Luke 10:21

Luke 10:21, in plain English

Jesus was filled with joy through the Holy Spirit and praised God: 'Father, You have hidden these things from the wise and educated but revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, this pleased You.'

Why it's here

This is one of the few times we see Jesus visibly overjoyed. What thrilled Him was God's upside-down way of working: not through the powerful and educated, but through the humble and open-hearted.

Who's speaking

Jesus prays with visible joy and praise to the Father.

Where it sits in the story

Jesus was overflowing with joy. He praised His Father for choosing the humble over the proud, the simple over the sophisticated. God's wisdom does not follow the world's ladder.

The scholarly reading

Jesus ēgalliasato tō pneumati tō hagiō ('rejoiced in the Holy Spirit'), one of the rare moments of explicit joy attributed to Jesus. His prayer praises the Father for apekrypsas tauta apo sophōn kai synetōn kai apekalypsas auta nēpiois ('hiding these things from the wise and revealing them to infants/children').

Language and setting

This is the only time Luke records Jesus 'rejoicing,' making it exceptionally significant. The prayer echoes wisdom traditions (cf. Sirach 51:1) and celebrates the divine reversal where God's revelation bypasses the educated elite to reach the humble and simple.

Voice

Jesus prays aloud to the Father in the power of the Holy Spirit.

Significance

In a rare moment of visible joy, Jesus rejoiced in the Holy Spirit and praised the Father for His upside-down wisdom: hiding kingdom truths from the intellectually proud while revealing them to the humble and childlike.

19Behold, I have given you authority to tread on snakes and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy. Nothing will harm you.

20Nevertheless, do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.”

21At 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.

22All things have been entrusted to Me by My Father. No one knows who the Son is except the Father, and no one knows who the Father is except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal Him.”

23Then Jesus turned to the disciples and said privately, “Blessed are the eyes that see what you see.

Read all of Luke 10 — A lawyer asks how to inherit eternal life and gets an answer he doesn't expect. The hero of the story is the one everyone despises.