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The Sign of Jonah

29 Now as the crowds were increasing [in number], He began to say, “This [present] generation is a wicked generation; it seeks a sign (attesting miracle), but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah [the prophet].(A) 30 For just as [a]Jonah became a sign to the people of Nineveh, so will the Son of Man also be [a sign] to this generation.(B) 31 The Queen of the South (the kingdom of Sheba) will rise up in the judgment with the men of this generation and condemn them, because she came from the ends of the earth to listen to the wisdom of Solomon, and look, something greater than Solomon is here.(C) 32 The men of Nineveh will stand up [as witnesses] at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, because they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and look, something greater than Jonah is here.(D)

33 “No one lights a lamp and then puts it in a cellar nor under a basket [hiding the light], but [instead it is put] on the lampstand, so that those who come in may see the light.(E) 34 The eye is the lamp of your body. When your eye is clear [spiritually perceptive, focused on God], your whole body also is full of light [benefiting from God’s precepts]. But when it is bad [spiritually blind], your body also is full of darkness [devoid of God’s word]. 35 Be careful, therefore, that the light that is in you is not darkness. 36 So if your whole body is illuminated, with no dark part, it will be entirely bright [with light], as when the lamp gives you light with its bright rays.”

Woes upon the Pharisees

37 Now after Jesus had spoken, a Pharisee asked Him to have lunch with him. He went in [the Pharisee’s home] and reclined at the table [without ceremonially washing His hands]. 38 The Pharisee noticed this and was surprised that Jesus did not first ceremonially wash before the meal. 39 But the Lord said to him, “Now you Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and plate [as required by tradition]; but inside you are full of greed and wickedness. 40 You foolish ones [acting without reflection or intelligence]! Did not He who made the outside make the inside also? 41 But give that which is within as charity [that is, acts of mercy and compassion, not as a public display, but as an expression of your faithfulness to God], and then indeed all things are clean for you.

42 “But woe (judgment is coming) to you Pharisees, because you [self-righteously] [b]tithe mint and [c]rue and every [little] garden herb [tending to all the minutiae], and yet disregard and neglect justice and the love of God; but these are the things you should have done, without neglecting the others.(F) 43 Woe to you Pharisees, because you love the [d]best seats in the synagogues and to be respectfully greeted in the market places. 44 Woe to you! For you are like graves which are unmarked, and people walk over them without being aware of it [and are ceremonially unclean].”

45 One of the lawyers [an expert in the Mosaic Law] answered Him, “Teacher, by saying this, You insult us too!” 46 But He said, “Woe to you lawyers as well, because you weigh men down with burdens [man-made rules, unreasonable requirements] which are hard to bear, and you yourselves will not even touch the burdens with one of your fingers [to lighten the load]. 47 Woe to you! For you repair or build [e]tombs for the prophets, and it was your fathers who killed them. 48 So you are witnesses and approve the deeds of your fathers, because they [actually] killed them, and you repair or build their tombs. 49 For this reason also the wisdom of God said [in the Scriptures], ‘I will send them prophets and apostles, some of whom they will put to death and some they will persecute, 50 so that charges may be brought against this generation [holding them responsible] for the blood of all the prophets shed since the foundation of the world, 51 from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah [the priest], who was murdered between the altar and the house of God. Yes, I tell you, charges will be brought against this generation.’(G) 52 Woe to you lawyers, because you have taken away the key to knowledge (scriptural truth). You yourselves did not enter, and you held back those who were entering [by your flawed interpretation of God’s word and your man-made tradition].”(H)

53 When He left there, the scribes and the Pharisees began to be very hostile [toward Him] and to interrogate Him on many subjects, 54 plotting against Him to catch Him in something He might say.

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Footnotes

  1. Luke 11:30 Jonah spent three days in the belly of the great fish; Christ was resurrected three days after His death.
  2. Luke 11:42 The required offering of ten percent.
  3. Luke 11:42 An odoriferous plant whose oil was used as medicine.
  4. Luke 11:43 These seats were located near the scrolls of the Law, facing the congregation in the synagogue.
  5. Luke 11:47 Or monuments to.

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