A dispute also arose among them, which of them was considered to be greatest. He said to them, “The kings of the nations lord it over them, and those who have authority over them are called ‘benefactors.’ But not so with you. But one who is the greater among you, let him become as the younger, and one who is governing, as one who serves. For who is greater, one who sits at the table, or one who serves? Isn’t it he who sits at the table? But I am among you as one who serves.
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Luke 22:24-27 sits inside this longer paragraph.
They began to question among themselves, which of them it was who would do this thing. A dispute also arose among them, which of them was considered to be greatest. He said to them, “The kings of the nations lord it over them, and those who have authority over them are called ‘benefactors.’ But not so with you. But one who is the greater among you, let him become as the younger, and one who is governing, as one who serves. For who is greater, one who sits at the table, or one who serves? Isn’t it he who sits at the table? But I am among you as one who serves. But you are those who have continued with me in my trials. I confer on you a kingdom, even as my Father conferred on me, that you may eat and drink at my table in my Kingdom. You will sit on thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.”
Parallel Translations
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A dispute also arose among them, which of them was considered to be greatest.
He said to them, “The kings of the nations lord it over them, and those who have authority over them are called ‘benefactors.’
But not so with you. But one who is the greater among you, let him become as the younger, and one who is governing, as one who serves.
For who is greater, one who sits at the table, or one who serves? Isn’t it he who sits at the table? But I am among you as one who serves.
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And ther was a stryfe amonge the which of them shuld be taken for the greatest.
And he sayde vnto them: the kynges of the getyls raygne over them and they that beare rule over them are called gracious lordes.
But ye shall not be so. But he that is greatest amonge you shalbe as the yongest: and he that is chefe shalbe as the minister.
For whether is greater he that sitteth at meate: or he that serveth? Is not he that sitteth at meate? And I am amonge you as he that ministreth.
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And there arose also a strife among them, which of them should seeme to be ye greatest.
But hee saide vnto them, The Kings of the Gentiles reigne ouer them, and they that beare rule ouer them, are called bountifull.
But yee shall not be so: but let the greatest among you be as the least: and the chiefest as he that serueth.
For who is greater, he that sitteth at table, or he that serueth? Is not he that sitteth at table? And I am among you as he that serueth.
Cross-references (25)
- Matthew 20:28 (v27) even as the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
- Luke 12:37 (v27) Blessed are those servants, whom the lord will find watching when he comes. Most certainly I tell you that he will dress himself, make them…
- 1 Peter 5:5 (v26) Likewise, you younger ones, be subject to the elder. Yes, all of you clothe yourselves with humility, to subject yourselves to one another;…
- Matthew 20:25-28 (v25) But Jesus summoned them, and said, “You know that the rulers of the nations lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over…
- Luke 9:46 (v24) An argument arose among them about which of them was the greatest.
Show all 25 cross-references
- John 13:5-16 (v27) Then he poured water into the basin, and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel that was wrapped around him.…
- Mark 9:34 (v24) But they were silent, for they had disputed with one another on the way about who was the greatest.
- Mark 9:35 (v26) He sat down, and called the twelve; and he said to them, “If any man wants to be first, he shall be last of all, and servant of all.”
- 2 Corinthians 8:9 (v27) For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that you through his poverty…
- 1 Peter 5:3 (v26) not as lording it over those entrusted to you, but making yourselves examples to the flock.
- Matthew 18:3-5 (v26) and said, “Most certainly I tell you, unless you turn, and become as little children, you will in no way enter into the Kingdom of Heaven.…
- Matthew 23:8-12 (v26) But don’t you be called ‘Rabbi,’ for one is your teacher, the Christ, and all of you are brothers. Call no man on the earth your father,…
- Luke 9:48 (v26) and said to them, “Whoever receives this little child in my name receives me. Whoever receives me receives him who sent me. For whoever is…
- Luke 17:7-9 (v27) But who is there among you, having a servant plowing or keeping sheep, that will say when he comes in from the field, ‘Come immediately and…
- Philippians 2:7-8 (v27) but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself,…
- 3 John 1:9-10 (v26) I wrote to the assembly, but Diotrephes, who loves to be first among them, doesn’t accept what we say. Therefore if I come, I will call…
- Matthew 20:20-24 (v24) Then the mother of the sons of Zebedee came to him with her sons, kneeling and asking a certain thing of him. He said to her, “What do you…
- Mark 10:37-41 (v24) They said to him, “Grant to us that we may sit, one at your right hand, and one at your left hand, in your glory.” But Jesus said to them,…
- Mark 10:41-45 (v25) When the ten heard it, they began to be indignant toward James and John. Jesus summoned them, and said to them, “You know that they who are…
- Romans 12:2 (v26) Don’t be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what is the good, well-pleasing,…
- Romans 12:10 (v24) In love of the brothers be tenderly affectionate to one another; in honor preferring one another;
- 1 Corinthians 13:4 (v24) Love is patient and is kind. Love doesn’t envy. Love doesn’t brag, is not proud,
- Philippians 2:3-5 (v24) doing nothing through rivalry or through conceit, but in humility, each counting others better than himself; each of you not just looking…
- 1 Peter 5:5-6 (v24) Likewise, you younger ones, be subject to the elder. Yes, all of you clothe yourselves with humility, to subject yourselves to one another;…
- James 4:5-6 (v24) Or do you think that the Scripture says in vain, “The Spirit who lives in us yearns jealously”? But he gives more grace. Therefore it says,…
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this passage (22 sources)
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv24–25 The Pastors are not called to rule, but to…
The Pastors are not called to rule, but to serve.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv24–27 24 And there was also a strife among them,…
24 And there was also a strife among them, which of them should be accounted the greatest.
Ver. 24. There was also a strife] This was so much the worse in them, because immediately after the sacrament, and before the passion, which our Saviour had told them should fall out within two days after. Neither was this the first time that they had thus faulted, and were reproved for it.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv24–25 Luke only taketh notice of this strife at the…
Luke only taketh notice of this strife at the time of their being in the guest chamber. Such a strife we read of, Mat 18:1; 20:25,26; Mr 9:33 and in this Gospel, Luk 9:46; by which it is apparent, that they had been more than once arguing this point. But yet most interpreters think that it is here placed by Luke out of order and some translate εγενετο in this text, there had been, not, there was; and indeed we can hardly think so uncharitably of the apostles, as to imagine of them, that immediately after their receiving, first the passover, then the Lord’s supper, their thoughts should be taken up with things of this nature, much less that they should discourse of any such subjects as these; especially also considering what our Saviour had told them, that he was betrayed into the hands of sinners. Something of our Saviour’s answer, pressing upon them brotherly love, and mutual serviceableness each to other, was very proper to this time, which our Saviour (though spoken before) might at this time repeat, and Luke prefactorily to it might take notice of this contest in this place.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
William Burkitt 1703 · Public Domain On v24 If these words be not placed out of order…
If these words be not placed out of order by St. Luke here, it may seem very strange, that the apostles immediately after receiving the sacrament, should entertain their minds with thoughts of precedency and superiority; and much stranger yet, that they should discourse openly of such a subject as this, especially considering what our Saviour had just before told them, that he was betrayed into the hands of sinners. But whether at this time or not, it is most certain, at some time or other a strife was found amongst them, which should be the greatest. Now that our Saviour might effectually quench those unhappy sparks of ambition which were kindled in his apostles’ minds, he tells them that supremacy and dominion belong to secular princes, not to evangelical pastors, who ought to carry themselves with humility and condescension one towards another. Not that Christ directs to a parity and equality amongst his ministers, or forbids the pre-eminency of some over others; but the affecting of superiority, and true love of pre-eminency, is that which our Saviour disallowed.
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1. That so far ought the ministers of Christ to be from affecting a domination and superiority of power over their fellow brethren, that, in imitation of Christ their Lord and Master, they ought to account themselves fellow-servants: I am among you as one that serveth.
2. That such ministers as do love and affect pre-eminency and superiority, are most unfit for it, and they deserve it best that seek it least.
3. That the dignity and honor which the ministers of Christ should chiefly and only affect, is in another world; and the way to be the greatest and highest there, is to be low and humble here; mean in our own eyes, and little in our own esteem: Whosoever is chief, says Christ, let him be your servant.
William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv24–27 And he said unto them,.... The disciples; that is,…
And he said unto them,.... The disciples; that is, Jesus said to them, as the Syriac and Persic versions express:
the kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them; by which our Lord would dissuade his disciples from seeking to introduce a superiority over one another, since this was the practice of the Heathens, of the men of the world, of ignorant Gentiles; whereas Christ's kingdom was a spiritual kingdom, and not of this world, and therefore, not to be managed in such a way.
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And they that exercise authority upon them are called benefactors; either by themselves, or by their court flatterers, to cover their ambition, tyranny, and cruelty. Two of the King's of Egypt were called by the name Euergetes (p); the word that is here used, and translated "benefactors"; and it was commonly given to other kings, princes, and men in power: so Cyrus was called by the Armenians; Antigonus by the Greeks; and Phylacus among the Persians: the same name was given to Mithridates king of Pontus, to Titus Aelius Hadrianus, to Menander, to Marcus Aurelius Severus, and to Cato Uticensis, and others (q).
(p) Alex. ab. Alexandro Genial. Dier. l. 1. c. 2. (q) Vid. Cuper. Inscript. & Marmora. p. 283, 284.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv24–27 There was also a contention among them - It…
There was also a contention among them - It is highly probable, this was the same dispute which is mentioned by St. Matthew and St. Mark: and consequently, though it is related here, it happened some time before.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv24–26 Verse 24. There was also a strife among them]…
Verse 24. There was also a strife among them] There are two different instances of this sort of contention or strife mentioned by the evangelists, each of which was accompanied with very different circumstances; one by Matthew, in Mt 18:1, c., by Mark, Mr 9:33, c. and by Luke, in Lu 9:46, c. That contention cannot have been the same with this which is mentioned here. The other, related in Mt 20:20, &c., and Mr 10:35, &c., must be what Luke intended here to record and this strife or contention was occasioned by the request which Zebedee's wife made to our Lord in favour of her sons, James and John but, then, Luke has mentioned this very much out of the order of time, it having happened while our Lord and his disciples were on their way to Jerusalem: Mt 20:17; Mr 10:32. See Bp. PEARCE.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On v24 Luk 22:24-27. And there was also a strife among…
Luk 22:24-27. And there was also a strife among them, &c. — Of the kind of contentions here spoken of there are two instances recorded by the evangelists, evidently different from each other, and each attended with very different circumstances. The former is mentioned by Mat 18:1-4; by Mar 9:33-37; and by Luk 9:46. This certainly is not that here referred to. The other, recorded Mat 20:20, &c.; and Mar 10:35, &c., is thought, by most commentators, to be that which Luke here speaks of. See the notes on these two last mentioned passages. Some, however, are of opinion, that a third contention of a similar kind arose among the disciples, at this last paschal supper which our Lord ate with them; and that it arose from some expressions which he dropped respecting the glory of his heavenly kingdom, which the disciples erroneously interpreted of a glorious temporal kingdom, which they continued to expect him to erect. And it must be acknowledged, that the manner in which Luke introduces his account of this dispute here, favours this interpretation of the passage. For, immediately after he had informed us of the disciples beginning to inquire among themselves which of them it was that should betray Christ, he proceeds to say, And there was also a strife among them which of them should be accounted the greatest. Be this as it may, if it really was a third contention of the same sort with those which had occurred before, it appears that Christ composed it by the arguments which he had made use of for the same end formerly. For, he said unto them, The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them, &c. — Among the Gentiles, they are reckoned the greatest men who have the greatest power, and who exercise it in the most absolute manner. Such, however, have at times affected the pompous title of benefactors, (ευραγεται, a surname which some of the kings of Egypt and Syria assumed,) and thereby have tacitly acknowledged that true greatness consists in goodness. But your greatness shall not be like theirs; shall not consist in temporal power over your fellow-creatures, or in honour or dignity among them, though it should be joined with an affectation of titles which denote qualities truly honourable. Whosoever desires to be great among you, let him be so by his humility and by his serviceableness to the rest, in imitation of me, your Master, whose greatness consists in this, that I am become the servant of you all. He that is greatest among you, let him be as the younger — According to the manner of the Jews, the aged expected great service and submission from the young; and he that is chief — He that presides over the rest in any office of peculiar trust and influence; as he that doth serve — Let him be as humble and condescending as the servant. For whether is greater — Which of the two is naturally accounted greater by a stranger who happens to come in; he that sitteth at meat, or he that serveth? — That stands and waits upon the guests? Is not he that sitteth at meat? — Accounted greater? But I am among you as he that serveth — These words may, no doubt, have a respect to the whole of Christ’s life; yet they seem to refer more particularly to his having lately washed the disciples’ feet, as John informs us, Joh 13:14. See notes on Mat 20:25; Mat 20:28. “It seems to have been our Lord’s view,” says Dr. Campbell, “in these instructions, not only to check in his apostles all ambition of power, and every thing which savoured of a desire of superiority and dominion over their brethren; but also to restrain that species of vanity which is near akin to it, the affectation of distinction from titles of respect and dignity. Against this vice particularly the clause under consideration seems to be levelled. The reflection naturally suggested by it is, How little are any, the most pompous epithets which men can bestow, worthy the regard of a good man, who observes how vilely, through servility and flattery, they are sometimes prostituted on the most undeserving.”
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv24–26 A strife - A contention or debate.
A strife - A contention or debate.
Which of them should be the greatest - The apostles, in common with the Jews generally, had supposed that the Messiah would come as a temporal prince, and in the manner of other princes of the earth - of course, that he would have officers of his government, ministers of state, etc. Their contention was founded on this expectation, and they were disputing which of them should be raised to the highest office. They had before had a similar contention. See Mat 18:1; Mat 20:20-28. Nothing can be more humiliating than that the disciples should have had “such” contentions, and in such a time and place. That just as Jesus was contemplating his own death, and laboring to prepare them for it, they should strive and contend about office and rank, shows how deeply seated is the love of power; how ambition will find its way into the most secret and sacred places; and how even the disciples of the meek and lowly Jesus are sometimes actuated by this most base and wicked feeling.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures 1864 · Public Domain On v24 4. Familiar and Farewell Discourses (Luk_22:24-38)
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.)
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24And there was also a strife [there arose also a contention8] among them, which of them should be accounted [appears to be, δοκεῖ9] 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,10 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 [στήρισον] 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 [until11] 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].12 37For I say unto you, that this that is written must yet13 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, νεώτερος, 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 διάκονος 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, πειρασμοῖς μου.—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 ἄχρι καιροῦ, 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 (διαμεμενηκότες). 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. Διατίθεμαι 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, καθὼς διέθετό μοι, 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 φυλαί: “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, ὑμᾶς (Luk_22:31), and the singular (Luk_22:32), περὶ σοῦ. 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.—Τοῦ σινιάσαι. “The word has not been preserved to us elsewhere, but the signification is not doubtful. The tertium comparationis is the testing ταράσσειν: 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 ἐγὼ δέ, on the one hand plants itself in the way of Satan’s threatening, and on the other hand stands in opposition to the direct καὶ σύ, 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 (ἵνα) his faith may not cease (ἐκλείπῃ), 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: καὶ σύ ποτε ἐπιστρ έψας.
When thou art converted.—There is, therefore, predicted for Peter an ἐπιστροφή visible to others, which was to be the consequence of an inward μετάνοια. 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 ὑμᾶς, 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.—Mετὰ σοῦ 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, ἀπαρνήσῃ μὴ εἰδέναι με, properly a double pleonastic negation, as in Luk_20:27, on which account also some MSS., although without sufficient critical grounds, have omitted μή. 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.—Οῦ̓ν 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, ἀράτω: 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 περὶ ἐμοῦ sc. γεγραμμένα (not “The circumstances surrounding Me.” Meyer), in respect to which He gives the assurance that they τέλος ἔχει. 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 τετέλεσται (Joh_19:30), that is spoken of. Our Lord therewith undoubtedly states the ground (γάρ), 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 τοῦτο 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, ἱκανόν ἐστι.—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—ἀπαρνήσῃ μὴ εἰδέναι με—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 ἰκανόν ἐστι 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:
[8]Luk_22:24.—Revised Version of the American Bible Union.—C. C. S.]
[9]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.]
[10]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.]
[11]Luk_22:34.—According to the reading of B., [Cod. Sin.,] L., Cursives, Lachmann, Tischendorf, [Meyer, Tregelles, Alford,] ἕως, which appears to deserve the preference above the Recepta, πρὶν ἤ.
[12]Luk_22:36.—Ὁ μὴ ἔχων, πωλησάτω τὸ ἱμάτιον αὐτοῦ καὶ ἀγορασάτω μάχαιραν.—C. C. S.]
[13]Luk_22:37.—Ἔτι 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 ὅτι. [The latter appears much the more probable.—C. C. S.]
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures (Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical), ed. John Peter Lange, English translation edited by Philip Schaff (1864–1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv24–26 there was--or "had been," referring probably to some symptoms…
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 Mar 10:42-45.)
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv24–27 § 122. AMBITIOUS STRIFE AMONG THE TWELVE, Luk_22:24-30.
§ 122. AMBITIOUS STRIFE AMONG THE TWELVE, Luk_22:24-30.
24. There was also a strife—This was when they first took seats at the table, as above remarked, Luk_22:14. This was in all probability a strife now awakened for the couch of honour. The strife would most likely be between Peter, James, and John. But even in the lower ranks there may have been a strife for a higher relative place.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv24–27 24. And there was also a strife] Philoneikia, ‘an…
24. And there was also a strife] Philoneikia, ‘an ambitious contention,’ occurs here only. It is probable that this dispute arose while they were taking their places at the couches (triclinia), and may possibly have been occasioned by some claim made by Judas for official precedence. He seems to have reclined on the left of our Lord, and John on the right, while Peter seems to have been at the top of the next mat or couch, at the left of Judas, across and behind whom he stretched forward to whisper his question to St John (Joh_13:23-24). For previous instances of this worldly ambition see Luk_9:46-48; Mat_20:20-24.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv24–27 (24) And there was also a strife among them.—The…
(24) And there was also a strife among them.—The incident that follows is peculiar to St. Luke. The noun which he uses for “strife” does not occur elsewhere in the New Testament, but the corresponding adjective meets us in the “contentious” of 1Co_11:16. The dispute was apparently the sequel of many previous debates of the same kind, as, e.g., in Luk_9:46; Mat_18:1; Mar_9:34; and the prayer of the two sons of Zebedee (Mat_20:23; Mar_10:37). What had just passed probably led to its revival. Who was greatest? Was it Peter, to whom had been promised the keys of the kingdom, or John, who reclined on the Master’s bosom, or Andrew, who had been first-called? Even the disciples who were in the second group of the Twelve, might have cherished the hope that those who had been thus rebuked for their ambition or their want of faith had left a place vacant to which they might now hopefully aspire.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv24–25 Vers. 24-30. The jealousy, among the disciples.
Vers. 24-30. The jealousy, among the disciples.
And there was also a strife among them, which of them should be accounted the greatest. The Lord"s words in these verses are peculiar to St. Luke. The strife among the disciples which suggested the Lord"s corrective sayings was evidently no mere dispute as to precedence in their places at the supper, but some question as to their respective positions in the coming kingdom of which their Master had said so much in the course of his later instructions. It is closely connected with the "feetwashing" related at length by St. John. (Joh_13:4-17) This has been well described as a parable in action, exhibited to illustrate forcibly the novel and sublime truth which he was teaching them, the world-teachers of the future, that in self sacrifice consisted the secret of true greatness. In the kingdom of heaven this would be found to be conspicuously the case.
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Vers. 24-27. Greatness after Christ.
Three things claim our attention.
I APOSTOLIC FAILURE. When the apostles of our Lord came to look back on this most memorable evening, how pained and how ashamed they must have felt as they recollected this unseemly contest (ver. 24)! At the very hour when their Lord was.manifesting his love and his forethought for his Church in two most striking and touching ways at the very hour when his heart was torn with distracting sorrow by the desertion and treachery of one of his chosen band, and when he might well have been looking for some consolation in the attachment and the obedience of the others, they must needs show their unlikeness to himself and their unworthiness of their position by an untimely dispute about their own importance in connection with that condescending service of their Lord"s, how small such a controversy seems! And in connection with such a trial as that through which he was passing, how unbecoming and ill-timed was any anxiety about their own affairs! It was in their power to render to Jesus Christ a most helpful sympathy, and, instead of doing that, they grieved him by the exhibition of a contentious and an ambitious spirit. It was a sad failure on their part. How often do his disciples fail him now! How often do they let the opportunity of loving and effective service pass unused! When the hour strikes for faithfulness, or for courage, or for self-sacrifice, or for humility, or for energetic action, is there not found unfaithfulness, or timidity, or selfish time-serving, or pride, or a culpable inactivity, that loses everything and leaves behind nothing but failure and regret?
II WORLDLY VANITY. (Ver. 25) What a poor thing indeed is mere official dignity, or even arbitrary power, or servile flattery! Official dignity without moral worth is a miserably hollow thing. Arbitrary power, exercised in caprice and apart from a pure desire to do good and to enrich, is an evil thing; it is injurious to the possessor and it is burdensome to the objects of it. Servile flattery is a false thing. It is simply contemptible on the part of those who pay it; it is morally ruinous to those who accept it. Let the "Gentiles" act thus if they must; but "ye shall not be so." Ye who care to be true, to be loving, to be humble ye shall not sit on that seat of honor, ye shall not run into that serious temptation, ye shall not pursue such a worthless prize. Other and better things are within your reach; for you there is
III CHRISTIAN GREATNESS. (Vers. 26, 27)
1. Jesus Christ, the greatest One, was the Servant of all. He came to serve; it was his holy, heavenly errand; he came to seek and to save the lost. He lived to serve. That act of menial service in which he had just been engaged (Joh_13:1-5) was only a picture and illustration of the whole spirit and substance of his life; to bear the burden of others was the law of his life. (Gal_6:2) He lived to heal, to help, to comfort, to enlighten, to redeem; his life from end to end was a loving ministry, a gracious and generous service. (Mar_10:45) He suffered to serve. He died to serve. He had a perfect right to say, I am among you as he that serveth.
2. We are nearest to our Lord as we live to serve; we rise towards the spiritual stature of Jesus Christ as we are filled with this his spirit and as we live this his life. There is a path for ambition to tread in the kingdom of Christ; but it is not the path that leads to high office and official dignity and popular applause: these things may come unsought, and be used for good. But the one road along which true Christian greatness travels is the way of self-forgetting service. To be touched and moved by the sorrows and the sins of our fellow-men; to be stirred to helpful, earnest, sacrificial effort on their behalf; to pity the poor and needy; to seek and to save the lost; to breathe the air and to do the work of an unpretentious but effective kindness, to have the right to say, "I am among you as he that serveth; that is greatness after Christ himself. C.
Vers. 24-38. The proper Christian spirit.
Through our Lord"s faithful dealing the disciples had been led to wholesome self-suspicion. They cried out at the possibility of a betrayal of the Master, "Lord, is it I?" But no sooner have their minds been relieved through the singling out of Judas than they swing round again to self-confidence and even base ambition. There, at the table of the Lord, in spite of the hallowed associations, they speculate who is to be greatest in the coming kingdom. Jesus has consequently to check this nascent ambition. He does so by ennobling
I THE SPIRIT OF SERVICE. (Vers. 24-27) Now, the world"s idea is that it is noble to exercise authority, to be able to order people about. In fact, the world has come to call men "benefactors" who have done nothing but command other people. What tributes are paid to princes, who have done nothing all their lives but issue orders and receive the homage and service of other people! A blear-eyed world is ready, as Christ here shows, to pronounce such princes the benefactors of their age and country. But he has come into the world to ennoble the opposite idea. Here at this very feast he has been as one that serveth. His whole life, moreover, has been a public service. Everywhere he has just considered how he could serve others. To minister, not be ministered unto, was his continual care. To make the service of others glorious in the eyes of discerning men was one great purpose of his earthly life. This reveals also the very spirit of the Divine life. God is Lord of all because Servant of all. He sustains all, as he has created all; and his greatness is the greatness of ministration. It is only Oriental barbarism which supposes greatness to consist in indolent and luxuriant state. Here, then, is the field of genuine ambition. Let us try to be first in the field of service; let us do our best and most for the benefit of all about us; and then alone shall we become noble and Christ-like.
II CHRIST INDICATES THE RESULTANT INFLUENCE. (Vers. 28-30) To these disciples, who continue with Christ in his temptations, he appoints a kingdom. In this kingdom they are to have thrones, and to be judges of the twelve tribes of Israel. In this way our Lord indicates the influence which these men, who entertain his spirit of service, will acquire. And when we consider the history of Christianity, we see that even in the world of humanity these humble servants of God and mankind have become kings and judges. It is by their deliverances in the primitive age that men are judging themselves and being judged. The apostles are preeminently the sovereigns of this new and better time. And this posthumous influence on earth is only a faint reflection of their influence in heaven. Now, is not this to encourage every serviceable soul? Let each of us be only content to serve, to do whatever a brother needs, and by our service we acquire influence and kingship. The world is really ruled by obliging, serviceable, meek, and earnest men.
III CHRIST NEXT POINTS OUT TO PETER HIS DANGER, RECOVERY, AND CONSEQUENT USEFULNESS. (Vers. 31-34) For, strange to say, temptation is overruled as well as service to the creation of influence. There is in Peter"s nature a good deal of pride and vain-glory to be winnowed out. There is wheat within him, but also chaff. Now, Satan had set his mind upon the fall of Peter; but Jesus has already prayed for him that his faith may not fail. Here was Peter"s safeguard in the timely intercession of his Master. (How watchful the Lord was and is for souls!
Oh, how our want of watchfulness stands rebuked! Yet Peter was permitted to fall under temptation; but he was won back again, converted the second time, so to speak, by the loving look of Jesus; and thus destined to become a strengthener of the brethren. So that our Lord"s prayers for us may be that, through permitted humiliations and tears and penitence, we may pass on to power. It is only when self-confidence, as in Peter"s case, has been purged out of us by humiliating discoveries of our personal weakness, that we are in a position to undertake the care and strengthening of brethren. Broken-hearted Simon becomes, after Pentecost, the reliable Rock-man, worthy of the new name, Peter.
IV THE CONTRASTED POLICIES OF CONFIDENCE AND OF PRUDENCE. (Vers. 35-38) In sending the disciples out on their first missions, Jesus relied on the hospitality of the people as a fitting support for his agents. Going to the people as philanthropists, working miracles, preaching the advent of Messiah, they would meet with such support as would be all-sufficient. This was the policy of confidence the reliance on the people for entire support. But when the world turned against Christ, and realized how opposed he was to its worldliness, then the disciples would require to exercise all possible prudence. They would require to look out for themselves, and even to fight for their own hand. That is to say, there are times when we may trust the world, and times when we are warranted in distrusting it. When is it, we are inclined to ask, that the prudential temper must take the place of confidence? When the world is determined on injustice. Thus at this time the world is about to reckon Christ among the transgressors, and to do him manifest injustice. The fit of unfairness was upon it, and the disciples should then stand in self-defence. But other days would dawn again, when disciples will be warranted in pursuing a policy of public confidence, and thus giving the world the chance of compensation. Let us wisely consider the "signs of the times," and act accordingly. Christ will guide us to the policy which is best, if we prayerfully ask him. R.M.E.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On v24 He that is greatest among you let him be…
Luk_22:24-30
He that is greatest among you let him be as the younger
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How to be the greatest in Christs Kingdom
I.
THERE IS A NECESSARY AND NATURAL DESIRE IN MAN FOR SUPERIORITY.
1. It is taken for granted that the principle exists universally.
2. It is admitted that the desire is an inherent principle.
3. It is therefore a holy and righteous principle.
4. It is a necessary principle.
II. THE BEST MEN MAY FAIL TO DISCOVER THE TRUE WAY TO HONOUR AND DIGNITY.
1. The cause of the disciples failure. This strife arose in the absence of the Saviour
2. The spirit of their failure. Accounted. Carnal, external, worldly ambition.
3. The manifestation of their failure.
III. FIDELITY TO CHRIST IN TRIAL QUALIFIES FOR THE HIGHER SPHERES AND HONOURS IN HIS KINGDOM.
1. Adherence to Christ brings us into contact with the greatest trials.
2. All true disciples cleave to Christ, even in His trials.
3. Christ will honourably acknowledge and reward fidelity in His disciples.
(1) It is honour as reward for humble service.
(2) It is distinguished honour.
(3) It will be satisfying honour. (T. M. Evans.)
The evils of worldly ambition
I. THE DISPUTE AROSE--
1. Out of ignorance as to the nature of the kingdom of Christ.
2. Out of the worldly ambition of their own hearts.
II. THE LORD REBUKED THIS SPIRIT OF WORLDLY AMBITION. By drawing their attention to His own example. Application:
1. Show the widespread prevalence of this worldly ambition in the Church.
2. Urge lowliness of mind.
(1) By the strong commendation Christ bestows on it.
(2) By the injury done to the cause of Christ, when His followers manifest the opposite spirit. (F. F. Goe, M. A.)
Lessons
1. Beware of a proudly aspiring and envious spirit. Seek not to rise on the ruins of others, or by trampling on others.
2. Remember wherein true greatness consists, and follow after it. It consists in high attainments in piety and usefulness.
3. Whatever your attainments may be, be humble, if you would be great.
4. Let the disciples of Christ continue with Him, notwithstanding every trial. (James Foote, M. A.)
Self-seeking
I. The narrative we are considering discloses what effect SELF-SEEKING HAD on the disciples.
1. It blinded their eyes to the glory of the Son of God. They saw, indeed, His mighty works, and longed to be able to do such works themselves; but the hidden life of righteousness and peace and love they did not see and were not yet capable of seeing. Darkness cannot comprehend the light. Men seeking conspicuous places cannot understand the mind which was in Christ Jesus, who made Himself of no reputation, humbled Himself, and became obedient even to the death of the cross.
2. The self-seeking spirit plunged the disciples into a quarrel on the eve of a great occasion.
3. The self-seeking spirit put the disciples into a false attitude of presumption, undertaking more than they were able to do. Jesus answered and said, Ye know not what ye ask.
4. The spirit of self-seeking confused their notions of dominion. They had adopted the maxims of the Gentiles, and were in danger of believing that a man was great simply because he exercised authority.
II. SELF-SACRIFICE.
1. The courage of self-sacrifice. It shrinks back from no danger, fears no hardship, and is superior to all suffering. He took the twelve disciples apart and said unto them: We go up to Jerusalem; and the Son of Man shall be betrayed, condemned, and crucified. Knowing all things that should be accomplished, He went forward; He went forward that they might be accomplished.
2. The universality of self-sacrifice. Because this is the way of the Son of Man, therefore it must become the way of every man. Each man is to take up his cross. Each man is to become like the man.
3. The reward of self-sacrifice. Spiritual promotion comes according to just and immutable law.
4. The kingdom of self-sacrifice. They would reverse the maxims of the Gentiles, and reckon the servant greater than the Master.(Edward. B. Mason.)
As he that doth serve
Dr. Muhlenburg gave a beautiful illustration of obedience to his Master when he once took up a tray of dishes in St. Lukes hospital and carried them down to the kitchen. Some one meeting him, and protesting against his doing such menial work, he quickly said, What am I, but a waiter in the Lords hotel?
The law of service
The desire for distinction is one of the radical principles of our nature; never so crucified and buried but that, in unexpected ways and moments, it may revive, and rise again in power. In the world we find it, and in the Church. Charles V. could lay off the imperial purple, but could not so easily dispossess himself of the imperial will. Simon Stylites, on his pillar in the Lybian desert, was as willing to draw crowds out after him as any most lordly Bishop of Alexandria. The decrepit anchorite, in spite of his austerities, was still a man; his stomach hungry for bread, his heart hungry for applause. This subtle passion is strongest in the middle and more athletic period of life. It comes in between the love of pleasure, which besets our youth, and the love of gain, which besets our age. Though liable to desperate abuse, this passion, like every other, was benevolently given. If it causes wars, and builds up oppressive institutions, poisoning the hearts and cursing the lives of men, it is likewise one of the sharpest spurs to honourable toil, inspires the grandest achievements, and strikes its deepest roots into the deepest natures. It is, then, not to be fought against, as an enemy to virtue, but drawn into service rather, as an ally.
I. TRUE GREATNESS IS NOT INDICATED EITHER BY A CONSPICUOUS POSITION, OR THE BUZZ OF POPULAR APPLAUSE. Exalted stations add nothing to human stature. A great reputation may chance to balloon a very little man.
II. TRUE GREATNESS IS NOT INDICATED INFALLIBLY EVEN BY THE PRESENCE OF GREAT ABILITIES, OR GREAT ACQUISITIONS. Hero-worship is a perpetual fact in history. Mankind are sadly prone to be fascinated by mere ability, or what is so esteemed, irrespective of its exercise; by mere learning, irrespective of its aims and uses. We encounter this idolatry in every walk of life. Much lamentation is poured out over what is called dormant power--Cromwells that lead no armies, Newtons that write no Principia, Miltons that build no lofty rhymes. Men are named in every circle, of whom it is remarked that they are possessed of great abilities, if they would only exercise them; or possessed of great learning, if they would only use it. No doubt there is such a thing as having ones talent, a real talent, laid up in a napkin. But there is probably much less of waste in this way than is commonly supposed. There is a meaning, perhaps, in that feature of the Gospel parable, which represents the idle talent as being a solitary and single one; a talent in some one direction, as that of a mere chemist, mathematician, linguist, or logician. Ability of this sort, thus partial, limited, and narrow, may doubtless be content to slumber, or exercise itself only in trifling. But true greatness cannot justly be predicated of any such ability. Real power has fulness and variety. It is not narrow like lightning, but broad like light. The man who truly and worthily excels in any one line of endeavour, might also, under a change of circumstances, have excelled in some other line. He who eight times led conquering legions into Gaul, could also write matchless commentaries describing their exploits. He who fought at Marengo and Austerlitz, could also build Alpine roads and construct the Code Napoleon. He who sang Paradise Lost, could also pen ablest state papers.
III. THE IDEAL AND MEASURE OF GREATNESS, AS SET BEFORE US BY CHRIST HIMSELF, CONSISTS IN USEFULNESS. He who does the greatest amount of good in this world is the greatest man. This is the Christian sentiment. It is also at bottom the universal sentiment. The Titans of ancient fable, who piled mountains together, and stormed the heavens, were not great, only huge. Hercules was great by virtue of the twelve great labours which he performed. Grecian art, faultless as it was, failed of being great by being sensual. Hindoo generals are not great leaders, for, though they wield vast masses of men, they wield them to little or no purpose. He is not great, who merely wastes the nations; only he is great who saves and serves them. This rule, which the historic judgment of the world thus proceeds upon, is more an instinct than a principle. Christianity lays it down with emphasis as the highest law. According to this law, he only is great of heart who floods the world with a great affection. He only is great of mind who stirs the world with great thoughts. He only is great of will who does something to shape the world to a great career. And he is greatest who does the most of all these things, and does them best. As to the particular sphere in which a man shall lay out the labour of his life, this must b.e determined by a wise regard to individual tastes, talents, and circumstances. Each must choose for himself the employment and sphere best suited to his gifts. But all must choose with one heart, one purpose, in the fear of God, and under the light of eternal realities.
IV. THE MOTIVES TO THE ADOPTION OF SUCH A RULE OF LIFE ARE OBVIOUS AND STRONG.
1. It is the key to happiness. God is infinitely happy in His boundless beneficence. Christ was happy in giving Himself up a sacrifice for the world. In all ages, the happiest of men have been the busiest and most beneficent.
2. It enhances power; relative power and actual power. He who works for God and man, with the least of solicitude about himself, has all the forces of Providence working with him. All these forces are powerful, so is he; and their triumph is his triumph. Moreover, the benevolent affections are the best stimulants of the intellect, the best allies and energizers of the will. Henry Martyn was twice the man for going to Persia that he would have been had he remained in England; and consequently has twice the fame. It is by dying that we live. It is only the good and the self-denying who rule us from their urns.
3. It is noble. Selfishness is pitiful and paltry. (R. D. Hitchcock, D. D.)
He that serveth--
The servant of sinners
We find in these words a double reference--first, to the character, and secondly, to the office, of the Son of Man; to His character as the lowly one, to His office as the servant. For the purpose of bringing both these things before His disciples, He makes use of those marvellous words, I am among you as the Serving One. Consider three things in reference to this service.
I. ITS HISTORY. It is not with His birth in Bethlehem that Christs service begins. His visit to our first father in paradise was its true commencement. After that we find Him, age after age, visiting the children of men, and always in the character of one ministering to their wants. At His ascension He only entered on a new department of service; and as the Advocate with the Father, the Intercessor, the Forerunner, we see Him still serving. Nor, when He comes again in strength and majesty, as King of kings and Lord of lords, does He lose sight of His character as the Ministering One Luk_12:37).
II. LET US CONSIDER THE NATURE OF THIS SERVICE. It is in all respects like Himself--like Him who, though He was rich, for our sakes became poor.
1. It is willing service. His varied rounds of service are no heavy task. He is the willing servant of the needy.
2. It is a loving service. Out of no fountain save that of love could such amazing, such endless acts of service flow. The loving and the serving are inseparable.
3. It is self-denying service. To continue ministering, day after day, in the midst of reproach, and opposition, and rejection, was self-denial and devotedness such as man can hardly either credit or conceive.
4. It is patient, unwearied service. He has compassion on the ignorant, and on them that arc out of the way. He breaks not the bruised reed; He quenches not the smoking flax. By day or by night we find Him ever girt for service.
5. It is free service. It cannot be bought, for what gold could purchase it? Neither does it need to be bought, for it is freely rendered.
III. ITS ENDS AND OBJECTS. It is to sinners that this service is rendered; and there is much in this to exhibit the ends which it has in view. This gracious servant of the needy is willing to be employed by any one, no matter who, let him be the poorest, and the sickliest, and the feeblest of all who ever sought a helper, a protector, or a guide, on their way to the kingdom. (H. Bonar, D. D.)
The life of service
Let us ask ourselves why our Lord has done so much for mankind in proposing a life of service as the true life of man. Service, I apprehend, is thus necessary in some shape for all of us, because it involves the constant repression of those features of our nature which constantly tend to drag it down and degrade it. Aristotle remarked, more than two thousand years ago, that all our faulty tendencies range themselves under the two heads of temper and desire--bad temper or ill-regulated desire. When the one element is not predominant in an undisciplined character, you will find, in some shape, the other, and sometimes you will find the one and sometimes the other at different periods in the life of the same man. Now, service--that is, the voluntary undertaking of work in obedience to the Higher Will--is a corrective to each of these tendencies.
1. It is a corrective, first of all, of temper in its ordinary and everyday form of self-assertion or pride. The man who serves from his heart cannot indulge in self-assertion; he represses self if he tries to perform his service well. Each effort, each five minutes, of conscientious service has the effect of keeping self down, of bidding it submit to a higher and more righteous will; and this process steadily persevered in ultimately represses it, if not altogether, yet very considerably. And what a substantial service this is to human nature and to human character. Be sure of this, that self-assertion, if unchecked, is pitiless when any obstacle to its gratification comes in its way. The self-asserting man delights in making an equal or an inferior feel the full weight of his petty importance; he enjoys the pleasure of commanding in the exact ratio of the pain or discomfort which he sees to be the cost of obedience; and thus, sooner or later, selfassertion becomes tyranny, and tyranny, sooner rather than later, means some revolt which carries with it the ruin of order. The tyrant in the State, in the family, in the office, in the workshop, is the man bent on the assertion of self; and, despite the moments of passing gratification which he enjoys, such a tyrant is really more miserable than his subjects, for the governing appetite of his character can never be adequately gratified; it is in conflict with the nature of things, it is in conflict with the laws of social life, it is in conflict with the Divine will; and when it is repressed, curbed, crushed by voluntary work in obedience to a higher will, a benefit of the very first order has been conferred on human nature and on human society.
2. And in like manner work voluntarily undertaken in obedience to a higher will corrects ill-regulated desire. Distinct from gross sin is the slothful, easy, enervated, self-pleasing temper which is the soil in which gross sin grows. The New Testament calls this district of human nature concupiscence--that is to say, misdirected desire--desire which was meant to cleave to God--at least, to centre in God the eternal beauty, but which, through some bad warp, does, in fact, attach itself to created objects, and generally to some object attractive to the senses. This evil can only be radically cured by making God the object of desire--that is to say, by a love of God; and a true love of God will express itself in service--the service of man as well as of God (1Jn_4:20). Service keeps this ill-regulated desire at bay, and it centres the souls higher desire or love more and more perfectly on its one legitimate object. And then, incidentally, it braces character, and this is what is wanted if a man is to escape from the enervation of a life of sensuous and effeminate ease. (Canon Liddon.)
The glory of service
Helpfulness is the highest, quality of the human life. Service is the crowning glory of man. The serving type is the noblest type of all the manifold varieties of human development. The principle of the text is not to the effect that service is one and the same with, or altogether made up of, what we know as the activities of life. And if I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and if I give my body to be burned, and have not love, it profiteth me nothing. That it is not always what we call the most active life which is the most useful. Activity is not all of service. There is the moral power static, as well as the moral power dynamic. Again, let us note that service does not discard the element of beauty or the splendour of intellectual gifts. Beauty, rightly so named, binds up ever within it a factor of highest value. A beautiful picture is nothing less than a moral force in the world. The Madonna face, the Madonna form, through the centuries rebuke coarseness, teach purity, uplift human thoughts, refine human souls. So with flowers. Their beauty has a moral value. The window-sill which lifts them up is twice blessed. It blesses him who plants and him who passes. The law of service, as proclaimed by highest authority, refuses her not beauty as an ally. All that is meant is that, when Beauty stands by herself, divorced from Service, hen the latter is higher, nobler. So also of the splendour of mental gifts. This splendour also may rest upon, may add a new beauty and a new power to that which is the highest type of human life. But when it stands off by itself, when it offers itself as a substitute for or a rival of service, then to the latter must be given the pre-eminence. Measured by the true standard of human greatness, the inventor of the Calculus is less of a man than the founder of Londons ragged schools. It is better and it is nobler to help one poor, vicious human life into a pure and happy immortality than it is to weigh the sun or to write equations for the planets. The same must also be said when high station is brought into comparison with helpfulness. But let us turn to the direct consideration of the great canon of human worthiness.
I. HELPFULNESS IS MORE LIKE, IN MORE PERFECT HARMONY WITH, THE DIVINE BEAUTY, WITH THAT DIVINE BEAUTY WHICH HAS ITS EVENER APOCALYPSE UPON NATURES FIELD AND IN THE HUMAN SOUL. Even upon His material works has God stamped the law of sympathetic service. Read this written out in the clouds of the sky. These are the great water-carriers of the world. And how diligently, how joyously, they carry on their labour of love t The huge masses skip and whirl and chase each other like lambs at play; but, however weary, they never think of laying down the burden which they bear. And the mountains, too, are in service. Look upon the Andes, vertibral ridge of a continent. They are a giant hand raised to catch and redistribute the moisture of the trade-winds from the Atlantic, thus sending it back across the plains in healthful and life-giving streams. And water, too, serves. By one of its lines cold is carried southward, and by another heat is carried northward, thus diminishing the inequalities of temperature and making the earth a pleasant residence for man. So is it through every department. Nature is an organism. Not a drop of water leads a selfish life, not a wind-blast is without its mission. And let that human life which dares to lift heavenward the formal profession as the fulfilment of the Divine demand--let such a one take his rebuke from oceans lips! Let him hear it sounding in the winds of heaven! Let him hear it thundered forth by the everlasting mountains. Human lives are not wanted in this world for ornament. God has prettier things for this purpose. And such a life, I say, is in full harmony with the Divine. For a long time the world and man knew not God. In this ignorance and blindness we can well imagine men asking the question, What is God? To whom is He like? Is He the Zeus of the celestial world, full of vindictiveness and passion? Is He the Oriental monarch, luxuriously lounging in the palace room of the universe? And while men so questioned, the door of heaven opened, and a Divine one in visible form walked forth before the eyes of men. And this form, what was it? That of a servant. He bore mens burdens. He healed mens sicknesses. He comforted human sorrows. He went about doing good. He gave His life a ransom for many. And now that the Divine Spirit is in the world the manifestation is the same. He, too, cowries in service. He is the Advocate, the Comforter, His the soft hand which wipes away the falling tear and binds up the broken heart. Such is the Divine, such is Deity.
II. But, in the second place, OF ALL MORAL FORCES, HELPFULNESS IS THE MOST POTENT IN THE EDIFICATION OF INDIVIDUAL CHARACTER. There is nothing which grounds a man in truth and righteousness so firmly, there is nothing which lifts him up so surely, as the doing of good to others. This, indeed, is only the highest illustration of a law wide as the realm of human life. The bird which sings for others gladdens its own heart with its song. The brook which flows with music for listening ears grows more clear and limpid as it flows. Old oceans mighty tides and racing gulf streams, which ever serve the need of man, paint the great deep with its spotless blue, and bring safety and life to all the mighty host which march and counter-march within its hollow bed. In doing good, everything in Gods universe gets good. Service of others is highest service of self, and the best way for any man to grow in grace is to move forward into service.
III. But, again, HELPFULNESS IS MORE LASTING, MORE IMMORTAL, THAN ANYTHING ELSE OF HUMAN LIFE. Whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away. But charity never faileth. Bad as is this world, it is good enough to transmute and to hold immortality within it. The beauty of the beneficent deed, the widows two mites, the alabaster box of ointment, Sir Philip Sidneys cup of cold water; the passing shadow of Florence Nightingale, which the dying soldier strove to kiss; above all, the patient and gentle self-denial of the Christ life--these are pictures which this world--Gods world, after all--will not let fade. The suns of centuries rise and set upon them. Consider what this canon of human worthiness calls for of those who would receive honour under it.
1. This, first of all: personal goodness. In this world of ours the tares grow together with the wheat. Service of man calls for a servant first of all; and this can no one of us be who is not disinterestedly in love with his kind, and true and pure in all his works. To do good works which shall endure we ourselves must be good.
2. In the second place, the canon of the text demands that we should be willing to help when help is required.
3. The law of the higher type also makes this a duty. We should seek opportunities for doing good. The glory of the patriarch of Uz was written in these words, The cause that I knew not I searched out.
4. The principle of the text teaches also the obligation of self-training. If we do not know how to help now, why, then, we should learn. If we are unfit for service now, we must make ourselves fit. Congenital infirmities may be corrected. The inertia of selfish idleness and of grasping covetousness may be overcome by him who, upon his knees, opens his heart to the entrance of the Divine Spirit. The enthusiasm of humanity may be caught from the example and inspiration of Jesus Christ. The mill-wheel will cease to revolve when the waters of the rushing stream are cut off; the moving train will stop when the glowing heat cools within the hidden chamber; and charity in this world will degenerate into a professional schedule without inspiration and without power when the name of Jesus is no longer writ by the hand of Faith upon its banner. (S. S. Mitchell, D. D.)
Servus servorum
I. OUR LORDS POSITION.
1. In the world our Lord was not one of the cultured few on whom others wait. He was a working-man, and in spirit Servant of servants.
2. In the circle of His own disciples He was one that served.
3. In celebration of Holy Supper, He was specially among them as He that serveth, for He washed His disciples feet.
4. In the whole course of His life, Jesus on earth ever took the place of the servant or slave. His ear was bored by His entering into covenant. Mine ears hast thou digged, or pierced (Psa_40:6 (margin); Exo_21:6). His office was announced at His coming, Lo, I come to do thy will! (Psa_40:7; Heb_10:5-9). His nature was fitted for service: He took upon Him the form of a servant (Php_2:7). He assumed the lowest place among men (Psa_22:6; Isa_53:3). He cared for others, and not for Himself. The Son of Man came not to be served but to serve (Mar_10:45). He laid aside His own will (Joh_4:34; Joh_6:38). He bore patiently all manner of hardness (1Pe_2:23).
II. THE WONDER OF IT--that He should be a servant among His own servants. The marvel of it was rendered the greater--
1. As He was Lord of all by nature and essence (Col_1:15-19).
2. As He was superior in wisdom, holiness, power, and in every other way, to the very best of them (Mat_8:26-27; Joh_14:9).
3. As He was so greatly their Benefactor (Joh_15:16).
4. As they were such poor creatures, and so unworthy to be served.
III. THE EXPLANATION OF IT. We must look for this to His own nature.
1. He is so infinitely great (Heb_1:2-4),
2. He is so immeasurably full of love (Joh_15:9; 1Jn_3:16).
IV. THE IMITATION OF IT.
1. In cheerfully choosing to fulfil the most lowly offices.
2. In manifesting great lowliness of spirit and humility of bearing Eph_4:1-3; Php_2:3; 1Pe_5:5).
3. In laying ourselves out for the good of others. Let self: sacrifice be the rule of our existence (2Co_12:15).
4. In gladly bearing injustice rather than break the peace, avenge ourselves, or grieve others (1Pe_2:19-20; 1Pe_3:14).
5. In selecting that place in which we receive least, and give most; choosing to wait at table rather than to sit at meat. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Christlike service
A true character can never be built on a false foundation; on the denial of a fact or on pretending not to see it. There are greater men and less; stronger and weaker; wiser and less wise; men fit to rule and men fit only to be led; some who can teach and others whose business it is to learn. The right relationship between men.is to be reached, if at all, by a manly acknowledgment of the facts which divide them and the individual superiorities which set one above another. It is he who can rightly say, Master and Lord am I; who can also say with the fullest emphasis, I am among you as the servant!
I. Since, then, THE MORAL CHARACTERISTICS OF THIS VOLUNTARY SERVICE were those which gave it worth, let us try in a few words to disentangle these moral characteristics and understand them. They may be summed up, I think, in these two: in unselfish love as the root-virtue, and in lowliness of mind as the specific shape which love must take when it girds itself to serve.
II. Taking, then, these words of Jesus, I am in the midst of you as your attendant, to be virtually DESCRIPTIVE OF HIS WHOLE POSITION ON EARTH and the spirit of His entire career, we find that His life may be described thus: it was a voluntary service of other men, rooted in pure love for them, and carried out with such lowliness of mind as deems no office degrading which can be lovingly rendered. Notice next, more expressly than we have yet done, that such lowly, loving service of others was not in His case an occasional effort or a mere ornament of character exhibited now and then. It formed the staple of His life. Christ came, not to be ministered unto, but to minister; not to enrich Himself, either with nobler or baser wealth, but to impoverish Himself that He might make many rich. With Him it is not, as with other men, I will sit at table, and do you wait on Me; but it is, you sit at table, and I will wait.
III. But is this, after all, A MORE EXCELLENT WAY WHICH JESUS HAS SHOWN? Wherein is it more excellent? The Kings Son came among us. We called Him our Lord and Master, and we said well; but He was as one who served us! Now we know that the Father on high is like unto Him. The divinest part of His relationship to His creatures lies here, that being Lord of all He makes Himself the servant of all. How is He by day and night creations unwearied watcher, provider, attendant, benefactor! The lions roar and He feedeth them. Not a sparrow falls but He heeds it. The lilies spin not, yet He clothes them. True, patient minister to each creatures need, in whose loving eyes nothing is too minute to be remembered nor too mean to be served; He is for ever with tender humble carefulness laying His might and His providence and His inventiveness and His tastefulness at the service of all creation. What! cries out the heart of the proud, is this your conception of the Eternal? Were not all things made for His glory, then? Yes, indeed, for His glory; but not in the ignoble sense we so often intend! Not made to be sacrificed to His pleasure. Not made for a boastful display of His omnipotence or skill; nor as mere trappings or attendants to lend dignity to His court. Away with such vain thoughts, borrowed from the barbaric and vulgar splendour of an Oriental despotism! Verily, the universe is the mirror of its Creators glory; but it is so because it shows Him to be prodigal of His love, lavishing His care upon the least, stooping to adorn the poorest, and made then supremely glad when He can see His creatures glad. The glory of God; where is it? that He ministers to all! His blessedness; what is it? to make others blessed! I see, then, that when the Son came among us as a servant, it became Him as a son to do so, for it became the Father whose Son He was. It was a prolongation only, although a right marvellous one, of that character whose Divineness men had been slow to see, but which God the Maker had pencilled with light across His creation. (J. O. Dykes, D. D.)
Continued with Me in My temptations
The solitariness of Christ in His temptations
We get here a wonderful glimpse into the heart of Christ, and a most pathetic revelation of His thoughts and experiences; all the more precious because it is quite incidental, and, we may say, unconscious.
I. THE TEMPTED CHRIST. In My temptations--so He summed up His life! The period to which He refers lies between the wilderness and the garden, and includes neither. His whole ministry was a field of continual and diversified temptations. No sham fight.
1. Let us think of the tempted Christ, that our conceptions of His sinlessness may be increased. His was no untried and cloistered virtue, pure because never brought into contact with seducing evil, but a militant and victorious goodness, that was able to withstand in the evil day.
2. Let us think of the tempted Christ, that our thankful thoughts of what He bore for us may be warmer and more adequate, as we stand afar off and look on at the mystery of His battle with our enemies and His.
3. Let us think of the tempted Christ, to make the lighter burden of our cross and our less terrible conflict easier to bear and to wage. So will He continue with us in our temptations, and patience and victory flow to us from Him.
II. THE LONELY CHRIST. The most solitary man that ever lived. His nearest kindred stood aloof from Him. Even in the small company of His friends, there were absolutely none who either understood Him or sympathized with Him. Talk of the solitude of pure character amid evil, like Lot in Sodom, or of the loneliness of uncomprehended aims or unshared thoughts--whoever experienced that as keenly as Christ did? The more pure andlofty a nature, the more keen its sensitiveness, the more exquisite its delights, and the sharper its pains. The more loving and unselfish a heart the more its longing for companionship; and the more its aching in loneliness. That lonely Christ sympathizes with all solitary hearts. If ever we feel ourselves misunderstood and thrown back upon ourselves; if ever our hearts burden of love is rejected; if our outward lives be lonely and earth yields nothing to stay our longing for companionship; if our hearts have been filled with dear ones and are now empty, or but filled with tears, let us think of Him and say, Yet I am not alone. He lived alone, alone He died, that no heart might ever be solitary any more.
III. THE GRATEFUL CHRIST. His heart was gladdened by loving friends, and He recognized in their society a ministry of love. Where there is a loving heart there is acceptable service. It is possible that our poor, imperfect deeds shall be an odour of a sweet smell, acceptable, well-pleasing to Him. Which of us that is a father is not glad at his childrens gifts, even though they be purchased with his own money, and be of little use? They mean love, so they are precious. And Christ, in like manner, accepts what we bring, even though it be chilled by selfishness, and faith broken by doubt, and submission crossed by self-will. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)
I appoint unto you a kingdom
Called to a kingdom
There was once a young prince, heir to the throne of Russia, who was giving himself to every form of dissipation. He took up his residence in Paris, and entered heartily into all its gaieties. One evening, as he u as seated with a number of young profligates like himself, drinking, gambling, and making merry, a message was privately conveyed to him that his father was dead. Pushing away from him the dice and the wine-cup, he rose up and said, I am emperor! and forthwith announced that his must henceforth be a different kind of life. Young men, I have to tell you tonight of a kingdom to which you are called. To you the Lord Jesus says, I appoint unto you a kingdom, as My Father hath appointed unto Me. To no meaner rank are you to aspire than to that of kings and priests unto God. But when the day came that Saul was actually to be made king, the youth was not to be found. He had hid himself among the stuff. Saul concealed amid the baggage, perhaps the commissariat for that large assembly of people; hidden, tall fellow as he was, amid the heap of boxes and baskets of all kinds--is he not a picture of many a young man whom God is calling to a kingdom, but who is chin-deep in business, so absorbed in worldly matters that he cannot attend to the affairs of his soul? (J. T.Davidson, D. D.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
B. W. Johnson 1891 · Public Domain On v24 24–30. There arose a contention among them. This contention…
24–30. There arose a contention among them. This contention probably arose while they were taking seats for the paschal meal, each seeking the chief place. It was rebuked by the Lord washing their feet (John 13:3–5). See notes on Matt. 18:1–4.
Benefactors. This very title has often been conferred on Gentile rulers, as Ptolemy Euergetes, “Ptolemy, the Benefactor,” one of the kings of Egypt.
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Ye shall not be so. Greatness shall be sought by serving. He is greatest who serves the world best.
I appoint unto you a kingdom. A kingdom to be secured, not by conquering and ruling, but humility, self-denial, and service. “He that humbleth himself shall be exalted.” Thus shall the apostles be entitled to eat at the Lord's table in the kingdom, and to sit on thrones, etc. They attained these thrones, but they are spiritual, rather than temporal. See notes on Matt. 19:28.
B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.
William B. Godbey 1900 · Public Domain On v24 Luk 22:24-30. “And there was contention among them as…
OFFICIAL PROMOTION OF THE TWELVE
Luk 22:24-30. “And there was contention among them as to which one of them seems to be the greater.” Here we have an incontestable illustration rendering conspicuous their imperative need of sanctification. The ambition of the clergy in all the earth, this day, confirms the conclusion that they should tarry at Jerusalem till the coming of the Pentecostal baptism, in sin-consuming flames, to exterminate every vestige of ministerial ambition and Church pride.
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“And He said to them, The kings of the Gentiles bear rule over them, and those exercising authority are called benefactors. But you are not so: but let him who is the greater among you, be as the younger; and your leader, as one that serveth. For who is the greater, he that sitteth at the table, or he that serveth? Am I not sitting with you? But I am in the midst of you as One that serveth.” In the spiritual kingdom, promotion means humiliation and labor. The greater your honors, the more humble you become and the more abundant in labor. Thus you see, affairs in the kingdom of God are diametrically opposite to those in the realm of human power. In the latter, promotion means emolument and relief from labor. In the former, it means depth of humility, summary self-sacrifice, and superabundance of labor. These facts are only apprehended by the spiritually illuminated.
“You who have remained with Me in My temptations, I truly appoint unto you a kingdom, as My Father hath appointed unto Me, that you may eat and drink at My table in My kingdom, and sit upon thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel.” We have the same statement, more ample, in Mat 19:28 : “When the Son of man may sit upon the throne of His glory, you shall also sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.” Pursuant to the Great Commission, the twelve apostles went to their respective fields of labor, having divided up the world among them into great dioceses. But bloody martyrdom soon released them all for their heavenly home. Here we see that the grand fulfillment of this promise is to be realized when He sits upon the throne of His glory. Of course, He is now sitting upon the mediatorial throne in heaven, and has been on it since the days of Eden; otherwise, Abel, Seth, Enoch, Noah, and the saints and patriarchs of bygone ages, could not have been saved. The incumbency of that glorious throne is to take place here upon the earth, during the Millennial Theocracy, when the saints shall reign subordinately to Christ, the twelve apostles becoming the highest officials in that glorious kingdom.
William B. Godbey, Commentary on the New Testament (1896–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Alexander MacLaren 1905 · Public Domain On vv24, 25, 27 Luk 22:24 - Luk 22:37.
Luke
PARTING PROMISES AND WARNINGS
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Luk 22:24 - Luk 22:37.
It was blameworthy, but only too natural, that, while Christ’s heart was full of His approaching sufferings, the Apostles should be squabbling about their respective dignity. They thought that the half-understood predictions pointed to a brief struggle immediately preceding the establishment of the kingdom, and they wished to have their rank settled in advance. Possibly, too, they had been disputing as to whose office was the menial task of presenting the basin for foot-washing. So little did the first partakers of the Lord’s Supper ‘discern the Lord’s body,’ and so little did His most loving friends share His sorrows.
I. Our Lord was not so absorbed in His anticipations of the near Cross as to be unobservant of the wrangling among the Apostles.
Even then His heart was enough at leisure from itself to observe, to pity, and to help. So He at once turns to deal with the false ideas of greatness betrayed by the dispute. The world’s notion is that the true use and exercise of superiority is to lord it over others. Tyrants are flattered by the title of benefactor, which they do not deserve, but the giving of which shows that, even in the world, some trace of the true conception lingers. It was sadly true, at that time, that power was used for selfish ends, and generally meant oppression. One Egyptian king, who bore the title Benefactor, was popularly known as Malefactor, and many another old-world monarch deserved a like name.
Jesus lays down the law for His followers as being the exact opposite of the world’s notion. Dignity and pre-eminence carry obligations to serve. In His kingdom power is to be used to help others, not to glorify oneself. In other sayings of Christ’s, service is declared to be the way to become great in the kingdom, but here the matter is taken up at another point, and greatness, already attained on whatever grounds, is commanded to be turned to its proper use. The way to become great is to become small, and to serve. The right use of greatness is to become a servant. That has become a familiar commonplace now, but its recognition as the law for civic and other dignity is all but entirely owing to Christianity. What conception of such a use of power has the Sultan of Turkey, or the petty tyrants of heathen lands? The worst of European rulers have to make pretence to be guided by this law; and even the Pope calls himself ‘the servant of servants.’
It is a commonplace, but like many another axiom, universal acceptance and almost as universal neglect are its fate. Ingrained selfishness fights against it. Men admire it as a beautiful saying, and how many of us take it as our life’s guide? We condemn the rulers of old who wrung wealth out of their people and neglected every duty; but what of our own use of the fraction of power we possess, or our own demeanour to our inferiors in world or church? Have all the occupants of royal thrones or presidential chairs, all peers, members of Parliament, senators, and congressmen, used their position for the public weal? Do we regard ours as a trust to be administered for others? Do we feel the weight of our crown, or are we taken up with its jewels, and proud of ourselves for it? Christ’s pathetic words, giving Himself as the example of greatness that serves, are best understood as referring to His wonderful act of washing the disciples’ feet. Luke does not record it, and probably did not know it, but how the words are lighted up if we bring them into connection with it!
II. Verses 28 to 30 naturally flow from the preceding.
They lift a corner of the veil, and show the rewards, when the heavenly form of the kingdom has come, of the right use of eminence in its earthly form. How pathetic a glimpse into Christ’s heart is given in that warm utterance of gratitude for the imperfect companionship of the Twelve! It reveals His loneliness, His yearning for a loving hand to grasp, His continual conflict with temptations to choose an easier way than that of the Cross. He has known all the pain of being alone, and feeling in vain for a sympathetic heart to lean on. He has had to resist temptation, not only in the desert at the beginning, or in Gethsemane at the end, but throughout His life. He treasures in His heart, and richly repays, even a little love dashed with much selfishness, and faithfulness broken by desertion. We do not often speak of the tempted Christ, or of the lonely Christ, or of the grateful Christ, but in these great words we see Him as being all these.
The rewards promised point onwards to the perfecting of the kingdom in the future life. We notice the profound thought that the kingdom which His servants are to inherit is conferred on them, ‘as My Father hath appointed unto Me,’-that is, that it is a kingdom won by suffering and service, and wielded by gentleness and for others. ‘If we suffer, we shall also reign with Him.’ The characteristics of the future royalty of Christ’s servants are given in highly figurative language. A state of which we have no experience can only be revealed under forms drawn from experience; but these are only far-off approximations, and cannot be pressed.
The sacred Last Supper suggested one metaphor. It was the last on earth, but its sanctity would be renewed in heaven, and sadness and separation and the following grief would not mar the perfect, perpetual, joyful feast. What dim visions of rule and delegated authority may lie in the other promise of judging the twelve tribes of Israel, we must wait till we go to that world to understand. But this is clear, that continuing with Jesus here leads to everlasting companionship hereafter, in which all desires shall be satisfied, and we shall share in His authority and be representatives of His glory.
III. But Jesus abruptly recalls Himself and the Twelve from these remoter prospects of bliss to the nearer future of trial and separation.
The solemn warning to Peter follows with startling suddenness. Why should they be fighting about precedence when they were on the verge of the sorest trial of their constancy? And as for Peter, who had, no doubt, not been the least loud-voiced in the strife, he needed most of all to be sobered. Our narrow limits forbid our doing even partial justice to the scene with him; but we note the significant use of the old name ‘Simon,’ reminding the Apostle of his human weakness, and its repetition, giving emphasis to the address.
We note, too, the partial withdrawal of the veil which hides the spirit world from us, in the distinct declaration of the agency of a personal tempter, whose power is limited, though his malice is boundless, and who had to obtain God’s permission ere he could tempt. His sieve is made to let the wheat through, and to retain the chaff. It will be hard to empty this saying of its force. Christ taught the existence and operation of Satan; but He taught, too, that He Himself was Satan’s victorious antagonist and our prevailing intercessor. He is so still. He does not seek to avert conflict from us, but prays that our faith fail not, and Himself, too, fulfils the prayer by strengthening us.
Faith, then, conquers, and withstands Satan’s sifting. If it holds out, we shall not fall, though all the winds howl round us. We are not passive between the two antagonists, but have to take our share in the struggle. Partial failures may be followed by recovery, and even tend to increase our power to strengthen other tempted ones, by the experience gained of our own weakness, which deepens humility and forbearance with others’ faults, and by the experience of Christ’s strength, which makes us able to direct them to the source of all safety.
Peter’s passionate avowal of readiness to bear anything, if only he was with Christ, is the genuine utterance of a warm impulsive heart, which took too little heed of Christ’s solemn warning, and fancied that the tide of present feeling would always run as strong as now. Emotion fluctuates. Steadfast devotion is chary of mortgaging the future by promises. He who knows himself is slow to say, ‘I will,’ for he knows that ‘Oh that I may!’ is fitter for his weakness. Very likely, if Peter had been offered fetters or the scaffold then and there, he would have accepted them bravely; but it was a different thing in the raw, cold morning, after an agitating night, and the Master away at the far end of the great hall. A flippant maid’s tongue was enough to finish him then.
It is sometimes easier to bear a great load for Christ than a small one. Some of us could be martyrs at the stake more easily than confessors among sneering neighbours. Jesus had spared the Apostle in the former warning of his fall, but He spoke plainly at last, since the former had been ineffectual; and He addressed him by his new name of Peter, as if to heighten the sin of denial by recalling the privileges bestowed.
IV. The last part of the passage deals with the new conditions consequent on Christ’s departure.
The Twelve had been exempt from the care of providing for themselves while He was with them, but now they are to be launched into the world alone, like fledglings from the nest. Not that His presence is not with them or with us, but that His absence throws the task of providing for wants and guarding against dangers on themselves, as had not been the case during the blessed years of companionship. Hence the injunctions in verse 36 lay down the permanent law for the Church, while verse 37 assigns as its reason the speedy fulfilment of the prophecies of Messiah’s sufferings.
Substantially the meaning of the whole is: ‘I am on the point of leaving you, and, when I am gone, you must use common-sense means for provision and protection. I provided for you while I was here, without your co-operation. Remember how I did so, and trust Me to provide in future, through your co-operation.’
The life of faith does not exclude ordinary prudence and the use of appropriate means. It is more in accord with Christ’s mind to have a purse to keep money in, and a wallet for food-stores, than to go out, as some good people do, saying, ‘The Lord will provide.’ Yes, He will; but it will be by blessing your common-sense and effort. As to the difficulty felt in the injunction to buy a sword, our Lord would be contradicting His whole teaching if He was here commanding the use of arms for the defence of His servants or the promotion of His kingdom. That He did not mean literal swords is plain from His answer to the Apostles, who produced the formidable armament of two.
‘It is enough.’ A couple are plenty to fight the Roman Empire with. Yes, two too many, as was soon seen. The expression is plainly an intensely energetic metaphor, taking line with purse and scrip. The plain meaning of the whole is that we are called on to provide necessary means of provision and defence, which He will bless. The only sword permitted to His followers is the sword of the Spirit.
Alexander MacLaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture (1904–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain On v24 A Lesson on Humility. Luk 22:24-30
A Lesson on Humility. Luk 22:24-30
The dispute about rank:
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v. 24. And there was also a strife among them which of them should be accounted the greatest.
v. 25. And He said unto them, The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them, and they that exercise authority upon them are called benefactors.
v. 26. 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.
v. 27. For whether is greater, he that sitteth at meat, or he that serveth? Is not he that sitteth at meat? But I am among you as he that serveth.
v. 28. Ye are they which have continued with Me in My temptations.
v. 29. And I appoint unto you a kingdom, as My Father hath appointed unto Me,
v. 30. that ye may eat and drink at My table in My kingdom, and sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel.
Jesus had just told the apostles, in connection with the announcement of His betrayer, that He was going away, and they had begun a conversation upon the subject of the possible betrayer, incidentally, however, taking reference to a possible successor in the place of the Master. And before they were aware of it, They were in the midst of an altercation, a contention, a spirited debate as to who of them made the impression of being the greatest. See Luk 9:46. The thoughts of the disciples were evidently linked very firmly to this life; it was impossible for them to realize the situation as it really was. So Jesus again, with His infinite patience, gave them a lesson on humility, by referring once more to the great paradox of the kingdom of God. It is true, of course, that the kings of the heathen lord it over them, and that those that exert their authority over them are called their benefactors. Such conditions obtain in the governments of this world. But there is a big difference in the method of handling matters and doing work in the countries of the world, in the State, and that of ruling the Church. Emphatically Jesus says: You, however, not so. The greatest among them, the one upon whom the honor might naturally fall, should become so that he does not want to rank above the youngest, and the leader should distinguish himself by the humblest service. To become more humble from day to day they should regard as an elevation, and love active in service as the sum of their greatness. The Lord exemplifies this by a reference to Himself. If one of two persons is reclining at the table in the enjoyment of the meal, and the other is performing the work of a servant in washing his feet or in waiting upon his wants, the former is the greater. And Jesus, by the act of washing the disciples’ feet, had humbled Himself to do the lowest service for them. This fact, however, in no way changed the actual condition of things, namely, that He was the greatest among them; His action, in fact, established His position as their superior. Now, after having taught His disciples true humility, He also gives them the comforting, cheering news of their future elevation. They had, at least in part, shared His lowliness, they had persistently adhered to Him in the midst of all His persecutions, when Satan and His enemies among the Jews had tried constantly to turn Him from the path of duty. Jesus here formally made a contract with them, notified them of their appointment, even as His Father had appointed to Him the Kingdom. This disposition the Lord now transmits to His apostles, solemnly making them heirs of the blessings which had been His by the fact of His eternal Sonship. They should eat and drink at His table in His kingdom, they should be partakers of all His glory. And He confers upon them the added honor that they should sit as judges with Him, occupying thrones and judging the twelve tribes of Israel, the sum total of all the believers, the true children of the Kingdom. It will be the pleasure and the honor of the apostles to welcome into the eternal kingdom and to transmit to the believers that have been faithful to the end the joyful announcement of everlasting freedom. See Mat 19:28.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv24, 26 Then there arose also a quarrel among them
Then there arose also a quarrel among them
"Then the apostles began to argue among themselves"
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was considered to be greatest
This can be stated in active form. AT: "was the most important" or "the people would think was most important" (See: Active or Passive)
He said to them
"Jesus said to the apostles"
are masters over them
"rule forcefully over the Gentiles"
are referred to as
The people probably did not think of those rulers as people who do good to their people. AT: "like to be called" or "call themselves"
translationWords
king
Gentile
authority
honor
rule
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv24, 25, 27 22:24 who would be the greatest among them: See…
22:24 who would be the greatest among them: See also Mark 9:33-37; 10:35-45.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.