The New Testament with Commentary Luke 18

Parable of a persistent widow

1 And then He told them a parable, the point being that one needs to always pray and not lose heart, 2 saying: “There was a judge in a certain town who did not fear God nor regard man. 3 But there was a widow in that town, and she kept coming to him, saying, ‘Get justice for me from my adversary.’ 4 And for a while he refused; but afterward he said to himself, ‘Even though I don't fear God nor regard man, 5 yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will defend her, so that her endless coming doesn't wear me out!’ ”

6 Then the Lord said: “Hear what the unjust judge said. 7 And will not God get justice for His elect who are crying out to Him day and night, indeed being patient with them? 8 I tell you that He will get justice for them quickly.* However, when the Son of the Man comes, will He actually find the faith on the earth?”†

Parable of a Pharisee and a publican

9 Then He told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised the rest: 10 “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11 The Pharisee stood and started praying to himself like this: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like all the rest—robbers, unjust, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. 12 I fast twice a week; I tithe all that I get.’‡ 13 The tax collector, staying a good ways off, did not even venture to look up to heaven, but started beating on his chest, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me a sinner!’ 14 I say to you that this one went back home justified rather than that one; because everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted.”

You enter the Kingdom like a child does

15 Then they even started bringing their babies to Him, that He might touch them; but when the disciples saw it, they rebuked them. 16 But Jesus summoned them and said: “Allow the little children to come to me, and do not hinder them; because the Kingdom of God is of such. 17 I tell you assuredly, whoever does not receive the Kingdom of God the way a little child does§ will by no means enter it.”

An upright, rich ruler

18 A certain ruler asked Him, saying, “Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” 19 So Jesus said to him: “Why do you call me good? No one is good except one—God.* 20 You know the commandments: ‘Do not commit adultery, do not murder, do not steal, do not give false testimony, honor your father and your mother.’ ” 21 And he said, “All these I have kept from my youth.” 22 Well upon hearing these things† Jesus said to him, “You still lack one thing: sell all you have and distribute to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” 23 But when he heard this he became very sad, because he was extremely rich.‡

Riches tend to keep people out of the Kingdom

24 When Jesus saw that he became sad, He said: “How difficult it is for those who have riches to enter the Kingdom of God!§ 25 It is actually easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle* than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of God!” 26 So the hearers said, “Who then can be saved?” 27 And He said, “The things that are impossible with men are possible with God.”

28 Then Peter said, “Notice that we have left all and followed you!” 29 So He said to them, “Assuredly I say to you, there is no one who has left house or parents or brothers or wife or children, for the sake of the Kingdom of God, 30 who will not receive many times more in this present time, and in the age to come eternal life.”

Jesus declares His coming death and resurrection—third time

31 Then He took the Twelve aside and said to them: “Take note, we are going up to Jerusalem, and all the things that are written by the prophets concerning the Son of the Man will be fulfilled: 32 He will be betrayed to the Gentiles, and will be mocked and insulted and spit upon, 33 and they will scourge and kill Him. And on the third day† He will rise again.” 34 But they understood none of these things; this saying was hidden from them,‡ and they did not know what was being said.

A blind man near Jericho

35 Then it happened, as He approached Jericho,§ that a certain blind man was sitting alongside the road begging. 36 Hearing a crowd going by, he asked what it was. 37 So they told him that Jesus the Natsorean* was passing by. 38 Well he shouted, saying, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” 39 Those who led the way started reproving him, to shut him up; but he kept calling out all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!” 40 So Jesus stopped and ordered that he be brought to Him. When he got close He asked him, saying, 41 “What do you want me to do for you?” So he said, “Lord, that I may see again!”† 42 Then Jesus said to him: “See again! Your faith has made you well.” 43 And immediately he did! and he followed Him, glorifying God. And all who witnessed it gave praise to God.

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*18:8 God's ‘quickly’ doesn't always seem that ‘quick’ to us.

†18:8 The Text clearly has ‘the faith’, referring to the sum of Truth that makes up the biblical Faith. The Lord's question is precisely to the point. Aside from the generalized apostasy that characterizes ‘Christian’ churches today, how many ‘conservative’ pastors are genuinely committed to the objective authority of the biblical Text?

‡18:12 This is the sort of ‘prayer’ that does not get past the ceiling, so he was just talking to himself.

§18:17 To render ‘as a little child’ misses the point; obviously an adult can be saved. A little child believes literally and completely.

*18:19 Jesus is not denying that He is good, but the man is not addressing Him as God. Had the man done so, there would have been no objection.

†18:22 From the parallel account in Matthew 19:16-22 we learn that the man actually said more than is recorded here.

‡18:23 The Lord had put His finger on the one he was not keeping; he was not loving his neighbor as himself.

§18:24 The parallel passage in Mark (10:24) clarifies that it is those who trust in riches. How many rich people do you know who do not trust in their riches? (That clarification is omitted by less than half a percent of the extant Greek manuscripts, of objectively inferior quality, as in the eclectic text currently in vogue.)

*18:25 Jesus refers to a literal camel and a literal needle, which of course is “impossible with men”, as He goes on to say in verse 27.

†18:33 Referring to the time between Jesus' death and resurrection, Luke (and Matthew and Mark) has ‘(on) the third day’; but Mark also has ‘after three days’, while Matthew also has ‘three days and three nights’; John has ‘in three days’. Due to these seeming differences, there are those who insist that Jesus died on Thursday, not Friday, or even on Wednesday. There is general agreement that the resurrection happened on Sunday. Both ‘(on) the third day’ and ‘in three days’ allow for a Friday crucifixion, as the Church has generally understood. In John 20:26 we read, “after eight days” Jesus appeared to the disciples again, with Thomas present; this was the next Sunday, so only seven days had elapsed—Jews (and Brazilians) include the day at both ends. So ‘after three days’ also allows for a Friday crucifixion. I take it that ‘three days and three nights’ was an idiomatic expression synonymous with ‘after three days’. So Jesus died on a Friday.

‡18:34 ‘Hidden’ by whom?

§18:35 Luke has Jesus approaching Jericho, while Matthew and Mark have Him leaving it. In Jesus' day there were two Jerichos, the old one that had been rebuilt, and a new one, about a kilometer away. What better place to beg than between the two towns? Jesus had left the old Jericho and was going toward the new one. For further discussion, please see the Appendix: “Entering or leaving Jericho?”.

*18:37 That is correct, ‘Natsorean’, not Nazarene. The reference is to Isaiah 11:1—Jesus was the ‘Branch-man’, the Messiah, as the blind man clearly understood, since he addressed Him as ‘Son of David’. For further discussion, please see the Appendix: “ ‘Prophets’ in Matthew 2:23”.

†18:41 The man had not been born blind. Do you find it to be curious that Jesus asked him what he wanted? Was it not obvious? God knows what we need before we ask, but we must ask!