Luk 22:7-23:39 | JFB | STEP | 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.

‏ Luke 22:7-71

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)

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.)

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.

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.

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 (Psa 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" (He 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.)

‏ Luke 23:1-39

CHAPTER 23 Lu 23:1-5. Jesus before Pilate.

(See on Mr 15:1-5; and Joh 18:28-19:22.)

Lu 23:6-12. Jesus before Herod.

(See Mr 15:6.)

7. sent him to Herod--hoping thus to escape the dilemma of an unjust condemnation or an unpopular release.

at Jerusalem ... at that time--to keep the passover.

8. some miracle--Fine sport thou expectedst, as the Philistines with Samson (Jud 16:25), O coarse, crafty, cruel tyrant! But thou hast been baulked before (see on Lu 13:31-33), and shalt be again.

9. answered ... nothing--(See Mt 7:6).

10. stood and vehemently accused him--no doubt both of treason before the king, and of blasphemy, for the king was a Jew.

11. his men of war--his bodyguard.

set him at naught, &c.--stung with disappointment at His refusal to amuse him with miracles or answer any of his questions.

gorgeous robe--bright robe. If this mean (as sometimes) of shining white, this being the royal color among the Jews, it may have been in derision of His claim to be "King of the Jews." But if so, "He in reality honored Him, as did Pilate with His true title blazoned on the cross" [Bengel].

sent him again to Pilate--instead of releasing him as he ought, having established nothing against Him (Lu 23:14, 15). "Thus he implicated himself with Pilate in all the guilt of His condemnation, and with him accordingly he is classed" (Ac 4:27) [Bengel].

at enmity--perhaps about some point of disputed jurisdiction, which this exchange of the Prisoner might tend to heal.

Lu 23:13-38. Jesus Again before Pilate--Delivered Up--Led Away to Be Crucified.

(See on Mr 15:6-15; and Joh 19:2-17).

26. Cyrenian--of Cyrene, in Libya, on the north coast of Africa, where were many Jews who had a synagogue at Jerusalem (Ac 6:9, and see Ac 2:10). He was "the father of Alexander and Rufus" (Mr 15:21), probably better known afterwards than himself, as disciples. (See Ro 16:13).

out of the country--and casually drawn into that part of the crowd.

laid the cross--"Him they compel to bear His cross," (Mt 27:32)--sweet compulsion, if it issued in him or his sons voluntarily "taking up their cross!" It would appear that our Lord had first to bear His own cross (Joh 19:17), but being from exhaustion unable to proceed, it was laid on another to bear it "after Him."

27-31. women--not the precious Galilean women (Lu 23:49), but part of the crowd.

Lu 23:39-43. The Two Thieves.

39. railed on him--catching up the universal derision, but with a turn of his own. Jesus, "reviled, reviles not again"; but another voice from the cross shall nobly wipe out this dishonor and turn it to the unspeakable glory of the dying Redeemer.