# Luke 18 📖: Pray and Never Give Up [[📚 Explore the Bible Books]] [[-Luke Overview]] | [[Luke 17]] | [[Luke 19]] > [!info] Table of Contents > [[#📜 Scripture Text (NET)]] > [[#📖 Verse-by-Verse Commentary]] > [[#🤔 Interesting Facts / Historical and Cultural Insights]] > [[#🧠 Chapter Summary]] > [[#✝️ Christ in This Chapter]] > [[#🔎 Key Observations / 🛟 Life Application]] > [[#💬 Discussion Questions]] > [[#✍️ Key Verses to Remember]] > [[#🔗 Related Passages]] > [[#🙏 Devotional Reflection]] > [[#📂 Internal Notes]] ## 📜 Scripture Text (NET) (The NET Bible: New English Translation. Biblical Studies Press, 2005) #### Prayer and the Parable of the Persistent Widow **Principle**: Don't give up. God is faithful. [[#Verse 01.]] Then Jesus told them a parable to show them they should always pray and not lose heart.  [[#Verse 02.]] He said, “In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor respected people.  [[#Verse 03.]] There was also a widow in that city who kept coming to him and saying, ‘Give me justice against my adversary.’ [[#Verse 03]] There was also a widow in that city who kept coming to him and saying, ‘Give me justice against my adversary.’  [[#Verse 04.]] For a while he refused, but later on he said to himself, ‘Though I neither fear God nor have regard for people, [[#Verse 05.]] yet because this widow keeps on bothering me, I will give her justice, or in the end she will wear me out by her unending pleas.’”  [[#Verse 06.]] And the Lord said, “Listen to what the unrighteous judge says!  [[#Verse 07.]] Won’t God give justice to his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he delay long to help them?  [[#Verse 08.]] I tell you, he will give them justice speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?” #### The Parable of the Pharisee and Tax Collector **Principle**: Be honest about your heart. [[#Verse 09.]] Jesus also told this parable to some who were confident that they were righteous and looked down on everyone else.  [[#Verse 10.]] “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.  [[#Verse 11.]] The Pharisee stood and prayed about himself like this: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people: extortionists, unrighteous people, adulterers—or even like this tax collector.  [[#Verse 12.]] I fast twice a week; I give a tenth of everything I get.’  [[#Verse 13.]] The tax collector, however, stood far off and would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, be merciful to me, sinner that I am!’  [[#Verse 14.]] I tell you that this man went down to his home justified rather than the Pharisee. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted.” #### Jesus and Little Children **Principle**: Simple, childlike faith is not the same as simplistic faith. [[#Verse 15.]] Now people were even bringing their babies to him for him to touch. But when the disciples saw it, they began to scold those who brought them.  [[#Verse 16.]] But Jesus called for the children, saying, “Let the little children come to me and do not try to stop them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.  [[#Verse 17.]] I tell you the truth, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child will never enter it.” #### The Wealthy Ruler **Principle**: God all in or not at all. [[M0011- Rich Young Ruler]] [[#Verse 18.]] Now a certain leader asked him, “Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”  [[#Verse 19.]] Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone.  [[#Verse 20.]] You know the commandments: ‘**_Do not commit adultery, do not murder, do not steal, do not give false testimony, honor your father and mother_**.’”  [[Exodus 20]], [[Deuteronomy 05]] [[#Verse 21.]] The man replied, “I have wholeheartedly obeyed all these laws since my youth.”  [[#Verse 22.]] When Jesus heard this, he said to him, “One thing you still lack. Sell all that you have and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”  [[#Verse 23.]] But when the man heard this he became very sad, for he was extremely wealthy.  [[#Verse 24.]] When Jesus noticed this,he said, “How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God!  [[#Verse 25.]] In fact, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.”  [[#Verse 26.]] Those who heard this said, “Then who can be saved?”  [[#Verse 27.]] He replied, “What is impossible for mere humans is possible for God.”  [[#Verse 28.]] And Peter said, “Look, we have left everything we own to follow you!  [[#Verse 29.]] Then Jesus said to them, “I tell you the truth, there is no one who has left home or wife or brothers or parents or children for the sake of God’s kingdom [[#Verse 30.]] who will not receive many times more in this age—and in the age to come, eternal life.” #### Another Prediction of Jesus’ Passion **Principle**: Jesus knows and goes anyway. [[#Verse 31.]] Then Jesus took the twelve aside and said to them, “Look, we are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written about the Son of Man by the prophets will be accomplished.  [[#Verse 32.]] For he will be handed over to the Gentiles; he will be mocked, mistreated, and spat on.  [[#Verse 33.]] They will flog him severely and kill him. Yet on the third day he will rise again.”  [[#Verse 34.]] But the twelve understood none of these things. This saying was hidden from them, and they did not grasp what Jesus meant. #### Healing a Blind Man **Principle**: Following Jesus means standing out. [[#Verse 35.]] As Jesus approached Jericho, a blind man was sitting by the road begging.  [[#Verse 36.]]] When he heard a crowd going by, he asked what was going on.  [[#Verse 37.]] They told him, “Jesus the Nazarene is passing by.”  [[#Verse 38.]] So he called out, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!”  [[#Verse 39.]] And those who were in frontscolded him to get him to be quiet, but he shoutedeven more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!”  [[#Verse 40.]] SoJesus stopped and ordered the beggar to be brought to him. When the man came near, Jesusasked him, [[#Verse 41.]] “What do you want me to do for you?” He replied, “Lord, let me see again.”  [[#Verse 42.]] Jesus said to him, “Receive your sight; your faith has healed you.” [[#Verse 43.]] And immediately he regained his sight and followed Jesus, praising God. When all the people saw it, they too gave praise to God. ## 📖 Verse-by-Verse Commentary ###### Overall. ###### Verse 01. ###### Verse 02. ###### Verse 03. ###### Verse 04. ###### Verse 05. ###### Verse 06. ###### Verse 07. ###### Verse 08. ###### Verse 09. ###### Verse 10. ###### Verse 11. ###### Verse 12. ###### Verse 13. ###### Verse 14. ###### Verse 15. ###### Verse 16. ###### Verse 17. ###### Verse 18. ###### Verse 19. ###### Verse 20. ###### Verse 21. ###### Verse 22. ###### Verse 23. ###### Verse 24. ###### Verse 25. ###### Verse 26. ###### Verse 27. ###### Verse 28. ###### Verse 29. ###### Verse 30. ###### Verse 31. ###### Verse 32. ###### Verse 33. ###### Verse 34. ###### Verse 35. ###### Verse 36. ###### Verse 37. ###### Verse 38. ###### Verse 39. ###### Verse 40. ###### Verse 41. ###### Verse 42. ###### Verse 43. ## 🤔 Interesting Facts / Historical and Cultural Insights 1. Widows often had no one to defend them in court, and the Law commanded special care for them (Exodus 22:22). 2. Some Pharisees fasted twice a week (18:12), traditionally on Mondays and Thursdays, far beyond the one yearly fast the Law required. 3. The tax collector stood far off and beat his breast (18:13), a gesture of deep grief and repentance. 4. The tax collector's word for "be merciful" (18:13) is related to the language of atonement, asking God to turn His wrath away. 5. Luke uses a word for "babies" in 18:15, stressing how young the children were. 6. Only Luke calls the rich man a "ruler" (18:18). 7. The commandments Jesus lists (18:20) come from the second half of the Ten Commandments, the ones about loving our neighbor. 8. This is the third time in Luke that Jesus plainly predicts His death (9:22, 44; 18:31-33). 9. Luke notes that the disciples did not understand any of these things (18:34). 10. Jericho (18:35), an oasis city near the Jordan River, is one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world. ## 🧠 Chapter Summary > [!note] 🌱 Still growing. This section is on its way. ## ✝️ Christ in This Chapter Christ is the Son of David who stops for a blind beggar and gives him sight (18:38-42). He would be mocked, killed, and rise on the third day (18:31-33), and through Him God justifies the humble who cry out for mercy (18:13-14; Romans 4:5). ## 🔎 Key Observations / 🛟 Life Application > [!note] 🌱 Still growing. This section is on its way. ## 💬 Discussion Questions 1. Jesus told this parable so His disciples would always pray and not lose heart (18:1). What prayer do you need to keep bringing to God? 2. The tax collector simply asked God for mercy as a sinner (18:13). How does his prayer differ from the Pharisee's, and which one are you tempted to pray? 3. Jesus told the rich ruler to sell everything and follow Him (18:22). What are you holding back from Jesus? ## ✍️ Key Verses to Remember - 📖 verse 1: Always pray and do not lose heart. - 📖 verses 13-14: The tax collector cries out for mercy and goes home justified. - 📖 verse 16: The kingdom belongs to those who come like little children. - 📖 verse 27: What is impossible for people is possible with God. ## 🔗 Related Passages - 🔗 [[1 Thessalonians 05#Verse 17.|1 Thessalonians 5:17]] - Pray without ceasing. - 🔗 [[Revelation 06#Verse 10.|Revelation 6:10]] - How long, O Lord? - 🔗 [[Isaiah 65#Verse 05.|Isaiah 65:5]] - I am holier than you. - 🔗 [[Psalm 51#Verse 01.|Psalm 51:1-4]] - Have mercy on me, O God. - 🔗 [[James 04#Verse 06.|James 4:6]] - God gives grace to the humble. - 🔗 [[Jeremiah 32#Verse 17.|Jeremiah 32:17]] - Nothing is too hard for God. - 🔗 [[2 Samuel 07#Verse 12.|2 Samuel 7:12-16]] - The promised Son of David. ## 🙏 Devotional Reflection 📝 SOAP: [[Luke 18 - SOAP|Go All In]] ## 📂 Internal Notes