Bible Commentaries
Luke 22

Verses 1-18

32 It is evident that all these things did not take place in that generation. Nor did the Lord say that they would. He simply said that they should . He could not at that time reveal to them the failure of the Pentecostal economy. The present grace was an absolute secret. These must be left out of this prophecy. Leaving these out, all these things would have taken place in a single generation. Peter, at Pentecost, shows that repentance of the nation alone stood between them and the day of the Lord. Had the nation received his message, the times of refreshing would have come ( Act_3:19 ). This passage, instead of being an insoluble difficulty, is really the key to the proper apprehension of this whole prophecy. It shows that the whole is viewed as an immediate possibility, and does not include the Pentecostal or the present economy in its scope.

1-2 Compare Mat_26:1-5 ; Mar_14:1-2 .

1 In our Lord's day the popular names of the sacred festivals were not used with the clear exactitude of the Hebrew Scriptures. There the Passover is used of the day before the festival of Unleavened Bread, not of the festival itself. The passover was not sacrificed in the festival ( Lev_23:5-8 ). As one followed immediately after the other they seem to have been combined. It was practically necessary to put away leaven on the Passover, so it was included in the days of unleavened bread. Then, as the passover was sacrificed on this day, the whole festival, which lasted seven more days, was popularly known as the Passover.

3-6 Compare Mat_26:14-16 ; Mar_14:10-11 .

8 Is is evident that Judas, of his own volition, would not have betrayed his Lord. It was only when actually obsessed by Satan that he does such a dastardly deed. This fact must greatly modify our judgment of him. It is a question whether any of His disciples' or even of His apostles, could have done otherwise when under the control of the Adversary.

7-13 Compare Mat_26:17-19 ; Mar_14:12-16 .

7 "The day of unleavened bread" here refers to the day before the first day of the festival, the fourteenth of Nisan, on which the Passover lamb was sacrificed. According to the law the festival proper did not commence until the fifteenth of Nisan ( Num_28:16 ; Num_28:11 ).

8 According to Josephus, the passover was always eaten by a company of not less than ten, and often by twenty or more. It seems that, in this case, the apostles had made no preparations until the very day had come. But this Passover had been before Him for a long time, and He had put it into the heart of someone to provide the place, possibly without any clear knowledge of the object of the preparations.

10 Carrying water jars was "women's work", seldom done by a man. So that a man bearing a jar of water was an unmistakable sign. Possibly he was the only one in the whole city who demeaned himself thus.

14-18 Compare Mat_26:20-29 ; Mar_14:11-25 .

15 Even to His apostles this last Passover must have seemed exceedingly solemn, but what shall we say of His feelings, knowing as He did that He, as the great Antitype, must suffer before the day is done? Well did He know that He was the true Lamb, and that His previous ministry was but the prelude and preparation for His sacrificial death. Just as the Passover lamb was taken on the tenth day of the month and kept till the fourteenth ( Exo_12:3-6 ) , so He had been chosen by John the baptist ( Joh_1:29 ) for the day which was now at hand. The lamb for the Passover must be perfect, without blemish ( Exo_12:5 ). His holy life of peerless perfection, pure, though in constant contact with sin, was without parallel in the annals of mankind. All who sought to find a flaw in Him were confounded. The Passover was about to be fulfilled by His decease. Hence, in the midst of this final celebration, He introduces anew memorial of His death. The Passover was kept not only in remembrance of the exodus out of Egypt, but also as a type of the greater deliverance which comes through His sacrifice. But the new observance is based on an accomplished work, onvsuffering endured, on redemption attained. In its kingdom aspect it was given to remind them of His sufferings, during the interval of His absence. A special revelation of this observance was given to the apostle Paul, who passes it on to the Corinthians. Hence this account, as well as those in Matthew and Mark, are intended for the Circumcision only.

Verses 19-40

19-20 Compare Mat_26:26-28 ; Mar_14:22-24 ; 1Co_11:23-26 .

21-23 Compare Mat_26:21-25 ; Mar_14:18-21 ; Joh_13:18-30 ; Psa_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 Mat_20:25-28 ; Mar_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 Mat_20:28 ; Php_2:5-8 ; Joh_13:3-17 .

28 Compare Mat_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 Mat_26:30-35 ; Mar_14:26-31 ; Joh_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 Joh_21:15-17 .

35 Compare Luk_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 Isa_53:12 ; Mar_15:28 .

39-40 Compare Mat_26:36-38 ; Mar_14:32-34 ; Joh_18:1-2 .

39 Compare Luk_21:37 .

40 Compare Mat_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! "

Verses 41-47

41-46 Compare Mat_26:39-46 ; Mar_14:35-42 .

44 Compare Heb_5:7-8 .

47-48 Compare Mat_26:47-50 ; Mar_14:43-46 ; Joh_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 Mat_26:51-54 ; Mar_14:47 ; Joh_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 Mat_26:55-57 ; Mar_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 Joh_18:12-14 .

55-60 Compare Mat_26:58 ; Mat_26:69-74 ; Mar_14:54 ; Mar_14:66-71 ; Joh_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" ( 1Pe_5:6 ) .

61-62 Compare Mat_26:75 ; Mar_14:72 .

63-65 Compare Mat_26:67-68 ; Mar_14:65 .

66-71 Compare Mat_26:59-66 ; Mar_14:55-64 ; Joh_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.