Luke 18 Commentary
The bar for prayer is very high. “…who cry out to Him day and night?” Check it again. Praying once, in the evening and while half asleep, doesn’t come close to “crying out to God day and night”. Praying once for an item doesn’t come close to the commitment of the widow.
How can a casual, hardly remembered and infrequent request ever get close to convincing this unjust Judge? Never mind the intensity of the prayer! Many prayers can be deemed unserious and empty of energy. Even when granted, the saint will have a seventh car in the car park! You wonder why angels push such prayers to the junk box!
The Pharisee picked his battles carefully. He chose the right opponent. The tax collector was never going to win the righteousness battle against the Pharisee. The Pharisee is the winner! And why not, let heaven know about this victory! It was always about self. ‘Self’ became the standard. But not in the eyes of the Creator God! The repentant tax collector walked away clean while the proud, self-proclaimed holy-cam-saint Pharisee remained unjustified.
Thank God for Jesus; we now have the standard against which to measure our own righteousness. And against this standard, we all fall short. The smart saint knows the importance of repentance – repentance at all times!
Little children are the standard! Why not? They think Dad is the hero and can beat anyone. He can provide everything. On a good day, they will even ask you to buy them a jumbo jet! Copy and paste this kind of trust and the kingdom becomes yours! There is more about little children. They want to be like dad. They learn by imitating Dad. Children will actually speak the language of their parents. Can the saint elevate their Christian walk to this level?
“No one is good – except God alone”. Did the rich young ruler hear this statement? We doubt. Shortly after this statement, he declared, “All these I have kept since I was a boy”. I’m righteous; I’m good. Of course, God knows better. He still lacked one thing. He lacked Jesus. Wealth was a hindrance and he couldn’t let go. He sought to worship two masters.
It is very difficult to let go of money; it is a stubborn god. But with God, this god can be defeated. You can be free. This god has several names – materialism, greediness, self-centeredness, ambition, success, status… Only limited by man’s imagination. But with God, this god can be defeated. We can be free.
We waste about 1.3 billion tons of food annually. Without this waste and with proper distribution, no one starves in our world! But greediness, materialism, and pride – gods like money demand that someone starve so that the structures of pride and status are maintained. Embrace these guys and dine with them and know your ticket to heaven is cancelled.
The past several chapters report events while on the trip to Jerusalem. Now the LORD Jesus tells His disciples what will happen in Jerusalem. Jesus would be mocked, insulted, flogged, and killed – the fulfillment of Isaiah 53. But the disciples don’t understand it.
The chapter closes with the healing of the blind beggar. He called out to Jesus. This is prayer. You can see the commitment. He didn’t shout once. The more he was stopped the more he shouted. Intensity. Consistency. Tenacity. Ambition. Right motive and an understanding and an appreciation of the fact that Jesus could heal him. Like the “persistent window” and the unjust Judge, so is this blind man with the just Judge Jesus. He receives his sight.
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