Lange Commentary - Luke 22:24 - 22:38

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Lange Commentary - Luke 22:24 - 22:38


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4. Familiar and Farewell Discourses (Luk_22:24-38)

(In part parallel with Mat_26:30-35; Mar_14:27-31; Joh_13:36-38.)

24And there was also a strife [there arose also a contention] among them, which of them should be accounted [appears to be, äïêåῖ ] the greatest. 25And he said unto them, The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them; and they that exercise authority 26upon them are called benefactors. But ye shall not be so: but he that is greatest among you, let him be as the younger; and he that is chief, as he that doth serve. 27For whether [which] is greater, he that sitteth at meat [reclineth at table], or he that serveth? is not he that sitteth at meat [reclineth at table]? but I am among you as he 28that serveth. [But] Ye are they which have continued [steadfastly] with me in my temptations. 29And I appoint unto you a kingdom, as my Father hath appointed unto me; 30That ye may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom, and [ye shall] sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel.

31And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat: 32But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted [or, hast hereafter returned to thyself], strengthen [ óôÞñéóïí ] thy brethren. 33And he said unto him, Lord, I am ready to go with thee, both [or, even] into prison and to death. 34And he said, I tell thee, Peter, the cock shall not crow this day, before [until] that thou shalt [have] thrice deny [denied] that thou knowest me. 35And he said unto them, When I sent you without purse, and scrip [wallet], and shoes, 36lacked ye any thing? And they said, Nothing. Then [Therefore] said he unto them, But now, he that hath a purse, let him take it, and likewise his scrip [wallet]: and he that hath no sword, let him sell his garment, and buy one [and he that hath not, let him sell his garment, and buy a sword]. 37For I say unto you, that this that is written must yet be accomplished in me, And he was reckoned among the transgressors (Isa_53:12): for the things concerning me have an end [or, are fulfilling]. 38And they said, Lord, behold, here are two swords. And he said unto them, It is enough.

EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL

Luk_22:24-30. Entirely peculiar to Luke.—Quite correctly explained by Ewald, p. 348. “Luke here puts together (Luk_22:21-38) a number of expressions of Jesus which, according to Matthew and Mark, are spoken partly earlier and partly later, as if this sublime point of the history were peculiarly adapted for attaching to the words of institution of the Holy Supper, similar thoughts respecting the faithfulness of the disciples towards Him.” That the dispute with the disciples about rank took place even after the institution of the Communion, and discovery of the traitor, cannot be at all imagined. It must, therefore, together with the admonitions belonging to it, necessarily be placed before both events. Perhaps the thought on the impending departure of the Master brought the disciples entirely spontaneously to the inquiry, who then above all others was worthy to stand at the head of the company; or that some were ill content with their place at the feast table.—This appears to us, at least, yet more probable than that the dispute arose about the question, who of them should discharge for their other brethren the business of foot-washing before the meal, not yet begun. For although this controversy, in all probability, had given occasion to the foot-washing,—before or at which the words, Luk_22:25-27, were probably spoken,—this act, and therefore also this discourse of our Lord, appears not to fall before the meal, but at the beginning of it. But however that may be, the dispute of the disciples gives our Lord not only occasion for a symbolical act, but also, moreover, for a special admonition.

Luk_22:25. The kings of the Gentiles.—A commencement exactly adapted to make them at once feel that the temper which now came into view among them was essentially an ethnic one, and in this way deeply to shame them. It is known how often the name of Euergetes was given to Roman Emperors, and also to other princes, for instance, Ptolemæus Euergetes, and others. The Apostles give only too plain a note of being animated by the same spirit of pride with those who listen to such a flattery with complacency.

Luk_22:26. But ye shall not be so.—Our Lord recognizes that His own disciples in a certain sense are kings, but he will have them in the establishment of their kingly rights distinguish themselves in a very important point from the princes of earth. To become more humble they should regard as an elevation, and serviceable love as the sum of their greatness. Only then would they submit themselves to the immutable constitution of the kingdom of God; only then would they bear the King’s image. Whoever indeed was the greatest among them, he must become as the younger, íåþôåñïò , whose business it naturally was, as a rule, to serve the others (Act_5:6-10), and even so the dux gregis must prove his superiority by showing himself the most zealous diaconus. Far from levelling down all distinction of rank and office in the circle of His disciples, our Lord here recognizes a real aristocracy in the Christian sphere, but an aristocracy of humility, which He, indeed, does not merely demand, but which He also in His own example sets forth.

Luk_22:27. For which is greater.—Although it remains true that the reference to the foot-washing is not directly necessary, since our Lord, even besides this, might on account of what He does during the meal, as well as on account of the whole of His self-surrender, well call Himself the äéÜêïíïò of His people, yet it is true, on the other hand, that under the Johannean picture of the foot-washing, one could set no more congruous and beautiful motto than the utterance which Luke alone has here preserved to us: “I am among you as he that serveth.” He appeals to the position which He at this moment occupies among them,—a position in which every guise of a superiority falls away. In words our Saviour had already previously expressed the same thought (Mat_20:25-28), but now He adds to the word the deed.

Luk_22:28. But ye are they.—If we assume that Luk_22:28-30 were spoken uno tenore with Luk_22:25-27, then certainly the most natural connection of thought (Meyer) is this: that our Lord, upon this humiliation of His disciples, now also causes their true elevation to follow, by assuring them of their future glory in His Messianic kingdom. We know not, however, what should hinder us from assuming that these words were uttered somewhat later on this evening. Entirely arbitrary is the assertion (De Wette, Strauss), that these words here stand out of all historical connection, and contain only a modified repetition of the promise given Mat_19:28. It appears to us far more probable that they belong in the portion of the discourse after the foot-washing and before the discovery of the traitor, of which also John (Luk_13:12-20) has communicated to us some portion. Not incongruously may they be attached to Joh_13:20, and that in this way: that our Lord now praises and encourages His faithful disciples, after He had just thrown upon the traitor a look of warning, Luk_22:21 seq. It is with Him, in His increasing agitation of spirit, a necessity to turn His eyes from the unfaithful one to the faithful ones, and to show to them how dear to Him the Apostolic circle yet remains, in spite of the sorrow which the unfaithful apostle has caused Him.

Continued steadfastly … in My temptations, ðåéñáóìïῖò ìïõ .—Just the word for Luke, according to whom Satan, Luk_4:13, even after the forty days’ temptation in the wilderness, had only departed from the Lord ἄ÷ñé êáéñïῦ , so that according to him, the whole earthly life of Jesus is represented as a continuous temptation. In the mouth of Jesus this word points decidedly to this painful and tempting experience of life, through which His obedience to the Father had to be exercised and perfected. In the midst of all these conditions, it redounded to the no small praise of His disciples that they had so faithfully continued with Him ( äéáìåìåíçêüôåò ). Without adding a word upon their manifold weaknesses, He does justice with manifest pleasure to their sincerity and their steadfastness,—the direct opposite, it is true, to the temper of mind which He expresses, Luk_9:41, and yet the one utterance is as natural as the other,—each in its own peculiar connection.

Luk_22:29. And I appoint unto you a Kingdom, as My Father hath appointed unto Me.—To the mention of that which the disciples have been for Him, our Lord now adds an intimation of what He has purposed for them. Äéáôßèåìáé signifies not only a bestowal or assurance, but a disposition such as a dying man forms when he makes his will for those left behind. That our Lord bequeaths to them the kingdom by a particular institution—namely, by the Communion, is not directly said; even without such a reference to the Supper, the promise preserves its full truth and force. It is in this of course understood that the verb, when our Lord uses it of the Father, who can never see death, êáèὼò äéÝèåôü ìïé , must be understood cum grano salis. The sublimity of such an expression can be better felt than described. The poor Nazarene, who bequeaths to His disciples not one penny, and whose garments after a few hours are to be parted under His eyes on the Cross, here bequeaths to His friends, as the reward of their immovable fidelity, a more than royal inheritance, and therewith even removes the disparity that yet lay between Him and them. There exists a noteworthy, as yet too little noted, coincidence between this utterance and that of the Intercessory Prayer (Joh_17:22), which serves for a new proof of the higher unity of the Synoptical and the Johannean Christ.

Luk_22:30. That ye may eat.—An allusion to the purpose, and secondly, to the inestimable fruit of this bequest, by which there is prepared for them as well a rich enjoyment as also an imperishable honor. The enjoyment is this: that our Lord in the Messianic kingdom entertains them at His table; the familiar Biblical imagery is here also chosen with preference, not only in view of the already instituted Holy Supper, but also by occasion of the present Paschal celebration; the honor is, that they are appointed as judges over the twelve tribes of Israel. It is commonly believed that the mention in particular of the twelve thrones which appears Mat_19:28, was omitted here on account of the apostasy of Judas. It may, however, also be that this altered form is Connected with the freer character of our Lord’s discourse in Luke. Almost too refined is the question which Bengel adjoins to the mention of the öõëáß : “Singuline singulas? We know, moreover, how our glorified Lord opens this same prospect, only somewhat modified, for all His friends, Rev_2:3., and how also the Apostle Paul states the judging of the world at the Parusia of the Lord as a prerogative which is intended for all His saints, 1Co_6:2.

Luk_22:31. Simon, Simon.—We agree with those who believe that a double intimation of Peter’s denial took place; the one even in the Paschal hall, the other on the way to Gethsemane, which latter is exclusively mentioned by Matthew and Mark. Of the former John gives us an account (Joh_13:36-38); Luk_22:31-32 of Luke appear to run parallel therewith. It took place, therefore, shortly after the institution of the Lord’s Supper, immediately following the new commandment of brotherly love (Joh_13:34-35). Very well may our Lord to the earnest warning (Joh_13:36-38) have yet added the words which Luke alone has preserved for us, and which as well by their form as by their character were fitted to make on the Apostle’s heart the deepest impression. Even the double Simon, Simon, comp. Luk_10:41; Act_9:4, must have given him deeply to feel that he soon would not be like a rock, but like an unsteady reed. The Biblical mode of speech: “Satan hath desired you, ardently entreated for you,” points back to the prologue of the book of Job. Note the distinction between the plural, ὑìᾶò (Luk_22:31), and the singular (Luk_22:32), ðåñὶ óïῦ . Without any one having known it, there had to-day the most fearful danger threatened all the disciples; but no one more than Peter, who had least feared it, and yet had been the object of the very special personal intercession of his faithful Lord.— Ôïῦ óéíéÜóáé . “The word has not been preserved to us elsewhere, but the signification is not doubtful. The tertium comparationis is the testing ôáñÜóóåéí : as the wheat is shaken in the sieve that the chaff may thereby separate itself from the wheat and fall out, so will Satan also disquiet and terrify you through persecutions, dangers, tribulations, in order to bring your faithfulness towards Me to apostasy.” Meyer.

Luk_22:32. But I.—In this discourse of our Lord also, His person forms the immovable centre. His majestic ἐãὼ äÝ , on the one hand plants itself in the way of Satan’s threatening, and on the other hand stands in opposition to the direct êáὶ óý , which immediately follows thereon. First has our Lord granted His disciple a look into the crafty plottings of hell; now does He grant him to look up into the heaven of his loving Saviour’s heart. But for whom hath the Lord prayed? This time especially for Peter: “Totus sane hie sermo Domini prœsupponit, Petrum esse primum apostolorum, quo stante aut cadente ceteri aut minus aut magis periclitarentur.” Bengel. When? After He had penetrated Satan’s crafty plotting in all its depth. For what? Our Lord does not express Himself with many words thereabout. By no means that Peter might entirely escape the sifting, comp. Joh_17:15. With what purpose? In order that ( ἵíá ) his faith may not cease ( ἐêëåßðῃ ), since, indeed, his whole energy for resistance would be lost if the faith which he had so often confessed should no longer remain in him, comp. 2Ti_4:7. With what result? The prayer is heard; Peter will indeed fall, but he will also rise again: êáὶ óý ðïôå ἐðéóôñ Ýøáò .

When thou art converted.—There is, therefore, predicted for Peter an ἐðéóôñïöÞ visible to others, which was to be the consequence of an inward ìåôÜíïéá . Through what depths of sorrow and contrition the way should lead to this height is as yet wisely concealed from him, but in this very night he experiences it.—Strengthen thy brethren.—“My” brethren, our Lord does not here say, as in Joh_20:17; nor yet “ours” but thy brethren, since He here conceives them as afflicted with the same weakness which should bring Peter to so deep a fall. Thus does the address return again obliquely to the ὑìᾶò , Luk_22:31. How Peter afterwards strengthened his fellow-apostles by his word and example, appears plainly from the Acts. How he strengthened his fellow-believers, is manifest in his Epistles; but how little he was as yet on the way to this conversion, and how little he was fitted for this strengthening of others, appears in the words with which he at the same instant answers this address.

Luk_22:33. Lord, I am ready to go with Thee.—M åôὰ óïῦ he places emphatically first, to designate the source from which his exultant feeling of strength proceeds; he conceives the threatening danger in a twofold form, as death or imprisonment; but love will surely give him strength to defy both. It is as if he would thereby intimate that the Lord’s intercession for him had not been so especially necessary.

Luk_22:34. I tell thee, Peter.—Now not Simon, though he might have doubly deserved it, but, Peter; inasmuch as our Lord places Himself in the position of the man who, in his own eyes, stands there so rock-fast. In language free of all ambiguity, He now announces to him what He had just made known to him in Biblical allusions, in order that the possibility of a misunderstanding may no longer remain. Peter will even deny that he knows the Master, ἀðáñíÞóῃ ìὴ åἰäÝíáé ìå , properly a double pleonastic negation, as in Luk_20:27, on which account also some MSS., although without sufficient critical grounds, have omitted ìÞ . Respecting the prediction of Peter’s denial itself, comp. moreover Lange on Mat_26:34.

Luk_22:35. And He said unto them.—From Peter the address of our Lord now turns, after a short pause, again to the whole circle of disciples. That our Lord uttered the words, Luk_22:35-38, when all were outside of the Paschal hall, immediately before the entrance into Gethsemane, we consider as less probable. For these words are not preceded by the second but the first announcement of Peter’s denial; moreover, they bear so familiar a character, that they appear to belong as yet to the feast table. We believe that we ought to assign them a place even immediately after Luk_22:31-34—namely, so that our Lord now, to the description of the inward danger which threatens His disciples, joins the description of the outward distress that impends over them.—As friends in the parting hour like to while away yet a season with their thoughts in the sweet days of the past, so does our Lord now lead back the Eleven into the period which then perhaps appeared to them to be a very tiresome one, but which, in comparison with this night, might yet be called a peaceful and happy one. He points them back to the time when they first preached the Gospel in Galilee, and on the part of many had found open ears and hearts, Luk_9:1-6. Then they had in no respect had want, no care had oppressed them; but now it was another time. So unacquainted are they as yet with that which to-night impends, that the Saviour can bring to them in no other way a presentiment of it than by holding up to them the sharp contrast of then and now. He enjoins on them the direct opposite of that which He had then commanded them. Once the least care was superfluous, now the most anxious care was not too much.

Luk_22:36. Therefore He said.— Ïῦ ̓ í subjoins the opposite of their acknowledgment, that at that time they did not lack the least thing. He that hath a purse, let him take it, ἀñÜôù : Let him not leave it at home, but take it with him on the journey, in order by so careful a preparation to assure himself against any possibility of a lack. Even so let him who possesses a wallet, hasten to avail himself of it. And he that hath not, neither purse nor wallet, let him sell his garment, which he otherwise would at last expose to robbery, and buy—not a purse or a wallet, but what is now more indispensable than clothing and food—a sword. Self-defence is now not only an urgent necessity, but the first necessity of all. This last word we have to understand, not in an allegorical, but in a parabolical sense. If one understands (Olshausen) the spiritual sword (Eph_6:17), he is then also obliged to give to the garment, the wallet, and the shoes a spiritual signification. Our Lord will simply, in a concrete pictorial form, represent to His disciples the right and the duty of necessary defence, in order that they may, by the very opposition to the former command (Luk_22:35), finally come to the consciousness that an entirely peculiar danger shall break in upon them.

Luk_22:37. For I say unto you.—The rendering of an immediate and sufficient reason for the previously apparently so enigmatical command. If matters go even so far with the Master that He is reckoned with the malefactors, then His disciples also may well have occasion to fear the worst. Here again we find an allusion to the truth, that the impending fulfilment of the prophecy is grounded in an irrevocable Must; at the same time also a proof in what light our Lord regarded the well-known prophecy (Isaiah 53). He numbers it among the ðåñὶ ἐìïῦ sc. ãåãñáììÝíá (not “The circumstances surrounding Me.” Meyer), in respect to which He gives the assurance that they ôÝëïò ἔ÷åé . Excessively feeble would this expression be, if He meant to say nothing else than: “With Me, as with that subject of Isaiah’s prophecy, matters are coming to an end.” Our Lord feels and knows that He is Himself truly the Subject of the prophecy of Isaiah, and, therefore, it cannot here be the end, in the common sense of the word, but only the accomplishment, in the sense of the ôåôÝëåóôáé (Joh_19:30), that is spoken of. Our Lord therewith undoubtedly states the ground ( ãÜñ ), why He expects for Himself nothing less than the fulfilment also of Isa_53:12. Everything that is written of the Messiah must go into complete fulfilment, and that can only be done when this declaration also, in a certain sense the crown of the whole prophetic announcement of the Passion, is accomplished in and on Him. “If this ôïῦôï yet comes to pass, because all must come to pass, then the fulfilment and coming to pass has with this undoubtedly an end.” Stier.

Luk_22:38. Lord, behold here are two swords.—It is unquestionably surprising that the disciples have come at once in possession of these swords, and not probable that they were found in the Passover hall itself. Bengel. It is, however, known that the Galileans were wont to travel armed; perhaps Peter and another disciple had taken their swords with them in the journey towards the capital, in the presentiment of a danger on this very evening. Certain it is that they have them at all events now lying ready, and at the word of our Lord, Luk_22:36, they think that they can use them very well. To understand large butcher-knives for the Paschal lamb (Chrysostom) sounds singular.

It is enough, ἱêáíüí ἐóôé .—If it were possible for us to imagine our Lord for a moment in the Paschal night with a melancholy smile on His heavenly countenance, it would be at the affair of the two swords. Two swords over against the whole might of the world, of hell, and of death, which were to engage in the assault upon Him! He accounts it impossible to make the whole preposterousness of this thought as visible to them as it is to Himself, and, therefore, breaks off the conversation on the subject, in the tone of one who is conscious that others would not yet understand Him, and who, therefore, holds all further speech unprofitable. A double sense (Olshausen, De Wette), we do not find here, but we may, a melancholy irony.

We apprehend that after this conversation: 1. The great Hallel was sung; 2. the farewell discourse (John, Luk_14:17) held; 3. the Paschal hall left; 4. that on the way to Gethsemane the second prediction of the unfaithfulness of Peter and of his fellow-disciples took place, which was with one voice repelled. All this Luke passes over in silence, in order to lead us without further detention immediately to Gethsemane. See Lex Evang. Harm. p. 93.

DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL

1. While on the one hand the renewed dispute among the disciples as to rank on this very evening is a mournful proof of how deeply pride and self-seeking remain rooted even in the soul that has the beginnings of faith and renewal; so, on the other hand, is the peculiar way in which our Lord at the Paschal table opposes this perversity, a new revelation of His wisdom, love, and faithfulness. The almost literal repetition of an earlier, yet already forgotten, admonition, must of itself have doubly shamed His discordant friends. Therewith He recalls to their memory an hour in which the same perverse disposition had become visible in them, and had been by Him combated powerfully, indeed, yet, as now appeared, in vain. It is the fundamental law of His kingdom, which He now will, as it were, in the style of a lapidary and in a stereotyped form, engrave anew in the fleshy tables of the hearts of His own; and in order to impress it on them the more deeply, He represents it to their sight by an act, which must have remained eternally unforgotten by them.

2. “But I am among you as he that serveth.” This word is first of all the brief summary of the Whole now almost completed earthly fife of Jesus in humiliation. Comp. Mat_20:28; Php_2:5-11; 2Co_8:9. It is, secondly, the worthy initiation of a Passion in which He was again to serve His own in a manner entirely different from hitherto, by this, that He humiliated Himself now more deeply than ever; and finally, it is even the watchword of His heavenly life, now that He is enthroned at the right hand of God; for even there upon the throne He rules by serving, and never reveals His glory more brilliantly than in His condescending love.

3. Not enough can we here in the antechamber of the Passion admire the sublime, entirely unique self-consciousness of our Lord. While He certainly knows that He is at the very point of being reckoned with the transgressors, He yet claims for His disciples no lesser rank than that which earthly potentates and kings possess (Luk_22:25-26). Nowhere has He on earth to lay His head, and yet He bequeaths to them, as if by testament, the highest place of honor in the kingdom of God, and inaugurates them as future judges of the twelve tribes of Israel. With every moment He is going down deeper into the night of suffering, and yet He shows even now especially that the secrets of the heart, of the future, and of the spiritual world, lie naked and uncovered before Him. He feels that He is in the fullest sense of the word the Son in whom the Father is well pleased (Luk_22:29), the centre of the prophetic Scripture (Luk_22:37), yea, the Vanquisher of Satan (Luk_22:31-32), and yet all this hinders Him not from walking in the midst of His own as their servant, and bearing their unreceptiveness with a patience which can never be sufficiently praised with human tongues.

4. From this utterance of our Lord it appears that the kingdom of darkness was in more than common activity and intense exertion when the night of the betrayal had fallen. Not Judas alone (Luk_22:32), the circle of the faithful disciples also was the target of the Satanic arrows. To understand such expressions only figuratively, and in view of them to deny the existence and the influence of Satan, is pure rationalistic caprice. On the contrary, there appears very evidently from this that the existence of a kingdom of darkness peopled by personal evil spirits is nothing less than a terrible reality. And it is certainly a permitted conclusion a minori ad majus that if Satan desired to sift the disciples as wheat, he can, least of all, have left our Lord untouched, either in Gethsemane or on Golgotha.

5. The assurance of our Lord that He had prayed for Peter, is the solid basis for the evangelical doctrine of the intercession of the Saviour for His people in heaven, Rom_8:34; Heb_7:25; Heb_9:24; 1Jn_2:1. Thereby He shows us at the same time the supreme and final goal which the Christian, in his prayer for himself, must also keep before his eyes, namely, that his faith fail not. Whoever suffers shipwreck of his faith (1Ti_1:19), suffers loss not only of his goods but also of his life.

6. The decided prediction of Peter’s denial belongs to the sublimest self-revelations of the humiliated Saviour. Gloriously does there shine out from this His wisdom, His love, His faithfulness, but far more gloriously yet does there beam forth from these words upon us, His Divine knowledge. For He announces not only in a general way that Peter especially will succumb to the impending trial—to any one acquainted with men, that looked somewhat more deeply than common, that would not have been so very difficult—but He gives beforehand every particular: the threefold denial, the cock-crowing, the form of the denial— ἀðáñíÞóῃ ìὴ åἰäÝíáé ìå —not only as possible but as certainly occurring, and shows thereby that He views with perfectly clear vision not only the hidden but also the seemingly casual. The assertions that the expression “before the cock crow” is only meant to denote: “before the morning shall break;” moreover, that the “three times” (Luk_22:34) signifies only an indefinite round number, and that the prophecy only took this exactly definite form afterwards from the event (Strauss and others), rest upon presuppositions which are destitute of every exegetical proof, as well as of all historical ground. No example can be brought of three signifying anything else than what it expresses, and it is forgotten that the cock-crowing is so far from being anything unessential that, according to Mark, it must even take place twice. So far, however, from an unavoidable fate being here foretold to Peter, there is, on the other hand, at the basis of this admonition the intent of guarding him against the danger. Peter did not deny our Lord because it was previously foretold, but it was foretold to him that he might not do it. While Satan’s design was so to sift the wheat that it should be found only as chaff, our Lord, on the other hand, will so sift it that it may be cleansed from the chaff, may come forth from the trial as good wheat. Had the disciple but comprehended the intimation of his Master and reconciled himself to the thought that his Master, was to endure the hard struggle without him! But, alas, the very one who fancies himself to be stronger than ten other men, very soon gives the proof that he is even weaker than a single woman.

7. The Lord would certainly have avoided the expression as to buying a sword for threatening danger, if He had willed that His disciples in no case should think of self-defence with outward weapons. Their error lies only in this, that they in this moment, and over against the more than earthly might which now threatens them, will have recourse to ordinary weapons. Judge then how thoroughly it must conflict with the spirit and mission of our Lord when the Roman Curia vaunts itself of the possession of the two swords of Peter, and a Boniface the VIIIth, for example, from this very passage, believed himself to be able to prove that the papal chair possesses as well the right of spiritual as of secular jurisdiction. By the ἰêáíüí ἐóôé of our Lord, this folly is condemned in its very principle. “It is a sigh of the God-man which breathes like a sound of complaint over the Roman swords and stakes, over the armed camps of the Paulicians and Hussites, over all the violent measures of the New Testament time that are meant to further His cause.”

HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL

How little the disciples, even in the Paschal hall, are yet in a condition to comprehend the gravity of the moment and the temper of the Lord.—How much the disciples yet contribute to embitter to their Master even the still enjoyment of the last quiet evening.—The old Adam is not so quick to die.—The royal dignity of the disciples of our Lord: 1. Its high rank; 2. its holy requirements.—The heaven-wide distinction between the flattering titles and the ruling character of many an earthly monarch.—Esse quam videri.—The way of willing humiliation the way of true greatness in the kingdom of God: 1. The ancient way; 2. the difficult way; 3. the safe way; 4. the blessed way.—Christ in the midst of His people as one that serves: 1. The character which as such an one He reveals, a. condescending, b. active, c. persevering love; 2. the requirement which He as such repeats, a. adore in this very thing His greatness, b. let yourself be served by Him, c. serve now others also for His sake.—Immutable faithfulness in the midst of severe temptation, is by our Lord: 1. Well borne in mind; 2. graciously praised; 3. a thousandfold rewarded.—The bequest of the dying Testator to His chosen friends.—The judicial function which our Lord above in heaven commits to those that suffer with Him on earth, 2Ti_2:12.—The heavenly feast in the yet future kingdom of God: 1. The blessed Host; 2. the completed number of guests; 3. the infinite refreshment.—Simon Peter: 1. Dangerously threatened; 2. invisibly defended; 3. thoroughly converted; 4. in rich measure active for the strengthening of his brethren.—Satan intent on the destruction, the Lord on the deliverance, of Peter, Simon alone careless.—Jesus the Intercessor for His weak but sincere disciples.—How many a danger is averted from us unnoticed, even before we ourselves become aware of its approach.—The holy vocation of the converted one to strengthen his brethren: 1. That only he can do who is himself converted; 2. but this one should, would, and will then do it.—Even over against our Lord, unbelief will still be in the right.—He that trusteth in his own heart is a fool.—The dangerousness of a superficial excitement of feeling, instead of a deeply-rooted life of faith.—Let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall, 1Co_10:12.—Even in the guidance of His most intimate disciples, our Lord not seldom strikes into an entirely different way afterwards from that which He followed earlier.—Rest once enjoyed no pledge of future security.—“Did ye ever lack anything? Lord, never anything.” Admirable text for New Year’s Eve.—On superfluity the disciple of our Lord must never reckon, 1Ti_6:6-8.—Against extraordinary dangers the Christian must arm himself in extraordinary wise.—The prophetic word the light of our Lord upon His gloomy way to death.—On the Christian also must all be accomplished that is written, both concerning his suffering and concerning his glory.—The persevering incapability of the disciples to comprehend our Lord, one of the deepest sources of His hidden suffering.—Patience with unteachable friends a difficult art, yet sanctified by our Lord’s example.

Starke:—Cramer:—Great people also come short.—Intestine wars have done the kingdom of God more harm than foreign ones.—Nothing can move us more powerfully to humility than the example of Christ.—Where the mind of Christ is, there is also the following of Him.—Nova Bibl. Tub.:—The cross suits Christ’s servants better than lordship.—Whoever will be Christ’s property must make himself ready for temptation.—Whom the Lord praises, he is praiseworthy, 2Co_10:18.—Quesnel:—Who can comprehend the dignities and advantages of a genuine disciple of Jesus?—The Lord Jesus’ faithful servants shall be in heaven His fellow-rulers and fellow-kings.—Canstein:—Ignorance, security, and presumption prepare Satan a way for his temptations.—The devil can do nothing without Divine permission.—Without Jesus’ intercession our little ship of faith must suffer shipwreck.—Osiander:—The flesh before danger comes is courageous, and is only thoroughly convinced by an afflictive experience of its impotency.—To mean well is not everything in religion.—Nova Bibl. Tub.:—The sins that we shall commit the Lord Jesus knows beforehand.—It is edifying often to call to mind how God has led us.—Brentius:—Faithful servants of God have a rich and mighty Lord.—One must accommodate himself to the time, be it good or bad.—Servants of God have not ever sunshine in their office.—See well to it how thou understandest Christ’s word.—To the magistrate the secular sword is entrusted, to the minister the spiritual, Rom_13:4; Eph_6:17.

Heubner:—The attacks of the wicked must turn out for the best good of the saints.—Interceding prayer availeth much.—How many a wandering son has been saved by a pious mother’s prayers! (Augustine and Monica).—Sins are as dangerous as they are because they may bring about the loss of our faith.—Unanxious service of the Lord makes life glad.—God always helps through.—Palmer (Luk_22:35-36):—What there in the life of the disciples appears as a succession, must with us exist as simultaneous, joined by faith: 1. The admirable child-like trust that supports itself on experience; 2. the manly valor that bears a sword, indeed, but the sword of the Holy Ghost.—Arndt (Luk_22:31-38):—The words of the loving providence of Jesus: 1. The words of His warning providence to Peter; 2. the words of His upholding providence to the other disciples.—F. W. Krummacher, Passions-buch, p. 173 seq.:—The night conversation, how it unfolds to us the Mediator’s heart of the great Friend of sinners: 1. In His conversation with Simon Peter; 2. in His utterance to the disciples altogether.

Footnotes:

Luk_22:24.—Revised Version of the American Bible Union.—C. C. S.]

Luk_22:24.—That is, as Bleek explains it, which of them was so conspicuous above the rest, that he appeared, could be recognized, as greatest—a question hardly consistent with Peter’s supremacy.—C. C. S.]

Luk_22:31.—This abruptly introduced formula of commencement appears, as in Luk_7:31, somewhat suspicious. See Tischendorf. [B., L. omit it, but Cod. Sin., which so commonly agrees with B., here has it.—C. C. S.]

Luk_22:34.—According to the reading of B., [Cod. Sin.,] L., Cursives, Lachmann, Tischendorf, [Meyer, Tregelles, Alford,] ἕùò , which appears to deserve the preference above the Recepta, ðñὶí ἤ .

Luk_22:36.— Ὁ ìὴ ἔ÷ùí , ðùëçóÜôù ôὸ ἱìÜôéïí áὐôïῦ êáὶ ἀãïñáóÜôù ìÜ÷áéñáí .—C. C. S.]

Luk_22:37.— Ἔôé is omitted by Lachmann, [Tregelles,] according to A., B., D., [Cod. Sin.,] H., L., [Q.,] X., &c. Perhaps it was quite early interpolated for the purpose of giving this prophecy more prominence in reference to what precedes and follows. On the other hand, it may be conceived that it was quite early and unconsciously omitted on account of the immediately preceding ὅôé . [The latter appears much the more probable.—C. C. S.]