Luke 22

CHAPTER 22THEME: Judas plots with the chief priests to betray Jesus; Jesus plans for the last Passover and institutes the Lord’s Supper; Jesus announces His betrayal; position of the apostles in the future kingdom; Peter’s denial; Jesus warns the disciples of the future; Jesus goes to Gethsemane; Jesus betrayed by Judas; Jesus arrested and led to the High Priest’s house; Jesus denied by Peter; Jesus is mocked and beaten; Jesus is brought before the Sanhedrin

Luke 22:1

JUDAS PLOTS WITH THE CHIEF PRIESTS TO BETRAY JESUSJesus has come to Jerusalem. Six months before, in Caesarea Philippi, He had steadfastly set His face to go to Jerusalem to die. Everything He did from then on was a movement toward Jerusalem. The Mount of Transfiguration and the so-called triumphal entry are behind Him. It is the time of the Passover and He, the Lamb of God which taketh away the sins of the world, is going to die.

Luke 22:2

The religious rulers would have taken Him immediately and slain Him, but they were afraid of the people. It was the Passover, which meant that people from everywhere were in the city; and they were for Him. They were the silent majority.

Luke 22:3

Is it possible for a Christian to be demon-possessed? Is it possible for Satan or a demon to enter a Christian? The answer, of course, is no. It is possible, however, for a church member who is not a Christian to be possessed. Some of the meanest people I have met were not in the Mafia or in jail but were members of a church. I have met some people in the church that I am confident were demon-possessed.

It would be difficult to explain their conduct on any other basis. My friend, if you are going to stand on the sidelines and listen to the preaching of the gospel and do nothing about it but mix and mingle with God’s people, the day will come when Satan will move into the vacant house, as we saw in Luk_11:24-26. One of Satan’s demons will take up residence. That is what happened to Judas who had rejected Jesus.

Luke 22:4

The religious rulers had been wondering how they were going to take Him. Now one of His own men comes along and offers to betray Him.

Luke 22:6

The plot was: Wait until the crowd leaves Jerusalem. Wait until we can get Him alone so people will not know what we are doing. They planned to take Him secretly. Judas was to bide his time and let the religious rulers know when the time was right. Actually that time never came, because Jesus forced them to act immediately. Jesus, as recorded in the Gospel of John, gave Judas that sop in the Upper Room at the Last Supper and told him, “What you do, do quickly. The time has come. You are going to have to move hurriedly.” And Judas did just that.

Luke 22:7

JESUS PLANS FOR THE LAST PASSOVER AND INSTITUTES THE LORD’S SUPPERJesus and His disciples now plan the last Passover. I see no reason to read a miracle into this passage. Our Lord had been to Jerusalem many times. He knew the man who had this upper room. I am sure he had said to our Lord, “When you are in Jerusalem, bring your disciples here.” Probably the Lord had already made arrangements with him to use the room and was letting him know that He needed it at this time.

Luke 22:14

This is the time of the Last Supper, and Judas was present.

Luke 22:15

At the Passover the cup circulated several times, and I think the Lord participated up to the last cup. That was the cup of joy. He did not drink it. The question arises, “Did He ever drink that cup?” I think He did. On the cross they gave Him vinegar to drink, and in Hebrews it says, “…for the joy that was set before him [he] endured the cross …” (Heb_12:2). On the dying embers of the fading feast of Passover, the Lord Jesus Christ fanned into flame the new feast of the Lord’s Supper.

Luke 22:19

The Lord took two of the most frail elements in the world as symbols of His body and blood. Bread and wineboth will spoil in a few days. When He raised a monument, it was not made of brass or marble, but of two frail elements that perish. He declared that the bread spoke of His body and the wine spoke of His blood. The bread speaks of His body brokennot a bone broken but a broken body because He was made sin for us (see 2Co_5:21). I do not believe He even looked human when He was taken down from that cross. Isaiah had said of Him, “…his visage was so marred more than any man, and his form more than the sons of men” (Isa_52:14); and “…there is no beauty that we should desire him” (Isa_53:2). For centuries the Passover feast had looked forward to the Lord’s coming and His death. Now He is in the shadow of the cross, and this is the last Passover. The Passover feast has now been fulfilled. We gather about the Lord’s Table and search our hearts. What we do at this Table is in remembrance of Him. We look back to what He did for us on the cross, and we look forward to His coming again. “For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup ye do shew the Lord’s death till he come” (1Co_11:26).

Luke 22:21

JESUS ANNOUNCES HIS BETRAYALThe one who was going to betray Him was in their midst. There are those who believe that Judas actually left before the institution of the Lord’s Supper. I think that is accurate. Luke doesn’t give the chronological order; he gives us those facts necessary to the purpose of his commentary. John makes it clear that during the Passover our Lord took the sop, gave it to Judas, and said, “That thou doest, do quickly” (see Joh_13:26-30). Then Judas left.

Luke 22:22

Every one of the disciples believed he was capable of denying and betraying the Lord. If you are honest, you know that you also could betray Him. If He did not keep His hand on me, I could deny Him in the next five minutes. Thank God, however, He will not take His hand off me, and I rejoice in that.

Luke 22:24

POSITION OF THE APOSTLES IN THE FUTURE KINGDOMThese men who had recognized how low they could stoop also had ambitions to be the greatest. Can you imagine that? Right in the shadow of the cross these men are grasping for position. We see that in the church today. The saints today are not much of an improvement over the apostles.

Luke 22:25

The Lord is telling them that He has taken the lower position. That is what He did when He took my place on the cross. It is like a master getting up from the table and telling his servant, “You sit down and eat, and I will serve you.” When Jesus Christ came to earth, all mankind should have been His servant! Instead, He served mankind. He set a table of salvation and has invited us to this great feast of salvation.

Luke 22:28

The Lord is gracious to His disciples and commends them for continuing with Him through His testings here on earth.

Luke 22:29

I am sure the apostles will have a special place in the kingdom. They bridged the gap between the Old and New Testaments. They came out of the Old Testament economy and moved into the New Testament economy. You and I are not in that position today. None of us fits into that particular place because chronologically they bridged the gap. They will be given a prominent position and will not only eat and drink at the Lord’s table but will also sit on thrones and judge the twelve tribes of Israel. That will be their position. The child of God has some great things in store for the future. The redeemed are going to occupy exalted positions. I wonder if you are working for a place in heaven. I do not mean to say that you should work for your salvation. You do not work for salvation, but you do work for your place in heaven. You are going to heaven by the grace of God, but you are going to be judged according to your works to see what position will be yours. Are you interested in your good works? You should be! Now I believe that the only thing God will judge is the exercise of the gift He gave us. He gives us a gift when we are put into the body of believers at the time of salvation, and there are literally thousands of gifts. The subject of gifts is an interesting one. Do you know what one of the gifts was in the early church? There was a woman named Dorcas who sewed. Sewing was her gift. She made clothes for widows who otherwise would not have had any clothes. You will be rewarded according to your faithfulness in exercising the gift God has given to you. The way you live your Christian life is important before God, my beloved.

Luke 22:31

PETER’S DENIALThe word converted in this passage does not mean conversion as we think of it. The Lord is speaking about the time when Peter will have a change of heart and mind and his faith will be increased. At that time such a tremendous change would be wrought in Peter that he would be able to strengthen his brethren. The Lord knew that Peter would deny Him, and yet He said, “I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not.” The Lord today is our intercessor. He knows when you are moving toward the place of failure and stumbling. If you belong to Him, my friend, He has already prayed for you that your faith fail not. You may fail Him, but if you belong to Him, your faith will not fail. The reason your faith will not fail is because He has prayed for you. My, what a picture of His love! In Joh_17:9 our Lord prayed to the Father, “I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine.” The Lord does not pray for the world. He died for the world, and you cannot ask Him to do any more than that. He died for the world, but He prays for His own that they will be kept while they are in the world. The Lord Jesus Christ prayed for you today. It may be that you did not pray for yourself but He has prayed for you. Peter was later able to strengthen his brethren. The man who has been tested is the man who is really able to help others, even if he has failed and has come back to the Lord. This is the reason I always send a converted drunkard to talk to a drunkard. When I was a young preacher, one drunkard whom I tried to help just patted me on the knee and said, “Vernon, you are a good boy.” However, he did not think I could understand his case. He was right; I could not. I found a man who had been an old drunken bum before coming to Christ and asked him to see this man.

He went to his home, sat down beside him, and said, “Bill, you know you and I used to drink together. Jesus has saved me, and He can save you too.” And He didHe saved Bill too. The man who has been through the experience himself is the one who can help.

Luke 22:33

Peter meant every word of this, but he did not know himself. Many of us do not really know how weak we are.

Luke 22:34

Simon Peter simply did not believe that he could deny his Lord, but he didbefore that night was over.

Luke 22:35

JESUS WARNS THE DISCIPLES OF THE FUTUREIt is marvelous the way the disciples were provided for during that particular period of time when the Lord sent them to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. He is now going to send them on a new mission with a new message. They will actually have a new audience because they will not be confined to Israel but will carry the message to the world.

Luke 22:36

You had better pack your suitcase and get your traveler’s checks if you are going out for the Lord today and give out the gospel. You had better be prepared to protect yourself and your loved ones. We are living in difficult days. The Lord said, “He that hath no sword, let him sell his garment, and buy one.” Why? For self protection, of course. They were living in days that required a sword. We need to recognize that fact also. If we do not resist evil today, all kinds of evil will befall us. We could end up in the hospital or have some of our loved ones slain.

Luke 22:37

When the enemies of the Lord Jesus Christ put Him to death on the cross, that ended His payment for the sins of the world.

Luke 22:38

You do not need to overdo this thing and make your home an armed garrison, but you do need to protect yourself.

Luke 22:39

JESUS GOES TO GETHSEMANEGethsemane is holy ground, so I need to remove my spiritual shoes as I stand on this sacred spot, and remove my spiritual hat as I gaze in rapture upon Him. Many people glibly sing, “I’ll go with Him through the garden.” I cannot go with Him through the garden. The Lord Jesus left His disciples outside the garden. I will stay outside with them and peer over the wall into the darkness and listen to the travail of His soul. If our hearts are sensible, we shall thank God for the One who pressed the cup of our sorrow and suffering to His lips and drank to the very dregs. We cannot penetrate the darkness of the garden, but we can understand more fully the significance of the cup as He gave it to His own in the Upper Room.

Everywhere I have tasted the cup, it has been sweet. He drank the bitter cup that my cup might be sweet. There is a mystery and a depth in that garden but not ambiguity or obscurity. We will do well to worship as we behold Him in the garden and catch the note of His voice. Now we see through a glass darkly. It was Gregory of Nazianzen who years ago wrote: “I love God because I know Him. I adore Him, because I cannot comprehend Him.” So I worship at the Garden of Gethsemane, and I do not try to have all the answers. There are two expressions in this passage that are quite interesting. The first one is “as he was wont” and the second one is “at the place.” Apparently the Lord did not stay in the city of Jerusalem at night. We have seen this to be true in the so-called triumphal entry. He had been rejected by the city, and so He rejected the city. It is thought that He spent every night for the final week of His life either in the garden or in Bethany. After the Lord’s Supper He went to the garden. On that last night an unfamiliar transaction took place there. Although I don’t know all about it, it is obvious that He wrestled with an unseen foe. He overcame the enemy there and gained the victory. The victory of Calvary was won in Gethsemane. You see, at the beginning of our Lord’s ministry, Satan came and tempted Him.

Satan offered our Lord the kingdoms of the world if He would worship him but He would have to miss the cross, of course. Then we are told, by Dr. Luke, that Satan left Him “…for a season” (Luk_4:13). When did Satan return? I presume Satan returned many times, but there was a special effort at the beginning of the Lord’s ministry to get Him to avoid the cross, and now at the end of the Lord’s ministry this is the temptation of Satan again. You will recall that during His ministry the Lord told His disciples that He would suffer many things and that His enemies would put Him to death. Peter replied, “…Be it far from thee, Lord: this shall not be unto thee” (Mat_16:22). Do you remember the Lord’s answer to Peter? The Lord says, “…Get thee behind me, Satan: thou art an offence unto me: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men” (Mat_16:23). Satan’s theology has no place for the cross of Christ. It was Satan who came to Him in the garden. It was at this time that the Lord said to His disciples, “Pray that ye enter not into temptation.”

Luke 22:41

How far can you throw a stone? That is how far our Lord went ahead of His disciples before He kneeled down to pray. He prayed that the cup might be removed. This is a topic that has caused quite a bit of discussion. There are those who believe that He was afraid He would die before He got to the cross. I do not wish to be dogmatic, but I do not see the sense of that theory. There is no merit in a Roman cross. There is no merit in the wood. The merit is in the One who died. If He had died on the gallows or in the electric chair, His death would have had just as much value. If Christ had died in the Garden of Gethsemane, it still would have been His death that had the merit. The cup, I think, was the cross, and I do not mean the suffering of death. The cup was that He was made sin for us. He is the Holy One of God. When my sin was put upon Him, it was repulsive. I do not know why we think we are so attractive to God. My sin put upon Christ was repulsive and awful. It was terrible, and for a moment He rebelled against it. It was in the Garden of Gethsemane under the shadow of the cross that the Tempter came to offer the Lord once again the crown without the cross. The Lord, however, had come to do His Father’s will and so He could say “nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done.” He committed Himself to His Father’s will, although bearing your sin and mine was so repulsive to Him.

Luke 22:43

There was an angelic ministry at the time of our Lord’s temptation in the desert. Now there is an angelic ministry in the garden when Satan comes to tempt Him again. Luke alone recalls this fact.

Luke 22:44

Only Dr. Luke tells us that the Lord sweat great drops of blood. The Lord showed a tremendous physical reaction to the agony and conflict that confronted Him. I cannot explain what happened and do not propose to try. I am not, however, impressed by the biological explanations offered today. I realize there are some wonderful Christian doctors that have come up with some interesting explanations, but I still am not impressed. He shed His blood for me and I bow in reverence and worship. But none of the ransomed ever knew How deep were the waters crossed, Nor how dark was the night that the Lord passed through, Ere He found His sheep that was lost. Elizabeth C. Clephane From “The Ninety and Nine” One of the tragic things of the moment is all of the American boys who have bled and died on various battlefields around the world to keep America free. How many Americans appreciate what they have done? I am not impressed with the crowd that protests war while they are living it up in pleasure-mad America. However, there is a worse tragedy than this. Christ’s heart was broken because of our lost condition. He bled and died for our eternal liberty.

He said, “…I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly” (Joh_10:10). He loved a lost world so much that He went to the very depths of hell itself to offer it salvation. And the world spurns the Holy One of God, the spotless Savior who was made sin for us. Let me ask you a question. Have you rejected Him? Have you spurned Him?

Are you ungrateful for what He did for you? Stand in the hush of Gethsemane and listen. Do you hear the sob of His soul? Do you hear the falling drops of blood? Look yonder in the garden by an olive tree and see, bending low in agonizing prayer, the Savior who took upon Himself your humanity and mine. The next day He went to the cross.

Luke 22:45

JESUS BETRAYED BY JUDASThis is the basest act of treachery ever recorded. It is foul and loathsome. Judas knew our Lord’s accustomed place of retirement, and he led the enemy there. A kiss is a badge of love and affection. Judas used it to betray Christ, which makes his act more dastardly and repugnant. It is well to observe that our Lord in His humanity was not different from other men. He needed to be identified in a crowd. This marks the moment that Jesus was delivered into the hands of sinful men.

Luke 22:49

The disciples thought it was time to use that sword. It was not the time to use the sword, however, because Jesus was now on His way to the cross. The sword was for their personal defense after He was gone. Darkness and light met at the cross of Christ.

Luke 22:54

JESUS ARRESTED AND LED TO THE HIGH PRIEST’S HOUSEIt is a dangerous thing to follow the Lord afar off. This is what Peter did. Jesus is arrested and brought before Caiaphas, the high priest acceptable to Rome. Annas, his father-in-law, was actually the high priest according to the Mosaic Law. Jesus was first brought before Annas which is recorded by John. Some believe Annas was the real rascal in back of the plot to kill Jesus. This was a meeting of the Sanhedrin. Peter was moving toward his shameful fall as he followed afar off and then sat with the wrong crowd.

Luke 22:55

JESUS DENIED BY PETERWhile the farce of the trial of Jesus was in progress, Simon Peter was in the place of great temptation. A little wisp of a maid caused him to deny His Lord. Peter was ashamed to be known as a follower of Jesus at this time. Have we ever been in a similar position? May God forgive our cowardice and weakness as He did that of Peter.

Luke 22:58

Another person pointed him out as a follower of Jesus when he attempted to get in with a different crowd. Again Simon Peter denied it and withdrew to a different spot. This time his weakness in wanting to talk too much got him into trouble. His speech gave him away as a Galilaean.

Luke 22:60

Friend, if Peter had left things like this, it would have been his finish. He would have ended like Judas Iscariot, but notice what happened:

Luke 22:61

Simon Peter loved Jesus, and he was sincere when he promised to be loyal to Him, but he did not know his own weakness. He had not yet come to the place where he saw no good in the flesh at all. Peter wept. These were tears of genuine repentance. Any child of God can come back to Him. “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1Jn_1:9). Simon Peter was as bad as Judashe did not sell Him, but he denied Him. The difference between Judas and Peter is that Peter repented. Our Lord prayed that Peter’s faith would not fail.

Luke 22:63

JESUS IS MOCKED AND BEATENThe chief priests and elders took Jesus to the home of Annas. It was illegal to hold Christ without a charge, but they held Him until they could formulate one in a meeting of the Sanhedrin. You see, they arrested Him before they had a plan. The interesting thing is that they did not intend to take Him as quickly as they did. Probably Judas had come to them and said, “You better get Him while you can,” thinking He might leave the city. The Lord, of course, had no intention of leaving.

Have you ever noticed the many things that were illegal in the trial of Jesus? The religious rulers arrested Him for breaking the Mosaic Law; yet they broke the Law by trying Him at night and by rendering a decision the same day He was tried, which too was illegal. Also the high priest tore his garment, which was specifically prohibited by the Law. The religious rulers put Jesus into the hands of soldiers until a charge was made against Him. If the death sentence was going to be brought against a prisoner, the soldiers played games with him. The game they played with the Lord was called “hot hand.” Each soldier would double up his fist in front of the blindfolded prisoner and hit him. Only one soldier would not hit him. Then the blindfold was removed and the prisoner was to guess which soldier had not hit him. They played the game again and again until I think they beat the face of Christ to a pulp.

I doubt that anyone could have recognized Him. There was no form left to His face. “…his visage was so marred more than any man, and his form more than the sons of men” (Isa_52:14). The Lord must have been a frightful sight after they got through with Him. This is one of the reasons He could not carry His cross.

Luke 22:66

JESUS IS BROUGHT BEFORE THE SANHEDRINThe Sanhedrin asked Jesus two questions. The first one was, “Art thou the Christ?” If the Lord had answered yes, He could have been charged with treason because anyone claiming to be a messiah was regarded by Rome as potentially dangerous. In Psa_110:1 the Father says to the Son, “…Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool.” He is King of kings and Lord of lords.

Luke 22:70

This is their second charge.

Luke 22:71

This is the basis on which they agreed to have Him crucified. Notice, however, it is not the charge they brought before the Roman court. When they moved from the Jewish court to a Roman court they changed the charges.