Luke Chapter 11
Discourse on Prayer
1 He was praying in a place. When he finished, one of his disciples said, “Teach us how to pray like John used to teach his disciples.”
2 He said,
“When you pray, say,
‘Father, you are holy.
We want your kingdom to come.
3 Give us our food each day.
4Forgive us of our sins
because we forgive everybody that’s in debt to us.
Don’t let us get led into temptation.’
5 “Which of you would go to a friend in the middle of the night and say, ‘Lend me three loaves of bread. 6 A friend of mine has come, and I don’t have anything to feed him.’
7 “From inside, the friend would answer, ‘Don’t bother me. The door’s already shut; the kids are in bed with me. I can’t get up to give you anything.’ 8 Though he didn’t want to, he got up and gave him what he needed because he was his friend and persisted. 9 Ask and you’ll receive, seek and you’ll find, knock and it’ll open for you. 10 The one that asks receives, the one that seeks finds, the one that knocks it’ll open for.
11 “If your son asks for a fish, would you give him a snake instead? 12 If he asks for an egg, would you give him a scorpion? 13 If you, being sinful, know how to give good things to your kids, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to people that ask him.”
Lk 11:1-13
The Pharisees’ Charge That Jesus
Was in League with the Devil
14 He was casting a demon out that made a man mute. When he’d cast it out, the man could speak, and the crowd was surprised. 15 Some of them said, “He casts out demons by Beelzebub, the ruler of demons.” 16 Others, trying to test him, were looking for him to give them a sign out of the sky.
17 He knew what they were thinking,
“Any kingdom falls that’s at cross purposes with itself. 18 If Satan is at cross purposes with himself, how will his kingdom stand—because you’re saying I cast out demons by Beelzebub? 19 If I’m casting out demons by Beelzebub, who do your students cast them out by? They’ll be your judges.
20 “But if I’m casting out demons by the finger of God, then his kingdom has come to you. 21 When a strong man, fully armed, guards his courtyard, his possessions are undisturbed. 22 When somebody stronger than he is attacks and overpowers him, he seizes the armor the man depended on and scatters his plunder. 23 Whoever’s not with me is against me, and whoever doesn’t gather with me scatters around.
24 “When an unclean spirit leaves a person, it roams around in dry places, looking for rest. When it doesn’t find any, it says, ‘I’ll go back to the house I left.’ 25 When he goes, he finds it swept out and decorated. 26 Then he takes along seven spirits worse than him, goes in, and settles down there. The person’s last condition is worse than the first.”
Lk 11:14-26
27 While he was talking, a woman in the crowd shouted, “Blessed is the womb that bore you and the breasts you nursed.”
28 But he said, “More important, blessed are people that hear God’s message and keep it.”
29 As the crowds were growing, he said,
“This is a wicked time. People are looking for a sign, but they’re not going to get one other than the sign of Jonah. 30 As he was a sign to the Ninevites, so the Son of Man will be to people of today. 31 The queen of the south will stand up in the judgment with people of today and condemn them. She came from the ends of the earth to hear Solomon’s wisdom, and something greater than Solomon is here. 32 The people of Nineveh will stand up in the judgment with people today and condemn them. They repented when Jonah preached to them, and something greater than Jonah is here.
33 “Nobody lights a lamp and puts it in the cellar [or under a basket]ms. They put it on a stand so people that come in can see it. 34 Your eye is the lamp for your body. When your eyes are clear, your whole body has light; but when they’re bad, your body is also in the dark. 35 Watch out so the light that’s in you won’t be darkness. 36 If your whole body has light, it’s like a bright lamp that gives you light.” Lk 11:27-36
37 When he’d finished speaking, a Pharisee invited him to eat with him. He went in and directly reclined at table. 38 When the Pharisee saw it, he was surprised that Jesus hadn’t ceremonially washed his hands before the meal.
39 The Lord said to him,
“You Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside you’re filled with theft and wickedness. 40 You foolish people, didn’t the One that made the outside make the inside too? 41 Give the internal things over to charity, and everything will be clean to you.
42 “But woe to you Pharisees! You give a tenth of mint, rue, and vegetables, but pass over justice and love for God. You should have done those without neglecting these.
43 “Woe to you Pharisees! You love the most prominent seats in the synagogues and the greetings in the marketplaces.
44 “Woe to you! You’re like unmarked graves that people walk on without knowing it.”
45 A lawyer spoke upp, “Rabbi, when you say things like that, you insult us too.”
46 Jesus said,
“Woe to you lawyers as well! You load people down with hard-to-carry burdens, but you don’t touch them with one of your fingers.
47 “Woe to you! You build the tombs of the prophets, and people like you killed them. 48 So you’re witnesses and approve of what people like you did; they killed them; you build their tombs. 49 So God in his wisdom has said, ‘I’ll send them prophets and apostles. They’ll persecute some and kill others. 50 So the blood of all the prophets shed since the world began God will require of this generation— 51 from the blood of Abel to Zechariah that they murdered between the altar and the Temple. Yes, he’ll require it of this generation.’
52 “Woe to you lawyers! You take away the key for understanding. You don’t go in yourselves, and you stand in the way of the ones that are trying to.”
53 Before he left, the scribes got terribly hostile and badgered him with questions about all kinds of things, 54 trying to goad him into saying something they could use against him.
Lk 11:37-54