Bible Commentaries
Luke 18

Verses 1-43

XVIII 1-14 Further Instructions on Prayer —Proper to Lk. The last instructions confain a note of impending disaster along with an assurance that the Kingdom of God will be realized in spite of every opposition. Lagrange therefore sees in the first of these parables a word of comfort for the disciples. The warning about the need of being ready to forsake life itself recalls memories of our Lord’s predictions of the bitter persecutions they will have to suffer for the name of Christ. But let them never forget that they have a Father in heaven who watches over them, who will hear their cry and even revenge them; cf. 6-22; 12:11 22-32. They had to be warned against the temptatior of asking in the days to come why God in his power did not immediately intervene on behalf of his servants a common complaint at all times with those who suffer persecution from evil men. Hence they must go on praying and not lose heart, advice Jesus illustrates with a paratle.

2-8 The Wicked Judge and the Widow —The application of the parable (allegorization would be unfitting here for it would identify God, ’the father of orphans and. judge of widows Psalms 67:6, with this ’judge of unrighteousness’) is that if even a wicked man eventually heard the suppliant widow, will not an infinitely just God do justice to his chosen ones?

5b. Insistence here, as in the parable of 11:5-8, on the necessity of importuning till one’s prayer is granted.

7b. Much dispute about the interpretation of these words. Are they a question or an affirmative statement? Who are those to whom God will (or will not) show himself patient? Lagrange takes it as a question: ’Will he (God) have patience in regard to them (the persecutors of the elect)?’ In other words, if God seems slow to revenge his elect, we must not complain that he seems so long-suffering as to abandon his elect. There follows the answer to the question in 8a; let them go on praying, confident that evil will not finally prevail. The sad prognostication of 8b seems to indicate that although the final victory for God’s justice is assured, yet some of the fbllowers of Jesus will not have the resolution and faith to persevere until the end; paralleled in Matthew 24:12. The faith in question is the faith already seen in Lk, a conviction that the presence of Jesus in the world signifies the loving intervention of God for man’s salvation. Such a faith is supremely necessary in times of persecution, and it is then that confident prayer must be kept up.

9-14 The Pharisee and the Publican —Josephus describes the Pharisees as ’a sect of the Jews who esteemed themselves more religious than others and thought their interpretation of the Law more accurate’ ( BJ 1, 5, 2). Their very name Perushim, ’the separated ones’, owed its origin to the fact that the were a class apart, and was originally bestowed on them for their real piety. The typical Pharisee revealed to us in the Gospels and contemporary Jewish writings separated himself from his fellow-men by such a firm conviction of his own righteousness as made him contemptuous of all whom he regarded as incapable of being pleasing to God, e.g. those Jews who showed indifference to the minutiae of traditional observance (cf.John 7:48-49), and of course those of Gentile birth. This, as our Lord said, 16:15, was what made the Pharisees abominable to God. 11. The prayer is quite in the spirit of one of the Jewish Benedictions prescribed for daily prayer: ’Blessed art thou. . . . that thou hast not made me a Gentile . . . a servant . . . a woman’; very different from the prayer prescribed by our Lord for his disciples, a prayer making no comparisons but springing from a sense of deep-felt need. The Pharisee in his prayer, as in his life, gives the impression of self-sufficiency, the national vice attacked by St Paul in his description of the very purpose of the Mosaic Law, Galatians 3:21-25; Romans 3:20; Romans 5:20.12. His prayer completed, he recalls ’the chief points of righteousness which he has accomplished, considerably exceeding the standard prescribed by the Law. . . . Even the Lord himself could hardly demand more, though he might very well desire a little less vain complacency’ ( Lagr., GJC II84). 23. With the marked contrast characteristic of Lk, the Publican is presented beating his breast repeatedly (?t?pteÁ impf.), not reciting a list of God’s debts to him but declaring himself to be in dire need of divine mercy. The conclusion of 14 is all the stronger from the fact that it omits formal condemnation of the Pharisee, though the word ’justified’, i.e. right with God, responds to the ’trusted in themselves as just’ of 9. The parable is the justification of our Lord’s attitude to sinners (cf. 15:1) and it ends with a repetition of the warning uttered when he twitted the Pharisees with their itch for precedence, 14:11, a warning which cannot fail to remind us of the spirit of the Magnificat, 1:47-54, and the Beatitudes, 6:20-22.

15-30 Right Dispositions for Entry into the Kingdom of God —Some commentators see the end of the Journey Narrative in 18:14, for here Lk resumes the thread of Mt and Mk; moreover there is now a distinct change of tone. Lagrange prefers to continue it to 18:30 where Lk puts another prediction of the Passion and the commencement of the definitive move towards Jerusalem for the final tragedy. The two incidents narrated here are placed by Mt and Mk also at the beginning of the ascent to Jerusalem from Peraea, but they first describe the discussion with the Pharisees about marriage and repudiation omitted by Lk; cf.Matthew 19:1-12; Mark 10:1-12. Lk’s omission makes the incident of 15-17 appear abruptly, while it falls very well into place in Mt and Mk after the discussion on marriage.

15-17 Jesus and the Children —(Matthew 19:13-16; Mark 10:13-16). Lk follows Mk with characteristic changes: no mention of the indignation of our Lord against the disciples, Mark 10:14, or of his embracing the children whom he makes ’infants’, ß??F? The meaning is very clear; entry into the Kingdom demands the frankness, simplicity and innocence which we love to see in children.

18-30 The Rich Ruler —(Matthew 19:16-30; Mark 10:17-31) Each of the Synoptists has special details about this man, but Mk’s account is the most natural and vivid. In Lk he is a rich ruler, ????? therefore belonging to the Jewish aristocracy; Mt adds that he is a young man, a detail implicit in Mk’s story too where the man shows that youthful enthusiasm which appears so fittingly after the advice of 15-17; he runs up to Jesus and throws himself on the ground. It is tempting to think that it was Mark himself, cf. the young man of Mark 14:51-52; in both cases the man shows the dispositions of the Mark we know from Acts. It will be noted that Mk alone adds the touching detail of Mark 10:21. The man’s question and his whole manner betray his excellent dispositions; he was concerned about that which Jesus has insisted is the only thing of real importance. But he has not yet reconciled himself to the condition of absolute renunciation on which our Lord has also insisted.

19. The reply is essentially the same as that made to the Scribe in 10:26, better expressed in Matthew 19:17. ’Do you ask me, a man, about a thing that concerns God alone? What has God himself told you?’

20. It is remarkable that only those commandments are recalled which concern the second of the two great precepts of the Law.

21. The young man makes a young man’s reply with the candour and confidence just recommended by our Lord. Whether he was taking a too optimistic view of himself or not, his disposition and enthusiasm earn for him an invitation to become a disciple, i.e. to make the great renunciation demanded by true discipleship. ’Yet one thing is wanting to thee’; note Mt’s ’if thou wilt be perfect’. The sudden change from spirited enthusiasm to sad despondency, again so characteristic of the young, calls forth our Lord’s warning against the danger of wealth, 24-30, after the young man has departed according to Mk and Mt, a detail neglected by Lk. This teaching is given by Lk as in Mk, save for the omission of the disciples’ mystification and Mk’s repeated warning ’Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God’ (preferable reading of Mark 10:24b).

25. There is no need to suggest the usual far-fetched interpretations of ’camel’ and ’needle’s eye’ in order to tone down the severity of our Lord’s warning; the words mean what they say and so give occasion to the disciples’ conclusion that no one can be saved. Our Lord’s answer, better put in Lk than in Mt and Mk confirms their conclusion but adds that God himself will save those who adopt the dispositions Jesus has recommended. Riches in themselves are neither good nor bad; it is undue attachment to riches leading to their abuse that keeps men out of the Kingdom. God can save the rich man by inspiring him to give away his wealth, or he can save him without such renunciation, which the Law indeed does not demand, provided he acts like a good steward in the sense of the parable of 16:1-9. All the same a great reward is promised to those who, rich or poor, renounce all ties of family or possessions ’for the sake of the kingdom of God’ (in Matthew 19:29b ’for the sake of my name’, in Mark 10:29b ’for my sake and the gospel’s sake’). Here as elsewhere Lk substitutes Kingdom of God for gospel in Mk, a word that surprisingly he never uses.

XVIII 31-XXIII 56 Arrival at Jerusalem and Passion —This section is grouped into four distinct parts: (I) The arrival at Jerusalem; (2) Disputes with the Jewish leaders; (3) The great sermon on the destruction of Jerusalem and the Last Judgement; (4) The Passion. In a general way Lk follows the narrative of Mk with some omissions and the following notable additions: the incident of Zachaeus, 19:1 ff.; Jesus weeping over Jerusalem, 19:41 ff.; prayer for infallibility and primacy of Peter, 22:31 ff.; Jesus before Herod, 23:6 ff.

XVIII 31-4 Further Prediction of the Passion — (Matthew 20:17-19; Mark 10:32-34). This is Lk’s fourth prediction, if we take 17:25 into account. He here omits Mk’s note of surprise and fear shown by the disciples, but adds the often repeated remark that what is to happen at Jerusalem is in accordance with the Prophets; this, taken with the conclusion, 34, should be compared with 24:25-27,

45-46. Jesus is now moving up from the Jordan through Jericho; he takes only the Twelve, leaving the general crowd of his followers.

35-43 Healing of the Blind Man at Jericho —(Matthew 20:29-34; Mark 10:46-52). Omitting the request of the Sons of Zebedee, here inserted by Mk and Mt, an incident which would have made a good commentary on 34 (no parallel in Mk and Mt), Lk joins them in narrating this miracle. There are differences which raise difficulties, e.g. the incident is at our Lord’s entry into Jericho while Mk and Mt put it at his departure. With Mk he speaks of one blind man only (name omitted by Lk) while Mt has two. Various suggestions hdve been made: e.g. the unlikely explanation that Lk tells the story of one of Mt’s blind men while Mk deals with the other. Lk’s incident seems to be the same as Mk’s; but some, in order to safeguard the truth of Scripture, have held that they are describing two completely different occasions. Others have suggested that there is no greater contradiction of the truth of Scripture here than there is in the different order of temptations in Luke 4:1-13 and Matthew 4:1-11. Note that 35 merely says ’when he was near to Jericho’, ?? t?+^ ?????e?? which would do either for coming in or going out; Lk is generally careless of topographical details. It is true that later we read ’entering in he walked through Jericho’, 19:1, but that is a new incident which need not have occurred on the same occasion, for it is possible that there was a stay of some days in the neighbourhood (cf. 19:5). Some hold there is question of two Jerichos, the old and deserted, and the new. In 42 we have the final repetition of the accustomed formula ’thy faith hath saved thee’, given here by Mk also. Lk’s conclusion, noting the glorifying of God and the praise of God by the people, is also frequent in Lk and peculiar to him.