Luke 11
Jesus’ Teaching on Prayer and His Condemnation of Religious Leaders
In this section, Luke recorded Jesus’ teaching on prayer and His pronouncement of guilt over the Pharisees and Jewish lawyers for their hypocrisy and unbelief. Matthew and Mark also recorded most of this material.
Jesus’ Teaching on Prayer
Vs. 1 - He was praying in a certain place, and when he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, just as John also taught his disciples.”
This verse gives the setting for the teaching that follows. This is the fifth time that Luke referred to Jesus praying (Luke 3:21; Luke 5:16; Luke 6:12; Luke 9:18; Luke 9:28; cf. Luke 22:32; Luke 22:40-44; Luke 23:46). It was apparently Jesus’ frequent praying that alerted His disciples to its importance and made them feel their need for His help in their praying.
The disciples’ request for instruction on how to pray resulted in Jesus giving them a pattern prayer (Luke 11:2-4). He then gave them a parable that illustrates God’s willingness to answer (Luke 11:5-8), a promise that God would answer (Luke 11:9), and further assurance showing God’s readiness to answer their prayers (Luke 11:10-13). - Thomas Constable
The Model Prayer (Matthew 6:9-13)
Vs. 2 - He said to them, “Whenever you pray, say,
It was the regular custom for a Rabbi to teach his disciples a simple prayer which they might habitually use. John had done that for his disciples, and now Jesus' disciples came asking him to do the same for them. This is Luke's version of the Lord's Prayer. It is shorter than Matthew's, but it will teach us all we need to know about how to pray and what to pray for. - William Barclay
Our Father Who Art in Heaven
This address reaffirms our core belief as Christians that God is our heavenly, celestial Father, both with us in spirit and above us in the perfect realm of Heaven. This opening address also unites Christians worldwide into one community of worshippers as we pray to “our” Father and not individually to “my” Father. - Dolores Smyth
It was unusual for Jews to refer to God as Father. Such an address would seem too personal and familiar. - A. Boyd Luter
Hallowed Be Thy Name
Before anything is asked for ourselves, God and his glory, and the reverence due to him, come first. Only when we give God his place will other things take their proper place. - William Barclay
Thy Kingdom Come
This petition is two-fold. First, we pray for the Kingdom of God to take form in the here and now so that we can live in a world characterized by faith, hope, and love (1 Corinthians 13:13). It is an expression of our desire for God's reign and rule to be fully realized on earth. It is a call for God's justice, peace, and love to prevail in the world.
Second, we pray that the promise of a “new heaven and a new earth” be fulfilled. When that promise is fulfilled, the faithful will live with God in His Kingdom eternally as members of a Holy City in which there is no death, crying, or pain (Revelation 21:1-4). - Dolores Smyth
Thy Will Be Done on Earth As in Heaven
Praying this petition is an act of selfless surrender to the will of God. In particular, we humbly request here for God to give us the strength to follow His will, not ours, in living a life that glorifies Him and shows compassion and justice to others. - Dolores Smyth
Give Us This Day Our Daily Bread
Jesus is using an image from Israel’s story, when they journeyed through the wilderness and God provided just enough bread for each day. And so he invites them to join their ancestors in the wilderness, trusting God’s provision each and every day. - Tim Mackie
Forgive Us Our Sins
Prior to this model prayer, there was no explicit instruction for daily confession of sin in the Jewish scriptures. There were, however, sin offerings (Leviticus 4) and trespass offerings (Leviticus 5-7) for the forgiveness of unintentional sins, Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement described Leviticus 16 and 23) for the forgiveness of the sins of the entire nation, and multiple examples of confessional prayers.
Psalm 130:3-4 - Lord, if you kept an account of iniquities, Lord, who could stand? But with you there is forgiveness, so that you may be revered.
Proverbs 28:13 - The one who conceals his sins will not prosper, but whoever confesses and renounces them will find mercy.
Psalm 51:1-2 - Be gracious to me, God, according to your faithful love; according to your abundant compassion, blot out my rebellion. Completely wash away my guilt and cleanse me from my sin.
This rhythm of daily confession was new, but the petitioned atonement was still understood to be contingent on the merciful character of God and the sacrificial system, animal offerings that symbolized the “Lamb” He would provide.
As We Forgive Those Who Sin against Us
Woven into this prayer of confession is a reminder that those who have freely received must also freely give (Matthew 10:8). The merciful receive mercy (Matthew 5:7). Forgiven people forgive others.
Lead Us Not Into Temptation But Deliver Us from Evil
"Lead us not into temptation" is a plea for God to guide us away from situations where we might be tempted to sin. It acknowledges our vulnerability and asks for His protection and strength to overcome challenges. - Dolores Smyth
Ask, Seek, and Knock (Matthew 7:7-12)
Vs. 5 - He also said to them, “Suppose one of you has a friend and goes to him at midnight and says to him, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread…”
Jesus was contrasting, not comparing, God’s attitude with the friend’s attitude (Luke 11:9-13). God’s attitude toward His children is the opposite of the attitude of the friend toward his knocking neighbor. God will not grant answers to prayer to avoid shame, as this man did. He will grant them unselfishly and lovingly. Jesus’ point was that, if shame was effective with such a friend, how much more eagerly shall the heavenly Father respond when His children make requests of Him. God is more than the friend of disciples; He is their father. - Thomas Constable
Good Gifts
Vs. 10 - For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.
Vs. 13 - If you then, who are 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?”
The overall exhortation of Jesus’ teaching on prayer in this section is for God’s children to boldly come to Him with their requests. If imperfect men will provide for one another, surely our perfect Father will give us exactly what we need.
What Jesus says is, "If a churlish and unwilling householder can, in the end, be coerced by a friend's shameless persistence into giving him what he needs, how much more will God who is a loving Father supply all his children's needs?" "If you," he says, "who are evil, know that you are bound to supply your children's needs, how much more will God?" - William Barclay
We need to understand Jesus’ promise that God will give us what we ask (Luke 11:9-10) as referring only to things that are good for us. God will without fail give only what is best to His children who request of Him in prayer. - Thomas Constable
Jesus Accused of Demonic Activity (Matthew 12:22-45; Mark 3:22-30)
House Divided
Vs. 14-15 - Now he was driving out a demon that was mute. When the demon came out, the man who had been mute spoke, and the crowds were amazed. But some of them said, “He drives out demons by Beelzebul, the ruler of the demons.”
It was undeniable at this point that Jesus, and even His followers, were demonstrating great spiritual power over disease, demonic activity, and even death. But in a desperate attempt to explain this power apart from God’s endowment, the religious leaders began to claim that Jesus must have been empowered by Satan himself.
When Jesus' enemies were helpless to oppose him by fair means they resorted to slander. They declared that his power over the demons was due to the fact that he was in league with the prince of demons. - William Barclay
The spelling Beelzebul (NASB) is most common in the Greek text. Beelzebub (NIV) has come down to us from the Latin manuscript tradition. "Beelzebul" probably came from the Hebrew “baal zebul” meaning "Prince Baal." Baal was the chief Canaanite deity, and the Jews regarded him as the personification of all that was evil and Satanic. - Thomas Constable
Vs. 17 - Knowing their thoughts, he told them, “Every kingdom divided against itself is headed for destruction, and a house divided against itself falls.”
Jesus replied that if the prince of demons used his own power to cast out demons, he would be creating civil war in his own kingdom. He would be destroying himself. The only way a strong man can be defeated is if a stronger man overpowers him. In casting out demons, Jesus showed that he was stronger than Satan. His reign, which would result in the destruction of Satan, had begun. - Don Fleming
The Kingdom Has Come
Vs. 20 - If I drive out demons by the finger of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.
Jesus’ words and works had demonstrated His identity, yet many remained skeptical. But all who witnessed His miracles were brought to the point of decision to recognize or to reject the arrival of the kingdom of God.
Unclean Spirit
Vs. 24 - When an unclean spirit comes out of a person
Vs. 26 - As a result, that person’s last condition is worse than the first.
Unclean Spirit
Vs. 24 - When an unclean spirit comes out of a person
Vs. 26 - As a result, that person’s last condition is worse than the first.
This is a difficult teaching to understand, but Matthew’s record provides more explanation. The person who was exorcised in this illustration represented “this evil generation” of faithless Israel who refused to accept that God’s kingdom had come to them through Jesus.
Matthew 12:45 - As a result, that person’s last condition is worse than the first. That’s how it will also be with this evil generation.
Jesus’s exorcisms were not just a case of a man exercising extraordinary power; they were a sign of the times. A new era had arrived. The long-awaited messianic kingdom had come — and the proof of its arrival was Satan bound, demons fleeing, the bonds of wickedness loosed and the oppressed set free.
With Jesus present on the earth, baptised for ministry, and on a mission, the kingdom of God was here. The Pharisees could actually see it at work. And for their entire generation, there was an opportunity to experience true deliverance and restoration on an unprecedented scale. But that opportunity wouldn’t last forever.
Jesus was warning the Pharisees and their entire generation in Israel that if they did not embrace the kingdom of God as it had actually come to them, their experience of deliverance and healing through the power of Jesus and his followers would be temporary and their final state would be worse than the first. - Rachel Starr Thompson
Blasphemy against The Spirit
Matthew 12:31-32 - Therefore, I tell you, people will be forgiven every sin and blasphemy, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven. Whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him; but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven him, either in this age or in the one to come.
Mark 3:28-30 - “Truly I tell you, people will be forgiven for all sins and whatever blasphemies they utter. But whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin” because they were saying, “He has an unclean spirit.”
God could forgive the doubts and misunderstandings people had about Jesus, but he would not forgive their defiant rejection of the clear evidence that all Jesus’ works were good and that they originated in God. Those who called God’s Spirit Satan, who called good evil, had put themselves in a position where they had no way of acknowledging God’s goodness. Therefore, they had no way of receiving his forgiveness. - Don Fleming
An Evil Generation
Hear And Keep
Vs. 28 - He said, “Rather, blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it.”
Though this incident can seem randomly placed in Luke’s account, commentators believe it was intentionally placed. When a woman praised Jesus as He taught these things, Jesus stayed on subject. He was surrounded by skeptics seeking signs. The blessed person was a believer.
Demanding A Sign
Vs. 29 - As the crowds were increasing, he began saying, “This generation is an evil generation. It demands a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah.”
Again the Pharisees asked Jesus to perform a miracle as a sign that he was the Messiah, and again Jesus refused. The only sign would be his resurrection from the dead, which would be the Father’s unmistakable confirmation that Jesus was his Son. - Don Fleming
The sign was that Jonah was swallowed by a great fish. Rather than dying, a miracle occurs. Jonah survives being swallowed by the fish then goes to Nineveh and preaches to the people. Jonah should have died. Instead, three days later, Jonah is spit up from the fish onto the land and he goes and preaches to the city of Nineveh. That miraculous event is the sign. Jesus is explaining that he is going to give a sign to that generation that is the sign of Jonah. The implication, which is clearly expressed in Matthew’s account, is that he is going to be miraculously raised from the dead. A resurrection miracle is going to occur. This was the one sign for the people to know that Jesus is truly God, the Savior of the world. - Brent Kercheville
Matthew 12:39-40 - He answered them, “An evil and adulterous generation demands a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For as Jonah was in the belly of the huge fish three days and three nights, so the Son of Man will be in the heart of the earth three days and three nights.”
Vs. 31 - The queen of the south will rise up at the judgment with the men of this generation and condemn them
When Solomon was king the Queen of Sheba recognized his wisdom and came from far to benefit from it; when Jonah preached the men of Nineveh recognized the authentic voice of God and responded to it. In the day of judgment, these people would rise up and condemn the Jews of Jesus' time, because these Jews had had an opportunity and a privilege far beyond anything they had ever had and had refused to accept it. The condemnation of the Jews would be all the more complete because their privileges were so great. - William Barclay
By their rejection of Jesus, they were guaranteeing that in the judgment day they would be in a far worse position than the heathen. The queen of the Gentile kingdom of Sheba recognized Solomon’s wisdom, and the people of the heathen city of Nineveh repented at Jonah’s preaching, but the Jews of Jesus’ time stubbornly refused to accept him as the Messiah. - Don Fleming
The Light in You
Vs. 34-35 - Your eye is the lamp of the body. When your eye is healthy, your whole body is also full of light. But when it is bad, your body is also full of darkness. Take care, then, that the light in you is not darkness.
This is the second time Luke recorded Jesus’ use of this lamp illustration (Luke 8:16-18), and there are varying interpretations of its use.
The paragraph in 11:33-36 is difficult to interpret. In this context, the light that shines for all to see is Jesus and his message about the kingdom. Also, the eye functions as a lamp because it is the organ by which light enters the body; however, if one’s eyes are unhealthy, then light cannot enter.
The point is that those who are in darkness have refused to be illuminated by Jesus. They may think that they are illuminated by light, but actually they are in darkness because they have rejected the path of obedience. Only those who have responded obediently to Jesus’ message will be fully illuminated. - Thomas Schreiner
“Woe” to Religious Leaders (Matthew 23:1-36)
Pharisees and Teachers of The Law
Vs. 37-38 - As he was speaking, a Pharisee asked him to dine with him. So he went in and reclined at the table.
This is the second time Luke recorded Jesus dining in the home of a Pharisee (Luke 7:36-50). These religious leaders were either curious or calculating or some combination of both.
Vs. 38 - When the Pharisee saw this, he was amazed that he did not first perform the ritual washing before dinner.
The Mosaic Law did not demand this washing, but it had become customary, and the Pharisees viewed it as a safeguard against defilement. - Thomas Constable
Vs. 39 - But the Lord said to him, “Now you Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside you are full of greed and evil.”
Jesus then exposes the faults of the Pharisees in three woes. (1) They focus on the minutiae of religion, such as tithing every plant in one's garden, but forget about what is really important, namely justice and love of God. (2) The Pharisees are enamored of the glowing reputation they gain from being religious. (3) Even though the wickedness of the Pharisees is not apparent or observable, it is defiling and contaminating. - Thomas Schreiner
Vs. 40 - Then he said, “Woe also to you experts in the law! You load people with burdens that are hard to carry, and yet you yourselves don’t touch these burdens with one of your fingers.
In William Barclay’s commentary on this section, he describes several examples of how the scribes, specifically, expected the average Jew to strictly follow detailed parameters (like hand washing) around keeping the Torah laws while they created elaborate exceptions for themselves.
An objection from a scribe leads to three woes being pronounced against them also. (1) The lawyers, with their many regulations, make the practice of religion so burdensome and tiring, yet they are not willing to help those they burden. (2) The lawyer's sympathy with those who killed the prophets of old is clear because they will kill the prophets and apostles who are now God's spokesman. (3) Lastly, the interpretation of scripture practice by the lawyers blocks Ordinary People from receiving knowledge about God and prevents them from entering the kingdom. - Thomas Schreiner
Vs. 47 - Woe to you! You build tombs for the prophets, and your fathers killed them.
It was not morally wrong for the lawyers to take the lead in building new tombs to replace the older tombs of Israel’s prophets. However, Jesus saw in this practice an ironic testimony to their opposition to God’s recent prophets, specifically John the Baptist and Himself. - Thomas Constable
The attitude of the scribes to the prophets was paradoxical. They professed a deep admiration for the prophets. But the only prophets they admired were dead; when they met a living one they tried to kill him. They honored the dead prophets with tombs and memorials, but they dishonored the living ones with persecution and death. - William Barclay
This Generation
Vs. 50-51 - This generation may be held responsible for the blood of all the prophets shed since the foundation of the world - from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah, who perished between the altar and the sanctuary. “Yes, I tell you, this generation will be held responsible.
This generation would be held to the highest standard of judgment. They had not only rejected God’s prophets; they had also rejected His Son.
Abel’s death at the hands of his brother is recorded in Genesis 4, and the death of the prophet Zechariah is recorded in 2 Chronicles:
2 Chronicles 24:20-21 - The Spirit of God enveloped Zechariah son of Jehoiada the priest. He stood above the people and said to them, “This is what God says, ‘Why are you transgressing the Lord’s commands so that you do not prosper? Because you have abandoned the Lord, he has abandoned you.’” But they conspired against him and stoned him at the king’s command in the courtyard of the Lord’s temple.
Oppose Him Fiercely
Vs. 53-54 - When he left there, the scribes and the Pharisees began to oppose him fiercely and to cross-examine him about many things; they were lying in wait for him to trap him in something he said.
These inflammatory words of criticism and condemnation fanned the smoldering embers of Pharisaic hostility into an inferno of hatred and hostility. Luke wrote that these religious leaders now questioned Him closely on many subjects. He had challenged their expertise. Now they sought to defend themselves by discrediting Him. They plotted against Him seeking to trip Him up and trap Him. They also tried to get Him to say something wrong, unwise, or inappropriate. This antagonism escalated shortly after the encounter that Luke just described. These verses document the Jewish religious leaders’ official rejection of Jesus. - Thomas Constable
