Luke 22

Volume 1

Luke Chapter 22

1897 words

Lu 22:1-6.

CONSPIRACY OF THE

JEWISH

AUTHORITIES TO

PUT

JESUS TO

DEATH--COMPACT WITH

JUDAS.

1, 2. (See on

Mt 26:1-5.)

3. Then entered Satan, &c.--but not yet in the full sense. The

awful stages of it were these: (1) Covetousness being his

master--passion, the Lord let it reveal itself and gather strength by

entrusting him with "the bag"

(Joh 12:6),

as treasurer to Himself and the Twelve. (2) In the discharge of that

most sacred trust he became "a thief," appropriating its contents from

time to time to his own use. Satan, seeing this door into his heart

standing wide open, determines to enter by it, but cautiously

(2Co 2:11);

first merely "putting it into his heart to betray Him"

(Joh 13:2),

suggesting the thought to him that by this means he might enrich

himself. (3) This thought was probably converted into a settled purpose

Mt 26:6,

and see on

Joh 12:4-8.)

(4) Starting back, perhaps, or mercifully held back, for some time, the

determination to carry it into immediate effect was not consummated

till, sitting at the paschal supper, "Satan entered into him"

(see on

Joh 13:27),

and conscience, effectually stifled, only rose again to be his

tormentor. What lessons in all this for every one

(Eph 4:27;

Jas 4:7;

1Pe 5:8, 9)!

5. money--"thirty pieces of silver"

(Mt 26:15);

thirty shekels, the fine payable for man- or maid-servant accidentally

killed

(Ex 21:32),

and equal to between four and five pounds of our money--"a goodly

price that I was priced at of them"

(Zec 11:13).

(See on

Joh 19:16.)

6. in the absence, &c.--(See

Mt 26:5).

Lu 22:7-38.

LAST

PASSOVER--INSTITUTION OF THE

SUPPER--DISCOURSE AT THE

TABLE.

7. the day of unleavened bread--strictly the fifteenth Nisan (part of

our March and April) after the paschal lamb was killed; but here, the

fourteenth (Thursday). Into the difficult questions raised on this we

cannot here enter.

10-13. when ye are entered the city--He Himself probably stayed at

Bethany during the day.

there shall a man, &c.--(See on

Lu 19:29-32).

14-18. the hour--about six P.M. Between

three and this hour the lamb was killed

(Ex 12:6,

Margin)

15. With desire . . . desired--"earnestly have I longed" (as

Ge 31:30,

"sore longedst"). Why? It was to be His last "before He suffered"--and

so became "Christ our Passover sacrificed for us"

(1Co 5:7),

when it was "fulfilled in the Kingdom of God," the typical

ordinance thenceforth disappearing.

17. took the cup--the first of several partaken of in this service.

divide it among, &c.--that is, It is to be your

last as well as Mine, "until the Kingdom of God come," or as it is

beautifully given in

Mt 26:29,

"until that day when I shall drink it new with you in my Father's

kingdom." It was the point of transition between two economies and

their two great festivals, the one about to close for ever, the

other immediately to open and run its majestic career until from earth

it be transferred to heaven.

21, 22. (See on

Joh 13:21,

&c.).

24-30. there was--or "had been," referring probably to some

symptoms of the former strife which had reappeared, perhaps on seeing

the whole paschal arrangements committed to two of the Twelve. (See on

Mr 10:42-45.)

25. benefactors--a title which the vanity of princes eagerly coveted.

26. But ye . . . not--Of how little avail has this condemnation of

"lordship" and vain titles been against the vanity of Christian

ecclesiastics?

28. continued, &c.--affecting evidence of Christ's tender

susceptibility to human sympathy and support! (See on

Joh 6:66, 67;

see

Joh 16:32.)

29. I appoint, &c.--Who is this that dispenses kingdoms, nay, the

Kingdom of kingdoms, within an hour or two of His apprehension, and less

than a day of His shameful death? These sublime contrasts, however,

perpetually meet and entrance us in this matchless history.

30. eat and drink, &c.--(See

Lu 22:16

and see on

Lu 18:28,

&c.).

31-34. Simon, Simon--(See on

Lu 10:41).

desired to have--rather, "hath obtained you," properly

"asked and obtained"; alluding to Job

(Job 1:6-12; 2:1-6),

whom he solicited and obtained that he might sift him as wheat,

insinuating as "the accuser of the brethren"

(Re 12:10),

that he would find chaff enough in his religion, if indeed there was

any wheat at all.

you--not Peter only, but them all.

32. But I have prayed--have been doing it already.

for thee--as most in danger. (See on

Lu 22:61, 62.)

fail not--that is, entirely; for partially it did fail.

converted--brought back afresh as a penitent disciple.

strengthen, &c.--that is, make use of thy bitter experience for the

fortifying of thy tempted brethren.

33. I am ready, &c.--honest-hearted, warmly-attached disciple,

thinking thy present feelings immovable as a rock, thou shalt find them

in the hour of temptation unstable as water: "I have been praying for

thee," therefore thy faith shall not perish; but thinking this

superfluous, thou shalt find that "he that trusteth in his own heart is

a fool"

(Pr 28:26).

34. cock . . . crow--"twice"

(Mr 14:30).

35-38. But now--that you are going forth not as before on a temporary

mission, provided for without purse or scrip, but into scenes of

continued and severe trial, your methods must be different; for

purse and scrip will now be needed for support, and the usual means of

defense.

37. the things concerning me--decreed and written.

have an end--are rapidly drawing to a close.

38. two swords . . . enough--they thinking He referred to present

defense, while His answer showed He meant something else.

Lu 22:39-46.

AGONY IN THE

GARDEN.

39. as . . . wont--(See

Joh 18:2).

40. the place--the Garden of Gethsemane, on the west or city side of

the mount. Comparing all the accounts of this mysterious scene, the

facts appear to be these: (1) He bade nine of the Twelve remain "here"

while He went and prayed "yonder." (2) He "took the other three, Peter,

James, and John, and began to be sore amazed [appalled], sorrowful, and

very heavy [oppressed], and said, My soul is exceeding sorrowful even

unto death"--"I feel as if nature would sink under this load, as if life

were ebbing out, and death coming before its time"--"tarry ye here, and

watch with Me"; not, "Witness for Me," but, "Bear Me company." It did

Him good, it seems, to have them beside Him. (3) But soon even they were

too much for Him: He must be alone. "He was withdrawn from them about a

stone's-cast"--though near enough for them to be competent witnesses and

kneeled down, uttering that most affecting prayer

(Mr 14:36),

that if possible "the cup," of His approaching death, "might

pass from Him, but if not, His Father's will be done": implying that

in itself it was so purely revolting that only its being the

Father's will would induce Him to taste it, but that in that

view of it He was perfectly prepared to drink it. It is no struggle

between a reluctant and a compliant will, but between two views of one

event--an abstract and a relative view of it, in the one

of which it was revolting, in the other welcome. By

signifying how it felt in the one view, He shows His beautiful

oneness with ourselves in nature and feeling; by expressing how He

regarded it in the other light, He reveals His absolute obediential

subjection to His Father. (4) On this, having a momentary relief, for

it came upon Him, we imagine, by surges, He returns to the three, and

finding them sleeping, He addresses them affectingly, particularly

Peter, as in

Mr 14:37, 38.

He then (5) goes back, not now to kneel, but fell on His face on the

ground, saying the same words, but with this turn, "If this cup may

not pass," &c.

(Mt 26:42)

--that is, 'Yes, I understand this mysterious silence

(Ps 22:1-6);

it may not pass; I am to drink it, and I will'--"Thy will be done!" (6)

Again, for a moment relieved, He returns and finds them "sleeping for

sorrow," warns them as before, but puts a loving construction upon it,

separating between the "willing spirit" and the "weak flesh." (7) Once

more, returning to His solitary spot, the surges rise higher, beat more

tempestuously, and seem ready to overwhelm Him. To fortify Him for

this, "there appeared an angel unto Him from heaven strengthening

Him"--not to minister light or comfort (He was to have none of that,

and they were not needed nor fitted to convey it), but purely to

sustain and brace up sinking nature for a yet hotter and fiercer

struggle. And now, He is "in an agony, and prays more earnestly"--even

Christ's prayer, it seems, admitted of and now demanded such

increase--"and His sweat was as it were great drops [literally,

'clots'] of blood falling down to the ground." What was this? Not

His proper sacrificial offering, though essential to it. It was

just the internal struggle, apparently hushing itself before, but now

swelling up again, convulsing His whole inner man, and this so

affecting His animal nature that the sweat oozed out from every pore in

thick drops of blood, falling to the ground. It was just shuddering

nature and indomitable will struggling together. But again

the cry, If it must be, Thy will be done, issues from His lips,

and all is over. "The bitterness of death is past." He has anticipated

and rehearsed His final conflict, and won the victory--now on the

theater of an invincible will, as then on the arena of the

Cross. "I will suffer," is the grand result of Gethsemane: "It

is finished" is the shout that bursts from the Cross. The Will without

the Deed had been all in vain; but His work was consummated when He

carried the now manifested Will into the palpable Deed, "by the

which WILL we are sanctified THROUGH THE OFFERING OF THE BODY OF JESUS CHRIST ONCE FOR ALL"

(Heb 10:10).

(8) At the close of the whole scene, finding them still sleeping (worn

out with continued sorrow and racking anxiety), He bids them, with an

irony of deep emotion, "sleep on now and take their rest, the hour is

come, the Son of man is betrayed into the hands of sinners, rise, let

us be going, the traitor is at hand." And while He spoke, Judas

approached with his armed band. Thus they proved "miserable

comforters," broken reeds; and thus in His whole work He was

alone, and "of the people there was none with Him."

Lu 22:47-54.

BETRAYAL AND

APPREHENSION OF

JESUS--FLIGHT OF

HIS

DISCIPLES.

Lu 22:55-62.

JESUS BEFORE

CAIAPHAS--FALL OF

PETER.

The particulars of these two sections require a combination of all the

narratives, for which see on

Joh 18:1-27.

61. And the Lord turned, and looked upon Peter--(Also see on

Mr 14:72.)

62. And Peter went out, and wept bitterly--(Also see on

Mr 14:72.)

Lu 22:63-71.

JESUS

CONDEMNED TO

DIE AND

SHAMEFULLY

ENTREATED.