OT: 1 Kings 10:1–10; Ps 119:105; Jon 3:1–10
NT: Matt 16:4; Mark 8:12; Luke 1:28; 6:47; 8:15–16, 21; 1 Cor 1:22. // Matt 5:15; 6:22–23; 12:39–42
Catechism: Jesus greater than Solomon and Jonah, 590
Lectionary: Luke 11:29–32: Wednesday First Week of Lent; Luke 11:27–28: Assumption (Vigil); Consecration of Virgins and Religious Profession
A common emphasis on the word of God links the three seemingly unrelated parts of this passage. True blessing comes from hearing and keeping God’s word (vv. 27–28), communicated of old by Jonah’s preaching and Solomon’s wisdom and now by Jesus (vv. 29–32) and filling with light those who receive it (vv. 33–36).
[11:27–28]
After Jesus deals with the objection about Beelzebul but before he can reply to the other objection, about a sign (11:16), a woman interrupts him with a beatitude intended to praise him by honoring his mother: Blessed is the womb that carried you and the breasts at which you nursed. In a sense, she is fulfilling Mary’s own prophecy that “all ages” will call her “blessed” (1:48). However, the fundamental reason that she is blessed, as Elizabeth had said in her beatitude, is Mary’s belief in the Lord’s message through the angel (1:45). Jesus replies to the woman with a beatitude that echoes Elizabeth’s, specifying this more basic reason for blessedness: Blessed are those who hear the word of God and observe it. Indeed, Mary gave a model response to God’s word (1:38), and thus she is the blessed Virgin Mary. She sets an example for other disciples to follow on the way to beatitude: hear the word and act on it (see 6:47; 8:21).
[11:29–32]
As the crowd continues to grow, Jesus addresses the objection about a sign (11:16). Seeking a sign is an indication that this generation is an evil generation. The phrase likens the Israelites of his day who reject him (see 17:25) to the evil generation that wandered in the wilderness and failed to enter the promised land (Num 32:13; Deut 1:35). Earlier, Jesus had criticized “this generation” of his contemporaries for failing to respond to him and John (Luke 7:31; see 9:41). Here Jesus speaks six times against this generation (11:29–32, 50–51). Because he is being rejected, Jesus frequently warns this generation about the coming judgment (see 10:13–14; 11:19), when others will join together to condemn it for failing to hear and repent.
Hence, the only sign that will be given it is the sign of Jonah. In the parallel passage in Matthew, the sign of the prophet Jonah is explained as a reference to Jesus’ death and resurrection, since “Jonah was in the belly of the whale three days and three nights” (Matt 12:40) before being returned to land (Jon 2:11). Implicitly, this may be the meaning here also because the mention of the Son of Man who will become a sign recalls Jesus’ passion prediction: “The Son of Man must . . . be killed and on the third day be raised” (Luke 9:22). However, in the immediate context about hearing “the word of God” (11:28), the reference is more to the preaching of Jonah than to his sojourn in the whale’s belly. In response, the Ninevites surprisingly repented (Jon 3:1–10). Hence, the preaching of Jesus—and then about Jesus by his disciples—is the sign, which eventually will lead even the Gentiles to repent (Acts 11:18), as did the Gentile people of Nineveh.
There is a similar emphasis on a Gentile hearing the word of God in the reference to the queen of the south (i.e., of Sheba), who came to hear the wisdom of Solomon (see 1 Kings 10:1–10). Jesus is now the one whose wisdom (Luke 2:40, 52) people need to hear, as he is the personification of wisdom (see 7:35), a wisdom that goes beyond “the wise” of this world (10:21). Paul sums up the message nicely: “Jews demand signs and Greeks look for wisdom, but we proclaim Christ . . . the wisdom of God” (1 Cor 1:22–24).
With these comparisons to a prophet (Jonah) and a king (Solomon), readers are reminded that Jesus is both prophet and king (Luke 7:16; 19:38). Indeed, he is greater than these forerunners, and the “prophets and kings” who came before him would have wished to see and hear him (10:24).
[11:33]
The emphasis on hearing the word of God continues with Jesus’ sayings about a lamp and light (11:33–36). The connection between God’s word and light, seen earlier in Jesus’ teaching (8:15–16), is rooted in Scripture: “Your word is a lamp for my feet, / a light for my path” (Ps 119:105). Jesus, who is “light” (Luke 2:32), is the one who communicates the word of God that must be heard (see 5:1; 6:47; 10:39; 11:28).
[11:34–36]
The light image shifts to one’s ability to see through one’s eye, which is the lamp of the body. When the eye is sound (haplous), there is no difficulty and a person becomes full of light, but when it is bad (ponēros), then that person remains in darkness. This observation, coming shortly after Jesus’ comment about “this generation” being “evil” (ponēros, v. 29), suggests that his opponents are not making sound or sincere judgments about him (see 11:15), precisely because they have an “evil” eye, such that the light in them has become darkness.
The scriptural background is helpful for understanding the image’s ethical meaning.13 Having a good eye (“bountiful eye”) is a biblical idiom for a person who is generous, one who shares “bread with the poor” (Prov 22:9 RSV).14 On the other hand, one whose “eye” is “evil” (Deut 15:9 KJV) gives nothing to a neighbor in need (see Prov 28:22 KJV). Such an interpretation builds on Jesus’ recent parable about the good Samaritan, who knew how to look upon his neighbor (Luke 10:33) with mercy. Moreover, in the next passage, Jesus will admonish the Pharisees to give alms (11:41), an activity associated with having a good eye (Tob 4:7, 16).
Woes against the Pharisees and Law-Scholars (11:37–54)
37After he had spoken, a Pharisee invited him to dine at his home. He entered and reclined at table to eat. 38The Pharisee was amazed to see that he did not observe the prescribed washing before the meal. 39The Lord said to him, “Oh you Pharisees! Although you cleanse the outside of the cup and the dish, inside you are filled with plunder and evil. 40You fools! Did not the maker of the outside also make the inside? 41But as to what is within, give alms, and behold, everything will be clean for you. 42Woe to you Pharisees! You pay tithes of mint and of rue and of every garden herb, but you pay no attention to judgment and to love for God. These you should have done, without overlooking the others. 43Woe to you Pharisees! You love the seat of honor in synagogues and greetings in marketplaces. 44Woe to you! You are like unseen graves over which people unknowingly walk.”
45Then one of the scholars of the law said to him in reply, “Teacher, by saying this you are insulting us too.” 46And he said, “Woe also to you scholars of the law! You impose on people burdens hard to carry, but you yourselves do not lift one finger to touch them. 47Woe to you! You build the memorials of the prophets whom your ancestors killed. 48Consequently, you bear witness and give consent to the deeds of your ancestors, for they killed them and you do the building. 49Therefore, the wisdom of God said, ‘I will send to them prophets and apostles; some of them they will kill and persecute’ 50in order that this generation might be charged with the blood of all the prophets shed since the foundation of the world, 51from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah who died between the altar and the temple building. Yes, I tell you, this generation will be charged with their blood! 52Woe to you, scholars of the law! You have taken away the key of knowledge. You yourselves did not enter and you stopped those trying to enter.” 53When he left, the scribes and Pharisees began to act with hostility toward him and to interrogate him about many things, 54for they were plotting to catch him at something he might say.
OT: Gen 4:8–11; Lev 27:30; Num 19:16; Deut 14:22; 2 Chron 24:19–22; Jer 26:4–9
NT: Matt 15:1–2; Mark 7:1–5, 15; Luke 7:36; 12:33; 14:1; 20:46. // Matt 23:4–7, 13, 23–36
Catechism: Jesus and the Pharisees, 575, 579, 588; almsgiving, 2447
[11:37]
A Pharisee invites Jesus to dine with him, the second of three such occurrences in Luke (7:36; 14:1). The first time, Jesus taught a lesson to his host about forgiveness and love. He
re Jesus similarly emphasizes important matters of the law, but his tone is more severe as he strongly reprimands the Pharisees and scholars of the law gathered at table.
[11:38]
The Pharisee is amazed that Jesus does not observe the prescribed washing before the meal, a custom of ritual purity not required by the law of Moses but added by later traditions (see Mark 7:3–5).15 The Pharisee’s consternation—rather different from the marveling amazement of the crowds after Jesus’ recent miracle (Luke 11:14)—suggests that his “eye” is not “sound” (11:34). His reaction triggers Jesus’ teaching, as did the reaction of Simon the Pharisee at the first meal (7:36–40).
[11:39–41]
However, Jesus’ teaching now takes the form of denunciation. He reproves the Pharisees, calling them fools, a term often applied to the wicked (e.g., Ps 94:8). With their ritual observances, they are concerned with the outside. However, they neglect the inside, where moral contamination originates. An external washing is useless if inside they are filled with plunder and evil. In order to cleanse what is within, Jesus instructs them to give alms, so that they may store up treasure in heaven (Luke 12:33; see the sidebar, “Almsgiving and Treasure in Heaven,” p. 241). Scripture speaks of the blessings that come from giving alms: “Almsgiving saves from death, and purges all sin” (Tob 12:9).16 In Acts, the almsgiving of the Gentile Cornelius is remembered before God (Acts 10:4, 31), eventually leading to his receiving the gift of the Holy Spirit (Acts 10:44–48) and the blessings of repentance and faith (Acts 11:18; 15:9).
[11:42]
Like an Old Testament prophet (e.g., Isa 5:8–24), Jesus now pronounces a series of woes or warnings of impending judgment, three directed against the Pharisees (Luke 11:42–44) and three against the scholars of the law (vv. 45–52). In the Sermon on the Plain, four woes contrasted with four beatitudes (6:20–26). Here, the woes contrast with the beatitude pronounced on those who hear and keep God’s word (11:28). The first woe denounces the Pharisees for focusing on slight matters such as paying tithes on each herb17 but neglecting weighty matters such as judgment or justice and love for God (see 10:27; Deut 6:5). Isaiah similarly had pronounced a woe on those who deprive “the needy of judgment” and make “widows their plunder” (Isa 10:1–2), and Micah had likewise counseled people “to do justice and to love goodness” (Mic 6:8).
[11:43]
Micah also had counseled them “to walk humbly” with God (Mic 6:8), precisely what the Pharisees are not doing. In the second woe, Jesus thus warns them about their taking pride in status by seeking the seat of honor in synagogues and delighting in public greetings.
[11:44]
The third woe is full of irony. The Pharisees, so careful to avoid becoming ritually contaminated, are in reality the ones who contaminate others, like graves that render unclean those who touch them (see Num 19:16).
[11:45–46]
One of the scholars of the law (see Luke 10:25) takes umbrage at Jesus’ words, leading to three more woes directed against them. The first woe chastises them for the heavy burdens they impose on people—for instance, through their detailed interpretations of the requirements of Torah. In Acts, Peter comments that the “yoke” of the Mosaic law is difficult to bear (Acts 15:10); consequently, the scholars should not make it even more difficult. Moreover, they do not lift one finger to help people fulfill the laws. Jesus’ words thus serve as a reminder for those who teach in his name that they must also assist and accompany those whom they teach.
[11:47–51]
The second woe warns the scholars that they are following in the footsteps of their ancestors who killed the many prophets sent by God. Abel and Zechariah run the gamut of Old Testament examples, from the first murder in Genesis to a murder in 2 Chronicles, which eventually became the last book in the Jewish canon (Gen 4:8–11; 2 Chron 24:19–22). Though the scholars seem to honor these prophets by building their memorials, they in fact prefer to keep them dead and buried. Indeed, they will continue to kill and persecute those sent by God, including Jesus himself (see Acts 7:52), as well as some of the prophets and apostles in the early Church (see Luke 21:12; Acts 8:1; 12:2).
Not just the scholars but this generation receives this warning (see Luke 11:29–32). Jeremiah had prophesied to his generation the destruction of the temple and the city of Jerusalem (by the Babylonians in 586 BC) because the people had not listened to the prophets whom God kept sending (Jer 26:4–9). Similarly, Jesus with these words begins to warn that “this generation will not pass away” (Luke 21:32) until the temple and Jerusalem itself are destroyed (see 21:5–6, 20–24), which indeed occurred at the Romans’ hands in AD 70.
[11:52]
The last woe is again ironic. The scholars of the law, who should not only hear and keep God’s word (see 11:28) but also teach it to others, actually have taken away the key to knowledge—that is, about God’s word and hence about the kingdom (see 8:10). In their teaching, they may have focused, like the Pharisees, on slight matters and neglected important matters (11:42). As a result, they did not enter the kingdom and have stopped those trying to enter (see 18:16–17, 24–25; Matt 23:13).
[11:53–54]
Jesus’ strong words end Luke’s account of the meal, as he then left the Pharisee’s home. Rather than heed his warnings as a call to conversion, the scribes (i.e., scholars of the law) and Pharisees react with hostility. They will thus interrogate him further, trying to catch him in his speech so as to accuse him (Luke 6:7). For his part, Jesus will continue teaching his followers and the crowds the nature of true discipleship.
Reflection and Application (11:52)
Teaching theology and the Church’s mission. Jesus’ last rebuke of the scholars of the law (11:52) is a reminder that theological teaching at every level must not hinder but rather serve the Church’s mission of proclaiming the kingdom of God so as to lead people to salvation.
1. James D. G. Dunn, Jesus Remembered (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2003), 227–28.
2. A form similar to Matthew’s is found in Didache 8.2.
3. God is also addressed as “Father” in some later Old Testament texts (e.g., Wis 14:3; Sir 51:10) and as “my Father” at Qumran (4Q372 I, 16).
4. Or Hebrew. See James R. Edwards, The Gospel according to Luke, PNTC (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2015), 331.
5. This idea and some others in this chapter are indebted to Tim Gray, private communication.
6. God “himself tempts no one” (James 1:13), but God may lead someone into temptation in the sense of allowing that person to be tempted by the devil (see Luke 4:1–2). See Joseph A. Fitzmyer, “And Lead Us Not into Temptation,” Biblica 84 (2003): 262–65.
7. Klyne R. Snodgrass, Stories with Intent: A Comprehensive Guide to the Parables of Jesus (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2008), 437–45.
8. Luke 15:7, 10; 16:9; 18:8, 14; 19:26.
9. Teresa of Ávila, The Way of Perfection 29.6, in The Collected Works of Saint Teresa of Avila, trans. Kieran Kavanaugh and Otilio Rodriguez, 3 vols. (Washington, DC: ICS Publications, 1976–85), 2:148.
10. Jean-Noël Aletti, L’art de raconter Jésus Christ: L’écriture narrative de l’évangile de Luc (Paris: Seuil, 1989), 116–17.
11. The parallel verse says “by the Spirit of God” (Matt 12:28).
12. Exod 8:19 RSV.
13. Dale C. Allison Jr., “The Eye Is the Lamp of the Body (Matthew 6:22–23 = Luke 11:34–36),” NTS 33 (1987): 76–77.
14. Indeed, “generous” is a possible meaning of the adjective haplous (Luke 11:34), translated by the NABRE as “sound.” In Rom 12:8 and 2 Cor 9:13, the related noun haplotēs is translated “generosity.”
15. m. Yadayim 1:1–2:4.
16. See also Prov 19:17; Sir 3:30; Dan 4:24 (4:27 RSV). Giving alms (eleēmosynē, also Luke 12:33) is thus a key element in Jesus’ ethic of mercy (eleos, 10:37).
17. The biblical laws on tithing (e.g., Deut 14:22) were specified in further detail by the rabbis (see, e.g., m. Ma’aserot).
Genuine Disciples in a G
rowing Kingdom
Luke 12:1–13:21
In a long, interactive sermon (12:1–13:9), Jesus teaches about genuine discipleship in contrast to the hypocrisy of the Pharisees (12:1), whom he has just denounced. The Pharisees are not present, so Jesus’ words are addressed alternately to his disciples and the crowds (12:1, 13, 22, 54) and include replies to three interruptions (12:13, 41; 13:1). He teaches his disciples to be fearless in the face of persecution (12:1–12). Moreover, they should not be worried about possessions but instead should seek God’s kingdom and give alms (12:13–34). Jesus also teaches about discipleship and its opposite through parables: the rich fool (12:16–21) and the servants awaiting their master (12:35–48).
When speaking to the crowds, Jesus warns them to discern the signs of the time (12:56) and to repent (13:1–5) in view of the coming judgment (12:58–59). The parable of the barren fig tree (13:6–9) similarly warns of the impending judgment on Jerusalem and its leaders, a message often repeated throughout the central section (11:49–51; 13:34–35; 19:41–44). Jesus also refers to his upcoming suffering in Jerusalem (12:50).
The Gospel of Luke Page 31