What I Noticed Today (Luke 11)
Luke 11
In verses 1-4, Jesus was praying, and when He finished, the disciples asked Him to teach them to pray. Jesus taught them the Lord’s Prayer. There are five points in the Lord’s Prayer:
- God’s name is to be treated as Holy.
- Your kingdom come (identify with and believe in God’s message).
- Give us our daily bread (rely on God daily for His provision).
- Forgive our sins as we forgive others.
- Lead us not into temptation (deliver us from situations that cause us to sin).
Note: Addressing God as Father would seem uncomfortable and far too personal to Jews, but Jesus is trying to teach them to have a different kind of relationship with God.
In verses 5-13, Jesus teaches two parables about the importance of persistent prayer.
- In verses 5-8, is the parable of the persistent man who knocked on a friend’s door in the middle of the night to borrow some bread. He kept knocking until finally the friend answered the door and gave him the bread. Therefore, says Jesus, keep asking, and it will be given, keep searching, and you will find, keep knocking, and the door will be opened.
- In verses 9-13, the father gives his son only good gifts. If we are evil and know enough to give our children good gifts, how much more our Father in heaven gives the Holy Spirit to those who ask!
Note: The “ask, seek, and knock” are present tense imperatives in Greek, which means we are to keep doing something. In relation to prayer, we are to: keep asking, keep seeking, and keep knocking.
In verses 14-23 (See also Matthew 12:22-30, and Mark 3:20-27), Jesus was driving a demon out of a man that was mute. Some accused Jesus of driving out the demon by the power of Satan (Beelzebul also spelled Beelzebub).
Jesus answered, saying if Satan’s kingdom were divided against itself, it would fall. If I drive out demons by the power of God, then the kingdom of God has come to you.
Jesus then taught the parable of the strong man (vv. 21-23). A strong man (Satan) can only be overcome by a stronger man (Jesus). Anyone who is not with Me is against me.
In verses 24-26, (See also Matthew 12:43-45), Jesus spoke of a demon that comes out of a man. The demon returns and brings seven other demons with him, and the man ends up worse off than before.
Note: Verses 24-26 relate back to the parable of the strong man (vv. 14-23). When a demon is cast out something stronger than the demon must take up residence in the man (the Holy Spirit) or the demon will return, and the man will end up worse off.
In verses 27-28, a woman came up to Jesus and said his mother was blessed for having given birth to Him. Jesus answered people who hear the Word and keep it are even more blessed.
Note: This is similar to the teaching of Luke 8:19-21 that the greater blessing comes from the spiritual family.
In verses 29-32, (See also Matthew 12:38-42, and Mark 8:11-12), the crowds around Jesus asked for a sign, and Jesus said no sign would be given except the sign of Jonah. Just as Jonah was a sign to the people of Nineveh, the Son of Man will be to this generation. The men of Nineveh will rise up in the days of judgment and condemn this generation because they repented, but this generation has not.
Note: The teaching is the people should accept Jesus' message without a sign.
In verses 33-36, Jesus taught no one lights a lamp and puts it under a table or a basket but on a lampstand so that others can see it. Your eye is a lamp to the body, so when your eye is good, your body is full of light.
Note: Those who had good “spiritual eyes” received the light of Christ, but those who did not, lived in spiritual darkness having rejected him.
In verses 37-54, (See also Matthew 23:1-36, and Mark 12:38-40), A Pharisee, who invited Jesus to dinner, noted that Jesus did not complete the ritual hand washing. Jesus answered, saying the Pharisees were focused on the outside (washing the outside of the cup) while the inside they were full of greed and evil. A sign that they were clean on the inside will be if they give to the poor.
Jesus continues pronouncing three woes on the Pharisees
- They were tithing their herbs while disregarding justice and the love of God (they’re greedy hypocrites).
- They loved the show of importance by having the front seats in the synagogue (they’re prideful).
- They are like unmarked graves (people walk over you and become unclean and don’t even realize it).
Jesus then pronounced three woes on the scribes:
- They place heavy burdens on the people they themselves don’t carry (they’re hypocrites).
- They built monuments to prophets whom your fathers killed (they’re hypocrites honoring the prophets with monuments when they had rejected them).
- They took away the key of knowledge from the people and kept them from obtaining it (they had mishandled the scriptures keeping the people from learning the real truth).
After this, the scribes and Pharisees fiercely opposed Jesus, questioned Him, and tried to trap Him.
Some thought for further consideration:
- What makes you want to serve?
- Are you the kind of neighbor Jesus describes in the story of the Good Samaritan?
- Are there areas in your life where you struggle with the kinds of hypocrisy that are illustrated by the Pharisees and the scribes?
What did you notice in your study today? Feel free to visit the website and leave a question or a comment.
