Luke Chapter 18 gives us a clear picture of how sinners come before God. This chapter is full of prayer, humility, mercy, childlike faith, and the impossibility of salvation apart from grace. After Luke Ch17 spoke of faith, gratitude, and the coming Kingdom, Luke 18 shows what that faith looks like in the heart of a needy sinner. For more on that connection, see this point further in Luke Ch17.

Jesus begins with the parable of the persistent widow. He tells this parable so His disciples should always pray and not lose heart. The widow has no earthly power, but she keeps coming. From a Christian Reformed lens, this is not a lesson that prayer bends an unwilling God. It is a lesson that the people of God cry out because they know the Judge of all the earth is righteous. God is not like the unjust judge. He is holy, merciful, and faithful to vindicate His elect.

Jesus then asks whether the Son of Man will find faith on the earth when He comes. That question searches the heart. True faith does not treat prayer as a performance. True faith keeps coming to God because it knows there is nowhere else to go.

Then Jesus tells the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector. The Pharisee stands before God impressed with himself. He thanks God that he is not like other men. The tax collector stands far off, will not lift his eyes, beats his breast, and says, “God, be merciful to me, a sinner.” Jesus says this man went home justified.

This is one of the clearest Gospel moments in Luke. Justification is not given to the self-righteous. It is given by grace to the sinner who has nothing to offer but need. The tax collector does not present his record. He pleads for mercy. This connects strongly with Matthew Ch18, where Jesus teaches that greatness in the kingdom begins with humility like a child. See this point further in Matthew Ch18.

Luke then tells us that people were bringing infants to Jesus. The disciples tried to stop them, but Jesus welcomed them. He said the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. This does not mean children are innocent by nature. It means the kingdom is received, not achieved. We come helpless, dependent, and empty-handed. No one enters the kingdom by strength. We receive it like a child.

Then the rich ruler asks Jesus what he must do to inherit eternal life. Jesus exposes the man’s heart by pointing to the commandments and then calling him to sell all and follow Him. The man becomes sad because he is very rich. His wealth had become his refuge. Jesus says it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.

The people ask, “Then who can be saved?” Jesus gives the answer: “What is impossible with man is possible with God.” That sentence is the key. Salvation is impossible by human effort, morality, wealth, status, or willpower. But what man cannot do, God does by grace.

Jesus then again tells His disciples that He is going to Jerusalem. He will be mocked, shamefully treated, spit upon, flogged, and killed. But on the third day He will rise. The disciples do not understand yet, but Jesus is showing that mercy comes through the cross. The tax collector can go home justified because Christ will go to Jerusalem and bear the judgment sinners deserve.

The chapter ends with a blind beggar crying out, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me.” The crowd tells him to be silent, but he cries out all the more. Jesus stops, calls him, and gives him sight. The man immediately follows Him, glorifying God.

Luke 18 begins with a widow crying for justice and ends with a blind man crying for mercy. Between them stands the tax collector, the child, the rich ruler, and the Savior going to the cross.

The message is clear.

Keep praying.

Come humbled.

Receive the kingdom like a child.

Do not trust your riches or your righteousness.

Cry out for mercy.

And follow the Son of David, who gives sight to the blind and grace to sinners.