‘And it came about in these days, that he went out into the mountain to pray; and he continued all night in prayer to God.’

We should note that prior to choosing the twelve Jesus went into the mountain to pray and continued all night with God. This is the only place where we are informed that He prayed all night. How far He had already made His selection in His mind we do not know, but He would not move without God’s confirmation. That He should spend the whole night brings out how important He considered the choices to be. Each candidate would be sifted before God before acceptance.

Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

The Laying Of The Foundation For The New Israel (6:12-19).

After revealing what He has come to be, Jesus now goes about establishing the new Israel. He appoints leaders for the twelve tribes (Luk 6:12-16). He proclaims a new Law (Luk 6:17-49). He provides a foretaste of the sending out of His power to the Gentiles (Luk 7:1-10). He raises the dead, a foretaste of the resurrection (Luk 7:11-17). He points to His signs and wonders in order to encourage John and as evidence that He is the promised One (Luk 7:18-33). And He is greeted by the prostitute who has been transformed, a vivid picture of the future restoration of Israel as described in Eze 16:59-63.

Jesus Appoints the New Leaders of The Twelve Tribes (6:12-16 compare 22:30).

Jesus now chooses out twelve Apostles as the foundation of the new Israel, His new ‘ekklesia’ (Mat 16:18; Mat 18:17). The word means a gathering, church, congregation, and is a word regularly used in LXX of ‘the congregation of Israel’. That this is the significance here comes out in Luk 22:30. The Apostles have been chosen in order to watch over the true Israel. In the same way in Joh 15:1 Jesus reveals Himself as ‘the true vine’ in contrast to the false vine. The same idea is in mind there. Israel is a false vine, as it is often portrayed to be in the Old Testament (Isa 5:1-7; Jer 2:21). Jesus, and those who will become one with Him are the true vine, the true Israel.

This stress on the church as being the new Israel is confirmed in Rom 11:17-27 where unbelieving Israel are cut out of the olive tree and new believers are grafted in; Gal 6:16 where the church, God’s new creation, are called ‘the Israel of God’; Eph 2:11-22 where believing Gentiles, having been previously alienated from the commonwealth of Israel, have been brought near through the blood of Christ, and have become fellow-citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, and, on the foundation of the Apostles and prophets, become the Temple of God.

The passage may be analysed as follows:

a Jesus went out into the mountain to pray, and He continued all night in prayer to God (Luk 6:12).

b When it was day, He called his disciples, and He chose from them twelve, whom also He named Apostles (Luk 6:13).

c Simon, whom he also named Peter, and Andrew his brother, and James and John, and Philip and Bartholomew, and Matthew and Thomas, and James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon who was called the Zealot, and Judas the son of James, and Judas Iscariot, who became a traitor (Luk 6:14-16).

b He came down  with them, and stood on a level place, and a great multitude of his disciples, and a great number of the people from all Judaea and Jerusalem, and the sea coast of Tyre and Sidon, who came to hear him, and to be healed of their diseases (Luk 6:17).

a Those who were troubled with unclean spirits were healed, and all the multitude sought to touch Him, for power came forth from Him, and healed them all (Luk 6:18-19).

Note that in ‘a’ Jesus prays all night to God, and in the parallel unclean spirits were cast out and power came out from Him to heal all who touched Him. In ‘b’ He appoints twelve Apostles and in the parallel He identifies Himself with them as He joins the crowds along with them in order to continue what is now their joint preaching and healing ministry. Central in ‘c’ are the names of the twelve, the first is ‘the Rock’, the last is ‘the Traitor’.

Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

Jesus Appoints the Twelve Apostles ( Mat 10:1-4 , Mar 3:13-19 ) In Luk 6:12-16 Jesus calls twelve of His disciples as apostles to serve in the Kingdom of God. When comparing this passage to the parallel passages in Matthew and Mark, it becomes clear that each Gospel account mentions a different aspect of this event in order to reflect the underlying theme of each Gospel. For example, Matthew’s account states that Jesus gave them authority to cast out devils and to heal the sick. This statement emphasizes the theme of this division of Matthew’s Gospel, which is the sending out of the twelve to do the work of the ministry. In contrast, Mark’s account places emphasis upon the proclamation of the Gospel with miracles accompanying their preaching. Thus, Mark’s account says, “And he ordained twelve, that they should be with him, and that he might send them forth to preach, And to have power to heal sicknesses, and to cast out devils:” (Luk 3:14-15) These verses sound similar to the commission of Jesus Christ that closes Mark’s Gospel. Thus, Mark places emphasis upon the preaching of the Gospel with signs following, which is the underlying theme of his Gospel. However, Luke’s account makes no reference to the twelve apostles preaching of the Gospel or miracles, but rather to Jesus’ time in prayer to choose the Twelve and their appointment, for prayer is the prerequisite of the prophetic utterance. Luke is placing emphasis upon the training of the Twelve to become witnesses of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Luke is also unique in its account of Jesus sending out the seventy, which follows the theme of Jesus training His disciples to be witnesses of Him.

The Names of the Twelve We are given the list of the twelve apostles in Mat 10:2-4, Mar 3:16-19 and Luk 6:14-16. We note that these names are listed in the order of their important in Church history.

Mat 10:2-4, “Now the names of the twelve apostles are these; The first, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother; James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother; Philip, and Bartholomew; Thomas, and Matthew the publican; James the son of Alphaeus, and Lebbaeus, whose surname was Thaddaeus ; Simon the Canaanite, and Judas Iscariot, who also betrayed him.”

Mar 3:16-19, “And Simon he surnamed Peter; And James the son of Zebedee, and John the brother of James; and he surnamed them Boanerges, which is, The sons of thunder: And Andrew, and Philip, and Bartholomew, and Matthew, and Thomas, and James the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus , and Simon the Canaanite, And Judas Iscariot, which also betrayed him: and they went into an house.”

Luk 6:14-16, “Simon, (whom he also named Peter,) and Andrew his brother, James and John, Philip and Bartholomew, Matthew and Thomas, James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon called Zelotes, And Judas the brother of James , and Judas Iscariot, which also was the traitor.”

When we compare the three parallel passages in the Synoptics listing the names of the twelve apostles, there appears to be a discrepancy at first glance between the name of Judas the brother of James in Luke’s account and Lebbaeus, surnamed Thaddaeus in Matthew and Mark’s account. Jerome says Judas of James is the same person as Lebbaeus and Thaddaeus ( Commentary on Mat 10:4). [192] Many conservative scholars also believe that this is the same person as well.

[192] See PL 26 col. 62C-D.

1. Simon surnamed Peter

2. Andrew Peter’s brother

3. James son of Zebedee surnamed Boanerges

4. John son of Zebedee surnamed Boanerges

5. Philip

6. Bartholomew Perhaps the same as Nathanel

7. Matthew Levi (the publican in Mat 10:3)

8. Thomas

9. James son of Alphaeus

10. Simon Zelotes (the Canaanite in Mat 10:4 and Mar 3:18)

11. Judas brother of James (Lebbaeus, surnamed Thaddaeus in Mat 10:3 and Mar 3:18)

12. Judas Iscariot

In addition, Matthew’s list is unique in that he groups the Twelve into six pairs.

Luk 6:13 “And when it was day, he called unto him his disciples” – Comments – Disciples are “learners,” apostles are “sent-out ones.” The twelve most attentive and faithful men were now ready to be sent out to bear fruit because they had been faithful disciples. These twelve had believed in Jesus as the Saviour sent from God (justification), they had listened to His teachings and learned about the Kingdom of God (indoctrination), and now they were ready for the next phase of God’s plan for their lives, which was divine service.

Luk 6:13 “and of them he chose twelve, whom also he named apostles” Word Study on “apostle” Jesus did not invent the term “apostle” for the Twelve whom He commissioned and sent out to preach the Gospel and heal the sick. Rather, He reached into His culture and chose a word that accurately described the office and anointing for which He had commissioned the Twelve. The Greek word (G652) (apostle) was in frequent use during the time of Jesus and it is found throughout Classical Greek literature centuries prior to the birth of Christ. The word is associated in ancient literature with the sending out of someone with a commission. It is found as a technical term in secular Greek literature to describe someone who has been send forth with divine authorization. The word and its derivatives are used more than 700 times in the LXX, being used as a rendering of the Hebrew word (H7971) (to send), so that it was a familiar term in Judaism as well as Hellenism, describing a messenger in the Old Testament given a particular task. For example, God says in His commission to Isaiah, “Who shall I send?” (Isa 6:8) In the New Testament, the word is used 135 times, being found all but 12 times in the Gospels and the book of Acts. As a result of its usage by the early Church and the New Testament writings, the word became a theological term to denote one of the five-fold offices of the Church. ( TDNT)

Comments Matthew and Mark use the word (G652) (apostle) on one occasion each as a direct reference to the Twelve apostles appointed by Jesus Christ (Mat 10:2, Mar 6:30). Luke uses this word six times in his Gospel, and thirty times in the book of Acts. Luke is the only Evangelist that tells us in his Gospel that Jesus named the Twelve with the title of an apostle. The theme of Luke-Acts justifies Luke’s more frequent use of the word , since the book of Acts places emphasis upon the office of the apostle within the five-fold ministry. The Evangelist tells us in Luk 6:13 that Jesus named them apostles as a way of forshadowing their future ministry in the book of Acts.

Mat 10:2, “Now the names of the twelve apostles are these; The first, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother; James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother;”

Mar 6:30, “And the apostles gathered themselves together unto Jesus, and told him all things, both what they had done, and what they had taught.”

Luk 6:13 Comments – Luk 6:13 implies that Jesus Christ walked up to many others besides the twelve and told them to come follow Him. Although the Evangelists only recorded the callings of the twelve because of their key roles in the ministry of the early Church, Jesus asked others to “Come follow Me!” Note:

Luk 9:57-62, “And it came to pass, that, as they went in the way, a certain man said unto him, Lord, I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest. And Jesus said unto him, Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head. And he said unto another, Follow me. But he said, Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father. Jesus said unto him, Let the dead bury their dead: but go thou and preach the kingdom of God. And another also said, Lord, I will follow thee; but let me first go bid them farewell, which are at home at my house. And Jesus said unto him, No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.”

This would fit the context of Jesus’ statement that many are called, but few are chosen.

Mat 22:14, “For many are called, but few are chosen.”

Luk 6:14 Comments – The name “Nathanael” is only mentioned in John’s Gospel (Joh 1:45-49; Joh 21:2). Since John does not mention Bartholomew, while the Synoptics do not mention Nathanael, but instead use the name Bartholomew (Mat 10:3, Mar 3:18, Luk 6:14), scholars suggest that Nathanael was the same person as Bartholomew. Also, the fact that the Synoptic Gospels list Bartholomew with the five earliest disciples (Andrew [John], Philip, Simon Peter, Nathanael) suggests he was one of those early disciples mentioned in Joh 1:35-51.

Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures

Discourse: Jesus Teaches on True Justification (Galilee) In Luk 6:12-49 Jesus teaches on the meaning of true justification.

Outline Here is a proposed outline:

1. Jesus Appoints the Twelve Luk 6:12-16

2. Jesus Heals the Multitudes Luk 6:17-19

3. Jesus Teaches the Multitudes Luk 6:20-49

Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures

Luk 6:12. In prayer to God. ‘ , in a proseucha, oratory, or prayer-house of God. These proseuchas, or houses of prayer, were common in Judea: it is well known that they were open at the top, planted round with trees, and often situated by the sides of seas or rivers. See Act 16:13. Jdg 20:26 and Calmet on the word proseuche. Dr. Heylin is of opinion, that the phrase is emphatical, to import an extraordinary and sublime devotion:In the prayer of God. So the high mountains, and tall cedars, in the scripture, are called the mountains of God, and the cedars of God. Jesus was to appoint his disciples the following day.

Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke

Luk 6:12-13 . Comp. Mar 3:13-15 .

] as Mat 5:1 .

. . .] comp. on Luk 5:16 .

] in prayer to God . Genitive of the object (see Winer, p. 167 [E. T. 231 f.]).

] in the wider sense. Comp. Luk 6:17 .

, . . .] The connection is: “And after He had chosen for Himself from them twelve and (Luk 6:17 ) had come down with them, He took up His position on a plain, and ( scil . , there stood there) a crowd of His disciples, and a great multitude of people who had come to hear Him and to be healed; and they that were tormented were healed of unclean spirits: and all the people sought,” etc. The discovery of Schleiermacher, that . denotes not the actual choice, but only a bringing them together , was a mistaken idea which the word itself ought to have guarded against. Comp. Act 1:2 .

. .] An action concurring towards the choice, and therefore, according to Luke, contemporaneous (in opposition to Schleiermacher). Comp. Mar 3:14 , which is the source of this certainly anticipatory statement.

Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary

Luk 6:12-49 . Luke inserts at this point the choice of the Twelve, and then a shorter and less original (see also Weiss in the Jahrb. f. d. Th . 1864, p. 52 ff.) edition of the Sermon on the Mount . [101] According to Matthew, the choice of the Twelve had not yet occurred before the Sermon on the Mount; nevertheless it is implied in Matthew, not, indeed, sooner than at Luk 10:1 , but after the call of Matthew himself. Luke in substance follows Mark in what concerns the choice of the apostles. But he here assigns to the Sermon on the Mount which Mark has not got at all a position different from that in Matthew, following a tradition which attached itself to the locality of the choice of the apostles ( ) as readily as to the description and the contents of the sermon. See, moreover, Commentary on Matthew. According to Baur, indeed, Luke purposely took from the discourse its place of distinction, and sought in the Pauline interest to weaken it as much as possible.

[101] That Matthew and Luke gave two distinct discourses, delivered in immediate succession (which Augustine supposed), that were related to one another as esoteric (given to the disciples exclusively) and exoteric (in the ears of the people), is neither to be established exegetically, nor is it reconcilable with the creative power of discourse manifested by Jesus at other times, in accordance with which He was certainly capable, at least, of extracting from the original discourse what would be suitable for the people (in opposition to Lange, L. J . II. 2, p. 566 ff.). And how much does the discourse in Matthew contain which there was no reason for Jesus keeping back from the people in Luke’s supposed exoteric discourse! Comp. also Mat 7:28 , from which passage it is clear that Matthew neither regarded the discourse as esoteric, nor knew anything of two discourses.

Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary

d. The Son Of Man, The Lawgiver In The Kingdom Of God.

Luk 6:12-49

. The Choice of Apostles (Luk 6:12-16)

(Parallels: Mat 10:2-4; Mar 3:13-19.)

12And it came to pass in those days, that he went out into a [the] mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God. 13And when it was day, he called unto him his disciples: and of them he chose twelve, whom also he named apostles [that is, missionaries];14Simon, (whom he also named Peter,) and Andrew his brother, James andJohn, [and12] Philip and Bartholomew, [and, V. O.] 15Matthew and Thomas, James the 16son of Alpheus, and Simon called Zelotes [i.e., the zealot], And Judas the brother [the son, V. O.13] of James, and Judas Iscariot, which also14 was the traitor [became traitor].

EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL

Luk 6:12. In those days.From the comparison with Matthew and Mark it appears that the choice of apostles took place at a time in which the fame of the Saviour had mightily increased in Galilee. The healing of the man with the withered hand was followed by a number of miracles (Mat 12:15-21; Mar 3:17 seq.). Even from Tyre and Sidon do the throngs stream together. The voice of the supplicating sick unites itself with the cry of the demons. With difficulty does He escape the throng, withdraws Himself to the solitary mountain, and finds in communion with the Father the rest which earth gives Him not.

In prayer to God.It is of the greatest moment that the choice of the apostles is preceded by a night of prayer, and that it may thus be denominated the fruit of the most immediate communion of the Son with the Father. An echo of this prayer we hear in the heartfelt supplication of the Lord for all those given Him by the Father. (Joh 17:6-9.)

Luk 6:13. His disciples.According to the definite account of Luke, we are to conceive the matter thus, that the Saviour caused a great number of the disciples to come to Him, and now out of this number called the twelve apostles. We have, therefore, to distinguish clearly this choice of apostles, on the one hand, from the later mission of the apostles indicated by Matthew 10 in giving their names (Luk 6:1; Luk 6:5), on the other hand, from the earlier relation in which at least some of these men had already stood to Jesus. First had they become friends, then disciples of the Lord in a wider sense, afterwards are they called as apostles to leave all (Luk 5:10-11; Luk 5:27-28), but now united in a distinctly formed circle of apostles. And even within this there are still grades in respect of their intimate communion with Christ. Even as apostles He calls them at first servants (Mat 10:24), afterwards friends and children (Joh 13:33; Joh 15:15), finally even brethren (Joh 20:17).

Whom also He named apostles.The complete college of the twelve did not, therefore, first arise after Jesus ascension by gradual selection from a wider circle of His adherents (Schleiermacher, Weisse), but it was founded by Jesus Himself. Only on this supposition do we understand the character of the Sermon on the Mount as a dedicatory discourse, as well as the connection between this act of the Saviour and the previous solitary prayer. Although John does not mention the formal choice of apostles, yet it appears from Joh 6:70; Joh 15:16, that he by no means contradicts it. It is true that the name apostle in other places in the New Testament is not exclusively given to the twelve (see Gal 1:19; Act 14:14; Heb 3:1). But the Saviour Himself never, so far as we know, used this name otherwise than as the designation of the twelve to whom He entrusted the apostolic function.

The apostolic catalogue of Luke agrees almost entirely with that of Matthew; see Lange ad loc., who also communicates particularly what is most worth knowing respecting the names of each one. We wish chiefly to suggest the heavenly wisdom of the Saviour in the manner in which they have been paired. Although Luke does not give the names in pairs but individually (see Luk 6:14), yet from the comparison with other specifications of the names it is easy to see how the pairs must have been arranged.

a. Peter and Andrew. In all catalogues of the apostles Peter stands at the head. The man full of fire and energy, the son of Jonah (a dove), who is to become a rock of the doves, the mouth of the apostolic circle, as John constitutes its heart; of fiery spirit, as the latter of deep sensibility; ever ready for combat, as the latter is patient in enduringand by his side Andrew, his brother, whose personality is less prominent, but who brought his brother to Jesus (Joh 1:42), and afterwards appears a single time as the fourth intimate companion of the Saviour along with the three specially chosen ones, Mar 13:3.

b. John and James, his brother, sons of Zebedee and own cousins of the Lord, the first prophet and the first martyr among the twelve. The question why they received the name Boanerges appears to have been best answered by Theophylact, who says this name designated them, . Against the view that this name was meant to be a censure of their fiery zeal (Luk 9:51 seq.), maintained by Gurlitt, see Lange in the Studien und Kritiken, 1839, 1. Comp. Leben Jesu, ii. p. 696.

c. Philip and Nathanael, the son of Tholmai (Bartholomus), two friends (Joh 1:45 seq.), the one of Bethsaida, the other of Cana in Galilee. Nathanael is known for his uprightness (Joh 1:47), Philip for his frankness, through which he ventured to open every difficulty to the Lord (Joh 6:7; Joh 12:22; Joh 14:9). Two men involved in similar prejudices, but also animated by like love to the truth, belonged in the apostolic circle together.

d. Matthew and Thomas. In this fourth pair the name Matthew in Luke and Mark stands first, but he himself gives himself a second place, perhaps in the same feeling of humility in which he has added to his name the phrase . Both are apparently of Galilee. If Thomas was of a heavy, melancholy temper, on the other hand Matthew, as we know from the narrative of his calling (Luk 5:27-28), was distinguished by the capability of easily surmounting great difficulties; and while the one, moreover, was disposed to solitary thought, the other appears from his former calling to have gained a certain facility in intercourse with men. Thus does one supplement the other

e. James, the son of Alphus or Cleophas, and Lebbus, surnamed Thaddus. The former certainly is not one and the same with James, the brother of the Lord (Joh 7:5). The other, agreeably to his two names, , cor, , mamma, a courageous, spirited man. It is unnecessary to understand here two different persons, and far less can we believe (Von Ammon) that some apostles, because they did not come up to the Saviours expectations, were even in His life replaced by others. No, Lebbus and Thaddus are one person; however, the question remains: what was the proper name of the man who possessed this double surname? Here Luke (Luk 6:16) shows us the way with his: , only we must not understand by this the brother but the son15 of an otherwise unknown James. From Joh 14:22 we know that besides Judas Iscariot there was yet another Judas among the twelve. This similarity of name may have been the cause why he was not commonly called Judas, but by one of his surnames, as indeed Jerome with reason called him the Three-named.

f. Judas Iscariot and Simon Zelotes, or Cananites. These two names, the one Greek and the other Hebrew, signify The Zealot. The germ of zealotism, which first developed itself in the last Jewish war, already existed in the days of the Saviour; perhaps Simon had already appealed to the law of the Zealots and belonged to the followers of Judas Gaulonites, before he became an apostle. Apparently the Lord placed the high-spirited, vigorous man beside the dark form of Judas Iscariot, on account of the moral preponderance which Simon might exercise upon his character, but also because Judas could most easily unite himself with a brother who had already previously striven for a political and outwardly theocratical end. It is noticeable, moreover, that Judas Iscariot, in Luke, is not coupled with Simon Zelotes, but with Judas, the son of James. We need not, however, conclude from this alone that tradition, in respect to the pairing of the apostles, had already become uncertain. We incline the rather to suppose that the Saviour, who quite early penetrated the character of Judas, did not always associate the same companion with him. By change, the danger of being infected by Judas was averted, and from different sides an influence was exerted for the ennobling of his character. The vigorous, hearty Lebbus might for his part have been as well fitted for that as the courageous zealot.

As to the choice of the apostles in general, comp. an admirable dissertation by Lange in his miscellaneous writings, part iv. p. 158, and the authors cited by Hase, Life of Jesus. Some names of apostles which are mentioned in the Gemara, namely, Nazar, Nabi, Bohi, are of later and fabulous origin, and can, therefore, by no means be turned as weapons against the evangelical tradition. Respecting the conjectural fate and deeds of these twelve, which were very early embellished by tradition, see Winer in voce.

DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL

1. The calling and training of His apostles was one of the most momentous parts of the work which the Father had committed to the Son. With a little reflection, we can by no means be surprised that the Saviour (Joh 17:4-6) defines the declaration: , …, more precisely by adding almost immediately afterwards: , , … The of His public life was, as it were, concentrated in the training and guidance of His elect witnesses. He Himself could indeed only lay the first foundations of the extended temple of God, and therefore He was obliged to look around for skilful workmen who should carry the temple up. Therefore, even during His life, He gathered a little company whose spiritual head He was, first visibly, afterwards invisibly. Therefore does He begin immediately after His baptism, to prepare for the vocation of the twelve. To their training the greatest part of His time and energies is devoted, and even when He acts upon the people, He has regard at the same time to their peculiar needs. His death even has to contribute to their education, since by it their earthly expectations are at the same time slain; and even after His resurrection He continues for yet forty days to labor personally in their training, until finally they are fully capable and prepared to receive the promised Holy Spirit. We have accordingly here approached the proper centre of His public life.

2. The choice of apostles is one of the most brilliant proofs of the adorable wisdom of the Saviour. 1. He chooses simple-minded, yet already measurably prepared, men. To some has the Baptists instruction, to others the toilsome fisherman-life, or the active publicans office, been a more suitable school of preparation than a scientific preparation by Hillel or Shammai. 2. Few, yet very diverse, men. He works intensively before He begins to labor extensively on the kingdom of God that is to be founded. He will rather perfect some than only partially train many. Accordingly He trains them with and also by means of one another, and shows how fully His gospel accommodates itself to every point of human development, and how it is perfectly calculated for every ones individual necessities. 3. Some prominent to go with several less noticeable men whom He gathers together into a little company. So far as we can see, the beautiful figurative language used in 1Co 12:14-27 is also completely applicable to the organism of the apostolic circle. Had all been as distinguished as a Peter, a John, and as afterwards a Paul, the unity would have suffered by the diversity, and the one light would have been broken into altogether too many colors.

3. With this wisdom the preminence which He gives to three of His apostles above the others is not in conflict. Unquestionably the preminence is undeniable (Mar 5:37; Mar 9:2; Mat 26:37), but it was at the same time relative, natural, beneficent. Relative, for it by no means excluded sharp rebuke of personal failings and close observation of the necessities of each single one (Mat 16:23; Luk 9:54-55). Not Peter and the sons of Zebedee, but Andrew and Philip, make the Lord acquainted with the request of the Greeks (Joh 12:22). The former we find sitting with the three on the Mount of Olives (Mar 13:3), with the latter the Lord counsels as to how He shall feed the people (Joh 6:5). Natural, on account of their individuality and the need of the Son of Man for personal intimacy. A Christ who, among twelve intimate associates, had not one bosom-friend, we should scarcely understand or be able to love. Beneficent, for the training as well of the elect three for their special work as of the other nine, who must thus have learned to see that as well the Saviours vocation as the preminence accorded by Him was only free grace.

4. Quite as little difficulty does the primacy of Peter offer, which we, understanding it in a sound sense, do not need to deny. Only one-sided ultra-Protestantism can assert that the Lord did not concede to Peter the slightest preminence. Certainly it is not accidental that his name in all the apostolic catalogues is the first; and that the word of the Saviour (Mat 16:18) refers not alone to the confession but also to the person of Peter, is scarcely to be denied. Yet over against this, observe: 1. That the Lord also most sharply rebukes or humbles the high-placed apostle; 2. that his prerogatives are communicated to all the apostles, see Mat 18:18; Joh 20:22; John 3. that the other apostles and first churches conceded to him no primacy in the Roman Catholic sense (Act 11:12; Luke 15; Gal 2:11); 4. that he did not claim it for himself (1Pe 5:1-4); 5. that even the most ancient church fathers do not acknowledge it in respect to him. See J. Ellendorf, The Primacy of the Roman Popes.

5. As respects, finally, the choice of Judas, we are to avoid, on the one hand, the Docetic conception that Christ had at His very first meeting with him seen through the future traitor, and chosen him entirely ad hoc; on the other hand, the Ebionitic one, that He erred like a common man, and found a devil where He had expected an angel. According to the first, we must pity Judas as the victim of an unavoidable destiny, while the other view presents not indeed the love, yet so much the more the wisdom, of the Saviour in an unfavorable light. The only correct view is this, to see in the choice of Judas, the highest stake of adventurous love, which finds in him the germ for much that is excellent, and does all that is possible to win him wholly, but soon discovers that the evil is much stronger than the good, Joh 6:69, and now expressly warns him, Mat 6:19-21; Mar 7:21-23; Luk 12:16-20; repeatedly leaves him free to go, Joh 6:67; Joh 13:27; with long suffering endures him, Joh 13:11; finally, with majesty removes him, but now henceforth can look back even upon the son of perdition with tranquillity, because He has not on his account the least thing with which to reproach Himself, Joh 17:12. Living and dying, therefore, even Judas preserves the rank of a witness of the Lord, so that the scoff of unbelief upon this point, from Celsus on (see Origen Contr. Celsum, ii. p. 11) even to Strauss and later than he, rebounds on the head of its own authors. Comp. the weighty judgment of Lavater on Judas, communicated by Niemeyer, Charakteristik der-Bibel, 1. pp. 83, 86.

6. The result has justified the wisdom of the Saviour in the choice of apostles most admirably. The kingdom of heaven founded by so frail and weak instruments on earth, stands as a work of God in the strictest sense of the word before us. When we compare what the twelve originally were with what they afterwards became, we obtain the convincing proof of the power of the grace of the Lord, but see at the same time how the Holy Spirit works not for the destruction but for the purifying and ennobling of each particular individuality.
7. First they become disciples, then apostles; not at once are they sent out to preach, and not at once into all the world. Christ was no enthusiast, to have called His apostles without instruction, and as it were with unwashed hands to the ministry. During a long time did He instruct them with great diligence, and carefully train them up for their future vocation, and yet upon the apostles a special miracle of the Holy Spirit was to be shown forth! How much more does it become us to insist that the servants of the Lord shall right earnestly study with persevering diligence and holy eagerness to learn in order to become fit to teach. Chemnitz.

HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL

The Lord will have witnesses of His manifestation; He chooses them, He trains them.The choice of apostles an image of the choice of grace.The choice of apostles prepared for with care, brought into effect with wisdom, and by the result most admirably vindicated.Important steps must be prepared for in prayer.Difference and unity among the first witnesses of the Lord.The grace of the Lord: 1. How low down it seeks its elect; 2. how high it lifts its elect.Diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit, 1Co 12:4-6.Ye have not chosen Me, but I have chosen you, Joh 15:16.One must already be a disciple in order to be able to testify as an apostle.The apostolate and the later ministry: 1. Precedence, 2. equality.The preacher of the gospel not less called than the apostles to be His witness.The word of the Saviour, Ye also shall bear witness (Joh 15:27), addressed to every preacher of the gospel. Thereby: 1. The extent of his office is defined; 2. the nobility of his office is confirmed; 3. the conflict of his office is declared; 4. the power of his office is assured; 5. the blessing of his office is prophesied; 6. the requirement of his office is renewed.

Starke:The affairs of the kingdom of God we should prefer to all convenience and earthly repose.Cramer:Teachers and preachers must not crowd themselves into their office, but wait till they are sent by Christ, the Lord of the harvest.Bibl. Wirt.:We should not form such an idea to ourselves of the church of Christ on earth, as if it could be without hypocrites and ungodly.Arndt:The names of the twelve apostles: 1. Their choice; 2. their importance. We may: a. not overvalue, b. but quite as little fail to recognize their incomparable preminence. Their preminence in the church has been, moreover, through all centuries in such wise recognized, that never has an important teacher of it, never has a martyr or a reformer, ventured to attribute to himself the appellation of an apostle, as little as any one since then has again borne the name of Jesus. Only high-minded fanatics have now and then chosen twelve apostles and two and seventy disciples from their adherents, but all these sects have long since fallen under the judgment of history (and the Irvingites?).

Borger:The apostolic catalogue. I. Historically. 1. What was the work of the apostles? 2. What were the men whom the Lord chose to this work? 3. Why did He choose just such men? II. Apologetically. 1. These apostles the best witnesses of the Lord; 2. proofs for the divinity of the gospel; 3. even the traitor witness of the truth.Van Oosterzee:The catalogue of the apostles: I. A source of knowledge. This catalogue fills 1. a brilliant chapter in the history of mankind, 2. a sublime chapter in the history of Jesus, 3. a noteworthy chapter in the history of the Divine government. II. A support of faith. It witnesses of 1. the truth, 2. the sublimity, 3. the divinity, 4. the imperishableness, of the gospel. III. A school of life. It displays the image 1. of the condition, 2. of the intended work, 3. of the prerogatives, of the Christian church even in our days.

Footnotes:

[12]Luk 6:14.For the insertion of before the names James and Philip also, among others, we have B., D., L., [Sin.]. In the same way it appears that this particle must be read before all the following names, Luk 6:15-16. Luke, therefore, does not give the names of the apostles in pairs, but singulatim. [Before ., Luk 6:15, om. A., B., D.2, 11 other uncials, ins. D.1, Sin., L. Considering that is so strongly supported before all the other names, it is evident that if it is to be omitted here, it is a mere taking of breath on the part of the evangelist, and does not introduce a pair.C. C. S.]

[13]Luk 6:16.Usually, and I believe rightly, rendered Jude the brother of James, see Jude, Luk 6:1, and note. Alford. Winer supports the same opinion as Alford, Meyer the same as Van Oosterzee. It appears to me that the former is preferable.C. C. S.]

[14]Luk 6:16. here has not sufficient manuscript testimony (see Tischendorf). At least it gives room for the conjecture that it is taken from the parallels in Matthew and Mark. [Om. B., L., Sin.C. C. S.]

[15][See Notes on the text.C. C. S.]

Fuente: A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical by Lange

DISCOURSE: 1493
THE APOSTLES CHOSEN

Luk 6:12-13. And it came to pass in those days that he went out into a mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God. And when it was day, he called unto him his Disciples: and of them he chose twelve, whom also he named Apostles.

THE short period of our Lords ministry on earth rendered it expedient for him to employ others as his co-adjutors in the work. Accordingly, in reference to the twelve Patriarchs, who might be considered as the fathers of the Jewish Church, he selected twelve of his Disciples, who should be his instruments for planting and establishing his Church. There were other seventy, whom at a later period he sent forth, two and two, for the purpose of preparing the minds of the people for his personal ministry among them [Note: Luk 10:1.]; but the Apostles were to be his stated servants after that he should have left this world and returned to his heavenly Father. The circumstances of their appointment were peculiar, and deserve our most attentive consideration. The night previous to their appointment he spent in prayer to his heavenly Father [Note: If we suppose to mean in a place of prayer, we still can have no doubt what his occupation there was.]:which remarkable occurrence it will be proper to notice in a threefold view:

I.

As an act for our benefit

The appointment of the Apostles was a work of singular importance
[They were to be employed in the Church as his messengers to declare his truthhis witnesses to attest itas patterns also to illustrateand as martyrs to confirm it. But whence could a number of poor fishermen attain a sufficiency for these things? ]
Hence our blessed Lord continued the whole night in prayer for them
[His heavenly Father was able to furnish them for this great work, and to give them success in it; and therefore our Lord importunately sought for them the grace which they stood in need of: nor would he cease from his exertions, till he had obtained all that their necessities required. The benefit of his prayer was fully manifested as soon as they were endued with power from on high: then nothing could withstand their wisdom, or subdue their courage: they were deaf to menaces, and regardless of death. Their success was rapid, extensive, permanent: and we at this day enjoy the fruits of their labours. Through that prayer the Apostles were richly furnished unto every good work; and were enabled so to establish the kingdom of our Lord, that neither earth nor hell have ever been able to prevail against it.]

II.

As a lesson for our instruction

The ordination of ministers is also a most important work
[On them, under God, depends the everlasting welfare of thousands. We need only compare the state of those congregations where the Gospel is faithfully preached with those which are under the superintendence of careless ministers: in the one will be found little but ignorance and irrehligion; in the other, there will be many whose minds are enlightened with divine truth, and whose souls are quickened to a new and heavenly life.
But where shall persons be found duly qualified for the workwhere those who will be willing to undertake it? True; if the ministry of the word be made a source of temporal emolument, there will be multitudes ready to engage in it: but if the signs of a minister, or accompaniments of the ministry, be like those in the Apostles days, reproaches, necessities, and distresses for Christs sake [Note: 2Co 12:10; 2Co 12:12.], and the only pluralities be labours, stripes, prisons, deaths [Note: 2Co 11:23-28.], there will not be many candidates for the office, nor will the qualifications for it be thought so common as they are at present. How few are ready to go and preach to the heathen, where the labour and self-denial are great, and the earthly recompence is small! Large benefices, where little is to be done, or the work can be done by proxy, are caught up with avidity: but if nothing but a future reward be held forth, and God say, Who will go for us? there are few indeed that will answer with the prophet, Here am I, send me [Note: Isa 6:8.].]

This, therefore, should be the subject of our devoutest prayers
[God himself has commanded us to commit the matter to him in prayer: The harvest truly is plenteous, and the labourers are few; pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth (thrust out [Note: Mat 9:37-38.]) labourers into his harvest. And truly, all ranks and orders of men are concerned to labour earnestly in prayer concerning it.

How fervently should they pray, to whom the office of ordaining others is committed! for if they lay hands suddenly on any man, they make themselves partakers of other mens sins [Note: 1Ti 5:22.]. Nor should they be less earnest who are to be ordained. When we consider how arduous their work is, and how great their responsibility before God; when we reflect that their word will be a savour of life to the life and salvation of many, or a savour of death to their death and condemnation [Note: 2Co 2:16.]; and that the blood of all that perish through their neglect will be required at their hands; methinks it is a wonder that any one can be found, who, for the sake of filthy lucre, will dare to undertake it. Were the weight of the office duly considered, no one would presume to enter upon it without much prayer to God to qualify him for the discharge of it, and to bless his labours to the edification of the people.

But the people themselves also are no less concerned to pray, that God would send them pastors after his own heart; for the welfare of their souls essentially depends on the kind of ministry which they attend: if Christ be not exhibited to them in his person and offices; if they be not encouraged to receive out of his fulness all the blessings of salvation; if they be not led into discoveries of the evil of their own hearts, and instructed in the nature of that change which the Holy Spirit will effect within them; if, in short, they have not the whole counsel of God set before them, they will be left to rest in very low attainments, if not to perish utterly through lack of knowledge.

This lesson then should be learned by all; and so learned, as to be reduced to practice.]

III.

As a pattern for our imitation

Prayer is both the duty and the privilege of all
[Our blessed Lord had doubtless more intimate communion with his Father than we can possibly have; yet are we also authorized to call God our Father; yea, we are commanded to do it, and to open our mouths wide, that he may fill them. It is not, indeed, required of us that we should spend whole nights in prayer to God; for that would probably, unless in some very peculiar circumstances, render us unfit for prosecuting the duties of the ensuing day: but we are required to continue in prayer, and to watch thereunto with thanksgiving [Note: Col 4:2.]: and the more nearly we can approach to the example of our blessed Lord in the frequency and urgency of our prayers [Note: Psa 22:2. Heb 5:7.], the more remarkable will be the answers that we shall receive, and the more abundant the communications of God to our souls. If we wrestled more like Jacob, we should certainly prevail to a much greater extent than in general we do [Note: Gen 32:24-26.].]

We should therefore resort to it on every particular emergency
[Though the particular object of our Lords continuance in prayer does not occur to us, yet we all have some occasions that call for more than ordinary direction and assistance from God. On these occasions, whatever they may be, whether they relate to the body or the soul, to time or to eternity, we should go and spread our wants before God. His own command to us is, In every thing, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God. In all our ways we must acknowledge him, and he will direct our paths.

In this then must all of us resemble the Lord Jesus Christ. In this has he set us an example, that we should follow his steps: and we must walk as he walked. By this must all his followers be distinguished; for they are a people near unto him. They are hypocrites, of whom it is said, They will not always call upon God: all true Christians can say, Truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ.]

Application

[Learn hence the real state of your souls before God. Prayer has often been called the pulse of the soul: and truly it is so; for by that you may discern the state of the soul, incomparably better than you can by the pulse the state of the body. If you are prayerless people, you are dead, altogether dead in trespasses and sins. If your prayers are habitually cold and formal, they are such as God will never accept. No prayer will enter into the ears of the Lord of Hosts, but that which is offered in spirit and in truth. Let us then beg of God to give us a spirit of grace and of supplication; and let us interest ourselves with God for the welfare of his Church. Let us especially remember those who are over us in the Lord, and labour always fervently for them in prayer, that they may be enabled to fulfil their ministry with diligence and success. Thus shall we both ensure blessings to our own souls, and be instrumental to the hastening on of that day, when all shall know the Lord, from the least to the greatest, and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.]

Fuente: Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae (Old and New Testaments)

(12) And it came to pass in those days, that he went out into a mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God.

I would beg to notice this verse by itself. There is somewhat very striking in those scriptures which relate to our Lord’s retiring for the purpose of prayer. The sample he hath caused to be left upon record, Joh 17 throughout, may in some measure lead our minds into an apprehension of our Lord’s employment, upon those solemn occasions. The Evangelist in this place gives two striking features of it. He was alone. And he was all night in communion. Oh! for grace to be like him. And may he give his people songs in the night!

Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

12 And it came to pass in those days, that he went out into a mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God.

Ver. 12. He went out into a mountain to pray ] He premiseth prayer, being to make choice of the twelve. If Eliezer prayed when to seek a wife for Isaac,Gen 24:12-14Gen 24:12-14 ; if Solomon prayed for wisdom, ere he set upon the temple work; if Ezra fasted and prayed ere he committed the golden and silver vessels to them that kept them,Ezr 8:21Ezr 8:21 ; Ezr 8:30 ; should there not prayer be made for ministers ere they be set over God’s house and people?

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

12 19. ] CALLING AND NAMES OF THE TWELVE APOSTLES. Peculiar (in this form) to Luke: see Mat 12:15-21 ; Mar 3:13-19 . We may observe that Matt. does not relate the choosing of the Apostles, but only takes occasion to give a list of them on their being sent out, ch. Luk 10:1 ff.; and that Mark and Luke agree in the time of their being chosen, placing it immediately after the healing on the sabbath, but with no very definite note of time.

Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament

12. ] . . . is vague in date, and may belong to any part of the period of our Lord’s ministry now before us. I believe it to be a form of acknowledgment on the part of the Evangelist, that he did not determine exactly into what part of this period to bring the incident so introduced . Indeed the whole of this paragraph is of a supplementary and indefinite character, serving more as a preface to the discourse which follows, than as an integral part of the narration in its present sequence. This of course in no way affects the accuracy of the circumstances therein related, which nearly coincide in this and the cognate, though independent, account of Mark.

viz. from Capernaum.

] See on Mat 5:1 .

. ] See note on ch. Luk 5:16 .

. . ] and spent the night in prayer to God, see E. V. The whole context, and the frequency of the objective genitive (see Winer, 30. 1, edn. 6), should have prevented the Commentators (Hammond, Olearius, &c.) from making the blunder of imagining here to be a proseucha or house of prayer: see note on Act 16:13 .

Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament

Luk 6:12-19 . On the hill (Mat 4:24-25 ; Mat 10:2-4 ; Mar 3:7-19 ).

Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson

Luk 6:12 . : a vague expression, but suggestive of some connection with foregoing encounters. , went out; whence not indicated, probably from a town (Capernaum?) into the solitude of the mountains. : as in Mat 5:1 . and Mar 3:13 , to the hill near the place where He had been. , to pray, not in Mk.; might be taken for granted. But Lk. makes a point of exhibiting Jesus as a devotional Model, often praying, and especially at critical times in His life. The present is viewed as a very special crisis, hence what follows. , etc., He was spending the whole night in prayer to God; occurs here only in N. T. is genitive objective: prayer of which God is the object; but if were taken as = a place for prayer in the open air, as in Act 16:13 , we should get the poetic idea of the proseucha of God the mountains!

Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson

NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Luk 6:12-16

12It was at this time that He went off to the mountain to pray, and He spent the whole night in prayer to God. 13And when day came, He called His disciples to Him and chose twelve of them, whom He also named as apostles: 14Simon, whom He also named Peter, and Andrew his brother; and James and John; and Philip and Bartholomew; 15and Matthew and Thomas; James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon who was called the Zealot; 16Judas the son of James, and Judas Iscariot, who became a traitor.

Luk 6:12 “He went off to the mountain” In the OT psalms mountains are places of safety, strength, and permanence. They are associated with YHWH’s presence (cf. Psa 121:1) or with the temple (i.e., Mt. Moriah, cf. Psa 87:1). Moses met YHWH on a mountain (i.e., Mount Sinai, cf. Exo 19:16-25). Matthew’s Gospel, in his recording of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, makes a definite link between Moses and Jesus. Jesus’ famous sermon (cf. Matthew 5-7) was given on a mountain. This detail may have come from Mark’s Gospel (Peter’s eyewitness) in Mar 3:13. However, Luke records this sermon “on a plain.”

It is uncertain to what mountain this refers. There is a mountain in Galilee that is mentioned often in connection with Jesus’ post-resurrection meeting with disciples (cf. Mat 26:32; Mat 28:7; Mat 28:10). Whatever the location it was obviously a time to get away and be close to the Father (cf. Luk 9:28).

“to pray and He spent the whole night in prayer to God” Luke, more than any other Gospel writer, emphasizes Jesus’ prayer life (cf. Luk 3:21; Luk 6:12; Luk 9:18; Luk 9:28; Luk 11:1-4) and His teachings on prayer (cf. Luk 11:5-8; Luk 18:1-14).

Jesus spent the entire night in prayer (periphrastic imperfect active) before He chose twelve special disciples to later represent Him. Here is the tension between predestination (The Father) and human will (Jesus). Jesus, full of the Spirit, incarnate deity, still needed to pray. Judas the betrayer was one of the prayerful choices!

Luk 6:13 “He called His disciples to Him” There were many people who followed Jesus, men and women, old and young (cf. Act 1:21-22). Jesus selected twelve to be His special representatives and leaders. He spent much time and effort in their discipleship (see Robert Coleman, The Master Plan of Discipleship).

“twelve” This seems to relate to the twelve tribes of Israel as a symbol of the people of God.

SPECIAL TOPIC: THE NUMBER TWELVE

“whom He also named as apostles” This comment is unique to Luke. This comes from the verb “to send” with the rabbinical implication of delegated authority. It is used in the Greek Classics like our term “ambassador.” See Special Topics: Send (apostell) at Luk 9:48 and Chart of the Apostles’ Names at Luk 5:27.

Luk 6:14 “Simon, whom He also named Peter” There are three other listings of the twelve apostles. Peter is always first; Judas Iscariot is always last. There are three groups of four which remain the same, even though the order of names within the groups is often reversed (cf. Mat 10:2-4; Mar 3:16-19; Act 1:13).

SPECIAL TOPIC: PETER, THE MAN

“Andrew” The Greek term means “manly.” From Joh 1:29-42 we learn that Andrew was a disciple of John the Baptist and that he introduced his brother, Peter, to Jesus.

“James” This is the Hebrew name “Jacob” (BDB 784), which means “supplanter,” cf Gen 25:26). There are two men named James in the list of the Twelve. One is the brother of John (cf. Mar 3:17) and part of the inner circle (i.e., Peter, James, and John). This is the brother of John.

“John” This was James’ brother and a member of the inner circle of disciples. He wrote five NT books and lived longer than any other Apostle.

“Philip” The Greek name means “fond of horses.” His call is recorded in Joh 1:43-51.

“Bartholomew” The name means “son of Ptolemy.” He may be the Nathanael of the Gospel of John (cf. Joh 1:45-49; Joh 21:20).

“Matthew” The Hebrew name (from the Mattithiah, cf. 1Ch 9:31; 1Ch 15:18; 1Ch 15:21; 1Ch 16:5; 1Ch 25:3; 1Ch 25:21; Neh 8:4) means “gift of YHWH.” This is referring to Levi (cf. Mar 2:13-17).

“Thomas” The Hebrew name means “twin” or Didymus (cf. Joh 11:16; Joh 20:24; Joh 21:2).

“James the son of Alphaeus” This is the Hebrew name “Jacob.” There are two men named James in the list of the Twelve. One is the brother of John (cf. Luk 6:17) and part of the inner circle (i.e., Peter, James, and John). This one is known as “James the less” (cf. Mar 3:17).

“Simon who was called the Zealot” The Greek text of Mark has “Cananaean” (also Mat 10:4). Mark, whose Gospel was written to Romans, may not have wanted to use the political “hot button” word, zealot, which referred to a Jewish anti-Roman guerilla movement. Luke does call him by this term (cf. Act 1:13). The term Cananaean has several derivatives.

1. from the area of Galilee known as Cana

2. from the OT use of Canaanite as merchant

3. from a general designation as a native of Canaan.

If Luke’s designation is right, then zealot is from the Aramaic term for “enthusiast” (cf. Act 1:17). Jesus’ chosen twelve disciples were from several different and competing groups. Simon was a member of a nationalistic group which advocated the violent overthrow of Roman authority. Normally this Simon and Levi (i.e., Matthew, the tax collector) would not have been in the same room with each other.

“Judas the son of James” He was also called “Lebbeus” (cf. Mat 10:3) or “Judas” (cf. Joh 14:22). Both Thaddaeus and Lebbeus mean “beloved child.”

“Judas Iscariot” There are two Simons, two Jameses, and two Judases. The name Iscariot has two possible derivations:

1. man of Kerioth (a city) in Judah (cf. Jos 15:23, which would mean he was the only Judean)

2. his father’s name (cf. Joh 6:71; Joh 13:2; Joh 13:26)

3. “dagger man” or assassin, which would mean he also was a zealot, like Simon

See SPECIAL TOPIC: ISCARIOT at Luke 27:3.

“who became a traitor” There is so much speculation about Judas and his motives. He is mentioned and vilified often in John’s Gospel (cf. Joh 6:71; Joh 12:4; 13:2,26,39; Joh 18:2-3; Joh 18:5). The modern play “Jesus Christ Superstar” depicts him as a faithful but disillusioned follower who tried to force Jesus into fulfilling the role of the Jewish Messiah, which was to overthrow the Romans, punish the wicked, and set up Jerusalem as the capital of the world. However, John depicts his motives as greedy and malicious.

The main problem is the theological issue of God’s sovereignty and human free will. Did God or Jesus manipulate Judas? Is Judas responsible for his acts if Satan controlled him or God predicted and caused him to betray Jesus? The Bible does not address these questions directly. God is in control of history; He knows future events, but mankind is responsible for their choices and actions. God is fair, not manipulative.

There is a new book that tries to defend JudasJudas: Betrayer or Friend of Jesus? by William Klassen, Fortress Press, 1996. I do not agree with this book because it depreciates the testimony of John’s Gospel, but it is very interesting and thought provoking.

Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley

in. Greek. en. App-104. Not the same word as in verses: Luk 6:8, Luk 6:17; Luk 6:-23.

a = the.

to pray. The third of seven such occasions in Luke. See note on Luk 3:21.

continued all night. Peculiar to Luke. A medical word. Compare Mat 14:23.

prayer to God. Greek. prayer of God. Genitive of Relation. App-17.

Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics

12-19.] CALLING AND NAMES OF THE TWELVE APOSTLES. Peculiar (in this form) to Luke: see Mat 12:15-21; Mar 3:13-19. We may observe that Matt. does not relate the choosing of the Apostles, but only takes occasion to give a list of them on their being sent out, ch. Luk 10:1 ff.; and that Mark and Luke agree in the time of their being chosen, placing it immediately after the healing on the sabbath,-but with no very definite note of time.

Fuente: The Greek Testament

Luk 6:12. , prayer) It is even because of these His prayers that the Twelve disciples are said to have been given to Jesus Christ: Joh 17:6 [comp. Luk 6:13 here in Luke 6]. A great business was transacted on this night between God and the Mediator! [Even elsewhere also Luke frequently mentions the prayers of Jesus: for instance, after His baptism, ch. Luk 3:21; before the questioning of His disciples to test them, recorded ch. Luk 9:18; before the transfiguration, ch. Luk 9:29; and when He taught His disciples to pray, ch. Luk 11:1. Comp. Mar 1:35; Luk 5:16; Mat 14:23. No evangelist however but John, excepting in the instance of the history of His passion, has detailed the very words of Jesus when praying.-Harm., p. 239.]- , of God) Comp. Mar 11:22, note.

Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament

Luk 6:12-19

9. THE CHOICE OF THE TWELVE

Luk 6:12-19

12 And it came to pass in these days,-Parallel accounts of this are found in Mat 10:1-4 and Mar 3:13-19. “In these days” designates the period during which the miracles just related were wrought, and the Pharisees and others were seeking how they might destroy him. He went “into the mountain to pray.” There are several mountains in Galilee on the west side of the Sea of Galilee, some think that it was the same mountain from which the “Sermon on the Mount” was preached. It is significant that he went there “to pray” and that he continued “all night in prayer to God.” Luke makes special reference to Jesus at prayer. (Luk 3:21; Luk 5:16; Luk 9:18; Luk 11:1.) Jesus resorted to special prayer before great and important events. (Mar 6:46; Luk 22:41-44; Joh 11:41-42; Joh 17:1.)

13 And when it was day,-We must distinguish between the call of these men to discipleship (Joh 1:35-45), their call to be constant attendants, preachers, or evangelists (Mat 4:18-22; Mar 1:16-20), and their selection as apostles which is here related. After their selection they were endowed with miraculous gifts and sent out on their “limited commission.” (Mat 10:1-4.) The next morning after the night had been spent in prayer “he called his disciples,” and from his disciples he “chose from them twelve, whom also he named apostles.” The word “chose” means “he made or constituted” to be “apostles.” From the many disciples which he had made up to this time, he selected twelve of them and appointed them as his “apostles.” “Apostle” means one “sent forth.” Jesus is named or called an “Apostle.” (Heb 3:1.) Luke uses this term more than the other writers do. (Luk 9:10; Luk 11:49; Luk 17:5; Luk 22:14; Luk 24:10.) They are sometimes called “the twelve” (Mar 4:10; Mar 6:7), or “the twelve disciples” (Mat 20:17), or simply “disciples” (Luk 9:12). Mark (3:14) gives the reason for their appointment “that they might be with him, and that he might send them forth to preach.”

14-16 Simon, whom he also named Peter,-There are four catalogues of the apostles, and Luke gives two of the four; Matthew and Mark give the other two. Each catalogue is divided into three classes, the names of which are never interchanged, and each class headed by a leading name. Peter heads the first class, Philip the second, James the third, and Judas Iscariot stands the last, except in the Acts, where his name is omitted because of his apostasy and death. Matthew enumerates the apostles two by two, in pairs; Mark and Luke one by one, individually; and Luke in the Acts, mixedly. This shows that the writers wrote independent of each other.

Mat 10:2-4Mark 3:16-19Luk 6:14-16Act 1:13

Simon PeterSimon PeterSimon PeterPeter

Andrew, his brotherJamesAndrewJohn

James, son of ZebedeeJohnJamesJames

John, his brotherAndrewJohnAndrew

PhilipPhilipPhilipPhilip

BartholomewBartholomewBartholomewThomas

ThomasMatthewMatthewBartholomew

MatthewThomasThomasMatthew

Concerning John the Lord’s brother, his labors and death are not recorded in the New Testament. Bartholomew was the son of “Bar-Tholmai,” or son of Tholmai; nothing is said of his labors. Matthew was also called Levi; he was a publican; he wrote the first book of the New Testament; nothing further is known of his labors. Thomas was also called “Didymus” (Joh 11:16), which means “a twin”; he has been called “doubting Thomas,” but this should not be applied to him (Joh 20:24-29). James was the son of Alpheus; he is called “James the less” (Mar 15:40); some think that he was the cousin of our Lord (Luk 24:10; Joh 19:25) and that he had a brother Joses (Mat 27:56). Simon was called the “Zealot”; Mark calls him “the Cananaean”; nothing is known of his work. Judas “the son of James” was probably the same as “Lebbaeus” or “Thaddaeus”; some think he was the same as the author of Jude. Judas Iscariot is always designated as the traitor; he is thought to have been the only apostle who was not by birth a Galilean; the climax of his sins was the be-trayal of Jesus and his suicide.

17-19 and he came down with them,–Jesus now descended from the mountain and further instructed his disciples and taught the multitudes. He is now to be accompanied with his apostles. He “stood on a level place”; we do not know where this was. Some think that it was near Capernaum. “A great multitude” of his disciples and many from Judea, Jerusalem, and the seacoast of Tyre and Sidon came to hear him. Luke here gives us a glimpse of the great crowds that attended his preaching; Jesus was at this time at the height of his popularity as a teacher; in fact, he was popular with all except those who decided against him with the Pharisees. Judea was south of Samaria and Jesus at this time was in Galilee. Palestine was divided into three divisions at this time-Galilee on the north, Samaria in the middle, and Judea on the south.

and they that were troubled with unclean spirits-Those who were “troubled with unclean spirits were healed”; troubled” in the original first meant “a crowd or mob” with the idea of “want of arrangement and discipline,” and therefore of “confusion” and “tumult.” It is applied to the noise and tumult of a crowd, and so passes into the sense of the “trouble” and “annoyance” caused by these, and of trouble generally. It is a term frequently used in medical language; here again we see evidence of Luke’s profession. Many were possessed with demons and were harassed with even crowds of evil spirits. It is significant that they were healed. These “unclean spirits” manifested their power through the bodies of men, and to a greater or less extent caused physical diseases.

And all the multitude sought to touch him;-All those who were diseased, and there was a multitude of them, sought to touch Jesus. Their eagerness was so great and their faith in his power to heal was so strong that their touching Jesus was sufficient to affect their cleaning. Theirs was a touch of faith; “for power came forth from him, and healed them all.” The multitudes were all the while seeking to touch him, for his virtue was going out of him. (Mat 14:36; Mar 6:56.) Luke is more technical, using the strictly medical term, “healed,” which occurs twenty-eight times in the New Testament, and seventeen of these are mentioned by Luke. Luke also uses the two words employed by Matthew and Mark, but always with some addition showing the nature of the saving, or healing.

Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary

New Leaders and New Principles

Luk 6:12-26

There are three circles here: First, Christ and His Apostles-the men who were to be sent into all the world to preach the gospel and to lay the foundations of the Church. How little did these single men imagine that one day their names would become inscribed on the foundation stones of the New Jerusalem!

The next circle is that of the disciples, Luk 6:17. You must be a disciple before you can be an apostle. You must learn, if you are to teach. You must sit at the feet of Jesus, till some day He calls you out from the class and commissions you to the world. The sheep becomes a shepherd.

The third great outer rim is the poor, needy world. What a gathering of sick folk! But if only people knew the distempers of their soul-life they would gather with equal eagerness to Jesus. How wonderful that secret touch! Luk 6:19. But many still touch Him in the press!

Fuente: F.B. Meyer’s Through the Bible Commentary

Jesus Commissions The Twelve — Luk 6:12-16

And it came to pass in those days that He went into a mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God. And when it was day, He called unto Him His disciples: and of them He chose twelve, whom also He named apostles; Simon, (whom He also named Peter) and Andrew his brother, James and John, Philip and Bartholomew, Matthew and Thomas, James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon called Zelotes, and Judas the brother of James, and Judas Iscariot, which also was the traitor- Luk 6:12-16.

We read frequently in this Gospel of the times that our Lord spent in prayer. This is in keeping with its special character as portraying the perfect Manhood of Him who was also God the Son. As Man, He felt not only the need of, but the desire for these seasons of communion with His Father. On this occasion, before choosing the twelve who were to represent Him as His apostles, He spent the entire night on a mountainside, alone with God the Father.

It was not as though He were presenting His own needs to God. It was rather that He was communing with the Father concerning these men, whom He was about to appoint to their high offices, and praying for divine blessing upon them. He ever lived in obedience to the Fathers will, and did nothing except as directed of Him.

If He, the Sinless One, the Divine Man, recognized the place and value of prayer in this way, how much more should we, who are so conscious of our frailty and sinfulness, and so ignorant of what is best for us, spend much time in prayer, seeking wisdom for the path and grace to help in every hour of need. Prayer is not just asking of God. It is talking to God. It involves worship, thanksgiving and communion, as well as supplication and intercession.

On the morrow, following the night of prayer, Jesus called twelve men from the larger group that followed Him, whom He set apart in a special way that they might be with Him and be trained to go forth as His representatives. To them He gave the name of apostles. An apostle is a sent one; literally, a missionary. But the apostleship of the twelve involved more than this. They were specially commissioned to represent Christ as His ambassadors, first to the lost sheep of the house of Israel, later to the great Gentile world. Judas, we know, failed in this, but Matthias was chosen to take over his office. Paul was an apostle of a new order, with a special commission for the present age only.

The twelve were separated from temporal employment, and as they went about with their Master they learned to rely on God for sustenance and to share the hardships into which Jesus had entered voluntarily, as a Servant of God and man. Their training was preparatory to the greater mission upon which they were to enter after the death and resurrection of their Lord.

Let me stress one thing in connection with them that is often overlooked. They were a band of comparatively young men. John, we are told by one of the early Church Fathers, was an adolescent when called of Jesus to follow Him. The others, too, were either very young or just in the prime of life. The artists generally represent most of them as elderly men from the beginning of their association with Jesus. But the fact that, except as their lives were cut short by martyrdom, they continued as witnesses for Christ for many years after the new dispensation began, is proof that they were far from being advanced in age when they first gathered about the Saviour. This is suggestive: Youth is the time to yield oneself to Christ for life-service. Too many wait until the flower of life is past before giving heed to the divine call and accepting the cross, with all that it implies. The earlier one is saved and surrendered to the Lord, the more he may be permitted to accomplish for God. Consider the many who heard and heeded the call, while young, to follow Jesus. Think of the young Martin Luther, the college students, John and Charles Wesley, George Whitefield and their associates, the youthful D. L. Moody, the sixteen-year-old Chas. H. Spurgeon, the earnest lad, Wm. Booth, and a host of others who might be named, all illustrating the old couplet which declares that,

Youth is the time to serve the Lord,

The time to assure the great reward.

Let us examine this list of young men chosen to be Christs apostles. Every name is interesting and suggestive as we recall what Scripture tells us concerning its bearer.

First, we have impetuous, but devoted Simon the fisherman, whom Jesus named Peter: the rock-like man, a stone to be builded upon Christ, the great foundation Rock on whom the whole Church was to rest. He was a man of contradictions, which is to say, that like all true believers, he had two natures. Sometimes we see the flesh in activity, and more often, the spirit. Though he denied his Lord on the night of the betrayal and mock trial before Caiaphas, he became valiant for the truth after the Pentecostal enduement, and eventually, in old age, about A. D. 69 or 70, sealed his testimony by a martyrs death.

Andrew, Peters brother, excelled as a personal worker. It was he who led Peter first to Christ. We do not get much information about his later ministry in Scripture, but wherever he is mentioned he is seen as a helpful man, serving in a humble capacity. According to early Church records, he too was martyred, nailed on a cross.

James and John, the sons of Zebedee, like the two mentioned above, were fishermen. Jesus designated them Boanerges, that is, Sons of Thunder. This suggests that they were stormy, energetic young men, very different, so far as John is concerned, to the almost effeminate character generally given him by the artists. James was the first of the twelve to be put to death for the gospels sake, slain with the sword by Herods order. John lived to be over ninety years of age, and though suffering much for Christ, died a natural death at Ephesus.

Philip and Bartholomew (also called Nathaniel) are linked together. They were friends before they knew the Lord and closer comrades afterwards.

Matthew was, as we have seen, a tax-collector under the Roman Government, with his office in Capernaum. He there left all to follow Christ, and probably devoted his wealth to the cause in which he was enlisted.

Because of his attitude following the resurrection, we often call Thomas, the Doubter. But he was more than that. He came to conclusions slowly, but he was faithful and devoted and was ready to go to Judaea with Jesus and die with Him if necessary. He seems to have carried the gospel to India. To this day, there is a church of many members in that land, who call themselves Christians of Saint (or, holy) Thomas.

Of James, the son of Alpheus, we do not know very much. He and his brother Judas (not Iscariot) were cousins of Jesus after the flesh. Judas may be the author of the Epistle that we know as Jude, but the James who wrote the Epistle bearing his name seems to have been a brother of Jesus, an overseer of the church in Jerusalem. Elsewhere this Judas is called Thaddeus.

Simon Zelotes, or the Canaanite, was formerly a member of a secret order that had as its object the overthrow of the Roman Government and the deliverance of the Jews from that authority. He turned from this to Christ as the true Deliverer of Israel.

To all eternity, the last of the group will be known as Judas the traitor. Of him our Lord declared, Good were it for that man if he had never been born! He was apparently the only Judean of the company, a man of Kerioth, as Iscariot means. He was probably the most cultured of the twelve and their trusted treasurer, but he proved recreant to this responsibility and went down to eternal infamy as the one who fulfilled the prophecy of Zechariah, selling the Shepherd of Israel for thirty pieces of silver.

The question is often raised as to why Jesus chose Judas and what his actual relation to Him was. We need to remember that our Lord takes men on their profession of faith in and loyalty to Himself, and then gives them the opportunity to demonstrate the true character of that profession. Judas was, like many in Israel, looking for the Kingdom to be set up in power, and he was possibly sincere in his attachment to Jesus as the Man of the hour. But though a trusted follower, appointed to be the treasurer of the little group of disciples, he was never intrinsically honest (Joh 12:6; Joh 13:29) and at heart was described by Jesus at last as a devil (Joh 6:70). Three years of association with Christ failed to lead to a true appreciation of His Person and to bring him to heart-allegiance to Him as his Lord. It is a solemn warning of the danger of confounding mere profession with real possession of salvation.

As we consider these men, what lessons they bring before us. May it be ours to emulate their virtues and to avoid their faults!

Fuente: Commentaries on the New Testament and Prophets

Chapter 32

Prayer, Preaching, Power

In the paragraph before us we have the Holy Spirits description of our Lords calling and ordination of his twelve apostles. Though the apostolic office ceased with the apostolic age, the calling of these men is still very instructive. This passage teaches us much concerning the blessed work of the gospel ministry.

First Ordination Service

These twelve men were the first men set apart by Christ in this gospel age and sent forth to proclaim the glad tidings of Gods free grace in him. This was the beginning of what is often called the Christian ministry. Without question, all the prophets of the Old Testament preached the same gospel these men preached. John the Baptist preached the same message, too. And Gods servants today preach that same glorious gospel of the grace of God. The singular message of Gods servants is Jesus Christ and him crucified. As Pastor Scott Richardson once said, Any sermon that does not have Christ for its beginning, middle and end is a mistake in its conception and a crime in its execution.

This was the first ordination service of the New Testament era. Let it be observed that the ordination of a man to the work of the gospel is the work of the Lord God himself. If a man is called and sent of God to preach the gospel that is his ordination. Our public ordination services are only the public recognition of a mans gifts by the local church. We have no ability to make men preachers. All we do in ordaining a man to the ministry is publicly acknowledge our recognition of his gifts and publicly identify ourselves with him, commending him to men as Gods messenger.

How far we have degenerated from the pattern of the New Testament in all things! This degeneration is seen most clearly in this first ordination of gospel preachers. What is called ordination today is similar only in name. When our Lord ordained twelve, the whole affair was simple and solemn.

As in all things relating to the Church and kingdom of God, everything concerning the work of the gospel ministry depends upon and is determined by Christ alone.

Prayer

When the Lord Jesus ordained these first twelve preachers, he did so after much prayer. And it came to pass in those days, that he went out into a mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God. And when it was day, he called unto him his disciples: and of them he chose twelve, whom also he named apostles (Luk 6:12-13).

This fact is here recorded to teach us the great place and importance of prayer in all aspects of divine service. It is particularly designed to show us that Gods servants ought always to be the objects of his peoples fervent prayers.

The most important thing for a congregation to do when seeking a pastor is pray. Pray for God to send a pastor after his own heart (Jer 3:15). The most important thing for a man to do, before he takes up the work of the gospel ministry, is pray. Pray, like Moses did in Exo 33:13-15, that God will direct him and show him plainly what his purpose is. Show me now thy way … If thy presence go not with us, carry us not up hence.

I will not attempt to say who is or who is not called of God to preach the gospel. That is Gods work alone. But this I know: if God calls a man to this work he will be a man chosen of God for the work. Of them he chose twelve. The Lord will give him the gifts sufficient for the work and a burden for the work. Gods people will want to hear him; and God will put him in the work. If the Lord God puts a man into the ministry, he will give that man a love for the work; and he will give him success in the work.

An ego trip is not a call of God. Let no man run who has not been called and sent of God with the message of grace burning in his soul. Preachers who are not sent of God are a hindrance, not a help in the work of the gospel.

If you would help the cause of Christ, pray for his servants. Brethren, pray for us.

And we beseech you, brethren, to know them which labour among you, and are over you in the Lord, and admonish you; And to esteem them very highly in love for their works sake. And be at peace among yourselves (1Th 5:12-13).

Finally, brethren, pray for us, that the word of the Lord may have free course, and be glorified, even as it is with you: And that we may be delivered from unreasonable and wicked men: for all men have not faith (2Th 3:1-2).

If your pastor is to be useful in the hands of God, he needs your prayers. He must be faithful in prayer, in study, in the Word, in doctrine, and in behaviour. But you must be faithful in prayer for him. The work is heavy. He carries the burden of the Word of the Lord. The responsibilities are enormous. Your pastor, if he is a faithful man, carries the weight of speaking in Gods name the message of life or of condemnation to eternity bound sinners! Yet, those men who preach the gospel know themselves to be insignificant, weak and sinful, nothing but worthless worms. The work of preaching the gospel requires wisdom, knowledge and understanding; but we are ignorant.

Preaching

Who is sufficient for these things? Gospel preaching is a work for which God alone can make a man sufficient. Simon, (whom he also named Peter,) and Andrew his brother, James and John, Philip and Bartholomew, Matthew and Thomas, James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon called Zelotes, And Judas the brother of James, and Judas Iscariot, which also was the traitor (Luk 6:14-16).

Look at these twelve men. Four of them were fishermen. One of them was a publican. They were, for the most part at least, Galileans. Not one of them was wealthy, politically connected, powerful, or influential. They were, obviously, in the worlds esteem, unlearned and ignorant men (Act 4:13). What are we to learn from these facts? Why were these things written?

The church and kingdom of God is entirely independent of the world. Gods church is not built by might, nor by power, but by his Spirit (Zec 4:6; 1Co 1:26-31). The weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but spiritual (2Co 10:3-5; Rom 1:15-17).

I must not fail to call your attention to the fact that one of the first twelve preachers was Judas Iscariot, a devil and a betrayer. I have often wondered why the Lord Jesus put Judas among the twelve. Have you? The Master knew that Judas was a graceless man, that he was a deceiver and a hypocrite from the beginning. Yet, he put him among the apostles, preached with him and sat with him at the Lords Table. Why? There are some things about this which ought to be obvious.

Our Lord would teach all preachers of the gospel the necessity of constant, personal self-examination. Let him that thinketh he standeth take heed, lest he fall. Gods servants must not be idolized. Esteem them highly. Pray for them faithfully. Follow their faith, their doctrine and their example. But do not make an idol out of any man. Let no man glory in men. No faithful man desires either adulation or blind allegiance (1Co 3:5-9; 2Co 4:1-7).

Yet, in the church of God, so long as we are in this world, we must expect to find the bad mixed with the good, tares among wheat, goats among sheep and unbelievers among faithful men. God will, in his time, separate the precious from the vile. We have no ability to do so. If a mans message is a false gospel, he clearly identifies himself as a false prophet. But we dare not assume that we can read the motives of a mans heart. So long as he preaches the gospel and lives uprightly, we must not attempt to judge whether he is or is not Gods messenger.

Power

The great secret to the power and efficacy of gospel preaching is the presence of Christ. And he came down with them, and stood in the plain, and the company of his disciples, and a great multitude of people out of all Judaea and Jerusalem, and from the sea coast of Tyre and Sidon, which came to hear him, and to be healed of their diseases; And they that were vexed with unclean spirits: and they were healed. And the whole multitude sought to touch him: for there went virtue out of him, and healed them all (Luk 6:17-19).

The Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, came down. He came down with them and stood in the company of his disciples. The people who came to hear the gospel came with great needs. They came to hear him. They came with great need desiring to be healed. And they sought to touch him. When they did, Virtue went out of him and healed them all. May God the Holy Spirit ever show us and make us to know our great need of Christ. May he enable us, every time we gather with his saints to worship our God, to seek to hear our Saviour and seek to touch him and be touched by him, that virtue may come out of him to our souls!

Fuente: Discovering Christ In Selected Books of the Bible

Prayer and Choice

And it came to pass in these days, that he went out into the mountain to pray; and he continued all night in prayer to God. And when it was day, he called his disciples; and he chose from them twelve, whom also he named apostles.Luk 6:12-13.

1. The praying Christ is a prominent figure in each of the four Gospels, and in none more so than in the Gospel according to Luke. Indeed, it seems to have been the special care of this Evangelist to call attention to the prayerfulness of Christ. He refers to no fewer than six of the Lords prayers which are unnoticed by the other Evangeliststhe prayer at His baptism, after cleansing the leper, before calling the Apostles, at His transfiguration, on the cross for His murderers, and with His dying breath. It is like Luke, with his clear insight into the needs of our nature, to give us such a glimpse of the Lords spirit and character. And it assuredly accords with the general tone of the Gospel of Human-heartedness, as this Third Gospel has been called. At least it gives an ideal completeness to his portraiture of Christs humanity; for this Gospel is pre-eminently the Gospel of the perfect Son of Man. Christ prayed, and prayed much. The seasons of communion with God the Father were of very frequent occurrence, and formed the habit rather than the exception of His life on earth. He prayed. It was not only a habit but a necessity of His life; He could not have accomplished His work on earth, He could not have fulfilled His Fathers will, without constant prayer.

2. The scene of this lonely vigil is the same, in all probability, as that of the Sermon on the Mount. As described by recent observers, it is a hill with a summit which closely resembles an Oriental saddle with its two high peaks. On the west it rises very little above the level of a broad and undulating plain; on the east it sinks precipitately towards a plateau, on which lies, immediately beneath the cliffs, the village of Hattin; and from this plateau the traveller descends through a wild and tropic gorge to the shining levels of the Lake of Galilee. It is the only conspicuous hill on the western side of the lake, and it is singularly adapted by its conformation to form both a place for short retirement and a rendezvous for gathering multitudes. Hither at nightfall, alone, weary, burdened with a worlds redemption, came Christ to pray. The stars came out one by one above Him, the silence deepened around Him as the night wore on, and when, after midnight had passed and the morning star stood in the heavens, the first ray of dawn tipped the trans-Jordanic hills, Christ was still in this communion with His Father.

I wonder if we have sufficiently observed our Lords love of the heights, and of the ministry of the heights upon His spirit. Have we all experienced the subtle ministry of hill and mountain? There is something even in physical altitude which helps the elevation of the soul. There is something in wide spaces which aids the expansiveness of prayer, and redeems it from narrowness and meanness. And then a mountain by night! There we have height and depth, with the allied ministry of mysterious silence. There is an absence of glare and glamour, and in the deep hush the primary voice becomes audible. And then, again, all night in prayer to God! Think of itthe night, the ceaseless communion! Let us not suppose that the Master spent the night in speech. There would be seasons of quiet listening, perhaps seasons when familiar psalms were sung, and seasons when He just comfortably realized the enwrapping presence of the Father in heaven. Now and again there would be the cry of a sheep or a lamb, and the lone plaint would make His own purpose emerge, as the Shepherd whose mission it was to seek and to succour wandering sheep. And I wonder what the dawn would have to say to Him, and whether in its growing radiance He would foresee the gradual illumination of the whole world with the evangel of His love and grace. Be that as it may, the night was thus spent as a preparative to the choice of the morrow. He sought to be perfectly attuned to His Fathers will, in order that all His decisions might be one with the mind of the Father in heaven. The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do.1 [Note: J. H. Jowett]

Thoreaus love of mountains is exemplified in many passages of his diary, and the occasional excursions which he made to the lofty outlying ranges visible from the Concord hills formed Rome of the most pleasing episodes in his life. A mountain chain, he says, determines many things for the statesman and philosopher. The improvements of civilization rather creep along its sides than cross its summit. How often is it a barrier to prejudice and fanaticism! In passing over these heights of land, through their thin atmosphere, the follies of the plain are refined and purified; and as many species of plants do not scale their summits, so many species of folly no doubt do not cross the Alleghanies.1 [Note: H. S. Salt, Henry David Thoreau, 65.]

Take the text in three divisions

I.Our Lords Habit of Prayer.

II.The Occasion of the Night-long Prayer.

III.The Answer to the Prayer.

I

Our Lords Habit of Prayer

1. The impression which the records of Christs prayers make on us is that these prayers are the indexes to His whole life as a life of prayerfulness. They suggest to us the fact that He made so much of prayer as to avail Himself of every possible outward aid to devotion. He who was careful to instruct men that they were to enter into their closet and shut the door and pray to God in secretHe sought the stillness of night-seasons and mountain-tops, the calming influences of perfect solitude far from the madding crowd. These notices disclose to us the fact that Christs devotional life here and there came out in transcendent intensity and volume, taking for its needed expression whole nights upon mountain-tops.

(1) Why should Jesus pray? In the first place, it was natural for Him to pray, because He was the Son of God. Prayer at its best is, if one may be allowed the expression, conversation with God, the confidential talk of a child who tells everything to his father. There is a remarkable example of this in the Confessions of St. Augustine. This great book is in the form of a prayer from beginning to end; yet it narrates its authors history and expounds the most important of his opinions. Evidently the good man had got into the habit of doing all his deepest thinking in the form of conversation with God. If this be what prayer is, it is not difficult to understand how the Eternal Son should have prayed to the Eternal Father. Indeed it is easy to see that, in this sense, He must have prayed without ceasing.

(2) Jesus also needed to pray because He was the Son of Man. Prayer was the sign and proof of His having been made in all things like unto His brethrena veritable son of man. It was the surest evidence He ever gave, on the spiritual side of His being, of His perfect and complete manhood. Hunger and thirst and weariness and pain told the story of His humanity, as far as the frail tabernacle of the flesh was concerned. But prayerthe cry of want, the language of dependence and trust, the words of submission and obedience to the will of God the Fatherbespoke the reality of His spiritual humanity, and showed, more clearly than aught else could show, that in the inner life of thought and feeling, mind and spirit, the Lord Jesus was one with ourselves.

It is true that there are provinces in the realm of prayer which were foreign to Him. He never traversed them during the whole of His life. They lay entirely outside His experience as One who was holy, guileless, undefiled, separated from sinners. He had no need, as we have, to confess sin or to use in any sense the language of penitence, and to ask, as we must do, for Divine pardon. And this, in all His approaches to God, Jesus Christ is never shown to have done. And yet, because He was man, partaker of our nature and our name, He must needs pray.

He sought the mountain and the loneliest height,

For He would meet His Father all alone,

And there, with many a tear and many a groan,

He strove in prayer throughout the long, long night.

Why need He pray, who held by filial right,

Oer all the world alike of thought and sense,

The fulness of His Sires omnipotence?

Why crave in prayer what was His own by might?

Vain is the question,Christ was man in deed,

And being man His duty was to pray.

The Son of God confessd the human need,

And doubtless askd a blessing every day.

Nor ceases yet for sinful man to plead,

Nor will, till heaven and earth shall pass away.1 [Note: Hartley Coleridge.]

2. Jesus loved the solitudes. He went out into the mountain to pray. In Palestine, as in many parts of Scotland, there is mountain everywhere. A mile or two from any town you are out on it. You have only to quit the houses, cross a few acres of cultivated ground, and your feet are on the turfy pastures, where you can be absolutely alone. Jesus had, if we may so speak, made the discovery that He could obtain this solitude anywhere; and, when He arrived in a town, His first thought was, which was the shortest road to the mountain,just as ordinary travellers inquire where are the most noted sights and which is the best hotel.

Never did I feel more strongly that in this habit Jesus had laid bare one of the great secrets of life than one day when I climbed all alone a hill above Inverary and lay on the summit of it, musing through a summer forenoon. On every hand there stretched a solitary world of mountain and moorland; the loch below was gleaming in the sun like a shield of silver; the town was visible at the foot of the hill, and the passengers could be seen moving in the streets, but no sound of its bustle reached so high. The great sky was over all; and God seemed just at hand, waiting to hear every word. It was in spots like this that Jesus prayed.1 [Note: J. Stalker, Imago Christi, 133.]

3. The prayer of Jesus was a sustained effort. He continued all night in prayer to God. All night He prayed, when the great task of choosing the twelve apostles lay close before Him. And this, although the Father had said, Thou art my beloved Son; in thee I am well pleased; and although He Himself could say, I know that thou hearest me always. And this, also, although He had forbidden long prayers and frequent repetitions, and over-anxiety about the morrow. Was He then anxious for the morrow? Assuredly He was. But was He doing that which He deprecates in the Sermon on the Mount? Assuredly not. The conduct of Christ rather illustrates than contradicts His teaching there.

When we read that Jesus prayed all night, we cannot think of Him as uttering words all night. He who upbraided men for using vain repetitions, and told them that they were not heard for their much speaking, and taught them the shortest and most comprehensive form of prayer, would not be likely to construe the act of prayer into a continuous verbal appeal in His own case. We may conceive of this all-night prayer as a conscious laying open of His soul before God, a devout lifting up of His heart to the tender out-reaching of God, a grateful appropriation of the sweet rich gifts and influences of Nature, which are themselves true emanations of God. We seem to see that gracious, solitary figure of the Lord, dimly outlined under the dewy canopy of the night, with the clear eastern stars pouring down their lustre; sometimes the figure would be kneeling on the mountain side in the attitude of prayer, sometimes He would be seated on some grey crag lost in deepest thought, sometimes He would be simply resting in the ample solitude, drinking in the quiet peace of the holy time, abandoning Himself to the enfolding beauty of the midnight scenealone with Nature, with His own brooding thoughts, and with His Father. It was not a time of idle dreaming or a mood of empty reverie; it was a time of real, earnest, conscious self-recovery and self-preparation for the arduous work before Him.1 [Note: W. A. Mursell, Sermons on Special Occasions, 64.]

Nothing was more easy to me now than to practise prayer. Hours passed away like moments, while I could hardly do anything else but pray. The fervency of my love allowed me no intermission. It was a prayer of rejoicing and of possession, wherein the taste of God was so great, so pure, unblended and uninterrupted, that it drew and absorbed the powers of the soul into a profound recollection, a state of confiding and affectionate rest in God, existing without intellectual effort. For I had now no sight but of Jesus Christ alone. All else was excluded, in order to love with greater purity and energy, without any motives or reasons for loving which were of a selfish nature.2 [Note: Madame Guyon, in Life by T. C. Upham, 38.]

4. Christs prayerfulness was balanced by incessant activities. Paint His devotional life in never so vivid colours, His working life keeps in harmony with every tint and outline. In fact, what gives this picture in the textChrist praying alone on the mountain-top through the long night-watchesits great power and glory is that He went to that mountain-top after one day of toil, and would come down from it to engage in another exactly like it; so that, if a disciple could say of His unrecorded works that the world itself could not contain the books that might be written to record them, it might also be said that those works of Jesus, so incessant, so numberless, so gracious, are only the outgrowth of an answering prayerfulness.

When Luther had a specially busy and exciting day, he allowed himself longer time than usual for prayer beforehand. A wise man once said that he was too busy to be in a hurry: he meant that, if he allowed himself to become hurried, he could not do all that he had to do. There is nothing like prayer for producing this calm self-possession. When the dust of business so fills your room that it threatens to choke you, sprinkle it with the water of prayer, and then you can cleanse it out with comfort and expedition.1 [Note: J. Stalker, Imago Christi, 138.]

Sister Dora spoke unreservedly to her household upon the absolute necessity of constant private prayer, and expressed openly her own strong conviction that no blessing could attend the hospital unless those who worked in it fulfilled their duty in this respect. It was literally true that she never touched a wound without lifting up her heart to the Giver of all virtue, and asking that healing might be conveyed by her means; that she never set a fracture without a prayer that, through her instrumentality, the limb might unite. As she attended upon the surgeons during an operation, the most absorbing and anxious of a nurses duties, where the patients life must often, humanly speaking, depend on readiness of eye and instantaneous comprehension of the slightest sign on the part of the operating surgeon, and on intelligent obedience to his orders, she seemed able to separate her bodily and intellectual from her spiritual powers, which were engaged in holding communion with that Being in whose Hand are the issues of life and death.2 [Note: M. Lonsdale, Sister Dora, 102.]

II

The Occasion of the Night-Long Prayer

1. We come here to a new departure in our Lords Messianic mission. The selection of the Twelve by Jesus from among those who had been led to believe in Him, to be His Apostles, and be with Him during His earthly ministry, and then take up the work, and carry it forward after He left the world, is an important landmark in the history of the gospel dispensation. We are not informed as to the particular time in His ministry at which He made the selection, but we know that He had preached and laboured for some time alone and single-handed. It seems that His selection of the Apostles at this time had become a necessity to Him in carrying forward the work for which He came into the world. He had won many followers, and as it was necessary that some should be with Him all the time to be His witnesses, and as the multitudes who attended on His ministry could not follow Him from place to place, especially in the journeys that marked the latter part of His ministry, He chose the Twelve for this purpose, and ordained them to this end. So Mark tells us that Jesus called unto Him whom He would, and they came unto Him, and He chose twelve that they should be with Him.

There is one letter to his sister written from Massowah in 1878, in which General Gordon writes freely about mission work in North Africa.

There is not the least doubt that there is an immense virgin field for an apostle in these countries among the black tribes. But where will you find an apostle? I will explain what I mean by that term. He must be a man who has died entirely to the world; who has no ties of any sort; who longs for death when it may please God to take him; who can bear the intense dullness of these countries; who seeks for few letters; and who can bear the thought of dying deserted. Now, there are few, very, very few men, who can accept this post. But no half-measures will do. A man must give up everything, understand everything, to do anything for Christ here. No half nor three-quarter measures will do. And yet, what a field!1 [Note: R. E. Speer, Some Great Leaders, 29.]

2. This new departure called for special preparation and prayer. When we consider the ground on which this election of Apostles had to be made, the work to which they were to be called, we can the better understand why even He should have spent the whole night in prayerful preparation for the task of the coming day.

These men were to be the companions of His ministry, fellow-workers unto His Kingdom, workers of miracles in His name, preachers of His gospel of salvation from sin and death; and, above all, living witnesses, when He had gone from the world, both of the historic truths of His life, and of the supernatural and holy character of the religion He set forth by word and deed. This is the chief pointthey were to be witnesses of Him; not so much of what He said and did, as of what He was in Himself; witnesses of His holiness, of His grace, of His Divine love and compassion and sympathy for men; witnesses in their own lives to the power of His life to sanctify and uplift and save men. He foresees that they will have to take in hand His work when He is no more with them in the flesh, and to be responsible under God for carrying it on in His name. The heaviest part of their task will consist, not in having to speak of Him and for Him, but in having to show to the world what was the spirit of His own perfect life. The Apostles themselves felt this. Speaking for them allhimself includedPaul declares the purpose of their ministry to be, that the life also of Jesus may be manifested in our mortal flesh. Every true-hearted and well-instructed Christian worker feels this to-day. Christ foresaw it all on this night of ceaseless prayer; and His chief care was to have men morally and spiritually capable of being witnesses to His truth and holiness.

Afterwards he said: That was an awful thought of Ruskins, that artists paint God for the world. Theres a lump of greasy pigment at the end of Michael Angelos hog-bristle brush, and by the time it has been laid on the stucco, there is something there that all men with eyes recognize as divine. Think of what it means. It is the power of bringing God into the worldmaking God manifest. It is giving back her Child that was crucified to Our Lady of the Sorrows.1 [Note: Memorials of Sir Edward Burne-Jones.]

3. In most respects this was the most important work that had ever been done for the world. As the sun rose to chase away the darkness from the eastern horizon, the Sun of Righteousness arose from a sleepless night spent in prayer to chase away the moral and spiritual darkness that had so long covered the earth, and the gross darkness that to so great an extent covers the people to this day. This was the first organized effort at the worlds evangelization. This was the first missionary society ever organized for the purpose of preaching the gospel to every creature. In the glorious light of our gospel day, this was a morning worthy of everlasting remembrance. There is missionary inspiration in this early morning scene. The organization of the college of Apostles was followed by the greatest sermon that was ever preached, and that sermon was followed by the healing of the leper and the sick, and by other events that were proper and appropriate at the beginning of a movement that is to go on blessing the world until the day of time shall close, and an eternal morning shall break on a world redeemed and a church eternally established without spot or wrinkle or any such thing.

III

The Answer to the Prayer

1. Jesus received on the mountain-top a reinforcement of vigour and vision. There is a mysterious power in Nature to unseal the eyes of the soul, and Jesus, the Divine Poet, received many a rich gift of vision from the lessons He learned in her school. He received that wondrous healing from Nature which we are slowly coming to understand better and to rejoice in to-day; and it may well be that some of that mystic healing virtue which flowed from Jesus like a tide was partly due to His profound understanding of some of Natures deepest secrets. And these reinforcements are close at hand, and may be ours if we will but seize and use them. Nature is in very truth a symbol of Divine things, a treasury of holy thoughts, a storehouse of Gods own secrets; and to meditate and pray in the midst of Natures wonder and beauty as Jesus didto ask, seek, and knock earnestly at the door of her vast treasuryis to become gladder in heart, fresher in mind, more powerful in spiritual understanding and discernment. Tennyson had this in view when he wrote:

Flower in the crannied wall,

I pluck you out of the crannies,

I hold you here, root and all, in my hand,

Little flowerbut if I could understand,

What you are, root and all, and all in all,

I should know what God and man is.

The balance of thought is a delicate thing, and it is often dislocated by the frets and shocks and burdens of life, and there is no such restorer of the minds poise and peace as Nature. Often have I found myself unable to see my way clear through a process of thought, and have thrown down my pen in a bewilderment almost akin to panic or despair, and I have gone out and found the solution of my problem or the thread of my sermon on the open moor or the green hill-side.1 [Note: W. A. Mursell.]

When a friend once said to Browning: You have not a great love for nature, have you? he had replied: Yes, I have, but I love men and women better; and the admission, which conveyed more than it literally expressed, would have been true I believe, at any, up to the present, period of his history. Even now he did not cease to love men and women best; but he found increasing enjoyment in the beauties of nature, above all as they opened upon him on the southern slopes of the Alps; and the delight of the sthetic sense merged gradually in the satisfied craving for pure air and brilliant sunshine which marked his final struggle for physical life. A ring of enthusiasm comes into his letters from the mountains, and deepens as the years advance; doubtless enhanced by the greatperhaps too greatexhilaration which the Alpine atmosphere produced, but also in large measure independent of it. Each new place into which the summer carries him he declares more beautiful than the last. It possibly was Song of Solomon 2 [Note: Mrs. Sutherland Orr, Life and Letters of R. Browning, 302.]

No man may live unto himself, and yet

How poor are they that scorn their Olivet!

Who, in their turmoil, seek not day or night

The sanctuary of the mountain height,

Fulfilled with whose indomitable breath

Long time ago the Lord of Nazareth

Raised up the fallen and subdued the strong,

And woke the stars to universal Song of Solomon 3 [Note: G. Thomas, Birds of Passage, 44.]

2. The special answer to Jesus prayer is seen in the selection of the Twelve. In the great high-priestly prayer, recorded by St. John, the Saviour three times over speaks of the disciples as the gift of God. They are known in the Church as the glorious company of the apostles. They merit the praise they have received and will continue to receive from the believers in Christ through all ages, but their glory was not of this world. The world looked upon them, in their day, as a very insignificant company. They were regarded as a band of poor, illiterate Galileans. They had no social prestige, no influence, with the great and powerful of earth. All of them, except Judas the traitor, were from Galilee, a section that was looked down on by the Jews, and had no special influence among any other people.

Consider how large a part of the New Testament is occupied with the story of the lives and labours, the spoken and written words, of the men who belonged to this first apostolate. By their life-work Christs Kingdom was made known in all parts of the Roman Empire within forty years of His ascension. How well they did His work; how faithfully they carried out His great commission; how nobly they bore witness to the facts and doctrines of the Gospel, and, above all, to the spirit and power of His life, the first pages of Church history, and their own Epistles, tell. We must not overlook the fact that the life of every one of these Apostles, with its far-reaching results, was an answer to His prayera gift of God. Every such life was a fruit-tree bearing fruit, wherein is the seed thereof; and that seed is growing to-day in every soil and in every climate over the whole earth. The answers to Christs prayer multiply and increase for ever. We speak of the conservation of force. There is a force in activity around us continually, a force which science takes no account of, and cannot explain. It is a force which is not only conserved but increased, whenever and wherever it is exercised. Christ used it and taught us to use itthe force of prayer.1 [Note: W. E. Winks, The Gospel of Prayer, 55.]

3. The answer to the grandest prayer is wrapped in mystery. Who can escape the question, If these men were chosen as the result of all this prayerperfect, faultless prayerwhy was Judas among their number? Was his election part of the answer? Why Judas was chosen at all is not clearly shown. What his character was at the time of his joining the apostolic band we cannot tell; although we may reasonably suppose that it was such as justified his election; and that he broke the fair promise of his early discipleship, and sank at last in the mire of covetousness, deceit, and villainy. But then comes the question, Was not all this foreseen by Him who gave and by Him who chose a man of this type to be among the Twelve? From this question will arise many others touching Divine foreordination and human freedom. These mysteries are not fully solved in the words of Christ, and evidently were not meant to be solved. They are still left among the secret things which belong unto God.

Yet one point comes out clearly from His words. In the answer our Lord received to this prayer, as in the prayer itself, there are elements both Divine and human. Turning to God, Christ spoke of the Twelve as those whom thou hast given me; turning to these men themselves, He said, Have I not chosen you? And the men themselves are permitted to hear both declarations, to see both sides or poles of the sphere of truth. We may rest assured that it is ever thus with answers to prayer: like the prayers themselves, their answers are both from God and of man. We are allowed to see this at leastand it is of inestimable value to usthat Gods blessing in response to our supplications comes to us along the lines of our own faculties, and in reward for our proper use of them. The Great Creator always honours His own gifts by making their legitimate exercise the condition of His favour. The praying Christ came under this law of life. Otherwise the history of His earthly sojourn must have been written in very different terms, and the prayers He offered to God could have been no pattern and encouragement for us.

Lately I have asked specially in prayer, with a large faith in Gods goodness, for one or two things, but the prayer has brought no sign of an answer. This has not in the least affected my confidence in God, but it has led me to ask myself whether that sort of prayer is right, or whether the best way is just to tell out to God your difficulty or trouble, and then rest in the confidence that in His own way and His own time the best will come to pass. Whatever happens, time will roll on, bringing meand, I trust, my loved onessafe home, and that should be enough.1 [Note: J. Brash: Memorials and Correspondence, 160.]

Oft when of God we ask

For fuller, happier life,

He sets us some new task

Involving care and strife.

Is this the boon for which we sought?

Has prayer new trouble on us brought?

This is indeed the boon,

Though strange to us it seems;

We pierce the rock, and soon

The blessing on us streams;

For when we are the most athirst,

Then the clear waters on us burst

Prayer and Choice

Literature

Campbell (W. M.), Footprints of Christ, 155.

Little (W. J. K.), The Light of Life, 178.

Manning (H. E.), Sermons, ii. 342.

Murray (J. O.), in Princeton Sermons, 192.

Mursell (W. A.), Sermons on Special Occasions, 61.

Nash (L. L.), Early Morning Scenes, 156.

New (C.), Sermons preached in Hastings, 158.

Robarts (F. H.), Sunday Morning Talks, 199.

Salmon (G.), Sermons preached in the Chapel of Trinity College, Dublin, 171.

Spurgeon (C. H.), Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, xiv. (1868), No. 798; lvi. (1910), No. 3178.

Stalker (J.), Imago Christi, 127.

Vaughan (J.), Sermons (Brighton Pulpit), vi. (1869), No. 628.

Watkinson (W. L.), The Education of the Heart, 186.

Winks (W. E.), The Gospel of Prayer, 39.

British Congregationalist, August 20, 1908 (J. H. Jowett).

Christian World Pulpit, xxxvii. 133 (J. H. Atkinson); lxiv. 390 (C. S. Macfarland).

Churchmans Pulpit: Ember Days, xv. 442 (W. T. Henham).

Fuente: The Great Texts of the Bible

that: Psa 55:15-17, Psa 109:3, Psa 109:4, Dan 6:10, Mat 6:6, Mar 1:35, Mar 14:34-36, Heb 5:7

continued: Gen 32:24-26, Psa 22:2, Mat 14:23-25, Mar 6:46, Col 4:2

Reciprocal: 1Sa 8:6 – prayed 1Sa 15:11 – he cried 1Ki 18:42 – Elijah 2Ki 1:9 – he sat Neh 4:9 – Nevertheless Job 16:20 – poureth Psa 5:7 – But Psa 16:7 – in the Psa 55:16 – General Psa 119:55 – night Psa 119:148 – eyes Son 5:2 – my head Isa 26:9 – have I Jer 18:19 – Give Lam 2:19 – cry out Mic 7:7 – I will look Mat 9:38 – Pray Mat 12:15 – he withdrew Mar 3:7 – Jesus Mar 3:13 – General Mar 9:2 – an high Luk 4:42 – when Luk 5:16 – General Luk 9:28 – into Luk 11:1 – that Joh 6:3 – General Act 1:24 – they Act 4:24 – they

Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

THE PRAYING CHRIST

He continued all night in prayer.

Luk 6:12

Our Lords choice of the Twelve marks a crisis in His ministry. Before the choice He spent the night in prayer. The praying Christ! We find in His prayers

I. A revelation.The prayers of our Lord reveal to us His true nature. (a) We see how perfect was His manhood, and how like ours His life in its dependence, submission, and communion with God. (b) We see He was higher than man, that He was God, for while man asks for mercy, He was sinless.

II. An example.The prayers of our Lord teach us how to pray. (a) There is a strained spirituality which thinks stated times and definite acts of prayer unnecessary. But the Lord went aside to pray. (b) There is a perverted spirituality which regards public worship as a substitute for private prayer. Our Lord was constantly in the temple, yet He withdrew into solitary place for prayer. (c) There is a lax spirituality which says that in this busy age to work is to pray. The busiest man that ever lived was Jesus Christ, yet He made time for prayer.

III. An inspiration.The praying Christ teaches us how real a power prayer is. The answers given to the prayers of Christ are a pledge of ours.

Bishop F. J. Chavasse.

Illustrations

(1) It is the characterising feature of Lukes Gospelmore than any other evangelistthat he mentions the prayers of Christ. He does not, indeed, ever give the wordsthat is the prerogative of John only. With the exception of what Jesus prayed in His last passion, no other writer but John has ever recorded what Jesus said in any prayer. But five times Luke tells us that Jesus prayedhe evidently appreciated the fact.

(2) The eves of all events are solemn calls to prayer. Is to-morrow to summon you to some great duty? Or is it likely that to-morrow will rise on you with some dark cloud? Or do you look for some very bright joy that is to break with the morning light? Then double your evening prayer. Have the comfort, to-morrow, to feel that you go to it well armed! Be sure that you carry the more Presence with you! How many days would have been saved their bitter, bitter regrets if they had had more praying yesterdays!

Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary

2

Jesus had an important problem to solve, which was the selection of men to appoint over his kingdom that was at hand. It was fitting that he should spend the preceding hours of night in prayer to his Father.

Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary

And it came to pass in those days, that he went out into a mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God.

[In prayer to God; or In the prayer of God.] Compare this kind of phrase with what is said, Beracoth; folio 7. 1: “R. Jochanan in the name of R. Jose saith, How doth it appear that the holy blessed God doth pray? From thence, that it is said, I will bring them to my holy mountain and make them joyful in the house of ‘my’ prayer. It is not said of their prayer; but of ‘my’ prayer. Whence it follows that the holy blessed God doth pray. But how doth he pray? saith Rabh Zutra Bar Tobijah; Rabh saith, Let it be my good pleasure that my mercy overcome my wrath.”

“The holy blessed God made him a tabernacle and prayed in it; as it is said, His tabernacle is in Salem, and his dwellingplace in Zion. Now what doth he say when he prayeth? Let it be my good pleasure that I may see my dwellingplace built.”

I cannot but laugh at their triflings, and yet withal observe the opinion that nation had, and compare it with this phrase, the prayer of God. They will have it that God prays, not by way of supplication, but authority: “So let it be.” Thus our blessed Lord sometimes, Father, I will; Joh 17:24. Whether the phrase in this place should be thus interpreted, I do not determine.

Fuente: Lightfoot Commentary Gospels

THESE verses describe the appointment of our Lord Jesus Christ’s twelve apostles. That appointment was the beginning of the Christian ministry. It was the first ordination, and an ordination conducted by the Great Head of the Church Himself. Since the day when the events here recorded took place, there have been many thousand ordinations. Myriads of bishops, elders, and deacons have been called to the office of the ministry, and often with far more pomp and splendor than we read of here. But never was there so solemn an ordination as this. Never were men ordained who have done so much for the church and the world as these twelve apostles.

Let us observe, firstly, in these verses, that when our Lord ordained His first ministers, He did it after much prayer. We read that He “went out into a mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God. And when it was day, He called unto Him His disciples, and of them He chose twelve, whom also He named apostles.”

We need not doubt that there is a deep significance in this special mention of our Lord’s praying upon this occasion. It was intended to be a perpetual lesson to the Church of Christ. It was meant to show the great importance of prayer and intercession on behalf of ministers, and particularly at the time of their ordination. Those to whom the responsible office of ordaining is committed, should pray that they may “lay hands suddenly on no man.” Those who offer themselves for ordination, should pray that they may not take up work for which they are unfit, and not run without being sent. The lay members of the Church, not least, should pray that none may be ordained, but men who are inwardly moved by the Holy Ghost.-Happy are those ordinations, in which all concerned have the mind that was in Christ, and come together in a prayerful spirit!

Do we desire to help forward the cause of pure and undefiled religion in the world? Then let us never forget to pray for ministers, and especially for young men about to enter the ministry. The progress of the Gospel, under God, will always depend much on the character and conduct of those who profess to preach it. An unconverted minister can never be expected to do good to souls. He cannot teach properly what he does not feel experimentally. From such men let us pray daily that the Church may be delivered. Converted ministers are God’s special gift. Man cannot create them. If we would have good ministers, we must remember our Lord’s example, and pray for them. Their work is heavy. Their responsibility is enormous. Their strength is small. Let us see that we support them, and hold up their hands by our prayers. In this, and in too many other cases, the words of James are often sadly applicable, “Ye have not, because ye ask not.” (Jam 4:2.) We do not ask God to raise up a constant supply of converted young men to fill our pulpits, and God chastises our neglect by withholding them.

Let us observe, secondly, how little we are told of the worldly position of the first ministers of the Christian Church. Four of them, we know, were fishermen. One of them, at least, was a publican. Most of them, probably, were Galileans. Not one of them, so far as we can see from the New Testament, was great, or rich, or noble, or highly connected. Not one was a Pharisee, or Scribe, or Priest, or Ruler, or Elder among the people. All were, apparently, “unlearned and ignorant men.” (Act 4:13.) All were poor.

There is something deeply instructive in the fact which is now before us. It shows us that our Lord Jesus Christ’s kingdom was entirely independent of help from this world. His Church was not built by might, or by power, but by the Spirit of the living God. (Zec 4:6.)-It supplies us with an unanswerable proof of the divine origin of Christianity. A religion which turned the world upside down, while its first preachers were all poor men, must needs have been from heaven. If the apostles had possessed money to give their hearers, or been followed by armies to frighten them, an infidel might well deny that there was anything wonderful in their success. But the poverty of our Lord’s disciples cuts away such arguments from beneath the infidel’s feet. With a doctrine most unpalatable to the natural heart,-with nothing whatever to bribe or compel obedience,-a few lowly Galileans shook the world, and changed the face of the Roman empire. One thing only can account for this. The Gospel of Christ, which these men proclaimed, was the truth of God.

Let us remember these things, if we ever strive to do any work for Christ, and beware of leaning on an arm of flesh. Let us watch against the secret inclination, which is natural to all, to look to money, or learning, or high patronage, or great men’s support, for success. If we want to do good to souls, we must not look first to the powers of this world. We should begin where the Church of Christ began. We should seek agents filled with the Holy Ghost.

Let us observe, lastly, in these verses, that one whom our Lord chose to be an apostle, was a false disciple and a traitor. That man was Judas Iscariot.

We cannot for a moment doubt, that in choosing Judas Iscariot, our Lord Jesus knew well what He was doing. He who could read hearts, certainly saw from the beginning that, notwithstanding his profession of piety, Judas was a graceless man, and would one day betray Him. Why then did He appoint him to be an apostle? The question is one which has perplexed many. Yet it admits of a satisfactory answer. Like everything which our Lord did, it was done advisedly, deliberately, and with deep wisdom. It conveyed lessons of high importance to the whole Church of Christ.

The choice of Judas was meant to teach ministers humility. They are not to suppose that ordination necessarily conveys grace, or that once ordained they cannot err. On the contrary, they are to remember, that one ordained by Christ Himself was a wretched hypocrite. Let the minister who thinketh he standeth, take heed lest he fall.

Again, the choice of Judas was meant to teach the lay-members of the Church, not to make idols of ministers. They are to esteem them highly in love for their work’s sake, but they are not to bow down to them as infallible, and honor them with an unscriptural honor. They are to remember that ministers may be successors of Judas Iscariot, as well as of Peter and Paul. The name of Judas should be a standing warning to “cease from man.” Let no man glory in men. (1Co 3:21.)

Finally, our Lord’s choice of Judas was meant to teach the whole church, that it must not expect to see a perfectly pure communion in the present state of things. The wheat and the tares,-the good fish and the bad,-will always be found side by side, till the Lord comes again. It is vain to look for perfection in visible churches. We shall never find it. A Judas was found even among the apostles. Converted and unconverted people will always be found mixed together in all congregations.

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Notes-

v12.-[In prayer to God.] The peculiarity of the Greek words here has made some think that the meaning should have been rendered, He continued all night “in a house of prayer,” a place set apart for prayer to God. That the Jews had such praying-houses, is undeniable. But whether such a house is referred to here, is very doubtful. Out of the thirty seven places in which the Greek word occurs in the New Testament, there is only one other where it could be interpreted “a place of prayer,” Act 16:13, and even there it is a disputed point. There seems no necessity for leaving the sense given by our translators. Barradius remarks, that the expression which we translate, “prayer to God,” is a Hebraism, meaning, “most fervent and earnest prayer,” just as “mountains of God,” and “cedars of God,” in the Old Testament, mean “lofty” mountains, and “high” cedars.” (Psa 36:6; Psa 80:10.)

Isidore Clarius, in his orations on Luke, published at Venice in 1565, has some striking remarks on the disgraceful contrast between the manner in which the apostles were called to their office after a night spent in prayer, and the manner in which ecclesiastical offices were filled up in Italy in his own day. He exposes the system of jobbing, nepotism, corruption, and covetousness, which universally prevailed on such occasions, and enters a faithful protest against it.

It is singular enough that the tone of Stella, the Spanish commentator on Luke, in expounding this passage, is precisely similar to that of Clarius.

v13.-[Chose twelve…named apostles.] Corderius gives a curious passage from Rabanus Maurus on the number twelve, bringing together the instances of that number being specially chosen in the Bible. He says, “The number twelve, which consists of three times four, points out that the apostles would preach the faith of the Holy Trinity throughout the four quarters of the world. The number is prefigured in the Old Testament by many examples,-by the twelve sons of Jacob,-the twelve princes of the children of Israel,-the twelve fountains in Elim,-the twelve stones in Aaron’s breast-plate,-the twelve loaves of shew-bread,-the twelve spies sent forth by Moses,-the twelve stones of which the altar was made,-the twelve stones taken out of Jordan,-and the twelve oxen which supported the brazon laver. In the New Testament, the number is shown in the twelve stars on the crown of the woman in Revelation,-and the twelve foundations, and twelve gates of the heavenly Jerusalem, seen by John.”

It is interesting to remark, that out of the twelve apostles, we have no less than three pairs of brothers, Peter and Andrew, James and John, and Jude and James the son of Alphus.

v14.-[Bartholomew.] It is thought by many that Bartholomew is Nathanael, whom we read of in the first chapter of John. Jansenius, Montanus, and Ferus maintain this. But there seems no warrant for the conjecture, except it be the fact that we find Bartholomew always mentioned in close connection with Philip, who called Nathanael to Christ.

v15.-[James the son of Alphus.] This appears to be that James whom Paul calls “the Lord’s brother.” (Gal 1:19.) The fact that he is here called the “son of Alphus,” goes far to prove that the word “brother” in the New Testament must not be taken too literally, and admits of being understood as “cousin.” The Alphus here mentioned must either be a different person from the father of Matthew, or else Matthew must have been brother of James and Jude. Mark says, that Matthew or Levi was the son of Alphus.

It was this James who took the lead in the council (Act 15:19,) and seems to have been regarded as the moderator or chief of the apostles in Jerusalem. He was also the writer of the Epistle which bears his name. It is remarkable that like Matthew and Simon the Canaanite, we never read of his saying anything, or coming forward in any way, while our Lord lived. Yet, after our Lord’s ascension, none seems to have had so prominent a position in the Church.

v16.-[Judas the brother of James.] This apostle is remarkable for having had three names, Jude, Lebbus, and Thaddus. He it was who wrote the epistle which bears his name.

[Iscariot.] Many conjectures have been made as to the meaning of this name. None of them are satisfactory. Some think that it means that he was a man of the tribe of Issachar,-some that he was a man of Kirioth, a small town in Judah, or Carioth, a town of Ephraim. Nothing certain is known about the subject.

Let it be noted, among other reasons for our Lord’s choice of a traitor to be an apostle, that the choice finally supplied a powerful indirect evidence of the purity, blamelessness, and faultlessness of our Lord’s conduct and ministry. When our Lord was accused before the High Priest and Pontius Pilate, if anything could have been proved against Him, the traitor Judas Iscariot was exactly the witness who would have proved it. The mere fact that Judas never came forward to give evidence against our Lord, is a convincing evidence that nothing could be proved against Him. No man is so well qualified to expose another’s faults and inconsistencies, if they really exist, as one who has been on intimate terms with him. Judas never appeared against our Lord, because He could not allege anything to his disadvantage. Ford quotes a passage from Anselm, on this point: “Judas is chosen that the Lord might have an enemy among his domestic attendants, for that man is perfect, who has no cause to shrink from the observation of a wicked man, conversant with all his ways.”

v17.-[Stood in the plain.] This expression should he noted. It shows that the discourse which follows is different from that called “the sermon on the mount.”

v19.-[Virtue.] The word so translated is generally rendered “power,” or “strength,” and must not be taken as a moral quality here.

Fuente: Ryle’s Expository Thoughts on the Gospels

Luk 6:12. The mountain. Comp. Mat 5:1. A strong hint of identity with that occasion.

Continued all night in prayer to God. Peculiar to Luke. Prayer before the great choice. Conflict too, since Judas was chosen.

Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament

Observe here, 1. The duty which our holy Lord performed: the duty of prayer. We have much more business with God in prayer than Christ had; he had no sins to confess, no want of grace to make known, yet did our Lord spend much time, even a whole night, in this duty.

Lord, what delight did thou take in paying this homage to thy heavenly Father! O how does thy zeal and forwardness condemn our remissness and lukewarmness!

Observe, 2. It was solitary prayer that our Lord did so exceedingly delight in: He went into the mountain alone to pray, not suffering his very disciples to be with him. There are times and seasons when a Christian would not be willing that his dearest relations upon earth should hear that conversation which passes between him and his God.

Observe, 3. The place which our Lord withdraws to for privacy in prayer: He went into a mountain as a place of retiredness: God delights to meet his children alone. The modest Bridegroom of the church, says St. Bernard, will not impart himself to his spouse before company.

Observe, 4. The time when Christ retired into this mountain to pray, and to spend a whole night in prayer, to God. If we look back to the former part of the chapter, we shall find that it was at a time when the Pharisees were filled with rage and madness against him, and conspired to take away his life.

Thence learn, that it is our duty at such times, especially when enemies lie in wait to do us hurt, to give ourselves much unto prayer.

Again, if we look forward, the next verse tells us, that our Saviour was now about to send forth his twelve apostles to preach and propagate the gospel. Christ thought so great a work was not to be done without solemn and extraordinary prayer.

Accordingly he spends a whole night in prayer to God upon that occasion, leaving herein a most instructive example to his church, to continue in prayer at all times: but then especially to abound in it, when persons are to be set apart for the momentous work of the ministry, that they enterprise it with extraordinary dread and caution, not with aspiring but tremendous thoughts; for who is sufficient for these things?

Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament

Luk 6:12-13. And it came to pass in those days Namely, of his teaching near the sea of Galilee; that he went out into a mountain to pray Jesus, seeing the general notice which was taken of his appearance, and the desire which multitudes manifested of being further informed concerning the design of his coming, and the nature of his doctrine, determined to choose a number of persons who should assist and succeed him in his ministerial work. And as the office which he intended to assign them was of great importance, even to the remotest ages, previous to his choice of them, he retired to a mountain in the neighbourhood, and, notwithstanding all the labours of the preceding day, continued all night in prayer to God; so much was his heart enlarged on this momentous occasion. The original phrase, , is singular and emphatical, being literally, in the prayer of God, implying an extraordinary and sublime devotion. Or, if the word be taken for the proper name of a place, the clause may be rendered, he continued all night in the oratory, or prayer-place, of God; the Jews having many houses on mountains, and by the sides of rivers, &c., set apart for prayer. These houses, it is well known, were open at the top, and planted round with trees. This is the sense in which Drusius, Prideaux, Whitby, Hammond, and many other good critics, understand the expression. This interpretation does not alter the meaning of the passage, for as Jesus went up to the mountain to pray, we cannot avoid supposing that he spent the greatest part of the night in acts of devotion. And when it was day he called to him his disciples Mark says, whom he would. And of them he chose twelve, whom also he named apostles A name which well expressed the office for which they were designed. These he now fixed upon, that for some time they might be always with him, in order that from his own mouth they might learn the doctrine which they were, in due time, to preach through the world; that they might see his glory, Joh 1:14, the transcendent glory of the virtues which adorned his human life; and that they might be witnesses of all the wonderful works which he should perform, and by which his mission from God was to be clearly demonstrated. The twelve were thus to be qualified for supplying the people with that spiritual food which their teachers neglected to give them; and that both before and after their Masters death. Accordingly, when they had continued with Jesus as long as was necessary for this end, he sent them out by two and two into Judea, on the important work of preparing the people for his reception, who was the true shepherd. Hence he named them apostles, that is, persons sent out. But the name was more peculiarly applicable to them, and their office was raised to its perfection, after Christs ascension, when he sent them out into all the world with the doctrine of the gospel, which he enabled them to preach by inspiration, giving them power at the same time to confirm it by the most astonishing miracles. That this was the nature of the new dignity which Jesus now conferred on the twelve, is evident from Joh 20:21, where we find him confirming them in the apostolical office: as my Father hath sent me, so send I you; I send you upon the same errand, and with the same authority: I send you to reveal the will of God for the salvation of men. And I bestow on you both the gift of tongues and the power of working miracles, that you may be able to preach the doctrine of salvation in every country, and to confirm it as divine, in opposition to all gainsayers. Macknight. Of the probable reason why the number of twelve was fixed upon rather than any other, and for a further elucidation of the passage, see the notes on Mar 3:13-17; and Mat 10:1-4. After their election, the twelve accompanied Jesus constantly, lived with him on one common stock as his family, and never departed from him, unless by his express appointment.

Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

Third Cycle: From the Election of the Twelve to their First Mission, Luk 6:12 to Luk 8:56.

In the following section we shall see the Galilean ministry reach its zenith; it begins with the institution of the apostolate and the most important of Jesus’ discourses during His sojourn in Galilee, the Sermon on the Mount; and it ends with a cycle of miracles that display the extraordinary power of Jesus in all its grandeur (Luk 8:22-56). The hostility against Him seems to moderate; but it is sharpening its weapons in secret; in a very little while it will break out afresh.

This section comprises eleven portions: 1 st, the choosing of the Twelve, and the Sermon on the Mount (Luk 6:12-49); 2 d, the healing of the centurion’s servant (Luk 7:1-10); 3 d, the raising of the widow’s son at Nain (Luk 7:11-17); 4 th, the question of John the Baptist, and the discourse of Jesus upon it (Luk 7:18-35); 5 th, the woman that was a sinner at the feet of Jesus (Luk 7:36-50); 6 th, the women who ministered to Jesus’ support (Luk 8:1-3); 7 th, the parable of the sower (Luk 8:4-18); 8 th, the visit of the mother and brethren of Jesus (Luk 8:19-21); 9 th, the stilling of the storm (Luk 8:22-25); 10 th, the healing of the demoniac of Gadara (Luk 8:26-39); 11 th, the raising of Jarus’ daughter (Luk 8:40-56).

1. The Choosing of the Twelve, and the Sermon on the Mount: Luk 6:12-49.

Our affixing this title to this portion implies two things: 1 st, that there is a close connection between the two facts contained in this title; 2 d, that the discourse, Luk 6:20-49, is the same as that we read in Matthew 5-7. The truth of the first supposition, from Luke’s point of view, appears from Luk 6:20, where he puts the discourse which follows in close connection with the choosing of the Twelve which he has just narrated. The truth of the second is disputed by those who think that in consequence of this choice Jesus spoke two discourses,one on the summit of the mountain, addressed specially to His disciples,the second lower down on level ground, addressed to the multitude; the former, which was of a more private character, being that of Matthew; the latter, of a more popular aim, that of Luke. They rely on the differences in substance and form between the two discourses in our two Gospels. In regard to the substance, the essential matter in the discourse of Matthew, the opposition between the righteousness of the Pharisees and the true righteousness of the kingdom of heaven, is not found at all in Luke. As to the form, in Matthew Jesus ascends the mountain to preach it, while in Luke He comes down, after having spent the night on the summit. Further, there He is seated , Mat 5:1); here He appears to be standing (, Luk 6:17). Notwithstanding these reasons, we cannot admit that there were two distinct discourses. They both begin in the same way, with the beatitudes; they both treat of the same subject, the righteousness of the kingdom of God,with this shade of difference, that the essence of this right-eousness, in Matthew, is spirituality; in Luke, charity. They both have the same conclusion, the parable of the two buildings. This resemblance in the plan of the discourse is so great, that it appears to us decidedly to take precedence of the secondary differences. As to the differences of form, it should be observed that Luke’s expression, , literally, on a level place, denotes a flat place on the mountain. To denote the plain, Luke would have said, . Luke’s expression is not, therefore, contradictory to Matthew’s. The latter, as usual, giving a summary narrative, tells us that Jesus preached this time on the mountain, in opposition to the plain, the sea-side that is, where He usually preached; while Luke, who describes in detail all the circumstances of this memorable day, begins by mentioning the night which Jesus spent alone on the summit of the mountain; next he tells how He descended to a level place situated on the mountain side, where He stayed to speak to the people. This plateau was still the mountain in Matthew’s sense. On the relation of (Luke) to He sat down (Matthew), see on Luk 6:17.

In order to understand the Sermon on the Mount, it is necessary to form a correct view of the historical circumstances which were the occasion of it; for this sermon is something more than an important piece of instruction delivered by Jesus; it is one of the decisive acts of His ministry. We have pointed out in the preceding section the symptoms of a growing rupture between Jesus and the hierarchical party (Luk 6:14; Luk 6:17; Luk 6:21-23, Luk 6:1 seq.). The bold attitude which Jesus assumes towards this party, challenging its hostility by calling a publican, by emphasizing in His teaching the antithesis between the old and new order of things, and by openly braving their Sabbatarian prejudices,all this enables us to see that a crisis in the development of His work has arrived. It is an exactly corresponding state of things for Galilee to that which was brought about in Judaea after the healing of the impotent man on the Sabbath (John 5). The choice of the Twelve and the Sermon on the Mount are the result and the solution of this critical situation. Up to this time Jesus had been satisfied with gathering converts about Him, calling some of them to accompany Him habitually as disciples. Now He saw that the moment was come to give His work a more definite form, and to organize His adherents. The hostile army is preparing for the attack; it is time to concentrate His own forces; and consequently He begins, if I may venture to say so, by drawing up His list of officers. The choosing of the Twelve is the first constitutive act accomplished by Jesus Christ. It is the first measure, and substantially (with the sacraments) the only measure, of organization which He ever took. It sufficed Him, since the college of the Twelve, once constituted, was in its turn to take what further measures might be required when the time came for them.

The number 12 was significant. Jesus set up in their persons the twelve patriarchs of a new people of God, a spiritual Israel, that was to be substituted for the old. Twelve new tribes were to arise at their word and form the holy humanity which Jesus came to install in the earth. An act more expressly Messianic it is impossible to conceive; and the criticism which maintains that it was only at Caesarea-Philippi, and at the instigation of Peter, that Jesus decisively accepted the part of Messiah, must begin by effacing from history the choosing of the Twelve, with its manifest signification. Further, this act is the beginning of the divorce between Jesus and the ancient people of God. The Lord does not begin to frame a new Israel until He sees the necessity of breaking with the old. He has laboured in vain to transform; nothing now remains but to substitute. This attentive crowd which surrounds Him on the mountain is the nucleus of the new people; this discourse which He addresses to them is the promulgation of the new law by which they are to be governed; this moment is the solemn inauguration of the people of Jesus Christ upon the earth,of that people which, by means of individual conversions, is eventually to absorb into itself all that belongs to God among all other peoples. Hence this discourse has a decidedly inaugural character,a character which, whatever Weizscker may say about it, belongs no less to its form in Luke than to its form in Matthew. In the latter, Jesus addresses Himself, if you will, to the apostles, but as representing the entire new Israel. In Luke, He rather speaks, if you will, to the new Israel, but as personified in the person of the apostles. In reality this makes no difference. The distinction between apostles and believers is nowhere clearly asserted. Every believer is to be the salt of the earth, the light of the world (Matthew); every apostle is to be one of those poor, hungry, weeping, persecuted ones of which the new people is to be composed (Luke). Just as, at Sinai, Jehovah makes no distinction between priests and people, so it is His people, with all the constitutive elements of their life, whose appearance Jesus hails, whose new character He portrays, and whose future action on the world He proclaims. Further, He felt most deeply the importance of this moment, and prepared Himself for it by a whole night of meditation and prayer. The expressions of Luke upon this point (Luk 6:12) have, as we shall see, quite a special character.

The Sermon on the Mount occupies quite a different place in Matthew to that which it holds in Luke. That evangelist has made it the opening of the Galilean ministry, and he places it, therefore, immediately after the call of the four first disciples. Historically speaking, this position is a manifest anachronism. How, at the very commencement of His work, could Jesus speak of persecutions for His name, as He does, Mat 5:10-11, or feel it necessary to justify Himself against the charge of destroying the law (Luk 6:17), and to give a solemn warning to false disciples (Luk 7:21-23)? The position of the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew is only to be understood from the systematic point of view from which this evangelist wrote. There was no better way in which the author could show the Messianic dignity of Jesus than by opening the history of His ministry with this discourse, in which was laid down the basis of that spiritual kingdom which the Messiah came to found. If the collection of the discourses composed by Matthew, of which Papias speaks, really existed, and served as a foundation for our Gospel, the position which this discourse occupies in the latter is fully accounted for.

As to Mark, we can easily perceive the precise point in his sketch where the Sermon on the Mount should come in (Luk 3:13 et seq.). But the discourse itself is wanting, doubtless because it was no part of his design to give it to his readers. Mark’s narrative is nevertheless important, in that it substantiates that of Luke, and confirms the significance attributed by this evangelist to the act of the choosing of the Twelve. This comparison with the two other Syn. shows how well Luke understood the development of the work of Jesus, and the superior chronological skill with which he compiled his narrative ( , Luk 1:3).

Gess has replied to our objections against the chronological accuracy of Matthew’s narrative (Litter. Anzeiger of Andreae, September 1871) in the following manner: The mention of the persecutions might refer to the fact mentioned Joh 4:1, and to the fate of John the Baptist; the charge of undermining the law had already been made in Judaea (comp. John 5); the false disciples might have been imitators of the man who wrought cures in the name of Jesus (Luk 9:49; Mar 9:38), although of a less pure character. And, in any case, the time of the discourse indicated by Luke does not differ sensibly from that at which Matthew places it.

But neither the hostility which Jesus had met with in Judaea, nor the accusations which had been laid against Him there, could have induced Him to speak as He did in the Sermon on the Mount, unless some similar events, such as those which St. Luke has already related, had taken place in this province, and within the knowledge of the people. It is quite possible that the facts related by Luke do not prove any very great interval between the time to which he assigns this discourse and the beginning of the Galilean ministry, at which Matthew places it. But they serve at least as a preparation for it, and give it just that historical foundation which it needs, whilst in Matthew it occurs ex abrupto, and without any historical framework.

The fact that the call of Matthew is placed in the first Gospel (Luk 9:9) after the Sermon on the Mount, which supposes this call already accomplished (Luk 6:12 et seq.), would be sufficient, if necessary, to show that this discourse is detached, in this Gospel, from its true historical context.

Fuente: Godet Commentary (Luke, John, Romans and 1 Corinthians)

XLI.

AFTER PRAYER JESUS SELECTS TWELVE APOSTLES.

(Near Capernaum.)

aMATT. X. 2-4; bMARK III. 13-19; cLUKE VI. 12-16.

c12 And it came to pass in these days, that he went out into the mountain b13 And he goeth up into the mountain, cto pray; and he continued all night in prayer to God. [It was a momentous occasion. He was about to choose those to whom he was to entrust the planting, organizing, and training of that church which was to be the purchase of his own blood. Jesus used such important crises, not as occasions for anxiety and worry, but as fitting times to seek and obtain the Father’s grace and blessing.] 13 And when it was day, he called his disciples: band calleth unto him whom he himself would; and they went unto him. cand he chose from them twelve [We can not think that the number twelve was adopted carelessly. It unquestionably had reference to the twelve tribes of Israel, over whom the apostles were to be tribal judges or viceroys ( Luk 22:30), and we find the tribes and apostles associated together in the structure of the New Jerusalem ( Rev 21:12-14). Moreover, Paul seems to regard the twelve as ministers to the twelve tribes, or to the circumcision, rather than as ministers to the Gentiles or the world in general ( Gal 2:7-9). See also Jam 1:1, 1Pe 1:1. The tribal reference was doubtless preserved to indicate that the church would be God’s new Israel], b14 And he appointed twelve, that they might be with him, and that he might send them forth to preach, 15 and to have authority to cast out demons: cwhom also he named apostles [The word apostle means “one sent.” Its meaning was kindred to the word ambassador [220] ( 2Co 5:20), the messenger whom a king sent to foreign powers, and also to our modern word missionary, which also means “one sent.” Christ himself was an apostle ( Heb 3:1), and so sent them ( Joh 20:21). The word apostle is translated “messenger” at 2Co 8:23, Phi 2:25. The apostles were to be with Jesus, that they might be taught by his words, and that they might become teachers of that word and witnesses as to the life and actions of Jesus. A necessary condition, therefore, to their apostleship was this seeing of Jesus and the consequent ability to testify as to his actions, especially as to his resurrection ( Act 1:8, Act 1:21, 1Co 9:1, Act 22:14, Act 22:15). They could therefore have no successors. All the apostles were from Galilee save Judas Iscariot]: a2 Now the names of the twelve apostles are these Joh 1:41, Joh 1:42. Peter, by reason of his early prominence, is named first in the four lists. His natural gifts gave him a personal but not an ecclesiastical pre-eminence over his fellows. As a reward for his being first to confess Christ, he was honored by being permitted to first use the keys of the kingdom of heaven; i. e., to preach the first gospel sermon both to the Jews and Gentiles. But after these two sermons the right of preaching to the Jews and Gentiles became common to all alike. That Peter had supremacy or authority over his brethren is nowhere stated by Christ, or claimed by Peter, or owned by the rest of the twelve. On [221] the contrary, the statement of Jesus places the apostles upon a level ( Mat 23:8-11). See also Mat 18:18, Mat 19:27, Mat 19:28, Mat 20:25-27, Joh 20:21, Act 1:8. And Peter himself claims no more than an equal position with other officers in the church ( 1Pe 5:1, 1Pe 5:4), and the apostles in the subsequent history of the church acted with perfect independence. Paul withstood Peter to his face and (if we may judge by the order of naming which is made so much of in the apostolic lists), he ranks Peter as second in importance to James, the Lord’s brother ( Gal 2:11-14, Gal 2:9). See also Act 12:17, Act 21:18. Again, James, in summing up the decree which was to be sent to the church at Antioch, gave no precedence to Peter, who was then present, but said, “Brethren, hearken unto me . . . my judgment is”–words which would be invaluable to those who advocate the supremacy of Peter, if only it had been Peter who spoke them. So much for the supremacy of Peter, which, even if it could be established, would still leave the papacy without a good title to its honors, for it would still have to prove that it was heir to the rights and honors of Peter, which is something it has never yet done. The papal claim rests not upon facts, but upon a threefold assumption: 1. That Peter had supreme authority. 2. That he was the first bishop of Rome. 3. That the peculiar powers and privileges of Peter (if he had any) passed at the time of his death from his own person, to which they belonged, to the chair or office which he vacated]; aand Andrew his brother; James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother; {bthe brother of James;} and them he surnamed Boanerges, which is, Sons of thunder [This selection of brothers suggests that the bonds of nature may strengthen those of grace. Why James and John were called sons of thunder is not stated, but it was probably because of their stormy and destructive temper ( Luk 9:51-56, Mar 9:38). The vigor of the two brothers is apparent, for it marked James as a fit object for Herod’s spleen ( Act 12:2), and it sustained John to extreme old age, for Epiphanius says [223] that he died at Ephesus at the age of ninety-four, but Jerome places his age at a hundred. No change is noted in the nature of James during the brief time which he survived his Lord. But the gracious and loving character of the aged John showed the transforming power of the Holy Spirit. But even to the last this son of thunder muttered in portentous strains against Diotrephes ( 3Jo 1:9, 3Jo 1:10), and his denunciations of sins and sinners is very forceful, including such epithets as “liar,” “antichrist,” “deceiver,” “children of the devil” ( 1Jo 1:6, 1Jo 2:4, 1Jo 2:22, 1Jo 3:15, 1Jo 1:3-11). It is also worthy of note that except in this verse in Mark, which applies the name “Son of thunder” to John, neither the word “thunder,” nor any of its derivatives is found anywhere in the New Testament save in the writings of John, by whom it and its derivatives are used eleven times, a fact which causes Bengel to remark, “A son of thunder is a fit person for hearing voices of thunder.”] a3 Philip, and Bartholomew [as noted on Mar 15:40); probably because he was younger than the son of Zebedee. He must not be confounded with James the Lord’s brother, who, though called an apostle by Paul, was not one of the twelve apostles (nor was Barnabas– Act 14:14). James the Lord’s brother is mentioned at Mat 13:55, 1Co 15:5-7, Gal 1:19, Gal 2:9, Gal 2:12, Act 15:6-9, Act 21:18. He wrote the epistle which bears his name, and his brother Jude (who also must not be confounded with Judas Thaddus, the apostle) wrote the epistle which bears his name. We do not know the James who was the father of Judas, and of Judas himself we know very little. He seems to have been known at first by his name Thaddus, possibly to distinguish him from Iscariot, but later (for Luke and John wrote later than Matthew and Mark) by the name Judas– Joh 14:22.] a4 Simon the Cananaean, cwho was called the Zealot [Cananan means the same as zealot. It comes from the Hebrew word kana, which means zealous. The Zealots were a sect or order of men much like our modern “Regulators,” or “Black Caps.” They were zealous for the Jewish law, and citing Phinehas ( Num 25:7, Num 25:8) and Elijah ( 1Ki 18:40) as their examples, they took justice in their own hands and punished offenders much after the manner lynchers. It is thought that they derived their name from the dying charge of the Asmonan Mattathias when he said, “Be ye zealous for the law, and give your lives for the covenant of your fathers” (I. Macc. ii. 50). Whatever they were at first, it is certain that their later course was marked by frightful excesses, and they are charged with having been the human instrument which brought about the destruction of Jerusalem. See Josephus, Wars, IV., iii. 9, v. 1-4; vi. 3; VII., viii. 1. Simon is the least known of all the apostles, being nowhere individually mentioned outside the catalogues], aand Judas Iscariot, cwho became a traitor; awho also betrayed him. [Judas is named last in all the three lists, and the same note of infamy attaches to him in each case. He is omitted from the list in Acts, for he was then dead. As he was treasurer of the apostolic group, he was probably chosen for office because of his executive ability. He was called Iscariot from his native city Kerioth, which pertained to Judah– Jos 15:25.]

{*} NOTE.–To avoid making the text too complex and confusing, we have followed the order in which Matthew gives the names of the twelve. The names of the apostles are recorded four times in the following different arrangements and orders. Some think that Matthew divides them into groups of two, so that he may show us who went together when Jesus sent them out in pairs ( Mar 6:7). But it is idle to speculate as to the differences in arrangement. We note, however, that the twelve are divided into three quaternions, or groups of four, and that each has a fixed leader. TABLE OF THE TWELVE APOSTLES.

{*} NOTE.–To aid the reader, we submit the following table of the women who watched the crucifixion of Jesus, for it is from their names and descriptions that we get our Scriptural light by which we distinguish the kindred of our Lord.

Matthew and Mark each name three women, whence it is thought that Salome was the name of the mother of James and John. But the solution of the problem depends on our rendering of Joh 19:25, which is translated thus: “But there were standing by the cross of Jesus, his mother, and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene.” Now, was Mary, the wife of Clopas, named and also additionally described as sister to our Lord’s mother, or was it the unnamed Salome who was her sister? Does John mention three or four women? The best modern scholarship says that there were four women, and that therefore James and John, the sons of Zebedee, were cousins of our Lord. In support of this it is argued: 1. That it is unlikely that two sisters would bear the same name, a fact which, as Meyer says, is “established by no instance.” 2. John gives two pairs of women, each pair coupled by an “and.” The first pair is kindred to Jesus, and is unnamed and is paralleled by the other pair, which is not kindred and of which the names are given. Hebrew writers often used such parallelism. 3. It accords with John’s custom to withhold the names of himself and all kindred, so that in his Gospel he nowhere gives his own, his mother’s, or his brother’s name, nor does he even give the name of our Lord’s mother, who was his aunt. 4. The relationship explains in part why Jesus, when dying, left the care of his mother to John. It was not an unnatural thing to impose such a burden upon a kinsman.

[FFG 220-226]

Fuente: McGarvey and Pendleton Commentaries (New Testament)

Luk 6:12-19. The Appointment of the Twelve. Miracles of Healing (Mar 3:12-19*, Mat 10:2-4; Mat 12:15-21*).Mk. puts the healings first. Lk. transposes his order to bring the Twelve into prominence. Jesus prepares for the choice by a night of prayer, and then deliberately marks off the Twelve from the rank and file of the disciples. Judas (the son) of James, takes the place of Thaddus (Mk.) or Lebbus (Mt.). Jesus comes down (to the plain or to a level place on the hillside) to address the throng gathered from all Juda (Codex Bez sensibly omits and Jerusalem), i.e. Palestine (Luk 4:44*), and Phnicia. With Luk 6:19; cf. Luk 5:17, Mar 5:30.

Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible

Verse 12

All night in prayer. This seems to have been in reference to the appointment and commission of the twelve apostles, which was to take place in the morning. It must be remembered that the climate was mild and salubrious, and that the mountainous country about the Sea of Galilee was a region of great beauty and interest, as well as of retirement and solitude. Prayer, too, includes all forms of communion with God–meditation and praise as well as supplication. We must, therefore, not conceive of this night of prayer as one spent in austere exposure, anxiety, and gloom. It was doubtless a season of peace and joy,–of thanksgiving and praise,–of happy contemplation of the vast consequences which were to flow from the great work of salvation which had been so successfully begun,–of heartfelt compassion for man, and devout communion with God. These religious emotions were doubtless heightened by the impression which the solemn glories of the night must have made upon a mind so alive to all natural and moral beauty. At such a time, all the objects in nature,–the cliffs, the ravines,–the chasms, the precipices,–the gray rocks, the dark forests,–all wrapped in shadow and obscurity, assume a peculiar expression of dread sublimity and awe–and the vast expanse of magnificence and brilliancy above, subdued by distance, beams upon the observer, the very type and symbol of eternity. No one who has not experienced the effect, can conceive of the solemn sublimity of midnight among forests and mountains.

Fuente: Abbott’s Illustrated New Testament

6:12 {3} And it came to pass in those days, that he went out into a mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God.

(3) In using earnest and long prayer in choosing twelve of his own company to the office of the apostleship, Christ shows how religiously we ought to behave ourselves in the choice of ecclesiastical persons.

Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes

C. Jesus’ teaching of His disciples 6:12-49

Luke gave his readers an overview of Jesus’ ministry (Luk 4:14 to Luk 5:11) and then presented His relationship to His opponents (Luk 5:12 to Luk 6:11). Next he described Jesus’ relationship with His disciples (Luk 6:12-49). He arranged his material to identify the disciples first, and then he summarized what Jesus taught them.

There is some similarity between Luke’s narrative and the account of Moses ascending Mt. Sinai when he received the law from God and then descending and teaching it to the people (Exodus 19; Exodus 32; Exodus 34). [Note: Ellis, p. 113.] Perhaps Luke intended the reader to recognize the fulfillment of Deu 18:18 in this similarity.

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)

1. The selection of 12 disciples 6:12-16 (cf. Mark 3:13-19)

Luke prefaced Jesus’ teaching of His followers with an introduction of His most important disciples.

"It is clear that for Luke an important stage in the founding of the church is to be seen here, the choice of those from among the company of Jesus’ companions from the beginning of his ministry who were to be in a special sense the witnesses to his resurrection and the messengers of the gospel." [Note: Marshall, The Gospel . . ., p. 237.]

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)

Jesus’ choice of the Twelve followed His conflict with the Jewish leaders. Luke implied that that hostility played a part in Jesus’ decision to spend the night in prayer before selecting the apostles. In view of mounting hostility it was imperative that He receive direction from His Father in this choice. A mountain or hill was a traditional place to pray since it provided seclusion and its elevation gave the person praying a special sense of nearness to God. Luke alone mentioned Jesus’ all night prayer vigil. It shows Jesus’ conscious dependence on God, a special emphasis in the third Gospel. The early church followed Jesus’ example (Act 13:2; Act 14:23; cf. Act 1:2; Act 1:24-26).

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)

lete_me Luk 18:1-14

Chapter 11

CONCERNING PRAYER.

WHEN the Greeks called man , or the “uplooking one,” they did but crystallize in a word what is a universal fact, the religious instinct of humanity. Everywhere, and through all times, man has felt, as by a sort of intuition, that earth was no Ultima Thule, with nothing beyond but oceans of vacancy and silence, but that it lay in the over-shadow of other worlds, between which and their own were subtle modes of correspondence. They felt themselves to be in the presence of Powers other and higher than human, who somehow influenced their destiny, whose favour they must win, and whose displeasure they must avert. And so Paganism reared her altars, almost numberless, dedicating them even to the “Unknown God,” lest some anonymous deity should be grieved at being omitted from the enumeration. The prevalence of false religions in the world, the garrulous babble of mythology, does but voice the religious instinct of man; it is but another Tower of Babel, by which men hope to find and to scale the heavens which must be somewhere overhead.

In the Old Testament, however, we find the clearer revelation. What to the unaided eye of reason and of nature seemed but a wave of golden mist athwart the sky “a meeting of gentile lights without a name” now becomes a wide-reaching and shining realm, peopled with intelligences of divers ranks and orders; while in the centre of all is the city and the throne of the Invisible King, Jehovah, Lord of Sabaoth. In the breath of the new morning the gossamer threads Polytheism had been spinning through the night were swept away, and on the pillars of the New Jerusalem, that celestial city of which their own Salem was a far-off and broken type, they read the inscription, “Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God is one Lord.” But while the Old Testament revealed the unity of the Godhead, it emphasized especially His sovereignty, the glories of His holiness, and the thunders of His power. He is the great Creator, arranging His universe, commanding evolutions and revolutions, and giving to each molecule of matter its secret affinities and repulsions. And again He is the Lawgiver, the great Judge, speaking out of the cloudy pillar and the windy tempest, dividing the firmaments of Right and Wrong, whose holiness hates sin with an infinite hatred, and whose justice, with sword of flame, pursues the wrong-doer like an unforgetting Nemesis. It is only natural, therefore, that with such conceptions of God, the heavens should appear distant and somewhat cold. The quiet that was upon the world was the hush of awe, of fear, rather than of love; for while the goodness of God was a familiar and favourite theme, and while the mercy of God, which “endureth for ever,” was the refrain, oft repeated, of their loftiest songs, the love of God was a height the Old Dispensation had not explored, and the Fatherhood of God, that new world of perpetual summer, lay all undiscovered, or but dimly apprehended through the mist. The Divine love and the Divine Fatherhood were truths which seemed to be held in reserve for the New Dispensation; and as the light needs the subtle and sympathetic ether before it can reach our outlying world, so the love and the Fatherhood of God are borne in upon us by Him who was Himself the Divine Son and the incarnation of the Divine love.

It is just here where the teaching of Jesus concerning prayer begins. He does not seek to explain its philosophy; He does not give hints as to any observance of time or place; but leaving these questions to adjust themselves, He seeks to bring heaven into closer touch with earth. And how can He do this so well as by revealing the Fatherhood of God? When the electric wire linked the New with the Old World the distances were annihilated, the thousand leagues of sea were as if they were not; and when Jesus threw across, between earth and heaven, that word “Father,” the wide distances vanished, and even the silences became vocal. In the Psalms, those loftiest utterances of devotion, Religion only once ventured to call God “Father;” and then, as if frightened at her own temerity, she lapses into silence, and never speaks the familiar word again. But how different the language of the Gospels! It is a name that Jesus is never weary of repeating, striking its music upwards of seventy times, as if by the frequent iteration He would lodge the heavenly word deep within the world’s heart. This is His first lesson in the science of prayer: He drills them on the Divine Fatherhood, setting them on that word, as it were, to practise the scales; for as he who has practised well the scales has acquired the key to all harmonies, so he who has learned well the “Father” has learned the secret of heaven, the sesame that opens all its doors and unlocks all its treasures.

“When ye pray,” said Jesus, replying to a disciple who sought instruction in the heavenly language, “say, Father,” thus giving us what was His own pass-word to the courts of heaven. It is as if He said, “If you would pray acceptably put yourself in the right position. Seek to realize, and then to claim, your true relationship. Do not look upon God as a distant and cold abstraction, or as some blind force; do not regard Him as being hostile to you or as careless about you. Else your prayer will be some wail of bitterness, a cry coming out of the dark, and losing itself in the dark again. But look upon God as your Father, your living, loving, heavenly Father; and then step up with a holy boldness into the child-place, and all heaven opens before you there.”

And not only does Jesus thus “show us the Father,” but He takes pains to show us that it is a real, and not some fictitious Fatherhood. He tells us that the word means far more in its heavenly than in its earthly use; that the earthly meaning, in fact, is but a shadow of the heavenly. For “if ye then,” He says, “being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him?” He thus sets us a problem in Divine proportion. He gives us the human fatherhood, with all it implies, as our known quantities, and from these He leaves us to work out the unknown quantity, which is the Divine ability and willingness to give good gifts to men; for the Holy Spirit includes in Himself all spiritual gifts. It is a problem, however, which our earthly figures cannot solve. The nearest that we can approach to the answer is that the Divine Fatherhood is the human fatherhood multiplied by that “how much more” a factor which gives us an infinite series.

Again, Jesus teaches that character is an important condition of prayer, and that in this realm heart is more than any art. Words alone do not constitute prayer, for they may be only like the bubbles of the children’s play, iridescent but hollow, never climbing the sky, but returning to the earth whence they came. And so when the scribes and Pharisees make “long prayers,” striking devotional attitudes, and putting on airs of sanctity, Jesus could not endure them. They were a weariness and abomination to Him; for He read their secret heart, and found it vain and proud. In His parable {Luk 18:11} He puts the genuine and the counterfeit prayer side by side, drawing the sharp contrast between them. He gives us that of the Pharisee, wordy, inflated, full of the self-eulogizing “I.” It is the prayerless prayer, that had no need, and which was simply an incense burned before the clayey image of himself. Then He gives us the few brief words of the publican, the cry of a broken heart, “God be merciful to me, a sinner,” a prayer which reached directly the highest heaven, and which came back freighted with the peace of God. “If I regard iniquity in my heart,” the Psalmist said, “the Lord will not hear me.” And it is true. If there be the least unforgiven sin within the soul we spread forth our hands, we make many prayers, in vain; we do but utter “wild, delirious cries” that Heaven will not hear, or at any rate regard. The first cry of true prayer is the cry for mercy, pardon; and until this is spoken, until we step up by faith into the child-position, we do but offer vain oblations. Nay, even in the regenerate heart, if there be a temporary lapse, and unholy tempers brood within, the lips of prayer become paralyzed at once, or they only stammer in incoherent speech. We may with filled hands compass the altar of God, but neither gifts nor prayers can be accepted if there be bitterness and jealousy within, or if our “brother has aught against” us. The wrong must be righted with our brother, or we cannot be right with God. How can we ask for forgiveness if we ourselves cannot forgive? How can we ask for mercy if we are hard and merciless, gripping the throat of each offender, as we demand the uttermost farthing? He who can pray for them who despitefully use him is in the way of the Divine commandment; he has climbed to the dome of the temple, where the whispers of prayer, and even its inarticulate aspirations, are heard in heaven. And so the connection is most close and constant between praying and living, and they pray most and best who at the same time “make their life a prayer.”

Again, Jesus maps out for us the realm of prayer, showing the wide areas it should cover. St. Luke gives us an abbreviated form of the prayer recorded by St. Matthew, and which we call the “Lord’s Prayer.” It is a disputed point, though not a material one, whether the two prayers are but varied renderings of one and the same utterance, or whether Jesus gave, on a later occasion, an epitomized form of the prayer He had prescribed before, though from the circumstantial evidence of St. Luke we incline to the latter view. The two forms, however, are identical in sub stance. It is scarcely likely that Jesus intended it to be a rigid formula, to which we should be slavishly bound; for the varied renderings of the two Evangelists show plainly that Heaven does not lay stress upon the ipsissima verba.

We must take it rather as a Divine model, laying down the lines on which our prayers should move. It is, in fact, a sort of prayer microcosm, giving a miniature reflection of the whole world of prayer, as a drop of dew will give a reflection of the encircling sky. It gives us what we may call the species of prayer, whose genera branch off into infinite varieties; nor can we readily conceive of any petition, however particular or private, whose root-stem is not found in the few but comprehensive words of the Lord’s Prayer. It covers every want of man, just as it befits every place and time.

Running through the prayer are two marked divisions, the one general, the other particular and personal; and in the Divine order, contrary to our human wont, the general stands first, and the personal second. Our prayers often move in narrow circles, like the homing birds coming back to this “centered self” of ours, and sometimes we forget to give them the wider sweeps over a redeemed humanity. But Jesus says, “When ye pray, say, Father, hallowed be Thy name. Thy kingdom come.” It is a temporary erasure of self, as the soul of the worshipper is absorbed in God. In its nearness to the throne it forgets for awhile its own little needs; its low-flying thoughts are caught up into the higher currents of the Divine thought and purpose, moving outwards with them. And this is the first petition, that the name of God may be hallowed throughout the world; that is, that men’s conceptions of the Deity may become just and holy, until earth gives back in echo the Trisagion of the seraphim. The second petition is a continuation of the first; for just in proportion as men’s conceptions of God are corrected and hallowed will the kingdom of God be set up on earth. The first petition, like that of the Psalmist, is for the sending out of “Thy light and Thy truth;” the second is that humanity may be led to the “holy hill,” praising God upon the harp, and finding in God their “exceeding joy.” To find God as the Father-King is to step up within the kingdom.

The prayer now descends into the lower plane of personal wants, covering (1) our physical, and (2) our spiritual needs. The former are met with one petition, “Give us day by day our daily bread,” a sentence confessedly obscure, and which has given rise to much dispute. Some interpret it in a spiritual sense alone, since, as they say, any other interpretation would break in upon the uniformity of the prayer, whose other terms are all spiritual. But if, as we have suggested, the whole prayer must be regarded as an epitome of prayer in general, then it must include some where our physical needs, or a large and important domain of our life is left uncovered. As to the meaning of the singular adjective we need not say much. That it can scarcely mean “tomorrows” bread is evident from the warning Jesus gives against “taking thought” for the morrow, and we must not allow the prayer to traverse the command. The most natural and likely interpretation is that which the heart of mankind has always given it, as our “daily” bread, or bread sufficient for the day. Jesus thus selects, what is the most common of our physical wants, the bread which comes to us in such purely natural, matter-of-course ways, as the specimen need of our physical life. But when He thus lifts up this common, ever-recurring mercy into the region of prayer He puts a halo of Divineness about it, and by including this He teaches us that there is no want of even our physical life which is excluded from the realm of prayer. If we are invited to speak with God concerning our daily bread, then certainly we need not be silent as to aught else.

Our spiritual needs are included in the two petitions, “And forgive us our sins; for we ourselves also forgive everyone that is indebted to us. And bring us not into temptation.” The parenthesis does not imply that all debts should be remitted, for payment of these is enjoined as one of the duties of life. The indebtedness spoken of is rather the New Testament indebtedness, the failure of duty or courtesy, the omission of some “ought” of life or some injury or offence. It is that human forgiveness, the opposite of resentment, which grows up under the shadow of the Divine forgiveness. The former of these petitions, then, is for the forgiveness of all past sin, while the latter is for deliverance from present sinning; for when we pray , “Bring us not into temptation,” it is a prayer that we may not be tempted “above that we are able,” which, amplified, means that in all our temptations we may be victorious, “kept by the power of God.”

Such, then, is the wide realm of prayer, as indicated by Jesus. He assures us that there is no department of our being, no circumstance of our life, which does not lie within its range; that

“The whole round world is every way Bound with gold chains about the feet of God,”

and that on these golden chains, as on a harp, the touch of prayer may wake sweet music, far-off or near alike. And how much we miss through restraining prayer, reserving it for special occasions, or for the greater crises of life! But if we would only loop up with heaven each successive hour, if we would only run the thread of prayer through the common events and the common tasks, we should find the whole day and the whole life swinging on a higher, calmer level. The common task would cease to be common, and the earthly would be less earthly, if we only threw a bit of heaven upon it, or we opened it out to heaven. If in everything we could but make our requests known unto God that is, if prayer became the habitual act of life we should find that heaven was no longer the land “afar off,” but that it was close upon us, with all its proffered ministries.

Again, Jesus teaches the importance of earnestness and importunity in prayer. He sketches the picture for it is scarcely a parable of the man whose hospitality is claimed, late at night, by a passing friend, but who has no provision made for the emergency. He goes over to another friend, and rousing him up at midnight, he asks for the loan of three loaves. And with what result? Does the man answer from within, “Trouble me not: the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot rise and give thee”? No, that would be an impossible answer; for “though he will not rise and give him because he is his friend, yet because of his importunity he will rise and give him as many as he needeth” {Luk 11:8}. It is the unreasonableness, or at any rate the untimeliness of the request Jesus seems to emphasize. The man himself is thoughtless, improvident in his household management. He disturbs his neighbour, waking up his whole family at midnight for such a trivial matter as the loan of three loaves. But he gains his request, not, either, on the ground of friendship, but through sheer audacity, impudence; for such is the meaning of the word, rather than importunity. The lesson is easily learned, for the suppressed comparison would be, “If man, being evil, will put himself out of the way to serve a friend, even at this untimely hour, filling up by his thoughtfulness his friend’s lack of thought, how much more will the heavenly Father give to His child such things as are needful?”

We have the same lesson taught in the parable of the Unjust Judge {Luk 18:1}, that “men ought always to pray, and not to faint.” Here, however, the characters are reversed. The suppliant is a poor and a wronged widow, while the person addressed is a hard, selfish, godless man, who boasts of his atheism. She asks, not for a favour, but for her rights that she may have due protection from some extortionate adversary, who somehow has got her in his power; for justice rather than vengeance is her demand. But “he would not for awhile,” and all her cries for pity and for help beat upon that callous heart only as the surf upon a rocky shore, to be thrown back upon itself. But after wards he said within himself, “Though I fear not God, nor regard man, yet because this widow troubleth me, I will avenge her, lest she wear me out by her continual coming.” And so he is moved to take her part against her adversary, not for any motive of compassion or sense of justice, but through mere selfishness, that he may escape the annoyance of her frequent visits lest her continual coming “worry” me, as the colloquial expression might be rendered. Here the comparison, or contrast rather, is expressed, at any rate in part. It is, “If an unjust and abandoned judge grants a just petition at last, out of base motives, when it is often urged, to a defenseless person for whom he cares nothing, how much more shall a just and merciful God hear the cry and avenge the cause of those whom He loves?”* (*Farrar.)

It is a resolute persistence in prayer the parable urges, the continued asking, and seeking, and knocking that Jesus both commended and commanded {Luk 11:9}, and which has the promise of such certain answers, and not the tantalizing mockeries of stones for bread, or scorpions for fish. Some blessings lie near at hand; we have only to ask, and we receive – receive even while we ask. But other blessings lie farther off, and they can only be ours by a continuance in prayer, by a persistent importunity. Not that our heavenly Father needs any wearying into mercy; but the blessing may not be ripe, or we ourselves may not be fully prepared to receive it. A blessing for which we are unprepared would only be an untimely blessing, and like a December swallow, it would soon die, without nest or brood. And sometimes the long delay is but a test of faith, whetting and sharpening the desire, until our very life seems to depend upon the granting of our prayer. So long as our prayers are among the “maybes” and “mights” there are fears and doubts alternating with our hope and faith. But when the desires are intensified, and our prayers rise into the “must-be’s,” then the answers are near at hand; for that “must be” is the soul’s Mahanaim, where the angels meet us, and God Himself says “I will.” Delays in our prayers are by no means denials; they are often but the lengthened summer for the ripening of our blessings, making them larger and more sweet.

And now we have only to consider, which we must do briefly, the practice of Jesus, the place of prayer in His own life; and we shall find that in every point it coincides exactly with His teaching. To us of the clouded vision heaven is sometimes a hope more than a reality. It is an unseen goal, luring us across the wilderness, and which one of these days we may possess; but it is not to us as the wide-reaching, encircling sky, throwing its sunshine into each day, and lighting up our nights with its thousand lamps. To Jesus, heaven was more and nearer than it is to us. He had left it behind; and yet He had not left it, for He speaks of Himself, the Son of man, as being now in heaven. And so He was. His feet were upon earth, at home amid its dust; but His heart, His truer life, were all above. And how constant His correspondence, or rather communion, with heaven! At first sight it appears strange to us that Jesus should need the sustenance of prayer, or that He could even adopt its language. But when He became the Son of man He voluntarily assumed the needs of humanity; He “emptied Himself,” as the Apostle expresses a great mystery, as if for the time divesting Himself of all Divine prerogatives, choosing to live as man amongst men. And so Jesus prayed. He was wont, even as we are, to refresh a wasted strength by draughts from the celestial springs; and as Antaeus, in his wresting, recovered himself as he touched the ground, so we find Jesus, in the great crises of His life, falling back upon Heaven.

St. Luke, in his narrative of the Baptism, inserts one fact the other Synoptists omit that Jesus was in the act of prayer when the heavens were opened, and the Holy Ghost descended, in the semblance of a dove, upon Him. It is as if the opened heavens, the descending dove, and the audible voice were but the answer to His prayer. And why not? Standing on the threshold of His mission, would He not naturally ask that a double portion of the Spirit might be His that Heaven might put its manifest seal upon that mission, if not for the confirmation of His own faith, yet for that of His fore runner? At any rate, the fact is plain that it was while He was in the act of prayer that He received that second and higher baptism, even the baptism of the Spirit.

A second epoch in that Divine life was when Jesus formally instituted the Apostleship, calling and initiating the Twelve into the closer brotherhood. It was, so to speak, the appointment of a regency, who should exercise authority and rule in the new kingdom, sitting, as Jesus figuratively expresses it {Luk 22:30}, “on thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.” It is easy to see what tremendous issues were involved in this appointment; for were these foundation-stones untrue, warped by jealousies and vain ambitions, the whole superstructure would have been weakened, thrown out of the square. And so before the selection is made, a selection demanding such insight and foresight, such a balancing of complementary gifts, Jesus devotes the whole night to prayer, seeking the solitude of the mountain-height, and in the early dawn coming down, with the dews of night upon His garment and with the dews of heaven upon His soul, which, like crystals or lenses of light, made the invisible visible and the distant near.

A third crisis in that Divine life was at the Transfiguration, when the summit was reached, the border line between earth and heaven, where, amid celestial greetings and overshadowing clouds of glory, that sinless life would have had its natural transition into heaven. And here again we find the same coincidence of prayer. Both St. Mark and St. Luke state that the “high mountain” was climbed for the express purpose of communion with Heaven; they “went up into the mountain to pray.” It is only St. Luke, however, who states that it was “as He was praying” the fashion of His countenance was altered, thus making the vision an answer, or at least a corollary, to the prayer. He is at a point where two ways meet: the one passes into heaven at once, from that high level to which by a sinless life He has attained; the other path sweeps suddenly downward to a valley of agony, a cross of shame, a tomb of death; and after this wide detour the heavenly heights are reached again. Which path will He choose? If He takes the one He passes solitary into heaven; if He takes the other He brings with Him a redeemed humanity. And does not this give us, in a sort of echo, the burden of His prayer? He finds the shadow of the cross thrown over this heaven-lighted summit for when Moses and Elias appear they would not introduce a subject altogether new; they would in their conversation strike in with the theme with which His mind is already preoccupied, that is the decease He should accomplish at Jerusalem and as the chill of that shadow settles upon Him, causing the flesh to shrink and quiver for a while, would He not seek for the strength He needs? Would He not ask, as later, in the garden, that the cup might pass from Him; or if that should not be possible, that His will might not conflict with the Father’s will, even for a passing moment? At any rate we may suppose that the vision was, in some way, Heaven’s answer to His prayer, giving Him the solace and strengthening that He sought, as the Father’s voice attested His Sonship, and celestials came forth to salute the Well-beloved, and to hearten Him on towards His dark goal.

Just so was it when Jesus kept His fourth watch in Gethsemane. What Gethsemane was, and what its fearful agony meant, we shall consider in a later chapter. It is enough for our present purpose to see how Jesus consecrated that deep valley, as before He had consecrated the Transfiguration height, to prayer. Leaving the three outside the veil of the darkness, He passes into Gethsemane, as into another Holy of holies, there to offer up for His own and for Himself the sacrifice of prayer; while as our High Priest He sprinkles with His own blood, that blood of the ever lasting covenant, the sacred ground. And what prayer was that! how intensely fervent! That if it were possible the dread cup might pass from Him, but that either way the Father’s will might be done! And that prayer was the prelude to victory; for as the first Adam fell by the assertion of self, the clashing of his will with God s, the second Adam conquers by the total surrender of His will to the will of the Father. The agony was lost in the acquiescence.

But it was not alone in the great crises of His life that Jesus fell back upon Heaven. Prayer with Him was habitual, the fragrant atmosphere in which He lived, and moved, and spoke. His words glide as by a natural transition into its language, as a bird whose feet have lightly touched the ground suddenly takes to its wings; and again and again we find Him pausing in the weaving of His speech, to throw across the earthward warp the heavenward woof of prayer. It was a necessity of His life; and if the intrusive crowds allowed Him no time for its exercise, He was wont to elude them, to find upon the mountain or in the desert His prayer-chamber beneath the stars. And how frequently we read of His “looking up to heaven” amid the pauses of His daily task! stopping before He breaks the bread, and on the mirror of His upturned glance leading the thoughts and thanks of the multitude to the All-Father, who giveth to all His creatures their meat in due season; or pausing as He works some impromptu miracle, before speaking the omnipotent “Ephphatha,” that on His upward look He may signal to the skies! And what a light is turned upon His life and His relation to His disciples by a simple incident that occurs on the night of the betrayal! Reading the sign of the times, in His forecast of the dark tomorrow, He sees the terrible strain that will be put upon Peter’s faith, and which He likens to a Satanic sifting. With prescient eye He sees the temporary collapse; how, in the fierce heat of the trial, the “rock” will be thrown into a state of flux; so weak and pliant, it will be all rippled by agitation and unrest, or driven back at the mere breath of a servant-girl. He says mournfully, “Simon, Simon, behold. Satan asked to have you, that he might sift you as wheat: but I made supplication for thee, that thy faith fail not” {Luk 22:31}. So completely does Jesus identify Himself with His own, making their separate needs His care (for this doubtless was no solitary case); but just as the High Priest carried on his breastplate the twelve tribal names, thus bringing all Israel within the light of Urim and Thummim, so Jesus carries within His heart both the name and the need of each separate disciple, asking for them in prayer what, perhaps, they have failed to ask for themselves. Nor are the prayers of Jesus limited by any such narrow circle; they compassed the world, lighting up all horizons; and even upon the cross, amid the jeers and laughter of the crowd, He forgets His own agonies, as with parched lips He prays for His murderers, “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.”

Thus, more than any son of man, did Jesus “pray without ceasing,” “in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving” making request unto God. Shall we not copy His bright example? shall we not, too, live, labour, and endure, as “seeing Him who is invisible”? He who lives a life of prayer will never question its reality. He who sees God in everything, and everything in God, will turn his life into a south land, with upper and nether springs of blessing in ceaseless flow; for the life that lies full heavenward lies in perpetual summer, in the eternal noon.

Fuente: Expositors Bible Commentary