Daily Bible Reading 11th September 2026 // Luke 11:27-36
27 As he said these things, a woman in the crowd raised her voice and said to him, “Blessed is the womb that bore you, and the breasts at which you nursed!” 28 But he said, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and keep it!”
29 When the crowds were increasing, he began to say, “This generation is an evil generation. It seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah. 30 For as Jonah became a sign to the people of Nineveh, so will the Son of Man be to this generation. 31 The queen of the South will rise up at the judgement with the men of this generation and condemn them, for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and behold, something greater than Solomon is here. 32 The men of Nineveh will rise up at the judgement with this generation and condemn it, for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and behold, something greater than Jonah is here.
33 “No one after lighting a lamp puts it in a cellar or under a basket, but on a stand, so that those who enter may see the light. 34 Your eye is the lamp of your body. When your eye is healthy, your whole body is full of light, but when it is bad, your body is full of darkness. 35 Therefore be careful lest the light in you be darkness. 36 If then your whole body is full of light, having no part dark, it will be wholly bright, as when a lamp with its rays gives you light.”
Our Lord's reply to the demand for a sign is full of significance and meaning. On the one hand, He refused them a sign for the reasons we have already indicated; on the other hand, He promised them a sign. And both these things are connected. They had no will to believe on Him, in fact were so set against Him that they were bent on crucifying Him. And yet, mysteriously, that death He was to die would constitute a sign to them - this, in fact, was the only sign that could possibly have influenced them. And it did, some of them, as we see from Acts, following Pentecost. We see here, then, even at this critical stage, the appeal of mercy, and the open gate, for these evil men.
The connection between the parable of the candle (33) and what precedes it is twofold: on the one hand, there is a reference to the calling that God had given the Jews - 'this generation' - to be a light to lighten the Gentiles. Instead, however, of allowing her light to shine, Israel had covered it up, refusing to shine, and had become blind (this is the force of the reference in 34ff to the body being full of darkness, because of the evil eye of refusing to believe); on the other hand, there is a connection with the asking for a sign. Those whose spiritual sight has not been darkened by indifference and impenitence have no need of a sign from heaven. Their whole soul is full of the light that is all around them, ready to be recognized and absorbed.