A baptism – See the notes at Mat 20:22.

Am I straitened – How do I earnestly desire that it were passed! Since these sufferings must be endured, how anxious am I that the time should come! Such were the feelings of the Redeemer in view of his approaching dying hour. We may learn from this:

1. That it is not improper to feel deeply at the prospect of dying. It is a sad, awful, terrible event; and it is impossible that we should look at it aright without feeling – scarcely without trembling.
2. It is not improper to desire that the time should come, and that the day of our release should draw nigh, Phi 1:23. To the Christian, death is but the entrance to life; and since the pains of death must be endured, and since they lead to heaven, it matters little how soon he passes through these sorrows, and rises to his eternal rest.

Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

Luk 12:50

I have a baptism to be baptized with–

Intensity in Christian service

I.

OF THIS INTENSITY CHRIST HIMSELF WAS THE PERFECT EXAMPLE. Fervour reached white heat in the Son of Man, and the service of the kingdom received the whole of it. Do you think these words were spoken calmly? As we listen to the Speaker, we are conscious of the strain, the tension of spirit, the travail of soul! And what was it that moved the Saviour so profoundly, that made His soul exceeding sorrowful? His death on the cross, and burial in Josephs tomb; but not these things regarded by themselves; death and the grave had less terror for Him than for the saintliest of His followers; but He thought of these in their august and solemn relations to His redeeming work. In His cross and passion, love to God and love to man were mysteriously and perfectly blended; His surrender to God was absolute and entire, wanting nothing; while the appeal of His love to man, unsurpassed in tenderness, maintains to-day its unrivalled influence and power. St. Paul used Christs word–straitened, in another and most significant connection: The love of Christ constraineth us. Christ was Himself constrained, that He might constrain His servants by His own great love to the end of time. This revelation of love to God and man in the death of Christ by no means adequately accounts for the agitation of the Saviours soul. We must go deeper; unless we do so we have no sufficient clue to the mystery of this hour. The beginning of Christs passion was reached; already He is the Sin-bearer. Our text, then, is not the cry of the hireling, bent only on accomplishing his day, longing eagerly for the last hour and the close of his task; it is something infinitely nobler, the cry of the only-begotten of the Father, shut up, urged, pressed, filled with pain, panting as one oppressed in breathing, till His Fathers will is done. Behold the perfect Example I If we wish to gauge this intensity, and know how great it is, let us place it side by side with our own low aims, calculating love, measured efforts, and frequently barren lives. Strangers to devotion, to intense devotion, cannot properly serve under such a King.

II. CAN WE. WITH THIS PATTERN BEFORE US, GET ANY HINTS RESPECTING THE SPRING OF SUCH INTENSITY? HOW is the fire kindled? What is the secret? When Christ spoke, He was in close touch with His Father. The Baptism was appointed; not self-chosen, not accidental, but set down in the Fathers will; recognized as being there, and accepted in the teeth of natural shrinking. Surely this is evidence of fellowship without a break, high and habitual fellowship with God, therefore, is one secret of intense life in souls. A second secret of intense life, then, is familiarity with Holy Scripture. Men of the Bible may be furnaces, icebergs they can never be. And the passage, taken as a whole, indicates clear insight into the sins and sorrows of men, and a true estimate of our needs. The Speaker knew what was in man; was in close contact with man; saw our ruin, accepted the risks, and rendered at all costs the needed help. A third secret of intense life is, keep touch with men. We want to kindle the holy fire and keep it burning–then brethren, we must hold much converse with Christ. The planets get light and heat from the sun; we from the Sun of Righteousness. We must look into the face of Christ and gain power for work by habitual, sustained, and abundant communion with Him.

III. We are now in a position To APPRECIATE SOME OF THE SALIENT FEATURES OF THIS INTENSITY IN CHRISTIAN SERVICE. It is not concern about our own safety; by the whole diameter of the globe it is divided from that. How much solicitude we expend on ourselves! Are we Gods sons? Are our evidences clear and bright? Definite answers to such inquiries we ought to get. Till we get them this holy passion can find no sufficient room within us. The intense spirit, the Christ-spirit, only possesses souls that can swing out of self. All Christs anxiety and travail of soul was about others–about God, His Father, the revelation of His mind, the establishment ofHis rule, and the winning of men to obedience–about man, His brother, his waywardness and misery; the remedy, how it could be provided and how applied. We must be like Him I The noblest in us is impossible while we are occupied with ourselves. The mother at the bed-side of her fever-stricken child forgets self, so does the fireman as through flame and smoke he rushes to the rescue. Then heroism grows sublime, and becomes an inspiration. This intensity is not distinguished by exemption from trial, even the trial of apparent failure. Certain discoursings on earnestness in Christian work are depressing. We see how the purest are often most tried, and the best and most skilful husbandmen have longest to wait for the fruit. It is enough for the servant to be as his Lord. What equipment was His–wisdom, stature, favour with God and man; and the Holy Spirit withoutmeasure. What Divine patience! The crown of enduring influence and ultimate success intensity like our Masters will assuredly wear. When Christ spoke, it appeared as if His was the only soul fired by this passion. Like Pompeys pillar, He was solitary, conspicuously alone I Then the good soil received the precious grain of wheat; it died, and from that moment was no longer alone! Pauls letters are rich in passages which breathe the intense spirit of our text. The case of John, the beloved disciple, is, if possible, more remarkable. He caught fire early; the holy passion was aglow in him. After the Council at Jerusalem he disappeared from view. For fifty years we hear nothing of him; but in the calm, loving utterances of his Epistles, and the penetrating light of his profound Gospel, we have evidence of the strength of a long hidden fire. It glowed till the century ended, when other fires were extinguished. Thus Christ reproduced Himself–the fire-circle enlarged; candidates for this baptism multiplied; and to-day no power is so fresh, so vigorous, and so aggressive as the power of Jesus Christ. Enduring influence and final triumph still lie with intense earnestness. It brings into line every power we possess, and allies each with the power of God. Why could not we cast him out? cried the humiliated disciples. Because you didnt believe you could, was Christs startling reply. The intense man ever believes he can; faith in God renders all things possible. The man of faith burns his way when he cannot bore it; and while the calculating halt in the initial stages of their task and cannot succeed, he stands radiant with the joy of an accomplished work. Everywhere we have machinery; power is the thing wanted. I gained no theology from Dr. Chalmers, said Robertson, of Irvine, but I gained enthusiasm. (J. R. Wood.)

The Suretys baptism

The baptism of the Son of God, here spoken of by Himself, was the baptism of wrath; for He who was made sin for us must be baptized with this baptism. It is the knowledge of this fiery baptism of our Divine Surety that gives to us the reconciliation and the peace which, as sinners, we need. It was of this fiery baptism that He Himself spoke when He said, Now is My soul troubled. This baptism the Son of God must undergo; and He knew this. It was appointed Him of the Father, and arranged in the eternal covenant. I have a baptism to be baptized with. He knew it; He knew the reason of it; He knew the result of it; and He knew that it could not pass away from Him. He had come to fulfil all righteousness; He had come to be made a curse for us. In this awful utterance of our Substitute, as He looked forward to the cross, we have–

I. A LONGING FOR THE BAPTISM. He desired its accomplishment. He knew the results depending on it, and these were so divinely glorious, so eternally blessed, that He could not but long for it–He could not but be straitened till it was accomplished. The cup was inexpressibly bitter, but the recompence for drinking it was so vast, that He could not but long for the hour when it should be put into His hands.

II. THE CONSCIOUSNESS OF FEAR AND BITTER ANGUISH IN CONTEMPLATING IT. He was truly man, both in body and soul. His Divine nature did not relieve Him of one grief, or make His sufferings mere shadows. It fitted Him for being filled with more sorrow than any man could be. It conferred on Him an awful, we may say a Divine, capacity of endurance, and so made him the subject of sharper pain and profounder grief than otherwise he could have been.

III. THE STRAITENING IN REGARD TO ITS ACCOMPLISHMENT. Like Paul, He was in a strait between things which pressed in opposite ways, and which must continue to press till the work was done.

1. He was straitened between the anticipated pain, and the thought of the result of that pain.

2. He was straitened between grace and righteousness. Till the great sacrifice was offered, there might be said to be conflict between these two things. Between His love to the sinner and His love to the Father there was conflict; between His desire to save the former and His zeal to glorify the latter there was something wanting to produce harmony. He knew that this something was at hand, that His baptism of suffering was to be the reconciliation; and He pressed forward to the cross, as one that could not rest till the discordance were removed–as one straitened in spirit till the great reconciliation should be effected. (H. Bonar, D. D.)

The sense in which Christ was straitened

The manner in which our Saviour here expresses Himself, fully evinces that His heart was greatly set upon this important baptism. He was straitened till it was accomplished! The word sunechomaia, which is here translated straitened, will admit of the following variations or different readings of our Lords words:

1. How am I pressed together, and under a ponderous weight of imputed sin, and its dreadful concomitants! The Lord laid on Him, as the Head of the Church, and Surety of the covenant–the iniquities of us all. And He bore our sins in His own body on the tree. To be thus straitened was no way inconsistent with the final accomplishment of the work in which He stood engaged: for His work of suffering is over, and Jesus our Saviour is straitened no more! His being thus straitened in His human views of the work, and in the feelings of human nature, does not suppose Him to be merely human, though it certainly proves Him to have been really human. Each nature operates in Him, according to its essential properties. The Divine nature knows all things; upholds all things; rules all things; and acts, by its presence, everywhere. The human nature was born, yielded obedience, died, and rose again. But it is the same person, the same Christ, that acts all these things; the one nature being His, no less than the other.

2. How am I straitened, may be read thus–How am I held fast in the grasp of almighty justice, and bound fast with cords (Psa 118:27) of legal authority, and bonds of covenant engagements! Infinite love to His people, and to the honour of Deity as demanded by the person of the Father, bound Him fast in bonds, which secured eternal salvation. Justice held fast the bondsman, till all demands were fully paid. But when His baptism was accomplished, His person was free, and His people redeemed. Immanuel is straitened no more; He is held under judgment no more; when He became innocent (as the mediator of His people) or free from all sin, and had wrought all righteousness, justice could demand no more. He was delivered for our offences, and rose again for our justification. That baptism which so straitened our Lord, my brethren, hath made us for ever free indeed! O Thou immortal Deliverer of sin-bound captives, accept and maintain in Thy free people, perpetual hallelujahs to Thy redeeming name!

3. Again, How am I straitened, may be understood–how am I afflicted and distressed in mind. My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, said our agonizing Lord. O what love is here! He took our sorrows, He bore our stripes, He endured the curse for us; and thus He made our peace for ever.

4. Once more. How am I urged and constrained. For this sense of the word, see 2Co 5:14. Jesus was first bound with His people in union indissoluble. He could not bat feel the strongest desire for their redemption, whose persons and welfare lay so near His heart. He was urged by the desire of having the work accomplished. Justice called upon Him for her right; and the joy set before Him excited Him to His important baptism, out of which He knew He should surely emerge, and ascend to the enjoyment of the glory which He had with the Father before the world was. His baptism is now accomplished, and He is straitened no more! Who, then, shall bind the members, since the Head is free? (J. Stevens.)

Christs baptism of suffering

The phraseology is by no means unusual which represents afflictions and trials as a baptism with which an individual must be baptized. In addressing the sons of Zebedee, Christ had asked, Can ye drink of the baptism that I drink of, and can ye be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with? In the Old Testament, moreover, the Psalmist speaks of entering into deep water, which is manifestly the same imagery as that employed in the New. There is a peculiar beauty in this form of expression, when the party to whom it is applied is a righteous and God-fearing man. Baptism is the being dipped in the water, the being sprinkled with the water, and not the being drowned or completely overwhelmed. The form of expression denotes that, however tremendous the affliction may be, it shall not be finally destructive; nay, that it shall issue in addition to what has already been attained. For the word baptism, in its very essence, has reference to some essential change, so that the man when baptized is presumed to enter on a state from which he had been previously excluded. It will be needful that you carry with you this general view of baptism, as rightly introductory to, and symbolical of, an alteration in circumstances or state, if you would enter fully into our Lords meaning when He speaks in our text–But I have a baptism to be baptized with; and how am I straitened till it be accomplished! The whole structure of the sentence is in exact keeping with the common notion of baptism, seeing that a condition of greater freedom is evidently looked forward to by Christ, as certain to result from those waves of fire through which He had to pass. He laboured under a species of bondage prior to His agony and death; and the consequence of the agony and death would, He knew, be deliverance from this bondage. There is, therefore, peculiar fitness in His describing that agony and death as a baptism with which He should be baptized. A change was to take place; and for the bringing about of that change, immersion in a deep ocean of trouble was actually indispensable.

I. CONSIDER CHRISTS AGONY AS A BAPTISM. Now, it was a stupendously great work which our blessed Lord undertook in His mission to earth. He had assumed human nature in union with the Divine, and thus stood in the attitude of the representative of mankind. He was no solitary and isolated being acting out for Himself the duties which, as a creature, He owed to the Creator; He was the Surety of the whole of our race; and in the very minutest circumstance of His life we have a close and important concern. He took our transgressions just as well as those of all others living on the earth, and cast them into the waves, and then they rolled on an immensity of wrath, and the innocent Surety bowed down, and trembled, and sank beneath the impetuous torrent. Not, however, that this is the only reason why our Lords agony and passion may be characterized as a baptism. We have spoken to you of baptism as introductory to some alteration in state or condition. The word only applies to cases in which some change is presumed, as the result of immersion, to have taken place either literally or symbolically. But, with respect to the sufferings of Christ, they agree in every point with the declaration which limits the applicability of the phrase. The baptism of our Lord was such, that length of time was not needful in order to give effect to endurance. Each instant of our Suretys anguish, seeing that He was God as well as man, was equivalent to such countless ages of human punishment, that it was enough for justice that he should be immersed in the water, and then quickly emerge. This fallen creation, tottering under the curse, was then plunged into an abyss of wrath, and sparkled as a renovated thing so soon as He arose above its surface. The agony in Gethsemane was only for a brief season; the ignominy of the crucifixion was soon brought to a close; the imprisonment of the grave quickly gave way; and then He who bore our sins in His own body on the tree, was literally baptized with the baptism of bitterness. The woe, infinite in extent, was but finite in duration–Thou wilt not leave My soul in hell; neither wilt Thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption. He must descend into darkness, that the waves and the storms might go over Him. Anguish–He must endure it; contumely–He must submit to it; the hidings of His Fathers face–even this, the bitterest and most grievous of all, must be encountered. But then this enduring, this wrestling, they were but for a brief season. He did not tarry in the waters, though it was needful He should be covered by them. And thus the emerging and immersion follow so closely one on the other, that you cannot better describe the great work than by saying of our Lord, that He had a baptism to be baptized with.

II. CONSIDER IN WHAT RESPECTS IT WAS THAT THE SAVIOUR WAS STRAITENED TILL THIS BAPTISM WAS ACCOMPLISHED. The work of redemption was not complete, and Christ therefore was straitened, as unable to exhibit a finished deliverance. The Spirit was not yet poured out on His followers; and therefore was He straitened, inasmuch as He could not preach the deep mysteries of His gospel. Conflict with Satan was not concluded, and therefore was he straitened in His human nature, being still exposed to all his attacks. And, lastly, He had not yet won the headship over all things, and therefore was He straitened by being circumscribed in Himself, in place of expanding into myriads. These, with like reasons, serve to explain, in a degree, the expression of our text; though we frankly confess that so awful and inscrutable is everything connected with the anguish of the Mediator, that we can only be said to catch glimmerings of a fulness which would overwhelm us, as we may suppose, with amazement and dread.

III. LET US COMMEND TO YOU, IN CONCLUSION, THE NOBLE DESIRE OF ST. PAUL. That I may know Christ, and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being made conformable unto His death. There is to be wonderful analogy between the firstborn and His people, and we call on you to examine whether you find it realized in your own experience. Unto each of us there remains the baptism of death; a baptism in the truest and most literal sense; for we do but pass through the Jordan, and not stay in the waters. But are we straitened? Do we feel ourselves straitened till this baptism is accomplished? Let us have no evasion and no subterfuge. We are predestined to be conformed to the image of God; and as He was straitened, so, if we belong to Him, shall we also be straitened. Who can be a real Christian and not feel straitened? It is our very profession that we are but strangers and pilgrims below; that our home is above. There is a law in our members warring against the law of our mind–the good that we would we do not–the evil that we would not we do–we bear about with us a body of sin and death–we see only through a glass darkly–it doth not yet appear what we shall be. Are we not then straitened? I would give my soul to heavenly music, to communings with the glorious beings of the invisible world; but the flesh clogs the spirit, weighs it, and presses it down, and thus am I straitened. I would love God with all my heart, with all my soul, and with all my strength; abstracting myself from things that perish in the using, and centring myself on the joys that are laid up for the faithful; but my affections are seized on by the creature; the visible prevails over the invisible, and thus I am straitened. I would mount even now on the wings of faith, realizing the promise that they who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount with wings as eagles. I would walk to and fro through the inheritance of the saints, but the things of time hang lead on the pinion, and thus I am straitened. I would have my thoughts by day and my dreams by night coloured by the pencil of Christian hope; but indwelling corruption throws a stain on the picture, and thus I am straitened. (H. Melvill, B. D.)

The Lamb of God hastening to the altar

Christs eagerness for the consummation of His sacrificial mission sublimely pathetic and heroic.

I. The cross loomed up in His thought with increasing vividness and more absorbing interest toward the last.

II. Eager for the suspense to be changed to certainty. For the Fathers glory to be magnified. For the ending of the curse, and the beginning of the blessing.

III. Eager to make the supreme proof of His love to sinners, and to see the result. I, if I be lifted up, etc.

IV. Eager to return by the gateway of the cross to the Fathers bosom. (Homiletic Review.)

Christs longing for the completion of His work

The great truth which the text exhibits, is the entire and intense devotedness of Christ to the completion of His mediatorial suffering, with a view to its subsequent and sublime results.

I. We have to show, first, THAT THE SAVIOUR UNIFORMLY EXHIBITED THE DEEP CONCERN WHICH THE TEXT EXPRESSES FOR THE COMPLETION OF HIS MEDIATORIAL WORK ON EARTH.

1. To say that He had not been beguiled or surprised into the work of our redemption would be saying but little, He had undertaken it intelligently, and with the distinct foresight of all the liabilities which it involved. He had looked into the darkest recesses of depravity in the human heart, and had sounded the lowest depths of human misery, before He came to expiate the one or relieve the other.

2. To say that He had not been forced into the great undertaking, would be saying but little.

3. To say that the ardour evinced in the text for the completion of His work was not of new or sudden growth, would be saying but little. A large and interesting class of Scriptures exist to prove that there never was a moment in which, even prior to His incarnation, He did not anticipate its completion with similar intensity of desire.

4. To say that He did not neglect the work which was given Him to do, would be saying but little. My meat, said He, is to do the will of Him that sent Me, and to finish His work–in other words, His devotedness was entire. For their sakes, said He, I sanctify Myself–and He did so.

5. And not only was His devotedness entire, including the consecration of all His powers, it was eager and intense, not allowing the unnecessary delay of a moment, nor admitting of the slightest increase. To say that four thousand years were allowed to elapse prior to His advent, is no objection whatever to this statement. It only reminds us that His devotedness, ardent as it was, was yet regulated by wisdom–that His zeal was not the zeal of improvident precipitation–that He did not sacrifice one interest to another.

II. BUT WHY THIS EAGER AND INTENSE DESIRE TO REACH THE GOAL OF HIS HUMILIATION? Surely He was not in love with suffering! Let us proceed, secondly, to specify some of the reasons which account for it, and we shall find that it was not only explicable and justifiable, but infinitely necessary–well for a guilty world that His zeal was not a particle less.

1. For what? He had undertaken to minister to the relief of a world groaning in its misery–and all that misery was before Him. He did not–by necessity of nature He could not–content Himself, as we do, with vague impressions of human woe. He saw it with a distinctness and felt it with a power which made it all His own. He felt that its every sigh and its every struggle was, in effect, a distinct appeal that He would hasten the work of deliverance, and He was straitened until the work was accomplished.

2. But there was more than misery to be remedied–there was guilt, the cause of it all–and that He had undertaken to atone for. He knew the history of sin.

3. But more still There was more than the misery of man to be remedied–more than the rights of justice to be satisfied; there was the character of God to be embodied and made manifest as the God of love–and He had undertaken that. And hence the anxiety of Christ to perform the act which should prove it. For to wipe off every stain from the character of God, and to present it in its real glory, infinitely outweighed with Him every ether consideration.

4. And this reminds us of another reason to account for His eagerness to reach the cross–the glory which should accrue to God in the salvation of mankind.

III. But we have to show, thirdly, THAT THOUGH THE GREAT CRISIS IS PASSED, THE CONCERN OF CHRIST FOR THE SALVATION OF MAN IS UNDIMINISHED. True, as far as that concern involved suffering it has ceased.

1. Would you admit that a person discovered urgency for an object if he lost not a moment in arranging for its attainment? No sooner had the Saviour emerged from the tomb than He summoned His disciples, and began to prepare them for their missions to the ends of the earth.

2. Does a person discover intense concern for an object, if he consecrates all his power to its attainment? The Saviour did this. As soon as He could say in His mediatorial capacity, All power is mine, He added, Go preach the gospel to every creature.

3. Does a person discover intense concern for an object if he not only consecrates all his own power to it, but if the first use which he makes of that power be to secure and employ the agency of others? In the loftiest sense, the Saviour did this. The first agency which He engaged after He ascended the mediatorial throne was that of the Holy Spirit–the great agent of the universe.

4. Does a person discover intense concern for an object, if he commands and lays under tribute the instrumentality of every one belonging to him for its attainment?

5. But speak we of the fact that Christ has thus laid all the members of His Church under solemn obligation, as a proof of His unabated solicitude for human salvation; from the concluding Book of Scripture, the Book of the Revelation, there is reason to believe that He has engaged the agency of every angel in heaven for the same object.

6. But why this continued solicitude on the part of Christ? it may be asked. Has not His great sacrifice been not only offered, but accepted? and is He not now exalted in consequence to the right hand of God? Yes; but His concern relates now to the proclamation of His atoning sacrifice throughout the world, and to the salvation of those who rely on it. Having provided the means of salvation, He is now for pressing on to the end.

IV. Brethren, WHAT SHOULD BE THE PRACTICAL APPLICATION OF THIS SUBJECT? If the devotedness of Christ to the salvation of man was such that He not only agonized on the cross, but even agonized for it, and if His Divine solicitude be still undiminished–then, surely, the Christian cannot render less than entire devotedness to the same object. Accordingly, the Saviour claims every Christian here for Himself. Your character is to be a reproduction of the character of Christ. The disinterestedness which appeared in Christ is to reappear in you. The tenderness of Christ–His untold solicitude for human souls–is to live over again in your tones of entreaty, your wrestling prayers for their salvation. The blood of the cross itself is, in a sense, to stream forth again in your tears of anguish, your voluntary and vicarious self-sacrifice to draw men to Christ.

2. But if we thus sympathize with Christ, we shall see the importance of everything calculated to promote the object of His solicitude. Viewed in connection with these objects, nothing we do is insignificant–an act apparently trivial, a word, a look, acquires a character of infinite moment.

3. But this reminds us, next, that if we truly sympathize with Christ, we shall not be satisfied with merely providing the means of usefulness, or with putting them into action–we shall be deeply anxious to see the end of all such means accomplished. The Saviour was not only straitened till He had reached the cross–till He had provided salvation; all the solicitude which He then felt for the means, He now feels for the end.

4. But this subject reminds us, brethren, finally, that if we truly sympathize with Christ, we shall be conscious of deep humiliation at our past apathy, and of holy impatience and concern to see the designs of His death realized in the salvation of our fellow-men. And ask we for motives to this? Is it nothing that Christ expects it? Is it nothing that He has turned His whole self into a sacrifice, compared with which nothing else deserves the name? and that He has devolved it on us to multiply as far as we can the copies of His character in our own? Is it nothing, again, that others have felt this? Yes; the duty is not only obligatory but practicable, for others have felt it. And should it not urge our languid movements into zealous activity when we reflect that the time is short?

5. And achieved it shall be. How should the prospect quicken our activity and inflame our desire! To think that the scene of the Saviours humiliation shall be the scene of His ultimate triumph. (J. Harris, D. D.)

The shadow of the coming cross

Those who maintain that the crucifixion was an afterthought in the mind of Christ: that no vision of it clouded His pathway, and no place was assigned for it when He began first to preach and to teach, have read those narratives to very little purpose. Holman Hunt, the modern evangelist of art, was much nearer the truth on this matter when he painted his celebrated picture, The Shadow of Death, in which he clearly reveals his opinion that, whilst yet a horny-handed workman in the obscure carpenters shop at Nazareth, making yokes and ploughs for the husbandmen of Galilee, the shadow of the coming cross fell upon the pathway of Christ, and gave an unwonted solemnity to a young manhood, in all else so natural. (J. Cuttell.)

Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell

Verse 50. But I have a baptism] The fire, though already kindled, cannot burn up till after the Jews have put me to death: then the Roman sword shall come, and the Spirit of judgment, burning, and purification shall be poured out.

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

This baptism, spoken of here by our Saviour, is the same mentioned Mat 20:22,23, and can be understood of nothing but his passion, the accomplishment of which he hints us was to be before the fire (before mentioned) would blaze up on the earth. Concerning this he saith he was straitened till it was accomplished: not that he willed the influencing of the heart of Judas to betray him, the heart of Pilate to condemn him, or the hearts of the wicked Jews to accuse, condemn, and crucify him; but he willed these events, for the manifestation of the glory of his Father, in the redemption of the world by him. As the woman big with child heartily wishes that the hour of her travail were come and over, not for the pains sake, which she must endure, but for her own ease sake, and the joy she should have of a child born into the world.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

50. But . . . a baptism,c.clearly, His own bloody baptism, first to take place.

how . . . straitenednot,”how do I long for its accomplishment,” as many understandit, thus making it but a repetition of Lu12:49 but “what a pressure of spirit is upon Me.”

till it be accomplishedtillit be over. Before a promiscuous audience, such obscure language wasfit on a theme like this; but oh, what surges of mysterious emotionin the view of what was now so near at hand does it reveal!

Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

But I have a baptism to be baptized with,…. Not water baptism, for he had been baptized with that already; nor the baptism of the Spirit, which he had also received without measure; though the Ethiopic version reads it actively, “with which I shall baptize”, referring doubtless to that; but the baptism of his sufferings is meant, which are compared to a baptism, because of the largeness and abundance of them; he was as it were immersed, or plunged into them; and which almost all interpreters observe on the text, and by which they confess the true import and primary signification of the word used; as in baptism, performed by immersion, the person is plunged into water, is covered with it, and continues awhile under it, and then is raised out of it, and which being once done, is done no more; so the sufferings of Christ were so many and large, that he was as it were covered with them, and he continued under them for a time, and under the power of death and the grave, when being raised from thence, he dies no more, death hath no more dominion over him. This baptism he “had”, there was a necessity of his being baptized with it, on his Father’s account; it was his will, his decree, and the command he enjoined him as Mediator; it was the portion he allotted him, and the cup he gave unto him: and on his own part, he obliged himself unto it, in the counsel and covenant of peace; for this purpose he came into this world, and had substituted himself in the room and stead of his people; and it was necessary on their part, for their sins could not be atoned for without sufferings, nor without the sufferings of Christ; moreover, the promises and prophecies of the Old Testament concerning them, made them necessary:

and how am I straitened until it be accomplished: these words express both the trouble and distress Christ was in, at the apprehension of his sufferings as man; which were like to the distress of persons, closely besieged by an enemy; or rather of a woman, whose time of travail draws nigh, when she dreads it, and yet longs to have it over: and likewise they signify, his restless desire to have them accomplished; not that he desired that Judas should betray him, or the Jews crucify him, as these were sins of theirs; nor merely his sufferings as such; but that thereby the justice of God might be satisfied, the law might be fulfilled, and the salvation of his people be obtained: and this eager desire of his, he had shown in various instances, and did show afterwards; as in his ready compliance with his Father’s proposal in eternity; in his frequent appearances in human form before his incarnation; in sending one message after another, to give notice of his coming; in his willingness to be about his Father’s business, as soon as possible; in rebuking Peter, when he would have dissuaded him from all thoughts of suffering: in going to Jerusalem on his own accord, in order to suffer there; in his earnest wish to eat the last passover with his disciples; in the joy that possessed him, when Judas was gone out, in order to betray him; in stopping in the midst of his sermon, lest he should overrun, or outslip the time of meeting him in the garden,

Joh 14:30 in his going thither, and willingly surrendering himself up into the hands of his enemies; and in cheerfully laying down his life: all which arose from the entire love he had for the persons he died for; and because it was his Father’s will, and his glory was concerned herein, and his own glory also was advanced thereby; moreover, his death was the life of others, and the work required haste.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

I have a baptism ( ). Once again Jesus will call his baptism the baptism of blood and will challenge James and John to it (Mark 10:32; Matt 20:22). So here. “Having used the metaphor of fire, Christ now uses the metaphor of water. The one sets forth the result of his coming as it affects the world, the other as it affects himself. The world is lit up with flames and Christ is bathed in blood” (Plummer).

And how I am straitened ( ). See this same vivid verb in Luke 8:37; Acts 18:5; Phil 1:23 where Paul uses it of his desire for death just as Jesus does here. The urge of the Cross is upon Jesus at the moment of these words. We catch a glimpse of the tremendous passion in his soul that drove him on.

Till it be accomplished ( ). First aorist passive subjunctive of with (until which time), the common construction for the future with this conjunction.

Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament

Am I straitened. See on ch. Luk 4:38, and compare 2Co 5:14; Phi 1:23. Wyc., constrained.

Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament

1) “But I have a baptism to be baptized with;” (baptisma de echo baptisthenai) “Then I have a baptism (immersion) a bloody one, to be immersed with and in,” referring to His coming sufferings, which should be overwhelming, Mat 20:18; Mat 20:22; Mar 10:38-39. It was a fiery baptism of trial and passion.

2) “And how am I straitened,” (kai pos sunechona) “And how I am pressed,” pained, pressed, or distracted, my soul is troubled, Joh 12:27; or what a pressure of spirit is upon me, Mat 26:38.

3) “Till it be accomplished!” (heous hopou telesthe) “Until it is completed, finished, or terminated,” consummated, or completed in Gethsemane, and at Calvary in particular, Mar 14:34; Mat 19:30; Isa 53:1-12.

Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary

50. But I have a baptism to be baptized with. By these words our Lord asserts that there remains nothing but his last act, that by his death he may consecrate the renovation of the world. For since the shaking which he mentioned was appalling, and since that conflagration of the human race was terrific, he is about to show that the first-fruits must be offered in his own person, after which the disciples ought not to be displeased at feeling some portion of it. He compares death—as in other passages—to baptism, (Rom 6:4,) because the children of God, after having been immersed for a time by the death of the body, shortly afterwards rise again to life, so that death is nothing else than a passage through the midst of the waters. He says that he is sorely pressed till that baptism has been accomplished, that he may encourage every one of us, by his example, both to bear the cross and to prefer death. Not that any man can have a natural preference for death, or for any abatement of present happiness, but because, when we contemplate on the farther bank the glory, and the blessed and immortal rest of heaven, we not only suffer death with patience, but are even carried forward by eager desire where faith and hope lead us.

Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary

(50) I have a baptism to be baptized with.Here we have a point of contact with the words spoken to the sons of Zebedee. (See Notes on Mat. 20:22, and Mar. 10:38.) The baptism of which the Lord now speaks is that of one who is come into deep waters, so that the floods pass over him, over whose head have passed and are passing the waves and billows of many and great sorrows. Yet here, too, the Son of Man does not shrink or draw back. What He felt most keenly, in His human nature, was the pain, the constraint of expectation. He was, in that perfect humanity of His, harassed and oppressed, as other sufferers have been, by the thought of what was coming, more than by the actual suffering when it came.

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

50. A baptism The baptism is the terrible paroxysm of inward agony. There is no such antithesis here as some find between the fire of strife (or as some say, of the Holy Spirit) and water of baptism. The fire is indeed the strife which the Gospel will eventuate. The baptism is the passion of the garden and the cross which he was about to undergo. (See note on Mat 20:22.)

Straitened Compressed and grasped as if by a pressure enclosing on every side.

Our Lord now (Luk 12:51-55) shows that his present conflict with these Pharisees and its consummation are but the type of the more extended conflict in which all are to be engaged on one side or the other, and continue so until his second coming. Next (Luk 12:56-57) he earnestly invokes them to be attentive to the omens by which they were warned to choose the right in the great moral battle; and last (Luk 12:58-59) he presses all to a quick decision in view of the final magistrate, judge, officer, and prison. See notes on Mat 10:34-38.

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

“But I have a baptism (‘an overwhelming’) to be baptised with, and how am I straitened till it be accomplished!”

However, if that fire is to be effective redeemingly something extraordinary will be required, the baptism of suffering of Jesus, that is, the experience for Jesus of being ‘overwhelmed’ by suffering (the word baptizo is known to signify ‘overwhelm’ in secular Greek). For alongside the suffering of the world Jesus Himself must be overwhelmed by suffering, in order that He might redeem out from a suffering world those who are His, those who have been given to Him by His Father (Joh 6:37-39). And paradoxically the suffering of Jesus will also be for many like the casting down of fire on them, for by their rejection of it they will bring judgment on themselves (Joh 3:17-21).

So Jesus is only too aware that before His fire cast on the earth can be fully effective, it will be necessary for Him to suffer, to die and to rise again (Luk 9:22). In the end it is only through the cross that ‘refining’ by means of His word can be offered to men and women. And the result of His fire being cast down and ignited, and of His suffering, will be that the world will be divided between those who respond to Him, and those who reject Him and even hate Him. Note the wonder of what is said. The One Who casts down the fire also came to bear that fire on Himself so that He might deliver His own from eternal fire.

“And how am I straitened till it be accomplished!” Once again the intensity of His feeling comes out. Compare the previous final comment in the last verse. It is not just that He is conscious of stress at what He must face, He is also filled with a burning desire for it to come about, a desire that ‘afflicts’ Him (straitens Him) by its intensity. He yearns for the salvation of His people, and it is through His suffering that it will be ‘accomplished’ or ‘fulfilled’. Thus His suffering is seen as His present destiny, the accomplishment that He must bring about, as He treads the path laid down in Isaiah 53 (Luk 22:27; Luk 22:37; Luk 24:25-26; compare Mar 10:45; Act 2:22-24; Act 3:18; Act 4:27-28; Act 7:52; Act 8:32-35 etc). And through it He will accomplish salvation for ‘the many’ (Isa 53:11; Mar 10:45; Mar 14:24, compare Act 13:39; Act 26:18), and judgment on the remainder. By it He will make men ‘straight’ and free them from Satan’s power (Luk 13:10-17).

Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

Luk 12:50. But I have a baptism, &c. “But I have indeed, in the mean time; a most dreadful baptism to be baptized with, and know that I shall shortly be baptized as it were in blood, and plunged in the most overwhelming distress;” (see on Mat 20:23.) “Yet how am I straitened [ ] and uneasy, through the earnestness of my desire, till, terrible as it is, it be fully completed, and the glorious birth produced, whatever agonies may lie in the way to it.” See 2Co 5:14. Joh 16:21 and Act 18:5.

Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke

Luk 12:50 . ] places in face of the ! just wished for, what is still to happen first: But I have a baptism, to be baptized with . This baptism is His deep passion awaiting Him, into which He is to be plunged (comp. on Mar 10:38 ); and He has this baptism as the destiny ordained for Him, and consequently appropriated to Him.

. . .] and how am I distressed (comp. Luk 8:37 ; Dem. 1484. 23, 1472. 18) till the time that it shall be accomplished ! A true and vivid expression of human shrinking at the presentment of the agonies that were imminent, similar to what we find in Gethsemane and at Joh 12:27 . It was a misapprehension of the human feeling of Jesus and of the whole tenor of the context, to make out of an urgency of longing ( , Euthymius Zigabenus, comp. Theophylact). So also de Wette and Bleek, who wrongly appeal to Phi 1:23 . See on the passage, also on 2Co 5:14 . Jesus does not long for and hasten to death, but He submits Himself to and obeys the counsel of God (comp. Joh 12:27 ; Phi 2:8 ; Rom 5:19 , and elsewhere), when His hour is come (Joh 13:1 and elsewhere). Ewald takes the question as making in sense a negative assertion: I must not make myself anxious (comp. on , Luk 12:56 ), I must in all patience allow this worst suffering to befall me. This agrees with Ewald’s view of . . ., Luk 12:49 ; but, according to our view, it does not correspond with the parallelism. And Jesus actually experienced anguish of heart (comp. 2Co 2:4 , ) at the thought of His passion, without detracting from His patience and submissiveness.

Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary

DISCOURSE: 1531
THE BLOODY BAPTISM OF OUR LORD

Luk 12:50. I have a baptism to be baptized with; and how am I straitened till it be accomplished!

ANY one who understands the true nature of Christianity would suppose that the religion of Jesus must of necessity approve itself to the heart and judgment of every person to whom it is proclaimed; and, above all, that the Founder of it, in whom every species and degree of excellence were combined, must, so far as his character is made known, be an object of universal approbation. But the very reverse of this has proved to be the fact, even as our blessed Lord himself declared it would be. In the verse before my text, he says, I am come to send fire on the earth. And in the verse after my text, he puts the question to us; Suppose ye that I am come to give peace on earth? I tell you, Nay; but rather division; and such a division, too, as shall separate from each other the nearest and dearest relatives [Note: ver. 49, 5153.]. As to himself, he states, that he had nothing but the bitterest persecution to expect, so long as he should continue upon earth: and that, in fact, he longed for the period when the storm should burst upon him: I have a baptism to be baptized with: and how am I straitened till it be accomplished!

In discoursing on these words, it will be proper for me to shew,

I.

What a fearful baptism awaited him

In baptism, the whole body was frequently immersed under water: and, in reference to this, our blessed Lord calls his own sufferings a baptism; because he was about to be wholly immersed in sorrow, and to become, to an extent that no other person ever did or could become, a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief [Note: Isa 53:3.].

Inconceivably great were the agonies of his body

[We forbear to notice his privations during the course of his ministry: when he, on many occasions, had not where to lay his head. We will notice only his sufferings during the short period of one single day. Follow him, after his seizure by those who were sent to apprehend him, and see how he was treated at the tribunals of his judges: see him arrayed in mock majesty, insulted in every possible way, spit upon, smitten in the face, and the crown of thorns driven into his temples: see him scourged, so that long and deep furrows were made upon his back: see him fastened to the cross by nails driven through his hands and feet; and the cross, with him suspended on it, descending with such violence into the hole prepared for its reception, that almost all his bones were dislocated by the shock [Note: Psa 22:14.]: see him left thus in the midst of all imaginable indignities, till he should be relieved by death: surely his visage was marred more than any mans, and his form more than the sons of men [Note: Isa 52:14.]: so that it may well be asked, Was ever sorrow like unto his sorrow [Note: Lam 1:12.]? ]

But it was in his soul chiefly that his pains so much exceeded those of all other men

[Who can conceive the agonies he endured in the garden, before his body had been subjected to any suffering from man? Then it was that the cup of affliction was put into his hands by God himself; and he was constrained to drink it even to the very dregs, till, through the agonies of his mind, the blood issued from every pore of his body, and he was, literally as it were, baptized in blood. Nor can we by any means conceive what his pure and holy mind must have endured, whilst he encountered such contradiction of sinners against himself [Note: Heb 12:3.], both in the courts of justice and on the cross Hear him, under the hidings of his Fathers face, crying, My God, my God! why hast thou forsaken me? Can any finite imagination conceive of the agonies he then sustained, when the sins of the whole world were laid upon him, and the debt of the whole human race was exacted at his hands? ]

But if this baptism was so terrible, what reason can be assigned,

II.

Why he so earnestly longed for its accomplishment

Were it only as a woman longs for the pains which shall soon terminate in the birth of her child, he might well desire their speedy arrival, in order to their speedier termination [Note: Joh 16:21.]. But he had far higher reasons for the desire which he expressed. He longed for this baptism,

1.

Because by it the Father would be glorified

[This, in particular, operated upon his mind, at the time that he deprecated the bitter cup: Now is my soul troubled. And what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour: but for this cause came I unto this hour. Father, glorify thy name. Then came there a voice from heaven, saying, I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again [Note: Joh 12:27-28.]. It was by this event that all the perfections of the Godhead were to be displayed and therefore our adorable Saviour longed for the time when this most desirable object should be consummated ]

2.

Because by it his own work, so far as it was to be carried on in this world, was to be completed

[Christ had undertaken to make his soul an offering for sin [Note: Isa 53:10.], and, by death, to expiate the sins of our fallen race. Without this, all his previous labours and sufferings would be in vain. For this, therefore, he longed, that he might be able to say, It is finished [Note: Joh 19:30.] ]

3.

Because by it salvation would be wrought for a ruined world

[This was the great work which Jesus had come to effect: and so intent was he upon it, that, when Peter would have persuaded him to spare himself, he reproved his infatuated Disciple in the most indignant terms: Get thee behind me, Satan; thou art an offence unto me [Note: Mat 16:21-23.]. This was, in fact, the joy that had been set before him; in the prospect of which he not only endured the cross, and despised the shame [Note: Heb 12:2.], but desired both the one and the other; fully satisfied, if only he might see at last of the travail of his soul in the happiness and salvation of his redeemed people [Note: Isa 53:11.] ]

Think now, Brethren,
1.

What obligations we owe to the Lord Jesus Christ!

[How amazing is it, that ever He should undertake such a work for us; and that he should persevere in it, till it was altogether accomplished! He knew from the beginning all that should come upon him: yet, so far from drawing back, he went before his timid Disciples, and, to their utter amazement, led the way to the place that was to be the scene of all his sorrows [Note: Mar 10:32-34.]. He shewed, throughout, that the whole of his sufferings were voluntary. When, by his word, he struck to the ground the whole band that came to apprehend him, he shewed, that he could as easily have struck them all dead upon the spot [Note: Joh 18:4-6.]?: and, in liberating his Disciples, he shewed that he could with equal ease, if it had pleased him, have liberated himself also [Note: Joh 18:7-9.]. He himself tells us, that, if it had pleased him, he might have had more than twelve legions of angels to deliver him [Note: Mat 26:53-54.]. But having loved his own, he loved them to the end; and drew not back, till, by his own obedience unto death, he had made an end of sin, and brought in an everlasting righteousness [Note: Dan 9:24.]. How passing the knowledge, whether of men or angels, was this unutterable, incomprehensible love! Seek, my dear Brethren, so far as your feeble capacities will enable you, to comprehend it; that so, being transported with the view of it, ye may be filled with all the fulness of God [Note: Eph 3:18-19.].]

2.

How willingly, if occasion require, we should suffer to any extent for him!

[We, his followers, must expect to be conformed to him [Note: Mat 10:24-25.]; drinking of the cup which he drank of, and being baptized with the baptism that he was baptized with [Note: Mar 10:38-39.]. But shall we account this a hard matter? Has he endured so much for us, and shall we be averse to suffer for him? Shall we not rather rejoice that we are counted worthy of such an honour [Note: Act 5:41.], and bless our God for conferring it upon us [Note: 1Pe 4:12-14.]? Be prepared then, every one of you, for that fire and that sword which he has taught you to expect [Note: Mat 10:34-39.]: and, to whatever extremities ye may be reduced, be ever ready to follow him without the camp, bearing his reproach [Note: Heb 13:12-13.].]

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

50 But I have a baptism to be baptized with; and how am I straitened till it be accomplished!

Ver. 50. And how am I staitened ] This painful preconceit of his passion was a part of our Saviour’s passion. This made him spend many a night in prayer, bewailing our sins, and imploring God’s grace, and he was heard in that which he requested, Heb 5:7 .

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

50. ] The symbolic nature of Baptism is here to be borne in mind. Baptism = Death . The figure in the Sacrament is the drowning , the burial , in the water, of the old man and the resurrection of the new man: see 1Pe 3:20-22 , and notes. The Lord’s Baptism was His Death , in which the Body inherited from the first Adam ( ) was buried, and the new Body ( ) raised again: see Rom 6:1-11 , but especially Luk 12:10 . And He was straitened (the best possible rendering) till this was accomplished: i.e. in anxiety and trouble of spirit.

The here implies, but first, i.e. before that fire can be shed abroad. Here we have then, as Stier expresses it, a ‘passio inchoata’ of our Lord; the first utterance of that deep anguish, which afterwards broke forth so plentifully, but coupled at the same time with holy zeal for the great work to be accomplished.

Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament

Luk 12:50 . : before the fire can be effectually kindled there must come for the kindler His own baptism of blood, of which therefore Jesus naturally speaks here with emotion. , how am I pressed on every side, either with fervent desire (Euthy., Theophy., De Wette, Schanz, etc.), or with fear, shrinking from the cup (Meyer, J. Weiss, Holtzmann, Hahn).

Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson

I have a baptism, &c. Referring to the sufferings which had to be first accomplished. See Luk 24:26. Act 3:18. App-115. . i.

how am I straitened = how am I being pressed. Greek. sunechomai, as in Act 18:5 and Php 1:1, Php 1:23. The prayer in Gethsemane shows how this

was. See Luk 22:41, Luk 22:42. Heb 5:7.

accomplished. See Luk 9:31. Joh 19:28.

Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics

50.] The symbolic nature of Baptism is here to be borne in mind. Baptism = Death. The figure in the Sacrament is the drowning,-the burial, in the water, of the old man and the resurrection of the new man: see 1Pe 3:20-22, and notes. The Lords Baptism was His Death, in which the Body inherited from the first Adam ( ) was buried, and the new Body ( ) raised again: see Rom 6:1-11, but especially Luk 12:10. And He was straitened (the best possible rendering) till this was accomplished:-i.e. in anxiety and trouble of spirit.

The here implies, but first, i.e. before that fire can be shed abroad. Here we have then, as Stier expresses it, a passio inchoata of our Lord; the first utterance of that deep anguish, which afterwards broke forth so plentifully,-but coupled at the same time with holy zeal for the great work to be accomplished.

Fuente: The Greek Testament

Luk 12:50. ) But a baptism, and that too a baptism completely consummated, must precede the fire, and the kindling of it.- ) Comp. Mar 10:38.- , how am I straitened [severely pressed]) Joh 12:27 [Now is My soul troubled, etc.]; Mat 26:37. The nearer His passion approached, the greater were the emotions by which He was affected. The preceding formula, What will I? indicates the mere will and inclination by itself; but the words, How am I straitened (with which comp. Php 1:23; 2Co 5:14), implies the will struggling forth through opposing objects and obstructions.-, it shall have been accomplished [finished, consummated]) Comp. Joh 19:30 [, It is finished or consummated].

Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament

I have: Mat 20:17-22, Mar 10:32-38

and: Psa 40:8, Joh 4:34, Joh 7:6-8, Joh 7:10, Joh 10:39-41, Joh 12:27, Joh 12:28, Joh 18:11, Joh 19:30, Act 20:22

straitened: or, pained

Reciprocal: Psa 18:36 – enlarged Zec 11:8 – loathed them Mat 20:22 – baptized with the Mat 26:46 – General Mar 10:38 – baptized with the Luk 9:51 – he stedfastly Luk 19:28 – he went Luk 22:15 – With desire I have desired Joh 13:31 – Now Joh 14:31 – Arise Joh 19:28 – Jesus Act 18:5 – was Phi 1:23 – in Heb 6:2 – the doctrine

Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

CHRISTS BAPTISM OF SUFFERING

I have a baptism to be baptized with; and how am I straitened till it be accomplished.

Luk 12:50

I. The whole structure of this sentence is in exact keeping with the common notion of baptism, seeing that a condition of greater freedom is evidently looked forward to by Christ as certain to result from those waves of fire through which He had to pass. He laboured under a species of bondage prior to His agony and death; and the consequence of the agony and death would, he knew, be deliverance from this bondage. There is, therefore, peculiar fitness in His describing that agony and death as a baptism with which He should be baptized.

II. How am I straitened till it be accomplished!

(a) It was one consequence of our Saviours sufferings and death that the gift of the Holy Spirit should be poured forth on His disciples. Until, therefore, the baptism was accomplished, there could be little or none of that preparation of heart on the part of His followers which was indispensable to the reception of the spiritual magnificence and majesty of the Gospel.

(b) Although the Spirit was given without measure to the Saviour, He was nevertheless hemmed round by spiritual adversaries, and He had continually before Him a task overwhelming in its difficulties. Is not the contrast of the state which preceded, aed that which succeeded, the baptism of agony sufficient in itself to account for expressions even more sternly descriptive of bondage than that of our text?

(c) Christ had not yet won the headship over all things, and, therefore, He was straitened by being circumscribed in Himself, in place of expanding into myriads.

These, with like reason, serve to explain, in a degree, the expression of our text; though we frankly confess that so awful and inscrutable is everything connected with the anguish of the Mediator, that we can only be said to catch glimmerings of a fullness which would overwhelm us, we may suppose, with amazement and dread.

Rev. Canon Melvill.

Illustration

This baptism is plainly not that of water, nor that of the Holy Ghost, but the baptism of suffering. It is the same baptism of which our Lord said to James and John, Ye shall be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with. The expression is one of those which shows the wisdom of our translators of the Bible in adhering to the word baptism, and not rendering it either immersion or sprinkling. The effect of either of these words in the present verse, instead of baptism, needs only to be tried. Few would like to substitute for our present translation, I have an immersion to be immersed with; or, I have a sprinkling to be sprinkled with.

The Greek word translated straitened, is the same that is rendered in Act 18:5, pressed; and in 2Co 5:14, constrains. It is supposed by some that the feeling our Lord meant to express, was that of pain and distress in the prospect of His coming sufferings and crucifixion. This is the opinion of Stier. It seems, however, highly improbable. It is supposed by others that the expression is like Joh 12:27 and Luk 22:42, and is meant to imply the conflict between our Lords human will, which naturally shrank from suffering, and His Divine will, which was set on accomplishing the work He came to do. This opinion is supported by many. Yet it does not seem quite to harmonise with the context, and is not altogether satisfactory. The most probable view appears to be that the expression, I am straitened, was intended to show us the burning desire by which our Lord was constrained to accomplish the work of our redemption. It is like the saying, With desire I have desired to eat the passover with you. Theophylact and Euthymius both support this view.

Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary

0

It might be asked why Jesus would persist in his teaching when he knew it would bring opposition: this verse answers that question. Baptism is used figuratively and refers to the sufferings he was destined to experience in order to fulfill the scripture (Mat 26:54). That is why he says how am I straitened (made completely to suffer), (according to the predictions), until it (the baptism of suffering) be accomplished.

Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary

Luk 12:50. But. Before my wish will be fulfilled.

I have a baptism, etc. Our Lord here refers to His own sufferings, and especially to His death. We may find in the figure either a reference to His burial, or to the depth and intensity of His sufferings, when the waters roll over His soul. Before we could be baptized with the Holy Spirit, this must come, for only thus was this new power bought for us.

And how am I straitened, etc. What a weight is on me. Anxiety, trouble of spirit, the human reluctance in view of fearful sufferings, here appear. It is the premonition of Gethsemane and Calvary. As this was probably uttered before the parable of the Sower, it was a long shadow the cross threw upon His soul.

Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament

Verse 50

A baptism to be baptized with; an overwhelming flood of sorrow and suffering to endure.–How am I straitened; oppressed, borne down, by the anticipation of these sufferings.

Fuente: Abbott’s Illustrated New Testament