Luke 11:37-54 - Be careful who you invite for dinner!

Be careful who you invite for dinner! The Pharisee was being hospitable, inviting Jesus for dinner. Little did he know what he was letting himself in for.

Jesus did not wash before the meal. Now this is not a matter of hygiene, nor was it a matter of the Law. Rather it was a matter of traditions added by the Pharisees. God is free to choose whether or not He follows our man-made customs. Whatever branch of the church we are in there will be a number of customs we have that may be perfectly harmless, and often beneficial, but God is under no obligation to them and it is His church, not ours.

We have a terrible habit of becoming focused on our own customs and traditions and ignoring what really matters. In this case Jesus draws attention to the fact that what really counts is the condition of a man's heart. Is what is on the inside that determines the fruit our lives will produce. We do not do bad things because the laws are wrong, but because we are wrong. Jesus then tells them to give generously to the poor. Why does He suddenly introduce this? Probably because greed and lack of concern for the poor was a key sin for them. 

Jesus then expands on the sin of the Pharisees. They were so pernickety about little things, but neglected what was really important, namely justice and love for God.

The Pharisees sought honour for themselves, instead for others.

They were unmarked graves. Now this is a very stinging indictment of them. If someone walked over an unmarked grave they would become unclean (Num 19:16). The Pharisees saw themselves as guardians of the Law, true examples of Godliness. In reality, if people came into contact with them they would become defiled.

An expert in the Law intervened, only to receive a bunch of similar criticisms. Far from helping people keep the Law they kept people from God. They put burdens on people, and made it harder for them to enter the kingdom.

Naturally the Pharisees and teachers of the Law were non too pleased, and looked for a way to trap Him.

Luke 11:33-36 - Light or darkness within?

What Jesus did was done in plain sight. Likewise He puts the church on public display. Society is trying to make Christianity a purely private matter, but this is not God's plan so it will not succeed. Jesus is the light of the world and light is there to be seen. There is no point having a light and then hiding it.

The way that we look at things has a deep affect on the heart of our being. Two people can go through the same circumstances, the same situation, but respond very differently. The difference is the way we look at things. Someone who is full of insecurity will take constructive criticism as a personal attack, so will learn nothing, will feel even more belittled, and it may also damage their relationship with the person who is trying to help them. Another person may take the criticism on board, consider it carefully and change their behaviour or attitudes. In doing so they will be built up, and the relationship with the other person will be enhanced.

We need the love of Christ within us, and we need to live and react out of that love. 

Luke 11:29-32 - A message of repentance

"This is a wicked generation". While John the Baptist was very direct in his preaching, calling people a "brood of vipers", Jesus was often blunt about the reality of our condition. The gospel was not sent to save a people who are basically alright and just need a little help, or would be ok if only they weren't under oppression of some sort. It was sent to save a sinful people and we need to face up to the reality of our sin if we are to make any progress. Indeed it is only then that we can properly appreciate the good news.

Jesus rebukes the generation for demanding a sign, and says that none will be given to it. Now this is a little odd for Jesus did loads of miracles, ie He gave them lots of signs. But though signs were abounding their eyes were blind so they did not receive any of them. The people were always questioning Jesus, but it was themselves that they needed to question. Jonah went to Nineveh (eventually) and preached a message of judgement, the city was saved when they repented of their sins. In the same way Jesus was preaching judgement upon Israel. The gospel is partly a message of judgement. It tells us that on our own merits we are under a sentence of death.

The Queen of Sheba recognised the wisdom of Solomon, but Israel failed to recognise the much greater wisdom of Jesus. Israel considered herself better than the other nations, but in reality she was much worse. 

Repentance is at the heart of the gospel.

Luke 11:14-28 - Casting out demons

Most of the casting out of demons seems to have been fairly quick. Here it says He "was driving out" which may imply it was taking a little longer, but equally that could be reading too much into it. The demon had caused the man to be mute and after the demon was gone the man could speak. Some conditions are related to demonic causes. Now this does not mean that if someone is mute then the effect is always the result of a demon, but it does mean that demons can be the primary cause of physical conditions. So when a demon is driven out the "patient" will experience a direct physical benefit, as happened here. 

Most of the crowd were amazed because they saw the reality of what had happened. However, others said He was using satanic powers to do this, and asked for a sign from heaven. Now this seems strange at first, for they had just seen a veritable miracle, so what is the sign they want? However, what they are asking for is a sign that Jesus is acting in Godly power, not satanic power.

Jesus points out they are talking a load of nonsense. Why would Satan drive out Satan? So it is patently ridiculous for satanic power to be used to drive out demons.

Conversely it is precisely the thing that you would expect God to do. If Jesus was indeed using Godly power (which of course He was), then the kingdom is here. When the kingdom comes there will be power demonstrations. Jesus has come to set people free, some are bound up by demons, so it is logical for Him to go around setting people free from demons.

Jesus then takes things further, lest anyone thinks that having a demon cast out is all that they need. It might be necessary, but it is not sufficient. If nothing else happens the demon may come back with several friends and the person ends up in a worse condition. We need to be filled with the Holy Spirit.

Someone calls out that Jesus' mother is blessed, and Jesus replies that it those who hear the word of God and obey who are blessed. People will often find a way to avoid believing and obeying the word of God. They will see or hear something that is truly Godly, and then make some statement of praise, but they are not committing themselves to God.

Luke 11:5-13 - Prayers will be answered

Having told them what to pray, Jesus now tells how prayer works, correcting misconceptions we have about God and our relationship with Him. If we are honest we think that God is reluctant to answer prayer, reluctant to grant our requests. So Jesus gives a parable of a man going to a friend at midnight. The one inside is indeed initially reluctant, but because of the persistence and audacity of the man he eventually grants the request. Indeed it is not the friendship that makes the man give. So if we will grant a request for these reasons how much more will God give to His children?

So Jesus urges us to ask, seek and knock. God is generous and He delights to give.

So having given an example based on pure persistence, Jesus now gives an illustration based on relationship. We often think that God has got it in for us. Yet we , "who are evil", know how to give good gifts to our children, how much more will the Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask? Note the casual reference to us being evil! 

This is not a get what you want sanction, but is a guarantee of growth in the Holy Spirit for those who seek God. If we want to grow in Christ today, if we are facing battles in following Him, if we are seeking the way ahead, we can pray with boldness and absolute confidence that our Father hears us and will answer abundantly.

Luke 11:1-4 - The Lord's prayer

Jesus was praying and after He had finished one of the disciples asked Jesus to teach them to pray. Evidently John the Baptist taught his disciples to pray. 

Jesus then gives them what we variously call the "Lord's prayer", though it is perhaps more accurate to call it the disciples' prayer as it is what we are meant to pray. This is very similar to the version given in Matthew 6:9-13. I don't think Jesus requires us to pray this word for word (though there is no harm in doing this), but more of a pattern of prayer, and showing the essential elements. 

First, we address God as Father, or Father in Heaven. We have a relationship with God. God's intention is that we live in a family relationship with Him, and all His actions are geared at achieving this. 

Next we pray for His name to be honoured, and His kingdom to come. The form in which most of know the prayer obviously expands this, and other parts of the prayer a little. But our goal is for God's kingdom to come, His rule on the earth.

Then we pray for our daily provision. God provides our needs day by day and it is right to ask Him for our needs.

We also need to pray for forgiveness, we also need to forgive others. It is a normal part of life that we need to be forgiven, and we need to forgive others.

We also ask God not to lead us into temptation. It is so easy for us to be trapped, we ask God to keep us away from such traps.

Luke 10:38-42 - A question of priorities

Mary and Martha also appear in John's gospel in relation to the raising of Lazarus. They got to know Jesus because they opened their home to Him. We need to open our homes to Jesus, and that includes allowing people into our lives.

It was Martha who took the initiative here, but it was Mary who seemed to make the most of the situation. It was Martha who took the initiative, enabled things to happen and took care of all the practicalities. She started to feel resentful of the fact that Mary was just listening to Jesus, while Martha was doing nothing but housework. 

In some ways Jesus' answer seems quite harsh, commending Mary and rebuking Martha (albeit quite gently). But we so easily get our priorities wrong. The practicalities do matter and do need to be taken care of, but they must not be allowed to dominate. We should also note that this is Jesus' response to Martha. It was what she needed to hear. If He had been talking to Mary maybe He would have said something different.

You see often when we go to God, we want God to tell some other person what they need to do differently. We also have the same attitude when we go to a church leader. We want someone else to change. Now that person may well need to change, but when we go to God He is more concerned with how we need to change.