Luke 22
AEKLuke 22:19-40
19-20 Compare Matthew 26:26-28; Mark 14:22-24; 1 Corinthians 11:23-26. 21-23 Compare Matthew 26:21-25; Mark 14:18-21; John 13:18-30; Psalms 41:9.
23 How sad it is to see the self-centered apostles, whose hearts should have been overflowing with sorrow and sympathy for Him as He confides to them the significance of the symbols and the nearness of His betrayal, forget His part and think only of themselves! They were concerned lest they should be thought guilty of disloyalty, yet worse still, at such a solemn time, when He was revealing the depths of His humiliation, each one seeks his own exaltation. The contrast is a most vivid illustration of how far the very best of men sink below the moral grandeur of the peerless One. He finds few rivals in His descent from highest glory to deepest shame! They were content to let Him tread that path alone.
24-27 Compare Matthew 20:25-28; Mark 10:42-45.
25 They deserved a stern rebuke, yet He gently chides them while explaining the true essence of greatness. His own example should have taught them better, for His superiority consisted in service. Hence He received the homage of men’s hearts, not the adulation of their lips. 27 Compare Matthew 20:28; Philippians 2:5-8; John 13:3-17. 28 Compare Matthew 19:28.
28 Trial leads to the throne. Not service or success, but endurance in failure fitted the twelve apostles to sit at the table of the great King and to be associated with Him in the government of Israel.
31-34 Compare Matthew 26:30-35; Mark 14:26-31; John 13:36-38.
31 Both the betrayal and denial of the Lord were the work of Satan. Judas was actually possessed by the enemy, while Peter was the object of an outward attack. Wheat is sifted to get rid of the chaff. So Peter was rid of the self-conceit which hindered the exercise of the sterling qualities he possessed. He may not have been more selfish than the rest, for they all clamored for the highest place, but, as it was the Lord’s will that he should be the chief of the twelve, it was necessary to humiliate him first. Satan’s claim is limited by the Lord, for the adversary is allowed to do only so much evil as will eventuate in good.
It is a sober truth that Satan had a hand in preparing Peter for his high place among the apostles. In the same way all his efforts will be turned to beneficial account.
32 Compare John 21:15-17. 35 Compare Luke 9:3.
35 Isaiah’s prophecy concerning Him indicates a great change in His relations to His fellow men. Hitherto He was anything but a criminal, and His disciples were welcomed and freely entertained. To intimate this enmity, He counsels them to buy swords. But, as usual, the apostles fail to catch the drift of His figure, and produce two swords, without evidently perceiving the irony of His words “It is enough.” Two swords would be of little avail for twelve men, especially if they should attack the Roman empire! Later, when one of them uses his sword, the Lord corrects the false impression, and restores the severed ear of His enemy.
37 Compare Isaiah 53:12; Mark 15:28. 39-40 Compare Matthew 26:36-38; Mark 14:32-34; John 18:1-2. 39 Compare Luke 21:37. 40 Compare Matthew 6:13.
40 The great confiict between good and evil is here seen in its most intense exercise. The Lord well knew the evil that lay ahead of Him, for He had been speaking of it again and again. Moreover, He was well aware of the immeasurable benefits of His death to God, and to all His creation. Does He therefore meet it with stony indifference and stoicism? Are the sufferings less real because they are known and come from God? Not at all!
In the face of trial He urges His apostles to pray that they should not enter it. He Himself does not wish to drink the cup. The sufferings of Christ are not His will, but the will of His Father. Hitherto there had been perfeet unanimity between the will of the Father and that of the Son, but in this extreme agony of soul, acquiescence gives place to submission. From the dawn of creation He had delighted in the will of God. He had gladly emptied Himself of the glories of the form divine and took the form of a slave, and entered into the humiliation of humanity, but when it came to the death of the cross His soul revolted and His will refused to follow.
Our wills are instinctively in conflict with God’s, so it seems almost impossible for us to realize the awful gulf revealed in the agonizing words, “not My will, but Thine, be done! "
Luke 22:41-47
41-46 Compare Matthew 26:39-46; Mark 14:35-42. 44 Compare Hebrews 5:7-8. 47-48 Compare Matthew 26:47-50; Mark 14:43-46; John 18:3-9.
48 The gentle forbearance is the most crushing quality of this question. The Lord does not berate him for his act. He does not denounce him for his deed. But it hurts His heart that he should cover his crime with a show of affection.
49-51 Compare Matthew 26:51-54; Mark 14:47; John 18:10-11.
49 Doubtless the Lord allowed the apostles to harbor the mistaken impression that He was about to meet force with force so as to afford Him an opportunity to reveal His true attitude in a most striking and instructive manner. So far as we know, He had never healed His enemies. Blessing was reserved for the faithful and friends. So that, in this simple miracle of healing the ear of the high priest’s slave, we can see a moral glory which is nowhere else displayed.
52-54 Compare Matthew 26:55-57; Mark 14:43-53.
52 Behind all the acts of men the Lord always saw the sovereignty of God. Since it was His Father’s will that He should suffer on the Passover, He knew that His enemies would be helpless to take Him until the proper time. So He had calmly ignored the threatening attitude of the chiefs, and taught openly in the very temple itself. Now the day had come for Him to be offered up. Now, since it was God’s time, it was their hour.
54 Compare John 18:12-14. 55-60 Compare Matthew 26:58; Matthew 26:69-74; Mark 14:54; Mark 14:66-71; John 18:15-18.
55 That Peter really intended to be loyal to his Lord cannot be doubted, especially as he did not run away but followed as closely as he dared, keeping Him in sight. It demanded some courage to enter into the courtyard of the chief priest. But there was nothing in what he say of the trial to give him confidence. If they maltreated his Master as they were doing what would they do to His disciples? What a vast difference between his conduct here and his magnificent courage in the Pentecostal era! Now he is afraid of a mere maid, then he defies the whole Sanhedrin.
Yet this failure was the very foundation of his future firmness. From the instant that the Lord looked at Peter he was a changed man. Bitter self-reproach takes the place of boasting. Confidence in Christ replaces self-conceit. He has learned the lesson of true reatness, as he writes in his first epistle: “Be humbled, then, under the mighty hand of God, that He should be exalting you in season” (1 Peter 5:6) .
61-62 Compare Matthew 26:75; Mark 14:72. 63-65 Compare Matthew 26:67-68; Mark 14:65. 66-71 Compare Matthew 26:59-66; Mark 14:55-64; John 18:19-24.
66 The Sanhedrin was the highest religious court in Israel and should logically have been the one to pass upon His claims and confirm them. Had they been at all what they were supposed to be, He could easily have convinced them. But they were so utterly apostate that the Lord recognized the futility of having anything to do with them. They were not sincerely inquiring into His claims but were seeking evidence to convict Him. He well knew that they wanted Him to claim to be Christ that they might use it against Him. They wanted Him to say that He was the Son of God that this might be evidence of blasphemy and lead to His death.
This is why He says “You are saying that I am! " If He did not claim it they would have no case against Him. And even thus, though He refused to speak the words, they catch at His retort. What a travesty of righteousness! What a mockery of religion is this highest and holiest of Jewish tribunals! Pilate had some sense of justice left, but they were utterly shameless. Their light had become darkness.