JESUS’ RESPONSE TO AN EVIL GENERATION.
Luke 11:27-36.
1. True Blessedness. (Luke 11:27-28).
LUKE 11:27. A certain unnamed woman now pronounced a blessing upon the one who bore Jesus. Of course, when rightly understood, she was not wrong. After all, the angel Gabriel had told Mary, ‘blessed art thou among women’ (cf. Luke 1:28); and Mary herself humbly acknowledged, ‘henceforth all generations shall call me blessed’ (cf. Luke 1:48).
LUKE 11:28. However, Jesus’ response to this woman’s enthusiastic outburst was to announce that true blessedness rested not in a material relationship with Him, but in “hearing the word of God, and keeping it.” Which, incidentally, His mother Mary did.
2. The Sign of Jonah (Luke 11:29-32).
Some people had asked Jesus for a “sign from heaven” (cf. Luke 11:16).
LUKE 11:29-30. When the crowd had “gathered thick together,” Jesus gave His answer. Jesus granted them just one a sign. It was the sign of the prophet Jonah. Just as Jonah was three days in the belly of the whale, so Jesus would be three days dead in a tomb. Just as Jonah came out of the belly of the whale alive, so Jesus would rise from the dead. The tomb could not hold Him, and death would lose its sting (cf. Matthew 12:40).
LUKE 11:31. He went on to say that the Queen of the South testified against the perversity of their unbelief. She had travelled many dangerous miles to hear the wisdom of Solomon, yet now a greater than Solomon was here in the person of our Lord Jesus Christ.
LUKE 11:32. Continuing to relate the history of Jonah, this evil generation that asked for a sign (cf. Luke 11:29) would be “condemned” by the Ninevites in the day of judgment. The men of Nineveh who had repented at the preaching of Jonah would rise up in judgment against them, because the scribes and Pharisees refused the preaching of one greater than Jonah.
The ignorant Gentiles believed the prophet Jonah, and the Queen of Sheba sought out the wisdom of King Solomon, yet the Scribes and Pharisees failed to recognise Jesus as their expected Prophet and King!
After all the trials and lessons of the wilderness, the judges, the Kings, and the exile, Israel had at last come to realise that there is just one God, and that the worship of idols is nothing less than demon worship. However, having swept away the evil spirit of outwardly false religion, the scribes and Pharisees represented a legalistic form of religion which still, by their own denial of Jesus, excluded the true and living God! They were blind to the truth, deaf to the message of Jesus, and their voices spoke blasphemy against the Holy Spirit.
These were the ones who thought so much of themselves before God. To them and all like them might be extended the warning of the Apostle Paul: ‘Let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall’ (cf. 1 Corinthians 10:12).
Those among whom the Lord was walking were being enticed by evil spirits to the greatest of madness: enmity against God! Thus this evil generation of Israel stood condemned.
3. A Single Eye (Luke 11:33-36).
LUKE 11:33. We must not underestimate just how much light these unbelievers had. They had the light, but they would not use it. This is also a warning to those who are believers, not to hide our light away!
LUKE 11:34. Jesus is concerned that His disciples should have a “single” eye. Elsewhere this is described as a ‘bountiful eye’ which shall be blessed; ‘for he gives of his bread to the poor’ (cf. Proverbs 22:9).
The opposite of this is an eye that is “evil.” The person who ‘makes haste to be rich’ is described as having ‘an evil eye’ (cf. Proverbs 28:22). In the parable of the vineyard-workers, the self-appointed union-rep (who complained that those who had worked less hours were also getting enough wages to see them through to the next day) was asked, ‘Is your eye evil because I am good?’ (cf. Matthew 20:15).
LUKE 11:35. We cannot save ourselves, but we must nevertheless “take heed” that we make the right use of what light we do have. Otherwise inner darkness will triumph. We must beware of a wilful hardening of our hearts against the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.
LUKE 11:36. Conviction without conversion leaves us just where we were: dead in trespasses and sin. However, when we hear, and believe, and receive the word of God, the Holy Spirit fully illumines our hearts.
