Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Luke 23:56
And they returned, and prepared spices and ointments; and rested the sabbath day according to the commandment.
56 . they returned ] As the sunset was now rapidly approaching, they must have hurried home to complete their preparations before the Sabbath began.
prepared spices and ointments ] The spices are dry, the ‘perfumes’ liquid. They wished to complete the imperfect embalming of the body which Joseph and Nicodemus had hastily begun. Comp. 2Ch 16:14. They had to purchase the spices (Mar 16:1). St Matthew alone relates the circumstances under which the Jews obtained leave to place a watch over the sepulchre, and to seal the stone, Mat 27:62-66.
and rested ] This clause is closely connected with the next chapter,
“And during the Sabbath day they rested…but on the first day of the week, &c.”
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Verse 56. Prepared spices and ointments] This was in order to embalm him; which sufficiently proves that they had no hope of his resurrection the third day.
And rested the Sabbath day] For though the Jewish canons allowed all works, necessary for the dead, to be done, even on the Sabbath, such as washing and anointing, provided they moved not a limb of the dead person, yet, as the Jews had put Christ to death under the pretence of his being a malefactor, it would not have been either prudent or safe to appear too forward in the present business; and therefore they rested on the Sabbath.
CERTAIN copies of the Itala have some remarkable additions in these concluding verses. The conclusion of the 48th verse, Lu 23:48 in one of them, is read thus: Beating their breasts and their foreheads, and saying, Wo to us because of what is done this day, on account of our sins; for the desolation of Jerusalem is at hand. To Lu 23:52, another adds: And when Pilate heard that he was dead, he glorified God and gave the body to Joseph. On the circumstances of the crucifixion, see the observations at the end of Matt. 27, and consider how heinous sin must be in the sight of God, when it required such a sacrifice! See Clarke on Mt 27:66
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
And they returned,…. To the city, and to their own houses, or to some one of them;
and prepared spices and ointments; for the anointing, and embalming the body of Christ, called by the Jews the spices of the dead; see the note on Mr 16:1
and rested the sabbath day, according to the commandment, in
Ex 20:8 not knowing as yet the abolition of it, with the rest of the ceremonial law; and therefore, though they had bought and prepared the spices and ointments, they did not carry them to the sepulchre to anoint the body with them, till the sabbath was over; for this was forbidden to be done on a sabbath day. It is asked f,
“what is that thing that is lawful to be done to a living man, and is forbidden a dead man? It is said, , “this is anointing”.”
Though elsewhere g this
“is allowed of; for so runs one of their traditions; they do all things necessary for the dead, (i.e. on a sabbath day,) , “they anoint”, and wash him, only they may not move a limb of him.”
But how he could be anointed, and washed, without a limb being moved, is not very easy to say, as his foot, or hand, or eye brows, which are the parts one of their commentators instances in h.
f T. Hieros. Sahbat. fol. 12. 2. g Misn. Sabbat. c. 23, sect. 5. h Bartenora in ib.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
On the sabbath they rested ( ). They returned and prepared spices before the sabbath began. Then they rested all during the sabbath (accusative of extent of time, ).
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
Returned [] . This word occurs thirty – two times in Luke, and only three times in the rest of the New Testament. It is a significant fact that, reckoning the aggregate space occupied by the four Gospels, nearly one – sixth of the whole amount is occupied with the account of the twenty – four hours beginning with the last supper and ending with the burial of Jesus. There is no day in all Bible history narrated with the fulness of that day. If we possessed the whole life of Christ, written with the same detail, the record would occupy one hundred and eighty volumes as large as the whole Bible. ===Luk24
CHAPTER XXIV
1 – 3. Compare Mt 28:1; Mr 16:2 – 4.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
1)“And they returned, and prepared spices and ointments;” (hupostrepsasai de hetoimasan aromata kai mura) “Then they went away and prepared spices and ointments,” returned to t heir homes for the night, where they prepared the burial spices and ointments for His burial, for embalming the body. The purpose of the women was to complete the embalming the next morning, Mar 16:1.
2) “And rested the sabbath day,” (kai to men sabbaton hesuehasan) “And they rested indeed on the sabbath,” on the seventh day sabbath. The enemy did not rest. They obtained a guard and sealed the stone, Mat 27:62-66.
3) “According to the commandment.” (kata ten entolen) “In harmony with or according to the sabbath commandment,” as given -in Moses Law, Exo 20:10.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
(56) They returned, and prepared spices and ointments.This seems at first inconsistent with their buying spices after the Sabbath was over (Luk. 24:1). Possibly, we have two groups of womenthe two Maries and Joanna and the others (Luk. 24:10)taking part in the same work; possibly, what they did on the Friday afternoon or evening was not enough, and it was necessary to buy more spices as soon as shops were open on Saturday evening.
Rested the sabbath day.It is noticeable that this is the only record in the Gospels of that memorable Sabbath. Can we picture to ourselves how it was spent by those who had taken part in the great drama of the previous day;Caiaphas and the priests officiating in the Temple services of that day, after their hurried Passover, just in time to fulfil the bare letter of the law, on the previous afternoon; the crowds that had mocked and scoffed on Golgotha crowding the courts of the Temple, or attending in the synagogues of Hebrew or Hellenistic Jews; scribes and Pharisees preaching sermons on the history and meaning of the Passover, and connecting it with the hope of a fresh deliverance for Israel? And the disciples, where were they? scattered each to his own lodging, or meeting in the guest-chamber where they had eaten their Paschal supper, or, as that was apparently a new room to them (Luk. 22:8-9), in some other inn or lodging in the city, or its suburbs? On that Sabbath, John and Peter must have met, and the penitent must have found in his friends love the pledge and earnest of his Lords forgiveness; and the Twelve and the Seventy must, in groups of twos or threes, have mourned over the failure of their hopes; and the women have comforted themselves with the thought that they could at least show their reverence for the Lord they loved as they had never shown it before; and Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimatha have rested with satisfaction in the thought that they could honour a dead prophet without the danger that had attached to honouring a living one, or have reproached themselves for the cowardice which had kept them from any open confession till it was too late, and mourned over the irrevocable past. The records are silent, but the imagination which turns the dead chronicles of history into a living drama has here, within due limits, legitimate scope for action. May we go a step yet further, and think of what was then being accomplished behind the veil, of the descent into Hades and the triumph over Death, the soul of the robber in the rest of Paradise, and the good news proclaimed to the spirits in prison (1Pe. 3:19)? If we dare not fill up the gap with the legends of the Apocryphal Gospel that bears the name of Nicodemus, we may, at least, venture to dwell reverently on the hints that Scripture actually gives.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
‘And on the sabbath they rested according to the commandment.’
Having done what they could of initial preparation and making ready for what they had to do, (what they would have to do as soon as the Sabbath was over would be the final preparing of the spices so that they would be fresh and subsequent anointing of the body of Jesus), they then obeyed God’s commandment and rested on the Sabbath Day. Nothing further could be done until the Sabbath was over. We are intended to recognise that all these labours were in fact unnecessary. For while in ignorance they were lovingly preparing their last tribute, God was busy rendering it unnecessary. This was one body which would not suffer corruption, as they would soon discover.
Jesus Rises From The Dead (Luk 24:1 –52 ).
As we come to the final chapter of Luke’s Gospel it is interesting to note the presumably deliberate parallels with the opening chapters. The Gospel opens in the Temple (Luk 1:9), and it closes in the Temple (Luk 24:52). It opens with one who is hindered from blessing the people because of unbelief, but who later blesses God (Luk 1:68), and with Simeon who blesses God (Luk 2:28), and it closes with Jesus blessing His disciples (stressed twice) and His disciples blessing God (Luk 24:50-52). There is no hindrance now, for they believe. It opens with the appearances of angels (Luk 1:11; Luk 1:26; Luk 2:9-11), and closes with the appearances of angels (Luk 24:4) and of the risen Jesus (Luk 24:36). It opens with the frightening appearance of one who comes from God (Luk 1:11-12), and closes with the frightening appearance of One Who comes from God (Luk 24:36-37). It opens with two witnesses to Jesus’ coming as the Deliverer (Luk 2:25-38), and closes with two witnesses to His resurrection as the One Who will deliver (Luk 24:13). It opens with a question as to why Jesus’ parents could not understand His need to be in His Father’s house (Luk 2:49), and closes with a question as to why the women are so lacking in understanding that they seek the living among the dead and could not understand that He could not possibly be in the tomb, but must be in His Father’s house (Luk 24:5) for God is the God of the living (Luk 20:38). It opens with a message of repentance and forgiveness of sins offered because the Coming One is coming (Luk 3:3). It closes with a message of repentance and forgiveness of sins because the Coming One has died and has risen again (Luk 24:47). It opens with reference to ‘the power of the Most High’ (dunamis ‘upsistou) coming on Mary (Luk 1:35), and closes with a reference to ‘power from on high’ (ex ‘upsous dunamin) coming on the Apostles (Luk 24:49). It opens with the expectancy of redemption (Luk 1:68-69; Luk 2:30; Luk 2:38), and closes with the expectancy of redemption (Luk 24:21, all Luke’s readers knew that the expectations had been fulfilled). Yet there is no artificiality about the parallels, which arise naturally from what happened and are not forced. The point is being made that the opening activity of God has come to its fulfilment. What He has begun He will finish.
But the chapter not only looks back, it also looks forward to Acts. Here in chapter 24 are revealed the ‘many infallible proofs’ of the resurrection spoken of in Act 1:3. Here they were commanded to wait for power from on high, which is described in Act 1:4 in terms of the Holy Spirit. Here our appetites are wetted concerning the Scriptures that tell us of the Messiah and His work (Luk 23:26-27; Luk 23:44-45), and this will be expanded on in the speeches in the first few chapters of Acts. Here we learn that they are to be His witnesses (Luk 23:48), and this is confirmed in Act 1:8, and is the main theme of Acts (see Luk 1:8 and note that it is followed by the completing of the twelve so that there can be twelve witnesses to the life of Jesus and the resurrection, covering the twelve tribes of Israel.
This connection between the two books comes out especially in the chiasmus that binds the two books together:
a ‘And they rose up the same hour, and returned to Jerusalem, and found the eleven gathered together, and those who were with them’ (Luk 24:33).
b ‘And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem’ (Luk 24:47).
c ‘And, behold, I send the promise of my Father on you, but tarry you in the city (of Jerusalem), until you be endued with power from on high’ (Luk 24:49).
d ‘And they returned to Jerusalem with great joy and were continually in the temple blessing God’ (Luk 24:52).
c ‘And, being assembled together with them, He commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which, says He, you have heard of me’ (Act 1:4).
b ‘But you will receive power, when the Holy Spirit has come on you, and you shall be witnesses to me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and to the uttermost part of the earth’ (Act 1:8).
a ‘Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is from Jerusalem a sabbath day’s journey’ (Act 1:12).
Note how in ‘a’ they returned to Jerusalem and in the parallel they did the same. In ‘b’ repentance and remission of sins was to be preached throughout all nations beginning at Jerusalem, and in the parallel they were to be His witnesses to the whole world, beginning at Jerusalem. In ‘c’ they were to wait for the promise of the Father, and in the parallel they were to wait for the promise of the Father. And centrally in ‘d’ they returned to Jerusalem and spent their time of waiting filled with joy and praising and blessing God. It was the time of blessing and spiritual preparation before the storm.
A further theme of this chapter is the certainty of the empty tomb, and the unbelief and uncertainty of the people involved concerning it. The women bring spices to the tomb. They do not believe that Jesus has risen, and are astonished at finding the tomb open and empty (Luk 23:4). But at the words of the angels (Luk 23:6) they go and tell the disciples what the angels have told them. The disciples, however, simply think that they are talking rubbish, and dismiss their words as untrue. They do not believe them (Luk 23:11). The two disciples on the way to Emmaus are seen to be in great doubt about the question, even after the women’s testimony about the empty tomb and the words of the angels. They dismiss what the women have seen as ‘a vision of angels’, although it had been enough to sow doubts in their minds (Luk 23:23). Peter is left wondering after what he sees at the empty tomb (Luk 23:12), but it does not bring conviction until the Lord Himself appears to him (Luk 23:34). And even when Jesus appears to them the disciples can hardly believe it (Luk 23:41), even though they had been prepared for it by the evidence of Peter (Luk 23:34). So it is made quite clear that there was no expectancy on anyone’s part that they would ever see Jesus again on earth. None are revealed as people of expectant faith.
Such a situation confirms the accuracy of the narrative, for in terms of what was later the accepted norm for belief their attitude was paltry. They demeaned the women, and revealed an attitude of obstinate unbelief that was positively unsatisfactory. No one would even have hinted at such attitudes in the great Apostles if they had not been an accurate picture.
The chapter begins with the puzzle of the empty tomb, leads on to a full explanation of the periods of doubt and the appearances of Jesus in response, before He is finally taken up into Heaven, and ends with the enigmatic promise of ‘power from on high. But for what that resulted in we have to wait until Acts.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Luk 23:56. And theyprepared spices and ointments, and rested, &c. Some commentators connect this verse with the first of the following chapter, thus;ointments: and they rested, &c. commandment; But upon the first day, &c. As the women were not present when Joseph and Nicodemus bound up the body with spices; (See Joh 19:39-40.) as it does not appear that they saw the body after it was bound up; or, if they did, they could not see the spices, which were hid by the linen winding-sheet; as they were without, watching, while the body was preparing; and when it was carried out to be buried, went after, to see where it was laid; they may be supposed to have been ignorant of its having been wound up with spices, and consequently were guilty of no impropriety in preparing ingredients for that purpose themselves. But even allowing that they knew what had been done to the body, they could not but know that all was done in great haste. It cannot be said, that as much had been done by Joseph and Nicodemus as was usual; and that the whole ceremony was already completed; this is more than in the nature of the thing is possible to be true. No nation was more careful of their dead than the Jews: the body was first to be washed all over, and cleaned with much care, and afterwards to be anointed; but in regard to Christ’s body, there was not time before the sabbath to perform even thus much of the ceremony. When the body was taken down from the cross, the evening was coming on, and it was not yet dark when it was left in the sepulchre. The funeral ceremony therefore, it is plain, was not, could not, be already completed. Offices of this solemn kind, especially to persons of distinction, were not used to be performed the moment they were dead; nor to be huddled up in so hasty and negligent a manner. Moses informs us, that when Jacob was embalmed, no less than forty days were employed in the operation; and among the Egyptians, from whom the Jews borrowed this ceremony, no less than seventy days were required to complete it. Joseph and Nicodemus intended, no doubt, to inter the body of Christ agreeable to the notion that they had of his dignity and character, no less than one hundred pounds weight of spices and perfumes being provided for this purpose. The funeral ceremonies were probably reserved to be performed after the sabbath, had not the divine power prevented it by a more wonderful event. Indeed, whether the women were acquainted with the little which had already been done to the body or not, is immaterial: they knew where it had been deposited, and came therefore early in the morning to pay their last respects to it, by anointing and perfuming it; a common method of shewing respect to persons of dignity and distinction, both living and dead. See the note on Mar 16:1.
Inferences drawn from the conduct of the two thieves, Luk 23:39-43.What different effects the judgments of God have upon the minds of men, may be learned from the examples now before us. Here are two thieves crucified with our blessed Saviour. But mark their end: one died reproaching and blaspheming Christ, and breathed out his soul in the agonies of guilt and despair; the other saw, acknowledged, and openly confessed his Redeemer, and expired with the sound of those blessed words in his ears, This day shall thou be with me in paradise. How adorable is the wisdom of God, who has thus instructed us; and by setting the examples of his justice and mercy so near together, has taught us to fear without despair, and to hope without presumption!
Who would not tremble for himself, when he sees the man perish in his sins who died by the Saviour’s side, within reach of that Blood which was poured out for his redemption; within reach of that hand which alone is able to save?Yet he who had all these advantages, enjoyed none of them; but died in his sins, void of hope and comfort.
Must the sinner then despair?No; cast your eyes to the other side of the cross, and see the mercy of God displayed in the brightest colours. There hangs the penitent, surrounded with all the terrors of approaching deathyet in the midst of all, calm and serene, confessing his sins, glorifying the justice of God in his own punishment, rebuking the blasphemy of his companion, justifying the innocence of his Saviour, and adoring him even in the lowest state of misery; and at last receiving the certain promise of a glorious immortality.
Thus the case stands, with all the allowances made to it, which seem most to favour a death-bed repentance: and yet, as if the scriptures had said nothing of the wretch who died blaspheming Christ, nor given us any cause to fear that a wicked life may end in an obdurate death; the case of the penitent only is drawn into example, and such hopes are built upon it, as are neither consistent with the laws of God, nor the terms of man’s salvation.
But allowing the case of the penitent thief to be what it is generally supposed, yet, after we have briefly considered the circumstances which distinguish it from that of the dying Christian, it will seem not very difficult to shew how little hope the present example affords.
Perhaps in all this relation before us, there may be nothing resembling a death-bed repentance. It is no uncommon thing for malefactors to lie in prison a long time before they are brought to trial and execution; and if that be the present case, there is room enough for the conversion of this criminal before he came to suffer. The circumstances incline this way. How came he to be so well acquainted with the innocency of Christ? How came it into his head to address him in the manner that he does; Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom? Luk 23:42. What were the marks of royalty discoverable on the cross? What the signs of dignity and power? What could lead him to think that his Fellow-sufferer had a title to any kingdom? What to imagine that he was Lord of the world to come? These circumstances make it probable, that he had elsewhere learned the character and dignity of Christ, and came persuaded of the truth of his mission:but what is this to them, who have no desire to lie down Christians upon their death-bed, though they would willingly go off penitents?
Besides, suppose this great work were begun and finished on the cross, yet it cannot be drawn into example by Christian sinners; because the conversion of a Jew or a heathen, is one thing, and the conversion of a Christian is another, in several respects: for the Christian, so called, sins under the full use of all the means which the gospel has provided.
Again, he that sins in hopes of repenting at last, may sin so far as to grow obdurate, and incapable of repentance when the time comes. Look upon the impenitent thief in this view; who, though he had certainly all the outward advantages which the penitent had, yet made no advances towards repentance, but died reproaching Christ, and joining with his crucifiers in that bitter jeer, If thou be the Christ, came down from the crossif thou be Christ, save thyself and us, Luk 23:39. Now to what can this, and numerous circumstances like this, be attributed, but to the desertion of God’s Holy Spirit, which will not always strive with sinners, but at last leaves the obdurate to perish in the hardness of their hearts.
And hence it comes to pass, that when these sinners lie down upon a sick-bed, they often want both the will and the power to ask forgiveness of God; and by an habitual neglect of all parts of religion, become unable to perform any; even that, in which all their hopes centred, and are concluded,to repent of, and ask pardon for their sins through the blood of the covenant.
Nor is it in the power of any man to sin to what degree he pleases, or to preserve the sense of religion amid the pleasures of iniquity. Habits grow insensibly: there is a kind of mechanism in it; and he that gives himself up to sin, can no more resolve how great a sinner he will be, than he that is born a man can resolve how tall or how short of stature he will be. To the truth of this, experience daily witnesses: happy those who want this fatal experience! upon the whole, there is much more reason to fear that sin, if once indulged, should get the better of, and destroy every resolution of repentance, than that the resolutions to repent should ever conquer and destroy the confirmed powers and habits of sin. I wish those who have not yet put it out of their own power to reason calmly upon these things, would enter into this debate with their own hearts, and consider what danger they are in. A few moments cannot be too much to spend in so weighty an affair; and whenever we retire to these cool thoughts, may the Father of Mercies influence those moments of our life, upon which all ETERNITY depends, under the grace of God.
But could you preserve your resolutions of repentance, yet still it is not in your own power to secure an opportunity to execute them. The penitent thief upon the cross died a violent death by the hands of justice; he had no pretence to defer his repentance in prospect of a future opportunity; nor was his heart to be allured by the soft pleasures of life, when life itself was so near expiring. From the like death God defend us all! And yet without it, which of us can hope for such favourable circumstances for a death-bed repentance? Whenever the sinner thinks of repenting, he will find that he has a work of great sorrow and trouble upon his hands; and this makes him unwilling to set about it. No man is so old, but that he thinks he may last out one year more; and then, why will not tomorrow serve for repentance as well as to-day? The years to come which men rejoice in, serve only to make them negligent and thoughtless of the great concerns of immortality: and whether men are not deluded by these hopes, let any one judge; and hence it comes to pass that such vast numbers who sin with resolutions of repentance, never think of it till confined to a sick-bed: because, as long as they are in health, they have always a ready answer, “It will be time enough hereafter.” So that the unfortunate end to which justice brought this penitent on the cross, was, with respect to his conversion, an advantage which few will give themselves: the certainty of his death permitted him no delays, no vain excuses, no flattering hopes of better opportunities hereafter.
But, considering that nominal Christians who propose to themselves the example before us, seldom endeavour to repent till warned by sickness to prepare for death; they will evidently want another advantage which this penitent had. His death not being the effect of any bodily pain or distemper, but of the judge’s sentencehe brought with him to the cross, (which, if you please, you may call his death-bed,) a sound body and mind. He had his senses perfect, his reason fresh and undisturbed, and might be capable, through grace, of performing such acts of faith and devotion, as were necessary to his repentance and conversion.
But, how different often is the case of the sick and languishing sinner! Perhaps he labours under such acute pains, as will give him no respite for thought or reflection; or perhaps he doses, and lies stupid, without knowing his friends and relations, or even himself; or perhaps the distemper seizes his head,and he raves, and is distracted;loses his reason, and every thing of the man, but the outward shape, before his death!And are not these hopeful circumstances for repentance?Is a man likely to know, and find out his Saviour, when he knows not even his own brother who stands by his bed-side?These are very common circumstances, and such as render repentance impracticable.
But should the sinner escape all these incidents, and go off gently, without being forsaken by his sense or reason; yet still it may happen, and often it does,that his promised repentance produces nothing but horror and despair! In his lifetime he flattered himself with unreasonable hopes of mercy, and now,he begins to see how unreasonable they were. Now he can think of nothing, but that he is going to appear before his judge, to receive the just reward of his wickedness. He sees him already, clothed with wrath and majesty; and forms within his own tormented breast the whole progress of the last day. If he sleeps, he dreams of judgment and misery; and when he wakes, believes his dreams forebode his fate. Thus restless and uneasy, thus void of comfort and hope, without confidence to ask pardon, without faith to receive it, does the wretched sinner expire, and has the misfortune to see his hopes die before him! In a word then, put all the favourable circumstances together that you can imagine; bring the sinner by the gentlest decays to his latter end; give him the fairest and longest warning; yet still you give him no security. And whether those who live under the continual calls of grace to faith and holiness, and reject the counsel of God while they have health and strength to serve him, will be likely to have such extraordinary mercy shewn them at the last, as to have then an offer of salvation, let such persons judge themselves from the few instances that we have of death-bed penitents.
Christ came to destroy sin, and the works of the devil; but if men were promised forgiveness upon the account of a few sighs and tears at last, this would effectually establish and confirm the kingdom of Satan. Though God has promised to pardon penitent sinners through the Son of his love, yet his promise must be expounded so, as to be consistent with his designs in sending Christ into the world. In a word, we have the promises of the gospel set before us, we have the mercies of God in Christ offered to us; if we will accept them, happy are we; but if we are for finding our new ways to salvation, if we seek to reconcile the pleasures and profits of sin with the hopes of the gospel, we do but deceive ourselves; for God is not mocked, nor will he regard those who make such perverse use of his mercy.
What then remains, but that all who love their own souls, seek the Lord whilst haply he may be found, and while they have the light; for the night cometh, when no man can work. The night cometh on apace, and brings with it a change, which every mortal must undergo. Then shall we be forsaken of all our pleasures and enjoyments, and deserted by those gay thoughts which now support our foolish hearts against the fears of religion. The time cometh,and who, O Lord, may abide its coming!when we must all stand before the judgment seat of Christ; when the highest and the lowest shall be placed on the same level, expecting a new distribution of rewards and punishments. In that day, the stoutest heart will tremble, and the countenance of the proudest man will fall, in the presence of his injured Lord. I speak not to you the suggestions of superstition or fear, but the words of soberness, of spiritual joy and comfort here, and of glory and immortality hereafter, to all the faithful, and to them alone!
REFLECTIONS.1st, Though they had condemned our Lord as worthy to die as a blasphemer; yet not having the power of life and death in their hands, and this pretended crime not being of such a nature as the Roman government might deem capital,in order to execute their bloody purposes, the chief priests are obliged to have recourse to some other charge. Therefore,
1. They accuse him to Pilate, as a fomenter of sedition, setting up himself for king, and forbidding to give tribute to Caesar; though he had so expressly enjoined it, when they meant to ensnare him; and, so far from affecting royalty, had opposed the mistaken zeal of his followers, who would have set him up for their king, Joh 6:15 but the purest innocence is no defence against the blackest calumny. Nay, in the present case, they knew themselves in their hearts to be the rebels; they abhorred the Roman government, and, so far from thinking it a crime to oppose it, would gladly have embraced the first favourable occasion to revolt. And, by the just judgment of God, that pretended crime, on account of which they demanded the condemnation of Jesus, shortly after the real crime, as far as man was concerned, for which themselves and the whole Jewish nation were destroyed by the Romans. Note; The poisoned chalice will return to him who mingled it.
2. Christ plainly and directly answers Pilate’s interrogatories, and confesses himself indeed King of the Jews: but not in opposition to Caesar, with whose government he never interfered. His kingdom was of a quite different nature, not of this world, but purely spiritual over the hearts of men.
3. Pilate, convinced of the innocence of Jesus, declares that he can find no fault in him: whatever religious doctrines he taught, they came not under his cognizance, and therefore he would have released him: but the chief priests, exasperated even to fury at the thought of his being discharged, insisted upon it that they could prove him guilty of many seditious discourses and attempts to raise insurrections through Galilee, the chief scene of his preaching, and in all Judea.
4. Pilate, on the mention of Galilee, having found that he was of that country, would very gladly have rid himself of this disagreeable affair; and Herod, the tetrarch of Galilee, being then at Jerusalem, to whose jurisdiction he belonged, he referred them to him: and thus was the scripture fulfilled, Psa 2:2. Act 4:26-27.
5. Herod was highly pleased at the sight of Jesus. The fame of his mighty works had long excited a desire to see him; and he hoped that his curiosity would be gratified by seeing some miracle now performed by him. But he was mistaken: as Christ knew the spirit with which he put the several questions to him relative to his miracles, he deigned not to make the least reply. The poorest beggar that came with his diseased body, would have met the kindest words and speediest relief; but he will not prostitute his power to gratify the curiosity of the proudest potentate.
6. While Jesus held his peace, his accusers, with open mouths, belched out their malice, endeavouring to exasperate Herod against him, and to awaken his jealousy by charges of his seditious conduct in Galilee: but Herod thought him an object rather to be despised than feared; and, after treating him as a weak silly wretch, and suffering his soldiers to make sport of him, in derision of the pretences which Jesus was said to form, he decked him in a robe of mock majesty, and sent him back to Pilate, desirous that he should determine concerning him as he thought fit. Note; If we are set at nought, insulted, despised, and treated as fools or madmen, let it not be grievous to us: we are used but like our Lord.
7. Pilate and Herod were on this occasion reconciled. They had been at enmity one with the other; but the mutual civilities which passed on this occasion, healed the breach, and made them friends again.
2nd, Jesus, being brought again from Herod to Pilate,
1. Pilate called the chief priests and rulers, and the people; and, convinced of the innocence of the prisoner, he declares, after the strictest examination, that he can find no shadow of a crime: nor had Herod testified the least mark of his displeasure against Jesus as a criminal, or as one deserving capital punishment. He offers, therefore, to chastise him, as if he were a criminal, to gratify them, and cover their prosecution from the suspicion of malice: and, since he must release one to them at the feast, he proposes Christ as the person; who, though his life was spared, would be thus stigmatized as a malefactor. Thus does this corrupt judge desire to trim between his conscience and the people, unwilling to imbrue his hands in innocent blood, yet solicitous to shew his utmost complaisance to them.
2. The proposal was abortive. The people, instigated by their priests and rulers, rejected the offer, demanding the release of Barabbas, whose notorious crimes of murder and insurrection called for the severest punishment; and cried out for the immediate execution of Jesus. In vain Pilate, again and again, remonstrated against the injustice and cruelty of such a demand: they only grew more outrageous at his opposition; and, not satisfied with the chastisement which he offered to inflict upon Jesus, demanded his crucifixion with such clamour, noise, and violence, as quite terrified Pilate into a compliance. He feared men more than God, and dared not disoblige the rulers and a lawless multitude, though at the expence of innocent blood.
3. Pilate, though reluctantly, at last pronounces the sentence of execution upon the innocent Saviour; and, having released that infamous criminal Barabbas, as preferred before him, delivers Jesus to their will; and the enmity which they had shewn against him plainly foretold, that their tender mercies would be cruelty.
3rdly, Behold the lamb of God led to the slaughter, amid the tears of Jerusalem’s daughters.
1. His executioners seized on Simon, a Cyrenian, compelling him to bear the cross under which Christ was ready to expire; and not out of pity, but lest by death he should elude their malice, they released him from it for a moment, that they might shortly bind him faster to it with iron.
2. A multitude followed him, and among them many women bewailing his unhappy fate, and touched with tenderest sympathy at his innocent sufferings. Note; A sight of the cross-bearing Saviour may well excite our deepest grief. For he bore our sins, and carried our sorrows.
3. He addresses the mourners, and kindly bids them direct their tears into another channel; weep not for me, but weep for yourselves, and for your children; deep as his agonies were, he freely submitted to them; his sufferings were voluntary, and the issue of them would be glorious; but the judgments coming upon their people and nation, would be embittered with the wrath of God, and end in their utter destruction. Then barrenness would be accounted a blessing: for better were it to be destitute of children, than to see them devoured by famine and the sword. A refuge then under falling rocks and mountains would be welcome, rather than to meet the fearful executioners of God’s vengeance; for if they do these things in a green tree, what shall be done in the dry? If these wicked men have inflicted such sufferings on me, who am innocent, what shall be done to them who, by their sins, are as fuel prepared for the devouring flames? and if the Romans, whom they have instigated, are permitted to exercise such cruelty on me who have never given them provocation, what vengeance will they wreak on the Jewish people, when, exasperated to the utmost, they consume them as fire does the dry wood? Note; (1.) Though barrenness is often counted a misery, the days may come, when not to have children may be reckoned among our mercies. (2.) They who will not fly to the arms of Jesus for mercy, will cry in vain to rocks and mountains to shelter them from the frowns of his wrath. (3.) Every view of the sufferings of Jesus should fill us with horror at the dreadful evil and danger of sin; if the wrath of God fell so heavy upon him for sins not his own, with what an intolerable load must the impenitent sinner be overwhelmed, when all the wrath of God due for his own sins shall light down on his devoted head. If Christ’s sufferings were so great, what must be the torment of the damned?
4thly, We have,
1. The crucifixion of the Son of God between two malefactors; who, to increase the ignominy of his sufferings, were led with him to Calvary, the place of execution, and crucified on each side of him. There, amid the taunts and insults of his enemies, he was hung up, to expire in torments: and over his head his pretended crime was written in Hebrew, Greek, and Latin, THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS. While they are mocking, let us bow down with adoration, and wonder at that love which fastened him to the accursed tree. If, as they challenged him to do, he refused to save himself, it was because he could not then have saved us; it was needful that he should die, that we might not eternally perish under the wrath of God.
2. His prayer for his murderers. Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do; they were blinded by prejudice and ignorance; and he became, as Mediator, their advocate with his Father, that they might still have an offer of salvation. Some of those who nailed him to the tree probably experienced, at least after his resurrection, the glorious efficacy of that atoning blood with which their hands were stained. Note; (1.) There are no crimes so great, but the blood of Jesus can cleanse us from them; even murder itself is not unpardonable. (2.) The persecutors of God’s people know not what they do; and that should be an argument with us, after our Lord’s example, to bear with, forgive, pity, and pray for them.
3. The conversion of the thief upon the cross; wherein we behold a most glorious evidence of the mighty efficacy of the Saviour’s grace, even in the lowest step of his humiliation, and a striking display of the great design of his sufferings, to save that which was lost. One indeed continued hardened to the last, railing on him, and challenging him, if he was the Christ, to save himself and them. Thus afflictive providences too often serve only to harden and exasperate, instead of humbling the impenitent. The other, snatched as a brand from the burning, is here held up an illustrious monument of the salvation of Jesus, even to the uttermost; an object which stains the pride of human glory, and renders all mere self-wrought righteousness contemptible; when such a wretch, now penitent, enters the eternal kingdom, from which the most apparently devout, decent, and orderly Pharisee must be for ever excluded. Note; It is enough that the Saviour was pleased to exercise a signal act of favour towards one desperate but returning sinner, as an encouragement to the most miserable still to trust in his mercy. See the Annotations and Inferences.
[1.] The behaviour of this malefactor evinced the blessed influence which a sense of redeeming love instantly wrought on his heart. (1.) He sharply rebukes his companion, Dost not thou fear God? When ready to appear at his tremendous bar, how unsuitable is such reviling in thy lips, seeing thou art in the same condemnation, suffering the same kind of punishment; and therefore humanity dictated mutual compassion? (2.) He reminds him of the justness of their punishment, and takes shame to himself for his crimes. We indeed suffer justly, for we receive the due reward of our deeds; and that should have covered them both with confusion, and sealed up their lips in silence. Thus every real penitent justifies God in his judgments, and owns all he suffers to be no more than his sins deserve. (3.) He bears testimony to the innocence of Jesus, this man hath done nothing amiss; he was fully convinced that his sufferings were for sins not his own, and his confession seems to intimate that he was well acquainted with the Saviour’s character; and what he had seen of Christ’s behaviour on the cross, his meekness, patience, and charity towards his murderers, were striking evidences of his innocence. (4.) He addresses himself to the dying Redeemer, as a dying sinner commending himself to his mercy, Lord, remember me, when thou comest into thy kingdom. His faith staggered not at the ignominious circumstances in which he beheld the Son of God; he pays him the divine honours due to him as the Lord of life and glory; he professes unshaken dependance on his all-sufficiency to save, even at the latest gasp, the vilest of sinners. Humbly he presents his request; one kind remembrance only he asks, unworthy the least regard; but if the Lord will think of him in that glorious kingdom, to which he is now assured he is about to be advanced, then he knows that he himself shall be a member of it. Lord, give me like faith in thy power and love! Thus dying, may I be able to commend my spirit unto thy hands, founding all my hopes on thy rich grace alone!
[2.] Christ is pleased most graciously to answer his requests, and so give him even more than he asks. Verily I say unto thee, and my word is truth, to-day shalt thou be with me in paradise; thy soul, as soon as it departs from the body, shall join the assembly of the blessed in that state of happiness and glory, which God hath prepared for his faithful people. Note; (1.) The prayer of faith is sure of an answer of peace; the chief of sinners, if they return to God, and cleave to the Saviour in persevering faith, shall be placed among his saints in glory everlasting. (2.) There is a state of blessedness immediately prepared for the souls of the faithful, where they are in joy and felicity, before the resurrection-day, when in body and soul their happiness will be complete. (3.) Where Christ is, there is heaven; to be with him in glory, is to be eternally blessed.
5thly, We are told,
1. The prodigies which happened, while Jesus hung on the tree. The sun was eclipsed from twelve o’clock at noon till three, and the veil of the temple rent, signifying the state of judicial blindness, to which the Jewish people were abandoned; the abolition of all the typical institutions, the one great Sacrifice being now offered which they represented; and the free access which all, whether Jews or Gentiles, now have to a throne of grace, through this new and living way consecrated through the veil, that is to say, his flesh. Heb 10:19-20.
2. The last dying words of Jesus, which he uttered aloud, not as one exhausted, but as having still his full strength, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit: and having said thus, he gave up the ghost. He borrows the Psalmist’s words, for scripture language is ever most expressive in our addresses to God. He testifies, as the High-priest and Sacrifice, the fullest confidence in the favour of God his Father; he, by the Eternal Spirit, offers himself for the sins of the world; and now, by his death, pays down the ransom in full to divine justice; he commits his human body and soul, which now were to be separated, to his Father’s care, and waits in hope until the third day, when they should be re-united, and he should rise again. And thus must the dying saints of God, by faith, cheerfully commend their departing souls to their Father’s keeping, until the happy resurrection-morn; when, fashioned like to Christ’s glorious body, our sleeping ashes shall be re-animated, and we shall be taken to dwell with him in his eternal kingdom.
3. The centurion’s confession. Deeply affected with what he saw and heard, he could not refrain from expressing his fullest conviction of the innocence of Jesus; and, to the glory of God, acknowledges the righteousness of his eternal Son.
4. The spectators, many of them at least, perhaps some also who had cried Crucify him, now full of anguish and remorse, returned smiting on their breasts. The prodigies which they beheld startled their consciences, and terrified them with the apprehension of what would be the consequence of this atrocious deed, at which even the heavens above, and the earth under their feet, testified their indignation.
5. A considerable number of his disciples, and particularly the women who followed Jesus from Galilee, stood at a distance, overwhelmed with grief at what they saw, and under the deepest dejection, as if the cross of Jesus was the death of all their hopes; when, in fact, by these sufferings his victories were to be obtained, and his kingdom established.
6thly, The corpse of Jesus was now in danger of being cast, with those of the malefactors, into a common grave; but when none of his other disciples had courage to appear, or ability to give him an honourable interment, God is pleased to raise up one to discharge this last kind office.
1. His name and character are here given us. He was called Joseph, a man of signal piety and probity; a counsellor, probably one of the great Sanhedrim, who consented not to the counsel and deed of them; either he entered his protest against their proceedings, or, seeing opposition in vain, withdrew. He was of Arimathea, a city of the Jews, who also himself waited for the kingdom of God, expecting, according to the prophesies, that it would shortly appear.
2. He went unto Pilate, and having obtained permission to take down the body from the cross, he wrapped it in linen, and laid it in a new tomb, where never man before lay, in haste to finish the funeral, because the sabbath drew on. The women, the constant attendants of Jesus, followed the corpse to the grave; and, returning, prepared spices and ointments that they might come and embalm him, as soon as the sabbath was past; during which they observed the rest enjoined on that holy day. Note; The Lord’s day now, as the sabbath of old, is sacred; all our affairs must be so ordered, as not to break in upon the hours expressly set apart for the immediate service of God.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
REFLECTIONS
See, my soul! thy Lord taken from prison and from judgment. And who shall declare his generations? Behold Pilate, Herod, the Chief Priests, and Scribes, yea, the whole multitude, all engaged in the foul act of Christ’s crucifixion. And was there none beside? Think, my soul! how much thy sins, both in the original and actual transgression of thine Adam-nature, added to the vast account. Oh! for grace, that in a conscious sense of my own sins, upon this solemn occasion, I may look unto him whom I have pierced, and mourn, as one that mourneth for his only son; and be in bitterness, as one that is in bitterness for his first born!
Precious Jesus! enable me to connect with the solemn view of thine unequalled sufferings, that thou hast made my peace by the blood of thy cross, and by thy stripes I am healed. And from the cross enable me to behold thee proclaiming peace to all thy people, and doing away, the whole of sin by the sacrifice of thyself. Yes! thou Almighty Lord! truly, in the instance of the dying thief, thou hast shewn the sovereign efficacy of thy finished salvation. Here may poor, despairing, self-condemned, and self-condemning sinners, find the sweetest encouragement. And, if Jesus in the days of his flesh offered up strong crying and tears, and was heard in that he feared, will he not have compassion on the ignorant, and on them that are out of the way, since he himself was thus compassed with infirmity?
Lord! I would take my stand at the door of the sepulchre. Like Mary, I would wait in humble sorrow until my risen and triumphant Savior shall speak to me, as the Lord did to that poor woman. Oh! for grace, to have the first views of Jesus, the first love tokens as she had of Jews, that I might hasten with the same tender commission, and tell the brethren of Jesus of the glorious tidings of the resurrection. Lord! give me the assured earnest, in a resurrection of grace, for that great day of my God, when all his redeemed will partake in a resurrection to glory!
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
56 And they returned, and prepared spices and ointments; and rested the sabbath day according to the commandment.
Ver. 56. And rested the seventh day ] From all servile work, yea, that (otherwise most honourable) work of embalming Christ’s dead body.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
56. ] They bought their spices, &c. in the short time before sunset . The before . answers to , ch. Luk 24:1 , which ought therefore to continue the sense, as I have punctuated it in the text.
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Luk 23:56 . : they respected the Sabbath law as commonly understood. The purchase of spices and ointments is viewed by some as a proof that the day of Christ’s crucifixion was an ordinary working day.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Luk 23:56 b
56bAnd on the Sabbath they rested according to the commandment.
Luk 23:56 b “the commandment” This refers to Exo 20:8-11 or Deu 5:12-15. These were still Jewish people who respected and obeyed the Mosaic Law.
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
prepared, &c. These had to be bought (Mar 16:1) between the two sabbaths. See App-156.
rested. Greek. hesuchazo = to rest from labour. Occurs only here, and in Luk 14:4. Act 11:18; Act 21:14; and 1Th 4:11.
the commandment. Lev 23:4-7. See App-156.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
56.] They bought their spices, &c. in the short time before sunset. The before . answers to , ch. Luk 24:1, which ought therefore to continue the sense, as I have punctuated it in the text.
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Luk 23:56. , they prepared) They had their home in Galilee; Luk 23:49. The office they rendered to Him is the greater on that account, as being rendered away from home, and attended with greater cost and trouble. [Thou hereby dost perceive truly unwearied piety (affection) and assiduity springing from faith; which faith, however, itself already underwent a strange eclipse in those excellent souls.-Harm., p. 583.]-, spices) which are dry.-, ointments) which are liquid.-, the Sabbath) The rest appointed to be observed on the Sabbath was more obligatory than the rest connected with the feast. [Christs rest in the sepulchre claimed to itself this whole Sabbath, which is on that very account most worthy of attentive consideration. The things which at that time took place in the kingdom of the invisible world, will benefit believers in no ordinary degree, so long as there shall remain aught of them, nay, indeed to all eternity.-V. g. Most excellent effects truly took place, during the calm repose of this Sabbath, in those souls which, though timid, were yet choice and precious, nay, indeed in the Saviour Himself. 1Pe 3:18-19; Act 2:24, et seqq.-Harm., p. 583.]
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
prepared: Luk 24:1, 2Ch 16:14, Mar 16:1
rested: Exo 20:8-10, Exo 31:14, Exo 35:2, Exo 35:3, Isa 58:13, Isa 58:14, Jer 17:24, Jer 17:25
Reciprocal: Gen 2:3 – blessed Exo 16:23 – rest Exo 16:29 – abide ye Exo 20:10 – thou shalt Exo 31:15 – the sabbath Exo 34:21 – Six Lev 23:3 – General Deu 5:13 – General Jer 17:22 – neither do Mat 12:2 – Behold Mat 26:12 – General Mat 28:1 – the end Mar 15:47 – General Joh 5:10 – it is not
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
SABBATH REST
And rested the Sabbath day according to the commandment.
Luk 23:56
In such simple and beautiful words does the evangelist record the action of the devout woman. He tells you how these faithful followers of Christ had comeafter that awful Friday evening when His body was taken from the Cross of Shameto perform their last tribute, as they thought, to His sacred memory. And even in this loving act of anointing His sacred body with precious spices, they were heedful to keep holy the Sabbath day, and were careful to get this, their work of devotion, done so that they might spend the day in rest and devotion.
We all know that mans nature is threefoldbody, mind, and spirit. When God gave us the Sabbath, he gave it to be a rest for each part of our nature.
I. Rest for the body.There is a cessation of all toil and labour. Thank God for that! How beautiful it is to go into the country on a summer evening where, on all hands, you see the evidence of blessed, peaceful rest!
II. Rest for the mind.Some people will say, When I have been busy all the week, I like to go out on Sunday and play cricket or golf. It does me so much more good than going to church. I quite agree that there is more physical exercise, and bodily exercise certainly profiteth for a little time, but Godliness is profitable unto all things, having the promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come.
III. Rest for the soul.How many aching voids there are in the lives of all of us! That is why Jesus said so Divinely, Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. And He says, Where two or three are gathered together in My name, there am I in their midst. Do you go to Gods house to seek rest? Seek and ye shall find.
Rev. Canon MCormick.
Illustrations
(1) A gentleman was inspecting a house in Newcastle with a view to occupying it as a residence. The landlord took him to the principal window and expatiated on the beautiful prospect. You can see Durham Cathedral from this window on Sunday, he said. Why on Sunday above any other day? The reply was conclusive: Because on that day there is no smoke from those tall chimneys. Blessed is the Sabbath to us, when the earths smoke of care and turmoil no longer beclouds our view.
(2) Lord Macaulay says, We are not poorer but richer because, through many ages we have rested one day in seven. That day is not lost while industry is suspended, while the plough lies idle in the furrow. A process is going on quite as important as is performed on more busy days.
(3) The great William Wilberforce once said, Oh, what a blessing is Sunday, interposed between the world of business! There is nothing about which I can advise you to be more strictly conscientious than keeping the Sabbath day holy. I can truly declare that to me the Sabbath has been invaluable. There were few men who had to pass through more stress and worry than William Wilberforce. When he set himself the task of freeing the slaves he had all the world against him.
Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary
6
Returned and prepared spices. That is, they made such preparation that same day, for the next day was a sabbath or holy day, it being the regular Passover day (Lev 23:4-5), which explains the statement about resting the sabbath day according to the commandment.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
And they returned, and prepared spices and ointments; and rested the sabbath day according to the commandment.
[And rested the sabbath day.] If our Saviour was taken down from the cross about sunset, as it was provided, Deu 21:23; Jos 8:29; then had the women this interim of time to buy their spices and despatch other business before the entry of the sabbath day.
I. Between the suns. So they called that space of time that was between the setting of the sun and the appearance of any star.
II. Might they not have that space of time also that was between the first and second star? We may judge something from this passage: “In the evening of the sabbath, if he see one star and do any work, he is acquitted; but if he see two stars, let him bring his trespass-offering.”
III. Might they not have some farther allowance in the case of funerals? We may judge from this passage: “they do all works necessary about the dead [on the sabbath day]; they anoint him, they wash him, provided only that they do not stir a limb of him,” etc. It was not safe for those women to shew themselves too busy in preparing for his interment; especially seeing Jesus died as a malefactor, and was odious to the people: this might exasperate the people against them, and so much the more too, if they should, in the least measure, violate the sabbath day. But further, besides the honour they gave to the sabbath, it was not prudence in them to break it for a work which they thought they might as well do when the sabbath was done and over.
Fuente: Lightfoot Commentary Gospels
Luk 23:56. And prepared spices and ointments. It would seem that this preparation of spices took place that evening, while Mark (Mar 16:1) implies that it took place later. The other women, who did not remain at the sepulchre, may have made immediate preparations. The last clause of this verse is to be joined with what follows, so that the resting is not said to have taken place after the preparation of spices. We may thus paraphrase: After they had viewed the grave, they ought (not stated when?) spices, and rested indeed the Sabbath day, according to the law, but when this was over they went with the spices as quickly as possible to the grave. On the relation of their purpose to the embalming by Nicodemus, see on Mar 16:1; Joh 19:39-40.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Subdivision 3. (Luk 23:56; Luk 24:1-53.)
Resurrection and Ascension to Heaven.
The sorrow is past; the suffering is over; upon it all rises the glory of a serene and perfect day. The Lord risen; there is peace with God accomplished, acceptance in the Beloved; and with ascension; not only heaven opened, but (as another has said) “heaven furnished for us.”
What strikes one especially in these resurrection scenes in Luke, as compared with the other Gospels, is the large place the word of God has in them. This is still, no doubt, the continuation of that Human Face which, as we have seen abundantly, the third Gospel presents to us. The word of God, as that by which in his true life man lives, (as He Himself affirms from Deuteronomy,) was that by which He walked and to which He ever appealed, which He honored and held up, whether before His own, or His enemies. In these last scenes it assumes peculiar prominence. In the journey to Emmaus it is that by which He leads the perplexed disciples to a firmer faith before He manifests Himself to them in the breaking of bread. Afterwards with the eleven He refers to what is written in the Law of Moses and in the Prophets and the Psalms concerning Himself, and opens their understanding to understand the Scriptures. His ascension is to be a new light over all, the basis of mysteries hidden in the Old. Testament itself and which necessitate a new testimony afterwards to be committed to a fresh apostle sent forth from Christ in glory, and which is distinctively what he calls it in one place, “the gospel of the glory of Christ” (2Co 4:4, R.V.).
1. The light of the resurrection morning dawns with comparative slowness in Luke’s Gospel. Even because it is the Gospel of peace, we are made to see all the exercise and perplexity about it, and have that upon which all peace rests established upon the surest foundations. Here at first we have but the announcement, “He is alive,” carried to the apostles by those who had themselves been only taking their spices to the grave to complete His burial, and hide away for ever their best hopes!
The angels, announcement has in the very fact that it is by angels an air of distance in it, intensified by the reserve and reproof pervading the message. They do not even promise a meeting with Him: He is alive; had He not told them He would rise? why seek the living One among the dead? The women are perplexed and terrified; the apostles sceptical: these are tales, idle tales, bred in the minds of enthusiastic and visionary women: just the thought of a noted sceptic of these latter days. Peter runs, however, to the sepulchre: nothing is said of his companion; John, who will relate the visit in his own Gospel. He sees the linen clothes lying, their tenant gone, and departs, wondering.
2. We are now made to accompany two disciples, of whom we have heard nothing before and shall hear nothing again; and of whom we only know the name of one, Cleopas, upon a sorrowful walk to Emmaus, a village sixty furlongs outside Jerusalem. Their backs upon the city at such a time, and under the peculiar circumstances which they themselves relate, is surely significant. Perplexity and discouragement have taken hold of them; and in such a condition a backward course is inevitable.*
{*There is something in the names that impresses us, though one may fail in giving them their proper application. Yet if we believe that every jot and tittle of the inspired Word have meaning, we cannot refuse to see significance in such points as these. Cleopas seems then to mean “All,” or “every one,” “a glory.” The village to which he is going, if we accept the form that used to be given to the word, means “a despised people.” Here is contrast, certainly, and one in agreement with a backward (and downward) course. It would remind us naturally of Israel according to the glory with which God in His promises has clothed her -(see Rev 12:1-17, the “woman clothed with the sun”) and her condition, with Christ her glory renounced. The unbelief of the disciples tended to identify them with this lapsed condition, though divine love was about to recall them -could not possibly leave them to a path like this. But this is only a suggestion as to the meaning.}
While, then, they were on the road discussing the events that had happened, “Jesus Himself drew near and went with them.” It is a sign of their condition that “their eyes were holden, that they did not know Him.” In answer to His inquiries, the whole thing comes out, and “we trusted that it had been He who is going to redeem Israel” tells the tale of doubt and trouble. Yet they have heard the women’s story of His being alive, and of Peter’s visit to the sepulchre. What to think they know not.
Then, with a reproof for their unbelief, He begins to unfold the long prophetic burden of the ages past, through Moses and all the prophets following: their hearts burning within them as faith is rekindled at the sacred fire. They reach the village while He is reciting; and there they stay the wondrous Stranger from passing on; as He appears ready to do. Constrained by their solicitude, He enters the house to abide with them. There, in the breaking of bread He is revealed to them at last.
It is striking the character of all this: the first announcement made to women; here, before the apostles, two simple disciples are taken up to be ministered to, and with painstaking earnestness to bring them back to simplicity of faith. When they come back to Jerusalem, they find that He has appeared unto Simon; and we realize that here there is more pastoral work of the same tender sort. This appearing, however, is not given us any where at large, as we might have expected. They meet, as it were in secret, the Lord and His failed disciple, before He meets them together, Peter and the rest of the eleven. The tender style of all this, how like the Lord it is! How unofficial, too. It is plain that this is One who is going to be Himself the Shepherd of every individual soul of His, and not put them into the hands of some ecclesiastical go-between. It is, “One is your Teacher, even Christ; and all ye are brethren.” Scripture is used, and they are built up with it: no miracles take the place of it: we hear again the Voice that said, “If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rose from the dead.”
3. (1) But the time is now come for fuller manifestation; and we see Him presently in the midst of the gathering of His people, inviting them to assure themselves fully of the reality of what they behold. With the doors shut, as John expressly tells us, His appearance in the midst impresses itself upon them as that of His bodiless spirit rather than the reappearance of the One they knew so well as He had lived and moved among them. In the tenderest way He invites them to make proof of His being in the body, to look at and handle Him, with the very wounds He had received still upon Him. When even yet, because of the greatness of the joy, they cannot realize it, he takes of the food they give Him and eats before them. It is the blessed fact and its full certification to those who are to be His witness that are put before us in Luke, and not yet the doctrines in connection with it, which are to be given us elsewhere.
(2) The Word is again appealed to, and His solemn testimony given to the written Word as it existed in His day, His sufferings and resurrection being a special part of this prophetic witness. Repentance and remission of sins are to be preached to all nations in the name of the Risen One; Jerusalem, guilty above all, to be first addressed. Thus Luke maintains its character to the end. Nothing is said of miraculous attestation, nor of baptism: the gospel is left in its own sufficiency. But they, its witnesses, are to be clothed with the power of the Spirit, the promise of the Father, sent by Himself: a step in advance of both Matthew and Mark, and in the line of the Acts and Paul.
(3) The gospel is to be first addressed to Jerusalem, but He does not ascend from thence, but from Bethany. “From thence He had set out to present Himself as King to Jerusalem. It was there that the resurrection of Lazarus had taken place; there that the family which present the character of the remnant -attached to His Person, now rejected, with better hopes -in the most striking manner received Jesus. It was thither He retired when His testimony to the Jews was ended; that His heart might rest for a few moments among those He loved; who, through grace, loved Him. It was there that He established the link (as to circumstances) between the remnant attached to His Person and heaven. From thence He ascends.” (Synopsis.)
He ascends with His hands stretched out in blessing, to take that place before God in which He abides, the Representative of His people, the Head of blessing for them. While Israel and the earth wait for His return to find what the Old Testament has pledged in their behalf, His place in heaven is the sign of a new order of blessing which the “mysteries” of Christianity are to take up and unfold to us. Luke is here again the precursor of Paul while John has first his own glories to display, which, while seen on earth, are essentially of heaven; and at last will unite heaven and earth together, as surely as He in whom we recognize them unites already in His Person; in one indissoluble perfection; God with Man.
Fuente: Grant’s Numerical Bible Notes and Commentary
Verse 56
Prepared spices and ointments, making arrangements in part for the embalming of the body. These preparations were not completed until after the Sabbath. (Mark 16:1.)