Bible Commentaries
Luke 9

Introduction

Watson - Exposition of the Gospels of St. Matthew and St. Mark

1 Christ sendeth his apostles to work miracles, and to preach.

7 Herod desired to see Christ.

17 Christ feedeth five thousand:

18 inquireth what opinion the world had of him: foretelleth his passion:

23 proposeth to all the pattern of his patience.

28 The transfiguration.

37 He healeth the lunatic:

43 again forewarneth his disciples of his passion:

46 commendeth humility:

51 biddeth them to show mildness toward all, without desire of revenge.

57 Divers would follow him, but upon conditions.

Verse 1

Watson - Exposition of the Gospels of St. Matthew and St. Mark

Then he called his twelve disciples. — See notes on the whole of Matthew 10:1-42.

Verse 7

Watson - Exposition of the Gospels of St. Matthew and St. Mark

Herod the tetrarch. — See notes on Matthew 14:1, &c., and Mark 6:20.

Verse 11

Watson - Exposition of the Gospels of St. Matthew and St. Mark

And he received them. — All the evangelists speak of the kindness and compassion with which our Lord treated these eager multitudes who followed him into the desert, to hear his words and to see his miracles; and to describe this they use various expressive phrases. Matthew says that “he was moved with compassion toward them.” St. Mark heightens this by adding, “because they were as sheep having no shepherd;” they had no spiritual guides: and St. Luke completes this picture of the benignity and mercy of him who pitied their destitution, and, as the good shepherd, took these thousands of the lost sheep of the house of Israel under his gracious charge. They had indeed intruded upon his solitude; but he received them, and spake unto them of the kingdom of God, and healed them that had need of healing.

On the miracle of feeding the five thousand, see the notes on Matthew 14:15-22, and Mark 6:35. St. John informs us that this miracle was wrought when the passover was nigh. This explains the reason why so great a concourse of people were passing through Capernaum at the time, and appear to have flocked to him in such numbers that he found it necessary to retire; and that five thousand should follow him into the desert, when it was ascertained in what part he was. At this season all the great roads were crowded with people going up to Jerusalem; and Josephus states that the number of persons who were present at one of these festivals was reported to Nero to have been upward of two millions and a half, collected from all parts. The officer who made the calculation reckoned ten persons to each passover lamb.

Verses 18-27

Watson - Exposition of the Gospels of St. Matthew and St. Mark

Whom say the people that I am? They answering said, John the Baptist, &c. — See the notes on Matthew 16:13-28.

Verse 29

Watson - Exposition of the Gospels of St. Matthew and St. Mark

And as he prayed, the fashion of his countenance. — See the notes on Matthew 17:1, &c.

Verse 31

Watson - Exposition of the Gospels of St. Matthew and St. Mark

Who appeared in glory, and spake of his decease. — This interesting circumstance is added by St. Luke. Because εξοδος , rendered here decease, in classical writers means a military expedition, a going out to war, some interpreters have indulged the fancy that the subject of conversation among these exalted personages was Christ’s going forth as it were to battle against the rebellious Jews, and destroying Jerusalem. But in addition to the critical reasons against this interpretation, the word is familiarly used by the Hellenists for death, as exitus and excessus by the Latins; and, as it has been well remarked, was one of those terms which handed down the tradition of the immortality of the soul; death not being the termination of being, but A DEPARTURE only into another state. “When the dead is at rest,” says the author of Ecc 38:23, “let his remembrance rest, and be comforted for him, εν εξοδω πνευματος αυτου , in the departure of his spirit.” St. Peter also uses the same word, “That ye may be able after my decease, εξοδον , to have these things always in remembrance.” The phrase, to accomplish or fulfil a death or departure from the world, gives a strong peculiarity to the passage before us. No parallel phrase to express death is to be found in profane or sacred writers; and for this there is sufficient reason. To depart from life is the common lot; but to fulfil his decease or departure from the world was peculiar to Christ, because his death was the grand subject of prophecy, the event upon which the salvation of the world was suspended, and the accomplishment of which established for ever the plan of our redemption.

With this event Moses and Elias, like the other prophets, had been familiar while upon earth: the former had set up types of it; and the latter, as a spiritual man, and the great restorer of the law, well enough understood their import. — The grand doctrine, “Without shedding of blood there is no remission,” was held by them all; and their faith had looked beyond the blood of lambs and goats which flowed from their typical altars. In that faith which rested solely upon the merit of the lamb which “God shall provide for a burnt-offering” they died; and now the shedding of the blood of Christ, the true propitiation, was about to confirm them and all the glorified in their title to those realms of light into which they had been admitted in anticipation of Christ’s sacrifice, as well as to open the same gate of salvation to future ages. — Who then can wonder, when such consequences depended upon the accomplishment of the predicted death of our Lord, that this should be the subject of their converse? The intention of which was not, as some have dreamed, to prepare our Lord’s mind for his sufferings; for what could he derive of knowledge or motive from them? But it was entered into by our Lord, no doubt, to instruct these exalted saints themselves more fully in that mystery “which angels desire to look into,” and which forms the subject of the loftiest songs, and the basis of the most transporting raptures, of the heavenly world, — redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace.

Verse 32

Watson - Exposition of the Gospels of St. Matthew and St. Mark

And when they were awake. — They had been heavy with sleep; but now they were thoroughly awake, as the word signifies.

Verse 38

Watson - Exposition of the Gospels of St. Matthew and St. Mark

A man of the company cried out, &c. — See the notes on Matthew 17:14-15, and Mark 9:14.

Verses 44-45

Watson - Exposition of the Gospels of St. Matthew and St. Mark

These sayings sink down into your ears. — A mode of solemnly enforcing a truth upon the attention; and such was the continual tendency of the disciples to expect that their Master would throw off the veil, and manifest himself in the glory of his regal character, that it was necessary again and again to repeat to them the unwelcome truth of his approaching sufferings and death. The effect of this might be to check in a great measure those extravagant hopes which they were prone to indulge, and hold them in some degree of suspense; but it is added, they understood not this saying. They could not indeed mistake the import of the words used; but they probably thought that Christ was speaking in a kind of parable, and was not to be understood literally. The true sense of his words was therefore hid from them that they perceived it not. It was hidden, not by any act of God, but by the force of their own prejudices, their wishes being the misleading interpreters. And they feared to ask him of that saying; either as remembering the severe reproof which Peter had received, and all of them through him when he said, on a similar occasion, “This be far from thee;” or rather, perhaps this expresses the deception which they practised upon themselves in reference to a subject on which they were most reluctant to be convinced. They hoped that he used figurative language when he so often and so emphatically spoke of his death; and they feared to ask him, lest this pleasing delusion should be dissipated, — a very natural feeling when all the circumstances in which they were placed are considered. We have the key to the great mystery of our Lord’s humiliations, which at that time they had not.

Verse 46

Watson - Exposition of the Gospels of St. Matthew and St. Mark

Which of them should be greatest. — See the notes on Matthew 18:1, &c., and Mark 9:36.

Verse 49

Watson - Exposition of the Gospels of St. Matthew and St. Mark

And John answered, saying, Master, we saw one casting out devils, &c. — See notes on Mark 9:38.

Verse 51

Watson - Exposition of the Gospels of St. Matthew and St. Mark

When the time was come that he should be received up. — There can be no question, but that αναληψις here signifies, not the elevation on the cross; nor his going up to Jerusalem, which is afterward expressed; but his being received up to God; for the verb is used of the ascension of Christ in several places. The word συμπληρουσθαι is not always used absolutely, for the completion of a period within which an event was to take place, but sometimes, as here, the commencement of it as in Genesis 25:24, LXX. Now that period had arrived for the commencement of a series of transactions which was to terminate in Christ’s being received up into his glory. The expression also takes its rise from St. Luke’s plan, which was not to follow so much the order of time as to class events; and he now enters upon his last class, namely, that series which comprehends this last journey of Christ to Jerusalem, and various discourses and actions, ending with the death, resurrection, and receiving up of Christ into his glory.

He steadfastly set his face to go, &c. — A Hebrew phrase to denote a firm and resolved purpose, and not indeed wholly peculiar to Jewish writers. Such expressions, though brief, open to us large and interesting views. They show that our Lord was not, by virtue of his being Divine, exempted from the most serious anxieties, and painful anticipations, respecting his approaching sufferings. By virtue of his omniscience the whole scene was opened before him; but under its impression, the humanity felt that which required the renewal and repetition of strong and holy resolutions to overcome. It was this which called forth his earnest prayers, continued through whole nights; and this which rendered it necessary to him as “his hour” approached, steadfastly to set his face, to compose himself into a firm and settled resolve to go up to Jerusalem, and to meet that malignity of all his enemies to which he knew he must fall a victim. Such was the strength of that love which engaged him in the work of our salvation, the intensity of his desire to complete his glorious work, that he hastened to meet a torturing and an accursed death, to pay the λυτρους , our REDEMPTION PRICE, and then to surround himself with the trophies of his own mercy in the number which no man can number, rescued by his conquering arm from the power of Satan, and raised to the joys and immortality of heaven.

Verses 52-56

Watson - Exposition of the Gospels of St. Matthew and St. Mark

Sent messengers before his face. — They were sent to prepare necessary accommodations for him and his disciples for the night in this Samaritan village. One of the ways from Galilee up to Jerusalem was through the country of the Samaritans. It is not probable that those Jews who regularly went up to Jerusalem at their great festivals would ordinarily spend a night in a country of the inhabitants to which they bore so great a hatred, and who returned it in equal measure; for they not only showed them no hospitality, but, because of the rivalry existing between their temple on Mount Gerizim, and that at Jerusalem, they were particularly provoked at the multitudes who flocked to Jerusalem at the passover, and, as Josephus states, sometimes endeavoured to hinder their progress. Our Lord probably chose that this bigoted churlishness of the Samaritans should, on this occasion, be made manifest, that he might teach his disciples a most important lesson as to their behavior in similar circumstances. They did not receive him, — they would not suffer him to lodge in their village; because his face was as though he would go to Jerusalem, — because it was plain from the direction he was taking, that he was travelling up to the metropolis to celebrate the passover. And James and John said, Lord, wilt thou that we command fire to come down from heaven to consume them, as Elias did? What was the reply of our Lord?

Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of. Perhaps they knew not that in truth there was much more of Jewish hatred in their hearts to the Samaritans, than of zeal for the vindication of their Master’s honour; but, however that might be, they were obviously ignorant of the spirit and genius of the Gospel, which allows no retaliation of injuries, and inculcates the spirit of meekness and forgiveness of injuries; and perceived not that their zeal was evil, and that they were unworthy disciples of Him who came not to destroy men’s lives, but to save them. And having so said, he went to another village.

They were not far from the place where Elijah called down fire from heaven upon the two captains and their fifties, sent to apprehend him; and they might there wish to be revenged upon the Samaritans, justified by his example. But the cases were not in the least parallel. The Jews, under their theocracy, were subject to a system of temporal rewards and punishments immediately inflicted or bestowed by Jehovah, their governor. In this case the king had sent to apprehend God’s prophet and representative, and had been guilty of a crime against the Divine majesty, which was thus publicly punished. It was a case in which God himself interposed to defend his servant by a signal vengeance upon a wicked prince and his servants. But, in the case of these erring disciples, the matter was one of national prejudice and personal resentment; and into such hands God would not put his thunderbolts. The genius of the Gospel is also essentially different from that of the law. In the latter civil government was blended with religion and God acted as Judge; but under the Gospel we stand only in spiritual relations, and the time of judgment is deferred to one day, to be executed by that one man whom God hath appointed. “Now is the appointed time, now is the day of salvation;” and, after the example of Christ, all his followers ought to be occupied only in the work of saving and blessing men, leaving vengeance to Him to whom it belongs, and to that future time when He who only can be an infallible judge in the case shall “give to every man according as his work shall be.”

The clause, For the Son of man is not come to destroy men’s lives, but to save them, is rejected by Griesbach and some other editors, as an interpolation from a marginal gloss, and it is not found in many MSS. The context, however, appears to require it; and it bears strong internal evidence of being the genuine words of our blessed Saviour. They are equivalent to, “The Son of man is come to seek and to save that which is lost.”

Verse 57

Watson - Exposition of the Gospels of St. Matthew and St. Mark

A certain man, &c. — See notes on Matthew 8:19-20.

Verse 59

Watson - Exposition of the Gospels of St. Matthew and St. Mark

Suffer me to go first and bury, &c. — See notes on Matthew 8:21.

Verse 62

Watson - Exposition of the Gospels of St. Matthew and St. Mark

No man, having put his hand to the plough. — To put the hand to the plough is a proverbial expression for undertaking any work, and is used also by Greek writers. A man engaged in ploughing, if he looks back or behind, being careless at his work, is unfit for the occupation of ploughing. He must look steadily down upon his plough and the soil, that he may make straight furrows, and effectually turn up the ground. The allusion teaches that all worldly regards turn the attention of ministers from their proper work, on which they ought to be intently fixed, as a good ploughman upon the direction of his plough, and the course of his furrow. He who has observed how constantly the attention is fixed in the act of ploughing, so that nothing diverts the ploughman from his occupation, will perceive the force of this powerful and admonitory comparison. The minister of Christ must be a man of one business; and he that looks back, either from carelessness or love of the world, in other words, he that suffers his attention and affections to be distracted, is not fit for the kingdom of God, not fit for its service, not fit to preach it; for the words were spoken to one whom our Lord had called to follow him, that he might employ him in preaching.