LUKE 11

That Jesus prayed quite a bit is an understatement. He was defined by His prayer life, by His relationship to the Father. Though He was God, the person Jesus consistently took time to pray diligently. Don’t ask me to explain how this worked. What an example to His followers, though.

So it should come as no surprise that they asked Him how to pray. And so we get what we know as the Lord’s Prayer. When you compare the Matthew text, you see that the question was answered by the Lord with a clarifying statement, avoid vain repetition. So the Lord’s prayer becomes a template to follow when praying, not in and of itself a prayer, but prayer following these guidelines is powerful and effective in God’s eyes. Pray to the Father, recognize and acknowledge to Him that He is holy. Anticipate the kingdom to come, and always pray according to God’s will, asking Him to answer prayer in accordance with that will. Understand that we want His will to be done here, just as it is done in Heaven. The rest of the “prayer” then focuses on what we need regularly: daily bread (provision); forgiveness; God’s leading to avoid evil and the power to resist temptation. And as always, God gets the glory (Matthew includes this in his gospel).

In short, God knows what we need. Ask Him! He wants to hear from us, as any father should want to hear from children. And we are to focus on being in the right relationship to God, before going to Him in prayer.

Again we see Jesus do the miraculous and then be asked of the Pharisees and others some trick question. Of note is the reference to Beezebul in His casting out of demons. Even the Pharisees recognized groups of people who cast out demons as a sort of profession, so Jesus wisely asks them the same question back on them. They have no answer.

When some women try to exalt Mary, Jesus replies, beginning with “on the contrary”, that whoever hears the Word and keeps it is blessed. Naturally, Mary was blessed, but no more that you or I, or any other believing followers of that time, and certainly not more than Jesus. She is special, to be sure.

Verse 34 should be a life verse for everyone (just added it to my own growing list). “The eye is the lamp of the body.” The eye should be clear, letting in light, not bad, filling the body with darkness.

Verses 37ff highlight the hypocrisy of the Pharisees; their focus is on the irrelevant legalistic vision of their expansion of the law by which they expected everyone to live. They had, by this time, taken the Law, and added more and more restrictions, while along the way forgetting to follow God with their hearts. They tithe from the easiest plants and spices to grow, just to look spiritual, for example. And so Jesus levels a series of “woes” on them, that funereal cry of mourning and despair, as he laments over their missing the big picture.

What I find humorous, if that is possible in this passage, is that a lawyer is foolish enough to tell Him that by His teaching He is insulting them, too. That lawyer was probably sorry he said anything, because the woe is then turned to him and his group.

Both groups here are rebuked for their ignoring the word of the prophets from long ago, for distorting the truth, and for hindering others from coming to the truth as a result. Ouch! All true. No way to sugar-coat that.

SO WHAT…?

So, I know my prayer-life should be much more focused, structured, and regular, a consistent part of each and every day. That can only start by evaluating my relationship to God, personally.

So, what does my eye allow in? Good light, or bad darkness. It is really rather simple. What a powerful and profound verse.

So, is my life one of following God with all my heart, soul, mind, and strength? Or is it simply looking the part. What people see and experience with me should always be a reflection of what’s inside. Simple, but not easy.