Luke 11 - Why Trying to Be Religious Always Fails?

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Jesus’ Teaching on Prayer

As the disciples saw Jesus live out his life with such power and authority, they wanted him to teach them how to pray. Likely they had seen Jesus in prayer many times, as they did today. They were curious as to how access this power he lived in on a daily basis. This shows us that faith is often more "caught than taught". The way we live our lives demonstrates our commitment to Christ.

I love that Jesus gives a very simple model for prayer. What is important to Jesus in prayer should be our guide as we pray. Jesus reminds us that God doesn't look for long and windy prayers but more from our heart to his heart. 

Father, hallowed be your name.  As Martin Luther said in his Small Catechism, "God's name is surely holy, but we pray in this prayer that we might keep it holy." 

We start this prayer giving God's the proper adoration, for God is holy. There is no one like him. No, not even one. If we were to be in God's holy presence, if not for Christ's presence in our lives, we would be in shrink in his presence. But Jesus also prays, "Father", reminding us of his personal relationship with His Father. Though God is holy, we can also call on him as our "heavenly Father". Jesus called out to him "Abba Father", which basically meant "daddy!" 

Your kingdom come. As we have already seen in the first 10 chapters of Luke, Jesus' primary message was that the kingdom of God had come through him. Now, we pray that God's kingdom will come through us as today as well. 

Give us each day our daily bread. In another place in scripture Jesus says, "Each day has enough worry for itself so we should not worry about tomorrow!" In 12 step groups, like A.A., one of the important phrases that is repeated is, "Just for today". The idea is to trust God for sobriety just for today. Don't get ahead of yourself by saying, "I will never be able to to drink again in my life. I can never do that!" Nope, just don't drink today that's it. 

It's great to start each day by saying, "God just give me what I need today, and I won't worry about tomorrow!" 

Forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone who sins against us. As we come into God's presence, we remember as we say in our Lutheran Confession, "I have sinned against you in thought, word, and deed. By what I have done and by what I have left undone. I have not loved you with my whole heart or my neighbors as myself. "

Importantly, as we receive God's forgiveness on a daily basis, we need to remember that if God has forgiven us so great a debt, we should not withhold forgiveness from someone who has sinned against us. Remember the story where the man asked Jesus, "How many times should I forgive, seven times?" He thought that was a generous offer. But Jesus said, "Not seven times, but seventy times seven." Jesus was not being literal, he was saying there is no number of times we forgive, just as Jesus doesn't limit his forgiveness toward us. Thank God!

And lead us not into temptation. Notice it does not add, "But deliver us from evil, for thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory." This phrase, "But deliver us from evil" is added by Matthew. And, "for thine is the kingdom, power and glory forever and ever" is added by in by the King James Version of the bible, in 1611, though it is also found in some early manuscripts like the Didache. 

The bottom line is the God never intentionally leads us into temptation, but allows the devil to tempt us in order to test us. See the story of Job. The bottom line as Paul says in 1 Corinthians 10:13, 

No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it. The word "tempt" can also mean "test".

This is verse you should definitely memorize. I have, and it has been of tremendous help to me over the years!

Jesus makes this important promise we need to remember about prayer, 

So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.

Notice how prayer is a process. It is not robotic. Asking, seeking, and knocking are all part of the prayer Jesus prescribes. Sometimes we ask and don't seek or knock. Seeking means being aware of God calling us to respond to Him in prayer. As a result of seeking, God may call on us to take a more active step to knock on a door. This teaching reminds us that prayer is not passive but active. Sometimes our prayers are not answered because we don't seek or knock. 

For example, say you are praying for healing, but you never go to a doctor. You just assume that God will heal you. But God has given us doctors to help us heal from sickness. Then, you knock on the door of the doctor by making an appointment and he gives you medicine to help you. You still need to open the door by taking the medicine. You can see why Jesus taught the disciples this aspect of prayer. 

Jesus and Beelzebul

After Jesus cast a demon out of a man, someone in the crowd suggested that Jesus had cast out the demon by the power of Beelzebul, a demon whose name also meant "lord of the flies". Whatever the name meant, it was insult to suggest Jesus somehow healed this man through another demon. It showed they were trying to do anything to the invalidate the miracles Jesus was doing.

Besides it is a dumb idea. Why would ta demon cast out one of his own demons? That makes no sense. The Pharisees, and in this case the people, would often do anything to refute Jesus. Jesus then gives a warning to those who are on the fence about him, 

Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.

The Sign of Jonah

As a follow up to the previous passage Jesus says, "A wicked and adulterous generation looks for a sign". Jesus was certainly not against signs, but he never did it "on demand". Jesus said the only sign given to them would be the sign of Jonah!

The sign of Jonah was the sign God gave the Ninevites when the prophet Jonah was spit up on land. The Ninevites repented when Jonah preached to them.  Jesus pointed to himself when he said, "A sign greater than Jonah was here." 

"Jesus repeatedly brought the focus back upon Himself. He was and is greater than all previous prophets; He should become the focus of faith and trust from His people. His greater light brought a greater accountability to His hearers."

The Lamp of the Body

To me this is a little bit of a confusing passage, so I am going to rely on commentaries for this one. 

Just as a lamp should be displayed out in the open so that all can benefit from its light, so the word and work of God should be displayed. Yet when Jesus displayed His word and works, the religious people of His day would not accept them.

Even as a bad eye will make a person blind, so bad hearts will make one spiritually blind. One must be spiritually blind to attribute Jesus’ miracles to Satan and to ignore the work of Jesus right before the eyes or to live as a hypocrite.

Woes on the Pharisees and the Experts in the Law

Speaking of those who are spiritually blind, Jesus turns to the Pharisees and teachers of the Law. A Pharisee invited Jesus to his home for a meal. On the surface it seems like a nice thing for him to do, but things go south quickly when he asks Jesus why he did not do the ritual hand washing before the meal. 

Jesus likened the man and his fellows Pharisees, as those who spend a lot of time keeping the outside of the bowl looking clean, so that those who look at it will be impressed. But when you look inside the bowl it is unclean. Instead of just keeping up outward appearances, Jesus tells the man to give to the poor, which would be a much better use of his piety. 

Then, he goes on to give a scathing assessment of the Pharisees. They tithed on their mints and herbs, but forgot to give justice to those who deserved it. They loved the best seats in the house and to be praised in the marketplace. But they were like "unmarked graves". He is basically saying, "You are like walking tombs". Though they have the appearance of being alive, they are spiritually dead. 

A teacher of the law piped up and told Jesus he had insulted them. Jesus responded with words for the teachers of the law, who were tying heavy burdens on the people with all their rules and regulations. Worst of all they did nothing to help ease their burdens. 

In Matthew 11:28, Jesus says, "Come unto me all you are weary and burdened and I will give you rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light". Following Jesus is not about following a bunch of rules. It is living in his "easy yoke". Following Jesus actually makes your life easier and joyful. It is living apart from him that is hard.

Though Jesus had completely exposed their hypocrisy and duplicity this still happens,

When Jesus went outside, the Pharisees and the teachers of the law began to oppose him fiercely and to besiege him with questions, 54 waiting to catch him in something he might say. 

Pharisees hatred of Jesus will only increase until they can bear it no longer! More to come. 

We always need to watch from becoming like the Pharisees. This happens when we get prideful about our position. Or, we think that by obeying rules and regulations it will make us a more religious person to be looked up to. Instead we need to rest in Jesus' easy yoke and allow him to make us into the person who will naturally do the things he would do if he were us.