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THE GOSPEL
ACCORDING TO
LUKE
Commentary by DAVID BROWN
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CHAPTER 22
@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 by what took
place in Simon's house at Bethany. (See @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 $25 in 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.
(See on Mr 14:53-63; Joh 18:19, &c.; and Lu 22:55-62.)
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