The ordinance of the Lord's Supper was closely connected, not only in time but in apostolic thought, with the act of the betrayal (see
1 Corinthians 11:23) - the institution of the greatest privilege with the commission of the darkest crime. Oar Lord's demeanour on this occasion is well worthy of our most reverent thought.
I. JESUS AND JUDAS.
1. His length of sufferance. After knowing that Judas was seeking to betray him (ver. 6), Jesus might well have expelled him from his society. He might have done so, acting judicially, as being no longer worthy to be classed among his apostles. He might have done so, acting prudentially, as one
(1) whom it was not wise to admit to his counsels and his plans; and as one
(2) whose association with the eleven would be a source of evil. He might very appropriately have declined to acknowledge him as an officer and a friend. But Jesus did not press his right. On the contrary, he let him continue as one of the twelve, he let him come under the same roof with himself, he permitted him to share the Paschal feast: the hand of him that was betraying him was "with him on the table." To such a length as that his longsuffering went.
2. His dignity in rebuke. He did not break forth into passionate invective; he did not use words of natural and permissible vehemence; he quietly said, "Woe unto that man," etc.! Matthew tells us that he added, "It had been good for that man if he had not been born." What a transcendent calmness and serenity of spirit we have here! What a contrast between two children of men! One man preparing to betray his Teacher, his Friend, his Master; the other compassionating his betrayer for the depth of his fall and the sadness of his doom. Jesus went on to his sacrificial death and to his throne; Judas went out into the night (John 13:30) - into the dark night of guilt, of shame, of despair, of death.
II. ONE LORD AND OURSELVES.
1. The wrong against our Lord it is still open to us to commit. We cannot betray him as Judas did; yet may we do that which answers to, and is almost if not quite as deplorable as that sad and shameful act. Let us consider that:
1. We know more about Jesus than Judas then did; for we have all the light of his resurrection and of the teaching of his apostles.
2. He has granted to us mercies as many and as great in intrinsic value as those he bestowed on Judas.
3. Owing him as much as Judas did, we may do even greater injury to his cause than the traitor did. The act of Iscariot ultimately issued in the all-sufficient sacrifice; this did not extenuate or lessen his guiltiness by a simple grain; but it nullified the mischief of the crime. We may do incalculable and irreparable mischief to the cause of our Master by our unfaithfulness, our infidelity, our disobedience, our criminal negligence.
4. By such disloyalty we may wound and grieve his Spirit almost as severely as his betrayer did. Wherefore let us:
(1) Be humble-minded. "Let him that thinketh he standeth," etc. If we could find the man who has smitten Christ and his cause the severest blow that was ever struck, it is probable that we might easily find an hour in that man's history when he would have shrunk with holy horror from such a guilty act.
(2) Be prayerful; ever looking heavenward with the supplication, "Hold thou me up," etc.
(3) Be diligent in the field of earnest Christian work. It is the idler in the vineyard whom the tempter will assail. It is the faithful workman who is in a position to say, after his Lord and Leader, "The prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in me" (John 14:30). - C.
The Son of Man goeth.
I. THE SON OF MAN.
1. Reference of the appellation. Nothing is more certain than that the appellation, "the Son of Man," belongs to Jesus Christ, and is peculiar to Him.
2. Origin of the appellation (see Psalm 18:17).
3. Meaning of the appellation. When the Messiah is termed "the Son of Man," the term fixes the mind both on the reality of His manhood, and on the circumstances which distinguish Him among men. It marks Him as truly a man, a descendant of man; but it as really marks Him as standing out from the rest of men. The leading thoughts suggested by the designation, "the Son of Man," as given to our Lord Jesus Christ, are these: that He is a real man, truly a partaker of human nature; that He is a perfect man, the normal man, man as he should be; that He is the representative man, the second Adam, charged with the responsibilities of the race; that He is the God-man, a true man in union with the true God; finally, that He is the predicted man, the great subject of New Testament prophecy; a man, a son of man — the man, the son of man.
II. THE GOING OF THE SON OF MAN. The predestined, predicted "going" of this Son of Man comes now to be considered. "The Son of Man," said the Son of Man Himself, goeth, "goeth as was determined, goeth as it is written." Heaven was His original abode — earth was His present residence; but it was not intended to be His permanent dwelling-place. He had come from heaven to earth, and was to go from earth to heaven. When He came, He came not unsent. He was commissioned to do a great work, and, when that work was accomplished, He was to return to Him that sent Him.
1. He went to the grave.
2. He went to the grave as it is written. Before proceeding farther in tracing the Son of Man's amazing journey, it may be well for us here to stop and inquire how, when He went thus to the grave, He went "as it is written"? Here, there are three remarks which deserve our attention —(1) He went in the character in which it was written He should go;(2)He went in the disposition in which it was written He should go; and(3) In many of the particular and even minute details of His progress, He went "as it was written."(1) He suffered and died as a public person, the representative of His people, the victim of sin. He suffered for us, the just in the room of the unjust; and this is as it was written.(2) He went, as we have seen, in the spirit of the most entire self-devotedness, cheerful resignation, magnanimous fortitude. No man took His life from Him; He laid it down of Himself. And all this was written of Him.(3) The agony in Gethsemane was as it was written; also His betrayal, the particular insults and injuries done Him, the manner in which His death was accomplished. the circumstances of His funeral, etc.
3. He went to heaven.
4. He went to heaven as it is written.
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People
Jesus,
John,
Judas,
Peter,
SimonPlaces
Gethsemane,
JerusalemTopics
Discuss, Enquire, Inquire, Possibly, Question, Reason, Themselves, Thereupon, WonderingOutline
1. The leaders conspire against Jesus.3. Satan prepares Judas to betray him.7. The apostles prepare the Passover.19. Jesus institutes his holy supper;21. covertly foretells of the traitor;24. rebukes the rest of his apostles from ambition;31. assures Peter his faith should not fail;34. and yet he should deny him thrice.39. He prays in the mount, and sweats blood;47. is betrayed with a kiss;50. he heals Malchus' ear;54. he is thrice denied by Peter;63. shamefully abused;66. and confesses himself to be the Son of God.Dictionary of Bible Themes
Luke 22:21-23 2570 Christ, suffering
Library
February 2 Morning
Oh that thou wouldest keep me from evil.--I CHR. 4:10. Why sleep ye? rise and pray, lest ye enter into temptation.--The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak. Two things have I required of thee; deny me them not before I die: remove far from me vanity and lies: give me neither poverty nor riches, feed me with food convenient for me: lest I be full and deny thee, and say, Who is the Lord? or lest I be poor, and steal, and take the name of my God in vain. The Lord shall preserve thee from …
Anonymous—Daily Light on the Daily PathJuly 28. "Not My Will, but Thine" (Luke xxii. 42).
"Not my will, but Thine" (Luke xxii. 42). He who once suffered in Gethsemane will be our strength and our victory, too. We may fear, we may also sink, but let us not be dismayed, and we shall yet praise Him, and look back from a finished course, and say, "Not one word hath failed of all that the Lord hath spoken." But in order to do this, we must, like Him, meet the conflict, not with a defiant, but with a submissive spirit. He had to say, "Not My will, but Thine be done"; but in saying it, He gained …
Rev. A. B. Simpson—Days of Heaven Upon Earth
A Great Fall and a Great Recovery
'But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not; and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren.' --Luke xxii. 32. Our Lord has just been speaking words of large and cordial praise of the steadfastness with which His friends had continued with Him in His temptations, and it is the very contrast between that continuance and the prevision of the cowardly desertion of the Apostle which occasioned the abrupt transition to this solemn appeal to him, which indicates how the forecast pained Christ's …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions Of Holy Scripture
The Cross the victory and Defeat of Darkness
'This is your hour, and the power of darkness.' --Luke xxii. 53. The darkness was the right time for so dark a deed. The surface meaning of these pathetic and far-reaching words of our Lord's in the garden to His captors is to point the correspondence between the season and the act. As He has just said, 'He had been daily with them in the Temple,' but in the blaze of the noontide they laid no hands upon Him. They found a congenial hour in the midnight. But the words go a great deal deeper than allusive …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions Of Holy Scripture
Christ's Look
'And the Lord turned and looked upon Peter.' --Luke xxii. 61. All four Evangelists tell the story of Peter's threefold denial and swift repentance, but we owe the knowledge of this look of Christ's to Luke only. The other Evangelists connect the sudden change in the denier with his hearing the cock crow only, but according to Luke there were two causes co-operating to bring about that sudden repentance, for, he says, 'Immediately, while he yet spake, the cock crew. And the Lord turned and looked …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions Of Holy Scripture
The Lonely Christ
'Ye are they which have continued with Me in My temptations'--LUKE xxii 28. We wonder at the disciples when we read of the unseemly strife for precedence which jars on the tender solemnities of the Last Supper. We think them strangely unsympathetic and selfish; and so they were. But do not let us be too hard on them, nor forget that there was a very natural reason for the close connection which is found in the gospels between our Lord's announcements of His sufferings and this eager dispute as to …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions Of Holy Scripture
Parting Promises and Warnings
'And there was also a strife among them, which of them should be accounted the greatest. 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. 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. 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 …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions Of Holy Scripture
Christ's Ideal of a Monarch
'And He said unto them, The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them; and they that exercise authority upon them are called benefactors. 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.'--LUKE xxii. 25-26. [Footnote: Preached on the occasion of the death of Queen Victoria.] There have been sovereigns of England whose death was a relief. There have been others who were mourned with a certain tepid and decorous …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions Of Holy Scripture
Gethsemane
'And He came out, and went, as He was wont, to the mount of Olives; and His disciples also followed Him. 40. And when He was at the place, He said unto them, Pray that ye enter not into temptation. 41. And He was withdrawn from them about a stone's cast, and kneeled down, and prayed, 42. Saying, Father, If Thou be willing, remove this cup from Me; nevertheless, not My will, but Thine, be done. 43. And there appeared an angel unto Him from heaven, strengthening Him. 44. And, being in an agony, He …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions Of Holy Scripture
In the High Priest's Palace
'Then took they Him, and led Him, and brought Him into the high priest's house. And Peter followed afar off. 55. And when they had kindled a fire in the midst of the hall, and were set down together, Peter sat down among them. 56. But a certain maid beheld him as he sat by the fire, and earnestly looked upon him, and said, This man was also with Him. 57. And he denied Him, saying, Woman, I know Him not. 58. And, after a little while, another saw him, and said, Thou art also of them. And Peter said, …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions Of Holy Scripture
The Lord's Supper
'Then came the day of unleavened bread, when the passover must be killed. 8. And He sent Peter and John, saying, Go and prepare us the passover, that we may eat. 9. And they said unto Him, Where wilt thou that we prepare? 10. And He said unto them, Behold, when ye are entered into the city, there shall a man meet you, bearing a pitcher of water; follow him into the house where he entereth in. 11. And ye shall say unto the goodman of the house, The Master saith unto thee, Where is the guestchamber, …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions Of Holy Scripture
The Duty of Constant Communion J. W.
"Do this in remembrance of me." Luke 22:19. It is no wonder that men who have no fear of God should never think of doing this. But it is strange that it should be neglected by any that do fear God, and desire to save their souls; And yet nothing is more common. One reason why many neglect it is, they are so much afraid of "eating and drinking unworthily," that they never think how much greater the danger is when they do not eat or drink it at all. That I may do what I can to bring these well-meaning …
John Wesley—Sermons on Several Occasions
Gethsemane
"And all the unknown joys he gives, Were bought with agonies unknown." Since it would not be possible for any believer, however experienced, to know for himself all that our Lord endured in the place of the olivepress, when he was crushed beneath the upper and the nether mill-stone of mental suffering and hellish malice, it is clearly far beyond the preacher's capacity to set it forth to you. Jesus himself must give you access to the wonders of Gethsemane: as for me, I can but invite you to enter …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 9: 1863
The Betrayal
Without further preface, let us advance to the subject of our Lord's betrayal. First, concentrate your thoughts upon Jesus, the betrayed one; and when ye have lingered awhile there, solemnly gaze into the villanous countenance of Judas, the betrayer--he may prove a beacon to warn us against the sin which gendereth apostacy. I. LET US TARRY AWHILE, AND SEE OUR LORD UNGRATEFULLY AND DASTARDLY BETRAYED. It is appointed that he must die, but how shall he fall into the hands of his adversaries? Shall …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 9: 1863
5Th Day. Restraining Grace.
"He is Faithful that Promised." "Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat; but I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not."--LUKE xxii. 31, 32. Restraining Grace. What a scene does this unfold! Satan tempting--Jesus praying! Satan sifting--Jesus pleading! "The strong man assailing"--"the stronger than the strong" beating him back! Believer? here is the past history and present secret of thy safety in the midst of temptation. An interceding Saviour was at thy side, saying …
John Ross Macduff—The Faithful Promiser
Peter's Repentance
"And the Lord turned, and looked upon Peter. And Peter remembered the word of the Lord, how he had said unto him, Before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice. And Peter went out, and wept bitterly" (Luke 22:61, 62). That was the turning-point in the history of Peter. Christ had said to him: "Thou canst not follow me now" (John 13:36). Peter was not in a fit state to follow Christ, because he had not been brought to an end of himself; he did not know himself, and he therefore could not follow …
Andrew Murray—Absolute Surrender
Carnal or Spiritual?
"And Peter went out and wept bitterly." -- Luke 22:62. These words indicate the turning point in the life of Peter, --a crisis. There is often a question about the life of holiness. Do you grow into it? Or do you come into it by a crisis suddenly? Peter has been growing for three years under the training of Christ, but he had grown terribly downward, for the end of his growing was, he denied Jesus. And then there came a crisis. After the crisis he was a changed man, and then he began to grow aright. …
Andrew Murray—The Deeper Christian Life
Penitence
"And the Lord turned, and looked upon Peter . . . .and Peter went out, and wept bitterly."--LUKE xxii. 61, 62. EVERY man at some time in his life has fallen. Many have fallen many times; few, few times. And the more a man knows his life and watches its critical flow from day to day, the larger seems to grow the number of these falls, and the oftener reaches out to God his penitential prayer, "Turn yet again, O Lord!" We have all shuddered before this as we read the tale of Peter's guilt. Many a time …
Henry Drummond—The Ideal Life
The Last Supper
189. On Thursday Jesus and his disciples returned to Jerusalem for the last time. Knowing the temper of the leaders, and the danger of arrest at any time, Jesus was particularly eager to eat the Passover with his disciples (Luke xxii. 15), and he sent two of them--Luke names them as Peter and John--to prepare for the supper. In a way which would give no information to such a one as Judas, he directed them carefully how to find the house where a friend would provide them the upper room that was needed …
Rush Rhees—The Life of Jesus of Nazareth
The Sinner Seriously Urged and Entreated to Accept of Salvation in this Way.
1. Since many who have been impressed with these things suffer the impression to wear off.--2. Strongly as the ease speaks for itself, sinners are to be entreated to accept this salvation.--3. Accordingly the reader is entreated--by the majesty and mercy of God.--4. By the dying love of our Lord Jesus Christ.--5. By the regard due to our fellow-creatures.--6. By the worth of his own immortal soul.--7. The matter is solemnly left with the reader, as before God. The sinner yielding to these entreaties, …
Philip Doddridge—The Rise and Progress of Religion in the Soul
Twenty-Sixth Lesson. I have Prayed for Thee;'
I have prayed for thee;' Or, Christ the Intercessor. But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not.'--Luke xxii. 32. I say not unto you, that I will pray the Father for you.'--John xvi. 26. He ever liveth to make intercession.'--Heb. vii. 25. ALL growth in the spiritual life is connected with the clearer insight into what Jesus is to us. The more I realize that Christ must be all to me and in me, that all in Christ is indeed for me, the more I learn to live the real life of faith, which, …
Andrew Murray—With Christ in the School of Prayer
Otho, Bishop of Bamberg.
As a new Christian revival distinguished the close of the eleventh century, missionaries were then sent forth from the reinvigorated Church. We will sketch a portrait of one of these, to whom Pomerania owes its Christianity. It was Otho, bishop of Bamberg, who had already in his pastoral office distinguished himself by his fidelity and his self-sacrificing love. He gladly imposed abstinences on self, in order to be able to give more to the poor. All that was presented to him by princes and nobles …
Augustus Neander—Light in the Dark Places
General Introduction
In this volume we have sought to present the view taken by Thomas Aquinas of the moral and spiritual world in which we live, and of the conditions of man's self-realization which are consequent upon it. The final end of man lies in God, through whom alone he is and lives, and by whose help alone he can attain his end. The teaching of Aquinas concerning the moral and spiritual order stands in sharp contrast to all views, ancient or modern, which cannot do justice to the difference between the divine …
Aquinas—Nature and Grace
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