CRITICAL NOTES
Luke 11:1. The time and place when this incident occurred are indefinite, but there can be no doubt that we have not here part of the Sermon on the Mount, put out of its place. The form of prayer here given differs very considerably (by omission) from that in Matthew 6:9-13; as given in the best authorities it runs as follows: “Father, Hallowed be Thy name. Thy kingdom come. Give us day by day our daily bread. And forgive us our sins; for we ourselves also forgive every one that is indebted to us. And bring us not into temptation.” It is almost certain that both the longer and shorter forms of the prayer were given on separate occasions, with the exception of the doxology, found in St. Matthew, which dates from the time when the prayer came into liturgical use.
In a certain place.—If this incident took place shortly after that last recorded—the visit of Jesus to Bethany—this place may be the Mount of Olives or Gethsemane. As John.—This fact is not elsewhere recorded.
Luke 11:2. Hallowed be Thy name.—“God’s name is not merely His appellation, which we speak with the mouth, but also and principally the idea which we attach to it—His Being, as far as it is confessed, revealed, or known” (De Wette). Hallowed.—“Kept holy,” “sanctified in our hearts.” Thy kingdom come.—The spread of Christ’s kingdom on earth and His triumphant reign hereafter (His second coming).
Luke 11:3. Daily bread.—No better English word than “daily” can be got to render the peculiar Greek word found only here and in Matthew 6:11, but considerable diversity of opinion has existed as to the precise signification of the term employed. Some have rendered it “sufficient,” “proper for our sustenance”; others, “for the coming day”; others, “spiritual bread” (Vulg. supersubstantialem). But all these meanings are to some extent implied in our phrase “daily bread”—suitable for our necessities, and provision for the immediate future; and though the primary reference is to literal food, reference to spiritual nourishment is not excluded.
Luke 11:4. Forgive.—Two words are used—“sins” and “debts” (“every one that is indebted to us”); we cannot forgive sins, but can release others from their obligations to us. As.—I e., “in the same manner as,” not “to the same extent as,” nor “because.” Lead us not into temptation.—God does not tempt to evil, but He may place us in circumstances in which we may feel our weakness and be in danger of yielding to temptation This is virtually a prayer for some way of escape to be opened up to us.
Luke 11:5. At midnight.—In the East people often travel by night, to avoid the heat.
Luke 11:7. My children, etc.—I.e., “my children, as well as I, are in bed.”
Luke 11:8. Importunity.—Lit., “shamelessness,” “impudence”—i.e., continued knocking and asking. For importunity in prayer see Isaiah 62:3-12; Genesis 18:6-7; Matthew 15:27-28.
Luke 11:9. And I say unto you.—The parable is not a conclusive argument. We know that a man can be harassed into giving, but how can we know that importunate prayer can prevail upon God? We know it upon Christ’s authority: He here pledges His word that it is so.
Luke 11:11. Bread.—There is a certain resemblance between the things asked for and those which might be substituted for them—a stone like bread, a fish like a serpent, an egg like a scorpion. No father with ordinary human feeling would mock his child by giving him useless or hurtful things in place of food.
Luke 11:13. Holy Spirit.—The best of all gifts. St. Matthew says “good things” (Luke 7:11).
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.— Luke 11:1-13
Christ Teaching how to Pray.—St. Luke seems to preserve the original setting of the Lord’s prayer, and St. Matthew the full liturgical form of the prayer.
I. Note the mould for the disciples’ prayers.—It is properly not the “Lord’s prayer,” but the servants’ prayer. It is not a formula, but a pattern. All the essentials are preserved in this shorter version.
1. Invocation. There is first the child’s cry to the Father. All Christian prayer begins with that, and Christ makes it possible so to begin, by giving to those who believe on His name power to become sons of God. Consciousness of sonship, confidence in the Father’s love, the child’s yearning towards Him, and the assurance that He hears, are all expressed in that one word, and without these our prayers are of small account.
2. Petitions. Those bearing on God’s glory must be first, and those bearing on ourselves second. God’s “name” is His revealed character. It is “hallowed” when worthy thoughts of Him and corresponding emotions dwell in men. God’s kingdom comes where His name is hallowed. It is that order or constitution of things in which He rules, not over ignorant tools or reluctant slaves, but over willing, because loving, sons. Its seat is within; its manifestation is outward. All social and individual good is comprehended in that prayer, for the hallowing of the name of the Father is the sole foundation of glad obedience to His sway, which is love, joy, and peace, for men and nations. The second class of desires—those for the supply of the suppliants’ wants—begin at the bottom and climb up. Mark that we are not to say “my” but “our.” Brotherhood follows sonship. Bread, not dainties; bread sufficient, not superfluous: bread for to-day, not for to-morrow;—how many would be content with that? The prayer for God’s glory comes first, because that is greatest; but that for bread comes first in its series, because it is least. The need for pardon is as universal and more crying than that for bread. It is the beginning of the spiritual life, but in this connection is meant for all stages thereof, and implies some previous experience, inasmuch as it makes our forgiving the reason for our being forgiven. While it is true that we cannot receive pardon into an unmerciful heart, a prior truth is that we must have experienced that pardon before becoming truly and habitually merciful. An unforgiving Christian is a monster, and will turn out unforgiven; but a heart that forgives, and has never sought and found God’s pardon, is as much of a contradiction.
II. A parable of prayer.—The central point of it is the power of persistent importunity, which is illustrated by a seemingly most incongruous narrative. The man in bed with his children, who gets up at last for as selfish reasons as had kept him lying, is a repulsive picture of selfish indolence, both when he refuses and when he gives. But the very contrast between that temper and the love of the Father, to which prayer appeals, is the point of the story. “If” such a miserable creature, “being evil,” is conquered by persistence, “how much more shall your heavenly Father give?” is the lesson here too. The contrast is complete. Selfishness and perfect love, slothful indifference to need and unwearied, all-embracing, never-resting beneficence, a yielding at last to save annoyance and get rid of an unwelcome presence and a yielding which has been delayed for our good, and gives joyfully as soon as we are capable of receiving. But is not the story so violently unlike God as to lose its power for the intended purpose? Not if we keep in mind the “How much more.” Persistent asking can melt even such a rock as that. What can it not do when it appeals to an infinite pity and a Divine desire to give?
III. The confidence of prayer.—Our Lord adds to the parable His assurance of the power of persistent prayer, and confirms it by an analogy which sets the parable in its right light. “Ask” “seek” and “knock,” perhaps, express a gradation. Desires breathed to God are not in vain, but they must be accompanied with seeking which is effort. Knocking implies repetition as well as earnestness. Here, then, is another lesson to the disciples, teaching them how to pray. Prayer is to be accompanied with appropriate effort, and to be persevering. But in what region of experience are these unconditional promises fulfilled? Surely not in this world of bitter disappointments, and baffled desires, and frustrated quests! It would be a questionable blessing if all our desires in regard to outward benefits were granted, and the Father in heaven would be less wise than many an earthly father, who knows that an indulged child is a “spoiled” child. The abounding promise is true absolutely in the spiritual realm, where fuller knowledge of God, a more Christ-like character, and more blessed communion with Him, wait for all who desire them and seek them in God’s way. The closing analogy lifts the child’s prayer to its true place. Mark the parallel between the “which of you” in the parable, and the “of which of you” in Luke 11:11 (R.V.). By the former our experience as petitioners is brought to illustrate the truth taught; by the latter, our experience as givers. Fatherly love is taken for granted; the thing enforced is confidence in fatherly wisdom. Jesus charges “evil” on all men, and emphatically exempts Himself. And then He bids us not to think that the grudging giver of the parable represents God, but to take the purest, most unselfish love which we know, and purify it yet more by taking away all taint, and to think of that as a dim shadow of the infinite love and wisdom which in the heavens hears and answers our poor cries.—Maclaren.
SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS ON Luke 11:1-13
Luke 11:1. Before the Lord’s Prayer. “As He was praying.”—This prayer preceded the giving of His own prayer for the perpetual use of His Church and people below. It is impossible for us to exaggerate the importance of the occasion. Was not the occasion worthy of a special prayer of Christ to consecrate it? We must not presume to speak confidently where God has not spoken. But not on that account should we shrink from a serious pondering of mysteries too high and too deep for us: may it be but with reverence that we turn aside to see this great sight, the Saviour rising from His own prayer to give inspiration for ever to the prayer of others. Might not He be praying, in that prayer of preface and prelude, that the spirit of the prayer He was about to prescribe might be indeed the spirit in all future ages of His disciples and of His Church? That the filial heart might be the religion of His people—the filial and the brotherly? That sinners might be enabled to view aright their own standing—as sinners, yet sons; sons still, however sinful; not waiting to be made sons, but emboldened to claim and to exercise a sonship, which is theirs by birth, in right of a Divine creation, a Divine redemption, and a Divine evangelisation? That in this sonship, of right theirs, yet all of grace, they might see and feel to be included all mankind, however widely severed and dissociated by birth and place, by thought and phrase, by habit and custom in things secular or in things sacred? That His Church might ever be interested in the work of God, His cause and His glory, and might ever give the first place in its prayer to that which concerned these? That the great message of the forgiveness of sins might be so written upon the hearts of His people that they might be able to use it with quietness and confidence for their daily comfort and strengthening, forgetting the things behind and reaching forth always to the things before? That thus His Gospel might approve itself to the conscience and heart of mankind, as indeed the power of God unto salvation, a religion of light, life, and love, spreading blessing everywhere around it, and, like the crucified Lord whose living witness it is, lifted above earth while planted upon it, drawing all men unto it, and so unto Him?—Vaughan.
Luke 11:1-13. Lessons on Prayer.
I. The need of help in prayer.
II. The pattern prayer.—It is full of simple trust; it is unselfish; it is simple; it is reverent; it is spiritual.
III. Importunate prayer.
IV. Promises for prayer.—Taylor.
Luke 11:1. “When He Ceased.”—While continuing His journey, the Lord remained faithful to His habits of personal devotion. He did not content Himself with that constant direction of the soul towards God, which has so often been supposed to be the meaning of the precept, “Pray without ceasing.” There were in His life special times, positive acts of prayer. This is indicated in the words that follow: “when He ceased.”—Godet.
Prayer the Distinguishing Mark of God’s Children.—Speech distinguishes men from animals; speech rising into prayer distinguishes the children of God from the children of this world.
A Desire to be Like Christ.—They observed in their Master, while He prayed, a strange separation from the world, a conscious nearness to God, a delight in the Father’s presence, and a familiarity in communion with the Father, which seemed to them like heaven upon earth. Fondly desiring to partake of these blessed privileges, they besought their Master to show them the way.—Arnot.
“Teach us to pray.”—We forget that we are to learn to pray; and that prayer is to be learned, as all other things, by frequency, constancy, and perseverance.—Law.
Social Prayers of Jesus.—The request and its occasion, taken together, convey to us incidentally two pieces of information. From the latter we learn that Jesus, besides praying much alone, also prayed in company with His disciples, practising family prayer, as the head of a household, as well as secret prayer in personal fellowship with God His Father. From the former we learn that the social prayers of Jesus were most impressive. Disciples hearing them were made painfully conscious of their own incapacity, and, after the Amen, were ready instinctively to proffer the request, “Lord, teach us to pray,” as if ashamed any more to attempt the exercise in their own feeble, vague, stammering words.—Bruce.
The Disciples’ Request.—The request was brought before the Lord Jesus on a remarkable occasion, or at least at a moment of great solemnity. The Lord was praying in a certain place.
I. Perhaps it was a fixed place, an understood place, which He had chosen for the purpose.
II. It appears, too, that He was occupied in this way for some time. This seems to follow from the expression “when He ceased.”
III. It is evident likewise that while He was so occupied they watched and waited. No one ought, if it can be avoided, to be interrupted during the exercise of prayer.
IV. But there was more than this in the case of Jesus. They were manifestly filled with reverential awe.
V. Yet they longed to learn something of this power of intercourse with our Father in heaven. They remembered, too, how John the Baptist had spoken of this intercourse—how he had given instructions to his disciples concerning prayer—and when the Lord had “ceased” they laid their request before Him: “Lord, teach us to pray.”
VI. It was a request which led to great results. Never was a question which brought an answer more prolific of benefit to mankind.—Howson.
A New Stage in the Life of the Disciples.—The disciples had, doubtless, been accustomed to pray, but it was a new and further stage in their disciple-life when they thus expressly asked some further and fuller teaching in prayer. It was one thing to pray; it was another thing to feel their need and defectiveness in this so much that they directly ask for help, not only to pray better, but, as it now seemed to them, to pray at all. “Lord, teach us to pray” is always a new stage in disciple-life.—Maccoll.
“As John also taught his disciples.”—In this beautiful half sentence we learn something concerning the Baptist which we should never have known otherwise, something which may teach us for our own benefit.
I. We have abundant information in the Gospel narrative respecting the Baptist’s sternness, courage, faithfulness, his summoning all men to repentance, his self-denial, his fearlessness in rebuking sin in high places, his utter devotion to Christ, his deep humility, his consciousness that he was only a messenger preparing the way for One greater than himself. But these for the most part were severe qualities, containing even what we may call an element of harshness. Where in all this do we perceive any traces of that tenderness and patience which are implied in the statement that he “taught his disciples to pray”?
II. Let us look at the matter from another point of view. St. John is named in the New Testament beyond the limits of the Gospel History. His great shadow is, indeed, cast across all the Scriptural narrative of the history of the earliest Church. But all this does not touch in the least what we find in this beautiful half-sentence of our text. Nay, the very grandeur of John the Baptist seems, at first sight, almost in contrast with the other impression. For in teaching how to pray there is personal sympathy, minute attention, consideration, and gentleness. We hardly expected to find this in the Baptist, but we do find it; and is it not a great example?—Howson.
Luke 11:2-4. The Warrant and the Liturgy of Prayer.
I. The Lord’s Prayer is Christ’s warrant for prayer.—It settled, once for all, the great question of praying. “When ye pray”—as, of course, you do pray. Prayer is sometimes called an instinct. It is an instinct of the original nature—the nature made in God’s image, after God’s likeness—would that the fallen being always found it so! Certainly prayer has no exemption from the assaults of a scoffing generation. Thankful ought we to be that we have our Saviour’s express warrant for it. The Lord’s prayer is that first and before all else. His example would have been something. His permission, His encouragement, His command to pray, would have been more. But this form of words is a sort of sacrament of prayer, an outward visible sign presenting to the very senses the assurance of the inward spiritual grace attending and following.
II. The Lord’s Prayer is the one inspired liturgy of the Christian society.—“When ye pray, say,” is a warrant for the lawfulness of forms of worship. As such, it supplies a want. It guarantees uniformity, so far as uniformity is a condition of unity. The Lord has in it instituted a liturgy for the perpetual security of harmony and sympathy in the addresses of His people to the God and Father through Him. Let us make much of this gift of gifts as a substantial bond of union among all Christian people, however widely, in other respects, divided and separated. They have a common prayer, if not a Common Prayer-Book. They who unite in the Lord’s Prayer join in the one liturgy which has come down from heaven.
Beauty and Value of the Lord’s Prayer.—The beauty and value of the lessons in the Lord’s Prayer arise from:
1. The tone of holy confidence. It teaches us to approach God as our Father (Romans 8:15), in love as well as holy fear.
2. Its absolute unselfishness. It is offered in the plural—not for ourselves only, but for all the brotherhood of man.
3. Its entire spirituality. Only one petition is for any earthly boon, and that only for the simplest.
4. Its brevity, and absence of all vain repetitions.
5. Its simplicity, which requires, not learning, but only holiness and sincerity, for its universal comprehension.—Farrar.
The Lord’s Prayer.
I. Contents.—
1. Christ teaches us to pray as well for temporal as for spiritual necessities.
2. But still more for spiritual than for temporal. One petition only for daily bread; five are devoted to higher concerns.
3. The glorifying of the name of God must stand yet more in the foreground than the fulfilment of our necessities.
II. Frame of mind.—The Saviour here teaches us to pray:
1. In deep reverence.
2. In child-like confidence.
3. In a spirit of love for others.—Van Oosterzee.
I. The address.—
1. The filial relation to God.
2. The fraternal relation to our fellow-men.
3. Heaven our destination (faith, love, and hope respectively, all combining to bring us into a true frame of mind).
II. The petitions.—
1. Those which concern the glory of God.
2. Those which express the wants of men.
Devotion to God and Acceptance of His Gifts.—Devotion to God and acceptance of His gifts are contrasted in the Lord’s Prayer.
I. Devotion to His name, to His kingdom, and to His will.
II. Acceptance of His gifts in reference to the present, the past, and the future.—Lange.
The Petitions.—Having risen to what forms the highest and holiest object of believers, the soul is engrossed with its character (first petition), its grand purpose (second petition), and its moral condition (third petition); in the fourth petition the children of God humble themselves under the consciousness of their dependence upon Divine mercy even in temporal matters, but much more in spiritual things, since that which, according to the first portion of this prayer, constituted the burden of desire, can only be realised by forgiveness (fifth petition), by gracious guidance (sixth petition), and deliverance from the power of the devil (seventh petition).—Meyer.
God and Man.—The prayer sets forth
(1) God’s relation to man, and
(2) man’s relation to God.
I. Petitions which have to do exclusively with God.
1. Thy name be hallowed.
2. Thy kingdom come.
3. Thy will be done. These occur in a descending scale—from Himself down to the manifestation of Himself in His kingdom; and from His kingdom to the entire subjection of its subjects, or the complete doing of His will.
II. Petitions which have to do with ourselves.—
1. “Give us our bread.”
2. “Forgive us our debts.”
3. “Lead us not into temptation.”
4. “Deliver us from evil.” These occur in an ascending scale—from the bodily wants of every day up to our final deliverance from all evil.—Brown.
Luke 11:2. “When ye pray, say.”—That briefest, tersest, fullest of all forms of prayer, the only exhaustive one, the only perfect and sufficient, because all-embracing and all-comprehending, one. How can we put into words all that the Lord’s Prayer had in it for the Church and for the Christian? I do not believe that childhood or youth, or even middle life, or anything short of old age, can at all fully appreciate the Lord’s Prayer. It is condensed, it is deep, it is difficult. No commentary and no catechism can elucidate without diluting, or improve without spoiling it. Not until that age comes which demands above all things the real and the strong and the substantial, the thing that can be leaned upon and rested upon and (when the time comes) died upon, can any man know in himself all that the great Lord did for us when He answered that request, “Teach us to pray,” and answered it in the particular form to which eighteen centuries have appropriated the grand title “The Lord’s Prayer.” Let us earnestly ask ourselves whether we have been faithful to the precept, “When ye pray, say”? Do we make full use of ourselves of the prayer? Do we, in our use of it, think into it, and think out of it, some of its hidden treasures of grace? Do we take literally enough its companion words in St. Matthew, “When ye pray, use not vain repetitions … your Father knoweth what things ye have need of before ye ask Him.… After this manner therefore pray ye”? Is not the old weary round too often trodden in our praying, as if indeed the Lord’s Prayer were not?—Vaughan.
Our Intercessor.—Just as we have our Saviour as our Intercessor in heaven, so we, in our prayers on earth, take the words of our Intercessor to help us.—Cyprian.
“Our Father, who art in heaven.”—This implies
(1) that we have access to God, and
(2) that we may rely on Him with full and unshaken confidence.
“Our Father.”—Not “My Father.” The plural reminds us
(1) of our brotherhood in Christ, and
(2) of the duty of common prayer. God is our Father
(1) because He is our Creator and Sustainer, and
(2) because we are His adopted children by faith in Jesus (Galatians 3:26).
A Personal God.—This phrase is a denial of Atheism, Pantheism, and Deism, for it recognises a God, a Personal God, who is our Father through Christ.
“Hallowed be Thy name.”—Cf. Malachi 1:6. A son honoureth his father, and a servant his master; if, then, I be a father, where is Mine honour? and if I be a master, where is My fear?
General Character of the Prayer.—The prayer is that the existence of God may be believed, His attributes and perfections adored and imitated, His supremacy acknowledged, and His providence owned and trusted in.—Bloomfield.
Fulfilment of this Petition.—We can fulfil this prayer
(1) by joining with our brethren in the public worship of God;
(2) by reverence of demeanour in the house of God;
(3) by refraining from sinful and profane talk; and
(4) by reverencing everything belonging to God—His word, His day, His sacraments, His ministers, and His people.
“Thy kingdom come.”—
1. God’s spiritual rule over the souls of men.
2. The extension of His Church, as of His visible kingdom.
3. His heavenly kingdom, which is to come after the resurrection, and to endure for ever.
“Thy will be done.”
I. Because it is the will of the author of our being and the fountain of all existence.
II. God’s will should be done by us because it is supported by the whole constitution of things.
III. God’s will is to be done by us because it is a perfect will, a righteous and loving will, the will of a father.
IV. God’s will is to be done because it rests on perfect knowledge and the widest survey of things.—Leckie.
Submission of Our Wills to God’s Will.—Our wills are to be sacrificed to the will of God; we are
(1) to obey His commandments, and
(2) to suffer what He may lay upon us with faith and submission and contentment.
“As in heaven.”—“Bless the Lord, ye His angels, that excel in strength, that do His commandments, hearkening unto the voice of His word” (Psalms 103:20).
The Trinity.—The first three petitions are inseparably triune: the name to be hallowed, of the Father just invoked, of the Son whose kingdom is to come, of the Spirit through whose inworking the children of God are disciplined and enabled to do His will.—Stier.
Luke 11:3. “Give us day by day our daily bread.”—This teaches us
(1) that everything we enjoy is the gift of God;
(2) that as God is willing and able to give, we should not be overwhelmed by earthly anxieties and cares;
(3) that our desires should be modest and reasonable; and
(4) that we should ever be thankful for having received from God so much more than daily bread.
“Give us.”—The prayer
(1) acknowledges that we are indebted to God for our simplest boons;
(2) asks for them all;
(3) asks them only day by day;
(4) and asks for no more (cf. Proverbs 30:8).—Farrar.
The Present, the Past, and the Future.—As the prayer for daily bread raises us above care for to-day, and the prayer for the forgiveness of sins is meant to quiet us concerning the past, so is the prayer against temptation a weapon for the uncertain future.—Van Oosterzee.
Luke 11:4. “Forgive,” etc.—The last three petitions have regard to
(1) the beginning,
(2) the progress, and
(3) the end of spiritual life in the world; the worshipper confesses his guilt, deprecates danger, and asks for deliverance from the evils to which he is exposed.
“For we also forgive.”—As the first invocation put away all idolatry and image-worship, so is all murder, and anger, adultery, stealing, slandering, and whatever other evil to our neighbour there may be, put away from the heart and will of him who prays the fifth petition and abides in it.—Stier.
“Indebted to us.”—We cannot forgive sins, as such—that belongs to God; but only as obligations from man to man, represented by the commercial phrase “indebted.”
“Lead us not.”—The memory of past faults suggests the idea of present weakness, and excites a fear of falling into sin in time to come.
Opportunity and Desire.—Our prayer is, Let not the tempting opportunity meet the too-susceptible disposition. If the temptation comes, quench the desire; if the desire, spare us the temptation.—Farrar.
“Deliver us from evil.”—The expression is a military term, which describes the deliverance of a prisoner who has fallen, or who is on the point of falling, into the power of the enemy. The enemy is the Evil One, who lays snares in the path of the faithful. They, conscious of the danger which they run, and of their own weakness, ask God not to permit them to be taken in the snares which may have been set for them by the adversary.—Godet.
“Temptation … evil.”
1. Concealed pitfalls.
2. Open dangers. The petition teaches us
(1) humility—we are to ask for help against all temptations, even the smallest, and not to be led near them; and
(2) caution—for if our prayer is to be effectual, we must shun evil and the appearance of evil.
Luke 11:5-13. The Efficacy of Prayer.—This is proved by—
I. An example of how importunity avails, even in the case of a disobliging neighbour.
II. Daily experience (Luke 11:9-10).
III. The fatherly character of God (Luke 11:11-13).
Luke 11:5-10. Indifference overcome by Prayer.—After Jesus had taught His disciples how to pray, He went on to speak to them in a parable that seems to cast a new light on some of those relations of man to God which are to be affected by this mysterious agency. For instead of representing the Divine nature as open and tremulous to our cry, it is represented to us here as if wrapped in a slumber heavy as midnight, and only to be awakened by our persistent and most urgent endeavour. The same view of matters is presented in the parable of the Importunate Widow and the Unjust Judge. The first feeling we have about the matter is either that there has been some mistake in the way these parables are reported or that it is hopeless for try to understand them. We say, “This householder asleep at midnight! What can this mean?” I think the meaning is that Jesus would teach us in this way what we aro learning in many other ways—that the best things in the Divine life, as in the natural, will not come to us merely for the asking; that true prayer is the whole strength of the man going out after his needs, and the real secret of getting what you want in heaven, as on earth, lies in the fact that you give your whole heart for it, or you cannot adequately value it when you get it. So, “Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you” means, “Put out all your energies, as if you had to waken heaven out of a midnight slumber, or an indifference like that of the unjust judge.” The parable teaches something in our life we seldom adequately consider—viz., what might be called the indifference of God to anything less than the best there is in man—the determination of Heaven not to hear what we are not determined that heaven shall hear.—Collyer.
Luke 11:5-8. Duty of Hospitality and Neighbourliness.—We are here taught incidentally:
1. The duty of hospitality, and that not grudgingly, or of necessity, but cheerfully shown.
2. The duty of friendly and neighbourly accommodation.
Luke 11:5-7. A Contrast.—All the circumstantial features form a contrast to the Friend in heaven, who never gives such an answer (though it may at first seem so to unbelief). God does not sleep, He never shuts His door against us; He has no favourite children who divert His attention from us; He does not think it a trouble to hear, and to grant. And though man sometimes is really not able to help, yet God is always both willing and able.—Stier.
A Parable on Importunate Prayer.—Jesus was well aware how God often shows Himself so little like a father that those who trust in Him are tempted to think Him rather like a man of selfish spirit, who cares only for his own comfort. Such precisely is the representation of God as He appears in the parable of the Selfish Neighbour.
I. The relevancy of the parable requires that His character should be regarded as representing God—not as He is, indeed, but as He seems to tried faith.—It is thus tacitly admitted by Jesus that, far from giving His children what they need before they ask, God often delays for a lengthened period answers to prayer, so as to present to suppliants an aspect of indifference and heartlessness. The didactic drift of the parable is: You will have to wait on God, but it is worth your while to wait. Man can be compelled to hear by importunity and excessive knocking. God is not a man to be compelled, yet it may be said that the apparent reluctance of Providence can be overcome by persistent prayer which refuses to be gainsaid or frustrated, continuing to knock at the door with an importunity that knows no shame. In other words, with full consciousness how much there is in the world which seems to prove the contrary, Jesus asserted the reality of a Paternal Providence continually working for the good of those who make the kingdom of God their chief end.
II. It must be observed that, while giving this assurance to His disciples that God would attend to their spiritual welfare, Jesus did not lead them to expect that in this sphere there would be no occasion for exercising the virtue of patience.—On the contrary, it is clearly implied in the parable that the delays which make God assume so untoward an aspect take place in connection with all the objects referred to in the Lord’s Prayer: the advancement of the kingdom, daily bread, the personal spiritual necessities of disciples. Hence we learn that even the Holy Spirit may not be given at once in satisfying measure to those who earnestly desire it, though sure to be so given eventually. The Holy Spirit is given in ample measure to all earnest souls, but not even to the most earnest without such delays as are most trying to faith and patience.—Bruce.
I. This ever-mindful God, our loving Father, has a way of His own, and we must meet Him in His own way.—He is very willing to give good gifts—more so than our earthly fathers. But He must be entreated to give them.
II. Ye shall receive, but not with out asking. And then, too, not always at once.—This is the lesson of the parable. Because of His importunity, the man got what he wanted. He would not be put off. He asked till he got.
III. How much more will our Heavenly Father give good gifts.—especially that best gift, His own Holy Spirit—the Spirit of Christian peace, and joy, and love, and holiness—if we ask, and ask again, and will not let Him go until He blesses us!—James Hastings.
How God Appears to the Timid Mind.—The parable is intended to set forth, not the actual way in which God ought to be regarded, but how He may be represented to a man, by his ignorance and fear, by one who is in need, and has ventured at some midnight hour to knock at God’s door. Now that He has begun to ask, why should he leave off? Let him continue to ask. Importunity and a little delay will do him good in this first venture. He will come back more confidently next time, for God will seem more a friend than He was before.—Maccoll.
Utter Selfishness Depicted.—The utter selfishness of the man to whom the appeal is made is vividly depicted.
1. Though addressed as “friend,” he omits any such appellation in his reply.
2. His first words are rude, surly, and abrupt.
3. He details the obstacles that stand in the way of granting the request—the trouble involved in opening the door, and the risk of awakening the children.
Luke 11:5. “At midnight.”—He designed us to understand that if a man, unwillingly roused from his sleep by some petitioner, is compelled to give, with how much greater kindliness we may expect bounty at the hands of Him who “never slumbereth” and who is the very person who rouses us to call us upon Him.—Augustine.
“Three loaves.”—I.e., cakes of bread. There is no mystical significance in the number—it is simply an appropriate detail in the parable: one loaf for the guest, one for the host who sits down at table with him, and a third in reserve.
Importunate Faith.—When the heart, which has been away on a journey, returns suddenly at midnight (in the time of greatest darkness and distress) home to us—that is, comes to itself and feels hunger—and we have nothing wherewith to satisfy it, God requires of us bold, importunate faith.—Meyer.
Luke 11:7. “Trouble me not.”—The reluctance is real: but God’s reluctance is apparent only, and even this appearance arises from reasons which work for our best good.
Luke 11:8. “Importunity.”—I.e., shamelessness. How expressive the word, and how instructive! It teaches us the nature of true prevailing prayer. The prayer which gains its end is prayer which knocks till the door is opened, regardless of so-called decencies and proprieties, which it seeks till it obtains, at the risk of being reckoned impudent, which simply cannot understand and will not take a refusal, and asks till it receives.—Bruce.
Importunity in Prayer Reasonable, and Incumbent upon us.
I. Because of the majesty and holiness of Him whom we address, and our own weakness and sinfulness. Indifference and lukewarmness are out of place.
II. Because of the great value of the spiritual deliverances and blessings we implore.
Encouragements to Importunity in Prayer.
I. It tends to quicken our desires.
II. Such prayer has the promise of being answered.
III. The record in Scripture of successful importunate prayers.—Jacob, Elijah, the Syro-phenician woman, St. Paul, and Christ Himself.
Luke 11:9. “I say unto you.”—A marked distinction is to be drawn between the use of this phrase in the preceding verse and that made of it here. The former is unemphatic—any one would admit that such “shamelessness” would be likely to prevail in the circumstances described; any one could say, “He would be sure to rise and give whatever was asked.” But in this verse Christ emphatically assures us on His own testimony that like importunity does avail in prayer to God. Our warrant for believing in the efficacy of importunate prayer rests, not upon analogies or arguments, but upon the testimony of Christ Himself.
1. Asking, Seeking, Knocking.—We ask for what we wish.
2. We seek for what we miss.
3. We knock for that from which we feel ourselves shut out.—Brown.
“It shall be opened.”
“Fervent love,
And lively hope with violence assail
The kingdom of the heavens, and overcome
The will of the Most High; not in such sort
As man prevails o’er man; but conquers it,
Because ’tis willing to be conquered, still,
Though conquered, by its mercy conquering.”
Dante (Parad. xx.).
Luke 11:10. Receiveth … findeth … it shall be opened.”—Two of the verbs are in the present, the third is in the future; and this last is because the opening of the door is not the action of the person who knocks, but of another within.
Asking Apparently in Vain.—If any complain that they have “asked,” “sought,” “knocked in vain,” let them be reminded—
I. That prayer is not always answered immediately.—The reason why God sometimes delays His gifts may be because that which is long looked for is sweeter when obtained, but that is held cheap which comes at once.
II. That is often an act of the truest love to withhold a favour, however earnestly prayed for.
III. That prayer, though sometimes actually refused, for merciful reasons, at the time, is sometimes, perhaps always, eventually answered in a different and far higher sense than was expected or desired.—Burgon.
The Most Wonderful of the Parables.—In some respects this parable and that of the Unjust Judge, are the more wonderful and precious of all the parables. The rest present such views of Divine grace as may be shadowed forth by the ordinary manifestations of human character and action—such as a shepherd bringing back his sheep, or a sower casting his seed into the ground; but these two go sheer down through all that lies on the surface of human history—down through all the upper and ordinary grades of human experience—and penetrate into the lower, darker, meaner things at the bottom, in order to find a longer line wherewith to measure out greater lengths and breadths of God’s compassion.—Arnot.
Luke 11:11-12. Bread, Fish, Eggs.—The three articles of food are not taken at haphazard. Bread, hard-boiled eggs, and fried fish, are the ordinary articles used for food by a traveller in the East.
The outward resemblance between the wholesome articles of food and the useless or hurtful substitute, renders the form in which the lesson is cast all the more picturesque and happy.
Luke 11:11. God’s Giving.—God gives us
(1) more than we ask,
(2) what we cannot ask;
(3) against our asking.
Luke 11:13. “Being evil.”—Original sin is here very distinctly implied.
No Flattery of the World in Scripture.—Scripture does not commend itself to the world by speaking well of it; more wonder is it that Scripture has been received by men as God’s Word.—Wordsworth.
Christ Implies His own Sinlessness.—Not “we being evil”: an indirect but unmistakeable testimony to His own sinlessness.
“How much more.”—He has both
(1) will to give, and
(2) wisdom to give good things only. He will give us as largely as we can receive of His own Holy Spirit.