Gospel of Luke ch. 11 to read. Bible online. Gospel for all

11:1- 4    Christian Prayer to God:
1 It happened that when He prayed in one place and stopped, one of His disciples said to Him: Lord! teach us how to pray, just as John taught his disciples.
   The prayer of Jesus was different from the prayers of the scribes and Pharisees, otherwise the disciples would not have asked him to teach them how to pray, because the scribes and Pharisees prayed publicly with all the people and publicly, their prayers could have been memorized long ago if desired.
   However, the disciples of Christ, apparently, did not attract the Pharisees' prayers.

2 He said to them: when you pray, say: Our Father in heaven! Hallowed be thy name; Thy kingdom come; Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven;
Pabout the content and nature of prayer - and today, we think, we can distinguish a Christian: a Christian is waiting for the consecration of the name of Jehovah God, the coming of His Kingdom and the fulfillment of His will on earth, asks for forgiveness for sins and protection from temptations, thanks God for everything that was given for life .
   The Pharisee, more and more, rants about his merits before God and asks Him to pay attention to this.

We note one more interesting detail: according to the Bible, the Father of Jesus Christ does not immediately call everyone His mature sons and the smaller brothers of the firstborn of Christ (Matthew 25: 33,40): someone will reach the maturity of the sons of God - even in this age (Rom. 8 : 15), and someone must grow to this spiritual age another whole thousand years with the help of the lesser brothers of Christ (Heb. 11: 39,40; Rev. 21: 4,7)

However, absolutely all Christians can consider the Father Jesus - and their heavenly Father, regenerating to eternal life - regardless of whether they can achieve the spiritual perfection of Christ in this age or not.
   Jesus did not say his prayer the future  To the Father, but he said to pray to his Father - in the present tense: both adult sons and babies who do not understand anything are still dear to the Father.

3 Give us our daily bread for every day;
   4 and forgive us our sins, for we also forgive every debtor of ours; and do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.
God does not create temptations for us, but leaves them the right to exist. The request “do not lead us into temptation” means a request for help in order not to sin and survive in moments of temptation.

See also parsing.    Mtf. 6: 9-15

11:5-8 The parable of the persistence of petitions is shown as an example of the persistence of prayer to God:
5 And he said unto them: [We will assume that] one of you, having a friend, will come to him at midnight and say to him: friend! lend me three loaves
6 For my friend came to me from the road, and I have nothing to offer him;
   7 And he from the inside will answer him: Do not disturb me, the doors are already locked, and my children are with me in bed; I can’t get up and give you.
   Jesus demonstrates that there is no reason to expect an instant reaction and help from God in response to prayer requests to Him. It’s clear that it’s not because God is busy, He doesn’t have time or He doesn’t want to strain, answering requests immediately - the example does not show this.
   Proverbs Jesus shows the importance of perseverance in prayer for God: perseverance and persistence show God that they Christians are in great need of help, that they are not joking.
   If a friend asked for bread once and stopped there, reassuring himself that “well, it didn’t work out” - his request would not be granted

8 If, I tell you, he will not get up and will not give him out of friendship with him, then by his persistence, standing up, he will give him as much as he asks.
Only so that a friend lags behind him and gives rest - the friend of the petitioner will give what is necessary with persistent request and persistence.
   The same approach should be in prayer to God:

11:9   And I will tell you: ask, and it will be given to you; seek and find; knock and they will open you
The principle is shown here.    making considerable efforts in order to achieve a positive result in any action: in prayer or in deeds, it does not matter. Without effort, the result of expectations can be zero.

However, Christians must understand that not every request God wants to fulfill: in a parable, a friend asked for bread, for what nourishes and benefits. It is understood that, for nothing, the petitioner would not bother the friend at night and wake him up, only a very important need prompted him to bother the friend.
   Christians must learn to distinguish which of what is asked will benefit them and what is not, for God will not help in the useless.

11:10    for everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. How is it possible to receive help from God? For example, we ask for help in learning how to communicate the good news in an accessible language and not have fear in front of people. We pray for help and SIMULTANEOUS act in it ourselves - in accordance with our request to God for help in this: we go into a sermon and try to speak. Not once, and not two. Persistently and relentlessly. And one day the day will come when we will feel that we have achieved our goal: we have ceased to be afraid to speak with people.

The same thing is in the fight against bad habits: we ask you to help leave them and SIMULTANEOUSLY - we make efforts to suppress the desire to sin and not sin. Not once or twice. Persistent and persistent. And one day the day will come when the desire for a bad habit will disappear by itself: God will take care of this, seeing our persistent efforts to end evil.

God gave man a lot even at creation, we need only make an effort and take advantage of what He has given.
   We will not get a positive result only in three cases: if we do not ask Him at will (not for the benefit of His interests); if we doubt what we will receive and if we don’t work ourselves to receive it.

11:11-13 A parable about the same, but on the other hand: God, in response to the requests of Christians, will not give them something that will not do them any good:
Which of you father, [when] the son asks for bread from him, will give him a stone? or, [when he asks] a fish, will he give him a snake instead of a fish?
   12 Or, if he asks for eggs, will he give him a scorpion?

What is the most important thing in a Christian’s life? The presence of God's spirit in him, therefore, most of all, a Christian should send his requests to God that He would allow him to contain the holy spirit, to understand God's attitude, His feelings and His way of thinking:
   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.

We note that Jesus compared the need for a holy spirit for a Christian - with the need for bread and fish for the hungry. That is, it should be natural and characteristic for a Christian to ask the Father first of all - the holy spirit that helps to see life through the eyes of God and understand it accordingly as well.
   Everything else does not bother him much.

11:14,15    Once He cast out a demon that was him; and when the demon went out, the mute began to speak; and the people were surprised.
   15 Some of them said: He casts out demons by the power of Beelzebub, the prince of demons.
For some reason, the Jews hastened to ascribe the miracle of healing to the power of the devil: being opposed to Jesus and suspicious of him, they could not accept a good deed without bias.

Geneva:
   Beelzebub is the name of a pagan deity (2 Kings 1,2), which the Israelites consonantly perceived as "the lord of the dung," "lord of the flies" and applied to the leader of the host of demons.

11:16    And others, tempting, demanded from him a sign from heaven.
   And someone did not understand that the miracle of healing is just a sign from heaven.

11:17,18    But He, knowing their thoughts, said to them: every kingdom divided in itself will be deserted, and a house [divided] in itself will fall;
   Jesus showed the absurdity of the assumption of the expulsion of demons by the power of the demon lord: if in his demonic empire it came to the point that the demon drives the demon, then it’s a bad thing, the devil’s empire cannot stand:
   18 But if Satan is also divided in himself, how will his kingdom stand? but you say that by the power of Beelzebub I cast out demons;

11:19    and if by the power of Beelzebub cast out devils, then your sons by whose strength they cast them out? Therefore, they will be your judges.   Jesus gives a second argument for the absurdity of such an assumption: after all, their sons, just like him, also healed the sick, as they themselves believed. If such an accusation was brought to Jesus, then their sons could have been presented with exactly the same accusation, with which they naturally would not have agreed. So, there is no reason to accuse Jesus of conspiring with the devil.

11:20    If I cast out demons with the finger of God, then, of course, the Kingdom of God has reached you.   Jesus shows that if he cannot be accused of devilry, then only one conclusion remains: the healing was carried out thanks to the action of God's power (the finger of God means that the action of God through Jesus was externally manifested by the healing of the sick)

11:21,22    When a strong man with a weapon guards his house, then his estate is safe;
   22 when the mightiest of his attacks on him and defeats him, then he will take all his weapons, on which he hoped, and will share what was stolen from him.
   Here Jesus showed that the devil - although strong, but the strongest comes - Jesus - and takes away the devil’s weapons, on which he hoped: demons are powerless against the power of God.

11:23    He who is not with me is against me; and he who does not gather with me scatters.
In order not to be with Christ, it is not necessary to certainly destroy what God has built. But do nothing enough   in order for God to be built.
Many say, “Am I against Christ? I live peacefully for myself, I’m not doing evil to anyone. ” And they sincerely believe that this is enough to be with Christ.
   But Christ himself has a different opinion on this subject: he who does not gather people with him for God, who does not sow the word of God with him, is the OPPONENT to him.

11:24-26    When an unclean spirit leaves a man, he walks through waterless places, looking for peace, and, not finding it, says: I will return to my house, where I came from;
   25 and, having come, finds him swept and cleaned;
   26 Then he goes and takes with him seven other spirits, who are evil, and, having entered, they live there, and for the man that last one is worse than the first.
Nexpelling demons is not enough (just stop doing evil). It is necessary to start doing good after this. If you stop doing evil, but do not fill your life with the works of God, then evil can soon return to an empty house with increased power.
   Sooner or later, but we still have to make a choice, become cold or hot, or this choice will be made for us.

11:27,28    When He said this, one woman, raising her voice from the people, said to Him: blessed is the womb that bore You, and the nipples that nourished You!
   Fthe woman, purely feminine and maternal, imagined how happy the mother of Jesus must have been, having given birth to such a son. The praise of Mary continued even after her death: many icons and prayers are dedicated to the Virgin Mary, and many seek miraculous power and protection from her or from the faces of other people elevated to the rank of saints, trying to benefit from their righteousness. And they don’t understand that the good, according to the very word of Christ himself, can and should be obtained thanks to one’s own desire for righteousness and faith in their atonement:

   28 But he said: Blessed are they who hear the word of God and keep it.
No one's righteousness will help us unless we ourselves strive for righteousness. No matter how much we sing praises and praise those who have received a good name from God, this will not help us be saved. But keeping the word of God will help.

11:29,30    When the people began to converge in multitude, He began to say: This generation is evil, he seeks signs
   The cunning of the family, who did not want to believe that Christ is the messenger of God, was manifested in the endless demand for miracles - and this despite the fact that Jesus performed them in large numbers. That is, not miracles were actually needed for this family, but a search for a reason by which it would be possible to “lower” the authority of Jesus

and a sign shall not be given to him, except the sign of the prophet Jonah; just as for Nineveh the sign was the disappearance of Jonah for three days, and then his return from nonexistence, so for this kind of sign should be the return of Jesus from nothingness - his resurrection on the third day after death (disappearance):
   for as Jonah was a sign to the Ninevites, so will the Son of Man be for this generation.

11:31    The Queen of the South will rise 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 here, there is more than Solomon. The Queen of Sheba, who came from afar (the territory of modern Yemen), has come a long way to hear Solomon, God's chosen one in Israel. But in Judea, the larger “Solomon” - Jesus Christ, who lives nearby and does not need to go anywhere - was not taken seriously and did not want to be interested in his wisdom.
   Naturally, her interest in the wisdom of God - will not go unnoticed by God, and for the lack of interest in Jesus Christ - the Jews will suffer

11:32    The Ninevites will rise to judgment with this generation and condemn it, for they have repented of Jonina’s preaching, and behold, there is more Jonah here.    The cruel pagan Assyria - and she accepted the word of God's prophet, and those who called themselves the righteous of God - neglected the word of God and a greater prophet than Jonah of God

11:33    No one, lighting a candle, puts it in a secret place, not under a vessel, but on a candlestick, so that those who enter see the light.
Jesus is the light, the source of enlightenment with knowledge from God. It would be absolutely pointless for Jesus to “light a candle” (to enlighten a Christian) in order to hide it under the bed: there it will not light the way for anyone and will not bring any benefit.
   therefore   all who are kindled from Christ and took from him the Spirit of enlightenment, showing the way of salvation, - and they themselves must shine BY YOURSELF: with their behavior, way of life, thoughts and the right knowledge from God.

11:34    The lamp of the body is the eye; therefore, if your eye is clean, then your whole body will be light; and if it is bad, then your body will be dark.
   The eye is a kind of “window” through which spiritual light penetrates a person. The condition of the window determines whether it is light in the room or dark. If the window is clean and not broken, the whole room is well lit and it is possible to make it clean by seeing the dirt.
   If the window is dirty or frozen - the room will be poorly lit, it is more difficult to clean such a room.

The light or darkness of a person’s gaze depends on how much his concept of good (light) and evil (dark) is consistent with the view of God.

11:35 So look: the light that is in you, is there not darkness?
Hthe man who has the light in himself cannot help but shine: the Christian must be seen by those around him with good deeds done in God and pure thoughts.
   But Jesus warned that not every source of light - a person who believes that he represents the light of God on earth - actually radiates the light of God. It all depends on the "eye", on the source of the right or wrong vision of the state of things. If the vision in the eye is correct - God's or Christ's, then the light from man (his deeds, actions, way of thinking, knowledge) will come from God. If not, then the “light” may in fact turn out to be darkness.

11:36    If your body is all light and does not have a single dark part, then everything will be light as if the lamp illuminated you with radiance.
The same applies to the purity of the body of Christians who do not have “spots” of sin on themselves. : if there is a dark spot in the Christian, then the lamp of God does not have the ability to fully shine through the darkened body of the Christian, since dark spots tend to absorb light, and such a Christian will inevitably shine with distorted light.

If we summarize the information of Christ, if possible, the Christian should shine the light of God in the world, then we get something like this:
   the correct perception of the state of things + a righteous lifestyle \u003d the ability to shine with the light of God.

   Exposing the Pharisees and legalists:
11:37    When He said this, one Pharisee asked Him to dine with him. He came and rested.
Christ did not neglect the opportunity to communicate with any of those who expressed a desire to speak with him. Even knowing who he was and what the end of the conversation would be, he simply did his job, sowing the word of God everywhere, not looking at the faces and the final result, for he knew that any result, even negative, was also the result of dividing humanity into receiving the word of God and those who reject it.

And today, when planting the word of God in the world, one should not show personal respect, dividing people at their discretion into those who are worthy of our attention and who are not: according to God's plan, the whole world should hear His word (Matthew 24:14).

11:38,39    The Pharisee was surprised to see that He had not washed [his hands] before dinner.
It was strange for the Pharisee to learn such a detail about Jesus: he, it turns out, did not observe the ceremonial ritual of washing hands, established by the interpreters of the commandment “Be holy” (pure). The meaning of the ritual of the Pharisees was reduced to the following,
   Geneva:
we are talking about the ritual washing of hands from filth, which could pester him when touching objects that were considered unclean. Unclean hands could desecrate food, and that, in turn, once inside a person, made his whole body unclean.

If Jesus agreed to wash his hands in a ceremonial manner according to the “traditions of the elders,” then he would confirm these traditions, and all the zealots of the “traditions of men” would have an occasion in the future to demand their fulfillment from other Christians on the basis that the Lord himself did it.
   Some denominations still use the verse of Matthew 23: 3 as an argument for observing the traditions of their "elders" :
so all that they command you to observe, keep and do; do not do their deeds, for they speak, and do not.
However, by the fact that Jesus not only did not wash his hands, but also explained his attitude    to human onerous commandments, he clearly showed that his advice "all that they command you to observe, keep and do; "refers NOT to the observance of any human commandments, but to the observance of the Mosaic Law, which at that time had not yet been repealed.

So, Jesus Christ did not wash his hands before eating, as the Pharisees expected of him. With students - it is clear, fishermen and people who are not book-knock what to take from them. But the one who said about himself that he was the son of God - according to the Pharisee should certainly wash his hands before eating, because the command “be holy” - this is the command of his Father, therefore, not washing his hands - cannot be the son of that who gave the commandment of cleanliness.

Why didn’t Jesus wash his hands? Did he violate his Father’s command to keep clean? No, because, firstly, the commandment of purity and sanctity refers primarily to the inner essence of man: man must be internally righteous in order to reflect the essence of God's children. And secondly, this ritual, in compliance with a strict sequence of washing every part of the wrist, was not established by God, but by people who interpreted His law in their opinion.

Without washing his hands, Jesus did not wash them, not because he was not tidy, but in order to draw the Pharisee’s attention to this fact and to get a great opportunity to clarify why the Pharisee misunderstands this commandment of God about holiness:

   39 But the Lord said to him: now you Pharisees clean the appearance of the cup and dish, and your interior is full of theft and deceit.
That is, the Pharisee would have to understand what to keep the inner essence clean - for God's servant is much more important than excessive concern for the purity of appearance.

11:40,41    Jesus further explains what exactly such an approach to understanding God's commandment about holiness is unreasonable:
   Unreasonable! Is it not the same who created the external, created the internal?
   41 Better give alms from what you have, then everything will be clean with you.
That is, if you wash your hands and your whole body, and all the dishes and your whole house until sterility, but at the same time not to be kind, merciful and compassionate to people, defiling your insides with evil - then there is no good for a person in such external cleanliness .

11:42    Further, Jesus reveals even deeper the problem of the Pharisees: all the Pharisees in their inner essence (not by religion) perceive worship of God - as just observing the outside of the points of His law (letters), which are visible from the outside and help to look righteous. However, they neglect the inner side of God's requirements (His spirit), the non-observance of which is difficult to convict from:
   But woe to you, the Pharisees, that you tithe mint, ruta and all kinds of vegetables, and do not care about God's judgment and love:
After all, who can know the heart of the Pharisee? Who can know that his court is unfair? Or that the executive and scrupulous in delivering spices to the Pharisees despise poor fellow believers, for example? No one. Therefore, in the eyes of the people the Pharisees managed to gain a reputation as righteous, and that was enough for them. And what kind of inner essence they have there - they didn’t worry about it, and they didn’t even plan to renew their personality, turning it into a loving person, because they did not understand that this was the most important thing in worshiping God.

   this was to be done, and not to be abandoned.    However, speaking about the advantage of internal purity, Jesus did not want to say that internally pure may not fulfill God's commandments to offer spices to the temple. He showed only that God’s man — first will take care of the purity of the inside, and the purity of the inside — will make God obey the law in everything, even in small things.

11:43    Woe to you, the Pharisees, that you love the meetings in the synagogues and the salutations in the popular assemblies. The desire to have authority in the eyes of people completely absorbed the Pharisees, their life was reduced exclusively to the acquisition of the people's right to occupy places of honor in public places. But why is this also grief for the Pharisees? Because if you go along the path of gaining human recognition and achieve honor among people, then the path to God will be lost: the directions of the path are too different for gaining the glory of God and gaining the glory of man. And if a person decided to go exclusively “into people”, then he will not come to God, and all their appearance of ostentatious piety will not help them be saved.

11:44    Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, that you are like hidden coffins, over which people walk and do not know that.
Disguised as God's righteous Pharisees is a dangerous phenomenon for people, since their true nature is hidden from the majority under the mask of the righteous, it is difficult to see God's opponents in them, how difficult it is to see the graves underfoot and not step on them so as not to be defiled.
Geneva:
Touching the place of burial, according to the law of Moses, defiled a person (Numbers 19:16), so the graves of the Jews were always clearly marked. An invisible, "hidden" grave was fraught with the threat of inadvertent desecration. Thus, Jesus openly tells the Pharisees that they themselves are the source of desecration.

   Therefore, those who follow the Pharisees and imitate them, thinking that they are going to God, may also not come to God in the end, just as they themselves, having defiled themselves from them, not even knowing about it.

11:45    To this, one of the legalists said to him: Teacher! saying this, you offend us too. Unfortunately, this legalist did not see in Jesus' words a chance to become a disciple of Christ, nor benefit himself personally with the opportunity to improve himself, becoming another person, taking into account the remarks of Christ.
He saw not the advice of Christ, and not a chance to be saved, but a personal insult: the fact that he took the denunciation of Christ and himself - indicated that he was the same as the owner of the house - the Pharisee, to whom Jesus addressed.

   Why did he take the words of Christ in this way? Because he did not understand what Christ was talking about: the perception of the external side of God's law prevented him from understanding the spiritual essence of the words of Christ; for him, a comparison with coffins and a mention of hypocrisy sounded just like insults, because he considered himself a righteous man and did not consider that to achieve human glory, to wash only his hands, “without washing” his heart — this is bad.

11:46 The indignant was a legalist, and Jesus switched to exposing these “righteous” people of God, who were no more close to God in their virtuoso understanding of the law than the scrupulous Pharisees:
   But He said: And you, legalists, woe that you impose unbearable burdens on people, and you yourself do not touch them with one finger.
This category of God's servants, which is responsible for the interpretation and application of the laws of the people of God, has increased the laws of God - also its requirements, imposing the people of God with prescriptions unnecessary and difficult to fulfill, because of which the people believed that they could never become righteous (how for example, they painted a long ritual of washing hands instead of just stopping to wash their hands).
   Lawyers themselves often did not fulfill what they demanded of people, finding loopholes for themselves in their own requirements.

11:47,48    Woe to you for building the tombs of the prophets that your fathers beat: 48 you testify of the affairs of your fathers and agree with them, for they have beaten the prophets, and you are building the tombs for them.
   If the lawyers with the Pharisees, wishing to exalt themselves in the eyes of the people and building the tombs of the prophets, said that, they say, “the prophets were killed   our fathers and we love the prophets and value, as you see, ”they acknowledged by this that they were the sons of precisely those fathers who kill the prophets of God.
   If they really loved and appreciated them, they could not have called the murderers of God's prophets their fathers.

11:49    Therefore, the wisdom of God said: It means that God through Christ tells the true picture of things in relation to the acceptance of God's prophets, sent to the rulers of the people of God in order to turn him from evil ways:
   I will send prophets and apostles to them, and some of them will be killed, and others will be expelled,
   Jesus predicts that those “righteous people who so diligently erect tombs for the murdered prophets sent to their fathers - following the example of their fathers, will also kill God's messengers sent to them (2 Chronicles 36: 14-16)

11:50,51    may the blood of all the prophets be shed from this creation, shed from the creation of the world,
   51 from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah killed between the altar and the temple. I tell you, she will be exacted from this generation.
God through Christ also predicts that not a single drop of blood shed by the saints through the fault of this kind (this is a wicked and adulterous generation, all the time looking for signs in excess of those already presented, but it is a race that will not pass among the people of God and before Jesus comes the second time —Mt.23: 34-36)

11:52    Woe to you, legalists, that you have taken the key of understanding: you yourself have not entered, and you have prevented those entering.
   Lawyers and scribes “took the key of understanding” - it almost sounds like “took the lead” of God's people.
   That is, they took the responsibility to clarify the word of God - to His people. But they did not justify this responsibility because they themselves did not understand the essence of God's law.
   So it turned out that they not only did not enter into the number approved by God, but also those who wished to enter the approval of God - they interfered with their incorrect explanation of God's requirements. Why? Because, following the wrong path to God themselves, they deviated from the path to God and those who trustingly followed them.

Today it will not hurt all Christians to keep this example of the unsuccessful leadership of God's people of antiquity in mind and to remember that those who take leadership themselves are very different from those whom God gives the ability to lead and instruct God's people (Moses, for example, Christ, Apostles) . The leadership of those who themselves take responsibility for leading the people of God should be checked against the leadership of those to whom God personally has entrusted this responsibility. How is this possible?

All to whom God personally gave this responsibility have recorded God's requirements for His people, and today you can learn about them through a study of Scripture. By checking the teachings and requirements of the Bible for those who today take upon themselves the responsibility of leading God's people - we can compare how they are consistent with the word of God and that’s all,
   what does not agree with him - do not accept for yourself as a guide to action. Only in this way it is possible not to deviate from the path to God: always check according to Biblical signs the path along which those who have taken this responsibility lead us to God.

11:53, 54    When He told them this, the scribes and Pharisees began to approach Him very strongly, forcing Him to answer many things,
The scribes and Pharisees bombarded Jesus Christ with many questions, but, alas, not in order to enrich his knowledge, but solely in order to find a reason to get rid of him:

   54 looking for Him and trying to catch something from His mouth to accuse Him. The scribes and Pharisees related to the leaders of the people of God of the 1st century, had authority over Jesus the whole period of his sermon and could easily have expelled him from the synagogue or killed him. It only remained to find - FOR WHAT.
   And they were looking.

I must say that their desire for human glory helped Jesus Christ to hold out with the sermon just as much as he needed to fulfill his mission: despite cynicism and self-interest, the Pharisees and scribes sought to observe external appearances of a semblance of justice, without any reason blame Jesus, so as not to spoil his reputation as righteous.

1–13. About prayer (Lord's prayer). - 14–26. The Lord defends himself against the charge of His union with the devil. - 27–28. The gratification of a woman by Mother Jesus Christ. - 29–36. The answer of Christ to those who demanded of Him. - 37–54. Christ's denunciation of the Pharisees and legalists.

Luke 11: 1. It happened that when He prayed in one place and stopped, one of His disciples said to Him: Lord! teach us how 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 asked the Lord to teach them how to pray, that is, of course, to give some specific formula of prayer, as the Baptist did for his disciples (cf. Luke 5:33).

Luke 11: 2. He said to them: when you pray, say: Our Father 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 “Our Father” in prayer. Thus, the Lord’s prayer was obviously given to the disciples in response to their request, and the Evangelist Matthew apparently placed it in the Sermon on the Mount only because he began to expound the teachings of Christ on how to pray in general (Matthew 6: 9) . In the latest editions (for example, in Tischendorf) the prayer of the Lord according to the Gospel of Luke has a more abbreviated form than that of the evangelist Matthew. So, in verse 2 the words “ours, like those in heaven” and “Thy will be done, as in heaven and on earth,” are missing. Some (for example, I. Weiss) attribute very great importance to this distinction, saying that in general the Church did not preserve the words of Christ in the true form. But it seems to us that these accusations are in vain and unfair. Firstly, it is still necessary to prove that indeed both evangelists do not agree with each other in the transmission of the Lord’s prayer. Indeed, the text of this prayer adopted in the Eastern Church, as cited by the Evangelist Luke, also has its foundation in some ancient codes (see note of Tischendorf in Luke 11, p. 561), and it is very possible that in those codes The Gospel of Luke, where the Lord’s prayer is given in abbreviated form, is offered a reading that existed only in those churches where these codes were written. In fact, the prayer of the Lord was first equally recorded in the Gospels of both Matthew and Luke. And then, secondly, such an assumption is possible - if we accept the fact that Luke has only five petitions for the Lord’s prayer - that the Evangelist Matthew gave the formula of prayer in his Gospel, and the Evangelist Luke only outlined its contents in a more concise form , since in fact, for example, the expression: “Thy will be done”, is essentially similar to the previous request: “Thy kingdom come”. In a word, the question of what kind of prayer of the Lord originally appeared in the Gospel of Luke cannot yet be considered finally settled. It is impossible, in fact, to ignore the evidence of the Sinai Code, which has the petition "Thy will be done in heaven and on earth:".

For an explanation of the Lord's prayer, see the commentary on Matt. 6: 9-13.

Luke 11: 3. Give us our daily bread for every day;

Instead of “give,” as Matthew says, here is the word “give” (present). This means continually giving, which is further answered by the phrase: “for every day” (with Matthew - to this day), i.e. day after day, daily.

Luke 11: 4. and forgive us our sins, for we also forgive every debtor of ours; and do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.

"Sins" is a more specific expression than the "debts" used by Matthew.

“For” - at Matthew: “how.” The meaning, in general, is the same here and there.

"But deliver us from the evil one." This petition is also omitted in the latest editions of the Gospel of Luke. Regarding him, one can say the same thing that was said above regarding the omissions suggested in verse 2.

Glorification is omitted in the Gospel of Luke and in our text.

Luke 11: 5. And he said to them: let us suppose that one of you, having a friend, will come to him at midnight and say to him: friend! lend me three loaves

Luke 11: 6. for my friend from the road came to me, and I have nothing to offer him;

Luke 11: 7. and he from the inside will answer him: Don’t disturb me, the doors are already locked, and my children are with me in bed; I can’t get up and give you.

Luke 11: 8. If, I tell you, he will not get up and will not give him friendship with him, then by his persistence, standing up, he will give him how much he asks.

After Christ taught His disciples to pray, He gives them the assurance that their prayer will be answered. He speaks a parable about a friend who, with his relentless requests, makes his friend get out of bed at night to give the suppliant three breads to treat a friend who unexpectedly came to him.

"Suppose that ...". In the Greek text, here is not a conditional, but an interrogative form of a sentence, and only from the 7th verse does a conditional sentence go, to which the 8th verse is the main or conclusion (cf. Matt. 7: 9). A more correct flow of thought could be presented in the following form: “Which of you will find yourself in such a position that he has a friend and that a friend will come to him at midnight and say: and will he get an answer from him: don’t bother me? .. And I'm telling you...

“By his persistence” - more precisely: “because of his importunity” (διά γε τὴν ἀναίδειαν). This importunity, which, apparently, the Lord advises to imitate (see verse 9), does not seem to be intolerable, because, as Trench correctly notes (p. 279), the supplicant insists not for his own sake, but for the sake of another and that Do not change the sacred duty of hospitality. So Abraham gives us another example of a relentlessly insistent request: he also prays not for himself, but in defense of Sodom (Genesis 18: 23-33).

Luke 11: 9. And I will tell you: ask, and it will be given to you; seek and find; knock and they will open 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 position of the disciples of Christ. They must also insist on asking God for their needs, and their requests will be granted (see Matt. 7: 7-8).

Luke 11: 11. Which of you father, when the 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 eggs, will give him a scorpion?

Luke 11: 13. So, if you, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, all the more Heavenly Father will give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him.

(See Matt. 7: 9-11).

The peculiarity of the Gospel of Luke here is, firstly, the addition of the egg and the scorpion, which, curled up, makes it look like an egg, and sometimes the skin color is white, and secondly, the replacement of the expression: "good", which is found in the Evangelist Matthew , expression: "The 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 say: good, or the Holy Spirit (as the source of good).

Luke 11: 14. Once He cast out a demon that was him; and when the demon went out, the mute 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 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 in itself will be deserted, and a house divided in itself will fall;

Luke 11: 18. if Satan is also divided in himself, how will his kingdom stand? but you say that by the power of Beelzebub I cast out demons;

Luke 11: 19. and if by the power of Beelzebub cast out devils, then your sons by whose strength they 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 with a weapon guards his house, then his estate is safe;

Luke 11: 22. when his strongest attack him and defeat him, then he will take all his weapons, on which he hoped, and will share what was stolen from him.

Luke 11: 23. He who is not with me is against me; and he who does not gather with me scatters.

Luke 11: 24. When an unclean spirit leaves a man, he walks through waterless places, looking for peace, and, not finding it, says: I will return to my house, where I came from;

Luke 11: 25. and, having come, finds him swept and cleaned;

Luke 11: 26. then he goes and takes with him seven other spirits that are evil to themselves, and, upon entering, live there - and for the man that last one is worse than the first.

Evangelist Luke speaks of the healing of the demoniac, dumb, apparently following the source that was close to Matthew (Matthew 9: 32-34), and Christ’s speech regarding the accusation raised by the Pharisees and legalists sets out to stay closest The Gospel of Mark (Mark 3: 22-30) and partially making some additions to the legend of Mark.

“Mute” (verse 14; see Mark 9:17).

“Some” (verse 15) were obviously the Pharisees (see Matthew 9:34).

“And others, tempting ...” (verse 16). This is the addition of the Evangelist Luke (see Mark 8:11; Matthew 16: 1).

“But He, knowing ...” (verse 17; see Matthew 12 and the word).

“By the finger of God” (verse 20) —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. Exodus 8:19).

“When strong ...” (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).

“He who is not with me” (verse 23; see Matthew 12:30).

“When an unclean spirit” (verse 24; see Matthew 12: 43-45). Apparently, adding this section (verses 24–26), the evangelist Luke wanted to explain what, in fact, are those ordinary expulsions of demons that were committed by the disciples of the Pharisees. These exorcists did not heal a person forever, but only for the time and dominance of Satan over people were not able to destroy.

Luke 11: 27. When He said this, one woman, raising her voice from the people, said to Him: blessed is the womb that bore You, and the nipples that nourished You!

Luke 11: 28. But He said: Blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it.

A remark about a woman who, in all probability, had children and maybe not quite good ones, is made by one of the evangelists, Luke. The Lord, to the exclamation of this woman, who praised only the bodily attitude of the Mother of Christ to Her Son, says that one bodily approach to Christ is not enough to be blissful, and that this requires a spiritual closeness to Christ - the desire to listen and keep the word of God which He declares.

“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 converge in multitude, He began to say: This generation is evil, he is looking for a sign, and a sign will not be given to him, except for the sign of Jonah the prophet;

Luke 11:30. for as Jonah was a sign to the Ninevites, so will the Son of Man be for this generation.

Luke 11:31. The Queen of the South will rise 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 here, there is more than Solomon.

Luke 11: 32. The Ninevites will rise to judgment with this generation and condemn it, for they have repented of Jonina’s preaching, and behold, there is more Jonah here.

Speech about the requirement from Christ of a sign from heaven, the Evangelist Luke generally sets out similarly to Matthew (see Matthew 12: 39-42). The evangelist Luke speaks of the sign of Jonah the prophet shorter than Matthew. Jonah was a sign for the Ninevites that he was sent by the true God to them, and this was indicated by his amazing fate (salvation from the belly of the whale after a three-day stay there); Christ, however, will become a sign for the generation that is modern for Him that He was sent by God as the Messiah also through His personal destiny (as having risen from the womb of the earth after a three-day stay there, Euthymius Zigavin).

“With people of this kind” - more correctly: “with husbands ...”. Obviously, a woman is opposed to men here: a woman serves as an example to them!

Luke 11:33. No one, lighting a candle, puts it in a secret place, not under a vessel, but on a candlestick, so that those who enter see the light.

Luke 11: 34. The lamp of the body is the eye; therefore, if your eye is clean, then your whole body will be light; and if it is bad, then your body will be dark.

Luke 11:35. So look: the light that is in you, is there not 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 the lamp illuminated you with radiance.

Here the Lord shows how in vain the requirement by the Pharisees for the miraculous signs was presented to him by the Pharisees. Why are these signs, when the light of divine revelation appeared in Christ, which can be seen by all? It is only necessary to have healthy eyes of the soul in order to perceive this light. By “candle” we can understand Christ Himself as the Light of the world.

For comments on certain sayings see Matt. 5:15, 6: 22-23.

Luke 11:37. When He said this, one Pharisee asked Him to dine with him. He came and rested.

"When he said" - more correctly: "when he said it."

“He came” in order to give admonition to the Pharisees (blj. Theophylact).

Luke 11:38. The Pharisee was surprised to see that He had not washed his hands before dinner.

The Pharisee was probably surprised in his heart that Christ, who had just come in contact with the people and cast out the demon, did not perform the usual ablution, sitting down for dinner (cf. Mark 7: 2).

Luke 11:39. But the Lord said to him: now you Pharisees clean the appearance of the cup and dish, and your inside is full of theft and deceit.

Here the Lord begins to expose the Pharisees to false piety, repeating the same thing that, according to the Gospel of Matthew, he expressed in His speech against the Pharisees in Jerusalem (Matt. 23). It can be assumed that the Evangelist Luke only timed this exposures to 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 present place is exactly where they are with the evangelist Matthew.

“Now you,” that is, “here you are!”

"And your inside." In Matthew, this is expressed somewhat differently (Matt. 23:25). It compares the external and internal contents of the bowl and the dish, and here - the external purity of the vessels and the internal impurity of those who drink and eat from them.

Luke 11: 40. Unreasonable! Is it not the same who created the external, created the internal?

God created both external things and the inner world of man. How, therefore, it is unreasonable 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 with you.

This verse seems very difficult to explain. The conclusion is very unexpected: "best give alms." And here is the giving of alms? After all, it was a question of washing 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, “moreover (πλήν) another method is indicated how to clean the cups and dishes: you must give away what these cups and vessels (inner of them) contain, like alms and that’s all for you in that case it will be clean - you don’t need the ritual purifications installed at your place! You will not need them because everything will be clean for you - nothing will defile you! ”It may well be that the Pharisees really did not like to give alms, and the Lord in the present case exposes this lack of them. But, in any case, such an interpretation cannot but be recognized as somewhat artificial. More plausible is another explanation of this place given by Klein in Zeitschrift für die neutestamentliche Theologie (1906, S. 252–254). Klein finds a similarity 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 (Isa. 1:16), the essence of ablution is to cleanse oneself from the unclean sinfulness, and the Lord here undoubtedly leads the beginning of the 16th verse from the 1st chapter of the book of the prophet Isaiah. But the verb “zakki” used here by Isaiah (in the form of a hyphal “gizakka”), the Evangelist Matthew correctly translated the word “purify” (Matthew 23:26: “cleanse before”), and the evangelist Luke understood it in its later, Aramaic meaning “ give alms. " Therefore, if we replace here the root word “gizakku” with the word “cleanse” (what you have), then the meaning will be clearer and the connection with the previous verse will remain. The Lord advises the Pharisees to clean or keep everything that they have clean, not just cups and dishes, not only hands, but also their soul, then they will not be afraid of any external impurity.

Luke 11: 42. But woe to you, Pharisees, that you tithe mint, ruta, and all kinds of vegetables, and do not care about the judgment and love of God: this was to be done, and not to be left that way.

(See Matthew 23:23).

"Woe" to the Pharisees, because they adhere to completely different rules.

“Routes” (τό πήγανον) - instead of “anise” mentioned by Matthew.

“All vegetables” - all garden vegetation (πᾶν λάχανον) instead of the “caraway seeds” mentioned by Matthew.

Luke 11:43. Woe to you, the Pharisees, that you love the meetings in the synagogues and the salutations in the popular assemblies.

(See Matt. 23: 5-7).

The Evangelist Luke shortens Christ's speech here because some of its details were incomprehensible to his readers.

Luke 11:44. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, that you are like hidden coffins, over which people walk and do not know that.

(See Matthew 23:27).

The idea of \u200b\u200bcomparison cited by the Evangelist Luke is somewhat different than that of Matthew. Luke depicts the Pharisees like coffins, not painted with bright yellow paint, which let everyone know that there is a tomb with the body of a dead person. Seeing this, the passerby avoided, so as not to touch the tomb and not to be defiled. And you will not recognize the Pharisee: in appearance he is like all other people, perhaps even more pious than others, so that people can easily succumb to his influence, which is very detrimental to the moral life of a person.

Luke 11: 45. To this, one of the legalists said to him: Teacher! saying this, you offend us too.

The lawyer, apparently, did not belong openly to the Pharisee party, but everything that the Lord had hitherto said about the Pharisees also applied to him, because he, like other legalists, was in many ways similar to the Pharisees.

Luke 11: 46. But He said: And you, legalists, woe that you impose unbearable burdens on people, and you yourself do not touch them with one finger.

(See Matthew 23: 4).

Luke 11:47. Woe to you for building the tombs of the prophets that your fathers beat:

(See Matt. 23 et seq.)

Luke 11:48. Thus, you testify of the affairs of your fathers and agree with them, for they have beaten the prophets, and you are building tombs for them.

"And you build them tombs." The usual interpretation of this place is this: building the tombs or, rather, supporting them, the Jews thereby approve of those murders of the prophets that were committed in ancient times by their ancestors. But one cannot but admit that such an interpretation is rather unnatural. Therefore, it is better to accept Stier’s thought that the Lord does not at all recognize the support of the prophetic tombs as a bad deed, but only says that the Jews contemporary to Him have not gone far from their ancestors regarding the prophets and their teachings. They did not listen to the prophets and even put them to death - of course, sometimes - and these limit their attitude to the prophets only by building monuments to them, but they don’t fulfill them.

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 expelled,

“Therefore”, i.e. because of this, your agreement with your fathers - the murderers of the prophets.

"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 your own, earlier said saying of Christ. One might think that Christ here means God, who sent prophets in the Old Testament, and apostles in the New Testament. In Matthew, apparently, Christ speaks of Himself (Matt. 23:34).

Luke 11: 50. may the blood of all the prophets be shed from this creation, shed from the creation of the world,

Luke 11: 51. from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah killed between the altar and the temple. I tell you, she will be exacted from this generation.

(See Matthew 23:35).

Luke 11: 52. Woe to you, legalists, that you have taken the key of understanding: you yourself have not entered, and you have prevented those entering.

(See Matthew 23:13).

The evangelist Luke does not say that the scribes do not let others into the kingdom of heaven, as Matthew says, but that they kept the key to knowledge, i.e. to the knowledge of the divine saving truth, as it appeared in Christ. Truth is like a locked house, where you can only enter with a key. But this key is not in the hands of the people, but of a few scribes: with their teaching they prevented the people from using the teaching of Christ, to know the truth.

Luke 11: 53. When He told them this, the scribes and Pharisees began to approach Him very strongly, forcing Him to answer many things,

Luke 11: 54. looking for Him and trying to catch something from His mouth to accuse Him.

The scribes and Pharisees, when Christ left the Pharisee’s house (as it is read in the best codes instead of “spoken”), began by all means to force Him to answer their questions in order to catch Him with something.

. It happened that when He prayed in one place and stopped, one of His disciples said to Him: Lord! teach us how to pray, just as John taught his disciples.

The disciple of Christ is jealous of the disciples of John and therefore wants to learn how to pray. The Savior did not reject the desires of the disciples, but he teaches.

. He said to them: When you pray, say: He who is in heaven!

“Our Father,” he says, “ is in heaven ”. Note the power of prayer. She immediately leads you to the highlands and, since you call God the Father, convinces you in every way not to lose the likeness of the Father, but to try to become like Him. He didn’t say “My Father”, but “Our Father”, exciting you to brotherly love and encouraging you to love everyone, like brothers in general. Having said: “in heaven”, he does not limit God to them, but he leads the listener to heaven and leads him away from the earth.

hallowed be thy name;

“Hallowed be thy name”instead “May he be glorified”that is, arrange our life so that it will be in Your glory. For just as the name of God is blasphemed by evil, so is it glorified by those leading a good life.

thy kingdom come;

The sinner does not pray for the kingdom of God, for he does not want his coming because of the punishments awaiting him there. On the contrary, the righteous pray that it would come sooner, so that he would be free from the temptations here and calm down.

thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven;

“Thy will be done ... as it is in heaven”  - With Angels, so do we have people "on earth." For angels all and in all act according to the will of God.

. give us our daily bread for every day;

It teaches us to ask for “bread a” only for “essential”, that is, useful for our existence and for maintaining life, which is by no means superfluous, but necessary.

. and forgive us our sins, for we also forgive every debtor of ours; and do not lead us into temptation,

Not to go “into temptation” means not to rush into temptations. For we must pray to God not that He will tempt us, but that he will turn him away; and if he comprehends, he must endure it with courage. I must say that there are two kinds of temptations. Some are arbitrary, for example, drunkenness, murder, adultery and other passions; for to these temptations we ourselves fall arbitrarily. Other temptations are involuntary, to which the lords and the powerful subject us. From arbitrary temptations, that is, from passions, we must run away, pray for deliverance from them and say “do not lead us in,” that is, do not let us fall into “temptation,” that is, into arbitrary passion.

but deliver us from the evil one.

For he induces involuntary and free temptations. Therefore, when you involuntarily endure temptation from a person, consider this person not the culprit of your temptation, but the evil one. For he teaches man to rage at you and to rage.

. And he told them: we assume that   one of you, having a friend, will come to him at midnight and say to him: friend! lend me three loaves

. for my friend from the road came to me, and I have nothing to offer him;

The Lord, teaching us to pray idle time, tells a parable and an example. What does the parable mean? "Midnight" refers to the last days of life, which, when people have reached, begin to sympathize with good and rush to God. For He is a friend who loves all and desires salvation for all (). So, many “at midnight,” that is, at the end of life, come to God as a friend and say: “give me three loaves,” that is, faith in the Trinity; for “a friend has come in,” that is, an angel who takes souls. However, every angel is a friend, as the Lord says that joy happens in heaven to save a person ().

. and he from the inside will answer him: Don’t disturb me, the doors are already locked, and my children are with me in bed; I can’t get up and give you.

"Children" resting "on the bed" are people who have turned and therefore become children of the Lord and honored to rest with Him.

. If, I tell you, he will not get up and will not give him friendship with him, then by his persistence, standing up, he will give him how much he asks.

“Persistence” calls for intensified and prolonged prayer with patience.

Think differently, namely: under “midnight” we mean the power and middle of temptations. For all temptation is night, and the middle of temptations is without a doubt midnight. So, when one is in the middle of temptations, he comes to God who loves us and says : “Lend me three loaves”, that is, the salvation of the body, soul and spirit. For temptations threaten the danger of these three. Who is the “friend” who has gone out of the way? Without a doubt, the Lord, who tests us in temptations and wants to taste our salvation. Having fallen into temptations, unable to stand up to them and to receive the Lord by himself, he has nothing to offer Him.

“Locked doors” means that we must be ready before temptation, and when we enter, then the door to cooking is already locked, and we, unprepared, will be in danger if God does not help. "Children" are (as they were converted before) those who, through virtue, have become sons of God, recline and rest in God.

. And I will tell you: ask, and it will be given to you; seek and find; knock and they will open you

Look at the accuracy in words. The Lord did not say: “ask,” and it will be given to you, but “ask,” that is, constantly search.

. for everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.

“Everyone who asks receives”. Really gets one who asks useless? Not. For, firstly, the petition for the useless cannot be called petition before God. For he who prays to God must ask for what He gives. And if anyone asks the useless, he does not petition God, for He does not give the useless.

. Which of you father: when   the son will ask him for bread, will he give him a stone? or,: when he asks   fish, will he give him a snake instead of fish?

. Or, if he asks for eggs, will give him a scorpion?

. So, if you, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, all the more Heavenly Father will give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him.

Then listen, as the Lord Himself teaches us to ask for what we should ask. He says: the son asks for “bread” and “fish” and “eggs”. Therefore, just as these items make up human food, so our petitions should be useful to us and serve to help. Under asking for "bread", mind, perhaps, anyone who asks that faith in the Trinity and the correctness of dogma be open to him. For they, as those who affirm the heart, are bread. But the “fish” is asked by one who, being in the sea of \u200b\u200bthis life, asks God for help, so that he, like a fish, can be kept alive and not immersed among temptations. And he asks for “eggs”, who wants to be given the offspring of virtuous souls, which souls, like those who took wings, ascended in spirit and flew over the earth, can rightly be likened to birds.

. Once He cast out a demon that was him; and when the demon went out, the mute began to speak; and the people were surprised.

“Silent” is often called the one who does not speak, but also the one who does not hear, or rather the one who does not hear and does not speak. Some people don’t hear, they don’t speak. This happens to them when necessary. For we say what we learn through hearing. When someone does not hear, in all likelihood he doesn’t speak. But if anyone has a hearing that was subsequently damaged by an illness, nothing prevents him from speaking. He who was brought to Christ was in both respects: tongue, and in the ear.It is the image of human nature, which, being obsessed with demons, is not capable was not to hear the words of God, much less to retell. But the Lord, having come and cast out demons, that is, passionate and demonic deeds, made sure that we not only spoke, but also preached the truth, for the word of God should not only listen, but also to retell it to others. So, we will listen to demonic things in ourselves, thinking of teaching others and allowing us to be called teachers from people, for when a demon comes out, then there is true talkativeness and teaching, and while there are works of demons (passions) inside us, until now we do not speak, although we seem talking.

. Some of them said: He casts out demons by the power of Beelzebub, the prince of demons.

. And others, tempting, demanded from him a sign from heaven.

The Pharisees slander the miracle and the Lord is reproached as a deceiver. They say: He is friendly with the prince of demons and with his assistance “Cast out demons”.

. But He, knowing their thoughts, said to them: every kingdom, divided in itself, will be deserted, and the house: divided   in itself, will fall;

. if Satan is also divided in himself, then how will his kingdom stand? but you say that by the power of Beelzebub I cast out demons;

The Lord tells them: how is it possible for a demon to cast out another demon? That would be the destruction of his kingdom. For if they set the kingdom and repose in living in people, and their own prince banishes them, then it is obvious that he destroys himself. For and “Every kingdom divided”  and indignant, upset, and “A house divided ... will fall”. Under the "house" will you mean the building? Good. For the building also stands until it remains connected, and when the walls fall behind one another, it falls. Do you mean living under the “house”? And they, as long as they observe the world, stand, and if they rise against each other, they fall.

. and if by the power of Beelzebub cast out devils, then your sons by whose strength they cast them out? Therefore, they will be your judges.

Let it be so that "I cast out demons ... powerth Beelzebub "; but "your sons," that is, the apostles, "whose power they cast out"? Is it not obvious that by My name? How do you say about Me that I cast out through Beelzebub, needing his strength when your sons, namely the apostles, cast out My name? Genuine, they will judge you. For if they cast out My name, then I Myself obviously do not need the strength of another.

. If I cast out demons with the finger of God, then, of course, the Kingdom of God has reached you.

I'm casting out “Finger of God”, that is, the Holy Spirit, and not the crafty spirit. He calls the Spirit “finger” so that you know that both the finger of one being with the whole body and the Holy Spirit are consubstantial with the Father and the Son. And perhaps this is not why he calls it that the Son is called the right hand of God, and on Him rested the seven powers of the Spirit, and not as an instrument of the Spirit, but as coessential with Him; one of the gifts and actions of the Spirit is the power to heal. Says I'm casting out demons “Finger of God”, that is, by the gift of the Spirit. For just as the finger is part of the hand, so the healing spirit was part of those spirits, that is, the powers of the Spirit that Jesus had.

If - says - "I ... cast out demons"  by the power of God it truly came to pass “The kingdom of God is before you”. And this has such a meaning: the kingdom of the devil is finally destroyed, and God reigns, casting out demons. For listen to what follows.

. When a strong man with a weapon guards his house, then his estate is safe;

. when his strongest attack him and defeat him, then he will take all his weapons, on which he hoped, and will share what was stolen from him.

Before My coming, ”he says,“ Satan was strong and “guarding his home,” that is, he ruled over human nature firmly and safely. But when I came, "His strongest"then I conquered the world and all "His ... weapon ... which he hoped for", that is, all kinds of sin. For sin is the weapon of the devil, and he boldly overcame people with it. These are all the weapons of which I have crushed, because in Me there was no sin (); since then he has weakened. AND "Stolen from him", that is, people who were like his prey, I plucked from him and entrusted each with a special Angel, a faithful guardian, so that instead of the demon in whom he was in power, the Angel would control him.

. He who is not with me is against me; and he who does not gather with me scatters.

. When an unclean spirit leaves a man, he walks through waterless places, looking for peace, and, not finding it, says: I will return to my house, where I came from;

. and, having come, finds him swept and cleaned;

. then he goes and takes with him seven other spirits that are evil to themselves, and, upon entering, live there - and for the man that last one is worse than the first.

And otherwise. What is the communication between Me and Beelzebub? My business is to collect the scattered children of God; and his job is that he wastes the assembled. How do you conclude about Me that I have fellowship with Satan? Truly, such a thought came to you from the fact that you are now in greater fellowship with demons. An unclean spirit lived in you before, when you served idols and killed the prophets. Then, apparently, he came out of you. And now he’s returned “to his house”, that is, to your souls, with “seven spirits”, that is, many (for the number “seven” in the Scriptures is often used in the meaning of “many”), and has done for you "The last is worse than the first". For then, when you served idols, you killed the prophets, but did not yet inflict a clear insult to the Son of God, who appeared in the flesh for your sake. And now what is the hope of salvation when you remain with the same ingratitude and insolence and after the Son has been embodied and works miracles for you?

“Waterless places” are the souls of those who have no softness, (souls) callous and preoccupied with themselves. Since the evil one has no place to dwell in such souls, he returns to the Jews, and the latter becomes worse for them than the former. So, now they no longer have the prophets, for they killed the Word, nor the anointing, for they crucified Christ (the anointed one). Formerly, although they served idols, they had visible prophets and anointing; and now they have lost everything, because they have sinned against the Son of God.

. When He said this, one woman, raising her voice from the people, said to Him: blessed is the womb that bore You, and the nipples that nourished You!

While the Pharisees and scribes discredit the miracles of the Lord, the wife, a simple and simple face, glorifies Him. Where are those who say that the Lord appeared ghostly? For here is the testimony that He ate nipples!

. But He said: Blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it.

But He pleases those who keep the word of God, however, not to deprive Her Mother of pleasure, but to show that She also would not receive any benefit from the fact that she bore Him and nourished the nipples, if did not have all the other virtues. Says it together and because it goes to the time. Since those envious of Him and not listening to His words blasphemed the listeners, He contrary to them especially pleases the hearers. Perhaps He also says this for the sake of the healed deaf, so that when he listens to the word, he observes it so that the (granted to him) ability to hear does not serve him as a condemnation.

. When the people began to converge in multitude, He began to say: this generation is evil, he is looking for a sign, and a sign will not be given to him, except for the sign of Jonah the prophet;

"When ... the people began to converge in a multitude", The Lord began to denounce the foolish. Between them there were several who wanted Jesus to make a sign from heaven; for they said: the signs that he creates are from the earth, and he creates them by the power of Beelzebub, the prince of the world who has power over the earth; but He cannot create signs from heaven, because He is not the Son of the Heavenly Father. As some said so, the Lord convicts them and says: a sign will be given to you that proves that I am the true Son of Heavenly Father. Which one? “The Sign of Jonah,” that is, the sign of the Resurrection ().

. for as Jonah was a sign for the Ninevites, so will the Son of Man be for this generation.

For as he spent three days in the belly of the whale, so I will stay three days in the belly of the whale, the great animal, that is, hell, and I will rise again. When Jonah, cast out by a whale and, as it were, revived again, began to preach, the Ninevites obeyed (); but even after My Resurrection this generation will not believe. Therefore, they will be condemned for not imitating the Ninevites, although there is more of Jonah. For My dignity and method of preaching is a big difference. I am the Lord, he is a slave. I preach the Kingdom of Heaven, he is salvation from threatening doom, I perform miracles, he did not perform any miracle.

. The Queen of the South will rise 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 here, there is more than Solomon.

. The Ninevites will rise to judgment with this generation and condemn it, for they have repented of Jonina’s preaching, and behold, there is more Jonah here.

Similarly, and "The Queen of the South ... condemn"  This generation, for it came from the end of the earth to listen to the wisdom of Solomon.

Under the "Queen of the South" mind, perhaps, every soul, strong and constant in good. I will explain. The North, when it serves as a symbol of the whereabouts of the adversary, is not approved by Scripture because it cools and induces mortification and stupor; and the south (as opposed to the north) is approved, because the south wind brings warmth, revitalization, warms and numb parts. Therefore, in the Song of Songs, the bride, chasing the north, says: “Rise ... from the north and be brought from the south”  (), and the prophet again says: “And I will depart from the north from you”, i.e. Satan (). So, the soul reigning in the south, that is, in the fertile country of spiritual life, and strengthened through exercise in activity, comes to listen to wisdom, that is, it goes back to contemplation. For the wisdom of Solomon, the king of peace, is the contemplation of the Lord and our God, which no one else can achieve unless through exercise in activity he becomes king and ruler in a virtuous life.

. No one, lighting a candle, puts it in a secret place, not under a vessel, but on a candlestick, so that those who enter see the light.

Since envious Jews, looking at miracles, misinterpreted them because of the malice of their minds, the Lord says the following: people who received a “lamp” from God, that is, a gift of the mind with which we look, as if given light to us, hid judiciousness and saddened with envy, they don’t see miracles and good deeds, although for this we got the mind to put on a candlestick so that others “saw the light”. In my opinion, He says this: Pharisee! you have knowledge - this is a lamp. You should use this knowledge to recognize miracles yourself and to declare and explain to others that they are the essence of the work of the Son of God, and not Beelzebub. Thus, the “inboxes,” that is, those newly introduced and beginners, would see the light. For he who is wise, he has already entered; and who else studies, he only enters.

. The lamp of the body is the eye; so if your eye is clean, then your whole body will be light; and if it is bad, then your body will be dark.

. So look: the light that is in you, is there not darkness?

. If your body is all light and does not have a single dark part, then everything will be light as if the lamp illuminated you with radiance.

But you Pharisees did not want to do this, and the eye of the soul, that is, the mind, hitherto straight, twisted and darkened. For as the eye of the body, which is itself, the body also does so, for example, if it is clean, then the body is light, and if it is dark, then the body is dark, just as the soul is located according to the state of mind. If the eye and light received by her from God begin to be clouded by envy or covetousness, generally speaking, by love for the material, then she too is clouded.

. When He said this, one Pharisee asked Him to dine with him. He came and rested.

Although the Lord knows the hostility of the Pharisees, however, he dines with them because they were crafty and in need of correction. For that is why He dines with them in order to have an occasion to improve their morals.

. The Pharisee was surprised to see that He had not washed: hands    before dinner.

For example, and now, looking at their unreasonable custom - to wash before eating food, he teaches that the soul should be cleansed by good deeds, since rinsing with water does not cleanse the soul, but the body. They, reckless, thought that by immersion in water and washing the body along with the body, their soul is also purified. Therefore, the Lord used a wonderful example of the cup.

. But the Lord said to him: now you Pharisees clean the appearance of the cup and dish, and your inside is full of theft and deceit.

And as time was on the table, He mentions the bowl and the platter, and, borrowing evidence from what lay before his eyes, convinces the Pharisee that there is no use if the bowl is empty outside and filled with all kinds of dirt, so there is no use for if, when washing the body, the soul is full of all impurities, for example, "Theft and guile". The Lord hinted at the two dominant passions of the Jews: the word "theft" - covetousness, the word "cunning" - envy and the consequences of envy. So, there is no benefit if the soul is in such a state.

. Unreasonable! Is it not the same who created the external, created the internal?

Reckless! Didn't He create the same soul, Who created the body on which you dwell so much? Therefore, you must purify the soul.

. Better give alms from what you have, then everything will be clean with you.

Then he teaches them how the inside is cleansed, namely: points to “alms”. Look, perhaps, as He, pointing to alms, heals both their passions, I mean envy and theft. For he who is truly merciful will neither steal from him to whom he gives alms, nor envy him. So, since He condemned two passions in them, He casts them out with one medicine, namely alms, which is the first door of worshiping love. And where is love, is there any covetousness and envy? “From what you have”, that is, from your estate. Well said: “From what you have”, and not just: “from what is”, because the estate is in the heart of the covetous and dominates it. Why does David also command "not to attach ... the heart" to wealth (), that is, not to nail it and not to tie it.

. But woe to you, Pharisees, that you tithe mint, ruta, and all kinds of vegetables, and do not care about the judgment and love of God: this was to be done, and not to be left that way.

The Pharisees, in order not to transgress the Law, tithed even the most insignificant objects, and if anyone reproached them with pettiness, they referred to the Law, which commanded priests to tithe from all (). Therefore, the Lord says: as you do not neglect this, it was proper for you to do the judgment and love of God. Since the Pharisees were unjust, oppressed widows and orphans, the Lord says: you must have “judgment,” that is, justice. Since they were also contemptuous of God, without reasoning extending their hand to sacred works, the Lord commands them to have "the love of God." For he who loves God does not begin to neglect His works. And it seems to me, since there are two types of love: love for God and love for one's neighbor, then, perhaps, the Lord makes an allusion to these two types: the word “court” means love for one's neighbor, since justice and non-repression of one's neighbor come from love for one , and the word "love of God", no doubt, means a complete disposition to God. And when someone loves his neighbor not in any worldly or shameful disposition, but for the sake of God, then this love can be called the love of God, since it is commanded by God and pleasing to Him.

. Woe to you, the Pharisees, that you love the meetings in the synagogues and the salutations in the popular assemblies.

They (the Pharisees) loved that everyone would honor them and "In the national assemblies"  called them the title: "teacher" (); this means the words: "welcome e," "chair."

. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, that you are like hidden coffins, over which people walk and do not know that.

The Lord says: you are like tombs, which are full of all rottenness, and shine with marble from the outside; people by their appearance will not recognize what rules they follow in life (why they go), and if they knew, they would turn away because of internal filth.

. To this, one of the legalists said to him: Teacher! saying this, you offend us too.

The lawyer recklessly exposes himself. Lawyers were different than the Pharisees. The Pharisees were considered ascetics and cut off from others, while legalists were scribes and teachers and for those who wished they resolved questions from the Law.

. But He said: And you, legalists, woe that you impose unbearable burdens on people, and you yourself do not touch them with one finger.

They (legalists) imposed heavy burdens on people and unbearable "; but they themselves did not touch these burdens "And ... with your finger"that is, they themselves did not observe anything from what they commanded to others. For when the teacher himself does what he teaches, then he eases the burden by setting an example in himself and encouraging the students. When he does nothing from what he is teaching, then the burdens seem to the students truly heavy, since the teacher cannot fulfill them.

. Woe to you for building the tombs of the prophets that your fathers beat:

. from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah killed between the altar and the temple. I tell you, she will be exacted from this generation.

The Lord also discovers that the Jews are descendants of Cain and the heirs of his malice when he says that all "Blood shed ... from Abel to ... Zechariah ... will be exacted from this generation". You, ”he says,“ killed the prophets, your brothers, just as he is Abel. Why is it not without reason that some took Cain for the image of people who beat the prophets, for which he was avenged seven times, that is, the punishment of the lightest, and Lamech - for the image of people who killed Christ, for which he was avenged seventy times seven times (), namely: scattering captive irrevocable.

Who was Zechariah who was killed between the temple and the altar? Some say that this is the long-standing Zechariah, the son of Jehoiada, who was stoned, as is known from the book of Kings (). Others say that this is the father of the Forerunner. He did not exclude the Virgin from the virgin family after she gave birth to Christ, and placed her in the same place where they stood; and this place was between the temple and the outer copper altar. For this they killed him. Since some were expecting their future king in Christ, while others did not want to be under the authority of the king, they therefore killed this saint because he claimed to have given birth to the Virgin and that Christ was born, their future King, which was disgusting to them for they wished to be without a king.

. Woe to you, legalists, that you have taken the key of understanding: you yourself have not entered, and you have prevented those entering.

“The key om understanding” the Lord called doctrine and guidance through the Law, which can lead to Christ. For the Law undoubtedly serves as a guide to Christ (). So, the legalists apparently explained the Law, but meanwhile they maliciously held "Key of understanding"  and they did not open the doors of the Law, through which they themselves and the people could come to Christ. The law serves as a door to Christ. But this door remains closed if someone does not explain the dark side of the Law and thus does not open the door. For the Lord said: “If you believed Moses, you would believe me”  (). And again: “Search the Scriptures ... they testify of Me. But you do not want to come to Me ”  (). For example, I’ll point out one thing.

Among the Jews, as you know, the lamb was tempered, the thresholds were anointed, they ate these meats, and this was their victory over the destroyer (). With all this the Sacrament of Christ was prefigured.

When Christ was slain as the Immaculate and Pure Lamb, then our thresholds, that is, heart and will, and their vestibule, that is, the mind, are anointed, and we tasted the flesh of the Son of Man and defeated the destroyer of our spiritual forces. And so many statutes pointed to Christ.

Although the Law was as if covered and locked by the darkness of the letter, as if by some kind of door, but if someone was entrusted with the teaching, he had a key of understanding; and if he wished such, he could open it, and he himself would enter, and he would introduce others. But the lawyers didn’t do it, but "The key of understanding ... took", that is, they hid, hid from sight; when this key was taken from the medium (hidden), that is, the interpretation of the Law, then his door remained locked.

By the "key of understanding" you can also understand faith. For the knowledge of truth occurs through faith, as the prophet Isaiah says: If you do not believe, you will not understand (). So legalists "Key of understanding", that is, faith, was taken from the medium and hidden. For they did not allow some to believe in Christ, the Savior of all. He worked miracles, and the people, believing for the sake of these miracles, would recognize Him as God, but they (legalists) said that He performs these miracles by the power of Beelzebub. Do you see how they took the key of understanding, not allowing them to believe that they themselves would lead to knowledge? He (Christ) in the synagogues taught the will of God, and they (legalists) said: He has a demon and is raging, why are you listening to him?

So, they (that is, the Pharisees and scribes), indeed, took the key of understanding, but they themselves did not enter and did not let others in, and moreover, "those who enter," that is, already capable of knowing God.

. When He told them this, the scribes and Pharisees began to approach Him very strongly, forcing Him to answer many things,

. looking for Him and trying to catch something from His mouth to accuse Him.

"When He was still speaking," these things, instead of confessing to their powerlessness, as if in refutation of His words, they declared themselves wisest of Him and began to block His mouth, that is, constantly ask Him and perplex. For usually difficulty occurs in speeches when very many people suddenly ask one person, and moreover, about different subjects. Then this man, not being able to answer everyone, unreasonable gives reason to consider himself defeated. The same damned against Christ and these damned. Many of them, inquiring of one, thought to bring Him down in speeches and make it difficult, as he couldn’t answer them: that was and was likely. For how can one suddenly answer many different questions? That can be taken in the following meaning: "Catch him ... from the mouth"  and expose. For when someone is caught in his own words, it seems that he closes his mouth himself, that is, he is convicted by his lips and condemned. This value is also evident from the following. For it is said: “Trying to catch something from his mouth”. What was called a little earlier is now replaced by the words - “To catch from his mouth”.

Questions were asked of him regarding the Law (Moses), in order to convict Him as the blasphemer who blasphemed Moses (for they suspected Him of this), then regarding Caesar, to declare Him a rebel and harassing authority, and about all that the crafty souls could come up with and full of all malice.

1 It happened that when He prayed in one place and stopped, one of His disciples said to Him: Lord! teach us how to pray, just as John taught his disciples.

2 He said to them: when you pray, say: Our Father in heaven! Hallowed be thy name; Thy kingdom come; Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven;

3 give us our daily bread for every day;

4 and forgive us our sins, for we also forgive every debtor of ours; and do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.

5 And he said to them: we assume that  one of you, having a friend, will come to him at midnight and say to him: friend! lend me three loaves

6 for my friend from the road came to me, and I have nothing to offer him;

7 and he from the inside will answer him: Don’t disturb me, the doors are already locked, and my children are with me in bed; I can’t get up and give you.

8 If, I tell you, he will not get up and will not give him friendship with him, then by his persistence, standing up, he will give him how much he asks.

9 And I will tell you: ask, and it will be given to you; seek and find; knock and they will open you

10 for everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.

11 Which of you father, when the 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?

12 Or, if he asks for eggs, will give him a scorpion?

13 So, if you, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, all the more Heavenly Father will give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him.

14 Once He cast out a demon that was him; and when the demon went out, the mute began to speak; and the people were surprised.

15 Some of them said: He casts out demons by the power of Beelzebub, the prince of demons.

16 And others, tempting, demanded from him a sign from heaven.

17 But He, knowing their thoughts, said to them: every kingdom, divided in itself, will be deserted, and the house, divided  in itself, will fall;

18 if Satan is also divided in himself, how will his kingdom stand? but you say that by the power of Beelzebub I cast out demons;

19 and if by the power of Beelzebub cast out devils, then your sons by whose strength they cast them out? Therefore, they will be your judges.

20 If I cast out demons with the finger of God, then, of course, the Kingdom of God has reached you.

21 When a strong man with a weapon guards his house, then his estate is safe;

22 when his strongest attack him and defeat him, then he will take all his weapons, on which he hoped, and will share what was stolen from him.

23 He who is not with me is against me; and he who does not gather with me scatters.

24 When an unclean spirit leaves a man, he walks through waterless places, looking for peace, and, not finding it, says: I will return to my house, where I came from;

25 and, having come, finds him swept and cleaned;

26 then he goes and takes with him seven other spirits that are evil to themselves, and, upon entering, live there - and for the man that last one is worse than the first.

27 When He said this, one woman, raising her voice from the people, said to Him: blessed is the womb that bore You, and the nipples that nourished You!

28 But He said: Blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it.

29 When the people began to converge in multitude, He began to say: this generation is evil, he is looking for a sign, and a sign will not be given to him, except for the sign of Jonah the prophet;

30 for as Jonah was a sign to the Ninevites, so will the Son of Man be for this generation.

33 No one, lighting a candle, puts it in a secret place, not under a vessel, but on a candlestick, so that those who enter see the light.

34 The lamp of the body is the eye; therefore, if your eye is clean, then your whole body will be light; and if it is bad, then your body will be dark.

35 So look: the light that is in you, is there not darkness?

36 If your body is all light and does not have a single dark part, then everything will be light as if the lamp illuminated you with radiance.

37 When He said this, one Pharisee asked Him to dine with him. He came and rested.

38 The Pharisee was surprised to see that He had not washed hands  before dinner.

39 But the Lord said to him: now you Pharisees clean the appearance of the cup and dish, and your inside is full of theft and deceit.

40 Unreasonable! Is it not the same who created the external, created the internal?

41 Better give alms from what you have, then everything will be clean with you.

42 But woe to you, Pharisees, that you tithe mint, ruta, and all kinds of vegetables, and do not care about the judgment and love of God: this was to be done, and not to be left that way.

43 Woe to you, the Pharisees, that you love the meetings in the synagogues and the salutations in the popular assemblies.

44 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, that you are like hidden coffins, over which people walk and do not know that.

The concept of ritual purity is detailed in the Mosaic Law. It regulates what was intuitively clear to everyone: people, objects and food can be clean or unclean, and they can possess this property both temporarily, due to certain events, and constantly, due to their natural qualities. Touching the unclean defiles the clean, and cleansing is possible according to certain rules and on certain conditions. So, lepers in NZ were not just sick people: they were also unclean to everything, that is, they could never and under no circumstances communicate with other people and led the lives of real outcasts. The fact that Jesus generally attracted favorable attention to them was in itself an unprecedented event. In addition, everything pure could be profane (related to everyday human life) or sacred, i.e. sacred, related to the sphere of communication between God (gods) and man, and one should not mix one with the other either. A mixture of the sacred and the unclean is the most radical violation of the rules. This is why King Josiah burned dead bones on pagan altars to defile them forever ( 16 And Josiah looked and saw the graves which were  there on the mountain, and he sent and took bones from the graves, and burned it on the altar, and defiled it according to the word of the Lord, which was proclaimed by a man of God who foretold these events [when Jeroboam stood before the altar during the feast. Then, turning, he saw the grave of a man of God who foretold these events,]4 Kings 23:16), that's why comparison of scribes and Pharisees with hidden coffins (44 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, that you are like hidden coffins, over which people walk and do not know that.Luke 11:44) sounded such a terrible insult: those who considered themselves the most sacred actually desecrated other people with their touch, and they did not even know about it!

A source

"Introduction to biblical exegetics" M., PSTGU. 2013 .-- 413 p.

45 To this, one of the legalists said to him: Teacher! saying this, you offend us too.

46 But He said: And you, legalists, woe that you impose unbearable burdens on people, and you yourself do not touch them with one finger.

47 Woe to you for building the tombs of the prophets that your fathers beat:

48 thus, you testify of the affairs of your fathers and agree with them, for they have beaten the prophets, and you are building tombs for them.

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 expelled,

50 may the blood of all the prophets be shed from this creation, shed from the creation of the world,

51 from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah killed between the altar and the temple. I tell you, she will be exacted from this generation.

52 Woe to you, legalists, that you have taken the key of understanding: you yourself have not entered, and you have prevented those entering.

53 When He told them this, the scribes and Pharisees began to approach Him very strongly, forcing Him to answer many things,

54 looking for Him and trying to catch something from His mouth to accuse Him.

1 How to pray? "Our Father"; "Ask, and it shall be given you". 14 By the power of Beelzebub, or by the finger of God? The strongest will defeat the strong. Swept house. 27 Blessed are those who hear and keep. The sign of Jonah. "More than Solomon." 33 body lamp; light and darkness. 42 “Woe” to the Pharisees; legalists, their hatred of Jesus.

1 It happened that when He prayed in one place and stopped, one of His disciples said to Him: Lord! teach us how to pray, just as John taught his disciples.

2 He said to them: when you pray, say: “Our Father who is in heaven! Hallowed be thy name; Thy kingdom come; Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven;

3 give us our daily bread for every day;

4 and forgive us our sins, for we also forgive every debtor of ours; and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one ”.

5 And he said to them: we assume that  one of you, having a friend, will come to him at midnight and say to him: “friend! lend me three loaves of bread,

6 for my friend from the road came to me, and I have nothing to offer him ”;

7 and he from the inside will answer him: “Do not disturb me, the doors are already locked, and my children are with me in bed; I can’t get up and give you ".

8 If, I tell you, he will not get up and will not give him friendship with him, then by his persistence, standing up, will give him how much he asks.

9 And I will tell you: ask, and it will be given to you; seek and find; knock and they will open you,

10 for everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks they will open.

11 Which of you father when  the son will ask him for bread, will he give him a stone? or, when he asks  fish, will he give him a snake instead of fish?

12 Or, if he asks for eggs, will give him a scorpion?

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.

14 He once cast out a demon that was him; and when the demon went out, the mute began to speak; and the people were surprised.

15 Some of them said: He casts out demons by the power of Beelzebub, the prince of demons.

16 But others, tempting, demanded of him a sign from heaven.

17 But he, knowing their thoughts, said to them: every kingdom divided in itself is deserted, and the house divided  in itself will fall;

18 if Satan is also divided in himself, how will his kingdom stand? and you say that by the power of Beelzebub cast out demons;

19 and if by the power of Beelzebub cast out devils, then your sons by whose strength they cast them out? Therefore, they will be your judges.

20 If I cast out demons with the finger of God, then, of course, the Kingdom of God has reached you..

21 When a strong man with a weapon guards his house, then his estate is safe;

22 when his strongest attack him and defeat him, then he will take all his weapons, on which he hoped, and will share what was stolen from him.

23 He who is not with me is against me; and he who does not gather with me scatters.

24 When an unclean spirit leaves a person, he walks through waterless places, looking for peace, and, not finding it, says: “I will return to my house, where I came from”;

25 and, having come, finds him swept and cleaned;

26 then he goes and takes with him seven other spirits that are evil to himself, and, upon entering, live there, and for a person that last is worse than the first.

27 And when he said this, one woman, raising her voice from the people, said unto him, blessed is the womb that bore you, and the nipples that nourished you!

28 But he said: blessed are those who hear and keep the word of God.

29 And when the people began to converge in multitude, He began to say: this generation is cunning, he seeks a sign, and a sign will not be given to him, except the sign of the prophet Jonah;

30 for as Jonah was a sign to the Ninevites, so will the Son of Man be for this generation.

33 No one, lighting a candle, puts it in a secret place, not under a vessel, but on a candlestick, so that those who enter see the light.

34 The lamp of the body is the eye; so, if your eye is clean, then your whole body will be light; and if it is bad, then your body will be dark.

35 So look: the light that is in you, is there not darkness?

36 If your body is all light and does not have a single dark part, then everything will be light as if the lamp illuminated you with a glow.

37 When He said this, a Pharisee asked Him to dine with him. He came and rested.

38 And the Pharisee was astonished to see that he had not washed hands  before dinner.

39 But the Lord said to him: now you Pharisees clean the appearance of the cup and dish, and your inside is full of theft and deceit.

40 Unreasonable! Is it not the same who created the external, created the internal?

41 Better give alms from what you have, then everything will be clean with you.

42 But woe to you, Pharisees, that you tithe mint, ruta, and all kinds of vegetables, and do not care about the judgment and love of God: this was to be done, and not to leave that.

43 Woe to you, Pharisees, for your love of sitting in the synagogues and greetings in the popular gatherings..

44 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, that you are like hidden coffins, over which people walk and do not know.

45 To this, one of the legalists said to him: Teacher! saying this, you offend us too.

46 But He said: and you, lawyers, grief that you impose unbearable burdens on people, and you yourself do not touch them with one finger.

47 Woe to you for building the tombs of the prophets whom your fathers beat.:

48 you, therefore, testify of the affairs of your fathers and agree with them, for they have beaten the prophets, and you are building tombs for them.

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 expelled,

50 may the blood of all the prophets shed from the creation of the world be exacted,

51 from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah killed between the altar and the temple. I tell you, she will be exacted from this generation.