Luke18chapter 18

Luke 18:1-3

He spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint names the lesson before the story is told, a rare case where the moral precedes rather than follows the parable. The judge who feared not God, neither regarded man is drawn in the fewest words as a man answerable to no one, and the widow, the ancient world's classic picture of the powerless petitioner, has nothing to bring him but her own asking. Henry and Ryle both note Luke frames the whole scene as an argument from a much lesser to a much greater, an unjust man measured against a righteous God before a word of the parable proper is spoken.

Luke 18:4-5

He would not for a while shows the judge's first instinct holding for a time against the widow's plea, exactly the delay that tests whether her prayer will faint. His own reasoning is laid bare, though I fear not God, nor regard man, an admission that nothing changes in his character, only in his patience. Clarke and Gill both stress that lest by her continual coming she weary me is the judge's real motive, sheer exhaustion rather than justice, which is precisely the point Jesus will use against a reader tempted to read God's own delays the same way.

Luke 18:6-8

Hear what the unjust judge saith turns the story into argument, and shall not God avenge his own elect follows as the conclusion a lesser case cannot escape, if even an unjust man yields to persistence, how much more a righteous Father who already loves the ones asking. He will avenge them speedily answers the fear that God's patience means indifference, though he bear long with them keeps certain justice and patient delay standing together rather than trading one for the other. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown and Maclaren both weigh the closing question soberly, when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth, a question left open rather than answered, turning the parable's comfort into a searching word for every reader.

Luke 18:9-12

He spake this parable unto certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others names the target audience before the two men ever walk into the temple, the pairing of self-trust with contempt for others showing Luke the two are never far apart. God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are opens as thanksgiving but turns at once into comparison, the Pharisee's own righteousness measured against extortioners, the unjust, adulterers, and this publican standing nearby. I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess lists real disciplines, and Ryle and Henry both note the prayer's failure is not in what he does but that he brings it to God as payment rather than as fruit.

Luke 18:13-14

The publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, his whole posture answering the Pharisee's confidence with the opposite, distance, a bowed face, and a hand beating his own chest. God be merciful to me a sinner asks for exactly what the Pharisee never requested, mercy, and names himself with the article the commentators note in the Greek, the sinner, not merely a sinner among others. This man went down to his house justified rather than the other states the verdict plainly, and Gill and Maclaren both read the closing proverb, every one that exalteth himself shall be abased, as Luke's own summary of the Gospel's pattern of reversal.

Luke 18:15-17

They brought unto him also infants, that he would touch them, and the disciples rebuke the parents rather than the children, treating the Lord's time as too valuable for those too young to ask for it themselves. Jesus reverses the rebuke at once, suffer little children to come unto me, and forbid them not, naming of such is the kingdom of God rather than of such shall the kingdom be, a present likeness and not merely a future promise. Henry and Clarke both hold that whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child names the posture required of every adult who enters it, dependence and reception rather than any achievement a child could claim.

Luke 18:18-21

A certain ruler asks, Good Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life, and Jesus answers the title before the question, why callest thou me good, none is good, save one, that is, God, pressing the ruler to weigh what he has just called him. Thou knowest the commandments lists the second table entire, adultery, killing, stealing, false witness, honouring parents, the duties owed toward other people rather than the first table owed toward God. All these have I kept from my youth up is the ruler's honest and probably accurate claim, and Jamieson, Fausset and Brown and Ryle both note Jesus does not dispute it, since the answer that follows targets not a commandment he has broken but the one thing his obedience has left untouched.

Luke 18:22-23

Yet lackest thou one thing names a single gap in an otherwise kept law, and the remedy, sell all that thou hast, and distribute unto the poor, is aimed at this ruler's own particular idol rather than announced as a rule for every believer's finances. Come, follow me is the real invitation underneath the command, treasure in heaven offered in direct exchange for the treasure he is holding onto here. He was very sorrowful, for he was very rich closes the scene with the one recorded refusal of a direct call to follow, and Henry and Maclaren both read his sorrow as evidence the call had found its mark even where it failed to move him.

Luke 18:24-27

How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of God turns one man's sorrow into a general warning, and easier for a camel to go through a needle's eye than for a rich man to enter pictures the difficulty as not merely great but, on human strength, impossible. Who then can be saved is the crowd's honest despair, since wealth in that world read as evidence of God's favour rather than an obstacle to it. The things which are impossible with men are possible with God answers the despair without softening the difficulty, and Gill and Clarke both note the verse moves salvation entirely onto God's own power, riches or no riches, since no man saves himself either way.

Luke 18:28-30

Lo, we have left all, and followed thee sets Peter's own record against the ruler who could not, the comparison implicit rather than stated, the disciples having done what the rich man refused. Jesus answers with a promise rather than a commendation, no man that hath left house, or parents, or brethren, or wife, or children, for the kingdom of God's sake, who shall not receive manifold more in this present time. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown and Ryle both read this present time alongside the world to come as Luke's own balance, present gain named honestly without turning discipleship into a bargain for earthly increase.

Luke 18:31-34

Behold, we go up to Jerusalem is the third and most detailed passion prediction in Luke, and all things that are written by the prophets concerning the Son of man shall be accomplished ties the coming suffering directly to Scripture rather than to circumstance or accident. Delivered unto the Gentiles, mocked, spitefully entreated, spitted on, scourged, put to death names the sequence with a precision that leaves no detail vague, and the third day he shall rise again closes the prediction on resurrection rather than the cross. Henry and Maclaren both weigh the strange final note, they understood none of these things, this saying was hid from them, since plain words met minds unable to receive a suffering Messiah, a resistance the resurrection itself will finally break.

Luke 18:35-39

A certain blind man sat by the way side begging as Jesus comes nigh unto Jericho, and hearing the multitude pass by, he asks what it means, a question that turns an ordinary crowd noise into the moment of his life. Jesus, thou Son of David, have mercy on me names the messianic title outright, a confession of faith from a man who cannot see the one he is addressing. They which went before rebuked him, that he should hold his peace, and Clarke and Gill both note the crowd's rebuke only sharpens his persistence, he cried so much the more, refusing to let the discouragement of the many silence the one request that mattered.

Luke 18:40-43

Jesus stood, and commanded him to be brought unto him, stopping the whole procession toward Jerusalem for one beggar the crowd had tried to silence. What wilt thou that I shall do unto thee is a question Jesus asks though the man's blindness is plain to everyone present, inviting him to state his own request, Lord, that I may receive my sight. Receive thy sight, thy faith hath saved thee heals with the same formula given the woman in chapter 8 and the leper in chapter 17, and Ryle and Maclaren both note the healed man follows him, glorifying God, turning a roadside miracle into one more voice added to the praise on the road to Jerusalem.