Text -- Luke 9:1-56 (NET)

The Sending of the Twelve Apostles

9:1 After Jesus called the twelve together, he gave them power and authority over all demons and to cure diseases, 9:2 and he sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal the sick. 9:3 He said to them, “Take nothing for your journey– no staff, no bag, no bread, no money, and do not take an extra tunic. 9:4 Whatever house you enter, stay there until you leave the area. 9:5 Wherever they do not receive you, as you leave that town, shake the dust off your feet as a testimony against them.” 9:6 Then they departed and went throughout the villages, proclaiming the good news and healing people everywhere.

Herod’s Confusion about Jesus

9:7 Now Herod the tetrarch heard about everything that was happening, and he was thoroughly perplexed, because some people were saying that John had been raised from the dead, 9:8 while others were saying that Elijah had appeared, and still others that one of the prophets of long ago had risen. 9:9 Herod said, “I had John beheaded, but who is this about whom I hear such things?” So Herod wanted to learn about Jesus.

The Feeding of the Five Thousand

9:10 When the apostles returned, they told Jesus everything they had done. Then he took them with him and they withdrew privately to a town called Bethsaida. 9:11 But when the crowds found out, they followed him. He welcomed them, spoke to them about the kingdom of God, and cured those who needed healing. 9:12 Now the day began to draw to a close, so the twelve came and said to Jesus, “Send the crowd away, so they can go into the surrounding villages and countryside and find lodging and food, because we are in an isolated place.” 9:13 But he said to them, “You give them something to eat.” They replied, “We have no more than five loaves and two fish– unless we go and buy food for all these people.” 9:14 (Now about five thousand men were there.) Then he said to his disciples, “Have them sit down in groups of about fifty each.” 9:15 So they did as Jesus directed, and the people all sat down. 9:16 Then he took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven he gave thanks and broke them. He gave them to the disciples to set before the crowd. 9:17 They all ate and were satisfied, and what was left over was picked up– twelve baskets of broken pieces.

Peter’s Confession

9:18 Once when Jesus was praying by himself, and his disciples were nearby, he asked them, “Who do the crowds say that I am?” 9:19 They answered, “John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others that one of the prophets of long ago has risen.” 9:20 Then he said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter answered, “The Christ of God.” 9:21 But he forcefully commanded them not to tell this to anyone, 9:22 saying, “The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests, and experts in the law, and be killed, and on the third day be raised.”

A Call to Discipleship

9:23 Then he said to them all, “If anyone wants to become my follower, he must deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow me. 9:24 For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. 9:25 For what does it benefit a person if he gains the whole world but loses or forfeits himself? 9:26 For whoever is ashamed of me and my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of that person when he comes in his glory and in the glory of the Father and of the holy angels. 9:27 But I tell you most certainly, there are some standing here who will not experience death before they see the kingdom of God.”

The Transfiguration

9:28 Now about eight days after these sayings, Jesus took with him Peter, John, and James, and went up the mountain to pray. 9:29 As he was praying, the appearance of his face was transformed, and his clothes became very bright, a brilliant white. 9:30 Then two men, Moses and Elijah, began talking with him. 9:31 They appeared in glorious splendor and spoke about his departure that he was about to carry out at Jerusalem. 9:32 Now Peter and those with him were quite sleepy, but as they became fully awake, they saw his glory and the two men standing with him. 9:33 Then as the men were starting to leave, Peter said to Jesus, “Master, it is good for us to be here. Let us make three shelters, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah”– not knowing what he was saying. 9:34 As he was saying this, a cloud came and overshadowed them, and they were afraid as they entered the cloud. 9:35 Then a voice came from the cloud, saying, “This is my Son, my Chosen One. Listen to him!” 9:36 After the voice had spoken, Jesus was found alone. So they kept silent and told no one at that time anything of what they had seen.

Healing a Boy with an Unclean Spirit

9:37 Now on the next day, when they had come down from the mountain, a large crowd met him. 9:38 Then a man from the crowd cried out, “Teacher, I beg you to look at my son– he is my only child! 9:39 A spirit seizes him, and he suddenly screams; it throws him into convulsions and causes him to foam at the mouth. It hardly ever leaves him alone, torturing him severely. 9:40 I begged your disciples to cast it out, but they could not do so.” 9:41 Jesus answered, “You unbelieving and perverse generation! How much longer must I be with you and endure you? Bring your son here.” 9:42 As the boy was approaching, the demon threw him to the ground and shook him with convulsions. But Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit, healed the boy, and gave him back to his father.

Another Prediction of Jesus’ Suffering

9:43 Then they were all astonished at the mighty power of God. But while the entire crowd was amazed at everything Jesus was doing, he said to his disciples, 9:44 “Take these words to heart, for the Son of Man is going to be betrayed into the hands of men.” 9:45 But they did not understand this statement; its meaning had been concealed from them, so that they could not grasp it. Yet they were afraid to ask him about this statement.

Concerning the Greatest

9:46 Now an argument started among the disciples as to which of them might be the greatest. 9:47 But when Jesus discerned their innermost thoughts, he took a child, had him stand by his side, 9:48 and said to them, “Whoever welcomes this child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me, for the one who is least among you all is the one who is great.”

On the Right Side

9:49 John answered, “Master, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him because he is not a disciple along with us.” 9:50 But Jesus said to him, “Do not stop him, for whoever is not against you is for you.”

Rejection in Samaria

9:51 Now when the days drew near for him to be taken up, Jesus set out resolutely to go to Jerusalem. 9:52 He sent messengers on ahead of him. As they went along, they entered a Samaritan village to make things ready in advance for him, 9:53 but the villagers refused to welcome him, because he was determined to go to Jerusalem. 9:54 Now when his disciples James and John saw this, they said, “Lord, do you want us to call fire to come down from heaven and consume them?” 9:55 But Jesus turned and rebuked them, 9:56 and they went on to another village.

Commentary -- Word/Phrase Notes (per phrase)

Robertson: Luk 9:1

He called the twelve together ( sunkalesamenos tous dōdeka ).

Mar 6:7; Mat 10:1 have proskaleōmai , to call to him. Both the indirect middle voice.

Robertson: Luk 9:2

He sent them forth ( apesteilen autous ).

First aorist active indicative of apostellō .

Robertson: Luk 9:2

To preach the kingdom of God and to heal the sick ( kērussein tēn basileian tou theou kai iāsthai ).

Present indicative for the continuous functions during this campaign. This double office of herald (kērussein ) and healer (iāsthai ) is stated directly in Mat 10:7-8. Note the verb iaomai for healing here, though therapeuein in Luk 9:1, apparently used interchangeably.

Robertson: Luk 9:3

Neither staff ( mēte rabdon ).

For the apparent contradiction between these words (= Mat 10:10) and Mar 6:8 see note there. For pēran (wallet) see also Mar 6:8 and note on Mat 10:10 for this and other details here.

Robertson: Luk 9:5

As many as receive you not ( hosoi an mē dechōntai humas ).

Indefinite relative plural with an and present middle subjunctive and the negative mē . Here Mat 10:14 has the singular (whosoever) and Mar 6:11 has "whatsoever place."

Robertson: Luk 9:5

For a testimony against them ( eis marturion ep' autous ).

Note use of ep' autous where Mar 6:11 has simply the dative autois (disadvantage), really the same idea.

Robertson: Luk 9:6

Went ( diērchonto ).

Imperfect middle, continuous and repeated action made plainer also by three present participles (exerchomenoi , euaggelizomenoi , therapeuontes ), describing the wide extent of the work through all the villages (kata tas kōmas , distributive use of kata ) everywhere (pantachou ) in Galilee.

Robertson: Luk 9:7

All that was done ( ta ginomena panta ).

Present middle participle, "all that was coming to pass."

Robertson: Luk 9:7

He was much perplexed ( diēporei ).

Imperfect active of diaporeō , to be thoroughly at a loss, unable to find a way out (dia , a privative, poros , way), common ancient verb, but only in Luke’ s writings in the N.T.

Robertson: Luk 9:7

Because it was said ( dia to legesthai ).

Neat Greek idiom, the articular passive infinitive after dia . Three reports came to the ears of Herod as Luke has it, each introduced by hoti (that) in indirect discourse: "By some"(hupo tinōn ), "by some"(hupo tinōn de ), "by others"(allōn de , hupo not here expressed, but carried over). The verbs in the indirect discourse here (Luk 9:7, Luk 9:8) are all three aorists (ēgerthē first passive; ephanē second passive; anestē second active), not past perfects as the English has them.

Robertson: Luk 9:9

He sought ( ezētei ).

Imperfect active. He keep on seeking to see Jesus. The rumours disturbed Herod because he was sure that he had put him to death ("John I beheaded").

Robertson: Luk 9:10

Declared ( diēgēsanto ).

First aorist middle of diēgeomai , to carry a narrative through to the end. Jesus listened to it all.

Robertson: Luk 9:10

They had done ( epoiēsan ).

Aorist active indicative, they did.

Robertson: Luk 9:10

He took them ( paralabōn autous ).

Second aorist active participle of paralambanō . Very common verb.

Robertson: Luk 9:10

Bethsaida ( Bēthsaida ).

Peculiar to Luke. Bethsaida Julias is the territory of Philip, for it is on the other side of the Sea of Galilee (Joh 6:1).

Robertson: Luk 9:11

Spake ( elalei ).

Imperfect active, he continued speaking.

Robertson: Luk 9:11

He healed ( iāto ).

Imperfect middle, he continued healing.

Robertson: Luk 9:12

To wear away ( klinein ).

Old verb usually transitive, to bend or bow down. Many compounds as in English decline, incline, recline, clinic (klinē , bed), etc. Luke alone in the N.T. uses it intransitively as here. The sun was turning down towards setting.

Robertson: Luk 9:12

Lodge ( katalusōsin ).

First aorist active subjunctive of kataluō , a common verb, to dissolve, destroy, overthrow, and then of travellers to break a journey, to lodge (kataluma , inn, Luk 2:7). Only here and Luk 19:7 in the N.T. in this sense.

Robertson: Luk 9:12

Get victuals ( heurōsin episitismon ).

Ingressive aorist active of heuriskō , very common verb.

Robertson: Luk 9:12

Victuals ( episitismon , from episitizomai , to provision oneself, sitizō , from siton , wheat)

only here in the N.T., though common in ancient Greek, especially for provisions for a journey (snack). See notes on Mar 6:32-44; notes on Mat 14:13-21 for discussion of details.

Robertson: Luk 9:13

Except we should go and buy food ( ei mēti poreuthentes hēmeis agorasōmen brōmata ).

This is a condition of the third class with the aorist subjunctive (agorasōmen ), where the conjunction is usually ean (with negative ean mē ), but not always or necessarily so especially in the Koiné. So in 1Co 14:5 ei mē diermēneuēi and in Phi 3:12 ei kai katalabō . "Unless"is better here than "except."

Robertson: Luk 9:13

Food ( brōmata )

, means eaten pieces from bibrōskō , to eat, somewhat like our "edibles"or vernacular "eats."

Robertson: Luk 9:14

About ( hōsei ).

Luke as Mat 14:21 adds this word to the definite statement of Mar 6:44 that there were 5, 000 men, a hundred companies of fifty each.

Robertson: Luk 9:14

Sit down ( kataklinate ).

First aorist active imperative. Recline, lie down. Only in Luke in the N.T. See also Luk 9:15.

Robertson: Luk 9:14

In companies ( klisias ).

Cognate accusative after kataklinate . Only here in the N.T. A row of persons reclining at meals (table company).

Robertson: Luk 9:14

About fifty each ( hōsei ana pentēkonta ).

Distributive use of ana and approximate number again (hōsei ).

Robertson: Luk 9:16

The five ... the two ( tous pente tous duo ).

Pointing back to Luk 9:13, fine example of the Greek article.

Robertson: Luk 9:16

And gave ( kai edidou ).

Imperfect active of didōmi , kept on giving. This picturesque imperfect is preceded by the aorist kateklasen (brake), a single act. This latter verb in the N.T. only here and the parallel in Mar 6:41, though common enough in ancient Greek. We say "break off"where here the Greek has "break down"(or thoroughly), perfective use of kata .

Robertson: Luk 9:17

Twelve baskets ( kophinoi dōdeka ).

For discussion of kophonoi and sphurides as well as of klasmata (broken pieces) See Mar 6:43; note on Mat 14:20.

Robertson: Luk 9:18

As he was praying ( en tōi einai auton proseuchomenon ).

Common Lukan idiom of en with the articular infinitive for a temporal clause, only here Luke has the periphrastic infinitive (einai proseuchomenon ) as also in Luk 11:1. This item about Christ’ s praying alone in Luke.

Robertson: Luk 9:18

Alone ( kata monas ).

In the N.T. only here and Mar 4:10. Perhaps chōras (places) is to be supplied with monas (lonely places).

Robertson: Luk 9:18

Were with him ( sunēsan autōi ).

This seems like a contradiction unless "alone"is to be taken with sunēsan . Westcott and Hort put sunēntēsan in the margin. This would mean that as Jesus was praying alone, the disciples fell in with him. At any rate he was praying apart from them.

Robertson: Luk 9:19

That I am ( me einai ).

Accusative and infinitive in indirect assertion, a common Greek idiom. Mat 16:13 for "I"has "the Son of man"as identical in the consciousness of Christ. The various opinions of men about Jesus here run parallel to the rumours heard by Herod (Luk 9:8, Luk 9:9).

Robertson: Luk 9:20

But who say ye? ( Humeis de tina legete̱ ).

Note the emphatic proleptical position of humeis : "But ye who do ye say? This is really what mattered now with Jesus.

Robertson: Luk 9:20

The Christ of God ( Ton christon tou theou ).

The accusative though the infinitive is not expressed. The Anointed of God, the Messiah of God. See note on Luk 2:11 for "the Anointed of the Lord."See note on Mat 16:17 for discussion of Peter’ s testimony in full. Mar 6:29 has simply "the Christ."It is clear from the previous narrative that this is not a new discovery from Simon Peter, but simply the settled conviction of the disciples after all the defections of the Galilean masses and the hostility of the Jerusalem ecclesiastics. The disciples still believed in Jesus as the Messiah of Jewish hope and prophecy. It will become plain that they do not grasp the spiritual conception of the Messiah and his kingdom that Jesus taught, but they are clear that he is the Messiah however faulty their view of the Messiah may be. There was comfort in this for Jesus. They were loyal to him.

Robertson: Luk 9:21

To tell this to no man ( mēdeni legein touto ).

Indirect command with the negative infinitive after commanded (parēggeilen ). It had been necessary for Jesus to cease using the word Messiah (Christos ) about himself because of the political meaning to the Jews. Its use by the disciples would lead to revolution as was plain after the feeding of the five thousand (Joh 6:15).

Robertson: Luk 9:22

Rejected ( apodokimasthēnai ).

First aorist passive infinitive of apodokimazō , to reject after trial.

Robertson: Luk 9:22

The third day ( tēi tritēi hēmerāi ).

Locative case of time as in Mat 16:21. Here in the parallel passage Mar 8:31 has "after three days"(meta treis hēmeras ) in precisely the same sense. That is to say, "after three days"is just a free way of saying "on the third day"and cannot mean "on the fourth day"if taken too literally. For discussion of this plain prediction of the death of Christ with various details see note on Mat 16:21 and note on Mar 8:31. It was a melancholy outlook that depressed the disciples as Mark and Matthew show in the protest of Peter and his rebuke.

Robertson: Luk 9:23

He said unto all ( elegen de pros pantas ).

This is like Luke (cf. Luk 9:43). Jesus wanted all (the multitude with his disciples, as Mar 8:34 has it) to understand the lesson of self-sacrifice. They could not yet understand the full meaning of Christ’ s words as applied to his approaching death of which he had been speaking. But certainly the shadow of the cross is already across the path of Jesus as he is here speaking. For details (soul, life, forfeit, gain, profit, lose, world) see notes on Mat 16:24-26 and note on Mar 8:34-37. The word for lose (apolesei , from apollumi , a very common verb) is used in the sense of destroy, kill, lose, as here. Note the mercantile terms in this passage (gain, lose, fine or forfeit, exchange).

Robertson: Luk 9:23

Daily ( kath' hēmeran ).

Peculiar to Luke in this incident. Take up the cross (his own cross) daily (aorist tense, āratō ), but keep on following me (akoloutheitō , present tense). The cross was a familiar figure in Palestine. It was rising before Jesus as his destiny. Each man has his own cross to meet and bear.

Robertson: Luk 9:26

Whosoever shall be ashamed ( hos an epaischunthēi ).

Rather, Whosoever is ashamed as in Mar 8:38. The first aorist passive subjunctive in an indefinite relative clause with an . The passive verb is transitive here also. This verb is from epi and aischunē , shame (in the eyes of men). Jesus endured the shame of the cross (Heb 12:2). The man at the feast who had to take a lower seat did it with shame (Luk 14:9). Paul is not ashamed of the Gospel (Rom 1:16). Onesiphorus was not ashamed of Paul (2Ti 1:16).

Robertson: Luk 9:26

In his own glory ( en tēi doxēi autou ).

This item added to what is in Mar 8:38; Mat 16:27.

Robertson: Luk 9:27

Till they see ( heōs an idōsin ).

Second aorist active subjunctive with heōs and an referring to the future, an idiomatic construction. So in Mar 9:1; Mat 16:28. In all three passages "shall not taste of death"(ou mē geusōntai thanatou , double negative with aorist middle subjunctive) occurs also. Rabbinical writings use this figure. Like a physician Christ tasted death that we may see how to die. Jesus referred to the cross as "this cup"(Mar 14:36; Mat 26:39; Luk 22:42). Mark speaks of the kingdom of God as "come"(elēluthuian , second perfect active participle). Matthew as "coming"(erchomenon ) referring to the Son of man, while Luke has neither form. See Matthew and Mark for discussion of the theories of interpretation of this difficult passage. The Transfiguration follows in a week and may be the first fulfilment in the mind of Jesus. It may also symbolically point to the second coming.

Robertson: Luk 9:28

About eight days ( hōsei hēmerai oktō ).

A nominativus pendens without connexion or construction. Mar 9:2 (Mat 17:1) has "after six days"which agrees with the general statement.

Robertson: Luk 9:28

Into the mountain ( eis to oros ).

Probably Mount Hermon because we know that Jesus was near Caesarea Philippi when Peter made the confession (Mar 8:27; Mat 16:13). Hermon is still the glory of Palestine from whose heights one can view the whole of the land. It was a fit place for the Transfiguration.

Robertson: Luk 9:28

To pray ( proseuxasthai ).

Peculiar to Luke who so often mentions Christ’ s habit of prayer (cf. Luk 3:21). See also Luk 9:29 "as he was praying"(en tōi proseuchesthai , one of Luke’ s favourite idioms).

Robertson: Luk 9:28

His countenance was altered ( egeneto to eidos tou prosōpou autou heteron ).

Literally, "the appearance of his face became different."Mat 17:2 says that "his face did shine as the sun."Luke does not use the word "transfigured"(metemorphōthē ) in Mar 9:2; Mat 17:2. He may have avoided this word because of the pagan associations with this word as Ovid’ s Metamorphoses .

Robertson: Luk 9:28

And his raiment became white and dazzling ( kai ho himatismos autou leukos exastraptōn ).

Literally, And his raiment white radiant. There is no and between "white"and "dazzling."The participle exastraptōn is from the compound verb meaning to flash (astraptō ) out or forth (ex ). The simple verb is common for lightning flashes and bolts, but the compound in the lxx and here alone in the N.T. See note on Mar 9:3 "exceeding white"and the note on Mat 17:2 "white as the light."

Robertson: Luk 9:31

There talked with him ( sunelaloun autōi ).

Imperfect active, were talking with him.

Robertson: Luk 9:31

Who appeared in glory ( hoi ophthentes en doxēi ).

First aorist passive participle of horaō . This item peculiar to Luke. Compare Luk 9:26.

Robertson: Luk 9:31

Spake of his decease ( elegon tēn exodon ).

Imperfect active, were talking about his exodus (departure from earth to heaven) very much like our English word "decease"(Latin decessus , a going away). The glorious light graphically revealed Moses and Elijah talking with Jesus about the very subject concerning which Peter had dared to rebuke Jesus for mentioning (Mar 8:32; Mat 16:22). This very word exodus (way out) in the sense of death occurs in 2Pe 1:15 and is followed by a brief description of the Transfiguration glory. Other words for death (thanatos ) in the N.T. are ekbasis , going out as departure (Heb 13:7), aphixis , departing (Act 20:29), analusis , loosening anchor (2Ti 4:6) and analusai (Phi 1:23).

Robertson: Luk 9:31

To accomplish ( plēroun ).

To fulfil. Moses had led the Exodus from Egypt. Jesus will accomplish the exodus of God’ s people into the Promised Land on high. See notes on Mark and note on Matthew for discussion of significance of the appearance of Moses and Elijah as representatives of law and prophecy and with a peculiar death. The purpose of the Transfiguration was to strengthen the heart of Jesus as he was praying long about his approaching death and to give these chosen three disciples a glimpse of his glory for the hour of darkness coming. No one on earth understood the heart of Jesus and so Moses and Elijah came. The poor disciples utterly failed to grasp the significance of it all.

Robertson: Luk 9:32

Were heavy with sleep ( ēsan bebarēmenoi hupnōi ).

Periphrastic past perfect of bareō , a late form for the ancient barunō (not in N.T. save Textus Receptus in Luk 21:34). This form, rare and only in passive (present, aorist, perfect) in the N.T., is like barunō , from barus , and that from baros , weight, burden (Gal 6:2). Hupnōi is in the instrumental case. They had apparently climbed the mountain in the early part of the night and were now overcome with sleep as Jesus prolonged his prayer. Luke alone tells of their sleep. The same word is used of the eyes of these three disciples in the Garden of Gethsemane (Mat 26:43) and of the hearts of many (Luk 21:34).

Robertson: Luk 9:32

But when they were fully awake ( diagrēgorēsantes de ).

First aorist active participle of this late (Herodian) and rare compound verb (here alone in the N.T.), diagrēgoreō (Luke is fond of compounds with dia ). The simple verb grēgoreō (from the second perfect active egrēgora ) is also late, but common in the lxx and the N.T. The effect of dia can be either to remain awake in spite of desire to sleep (margin of Revised Version) or to become thoroughly awake (ingressive aorist tense also) as Revised Version has it. This is most likely correct. The Syriac Sinaitic has it "When they awoke."Certainly they had been through a strain.

Robertson: Luk 9:32

His glory ( tēn doxan autou ).

See also Luk 9:26 in the words of Jesus.

Robertson: Luk 9:33

As they were departing from him ( en tōi diachōrizesthai autous ap' autou ).

Peculiar to Luke and another instance of Luke’ s common idiom of en with the articular infinitive in a temporal clause. This common verb occurs here only in the N.T. The present middle voice means to separate oneself fully (direct middle). This departing of Moses and Elijah apparently accompanied Peter’ s remark as given in all three Gospels. See for details on Mark and Matthew.

Robertson: Luk 9:33

Master ( Epistata )

here, Rabbi (Mar 9:5), Lord (Kurie , Mat 17:4).

Robertson: Luk 9:33

Let us make ( poiēsōmen , first aorist active subjunctive)

as in Mar 9:5, but Mat 17:4 has "I will make"(poiēsō ). It was near the time of the feast of the tabernacles. So Peter proposes that they celebrate it up here instead of going to Jerusalem for it as they did a bit later (John 7).

Robertson: Luk 9:33

Not knowing what he said ( mē eidōs ho legei ).

Literally, not understanding what he was saying (mē , regular negative with participle and legei , present indicative retained in relative clause in indirect discourse). Luke puts it more bluntly than Mark (Peter’ s account), "For he wist not what to answer; for they became sore afraid"(Mar 9:6). Peter acted according to his impulsive nature and spoke up even though he did not know what to say or even what he was saying when he spoke. He was only half awake as Luke explains and he was sore afraid as Mark (Peter) explains. He had bewilderment enough beyond a doubt, but it was Peter who spoke, not James and John.

Robertson: Luk 9:34

Overshadowed them ( epeskiazen autous ).

Imperfect active (aorist in Mat 17:5) as present participle in Mar 9:7, inchoative, the shadow began to come upon them. On Hermon as on many high mountains a cloud will swiftly cover the cap. I have seen this very thing at Blue Ridge, North Carolina. This same verb is used of the Holy Spirit upon Mary (Luk 1:35). Nowhere else in the N.T., though an old verb (epi , skiazō , from skia , shadow).

Robertson: Luk 9:34

As they entered into the cloud ( en tōi eiselthein autous eis tēn nephelēn ).

Luke’ s idiom of en with the articular infinitive again (aorist active this time, on the entering in as to them). All six "entered into"the cloud, but only Peter, James, and John "became afraid"(ephobēthēsan , ingressive first aorist passive).||

Robertson: Luk 9:35

If ekeinous be accepted here instead of autous , the three disciples would be outside of the cloud. @@Out of the cloud ( ek tēs nephelēs ).

This voice was the voice of the Father like that at the baptism of Jesus (Luk 3:22; Mar 1:11; Mat 3:17) and like that near the end (Joh 12:28-30) when the people thought it was a clap of thunder or an angel.

Robertson: Luk 9:35

My son, my chosen ( Ho huios mou , ho eklelegmenos ).

So the best documents (Aleph B L Syriac Sinaitic). The others make it "My Beloved"as in Mar 9:7; Mat 17:5. These disciples are commanded to hear Jesus, God’ s Son, even when he predicts his death, a pointed rebuke to Simon Peter as to all.

Robertson: Luk 9:36

When the voice came ( en toi genesthai tēn phōnēn ).

Another example of Luke’ s idiom, this time with the second aorist middle infinitive. Literally, "on the coming as to the voice"(accusative of general reference). It does not mean that it was "after"the voice was past that Jesus was found alone, but simultaneously with it (ingressive aorist tense).

Robertson: Luk 9:36

Alone ( monos ).

Same adjective in Mar 9:8; Mat 17:8 translated "only."Should be rendered "alone"there also.

Robertson: Luk 9:36

They held their peace ( esigēsan ).

Ingressive aorist active of common verb sigaō , became silent. In Mar 9:9; Mat 17:9, Jesus commanded them not to tell till His Resurrection from the dead. Luke notes that they in awe obeyed that command and it turns out that they finally forgot the lesson of this night’ s great experience. By and by they will be able to tell them, but not "in those days."

Robertson: Luk 9:36

Which they had seen ( hōn heōrakan ).

Attraction of the relative ha into the case of the unexpressed antecedent toutōn . Perfect active indicative heōrakan with Koiné (papyri) form for the ancient heōrakāsin changed by analogy to the first aorist ending in -an instead of -asin .

Robertson: Luk 9:37

On the next day ( tēi hexēs hēmerāi ).

Alone in Luke. It shows that the Transfiguration took place on the preceding night.

Robertson: Luk 9:37

They were come down ( katelthontōn autōn ).

Genitive absolute of second aorist active participle of katerchomai , a common enough verb, but in the N.T. only in Luke’ s writings save Jam 3:15.

Robertson: Luk 9:37

Met him ( sunēntēsen autōi ).

First aorist active of sunantaō , common compound verb, to meet with, only in Luke’ s writings in the N.T. save Heb 7:1. With associative instrumental case autōi .

Robertson: Luk 9:38

Master ( Didaskale ).

Teacher as in Mar 9:17.

Robertson: Luk 9:38

Lord ( kurie , Mat 17:15).

Robertson: Luk 9:38

To look upon ( epiblepsai ).

Aorist active infinitive of epiblepō (epi , upon, blepō , look), common verb, but in the N.T. only here and Jam 2:3 except Luk 1:48 in quotation from lxx. This compound verb is common in medical writers for examining carefully the patient.

Robertson: Luk 9:38

Mine only child ( monogenēs moi ).

Only in Luke as already about an only child in Luk 7:12; Luk 8:42.

Robertson: Luk 9:39

Suddenly ( exephnēs ).

Old adverb, but in the N.T. only in Luke’ s writings save Mar 13:36. Used by medical writers of sudden attacks of disease like epilepsy.

Robertson: Luk 9:39

It teareth him that he foameth ( sparassei auton meta aphrou ).

Literally, "It tears him with (accompanied with, meta ) foam"(old word, aphros , only here in the N.T.). From sparassō , to convulse, a common verb, but in the N.T. only here and Mar 1:26; Mar 9:26 (and sunsparassō , Mar 9:20). See Mar 9:17; and note on Mat 17:15 for variations in the symptoms in each Gospel. The use of meta aphrou is a medical item.

Robertson: Luk 9:39

Hardly ( molis ).

Late word used in place of mogis , the old Greek term (in some MSS. here) and alone in Luke’ s writings in the N.T. save 1Pe 4:18; Rom 5:7.

Robertson: Luk 9:39

Bruising him sorely ( suntribon auton ).

Common verb for rubbing together, crushing together like chains (Mar 5:4) or as a vase (Mar 14:3). See notes on Mat 17:15 and notes on Mar 9:17 for discussion of details here.

Robertson: Luk 9:41

How long shall I be with you and bear with you? ( heōs pote esomai pros humās kai anexomai humōṉ ).

Here the two questions of Mar 9:19 (only one in Mat 17:17) are combined in one sentence.

Robertson: Luk 9:41

Bear with ( anexomai , direct middle future)

is, hold myself from you (ablative case humōn ).

Robertson: Luk 9:41

Faithless ( apistos )

is disbelieving and perverse (diestrammenē , perfect passive participle of diastrephō ), is twisted, turned, or torn in two.

Robertson: Luk 9:42

As he was yet a coming ( eti proserchomenou autou ).

Genitive absolute. While he was yet coming (the boy, that is, not Jesus). Note quaint English "a coming"retained in the Revised Version.

Robertson: Luk 9:42

Dashed him ( errēxen auton ).

First aorist active indicative of rēgnumi or rēssō , to rend or convulse, a common verb, used sometimes of boxers giving knockout blows.

Robertson: Luk 9:42

Tare grievously ( sunesparaxen ).

Rare word as only here and Mar 9:20 in the N.T., which see note.

Robertson: Luk 9:42

Gave him back to his father ( apedōken auton tōi patri autou ).

Tender touch alone in Luke as in Luk 7:15.

Robertson: Luk 9:43

They were all astonished ( exeplēssonto de pantes ).

Imperfect passive of the common verb ekplēssō or ekplēgnumi , to strike out, a picturesque description of the amazement of all at the easy victory of Jesus where the nine disciples had failed.

Robertson: Luk 9:43

At the majesty of God ( epi tēi megaleiotēti tou theou ).

A late word from the adjective megaleios and that from megas (great). In the N.T. only here and Act 19:27 of Artemis and in 2Pe 1:16 of the Transfiguration. It came to be used by the emperors like our word "Majesty."

Robertson: Luk 9:43

Which he did ( hois epoiei ).

This is one of the numerous poor verse divisions. This sentence has nothing to do with the first part of the verse. The imperfect active epoiei covers a good deal not told by Luke (See Mar 9:30 = Mat 17:22). Note the attraction of the relative hois into the case of pāsin , its antecedent.

Robertson: Luk 9:44

Sink into your ears ( Thesthe humeis eis ta ōta humōn ).

Second aorist imperative middle of tithēmi , common verb. "Do you (note emphatic position) yourselves (whatever others do) put into your ears."No word like "sink"here. The same prediction here as in Mar 9:31 = Mat 17:22 about the Son of man only without mention of death and resurrection as there. See note on Mar 9:31 for discussion.

Robertson: Luk 9:45

It was concealed from them ( ēn parakekalummenon ap' autōn ).

Periphrastic past perfect of parakaluptō , a common verb, but only here in the N.T., to cover up, to hide from. This item only in Luke.

Robertson: Luk 9:45

That they should not perceive it ( hina mē aisthōntai auto ).

Second aorist middle subjunctive of the common verb aisthanomai used with hina mē , negative purpose. This explanation at least relieves the disciples to some extent of full responsibility for their ignorance about the death of Jesus as Mar 9:32 observes, as does Luke here that they were afraid to ask him. Plummer says, "They were not allowed to understand the saying then, in order that they might remember it afterwards, and see that Jesus had met His sufferings with full knowledge and free will."Perhaps also, if they had fully understood, they might have lacked courage to hold on to the end. But it is a hard problem.

Robertson: Luk 9:46

A reasoning ( dialogismos ).

A dispute. The word is from dialogizomai , the verb used in Mar 9:33 about this incident. In Luke this dispute follows immediately after the words of Jesus about his death. They were afraid to ask Jesus about that subject, but Mat 18:1 states that they came to Jesus to settle it.

Robertson: Luk 9:46

Which of them should be greatest ( to tis an eiē meizōn autōn ).

Note the article with the indirect question, the clause being in the accusative of general reference. The optative with an is here because it was so in the direct question (potential optative with an retained in the indirect). But Luke makes it plain that it was not an abstract problem about greatness in the kingdom of heaven as they put it to Jesus (Mat 18:1), but a personal problem in their own group. Rivalries and jealousies had already come and now sharp words. By and by James and John will be bold enough to ask for the first places for themselves in this political kingdom which they expect (Mar 10:35; Mat 20:20). It is a sad spectacle.

Robertson: Luk 9:47

Took a little child ( epilabomenos paidion ).

Second aorist middle participle of the common verb epilambanō . Strictly, Taking a little child to himself (indirect middle). Mar 9:36 has merely the active labōn of the simple verb lambanō . Set him by his side (estēsen auto par' heautōi ). "In his arms"Mar 9:36 has it, "in the midst of them"Mat 18:3 says. All three attitudes following one another (the disciples probably in a circle around Jesus anyhow) and now the little child (Peter’ s child?) was slipped down by the side of Jesus as he gave the disciples an object lesson in humility which they sorely needed.

Robertson: Luk 9:48

This little child ( touto to paidion ).

As Jesus spoke he probably had his hand upon the head of the child. Mat 18:5 has "one such little child."The honoured disciple, Jesus holds, is the one who welcomes little children "in my name"(epi tōi onomati mou ), upon the basis of my name and my authority. It was a home-thrust against the selfish ambition of the Twelve. Ministry to children is a mark of greatness. Have preachers ever yet learned how to win children to Christ? They are allowed to slip away from home, from Sunday school, from church, from Christ.

Robertson: Luk 9:48

For he that is least among you all ( ho gar mikroteros en pasin humin huparchōn ).

Note the use of huparchō as in Luk 8:41; Luk 23:50. The comparative mikroteros is in accord with the Koiné idiom where the superlative is vanishing (nearly gone in modern Greek). But great (megas ) is positive and very strong. This saying peculiar to Luke here.

Robertson: Luk 9:49

And John answered ( apokritheis de Iōanēs ).

As if John wanted to change the subject after the embarrassment of the rebuke for their dispute concerning greatness (Luk 9:46-48).

Robertson: Luk 9:49

Master ( epistata ).

Only in Luke in the N.T. as already four times (Luk 5:5; Luk 8:24, Luk 8:45; Luk 9:33).

Robertson: Luk 9:49

We forbade him ( ekōluomen auton ).

Conative imperfect as in Mar 9:38, We tried to hinder him.

Robertson: Luk 9:49

Because he followeth not with us ( hoti ouk akolouthei meth hēmōn ).

Present tense preserved for vividness where Mark has imperfect e4kolouthei. Note also here "with us"(meth' hēmōn ) where Mark has associative instrumental hēmin . It is a pitiful specimen of partisan narrowness and pride even in the Beloved Disciple, one of the Sons of Thunder. The man was doing the Master’ s work in the Master’ s name and with the Master’ s power, but did not run with the group of the Twelve.

Robertson: Luk 9:50

"Against you is for you" ( kath' hūmōn huper hūmōn ).

Mar 9:40 has "against us is for us"(hēmōn ... hēmōn ). The Koiné Greek ē and ū were often pronounced alike and it was easy to interchange them. So many MSS. here read just as in Mark. The point is precisely the same as it is a proverbial saying. See a similar saying in Luk 11:23 : "He that is not with me is against me."The prohibition here as in Mar 9:39 is general: "Stop hindering him"(mē kōluete , mē and the present imperative, not mē and the aorist subjunctive). The lesson of toleration in methods of work for Christ is needed today.

Robertson: Luk 9:51

When the days were well-nigh come ( en tōi sumplērousthai tas hēmeras ).

Luke’ s common idiom en with the articular infinitive, "in the being fulfilled as to the days."This common compound occurs in the N.T. only here and Luk 8:23; Act 2:1. The language here makes it plain that Jesus was fully conscious of the time of his death as near as already stated (Luk 9:22, Luk 9:27, Luk 9:31).

Robertson: Luk 9:51

That he should be received up ( tēs analēmpseōs autou ).

Literally, "of his taking up."It is an old word (from Hippocrates on), but here alone in the N.T. It is derived from analambanō (the verb used of the Ascension, Act 1:2, Act 1:11, Act 1:22; 1Ti 3:16) and refers here to the Ascension of Jesus after His Resurrection. Not only in John’ s Gospel (Joh 17:5) does Jesus reveal a yearning for a return to the Father, but it is in the mind of Christ here as evidently at the Transfiguration (Luk 9:31) and later in Luk 12:49.

Robertson: Luk 9:51

He steadfastly set his face ( autos to prosōpon estērisen ).

Note emphatic autos , he himself , with fixedness of purpose in the face of difficulty and danger. This look on Christ’ s face as he went to his doom is noted later in Mar 10:32. It is a Hebraistic idiom (nine times in Ezekiel), this use of face here, but the verb (effective aorist active) is an old one from stērizō (from stērigx , a support), to set fast, to fix.

Robertson: Luk 9:51

To go to Jerusalem ( tou poreuesthai eis Ierousalēm ).

Genitive infinitive of purpose. Luke three times mentions Christ making his way to Jerusalem (Luk 9:51; Luk 13:22; Luk 17:11) and John mentions three journeys to Jerusalem during the later ministry (Joh 7:10; Joh 11:17; Joh 12:1). It is natural to take these journeys to be the same in each of these Gospels. Luke does not make definite location of each incident and John merely supplements here and there. But in a broad general way they seem to correspond.

Robertson: Luk 9:52

Sent messengers ( apesteilen aggelous ).

As a precaution since he was going to Jerusalem through Samaria. The Samaritans did not object when people went north from Jerusalem through their country. He was repudiating Mount Gerizim by going by it to Jerusalem. This was an unusual precaution by Jesus and we do not know who the messengers ( angels ) were.

Robertson: Luk 9:52

To make ready for him ( hōs hetoimasai autōi ).

Hōs is correct here, not hōste . The only examples of the final use of hōs with the infinitive in the N.T. are this one and Heb 7:9 (absolute use). In Act 20:24 Westcott and Hort read hōs teleiōsō and put hōs teleiōsai in the margin (Robertson, Grammar , p. 1091).

Robertson: Luk 9:53

And they did not receive him ( kai ouk edexanto auton ).

Adversative use of kai = But.

Robertson: Luk 9:53

Because his face was going to Jerusalem ( hoti to prosōpon autou ēn poreuomenon eis Ierousalēm ).

Periphrastic imperfect middle. It was reason enough to the churlish Samaritans.

Robertson: Luk 9:54

Saw this ( idontes ).

Second aorist active participle of horaō . Saw the messengers returning.

Robertson: Luk 9:54

We bid ( theleis eipōmen ).

Deliberative subjunctive eipōmen after theleis without hina , probably two questions, Dost thou wish? Shall we bid? Perhaps the recent appearance of Elijah on the Mount of Transfiguration reminded James and John of the incident in 2Ki 1:10-12. Some MSS. add here "as Elijah did."The language of the lxx is quoted by James and John, these fiery Sons of Thunder. Note the two aorist active infinitives (katabēnai , analōsai , the first ingressive, the second effective).

Robertson: Luk 9:55

But he turned ( strapheis de ).

Second aorist passive participle of strephō , common verb, to turn round. Dramatic act. Some ancient MSS. have here: Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of (ouk oidate poiou pneumatos este ). This sounds like Christ and may be a genuine saying though not a part of Luke’ s Gospel. A smaller number of MSS. add also: For the Son of Man came not to destroy men’ s lives, but to save them (Ho gar huios tou anthrōpou ouk ēlthen psuchas anthrōpōn apolesai alla sōsai ), a saying reminding us of Mat 5:17; Luk 19:10. Certain it is that here Jesus rebuked the bitterness of James and John toward Samaritans as he had already chided John for his narrowness towards a fellow-worker in the kingdom.

Vincent: Luk 9:1

Called together

Matthew and Mark have called to.

Vincent: Luk 9:3

Take ( αἴρετε )

Lit., lift , with a view of carrying away.

Vincent: Luk 9:3

Staves

Following the reading ῥάβδους , for which read ῥάβδον staff.

Vincent: Luk 9:3

Two coats ( ἀνά δύο χιτῶνας )

Lit., two apiece : the force of ἀνά , as in Joh 2:6.

Vincent: Luk 9:4

There abide

See on Mat 10:10.

Vincent: Luk 9:5

Shake off

See on Mat 10:14.

Vincent: Luk 9:6

Throughout the towns ( κατὰ τὰς κώμας )

Rev., rightly, villages. The preposition is distributive, village by village.

Vincent: Luk 9:7

The tetrarch

See on Mat 14:1.

Vincent: Luk 9:7

That was done ( τὰ γινόμενα )

The present participle. Lit., all that is being done.

Vincent: Luk 9:7

Was perplexed ( διηπόρει )

Used by Luke only. From διά , through, and ὰπορέω , to be without a way out. The radical idea of the compound verb seems to be of one who goes through the whole list of possible ways, and finds no way out. Hence, to be in perplexity.

Vincent: Luk 9:9

He desired ( ἐζήτει )

Rev., he sought. He did more than desire.

Vincent: Luk 9:10

Declared ( διηγήσαντο )

Related everything throughout (διά ). See on Luk 8:39; and Luk 1:1.

Vincent: Luk 9:10

Bethsaida

Peculiar to Luke. It means Fishing-place.

Vincent: Luk 9:10

Healed ( ἰᾶτο ) them that had need of healing (θεραπείας )

See on Luk 5:15.

Vincent: Luk 9:12

And when the day began to wear away

Omit when. Render, and the day began, etc. To wear away (κλίνειν ) . Lit., to decline. Wyc., very literally, to bow down.

Vincent: Luk 9:12

Lodge ( καταλύσωσιν )

Peculiar to Luke. Primarily the verb means to break up or dissolve. Hence often in New Testament to destroy (Mat 5:17; Mar 13:2). Intransitively, to take up one's quarters; lodge; either because the harness of the travellers' horses is loosed, or because the fastenings of their garments are untied. The kindred word κατάλυμα , a guest-chamber, occurs, Mar 14:14; or inn, Luk 2:7.

Vincent: Luk 9:12

Victuals ( ἐπισιτισμόν )

Only here in New Testament. Properly a stock of provisions. Thus Xenophon. " Cyrus hastened the whole journey, except when he halted in order to furnish himself with supplies " (ἐπισιτισμοῦ ἕνεκα ) .

Vincent: Luk 9:12

Desert ( ἔρημῳ )

See on Mat 14:15.

Vincent: Luk 9:13

Give ye

The ye emphatic, closing the sentence in the Greek order. See on Mat 14:15.

Vincent: Luk 9:13

Buy food

Compare Mar 6:37.

Vincent: Luk 9:14

In a company ( κλισίας )

The plural, in companies. Lit., table-companies. The word is also used in classical Greek of a couch for reclining at table. Only here in New Testament. See on Mar 6:39.

Vincent: Luk 9:16

Brake and gave ( κατέκλασεν - ἐδίδου )

Note the two tenses, as in Mar 6:41, and see note there.

Vincent: Luk 9:16

To set before ( παραθεῖναι )

Lit., to set beside, since the table was at the side of the guest. A common word for serving up a meal. Compare Luk 10:8; Act 16:34. From the sense of placing beside, comes that of putting in charge, committing (Luk 12:48; Luk 23:46; 1Ti 1:18). Hence the kindred noun παραθήκη (2Ti 1:12), a deposit: that which f halve committed.

Vincent: Luk 9:17

Were filled

See on Mat 5:6.

Vincent: Luk 9:17

There were taken up of fragments that remained to them twelve baskets ( καὶ ἤρθη τὸ περισσεῦσαν αὐτοῖς κλασμάτων κόφινοι δώδεκα )

The Rev. is more accurate, putting the comma after αὐτοῖς to them, instead of after κλασμάτων , fragments; and making the latter word depend on κόφινοι , bas kets. Render, therefore, And there was taken up that which remained over to them, of broken pieces, twelve baskets.

Vincent: Luk 9:17

Baskets

See on Mat 14:20.

Vincent: Luk 9:18

As he was praying

Peculiar to Luke.

Vincent: Luk 9:20

Ye

Emphatic: " but ye, whom do ye say that I am?"

Vincent: Luk 9:20

The Christ of God

Each evangelist gives Peter's confession differently. Matthew, The Christ, the Son of the living God. Mark, The Christ. See on Mat 16:15. On Christ, see on Mat 1:1.

Vincent: Luk 9:21

He straitly charged ( ἐπιτιμήσας )

The word implies an emphatic, solemn charge; its meaning being, strictly, to lay a penalty upon one, and thence, to charge under penalty.

Vincent: Luk 9:21

No man ( μηδενὶ )

The conditional negative: no man, whoever he might be.

Vincent: Luk 9:22

Be rejected ( ἀποδοκιμασθῆναι )

The verb means to reject on scrutiny or trial, and therefore implies deliberate rejection.

Vincent: Luk 9:22

Of the elders ( ἀπό )

Lit., from the side of; on the part of.

Vincent: Luk 9:23

Will come after ( θέλει )

Not the future tense of the verb come, but the present of the verb to will: wills to come. See on Mat 1:19; and Mar 8:34. Rev., properly, would come.

Vincent: Luk 9:23

Daily

Peculiar to Luke.

Vincent: Luk 9:24

Will save ( θέλῃ σῶσαι )

The same construction as will come after (Luk 9:23). Rev., would save.

Vincent: Luk 9:24

Life ( ψυχὴν )

See on soul, Mar 12:30.

Vincent: Luk 9:25

Gain ( κερδήσας )

A merchant's word. Jesus is putting the case as a common-sense question of profit and loss.

Vincent: Luk 9:25

Lose ( ἀπολέσας )

" When he might have been saved" (Bengel). This word, in classical Greek, is used: 1. Of death in battle or elsewhere. 2. Of laying waste, as a city or heritage. 3. Of losing of life, property, or other objects. As an active verb, to kill or demolish. 4. Of being demoralized, morally abandoned or ruined, as children under bad influences. In New Testament of killing (Mat 2:13; Mat 12:14). 5. Of destroying and perishing, not only of human life, but of material and intellectual things (1Co 1:19; Joh 6:27; Mar 2:22; 1Pe 1:7; Jam 1:11; Heb 1:11). 6. Of losing (Mat 10:6, Mat 10:42; Luk 15:4, Luk 15:6, Luk 15:8). Of moral abandonment (Luk 15:24, Luk 15:32). 7. Of the doom of the impenitent (Mat 10:28; Luk 13:3; Joh 3:15; Joh 10:28; 2Pe 3:9; Rom 2:12.

Vincent: Luk 9:25

Cast away ( ζημιωθείς )

Another business term. The word means to fine, amerce, mulct; to punish by exacting forfeit. Hence Rev., correctly, forfeit his own self. See on win your souls, Luk 21:19. Also on Mat 16:26.

Vincent: Luk 9:26

Shall be ashamed ( ἐπαισχυνθῇ )

The feeling expressed by this word has reference to incurring dishonor or shame in the eyes of men. It is " the grief a mail conceives from his own imperfections considered with relation to the world taking notice of them; grief upon the sense of disesteem" (" South," cit. by Trench). Hence it does not spring out of a reverence for right in itself, but from fear of the knowledge and opinion of men. Thus in the use of the kindred noun αἰσχύνη , shame, in the New Testament. In Luk 14:9, the man who impudently puts himself in the highest place at the feast, and is bidden by his host to go lower down, begins with shame to take the lowest place; not from a right sense of his folly and conceit, but from being humiliated in the eyes of the guests. Thus, Heb 12:2, Christ is said to have " endured the shame, " i.e., the public disgrace attaching to crucifixion. So, too, in the use of the verb, Rom 1:16 : " I am not ashamed of the gospel," though espousing its cause subjects me to the contempt of the Jew and of the Greek, to whom it is a stumbling-block and foolishness. Onesiphorus was not ashamed to be known as the friend of a prisoner (2Ti 1:16). Compare Heb 2:11; Heb 11:16. It is used of the Son of Man here by a strong metaphor. Literally, of course, the glorified Christ cannot experience the sense of shame, but the idea at the root is the same. It will be as if he should feel himself disgraced before the Father and the holy angels in owning any fellowship with those who have been ashamed of him.

Vincent: Luk 9:26

His glory, etc

Threefold glory. His own, as the exalted Messiah; the glory of God, who owns him as his dearly beloved son, and commits to him the judgment; and the glory of the angels who attend him.

Vincent: Luk 9:27

Taste of death

The word taste, in the sense of experience, is often used in classical Greek; as, to taste of toils, of sorrow, of freedom, but never of death. The phrase, taste of death, is common in Rabbinical writings. In the New Testament only here and Heb 2:9, used of Christ. Chrysostom (cited by Alford) compares Christ to a physician who first tastes his medicines to encourage the sick to take them.

Vincent: Luk 9:27

The kingdom of God

See on Luk 6:20.

Vincent: Luk 9:28

A mountain

Rev., the mountain. The tradition that this mountain was Tabor is generally abandoned, and Mount Hermon is commonly supposed to have been the scene of the transfiguration. " Hermon, which is indeed the centre of all the Promised Land, from the entering in of Hamath unto the river of Egypt; the mount of fruitfulness, from which the springs of Jordan descended to the valleys of Israel. Along its mighty forest-avenues, until the grass grew fair with the mountain lilies, his feet dashed in the dew of Hermon, he must have gone to pray his first recorded prayer about death, and from the steep of it, before he knelt, could see to the south all the dwelling-place of the people that had sat in darkness, and seen the great light - the land of Zabulon and of Naphtali, Galilee of the nations; could see, even with his human sight, the gleam of that lake by Capernaum and Chorazin, and many a place loved by him and vainly ministered to, whose house was now left unto them desolate; and, chief of all, far in the utmost blue, the hills above Nazareth, sloping down to his old home: hills on which the stones yet lay loose that had been taken up to cast at him, when he left them forever" (Ruskin, " Modern Painters," iv., 374).

Vincent: Luk 9:28

To pray

Peculiar to Luke.

Vincent: Luk 9:29

Was altered ( ἐγένετο ἕτερον )

Lit., became different . Luke avoids Matthew's word, μεταμορφώθη , was metamorphosed. He was writing for Greek readers, to whom that word represented the transformations of heathen deities into other forms. See, for instance, the story of the capture of Proteus by Menelaus, in the fourth book of Homer's " Odyssey." See on Mat 17:2.

Vincent: Luk 9:29

White ( λευκὸς )

In classical Greek very indefinite as an expression of color; being used, not only of the whiteness of the snow, but of gray dust. Its original sense is clear. All three evangelists use the word, but combined with different terms. Thus, Matthew, as the light. Mark, στίλβοντα , glistering (see on Mar 9:3). Luke, ἐξαστράπτων (only here in New Testament), flashing as with the brilliance of lightning. Rev., dazzling.

Vincent: Luk 9:30

There talked ( συνελάλουν )

The imperfect is graphic; as the vision revealed itself, the two were in the act of talking.

Vincent: Luk 9:31

This verse is peculiar to Luke.

Spake ( ἔλεγον )

Imperfect, were speaking.

Vincent: Luk 9:31

Decease ( ἔξοδον )

The Rev. retains the word of the A. V., though it has, to modern ears, a somewhat formal sound. No word, however, could more accurately represent the original, which is compounded of ἐξ , out of, and ὁδός , a journeying; and thus corresponds to the Latin decessus, a going away, whence the word decease. The Greek word is familiar to us as exodus, applied principally to the migration of the Hebrews from Egypt, and thus used at Heb 11:22, departing. In the mouth of Christ it covers the ideas both of death and ascension. Peter uses it of his own death (2Pe 1:15, where see note).

Vincent: Luk 9:31

He should accomplish ( ἔμελλεν πληροῦν )

Better, as Rev., was about to accomplish. " Accomplish," or " fulfil , " is very significant with reference to Christ's death. Moses and Joshua had begun an exodus from Egypt, but had not accomplished the going out of God's people from this present world. See Heb 3:18; Heb 4:8.

Vincent: Luk 9:32

Heavy ( βεβαρημένοι )

The perfect participle. Lit., burdened or oppressed. " It was but natural for these men of simple habits, at night, and after the long ascent, and in the strong mountain air, to be heavy with sleep; and we also know it as a psychological fact, that, in quick reaction, after the overpowering influence of the strongest emotions, drowsiness would creep over their limbs and senses" (Edersheim).

Vincent: Luk 9:33

As they were departing ( ἐν τῷ διαχωρίζεσθαι ἀυτοὺς )

Lit., in their departing. The verb only here in New Testament. The whole sentence is peculiar to Luke's narrative.

Vincent: Luk 9:33

Master

See on Luk 5:5.

Vincent: Luk 9:33

Let us make

See on Mat 17:4.

Vincent: Luk 9:33

Tabernacles

See on Mat 17:4. " Jesus might have smiled at the naive proposal of the eager apostle that they six should dwell forever in the little succo=th of wattled boughs on the slopes of Hermon" (Farrar).

Vincent: Luk 9:33

Not knowing what he said

Not implying any reproach to Peter, but merely as a mark of his bewilderment in his state of ecstasy.

Vincent: Luk 9:34

A cloud

" A strange peculiarity has been noticed about Hermon, in the extreme rapidity of the formation of cloud on the summit. In a few minutes a thick cap forms over the top of the mountain, and as quickly disperses and entirely disappears" (Edersheim).

Vincent: Luk 9:34

Overshadowed them ( ἐπεσκίαζεν )

A beautiful imperfect: " began to overshadow them;" thus harmonizing with the words, " as they entered into." Them (αὐτοὺς ) must, I think, be confined to Moses, Elias, and Jesus. Grammatically, it might include all the six; but the disciples hear the voice out of the cloud, and the cloud, as a symbol of the divine presence, rests on these three as a sign to the disciples. See Exo 14:19; Exo 19:16; 1Ki 8:10; Psa 104:3.

Vincent: Luk 9:36

When the voice was past ( ἐν τῷ γενέσθαι τὴν φωνὴν )

Lit., in the coming to pass of the voice. Rev., when the voice came, with A. V. in margin.

Vincent: Luk 9:37

Come down ( κατελθόντων )

Very frequent in Luke, and only once elsewhere: Jam 3:15.

Vincent: Luk 9:38

Master ( διδάσκαλε )

Teacher.

Vincent: Luk 9:38

Look upon ( ἐπίβλεψαι )

Only here and Jam 2:3. To look with pitying regard; and by medical writers of examining the condition of a patient.

Vincent: Luk 9:39

Taketh ( λαμβάνει )

See on Mar 9:18.

Vincent: Luk 9:39

Suddenly ( ἐξαίφνης )

Used only once outside of the writings of Luke: Mar 13:36. Naturally, frequent in medical writers, of sudden attacks of disease. Luke has more medical details in his account than the other evangelists. He mentions the sudden coming on of the fits, and their lasting a long time. Mr. Hobart remarks that Aretaeus, a physician of Luke's time, in treating of epilepsy, admits the possibility of its being produced by demoniacal agency. Epilepsy was called by physicians " the sacred disease."

Vincent: Luk 9:39

Bruising ( συντρῖβον )

See on bruised, Luk 4:18. The word literally means crushing together. Rev. expresses the σύν , together, by sorely. Compare the details in Mark, gnashing the teeth and pining away (Mar 9:18). The details in Mar 9:21, Mar 9:22, we might rather expect to find in Luke; especially Christ's question, how long he had been subject to these attacks. See note on Mar 9:18.

Vincent: Luk 9:41

Faithless

See on Mar 9:19.

Vincent: Luk 9:41

Perverse

See on Mat 17:17.

Vincent: Luk 9:41

How long ( ἕως πότε )

Lit., until when.

Vincent: Luk 9:41

Suffer ( ἀνέξομαι )

Better as Rev., bear with . See Act 18:14; 2Co 11:1. The literal meaning is to " bear up (ἀνά ) under."

Vincent: Luk 9:42

Threw him down ( ἔῤῥηξεν )

See on teareth, Mar 9:18.

Vincent: Luk 9:42

Tare ( συνεσπάραξεν )

Only here in New Testament. Con vulse, which is the exact Latin equivalent, would, perhaps, be the nearest rendering. Σπαραγμός , a kindred noun, is the word for a cramp.

Vincent: Luk 9:43

Astonished ( ἐξεπλήσσοντο )

See on Mat 7:28.

Vincent: Luk 9:43

Mighty power ( μεγαλειότητι )

Used only by Luke and at 2Pe 1:16, on which see note.

Vincent: Luk 9:43

He did ( ἐποίει )

Imperfect. Better, was doing.

Vincent: Luk 9:44

Let these sayings sink down into your ears

Lit., put these sayings into your ears.

Vincent: Luk 9:44

Shall be delivered ( μέλλει παραδίδοσθαι )

Rather, is about to be delivered.

Vincent: Luk 9:46

A reasoning ( διαλογισμὸς )

A debate or discussion. See on Luk 24:38, and Jam 1:22; Jam 2:4.

Vincent: Luk 9:47

He took a little child ( ἐπιλαβόμενος παιδίου )

Strictly, having laid hold of.

Vincent: Luk 9:47

By him ( παῤ ἑαυτῷ )

Lit., by himself. Mark alone record the taking him in his arms.

Vincent: Luk 9:48

In my name

See on Mat 18:5.

Vincent: Luk 9:51

When the time was come ( ἐν τῷ συμπληροῦσθαι τὰς ἡμέρας )

Lit., in the fulfilling of the days. This means when the days were being fulfilled; not when they were fulfilled: when the time was drawing near. Rev., were well-nigh come. Luke is speaking of a period beginning with the first announcement of his sufferings, and extending to the time of his being received up.

Vincent: Luk 9:51

That he should be received up ( τῆς ἀναλήμψεως αὐτοῦ )

Lit., the days of his being taken up: his ascension into heaven. Ἀνάλημψις , occurs nowhere else in the New Testament; but the kindred verb, ἀναλαμβάνω , is the usual word for being received into heaven. See Act 1:2, Act 1:11, Act 1:22; 1Ti 3:16.

Wesley: Luk 9:1

Mat 10:1; Mar 6:7.

Wesley: Luk 9:4

That is, stay in that house till ye leave the city.

Wesley: Luk 9:7

And soon after by Herod himself. Mat 14:1; Mar 6:14.

Wesley: Luk 9:8

He could not rise again, because he did not die.

Wesley: Luk 9:10

Mar 6:30.

Wesley: Luk 9:12

Mat 14:15; Mar 6:35; Joh 6:3.

Wesley: Luk 9:18

From the multitude.

Wesley: Luk 9:18

When he had done praying, during which they probably stayed at a distance. Mat 14:13; Mar 8:27.

Wesley: Luk 9:22

Ye must prepare for a scene far different from this.

Wesley: Luk 9:23

The necessity of this duty has been shown in many places: the extent of it is specified here, daily - Therefore that day is lost wherein no cross is taken up.

Wesley: Luk 9:24

Mat 16:25; Mar 8:35; Joh 12:25.

Wesley: Luk 9:28

Mat 17:1; Mar 9:2.

Wesley: Luk 9:31

Like Christ with whom they talked.

Wesley: Luk 9:32

The very same expression in which it is described by St. John, Joh 1:14; and by St. Peter, 2Pe 1:16.

Wesley: Luk 9:34

A cloud came and overshadowed them all. And they, the apostles, feared, while they (Moses and Elijah) entered into the cloud, which took them away.

Wesley: Luk 9:37

Mat 17:14; Mar 9:14.

Wesley: Luk 9:44

That is, consider them deeply. In joy remember the cross. So wisely does our Lord balance praise with sufferings. Mat 17:22; Mar 9:31.

Wesley: Luk 9:46

This kind of reasoning always arose at the most improper times that could be imagined.

Wesley: Luk 9:47

Mat 18:2; Mar 9:37.

Wesley: Luk 9:48

If ye would be truly great, humble yourselves to the meanest offices. He that is least in his own eyes shall be great indeed.

Wesley: Luk 9:49

Mar 9:38.

Wesley: Luk 9:51

That is, the time of his passion was now at hand. St. Luke looks through this, to the glory which was to follow.

Wesley: Luk 9:51

Without fear of his enemies, or shame of the cross, Heb 12:2.

Wesley: Luk 9:52

A lodging and needful entertainment for him and those with him.

Wesley: Luk 9:53

It plainly appeared, he was going to worship at the temple, and thereby, in effect, to condemn the Samaritan worship at Mount Gerizim.

Wesley: Luk 9:54

At or near this very place, which might put it into the minds of the apostles to make the motion now, rather than at any other time or place, where Christ had received the like affront.

Wesley: Luk 9:55

The spirit of Christianity is. It is not a spirit of wrath and vengeance, but of peace, and gentleness, and love.

JFB: Luk 9:1

He both qualified and authorized them.

JFB: Luk 9:7

At a loss, embarrassed.

JFB: Luk 9:7

Among many opinions, this was the one which Herod himself adopted, for the reason, no doubt, mentioned on Mar 6:14.

JFB: Luk 9:9

But did not, till as a prisoner He was sent to him by Pilate just before His death, as we learn from Luk 23:8.

JFB: Luk 9:24

"Is minded to save," bent on saving. The pith of this maxim depends--as often in such weighty sayings (for example, "Let the dead bury the dead," Mat 8:22) --on the double sense attached to the word "life," a lower and a higher, the natural and the spiritual, temporal and eternal. An entire sacrifice of the lower, or a willingness to make it, is indispensable to the preservation of the higher life; and he who cannot bring himself to surrender the one for the sake of the other shall eventually lose both.

JFB: Luk 9:26

The sense of shame is one of the strongest in our nature, one of the social affections founded on our love of reputation, which causes instinctive aversion to what is fitted to lower it, and was given us as a preservative from all that is properly shameful. When one is, in this sense of it, lost to shame, he is nearly past hope (Zec 3:5; Jer 6:15; Jer 3:3). But when Christ and "His words"--Christianity, especially in its more spiritual and uncompromising features--are unpopular, the same instinctive desire to stand well with others begets the temptation to be ashamed of Him, which only the 'expulsive power' of a higher affection can effectually counteract.

JFB: Luk 9:26

He will render to that man his own treatment; He will disown him before the most august of all assemblies, and put him to "shame and everlasting contempt" (Dan 12:2). "Oh shame, to be put to shame before God, Christ, and angels!" [BENGEL].

JFB: Luk 9:27

"see it come with power" (Mar 9:1); or see "the Son of man coming in His kingdom" (Mat 16:28). The reference, beyond doubt, is to the firm establishment and victorious progress, in the lifetime of some then present, of that new Kingdom of Christ, which was destined to work the greatest of all changes on this earth, and be the grand pledge of His final coming in glory.

JFB: Luk 9:28

Including the day on which this was spoken and that of the Transfiguration. Matthew and Mark say (Mat 17:1; Mar 9:2) "after six days," excluding these two days. As the "sayings" so definitely connected with the transfiguration scene are those announcing His death--at which Peter and all the Twelve were so startled and scandalized--so this scene was designed to show to the eyes as well as the heart how glorious that death was in the view of Heaven.

JFB: Luk 9:28

Partners before in secular business; now sole witnesses of the resurrection of Jairus' daughter (Mar 5:37), the transfiguration, and the agony in the garden (Mar 14:33).

JFB: Luk 9:28

Not Tabor, according to long tradition, with which the facts ill comport, but some one near the lake.

JFB: Luk 9:28

For the period He had now reached was a critical and anxious one. (See on Mat 16:13). But who can adequately translate those "strong cryings and tears?" Methinks, as I steal by His side, I hear from Him these plaintive sounds, "Lord, who hath believed Our report? I am come unto Mine own and Mine own receive Me not; I am become a stranger unto My brethren, an alien to My mother's children: Consider Mine enemies, for they are many, and they hate Me with cruel hatred. Arise, O Lord, let not man prevail. Thou that dwellest between the cherubim, shine forth: Show Me a token for good: Father, glorify Thy name."

JFB: Luk 9:29

Before He cried He was answered, and while He was yet speaking He was heard. Blessed interruption to prayer this! Thanks to God, transfiguring manifestations are not quite strangers here. Ofttimes in the deepest depths, out of groanings which cannot be uttered, God's dear children are suddenly transported to a kind of heaven upon earth, and their soul is made as the chariots of Amminadab. Their prayers fetch down such light, strength, holy gladness, as make their face to shine, putting a kind of celestial radiance upon it (2Co 3:18, with Exo 34:29-35).

JFB: Luk 9:29

Matthew says, "His face did shine as the sun" (Mat 17:2), and Mark says (Mar 9:3), "His raiment became shining, exceeding white as snow, so as no fuller on earth can white them" (Mar 9:3). The light, then, it would seem, shone not upon Him from without, but out of Him from within; He was all irradiated, was in one blaze of celestial glory. What a contrast to that "visage more marred than men, and His form than the sons of men!" (Isa 52:14).

JFB: Luk 9:30-31

"Who would have believed these were not angels had not their human names been subjoined?" [BENGEL]. (Compare Act 1:10; Mar 16:5). Moses represented "the law," Elijah "the prophets," and both together the whole testimony of the Old Testament Scriptures, and the Old Testament saints, to Christ; now not borne in a book, but by living men, not to a coming, but a come Messiah, visibly, for they "appeared," and audibly, for they "spake."

JFB: Luk 9:31

"were speaking."

JFB: Luk 9:31

"departure"; beautiful euphemism (softened term) for death, which Peter, who witnessed the scene, uses to express his own expected death, and the use of which single term seems to have recalled the whole by a sudden rush of recollection, and occasioned that delightful allusion to this scene which we find in 2Pe 1:15-18.

JFB: Luk 9:31

"was to fulfil."

JFB: Luk 9:31

Mark the historical character and local features which Christ's death assumed to these glorified men--as important as it is charming--and see on Luk 2:11. What now may be gathered from this statement? (1) That a dying Messiah is the great article of the true Jewish theology. For a long time the Church had fallen clean away from the faith of this article, and even from a preparedness to receive it. But here we have that jewel raked out of the dunghill of Jewish traditions, and by the true representatives of the Church of old made the one subject of talk with Christ Himself. (2) The adoring gratitude of glorified men for His undertaking to accomplish such a decease; their felt dependence upon it for the glory in which they appeared; their profound interest in the progress of it, their humble solaces and encouragements to go through with it; and their sense of its peerless and overwhelming glory. "Go, matchless, adored One, a Lamb to the slaughter! rejected of men, but chosen of God and precious; dishonored, abhorred, and soon to be slain by men, but worshipped by cherubim, ready to be greeted by all heaven. In virtue of that decease we are here; our all is suspended on it and wrapped up in it. Thine every step is watched by us with ineffable interest; and though it were too high an honor to us to be permitted to drop a word of cheer into that precious but now clouded spirit, yet, as the first-fruits of harvest; the very joy set before Him, we cannot choose but tell Him that what is the depth of shame to Him is covered with glory in the eyes of Heaven, that the Cross to Him is the Crown to us, that that 'decease' is all our salvation and all our desire." And who can doubt that such a scene did minister deep cheer to that spirit? It is said they "talked" not to Him, but "with Him"; and if they told Him how glorious His decease was, might He not fitly reply, "I know it, but your voice, as messengers from heaven come down to tell it Me, is music in Mine ears."

JFB: Luk 9:32

So, certainly, the most commentators: but if we translate literally, it should be "but having kept awake" [MEYER, ALFORD]. Perhaps "having roused themselves up" [OLSHAUSEN] may come near enough to the literal sense; but from the word used we can gather no more than that they shook off their drowsiness. It was night, and the Lord seems to have spent the whole night on the mountain (Luk 9:37).

JFB: Luk 9:32

The emphasis lies on "saw," qualifying them to become "eye-witnesses of His majesty" (2Pe 1:16).

JFB: Luk 9:33

Ah! bright manifestations in this vale of tears are always "departing" manifestations.

JFB: Luk 9:34-35

Not one of our watery clouds, but the Shekinah-cloud (see on Mat 23:39), the pavilion of the manifested presence of God with His people, what Peter calls "the excellent" of "magnificent glory" (2Pe 1:17).

JFB: Luk 9:34-35

"such a voice," says Peter emphatically; "and this voice [he adds] we heard, when we were with Him in the holy mount" (2Pe 1:17-18).

JFB: Luk 9:35

Reverentially, implicitly, alone.

JFB: Luk 9:36

Moses and Elias are gone. Their work is done, and they have disappeared from the scene, feeling no doubt with their fellow servant the Baptist, "He must increase, but I must decrease." The cloud too is gone, and the naked majestic Christ, braced in spirit, and enshrined in the reverent affection of His disciples, is left--to suffer!

JFB: Luk 9:36

Feeling, for once at least, that such things were unmeet as yet for the general gaze.

JFB: Luk 9:43-45

"the majesty" or "mightiness" of God in this last miracle, the transfiguration, &c.: the divine grandeur of Christ rising upon them daily. By comparing Mat 17:22, and Mar 9:30, we gather that this had been the subject of conversation between the Twelve and their Master as they journeyed along.

JFB: Luk 9:44

Not what was passing between them about His grandeur [MEYER, &c.], but what He was now to repeat for the second time about His sufferings [DE WETTE, STIER, ALFORD, &c.]; that is, "Be not carried off your feet by all this grandeur of Mine, but bear in mind what I have already told you, and now distinctly repeat, that that Sun in whose beams ye now rejoice is soon to set in midnight gloom." "The Son of man," says Christ, "into the hands of men"--a remarkable antithesis (also in Mat 17:22, and Mar 9:31).

JFB: Luk 9:45

"insomuch that they feared." Their most cherished ideas were so completely dashed by such announcements, that they were afraid of laying themselves open to rebuke by asking Him any questions.

JFB: Luk 9:49-50

The link of connection here with the foregoing context lies in the words "in My name" (Luk 9:48). "Oh, as to that," said John, young, warm, but not sufficiently apprehending Christ's teaching in these things, "we saw one casting out devils in Thy name, and we forbade him: Were we wrong?" "Ye were wrong." "But we did because he followeth not us,'" "No matter. For (1) There is no man which shall do a miracle in My name that can lightly [soon] speak evil of Me' [Mar 9:39]. And (2) If such a person cannot be supposed to be 'against us,' you are to consider him 'for us.'" Two principles of immense importance. Christ does not say this man should not have followed "with them," but simply teaches how he was to be regarded though he did not--as a reverer of His name and a promoter of His cause. Surely this condemns not only those horrible attempts by force to shut up all within one visible pale of discipleship, which have deluged Christendom with blood in Christ's name, but the same spirit in its milder form of proud ecclesiastic scowl upon all who "after the form which they call a sect (as the word signifies, Act 24:14), do so worship the God of their fathers." Visible unity in Christ's Church is devoutly to be sought, but this is not the way to it. See the noble spirit of Moses (Num 11:24-29).

JFB: Luk 9:51

Rather, "the days were being fulfilled," or approaching their fulfilment.

JFB: Luk 9:51

"of His assumption," meaning His exaltation to the Father; a sublime expression, taking the sweep of His whole career, as if at one bound He was about to vault into glory. The work of Christ in the flesh is here divided into two great stages; all that preceded this belonging to the one, and all that follows it to the other. During the one, He formally "came to His own," and "would have gathered them"; during the other, the awful consequences of "His own receiving Him not" rapidly revealed themselves.

JFB: Luk 9:51

The "He" here is emphatic--"He Himself then." See His own prophetic language, "I have set my face like a flint" (Isa 50:7).

JFB: Luk 9:51

As His goal, but including His preparatory visits to it at the feasts of tabernacles and of dedication (Joh 7:2, Joh 7:10; Joh 10:22-23), and all the intermediate movements and events.

JFB: Luk 9:52

He had not done this before; but now, instead of avoiding, He seems to court publicity--all now hastening to maturity.

JFB: Luk 9:53

The Galileans, in going to the festivals at Jerusalem, usually took the Samaritan route [JOSEPHUS, Antiquities, 20.6.1], and yet seem to have met with no such inhospitality. But if they were asked to prepare quarters for the Messiah, in the person of one whose "face was as though He would go to Jerusalem," their national prejudices would be raised at so marked a slight upon their claims. (See on Joh 4:20).

JFB: Luk 9:54

Not Peter, as we should have expected, but those "sons of thunder" (Mar 3:17), who afterwards wanted to have all the highest honors of the Kingdom to themselves, and the younger of whom had been rebuked already for his exclusiveness (Luk 9:49-50). Yet this was "the disciple whom Jesus loved," while the other willingly drank of His Lord's bitter cup. (See on Mar 10:38-40; and Act 12:2). That same fiery zeal, in a mellowed and hallowed form, in the beloved disciple, we find in 1Jo 5:10; 3Jo 1:10.

JFB: Luk 9:54

A plausible case, occurring also in Samaria (2Ki 1:10-12).

JFB: Luk 9:55-56

The thing ye demand, though in keeping with the legal, is unsuited to the genius of the evangelical dispensation. The sparks of unholy indignation would seize readily enough on this example of Elias, though our Lord's rebuke (as is plain from Luk 9:56) is directed to the principle involved rather than the animal heat which doubtless prompted the reference. "It is a golden sentence of Tillotson, Let us never do anything for religion which is contrary to religion" [WEBSTER and WILKINSON].

JFB: Luk 9:56

A saying truly divine, of which all His miracles--for salvation, never destruction--were one continued illustration.

JFB: Luk 9:56

Illustrating His own precept (Mat 10:23).

Clarke: Luk 9:1

Power and authority - Δυναμιν και εξουσιαν . The words properly mean here, the power to work miracles; and that authority by which the whole demoniac system was to be subjected to them. The reader will please to observe

1.    That Luke mentions both demons and diseases; therefore he was either mistaken, or demons and diseases are not the same

2.    The treatment of these two was not the same: - the demons were to be cast out, the diseases to be healed. See Mat 10:1.

Clarke: Luk 9:2

To preach the kingdom of God - For an explication of this phrase, see on Mat 3:1 (note).

Clarke: Luk 9:3

Take nothing - See on Mar 6:7, Mar 6:8 (note)

Clarke: Luk 9:3

Neither money - See on Mat 10:9 (note)

Clarke: Luk 9:3

Neither have two coats - Show that in all things ye are ambassadors for God; and go on his charges.

Clarke: Luk 9:4

There abide, and thence depart - That is, remain in that lodging till ye depart from that city. Some MSS. and versions add μη, which makes the following sense: There remain, and depart Not thence. See the note on Mat 10:11.

Clarke: Luk 9:7

Herod the tetrarch - See on Mat 2:1 (note); Mat 14:1 (note)

Clarke: Luk 9:7

By him - This is omitted by BCDL, two others, the Coptic, Sahidic, Armenian, and four of the Itala. It is probable that Luke might have written, Herod, hearing of all the things that were done, etc.; but Matthew says particularly, that it was the fame of Jesus of which he heard: Mat 14:1

Clarke: Luk 9:7

He was perplexed; - He was greatly perplexed διηπορει· from δια emphat. and απορεω, I am in perplexity. It is a metaphor taken from a traveler, who in his journey meets with several paths, one only of which leads to the place whither he would go; and, not knowing which to take, he is distressed with perplexity and doubt. The verb comes from α, negative, and πορος, a way or passage. A guilty conscience is a continual pest: - Herod had murdered John, and he is terribly afraid, lest he should arise from the dead, and bring his deeds to light, and expose him to that punishment which he deserved. See Mar 6:16.

Clarke: Luk 9:10

Told him all - Related distinctly - διηγησαντο, from δια, through, and ἡγεομαι, I declare: hence the whole of this Gospel, because of its relating every thing so particularly, is termed διηγησις, Luk 1:1, a particular and circumstantially detailed narration. See on Mar 6:30 (note).

Clarke: Luk 9:11

The people - followed him - Observe here five grand effects of Divine grace

1.    The people are drawn to follow him

2.    He kindly receives them

3.    He instructs them in the things of God

4.    He heals all their diseases

5.    He feeds their bodies and their souls. See Quesnel

Reader! Jesus is the same to the present moment. Follow him, and he will receive, instruct, heal, feed, and save thy soul unto eternal life.

Clarke: Luk 9:12

Send the multitude away - See this miracle explained at large, on the parallel places, Mat 14:15-21 (note); Mar 6:36-44 (note).

Clarke: Luk 9:16

Then he took the five loaves - A minister of the Gospel, who is employed to feed souls, should imitate this conduct of Christ

1.    He ought to exhort the people to hear with sedate and humble reverence

2.    He should first take the bread of life himself, that he may be strengthened to feed others

3.    He ought frequently to lift his soul to God, in order to draw down the Divine blessing on himself and his hearers

4.    He should break the loaves - divide rightly the word of truth, and give to all such portions as are suited to their capacities and states

5.    What he cannot perform himself, he should endeavor to effect by the ministry of others; employing every promising talent, for the edification of the whole, which he finds among the members of the Church of God. Under such a pastor, the flock of Christ will increase and multiply. See Quesnel.

Clarke: Luk 9:18

Whom say the people - Οἱ οχλοι, the common people, i.e. the mass of the people. See this question considered on Mat 16:13 (note), etc.

Clarke: Luk 9:20

But whom say ye that I am? - Whom do ye tell the people that I am? What do ye preach concerning me? See also on Mat 16:14 (note); and see the observations at the end of this chapter, (note)

Clarke: Luk 9:20

The Christ of God - The Coptic and later Persic read, Thou art Christ God. After this comes in Peter’ s confession of our Lord, as related Mat 16:16 (note), etc., where see the notes; and see also the observations of Granville Sharp, Esq., at the end of this chapter.

Clarke: Luk 9:23

If any man will come after me - See on Mat 16:24 (note), and on Mar 8:34 (note), where the nature of proselytism among the Jews is explained

Clarke: Luk 9:23

Daily - Καθ ’ ἡμεραν is omitted by many reputable MSS., versions, and fathers. It is not found in the parallel places, Mat 16:24; Mar 8:34.

Clarke: Luk 9:24

Will save his life - See on Mat 16:24 (note), etc.

Clarke: Luk 9:25

Lose himself - That is, his life or soul. See the parallel places, Mat 16:25 (note); Mar 8:35 (note), and especially the note on the former

Clarke: Luk 9:25

Or be cast away? - Or receive spiritual damage η ζημιωθεις . I have added the word spiritual here, which I conceive to be necessarily implied. Because, if a man received only temporal damage in some respect or other, yet gaining the whole world must amply compensate him. But if he should receive spiritual damage - hurt to his soul in the smallest degree, the possession of the universe could not indemnify him. Earthly goods may repair earthly losses, but they cannot repair any breach that may be made in the peace or holiness of the soul. See on Mat 16:26 (note).

Clarke: Luk 9:26

Ashamed of me - See on Mar 8:38 (note).

Clarke: Luk 9:28

About an eight days after - See the whole of this important transaction explained at large on Mat 17:1-13 (note).

Clarke: Luk 9:31

His decease - Την εξοδον αυτον, That going out (or death) of his. That peculiar kind of death - its nature, circumstances, and necessity being considered. Instead of εξοδον, thirteen MSS. have δοξαν, glory. They spoke of that glory of his, which he was about to fill up ( πληρουν ) at Jerusalem. The Ethiopic unites both readings. The death of Jesus was his glory, because, by it, he gained the victory over sin, death, and hell, and purchased salvation and eternal glory for a lost world.

Clarke: Luk 9:33

It is good for us to be here - Some MSS. add παντοτε, It is good for us to be Always here.

Clarke: Luk 9:35

This is my beloved Son - Instead of ὁ αγαπητος, the beloved one, some MSS. and versions have εκλεκτος, the chosen one: and the Ethiopic translator, as in several other cases, to be sure of the true reading, retains both

In whom I am well pleased, or have delighted - is added by some very ancient MSS. Perhaps this addition is taken from Mat 17:5.

Clarke: Luk 9:37

Much people - See on Mat 17:14 (note).

Clarke: Luk 9:39

A spirit taketh him, and he suddenly crieth out - Πνευμα λαμβανει αυτον . This very phrase is used by heathen writers, when they speak of supernatural influence. The following, from Herodotus, will make the matter, I hope, quite plain. Speaking of Scyles, king of the Scythians, who was more fond of Grecian manners and customs than of those of his countrymen, and who desired to be privately initiated into the Bacchic mysteries, he adds: "Now because the Scythians reproach the Greeks with these Bacchanals, and say that to imagine a god driving men into paroxysms of madness is not agreeable to sound reason, a certain Borysthenian, while the king was performing the ceremonies of initiation, went out, and discovered the matter to the Scythian army in these words: ‘ Ye Scythians ridicule us because we celebrate the Bacchanals, και ἡμεας ὁ θεος ΛΑΜΒΑΝΕΙ, and the God Possesses Us: but now the same demon, οὑτος ὁ δαιμων, has Taken Possession, ΛΕΛΑΒΗΚΕ, of your king, for he celebrates the Bacchanals, and ὑπο του θεου μαινεται, is filled with fury by this god."Herodot. l. iv. p. 250, edit. Gale

This passage is exceedingly remarkable. The very expressions which Luke uses here are made use of by Herodotus. A demon, δαιμων, is the agent in the Greek historian, and a demon is the agent in the case mentioned in the text, Luk 9:42. In both cases it is said the demon possesses the persons, and the very same word, λαμβανει is used to express this in both historians. Both historians show that the possessions were real, by the effects produced in the persons: the heathen king rages with fury through the influence of the demon called the god Bacchus; the person in the text screams out, ( κραζει ), is greatly convulsed, and foams at the mouth. Here was a real possession, and such as often took place among those who were worshippers of demons.

Clarke: Luk 9:42

The devil threw him down, and tare him - See this case considered at large, on Mat 17:15-18 (note), and on Mar 9:14-27 (note).

Clarke: Luk 9:43

The mighty power - This majesty of God, μεγαλειοτητι του Θεου . They plainly saw that it was a case in which any power inferior to that of God could be of no avail; and they were deeply struck with the majesty of God manifested in the conduct of the blessed Jesus.

Clarke: Luk 9:44

Let these sayings sink down into your ears - Or, put these words into your ears. To other words, you may lend occasional attention, but to what concerns my sufferings and death you must ever listen. Let them constantly occupy a place in your most serious meditations and reflections.

Clarke: Luk 9:45

But they understood not - See the note on Mar 9:32.

Clarke: Luk 9:46

There arose a reasoning - Εισηλθε δε διαλογισμος, A dialogue took place - one inquired, and another answered, and so on. See this subject explained on Mat 18:1 (note), etc.

Clarke: Luk 9:49

We forbade him - See this subject considered on Mar 9:38 (note), etc.

Clarke: Luk 9:51

That he should be received up - Bishop Pearce says: "I think the word αναληψεως must signify, of Jesus’ s retiring or withdrawing himself, and not of his being received up: because the word συμπληρουσθαι, here used before it, denotes a time completed, which that of his ascension was not then. The sense is, that the time was come, when Jesus was no longer to retire from Judea and the parts about Jerusalem as he had hitherto done; for he had lived altogether in Galilee, lest the Jews should have laid hold on him, before the work of his ministry was ended, and full proofs of his Divine mission given, and some of the prophecies concerning him accomplished. John says, Joh 7:1 : Jesus walked in Galilee; for he would not walk in Jewry, because the Jews sought to kill him. Let it be observed, that all which follows here in Luke, to Luk 19:45, is represented by him as done by Jesus in his last journey from Galilee to Jerusalem.

Clarke: Luk 9:51

He steadfastly set his face - That is, after proper and mature deliberation, he chose now to go up to Jerusalem, and firmly determined to accomplish his design.

Clarke: Luk 9:52

Sent messengers - Αγγελους, angels, literally; but this proves that the word angel signifies a messenger of any kind, whether Divine or human. The messengers in this case were probably James and John.

Clarke: Luk 9:53

His face was - They saw he was going up to Jerusalem to keep the feast; (it was the feast of tabernacles, Joh 7:2); and knowing him thereby to be a Jew, they would afford nothing for his entertainment; for, in religious matters, the Samaritans and Jews had no dealings: see Joh 4:9. The Samaritans were a kind of mongrel heathens; they feared Jehovah, and served other gods, 2Ki 17:34. They apostatized from the true religion, and persecuted those who were attached to it. See an account of them, Mat 16:1 (note). Those only who have deserted the truth of God, or who are uninfluenced by it, hate them who embrace and act by it. When a man has once decidedly taken the road to heaven, he can have but little credit any longer in the world, 1Jo 3:1.

Clarke: Luk 9:54

That we command fire - Vengeance belongs to the Lord. What we suffer for his sake, should be left to himself to reprove or punish. The insult is offered to him, not to us. See the note on Mar 3:17.

Clarke: Luk 9:55

Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of - Ye do not consider that the present is a dispensation of infinite mercy and love; and that the design of God is not to destroy sinners, but to give them space to repent, that he may save them unto eternal life. And ye do not consider that the zeal which you feel springs from an evil principle, being more concerned for your own honor than for the honor of God. The disciples of that Christ who died for his enemies should never think of avenging themselves on their persecutors.

Clarke: Luk 9:56

And they went to another village - Which probably did entertain them; being, perhaps, without the Samaritan borders

The words, Ye know not of what spirit ye are; for the Son of man is not come to destroy men’ s lives, but to save them, are wanting in ABCEGHLS-V, and in many others. Griesbach leaves the latter clause out of the text. It is probable that the most ancient MSS. read the passage thus: But he turned, and rebuked them, and said, Ye know not of what spirit ye are. And they went to another village. See the authorities in Griesbach.

Calvin: Luk 9:51

Luk 9:51.While the days of his being received up, etc Luke alone relates this narrative, which, however, is highly useful on many accounts. For, first, it describes the divine courage and firmness of Christ ⁵⁸⁶ in despising death; secondly, what deadly enmities are produced by differences about religion; thirdly, with what headlong ardor the nature of man is hurried on to impatience; next, how ready we are to fall into mistakes in imitating the saints; and, lastly, by the example of Christ we are called to the exercise of meekness. The death of Christ is called his being received up, ( ἀνάληψις) not only because he was then withdrawn from the midst of us, ⁵⁸⁷ but because, leaving the mean prison of the flesh, he ascended on high.

Calvin: Luk 9:52

52.And he sent messengers It is probable that our Lord was, at that time, attended by a great multitude of followers; for the messengers were not sent to prepare a splendid banquet, or to select some magnificent palace, but only to tell that a vast number of guests were approaching. They again, when excluded and repulsed, wait for their Master. Hence, too, we learn, what I remarked in the second place, ⁵⁸⁸ that when men differ among themselves about the doctrines of religion, they readily break out into hatred of each other; for it was an evidence of very bitter hatred to withhold food from the hungry, and lodging from those who were fatigued. But the Samaritans have such a dislike and enmity at the Jewish religion, that they look upon all who follow it as unworthy of any kindness. Perhaps, too, they were tormented with vexation at being despised; for they knew that their temple was detested by the Jews as profane, and that they were considered to be spurious and corrupt worshippers of God. But as the superstition once admitted kept so firm a hold of them, they strove, with wicked emulation, to maintain it to the last. At length the contention grew so hot, that it consumed both nations in one conflagration; for Josephus assures us that it was the torch which kindled the Jewish war. Now though Christ might easily have avoided that dislike, he chooses rather to profess himself to be a Jew, than by an indirect denial to procure a lodging.

Calvin: Luk 9:53

53.He steadfastly set his face By this expression Luke has informed us that Christ, when he had death before his eyes, rose above the fear of it, and went forward to meet it; but, at the same time, points out that he had a struggle, and that, having vanquished terror, ⁵⁸⁹ he boldly presented himself to die. For if no dread, no difficulty, no struggle, no anxiety, had been present to his mind, what need was there that he should set his face steadfastly? ⁵⁹⁰ But as he was neither devoid of feeling, nor under the influence of foolish hardihood, he must have been affected by the cruel and bitter death, or rather the shocking and dreadful agony, which he knew would overtake him from the rigorous judgment of God; and so far is this from obscuring or diminishing his glory, that it is a remarkable proof of his unbounded love to us; for laying aside a regard to himself that he might devote himself to our salvation, through the midst of terrors he hastened to death, the time of which he knew to be at hand.

Calvin: Luk 9:54

54.And when His disciples James and John saw it. The country itself had perhaps suggested to them the desire of thundering immediately against the ungodly; for it was there that Elijah had formerly destroyed, by a fire from heaven, the king’s soldiers who had been sent to apprehend him, (2Kg 1:10.) It therefore occurred to them that the Samaritans, who so basely rejected the Son of God, were at that time devoted to a similar destruction. And here we see to what we are driven by a foolish imitation ⁵⁹¹ of the holy fathers. James and John plead the example of Elijah, but they do not consider how far they differ from Elijah; they do not examine properly their own intemperate zeal, nor do they look at the calling of God. Under a pretext equally plausible did the Samaritans cloak their idolatry, our fathers worshipped in this mountain, (Joh 4:20.) But both were in the wrong; for, neglecting the exercise of judgment, they were apes rather than imitators of the holy fathers. Now though it is doubtful whether they think that they have the power in their own hand, or ask Christ to give it to them, I think it more probable that, elated with foolish confidence, they entertain no doubt that they are able to execute vengeance, provided that Christ give his consent.

Calvin: Luk 9:55

55.You know not of what spirit you are By this reply he not only restrained the unbridled fury of the two disciples, but laid down a rule to all of us not to indulge our temper. For whoever undertakes any thing, ought to be fully aware that he has the authority and guidance of the Spirit of God, and that he is actuated by proper and holy dispositions. Many will be impelled by the warmth of their zeal, but if the spirit of prudence be wanting, their ebullitions end in foam. Frequently, too, it happens, that the impure feelings of the flesh are mingled with their zeal, and that those who appear to be the keenest zealots for the glory of God are blinded by the private feelings of the flesh. And therefore, unless our zeal be directed by the Spirit of God, it will be of no avail to plead in our behalf, that we undertook nothing but from proper zeal. But the Spirit himself will guide us by wisdom and prudence, that we may do nothing contrary to our duty, or beyond our calling, nothing, in short, but what is prudent and seasonable; and, by removing all the filth of the flesh, he may impart to our minds proper feelings, that we may desire nothing but what God shall suggest. Christ likewise blames his disciples because, though they are widely distant from the spirit of Elijah, ⁵⁹² they rashly take upon themselves to do what he did. For Elijah executed the judgment of God, which had been committed to him by the Spirit; but they rush to vengeance, not by the command of God, but by the movement of the flesh. And therefore the examples of the saints are no defense to us, unless the same Spirit that directed them dwell in us.

Defender: Luk 9:7

Note the esteem and awe in which Herod held John the Baptist. Although John had done no miracles himself (Joh 10:41), when Herod heard of the many miracles done by Jesus and His disciples, he immediately thought of John, even seriously considering the possibility that he had risen from the dead. His conscience evidently was burdening him with the enormous guilt of his crime in executing John."

Defender: Luk 9:23

Mat 16:24 and Mar 8:34 recorded the same challenge from Christ, except that only Luke included the term "daily." Except for a passing reference in Mat 10:38, this conversation marks the first explicit reference to crucifixion, and it apparently assumes that the disciples were aware of this typically Roman method of execution. In effect, the Lord was telling His disciples that following Him entails a daily willingness to die for Him if need be. "Taking up" the cross refers to the usual requirement that the condemned man haul his own cross to the place of execution. Jesus knew (though the disciples were not yet fully aware) that He would soon be doing this Himself (Joh 19:16, Joh 19:17)."

Defender: Luk 9:31

Note that Jesus regarded His approaching death as something He would accomplish. The same word is often translated "fulfill" or "complete." Although Mat 17:1-8 and Mar 9:2-8 both report on the transfiguration, only Luke indicates that the approaching death of Christ was the subject He discussed with Moses and Elijah in this vision. Presumably, in his research, Luke was able to elicit this information from one of the disciples who was there, most likely John. Mark presumably got his information from Peter but doesn't mention this part of the conversation. Perhaps in his sleepy confusion, Peter was too preoccupied with his notion of making three tabernacles (Luk 9:33) to catch these particular words. In any case, this (Mat 17:9) was to inform Jesus (in His human understanding) of the details of the great work He and His Father were soon to accomplish in Jerusalem."

Defender: Luk 9:50

See also Mar 9:38-40. This seems to conflict superficially with Christ's statements in Luk 9:23; Luk 11:23; etc. However, they refer to two different situations. When people attempt to be neutral about Christ, they are really against Him. However, when people are sincerely trying to honor Him but doing it more out of ignorant zeal than full understanding, the Lord recognizes that they are really for Him and will not discourage them from their efforts. In fact, by implication, Christ will somehow see to it that sincerity will be rewarded with greater understanding (Heb 11:6; Joh 7:17)."

Defender: Luk 9:51

He had received encouragement in this purpose through the vision on the mount, so now He sets course rigidly, with no hesitation or uncertainty, to "accomplish His decease at Jerusalem" (Luk 9:31)."

Defender: Luk 9:53

The Samaritans were a mixed people descended from the Jews left in the land after many were carried into captivity by the Assyrians and the peoples that replaced the captured Israelites. The religion of these peoples attempted to combine the Mosaic covenant with their own pagan gods (2Ki 17:6, 2Ki 17:24, 2Ki 17:33). Also, the Samaritans were opposed to the rebuilding of the temple and city after the Babylonian captivity and resulted in continual hostility between the Jews and Samaritans."

Defender: Luk 9:54

This was an unthinking emotional outburst by the "sons of thunder," who certainly had no authority or ability to call down fire from heaven as Elijah had done in the land of Samaria 900 years before."

TSK: Luk 9:1

he : Luk 6:13-16; Mat 10:2-5; Mar 3:13-19, Mar 6:7-13

gave : Luk 10:19; Mat 10:1, Mat 16:19; Mar 6:7, Mar 16:17, Mar 16:18; Joh 14:12; Act 1:8, Act 3:16; Act 4:30, Act 9:34

TSK: Luk 9:2

Luk 10:1, Luk 10:9, Luk 10:11, Luk 16:16; Mat 3:2, Mat 10:7, Mat 10:8, Mat 13:19, Mat 24:14; Mar 1:14, Mar 1:15, Mar 6:12; Mar 16:15; Heb 2:3, Heb 2:4

TSK: Luk 9:3

Take : Luk 10:4-12, Luk 12:22, Luk 22:35; Psa 37:3; Mat 10:9, Mat 10:10; Mar 6:8, Mar 6:9; 2Ti 2:4

two : Luk 3:11, Luk 5:29, Luk 12:28

TSK: Luk 9:4

Luk 10:5-8; Mat 10:11; Mar 6:10; Act 16:15

TSK: Luk 9:5

whosoever : Luk 9:48, Luk 10:10-12, Luk 10:16; Mat 10:14, Mat 10:15; Mar 6:11, Mar 9:37; Act 13:51, Act 18:6

shake : Luk 9:53-56; Neh 5:13

a testimony : Luk 5:14; Mat 10:18

TSK: Luk 9:6

Luk 9:1, Luk 9:2; Mar 6:12, Mar 6:13, Mar 16:20; Act 4:30, Act 5:15

TSK: Luk 9:7

am 4036, ad 32

Herod : Job 18:11, Job 18:12; Psa 73:19; Mat 14:1-12; Mar 6:14-28

Tetrarch : A tetrarch, τετραρχης [Strong’ s G5076], from τετρας [Strong’ s G5069], four, and αρχη [Strong’ s G746], government, properly signifies a prince, or ruler over a quarter of any region; and had its origin from Galatia, which was governed by four princes. In the New Testament, however, it denotes a prince, or king, who reigns over the fourth part of a former kingdom. By Herod’ s will his kingdom was thus divided among his sons: Archelaus had one-half, consisting of Idumea, Judea, and Samaria; Herod Antipas, one-fourth, consisting of Galilee and Perea; and Philip the remaining fourth, consisting of Batanea, Trachonitis, and Auranitis.

he : Luk 21:25; Isa 22:5; Mic 7:4

TSK: Luk 9:8

Luk 9:19; Mat 17:10; Mar 6:15, Mar 8:28; Joh 1:21

TSK: Luk 9:9

John : Luk 9:7

And he : Luk 13:31, Luk 13:32, Luk 23:8

TSK: Luk 9:10

the apostles : Luk 10:17; Zec 1:10; Mar 6:30; Heb 13:17

he took : Mat 14:13; Mar 2:7, Mar 6:31, Mar 6:32

Bethsaida : Mat 11:21; Mar 6:45; Joh 1:44

TSK: Luk 9:11

when : Mat 14:14; Mar 6:33, Mar 6:34; Rom 10:14, Rom 10:17

and he : Isa 61:1; Joh 4:34, Joh 6:37; Rom 15:3; 2Ti 4:2

the kingdom : Luk 8:1, Luk 8:10; Mat 21:31, Mat 21:43; Act 28:31

healed : Luk 1:53, Luk 5:31; Heb 4:16

TSK: Luk 9:12

when : Mat 14:15-21; Mar 6:35, Mar 6:36-44; Joh 6:1, Joh 6:5-15

Send : Mat 15:23, Mat 15:32

for : Psa 78:19, Psa 78:20; Eze 34:25; Hos 13:5

TSK: Luk 9:13

Give : 2Ki 4:42, 2Ki 4:43; Mat 14:16, Mat 14:17; Mar 6:37, Mar 6:38; Joh 6:5-9

have : Num 11:21-23; Pro 11:24, Pro 11:25

TSK: Luk 9:14

Make : Mar 6:39, Mar 6:40, Mar 8:6; 1Co 14:40

TSK: Luk 9:16

and looking : Psa 121:1, Psa 121:2; Mat 14:19; Mar 7:34

he blessed : Luk 22:19, Luk 24:30; Mat 15:36; Joh 6:11, Joh 6:23; Act 27:35; Rom 14:6; 1Co 10:30; 1Co 11:24; 1Ti 4:4, 1Ti 4:5

TSK: Luk 9:17

eat : Psa 37:16; Pro 13:25; Mat 14:20,Mat 14:21, Mat 15:37, Mat 15:38; Mar 6:42-44, Mar 8:8, Mar 8:9

were : Psa 107:9

and there : 2Ki 4:44; Mat 16:9, Mat 16:10; Mar 8:19, Mar 8:20; Joh 6:11-13; Phi 4:18, Phi 4:19

TSK: Luk 9:18

as : Luk 11:1, Luk 22:39-41; Mat 26:36

Whom : Mat 16:13, Mat 16:14; Mar 8:27-30

TSK: Luk 9:19

John : Luk 9:7, Luk 9:8; Mal 4:5; Mat 14:2; Joh 1:21, Joh 1:25

old : Mar 6:15; Joh 7:40, Joh 9:17

TSK: Luk 9:20

whom : Mat 5:47, Mat 16:15, Mat 22:42

The : Luk 22:67; Mat 16:16, Mat 16:17, Mat 26:63; Mar 8:29, Mar 14:61; Joh 1:41, Joh 1:49, Joh 4:29, Joh 4:42, Joh 6:69; Joh 7:41, Joh 11:27, Joh 20:31; Act 8:37, Act 9:22, Act 17:3; 1Jo 5:1

TSK: Luk 9:21

Mat 16:20, Mat 17:9; Mar 8:31

TSK: Luk 9:22

Luk 9:44, Luk 18:31-34, Luk 24:7, Luk 24:26; Gen 3:15; Psa. 22:1-31, 69:1-36; Isa 53:1-12; Dan 9:26; Zec 13:7; Mat 16:21, Mat 17:12, Mat 17:22; Mar 8:31, Mar 9:31, Mar 10:33, Mar 10:34; Act 4:25-28, Act 13:27-29; 1Co 15:4; 1Pe 1:11

TSK: Luk 9:23

If : Luk 14:26, Luk 14:27; Mat 10:38, Mat 10:39, Mat 16:22-25; Mar 8:34-38; Joh 12:25, Joh 12:26; Rom 8:13; Col 3:5; 2Ti 3:12

deny : Tit 2:12

daily : 1Co 15:30,1Co 15:31

TSK: Luk 9:24

Luk 17:33; Act 20:23, Act 20:24; Heb 11:35; Rev 2:10, Rev 12:11

TSK: Luk 9:25

what : Luk 4:5-7, Luk 12:19-21, Luk 16:24, Luk 16:25; Psa 49:6-8; Mat 16:26; Mar 8:36, Mar 9:43-48; Act 1:18, Act 1:25; 2Pe 2:15-17; Rev 18:7, Rev 18:8

himself : Or, as in the parallel passage, την ψυχην ( πσψχην ) [Strong’ s G5590], αυτου [Strong’ s G847], ""his soul,""or life.

be : Mat 13:48, Mat 13:50; 1Co 9:27

TSK: Luk 9:26

whosoever : Luk 12:8, Luk 12:9; Psa 22:6-8; Isa 53:3; Mat 10:32, Mat 10:33; Mar 8:38; Joh 5:44, Joh 12:43; Rom 1:16; 2Co 12:10; Gal 6:14; 2Ti 1:12, 2Ti 2:12; Heb 11:26, Heb 13:13; 1Pe 4:14-16; Rev 3:5

of him : Luk 13:25-27; Mat 7:22, Mat 7:23; Rev 21:8

when : Dan 7:10; Mat 16:27, Mat 24:30,Mat 24:31, Mat 25:31, Mat 26:64; 2Th 1:8-10; Jud 1:14; Rev 1:7, Rev 20:11

TSK: Luk 9:27

I tell : Mat 16:28; Mar 9:1; Joh 14:2, Joh 16:7

some : Joh 21:22, Joh 21:23

taste : Luk 2:26; Joh 8:51, Joh 8:52, Joh 8:59; Heb 2:9

see : Luk 22:18; Mar 14:25

TSK: Luk 9:28

about : Mat 17:1-13; Mar 9:2-13

sayings : or, things

he : Luk 8:51; Mat 26:37-39; Mar 14:33-36; 2Co 13:1

into : Luk 9:18, Luk 6:12; Psa 109:4; Mar 1:35, Mar 6:46; Heb 5:7

TSK: Luk 9:29

Exo 34:29-35; Isa 33:17, Isa 53:2; Mat 17:2; Mar 9:2, Mar 9:3; Joh 1:14; Act 6:15; Phi 3:7, Phi 3:8; 2Pe 1:16-18; Rev 1:13-16, Rev 20:11

TSK: Luk 9:30

which : Luk 24:27, Luk 24:44; Mat 17:3, Mat 17:4; Mar 9:4-6; Joh 1:17; Rom 3:21-23; 2Co 3:7-11; Heb 3:3-6

Elias : Luk 9:19, Luk 1:17; Jam 5:17, Jam 5:18

TSK: Luk 9:31

appeared : 2Co 3:18; Phi 3:21; Col 3:4; 1Pe 5:10

spake : Luk 9:22, Luk 13:32-34; Joh 1:29; 1Co 1:23, 1Co 1:24; 1Pe 1:11, 1Pe 1:12; Rev 5:6-12, Rev 7:14

TSK: Luk 9:32

were heavy : Luk 22:45, Luk 22:46; Dan 8:18, Dan 10:9; Mat 26:40-43

they saw : Exo 33:18-23; Isa 60:1-3, Isa 60:19; Joh 1:14, Joh 17:24; 2Pe 1:16; 1Jo 3:2; Rev 22:4, Rev 22:5

TSK: Luk 9:33

it is : Psa 4:6, Psa 4:7, Psa 27:4, Psa 63:2-5, Psa 73:28; Joh 14:8; 2Co 4:6

and let : Mat 17:14; Mar 9:5, Mar 9:6

not : Mar 10:38

TSK: Luk 9:34

there : Exo 14:19, Exo 14:20, Exo 40:34-38; Psa 18:9-11; Isa 19:1; Mat 17:5-7; Mar 9:7, Mar 9:8

and they : Jdg 6:22, Jdg 13:22; Dan 10:8; Rev 1:17

TSK: Luk 9:35

This : Luk 3:22; Mat 3:17; Joh 3:16, Joh 3:35, Joh 3:36; 2Pe 1:17, 2Pe 1:18

hear : Deu 18:18, Deu 18:19; Isa 55:3, Isa 55:4; Joh 5:22-24; Act 3:22, Act 3:23; Heb 2:3, Heb 3:7, Heb 3:8, Heb 3:15; Heb 5:9, Heb 12:25, Heb 12:26

TSK: Luk 9:36

And they : Ecc 3:7; Mat 17:9; Mar 9:6, Mar 9:10

TSK: Luk 9:37

Mat 17:14-21; Mark 9:14-29

TSK: Luk 9:38

look : Luk 7:12, Luk 8:41, Luk 8:42; Mat 15:22; Joh 4:47

for : Gen 44:20; Zec 12:10

TSK: Luk 9:39

lo : Luk 4:35, Luk 8:29; Mar 5:4, Mar 5:5, Mar 9:20,Mar 9:26; Joh 8:44; 1Pe 5:8; Rev 9:11

TSK: Luk 9:40

and they : Luk 9:1, Luk 10:17-19; 2Ki 4:31; Mat 17:20,Mat 17:21; Act 19:13-16

TSK: Luk 9:41

O faithless : Luk 8:25; Mar 9:19; Joh 20:27; Heb 3:19, Heb 4:2, Heb 4:11

perverse : Deu 32:5; Psa 78:8; Mat 3:7, Mat 12:39, Mat 12:45, Mat 16:4, Mat 23:36; Act 2:40

how : Exo 10:3, Exo 16:28; Num 14:11, Num 14:27; Jer 4:14; Mat 17:17; Joh 14:9

and suffer : Act 13:18; Rom 2:4; Heb 3:9-11

Bring : 2Ki 5:8; Mat 11:28; Mar 10:14, Mar 10:49; Heb 7:25

TSK: Luk 9:42

the devil : Luk 9:39; Mar 1:26, Mar 1:27, Mar 9:20,Mar 9:26, Mar 9:27; Rev 12:12

and delivered : Luk 7:15; 1Ki 17:23; 2Ki 4:36; Act 9:41

TSK: Luk 9:43

amazed : Luk 4:36, Luk 5:9, Luk 5:26, Luk 8:25; Psa 139:14; Zec 8:6; Mar 6:51; Act 3:10-13

TSK: Luk 9:44

these : Luk 1:66, Luk 2:19, Luk 2:51; Isa 32:9, Isa 32:10; Joh 16:4; 1Th 3:3, 1Th 3:4; Heb 2:1, Heb 12:2-5

for : Luk 9:22, Luk 18:31, Luk 24:6, Luk 24:7, Luk 24:44; Mat 16:21, Mat 17:22, Mat 17:23, Mat 20:18, Mat 20:19, Mat 21:38, Mat 21:39, Mat 26:2; Mar 8:31, Mar 9:31; Joh 2:19-22, Joh 19:11; Act 2:23, Act 3:13-15, Act 4:27, Act 4:28

into : 2Sa 24:14

TSK: Luk 9:45

Luk 9:46, Luk 2:50, Luk 18:34; Mat 16:22; Mar 8:16-18, Mar 8:32, Mar 8:33, Mar 9:10,Mar 9:32; Joh 12:16, Joh 12:34; Joh 14:5, Joh 16:17, Joh 16:18; 2Co 3:14-16

TSK: Luk 9:46

Luk 14:7-11, Luk 22:24-27; Mat 18:1-5, Mat 20:20-22, Mat 23:6, Mat 23:7; Mar 9:33-37; Rom 12:3, Rom 12:10; Gal 5:20,Gal 5:21, Gal 5:25, Gal 5:26; Phi 2:3, Phi 2:14; 3Jo 1:9

TSK: Luk 9:47

perceiving : Luk 5:22, Luk 7:39, Luk 7:40; Psa 139:2, Psa 139:23; Jer 17:10; Joh 2:25, Joh 16:30, Joh 21:17; Heb 4:13; Rev 2:23

took : Mat 18:2-4, Mat 19:13-15; Mar 10:14, Mar 10:15; 1Co 14:20; 1Pe 2:1, 1Pe 2:2

TSK: Luk 9:48

Whosoever shall receive this : Luk 10:16; Mat 10:40-42, Mat 18:5, Mat 18:6, Mat 18:10,Mat 18:14, Mat 25:40,Mat 25:45; Mar 9:37; Joh 12:44, Joh 12:45; Joh 13:20, Joh 14:21; 1Th 4:8

he that : Luk 7:28, Luk 14:11, Luk 22:30; Pro 18:12; Mat 19:28, Mat 23:11, Mat 23:12; 1Pe 5:3, 1Pe 5:4, 1Pe 5:6; Rev 3:21, Rev 21:14

TSK: Luk 9:49

we saw : Num 11:27-29; Mar 9:38-40, Mar 10:13, Mar 10:14; Act 4:18, Act 4:19, Act 5:28; 1Th 2:16; 3Jo 1:9, 3Jo 1:10

TSK: Luk 9:50

Forbid : Jos 9:14; Pro 3:5, Pro 3:6; Mat 13:28-30, Mat 17:24, Mat 17:26; Phi 1:15-18

for : Luk 11:23, Luk 16:13; Mat 12:30; Mar 9:41; 1Co 12:3

TSK: Luk 9:51

that : Luk 24:51; 2Ki 2:1-3, 2Ki 2:11; Mar 16:19; Joh 6:62, Joh 13:1, Joh 16:5, Joh 16:28, Joh 17:11; Act 1:2, Act 1:9; Eph 1:20, Eph 4:8-11; 1Ti 3:16; Heb 6:20, Heb 12:2; 1Pe 3:22

he stedfastly : Luk 12:50; Isa 50:5-9; Act 20:22-24, Act 21:11-14; Phi 3:14; 1Pe 4:1

TSK: Luk 9:52

sent : Luk 7:27, Luk 10:1; Mal 3:1

and they : Mat 10:5

the Samaritans : Luk 10:33, Luk 17:16; 2Ki 17:24-33; Ezr 4:1-5; Joh 8:48

TSK: Luk 9:53

Luk 9:48; Joh 4:9, Joh 4:40-42

TSK: Luk 9:54

wilt : 2Sa 21:2; 2Ki 10:16, 2Ki 10:31; Jam 1:19, Jam 1:20, Jam 3:14-18

fire : 2Ki 1:10-14; Act 4:29, Act 4:30; Rev 13:3

TSK: Luk 9:55

and rebuked : 1Sa 24:4-7, 1Sa 26:8-11; 2Sa 19:22; Job 31:29-31; Pro 9:8; Mat 16:23; Rev 3:19

Ye know : Num 20:10-12; Job 2:10, Job 26:4, Job 34:4-9, Job 35:2-4, Job 42:6; Jer 17:9; Mat 26:33, Mat 26:41, Mat 26:51; Joh 16:9; Act 23:3-5, Act 26:9-11; Jam 3:10; 1Pe 3:9

TSK: Luk 9:56

the Son : Luk 19:10; Mat 18:11, Mat 20:28; Joh 3:17, Joh 10:10, Joh 12:47; 1Ti 1:15

And : Luk 6:27-31, Luk 22:51, Luk 23:34; Mat 5:39; Rom 12:21; 1Pe 2:21-23

Commentary -- Word/Phrase Notes (per Verse)

Barnes: Luk 9:1-6

See the notes at Mat 10:1-14.

See the notes at Mat 10:1-14.

Barnes: Luk 9:7-9

See the notes at Mat 14:1-2. Compare Mar 6:14-16.

Barnes: Luk 9:10-17

See the Mat 14:13-21 notes, and Mar 6:30-44 notes.

Luk 9:10

Bethsaida - A city on the east bank of the river Jordan, near where the river enters into the Sea of Tiberias. In the neighborhood of that city were extensive wastes or deserts.

Luk 9:12

Day began to wear away - To decline, or as it drew near toward evening.

Barnes: Luk 9:18-26

See the Mat 16:13-27 notes; Mar 8:27-38 notes.

Luk 9:20

The Christ of God - The "Anointed"of God. The "Messiah"appointed by God, and who had been long promised by him. See the notes at Mat 1:1.

Barnes: Luk 9:28-36

See an account of the transfiguration in Mat 17:1-13, and Mar 9:2-13.

Luk 9:29

The fashion - The "appearance."

Glistering - Shining like lightning - of a bright, dazzling whiteness. As Mark says, "more white than any fuller could make it."

Luk 9:31

In glory - Of a glorious appearance. Of an appearance like that which the saints have in heaven.

His decease - literally, his "exit"or "departure."The word translated here "decease"- that is, exit, or "going out"- is elsewhere used to denote death. See 2Pe 1:15. Death is a departure or going out from this life. In "this"word there may be an allusion to the "departure"of the children of Israel from Egypt. As that was going out from "bondage,"pain, and humiliation, so death, to a saint, is but going forth from a land of captivity and thraldom to one of plenty and freedom; to the land of promise, the Canaan in the skies.

He should accomplish - Which was about to take place.

Luk 9:32

Heavy with sleep - Borne down with sleep - oppressed, overcome with sleep. It may seem remarkable that they should fall asleep on such an occasion; but we are to bear in mind that this may have been in the night, and that they were weary with the toils of the day. Besides, they did not "fall asleep"while the transfiguration lasted. While Jesus was praying, or perhaps after he closed, they fell asleep. "While"they were sleeping his countenance was changed, and Moses and Elias appeared. The first that "they"saw of it was after they awoke, having been probably awakened by the shining of the light around them.

Luk 9:36

Jesus was found alone - That is, the two men had left him. In respect to "them"he was alone.

Barnes: Luk 9:37-43

See this passage explained in the Mat 17:14-21 notes, and Mark 9:14-29 notes.

Barnes: Luk 9:44

Let these sayings - Probably this refers to the "sayings of the people,"who had seen his miracles, and who on that account had praised and glorified God. On that ground they had acknowledged him to be the Christ. As if he had said, "I am about to die. "You"will then be disconsolate, and perhaps doubtful about my being the Christ. "Then"do you remember these miracles, and the confessions of the people - the evidence which I gave you that I was from God."Or it may mean, "Remember that I am about to die, and let my sayings in regard to that sink down into your hearts, for it is a most important event; and you will have need of remembering, when it takes place, that I told you of it. This last interpretation, however, does not agree as well with the Greek as the former.

Barnes: Luk 9:45

It was hid from them - They had imbibed the common notions of the Jews that he was to be a prince and a conqueror, to deliver the nation. They could not understand how that could be, if he was soon to be delivered into the hands of his enemies to die. In this way it was hid from them - not by God, but by their previous false belief. And from this we may learn that the plainest truths of the Bible are unintelligible to many because they have embraced some belief or opinion before which is erroneous, and which they are unwilling to abandon. The proper way of reading the Bible is to lay aside all previous opinions and submit entirely to God. The apostles should have supposed that their previous notions of the Messiah were wrong, and should have renounced them. They should have believed that what Jesus "then"said was consistent with his being the Christ. So "we"should believe that "all"that God says is consistent with truth, and should forsake all other opinions.

Barnes: Luk 9:46-50

See the notes at Mat 18:1-5. Compare Mar 9:33-38.

Barnes: Luk 9:51

Should be received up - The word here translated "received up"means literally a removal from a lower to a higher place, and here it refers evidently to the solemn ascension of Jesus to heaven. It is often used to describe that great event. See Act 1:11, Act 1:22; Mar 16:19; 1Ti 3:16. The time appointed for him to remain on the earth was about expiring, and he resolved to go to Jerusalem and die. And from this we learn that Jesus made a voluntary sacrifice; that he "chose"to give his life for the sins of people. Humanly speaking, had he remained in Galilee he would have been safe; but that it might appear that he did not shun danger, and that he was really a voluntary sacrifice that no man had power over his life except as he was permitted (Joh 19:11 - he chose to put himself in the way of danger, and even to go into scenes which he knew would end in his death.

He stedfastly set his face - He determined to go to Jerusalem, or he set out resolutely. When a man goes toward an object, he may be said to set his face toward it. The expression here means only that he "resolved"to go, and it implies that he was not appalled by the dangers - that he was determined to brave all, and go up into the midst of his enemies - to die.

Barnes: Luk 9:52

Sent messengers - In the original the word is "angels;"and the use of that word here shows that the word "angel"in the Bible does not always mean heavenly beings.

To make ready - To prepare a place, lodgings, refreshments. He had no reason to expect that he would experience any kind treatment from the Samaritans if he came suddenly among them, and if they saw that he was going to Jerusalem. He therefore made provision beforehand, and thus has shown us that it is not "improper’ to look out beforehand for the supply of our wants, and to guard against want and poverty.

Samaritans - See the notes at Mat 10:5. They had no dealings with the Jews, Joh 4:9.

Barnes: Luk 9:53

They did not receive him - Did not entertain him hospitably, or receive him with kindness.

Because his face was ... - Because they ascertained that he was going to Jerusalem. One of the subjects of dispute between the Jews and Samaritans pertained to the proper situation of the temple. The Jews contended that it should be at Jerusalem; the Samaritans, on Mount Gerizim, and accordingly they had built one there. They had probably heard of the miracles of Jesus, and that he claimed to be the Messiah. Perhaps they had hoped that he would decide that "they"were right in regard to the building of the temple. Had he decided the question in that way, they would have received him as the Messiah gladly; but when they saw that he was going among the Jews - that "by going"he would decide in their favor, they resolved to have nothing to do with him, and they rejected him. And from this we may learn:

1.    That people wish all the teachers of religion to fall in with their own views.

2.    That if a doctrine does not accord with their selfish desires, they are very apt to reject it.

3.    That if a religious teacher or a doctrine favors a rival sect, it is commonly rejected without examination. And,

4.    That people, from a regard to their own views and selfishness, often reject the true religion, as the Samaritans did the Son of God, and bring upon themselves swift destruction.

Barnes: Luk 9:54

James and John - They were called Boanerges - sons of thunder - probably on account of their energy and power in preaching the gospel, or of their vehement and rash zeal - a remarkable example of which we have in this instance, Mar 3:17.

Wilt thou ... - The insult had been offered to Jesus, their friend, and they felt it; but their zeal was rash and their spirit bad. Vengeance belongs to God: it was not theirs to attempt it.

Fire from heaven - Lightning, to consume them.

As Elias did - By this they wished to justify their zeal. Perhaps, while they were speaking, they saw Jesus look at them with disapprobation, and to vindicate themselves they referred to the case of Elijah. The case is recorded in 2Ki 1:10-12.

Barnes: Luk 9:55

Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of - You suppose that you are actuated by a proper love for me; but you know not yourselves. It is rather a love of revenge; rather revengeful feelings toward the "Samaritans"than proper feelings toward "me."We learn here:

1.    That "apparent"zeal for God may be only improper opposition toward our fellow-men.

2.    That people, when they wish to honor God, should examine their spirit, and see if there is not lying at the bottom of their professed zeal for God some bad feeling toward their fellow-men.

3.    That the highest opposition which Jesus met with was not inconsistent with "his"loving those who opposed him, and with his seeking to do them good.

Barnes: Luk 9:56

For the Son of man ... - You should imitate, in your spirit, the Son of man. "He"came not to destroy. If he had come for that purpose, he would have destroyed these Samaritans; but he came to save. He is not soon angry. "He"bears patiently opposition to himself, and "you"should bear opposition to "him."You should catch his spirit; temper your zeal like his; seek to do good to those who injure you and him; be mild, kind, patient, and forgiving.

Poole: Luk 9:1

Luk 9:1-6 Christ sendeth his apostles to work miracles and

preach the gospel.

Luk 9:7-9 Herod desireth to see him.

Luk 9:10,11 The apostles return.

Luk 9:12-17 Christ feedeth five thousand men with five loaves and

two fishes.

Luk 9:18-22 The different opinions concerning Christ; Peter’ s

confession of him: Christ foretells his own death

and resurrection.

Luk 9:23-27 He showeth his followers the necessity of self denial,

and that they must not be ashamed of owning his gospel.

Luk 9:28-36 He is transfigured,

Luk 9:37-42 healeth a demoniac,

Luk 9:43-45 again foreshoweth his sufferings,

Luk 9:46-48 checks the ambitious disputes of his disciples,

Luk 9:49,50 will not have them forbid any one to work miracles in

his name,

Luk 9:51-56 reproveth the fiery zeal of James and John against the

Samaritans who would not receive him,

Luk 9:57-62 and proposes terms to three persons who offer to

follow him.

Ver. 1-6. We have heard of the choosing of these twelve disciples, and their names, Luk 6:13-16 Mar 3:14-19 . Our Saviour chose them to be with him, to learn of him, and to be instructed by him, and to be witnesses of what he said and did; after some time thus spent, he sends them forth to preach the gospel, and giveth them a power to confirm the doctrine which they preached, by several miraculous operations. Matthew takes no notice of their election, only of their mission. Both Mark and Luke take notice of both. Luk 9:3-6 give us an account of the instructions he gave them; we met with them all before, and a more full account of them,

See Poole on "Mat 10:1" and following verses to Mat 10:42 . See Poole on "Mar 6:7" and following verses to Mar 6:11 .

Poole: Luk 9:7-9

Ver. 7-9. This Herod was Herod Antipas, the tetrarch of Galilee, who had beheaded John the Baptist; he heareth of these great things done by Christ, and dihporei , saith the evangelist; it is a word that signifieth a great disturbance, and perplexity of mind, when a man is in doubt and fear, and knoweth not what counsels to take or follow: it is used Luk 24:4 Act 2:12 5:24 10:17 . The other evangelists say Herod himself guessed it was John the Baptist, whom he had beheaded. Oh the power of a guilty conscience! He had murdered John, now he is afraid his ghost haunted him, or that his soul was entered into another body, that it might be revenged on him. Others guessed variously. Herod knoweth not what to think, but desireth to see Christ, possibly that he might make up some judgment about him, possibly out of mere curiosity. But we read not that he did see him until Pilate sent him to him after his examination of him, Luk 23:8 .

Poole: Luk 9:10-11

Ver. 10,11. The evangelists give us but a summary account of things. We read of the mission, or sending out, of the apostles, Luk 9:1 . Here we read of their return, and giving their Lord an account of their discharge of the trust he had reposed in them. Being returned, our Saviour goeth with them into a place near Bethsaida, not much inhabited, and therefore called desert. He never wanted followers, nor a heart to receive them, and to take all opportunities to do them good. Many followed him; he receiveth them, and preacheth to them for the good of their souls, and healeth those amongst them that were sick, to teach us to join spiritual with bodily, and bodily with spiritual, alms. Spiritual alms, such as instruction, reproof, counsel, are as much better than those that relieve only bodily wants, as the soul is better than the body. Spiritual alms, without bodily relief, from such as are able to give them, are fittest for spiritual persons; carnal, ignorant people, that have no sense of spiritual things, must, like children, be allured into a good opinion of the things and ways of God by some bodily charity, and so taken by guile, and enticed to the knowledge of God.

Poole: Luk 9:12-17

Ver. 12-17. The history of this miracle is recorded by all the four evangelists. See Poole on "Mat 14:15" , and following verses to Mat 14:22 , and See Poole on "Mar 6:35" , and following verses to Mar 6:44 . We shall again meet with it, Joh 6:5-14 , with some further circumstances. Luke hath nothing but what we have before met with.

Poole: Luk 9:18-22

Ver. 18-22. Matthew and Mark tell us this discourse passed at Caesarea Philippi (or at least one of the same import). Matthew also gives us an account of it with more circumstances. See Poole on "Mat 16:13" , and following verses to Mat 16:23 .

As he was alone praying that is, free from the multitude, for the next words tell us, the

disciples were with him Luk 9:22is not to be found in the other evangelists; and if Luke hath reported these words in the right order of time, they afford us a probable reason of what is said Luk 9:21 , why Christ would not yet be published as the Christ, or the Son of God. Because he was to suffer, and it might much have shaken people’ s faith, as to that point, if they had seen the person whom they believed such suffering, and to be so despitefully used as he was; he therefore desired to be concealed as to that, until he should be declared the Son of God with power, by his resurrection from the dead.

Poole: Luk 9:23-24

Ver. 23,24. We have met with these words before, See Poole on "Mat 16:24" , See Poole on "Mat 16:25" . See Poole on "Mat 10:38" , See Poole on "Mat 10:39" . See Poole on "Mar 8:34" and See Poole on "Mar 8:35" .

Poole: Luk 9:26-27

Ver. 26,27. See Poole on "Mat 16:28" and See Poole on "Mar 9:1" . Luke seems here to have recorded several sayings of our Saviour, spoken not all at the same time.

Poole: Luk 9:28-36

Ver. 28-36. See Poole on "Mat 17:1" , and following verses to Mat 17:9 . See Poole on "Mar 9:2" , and following verses to Mar 9:10 .

Poole: Luk 9:29

See Poole on "Luk 9:28 "

Poole: Luk 9:30

See Poole on "Luk 9:28 "

Poole: Luk 9:31

See Poole on "Luk 9:28 "

Poole: Luk 9:32

See Poole on "Luk 9:28 "

Poole: Luk 9:33

See Poole on "Luk 9:28 "

Poole: Luk 9:34

See Poole on "Luk 9:28 "

Poole: Luk 9:35

See Poole on "Luk 9:28 "

Poole: Luk 9:36

See Poole on "Luk 9:28 "

Poole: Luk 9:37-45

Ver. 37-45. See Poole on "Mat 17:14" , and following verses to Mat 17:21 . See Poole on "Mar 9:14" , and following verses to Mar 9:29 . Of the people’ s astonishment and amazement at the sight of Christ’ s miracles, we often hear much; of their embracing him as their Saviour, and owning him as the Christ, we read little. Thus far many of them were come, indeed the most, (the Scribes, and Pharisees, and Sadducees only excepted), that they believed Christ was a great Prophet, a man sent of God; authorized by God to reveal his will, and empowered from God to do many things, which none but God had originally a power to do. Others were gone a step further, viz. to believe not only that he was a Prophet, but that Prophet foretold by Moses, Deu 18:15 Joh 1:21,45 ; the Christ of God, as Peter expressed it, he that should redeem Israel, Luk 24:21 . That they had not a true notion of the Messias, either as to his person, that the Divine and human nature were united in his person, or as to his work, that it was not to redeem Israel from their bodily servitude, but from their sins only, will appear to any from the whole history of the gospel. Nor indeed doth our Saviour hasten their faith in this revelation, I mean the perfecting and confirming of it, knowing that it would be a great shaking to their faith in him, in this notion, and indeed as the Messias, to see him so shamefully abused by the vilest abjects of the people, (as he was at his passion), and then hanging upon the cross, and dying, until they should also see him by his own power risen from the dead, and be confirmed concerning the truth of his resurrection. Where therefore he saw this seed of precious faith springing up, as it did in Peter and divers others, who it is plain apprehended him more than man, as he did not discourage nor blame it, but highly commended it; so neither did he please to strengthen it, so as to put them out of all doubt about it, and often charged them not to publish it abroad, and bends himself to prepare them against this great obstacle, which he saw would be in their way, to wit, his sufferings. This is the second time now that in this chapter we find him inculcating it. And there was need of it, for the evangelist telleth us that

they understood it not, it was hidden from them They could easily understand how an ordinary prophet might be delivered into the hands of men, but how the Messias, the Christ, that Prophet, he of whom some of them believed that he was more than a mere man, how he should be thus delivered, thus suffer, they could not understand; and they saw Christ as to this point so reserved and private, and forbidding the publication of it, that they feared to be too particular with him about it.

Poole: Luk 9:46-48

Ver. 46-48. See Poole on "Mat 18:1" , and following verses to Mat 18:6 . See Poole on "Mar 9:33" , and following verses to Mar 9:37 . This paragraph showeth what need there was of the preceding discourse, that our Saviour should prepare them with a preinforming them about his suffering, that when they saw it their faith in him as the Messiah might not fail; for they were possessed with the common notion of their country, that the Messiah should deliver them from the temporal pressures which they were under, and exercise a civil or military secular power; this made them think of places of priority and greatness, about which we often find them disputing. Our Lord, to bring them off that false notion of him and his kingdom, taketh a child, and setteth him before them, and saith, Whosoever shall receive this child, &c. What Luke saith must be interpreted by what we had before in Matthew and Mark. This child, that is, one that is as humble as this child, &c.: see the notes before mentioned.

Poole: Luk 9:49-50

Ver. 49,50. Mark saith further, that Christ added, for there is no man, which shall do a miracle in my name, that can lightly speak evil of me: See Poole on "Mar 9:38", See Poole on "Mar 9:39" .

Poole: Luk 9:51

From this to Luk 9:56 we have a piece of history recorded by no other evangelist but Luke; but is of great use to us, both to let us know, that our Saviour laid down his life, no man took it from him, and to let us see to what height differences about religion ordinarily arise, and what intemperateness is often found, as to them, in the spirits of the best of people, as also what is the will of our great Master as to the government of our spirits in such cases. The going up of our Saviour to Jerusalem at this time was his last journey thither.

When the time was come that he should be received up ’ En tw sumplhrousyai tav hmerav thv analhqewv autou ; that is, when the time was drawing nigh when Christ should ascend up into heaven; so the word is used, Mar 16:19 Act 1:11 1Ti 3:16 . But why doth the evangelist express it thus? Why doth he not say, when he was to suffer; but skips over his death, and only mentions his ascension?

1. That is included; Christ was first to suffer, and then to enter into his glory.

2. Christ’ s death is called a lifting up from the earth, Joh 12:32 .

3. What if we should say that Christ’ s death is thus expressed, to let us know that the death of Christ was to him a thing that his eye was not so much upon, as the glory which he immediately was to enter into after;

so as he calls his very death a taking up, as that which immediately preceded it, thereby teaching us to overlook sufferings and death, as not worthy to be named or mentioned, and to look only to that taking up into our Father’ s glory, which is the portion of all believers; when they die, they are but taken up from the earth: and though our bodies still stay behind a while, death having a power over us, yet of them also there shall be a taking up. Upon both which takings up our eyes should be so fixed, as to overlook all the sufferings of this life, as not worthy to be named.

He stedfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem Some think this was not our Saviour’ s last motion thither before his passion, but then it would not have been said proswpon esthrixe , he set his face, or, he confirmed his face. He was now in Galilee, Jerusalem (that killed the prophets) was the place designed for his suffering; betwixt Galilee and Jerusalem lay Samaria, through which he was to pass.

Poole: Luk 9:52-53

Ver. 52,53. The land of Canaan was by Joshua divided among all the twelve tribes of Israel, as we read in the book of Joshua, Jos 14:1-15 15:1-63 16:1-10 17:1-18 Saul, David, and Solomon (after the death of Joshua, the judges, and Samuel) ruled over them all; but Rehoboam the son of Solomon, following the counsel of the young men in his counsels, ten tribes revolted from the house of David, 1Ki 12:16-19 . Jeroboam brought them to idolatry, Luk 9:28,29 , setting up calves at Dan and Bethel. So as that there was a perpetual difference between the Israelites and those that adhered to the house of David, both upon a civil and religious account. This held for about two hundred and sixty years. In the time of Hoshea, their last king, the king of Assyria, after a siege of three years, takes Samaria their head city. Of this we have an account, 2Ki 17:6 , as also of those sins which had provoked God to give them up into his hands. 2Ki 17:24 we read that the king of Assyria brought men from Babylon, Cuthah, Ava, Hamath, and Sepharvaim, and placed them in the cities of Samaria instead of the children of Israel. He removed the most of the Jews, 2Ki 17:6 , and placed them in Halah and in Habor by the Driver of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes. After this there were several mutations in the government of those countries. We must not imagine that all the Jews were carried away, but the chief and principal men; and we read in 2Ki 17:1-41 , that a priest was sent back to instruct the new colonies how to worship the God of the country; because the lions infesting them, they conceived their non acquaintance with the methods of worship used toward the God of that country was the cause of it, 2Ki 17:26,27 . But yet the people of the several nations brought thither worshipped their several idols, as may be read there, 2Ki 17:29 . After this, about a hundred and sixty years, these places came under the dominion of Cyrus, who gave the Jews a liberty to return, but it chiefly concerned those that belonged to the kingdom of Judah, for we read, Ezr 1:5 , that they were the fathers of Judah and Benjamin that rose up to return. The Samaritans were their enemies as to the building of the temple, Ezr 4:4,5 . After this, they fell under the power, first of the Grecians, then of the Romans, under which they at this time were. This old feud, both upon the account of their former civil difference, and their difference in religion, still held, so as there was a great enmity (especially occasioned by their difference in religion) betwixt those who belonged to the tribes of Judah and Benjamin, and the Samaritans, who were indeed idolaters. The Jews (for so now were they only called who adhered to the house of David) had no dealings with them, Joh 4:9 ; though it be the opinion of some that there were common civilities between them, and that the rigidness lay on the Jewish part, rather than the Samaritans’ . Galilee lay beyond Samaria, and it should seem was more generally inhabited by native Jews. The king of Assyria planted his colonies (it is probable) more in that which was now more strictly called Samaria, which lay in the heart of the land; which might be the reason that the inhabitants of that part now called Samaria were more absurd and gross in their worship than the inhabitants of Galilee, amongst whom Christ so long preached. From whence (as was before said) Christ going to Jerusalem to the feast was to pass. The Samaritans refused to receive him, which ordinarily, it is said, they did not to passengers, but possibly their knowing that he was going to the feast was the cause, or his attendants might be more than they liked. When we come to Joh 4:1-54 we shall hear more of the religious differences between the Jews and the Samaritans. This is enough to have at present noted.

Poole: Luk 9:54

The history of Elijah to which the disciples refer, is doubtless that, 2Ki 1:10 , where Elijah, not without direction from God, called fire from heaven to destroy those captains and their fifties which the king sent to take him.

Poole: Luk 9:55-56

Ver. 55,56. The term spirit sometimes signifies, the inward motions, propensities, and inclinations of the soul, influenced either from the Holy Spirit of God, or from the evil spirit. So the term is used 2Ti 1:7 . You do not (saith our Saviour) consider what kind of motions these are, which you indulge yourselves in. The case of Elijah and this case had three remarkable differences.

1. The people of Israel at that time had been in an apostasy but of few years comparatively to these Samaritans; they were fallen into it in the sight of the true worship of God, at that time upheld in Judah. They were not only stiff in it, but the king sends these captains to apprehend Elijah for declaring what God had commanded him to declare. These Samaritans were under the prejudices of antiquity, and prescription for many hundreds of years. Histories tell us, that the Samaritan temple, on Mount Gerizim, built in opposition to the temple at Jerusalem, was built by one Sanballat, Darius’ s governor in those parts, to be revenged on the Jews for turning his son-in-law Manasseh from the priesthood at Jerusalem, which if it be true, the Samaritans had been fixed now in their false worship more than five hundred years. Nor were these that we read of any of the heads and rulers, but probably ordinary country people, rooted so long in this corrupt way, and doing this in zeal to their own temple on Mount Gerizim, and so inclined to show no favour to those who in any devotion were going to the opposite temple. Christ pitieth them under these prejudices, and though he doth not approve of their worship, yet he did not think that the way to change their minds was to call for fire from heaven against them, nor would he be so severe against them. It is not the will of God that we should approve of any corrupt worship, and join with those that use it; but neither is it his will that we should by fire and sword go about to suppress it, and bring men off from it. Antiquity, or the practice of our forefathers, is no sufficient plea to justify any worship. (It was the Samaritans’ plea, Joh 4:20 ) But yet where any such prejudice against the truth is, it calleth to us for mild and gentle behaviour towards such as are under those disadvantages for the receiving of the truth.

2. But, secondly, there was a difference in the call of Elijah. He was an extraordinary prophet, who did nothing of this nature but by an immediate impulse and direction; so as what he did was in zeal for God, guided by a knowledge of the will of God. The disciples had no such call.

3. The times differed; Elijah acted under the legal dispensation, which was more severe; they were under the more mild and gentle dispensation of the gospel. And in this question they did but indulge their passions, and sinful desire of revenge; therefore, saith our Saviour,

Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of Our Saviour lets them know that they were under a more mild and gentle dispensation, by propounding his own example: The Son of man (saith he) came not to destroy men’ s lives, but to save The term translated lives signifieth also souls; but if we consider the apostles’ question, which was not whether they should call for fire from heaven to destroy their souls, but to destroy them as to their lives here, it will well enough justify our translators rendering it in this place lives. You see, saith our Saviour, by my healing the sick, raising the dead, &c., that my business is not to make my ministry ungrateful to men, by any ways prejudicing them in their outward concerns. If it were translated souls, it is yet a great truth: Christ came not to destroy men’ s souls, but to bring the means of salvation and eternal happiness; if they reject these, and perish, their destruction is of themselves.

Lightfoot: Luk 9:3

And he said unto then, Take nothing for your journey, neither staves, nor scrip, neither bread, neither money; neither have two coats apiece.   

[Neither have two coats apiece.] Either my computation of times very much deceives me, or the winter was now coming on when the apostles were sent forth; and yet Christ forbids that they should be clothed with a double garment. It was not much that they should be forbid to take money or provision for their journey, because they were to have their food administered to them as the reward of their preaching the gospel: but to strive with the cold and winter without sufficient clothing seems something hard.  

I. It was not an unusual thing in that nation, that some out of a more religious severity, did clothe themselves but with a single garment; of which thing we have already spoken in notes upon Mar 14:51; to which probably this passage may have some reference: "R. Jose saith, 'Let my portion be with those who die of the disease in their bowels; for, saith Mar, Very many righteous men die of the disease in their bowels,'"; viz. A disease contracted by the austerities of their life, both as to food and clothing. And so it is said particularly of the priests.  

"The priests walked barefoot upon the pavement, and used water, and were not clad but with a single garment. And from this custom their natural vigour languished, and their bowels grew infirm."  

For this very reason was there a physician appointed in the Temple, upon whom the charge lay of remedying this evil: whom we might not unfitly call the bowel-doctor.   

Now, it may be inquired whether our Lord from this example prescribed this severity to his apostles, not allowing them more than a single garment, when this journeying of theirs, to preach the gospel, was a winter's work: for they returned from this journey a little before the Passover. Compare the tenth verse of this chapter Luk 9:10, and so on, with Joh 6:4; and so on. But let us a little enlarge upon this subject.  

In both the Talmuds there are reckoned up eighteen several garments, wherewith the Jew is clothed from head to foot. Amongst the rest, two shoes, two buskins, etc.: but those which are more properly called garments, and which are put upon the body, are reckoned these:  

1. Mactoren; which word is variously rendered by several men. By the Gloss I suppose a mantle; by Aruch a cloak; by others a hood. In the Gloss upon Bava Bathra it is made the same with talith.  

"Resh Lachish went to Bozrah; and, seeing some Israelites eating of fruits that had not been tithed, forbade them. Coming from R. Jochanan, he saith to him, Even while thy 'mactoren' [or cloak] is upon thee, go and recall thy prohibition.'"  

2. 'Kolbin' of thread. Which the Babylonians call kolbos. The ordinary Jewish garment was talith; the outward garment, and chaluk; the inward. But in the place quoted is no mention of talith in so many syllables at all; but instead of it a Greek word for a Hebrew one, a coat.  

Epiphanius, speaking of the scribes, "Moreover, they wore garments distinguished by the phylacteries, which were certain borders of purple." They used long robes, or a certain sort of garment which we may call 'dalmatics,' or 'kolobia,' which were wove in with large borders of purple.  

That he means the talith; the thing itself declares; for those borders of purple were no other than the zuzith; certain skirts hung and sewed on to the talith.   

3. A woolen shirt; the inward garment. Whence the Gloss, the 'chaluk' was the shirt upon his skin. Hence that boast of R. Jose, "that throughout his whole life the roof of his house had not seen what was within that shirt of his."  

II. And now the question returns; viz. whether by those two coats in the place before us should be meant those two kinds of garments, the talith and the chaluk; that is, that they should take but one of them: or those two kinds doubled; that is, that they should take but one of each? Whether our Saviour bound them to take but one of those garments, or whether he forbade them taking two of each?  

I conceive, he might bind them to take but one of those garments...When our Lord commands them not to put on two coats; the foregoing words may best explain what he means by it: for when he cuts them short of other parts of garments and necessaries, such as a scrip, a staff, and sandals, we may reasonably suppose he would cut them short of one of the ordinary garments, either the talith or the { chaluk.  

This may seem something severe, that he should send them out in the winter time half naked; but, 1. This well enough became that providence which he was determined to exert towards them in a more peculiar manner, as may be gathered from Luk 22:35; and to the charge of which he would commit them. Of such a kind and nature was his providence in preserving them, as was shewn towards the Israelites in the wilderness, which suffered not their garments to wax old, which kept their bodies from decay and diseases, and their feet unhurt by all their travel. 2. It suited well enough with the mean and low estate of that kingdom of heaven, and of the Messiah, which the apostles were to preach up and propagate; so that, from the view of the first publishers, the Jews might learn to frame a right judgment concerning both the Messiah and his kingdom; viz. they might learn to believe in the Messiah when they should observe him capable so wondrously to protect his messengers, though surrounded with such numberless inconveniences of life: and might further be taught not to expect a pompous kingdom when they see the propagators of it, of so mean a degree and quality.  

The words of the Baptist, He that hath two coats, let him impart; etc., may be also understood in this sense, that he that hath both the talith and the chaluk may give to him that is naked and hath neither, either the one or the other.

Lightfoot: Luk 9:8

And of some, that Elias had appeared; and of others, that one of the old prophets was risen again.   

[That one of the old prophets was risen again.] So is the expression again, Luk 9:19; in which sense that prophet must be taken, Joh 1:21; Joh 1:25; that is one of the old prophets that is risen again.  

Although they looked for no other prophet (excepting Elias only) before the appearing of the Messiah, yet doth it seem that they had an opinion that some of the ancient prophets should rise again, and that the time was now at hand wherein they should so do; and that because they made such frequent mention of it in their common talk, that "some one of the old prophets had risen again."

Lightfoot: Luk 9:30

And, behold, there talked with him two men, which were Moses and Elias:   

[Moses and Elias.] The Jews have a fiction that Moses shall come with Elias when Elias himself comes. "The holy blessed God said to Moses, 'As thou hast given thy life for Israel in this world, so in the ages to come, when I shall bring Elias the prophet amongst them, you two shall come together '"...  

They also feign that Moses was raised up at the same time with Samuel by the witch of Endor:  

"Samuel thought that day had been the day of judgment, and therefore he raised Moses along with himself."  

"Moses did not die [for the just die not]; but went up into the highest, to minister before God."

Lightfoot: Luk 9:31

Who appeared in glory, and spake of his decease which he should accomplish at Jerusalem.   

[They spake of his decease.] The French and Italian translation do render this word decease too loosely. And I wish the English have not done it too narrowly; They spake of his decease. It were better, They spake of his departure. For the ascent of Christ into heaven was his exodus; as well as his death: nay, I may say more, if, at least, in the word exodus there be any allusion to the Israelites' going out of Egypt. For that was in victory and triumph, as also the ascent of Christ into heaven was.  

There is no question but they did indeed discourse with him about his death and the manner of it; viz. his crucifixion: whereas, Moses and Elias themselves did depart without any pain or anguish. But I should think, however, there is more contained in that word; and that the expression the time of his receiving up; Luk 9:51, hath some reference to his departure...

Lightfoot: Luk 9:51

And it came to pass, when the time was come that he should be received up, he steadfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem,   

[When the time was come that he should be received up] it is a difficulty amongst some, why there should be any mention of his receiving up; when there is no mention of his death. But let it be only granted that under that expression his decease is included the ascension of Christ, and then the difficulty is solved. The evangelist seems from thence to calculate. Moses and Elias had spoken of his departure out of this world, that is, of his final departure, when he took leave of it at his ascension into heaven: and from thenceforward, till the time should come wherein he should be received up, he steadfastly set his face towards Jerusalem, resolving with himself to be present at all the feasts that should precede his receiving up.  

He goes therefore to the feast of Tabernacles; and what he did there, we have it told us, John_7. After ten weeks, or thereabout, he went up to the feast of Dedication, Luk 13:22; Joh 10:22; and at length to the last feast of all, his own Passover, Luk 17:11.

Lightfoot: Luk 9:52

And sent messengers before his face: and they went, and entered into a village of the Samaritans, to make ready for him.   

[Into a village of the Samaritans.] It may be a question, whether the Jews, in their journeying to and from Jerusalem, would ordinarily deign to lodge in any of the Samaritan towns. But if necessity should at any time compel them to betake themselves into any of their inns, we must know that nothing but their mere hatred to the nation could forbid them: for "their land was clean, their waters were clean, their dwellings were clean, and their roads were clean." So that there could be no offence or danger of uncleanness in their dwelling; and so long as the Samaritans, in most things, came the nearest the Jewish religion of all others, there was less danger of being defiled either in their meats or beds or tables, etc.

Lightfoot: Luk 9:55

But he turned, and rebuked them, and said, Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of.   

[Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of.] What Elias once did to those of Samaria, the sons of Zebedee had an ambition to imitate in this place; dreaming (as it should seem) that there were those thunders and lightnings in their very name Boanerges; that should break out at pleasure for the death and destruction of those that provoked them. But could you not see, O ye sons of Zebedee, how careful and tender your Master was, from the very bottom of his soul, about the lives and well-being of mankind; how he healed the sick, cured those that were possessed with devils, and raised the dead? and will you be breathing slaughter and fire, and no less destruction to the town than what had happened to Sodom? Alas! you do not know, or have not considered, what kind of spirit and temper becomes the apostles of the Messiah.

PBC: Luk 9:23

SEE PB: Mt 16:24 

Haydock: Luk 9:1

Over all devils; so that none should be able to resist them. For all were not equally easy to be expelled, as we shall see in this same chapter, in the person of a possessed child, whom the apostles could not heal, because they did not use prayer and fasting against it; and because their faith was not sufficiently strong and ardent. (Calmet)

Haydock: Luk 9:4

And depart [1] not from thence. In the ordinary Greek copies we find, and depart from thence. The sense appears, by the other evangelists, (Matthew x. 11. and Mark vi. 10.) that Christ gave this admonition to his disciples, not to change their lodging from house to house; but while they staid in a town, to remain in the same house. And though the negative be here omitted in the Greek, interpreters bring it to the same, by telling us that the sense is, stay here, and depart from thence; i.e. stay in that house, so that leaving the town, you may depart from the same house. (Witham)

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[BIBLIOGRAPHY]

Et ind ne exeatis, but in the ordinary Greek copies, without ne, Greek: kai ekeithen exerchesthe.

Haydock: Luk 9:8

Risen from the dead. Herod was perplexed and in suspense about the report, that it was John [the Baptist] that was risen from the dead. ... From this it appears, that some of the Jews, and Herod himself, believed in some kind of metempsychosis, or transmigration of souls. Josephus says, (Antiq. lib. xviii, chap. 2.) that the Pharisees believed the soul to be immortal; and after death, to depart to some subterraneous places, where they received the recompense of good, or evil, according to their actions. There the souls of the wicked remain for ever, without the power of departing thence. The souls of the good sometimes returned, and entered other bodies. Herod probably thought that the soul of John the Baptist was united to that of Christ, in the same body, and was thence enabled to perform new and more extraordinary functions. Such were the reveries of some of the Rabbins; who, as St. Jerome remarks, abused the passages of the gospel we are now explaining, in support of this Pythagorean doctrine. Most of the Jews believed the true doctrine of the resurrection, viz. that of the body; which must one day be renewed to life by the same soul which now animates it: and this is the doctrine of faith and of the Church, which she teaches you from both the Old and New Testament, instead of that transmigration of souls, which has no foundation or appearance of truth. It is probable that this error was widely diffused among the Jews, in our Saviour's time. It was a doctrine suited to the taste of the Orientals. Some think they can see traces of it in the history of Elias. That prophet being taken away, and the Jews seeing Eliseus perform the same miracles, said, that the spirit of Elias had rested on him. (Calmet)

Haydock: Luk 9:18

As he was alone praying: i.e. remote from the people, though his disciples are said to have been with him. (Witham)

Haydock: Luk 9:27

Kingdom of God. This is generally understood of the transfiguration, in which Christ shewed to the three disciples an essay of his glory. (Calmet)

Haydock: Luk 9:28

Mountain, &c. ---

Since Christ has ascended the mountain, both to pray and to be transfigured, all of us who hope for the fruit of his resurrection, and long to see the king in his glory, must dwell in heaven by our thoughts, and apply our minds to continual prayer. (Ven. Bede)

Haydock: Luk 9:30

And behold two men. Moses and Elias, by ministering to our Lord in his glory, shewed him to be the Lord of both the Old and New Testament. The disciples also, upon seeing the glory of their fellow-creatures, would be filled with admiration at the condescension of their divine Master; and considering the delights of future happiness, be stirred up to a holy emulation of those who had laboured before them, and be fortified in their ensuing conflicts; for nothing so much lightens the present labour, as the consideration of the future recompense. (St. Cyril)

Haydock: Luk 9:31

They spoke of his decease, [2] or his departure out of this world. St. Peter useth the same Greek word for his death. (2 Peter i. 15.) (Witham)

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[BIBLIOGRAPHY]

Excessum, Greek: exodon. Mr. Bois, the canon of Ely, shews it a proper word for death. So 2 Peter i. 15. post obitum meum, Greek: meta ten emen exodon.

Haydock: Luk 9:33

It is good for us. It is not good, O Peter, for Christ to remain always. Should he have remained there, the promise he had made thee would never have been fulfilled. Thou wouldst never have obtained the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and the reign of death would not have been destroyed. Seek not for joys before the time, as Adam sought to be made like God. The time will come, when thou shalt for eternity behold him, and reign with him who is life and light. (Damasus, Orat. de Transfigurat. Domini.) ---

Three tabernacles. The Lord does appoint thee the builder, not of tabernacles, but of his whole Church. Thy disciples, thy sheep, have fulfilled thy desire, by erecting tabernacles for Christ and his faithful servants. These words of St. Peter, let us make, &c. were not spoken of himself, but by the prophetic inspiration of the Holy Ghost. Therefore it is added, he knew not what he said. (Damasus, Orat. de Transfigurat. Domini.) ---

St. Peter knew not what he said, because by proposing to make three tabernacles for these three personages, he improperly ranked together, the servants and their Lord, the creature and the Creator. (Titus Bostrensis)

Haydock: Luk 9:35

And a voice, &c. This is the voice of the Father from the cloud, as if he should say, "I call him not one of my sons, but my true and natural Son, to the resemblance of whom all others are adopted. (St. Cyril) ---

Not Elias, not Moses, but he whom you see alone, is my beloved Son. (St. Ambrose) ---

Therefore, it is added: and when the voice was heard, Jesus was alone, lest any one should imagine these words, This is my beloved Son, were addressed to Moses or Elias." (Theophylactus)

Haydock: Luk 9:45

They understood not this word. They understood well enough what was meant by being delivered into the hands of his enemies, and being put to death; but they could not comprehend how Jesus Christ, whom they knew to be the Messias, and the Son of God, and whom they believed to be immortal, and eternal, could suffer death, or affronts and outrages from men. These ideas seemed incompatible; they perceived in them some mystery, which they could not penetrate. (Calmet)

Haydock: Luk 9:46

And there entered a thought, &c. It is improbable that all the disciples had fallen into this fault: but the evangelist, that he might not point out any in particular as guilty of it, says indiscriminately, that this thought had entered among them. (St. Cyril in St. Thomas Aquinas)

Haydock: Luk 9:49

We forbade him. St. John having the most love for his Lord, and being particularly beloved by him, thought all were to be excluded from these gifts, who were not obedient to his divine Master. (St. Augustine) ---

But we must remember, that not the minister is the author of these miracles, but the grace which is in him, who performs these wonders by virtue of the power of Christ. (St. Cyril) ---

How wonderful is the power of Christ, who by his grace works miracles in the persons of the unworthy, and those that are not disciples; as men are sanctified by the priest, though the priest should not be in the state of grace! (Theophylactus)

Haydock: Luk 9:50

Forbid him not. Our Lord is not moved by this event, to teach us that perfect virtue entertains no thoughts of revenge, and that anger cannot be found where the fulness of charity reigns. The weak must not be driven away, but assisted. Let the breast of the religious man be ever unmoved by passion, and the mind of the generous undisturbed by desires of revenge. (St. Ambrose)

Haydock: Luk 9:51

The days of his assumption, i.e. of his ascension into heaven. See the same Greek word in Mark xvi. 19. and Acts i. 11. ---

He steadfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem, or literally, he fixed [3] his countenance to go up to Jerusalem. ---

And (ver. 53.) because his face was of one going to Jerusalem. These expressions come from the style of the Hebrews. See 4 Kings xii. 17; Jeremias xlii. 15; Ezechiel iv. 3. The sense is, that the Samaritans perceived that he and his company were going up to adore in Jerusalem, at which they were displeased, having an antipathy against the Jews and their temple. (Witham) ---

It is not here said, as some interpreters have believed, that his journey to Jerusalem was the last of his life, in which he was crucified. It appears from the context, that there were still many months before the death of Christ, and that this journey was probably for the feast of Pentecost. But that year was the last of the life of Jesus Christ and he already knew the dispositions of the Jews, and what was to befall him shortly. These words, he set his face, are often used in Scripture for obstinacy and hardness in evil. (Proverbs vii. 13. 12. 29; Jeremias xlii. 15. &c.) But we may likewise take them to signify a strong resolution, and intrepid and inflexible firmness, to perform what you have resolved. Jesus Christ shewed by his air, by his conduct and discourse, that notwithstanding the malice of his enemies, he was determined to go to Jerusalem. (Calmet)

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[BIBLIOGRAPHY]

Faciem suam firmavit, ut iret in Jerusalem, Greek: to prosopon autou esterixe tou poreuesthai. ---

Facies ejus erat euntis in Jerusalem, Greek: to prosopon autou en poreuomenon.

Haydock: Luk 9:52

Messengers, &c. St. Jerome believes that Christ sent true angels before him to announce his coming. The Greek word aggelos, generally signifies an angel; but it likewise means a messenger. Most interpreters believe he sent James and John, to prepare what was necessary for provisions and lodging. This precaution was necessary, as he was always followed by great crowds. The history, from verse 51 to the end of the chapter, is mentioned by none of the evangelists, except St. Luke. (Calmet)

Haydock: Luk 9:54

Wilt thou that we command fire, &c. In the Greek is added as Elias did. These words might be first in the margin, and thence by transcribers taken into the text. The two apostles, called the sons of thunder, knew their Master was greater than Elias; and therefore they are for calling for fire from heaven, as he had done. (Witham) ---

It was probably this trait in the life of James and John, which gained t hem the name of boanerges, the sons of thunder. Their too great zeal for the glory of Jesus Christ, and the spirit of revenge, of which they were not yet healed, caused them to make this petition; which seemed in some manner justified by the example of Elias, 4th book of Kings, chap. i. 10. Many editions have the addition of these words, as Elias did. (Calmet)

Haydock: Luk 9:55

You know not of what spirit you are, i.e. that my Spirit, which you ought to follow, is the Spirit of mercy, mildness, and patience. (Witham)

Haydock: Luk 9:56

But to save souls. It might be translated, to save men's lives; [4] but is seems better here to stick to the letter, especially since in most Greek copies we read, the souls of men. (Witham)

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[BIBLIOGRAPHY]

Animas in most Greek copies, Greek: psuchas anthropon.

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Gill: Luk 9:1

Then he called his twelve disciples together,.... The Persic version reads, "all his twelve disciples", the other nine, besides the three that were with him, when he raised Jairus's daughter, recorded in the foregoing chapter; the Vulgate Latin, Arabic, and Ethiopic versions read, "the twelve apostles", for so Christ had named his disciples; See Gill on Mat 6:13. The Syriac version only reads, "his own twelve"; and this is agreeably to Luke's way of speaking; see Luk 8:1.

And gave them power and authority over all devils; that is, all kinds of devils, particularly to cast them out of the bodies of men, possessed by them:

and to cure diseases; of all sorts.

Gill: Luk 9:2

And he sent them to preach the kingdom of God,.... The Gospel, which gives an account of the kingdom of the Messiah; of his kingly office and power; of his church, which is his kingdom, and of the government of it, by the ministration of the word, and the administration of ordinances; of the kingdom of grace in the hearts of Christ's subjects, and the nature of it; and of the kingdom of glory, and what is the saints' meetness for it, and right unto it:

and to heal the sick; of every disease of body, and thereby confirm their mission and commission from Christ, to preach the Gospel; and recommend it to men.

Gill: Luk 9:3

And he said unto them, take nothing for your journey,.... Throughout the towns and cities of Judea, where they were sent to preach the Gospel:

neither staves, The Vulgate Latin, and all the Oriental versions, read in the singular number, "neither staff, rod, or club"; and so it was in one of Beza's ancient copies, but in all the rest in the plural, as in Matthew; which last must be the true reading, since one staff was allowed, according as in Mar 6:8 though more than one were forbidden:

nor scrip; or bag to put provision in; See Gill on Mat 10:10.

Neither bread, neither money; gold, silver, or brass, to buy bread with; because they were to have it, wherever they came, given them, as their due, and the reward of their labour;

neither have two coats apiece; the word "apiece" is left out in one copy, nor is it expressed in the Vulgate Latin and the eastern versions, which read as in Mat 10:10 though the word does aptly and clearly express the sense of the prohibition, which was not that they should not have two coats among them, but not two apiece; or each man should not have two, or have change of raiment; See Gill on Mat 10:10

Gill: Luk 9:4

And whatsoever house ye enter into,.... In any town, or city, they should come to in their journey through Judea, and should enter into for the sake of lodging, during their stay:

there abide; do not shift quarters, or move from house to house:

and thence depart; the house you come into first, go out of last, when ye leave the town or city. The Vulgate Latin and Persic versions read, and thence do not depart: and so Beza says it is read in a certain copy, but then the sense is the same, as the Ethiopic version renders it, "do not go out from thence, until ye depart"; that is, do not leave the house, till you depart out of the town or city; agreeably to which is the Arabic version, "remain in it until the time of your going out"; See Gill on Mat 10:11.

Gill: Luk 9:5

And whosoever will not receive you,.... Unto their houses:

when ye go out of the city; where lodging and entertainment are refused you;

shake off the very dust from your feet, for a testimony against them; See Gill on Mat 10:14, Mar 6:11

Gill: Luk 9:6

And they departed,.... That is, the apostles, as the Syriac and Persic versions express it: they went from Christ, and the place where he was, from Capernaum, at least from some place in Galilee:

and went through the towns; the Syriac, Persic, and Ethiopic versions add, "and cities"; that is, of Judea, as well as Galilee, even the whole land of Israel:

preaching the Gospel; which explains what is meant by the kingdom of God, Luk 9:2 and healing everywhere; all sorts of bodily diseases, wherever they came.

Gill: Luk 9:7

Now Herod the tetrarch,.... Of Galilee, and who is called a king in Mar 6:14 as he is here in the Ethiopic version:

heard of all that was done by him; of all the miracles that were wrought by Christ, and his apostles; the fame of which were the more spread through the mission of the apostles, and the journey they took through all the towns and cities of Galilee, which were in Herod's jurisdiction; by which means he, and his court, came to the knowledge of them, the whole country, ringing with the account of the same:

and he was perplexed; anxious, and distressed, not knowing well what to think of Christ, and the different sentiments of men about him: be was afraid lest he should be John the Baptist risen from the dead, whom he had beheaded: he hesitated about it at first, though he afterwards was fully persuaded, in his own mind, that it was he, as some affirmed; and this gave him great uneasiness, and filled him with distress and horror:

because that it was said of some that John was risen from the dead; and he began to fear it was true, though willing to disbelieve it, at least to make a question of it, especially in public; though in private, to his own family and servants, he was free to tell his mind.

Gill: Luk 9:8

And of some, that Elias had appeared,.... Who had been translated, body and soul, to heaven, and whom the Jews expected a little before the coming of the Messiah:

and of others, that one of the old prophets was risen again; that is, one of the former prophets. It is well known, that the Jews distinguish the prophets into the former and latter; the books of the prophets of the Old Testament are so distinguished; the writings of the former prophets are those of Joshua, Judges, 1 and 2 of Samuel, and the first and second of Kings: the latter prophets are Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, which are the greater prophets, and the twelve lesser ones: and in the Talmud ^q it is asked,

"who are נביאים הראשונים, "the former prophets?" Says R. Huna, they are David, Samuel, and Solomon--and why are they called former prophets? to except (or distinguish) them from Haggai, Zachariah, and Malachi, who are the latter.''

So that by one of the old prophets, may be meant one of those that were before the times of Elias, as Samuel or David.

Gill: Luk 9:9

And Herod said, John have I beheaded,.... That is, he had ordered him to be beheaded, and which was accordingly done by the executioner; of which he had full proof, since the head was brought him in a charger, and which he delivered to the daughter of Herodias:

but who is this of whom I hear such things? such, wonderful things, such amazing miracles, as were done by Christ: he seems to have reasoned after this manner with himself, surely this cannot be John, for I have beheaded him! and yet who should it be? and whereas some affirmed, that it was John that was risen from the dead, he began to fear that it was he;

and he desired to see him: that he might be satisfied whether it was he or not; for he had had personal knowledge of John, and converse with him, and therefore, upon sight of him, could tell whether it was he that was risen from the dead, or not; but we do not find Herod had a sight of Christ, until he was sent by Pilate to him at Jerusalem; see Luk 23:7.

Gill: Luk 9:10

And the apostles, when they were returned,.... From the several parts of the land where they had been sent, and had been preaching and working miracles, having gone through their circuit, and finished the service they were sent to do:

told him all they had done; what doctrines they had taught, how they had been received, and what success they met with, what miracles they had wrought, how they had dispossessed devils, and healed all sorts of diseases:

and he took them and went aside privately; by ship, over some part of the sea of Galilee; See Gill on Mar 6:32.

into a desert place belonging to the city called Bethsaida; the city of Andrew and Peter, Joh 1:44, and which, as Josephus ^r says, was by the lake of Gennesaret, and by Philip called Julias; and this desert place was the desert of Bethsaida, a lonely, wild, uncultivated, and desolate place, not far from it. Hither Christ went with his disciples, that they might be retired and alone, and have some refreshment and rest from their labours, and where they might privately converse together; and he give them some fresh instructions, and directions, and comfort.

Gill: Luk 9:11

And the people, when they knew it,.... Having heard of his departure from others, and seeing him go off themselves:

followed him; not by ship, but on foot, going over the bridge at Chainmath of Gadara, and got thither before Christ and his disciples did:

and he received them; very kindly, and in a very affectionate manner, and with great respect, though they had prevented the private interview between him and his apostles;

and he spake unto them of the kingdom of God; of the Gospel dispensation, now setting up, and of the doctrines and ordinances of it, of the governing principle of grace in the hearts of his people, and of the glory of the world to come:

and healed them that had need of healing; for their bodies; as well as preached the doctrines of grace for the good of their souls; he both taught doctrine and wrought miracles.

Gill: Luk 9:12

When the day began to wear away,.... Or "to decline", as the Vulgate Latin and Arabic versions; or "to incline", as the Syriac; that is, as the Ethiopic version renders it, "when the sun was declining" towards the "horizon" and was almost set; or "when the evening time was come", as the Persic version:

then came the twelve; that is, "the disciples", as the Persic version; or "his disciples", as the Syriac: and

said unto him, send the multitude away, that they may go into the towns and country round about; the place where they were, round about the city of Bethsaida, the several adjacent houses in the fields, villages, towns, and cities:

and lodge, and get victuals; where they might have lodging for that night, it being too far for them to reach their habitations that evening; and also that they might provide themselves with proper and sufficient food, which was not to be had in the place where they were:

for we are here in a desert place; which afforded no conveniency for lodging, nor any supply of food.

Gill: Luk 9:13

And he said to them, give ye them to eat,.... Signifying, that it was not his will to dismiss people, and send them scattering abroad into the adjacent cities, towns, or houses; and that there was no need of it, but that his will was, that they should be supplied with provisions out of their stock:

and they said, we have no more than five loaves and two fishes; and these loaves were barley loaves, and the fishes small, Joh 6:9

except we should go and buy meat for all this people; which would at least cost them two hundred pence; and which they represent as impossible to be done, either through want of so much money, or the scarcity of provision in those parts; where, had they money, it would be difficult, at least to get such a quantity of provisions at once, which so great a number of persons required.

Gill: Luk 9:14

For they were about five thousand men,.... Beside women and children, Mat 14:21,

and he said to his disciples, make them to sit down by fifties in a company; and by hundreds also; some companies had a hundred apiece in them, and others fifty; and which was done partly, for the more easy numbering of them, and partly and chiefly for the more convenient distribution of food to them; See Gill on Mar 6:39. See Gill on Mar 6:40.

Gill: Luk 9:15

And they did so, and made them all sit down. The disciples did not dispute the case any longer with Christ, but obeyed his orders, and ranged the multitude in companies, a hundred in one, and fifty in another; and ordered them to sit down in their distinct companies and ranks upon the green grass. The Arabic and Ethiopic versions read, "and they all sat down"; and so it is read in some copies of the Vulgate Latin version.

Gill: Luk 9:16

Then he took the five loaves and the two fishes,.... Into his hands, being brought him by the disciples from the lad that had them:

and looking up to heaven: to his Father there, from whom all the mercies and blessings of life come;

he blessed them; either asked, or commanded a blessing on them, that they might multiply and increase, that there might be a sufficiency for all the people, and that, they might be nourishing to them. Beza observes, that in his most ancient copy, it is read, "he blessed upon them"; which perfectly agrees with the Jewish way of speaking, בדך על הפת "he that blesseth upon the bread"; ברך על היין "he that blesseth upon the wine"; and so upon the fruits of trees, and upon the fruits of the earth, and upon other things ^s;

and brake; the loaves, and divided the fishes into parts:

and gave to the disciples to set before the multitude; as they sat in ranks, and in their distinct companies.

Gill: Luk 9:17

And they did eat, and were all filled,.... Every one had a part, and enough:

and there was taken up of fragments that remained to them, twelve baskets; See Gill on Mat 14:20.

Gill: Luk 9:18

And it came to pass, as he was alone praying,.... To his God and Father, for himself as man, and mediator; for the success of his Gospel, and the increase of his interest; and for his disciples, that they might have a clearer revelation of him; and which they had, as appears in their after confession of him by Peter, as the mouth of them all. The place where he now retired for private devotion, was somewhere in the coasts of Caesarea Philippi; for he was now gone from the desert of Bethsaida, as appears from Mat 16:13 and when he is said to be alone, the meaning is, that he was retired from the multitude, but not from his disciples; for it follows,

his disciples were with him, in this solitary place:

and he asked them, being with them alone;

saying, Whom say the people that I am? what are the sentiments of the common people, or of the people in general concerning me? The Alexandrian copy, and the Arabic version read, "men", as in Mat 16:13. See Gill on Mat 16:13.

Gill: Luk 9:19

They answering said, John the Baptist,.... This was the opinion of some who thought that he was risen from the dead, as in Luk 9:7.

but some say Elias; the prophet, and the Tishbite; who according to the Jewish notion, was to be the forerunner of the Messiah, so in Luk 7:8.

and others say: that one of the old prophets is risen again; thus were they divided in their sentiments about him. See Gill on Luk 9:8

Gill: Luk 9:20

He said unto them, but whom say ye that I am?.... Which was the main thing he had in view in this private conference; and in order to introduce which, he puts the former question:

Peter answering: in the name of the rest of the disciples, they assenting to it:

said, the Christ of God; The Persic version reads, "Christ God"; the Messiah, who is the Son of God, and God over all, blessed for ever. The Cambridge copy of Beza's reads, "the Christ, the Son of God". See Gill on Luk 2:26.

Gill: Luk 9:21

And he strictly charged them, and commanded them,.... Though he highly approved of this their confession, and pronounced Peter blessed upon it; and signified that it was a discovery which flesh and blood could not make, but what was made to him his Father: yet he gave them a strict charge, and laid his commands on them,

to tell no man that thing; that he was the Messiah, and the eternal Son of God, and the true God, as well as the son of man, and really man: the reasons for this: See Gill on Mat 16:20.

Gill: Luk 9:22

Saying, the son of man must suffer many things,.... In his person and character, in his soul and body, at the hands of God, and of men, and devils:

and be rejected of the elders, and chief priests, and Scribes; who made up the grand sanhedrim of the nation: by these he was to be, and was rejected as the Messiah; and when put up with another which should be released, that other should be preferred, and he rejected; and which was done at the instigation of these men, who were the builders; of whom it was foretold that they should reject the head stone of the corner, Psa 118:22

and be slain; or put to death, with the death of the cross:

and be raised the third day; according to the types and prophecies of the Old Testament. This he added for the comfort of his disciples.

Gill: Luk 9:23

And he said to them all,.... Not only to all the disciples, but "to the multitude", as the Arabic version renders it, who were now called unto him, with his disciples, as is clear from Mar 8:34,

any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me; the same is said here, as in Mat 16:24; see Gill on Mat 16:24, Mar 8:34, only here the word, "daily", is added; and which, though as Beza observes, is not in the Complutensian edition, nor in five ancient copies; yet is in others, and in the Vulgate Latin, and in all the Oriental versions; and to be retained, as having a very considerable emphasis in it; showing that afflictions, trials, and persecutions of one sort or another, are to be expected every day by the people of God, and to be continually submitted to, and borne with cheerfulness.

Gill: Luk 9:24

For whosoever will save his life,.... See Gill on Mat 16:25.

Gill: Luk 9:25

For what is a man advantaged if he gain the whole world,.... Or what profit will it be unto him? all the honours, riches, and enjoyments of it will be of no use and service to him if he himself is lost:

and lose himself; or his own soul; for he that loses his soul, which is his better and immortal part, loses himself:

or be cast away: finally, and eternally, or "suffer loss" of eternal happiness and glory; that is, perishes, and is destroyed with an everlasting destruction; See Gill on Mat 16:26.

Gill: Luk 9:26

For whosoever shall be ashamed of me,.... Of my person and offices, of me, as the Messiah, Saviour, and Redeemer, of my grace, righteousness, blood, and sacrifice:

and of my words; of the doctrines of the Gospel, one and another of them. In Mark, it is added, "in this adulterous and sinful generation"; having a peculiar respect to the people of the Jews, and the age in which Christ lived; but is true of any other people and age in which men live:

of him shall the son of man be ashamed when he shall come in his own glory; in the glory of his human nature, when his glorious body, as now, in heaven, shall be seen by all; and in the glory of his office, as mediator, and the judge of all the earth; and in the glory of his divine nature, which will appear in the resurrection of the dead, in the gathering of all nations before him, in separating one sort from another, and in passing and executing the definitive sentence on them; particularly the glory of his omnipotence and omniscience will be very conspicuous:

and in his Father's; which is the same with his own, as he is the Son of God, and the brightness of his glory; and which, as mediator, he has from him, and will be the object of the saints' vision to all eternity;

and of the holy angels; who shall attend him at his second coming, and be employed in various offices under him. The Syriac version renders, these last clauses as they are in Mat 16:27 in the glory of his Father, with his holy angels; See Gill on Mat 16:27. See Gill on Mar 8:38.

Gill: Luk 9:27

But I tell you of a truth,.... And let it be received as such; you may assure yourselves of it, that not only at the last day, the son of man will come in this glorious manner, and show his resentment to all such as have been ashamed of him; but, also

there be some standing here, which shall not, taste of death till they see the kingdom of God; the Gospel dispensation visibly taking place, both among Jews and Gentiles, upon the resurrection of Christ, and the pouring fourth of his Spirit; and when it should come in power both in the conversion of God's elect in great numbers, and in the destruction of the Jewish nation, for their rejection, of the Messiah: See Gill on Mat 16:28

Gill: Luk 9:28

And it came to pass, about an eight days after those sayings,.... About a week after he had declared the above things, at, or near to Caesarea Philippi. The other evangelists, Matthew and Mark, say it was six days after: the reason of this difference is, because Luke takes in the day in which he delivered these sayings, and that in which he was transfigured, and they only reckon the intermediate days:

he took Peter, and John, and James; the same that he admitted to be with him at the raising of Jairus's daughter, and in the garden afterwards:

and went up into a mountain to pray; to his God and Father, that his disciples might have a visible display of his glory, as an emblem and pledge of that in which he shall hereafter appear: it was usual with Christ to go up into a mountain to pray; Mat 14:23. See Gill on Mat 17:1.

Gill: Luk 9:29

And as he prayed, the fashion of his countenance was altered,.... It became exceeding bright and glorious, it shone like the sun, Mat 17:2 and hereby his prayer was answered; and thus, as Christ was heard and answered, whilst he was yet speaking, so are his people sometimes; and even their countenance is altered, when they are favoured with communion with God, and instead of a sad and dejected countenance, they have a cheerful one.

And his raiment was white and glistering; it was as white as the light, as snow, and whiter than any fuller on earth could whiten, as the other evangelists say, and so glistened exceedingly; See Gill on Mat 17:2. See Gill on Mar 9:3.

Gill: Luk 9:30

And behold there talked with him two men,.... Of great note and fame:

which were Moses and Elias; the one the giver of the law from God to the people "of Israel", as well as the redeemer of them from Egyptian bondage, and who led them through the wilderness, to the borders of Canaan's land; and the other a prophet famous for his zeal for God, and his worship, and who was translated, soul and body, to heaven: these appeared and talked with Christ on the mount; and what they talked of is mentioned in the following verse; See Gill on Mat 17:3.

Gill: Luk 9:31

Who appeared in glory,.... In a very glorious manner, in most divine and beautiful forms to Christ, and to his disciples:

and spake of his decease, which he should accomplish at Jerusalem; the word, rendered "decease", is "Exodus", the name of the second book of Moses; so called from the departure of the children of Israel out of Egypt, it gives an account of; and which departure is expressed by this word, in Heb 11:22 and to which the allusion is here. Death is a departure out of this world, and goes by this name, 2Pe 1:15 and so here it signifies Christ's death, or exit, which he was to make at Jerusalem; and Moses and Elias talk with him about this; the nature, manner, use, and near approach of it; and to which they might encourage him, as man. The sufferings and death of Christ were what Moses and the prophets had foretold; and these two speak of the same things now; and which must serve to confirm what Christ a few, days ago had showed his disciples, that he must go to Jerusalem, and there suffer and die. Dr. Lightfoot thinks that the ascension of Christ to heaven is contained in the word "Exodus", which was his final departure out of this world, as well as his sufferings and death; and especially if there is any, allusion to the Israelites' departure out of Egypt, which was in victory and triumph; and the rather, because "the time of his receiving up", Luk 9:51 may be thought to refer to this; and so Moses and Elias conversed with him, not only about, his sufferings and death; but his ascension, and of which also the "Exodus", or going of Elias out of this world to heaven, which was by a translation and ascension, was a figure. Some render this word, "Expedition", and think it refers to the whole affair of the redemption of Christ's people by him, from the bondage of sin, Satan, and the law, by his sufferings and death; of which the deliverance of the people of Israel out of Egypt was a lively representation: an expedition which Moses was sent upon, and accomplished: but now the discourse turns upon an expedition of greater importance, which shortly was to be accomplished at Jerusalem, where Christ was to be arraigned, and condemned, and then suffer without the gates of it, in order to obtain eternal redemption for the whole Israel of God.

Gill: Luk 9:32

But Peter, and they that were with him,.... The other two disciples, James and John;

were heavy with sleep; as they afterwards were in the garden, while Christ was praying, as he had been now; being weary with the labours of the day past, and it being now night, as is very probable, since that was an usual time Christ spent in prayer:

and when they were awake, The Syriac version reads, "scarcely awake"; they were so heavy with sleep, that it was with difficulty they were awaked out of it, even by the rays of light and glory that were about them. The Ethiopic version adds, "suddenly"; such a lustre darted from these glorious forms, especially from the body of Christ, as at once surprised them out of their sleep; and being thoroughly awake,

they saw his glory; the brightness of his countenance, and the whiteness of his raiment: and the two men that stood with him: Moses and Elias, and the glory in which they appeared.

Gill: Luk 9:33

And it came to pass, as they departed from him,.... That is, as Moses and Elias departed from Christ; or "when they began to depart", as the Syriac version renders it; or "would depart", as the Arabic and Persic versions; seemed desirous of going, or made some signal or other by which the disciples perceived they were about to go; for, as yet, they were not gone;

Peter said unto Jesus, master, it is good for us to be here, let us make three tabernacles, one for thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elias; See Gill on Mat 17:4.

not knowing what he said, nor "what to say", as Mark observes, being in a surprise, and not in a situation to consider and weigh things well, whether what he said was right and proper, or not; See Gill on Mat 17:4

Gill: Luk 9:34

While he thus spake there came a cloud,.... While Peter was making the above request, before an answer was returned, a cloud appeared, a very uncommon one, as a symbol of the divine presence: "and overshadowed them"; Jesus, Moses, Elias, and the disciples:

and they feared as they entered into the cloud; either as they themselves entered into it, that coming gradually over them, because of the glory of it, and the solemnity that attended it; or as Moses and Elias entered into it; and so the Syriac and Persic versions read, "they feared when they saw Moses and Elias enter into the cloud"; which took them out of their sight: just as the cloud received Jesus out of the sight of his disciples, when he ascended to heaven, Act 1:9.

Gill: Luk 9:35

And there came, a voice out of the cloud,.... See Gill on Mat 17:5.

Gill: Luk 9:36

And when, the voice was past,.... The above words were delivered, and it was heard no more: Jesus was found alone; by his disciples; Moses and Elias being gone, and he in the same form in which he was before his transfiguration.

And they kept it close; as Christ strictly charged them, when coming down from the mount with them; Mat 17:9.

And told no man in those days any of those things which they had seen; no, not any of their fellow disciples, until that Christ was risen from the dead.

Gill: Luk 9:37

And it came to pass, that on the next day,.... For Jesus and his disciples staid all night on the mountain:

when they were come down from the hill; to the bottom of it:

much people met him. The Vulgate Latin, Syriac, and Persic versions read, "met them".

Gill: Luk 9:38

And behold, a man of the company,.... One that was in the company, and among the multitude, that met him:

cried out; with great vehemence and earnestness:

saying, Master; doctor, or "Rabbi":

I beseech thee: most humbly, for he was now on his knees:

look upon my son: with pity and compassion, and help him:

for he is mine only child; wherefore he was dear unto him, and he was greatly concerned for him, and earnestly desirous of his being restored to health; and this he mentions, to move the compassion of Christ.

Gill: Luk 9:39

And, lo, a spirit taketh him,.... An evil spirit, the devil, as in Luk 9:42 seizes and possesses him at once,

and he suddenly crieth out; in a most terrible manner, giving dreadful shrieks, as soon as he perceives that he is seized by the demon:

and it teareth him, that he foameth again; throws him into convulsions, so that he foams at the mouth: and so we read ^t of a son of a certain Jew, that

"a certain spirit passed before him and hurt him, convulsed his mouth, and his eyes, and his hands were convulsed, and he could not speak.''

And bruising him; by dashing him against the wall, or throwing him to the ground:

hardly departeth from him; is very loath to leave him, even after he has distressed, convulsed, and bruised him in this dreadful manner, such was his cruelty and malice; See Gill on Mat 17:15, Mar 9:18.

Gill: Luk 9:40

And I besought thy disciples,.... The nine disciples that were left behind, whilst Christ, and the other three, were gone up to the mountain:

to cast him out; the devil out of his child:

and they could not; See Gill on Mat 17:16.

Gill: Luk 9:41

And Jesus answering, said,.... To the father of the child, and those that were with him; and with a particular view to the Scribes and Pharisees, who had been insulting the disciples, and triumphing over them, because of their inability to cast out the evil spirit: for the words are not spoken to the disciples, as they might seem at first view to be, and as the Persic version renders them, "and Jesus turned his face to the disciples, and said"; but to the unbelieving Jews,

O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you, and suffer you? bring thy son hither; See Gill on Mat 17:17.

Gill: Luk 9:42

And as he was yet a coming,.... Whilst he was in the way bringing to Jesus, before he came to him:

the devil threw him down, and tare him; knowing who Jesus was, and that he was able to dispossess him: and having reason to believe he would, was resolved to do all the mischief he could, and give him all the pain add distress he was able, whilst he was in him; and therefore threw him to the ground, and convulsed him in a terrible manner at the same time:

and Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit; for his malice and cruelty, and ordered him to depart:

and healed the child; by dispossessing the spirit:

and delivered him again to his father; free from the possession, and in perfect health, and which must be very pleasing and acceptable to him.

Gill: Luk 9:43

And they were all amazed at the mighty power of God,.... Or at "the greatness", or "majesty of God"; which was displayed in this cure: for the great power of God was manifestly seen in it, to the astonishment of the disciples, who could not cure this child, and of the parent and friends of it, and of the whole multitude: and to the confusion of the Scribes and Pharisees:

but while they wondered every one, at all things which Jesus did; and were applauding him for them, and speaking in his praise on account of them:

he said unto his disciples; privately, when they were alone together, the following words, that he might not seem to be lifted up with the praise of men; and also to show their inconstancy, that those who, now admired him, would one day crucify him; and to take off the thoughts of the disciples from a temporal kingdom and glory, they were so much in expectation of, and which every miracle of Christ, and the applause he got thereby among men, strengthened them in.

Gill: Luk 9:44

Let these sayings sink down into your ears,.... The Vulgate Latin, Arabic, and Ethiopic versions read, "in your hearts": Christ's sense is, that they would, diligently attend to them, seriously consider them, and carefully lay them up in their memories; and what he refers to are not the words he had spoken, but what he was about to say; namely, as follow:

for the son of man shall be delivered into the hands of men; by whom he should be killed, though he should rise again the third day; See Gill on Mat 17:22, Mat 17:23

Gill: Luk 9:45

But they understood not this saying,.... What was meant by being betrayed into the hands of men, and by his being put to death; they knew not, how these things could possibly be, for they could not by any means reconcile them with the notions they had of a temporal Redeemer, and victorious Messiah:

and it was hid from them, that they perceived it not; the true meaning of this saying was hid from their understanding, which was veiled with the above notion of the worldly grandeur of the Messiah, that they did not take it in;

and they feared to ask him of that saying, of the meaning of it; imagining that he had a secret mystical meaning in it, which they could not reach; lest he should reproach them with their dulness and stupidity; or should rebuke them with the like sharpness and severity he had reproved Peter not long ago, upon the same head.

Gill: Luk 9:46

Then there arose a reasoning among them,.... The Vulgate Latin, Syriac, and Arabic versions read, "a thought entered into them"; suggested very likely by Satan, which broke out into words, and issued in a warm dispute among them; and this was in the way, as they were travelling from Caesarea Philippi, to Capernaum; see Mar 9:33.

Which of them should be greatest; that is, "in the kingdom of heaven", as in Mat 18:1 in the kingdom of the Messiah, which they expected would be a temporal one: wherefore the dispute was not about degrees in glory, nor in grace; nor who should be the greatest apostle and preacher of the Gospel; but who should be prime minister to the king Messiah, when he should set up his monarchy in all its grandeur and glory.

Gill: Luk 9:47

And Jesus perceiving the thought of their heart,.... Not by any words he had heard; for the dispute was on the road, as they came along behind him; but as the omniscient God, who is the discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart, he was privy to all their ambition, and the vanity of their minds, and to all their reasonings and debates: though he was before them, and out of the reach of hearing of them: and when he came to Capernaum, after having asked them what they disputed about by the way;

he took a child and set him by him. The Ethiopic version reads, "before them", the disciples; and Matthew and Mark say, "he set him in the midst of them"; all which were true, Jesus sitting in the midst of them; so, that the child he set by him, was in the middle of them and before them; See Gill on Mat 18:2.

Gill: Luk 9:48

And said unto them, whosoever shalt receive this child,.... Or "one such little child", as in Mat 18:5 and so the Syriac version here, "a child like to this"; and the Arabic version, "one like to this child"; not in age, but in meekness and humility; one that is not proud and haughty, ambitious of worldly honour, and envious at the superior state of others: whoever receives such an one into his house and heart, and the Gospel he preaches,

in my name; because he belongs to me, is sent by me, and represents me, and delivers my message:

receiveth me; represented by him, and will be so taken:

and whosoever shall receive me, receiveth him that sent me; See Gill on Mar 9:37.

For he that is least among you all; that is so, in his own opinion, and behaves as such in his conduct, who is lowly and meek, and humble; and so the Ethiopic version, rather interpreting than translating, renders it, "for he that makes himself humble, who is lesser than all"; who considers himself as the least of the apostles, and unworthy to be one, as did the Apostle Paul:

the same shall be great; shall be highly honoured with gifts, and made greatly useful, as the above mentioned apostle was: a saying like this, the Jews have ^u;

"every one, המקטין עצמו, "that makes himself little", for the words of the law in this world, נעשה גדול, "shall be made great" in the world to come;''

that is, in the days of the Messiah: and again it is said by ^w them,

"worthy is he that makes himself little in this world, how great and high shall he be in that world!--whoever is little shall be great, and he that is great shall be little.''

Gill: Luk 9:49

And John answered and said, Master,.... The Syriac and Persic versions read, "our Master":

we saw one casting out devils in thy name, and we forbad him; See Gill on Mar 9:38.

Because he followeth not with us; the Syriac, Persic, and Ethiopic versions read, "because he followeth not thee with us"; did not join in company with them, and follow Christ along with them, and as they did.

Gill: Luk 9:50

And Jesus said unto him, forbid him not,.... "Or forbid not" him, or any other so doing:

for he that is not against us, is for us: in two exemplars of Beza's it is read, "for he is not against you": the Vulgate Latin, and Syriac versions, instead of "us", in both clauses read "you", and so likewise the Persic and Ethiopic versions; See Gill on Mar 9:39, Mar 9:40.

Gill: Luk 9:51

And it came to pass, when the time was come,.... Or "days were fulfilled", an usual Hebraism; when the period of time fixed for his being in Galilee was come to an end: when he had fulfilled his ministry, and finished all his sayings, and wrought all the miracles he was to work in those parts; when he was to quit this country, and go into Judea, and up to Jerusalem, signified in the next clause:

that he should be received up; or as all the Oriental versions rightly render the words, "when the time, or days of his ascension were fulfilled"; not of his ascension to heaven, as interpreters generally understand the passage, because the word is used of that, in Mar 16:19 Act 1:2 much less as others, of his being taken and lifted up from the earth upon the cross, and so signifies his crucifixion, and sufferings, and death; for of neither of these can it be said, that the time of them was come, or the days fulfilled, in which either of these should be: for if Christ was now going to the feast of tabernacles, as some think, it must be above half a year before his death, and still longer before his ascension to heaven: and if to the feast of dedication, it was above three months to his ascension: hence interpreters that go this way, are obliged to interpret it, that the time drew near, or was drawing on, or the days were almost fulfilled; whereas the expression is full and strong, that the time was come, and the days were fulfilled; and which was true in the sense hinted at, that now the time was up, that Jesus must leave the low lands of Galilee, having finished his work there; and go into the higher country of Judea, and so up to Jerusalem; for of his ascension from Galilee to Jerusalem are the words to be understood; See Gill on Mat 19:1.

See Gill on Mar 10:1 And it is observable that after this, he never went into Galilee any more; and this sense is confirmed by what follows:

he steadfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem; or "strengthened his face", as the Vulgate Latin and Ethiopic versions; set his face like a flint, as in Isa 1:7 denoting not impudence, as hardening of the face is used in Pro 21:29 but boldness, courage, constancy and firmness of mind: or "he prepared his face", as the Syriac; or "turned his face", as the Arabic, he looked that way, and set forward; or as the Persic version renders it, "he made a firm purpose", he resolved upon it, and was determined to go to Jerusalem, his time being up in Galilee; and though he knew what he was to meet with and endure; that he should bear the sins of his people, the curse of the law, and wrath of God; that he should have many enemies, men and devils to grapple with, and undergo a painful, shameful, and accursed death; yet none of these things moved him, he was resolutely bent on going thither, and accordingly prepared for his journey; See Gill on 2Ki 12:17.

Gill: Luk 9:52

And sent messengers before his face,.... Who very likely were his two disciples, James and John, since they so highly resented the ill treatment their master met with from the Samaritans:

and they went; before him:

and entered into a village of the Samaritans; or "city", as the Vulgate Latin, Persic, and Ethiopic versions read, and so one of Stephens's copies; which lay in the way from Galilee to Judea, where the disciples had been forbid to enter, that is, in order to preach, Mat 10:5

To make ready for him; to prepare a lodging, and proper food for him and his disciples, as they passed on in their journey, for his intention was not to make any stay there.

Gill: Luk 9:53

And they did not receive him,.... The Ethiopic version reads "them", the messengers; but it should rather seem that they did receive the messengers, and promised them lodging and entertainment; being glad that so great a person would honour them with his presence, hoping that miracles would be done by him, among them; and that he would stay with them, and show some approbation of them, and their worship; but when Christ came in person, with his disciples and the multitude, they would not admit him; the reason follows,

because his face was as though he would go to Jerusalem: by all circumstances, by his words and looks, and gestures; by all that they could see and hear, and learn from him, his determination was to make no stay with them, but proceed on to Jerusalem, after he had took a night's lodging with them, and had refreshed himself and company and therefore they would not receive him: it had been of a long time a controversy between the Jews and Samaritans, which was the right place of worship; whether at the temple at Jerusalem, or whether at their temple on Mount Gerizzim? Now if Christ would have interested himself in this contest, in favour of them, and would have staid with them, and worshipped where they did, they would have gladly received him; but they perceived he was going to Jerusalem, either to keep the feast of "tabernacles" there, or the feast of the dedication of the temple; and if the latter, it must be still more provoking to them, because it showed, that he preferred that temple to theirs: and however, it seems to be on this account that they would not admit him, because he favoured the temple worship at Jerusalem; otherwise his bare going thither, could not give the offence.

Gill: Luk 9:54

And when his disciples, James and John, saw this,.... The Persic version reads thus; when "James and John, and the disciples saw this"; that is, the other disciples besides them, so making all the disciples say what follows; whereas only those two are intended, who having been the messengers, were the more provoked at this indignity to their Lord and master:

they said, Lord, wilt thou that we command fire to come down from heaven, and consume them; being enraged at this conduct of the Samaritans towards, Christ, and burning with love to him, and zeal for his honour; being "Boanerges's", sons of thunder, they were for punishing of them in a most terrible manner, even with, fire from heaven; by which Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities of the plain, were destroyed: this they doubted not of doing, knowing what miraculous power was conferred upon them; but did not think proper to attempt to exert it, until they had asked leave of Christ to do it:

even as Elias did; upon the two captains of fifties, with their fifties, as recorded in 2Ki 1:9 This clause was wanting in a certain copy of Beza's, and is not in the Vulgate Latin version; but is in other copies and versions, and by all means to be retained.

Gill: Luk 9:55

But he turned and rebuked them,.... He turned himself about to them, and looking upon them with a stern countenance, sharply reproved them for their intemperate zeal, their passion of wrath, and anger, and desire of revenge:

and said, ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of; or do not consider that this is not the true spirit of zeal, but of anger and revenge; and is not agreeable to the spirit of the meek and humble followers of Christ, or to the Spirit of God, and those gifts of his bestowed on them, nor to the spirit of the Gospel dispensation: so good men, for want of attention, may not know sometimes from what spirit they act; taking that for a good one, which is a very bad one; being covered with specious pretenses of love and zeal, and the examples of former saints; not observing the difference of persons; times, and things.

Gill: Luk 9:56

For the son of man,.... Meaning himself, in his state of humiliation:

is not come to destroy men's lives; the word "men's" is omitted in the Vulgate Latin, Syriac, and Persic versions: and both words, "men's lives", are left out in the Arabic version:

but to save them; as they might easily observe, by his casting out devils from the bodies of men, and healing all sorts of diseases: and therefore, though it was agreeably to the legal dispensation, and the times of Elijah, to punish offenders in such a manner, it was not agreeably to the Gospel dispensation, and to the ends of the Messiah's coming into the world: so far in this verse, and the latter part of the former verse, are left out in five ancient copies of Beza's, and in the Ethiopic version, but are in the rest of the Eastern versions, and in other copies, and are rightly retained:

and they went to another village; in Samaria, more civil and courteous, and less prejudiced, and where they got lodging and entertainment.

Commentary -- Verse Notes / Footnotes

NET Notes: Luk 9:1

¹ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

² tn Grk “he”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

³ tn An aorist participle preceding an aorist main verb may indicate either contemporaneous (simultaneous) action (“When he called… he gave”) or antecedent (prior) action (“After he called… he gave”). The participle συγκαλεσάμενος (sunkalesameno") has been translated here as indicating antecedent action.

⁴ tc Some mss add ἀποστόλους (apostolou", “apostles”; א C* L Θ Ψ 070 0291 ˹³ 33 579 892 1241 1424 2542 pc lat) or μαθητὰς αὐτοῦ (maqhta" autou, “his disciples”; C³ al it) here, but such clarifying notes are clearly secondary.

⁵ sn Note how Luke distinguishes between exorcisms (authority over all demons) and diseases here.

NET Notes: Luk 9:2

¹ sn “To send out” is often a term of divine commission in Luke: 1:19; 4:18, 43; 7:27; 9:48; 10:1, 16; 11:49; 13:34; 24:49.

² tn Or “to preach.”

³ sn The kingdom of God is a major theme of Jesus. It is a realm in which Jesus rules and to which those who trust him belong. See Luke 6:20; 11:20; 17:20-21.

⁴ sn As Jesus’ own ministry (Luke 4:16-44) involved both word (to proclaim) and deed (to heal) so also would that of the disciples.

NET Notes: Luk 9:3

¹ tn Grk “And he.” Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

² tn Grk “the”; in context the article is used as a possessive pronoun (ExSyn 215).

³ sn Mark 6:8 allows one staff. It might be that Luke’s summary (cf. Matt 10:9-10) means not taking an extra staff or that the expression is merely rhetorical for “traveling light” which has been rendered in two slightly different ways.

⁴ tn Or “no traveler’s bag”; or possibly “no beggar’s bag” (L&N 6.145; BDAG 811 s.v. πήρα).

⁵ tn Grk “have two tunics.” See the note on the word “tunics” in 3:11.

NET Notes: Luk 9:4

¹ tn Grk “And whatever.” Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

² sn Jesus telling his disciples to stay there in one house contrasts with the practice of religious philosophers in the ancient world who went from house to house begging.

³ tn Grk “and depart from there.” The literal wording could be easily misunderstood; the meaning is that the disciples were not to move from house to house in the same town or locality, but remain at the same house as long as they were in that place.

NET Notes: Luk 9:5

¹ tn Grk “And wherever.” Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

² tn Grk “all those who do not receive you.”

³ tn Or “city.”

⁴ sn To shake the dust off represented shaking off the uncleanness from one’s feet; see Luke 10:11; Acts 13:51; 18:6. It was a sign of rejection.

NET Notes: Luk 9:6

¹ tn Here δέ (de) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.

² tn This is a distributive use of κατά (kata); see L&N 83:12 where this verse is cited as an example of the usage.

³ tn Or “preaching the gospel.”

sn This verse is similar to Luke 9:2, except for good news at this point. The change means that to “preach the kingdom” is to “preach the good news.” The ideas are interchangeable as summaries for the disciples’ message. They are combined in Luke 8:1.

NET Notes: Luk 9:7

¹ sn Herod refers here to Herod Antipas. See the note on Herod Antipas in 3:1.

² sn See the note on tetrarch in 3:1.

³ tn Or “was very confused.” See L&N 32.10 where this verse is given as an example of the usage.

⁴ sn John refers to John the Baptist, whom Herod had beheaded (v. 9).

NET Notes: Luk 9:8

¹ sn The appearance of Elijah would mean that the end time had come. According to 2 Kgs 2:11, Elijah was still alive. In Mal 4:5 it is said that Elijah would be the precursor of Messiah.

² sn The phrase had risen could be understood to mean “had been resurrected,” but this is only a possible option, not a necessary one, since the phrase could merely mean that a figure had appeared on the scene who mirrored an earlier historical figure. The three options of vv. 7-8 will be repeated in v. 19.

NET Notes: Luk 9:9

¹ tn Grk “John I beheaded”; John’s name is in emphatic position in the Greek text. The verb is causative, since Herod would not have personally carried out the execution.

² tn The expression ἐζήτει ἰδεῖν αὐτόν (ezhtei idein auton, “was seeking to see him”) probably indicates that Herod, for curiosity’s sake or more likely for evil purposes, wanted to get to know Jesus, i.e., who he was and what he was doing. See I. H. Marshall, Luke (NIGTC), 357. Herod finally got his wish in Luke 23:6-12, with inconclusive results from his point of view.

NET Notes: Luk 9:10

¹ tn Grk “And when.” Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

² tn The participle ὑποστρέψαντες (Jupostreyante") has been taken temporally.

³ tn Grk “him”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

⁴ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.

⁵ tc There is a seeming myriad of variants for this text. Many mss read εἰς τόπον ἔρημον (ei" topon erhmon, “to a deserted place”; א*^,2 [1241]) or εἰς τόπον ἔρημον πόλεως καλουμένης Βηθσαϊδά (ei" topon erhmon polew" kaloumenh" Bhqsai>da, “to a deserted place of a town called Bethsaida”; [A] C W Ξ^mg [Ë^1,13] [565] Ï) here, while others have εἰς κώμην λεγομένην Βηδσαϊδά (ei" kwmhn legomenhn Bhdsai>da, “to a village called Bedsaida”; D), εἰς κώμην καλουμένην Βηθσαϊδά εἰς τόπον ἔρημον (ei" kwmhn kaloumenhn Bhqsai>da ei" topon erhmon, “to a village called Bethsaida to a deserted place”; Θ), or εἰς τόπον καλουμένον Βηθσαϊδά (ei" topon kaloumenon Bhqsaida, “to a place called Bethsaida”; Ψ). The Greek behind the translation (εἰς πόλιν καλουμένην Βηθσαϊδά, ei" polin kaloumenhn Bhqsai>da) is supported by (Ì⁷⁵) א¹ B L Ξ* 33 2542 pc co. The variants can be grouped generally into those that speak of a “deserted place” and those that speak of a place/city/town called Bethsaida. The Byzantine reading is evidently a conflation of the earlier texts, and should be dismissed as secondary. The variants that speak of a deserted place are an assimilation to Mark 6:32, as well a harmonization with v. 12, and should also be regarded as secondary. The reading that best explains the rise of the others – both internally and externally – is the one that stands behind the translation and is found in the text of NA²⁷.

tn Or “city.”

⁶ sn Bethsaida was a town on the northeast side of the Sea of Galilee. Probably this should be understood to mean a place in the vicinity of the town. It represents an attempt to reconcile the location with the place of the miraculous feeding that follows.

NET Notes: Luk 9:11

¹ tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

² sn The kingdom of God is a major theme of Jesus. It is a realm in which Jesus rules and to which those who trust him belong. See Luke 6:20; 11:20; 17:20-21.

³ sn Again the combination of word (spoke to them) and healing (cured, compassionate deed) is what summarizes Jesus’ ministry: See Luke 4:38-44; 6:17-19; 7:22 (as also the disciples, 9:6).

NET Notes: Luk 9:12

¹ tn Grk “the day began to decline,” looking to the approach of sunset.

² tn Here δέ (de) has been translated as “so” to indicate that the disciples’ request was related to the approach of sunset.

³ tn Grk “him”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

⁴ tn That is, find someone to show them hospitality. L&N 34.61 has “find lodging,” using this verse as an example.

⁵ tn Or “in a desert” (meaning a deserted or desolate area with sparse vegetation). Here ὧδε (Jwde) has not been translated.

NET Notes: Luk 9:13

¹ tn Here the pronoun ὑμεῖς (Jumeis) is used, making “you” in the translation emphatic.

² tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

³ tn Grk “said.”

⁴ tn This possibility is introduced through a conditional clause, but it is expressed with some skepticism (BDF §376).

⁵ tn The participle πορευθέντες (poreuqente") has been taken as indicating attendant circumstance.

⁶ sn Not only would going and buying food have been expensive and awkward at this late time of day, it would have taken quite a logistical effort to get the food back out to this isolated location.

NET Notes: Luk 9:14

¹ tn The Greek text reads here ἄνδρες (andres) – that is, adult males. The actual count would be larger, since the use of this Greek term suggests that women and children were not included in this number (see the parallel in Matt 14:21).

² sn This is a parenthetical note by the author.

³ tn Here δέ (de) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.

⁴ tn Or “Make” (depending on how the force of the imperative verb is understood). Grk “cause them to recline” (the verb has causative force here).

NET Notes: Luk 9:15

¹ tn Grk “And they did thus.” Here καί (kai) has been translated as “so” to indicate that the disciples’ action was a result of Jesus’ instructions. The adverb οὕτως ({outw", “thus”) has been expanded in the translation to “as Jesus directed” to clarify what was done.

² tn Grk “and they”; the referent (the people) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

NET Notes: Luk 9:16

¹ tn Here δέ (de) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.

² sn Gave thanks adds a note of gratitude to the setting. The scene is like two other later meals: Luke 22:19 and 24:30. Jesus gives thanks to God “with respect to” the provision of food. The disciples learn how Jesus is the mediator of blessing. John 6 speaks of him in this scene as picturing the “Bread of Life.”

NET Notes: Luk 9:17

¹ sn There was more than enough for everybody, as indicated by the gathering of what was left over.

NET Notes: Luk 9:18

¹ tn Grk “And it happened that.” The introductory phrase ἐγένετο (egeneto, “it happened that”), common in Luke (69 times) and Acts (54 times), is redundant in contemporary English and has not been translated. Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

² tn Grk “he”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

³ sn Prayer is a favorite theme of Luke and he is the only one of the gospel authors to mention it in the following texts (with the exception of 22:41): Luke 3:21; 5:16; 6:12; 9:28-29; 11:1; 22:41; 23:34, 46.

⁴ tn Grk “the disciples were with him, and he asked them, saying.”

⁵ sn “Who do the crowds say that I am?” The question of who Jesus is occurs frequently in this section of Luke: 7:49; 8:25; 9:9. The answer resolves a major theme of Luke’s Gospel.

NET Notes: Luk 9:19

¹ tn Grk “And they.” Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

² tn Grk “And answering, they said.” This is redundant in contemporary English and has been simplified to “They answered.”

³ sn The appearance of Elijah would mean that the end time had come. According to 2 Kgs 2:11, Elijah was still alive. In Mal 4:5 it is said that Elijah would be the precursor of Messiah.

⁴ sn The phrase has risen could be understood to mean “has been resurrected,” but this is only a possible option, not a necessary one, since the phrase could merely mean that a figure had appeared on the scene who mirrored an earlier historical figure. Note that the three categories in the reply match the ones in Luke 9:7-8.

NET Notes: Luk 9:20

¹ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.

² tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

³ tn Grk “Peter answering, said.” This is redundant in contemporary English and has been simplified to “Peter answered.”

⁴ tn Or “Messiah”; both “Christ” (Greek) and “Messiah” (Hebrew and Aramaic) mean “one who has been anointed.”

sn See the note on Christ in 2:11.

NET Notes: Luk 9:21

¹ tn The combination of the participle and verb ἐπιτιμήσας and παρήγγειλεν (epitimhsa" and parhngeilen, “commanding, he ordered”) is a hendiadys that makes the instruction emphatic.

² sn No explanation for the command not to tell this to anyone is given, but the central section of Luke, chapters 9-19, appears to reveal a reason. The disciples needed to understand who the Messiah really was and exactly what he would do before they were ready to proclaim Jesus as such. But they and the people had an expectation that needed some instruction to be correct.

NET Notes: Luk 9:22

¹ sn The necessity that the Son of Man suffer is the particular point that needed emphasis, since for many 1st century Jews the Messiah was a glorious and powerful figure, not a suffering one.

² sn Rejection in Luke is especially by the Jewish leadership (here elders, chief priests, and experts in the law), though in Luke 23 almost all will join in.

³ tn Or “and scribes.” See the note on the phrase “experts in the law” in 5:21.

⁴ sn The description of the Son of Man being rejected…killed, and…raised is the first of six passion summaries in Luke: 9:44; 17:25; 18:31-33; 24:7; 24:46-47.

NET Notes: Luk 9:23

¹ tn Here δέ (de) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.

² sn Here them all could be limited to the disciples, since Jesus was alone with them in v. 18. It could also be that by this time the crowd had followed and found him, and he addressed them, or this could be construed as a separate occasion from the discussion with the disciples in 9:18-22. The cost of discipleship is something Jesus was willing to tell both insiders and outsiders about. The rejection he felt would also fall on his followers.

³ tn Grk “to come after me.”

⁴ tn This translation better expresses the force of the Greek third person imperative than the traditional “let him deny,” which could be understood as merely permissive.

⁵ sn Only Luke mentions taking up one’s cross daily. To bear the cross means to accept the rejection of the world for turning to Jesus and following him. Discipleship involves a death that is like a crucifixion; see Gal 6:14.

NET Notes: Luk 9:24

¹ sn The point of the saying whoever wants to save his life will lose it is that if one comes to Jesus then rejection by many will certainly follow. If self-protection is a key motivation, then one will not respond to Jesus and will not be saved. One who is willing to risk rejection will respond and find true life.

NET Notes: Luk 9:25

¹ tn Grk “a man,” but ἄνθρωπος (anqrwpo") is used in a generic sense here to refer to both men and women.

NET Notes: Luk 9:26

¹ sn How one responds now to Jesus and his teaching is a reflection of how Jesus, as the Son of Man who judges, will respond then in the final judgment.

² tn This pronoun (τοῦτον, touton) is in emphatic position in its own clause in the Greek text: “of that person the Son of Man will be ashamed…”

³ tn Grk “in the glory of him and of the Father and of the holy angels.” “Glory” is repeated here in the translation for clarity and smoothness because the literal phrase is unacceptably awkward in contemporary English.

NET Notes: Luk 9:27

¹ tn Grk “I tell you truly” (λέγω δὲ ὑμῖν ἀληθῶς, legw de Jumin alhqw").

² tn The Greek negative here (οὐ μή, ou mh) is the strongest possible.

³ tn Grk “will not taste.” Here the Greek verb does not mean “sample a small amount” (as a typical English reader might infer from the word “taste”), but “experience something cognitively or emotionally; come to know something” (cf. BDAG 195 s.v. γεύομαι 2).

⁴ sn The meaning of the statement that some will not taste death before they see the kingdom of God is clear at one level, harder at another. Jesus predicts some will experience the kingdom before they die. When does this happen? (1) An initial fulfillment is the next event, the transfiguration. (2) It is also possible in Luke’s understanding that all but Judas experience the initial fulfillment of the coming of God’s presence and rule in the work of Acts 2. In either case, the “kingdom of God” referred to here would be the initial rather than the final phase.

NET Notes: Luk 9:28

¹ tn Grk “Now it happened that about.” The introductory phrase ἐγένετο (egeneto, “it happened that”), common in Luke (69 times) and Acts (54 times), is redundant in contemporary English and has not been translated.

² tn Matt 17:1 and Mark 9:2 specify the interval more exactly, saying it was the sixth day. Luke uses ὡσεί (Jwsei, “about”) to give an approximate reference.

³ tn Grk “he”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

NET Notes: Luk 9:29

¹ tn Grk “And as.” Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

² tn Here the preposition ἐν (en) plus the dative articular aorist infinitive has been translated as a temporal clause (ExSyn 595).

³ tn Or “the appearance of his face became different.”

sn In 1st century Judaism and in the NT, there was the belief that the righteous get new, glorified bodies in order to enter heaven (1 Cor 15:42-49; 2 Cor 5:1-10). This transformation means the righteous will share the glory of God. One recalls the way Moses shared the Lord’s glory after his visit to the mountain in Exod 34. So the disciples saw the appearance of his face transformed, and they were getting a sneak preview of the great glory that Jesus would have (only his glory is more inherent to him as one who shares in the rule of the kingdom).

⁴ tn Or “became bright as a flash of lightning” (cf. BDAG 346 s.v. ἐξαστράπτω); or “became brilliant as light” (cf. BDAG 593 s.v. λευκός 1).

NET Notes: Luk 9:30

¹ tn Grk “And behold.” Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style. The Greek word ἰδού (idou) at the beginning of this statement has not been translated because it has no exact English equivalent here, but adds interest and emphasis (BDAG 468 s.v. 1).

² sn Commentators and scholars discuss why Moses and Elijah are present. The most likely explanation is that Moses represents the prophetic office (Acts 3:18-22) and Elijah pictures the presence of the last days (Mal 4:5-6), the prophet of the eschaton (the end times).

³ tn Grk “two men were talking with him, who were Moses and Elijah.” The relative clause has been simplified to an appositive and transposed in keeping with contemporary English style.

NET Notes: Luk 9:31

¹ tn Grk “his exodus,” which refers to Jesus’ death in Jerusalem and journey back to glory. Here is the first lesson that the disciples must learn. The wondrous rule comes only after suffering.

² tn Or “accomplish,” “bring to completion.”

³ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

NET Notes: Luk 9:32

¹ tn Grk “weighed down with sleep” (an idiom).

² tn Or “after they became fully awake,” “but they became fully awake and saw.”

NET Notes: Luk 9:33

¹ tn Grk “And it happened that as.” The introductory phrase ἐγένετο (egeneto, “it happened that”), common in Luke (69 times) and Acts (54 times), is redundant in contemporary English and has not been translated. Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.

² tn Grk “as they”; the referent (“the men,” referring to Moses and Elijah) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

³ tn Grk “to leave from him.”

⁴ tn Or “booths,” “dwellings” (referring to the temporary booths constructed in the celebration of the feast of Tabernacles).

sn By making three shelters Peter apparently wanted to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles or Booths that looked forward to the end and to treat Moses, Elijah, and Jesus as equals. It was actually a way of expressing honor to Jesus, but the remark at the end of the verse makes it clear that it was not enough honor.

NET Notes: Luk 9:34

¹ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

² sn This cloud is the cloud of God’s presence and the voice is his as well.

³ tn Or “appeared.”

⁴ tn Or “surrounded.”

NET Notes: Luk 9:35

¹ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.

² tc Most mss, especially the later ones, have ἀγαπητός (agaphto", “the one I love”; A C* W ˹³ 33 Ï it), or ἀγαπητὸς ἐν ᾧ (ἠ)υδόκησα (agaphto" en |w (h)udokhsa, “the one I love, in whom I am well pleased”; C³ D Ψ pc) here, instead of ἐκλελεγμένος (eklelegmeno", “the Chosen One”), but these variants are probably assimilations to Matt 17:5 and Mark 9:7. The text behind the translation also enjoys excellent support from Ì^45,75 א B L Ξ [phone] pc co.

tn The participle ὁ ἐκλελεγμένος (Jo eklelegmeno"), which could be translated “the One who has been chosen,” is best understood as a title rather than a descriptive phrase, probably deriving from Isa 42:1 (LXX) which uses the similar ὁ ἐκλεκτός (Jo eklekto") which also appears in Luke 23:35.

sn This divine endorsement is like Luke 3:22 at Jesus’ baptism. One difference here is the mention of the Chosen One, a reference to the unique and beloved role of the regal, messianic Son.

³ sn The expression listen to him comes from Deut 18:15 and makes two points: 1) Jesus is a prophet like Moses, a leader-prophet, and 2) they have much yet to learn from him.

NET Notes: Luk 9:36

¹ tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

² tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “so” to indicate the concluding summary of the account.

³ sn Although the disciples told no one at the time, later they did recount this. The commentary on this scene is 2 Pet 1:17-18.

⁴ tn Grk “in those days.”

NET Notes: Luk 9:37

¹ tn Grk “Now it happened that on.” The introductory phrase ἐγένετο (egeneto, “it happened that”), common in Luke (69 times) and Acts (54 times), is redundant in contemporary English and has not been translated.

NET Notes: Luk 9:38

¹ tn Grk “And behold.” Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the somewhat unexpected appearance of the man. The Greek word ἰδού (idou) at the beginning of this statement has not been translated because it has no exact English equivalent here, but adds interest and emphasis (BDAG 468 s.v. 1).

² tn Grk “cried out, saying.” The participle λέγων (legwn) is redundant in contemporary English and has not been translated.

³ tn This verb means “to have regard for”; see Luke 1:48.

NET Notes: Luk 9:39

¹ tn Grk “and behold, a.” Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, καί (kai) has not been translated here; instead a new sentence was started in the translation. The Greek word ἰδού (idou) at the beginning of this statement has not been translated because it has no exact English equivalent here, but adds interest and emphasis (BDAG 468 s.v. 1).

² tn The Greek here is slightly ambiguous; the subject of the verb “screams” could be either the son or the spirit.

³ sn The reaction is like an epileptic fit (see L&N 14.27). See the parallel in Matt 17:14-20.

⁴ tn Or “bruising,” or “crushing.” This verb appears to allude to the damage caused when it throws him to the ground. According to L&N 19.46 it is difficult to know from this verb precisely what the symptoms caused by the demon were, but it is clear they must have involved severe pain. The multiple details given in the account show how gruesome the condition of the boy was.

NET Notes: Luk 9:40

¹ tn Grk “And I.” Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, καί (kai) has not been translated here; instead a new sentence was started in the translation.

² sn Note the repetition of the verb from v. 38, an indication of the father’s desperation.

³ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “but” to indicate the contrast present in this context.

⁴ tn The words “do so” are not in the Greek text, but have been supplied for clarity and stylistic reasons.

NET Notes: Luk 9:41

¹ tn Grk “And answering, Jesus said.” This is redundant in contemporary English and has been simplified to “Jesus answered.” Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

² tn Grk “O.” The marker of direct address, ὦ (w), is functionally equivalent to a vocative and is represented in the translation by “you.”

³ tn Or “faithless.”

sn The rebuke for lack of faith has OT roots: Num 14:27; Deut 32:5, 30; Isa 59:8.

⁴ tn Grk “how long.”

⁵ tn Or “and put up with.” See Num 11:12; Isa 46:4.

⁶ sn The pronouns you…you are plural, indicating that Jesus is speaking to a group rather than an individual.

NET Notes: Luk 9:42

¹ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

² tn Grk “he”; the referent (the boy) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

³ sn At this point the boy was thrown down in another convulsion by the demon. See L&N 23.168.

⁴ tn See L&N 23.167-68, where the second verb συσπαράσσω (susparassw) is taken to mean the violent shaking associated with the convulsions, thus the translation here “and shook him with convulsions.”

⁵ tn Or “commanded” (often with the implication of a threat, L&N 33.331).

⁶ sn This is a reference to an evil spirit. See Luke 4:33.

NET Notes: Luk 9:43

¹ tn Here δέ (de) has been translated as “then” to indicate the response at the conclusion of the account.

² sn The revelation of the mighty power of God was the manifestation of God’s power shown through Jesus. See Acts 10:38.

³ tn Grk “all”; the referent (the crowd) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

⁴ tc Most mss, especially the later ones (A C W Θ Ψ 0115 ˹³ 33 892 Ï al), actually supply ὁ ᾿Ιησοῦς (Jo Ihsous, “Jesus”) here. Since the earliest and best witnesses, along with many others (Ì⁷⁵ א B D L Ξ Ë¹ 579 700 1241 2542 pc lat), lack the name, and since scribes were unlikely to intentionally omit it, the shorter reading is preferred as the original reading.

tn Grk “he”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity. Some mss have done the same.

NET Notes: Luk 9:44

¹ tn Grk “Place these words into your ears,” an idiom. The meaning is either “do not forget these words” (L&N 29.5) or “Listen carefully to these words” (L&N 24.64). See also Exod 17:14. For a variation of this expression, see Luke 8:8.

² tn The plural Greek term ἀνθρώπων (anqrwpwn) is considered by some to be used here in a generic sense, referring to both men and women (cf. NRSV, “into human hands”; TEV, “to the power of human beings”). However, because this can be taken as a specific reference to the group responsible for Jesus’ arrest, where it is unlikely women were present (cf. Matt 26:47-56; Mark 14:43-52; Luke 22:47-53; John 18:2-12), the word “men” has been retained in the translation. There may also be a slight wordplay with “the Son of Man” earlier in the verse.

NET Notes: Luk 9:45

¹ tn Grk “it”; the referent (the meaning of the statement) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

² sn The passive verb had been concealed probably indicates that some force was preventing them from responding. It is debated whether God or Satan is meant here. By 24:25 it is clear that their lack of response is their own responsibility. The only way to reverse this is to pay careful attention as v. 44a urges.

³ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “yet” to indicate that in spite of their lack of understanding, the disciples were afraid to ask about it. Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation.

NET Notes: Luk 9:46

¹ tn Grk “among them”; the referent (the disciples) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

² tn The use of the optative mood means the answer is not clear (BDF §§267.2.3; 385.2.2).

NET Notes: Luk 9:47

¹ tn Grk “knowing the thoughts of their hearts” (an idiom).

² tn On this use of παρά (para), see BDF §239.1.1.

NET Notes: Luk 9:48

¹ tn This verb, δέχομαι (decomai), is a term of hospitality (L&N 34.53).

² sn Children were very insignificant in ancient culture, so this child would be the perfect object lesson to counter the disciples’ selfish ambitions.

³ tn Grk “among you all, this one is great.” The absence of a comparative term here makes the point that comparison should not be done.

NET Notes: Luk 9:49

¹ tn Grk “And answering, John said.” This is redundant in contemporary English and has been simplified to “John answered.” Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

² tc The translation follows the reading that has Luke’s normal imperfect here (ἐκωλύομεν, ekwluomen; found in Ì^75vid א B L Ξ 579 892 1241). Most mss, however, have an aorist (ἐκωλύσαμεν, ekwlusamen; found in A C D W Θ Ψ Ë^1,13 33 Ï co), which would be translated “we forbade him.” The imperfect enjoys the best external and internal support.

³ tn Grk “does not follow with us.” BDAG 36 s.v. ἀκολουθέω 2 indicates that the pronoun σοι (soi, “you”) is to be supplied after the verb in this particular instance; the translation in the text best represents this nuance.

NET Notes: Luk 9:51

¹ tn Grk “And it happened that when.” The introductory phrase ἐγένετο (egeneto, “it happened that”), common in Luke (69 times) and Acts (54 times), is redundant in contemporary English and has not been translated.

² tn Grk “the days were being fulfilled.” There is literary design here. This starts what has been called in the Gospel of Luke the “Jerusalem Journey.” It is not a straight-line trip, but a journey to meet his fate (Luke 13:31-35).

³ sn Taken up is a reference to Jesus’ upcoming return to heaven by crucifixion and resurrection (compare Luke 9:31). This term was used in the LXX of Elijah’s departure in 2 Kgs 2:9.

⁴ tn Grk “he”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

⁵ tn Grk “he set his face,” a Semitic idiom that speaks of a firm, unshakable resolve to do something (Gen 31:21; Isa 50:7).

⁶ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

NET Notes: Luk 9:52

¹ tn Grk “And he.” Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

² tn Grk “sent messengers before his face,” an idiom.

³ tn Grk “And going along, they entered.” The aorist passive participle πορευθέντες (poreuqente") has been taken temporally. Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

⁴ tn Or “to prepare (things) for him.”

NET Notes: Luk 9:53

¹ tn Grk “they”; the referent (the villagers) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

² tn Or “did not receive”; this verb, δέχομαι (decomai), is a term of hospitality or welcome (L&N 34.53).

³ tn Grk “because his face was set toward Jerusalem.”

sn Jerusalem is to be the place of rejection, as Luke 9:44 suggested. Jesus had resolved to meet his fate in Jerusalem, so the rejection was no surprise.

NET Notes: Luk 9:54

¹ tn Or “destroy.”

² tc Most mss, especially the later ones (A C D W Θ Ψ Ë^1,13 33 Ï it), read here “as also Elijah did,” making the allusion to 2 Kgs 1:10, 12, 14 more explicit. The shorter reading has better and earlier support (Ì^45,75 א B L Ξ 579 700* 1241 pc lat sa). It is difficult to explain how the shorter reading could have arisen from the longer, especially since it is well represented early on. However, the longer reading looks to have been a marginal note originally, incorporated into the text of Luke by early scribes.

sn An allusion to 2 Kgs 1:10, 12, 14.

NET Notes: Luk 9:55

¹ tn Grk “he”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

² tc Many mss ([D] K Γ Θ Ë^1,13 [579] 700 2542 pm it) have at the end of the verse (with slight variations) “and he said, ‘You do not know what sort of spirit you are of, for the Son of Man did not come to destroy people’s lives, but to save [them].’” This variant is clearly secondary, as it gives some content to the rebuke. Further, it is difficult to explain how such rich material would have been omitted by the rest of the witnesses, including the earliest and best mss.

sn The point of the rebuke is that now was not the time for judgment but patience; see 2 Pet 3:9.

Geneva Bible: Luk 9:1

Then ^{( 1 )} he called his twelve disciples together, and gave them power and authority over all devils, and to cure diseases.

^{( 1 )} The twelve apostles are sent forth only at the commandment of Christ and equipped with the power of the Holy Spirit: both that none of the Israelites might pretend ignorance, and also that they might be better prepared for their general mission.

Geneva Bible: Luk 9:4

And whatsoever house ye enter into, there ^{( a )} abide, and thence depart.

^{( a )} When you depart out of any city, depart from that place where you first took up your lodging: so that in these few words the Lord forbids them to change their lodgings: for this publishing of the gospel was as it were a publishing throughout the whole land, that no one in Judea might pretend ignorance, as though he had not heard that Christ had come.

Geneva Bible: Luk 9:7

^{( 2 )} Now Herod the tetrarch heard of all that was done by him: and he ^{( b )} was perplexed, because that it was said of some, that John was risen from the dead;

^{( 2 )} As soon as the world hears tidings of the gospel it is divided into differing opinions, and the tyrants especially are afraid.

^{( b )} He stuck as it were fast in the mire.

Geneva Bible: Luk 9:10

^{( 3 )} And the apostles, when they were returned, told him all that they had done. And he took them, and went aside privately into a ^{( c )} desert place belonging to the city called Bethsaida.

^{( 3 )} They that follow Christ will lack nothing, not even in the wilderness.

^{( c )} The word signifies a desert: note, this was not in the town Bethsaida, but part of the fields belonging to the town.

Geneva Bible: Luk 9:13

But he said unto them, Give ye them to eat. And they said, We have no more but five loaves and two fishes; ^{( d )} except we should go and buy meat for all this people.

^{( d )} This is said imperfectly, and therefore we must understand it to mean something like this: "We cannot give them to eat unless we go and buy, etc.".

Geneva Bible: Luk 9:16

Then he took the five loaves and the two fishes, and looking up to heaven, ^{( e )} he blessed them, and brake, and gave to the disciples to set before the multitude.

^{( e )} He gave God thanks for these loaves and fishes, and prayed at the same time that God would feed this multitude which was so great with such a small quantity, and to put it briefly, that this whole banquet might be to the glory of God.

Geneva Bible: Luk 9:18

^{( 4 )} And it came to pass, as he was ^{( f )} alone praying, his disciples were with him: and he asked them, saying, Whom say the people that I am?

^{( 4 )} Although the world be tossed up and down between different errors, yet we ought not to condemn the truth but be all the more desirous to know it, and be more steadfast to confess it.

^{( f )} Alone from the people.

Geneva Bible: Luk 9:22

^{( 5 )} Saying, The Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be slain, and be raised the third day.

^{( 5 )} Christ himself attained to the heavenly glory, by the cross and invincible perseverance.

Geneva Bible: Luk 9:23

And he said to [them] all, If any [man] will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross ^{( g )} daily, and follow me.

^{( g )} Even as one day follows another, so does one cross follow another, and the cross is by the figure of speech metonymy taken for the miseries of this life: for to be hanged on the cross was the most grievous and cruel punishment that there was amongst the Jews.

Geneva Bible: Luk 9:28

^{( 6 )} And it came to pass about an eight days after these sayings, he took Peter and John and James, and went up into a mountain to pray.

^{( 6 )} So that his disciples do not stumble at his debasing himself in his flesh, he teaches them that it is voluntary, showing in addition for a moment the brightness of his glory.

Geneva Bible: Luk 9:31

Who appeared in glory, and spake of his ^{( h )} decease which he should accomplish at Jerusalem.

^{( h )} What death he would die in Jerusalem.

Geneva Bible: Luk 9:36

And when the voice was past, Jesus was found alone. And they kept [it] close, and told no man in ^{( i )} those days any of those things which they had seen.

^{( i )} Until Christ was risen again from the dead.

Geneva Bible: Luk 9:37

^{( 7 )} And it came to pass, that on the next day, when they were come down from the hill, much people met him.

^{( 7 )} Nothing offends Christ as much as incredulity, although he bears with it for a time.

Geneva Bible: Luk 9:39

And, lo, a spirit taketh him, and he suddenly crieth out; and it teareth him that he foameth again, and ^{( k )} bruising him hardly departeth from him.

^{( k )} As it happens in the falling sickness.

Geneva Bible: Luk 9:43

^{( 8 )} And they were all amazed at the mighty power of God. But while they wondered every one at all things which Jesus did, he said unto his disciples,

^{( 8 )} We have no reason to promise ourselves rest and quietness in this world, seeing that they themselves who seemed to fawn upon Christ crucify him shortly after.

Geneva Bible: Luk 9:44

^{( l )} Let these sayings sink down into your ears: for the Son of man shall be delivered into the hands of men.

^{( l )} Give diligent ear to them, and once you have heard them see that you keep them.

Geneva Bible: Luk 9:46

^{( 9 )} Then there arose a reasoning among them, which of them should be greatest.

^{( 9 )} Ambition results in dishonour, but the result of modest obedience is glory.

Geneva Bible: Luk 9:49

^{( 10 )} And John answered and said, Master, we saw one casting out devils in thy name; and we forbad him, because he followeth not with us.

^{( 10 )} Extraordinary things are neither rashly to be allowed nor condemned.

Geneva Bible: Luk 9:51

^{( 11 )} And it came to pass, when the time was come that he should be received up, he stedfastly ^{( m )} set his face to go to Jerusalem,

^{( 11 )} Christ goes willingly to death.

^{( m )} Literally, "he hardened his face": that is, he resolved with himself to die, and therefore ventured upon his journey and cast away all fear of death, and went on.

Geneva Bible: Luk 9:54

^{( 12 )} And when his disciples James and John saw [this], they said, Lord, wilt thou that we command fire to come down from heaven, and consume them, even as Elias did?

^{( 12 )} We must take heed of zeal and fond imitation which is not moderated, even in good causes, that whatever we do, we do it to God's glory, and the profit of our neighbour.

Geneva Bible: Luk 9:55

But he turned, and rebuked them, and said, Ye know not what manner of ^{( n )} spirit ye are of.

^{( n )} So the Hebrews say, that is, you do not know what will, mind, and counsel you are of: so the gifts of God are called the spirit because they are given by God's Spirit, and so are the things that are contrary to them also called the spirit, which proceed from the wicked spirit, such as the spirit of covetousness, of pride, and madness.

Commentary -- Verse Range Notes

TSK Synopsis: Luk 9:1-62

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

7 Herod desires to see Christ.

10 The apostles return.

12 Christ feeds five thousand;

18 enquires what opinion the world had of him; foretells his passion;

23 proposes to all the pattern of his patience.

28 The transfiguration.

37 He heals the lunatic;

43 again forewarns his disciples of his passion;

46 commends humility;

51 bids them to shew mildness towards all, without desire of revenge.

57 Divers would follow him, but upon conditions.

Maclaren: Luk 9:10-17

Bread From Heaven

And the apostles, when they were returned, told Him all that they had done. And He took them, and went aside privately into a desert place belonging to the city, called Bethsaida. 11. And the people, when they knew it, followed Him; and He received them, and spake unto them of the kingdom of God, and healed them that had need of healing. 12. And when the day began to wear away, then came the twelve, and said unto Him, Send the multitude away, that they may go into the towns and country round about, and lodge, and get victuals; for we are here in a desert place. 13. But He said unto them, Give ye them to eat. And they said, We have no more but five loaves and two fishes; except we should go and buy meat for all this people. 14. (For they were about five thousand men.) And He said to His disciples, Make them sit down by fifties in a company. 15. And they did so, and made them all sit down. 16. Then He took the five loaves, and the two fishes; and, looking up to heaven, He blessed them, and brake, and gave to the disciples to set before the multitude. 17. And they did eat, and were all filled: and there was taken up of fragments that remained to them twelve baskets.'--Luke 9:10-17.

THE Apostles needed rest after their trial trip as evangelists. John the Baptist's death had just boon told to Christ. The Passover was at hand, and many pilgrims were on the march. Prudence and care for His followers as well as Himself suggested a brief retirement, and our Lord sought it at the Eastern Bethsaida, a couple of miles up the Jordan from its point of entrance to the lake. Matthew and Mark tell us that He went by boat, which Luke does not seem to have known. Mark adds that the curious crowd, which followed on foot, reached the place of landing before Him, and so effectually destroyed all hope of retirement. It was a short walk round the north-western part of the head of the lake, and the boat would be in sight all the way, so that there was no escape for its passengers.

Luke records the self-oblivious cordiality of Christ's reception of the intrusive crowd. Without a sigh or sign of impatience, He welcomed them', a difficult thing to do, and one which few of us could have achieved. The motives of most of them can have been nothing higher than what leads vulgar people of all ranks and countries to buzz about distinguished men, utterly regardless of delicacy, or considerateness. They want to see the notoriety, no matter what it costs him. But Jesus received them patiently, because, as Mark touchingly tells, He was moved with pity,' and saw in their rude crowding round Him the token of their lack of guides and teachers. They seemed to Him, not merely a mob of intrusive sight-seers, but like a huddled mass of unshepherded sheep.

Christ's heart felt more lovingly than ours because His eye saw deeper, and His eye saw deeper because His heart felt more lovingly. If we would live nearer Him, we should see, as He did, enough in every man to -draw our pity and help, even though he may jostle and interfere with us.

The short journey to Bethsaida would be in the early morning, and a long day of toil followed instead of the hoped-for quiet. Note that singular expression, Them that had need of healing He healed.' Why not simply them that were sick'? Probably to bring out the thought that misery made unfailing appeal to Him, and that for Him to see need was to supply it. His swift compassion, His all-sufficient power to heal, and the conditions of receiving His healing, are all wrapped up in the words. Coming to the miracle itself, we may throw the narrative into three parts --the preliminaries, the miracle, and the abundant overplus.

I. The Disciples The Extent Of The Need And The Utter Inadequacy.

Our Lord leads up to the miracle by forcing home on the minds of the disciples the extent of the need and the utter inadequacy of their resources to meet it, and by calling on them and the crowd for an act of obedience which must have seemed to many of them ludicrous. John shows us that He had begun to prepare them, at the moment of meeting the multitude, by His question to Philip. That had been simmering in the disciples' minds all day, while they leisurely watched Him toiling in word and work, and now they come with their solution of the difficulty. Their suggestion was a very sensible one in the circumstances, and they are not to be blamed for not anticipating a miracle as the way out. However many miracles they saw, they never seem to have expected another. That has been thought to be unnatural, but surely it is true to nature. They moved in a confusing mixture of the miraculous and the natural which baffled calculation as to which element would rule at any given moment. Their faith was feeble, and Christ rebuked them for their slowness to learn the lesson of this very miracle and its twin feeding of the four thousand. They were our true brothers in their failure to grasp the full meaning of the past, and to trust His power.

The strange suggestion that the disciples should feed the crowd must have appeared to them absurd, but it was meant to bring out the clear recognition of the smallness of their supply. Therein lie great lessons. Commands are given and apparent duties laid on us, in order that we may find out how impotent we are to do them. It can never be our duty to do what we cannot do, but it is often our duty to attempt tasks to which we are conspicuously inadequate, in the confidence that He who gives them has laid them on us to drive us to Himself, and there to find sufficiency. The best preparation of His servants for their work in the world is the discovery that their own stores are small. Those who have learned that it is their task to feed the multitude, and who have said We have no more than such and such scanty resources,' are prepared to be the distributors of His all-sufficient supply.

What a strange scene that must have been as the hundred groups of fifty each arranged themselves on the green grass, in the setting sunlight, waiting for a meal of which there were no signs? It took a good deal of faith to seat the crowd, and some faith for the crowd to sit. How expectant they would be! How they would wonder what was to be done next! How some of them would laugh, and some sneer, and all watch the event!

We, too, have to put ourselves in the attitude to receive gifts of which sense sees no sign; and if, in obedience to Christ's word, we sit down expecting Him to find the food, we shall not be disappointed, though the table be spread in the wilderness, and neither storehouse nor kitchen be in sight.

II. The Miracle Itself Has Some Singular Features.

Like that of the draught of fishes, it was not called forth by the cry of suffering, nor was the need which it met one beyond the reach of ordinary means. It was certainly one of the miracles most plainly meant to strike the popular mind, and the enthusiasm excited by it, according to John's account, was foreseen by Christ. Why did He evoke enthusiasm which He did not mean to gratify? For the very purpose of bringing the carnal expectations of the crowd to a head, that they might be the more conclusively disappointed. The miracle and its sequel sifted and sent away many disciples,' and were meant to do so.

All the accounts tell of Christ's blessing.' Matthew and Mark do not say what He blessed, and perhaps the best supplement is God,' but Luke says that He blessed the food. What He blesses is blessed; for His words are deeds, and communicate the blessing which they speak. The point at which the miraculous multiplication of the food came in is left undetermined, but perhaps the difference in the tenses of the verbs hints at it. Blessed' and brake' are in the tense which describes a single act; gave' is in that which describes a continuous repeated action. The pieces grew under His touch, and the disciples always found His hands full when they came back with their own empty. But wherever the miraculous element appeared, creative power was exercised by Jesus; and none the less was it creative, because there was the' substratum' of the loaves and fishes. Too much stress has been laid on their being used, and some commentators have spoken as if without them the miracle could not have been wrought. But surely the distinction between pure creation and multiplication of a thing already existing vanishes when a loaf is multiplied' so as to feed a thousand men.

The symbolical aspect of the miracle is set forth in the great discourse which follows it in John's Gospel. Jesus is the Bread of God which came down from heaven.' That Bread is broken for us. Not in His Incarnation alone, but in His Death, is He the food of the world; and we have not only to' eat His flesh,' but to drink His blood! if we would live. Nor can we lose sight of the symbol of His servants' task. They are the distributors of the heaven-sent bread. If they will but take their poor stores to Jesus, with the acknowledgment of their insufficiency, He will turn them into inexhaustible supplies, and they will find that there is that scattereth, and yet increaseth.' What Christ blesses is always enough.

III. The Abundance Left Over Is Significant.

Twelve baskets, such as poor travellers carried their belongings in, were filled; that is to say, each Apostle who had helped to feed the hungry had a basketful to bring off for future wants. The broken pieces' were not crumbs that littered the grass, but the portions that came from Christ's hands.

His provision is more than enough for a hungry world, and they who share it out among their fellows have their own possession of it increased. There is no surer way to receive the full sweetness and blessing of the Gospel than to carry it to some hungry soul. These full baskets teach us, too, that in Christ's gift of Himself as the Bread of Life there is ever more than at any given moment we can appropriate. The Christian's spiritual experiences have ever an element of infinity in them; and we feel that if we were able to take in more, there would be more for us to take. Other food cloys and does not satisfy, and leaves us starving. Christ satisfies and does not cloy, and we have always remaining, yet to be enjoyed, the boundless stores which neither eternity will age nor a universe feeding on them consume. The Christian's capacity of partaking of Christ grows with what it feeds on, and he alone is safe in believing that' To-morrow shall be as this day, and much more abundant.'

Maclaren: Luk 9:11

The Lord That Healeth Thee'

He healed them that had need of healing.'--Luke 9:11.

JESUS was seeking a little quiet and rest for Himself and His followers. For that purpose He took one of the fishermen's boats to cross to the other side of the sea. But the crowd, inconsiderate and selfish, like all crowds, saw the course of the boat, and hurried, as they could easily do, on foot round the head of the lake, to be ready for Him wherever He might land. So when He touched the shore, there they all were, open-mouthed and mostly moved by mere curiosity, and the prospect of a brief breathing-space vanished.

But not a word of rebuke or disappointment came from His lips, and no shade of annoyance crossed His spirit. Perhaps with a sigh, but yet cheerfully, He braced Himself to work where He had hoped for leisure. It was a little thing, but it was the same in kind, though infinitely smaller in magnitude, as that which led Him to lay aside the glory that He had with the Father before the world was,' and come to toil and die amongst men.

But what I especially would note are Luke's remarkable words here. Why does he use that periphrasis, Them that had need of healing,' instead of contenting himself with straightforwardly saying, Them that were sick,' as do the other Evangelists? Well, I suppose he wished to hint to us the Lord's discernment of men's necessities, the swift compassion which moved to supply a need as soon as it was observed, and the inexhaustible power by which, whatsoever the varieties of infirmity, He was able to cure and to bring strength. He healed them that had need of healing,' because His love could not look upon a necessity without being moved to supply it, and because that love wielded the resources of an infinite power.

Now, all our Lord's miracles are parables, illustrating upon a lower platform spiritual facts; and that is especially true about the miracles of healing. So I wish to deal with the words before us as having a direct application to ourselves, and to draw from them two or three very old, threadbare, neglected lessons, which I pray God may lead some of us to recognise anew our need of healing, and Christ's infinite power to bestow it. There are three things that I want to say, and I name them here that you may know where I am going. First, we all need healing; second, Christ can heal us all; third, we are not all healed.

I. We All Need Healing.

The people in that crowd were not all diseased. Some of them He taught; some of them He cured; but that crowd where healthy men mingled with cripples is no type of the condition of humanity. Rather we are to find it in that Pool of Bethesda, with its five porches, wherein lay a multitude of impotent folk, tortured with varieties of sickness, and none of them sound. Blessed be God! we are in Bethesda, which means house of mercy,' and the fountain that can heal is perpetually springing up beside us all. There is a disease, dear brethren, which affects and infects all mankind, and it is of that that! wish to speak to you two or three plain, earnest words now. Sin is universal.

What does the Bible mean by sin? Everything that goes against, or neglects God's law. And if you will recognise in all the acts of every life the reference, which really is there, to God and His will, you will not need anything more to establish the fact that all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.' Whatever other differences there are between men, there is this fundamental similarity. Neglect--which is a breach--of the law of God pertains to all mankind. Everything that we do ought to have reference to Him. Does everything that we do have such reference? If not, there is a quality of evil in it. For the very definition of sin is living to myself and neglecting Him. He is the centre, and if I might use a violent figure, every planet that wrenches itself away from gravitation towards, and revolution round, that centre, and prefers to whirl on its own axis, has broken the law of the celestial spheres, and brought discord into the heavenly harmony. All men stand condemned in this respect.

Now, there is no need to exaggerate. I am not saying that all men are on the same level. I know that there are great differences in the nobleness, purity, and goodness of lives, and Christianity has never been more unfairly represented than when good men have called, as they have done with St. Augustine, the virtues of godless men, splendid vices.' But though the differences are not unimportant, the similarity is far more important. The pure, clean-living man, and the loving, gentle woman, though they stand high above the sensuality of the profligate, the criminal, stand in this respect on the same footing that they, too, have to put their hands on their mouths, and their mouths in the dust, and cry Unclean!' I do not want to exaggerate, and sure I am that if men will be honest with themselves there is a voice that responds to the indictment when I say sadly, in the solemn language of Scripture, we all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.' For there is no difference. If you do not believe in a God, you can laugh at the old wife's notion of sin.' If you do believe in a God, you are shut up to believe this other thing, Against Thee, Thee only, have I sinned.'

And, brethren, if this universal fact is indeed a fact, it is the gravest element in human nature. It matters very little, in comparison, whether you and I are wise or foolish, educated or illiterate, rich or poor, happy or miserable. All the superficial distinctions which separate men from one another, and are all right in their own places, dwindle away into nothing before this solemn truth that in every frame there is a plague spot, and that the leprosy has smitten us all.

But, brethren, do not let us lose ourselves in generalities. All means each, and each means me. We all know how hard it is to bring general truths to bear, with all their weight, upon ourselves. That is an old commonplace: , All men think all men mortal but themselves'; and we are quite comfortable when this indictment is kept in the general terms of universality --All have sinned.' Suppose I sharpen the point a little. God grant that the point may get to some indurated conscience here. Suppose, instead of reading All have sinned,' I beseech each one of my hearers to strike out the general word, and put in the individual one, and to say I have sinned.' You have to do with this indictment just as you have to do with the promises and offers of the Gospel--wherever there is a whosoever' put your pen through it, and write your own name over it. The blank cheque is given to us in regard to these promises and offers, and we have to fill in our own names. The charge is handed to us, in regard to this indictment, and if we are wise we shall write our own names there, too.

Dear brethren, I leave this on your consciences, and I will venture to ask that, if not here, at any rate when you get quietly home to-night, and lie down on your beds, you would put to yourselves the question, Is it I?' And sure I am that, if you do, you will see a finger pointing out of the darkness, and hear a voice sterner than that of Nathan, saying Thou art the man.'

II. Christ Can Heal Us All.

I was going to use an inappropriate word, and say, the superb ease with which He grappled with, and overcame, all types of disease is a revelation on a lower level of the inexhaustible and all-sufficient fullness of His healing power. He can cope with all sin--the world's sin, and the individual's. And, as I believe, He alone can do it.

Just look at the problem that lies before any one who attempts to stanch these wounds of humanity.

What is needed in order to deliver men from the sickness of sin? Well! that evil thing, like the fabled dog that sits at the gate of the infernal regions, is three-headed. And you have to do something with each of these heads if you are to deliver men from that power.

There is first the awful power that evil once done has over us of repeating itself on and on. There is nothing more dreadful to a reflective mind than the damning influence of habit. The man that has done some wrong thing once is a rata avis indeed. If once, then twice; if twice, then onward and onward through all the numbers. And the intervals between will grow less, and what were isolated points will coalesce into a line; and impulses wax as motives wane, and the less delight a man has in his habitual form of evil the more is its dominion over him, and he does it at last not because the doing of it is any delight, but because the not doing of it is a misery. If you are to get rid of sin, and to eject the disease from a man, you have to deal with that awful degradation of character, and the tremendous chains of custom. That is one of the heads of the monster.

But, as I said, sin has reference to God, and there is another of the heads, for with sin comes guilt. The relation to God is perverted, and the man that has transgressed stands before Him as guilty, with all the dolefulness that that solemn word means; and that is another of the heads.

The third is this--the consequences that follow in the nature of penalty. Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.' So long as there is a universal rule by God, in which all things, are concatenated by cause and effect, it is impossible but that Evil shall slay the wicked.' And that is the third head. These three, habit, guilt, and penalty, have all to be dealt with if you are going to make a thorough job of the surgery.

And here, brethren, I want not to argue but to preach. Jesus Christ died on the Cross for you, and your sin was in His heart and mind when He died, and His atoning sacrifice cancels the guilt, and suspends all that is dreadful in the penalty of the sin. Nothing else --nothing else will do that. Who can deal with guilt but the offended Ruler and Judge? Who can trammel up consequences but the Lord of the Universe? The blood of Jesus Christ is the sole and sufficient oblation and satisfaction for the sins of the whole world.

That disposes of two of the monster's heads. What about the third? Who will take the venom out of my nature? What will express the black drop from my heart? How shall the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard his spots? How can the man that has become habituated to evil learn to do well'? Superficially there may be much reformation. God forbid that I should forget that, or seem to minimise it. But for the thorough ejection from your nature of the corruption that you have yourselves brought into it, I believe--and that is why I am here, for I should have nothing to say if I did not believe it--I believe that there is only one remedy, and that is that into the sinful heart there should come, rejoicing and flashing, and bearing on its broad bosom before it all the rubbish and filth of that dunghill, the great stream of the new life that is given by Jesus Christ. He was crucified for our offences, and He lives to bestow upon us the fullness of His own holiness. So the monster's heads are smitten off. Our disease and the tendency to it, and the weakness consequent upon it, are all cast out from us, and He reveals Himself as the Lord who healeth thee.'

Now, dear brethren, you may say That is all very fine talking.' Yes! but it is something a great deal more than fine talking. For nineteen centuries have established the fact that it is so; and with all their imperfections there have been millions, and there are millions to-day, who are ready to say, Behold! it is not a delusion; it is not rhetoric, I have trusted in Him and He has made me whole.'

Now, if these things that I have been saying do fairly represent the gravity of the problem which has to be dealt with in order to heal the sicknesses of the world, then there is no need to dwell upon the thought of how absolutely confined to Jesus Christ is the power of thus dealing. God forbid that I should not give full weight to all other methods for partial reformation and bettering of humanity. I would wish them all God-speed. But, brethren, there is nothing else that will deal either with my sin in its relation to God, or in its relation to my character, or in its relation to my future, except the message of the Gospel. There are plenty of other things, very helpful and good in their places, but I do want to say, in one word, that there is nothing else that goes deep enough.

Education? Yes! it will do a great deal, but it will do nothing in regard to sin. It will alter the type of the disease, because the cultured man's transgressions will be very different from those of the illiterate boor. But wise or foolish, professor, student, thinker, or savage with narrow forehead and all but dead brain, are alike in this, that they are sinners in God's sight. I would that I could get through the fence that some of you have reared round you, on the ground of your superior enlightenment and education and refinement, and make you feel that there is something deeper than all that, and that you may be a very clever, and a very well educated, a very highly cultured, an extremely thoughtful and philosophical sinner, but you are a sinner all the same.

And again, we hear a great deal at present, and I do not desire that we should hear less, about social and economic and political changes, which some eager enthusiasts suppose will bring the millennium. Well, if the land were nationalised, and all the means of production and distribution' were nationalised, and everybody got his share, and we were all brought to the communistic condition, what then? That would not make men better, in the deepest sense of the word. The fact is, these people are beginning at the wrong end. You cannot better humanity merely by altering its environment for the better. Christianity reverses the process. It begins with the inmost man, and it works outwards to the circumference, and that is the thorough way. Why! suppose you took a company of people out of the slums, for instance, and put them into a model lodging-house, how long will it continue a model? They will take their dirty habits with them, and pull down the woodwork for firing, and in a very short time make the place where they are as like as possible to the hovel whence they came. You must change the men, and then you can change their circumstances, or rather they will change them for themselves. Now, all this is not to be taken as casting cold water on any such efforts to improve matters, but only as a protest against its being supposed that these alone are sufficient to rectify the ills and cure the sorrows of humanity. Ye have healed the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly.' The patient is dying of cancer, and you are treating him for a skin disease. It is Jesus Christ alone who can cure the sins, and therein the sorrows, of humanity.

III. Lastly, We Are Not All Healed.

That is only too plain. All the sick in the crowd round Christ were sent away well, but the gifts He bestowed so broadcast had no relation to their spiritual natures, and gifts that have relation to our spiritual nature cannot be thus given in entire disregard of our actions in the matter.

Christ cannot heal you unless you take His healing power. He did on earth sometimes, though not often, cure physical disease without the requirement of faith on the part of the healed person or his friends, but He cannot (He would if He could)do so in regard to the disease of sin. There, unless a man goes to Him, and trusts Him, and submits his spirit to the operation of Christ's pardoning and hallowing grace, there cannot be any remedy applied, nor any cure effected. That is no limitation of the universal power of the Gospel. It is only saying that if you do not take the medicine you cannot expect that it will do you any good, and surely that is plain common-sense. There are plenty of people who fancy that Christ's healing and saving power will, somehow or other, reach every man, apart from the man's act. It is all a delusion, brethren. If it could it would. But if salvation could be thus given, independent of the man, it would come down to a mere mechanical thing, and would not be worth the having. So I say, first, if you will not take the medicine you cannot get the cure.

I say, second, if you do not feel that you are ill you will not take the medicine. A man crippled with lameness, or tortured with fever, or groping in the daylight and blind, or deaf to all the sounds of this sweet world could not but know that he was a subject for the healing. But the awful thing about our disease is that the worse you are the less you know it; and that when conscience ought to be speaking loudest it is quieted altogether, and leaves a man often perfectly at peace, so that after he has done evil things he wipes his mouth and says, I have done no harm.'

So, dear brethren, let me plead with you not to put away these poor words that I have been saying to you, and not to be contented until you have recognised what is true, that you--you, stand a sinful man before God.

There is surely no madness comparable to the madness of the man that prefers to keep his sin and die, rather than go to Christ and live. We all neglect to take up many good things that we might have if we would, but no other neglect is a thousandth part so insane as that of the man who clings to his evil and spurns the Lord. Will you look into your own hearts? Will you recognise that awful solemn law of God which ought to regulate all our doings, and, alas! has been so often neglected, and so often transgressed by each of us? Oh! if once you saw yourselves as you are, you would turn to Him and say, Heal me'; and you would be healed, and He would lay His hand upon you. If only you will go, sick and broken, to Him, and trust in His great sacrifice, and open your hearts to the influx of His healing power, He will give you perfect soundness'; and your song will be, Bless the Lord, O my soul … Who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth thy diseases.'

May it be so with each of us!

Maclaren: Luk 9:18-27

Christ's Cross And Ours

And it came to pass, as He was alone praying, His disciples were with Him: and He asked them, saying, Whom say the people that I am? 19. They answering, said, John the Baptist; but some say, Elias; and others say, that one of the old prophets is risen again. 20. He said unto them, But whom say ye that I am, Peter answering, said, The Christ of God. 21. And He straitly charged them, and commanded them to tell no man that thing; 22. Saying, The Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected of the elders, and chief priests, and scribes, and be slain, and be raised the third day. 23. And He said to them all, If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me. 24. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: but whosoever will lose his life for My sake, the same shall save it. 25. For what is a man advantaged, if he gain the whole world, and lose himself, or be cast away? 26. For whosoever shall be ashamed of Me, and of My words, of him shall the Son of man be ashamed, when He shall come in His own glory, and in His Father's, and of the holy angels. 27. But I tell you of a truth, there be some standing here, which shall not taste of death, till they see the kingdom of God.'--Luke 9:18-27.

THIS passage falls into three distinct but closely connected parts: the disciples' confession of Christ by Peter's mouth, the revelation to them of Christ's sufferings as necessarily involved in His Messiahship, and His extension to them of the law of suffering as necessarily involved in discipleship. Luke dwells much more lightly than Matthew on the first of these stages, omitting the eulogium and benediction on Simon Bar-Jona, and the great words about the rock on which the Church is built, but he retains the essentials, and emphasises the connection of the three parts by his very brevity in regard to the first.

I. The Great Confession.

Luke has special interest in recording Christ's prayers, and though he does not tell us where the great confession was made, he tells what Jesus did before it was made. We may well suppose that His solitary thoughts had been busied with the sufferings on which He was soon to enter, and that His resolve to impart the knowledge of these to His followers was felt by Him to be a sharp trial of their loyalty. The moment was a fateful one. How should fateful moments be prepared for but by communion with the Father? No doubt the feebleness of the disciples was remembered in His petitions.

Jesus' double question was intended, first, to make the disciples feel the gulf which separated them from the rest of the nation, and so to make them hold the faster by their unshared faith, and be ready to suffer for it, if needful, as probably it would be. It braces true men to know that they are but a little company in the midst of multitudes who laugh at their belief. That Jesus should have seen that it was safe to accentuate the disciples' isolation indicates the reality which He discerned in their faith, imperfect as it Was.

Whom say ye that I am?' Jesus brings them to articulate utterance of the thought that had been slowly gathering distinctness in their minds. We see our beliefs more clearly, and hold them more firmly, when we put them into definite words. The question acted like a chemical element dropped into a solution, which precipitates its solid matter. Nebulous opinions are gathered up into spheres of light by the process of speaking them. That question is all-important for us. Our conceptions of Christ's nature and office determine our relation to Him and our whole cast of life. True, we may say that He is Lord, and not be His disciples, but we are not His disciples as He would have us unless His Messiahship stands out clear and axiomatic in our thoughts of Him. The conviction must pass into feeling, and thence into life, but it must underlie all real discipleship. Doctrine is not Christianity, but it is the foundation of Christianity. The Apostolic confession here is the irreducible minimum' of the Christian creed.

It does not contain more than Nathanael had said at the beginning, but here it is spoken, not as Peter's private belief, but he is the mouthpiece of all. Whether it were I or they, so we' believe. This confession summed up the previous development of the disciples, and so marked the end of one stage and the beginning of another. Christ would have them, as it were, take stock of their convictions, as preliminary to opening a new chapter of teaching.

II. That New Chapter Follows At Once.

The belief in Him as Messiah is the first story of the building, and the second is next piled on it. The new lesson was a hard one for men whose hopes were coloured by Jewish dreams of a kingdom. They had to see all these vulgar visions melting away, and to face a stern, sad reality. The very fact that He was the Messiah necessarily drew after it the fact of suffering. Whence did the must' arise? From the divine purpose, from the necessities of the case, and the aim of His mission. These had shaped prophetic utterances, and hence there was yet another form of the must,' namely, the necessity for the Messiah's fulfilling these predictions.

No doubt our Lord led His saddened listeners to many a prophetic saying which current expositions had smoothed over, but which had for many years set before Him His destiny. What a scene that would be--the victim calmly pointing to the tragic words which flashed ominous new meanings to the silent hearers, stricken with awe and grief as the terrible truth entered their minds! What had become of their dreams? Gone, and in their place shame and death. They had fancied a throne; the vision melted into a cross.

We note the minute particularity of Jesus' delineation, and the absolute certainty in His plain declaration of the fact and time of the Resurrection. It is not wonderful that that declaration should have produced little effect. The disciples were too much absorbed and confounded by the dismal thought of His death to have ears for the assurance of His Resurrection. Comfort coming at the end of the announcement of calamities so great finds no entrance into, nor room in, the heart. We all let a black foreground hide from us a brighter distance.

III. The Master's Feet Suffering Was Involved Involved In Discipleship.

Mark the disciples' path. If in Messiahship, it is no less The cross which is our hope is also our pattern. In a very real sense we have to be partakers of the sufferings of Christ, and no faith in these as substitutionary is vital unless it leads to being conformed to His death. The solemn verses at the close of this lesson draw out the law of Christian self-denial as being inseparable from true discipleship.

Luke 9:23 lays down the condition of following Jesus as being the daily bearing, by each, of his own cross. Mark that self-denial is not prescribed for its own sake, but simply as the means of' following.' False asceticism insists on it, as if it were an end; Christ treats it as a means. Mark, too, that it is self' which is to be denied--not this or that part of our nature, but the central self.' The will is the man, and it is to be brought into captivity to Jesus, so that the true Christian says, I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me.' That is much deeper, harder, wholesomer teaching than separate austerities or forsakings of this or that.

Luke 9:24 grounds this great requirement on the broad principle that to make self the main object of life is the sure way to ruin oneself, and that to slay self is the road to true life. Note that it is he who would save' his life that loses it, because the desire is itself fatal, whether carried out or not; while it is he who does lose' his life for Christ that preserves it, because even if the extreme evil has been suffered, the possession of our true lives is not imperilled thereby. No doubt the words refer primarily to literal death, and threaten the cowards who sacrifice their convictions for the sake of keeping a whole skin with the failure of their efforts, while they promise the martyr dying in the arena or at the stake a crown of life. But they go far beyond that. They carry the great truth that to hug self and to make its preservation our first aim is ruinous, and the corresponding one, that to slay self for Christ's sake is to receive a better self. Self-preservation is suicide; self-immolation is not only self-preservation, but self-glorification with glory caught from Jesus. Give yourselves to Him, and He gives you back to yourselves, ennobled and transfigured.

Luke 9:25 urges obedience to the precept, by an appeal to reasonable self-regard and common-sense. The abnegation enjoined does not require that we should be indifferent to our own well-being. It is right to consider what will profit,' and to act accordingly. The commercial view of life, if rightly taken, with regard to all a man's nature through all the duration of it, will coincide accurately with the most exalted. It pays' to follow Christ. Christian morality has not the hyper-sensitive fear of appealing to self-interest which superfine moralists profess nowadays. And the question in Luke 9:25 admits of only one answer, for what good is the whole world to a dead man? If our accounts are rightly kept, a world gained shows poorly on the one side, against the entry on the other of a soul lost.

Luke 9:26 tells in what that losing oneself consists, and enforces the original exhortation by the declaration of a future appearance of the Son of man. He of whom Christ is then ashamed loses his own soul. To live without His smile is to die, to be disowned by Him is to be a wreck. To be ashamed of Jesus is equivalent to that base self-preservation which has been denounced as fatal. If a man disavows all connection with Him, He will disavow all connection with the disavower. A man separated from Jesus is dead while he lives, and hereafter will live a living death, and possess neither the world for which he sacrificed his own soul nor the soul for which he sacrificed it.

We cannot but note the authoritative tone of our Lord in these verses. He claims the obedience and discipleship of all men. He demands that all shall yield themselves unreservedly to Him, and that, even if actual surrender of life is involved, it shall be gladly given. He puts our relation to Him as determining our whole present and future. He assumes to be our Judge, whose smile is life, whose averted face darkens the destiny of a man. Whom say ye that He who dared to speak thus conceived Himself to be? Whom say ye that He is?

Luke 9:27 recalls us from the contemplation of that far-off appearance to something nearer. Remembering the previous announcement of our Lord's sufferings, these words seem intended to cheer the disciples with the hope that the kingdom would still be revealed within the lifetime of some then present. Remembering the immediately preceding words, this saying seems to assure the disciples that the blessed recompense of the life of self-crucifying discipleship is not to be postponed to that future, but may be enjoyed on earth. Remembering Christ's word, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God,' we doubt whether there is any reference here to the destruction of Jerusalem, as is commonly understood. Are not the words rather a declaration that they who are Christ's true disciples shall even here enter into the possession of their true selves, and find the Messianic hopes more than fulfilled? The future indicated will then be no more remote than the completion of His work by His death and Resurrection, or, at the farthest, the descent of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, by which the fuller life of renewed natures was bestowed on those who were following Jesus in daily self-surrender.

Maclaren: Luk 9:29

Prayer And Transfiguration

And as He prayed, the fashion of His countenance was altered.--Luke 9:29.

THIS Evangelist is especially careful to record the instances of our Lord's prayers. That is in accordance with the emphasis which he places on Christ's mare hood. In this narrative of the Transfiguration it is to Luke that we owe our knowledge of the connection between our Lord's prayer and the radiance of His face.

It may be a question how far such transfiguration was the constant accompaniment of our Lord's devotion-It is to be remembered that this is the only time at which others were present while He prayed, and perhaps it may be that whensoever, on the mountain top or in the solitude of the wilderness, He entered into closer communion with His heavenly Father, that radiance shone from His face, though no eye beheld and no tongue has recorded the glory.

But that is a mere supposition. However that may be, it would seem that the light on Christ's face was not merely a reflection caught from above, but it was also a rising up from within of what always abode there, though it did not always shine through the veil of flesh. And in so far it presents no parallel with anything in our experience, nor any lesson for us. But to regard our Lord's Transfiguration as only the result of the indwelling divinity manifested is to construe only one half of the fact that we have to deal with, and the other half does afford for us a precious lesson. As He prayed the fashion of His countenance was altered'; and as we pray, and in the measure in which we truly and habitually do hold communion, shall we, too, partake of His Transfiguration.

The old story of the light that flashed upon the face of the Lawgiver, caught by reflection from the light of God in which He walked, is a partial parallel to Christ's Transfiguration, and both the one and the other incident, amongst their other lessons, do also point to some mysterious and occult relation between the indwelling soul and the envious veil of flesh which, under certain circumstances, might become radiant with the manifestation of that indwelling power.

I. Communion With God Transfigures.

The one great lesson which I seek now to enforce from this incident is, that communion with God transfigures.

Prayer is more than petitions. It is not necessarily cast into words at all. In its widest, which is its truest sense, it is the attitude and exercise of devout contemplation of God and intercourse in heart, mind, and will with Him, a communion which unites aspiration and attainment, longing and fruition, asking and receiving, seeking and finding, a communion which often finds itself beggared for words, and sometimes even seems to transcend thought. How different is such an hour of rapt communion with the living God from the miserable notions which so many professing Christians have of prayer, as if it were but spoken requests, more or less fervent and sincere, for things that they want! The noblest communion of a soul with God can never be free from the consciousness of need and dependence. Petition must ever be an element in it, but supplication is only a corner of prayer. Such conscious con with God is the very atmosphere in which the Christian soul should always live, and if it be an experience altogether strange to us we had better ask ourselves whether we yet know the realities of the Christian life, or have any claim to the name. Truly, our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son, Jesus Christ,' and if we have no share in that fellowship we do not belong to the class of whom it is the mark and possession.

Of course, such communion is not to be attained or maintained without effort. Sense wars against it. Tasks which are duties interrupt the enjoyment of it in its more conscious forms. The hard-working man may well say, How can I, with my business cares calling for my undivided attention all day long, keep up such communion?' The toiling mother may well say, How can I, in my little house, with my children round me, and never a quiet minute to myself, get such?' True, it is hard, and the highest and sweetest forms of communion cannot be reached by us while so engaged, and therefore we all need seasons of solitude and repose, in which, being left alone, we may see the Great Vision, and, the clank of the engines being silenced, we may hear the Great Voice saying, Come up hither.' Such seasons the busiest have on one day in every week, and such seasons we shall contrive to secure for ourselves daily, if we really want to be intimate with our heavenly Friend.

And for the rest it is not impossible to have real communion with God in the midst of anxious cares and absorbing duties; it is possible to be like the nightingales, that sing loudest in the trees by the dusty roadsides, possible to be in the very midst of anxiety and worldly work, and yet to keep our hearts in heaven and in touch with God. We do not need many words for communion, but we do need to make efforts to keep ourselves near Him in desire and aspiration, and we need jealous and constant watchfulness over our motives for work, and our temper and aim in it, that neither the work nor our way of doing it may draw us away. There will be breaches in the continuity of our conscious communion, but there need not be any in the reality of our touch with God. For He can be with us, like some sweet, beguiling melody, so sweet we know not we are listening to it.' There may be a real contact of the spirit with Him, though it would be hard at the moment to put it into words.

As He prayed, the fashion of His countenance was altered.' Such communion changes and glorifies a man.

The very secret of the Gospel way of making men better is--transfiguration by the vision of God. Yes! to be much with God is the true way to mend our characters, and to make them like His. I do not undervalue the need of effort in order to correct faults and acquire virtues. We do not receive sanctification as we receive justification, by simple faith. For the latter the condition is Only believe,' for the former it is Work out your own salvation.' No man is cured of his evil tendencies without a great deal of hard work conscientiously directed to curbing them.

But all the hard work, and all the honest purpose in the world, will not do it without this other thing, the close communion with God, and incomparably the surest way to change what in us is wrong, and to raise what in us is low, and to illumine what in us is dark, is to live in habitual beholding of Him who is righteousness without flaw, and holiness supreme, and light without any darkness at all. That will cure faults. That will pull the poison fangs out of passions. That will do for the evil in us what the snake-charmers do by subtle touches, turn the serpent into a rigid rod that does not move nor sting. That will lift us up high above the trifles of life, and dwarf all here that imposes upon us with the lie that it is great, and precious, and permanent; and that will bring us into loving contact with the living Beauty of holiness,' which will change us into its own fair likeness.

We see illustrations of this transforming power of loving communion in daily life. People that love each other, and live beside each other, and are often thinking about one another, get to drop into each other's ways of looking at things; and even sometimes you will catch strange imitations and echoes of the face and voice, in two persons thus knit together. And if you and I are bound to God by a love which lasts, even when it does not speak, and which is with us even when our hands are busy with other things, then be sure of this, we shall get like Him whom we love. We shall be like Him even here, for even here we shall see Him. Partial assimilation is the condition of vision; and the vision is the condition of growing assimilation. The eye would not see the sun unless there were a little sun imaged on the retina. And a man that sees God gets like the God he sees; for we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a glass (or, rather, mirroring as a glass does) the glory of God, are changed into the same image.' The image on the mirror is only on the surface; but if my heart is mirroring God He sinks in, and abides there, and changes me from glory to glory. So it is when we keep near Christ, who is manifest in the flesh, that we get liker Him day by day, and the fashion of our countenances will be altered.

Now there is a test for our Christianity. Does my religion alter me? If it does not, what right or reason have I to believe that it is genuine at all? Is there a process of purifying going on in my inward nature? Am I getting any more like Jesus Christ than I was ten years ago? I say I live with Him and by Him. If I do I shall become like Him. Do not work at the hopeless task of purifying yourselves without His help, but go and stay in the sun if you want to get warm. Do as the bleachers do, spread the foul cloth on the green grass, below the blazing sunshine, and that will take all the dirt out. Believing and loving, and holding fast by Jesus Christ in true communion, we, too, become like Him we love.

II. This Transfiguring Will Become Very Visible In The Life If It Be Really In Our Inmost Selves.

Another thought is suggested by these words, namely, that this transfiguring will become very visible in the life if it be really in our inmost selves.

Even in the most literal sense of the words it will be so. Did you never see anybody whose face was changed by holier and nobler purposes coming into their lives? I have seen more than one or two whose features became as the face of an angel as they grew more and more unselfish, and more and more full of that which, in the most literal sense of the words, was in them the beauty of holiness. The devil writes his mark upon people's faces. The world and the flesh do so. Go into the streets and look at the people that you meet. Care, envy, grasping griping avarice, discontent, unrest, blotches of animalism, and many other prints of black fingers are plain enough on many a face. And on the other hand, if a man or a woman get into their hearts the refining influences of God's grace and love by living near the Master, very soon the beauty of expression which is born of consecration and unselfishness, the irradiation of lofty emotions, the tenderness caught from Him, will not be lacking, and some eyes that look upon them will recognise the family likeness.

But that may be said to be mere fancy. Perhaps it is, or perhaps there is truth in it deeper and more far-reaching than we know. Perhaps the life fashions the body, and the body of our glory' may be moulded in immortal loveliness by the perfect Christ-derived life within it. But be that as it may, the main point to be observed here is rather this. If we have the real, transforming influence of communion with Jesus Christ in our hearts, it will certainly rise to the surface, and show itself in our lives. As oil poured into water will come to the top, so that inward transforming will not continue hidden within. The king's daughter is all glorious within; but also her clothing is of wrought gold.' The inward life, beautiful because knit to Him, will have corresponding with it and flowing from it an outward life of manifest holy beauty.

His name shall be in their foreheads,' stamped there, where everybody can see it. Is that where you and I carry Christ's name? It is well that it should be in our hearts, it is hypocrisy that it should be in our foreheads unless it is in our hearts first. But if it be in the latter it will surely be in the former.

Now, dear friends, there is a simple and sure touchstone for us all. Do not talk about communion with Christ being the life of your religion, unless the people that have to do with you, your brothers and sisters, or fathers and mothers, your wives and children, your servants or your masters, would endorse it and say Yes! I take knowledge of him, he has been with Jesus.' Do you think that it is easier for anybody to believe in, and to love God,' whom he hath not seen' because of you,' his brother whom he hath seen'? The Christ in the heart will be the Christ in the face and in the life.

Alas! why is it that so little of this radiance caught from heaven shines from us? There is but one answer. It is because our communion with God in Christ is so infrequent, hurried, and superficial. We should be like those luminous boxes which we sometimes see, shining in the dark with light absorbed from the day; but, like them, we need to be exposed to the light and to lie in it if we are to be light. Now are ye light in the Lord,' and only as we abide in Him by continuous communion shall we resemble Him or reflect Him.

III. The Perfection Of Communion Will Be The Perfection Of Visible Transformation.

Possibly the Transfiguration of Jesus Christ had an element of prophecy in it, and pointed onwards to the order of things when His glorified humanity should be enthroned on the throne of the universe, and have left the limitations of flesh with the folded grave-clothes in the empty sepulchre. As the two majestic forms of the Lawgiver and the Prophet shared His glory on Hermon, and held con with Him there, so we may see in that mysterious group wrapped in the bright cloud the hint of a hope which was destined to grow to clearness and certainty. Christ's glorified bodily humanity is the type to which all His followers will be conformed. Gazing on Him they shall be like Him, and will grow liker as they gaze. Through eternal ages the double process will go on, and they shall become ever more assimilated, and therefore capable of truer, completer vision, and ever seeing Him more fully as He is, and therefore progressively changed into more perfect resemblance. Nor will that blessed change into advancing glory be shut up in their hearts nor lack beholders. For in that realm of truth and reality all that is within will be visible, our life will no longer fall beneath our aspirations, nor practice be at variance with the longings and convictions of our best selves. Then the Christlike spirit will possess a body which is its glad and perfect servant, and through which its beauty will shine undimmed. , When Christ, who is our life, shall be manifested, then shall we also be manifested with Him in glory.'

Maclaren: Luk 9:30-31

In The Holy Mount'

And, behold, there talked with Him two men, which were Moses and Elias: 31. Who appeared in glory, and spake of His decease which He should accomplish at Jerusalem.'--Luke 9:30-31.

THE mysterious incident which is commonly called the Transfiguration contained three distinct portions, each having its own special significance and lesson. The first was that supernatural change in the face and garments of our Lord from which the whole incident derives its name. The second was the appearance by His side of these two mighty dead participating in the strange lustre in which He walked, and communing with Him of His death. And the last was the descent of the bright cloud, visible as bright even amidst the blazing Sunshine on the lone hillside, and the mysterious attesting Voice that spoke from out of its depths.

I leave untouched altogether the first and the last of these three portions, and desire briefly to fix our attention on this central one. Now it is to be observed that whilst all the three Synoptic Evangelists tell us of the Transfiguration, of the appearance of Moses and Elias, and of the Cloud and the Voice, only Luke knows, or at least records, and therefore alone probably knows, what it was that they spoke of. Peter and James and John, the only human witnesses, were lying dazed and drunken with sleep, whilst Christ's countenance was changed; and during all the earlier portion at all events of His converse with Moses and Elias. And it was only when these were about to depart that the mortals awoke from their slumber. So they probably neither heard the voices nor knew their theme, and it was reserved for this Evangelist to tell us the precious truth that the thing about which Lawgiver, Prophet, and the Greater than both spake in that mysterious communion was none other than the Cross.

I think, then, that if we look at this incident from the point of view which our Evangelist enables us to take, we shall get large and important lessons as to the significance of the death of Jesus Christ, in many aspects, and in reference to very many different persons. I see at least four of these. This incident teaches us what Christ's death was to Himself; what it was in reference to previous revelation; what it was in reference to past generations; and what it may be in reference to His servants' death. And upon these four points I desire briefly to touch now.

I. First, Then, I See Here Teaching As To What The Death Of The Lord Jesus Christ Was In Reference To Himself.

What was it that brought these men--the one who had passed in a whirlwind to heaven, and the other who had been led by a mysterious death to slumber in an unknown grave--what was it that brought these men to stand there upon the side of the slopes of Hermon? It was not to teach Christ of the impending Cross. For, not to touch upon other points, eight days before this mysterious interview He had foretold it in the minutest details to His disciples. It was not for the sake of Peter and James and John, lying coiled in slumber there, that they broke the bands of death, and came back from that bourne from which no traveller returns,' but it was for Christ, or for themselves, or perhaps for both, that they stood there.

You remember that in Gethsemane there appeared an angel from heaven strengthening Him.' And one of the old devout painters has marvellously embraced the deepest meaning of that vision when he has painted for us the strengthening angel displaying in the heavens the Cross on which He must die, as if the holding of it up before Him as the divine will gave the strength that He needed. And I think in some analogous way we are to regard the mission and message to Jesus of these two men in our text. We know that clear before Him, all His life long, there stood the certainty of the Cross. We know that He came, not merely to teach, to minister, to bless, to guide, but that He came to give His life a ransom for many. But we know, too, that from about this point of time in His life the Cross stood more distinctly, if that may be, before Him; or at all events, that it pressed more upon His vision and upon His spirit. And doubtless after that time when He spoke to the disciples so plainly and clearly of what was coming upon Him, His human nature needed the retirement of the mountain side and prayer which preceded and occasioned this mysterious incident. Christ shrank from His Cross with sinless, natural, human shrinking of the flesh. That never altered His purpose nor shook His will, but He needed, and He got, strength from the Father, ministered once by an angel from heaven, and ministered, as I suppose, another time by two men who looked at death from the other side, and who spoke to Him of His decease which He should accomplish at Jerusalem.'

And now it is to be noticed that the words which our Evangelist employs are remarkable, and one of them, at least, is all but unique. The expression translated in my text decease' is the same Greek word which, untranslated, names the second book of the Old Testament--Exodus. And it literally means neither more nor less than a departure or going out.' It is only employed in this one passage and in another one to which I shall have occasion to refer presently, which is evidently based and moulded upon this one, to signify death. And the employment of it, perhaps upon these undying tongues of the sainted dead--or, at all events, in reference to the subject of their colloquy--seems to us to suggest that part of what they had to say to the Master and what they had to hear from Him was that His death was His departure in an altogether unique, solitary, and blessed sense. I came forth from the Father, and I am come into the world. Again, I leave the world and go to the Father.' Not dragged by any necessity, but of His own sovereign will, He passes from earth to the state where He was before. And as He stands there on the mountain with His radiant face and His white robes, this thought as to His death brings to Him comfort and strength, even whilst He thinks of the suffering of the Cross.

But, still further, the other word which is here employed helps us to understand what our Lord's death was to Him; He should accomplish' it as a thing to be fulfilled. And that involves two ideas, the one that Christ in His death was consciously submitting to a gladly accepted divine must, and was accomplishing the purpose of Love which dwelt in the heavens and sent Him, as well as His own purpose of love which would redeem and save. The necessity of the death of Christ if sin is to be put away, if we are ever to have a hope of immortality, the necessity of the death of Christ if the mercy of God is to pour out upon a sinful and rebellious world, the necessity of the death of Christ, if the deep purposes of the divine heart are ever to be realised, and the yearning compassion of the Saviour's soul is ever to reach its purpose--all lie in that great word that His decease' was by Him to be accomplished.' This is the fulfilling of the heart of God, this is the fulfilling of the compassion of the Christ. It is the accomplishment of the divine purpose from eternity.

Still further, the word, as I think, suggests another kind of fulfilment. He was to accomplish' His death. That is to say, every drop of that bitter cup, drop by drop, bitterness by bitterness, pang by pang, desolation by desolation, He was to drink; and He drank it. Every step of that road sown with ploughshares and live coals He was to tread, with bleeding, blistered, slow, unshrinking feet. And He trod it. He accomplished it; hurrying over none of the sorrow, perfunctorily doing none of the tasks. And after the weary moments had ticked themselves away, and the six hours of agony, when the minutes were as drops of blood falling slowly to the ground, were passed, He inverted the cup, and it was empty, and He said It is finished'; and He gave up the ghost, having accomplished His decease in Jerusalem.'

II. Further, Note In This Incident What That Death Is In Regard To Previous Revelation.

I need not remind you, I suppose, that we have here the two great representative figures of the past history of Israel--the Lawgiver, who, according to the Old Testament, was not only the medium of declaring the divine will, but the medium of establishing Sacrifice as well as Law, and the Prophet, who, though no written words of his have been preserved, and nothing of a predictive and Messianic character seems to have dropped from His lips, yet stood as the representative and head of the great prophetic order to which so much of the earlier revelation was entrusted. And now here they two stand with Christ on the mountain; and the theme about which they spake with Him there is the theme of which the former revelation had spoken in type and shadow, in stammering words, at sundry times and in divers manners,' to the former generations--viz, the coming of the great Sacrifice and the offering of the great Propitiation. All the past of Israel pointed onwards to the Cross, and in that Cross its highest word was transcended, its faintest emblems were explained and expressed, its unsolved problems which it had raised in order that they might be felt to be unsolved, were all answered, and that which had been set forth but in shadow and symbol was given to the world in reality for evermore. In Moses Law and Sacrifice, and in Elijah the prophetic function, met by the side of Christ, and spake of His decease.'

Now, dear friends, let me say one word here before I pass on. There is a great deal being said nowadays about the position of the Old Testament, the origin of its ritual, and other critical, and, to some extent, historical, questions. I have no doubt that we have much to learn upon these subjects; but what I would now insist upon is this, that all these subjects, about which people are getting so excited, and some of them so angry, stand, and may be dealt with, altogether apart from this central thought, that the purpose and meaning, the end and object of the whole preliminary and progressive revelation of God from the beginning. are to lead straight up to Jesus Christ and to His Cross. And if we understand that, and feel that' the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy,' and that law and sacrifice, commandments and altar, Sinai and Zion, the fiery words that were spoken in the wilderness, and the perpetual burnt-offering that went up in the Temple, had one mission--viz, to prepare the way of the Lord '--we have grasped the essential truth as to the Old Revelation; and if we do not understand that, we may be as scholarly and erudite and original as we please, but we miss the one truth which is worth grasping. The relation between the Old revelation and the New is this, that Christ was pointed to by it all, and that in Himself He sums up and surpasses and antiquates, because He fulfils, all the past.

Therefore Moses and Elijah came to witness as well as to encourage. Their presence proclaimed that Christ was the meaning of all the past, and the crown of the divine revelation. And they faded away, and Jesus was found alone standing there, as He stands for ever before all generations and all lands, the sole, the perfect, the eternal Revealer of the heart and will of God. God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by His Son.'

III. Again, We Have Here Set Before Us The Death Of Christ In Its Relation To Past Generations.

I need not dwell upon anything that was mysterious or anomalous in the last moments upon earth of either Moses or Elijah. I do not suppose that there is any reference to the undoubted peculiarities which existed in the case of both. But they came from that dim region where the dead were waiting for the coming of the Saviour, and by some means, we know not how, were clothed with something that was like an immortal body, and capable of entering into this material universe. There they stood, witnesses that Christ's death was of interest to all those sleeping generations in the past. We know not anything, or scarcely anything, of the condition of the sainted dead who died before Christ came. But this is clear, that these two came from the land where silent expectancy had ruled, and came perhaps to carry back to their brethren the tidings that the hour was ready to strike, and that soon amongst them there would stand the Eternal Life.

But, be that as it may, does not that group on the mountain-side teach us this, that the Cross of Jesus Christ had a backward as well as a forward power, and that for all the generations who had died, not having received the promises, but having seen them and saluted them from afar,' the influence of that Sacrifice had opened the gates of the Kingdom where they were gathered in hope, even as it opens for us, and all subsequent generations, the gates of the paradise of God?

I know not whether there be truth in the ancient idea that when the Master died He passed into that Hades where were assembled the disembodied spirits of the righteous dead, and led captivity captive, taking them with Him into a loftier Paradise. But this I am sure of, that Christ's Cross has always been the means and channel whereby forgiveness and hope and heaven have been given to men, and that the old dream of the devout painter which he has breathed upon the walls of the convent in Florence is true in spirit whatever it may be in letter, that the Christ who died went down into the dark regions, burst the bars and broke the gates of iron, and crushed the demon porter beneath the shattered portal, and that out of the dark rock-hewn caverns there came streaming the crowds of the sainted dead, with Adam at their head, and many another who had seen His day afar off and been glad, stretching out eager hands to grasp the life-giving hand of the Redeemer that had come to them too.

Moses and Elias were the first-fruits of them that slept,' and there were others, when the bodies of the saints rose from the grave and appeared in the Holy City unto many. And their presence, and the presence of these two there, typified for us the great fact that the Cross of Christ is the redemption of pre-Christian as well as of Christian ages; and that He is the Lord both of the dead and of the living.

IV. And So, Lastly, This Incident May Suggest Also What That Death Of Jesus Christ May Be In Reference To The Deaths Of His Servants.

I do not find that thought in the words of our text, but in the reference to them which is made in the second epistle attributed to Peter, who was present at the Transfiguration. There is a very remarkable passage in that Epistle, in the context of which there are distinct verbal allusions to the narrative of the Transfiguration, and in it the writer employs the same word to describe his own death which is employed here. It is the only other instance in Scripture of its use in that sense. And so I draw this simple lesson; that mighty death which was accomplished upon Calvary, which is the crown and summit of all Revelation, beyond which God has nothing that He can say or do to make men sure of His heart and recipients of forgiveness, which was the channel of pardon for all past ages, and the hope of the sainted dead--that death may turn for us our departure into its own likeness. For us, too, all the grimness, all the darkness, all the terror, may pass away, and it may become simply a change of place, and a going home to God. If we believe that Jesus died, we believe that He has thereby smoothed and softened and lessened our death into a sleep in Him.

Nor need we forget the special meaning of the word. If we have set our hopes upon Christ, and, as sinful men and women, have cast the burden of our sins, and the weight of our salvation, on His strong arm, then life will be blessed, and death, when it comes, will be a true Exodus, the going out of the slaves from the land of bondage, and passing through the divided sea, not into a weary wilderness, but into the light of the love and the blessedness of the land where our Brother is King, and where we shall share His reign.

I have been speaking to you of what Christ's death is in many regions of the universe, in many eras of time. My brother, what is Christ's death to you? Can you say, The life that I live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself for me?'

Maclaren: Luk 9:51

Christ Hastening To The Cross

And it came to pass, when the time was come that He should be received up, He stedfastly set His face to go to Jerusalem.'--Luke 9:51.

THERE are some difficulties, with which I need not trouble you here, as to bringing the section of this Gospel to which these words are the introduction, into its proper chronological place in relation to the narratives; but, putting these on one side for the present; there seems no doubt that the Evangelist's intention here is to represent the beginning of our Lord's last journey from Galilee to Jerusalem--a journey which was protracted and devious, and the narrative of which in this Gospel, as you will perceive, occupies a very large portion of its whole contents.

The picture that is given in my text is that of a clear knowledge of what waited Him, of a steadfast resolve to accomplish the purpose of the divine love, and that resolve not without such a shrinking of some part of His nature that He had to set His face to go to Jerusalem.'

The words come into parallelism very strikingly with a great prophecy of the Messiah in the Book of the Prophet Isaiah, where we read, The Lord God will help me, therefore shall I not be confounded -or, as the words have been rendered,' shall not suffer myself to be overcome by mockery '--therefore have I set my face like a flint.' In the words both of the Prophet and of the Evangelist there is the same idea of a resolved will, as the result of a conscious effort directed to prevent circumstances which tended to draw Him back, from producing their effect. The graphic narrative of the Evangelist Mark adds one more striking point to that picture of high resolve. He tells us, speaking of what appears to be the final epoch in this long journey to the Cross, They were in the way, going up to Jerusalem, and Jesus went before them; and they were amazed: and as they followed, they were afraid.' What a picture that is, Christ striding along the steep mountain path far in advance--impelled by that same longing which sighs so wonderfully in His words, How am I straitened till it be accomplished,'--with solemn determination in the gentle face, and His feet making haste to run in the way of the Father's commandments! And lagging behind, the little group, awed into almost stupor, and shrinking in uncomprehending terror from that light of unconquerable resolve and more than mortal heroism that blazed in His eyes!

If we fix, then, on this picture, and as we are warranted in doing, regard it as giving us a glimpse of the very heart of Christ, I think it may well suggest to us considerations that may tend to make more real to us that sacrifice that He made, more deep to us that love by which He was impelled, and may perhaps tend to make our love more true and our resolve more fixed. He set His face to go to Jerusalem.'

I. Through Christ's Life He Foresaw The Inevitable And Purposed End.

First, then, we may take, I think, from these words, the thought of the perfect clearness with which all through Christ's life He foresaw the inevitable and purposed end.

Here, indeed, the Evangelist leaps over the suffering of the Cross, and thinks only of the time when He shall be lifted up upon the throne; but in that calm and certain prevision which, in His manhood, the Divine Son of God did exercise concerning His own earthly life, between Him and the glory there ever stood the black shadow thrown by Calvary. When He spoke of being' lifted up,' He ever meant by that pregnant and comprehensive word, at once man's elevation of Him on the accursed tree, and the Father's elevation of Him upon the throne at His right hand! The future was, if I may so say, in His eye so foreshortened that the two things ran into one, and the ambiguous expression did truly connote the one undivided act of prescient consciousness in which He at once recognised the Cross and the throne.

And so, when the time was come that He should be received up, He steadfastly set His face to go to Jerusalem.'

Now, there is another thing to be noticed. That vision of the certain end which here fills His mind and impels His conduct, was by no means new with Him. Modern unbelieving commentators and critics upon the Gospels have tried their best to represent Christ's life as, at a certain point in it, being modified by His recognition of the fact that His mission was a failure, and that there was nothing left for Him but martyrdom! I believe that that is as untrue to the facts of the Gospel story upon any interpretation of them, as it is repulsive to the instincts of devout hearts; and without troubling you with thoughts about it I need only refer to two words of His. When was it that He said, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will build it up'? When was it that He said, As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up'? The one saying was uttered at the very beginning of His public work, and the other in His conversation with Nicodemus. On the testimony of these two sayings, if there were none else, I think there is no option but to believe that from the first there stood clear before Him the necessity and the certainty of the Cross, and that it was no discovery made at a certain point of His course.

And then, remember that we are not to think of' Him as, like many an earthly hero and martyr, regarding a violent and bloody death as being the very probable result of faithful boldness, but to believe that He, looking on from the beginning to that end, regarded it always as being laid upon Him by a certain divine necessity, into which necessity He entered with the full submission and acquiescence of His own will, and from the beginning knew that Calvary was the work for which He had come, and that His love would fail of its expression, and the divine purpose would fail of its realisation, and His whole mission would fail of all its meaning, unless He died for men. The martyr looks to the scaffold and says, It stands in my way, and I must either be untrue to conscience or I must go there, and so I will go.' Christ said, The Cross is in My path, and on it and from it I shall exercise the influence, to exercise which I have come into the world, and there I shall do the thing which I came forth from the Father to do.' He thought of His death not as the end of His work, but as the centre-point of it; not as the termination of His activity, but as its climax, to which all the rest was subordinated, and without which all the rest was nought. He does not die, and so seal a faithful life by an heroic death,--but dies, so bearing and bearing away man's sin., He regarded from the beginning the glory that should follow,' and the suffering through which He had to wade to reach it, in one and the same act of prescience, and said, Lo, I come, in the volume of the book it is written of Me.'

And I think, dear friends, if we carried with us more distinctly than we do that one simple thought, that in all the human joys, in all the apparently self-forgetting tenderness, of that Lord who had a heart for every sorrow and an ear for every complaint, and a hand open as day and full of melting charity for every need--that in every moment of that life, in the boyhood, in the dawning manhood, in the maturity of His growing human powers--there was always present one black shadow, towards which He ever went straight with the consent of His will and with the clearest eye, we should understand something more of how His life as well as His death was a sacrifice for us sinful men!

We honour and love men who crush down their own sorrows in order to help their fellows. We wonder with almost reverence when we see some martyr, in sight of the faggots, pause to do a kindness to some weeping heart in the crowd, or to speak a cheering word. We admire the leisure and calm of spirit which he displays. But all these pale, and the very comparison may become an insult, before that heart which ever discerned Calvary, and never let the sight hinder one deed of kindness, nor silence one gracious word, nor check one throb of sympathy.

II. Our Lord's Perfect Willingness For The Sacrifice Which He Saw Before Him.

Still further, the words before us lead to a second consideration, which I have just suggested in my last sentence--Our Lord's perfect willingness for the sacrifice which He saw before Him.

We have here brought into the narrowest compass, and most clearly set forth, the great standing puzzle of all thought, which can only be solved by action. On the one side there is the distinctest knowledge of a divine purpose that will be executed; on the other side there is the distinctest consciousness that at each step towards the execution of it He is constrained by no foreign and imposed necessity, but is going to the Cross by His own will. The Son of Man must be lifted up.' It became Him to make the Captain of salvation perfect through sufferings.' It behoved Him to be made in all points like His brethren.' The Eternal Will of the Father, the purpose purposed before the foundation of the world, the solemn prophecies from the beginning of time, constituted the necessity, and involved the certainty, of His death on the Cross. But are we, therefore, to think that Jesus Christ was led along the path that ended there, by a force which overbore and paralysed His human will? Was not His life, and especially His death, obedience? Was there not, therefore, in Him, as in us all, the human will that could cheerfully submit; and must there not, then, have been, at each step towards the certain end, a fresh act of submission and acceptance of the will of the Father that had sent Him?

Clear knowledge of the end as divinely appointed and certain'; yes, one might say, and if so, there could have been no voluntariness in treading the path that leads to it. Voluntariness in treading the path that leads to it, and if so, there could have been no divine ordination of the end.' Not so! When human thought comes, if I may so say, full butt against a stark, staring contradiction like that, it is no proof that either of the propositions is false. It is only like the sign-boards that the iceman puts upon the thin ice, dangerous!' a warning that that is not a place for us to tread. We have to keep a firm hold of what is certified to us, on either side, by its appropriate evidence, and leave the reconciliation, if it can ever be given to finite beings, to a higher wisdom, and, perchance, to another world!

But that is a digression from my more immediate purpose, which is simply to bring before our minds, as clearly as I can, that perfect, continuous, ever-repeated willingness, expressing itself in a chain of constant acts that touch one upon the other, which Christ manifested to embrace the Cross, and to accomplish what was at once the purpose of the Father's will and the purpose of His own.

And it may be worth while, just for a moment, to touch lightly upon some of the many points which bring out so clearly in these Gospel narratives the wholly and purely voluntary character of Christ's death.

Take, for instance, the very journey which I am speaking of now. Christ went up to Jerusalem, says my text. What did He go there for? He went, as you will see, if you look at the previous circumstance,-He went in order, if I might use such a word, to precipitate the collision, and to make His Crucifixion certain. He was under the ban of the Sanhedrim; but perfectly safe as long as He had stopped up among the hills of Galilee. He was as unsafe when He went up to Jerusalem as John Huss when he went to the Council of Constance with the Emperor's safe-conduct in his belt; or as a condemned heretic would have been in the old days, if he had gone and stood in that little dingy square outside the palace of the Inquisition at Rome, and there, below the obelisk, preached his heresies! Christ had been condemned in the council of the nation; but there were plenty of hiding-places among the Galilean hills, and the frontier was close at hand, and it needed a long arm to reach from Jerusalem all the way across Samaria to the far north. Knowing that, He steadfastly set His face to go to Jerusalem, and, if I might use the expression, went straight into the lion's mouth. Why? Because He chose to die.

And, then, take another circumstance. If you will look carefully at the Scripture narrative, you will find that from about this point in His life onwards there comes a distinct change in one very important respect.

Before this He shunned publicity; after this He courted it. Before this, when He spoke in veiled words of His sufferings, He said to His disciples, Tell no man till the Son of man be risen from the dead.' Hereafter though there are frequent prophecies of His sufferings, there is no repetition of that prohibition. He goes up to Jerusalem, and His triumphal entry adds fuel to the fire. His language at the last moment appeals to the publicity of His final visit to that city--Was I not daily with you in the Temple and ye laid no hands upon Me?' Everything that He could do He does to draw attention to Himself --everything, that is to say, within the limits of the divine decorum, which was ever observed in His life, of whom it was written long, long ago, He shall not strive, nor cry, nor cause His voice to be hoard in the streets.' There is, then, a most unmistakable change to be felt by any who will carefully read the narratives in their bearing upon this one point--a resolve to draw the eyes of the enemy upon Himself.

And to the same purpose, did you ever notice how calmly, with full self-consciousness, distinctly understanding what He is doing, distinctly knowing to what it will lead, He makes His words ever heavier and heavier, and more and more sharply pointed with denunciations, as the last loving wrestle between Himself and the scribes and Pharisees draws near to its bloody close? Instead of softening He hardens His tones--if I dare use the word, where all is the result of love--at any rate He keeps no terms; but as the danger increases His words become plainer and sterner, and approach as near as ever His words could do to bitterness and rebuke. It was then, whilst passionate hate was raging round Him, and eager eyes were gleaming revenge, that He poured out His sevenfold woes upon the hypocrites,' the blind guides,' the fools,' the whited sepulchres,' the serpents,' the generation of vipers,' whom He sees filling up the measure of their fathers in shedding His righteous blood.

And again, the question recurs, Why? And again, besides other reasons, which I have not time to touch upon here, the answer, as it seems to me, must unmistakably be, Because He willed to die, and He willed to die because He loved us.

The same lesson is taught, too, by that remarkable incident preserved for us by the Gospel of John, of the strange power which accompanied His avowal of Himself to the rude soldiers who had come to seize Him, and which struck them to the ground in terror and impotence. One flash comes forth to tell of the sleeping lightning that He will not use, and then having revealed the might that could have delivered Him from their puny arms, He returns to His attitude of self-surrender for our sakes, with those wonderful words which tell how He gave up Himself that we might be free, If ye seek Me, let these go their way.' The scene is a parable of the whole work of Jesus; it reveals His power to have shaken off every hand laid upon Him, His voluntary submission to His else impotent murderers, and the love which moved Him to the surrender.

Other illustrations of the same sort I must leave untouched at present, and only remind you of the remarkable peculiarity of the language in which all the Evangelists describe the supreme moment when Christ passed from His sufferings. When He had cried with a loud voice, He yielded up the ghost.'

He sent away the spirit,' He breathed out' (His spirit),' He gave up the ghost.' In simple truth, He committed His spirit' into the Father's hand. And I believe that it is an accurate and fair comment to say, that that is no mere euphemism for death, but carries with it the thought that He was active in that moment; that the nails and the spear and the Cross did not kill Christ, but that Christ willed to die! And though it is true on the one side, as far as men's hatred and purpose are concerned, Whom with wicked hands ye have crucified and slain'; on the other side, as far as the deepest verity of the fact is concerned, it is still more true, I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again.'

But at all events, whatever you may think of such an exposition as that, the great principle which my text illustrates for us at an earlier stage is, at least, irrefragably established--that our dear Lord, when He died, died, because He willed to do so. He was man and therefore He could die; but He was not man in such fashion as that He must die. In His bodily frame was the possibility, not the necessity, of death. And that being so, the very fact of His death is the most signal proof that He is Lord of death as well as of life. He dies not because He must, He dies not because of faintness and pain and wounds. These and they who inflicted them had no power at all over Him. He chooses to die; and He wills it because He wills to fulfil the eternal purpose of divine love, which is His purpose, and to bring life to the world. His hour of weakness was His hour of strength. They lifted Him on a cross, and it became a throne. In the moment when death seemed to conquer Him, He was really using it that He might abolish it. When He gave up the ghost, He showed Himself Lord of death as marvellously and as gloriously as when He burst its bands and rose from the grave; for this grisly shadow, too, was His servant, and He says to him, Come, and he cometh; do this, and he doeth it.' Thou didst overcome the sharpness of death' when Thou didst willingly bow Thy head to it, and didst die, not because Thou must, but because Thou wouldest.

III. There Was In Christ A Natural Human Shrinking From The Cross.

Still further, let me remind you how, in the language of this verse, there is also taught us that there was in Christ a natural human shrinking from the Cross.

The steadfast and resolved will held its own, overcoming the natural human reluctance. He set His face.' People are afraid to talk--and the instinct, the reverent instinct, is right, however we may differ from the application of it--people are afraid to talk, as if there was any shrinking in Christ from the Cross. I believe there was. Was the agony in Gethsemane a reality or a shadow, when He said,' O My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass?' What did that prayer mean, if there was not something in His nature that recoiled from the agony and mysterious horror of these awful hours? Let us take heed lest in our reverence we destroy the very notion on which our hope rests--that of Christ as suffering. For that one word involves all that I say--Did Christ suffer or did He not? If He suffered, then human nature shrank from it. The two ideas are correlative, you cannot part them--suffering and reluctance, a perfectly innocent, natural, inevitable, human instinct, inseparable from corporeity, that makes men recoil from pain. He endured the Cross,' says the Book--if there was not reluctance what was there to endure'? Despising the shame'--if there was not something from which He shrank, what was there to despise'? He set His face'--if there was not something in Him that hung back, what need was there for the hardening of the countenance? If Christ has suffered, then His flesh and blood quivered beforehand with the pangs and shrank from these, and He would have been spared the cup. Such instinctive recoil is not evil, it is not rebellion, it is not unwillingness to submit to the Father's will. His whole being clave to that, and never swerved from it for one moment. But still, because the path was darkened by mysterious blackness, and led to a Cross, therefore He, even He, who did always the things that pleased the Father, and ever delighted to do His will, needed to set His face' to go up to the mountain of sacrifice.

And now, if you will take along with that the other thought that I suggested at the beginning of these remarks, and remember that this shrinking must have been as continuous as the vision, and that this overcoming of it must have been as persistent and permanent as the resolve, I think we get a point of view from which to regard that life of Christ's--full of pathos, full of tender appeals to our hearts and to our thankfulness.

All along that consecrated road He walked, and each step represented a separate act, of will, and each separate act of will represented a triumph over the reluctance of flesh and blood. As we may say, every time that He planted His foot on the flinty path the blood flowed. Every step was a pain like that of a man enduring the ordeal and walking on burning iron or sharp steel. The old taunt of His enemies, as they stood beneath His Cross, might have been yielded to--If Thou be the Son of God, come down and we will believe.' I ask why did not He? I know that, to those who think less loftily of Christ than we who believe Him to be the Son of God, the words sound absurd--but I for one believe that the only thing that kept Him there, the only answer to that question is--Because He loved me with an everlasting love, and died to redeem me. Because of that love, He came to earth; because of that love, He tabernacled among us; because of that love, He gazed all His life long on the Cross of shame; because of that love, He trod unfaltering, with eager haste and solemn resolve, the rough and painful road; because of that love, He listened not to the voice that at the beginning tempted Him to win the world for Himself by an easier path; because of that love, He listened not--though He could have done so--to the voices that at the end taunted Him with their proffered allegiance if He would come down from the Cross; because of that love, He gave up His spirit. And through all the weariness and contumely and pain, that love held His will fixed to its purpose, and bore Him over every hindrance that barred His path. Many waters quench it not. That love is stronger than death; mightier than all opposing powers; deep and great beyond all thought or thankfulness. It silences all praise. It beggars all recompense. To believe it is life. To feel it is heaven.

But one more remark I would make on this whole subject. We are far too much accustomed to think of our Saviour as presenting only the gentle graces of human nature. He presents those that belong to the strong side of our nature just as much. In Him are all power, manly energy, resolved consecration; everything which men call heroism is there. He steadfastly set His face.' And everything which men call tenderest love, most dewy pity, most marvellous and transcendent patience, is all there too. The type of manhood and the type of womanhood are both and equally in Jesus Christ; and He is the Man, whole, entire, perfect, with all power breathed forth in all gentleness, with all gentleness made steadfast and mighty by His strength. And he said unto me, Behold the lion of the tribe of Judah. And I beheld, and lo, a lamb!'--the blended symbols of kingly might, and lowly meekness, power in love, and love in power. The supremest act of resolved consecration and heroic self-immolation that ever was done upon earth--an act which we degrade by paralleling it with any other--was done at the bidding of love that pitied us. As we look up at that Cross we know not whether is more wonderfully set forth the pitying love of Christ's most tender heart, or the majestic energy of Christ's resolved will. The blended rays pour out, dear brethren, and reach to each of us. Do not look to that great sacrifice with idle wonder. Bend upon it no eye of mere curiosity. Beware of theorising merely about what it reveals and what it does. Turn not away from it carelessly as a twice-told tale. But look, believing that all that divine and human love pours out its treasure upon you, that all that firmness of resolved consecration and willing surrender to the death of the Cross was for you. Look, believing that you had then, and have now, a place in His heart, and in His sacrifice. Look, remembering that it was because He would save you, that Himself He could not save.

And as, from afar, we look on that great sight, let His love melt our hearts to an answering fervour, and His fixed will give us, too, strength to delight in obedience, to set our faces like a flint. Let the power of His sacrifice, and the influence of His example which that sacrifice commends to our loving copy, and the grace of His Spirit whom He, since that sacrifice, pours upon men, so mould us that we, too, like Him, may quit us like men, be strong,' and all our strength and all our deeds' be wielded and' done in charity.'

MHCC: Luk 9:1-9

Christ sent his twelve disciples abroad, who by this time were able to teach others what they had received from the Lord. They must not be anxious to commend themselves to people's esteem by outward appearance. They must go as they were. The Lord Jesus is the fountain of power and authority, to whom all creatures must, in one way or another, be subject; and if he goes with the word of his ministers in power, to deliver sinners from Satan's bondage, they may be sure that he will care for their wants. When truth and love thus go together, and yet the message of God is rejected and despised, it leaves men without excuse, and turns to a testimony against them. Herod's guilty conscience was ready to conclude that John was risen from the dead. He desired to see Jesus; and why did he not go and see him? Probably, because he thought it below him, or because he wished not to have any more reprovers of sin. Delaying it now, his heart was hardened, and when he did see Jesus, he was as much prejudiced against him as others, Luk 23:11.

MHCC: Luk 9:10-17

The people followed Jesus, and though they came unseasonably, yet he gave them what they came for. He spake unto them of the kingdom of God. He healed those who had need of healing. And with five loaves of bread and two fishes, Christ fed five thousand men. He will not see those that fear him, and serve him faithfully, want any good thing. When we receive creature-comforts, we must acknowledge that we receive them from God, and that we are unworthy to receive them; that we owe them all, and all the comfort we have in them, to the mediation of Christ, by whom the curse is taken away. The blessing of Christ will make a little go a great way. He fills every hungry soul, abundantly satisfies it with the goodness of his house. Here were fragments taken up: in our Father's house there is bread enough, and to spare. We are not straitened, nor stinted in Christ.

MHCC: Luk 9:18-27

It is an unspeakable comfort that our Lord Jesus is God's Anointed; this signifies that he was both appointed to be the Messiah, and qualified for it. Jesus discourses concerning his own sufferings and death. And so far must his disciples be from thinking how to prevent his sufferings, that they must prepare for their own. We often meet with crosses in the way of duty; and though we must not pull them upon our own heads, yet, when they are laid for us, we must take them up, and carry them after Christ. It is well or ill with us, according as it is well or ill with our souls. The body cannot be happy, if the soul be miserable in the other world; but the soul may be happy, though the body is greatly afflicted and oppressed in this world. We must never be ashamed of Christ and his gospel.

MHCC: Luk 9:28-36

Christ's transfiguration was a specimen of that glory in which he will come to judge the world; and was an encouragement to his disciples to suffer for him. Prayer is a transfiguring, transforming duty, which makes the face to shine. Our Lord Jesus, even in his transfiguration, was willing to speak concerning his death and sufferings. In our greatest glories on earth, let us remember that in this world we have no continuing city. What need we have to pray to God for quickening grace, to make us lively! Yet that the disciples might be witnesses of this sign from heaven, after awhile they became awake, so that they were able to give a full account of what passed. But those know not what they say, that talk of making tabernacles on earth for glorified saints in heaven.

MHCC: Luk 9:37-42

How deplorable the case of this child! He was under the power of an evil spirit. Disease of that nature are more frightful than such as arise merely from natural causes. What mischief Satan does where he gets possession! But happy those that have access to Christ! He can do that for us which his disciples cannot. A word from Christ healed the child; and when our children recover from sickness, it is comfortable to receive them as healed by the hand of Christ.

MHCC: Luk 9:43-50

This prediction of Christ's sufferings was plain enough, but the disciples would not understand it, because it agreed not with their notions. A little child is the emblem by which Christ teaches us simplicity and humility. What greater honour can any man attain to in this world, than to be received by men as a messenger of God and Christ; and to have God and Christ own themselves received and welcomed in him! If ever any society of Christians in this world, had reason to silence those not of their own communion, the twelve disciples at this time had; yet Christ warned them not to do the like again. Those may be found faithful followers of Christ, and may be accepted of him, who do not follow with us.

MHCC: Luk 9:51-56

The disciples did not consider that the conduct of the Samaritans was rather the effect of national prejudices and bigotry, than of enmity to the word and worship of God; and through they refused to receive Christ and his disciples, they did not ill use or injure them, so that the case was widely different from that of Ahaziah and Elijah. Nor were they aware that the gospel dispensation was to be marked by miracles of mercy. But above all, they were ignorant of the prevailing motives of their own hearts, which were pride and carnal ambition. Of this our Lord warned them. It is easy for us to say, Come, see our zeal for the Lord! and to think we are very faithful in his cause, when we are seeking our own objects, and even doing harm instead of good to others.

Matthew Henry: Luk 9:1-9

We have here, I. The method Christ took to spread his gospel, to diffuse and enforce the light of it. He had himself travelled about, preaching and healing; but he could be only in one place at a time, and therefore now he sent his twelve disciples abroad, who by this time were pretty well instructed in the nature of the present dispensation, and able to instruct others and deliver to them what they had received from the Lord. Let them disperse themselves, some one way and some another, to preach the kingdom of God, as it was now about to be set up by the Messiah, to make people acquainted with the spiritual nature and tendency of it, and to persuade them to come into the interests and measures of it. For the confirming of their doctrine, because it was new and surprising, and very different from what they had been taught by the scribes and Pharisees, and because so much depended upon men's receiving, or not receiving it, he empowered them to work miracles (Luk 9:1, Luk 9:2): He gave them authority over all devils, to dispossess them, and cast them out, though ever so numerous, so subtle, so fierce, so obstinate. Christ designed a total rout and ruin to the kingdom of darkness, and therefore gave them power over all devils. He authorized and appointed them likewise to cure disease, and to heal the sick, which would make them welcome wherever they came, and not only convince people's judgments, but gain their affections. This was their commission. Now observe,

1. What Christ directed them to do, in prosecution of this commission at this time, when they were not to go far or be out long. (1.) They must not be solicitous to recommend themselves to people's esteem by their outward appearance. Now that they begin to set up for themselves, they must have no dress, nor study to make any other figure than what they made while they followed him: they must go as they were, and not change their clothes, or so much as put on a pair of new shoes. (2.) They must depend upon Providence, and the kindness of their friends, to furnish them with what was convenient for them. They must not take with them either bread or money, and yet believe they should not want. Christ would not have his disciples shy of receiving the kindnesses of their friends, but rather to expect them. Yet St. Paul saw cause not to go by this rule, when he laboured with his hands rather than be burdensome. (3.) They must not change their lodgings, as suspecting that those who entertained them were weary of them; they have no reason to be so, for the ark is a guest that always pays well for its entertainment: " Whatsoever house ye enter into there abide (Luk 9:4), that people may know where to find you, that your friends may know you are not backward to serve them, and your enemies may know you are not ashamed nor afraid to face them; there abide till you depart out of that city; stay with those you are used to."(4.) They must put on authority, and speak warning to those who refused them as well as comfort to those that received them, Luk 9:5. "If there be any place that will not entertain you, if the magistrates deny you admission and threaten to treat you as vagrants, leave them, do not force yourselves upon them, nor run yourselves into danger among them, but at the same time bind them over to the judgment of God for it; shake off the dust of your feet for a testimony against them. "This will, as it were, be produced in evidence against them, that the messengers of the gospel had been among them, to make them a fair offer of grace and peace, for this dust they left behind there; so that when they perish at last in their infidelity this will lay and leave their blood upon their own heads. Shake off the dust of your feet, as much as to say you abandon their city, and will have no more to do with them.

2. What they did, in prosecution of this commission (Luk 9:6): They departed from their Master's presence; yet, having still his spiritual presence with them, his eye and his arm going along with them, and, thus borne up in their work, they went through the towns, some or other of them, all the towns within the circuit appointed them, preaching the gospel, and healing every where. Their work was the same with their Master's, doing good both to souls and bodies.

II. We have here Herod's perplexity and vexation at this. The communicating of Christ's power to those who were sent forth in his name, and acted by authority from him, was an amazing and convincing proof of his being the Messiah, above any thing else; that he could not only work miracles himself, but empower others to work miracles too, this spread his fame more than any thing, and made the rays of this Sun of righteousness the stronger by the reflection of them even from the earth, from such mean illiterate men as the apostles were, who had nothing else to recommend them, or to raise any expectations from them, but that they had been with Jesus, Act 4:13. When the country sees such as these healing the sick in the name of Jesus it gives it an alarm. Now observe,

1. The various speculations it raised among the people, who, though they thought not rightly, yet could not but think honourably, of our Lord Jesus, and that he was an extraordinary person, one come from the other world; that either John Baptist, who was lately persecuted and slain for the cause of God, or one of the old prophets, that had been persecuted and slain long since in that cause, was risen again, to be recompensed for his sufferings by this honour put upon him; or that Elias, who was taken alive to heaven in a fiery chariot, had appeared as an express from heaven, Luk 9:7, Luk 9:8.

2. The great perplexity it created in the mind of Herod: When he had heard of all that was done by Christ, his guilty conscience flew in his face, and he was ready to conclude with them that John was risen from the dead. He thought he had got clear of John, and should never be troubled with him any more, but, it seems, he is mistaken; either John is come to life again or here is another in his spirit and power, for God will never leave himself without witness. "What shall I do now?"saith Herod. "John have I beheaded, but who is this? Is he carrying on John's work, or is he come to avenge John's death? John baptized, but he does not; John did no miracle, but he does, and therefore appears more formidable than John."Note, Those who oppose God will find themselves more and more embarrassed. However, he desired to see him, whether he resembled John or no; but he might soon have been put out of this pain if he would but have informed himself of that which thousands knew, that Jesus preached, and wrought miracles, a great while before John was beheaded, and therefore could not be John raised from the dead. He desired to see him; and why did he not go and see him? Probably, because he thought it below him either to go to him or to send for him; he had enough of John Baptist, and cared not for having to do with any more such reprovers of sin. He desired to see him, but we do not find that ever he did, till he saw him at his bar, and then he and his men of war set him at nought, Luk 23:11. Had he prosecuted his convictions now, and gone to see him, who knows but a happy change might have ben wrought in him? But, delaying it now, his heart was hardened, and when he did see him he was as much prejudiced against him as any other.

Matthew Henry: Luk 9:10-17

We have here, I. The account which the twelve gave their Master of the success of their ministry. They were not long out; but, when they returned, they told him all that they had done, as became servants who were sent on an errand. They told him what they had done, that, if they had done any thing amiss, they might mend it next time.

II. Their retirement, for a little breathing: He took them, and went aside privately into a desert place, that they might have some relaxation from business and not be always upon the stretch. Note, He that hath appointed our man-servant and maid-servant to rest would have his servants to rest too. Those in the most public stations, and that are most publicly useful, must sometimes go aside privately, both for the repose of their bodies, to recruit them, and for the furnishing of their minds by meditation for further public work.

III. The resort of the people to him, and the kind reception he gave them. They followed him, though it was into a desert place; for that is no desert where Christ is. And, though they hereby disturbed the repose he designed here for himself and his disciples, yet he welcomed them, Luk 9:11. Note, Pious zeal may excuse a little rudeness; it did with Christ, and should with us. Though they came unseasonably, yet Christ gave them what they came for. 1. He spoke unto them of the kingdom of God, the laws of that kingdom with which they must be bound, and the privileges of that kingdom with which they might be blessed. 2. He healed them that had need of healing, and, in a sense of their need, made their application to him. Though the disease was ever so inveterate, and incurable by the physicians, though the patients were ever so poor and mean, yet Christ healed them. There is healing in Christ for all that need it, whether for soul or body. Christ hath still a power over bodily diseases, and heals his people that need healing. Sometimes he sees that we need the sickness for the good of our souls, more than the healing for the ease of our bodies, and then we must be willing for a season, because there is need, to be in heaviness; but, when he sees that we need healing, we shall have it. Death is his servant, to heal the saints of all diseases. He heals spiritual maladies by his graces, by his comforts, and has for each what the case calls for; relief for every exigence.

IV. The plentiful provision Christ made for the multitude that attended him. With five loaves of bread, and two fishes, he fed five thousand men. This narrative we had twice before, and shall meet with it again; it is the only miracle of our Saviour's that is recorded by all the four evangelists. Let us only observe out of it, 1. Those who diligently attend upon Christ in the way of duty, and therein deny or expose themselves, or are made to forget themselves and their outward conveniences by their zeal for God's house, are taken under his particular care, and may depend upon Jehovah-jireh - The Lord will provide. He will not see those that fear him, and serve him faithfully, want any good thing. 2. Our Lord Jesus was of a free and generous spirit. His disciples said, Send them away, that they may get victuals; but Christ said, "No, give ye them to eat; let what we have go as far as it will reach, and they are welcome to it."Thus he has taught both ministers and Christians to use hospitality without grudging, 1Pe 4:9. Those that have but a little, let them do what they can with that little, and that is the way to make it more. There is that scatters, and yet increases. 3. Jesus Christ has not only physic, but food, for all those that by faith apply themselves to him; he not only heals them that need healing, cures the diseases of the soul, but feeds them too that need feeding, supports the spiritual life, relieves the necessities of it, and satisfies the desires of it. Christ has provided not only to save the soul from perishing by its diseases, but to nourish the soul unto life eternal, and strengthen it for all spiritual exercises. 4. All the gifts of Christ are to be received by the church in a regular orderly manner; Make them sit down by fifties in a company, Luk 9:14. Notice is here taken of the number of each company which Christ appointed for the better distribution of the meat and the easier computation of the number of the guests. 5. When we are receiving our creature-comforts, we must look up to heaven. Christ did so, to teach us to do so. We must acknowledge that we receive them from God, and that we are unworthy to receive them, - that we owe them all, and all the comfort we have in them, to the mediation of Christ, by whom the curse is removed, and the covenant of peace settled, - that we depend upon God's blessing upon them to make them serviceable to us, and desire that blessing. 6. The blessing of Christ will make a little go a great way. The little that the righteous man has is better than the riches of many wicked, a dinner of herbs better than a stalled ox. 7. Those whom Christ feeds he fills; to whom he gives, he gives enough; as there is in him enough for all, so there is enough for each. He replenishes every hungry soul, abundantly satisfies it with the goodness of his house. Here were fragments taken up, to assure us that in our Father's house there is bread enough, and to spare. We are not straitened, or stinted, in him.

Matthew Henry: Luk 9:18-27

In these verses, we have Christ discoursing with his disciples about the great things that pertained to the kingdom of God; and one circumstance of this discourse is taken notice of here which we had not in the other evangelists - that Christ was alone praying, and his disciples with him, when he entered into this discourse, Luk 9:18. Observe, 1. Though Christ had much public work to do, yet he found some time to be alone in private, for converse with himself, with his Father, and with his disciples. 2. When Christ was alone he was praying. It is good for us to improve our solitude for devotion, that, when we are alone, we may not be alone, but may have the Father with us. 3. When Christ was alone, praying, his disciples were with him, to join with him in his prayer; so that this was a family-prayer. Housekeepers ought to pray with their households, parents with their children, masters with their servants, teachers and tutors with their scholars and pupils. 4. Christ prayed with them before he examined them, that they might be directed and encouraged to answer him, by his prayers for them. Those we give instructions to we should put up prayers for and with. He discourses with them,

I. Concerning himself; and enquires,

1. What the people said of him: Who say the people that I am? Christ knew better than they did, but would have his disciples made sensible, by the mistakes of others concerning him, how happy they were that were led into the knowledge of him and of the truth concerning him. We should take notice of the ignorance and errors of others, that we may be the more thankful to him who has manifested himself to us, and not unto the world, and may pity them, and do what we can to help them and to teach them better. They tell him what conjectures concerning him they had heard in their converse with the common people. Ministers would know better how to suit their instructions, reproofs, and counsels, to the case of ordinary people, if they did but converse more frequently and familiarly with them; they would then be the better able to say what is proper to rectify their notions, correct their irregularities, and remove their prejudices. The more conversant the physician is with his patient, the better he knows what to do for him. Some said that he was John Baptist, who was beheaded but the other day; others Elias, or one of the old prophets; any thing but what he was.

2. What they said of him. "Now see what an advantage you have by your discipleship; you know better.""So we do,"saith Peter, "thanks be to our Master for it; we know that thou art the Christ of God, the Anointed of God, the Messiah promised."It is matter of unspeakable comfort to us that our Lord Jesus is God's anointed, for then he has unquestionable authority and ability for his undertaking; for his being anointed signifies his being both appointed to it and qualified for it. Now one would have expected that Christ should have charged his disciples, who were so fully apprized and assured of this truth, to publish it to every one they met with; but no, he strictly charged them to tell no man that thing as yet, because there is a time for all things. After his resurrection, which completed the proof of it, Peter made the temple ring of it, that God had made this same Jesus both Lord and Christ (Act 2:36); but as yet the evidence was not ready to be summed up, and therefore it must be concealed; while it was so, we may conclude that the belief of it was not necessary to salvation.

II. Concerning his own sufferings and death, of which he had yet said little. Now that his disciples were well established in the belief of his being the Christ, and able to bear it, he speaks of them expressly, and with great assurance, Luk 9:22. It comes in as a reason why they must not yet preach that he was the Christ, because the wonders that would attend his death and resurrection would be the most convincing proof of his being the Christ of God. It was by his exaltation to the right hand of the Father that he was fully declared to be the Christ, and by the sending of the Spirit thereupon (Act 2:33); and therefore wait till that is done.

III. Concerning their sufferings for him. So far must they be from thinking how to prevent his sufferings that they must rather prepare for their own.

1. We must accustom ourselves to all instances of self-denial and patience, Luk 9:23. This is the best preparative for martyrdom. We must live a life of self-denial, mortification, and contempt of the world; we must not indulge our ease and appetite, for then it will be hard to bear toil, and weariness, and want, for Christ. We are daily subject to affliction, and we must accommodate ourselves to it, and acquiesce in the will of God in it, and must learn to endure hardship. We frequently meet with crosses in the way of duty; and, though we must not pull them upon our own heads, yet, when they are laid for us, we must take them up, carry them after Christ, and make the best of them.

2. We must prefer the salvation and happiness of our souls before any secular concern whatsoever. Reckon upon it, (1.) That he who to preserve his liberty or estate, his power or preferment, nay, or to save his life, denies Christ and his truths, wilfully wrongs his conscience, and sins against God, will be, not only not a saver, but an unspeakable loser, in the issue, when profit and loss come to be balanced: He that will save his life upon these terms will lose it, will lose that which is of infinitely more value, his precious soul. (2.) We must firmly believe also that, if we lose our life for cleaving to Christ and our religion, we shall save it to our unspeakable advantage; for we shall be abundantly recompensed in the resurrection of the just, when we shall have it again a new and an eternal life. (3.) That the gain of all the world, if we should forsake Christ, and fall in with the interests of the world, would be so far from countervailing the eternal loss and ruin of the soul that it would bear no manner of proportion to it, Luk 9:25. If we could be supposed to gain all the wealth, honour, and pleasure, in the world, by denying Christ, yet when, by so doing, we lose ourselves to all eternity, and are cast away at last, what good will our worldly gain do us? Observe, In Matthew and Mark the dreadful issue is a man's losing his own soul, here it is losing himself, which plainly intimates that our souls are ourselves. Animus cujusque is est quisque - The soul is the man; and it is well or ill with us according as it is well or ill with our souls. If they perish for ever, under the weight of their own guilt and corruption, it is certain that we are undone. The body cannot be happy if the soul be miserable in the other world; but the soul may be happy though the body be greatly afflicted and oppressed in this world. If a man be himself cast away, ē zēmiōtheis - if he be damaged, - or if he be punished, si mulctetur - if he have a mulct put upon his soul by the righteous sentence of Christ, whose cause and interest he has treacherously deserted, - if it be adjudged a forfeiture of all his blessedness, and the forfeiture be taken, where is his gain? What is his hope?

3. We must therefore never be ashamed of Christ and his gospel, nor of any disgrace or reproach that we may undergo for our faithful adherence to him and it, Luk 9:26. For whosoever shall be ashamed of me and of my words, of him shall the Son of man be ashamed, and justly. When the service and honour of Christ called for his testimony and agency, he denied them, because the interest of Christ was a despised interest, and every where spoken against; and therefore he can expect no other than that in the great day, when his case calls for Christ's appearance on his behalf, Christ will be ashamed to own such a cowardly, worldly, sneaking spirit, and will say, "He is none of mine; he belongs not to me."As Christ had a state of humiliation and of exaltation, so likewise has his cause. They, and they only, that are willing to suffer with it when it suffers, shall reign with it when it reigns; but those that cannot find in their hearts to share with it in its disgrace, and to say, If this be to be vile, I will be yet more vile, shall certainly have no share with it in its triumphs. Observe here, How Christ, to support himself and his followers under present disgraces, speaks magnificently of the lustre of his second coming, in prospect of which he endured the cross, despising the shame. (1.) He shall come in his own glory. This was not mentioned in Matthew and Mark. He shall come in the glory of the Mediator, all the glory which the Father restored to him, which he had with God before the worlds were, which he had deposited and put in pledge, as it were, for the accomplishing of his undertaking, and demanded again when he had gone through it. Now, O Father, glorify thou me, Joh 17:4, Joh 17:5. He shall come in all that glory which the Father conferred upon him when he set him at his own right hand, and gave him to be head over all things to the church; in all the glory that is due to him as the assertor of the glory of God, and the author of the glory of all the saints. This is his own glory. (2.) He shall come in his Father's glory. The Father will judge the world by him, having committed all judgment to him; and therefore will publicly own him in the judgment as the brightness of his glory and the express image of his person. (3.) He shall come in the glory of the holy angels. They shall all attend him, and minister to him, and add every thing they can to the lustre of his appearance. What a figure will the blessed Jesus make in that day! Did we believe it, we should never be ashamed of him or his words now.

Lastly, To encourage them in suffering for him, he assures them that the kingdom of God would now shortly be set up, notwithstanding the great opposition that was made to it, Luk 9:27. "Though the second coming of the Son of man is at a great distance, the kingdom of God shall come in its power in the present age, while some here present are alive."They saw the kingdom of God when the Spirit was poured out, when the gospel was preached to all the world and nations were brought to Christ by it; they saw the kingdom of God triumph over the Gentile nations in their conversion, and over the Jewish nation in its destruction.

Matthew Henry: Luk 9:28-36

We have here the narrative of Christ's transfiguration, which was designed for a specimen of that glory of his in which he will come to judge the world, of which he had lately been speaking, and, consequently, an encouragement to his disciples to suffer for him, and never to be ashamed of him. We had this account before in Matthew and Mark, and it is well worthy to be repeated to us, and reconsidered by us, for the confirmation of our faith in the Lord Jesus, as the brightness of his Father's glory and the light of the world, for the filling of our minds with high and honourable thoughts of him, notwithstanding his being clothed with a body, and giving us some idea of the glory which he entered into at his ascension, and in which he now appears within the veil, and for the raising and encouraging of our hopes and expectations concerning the glory reserved for all believers in the future state.

I. Here is one circumstance of the narrative that seems to differ from the other two evangelists that related it. They said that it was six days after the foregoing sayings; Luke says that it was about eight days after, that is, it was that day sevennight, six whole days intervening, and it was the eighth day. Some think that it was in the night that Christ was transfigured, because the disciples were sleepy, as in his agony, and in the night his appearance in splendour would be the more illustrious; if in the night, the computation of the time would be the more doubtful and uncertain; probably, in the night, between the seventh and eighth day, and so about eight days.

II. Here are divers circumstances added and explained, which are very material.

1. We are here told that Christ had this honour put upon him when he was praying: He went up into a mountain to pray, as he frequently did (Luk 9:28), and as he prayed he was transfigured. When Christ humbled himself to pray, he was thus exalted. He knew before that this was designed for him at this time, and therefore seeks it by prayer. Christ himself must sue out the favours that were purposed for him, and promised to him: Ask of me, and I will give thee, Psa 2:8. And thus he intended to put an honour upon the duty of prayer, and to recommend it to us. It is a transfiguring, transforming duty; if our hearts be elevated and enlarged in it, so as in it to behold the glory of the Lord, we shall be changed into the same image from glory to glory, 2Co 3:18. By prayer we fetch in the wisdom, grace, and joy, which make the face to shine.

2. Luke does not use the word transfigured - metamorphōthē (which Matthew and Mark used), perhaps because it had been used so much in the Pagan theology, but makes use of a phrase equivalent, to eidos tou prosōpou heteron - the fashion of his countenance was another thing from what it had been: his face shone far beyond what Moses's did when he came down from the mount; and his raiment was white and glistering: it was exastraptōn - bright like lightning (a word used only here), so that he seemed to be arrayed all with light, to cover himself with light as with a garment.

3. It was said in Matthew and Mark that Moses and Elias appeared to them; here it is said that they appeared in glory, to teach us that saints departed are in glory, are in a glorious state; they shine in glory. He being in glory, they appeared with him in glory, as all the saints shall shortly do.

4. We are here told what was the subject of the discourse between Christ and the two great prophets of the Old Testament: They spoke of his decease, which he should accomplish at Jerusalem. Elegon tēn exodon autou - his exodus, his departure; that is, his death. (1.) The death of Christ is here called his exit, his going out, his leaving the world. Moses and Elias spoke of it to him under that notion, to reconcile him to it, and to make the foresight of it the more easy to his human nature. The death of the saints is their exodus, their departure out of the Egypt of this world, their release out of a house of bondage. Some think that the ascension of Christ is included here in his departure; for the departure of Israel out of Egypt was a departure in triumph, so was his when he went from earth to heaven. (2.) This departure of his he must accomplish; for thus it was determined, the matter was immutably fixed in the counsel of God, and could not be altered. (3.) He must accomplish it at Jerusalem, though his residence was mostly in Galilee; for his most spiteful enemies were at Jerusalem, and there the sanhedrim sat, that took upon them to judge of prophets. (4.) Moses and Elias spoke of this, to intimate that the sufferings of Christ, and his entrance into his glory, were what Moses and the prophets had spoken of; see Luk 24:26, Luk 24:27; 1Pe 1:11. (5.) Our Lord Jesus, even in his transfiguration, was willing to enter into a discourse concerning his death and sufferings, to teach us that meditations on death, as it is our departure out of this world to another, are never unseasonable, but in a special manner seasonable when at any time we are advanced, lest we should be lifted up above measure. In our greatest glories on earth, let us remember that here we have no continuing city.

5. We are here told, which we were not before, that the disciples were heavy with sleep, Luk 9:32. When the vision first began, Peter, and James, and John were drowsy, and inclined to sleep. Either it was late, or they were weary, or had been disturbed in their rest the night before; or perhaps a charming composing air, or some sweet and melodious sounds, which disposed them to soft and gentle slumbers, were a preface to the vision; or perhaps it was owing to a sinful carelessness: when Christ was at prayer with them, they did not regard his prayer as they should have done, and, to punish them for that, they were left to sleep on now, when he began to be transfigured, and so lost an opportunity of seeing how that work of wonder was wrought. These three were now asleep, when Christ was in his glory, as afterwards they were, when he was in his agony; see the weakness and frailty of human nature, even in the best, and what need they have of the grace of God. Nothing could be more affecting to these disciples, one would think, than the glories and the agonies of their Master, and both in the highest degree; and yet neither the one nor the other would serve to keep them awake. What need have we to pray to God for quickening grace, to make us not only alive, but lively! Yet that they might be competent witnesses of this sign from heaven, to those that demanded one, after awhile they recovered themselves, and became perfectly awake; and then they took an exact view of all those glories, so that they were able to give a particular account, as we find one of them does, of all that passed when they were with Christ in the holy mount, 2Pe 1:18.

6. It is here observed that it was when Moses and Elias were now about to depart that Peter said, Lord, it is good to be here, let us make three tabernacles. Thus we are often not sensible of the worth of our mercies till we are about to lose them; nor do we covet and court their continuance till they are upon the departure. Peter said this, not knowing what he said. Those know not what they say that talk of making tabernacles on earth for glorified saints in heaven, who have better mansions in the temple there, and long to return to them.

7. It is here added, concerning the cloud that overshadowed them, that they feared as they entered into the cloud. This cloud was a token of God's more peculiar presence. It was in a cloud that God of old took possession of the tabernacle and temple, and, when the cloud covered the tabernacle, Moses was not able to enter (Exo 40:34, Exo 40:35), and, when it filled the temple, the priests could not stand to minister by reason of it, 2Ch 5:14. Such a cloud was this, and then no wonder that the disciples were afraid to enter into it. But never let any be afraid to enter into a cloud with Jesus Christ; for he will be sure to bring them safely through it.

8. The voice which came from heaven is here, and in Mark, related not so fully as in Matthew: This is my beloved Son, hear him: though those words, in whom I am well pleased, which we have both in Matthew and Peter, are not expressed, they are implied in that, This is my beloved Son; for whom he loves, and in whom he is well pleased, come all to one; we are accepted in the Beloved.

Lastly, The apostles are here said to have kept this vision private. They told no man in those days, reserving the discovery of it for another opportunity, when the evidences of Christ's being the Son of God were completed in the pouring out of the Spirit, and that doctrine was to be published to all the world. As there is a time to speak, so there is a time to keep silence. Every thing is beautiful and useful in its season.

Matthew Henry: Luk 9:37-42

This passage of story in Matthew and Mark follows immediately upon that of Christ's transfiguration, and his discourse with his disciples after it; but here it is said to be on the next day, as they were coming down from the hill, which confirms the conjecture that Christ was transfigured in the night, and, it should seem, though they did not make tabernacles as Peter proposed, yet they found some shelter to repose themselves in all night, for it was not till next day that they came down from the hill, and then he found things in some disorder among his disciples, though not so bad as Moses did when he came down from the mount. When wise and good men are in their beloved retirements, they would do well to consider whether they are not wanted in their public stations.

In this narrative here, observe, 1. How forward the people were to receive Christ at his return to them. Though he had been but a little while absent, much people met him, as, at other times, much people followed him; for so it was foretold concerning him, that to him should the gathering of the people be. 2. How importunate the father of the lunatic child was with Christ for help for him (Luk 9:38): I beseech thee, look upon my son; this is his request, and it is a very modest one; one compassionate look from Christ is enough to set every thing to rights. Let us bring ourselves and our children to Christ, to be looked upon. His plea is, He is my only child. They that have many children may balance their affliction in one with their comfort in the rest; yet, if it be an only child that is a grief, the affliction in that may be balanced with the love of God in giving his only-begotten Son for us. 3. How deplorable the case of the child was, Luk 9:39. He was under the power of an evil spirit, that took him; and diseases of that nature are more frightful than such as arise merely from natural causes: when the fit seized him without any warning given, he suddenly cried out, and many a time his shrieks had pierced the heart of his tender father. This malicious spirit tore him, and bruised him, and departed not from him but with great difficulty, and a deadly gripe at parting. O the afflictions of the afflicted in this world! And what mischief doth Satan do where he gets possession! But happy they that have access to Christ! 4. How defective the disciples were in their faith. Though Christ had given them power over unclean spirits, yet they could not cast out this evil spirit, Luk 9:40. Either they distrusted the power they were to fetch in strength fRom. or the commission given to them, or they did not exert themselves in prayer as they ought; for this Christ reproved them. O faithless and perverse generation. Dr. Clarke understands this as spoken to his disciples: " Will ye be yet so faithless and full of distrust that ye cannot execute the commission I have given you?"5. How effectual the cure was, which Christ wrought upon this child, Luk 9:42. Christ can do that for us which his disciples cannot: Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit then when he raged most. The devil threw the child down, and tore him, distorted him, as if he would have pulled him to pieces. But one word from Christ healed the child, and made good the damage the devil had done him. And it is here added that he delivered him again to his father. Note, When our children are recovered from sickness, we must receive them as delivered to us again, receive them as life from the dead, and as when we first received them. It is comfortable to receive them from the hand of Christ, to see him delivering them to us again: "Here, take this child, and be thankful; take it, and bring it up for me, for thou hast it again from me. Take it, and do not set thy heart too much upon it."With such cautions as these, parents should receive their children from Christ's hands, and then with comfort put them again into his hands.

Matthew Henry: Luk 9:43-50

We may observe here, I. The impression which Christ's miracles made upon all that beheld them (Luk 9:43): They were all amazed at the mighty power of God, which they could not but see in all the miracles Christ wrought. Note, The works of God's almighty power are amazing, especially those that are wrought by the hand of the Lord Jesus; for he is the power of God, and his name is Wonderful. Their wonder was universal: they wondered every one. The causes of it were universal: they wondered at all things which Jesus did; all his actions had something uncommon and surprising in them.

II. The notice Christ gave to his disciples of his approaching sufferings: The Son of man shall be delivered into the hands of men, wicked men, men of the worst character; they shall be permitted to abuse him at their pleasure. That is here implied which is expressed by the other evangelists: They shall kill him. But that which is peculiar here is, 1. The connection of this with what goes next before, of the admiration with which the people were struck at beholding Christ's miracles (Luk 9:43): While they all wondered at all things which Jesus did, he said this to his disciples. They had a fond conceit of his temporal kingdom, and that he should reign, and they with him, in secular pomp and power; and now they thought that this mighty power of his would easily effect the thing, and his interest gained by his miracles in the people would contribute to it; and therefore Christ, who knew what was in their hearts, takes this occasion to tell them again, what he had told them before, that he was so far from having men delivered into his hands that he must be delivered into the hands of men, so far from living in honour that he must die in disgrace; and all his miracles, and the interest he has by them gained in the hearts of the people, will not be able to prevent it. 2. The solemn preface with which it is introduced: " Let these sayings sink down into your ears; take special notice of what I say, and mix faith with it; let not the notions you have of the temporal kingdom of the Messiah stop your ears against it, nor make you unwilling to believe it. Admit what I say, and submit to it." Let it sink down into your hearts; so the Syriac and Arabic read it. The word of Christ does us no good, unless we let it sink down into our heads and hearts. 3. The unaccountable stupidity of the disciples, with reference to this prediction of Christ's sufferings. It was said in Mark, They understood not that saying. It was plain enough, but they would not understand it in the literal sense, because it agreed not with their notions; and they could not understand it in any other, and were afraid to ask him lest they should be undeceived and awaked out of their pleasing dream. But it is here added that it was hidden from them, that they perceived it not, through the weakness of faith and the power of prejudice. We cannot think that it was in mercy hidden from them, lest they should be swallowed up with overmuch sorrow at the prospect of it; but that it was a paradox, because they made it so to themselves.

III. The rebuke Christ gave to his disciples for their disputing among themselves which should be greatest, Luk 9:46-48. This passage we had before, and, the more is the pity, we shall meet with the like again. Observe here,

1. Ambition of honour, and strife for superiority and precedency, are sins that most easily beset the disciples of our Lord Jesus, for which they deserve to be severely rebuked; they flow from corruptions which they are highly concerned to subdue and mortify, Luk 9:46. They that expect to be great in this world commonly aim high, and nothing will serve them short of being greatest; this exposes them to a great deal of temptation and trouble, which they are safe from that are content to be little, to be least, to be less than the least.

2. Jesus Christ is perfectly acquainted with the thoughts and intents of our hearts: He perceived their thoughts, Luk 9:47. Thoughts are words to him, and whispers are loud cries. It is a good reason why we should keep up a strict government of our thoughts because Christ takes a strict cognizance of them.

3. Christ will have his disciples to aim at that honour which is to be obtained by a quiet and condescending humility, and not at that which is to be obtained by a restless and aspiring ambition. Christ took a child, and set him by him, Luk 9:47 (for he always expressed a tenderness and kindness for little children), and he proposed this child to them for an example. (1.) Let them be of the temper of this child, humble and quiet, and easy to itself; let them not affect worldly pomp, or grandeur, or high titles, but be as dead to them as this child; let them bear no more malice to their rivals and competitors than this child did. Let them be willing to be the least, if that would contribute any thing to their usefulness, to stoop to the meanest office whereby they might do good. (2.) Let them assure themselves that this was the way to preferment; for this would recommend them to the esteem of their brethren: they that loved Christ would therefore receive them in his name, because they did most resemble him, and they would likewise recommend themselves to his favour, for Christ would take the kindnesses done to them as done to himself: Whosoever shall receive one such child, a preacher of the gospel that is of such a disposition as this, he placeth his respect aright, and receiveth me; and whosoever receiveth me, in such a minister, receiveth him that sent me; and what greater honour can any man attain to in this world than to be received by men as a messenger of God and Christ, and to have God and Christ own themselves received and welcomed in him? This honour have all the humble disciples of Jesus Christ, and thus they shall be truly great that are least among them.

IV. The rebuke Christ gave to his disciples for discouraging one that honoured him and served him, but was not of their communion, not only not one of the twelve, nor one of the seventy, but not one of those that ever associated with them, or attended on them, but, upon occasional hearing of Christ, believed in him, and made use of his name with faith and prayer in a serious manner, for the casting out of devils. Now, 1. This man they rebuked and restrained; they would not let him pray and preach, though it was to the honour of Christ, though it did good to men and weakened Satan's kingdom, because he did not follow Christ with them; he separated from their church, was not ordained as they were, paid them no respect, nor gave them the right hand of fellowship. Now, if ever any society of Christians in this world had reason to silence those that were not of their communion, the twelve disciples at this time had; and yet, 2. Jesus Christ chid them for what they did, and warned them not to do the like again, nor any that profess to be successors of the apostles: " Forbid him not (Luk 9:50), but rather encourage him, for he is carrying on the same design that you are, though, for reasons best known to himself, he does not follow with you; and he will meet you in the same end, though he does not accompany you in the same way. You do well to do as you do, but it does not therefore follow that he does ill to do as he does, and that you do well to put him under an interdict, for he that is not against us is for us, and therefore ought to be countenanced by us."We need not lose any of our friends, while we have so few, and so many enemies. Those may be found faithful followers of Christ, and, as such, may be accepted of him, though they do not follow with us. See Mar 9:38, Mar 9:39. O what a great deal of mischief to the church, even from those that boast of relation to Christ, and pretend to envy for his sake, would be prevented, if this passage of story were but duly considered!

Matthew Henry: Luk 9:51-56

This passage of story we have not in any other of the evangelists, and it seems to come in here for the sake of its affinity with that next before, for in this also Christ rebuked his disciples, because they envied for his sake. There, under colour of zeal for Christ, they were for silencing and restraining separatists: here, under the same colour, they were for putting infidels to death; and, as for that, so for this also, Christ reprimanded them, for a spirit of bigotry and persecution is directly contrary to the spirit of Christ and Christianity. Observe here,

I. The readiness and resolution of our Lord Jesus, in prosecuting his great undertaking for our redemption and salvation. Of this we have an instance, Luk 9:51 : When the time was come that he should be received up, he stedfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem. Observe 1. There was a time fixed for the sufferings and death of our Lord Jesus, and he knew well enough when it was, and had a clear and certain foresight of it, and yet was so far from keeping out of the way that then he appeared most publicly of all, and was most busy, knowing that his time was short. 2. When he saw his death and sufferings approaching, he looked through them and beyond them, to the glory that should follow; he looked upon it as the time when he should be received up into glory (1Ti 3:16), received up into the highest heavens, to be enthroned there. Moses and Elias spoke of his death as his departure out of this world, which made it not formidable; but he went further, and looked upon it as his translation to a better world, which made it very desirable. All good Christians may frame to themselves the same notion of death, and may call it their being received up, to be with Christ where he is; and, when the time of their being received up is at hand, let them lift up their heads, knowing that their redemption draws nigh. 3. On this prospect of the joy set before him, he stedfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem the place where he was to suffer and die. He was fully determined to go, and would not be dissuaded; he went directly to Jerusalem, because there now his business lay, and he did not go about to other towns, or fetch a compass, which if he had done, as commonly he did, he might have avoided going through Samaria. He went cheerfully and courageously thither, though he knew the things that should befall him there. He did not fail nor was discouraged, but set his face as a flint, knowing that he should be not only justified, but glorified (Isa 50:7), not only not run down, but received up. How should this shame us for, and shame us out of, our backwardness to do and suffer for Christ! We draw back, and turn our faces another way from his service who stedfastly set his face against all opposition, to go through with the work of our salvation.

II. The rudeness of the Samaritans in a certain village (not named, nor deserving to be so) who would not receive him, nor suffer him to bait in their town, though his way lay through it. Observe here, 1. How civil he was to them: He sent messengers before his face, some of his disciples, that went to take up lodgings, and to know whether he might have leave to accommodate himself and his company among them; for he would not come to give offence, or if they took any umbrage at the number of his followers. He sent some to make ready for him, not for state, but convenience, and that his coming might be no surprise. 2. How uncivil they were to him, Luk 9:53. They did not receive him, would not suffer him to come into their village, but ordered their watch to keep him out. He would have paid for all he bespoke, and been a generous guest among them, would have done them good, and preached the gospel to them, as he had done some time ago to another city of the Samaritans, Joh 4:41. He would have been, if they pleased, the greatest blessing that ever came to their village, and yet they forbid him entrance. Such treatment his gospel and ministers have often met with. Now the reason was because his face was as though he would go to Jerusalem; they observed, by his motions, that he was steering his course that way. The great controversy between the Jews and the Samaritans was about the place of worship - whether Jerusalem or mount Gerizim near Sychar; see Joh 4:20. And so hot was the controversy between them that the Jews would have no dealings with the Samaritans, nor they with them, Joh 4:9. Yet we may suppose that they did not deny other Jews lodgings among them, no, not when they went up to the feast; for if that had been their constant practice Christ would not have attempted it, and it would have been a great way about for some of the Galileans to go to Jerusalem any other way than through Samaria. But they were particularly incensed against Christ, who was a celebrated teacher, for owning and adhering to the temple at Jerusalem, when the priests of that temple were such bitter enemies to him, which, they hoped, would have driven him to come and worship at their temple, and bring that into reputation; but when they saw that he would go forward to Jerusalem, notwithstanding this, they would not show him the common civility which probably they used formerly to show him in his journey thither.

III. The resentment which James and John expressed of this affront, Luk 9:54. When these two heard this message brought, they were all in a flame presently, and nothing will serve them but Sodom's doom upon this village: "Lord,"say they, "give us leave to command fire to come down from heaven, not to frighten them only, but to consume them."

1. Here indeed was something commendable, for they showed, (1.) A great confidence in the power they had received from Jesus Christ; though this had not been particularly mentioned in their commission, yet they could with a word's speaking fetch fire from heaven. Theleis eipōmen - Wilt thou that we speak the word, and the thing will be done. (2.) A great zeal for the honour of their Master. They took it very ill that he who did good wherever he came and found a hearty welcome should be denied the liberty of the road by a parcel of paltry Samaritans; they could not think of it without indignation that their Master should be thus slighted. (3.) A submission, notwithstanding, to their Master's good will and pleasure. They will not offer to do such a thing, unless Christ give leave: Wilt thou that we do it? (4.) A regard to the examples of the prophets that were before them. It is doing as Elias did? they would not have thought of such a thing if Elijah had not done it upon the soldiers that came to take him, once and again, 2Ki 1:10, 2Ki 1:12. They thought that this precedent would be their warrant; so apt are we to misapply the examples of good men, and to think to justify ourselves by them in the irregular liberties we give ourselves, when the case is not parallel.

2. But though there was something right in what they said, yet there was much more amiss, for (1.) This was not the first time, by a great many, that our Lord Jesus had been thus affronted, witness the Nazarenes thrusting him out of their city, and the Gadarenes desiring him to depart out of their coast; and yet he never called for any judgment upon them, but patiently put up with the injury. (2.) These were Samaritans, from whom better was not to be expected, and perhaps they had heard that Christ had forbidden his disciples to enter into any of the cities of the Samaritans (Mat 10:5), and therefore it was not so bad in them as in others who knew more of Christ, and had received so many favours from him. (3.) Perhaps it was only some few of the town that knew any thing of the matter, or that sent that rude message to him, while, for aught they knew, there were many in the town who, if they had heard of Christ's being so near them, would have gone to meet him and welcomed him; and must the whole town be laid in ashes for the wickedness of a few? Will they have the righteous destroyed with the wicked? (4.) Their Master had never yet upon any occasion called for fire from heaven, nay, he had refused to give the Pharisees any sign from heaven when they demanded it (Mat 16:1, Mat 16:2); and why should they think to introduce it? James and John were the two disciples whom Christ had called Boanerges - sons of thunder (Mar 3:17); and will not that serve them, but they must be sons of lightning too? (5.) The example of Elias did not reach the case. Elijah was sent to display the terrors of the law, and to give proof of that, and to witness as a bold reprover against the idolatries and wickednesses of the court of Ahab, and it was agreeable enough to him to have his commission thus proved; but it is a dispensation of grace that is now to be introduced, to which such a terrible display of divine justice will not be at all agreeable. Archbishop Tillotson suggests that their being now near Samaria, where Elijah called for fire from heaven, might help to put it in their heads; perhaps at the very place; but, though the place was the same, the times were altered.

IV. The reproof he gave to James and John for their fiery, furious zeal (Luk 9:55): He turned with a just displeasure, and rebuked them; for as many as he loves he rebukes and chastens, particularly for what they do, that is irregular and unbecoming them, under colour of zeal for him.

1. He shows them in particular their mistake: Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of; that is, (1.) "You are not aware what an evil spirit and disposition you are of; how much there is of pride, and passion, and personal revenge, covered under this pretence of zeal for your Master."Note, There may be much corruption lurking, nay, and stirring too, in the hearts of good people, and they themselves not be sensible of it. (2.) "You do not consider what a good spirit, directly contrary to this, you should be of. Surely you have yet to learn, though you have been so long learning, what the spirit of Christ and Christianity is. Have you not been taught to love your enemies, and to bless them that curse you, and to call for grace from heaven, not fire from heaven, upon them? You know not how contrary your disposition herein is to that which it was the design of the gospel you should be delivered into. You are not now under the dispensation of bondage, and terror, and death, but under the dispensation of love, and liberty, and grace, which was ushered in with a proclamation of peace on earth and good will toward men, to which you ought to accommodate yourselves, and not by such imprecations as these oppose yourselves."

2. He shows them the general design and tendency of his religion (Luk 9:56): The Son of man is not himself come, and therefore does not send you abroad to destroy men's lives, but to save them. He designed to propagate his holy religion by love and sweetness, and every thing that is inviting and endearing, not by fire and sword, and blood and slaughter; by miracles of healing, not by plagues and miracles of destruction, as Israel was brought out of Egypt. Christ came to slay all enmities, not to foster them. Those are certainly destitute of the spirit of the gospel that are for anathematizing and rooting out by violence and persecution all that are not of their mind and way, that cannot in conscience say as they say, and do as they do. Christ came, not only to save men's souls, but to save their lives too - witness the many miracles he wrought for the healing of diseases that would otherwise have been mortal, by which, and a thousand other instances of beneficence, it appears that Christ would have his disciples do good to all, to the utmost of their power, but hurt to none, to draw men into his church with the cords of a man and the bands of love, but not think to drive men into it with a rod of violence or the scourge of the tongue.

V. His retreat from this village. Christ would not only not punish them for their rudeness, but would not insist upon his right of travelling the road (which was as free to him as to his neighbours), would not attempt to force his way, but quietly and peaceably went to another village, where they were not so stingy and bigoted, and there refreshed himself, and went on his way. Note, When a stream of opposition is strong, it is wisdom to get out of the way of it, rather than to contend with it. If some be very rude, instead of revenging it, we should try whether others will not be more civil.

Barclay: Luk 9:1-9

In the ancient days there was in effect only one way of spreading a message abroad and that was by word of mouth. Newspapers did not exist; books had to be hand-written, and a book the size of Luke--Acts would have cost over 40 British pounds per copy to produce! Radio and television had not even been dreamed of. That is why Jesus sent out the Twelve on this mission. He was under the limitations of time and space; his helpers had to be mouths to speak for him.

They were to travel light. That was simply because the man who travels light travels far and fast. The more a man is cluttered up with material things the more he is shackled to one place. God needs a settled ministry; but he also needs those who will abandon earthly things to adventure for him.

If they were not received they were to shake off the dust from their feet when they left the town. When Rabbis entered Palestine after some journey in a gentile land, they shook off the last particle of heathen dust from their feet. A village or town which would not receive them was to be treated as a strict Jew would treat a heathen country. It had refused its opportunity and had condemned itself.

That this ministry was mightily effective is plain from Herod's reaction. Things were happening. Perhaps Elijah, the forerunner, had at last come. Perhaps even the great promised prophet had arrived (Deu 18:15). But "Conscience doth make cowards of us all," and there was a lingering fear in Herod's mind that John the Baptiser, whom he thought he had eliminated, had come back to haunt him.

One thing which stands out about the ministry which Jesus laid upon the Twelve is this--sever and over again in this short passage it joins preaching and healing. It joins concern for men's bodies and men's souls. It was something which was not to deal only in words, however comforting; but also in deeds. It was a message which was not confined to news of eternity; it proposed to change conditions on earth. It was the reverse of a religion of "pie in the sky." It insisted that health to men's bodies was as integral a part of God's purpose as health to their souls.

Nothing has done the church more harm than the repeated statement that the things of this world do not matter. In the middle thirties of this century unemployment invaded many respectable and decent homes. The father's skill was rusting in idleness; the mother was trying to make a shilling do what a pound ought to do; children could not understand what was going on except that they were hungry. Men grew bitter or broken. To go and tell such people that material things make no difference was unforgivable, especially if the teller was in reasonable comfort himself. General Booth was once blamed for offering food and meals to poor people instead of the simple gospel. The old warrior flashed back, "It is impossible to comfort men's hearts with the love of God when their feet are perishing with cold."

Of course, it is possible to overstress material things. But it is equally possible to neglect them. The church will forget only at her peril that Jesus first sent out his men to preach the kingdom and to heal, to save men in body and in soul.

Barclay: Luk 9:10-17

This is the only miracle of Jesus related in all the four gospels (compare Mat 14:13; Mar 6:30; Joh 6:1). It begins with a lovely thing. The Twelve had come back from their tour. Never was a Lime when Jesus needed more to be alone with them, so he took them to the neighbourhood of Bethsaida, a village on the far side of the Jordan to the north of the Sea of Galilee. When the people discovered where he had gone they followed him in hordes--and he welcomed them.

There is all the divine compassion here. Most people would have resented the invasion of their hard-won privacy. How would we feel if we had sought out some lonely place to be with our most intimate friends and suddenly a clamorous mob of people turned up with their insistent demands? Sometimes we are too busy to be disturbed, but to Jesus human need took precedence over everything.

The evening came; home was far away; and the people were tired and hungry. Jesus, astonishingly, ordered his disciples to give them a meal. There are two ways in which a man can quite honestly look at this miracle. First, he can see in it simply a miracle in which Jesus created food for this vast multitude. Second, some people think that this is what happened. The people were hungry--and they were utterly selfish. They all had something with them, but they would not even produce it for themselves in case they had to share it with others. The Twelve laid before the multitude their little store and thereupon others were moved to produce theirs; and in the end there was more than enough for everyone. So it may be regarded as a miracle which turned selfish, suspicious folk into generous people, a miracle of Christ's changing determined self interest into a willingness to share.

Before Jesus distributed the food he blessed it; he said grace. There was a Jewish saying that "he who enjoys anything without thanksgiving is as though he robbed God." The blessing said in every home in Palestine before every meal ran, "Blessed art thou, Jehovah, our God, King of the world, who causest bread to come forth from the earth." Jesus would not eat without giving thanks to the giver of an good gifts.

This is a story which tells us many things.

(i) Jesus was concerned that men were hungry. It would be most interesting to work out how much time Jesus spent, not talking, but easing men's pain and satisfying their hunger. He still needs the service of men's hands. The mother who has spent a lifetime cooking meals for a hungry family; the nurse, the doctor, the friend, relation or parent, who has sacrificed life and time to ease another's pain; the social reformer who has burned himself out to seek better conditions for men and women--they have all preached far more effective sermons than the eloquent orator.

(ii) Jesus' help was generous. There was enough, and more than enough. In love there is no nice calculation of the less and more. God is like that. When we sow a packet of seeds we usually have to thin the plants out and throw away far more than we can keep. God has created a world where there is more than enough for all if men will share it.

(iii) As always there is permanent truth in an action in time. In Jesus all men's needs are supplied. There is a hunger of the soul; there is in every man, sometimes at least, a longing to find something in which he may invest his life. Our hearts are restless until they rest in him. "My God will supply every need of yours," said Paul (Phi 4:19) --even in the desert places of this life.

Barclay: Luk 9:18-22

This is one of the most crucial moments in the life of Jesus. He asked this question when he was already turning his face to go to Jerusalem (Luk 9:51). He well knew what awaited him there, and the answer to his question was of supreme importance. He knew that he was going to a Cross to die; he wanted to know before he went, if there was anyone who had really discovered who he was. The right answer would make all the difference. If instead there was dull incomprehension, all his work would have gone for nothing. If there was any realization, however incomplete, it meant that he had lit such a torch in the hearts of men as time would never put out. How Jesus' heart must have lifted when Peter's sudden discovery rushed to his lips--"You are the anointed one of God!" When Jesus heard that, he knew he had not failed.

Not only had the Twelve to discover the fact; they had also to discover what the fact meant. They had grown up against a background of thought which expected from God a conquering king who would lead them to world dominion. Peter's eyes would blaze with excitement when he said this. But Jesus had to teach them that God's anointed one had come to die upon a Cross. He had to take their ideas of God and of God's purposes and turn them upside down; and from this time that is what he set himself to do. They had discovered who he was; now they had to learn what that discovery meant.

There are two great general truths in this passage.

(i) Jesus began by asking what men were saying about him; and then, suddenly, he flashes the question at the Twelve, "Who do you say that I am?" It is never enough to know what other people have said about Jesus. A man might be able to pass any examination on what has been said and thought about Jesus; he might have read every book about Christology written in every language upon earth and still not be a Christian. Jesus must always be our own personal discovery. Our religion can never be a carried tale. To every man Jesus comes asking, not, "Can you tell me what others have said and written about me?" but, "Who do you say that I am?" Paul did not say, "I know what I have believed"; he said, "I know whom I have believed" (2Ti 1:12). Christianity does not mean reciting a creed; it means knowing a person.

(ii) Jesus said, "I must go to Jerusalem and die." It is of the greatest interest to look at the times in Luke's gospel when Jesus said must. "I must be in my Father's house," (Luk 2:49). "I must preach the kingdom," (Luk 4:43). "I must go on my way today and tomorrow," (Luk 13:33). Over and over again he told his disciples he must go to his Cross (Luk 9:22; Luk 17:25; Luk 24:7). Jesus knew he had a destiny to fulfil. God's will was his will. He had no other object but to do upon earth what God had sent him to do. The Christian, like his Lord, is a man under orders.

Barclay: Luk 9:23-27

Here Jesus lays down the conditions of service for those who would follow him.

(i) A man must deny himself. What does that mean? A great scholar comes at the meaning in this way. Peter once denied his Lord. That is to say, he said of Jesus, "I do not know the man." To deny ourselves is to say, "I do not know myself." It is to ignore the very existence of oneself. It is to treat the self as if it did not exist. Usually we treat ourselves as if our self was far and away the most important thing in the world. If we are to follow Jesus, we must forget that self exists.

(ii) A man must take up his cross. Jesus well knew what crucifixion meant. When he was a lad of about eleven years of age, Judas the Galilaean had led a rebellion against Rome. He had raided the royal armoury at Sepphoris, which was only four miles from Nazareth. The Roman vengeance was swift and sudden. Sepphoris was burned to the ground; its inhabitants were sold into slavery; and two thousand of the rebels were crucified on crosses which were set in lines along the roadside that they might be a dreadful warning to others tempted to rebel. To take up our cross means to be prepared to face things like that for loyalty to Jesus; it means to be ready to endure the worst that man can do to us for the sake of being true to him.

(iii) A man must spend his life, not hoard it. The whole gamut of the world's standards must be changed. The questions are not, "How much can I get?" but, "How much can I give?" Not, "What is the safe thing to do?" but, "What is the right thing to do?" Not, "What is the minimum permissible in the way of work?" but, "What is the maximum possible?" The Christian must realize that he is given life, not to keep for himself but to spend for others; not to husband its flame but to burn it out for Christ and for men.

(iv) Loyalty to Jesus will have its reward, and disloyalty its punishment. If we are true to him in time, he will be true to us in eternity. If we seek to follow him in this world, in the next he will point to us as one of his people. But if by our lives we disown him, even though with our lips we confess him, the day must come when he cannot do other than disown us.

(v) In the last verse of this passage Jesus says that some standing there will see the kingdom of God before they die. Some people maintain that Jesus was looking forward to his return in glory, that he was declaring that this would happen within the lifetime of some of those present; and that therefore he was completely mistaken. That is not so.

What Jesus was saying is this, "Before this generation has passed away you will see signs that the kingdom of God is on the way." Beyond a doubt that came to pass. Something came into the world which, like leaven in dough, began to change it. It would be well if, sometimes, we turned from our pessimism and thought rather of the light that has been slowly breaking on the world.

As A. H. Clough wrote,

"Say not the struggle naught availeth,

The labour and the wounds are vain,

The enemy faints not, nor faileth,

And as things have been they remain.

If hopes were dupes, fears may be liars;

It may be, in yon smoke conceal'd,

Your comrades chase e'en now the fliers,

And, but for you, possess the field.

For while the tired waves, vainly breaking,

Seem here no painful inch to gain,

Far back, through creeks and inlets making,

Comes silent, flooding in, the main.

And not by eastern windows only,

When daylight comes, comes in the light.

In front the sun climbs slow, how slowly!

But westward, look, the land is bright!"

Be of good cheer--the kingdom is on the way--and we do well to thank God for every sign of its dawning.

Barclay: Luk 9:28-36

Here we have another of the great hinges in Jesus' life upon earth. We must remember that he was just about to set out to Jerusalem and to the cross. We have already looked at one great moment when he asked his disciples who they believed him to be, in order that he might discover if anyone had realized who he was. But there was one thing Jesus would never do--he would never take any step without the approval of God. In this scene that is what we see him seeking and receiving.

What happened on the Mount of Transfiguration we can never know, but we do know that something tremendous did happen. Jesus had gone there to seek the approval of God for the decisive step he was about to take. There Moses and Elijah appeared to him. Moses was the great law-giver of the people of Israel; Elijah was the greatest of the prophets. It was as if the princes of Israel's life and thought and religion told Jesus to go on.

Jesus could set out to Jerusalem now, certain that at least one little group of men knew who he was, certain that what he was doing was the consummation of all the life and thought and work of his nation, and certain that God approved of the step that he was taking.

There is a vivid sentence here. It says of the three apostles, "When they were fully awake they saw his glory."

(i) In life we miss so much because our minds are asleep. There are certain things which are liable to keep our minds asleep.

(a) There is prejudice. We may be so set in our ideas that our minds are shut. A new idea knocks at the door but we are like sleepers who will not awake.

(b) There is mental lethargy. There are so many who refuse the strenuous struggle of thought. "The unexamined life," said Plato, "is the life not worth living. "How many of us have really thought things out and thought them through? It was said of someone that he had skirted the howling deserts of infidelity and a wiser man said that he would have been better to have fought his way through them. Sometimes we are so lethargic that we will not even face our questions and our doubts.

© There is the love of ease. There is a kind of defence mechanism in us that makes us automatically shut the door against any disturbing thought.

A man can drug himself mentally until his mind is sound asleep.

(ii) But life is full of things designed to waken us.

(a) There is sorrow. Once Elgar said of a young singer, who was technically perfect, but quite without feeling and expression, "She will be great when something breaks her heart." Often sorrow can rudely awaken a man, but in that moment, through the tears, he will see the glory.

(b) There is love. Somewhere Browning tells of two people who fell in love. She looked at him; he looked at her--"and suddenly life awoke." Real love is an awakening to horizons we never dreamed were there.

© There is the sense of need. For long enough a man may live the routine of life half asleep; then all of a sudden there comes some completely insoluble problem, some quite unanswerable question, some overmastering temptation, some summons to an effort which he feels is beyond his strength. In that day there is nothing left to do but to "cry, clinging heaven by the hems." And that sense of need awakens him to God.

We would do well to pray, "Lord, keep me always awake to you."

Barclay: Luk 9:37-45

No sooner had Jesus descended from the mountain top than the demands and disappointments of life were upon him. A man had come to the disciples seeking their help, for his only son was an epileptic. Of course his epilepsy was attributed to the malign activity of a demon. The word used in Luk 9:42is very vivid. As he was coming to Jesus, the demon dashed him down. It is the word used of a boxer dealing a knock-out blow to his opponent or of a wrestler throwing someone. It must have been a pitiful sight to see the lad convulsed; and the disciples were quite helpless to cure him. But when Jesus came he dealt with the situation with calm mastery and gave the boy back to his father cured.

Two things stand out.

(i) The moment on the mount was absolutely necessary, but it could not be prolonged beyond its own time. Peter, not really knowing what he was saying, would have liked to linger on the mountain top. He wished to build three tabernacles so that they might stay there in all the glory; but they had to descend again. Often there come to us moments that we would like to prolong indefinitely. But after the time on the mountain top we must come back to the battle and the routine of life; that time is meant to give us strength for life's everyday.

After the great struggle at Mount Carmel with the prophets of Baal, Elijah, in reaction, ran away. Out into the desert he went and there, as he lay under a juniper tree asleep, an angel twice prepared a meal for him. Then comes the sentence, "And he arose and ate and drank, and went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights" (1Ki 19:1-8). To the mountain top of the presence of God we must go, not to remain there but to go in the strength of that time for many days. It was said of Captain Scott, the great explorer, that he was "a strange mixture of the dreamy and the practical, and never more practical than immediately after he had been dreamy." We cannot live forever in the moment on the mountain but we cannot live at all without it.

(ii) In no incident is the sheer competence of Jesus so clearly shown. When he came down from the mountain the situation was out of hand. The whole impression is that of people running about not knowing what to do. The disciples were helplessly baffled; the boy's father was bitterly disappointed and upset. Into this scene of disorder came Jesus. He gripped the situation in a flash and in his mastery the disorder became a calm. So often we feel that life is out of control; that we have lost our grip on things. Only the Master of life can deal with life with the calm competence that brings everything under control.

(iii) Once again the incident finished with Jesus pointing at the cross. Here was triumph; here Jesus had mastered the demons and astonished the people. And in that very moment when they were ready to acclaim him, Jesus told them he was on the way to die. It would have been so easy to take the way of popular success; it was Jesus' greatness that he rejected it and chose the cross. He would not himself shirk that cross to which he called others.

Barclay: Luk 9:46-48

So long as the Twelve thought of Jesus' kingdom as an earthly kingdom it was inevitable that they should be in competition for the highest places in it. Long ago the Venerable Bede suggested that this particular quaff el arose because Jesus had taken Peter, John and James up into the mountain top with him and the others were jealous.

Jesus knew what was going on in their hearts. He took a child and placed him beside himself; that would be the seat of highest honour. He went on to say that whoever received a little child, received him; and whoever received him, received God. What did he mean? The Twelve were the chosen lieutenants of Jesus; but this child occupied no place of honour and held no official position. Jesus was saying, "If you are prepared to spend your lives serving, helping, loving people who, in the eyes of the world, do not matter at all, you are serving me and serving God. If you are prepared to spend your life doing these apparently unimportant things and never trying to be what the world calls great, you will be great in the eyes of God."

There are so many wrong motives for service.

(i) There is the desire for prestige. A. J. Cronin tells of a district nurse he knew when he was in practice as a doctor. For twenty years, single-handed, she had served a ten-mile district. "I marvelled," he says, "at her patience, her fortitude and her cheerfulness. She was never too tired at night to rise for an urgent call. Her salary was most inadequate, and late one night, after a particularly strenuous day, I ventured to protest to her, 'Nurse, why don't you make them pay you more? God knows you are worth it.' 'If God knows I'm worth it,' she answered, 'that's all that matters to me.' " She was working, not for men, but for God. And when we work for God, prestige will be the last thing that enters into our mind, for we will know that even our best is not good enough for him.

(ii) There is the desire for place. If a man is given a task or a position or an office in the church, he should regard it not as an honour but as a responsibility. There are those who serve within the church, not thinking really of those they serve, but thinking of themselves. A certain English Prime Minister was offered congratulations on attaining to that office. "I do not want your congratulations," he said, "but I do want your prayers." To be chosen for office is to be set apart for service, not elevated to honour.

(iii) There is the desire for prominence. Many a person will serve or give so long as his service and his generosity are known and he is thanked and praised. It is Jesus' own instruction that we should not let our left hand know what our right hand is doing. If we give only to gain something out of the giving for ourselves, we have undone much of its good.

Barclay: Luk 9:49-56

Here we have two lessons in tolerance.

There were many exorcists in Palestine, all claiming to be able to cast out demons; and no doubt John regarded this man as a competitor and wished to eliminate him. But Jesus would not permit him.

The direct way from Galilee to Jerusalem led through Samaria; but most Jews avoided it. There was a centuries' old quarrel between the Jews and the Samaritans (Joh 4:9). The Samaritans in fact did everything they could to hinder and even to injure any bands of pilgrims who attempted to pass through their territory. For Jesus to take that way to Jerusalem was unusual; and to attempt to find hospitality in a Samaritan village was still more unusual. When he did this he was extending a hand of friendship to a people who were enemies. In this case not only was hospitality refused but the offer of friendship was spurned. No doubt, therefore, James and John believed they were doing a praiseworthy thing when they offered to call in divine aid to blot out the village. But Jesus would not permit them.

There is no passage in which Jesus so directly teaches the duty of tolerance as in this. In many ways tolerance is a lost virtue, and often, where it does exist, it exists from the wrong cause. Of all the greatest religious leaders none was such a pattern of tolerance as John Wesley. "I have no more right," he said, "to object to a man for holding a different opinion from mine than I have to differ with a man because he wears a wig and I wear my own hair; but if he takes his wig off and shakes the powder in my face, I shall consider it my duty to get quit of him as soon as possible. . . . The thing which I resolved to use every possible method of preventing was a narrowness of spirit, a party zeal, a being straitened in our own bowels--that miserable bigotry which makes many so unready to believe that there is any work of God but among themselves. . .. We think and let think." When his nephew, Samuel, the son of his brother Charles, entered the Roman Catholic Church, he wrote to him, "Whether in this Church or that I care not. You may be saved in either or damned in either; but I fear you are not born again." The Methodist invitation to the sacrament is simply, "Let all who love the Lord come here."

The conviction that our beliefs and our methods alone are correct has been the cause of more tragedy and distress in the church than almost any other thing. Oliver Cromwell wrote once to the intransigent Scots, "I beseech you by the bowels of Christ, think it possible that you may be mistaken." T. R. Glover somewhere quotes a saying, "Remember that whatever your hand finds to do, someone thinks differently!"

There are many ways to God. He has his own secret stairway into every heart. He fulfils himself in many ways; and no man or church has a monopoly of his truth.

But--and this is intensely important--our tolerance must be based not on indifference but on love. We ought to be tolerant not because we could not care less; but because we look at the other person with eyes of love. When Abraham Lincoln was criticized for being too courteous to his enemies and reminded that it was his duty to destroy them, he gave the great answer, "Do I not destroy my enemies when I make them my friends?" Even if a man be utterly mistaken, we must never regard him as an enemy to be destroyed but as a strayed friend to be recovered by love.

Constable: Luk 4:14--9:51

IV. Jesus' ministry in and around Galilee 4:14--9:50

Luke commenced Jesus' public ministry with His return to Galilee following His temptation. This section of his Gospel ends with Jesus' decision to leave Galilee for Jerusalem and the Cross (9:51).

Constable: Luk 9:1-50

G. Jesus' preparation of the Twelve 9:1-50

In this last major section describing Jesus' ministry in and around Galilee (4:14-9:50), Luke stressed Jesus' preparation of His disciples for the opposition that lay before them. This was the climax of Jesus' ministry in Galilee, and these events formed a bridge to Luke's unique major section on Jesus' journey to Jerusalem (9:51-19:10).

Previously Luke recorded Jesus teaching and authenticating His teaching with miracles mainly among and to the people generally. Jesus did so with power and compassion. During this time the Twelve appear in the text as Jesus' companions. Now Jesus began to minister to the Twelve specifically. The focus of this training was initially and predominantly the identity of His person. Two other themes dominate this section, the sufferings that Jesus would endure and the necessity of His disciples' following the same path of service that would result in suffering for them too.

Constable: Luk 9:1-6

1. The mission of the Twelve to Israel 9:1-6 (cf. Matt. 9:35-11:1; Mark 6:6b-13)

This is another "sandwich" or chiastic section in design (cf. 8:40-56). This structural device usually gives unity to the whole section and focuses attention on the central part of it. First, Jesus sent the Twelve on an evangelistic mission throughout Galilee. Luke filled in the period of their mission proper with information about how Herod Antipas and the people perceived Jesus. Third, the writer recorded the return of the Twelve to their Master. The whole mission prefigured the later mission of these and other disciples to the ends of the earth that Acts records. The lessons that Jesus taught about dependence on God and rejection by men apply to the church's mission in the present dispensation. Jesus' instructions to His missionaries, rather than the activities of the missionaries, are the core of this pericope. However the reader must carefully distinguish the basic principles that Jesus taught from the specific directions that He meant for this particular mission and no other.

9:1-2 Luke alone recorded that Jesus gave the Twelve both power (Gr. dynamis, spiritual ability) and authority (Gr. exousia, the right to exercise power). The parallel Gospel accounts refer only to authority. In both his Gospel and in Acts, Luke stressed the validation of Jesus' gospel preaching with signs and wonders. Other false teachers could do powerful miracles presumably by Satan's power (cf. Acts 13:6-10; 19:13). Consequently it was necessary that Jesus' disciples could validate their preaching with powerful miracles as Jesus did. The Twelve received authority over all demons. None would prove too powerful for them. The disciples' primary duty was to preach the kingdom of God, and their way of showing the Jews that God was behind their preaching was by performing miracles. Thus they followed Jesus' precedent (cf. 8:26-56; 9:11).

9:3 The Twelve were to trust God to provide their food, protection, and shelter daily. They were not to take a walking staff (Gr. hrabdos) used on a long journey by foot (cf. Matt. 9:10). Mark wrote that Jesus commanded the Twelve to take a staff (Gr. hrabdos, Mark 6:8). The solution to this apparent contradiction may be that Jesus originally either permitted or prohibited the taking of a staff and later did the opposite. The prohibition suggests a mission of short duration and the permission a concession for comfort.

Jesus also forbade taking a bag (Gr. pera) for their necessities (i.e., a suitcase), food, money, or an extra undergarment (Gr. chiton). In view of these restrictions it appears that Jesus anticipated a brief mission for the Twelve (v. 10). They could live like this temporarily but not permanently. Furthermore their simple lifestyle suggested the imminency of the messianic kingdom that they announced.

9:4 The disciples were to accept the hospitality that others would offer them, but they were not to move from house to house unnecessarily. Moving from house to house would probably imply that they were seeking better accommodations, and this would insult their hosts. People who entertained the Twelve would be demonstrating support for Jesus since His disciples were representing Him (cf. 3 John 5-7).

9:5 Jewish travelers often shook the dust off their feet when they returned from a journey in Gentile territory to reject symbolically the Gentile's uncleanness.²⁴⁸ When the Twelve did this, it represented rejection of the unbelievers who had not received their message and them (cf. Acts 13:51; 18:6). Evidently Jesus meant this as a sign of individual, but primarily citywide, rejection (cf. Matt. 9:14-15).

9:6 Luke summarized the mission of the Twelve briefly. "Everywhere" means everywhere in that region of Galilee (cf. Matt. 10:5-6). Luke probably left the word undefined so his Christian readers would see the parallel with the Great Commission.

Thus Jesus' disciples made a tour of Galilee two by two (Mark 6:7) as Jesus had made a tour of Galilee with them. They did as He had done preaching and healing (cf. Acts).

Constable: Luk 9:7-9

2. Herod's question about Jesus' identity 9:7-9 (cf. Matt. 14:1-3; Mark 6:14-16)

The crucial issue in the preaching of Jesus and the Twelve during their mission in Galilee was the identity of Jesus. Luke showed the centrality of this issue by placing the present pericope in the center of his account of the Twelve's mission. It highlights the controversy over Jesus' identity. Herod Antipas voiced the crucial question in verse 9. This section also prepares the way for Peter's confession (vv. 18-20) and Jesus' instruction of His disciples on this subject that followed. Moreover it introduces Jesus' contacts with Herod that Luke developed later (13:31-32; 23:6-12).

Evidently everyone in Galilee was talking about Jesus including the highest government official. However people were concluding different things about Jesus' identity, which Luke recorded. Mark wrote that Herod believed that Jesus was John the Baptist raised from the dead (Mark 6:16). However, Luke said that he questioned who Jesus might be (v. 9). The solution may be that Herod deliberated first and then decided that Jesus was John. By including Herod's question in his narrative Luke implied that the answers people were giving to Herod's question were inadequate. Herod appears unable to make up his mind, as were many others.

Only Luke included that Herod kept trying to get to know Jesus (v. 9). As later incidents revealed, curiosity and animosity motivated him rather than faith.

Constable: Luk 9:10-17

3. The feeding of the 5,000 9:10-17 (cf. Matt. 14:13-21; Mark 6:30-44; John 6:1-13)

This is the only miracle that all four evangelists recorded. It is important because it is the climax of Jesus' miracles that authenticated His person as divine (cf. Ps. 146:7). It was perhaps the most forceful demonstration to the disciples of Jesus' deity. Jesus performed this miracle primarily for their benefit though also out of compassion for the people. Luke recorded no crowd reaction to it. His account contrasts the inadequacy of the disciples with Jesus' ability to help the crowd. Jesus' compassion for the people also contrasts with the disciples' unconcern.

9:10 This verse marks the end of the special mission of the Twelve (vv. 1-6). Luke now called them "apostles" again (cf. 6:13) probably in anticipation of their ministry in Acts as Jesus' authorized representatives. They reported to Jesus as their authority (cf. Acts 14:26-28). Jesus then took them privately to the region of Bethsaida Julius for rest (Mark 6:31) and further instruction. This town stood near the northeast shore of Lake Galilee.

9:11 Luke is the only evangelist who wrote that Jesus welcomed the crowds that came to him. By doing so he pictured Jesus as the ever available Savior who was ready and willing to help those who came to Him.

9:12-13 Jesus undoubtedly used this suggestion as a teaching device to face the Twelve with the inadequacy of their resources so they would turn to Him for help (cf. 2 Kings 4:42-44). They failed this test and thought instead of buying food. The non-local people would need lodging for the night, a detail that only Luke recorded.

9:14-17 Luke's account here does not differ from the others significantly. The miracle shows that when believers become partners with Jesus in the execution of His mission, He can enable them to provide greater blessing for others than they can by themselves. The absence of reference to the crowd's reaction in the synoptic accounts focuses attention on the results of the miracle. It must have elicited another question: Who is Jesus?

Constable: Luk 9:18-20

Jesus' question and Peter's reply 9:18-20 (cf. Matt. 16:13-16; Mark 8:27-29)

Luke omitted several incidents here that the other evangelists included (Matt. 14:22-16:12; Mark 6:45-8:26; John 6:16-66). By doing so, he tied the questions of Herod and the multitude about Jesus' identity with Peter's answer to that question. This selection of material helps the reader see that the question of Jesus' identity was very important to Luke.

9:18-19 The fact that this incident happened near Caesarea Philippi (Matt. 16:13; Mark 8:27) was insignificant to Luke. He may have viewed it as a distracting detail even though the event transpired in Gentile territory.

However, Luke alone mentioned that Jesus was praying. He may have done so to tie this incident to the feeding of the 5,000 when Jesus also prayed (v. 16). Thus he presented the feeding and the revelation to Peter as coming in answer to prayer. Jesus' exemplary dependence on His Father is one of Luke's unique emphases (cf. 3:21; 6:12; 11:1; et al.). He showed Jesus praying before many important events in His ministry. He was evidently praying privately, though the disciples were with Him (cf. 11:1).

Jesus focused attention on the crucial issue of His identity with His question. He wanted the disciples to tell Him who the crowds (Gr. ochloi, the uncommitted masses) believed Him to be. He meant what role did the people believe He fulfilled. The disciples responded with the views that Luke had already revealed (cf. vv. 7-8).

9:20 Speaking for the other disciples Peter answered that Jesus was the Messiah whom God had sent (Ps. 2:2; Dan. 9:26; cf. Isa. 9:6-7; 11:1-16). In saying this Peter rejected the notion that Jesus was just a prophet, even one of the greatest prophets. This is how Moslems view Jesus today. Rather he believed that Jesus was the Messiah promised in the Old Testament.

It is not difficult to know just what Peter's concept of the Messiah was when he made this confession of faith. When Peter's brother first invited him to come and see Jesus, Andrew referred to Jesus as the Messiah (John 1:41). However, most of the Jews of Peter's day believed that the Messiah would be a descendant of David who would overthrow the Romans and establish the kingdom of God on earth. They did not view Him as deity. Matthew recorded Peter's full confession including, "the Son of the living God" (Matt. 16:16). This is a clear statement of Jesus' deity. Why did Luke not include that phrase since it would have clarified what Peter meant? Probably he did not see that as necessary since the title "Christ" had become synonymous with a divine Messiah among Gentiles to whom Luke (and Mark) wrote (cf. 1 John 5:1). Thus Luke appears to have assumed that his readers would understand Peter's confession of Jesus as the Messiah as a confession of His deity.

Constable: Luk 9:21-22

Jesus' prediction of His passion 9:21-22 (cf. Matt. 16:17-23; Mark 8:30-33)

Luke omitted Jesus' prediction of the church (Matt. 16:17-19), Peter's rebuke of Jesus (Matt. 16:22; Mark 8:32), and Jesus' counter-rebuke of Peter (Matt. 16:23; Mark 8:33). These omissions enabled him to stress Jesus' prediction of His sufferings and His call to the disciples to take up their cross and follow Him. The fate of Jesus is primary in this pericope.

Evidently Jesus urged the disciples not to publicize His true identity because this would have resulted in unnecessary pressure from the Jewish multitudes. He would publicly proclaim His messiahship at the proper time, namely in the Triumphal Entry. Next Jesus gave His first clear prediction of His passion (cf. 2:35; 5:35). In view of what Jesus needed to teach the disciples, they needed to hear that rejection, death, and resurrection lay ahead for Him.

Jesus' use of the divine title "Son of Man" (v. 22) supports the fact that Peter recognized Jesus' deity. It was appropriate to use this title when speaking of His rejection since the Old Testament predicted the Son of Man's glorious reign (Dan. 7:13-14). The disciples had seen Jesus raise two people from the dead, the widow of Nain's son and Jairus' daughter. Their failure to understand that Jesus would rise from the dead was, therefore, not due to its actual impossibility but to its improbability since Jesus was the Son of Man.

Constable: Luk 9:23-27

The implications for the disciples 9:23-27 (cf. Matt. 16:24-28; Mark 8:34-9:1)

Jesus proceeded to explain the consequences for disciples who choose to follow Him faithfully in view of His rejection.

9:23 The "all" must be the disciples in view of the context (v. 18). Coming after Jesus means becoming a disciple of His. Denying self is more fundamental than denying things. It involves forsaking one's personal ambitions and desires to fulfill the will of God. It means living for His sake rather than our own. Criminals going to crucifixion normally carried the crosspiece (Gr. patibulum) of their own cross.²⁴⁹ Carrying one's own cross therefore implied bearing the reproach and burden associated with one's chosen way of life. To do this daily meant enduring these things as a disciple of Jesus day after day having no prospect of release in this life. Jesus meant that His disciples had to bear a particular burden that non-disciples did not have to bear. It is particularly the consequences associated with choosing to follow Jesus wholeheartedly that are in view. Jesus' disciples must keep following Him daily and bear the consequences of their choice that will involve loss (vv. 24-25) and shame (v. 26) for them. The implication is that we need to do this with the real possibility of laying down our lives clearly in view (cf. Gen. 22:6).

9:24-26 These verses expand the ideas of loss and shame implied in the illustration of bearing one's cross (v. 23). The contrast is first giving up what the world can provide to gain what God can give. It involves going without now with the faith that God will abundantly reward any sacrifice that a disciple makes to follow Him faithfully. Moreover it involves giving up oneself to gain something for oneself either now or later. The second contrast is between glory (i.e., a good reputation) now in the eyes of the world or in the future in God's eyes. Jesus glorified the glory available in the future by associating it with the glory of the Father and the holy angels.

"Not long before this the disciples had been actively engaged in telling the nation about the Messiah and His kingdom program. No doubt many thought the disciples were throwing their lives away. They had given up their sources of income and were in danger because they associated with Jesus. Jesus assured His disciples that they were doing the right thing. They had chosen the proper values . . ."²⁵⁰

9:27 In view of the following incident, the Transfiguration, the "some" in this verse appears to refer to some of the disciples, namely Peter, John, and James (cf. v. 28). The Transfiguration was a preview of the kingdom of God in which three disciples saw Jesus in the glorified state that will be His in the kingdom (cf. 2 Pet. 1:16-18). Jesus' reference to tasting death here connects with what He had just implied about the disciples possibly having to die for their testimonies (vv. 23-25). The introductory "but" implied that many disciples would die before they saw the kingdom. Jesus was anticipating His rejection (v. 22) and the consequent postponement of the messianic kingdom.

Other views of what Jesus meant include His resurrection. However most of the disciples present probably saw Jesus after His resurrection, and that event did not initiate the messianic kingdom. Others believe that Jesus referred to Pentecost. Yet most of the disciples present saw Pentecost, and Pentecost did not begin the kingdom. Another view is that Jesus meant the destruction of Jerusalem, but that event did not initiate the kingdom either. A fourth view is that Jesus meant the disciples would simply live to see the inauguration of the kingdom. Still the messianic kingdom did not begin within the lifetime of any of those disciples. Another view is that the "some" are the people present who believe in Jesus and the others are unbelievers. The problem with this view is that unbelievers are not in view in the context, and the messianic kingdom did not begin during the lifetime of any of those disciples. People who hold these views have to redefine the kingdom to include God's present spiritual rule over His own. This view of the kingdom differs from Old Testament prophecies of it as an earthly reign of Messiah.

Constable: Luk 9:28-36

5. The Transfiguration 9:28-36 (cf. Matt. 17:1-8; Mark 9:2-8)

This event is the climax of the "identity of Jesus" motif in all the Synoptics. Here the disciples saw and heard who Jesus really was. Luke's particular emphasis was the sufferings of Jesus that were coming. This comes through in his description of Jesus' conversation with Moses and Elijah (vv. 30-31) and his interpretation of what the heavenly voice said (v. 35). The whole scene recalls God's appearance to Moses on Mt. Sinai (Exod. 24), and it anticipates the second coming of Christ. There is a recurrence of the three themes of Jesus' identity (v. 20), His passion (v. 22), and glory (v. 26) from the previous pericope but in reverse order (vv. 29, 30, 35). These are the main points the reader should identify as significant in Luke's narrative.

9:28 Matthew and Mark said that the Transfiguration happened "after six days" (Matt. 17:1; Mark 9:2), but Luke wrote "some (about) eight days." Luke's reference is less precise and may reflect a Hellenistic way of referring to a week. Again Luke reversed the normal order of the three primary apostles probably to link Peter with John, the leaders of the apostolic church in Palestine (cf. 8:51).

His use of the definite article with "mountain" suggests a specific mountain, but Luke did not identify it. Perhaps the Transfiguration was so well known when he wrote that he did not need to identify it but only mentioned it as the mountain on which this event happened. Another idea is that he referred to the mountain this way to set it off in some special symbolic way as similar to Mt. Sinai and or Mt. Olivet (cf. Mt. Olympus).²⁵¹ Playing down the identity of the mountain has the effect of magnifying Jesus. In view of Jesus' geographical movements with His disciples it seems to me that the mountain was probably Mt. Hermon just north of Caesarea Philippi. Other possibilities are Mt. Tabor, Mt. Arbel, and Mt. Meron.²⁵²

Again Luke referred to Jesus praying. The implication is that the Transfiguration was an answer to His prayer. Frequently in Old Testament times revelations followed prayer (e.g., Dan. 9; et al.; cf. Acts 22:6; 26:13), though this one came to the disciples, not to Jesus.

9:29 The fact that Jesus experienced a change while praying also implies the subjective effect prayer can have on people. It transforms them as it did Him. Luke avoided the term "transfigured" that Matthew and Mark used probably to avoid giving his Greek readers who were familiar with stories about gods appearing to men this idea. Jesus was much more than a Greek god. Instead Luke simply described the change in Jesus that suggests a metamorphosis into a holy condition (cf. Exod. 34:29-35; 2 Cor. 3:7, 13). The vision is of a righteous One who has come through suffering (Dan. 12:3; cf. Rev. 3:5).²⁵³ The three disciples evidently saw Jesus as He will appear in His glorified state at His second coming.

9:30 Jesus' association with Moses and Elijah probably should have suggested to the disciples Jesus' continuation of the redemptive work of the Exodus to its eschatological consummation. Moses was the original redeemer of God's people. Elijah was the prophet whom God predicted would turn the hearts of the people back to Himself in the future as he had in the past (Mal. 4:4-6; cf. Deut. 18:18). The facts that no one could find Moses' corpse (Deut. 34:5-6) and that Elijah ascended into heaven while still alive (2 Kings 2:11-12, 15-18) pointed to Jesus' resurrection and ascension. However, Moses and Elijah had not undergone transfiguration as Jesus had. Luke described them as "men" (Gr. andres). This fact suggests Jesus' superiority to the two greatest men in Israel's spiritual history.²⁵⁴

9:31 Luke described Moses and Elijah as appearing "in glory" (NASB) or "glorious splendor" (NIV). They seemingly basked in the reflected glory of Jesus.

The disciples observed them speaking with Jesus about His upcoming departure (Gr. exodos). Luke alone mentioned the subject of their conversation. The use of exodos points to a larger significance of Jesus' death. It was more than just His departure from the earth. It would be unusual, as Moses and Elijah's departures had been. However, it would accomplish redemption as the Exodus from Egypt had done but on a cosmic scale.²⁵⁵ Jesus' exodus would open up a whole new wilderness experience for the church to tread as Moses' Exodus did for the Israelites (cf. Acts 13:24).

Luke also recorded that this exodus would happen at Jerusalem. This is the first of his several references to that city. It was the place to which Jesus now began to look as His city of destiny (cf. v. 51, 53; 13:33; 17:11; 18:31). "Accomplish" (NASB) is "fulfillment" (NIV, Gr. pleroo) suggesting the fulfillment of Jesus' destiny as the Suffering Servant that Scripture predicted.

"Much of Luke's Gospel from here through chapter 19 concerns preparation of the disciples for ministry in light of his departure."²⁵⁶

9:32 This information is also unique to the third Gospel. Evidently the three disciples had been sleeping or had almost fallen asleep while Jesus was praying (v. 29; cf. 22:45). Thus they were not ready spiritually for what they experienced. If Jesus found it necessary to pray then, they should have followed His example. Their improper response comes out in the next verse. They apparently did not understand the significance of the discussion about Jesus' exodus. The vision before them, however, awakened them fully.

9:33 Peter appears to have wanted to prolong this great experience, but his suggestion was inappropriate. By offering to build three shelters Peter put Jesus on the same level as Moses and Elijah. Moreover by suggesting their construction he was perhaps unconsciously though nonetheless effectively promoting a delay of Jesus' departure to Jerusalem. He naturally viewed Jerusalem as a place to avoid in view of the possibility of danger there. Peter may have thought that the kingdom had arrived and there was no reason for Jesus and His disciples to go to Jerusalem. The booths he suggested building were probably those that the Jews erected at the yearly feast of Tabernacles to commemorate the wilderness wanderings and to anticipate the messianic kingdom (Lev. 23:42-43; Neh. 8:14-17; Zech. 14:16-21).

9:34 The cloud was undoubtedly the shekinah, the visible vehicle for God's localized presence during the wilderness wanderings (Exod. 13:21-22; 16:10; 24:16; 40:34-38). It would also accompany the Son of Man's coming (Isa. 4:5; Dan. 7:13). Its presence is another indication that the Second Coming is in view. The Greek word episkiazo ("overshadow," also in v. 34 but translated "enveloped" in the NIV) translates the Hebrew word shakan in the Septuagint from which the term "shekinah" comes. Thus the reader has two hints that God was drawing near, the bright (Gr. photeine) cloud and its overshadowing (Gr. episkiazo). Evidently the cloud enshrouded Jesus, Moses, and Elijah, and the disciples became fearful (cf. Matt. 17:5-7).

9:35 For a second time God spoke from heaven identifying Jesus as His Son (cf. 3:22). God's words here also show that Jesus was God's obedient Son and that He possessed divine authority. The words recall Psalm 2:7, Isaiah 42:1, and Deuteronomy 18:15. Thus this divine vindication identified Jesus as the Son of God, God's chosen Servant, and the eschatological Prophet.

"Our culture desires to assemble a religious hall of honor from as many religious traditions as possible, all in honor of our commitment to religious toleration. But Jesus does not ask for a booth alongside the others."²⁵⁷

Many students of this verse have seen in it a divine warning against giving human wisdom precedence over divine revelation.

"The heavenly voice which declares that Jesus is God's Son recalls the scene of Jesus praying after his baptism in 3:22. In that scene Jesus was preparing for his ministry. In the transfiguration scene he is preparing for the crisis in Jerusalem. To prepare him, Jesus is given an anticipatory experience of the goal of his life and death, the heavenly glory which he will enter when exalted to the right hand of God (see Luke 24:26; Acts 7:55-56)."²⁵⁸

9:36 The scene ends with Jesus alone the center of the disciples' attention. The disciples told no one what they had seen because Jesus told them to keep it quiet (Matt. 17:9; Mark 9:9). Luke simply recorded the fact and omitted the discussion about Elijah that followed (Matt. 17:10-13; Mark 9:10-13) thus highlighting Jesus' authority.

The major emphasis in Luke's account of the Transfiguration is that the glorious Son of God must suffer.

Constable: Luk 9:37-43

6. The exorcism of an epileptic boy 9:37-43a (cf. Matt. 17:14-20; Mark 9:14-29)

The effect of Luke's omission of the conversation Jesus had with the disciples about Elijah is clear. This healing appears as the work of the Son of God whom the Transfiguration presented.

"It is the Jesus who has been transfigured who now appears to help men at the foot of the mountain; what the disciples cannot do, he can do. He appears like a visitor from another world who has to put up with the unbelief of men."²⁵⁹

Luke also omitted Jesus' teaching on the importance of faith that He gave His disciples at the end of this story (cf. Matt. 17:19-20; Mark 9:28-29). All Luke's emphasis falls on Jesus' authority.

9:37 Luke is the only Gospel writer who mentioned that the descent happened the day following the Transfiguration. This notation has the effect of contrasting the glorious manifestation on the mountain with the mundane world of sin and unbelief below. Some commentators thought that Luke's comment implies that the Transfiguration happened at night, but that is an unnecessary supposition.

9:38-40 Luke did not identify the boy's condition as epilepsy, as Matthew did (Matt. 17:15). He probably wanted his readers to understand clearly that it resulted from demonic influence (v. 42). Demons produced the symptoms of epilepsy in this boy, though not every case of epilepsy is the result of demon affliction, of course. Unfortunately through history some people have equated epilepsy with demon possession because of the similar symptoms. Doctor Luke described this boy's symptoms more fully than the other Gospel writers, and he alone mentioned that the boy was the only (Gr. monogenes, cf. 8:42; John 3:16) son of his father (v. 38). The failure of the disciples (v. 40, cf. 2 Kings 4:31) set the stage for a great demonstration of Jesus' unique power and authority (v. 42).

9:41-42 Jesus' statement to the father and the crowd (v. 41) recalls Deuteronomy 32:20 where God rebuked the unbelieving Israelites in the wilderness. Jesus went on to express disappointment with these people's lack of faith. By omitting the further conversation between Jesus and the father in which Jesus stressed the importance of faith in Him (cf. Mark 9:21-24), Luke focused attention on Jesus' power. Luke also stressed Jesus' compassion by noting that He gave the boy back to his father (v. 42, cf. 7:15).

9:43a In conclusion, Luke centered attention on the reaction of the crowd. Jesus' miracle amazed (Gr. exeplesonto, cf. 4:32) the people who recognized it as a demonstration of God's great power (cf. 5:25; 7:16, 18; Acts 2:11; 19:27; 2 Pet. 1:16).

This sign should have convinced the crowd that Jesus was God.

Constable: Luk 9:43-45

7. Jesus' announcement of His betrayal 9:43b-45 (cf. Matt. 17:22-23; Mark 9:30-32)

Luke's narrative joins this event with the preceding one thematically. However the other Synoptics indicate that this conversation took place sometime later (Matt. 17:22; Mark 9:30). Luke's construction has the effect of contrasting the wonder of the people with their rejection that resulted in Jesus' sufferings and death. Luke also stressed the fulfillment of divine purpose in Jesus' passion.

9:43b-44 The reaction of the crowd to Jesus' exorcism (v. 43a) was typical of the reaction of the multitudes as He continued to minister (v. 43b). In the context of this popular approval, Jesus revealed again to His disciples that it would not continue. He prefaced His announcement with a demand for attention that sets their incomprehension off more strikingly. This announcement contained new information about His passion, namely that someone--a human being but ultimately God--would hand Jesus over to His enemies (cf. Rom. 4:25; 8:31-32). Jesus' use of the title "Son of Man" (v. 44) intensified the horror of such a prospect.

9:45 However this announcement did not make sense to the disciples. This was probably because of the popular view of the Messiah that still influenced them, the glorious prophecies about the Son of Man in the Old Testament, and Jesus' great popularity. Most important they did not understand because God hid this understanding from them (cf. 24:16). That is, they understood the words but could not understand how this would happen partly because of their limited faith. They remembered Jesus' words, but they only understood the prediction after Jesus' resurrection. Perhaps they were afraid to ask Jesus to clarify what He said because they feared to hear what they suspected, that Jesus would indeed die soon.

"Some interpreters understand the statement, It was hid from them that they might not understand it,' as indication that God prevented the disciples from understanding.²⁶⁰ While the passive formulation may hint at divine involvement, I would caution against the assumption that human resistance is not an important factor at this point in the narrative. If a divine purpose is involved, it is a purpose which works in and through human resistance, for which humans remain responsible."²⁶¹

Thus there was a "suffering secret" as well as a "messianic secret" in Jesus ministry.²⁶² The "messianic secret" was the fact that Jesus was the divine Messiah that He revealed only gradually before the Triumphal Entry. He withheld this information to preclude superficial and premature acceptance of Himself by the multitudes. The "suffering secret" was the information about Jesus' passion that God revealed to the disciples only gradually before the Resurrection.

Constable: Luk 9:46-48

8. The pride of the disciples 9:46-48

In contrast to the humble attitude of Jesus demonstrated in His willingness to submit to betrayal and death in God's will, the disciples manifested pride. They had their own ideas about the coming kingdom, and they wanted to secure their own futures in it. This spirit of self-seeking was also obvious after Jesus made His first revelation of His death (Mark 8:32-33). Now the disciples showed a desire first for position and then prestige in the kingdom. Their inappropriate attitudes are instructive for all Christian disciples.

Constable: Luk 9:46-48

The glorification of self 9:46-48 (cf. Matt. 18:1-5; Mark 9:33-37)

Again Luke omitted several historical details and thereby focused the reader's attention on the essential issues and the contrast with the previous pericope. Since the disciples did not understand Jesus' role as the Suffering Servant, they could not see its implications for them as His disciples.

9:46 The disciples were thinking about rank in the kingdom. They wondered which of them would have the highest position and the most prestige.

9:47-48 Jesus used little children on different occasions as object lessons to teach different lessons. Once He used a child to teach that no act of kindness for one of His suffering disciples, whom the child represented, will pass without God's reward (Matt. 10:40-42). On the present occasion Jesus used a child to illustrate two lessons. By standing the child beside Him Jesus gave the child honor. Mark wrote that Jesus took the child in His arms (Mark 9:36). Evidently Jesus did both things.

The first lesson Jesus used this child to illustrate was that His disciples should be as humble as little children (Matt. 18:4, 6). Luke did not mention that lesson. The second lesson was that acceptable service involves caring about people, even insignificant people such as children (Matt. 18:5; Mark 9:37). That is the lesson Luke included in his account of this teaching (v. 48). It reflects his interest in neglected people. A child was the least significant person in Jewish and in Greco-Roman culture.²⁶³

Jesus meant that instead of seeking status for themselves His disciples should give their attention to the needs of people who have no status, people like children. The disciple who ministers to a person with no status as though he or she was ministering to Jesus does indeed minister to Jesus and to God the Father. The principle is that the disciple who is willing to sacrifice personal advancement to serve insignificant people, as the world views people, is truly great in God's estimation (cf. Matt. 25:35-40; Mark 9:41).

Constable: Luk 9:49-50

The exclusion of others 9:49-50 (cf. Mark 9:38-40)

Disciples need to be aware of their attitude toward believers who are outside their circle of fellowship as well as their attitude toward those within that circle. Again Luke's account of this incident omits details to cut through to the heart of the matter.

This incident exposed an attitude of rivalry among the Twelve that existed toward other disciples of Jesus. This was not a problem of orthodoxy; the exorcist believed in Jesus. It was rather a problem of fellowship or association; he was not one of the Twelve. He appears to have been on the fringe of Jesus' followers. The Twelve wanted to exclude him, but Jesus wanted to include him. Jesus' reply was proverbial. He had stated the reverse truth earlier (Matt. 12:30). Disciples should regard people who do not oppose them as associates rather than as enemies.

This incident concludes the section of Luke's Gospel that records Jesus' ministry in and around Galilee (4:14-9:50). Its major emphasis has been the identity of Jesus.

Constable: Luk 9:51--19:28

V. Jesus' ministry on the way to Jerusalem 9:51--19:27

This large section of the Book of Luke has no counterpart in the other Gospels, but some of the material in it occurs in other parts of the Gospels. The section consists largely of instruction that Jesus gave His disciples with only brief references to geographic movements. We have already noticed that Luke had more interest in lessons than in details of geography and chronology. The skeletal references to Jesus' movements show a general shift from Galilee toward Jerusalem (e.g., 9:52; 10:38; 13:22, 32-33; 17:11; 18:31, 35; 19:1, 28-29). However, His journey was not direct (cf. 10:38; 17:11). Jesus visited Jerusalem more than once, but this section records Jesus leaving Galilee and arriving in Jerusalem for the last time before His passion.

The ministry of Jesus during this journey was not just different because of where it took place. It took on new characteristics. His ministry to the disciples seems to have occupied His primary attention, though Luke featured this less than Mark. We have noted a strong emphasis on Jesus' identity (Christology) in the previous chapters. Now the disciples' mission becomes the dominant theme. There are many words of warning to the rich and the complacent as well as to the Pharisees in this section. Many students of Luke and Acts have noticed the common emphasis on travel that characterizes both books and have pointed out some significant comparisons. Jerusalem was for Jesus the destination toward which He pressed as Rome was for Paul.

Constable: Luk 9:51--10:25

A. The responsibilities and rewards of discipleship 9:51-10:24

This part of the new section continues to focus attention on Jesus' disciples (cf. vv. 1-50). The problem of their attitude toward other people also continues (cf. vv. 46-50). There is further instruction on the cost of discipleship too (vv. 57-62; cf. 6:20-49). The heart of this part of the Gospel is Jesus' preparation of the disciples for their second mission. The contrast between disciples and non-disciples becomes stronger, and the duties and privileges of discipleship emerge clearer.

Constable: Luk 9:51-56

1. The importance of toleration 9:51-56

The first verse (9:51) sets the agenda for all that follows until Jesus' Triumphal Entry. It was now time for Jesus to begin moving toward Jerusalem and the Cross. As He did so, He immediately encountered opposition (cf. Acts 20:3; 21:4, 11-14), but He accepted it and refused to retaliate against His opponents. Jesus' attitude here recalls His reaction to the opposition He encountered in Nazareth at the beginning of His Galilean ministry (4:16-30), and it previews His attitude in His passion. It also contrasts with the disciples' attitude toward others and provides a positive example for reader disciples who sometimes encounter antagonists who are similar to the Samaritans.

It is difficult to make this incident fit into its Lukan context chronologically. Probably our writer was not following a strict sequence of events here but inserted this incident where he did for thematic purposes.

9:51 The time had come for Jesus to begin moving toward Jerusalem for His final visit before the Cross (cf. Gen. 31:21; Jer. 21:10; 44:12). Luke looked beyond His passion there to His ascension. In this Gospel, Luke presented the ministry of Jesus before His ascension, and in Acts He reported what Jesus did after His ascension through His disciples (cf. Acts 1:2). By focusing on the ascension, Luke reminded his readers of the glorious outcome of the passion and the continuing ministry of Jesus' disciples. Jesus' resoluteness in view of the suffering that lay ahead of Him also gives a positive example to readers.

9:52 The messengers that Jesus sent ahead were apparently to arrange overnight accommodations for Jesus and His disciples. They were not on a preaching mission. Normally Jewish pilgrims on their way from Galilee to Jerusalem passed through Samaria.²⁶⁴ They were unwelcome visitors. A trip directly from Galilee to Jerusalem would have taken about three days.

The Jews had regarded the Samaritans as apostates and half-pagans since the Exile. The Samaritans descended from the poor Israelites who remained in the land when the Assyrians captured the northern kingdom of Israel in 722 B.C. The Jews believed that the Samaritans were the descendants of Israelites who intermarried with the non-Jews that the Assyrian kings imported into the land (2 Kings 17:6; 24-26). However they may have been the pureblooded descendants of the Israelites who remained in the land.²⁶⁵ Eventually the Samaritans rejected the Jewish Scriptures except the Pentateuch. The two groups of people were still mutually hostile in Jesus' day (cf. John 4:9).²⁶⁶

9:53-54 The Samaritans whom the messengers contacted refused to accept Jesus and His followers because they were on their way to Jerusalem, evidently to worship there. The Samaritans rejected Jerusalem as a legitimate site of worship (cf. John 4:20). Evidently they did not reject Jesus because He claimed to be the Messiah but simply because He was a Jew. The attitude of James and John was typically hostile. They may have been thinking that Jesus would react to the Samaritans as Elijah had to his opponents (2 Kings 1:9-12). Their question suggests that Jesus' disciples saw strong similarities between Jesus' ministry and Elijah's (cf. v. 19). However, they were willing to play Elijah's part by calling down judgment; they were not asking Jesus to do so.

It seems unlikely that Jesus gave James and John their nickname Boanerges, "sons of thunder," because of this incident (Mark 3:17). All the other disciples' nicknames were positive rather than derogatory, and this one probably was too.

9:55-56 Jesus strongly disapproved of James and John's attitude, and He gave them a rebuke (Gr. epetimesen, cf. 4:35, 41; 8:24). Jesus' mission did not call for Him to bring judgment yet. The group, therefore, proceeded to another presumably Samaritan village where they found lodging.

The point of the story is Jesus' toleration of rejection without retaliation (cf. 6:36). His attitude contrasts with the disciples' attitude, which did not grow out of righteous indignation because the Samaritans were rejecting the Messiah but out of racial prejudice.

College: Luk 9:1-62

LUKE 9

J. JESUS AND HIS APOSTLES (9:1-50)

1. Jesus Sends Out the Twelve (9:1-6)

¹ When Jesus had called the Twelve together, he gave them power and authority to drive out all demons and to cure diseases, ² and he sent them out to preach the kingdom of God and to heal the sick. ³ He told them: " Take nothing for the journey - no staff, no bag, no bread, no money, no extra tunic. ⁴ Whatever house you enter, stay there until you leave that town. ⁵ If people do not welcome you, shake the dust off your feet when you leave their town, as a testimony against them." ⁶ So they set out and went from village to village, preaching the gospel and healing people everywhere.

With chapter 9 Luke begins a new section. Most of this chapter will parallel stories also found in Mark, just as the stories in Luke 4:14-8:56 have parallels in Mark. However, there is a large section of Mark (6:45-8:26) which would, if included in Luke, fall between Luke 9:17 and 9:18. Scholars have labeled this " the great omission." It is not known why Luke excludes this material (if " excludes" is the right term). Perhaps Luke did not have these stories available to him, or maybe he simply did not need to tell these stories to accomplish his task.

Luke 9:1-50 will focus on events related directly to the disciples, even when the disciples are not the primary focus. Jesus has been with the disciples long enough now for them to begin to imitate him in preaching and healing. They also know enough now to figure out who he is. These verses will demonstrate how well and how poorly they accomplish these two objectives.

The first episode shows Jesus sending the twelve out to heal and to preach in Galilee. The book of Acts shows that this activity was basically a training mission for their later larger mission to the whole world. The rules given by Jesus here will largely apply also in the later mission. In that mission as in this one, they will preach the kingdom, heal, exorcise demons, depend on God to provide for their needs, and shake the dust off their feet against unreceptive towns. They will have power to accomplish their mission because they will receive it from the Holy Spirit at Pentecost.

1-2. When Jesus gave them power and authority , he gave them that which allowed him to accomplish his own preaching and teaching. The same words are used to describe him in 4:14, 32, 36. His own power came from the Holy Spirit, and we may assume that the power he gave them was from the Spirit of God in this instance, too. The power to drive out all demons and to cure diseases was something new to them, and it was apparently limited in duration. They will receive the Holy Spirit in a more permanent sense at Pentecost (see 24:49; Acts 1:8; 2:1-4). The message they were to preach is identical to the message Jesus preached, that is, the kingdom of God.

3. They were to take nothing for the journey , although the reason is not stated. Jesus may have wanted them to learn to trust that God would provide for all their needs. Whatever the reason, he knew that they would be well received. After all, they were healing sick people and preaching the nearness of the kingdom of God. The staff was a walking stick also used for protection. The bag was the ancient equivalent of a suitcase. The tunic was the inner garment, that which was worn under the coat (or cloak, to use their language). They were to stay with whomever first offered to house them, probably to avoid the appearance of preaching for their own benefit rather than that of the kingdom.

5-6. Despite the fact that Jesus knew they would generally be welcomed, he knew that not all would receive them. When rejected, they were to shake the dust off their feet . The gesture was a way of communicating that they would have nothing more to do with the town, as it stood self-condemned. This is precisely what the apostles later did in Acts when a town rejected the message (13:51). They went from village to village in Galilee.

2. Jesus Feeds the Five Thousand (9:7-17)

⁷ Now Herod the tetrarch heard about all that was going on. And he was perplexed, because some were saying that John had been raised from the dead, ⁸ others that Elijah had appeared, and still others that one of the prophets of long ago had come back to life. ⁹ But Herod said, " I beheaded John. Who, then, is this I hear such things about?" And he tried to see him.

¹⁰ When the apostles returned, they reported to Jesus what they had done. Then he took them with him and they withdrew by themselves to a town called Bethsaida, ¹¹ but the crowds learned about it and followed him. He welcomed them and spoke to them about the kingdom of God, and healed those who needed healing.

¹² Late in the afternoon the Twelve came to him and said, " Send the crowd away so they can go to the surrounding villages and countryside and find food and lodging, because we are in a remote place here."

¹³ He replied, " You give them something to eat."

They answered, " We have only five loaves of bread and two fish - unless we go and buy food for all this crowd." ¹⁴ (About five thousand men were there.)

But he said to his disciples, " Have them sit down in groups of about fifty each." ¹⁵ The disciples did so, and everybody sat down. ¹⁶ Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke them. Then he gave them to the disciples to set before the people. ¹⁷ They all ate and were satisfied, and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over.

7-8. The activity of Jesus combined with this activity of his apostles leads to much discussion about Jesus. On Herod the tetrarch , the governor of Galilee, see notes on 3:1. He is now perplexed and was asking the question which everyone else is asking, " Who, then, is this?" Some thought Jesus was somehow a resurrected John , whom Herod had beheaded . Both Mark (6:17-29) and Matthew (__Mathew 14__14:1-12) recount the story of John's death in some detail, whereas Luke makes only this passing reference to it. Others thought Jesus might be Elijah , (who had not died, thus no mention of his resurrection) and was expected to come back " before the great and terrible day of the Lord comes" (Mal 4:5). Still others thought Jesus was one of the prophets of long ago having come back to life . The reason for all of these false identifications is that Jesus looked like one of the old prophets because of his message and perhaps also his miracles (although we know of no miracles by John).

9. Having felt the need to silence John, Herod is now becoming concerned about Jesus. The reader senses that Herod's desire to see him can only be a negative sign. Jesus is now being opposed not only by some Pharisees but also by the highest official in Galilee. Jesus will be told that this same Herod wants to " kill him" in 13:31. Herod will get his chance to see Jesus (23:6-12), but only after Jesus appears before Pilate. However, this passage is not primarily about Herod. The focus is once again on the question: " Who, then, is this?" The question will be answered for Jesus' disciples in the next episode.

10-17. The miracle of the feeding of the five thousand is found in all four Gospels and therefore was seen as very important to all four writers. Why is this? The miracle is spectacular, but certainly not more so than the reader has already seen. Rather, it is the symbolism of this miracle which makes it such a crucial one for Luke to tell. Jesus is " in a remote place" (literally, in a " desert place" ) with thousands of Israelites who have nothing to eat, and so Jesus miraculously feeds them. The similarities to Moses and the Israelites in the wilderness are so striking that they could not be missed by first-century Jews looking for the Messiah. Jesus shows here that he is the new (and better) Moses, who will deliver the people from those who oppress them. Peter also understands, as the next episode implies that this story leads to the great confession. Jesus must be the coming prophet Moses spoke about, the Messiah of God. Herod's question in 9:9 is answered.

Another interesting account in the background of this story is that of Elisha commanding a servant with twenty barley loaves and some ears of grain in his sack to " Give to the men that they may eat." When the man replied that there was not enough food, Elisha said, " They shall eat and have some left" (2 Kgs 4:42-44). In light of Luke's theme of the prophetic Messiah and his earlier mention of Elisha (4:27), such an allusion would not be out of place. Israel would know the " coming prophet" because he would look like the earlier prophets.

10-12. After the apostles returned from their preaching and healing tour, Jesus wanted to get away from the crowds to be with his disciples alone. They went to Bethsaida , a town just north of the Sea of Galilee, but the crowds . . . followed them. Jesus welcomed them anyhow and began preaching and healing. Late in the afternoon , that is, at about suppertime, the Twelve encouraged Jesus to send the crowd away , since they were in a remote place where no food was available.

13-15. " You give them something to eat" is an allusion to the Elisha story mentioned just above (2 Kgs 4:42: " Give to the men that they may eat." ) After their preaching tour during which they did miracles, Jesus had the right to expect that they could do as he asked. The five loaves . . . and two fish , no matter how large, could not feed fifty, much less five thousand . The suggestion that they go and buy food for this crowd shows the disciples in an unflattering light but one in which they will be seen on many occasions from this point on. Why Jesus had the people sit in groups of fifty is somewhat baffling to interpreters. Least likely is the possibility that Luke wanted his reader to think of Moses dividing the Israelites into groups of thousands, hundreds, fifties, and tens. More likely, this is another of Luke's details which evidence his concern for historical accuracy.

16. Luke's Christian readers would no doubt have thought about the Lord's Supper when they read that Jesus gave thanks (or, " blessed" ) and broke the bread and fish. Luke will use similar language again in 22:19 at the Last Supper and in 24:30 at the meal with the two disciples after Jesus' resurrection. The early church will also " break bread" in Acts 2:46 and 20:7. This meal looked back to the manna in the wilderness, but it looked forward to the coming messianic banquet, which was also prefigured by the Last Supper and early church celebration of the Lord's Supper. For further discussion, see comments below on 22:14-23.

17. After eating, they were satisfied , as Jesus said the hungry would be (in the beatitude of 6:21). The twelve basketfuls may represent the twelve tribes in the wilderness.

3. Peter's Confession of Christ (9:18-27)

¹⁸ Once when Jesus was praying in private and his disciples were with him, he asked them, " Who do the crowds say I am?"

¹⁹ They replied, " Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, that one of the prophets of long ago has come back to life."

²⁰" But what about you?" he asked. " Who do you say I am?"

Peter answered, " The Christ ^a of God."

²¹ Jesus strictly warned them not to tell this to anyone. ²² And he said, " The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life."

²³ Then he said to them all: " If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. ²⁴ For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it. ²⁵ What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit his very self? ²⁶ If anyone is ashamed of me and my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his glory and in the glory of the Father and of the holy angels. ²⁷ I tell you the truth, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the kingdom of God."

^a 20 Or Messiah

The whole narrative has been moving toward this episode, as the crowds, the disciples, and even Herod have asked the question, " Who is this?" (4:22, 36; 8:25; 9:9) In this story the prophet theme will be continued, as Jesus is compared to John, Elijah, or " one of the prophets of long ago." For Luke, Jesus is a prophet but much more than just a prophet, and Peter in this passage says so: Jesus is the Messiah. Jesus then begins immediately to clarify the role of the Messiah. The Messiah must suffer and be killed. Then he will be raised. Furthermore, any who would follow Jesus must be prepared to suffer along with him. From this episode on Luke will shift his emphasis away from the identity of Jesus and toward Jesus' death in Jerusalem and the meaning of discipleship.

18-20a. Jesus was praying , as he did before or during all major events (see supplemental study on " Prayer" ). Jesus initiates the conversation which culminates in Peter's confession. The time has arrived for the disciples to enter a new phase of learning. After hearing that the crowds think he is a prophet (see comments above), he asks, " Who do you (plural) say I am?" Since the disciples have heard and seen all of his teachings and miracles, and since Jesus had let them in on the " secrets of the kingdom" (8:10), they should know by now.

20b. Peter's answer, " The Christ of God," would be better translated " the Messiah of God." By the time Luke wrote this Gospel, the term Christ was often used as a name rather than a title. But Peter's declaration is that Jesus is the long-awaited, promised, coming one who was to usher in the restored kingdom of righteousness and peace. He may well be thinking of Jesus' gathering an army and marching against the Romans. Of course, it is impossible to know precisely what Peter had in mind, since there were different views of the Messiah and since he had spent so much time with Jesus. It is clear, however, that he had no thoughts of a suffering and dying Messiah who would be rejected by his own people.

21. Peter is the first human character during the ministry of Jesus to acknowledge him as Messiah. Jesus wants the disciples to know, but he is not yet ready for a public declaration. He instructs them therefore not to tell this . Peter is correct. Jesus is the Messiah. But spreading the news would only give people the wrong idea, and it might lead to a disastrous confrontation with Roman authorities. Jesus must first instruct his disciples about what his Messiahship entails, and the public will only find out when he is ready to demonstrate what must happen to the Messiah.

22. Jesus now uses his favorite self-description, Son of Man (see supplemental study on " Son of Man" ), in this prophecy of his suffering, rejection, death, and resurrection. This is the first of three times he will plainly tell his disciples of his impending death ( see also 9:43-45 and 18:31-34). Even though the disciples will fail to understand, the importance of these predictions can hardly be overstated, as Jesus will remind them of these very words after the resurrection (24:44; see also 24:7). When he says that he must suffer, he means that his coming death is part of God's plan revealed in Scripture. This is seen most clearly in 24:44-45: " Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms. . . . This is what is written: The Christ will suffer . . ." (emphasis added).

Those who will reject him are the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law . All four Gospels consistently lay the blame for the death of Jesus on the leadership of the Jews, especially the chief priests and elders. These make up the majority membership of the Sanhedrin, the ruling body among the Jews. (See further discussion below at 20:1-2.) The third prediction of his death will speak of the role of " the Gentiles," the Roman authorities who will carry out the crucifixion (18:32). However, Jesus speaks not only about suffering but also about the future glory of the resurrection on the third day .

Having told them what it means to be the Messiah, Jesus quickly begins to relate what it will mean to follow the Messiah. The disciple must first deny himself . Literally, the disciple must " say no" to self. As Jesus will put it in 14:26, the disciple must " hate . . . even his own life." Or to use a familiar metaphor in the New Testament, one must become a slave of Jesus Christ, that is, one whose first concern is always to obey and please the master. This overarching command will be explained on various occasions in subsequent chapters, as disciples are called on to give up many desires of the self: wealth, pleasure, family, status, and the like.

23. The disciple must also " take up his cross daily and follow me." The demand here is that the disciple be prepared to suffer. The call is one which is ongoing. It must be accepted on a daily basis. The cross was the punishment reserved for the worst of criminals. The disciples could expect to be ridiculed and to be frequently persecuted, and perhaps even killed. The book of Acts shows this happening on numerous occasions, from the early beatings and imprisonment of Peter and John, to the martyrdoms of Stephen and James, to the many sufferings endured by the apostle Paul. Once again the reader of Luke discovers exactly what Jesus means when he reads volume two - Acts.

For Luke's first readers this section has a special import. Living during the third or fourth decade of Christianity, they knew about and perhaps were experiencing persecution ranging from confiscation of property to death. Such passages as this would give them courage to keep faith, with the knowledge that persecution is to be expected and is in fact an important part of following Jesus.

24-26. Just as Jesus would suffer and die before being raised, the same is true of his disciples. Suffering must precede glory. Therefore, whoever wants to save his life (that is, whoever is ashamed of Jesus when persecution comes) will forfeit life in the kingdom of God; but " whoever loses his life for me will save it." The wonderful paradox of saving and losing life turns on the difference between the so-called glory in this life (gaining the whole world: wealth, status, and even life itself) and the real glory which is yet to be revealed in the kingdom of God (when the Son of Man . . . comes in his glory ).

27. This verse is notoriously difficult, because at first glance it would appear to promise the return of Jesus during the lifetime of Jesus' hearers. Since he has just spoken (in v. 26) of his " coming in glory," the reader is tempted to equate that event with the coming of the kingdom of God which would be witnessed during the lifetimes of " some who are standing here." The difficulty, of course, is that Jesus did not return in that time period. There are numerous possibilities for resolving the difficulty, none of them, however, without problems of their own.

The best solution begins with the recognition that Jesus does not say here that he would " come in glory" during the lifetime of some of his hearers. He only says that some of them will " see the kingdom." Nothing in the context demands that these two events occur at the same time. In fact, elsewhere Luke makes it clear that they do not occur at the same time. In the earlier supplemental study on Luke's teaching about the kingdom of God, it was suggested that the kingdom " comes" at different times. It is in one sense already present when Jesus casts out demons (11:20; see 17:20); that is, Satan's kingdom is being plundered by God's kingdom. In a second sense the kingdom is established when God's people from all lands are in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost and God sends his Spirit to inaugurate the new age (Acts 1:6-8; 15:16; see also Luke 7:28; 9:27; 22:16-18, 29-30). In a third sense the kingdom will come in its fullness when we see " Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God" (13:28; see also 11:2; 18:25; 21:31) after the time of final judgment.

On the other hand, the passages dealing with the " coming of the Son of Man" all seem to be looking forward to Jesus' second coming, a time which no one knows (12:40) and at which all will be judged (12:8-9; 17:22-30; 18:8; 21:27-36). All of these will be discussed below under the supplemental study on the " Destruction of Jerusalem and End of Time" (see 21:5-36). For now it must suffice to suggest that Luke here intends the reader to understand that the kingdom will become quite visible during the lifetime of Jesus' disciples. In fact, Luke will show the kingdom coming with power on Pentecost when the Holy Spirit descends and Israel is reconstituted in Acts 2. Those who do not accept membership in this kingdom are those of whom the Son of Man will be ashamed when he comes in his glory, and membership in the kingdom demands " taking up the cross daily."

4. The Transfiguration (9:28-36)

²⁸ About eight days after Jesus said this, he took Peter, John and James with him and went up onto a mountain to pray. ²⁹ As he was praying, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became as bright as a flash of lightning. ³⁰ Two men, Moses and Elijah, ³¹ appeared in glorious splendor, talking with Jesus. They spoke about his departure, which he was about to bring to fulfillment at Jerusalem. ³² Peter and his companions were very sleepy, but when they became fully awake, they saw his glory and the two men standing with him. ³³ As the men were leaving Jesus, Peter said to him, " Master, it is good for us to be here. Let us put up three shelters - one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah." (He did not know what he was saying.)

³⁴ While he was speaking, a cloud appeared and enveloped them, and they were afraid as they entered the cloud. ³⁵ A voice came from the cloud, saying, " This is my Son, whom I have chosen; listen to him." ³⁶ When the voice had spoken, they found that Jesus was alone. The disciples kept this to themselves, and told no one at that time what they had seen.

The transfiguration story is one of the least understood stories in the Gospel, since it is unlike any other. The primary interests of Luke in this story seem to be (1) God's confirmation of Peter's confession regarding the messianic identity of Jesus; (2) the superiority of Jesus over even Moses and Elijah, the great representatives of the Law and the prophets; and (3) the necessity of Jesus' coming death in Jerusalem.

28. Why Luke mentions that this event occurred about eight days after the last is impossible to say (Mark writes " six days" in Mark 9:2). Whatever Luke's reason for the imprecise time designation, it serves to relate the transfiguration to the preceding event, Peter's confession. Only Peter, James, and John get to witness this event, just as they only were allowed to witness the raising of Jairus' daughter (8:51). These three will be the most influential early church leaders in Acts. We do not know (and need not know) what mountain Jesus ascended, but it is important that the event takes place on a mountain. This story looks back to Moses' experience on Mount Sinai (Exod 19:16-24; 24:15-18) and perhaps to Elijah's experience on Mount Horeb (1 Kgs 19:4-18). Neither Matthew nor Mark in their accounts of this story tell the reader that Jesus went to the mountain to pray . This is the fifth occasion on which Luke shows Jesus at prayer (baptism, after healing, before choosing disciples, before Peter's confession). Luke's readers cannot miss the obvious fact that Jesus was completely reliant on God in his ministry.

29. The appearance of his face changed , just as Moses' face had shone after being in the presence of God (Exod 34:29-35). However, Jesus' clothes became as bright as a flash of lightning , unlike Moses', who used a veil to cover his face. Luke's inference is not that Jesus has been in the presence of God, but that Jesus is the Son of God .

Jesus is seen here in his future, glorious state, in great contrast to the picture envisioned in verse 22 of his suffering and death. Interpreters differ over whether we are to think ahead to Jesus at his resurrection or at his second coming. Since he has just spoken of the " glory" of the coming of the Son of Man in verse 26, and since Luke 17:24 speaks of the brightness (like " lightning" ) of the coming of the Son of Man in judgment, we should think of the latter event.

30-31. The presence of Moses and Elijah may be due to their representation of the Law and the prophets. Or it may be due to their being the greatest representatives of the role of " prophet." It could also be that both were associated with the arrival of the messianic age. Although Jesus is the " prophet like Moses" (Deut 18:15; 34:10) and has been behaving a lot like Elijah (7:11-17), Jesus is qualitatively different from these godly men, as the heavenly voice will verify. These two men appear in glorious splendor , but Luke's wording might indicate that Jesus outshone them. An important element of Luke's account of this story (not found in Matthew or Mark) is that they spoke with Jesus about his departure (e[xodo", exodos ), which he was about to bring to fulfillment at Jerusalem . This " departure" which is to be " fulfilled" likely refers to at least the death and resurrection, which are elsewhere associated with the fulfillment of Scripture (9:22; 24:25-27, 45-47). It may also refer to the ascension, Jesus' final departure from this earth (24:51; Acts 1:9). Once again Jerusalem is mentioned. It is there that prophets are killed (13:33-34).

32-33. Luke's portrait of the disciples is generally more favorable than that of the other Gospel writers. Peter's idea regarding the booths is related to the fact that he and James and John were very sleepy . Different explanations have been offered for Peter's idea to build shelters for Jesus, Moses, and Elijah (for example, he wanted to prolong the moment, or he thought of the three as equals). Luke does not attempt to explain it, because Peter did not know what he was saying .

34-35. The crowning moment of the story occurs when God speaks from the cloud. The appearance of a cloud recalls the cloud which Moses entered on the mountain when he received the Law (Exod 24:15-18) and the cloud which led the Israelites (Exod 13:21). The disciples' being afraid is an appropriate response in the presence of God (see 1:12 and comments). God's statements, " This is my Son. . . . Listen to him," are this time addressed to the disciples (third person, " this" ), unlike the voice at the baptism (second person, " you" ). For the meaning of the term " Son (of God)," see comments on 1:35. The phrase, whom I have chosen , translates a term used of Moses (Ps 106:23), David (Ps 88:20-21), and the Servant of the Lord (Isa 42:1; 44:1; 49:7). God's final words, " Listen to him," are spoken directly to the disciples and are a clear allusion to Deuteronomy 18:15: " The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me . . . . You must listen to him ." The words function to verify to the three disciples (and to the reader of Luke's Gospel) that Jesus is indeed the Messiah, the prophet like Moses, who is also God's Son and therefore superior to even Moses and Elijah. These words also imply that what Jesus has said about suffering, dying, and being raised are words they must hear.

36. The story ends with Jesus alone , suggesting that Jesus is the single figure to whom Moses and Elijah pointed. The disciples told no one , in accordance with Jesus' command in 9:21.

5. The Healing of a Boy with a Demon (9:37-45)

³⁷ The next day, when they came down from the mountain, a large crowd met him. ³⁸ A man in the crowd called out, " Teacher, I beg you to look at my son, for he is my only child. ³⁹ A spirit seizes him and he suddenly screams; it throws him into convulsions so that he foams at the mouth. It scarcely ever leaves him and is destroying him. ⁴⁰ I begged your disciples to drive it out, but they could not."

⁴¹" O unbelieving and perverse generation," Jesus replied, " how long shall I stay with you and put up with you? Bring your son here."

⁴² Even while the boy was coming, the demon threw him to the ground in a convulsion. But Jesus rebuked the evil ^a spirit, healed the boy and gave him back to his father. ⁴³ And they were all amazed at the greatness of God.

While everyone was marveling at all that Jesus did, he said to his disciples, ⁴⁴" Listen carefully to what I am about to tell you: The Son of Man is going to be betrayed into the hands of men." ⁴⁵ But they did not understand what this meant. It was hidden from them, so that they did not grasp it, and they were afraid to ask him about it.

^a 42 Greek unclean

This scene and those which follow it show the disciples at their worst. They are first unable to cast out a demon. Then they fail to understand Jesus' prediction of his coming death. They next prove that they have missed completely his teaching concerning servanthood, after which they try to stop a man who is doing good in the name of Jesus. The next story witnesses James and John wanting to destroy a Samaritan village. Later, a number of would-be disciples want to follow Jesus but are unwilling to do so on Jesus' terms. All of these stories underscore the lack of faith and understanding on the part of Jesus' disciples. Luke is sending a strong message to his readers, reminding them that discipleship is a difficult and demanding enterprise, a theme he will return to often, especially in 14:25-35. One should count the cost before making the commitment.

37-39. The temporal designation, the next day , links the story of the demon-possessed boy with the transfiguration. After experiencing the glory on the mountain, the return to ministry is filled with frustration and disappointment. But that is the nature of ministry. Servanthood and suffering are to be expected. The plight of the father is heard in his cry, " I beg you," and Luke's mention that the boy is an only child . The implication is that the father has faith in Jesus, as do most of those on the receiving end of Jesus' miracles in Luke. The boy's affliction, which sounds like epilepsy, is caused by a spirit which seizes him and scarcely ever leaves him .

40-41. The focus of the story is that Jesus' disciples were unable to drive it out . Luke implies that they should have been able to do so, having been given the authority back in 9:1. Jesus' statement regarding the unbelieving . . . generation is paralleled in 11:29-32, 50-52, and 17:25 (Jesus " must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation" ). His question, " How long shall I . . . put up with you?" not only voices his frustration but also entails an implicit future day of reckoning. They will be given several more chances to express their faith, as will the apostles and many others (see Luke 24:36-53 and especially Acts 2:40-41); but those who do not repent from their hard-heartedness will be punished before the passing of this generation (21:32).

42-43a. It was probably because of the presence of Jesus that the demon threw the boy to the ground in a convulsion . At this time Jesus heals the boy and gives him back to his father (just as he had earlier given a son " back to his mother" in 7:15). As was typical of the crowds, they were amazed and praised God . However, Luke stops short of saying that they had faith as a result.

43b-45. Even though the disciples had witnessed yet another miracle ( everyone was marveling ), and even though Peter, James, and John had just been told on the mountain to " listen to him," Jesus' disciples cannot understand Jesus' second prediction of his coming suffering. Jesus even tells them to listen carefully when he reveals that the Son of Man is going to be betrayed . But they did not understand , because it was hidden from them . The reader should remember that Jesus has just told them that he is the Messiah, a position which in their minds certainly does not entail suffering or betrayal.

Some interpreters believe that Luke here absolves the disciples from responsibility, implying that God hid Jesus' meaning from them and that it was not within their ability to understand. However, Jesus' demand that they " listen carefully" and his later insistence that they were " foolish" and " slow of heart" suggests their guilt (see 24:25). Luke has already shown that truth can also be hidden by the devil (8:12) and by the desire for wealth (8:14). The fact that they were afraid to ask him about it only makes them look worse. They may have been afraid because of the natural tendency to avoid thinking about that which is unpleasant. Luke's intent in all of these stories is probably not to make the disciples look bad but rather to warn his own readers of the mistake of failing to grasp this central doctrine: The path to the mountaintop of glory is through the valley of suffering and shame. Is it possible that Luke's modern readers need to hear the same?

6. Who Will Be the Greatest? (9:46-50)

⁴⁶ An argument started among the disciples as to which of them would be the greatest. ⁴⁷ Jesus, knowing their thoughts, took a little child and had him stand beside him. ⁴⁸ Then he said to them, " Whoever welcomes this little child in my name welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me. For he who is least among you all - he is the greatest."

⁴⁹" Master," said John, " we saw a man driving out demons in your name and we tried to stop him, because he is not one of us."

⁵⁰" Do not stop him," Jesus said, " for whoever is not against you is for you."

46-48. The total failure of the disciples to grasp Jesus' message is painfully demonstrated by their argument over which of them would be the greatest . They are looking to the future when their newly-discovered Messiah ascends the throne of David, wondering what positions each might occupy in the coming kingdom. Jesus knows their thoughts (see 6:8), and he therefore brings a child into their midst to make his point. The little child was the perfect example for Jesus, not because children are innocent, and not because children have simple trusting faith, and not even because children have a special place in the kingdom of God (even though Jesus has just cast a demon out of a child). He speaks of the child because no one would think that a child is the greatest in a community; in fact, the child is the least important and least powerful. Jesus' point is that those who are truly the greatest are those who serve those who are powerless and needy, not those who can boast of their own power and accomplishments. In fact, he goes on to say that to welcome such people is to welcome him and the one who sent him, God the Father. The disciples were surely baffled by all of this, especially the paradoxical statement that the least . . . is the greatest.

49. Indeed, John seems almost eager to show his lack of understanding when he brags that, " We saw a man driving out demons in your name and we tried to stop him." Apparently John could only see that the man was " not one of us ," and therefore his pride clouded his judgment. What he could not see was that the man was doing exactly what Jesus had just taught - serving the oppressed (demon-possessed) in the name of Jesus. What makes the irony even more striking is that this man is doing what Jesus' disciples were just unable to do in verse 40.

50. Jesus' reply, " Whoever is not against you is for you," must not be taken out of context. It is not a general truism, as if it applies in all situations, for in 11:23 Jesus will declare that, " He who is not with me is against me." Nor does Jesus mean to justify denominational divisions among his followers, since there were none in Luke's day. The statement rather means that Jesus' followers must guard against pride in their own group and a protectionist stance toward their own positions. Jesus' followers must not stand in the way of others involved in the same larger mission of serving a world filled with hurting and oppressed people in the name of Jesus.

V. JESUS' JOURNEY TO JERUSALEM

(9:51-19:27)

A. JESUS FACES TOWARD JERUSALEM (9:51-13:21)

1. Samaritan Opposition (9:51-56)

⁵¹ As the time approached for him to be taken up to heaven, Jesus resolutely set out for Jerusalem. ⁵² And he sent messengers on ahead, who went into a Samaritan village to get things ready for him; ⁵³ but the people there did not welcome him, because he was heading for Jerusalem. ⁵⁴ When the disciples James and John saw this, they asked, " Lord, do you want us to call fire down from heaven to destroy them ^a ?" ⁵⁵ But Jesus turned and rebuked them, ⁵⁶ and ^b they went to another village.

^a 54 Some manuscripts them, even as Elijah did ^b 55,56 Some manuscripts them. And he said, " You do not know what kind of spirit you are of, for the Son of Man did not come to destroy men's lives, but to save them." ⁵⁶ And

This episode represents a turning point in the narrative. Luke's statement that " Jesus resolutely set out for Jerusalem" begins a long section which ends in 19:28, where Luke writes that Jesus " went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem." Luke's previous five chapters have largely paralleled the stories found in Mark and Matthew, and those which follow 19:28 are much the same as those in Mark and Matthew. However, the majority (but certainly not all) of the episodes in this central section are unique to Luke. Scholars have conveniently labeled this section the " travel narrative," since Jesus' journey to Jerusalem is what advances the plot. The primary theme (but not the only one) concerns what it means to be a disciple - following Jesus, renouncing everything else, serving those who are needy, and expecting to suffer.

51. The reader knows and understands what the disciples have not yet grasped: Jesus must go to Jerusalem and die. Jesus now resolutely begins the fateful trip to Jerusalem . Luke reminds his reader, however, that the death of Jesus is not the end of the story, for Jesus is to be taken up to heaven . Since Samaria lies between Galilee and Jerusalem (in Judea), Jesus at first determines to go through this area populated with those who probably disliked the Jews as much as the Jews disliked the Samaritans.

Supplemental Study:

Samaritans

There is great confusion concerning the terms " Samaria" and " Samaritans." The city of Samaria had been the capital of the northern kingdom of Israel during the period of the divided kingdom from 922-722 B.C. When the Assyrians destroyed the northern kingdom and carried off into captivity the people of the ten northern tribes, the city of Samaria was completely destroyed. Second Kings 17:24-41 tells the story of the intermarriage of those who were left behind with people from surrounding regions who had different faiths. The result of the intermarriage was that these people worshiped God along with other deities. The books of Ezra and Nehemiah recount the refusal of the Jews in the southern kingdom of Judah to allow their Samaritan neighbors to help them rebuild after the destruction of Jerusalem (capital of the southern kingdom) by the Babylonians. The hatred between the two groups continued throughout the centuries, the worst hostility arising when the Jews (from Jerusalem and Judea) under John Hyrcanus destroyed the Samaritan temple on Mount Gerizim (128 B.C.).

We know that the Jews of the first century despised the Samaritans, but we are not sure why. It may be that they regarded the Samaritans as little more than idolatrous " half-breeds" (based on 2 Kgs 17) and themselves as the true people of God. However, the origin of the Samaritans of New Testament times may have had little to do with the people of the town of Samaria seven hundred years earlier. The origin of the Samaritans of the first century may be traced to the area of Shechem near Mount Gerizim, a town to which some priests from Jerusalem are said to have gone during the fourth century B.C. They began at that time a religion to rival that centered in Jerusalem. They worshiped God according to their own version of the Pentateuch, which was quite similar to that of the Jews in Jerusalem. Whatever their theology may have been (and we are not sure, because we have no ancient writings from them), they do not appear to have been idolaters or " half-breeds."

Although there are many unanswered questions, it is clear that the Samaritans of the New Testament period worshiped God on Mount Gerizim and considered the Jews in Jerusalem to be false worshipers. The Jewish ruler John Hyrcanus a century and a half earlier had destroyed any hopes of peaceful coexistence and cooperation by having the Samaritan temple on Mount Gerizim destroyed. The Samaritans had also done their part in maintaining the feelings of hatred. For example, in the early first century A.D. they desecrated the Jewish temple by scattering bones in it during Passover.

The Samaritans therefore represent the ultimate despised group among first-century Jews. Jesus therefore calls on his followers to give up their hatred and to love the Samaritans, as radical a teaching as he could have offered. He reprimands James and John for their idea to destroy the Samaritans in this text, and in two later passages he will show, in each case, a Samaritan who understood better the will of God than did the Jews (i.e., the Good Samaritan parable in 10:25-37 and the story of the ten lepers in 17:11-19).

Most interesting in Luke's portrayal of Samaritans is his account of their entrance into the kingdom of God in the book of Acts. After the successful evangelization of the Jews in Acts 1-7 and before the first Gentile conversion in Acts 10 (Cornelius), Luke records the evangelization of people who were religious Samaritans in Acts 8. It is clear that they were not regarded as " Gentiles;" they were an outcast group of Israelites. Just as Jesus had ministered to Samaritans, so the early church apparently accepted them without reluctance.

52-53. The people from the Samaritan village . . . did not welcome Jesus, because he was heading for Jerusalem . As suggested above, the Samaritans rejected the Jews' claim that Jerusalem was the place where God was to be worshiped. Their belief was that God had chosen Mount Gerizim, and Jesus' desire to go to Jerusalem was regarded by them as evidence that he sided with the Jews.

54-56. James' and John's idea to call down fire from heaven to destroy them was a desire to replicate the miracle of Elijah in 2 Kings 1:10-12. However, it was inappropriate in the present instance, since Jesus had told them to love their enemies and that, when a town rejected them, they were simply to " shake the dust off their feet." The story highlights the disciples' failure to understand the mission of Jesus. God would eventually punish those who reject his messengers, but the role of Jesus' followers is to preach the good news of the kingdom and not to take vengeance on behalf of God.

2. The Cost of Following Jesus (9:57-62)

⁵⁷ As they were walking along the road, a man said to him, " I will follow you wherever you go."

⁵⁸ Jesus replied, " Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head."

⁵⁹ He said to another man, " Follow me."

But the man replied, " Lord, first let me go and bury my father."

⁶⁰ Jesus said to him, " Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God."

⁶¹ Still another said, " I will follow you, Lord; but first let me go back and say good-by to my family."

⁶² Jesus replied, " No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God."

This is the first of several episodes which directly teach the difficulty of discipleship. This episode deals with the demand that Jesus must rank ahead of home and family. All three would-be disciples desire to " follow" Jesus, the characteristic way Luke describes discipleship. In each case Jesus calls for a commitment which seems unrealistic and even harsh. To the first man Jesus implies that he may have nowhere to sleep at night. The second he will not allow to go bury his father. And the third he will not even allow to say good-by to his family. How did Luke mean for his readers to understand this radical view of discipleship?

Two seemingly opposite considerations must be kept in mind. First, Jesus often spoke in hyperbole. As in the later passage on the same theme in which Jesus counsels his followers to hate their families (14:26), Jesus often overstates his case in order to make the point. It is very unlikely that Jesus actually does not want his disciples to bury their parents. There was scarcely anything considered more important among first-century Jews than showing respect and honor by burying them properly. Second, however, the interpreter must hear Jesus' demand for the most radical possible discipleship. Even if Jesus uses hyperbole, he does so in order to teach that following him takes precedence over every other need and obligation, even the most important needs (shelter) and obligations (duties to family) of life. Following Jesus costs everything, just as our redemption cost Jesus everything.

57-58. Walking along the road with Jesus is a beautiful picture of discipleship. The word translated " road" (oJdov", hodos ) is the same as that translated " way" in Acts, when the early church is called " the Way" (9:2; 19:9; 22:4; 24:14, 22). In Acts it is the church's self-designation, perhaps implying that they are the group which goes the way that Jesus went. After the man states his desire to follow him, Jesus relates his common fate: he has nowhere to lay his head . Perhaps he is thinking of the fact that he and his disciples were just turned away from the Samaritan village (9:52-53). Jesus' teaching is that his followers surrender their claim to even the most basic of creature comforts - the knowledge that at the end of the day at least there will be a good place to go to sleep.

59-60. The second man agrees to follow Jesus, but only after first burying his father. The commandment to " honor father and mother" surely entailed this highly-regarded form of paying honor. Many have tried to explain Jesus' apparent harshness by suggesting that the man's father had not yet died. However, Luke gives no such indication. Jesus' reply, " Let the dead bury their own dead," means " let those who are spiritually dead (who have not chosen to follow Jesus) bury those who are physically dead," because those who follow Jesus have higher priorities. Jesus probably speaks in hyperbole here, but that must not keep Luke's readers from hearing the incredible demands of following Jesus.

61-62. The third man wanted simply to go back and say good-by to his family , after which he would follow Jesus. To understand this request, the reader needs to be aware of the story of Elijah's call for Elisha to follow him (1 Kgs 19:19-21). In that story Elisha requests to go back home, and Elijah allows him to do so. When he goes home, he slaughters his twenty-four oxen, cooks them over the burning plowing equipment, and feeds those at his home. Luke's point is probably that following Jesus is far more important and more urgent than following Elijah. Jesus' statement about the one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back also recalls the Elijah/Elisha scene, perhaps reminding that Elisha did not look back, as he severed all ties with his former way of life. However one evaluates the details, the point is once again clear: Those who would follow Jesus must commit unconditionally to him, severing even family ties when the kingdom of God demands it.

Luke has already taught along these lines on at least two occasions. When sought out by his mother and brothers, Jesus taught that his spiritual mother and brothers rank higher than his physical mother and brothers (8:19-21). And when called by Jesus, Peter and his partners, as well as Levi, left everything in order to follow him (5:11, 28). They provide the positive example.

-College Press New Testament Commentary: with the NIV

McGarvey: Luk 9:1-6

LXI.
THIRD CIRCUIT OF GALILEE. THE TWELVE
INSTRUCTED AND SENT FORTH.
^aMATT. IX. 35-38; X. 1, 5-42; XI. 1; ^bMARK VI. 6-13; ^cLUKE IX. 1-6.

   ^b6 And he ^aJesus bwent about aall the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner sickness and all manner of sickness. [In the first circuit of Galilee some of the twelve accompanied Jesus as disciples (see Mar 16:15). As Jesus himself was sent only to the Jews, so during his days on earth he sent his disciples only to them.]  7 As ye go, preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand. [It was set up about a year later, on the day of Pentecost, under the direction of the Holy Spirit -- Act 2:1-4.]  8 Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons: freely ye received, freely give. [Here is the true rule of giving. Paul repeats it at 1Co 16:2. If we would obey this rule, we would make this a happy world.]  ^c3 And he said unto them, Take nothing for your journey,  ^a9 Get you no gold, nor silver, cnor money; anor brass in your purses; cneither staff, nor wallet, afor your journey, cnor bread, neither have two coats. anor shoes, nor staff: for the workman is worthy of his food. [The prohibition is against securing these things before starting, and at their own expense. It is not that they would have no need for the articles mentioned, but that "the laborer is worthy of his food," and they were to depend on the people for whose benefit they labored, to furnish what they might need. This passage is alluded to by Paul (1Co 9:14). To rightly understand this prohibition we must remember that the apostles were to make but a brief tour of a few weeks, and that it was among their own countrymen, among a people habitually given to hospitality; moreover, that the apostles were imbued with powers which would win for them the respect of the religious and the gratitude of the well-to-do. The special and temporary commission was, therefore, never intended as a rule under which we are to act in preaching the gospel in other ages and in other lands.]  ^b10 And he said unto them  ^a11 And into whatsoever city or village ye shall enter, search out who in it is worthy; and there abide till ye go forth. [The customs of the East gave rise to this rule. The ceremonies and forms with which a guest was received were tedious and time-consuming vanities, while the mission of the apostles required haste.]  12 And as ye enter [364] come into an house, salute it.  13 And if the house be worthy, let your peace come upon it: but if it be not worthy, let your peace return to you. [The form of salutation on entering a house was, "Peace to this house." The apostles are told to salute each house, and are assured that the peace prayed for shall return to them if the house is not worthy; that is, they shall receive, in this case, the blessing pronounced on the house.] ^bWheresoever ye enter into a house, there abide till ye depart thence. {^c4 And into whatsoever house ye enter, there abide, and thence depart.}  ^b11 And whatsoever place shall not receive you, and they hear you not [Jesus here warns them that their experiences would not always be pleasant],  ^a14 And whosoever cas many as ashall creceive you not, anor hear your words, bas ye go forth thence, aout of that house or that city [The word "house" indicates a partial and the word "city" a complete rejection], {cwhen you depart from that city,} bshake off the dust that is under your feet {aof your feet.} cfrom your feet bfor a testimony unto them. cagainst them. [The dust of heathen lands as compared with the land of Israel was regarded as polluted and unholy (Amo 2:7, Eze 27:30). The Jew, therefore, considered himself defiled by such dust. For the apostles, therefore, to shake off the dust of any city of Israel from their clothes or feet was to place that city on a level with the cities of the heathen, and to renounce all further intercourse with it.]  ^a15 Verily I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment, than for that city. [For comment on similar remarks, see 2Sa 12:20, Mat 6:16, Mat 6:17). When an apostle stood over a sick man to heal him by a touch or a word, he was about to send him out of his sick chamber, and just before the word was spoken, the oil was applied. It was, therefore, no more than a token or symbol that the man was restored to his liberty, and was from that moment to be confined to his chamber no longer. Comp. Jam 5:14. This practice bears about the same relation to the Romish practice of extreme unction as the Lord's Supper does to the mass, or as a true baptism does to the sprinkling of an infant.]

[FFG 362-369]

McGarvey: Luk 9:7-9

LXII.
HEROD ANTIPAS SUPPOSES JESUS TO BE JOHN.
^aMATT. XIV. 1-12; ^bMARK VI. 14-29; ^cLUKE IX. 7-9.

   ^b14 And  ^c7 Now  ^a1 At that season ^bKing Herod [Herod Antipas, son of Herod the Great. See Mat 10:41), but there was a prevalent idea among the ancients that departed spirits were endowed with superhuman powers, and Herod therefore supposed that the risen John had brought these powers with him from the spirit world.] ^cAnd he sought to see him. [Jesus purposely kept out of the reach of Herod, knowing the treacherous cunning of his nature (Luk 13:32), and Herod's curiosity was not gratified until the day of Christ's crucifixion (Luk 23:8-12), and then its gratification was without sanctification.]  ^b15 But others said, It is Elijah. And others said, It is a prophet, even as one of the prophets.  16 But Herod, when he heard thereof, said, John, whom I beheaded, he is risen. [Some thought that Elijah might have returned, as the Scripture declared, or that Jesus might be a prophet just like the great prophets of old. Matthew, by introducing what follows with the word "for," gives us the reason why Herod clung to this singular opinion of Jesus. He did so because this opinion was begotten in the morbid musings of a conscience stained with the blood of John.]  17 For Herod himself had sent forth [370] and laid hold upon John, aand bound him, and put him in prison the sake of Herodias, his brother Philip's wife. bfor he had married her. [Herodias was the daughter of Aristobulus, who was the half-brother of Herod Philip I. and Herod Antipas, and these two last were in turn half-brothers to each other. Herodias, therefore, had married her uncle Herod Philip I, who was disinherited by Herod the Great, and who lived as a private citizen in Rome. When Herod Antipas went to Rome about the affairs of his tetrarchy, he became the guest of his brother Herod Philip I., and repaid the hospitality which he received by carrying off the wife of his host.]  18 For John said unto Herod, It is not lawful for thee to have thy brother's wife. [The marriage was unlawful of three reasons: 1. The husband of Herodias was still living; 2. The lawful wife of Antipas (the daughter of Aretas, king or emir of Arabia) was still living; 3. Antipas and Herodias, being nephew and niece, were related to each other within the forbidden degrees of consanguinity.]  19 And Herodias set herself against him, and desired to kill him; but she could not:  20 for Herod feared John, knowing that he was a righteous and holy man, and kept him safe. And when he heard him, he was much perplexed, and he heard him gladly.  ^a5 And when he would have put him to death, he feared the multitude, because they counted him as a prophet. [Herod feared both John and his influence. His fear of the man as a prophet caused him to shelter John against any attempts which his angry wife might make to put him to death, and led him to listen to John with enough respect to become perplexed as to whether it were better to continue in his course or repent. At other times, when the influence of Herodias moved him most strongly, and he forgot his personal fear of John, he was yet restrained by fear of John's influence over the people.]  6 But when Herod's birthday came,  ^b21 And when a convenient day was come [A day suited to the purposes of Herodias. The phrase refers to Mar 6:19], that Herod on his birthday made a supper to his lords, and the high captains, and [371] the chief men of Galilee;  22 and when the daughter of Herodias herself [the language seems to indicate that others had first come in and danced] came in and danced, ain the midst, bshe pleased Herod and them that sat at meat with him [This dancer was Salome, daughter of Herod Philip and niece of Herod Antipas. The dancing of the East was then, as now, voluptuous and indecent, and nothing but utter shamelessness or inveterate malice could have induced a princess to thus make a public show of herself at such a carousal];  ^a7 Whereupon he promised with an oath to give her whatsoever she should ask. band the king said unto the damsel, Ask of me whatsoever thou wilt, and I will give it thee.  23 And he sware unto her, Whatsoever thou shalt ask of me, I will give it thee, unto the half of my kingdom. [The rashness of the king's promise is characteristic of the folly of sin. Riches, honors, kingdoms, souls are given for a bauble in the devil's market.]  24 And she went out, and said unto her mother, What shall I ask? [She may have known beforehand what to ask. If so, she retired and asked her mother that the brunt of the king's displeasure might fall upon her mother.] And she said, The head of John the Baptist.  ^a8 And she, being put forward by her mother, bcame in straightway with haste unto the king [she wished to make her request known before the king had time to put limitations upon her asking], and asked, saying, {asaith} ^bI will that thou forthwith give me ahere on a platter the head of John the Baptist. [She asked for the prophet's head that she and her mother might have the witness of their own eyes to the fact that he was dead, and that they might not be deceived about it.]  9 And the king was grieved; bwas exceeding sorry [because the deed went against his conscience and his sense of policy as above stated]; but for the sake of his oaths, and of them that {awhich} sat at meat, bhe would not reject her. ahe commanded it to be given [The oath alone would not have constrained Herod to grant Salome's request, for if left alone [372] he would rightly have construed the request as not coming within the scope of the oath. The terms of his oath looked to and anticipated a pecuniary present, and not the commission of a crime. But Herod's companions, being evil men, joined with the evil women against the man of God, and shamed Herod into an act which committed him forever to a course of guilt. Thus, a bad man's impulses are constantly broken down by his evil companions];  ^b27 And straightway the king forth a soldier of his guard, aand beheaded John in the prison. band commanded to bring his head: and he went and beheaded him in the prison,  28 and brought his head {ahis head was brought} bon a platter, and gave it {aand given} bto the damsel: and the damsel abrought it bgave it to her mother. [To the anxious, unrestful soul of Herodias this seemed a great gift, since it assured her that the voice of her most dangerous enemy was now silent. But as Herod was soon filled with superstitious fears that John had risen in the person of Christ, her sense of security was very short-lived. The crime stamped Herod and Herodias with greater infamy than that for which John had rebuked them.]  29 And when his disciples heard thereof, they came and took up his {athe} corpse, band laid it in a tomb. aand buried him; and went and told Jesus. [Herod had feared that the death of John would bring about a popular uprising, and his fears were not mistaken. As soon as they had decently buried the body of the great preacher, John's disciples go to Jesus, expecting to find in him a leader to redress the Baptist's wrongs. They knew the friendship of John for Jesus, and, knowing that the latter intended to set up a kingdom, they believed that this would involve the overthrow of Herod's power. They were ready now to revolt and make Jesus a king. See Mat 12:13, Joh 6:1, Joh 6:2, Joh 6:15. But Jesus would not aid them to seek the bitter fruits of revenge, nor did he intend to set up such a kingdom as they imagined.]

[FFG 369-373]

McGarvey: Luk 9:10

LXIII.
FIRST WITHDRAWAL FROM HEROD'S TERRITORY AND RETURN.
(Spring, A. D. 29.)
Subdivision A.
RETURN OF THE TWELVE AND RETIREMENT TO THE EAST SHORE OF GALILEE.
^aMATT. XIV. 13; ^bMARK VI. 30-32; ^cLUKE IX. 10; ^dJOHN VI. 1.

   ^b30 And the apostles gather themselves together unto Jesus; cwhen they were returned, band they told {cdeclared unto} bhim all things, whatsoever they had done, and whatsoever they had taught. [They had fulfilled the mission on which Jesus had sent them, and on returning each pair made to him a full report of their work.]  31 And he saith unto them, Come ye yourselves apart into a desert place [an uninhabited place], and rest a while. For there were many coming and going, and they had no leisure so much as to eat. [Need of rest was one reason for retiring to the thinly settled shores east of the lake. Matthew proceeds to give us another reason for his retiring.]  ^a13 Now  ^d1 After these things awhen Jesus heard it [Heard about John's death. The excitement caused by this event, and the efforts to use Jesus as a leader in revolt, as indicated at the close of the last section, constituted another reason why Jesus should withdraw from the multitude], che took them [the apostles], and withdrew athence capart  ^b32 And they went away in the {aa} boat, dto the other side of the sea of Galilee, which is the sea of Tiberias. cto a city called Bethsaida. bto a desert place apart. [They sailed to the northeastern shore of the lake to a plain lying near the city of Bethsaida Julius.] [374]

[FFG 374]

McGarvey: Luk 9:11-17

LXIII.
FIRST WITHDRAWAL FROM HEROD'S TERRITORY AND RETURN.
(Spring, A. D. 29.)
Subdivision B.
FEEDING THE FIVE THOUSAND.
^aMATT. XIV. 13-21; ^bMARK VI. 33-44; ^cLUKE IX. 11-17; ^dJOHN VI. 2-14.

   ^c11 But {aand} the multitudes heard thereof [heard of Jesus and his disciples crossing the lake],  ^b33 And they saw them going, and cperceiving it, bmany knew them,  ^d2 And a great multitude followed him, because they beheld the signs which he did on them that were sick. band they ran together there on foot from all the cities, and outwent them.  ^a14 And he came forth, and saw a great multitude, and had compassion on them, bbecause they were as sheep not having a shepherd cand he welcomed them, band he began to teach them many things. cand spake unto them of the kingdom of God, aand healed their sick. cand them that had need of healing he cured. [Jesus probably set sail from near Capernaum, and from thence across the lake to the narrow, secluded plain of El Batihah, where he landed is less than five miles. Seeing him start, the people followed him by running along the northern shore, and, though having a little farther to go, they traveled faster than the sailboat, and were waiting for him on the shore when he arrived.]  ^d3 And Jesus went up into the mountain, and there he sat with his disciples. [The level plain did not afford a good platform from which to address the people.]  4 Now the passover, the feast of the Jews, was at hand. [This passover is computed to have been held on April 16, A. D. 29. This statement as to the time of year prepares us for his further statement that there was much grass in the plain. It also explains in part the gathering of a multitude in this secluded region. Pilgrims on their way to the passover would gladly go several miles out of their way to see the great Prophet perform a miracle. The excitement, due to the mission of the twelve and the death of the Baptist, also tended to swell the [375] crowd.]  ^c12 And the day began to wear away;  ^b35 And when the day was now far spent,  ^a15 And when even was come, bhis disciples cthe twelve bcame unto him cand said unto him, {asaying,} ^bThe place is desert, and the day is now far spent; aand the time is already past [the time to seek lodging and provisions had gone by, and therefore the multitude must act quickly];  ^b36 send them athe multitudes {cmultitude} away, that they may go into the villages and country around, and lodge, and get provisions: aand buy themselves food. bsomething to eat. cfor we are here in a desert place. [The apostles were the first to think of eating, and naturally enough, for they had started on empty stomachs, and their own discomfort made them anticipate the sad plight in which the multitude would soon find itself.]  ^a16 But Jesus said unto them, They have no need to go away;  ^d5 Jesus therefore lifting up his eyes, and seeing that a great multitude cometh to him, saith unto Philip, Whence are we to buy bread, that these may eat?  6 And this he said to prove him: for he himself knew what he would do.  7 Philip answered him, Two hundred shillings' worth of bread is not sufficient for them, that every one may take a little. [Jesus tested Philip to see which way he would turn in his weakness. Jesus asked where the bread might be bought, knowing that power to feed the multitude resided in himself (Isa 55:1), but Philip wondered where the money was to be had to buy it.]  ^b37 But he answered and said unto them, Give ye them to eat. And they say unto him, Shall we go and buy two hundred shillings' worth of bread, and give them to eat? [The word translated shilling is the Roman denarius, worth about seventeen cents. The sum was not large, as we reckon money, but, considering the purchasing power of money in those days, it was an imposing sum, and it is to be doubted if the treasury-bag of Judas ever contained the fourth part of it. For a denarius was the regular price for a day's labor.]  38 And he saith unto them, How many [376] loaves have ye? go and see.  ^d8 One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, saith unto him,  9 There is a lad here, who hath five barley loaves, and two fishes: but what are they among so many? ^bAnd when they knew, they say, Five, and two fishes.  ^a17 And they say unto him, {csaid,} ^aWe have here but cno more than five loaves and two fishes; except we should go and buy meat for all this people.  14 For they were about five thousand men. [When sent to see what was in their larder, it appears that they had nothing at all. Andrew reports the finding of the boy's lunch while it was as yet the boy's property. Some of the others, having secured it from the boy, report it now at the disposal of Jesus, but comment on its insufficiency. Eastern loaves were thin and small, like good-sized crackers, and around the Sea of Galilee, the salting and preserving of small fish was an especial industry. These fish, therefore, were about the size of sardines. The whole supply, therefore, was no more than enough for one hungry boy. But each loaf had to be divided between a thousand, and each fish between twenty-five hundred men.]  ^a18 And he said, Bring them hither to me.  19 And he commanded the multitude to sit down ^cAnd  ^d10 Jesus said, cunto his disciples, Make them dthe people sit down. cin companies, about fifty each.  15 And they did so, and made them all sit down.  ^b40 And they sat down in ranks, by hundreds, and by fifties. ^dNow there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down, in number about five thousand. [By thus arranging them in orderly companies, Jesus accomplished several things. He saved his apostles much time and labor in distributing the food. He insured that each one should be fed, and that the reality of the miracle could not be questioned, and he ascertained definitely how many men were fed.]  ^c16 And  ^d11 Jesus therefore took athe five loaves, and the two fishes, and looking up to heaven, che blessed and brake them, band brake the loaves; dand having [377] given thanks, he distributed to them that were set down; aand gave the loaves to the disciples, and the disciples to the multitudes. {cand gave to the disciples to set before the multitude.} dlikewise also of the fishes as much as they would. band the two fishes divided he among them all.  42 And they all ate, cand were all filled. [He blessed the loaves and fishes by returning thanks for them. This and similar acts of Jesus are our precedents for giving thanks, or, "asking the blessing," at our tables]:  ^d12 And when they were filled, he saith unto his disciples, Gather up the broken pieces which remain over, that nothing be lost. [Christ is the economist of the universe. This command was in keeping with his laws which permit nothing to suffer annihilation. Ruin and destruction have no other effect than merely to change the form of things. Every atom of the material world which was here at the beginning of creation is here to-day, though it may have changed its form a million times in the progress of events.] So they gathered them up, cand there was taken {athey took} cup that which remained over to them of athe broken pieces, dand filled atwelve baskets full. {bbasketfuls,} dwith broken pieces from the five barley loaves, which remained over unto them that had eaten. band also of the fishes.  ^a21 And they that did eat {bate} the loaves were aabout five thousand men, besides women and children. [Considering the distance from any town, the women and children would not likely be numerous. They form no part of the count, for Eastern usage did not permit the women to sit with the men. They, with the little ones, would stand apart.]  ^d14 When therefore the people saw the sign which he did, they said, This is of a truth the prophet that cometh into the world. [That is to say, this is the Messiah, the prophet promised at Deu 18:15. Their desire to avenge the death of John made them feverishly anxious for the appearance of the Messiah, but this faith was inconstant.] [378]

[FFG 375-378]

McGarvey: Luk 9:18-21

LXX.
THIRD WITHDRAWAL FROM HEROD'S TERRITORY.
Subdivision B.
THE GREAT CONFESSION MADE BY PETER.
(Near Cæsarea Philippi, Summer, A. D. 29.)
^aMATT. XVI. 13-20; ^bMARK VIII. 27-30; ^cLUKE IX. 18-21.

   ^b27 And Jesus went forth, and his disciples, into the villages of Cæsarea Philippi [The city of Paneas was enlarged by Herod Philip I., and named in honor of Tiberias Cæsar. It also bore the name Philippi because of the name of its builder, and to distinguish it from Cæsarea Palestinæ or Cæsarea Strotonis, a city on the Mediterranean coast. Paneas, the original name, still pertains to the village, though now corrupted to Banias. It is situated under the shadow of Mt. Hermon at the eastern of the two principal sources of the Jordan, and is the most northern city of the Holy Land visited by Jesus, and save Sidon, the most northern point of his travels]: ^a13 Now when Jesus came into the parts of Cæsarea Philippi, cit came to pass, bon the way cas he was praying apart, the disciples were with him: and he asked bhis disciples, saying, unto them, ^aWho do men say that the Son of man is? ^aWho do men {cthe multitude} say that I am? [Jesus asks them to state the popular opinion concerning himself as contrasted with the opinion of the rulers, Pharisees, etc.] 19 And they answering btold him, saying, {csaid,} ^aSome say John the Baptist; cbut {band} asome, bothers, Elijah; but {cand} others, ^aJeremiah, or cthat one of the old prophets is risen again. [For comment on similar language, see Gal 1:16] hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father who is in heaven. [Peter was blessed by having a revelation from God by which facts were made known that could not be discovered by the unaided human reason. God had revealed the truth to him in the words and works of Jesus, and this revealed truth was to him a source of happiness both temporal and eternal. Like confessions as to this truth had been made before (Mat 14:33, Joh 1:49), but they had been made under the pressure of miraculous display and strong emotion. Hence they were rather exclamatory guesses at the truth, and differed from this now made by Peter which was the calm expression of a settled conviction produced both by the character and by the miracles of Jesus.]  18 And I say also unto [411] thee, That thou art Peter [petros, a noun masculine] and upon this rock [Petra, a noun feminine] I will build my church [The tense here is future. Christ had followers, but they were not yet organized, and hence had no such structural form as to suggest a similitude to a building]; and the gates of Hades [Hades was the name of the abode of the dead. Its gate symbolized its power because the military forces of an ancient city always sallied forth from its gates] shall not prevail against it. [Death shall neither destroy the organic church which is in the world, nor the members thereof which go down into the grave (1Th 4:15, 1Co 15:54-56). No passage in the word of God has called forth more discussion than this and the succeeding verse, the first point in dispute being as to what is meant by the rock; i. e., whether Christ or Peter or Peter's confession is the foundation of the church; the second point being as to the extent of the power and authority bestowed on Peter by the symbol of the keys. To aid us in reaching a correct conclusion we must note that Jesus speaks in metaphorical language. He represents: 1. His kingdom as a city about to be built upon a rock. 2. Himself as a builder of the city. 3. Simon Peter as the one who holds the keys to the gates by which egress and regress is had to the city. 4. The gates or powers of the opposing city of Hades are not able to prevail against this kingdom city. Now, since Jesus himself occupies the position of builder in the metaphor, and Simon Peter the position of key-bearer, neither of them can properly be regarded as the foundation. The foundation must therefore be the confession which Peter has just spoken, since it is all that remains that is liable to such application. The case could present no difficulty at all were it not for the unmistakable allusion to Peter (petros, a loose stone) as in some way associated with petra, the bedrock or foundation. But in the light of other Scriptures this allusion presents no difficulty; for all the apostles were such stones, and were closely allied to the foundation (Eph 2:19-22, Gal 2:9). Compare also 1Pe 2:3-8. The Christian religion in all its redemptive completeness rests and can rest on no other [412] foundation than Christ (1Co 3:11). But the church or kingdom of Christ among men rests organically and constitutionally upon a foundation of apostolic authority, for the apostles were the mouthpieces of the Holy Spirit; but in this apostolic foundation the other apostles had equal rights, each one of them becoming a living foundation stone as soon as his faith led him to make a like confession with Simon Peter. Hence we find the apostle Paul asserting the superior authority of the apostles to all other Christian teachers and workers (1Co 12:28), and times without number asserting his apostolic office and authority -- 1Co 9:1, 1Co 9:2, 2Co 12:12, 2Co 13:1-4, Gal 1:1, Gal 1:8, Eph 3:1-6, Phm 1:8, Phm 1:9.]  19 I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. [Continuing his metaphorical language, Jesus promised to Peter the keys; i. e., the authority to lay down the rules or laws (under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, however) for admission to or exclusion from the kingdom or church. This office was, of course, given to Peter in a secondary sense, since it must ever belong to Christ in a primary sense (Rev 3:7). The figure of key-bearer is taken from Isa 22:22. Peter used the keys on the day of Pentecost to open the church to the Jews, and about seven years afterward, at Cæsarea Palestinæ, he used them again to admit the Gentiles. In fixing the terms of admission, he also fixed the terms of exclusion, for all who are not admitted are excluded. The keys as used by Peter have never been changed; that is to say, the terms of admission abide forever. Plurality of keys is merely part of the parabolic drapery, since cities were accustomed to have several gates, thus requiring a plurality of keys. The kingdom was not opened to Jews and Gentiles by different keys, since both were admitted on the same terms. The words "bind" and "loose" were commonly used among the Jews in the sense of forbid and allow. Abundant instances of this usage have been collected by Lightfoot. They relate to the binding and annulling of laws and rules. [413] In this sense the word for loose, is used very many times in the New Testament, but it is translated by the word break or broken (Mat 5:19, Joh 7:23, Joh 10:35). The power here given to Peter was soon after extended to the rest of the apostles (Mat 18:18). The apostles were to lay down, as they afterward did, the organic law of the new kingdom, defining what things were prohibited and what permitted. Their actions in this behalf would of course be ratified in heaven, because they were none other than the acts of the Holy Spirit expressed through the apostles.]  ^b30 And  ^a20 Then {^c21 But} acharged he the disciples cand commanded them to tell this to no man; bthat they should tell no man of him. athat he was the Christ. [The people were not ready to receive this truth, nor were the apostles sufficiently instructed to rightly proclaim it. Their heads were full of wrong ideas with regard to Christ's work and office, and had they been permitted to teach about him, they would have said that which it would have been necessary for them to subsequently correct, thus producing confusion.]

[FFG 410-414]

McGarvey: Luk 9:22-27

LXX.
THIRD WITHDRAWAL FROM HEROD'S TERRITORY.
Subdivision C.
PASSION FORETOLD. PETER REBUKED.
^aMATT. XVI. 21-28; ^bMARK VIII. 31-38; IX. 1; ^cLUKE IX. 22-27.

   ^a21 From that time [i. e., from the time of Peter's confession, and about three-quarters of a year before the crucifixion] began Jesus to show unto his disciples,  ^b31 And to teach them, that the Son of man must suffer many things [Since the apostles, by the mouth of Peter, had just confessed Jesus as Christ, it was necessary that their crude Messianic conceptions should be corrected and that the true Christhood -- the Christhood of the atonement and the resurrection -- should be revealed to them. In discourse and parable Jesus had explained the principles and the nature of the kingdom, and now, from this time forth, he taught the [414] apostles about himself, the priestly King], athat he must go up to Jerusalem, band be rejected by aand suffer many things of the elders, and bthe chief priests, and the scribes [The Jewish Sanhedrin was generally designated by thus naming the three constituent parts. See Joh 2:19-22, Joh 3:14, Mat 12:38-40), but these had not been understood by either friend or foe. Now that he thus spoke plainly, we may see by Peter's conduct that they comprehended and were deeply moved by the dark and more sorrowful portion of his revelation, and failed to grasp the accompanying promise of a resurrection.]  ^a22 And Peter took him, and began to rebuke him, saying, Be it far from thee, Lord: this shall never be unto thee. [Evidently Peter regarded Jesus as overcome by a fit of despondency, and felt that such talk would utterly dishearten the disciples if it were persisted in. His love, therefore, prompted him to lead Jesus to one side and deal plainly with him. In so doing, Peter overstepped the laws of discipleship and assumed that he knew better than the Master what course to pursue. In his feelings he was the forerunner of those modern wiseacres who confess themselves constrained to reject the doctrine of a suffering Messiah.]  ^b33 But he turning about, and seeing his disciples. aturned, brebuked Peter, and saith, {asaid} unto Peter, Get thee behind me, Satan: thou art a stumbling-block unto me: for thou mindest not the things of God, but the things that be of men. [Jesus withdrew from Peter and turned back to his disciples. By the confession of the truth Simon had just won his promised name of Peter, which allied him to Christ, the [415] foundation. But when he now turned aside to speak the language of the tempter, Peter receives the name Satan, as if he were the very devil himself. Peter presented the same temptation with which the devil once called forth a similar rebuke from Christ (Mat 4:10). He was unconsciously trying to dissuade Jesus from the death on which the salvation of the world depended, and this was working into Satan's hand. Peter did not mind or think about the Messiah's kingdom as divinely conceived and revealed in the Scriptures.]  ^b34 And he called unto him the multitude with his disciples,  ^a24 Then said Jesus unto his disciples,  ^c23 And he said unto all [despite the efforts of Jesus to seek privacy, the people were still near enough at hand to be called and addressed], If any man would come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily [comp. Rom 8:36, 1Co 15:31] and follow me [For comment, see Luk 12:9, 2Ti 1:8, 2Ti 1:12, 2Ti 2:12] in this adulterous and sinful generation [see pp. 305, 306], the Son of man also shall be ashamed of him cwhen he cometh in his own glory, and the glory of the {bhis} ^cFather, and of {bwith} the holy angels. [Peter had just been ashamed of the words in which Christ pictured himself as undergoing his humiliation. Jesus warns him and all others of the dangers of such shame.]  ^a27 For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father, with his angels; and then he shall render unto every man according to his deed. [The Father's glory, the angels, and the rendering of universal judgment form a threefold indication that Jesus here speaks of his final coming to judge the world.]  ^b1 And he said unto them, Verily I say unto you,  ^c27 But I tell you of a truth, ^aThere are some of them that stand here, who shall in no wise taste of death, till they see the Son of man coming in his kingdom. ctill they see the kingdom of God. bcome with power. [The mention of his final coming suggested one nearer at hand which was to be accomplished during the life of most of those present, since none but Jesus himself and Judas were to die previous to that time. The kingdom was to come and likewise the King. The former coming was literal, the latter spiritual. Those who refer this expression to the transfiguration certainly err, for no visible kingdom was established at that time. The expression refers to the kingdom which was organized and set in motion on the Pentecost which followed the resurrection of Jesus. It was set up with power, because three thousand souls were converted the first day, and many other gospel triumphs speedily followed.] [417]

[FFG 414-417]

McGarvey: Luk 9:28-36

LXX.
THIRD WITHDRAWAL FROM HEROD'S TERRITORY.
Subdivision D.
THE TRANSFIGURATION. CONCERNING ELIJAH.
(A Spur of Hermon, near Cæsarea Philippi.)
^aMATT. XVII. 1-13; ^bMARK IX. 2-13; ^cLUKE IX. 28-36.

   ^c28 And it came to pass about eight days {asix days} cafter these sayings [Mark agrees with Matthew in saying six days. Luke qualifies his estimate by saying "about." But if we regard him as including the day of the "sayings" and also the day of the transfiguration, and the other two as excluding these days, then the three statements tally exactly. The "sayings" referred to were the words of Jesus with regard to his suffering at Jerusalem], that ^aJesus taketh {ctook} awith him Peter, and James, and John his brother [These three, as leaders among the apostles, needed the special encouragement which was about to be given. For further comment, see Mar 9:30). Moreover there is little doubt that at that time and for centuries previous there was an inhabited fortress upon Mt. Tabor (Jos 19:12; Jos. B. J. i. 8, 7; Vit. 37). Moreover, Mt. Tabor is not a high mountain, its elevation above the sea being but 1,748 feet. Hermon, on the contrary, is the highest mountain in Palestine, its elevation, according to Reclus, being 9,400 feet. It was Jesus' custom to withdraw for prayer by night (Mat 14:23, Mat 14:24, Luk 6:12, Luk 21:37, Luk 22:39) and the transfiguration took place at night.]  29 And as he was praying, the fashion of his countenance was altered, and his raiment became white and dazzling.  ^a2 and he was transfigured [i. e., transformed; the description shows to what extent] before [418] them; and his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light. bglistering, exceeding white; so as no fuller on earth can whiten them. [We may conceive of the body of Jesus becoming luminous and imparting its light to his garments. The Christian looks forward to beholding such a transfiguration and also to participating in it -- 1Jo 3:2.]  ^a3 And, behold, there appeared unto them ctwo men, who were Moses and {bwith} ^cElijah; band they were talking with Jesus. [The three apostles could identify Moses and Elijah by the course of this conversation, though it is possible that miraculous knowledge may have accompanied miraculous sight.]  ^c31 who [i. e., Moses and Elijah] who appeared in glory, and spake of his decease which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem. [The word for decease is "exodus," an unusual word for death. It means a departure and is, as Bengel says, a very weighty word, since it includes the passion, crucifixion, death, burial, resurrection, and ascension.]  32 Now Peter and they that were with him were heavy with sleep [it being night]; but when they were fully awake, they saw his glory, and the two men that stood with him.  33 And it came to pass, as they were departing from him, ^aPeter answered and said {banswereth and saith} aunto Jesus, ^bRabbi, ^cMaster, ^aLord, it is good for us to be here: band let us make three tabernacles; aif thou wilt, I will make here three tabernacles; one for thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elijah. cnot knowing what he said.  ^b6 For he knew not what to answer; for they became sore afraid. [Peter's fears overcame his discretion, but did not silence his tongue. Though he trembled at the fellowship of Moses and Elijah, he also realized the blessedness of it and could not let them depart without an effort to detain them, though the best inducement that he could offer was to build three booths, or arbors, made of the branches of trees, for their and Christ's accommodation. By thus speaking, Peter placed Jesus upon the same level with Moses [419] and Elijah -- all three being worthy of a booth.]  ^c34 And while he said these things,  ^a5 While he yet speaking, behold, bthere came aa bright cloud bovershadowing them: {cand overshadowed them:} and they feared as they entered into the cloud. [Clouds often roll against the sides of Mt. Hermon, but the brightness of this cloud and the fear which it produced suggests that it was the Shekinah, or cloud of glory, which was the symbol of God's peculiar presence -- Exo 13:21, Exo 13:22, Exo 19:9, Exo 19:18, Exo 24:16, Exo 40:34, Exo 40:35, 1Ki 8:10.] aand behold, bthere came a voice out of the cloud, asaying, This is my beloved Son, cmy chosen: ain whom I am well pleased; hear ye him. [This command contains the chief significance of the entire scene. Spoken in the presence of Moses and Elijah, it gave Jesus that pre-eminence which a son has over servants. He is to be heard. His words have pre-eminence over those of the lawgiver and the prophet (Heb 1:1, Heb 1:2). Peter recognized Jesus as thus honored by this voice -- 2Pe 1:16-18.]  6 And when the disciples heard it, they fell on their face, and were sore afraid. [As every man is who hears the voice of God.]  7 And Jesus came and touched them and said, Arise, and be not afraid. [As mediator between man and God, Jesus removes fear.]  ^b8 And suddenly looking round about,  ^a8 And lifting up their eyes, bthey saw no one any more, save Jesus only with themselves.  ^c36 And when the voice came, Jesus was found alone. [Leaders and prophets depart, but Christ abides -- Heb 3:5, Heb 3:6.]  ^b9 And as they were coming down from the mountain, he charged them, that they should tell no man what things they had seen, save when the Son of man should have risen again from the dead. ^a9 And Jesus commanded them, saying, Tell the vision to no man, until the Son of man be risen from the dead. [The people were not ready for the publication of such an event. To have told it now would only have been to raise doubts as to their veracity.]  ^b10 And they kept the saying, [420] questioning among themselves what the rising from the dead should mean. [Jesus spake so often in parables and made so frequent use of metaphors that the apostles did not take his words concerning the resurrection in a literal sense. They regarded his language as figurative, and sought to interpret the figure.] ^cAnd they held their peace, and told no man in those days any of the things which they had seen.  ^a10 And his disciples asked him, saying, Why then say the scribes that Elijah must first come? bHow is it that the scribes say that Elijah must first come? [They were puzzled by the disappearance of Elijah. They looked upon him as having come to fulfill the prophecy of Malachi (Mal 4:5, Mal 4:6), but they marveled that, having come, he should so soon withdraw, and that they should be forbidden to tell that they had seen him, since the sight of him would be some sign of Jesus' Messiahship.]  ^a11 And he answered and bsaid unto them, Elijah indeed cometh first, and restoreth {ashall restore} all things [this sentence leads some to think that Elijah will appear again before the second coming of our Lord, but the words are to be interpreted in connection with the rest of the passage]: band how it is written of the Son of man, that he should suffer many things, and be set at naught? [If the writings concerning Elijah perplexed the apostles, those concerning the Messiah perplexed them also. From one set of prophecies they might learn something about the other. Elijah came, but the Scriptures concerning him were so little understood that he was put to death. The Messiah also came, and the prophecies concerning him were so little understood that he, too, would be set at naught.]  13 But I say unto you, that Elijah is come, aalready, and they knew him not, but did {band they have also done} unto him whatsoever they would. Even as it is written of him. ^aEven so shall the Son of man also suffer of them.  13 Then understood the disciples that he spake unto them of John the Baptist. [Malachi used the name of Elijah figuratively to represent John the Baptist. [421] See pp. 102, 284. That there shall be a second coming of Elijah in fulfillment of this prophecy is hardly possible, for the office of Elijah is prophetically outlined as that of the restorer. But Elijah could not restore Judaism, for that dispensation had been done away with in Christ. He could hardly have chosen to restore Christianity, for even if it should need such a restoration, a Jewish prophet would be ill-suited to such an office. One of the apostles would be vastly preferable.]

[FFG 418-422]

McGarvey: Luk 9:37-43

LXX.
THIRD WITHDRAWAL FROM HEROD'S TERRITORY.
Subdivision E.
HEALING THE DEMONIAC BOY.
(Region of Cæsarea Philippi.)
^aMATT. XVII. 14-20; ^bMARK IX. 14-29; ^cLUKE IX. 37-43.

   ^c37 And it came to pass, on the next day, when they were come down from the mountain, ^b14 And when they came to the disciples [the nine apostles which had been left behind], they saw a great multitude about them [We last heard of the multitude at Mar 8:34. See Exo 34:29), but this can hardly have been so, for it would have been at variance with the secrecy which Jesus enjoined as to his transfiguration. Moreover, so important [422] a feature could hardly have escaped from the narratives of all three evangelists. Undoubtedly the amazement was caused by the sudden and opportune return of Jesus. Those who urge that this was not enough to produce amazement show themselves to be poor students of human nature. The multitude had been listening to and no doubt enjoying the questions of the scribes. The unexpected appearance of Jesus therefore impressed them with the sudden sense of having been detected in wrong-doing which invariably leads to amazement. Moreover, those who remained loyal to Jesus would be equally amazed by his approach, since they could not but feel that an exciting crisis was at hand.]  ^a14 And when they were come to the multitude [i. e., when Jesus and the multitude met], bhe asked them, What question ye with them? [He surprised the scribes by this demand and they saw at once that he knew all and they felt rebuked for their unwarranted exultation, and so kept silent.]  ^c38 And, behold, athere came to him a man, bone of {cfrom} the multitude, akneeling to him, banswered him, ccried, saying, ^bTeacher,  ^a15 Lord, ^bI brought unto thee my son, who hath a dumb spirit; ahave mercy on my son: for he is epileptic, and suffereth grievously; ^cI beseech thee look upon my son: for he is mine only child.  39 and behold a spirit taketh him, and he suddenly crieth out;  ^b18 and wheresoever it taketh him, it dasheth him down: cand it teareth him that he foameth, band grindeth his teeth, and pineth away: cand it hardly departeth from him, bruising him sorely. [When the scribes did not answer, the father of the demoniac boy broke the embarrassing silence by telling Jesus about the matter in question. His child was deaf, dumb, and epileptic, but all these physical ailments were no doubt produced by the demon or evil spirit which possessed him. The phrase "hardly departeth from him" rather suggests the continual unrest in which the demon kept his victim rather than that the demon ever really relinquished his possession of him. Pauses in the delirium of agony were regarded as departures of the [423] demon.]  ^a16 And I brought him to thy disciples, band I spake to thy disciples that they should cast him out;  ^c40 And I besought thy disciples to cast him out; and they could not. bthey were not able. aand they could not cure him.  17 And Jesus answered and said, {banswereth them and saith,} ^aO faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? how long shall I bear with you? cbring hither thy son to me. bunto me. [As there was no reason to accuse the apostles of perversity, it is evident that the rebuke of Jesus is addressed generally to all and not particularly to the disciples. The perverse faithlessness and infidelity of the scribes had operated upon the multitude, and the doubts of the multitude had in turn influenced the apostles, and thus, with the blind leading the blind, all had fallen into the ditch of impotent disbelief. The disbelief of the people was a constant grief to Jesus, but it must have been especially so in this case, for it fostered and perpetrated this scene of weakness, mean-spiritedness, misery, and suffering which stood out in such sharp contrast with the peace, blessedness, and glory from which he had just come.]  20 And they brought him unto him:  ^c42 And as he was yet a coming, bwhen he saw him [saw Jesus], straightway cthe demon dashed him down, and bthe spirit tare him grievously; and he fell on the ground, and wallowed foaming.  21 And he asked his father, How long is it since this hath come unto him? And he said, From a child.  22 And oft-times it hath cast him both into the fire, and into the waters, to destroy him: {ahe falleth into the fire, and oft-times into the water.} [By causing the long-standing nature of the case and the malignity of it to be fully revealed, Jesus emphasized the power of the cure] bbut if thou canst do anything, have compassion on us, and help us.  23 And Jesus said unto him, If thou canst! All things are possible to him that believeth. [Jesus echoed back the "if thou canst" which the man had uttered. If Jesus marveled at the faith of a Gentile which trusted the fullness [424] of his divine power, he also marveled at the disbelief of this Jew which thus coolly and presumptuously questions the sufficiency of that power. In the remainder of his answer Jesus shows that the lack of power is not in him, but in those who would be recipients of the blessings of his power, for those blessings are obtained by faith.]  24 Straightway the father of the child cried out, and said I believe; help thou my unbelief. [He confessed his faith, but desired so ardently to have the child healed that he feared lest he should not have faith enough to accomplish that desire, and therefore asked for more faith.]  25 And when Jesus saw that the multitude came running together, he rebuked the unclean spirit, saying unto him, Thou dumb and deaf spirit, I command thee, come out of him, and enter no more into him. [Jesus had found the multitude when he came down from the mountain, but the excitement in this multitude was evidently drawing men from every quarter, so that the crowd was momentarily growing greater. A longer conversation with the man might have been beneficial, but to prevent the gathering of any larger company Jesus acted at once and spoke the words of command. Since the demon was manifestly of a most daring, impudent, and audacious nature, Jesus took the precaution to forbid it attempting to re-enter its victim, a precaution which the conduct of the demon abundantly justified.]  26 And having cried out, and torn him much, he came out: and the boy became as one dead; insomuch that the more part said, He is dead. [The malicious effrontery and obstinacy displayed by this demon stands in marked contrast to the cowed, supplicating spirit shown by the Gergesene legion. See Mat 13:32). Faith has such power with God that even little faith becomes well-nigh omnipotent in an age of miracles.]  ^b29 And he said unto them, This kind can come out by nothing, save by prayer. [Prayer was the means of increasing faith. Demons, like spirits in the flesh, have different degrees of will force, some being easier to subdue than others, and this once, being particularly willful and obstinate, required more faith to expel it.]

[FFG 422-426]

McGarvey: Luk 9:44-45

LXXI.
RETURN TO GALILEE. THE PASSION FORETOLD.
^aMATT. XVII. 22, 23; ^bMARK IX. 30-32; ^cLUKE IX. 43-45.

   ^b30 And they went forth from thence [from the region of Cæsarea Philippi], and passed through Galilee [on his way to Capernaum]; and he would not that any man should know it. [He was still seeking that retirement which began on the journey to Tyre. See Joh 7:3, Joh 7:4. See page 439.] [426]  31 For he taught his disciples [the reason for his retirement is here given: he wished to prepare his disciples for his passion], and said unto them, The Son of man is delivered up [the present tense is used for the future to express the nearness and certainty of the event] into the hands of men,  ^a22 And {^cBut} awhile they abode in Galilee, cwhile all were marvelling at all the things which he did, ^aJesus csaid unto his disciples,  44 Let these sayings sink into your ears: for the Son of man shall be delivered up into the hands of men. [We have here two notes of time during which Jesus spoke of his passion. It was all the while he was in Galilee, between his return from Cæsarea and his departure into Judæa, for which see page 439. The length of time suggests that the sad lesson was oft repeated, but was at a time when the marvels of his works strengthened the faith of the disciples so as to enable them to bear the instruction.] band they shall kill him; and when he is killed, after three days he shall rise again. {aand the third day he shall be raised up.} [For comment on similar language see page 306.] And they were exceeding sorry. [Peter's experience taught them not to attempt to correct Jesus while thus speaking, so there was nothing left for them but to grieve at his words.]  ^c45 But they understood not this {bthe} saying, cand it was concealed from them, that they should not perceive it [What was told to them was not for their present but their future benefit, and therefore they were left to puzzle over the words of Jesus]; and they were afraid to ask him about this saying. [Not so much from any awe with which they regarded him, as from the delicacy of the subject itself, and their own sorrow, which shrank from knowing it more fully.] [427]

[FFG 426-427]

McGarvey: Luk 9:46-50

LXXIII.
FALSE AMBITION VERSUS CHILDLIKENESS.
(Capernaum, Autumn, A. D. 29.)
^aMATT. XVIII. 1-14; ^bMARK IX. 33-50; ^cLUKE IX. 46-50.

   ^c46 And there arose a reasoning among them, which of them was the greatest.  ^b33 And he came to Capernaum:  ^c47 But when Jesus saw the reasoning of their heart, band when he was in the house [probably Simon Peter's house] he asked them, What were ye reasoning on the way?  34 But they held their peace: for they had disputed one with another on the way, who was the greatest. [The Lord with his disciples was now on his way back to Galilee from Cæsarea Philippi, where, some ten days before, he had promised the keys of the kingdom to Peter, and where he had honored Peter and the sons of Zebedee by a mysterious withdrawal into the mount. These facts, therefore, no doubt started the dispute as to which should hold the highest office in the kingdom. The fires of envy thus set burning were not easily quenched. We find them bursting forth again from time to time down to the very verge of Christ's exit from the world -- Mat 20:20-24, Luk 22:24.]  35 And he sat down, and called the twelve, and he said unto them, If any man would be first, he shall be last of all, and servant of all. [The spirit which proudly seeks to be first in place thereby consents to make itself last in character, for it reverses the graces of the soul, turning love into envy, humility into pride, generosity into selfishness, etc.]  ^a1 In that hour came the disciples unto Jesus, saying, Who then is greatest in the kingdom of heaven? [Not comprehending our Lord's answer and wishing to have him definitely point out the honored person, they now come asking this question. Had Jesus wished to teach the primacy of Peter, no better opportunity [430] could have been found.]  2 And he called to him a little child  ^b36 And he took a child, cand set him by his side, band set him in the midst of them: and taking him in his arms, he said unto them, ^aVerily I say unto you, Except ye turn, and become as little children, ye shall in no wise enter into the kingdom of heaven.  4 Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven. [Jesus told them plainly that they must turn from their sin of personal ambition or they could not be his disciples -- part of his kingdom -- and he pointed them to a little child as the model in this particular, because the humble spirit in which the child looks up to its parents stood out in sharp contrast with their self-seeking, self-exalting ambition.]  5 And  ^b37 Whosoever shall receive one of such little children {cthis little child} in my name, receiveth me: and whosoever shall receive {breceiveth} me, receiveth not me, but creceiveth him that sent me: for he that is least among you all, the same is great. [Greatness does not consist in place. Disciples who receive those of a childlike spirit and disposition that they may thereby honor the name of Christ are honored of Christ as the greatest. The words "in my name" probably suggested to John the incident which follows.]  49 And John answered and said, Master, ^bTeacher, we saw one casting out demons in thy name; and we forbade him, cbecause he followeth {bfollowed} cnot with us. [Was not one of our immediate company. This man's actions had excited the jealousy of John. Jealousy as to official prerogative is very common. His zeal for Jesus reminds us of the friends of Moses (Num 11:27-29). But Jesus shows that one who knows enough of him to use his power is not apt to dishonor him.]  50 But Jesus said unto him, ^bForbid him not: for there is no man who shall do a mighty work in my name, and be able quickly to speak evil of me.  40 For he that is not against us is for us. cfor he that is not against [431] you is for you. [The converse of this statement is found at Mat 12:30. The two statements taken together declare the impossibility of neutrality. If a man is in no sense against Christ, then he is for him; and if he is not for Christ, he is against him.]  ^b41 For whosoever shall give you a cup of water to drink, because ye are Christ's, verily I say unto you, he shall in no wise lose his reward. [Jesus here returns to the discussion of greatness, and reasserts the doctrine that the smallest act of righteousness, if performed for the sake of the King, shall be honored in the kingdom. For comment, see Isa 66:24, and refers to those worms which feed upon the carcasses of men. The fire and worm can hardly be taken literally, for the two figures are incompatible -- worms do not frequent fires. The two figures depict hell as a state of decay which is never completed and of burning which does not consume. Some regard the worm as a symbol of the gnawings of remorse, and the fire as a symbol of actual punishment.]  49 For every one shall be salted with fire. [At this point many ancient authorities add, "and every sacrifice shall be salted with salt."]  50 Salt is good: but if the salt have lost its saltness, wherewith will ye season it? Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace one with another. [We have here one of the most difficult passages in the Bible. If the word "fire" were found in an isolated text it might be taken as a symbol either of purification or of punishment. But the context here determines its meaning, for it has just been taken twice as a symbol of punishment. Salt is a symbol of that which preserves from decay. Now, Jesus has just been talking about the future state, with its two conditions or states [433] of bliss and punishment. In both of these states the souls of men are salted or preserved. Every one of the wicked is preserved by a negative or false salt -- a worm which feeds but does not die, and a fire which consumes but refuses to go out. Though this state is a condition of life, it is such a negative and false condition that it is elsewhere termed a second death. It is therefore rightly called a "salted" or preserved condition, yet it contradicts the symbolic idea of saltness. As we understand it, the difficulty of the passage lies in this contradictory sense in which the term "salt" is used -- a contradiction in which the term "eternal life" also shares, for eternal life is the constant contrast to life in hell, though that life also is spoken of as eternal. The true Christian -- the man who offers his body as "a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God" -- is preserved by the true salt or element of preservation, which is a divinely begotten life of righteousness within him. This is the good state of preservation which a man is counseled to obtain, and not to lose, since it will not be restored to him. The passage summarizes and contrasts the two states of future preservation, one being the salt of eternal life which preserves a man to enjoy the love of God in heaven, and the other being the salt of fire which preserves him in hell to endure the just punishment of God. The "every one" in Mar 9:49 refers to the sufferers mentioned in Mar 9:48.]  ^a10 See that ye despise not one of these little ones: for I say unto you, that in heaven their angels do always behold the face of my Father who is in heaven. [Jesus here resumes his warning against that pride which exalts itself and despises the humble; disclosing the fact that the ministration of angels is not only general but special, certain angels being entrusted with the care of certain individuals, and all of them supplementing their own wisdom and power by direct access to the presence of God.]  12 How think ye? if any man have a hundred sheep, and one of them be gone astray, doth he not leave the ninety and nine, and go unto the mountains, and seek that which is goeth astray?  13 And if so be that he find it, verily I say unto you, [434] he rejoiceth over it more than over the ninety and nine which have not gone astray.  14 Even so it is not the will of your Father who is in heaven, that one of these little ones should perish. [Those who have led highly moral lives have a tendency to despise those who have been defiled by gross sin. This truth is abundantly illustrated by the conduct of the Pharisees, but that such little ones should not be despised Jesus speaks this warning parable. Though the sheep in the fold and the one that is lost have, as individuals, the same intrinsic value, yet this even balance of value is somewhat modified by the sentiments and emotions incident to loss and recovery. Moreover, the anxiety and trouble caused by the sheep's wandering do not depreciate but rather enhance the value of that sheep, because the heart of the Shepherd is so replete with goodness that the misbehavior of the sheep prompts him to feel pity and compassion, rather than to cherish resentment and revenge. Sin does not add to a man's intrinsic value in God's sight -- nay, it detracts from it; but it excites in the heart of God pity, compassion, and other tender emotions which make it extremely dangerous for those who hinder his reformation and imperil his soul by despising him.]

[FFG 430-435]

McGarvey: Luk 9:51-56

LXXVI.
THE PRIVATE JOURNEY TO JERUSALEM.
(Through Samaria. Probably September, A. D. 29.)
^cLUKE IX. 51-56; ^dJOHN VII. 10.

   ^d10 But when his brethren were gone up unto the feasts, then went he also up, not publicly, but as it were in secret. [This section follows immediately after the preceding. The secrecy of this journey consists in the fact that Jesus did not join the caravans or pilgrim bands, and that he did not follow the usual Peræan route, but went directly through Samaria.]  ^c51 And it came to pass, when the days were well-nigh come that he should be received up, he steadfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem,  52 and sent messengers before his face: and they went, and entered into a village of the Samaritans, to make ready for him. [Taken in its strictest sense, the expression "taken up" refers to our Lord's ascension, but it is here used to embrace his entire passion. Though our Lord's death was still six months distant, his going to Jerusalem is described as attended with a special effort, because from that time forth Jerusalem was to occupy the position of headquarters, as Capernaum had done, and his [441] withdrawals and returns would be with regard to it. The presence of the twelve alone is sufficient to account for the messengers. He did not wish to overtax the fickle hospitality of the Samaritans by coming unannounced.]  53 And they did not receive him, because his face was as though he were going to Jerusalem. [Had Jesus come among them on a missionary tour he would doubtless have been received. But when he came as a Jew passing through to Jerusalem, and using their highway as a convenience, they rejected him.]  54 And when his disciples James and John saw this, they said, Lord, wilt thou that we bid fire to come down from heaven, and consume them?  55 But he turned, and rebuked them,  56 And they went to another village. [Refusing to receive a religious teacher was considered a rejection of his claim. This rejection roused the ire of the two sons of thunder and prompted them to suggest that the example of Elijah be followed (2Ki 1:9-12), but Jesus was a Saviour and not a destroyer, so he passed on to another village. The conduct of John in after years contrasts sharply with the wish which he here expressed -- Act 8:14-25.]

[FFG 441-442]

Lapide: Luk 9:1-62

CHAPTER 9

Ver. 8.— One of the old prophets was risen again. As Enoch and Elias will rise again before the end of all things, to resist Antichrist. In like manner as Peter, Bishop and Martyr, the son of Urijah the prophet (Jer 26:20), was recalled to life by S. James the Apostle, and ordained first Bishop of Braga, six hundred years after his decease.  S. Athanasius and others, cited by Bivarius.

Ver. 14.— Make them sit down by fifties in a company, κλισίας, i.e. in companies, in ranks or rows. Syriac.

Ver. 26.— For whosoever shall be ashamed of Me and of My words, of him shall the Son of man be ashamed, when He shall come in His own glory, and in His Father's, and of the holy angels, i.e. at the day of judgment, when he shall sit as judge in the valley of Jehoshaphat, and in the presence of all, both men and angels, reward the just, and punish the evildoers.

Whosoever shall be ashamed of Me. Whosoever, from false shame or from fear of others, shall deny his faith in Me or refuse to obey My commandments, or fear the reproach of the Cross and a crucified Saviour, of him shall the Son of man be ashamed, i.e. him will Christ pass over, and make of no account when He comes in that glory which He has acquired by the humiliation of His passion. For the Cross of Christ seemed to many a shame and a reproach, for Christ crucified was "unto the Jews a stumbling block, and unto the Greeks foolishness," 1Co 1:23. Many, therefore, from shame or fear, did not dare to profess their belief in the Cross, much less to preach Christ crucified. In opposition to whom S. Paul boldly declares, "I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth, to the Jew first, and also to the Greek," Rom 1:i6.

So the monk Martyrius took Christ, who appeared to Him as a wearied leper, upon his shoulders, and carried Him to the monastery, but felt not the weight of his burden, for the burden he was carrying supported him. There Christ assumed His own proper form, and ascending to heaven said, "As thou, Martyrius, wast not ashamed of Me on earth, I will not be ashamed of thee in heaven."

S. Gregory ( hom. 39), also, explaining this passage of S. Luke, writes, "Each one should ask himself, in order to test the reality of his confession of Christ, not whether he is ashamed of the name of the Redeemer, but rather whether by strength of purpose he has subdued all false feelings of earthly shame. In time of persecution believers might have had cause for shame at the treatment to which they were subjected; but now that persecutions are past, there is another aspect of the matter to which we should give heed. We shrink often from being lightly esteemed, and from being evilly spoken of by our fellow men, and in case of a dispute with our neighbour, we are ashamed to be the first to make amends. Because the carnal heart, seeking this world's glory, refuses the grace of humility;" and further on he gives the remedy for this false shame. "Let human pride be confounded, and let every man be ashamed, if he be not the first to seek to make amends to his neighbour; since, after we have done amiss, God by His ministers beseeches us to be reconciled to Him, whom we have offended."

Ver. 29.— Glistering, ε̉ξαστζάπτων, i.e. like lightning glittering and emitting flashes of light, for the raiment of Christ shone from the glory of His altered countenance.

Ver. 31.— And spake of his decease, έξοδον, departure, i.e. death.

1. They spake of His death, that He should die upon the Gross.

2. But the words may signify the victory which Christ was to win over death and sin and Satan. Allusion is made to the deliverance, the exodus of Israel from Egypt, and the destruction of Pharaoh and his host in the Red Sea, which is a type of the deliverance effected by Christ for His people. Cyril thinks that by exodus we must understand "His passion" and the Arabic version interprets the word by "eventum," "outcome:" "They spake of the outcome and the events connected with the sufferings and triumph which He was about to accomplish at Jerusalem."

3. Some take the word to mean the excess of love and all virtues. For on the Cross was exhibited the excess and perfection of love, obedience, humility, patience, and every Christian virtue, inasmuch as Christ by the offering of Himself far exceeded the utmost limits of human virtue. This "excessus" then was an ecstasy of love, wherein Christ went as it were out of Himself to show the immensity of His love for God and men.

Ver. 32.— But Peter and they that were with Him were heavy with sleep.  S. Chrysostom takes sleep to mean amazement. But we may rather accept the words simply as describing the natural sleep which had fallen on the Apostles after the fatigue of their journey and watchings, from which they were awakened by the brightness of the transfiguration. See S. Mat 17:1.

Ver. 49.— And John answered and said, Master, we saw one casting, out devils in Thy name; and we forbad him, because he followed not with us, i.e. because he was not Thy disciple. For he thought that only the Apostles, to whom that power was given, were permitted to do this. Cyril and S. Ambrose remark, "He thinks that he who does not render obedience, should not enjoy the benefit arising therefrom." S. John asks the question, because from his love he was the more zealous for his Master's honour.

Ver. 50.— And Jesus said unto him, Forbid him not: for he that is not against us is for us. They were taught that no one was to be hindered from the exercise of such powers of doing good as he possessed, but rather to be encouraged to seek to increase them. Gloss. God rewards the strong, but does not reject the weak.  S. Ambrose. For, saith Theophylact, the grace of God operates even by means of the unworthy who are not disciples of Christ: like as men are made holy by priests who are not holy themselves. Hence Bede remarks, In the case of heretics, it is not their sacraments which they hold in common with us, but their divisions, so contrary to the truth and peace, which we ought to detest and strive to amend. See S. Mar 9:37.

Ver. 51.— And it came to pass when the time was come ( i.e. was drawing nigh) that He should be received up. The time when, after having fulfilled His earthly ministry, He was to return again to the Father. The day foreordained of God when He was to be taken up into heaven. Euthymius. Up to this time Christ had, for two years and a half, been preaching the Gospel everywhere, but chiefly in the towns and villages of Galilee. There yet remained to Him six months of life. He therefore now set forth to preach more particularly to the inhabitants of the holy city and Judæa, in order to prepare for His passion in Jerusalem and resurrection from the dead. S. Luke therefore implies that hitherto he had written of those things which Christ had done in Galilee, but was henceforward about to tell of what was done in Judæa.

He stedfastly set His face to go to Jerusalem. With a firm and undismayed mind. Bede. Christ turned not aside, as timid and hesitating people are wont to do, but went direct to Jerusalem, eager for the dread encounter. Titus, Theophylact, and others.

"For," says Jerome, "He who of His own will was hastening to His passion, needed both fortitude and firmness."

Thus it behoves us also to nerve our hearts, after the example of the martyrs, to endure hardship, like the lions described by Pliny, who tells us that, "when a lioness fights for her young, she keeps her eyes fixed on the ground, that she may not be terrified by the sight of the hunters."

S. Mark adds, (Mat 10:32, "and Jesus went before them: and they were amazed;" because they saw Him cheerfully and with a good courage going up to suffer and to die, and "as they followed, they were afraid" lest they might be called upon to die with Him.

It seems clear, as I have said in my chronological table, that this journey of Christ from Galilee to Judæa, is the same as that mentioned by S. Mat 19:1; by S. Mar 10:32; and S. Joh 7:2 and Joh 7:14.

From the latter Evangelist it is apparent that the journey was undertaken at the time of the feast of tabernacles, which falls in the September of our year, and since Christ suffered in the following March, it follows that the events here recorded happened about six months before the crucifixion. It is also evident, from what is recorded by S. Luke in the subsequent chapters, that during this period Christ often went to Jerusalem, and returned thence through Judæa, preaching and working miracles, as He had before done in Galilee; but we must bear in mind that S. Luke at times interrupts his narrative to recapitulate certain things which had happened before our Lord had come to Judæa. Jansenius, Francis Lucas, and others.

On the other hand, Maldonatus places this journey a year before the death of our Lord, and is of opinion that Christ returned again to Galilee, and only went up to Jerusalem to suffer and to die. But this explanation does not agree with the words of the fifty-first verse, "when the time was come that He should be received up"—words which would not have been written if the time had been a year distant.

Ver. 52.— And sent messengers before His face: and they went, and entered into a village of the Samaritans, to make ready for Him, to prepare food and lodging for Him and His companions, the twelve Apostles and the holy women who had followed Him out of Galilee. See chap. Luk 8:2, Luk 23:49.

Christ sent them in order that they might become accustomed to act independently of Him, and to be despised of men. Theophylact, Euthymius, and Maldonatus are of opinion that these messengers were James and John. Maldonatus also thinks that by the Greek κώμην, we are to understand city, possibly Samaria itself; but other commentators agree that the disciples were sent to some small town or village of the Samaritans which lay on the road to Jerusalem.

Ver. 53.— And they (the Samaritans) did not receive Him, because His face was as though He would go to Jerusalem. Because He appeared to be going up to Jerusalem (Syriac), for it was plain, from the bearing of Jesus and His messengers, that they were on their way to keep the Feast of Tabernacles, S. Joh 7:2. The Samaritans, contrary to the Law, had erected a temple on Mount Gerizim for the worship of God, and therefore there was on this account a constant enmity between the Jews and them. S. John iv, 20, and Josephus. Hence they rejected Jesus, as despising their form of worship and favouring that of their enemies, the Jews.

"His face was as though," a Hebraism for םיככּ, i.e. πζόσωπον, or face, is often used for the person himself.

Ver. 54.— And when His disciples James and John saw this, they said, Lord, wilt Thou that we command fire to come down from heaven, and consume them, even as Elias did? They show themselves to be indeed Boanerges, or sons of thunder, for with excess of zeal they would destroy these Samaritans, because of their inhospitality and refusal to receive Christ. They remembered how Elijah had destroyed those who had been sent by Ahaziah to apprehend him (2Ki 1:10), and they knew that Jesus was mightier than that prophet; and if fire was sent from heaven to protect Elijah from harm, and to consume the Jews, who had come to take him, how much more deserving of punishment were these Samaritans, who had refused to receive the Son of God.

Wilt Thou that we command? For as S. Jerorne goes on to say ( Epist. 151), "The command of the Apostles can effect nothing, unless by the permission and will of God." They therefore seek from Christ, as from a judge, justice, and the punishment of the wicked, according to their deserts.

Ver. 55.— But He turned, and rebuked them, and said, Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of. By spirit we must understand "disposition of mind," whether for virtue or vice. Ye know not what spirit worketh in you. Ye think ye are led by the spirit of God, when ye are prompted by impatience and the spirit of vengeance. Ye know not to what spirit ye are called. Ye know not that ye should be meek and lowly, as I your Lord and Master am. Ye would imitate the zeal of Elijah, and demand "an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth," Exod. xxi. 24. But this is not my spirit, nor is it the teaching of the new and Gospel Law, for I say unto you "Love your enemies, and do good unto those that hate you."  S. Matt. v. 44. Have ye not heard and learned this from Me, or are ye so soon forgetful of my doctrine and teaching? He who had come, not for judgment but to show mercy, not in power but in humility, not in the glory of His Father but in lowly fashion as a man, rebuked them because they were forgetful both of His teaching and of the merciful precepts of His Gospel.  S. Jerome.

Ver. 56.— For the Son of man is not come to destroy men's lives, but to save them. Act, therefore, saith Bede, according, to the spirit ye are of. Following the example of Christ, bear patiently as becometh saints. Titus.

And they went to another village, where they might meet with a better reception. By this He teaches His Apostles that hereafter, when they went throughout the world to preach the Gospel, if they were cast out of one city, they were patiently to go on to another. Hence He allowed Himself to be rejected by the Samaritans, that by His rebuke of James and John, He might teach the Apostles a life-long lesson. For, as saith S. Ambrose, mercy promoteth in thee patience, in the offender correction. Thus we find that these Samaritans who were spared punishment the sooner became believers. S. John iv.; Acts viii.

Perfect virtue desireth not vengeance, nor can anger exist where love aboundeth. The infirmities of our fellow men are to be borne with and remedied, not to be rejected as incapable of cure. Titus.

Ver. 61.— And another also said, Lord, I will follow thee; but let me first go bid them farewell, which are at home at my house. This verse has been variously explained.

1. Suffer me to give notice to my parents and to consult with them; for he was doubtful what he should do. But Christ would not grant his request, because parents very often do not approve of the higher life, and sometimes dissuade their children from adopting it. Titus.

2. Suffer me to tell my parents of my intention, that knowing what is become of me, they may neither be anxious about me, nor come to seek me. S. Augustin (serm. vii. De verbis Domini ) and, Toletus.

3. S. Basil ( Constit. cap. xxi.) thinks that the man, like the one who preceded him, was a disciple, and that he only sought permission to say farewell to his friends, as about to return to them no more. The Syriac favours this interpretation, and translates, "Let me go to salute, i.e. to bid farewell to my family at home, and I will come again."

4. The best rendering is that of the Vulgate, which for "them" substitutes "those things." Let me go bid "those things" farewell. Give me time to dispose of my property at home, and divide it amongst my brethren and kinsmen; for this is the trite meaning of the Greek word ὰποτάξασθαι. Hence the Arabic has, "Suffer me to make division amongst my friends at home." So also S. Augustin, Maldonatus, and others.

Ver. 62.— And Jesus said unto him, No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God, or, to carry on the metaphor, is fit to work in the vineyard of God. For as the ploughman who seeks to make his furrows straight ought to look forward and never back, so he who has determined to consecrate himself to God's service, is unworthy to be Christ's disciple and to be an heir of the heavenly kingdom, if he still has regard for the perishable possessions of this world which he has renounced and given up; and so Euthymius says, "He who follows Christ ought forthwith to give up all things, lest by averting his eyes from his leader and guide, he might again be entangled by the sight of those things which he has left." So also Titus, Jansenius, Toletus, and others.

Christ in this very remarkable verse points out the way of perfection, and endeavours to withdraw the man from his own anxiety for his friends and possessions, in order that he might give himself up wholly to God. Especially as there was danger lest, delayed in the disposal of his property, or impressed with the value of his possessions, he might change his purpose, and like many others, lose the hope of his calling. And again, there was no need of his presence, for his brethren and kinsfolk could divide his property without him.

Thus James and John, when they were called, left their father and their nets, and straightway followed Christ, S. Mat 4:20. But on the other hand Elisha (1Ki 19:20) was permitted to bid farewell to his father and mother, apparently because there was in his case little danger of his being forgetful of his call. Hence S. Basil saith ( serm. 1 De Baptism ): He looks back who delays, however briefly, that obedience which is to be rendered at once and promptly to the call of God.

Hence of the cherubim we read (Eze 1:12), "They went every one straight forward: they turned not when they went." Whereon S. Gregory says the winged creatures, i.e. holy preachers, turn not as they go, because they are passing through earthly things to heavenly; and therefore no more return to these things which they have left behind. For to seek in heart and mind after better things is, as it were, to advance or go along a certain road. Hence S, Paul, Phi 3:13-14: "Forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus." And to the bride it is said, "Forget thine own people and thy father's house," Psa 45:10.

Hence also S. Augustine ( serm. 7 De verbis Domini ) says, "The east calleth thee, and thou turnest to the west."

Figuratively, says Bede, he putteth his hand to the plough, who by the Cross of Christ, as if by an instrument of remorse, wears away the hardness of his heart, and opens it to bear the fruit of good works. But he must not look back like Lot's wife to the things which he has left, and if the follower of the Lord, who wishes to bid farewell to them which are at home, is worthy of reproach, what will become of them, who for no sufficient reason visit the houses of those whom they have left in the world? For the frequent looking back on the things which we have forsaken, by force of habit draws us again to our past way of life. For practice, by which habits are formed, is very powerful; and habits become a second nature, which it is difficult to do away with or change. For it rapidly returns to itself.

See also the copious explanation of Suarez, De voto, lib. 1. cap. ii.

Commentary -- Other

Contradiction: Luk 9:3

40. Jesus allowed (Mark 6:8), or did not allow (Matthew 10:9; Luke 9:3) his disciples to keep a staff on their journey?

(Category: misunderstood the Greek usage)

It is alleged that the Gospel writers contradict each other concerning whether Jesus allowed his disciples to take a staff on their journey or not. The problem is one of translation.

In Matthew we read the English translation of the Greek word "ktesthe", which is rendered in the King James (Authorized) translation as "Provide neither gold, nor silver nor yet staves". According to a Greek dictionary this word means "to get for oneself, to acquire, to procure, by purchase or otherwise" (Robinson, Lexicon of the New Testament). Therefore in Matthew Jesus is saying "Do not procure anything in addition to what you already have. Just go as you are."

Matthew 10 and Mark 6 agree that Jesus directed his disciples to take along no extra equipment. Luke 9:3 agrees in part with the wording of Mark 6:8, using the verb in Greek, ("take"); but then, like Matthew adds "no staff, no bag, no bread, no money". But Matthew 10:10 includes what was apparently a further clarification: they were not to acquire a staff as part of their special equipment for the tour. Mark 6:8 seems to indicate that this did not necessarily involve discarding any staff they already had as they traveled the country with Jesus.

However, this is not a definitive answer, only a possible explanation. This trivial difference does not effect the substantial agreement of the Gospels. We would not be troubled if this were, or is, a contradiction, for we do not have the same view of these Gospels as a Muslim is taught about the Qur'an. And if this is the pinnacle of Biblical contradictions when the Bible is said to be "full of contradictions" and "totally corrupted", then such people are obviously deluded. If indeed Christian scribes and translators had wished to alter the original Gospels, this "contradiction" would not have been here. It is a sign of the authenticity of the text as a human account of what took place, and is a clear sign that it has not been deliberately corrupted.

Contradiction: Luk 9:9

41. Herod did (Matthew 14:2; Mark 6:16) or did not (Luke 9:9) think that Jesus was John the Baptist?

(Category: misread the text)

There is no contradiction here. In Luke 9:9, Herod asks who this incredible person could be, as John was now dead. In Matthew 14:2 and Mark 6:16 he gives his answer: after considering who Jesus could be, he concluded that he must be John the Baptist, raised from the dead. By the time Herod actually met Jesus, at his trial, he may not have still thought that it was John (Luke 23:8-11). If that were the case, he had most probably heard more about him and understood John's claims about preparing for one who was to come (John 1:15-34). He may well have heard that Jesus had been baptised by John, obviously ruling out the possibility that they were the same person.

Critics Ask: Luk 9:50

LUKE 9:50 —Did Jesus contradict Himself when He referred to those who are for Him (cf. Luke 11:23 )?

PROBLEM: In Luke 9:50 , Jesus says that “he who is not against us is for us.” Yet in Luke 11:23 Jesus says that “He who is not with Me is against Me.” Which position is correct?

SOLUTION: First, Luke 9:50 is better translated “he who is not againstyou is for you. ” The KJV translates the word “you” for “us,” but it is better translated the other way around. The original Greek is clear on which pronouns should be used. Most all Greek manuscripts older than the 8th century S._. do not contain the “against us … for us” rendition. If this is so, then the problem dissolves.

Second, the contexts of each particular account are different. In both passages, the casting out of demons are in view. In Luke 9 , an individual who is not one of Christ’s 12 disciples is casting out demons in Christ’s name and John tried to stop him ( 9:49 ). Jesus instructed His disciples not to hinder him “for he who is not against us is for us.” In Luke 11 the situation is different. Here, Jesus has cast out a demon from someone and some people were saying that Jesus casts out demons by Beelzebub, the ruler of demons (vv. 14- 15 ). The people here wereagainst the work of the Lord while the man in Luke 9 was doing the work in the name of the Lord. One wasfor the Lord while others were against Him. Thus there is no real contradiction.   

Critics Ask: Luk 9:52

LUKE 9:52-53 —Did the Samaritans receive Christ or reject Him?

PROBLEM: Luke says clearly that “they did not receive Him.” Yet, when Jesus spoke to the Samaritan woman at the well, a great multitude flocked to meet Him ( John 4:39-40 ).

SOLUTION: These passages refer to different times and different places. First of all, Luke is speaking of a specific village, not all Samaritans. Further, Luke gives the reason for the rejection at this time, “because His [Jesus’] face was set for the journey to Jerusalem” (_. 53 ). Finally, the positive response of the Samaritans in John was because of the testimony of the woman who told her friends that she had found a prophet, one “who told me all things that I ever did” ( John 4:29 ).   

Critics Ask: Luk 9:53

LUKE 9:52-53 —Did the Samaritans receive Christ or reject Him?

PROBLEM: Luke says clearly that “they did not receive Him.” Yet, when Jesus spoke to the Samaritan woman at the well, a great multitude flocked to meet Him ( John 4:39-40 ).

SOLUTION: These passages refer to different times and different places. First of all, Luke is speaking of a specific village, not all Samaritans. Further, Luke gives the reason for the rejection at this time, “because His [Jesus’] face was set for the journey to Jerusalem” (_. 53 ). Finally, the positive response of the Samaritans in John was because of the testimony of the woman who told her friends that she had found a prophet, one “who told me all things that I ever did” ( John 4:29 ).   

Evidence: Luk 9:21

No sort of defense is needed for preaching out of doors; but it would need very potent arguments to prove that a man had done his duty who has never preached beyond the walls of his meeting place. CHARLES SPURGEON

Evidence: Luk 9:25

" [A] watchful eye must be kept on ourselves lest, while we are building great monuments of renown and bliss here, we neglect to have our names enrolled in the Annals of Heaven." James Madison

Evidence: Luk 9:30

The Mount of Transfiguration . When Jesus was transfigured on the Holy Mountain, Moses and Elijah appeared in a vision and communed with Him. Moses represented the Law and Elijah represented the prophets.

Scripture gives us insight into what they spoke about: they communed about the cross ( Luk 9:30-31 ). When Peter suggested paying homage to Moses, Elijah, and Jesus, it seems God wasn’t impressed with the proposal. He spoke from heaven, telling the disciples to listen to Jesus. Then Moses and Elijah disappeared, and Jesus was left alone with the disciples.

When a person hears from the Father and understands who Jesus is, Moses and Elijah disappear. We see only Jesus. He is the Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End, the Author and Finisher of our faith. He is the only One to whom we bow the knee. Too many who profess to have heard the Father’s voice spend too much time at the feet of Moses, bowing their knee to the Law. They are legalists who have no zeal for the lost. Their only concern is " touch not, taste not, handle not" ( Col 2:21 ).

Many also spend too much time bowing down to Elijah. Prophecy is their joy. Prophecy shouldn’t have us gazing into the future—it should have us gazing at the Savior and His will for the lost.

Charles Spurgeon said, " Here is another who spent all his time in interpreting the prophecies, so that everything he reads of in the newspapers he could see in Daniel or Revelation. Some say he is wise, but I would rather spend my time in winning souls. I would sooner bring one sinner to Jesus than unravel all the mysteries of the divine Word, for salvation is the one thing we are to live for."

The death and resurrection of the Savior didn’t occur so that we could dabble in the future, but to open the door of salvation to hell-bound sinners. Those who hear the Father’s voice hear the Son. They walk in His steps. They come down from the mountain to continue His work on earth: to seek and save that which is lost.

Introduction / Outline

Robertson: Luke (Book Introduction)

THE GOSPEL OF LUKE

By Way of Introduction

There is not room here for a full discussion of all the interesting problems raised by Luke as the author of the Gospel and Acts. One can find them ably handled in the Introduction to Plummer’s volume on Luke’s Gospel in the International and Critical Commentary , in the Introduction to Ragg’s volume on Luke’s Gospel in the Westminster Commentaries , in the Introduction to Easton’s Gospel According to St. Luke , Hayes’ Synoptic Gospels and the Book of Acts , Ramsay’s Luke the Physician , Harnack’s Date of the Acts and the Synoptic Gospels , Foakes-Jackson and Kirsopp Lake’s Beginnings of Christianity , Carpenter’s Christianity According to St. Luke , Cadbury’s The Making of Luke-Acts , McLachlan’s St. Luke: The Man and His Work , Robertson’s Luke the Historian in the Light of Research , to go no further. It is a fascinating subject that appeals to scholars of all shades of opinion.

The Same Author for Gospel and Acts

The author of Acts refers to the Gospel specifically as " the first treatise," ton prōton logon , (Act_1:1) and both are addressed to Theophilus (Luk_1:3; Act_1:1). He speaks of himself in both books as " me" ( kamoi , Luk_1:3) and I made ( epoiēsamēn , Act_1:1). He refers to himself with others as " we" and " us" as in Act_16:10, the " we" sections of Acts. The unity of Acts is here assumed until the authorship of Acts is discussed in Volume III. The same style appears in Gospel and Acts, so that the presumption is strongly in support of the author’s statement. It is quite possible that the formal Introduction to the Gospel (Luk_1:1-4) was intended to apply to the Acts also which has only an introductory clause. Plummer argues that to suppose that the author of Acts imitated the Gospel purposely is to suppose a literary miracle. Even Cadbury, who is not convinced of the Lucan authorship, says: " In my study of Luke and Acts, their unity is a fundamental and illuminating axiom." He adds: " They are not merely two independent writings from the same pen; they are a single continuous work. Acts is neither an appendix nor an afterthought. It is probably an integral part of the author’s original plan and purpose."

The Author of Acts a Companion of Paul

The proof of this position belongs to the treatment of Acts, but a word is needed here. The use of " we" and " us" in Act_16:10 and from Act_20:6 to the end of chapter Acts 28 shows it beyond controversy if the same man wrote the " we" sections and the rest of the Acts. This proof Harnack has produced with painstaking detail in his Date of the Acts and the Synoptic Gospels and in his volume The Acts of the Apostles and in his Luke the Physician .

This Companion of Paul A Physician

The argument for this position lies in the use of medical terms throughout the Gospel and the Acts. Hobart in his Medical Language of St. Luke proves that the author of both Gospel and Acts shows a fondness for medical terms best explained by the fact that he was a physician. Like most enthusiasts he overdid it and some of his proof does not stand the actual test of sifting. Harnack and Hawkins in his Horae Synopticae have picked out the most pertinent items which will stand. Cadbury in his Style and Literary Method of Luke denies that Luke uses Greek medical words more frequently in proportion than Josephus, Philo, Plutarch, or Lucian. It is to miss the point about Luke merely to count words. It is mainly the interest in medical things shown in Luke and Acts. The proof that Luke is the author of the books does not turn on this fact. It is merely confirmatory. Paul calls Luke " the beloved physician" ( ho iatros ho agapētos , Col_4:14), " my beloved physician." Together they worked in the Island of Malta (Act_28:8-10) where many were healed and Luke shared with Paul in the appreciation of the natives who " came and were healed ( etherapeuonto ) who also honoured us with many honours." The implication there is that Paul wrought miracles of healing ( iasato ), while Luke practised his medical art also. Other notes of the physician’s interest will be indicated in the discussion of details like his omitting Mark’s apparent discredit of physicians (Mar_5:26) by a milder and more general statement of a chronic case (Luk_8:43).

This Companion and Author Luke

All the Greek manuscripts credit the Gospel to Luke in the title. We should know that Luke wrote these two books if there was no evidence from early writers. Irenaeus definitely ascribes the Gospel to Luke as does Clement of Alexandria, Tertullian, the Muratorian Fragment. Plummer holds that the authorship of the four great Epistles of Paul (I and II Corinthians, Galatians, Romans) which even Baur accepted, is scarcely more certain than the Lukan authorship of the Gospel. Even Renan says: " There is no very strong reason for supposing that Luke was not the author of the Gospel which bears his name."

A Sketch of Luke

His name is not a common one, and is probably a shortened form of Lukios and Lukanos . Some of the manuscripts of the Gospel actually have as the title Kata Lukanon . Dean Plumptre suggests that the Latin poet Lucanus was named after Luke who probably was the family physician when he was born. That is conjecture as well as the notion of Hayes that, since the brothers Gallio and Seneca were uncles of Lucanus they were influenced by Luke to be friendly toward Paul both in Corinth and in Rome. It is probable that Luke was a Greek, certainly a Gentile, possibly a freedman. So this man who wrote more than one-fourth of the New Testament was not a Jew. It is not certain whether his home was in Antioch or in Philippi. It is also uncertain whether he was already converted when Paul met him at Troas. The Codex Bezae has a " we" passage after Act_11:27 which, if genuine, would bring Luke in contact with Paul before Troas. Hayes thinks that he was a slave boy in the family of Theophilus at Antioch, several conjectures in one. We do not know that Theophilus lived at Antioch. It may have been Rome. But, whether one of Paul’s converts or not, he was a loyal friend to Paul. If he lived at Antioch, he could have studied medicine there and the great medical temple of Aesculapius was at Aegae, not far away. As a Greek physician, Luke was a university man and in touch with the science of his day. Greek medicine is the beginning of the science of medicine as it is known today. Tradition calls him a painter, but of that we know nothing. Certainly he was a humanist and a man of culture and broad sympathies and personal charm. He was the first genuine scientist who faced the problem of Christ and of Christianity. It must be said of him that he wrote his books with open mind and not as a credulous enthusiast.

The Date of the Gospel

There are two outstanding facts to mark off the date of this Gospel by Luke. It was later than the Gospel of Mark since Luke makes abundant use of it. It was before the Acts of the Apostles since he definitely refers to it in Act_1:1. Unfortunately the precise date of both termini is uncertain. There are still some scholars who hold that the author of the Acts shows knowledge of the Antiquities of Josephus and so is after a.d. 85, a mistaken position, in my opinion, but a point to be discussed when Acts is reached. Still others more plausibly hold that the Acts was written after the destruction of Jerusalem and that the Gospel of Luke has a definite allusion to that event (Luk_21:20.), which is interpreted as a prophecy post eventum instead of a prediction by Christ a generation beforehand. Many who accept this view hold to authorship of both Acts and Gospel by Luke. I have long held the view, now so ably defended by Harnack, that the Acts of the Apostles closes as it does for the simple and obvious reason that Paul was still a prisoner in Rome. Whether Luke meant the Acts to be used in the trial in Rome, which may or may not have come to pass, is not the point. Some argue that Luke contemplated a third book which would cover the events of the trial and Paul’s later career. There is no proof of that view. The outstanding fact is that the book closes with Paul already a prisoner for two years in Rome. If the Acts was written about a.d. 63, as I believe to be the case, then obviously the Gospel comes earlier. How much before we do not know. It so happens that Paul was a prisoner a little over two years in Caesarea. That period gave Luke abundant opportunity for the kind of research of which he speaks in Luk_1:1-4. In Palestine he could have access to persons familiar with the earthly life and teachings of Jesus and to whatever documents were already produced concerning such matters. Luke may have produced the Gospel towards the close of the stay of Paul in Caesarea or during the early part of the first Roman imprisonment, somewhere between a.d. 59 and 62. The other testimony concerns the date of Mark’s Gospel which has already been discussed in volume I. There is no real difficulty in the way of the early date of Mark’s Gospel. All the facts that are known admit, even argue for a date by a.d. 60. If Mark wrote his Gospel in Rome, as is possible, it would certainly be before a.d. 64, the date of the burning of Rome by Nero. There are scholars, however, who argue for a much earlier date for his gospel, even as early as a.d. 50. The various aspects of the Synoptic problem are ably discussed by Hawkins in his Horae Synopticae , by Sanday and others in Oxford Studies in the Synoptic Problem , by Streeter in his The Four Gospels , by Hayes in his The Synoptic Gospels and the Book of Acts , by Harnack in his Date of the Acts and the Synoptic Gospels , by Stanton in his The Gospels as Historical Documents , and by many others. My own views are given at length in my Studies in Mark’s Gospel and in Luke the Historian in the Light of Research .

The Sources of the Gospel

In his Preface or Prologue (Luk_1:1-4) the author tells us that he had two kinds of sources, oral and written, and that they were many, how many we have no way of telling. It is now generally accepted that we know two of his written sources, Mark’s Gospel and Q or the Logia of Jesus (written by Matthew, Papias says). Mark is still preserved and it is not difficult for any one by the use of a harmony of the Gospels to note how Luke made use of Mark, incorporating what he chose, adapting it in various ways, not using what did not suit his purposes. The other source we only know in the non-Markan portions of Matthew and Luke, that is the material common to both, but not in Mark. This also can be noted by any one in a harmony. Only it is probable that this source was more extensive than just the portions used by both Matthew and Luke. It is probable that both Matthew and Luke each used portions of the Logia not used by the other. But there is a large portion of Luke’s Gospel which is different from Mark and Matthew. Some scholars call this source L. There is little doubt that Luke had another document for the material peculiar to him, but it is also probable that he had several others. He spoke of " many." This applies especially to chapters 9 to 21. But Luke expressly says that he had received help from " eye-witnesses and ministers of the word," in oral form this means. It is, then, probable that Luke made numerous notes of such data and used them along with the written sources at his command. This remark applies particularly to chapters 1 and 2 which have a very distinct Semitic (Aramaic) colouring due to the sources used. It is possible, of course, that Mary the mother of Jesus may have written a statement concerning these important matters or that Luke may have had converse with her or with one of her circle. Ramsay, in his volume, Was Christ Born at Bethlehem? shows the likelihood of Luke’s contact with Mary or her circle during these two years at Caesarea. Luke handles the data acquired with care and skill as he claims in his Prologue and as the result shows. The outcome is what Renan called the most beautiful book in the world.

The Character of the Book

Literary charm is here beyond dispute. It is a book that only a man with genuine culture and literary genius could write. It has all the simple grace of Mark and Matthew plus an indefinable quality not in these wonderful books. There is a delicate finish of detail and proportion of parts that give the balance and poise that come only from full knowledge of the subject, the chief element in a good style according to Dr. James Stalker. This scientific physician, this man of the schools, this converted Gentile, this devoted friend of Paul, comes to the study of the life of Christ with a trained intellect, with an historian’s method of research, with a physician’s care in diagnosis and discrimination, with a charm of style all his own, with reverence for and loyalty to Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour. One could not afford to give up either of the Four Gospels. They each supplement the other in a wonderful way. John’s Gospel is the greatest book in all the world, reaching the highest heights of all. But if we had only Luke’s Gospel, we should have an adequate portrait of Jesus Christ as Son of God and Son of Man. If Mark’s is the Gospel for the Romans and Matthew’s for the Jews, the Gospel of Luke is for the Gentile world. He shows the sympathy of Jesus for the poor and the outcast. Luke understands women and children and so is the universal Gospel of mankind in all phases and conditions. It is often called the Gospel of womanhood, of infancy, of prayer, of praise. We have in Luke the first Christian hymns. With Luke we catch some glimpses of the child Jesus for which we are grateful. Luke was a friend and follower of Paul, and verbal parallels with Paul’s Epistles do occur, but there is no Pauline propaganda in the Gospel as Moffatt clearly shows ( Intr. to Lit. of the N.T. , p. 281). The Prologue is in literary Koiné and deserves comparison with those in any Greek and Latin writers. His style is versatile and is often coloured by his source. He was a great reader of the Septuagint as is shown by occasional Hebraisms evidently due to reading that translation Greek. He has graciousness and a sense of humour as McLachlan and Ragg show. Every really great man has a saving sense of humour as Jesus himself had. Ramsay dares to call Luke, as shown by the Gospel and Acts, the greatest of all historians not even excepting Thucydides. Ramsay has done much to restore Luke to his rightful place in the estimation of modern scholars. Some German critics used to cite Luk_2:1-7 as a passage containing more historical blunders than any similar passage in any historian. The story of how papyri and inscriptions have fully justified Luke in every statement here made is carefully worked out by Ramsay in his various books, especially in The Bearing of Recent Discovery on the Trustworthiness of the New Testament . The main feature of this proof appears also in my Luke the Historian in the Light of Research . So many items, where Luke once stood alone, have been confirmed by recent discoveries that the burden of proof now rests on those who challenge Luke in those cases where he still stands alone.

JFB: Luke (Book Introduction)

THE writer of this Gospel is universally allowed to have been Lucas (an abbreviated form of Lucanus, as Silas of Silvanus), though he is not expressly named either in the Gospel or in the Acts. From Col 4:14 we learn that he was a "physician"; and by comparing that verse with Col 4:10-11 --in which the apostle enumerates all those of the circumcision who were then with him, but does not mention Luke, though he immediately afterwards sends a salutation from him--we gather that Luke was not a born Jew. Some have thought he was a freed-man (libertinus), as the Romans devolved the healing art on persons of this class and on their slaves, as an occupation beneath themselves. His intimate acquaintance with Jewish customs, and his facility in Hebraic Greek, seem to show that he was an early convert to the Jewish faith; and this is curiously confirmed by Act 21:27-29, where we find the Jews enraged at Paul's supposed introduction of Greeks into the temple, because they had seen "Trophimus the Ephesian" with him; and as we know that Luke was with Paul on that occasion, it would seem that they had taken him for a Jew, as they made no mention of him. On the other hand, his fluency in classical Greek confirms his Gentile origin. The time when he joined Paul's company is clearly indicated in the Acts by his changing (at Act 16:10) from the third person singular ("he") to the first person plural ("we"). From that time he hardly ever left the apostle till near the period of his martyrdom (2Ti 4:11). EUSEBIUS makes him a native of Antioch. If so, he would have every advantage for cultivating the literature of Greece and such medical knowledge as was then possessed. That he died a natural death is generally agreed among the ancients; GREGORY NAZIANZEN alone affirming that he died a martyr.

The time and place of the publication of his Gospel are alike uncertain. But we can approximate to it. It must at any rate have been issued before the Acts, for there the 'Gospel' is expressly referred to as the same author's "former treatise" (Act 1:1). Now the Book of the Acts was not published for two whole years after Paul's arrival as a prisoner at Rome, for it concludes with a reference to this period; but probably it was published soon after that, which would appear to have been early in the year 63. Before that time, then, we have reason to believe that the Gospel of Luke was in circulation, though the majority of critics make it later. If we date it somewhere between A.D. 50 and 60, we shall probably be near the truth; but nearer it we cannot with any certainty come. Conjectures as to the place of publication are too uncertain to be mentioned here.

That it was addressed, in the first instance, to Gentile readers, is beyond doubt. This is no more, as DAVIDSON remarks [Introduction to the New Testament, p. 186], than was to have been expected from the companion of an "apostle of the Gentiles," who had witnessed marvellous changes in the condition of many heathens by the reception of the Gospel. But the explanations in his Gospel of things known to every Jew, and which could only be intended for Gentile readers, make this quite plain--see Luk 1:26; Luk 4:31; Luk 8:26; Luk 21:37; Luk 22:1; Luk 24:13. A number of other minute particulars, both of things inserted and of things omitted, confirm the conclusion that it was Gentiles whom this Evangelist had in the first instance in view.

We have already adverted to the classical style of Greek which this Evangelist writes--just what might have been expected from an educated Greek and travelled physician. But we have also observed that along with this he shows a wonderful flexibility of style, so much so, that when he comes to relate transactions wholly Jewish, where the speakers and actors and incidents are all Jewish, he writes in such Jewish Greek as one would do who had never been out of Palestine or mixed with any but Jews. In DA COSTA'S'S Four Witnesses will be found some traces of "the beloved physician" in this Gospel. But far more striking and important are the traces in it of his intimate connection with the apostle of the Gentiles. That one who was so long and so constantly in the society of that master mind has in such a work as this shown no traces of that connection, no stamp of that mind, is hardly to be believed. Writers of Introductions seem not to see it, and take no notice of it. But those who look into the interior of it will soon discover evidences enough in it of a Pauline cast of mind. Referring for a number of details to DA COSTA, we notice here only two examples: In 1Co 11:23, Paul ascribes to an express revelation from Christ Himself the account of the Institution of the Lord's Supper which he there gives. Now, if we find this account differing in small yet striking particulars from the accounts given by Matthew and Mark, but agreeing to the letter with Luke's account, it can hardly admit of a doubt that the one had it from the other; and in that case, of course, it was Luke that had it from Paul. Now Matthew and Mark both say of the Cup, "This is my blood of the New Testament"; while Paul and Luke say, in identical terms, "This cup is the New Testament in My blood" (1Co 11:25; Luk 22:20). Further, Luke says, "Likewise also the cup after supper, saying," &c.; while Paul says, "After the same manner He took the cup when He had supped, saying," &c.; whereas neither Matthew nor Mark mention that this was after supper. But still more striking is another point of coincidence in this case. Matthew and Mark both say of the Bread merely this: "Take, eat; this is My body" (Mat 26:26; Mar 14:22); whereas Paul says, "Take, eat, this is My body, which is broken for you" (1Co 11:24), and Luke, "This is My body, which is given for you" (Luk 22:19). And while Paul adds the precious clause, "This do in remembrance of Me," Luke does the same, in identical terms. How can one who reflects on this resist the conviction of a Pauline stamp in this Gospel? The other proof of this to which we ask the reader's attention is in the fact that Paul, in enumerating the parties by whom Christ was seen after His resurrection, begins, singularly enough, with Peter--"And that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures and that He was seen of Cephas, then of the Twelve" (1Co 15:4-5) --coupled with the remarkable fact, that Luke is the only one of the Evangelists who mentions that Christ appeared to Peter at all. When the disciples had returned from Emmaus to tell their brethren how the Lord had appeared to them in the way, and how He had made Himself known to them in the breaking of bread, they were met, as Luke relates, ere they had time to utter a word, with this wonderful piece of news, "The Lord is risen indeed, and hath appeared to Simon" (Luk 24:34).

Other points connected with this Gospel will be adverted to in the Commentary.

JFB: Luke (Outline)

• ANNOUNCEMENT OF THE FORERUNNER. (Luke 1:5-25)
• ANNUNCIATION OF CHRIST. (Luk 1:26-38)
• VISIT OF MARY TO ELISABETH. (Luke 1:39-56)
• BIRTH AND CIRCUMCISION OF JOHN--SONG OF ZACHARIAS AND PROGRESS OF THE CHILD. (Luke 1:57-80)
• BIRTH OF CHRIST. (Luk 2:1-7)
• ANGELIC ANNUNCIATION TO THE SHEPHERDS--THEIR VISIT TO THE NEWBORN BABE. (Luk 2:8-20)
• PURIFICATION OF THE VIRGIN--PRESENTATION OF THE BABE IN THE TEMPLE-SCENE THERE WITH SIMEON AND ANNA. (Luke 2:22-40)
• FIRST CONSCIOUS VISIT TO JERUSALEM. (Luk 2:41-52)
• PREACHING, BAPTISM, AND IMPRISONMENT OF JOHN. (Luke 3:1-20) Here the curtain of the New Testament is, as it were, drawn up, and the greatest of all epochs of the Church commences. Even our Lord's own age (Luk 3:23) is determined by it [BENGEL]. No such elaborate chronological precision is to be found elsewhere in the New Testament, and it comes fitly from him who claims it as the peculiar recommendation of his Gospel, that he had "accurately traced down all things from the first" (Luk 1:3). Here, evidently, commences his proper narrative. Also see on Mat 3:1.
• BAPTISM OF AND DESCENT OF THE SPIRIT UPON JESUS. (Luk 3:21-22)
• GENEALOGY OF JESUS. (Luke 3:23-38)
• JESUS ENTERING ON HIS PUBLIC MINISTRY, MAKES A CIRCUIT OF GALILEE--REJECTION AT NAZARETH. (Luke 4:14-32)
• DEMONIAC HEALED. (Luk 4:33-37)
• PETER'S MOTHER-IN-LAW AND MANY OTHERS, HEALED. (Luk 4:38-41)
• JESUS SOUGHT OUT AT MORNING PRAYER, AND ENTREATED TO STAY, DECLINES FROM THE URGENCY OF HIS WORK. (Luk 4:42-44)
• MIRACULOUS DRAUGHT OF FISHES--CALL OF PETER, JAMES, AND JOHN. (Luk 5:1-11)
• LEPER HEALED. (Luk 5:12-16)
• PARALYTIC HEALED. (Luk 5:17-26)
• LEVI'S CALL AND FEAST. (Luk 5:27-32)
• PLUCKING CORN-EARS ON THE SABBATH. (Luk 6:1-5)
• WITHERED HAND HEALED. (Luk 6:6-11)
• THE TWELVE APOSTLES CHOSEN--GATHERING MULTITUDES--GLORIOUS HEALING. (Luke 6:12-49)
• CENTURION'S SERVANT HEALED. (Luk 7:1-10)
• WIDOW OF NAIN'S SON RAISED TO LIFE. (In Luke only). (Luk 7:11-17)
• THE BAPTIST'S MESSAGE THE REPLY, AND CONSEQUENT DISCOURSE. (Luke 7:18-35)
• CHRIST'S FEET WASHED WITH TEARS. (Luk 7:36-50)
• A GALILEAN CIRCUIT, WITH THE TWELVE AND CERTAIN MINISTERING WOMEN. (In Luke only). (Luk 8:1-3)
• PARABLE OF THE SOWER. (Luk 8:4-18)
• JESUS CROSSING THE LAKE, STILLS THE STORM. (Luk 8:22-25)
• JAIRUS' DAUGHTER RAISED AND ISSUE OF BLOOD HEALED. (Luke 8:40-56)
• MISSION OF THE TWELVE APOSTLES. (Luk 9:1-6)
• HEROD TROUBLED AT WHAT HE HEARS OF CHRIST DESIRES TO SEE HIM. (Luk 9:7-9)
• PETER'S CONFESSION OF CHRIST--OUR LORD'S FIRST EXPLICIT ANNOUNCEMENT OF HIS APPROACHING DEATH, AND WARNINGS ARISING OUT OF IT. (Luk 9:18-27)
• JESUS TRANSFIGURED. (Luk 9:28-36)
• DEMONIAC AND LUNATIC BOY HEALED--CHRIST'S SECOND EXPLICIT ANNOUNCEMENT OF HIS DEATH AND RESURRECTION. (Luk 9:37-45)
• STRIFE AMONG THE TWELVE WHO SHOULD BE GREATEST--JOHN REBUKED FOR EXCLUSIVENESS. (Luk 9:46-48) (See on Mat 18:1-5).
• THE PERIOD OF HIS ASSUMPTION APPROACHING CHRIST TAKES HIS LAST LEAVE OF GALILEE--THE SAMARITANS REFUSE TO RECEIVE HIM. (Luk 9:51-56)
• INCIDENTS ILLUSTRATIVE OF DISCIPLESHIP. (Luk 9:57-62)
• MISSION OF THE SEVENTY DISCIPLES, AND THEIR RETURN. (Luke 10:1-24)
• QUESTION OF A LAWYER AND PARABLE OF THE GOOD SAMARITAN. (Luk 10:25-37)
• MARTHA AND MARY. (Luk 10:38-42)
• THE DISCIPLES TAUGHT TO PRAY. (Luk 11:1-13)
• BLIND AND DUMB DEMONIAC HEALED--CHARGE OF BEING IN LEAGUE WITH HELL, AND REPLY--DEMAND OF A SIGN, AND REPLY. (Luke 11:14-36)
• DENUNCIATION OF THE PHARISEES. (Luke 11:37-54)
• WARNING AGAINST HYPOCRISY. (Luk 12:1-12)
• COVETOUSNESS--WATCHFULNESS--SUPERIORITY TO EARTHLY TIES. (Luke 12:13-53)
• NOT DISCERNING THE SIGNS OF THE TIME. (Luk 12:54-59)
• THE LESSON, "REPENT OR PERISH," SUGGESTED BY TWO RECENT INCIDENTS, AND ILLUSTRATED BY THE PARABLE OF THE BARREN FIG TREE. (Luk 13:1-9)
• WOMAN OF EIGHTEEN YEAR'S INFIRMITY HEALED ON THE SABBATH. (Luk 13:10-17)
• MISCELLANEOUS TEACHINGS. (Luk 13:18-30)
• MESSAGE TO HEROD. (Luk 13:31-35)
• HEALING OF A DROPSICAL MAN, AND MANIFOLD TEACHINGS AT A SABBATH FEAST. (Luke 14:1-24)
• ADDRESS TO GREAT MULTITUDES TRAVELLING WITH HIM. (Luk 14:25-35)
• PUBLICANS AND SINNERS WELCOMED BY CHRIST--THREE PARABLES TO EXPLAIN THIS. (Luke 15:1-32)
• I. THE LOST SHEEP. (Luk 15:3-7) Occurring again (Mat 18:12-14); but there to show how precious one of His sheep is to the Good Shepherd; here, to show that the shepherd, though the sheep stray never so widely, will seek it out, and when he hath found, will rejoice over it.
• II. THE LOST COIN. (Luk 15:8-10)
• III. THE PRODIGAL SON. (Luke 15:11-32)
• PARABLES OF THE UNJUST STEWARD AND OF THE RICH MAN AND LAZARUS, OR, THE RIGHT USE OF MONEY. (Luke 16:1-31)
• OFFENSES--FAITH--HUMILITY. (Luk 17:1-10) (See Mat 18:6-7).
• TEN LEPERS CLEANSED. (Luk 17:11-19)
• COMING OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD AND OF THE SON OF MAN. (Luke 17:20-37)
• PARABLE OF THE IMPORTUNATE WIDOW. (Luk 18:1-8)
• PARABLE OF THE PHARISEE AND THE PUBLICAN. (Luk 18:9-14)
• LITTLE CHILDREN BROUGHT TO CHRIST. (Luk 18:15-17)
• THE RICH YOUNG RULER AND DISCOURSE THEREON. (Luk 18:18-30)
• FULLER ANNOUNCEMENT OF HIS APPROACHING DEATH AND RESURRECTION. (Luk 18:31-34)
• BLIND MAN HEALED. (Luk 18:35-43)
• ZACCHEUS THE PUBLICAN. (Luk 19:1-10)
• PARABLE OF THE POUNDS. (Luke 19:11-27)
• SECOND CLEANSING OF THE TEMPLE AND SUBSEQUENT TEACHING. (Luk 19:45-48) As the first cleansing was on His first visit to Jerusalem (Joh 2:13-22), so this second cleansing was on His last.
• THE AUTHORITY OF JESUS QUESTIONED, AND HIS REPLY--PARABLE OF THE WICKED HUSBANDMEN. (Luke 20:1-19)
• ENTANGLING QUESTIONS ABOUT TRIBUTE AND THE RESURRECTION--THE REPLIES. (Luke 20:20-40)
• CHRIST BAFFLES THE PHARISEES BY A QUESTION ABOUT DAVID AND MESSIAH, AND DENOUNCES THE SCRIBES. (Luk 20:41-47)
• THE WIDOW'S TWO MITES. (Luk 21:1-4)
• CHRIST'S PROPHECY OF THE DESTRUCTION OF JERUSALEM AND WARNINGS TO PREPARE FOR HIS SECOND COMING, SUGGESTED BY IT--HIS DAYS AND NIGHTS DURING HIS LAST WEEK. (Luke 21:5-38) (See on Mat 24:1-3.)
• CONSPIRACY OF THE JEWISH AUTHORITIES TO PUT JESUS TO DEATH--COMPACT WITH JUDAS. (Luk 22:1-6) (See on Mat 26:1-5.)
• LAST PASSOVER--INSTITUTION OF THE SUPPER--DISCOURSE AT THE TABLE. (Luke 22:7-38)
• AGONY IN THE GARDEN. (Luk 22:39-46)
• JESUS BEFORE CAIAPHAS--FALL OF PETER. (Luk 22:55-62)
• JESUS BEFORE HEROD. (Luk 23:6-12)
• JESUS AGAIN BEFORE PILATE--DELIVERED UP--LED AWAY TO BE CRUCIFIED. (Luke 23:13-38)
• THE TWO THIEVES. (Luk 23:39-43)
• ANGELIC ANNOUNCEMENT TO THE WOMEN THAT CHRIST IS RISEN--PETER'S VISIT TO THE EMPTY SEPULCHRE. (Luk 24:1-12)
• CHRIST APPEARS TO THE TWO GOING TO EMMAUS. (Luke 24:13-35)
• JESUS APPEARS TO THE ASSEMBLED DISCIPLES--HIS ASCENSION. (Luke 24:36-53)

TSK: Luke (Book Introduction)

Luke, to whom this Gospel has been uniformly attributed from the earliest ages of the Christian church, is generally allowed to have been " the beloved physician" mentioned by Paul (Col 4:14); and as he was the companion of that apostle, in all his labours and sufferings, for many years (Act 16:12; Act 20:1-6; Act 27:1, Act 27:2; Act 28:13-16. 2Ti 4:11. Phm 1:24), and wrote " the Acts of the Apostles," which conclude with a brief account of Paul’s imprisonment at Rome, we may be assured that he had the Apostle’s sanction to what he did; and probably this Gospel was written some time before that event, about ad 63 or 64, as is generally supposed. He would appear, from Col 4:10, Col 4:11, and his intimate acquaintance with the Greek language, as well as from his Greek name Λουκας [Strong’s 3065], to have been of Gentile extraction; and according to Eusebius and others, he was a native of Antioch. But, from the Hebraisms occurring in his writings, and especially from his accurate knowledge of the Jewish rites, ceremonies, and custom, it is highly probable that he was a Jewish proselyte, and afterwards converted to Christianity. Though he may not have been, as some have affirmed, one of the seventy disciples, and an eye-witness of our Saviour’s miracles, yet his intercourse with the apostles, and those who were eye-witnesses of the works and ear witnesses of the words of Christ, renders him an unexceptional witness, if considered merely as an historian; and the early and unanimous reception of his Gospel as divinely inspired is sufficient to satisfy every reasonable person.

TSK: Luke 9 (Chapter Introduction)

Overview

Luk 9:1, Christ sends his apostles to work miracles, and to preach; Luk 9:7, Herod desires to see Christ; Luk 9:10, The apostles return; Luk 9:12, Christ feeds five thousand; Luk 9:18, enquires what opinion the world had of him; foretells his passion; Luk 9:23, proposes to all the pattern of his patience; Luk 9:28, The transfiguration; Luk 9:37, He heals the lunatic; Luk 9:43, again forewarns his disciples of his passion; Luk 9:46, commends humility; Luk 9:51, bids them to shew mildness towards all, without desire of revenge; Luk 9:57, Divers would follow him, but upon conditions.

Poole: Luke 9 (Chapter Introduction)

CHAPTER 9

MHCC: Luke (Book Introduction)

This evangelist is generally supposed to have been a physician, and a companion of the apostle Paul. The style of his writings, and his acquaintance with the Jewish rites and usages, sufficiently show that he was a Jew, while his knowledge of the Greek language and his name, speak his Gentile origin. He is first mentioned Act 16:10, Act 16:11, as with Paul at Troas, whence he attended him to Jerusalem, and was with him in his voyage, and in his imprisonment at Rome. This Gospel appears to be designed to supersede many defective and unauthentic narratives in circulation, and to give a genuine and inspired account of the life, miracles, and doctrines of our Lord, learned from those who heard and witnessed his discourses and miracles.

MHCC: Luke 9 (Chapter Introduction)

(Luk 9:1-9) The apostles sent forth.

(Luk 9:10-17) The multitude miraculously fed.

(Luk 9:18-27) Peter's testimony to Christ, Self-denial enjoined.

(Luk 9:28-36) The transfiguration.

(Luk 9:37-42) An evil spirit cast out.

(Luk 9:43-50) Christ checks the ambition of his disciples.

(Luk 9:51-56) He reproves their mistaken zeal.

(Luk 9:57-62) Every thing to be given up for Christ.

Matthew Henry: Luke (Book Introduction)

An Exposition, with Practical Observations, of The Gospel According to St. Luke

We are now entering into the labours of another evangelist; his name Luke, which some take to be a contraction of Lucilius; born at Antioch, so St. Jerome. Some think that he was the only one of all the penmen of the scripture that was not of the seed of Israel. He was a Jewish proselyte, and, as some conjecture, converted to Christianity by the ministry of St. Paul at Antioch; and after his coming into Macedonia (Act 16:10) he was his constant companion. He had employed himself in the study and practice of physic; hence, Paul calls him Luke the beloved Physician, Col 4:14. Some of the pretended ancients tell you that he was a painter, and drew a picture of the virgin Mary. But Dr. Whitby thinks that there is nothing certain to the contrary, and that therefore it is probable that he was one of the seventy disciples, and a follower of Christ when he was here upon earth; and, if so, he was a native Israelite. I see not what can be objected against this, except some uncertain traditions of the ancients, which we can build nothing upon, and against which may be opposed the testimonies of Origen and Epiphanius, who both say that he was one of the seventy disciples. He is supposed to have written this gospel when he was associated with St. Paul in his travels, and by direction from him: and some think that this is the brother whom Paul speaks of (2Co 8:18), whose praise is in the gospel throughout all the churches of Christ; as if the meaning of it were, that he was celebrated in all the churches for writing this gospel; and that St. Paul means this when he speaks sometimes of his gospel, as Rom 2:16. But there is no ground at all for this. Dr. Cave observes that his way and manner of writing are accurate and exact, his style polite and elegant, sublime and lofty, yet perspicuous; and that he expresses himself in a vein of purer Greek than is to be found in the other writers of the holy story. Thus he relates divers things more copiously than the other evangelists; and thus he especially treats of those things which relate to the priestly office of Christ. It is uncertain when, or about what time, this gospel was written. Some think that it was written in Achaia, during his travels with Paul, seventeen years (twenty-two years, say others) after Christ's ascension; others, that it was written at Rome, a little before he wrote his history of the Acts of the Apostles (which is a continuation of this), when he was there with Paul, while he was a prisoner, and preaching in his own hired house, with which the history of the Acts concludes; and then Paul saith that only Luke was with him, 2Ti 4:11. When he was under that voluntary confinement with Paul, he had leisure to compile these two histories (and many excellent writings the church has been indebted to a prison for): if so, it was written about twenty-seven years after Christ's ascension, and about the fourth year of Nero. Jerome says, He died when he was eighty-four years of age, and was never married. Some write that he suffered martyrdom; but, if he did, where and when is uncertain. Nor indeed is there much more credit to be given to the Christian traditions concerning the writers of the New Testament than to the Jewish traditions concerning those of the Old Testament.

Matthew Henry: Luke 9 (Chapter Introduction)

In this chapter we have, I. The commission Christ gave to his twelve apostles to go out for some time to preach the gospel, and confirm it by miracles (Luk 9:1-6). II. Herod's terror at the growing greatness of our Lord Jesus (Luk 9:7-9). III. The apostles' return to Christ, his retirement with them into a place of solitude, the great resort of people to them notwithstanding, and his feeding five thousand men with five loaves and two fishes (Luk 9:10-17). IV. His discourse with his disciples concerning himself and his own sufferings for them, and their for him (Luk 9:18-27). V. Christ's transfiguration (Luk 9:28-36). VI. The cure of a lunatic child (Luk 9:37-42). VII. The repeated notice Christ gave his disciples of his approaching sufferings (Luk 9:43-45). VIII. His check to the ambition of his disciples (Luk 9:46-48), and to their monopolizing the power over devils to themselves (Luk 9:49, Luk 9:50). IX. The rebuke he gave them for an over-due resentment of an affront given him by a village of the Samaritans (Luk 9:51-56). X. The answers he gave to several that were inclined to follow him, but not considerately, or not zealously and heartily, so inclined (Luk 9:57-62).

Barclay: Luke (Book Introduction)

INTRODUCTION TO THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO SAINT LUKE

A Lovely Book And Its Author

The gospel according to St. Luke has been called the loveliest book in the world. When once an American asked him if he could recommend a good life of Christ, Denney answered, "Have you tried the one that Luke wrote?" There is a legend that Luke was a skilled painter; there is even a painting of Mary in a Spanish cathedral to this day which purports to be by him. Certainly he had an eye for vivid things. It would not be far wrong to say that the third gospel is the best life of Christ ever written. Tradition has always believed that Luke was the author and we need have no qualms in accepting that tradition. In the ancient world it was the regular thing to attach books to famous names; no one thought it wrong. But Luke was never one of the famous figures of the early Church. If he had not written the gospel no one would have attached it to his name.

Luke was a gentile; and he has the unique distinction of being the only New Testament writer who was not a Jew. He was a doctor by profession (Col_4:14 ) and maybe that very fact gave him the wide sympathy he possessed. It has been said that a minister sees men at their best; a lawyer sees men at their worst; and a doctor sees men as they are. Luke saw men and loved them all.

The book was written to a man called Theophilus. He is called most excellent Theophilus and the title given him is the normal title for a high official in the Roman government. No doubt Luke wrote it to tell an earnest inquirer more about Jesus; and he succeeded in giving Theophilus a picture which must have thrilled his heart closer to the Jesus of whom he had heard.

The Symbols Of The Gospels

Every one of the four gospels was written from a certain point of view. Very often on stained glass windows the writers of the gospels are pictured; and usually to each there is attached a symbol. The symbols vary but one of the commonest allocations is this.

The emblem of Mark is a man. Mark is the simplest and most straightforward of the gospels. It has been well said that its characteristic is realism. It is the nearest to being a report of Jesusife.

The emblem of Matthew is a lion. Matthew was a Jew writing for Jews and he saw in Jesus the Messiah, the lion of the tribe of Judah, the one whom all the prophets had predicted.

The emblem of John is the eagle. The eagle can fly higher than any other bird. It is said that of all creatures only the eagle can look straight into the sun. John is the theological gospel; its flights of thought are higher than those of any of the others. It is the gospel where the philosopher can find themes to think about for a lifetime and to solve only in eternity.

The symbol of Luke is the calf The calf is the animal for sacrifice; and Luke saw in Jesus the sacrifice for all the world. In Luke above all, the barriers are broken down and Jesus is for Jew and gentile, saint and sinner alike. He is the saviour of the world. Keeping that in mind, let us now set down the characteristics of this gospel.

An HistorianCare

First and foremost, Lukegospel is an exceedingly careful bit of work. His Greek is notably good. The first four verses are well-nigh the best Greek in the New Testament. In them he claims that his work is the product of the most careful research. His opportunities were ample and his sources must have been good. As the trusted companion of Paul he must have known all the great figures of the church, and we may be sure that he had them tell their stories to him. For two years he was Paulcompanion in imprisonment in Caesarea. In those long days he had every opportunity for study and research and he must have used them well.

An example of Lukecare is the way in which he dates the emergence of John the Baptist. He does so by no fewer than six contemporary datings. "In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar (1), Pontius Pilate being governor of Judaea (2), Herod being tetrarch of Galilee (3), and his brother Philip being tetrarch of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis (4), and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene (5) in the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas (6), the word of God came to John" (Luk_3:1-2 ). Here is a man who is writing with care and who will be as accurate as it is possible for him to be.

The Gospel For The Gentiles

It is clear that Luke wrote mainly for gentiles. Theophilus was a gentile, as was Luke himself, and there is nothing in the gospel that a gentile could not grasp and understand. (a) As we have seen, Luke begins his dating from the reigning Roman emperor and the current Roman governor. The Roman date comes first. (b) Unlike Matthew, he is not greatly interested in the life of Jesus as the fulfilment of Jewish prophecy. (c) He very seldom quotes the Old Testament at all. (d) He has a habit of giving Hebrew words in their Greek equivalent so that a Greek would understand. Simon the Cananaean becomes Simon the Zealot. (compare Luk_6:15 and Mat_10:4 ). Calvary is called not by its Hebrew name, Golgotha (compare H1538 and H1556), but by its Greek name, Kranion (G2898). Both mean the place of a skull. He never uses the Jewish term Rabbi (H7227) of Jesus but always a Greek word meaning Master. When he is tracing the descent of Jesus, he traces it not to Abraham, the founder of the Jewish race, as Matthew does, but to Adam, the founder of the human race. (compare Mat_1:2 and Luk_3:38 ).

Because of this Luke is the easiest of all the gospels to read. He was writing, not for Jews, but for people very like ourselves.

The Gospel Of Prayer

Lukegospel is specially the gospel of prayer. At all the great moments of his life, Luke shows us Jesus at prayer. He prayed at his baptism (Luk_3:21 ); before his first collision with the Pharisees (Luk_5:16 ); before he chose the Twelve (Luk_6:12 ); before he questioned his disciples as to who they thought he was; before his first prediction of his own death (Luk_9:18 ); at the Transfiguration (Luk_9:29 ); and upon the Cross (Luk_23:46 ). Only Luke tells us that Jesus prayed for Peter in his hour of testing (Luk_22:32 ). Only he tells us the prayer parables of the Friend at Midnight (Luk_11:5-13 ) and the Unjust Judge (Luk_18:1-8 ). To Luke the unclosed door of prayer was one of the most precious in all the world.

The Gospel Of Women

In Palestine the place of women was low. In the Jewish morning prayer a man thanks God that he has not made him "a gentile, a slave or a woman." But Luke gives a very special place to women. The birth narrative is told from Marypoint of view. It is in Luke that we read of Elizabeth, of Anna, of the widow at Nain, of the woman who anointed Jesuseet in the house of Simon the Pharisee. It is Luke who makes vivid the pictures of Martha and Mary and of Mary Magdalene. It is very likely that Luke was a native of Macedonia where women held a more emancipated position than anywhere else; and that may have something to do with it.

The Gospel Of Praise

In Luke the phrase "praising God" occurs oftener than in all the rest of the New Testament put together. This praise reaches its peak in the three great hymns that the church has sung throughout all her generations--the Magnificat (Luk_1:46-55 ); the Benediclus (Luk_1:68-79 ); and the Nunc Dimittis (Luk_2:29-32 ). There is a radiance in Lukegospel which is a lovely thing, as if the sheen of heaven had touched the things of earth.

The Universal Gospel

But the outstanding characteristic of Luke is that it is the universal gospel. All the barriers are down; Jesus Christ is for all men without distinction.

(a) The kingdom of heaven is not shut to the Samaritans (Luk_9:51-56 ). Luke alone tells the parable of the Good Samaritan (Luk_10:30-37 ). The one grateful leper is a Samaritan (Luk_17:11-19 ). John can record a saying that the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans (Joh_4:9 ). But Luke refuses to shut the door on any man.

(b) Luke shows Jesus speaking with approval of gentiles whom the orthodox Jew would have considered unclean. He shows us Jesus citing the widow of Zarephath and Naaman the Syrian as shining examples (Luk_4:25-27 ). The Roman centurion is praised for the greatness of his faith (Luk_7:9 ). Luke tells us of that great word of Jesus, "Men will come from east and west, and from north and south, and sit at the table in the kingdom of God" (Luk_13:29 ).

(c) Luke is supremely interested in the poor. When Mary brings the offering for her purification it is the offering of the poor (Luk_2:24 ). When Jesus is, as it were, setting out his credentials to the emissaries of John, the climax is, "The poor have good news preached to them" (Luk_7:22 ). He alone tells the parable of the Rich Man and the Poor Man (Luk_16:19-31 ). In Lukeaccount of the Beatitudes the saying of Jesus runs, not, as in Matthew (Mat_5:3 ), "Blessed are the poor in spirit," but simply, "Blessed are you poor" (Luk_6:20 ). Lukegospel has been called "the gospel of the underdog." His heart runs out to everyone for whom life is an unequal struggle.

(d) Above all Luke shows Jesus as the friend of outcasts and sinners. He alone tells of the woman who anointed Jesuseet and bathed them with her tears and wiped them with her hair in the house of Simon the Pharisee (Luk_7:36-50 ); of Zacchaeus, the quisling tax-gatherer (Luk_19:1-10 ); of the Penitent Thief (Luk_23:43 ); and he alone has the immortal story of the prodigal son and the loving father (Luk_15:11-32 ). When Matthew tells how Jesus sent his disciples out to preach, he says that Jesus told them not to go to the Samaritans or the gentiles (Mat_10:5 ); but Luke omits that altogether. All four gospel writers quote from Isa 40 when they give the message of John the Baptist, "Prepare the way of the Lord; make straight in the desert a highway for our God"; but only Luke continues the quotation to its triumphant conclusion, "And all flesh shall see the salvation of God" (Isa_40:3-5 ; Mat_3:3 ; Mar_1:3 ; Joh_1:23 ; Luk_3:4 , Luk_3:6 ). Luke of all the gospel writers sees no limits to the love of God.

The Book Beautiful

As we study this book we must look for these characteristics. Somehow of all the gospel writers one would have liked to meet Luke best of all, for this gentile doctor with the tremendous vision of the infinite sweep of the love of God must have been a lovely soul. Faber wrote the lines,

Therea wideness in Godmercy,

Like the wideness of the sea;

Therea kindness in his justice,

Which is more than liberty.

For the love of God is broader

Than the measures of manmind;

And the heart of the Eternal

Is most wonderfully kind.

Lukegospel is the demonstration that this is true.

Barclay: Luke 9 (Chapter Introduction)

Emissaries Of The King (Luk_9:1-9)

Food For The Hungry (Luk_9:10-17)

The Great Discovery (Luk_9:18-22)

The Conditions Of Service (Luk_9:23-27)

The Mountain Top Of Glory (Luk_9:28-36)

Coming Down From The Mount (Luk_9:37-45)

True Greatness (Luk_9:46-48)

Two Lessons In Tolerance (Luk_9:49-56)

The Honesty Of Jesus (Luk_9:57-62)

Constable: Luke (Book Introduction)

Introduction

Writer

Several factors indicate that the writer of this Gospel was the same person who wrote the Book of Acts. First, a man named Theophilus was the recipient of both books (Luke 1:3; Acts 1:1). Second, Acts refers to a previous work by the same writer. Third, both books have several common themes some of which do not receive the same emphasis elsewhere in the New Testament. Fourth, there are general structural and stylistic similarities including the use of chiasms and the tendency to focus on specific individuals.

The writer also acquired his knowledge of Jesus' life and ministry from research rather than from eyewitness observations (Luke 1:1-4). Therefore he was not one of the disciples who travelled with Jesus.

The early church identified the writer as Luke. The heretic Marcion is the earliest witness we have to Luke's authorship (c. 135 A.D.). The Muratorian Canon (c. 180 A.D.) mentioned Luke as the writer too. It described him as the physician who accompanied Paul on his journey (cf. Acts 16:10-17; 20:5-15; 21:1-18; 27:1-28:16; Col. 4:14; Phile. 24; 2 Tim. 4:11). Irenaeus (c. 180-185 A.D.) also believed Luke wrote this Gospel and called him the "inseparable" companion of Paul.¹ Later church fathers referred to Luke as the writer of this Gospel. Luke was evidently a Gentile (cf. Col. 4:10-14).² Church tradition identified Antioch of Syria as Luke's hometown, but this is impossible to validate.

Distinctive Features

The main doctrines of systematic theology that Luke stressed were Christology, soteriology, pneumatology, and eschatology. There is much emphasis on the glory of God, prayer, miracles, the divine plan that Jesus fulfilled, Israel, believing, discipleship, forgiveness, and God's Word.³

Luke stressed Jesus' concern for all people, especially for individuals that society of His day despised such as the poor, women, children, and "sinners." He used the Greek term nomikos, which means "lawyer," rather than the Hebrew term grammateus, meaning "scribe." He emphasized Jesus' practical teachings, such as what He taught about money (cf. chs. 12 and 16).

"In terms of its worldview, its theology, and its practical presentation of principles, this Gospel explains how we can serve God better."⁴

Luke showed interest in purpose, fulfillment, and accomplishment. He documented the joy that resulted from Jesus' saving and healing works. He stressed Jesus' call for people to become His disciples. He portrayed Jesus as dependent on the Holy Spirit and on the Father through prayer. Finally, Luke recorded many examples of Jesus' power.

"Luke's Gospel gives a reader a more comprehensive grasp of the history of the period than the other Gospels. He presented more facts about the earthly life of Jesus than did Matthew, Mark, or John."⁵

This is the longest book in the New Testament. Together with Acts it comprises about 27% of the Greek New Testament.⁶ Luke is the longest book in the New Testament, Matthew is second, and Acts is third, but only slightly shorter than Matthew.

Purposes

The Gospel of Luke is one of the books of the Bible that states the purpose of the writer. Luke said that he wrote to inform Theophilus about the truthfulness of the gospel that he had heard (1:4). In Acts, Luke said he had written previously about the things that Jesus began to do and teach before His ascension (Acts 1:1-2). He then proceeded to record the things Jesus continued to do and teach after His ascension through His apostles in Acts. Presumably Luke wrote both his Gospel and Acts with a larger audience than just Theophilus in view.

The distinctive emphases of the Gospel help us to identify secondary purposes. Luke demonstrated a zeal to convince his readers of the reliability of the facts that he recorded so they would believe in Jesus and become Christians. This concern is also clear in Acts.⁷ Obviously he wrote to preserve the record of events that happened during Jesus' earthly ministry, but few ancient writers wrote simply to narrate a chronicle of events.⁸ They wrote to convince their readers of something, and they used history to do that. Notwithstanding historical accuracy was important to them.⁹ We believe that Luke's Gospel is an accurate continuation of biblical history that God preserved in Scripture. This Gospel constitutes an apologetic for Christianity that would have been of special interest to Greeks because of Luke's selection of material, vocabulary, and style.¹⁰

Original Audience

Evidently Theophilus was a real person.¹¹ His name is Greek and means "friend of God." He appears to have been a fairly recent convert to Christianity from Greek paganism. Consequently it appears that Luke wrote for people such as Theophilus originally. Before his conversion, Theophilus may have been one of the Gentile God-fearers to which Luke referred several times in Acts. The God-fearers were Gentiles who had a certain respect for and who wanted to learn more about the God of the Jews. They came to the Jewish synagogues and listened to the Jewish Scriptures read there. Luke's orientation of his Gospel to the secular world and his references to Judaism also suggest that he wrote his Gospel with these people in mind. His use of the Septuagint version and his interest in the God-fearers suggest this too. The God-fearers had turned from Greek polytheism to Jewish monotheism, but many of them were not familiar with Palestinian geography and culture. Luke clarified these matters for his readers when necessary. The God-fearers were the Gentiles whom Paul found to be the most receptive soil for the gospel seed. Luke himself may have been one of this group, though there is no way to prove or to disprove that possibility.

"[Luke] writes to reassure the Christians of his day that their faith in Jesus is no aberration, but the authentic goal towards which God's ancient dealings with Israel were driving."¹²

By the first century most of the pagan Greeks had stopped believing in the gods and goddesses of their mythology and had abandoned fatalism. Many of them were following Eastern "mystery" religions that competed with Christianity for their allegiance. Both beliefs offered saviors, but the Savior of Christianity was a personal resurrected Lord whereas the savior of the mystery religions was impersonal and ideal. Luke evidently wrote to persuade these people to believe in Jesus and to give them a solid factual basis for their faith.

"That he wrote for an urban church community in the Hellenistic world is fairly certain."¹³

Literary Characteristics

Experts in Greek literary styles acknowledge Luke's style and structure as superb.¹⁴ No one knows Luke's educational background, but clearly he had training in Greek composition as well as medicine and a talent for writing. Luke used many words that the other Gospel writers did not, and many of them show a wide literary background. He also used several medical and theological terms that are unique. Luke's use of Semiticisms shows that he knew the Hebrew Old Testament well. However, his preference for the Septuagint suggests that it was the version his readers used most. Probably Luke was a Gentile who had much exposure to Semitic idioms from Paul and other Jews. He was a skillful enough writer to use chiasms as a major structural device.¹⁵ Chiasms were both Jewish and Greek literary devices that gave unity to a composition or section of text. Acts also contains them. Luke also repeated similar stories with variations (cf. 1:80; 2:40; 2:52). This literary device aids learning while giving additional new insights. He also tended to use a particular term frequently in one or more passages and then rarely or never after that. This makes the term stand out and calls attention to it where it occurs.¹⁶

Date

Practically all scholars believe that Luke wrote his Gospel before he wrote Acts. Many conservative scholars hold that he wrote Acts during Paul's first Roman imprisonment during which the book ends (60-62 A.D.). Luke accompanied Paul during much of that apostle's missionary ministry. At times Luke was not with Paul, but he was ministering as Paul's representative in one or another of the churches that Paul had founded. Evidently Paul was Luke's primary source of information for his Gospel and Acts as Peter was Mark's primary source for the second Gospel. Luke may have written his Gospel during Paul's first imprisonment in Rome along with Acts. However, it seems more likely in view of how Luke introduced these two books that he wrote the Gospel sometime earlier than Acts. Luke had the most time to write this Gospel during Paul's Caesarean imprisonment (57-59 A.D., cf. Acts 24:1-26:32). This seems to me to be the most probable date of writing.¹⁷

Message¹⁸

The first Gospel presented Jesus as the King. The second Gospel presented Him as the Servant. The third Gospel presents Him as the perfect Man. Matthew wrote to Jews about their King. Mark wrote to Romans about a Servant. Luke wrote to Greeks about the ideal Man. The title "Messiah" is most fitting for Jesus in Matthew. The title "Suffering Servant" is most appropriate in Mark. "Son of Man" is the title most characteristic of Luke's presentation of Jesus.

Luke stressed the saving work of Jesus in His Gospel. He presented Jesus as the Savior of mankind. He also proclaimed Jesus' work of providing salvation for mankind. Let us consider first the Savior that Luke presents and then the salvation that the Savior came to provide.

Luke presented Jesus as the Savior in three different relationships. He presented Him as the first-born of a new race. Second, He presented Him as the older brother in a new family. Third, He presented Him as the redeemer of a lost humanity.

Let us consider first Luke's concept of Jesus as the first-born of a new race. Luke's genealogy reveals how the writer wanted the reader to regard Jesus. Matthew traced Jesus' lineage back to David and Abraham in his genealogy to show His right to rule as Israel's Messiah. Luke traced Jesus' ancestry back to Adam. He did this to show Jesus' humanity.

However, Luke went back even farther than that to God. This indicates that Jesus was not just like other humans who descended from Adam. He was, as the Apostle Paul called Him, the "Last Adam." The first Adam that God placed on this earth failed and plunged his race into sin and death. The last Adam that God placed on the earth did not fail but saved His race from sin and brought it new life. The first man begins the Old Testament, but the "Second Man," to use another Pauline title, begins the New Testament. As Adam headed one race, so Jesus heads a new race. Both Adams were real men. Thus both men head real races of mankind. Luke viewed Jesus as succeeding where Adam failed, as atoning for Adam's transgression.

For Jesus to undue the consequences of Adam's fall, He had to be more than just a good man. He had to be a perfect man, a sinless man. Therefore Luke stressed Jesus' sinlessness. He did this primarily in his account of Jesus' birth. Luke stressed the virgin conception of Jesus. The Holy Spirit, not a sinful human, fathered Jesus. God regards the male as responsible in the human family. Husbands are responsible for their wives. Fathers are responsible for their children. God held Adam, not Eve, responsible for his descendants.

Human beings are sinners for three separate reasons. First, we are sinners because we commit acts of sin. However even if we never committed one act of sin we would still be sinners because we, second, inherited a sinful human nature. This nature apparently comes through our fathers (cf. Heb. 7:9-10).¹⁹ Third, we are sinners because God has imputed the guilt of Adam's sin to us because he is the head of the race to which we belong.

Jesus was not a sinner. He did not commit any acts of sin. Second, He did not inherit a sinful nature from His human father because God was His real Father. Third, God did not impute Adam's sin to Jesus because Jesus was the direct descendant of God and therefore the head of a new race. God gave the first Adam life by breathing the breath of life into the body that He had created. Likewise God gave the second Adam life by implanting His divine life into a body that He had created, namely Mary's body.

The doctrine of the virgin birth is extremely important because it establishes the sinlessness of Jesus in two of the three ways whereby people become sinners. If a virgin did not conceive Jesus, then He was a sinner. If Jesus was a sinner, then He cannot be the Savior.

The third way a person becomes a sinner is by committing acts of sin. Luke showed that Jesus did not do this in his account of Jesus' temptations.

In the wilderness Satan subjected Jesus to the strongest temptations that humans face. Satan directed Jesus' three tests at the three areas of human personality that constitute the totality of human existence. These areas are doing (the lust of the flesh), having (the lust of the eyes), and being (the pride of life). These are the same three areas in which Satan attacked Eve.

The first man fell in a garden, an environment conducive to withstanding temptation. The Second Man overcame temptation in a wilderness, an environment conducive to yielding to temptation. Rather than showing at every turn in Jesus' life that He did not sin, Luke showed that in the supreme test of His life Jesus did not sin. However, he continued to note Jesus' conflict with Satan, demons, and sin throughout His life. Luke's record of these encounters also demonstrates Jesus' sinlessness.

At the Transfiguration, God declared His Son acceptable to Him. This meant that He was sinless.

Second, Luke presented Jesus as the older brother in a new family. Since Jesus was the head of a new race we might think that Luke would have presented Jesus as a father. Jesus was the first and therefore the source of all that follow in the race that He established. Nevertheless Luke stressed Jesus' likeness with those in the new race. He is as an elder brother to us who have new life through Him. This is not to deny His deity. In one sense Jesus is completely different from us since He is God. However, Luke stressed the sense in which He is like us, namely in His humanity. He is one of us, fully human.

Luke presented Jesus as a man among men. He of all the Gospel writers wanted his readers to appreciate the fact that Jesus was a real person. There are many small indications of this throughout this Gospel that I have tried to identify in the notes. Luke did this because he was evidently writing to Greeks. Greeks had a background in polytheism and mythology. Because of their cultural background they tended to think of gods as superhumans. They were not real people, but they had the characteristics of people expanded into superhuman proportions. Luke wanted his readers to realize that Jesus was not that type of god. He was fully human, but He was also sinless. He had superhuman powers, but He was not the type of superman that the Greeks imagined.

Jesus was a fellow human being albeit sinless. This is very hard for us to imagine. Therefore Luke put much in his Gospel that helps us understand Jesus, from His birth announcements to His ascension into heaven.

Third, Luke presented Jesus as the redeemer of a lost humanity. Since he was writing to Greeks, Luke did not identify many allusions to the Old Testament or to Jewish life and history. These allusions are in the text, but Luke did not draw attention to them. One of the outstanding concepts in Israelite life that Luke did not identify as such, but which overshadows his portrait of Jesus, is the kinsman redeemer. His presentation of Jesus fits the image of the Jewish kinsman redeemer remarkably.

The kinsman redeemer had to be the next of kin to the person he redeemed. Luke presented Jesus as qualifying as our redeemer in this respect. He was a man as we are. Therefore He could provide redemption for His needy brothers.

The kinsman redeemer also had to accept personal responsibility for those he purposed to save from their miserable estate. Luke presented Jesus as taking personal responsibility for lost sinners. He recorded Jesus saying that He had to go to the Cross. He viewed the salvation of mankind as something that He needed to accomplish because He had made a personal commitment to do so. That commitment began in heaven but continued on earth throughout Jesus' life.

The kinsman redeemer had to overcome those who opposed his brethren. Luke presented Jesus as conflicting with Satan and his hosts. He showed Him interceding for the Father's help for His tempted brethren, Peter in particular. Jesus won the victory over mankind's great enemy for His brethren.

The kinsman redeemer had to create an opportunity for his brother's redemption. Luke presented Jesus as doing this. Luke's distinctive presentation of Jerusalem as Jesus' city of destiny contributes to this theme. Jesus deliberately advanced toward Jerusalem and the Cross because He was creating an opportunity for mankind's redemption.

The kinsman redeemer turned his back on his personal rights and privileges to provide redemption for his brother. Luke presented Jesus doing this as well. Jesus modeled this strongly for His disciples in this Gospel. He also taught the importance of disciples doing this so we can bring salvation to our brothers.

These themes are very strong in Luke. Jesus is the head of an entirely new race of people, the redeemed. He is the elder brother who provides an example for His brethren to follow. He is the Savior who has come "to seek and to save the lost."

We have considered how Luke presents Jesus as the Savior. Now let us turn to what he revealed about salvation. The key verse in the Gospel is 19:10: "The Son of Man is come to seek and to save the lost." We have been looking at the Son of Man. Now let us look as seeking and saving the lost.

Luke reveals that the Son of Man has redeemed mankind. This Gospel is a record of God's redeeming work in Jesus Christ. Jesus' work on the Cross is the climax of this Gospel as it is the climax of all the Gospels and history itself. Jesus was born to die. By His death Jesus purchased mankind's freedom at the cost of His own life. Jesus instituted the Lord's Supper so His disciples would always keep the memory of the significance of His death freshly before them. The Christian mission is to tell the world about this redemption.

Through redemption God regenerates those who are dead in sin. This is the second step in God's plan of seeking and saving the lost. Believers receive new life when they believe on Jesus. Comprehending what this new life involves, learning how to live in view of its reality, and appreciating its great potential are all things that Luke stressed in this Gospel. Jesus' disciples struggled with learning this as we do. Luke recorded many of Jesus' teachings that are helpful in understanding and appreciating regeneration.

Through regeneration God brings believers into relationship with Himself. This is the third step in this great salvation process. Luke helps the reader understand the difference between trusting for salvation and working for rewards. What is our relationship to Jesus as His followers? What are our privileges and our responsibilities? How does prayer enter into our relationship? Luke has more to say to disciples about our relationship to the Father and the Son than any other Gospel evangelist.

Then through relationship with Himself, God prepares believers for life after death as members of a new race. Luke recorded much that is of great help for us as readers here too. What is the next phase of our life with God going to be like? How should we prepare for it? What is ahead in the future? Luke teaches us what it means to be a member of the new redeemed race of humanity.

In addition to the central teaching of this Gospel let me also point out what I believe are the reasons for its abiding appeal. These are two: the personality of Jesus and the presentation of discipleship.

The personality of Jesus as Luke presents Him in this Gospel is very appealing. Possibly three things make Him so.

First, we feel that we can identify with the Jesus of Luke's Gospel. This is probably because Luke presented Him as a real man. It may be harder to identify with a King or with a Suffering Servant to say nothing about God, John's emphasis. Even though He is perfect He is someone with whom we feel a natural kinship because we share humanity together. Jesus faced what we do yet He was pleasing to God. This is very encouraging.

Second, the Jesus of Luke's Gospel is attractive because He is different from us. Even though we are of the same kind, He holds a fascination for us because He was the personification of ideal humanity. He was everything that God intended man to be. It is thrilling to view someone like that since we all fall so far short of what we should be.

Third, this Jesus is attractive because He was so sympathetic. One of the characteristic features of Luke's Gospel is the many references it contains to Jesus' concern for the needy including women, the poor, the sick, and outcasts of society. We read of the social outcasts of Jesus' day flocking to Him and feeling at home in His presence. We see Him welcoming children, and we feel ourselves drawn to Him.

Another reason for the appeal of this book is its presentation of discipleship. It contains some of the most straight talk and challenging demands for followers of Jesus that the New Testament holds. We read Jesus telling us that unless we hate our family members we cannot be His disciples, (14:26). He taught that we have to deny ourselves (14:27). We have to renounce all that we have (14:33). Interestingly these three conditions correspond to the three things that we mentioned earlier that Luke pointed out about Jesus.

Jesus calls us to sever our connections with our old race because we have become members of a new race. Jesus taught that our spiritual relations are really closer than our physical relations. Therefore we should let these old relations go if they interfere with our participation in the affairs of our new race.

Jesus calls us to accept the same responsibility that He accepted since we are now brothers. He denied Himself and took up His cross for us. Now we are brothers so we need to do the same for Him. Brothers sacrifice for each other.

Jesus also calls us to give up everything for Him. Having received the benefits of redemption because of the work of our Kinsman Redeemer who paid a great price for us, we need to pay a great price too. The price He calls us to pay is not to earn redemption. He has given that to us as a gift. It is to express our gratitude to Him for His grace and to advance the mission that He has given us to fulfill. He had a mission from God, and He gave up everything to fulfill it. We, too, have a mission from God, and we need to give up everything to fulfill it.

Finally this Gospel has a two-fold application, to the church and to the world.

To the church Luke says, "Be witnesses" (24:48).

We are to be such in view of the relationship that we now enjoy with the Son of Man. We should be such for three reasons. We have experienced redemption. We enjoy His fellowship. We have a future as members of a new race.

We are to be His witnesses also in view of the lost condition of mankind. Jesus came to seek and to save the lost. Our fellowship with Jesus requires participation in His mission to seek and to save the lost. We can do this for three reasons. He has transformed our lives. He will open people's eyes with His Word. He has empowered us with His Spirit (cf. ch. 24).

To the world Luke says, "You are lost, but the Son of Man has come to seek and to save the lost." A Redeemer has come. A brother is available. A new life is possible. Behold the Man! He understands you. Yet He is different from you. But He will receive you.

Constable: Luke (Outline)

Outline

I. Introduction 1:1-4

II. The birth and childhood of Jesus 1:5-2:52

A. The announcement of John the Baptist's birth 1:5-25

1. The introduction of John's parents 1:5-7

2. The angel's announcement to Zechariah 1:8-23

3. The pregnancy of Elizabeth 1:24-25

B. The announcement of Jesus' birth 1:26-56

1. The introduction of Mary and Joseph 1:26-27

2. The angel's announcement to Mary 1:28-38

3. Mary's visit to Elizabeth 1:39-56

C. The birth and early life of John the Baptist 1:57-80

1. The naming of John 1:57-66

2. Zechariah's song of praise 1:67-79

3. The preparation of John 1:80

D. The birth and early life of Jesus ch. 2

1. The setting of Jesus' birth 2:1-7

2. The announcement to the shepherds 2:8-20

3. Jesus' circumcision 2:21

4. Jesus' presentation in the temple 2:22-38

5. Jesus' development in Nazareth 2:39-40

6. Jesus' visit to the temple as a boy 2:41-50

7. Jesus' continuing growth 2:51-52

III. The preparation for Jesus' ministry 3:1-4:13

A. The ministry of John the Baptist 3:1-20

1. The beginning of John's ministry 3:1-6

2. John's preaching 3:7-18

3. The end of John's ministry 3:19-20

B. The baptism of Jesus 3:21-22

C. The genealogy of Jesus 3:23-38

D. The temptation of Jesus 4:1-13

IV. Jesus' ministry in and around Galilee 4:14-9:50

A. Jesus' teaching ministry and the response to it 4:14-5:11

1. An introduction to Jesus' Galilean ministry 4:14-15

2. Jesus' teaching in Nazareth 4:16-30

3. Jesus' ministry in and around Capernaum 4:31-44

4. The call of Peter, James, and John 5:1-11

B. The beginning of controversy with the Pharisees 5:12-6:11

1. Jesus' cleansing of a leprous Jew 5:12-16

2. Jesus' authority to forgive sins 5:17-26

3. Jesus' attitude toward sinners 5:27-32

4. Jesus' attitude toward fasting 5:33-39

5. Jesus' authority over the Sabbath 6:1-5

6. Jesus' attitude toward the Sabbath 6:6-11

C. Jesus' teaching of His disciples 6:12-49

1. The selection of 12 disciples 6:12-16

2. The assembling of the people 6:17-19

3. The Sermon on the Mount 6:20-49

D. Jesus' compassion for people ch. 7

1. The healing of a centurion's servant 7:1-10

2. The raising of a widow's son 7:11-17

3. The confusion about Jesus' identity 7:18-35

4. The anointing by a sinful woman 7:36-50

E. Jesus' teaching in parables 8:1-21

1. The companions and supporters of Jesus 8:1-3

2. The parable of the soils 8:4-15

3. The parable of the lamp 8:16-18

4. The true family of Jesus 8:19-21

F. Jesus' mighty works 8:22-56

1. The stilling of the storm 8:22-25

2. The deliverance of a demoniac in Gadara 8:26-39

3. The healing of a woman with a hemorrhage and the raising of Jairus' daughter 8:40-56

G. Jesus' preparation of the Twelve 9:1-50

1. The mission of the Twelve to Israel 9:1-6

2. Herod's question about Jesus' identity 9:7-9

3. The feeding of the 5000 9:10-17

4. Peter's confession of faith 9:18-27

5. The Transfiguration 9:28-36

6. The exorcism of an epileptic boy 9:37-43a

7. Jesus' announcement of His betrayal 9:43b-45

8. The pride of the disciples 9:46-50

V. Jesus' ministry on the way to Jerusalem 9:51-19:27

A. The responsibilities and rewards of discipleship 9:51-10:24

1. The importance of toleration 9:51-56

2. The importance of self-denial 9:57-62

3. The importance of participation 10:1-16

4. The joy of participation 10:17-20

5. The joy of comprehension 10:21-24

B. The relationships of disciples 10:25-11:13

1. The relation of disciples to their neighbors 10:25-37

2. The relation of disciples to Jesus 10:38-42

3. The relation of disciples to God the Father 11:1-13

C. The results of popular opposition 11:14-54

1. The Beelzebul controversy 11:14-26

2. The importance of observing God's Word 11:27-28

3. The sign of Jonah 11:29-32

4. The importance of responding to the light 11:33-36

5. The climax of Pharisaic opposition 11:37-54

D. The instruction of the disciples in view of Jesus' rejection 12:1-13:17

1. The importance of fearless confession 12:1-12

2. The importance of the eternal perspective 12:13-21

3. God's provisions for disciples 12:22-34

4. The coming of the Son of 12:35-48

5. The coming crisis 12:49-59

6. A call to repentance 13:1-9

7. A sign of Jesus' ability to affect change 13:10-17

E. Instruction about the kingdom 13:18-14:35

1. Parables of the kingdom 13:18-21

2. Entrance into the kingdom 13:22-30

3. Jesus' postponement of the kingdom 13:31-35

4. Participants in the kingdom 14:1-24

5. The cost of discipleship 14:25-35

F. God's attitude toward sinners ch. 15

1. The setting for Jesus' teaching 15:1-2

2. The parable of the lost sheep 15:3-7

3. The parable of the lost coin 15:8-10

4. The parable of the lost son 15:11-32

G. Jesus' warnings about riches ch. 16

1. Discipleship as stewardship 16:1-13

2. Jesus' rebuke of the Pharisees for their greed 16:14-31

H. Jesus' warning about disciples' actions and attitudes 17:1-19

1. The prevention of sin and the restoration of sinners 17:1-4

2. The disciples' attitude toward their duty 17:5-10

3. The importance of gratitude 17:11-19

I. Jesus' teaching about His return 17:20-18:8

1. A short lesson for the Pharisees 17:20-21

2. A longer explanation for the disciples 17:22-37

3. The parable of the persistent widow 18:1-8

J. The recipients of salvation 18:9-19:27

1. The parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector 18:9-14

2. An illustration of humility 18:15-17

3. The handicap of wealth 18:18-30

4. Jesus' passion announcement and the disciples' lack of perception 18:31-34

5. The healing of a blind man near Jericho 18:35-43

6. Zaccheus' ideal response to Jesus 19:1-10

7. The parable of the minas 19:11-27

VI. Jesus' ministry in Jerusalem 19:28-21:38

A. The Triumphal Entry 19:28-40

B. The beginning of Jesus' ministry in Jerusalem 19:41-48

1. Jesus' sorrow over Jerusalem 19:42-44

2. Jesus' cleansing of the temple 19:45-46

3. A synopsis of Jesus' teaching in the temple 19:47-48

C. Jesus' teachings in the temple 20:1-21:4

1. The controversy over authority 20:1-8

2. The parable of the wicked tenant farmers 20:9-19

3. The question of tribute to Caesar 20:20-26

4. The problem of the resurrection 20:27-40

5. Jesus' question about David's son 20:41-44

6. Jesus' condemnation of the scribes 20:45-47

7. Jesus' commendation of a widow 21:1-4

D. Jesus' teaching about the destruction of the temple 21:5-36

1. The setting and the warning about being misled 21:5-9

2. The need for faithful perseverance 21:10-19

3. The judgment coming on Jerusalem 21:20-24

4. The second coming of the Son of 21:25-28

5. The certainty of these events 21:29-33

6. The concluding exhortation to watchfulness 21:34-36

E. A summary of Jesus' ministry in Jerusalem 21:37-38

VII. Jesus' passion, resurrection, and ascension 22:1-24:53

A. The plot to arrest Jesus 22:1-6

1. The leaders' desire 22:1-2

2. Judas' offer 22:3-6

B. The preparations for the Passover 22:7-13

C. Events in the upper room 22:14-38

1. The Passover meal 22:14-18

2. The institution of the Lord's Supper 22:19-20

3. Jesus' announcement of His betrayal 22:21-23

4. Teaching about the disciples' service 22:24-30

5. Jesus' announcement of Peter's denial 22:31-34

6. The opposition to come 22:35-38

D. The arrest of Jesus 22:39-53

1. Jesus' preparation in Gethsemane 22:39-46

2. Judas' betrayal 22:47-53

E. The trials of Jesus 22:54-23:25

1. Peter's denial of Jesus 22:54-62

2. The mockery of the soldiers 22:63-65

3. Jesus' trial before the Sanhedrin 22:66-71

4. Jesus' first appearance before Pilate 23:1-7

5. Jesus' appearance before Herod 23:8-12

6. Jesus' second appearance before Pilate 23:13-25

F. The crucifixion of Jesus 23:26-49

1. Events on the way to Golgotha 23:26-32

2. Jesus' death 23:33-49

G. The burial of Jesus 23:50-56

H. The resurrection of Jesus 24:1-12

I. The post-resurrection appearances of Jesus 24:13-49

1. The appearance to the disciples walking to Emmaus 24:13-35

2. The appearances to the disciples in Jerusalem 24:36-49

J. The ascension of Jesus 24:50-53

Constable: Luke

Luke

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Moore, Thomas S. "The Lucan Great Commission and the Isaianic Servant." Bibliotheca Sacra 154:613 (January-March 1997):47-60.

Morgan, G. Campbell. Living Messages of the Books of the Bible. 2 vols. New York: Fleming H. Revell Co., 1912.

Morris, Leon. The Gospel According to St. Luke. Tyndale New Testament Commentaries series. Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1974.

Mosley, A. W. "Historical Reporting in the Ancient World." New Testament Studies 12 (1965-66):10-26.

Neil, William, The Acts of the Apostles. New Century Bible Commentary series. London: Marshall, Morgan, and Scott, 1973; reprint ed., Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., and London: Marshall, Morgan, and Scott, 1981.

The New Bible Dictionary. Edited by J. D. Douglas. S.v. "Genealogy of Jesus Christ," by F. F. Bruce.

_____. S.v. "Quirinius," by F. F. Bruce.

Oliver, H. H. "The Lucan Birth Stories and the Purpose of Luke-Acts." New Testaments Studies 10 (1963-64):215-26.

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Pentecost, J. Dwight. "The Biblical Covenants and the Birth Narratives." In Walvoord: A Tribute, pp. 257-70. Edited by Donald K. Campbell. Chicago: Moody Press, 1982.

_____. The Parables of Jesus. Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1982.

_____. The Words and Works of Jesus Christ. Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1981.

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_____. "The Lukan Presentation of Jesus' Ministry in Galilee." Review and Expositor 64 (1967):485-97.

_____. "Prophecies of Future Greatness: The Contribution of Greco-Roman Biographies to an Understanding of Luke 1:5-4:15." In The Divine Helmsman: Studies on God's Control of Human Events, Presented to Lou H. Silberman, pp. 129-41. Edited by James L. Crenshaw and Samuel Sandmel. New York: Ktav Publishing House, 1980.

_____. Reading Luke: A Literary and Theological Commentary on the Third Gospel. New York: Crossroad Publishing Co., 1982.

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_____. The Narrative Unity of Luke-Acts: A Literary Interpretation. Vol. 1: The Gospel according to Luke. Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1986.

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_____. S.v. "hepta," by K. H. Rengstorf.

_____. S.v. "makarios," by F. Hauck and G. Bertram.

_____. S.v. "nestis," by J. Behm.

_____. S.v. "pais," by Albrecht Oepke.

_____. S.v. "paristemi, paristano," by Bo Reicke.

_____. S.v. "pascha," by Joachim Jeremias.

_____. S.v. "stole," by Ulrich Wilckens.

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_____. St. Luke. New Clarendon Bible series. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1972.

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Witherington, Ben III. Women in the Ministry of Jesus: A Study of Jesus' Attitudes to Women and Their Roles as Reflected in His Earthly Life. Society for New Testament Studies Monograph Series 51. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1984.

Yamauchi, Edwin M. "The Daily Bread Motif in Antiquity." Westminster Theological Journal 28 (1965-66):147-56.

Yancey, Philip. Disappointment with God. Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1992.

Yates, Gary. "The Use of Isaiah 61:1 (and 58:6) in Luke 4:18-19." Exegesis and Exposition 2:1 (Summer 1987):13-27.

Zondervan Pictorial Encyclopedia of the Bible. Edited by Merrill C. Tenney. S.v. "Coins," by Gleason L. Archer.

_____. S.v. "Demon, Demoniac, Demonology," by R. K. Harrison.

_____. S.v. "Diseases of the Bible," by R. H. Pousma.

_____. S.v. "Samaritans," by J. L. Kelso.

_____. S.v. "Quirinius," by E. M. Blaiklock.

Zuck, Roy B. "How Jesus Responded to Questions." In Integrity of Heart, Skillfulness of Hands, pp. 108-33. Edited by Charles H. Dyer and Roy B. Zuck. Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1994.

Copyright 2003 by Thomas L. Constable

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Haydock: Luke (Book Introduction)

THE

HOLY GOSPEL OF JESUS CHRIST,

ACCORDING TO ST. LUKE.

INTRODUCTION

St. Luke was a physician, a native of Antioch, the metropolis of Syria, and well skilled in the Greek language, as his writings sufficiently evince. In some ancient manuscripts, he is called Lucius, and Lucanus. Some conjecture that he was at first a Gentile and a pagan, and was converted by the preaching of St. Paul, at Antioch; others, that he was originally a Jew, and one of the seventy-two disciples. Sts. Hippolitus and Epiphanius say, that hearing from our Lord these words, he that eateth not my flesh, and drinketh not my blood, is not worthy of me, he withdrew, and quitted our Saviour, but returned to the faith at the preaching of St. Paul. But to leave what is uncertain, St. Luke was the disciple, travelling companion, and fellow-labourer of St. Paul. Of him St. Paul is supposed to speak: (2 Corinthians viii. 18.) We have sent also with him (Titus) the brother, whose praise is in the gospel, through all churches: and again, Luke, the most dear physician, saluteth you: (Colossians iv.) and, only Luke is with me. (2 Timothy iv.) Some are of opinion that as often as St. Paul, in his Epistles, says according to my gospel, he speaks of the Gospel of St. Luke. This evangelist did not learn his gospel from St. Paul only, (who had never been with our Lord in the flesh) but from the other apostles also, as himself informs us in the beginning of his gospel, when he says, according as they have delivered them unto us; who, from the beginning, were eye-witnesses, ( Greek: autoptai ) and ministers of the word. His gospel, therefore, he wrote as he heard it; but the Acts of the Apostles, from his own observations; and both, as some believe, about the same time in which his history of the Acts finishes, towards the year of Christ 63. But the received opinion now is, that St. Luke wrote his gospel in Achaia, in the year 53, ten years previously to his writing of the Acts, purposely to counteract the fabulous relations concerning Jesus Christ, which several persons had endeavoured to palm upon the world. It does not appear, as Calmet observes, that he had ever read the gospels of St. Matthew and St. Mark. ... He chiefly insists in his gospel, upon what relates to Christ's priestly office; hence the ancients gave, of the four symbolical representations, mentioned in Ezechiel, that of the ox, or calf, to St. Luke, as an emblem of sacrifices. He lived 84 years in the state of celibacy, was crucified at Elœa, in Peloponnesus, near Achaia, and was buried in the church of the apostles, at Constantinople, to which city his remains were translated, together with those of St. Andrew and St. Timothy, in the year 357, by order of the emperor Constantius. When this church was repaired, by an order of Justinian, the masons found three wooden chests, in which the bodies of these saints were interred. Baronius mentions, that the head of St. Luke was brought by St. Gregory from Constantinople to Rome, in the year of Christ 586. St. Luke writes purer Greek than any of the other hagiographers; yet many Syriac words, and turns of expressions, occur in both his gospel and Acts of the Apostles; some also that imitate the genius of the Latin tongue. He cites Scripture according to the Septuagint, and not after the Hebrew text. St. Paul, in his Epistles, generally quotes the gospel in a manner the most conformable to St. Luke, as may be seen in the following instances; 1 Corinthians xi. 23. and 24. chap. xv. 5. The Marcionites would only receive the gospel of St. Luke, and from this they retrenched the first two chapters, with regard the birth of Jesus Christ, and only admitted ten of St. Paul's Epistles, as Tertullian and St. Epiphanius have remarked. Marcion embraced the errors of Cerdon: to these he added others, the offspring of his own brain. He began to disseminate his novel opinions at Rome, about the year of Christ 144. He could not bring himself to believe how a spirit, such as the human soul, could be shut up in a body, be subject to ignorance, to weakness, to pain; nor in what manner, or for what end, the great and good Lord, the Creator of spirits, could have thus degraded them. Revelation, which teaches us the fall of the first man, did not appear to the Marcionites, to solve the difficulty, since the first man was composed of a spiritual soul and a terrestrial body; they, moreover, imagined that an all-good, an all-powerful God, ought to have prevented the fall of man. No wonder then, that they refused to adopt the first two chapters of St. Luke, which contain the miraculous births of Jesus and his precursor [John the Baptist]; as also sundry texts of the very scanty portions of holy Scriptures which their party chose to retain. But what does this shew? that tradition, in the first instance, must be admitted, to inform us what is authentic scripture; and, secondly, an infallible Church-authority, to inform us what is the genuine interpretation of the genuine text. Without the assistance of apostolical tradition and Church-authority, could any Seeker (even with the assistance of Brown's Self-interpreting Bible, in 2 vols. 4to.) rest secure, that he properly understood the disputed points of holy writ; that his, and no other interpretation, was the genuine sense of these mysterious words, when he was informed that by far the greater part of learned societies, and learned individuals, gave a widely different interpretation to the same texts. This freedom of expounding Scripture, by unassisted reason and private spirit, was the first germ of the daily increasing spread of sects and heresies; this is the nucleus, which, after enveloping itself like the comet, in much nebulous obscurity, terminates in a fiery tail, of portentous magnitude, the ruinous effects of which can only be prevented by a speedy return to first principles, apostolical tradition, and Church-authority.

====================

Gill: Luke (Book Introduction)

INTRODUCTION TO LUKE

The writer of this Gospel, Luke, has been, by some, thought, as Origen ^a relates, to be the same with Lucius, mentioned in Rom 16:21, but he seems rather to be, and without doubt is, Luke the beloved physician, who was a companion of the Apostle Paul in great part of his travels in the Gentile world: he came with him to Jerusalem, and from thence accompanied him to Rome, and continued with him when in prison, and was with him to the last; see Act 16:10, &c. Col 4:14. Jerom ^b, and others, say, he was a physician of Antioch in Syria; where it may be the Apostle Paul met with him, and might be the happy instrument of his conversion; so that he seems to be, by nation, a Syrian, as Jerom ^c calls him. Grotius thinks his name is Roman, and that it is the contraction of Lucilius. It is not an Hebrew name, but might be in common use in Syria; for though the Jews reckon owqwl, "Lukus", among foreign names, yet say ^d a it was a very illustrious one, and well known to them, as it may well be thought to be if Syriac, the language being spoke by them: and many Jews lived in Syria, and particularly in Antioch. Some say that this Gospel was written by the advice, and assistance, and under the direction of the Apostle Paul, as the Gospel according to Mark was by that of Peter; though the following preface does not seem so well to accord with this. Eusebius says ^e that it was the sense of the ancients, that whenever the Apostle Paul makes mention of his Gospel, he intends this according to Luke. The time of the writing of it is not certain; some say it was written in the fifteenth year after the ascension of our Lord; others in the twenty second; and others in the twenty seventh. It is commonly thought to have been written after the Gospels of Matthew and Mark, according to the order in which it stands; but this is rejected by some learned men, who rather think that Luke wrote first of all: and indeed, there are some things in his preface which look as if there had not, as yet, been any authentic account published, at least which was come to the knowledge of this evangelist. The place where he wrote it is also uncertain. Jerom says ^f, he wrote it in the parts of Achaia, perhaps at Corinth: according to the titles prefixed to the Syriac and Persic versions, he wrote it in Alexandria: the former of these runs thus;

"the Gospel of Luke, the Evangelist, which he spake and published in Greek in Alexandria the great.''

And the latter thus;

"the Gospel of Luke, which he wrote in the Greek tongue in Alexandria of Egypt.''

However, it is agreed on all hands, that it is genuine, and of divine inspiration. Eusebius ^g relates, that it was affirmed by some, that this Gospel, together with those of Matthew and Mark, were brought to the Apostle John, who approved of them, and bore witness to the truth in them.

College: Luke (Book Introduction)

FOREWORD

"Many have undertaken" to write commentaries on the Gospel of Luke, and a large number of these are very good. "It seemed good also to me" to attempt to place in the hands of a popular audience the best of recent scholarship in an easily readable form. My prayer will have been answered if those without specialized training are able to come to a deeper understanding of Luke's message as a result of these efforts.

My debt to those who have written before me will be demonstrated throughout the commentary. I am equally indebted to many who have spent hours reading and making suggestions which have vastly improved my work. To my student assistant, Meg Grandstaff; to my mother, Peggy Black; and to my colleagues, Terry Briley, Brandon Fredenburg, and Gary Holloway, I can only say, "Thank you" and "I owe you one." I must also thank Lipscomb University for the Faculty Summer Grant which gave me the summer of 1996 to work on the book.

My greatest gratitude goes to Margo, Sara, Jessica, and Allison, who have tolerated too many hours taken away from them. They fill all my days with joy, and I must ask with Elizabeth (Luke 1:43), "Why am I so favored" to be their husband and father?

-College Press New Testament Commentary: with the NIV

TABLE OF

SUPPLEMENTAL STUDIES

Anti-Semitism 371

Baptism 84

Destruction of Jerusalem and End of Time 336

Forgiveness and Grace 163

Fulfillment of Scripture 42

Holy Spirit 93

Kingdom of God 112

Law 69

Messiah 88

Miracles and Sign-Seeking 107

Outcasts and Untouchables 127

Parables 167

Pharisees 120

Poor and Rich 142

Prayer 92

Prophet Theme 60

Repentance 83

Sadducees 327

Samaritans 200

Son of Man 124

Table Fellowship 126

Tax Collectors 87

Women 50

-College Press New Testament Commentary: with the NIV

INTRODUCTION

ABOUT THIS COMMENTARY

This commentary is written for serious students of the New Testament, including Bible class teachers, preachers, college students, and other motivated readers. The reader need not be acquainted with the Greek language or scholarly tools and methodology. The single goal of the present commentary is to place modern readers into the shoes of the first readers of Luke's Gospel. Two questions have been constantly asked: What did Luke want his readers to grasp as he penned each section? And what did he want them to believe and to do after they had read the whole? My assumption is that the Gospel of Luke was written for us but not directly to us. Since it was originally written for a people of a different culture almost two thousand years ago, we must attempt to understand it as they understood it in order to be faithful to Luke's intent.

Luke wrote in order to encourage active faith in Jesus, and he did so through the use of narrative literature. To put it differently, Luke has written to tell his readers what to believe, what reasons there are for believing, and what it means to live as a believer. To make his case he has chosen to tell a story, a literary form with few imperatives and exhortations directly to the reader. Since narratives teach indirectly, the reader must learn to "read between the lines" in order to grasp the message.

I have therefore taken a literary and theological approach in this commentary. I believe that Luke has given many clues regarding his intent and that a proper reading will discover that intent. Put simply, his method is to tell the story of Jesus, highlighting those aspects of the story which his readers need most to hear. He has woven many themes into the plot which begins with the birth and ends with the death and resurrection of Jesus. To understand his message, then, the reader must read the whole, paying close attention to the plot and the characters and to the many repeated themes. Therefore I am more concerned with Luke's message in any given story than I am with the attempt to discover how his source(s) told the story. Similarly, I am more concerned with the reasons for Luke's references to various events than I am with our ability to confirm the historicity of those events.

For each episode or section in Luke's Gospel, we will be concerned first with any terms, customs, institutions, places, and beliefs which might be unfamiliar to the modern reader. We will therefore offer brief introductions to Herod Antipas, first-century eating customs, messianic beliefs, and dozens of other matters with which Luke's readers would already be familiar. Our second and most important concern will be to discover the function of each section in the larger story. Does it further the plot, teach a lesson on what it means to be a disciple, encourage deeper faith, or function in some other way?

A third feature of the present commentary is the attempt to summarize Luke's teaching on a variety of topics. Luke had several areas of special concern, evidenced by his dealing with them again and again. The reader will find in the table of contents a list of one- or two-page treatments of special topics such as women, the poor, the Law, the Holy Spirit, prayer, the kingdom of God, and many others.

A final special interest (to be explained further in the introduction below) is the effort to relate the Gospel of Luke to its companion volume, the book of Acts. The reader gains inspired insight into what Luke thinks about the teachings of Jesus when he or she sees Jesus' disciples in Acts carrying out those teachings. We will regularly look ahead to Acts to understand what Jesus means in the Gospel of Luke.

I am greatly indebted to the fine commentaries on Luke's Gospel by Johnson, Nolland, Stein, and Tiede. These works, which have different purposes and perspectives, have been tremendously helpful in my writing. I have tried to footnote them when appropriate. However, having used them for several years, I am no longer sure whether many ideas are my own or borrowed from them. I recommend these four commentaries to the reader who wants more than I have provided herein. I have directed the reader to Stein's work more than the others, because his will prove easiest to understand for the nonspecialist.

AUTHORSHIP

The Gospel of Luke is anonymous. Like the other three Gospels, it makes no claim regarding authorship. However, from the late second century until the 19th, no one seems to have questioned that Luke the physician wrote Luke and Acts.

The Third Gospel was known as "The Gospel of Luke" by at least the late second century in order to distinguish it from the other three. It is impossible to know just why the early church attributed the book to Luke. Some would argue that he indeed wrote the book, and that his name was therefore associated with it from the beginning. Others argue that early Christians derived its authorship from evidence within the book of Acts (to be discussed below).

Supporting this early tradition are the Muratorian Canon (A.D. 170-180), Irenaeus (late 2nd century), the earliest actual copy of the Gospel (Bodmer Papyrus XIV, 175-225), an ancient Prologue to the Gospel written against the heretic Marcion (late 2nd), Tertullian (207-208), and later Origen (254), Eusebius (303), and Jerome (398). Such is the external evidence for Lukan authorship, and it is quite strong.

The internal evidence is also strong, and it comes from volume two, the book of Acts. There the author uses the first person plural pronoun ("we") in narrating the events in the life of Paul on three occasions (16:10-17; 20:5-15; 21:1-18; 27:1-28:16; often called the "we-passages" of Acts). These sections imply that the author was with Paul in Asia Minor, Macedonia, Judea, on the Mediterranean, and in Rome.

This of course does not point directly to Luke, but it does encourage some detective work on the part of the reader. Who was with Paul during these times? Paul's letters and Acts suggest a number of traveling companions (see the relevant portions of Acts and especially Col 4, Phlm, and 2 Tim 4). When one eliminates those whom the author mentions by name in Acts, and if one assumes that the author of Luke-Acts was a Gentile (see below), Luke emerges as the most likely author, given the strong weight of tradition.

Given strong external and internal evidence for Lukan authorship, one may wonder why much of contemporary scholarship rejects the notion entirely. The answer is based on internal evidence which is said to disallow Lukan authorship. Quite simply, the book of Acts presents a view of Paul the Christian who appears to be quite different from the Paul who wrote the letters, especially Galatians. The book of Acts does not cite or even mention Paul's letters. More significantly, it is argued that the theological portrait of Paul in Acts could not have been painted by a companion of Paul. Luke's portrait is especially problematic with regard to Paul's stance on keeping the Law. We must admit that it is somewhat surprising when Paul, who wrote that, "All who rely on observing the Law are under a curse," (Gal 3:10), consistently upholds the Law in Acts. Most notably, James in Acts 21:24 encourages Paul to help the four men under a vow in order to show that "you yourself are living in obedience to the Law."

At the risk of oversimplifying a very complex discussion, several points should be noted. First, we should admit and not apologize for the fact that Luke and Paul have very different agendas in writing their works. This has necessarily influenced which events they narrate and what they emphasize theologically. Paul is writing for churches in crises and tends to address only those areas where the church in question needs instruction. Luke on the other hand writes in order to show the unity within the early church and therefore stresses that which all churches shared. So Paul in Galatians writes against Judaizers (those who want Gentiles to keep the Law), whereas Luke writes to Gentiles who may not have enough understanding or appreciation of the Jewish heritage of Christianity. The difference may well be one of audience and perspective rather than theological position. One should remember that Paul in his letters does write that his policy is, "To the Jews I became like a Jew," and, "To those under the Law I became like one under the Law" (1 Cor 9). In other words, Luke in Acts may be showing a side of Paul that the letters largely do not show: Paul customarily lived as a Jew, especially around Jews.

Efforts to argue that the Third Gospel demonstrates that its author was a doctor have been abandoned today. Hobart argued that the sheer number of healing stories and the vocabulary demonstrated that Luke was a physician. However, Cadbury later refuted these claims by proving that Luke showed no more "medical" language than other educated writers of his day. Of course, the healing stories and "medical" vocabulary are consistent with authorship by a physician. They simply do not prove it.

While it can never be proven absolutely, I have taken the view that Luke, the companion of Paul, wrote Luke and Acts. This is largely because I accept the "we-sections" at face value. The author intended to represent himself as a companion of Paul, and the best candidate is Luke. However, we still know very little about our author, because the New Testament says little about Luke. What can be known about this author other than that he was a companion of Paul (Acts 16-28), a physician (Col 4:14), and a Gentile (Col 4:11)?

We actually learn more about Luke from his writing than from other sources. First, he was not an eyewitness to the ministry of Jesus (1:1-4). He got his information from "eyewitnesses and ministers of the word." Second, he was a man of some education, as is clearly evidenced by his learned Greek (see esp. 1:1-4) and his ability to imitate the style of the Greek Old Testament. Third, he does appear to have been a Gentile. While this cannot be proven with certainty, his references to "the Jews" probably imply that he was not one of them, especially the reference to "their language" in Acts 1:19. This is, of course, consistent with the statement of Colossians 4:14 (which implies that Luke was a Gentile). Fourth, he was thoroughly conversant with the Scriptures. Although he has been called a Gentile writing to Gentiles, we must not overlook his constant references to every section of the Old Testament (esp. Psalms), his overriding fulfillment theme, and his great concern to show that all of his Jewish characters continue to observe the Law of Moses (even those who become Christians). This Gentile, for example, is the only Gospel writer who tells us of Jesus' circumcision on the eighth day, of Mary's purification on the fortieth day, of the disciples' observance of the Sabbath "according to the commandment" after the death of Jesus (24:1), and of Paul's taking vows (18:18) and participating in the sacrificial system long after becoming a Christian (Acts 21). Perhaps Luke had for some time been a "God-fearer," a Gentile who worshiped God, appreciated Judaism, and attended the synagogue. God-fearers are an important group in Acts who very often become Christians (see 13:16; 16:14; 18:7).

Fortunately, we need not know the author's name to interpret his narrative. In fact, the narrative tells us much more about the author than any theory about the author tells us about the narrative.

DATE

It is fortunate also that the interpreter need not know the date of Luke's writing, because no one knows exactly when it was written. Though some argue that Luke wrote his Gospel long before he wrote Acts, there are many reasons to think the two volumes were written at the same time. If so, the Gospel was written after A.D. 60-62, the date of Paul's imprisonment in Acts 28. Thus the earliest possible date for Luke's Gospel is 62. A few scholars argue that Luke must have written at that time, and that this accounts for the abrupt and frustrating (did Paul live or die?) ending of Acts. Most, however, believe that Luke had other reasons than lack of information for ending Acts as he did. I concur with those who think Luke had simply accomplished his purpose in Acts 28. He wrote to give an account of the spread of the gospel from Jews (only) in Jerusalem to Gentiles (predominantly) in Rome. He did not intend to give a biography of Paul.

Most argue that Luke had to have been written after Mark, because, in their opinions, Luke used Mark's Gospel in writing his own. However, this opinion is not universally accepted; and even if it were, one then has to answer the equally difficult question, When was Mark written? On the other hand, Luke 1:1 does suggest that Luke was probably written relatively late among early Gospels.

Many would argue that the earliest date of writing must be at least A.D. 70 on the basis of likely allusions to the destruction of Jerusalem. Of course, Jesus alludes to the coming destruction of Jerusalem in the first two Gospels as well as in Luke. However, in Luke Jesus says, "When you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies," (21:20) instead of, "When you see 'the abomination that causes desolation' standing where it does not belong," (Mark 13:14). Many believe that this more specific language suggests that Luke was looking back at the destruction and interpreting for his audience the meaning of Jesus' statement. This is likely, but it is far from certain.

The latest possible date for the writing of Luke's Gospel would be the first allusion to it in other literature. But even that is difficult to determine because allusions are notoriously difficult to ascertain. It could be 1 Clement (95-96), Ignatius (110), Polycarp (135), or 2 Clement (clear allusion but uncertain date, anywhere from 120-170).

The evidence tends to point to the period of A.D. 65-85 for the composition of the Gospel of Luke. Some might like to be more exact, but it matters little for the interpretation of Luke's work.

AUDIENCE

As suggested above, the Gospel of Luke appears to be addressed to Gentile Christians. Though Theophilus is the named recipient and was certainly an intended reader, Luke undoubtedly wrote for a much larger audience. Just as modern "letters to the editor" are meant for the larger public, so was Luke's work. Numerous hints within the work point to a larger audience which is predominantly Gentile. The most important are these: (1) He relates his work to a Greco-Roman literary tradition (1:1-4). (2) He dedicates the work to Theophilus, most likely a Gentile. (3) He is profoundly interested in the Gentile mission. (4) He uses Greek and Roman terms when other Gospel writers use Hebrew ("teacher" for "rabbi;" "lawyer" for "scribe;" "Skull" for "Golgotha"). (5) He refers to the Jews in the third person.

Most agree that the original readers were Christian and that Luke-Acts is intended to build up faith rather than help create it. This is perhaps more difficult to prove, but two factors seem to lead in this direction. First, it appears that the named reader, Theophilus, had already heard the story (1:4). Second, there are simply too many matters left unexplained which would have been far too confusing for the non-Christian. Almost every episode assumes that Luke's readers had a basic knowledge about Jesus and that Luke writes to provide certainty and various additional details.

PURPOSE

Luke tells us his purpose in Luke 1:4: he wants Theophilus to have "certainty" regarding the things he has been taught. This statement is at the same time helpful and ambiguous. On the one hand, it suggests that Luke is written with a quasi-apologetic motive. What it does not tell us, on the other hand, is in what area(s) his readers needed certainty. Did they simply need to be assured of the historicity of the events narrated? Or is it possible that they needed certainty regarding their own position before God? Or could it be that they needed certainty that God was behind all of the events they had heard about and witnessed? Might it even mean that they needed certainty about the proper response to the gospel message?

Luke's purpose has been called apologetic (to defend Christianity to Rome, or, in another sense, to defend God's actions), evangelistic (to engender faith among non-Christians), anti-heretical (to combat Gnosticism), and didactic (to teach Christians what to believe and how to act), to name only the most commonly suggested. In light of the many credible suggestions offered by scholars, we should be very careful about settling upon one purpose. The question of Luke's purpose must be answered by looking not only at Luke's Gospel but also at the Acts of the Apostles, and it can only be answered with reference to the themes which keep recurring throughout both volumes.

Perhaps it is best to suggest that Luke-Acts was written primarily for Gentiles who needed "assurance" in a number of areas, both historical and theological. Perhaps they did need the account of a careful and educated historian to give them confidence that events they heard about had actually occurred. There also may have been some among them who had not yet decided to become Christians. Most likely those who were Christians needed Luke to explain how God had kept his promises to the Jews in light of the fact that there seemed to be fewer and fewer Jews among those being converted. Probably these same Gentile Christians simply needed to understand better their own place in God's plan. And surely these readers, whoever they were, needed to be reminded that being Christian meant sharing possessions, undergoing persecution, welcoming the outcast, serving one another, and generally walking as Jesus walked.

LUKE AND ACTS

Eighteen hundred fifty years ago it was apparent that Luke's first volume was very much like the works of Matthew and Mark. At that time the Gospel was placed beside its peers in the New Testament. John, assumed to be the last Gospel written, was placed between Luke and Acts, and the two works by Luke have been separated ever since. While everyone acknowledges that one author wrote both, few have truly noted the import of that fact. Luke wrote not two independent documents, but a two-volume story, as he well explains.

When Luke is read along with Acts, Acts reads quite differently. No longer do we have the self-contained story of the spread of the Gospel from Jerusalem Jews to Roman Gentiles. We have nothing less than the story of Jesus, from his ministry in Galilee to his death and resurrection in Jerusalem to his continuing ministry in the Mediterranean world.

In the tradition of the Restoration Movement it has long been argued that the book of Acts provides a pattern for the later church. My thesis is that there is indeed an intended pattern in Acts, but the pattern is not rooted primarily in the practice of the early church. The pattern is that established by Jesus. Quite simply, the early church does what Jesus did and what Jesus commanded it to do. In fact, Luke insists that it is still Jesus who is carrying out his ministry through the church. In Acts 1:1 when Luke writes of the former book in which he "wrote about all that Jesus began to do and to teach," what he implies is that Acts will narrate what Jesus continues to do and to teach.

This is especially clear in certain passages: it is Jesus himself who calls Paul on the road to Damascus in Acts 9. Later in that chapter Peter says, "Aeneas, Jesus Christ heals you." In Acts 16:7 Paul and his companions attempt to enter Bithynia, "but the Spirit of Jesus would not allow them." And in 18:9 Jesus himself speaks to Paul, encouraging him to have no fear. It should also be noted that Jesus had already said in Luke 21:15, "I will give you words and a wisdom that none of your opponents will be able to withstand." It is clear, of course, that in Acts Jesus is at the right hand of God, but he is active and very much in control as he directs the new movement through his Spirit. Jesus is so bound up with his church that he can tell Paul in 9:5, "I am Jesus whom you are persecuting."

Consider the following parallels or "patterns" in the ministry of Jesus and that of the early church:

(1) Luke shows Jesus praying at nearly every major event (baptism, choosing disciples, confession, transfiguration, Gethsemane, and on the cross). The early church does the same (waiting before Pentecost, choosing Matthias, Peter before going to Cornelius, sending Paul, healing, and many others).

(2) In Luke Jesus is empowered when the Holy Spirit descends upon him at his baptism. Only then does he begin his ministry of preaching and healing (3:22; see 1:35; 4:1). In Acts the apostles are told to wait until they are baptized with the Holy Spirit (1:5, 8). After the Spirit descends upon them (2:4), they also do signs and wonders and preach, just as did Jesus. All the major characters in Acts, like Jesus, are said to be filled with the Holy Spirit (Peter - 4:8; Stephen - 6:5; Paul - 13:9, and dozens of other references to the guidance of the Spirit).

(3) In Luke Jesus performs various miracles as part of his ministry. The church leaders in Acts not only perform miracles - they perform miracles which are remarkably similar to those of Jesus. For example, just as Jesus heals the mother-in-law of Peter who had a fever (Luke 4:38), Paul heals the father of Publius, who also had a fever (Acts 28:8). Just as Jesus casts out unclean spirits (Luke 4:36; 6:18, etc.), so do Peter (Acts 5:16), Philip (8:7), and Paul (16:18; 19:13). Jesus heals the lame (Luke 7:22), as do Peter and John (Acts 3:2), Philip (8:7), and Paul (14:8-10).

(4) The message of Jesus and that of the leaders in Acts is the same, emphasizing the kingdom of God (30 times in Luke; see Acts 1:3; 8:12; 14:22; 19:8; 20:25; 28:23), repentance, and forgiveness of sins. Jesus and the apostles on occasion even use the same Old Testament texts, such as Psalm 110 (Luke 20:42; Acts 2:34).

(5) Jesus suffers at the hands of his own people and the Gentiles, and so do the disciples. Of course, Jesus predicted that they would (12:11-12; 21:12-14). Jesus teaches in the synagogue at Nazareth and is rejected and almost killed. The same will happen on numerous occasions in Acts, as Paul enters synagogue after synagogue, only to be eventually rejected. Suffering is especially the lot of Paul, whose story Luke parallels in detail with that of Jesus. The journeys to Jerusalem and treatment there of both Jesus and Paul occupy the large final sections of Luke and Acts. In 18:32 Jesus announces that he "will be delivered to the Gentiles." In Acts 21:11, speaking of Paul the prophet Agabus predicts that the Jews will "deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles." Of Jesus, Luke later records that the people "all cried out together, 'Away with this man,'" and of Paul Luke writes, "for the mob of the people followed, crying, 'Away with him!'" Both Jesus and Paul face Jewish accusers, including the High Priest; both appear before Herodian princes as well as Roman procurators; and both are said to be innocent by the Roman leaders.

The Jesus/Stephen parallels are even more obvious. Both are full of the Holy Spirit; both are recipients of wisdom, grace and power; both do signs and wonders; both are led to the council, the eyes of whose members are fixed on them; both are cast outside the city; both pray that God will forgive their accusers; both commit their spirits to God; both are killed; and both are buried by devout persons.

(6) There are also many examples of the apostles obeying the directives of Jesus (Luke 6:22-23: "rejoice [when people persecute you] in that day and leap for joy"- see Acts 5:41; Luke 9:5: "shake the dust off your feet . . . as a testimony against them"- see Acts 13:51; 18:6). In fact, the entire plan of Acts was commanded by the risen Jesus in Acts 1:8, where he says, "You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth."

One of the most important areas in which the church in Acts carries out the teaching of Jesus is that related to wealth and poverty. In Luke as in no other Gospel Jesus encourages the sharing of possessions and condemns the greedy and selfish. Many of these stories and sayings appear only in Luke: Zacchaeus; the rich man and Lazarus; "blessed are you poor;" the parables about inviting the poor, lame, maimed, and blind; the dishonest steward; and the command to all of the disciples, "sell your possessions and give alms." It is not surprising, then, that Acts contains many examples, both positive and negative, of the use of possessions in the early church: the selling of possessions for the needy in chapters 2 and 4; the generosity of Barnabas, Dorcas, Paul, and the Antioch church; and the negative examples of Ananias and Sapphira, Simon the Sorcerer, Felix, and Judas (who bought a field with his money (1:18), over against Barnabas, who sold a field in Acts 4:36).

Having argued this case, it would be a mistake to suggest that Luke had no notion of the church of his day being like the church which he writes about - he surely did. But the goal is not to replicate the church of the earliest decades; it is rather to be like Jesus, and the picture of a church that looked like Jesus could only further that goal. The intent may be very much like that of Paul, who tells the churches, "Imitate me as I imitate Christ." Paul knows the advantage of giving his readers an example which is easily grasped and will lead them toward the goal. Yet he also knows quite well that he has not yet reached the goal (Phil 3:12-13), and he never makes the imitation of himself the primary goal. Luke seems to have the same intent in Acts: the early church is well worthy of imitation, insofar as its members imitate Christ.

This commentary will be written from this perspective. The best commentary on Acts is the Gospel of Luke. And conversely, Luke has made clear what Jesus' statements mean in a later generation. Therefore, to read Acts is to read an inspired commentary on the Gospel of Luke. We will refer to Luke's two-volume work as "Luke-Acts."

HISTORY AND THEOLOGY

Luke has been accused often of being careless as a historian, at least by modern standards. His treatment of the census under Quirinius (Luke 2), the rebellion under Theudas (Acts 5), and several other matters have led many to argue that Luke is a better theologian than historian. While the present commentary cannot look in detail at these matters (there will be brief comments in the appropriate sections), one should keep in mind several things. First, there are many matters about which we will never have enough information to make a final judgment. However, the silence of extrabiblical sources should never be taken as proof that an event never occurred. Secondly, each passage must be evaluated independently. The number of cases in which Luke is clearly out of step with other ancient sources is very small, and those sources always had their own agenda, just as did Luke. Thirdly, most would concede that Luke proves to be accurate when there is sufficient evidence with which to compare his writing. Luke has obviously gone to great lengths in order to have accurate information on John the Baptist and on rulers in Judea and Galilee. Considering the large number of events and people in his narrative, the surprising thing is that there are not more alleged historical inaccuracies. There can be little doubt that Luke went to much trouble to ensure accuracy. Luke is both historian and theologian.

SOURCES

Luke got his information from various sources, as he tells us in 1:1-4. However, we do not know for certain the identity of any of these. Most scholars think that Luke (and Matthew) are somehow dependent on the Gospel of Mark. I have made no such assumption in this commentary. While there is undoubtedly some advantage in knowing any writer's sources, there is no final proof for any theory regarding the relationships between the Gospels. I have, however, made two assumptions about Luke's Gospel. First, I believe it to be inspired and thus completely reliable. Second, I believe that Luke had a great deal of information about Jesus from which to choose and that we gain a great deal by simply comparing what Luke wrote to what other Gospel writers wrote. In other words, Luke has selected and adapted his material, and while we do not have access to all the information he had at his disposal, we will learn a great deal through a comparative reading.

THEMES

There may be no clearer insight into Luke's purpose than that gained by examining those themes which recur with some frequency in Luke-Acts. Narrative writers express what their readers need most by returning to a point again and again. When looked at from this perspective, Luke has many concerns. It is clear that he has much to tell his readers, and there can be no more effective way for them to hear it than from the lips of Jesus. The following list is far from exhaustive, but it at least will steer the reader into some of those areas which apparently were close to Luke's heart. The following topics receive special attention in the commentary at the place where Luke first mentions them (see p. 11 for page numbers). They are listed here in order to give the reader a preview of some of Luke's major themes and in order to show the reader where to look in the commentary for more information.

Anti-Semitism Parables Baptism Pharisees Destruction of Jerusalem Poor and Rich and End of Time Prayer Forgiveness and Grace Prophet Theme Fulfillment of Scripture Repentance Holy Spirit Sadducees Kingdom of God Samaritans Law Son of Man Messiah Table Fellowship Miracles and Sign-Seeking Tax Collectors Outcasts and Untouchables Women

A FINAL WORD ABOUT

INTRODUCTORY QUESTIONS

Traditional introductory questions are being given less attention today than they were a generation ago. The reason is twofold. First, it is very difficult to give "sure" answers to many questions of introduction. The evidence is often insufficient to offer more than probabilities, and what is "probable" is evaluated differently by every scholar. Second, the interpretation of many New Testament works and especially the Gospels is not significantly aided by having answers to most of these questions. For example, knowing that the author of Luke was the companion of Paul does not change the understanding of any passage in the Gospel. Similarly, knowing the date aids interpretation very little. The following commentary does not assume sure answers to any of these questions for its interpretation.

-College Press New Testament Commentary: with the NIV

BIBLIOGRAPHY

PRIMARY SOURCES

Charlesworth, James H., ed. The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha , 2 vols. Garden City, NY: Doubleday & Co., 1983, 1985.

Danby, Herbert. The Mishnah . Trans. from the Hebrew with Introductory and Brief Explanatory Notes. London: Oxford University Press, 1933.

Epstein, I., ed. The Babylonian Talmud . London: Soncino Press, 1935-48.

Freedman, H., and Maurice Simon, eds. Midrash Rabbah . London: Soncino Press, 1939-.

Loeb Classical Library. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press; London: Heinemann.

Martínez, Florentino García. The Dead Sea Scrolls Translated: The Qumran Texts in English . Trans. Wilfred G.E. Watson. Leiden and New York: E.J. Brill, 1994.

SECONDARY SOURCES

Bock, Darrell. Luke . Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament. 2 vols. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1995-96.

Craddock, Fred B. Luke . Interpretation. Louisville: John Knox, 1990.

Danker, F.W. Luke . Proclamation Commentaries, 2nd ed. Philadelphia: Fortress, 1987.

Ellis, E.E. The Gospel of Luke . New Century Bible, 2nd ed. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1974.

Evans, Craig A. Luke . New International Biblical Commentary. Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 1990.

Fitzmyer, Joseph A. The Gospel according to Luke . Anchor Bible 28, 28A. 2 vols. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1981, 1985.

Green, Joel B., and Scot McKnight, eds. Dictionary of Jesus and the Gospels . Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 1992.

Jervell, Jacob. Luke and the People of God . Minneapolis: Augsburg, 1972.

Johnson, Luke T. The Gospel of Luke . Sacra Pagina 3. Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 1991.

Marshall, I. Howard. The Gospel of Luke: A Commentary on the Greek Text . The New International Greek Testament Commentary. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1978.

. Luke: Historian and Theologian . Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1970.

Morris, Leon. Luke . Revised edition. Tyndale New Testament Commentary. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1983.

Nolland, John. Luke . Word Biblical Commentary, vols. 35A, 35B, 35C. Dallas: Word Books, 1989, 1993.

O'Toole, Robert F. The Unity of Luke's Theology: An Analysis of Luke-Acts . Good News Studies 9. Wilmington, DE: Michael Glazier, 1984.

Stein, Robert H. Luke . The New American Commentary 24. Nashville: Broadman, 1992.

Tannehill, Robert C. The Narrative Unity of Luke-Acts: A Literary Interpretation . Vol. I: The Gospel According to Luke. Philadelphia: Fortress, 1986.

Tiede, David L. Luke . Augsburg Commentary on the New Testament. Minneapolis: Augsburg, 1988.

-College Press New Testament Commentary: with the NIV

ABBREVIATIONS

DJG Dictionary of Jesus and the Gospels

LXX Septuagint (Greek translation of the Old Testament)

NIV New International Version

NRSV New Revised Standard Version

RSV Revised Standard Version

Main Biblical Manuscript Texts:

Codex Sinaiticus (4th century A.D.)

A Codex Alexandrinus (5th century A.D.)

B Codex Vaticanus (4th century A.D.)

D Codex Bezae (5th-6th century A.D.)

⁶⁹ Papyrus 69 (3rd century A.D.)

⁷⁵ Papyrus 75 (early 3rd century A.D.)

-College Press New Testament Commentary: with the NIV

College: Luke (Outline)

OUTLINE

There is general agreement among serious students of Luke's Gospel regarding its structure.

I. Prologue Luke 1:1-4

II. Infancy Narrative 1:5-2:52

III. The Preparation for Jesus' Ministry 3:1-4:13

IV. Jesus' Ministry in Galilee 4:14-9:50

V. Jesus' Journey to Jerusalem 9:51-19:27

VI. Jesus' Ministry in Jerusalem 19:28-21:38

VII. Jesus' Suffering and Death 22:1-23:56

VIII. Jesus' Resurrection and Ascension 24:1-53

(The Book of Acts)

IX. From Easter to Pentecost (Acts 1)

X. From Jerusalem to Samaria (Acts 2-9)

XI. From Judea to Rome (Acts 10-28)

Those who are familiar with the other Gospels notice immediately several similarities and differences. Like Matthew, Luke begins with birth stories (although Luke's are very different than Matthew's). Like Matthew and Mark, Luke includes Jesus' temptation and baptism and has a large section in which Jesus teaches and heals in Galilee. And like all three other Gospels, Luke has Jesus go to Jerusalem for the final week and ends the Gospel with the trial, suffering, death, and resurrection of Jesus.

What is most distinctive about the Gospel of Luke, however, is section V in the above outline, the journey to Jerusalem. It is the largest section in Luke's Gospel and contains a great number of stories found only in Luke. Luke uses this long journey to Jerusalem primarily to teach what it means to be a disciple of Jesus. It means doing what Jesus does: teaching, healing, serving, suffering, and dying to self. In other words, it means following Jesus - all the way to Jerusalem.

Finally, the greatest difference between Luke's writing and that of Matthew, Mark, and John is that Luke continues the story. The book of Acts tells how Jesus continues to teach and heal as he leads the growing kingdom throughout the Mediterranean world.

DETAILED OUTLINE

(Episode Titles Based on NIV Headings)

I. Prologue Luke - 1:1-4

II. Infancy Narrative - 1:5-2:52

A. The Birth of John the Baptist Foretold - 1:5-25

B. The Birth of Jesus Foretold - 1:26-38

C. Mary Visits Elizabeth - 1:39-45

D. Mary's Song - 1:46-56

E. The Birth of John the Baptist - 1:57-66

F. Zechariah's Song - 1:67-80

G. The Birth of Jesus - 2:1-7

H. The Shepherds and the Angels - 2:8-20

I. Jesus Presented in the Temple - 2:21-40

J. The Boy Jesus at the Temple - 2:41-52

III. The Preparation for Jesus' Ministry - 3:1-4:13

A. John the Baptist Prepares the Way - 3:1-20

B. The Baptism and Genealogy of Jesus - 3:21-38

C. The Temptation of Jesus - 4:1-13

IV. Jesus' Ministry in Galilee - 4:14-9:50

A. Jesus Rejected at Nazareth - 4:14-30

B. Jesus' Ministry in Capernaum - 4:31-44

1. Jesus Drives Out an Evil Spirit - 4:31-37

2. Jesus Heals Many - 4:38-44

C. The Calling of the First Disciples - 5:1-11

D. The Man with Leprosy - 5:12-16

E. The Beginning of Conflict - 5:17-6:11

1. Jesus Heals a Paralytic - 5:17-26

2. The Calling of Levi - 5:27-32

3. Jesus Questioned About Fasting - 5:33-39

4. Lord of the Sabbath - 6:1-11

F. The Sermon on the Plain - 6:12-49

1. The Twelve Apostles - 6:12-16

2. Blessings and Woes - 6:17-26

3. Love for Enemies - 6:27-36

4. Judging Others - 6:37-42

5. A Tree and Its Fruit - 6:43-45

6. The Wise and Foolish Builders - 6:46-49

G. Jesus the Prophet - 7:1-50

1. The Faith of the Centurion - 7:1-10

2. Jesus Raises a Widow's Son - 7:11-17

3. Jesus and John the Baptist - 7:18-35

4. Jesus Anointed by a Sinful Woman - 7:36-50

H. Jesus Teaches in Parables - 8:1-21

1. The Parable of the Sower - 8:1-15

2. A Lamp on a Stand - 8:16-18

3. Jesus' Mother and Brothers - 8:19-21

I. Jesus Shows His Divine Power - 8:22-56

1. Jesus Calms a Storm - 8:22-25

2. The Healing of a Demoniac - 8:26-39

3. A Dead Girl and a Sick Woman - 8:40-56

J. Jesus and His Apostles - 9:1-50

1. Jesus Sends Out the Twelve - 9:1-6

2. Jesus Feeds the Five Thousand - 9:7-17

3. Peter's Confession of Christ - 9:18-27

4. The Transfiguration - 9:28-36

5. The Healing of a Boy with a Demon - 9:37-45

6. Who Will Be the Greatest? - 9:46-50

V. Jesus' Journey to Jerusalem - 9:51-19:27

A. Jesus Faces Toward Jerusalem - 9:51-13:21

1. Samaritan Opposition - 9:51-56

2. The Cost of Following Jesus - 9:57-62

3. Jesus Sends Out the Seventy-Two - 10:1-24

4. The Parable of the Good Samaritan - 10:25-37

5. At the Home of Mary and Martha - 10:38-42

6. Jesus' Teaching on Prayer - 11:1-13

7. Jesus and Beelzebub - 11:14-28

8. The Sign of Jonah - 11:29-32

9. The Lamp of the Body - 11:33-36

10. Six Woes - 11:37-54

11. Warnings and Encouragements - 12:1-12

12. The Parable of the Rich Fool - 12:13-21

13. Do Not Worry - 12:22-34

14. Watchfulness - 12:35-48

15. Not Peace but Division - 12:49-53

16. Interpreting the Times - 12:54-59

17. Repent or Perish - 13:1-9

18. A Crippled Woman Healed - 13:10-17

19. Parables of Mustard Seed and Yeast - 13:18-21

B. Jesus Journeys Toward Jerusalem - 13:22-17:10

1. The Narrow Door - 13:22-30

2. Jesus' Sorrow for Jerusalem - 13:31-35

3. Jesus at a Pharisee's House - 14:1-14

4. The Parable of the Great Banquet - 14:15-24

5. The Cost of Being a Disciple - 14:25-35

6. The Parable of the Lost Sheep - 15:1-7

7. The Parable of the Lost Coin - 15:8-10

8. The Parable of the Lost Son - 15:11-32

9. The Parable of the Shrewd Manager - 16:1-15

10. Teachings on the Law and Divorce - 16:16-18

11. The Rich Man and Lazarus - 16:19-31

12. Sin, Faith, Duty - 17:1-10

C. Jesus Approaches Jerusalem - 17:11-19:27

1. Ten Healed of Leprosy - 17:11-19

2. The Coming of the Kingdom of God - 17:20-37

3. The Parable of the Persistent Widow - 18:1-8

4. The Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector - 18:9-14

5. The Little Children and Jesus - 18:15-17

6. The Rich Ruler - 18:18-30

7. Jesus Again Predicts His Death - 18:31-34

8. A Blind Beggar Receives His Sight - 18:35-43

9. Zacchaeus the Tax Collector - 19:1-10

10. The Parable of the Ten Minas - 19:11-27

VI. Jesus' Ministry in Jerusalem - 19:28-21:38

A. The Triumphal Entry - 19:28-34

B. Jesus at the Temple - 19:45-48

C. The Authority of Jesus Questioned - 20:1-8

D. The Parable of the Tenants - 20:9-19

E. Paying Taxes to Caesar - 20:20-26

F. The Resurrection and Marriage - 20:27-40

G. Whose Son Is the Christ? - 20:41-47

H. The Widow's Offering - 21:1-4

I. Signs of the End of the Age - 21:5-38

VII. Jesus' Suffering and Death - 22:1-23:56

A. Judas Agrees to Betray Jesus - 22:1-6

B. The Last Supper - 22:7-38

C. Jesus Prays on the Mount of Olives - 22:39-46

D. Jesus Arrested - 22:47-53

E. Peter Disowns Jesus - 22:54-62

F. The Guards Mock Jesus - 22:63-65

G. Jesus Before Pilate and Herod - 22:66-23:25

H. The Crucifixion - 23:26-43

I. Jesus' Death - 23:44-49

J. Jesus' Burial - 23:50-56

VIII. Jesus' Resurrection and Ascension - 24:1-53

A. The Resurrection - 24:1-12

B. On the Road to Emmaus - 24:13-35

C. Jesus Appears to the Disciples - 24:36-49

D. The Ascension - 24:50-53

-College Press New Testament Commentary: with the NIV

Lapide: Luke (Book Introduction)

S. LUKE'S GOSPEL

Third Edition

JOHN HODGES,

AGAR STREET, CHARING CROSS, LONDON.

1892.

INTRODUCTION.

——o——

THE Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ, according to S. Luke , that is, the Holy Evangelical History of the words and acts of Jesus, as described by S. Luke. The Arabic says, "In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, one God, the Gospel of the Excellent Father, Luke the Evangelist, the laying open of the glorious Gospel." The Syraic, "In the name of the Lord and our God, we Jeschua Mescicho, sign the Gospel, the holy message of Luke the Evangelist, which he spoke and proclaimed in Greek, in Alexandria." From this diversity, it is clear that the above title or inscription was prefixed to the Gospel, not by S. Luke himself, but by the Church which, in like manner, inscribed one Gospel "According to S. Matthew," one "According to S. John," and another "According to S. Mark." Nay, as regards the faith of the future, this title would have been added to no purpose by S. Luke himself, unless the Church had declared his Gospel to be genuine and not supposititious, and had handed it down as such. This speaks for Tradition against the heretics, for why is the Gospel, bearing the name of S. Luke, to be received as truly his, whilst that with the title of "Matthew and Thomas" is not to be considered theirs? Or again, why is the Gospel of S. Luke more canonical than that of Apelles or Basilides? No other reason can be given but the proof, declaration, and tradition of the Church. For we accept it, not because it is written in the sacred books, but because it has been so handed down by the Church. For instance, we believe this to be the Gospel of S. Luke and canonical, not because he wrote it, but because the Church so delivers and teaches. For although its own authority pertains to this Gospel, as to the others, yet this authority would not be plain to us, but for the declaration of the Church. The same is, a pari , to be said of the sense of Scripture. For the true sense of Scripture is not what appears to you or me, for this would be uncertain and doubtful, for Calvin affirms one sense to be the true one, Luther another, and others another, but that which is taught and received by the Church, whose office it is to deliver as well what is the true Scripture as what is its true meaning. For Holy Scripture consists not in the bark (cortice) of letters or words, but in their genuine meaning. So the Fourth Session of the Council of Trent, and the Fathers everywhere, especially Tertullian (B. iv. cap. 5 against Marcion). See what I have said on S. Matthew i. 1.

Observe: I. S. Matthew was the first in order of the Evangelists. He wrote in Hebrew to the Jews in Judæa. S. Mark was the second. He wrote in Greek and Latin to the Romans in Italy; then S. Luke wrote to the Greeks in Greek; and S. John last of all, also in Greek; but S. Luke wrote the more elegantly, because he was the more perfect master of Greek. Hear S. Jerome (Ep. 84 to Paulinus): "Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, the quadriga of the Lord, and true Cherubim (which is interpreted, the 'multitude of knowledge'), through their whole body they are 'full of eyes,' sparks shine from them, lightnings flash forth, their feet are 'straight,' and point upwards, their backs are winged, and they fly hither and thither. They hold themselves mutually one with another, and are 'enfolded' with one another, and are rolled together, like a wheel, and they go wherever the influence of the Holy Spirit directs them." See Ezekiel i. 9, x. 12; Revelation iv. 6-8.

Moreover, among the faces or forms of the four Cherubim, the third, that of the ox, is ascribed to S. Luke, as well because he begins from the priesthood of Zachariah, whose chief sacrifice was an ox, as because he underwent the labours of an ox in the Gospel, and bore about continually in his own body the mortification of the Cross for the honour of the name of Christ, as the Church sings of him. See what has been said on Revelation iv. 7, and Ezekiel i. 10.

II. S. Luke wrote his Gospel against certain gaping, ignorant, perhaps even false Evangelists, who had written, in Syria or Greece, an imperfect, it may be a lying Gospel, as S. Luke himself signifies in the beginning of his work. So say Origen, S. Ambrose, Theophylact, and S. Epiphanius ( Her . l. i), who, however, when he adds that S. Luke wrote against Cerinthus and Meritus, does not seem to speak correctly. For these two, and especially Basilides, were later than S. Luke, as is clear from Eusebius (Hist. B. iii. ch. 32). Theophylact and Bede think, with more truth, that S. Luke wrote against the Apocryphal Gospels of others, such as pass under the names of "Thomas, Matthew, and the Twelve Apostles."

III. S. Luke was not one of the seventy-two disciples of Christ, as Euthymius and S. Gregory in his preface on Job, chap. i. think, on the authority of Origen; for S. Luke never saw Christ in the flesh, but he wrote what he had heard of Him from the Apostles, as he says himself, i. 2. Hence the Fathers call S. Luke "the disciple of the Apostles," and S. Paul mentions him by name, as his "fellow-labourer." So S. Jerome, on the 65th chapter of Isaiah, and preface to S. Matthew; where he says, "The third" (evangelist) is Luke the physician, by nation a Syrian, of Antioch, whose praise is in the Gospel (2 Cor. viii. 18 and 22), who himself was a disciple of S. Paul. He wrote his Gospel in the neighbourhood of Achaia and Bœotia, relating some things from the beginning, as he says himself, and describing rather what he heard than what he saw. St. Irenæus says the same, i. 20; Theodoret, on the Lives of the holy Fathers; Baronius, and others. Tertullian, also (Book iv. against Marcion, chap. 5), thinks this Gospel not so much S. Luke's as S. Paul's, because S. Luke wrote from the dictation of S. Paul, as S. Mark from that of S. Peter. For he says, "what S. Mark wrote may be ascribed to S. Peter, whose interpreter S. Mark was. And so the Gospel of S. Luke is generally given to S. Paul, for the productions of the disciples began to be ascribed to the masters."

S. Jerome also states that "S. Luke, in the Gospel and Acts, performed the duties of a physician of souls, as he had before done of bodies" (Ep. 103 to Paulinus); and again (in that to Philom). "Luke the physician left in his Gospel, and the book of the Acts of the Apostles to the Churches, how the Apostles from fishers of fish became fishers of men, and from the bodies of men became concerned with their souls, whose Gospel, as often as it is read in the churches, fails not of its medicine."

IV. Baronius thinks that S. Luke wrote in the companionship of S. Paul, anno 58, because S. Jerome says that he wrote his Gospel that year in Achaia and Bœotia, where S. Paul was. Others, however, are of opinion that S. Luke wrote earlier, as we must certainly admit, if we agree with S. Jerome ( Lib. de Scrip. Eccl. in Luc. ), Tertullian (Book iv. against Marcion, c. 5), Primasius, Anselm, and others, on 2 Cor. viii 18, that by, "the brother whose praise is in the Gospel" S. Paul meant S. Luke—as S. Ignatius, his fellow-citizen and contemporary, plainly asserts in his letter to the Ephesians: "As Luke bears witness, whose praise is in the Gospel." For the Second Epistle of S. Paul to the Corinthians was written in the year 58, so that if the praise of S. Luke was in the Gospel at that time, we must necessarily say that it (the Gospel) had been published previously. Hence Euthymius, and Theophylact in his Preface to S. Luke, say that he wrote fifteen years after the ascension of Christ, that is, about the year 49. But S. Luke had not then joined S. Paul, for he came to him in the Troad in the year 51, as Baronius rightly concludes from Acts xvi. 10. It appears, therefore, that S. Luke wrote subsequently to the year 51, but some years before 58, for, as S. Paul says, in that year he was well known and celebrated.

V.  S. Luke, after he had joined S. Paul, passed some time away from him, having been sent by him to other places (as I have shown on Acts xvi. 10), until S. Paul, when he had passed through other countries, came to Greece, thence to Syria, and so to Rome. Acts xx. 3, 4. For S. Paul, with other companions of his voyage, who are named in that verse, took S. Luke also, as S Luke himself states, verses 5, 15. From that time S. Luke became the "diligent" companion of S. Paul, even up to the time of S. Paul's first imprisonment, which was in the second year of Nero, when S. Luke finished the Acts of the Apostles, and, especially, those of S. Paul. Then, as S. Epiphanius says, S. Luke left S. Paul in prison, and went into Dalmatia, Gaul, Italy, and Macedonia, and preached the gospel everywhere till he came to Patara, a city of Achaia, where, in his eighty-fourth year, he was crowned with a glorious martyrdom in the year of Christ 61, the fifth of Nero, and the seventeenth of the session of S. Peter at Rome. So Baronius says, from S. Gregory Nazianzen, Paulinus, Gaudentius, Glyca, Nicephorus and others.

Lastly, who S. Luke was—of what rank and ability, I have described at length in the Book of Acts, where I have said that he appears to be the same as Lucius, whom S. Paul calls his kinsman, Rom xvi. 21. But he seems different to Lucius of Cyrene, mentioned in Acts xiii. 3. For S. Luke was of Antioch, not Cyrene. Again, the Roman Martyrology, on April 22, says that Lucius was among the first disciples of Christ, which cannot be said of S. Luke.

VI. The reason of S. Luke's having written a Gospel after SS. Matthew and Mark, was twofold. 1. To confute the false gospels that were then being published in Syria and Greece, as I have said before. 2. To write at length those words and acts of Christ which had been passed over by the other Evangelists, and especially His Infancy and Childhood, the Annunciation of His forerunner John the Baptist, His Conception, Nativity, Presentation in the Temple, Presence among the Doctors, the Conversion of St. Mary Magdalene, Zacchæus, the thief on the cross, the appearance to the two Disciples at Emmaus, the Parables of the Pharisee and Publican, the Good Samaritan, the Strayed Sheep, the Lost Piece of Money, the Prodigal Son, Lazarus and the Rich Glutton, and others; which show the mercy and pity of Christ to sinners and the miserable. See S. Irenæus, iii. 4, who recounts each. S. Luke also relates, more fully than the others, the Passion, Resurrection, and Ascension.

Lastly, S. Peter Damianus, in his Sermon on S. Matthew, says, "S. Luke observes the proper method and order when he describes the priestly stock of the Lord and His Person, and, with this object and intent, proceeds to describe at length every part of the Temple and the priests, to the end of the history. For, as the Mediator between God and man in His human nature, He pleased to be King and Priest in one, that through His kingly power He might rule, and, by His office of Priest, atone for us. These two "Personæ" of Christ are especially praised by the Fathers, for to Him principally and by singular prerogative God gave the seat of His Father David, that there might be no end of His Kingdom, and that He might be a Priest for ever, after the order of Melchisedek."

S. Anselm again, on Colos. iv., gives two reasons why S. Luke, more than the others, should speak of the mercy of Christ. 1. S. Luke was a physician of bodies; then, when he turned to Christ, he was made a physician of souls. Hence he speaks, more than the other Evangelists, of the mercies of the Redeemer, by which the weaknesses of sins are driven away. 2. In Christ, he describes the person of a Priest, making intercession for the sins of the whole world

Lastly, our own John de la Haye, in his Oparat. Evangel. chap. 68, recounts the twenty-five privileges granted to S. Luke, where, among other things, from S. Jerome, Bede, and Ado, he says that S. Luke never committed mortal sin, but passed a strict life of continual mortification; that he also preserved his virginity to the end, and was therefore beloved by the Blessed Virgin especially and before all others.

S. Ambrose and Titus of Bostra have commented especially on S. Luke. And Tertullian, in his whole work against Marcion (who had declared the Gospel of S. Luke, though adulterated, to be his own), treats of and explains many passages of this Gospel. Cardinal Toletus, also, wrote at length, and with exactness, on the first twelve chapters.