Chapter BY Chapter

Luke 18 – Jesus Teaches More Parables

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This passage is as follows:

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And he told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart.  He said, “In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor respected man.  And there was a widow in that city who kept coming to him and saying, ‘Give me justice against my adversary.’  For a while he refused, but afterward he said to himself, ‘Though I neither fear God nor respect man, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will give her justice, so that she will not beat me down by her continual coming.’”  And the Lord said, “Hear what the unrighteous judge says.  And will not God give justice to his elect, who cry to him day and night?  Will he delay long over them?  I tell you, he will give justice to them speedily.  Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”

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He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and treated others with contempt: “Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.  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.  I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.’  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!’  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.”

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Now they were bringing even infants to him that he might touch them. And when the disciples saw it, they rebuked them.  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.  Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.”

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And a ruler asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”  And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good?  No one is good except God alone.  You know the commandments: ‘Do not commit adultery, Do not murder, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Honor your father and mother.’”  And he said, “All these I have kept from my youth.”  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.”  But when he heard these things, he became very sad, for he was extremely rich.  Jesus, seeing that he had become sad, said, “How difficult it is for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!  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.”  Those who heard it said, “Then who can be saved?”  But he said, “What is impossible with man is possible with God.”  And Peter said, “See, we have left our homes and followed you.”  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, who will not receive many times more in this time, and in the age to come eternal life.”

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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.  For he will be delivered over to the Gentiles and will be mocked and shamefully treated and spit upon.  And after flogging him, they will kill him, and on the third day he will rise.”  But they understood none of these things. This saying was hidden from them, and they did not grasp what was said.

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As he drew near to Jericho, a blind man was sitting by the roadside begging.  And hearing a crowd going by, he inquired what this meant.  They told him, “Jesus of Nazareth is passing by.”  And he cried out, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!”  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!”  And Jesus stopped and commanded him to be brought to him.  And when he came near, he asked him, “What do you want me to do for you?” He said, “Lord, let me recover my sight.”  And Jesus said to him, “Recover your sight; your faith has made you well.”  And immediately he recovered his sight and followed him, glorifying God. And all the people, when they saw it, gave praise to God.

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(End of passage)

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As was mentioned with chapter 17, Luke is telling his gospel story as time progresses in a general sense.  Luke puts a larger emphasis on the topics that Jesus taught and that is what drives the majority of his gospel.  In chapter 8, you have Jesus telling the purpose of why he taught in parable.  From chapter 8 to chapter 18, the majority of the text is about the parables and what Jesus taught.  Chapters 4-7 are mostly about the actions of Jesus, including an abbreviated form of the beatitudes. Chapters 1-3 are an introduction to Jesus including his birth, genealogy, and the ministry of John the Baptist.  Chapters 19-21 are about putting the ruling class in their place, the triumphant entry, and progression towards the crucifixion.  Chapters 22-24 are about the crucifixion and resurrection.

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In chapter 18, Luke starts interpreting some of the parables.  A major point of interpretation comes when Luke says, “But they understood none of these things.”  He says this about not just the Pharisees, but about his disciples as well.  So why did Jesus speak in parables?  Perhaps it was to intentionally hide the meaning until the time was right for the disciples to understand.  We will see how this occurs in the last chapter.  Let’s read the first one.

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Verses 1-8,

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And he told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart.  He said, “In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor respected man.  And there was a widow in that city who kept coming to him and saying, ‘Give me justice against my adversary.’  For a while he refused, but afterward he said to himself, ‘Though I neither fear God nor respect man, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will give her justice, so that she will not beat me down by her continual coming.’”  And the Lord said, “Hear what the unrighteous judge says.  And will not God give justice to his elect, who cry to him day and night?  Will he delay long over them?  I tell you, he will give justice to them speedily.  Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”

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What does this parable mean?  Well, Luke makes the answer easy here.  Hit the easy button!  Jesus told this parable so they will always pray and not lose heart.  Do any of the prayers of the saints go unanswered?

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Revelation 5:8 says, “And when he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each holding a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints.”

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Revelation 8:3-4 says, “And another angel came and stood at the altar with a golden censer, and he was given much incense to offer with the prayers of all the saints on the golden altar before the throne, and the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, rose before God from the hand of the angel.”

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So in the long scope of time, all the prayers of the saints get answered.  If we don’t get them answered in our lifetime, they get answered during the great tribulation.

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What is the parallel that Jesus draws between the unrighteous judge and God?  If the unrighteous judge will give justice because someone keeps bothering him, how much more will God give justice to his elect.

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What does Jesus mean when he says, “When the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?  Jesus is asking if we will have faith to believe that our prayers will be answered.  Certainly, it seems that many prayers go unanswered at times.  The coming of the Son of Man will be the pinnacle of answered prayer.  We should find ourselves continuing in faith and prayer at that time.  That infers that we should be always faithful in prayer.

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Luke gives us the background for the next parable where he says, “He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and treated others with contempt.”

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Let’s read the next parable.  Verses 10-14,

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“Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.  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.  I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.’  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!’  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.”

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Why did Jesus tell this parable to those that trusted in their own righteousness and others with contempt?  Evidently, they were Pharisees because Jesus compares a Pharisee to a tax collector in the parable.  Now the Pharisee and the tax collector were standing at a distance from each other in the parable.  Jesus mentions this because it is not important that they heard each others’ prayers.  But who did hear their prayers?  God heard their prayers.  Which one will God exhalt?  What does God expect?

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Psalm 51:16-17, “For you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it; you will not be pleased with a burnt offering.  The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.”

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Psalm 34:18, “The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit.”

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Isaiah 66:2, “All these things my hand has made, and so all these things came to be, declares the Lord.  But this is the one to whom I will look: he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word.”

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1 Peter 5:5, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”

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I used to have this sign that I hung above my college dorm room.  It said, “Politicians and drunks not allowed.”  This parable could probably be told in a current day setting by starting out with, “A politician and a drunk walked into church.”  Psalm 51 was written after king David committed adultery with Bathsheba.  Nathan the prophet confronted him about it.  Not only did David sin by committing adultery, but also by setting up Bathsheba’s husband, Uriah, to be killed in battle.  Now, let’s move to a modern-day scenario.  A President makes a mistake by starting a war, or a governor makes a mistake by sending contagious patients to a nursing home.  But do they have a broken heart?  The word for “contrite” in Psalm 51 more accurately means remorseful.  Do these modern day Pharisees have remorse for their mistakes?  Does the Chinese Government have remorse for neglecting to sound the warning for COVID-19?  If people in these kinds of positions have remorse for mistakes they make, then corrections can be made sooner.

A relationship with God is not about having an account where you have more good deeds than bad deeds.  It is about having a direct relationship with him in which we have remorse when we do something wrong.

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1 John 1:7-9, “But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.  If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.  If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

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Do you think that little children will have a contrite heart?  Let’s see what Jesus said about that.

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Verses 15-17,

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Now they were bringing even infants to him that he might touch them. And when the disciples saw it, they rebuked them.  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.  Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.”

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What does Jesus mean by “receive the kingdom of God like a child?”

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1. It means that the kingdom of God is received.It is a gift.It is not something earned by merit.

2. It means that we realize that we are like a helpless child.We are completely dependent on God for his salvation.

3. It means that we can only enter the kingdom of God this way.We enter it through simple faith.

4. We take the kingdom of God as it is.We do not bring anything into it except ourselves.

5. We are thankful for the gift as a child is thankful and returns love freely.

 

When I was 8 years old, my grandfather dropped me off to spend time with an artist.  His name was Cornelius VanFulpen.  My grandfather asked him to paint a picture of Jesus and the children.  Here is a picture of this painting: