Unless otherwise noted, the ESV (capitalized) will be used throughout.

Jesus continues speaking to His disciples about this preparatory excursion. He is sending out 70 or 72 disciples in an advance team, to determine where to go next. They are walking toward Jerusalem for the final time, walking through Samaria. Jesus will stop at a few Samaritan cities and his advance team will tell him where to go and where not to go.

Because Jesus is God, people don’t understand why He is sending out this advance team. “Doesn’t Jesus know where to go and where not to go?” The answer to that question is, “No, Jesus does not know where to go.” “How can that be, isn’t He God?”

Jesus is God, but, in His public ministry (and possibly for His entire life), He has set aside His Deity and has functioned strictly as a man. We know this because He grew in knowledge in His humanity (Luke 2:40, 52). Omniscience (a characteristic of God) does not ever increase or decrease in knowledge. Jesus setting aside His Deity is the Doctrine of Kenosis, which we have covered before. Jesus has set aside His entire essence as God and functions strictly as a man empowered by God the Holy Spirit (which is how we, as Christians, live our lives today). One of the things which Jesus accomplishes in His life is, He provides for us, in the Church Age, an example of the spiritual life in the Church Age. Even though Jesus lived during the Age of Israel (or, some believers like myself believe that His life could be considered a separate dispensation, the dispensation of the Hypostatic Union), Jesus, in His humanity, test-drove the spiritual life. He had the same divine operating assets which God gives us.

Therefore, although Jesus was a prophet and knew some things in advance, prophets do not know everything as God does. A prophet only this or that understanding which God gives him. What a prophet knows is limited to what God reveals to that prophet. So, when it comes to choosing which cities to go to, Jesus is not able to determine whether or not to go to Centerville. Therefore, He is sending out this advance team to make that determination.

What we have been studying is this: Jesus continues speaking of a town where the disciples and their message are rejected.

Luke 10:10–11 If you enter a city and they do not receive you with gladness, but reject the message of the gospel, then simply walk away from there. As you are leaving, walking down their street, heading out of their city, say this to them: ‘Regarding the dust of your city which is adhering to our feet, we will scrape it off before we leave your city, so that we take nothing of your city with us. But, despite your negative volition, know this, that the Kingdom of God came to you and to your city.’ (Kukis paraphrase)

By doing this, the 70 or 72 disciples will determine which cities Jesus will stop at, as they trek toward Jerusalem.

Luke 10:12 I tell you, it will be more bearable on that day for Sodom than for that town. (ESV; capitalized)

First of all, what day are we speaking of? The day of the Lord, when Jesus returns. At this point, Jesus is offering the kingdom of God—a legitimate offer, as He is the King—but the rejection of Jesus their King by Israel is pretty solid. Many Samaritans will also reject the King.

When Jesus returns in the 2^nd advent, He will return as the Judge of all mankind. Therefore, He will judge all the inhabitants of such cities as those which will reject Him in Samaria.

This is a fascinating thing for Jesus to say, that it will be more bearable in Sodom than in this city which is rejecting Him now. Perhaps we ought to understand it as hyperbole. The people of Sodom were the most degenerate of that time (but, bear in mind, the Bible does not tell us about every single degenerate city; Sodom was important to point out because because Lot, Abraham’s nephew, chose to live there). See Genesis 18 (HTML) (PDF) (WPD) and Genesis 19 (HTML) (PDF) (WPD).

It turned out that, in the entire city, there were at most 4 righteous people there: Lot, his daughters and his wife. That is, at most. And by righteous, I do not mean spiritually mature, but simply regenerate. They had believed in the God of Abraham. They believed in God as He had revealed Himself to them. As a result, they had imputed righteousness, as per Genesis 15:6, but nothing more. Their spiritual growth was minimal.

Whatever city the 70 evangelists went to would be a city populated by Jewish people or, half-Jewish people, and they should know the gospel. They should know about their Messiah and they should know enough from their Scriptures and from their various ceremonies how to recognize Him. If they still reject Jesus, knowing all of this, then that negative volition is on them. What I mean is, they are responsible for their negative volition.

As I have discussed previously, the people of Israel did not fully understand the Messiah, and the problem was, they were willing to see one aspect of Him, but they rejected everything else about Him that did not fit their perception. So, when Jesus was not a great military leader calling for the throwing off of the oppression of Rome, they did not see Him as the Messiah. For this reason, many Jews rejected Jesus the Messiah; and so did some people in the cities where these evangelists/healers would go.

The thing is, the Messiah was more multifaceted than the people wanted to believe. They wanted to see one particular thing; they wanted that applied to them at that time, where Rome is the ultimate oppressor. Interestingly enough, the scribes and pharisees, who rejected the Lord, will actually ally themselves with the established government of Rome (which government that they wanted Messiah to destroy) in order to execute Jesus. That would be called ironic today (or hypocritical).

The judgment of Jerusalem by Rome will be an horrendous historical event; and throughout history, the Jewish people who have rejected their True God have faced great and massive persecutions. If anyone should recognize the Messiah, it should be the Jews having the Torah of God.

One of the consistent themes in the Bible is, if God gives you truth, then you are responsible for having that truth. Jerusalem had both the Torah and the witness of Jesus and His disciples. When this was rejected, God held them responsible for their negative volition.

Luke 10:12 I tell you, it will be more bearable on that day for Sodom than for that town. (ESV; capitalized)

What is particularly difficult is, truth was brought to these cities where the disciples have come. They offer the truth and they offer deliverance from sickness and from demon possession. How horrendous will be the regret of such cities, where it was all right there, brought right to them, and they rejected it.

Not all of Sodom will be judged and cast into the Lake of Fire at the final judgment. Lot and his two daughters and probably his wife will not be judged. But, some of these Samaritan cities will be judged, and there will not be a single convert from this time. It will be more bearable on that day for Sodom than for certain Samaritan towns.

Let’s pause for a moment and take a look at this particular incident from the perspective of time. That is, where does it belong in time?

If you recall from Luke 9, there were nine or so incidents found in Matthew, Mark and Luke, all taking place in the same order, not long before the Lord’s final ascent into Jerusalem. These same incidents took place in Matthew 16:13–18:6. However, this incident matches up with Matthew 11:20–24 almost word-for-word. As mentioned previously, Luke appears to cover the public ministry of the Lord chronologically until the end of Luke 9 or Luke 10. Either Matthew is completely out of whack, chronologically speaking, or Luke is.

Luke 10:12 I tell you, it will be more bearable on that day for Sodom than for that town. (ESV; capitalized)

These words are spoken with reference to cities in Samaria that will outright reject Jesus and not even want to hear from Him. The overall context is the sending of 70 or 72 disciples into the cities of Samaria in order to determine which cities will give Jesus a hearing.

In Matthew 10:15, we read: “Truly, I say to you, it will be more bearable on the day of judgment for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah than for that town.” (ESV; capitalized)

The overall context for the Matthew passage is the sending out the twelve disciples. There would be some cities which would reject them, and Jesus says this about those cities.

So, we simply have very similar, but different contexts; and the similarity of the contexts makes it appropriate to repeat this short lesson where Jesus pronounces the woes.

We have just studied how this passage in Luke is very similar to a passage in Matthew (it is almost word-for-word), but that this is the same message given at different times. The first time Jesus spoke these words is in the book of Matthew. He would be sending out His twelve disciples to evangelize and spread the word of the Kingdom. The second time that Jesus says these words takes place in the book of Luke, the book that we are studying, and this context is the sending out of the 70 or 72 believers who are making a determination of which cities in Samaria will receive the Lord. For those who do not receive the Person of Jesus Christ, Jesus says this:

Luke 10:12 I tell you, it will be more bearable on that day for Sodom than for that town. (ESV; capitalized)

And then Jesus says this (repeating a sermon which He had given earlier):

Luke 10:13a "Woe to you, Chorazin! (ESV; capitalized)

Twice in this verse we have the onomatopoetic Greek word ouai (οὐαί) [pronounced oo-AH-ee], which means, alas, woe. Strong’s #3759.

R. A. S. Macalister:[Chorazin is a]... place referred to only in the denunciation by Christ (Matt. 11:21, Luke 10:13). It is with probability identified with Kerazeh, north of Tell Hum, where are remains of pillars, walls, etc., of basalt.

ISBE: [Chorazin is a] city whose name appears only in the woe pronounced against it by Christ (Matthew 11:21; Luke 10:13). Its appearance there, however, shows that it must have been a place of some importance, and highly privileged by the ministry of Jesus. It was already deserted in the time of Eusebius, who places it 2 miles from Capernaum (Onomasticon, under the word). We can hardly doubt that it is represented by the extensive ruins of Kerâzeh, on the heights to the north of Tell Hûm. It is utterly desolate: a few carved stones being seen among the heaps. There are traces of a Roman road which connected the ancient city with the great highway between north and south which touched the lake shore at Khān Minyeh.

Since Eusebius lived into the 4^th century and it was completely deserted by his time, the woe pronounced upon it by the Lord had come to pass.

Given this message, Chorazin must have been very negative to the ministry of the Lord, although we have no details, apart from this woe.

It is interesting that this city is right next door to Capernaum, which is mentioned several times in the gospels and generally with a positive response to the gospel. However, Capernaum will also be spoken of negatively by Jesus.

Luke 10:13b Woe to you, Bethsaida! (ESV; capitalized)

We have the same refrain for Bethsaida.

R. A. S. Macalister: Bethsaida [is a]...place on the shore of the Sea of Galilee, whither Christ went after feeding the five thousand (Mark 6:45, cf. Luke 9:10), and where He healed a blind man (Mark 8:22); the home of Philip, Andrew, and Peter (John 1:44; John 12:21). It was denounced by Christ for unbelief (Matt. 11:21, Luke 10:13). The town was advanced by Philip the tetrarch from a village to the dignity of a city, and named Julias, in honour of Cæsar’s daughter. The situation is disputed, and, indeed, authorities differ as to whether or not there were two places of the same name, one east, one west of the Jordan. Et–Tell, on the northern shore of the sea, east of the Jordan, is generally identified with Bethsaida Julias: those who consider that the narrative of the crossings of the Lake (Mark 6:45) requires another site west of the Jordan, seek it usually at ’Ain et–Tabigha near Khan Minyeh. The latest writers, however, seem inclined to regard the hypothetical second Bethsaida as unnecessary (see Sanday, Sacred Sites of the Gospels, p. 41), and to regard et–Tell as the scene of all the incidents recorded about the town.

Many mighty works were apparently done in Bethsaida. They did not respond with positive volition towards God.

Both of these are cities with a significant Jewish population.

Luke 10:13c For if the mighty works done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon,... (ESV; capitalized)

In context, Jesus is speaking of the cities and towns that reject His evangelists (they are healing in these cities where they go). Who would not want to be healed and hear their message of the kingdom? Apparently some cities would reject them entirely.

Tyre and Sidon are major gentile populated cities. Both are major cities on the coast of Phœnicia (today, this would be Lebanon, north of Israel). At the beginning of His ministry, Jesus focused upon cities populated by Jews. He did not go up to Tyre or to Sidon.

Gentiles would also respond to the gospel message; and apparently, with greater enthusiasm than the Lord’s Own people. Many gentiles would respond to the evangelization of Paul and the other disciples (Paul primarily went to the gentiles).

Luke 10:13d ...they would have repented long ago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes. (ESV; capitalized)

Given that so many translations with any commentary generally got this wrong, the key word is the 3^rd person plural, aorist active indicative of metanoéô (μετανοέω) [pronounced meh-tah-noh-EH-oh], which means, to change one’s thinking, to change one’s mind, of a purpose he has formed or of something he has done; to relent, to turn around; to change direction. Strong’s #3340. Because of the poor scholarship in many Christian circles, this is presented over and over again as some sort of an emotional reaction toward sins which we have committed—like strong regret, sadness or repentance. But in truth, this refers to a change of mind, and that change of mind is not directed by default toward sin or sinning. This change of mind would have been directed toward Jesus Christ. He would be the One performing that mighty deeds and healings; and the people would logically change their minds about Him. There is nothing in this context which speaks of sin.

As an aside, when God gives us a positive command (do this), it is either about our mental attitude or it is about things which we ought to be doing. God never commands us to feel a certain way. When God gives us a negative command (do not do this), it is about a mental attitude, a change of behavior or to stop being guided by a certain emotion or set of emotions.

The people of these Gentile cities would have responded to the gospel message and to signs performed by Jesus or any of His disciples. However, Jesus would first go to the lost sheep of Israel. They had the Scriptures and they knew about the Messiah. It was up to them to recognize the Messiah and believe in Him. Some did but many did not.

Luke 10:13 "Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes. (ESV; capitalized)

Dr. Daniel Hill: Jesus tells them that if He had done what He did in these Jewish cities in these Gentile cities they would have repented long ago - WHY? Because the Jews were distracted looking for a king after their own making and rejected their Messiah who came as a lamb and not a lion.

The Jews had a blind spot concerning the Messiah. They could see Him as the conquering son of David, but they did not see Him as the suffering servant of Isaiah 53. Nevertheless, the cross must come before the crown. We cannot be made right with God apart from the cross.

Luke 10:14 But it will be more bearable in the judgment for Tyre and Sidon than for you. (ESV; capitalized)

The Jews should have recognized their Messiah; and there will be great regrets among unbeliever Jews who had the Scriptures as a witness and the Person of Jesus as a parallel witness.

Who could regret more if they have learned about the Messiah all of their lives, and come face to face with the Messiah and yet did not recognize Him. If anyone should be able to recognize the Christ, it ought to be these Jews in the cities that Jesus is talking about.

Luke 10:14 But it will be more bearable in the judgment for Tyre and Sidon than for you. (ESV; capitalized)

Steve Ellis: Tyre and Sidon were large Phoenician cities on the Mediterranean about 35 and 60 miles, respectively from the Sea of Galilee. These two cities were often the subject of warnings from the prophets because of their worship of Baal (Isa 23; Ezek 26-28; Joel 3:4; Amos 1:9-10; Zech 9:2-4).

Luke 10:13–14 Woe to you Chorazin and Bethsaida. If the great things done among you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, those people would have changed their minds, putting on sackcloth and ashes to represent their repentance. Therefore, the judgment upon Tyre and Sidon will be more bearable for them than it will be for you. (Kukis paraphrase)

Steve Ellis: Chorazin was a village about two and a half miles north of Capernaum and Bethsaida was about three miles east. Both of these towns were in Galilee and both had seen Jesus’ ministry firsthand. They both rejected Him and not repented in regard to their attitude toward Him as the Messiah.

Ellis continues: We draw an important principle from these verses. Punishment on the Day of Judgment takes into account the opportunities one has had (cf. Luke 12:47-48; Matt 12:41; 23:13).

Luke 10:15a And you, Capernaum, will you be exalted to heaven? (ESV; capitalized)

Capernaum is a city of religious Jews; but they rejected the Lord. Jesus tells the negative people that they will not spent eternity with God; they will not be exalted to the heavens.

Various geographical regions and cities will be represented in heaven; but not many from Capernaum will be there.

Luke 10:15b You shall be brought down to Hades. (ESV; capitalized)

Those from Capernaum who have rejected the Lord, they—the population of Capernaum—will descend into the grave; they will spend eternity with the fallen.

Steve Ellis: Jesus describes Capernaum as being brought down to Hades. This is a clear allusion to Isaiah 14:15 and the description of the fall of Satan. Hades is the Greek word for hell and has two compartments: torments (the abode of the unbelieving until the Great White Throne Judgment) and paradise or Abraham’s bosom (the abode of believers of the Old Testament until paradise was transferred to heaven with Christ – Luke 16:19-31; 23:43; Ac 2:27, 31; 2 Cor 12:1-4; Eph 4:8-10). Obviously, Jesus is referring to torments here.

Luke 10:15 And you, Capernaum, will you be exalted to heaven? You shall be brought down to Hades. (ESV; capitalized)

Luke 10:15 You will not be exalted to the heavens, Capernaum; but you will descend into Hades. (Kukis mostly literal translation)

Dr. Daniel Hill: Capernaum, the resting place of Nahum, had more opportunity than any city in which Jesus ministered. More disciples were from there, He spent more time there than any place else during His public ministry, more miracles, more parables, more messages - yet in the end, for the most part they rejected and lost the honor they could have had. This helps us add to the answer to our first question. Where is your significance, your honor? Is it in merely receiving what God has for you or is it in something more, is it in knowing God and His Son in a personal way? 

Luke 10:15 You will not be exalted to the heavens, O Capernaum; but rather, you will descend into hell. (Kukis paraphrase)

Steve Ellis: Jesus must have mentioned these cities because of their rejection of the message of those whom Jesus sent. Chorazin, Bethsaida and Capernaum were towns that had already rejected Him. The Gentile cities of Sodom, Tyre and Sidon would not come under as harsh a treatment in the day of judgment as these cities because they had rejected greater revelation than was ever given to Sodom, Tyre, and Sidon.

Luke 10:13–15 Woe to you, Chorazin [and] woe to you, Bethsaida—that if the (mighty) deeds done in Tyre and Sidon that were being done among you (all), long ago, those remaining would have changed their minds, [expressing their repentance] with [the use of] sackcloth and ashes. Therefore, the judgment will be more bearable in Tyre and Sidon than [it will be for] you (all). You will not be exalted to the heavens, Capernaum; but you will descend into Hades. (Kukis mostly literal translation)

Jesus speaks of cities with large populations of Jews who have rejected Him as their King and Savior.

V. 16 is related to the disciples going out and giving the message of the gospel and is not necessarily connected to the woe to you passage.

Luke 10:16a "The one who hears you hears Me,... (ESV; capitalized)

Jesus tells His disciples, “When you go out and speak My words and My message, it is as if I am them speaking these truths.

This is clearly something that Jesus maintains, as He allows mankind to spread His Word. Unlike all other religious leaders, Jesus did not spend an inordinate amount of time teaching. He only taught for 3 or 4 years. That was it. For all other religious leaders, that is a warming up period of time. That is the time that they spend learning their craft and making decisions as to their message.

Any religious figure, one who teaches truth or falsehood, is only remembered in history if he spends his life dedicated to teaching his doctrines (whether these be true or false).

Throughout Israel’s history, there have been many people who were thought to be the Messiah or they presented themselves as the Messiah. I could not name any of these people by name because their ministries were generally short-lived. They were not the Messiah from God; and making such claims almost insured that their proclamations would be over a short period of time.

Luke 10:16b ...and the one who rejects you rejects Me,... (ESV; capitalized)

Jesus tells His followers not to take this rejection personally. They will be rejected; but it is not they themselves who are rejected, it is the Lord Who is being rejected.

Luke 10:16c ...and the one who rejects Me rejects Him who sent Me." (ESV; capitalized)

Furthermore, Jesus explains, when a person rejects Jesus, he is rejecting God. None of this is personal; this is all tied to positive or negative attitude toward God.

Luke 10:16 "The one who hears you hears Me, and the one who rejects you rejects Me, and the one who rejects Me rejects Him who sent Me." (ESV; capitalized)

Let me paraphrase: Therefore, when you witness to someone, and they go off on some sort of tirade, don’t worry about it. Don’t think that you need to go off on a tirade against them. If they insult you, you don’t need to insult them. Again, it is not personal. They are not rejecting you; they are rejecting God.

Steve Ellis: Jesus consoled the men whom He was sending out by revealing that the rejection they would experience was not a rejection of them but of Him. The failure that these men would experience could have easily discouraged them. Jesus knew that the rejection that He had experienced would be experienced by them also. Even though the harvest was plentiful, the response to their ministry was small. Nevertheless, they were expected to be faithful in the execution of their calling.

Luke 10:16 Those who hear the words of truth from you, it is as if I am the One speaking to them; but those who reject you and your message, that one is actually rejecting Me. Furthermore, the man who rejects Me rejects God, Who sent Me.” (Kukis paraphrase)

Dr. Daniel Hill: So not be shocked by rejection, if anyone rejects the Gospel you give remember that you are the messenger. The true rejection is not of the messenger but the message and the message is of a Savior Jesus Christ and the Creator, God the Father. They rejected Him didn’t they? 

This general sentiment is repeated a number of times in the gospels, in several different contexts: Luke 9:48 Matthew 10:40 18:5 Mark 9:37 John 12:44, 48 13:20.

It is interesting that Luke places this verse right here. Logically, I would have placed it when He was sending out the 70 or 72. It would have been directly related to that. On the other hand, Jesus may have been preparing His current followers for the return of the 70 or 72 man point team.

Luke 10:17a The seventy-two returned with joy,... (ESV; capitalized)

The 70 or 72 disciples who were sent out both to evangelize and speak of the kingdom to come. These men are very jazzed from this excursion.

There is not a great deal discussed about the various cities and how they responded; but there are 35 pairs of men who went to at least 35 cities and villages. Obviously, those cannot all be discussed. God the Holy Spirit also limited the length of each gospel, as that is just common sense. President Lyndon B. Johnson had a biographer which wrote a four-volume set biography of Johnson (he is presently working on the fifth volume). So far, this is about 3000 pages. Can you imagine how long a thorough biography of Jesus might be? In other words, throughout the gospels, there are places where we know that much more detail could have been added, but it was not.

In any case, the point team returned, and they are very enthusiastic.

Luke 10:17b ...saying, "Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name!" (ESV; capitalized)

The men were particularly amazed as to how well the demons responded to them. They could order demons out of these people and the demons would obey immediately. This means that they would come across demon-possessed people who were completely insane and dangerous, and within seconds, would return to complete normalcy.

Luke 10:17 The seventy-two returned with joy, saying, "Lord, even the demons are subject to us in Your name!" (ESV; capitalized)

What seemed to amaze the disciples the most was the power which Jesus had given them. They could cast out demons!

Given that His followers were so amazed as to their powers over demons, Jesus has a few words for them to take in and absorb.

Sometimes, there are moments of teachability. There is something that catches the attention of a person, or affects them directly, and they are suddenly open to this or that topic. Jesus knows that many of this group are ready for more information about the demon world.

Luke 10:18a And he said to them,... (ESV; capitalized)

The 70 (or 72) evangelists have returned from the various cities (we do not know how long this took, but it appears to have been done over a fairly short period of time. They are quite jazzed over what happened and their success and the response of the people—and particularly, it seems—that the wicked spirits were subjected to them.

This is what they have said to the Lord: "Lord, even the demons are subject to us in Your name!" (Luke 10:17b; ESV; capitalized). Therefore, Jesus will respond specifically to that.

Luke 10:18b ..."I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. (ESV; capitalized)

My opinion here is, Jesus, speaking as a prophet, seeing Satan being cast out of heaven like a lightning flash. If Jesus saw this in His humanity, then this would be something that God the Father would have to have revealed to Him long after the fact (specifically, to His humanity). This information is also revealed to us in the Scriptures. The imperfect tense indicates that Jesus saw this in the past and, in His memory (in His mind’s eye), He continues to see it.

At one time, Satan could move between heaven and earth as he so willed; prior to his fall. However, when Satan sinned against God, he was cast out of heaven. Being that he accuses Job before God, Satan is allowed back into heaven at certain times and for specific reasons. See Job 1 (HTML) (PDF) (WPD) and Job 2 (HTML) (PDF) (WPD).

Satan falls from heaven by uttering his five I wills.

When Satan was cast out of heaven, a third of the stars (angels) were pulled along with him (Revelation 12:4).

Luke 10:18 And he said to them, "I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. (ESV; capitalized)

See also Satan (by R. B. Thieme, Jr.); Satan’s five “I wills” (by R. B. Thieme, Jr.); Satan Doctrines Links. These links will have a destination in the chapter study of Luke 10 (HTML) (PDF) (WPD).

Luke 10:19a Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions,... (ESV; capitalized)

Jesus tells the seventy that He has given them the power (or the authority) to trample down scorpions and serpents. Even though this paints a very visual picture; I believe that we should understand this symbolically. Just as serpents and scorpions can be the enemy of man; their true enemies are unseen—demons from the spirit world. The mention of Satan, serpents and scorpions suggests a variety of demons.

Furthermore, serpents and scorpions represent natural dangers which a person is going to face; and God tells these men not to worry about these dangers; God is providing for them. This is God’s provision of logistical grace.

This does not mean that we should handle snakes or scorpions as a proof of our faith. It would only be a proof of our idiocy.

Luke 10:19b ...and over all the power of the enemy,... (ESV; capitalized)

Jesus confirms to them what they have observed that he has given them power over the enemies of God—and I think that the emphasis continues to be on the enemies from the spiritual world.

Luke 10:19c ...and nothing shall hurt you. (ESV; capitalized)

This is a statement with 3 negatives, which stacks up just how carefully God monitors their safety. In context, I would have to suggest that God is protecting them from the violent and powerful world of demons. These people were able to walk throughout the territory assigned to them by Jesus and, despite there being a massive host of demons which wanted to see them crushed, the Lord has made their desired assault come to naught.

Now, does this mean that no harm will ever befall us? What we have to do at this juncture is to stay with the context and not get too crazy when it comes to making application.

First of all, the context is, Jesus is speaking to those whom He sent out as His representatives, who were to act as evangelists, to offer to the people the kingdom, and to heal the sick and, apparently, to cast out demons when necessary. There were no losses which occurred. That is, no one was in danger when on this mission, despite there being millions of demons who wanted to see them destroyed. They had complete protection from that.

Now, we as believers in our life and in our function for God (in the operation of our spiritual gifts), receive a great deal of protection as well. If we are honest, most of the troubles and difficulties of life are all a result of what we do to ourselves. And God does allow us to face some pressures and difficulties. No one goes through life without pressure, difficulties or roadblocks. Part of our growth is being able to deal with these things.

So, the people to whom Jesus spoke to had absolute protection against the spirit world. For us, in the Church Age, once we have believed in the Lord, demons cannot enter into us or control us; but they might influence us with their evil thinking. That is a choice that we make.

Now, I am where I am because of some difficulties and roadblocks that I experienced many, many years ago as a new Christian—some of these things brought on by mistakes which I made and some of them simply difficulties of life that I was unable to overcome. When it became clear that my only solution to move forward in my normal vocation was to move to another state, that was quite a difficult thing to do(for me); but it was the right thing to do. It would not have happened without facing some problems which could not be resolved remaining where I was.

Therefore, despite the language of what Jesus is saying as being quite strong, we need to stay with the context and apply without getting too crazy.

Luke 10:19 Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall hurt you. (ESV; capitalized)

Dr. Daniel Hill: Let’s not take this as a sanction to test God by going out and playing with snakes and scorpions. That is as wrong as what Satan wanted Jesus to do in testing God in the temptations of Matthew 4 when he beckoned Him to jump off the highest pinnacle of the Temple because, after all, God said that angles would hold up the Messiah keeping Him from harm. What this verse tells me is that there is a destiny that God has for me and for you and as we follow Him, walking by faith in the Holy Spirit, we will be kept from harm in this the fallen devils world. That should make you feel pretty secure which is the answer to the third question. In what do you find your security? In being so skilled as to not step on a serpent or scorpion or in trusting God for your safety, your security, your destiny? 

Luke 10:20a Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you,... (ESV; capitalized)

These disciples appear to be particularly jazzed because the demon world is subject to them. Jesus is not telling them that they should not rejoice, but He is going to offer them something even greater to rejoice about.

Luke 10:20b ...but rejoice that your names are written in heaven." (ESV; capitalized)

“This is what you need to be particularly happy about,” Jesus tells them, “that your names have been recorded in heaven.” This means that they are eternally saved. This is a far more important consideration than Satan’s fall (which is why we have demons on the earth).

Luke 10:20 Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven." (ESV; capitalized)

The 70 evangelists came back enthusiastic, but with a skewed emphasis, which Jesus needed to correct, ever so slightly.

Dr. Daniel Hill: What should be our greatest source of Joy, what should make us more happy than anything else? That we are saved - our names are written in the Lambs book of life forever. Initially, the disciples were caught up in their relationship with the world, that in Christ’s name they had power over even over the spirit world. Jesus told them that they should be rejoicing in their relationship with God. Their names are written down in heaven.

Hill later writes: In what do you find honor or significance, in what do you find joy, in what do you find security? Our names are written down in heaven, and Jesus is now there to secure for us a place, and the Holy Spirit indwells us. Our Love our Joy our Peace - our significance, our happiness, our security. We have all that God has for us, let us rejoice in the God of our salvation.

Luke 10:18–20 Then Jesus said to them, “I saw Satan as an angel being cast down out of heaven, as lightning from the sky. Listen to Me: I have give you the authority to trample down serpents and scorpions; and I have given each of you the power over the enemies of God. There is nothing out there which can harm you without My knowledge and assent. Furthermore, do not rejoice simply because the spirits are all subordinate to you; but rejoice that your names have been recorded eternally in the heavens.” (Kukis paraphrase)

Steve Ellis: After they completed their mission, the 70 (or 72) returned with reports that reflect a preoccupation with the miracles they had performed. They did not report on the response of the people to their ministry; however, they reported on the response of the demons (v. 17) to the exercise of the authority that Christ had entrusted to them. Jesus found it necessary to give them a mild rebuke. He reminded them that the authority was not theirs, but His and He had just entrusted it to them (v. 19). This authority belonged to Him because He had expelled Satan from heaven at the time of his original fall (v. 18 cf. Ezek 28:12-15 and Isaiah 14:12-15). They were not to rejoice in the fact that the demons had been made subject to them, rather they were to rejoice in the fact that they had a heavenly home (v. 20).

My first impressions reading of this is, Jesus, in His humanity, is recognizing what God is doing and Jesus says this aloud, sharing His thinking with His disciples and with us, these many centuries later.

This short section appears to be a response to the enthusiasm of the Lord’s evangelizing disciples. However, there is language which begins v. 21 which appears to separate this from being an immediate response to His disciples going forth.

Luke 10:21a In that same hour he rejoiced in the Holy Spirit.... (ESV; capitalized)

I would assume by the wording that this incident took place at that moment or very soon after. Jesus, in speaking with the seventy (-two) was encouraged by the faithfulness of God. Although God does not possess emotions, Jesus, in His humanity, does have emotions. He has an appreciation, in the Spirit, based upon God’s faithfulness to these seventy disciples, who had returned from going out to the cities and towns.

I would assume that all statements made by the Lord, regardless of the reason, if they are recorded in Scripture, are for our benefit and learning.

At some point during that day, Jesus began thinking of what He has observed thus far, and He rejoices in the Holy Spirit. My thinking is, Jesus came to a doctrinal conclusion, based upon His knowledge of doctrine and based upon His life to that point (perhaps based upon a few things that have just taken place, that day or quite recently).

It is also reasonable that Jesus had some human emotion at this time, because His humanity would have had human emotion.

Luke 10:21b ...and said, "I thank you, Father,... (ESV; capitalized)

Jesus appears to be making a public prayer at this point. My take, at this point, is Jesus has come to some doctrinal conclusions, and He is stated them in a prayer. Jesus would be speaking to God the Father from His humanity.

I have suggested the following analogy when we consider the Lord’s Deity and His humanity—and how can you possibly have one without the other? We have a soul, and that soul thinks and devises and considers. However, this is a portion of our brain which is more or less on automatic pilot—which controls our heartbeat, the movement of blood; the response to physical stimuli, etc. These are not conscious things which we do. I do not have a pin prick, and then decide, “I will choose not to feel that.” My nerves are going to take a physical response to my brain. Even though my brain is clearly involved in these involuntary physical acts and responses, I cannot turn them off and on. I cannot stop my heart from beating, for instance.

In much the same way, there are two distinct aspects to the Hypostatic Union of Jesus Christ—His Deity and His humanity and, in some way, these aspects of Him can function independently of one another. For instance, we are told that Jesus holds the entire universe together. Perhaps this is something, from His Deity, which can be placed into automatic pilot? Somehow, this can remain separate from all of His decisions as a human person.

Let me suggest that He has chosen, in His human volition, to not access or use any of His Deity attributes on behalf of Himself. Whatever Jesus must do as God—such as hold the universe together—this appears to have been placed on automatic pilot, so that these requirements of Deity take place apart from the volition of the humanity of Jesus.

Now, we have a parallel of this in the human body. We have our normal human volition, which tells us to get up and to walk forward; but, that same human volition cannot contact the brain and tell his how fast the heart is to pump or what our blood pressure should be; or how our body should react to our blood pressure. We can affect some of those things by our actions (if I run, I will increase my heartbeat; but I cannot choose an arbitrary number and increase my heartbeat to that amount).

Also, see the addendum for an early development of the Doctrine of the Hypostatic Union (by R. B. Thieme, Jr.).

Luke 10:21c ...Lord of heaven and earth,... (ESV; capitalized)

God the Father is sovereign in heaven and over the earth (even though Satan temporarily rules over the earth). God has, for a period of time, given Satan a position of authority—within specific parameters—over the earth. One of those parameters might be, he is not allowed to destroy the human race.

Luke 10:21d ...that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding... (ESV; capitalized)

Even though we do not have a time frame affixed to these statements, Jesus has been on the road long enough to have met and interacted with many religious types who were well-learned; and He was also aware of the sometimes childish outbreaks that His disciples might have. It is clear that God’s plan and will are being constantly rejected by the very people who ought to embrace it. “I cannot believe it,” they ought to say, “that I should be alive during the revealing of God’s Messiah.” But few of them come to this realization, despite all of their education and learning.

God has a plan and a purpose; and He has hidden these things from men who consider themselves to be wise and learned. Many have come up with their own ideas about Who and What God is; or what life is all about; but the geniuses of the world are unable to explain it. Various people have tried to explain this world and this life coming from a variety of directions, but this is something which man is unable to fully understand or appreciate on his own—apart from revelation (that is, God must reveal Himself, or man cannot understand Him).

The wise man might considered a man who has been around for a long time and has seen and experienced a lot; and, therefore, he has many experiences to draw from in order to develop his own philosophy. The learned is the one who has been schooled or has learned so much from others (through their books or philosophies or from their wisdom). The first is life-smart and the second is book-smart.

Man cannot, either by reason or by observation, determine what God’s plans and intentions are. These things are concealed from man and are only revealed to man as God determines (God has not just given such information to us as believers, but we are encouraged by God to apprehend this knowledge).

Luke 10:21e ...and revealed them to little children;... (ESV; capitalized)

Literally, Jesus, speaking to God, says, “You make such things known to those who are infants.” Jesus is not saying that only babies crawling around needing their mother’s milk can understand God’s thinking; but those who may be considered infants by comparison to the wise and learned. They are able to understand God’s plan and His great purposes, based upon God revealing Himself to them.

These infants would have simply been the men and women who had not had all of the formal education which the scribes and pharisees had enjoyed.

A child primarily learns everything based upon faith. In most cases, his parents tell him X, Y and Z; and he believes X, Y and Z. Similarly, figures of authority tell the child things and, in most instances, they believe those things. This is how a child can develop odd ideas and concepts after going to school, where odd ideas and concepts are taught by some teachers. For a period of time, a child has a difficult time discerning when to believe and when not to believe.

Earlier, I spoke of believers with doctrine and with flexibility could observe Jesus and accept Him as the Messiah of God. However, here Jesus is making a contrast between the wise and learned, who have rejected Him; and the infants, who believe in Him. How do we explain this?

Jesus came to a land where many people were steeped in the Scriptures, but they had a very specific view of things which rejected the gracious God of the Universe, and His Messiah. So these wise and learned men are people who knew the Scriptures, but only enough to support and justify their legalistic view of God. They were not believers in True God (as Paul once wrote, I fear you preach another Jesus).

Republicans Going to Church (a liberal meme); from Catholic Forums; accessed December 2, 2019.

Another way to put this is, they learned enough Scripture to reject the true God. Let me offer a modern-day example. There are those on the far left who present Jesus as a long-haired hippie, the first true justice warrior, who proclaimed socialism as the answer to man’s ills. Now, nothing could be further from the truth, but they take a little Scripture here, a little popular culture there, and mix in a few misconceptions, and they present a man who is not anything like Jesus.

Regarding this meme, zz912 wrote:

1.       I guess Democrats don’t go to church.

2.       I’ve read the Bible several times, I’m unaware of Jesus promoting charity through government, or expanding/controlling government.

3.       You’d be hard pressed to find anything promoted by hippies that was promoted by Christ.

4.       Jesus never condemned the rich.

5.       Is the assumption that ANY level of taxation we must accept from our government overlords, without any protest or effort to correct?

The only important point to possibly correct is to #5. Because we are in a republic where free speech and free assembly are allowed, we may certainly protest our tax burden. But, similarly, we must accept it, no matter how ridiculously high it is.

Jesus as a long-haired socialist (a political cartoon); from Scottie’s Toy Box; accessed December 2, 2019.

Luke 10:21f ...yes, Father, for such was your gracious will. (ESV; capitalized)

In this phrase, Jesus appears to be addressing God the Father; but there is some confusion whether this is the vocative or the nominative case. It is God’s plan for Him to revealed it to whomever He chooses, and that those who are simple might understand it; whereas, the wise or the learned might not. The key is not IQ but revelation.

Luke 10:21 In that same hour he rejoiced in the Holy Spirit and said, "I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children; yes, Father, for such was your gracious will. (ESV; capitalized)

Jesus, in His humanity, despite what He faced in the future, was a happy person.

Dr. Daniel Hill: The Lord Jesus had abundant joy through the ministry of the Holy Spirit. The Lord Jesus had great joy in the salvation of men. The Lord Jesus had great joy in the sovereignty of the Father, which resulted in His revealing His salvation The Lord Jesus further rejoiced because it was the Father’s good pleasure to accomplish salvation through the Son.

Luke 10:21 Later on, during this same day, Jesus rejoiced in the Holy Spirit, saying, “I recognize that You, Father, the Lord of heaven and earth, have concealed Your plans and purposes from those who consider themselves to be wise and learned; yet You, at the same time, revealed these things to those who are infants, by comparison. Yea, Father, so You causes Your will and purpose to unfold. (Kukis paraphrase)

There are three systems of perception: faith, empiricism and rationalism. In the first, we do not actually see the thing in question or we do not reason our way to a conclusion, but we accept something we hear or read by faith. We see a paper written about climate science; we see comments or approval for this article written by other scientists; and so, we accept that information as true. That would be a matter of faith. Let’s say that we make our own measurements regarding the weather where we are and consider these from year-to-year; a compendium of such measurements would be an example of empiricism. If we draw some simple conclusions based upon these measurements (such that, over a period of time, we notice a trend of something going up, down, increasing or decreasing) that would rationalism based upon empiricism. When we come to a greater conclusion (like, these measurements seem to indicate that the climate of the earth is getting warmer), then we are bringing in a whole host of notions which are based upon faith.

As a well-taught geometry student knows, even to build a system of geometry (a specific kind of mathematics), we must begin with a dozen or more undefined terms and postulates (unproven statements which we accept as true) before we can proceed to any sort of rational conclusion.

The wise person alluded to here is a person who has lived for a long time and has recognized divine establishment laws as being the best laws for the human race. A person may start in his early life by thinking that marriage is an outdated arbitrary institution, and that children by be raised by virtually any entity, but as a person becomes wise, he finds out that not all households are equal, not all institutions of companionship and dedication are equal; and that the introduction of children changes a great many things. A wise man, after many years of observation, may conclude, children appear to do best when raised by both of their natural parents.

The learned man is someone who has been educated by whatever educational institutions are available. What that person will learn is based upon accepted concepts based upon faith, observations and logical though. The bias of the learning institution often makes an imprint on the learned man.

Regarding these two types of men, neither one understands God or God’s plan one whit. That must be revealed to them from another source (which can take place in a learning institution). Their only correct response is to hear about Jesus Christ and to believe in Him.

Luke 10:22a All things have been handed over to Me by My Father,... (ESV; capitalized)

You may or may not be interested in the alternate text revealed above in the Greek tables (some ancient manuscripts also have the words, And having turned towards [His] disciples, He said...).

Truth is revealed to whomever God chooses; and it cannot be discovered by the wise or the learned. God the Father has entrusted everything to His Son. In context, we are speaking of God’s plan and His purpose and the revelation of these things.

Science, Natural Patterns and God:

A scientist can investigate a great many matters in physics or biology and come to the conclusion, this universe is not random; what do I make of that? This could be an expression of God consciousness. If the person then wants to know about God, God will then see to it that he hears the gospel message from a believer (or from the Word of God). That scientist, by himself, even having discovered amazing overlaps in nature, still cannot discover the gospel message by going a little further into his study. There are things in the universe which may alert your mind to the concept of God; but those things will not lead you to God. That only happens in the gospel message.

Let me give you an example from Mathnasium:

The Fibonacci Sequence and Nature (a graphic); from Mathnasium; accessed February 13, 2023.

The Fibonacci sequence starts like this: 0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55 and so on forever. Each number is the sum of the two numbers that precede it. It's a simple pattern, but it appears to be a kind of built-in numbering system to the cosmos. Mathnasium provides 14 examples of the Fibonacci sequence in nature and I will give three of those as examples.

Leonardo Fibonacci came up with the sequence when calculating the ideal expansion pairs of rabbits over the course of one year.

The golden ratio is called phi (φ) in mathematics and it is an infinite, irrational number. Phi = 1.61803...) and this ration can be seen from the microscale to the macroscale, and right through to biological systems and inanimate objects. While the Golden Ratio (that is, the phi ratio) doesn't account for every structure or pattern in the universe, it's certainly a major player. Here are some examples.

Seed heads

The head of a flower is also subject to Fibonaccian processes. Typically, seeds are produced at the center, and then migrate towards the outside to fill all the space. Sunflowers provide a great example of these spiraling patterns.

The Head of a Flower (a graphic); from Mathnasium; accessed February 11, 2023.

Shells

The unique properties of the Golden Rectangle provides another example. This shape, a rectangle in which the ratio of the sides a/b is equal to the golden mean (phi), can result in a nesting process that can be repeated into infinity — and which takes on the form of a spiral. It's call the logarithmic spiral, and it abounds in nature.

Snail shells and nautilus shells follow the logarithmic spiral, as does the cochlea of the inner ear. It can also be seen in the horns of certain goats, and the shape of certain spider's webs.

A Shell and the Golden Rectangle (a graphic); from Mathnasium; accessed February 11, 2023.

The Golden Rectangle and the Fibonacci sequence together (a graphic); from How Stuff Works; accessed July 18, 2024. The spiral conforms to the boxes with a regional area that conforms to the Fibonacci sequence.

Flower Petal Arrangements (a graphic); from Medium; accessed July 18, 2024. This same pattern is also found in nature in many plants, either with their petals or their seeds.

These same patterns can be observed in such diverse natural occurrences as hurricanes, the ear, and the human hand. It can be found in both art and architecture.

Spiral Galaxies

Not surprisingly, spiral galaxies also follow the familiar Fibonacci pattern. The Milky Way has several spiral arms, each of them a logarithmic spiral of about 12 degrees. As an interesting aside, spiral galaxies appear to defy Newtonian physics. As early as 1925, astronomers realized that, since the angular speed of rotation of the galactic disk varies with distance from the center, the radial arms should become curved as galaxies rotate. Subsequently, after a few rotations, spiral arms should start to wind around a galaxy. But they don't — hence the so-called

winding problem. The stars on the outside, it would seem, move at a velocity higher than expected — a unique trait of the cosmos that helps preserve its shape.

A Spiral Galaxy (a graphic); from Mathnasium; accessed February 11, 2023. You can see the golden rectangle, the phi ratio, superimposed on the galaxy.

Much of this comes from Mathnasium (the text and the photographs). I collected some examples from other websites as well.

Even more fascinating is how the Fibonacci sequence is related to the phi ratio. Take the ratio of any two adjacent numbers in the Fibonacci sequence and that ratio moves closer and closer to the phi ratio as you move further along the sequence.

Here’s the Fibonacci sequence: 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55, etc.

Now let’s look at the ratios: 2/1 = 2, 3/2 = 1.5, 5/3 = 1.666..., 8/5 = 1.6, 13/8 = 1.625, 21/13 = 1.615384615384615..., 34/21 = 1.619047619047619... Each time, we get closer and closer to the phi ratio (1.61803...). If f_n is the n^th term in the Fibonacci sequence and f_n+1 is the next term, we say that the limit of f_n+1/f_n as n goes toward infinity is phi.

Mathematically, this is written Lim f_n+1/f_n = phi (1.61803...)

n → ∞

There are a number of ways of getting to the phi ratio. The formula is this:

At the bottom of the article, do they add the words, and many scientists, as they ponder such things, believe that the universe and nature are not random, but designed, possibly by a Creator. For more information, see the book of John, chapter 1?

Of course not! These sorts of words are generally not found in science texts (although many individual scientists exclaim God’s existence, in some way, when they discover or examine different aspects of this world and universe.

Quotes from Famous Scientists about God:

 

“The question of whether there exists a Creator and Ruler of the Universe has been answered in the affirmative by some of the highest intellects that have ever existed.” –Charles Darwin.

 

“The more I study science, the more I believe in God.” –Albert Einstein

 

“God [is] the author of the universe, and the free establisher of the laws of motion.” —Physicist and chemist Robert Boyle, who is considered to be the founder of modern chemistry. Boyle was a devout Christian.

 

“I believe that the more thoroughly science is studied, the further does it take us from anything comparable to atheism.” Lord Kelvin

 

“If you study science deep enough and long enough, it will force you to believe in God.” —Lord William Kelvin, who was noted for his theoretical work on thermodynamics, the concept of absolute zero and the Kelvin temperature scale based upon it. Kelvin was a devout Christian.

 

Charles Darwin Quote (a graphic); from AZ quotes, accessed June 28, 2024.

 

Louis Pasteur Quote (a graphic); from AZ quotes, accessed June 28, 2024.

 

“God created everything by number, weight and measure.” Sir Isaac Newton

 

“In the absence of any other proof, the thumb alone would convince me of God’s existence.” Sir Isaac Newton

 

“I have a fundamental belief in the Bible as the Word of God, written by those who were inspired. I study the Bible daily.” —Sir Isaac Newton, who is widely regarded to have been the greatest scientist the world has ever produced. Newton was a devout Christian.

 

“When I began my career as a cosmologist some twenty years ago, I was a convinced atheist. I never in my wildest dreams imagined that one day I would be writing a book purporting to show that the central claims of Judeo-Christian theology are in fact true, that these claims are straightforward deductions of the laws of physics as we now understand them. I have been forced into these conclusions by the inexorable logic of my own special branch of physics.” Frank J. Tipler.

 

Most of these quotes were all taken from:

https://godevidence.com/2010/08/quotes-about-god-atheism/ accessed February 11, 2023.

Also:

https://www.azquotes.com/quotes/topics/science-god.html accessed June 28, 2024.

So, the knowledge which can come from scientific observation and investigation can lead one to the concept of God, but, the thing which actually connects us to God—the gospel of Jesus Christ—cannot be discovered, just simply given to us. We have to read that or someone needs to tell us about it. We may be moved to inquire about God through a number of different ways, but the connection only occurs by means of the good news of Jesus Christ.

Luke 10:22a All [things] were entrusted to Me by My Father. (Kukis mostly literal translation)

Luke 10:22b ...and no one knows who the Son is except the Father,... (ESV; capitalized)

The Son—Jesus here is referring to Himself—cannot be fully apprehended or understood except by the Father (that is, God the Father).

God the Father must reveal the Son to the unbeliever. This takes place because, in the divine decrees, God the Father determined that He would provide the gospel message to those who are interested in Himself. At times, God reveals to those who are not interested in Him the gospel; but generally speaking, the gospel message is reserved for those who want to know God.

Luke 10:22c ...or who the Father is except the Son... (ESV; capitalized)

Furthermore, no one fully understands or knows Who God the Father is except for His Son—the Man speaking right now.

Jesus clearly revealed Himself and He revealed God by revealing Himself.

Luke 10:22d ...and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal Him.” (ESV; capitalized)

There is an exception to what Jesus has said about only the Father understands and knows the Son; and only the Son knows and understands the Father. The exception are the people to whom Jesus reveals this information to. At this point in time, Jesus was revealing this information to His disciples (all those who are on positive volition and would listen to Him); and God the Holy Spirit reveals this information to us through a system of authority. Nearly always, this system of authority is a well-qualified pastor-teacher who studies and teaches the Word of God to His congregation.

R. B. Thieme, Jr. used to always say, a pastor-teacher cannot take his congregation past his own spiritual maturity; his congregation cannot advance any further than he has. The pastor-teacher studies and teaches and his congregation is limited by what he teaches them; and he is limited by his own knowledge as to what he is able to teach.

There are other factors involved. A pastor-teacher may be constrained by the number of hours that he teaches his congregation. This could be related to the length of the service, the number of gatherings each week, and the ability of the pastor-teacher to assimilate the material necessary to teach the Word.

One of the areas in which I hope to help is, the pastor-teacher who discovers my exegesis and develops a respect for my own integrity of teaching, will feel comfortable to teach an entire book, leaning upon what I have put together (and upon his own spiritual growth and insight).

R. B. Thieme, Jr. often disparaged commentaries, but this is because they could be so unhelpful when plumbing the depths of a verse or a passage. However, he certainly did refer to commentaries and he studied carefully the teachings of Lewis Sperry Chafer.

My attempt is to provide a great depth of resources (including the original languages, 3 original translations, a complete sampling of the available translations (I try to exclude translations which use the same phrasing or vocabulary of those already listed); and a top notch commentary which focuses upon the words and their meaning.

R. B. Thieme, Jr. understood the power and importance of the Word of God and, therefore, taught as many classes as 9 hour+ classes each week (and more for conferences). Thousands of men and women have benefitted from his concentrated teaching that he gave himself over to. (And, like all men who stand for the truth, has been much maligned throughout his life as a pastor-teacher.)

Furthermore, the ministry cannot be a numbers game. It does not matter if you have a congregation of 4 or 5 or if 2000 attend your church. I face the same things as a commentator. I simply put my commentary on the internet. I don’t advertise for it, I don’t charge for it, and I do not ask for money from those who go to my website (God has made that possible). There is no advertising. I may have 2 or 3 or 8 people who really study and use my website and 100,000 who click on a link, end up at my site, and leave 2 seconds later, never to return. I cannot concern myself with the numbers (although I admittedly do have an interest here). I can only exercise my gift faithfully as unto the Lord (a phrase I heard a thousand times or more at Berachah Church).

Luke 10:22 All things have been handed over to Me by My Father, and no one knows who the Son is except the Father, or who the Father is except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal Him.” (ESV; capitalized)

Steve Ellis: In His prayer, Jesus acknowledges that the wise and learned (i.e. the religious leaders in Judaism) chose to be blinded to spiritual Truth whereas the “babes” (i.e. the simple and unlearned) had accepted the gospel of the kingdom. Jesus also acknowledged the expectation of generations of kings had been fulfilled in Him.

Luke 10:22 All things have been entrusted to Me by My Father. Furthermore, no one really knows the Son except the Father and no one knows Who the Father is except the Son (and those to whom the Son reveals Him). (Kukis paraphrase)

To put this in another way, the true revelation of the Father is found in the Son.

Luke 10:23a Then turning to the disciples... (ESV; capitalized)

The crowds did not fully appreciate all that they were seeing, but those close to Jesus were told by Him that what they are seeing and hearing is quite incredible.

In any case, Jesus has a private message for His disciples.

Luke 10:23b ...he said privately,... (ESV; capitalized)

I have taken the common adjective ídios (ἴδιος) [pronounced IH-dee-os] and used it as an adverb. I think that is reasonable in this context.

Jesus has turned toward His disciples and He is speaking to them privately or separately here.

Luke 10:23c ..."Blessed are the eyes that see what you see! (ESV; capitalized)

Jesus more literally says, happinesses or blessings to your eyes; but obviously, He is referring to His disciples and their souls. They ought to enjoy great happiness and blessings because of what they are now seeing.

This is in the context of teaching all of those in this crowd about how God reveals Himself by means of Jesus.

Luke 10:23 [Jesus] turned to face [His] disciples and He said [to them] privately, “Happinesses [belong to you all, for your] eyes are seeing what you [now] see;... (Kukis mostly literal translation)

People, when it comes to contemporary events, often do not appreciate or understand them. The things which are truly important, they don’t notice; and the most transitory things are what appears to weigh on their minds. Jesus is pointing out to them, “What you are hearing and seeing is the most important thing that could happen to you.”

Even though this is true for all of the people that Jesus has spoken with or to; He confines these remarks to His disciples (this may be more than His twelve disciples).

Application: Of all the important things in my life, possibly the most important was the abundance of teaching which came out of Berachah Church. When I arrived in Houston, Bob was teaching 8 or 9 hour+ lessons each week. At the time, I did not really think much about it, except how much it impacted my social life from time to time. However, in retrospect, I can see how important that teaching was and how unimportant my social life was.

Principle: When you are in the middle of history, it is sometimes difficult to separate what is important from what is truly mundane. Whatever is related to truth, that is what is important.

Luke 10:23 Then turning to the disciples he said privately, "Blessed are the eyes that see what you see! (ESV; capitalized)

The disciples saw the actual Son of God; and they heard His words and He took time to explains what many things meant.

Luke 10:24a For I tell you that many prophets and kings desired to see what you see, and did not see it,... (ESV; capitalized)

Just as many people today wish that they could have sat at the Lord’s feet to hear His teaching; people who looked forward into time want to see and hear the Messiah-King. Bear in mind, the promise of the Messiah loomed large in the teaching of the Hebrew people. We sometimes forget that because this is mentioned in Judaism today, but it is not a fundamental tenet.

Luke 10:24b ...and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.” (ESV; capitalized)

These people from the past wanted to hear what the disciples are now hearing; but they could not hear the Lord’s voice audibly.

Luke 10:24 For I tell you that many prophets and kings desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.” (ESV; capitalized)

Luke 10:23–24 Then turning to the disciples he said privately, "Blessed are the eyes that see what you see! For I tell you that many prophets and kings desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.” (ESV; capitalized)

People without doctrine or without divine establishment thinking cannot understand or evaluate the times in which they live. Things happen, there are national movements, there are points of inflection, but people who lack the orientation of doctrine or of divine establishment cannot make sense of these things, or see where they are going.

Illustration: We have two good illustrations of this which took place over the past 20–30 years (I write this in 2023). One of these was an acceptance of marijuana as just another nearly harmless drug, safer than alcohol; and usage of same not only increased and became commonplace, but one state after another legalized marijuana in one way or another. Intoxicants are dangerous for our culture; and the more we are intoxicated as a country, the worse off our country is. The second thing which was accepted in our country as normal and acceptable behavior was homosexuality (which, for hundreds of years, was not). This opened up all sorts of sexual floodgates, including gender confusion which is going to destroy the lives of many individuals when they suddenly grow up and realize that they are freaks, and no one is interested in a real relationship with a freak. Both changes of thinking by our society were mistakes; and we as a country will pay dearly for the misguided thinking of that era.

Application: What many of us do not appreciate is, when we hear a book of the Bible presented accurately, in its historic and theological context, and we understand what the writer meant to say, and how it applies to our lives—that is the greatest thing happening in our lives. That is an amazing blessing to us. This is actually greater than this disciples being able to eat and drink and hang with Jesus. Nothing is greater than the infallible Word of God.

Application: By the way, Saint Peter says this exact same thing.

Luke 10:23–24 Jesus then turned towards His disciples and quietly said to them, “This is a tremendous blessing to you, for you are seeing Me and these great miracles. Listen, there are many prophets and rulers from the past who wished to be able to see what you are seeing now; and they desired to hear these words which I am speaking. Such things they strongly desired to see, but did not.” (Kukis paraphrase)

Dr. Daniel Hill: One cannot read the Psalm and not realize that these saints of old longed for a time when they would see the prophecies of God fulfilled. When they would see the one whom God would send to be the salvation of mankind.

Psalm 14:7 Oh, that salvation for Israel would come out of Zion! When the LORD restores the fortunes of His people, let Jacob rejoice, let Israel be glad. (ESV; capitalized)

In this next section of Luke, we sometimes have an extended narrative and teaching session which can be broken down into several sections. Most people are aware of the story of the good Samaritan—in fact, even the term, good Samaritan, has developed a life of its own, so that millions of people know that term without even knowing where it comes from or what it really means.

Few people realize that this story has a beginning, a middle and an ending; and only the middle is actually about the good Samaritan.

Luke 10:25a And behold, a lawyer stood up... (ESV; capitalized)

A lawyer is someone who was a person well-versed in the Law of Moses. It is not someone who would necessarily stand up and argue in favor of his client.

Hastings brief explanation of a lawyer: This term in Scripture does not belong so much to the legal as to the religious sphere. The ‘lawyers’ busied themselves with the study and exposition of the Written and the Oral Law of Israel, and were practically identical with the scribes.

Hastings NT: In Israel the activities of the lawyer were limited by the Torah, or Law of Moses. His functions were three-fold: to study and interpret the Law (and the traditions arising from it), to hand it down by teaching, and to apply it in the Courts of Justice. The lawyers played an important part in the proceedings of the Sanhedrin, not only voting, but also speaking, if they saw fit, on either side of a case, though in criminal charges solely on behalf of the accused (Mishn. Sanhedrin, iv. 1). The Roman lawyers, were more secular in their interests, and applied themselves more directly to the practical aspects of jurisprudence. Their work in the law-courts covered a wide range. The most general representative of law was the cognitor, or attorney, whose place (in Gaius’s time) was partially filled by the procurator litis, or legal agent; but in court the case was pleaded by the patronus or orator, the skilled counsel of whom Cicero is so illustrious an example, often assisted by the advocatus, or legal adviser. The opinion of jurisconsulti, or professional students of law, could also be laid before the judges...

In the NT lawyers appear as νομικοί, ‘jurists’ (freq. in Lk., but elsewhere only in Matt. 22:35 and Tit. 3:13), or νομοδιδάσκαλοι, ‘doctors of the law’ (only in Luke 5:17, Acts 5:34, and 1Tim. 1:7); but they are clearly identical with the γραμματες, ‘scribes,’ who are mentioned so often in the Gospels and Acts. These lawyers are all of the Jewish type. The Roman lawyer appears, however, in the ῥήτωρ or ‘orator’ Tertullus, who pleaded the cause of St. Paul’s prosecutors before the Roman governor Felix (Acts 24:1 ff.)-in order, no doubt, that the proper technicalities might be observed, and the case presented in the way most likely to win over the trained Roman mind.

Luke 10:25b ...to put him to the test,... (ESV; capitalized)

This lawyer did not have a legitimate question. This is not something that he has been wondering about and now that Jesus is here, he can ask Jesus. In fact, he is not even asking Jesus to get His perspective, to consider it. He is testing Jesus with this question. “Do you really understand this, Teacher?” might convey his approach.

This happened throughout the Lord’s public ministry. Many experts in the Law stood up and tried to trap Him with various questions. Matthew19:16 22:35 Luke 18:18

Sometimes, the trap was such, so that, no matter what the Lord said, they would have a place to argue with Him. At other times, they were certain that Jesus would answer the question wrong (as per their addendums to the Mosaic Law.

Twice in this passage, interestingly enough, this man’s motivation is laid bare. Here, he is said to be testing the Lord; and later, in v. 29, he will speak with the intention of justifying himself. It is quite interesting to me just how Luke knows this man’s personal motivation and when did he know it. There are several possible answers: (1) this could have been simply revealed to Luke by God the Holy Spirit, as Luke wrote these words; or (2) the lawyer in this narrative could have revealed this to Luke directly. I like this second option for several reasons: (1) quite obviously, the one person who would know the lawyer’s motivations is the lawyer himself. (2) This interaction might have stuck in the mind of this lawyer more than with anyone else (particularly if this lawyer eventually believed in the Lord). (3) This is a unique narrative in the gospels, which would make sense if the source of this story was the lawyer. Although these are 3 very strong reasons which help to tie up a lot of loose ends for this narrative—that is, if the lawyer eventually believed in the Lord, and later encountered Luke and told him this story. I realize that this is a matter of speculation, but I give this better than even odds that I am right about this. I suspect that my opinion/speculation here might be a unique one and yet very possibly correct.

I have no doubt that Jesus read this man (not in a mystical way, but simply by observing him), and knew this to be the case (that the man did not want information; he simply wanted to test Jesus). But since Luke did not speak with Jesus, he would have known this information from a different source.

Luke 10:25a-b Behold, a certain lawyer stood up, testing Him,... (Kukis mostly literal translation)

If this man is an expert in the Law, would he not already have a fixed opinion on this matter. That by itself tells us that he really is not asking a question to gain information.

Warren Wiersbe expressed this opinion: Like some theologians and Bible students today, Jewish rabbis enjoyed debating the fine points of doctrine; and this lawyer (a student of the Old Testament law) wanted to hear what Jesus had to say. We get the impression that the man was not seeking truth, but was only trying to involve Jesus in a debate that he hoped he would win. The lawyer proved to be evasive when it came to facing truth honestly and obeying it.

Luke 10:25c ...saying, "Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?" (ESV; capitalized)

The verb is an aorist participle, so would refer to action in past time. It would be legitimate to understand this in the 1^st person, like the main verb, giving us: ...saying, “What should I have done [so that] I will inherit eternal life?”

On the surface, this appears to be a legitimate question, but given that the action of the participle precedes the action of the main verb; and that an aorist tense is used, the oddity in this question seems to focus on the past, which is done. Nothing can be changed from the past. Jesus might be thinking, “Why ask a question in this way?” We have already been informed that this lawyer is putting Jesus to the test. Therefore, he is not seeking information; he is hoping to trip Jesus up.

Dr. Daniel Hill: The word for LIFE found here in the Greek New Testament which is ζοω and in the Hebrew of Leviticus 19:5 which is cha-yah both mean more than just to live and breath or have biological life. These words look at a quality of life, a meaningful life, a life that is full of all the good things God would have for us. And this relates to the original question the man asked. Not merely how can I have or enter eternal life but how can I inherit or have the inheritance of eternal life. He wants more than just to be saved, he wants all that God has for him both now and in eternity - which is commendable.

Luke 10:25 And behold, a lawyer stood up to put him to the test, saying, "Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?" (ESV; capitalized)

Theoretically, the certain lawyer asks, what should I have done in the past in order to inherit eternal life? So the lawyer sets aside the place where he is now and whether or not he has eternal life. “Maybe I have eternal life, and maybe I don’t; but what should I have done in the past in order to have it?”

Luke 10:25 Behold, a certain lawyer stood up, testing Jesus with the following question: “What should I do in order to inherit eternal life?” (Kukis paraphrase)

Jesus was asked this question, no doubt, a number of times by a number of different people. However, I can only think of two, the other incident occurring near the end of the Lord’s earthly ministry (the rich young ruler, who is found in Matthew 19:16–24 Mark 10:17–25 Luke 18:18–23—when we get to this passage, it will be fascinating, as there are many lessons to learn from it). In these two incidents, the way that Jesus deals with them will be very different. This suggests to me that Jesus takes a read on a man—Jesus looks at the man, listens to the words that he says along with their intonation, and He has a very good idea as to what is happening with that person.

Here we are told that the man is testing Jesus with this question, so Jesus is going to throw this question right back on him.

Luke 10:26a He said to him,... (ESV; capitalized)

Jesus looks right at this man in order to give him and answer. I do not believe that Jesus used His omniscience, for the most part, during His public ministry (very possibly never). So, when interacting with a number of individuals, Jesus would look at these people, and evaluate them based upon the Lord’s ability to read a person.

This phrase tells us that Jesus did more than speak to the man; Jesus looked at the man and took his measure.

Luke 10:26b ..."What is written in the Law? (ESV; capitalized)

Jesus asks the man—Jesus appears to know that this man is an expert in the Mosaic Law— “What does the Law say?”

Have you ever been to a Sunday school class or to a Bible study, and the person leading the study asks to hear each person’s opinion about the meaning of a verse? In a sense, Jesus is doing this, but He is not necessarily assigning equal value or authority to every person’s interpretation.

Luke 10:26c How do you read it?" (ESV; capitalized)

“You must have some idea about this? How do you read the Law?” Jesus asks him.

This man, Jesus senses, has an opinion and has a ready answer, so Jesus chooses to begin with his assumptions or his point of view, and go from there.

Luke 10:26 He said to him, "What is written in the Law? How do you read it?" (ESV; capitalized)

“First, quote a few verses, and then you tell me what you think,” Jesus says, facing him.

Luke 10:26 Jesus looked right at him and said, “What does the Law say? How do you read it?” (Kukis paraphrase)

No doubt, the man is thinking, “This is the crux of the matter; and this I understand!” He does not say this out loud, but let me suggest that Jesus looked him directly in the eyes, read this, and said, “No, you go. You know the answer to this one.”

The Law of Moses is quite lengthy and involved. For this man to cut through all of that and find what is most essential is quite amazing. He does not simply throw out there a few of his favorite verses, but he summarizes the Law as Jesus Himself would later summarize it. But, there is a problem with what he says, despite it being a rather insightful answer.

Luke 10:27a And he answered,... (ESV; capitalized)

Jesus used a variety of teaching methods. With this lawyer, he allowed the man to speak his own mind and to give his own opinion.

As an expert in the Law, this man was only too happy to do so.

Luke 10:27b ..."You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart... (ESV; capitalized)

The lawyer quotes from the Law directly. He asked Jesus directly, “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” And Jesus put it back on him, asking him, “How do you read the Law on this question?”

The lawyer appears to have a ready answer. There is a saying that, a lawyer should not ask a question of a witness on the stand unless he knows the answer to that question. Even though this man is a different sort of lawyer, this appears to be the case. He has an answer of his own which is quite certain of. “You will love the Lord your God,” he says, “out from all your heart.” The heart is often used to encompass the entire thinking and reasoning ability of a person. Based upon all that you can think and reason with, you love the Lord.

But there is more...

Luke 10:27c ...and with all your soul... (ESV; capitalized)

This love must come from all of your soul.

Now, technically, the soul is how man relates to man (the human spirit is how man relates to God). However, the word soul is also used for that part of man which is ethereal. Throughout human history, people have separated the soul from the body, in theory. It is only recently, since the internet has come about, where I have seen a great many atheists deny the existence of the soul. It is only juices sloshing around in the brain and electrical signals; there is no such separate thing as a soul, man of them maintain.

Luke 10:27d ...and with all your strength... (ESV; capitalized)

This love of God must come from all of your ability to love. The feminine singular noun used here is ischus (ἰσχύς) [pronounced ihs-KHOOÇ], and it means, ability, force, strength, might. Strong’s #2479.

Luke 10:27e ...and with all your mind,... (ESV; capitalized)

And this love for God must come from your entire mental capacity.

Now, it may be somewhat difficult to clearly differentiating what each of these things means: loving God from all of your heart, from all of your soul, from all of your strength (or, ability) and from all of your mind.

In Deut. 6:5, Moses speaks of loving God will all one’s heart, soul and might (strength). Loving God with one’s heart and soul is mentioned in Deut. 10:12 11:13 13:3 30:6. The lawyer appears to have thrown in with all your mind for good measure (I do not find it in the LXX or in the Hebrew). However, Jesus, when summing up the Law, will say virtually the same thing that this lawyer has said.

Jesus was asked, "Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?" (Matthew 22:36)

And He said to him, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets." (Matthew 22:37–40; ESV; capitalized)

Jesus apparently agrees—to some extent—the assessment of this man of the Law (although they are answering different questions); and they even agree upon this additional phrase found in Deuteronomy (which appears to have dropped out of the Hebrew text).

Luke 10:27f ...and your neighbor as yourself." (ESV; capitalized)

The lawyer then adds one more thing: “You must also love your neighbor as yourself.” The subject and verb (you will love) come from the first thing that this man says.

This lawyer has taken the better part of two verses, from different books, and thrown them together. Deut. 6:5 You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. Leviticus 19:18b ...you shall love your neighbor as yourself... (ESV)

Now, interestingly enough, this lawyer did not include any part of Leviticus 19:34, which reads, in part: ...You shall treat the stranger who sojourns with you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt...

I believe that it is very likely that this verse came to the mind of the lawyer; and to the mind of Jesus. Should not this man have included the immigrants of their land as well, as who should be loved by the one seeking eternal life? It is entirely possible that the law expert remembered this verse, but did not include it.

The Lord, Who is remarkable at reading people, knows the entire Old Testament, and He perceives that there is the slightest hesitancy or the slightest lack of confidence in the man’s answer.

Luke 10:27 And he answered, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself." (ESV; capitalized)

Notice the remarkable similarity of this incident to one recorded by Matthew (which would have taken place near the end of the Lord’s public ministry, which was probably after this interaction with a lawyer):

Matt. 22:36 "Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?"

Matt. 22:37–40 And he said to him, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets."

There are obvious differences in these passages, but the similarity is quite remarkable.

Luke 10:27 Answering, the man said, “You will love the Lord your God out from all of your heart, and with all of your soul, all of your ability and all of your mind. Also, you will love your neighbor as yourself.” (Kukis paraphrase)

Are we not both wondering, Just how does Jesus respond to this man’s answer? After all, this lawyer has both the question and the answer already; and he speaks to test Jesus. Nevertheless, the man’s answer is rather insightful. How should Jesus deal with all of this?

Luke 10:28a And he said to him, "You have answered correctly;... (ESV; capitalized)

Jesus answers this man in a totally uncharacteristic manner. “You’re right,” Jesus tells him. How many times does Jesus converse with the pharisees, scribes and/or lawyers and say, “Yep, you’re completely right about that”? Possibly, this is the only time (or the only time that is recorded).

What is this man right about? This is what he said: “You will love the Lord your God out from all your heart, with all of your soul, with all of your ability and with all of your mind. [You will] also [love] your neighbor as yourself.” To love the Lord your God out from all of your heart, soul, strength and mind would suggest a full knowledge and understanding of God (as full as God has allowed us to understand Him). Would that not include faith in His Son? At present, yes. But, in the Old Testament, salvation/justification was by faith in the Revealed God, as we read in Genesis 15:6 (the Revealed God in both the Old and New Testaments is Jesus).

If we understand salvation to be inherent in the law expert’s answer (whether or not the law expert himself was saved at this time), then all of this narrative holds together. Remember that much of what Jesus taught was the Old Testament. He taught the Law of Moses as it should be taught; Jesus taught the words of the prophets as they should be taught (which doctrines were being distorted by the legalistic teachers of that era).

How does a person love the Lord God with all of his substance without actually knowing Him—and therefore, without actually having believed in Him?

Luke 10:28a He said to him, “You have answered [this question] correctly.

We are going to find out that there is a chink in this man’s armor (the expert in the Law); and he personally knows where this problem it (well, he is aware of one of his problems, maybe not all of them).

Jesus seems to know how this is going to play out. He seems to know that this man is going to reveal his hand. Jesus is very good at reading people and He also knows how to get to people.

Illustration: This illustration may be too old for some of you to get, but there was a news person named Barbara Walters, and she would often do interviews with various celebrities; and very often, during the interview, the celebrity would tear up (and there would be a full face of that celebrity on the screen as he or she teared up). Barbara Walters knew how to probe a sensitive area, and area appropriate for her interview, but something that might cause the interviewee to respond emotionally. She knew how to do this. She was such an expert at it that parodies of her would have this as a point of reference for humor. However (and I have strayed from my point), she knew how to reach a person emotionally as few interviewers could do.

Jesus knew how to reach men and get to their core. He would not necessarily reveal their weakness to others, but the other person often would recognize his own weakness when talking with the Lord.

Luke 10:28b ...do this, and you will live.” (ESV; capitalized)

Jesus tells the man to keep on doing what he just said, and he would live forever.

Note that I interpreted this by adding the word forever, but that is not found in the Greek text. Some suggest that Jesus is quoting (or, more accurately, paraphrasing Leviticus 18:5 You shall therefore keep My statutes and My rules; if a person does them, he shall live by them: I am the LORD. (ESV; capitalized) See also Proverbs 19:16 Whoever keeps the commandment keeps his life; he who despises his ways will die. (ESV)

Perhaps Jesus’ point here was, by following these laws, which the lawyer correctly quotes, that he will considerably improve the quality of his own life.

Luke 10:28 And he said to him, "You have answered correctly; do this, and you will live.” (ESV; capitalized)

Steve Ellis: While this is a rather well-known parable, there are just a few points I’d like to cover. First, notice that the lawyer was testing Jesus. It was really a challenge from a self-righteous man. Implicit in this man’s question to Jesus is an understanding of the resurrection of the believing Jew as evidenced by Daniel 12:2. Second, the lawyer’s response to Jesus was a quotation of Deuteronomy 6:5 – a text that was recited twice a day by every faithful Jew. Third, Jesus is not advocating a system of works for salvation in His response in verse 28. Rather, Jesus is teaching this man the same principle that He taught Peter in Matthew 19:27-30, i.e. “many who are first will be last.” 

Ellis continues: Jesus averts the lawyer’s attempt to find a loophole in the requirement of the law by using the parable to teach the lawyer the same principle found in Hosea 6:6 – “For I desire mercy and not sacrifice, and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.” In other words, God is more interested in the believer understanding and executing the intent of the law rather than the letter of 3 the law. The irony of the parable is that the despised Samaritan, who had nothing to do with the fact that he was born into a despised race, knows how to show his neighbor unconditional love whereas the respected and educated priest did not.

Dr. Daniel Hill sees this slightly differently than Ellis does: And Jesus tells him just how correct he is at this point. He quotes also from Leviticus 18 and tells the man that if he loves god and loves his neighbor he will have that exception, supernatural quality of life forever.

Luke 10:28 Then Jesus answered him, saying, “You have answered this question correctly. If you continue doing that, you will live forever.” (Kukis paraphrase)

Okay, now, hasn’t Jesus said, on many occasions, “Believe on Me and you will be saved.” But this man has described a different way of gaining eternal life.

What might help is, Jesus has said, on another occasion, that the entire Law and the prophets hang upon these two commandments. In other words, obey those two commandments perfectly and you are obeying the mandates of the Law and the Prophets.

Because we have sin natures, we will never fulfill this commandment. This is why we need Jesus.

What I believe is the case here is, this man has believed in the Revealed God—he believes in Jesus—and in this dispensation—the dispensation of the Hypostatic Union (most of which falls under the banner of the Age of Israel)—what this man has described is, essentially, the spiritual life of that era. The believer who is able to use those two commands as a basic guide to life has the essence of the Law in that brief summary (and Jesus will later summarize the Mosaic Law with these two commandments).

The alternate view of this is, the man is not saved at this point, but that he will be saved later, coming to the conclusion that no one can fully obey these two laws. That would leave him at a loss.

Although we do have insight into this man’s motivation, we are not told whether he has exercised faith in the Revealed God or not.

The man, getting a positive response from Jesus, then starts to think about what he said and what Jesus said.

Again, we have a view into the motivation of this lawyer, who has a desire to justify himself before Jesus. I believe that this is the third time we are told what the lawyer is thinking.

In any case, this man cannot simply just drop it. He cannot seem to say, “Okay, I am right; Jesus said I am right; so I guess I will be off, continuing to live my truth.” Something makes this man remain with Jesus and to probe further, despite being proclaimed right.

Let me suggest that this lawyer did not come to see Jesus alone. He came with a few friends of a similar persuasion, and they have talked things over, they have talked about Jesus, and they have talked about different ways that they might talk legal circles around Jesus. These men probably know somewhat about one another.

So Jesus proclaims this man right—no need for an argument here, no need for a debate—and this lawyer is sort of stopped in his tracks. Let me suggest one more thing—these lawyers have talked to one another about Samaritans (half Jews) and gentiles in language that was none too kind.

Now, even though it seems that I am reading a lot into this, I am simply providing some likely background information. This entire conversation moves along fine without knowledge of this man’s friends and what they know about each other—but this adds some depth to the narrative. It helps you to understand one set of circumstances which would require this man to continue speaking with the Lord, despite being acknowledged as giving a correct answer.

Luke 10:29a But he, desiring to justify himself,... (ESV; capitalized)

I don’t know if the lawyer expected this response from Jesus, which was decidedly non-confrontational.

This man thinks about things—possibly thinking very fast—seems to be giving some authority to the Lord, and feels that he must justify himself at this point.

Now, what does Jesus know about this man? My guess is, very little; but allows for this man to define himself and whatever misgivings he himself might have.

This is true in many churches where the Word of God is taught accurately. So often, the pastor will teach something and various members of the congregation will be thinking, “Who is telling him all about me? I thought that was a secret!” But this happens when the Word of God is taught; sometimes, It cuts so close to the bone.

Luke 10:29a And the [law expert], wishing to justify himself,... (Kukis mostly literal translation)

Sometimes we have to speculate about what is going on in a person’s mind (and all speculation should be carefully done and clearly pointed out); but here, we are told by the Bible what this man was considering. He wanted to justify himself—interestingly, before this crowd and Jesus—that is his motivation.

That we know this man’s motivation at this point, as I mentioned earlier, is quite fascinating. I would suggest that Luke’s recording of this incident (which he himself did not witness) has a reason to record this man’s motivation.

The Scriptures are the Word of God; and yet, they are also the words of man. The former is emphasized all of the time by believers; and the latter is emphasized all of the time by unbelievers (who most naturally reject the divine nature of Scripture). For the believer, he ought not forget the human side of the recording of the Word of God (just as we ought not forget the human side of Jesus). Again, since Luke is recording an incident which he did not witness, and yet he adds in something which is unseen—this man’s motivation—we should consider other options besides, the Holy Spirit revealed this to Luke. Does God the Holy Spirit help to guide Luke in recording God’s Word? Absolutely! Does that mean that everything that is human about Luke is set aside for this important task? No! Just as emphatically, no! Therefore, I think that one might reasonably postulate that Luke did not simply pull this man’s motivation out of the air—which Luke does not generally do—but that Luke has the most logical and reasonable reason for knowing this man’s motivation—the man himself tells this story to Luke. Even though this statement that I have just made is clearly speculation, it also makes sense. No other disciple records this incident; and what is happening here would have been quite meaningful to the law expert himself. Who else would have had such a crystal clear memory of this event than the man who directly interacted with Jesus? This entire incident is recorded in 13 verses—the interaction between the lawyer and Jesus, followed by the story (parable?) of the good Samaritan, followed by more interaction between this lawyer and Jesus. So, again, let me suggest that Luke knows all of this information in all of this detail because an eyewitness to this event told him about what happened; and the inclusion of the lawyer’s motivation suggests that the person who recounted this event to Luke was the law expert himself.

I believe that we can cautiously come to the conclusion that Jesus knew exactly what He was doing, and this man believed in the Lord as a result of being shown that the Law was a dead end, even to him.

Luke 10:29b ...said to Jesus,... (ESV; capitalized)

We would think that what the man said and Jesus agreeing with him would have ended the conversation. It did not. This man begins to consider what he said, in the light of the fact that Jesus has agreed with his analysis.

Luke 10:29c ..."And who is my neighbor?” (ESV; capitalized)

And the man poses a question to Jesus. What about this term, neighbor, associate, a person who is close by? Just exactly who are we talking about?

This seems to reveal a chink in the armor. This guy is probably pretty decent toward other Jewish people with whom he interacts. But what about those who fall outside of this group?

Luke 10:29 But he, desiring to justify himself, said to Jesus, "And who is my neighbor?" (ESV; capitalized)

Dr. Daniel Hill: That is a very disappointing statement. This man, because of his law background, sees a need for justification or vindication or commendation of self.

Hill continues: [This man] so accurately quotes the Old Testament passages that cut through all the Law and emphasizes the Love of God and then wipes it all out by getting involved in the legal issue of who is and who is not ones neighbor. It is this type of thinking, however, that is a stumbling block, a distraction from grace, even to the Christian today.

That Jesus has agreed with this man might have surprised him; but he begins to think—just who exactly is my neighbor? After all, each city is made up of a grouping of people, not all of whom are Jewish. Many of the people around this man—which could be half Jewish or less—may not receive this man’s full-throttled approval.

Given the first half of this verse—that this man wishes to justify himself—likely suggests that this man did not have a good attitude towards those who were not 100% Jewish (like Samaritans, for instance).

Luke 10:29 The law expert, hoping to justify himself, asked Jesus directly, “Just who exactly is my neighbor?” (Kukis paraphrase)

One of the fascinating things about this narrative—the story of the good Samaritan—is the many words found here which are unique to this narrative. So far, I have come across six or seven. Now, on the one hand, I would suggest that these terms are medical terms with which Luke would have been familiar. However, at the same time, Jesus is speaking all of this. So, when hearing this narrative (Luke received all of his biographical material from others), this particular narrative must have stood out to Luke, as Jesus used so many medical terms. There are also terms associated with travel found only here and nowhere else. Luke is also an historian; and part of being an historian is having a good feel for the place of things. There is a vocabulary associated with this movement and travel; a vocabulary which is found only here in this narrative.

Most often, when Jesus gives a parable, we have some word which describes it as a parable. Furthermore, a parable is often a story that people can all relate to. Yes, I’ve done that; or, yes, I have witnessed that; or, yes, I know exactly what you are talking about. This does not seem to be the case with the story that Jesus tells below. I would suggest that Jesus’ account of this good Samaritan is not a parable but a recent event which took place in that or a nearby city. This was something which actually happened and most of the people listening to Jesus actually knew about this event.

Although we previously read, this law expert was looking to justify himself; he asks a rather penetrating question, “Who exactly is my neighbor?” asking about the person that he is supposed to love. Regardless of his motivation, this is a reasonable question to ask.

Luke 10:30a Jesus replied,... (ESV; capitalized)

Jesus carefully listens to this man, because He must make the issues clear.

There are 13 verses given over to this interchange, the true story and a final conclusion. We do not normally find this much detail given for a single interchange between Jesus and a man who seems, on the surface, to be predisposed to be negative to the gospel message.

What is even more strange is, Jesus does not allow them to get to a point where he gives the man a clear gospel message. Jesus appears to give the man a legalistic approach to God, and then tells him, “Go and do this.”

My assumption is, at this point, the expert in the Law will realize that he is deficient in his own summation of the Law; and Jesus will trust His Father to bring someone else onto the scene to witness to the expert again.

Based upon the detail of this story, I think it was the Law expert himself that told Luke all about this.

Luke 10:30b ..."A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho,... (ESV; capitalized)

Jesus will use what I believe to be an actual event (not a parable) to communicate to this man where he is deficient. This man more or less believes that he is keeping the Law; the problem is, even he himself recognizes that there might be a problem. Given some time and some introspection, he should admit to himself, “I am just not making it.”

Jesus begins to talk about a man who travels from Jerusalem to Jericho; and His audience recognizes the situation that he is in; this is a common circumstance.

This particular story is so detailed as to make me wonder whether or not it actually occurred, and that Jesus used it as an illustration. Jesus immediately defines that place where this man is. He does not say, a man is walking along a certain road between cities, but this man is going down a specific road between two specific cities going in a specific direction. With these first few words, this sounds much more like an event which has taken place—something that many there may be familiar with. People traveled between Jericho and Jerusalem all the time.

Dr. Daniel Hill: The road from Jerusalem to Jericho descends about 3,000 feet in about 17 miles. It is a road that is full of steep grades and switchbacks and was an ideal place for robbers to prey upon unsuspecting victims. The fact that the man is traveling from Jerusalem to Jericho would indicate that he was a Jew. We find that robbers attack him, strip him of his clothing, beat him and leave him to die.

Luke 10:30c ...and he fell among robbers,... (ESV; capitalized)

Although Herod the Great had removed many of the robbers throughout region where he ruled, it is nearly impossible to solve this problem forever and in every place. So, this was a problem which apparently plagued that area over a long period of time. The man to whom Jesus was speaking, and the crowd listening to them both, understand and can relate to what is being said.

Often adults have a strong interest in the news, and this Law expert may have already heard something about this incident.

Sometimes when traveling from city to city, there are thieves on the road who will rob those who travel that way. Here, they surround the man.

Luke 10:30d ...who stripped him and beat him.... (ESV; capitalized)

Getting the exact words down to reflect was Jesus is saying is quite difficult to do. But the general idea is easy to understand. These thieves removed the man’s clothing (that which they wanted) and anything else valuable that he was carrying, and they wounded him. We would have expected another verb to follow the and, but a feminine singular noun is found instead, causing the reader/hearer to focus closely upon what is being said.

Luke 10:30e ...and departed,... (ESV; capitalized)

The thieves assaulted this man and then left him for dead. They got what they wanted; and they did not concern themselves with this man’s future.

Luke 10:30f ...leaving him half dead. (ESV; capitalized)

The man is left behind half-dead. There is no concern for his welfare by the thieves. If he died, he died. They got what they wanted from him.

Luke 10:30 Jesus replied, "A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among robbers, who stripped him and beat him and departed, leaving him half dead. (ESV; capitalized)

Interestingly enough, Jesus does not identify the man. Is he a Jew, a gentile, a Samaritan? We don’t know. However, I don’t think that Jesus is simply making up a parable here. I would lay odds that this was known to most of his audience.

Luke 10:31a Now by chance a priest was going down that road,... (ESV; capitalized)

Jesus continues with this story, which was possibly ripped from the headlines (why wouldn’t Jesus use a current news story to make a point?).

There is the man who has just been robbed and stripped of his clothing; and he is lying along side the road, left for dead. A priest is coming down that same road.

The man who walks by him is a priest of Israel, a man we would assume to be a paragon of virtue. We would think, if anyone, this man would stop and render aid. But he does not.

Luke 10:31b ...and when he saw him he passed by on the other side. (ESV; capitalized)

A very important aspect to this story is, the priest saw him. The priest looked right at him and assessed the situation. The priest sees this man and decides to pass along by, on the other side of the road.

I can come up with a number of reasons why this man did not stop. There are robbers along the road so he needs to be circumspect. Hard to be circumspect if you are helping along a man who is seriously injured. Perhaps he determined, “This man is going to die; so there is really nothing for me to do here.” No doubt, this man rationalized what he did here. What he did not do is stop and render aid.

Luke 10:31 Now by chance a priest was going down that road, and when he saw him he passed by on the other side. (ESV; capitalized)

Dr. Daniel Hill: One would think a priest would be very good at loving God and loving others but here the priest, who no doubt knew as much about the Law and the commands to Love as did the lawyer who was listening to this story, made a point to get avoid the helpless man.

Luke 10:32a So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place... (ESV; capitalized)

Similarly, there is a Levite in this same place. Levites were a part of the religious class. One family of Israelites was given over to religious activity, and those were the Levites. Two branches of the Aaron family line (Aaron was a Levite) were drawn upon for the Hebrew priesthood.

Luke 10:32b ...and saw him, passed by on the other side. (ESV; capitalized)

The Levite looks at him again, probably assessing the situation in terms of his own situation. Then he decides to walk by on the other side.

What happened was, the Levite drew closer and closer, to the point where he could determine about what took place, that this is a fellow man, and he has been severely injured. At that point, the Levite crosses the street and continues his travels, but on the other side of the road.

The Levite goes by, sees the man, and he also goes over to the other side of the road and passes by him.

Dr. Daniel Hill: Levites, who assisted the priest, were more itinerant in their ministries. They too would have well know the command of the Law to love God and love others and would be expected to help fellow travelers in need. But this Levite also made a point to avoid the helpless man.

Luke 10:32 So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. (ESV; capitalized)

Luke 10:31–32 Just by chance, a certain priest was traveling along that road. When he saw the man laying half dead along the road, he passed by him on the other side. Similarly, a Levite was also traveling along that road, and he also saw the man and he also passed by along the other side. (Kukis paraphrase)

Gary North: Why did they pass him by? Perhaps they feared that the man’s assailants were still in the neighborhood. Better to walk away quickly and avoid danger. Or perhaps they believed he was dead. If a Jew touched a dead man’s body, he became unclean for a week. “He that toucheth the dead body of any man shall be unclean seven days. He shall purify himself with it on the third day, and on the seventh day he shall be clean: but if he purify not himself the third day, then the seventh day he shall not be clean” (Num. 19:11–12). This was a nuisance, but it was not a disaster. It meant that he could not enter the temple (Num. 19:13). Perhaps they had business to conduct at the temple.

People have a number of reasons for avoiding something like this. I would think that, best not to get involved or this is not my business would be at the top of the list for many. But, fundamentally, it is a person thinking that his own business on that day supercedes what he has just seen. As he continues on his way, he may certainly rationalize to himself, “That man is dead or very nearly so.”

Luke 10:33a But a Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was,.... (ESV; capitalized)

Two men, a priest and a Levite, have seen this half-dead man, and just kept on going. But a Samaritan sees the man while traveling and he goes up to him. Remember the other two men avoided him by walking along the other side of the road. They came up close enough to see what was going on, and then went to the other side of the road and kept walking.

It is good to keep in mind that there was an historic animosity between the Jews and the Samaritans. The Samaritans believed that they had the right to worship the same God as the Jews and to attend services at the Temple; and the Jews did not. As a result, they reviled one another. The priests would have been a first line of defense to keep Samaritans out of their religious services.

Dr. Daniel Hill: Now in contrast to the priest of Israel, the Levite of God, we have a man from the country of Samaria. The Samaritans were scorned by the Jews because of their mixed Jewish and Gentile ancestry. And Jesus specifically uses a Samaritan in the story because while a Jew may consider helping another Jew, no Jew would ever think of helping a Samaritan and yet here, in the irony of the parable, a Samaritan will stop and give aid and comfort to this helpless Jews.

Luke 10:33b ...and when he saw him, he had compassion. (ESV; capitalized)

When the Samaritan got close and could see this half-dead man, he could see him better and was emotionally moved; meaning that he was concerned for the man and his predicament. Neither the priest nor the Levite really gave the man enough thought to become moved for this man.

The other two men thought of themselves, where they were going, what they had to do. But the severely injured priest—they just left him there, perhaps just assuming that he would die.

Luke 10:33 But a Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was, and when he saw him, he had compassion. (ESV; capitalized)

Luke 10:34a He went to him and bound up his wounds,... (ESV; capitalized)

He came close to the man and began to bandage his wounds. The Samaritan moved closed enough to help the man.

Most of us, in our medicine cabinet, have a variety of bandages. Or we know that we can pop down to the local pharmacy and purchase them. This Samaritan would not have had an attache of bandages with him. He would be taking cloth from his own clothing and using this on the man.

Luke 10:34b ...pouring on oil and wine. (ESV; capitalized)

He also poured olive oil and wine on his wounds, which would have been an expense to the Samaritan. The oil would have provided moisture and cleansing; and the wine would have disinfected the wounds.

Notice that we have the participle here and the main verb was in the previous phrase. The action of the participle precedes the action of the main verb, no matter where they occur in the sentence.

The present tense suggested that the Samaritan did this more than once.

Luke 10:34c Then he set him on his own animal... (ESV; capitalized)

The Samaritan had some kind of a pack animal with him (maybe more than one), and he lifts the man up onto this animal, so that he can be moved from the road to the nearby town.

Luke 10:34d ...and brought him to an inn.... (ESV; capitalized)

The Samaritan knows of an inn—perhaps he just stayed at the inn—and he goes there with the man. Whether he went back to where he had been or forward to where he was going, we do not know.

Again, this is a story told by the Lord, but with such detail, it seems to me to be a true story and not a parable. Parables generally have a completely different approach. A represents X; B represents Y; and the interactions of A and B are really representing the interactions between X and Y. That is not what is taking place in the story of the Good Samaritan. The Samaritan, the priest and the Levite are exactly those people. All three men have come across a man beaten half to death. The priest is not representative of the religious institutions of that day; the Samaritan does not represent his entire people. These people are simply who they are.

Luke 10:34e ...and took care of him. (ESV; capitalized)

When they arrived, the Samaritan took care of this wounded man.

Bear in mind that this man had been robbed and stripped of anything valuable, so the Samaritan was not doing this, expecting some kind of reward in the end.

Luke 10:34 He went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he set him on his own animal and brought him to an inn and took care of him. (ESV; capitalized)

Luke 10:35a And the next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper,... (ESV; capitalized)

The next day, the Samaritan apparently needed to travel. He took out two day’s wages from his pocket and hands them to the innkeeper.

As I write this today, two day’s wages might be $200, they might be $600. But, to whomever has spent two days working, that is a considerable amount of money to leave on behalf of this injured man who was a stranger to the three men he encountered after being beaten and robbed.

Luke 10:35b ...saying, 'Take care of him,... (ESV; capitalized)

He asks the innkeeper to take care of this man while he is on the mend.

The Samaritan has a life, he has a business, he has things that he has to do. Carrying the man all over the place would not have been practical, nor would it have helped the injured man. The man needed to be resting for a few days or even a few weeks, allowing his wounds to heal.

Luke 10:35c ...and whatever more you spend, I will repay you when I come back.' (ESV; capitalized)

The Samaritan promises that, if there is more money spent on this man than the two denarii, then he would be certain to reimburse that innkeeper. He opens up a tab with the innkeeper.

It appears, by this, that the Samaritan is just not wandering about aimlessly, looking for good deeds to do, but that he had places to go and people to see. He had to do that right then and there.

Nevertheless, he would also make certain to return to the inn and see if any additional expenses were required in order to take care of this man (who is probably unable to move about on his own).

Luke 10:35 And the next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, 'Take care of him, and whatever more you spend, I will repay you when I come back.' (ESV; capitalized)

Luke 10:33–35 A certain Samaritan, traveling along this same road, saw the man and went towards him. When he saw the half-dead man, he was emotionally moved. He came towards him and bandaged the man’s wounds, pouring olive oil and wine on them. He placed him onto his own animal and brought him to an inn and took care of him there. The next day, he gave the innkeeper two denarii, and he said, ‘Please take care of this man. If you spend more to take care of him, then I will repay you upon my return.’ (Kukis paraphrase)

Gary North: The wounded man was not a ritualistic threat to a Samaritan, who would not be entering the temple. The Samaritan was willing to examine the man closely to see if he was alive. He was also willing to assist him with his wounds. He took him to an inn, paid for his lodging, and promised the innkeeper that he would return and pay for any additional expenses incurred by the innkeeper in treating the wounded man.

North continues: This was selfless assistance. The Samaritan had no guarantee of repayment. Still, he helped the man. Why? Because he understood that the man was his neighbor. They were both on the same road, facing the same risks. They shared a common environment. They were therefore neighbors. The Samaritan understood Jesus’ ethical principle, which we call the golden rule: “And as ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise” (Luke 6:31).

Dr. Daniel Hill: Notice what the man did to help. Came to him where others avoided him Bandaged up his wounds, got down in the dirt and dust with him and cleaned the wounds, wiping away the blood, getting into the wound to help the poor man Poured on the wounds oil and wine to help heal and clean. These were valuable commodities and yet the Samaritan used them to help the man Put him on his own donkey, he had to walk but knew the man could not. Took him to an inn, took care of him through the night. Paid for the logging. And then promised to pay for whatever else is needed. Now at any point he could have stopped helping and would have done far more than the priest and the Levite were willing to do. But instead he went the extra distance in his love. Here you have the lawyer asking who is my neighbor, and would have argued that a Samaritan could ever be considered a neighbor of a Jew and yet hearing a parable about a Samaritan helping a Jew - unbelievable! And a perfect illustration of the love going beyond the mere words, beyond the impersonal, to the personal extending of one’s self in the labors of love.

Hill then references 1Cor. 13:1–3 If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing. (ESV)

Hill then concludes: The only profit that can ever come from love is when it is given away. Instead of asking who is our neighbor, we should ask who can I be a neighbor to? The point is simply that our neighbor is anybody who needs us, anybody whom we can help.

Luke 10:36 Which of these three, do you think, proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?” (ESV; capitalized)

The general meaning of the Lord’s question is easy to determine. However, translating it was quite difficult for me.

In any case, there is the priest, the Levite and the Samaritan; which one appears to be most the neighbor to this man who had been taken down by the thieves?

Obviously, it is the Samaritan who acts as a neighbor to the priest. He demonstrates love. He demonstrates the love found in the verse, Love your neighbor as yourself. Recall, the expert in the Law seemed to have a problem with the concept of neighbor.

The concept of love when it comes to other people—neighbors if you will—is more than just a neutral relaxed mental attitude. There are times when the mature believer must act with compassion toward others. He must take steps to help others.

Application: This is certainly not the Lord teaching socialism. Socialism is about giving the state complete authority over you and your business; and over much of the money that you generate. In return, the state gives you and whomever they want whatever it wants to give; but they keep the cream off the top.

Tangent: The Lord is so often inaccurately portrayed as the first socialist. That is far off the mark.

Socialist Citizens/Socialist Leaders (a graphic); from Facebook; accessed February 13, 2023.

Luke 10:36 Which of these three, do you think, proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?” (ESV; capitalized)

This legal expert was looking to take the term neighbor and use it to limit his liability; to limit his responsibility. He wants for this word to allow him to exclude some people. Jesus understood that immediately. The law expert wanted to specify, “The Levite living next door to me—he is my neighbor; but some half-breed Samaritan, what exactly do I owe him?” This is what was in the law expert’s mind; and what Jesus was doing was taking the word neighbor to expand his realm of responsibility.

Luke 10:37a He said, "The one who showed him mercy." (ESV; capitalized)

Jesus asked this man, who of the three is the true neighbor to the man who had been robbed. Obviously, this was the Samaritan; and the legal expert agreed with this.

Luke 10:37b And Jesus said to him, "You go, and do likewise.” (ESV; capitalized)

Jesus told the man, “Depart now and you do the same thing.”

Now, why didn’t Jesus say, “Believe in Me, and you will be saved”? Logically, this Law expert needs to determine for himself that, he cannot meet this standard. Jesus needs to allow this man to think and put together all that he has now learned. Is it possible that he will never come to the realization that Jesus is the key? Yes. Nevertheless, Jesus does not push him then and there for a decision, for further conversation, for anything more. The man has enough to ruminate on. Will he come to the conclusion that he is imperfect and does not deserve to be saved (which would be the correct understanding and application of what Jesus has taught him so far).

Application: Sometimes, when interacting with an unbeliever, you cannot always take him all the way there. Sometimes you have to give him enough information to ruminate over; and let God take it from there.

Application: Sometimes, our interactions with unbelievers are not going to end in a conversion (obviously, most of the time). Best we can do is plant the seed and not to be complete idiots.

Luke 10:37 He said, "The one who showed him mercy." And Jesus said to him, "You go, and do likewise.” (ESV; capitalized)

I personally believe that this lawyer understood enough at this point to go his own way.

Dr. Daniel Hill sees it differently, not believing this man to be able to apply what Jesus has just said: There is no doubt that the lawyer understood the point of the parable and the issue of mercy. But the understanding, the knowing, the knowledge does not mean there is application.

Gary North: The parable of the good Samaritan deals with the question of loving one’s neighbor. The Samaritan was the wounded man’s neighbor because he helped the man when the opportunity arose. The opportunity arose because they were both travellers on the same road. The priest and the Levite were also travellers on that road, but they did not help. They refused to act as neighbors. Jesus chose the highest ecclesiastical officers as His examples of how not to serve as neighbors. This deliberate provocation could not have been missed by members of both groups. He was making it clear that the concept of neighbor is broader than either race or confession. It has to do with shared circumstances and close proximity. It also has to do with need or weakness. It has to do with the golden rule (Luke 6:32).

It appears that there is a close relationship between this family and Jesus. Extra-Biblical sources suggest that they were childhood friends. Lazarus, whom the Lord will later raise from the dead, is their brother.

Luke 10:38a Now as they went on their way, Jesus entered a village. (ESV; capitalized)

I had concerns about the translation of the Greek text, discussed in the Greek exegesis above.

Luke speaks of a certain village. Because Luke receives information from a variety of sources, he does not always know or remember every single detail. As I have suggested earlier, this middle section of Luke may be the stories that Luke knew, but was unable to place into alpha order.

Jesus and His disciples are moving about. We have no idea as to the size of their entourage. They come to a certain village here, which is unnamed. My only explanation as to why this might be unnamed is, Luke just did not catch the name of the village (and these could be very small villages that we are speaking of; whose names would otherwise be unknown).

Remember also that Luke is not around for any of these things; he hears this information from others. So, now and again, when he is taking notes, he leaves an important piece of information out. In fact, as discussed earlier, there is this very large section of Luke which has no specific time frame for it. These things took place during the Lord’s public ministry, but Luke was unable to be more specific than that (this is the material between Luke 10 and halfway through Luke 18).

Luke 10:38b And a woman named Martha welcomed him into her house. (ESV; capitalized)

Jesus and His disciples are welcomed into a home there; and, all we know at this point is, Martha and Mary appear to be the ones who live at this home and possibly own it (the language suggests that Martha owns it). There could be a lot more going on here; but we do not know what that might be.

Notice how this is phrased. There is both Martha and Mary at this home, but this is presented as Martha’s home. Perhaps they live together; perhaps not. But this ought to stand out. Martha either has the larger home, better for the entertainment of guests; or she is the go-getter of the two sisters, and they live together, but it is Martha’s house.

Luke 10:38 Now as they went on their way, Jesus entered a village. And a woman named Martha welcomed him into her house. (ESV; capitalized)

Luke 10:39a And she had a sister called Mary,... (ESV; capitalized)

The only occupants of this home named are Mary and Martha, and they are sisters. Have their husbands passed and they live here? Do they have servants? How many disciples are there at their home? These questions open this narrative to focus on a few specifics, which are likely unrelated to the questions which I have raised.

Luke 10:39b ...who sat at the Lord's feet... (ESV; capitalized)

Mary, the sister of Martha, is sitting at the Lord’s feet and taking in Bible doctrine. He is teaching her face to face.

Again, if this is the Mary of Luke 7—a women of most questionable character—what an arc has taken place in her life.

Also, is this Mary Magdalene? I don’t think so; but this is not a topic I have put a lot of study to.

Luke 10:39c ....and listened to his teaching. (ESV; capitalized)

We know in retrospect the amazing importance of the Lord’s teaching at this time; and that this was an event which would never be repeated.

It is possible that neither Mary nor Martha fully appreciated this, but clearly, Martha appreciated this less than Mary did.

Luke 10:39 And she had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet and listened to his teaching. (ESV; capitalized)

We find out in John 11 that this family of Mary, Martha and Lazarus (apparently all siblings), live in Bethany. We find out in this same passage that Mary is the one who anointed the Lord’s feet and washed them with her own hair (which takes place in Luke 7:38 and in John 12:3, which are two separate incidents). If this is the same Mary in both incidents—I am beginning to think that it is not—then the Mary of Luke 7:38 may have fallen on hard times at that point in time. The other option is, these are two very similar incidents, but the woman in Luke 7 is not Mary. Given that Martha is a homeowner and Mary is there, either Mary completely cleaned up her act after Luke 7 (which is why she is with her sister Martha); or the woman of Luke 7 is simply a different woman. If this is the same woman, what an amazing arc there has been in the life of Mary, over a very short period of time!

The sum total of what we know about this family is found here at the end of Luke 10 (which is what we are now studying), and in John 11:1–12:3. The very long passage found in the book of John suggests that these two woman and their brother are quite significant in the early church (which would explain the depth of explanation given by John).

I should probably place the John passage in the addendum here.

Luke 10:38–39 And during their travels, Jesus [lit., He] entered into a certain village. And a certain woman, Martha by name, received Him into [her] home. There was also a sister called Mary, and she was sitting down at the feet of Jesus. She was hearing His teaching [lit., word]. (Kukis mostly literal translation)

Tangent: Let’s say that this is the same person here as in Luke 7, the same person who washes and moisturizes the Lords feet with her hair, and using very expensive oils on his feet. Why is she named here but not there? In the context the previous incident—given that the woman’s character is hinted at—maybe Luke did not say her name simply to preserve her privacy back in Luke 7. There is no need to preserve her privacy in this passage.

Luke 10:40a But Martha was distracted with much serving. (ESV; capitalized)

Now, although it sounds as if Martha is doing all of the work and Mary is just sitting around neglecting her duties, we do not know that to be a true representation of what these women are doing. Do they have servants? Do they have a staff of any sort? Are there others there? And perhaps Martha is stressing about things which do not necessarily need to be done at this time.

In any case, Martha appears to be distracted from what Jesus is saying as she has many tasks and duties to perform. After all, if Jesus is there, then His disciples were also there or nearby. Martha could be overseeing the feeding of 15 or 20 people (or more!). So, she isn’t simply being a bitch about this. She no doubt has real concerns about everything that needs to be done.

Luke 10:40b And she went up to him... (ESV; capitalized)

Martha considers what is going on, and she finally takes a stand. She speaks up, speaking directly to Jesus, rather than to her own sister.

Luke 10:40c ...and said, "Lord, do you not care that my sister... (ESV; capitalized)

She asks the Lord whether or not He is concerned about her sister. So Martha is running about doing things, but her sister is sitting there at the feet of the Lord; and He is presumably teaching.

Again, we do not know the history of these two women. Is Mary’s background as sorted as we might think? Or is Martha simply the go-getter of the two sisters? In either case, Martha’s reaction and complaint seem reasonably valid.

Luke 10:40d ...has left me to serve alone? (ESV; capitalized)

Martha suggests that she is deserted and trying to do everything by herself at this point. This is her complaint and she is making this complaint to Jesus.

She may or may not have servants; and this meal preparation could involve 15 or more people.

There are many of us who might identify more with Martha than Mary, given the task set before them.

Luke 10:40e Tell her then to help me." (ESV; capitalized)

Since Jesus is, apparently, doing some teaching and Mary is listening to Him; Martha says, “Maybe you could speak directly to Mary, while you are at it, and get her to give me a hand.”

For all we know, Martha could have waited for Jesus to take a breath in His teaching, and suddenly she says all of this. Perhaps we see her walking hurriedly in and out of this room, carrying plates and other items in preparation for a large meal.

Luke 10:40 But Martha was distracted with much serving. And she went up to him and said, "Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me." (ESV; capitalized)

Luke 10:41a But the Lord answered her,... (ESV; capitalized)

Martha has complained to the Lord that she is running around doing everything, and her sister, Mary, is just sitting there, as the Lord’s feet, listening to Him. Jesus hears this complaint and then He responds.

Luke 10:41b ..."Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things,... (ESV; capitalized)

Although there are a number of times when a person’s name is doubled in Scripture, I think the only thing that Jesus is saying here is, “Listen, Martha.”

Jesus points out that she is stressed out over many things, and is suggesting that she should not be.

I believe that this verse carries over into the next one. A few translations continued one to the other.

Luke 10:41 But the Lord answered her, "Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, (ESV; capitalized)

Luke 10:42a ...but one thing is necessary. (ESV; capitalized)

I believe that this is a reasonable translation of what the Lord said. The one thing would be salvation to those who have not believed; and Bible doctrine for those who have. This should be the point of concentration for all mankind. The gospel message for the unbeliever; and Bible doctrine for the believer.

Luke 10:41–42a The Lord answered her, saying, “Martha, Martha, you continue being stressed and troubled about many things, but few things are [really] important except one [thing]. (Kukis mostly literal translation)

Martha is continually concerned about works and Jesus tells her that this is one thing in particular which is important (His Word).

Luke 10:42b Mary has chosen the good portion,... (ESV; capitalized)

Mary has figured out that being taught by the Lord is the most important thing for her to have.

R. B. Thieme, Jr. used to continually teach that learning the Word of God was the most important thing that we could do, as opposed to running around and doing things (witnessing, giving money to the church, feeding the poor, etc.). This is fully in line with what Jesus is teaching here. Both Mary and Martha could be up and around preparing the meal for Jesus and whatever men were with Him; but He testifies that what Mary is doing—carefully listening to Him—that is divine good. That is what she ought to be doing.

Luke 10:42c ...which will not be taken away from her." (ESV; capitalized)

Bible doctrine in her soul cannot be taken from her.

Furthermore, Jesus is not going to discourage her from taking in the Word.

Luke 10:42b-c Mary has chosen the good part [for herself], which will not be taken from her.” (Kukis mostly literal translation)

It is interesting that Luke placed this narrative back-to-back with the one on the Good Samaritan. In the Good Samaritan story, it is clear that those who saw him laying on the side of the road should have stopped and rendered air of some sort.

We have to be careful about going overboard when it comes to helping others. There is actually a time where help is requested and the mature believer refuses. Every circumstance has to be considered; and there is no magic percentage (offer your help 70% of the time). And, quite obviously, what could be more important than sitting at the feet of the Lord and hearing Him teach?

Application: Most of the time, when it comes to making decisions in the Christian life, God gives you enough information to determine what you should do. In most lives, there are only a handful of decisions which are questionable; which do not have a quick and easy answer. For most believers, in the two examples given (The Good Samaritan and the Duties of Martha and Mary) what a person should be doing should be easy to ascertain. Quite obviously, the more Bible doctrine that the believer has in his soul, the easier it is to make such decisions.

Luke 10:41–42 The Lord answered her, saying, “Martha, Martha, you continue being stressed and troubled about many things, but few things are [really] important except one [thing]. Mary has chosen the good part [for herself], which will not be taken from her.” (Kukis mostly literal translation)

Martha, who is focused upon works, is clearly stressed. Her sister Mary, on the other hand, is focused upon the teaching of the Lord, and that is the most important thing.

Luke 10:41–42 The Lord then spoke to her, saying, “Listen, Martha, you are continually being stressed out and troubled about many things, but there is only one truly important thing, and Mary has chosen that good thing for herself (that is, the teaching of Bible doctrine). Doctrine in her soul cannot be taken away from her.” (Kukis paraphrase)

Steve Ellis: This pericope illustrates the need for us to focus upon spiritual priorities. Too many times we are like Martha – all consumed with the need to be constantly doing and providing rather than quietly meditating on the Word so that we may have long term focus. “To be occupied with the Person of Christ is more important than to be occupied for Christ. To devote oneself to the word of Christ, so as to be taught by Him, is more important than to be busy for Him…Those who would later minister for Him needed to learn that the ‘better part’ was to be preoccupied with Him and to be taught not to neglect Him in their ministry.” 

Luke 11

Do I keep the following material here? Should I shelve it?

The books of Matthew, Mark and John are essentially eyewitness reports. Mark is writing down what Peter has told him; Matthew writes down what he personally observed; and John, decades later, writes down what he remembers. But this is not Luke. Luke has interviewed a number of people (we don’t know how many; I would guess at least five and maybe as many as twenty). Some of those interviewed by Luke (the women) were with Jesus from the beginning, and they would have provided a very detailed chronological narrative, as we have been studying in Luke 1:1–9:56 (maybe it goes further, maybe not). And this very chronological narrative is going to start up against after about eight chapters.

Luke is going to talk to people who remember a sermon, or a series of sermons by Jesus. They cannot exactly place it into a chronological narrative, but they might remember what happened right before the sermon; or what caused Jesus to go off in that direction. But, since Luke cannot easily fit these into his two chronological narratives, he places this material in the center of the book of Luke, as the center of the Lord’s public ministry was teaching.

Luke could certainly ask the question, “Do you think that this took place in the first, second or third year of the Lord’s public ministry?” Most of those giving a report to Luke would have no idea. Their lives may have intersected with Jesus for a few days or even a few weeks, but they would not necessarily remember the year or how long Jesus had been teaching for.

Now here is what I think is happening. Up to this point, the book of Luke has been strictly chronological and we are going to pick up with that approach once we get to the middle of Luke 18. At that point, we will easy back into the chronological approach. It is difficult to determine exactly where that happens in Luke 18, but by v. 31 at least. However, starting here and continuing for about 8 or 8½ chapters, we are stepping completely away from the chronological approach and just dealing with the teachings of Jesus. There is no way for us to fit all of these teachings and incidents into the Lord’s trip through Samaria to Jerusalem.

Introduction to Luke 11: Luke 11, like most of the chapters in the middle of Luke, is all about teaching. Even when specific incidents are recorded, it leads to a teaching moment. Jesus first teaches what we know as the Lord’s Prayer to His disciples, and then He teaches the parable of the persistent friend. He tells His disciples that, if they want something, they can keep on asking the Lord.

When Jesus is seen casting out a demon, who had kept a man from being able to speak, He was accused of casting out demons by the prince of dung (Beelzebub). Jesus teaches why this is not logical. However, it is remarkable that those around Him were so ready to accept this false explanation. While teaching this subject matter, Jesus teaches about the man cleaned of a demon, but who then takes in 7 more spirits into himself.

A woman interrupts Jesus and He is does not speak very kindly towards her.

Jesus then speaks of the sign of Jonah and how the eyes are the light of the body.

The end of this chapter is devoted to the pharisees, the lawyers and Jesus. Jesus is asked to a meal, but He apparently is watched very carefully, so that the pharisee who asked Jesus to eat, notices what Jesus does wrong and, apparently, points it out to others. Jesus reprimands the pharisees and, when a lawyer pipes up and tells him that he is offended too, Jesus reprimands him as well.

One of the things which stood out to me in this chapter were the words of Jesus. In many of his sermons and answers, he seemed to speak poetically. This may not always stand out, but if you read Rotherham’s Emphasized Bible, that approach is quite obvious.

Going back to Luke 8, I began to discuss the organization of the book of Luke. There are incidents in Luke 8 which suggests that this is early on in the Lord’s ministry (possibly taking place a year into the ministry). In Luke 9, there are the nine incidents which line up with the same events in Matthew and Mark. These events all appear to take place right before the Lord goes to Jerusalem for the last time. Going from the final half-dozen verses in Luke 9 and going forward, we seem to lose all semblance of a chronological order.

The first thirteen verses in Luke 11 are clearly out of chronological order. Interestingly enough, they parallel Matthew 6:9–15 7:7–11, which passages are a part of the sermon on the mount. Whereas the teaching is the same, the circumstances appear to be different (but there would be a way to integrate them into a single incident). This appears to be the case for many of the teachings found in Luke 11. They have their parallels in Matthew and in Mark, but the parallels seem to all take place prior to Luke 9. Again, this seems to be consistent with my working theory that, Luke had possession of a great many teachings presented by Jesus, but he did not really have a way to integrate them in chronologically with his narrative in Luke 1–9. So Luke 10–18 (mid Luke 18) appears to be simply a set of teachings which Luke collected, but simply did not fit them into the chronology of what came before or after.

Introduction to v. 1:

The first thirteen verses match up very closely to Jesus’ teachings found in the Sermon on the mount (Matthew 5–7). However, interestingly enough, the circumstances appear to be different. In Luke, Jesus is praying and the disciples ask Him about how they ought to be praying (they do wait for Jesus to complete His praying).

Assuming that these are different incidents, what we will study in Luke appears to be something that the disciples would have asked Jesus very early on in His ministry (within the first year). Then it would not seem odd for Jesus to teach these same things in the sermon on the mount perhaps a few weeks or months later.

One of the theories of this middle section of Luke is, Jesus just did a whole lot of teaching as He walked toward Jerusalem (for the last time), and Luke records all of that teaching. The problem with that theory is, the material covered here in Luke 11:1–13 sounds like the kind of information that Jesus would have taught very early on in His ministry. These sound like questions that the disciples would have asked during the first six months of their time as disciples. The final two verses of this chapter also suggests that this is occurring in the first year of His public ministry and not in the last.

Luke 11:1a Now Jesus was praying in a certain place, and when He finished,... (ESV; capitalized)

In translating this, I took some liberties, translating two particles as while, when. I also inserted the proper noun Jesus, as He is addressed as Lord in this verse by one of His disciples.

When Luke writes a certain place, you get the impression that he would have liked to have included that bit of information here.

Apparently, the Lord’s disciples are watching Him and He is praying.

Most of the time, Jesus would go off privately to pray and here He is said to be in a certain place. That suggests that He is off by Himself praying to God the Father.

The impression that I get is, His disciples found where He was and stood nearby waiting for Him to finish.

The material covered in these first thirteen verses are also found in the sermon on the mount (Matthew 6:9–15 7:7–11). It would be very difficult, if not impossible, to present these as the same incident.

Luke 11:1b ...one of His disciples said to Him,... (ESV; capitalized)

When Jesus came to a stop, one of His disciples spoke to Him. This is another bit of missing information. Why disciple asked Jesus this question?

We have a particular way of praying in our culture where usually our heads are bowed and we are looking down. I suspect that Jesus was looking up into the air and praying—probably with His eyes open.

So that there is no confusion here, it is customary in our culture to pray looking down with our eyes closed to give people in a gathering some privacy. We are shutting out the rest of the world; and the world around us, and speaking to God.

I am unaware of the Bible at any time specifying a specific posture for those offering prayers to God.

When Jesus refocuses His attention on what is in front of Him, there is one of His disciples—with a question.

Luke 11:1c ..."Lord, teach us to pray,... (ESV; capitalized)

The disciples makes a request of Jesus: “Teach us, Lord, how to pray.”

Luke 11:1d ...as John taught his disciples." (ESV; capitalized)

Interestingly enough, John the Herald taught his disciples how to pray (something which is not recorded anywhere else in the Bible).

Luke 11:1 Now Jesus was praying in a certain place, and when He finished, one of His disciples said to Him, "Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples." (ESV; capitalized)

What I am struck by in this prayer is just how much of it is directed towards our own thinking. God is saying, “I know what you want; I am going to tell you what I expect.” I do not mean this in a legalistic way, as in, “Do exactly what I want if you want Me to answer your prayers.” It is more like, “This is My character; now I want you to apply My character to your daily lives.” As we go through this phrase by phrase, this will become obvious.

Luke 11:2a And he said to them, "When you pray,... (ESV; capitalized)

Jesus disciples have asked Him how they should pray. He tells them, “When you begin a prayer to God, these are thing things which should be included in that prayer.”

Luke 11:2b ...say: "Father,... (ESV; capitalized)

Our prayers are directed to the Father; to God the Father. God is the Author of the divine decrees; we are living our lives in His universe, where He has made a great number of decrees back in eternity past. Therefore, we should focus upon Him; we should make our requests from Him.

It should be obvious that this is a prayer designed for the believer. Unbelievers do not have a prayer line open to God, other than the prayer of salvation. “I have heard and I have understood the good news that Jesus Christ died for my sins; and I am believing in Your Son and I am asking you to stand by Your Word and save me.” What must accompany those words are the volitional choice that takes place in your soul to believe in Jesus. There is no magic formula prayer to be saved.

Luke 11:2c ...hallowed be Your name. (ESV; capitalized)

Much of the Law (Torah) in the Old Testament is separating the holy from the profane; from distinguishing that which belongs to God and that which belongs to the cosmic system (which is the world order under Satan).

No matter how we feel about it, God, due to His perfect righteousness and justice, cannot have a close relationship with the profane. His righteousness cannot be matched with the profane (which includes anything that is sinful); and His justice must condemn unrighteousness. Apart from the cross, we are profane. We can have no close association with God.

So many gross parallels occur to me, but let’s consider a rotting animal along side of the road. In most circumstances, we would not want to have any association with the animal’s rotting corpse. The smell alone is hard to bear. This is what we are before God; we are rotting corpses; we stink. God is separate from all of that. It is only through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross that we have access to God. We must approach God through Christ.

Ultimately, there is only one way to make this separation, and that is to cast all manner of creature into the Lake of Fire, save those who have believed in Jesus Christ. That is the only final solution. There are those who have chosen Jesus Christ; and those who have rejected Him. There is no complete separation until this final separation.

Within our own souls, as we pray something like this, we need to make such a separation ourselves between the holy and the profane. There are things which we should be associated with; and things which we should not be associated with. Part of our living here on earth is making those distinctions.

Just in case you try to over-apply this concept, this does not mean that you can only do business with Christians; and that you can only work for a business which has a Christian boss and Christian employees. God left us in the world, and the world before us becomes our mission field. The fact that we rub shoulders day in and day out with unbelievers is an opportunity to witness with our lives and with our verbal testimony.

Luke 11:2d Your kingdom come. (ESV; capitalized)

In this era that Jesus was in—the dispensation of the Hypostatic Union—He offered Himself to Israel to be accepted as their King, their Messiah. Their mass acceptance of Him as Messiah would have ushered in the Kingdom of God.

This was the proper time for God to offer His kingdom to His people. There were too many among the Jews who rejected God—including a huge percentage of the religious class. As we will eventually see (even in this chapter), even live and let live was not an option for them. They had to get Jesus; and, at some point, they had settled upon killing Him.

The disciples praying for this is a prayer for universal acceptance of the Lord, Who can bring in the Kingdom. However, God is a Gentleman (as R. B. Thieme, Jr. often said), meaning that He allows us our volition, even when we are on negative signals).

Luke 11:2e ...let Your decree in heaven also be [Your decree] on the earth. (Literal translation taken from the Byzantine Greek text)

When the Kingdom of God is brought to this earth, then God’s decrees are as powerful on earth as they are in heaven. Satan and his angels; and we are given a great deal of leeway in our life choices on this earth. We, even as believers, give in to our sin natures and we sin and we act against God. On earth, this is allowed (although there are consequences).

This prayer is not just for God to bring His Kingdom and His will upon this earth, but it is a prayer where we learn to bend our own will in His direction.

Luke 11:2 And He answered them, “When you [all] pray [to God], say [this]: ‘Our Father, the [Father] in the heavens; make separate Your name [from the profane]. Bring in Your kingdom, let your decree in heaven also be [Your decree] on the earth. (Kukis mostly literal translation)

Luke 11:2 And he said to them, "When you pray, say: "Father, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come. (ESV; capitalized)

Luke 11:3 Give us each day our daily bread, (ESV; capitalized)

This verse, despite some of its complications (see the Greek exegesis), is all about logistical grace. We need food, shelter and clothing—all represented by the word bread in this verse. We need these things daily. This is a prayer for God to provide for us each day our needs. It is also a call for us to recognize that God is providing for us, day in and day out, of the things which are necessary for our continued lives.

There is one thing I want you to notice here: Jesus does not include the word please. He does not even include the words, if it be Your will, O Father. This is God’s guarantee to the Jews. They can simply point to God’s promises throughout the Scriptures and say, “Give us our daily sustenance.” When something is affixed to God’s promises, we don’t have to ask nicely for it. We can demand God give to us according to His Word.

Luke 11:3 Our necessary subsistence [lit., bread] give that to us daily. (Kukis mostly literal translation)

Luke 11:4a and forgive us our sins,... (ESV; capitalized)

In order for us to have any fellowship with God, our sins must not be an issue. God must forgive us our sins. However, God’s interactions with us are based upon His justice. God cannot simply look at us and say, “Now, that Charley Brown, he is such a nice man. I really like that guy, except for that sin he committed on Tuesday. Since he is such a nice guy, I will forgive him that sin.” But God cannot do that with us.

This is what politicians do; this is how both sides of the aisle act. So many of them are dirty; and if there is a way that they can protect themselves by protecting others, they will do it. They do not act out of justice and righteousness; they act out of self-preservation. “You cover me and I will cover you.” Can you imagine if Congress was legally subjected to the crimes each one has committed? We might have 15 members of Congress not indicted. But they cover for one another; even Democrats for Republicans and vice versa.

God does not forgive us our sins based upon some political connection to Him. He forgives us because Jesus Christ died for our sins and we have accepted that. We have believed in His Son. Therefore, we are forgiven. God’s just requirements have been met. All of the sins that we have committed have been paid for.

Luke 11:4b ...for we ourselves forgive everyone who is indebted to us. (ESV; capitalized)

Jesus is teaching here that this forgiveness needs to come from us as well. There are many people who have wronged us; many who have sinned against us. You may have even prayed for the justice of God to come down upon Lucy Van Pelt because of the evil that she has fashioned against you. I know I have.

However, Jesus is telling us here, “Do not hold a grudge. Forgive those who are in your debt due to the evil things that they have done against you.”

Luke 11:4c And lead us not into temptation." (ESV; capitalized)

Finally, we are to pray for God not to lead us into temptation; which I would understand as not to put a temptation before us that we are unable to bear.

I believe that we can depend upon the fact that God will not tempt us beyond what we are able to resist. In fact, God does not tempt us at all; but He does allow us freedom of movement and choice in this life.

I have areas of strength and areas of weakness, like anyone else. Put me in a room filled with drunks and alcoholics, and I am not the least bit tempted to join them in a drunken binge. That is not because I am a great person; it is because that is an area of strength for me (at this point in time). If I never had another drink again, I would not miss it (well, I would miss beer with pizza or with Mexican food, but I could survive even that loss).

However, there are other areas where I could be tempted. We pray not to be put into a situation where temptation would overcome our better judgment.

Luke 11:4d ...but deliver us from the evil [one].’ ”.(Kukis mostly literal translation from the Scrivener Textus Receptus)

Finally, we ask to be delivered from Satan and from his cosmic system. We are tempted from within, from our own sin nature; and we are tempted from without, by Satan.

Luke 11:4 and forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive everyone who is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation." (ESV; capitalized)

Luke 11:5a And he said to them, "Which of you who has a friend will go to him at midnight and say to him, 'Friend, lend me three loaves, (ESV; capitalized)

Luke 11:5b And he said to them, "Which of you who has a friend will go to him at midnight and say to him, 'Friend, lend me three loaves, (ESV; capitalized)

Luke 11:5c And he said to them, "Which of you who has a friend will go to him at midnight and say to him, 'Friend, lend me three loaves, (ESV; capitalized)

Luke 11:5 And he said to them, "Which of you who has a friend will go to him at midnight and say to him, 'Friend, lend me three loaves, (ESV; capitalized)

Luke 11:6a for a friend of mine has arrived on a journey, and I have nothing to set before him'; (ESV; capitalized)

Luke 11:6b for a friend of mine has arrived on a journey, and I have nothing to set before him'; (ESV; capitalized)

Luke 11:6 for a friend of mine has arrived on a journey, and I have nothing to set before him'; (ESV; capitalized)

Luke 11:7a and he will answer from within, 'Do not bother me; the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed. I cannot get up and give you anything'? (ESV; capitalized)

Luke 11:7b and he will answer from within, 'Do not bother me; the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed. I cannot get up and give you anything'? (ESV; capitalized)

Luke 11:7c and he will answer from within, 'Do not bother me; the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed. I cannot get up and give you anything'? (ESV; capitalized)

Luke 11:7d and he will answer from within, 'Do not bother me; the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed. I cannot get up and give you anything'? (ESV; capitalized)

Luke 11:7 and he will answer from within, 'Do not bother me; the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed. I cannot get up and give you anything'? (ESV; capitalized)

Luke 11:8 I tell you, though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, yet because of his impudence he will rise and give him whatever he needs. (ESV; capitalized)

Luke 11:9 And I tell you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. (ESV; capitalized)

Luke 11:10 For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. (ESV; capitalized)

Luke 11:11 What father among you, if his son asks for a fish, will instead of a fish give him a serpent; (ESV; capitalized)

Luke 11:12 or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? (ESV; capitalized)

Luke 11:13 If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!" (ESV; capitalized)

Luke 11:14 Now he was casting out a demon that was mute. When the demon had gone out, the mute man spoke, and the people marveled. (ESV; capitalized)

Luke 11:15 But some of them said, "He casts out demons by Beelzebul, the prince of demons," (ESV; capitalized)

Luke 11:16 while others, to test him, kept seeking from him a sign from heaven. (ESV; capitalized)

Luke 11:17 But he, knowing their thoughts, said to them, "Every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste, and a divided household falls. (ESV; capitalized)

Luke 11:18 And if Satan also is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand? For you say that I cast out demons by Beelzebul. (ESV; capitalized)

Luke 11:19 And if I cast out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore they will be your judges. (ESV; capitalized)

Luke 11:20 But if it is by the finger of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. (ESV; capitalized)

Luke 11:21 When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own palace, his goods are safe; (ESV; capitalized)

Luke 11:22 but when one stronger than he attacks him and overcomes him, he takes away his armor in which he trusted and divides his spoil. (ESV; capitalized)

Luke 11:23 Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters. (ESV; capitalized)

Luke 11:24 "When the unclean spirit has gone out of a person, it passes through waterless places seeking rest, and finding none it says, 'I will return to my house from which I came.' (ESV; capitalized)

Luke 11:25 And when it comes, it finds the house swept and put in order. (ESV; capitalized)

Luke 11:26 Then it goes and brings seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they enter and dwell there. And the last state of that person is worse than the first." (ESV; capitalized)

Luke 11:27 As he said these things, a woman in the crowd raised her voice and said to him, "Blessed is the womb that bore you, and the breasts at which you nursed!" (ESV; capitalized)

Luke 11:28 But he said, "Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and keep it!" (ESV; capitalized)

Luke 11:29 When the crowds were increasing, he began to say, "This generation is an evil generation. It seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah. (ESV; capitalized)

Luke 11:30 For as Jonah became a sign to the people of Nineveh, so will the Son of Man be to this generation. (ESV; capitalized)

Luke 11:31 The queen of the South will rise up at the judgment with the men of this generation and condemn them, for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and behold, something greater than Solomon is here. (ESV; capitalized)

Luke 11:32 The men of Nineveh will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and behold, something greater than Jonah is here. (ESV; capitalized)

Luke 11:33 "No one after lighting a lamp puts it in a cellar or under a basket, but on a stand, so that those who enter may see the light. (ESV; capitalized)

Luke 11:34 Your eye is the lamp of your body. When your eye is healthy, your whole body is full of light, but when it is bad, your body is full of darkness. (ESV; capitalized)

Luke 11:35 Therefore be careful lest the light in you be darkness. (ESV; capitalized)

Luke 11:36 If then your whole body is full of light, having no part dark, it will be wholly bright, as when a lamp with its rays gives you light." (ESV; capitalized)

Luke 11:37 While Jesus was speaking, a Pharisee asked him to dine with him, so he went in and reclined at table. (ESV; capitalized)

Luke 11:38 The Pharisee was astonished to see that he did not first wash before dinner. (ESV; capitalized)

Luke 11:39 And the Lord said to him, "Now you Pharisees cleanse the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside you are full of greed and wickedness. (ESV; capitalized)

Luke 11:40 You fools! Did not he who made the outside make the inside also? (ESV; capitalized)

Luke 11:41 But give as alms those things that are within, and behold, everything is clean for you. (ESV; capitalized)

Luke 11:42 "But woe to you Pharisees! For you tithe mint and rue and every herb, and neglect justice and the love of God. These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others. (ESV; capitalized)

Luke 11:43 Woe to you Pharisees! For you love the best seat in the synagogues and greetings in the marketplaces. (ESV; capitalized)

Luke 11:44 Woe to you! For you are like unmarked graves, and people walk over them without knowing it." (ESV; capitalized)

Luke 11:45 One of the lawyers answered him, "Teacher, in saying these things you insult us also." (ESV; capitalized)

Luke 11:46 And he said, "Woe to you lawyers also! For you load people with burdens hard to bear, and you yourselves do not touch the burdens with one of your fingers. (ESV; capitalized)

Luke 11:47 Woe to you! For you build the tombs of the prophets whom your fathers killed. (ESV; capitalized)

Luke 11:48 So you are witnesses and you consent to the deeds of your fathers, for they killed them, and you build their tombs. (ESV; capitalized)

Luke 11:49 Therefore also the Wisdom of God said, 'I will send them prophets and apostles, some of whom they will kill and persecute,' (ESV; capitalized)

Luke 11:50 so that the blood of all the prophets, shed from the foundation of the world, may be charged against this generation, (ESV; capitalized)

Luke 11:51 from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah, who perished between the altar and the sanctuary. Yes, I tell you, it will be required of this generation. (ESV; capitalized)

Luke 11:52 Woe to you lawyers! For you have taken away the key of knowledge. You did not enter yourselves, and you hindered those who were entering." (ESV; capitalized)

Luke 11:53 As he went away from there, the scribes and the Pharisees began to press him hard and to provoke him to speak about many things, (ESV; capitalized)

Luke 11:54 lying in wait for him, to catch him in something he might say. (ESV; capitalized)

Luke 12:1 In the meantime, when so many thousands of the people had gathered together that they were trampling one another, he began to say to his disciples first, "Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. (ESV; capitalized)

Luke 12:2 Nothing is covered up that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known. (ESV; capitalized)

Luke 12:3 Therefore whatever you have said in the dark shall be heard in the light, and what you have whispered in private rooms shall be proclaimed on the housetops. (ESV; capitalized)

Luke 12:4 "I tell you, my friends, do not fear those who kill the body, and after that have nothing more that they can do. (ESV; capitalized)

Luke 12:5 But I will warn you whom to fear: fear him who, after he has killed, has authority to cast into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him! (ESV; capitalized)

Luke 12:6 Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? And not one of them is forgotten before God. (ESV; capitalized)

Luke 12:7 Why, even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not; you are of more value than many sparrows. (ESV; capitalized)

Luke 12:8 "And I tell you, everyone who acknowledges me before men, the Son of Man also will acknowledge before the angels of God, (ESV; capitalized)

Luke 12:9 but the one who denies me before men will be denied before the angels of God. (ESV; capitalized)

Luke 12:10 And everyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but the one who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven. (ESV; capitalized)

Luke 12:11 And when they bring you before the synagogues and the rulers and the authorities, do not be anxious about how you should defend yourself or what you should say, (ESV; capitalized)

Luke 12:12 for the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say." (ESV; capitalized)

Luke 12:13 Someone in the crowd said to him, "Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me." (ESV; capitalized)

Luke 12:14 But he said to him, "Man, who made me a judge or arbitrator over you?" (ESV; capitalized)

Luke 12:15 And he said to them, "Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions." (ESV; capitalized)

Luke 12:16 And he told them a parable, saying, "The land of a rich man produced plentifully, (ESV; capitalized)

Luke 12:17 and he thought to himself, 'What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops?' (ESV; capitalized)

Luke 12:18 And he said, 'I will do this: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. (ESV; capitalized)

Luke 12:19 And I will say to my soul, "Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry."' (ESV; capitalized)

Luke 12:20 But God said to him, 'Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?' (ESV; capitalized)

Luke 12:21 So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God." (ESV; capitalized)

Luke 12:22 And he said to his disciples, "Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat, nor about your body, what you will put on. (ESV; capitalized)

Luke 12:23 For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing. (ESV; capitalized)

Luke 12:24 Consider the ravens: they neither sow nor reap, they have neither storehouse nor barn, and yet God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds! (ESV; capitalized)

Luke 12:25 And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? (ESV; capitalized)

Luke 12:26 If then you are not able to do as small a thing as that, why are you anxious about the rest? (ESV; capitalized)

Luke 12:27 Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. (ESV; capitalized)

Luke 12:28 But if God so clothes the grass, which is alive in the field today, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will he clothe you, O you of little faith! (ESV; capitalized)

Luke 12:29 And do not seek what you are to eat and what you are to drink, nor be worried. (ESV; capitalized)

Luke 12:30 For all the nations of the world seek after these things, and your Father knows that you need them. (ESV; capitalized)

Luke 12:31 Instead, seek his kingdom, and these things will be added to you. (ESV; capitalized)

Luke 12:32 "Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. (ESV; capitalized)

Luke 12:33 Sell your possessions, and give to the needy. Provide yourselves with moneybags that do not grow old, with a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches and no moth destroys. (ESV; capitalized)

Luke 12:34 For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. (ESV; capitalized)

Luke 12:35 "Stay dressed for action and keep your lamps burning, (ESV; capitalized)

Luke 12:36 and be like men who are waiting for their master to come home from the wedding feast, so that they may open the door to him at once when he comes and knocks. (ESV; capitalized)

Luke 12:37 Blessed are those servants whom the master finds awake when he comes. Truly, I say to you, he will dress himself for service and have them recline at table, and he will come and serve them. (ESV; capitalized)

Luke 12:38 If he comes in the second watch, or in the third, and finds them awake, blessed are those servants! (ESV; capitalized)

Luke 12:39 But know this, that if the master of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have left his house to be broken into. (ESV; capitalized)

Luke 12:40 You also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect." (ESV; capitalized)

Luke 12:41 Peter said, "Lord, are you telling this parable for us or for all?" (ESV; capitalized)

Luke 12:42 And the Lord said, "Who then is the faithful and wise manager, whom his master will set over his household, to give them their portion of food at the proper time? (ESV; capitalized)

Luke 12:43 Blessed is that servant whom his master will find so doing when he comes. (ESV; capitalized)

Luke 12:44 Truly, I say to you, he will set him over all his possessions. (ESV; capitalized)

Luke 12:45 But if that servant says to himself, 'My master is delayed in coming,' and begins to beat the male and female servants, and to eat and drink and get drunk, (ESV; capitalized)

Luke 12:46 the master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he does not know, and will cut him in pieces and put him with the unfaithful. (ESV; capitalized)

Luke 12:47 And that servant who knew his master's will but did not get ready or act according to his will, will receive a severe beating. (ESV; capitalized)

Luke 12:48 But the one who did not know, and did what deserved a beating, will receive a light beating. Everyone to whom much was given, of him much will be required, and from him to whom they entrusted much, they will demand the more. (ESV; capitalized)

Luke 12:49 "I came to cast fire on the earth, and would that it were already kindled! (ESV; capitalized)

Luke 12:50 I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how great is my distress until it is accomplished! (ESV; capitalized)

Luke 12:51 Do you think that I have come to give peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division. (ESV; capitalized)

Luke 12:52 For from now on in one house there will be five divided, three against two and two against three. (ESV; capitalized)

Luke 12:53 They will be divided, father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law." (ESV; capitalized)

Luke 12:54 He also said to the crowds, "When you see a cloud rising in the west, you say at once, 'A shower is coming.' And so it happens. (ESV; capitalized)

Luke 12:55 And when you see the south wind blowing, you say, 'There will be scorching heat,' and it happens. (ESV; capitalized)

Luke 12:56 You hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of earth and sky, but why do you not know how to interpret the present time? (ESV; capitalized)

Luke 12:57 "And why do you not judge for yourselves what is right? (ESV; capitalized)

Luke 12:58 As you go with your accuser before the magistrate, make an effort to settle with him on the way, lest he drag you to the judge, and the judge hand you over to the officer, and the officer put you in prison. (ESV; capitalized)

Luke 12:59 I tell you, you will never get out until you have paid the very last penny." (ESV; capitalized)

Luke 13:1 There were some present at that very time who told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices.

Luke 13:2 And he answered them, "Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered in this way?

Luke 13:3 No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.

Luke 13:4 Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them: do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who lived in Jerusalem?

Luke 13:5 No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish."

Luke 13:6 And he told this parable: "A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came seeking fruit on it and found none.

Luke 13:7 And he said to the vinedresser, 'Look, for three years now I have come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and I find none. Cut it down. Why should it use up the ground?'

Luke 13:8 And he answered him, 'Sir, let it alone this year also, until I dig around it and put on manure.

Luke 13:9 Then if it should bear fruit next year, well and good; but if not, you can cut it down.'"

Luke 13:10 Now he was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath.

Luke 13:11 And behold, there was a woman who had had a disabling spirit for eighteen years. She was bent over and could not fully straighten herself.

Luke 13:12 When Jesus saw her, he called her over and said to her, "Woman, you are freed from your disability."

Luke 13:13 And he laid his hands on her, and immediately she was made straight, and she glorified God.

Luke 13:14 But the ruler of the synagogue, indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, said to the people, "There are six days in which work ought to be done. Come on those days and be healed, and not on the Sabbath day."

Luke 13:15 Then the Lord answered him, "You hypocrites! Does not each of you on the Sabbath untie his ox or his donkey from the manger and lead it away to water it?

Luke 13:16 And ought not this woman, a daughter of Abraham whom Satan bound for eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath day?"

Luke 13:17 As he said these things, all his adversaries were put to shame, and all the people rejoiced at all the glorious things that were done by him.

Luke 13:18 He said therefore, "What is the kingdom of God like? And to what shall I compare it?

Luke 13:19 It is like a grain of mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his garden, and it grew and became a tree, and the birds of the air made nests in its branches."

Luke 13:20 And again he said, "To what shall I compare the kingdom of God?

Luke 13:21 It is like leaven that a woman took and hid in three measures of flour, until it was all leavened."

Luke 13:22 He went on his way through towns and villages, teaching and journeying toward Jerusalem.

Luke 13:23 And someone said to him, "Lord, will those who are saved be few?" And he said to them,

Luke 13:24 "Strive to enter through the narrow door. For many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able.

Luke 13:25 When once the master of the house has risen and shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and to knock at the door, saying, 'Lord, open to us,' then he will answer you, 'I do not know where you come from.'

Luke 13:26 Then you will begin to say, 'We ate and drank in your presence, and you taught in our streets.'

Luke 13:27 But he will say, 'I tell you, I do not know where you come from. Depart from me, all you workers of evil!'

Luke 13:28 In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God but you yourselves cast out.

Luke 13:29 And people will come from east and west, and from north and south, and recline at table in the kingdom of God.

Luke 13:30 And behold, some are last who will be first, and some are first who will be last."

Luke 13:31 At that very hour some Pharisees came and said to him, "Get away from here, for Herod wants to kill you."

Luke 13:32 And he said to them, "Go and tell that fox, 'Behold, I cast out demons and perform cures today and tomorrow, and the third day I finish my course.

https://www.ourancientpaths.org/post/2019/03/09/herod-the-fox

Luke 13:33 Nevertheless, I must go on my way today and tomorrow and the day following, for it cannot be that a prophet should perish away from Jerusalem.'

Luke 13:34 O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!

Luke 13:35 Behold, your house is forsaken. And I tell you, you will not see me until you say, 'Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!'"

Luke 14:1 One Sabbath, when he went to dine at the house of a ruler of the Pharisees, they were watching him carefully.

Luke 14:2 And behold, there was a man before him who had dropsy.

Luke 14:3 And Jesus responded to the lawyers and Pharisees, saying, "Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath, or not?"

Luke 14:4 But they remained silent. Then he took him and healed him and sent him away.

Luke 14:5 And he said to them, "Which of you, having a son or an ox that has fallen into a well on a Sabbath day, will not immediately pull him out?"

Luke 14:6 And they could not reply to these things.

Luke 14:7 Now he told a parable to those who were invited, when he noticed how they chose the places of honor, saying to them,

Luke 14:8 "When you are invited by someone to a wedding feast, do not sit down in a place of honor, lest someone more distinguished than you be invited by him,

Luke 14:9 and he who invited you both will come and say to you, 'Give your place to this person,' and then you will begin with shame to take the lowest place.

Luke 14:10 But when you are invited, go and sit in the lowest place, so that when your host comes he may say to you, 'Friend, move up higher.' Then you will be honored in the presence of all who sit at table with you.

Luke 14:11 For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted."

Luke 14:12 He said also to the man who had invited him, "When you give a dinner or a banquet, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors, lest they also invite you in return and you be repaid.

Luke 14:13 But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind,

Luke 14:14 and you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you. For you will be repaid at the resurrection of the just."

Luke 14:15 When one of those who reclined at table with him heard these things, he said to him, "Blessed is everyone who will eat bread in the kingdom of God!"

Luke 14:16 But he said to him, "A man once gave a great banquet and invited many.

Luke 14:17 And at the time for the banquet he sent his servant to say to those who had been invited, 'Come, for everything is now ready.'

Luke 14:18 But they all alike began to make excuses. The first said to him, 'I have bought a field, and I must go out and see it. Please have me excused.'

Luke 14:19 And another said, 'I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to examine them. Please have me excused.'

Luke 14:20 And another said, 'I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.'

Luke 14:21 So the servant came and reported these things to his master. Then the master of the house became angry and said to his servant, 'Go out quickly to the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in the poor and crippled and blind and lame.'

Luke 14:22 And the servant said, 'Sir, what you commanded has been done, and still there is room.'

Luke 14:23 And the master said to the servant, 'Go out to the highways and hedges and compel people to come in, that my house may be filled.

Luke 14:24 For I tell you, none of those men who were invited shall taste my banquet.'"

Luke 14:25 Now great crowds accompanied him, and he turned and said to them,

Luke 14:26 "If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple.

Luke 14:27 Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.

Luke 14:28 For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it?

Luke 14:29 Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him,

Luke 14:30 saying, 'This man began to build and was not able to finish.'

Luke 14:31 Or what king, going out to encounter another king in war, will not sit down first and deliberate whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand?

Luke 14:32 And if not, while the other is yet a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace.

Luke 14:33 So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.

Luke 14:34 "Salt is good, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored?

Luke 14:35 It is of no use either for the soil or for the manure pile. It is thrown away. He who has ears to hear, let him hear."

Luke 15:1 Now the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear him.

Luke 15:2 And the Pharisees and the scribes grumbled, saying, "This man receives sinners and eats with them."

Luke 15:3 So he told them this parable:

Luke 15:4 "What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open country, and go after the one that is lost, until he finds it?

Luke 15:5 And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing.

Luke 15:6 And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, 'Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.'

Luke 15:7 Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.

Luke 15:8 "Or what woman, having ten silver coins, if she loses one coin, does not light a lamp and sweep the house and seek diligently until she finds it?

Luke 15:9 And when she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, 'Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin that I had lost.'

Luke 15:10 Just so, I tell you, there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents."

Luke 15:11 And he said, "There was a man who had two sons.

Luke 15:12 And the younger of them said to his father, 'Father, give me the share of property that is coming to me.' And he divided his property between them.

Luke 15:13 Not many days later, the younger son gathered all he had and took a journey into a far country, and there he squandered his property in reckless living.

Luke 15:14 And when he had spent everything, a severe famine arose in that country, and he began to be in need.

Luke 15:15 So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him into his fields to feed pigs.

Luke 15:16 And he was longing to be fed with the pods that the pigs ate, and no one gave him anything.

Luke 15:17 "But when he came to himself, he said, 'How many of my father's hired servants have more than enough bread, but I perish here with hunger!

Luke 15:18 I will arise and go to my father, and I will say to him, "Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you.

Luke 15:19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Treat me as one of your hired servants."'

Luke 15:20 And he arose and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him.

Luke 15:21 And the son said to him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.'

Luke 15:22 But the father said to his servants, 'Bring quickly the best robe, and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet.

Luke 15:23 And bring the fattened calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate.

Luke 15:24 For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.' And they began to celebrate.

Luke 15:25 "Now his older son was in the field, and as he came and drew near to the house, he heard music and dancing.

Luke 15:26 And he called one of the servants and asked what these things meant.

Luke 15:27 And he said to him, 'Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fattened calf, because he has received him back safe and sound.'

Luke 15:28 But he was angry and refused to go in. His father came out and entreated him,

Luke 15:29 but he answered his father, 'Look, these many years I have served you, and I never disobeyed your command, yet you never gave me a young goat, that I might celebrate with my friends.

Luke 15:30 But when this son of yours came, who has devoured your property with prostitutes, you killed the fattened calf for him!'

Luke 15:31 And he said to him, 'Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours.

Luke 15:32 It was fitting to celebrate and be glad, for this your brother was dead, and is alive; he was lost, and is found.'"

Luke 16:1 He also said to the disciples, "There was a rich man who had a manager, and charges were brought to him that this man was wasting his possessions.

Luke 16:2 And he called him and said to him, 'What is this that I hear about you? Turn in the account of your management, for you can no longer be manager.'

Luke 16:3 And the manager said to himself, 'What shall I do, since my master is taking the management away from me? I am not strong enough to dig, and I am ashamed to beg.

Luke 16:4 I have decided what to do, so that when I am removed from management, people may receive me into their houses.'

Luke 16:5 So, summoning his master's debtors one by one, he said to the first, 'How much do you owe my master?'

Luke 16:6 He said, 'A hundred measures of oil.' He said to him, 'Take your bill, and sit down quickly and write fifty.'

Luke 16:7 Then he said to another, 'And how much do you owe?' He said, 'A hundred measures of wheat.' He said to him, 'Take your bill, and write eighty.'

Luke 16:8 The master commended the dishonest manager for his shrewdness. For the sons of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation than the sons of light.

Luke 16:9 And I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of unrighteous wealth, so that when it fails they may receive you into the eternal dwellings.

Luke 16:10 "One who is faithful in a very little is also faithful in much, and one who is dishonest in a very little is also dishonest in much.

Luke 16:11 If then you have not been faithful in the unrighteous wealth, who will entrust to you the true riches?

Luke 16:12 And if you have not been faithful in that which is another's, who will give you that which is your own?

Luke 16:13 No servant can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money."

Luke 16:14 The Pharisees, who were lovers of money, heard all these things, and they ridiculed him.

Luke 16:15 And he said to them, "You are those who justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts. For what is exalted among men is an abomination in the sight of God.

Luke 16:16 "The Law and the Prophets were until John; since then the good news of the kingdom of God is preached, and everyone forces his way into it.

Luke 16:17 But it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one dot of the Law to become void.

Luke 16:18 "Everyone who divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery, and he who marries a woman divorced from her husband commits adultery.

Luke 16:19 "There was a rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day.

Luke 16:20 And at his gate was laid a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores,

Luke 16:21 who desired to be fed with what fell from the rich man's table. Moreover, even the dogs came and licked his sores.

Luke 16:22 The poor man died and was carried by the angels to Abraham's side. The rich man also died and was buried,

Luke 16:23 and in Hades, being in torment, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus at his side.

Luke 16:24 And he called out, 'Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the end of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am in anguish in this flame.'

Luke 16:25 But Abraham said, 'Child, remember that you in your lifetime received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner bad things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in anguish.

Luke 16:26 And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, in order that those who would pass from here to you may not be able, and none may cross from there to us.'

Luke 16:27 And he said, 'Then I beg you, father, to send him to my father's house—

Luke 16:28 for I have five brothers—so that he may warn them, lest they also come into this place of torment.'

Luke 16:29 But Abraham said, 'They have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them.'

Luke 16:30 And he said, 'No, father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent.'

Luke 16:31 He said to him, 'If they do not hear Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead.'"

Luke 17:1 And he said to his disciples, "Temptations to sin are sure to come, but woe to the one through whom they come!

Luke 17:2 It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck and he were cast into the sea than that he should cause one of these little ones to sin.

Luke 17:3 Pay attention to yourselves! If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him,

Luke 17:4 and if he sins against you seven times in the day, and turns to you seven times, saying, 'I repent,' you must forgive him."

Luke 17:5 The apostles said to the Lord, "Increase our faith!"

Luke 17:6 And the Lord said, "If you had faith like a grain of mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, 'Be uprooted and planted in the sea,' and it would obey you.

Luke 17:7 "Will any one of you who has a servant plowing or keeping sheep say to him when he has come in from the field, 'Come at once and recline at table'?

Luke 17:8 Will he not rather say to him, 'Prepare supper for me, and dress properly, and serve me while I eat and drink, and afterward you will eat and drink'?

Luke 17:9 Does he thank the servant because he did what was commanded?

Luke 17:10 So you also, when you have done all that you were commanded, say, 'We are unworthy servants; we have only done what was our duty.'"

Luke 17:11 On the way to Jerusalem he was passing along between Samaria and Galilee.

Luke 17:12 And as he entered a village, he was met by ten lepers, who stood at a distance

Luke 17:13 and lifted up their voices, saying, "Jesus, Master, have mercy on us."

Luke 17:14 When he saw them he said to them, "Go and show yourselves to the priests." And as they went they were cleansed.

Luke 17:15 Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice;

Luke 17:16 and he fell on his face at Jesus' feet, giving him thanks. Now he was a Samaritan.

Luke 17:17 Then Jesus answered, "Were not ten cleansed? Where are the nine?

Luke 17:18 Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?"

Luke 17:19 And he said to him, "Rise and go your way; your faith has made you well."

Luke 17:20 Being asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, he answered them, "The kingdom of God is not coming in ways that can be observed,

Luke 17:21 nor will they say, 'Look, here it is!' or 'There!' for behold, the kingdom of God is in the midst of you."

Luke 17:22 And he said to the disciples, "The days are coming when you will desire to see one of the days of the Son of Man, and you will not see it.

Luke 17:23 And they will say to you, 'Look, there!' or 'Look, here!' Do not go out or follow them.

Luke 17:24 For as the lightning flashes and lights up the sky from one side to the other, so will the Son of Man be in his day.

Luke 17:25 But first he must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation.

Luke 17:26 Just as it was in the days of Noah, so will it be in the days of the Son of Man.

Luke 17:27 They were eating and drinking and marrying and being given in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all.

Luke 17:28 Likewise, just as it was in the days of Lot—they were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building,

Luke 17:29 but on the day when Lot went out from Sodom, fire and sulfur rained from heaven and destroyed them all—

Luke 17:30 so will it be on the day when the Son of Man is revealed.

Luke 17:31 On that day, let the one who is on the housetop, with his goods in the house, not come down to take them away, and likewise let the one who is in the field not turn back.

Luke 17:32 Remember Lot's wife.

Luke 17:33 Whoever seeks to preserve his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life will keep it.

Luke 17:34 I tell you, in that night there will be two in one bed. One will be taken and the other left.

Luke 17:35 There will be two women grinding together. One will be taken and the other left."

Luke 17:37 And they said to him, "Where, Lord?" He said to them, "Where the corpse is, there the vultures will gather."

Luke 18:1 And he told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart.

Luke 18:2 He said, "In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor respected man.

Luke 18:3 And there was a widow in that city who kept coming to him and saying, 'Give me justice against my adversary.'

Luke 18:4 For a while he refused, but afterward he said to himself, 'Though I neither fear God nor respect man,

Luke 18:5 yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will give her justice, so that she will not beat me down by her continual coming.'"

Luke 18:6 And the Lord said, "Hear what the unrighteous judge says.

Luke 18:7 And will not God give justice to his elect, who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long over them?

Luke 18:8 I tell you, he will give justice to them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?"

Luke 18:9 He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and treated others with contempt:

Luke 18:10 "Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.

Luke 18:11 The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: 'God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector.

Luke 18:12 I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.'

Luke 18:13 But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, 'God, be merciful to me, a sinner!'

Luke 18:14 I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted."

Luke 18:15 Now they were bringing even infants to him that he might touch them. And when the disciples saw it, they rebuked them.

Luke 18:16 But Jesus called them to him, saying, "Let the children come to me, and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God.

Luke 18:17 Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it."

Luke 18:18 And a ruler asked him, "Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?"

Luke 18:19 And Jesus said to him, "Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone.

Luke 18:20 You know the commandments: 'Do not commit adultery, Do not murder, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Honor your father and mother.'"

Luke 18:21 And he said, "All these I have kept from my youth."

Luke 18:22 When Jesus heard this, he said to him, "One thing you still lack. Sell all that you have and distribute to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me."

Luke 18:23 But when he heard these things, he became very sad, for he was extremely rich.

Luke 18:24 Jesus, seeing that he had become sad, said, "How difficult it is for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!

Luke 18:25 For it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God."

Luke 18:26 Those who heard it said, "Then who can be saved?"

Luke 18:27 But he said, "What is impossible with man is possible with God."

Luke 18:28 And Peter said, "See, we have left our homes and followed you."

Luke 18:29 And he said to them, "Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or wife or brothers or parents or children, for the sake of the kingdom of God,

Luke 18:30 who will not receive many times more in this time, and in the age to come eternal life."

Luke 18:31 And taking the twelve, he said to them, "See, we are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written about the Son of Man by the prophets will be accomplished.

Luke 18:32 For he will be delivered over to the Gentiles and will be mocked and shamefully treated and spit upon.

Luke 18:33 And after flogging him, they will kill him, and on the third day he will rise."

Luke 18:34 But they understood none of these things. This saying was hidden from them, and they did not grasp what was said.

Luke 18:35 As he drew near to Jericho, a blind man was sitting by the roadside begging.

Luke 18:36 And hearing a crowd going by, he inquired what this meant.

Luke 18:37 They told him, "Jesus of Nazareth is passing by."

Luke 18:38 And he cried out, "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!"

Luke 18:39 And those who were in front rebuked him, telling him to be silent. But he cried out all the more, "Son of David, have mercy on me!"

Luke 18:40 And Jesus stopped and commanded him to be brought to him. And when he came near, he asked him,

Luke 18:41 "What do you want me to do for you?" He said, "Lord, let me recover my sight."

Luke 18:42 And Jesus said to him, "Recover your sight; your faith has made you well."

Luke 18:43 And immediately he recovered his sight and followed him, glorifying God. And all the people, when they saw it, gave praise to God.

Luke 19:1 He entered Jericho and was passing through.

Luke 19:2 And behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus. He was a chief tax collector and was rich.

Luke 19:3 And he was seeking to see who Jesus was, but on account of the crowd he could not, because he was small in stature.

Luke 19:4 So he ran on ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see him, for he was about to pass that way.

Luke 19:5 And when Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, "Zacchaeus, hurry and come down, for I must stay at your house today."

Luke 19:6 So he hurried and came down and received him joyfully.

Luke 19:7 And when they saw it, they all grumbled, "He has gone in to be the guest of a man who is a sinner."

Luke 19:8 And Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, "Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor. And if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I restore it fourfold."

Luke 19:9 And Jesus said to him, "Today salvation has come to this house, since he also is a son of Abraham.

Luke 19:10 For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost."

Luke 19:11 As they heard these things, he proceeded to tell a parable, because he was near to Jerusalem, and because they supposed that the kingdom of God was to appear immediately.

Luke 19:12 He said therefore, "A nobleman went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom and then return.

Luke 19:13 Calling ten of his servants, he gave them ten minas, and said to them, 'Engage in business until I come.'

Luke 19:14 But his citizens hated him and sent a delegation after him, saying, 'We do not want this man to reign over us.'

Luke 19:15 When he returned, having received the kingdom, he ordered these servants to whom he had given the money to be called to him, that he might know what they had gained by doing business.

Luke 19:16 The first came before him, saying, 'Lord, your mina has made ten minas more.'

Luke 19:17 And he said to him, 'Well done, good servant! Because you have been faithful in a very little, you shall have authority over ten cities.'

Luke 19:18 And the second came, saying, 'Lord, your mina has made five minas.'

Luke 19:19 And he said to him, 'And you are to be over five cities.'

Luke 19:20 Then another came, saying, 'Lord, here is your mina, which I kept laid away in a handkerchief;

Luke 19:21 for I was afraid of you, because you are a severe man. You take what you did not deposit, and reap what you did not sow.'

Luke 19:22 He said to him, 'I will condemn you with your own words, you wicked servant! You knew that I was a severe man, taking what I did not deposit and reaping what I did not sow?