Luke 11:1
It happened, that when he finished praying in a certain place, one of his disciples said to him, Master, teach us to pray, just as Yochanan also taught his disciples.
“Just as Yochanan also taught his disciples”. There is a primordial form of Jewish prayer which is done when we pray with our own words (cf. Rambam, Mishneh Torah, Tefillah I:4), as it is written: “Every night I converse from my bed in tears” (Psalm 6:7). But in Judaism there’s also a time for fixed prayers, which are recited three times a day, as it is written: “evening, morning and noon, I speak and moan and he hears to my voice” (Ps 55:18). The fixed prayer we recite three times a day is called the Amidah, or the Shmoneh Esrei (the 18 blessings), instituted by the men of the Great Assembly – led by Ezra the Scribe (cf. Berachot 33a, Meguillah 17b).
Although the composition of the Amidah is very well known to every observant Jew, in the first century there was no house of prayer where this prayer was recited in the same manner. This is because according to our sages we should include something new to the Amidah every day (cf. Berachot 29b, Pirkei Avot 2:18 [13]).
In addition to this, there were so many sages who would compose a personalized supplemental prayer for his students, which they would attach at the end of the Amidah (cf. Berachot 16b-17a). For example:
“Upon concluding his prayer Rabbi Yohanan would say: May it be your will, Adonai our God, that you look upon our shame and behold our evil. Then dress yourself in mercy, cover yourself with strength, wrap yourself in kindness and gird yourself in grace. May the attribute of goodness and gentleness come before you”.
Mar bar Hanina composed the following prayer for the Amidah:
“My God, guard my tongue from evil and my lips from speaking deceit. To those who insult me may my soul be silent. May my soul be like dust to everyone. Open my heart to your Torah so that my soul will look for your commandments. Deliver me from harm, from evil inclination, evil women, and all evil that occurs in this world. As for those who think evil of me, speedily annul their counsel and frustrate their plans. May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable before you, Adonai, my rock and my redeemer”.
It is in this context that Yochanan the immerser, the baptist, taught his students to pray. And it is in this very same context that Yeshua teaches his students the Avinu, the prayer that follows. The community of disciples established that the Avinu (the our Father) should be prayed three times a day (cf. Didache 8:3), and this makes perfect sense as the personalized prayer that Yeshua’s followers would include at the end of the Amidah. Also, the gentiles who come to the faith but do not pray the Amidah may use the Avinu as a prayer on its own.
Luke 11:2
He said to them, When you pray, say, Our Father in heaven, may your name be kept holy. May your Kingdom come. May your will be done on earth, as it is in heaven.
Luke 11:3
Give us day by day our daily bread.
Luke 11:4
Forgive us our sins, for we ourselves also forgive everyone who is indebted to us. Bring us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.
Luke 11:5
He said to them, Which of you, if you go to a friend at midnight, and tell him, Friend, lend me three loaves of bread,
Luke 11:6
for a friend of mine has come to me from a journey, and I have nothing to set before him,
Luke 11:7
and he from within will answer and say, Dont bother me. The door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed. I cant get up and give it to you?
Luke 11:8
I tell you, although he will not rise and give it to him because he is his friend, yet because of his persistence, he will get up and give him as many as he needs.
Luke 11:9
I tell you, keep asking, and it will be given you. Keep seeking, and you will find. Keep knocking, and it will be opened to you.
Luke 11:10
For everyone who asks receives. He who seeks finds. To him who knocks it will be opened.
Luke 11:11
Which of you fathers, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, he wont give him a snake instead of a fish, will he?
Luke 11:12
Or if he asks for an egg, he wont give him a scorpion, will he?
Luke 11:13
If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him?
Luke 11:14
He was casting out a demon, and it was mute. It happened, when the demon had gone out, the mute man spoke; and the multitudes marveled.
Luke 11:15
But some of them said, He casts out demons by Beelzebul, the prince of the demons.
Luke 11:16
Others, testing him, sought from him a sign from heaven.
Luke 11:17
But he, knowing their thoughts, said to them, Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation. A house divided against itself falls.
Luke 11:18
If Satan also is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand? For you say that I cast out demons by Beelzebul.
Luke 11:19
But if I cast out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your children cast them out? Therefore will they be your judges.
Luke 11:20
But if I by the finger of God cast out demons, then the Kingdom of God has come to you.
Luke 11:21
When the strong man, fully armed, guards his own dwelling, his goods are safe.
Luke 11:22
But when someone stronger attacks him and overcomes him, he takes from him his whole armor in which he trusted, and divides his spoils.
Luke 11:23
He that is not with me is against me. He who doesn’t gather with me scatters.
Luke 11:24
The unclean spirit, when he has gone out of the man, passes through dry places, seeking rest, and finding none, he says, I will turn back to my house from which I came out.
Luke 11:25
When he returns, he finds it swept and put in order.
Luke 11:26
Then he goes, and takes seven other spirits more evil than himself, and they enter in and dwell there. The last state of that man becomes worse than the first.
Luke 11:27
It came to pass, as he said these things, a certain woman out of the multitude lifted up her voice, and said to him, Blessed is the womb that bore you, and the breasts which nursed you!
Luke 11:28
But he said, On the contrary, blessed are those who hear the word of God, and keep it.
Luke 11:29
When the multitudes were gathering together to him, he began to say, This is an evil generation. It seeks after a sign. No sign will be given to it but the sign of Yonah the prophet.
Luke 11:30
For even as Yonah became a sign to the Ninevites, so will also the Son of Man be to this generation.
Luke 11:31
The Queen of the South will rise up in the judgment with the men of this generation, and will condemn them: for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and behold, one greater than Solomon is here.
Luke 11:32
The men of Nineveh will stand up in the judgment with this generation, and will condemn it: for they repented at the proclaiming of Jonah, and behold, one greater than Jonah is here.
Luke 11:33
No one, when he has lit a lamp, puts it in a cellar or under a basket, but on a stand, that those who come in may see the light.
Luke 11:34
The lamp of the body is the eye. Therefore when your eye is good, your whole body is also full of light; but when it is evil, your body also is full of darkness.
Luke 11:35
Therefore see whether the light that is in you isn’t darkness.
Luke 11:36
If therefore your whole body is full of light, having no part dark, it will be wholly full of light, as when the lamp with its bright shining gives you light.
Luke 11:37
Now as he spoke, a certain Pharisee asked him to dine with him. He went in, and sat at the table.
Luke 11:38
When the Pharisee saw it, he marveled that he had not first washed himself before dinner.
Luke 11:39
The master said to him, Now you Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and dish, but your inward part is full of greed and wickedness.
“clean the outside of the cup and dish”. Here Yeshua is speaking in metaphors. He is not talking about the ritual washing of vessels, which is done by immersing objects inside the water – and consequently, cleansing both the outside and the inside at the same time. We must, therefore, understand this verse as a parable. This behavior is like that of a man who carefully cleans the outside of a cup from where he drinks, yet he does not clean the inside.
Relevant quote: “All unclean things, whether people, or vessels, whether Biblically or Rabbinically unclean, have only one remedy: immersion in the ritual pool” (Rambam, Mishneh Torah, Mikveh I:1)