Luke 11
WesleyLuke 11:1
Luke 11:2
And said to them - If ye would be truly great, humble yourselves to the meanest offices. He that is least in his own eyes shall be great indeed.
Luke 11:3
Luke 11:5
The days are fulfilled that he should be received up - That is, the time of his passion was now at hand. St. Luke looks through this, to the glory which was to follow. He steadfastly set his face - Without fear of his enemies, or shame of the cross, Hebrews 12:2.
Luke 11:6
He sent messengers to make ready - A lodging and needful entertainment for him and those with him.
Luke 11:7
His face was as though he would go to Jerusalem - It plainly appeared, he was going to worship at the temple, and thereby, in effect, to condemn the Samaritan worship at Mount Gerizim.
Luke 11:8
As Elisha did - At or near this very place, which might put it into the minds of the apostles to make the motion now, rather than at any other time or place, where Christ had received the like affront.
Luke 11:9
Ye know not what manner of spirit - The spirit of Christianity is. It is not a spirit of wrath and vengeance, but of peace, and gentleness, and love.
Luke 11:11
Luke 11:12
But Jesus said to him - First understand the terms: consider on what conditions thou art to follow me.
Luke 11:15
Suffer me first to bid them farewell that are in my house - As Elisha did after Elijah had called him from the plough, 1 Kings 19:19; to which our Lord’s answer seems to allude.
Luke 11:16
Is fit for the kingdom of God - Either to propagate or to receive it.
Luke 11:18
Is fit for the kingdom of God - Either to propagate or to receive it.
Luke 11:19
Pray ye the Lord of the harvest, that he would thrust forth labourers - For God alone can do this: he alone can qualify and commission men for this work. Matthew 9:37.
Luke 11:20
Luke 11:21
Salute no man by the way - The salutations usual among the Jews took up much time. But these had so much work to do in so short a space, that they had not a moment to spare.
Luke 11:23
A son of peace - That is, one worthy of it.
Luke 11:24
Luke 11:28
The kingdom of God is at hand - Though ye will not receive it.
Luke 11:30
Wo to thee, Chorazin - The same declaration Christ had made some time before. By repeating it now, he warns the seventy not to lose time by going to those cities. Matthew 11:21.
Luke 11:33
Luke 11:35
I beheld Satan - That is, when ye went forth, I saw the kingdom of Satan, which was highly exalted, swiftly and suddenly cast down.
Luke 11:36
I give you power - That is, I continue it to you: and nothing shall hurt you - Neither the power, nor the subtilty of Satan.
Luke 11:37
Rejoice not so much that the devils are subject to you, as that your names are written in heaven - Reader, so is thine, if thou art a true, believer. God grant it may never be blotted out!
Luke 11:38
Lord of heaven and earth - In both of which thy kingdom stands, and that of Satan is destroyed. That thou hast hid these things - He rejoiced not in the destruction of the wise and prudent, but in the display of the riches of God’s grace to others, in such a manner as reserves to Him the entire glory of our salvation, and hides pride from man. Matthew 11:25.
Luke 11:39
Who the Son is - Essentially one with the Father: who the Father is - How great, how wise, how good!
Luke 11:40
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Luke 11:44
Thou shalt love the Lord thy God - That is, thou shalt unite all the faculties of thy soul to render him the most intelligent and sincere, the most affectionate and resolute service. We may safely rest in this general sense of these important words, if we are not able to fix the particular meaning of every single word. If we desire to do this, perhaps the heart, which is a general expression, may be explained by the three following, With all thy soul, with the warmest affection, with all thy strength, the most vigorous efforts of thy will, and with all thy mind or understanding, in the most wise and reasonable manner thou canst; thy understanding guiding thy will and affections. Deuteronomy 6:5; Leviticus 19:18.
Luke 11:45
Thou hast answered right; this do, and thou shalt live - Here is no irony, but a deep and weighty truth. He, and he alone, shall live for ever, who thus loves God and his neighbour in the present life.
Luke 11:46
To justify himself - That is, to show he had done this. Leviticus 18:5.
Luke 11:47
From Jerusalem to Jericho - The road from Jerusalem to Jericho (about eighteen miles from it) lay through desert and rocky places: so many robberies and murders were committed therein, that it was called the bloody way. Jericho was situated in the valley: hence the phrase of going down to it. About twelve thousand priests and Levites dwelt there, who all attended the service of the temple.
Luke 11:48
The common translation is, by chance - Which is full of gross improprieties. For if we speak strictly, there is no such thing in the universe as either chance or fortune. A certain priest came down that way, and passed by on the other side - And both he and the Levite no doubt could find an excuse for passing over on the other side, and might perhaps gravely thank God for their own deliverance, while they left their brother bleeding to death. Is it not an emblem of many living characters, perhaps of some who bear the sacred office? O house of Levi and of Aaron, is not the day coming, when the virtues of heathens and Samaritans will rise up in judgment against you?
Luke 11:50
But a certain Samaritan came where he was - It was admirably well judged to represent the distress on the side of the Jew, and the mercy on that of the Samaritan. For the case being thus proposed, self interest would make the very scribe sensible, how amiable such a conduct was, and would lay him open to our Lord’s inference. Had it been put the other way, prejudice might more easily have interposed, before the heart could have been affected.
Luke 11:51
Pouring in oil and wine - Which when well beaten together are one of the best balsams that can be applied to a fresh wound.
Luke 11:53
Which of these was the neighbour to him that fell among the robbers - Which acted the part of a neighbour?
Luke 11:54
And he said, He that showed mercy on him - He could not for shame say otherwise, though he thereby condemned himself and overthrew his own false notion of the neighbour to whom our love is due. Go and do thou in like manner - Let us go and do likewise, regarding every man as our neighbour who needs our assistance. Let us renounce that bigotry and party zeal which would contract our hearts into an insensibility for all the human race, but a small number whose sentiments and practices are so much our own, that our love to them is but self love reflected. With an honest openness of mind let us always remember that kindred between man and man, and cultivate that happy instinct whereby, in the original constitution of our nature, God has strongly bound us to each other.