{"id":777,"date":"2008-02-04T12:09:44","date_gmt":"2008-02-04T12:09:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/salguod.net\/blog\/2008\/02\/luke_18.shtml"},"modified":"2021-05-29T02:45:31","modified_gmt":"2021-05-29T02:45:31","slug":"luke_18","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/salguod.net\/blog\/2008\/02\/luke_18.shtml","title":{"rendered":"Luke 18"},"content":{"rendered":"

Luke 18:1 – The NIV here says “Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up.<\/em>“, the ESV says “And he told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart.<\/em>” Give up or loose heart? At first glance, the difference seems subtle, but I find it profound. The NIV’s “never give up” implies effort, striving, work toward a goal while the ESV’s “not loose heart” implies hope, faith and confidence. I find the ESV’s translation closer to the message of Christ. He did not come to give us a goal to shoot for, rather he came to accomplish that goal and in that give us a reason to hope.
\nToo often I’ve been taught to “never give up” instead of to “not loose heart.”
\nThis gives new light to the parable as well, and better gels with Jesus lament about finding faith when he returns. If even an unjust judge can be prompted to act, have faith for God cares about you and he will not leave your prayers unanswered.
\nLuke 18:24 – Living in the USA with my 4 bedroom house, my high-speed Internet, my patio and my toy car, this verse scares the willies out of me. I wonder, how many in the USA, confident of their standing with God, are actually far, far from Him? I wonder sometimes if we can actually see through our wealth and grasp how far we are from where he would have us be. This has to be one of the scariest verses in all the Bible for folks in the first world.
\nLuke 18:27 – In light of verse 24, this verse gives us hope. God is able. Able to teach us, to enlighten us and to help us see through the blindness that our wealth gives us. We cannot see
\nhow far we are away, but he is able to bring us back.
\nLuke 18:31-34 – Knowing what happened to Jesus, it;s easy to see how plainly he told the twelve what was to happen (for the third time), yet they didn’t understand. How could they not? It’s easy, however, to have an idea in your head that is so entrenched, it blocks out even the most plain description of something else. Jesus was to be their savior from the Romans, him being beaten and killed didn’t fit with that, so Jesus must be speaking metaphorically. We’ll understand later, I bet is what they thought.
\nI call this tendency to believe what we already believe Intellectual Inertia, and it’s all over the gospels. People think they know what Jesus is about, or what he should be about, and then act on that misinformation. Sometimes, they just get redirected, sometimes they are rebuked (like Peter). In this chapter alone, the disciples assume that Jesus doesn’t want to be bothered by the children (Luke 18:15-17), the rich ruler thought he knew where he stood (Luke 18:18-23) and those at the front of the crowd assume Jesus doesn’t have time for a blind beggar (Luke 18:39)
\nToday, it leads folks who claim the name of Jesus to do a lot of stupid stuff in His name, because they assume they know what he wants them to do and can’t see his plain teachings to the contrary all over the Bible.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Luke 18:1 – The NIV here says “Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up.“, the ESV says “AndRead More Luke 18<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[6],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nLuke 18 - salguod.net<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/salguod.net\/blog\/2008\/02\/luke_18.shtml\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Luke 18 - salguod.net\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Luke 18:1 – The NIV here says “Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up.“, the ESV says “AndRead More Luke 18\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/salguod.net\/blog\/2008\/02\/luke_18.shtml\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"salguod.net\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2008-02-04T12:09:44+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-05-29T02:45:31+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Doug Schaefer\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@salguod\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Doug Schaefer\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/salguod.net\/blog\/2008\/02\/luke_18.shtml\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/salguod.net\/blog\/2008\/02\/luke_18.shtml\",\"name\":\"Luke 18 - salguod.net\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/salguod.net\/blog\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2008-02-04T12:09:44+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-05-29T02:45:31+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/salguod.net\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/2237e297e41300051087d8791343043f\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/salguod.net\/blog\/2008\/02\/luke_18.shtml#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/salguod.net\/blog\/2008\/02\/luke_18.shtml\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/salguod.net\/blog\/2008\/02\/luke_18.shtml#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/salguod.net\/blog\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Luke 18\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/salguod.net\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/salguod.net\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"salguod.net\",\"description\":\"Stuff I Think Up\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/salguod.net\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/salguod.net\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/2237e297e41300051087d8791343043f\",\"name\":\"Doug Schaefer\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/salguod.net\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d8dde291ac4514740353f4bb9cbd9418?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d8dde291ac4514740353f4bb9cbd9418?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Doug Schaefer\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/salguod.net\",\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/salguod\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/salguod.net\/blog\/author\/salguod\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Luke 18 - salguod.net","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/salguod.net\/blog\/2008\/02\/luke_18.shtml","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Luke 18 - salguod.net","og_description":"Luke 18:1 – The NIV here says “Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up.“, the ESV says “AndRead More Luke 18","og_url":"https:\/\/salguod.net\/blog\/2008\/02\/luke_18.shtml","og_site_name":"salguod.net","article_published_time":"2008-02-04T12:09:44+00:00","article_modified_time":"2021-05-29T02:45:31+00:00","author":"Doug Schaefer","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@salguod","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Doug Schaefer","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/salguod.net\/blog\/2008\/02\/luke_18.shtml","url":"https:\/\/salguod.net\/blog\/2008\/02\/luke_18.shtml","name":"Luke 18 - salguod.net","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/salguod.net\/blog\/#website"},"datePublished":"2008-02-04T12:09:44+00:00","dateModified":"2021-05-29T02:45:31+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/salguod.net\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/2237e297e41300051087d8791343043f"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/salguod.net\/blog\/2008\/02\/luke_18.shtml#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/salguod.net\/blog\/2008\/02\/luke_18.shtml"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/salguod.net\/blog\/2008\/02\/luke_18.shtml#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/salguod.net\/blog"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Luke 18"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/salguod.net\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/salguod.net\/blog\/","name":"salguod.net","description":"Stuff I Think Up","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/salguod.net\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/salguod.net\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/2237e297e41300051087d8791343043f","name":"Doug Schaefer","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/salguod.net\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d8dde291ac4514740353f4bb9cbd9418?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d8dde291ac4514740353f4bb9cbd9418?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Doug Schaefer"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/salguod.net","https:\/\/twitter.com\/salguod"],"url":"https:\/\/salguod.net\/blog\/author\/salguod"}]}},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":778,"url":"https:\/\/salguod.net\/blog\/2008\/02\/luke_19.shtml","url_meta":{"origin":777,"position":0},"title":"Luke 19","author":"Doug Schaefer","date":"February 5, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Luke 19:1-10 - As if to prove the point of the rich finding the kingdom, here's the story of Zacchaeus. How did he find salvation? Through giving away half of what he had. Half. and beyond that, he promissed out of the remaining half to repay anyone he had defrauded.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Quiet Time Journal"","block_context":{"text":"Quiet Time Journal","link":"https:\/\/salguod.net\/blog\/quiet-time-journal"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":291,"url":"https:\/\/salguod.net\/blog\/2005\/03\/perean_ministry.shtml","url_meta":{"origin":777,"position":1},"title":"Perean Ministry","author":"Doug Schaefer","date":"March 24, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"Matthew 20:1-16, Luke 14:1-35, 15:1-32, 16:1-31, 17:20-37, 18:1-14 Luke 14:12-14 - I this really about 'payment' for good deeds, as it suggests on the surface? Luke 14:15 - This man makes a comment about eating at the feast in God's kingdom. Then Jesus tells this parable of all these folks\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Quiet Time Journal"","block_context":{"text":"Quiet Time Journal","link":"https:\/\/salguod.net\/blog\/quiet-time-journal"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":775,"url":"https:\/\/salguod.net\/blog\/2008\/01\/luke_16.shtml","url_meta":{"origin":777,"position":2},"title":"Luke 16","author":"Doug Schaefer","date":"January 31, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Luke 16:1-9 - This parable has always confused me. Jesus seems to praise this manager who unethically reduces the debt of several to gain favor for himself upon learning he's about to loose his job. Jesus (and his boss) call him shrewd, which he certainly is, but I'd also call\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Quiet Time Journal"","block_context":{"text":"Quiet Time Journal","link":"https:\/\/salguod.net\/blog\/quiet-time-journal"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":768,"url":"https:\/\/salguod.net\/blog\/2008\/01\/luke_10.shtml","url_meta":{"origin":777,"position":3},"title":"Luke 10","author":"Doug Schaefer","date":"January 18, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Luke 10:1 - He sent them out ahead, when he was about to go. A bit like John the baptist, preparing the way for him. Luke 10:2 - Jesus looked out at the crowds of people - selfish people looking to be fed and healed, religious people certain the knew\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Quiet Time Journal"","block_context":{"text":"Quiet Time Journal","link":"https:\/\/salguod.net\/blog\/quiet-time-journal"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":780,"url":"https:\/\/salguod.net\/blog\/2008\/02\/luke_20.shtml","url_meta":{"origin":777,"position":4},"title":"Luke 20","author":"Doug Schaefer","date":"February 7, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Luke 20:1-8 - The implication in the challenge as to where Jesus' authority came from was that the chief priests were the ones who granted such authority. They certainly didn't, so what was he doing here? Jesus asking the question about John's baptism was to answer their challenge with his\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Quiet Time Journal"","block_context":{"text":"Quiet Time Journal","link":"https:\/\/salguod.net\/blog\/quiet-time-journal"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":296,"url":"https:\/\/salguod.net\/blog\/2005\/03\/the_final_journ.shtml","url_meta":{"origin":777,"position":5},"title":"The Final Journey","author":"Doug Schaefer","date":"March 30, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"Matthew 19:3-30, 20:17-34, 26:6-13, Mark 10:2-52, 14:3-9, Luke 18:15-43, 19:1-28, John 11:55-57, 12:1-11 Matthew 19:3-12 - Jesus' stance on divorce is radical. How do churches get away with looking the other way? Certainly divorce is easier that staying together in may cases. A case could be made for divorce in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Salguod.net stuff"","block_context":{"text":"Salguod.net stuff","link":"https:\/\/salguod.net\/blog\/salguod-net-stuff"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/salguod.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/salguod.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/salguod.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/salguod.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/salguod.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=777"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/salguod.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1503,"href":"https:\/\/salguod.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777\/revisions\/1503"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/salguod.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=777"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/salguod.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=777"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/salguod.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=777"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}