (11:42a). Jesus said that while giving was not a bad thing, they should have done the other things also (11:42b). The Pharisees were filled with pride and desired only the best seats in the synagogue (11:43). Jesus pronounced a warning to the Pharisees saying, "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like graves which are not seen, and the men who walk over them are not aware of them" (11:44). The Pharisees had mastered covering up their inward sins through doing external works in order to appear spiritual before others; however, Jesus declared them to be dead on the inside much like an unmarked grave.

Upon hearing Jesus' condemnation of the Pharisees, a lawyer/scribe (interpreter of the Old Testament law) said, "Teacher, by saying these things You reproach us also" (11:45). Jesus quickly spoke up saying, "Woe to you also, lawyers! For you load men with burdens hard to bear, and you yourselves do not touch the burdens with one of your fingers" (11:46). The scribes had created additional commandments which were not found in Scripture and held people accountable for obeying these man-made laws. Jesus was condemning this sort of legalism and bondage; in fact, He accused them of being no better than those who killed the prophets of God (11:47-51). Instead of exposing the truth, the scribes had "taken away the key of knowledge" and kept it hidden under their burdensome commandments (11:52). When the scribes and Pharisees heard what Jesus had said, they became angry and sought "...to catch Him in something He might say, that they might accuse Him" (11:53-54). The scribes and Pharisees did not understand that the inward man was just as important as the outward man. Without a change of heart, there can be no real change of actions.

Dear God, may my heart be pure so that my actions will also be pure.