LUKE 11:29-36 LET THE LIGHT IN

LET THE LIGHT IN

LUKE 11:29-36

(see also Matthew 12:38-42)

Luke 11:29-30 And when the people were gathered thick together, he began to say, This is an evil generation: they seek a sign; and there shall no sign be given it, but the sign of Jonas the prophet. For as Jonas was a sign unto the Ninevites, so shall also the Son of man be to this generation.

Susie: A large crowd had gathered to hear Jesus teach. Many of them hoped to see a great miracle such as a sign in the sky. Why did Jesus call them an “evil generation?”

Susan: One of the reasons He called them evil is He had already performed many signs, yet they did not believe. Their perspective had not been changed by the miracles He had already shown them, so what difference would one more sign make? Not any!

Susie: Let me refresh your minds about Jonah (Jonas). Jonah was the prophet who did not want to preach to the people of Nineveh and tried to run away. He was swallowed by a huge fish who coughed him up on the shore three days later after he had some time to repent and decide to obey God by prophesying doom to the Ninevites. But he knew that God, in His mercy, would offer them the opportunity to repent. His account of having survived three days in the belly of the fish may have been a “sign” for the Ninevites since they worshiped a god in the form of a fish. It may have given him the “foot in the door” with them to cause them to listen to his message.

Matthew 12:40 For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.

Susan: Jonah’s story is used by Jesus as a pictorial illustration of Jesus’s death, burial, and resurrection on the third day. For those of us looking back in time, we realize that Jesus was predicting the fact that He would rise from the dead after three days.  For those who would believe the apostle’s account of those events, the resurrection would be the most powerful sign of the reality of Jesus’s deity, the fact that He was truly the Son of God.

Luke 11:31 The queen of the south shall rise up in the judgment with the men of this generation and condemn them: for she came from the utmost parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and, behold, a greater than Solomon is here.

Susie: If you are not familiar with the story of the queen who visited Solomon to tap into his wisdom, it is found in 1 Kings chapter 10. She came a long distance—some scholars say southern Arabia and others, Ethiopia—to ask Solomon questions.

Susan: Solomon was famous for his tremendous wisdom which was a gift from God, not just academic prowess due to self-effort.

1 Kings 4:29-30 And God gave Solomon wisdom and understanding exceeding much, and largeness of heart, even as the sand that is on the sea shore. And Solomon's wisdom excelled the wisdom of all the children of the east country, and all the wisdom of Egypt.

Susan: Jesus is the one greater than Solomon. He was wiser than the wisest king in all of Jewish history. As the Son of God, Jesus was omniscient (all-knowing) and the very source of wisdom.

Luke 11:32 The men of Nineveh shall rise up in the judgment with this generation and shall condemn it: for they repented at the preaching of Jonas; and, behold, a greater than Jonas is here.

Susie: Jonah, the extremely reluctant prophet, preached to the Ninevites, and they repented in sackcloth and ashes (Jonah 3:6-10).

Susan: Jonah prophesied that the Lord was going to allow an enemy to destroy Nineveh in forty days. Although he offered no hope, that amount of time was designed by God to allow for repentance. The Ninevites believed Jonah as the prophet of God and instituted a national fast from the king’s palace to the peasant’s hut. They even put sackcloth on their domesticated animals!

Susie: Jesus was a far greater preacher than Jonah, since He was Himself the King of kings and Lord of lords. Jesus came preaching “repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matthew 4:17). Yet, there were many who did not receive and believe His message. Therefore, Jesus tells the crowd which contained many pharisees that both the Ninevites and the Queen of the South would condemn them because they refused to hear and believe the Son of God, One far greater than Jonah or Solomon.

Luke 11:33 No man, when he hath lighted a candle, putteth it in a secret place, neither under a bushel, but on a candlestick, that they which come in may see the light.

Susan: Jesus’s ministry was not hidden. It was public—in the synagogues, in the streets, on the seashore, in the countryside, and in the Temple. Neither did His apostles whisper the Gospel in secret. They preached publicly despite persecution. The signs, the miracles, Jesus had already performed were not done in secret either. They were done in public places before many witnesses.

Susie: When there is good news to share, it should not be contained. Instead it should be spread abroad as much as possible. The news of Jesus’s resurrection, the “sign of Jonah,” would be preached far and wide.

Luke 11:34 The light of the body is the eye: therefore when thine eye is single, thy whole body also is full of light; but when thine eye is evil, thy body also is full of darkness.

Matthew 6:22-23 (CJB) ‘The eye is the lamp of the body.’ So if you have a ‘good eye’ [that is, if you are generous] your whole body will be full of light; but if you have an ‘evil eye’ [if you are stingy] your whole body will be full of darkness. If, then, the light in you is darkness, how great is that darkness!

The Complete Jewish Study Bible note on Matthew 6:22-23:

Jesus quotes a common proverb and comments on it. “If you are generous” is added by the translator, because in Judaism “having a good eye” (an ′ayin tovah) means being generous or looking at people positively. “Having a bad eye” (an ′ayin ra′ah) means being stingy or having a negative outlook toward others.

Susan: One with a “good eye” sees the world from the positive perspective of a glass half full, and the “bad eye” negatively sees the glass half empty.

Susie: In the case of the Pharisees and others who continued to ask for another sign, they were seeing Jesus and His miracles from a position of unbelief. Therefore, they were constantly wanting Jesus to prove Himself, yet they would never accept that proof.

Susan: Your outlook determines your outcome. Their outlook was a complete lack of faith. Therefore, their outcome was that they did not believe Jesus to be the Messiah. Their physical eyes worked perfectly well, but their perception was clouded by unbelief.

Luke 11:35 Take heed therefore that the light which is in thee be not darkness.

Susie: Jesus calls people to self-examination. However, the standard by which we measure our beliefs must be the word of God. The Light that is in us must be that of God’s Holy Spirit and the understanding of the scripture. If our basic tenets, basic principles of faith are not correct, we will make errors when it comes to the details.

Susan: We must be rooted and grounded in Jesus and His teachings in order to live according to God’s precepts.

Luke 11:36 If thy whole body therefore be full of light, having no part dark, the whole shall be full of light, as when the bright shining of a candle doth give thee light.

Psalm 18:28  For thou wilt light my candle: the Lord my God will enlighten my darkness.

Susan: We can only be filled with light, the right understanding of Father God, by being filled with Jesus and guided by His Holy Spirit.

John 8:12Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.

John 12:46 I am come a light into the world, that whosoever believeth on me should not abide in darkness.

John 16:13-15 Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come. He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you. All things that the Father hath are mine: therefore said I, that he shall take of mine, and shall shew it unto you.

Ponder this and Apply it: Do a self-check. Are you basing everything in your life on God’s truth, on the light He has shown you in His word? Or are you allowing things of this world to cloud your perception? Jesus is the Light, and His Holy Spirit illuminates the word to help us understand. When we choose to head off into the dark, we are headed for trouble. Determine today to “walk in the light,” keep your focus on Jesus, and let your light shine to draw others to Him.

1 John 1:7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.