Luke 11

Luke 11:1

Luke: The Man Christ Jesus Jesus on his way from Galilee to Jerusalem An EasyEnglish Bible Version and Commentary (2800 word vocabulary) on Luke 9:51 to 19:44

www.easyenglish.info Ian Mackervoy This commentary has been through Advanced Checking.

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Chapter 11 Jesus teaches us how to pray – Luke 11:1-13 v1 One day Jesus prayed in a certain place. When he had finished, one of his *disciples said to him, ‘*Lord, teach us to pray. Teach us like John taught his *disciples.’

v2 Jesus told them, ‘This is how you should pray. “Father, your name is holy. Let your *kingdom come. v3 Give to us each day the bread that we need. v4 Forgive us our *sins. We forgive everyone who has done wrong deeds to us. Do not allow anyone to *tempt us.” ’

v5 Then Jesus said to them, ‘One of you may have a friend, to whom you go at midnight. You say to this friend, “Lend me three loaves of bread. v6 A friend of mine has come on a journey to visit me. But I have nothing for him to eat.” v7 Your friend inside the house may answer, “Do not bother me. I have locked the door and my children are in bed with me. I cannot get up to give anything to you.” v8 I tell you that he may not want to get up. He may not want to give you bread because you are his friend. But if you continue to ask, he will get up. He will give to you as much as you need.

v9 So, I tell you to ask and you will receive. Search and you will find. Knock and the door will open for you. v10 Everyone who asks will receive. Everyone who searches will find. And to everyone who knocks, the door will open.

v11 You fathers, if your son asks for a fish, you would not give to him a snake instead. v12 If your son asks for an egg, you would not give to him a *scorpion. v13 Although you are evil, you know how to give good gifts to your children. But your Father in heaven is even more ready to give the *Holy Spirit to anyone who asks.’

Verses 1-4 Luke often records that Jesus prayed. Jesus prayed at his *baptism (Luke 3:21). He often went alone to pray or he prayed with his *disciples (Luke 5:16; Luke 9:18). He prayed all night before he chose the *apostles (Luke 6:12). And he prayed on the mountain when Moses and Elijah came to him (Luke 9:29).

Leaders of religion often taught their *disciples how to pray. John the *Baptist had taught his *disciples. One of Jesus’ *disciples saw how Jesus prayed. So, he asked Jesus to teach them.

Then Jesus gave to them this prayer. We know it as the *Lord’s prayer. This prayer is similar to the one in Matthew (Matthew 6:5-15). That prayer is a bit longer than the one in Luke. Probably Jesus taught the prayer in Matthew some time earlier than this occasion. Both prayers have the same arrangement.

This prayer is a model of how we ought to pray. It is not enough just to repeat the words. But when Christians pray together, we often say these words. In prayer, by *faith we talk to our God. This prayer is a pattern for our own prayers.

Jesus starts the prayer with ‘Father’. When we pray we call God our Father. This is true for all who believe in the *Lord Jesus Christ. He is the Son of God and by *faith, we become children of God.

The ‘name’ of God means God himself. It includes the whole character of God. God is holy. We praise God because of who he is. This is the proper attitude when we come to God in prayer. We praise him before we ask for anything. And our first request is for his *kingdom to come. In effect, we ask that he will rule as king in us and in the world. He is the *Lord and we are his servants.

Then there are three requests for us.

(1) The first request is for bread each day. We depend on God to provide for us. We ask God to supply all that we need for each day.

(2) The second request is that God would forgive us. First, we need to forgive those people who have done wrong deeds against us. We cannot expect God to forgive us if we do not forgive other people. But God does not forgive us because we forgive other people. He forgives us because he loves us. God can forgive us because Jesus died for our *sins. When we *repent of our *sins, God forgives us. But if we ask God to forgive us, we ought to forgive other people.

(3) God does not *tempt us (James 1:13). We should run away from the wrong deeds that *tempt us. But we are weak. So, we ask God to save us from all that *tempts us. In particular, we ask God to save us from the evil one, the devil.

Verses 5-8 Jesus tells a story to show that we should continue in prayer.

In the villages, each family would bake bread every day. By the evening, this particular family did not have any bread. A friend arrived in the middle of the night. The family did not expect this friend to come. But the host must feed this guest. In that society, people considered that to be an important duty. He could not then buy bread. So, the host went to the house of another friend to ask for three small loaves. But this other friend was in bed with his children. They all slept in one room. To get up would disturb the children. This friend would not get up even to help his friend. The man who needed the bread would not go away. He continued to ask for bread. So, in the end, the friend got up and gave him the loaves. He was ready to give more than the man had requested.

If we really want something from God, we will continue in prayer. God wants to answer our prayers. But he does not always answer immediately.

Verses 9-10 Jesus tells his *disciples to ask, to search and to knock. All three of these are continuous. Continue to ask. Continue to search and continue to knock. To each of these actions, there will be success. God will always hear true prayer. He will answer those prayers in the way that is best. The answer may be different from the request. Prayer must be in *faith and for the right purpose (James 1:5-8; James 4:3).

Verses 11-13 God is our Father in heaven. He is so much better than even the best human father. No human father would give a snake instead of a fish to his child. He would not give a *scorpion instead of an egg. An evil father knows how to give good gifts to his children. God is even more ready to give good things to his children.

God has promised to give the *Holy Spirit to his people when they ask him. Jesus and the prince of *demons – Luke 11:14-28 v14 Jesus forced a *demon to leave a man. The *demon had made the man unable to talk. When the *demon had gone out, the man began to talk. And this event astonished the people. v15 But some of them said, ‘By Beelzebul, the prince of *demons, he forces *demons to leave people.’ v16 Other people wanted to test Jesus. So, they asked him to show them a *miracle from heaven.

v17 But Jesus knew their thoughts so he said to them, ‘A *kingdom that fights against itself will destroy itself. And a house that fights against itself will fall. v18 If *Satan fights against himself, his *kingdom will not continue. You say that I force out *demons by the power of Beelzebul. v19 If I force out *demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your people force them out? So, your people will be your judges. v20 However, if by the finger of God I force out *demons, then the *kingdom of God has come to you.

v21 When a strong man, with his *weapons ready, guards his own house, his possessions are safe. v22 But a stronger man than he may attack him and defeat him. The stronger man will take away the *weapons that the strong man had trusted. Then he will divide with other people the *weapons that he has taken.

v23 Anyone who is not with me is against me. And anyone who does not gather with me, scatters.

v24 When an evil spirit comes out of a man, it travels through dry places. It looks for a place to rest but it will find no place to rest. Then it says, “I will return. I will go back to the house that I left.” v25 It comes back to the man. It finds him like a house that is clean and in order. v26 Then the spirit goes and it brings along 7 other spirits more evil than itself. They go in and live there. And the last state of that man becomes worse than the first.’

v27 As Jesus said these things, a woman in the crowd called out loudly. ‘How happy is the mother who gave birth to you. How happy is she who fed you at her breasts.’

v28 He replied, ‘Yes. But rather, those people who hear and obey the word of God are happy.’

Verses 14-16 There was a man who was dumb because of a *demon in him. Jesus ordered the *demon to come out of the man. It came out and the man was able to speak. Nobody doubted that Jesus had done this *miracle. It astonished them. But they did not know the power by which Jesus had done it. Some of the people said that the power came from Beelzebul. Other people wanted to see evidence that the power was from heaven. They had not understood what this *miracle meant. It was evidence that Jesus was the *Christ. Jesus Christ had freed this man from the power of the *demon.

Beelzebul was the prince of *demons. The name probably comes from the name of a false god. It became another name for *Satan.

Verses 17-20 Jesus knew what was in the minds of the people. So he explained that it would not be reasonable for *Satan to force out *demons. If he did, he would defeat himself. *Satan tries to destroy what is good. He does not destroy what is evil.

There were *Jews who tried to force *demons to leave people. Jesus asked if they did it by the power of *Satan. The answer must be no. If they were able to free people from *demons, they could only do that by the power of God.

The ‘finger of God’ means the power of God. If Jesus forced out *demons by the finger of God then God’s *kingdom had come. In other words, Jesus’ success against *demons was evidence of God’s rule.

Verses 21-23 Jesus then told a story about a strong man. This man was ready to guard his house, in other words, his palace. The palace was safe until a stronger man came along. Then that stronger man defeated the man who was guarding his own palace.

*Satan was like the strong man who guarded his possessions. *Satan cannot stand against the power of God. *Satan has a strong grip on people. But when God’s *kingdom comes, it breaks that grip. The *Lord Jesus is that stronger man. By God’s power, he defeated *Satan.

People have to make a choice. Either they accept Jesus Christ or they refuse him. Either they are with him or they are against him.

Verses 24-26 Jesus had just sent a *demon (an evil spirit) out of a dumb man. This little story does not mean that the *demon will return to that man. Of course Christ did not make people free so that evil spirits could enter their lives again. But people have a choice whether they will serve God or not. In the story, the man chose not to allow God to rule his life. That wrong decision gave the *demon the opportunity to return to that man.

The evil spirit thinks of a person as its home. If it leaves that home, it will wander in dry places. People thought of dry deserts as the place where there were evil spirits. This evil spirit looks for a place of rest in the dry desert places. It does not find such a place of rest. So, it returns to the person that it calls its ‘house’.

Without the evil spirit, the person’s life had improved. When the evil spirit returns, he finds the person in a better state. But the person has not permitted God to rule his life. So that person is available for the evil spirit to come in again. The evil spirit finds 7 worse evil spirits. And they all make their home in the person. So, the person is in an even worse state than before.

In this story, the evil spirit had come out of the person. But it is not enough just to send an evil spirit away. There is an empty place in that person’s life; it is necessary to fill that empty place. But the person had not allowed God to rule his life; he had not allowed God’s *Holy Spirit to enter that place. So, he was open to the return of the evil spirit. When the *Holy Spirit rules a person’s life, no evil spirit can return.

Verses 27-28 The woman thought that it would be wonderful to be the mother of Jesus. She would be happy if her son was as great as him. His mother must be happy because God had *blessed her with such a son. That was true but Jesus spoke of something more important. The natural relationship with him is not so important. But God *blesses those people who have a right attitude to his word. They hear the word of God and they obey it. A lesson from Jonah – Luke 11:29-32 v29 The crowds gathered round Jesus. He said to them, ‘The people who live today are evil. They look for *miracles as evidence of the truth. But the only evidence that they will get is the evidence of Jonah. v30 Jonah was evidence for the people who lived in Nineveh. Even so the Son of Man will be to the people of today. v31 The queen of the south will rise at the judgement with the men who live now. She will show that they are guilty. She travelled a very long way to hear Solomon’s wisdom. Look! Someone very much greater than Solomon is here. v32 The men from Nineveh will rise at the judgement with those people who live now. They will show that the people of today are guilty. They *repented when Jonah *preached to them. Look! Someone very much greater then Jonah is here.’

Verses 29-32 The people had asked Jesus for evidence. They wanted him to show them *miracles from heaven (verse 16). As the crowd increased, Jesus replied to their request. Because the people of that time wanted such evidence, Jesus called them an evil people. They should trust God; they should not merely ask for *miracles. And Jesus would not do any *miracles in order to satisfy them. People have a duty to trust God whether or not they see his *miracles.

The story of Jonah will be evidence for them. As Jonah *preached to the people in Nineveh, so Jesus *preached to the people of his time. The people in Nineveh *repented and they turned to God. God was doing a greater work by means of Jesus than he did by means of Jonah. But most of the people to whom Jesus *preached did not *repent. They did not believe him and they did not accept him as the *Christ. At the time of the judgement, the people from Nineveh will show that these people are guilty.

Luke does not talk about the time that Jonah was in the big fish. Jonah was three days and three nights in the big fish (Jonah 1:17). So, the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the earth (Matthew 12:40). Jonah came out of the big fish as from death to life. So, Jesus would rise from death. That will be the proof that Jesus is the *Christ, the Son of God.

Jesus talks about the queen of the south. We know her as the queen of Sheba (1 Kings 10:1-13). Sheba was probably the country that we now call Yemen. She heard of the wisdom of Solomon. From Sheba to Jerusalem was a long and difficult journey. But she came all that way to hear Solomon. God was showing more wisdom in Jesus than he did in Solomon. But the people of his day did not believe Jesus. At the time of the judgement, the queen of Sheba will show that the people of Jesus’ day are guilty. The eye is as the lamp of the body – Luke 11:33-36 v33 ‘Nobody lights a lamp and then hides it. A person does not put a lamp under a bowl. He puts it on a lamp holder. Then those people who come in will see the light. v34 Your eye is as the lamp for your body. When your eyes are good, your whole body is full of light. But when your eyes are bad, your body is full of darkness. v35 So, be careful that the light in you is not darkness. v36 If your whole body is full of light, without any darkness, it will all be bright. It will be as if a lamp shines on you.’

Verses 33-36 The purpose of a lamp is to give light. The eye receives light for the body. Jesus calls the eye the ‘lamp of the body’. The body here means the person rather than just his body. When the eyes are good, the whole person gets the benefit of the light. If the eyes are not good, the person cannot see properly. It affects all that the person does.

Jesus uses the idea of light and darkness to mean what is good and evil. People can choose the right way to live, or they can choose an evil way. The good things in a person are like the light that shines. The bad things in a person are like the darkness.

We should take care that the light in us is good. In other words, we must always choose good things, and never evil things. We are responsible for the light or darkness that we receive. In other words, we are responsible for what we accept into our hearts and minds. We can be full of light and without darkness. In other words, we should obey God completely, because he is completely good. God’s word is like a bright light that shines into our lives (Psalms 119:105). It directs how we should live. With the *Pharisees and experts in the law – Luke 11:37-54 v37 After Jesus had said this, a *Pharisee invited him to have a meal with him. So, Jesus went and he took his place at the table. v38 Jesus did not wash before the meal and this surprised the *Pharisee. v39 The *Lord said to him, ‘You *Pharisees clean the outside of cups and dishes. But inside you are thieves and you are full of evil things. v40 You foolish people, the one who made the outside also made the inside. v41 So, give what is inside to the poor people. Then everything will be clean for you.

v42 It will be terrible for you *Pharisees. You give to God a 10th of your *mint, *spices, and every garden *herb. But you neglect to do what is right. You neglect the love of God. You ought to have done these things and you should still have given the 10th to God.

v43 It will be terrible for you *Pharisees. You love the most important seats in the *synagogues. And you love it when people greet you in the markets.

v44 It will be terrible for you. You are like graves that people cannot see. People walk on them. But they do not know that the graves are there.’

v45 Then one of the experts in the law said to Jesus. ‘Teacher, when you say these things, you insult us, too.’

v46 Jesus replied, ‘And you experts in the law, it will be terrible for you. You place a heavy load on the people. You make life difficult for them, but you do not help them. It is as if you do not touch their load with even one finger.

v47 It will be terrible for you. You built the graves in memory of the *prophets. But your *ancestors killed the *prophets. v48 So, you show that you approve of the deeds of your *ancestors. They killed the *prophets and you build their graves. v49 Because of this, God in his wisdom said, “I will send them *prophets and *apostles. Some of these they will kill and some they will *persecute.” v50 So, the people who live now will be responsible for the blood of all the *prophets. They are responsible for the murder of all the *prophets since the start of the world. v51 This includes the blood of Abel. And it includes the blood of Zechariah. Zechariah’s murder was between the *altar and the holy place. Yes, I tell you that you people will be responsible for all of it.

v52 It will be terrible for you experts in the law. You took away the key of knowledge. You did not enter. And you have stopped other people who wanted to enter.’

v53 Jesus left there. The *Pharisees and the teachers of the law were very angry. They began to oppose Jesus and they asked him many questions. v54 They waited to catch Jesus by means of something that he might say.

Verses 37-41 A *Pharisee invited Jesus to have a meal with him. The *Jews had two main meals in a day. The first one was lunch. The other meal was dinner in the evening. Jesus accepted this invitation to lunch. He took his place at the table. When he came in, Jesus did not wash before the meal. The *Pharisees washed their hands in a special way before they ate. They poured water over their hands and half way up their arms. To them this was an important and necessary ceremony. It was not that Jesus had dirty hands. But Jesus did not wash them in the special way. Jesus could see that this surprised the *Pharisee.

Jesus then began to speak about the wrong ways that many people use religion. He spoke about the actions of the *Pharisees and the experts in the law to explain this. However, his words are also true about many kinds of wrong religion. Many *Pharisees genuinely wanted to serve God; Jesus was not speaking about them. He was speaking against those leaders of religion who make it difficult for people to obey God. Such leaders insist that people must follow unimportant rules. But they will not do what God wants them to do.

The *Pharisees had many rules that came from their traditions. But these rules were all about outer things like how they washed cups and dishes. It was possible to obey all their rules but still to be wicked. People who follow such rules may seem to be good persons when really they are thieves and full of evil things. In such a system of religion, what a person does is most important. But to God, it is much more important what a person is. In other words, God cares about our attitudes and thoughts, not just our actions.

The person who made the cup made both the outside and the inside. God made both our outer body and inner *soul.

When our inner *soul has a right relationship with God, God helps us to have right thoughts and attitudes. So we are clean on the inside. The result is that we will do good deeds. For example, we will give to the poor people.

Verses 42-44 Jesus warns severely here about the wrong behaviour of many of the *Pharisees. They tried so hard to appear to be good. But they failed to love God and to have *faith in him. When the *Lord comes as the judge, it will be terrible for them.

To give a 10th to God was part of the *Old Testament law (Leviticus 27:30). The *Pharisees had interpreted this law in unnecessary detail. It should be a joy to give to the *Lord. But they had made it a heavy duty. They were not wrong to give a 10th in this way. But they missed the more important parts of the law. The first command in the law was to love God. Love for God would cause them to love other people. This is what they should have done.

*Mint and *herbs are plants that people grow in their gardens. They use the leaves to give flavour to food.

Jesus often had to warn *Pharisees who wanted to be superior to other people. In the *synagogue, the most important seats were at the front. People who wanted to be important strongly desired these seats. In the market places, they wanted people to see them and to respect them. They were so proud of themselves. But God opposes people who have proud attitudes (Luke 1:51).

Jesus then says that they are like graves. These graves have no marks. People walk on these graves but they do not know it. To walk on a grave made a person unclean in their religion. So, Jesus meant that the effect of this wrong kind of religion was to lead people away from God.

Verses 45-46 Jesus spoke against the *Pharisees. But what he said referred to many of the experts in the law also. (That is, the experts in the laws and rules of religion.) One of them thought that Jesus’ words were an insult against them.

These experts in the law interpreted the *Old Testament rules. But they added many rules and traditions of their own to God’s commands. So, the many laws that they made were too much for people to obey. There were so many minor rules that an ordinary person could not know them all. The experts found ways to make it easier for themselves to follow all these rules. But they would not help the people.

When the *Lord comes as the judge, it will be terrible for these experts in the law.

Verses 47-51 These experts in the law, together with some other leaders of their religion, built graves for the *prophets. Their *ancestors had killed the *prophets. Now these men pretended to show honour to the *prophets. But they would not obey what the *prophets had taught them to do. So, they were behaving like their *ancestors. In effect, they approved of what their *ancestors had done. They built the graves. In this, they showed that they were guilty too. This would become even plainer in the near future. With the *Romans, they would cause the death of Jesus. And God would send other *apostles and *prophets. The same people who built graves to give honour to the *prophets, would *persecute the *apostles and *prophets. And they would kill some of them.

It was in the purpose of God to send *prophets and *apostles. He knew that people would refuse these, his servants. He knew that they would kill many of these *apostles and *prophets. So, the people of that day would be as guilty as their *ancestors were. The blame for the deaths of all the *prophets would fall on the people of that time. They had the same attitude as those people who killed the *prophets. So, they would share the same punishment.

Cain, the brother of Abel, murdered him (Genesis 4:8). Cain and Abel were sons of Adam and Eve. Abel was the first to die in this way. The people under King Joash killed Zechariah in the area of the *Lord’s *temple. They threw stones at him until he died (2 Chronicles 24:21). This was the last incident of this nature that the *Old Testament records. (The two Books of Chronicles were one book in the *Hebrew Bible. And the Book of Chronicles was the last book in the *Hebrew Bible.)

Verse 52 In the day of judgement, it will be terrible for the experts in the law who had behaved in this wicked manner.

The purpose of a key is to lock or open a door. It was as if they had the key to the truth in the *Old Testament. They could have opened up the knowledge of God. In other words, they could have shown the people what God wanted. But they closed the door of the *Old Testament by their own rules and traditions. In other words, they had taken away the true meaning of God’s law. They did not obey God’s law. And by their rules and traditions, they stopped other people who wanted to know God.

They shut the *kingdom of heaven from the people. They did not go in themselves. And they stopped other people, so that those other people could not go in. (Matthew 23:13). In other words, they were making it difficult for other people to understand the *Old Testament. And the result was that those people could not have a right relationship with God.

Verses 53-54 Among the *Pharisees and experts in the law were many people who genuinely wanted to serve God. They would agree with what Jesus said. They did not approve of anyone who used religion to impress people or to control people.

However, many of the *Pharisees and the experts in the law became angry with Jesus. Jesus had explained clearly what was wrong with their behaviour, their attitudes and their use of religion. From now on, these men opposed Jesus. They wanted to find something with which they could accuse him. So, they asked him all kinds of difficult questions. They needed to defend their position with the people and to damage that of Jesus. The people had respected them but now the people were turning from them to Jesus.

© 2013, Wycliffe Associates (UK)

This publication is in EasyEnglish Level B (2800 words).

November 2013

Visit our website: www.easyenglish.info

var w5 = new Array;w5[0]=’<b%3Edisciple</b%3E ~ a person who follows a leader, especially the 12 men that Jesus chose to be with him.’;w5[1]=’<b%3ELord</b%3E ~ a title for God, or Jesus, to show that he is over all people and things. In the Old Testament, LORD was a special name for God.