Luke 18:24-43

18:24-26 | Many people of Jesus’ day believed that riches indicated God’s favor. So if the rich – those who supposedly already enjoyed God’s favor – found it hard to enter God’s kingdom, what chance did others have?

18:27 | In the flesh, for anyone to live forever with God is impossible. No one on his or her own is good enough, righteous enough, or holy enough to win a place in heaven. Only God can bring about the miracle of salvation (Job 42:2; Jer. 32:17).

18:31-34 | Luke’s grammar suggests that God deliberately kept Jesus’ disciples from understanding His words about His imminent arrest and crucifixion by the Romans (the Gentiles). Perhaps the Twelve simply could not handle knowing what would happen to Jesus, or perhaps the later recognition of what Jesus meant would burn into their minds in a way not possible otherwise (John 12:16).

18:35-43 | The blind man used a title for the Messiah, Son of David. The phrase your faith has made you well can more literally be translated “your faith has saved you.” Luke apparently means for readers to understand that the blind man received both his sight and his salvation through faith in Jesus.