HelpFinder Bible - Flipbook - Page 1303
L UKE 11
page 933
about. Mary has discovered it, and it will not be
taken away from her.”
Teaching about Prayer
Once Jesus was in a certain place praying.
As he finished, one of his disciples came
to him and said, “Lord, teach us to pray, just as
John taught his disciples.”
2 Jesus said, “This is how you should pray:*
11
3
4
“Father, may your name be kept holy.
May your Kingdom come soon.
Give us each day the food we need,*
and forgive us our sins,
as we forgive those who sin against us.
And don’t let us yield to temptation.*”
5 Then, teaching them more about prayer, he
used this story: “Suppose you went to a friend’s
house at midnight, wanting to borrow three
loaves of bread. You say to him, 6 ‘A friend of
mine has just arrived for a visit, and I have nothing for him to eat.’ 7 And suppose he calls out
from his bedroom, ‘Don’t bother me. The door
is locked for the night, and my family and I are
all in bed. I can’t help you.’ 8 But I tell you this—
though he won’t do it for friendship’s sake, if
you keep knocking long enough, he will get up
and give you whatever you need because of your
shameless persistence.*
9 “And so I tell you, keep on asking, and you
will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and
the door will be opened to you. 10 For everyone
who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds.
And to everyone who knocks, the door will be
opened.
11 “You fathers—if your children ask* for a
fish, do you give them a snake instead? 12 Or if
they ask for an egg, do you give them a scorpion? Of course not! 13 So if you sinful people
know how to give good gifts to your children,
how much more will your heavenly Father give
the Holy Spirit to those who ask him.”
Jesus and the Prince of Demons
14 One day Jesus cast out a demon from a man
who couldn’t speak, and when the demon was
gone, the man began to speak. The crowds were
amazed, 15 but some of them said, “No wonder
he can cast out demons. He gets his power from
Satan,* the prince of demons.” 16 Others, trying
to test Jesus, demanded that he show them a miraculous sign from heaven to prove his authority.
17 He knew their thoughts, so he said, “Any
11:2 Some manuscripts add additional phrases from the
Lord’s Prayer as it reads in Matt 6:9-13. 11:3 Or Give us
each day our food for the day; or Give us each day our food for
tomorrow. 11:4 Or And keep us from being tested. 11:8 Or
in order to avoid shame, or so his reputation won’t be damaged.
11:11 Some manuscripts add for bread, do you give them a
stone? Or [if they ask]. 11:15 Greek Beelzeboul; also in 11:18,
19. Other manuscripts read Beezeboul; Latin version reads
Beelzebub. 11:20 Greek by the finger of God. 11:24 Greek
unclean.
kingdom divided by civil war is doomed. A family splintered by feuding will fall apart. 18 You
say I am empowered by Satan. But if Satan is
divided and fighting against himself, how can
his kingdom survive? 19 And if I am empowered
by Satan, what about your own exorcists? They
cast out demons, too, so they will condemn
you for what you have said. 20 But if I am casting out demons by the power of God,* then the
Kingdom of God has arrived among you. 21 For
when a strong man is fully armed and guards
his palace, his possessions are safe—22 until
someone even stronger attacks and overpowers
him, strips him of his weapons, and carries off
his belongings.
23 “Anyone who isn’t with me opposes me,
and anyone who isn’t working with me is actually working against me.
24 “When an evil* spirit leaves a person, it
goes into the desert, searching for rest. But
when it finds none, it says, ‘I will return to the
person I came from.’ 25 So it returns and finds
that its former home is all swept and in order.
26 Then the spirit finds seven other spirits more
evil than itself, and they all enter the person
and live there. And so that person is worse off
than before.”
27 As he was speaking, a woman in the crowd
called out, “God bless your mother—the womb
from which you came, and the breasts that
nursed you!”
28 Jesus replied, “But even more blessed are
all who hear the word of God and put it into
practice.”
• Hospitality
LU K E 10:42
Jesus wasn’t saying that we should
skip all the chores and just talk the day
away. But if we spend so much of our
effort on cleaning and food preparation
that we miss time with our guests (or are
too exhausted to enjoy them), we have
missed the point of it all. On the other
hand, if we spend all our time in talk, we
have missed the privilege of serving our
guests and enjoying a meal together.
Another issue here was Martha’s
timing. It seems that as soon as Jesus
arrived, she immediately left to prepare
the food, virtually ignoring Jesus. What if
Mary and Martha had both spent quality
time talking with Jesus, and then the
two of them had tended to the practical
matters? Evaluate your hospitality in
terms of priorities and the impact of your
behavior on your guests.