Luke 10:21
At that time Jesus rejoiced in the Holy Spirit and declared, "I praise You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because You have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for this was well-pleasing in Your sight.
At that time
This phrase situates the event in a specific moment, emphasizing the immediacy and relevance of Jesus' response. The context is crucial; Jesus had just sent out the seventy-two disciples, and they returned with joy, reporting the success of their mission. This moment of rejoicing is a direct response to the unfolding of God's kingdom through their work.

Jesus rejoiced
The Greek word for "rejoiced" here is "ἀγαλλιάω" (agalliaō), which conveys an exuberant, overflowing joy. This is one of the few instances in the Gospels where Jesus is explicitly described as rejoicing. It highlights His deep, personal connection with the Father and the Holy Spirit, and His delight in the divine plan being revealed and fulfilled.

in the Holy Spirit
The Holy Spirit is the third person of the Trinity, actively involved in the life and ministry of Jesus. This phrase underscores the Trinitarian nature of God, showing that Jesus' joy is not merely human but is deeply spiritual, rooted in the divine communion with the Father and the Spirit. It also indicates that true joy and revelation come through the Spirit.

and said, 'I praise You, Father
The act of praising the Father is a model of prayer and worship. The Greek word "ἐξομολογέω" (exomologeō) means to confess or acknowledge openly. Jesus acknowledges the Father's sovereignty and goodness, setting an example for believers to follow in their own prayers.

Lord of heaven and earth
This title affirms God's supreme authority over all creation. It echoes the Jewish Shema and other Old Testament affirmations of God's sovereignty. By addressing God in this way, Jesus acknowledges the Father's ultimate control and purpose in the unfolding of His kingdom.

because You have hidden these things from the wise and learned
The "wise and learned" refers to those who rely on human wisdom and understanding, often the religious leaders and scholars of the time. The Greek word "σοφός" (sophos) for wise and "συνετός" (synetos) for learned suggest those who are esteemed for their intellectual capabilities. Yet, divine truths are not accessible through human wisdom alone.

and revealed them to little children
The "little children" symbolize humility and openness. The Greek word "νήπιος" (nēpios) refers to infants or young children, emphasizing simplicity and dependence. This revelation to the humble reflects the upside-down nature of God's kingdom, where the last are first, and the meek inherit the earth.

Yes, Father, for this was well-pleasing in Your sight
This affirmation underscores the Father's good pleasure in His divine plan. The Greek word "εὐδοκία" (eudokia) means good pleasure or delight. It highlights God's sovereign will and the joy He takes in revealing His truths to those who are humble and receptive. Jesus' agreement with the Father's will models perfect submission and alignment with God's purposes.

Persons / Places / Events
1. Jesus
The central figure in this passage, who expresses joy and gratitude to the Father.

2. The Holy Spirit
The third person of the Trinity, in whom Jesus rejoices.

3. The Father
Referred to as the "Lord of heaven and earth," to whom Jesus offers praise.

4. The Wise and Learned
Those who rely on human wisdom and understanding, from whom divine truths are hidden.

5. Little Children
Symbolic of those who are humble and open-hearted, to whom divine truths are revealed.
Teaching Points
Joy in the Spirit
Jesus' rejoicing in the Holy Spirit serves as a model for believers to find joy in spiritual truths and divine revelation.

Humility Over Human Wisdom
God values humility over human wisdom. Believers should approach God with childlike faith and openness.

Divine Revelation
God reveals His truths to those who are humble and dependent on Him, not necessarily to those who are intellectually accomplished.

Praise and Gratitude
Jesus' example of praising the Father encourages believers to cultivate a heart of gratitude for God's work in their lives.

God's Sovereign Will
The passage highlights God's sovereignty in choosing to whom He reveals His truths, reminding believers to trust in His perfect will.
Bible Study Questions
1. How does Jesus' expression of joy in the Holy Spirit challenge or inspire your own spiritual life?

2. In what ways can you cultivate a childlike faith to better receive God's truths?

3. How does the concept of God revealing truths to the humble impact your understanding of wisdom and knowledge?

4. Reflect on a time when you experienced God's revelation in your life. How did humility play a role in that experience?

5. How can you incorporate praise and gratitude into your daily routine, following Jesus' example in this passage?
Connections to Other Scriptures
Matthew 11:25-26
This passage parallels Luke 10:21, where Jesus also praises the Father for revealing truths to the humble.

1 Corinthians 1:27-29
Paul speaks about God choosing the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, echoing the theme of divine revelation to the humble.

Psalm 8:2
This verse highlights the strength that comes from the mouths of children and infants, aligning with the theme of God revealing Himself to the humble.

James 4:6
James emphasizes that God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble, reinforcing the idea of revelation to the humble.

Proverbs 3:5-6
Encourages trust in the Lord rather than one's own understanding, aligning with the theme of divine revelation to the humble.
The Gladness of Gratitude, EtcW. Clarkson Luke 10:21
The Mission of the SeventyR.M. Edgar Luke 10:1-24
Christ Glorifies His Father and Magnifies HimselfW. Burkitt.Luke 10:21-22
Christ the Revealer of GodW. Dorling.Luke 10:21-22
Christ's JoyVan Oosterzee.Luke 10:21-22
Deity RevealedJ. Irons.Luke 10:21-22
Divine Truths Hidden and RevealedB. Wilkinson, F. G. S.Luke 10:21-22
God Revealed unto BabesDr. Martineau.Luke 10:21-22
Humility of PascalLife of Pascal.Luke 10:21-22
It is the Great Marvel of the Christian CharacterDr. Martineau.Luke 10:21-22
Learning the Alphabet of ReligionHandbook to Scripture Doctrines.Luke 10:21-22
LessonsJames Foote, M. A.Luke 10:21-22
Revelation to the LowlyW. F. Adeney, M. A.Luke 10:21-22
The Babe-SpiritJ. Parker, D. D.Luke 10:21-22
The Child-HeartBishop Boyd CarpenterLuke 10:21-22
The Joy of JesusC. H. Spurgeon.Luke 10:21-22
The Kingdom of GodVan Oosterzee.Luke 10:21-22
The Power Bestowed on Christ by the FatherVan Oosterzee.Luke 10:21-22
The Receptive SpiritLuke 10:21-22
The Relation Between Father and SonVan Oosterzee.Luke 10:21-22
The Saviour's JoyVan Oosterzee.Luke 10:21-22
The Simplicity of MysteryJ. Parker, D. D.Luke 10:21-22
The Unique Relation Between the Son and the FatherVan Oosterzee.Luke 10:21-22
To Commune with GodDr. Martineau.Luke 10:21-22
Two Types of Human Greatness AreDr. Martineau.Luke 10:21-22
Why God Reveals to BabesJ. Leckie, D. D.Luke 10:21-22
People
Jesus, Martha, Mary
Places
Bethsaida, Capernaum, Chorazin, Jericho, Jerusalem, Road to Jerusalem, Sidon, Sodom, Tyre
Topics
Babes, Clear, Confess, Exclaimed, Fervent, Filled, Full, Glad, Gracious, Greatly, Hast, Heaven, Hid, Hidden, Hide, Holy, Hour, Infants, Intelligent, Joy, Kept, Learned, Learning, O, Occasion, Pleasing, Pleasure, Praise, Prudent, Rapturous, Rejoiced, Reveal, Revealed, Sages, Secret, Seemed, Sight, Spirit, Thank, Thanks, Thus, Understanding, Well-pleasing, Wise, Yea, Yes
Dictionary of Bible Themes
Luke 10:21

     1130   God, sovereignty
     1175   God, will of
     1513   Trinity, mission of
     2039   Christ, joy of
     3020   Holy Spirit, joy of
     3025   Holy Spirit, personality
     3035   Holy Spirit, presence of
     3218   Holy Spirit, and praise
     3221   Holy Spirit, and prayer
     3251   Holy Spirit, filling with
     3269   Holy Spirit, in Christ
     4018   life, spiritual
     4055   heaven and earth
     5013   heart, divine
     5395   lordship, human and divine
     5655   birth
     5665   children, attitudes to
     5841   ecstasy
     5918   pleasure
     8205   childlikeness
     8366   wisdom, source of
     8658   Lord's Prayer
     8666   praise, manner and methods
     8667   praise, examples

Luke 10:17-21

     8289   joy, of church

Luke 10:21-22

     1403   God, revelation
     1445   revelation, responses
     1511   Trinity, relationships in
     2078   Christ, sonship of
     2360   Christ, prayers of
     8135   knowing God, nature of

Library
Definiteness of Purpose in Christian Work
TEXT: "Salute no man by the way."--Luke 10:4. Luke is the only one of the Evangelists giving us the account of the sending out of the seventy. The others tell us that Christ called certain men unto him and commissioned them to tell his story; but in this instance after Jesus had said, "Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head," he calls the seventy and sends them forth prepared to endure any sacrifice or suffer any affliction if only
J. Wilbur Chapman—And Judas Iscariot

October 28 Evening
The Enemy.--LUKE 10:19. Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour.--Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Wherefore take unto you the whole armour
Anonymous—Daily Light on the Daily Path

June 14 Evening
Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things.--LUKE 10:41. Consider the ravens: for they neither sow nor reap. Consider the lilies how they grow: they toil not, they spin not. Seek not ye what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink, neither be ye of doubtful mind. Your Father knoweth that ye have need of these things. Having food and raiment let us be therewith content . . . They that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown
Anonymous—Daily Light on the Daily Path

January 9 Evening
One thing is needful.--LUKE 10:42. There be many that say, Who will shew us any good? Lord, lift thou up the light of thy countenance upon us. Thou hast put gladness in my heart, more than in the time that their corn and their wine increased. As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God. My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God.--O God, thou art my God; early will I seek thee: my soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land,
Anonymous—Daily Light on the Daily Path

March 8. "Pray Ye Therefore" (Luke x. 2).
"Pray Ye therefore" (Luke x. 2). Prayer is the mighty engine that is to move the missionary work. "Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest that He will send forth laborers into His harvest." We are asking God to touch the hearts of men every day by the Holy Ghost, so that they shall be compelled to go abroad and preach the Gospel. We are asking Him to wake them up at night with the solemn conviction that the heathen are perishing, and that their blood will be upon their souls, and God is answering
Rev. A. B. Simpson—Days of Heaven Upon Earth

The Good Samaritan
LUKE x. 33, 34. But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was: and when he saw him, he had compassion on him, and went to him, and bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine, and set him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn, and took care of him. No words, perhaps, ever spoken on earth, have had more effect than those of this parable. They are words of power and of spirit; living words, which have gone forth into the hearts and lives of men, and borne fruit in them of a hundred
Charles Kingsley—Discipline and Other Sermons

The Tables Turned: the Questioners Questioned
'But when the Pharisees had heard that He had put the Sadducees to silence, they were gathered together. 35. Then one of them, which was a lawyer, asked Him a question, tempting Him, and saying, 36. Master, which is the great commandment in the law? 37. Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. 38. This is the first and great commandment. 39. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. 40.
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

Christ's Messengers: their Equipment and Work
'After these things, the Lord appointed other seventy also, and sent them two and two before His face into every city and place whither He Himself would come. 2. Therefore said He unto them, The harvest truly is great, but the labourers are few: pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that He would send forth labourers into His harvest. 3. Go your ways: behold, I send you forth as lambs among wolves. 4. Carry neither purse, nor scrip, nor shoes; and salute no man by the way. 5. And into whatsoever
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions Of Holy Scripture

Neighbours Far Off
'And, behold, a certain lawyer stood up, and tempted Him, saying, Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? 26. He said unto him, What is written in the law? how readest thou? 27. And he, answering, said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself. 28. And He said unto him, Thou hast answered right: this do, and thou shalt live. 29. But he, willing to justify himself, said unto Jesus,
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions Of Holy Scripture

Sanctification
SANCTIFICATION [1] St Luke x. 42.--"One thing is needful." I have read many writings both of heathen philosophers and inspired prophets, ancient and modern, and have sought earnestly to discover what is the best and highest quality whereby man may approach most nearly to union with God, and whereby he may most resemble the ideal of himself which existed in God, before God created men. And after having thoroughly searched these writings as far as my reason may penetrate, I find no higher quality than
Johannes Eckhart—Meister Eckhart's Sermons

On the Words of the Gospel, Luke x. 16, "He that Rejecteth You Rejecteth Me. "
1. What our Lord Jesus Crist at that time spake to His disciples was put in writing, and prepared for us to hear. And so we have heard His words. For what profit would it be to us if He were seen, and were not heard? And now it is no hurt, that He is not seen, and yet is heard. He saith then, "He that despiseth you, despiseth Me." [3300] If to the Apostles only He said, "He that despiseth you, despiseth Me;" do ye despise us. But if His word reach to us, and He hath called us, and set us in their
Saint Augustine—sermons on selected lessons of the new testament

On the Words of the Gospel, Luke x. 2, "The Harvest Truly is Plenteous," Etc.
1. By the lesson of the Gospel which has just been read, we are reminded to search what that harvest is of which the Lord says, "The harvest truly is great, but the labourers are few. Pray ye the Lord of the harvest, that He would send forth labourers into His harvest." [3262] Then to His twelve disciples, whom He also named Apostles, He added other seventy-two, and sent them all, as appears from His words, to the harvest then ready. What then was that harvest? For that harvest was not among these
Saint Augustine—sermons on selected lessons of the new testament

On the Words of the Gospel, Luke x. 38, "And a Certain Woman Named Martha Received Him into Her House," Etc.
1. The words of our Lord Jesus Christ which have just been read out of the Gospel, give us to understand, that there is some one thing for which we must be making, when we toil amid the manifold engagements of this life. Now we make for this as being yet in pilgrimage, and not in our abiding place; as yet in the way, not yet in our country; as yet in longing, not yet in enjoyment. Yet let us make for it, and that without sloth and without intermission, that we may some time be able to reach it. 2.
Saint Augustine—sermons on selected lessons of the new testament

Again, on the Words of the Gospel, Luke x. 38, Etc. , About Martha and Mary.
1. When the holy Gospel was being read, we heard that the Lord was received by a religious woman into her house, and her name was Martha. And while she was occupied in the care of serving, her sister Mary was sitting at the Lord's Feet, and hearing His Word. The one was busy, the other was still; one was giving out, the other was being filled. Yet Martha, all busy as she was in that occupation and toil of serving, appealed to the Lord, and complained of her sister, that she did not help her in her
Saint Augustine—sermons on selected lessons of the new testament

On Dissipation
"This I speak -- that ye may attend upon the Lord without distraction." 1 Cor. 7:35. 1. Almost in every part of our nation, more especially in the large and populous towns, we hear a general complaint among sensible persons, of the still increasing dissipation. It is observed to diffuse itself more and more, in the court, the city, and the country. From the continual mention which is made of this, and the continual declamations against it, one would naturally imagine that a word so commonly used
John Wesley—Sermons on Several Occasions

The one Thing Needful
The mere posture of sitting down and listening to the Saviour's word was nothing in itself: it was that which it indicated. It indicated, in Mary's case, a readiness to believe what the Saviour taught, to accept and to obey--nay to delight in, the precepts which fell from his lips. And this is the one thing needful--absolutely needful; for no rebel can enter the kingdom of heaven with the weapons of rebellion in his hands. We cannot know Christ while we resist Christ: we must be reconciled to his
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 17: 1871

The Good Samaritan
(Thirteenth Sunday after Trinity.) S. LUKE x. 30. "A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves." The scene of the parable is a wild, lonely road between Jerusalem and Jericho. It is a road with an evil name for murder and robbery, and is called the red, or bloody way. The mishap of the traveller was common enough in our Lord's day, and is common enough now. But I would take the scene of this parable in a wider sense; I would ask you to look at it as the wayside of
H. J. Wilmot-Buxton—The Life of Duty, a Year's Plain Sermons, v. 2

Zeal.
13th Sunday after Trinity. S. Luke x., 23. "What shall I do to inherit eternal life?" INTRODUCTION.--The Kingdom of Heaven, said our Lord, is like unto a treasure hid in a field. One day a man is turning over the stones which lie in a heap in a corner of the field, and he finds under them an iron chest, and this chest he believes to be full of gold. Then he carefully covers it up again with stones and earth, and goes off in the greatest excitement to the owner of the field, and offers him a price,
S. Baring-Gould—The Village Pulpit, Volume II. Trinity to Advent

Lorimer -- the Fall of Satan
George C. Lorimer was born at Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1838. He was brought up by his stepfather who was associated with the theater, and in this relation he received a dramatic education and had some experience on the stage. In 1855 he came to the United States, where he joined the Baptist Church and abandoned the theatrical profession. Later he studied for the Baptist ministry, being ordained in 1859. He died in 1904. His direct and dramatic, pulpit style brought him into great popularity in Boston,
Grenville Kleiser—The world's great sermons, Volume 8

Question on the Religious State
Are Contemplative Orders superior to Active Orders? Are Contemplative Orders superior to Active Orders? The Lord declared that Mary's was the best part, and she is the type of the contemplative life.[491] Religious Orders differ from one another primarily according to the ends they have in view, but secondarily according to the works they practise. And since one thing cannot be said to be superior to another save by reason of the differences between them, it will follow that the superiority of
St. Thomas Aquinas—On Prayer and The Contemplative Life

Christian Perfection
Definition of perfection: Unblemished, blameless, pure. We are commanded to be perfect. "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect."--Matt. 5:48. "For we are glad, when we are weak, and ye are strong: and this also we wish, even your perfection. Finally, brethren, farewell. Be perfect, be of good comfort, be of one mind, live in peace; and the God of love and peace shall be with you."--2 Cor. 13:9, 11. "Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ,
J. W. Byers—Sanctification

The Christian's Fellow Man
Scripture references: Luke 10:29-37; Matthew 7:12; 5:16; Luke 12:13-15; 1 Corinthians 13; Matthew 7:3-5; 5:42-49; John 21:21, 22. MAN AND OTHER MEN The Question of Relationship.--One of the most important questions is that of the relation which a man shall hold to other men. 1. It is fundamental in every system of philosophy and religion. The answers, which are given, show their widespread practical bearing in the social, industrial and political spheres, as well as in the religious. 2. It is imperative
Henry T. Sell—Studies in the Life of the Christian

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