Synodal translation. The chapter is voiced by role by the studio “Light in the East”.
1. It happened that when He was praying in one place and stopped, one of His disciples said to Him: Lord! teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.
2. He said to them: when you pray, say: “Our Father who art in heaven! Hallowed be Thy name; Thy kingdom come; Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven;
3. Give us our daily bread every day;
4. And forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone who is in debt to us; and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.”
5. And he said to them: suppose that one of you, having a friend, comes to him at midnight and says to him: “friend! lend me three loaves of bread,
6. for my friend came to me from the road, and I have nothing to offer him”;
7. And he will answer him from the inside: “Don’t bother me, the doors are already locked, and my children are with me on the bed; I can’t get up and give it to you.”
8. If, I tell you, he does not get up and give him out of friendship with him, then, out of his persistence, he will get up and give him as much as he asks.
9. And I will 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. Which father among you, when his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? or, when 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 give 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.
14. One day He cast out a demon that was mute; and when the demon came out, the dumb man began to speak; and the people were surprised.
15 And some of them said: He casts out demons by the power of Beelzebub, the prince of the demons.
16. And others, tempting, demanded from Him a sign from heaven.
17. But He, knowing their thoughts, said to them: Every kingdom divided against itself will be laid waste, and a house divided against itself will fall;
18. If Satan is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand? and you say that by the power of Beelzebub I cast out demons;
19. And if I cast out demons by Beelzebub, by whose power do your sons cast them out? Therefore they will be your judges.
20. If I cast out demons with the finger of God, then, of course, the Kingdom of God has come to you.
21. When a strong man guards his house with weapons, then his property is safe;
22. When his strongest attacks him and defeats him, then he will take all his weapons in which he hoped and divide what was stolen from him.
23. He who is not with Me is against Me; and whoever does not gather with Me scatters.
24. When the unclean spirit leaves a person, he walks through waterless places, looking for rest, and, not finding it, says: “I will return to my house from where I came”;
25. And coming, he finds it swept and put away;
26. Then he goes and takes with him seven other spirits more evil than himself, and they enter and live there, and the last thing for that person is worse than the first.
27. And while He was saying this, one woman raised her voice from among the people and said to Him: Blessed is the womb that bore You, and the breasts that nourished You!
28. And He said: Blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it.
29. When the people began to gather in large numbers, He began to say: This generation is wicked, it seeks a sign, and no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah;
30. For as Jonah was a sign to the Ninevites, so will the Son of Man be to this generation.
31. The queen of the south will rise up in judgment with the people of this generation and condemn them, for she came from the ends of the earth to listen to the wisdom of Solomon; and behold, there is more Solomon here.
32. The Ninevites will rise up in judgment with this generation and condemn it, for they repented from the preaching of Jonah, and behold, there is more Jonah here.
33. No one, having lit a candle, puts it in a secret place, not under a bushel, but on a candlestick, so that those who enter may see the light.
34. The lamp of the body is the eye; So, if your eye is clean, then your whole body will be bright; and if it is bad, then your body will be dark.
35. See therefore: is not the light that is in you darkness?
36. If your body is all light and does not have a single dark part, then everything will be light, as if a lamp illuminated you with radiance.
37. While He was saying this, a certain Pharisee asked Him to dine with him. He came and lay down.
38. The Pharisee was surprised to see that He did not wash His hands before dinner.
39. But the Lord said to him: Now you Pharisees cleanse the outside of the cup and the platter, but your insides are full of robbery and wickedness.
40. Foolish! Didn't the same One who created the external also create the internal?
41. Better give alms from what you have, then everything will be clean for you.
42. But woe to you Pharisees, because you tithe mint, rue, and all kinds of vegetables, and neglect the judgment and love of God: you should have done this, and not forsaken that.
43. Woe to you Pharisees, because you love presiding in synagogues and greetings in public assemblies.
44. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you are like hidden tombs over which people walk and do not know it.
45. To this one of the lawyers said to Him: Teacher! By saying this, You offend us too.
46. But He said: woe to you lawyers too, because you impose unbearable burdens on people, but you yourself do not even touch them with one finger.
47. Woe to you, for you build tombs for the prophets whom your fathers killed:
48. By this you testify to the deeds of your fathers and agree with them, for they killed the prophets, and you build their tombs.
49. Therefore, the wisdom of God said: I will send prophets and apostles to them, and some of them will be killed, and others will be driven out;
50. May the blood of all the prophets, shed since the foundation of the world, be required from this generation,
51. from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah, who was killed between the altar and the temple. She, I tell you, will be required of this generation.
52. Woe to you lawyers, because you took the key of understanding; you yourselves did not enter, and you hindered those who entered.
53. While He was telling them this, the scribes and Pharisees began to press hard on Him, forcing Him to answer many things,
54. looking under Him and trying to catch something from His mouth in order to accuse Him.
11:1- 4
Sample prayer of a Christian to God:
1 It happened that when He was praying in one place and stopped, one of His disciples said to Him: Lord! teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.
The prayer of Jesus was different from the prayer of the scribes and Pharisees, otherwise the disciples would not have asked him to teach them to pray, because the scribes and Pharisees prayed publicly in front of all the people and in the hearing of all; their prayers, if desired, could have been learned by heart long ago.
However, the disciples of Christ, apparently, were not attracted by the prayers of the Pharisees.
2 He said to them: When you pray, say: Our Father who art in heaven! Hallowed be Thy name; Thy kingdom come; Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven;
Pabout the content and nature of prayer - and today, we think, it is possible to distinguish a Christian: a Christian awaits the sanctification of the name of Jehovah God, the coming of His Kingdom and the fulfillment of His will on earth, asks for forgiveness for sins and protection from temptations, thanks God for everything necessary for life. .
The Pharisee talks more and more about his merits before God and asks Him to pay attention to this.
Let us note one more interesting detail: according to the Bible, the Father of Jesus Christ will not immediately call everyone His mature sons and younger brothers of the firstborn Christ (Matt. 25:33,40): someone will reach the maturity of the sons of God - even in this century (Rom. 8). :15), and some must grow to this spiritual age for another thousand years with the help of little brothers Christ (Heb. 11:39,40; Rev. 21:4,7)
However, consider Jesus the Father as your heavenly Father, who regenerates eternal life- absolutely all Christians can do it, regardless of whether they will be able to achieve the spiritual perfection of Christ in this century or not.
Jesus did not tell him to pray future Father, but said to pray to his Father - in the present tense: both adult sons and clueless babies are still dear to the Father.
3 Give us 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.
God does not create temptations for us, but leaves them the right to exist. The request “do not lead us into temptation” means a request for help in order not to sin and to withstand moments of temptation.
See also analysis Mtf. 6:9-15
11:5-8
The parable about the persistence of petitions is shown as an example of the persistence of prayer to God:
5 And he said to them: [suppose that] one of you, having a friend, comes to him at midnight and says to him: friend! lend me three loaves of bread,
6 For my friend came to me from the road, and I have nothing to offer him;
7 And he from within will answer him: Do not bother me, the doors are already locked, and my children are with me on the bed; I can't get up and give it to you.
Jesus clearly shows that there is no reason to expect an instant response and help from God in response to prayer requests to Him. It’s clear that it’s not because God is busy, He doesn’t have time, or He doesn’t want to strain himself by answering requests right away—that’s not what the example shows.
With a parable, Jesus shows the importance of persistence in prayer to God: persistence and persistence show God that they Christians are in great need of help, that they are not joking.
If a friend had asked for bread once and stopped there, reassuring himself that “well, it didn’t work out,” his request would not have been granted.
8 If, I tell you, he does not get up and give him because of his friendship, then because of his persistence, he will get up and give him as much as he asks.
Only in order for the friend to leave him alone and give him peace - the friend of the petitioner will give what is necessary with persistent request and persistence.
The same approach should be taken in prayer to God:
11:9
And I will tell you: ask, and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and it will be opened to you,
The principle is shown here
making considerable efforts in order to achieve a positive result in any action: in prayer or in deeds, it doesn’t matter. Without effort, the result of expectations may be zero.
However, Christians must understand that God will not be willing to fulfill every request: in the parable, a friend asked for bread, something that satisfies and brings benefits. It is implied that the petitioner would not bother his friend at night and wake him up over trifles, only a very important need prompted him to bother his friend.
Christians must learn to discern what of what they ask will benefit them and what will not, for God will not help with what is useless.
11:10 For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. How is it possible to find help from God? For example, we ask for help in learning how to present the good news in accessible language and not have fear of people. We pray for help and AT THE SAME TIME we act in this ourselves - in accordance with our request to God for help in this: we go to the sermon and try to speak. Not once, not twice. Persistently and relentlessly. And one day the day will come when we feel that we have achieved our goal: we are no longer afraid to talk to people.
The same is true in the fight against bad habits: we ask for help to leave them and AT THE SAME TIME - we make efforts to suppress the desire to sin and not sin. Not once or twice. Relentless and persistent. And one day the day will come when the very desire for a bad habit will disappear: God will take care of this, seeing our persistent efforts to end evil.
God gave a lot to man even at creation; all we have to do is make an effort and take advantage of what He gave.
We will not receive a positive result only in three cases: if we ask not according to His will (not for the benefit of His interests); if we doubt that we will receive and if we do not work ourselves to receive.
11:11-13
A parable about the same thing, only from the other side: God, in response to the requests of Christians, will not give them something that will not benefit them:
Which father among you, [when] his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? or, [when 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 give him a scorpion?
What is the most important thing in the life of a Christian? The presence of God's spirit in him, therefore, most of all, a Christian must direct his requests to God that He would give him to contain the holy spirit, to understand God's attitude, His feelings and His way of thinking:
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.
Note that Jesus compared the need for a Christian to receive the holy spirit with the need for bread and fish for the hungry. That is, it should be natural and characteristic for a Christian to ask the Father, first of all, for the holy spirit to help see life through the eyes of God and understand it accordingly as well.
Everything else doesn't bother him much.
11:14,15
One day He cast out a demon who was mute; and when the demon came out, the dumb man began to speak; and the people were surprised.
15 And some of them said: He casts out demons by the power of Beelzebub, the prince of the demons.
For some reason, the Jews rushed to attribute the miracle of healing to the power of the devil: being opposed to Jesus and treating him with suspicion, they could not accept the good deed without prejudice.
Geneva:
Beelzebub is the name of a pagan deity (2 Kings 1:2), which the Israelis, in consonance, perceived as “lord of dung”, “lord of flies” and applied to the leader of a host of demons.
11:16
And others, tempting, demanded from Him a sign from heaven.
And someone still didn’t understand that the miracle of healing is precisely a sign from heaven
11:17,18
But He, knowing their thoughts, said to them: Every kingdom divided against itself will be desolate, and a house [divided] against itself will fall;
Jesus showed the absurdity of the assumption of casting out demons by the power of the ruler of demons: if in his demonic empire things have come to the point that the demon is chasing the demon, then the matter is bad, the devil’s empire will not stand:
18 But if Satan is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand? and you say that by the power of Beelzebub I cast out demons;
11:19 and if I cast out demons by the power of Beelzebub, by whose power do your sons cast them out? Therefore they will be your judges. Jesus gives a second argument for the absurdity of such an assumption: after all, their sons, just like him, also healed the sick, as they themselves believed. If such a charge was brought against Jesus, then their sons could be brought the exact same charge, which they naturally would not agree with. This means that there is no reason to accuse Jesus of conspiring with the devil.
11:20 If I cast out demons with the finger of God, then, of course, the Kingdom of God has reached you. Jesus shows that if he cannot be accused of demonism, then only one conclusion remains: the healing was carried out thanks to the action of God's power (the finger of God means that the action of God through Jesus was externally manifested by the healing of the sick)
11:21,22
When a strong man guards his house with arms, then his property is safe;
22 When his strongest attacks him and defeats him, then he will take all his weapons in which he trusted and divide what was stolen from him.
Here Jesus showed that although the devil is strong, the strongest comes - Jesus - and takes away the devil’s weapon, which he hoped for: demons are powerless against the power of God.
11:23
He who is not with Me is against Me; and whoever does not gather with Me scatters.
In order not to be with Christ, it is not necessary to destroy what God has built. But it's enough to do nothing
in order for God to be built.
Many people say: “Am I really against Christ? I live peacefully and do no harm to anyone.” And they sincerely believe that this is enough to be with Christ.
But Christ himself has a different opinion on this matter: whoever does not gather people with him for God, whoever does not sow the word of God with him, is his OPPONENT.
11:24-26
When the unclean spirit leaves a person, he walks through dry places, looking for rest, and, not finding it, says: I will return to my house from where I came;
25 And when he came, he found it swept and put away;
26 Then he goes and takes with him seven other spirits more evil than himself, and they enter and live there, and the last thing for that person is worse than the first.
NIt is not enough to cast out demons (just stop doing evil). You need to start doing good after that. If you stop doing evil, but do not fill your life with the things of God, then soon you will empty house Evil may return with increased power.
Sooner or later, we will still have to make a choice to become cold or hot, or this choice will be made for us.
11:27,28
While He was saying this, one woman raised her voice from among the people and said to Him: Blessed is the womb that bore You, and the breasts that nourished You!
ANDThe woman, in a purely feminine and maternal way, imagined how happy the mother of Jesus must be to give birth to SUCH a son. The praise of Mary continued after her death: many icons and prayers are dedicated to the Virgin Mary, and many seek miraculous power and protection from her or from the faces of other people elevated to the rank of saints, trying to receive benefits thanks to their righteousness. And they do not understand that good, according to the word of Christ himself, can and should be obtained through one’s own striving for righteousness and faith in His redemption:
28 And He said, Blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it
Nobody's righteousness will help us if we ourselves do not strive for righteousness. No matter how much we sing praises and praise those who have received a good name from God, this will not help us to be saved. But keeping the word of God will help.
11:29,30
When the people began to gather in great numbers, He began to say: This generation is evil, it seeks a sign.
The cunning of the race, which did not want to believe that Christ was the messenger of God, was manifested in the endless demand for miracles - and this despite the fact that Jesus performed them in large numbers. That is, it was not miracles that this family really needed, but a search for a reason by which it would be possible to “lower” the authority of Jesus
and no sign will be given to him except the sign of the prophet Jonah;
just as for Nineveh the sign was the disappearance of Jonah for three days, and then his return from oblivion, so for this generation the sign should have been the return of Jesus from oblivion - his resurrection on the third day after death (disappearance):
For as Jonah was a sign to the Ninevites, so will the Son of Man be to this generation.
11:31
The queen of the south will rise up in judgment with the people of this generation and condemn them, for she came from the ends of the earth to listen to the wisdom of Solomon; and behold, there is more Solomon here.
The Queen of Sheba, who came from afar (the territory of modern Yemen), came such a long way in order to hear Solomon, God's chosen one in Israel. And in Judea, the greater “Solomon” - Jesus Christ, who lives nearby and does not need to travel anywhere - was not taken seriously and did not want to be interested in his wisdom.
Naturally, her interest in the wisdom of God will not go unnoticed by God, and for her lack of interest in Jesus Christ, the Jews will suffer
11:32 The Ninevites will rise up in judgment with this generation and condemn it, for they repented from the preaching of Jonah, and behold, there is more Jonah here. Cruel pagan Assyria - and she accepted the word of God's prophet, and those who call themselves God's righteous - neglected both the word of God and the greater than Jonah, the prophet of God
11:33
No one, having lit a candle, puts it in a secret place, not under a bushel, but on a candlestick, so that those who enter may see the light.
Jesus is the light, the source of enlightenment with knowledge from God. It would be absolutely pointless for Jesus to “light a candle” (enlighten a Christian) in order to hide it under the bed: there it would not light the way for anyone and would not bring any benefit.
That's why
everyone who was ignited by Christ and received from him the Spirit of enlightenment, showing the path of salvation, must themselves shine with THEMSELVES: with their behavior, way of life, thoughts and correct knowledge from God.
11:34
The lamp of the body is the eye; So, if your eye is clean, then your whole body will be bright; and if it is bad, then your body will be dark.
The eye is a kind of “window” through which spiritual light penetrates into a person. The condition of the window determines whether the room is light or dark. If the window is clean and not broken, the whole room is well lit and it is possible to make it clean by seeing dirt.
If the window is dirty or frozen, the room will be poorly lit, making such a room clean is more difficult.
The light or darkness of a person’s view depends on how much his concept of good (light) and evil (dark) agrees with the view of God.
11:35
So, look: is not the light that is in you darkness?
Ha person who has light within himself cannot help but shine: a Christian must be noticeable to those around him by good deeds done in God and pure thoughts.
But Jesus warned that not every source of light—the person who thinks he represents God's light on earth—is actually emitting God's light. Everything depends on the “eye”, on the source of the correct or incorrect vision of the state of things. If the eye has the correct vision - God’s or Christ’s, then the light from a person (his deeds, actions, way of thinking, knowledge) will emanate from God. If not, then the “light” may actually turn out to be darkness.
11:36
If your body is all light and does not have a single dark part, then everything will be as light as if a lamp illuminated you with radiance.
The same applies to the purity of the body of Christians, which does not have the “spots” of sin on itself.
: if there is a dark spot in a Christian, then the lamp of God does not have the ability to fully shine through the darkened body of a Christian, since dark spots tend to absorb light, and such a Christian will inevitably shine with distorted light.
If we summarize Christ’s information about how a Christian can shine God’s light in the world, we get something like this formula:
correct perception of the state of affairs + a righteous lifestyle = the ability to shine with the light of God.
Refutation of the Pharisees and lawyers:
11:37
While He was saying this, a certain Pharisee asked Him to have dinner with him. He came and lay down.
Christ did not neglect the opportunity to communicate with any of those who expressed a desire to talk to him. Even knowing in advance who was in front of him and what the end of the conversation would be, he simply did his job, sowing the word of God everywhere, regardless of the faces and the end result, because he knew that any result, even negative, is also the result of dividing humanity into recipients the word of God and those who reject it.
And today, when sowing the word of God in the world, we should not show partiality, dividing people at our own discretion into those who are worthy of our attention and those who are not: according to God’s plan, the whole world should hear His word (Matt. 24:14).
11:38,39
The Pharisee was surprised to see that He did not wash [his hands] before dinner.
It was strange for the Pharisee to learn this detail about Jesus: it turns out that he did not observe the ceremonial ritual of washing his hands, established by the interpreters of the commandment “be holy” (clean). The Pharisees reduced the meaning of the ritual to the following:
Geneva:
We are talking about the ritual washing of hands from filth that could stick to them when touching objects considered unclean. Unclean hands could defile food, which, in turn, getting inside a person, could make his entire body unclean.
If Jesus had agreed to wash his hands in a ceremonial manner according to the “traditions of the elders,” then, thereby, he would have confirmed these traditions, and all zealots of the “traditions of men” would have had a reason in the future to demand their fulfillment from other Christians based simply on the fact that the Lord himself did it.
Some denominations even now use the verse Matthew 23:3 as an argument for observing the traditions of their “elders.” :
So whatever they tell you to observe, observe and do; But do not act according to their deeds, for they say and do not do.
However, the fact that Jesus not only did not wash his hands, but also explained his attitude to human burdensome commandments, he clearly showed that his advice
“Whatever they tell you to observe, observe and do;
" refers NOT to the observance of any human commandments, but to the observance of the Mosaic Law, which at that time had not yet been abolished.
So, Jesus Christ did not wash his hands before eating, as the Pharisee expected of him. With students - it’s clear, fishermen and uneducated people, what to take from them. But the one who said about himself that he was the son of God - according to the Pharisee, should certainly wash his hands before eating, because the command “be holy” is the command of his Father, therefore, one who does not wash his hands cannot be the son of that who gave the commandment about purity.
Why didn't Jesus wash his hands? Did he thereby violate his Father’s commandment to maintain cleanliness? No, because, firstly, the commandment about purity and holiness primarily refers to the inner essence of a person: a person must be internally righteous in order to reflect the essence of God's children. And secondly, this ritual, in compliance with the strict sequence of washing each part of the wrist, was not established by God, but by people, interpreters of His law in their own opinion.
Without washing his hands, Jesus did not wash them not because he was not clean, but in order to draw the attention of the Pharisee to this fact and to have an excellent opportunity to explain how the Pharisee misunderstood this commandment of God about holiness:
39 But the Lord said to him, “Now you Pharisees cleanse the outside of the cup and the platter, but your insides are full of robbery and wickedness.”
That is, the Pharisee would have to understand that keeping the inner essence pure is much more important for God's servant than worrying excessively about the purity of the outer appearance.
11:40,41
Jesus goes on to explain exactly why this approach to understanding God's commandment to holiness is unreasonable:
Foolish! Didn't the same One who created the external also create the internal?
41 Better give alms from what you have, then everything will be clean for you.
That is, if you wash your hands and your whole body, and all the dishes and your whole house until sterile, but at the same time - do not be kind, merciful and compassionate towards people, desecrating your insides with evil - then there is no benefit for a person in such external cleanliness .
11:42
Further, Jesus reveals the problem of the Pharisees even more deeply: all the Pharisees, in their inner essence (not by religion), perceive the worship of God as just observing the outer side of the points of His law (letters), which are noticeable from the outside and help to look righteous. However, they neglect the inner side of God’s requirements (His spirit), the failure of which is difficult to catch from the outside:
But woe to you Pharisees, because you tithe mint, rue, and all kinds of vegetables, and are careless about the judgment and love of God:
After all, who can know the heart of a Pharisee? Who can know that his trial is unfair? Or that the Pharisee, efficient and scrupulous in delivering spices, despises poor fellow believers, for example? Nobody. Therefore, in the eyes of people, the Pharisees managed to acquire the reputation of righteousness, and this was enough for them. And what kind of inner essence they had - they didn’t worry about that, and they didn’t even plan to renew their personality, turning it into a loving one, because they didn’t understand that this was the most important thing in the worship of God.
this had to be done, and this should not be abandoned. However, speaking about the advantage of internal purity, Jesus did not want to say that someone who is internally pure may not fulfill God’s commandments to bring spices to the temple. He only showed that a man of God will first take care of inner purity, and inner purity will prompt him to fulfill the law of God in everything in general, even in small things.
11:43 Woe to you Pharisees, because you love presiding in synagogues and greetings in public assemblies. The desire to have authority in the eyes of people completely consumed the Pharisees, their life was reduced solely to acquiring the people's right to occupy places of honor in public places. But why is this also grief for the Pharisees? Because if you follow the path of acquiring human recognition and achieving honor among people, then the path to God will be lost: the paths of the acquisition of God’s glory and the acquisition of human glory are too different. And if a person decides to go exclusively “to the people,” then he will not come to God, and their whole appearance of ostentatious piety will not help them to be saved.
11:44
Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you are like hidden tombs over which people walk and do not know it.
Pharisaism masquerading as God's righteous people is a dangerous phenomenon for people, since their true essence is hidden from the majority under the mask of a righteous man, it is difficult to see them as opponents of God, just as it is difficult to see the graves under your feet and not step on them, so as not to become desecrated.
Geneva:
Touching a burial site, according to the law of Moses, desecrated a person (Numbers 19:16), so Jewish graves were always clearly marked. The inconspicuous, “hidden” grave was fraught with the threat of accidental desecration. Thus, Jesus openly tells the Pharisees that they themselves are the source of defilement.
Therefore, those who follow the Pharisees and imitate them, thinking that they are going to God, may just as well not come to God in the end as they themselves, having become defiled by them, without even knowing it.
11:45
To this one of the lawyers said to Him: Teacher! By saying this, You offend us too.
Unfortunately, this lawyer did not see in the words of Jesus either a chance to become a disciple of Christ, or a benefit for himself personally with the opportunity to correct himself, becoming a different person taking into account Christ’s comments.
He did not see Christ’s advice or a chance to be saved, but a personal insult: the fact that he took Christ’s reproof upon himself indicated that he was the same as the owner of the house, the Pharisee to whom Jesus was addressing.
Why did he perceive Christ's words this way? Because he did not understand what Christ was talking about: the perception of the external side of God’s law prevented him from understanding the spiritual essence of Christ’s words; for him, the comparison with coffins and the mention of hypocrisy simply sounded like insults, because he considered himself a righteous man and did not think that seeking human glory, washing only his hands, “without washing” his heart, was bad.
11:46
The indignant one was a lawyer, and Jesus switched to denouncing these “righteous” among God’s people, who were no closer to God in their masterly understanding of the law than the scrupulous Pharisees:
But He said: woe to you lawyers too, because you impose unbearable burdens on people, but you yourself do not even touch them with one finger.
This category of God's servants, responsible for the interpretation and application of laws among God's people, added their own demands to God's laws, imposing unnecessary and difficult regulations on God's people, because of which the people believed that they could never become righteous (as , for example, they wrote a lengthy ritual for washing their hands instead of stopping at just washing their hands).
The lawyers themselves often did not fulfill what they demanded of people, finding loopholes for themselves in their own requirements.
11:47,48
Woe to you, for you build tombs for the prophets whom your fathers killed: 48 By this you testify to the works of your fathers and agree with them, for they killed the prophets, and you build their tombs.
If the lawyers and the Pharisees, wanting to rise in the eyes of the people and building tombs for the prophets, said that, they say, “the prophets were killed our fathers, and we love and value prophets, as you see” - then they recognized that they were the sons of precisely those fathers who kill God’s prophets.
If they really loved and valued them, they would not be able to call the killers of God's prophets their fathers.
11:49
That is why the wisdom of God said:
This means that God, through Christ, tells the true picture of things in relation to the reception of God's prophets, sent to the rulers of God's people for the purpose of turning them from evil ways:
I will send prophets and apostles to them, and some of them will be killed and others driven out,
Jesus predicts that those “righteous people who so diligently build tombs for the slain prophets sent to their fathers will, following the example of their fathers, kill God’s messengers sent to them (2 Proverbs 36:14-16)
11:50,51
that the blood of all the prophets, shed since the foundation of the world, may be required from this generation,
51 from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah, who was killed between the altar and the temple. She, I tell you, will be required of this generation.
God, through Christ, also predicts that this “righteous” generation, which has always appeared among God’s people and kills God’s prophets sent to them to admonish them, will not get away with not a single drop of blood shed by the saints through the fault of this generation (aka - an evil and adulterous generation, constantly seeking signs beyond those already presented, and this is the generation that will not pass through the people of God even before Jesus comes the second time - Matthew 23:34-36)
11:52
Woe to you lawyers, because you took the key of understanding; you yourselves did not enter, and you hindered those who entered.
The lawyers and scribes "took the key of understanding" - almost sounds like "took upon themselves the leadership" of God's people.
That is, they took upon themselves the responsibility of explaining the word of God to His people. But they did not live up to this responsibility because they themselves did not understand the essence of God’s law.
So it turned out that not only did they themselves not enter the number of those approved by God, but they also prevented those who wanted to enter the approval of God with their incorrect explanation of God’s requirements. Why? Because, walking the wrong path to God themselves, they deviated from the path to God those who trustingly followed them.
Today, all Christians would do well to keep in mind this example of failed leadership of God's people of old and remember that those who take leadership themselves are very different from those to whom God gives the ability to lead and entrusts God's people (Moses, for example, Christ, the Apostles) . The leadership of those who take upon themselves the responsibility of leading God's people must be checked against the leadership of those to whom God has personally entrusted this responsibility. How is this possible?
All those to whom God has personally given this responsibility have written down God's requirements for His people, and today they can be learned through the study of Scripture. By checking with the Bible the teachings and requirements of those who today take upon themselves the responsibility of leading God's people, one can compare how much they agree with the word of God and that's it,
what does not agree with it is not to be accepted as a guide to action. This is the only way to avoid deviating from the path to God: to always check the Biblical signs along the path along which those who have taken upon themselves this responsibility lead us to God.
11:53, 54
When He told them this, the scribes and Pharisees began to press hard on Him, forcing Him to answer many things,
The scribes and Pharisees bombarded Jesus Christ with many questions, but, alas, not in order to enrich themselves with his knowledge, but solely in order to find a reason to get rid of him:
54 looking under Him and trying to catch something from His mouth to accuse Him.
Scribes and Pharisees, referring to the leaders of God's people in the 1st century, had power over Jesus
the entire period of his preaching and could easily have expelled him from the synagogue or killed him. All that remained was to find - FOR WHAT.
And they searched.
It must be said that their desire for human glory helped Jesus Christ to hold out with his sermon just as long as he needed to fulfill his mission: despite cynicism and self-interest, the Pharisees and scribes still tried to maintain the appearance of justice, they did not want to blame Jesus so as not to ruin their reputation as righteous people because of this.
. It happened that when He was praying in one place and stopped, one of His disciples said to Him: Lord! teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.
The disciple of Christ is jealous of John’s disciples and therefore wants to learn how to pray. The Savior did not reject the desires of the disciples, but taught.
. He said to them: when you pray, say: He who art in heaven!
“Our Father,” he says, “ who is in heaven". Notice the power of prayer. She immediately leads you to what is above and, since you call God Father, convinces you in every possible way not to lose your likeness to the Father, but to try to become like Him. He did not say “My Father,” but “Our Father,” rousing you to brotherly love and encouraging you to love everyone as brothers in general. Having said: “in heaven”, he does not limit God to them, but raises the listener to heaven and takes him away from earthly things.
Hallowed be Thy name;
"Hallowed be thy name", instead of "let him be glorified", that is, arrange our life so that it is for Your glory. For just as the name of God is blasphemed by the wicked, so is it glorified by those who lead a good life.
Thy kingdom come;
The sinner does not pray for the Kingdom of God, because he does not want its coming because of the punishments awaiting him there. On the contrary, the righteous man prays for it to come soon, so that he can be freed from the temptations here and calm down.
Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven;
“Thy will be done... as it is in heaven”– with the Angels, so with us people “on earth”. For Angels act in everything and in everything according to the will of God.
. Give us our daily bread;
It teaches us to ask for “daily bread” only, that is, useful for our existence and for maintaining life, not at all superfluous, but necessary.
. and forgive us our sins, for we also forgive every debtor to us; and do not lead us into temptation,
Not entering “into temptation” means not rushing into temptation. For we should pray to God not that He would send temptation upon us, but that He would turn it away; and if it befalls, one must endure it with courage. It must be said that there are two types of temptations. Some are arbitrary, for example, drunkenness, murder, adultery and other passions; for we ourselves fall into these temptations arbitrarily. Other temptations are involuntary, to which rulers and the powerful expose us. We must run away from arbitrary temptations, that is, from passions, pray for deliverance from them and say “lead us not,” that is, do not allow us to fall “into temptation,” that is, into arbitrary passion.
but deliver us from evil.
For he brings involuntary and voluntary temptations. Therefore, when you unwittingly suffer temptation from a person, do not consider this person to be the culprit of your temptation, but the evil one. For he incites man to rage against you and rage.
. And he said to them: let's assume that one of you, having a friend, will come to him at midnight and say to him: friend! lend me three loaves of bread,
. for my friend came to me from the road, and I have nothing to offer him;
The Lord, teaching us to pray without laziness, tells a parable and an example. What does the parable mean? “Midnight” refers to the last days of life, which when people reach, they begin to sympathize with goodness and rush to God. For He is a friend who loves everyone and desires salvation for everyone (). So, many “at midnight,” that is, at the end of life, come to God as a friend and say: “give me three loaves,” that is, faith in the Trinity; for “a friend has come,” that is, an Angel taking up a soul. However, every Angel is a friend, just as the Lord says that there is joy in heaven over the salvation of a person ().
. and he from the inside will tell him in response: don’t bother me, the doors are already locked, and my children are with me on the bed; I can't get up and give it to you.
The “children” resting “on the bed” are people who were converted and therefore became children of the Lord and were worthy to rest with Him.
. If, I tell you, he does not get up and give him out of friendship with him, then, out of his persistence, he will get up and give him as much as he asks.
“Persistence” refers to intense and prolonged prayer with patience.
Understand this differently, namely: by “midnight” we mean the power and the midst of temptations. For every temptation is night, and the midst of temptations, without a doubt, is midnight. So, when someone is in the midst of temptations, he comes to God who loves us and says : “lend me three loaves of bread”, that is, the salvation of body, soul and spirit. For temptations threaten these three with danger. Who is the “friend” who came in from the road? Without any doubt, the Lord tests us in temptations and wants to taste our salvation. He who has fallen into temptation, not being able to resist them on his own and to receive the Lord, has nothing to offer Him.
“The doors are locked” means that we must be prepared before temptation, and when we fall, then the door to preparation is already locked, and we, being unprepared, will suffer danger if God does not help. “Children” are (since they were first converted) those who through virtue have become sons of God, recline and rest in God.
. And I will tell you: ask, and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and it will be opened to you,
Look how precise the words are. The Lord did not say, “Ask,” and it will be given to you, but “ask,” that is, continually seek.
. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.
"Everyone who asks receives". Does the one who asks for something useless actually receive it? No. For, firstly, asking for something useless cannot be called a petition before God. For whoever prays to God must ask for what He gives. But if someone asks for something useless, he is not asking God, for He does not give something that is useless.
. Which one of you is the father? When the son will ask him for bread, will he give him a stone? or,: when he asks fish, will he give him a snake instead of a fish?
. Or, if he asks for an egg, will he give him a scorpion?
. So, if you, 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.
Then listen to how the Lord Himself teaches us to ask for what we should ask. He says: the son asks for “bread” and “fish” and “eggs”. Therefore, just as these items constitute human food, so our petitions should be useful to us and serve to help. By asking for “bread” we understand, perhaps, anyone who asks that faith in the Trinity and the correctness of dogmas be revealed to him. For they, as those who strengthen the heart, are bread. And “fish” is asked by someone who, being in the sea of this life, asks God for help, so that he, like a fish, can remain alive and unimmersed among temptations. And he asks for “eggs” who wants to be given the offspring of virtuous souls, which souls, like those who took wings, ascended in spirit and flew over the earth, in justice, can be likened to birds.
. One day He cast out a demon who was mute; and when the demon came out, the dumb man began to speak; and the people were surprised.
“Mute” is often called the one who does not speak; but the one who does not hear is also called, or rather the one who does not hear and does not speak. Those who do not hear from birth do not speak. This happens to them out of necessity. For we speak what we learn through hearing. When someone does not hear, he in all likelihood does not speak. Unless someone’s hearing is subsequently damaged by illness, nothing prevents him from speaking. He who was brought to Christ was mute in both respects: and tongue, and in the ear. He is the image of human nature, which, being possessed by demons, was incapable of hearing the words of God, much less of retelling them. But the Lord, having come and cast out demons, that is, passionate and demonic deeds, did so that we not only speak, but also preach the truth. For the words of God must not only be heard, but also retold to others. So, let us listen, having the works of demons in us, thinking of teaching others and allowing ourselves to be called teachers from people. For when the demon comes out, then there is true talkativeness and teaching, but as long as the works of demons (passions) are within us, we do not speak, although we seem to speak.
. Some of them said: He casts out demons by the power of Beelzebub, the prince of the demons.
. And others, tempting, demanded from Him a sign from heaven.
The Pharisees slander the miracle and blaspheme the Lord as a deceiver. They say: He is friendly with the prince of demons and with his assistance "casts out demons".
. But He, knowing their thoughts, said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself will be desolate, and so will the house: divided in itself, will fall;
. if Satan is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand? and you say that by the power of Beelzebub I cast out demons;
The Lord says to them: how is it possible for a demon to cast out another demon? This would already be the destruction of his kingdom. For if they place their kingdom and rest in living among people, and their prince expels them, then it is clear that he is destroying himself. For and "every kingdom divided" and the indignant one becomes upset, and "a house divided... will fall". By “house” do you mean a building? Fine. For the building stands as long as it remains connected, and when the walls separate from each other, it falls. Will you mean by “house” those living in the house? And as long as they keep peace, they stand, but if they rise up against each other, they fall.
. and if I cast out demons by the power of Beelzebub, by whose power do your sons cast them out? Therefore they will be your judges.
Let it be so that "I cast out demons... force th Beelzebub"; but “your sons”, that is, the apostles, “whose power they drive out”? Is it not obvious that in My name? How then do you say about Me that I drive out through Beelzebub, needing his power, when your sons, namely the apostles, drive out in My name? Truly, they will judge you. For if they drive out in My name, then I Myself obviously have no need of the power of another.
. If I cast out demons with the finger of God, then, of course, the Kingdom of God has reached you.
I'm expelling "by the finger of God", that is, by the Holy Spirit, and not by the evil spirit. He calls the Spirit “finger” so that you know that just as the finger of one being with the whole body, so the Holy Spirit is consubstantial with the Father and the Son. Or maybe it’s not because he calls it this way because the Son is called the right hand of God, and the seven powers of the Spirit rested on Him, and not as on an instrument of the Spirit, but as on one in essence with Him; one of the gifts and actions of the Spirit is the power to heal. Says I cast out demons "by the finger of God", that is, the gift of the Spirit. For just as the finger is part of the hand, so the spirit of healing was part of those spirits, that is, the powers of the Spirit, which Jesus had.
If, he says, "I... cast out demons" by the power of God, it truly came "The kingdom of God is before you". And this has the following meaning: the kingdom of the devil is finally destroyed, and God reigns, casting out demons. For listen to what he says next.
. When a strong man guards his house with arms, then his property is safe;
. when his strongest attacks him and defeats him, then he will take all his weapons in which he hoped and divide what was stolen from him.
Before My coming,” he says, “Satan was strong and “guarding his house,” that is, he dominated human nature firmly and safely. But when I came, "his strongest", then I conquered the world and everything "his... weapon... that he hoped for", that is, all types of sin. For sin is the weapon of the devil, and with it he boldly overcame people. I crushed all his weapons, because no sin was found in Me (); since then he has weakened. AND "stolen from him", that is, people who were, as it were, his prey, I snatched from him and entrust each one to a special Angel, a faithful guardian, so that instead of the demon who had him in power, an Angel would rule over him.
. He who is not with Me is against Me; and whoever does not gather with Me scatters.
. When the unclean spirit leaves a person, he walks through dry places, looking for rest, and, not finding it, says: I will return to my house from where I came;
. and, having arrived, finds it swept and put away;
. then he goes and takes with him seven other spirits more evil than himself, and entering, they live there - and for that person the last thing is worse than the first.
And otherwise. What kind of communication is there between Me and Beelzebub? My business is to gather the scattered children of God; and his business is that he wastes those who have been gathered. How do you conclude about Me that I have fellowship with Satan? Truly, such a thought has appeared in you because you are now in greater communion with demons. The unclean spirit lived in you before, when you served idols and killed prophets. Then, apparently, he left you. And now he returned again “to his house,” that is, to your souls, with “seven spirits,” that is, many (for the number “seven” in Scripture is often used to mean “many”), and did for you "the last is worse than the first". For then, when you served idols, you killed the prophets, but you did not yet openly insult the Son of God, who appeared in the flesh for your sake. And now what hope of salvation is there when you remain with the same ingratitude and insolence even after the Son has become incarnate and performs miracles for your sake?
“Waterless places” are the souls of those who have no softness, (souls) callous and preoccupied with themselves. Since the evil one has no place to dwell in such souls, he returns to the Jews, and the latter for them becomes worse than the former. So, now they no longer have either prophets, for they killed the Word, or anointing, for they crucified Christ (the anointed one). Previously, although they served idols, they had visible prophets and anointing; and now they have lost everything, because they have sinned against the Son of God.
. While He was saying this, one woman raised her voice from among the people and said to Him: Blessed is the womb that bore You, and the breasts that nourished You!
While the Pharisees and scribes denigrate the miracles of the Lord, the wife, an ingenuous and simple face, glorifies Him. Where are those who say that the Lord appeared in ghosts? For here is evidence that He also fed on breasts!
. And He said: Blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it.
And He pleases those who keep the word of God, however, not at all in order to deprive His Mother of pleasure, but in order to show that She would not have received any benefit from giving birth to Him and feeding Him with her breasts, if did not have all the other virtues. He says this together because he goes with the time. Since those who envied Him and those who did not listen to His words reviled those who listened, He, in spite of them, especially pleases those who listen. Perhaps He also says this for the sake of the healed deaf man, so that he, having heard the word, would observe it, so that the ability to hear (given to him) would not serve as a condemnation for him.
. When the people began to gather in large numbers, He began to say: This generation is evil, it seeks a sign, and no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah;
“When... the people began to gather in large numbers”, The Lord began to rebuke the foolish. There were several among them who wanted Jesus to perform a sign from heaven; for they said: the signs that He does are from the earth, and He does them by the power of Beelzebub, the prince of peace, who has power over the earth; but He cannot do a sign from heaven, because He is not the Son of the Heavenly Father. Since some said so, the Lord denounces them and says: a sign will be given to you that will prove that I am the true Son of the Heavenly Father. Which one? “The Sign of Jonah”, that is, the sign of the Resurrection ().
. For as Jonah was a sign to the Ninevites, so will the Son of Man be to this generation.
For just as he spent three days in the belly of the whale, so I will remain three days in the belly of the whale, the great animal, that is, hell, and will rise again. When Jonah, cast out by a whale and seemingly revived again, began to preach, the Ninevites listened (); and even after My Resurrection this generation will not believe Me. Therefore they will be condemned for not imitating the Ninevites, although there is more Jonah here. For My dignity and the way of preaching make a great difference. I am the Master, he is the slave. I preach the Kingdom of Heaven, he is salvation from threatening destruction, I perform miracles, he did not perform any miracle.
. The queen of the south will rise up in judgment with the people of this generation and condemn them, for she came from the ends of the earth to listen to the wisdom of Solomon; and behold, there is more Solomon here.
. The Ninevites will rise up in judgment with this generation and condemn it, for they repented from the preaching of Jonah, and behold, there is more Jonah here.
Likewise “The queen of the south... will condemn” this generation, for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon.
By “queen of the south” we mean, perhaps, every soul that is strong and constant in goodness. I'll explain. The north, when it serves as a symbol of the location of the enemy, is not approved by Scripture, because it is cold and induces deadness and numbness; and the south (as the opposite of the north) is approved, because the south wind brings warmth, revitalization, and warms up the numb parts. Therefore, in the Song of Songs, the bride, driving away the north, says: "Arise... from the north and come from the south"(), and the prophet again says: “And the one who comes from the north I will remove from you”, that is, Satan (). So, the soul, reigning in the south, that is, in the fertile country of spiritual life, and strengthened through exercise in activity, comes to listen to wisdom, that is, it ascends to contemplation. For the wisdom of Solomon, the peaceful king, is the contemplation of our Lord and God, which no one will achieve otherwise unless, through exercise in activity, he becomes a king and ruler in a virtuous life.
. No one, having lit a candle, puts it in a secret place, not under a bushel, but on a candlestick, so that those who enter may see the light.
Since the envious Jews, looking at miracles, misinterpreted them out of malice of mind, the Lord says the following: people who received a “lamp” from God, that is, the gift of the mind with which we look, as if given to us by a light, hid their prudence and, darkening themselves with envy, they do not see miracles and blessings, although we received the mind for this purpose, to put it on a candlestick, so that others “could see the light.” In my opinion, He says this: Pharisee! you have knowledge - this is a lamp. You should have used this knowledge to recognize miracles yourself and to declare and explain to others that they were the works of the Son of God, and not Beelzebub. In this way, those “entering”, that is, those newly introduced and beginning, would see the light. For he who is wise has already entered; and whoever is still studying is just entering.
. The lamp of the body is the eye; So, if your eye is clean, then your whole body will be bright; and if it is bad, then your body will be dark.
. So, look: is not the light that is in you darkness?
. If your body is all light and does not have a single dark part, then everything will be as light as if a lamp illuminated you with radiance.
But you, Pharisees, did not want to do this, and the eye of the soul, that is, the mind, hitherto straight, bent and darkened. For just as the eye of the body, what it is, makes the body such, for example, if it is pure, then the body is light, and if it is dark, then the body is dark, so in the same way the soul is located according to the state of the mind. If the eye and light she received from God begin to be darkened by envy or covetousness, generally speaking, by love for material things, then she too becomes darkened.
. While He was saying this, a certain Pharisee asked Him to have dinner with him. He came and lay down.
Although the Lord knows the ill will of the Pharisees, nevertheless, he dines with them because they were crafty and needed correction. For this is why He dines with them, so that he may have a reason to improve their morals.
. The Pharisee was surprised to see that He did not wash: hands before lunch.
For example, even now, looking at their unreasonable custom of washing before eating food, they teach that the soul must be cleansed by good deeds, since rinsing with water cleanses not the soul, but the body. They, foolish, thought that by immersing themselves in water and washing the body, their soul would be cleansed along with the body. Therefore, the Lord used the wonderful example of the cup.
. But the Lord said to him: Now you Pharisees cleanse the outside of the cup and the platter, but your insides are full of robbery and wickedness.
And as it was time for the table, He mentions the cup and the dish and, borrowing evidence from what lay before his eyes, convinces the Pharisee that just as there is no benefit if the outside of the cup is clean, but inside is filled with all kinds of dirt, so there is no benefit in in the event that, when washing the body, the soul is filled with all uncleanness, for example, "theft and deceit". The Lord hinted at the two dominant passions of the Jews: with the word “theft” - covetousness, with the word “wickedness” - with envy and the consequences of envy. So, there is no benefit if the soul is in such a state.
. Foolish! Didn't the same One who created the external also create the internal?
Reckless! Was it not the same one who created the soul, who created the body on which you dwell so much? Therefore, you must cleanse your soul.
. Better give alms from what you have, then everything will be clean for you.
Then he teaches them how the inside is cleansed, namely: he points to “alms.” Look, perhaps, how He, pointing to alms, heals both of their passions, I mean envy and theft. For he who is truly merciful will neither steal from the one to whom he gives alms, nor envy him. So, since He condemned two passions in them, He drives them out with one medicine, namely alms, which is the first door of idolizing love. Where is love, where is covetousness and envy? "From what you have", that is, from your property. Well said: "from what you have", and not simply: “from what is,” because possessions are in the heart of the covetous and dominate in him. Why does David command “not to attach... hearts” to wealth (), that is, not to nail it down or tie it.
. But woe to you Pharisees, for you give tithes of mint, rue and all kinds of vegetables, and neglect the judgment and love of God: this should have been done, and not forsaken.
The Pharisees, precisely in order not to break the Law, gave tithes from the most insignificant items, and if anyone reproached them for pettiness, they referred to the Law, which commanded the priests to bring tithes from everything (). Therefore, the Lord says: just as you do not neglect this, so it was fitting for you to practice the judgment and love of God. Since the Pharisees were unjust, oppressing widows and orphans, the Lord says: you must have “judgment,” that is, justice. Since they were contemptuous of God, stretching out their hand to sacred matters without reasoning, the Lord commands them to have “the love of God.” For whoever loves God does not approach His works with disdain. But it seems to me that since there are two types of love: love for God and love for one’s neighbor, then perhaps the Lord is making a hint about these two types: the word “judgment” means love for one’s neighbor, since justice and non-oppression of one’s neighbor come from love for him , and the word “love of God”, without a doubt, means complete disposition towards God. And when someone loves his neighbor not out of some worldly or shameful disposition, but for the sake of God, then this love can be called the love of God, since it is commanded by God and is pleasing to Him.
. Woe to you Pharisees, because you love presiding in synagogues and greetings in public assemblies.
They (the Pharisees) loved that every person should give them honor and that "in the people's assemblies" they were called by the title: “teacher” (); this means the words: “greeting”, “presiding”.
. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you are like hidden tombs over which people walk and do not know it.
The Lord says: you are like tombs, which are full of all rottenness, and outside shine with marble; people do not recognize them by their appearance, by what rules they are guided in life (why they walk), and if they knew, they would turn away because of their inner filth.
. To this one of the lawyers said to Him: Teacher! By saying this, You offend us too.
The lawyer recklessly exposes himself to reproof. The lawyers were different from the Pharisees. The Pharisees were considered ascetics and cut off from others, and the lawyers were scribes and teachers and resolved questions from the Law for those who wished.
. But He said: woe to you lawyers too, because you impose unbearable burdens on people, but you yourself do not even touch them with one finger.
They (the lawyers) imposed on people “heavy and unbearable"; but they themselves did not touch these burdens "and... with his finger", that is, they themselves did not observe anything that they commanded others. For when the teacher himself does what he teaches, then he lightens the burdens, setting an example in himself and encouraging his students. When he does nothing of what he teaches, then the burdens seem truly heavy to the students, since the teacher cannot fulfill them.
. Woe to you, for you build tombs for the prophets whom your fathers killed:
. from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah, who was killed between the altar and the temple. She, I tell you, will be required of this generation.
The Lord also reveals that the Jews are the descendants of Cain and the heirs of his malice when he says that all “the blood shed... from Abel to... Zechariah... will be required of this generation”. You, he says, killed the prophets, your brothers, just as he killed Abel. Why, not without reason, did some take Cain for the image of the people who beat the prophets, for which they were avenged seven times, that is, the lightest punishment, and Lamech - for the image of the people who killed Christ, for which they were avenged seventy times seven (), namely: scattering into irrevocable captivity.
Who was Zechariah, who was killed between the temple and the altar? Some say that this is the ancient Zechariah, the son of Jehoiada, who was stoned, as is known from the book of Kings (). Others say that this is the father of the Forerunner. He did not exclude the Virgin Mary from the ranks of virgins after she gave birth to Christ, but placed her in the same place where they stood; and this place was between the temple and the outer copper altar. For this they killed him. Since some expected their future king in Christ, while others did not want to be under the king’s authority, they therefore killed this saint because he claimed that the Virgin had given birth and that Christ, their future King, had been born, which was disgusting to them , for they wanted to be without a king.
. Woe to you lawyers, because you took the key of understanding; you yourselves did not enter, and you hindered those who entered.
The Lord called “the key of understanding” teaching and guidance through the Law, which can lead to Christ. For the Law, without a doubt, serves as a guide to Christ (). So, the lawyers apparently explained the Law, and meanwhile maliciously withheld "key of understanding" and they did not open the doors of the Law, through which they themselves and the people could come to Christ. The law serves as a door to Christ. But this door remains closed unless someone explains the dark side of the Law and thus opens the door. For the Lord also said: “If you believed Moses, you would believe Me”(). And again: “Search the Scriptures... they testify of Me. But you don't want to come to Me"(). As an example, I will point to one.
Among the Jews, as you know, the lamb was slaughtered, the thresholds were anointed, they ate this meat, and this was their victory over the destroyer (). All this prefigured the Sacrament of Christ.
When Christ was slain as the Immaculate and Most Pure Lamb, then our thresholds, that is, the heart and will, and their upper doors, that is, the mind, were anointed, and we tasted the flesh of the Son of Man and defeated the destroyer of our spiritual strength. And many of the provisions of the Law pointed to Christ.
Although the Law was, as it were, covered and locked by the darkness of the letter, as if by some kind of door, but if the teaching was entrusted to someone, he had the key of understanding; and if he so desired, he could open it, and he himself would enter, and he would bring others in. But the lawyers did not do this, but “the key of understanding... taken”, that is, hidden, hidden from view; When this key, that is, the interpretation of the Law, was taken from the environment (hidden), then its door remained locked.
By “key of understanding” you can also understand faith. For knowledge of the truth occurs through faith, as the prophet Isaiah says: If you do not believe, you will not understand (). So, lawyers "key of understanding", that is, faith, was taken from the environment and hidden. For they did not allow some to believe in Christ, the Savior of all. He performed miracles, and the people, believing for the sake of these miracles, would have recognized Him as God, but they (the lawyers) said that He performed these miracles by the power of Beelzebub. Do you see how they took the key of understanding, not allowing them to believe what would themselves lead to knowledge? He (Christ) taught the will of God in the synagogues, but they (the lawyers) said: he has a demon and is raving, why do you listen to Him?
So, they (that is, the Pharisees and scribes), truly, took the key of understanding, but they themselves did not enter and did not let others in, and, moreover, “those who entered,” that is, those already capable of knowing God.
. When He told them this, the scribes and Pharisees began to press hard on Him, forcing Him to answer many things,
. looking under Him and trying to catch something from His mouth in order to accuse Him.
“While He was still speaking,” these things, instead of admitting their powerlessness, as if in refutation of His words, they declared themselves to be the wisest of Him and began to block His mouth, that is, to constantly question Him and lead to bewilderment. For difficulties usually occur in speeches when one person is suddenly asked by many people, and, moreover, about different subjects. Then this person, not being able to answer everyone, gives reason to the unreasonable to consider himself defeated. These damned ones plotted the same thing against Christ. Many of them, asking one, thought to confuse Him in speeches and put Him in difficulty, as if He was unable to answer them: which was and was probable. For how can one suddenly answer many different questions? This can also be taken in this meaning: "to catch Him... from the lips" and expose. For when someone is caught in his own words, then he, it seems, closes his own lips, that is, he is convicted with his own lips and condemned. This meaning can be seen from what follows. For it is said: "trying to catch something from His mouth". What was named a little earlier is now replaced by the words - "catch from His mouth".
They asked Him questions either regarding the Law (of Moses), in order to expose Him as a blasphemer who blasphemed Moses (for they suspected Him of this), then regarding Caesar, in order to declare Him a rebel and a seeker of power, and about everything that wicked souls could come up with. and full of all malice.
It happened that when He was praying in one place and stopped, one of His disciples said to Him: Lord! teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.
He told them: When you pray, say: “Our Father who art in heaven! Hallowed be Thy name; Thy kingdom come; Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven;Give us our daily bread;and forgive us our sins, for we also forgive every debtor to us; and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.”
And he said to them: let's put, What one of you, having a friend, will come to him at midnight and say to him: “friend! lend me three loaves of bread,for my friend came to me from the road, and I have nothing to offer him”;and he from inside will tell him in response: “Don’t bother me, the doors are already locked, and my children are with me on the bed; I can’t get up and give it to you.”If, I tell you, he does not get up and give him out of friendship with him, then, out of his persistence, he will get up and give him as much as he asks.
And I will tell 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.Which one of you is the father? When the son will ask him for bread, will he give him a stone? or, when he asks fish, will he give him a snake instead of a fish?Or, if he asks for an egg, will he give him a scorpion?So, if you, 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.
One day He cast out a demon who was mute; and when the demon came out, the dumb man began to speak; and the people were surprised.Some of them said: He casts out demons by the power of Beelzebub, the prince of the demons.And others, tempting, demanded from Him a sign from heaven.
But He, knowing their thoughts, said to them: Every kingdom divided against itself will be desolate, and the house divided in itself, will fall;if Satan is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand? and you say that by the power of Beelzebub I cast out demons;and if I cast out demons by the power of Beelzebub, by whose power do your sons cast them out? Therefore they will be your judges.If I cast out demons with the finger of God, then, of course, the Kingdom of God has reached you.
When a strong man guards his house with arms, then his property is safe;when his strongest attacks him and defeats him, then he will take all his weapons in which he hoped and divide what was stolen from him.
He who is not with Me is against Me; and whoever does not gather with Me scatters.
When the unclean spirit leaves a person, he walks through waterless places, looking for rest, and, not finding it, says: “I will return to my house from where I came”;and, having arrived, finds it swept and put away;then he goes and takes with him seven other spirits more evil than himself, and entering, they live there - and for that person the last thing is worse than the first.
While He was saying this, one woman raised her voice from among the people and said to Him: Blessed is the womb that bore You, and the breasts that nourished You!And He said: Blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it.
When the people began to gather in large numbers, He began to say: This generation is evil, it seeks a sign, and no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah;For as Jonah was a sign to the Ninevites, so will the Son of Man be to this generation.The queen of the south will rise up in judgment with the people of this generation and condemn them, for she came from the ends of the earth to listen to the wisdom of Solomon; and behold, there is more Solomon here.The Ninevites will rise up in judgment with this generation and condemn it, for they repented from the preaching of Jonah, and behold, there is more Jonah here.
No one, having lit a candle, puts it in a secret place, not under a bushel, but on a candlestick, so that those who enter may see the light.
The lamp of the body is the eye; So, if your eye is clean, then your whole body will be bright; and if it is bad, then your body will be dark.So, look: is not the light that is in you darkness?If your body is all light and does not have a single dark part, then everything will be as light as if a lamp illuminated you with radiance.
While He was saying this, a certain Pharisee asked Him to have dinner with him. He came and lay down.The Pharisee was surprised to see that He had not washed hands before lunch.But the Lord said to him: Now you Pharisees cleanse the outside of the cup and the platter, but your insides are full of robbery and deceit.Foolish! Didn't the same One who created the external also create the internal?Better give alms from what you have, then everything will be clean for you.
But woe to you Pharisees, for you give tithes of mint, rue and all kinds of vegetables, and neglect the judgment and love of God: this should have been done, and not forsaken.Woe to you Pharisees, because you love presiding in synagogues and greetings in public assemblies.Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you are like hidden tombs over which people walk and do not know it.
To this one of the lawyers said to Him: Teacher! By saying this, You offend us too.
But He said: And woe to you, lawyers, because you impose unbearable burdens on people, but you yourself do not even touch them with one finger.Woe to you, for you build tombs for the prophets whom your fathers killed:By this you testify to the deeds of your fathers and agree with them, for they killed the prophets, and you build tombs for them.Therefore, the wisdom of God said: I will send prophets and apostles to them, and some of them will be killed, and others will be driven out;that the blood of all the prophets, shed since the foundation of the world, may be required from this generation,from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah, who was killed between the altar and the temple. She, I tell you, will be required of this generation.Woe to you lawyers, because you took the key of understanding; you yourselves did not enter, and you hindered those who entered.
When He told them this, the scribes and Pharisees began to press hard on Him, forcing Him to answer many things,looking under Him and trying to catch something from His mouth in order to accuse Him.
Comments on Chapter 11
INTRODUCTION TO THE GOSPEL OF LUKE
A BEAUTIFUL BOOK AND ITS AUTHOR
The Gospel of Luke has been called the most delightful book in the world. When an American once asked Dennay to recommend one of the biographies of Jesus Christ for him to read, he replied: “Have you tried reading the Gospel of Luke?” According to legend, Luke was a skilled artist. In one Spanish cathedral, a portrait of the Virgin Mary, allegedly painted by Luke, has survived to this day. As for the Gospel, many researchers believe that it is the best biography of Jesus Christ ever compiled. According to tradition, it has always been believed that Luke was its author, and we have every reason to support this point of view. IN ancient world books were usually attributed to famous people, and no one contradicted this. But Luke never belonged to the prominent figures of the early Christian Church. Therefore, it would never have occurred to anyone to attribute this Gospel to him if he had not really written it.
Luke came from the Gentiles. Of all the authors of the New Testament, he was the only one who was not a Jew. He is a doctor by profession (Col. 4:14), and perhaps this is precisely what explains the sympathy he inspires. They say that a priest sees the good in people, a lawyer sees the bad, and a doctor sees them as they are. Luke saw people and loved them.
The book was written for Theophilus. Luke calls him "Venerable Theophilus." This treatment was reserved only for high-ranking officials in the Roman government. There is no doubt that Luke wrote this book to tell the serious and interested person more about Jesus Christ. And he succeeded in this, painting Theophilus a picture that undoubtedly aroused his great interest in Jesus, about whom he had already heard.
SYMBOLS OF EVANGELISTS
Each of the four Gospels was written from a certain point of view. Evangelists are often depicted on church stained glass windows, usually each with their own symbol. These symbols do vary, but the most typical are the following:
Symbol Brand is Human. The Gospel of Mark is the simplest, most laconic of all the Gospels. It has been well said of him that his distinguishing feature is realism. It most closely corresponds to its purpose - a description of the earthly life of Jesus Christ.
Symbol Matthew is a lion. Matthew was a Jew, and wrote for Jews: he saw in Jesus the Messiah, the lion “of the tribe of Judah,” whose coming all the prophets predicted.
Symbol Joanna is eagle. The eagle can fly higher than all other birds. They say that of all God's creations, only the eagle can look at the sun without squinting. The Gospel of John is the theological Gospel; the flight of his thoughts is higher than all other Gospels. Philosophers draw themes from it, discuss them throughout their lives, but resolve them only in eternity.
Symbol Bows is Taurus. The calf is meant to be slaughtered, and Luke saw Jesus as a sacrifice made for the whole world. In Luke's Gospel, moreover, all barriers are overcome, and Jesus becomes accessible to both Jews and sinners. He is the savior of the world. With that in mind, let's look at the specifics of this gospel.
LUKA - AN EXCITING HISTORIAN
The Gospel of Luke is primarily the result of careful work. His Greek is elegant. The first four verses are written in the best Greek in the entire New Testament. In them, Luke states that his gospel was written "after careful research." He had great opportunities and reliable sources for this. As Paul's trusted companion, he must have been well acquainted with all the major details of the early Christian Church, and they undoubtedly told him everything they knew. For two years he and Paul were in prison in Caesarea. During those long days he undoubtedly had many opportunities to study and explore everything. And he did it thoroughly.
An example of Luke's thoroughness is the dating of the appearance of John the Baptist. At the same time, he refers to no less than six contemporaries. “In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar (1), when Pontius Pilate was in charge of Judea (2), Herod was tetrarch in Galilee (3), Philip his brother was tetrarch in Ituraea and the Trachotnite region (4), and Lysanias was tetrarch in Abilene (5), under the high priests Annas and Caiaphas (6), the word of God came to John, the son of Zechariah, in the wilderness." (Onion. 3.1.2). Undoubtedly, we are dealing with a diligent author who will adhere to the greatest possible accuracy of presentation.
GOSPEL FOR THE PAGENTS
Luke wrote mainly to pagan Christians. Theophilus, like Luke himself, was a pagan; and in his Gospel there is nothing that a pagan would not realize and understand, a) As we see, Luke begins his dating Roman emperor and Roman governor, that is, the Roman style of dating comes first, b) Unlike Matthew, Luke is less interested in depicting the life of Jesus in the sense of the embodiment of Jewish prophecies, c) He rarely quotes the Old Testament, d) Instead of Hebrew words, Luke usually uses them Greek translations so that every Greek can understand the content of what is written. Simon Kananit becomes his Simon the Zealot (cf. Mat. 10,4and Luke. 5.15). He calls Golgotha not a Hebrew word, but a Greek one - Kranieva mountain, the meaning of these words is the same - Execution Place. He never uses the Hebrew word for Jesus, rabbi, but the Greek word for mentor. When Luke gives the genealogy of Jesus, he traces it not to Abraham, the founder of the people of Israel, as Matthew does, but to Adam, the forefather of mankind (cf. Mat. 1,2; Onion. 3,38).
This is why the Gospel of Luke is easier to read than all the others. Luke did not write for the Jews, but for people just like us.
GOSPEL PRAYERS
The Gospel of Luke places special emphasis on prayer. More than others, Luke shows us Jesus immersed in prayer before important events in His life. Jesus prays during His baptism (Luke 3, 21) before the first clash with the Pharisees (Luke 5 16), before the calling of the twelve apostles (Luke 6, 12); before asking the disciples who they say He is (Onion. 9.18-20); and before he predicts his death and resurrection (9.22); during the transformation (9.29); and on the cross (23.46). Only Luke tells us that Jesus prayed for Peter during his trial (22:32). Only Luke gives a parable-prayer about a friend coming at midnight (11:5-13) and a parable about an unjust judge (Onion. 18.1-8). For Luke, prayer always appeared open door to God, and the most precious in the whole world.
GOSPEL OF WOMEN
Women occupied a secondary position in Palestine. In the morning the Jew thanked God that He had not made him “a pagan, a slave, or a woman.” But Luke gives women a special place. The story of the birth of Jesus is told from the point of view of the Virgin Mary. It is in Luke that we read about Elizabeth, about Anna, about the widow at Nain, about the woman who anointed the feet of Jesus in the house of Simon the Pharisee. Luke gives us vivid portraits of Martha, Mary, and Mary Magdalene. It is very likely that Luke was a native of Macedonia, where women occupied a freer position than elsewhere.
GOSPEL OF PRAISE
In the Gospel of Luke, glorification of the Lord occurs more often than in all other parts of the New Testament. This praise reaches its climax in three great hymns that have been sung by all generations of Christians - the hymn to Mary (1:46-55), the blessing of Zechariah (1:68-79); and in the prophecy of Simeon (2:29-32). The Gospel of Luke spreads a rainbow light, as if heavenly radiance would illuminate the earthly vale.
GOSPEL FOR ALL
But the most important thing about Luke's gospel is that it is a gospel for everyone. In it, all barriers were overcome, Jesus Christ appeared to all people, without exception.
a) The Kingdom of God is not closed to the Samaritans (Onion. 9, 51-56). Only in Luke do we find the parable of the Good Samaritan (10:30-36). And that one leper who returned to thank Jesus Christ for healing was a Samaritan (Onion. 17.11-19). John cites a saying that Jews do not associate with Samaritans (John. 4.9). Luke does not block anyone's access to God.
b) Luke shows Jesus speaking favorably of Gentiles whom orthodox Jews would consider unclean. In him, Jesus cites the widow of Zarephath of Sidon and Naaman the Syrian as exemplary examples (4:25-27). Jesus praises the Roman centurion for his great faith (7:9). Luke quotes the great words of Jesus: “And they will come from the east and the west, and the north and the south, and will sit down in the kingdom of God” (13:29).
c) Luke pays great attention to the poor. When Mary offers a sacrifice for cleansing, it is a sacrifice for the poor (2:24). The culmination of the answer to John the Baptist is the words “the poor preach the good news” (7:29). Only Luke gives the parable of the rich man and the beggar Lazarus (16:19-31). And in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus taught: “Blessed are the poor in spirit.” (Matthew 5:3; Luke 6, 20). The Gospel of Luke is also called the gospel of the dispossessed. Luke's heart is with every person whose life is unsuccessful.
d) Luke best portrays Jesus as a friend of exiles and sinners. Only he talks about the woman who anointed His feet with ointment, wet them with tears and wiped them with her hair in the house of Simon the Pharisee (7:36-50); about Zacchaeus, the chief of publicans (19:1-10); about the repentant thief (23.43); and only Luke cites the immortal parable of the prodigal son and loving father (15:11-32). When Jesus sent his disciples out to preach, Matthew indicates that Jesus told them not to go to the Samaritans or the Gentiles (Mat. 10.5); Luke says nothing about this. The authors of all four Gospels, reporting the preaching of John the Baptist, quote from Is. 40: “Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight the paths of our God”; but only Luke brings the quotation to its triumphant end: “And all flesh shall see the salvation of God.” Is. 40,3-5; Mat. 3,3; Mar. 1,3; John 1,23; Onion. 3.4. 6). Of the Gospel writers, Luke teaches more emphatically than others that God’s love is limitless.
BEAUTIFUL BOOK
When studying the Gospel of Luke, you should pay attention to these features. Somehow, of all the authors of the Gospels, I would most like to meet and talk with Luke, because this pagan doctor, who amazingly felt the infinity of God’s love, was in all likelihood a man of a beautiful soul. Frederic Faber wrote about the boundless mercy and incomprehensible love of the Lord:
God's mercy is limitless,
Like a boundless ocean.
In justice unchanged
A way out has been given.
You can't comprehend the love of the Lord
To our feeble minds,
Only at His feet do we find
Peace to weary hearts.
The Gospel of Luke clearly demonstrates the truth of this.
TEACH US TO PRAY (Luke 11:1-4)
According to the custom of that time, the rabbi taught his students a simple prayer, which they could recite as needed. John had already done this for his disciples, and now Jesus’ disciples came to Him asking him to teach them too. Here is Luke's version of the Lord's Prayer. It is shorter than Matthew's version, but from it we can learn everything we need to know about how to pray and what to pray for.
1. It begins with what God is called Father. This was a typical Christian appeal to God (cf. Gal. 4,6; Rome. 8,15; 1 Pet. 1:17), The very first word of prayer notifies us that we are not addressing anyone, but the Father, who gladly satisfies the needs of his children.
2. In Hebrew it is Name means more than the usual name used to call a person. Name means the whole character of a person, in its real manifestation. IN Ps. 9:11 says: “Those who know Your name will trust in You.” This means much more than the fact that God's name is Jehovah. This means that all who know the character, mind, and heart of God will gladly trust Him.
3. Let us especially note the order of the Lord's Prayer. Before asking for anything for yourself, you should proclaim the glory of God and express your reverence for Him. Only after God has been given His proper place are other requests appropriate.
4. This prayer covers the whole life:
A) Her needs are in the present. She indicates to pray to God for our daily bread for this day. This goes back to God's command about manna from heaven in the desert (Ex. 16.11-21). We do not need to worry about the unknown future, only about the present day.
The long journey will not frighten me,
Only You stay with me.
b) Her past sin. When we pray, we can only ask God for forgiveness, for the best of us is only a sinner approaching the presence of an immaculate God.
in her trial in the future. Under temptation any test should be understood. This includes not only temptation to sin, but any situation that is a challenge and at the same time a test of a person’s maturity and fidelity. We cannot escape these trials, but when we are with God, we can withstand these trials.
Someone noted that the Lord's Prayer has two important meanings in human prayer. If we begin prayer with it, it awakens in us various sacred aspirations, which lead us into faithful devotion. If we read it at the end of our prayer, then in it we summarize everything that we should pray for in the presence of God.
ASK, AND IT WILL BE GIVEN TO YOU (Luke 11:5-13)
Travelers were often on the road late in the evening, which gave them the opportunity to avoid the heat of the midday sun. Jesus tells how just such a late traveler arrived at his friend’s place around midnight. Hospitality was the sacred duty of everyone in the East; It was not enough to simply satisfy his immediate needs; for the guest everything had to be in abundance. In the village they baked bread at home. They baked just enough to last for one day, because the bread quickly became stale and the next day it was unlikely that anyone would want to eat it.
The late arrival of the traveler put the owner of the house in a difficult position, because his chest was empty and he could not properly fulfill the sacred requirements of hospitality. Although it was already very late, he went to a friend to borrow some bread. But the door of his house was locked. In the east, a person knocks on a locked door only in case of emergency. In the morning the door opened, and remained open all day, because the inhabitants had little to hide, but if the door was locked, it was clear that the owner of the house did not want to be disturbed. But the man to whom the guest arrived was not stopped by the locked door. He knocked and continued to knock.
The house of a poor resident of Palestine was one room with one small window. The floor was adobe and covered with dry reeds and reeds. The room was divided into two parts, but not by a partition, but by a small elevation. Two thirds of the rooms were at ground level, the remaining third a little higher. On this elevated part a fireplace smoldered all night, around which the whole family slept not on raised trestle beds, but on mats. The families were large and everyone slept, lying down close to each other, so that everyone would be warm. If he got up alone, he inevitably woke up the whole family. In addition, in the village they usually brought animals into the house at night: chickens, roosters and goats.
Is it surprising that a person who was already in bed did not want to get up? And the petitioner continued with daring persistence. This is precisely the meaning of the Greek word used in the text - to knock, until, finally, the owner of the house, realizing that now the whole family was awakened anyway, got up and gave him what he needed.
“This story will tell you about prayer,” Jesus said. The moral of this parable is not to stubbornly pray; no, we should not knock on God’s door until, finally, He, tired of asking, gives us what we want, or until He is forced to answer us against His will.
The word parable in its literal sense means put next to something that is, make a comparison with something. If we put one thing next to another in order to teach someone a lesson, based on the fact that two objects are similar to each other, have something in common with each other, or, on the contrary, are opposite to each other. Jesus, in fact, says this: “If the shameless persistence of a man can force his stubborn and unwilling friend to give him everything he needs, how much more will the heavenly Father satisfy the needs of His children!” “If you,” He said, “being evil, know how to satisfy the needs of your children, how much more will God satisfy you?”
But this does not save us from passionate prayer. After all, in the end, we can confirm the reality and sincerity of our desires only through the diligence and persistence of our prayer. However, this does not mean that we should snatch the gifts we need from God’s hands; we simply turn to the One who knows our needs better than ourselves, and who, having a generous heart, abundantly gives us everything we need. If we have not been given what we pray to God for, it is not because He is sorry for His gift, but because He intends to give us something better. There is no and never was a prayer left unanswered. The answer we get may not be the one we expected or desired; but even if God refuses a prayer, then His refusal is dictated by love and wisdom.
VICIOUS Slanderer (Luke 11:14-23)
When Jesus' enemies could no longer directly contradict Him, they resorted to slander. They declared that His authority to cast out demons was based on His union with the prince of demons. They attributed His power not to the help of God, but to the help of the devil. Jesus gave them a twofold and convincing answer.
First, he dealt them a deft blow. In those days there were many spellcasters and sorcerers in Palestine. Josephus traces this activity back to King Solomon. Among the other abilities of the wise Solomon was the knowledge of herbs and medicinal plants, and he invented magical formulas that made it possible to completely cast out demons so that they never returned; and Josephus states that he himself saw Solomon's methods successfully applied even in his own day (Josephus Jewish antiquities 8: 5.2). And Jesus strikes a successful blow to the slanderers. “If,” He says, “I received the ability to cast out demons because I am in union with the prince of demons, then what can you say about others, your loved ones, who also cast out demons? By condemning Me, you condemn only yourself.”
Secondly, he makes an irrefutable argument. A kingdom in which there is civil war cannot survive. If the demonic prince began to direct his power to expel his own followers, then his kingdom would soon come to an end. A strong man can only be defeated even more strong man. “Therefore,” says Jesus, “if I cast out demons, this not only proves that I am in agreement with the prince of demons, but, on the contrary, that the stronghold of demons is broken, the strong man of evil is defeated, and the kingdom of God is coming.”
Certain enduring truths emerge from this passage.
1. A person by nature is ready to resort to slander if his ordinary arguments are exhausted and do not bring the desired result. A prominent English statesman of the last century, William Gladstone, showed great interest in the problem of moral correction of the fallen women of the streets of London. But his political opponents maliciously insisted that his interest was caused by completely different and base reasons. Slander is the most cruel and inhuman means, because it often leaves a stain on a person; after all, man is by nature inclined to humiliate, and not to elevate others. Do not think that we are not guilty of this. After all, how often are we willing to believe the worst about a person? How often do we deliberately attribute base motives to a person whom we dislike in some way? How often do we ourselves repeat slanderous and vile stories and destroy a person’s reputation over a cup of tea? Thinking about this will leave us no room for complacency, but a need for introspection.
2. Let us remind ourselves once again that Jesus, as proof of the approach of the Kingdom of God, emphasized that the afflicted were healed and the sick were made whole. Jesus' purpose was not only salvation shower; His goal is complete healing and salvation.
3. Luke concludes this passage with Jesus saying, “He who is not with Me is against Me, and he who does not gather with Me scatters.” There is no place for neutrality in Christianity. He who shuns and shuns good automatically contributes to evil. A person either breaks through the road or stands across someone’s road.
THE DANGER OF AN EMPTY SOUL (Luke 11:24-28)
Here is a dark and terrible story about how a demon was cast out of one man. This demon wandered in search of peace, but did not find it. And so he decided to return to man again. He found his soul clean - swept and tidied, but empty. Then he gathered seven other demons who were stronger than him, and together they again took possession of the man, whose fate became even worse than before.
1. This parable contains a fundamental truth: the human soul should not remain empty. It is not enough to simply drive out evil thoughts, bad habits and the old way of life from it, but to leave the soul empty. An empty soul is always in danger. Adam Welch often preached on the topic: “And do not get drunk with wine, which causes debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit.” (Eph. 5, 18). He began it with the words: “A person must be filled with something.” It is not enough to simply banish evil; good must take its place.
2. It follows from this that no religion can be based only on prohibitions. Let's take a very clear example: the problem of observing the resurrection has not yet been resolved. Too often they talk with indignation about what people do on Sunday, and then give a list of things that are prohibited on Sunday. But the person to whom all these tirades are addressed may ask: “Well, what can I do?” And if we don’t answer this question, then it would be better if we didn’t tell him anything at all, because by giving an incomplete list of what not to do, we doom him to idleness, and that’s exactly what the devil is waiting for to keep him busy. the work of an idle man. Religion is always in danger of degenerating into a series of prohibitions and taboos. It is necessary to cleanse, but having eradicated evil, it is necessary to cultivate goodness.
3. The best way to avoid evil is to do good. Most beautiful garden which I saw was so filled with flowers that there was no room for weeds; Flowers need to be planted in every free space; it is not enough just to pull out the weeds. This is more relevant than anywhere else in a person’s spiritual life. We are often bothered by bad thoughts. If we limit ourselves to just saying: “No, I won’t think about it,” then we will nevertheless become increasingly focused on this thought. The way out of this is to think about something else, to displace the bad thought with a noble thought. You can't become pious without doing this or that; a person becomes like this when he fills his life with decent thoughts and deeds.
In verses 27 and 28, Jesus speaks sternly but truthfully. The woman shouting from the crowd was in a state of emotional excitement. And Jesus brought her back to reality. The state of spiritual impulse is a wonderful thing; but the most beautiful thing is the everyday everyday life in obedience to the Lord. No wonderful feelings can replace decent deeds.
RESPONSIBILITY FOR PRIVILEGES (Luke 11:29-32)
The Jews demanded that Jesus do something amazing and thereby prove that He was God's Anointed One. Somewhat later than Him, in 45, a certain Theudas appeared in Palestine, declaring himself the Messiah. He persuaded the people to go with him to the Jordan, promising them to divide the waters of the river and make a dry passage for them to the other side. It goes without saying that the waters did not divide, and the Romans easily dealt with the rebellion; but it was precisely this kind of sign that the Jews craved, believing that it was in this way that Jesus could prove his credibility to them. The Jews did not see that the greatest sign God could send was Jesus himself.
Just as Jonah had once been a sign of God to the Ninevites, so now Jesus was a sign of God to the Jews, but they did not recognize Him. During the time of King Solomon, the Queen of Sheba learned about his wisdom and came from afar to learn from him; When Jonah preached, the people of Nineveh recognized the voice of God in his voice and everyone repented. On the Day of Judgment, these nations will rise up and condemn the Jews of the era of Jesus, because the Jews who lived at that time had opportunities and privileges that they never had and will never have again, but they refused to accept them. The condemnation of the Jews will be all the more severe because their privileges were great.
Privileges and responsibilities are always closely linked. Let's think about two of our greatest privileges and how we use them.
1. The Bible, the Word of God, is available to each of us. And so it wasn't always and it's not it came naturally. There was a time when preaching the Bible itself in native languages was punishable by death. When Wycliffe wrote to a scholar in 1350, asking him to preach the Gospel to the common people in their own language, he received this answer: “I know well that by the law of Christ I must fulfill your request, but, nevertheless, we have now gone so far from the law of Christ that if I grant your request, I will perish; but you said well that a person should live as long as possible." Later, Focke reported that in those days people sat up at night and read and listened to the Word of God in English. "They gave a lot of money for a book, they gave a cartload of hay for a few chapters from St. James or St. Paul, written in English." Tyndale gave England the first printed Bible. He did this, although he himself, in his words, "suffered from poverty, exile, bitter absence of friends, hunger, thirst and cold, great dangers and many large and heated conflicts ". In 1536 he died as a martyr. When, shortly before his death, the authorities burned the Bible printed in English, he said: “They did exactly what I expected of them; I would not be surprised if they burned me too.”
There is no more valuable book than the Bible. Nowadays there is a serious danger that people will give it a cynical definition - a classic book, i.e. a book that everyone has heard of, but that no one reads. We are given the privilege of having the Bible, and this privilege obliges us, for we are responsible for our privileges.
2. We can serve God as we see fit. And this is also a privilege that costs human lives. The tragedy is that many people have used this privilege to avoid serving God at all. And this right obliges us, because we will have to answer for it.
If a man is a Christian, and he has the book of Christ and the church of Christ, then he is an heir to the privileges of God; and if he neglects them, or refuses them, then he, like the Jews of the time of Jesus, is subject to condemnation.
HARD HEART (Luke 11:33-36)
The meaning of this passage is not easy to understand, but perhaps it has the following meaning. The light of the body depends on the eye; if the eye is healthy, a person perceives enough light, but if the eye is unhealthy, the light turns into darkness for him. Similar the light of life depends on the heart; if a person has a morally healthy heart, then his whole life radiates light; if his heart is vicious, his whole life is plunged into darkness. Jesus strongly advises us to keep our inner light always shining.
But why does our inner lamp fade or dim? What can happen to our heart?
1. Our hearts can harden. Sometimes, when our hands have to do something unusual, we experience irritation of the skin and our hands begin to hurt: but if we repeat this often enough, the skin becomes rough, and then we can do without any difficulty what once caused us pain . The same thing happens with our hearts. When we first commit a bad act, we do it with trembling and fear, sometimes even with pain, these feelings become weaker and weaker, and, in the end, we commit them without remorse. Sin has terrible power - it hardens hearts and souls.
The first step of every person towards sin is always accompanied by a cry of warning in his heart, but if he sins quite often, the time comes when sin no longer worries him, and his heart does not beat. What once inspired fear in a person, and what he did extremely reluctantly, becomes habitual. We only have ourselves to blame if we allow ourselves to fall into such a state.
2. Our hearts are getting dumber. Man tragically easily gets used to evil. Sometimes at first our hearts even hurt when we see the suffering of the world, but then we gradually get used to it, take it for granted and stop worrying about it.
Most people feel and experience much more intensely in their youth than in adulthood. This is also true of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ.
Florence Barkley told how she was first taken to church as a little girl. It was Good Friday, we were reading the story of the crucifixion, and it was a wonderful read. She heard about Peter's denial and Judas' betrayal; she heard about the cross-examination of Pontius Pilate; she saw crown of thorns Him, the soldiers blow; she heard the decision to crucify Jesus and then she heard terrible final words: "And they crucified Him." It seemed that this did not touch anyone in the church, but suddenly the girl buried her face in her mother’s dress, burst into tears and her voice rang in the silent church: “Why did they do this? Why did they do this?”
This is exactly how we should perceive the story of the crucifixion, but we have heard it so many times that we now perceive it without any emotion. May God deliver us from a heart that has lost the ability to feel the agony of crucifixion, which He went to for our sake.
3. Our hearts can actively rebel. It is possible that some people know the true path, but deliberately choose the unrighteous path. A person may feel the Lord's hand on his shoulder, but push it away. A man with open eyes can choose his way to a distant land while God calls him to come home. May God deliver us from a hard heart.
HONORING THE THINGS AND NEGLECTING THE ESSENTIAL (Luke 11:37-44)
The Pharisee was surprised that Jesus did not wash his hands before eating. This was not done for the sake of cleanliness; Washing hands before eating was of a ritual nature. The law states that a person must wash their hands properly before eating and that they should also be washed between meals. As usual, every detail has been designed. For this purpose there were special stone vessels with water, because ordinary water could be unclean; To wash your hands you had to use as much water as one and a half eggshells could hold. First, water was poured onto the hands, starting from the fingertips and towards the wrist. Then the palms of the hands were washed, and the palm was rubbed with the back of the other hand clenched into a fist. And finally, water was poured onto the hand again, this time starting from the wrist towards the fingertips. Even the slightest violation of this ritual was considered a sin by the Pharisees. Jesus replied that if the Pharisees had been as careful about the purity of their hearts as they were about the purity of their hands, they would have been better people.
An Orthodox Jew carefully paid the following duties:
A) The first fruits of the earth. The first fruits of the following six plants - wheat, barley, grapevine, fig tree, pomegranate tree, olive tree, as well as the first collected honey were brought as a sacrifice to the temple.
b) Terumu. While the first fruits of the earth were sacrificed to God, the terumah was reserved for the priests to support them. It was also brought from the first fruit of each plant, and its volume was 1/50 of the entire harvest.
V) Tithe. The tithe was paid directly to the Levites, who in turn gave a tenth of what they received to the priests. This tithe included a tenth of everything “that can be eaten and cultivated or grown on the earth.” The scrupulousness of the Pharisees is already evident from the fact that even the law said that one does not have to pay tithes from the rue. Regardless of the feelings and inclinations of the heart, no matter how much they neglected the laws of justice and love, the Pharisees never forgot to pay the tithe.
The privileged seats in the synagogue were located in the front and faced the worshipers. The most honorable places for parishioners were the first rows, and as they moved deeper into the hall, their honor decreased. The advantage of seats depended on how many could see them!
The more respect the people showed to the Pharisees in their greetings on the streets, the greater the pleasure they experienced.
The meaning of verse 44 is clear when we consider the following: “Whoever in the field touches one killed with the sword, or a dead person, or a human bone, or a tomb, will be unclean for seven days.” (Num. 19.16). To be unclean meant to be excluded from all worship. But a person can touch a grave without even noticing it. But this did not matter: one touch made a person unclean. Jesus said that the Pharisees were like the same unnoticed graves. Although people did not know it, the very communication with the Pharisees brought them only harm. Completely unaware of it, the person who came into contact with them became involved in evil. People might not suspect evil at all, but it spread, for they were clearly infected with erroneous thoughts about God and His requirements.
There are two deviations that are especially noticeable about the Pharisees, for which Jesus condemns them.
1. They focused their attention on the external. As long as all external religious rites were performed, they were satisfied. Their hearts could be black as hell; perhaps mercy and even a sense of justice were completely alien to them; but as long as they performed certain rituals at certain times, they considered themselves worthy people in the eyes of God.
A person can attend church regularly, study the Bible diligently, and give generously to the needs of the church; but if he has proud thoughts and contempt in his heart, if he lacks mercy in everyday relations towards his neighbor, if he is unfair to his subordinates, or is dishonest about his work, then he is not a Christian. No one can be a Christian if he only observes the external norms of religion, but forgets about normal relationships between people.
2. The Pharisees focused their attention on the details. Compared to love and kindness, justice and generosity, washing one's hands and paying tithes meticulously are but insignificant details. How often church courts and believers are concerned with petty problems of church leadership and administration, even quarrel and fight among themselves, but forget the great problems of real Christian life.
THE SIN OF THE LEGALISTS (Luke 11:45-54)
Jesus makes three accusations against the scribes.
1. As experts in the law, they imposed on people numerous extremely inconvenient norms of ritual law; but they themselves did not observe them, because they were masters of evasion and evasion. Here are some of these evasions.
The Sabbath journey of a Jew was limited by law to a distance of 2000 cubits (915 meters) from his home. But if a rope was stretched across the road, then this end of the street became his home and he could walk another 915 meters; if on Friday he left food in any place sufficient to satisfy him twice, then this place was also considered his home, and he could walk another 915 meters from it!
In addition to other work, it was forbidden to tie knots on the Sabbath: sailors' knots, camel drivers' knots, and rope knots. But a woman could tie her belt; therefore, if a bucket of water needed to be pulled out of a well, then a rope could not be tied to the bucket, but a belt could, and thus the bucket of water could be pulled out of the well!
It was also forbidden to carry weights, but the ritual law said: “he who carries anything in his right or in his left hand, or in his bosom, or on his shoulders is guilty; but he who wears something on his back side of the palm, on the leg, in the mouth, on the elbow, on the ear, on the hair, or in one’s purse turned upside down, between the purse and the shirt, in the fold of the shirt, in the shoe or in the sandals - does not violate the law, because he does not wear him in the usual way."
It’s hard to even imagine how people could think of the fact that God could establish such a law for someone, and that developing the details of such a law could be a matter of religious service, and their observance could be a matter of life and death. But this is precisely what the religion of the scribes consisted of. It is not surprising, therefore, that Jesus attacked the scribes in His speech, and they, in turn, called him an unbelieving heretic.
2. The attitude of the scribes towards the prophets was contradictory. They proclaimed deep reverence for the prophets. But they only revered dead prophets. They tried to kill the living. They erected tombs and monuments to the dead prophets, but they dishonored, persecuted and killed the living.
“I can’t stand the New Moon and Saturdays and holiday gatherings,” said Isaiah. “O man! it has been told to you what is good, and what the Lord requires of you: to act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with Your God,” said Micah (Mic. 6, 8). This was the essence of the teaching of the prophets; and it was the direct opposite of the teaching of the scribes. It is not surprising, therefore, that the scribes, by deifying the external details they developed, hated the prophets, and Jesus also taught along the line of the prophets. The murder of the prophet Zechariah is described in 2 Steam. 24,20.21.
3. The scribes hid the Holy Scriptures from the people. Their interpretations of the Scriptures were so peculiar that to the common man it was difficult to understand anything in them, and therefore they became a book of riddles for him. In their delusion, they refused to see the true meaning of the Scriptures and did not allow others to study them. In the hands of scribes, they also became an incomprehensible mystery for the common man.
The same thing happens today. There are also those who demand from others compliance with standards of life and behavior that they themselves do not even think of fulfilling. For many more, all religion consists solely in observing external rules. Nowadays there are also those who make the Word of God so difficult to understand that the seeking mind is perplexed and does not know what to believe and who to listen to.
Commentary (introduction) to the entire book of Luke
Comments on Chapter 11
"The most beautiful book in existence."(Ernest Renan)
Introduction
I. SPECIAL POSITION IN THE CANON
The most beautiful book in existence is highly praised, especially from a skeptic. And yet, this is precisely the assessment that the French critic Renan gave to the Gospel of Luke. And what can a sympathetic believer, reading the inspired masterpiece of this evangelist, object to these words? Luke is perhaps the only pagan writer chosen by God to record His Scripture, and this partly explains his special appeal to the heirs of Greco-Roman culture in the West.
Spiritually, we would be much poorer in our appreciation of the Lord Jesus and His ministry without the unique expressiveness of Luke the physician.
It emphasizes our Lord's special interest in individuals, even the poor and outcast, and His love and salvation, which He offered to all people, not just the Jews. Luke also places particular emphasis on doxology (as he provides examples of early Christian hymns in chapters 1 and 2), prayer, and the Holy Spirit.
Luke, a native of Antioch and a physician by profession, was Paul’s companion for a long time, talked a lot with the other apostles, and in two books left us samples of the medicine for souls that he received from them.
External evidence Eusebius in his “History of the Church” about the authorship of the third Gospel is consistent with the general early Christian tradition.
Irenaeus extensively quotes the third Gospel as being from Luke.
Other early evidence supporting Luke's authorship includes Justin Martyr, Hegesippus, Clement of Alexandria, and Tertullian. In Marcion's extremely tendentious and abridged edition, the Gospel of Luke is the only one accepted by this famous heretic. Muratori's fragmentary canon calls the third Gospel "Luke."
Luke is the only evangelist to write a sequel to his Gospel, and it is from this book, the Acts of the Apostles, that Luke's authorship is most clearly seen. The "we" passages in the Acts of the Apostles are descriptions of events in which the writer was personally involved (16:10; 20:5-6; 21:15; 27:1; 28:16; cf. 2 Tim. 4, eleven). Having gone through everyone, only Luka can be recognized as a participant in all these events. From the dedication to Theophilus and the style of writing, it is quite clear that the Gospel of Luke and the Acts of the Apostles belong to the pen of the same author.
Paul calls Luke “the beloved physician” and speaks of him specifically, not confusing him with Jewish Christians (Col. 4:14), which points to him as the only pagan writer in the NT. The Gospel of Luke and the Acts of the Apostles are larger in volume than all of Paul's letters combined.
Internal evidence reinforce external documents and church traditions. The vocabulary (often more precise in medical terms than that of other New Testament writers), along with the literary style of the Greek, confirms the authorship of a cultured Gentile Christian physician who was also well and thoroughly acquainted with Jewish characteristics. Luke's love of dates and precise research (eg 1:1-4; 3:1) places him among the first historians of the Church.
III. WRITING TIME
The most likely date for writing the Gospel is the very beginning of the 60s of the 1st century. Some still attribute it to 75-85. (or even by the 2nd century), which is caused by at least partial denial that Christ could accurately predict the destruction of Jerusalem. The city was destroyed in 70 AD, so the Lord's prophecy must have been written down before that date.
Since almost everyone agrees that Luke's Gospel must precede the writing of the Acts of the Apostles, and Acts ends with Paul in Rome around 63 AD, an earlier date seems correct. The great fire in Rome and the subsequent persecution of the Christians, whom Nero declared to be the culprits (64 AD), and the martyrdom of Peter and Paul would hardly have been ignored by the first church historian if these events had already occurred. Therefore, the most obvious date is 61-62. AD
IV. PURPOSE OF WRITING AND TOPIC
The Greeks were looking for a person endowed with Divine perfection and at the same time combining the best features of men and women, but without their shortcomings. This is how Luke represents Christ, the Son of Man: strong and at the same time filled with compassion. It emphasizes His human nature.
For example, here, more than in other Gospels, His prayer life is emphasized. Feelings of sympathy and compassion are often mentioned.
Perhaps this is why women and children occupy such a special place here. The Gospel of Luke is also known as the missionary Gospel.
This gospel is directed to the Gentiles, and the Lord Jesus is presented as the Savior of the world. And finally, this gospel is a manual for discipleship. We trace the path of discipleship in the life of our Lord and hear it detailed as He instructs His followers. In particular, it is precisely this feature that we will trace in our presentation. In the life of a perfect Man we will find elements that create an ideal life for all people. In His incomparable words we will find the path of the Cross to which He calls us.
As we begin to study the Gospel of Luke, let us heed the call of the Savior, leave everything and follow Him. Obedience is a tool of spiritual knowledge. The meaning of Holy Scripture will become clearer and dearer to us when we delve into the events described here.
Plan
I. PREFACE: LUKE'S PURPOSE AND HIS METHOD (1:1-4)
II. THE COMING OF THE SON OF MAN AND HIS FORECAST (1.5 - 2.52)
III. PREPARING THE SON OF MAN FOR MINISTRY (3.1 - 4.30)
IV. THE SON OF MAN PROVES HIS POWER (4.31 - 5.26)
V. THE SON OF MAN EXPLAINS HIS MINISTRY (5.27 - 6.49)
VI. THE SON OF MAN EXPANDS HIS MINISTRY (7.1 - 9.50)
VII. GROWING RESISTANCE TO THE SON OF MAN (9.51 - 11.54)
VIII. TEACHING AND HEALING ON THE ROAD TO JERUSALEM (Ch. 12 - 16)
IX. THE SON OF MAN INSTRUCTS HIS DISCIPLES (17.1 - 19.27)
X. THE SON OF MAN IN JERUSALEM (19.28 - 21.38)
XI. THE SUFFERING AND DEATH OF THE SON OF MAN (Ch. 22 - 23)
XII. VICTORY OF THE SON OF MAN (Ch. 24)
G. Prayer of the disciples (11.1-4)
Between chapters 10 and 11 there is an interval that is described in John (9:1 -10:21).
11,1 This is another of Luke's frequent references to our Lord's prayer life. It corresponds to Luke's purpose of presenting Christ as the Son of Man, always dependent on God, His Father. The disciples felt that prayer was a real and vital force in the life of Jesus. When they heard His prayer, they were inspired to pray the same way. That's why one of His disciples asked the Lord taught their pray. He didn't say, "Teach us, How pray", but: " Teach us to pray." Be that as it may, the request, of course, includes both an action and a method.
11,2 The example of the prayer that the Lord Jesus gave them at this time is somewhat different from the so-called Lord's Prayer in the Gospel of Matthew. These differences have purpose and meaning. None of them are accidental.
First of all, the Lord taught the disciples to turn to God "Our Father!"
Such close family relationships were unknown to OT believers. This simply means that from now on believers must speak to God as a loving Heavenly One Father. Next, we are taught to pray that God the name was hallowed. This expresses the desire of the believer’s heart that reverence, glorification and worship be directed to God.
Asking "Thy kingdom come" we pray that the day may come soon when God will bring down hostile powers and in the Person of Christ reign supreme over all earth, when will it be will on earth as it is in heaven.
11,3 By seeking first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, the worshiper is taught to communicate his own needs and desires. This reflects the constant need for food, both physical and spiritual. We must live in daily dependence on Him, recognizing Him as the source of all good things.
11,4 What follows is a prayer for forgiveness. sins based on the fact that we have shown a spirit of forgiveness to our neighbor. This, quite obviously, does not refer to forgiveness from the penalty of sin. Such forgiveness is based on what Christ accomplished on Calvary and is accepted only by faith. Here we are dealing with parental or government forgiveness. If we have forgiven others, God treats us like children. If He detects a spirit of coldness and unforgiveness in our hearts, He will discipline us until we humble ourselves and come back into fellowship with Him. This kind of forgiveness is about fellowship, not about a relationship with God.
Prayer "And do not lead us into temptation" is difficult for some people. We know that God never tempts anyone to sin.
However, He allows us to experience difficulties and tests in our lives that are intended for our good. The obvious point here is that we must be constantly vigilant, since we are prone to wander and fall into sin. We must ask the Lord to keep us from sinning, even though we ourselves may want to commit it. We should pray that the possibility of sin and the desire for sinful acts will never coincide. This prayer expresses a healthy suspicion of our own abilities to resist temptation. The prayer ends with a request deliver us from evil.(Luke gives the most condensed version of the Lord's Prayer; it is probably not paraphrased word for word.)
H. Two parables about prayer (11.5-13)
11,5-8 Continuing the theme of prayer, the Lord gave an example designed to show that God desires to hear and answer the petitions of His children. This story is about a man who at midnight a guest has arrived. Unfortunately, he did not have enough food on hand. So he went to his neighbor, knocked on the door of his house and asked him for a loan. three loaves. At first the neighbor was upset that his sleep was interrupted and did not bother to get out of bed. However, hearing the continuous knocking and loud calls of the concerned owner, he finally got up and Gave him, how much he asked.
We must be careful in applying this example to avoid certain conclusions. This example does not mean that God is annoyed with our persistent requests. And it does not follow from this that the only way to get an answer to your prayers is through persistence.
This passage teaches that if a person is ready to help a friend because of his persistence, then God is much more more wants to hear the cry of His children.
11,9 The instruction here is that we should not become weary or discouraged in our prayer life. "Keep asking...keep seeking...keep knocking..." (In Greek The present tense verb in the imperative mood conveys a continuing action.) Sometimes God answers prayers after our first request.
But there are times when He answers only after prolonged requests. God answers prayers:
Sometimes when our hearts are weak,
He gives exactly those gifts
Which believers need;
But often our faith must learn
A More Serious Lesson
And learn to trust the silence of God,
When He says nothing;
He whose name is Love,
Will send all the best.
The stars may go out
Stone walls crumble,
But God is faithful;
His promises are sure.
(He is our strength. - M.G.P.)
This parable clearly teaches about the increasing degree of persistence - ask, seek, knock.
11,10 This verse teaches that everyone who asks receives, everyone who seeks finds and to each to the one who knocks it will be opened door. Here we are given the promise that when we pray, God will always give us what we ask for or even something better. The answer “no” means: He knows that our request will not be the best thing for us; in this case, His refusal is better than our request.
11,11-12 It says that God will never deceive us by giving stone, when we ask for bread In those days, bread was made in the shape of a round flat cake that resembled a stone. God will never laugh at us by giving us something inedible when we ask for food. If we ask for fish, He won't give us snake that is, something that can destroy us. And if we ask for egg, He won't give us scorpio, that is, something that can cause excruciating pain.
11,13 An earthly father does not give evil gifts; although he has a sinful nature, he knows how to give good gifts to children yours. Moreover, the Heavenly Father will give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him. J. G. Bellet says, "It is significant that the gift which He marks out as our greatest need, and which He most desires to give us, is the Holy Spirit." When Jesus spoke these words, the Holy Spirit had not yet been given (John 7:39). We should not now pray for the Holy Spirit to be with us Dan as a permanently dwelling Person in us, since He comes and dwells in us at the time of our conversion (Rom. 8:9; Eph. 1:13-14).
However, it will certainly be appropriate and necessary to pray for the Holy Spirit in a slightly different way. We should pray to be taught by the Holy Spirit, to be led by the Spirit, and to have His power poured out upon us in all our service for Christ. It is quite possible that when Jesus taught the disciples to ask for Holy Spirit He pointed to force Holy Spirit, allowing them to live the life of discipleship that He taught them about in the previous chapters. By this time they probably realized how unable they were to meet the challenges of discipleship in their own strength.
And indeed it is. Holy Spirit- this is the power that gives a person the ability to lead a Christian life. So Jesus represents God as eager to give such power to those who ask.
In the original Greek in v. 13 the words “Holy Spirit” are not preceded by the definite article. Professor H. B. Sweet notes that when such an article is present, it indicates the Person himself, and when the article is absent, it is an indication of His gifts and His action in us. Therefore, in this passage the prayer is not so much about Personalities The Holy Spirit, how much about His ministry in our lives. This is further revealed through a parallel passage in Matt. 7:11, which reads: “...how much more will your Father in heaven give benefits those who ask Him."
I. Jesus responds to His critics (11:14-26)
11,14-16 Having cast out the demon, who was mute, Jesus caused quite a stir among the people. While some were surprised others openly rebelled against the Lord. Resistance took two main forms. Some accused Him of being casts out demons by the power of Beelzebub, the prince of demons.
A other they demanded that He show them a sign from heaven; they probably thought that this might clear the charge against Him.
11,17-18 The answer to the charge that He cast out demons because He was possessed by Beelzebub is given in v. 17-26. The request for a sign is answered in v. 29. First of all, the Lord Jesus reminded them that every kingdom divided against itself, will collapse and a house divided against itself will fall. If He is Satan's instrument in casting out demons, then Satan fights against his own henchmen. It’s funny to think that the devil would thus oppose himself and hinder his own goals.
11,19 The Lord then reminded His critics that their own countrymen were casting out evil spirits at the same time. If He did this by the power of Satan, then it necessarily follows that they must do it by the same power. The Jews, of course, would never admit it. Yet how could they deny the force of the arguments? The power to cast out demons came from either God or Satan. Either one or the other; both could not be at the same time. If Jesus worked by the power of Satan, then the Jews casting out demons were dependent on the same power. To condemn Him was to condemn them too.
11,20 The true explanation is: Jesus cast out demons with the finger of God. What did He mean when He said "by the finger of God"? In the Gospel of Matthew (12:28) we read the following: “If I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.” From this we can conclude that finger of God- the same as the Spirit of God. The fact that Jesus cast out demons by the Spirit of God clearly indicated that The Kingdom of God has reached people of this generation. The Kingdom came in the Person of the King himself. The very fact that the Lord Jesus was among them performing such miracles was decisive proof that a God-anointed Ruler had appeared on the scene of history.
11,21-22 Until now, Satan was "strong with weapons" who had undisputed dominion over his estate. People possessed by demons were tightly bound by him, and no one challenged his authority. His estate was in safety, that is, no one had the power to challenge his authority. Lord Jesus was stronger Satan, attacked him, defeated him, took all the weapons are his and divided stolen from him.
Even Jesus' critics did not deny that He cast out evil spirits. This could only mean that Satan was defeated and his victims were set free. This is the essence of these verses.
11,23 Jesus further added that everyone who is not with Nim, that one against Him, and who does not collect from Nim, that one wastes. Someone said: "A man is either on the way or on the way." We have already mentioned the apparent contradiction between this verse and 9:50. If the issue is the Person and work of Christ, then neutrality is impossible. A person who is not for Christ is against Him. But if we are talking about Christian service, then people who are not against the servants of Christ will be for them. The first verse deals with the question of salvation; in the second, the question of service.
11,24-26 The Lord seems to be turning the topic of conversation to His critics. They accused Him of being possessed by a demon. He also compares the people of Israel to a man who was temporarily cured of possession. It really was in their history. Before their captivity, the people of Israel were possessed by the demon of idolatry.
However, captivity saved the Jews from this evil spirit, and from that time on they never again indulged in idolatry. They found their home swept and tidied up but they refused to invite the Lord Jesus into it as the owner. Therefore, He predicted that on the coming day unclean spirit will take with him seven other spirits more evil than themselves, and They will enter to the house and they will live there. This indicates the terrible form of idolatry that the Jewish nation would take during the period great tribulation; they recognize the Antichrist as God (John 5:43), and the punishment for this sin will be greater than the people have ever experienced.
Although this example concerns primarily history people Israeli, he also points out the inadequacy of simple repentance or transformation in life separate person. It is not enough to simply turn over a blank page. You need to accept the Lord Jesus Christ into your heart and life. Otherwise, one is open to the entry of more evil forms of sin than ever before.
K. More blessed than Mary (11:27-28)
A certain woman came out from environment of the crowd people to glorify Jesus with the words: “Blessed is the womb that bore You, and the breasts that nourished You!” Our Lord's answer is of great importance. He did not deny that Mary, His mother, is blessed, but He said that there is something more than this: more more important hear the Word of God and keep it. In other words, Mary is even more blessed by believing in Christ and following Him than simply because she is His mother. Physical relationships are not as important as spiritual ones. This should be enough to silence those who make Mary an object of veneration.
L. The Sign of Jonah (11.29-32)
11,29 In verse 16, some tempted the Lord Jesus, demanding from Him signs from the sky. Now He answers this request by saying that it comes from this of the evil kind. His words primarily concerned the generation of Jews living at that time. The Son of God honored them with His presence. They heard His words and witnessed His miracles. However, this was not enough for them. Now they were declaring that if only they had seen a great, supernatural sign in the heavens, they would have believed in Him. The Lord's answer was that there was no the sign will not be given them, except for the sign of the prophet Jonah.
11,30 He pointed to His resurrection from the dead. Similar to And she was saved from the depths of the sea after spending three days and three nights in the belly of a whale, so the Lord Jesus will rise from the dead after spending three days and three nights in the grave. In other words, the last and final miracle in the earthly ministry of the Lord Jesus will be His resurrection. Jonah was a sign for residents Nineveh. When he went to preach in this pagan city, he went there as a man who, figuratively speaking, had risen from the dead.
11,31-32 Queen of the South, pagan Queen of Sheba, traveled a huge distance to listen to the wisdom of Solomon. She didn't see a single miracle. And if she had the privilege of living in the days of the Lord, how readily would she have received Him! That's why she will rise up for judgment against these evil people who had the privilege of seeing the supernatural works of the Lord Jesus and yet rejected Him. More, how And she, And more, how Solomon, entered the arena of human history. While The Ninevites repented from Jonah's preaching, the Israelites refused to repent of the preaching of the One who more than Jonah.
Today, unbelief mocks the story of Jonah as a Jewish legend. Jesus spoke of Jonah as a real historical figure, just as He spoke of Solomon. People who say that they will believe if they see a miracle are mistaken. Faith is not based on sensory evidence, but on the living Word of God.
If a person does not believe the Word of God, he will not believe even if someone were to rise from the dead. Demanding signs does not please God. This is not faith, but vision. Unbelief says, “Show me, and then I will believe.” God says: “Believe and then you will see.”
M. Parable of the Lighted Candle (11:33-36)
11,33 At first glance there seems to be no connection between these and the previous verses. But upon closer examination, we will discover a very significant connection. Jesus reminded His listeners that nobody, having lit candle, does not place it in a secret place, under the vessel. He places it in a candlestick where it can be seen and where it gives light to all who enter.
The application is: He who lit the lamp- God. In the Person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ He provided a shining light for the world. And if someone does not see the Light, it is not through God’s fault. In chapter 8, Jesus spoke about the responsibility His disciples had to spread the faith, not hide it under a bushel. Here, in 11:33, He exposes the unbelief of the critics who seek a sign from Him, the search for which is motivated by greed and fear of shame.
11,34 The result of their impure motives was unbelief. In physical reality eye gives light everything body. If the eye is healthy, then a person can see light. But if the eye is sick, that is, blind, then the light cannot penetrate. It is the same in the spiritual world. If a person is sincere in his desire to know whether Jesus is the Christ of God, then God will reveal it to him. If his motive is impure, if he wants to cling to his greed, if he continues to be afraid of what others will say, then he is blind to the true dignity of the Savior.
11,35 The people Jesus spoke to considered themselves very wise. They believed that there was a lot of light in them. But the Lord Jesus advised them to consider the fact that light, which V them, in fact, is darkness.
The wisdom they claimed and their own superiority kept them away from Him.
11,36 A person with pure motives, who opens his whole being to Jesus, the Light of the world, will be filled with spiritual insight.
His inner life will be illuminated by Christ in the same way that a person’s body is illuminated when he sits under the direct rays of a lamp.
N. External and internal cleanliness (11.37-41)
11,37-40 When Jesus accepted the invitation one Pharisee come to dinner, He amazed His host by I didn't wash my hands before dinner. Jesus read his thoughts and rebuked him for such hypocrisy and attachment to externals. Jesus reminded him that what really matters is not external purity bowls, A internal. Outwardly, the Pharisees seemed completely righteous, but inside they were full of robbery and deceit. The same God who created the external created also internal. He is interested in our inner life being pure.
“Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart” (1 Samuel 16:7).
11,41 The Lord understood how greedy and selfish the Pharisees were, so He told this master first give alms from what he has. If he could pass this most important test of love for one's neighbor, then all he would have purely.
G. A. Ianside comments:
"When God's love fills the heart so much that a person cares about the needs of his neighbors, then only this external rule will acquire true value. A person who constantly collects for himself and treats with extreme indifference the poor and needy people around him testifies that the love of God does not dwell in him.”(Harry A. Ironside, Addresses on the Gospel of Luke, p. 390.)
"The stern words recorded in verses 39-52 against the Pharisees and lawyers were spoken at the Pharisee's table (v. 37). What we call "good taste" often takes the place of fidelity to the truth; we smile when we should frown; and we "We remain silent when we ought to speak. It is better to interrupt a meal than to break fidelity to God."
O. Reproach to the Pharisees (11:42-44)
11,42 Pharisees were adherents of the external. They were meticulous about the smallest details of ritual laws, such as tithes from small herbs However, they did not care about their relationship with God and with people. They oppressed the poor and did not love God. The Lord did not reproach them for paying tithes with mint, rue and all sorts of vegetables, but simply pointed out that they should not be so pedantic in the execution of little things, neglecting the most important duties of life, such as judgment and love of God. They emphasized the unimportant and missed the main thing. They improved in what other people could see, but did not care about what only God saw.
11,43 They loved to show off themselves, to occupy an important position in synagogues and attract as much attention as possible in the market square. That is, they were guilty not only of adherence to externals, but also of pride.
11,44 And finally, the Lord compared them to coffins hidden. According to the law of Moses, anyone who touched a tomb was unclean for seven days (Num. 19:16), even if, when touching, he did not know that it was a tomb. Pharisees outwardly they gave the impression of devoted religious leaders. However, they had to wear a warning sign that touching them would cause people to be desecrated. They were, like coffins hidden, full of moral corruption and impurity, which infect others with the infection of show and pride.
P. Reproof of the lawyers (11:45-52)
11,45 Legalists were scribes - experts in the interpretation of the Law of Moses. However, their skill was limited to telling others what they needed to do. They did not practice this themselves. One of the lawyers felt the accusatory sharpness of Jesus' words and reminded Him that when He criticized the Pharisees, He also offended the legal experts.
11,46 The Lord took this as an opportunity to point out some of the sins of the lawyers. First of all, they oppressed people with all kinds of burdens law, but did nothing to help them bear these burdens. Kelly notes: "They were known for their contempt for the very people on whom their importance was based." (William Kelly, An Exposition of the Gospel of Luke, p. 199.) Many of their rules were made by people and concerned matters of no real importance.
11,47-48 The lawyers were hypocritical murderers. They pretended to admire the prophets of God. They even went so far as to erect monuments on tombs Old Testament prophets Of course, they considered this proof of deep respect. But the Lord Jesus knew otherwise. Although outwardly they dissociated themselves from their Jewish predecessors, who beat up prophets, in fact they followed them in their wake. At the same time as they were building tombs for the prophets, they were plotting the death of God's greatest Prophet, the Lord Himself. And they will continue to kill God's faithful prophets and apostles.
11,49 Comparing this verse with Matthew 23:34 we see that wisdom of God- This is Jesus Himself. Here He quotes the words the wisdom of God, who said: "I will send prophets to them."
In Matthew's Gospel He does not quote this from the OT or any other source, but simply states it as His statement. (See also 1 Cor. 1:30, where Christ is spoken of as wisdom.) The Lord Jesus promised that will send prophets and apostles people of their generation, and they will kill and exile their.
11,50-51 He will exact from this generation is the blood of all, who testifies of God, starting from the very first incident recorded in the OT, that is, Abel, until the last case, that is Zechariah, killed between the altar and the temple(2 Chron. 24:21). 2 Chronicles was the last book in the Hebrew list of books of the OT. Therefore, the Lord Jesus included the entire procession of martyrs by mentioning Abel And Zechariah. As He uttered these words, He knew full well that the generation then living would put Him to death on the cross, raising to a terrifying height all its previous persecutions against the men of God. It is for the very reason that they will kill Him, everyone's blood those killed in previous times will fall upon them.
11,52 And finally, the Lord Jesus rebuked lawyers is that they took the key of understanding, that is, they took the Word of God from the people. Although outwardly they professed fidelity to the Holy Scriptures, they nevertheless stubbornly refused to accept the One of whom the Scriptures speak. And they prevented others to come to Christ. They themselves did not desire Him and did not want others to accept Him.
R. Reply of the Scribes and Pharisees (11:53-54)
The scribes and Pharisees were clearly enraged by the Lord's direct accusations. They began to approach Him strongly and increased their efforts to catch Him at his word. They tried to use all sorts of tricks catch something from His mouth to accuse Him and put Him to death. In doing so, they only proved the accuracy with which He read their characters.
