teach us to pray. In addition to the model prayer cited here, Jesus taught many other truths about how we should pray. Prayer should be: (1) believing prayer (Matthew 21:22); (2) watchful prayer (Matthew 26:41); (3) persistent prayer (Luke 18:1); (4) Christ-centered prayer (John 14:14); (5) Bible-centered prayer (John 15:7); (6) compassionate prayer (Matthew 9:38); (7) submissive prayer (Luke 22:42); (8) meaningful prayer (Matthew 6:7).

When ye pray, say. This model prayer is somewhat different from that in Matthew 6:9-13, especially in its omission of the final ascription, “For thine is the kingdom …. ” Evidently they were given on two different occasions, one as a component of the Sermon on the Mount, the other directly in answer to a specific question by one of His disciples (Luke 11:1). Possibly the prayer was shortened on the latter occasion because, by this time, He had adequately reminded the disciples of the model prayer previously given.

ask an egg. This is the only reference to eggs in the New Testament. By implication, however, even this one statement by Christ would indicate there is nothing intrinsically wrong in the eating of eggs.

give the Holy Spirit. Under the old covenant and the Mosaic economy (or “dispensation”—same word in the Greek), the Holy Spirit only came on specific individuals for specific missions. God had promised, however, that the day would come when “I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh” (Joel 2:28). The period while Christ was on earth was a transition time in which a group of people was being prepared for this outpouring. John the Baptist, for example, had been “filled with the Holy Ghost” throughout his short life (Luke 1:15), and now Christ was promising the Holy Spirit to all who would sincerely ask for Him. Soon, of course, the day of Pentecost would come (Acts 2:1) and all the disciples would be “filled with the Holy Ghost” (Acts 2:4). In the Christian economy now, the body of every believer is a “temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God” (1 Corinthians 6:19).

through Beelzebub. See note on Mark 3:22.

return unto my house. Casting out evil spirits is of no value unless the Holy Spirit comes in. By extension, any kind of moral reformation is tentative at best unless it is the product of spiritual regeneration through Christ. Note also 2 Peter 2:20-22.

Yea rather. Jesus did not deny that “blessed is the womb that bare thee” (Luke 11:27), for indeed the angel Gabriel had said to her: “Blessed art thou among women” (Luke 1:28), and Elizabeth had echoed that blessing (Luke 1:42). The Lord Jesus honored and cared for His mother, but He could not encourage the incipient tendency to worship her that was evident in the exclamation of the woman in the company. More blessed are they who believe and obey the Word of God: that was the message He would convey. The real blessedness, even of His mother, was that she did “hear the word of God, and keep it.”

Jonas was a sign. Christ here and in Luke 11:32 confirms the historicity of the story of Jonah and the conversion of the wicked citizens of Nineveh.

wisdom of God. “The wisdom of God” is here used as a synonym for “the Scriptures,” which is surely the source of the true wisdom in all matters it addresses. The passage paraphrased is 2 Chronicles 36:15-16. It may be also that Jesus is here actually calling Himself “the wisdom of God,” thus asserting His right to paraphrase or expand on Scripture as He will.

blood of Abel. Abel, son of Adam, was thus the first prophet—that is, a man who supernaturally receives and then proclaims inspired words from God. Evidently, Abel was speaking God's words to Cain, when the latter slew him in jealous wrath. The Zacharias mentioned is probably “Zechariah the son of Jehoida the priest,” who was stoned when he prophesied against the people under King Joash (2 Chronicles 24:20-24). Thus the period encompassed by the Lord's statement was the entire Old Testament period, since this Zechariah is the last prophet mentioned as having been executed for his testimony before John the Baptist. There may have been others (in Matthew 23:35, Jesus called Zacharias the son of Barachias, rather than Jehoida) but, if so, their martyrdoms have not been reported in the Old Testament. Barachias is not mentioned elsewhere in Scripture. It is possible that either Barachias or Jehoida could have been Zechariah's father, the other being the grandfather.