Luke 18, Persistent Beggars

Here Luke records a collection of various teachings by Jesus, presumably on the outskirts of Jerusalem.

Luke 18: 1-5, On pestering prayer 
Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up.

He said: "In a certain town there was a judge who neither feared God nor cared about men. And there was a widow in that town who kept coming to him with the plea, `Grant me justice against my adversary.' For some time he refused. But finally he said to himself, `Even though I don't fear God or care about men, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets justice, so that she won't eventually wear me out with her coming!'"

The verb "to pray" used to mean "to beseech, to request."  The object need not be God, but could be another person.  This ancient word has now come to mean, in everyday language, "to beseech God." (It now has a religious connotation.)  Here the widow prays (begs) to the judge for relief.  She is so persistent in her begging that he eventually answers.

God is compared in this passage to an unjust judge! The point is one of contrast -- if even an unjust judge answers one's request, how much more God who is not unjust!

Luke 18: 6-8, Even an unjust judge answers prayer

And the Lord said, "Listen to what the unjust judge says. And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?"

When the Son of Man returns, presumably those times will be times of poor or dying faith?

Luke 18: 9-14, Self-righteousness
To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everybody else, Jesus told this parable:

"Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself: `God, I thank you that I am not like other men--robbers, evildoers, adulterers--or even like this tax collector.

"But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, `God, have mercy on me, a sinner.'

"I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted."

The Pharisee is merely boasting before God.  The tax collector weeps and begs for help.  

Luke 18: 15-17, Children, kingdom representatives
People were also bringing babies to Jesus to have him touch them. When the disciples saw this, they rebuked them. But Jesus called the children to him and said, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it."

There is a simplicity and humility (and joy) to the kingdom that adults may have grown out of!

Luke 18: 18-23, Good and wealthy

A certain ruler asked him, "Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?"

"Why do you call me good?" Jesus answered. "No one is good--except God alone. You know the commandments: `Do not commit adultery, do not murder, do not steal, do not give false testimony, honor your father and mother.'"

"All these I have kept since I was a boy," he said.

When Jesus heard this, he said to him, "You still lack one thing. Sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me." 

When he heard this, he became very sad, because he was a man of great wealth.

Note that Jesus begins by saying, "Why do you call me good?  No one is good..." And then "All these I have kept..."  Such confidence, such arrogance!

The quotes in verse 20 are from the Ten Commandments in Exodus 20:12-16, Deuteronomy 5:16-20.

Luke 18: 24-27, Impossible 

Jesus looked at him and said, "How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God! Indeed, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God."

Those who heard this asked, "Who then can be saved?"

Jesus replied, "What is impossible with men is possible with God."

Two things -- sadness that this "righteous" man does not respond ... and a general statement that people need God's supernatural intervention to enter the kingdom.

Luke 18: 28-30, Leaving home, leaving all
Peter said to him, "We have left all we had to follow you!"

"I tell you the truth," Jesus said to them, "no one who has left home or wife or brothers or parents or children for the sake of the kingdom of God will fail to receive many times as much in this age and, in the age to come, eternal life."

Jesus reassures Peter.  Peter has made the right choice.

Luke 18: 31-34, To kill the Son of Man

Jesus took the Twelve aside and told them, "We are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written by the prophets about the Son of Man will be fulfilled. He will be handed over to the Gentiles. They will mock him, insult him, spit on him, flog him and kill him. On the third day he will rise again."

The disciples did not understand any of this. Its meaning was hidden from them, and they did not know what he was talking about.

Jesus repeats earlier teachings about the upcoming events. The disciples, somewhat naturally, are unprepared for this.  Luke is foreshadowing the events of the next few chapters.

Luke 18: 35-43, A pestering beggar

As Jesus approached Jericho, a blind man was sitting by the roadside begging. When he heard the crowd going by, he asked what was happening. They told him, "Jesus of Nazareth is passing by."

He called out, "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!"

Those who led the way rebuked him and told him to be quiet, but he shouted all the more, "Son of David, have mercy on me!"

Jesus stopped and ordered the man to be brought to him. When he came near, Jesus asked him,"What do you want me to do for you?"

"Lord, I want to see," he replied.

Jesus said to him, "Receive your sight; your faith has healed you."

Immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus, praising God. When all the people saw it, they also praised God.

Here we have one like the pestering widow at the beginning of the chapter.  Just like the widow before the judge, so to this beggar is persistent in his requests.  And he gets an answer!

Some have pointed out that the beggar's original calls were probably not for healing, but in hopes of receiving money.  But when Jesus singles him out, the beggar recognizes that it is time to ask for something much more important.

In the next chapter, Jesus enters Jerusalem for one last time.