Mercy for a sinner: the widow, the tax collector, the rich ruler and the blind man at Jericho

Luke 18 is part of the Gospel that early tradition attributes to Luke, the physician and companion of Paul (Colossians 4:14; Philemon 24). Irenaeus is among the early witnesses. Some critical scholars doubt that the author was a companion of Paul, while others find the tradition well grounded. The Gospel is addressed to Theophilus (1:3) and is usually thought to be written for a Greek-speaking, largely Gentile readership. Proposed dates range from the early 60s to the 80s, depending on whether Luke-Acts is thought complete by about AD 62, when Acts ends, or written after Jerusalem fell in AD 70, as many hold who think Luke used Mark.

In this chapter Luke's Gospel rejoins Mark. The long travel narrative (9:51-19:44) has mostly drawn on material not found in Mark, but at 18:15 Luke returns to Mark's order. The blessing of the children, the rich ruler, the sayings about wealth and the kingdom, the third prediction of the passion and the healing near Jericho all have parallels in Mark 10:13-52 and, with some differences, in Matthew 19-20. This is part of the evidence for the widely held view that Mark is a source of Luke, though scholars who think Mark was written last or that Luke used Matthew explain the overlap in other ways. The two parables at the opening of the chapter, the widow and the judge and the Pharisee and the tax collector, are found only in Luke.

The mood is one of approach to the climax. Jesus is near Jericho, about fifteen miles from Jerusalem, and pilgrims were passing on the road to the Passover. Luke's concern is to show who is able to receive the kingdom: those who ask and wait for justice, those who humbly ask for mercy, the children, and a beggar who calls out, while the self-sufficient go away sad.

The chapter uses parable, dialogue, prediction and miracle story, and the sections form a pattern. The two parables at the opening are introduced by their purposes: the first is about the need to pray at all times and not lose heart, the second is told to some who trusted in their own righteousness and viewed others with contempt. Luke tells the reader how to take them. A parable of the 'how much more' kind, as the widow's story is, compares by contrast: if even a corrupt judge gives justice to a persistent widow, how much more will God. It does not say that God is like the judge.

The dialogue with the rich ruler uses hyperbole in the camel and the eye of a needle. A later explanation that there was a gate in Jerusalem called the Needle's Eye has no support in ancient sources, and the plain sense is a vivid picture of impossibility. The disciples' reaction, 'Who then can be saved?', shows they understood it that way. Jesus' reply says that what is impossible for people is possible with God.

Luke 18 also needs to be read with the note that the disciples do not understand the third prediction of the passion. Luke says its meaning was hidden from them. The healing at Jericho follows as a contrast: a blind man sees what the sighted disciples cannot, that Jesus is the Son of David. The differences in the Jericho story between Luke (approaching Jericho, one man), Mark (leaving Jericho, Bartimaeus) and Matthew (leaving, two men) have been explained in several ways, including different stages in the journey through the old and new Jericho, selection by each Evangelist, or Luke's arrangement to set the scene before the Zacchaeus story. The class does not need to choose.

Verses 1–8

Jesus tells a parable about the need to pray at all times and not lose heart. In a certain town a judge neither feared God nor respected people. A widow, who stands for those without power or protector in the Old Testament (Exodus 22:22; Isaiah 1:17), kept coming to him: give me justice against my adversary. For a while he refused. Then he said to himself that though he neither feared God nor respected people, yet because this widow was wearing him out he would give her justice. The Lord says: listen to what the unjust judge says. Will not God bring justice for his elect who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long over them? He will do it promptly. Then the chapter's question: when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth? The question points forward to the last days and to the faith that persists through the delay.

Verses 9–14

Two men go up to the temple to pray, a Pharisee and a tax collector. The Pharisee stands by himself and thanks God that he is not like other men, swindlers, evildoers, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. He fasts twice a week and gives tithes of all he gets. What he says is not false. The Pharisees were people of real discipline, and fasting and tithing went beyond what the Law required. The trouble is where his trust is: he compares himself with others. The tax collector stands at a distance, will not even lift his eyes to heaven, beats his breast and says, 'God, have mercy on me, a sinner!' The Greek verb behind 'have mercy' is related to the word for the place of atonement, and some hear in the prayer a plea for the sacrifice of atonement, since the prayer is offered at the temple. Jesus says this man went down to his house justified rather than the other. The verb is the legal word for being declared right with God, and it is the language Paul later uses (Romans 3:24; 5:1). The closing saying, that everyone who exalts himself will be humbled and the one who humbles himself exalted, appears also in 14:11.

Verses 15–17

People bring even babies to Jesus to touch, and the disciples rebuke them. Jesus calls the children to him and says to let them come and not to hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. Anyone who does not receive the kingdom like a child will not enter it. The child here is a picture of one who receives and does not earn.

Verses 18–30

A ruler asks, 'Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?' Jesus replies, 'Why do you call Me good? No one is good except God alone.' He is not denying his own goodness. He is testing what the ruler means by the word. He then lists the commandments of the second table (Exodus 20:12-16). The ruler says he has kept all these from his youth. Jesus says one thing is lacking: sell everything and give to the poor, and he will have treasure in heaven, and then come and follow. The ruler becomes very sad, for he is extremely rich. Jesus remarks how hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God, and says that it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle. Those listening ask who then can be saved, and Jesus answers that what is impossible for people is possible with God. Peter says that they have left everything to follow. Jesus assures him that no one who has left home, family or children for the kingdom will fail to receive many times as much in this age and eternal life in the age to come.

Verses 31–34

Jesus takes the Twelve aside and says they are going up to Jerusalem, where everything the prophets wrote about the Son of Man will be fulfilled. He will be handed over to the Gentiles, mocked, insulted, spat on, flogged and killed, and on the third day he will rise. The disciples understood none of it. The meaning was hidden from them and they did not grasp what he said.

Verses 35–43

As Jesus nears Jericho a blind man sits by the road begging. Hearing the crowd, he asks what is happening, and is told that Jesus of Nazareth is passing by. He calls: 'Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!' The crowd orders him to be quiet and he cries out all the louder. Jesus stops and has him brought. 'What do you want Me to do for you?' He answers that he wants to see again. Jesus tells him to receive his sight, and says that his faith has healed him. He sees at once, follows Jesus and praises God, and all the people give praise.

The chapter teaches that salvation is by God's mercy and not human achievement. The tax collector asks for mercy and goes home justified, and the ruler who relied on keeping the commandments goes away sad. The question 'Who then can be saved?' receives the answer that the impossible is possible with God. The Old Testament had said the same in different ways: God saves by his own arm (Isaiah 59:16) and desires mercy more than sacrifice (Hosea 6:6). The doctrine of justification by faith that Paul expounds (Romans 3:21-26; Galatians 2:16) stands behind this teaching, and Luke's account of the tax collector shows that the idea did not begin with Paul.

It also teaches about prayer and the delay of justice. God hears his elect, and the cry of the vulnerable is the sort of prayer the Old Testament says God answers (Psalm 10:17-18). Jesus does not explain the delay, but he calls for persistent faith until the Son of Man comes. Finally the chapter teaches the cost and reward of discipleship. Wealth is a danger because it can displace God, as chapter 16 says, and leaving everything is repaid in this age and the next.

Jesus speaks of himself in several ways. In the third prediction of the passion he says that everything the prophets wrote about the Son of Man will be fulfilled. He does not name a text, but later in Luke he explains from Moses and all the Prophets that the Christ had to suffer and enter his glory (24:25-27, 44-46). Isaiah 52:13-53:12 and Psalm 22 are among the passages the New Testament uses of the suffering and vindication. This is fulfilment, and the details of the handing over to Gentiles, mocking, flogging and death are spelled out here with the rising on the third day.

The blind man's cry names Jesus Son of David. In the promise to David (2 Samuel 7:12-16) and in the prophets (Isaiah 11:1-5; Jeremiah 23:5), the Messiah is the king from David's line, and Isaiah 35:5 expects the blind to see in the age of salvation. Jesus does not silence the title and responds to it with a healing. The title prepares for the entry into Jerusalem in chapter 19. The saying 'No one is good except God alone' is not a denial of Jesus' goodness. It asks the ruler to consider what he is saying, and the story ends with a call to follow him that no mere teacher could make. The tax collector's plea for mercy, 'God, have mercy on me, a sinner', is answered at the cross, where Jesus makes atonement (compare Hebrews 2:17). That is an echo.