Luke 11.14-28

14 One day Jesus cast out a demon from a man who couldn’t speak, and when the demon was gone, the man began to speak. The crowds were amazed, 15 but some of them said, “No wonder he can cast out demons. He gets his power from Satan, the prince of demons.” 16 Others, trying to test Jesus, demanded that he show them a miraculous sign from heaven to prove his authority.

17 He knew their thoughts, so he said, “Any kingdom divided by civil war is doomed. A family splintered by feuding will fall apart. 18 You say I am empowered by Satan. But if Satan is divided and fighting against himself, how can his kingdom survive? 19 And if I am empowered by Satan, what about your own exorcists? They cast out demons, too, so they will condemn you for what you have said. 20 But if I am casting out demons by the finger of God, then the Kingdom of God has arrived among you. 21 For when a strong man like Satan is fully armed and guards his palace, his possessions are safe — 22 until someone even stronger attacks and overpowers him, strips him of his weapons, and carries off his belongings. 23 Anyone who isn’t with me opposes me, and anyone who isn’t working with me is actually working against me. 24 When an evil spirit leaves a person, it goes into the desert, searching for rest. But when it finds none, it says, ‘I will return to the person I came from.’ 25 So it returns and finds that its former home is all swept and in order. 26 Then the spirit finds seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they all enter the person and live there. And so that person is worse off than before.”

27 As he was speaking, a woman in the crowd called out, “God bless your mother—the womb from which you came, and the breasts that nursed you!”

28 Jesus replied, “But even more blessed are all who hear the word of God and put it into practice.”

 

Comments

Since we began reading Luke, I have been pointing out the intricate ways one passage ties into the next, because I think a great deal of meaning is waiting to be found there, and yet is often overlooked in a cursory reading. The whole point of this Red Letter Year exercise is to read the Gospels – the very heart of Christian Scripture – carefully and deeply. Today is one of those days that makes such effort obviously worthwhile.

Though elements are drawn from Matthew and Mark, a good deal of today’s reading is unique to Luke and nearly all of it serves as a deepening counterpoint to Luke’s version of the Lord’s Prayer (see yesterday’s reading). Jesus told them to ask for the Holy Spirit of heaven, instead they ask for a sign from heaven. Jesus told them to ask for no testing, instead they test Jesus. Jesus told them to ask for forgiveness of sin, instead they accuse Jesus of sin. Jesus told them to pray to the Father, instead they accuse him of being in league with Satan.

All of this culminates in an illuminating word picture of the nature of human spirituality. Jesus describes delivering someone of demonic influence like cleaning up a wrecked room. The bad tenet is evicted, everything in cleaned and set in order, and the room stands empty. Significantly, Luke attributes this work to the “finger of God” (I had to make a small alteration to the NLT to reflect what the Greek has), not the Spirit or the power of God, as he so often does (“power of God” is what the NLT uses, favoring continuity over accuracy here). I think this is because Luke wanted his readers to make the connection to this empty room, which still stands under threat of squatters, and the last thing from the previous reading – the Father gives the Holy Spirit to all those who ask. What keeps the squatters out is the presence of the only legitimate tenet of the human soul – the Holy Spirit. Luke is the first Gospel writer to give us an understanding of the Spirit indwelling people. God enters the house, drives out the enemy and takes up residence. This action is at the root of all prayer. This action is how the kingdom of God breaks in and defeats the kingdom of Satan. This is what we are to hear and put into practice – that the Father gives the Holy Spirit to dwell in all who ask. Ask for the Holy Spirit. Not once. Not once in a while. Continuously. Be filled with the Holy Spirit today. And everyday.

New Living Translation (NLT) Holy Bible. New Living Translation copyright© 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale HousePublishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Luke 11.1-13

1 Once Jesus was in a certain place praying. As he finished, one of his disciples came to him and said, “Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.”

2 Jesus said, “This is how you should pray:

Father, may your name be kept holy. May your Kingdom come soon.

3 Give us each day the food we need,

4 and forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us. And don’t let us yield to temptation.”

5 Then, teaching them more about prayer, he used this story: “Suppose you went to a friend’s house at midnight, wanting to borrow three loaves of bread. You say to him, 6 ‘A friend of mine has just arrived for a visit, and I have nothing for him to eat.’ 7 And suppose he calls out from his bedroom, ‘Don’t bother me. The door is locked for the night, and my family and I are all in bed. I can’t help you.’ 8 But I tell you this—though he won’t do it for friendship’s sake, if you keep knocking long enough, he will get up and give you whatever you need because of your shameless persistence.

9 And so I tell you, keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you. 10 For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened.

11 You fathers — if your children ask for a fish, do you give them a snake instead? 12 Or if they ask for an egg, do you give them a scorpion? Of course not! 13 So if you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him.”

 

Comments

This passage doesn’t need as much commenting as it needs practice. Luke shortens the Lord’s Prayer from Matthew, making the address more personal, “Father,” which is is how Jesus prayed earlier. Luke also changes from debt to sin with regard to God. This is more consistent with his focus on forgiveness of sins, but losing the parallel does make the prayer a little awkward. Still, Luke’s version is a good deal shorter and maybe easier to keep in a brain full of other stuff. If you’re not used to praying the Lord’s Prayer, give it a try. Or if you do it all the time with Matthew’s version, try Luke’s to make it fresher for you.

The remainder of this passage is unique to Luke’s Gospel, teaching us the importance of persistence in prayer with a memorable little story. Luke will return to this theme in chapter 18. He really wanted us to pray and keep praying expecting our prayers to be answered. How often can our prayers be described as “shamelessly persistent?” Passages like this do get abused, but I think fear of such abuse is a bigger problem. We cringe at how some people go on, so then we don’t really get the message here. While bad teaching, psychological manipulation, and exaggerated results are cringe-worthy, we can also find ourselves cringing just because we don’t do shameless very well.

It’s okay to ask for what you need. My kids ask me for food everyday, several times a day, and it’s always okay that they ask. Amy and I feed them most of the times they ask, though they don’t get all the trips to Lumpy’s they request. It’s okay to tell God what you need, what you want, what your heart’s desire is, even what you would like. You might really need healing. Or you might have a nagging pain that isn’t life threatening, but isn’t barrel of monkeys either. We do okay praying when it’s life threatening (though we could still be more shameless, more persistent), but not as well on the small stuff. God cares about the small stuff too. Ask for it. And keep asking. God can tell you to stop if you’re being a pest.

The other part of this that’s important is to be honest. One of the biggest problems from those bad teaching approaches is they encourage you to lie to yourself, stating that something is true or has happened when it’s not and hasn’t. Don’t do that. Be honest. If you ask for a nagging pain to go away, don’t pretend like it went away if you still feel the pain. You will know when it leaves or when it lessens. And don’t exaggerate either. If it feels 50% better, don’t say it’s all gone, say it’s half gone, but still there. God doesn’t need you to pretend your prayers have been answered. God doesn’t do psychological manipulation. God heals. God delivers. God provides. All the stuff Jesus has been doing in our Gospel readings this year, God still does all of that everyday. When some of that stuff actually happens to you, you will know. And then the shameless persistence will start in earnest.

Pray today. Pray shamelessly. Pray persistently. Pray honest.

New Living Translation (NLT) Holy Bible. New Living Translation copyright© 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale HousePublishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.