The Gospel of Luke
Page 29
[10:38]
Since the parable of the good Samaritan emphasizes love of neighbor, many scholars suggest that this next passage instead highlights love of “the Lord, your God” (10:27; see vv. 39–41, where the title “Lord” is again used for Jesus). Moreover, like the earlier list of women who followed Jesus along with the Twelve (8:1–3), this passage highlights women disciples, Martha and Mary, who happen to be siblings. In typical Lukan fashion, they complement James and John, siblings as well, who appeared at the beginning of the journey (9:54) that now continues. Martha welcomed Jesus, and so the passage further explains what it means to welcome Jesus and his gospel message (10:8).
The village of Martha and Mary, unspecified by Luke, is Bethany, according to John’s Gospel (John 11:1). Bethany is near Jerusalem (“about two miles away,” John 11:18), so Luke fittingly mentions it toward the end of the journey there (Luke 19:29). However, the mention of Bethany here near the beginning of the central section, when Jesus is presumably still some distance from Jerusalem, would not fit the geographic framework. The “orderly sequence” of Luke’s narrative can be logical rather than chronological (1:3).
[10:39]
Mary assumes the posture of a disciple, by sitting beside the Lord at his feet (8:35; Acts 22:3).44 Her focus is on listening to him speak—literally, “to his word.” She is doing exactly what the voice at the transfiguration said to do: “Listen to him” (Luke 9:35). She realizes what a blessed opportunity it is to hear what she hears (10:23–24).
[10:40]
Martha, on the other hand, is burdened or “distracted” (RSV) on account of much serving. Certainly, Martha’s efforts to serve her special guest are all well and good (see 4:39; 8:3). Indeed, she is following Old Testament precedent: the widow of Zarephath and the woman of Shunem gave such hospitality to the prophets Elijah and Elisha (1 Kings 17:10–16; 2 Kings 4:8). However, there is already a hint of her shortcoming in the description. Since there is so “much” to do, she is distracted and too busy to pay attention to Jesus’ words. Her concern also leads her to want to take her sister away from Jesus, whom she asks to intervene: Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me by myself to do the serving? She follows up her question, which expects a yes answer, with a command: tell her to help me.
[10:41–42]
In response, Jesus corrects her as earlier he corrected James and John (Luke 9:55). Affectionately repeating her name (see 22:31)45—Martha, Martha—he points out what is wrong with her fretful activity: you are anxious and worried. In the parable of the sower, Jesus had warned that anxieties can, like thorns, choke a person’s response to the word (8:14). He later cautions against being anxious (12:22, 25–26) and allowing oneself to be weighed down with the anxieties of life (21:34). Certainly, Martha’s anxieties spring from her desire to serve Jesus, not from the pursuit of sinful pleasures also mentioned in these other verses. However, Jesus’ teaching about not being anxious has general application.
Second, he explains why Mary’s behavior is proper. Whereas Martha is concerned about many things, Jesus explains that only one thing is necessary: listening to him. In other words, the aspect that takes priority when Jesus is “welcomed” (10:38) is welcoming—in other words, listening to—his message of salvation, as Mary was doing. This is the better part (“the good portion,” RSV) that Mary, like “good soil” (8:8, 15), has chosen (see 9:35).
Interestingly, Lydia in Acts makes the right combination, responding like both Mary and Martha. First, she “listened” to the gospel message preached by Paul and then offered hospitality to him and his companions (Acts 16:14–15).
Reflection and Application (10:38–42)
Active and contemplative. From early on in Christian history, Martha and Mary have been understood as signifying the active life and the contemplative life.46 For contemporary Christians, it is helpful to emphasize the unity of these two dimensions of their lives: union with God through prayer overflows into all one’s activities, so that they bear fruit (see John 15:5).
1. Many ideas in this introduction depend on Jean-Noël Aletti, L’art de raconter Jésus Christ: L’écriture narrative de l’évangile de Luc (Paris: Seuil, 1989), 111–23, 134–36.
2. Luke 9:51–13:21; 13:22–17:10; 17:11–18:30; 18:31–19:44.
3. Luke 11:14, 27, 29; 12:1, 13, 54; 13:14, 17; 14:25; 18:36; 19:3, 39.
4. Luke 19:47–48; 20:1, 6, 9, 19, 26, 45; 21:23, 38; 22:2.
5. V. J. Samkutty, The Samaritan Mission in Acts (London: T&T Clark, 2006), 113–21, 203. In Acts, when the disciples ask Jesus when he is “going to restore the kingdom to Israel” (Acts 1:6), he explains that Israel’s restoration is tied up with their mission first “in Jerusalem,” then “throughout Judea and Samaria,” and finally to the nations, “the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8).
6. Luke 9:60, 62; 11:2, 20; 12:31–32; 13:18–21, 28–29; 16:16; 17:20–21; 18:16–17, 24–30; 19:11.
7. The teaching material in the central section is either unique to Luke or also found in Matthew, in contrast with much of the material in the Galilean section, which closely parallels Mark.
8. Craig A. Evans, “‘He Set His Face’: On the Meaning of Luke 9:51,” in Luke and Scripture: The Function of Sacred Tradition in Luke-Acts, by Craig A. Evans and James A. Sanders (Minneapolis: Fortress, 1993), 93–105.
9. Ezek 21:2 RSV. See also Ezek 6:2; 13:17; 21:2 (20:46 RSV).
10. Literally, “because his face was going toward Jerusalem,” thus highlighting Jesus’ firm resolve for the third time in as many verses.
11. A variant reading for Luke 9:54 even includes the phrase “as also Elijah did.”
12. Also, Acts 9:2; 18:26; 19:9, 23; 22:4; 24:14, 22.
13. Daniel Marguerat and Yvan Bourquin, How to Read Bible Stories: An Introduction to Narrative Criticism, trans. John Bowden (London: SCM, 1999), 171.
14. Markus Bockmuehl, “‘Let the Dead Bury Their Dead’ (Matt 8:22 / Luke 9:60): Jesus and the Halakhah,” Journal of Theological Studies 49 (1998): 564.
15. The point of the image is that one has to keep looking forward so that the furrow made by the plow may come out straight.
16. The Greek manuscripts are divided between “seventy” and “seventy-two” disciples. This likely reflects a similar variation in the table of nations in Gen 10: whereas the Hebrew text lists seventy nations, the †Septuagint has seventy-two. See also Num 11:24–26.
17. Luke 19:29; 22:8; Acts 8:14; 11:30; 13:2; 15:27, 39–40; 19:22.
18. Joel 3:13 RSV.
19. C. Kavin Rowe, Early Narrative Christology: The Lord in the Gospel of Luke (Berlin: de Gruyter, 2006; Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2009), 134.
20. For example, wisdom’s “children” (Luke 7:35), “children of light” (16:8), and “son of encouragement” (Acts 4:36).
21. m. Shevi’it 8:10.
22. Jubilees 22.16.
23. David J. Rudolph, A Jew to the Jews: Jewish Contours of Pauline Flexibility in 1 Corinthians 9:19–23 (Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2011), 183–90.
24. See Gen 13:13; 19:1–28; Isa 1:7, 9; Lam 4:6; Ezek 16:46–52; Amos 4:11.
25. Josephus, Jewish War 2.168; Jewish Antiquities 18.28.
26. Joel 3:4–8 RSV.
27. E.g., Jubilees 7.29.
28. The name “Satan” for the devil (see comment on Luke 4:2) appears here for the first time in Luke.
29. The Isaiah passage is similarly used to describe the fall of Satan in nonbiblical Jewish literature; see, e.g., Life of Adam and Eve 12–16.
30. Luke 11:14; 22:3, 31, 53; Acts 5:16; 8:7; 16:16; 26:18.
31. John Paul II, Redemptoris Missio (On the Permanent Validity of the Church’s Missionary Mandate) 79.
32. Francis, Evangelii Gaudium (On the Proclamation of the Gospel in Today’s World) 21.
33. See also the Qumran thanksgiving hymns: 1QHa (Hodayota) XV, 26–27.
34. Peter Richardson, “The Thunderbolt in Q and the Wise Man in Corinth,” in From Jesus to Paul, ed. Peter Richardson and
John C. Hurd (Waterloo, ON: Wilfrid Laurier University Press, 1984), 91–101.
35. On inheriting life in the world to come, see m. Avot 2:7; 4:16; 5:19; Sanhedrin 10:1–4.
36. There are actually two others (Lev 19:34; Deut 11:1), but these refer back to the two verses quoted. The combination of verses is another example of the gezerah shawah technique (see comment on Luke 4:18–19).
37. m. Berakhot 1:1–4.
38. Testament of Issachar 5:2; Testament of Dan 5:3.
39. The Levites assisted the priests in the temple (see Num 3:9–10).
40. The oral law, as formulated later in the †Mishnah (m. Nazir 7:1), indicates that a priest may bury a neglected corpse, even though he becomes ritually unclean by doing so. In part, Jesus may here be teaching a similar lesson, indicating that the commandment to love one’s neighbor takes precedence.
41. m. Gittin 5:8.
42. It occurs once more, in the parable of the prodigal son, to describe the father’s compassionate response (Luke 15:20).
43. Several Church Fathers indicate that the Samaritans considered themselves to be the guardians of the law, deriving their name from the Hebrew verb shamar, meaning “keep, guard.” In 2 Chron 13:11, a Jewish king seemingly mocks this idea. See Knoppers, Jews and Samaritans, 16.
44. Earlier, a woman stood at Jesus’ feet and anointed them (7:36–50). As already noted, John’s Gospel identifies Mary the sister of Martha as someone who anointed Jesus’ feet (John 11:2; 12:3).
45. François Bovon, Luke, trans. Christine M. Thomas, Donald S. Deer, and James Crouch, 3 vols., Hermeneia (Minneapolis: Fortress, 2002–13), 1:253–54n57.
46. E.g., Origen, Fragments on Luke 171 (trans. Lienhard, 192).
Prayer and Almsgiving
Luke 11:1–54
The topic of Jesus’ earlier conversation with the scholar of the law—loving God and neighbor (10:27)—is further explained in Luke 11. At the beginning of the chapter, Jesus teaches his disciples about prayer (11:1–13), including the Lord’s Prayer, so that they can grow in love of God, sharing in Jesus’ own intimate relationship with the Father (see 10:21–22). At the end of the chapter (11:37–54), Jesus strongly corrects the Pharisees and scholars of the law for their preoccupation with ritual washings (11:38), urging that instead they love their neighbor by giving alms (11:41). In the middle section, Jesus addresses the crowds (11:14, 27, 29), revealing to them more about who he is in response to some who accuse him of being guided by evil spirits (11:14–15, 17–26) and to others who are seeking a sign (11:16, 29–32). At the very center of the chapter, Jesus explains the key to loving God and neighbor: hearing the word of God and keeping it (11:27–28).
Jesus Teaches the Disciples to Pray (11:1–13)
1He was praying in a certain place, and when he had finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray just as John taught his disciples.” 2He said to them, “When you pray, say:
Father, hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come.
3Give us each day our daily bread
4and forgive us our sins
for we ourselves forgive everyone in debt to us,
and do not subject us to the final test.”
5And he said to them, “Suppose one of you has a friend to whom he goes at midnight and says, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread, 6for a friend of mine has arrived at my house from a journey and I have nothing to offer him,’ 7and he says in reply from within, ‘Do not bother me; the door has already been locked and my children and I are already in bed. I cannot get up to give you anything.’ 8I tell you, if he does not get up to give him the loaves because of their friendship, he will get up to give him whatever he needs because of his persistence.
9“And I tell you, ask and you will receive; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 10For everyone who asks, receives; and the one who seeks, finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. 11What father among you would hand his son a snake when he asks for a fish? 12Or hand him a scorpion when he asks for an egg? 13If you then, who are wicked, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the Father in heaven give the holy Spirit to those who ask him?”
OT: Exod 16:4–5; Isa 63:16; 64:7; Jer 3:19; Ezek 36:23
NT: Mark 14:36; Luke 10:21–22; 12:22–32; 22:42; 23:34, 46; Rom 8:15; Gal 4:6. // Matt 6:9–13; 7:7–11
Catechism: Jesus a model of prayer, 520, 2601; Lord’s Prayer, 2759, 2773; Father, 2779; your kingdom come, 2632; daily bread, 2837; forgiveness, 1425, 2845; prayer of petition, 2613, 2761; prayer for the Holy Spirit, 728, 2671
Lectionary: Seventeenth Sunday Ordinary Time (Year C); Luke 11:5–13: Anointing of the Sick
[11:1]
The previous passage took place in “a certain village” (10:38 NRSV), and this one occurs in a certain place. Luke again does not specify the exact location. The focus is not on where it happened but on what Jesus was doing: he was praying. The disciples, who are by now accustomed to seeing Jesus praying, are inspired to enter more deeply into prayer themselves. So one of his disciples asks him, Lord, teach us to pray, as John did with his disciples (see 5:33). The rabbis of the time typically gave instruction on prayer to their disciples. In response to the request, Jesus teaches a new prayer, brief but profound, which changes the very way of praying.
Luke’s version of the Lord’s Prayer is shorter than the one in Matthew (Matt 6:9–13), containing five petitions instead of seven. Like the variations in the accounts of Jesus’ institution of the Eucharist, the differences here may reflect how the Lord’s Prayer was used in prayer and worship in the early Church.1 Matthew’s version became the one commonly adopted for liturgical, devotional, and catechetical use.2
[11:2]
Earlier in his own prayer, Jesus addressed God as “Father” (Luke 10:21). He also explained that as the Son he could reveal the Father to whomever he wished (10:22). Thus he now reveals that when you pray, it is good to begin by addressing God as Father. Whereas the title “Father” for God is typically used in the Old Testament in relation to the people of Israel as a whole (Deut 32:6; Mal 2:10) or to Israel’s king as a special case (2 Sam 7:14; Ps 89:27),3 Jesus is distinctive in teaching that ordinary individuals can regularly address God as “Father.” In this way, Jesus invites disciples to share in the deep intimacy of his own relationship with the Father, whom elsewhere he describes as merciful (Luke 6:36; 15:20), giving (11:13; 12:32), attentive to human needs (12:30), and forgiving (23:34). Jesus may have taught the prayer in Aramaic,4 saying Abba, a word preserved in its original form elsewhere in the New Testament (Mark 14:36; Rom 8:15; Gal 4:6). To name God Abba or “Father” in prayer expresses a family bond, indicating that “we may be called the children of God” (1 John 3:1). It is with such “childlike” (Luke 10:21; see 18:17) trust and simplicity that one should daringly pray the petitions of the Lord’s Prayer.
The first two petitions focus on things of God (your) and the last three on the needs of those praying (“us”). The passive form of the petition that God’s name be hallowed—honored as holy—recognizes that God alone can make it happen: “I will sanctify my great name” (Ezek 36:23 NRSV). Empowered by God, human beings, such as Mary, can hold God’s name in reverence: “Holy is his name” (Luke 1:49). The petition also asks for assistance so that one’s life may not profane God’s name (see Exod 20:7; Deut 5:11) but rather reflect his holiness: “Be holy, for I, the LORD your God, am holy” (Lev 19:2).
The second petition, your kingdom come, recalls the preaching of Jesus (Luke 4:43; 6:20; 8:1; 9:11) and of his disciples (9:2; 10:9) about the kingdom. Though the kingdom is already at hand with Jesus (11:20; 17:21), one must also fervently pray for its future coming in power (12:31; 23:42, 51). The petition implicitly asks that God’s kingdom rather than Satan’s kingdom rule in one’s own life (see 11:18–20).
LIVING TRADITION
Daily Bread
The petition “Give us each day our daily bread” (Luke 11:3)
was interpreted in various ways by the Church Fathers, thus shedding light on the meanings it can have for contemporary Christians. St. Cyprian (third century), following Tertullian, explains that the petition “may be understood both spiritually and literally.” By the spiritual meaning, he refers to Christ as “the bread of life” (John 6:48) and to the practice of receiving “his Eucharist daily as the food of salvation.”a St. Augustine gives the literal meaning and two spiritual meanings: “‘Daily bread’ represents all that is necessary to sustain us in this life. . . . It may also refer to the sacrament of the body of Christ, which we receive daily. . . . [We can also] interpret ‘daily bread’ in a spiritual sense, as meaning the divine precepts, which we should daily reflect on and put into practice.”b
The word “daily” in Luke 11:3 (and in the parallel verse, Matt 6:11) translates epiousios, which does not elsewhere occur in any prior Greek literature. Origen and Jerome after him relate it to the word “essence” or “substance” (ousia) and interpret it as referring to the Eucharist. They both also relate epiousios to a similar word, periousios, meaning “special” (Exod 19:5 LXX). Moreover, they are both familiar with another interpretation referring to tomorrow’s bread—that is, bread for the age to come in the heavenly banquet, of which the Eucharist is a foretaste.c