Глава 11

1–13. About prayer (the Lord's prayer). – 14–26. The Lord defends himself against the accusation that He entered into an alliance with the devil. – 27–28. One woman's pleasing of the Mother of Jesus Christ. – 29–36. Christ's answer to those who demanded a sign from Him. – 37–54. Christ's reproof of the Pharisees and lawyers. Luke 11:1. It happened that when He was praying in one place and stopped, one of His disciples said to Him: Lord! teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples. It is not known at what time and where the Lord once prayed, probably at some distance from His disciples. At the end of this prayer, one of the disciples turned to the Lord with a request to teach them to pray, that is, of course, to give some specific prayer formula, as the Baptist did for his disciples (cf. Luke 5:33). Luke 11:2. He said to them: when you pray, say: Our Father who art in heaven! Hallowed be Thy name; Thy kingdom come; Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven; In response to the request of the disciple, who obviously spoke on behalf of all the other disciples, the Lord teaches them the Lord's Prayer. Thus, the Lord's Prayer was apparently given to the disciples in response to their request, and the evangelist Matthew apparently placed it in the Talk on the Mount only because he began to expound the teaching of Christ on how to pray in general (Matthew 6:9). In the newest editions (for example, Tischendorf), the Lord's Prayer according to the Gospel of Luke has a more abbreviated form than that of the Evangelist Matthew. So, in verse 2 the words are missing: “ours, who are in heaven” and “Thy will be done as in heaven and on earth.” Some (for example, I. Weiss) attribute very great importance to this difference, saying that in general the Church did not preserve the words of Christ in their original form. But it seems to us that these accusations are in vain and unfair. Firstly, it still needs to be proven that both evangelists really do not agree with each other in the transmission of the Lord's Prayer. After all, the text of this prayer accepted in the Eastern Church, as cited by the Evangelist Luke, also has its basis in some ancient codices (see Tischendorf’s note on the 11th chapter of Luke, p. 561), and it is very possible that in those codices of the Gospel of Luke, where the Lord’s Prayer is given in an abbreviated form, a reading was proposed that existed only in those churches where these codes were written. In fact, the Lord's Prayer was first written down in the same way in the Gospels of both Matthew and Luke. And then, secondly, such an assumption is also possible - if we accept as a fact that in Luke the Lord's Prayer has only five petitions - that the Evangelist Matthew gave in his Gospel the formula of the prayer, and the Evangelist Luke only outlined its content in a more concise form, since in fact, for example, the expression: “Thy will be done,” is essentially similar to the previous petition: “Thy kingdom come.” In a word, the question of what the original form of the Lord's Prayer in the Gospel of Luke had cannot yet be considered finally resolved. One cannot, in fact, ignore the evidence of the Codex Sinaiticus, which contains the petition “Thy will be done both in heaven and on earth...”. For an explanation of the Lord's Prayer, see the commentary on Matthew 6:9–13. Luke 11:3. Give us our daily bread; Instead of “give,” as Matthew says, the word “give” (present tense) is used here. This means ongoing constant giving, which is answered by the expression used further: “for every day” (in Matthew - for this day), i.e. day after day, every day. Luke 11:4. and forgive us our sins, for we also forgive every debtor to us; and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. "Sins" is a more definite expression than "debts" used in Matthew. “For” – in Matthew: “as.” The meaning is generally the same here and there. “But deliver us from evil.” This petition is also omitted in the newest editions of the Gospel of Luke. The same can be said about him as was said above about the omissions suggested in verse 2. The doxology is omitted in the Gospel of Luke and in our text. Luke 11:5. And he said to them: suppose that one of you, having a friend, comes to him at midnight and says to him: friend! lend me three loaves of bread, Luke 11:6. for my friend came to me from the road, and I have nothing to offer him; Luke 11:7. and he from the inside will tell him in response: don’t bother me, the doors are already locked, and my children are with me on the bed; I can't get up and give it to you. Luke 11:8. If, I tell you, he does not get up and give him out of friendship with him, then, out of his persistence, he will get up and give him as much as he asks. After Christ taught His disciples to pray, He gives them the assurance that their prayer will be heard. He tells a parable about a friend who, with his persistent requests, forces his friend to get out of bed at night in order to give the petitioner three loaves of bread to treat his friend who unexpectedly came to him. “Suppose that...” In the Greek text there is not a conditional, but an interrogative form of the sentence, and only from the 7th verse there is a conditional sentence, to which the 8th verse is the main or conclusion (cf. Matthew 7:9). A more correct flow of thought could be presented in this form: “Which of you will find yourself in such a situation that he has a friend and that a friend will come to him at midnight and say: and will he not receive an answer from him: do not bother me?.. But I tell you...” “Because of his persistence” - more precisely: “because of his importunity” (διά γε τὴν ἀναίδειαν). This importunity, which the Lord seems to advise us to imitate (see verse 9), does not seem intolerable, because, as Trench rightly notes (p. 279), the petitioner insists not for his own sake, but for the sake of another, and so as not to betray the sacred duty of hospitality. So Abraham gives us another example of a relentlessly persistent request: he also prays not for himself, but in defense of Sodom (Gen. 18:23–33). Luke 11:9. And I will tell you: ask, and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and it will be opened to you, Luke 11:10. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. Here is the application of the parable to the situation of the disciples of Christ. They must also persistently ask God for their needs, and their requests will be granted (see Matt. 7:7-8). Luke 11:11. Which father among you, when his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? or, when he asks for a fish, will he give him a snake instead of a fish? Luke 11:12. Or, if he asks for an egg, will he give him a scorpion? Luke 11:13. So, if you, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the Heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him. The peculiarity of the Gospel of Luke here is, firstly, the addition of an egg and a scorpion, which, curled up, becomes like an egg, and sometimes the skin color is white, and secondly, the replacement of the expression: “good” found in the Evangelist Matthew with the expression: “Holy Spirit”. However, the last replacement does not change the essence of the matter, because the source of all true good is, of course, the Holy Spirit, so it will still be said: good, or the Holy Spirit (as the source of good). Luke 11:14. One day He cast out a demon who was mute; and when the demon came out, the dumb man began to speak; and the people were surprised. Luke 11:15. Some of them said: He casts out demons by the power of Beelzebub, the prince of the demons. Luke 11:16. And others, tempting, demanded from Him a sign from heaven. Luke 11:17. But He, knowing their thoughts, said to them: Every kingdom divided against itself will be desolate, and a house divided against itself will fall; Luke 11:18. if Satan is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand? and you say that by the power of Beelzebub I cast out demons; Luke 11:19. and if I cast out demons by the power of Beelzebub, by whose power do your sons cast them out? Therefore they will be your judges. Luke 11:20. If I cast out demons with the finger of God, then, of course, the Kingdom of God has reached you. Luke 11:21. When a strong man guards his house with arms, then his property is safe; Luke 11:22. when his strongest attacks him and defeats him, then he will take all his weapons in which he hoped and divide what was stolen from him. Luke 11:23. He who is not with Me is against Me; and whoever does not gather with Me scatters. Luke 11:24. When the unclean spirit leaves a person, he walks through dry places, looking for rest, and, not finding it, says: I will return to my house from where I came; Luke 11:25. and, having arrived, finds it swept and put away; Luke 11:26. then he goes and takes with him seven other spirits more evil than himself, and entering, they live there - and for that person the last thing is worse than the first. The evangelist Luke speaks about the healing of the demon-possessed mute, apparently following the source that was close to Matthew (Matthew 9:32-34), and Christ’s speech regarding the accusation brought against Him by the Pharisees and lawyers, he expounds, keeping closest to the Gospel of Mark (Mark 3:22-30) and partially making some additions to Mark’s story. “He was dumb” (verse 14; see Mark 9:17). “Some” (verse 15) - these were obviously the Pharisees (see Matthew 9:34). “And others, tempting...” (verse 16). This is an addition by the Evangelist Luke (see Mark 8:11; Matt. 16:1). “But He, knowing...” (verse 17; see Matt. 12:24 et seq.). “By the finger of God” (verse 20) – in Matthew: “By the Spirit of God” (Matthew 12:28). Luke often uses such figurative expressions (see Luke 1:66, 71, 74). The finger is the outward expression of Divine activity (cf. Ex. 8:19). “When the strong man...” (verse 21). This parable is presented here more fully than in Matthew (Matthew 12:29) and is adjacent to the comparison given in the book of the prophet Isaiah (Isaiah 49:24). “Whoever is not with Me” (verse 23; see Matt. 12:30). “When there is an unclean spirit” (verse 24; see Matt. 12:43–45). Probably, by adding this section (verses 24-26), the evangelist Luke wanted to explain what, in fact, those ordinary casting out of demons were, which were also performed by the disciples of the Pharisees. These exorcists did not heal a person forever, but only for a while, and they were not able to destroy Satan’s dominion over people. Luke 11:27. While He was saying this, one woman raised her voice from among the people and said to Him: Blessed is the womb that bore You, and the breasts that nourished You! Luke 11:28. And He said: Blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it. A remark about a woman, in all likelihood, who had children and, perhaps, not entirely good ones, is made by one Evangelist Luke. The Lord, in response to the exclamation of this woman, who highly valued only the physical relationship of the Mother of Christ to Her Son, says that one bodily approach to Christ is not enough in order to be blessed, and that this also requires spiritual closeness to Christ - a desire to listen to and keep the word of God that He proclaims. “Blessed are those who hear...” More precisely: “Yes! But blessed is also...” (μενοῦν μακάριοι) or: “on the contrary, blessed, etc.” Luke 11:29. When the people began to gather in large numbers, He began to say: This generation is evil, it seeks a sign, and no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah; Luke 11:30. For as Jonah was a sign to the Ninevites, so will the Son of Man be to this generation. Luke 11:31. The queen of the south will rise up in judgment with the people of this generation and condemn them, for she came from the ends of the earth to listen to the wisdom of Solomon; and behold, there is more Solomon here. Luke 11:32. The Ninevites will rise up in judgment with this generation and condemn it, for they repented from the preaching of Jonah, and behold, there is more Jonah here. The Evangelist Luke’s speech regarding the demand from Christ for a sign from heaven is generally similar to that of Matthew (see Matthew 12:39–42). The Evangelist Luke speaks more briefly about the sign of the prophet Jonah than Matthew. Jonah was for the Ninevites a sign that he was sent to them by the true God, this is what his amazing fate indicated (salvation from the belly of a whale after a three-day stay there); Christ will become for His contemporary generation a sign that He was sent by God as the Messiah also through His personal destiny (as one who rose from the womb of the earth after a three-day stay there - Euthymius Zigaben). “With people of this kind” - more correctly: “with men...”. Obviously, here a woman is opposed to men: a woman serves as an example for them! Luke 11:33. No one, having lit a candle, puts it in a secret place, not under a bushel, but on a candlestick, so that those who enter may see the light. Luke 11:34. The lamp of the body is the eye; So, if your eye is clean, then your whole body will be bright; and if it is bad, then your body will be dark. Luke 11:35. So, look: is not the light that is in you darkness? Luke 11:36. If your body is all light and does not have a single dark part, then everything will be light, as if a lamp illuminated you with radiance. Here the Lord shows how in vain the Pharisees’ demand for miraculous signs presented to Him. Why are these signs when the light of divine revelation appeared in Christ, which can be seen by everyone? You only need to have healthy eyes of the soul to perceive this light. By “candle” we can understand Christ Himself as the Light of the world. For comments on individual sayings, see Matthew 5:15, 6:22–23. Luke 11:37. While He was saying this, a certain Pharisee asked Him to have dinner with him. He came and lay down. “When he said” – more correctly: “when he said it.” “He came” in order to admonish the Pharisees (Blessed Theophylact). Luke 11:38. The Pharisee was surprised to see that He did not wash His hands before dinner. The Pharisee was probably surprised in his soul that Christ, who had just come into contact with the people and cast out a demon, did not perform the usual ablution when sitting down to dinner (cf. Mark 7:2). Luke 11:39. But the Lord said to him: “Now you Pharisees cleanse the outside of the cup and the platter, but your insides are full of robbery and wickedness.” The Lord begins here to denounce the Pharisees for false piety, repeating the same thing that, according to the Gospel of Matthew, he expressed in His speech against the Pharisees in Jerusalem (Matthew 23). It can be assumed that the Evangelist Luke only timed these denunciations to coincide with this dinner. In fact, it is hardly possible to allow the Lord to address them to the owner of the house and his friends: their real place is exactly where they are in the Evangelist Matthew. “Now you”, i.e.: “here you are!” “And your insides.” In Matthew this is expressed somewhat differently (Matthew 23:25). There the appearance and internal contents of the cup and dish are compared, and here - the external cleanliness of the vessels and the internal uncleanness of those who drink and eat from them. Luke 11:40. Foolish! Didn't the same One who created the external also create the internal? God created both external things and the inner world of man. How unreasonable it is, therefore, to care about the purity of only the external creation of God, forgetting about your inner world! Luke 11:41. Better give alms from what you have, then everything will be clean for you. This verse seems very difficult to explain. The conclusion is quite unexpected: “better give alms.” What does giving alms have to do with it? After all, we were talking about ablutions before dinner. B. Weiss finds it possible, however, to establish some connection between this verse and the previous one. “In addition to what is said in verse 40,” he says, “here, in addition (πλήν), there is also indicated a way to cleanse bowls and dishes: you need to give what these bowls and vessels contain (their interior) as alms, and in this case everything will be clean for you - you won’t even need the ritual cleansings established for you! You won’t need them because everything will be pure for you - nothing will defile you!” It may very well be that the Pharisees really did not like to give alms, and the Lord in this case exposes this shortcoming of theirs. But, in any case, such an interpretation cannot but be considered somewhat artificial. Another explanation of this passage, given by Klein in “Zeitschrift für die neutestamentliche Theologie” (1906, S. 252–254), seems more plausible. Klein finds similarities between the instruction of Christ contained in the verse in question and the words of the prophet Isaiah about the essence of ablution. According to the prophet (Is. 1:16), the essence of washing is to cleanse oneself from the uncleanness of sin, and the Lord here undoubtedly cites the beginning of the 16th verse from the 1st chapter of the book of the prophet Isaiah. But the verb “zakki” used here in Isaiah (in the form of gifil “gizakku”) was translated correctly by the Evangelist Matthew with the word “cleanse” (Matthew 23:26: “cleanse first”), and the Evangelist Luke understood it in its later, Aramaic meaning “to give alms.” Therefore, if you replace the root word “gizakku” here with the word “purify” (what you have), the meaning will be clearer and the connection with the previous verse will remain. The Lord advises the Pharisees to cleanse or keep clean everything they have, not just cups and dishes, not just their hands, but also their souls, then they will not be afraid of any external uncleanness. Luke 11:42. But woe to you Pharisees, for you give tithes of mint, rue and all kinds of vegetables, and neglect the judgment and love of God: this should have been done, and not forsaken. “Woe” to the Pharisees, because they adhere to completely different rules. “Rutes” (τό πήγανον) – instead of the “anise” mentioned in Matthew. “All vegetables” - all garden vegetation (πᾶν λάχανον) instead of “cumin”, which is mentioned in Matthew. Luke 11:43. Woe to you Pharisees, because you love presiding in synagogues and greetings in public assemblies. Evangelist Luke shortens Christ’s speech here due to the fact that some of its details were incomprehensible to his readers. Luke 11:44. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you are like hidden tombs over which people walk and do not know it. The idea of ​​the comparison given by the Evangelist Luke is somewhat different than that of Matthew. Luke depicts the Pharisees as like tombs, not painted with bright yellow paint, which let everyone know that there was a tomb containing the body of a dead person. Seeing this, the passer-by stood aside so as not to somehow touch the tomb and become desecrated. And you cannot recognize a Pharisee: by appearance he is like all other people, perhaps even more pious than others, so people can easily succumb to his influence, which is very detrimental to a person’s moral life. Luke 11:45. To this one of the lawyers said to Him: Teacher! By saying this, You offend us too. The lawyer, apparently, did not openly belong to the Pharisees’ party, but everything that the Lord had hitherto said about the Pharisees also applied to him, because he, like other lawyers, was in many ways similar to the Pharisees. Luke 11:46. But He said: woe to you lawyers too, because you impose unbearable burdens on people, but you yourself do not even touch them with one finger. Luke 11:47. Woe to you, for you build tombs for the prophets whom your fathers killed: Luke 11:48. By this you testify to the deeds of your fathers and agree with them, for they killed the prophets, and you build tombs for them. “And you build tombs for them.” The usual interpretation of this passage is this: by building tombs, or rather by supporting them, the Jews thereby approve of the murders of the prophets that were committed in ancient times by their ancestors. But one cannot help but admit that such an interpretation is rather unnatural. Therefore, it is better to accept Stir’s idea that the Lord here does not at all recognize the maintenance of prophetic tombs as a bad thing, but only says that the Jews of His time did not go far in relation to the prophets and their teachings from their ancestors. They did not listen to the prophets and even killed them - of course, sometimes - but these limit their attitude towards the prophets only by building monuments to them, but not fulfilling their words. Luke 11:49. Therefore, the wisdom of God said: I will send prophets and apostles to them, and some of them will be killed, and others will be driven out, “Because”, i.e. because of this, your agreement with your fathers - the killers of the prophets. "The Wisdom of God...". This is not a quotation from the Old Testament, since there is no such place in the Old Testament, nor is it Christ’s own, previously spoken saying. One might think that Christ here means God, Who sent the prophets in the Old Testament, and the apostles in the New. In Matthew, apparently, Christ speaks about Himself (Matthew 23:34). Luke 11:50. that the blood of all the prophets, shed since the foundation of the world, may be required from this generation, Luke 11:51. from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah, who was killed between the altar and the church. She, I tell you, will be required of this generation. Luke 11:52. Woe to you lawyers, because you took the key of understanding; you yourselves did not enter, and you hindered those who entered. Evangelist Luke does not say that the scribes do not allow others into the Kingdom of Heaven, as Matthew says, but that they kept the key to knowledge, i.e. to the knowledge of divine saving truth as it was revealed in Christ. Truth is like a locked house that can only be entered with the key. But this key is in the hands not of the people, but of a few scribes: with their teaching they prevented the people from taking advantage of the teaching of Christ and learning the truth. Luke 11:53. When He told them this, the scribes and Pharisees began to press hard on Him, forcing Him to answer many things, Luke 11:54. looking under Him and trying to catch something from His mouth in order to accuse Him. The scribes and Pharisees, when Christ left the house of the Pharisee (as it reads in the best codes instead of “said”), began by all means to force Him to answer their questions in order to catch Him on something. You might be interested in: