Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Luke 9:51
And it came to pass, when the time was come that he should be received up, he steadfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem,
Luk 9:51-56. Rejected by the Samaritans. A lesson of Tolerance.
51. when the time was come that he should be received up ] Rather, when the days of His Assumption were drawing to a close (literally, were being fulfilled). St Luke thus clearly marks the arrival of a final stage of our Lord’s ministry. “His passion, cross, death, and grave were coming on, but through them all Jesus looked to the goal, and the style of the Evangelist imitates His feelings,” Bengel. The word analysis means the Ascension (in Eccl. Latin Assumptio). So of Elijah, 2Ki 2:11; Mar 16:19.
he ] Rather, He Himself also.
set his face ] Jer 21:10; 2Ki 12:17 (LXX.), and especially Isa 1:7.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Should be received up – The word here translated received up means literally a removal from a lower to a higher place, and here it refers evidently to the solemn ascension of Jesus to heaven. It is often used to describe that great event. See Act 1:11, Act 1:22; Mar 16:19; 1Ti 3:16. The time appointed for him to remain on the earth was about expiring, and he resolved to go to Jerusalem and die. And from this we learn that Jesus made a voluntary sacrifice; that he chose to give his life for the sins of people. Humanly speaking, had he remained in Galilee he would have been safe; but that it might appear that he did not shun danger, and that he was really a voluntary sacrifice that no man had power over his life except as he was permitted (Joh 19:11 – he chose to put himself in the way of danger, and even to go into scenes which he knew would end in his death.
He stedfastly set his face – He determined to go to Jerusalem, or he set out resolutely. When a man goes toward an object, he may be said to set his face toward it. The expression here means only that he resolved to go, and it implies that he was not appalled by the dangers – that he was determined to brave all, and go up into the midst of his enemies – to die.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Luk 9:51-56
He steadfastly set His face to go to Jerusalem–
Christ hastening to the cross
I.
THE PERFECT CLEARNESS WITH WHICH ALL THROUGH CHRISTS LIFE HE SAW THE INEVITABLE END.
II. OUR LORDS PERFECT WILLINGNESS FOR THE SACRIFICE WHICH HE SAW BEFORE HIM.
III. THERE WAS IN CHRIST A NATURAL HUMAN SHRINKING FROM. THE CROSS. That steadfast and resolved will held its own, overcoming the natural human reluctance. He set His face. All along that consecrated road He walked, and each step represents a separate act of will, and each separate act of will represents a triumph over the reluctance of flesh and blood. We are far too much accustomed to think of our Saviour as presenting only the gentler graces of human nature. He presents those that belong to the stony side just as much. In Him is all power, manly energy, resolved consecration; everything that men call heroism. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)
Why did Christ go up to Jerusalem?
He went there to precipitate the collision and to make His crucifixion certain. He was under the ban of the Sanhedrim, but perfectly safe as long as He stopped down among the hills of Galilee. He was as unsafe when He went up to Jerusalem as John Huss when he went to the Council of Constance with the Emperors safe-conduct in his belt; or as a condemned heretic would have been in the old days if he had gone and stood in that little dingy square outside the palace of the Inquisition at Rome, and there, below the obelisk, preached his heresies. Christ had been condemned in the council of the nation; but there were plenty of hiding-places among the Galilean hills, and the frontier was close at hand, and it needed a long arm to reach from Jerusalem all the way across Samaria to the far north. Knowing that, He steadfastly set His face to go to Jerusalem, and, if I might use the expression, went straight into the lions mouth. Why? Because He chose to die. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)
The face toward Jerusalem
Every step of the Lord Jesus Christ left a footprint for His followers to study. This incident, too often overlooked as unimportant, has some suggestive lessons for the Christian.
1. It teaches that we should never shrink from a path of duty, however many may be the obstacles we encounter.
2. Such an uncompromising religion must not expect any help or hospitality from the world. Jesus found Himself on hostile soil as soon as He set foot in Samaria.
3. It was probably about the time of His repulse by the Samaritans that Jesus delivered those solemn injunctions to His followers about taking up their cross daily if they would be His disciples. He drew a sharp line, and made a clean issue. It is a religion of this fibre that the times demand. Such living brings happy dying. Dean Alford asked that it might be inscribed on his tombstone:
This is the inn of a traveller on his way to Jerusalem.
Let us determine so to live that, when Death calls our names on his roll, we may be found with our faces steadfastly set toward Jerusalem the Golden. (T. L. Cuyler, D. D.)
Steadfastnes in the path of duty
The Masters example teaches us to march unflinchingly forward in the path of duty, with our faces steadfastly set toward God. This is not an age of heroic Christianity. There is more pulp than pluck in the average Christian professor when self-denial is required. The men and women who not only rejoice in doing their duty for Christ, but even rejoice in overcoming uncomfortable obstacles in doing it, are quite too scarce. The piety that is most needed is a piety that will stand a pinch; a piety that would rather eat an honest crust than fare sumptuously on fraud; a piety that can work up stream against currents; a piety that sets its face like a flint in the straight, narrow road of righteousness. (T. L.Cuyler, D. D.)
Boldness of the decided man
The decisive man walks by the light of his own judgment: he has made up his mind; and, having done so, henceforth action is before him. He cannot bear to sit amidst unrealized speculations: to him speculation is only valuable that it may be resolved into living and doing. There is no indifference, no delay. The spirit is in arms: all is in earnest. Thus Pompey, when hazarding his life on a tempestuous sea in order to be at Rome on an important occasion, said, It is necessary for me to go: it is not necessary for me to live. Thus Caesar, when he crossed the Rubicon, burned the ships upon the shore which brought his soldiers to land, that there might be no return. (Paxton Hood.)
The battle-face
Oliver Cromwells men just before the battle used to look at their general, and whisper to each other, See, he has on his battle-face. When they saw that set, iron face they felt that defeat was impossible. Determined striving towards one point is the best way of gaining that point. Try to walk in a straight line over a field of snow, keeping your eyes fixed on the ground as you walk. When you look back on the track, you find it far from straight. Walk over the field again, this time keeping your eye fixed on some definite point ahead. That will keep you in the straight line, and will save you from fruitless wandering on this side or that. Jesus, keeping the end of His work in view, set His face towards it. So should we do with our work. (Sunday School Times.)
Wilt Thou that we command fire?—
Our Lord and the Samaritans
The conduct of these Samaritans in refusing to receive Christ and His disciples, was, indeed, very sinful; but the transport of rage into which that conduct threw His disciples, or at least some of His disciples, and the proposal which it provoked them to make, were most lamentable and most unchristian. That John, especially, whose usual temper was so gentle and so affectionate, should have been so forward in this affair, is very strange, and ought to be considered as an instructive warning of the necessity for the most charitable and meek to be constantly on their guard against the first risings of prejudice, passion, and false zeal, lest the fierce spirit obtain the mastery over them. They imagined that they were influenced by a purely religious spirit–by a hatred of sin, and a regard to the honour of Christ: whereas, they were really led to make such a proposal by the original prejudice which, as Jews, they indulged against the Samaritans, and, still more, by their now irritated pride, party feeling, blind zeal, personal resentment, violence, and passion.
I. LET US ADMIRE, AND IN OUR SPHERE AND MEASURE IMITATE, THE NOBLE FIRMNESS DISPLAYED BY OUR LORD AND MASTER ON THIS OCCASION.
II. LET US BEWARE OF RESEMBLING THESE SAMARITANS IN NOT RECEIVING THE LORD JESUS CHRIST. Though they were not immediately destroyed, yet their sin was great; nay, the very circumstance of the merciful forbearance shown towards them, manifests, with peculiar clearness, the heaviness of the guilt they incurred by rejecting such goodness.
III. Let us observe how plainly EVERY KIND AND EVERY DEGREE OF PERSECUTION ARE HERE FORBIDDEN. Fire from heaven might prove a doctrine to be true; but fire kindled under any such pretence, by men, or any other species of persecution, could prove nothing but their own bigotry and cruelty. Indeed, such is the constitution of the human mind, that it is ready to call in question, or to suspect, even the truth itself, when any attempt is made to support it by such means.
IV. In all we do, and especially in what we do under the name of religion, LET US CAREFULLY CONSIDER WHAT MANNER OF SPIRIT WE ARE OF. The servant of the Lord must not strive, but be gentle unto all men.
V. LET US BE VERY THANKFUL WHEN WE THINK OF THE GRACIOUS PURPOSE FOR WHICH THE SON OF GOD IS HERE SAID TO HAVE COME INTO THE WORLD. (J. Foote, M. A.)
A visit from Christ
We are not told the name of the village, and it is well the Scriptures are silent on the matter, for the name deserves to be buried in oblivion; and all those who perpetrate such inhumanity should have an opportunity of blotting out such disgrace. Nor do we know who were the messengers whom Christ sent to make ready for Him. Perhaps they were disciples, or followers, or adherents–anyhow, they were doubtless in sympathy with Him. The Saviour, then, desires to become the Guest of men in this world. He is ever sending messengers before His face to prepare His way. Here, then, we have–
I. PIONEERS–He sent messengers before His face. Pioneers in every sphere are those who go in advance and prepare the way, or act as heralds and announce the coming of those who are to follow. His coming is anticipated by the many and varied mercies and blessings of life, even as the glory of day is heralded by the early dawn. The loving Saviour we may be sure is close to the bounties of Providence and the privileges of the gospel. Education, too, is always in advance of Him. He sends it forth on its beneficent mission to give men right ideas, and to awaken in them a sense of need and longing. Education, too, like the sappers and miners, goes forward to remove obstructions, to cut down wild, luxuriant growth, to make a way through the wilderness, and to bridge over the ugly, dangerous chasms. The mercy of grace, religious instruction, the service of the sanctuary, the preaching of the Word–these are like the predictions which went before the Saviour, like the stars of the morning, true harbingers of the coming day. Yes, Jesus Christ is near the Temple and the teaching there–near the institutions and ordinances of worship. He is not far from pain and sorrow, from affliction, bereavement, and death. Now all these pioneers have come to you, my friends; have come to you with a mission in the interests of Christ, and for your eternal good. The question, therefore, arises: How have they been received? What has been the result of their visits?
II. PREPARATION–TO make ready for Him. The pioneers in all time have gone before Christ to prepare His way, and the things of which I have spoken, and which come into our every life, are sent not only to herald the approach of the Saviour, but to help men to realize His nearness with their deep and present need of Him. When the light of the morning comes peeping in at the window, it tells the world that the sun has arisen and will soon flood the earth with brightness and glory. The dawn ever predicts the day, and prepares for it, and it ever seems to say to men, Give it welcome; up with the blinds; open the windows, and let the light of the day come in. When the blade, the leaf, the blossom appear, they speak of the coming summer and harvest, and suggest that every barn and granary be got ready. And so when Christ sends His messengers in advance of Him, He desires that they should prepare for Him. There are three things which the pioneers of Christ seek to do–inform, awaken, and command, and all are intended to prepare for a full and hearty reception of Christ. They inform–tell men that Christ, that infinite goodness and love are in the events, in the experiences of life, and that Christ is coming near through them–is thus visiting to bless. They say, He is coming, and the soul asks, Who is He? Zaccheus, hearing that Christ was to pass that way, had his curiosity aroused, and was thus moved towards the sycamore tree, that He might see Jesus, who He was. They command–coming from Christ and for Him, they declare His will, His requirements; they tell men to make ready for Him, and to give Him welcome and entertainment, to put away prejudice and indifference, to turn out all intruders, and to let the rightful owner of their spirits in; and that they would rightly regard these visitations, and the voices which speak–for they are in truth the voice of Christ–and their message may be summed up in one verse, Behold! stand at the door and knock.
III. PREJUDICE–They did not receive Him. The Samaritans did not because of their antipathy to the Jews; they allowed prejudice to overcome discretion, and even reason itself; but they did not know Christ, or they would not have acted thus, nor were they conscious of what they lost by rejecting Him.
IV. PASSING–They went to another village. Jesus went from those who were unwilling, to others who were disposed to entertain Him, and this He is doing to-day. Anxious to enter every heart, He passes by the indifferent and obstinate. He does not force Himself upon man. (John James.)
Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of
Intolerance rebuked
1. We may notice here, in the first place, the power and evil of prejudice. The Samaritans seem in general to have been very favourably disposed towards our Lord, as was seen on various occasions. Why, then, did they now refuse to receive Him? It was because He was going up to Jerusalem to the Passover. They claimed that Mount Gerizim was the place where men ought to worship; but our Lord was on His way to worship at the Temple, on Mount Zion, and thus showed that He favoured their old enemies the Jews, and declared His preference far their religion. When Christ came from Judaea to Jacobs well they kindly received Him. If He would renounce the Jews, become a Samaritan prophet, and teach in their synagogues, they would have welcomed Him most cordially; but forasmuch as He steadfastly set His face to go to Jerusalem, they would have nothing to do with Him. Thus they lost their last opportunity of hearing Jesus, for He was now on His way to be crucified. Nor were the disciples much better in the spirit they displayed than the Samaritans.
2. We may notice, secondly, the mischiefs of a wrong interpretation of Scripture. Wilt Thou that we command fire to come down from heaven and consume them, as Elias did? Now Elias conduct was very different from theirs, and his example gave no sanction to their proposed vengeance. Upon a perversion of Scripture, the supreme divinity of Jesus has been denied, the atonement rejected, good works pronounced unnecessary, a future punishment discarded; yea, all the thousand forms of error, and all the monstrous sects of Christendom have been based upon just such a mistake as these disciples made, in pleading the seeming sanction of Elijahs example, for that which it did not warrant.
3. We have, in the third place, in our Lords conduct on this occasion, a beautiful lesson of tolerance towards those who are in error.
4. We may also learn from our Lords treatment of these Samaritans, how to estimate the comparative evil of error.
5. We have in the conclusion of this history, the glorious end of the Saviours mission. He came not to destroy mens lives, but to save them. His whole work was one of salvation. His miracles were those of healing. His teaching was for the saving of the soul. (W. H. Lewis, D. D.)
Our Lords treatment of erroneous zeal
I. NOTICE WHAT IS IMPLIED IN THE PROPOSAL OF THE TWO DISCIPLES.
1. This proposal discovers at least some acquaintance with the writings of the Old Testament, for it refers to an event which happened many centuries before, and which is remarkable in the history of Elijah.
2. It appears that the disciples had some distrust of their own judgment, and were willing to submit to Christs direction. Their language is, Lord, wilt Thou that we should do this? They would do nothing rashly, nothing but what He approved; and in this they furnish an example worthy of imitation.
3. The language implies strong faith: Wilt Thou that we command fire from heaven? The disciples felt persuaded that if the Lord gave authority, the miracle would be performed. They had commanded unclean spirits out of persons, and were obeyed; and why might they not expect the same, if they called for fire from heaven?
4. They had a zeal for God, though not according to knowledge; it was sufficiently fervid, but not well directed. It was promised to the disciples that they should be baptized with the Holy Ghost and with fire; that they should be endowed with extraordinary gifts and extraordinary zeal, yet not for the purpose of destroying mens lives, but to save them.
5. Their zeal expressed great indignation against sin, and in this it was commendable.
6. It was a zeal which expressed great affection for their Lord and Master. To see Him slighted and insulted, shut out of doors, and denied the common necessities and civilities of life, was more than they could bear; they therefore wished to resent such churlish behaviour.
7. There was, however, too much asperity in their zeal, and a want of Christian meekness and charity.
II. OBSERVE THE TREATMENT THEY MET WITH FROM THEIR LORD: He turned and rebuked them, and said, Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of. There is a mixture of mildness and severity in this reproof. He upbraids them with ignorance, and especially ignorance of themselves, and of the motives by which they were influenced.
1. They were unacquainted with the infirmities of their own spirit, the temper they derived from constitutional causes, and which had been insensibly confirmed by habit.
2. They were not aware of the principles and motives by which their present conduct was influenced. The springs of action ought at all times to be severely inspected, because if an action be materially good, it is not morally and intrinsically so, unless it, principle be good also. A corrupt motive depraves and renders unacceptable to God the most laudable actions.
Conclusion:
1. From the instance before us we see what a mixture of good and evil there may be in the same persons.
2. If Christs immediate disciples, who had the advantage of such instructions and such an example, did not know what manner of spirit they were of, no wonder that so many misapprehensions and mistakes are found amongst us. Who can understand his errors?
3. We see that particular actings of the mind may be wrong, even where the general frame and temper of it is right.
4. Though the disciples did not well know the motives by which they were influenced, yet Christ did, for He searcheth the reins and the heart. He knoweth what is in man, and needeth not that any one should testify. All the Churches shall know this, and He will give to every man according to his works (Mat 9:4; Mar 2:8; Rev 2:23). (B. Beddome, M. A.)
The vindictive spirit rebuked
You cant make Eliases. You may do just the very thing Elias did, and so make the greater fools of yourselves. Elias is sent when the world needs him–son of thunder, son of consolation, each will be sent from heaven at the right time, and be furnished with the right credentials. But how delightful it is to set fire to somebody else! The dynamitard is a character in ancient history. Would it not be convenient for the Church always to have in its pocket just one little torpedo that it could throw in the way of somebody who differed in not what manner of spirit ye are of. The spirit of Christianity is a spirit of love, a spirit of sympathy, a spirit of felicity, a spirit that can weep over cities that have rejected the Son of Man. Then said He, or said the historian–the words might be His, for they are part of His very soul–For the opinion from somebody else! The Lord Jesus will not have this; He said, Ye know Son of Man is not come to destroy mens lives, but to save them (Luk 9:56). Tell this everywhere. Go ye into all the world and say to every creature, The Son of Man is not come to destroy mens lives, but to save them. The strongest man amongst us might devote his life to that sweet, high task. The brightest genius that ever revelled in poem or picture might devote all its energies to the revelation of that sacred truth. There are destroyers enough. Nature itself is often a vehement and unsparing destroyer. We are our own destroyers. There needs to be somewhere a saviour, a loving heart, a redeeming spirit, a yearning soul, a mother-father that will not let us die. (J. Parker, D. D.)
Ungodly nature of revenge
A young man who had great cause of complaint against another, told an old hermit that he was resolved to be avenged. The good old hermit did all that he could to dissuade him; but, seeing that it was impossible, and the young man persisted in seeking vengeance, he said to him, At least, my young friend, let us pray together before you execute your design. Then he began to pray in this way: It is no longer necessary, O God! that Thou shouldst defend this young man, and declare Thyself his protector, since he has taken upon himself the right of seeking his own revenge. The young man fell on his knees before the old hermit, and prayed for pardon for his wicked thought, and declared that he would no longer seek revenge of those who had injured him.
False zeal
Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of; that is, ye own yourselves to be My disciples, but do you consider what spirit now acts and governs you?
I. THE OPPOSITION OF THIS SPIRIT TO THE TRUE SPIRIT AND DESIGN OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION.
1. This spirit which our Saviour here reproves in His disciples, is directly opposite to the main and fundamental precepts of the gospel, which command us to love one another, and to love all men, even our very enemies; and are so far from permitting us to persecute those who hate us, that they forbid us to hate those who persecute us. They require us to be merciful, as our Father which is in heaven is merciful; and to follow peace with all men, and to show all meekness to all men.
2. This spirit is likewise directly opposite to the great patterns and examples of our religion, our blessed Saviour and the primitive Christians.
II. THE UNJUSTIFIABLENESS OF THIS SPIRIT UPON ANY PRETENCE WHATSOEVER OF ZEAL FOR GOD AND RELIGION. (Archbishop Tillotson.)
Religious repulsions
This little exquisite bit of human nature and Divine nature stands recorded in the Bible among a hundred other dramas, brief but significant. The Samaritans and the Jews were two very religious, very conscientious peoples. That they were religious was evident from the fact that they hated each other so thoroughly that they would have no dealings one with another. Of all hatred there is none like religious hatred. The Samaritan was a bastard Jew. When you come to look at the conduct of the Samaritans you naturally feel a good deal of surprise; for it is other peoples inhospitality that surprises us, not our own. But when you turn round and look at the disciples what do you think of them? You have genuine Jewish orthodoxy against the orthodoxy of the Samaritans, and both of them were hatred. I do not wonder that the old Oriental nations sacrificed men to their gods, and that human offerings were burned on their altars. The whole religious world has been burning victims to their gods, their creeds, and their consciences ever since. Of the two here the Jews show to the least advantage. The Samaritans only wanted not to have anything to do with Jesus. The disciples on the other hand, wanted to burn up the Samaritans, to pulverise them to ashes. On the whole, I think the Samaritans were a little more religious than the Jews. What did the Saviour do? He quietly went to another village, but not until He had rebuked these disciples. And see how the rebuke was administered. Not as most of us would have done it. Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of, &c. (H. W.Beecher.)
Misdirected enthusiasm
The next worst thing to being destitute of enthusiasm altogether is to expend it on the wrong objects. As the poet says–
What is enthusiasm? What can it be
But thought enkindled to a high degree,
That may, whatever be its ruling turn,
Right or not right, with equal ardour burn
That which concerns us, therefore, is to see
What species of enthusiasts we be.
Here was enthusiasm, and enthusiasm for Christ; but it was expending itself in unchristian, and even anti-Christian channels. We are constantly meeting, in our every-day experience, with instances of misdirected enthusiasm. The important thing to do is to discover Christs idea of Christianity, and to let our enthusiasm go forth into the same channels in which His was wont to flow. If this be our earnest and constant endeavour, then, although we may sometimes make mistakes, although we may, like the Boanerges, incur the rebuke, Ye know not what spirit ye are of, it will be a gentle rebuke–one of pity rather than of condemnation. (Prof. Momerie, M. A. , D. Sc.)
The story of the Sons of Thunder
The Samaritans believed that their copy of the Law was the only authentic one; that God had forsaken Zion and chosen Gerizim, and placed His Name there; that it was in their country that the Messiah was destined to appear, and not in Judaea. It was in connection with this latter article of their belief that the conversation arose which is related in the text. It is the common assumption that what the Samaritan villagers were guilty of was merely a breach of hospitality. I believe there was something far worse. Jesus had been there before, and they had treated Him hospitably then. It is said that before setting out on this journey Jesus sent messengers before His face. It cannot be that these were only couriers, to provide food and shelter. They were heralds, specially sent to tell the Samaritans that the Messiah was coming. It was this that urged them to refuse Him food and shelter. John and James, fresh from the Transfiguration scene, and knowing that He was certainly the Son of God, were indignant at the rejection of His claims, and wanted to call down fire upon the Samaritans. They recalled a passage from Elijahs history, which seemed to them to furnish a precedent for their conduct. Christ in effect says to them: Elijah acted according to his lights; you must act up to yours. Christ did not censure the conduct of Elijah, but He told them that they were forgetting the influence of the spirit of Christianity: I came not to destroy mens lives, but to save them. (Canon Luckock.)
The Spirit of Christ and of Elijah
Renan tells us that in the pictures of the Greek Church Elijah is usually represented as surrounded by the decapitated heads of the Churchs enemies. And Prescott tells us that in the sixteenth century the brutal inquisitors of Spain tried to justify their fiendish deeds by appealing to Elijahs act of calling down fire from heaven. They did not understand, or would not, that that act of Elijahs was for ever condemned by One who was at once Elijahs Master and Elijahs God. Elijah, and the old heroes, doubtless, had not learnt to distinguish between the sinner and the sin. It was reserved for after times–it required the teaching of the Son of God Himself to teach men that.The spirit of Elijah was a spirit of justice, of righteous retribution, of terrible vengeance; the spirit of Christ was a spirit of tenderness, of compassion, of love. But, because the religion of Christ is a religion of love, do not fancy that it is therefore a religion of sentimentalism, fit only for weak women and effeminate men. The spirit of Elijah is passed away, replaced by the spirit of Christ, which is a spirit of meekness, but of justice too, and a spirit of hatred against intolerable wrong. (J. Vaughan, B. A.)
Peace and war–from a Christian standpoint
I. THE SPIRIT OF WAR IS CONDEMNED BY THE GENIUS OF CHRISTIANITY,
1. It very often springs from vainglory.
2. Or revenge.
3. Or sordid ambition.
II. THE SPIRIT OF PEACE IS INCULCATED BY OUR RELIGION, AND IN PROPORTION AS CHRISTIANITY PREVAILS WILL THAT SPIRIT OF PEACE RE DIFFUSED AMONG MANKIND.
1. It tends to the preservation of human life, and happiness, and property, and social order.
2. It allows of the development of all good and great principles, and the progress of mankind in virtue, morality, and piety.
3. Christianity must be on the side of peace, because of its Divine Author and Exemplar.
III. PRACTICAL CONCLUSIONS.
1. Let us cherish the spirit of peace. The great thing is to have the right temper.
2. Let us pray that our national councils may at all times be controlled and permeated by the spirit of peace.
3. We should labour for Christianity for this amongst other reasons, that it is only through Christianity, and the spread of it, that we shall ever attain to an era of universal peace. (Dawson Burns, M. A.)
On persecution
I. Persecution for conscience sake–that is, inflicting penalties on men merely for their religious principles or worship–is plainly founded on an absurd supposition, that one man has a right to judge for another, in matters of religion.
II. Persecution is also evidently inconsistent with that obvious and fundamental principle of morality, that we should do to others as we might reasonably desire they should do to us.
III. Persecution is likewise in its own nature absurd, as it is by no means calculated to answer the ends which its patrons profess to intend by it.
IV. Persecution evidently tends to produce a great deal of mischief and confusion in the world.
V. The Christian religion, which we here suppose to be the cause of truth, must, humanly speaking, be not only obstructed but destroyed, should persecuting principles universally prevail.
VI. Persecution is so far from being required or encouraged by the gospel, that it is directly contrary to many of its precepts and indeed to the whole genius of it. (P. Doddridge, D. D.)
To save
Christ, the Saviour of human life
We may regard the text in the light of a prophecy. Whatever Christ announced as the purpose of His coming, was to be accomplished upon earth throughout successive ages. The Saviour of human life–this is the character which Christ here assumes to Himself, or of which He predicts, that it will be proved to belong to Him, as the religion He was about to establish makes way among men. Now there is nothing more interesting than the tracing the temporal effects which have followed the introduction of Christianity. We shall not now enter upon this wide field of inquiry; but our text requires us to consider Christianity as beneficial under one special point of view–as making provision for the saving of human life.
1. It has done this by overthrowing the tenets and destructive rites of heathenism.
2. By contributing to the civilization of society, it has, in many ways, spread a shield over human life.
3. Add to this the mighty advances which have been made under the fostering sway of Christianity, in every department of science.
4. There is, however, a far higher sense, in which our Lord might affirm that He had come to save human life. You are to bear in mind that death, bodily death, had entered the world, as the direct and immediate consequence of Adams transgression, and that the counteracting this consequence, was one chief object of the mission of our Redeemer.
5. Now we have treated our text as though the word life were to be Literally taken, or interpreted with reference exclusively to the body; but it is often very difficult to say whether the original word denotes what we mean by the immortal principle and spiritual part of man, which never dies, or merely the vital principle–that, through the suspension of which the body becomes lifeless. And if the words before us may be applied to the destruction and the salvation of the soul, as well as of life in the more ordinary sense, it is indispensable that we say something of them in this their less obvious meaning. I live, said the great apostle, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me; and life indeed it is, when a man is made wise unto salvation–when, having been brought to a consciousness of his state, as a rebel against God, he has committed his cause unto Christ, who was delivered for our offences, and raised again for our justification. It is not life–it deserves not the name, merely to have power of moving to and fro on this earth, beholding the light and drinking in the air. It may be life to the brute, but not to man–man who is deathless, man who belongs to two worlds–the citizen of immensity, the heir of eternity. But it is life, to spend the few years of earthly pilgrimage in the full hope and certain expectation of everlasting blessedness–to be able to regard sin as a forgiven thing, and death as an abolished–to anticipate the future with its glories, and the judgment with its terrors, and to know assuredly, that He who shall sit upon the throne, and gather all nations before Him, reserves for us a place in those many mansions which He reared and opened through His great work of mediation. It is life to live for eternity; it is life to live for God; it is life to have fellowship with what the eye hath not seen, and the ear hath not heard. And this life Christ came to impart; He came to give life to the soul. (H. Melvill, B. D.)
Christs mission
I. THE NATURE OF CHRISTS MISSION.
1. TO open up a new era under a dispensation of unbounded mercy.
2. This mission of our Lords did not interfere with the course of nature, or natural law. It refers to our spiritual life.
II. THE DUTIES WHICH THESE WORDS LEAD US TO INFER.
1. The first is that of not being satisfied with any other life than that which Christ came to give or to save.
2. Another duty is that of encouraging feelings of charity towards others.
3. That the object of our Saviours mission has been fulfilled, is being fulfilled, and will be so hereafter, is indisputable. (W. D. Horwood.)
The Son of Man the Saviour of life
Christ came into the world both as Destroyer and Saviour. He came to destroy the works of the devil. He came not to destroy the law, but to fulfil it. He came not to destroy mens lives, but to save them. The preservation of human life was characteristic of our Lords public ministry. And Christianity in its very nature is a lifesaving religion. Consider three or four of the great destructive agencies at work in the world, and the way in which Christianity opposes itself to them in principle, and practically proves itself victorious over them.
I. WAR. The late Dr. Dick calculated, in 1847, that from the earliest period down to that year 14,000,000,000 of human beings had fallen in battle. Christianity condemns war and inculcates peace.
II. SLAVERY. Here we have another great scourge of human life. Christianity sets its face against this monstrous iniquity. True that Christ and His apostles did not in a direct manner attempt to abolish it.
Nevertheless, I affirm that Christianity is opposed to slavery, and will prove its death. Jesus Christ came to liberate the captive.
III. HEATHEN IDOLATRY and its human sacrifices.
IV. INTEMPERANCE. Sixty thousand deaths annually result from the use of intoxicating liquors. Christianity condemns intemperance. Sobriety is enjoined as a Christian virtue. (W. Walters.)
Christ a Saviour
The design of Christs coming into our world is here expressed–
I. NEGATIVELY. Life is exposed to destruction. By sin it was forfeited. By law it is condemned. By justice it is demanded. By death it is claimed.
II. POSITIVELY. The Son of Man is a Saviour. He came to reveal salvation. He came to procure salvation. He came to bestow salvation. He is coming to perfect salvation.
III. THE ASSURANCE THE SINNER HAS OF CHRISTS INTEREST IN HIS SALVATION. Of Gods readiness to give salvation. Of the Spirits power to apply salvation. Of the joy a personal salvation secures. Now is the accepted time; now is the day of salvation. (A. Macfarlane.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 51. That he should be received up] Bishop PEARCE says: “I think the word must signify, of Jesus’s retiring or withdrawing himself, and not of his being received up: because the word , here used before it, denotes a time completed, which that of his ascension was not then. The sense is, that the time was come, when Jesus was no longer to retire from Judea and the parts about Jerusalem as he had hitherto done; for he had lived altogether in Galilee, lest the Jews should have laid hold on him, before the work of his ministry was ended, and full proofs of his Divine mission given, and some of the prophecies concerning him accomplished. John says, Joh 7:1: Jesus walked in Galilee; for he would not walk in Jewry, because the Jews sought to kill him. Let it be observed, that all which follows here in Luke, to Lu 19:45, is represented by him as done by Jesus in his last journey from Galilee to Jerusalem.”
He steadfastly set his face] That is, after proper and mature deliberation, he chose now to go up to Jerusalem, and firmly determined to accomplish his design.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
From this to Luk 9:56 we have a piece of history recorded by no other evangelist but Luke; but is of great use to us, both to let us know, that our Saviour laid down his life, no man took it from him, and to let us see to what height differences about religion ordinarily arise, and what intemperateness is often found, as to them, in the spirits of the best of people, as also what is the will of our great Master as to the government of our spirits in such cases. The going up of our Saviour to Jerusalem at this time was his last journey thither.
When the time was come that he should be received up; E ; that is, when the time was drawing nigh when Christ should ascend up into heaven; so the word is used, Mar 16:19; Act 1:11; 1Ti 3:16. But why doth the evangelist express it thus? Why doth he not say, when he was to suffer; but skips over his death, and only mentions his ascension?
1. That is included; Christ was first to suffer, and then to enter into his glory.
2. Christs death is called a lifting up from the earth, Joh 12:32.
3. What if we should say that Christs death is thus expressed, to let us know that the death of Christ was to him a thing that his eye was not so much upon, as the glory which he immediately was to enter into after;
so as he calls his very death a taking up, as that which immediately preceded it, thereby teaching us to overlook sufferings and death, as not worthy to be named or mentioned, and to look only to that taking up into our Fathers glory, which is the portion of all believers; when they die, they are but taken up from the earth: and though our bodies still stay behind a while, death having a power over us, yet of them also there shall be a taking up. Upon both which takings up our eyes should be so fixed, as to overlook all the sufferings of this life, as not worthy to be named.
He stedfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem. Some think this was not our Saviours last motion thither before his passion, but then it would not have been said , he set his face, or, he confirmed his face. He was now in Galilee, Jerusalem (that killed the prophets) was the place designed for his suffering; betwixt Galilee and Jerusalem lay Samaria, through which he was to pass.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
51. the time was comerather,”the days were being fulfilled,” or approaching theirfulfilment.
that he should be receivedup“of His assumption,” meaning His exaltation to theFather; a sublime expression, taking the sweep of His whole career,as if at one bound He was about to vault into glory. The work ofChrist in the flesh is here divided into two great stages; allthat preceded this belonging to the one, and all that follows it tothe other. During the one, He formally “came to His own,“and “would have gathered them“; during the other,the awful consequences of “His own receiving Him not“rapidly revealed themselves.
he steadfastly set hisfacethe “He” here is emphatic”He Himselfthen.” See His own prophetic language, “I have set my facelike a flint” (Isa 50:7).
go to Jerusalemas Hisgoal, but including His preparatory visits to it at the feastsof tabernacles and of dedication (Joh 7:2;Joh 7:10; Joh 10:22;Joh 10:23), and all theintermediate movements and events.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And it came to pass, when the time was come,…. Or “days were fulfilled”, an usual Hebraism; when the period of time fixed for his being in Galilee was come to an end: when he had fulfilled his ministry, and finished all his sayings, and wrought all the miracles he was to work in those parts; when he was to quit this country, and go into Judea, and up to Jerusalem, signified in the next clause:
that he should be received up; or as all the Oriental versions rightly render the words, “when the time, or days of his ascension were fulfilled”; not of his ascension to heaven, as interpreters generally understand the passage, because the word is used of that, in Mr 16:19 Ac 1:2 much less as others, of his being taken and lifted up from the earth upon the cross, and so signifies his crucifixion, and sufferings, and death; for of neither of these can it be said, that the time of them was come, or the days fulfilled, in which either of these should be: for if Christ was now going to the feast of tabernacles, as some think, it must be above half a year before his death, and still longer before his ascension to heaven: and if to the feast of dedication, it was above three months to his ascension: hence interpreters that go this way, are obliged to interpret it, that the time drew near, or was drawing on, or the days were almost fulfilled; whereas the expression is full and strong, that the time was come, and the days were fulfilled; and which was true in the sense hinted at, that now the time was up, that Jesus must leave the low lands of Galilee, having finished his work there; and go into the higher country of Judea, and so up to Jerusalem; for of his ascension from Galilee to Jerusalem are the words to be understood;
[See comments on Mt 19:1]
[See comments on Mr 10:1] And it is observable that after this, he never went into Galilee any more; and this sense is confirmed by what follows:
he steadfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem; or “strengthened his face”, as the Vulgate Latin and Ethiopic versions; set his face like a flint, as in Isa 1:7 denoting not impudence, as hardening of the face is used in Pr 21:29 but boldness, courage, constancy and firmness of mind: or “he prepared his face”, as the Syriac; or “turned his face”, as the Arabic, he looked that way, and set forward; or as the Persic version renders it, “he made a firm purpose”, he resolved upon it, and was determined to go to Jerusalem, his time being up in Galilee; and though he knew what he was to meet with and endure; that he should bear the sins of his people, the curse of the law, and wrath of God; that he should have many enemies, men and devils to grapple with, and undergo a painful, shameful, and accursed death; yet none of these things moved him, he was resolutely bent on going thither, and accordingly prepared for his journey; [See comments on 2Ki 12:17].
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
| The Samaritans Refuse to Receive Christ; Mistaken Zeal of James and John. |
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51 And it came to pass, when the time was come that he should be received up, he stedfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem, 52 And sent messengers before his face: and they went, and entered into a village of the Samaritans, to make ready for him. 53 And they did not receive him, because his face was as though he would go to Jerusalem. 54 And when his disciples James and John saw this, they said, Lord, wilt thou that we command fire to come down from heaven, and consume them, even as Elias did? 55 But he turned, and rebuked them, and said, Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of. 56 For the Son of man is not come to destroy men’s lives, but to save them. And they went to another village.
This passage of story we have not in any other of the evangelists, and it seems to come in here for the sake of its affinity with that next before, for in this also Christ rebuked his disciples, because they envied for his sake. There, under colour of zeal for Christ, they were for silencing and restraining separatists: here, under the same colour, they were for putting infidels to death; and, as for that, so for this also, Christ reprimanded them, for a spirit of bigotry and persecution is directly contrary to the spirit of Christ and Christianity. Observe here,
I. The readiness and resolution of our Lord Jesus, in prosecuting his great undertaking for our redemption and salvation. Of this we have an instance, v. 51: When the time was come that he should be received up, he stedfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem. Observe 1. There was a time fixed for the sufferings and death of our Lord Jesus, and he knew well enough when it was, and had a clear and certain foresight of it, and yet was so far from keeping out of the way that then he appeared most publicly of all, and was most busy, knowing that his time was short. 2. When he saw his death and sufferings approaching, he looked through them and beyond them, to the glory that should follow; he looked upon it as the time when he should be received up into glory (1 Tim. iii. 16), received up into the highest heavens, to be enthroned there. Moses and Elias spoke of his death as his departure out of this world, which made it not formidable; but he went further, and looked upon it as his translation to a better world, which made it very desirable. All good Christians may frame to themselves the same notion of death, and may call it their being received up, to be with Christ where he is; and, when the time of their being received up is at hand, let them lift up their heads, knowing that their redemption draws nigh. 3. On this prospect of the joy set before him, he stedfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem the place where he was to suffer and die. He was fully determined to go, and would not be dissuaded; he went directly to Jerusalem, because there now his business lay, and he did not go about to other towns, or fetch a compass, which if he had done, as commonly he did, he might have avoided going through Samaria. He went cheerfully and courageously thither, though he knew the things that should befal him there. He did not fail nor was discouraged, but set his face as a flint, knowing that he should be not only justified, but glorified (Isa. l. 7), not only not run down, but received up. How should this shame us for, and shame us out of, our backwardness to do and suffer for Christ! We draw back, and turn our faces another way from his service who stedfastly set his face against all opposition, to go through with the work of our salvation.
II. The rudeness of the Samaritans in a certain village (not named, nor deserving to be so) who would not receive him, nor suffer him to bait in their town, though his way lay through it. Observe here, 1. How civil he was to them: He sent messengers before his face, some of his disciples, that went to take up lodgings, and to know whether he might have leave to accommodate himself and his company among them; for he would not come to give offence, or if they took any umbrage at the number of his followers. He sent some to make ready for him, not for state, but convenience, and that his coming might be no surprise. 2. How uncivil they were to him, v. 53. They did not receive him, would not suffer him to come into their village, but ordered their watch to keep him out. He would have paid for all he bespoke, and been a generous guest among them, would have done them good, and preached the gospel to them, as he had done some time ago to another city of the Samaritans, John iv. 41. He would have been, if they pleased, the greatest blessing that ever came to their village, and yet they forbid him entrance. Such treatment his gospel and ministers have often met with. Now the reason was because his face was as though he would go to Jerusalem; they observed, by his motions, that he was steering his course that way. The great controversy between the Jews and the Samaritans was about the place of worship–whether Jerusalem or mount Gerizim near Sychar; see John iv. 20. And so hot was the controversy between them that the Jews would have no dealings with the Samaritans, nor they with them, John iv. 9. Yet we may suppose that they did not deny other Jews lodgings among them, no, not when they went up to the feast; for if that had been their constant practice Christ would not have attempted it, and it would have been a great way about for some of the Galileans to go to Jerusalem any other way than through Samaria. But they were particularly incensed against Christ, who was a celebrated teacher, for owning and adhering to the temple at Jerusalem, when the priests of that temple were such bitter enemies to him, which, they hoped, would have driven him to come and worship at their temple, and bring that into reputation; but when they saw that he would go forward to Jerusalem, notwithstanding this, they would not show him the common civility which probably they used formerly to show him in his journey thither.
III. The resentment which James and John expressed of this affront, v. 54. When these two heard this message brought, they were all in a flame presently, and nothing will serve them but Sodom’s doom upon this village: “Lord,” say they, “give us leave to command fire to come down from heaven, not to frighten them only, but to consume them.”
1. Here indeed was something commendable, for they showed, (1.) A great confidence in the power they had received from Jesus Christ; though this had not been particularly mentioned in their commission, yet they could with a word’s speaking fetch fire from heaven. Theleis eipomen—Wilt thou that we speak the word, and the thing will be done. (2.) A great zeal for the honour of their Master. They took it very ill that he who did good wherever he came and found a hearty welcome should be denied the liberty of the road by a parcel of paltry Samaritans; they could not think of it without indignation that their Master should be thus slighted. (3.) A submission, notwithstanding, to their Master’s good will and pleasure. They will not offer to do such a thing, unless Christ give leave: Wilt thou that we do it? (4.) A regard to the examples of the prophets that were before them. It is doing as Elias did? they would not have thought of such a thing if Elijah had not done it upon the soldiers that came to take him, once and again, 2Ki 1:10; 2Ki 1:12. They thought that this precedent would be their warrant; so apt are we to misapply the examples of good men, and to think to justify ourselves by them in the irregular liberties we give ourselves, when the case is not parallel.
2. But though there was something right in what they said, yet there was much more amiss, for (1.) This was not the first time, by a great many, that our Lord Jesus had been thus affronted, witness the Nazarenes thrusting him out of their city, and the Gadarenes desiring him to depart out of their coast; and yet he never called for any judgment upon them, but patiently put up with the injury. (2.) These were Samaritans, from whom better was not to be expected, and perhaps they had heard that Christ had forbidden his disciples to enter into any of the cities of the Samaritans (Matt. x. 5), and therefore it was not so bad in them as in others who knew more of Christ, and had received so many favours from him. (3.) Perhaps it was only some few of the town that knew any thing of the matter, or that sent that rude message to him, while, for aught they knew, there were many in the town who, if they had heard of Christ’s being so near them, would have gone to meet him and welcomed him; and must the whole town be laid in ashes for the wickedness of a few? Will they have the righteous destroyed with the wicked? (4.) Their Master had never yet upon any occasion called for fire from heaven, nay, he had refused to give the Pharisees any sign from heaven when they demanded it (Mat 16:1; Mat 16:2); and why should they think to introduce it? James and John were the two disciples whom Christ had called Boanerges–sons of thunder (Mark iii. 17); and will not that serve them, but they must be sons of lightning too? (5.) The example of Elias did not reach the case. Elijah was sent to display the terrors of the law, and to give proof of that, and to witness as a bold reprover against the idolatries and wickednesses of the court of Ahab, and it was agreeable enough to him to have his commission thus proved; but it is a dispensation of grace that is now to be introduced, to which such a terrible display of divine justice will not be at all agreeable. Archbishop Tillotson suggests that their being now near Samaria, where Elijah called for fire from heaven, might help to put it in their heads; perhaps at the very place; but, though the place was the same, the times were altered.
IV. The reproof he gave to James and John for their fiery, furious zeal (v. 55): He turned with a just displeasure, and rebuked them; for as many as he loves he rebukes and chastens, particularly for what they do, that is irregular and unbecoming them, under colour of zeal for him.
1. He shows them in particular their mistake: Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of; that is, (1.) “You are not aware what an evil spirit and disposition you are of; how much there is of pride, and passion, and personal revenge, covered under this pretence of zeal for your Master.” Note, There may be much corruption lurking, nay, and stirring too, in the hearts of good people, and they themselves not be sensible of it. (2.) “You do not consider what a good spirit, directly contrary to this, you should be of. Surely you have yet to learn, though you have been so long learning, what the spirit of Christ and Christianity is. Have you not been taught to love your enemies, and to bless them that curse you, and to call for grace from heaven, not fire from heaven, upon them? You know not how contrary your disposition herein is to that which it was the design of the gospel you should be delivered into. You are not now under the dispensation of bondage, and terror, and death, but under the dispensation of love, and liberty, and grace, which was ushered in with a proclamation of peace on earth and good will toward men, to which you ought to accommodate yourselves, and not by such imprecations as these oppose yourselves.”
2. He shows them the general design and tendency of his religion (v. 56): The Son of man is not himself come, and therefore does not send you abroad to destroy men’s lives, but to save them. He designed to propagate his holy religion by love and sweetness, and every thing that is inviting and endearing, not by fire and sword, and blood and slaughter; by miracles of healing, not by plagues and miracles of destruction, as Israel was brought out of Egypt. Christ came to slay all enmities, not to foster them. Those are certainly destitute of the spirit of the gospel that are for anathematizing and rooting out by violence and persecution all that are not of their mind and way, that cannot in conscience say as they say, and do as they do. Christ came, not only to save men’s souls, but to save their lives too–witness the many miracles he wrought for the healing of diseases that would otherwise have been mortal, by which, and a thousand other instances of beneficence, it appears that Christ would have his disciples do good to all, to the utmost of their power, but hurt to none, to draw men into his church with the cords of a man and the bands of love, but not think to drive men into it with a rod of violence or the scourge of the tongue.
V. His retreat from this village. Christ would not only not punish them for their rudeness, but would not insist upon his right of travelling the road (which was as free to him as to his neighbours), would not attempt to force his way, but quietly and peaceably went to another village, where they were not so stingy and bigoted, and there refreshed himself, and went on his way. Note, When a stream of opposition is strong, it is wisdom to get out of the way of it, rather than to contend with it. If some be very rude, instead of revenging it, we should try whether others will not be more civil.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
When the days were well-nigh come ( ). Luke’s common idiom with the articular infinitive, “in the being fulfilled as to the days.” This common compound occurs in the N.T. only here and Luke 8:23; Acts 2:1. The language here makes it plain that Jesus was fully conscious of the time of his death as near as already stated (Luke 9:22; Luke 9:27; Luke 9:31).
That he should be received up ( ). Literally, “of his taking up.” It is an old word (from Hippocrates on), but here alone in the N.T. It is derived from (the verb used of the Ascension, Acts 1:2; Acts 1:11; Acts 1:22; 1Tim 3:16) and refers here to the Ascension of Jesus after His Resurrection. Not only in John’s Gospel (Joh 17:5) does Jesus reveal a yearning for a return to the Father, but it is in the mind of Christ here as evidently at the Transfiguration (9:31) and later in Lu 12:49f.
He steadfastly set his face ( ). Note emphatic ,
he himself , with fixedness of purpose in the face of difficulty and danger. This look on Christ’s face as he went to his doom is noted later in Mr 10:32. It is a Hebraistic idiom (nine times in Ezekiel), this use of face here, but the verb (effective aorist active) is an old one from (from , a support), to set fast, to fix.
To go to Jerusalem ( ). Genitive infinitive of purpose. Luke three times mentions Christ making his way to Jerusalem (Luke 9:51; Luke 13:22; Luke 17:11) and John mentions three journeys to Jerusalem during the later ministry (John 7:10; John 11:17; John 12:1). It is natural to take these journeys to be the same in each of these Gospels. Luke does not make definite location of each incident and John merely supplements here and there. But in a broad general way they seem to correspond.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
When the time was come [ ] .
Lit., in the fulfilling of the days. This means when the days were being fulfilled; not when they were fulfilled : when the time was drawing near. Rev., were well – nigh come. Luke is speaking of a period beginning with the first announcement of his sufferings, and extending to the time of his being received up.
That he should be received up [ ] . Lit., the days of his being taken up : his ascension into heaven. jAnalhmyiv occurs nowhere else in the New Testament; but the kindred verb, ajnalambanw, is the usual word for being received into heaven. See Act 1:2, 11, 22; 1Ti 3:16.
57 – 62. Compare Mt 8:19 – 27; Mr 4:35 – 41.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
THE NEW ATTITUDE OF GRACE, FINAL LEAVE OF GALILEE
V. 51-56
1) “And it came to pass,” (egeneto de) “Then it came to pass,” or to occur. The last long journey of our Lord now begins, from Galilee, and from life, up to Jerusalem.
2) “When the time came that he should be received up,” (en to sumplerousthai tas hemeras tes analempseos autou) “As the days of His assumption were fulfilled,” coming to be fulfilled, when He was to ascend into heaven, return to His Father, Joh 14:1-3; Act 1:10-11.
3) “He steadfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem,” (kai autos to prosopon esterisen tou proseuesthai eis lerousalem) “And he set his face to go into Jerusalem,” the “city of peace,” Isa 50:7; Eze 3:8-9. It was with a determined will of mind and soul, Joh 7:2-10; Isa 50:7.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
Luk 9:51
. While the days of his being received up, etc. Luke alone relates this narrative, which, however, is highly useful on many accounts. For, first, it describes the divine courage and firmness of Christ (586) in despising death; secondly, what deadly enmities are produced by differences about religion; thirdly, with what headlong ardor the nature of man is hurried on to impatience; next, how ready we are to fall into mistakes in imitating the saints; and, lastly, by the example of Christ we are called to the exercise of meekness. The death of Christ is called his being received up, ( ἀνάληψις) not only because he was then withdrawn from the midst of us, (587) but because, leaving the mean prison of the flesh, he ascended on high.
(586) “ La magnanimite et constance admirable de Iesus Christ;” — “the wonderful magnanimity and firmness of Jesus Christ.”
(587) “ Non pas seulement pource qu il a lors este enleve et comme retranche du milieu des hommes;” — “not only because he was then raised up, and, as it were, withdrawn from the midst of men.”
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
CRITICAL NOTES
Luk. 9:51. When the time was come.Rather, when the days were well-nigh come (R.V.). That He should be received up.The word translated received up means His assumption or ascension into heaven. He stedfastly set His face.A Hebraism, with reference probably to Isa. 50:7. Sent messengers.The action, which contrasts with His former avoidance of publicity, is to be explained by His now formally avowing Himself to be the Christ.
Luk. 9:52. Village of the Samaritans.Samaria lay in the direct route from Galilee to Jerusalem.
Luk. 9:53. Did not receive Him, etc.The question as to the comparative claims of the Samaritan temple at Gerizim and the Jewish Temple at Jerusalem was distinctly involved: Christs preference of the latter led to the Samaritans rejection of Him.
Luk. 9:54. James and John.Whom He had surnamed Sons of Thunder (Boanerges, Mar. 3:17):this ebullition of fiery zeal highly characteristic of them. Even as Elias did.See 2Ki. 1:10-12. This phrase is omitted from R.V., as it is not found in some of the earliest MSS. It may be a gloss, but if so it is of great antiquity, as the words are found in nearly all other MSS., versions, and writings of the Fathers. They may have been omitted accidentally, or on dogmatic groundsto avoid apparent disparagement of the Old Testament. The recent vision on the mountain (Luk. 9:30), when Christ received honour from Moses and Elijah and from God, may have suggested the proposal to chastise the inhospitable Samaritans.
Luk. 9:55. He turned.Christ was evidently walking at the head of the company of disciples when the messengers returned with the tidings that the Samaritans refused to receive Him. And said, Ye know not save them (Luk. 9:56).These two sentences also are omitted in the R.V., on the ground that the most important MSS. do not contain them. They do not, however, read like interpolations: they breathe too Divine a tone of thought, and are too characteristic of the Saviour, to have originated in any such way. So far as MS. evidence goes there is less authority for the doubtful sentence in Luk. 9:56, For the Son of man, etc., than for the other in Luk. 9:55. Ye know not.I.e. Ye think ye are animated by the Spirit that moved Elijah, but ye are mistaken: it is personal irritation, and not zeal for God, that underlies your suggestion. Some prefer to take the sentence as a question, Know ye not, etc., i.e. that the Spirit of Christ is different from that of Elijah? It is doubtful, however, whether this rendering is grammatically possible.
Luk. 9:56. Another village.Probably a Galilan and not a Samaritan villageas, if it had been the latter, we should have expected some remark upon the more noble character of its inhabitants. It would appear that when this incident occurred Christ and disciples were on the border between Galilee and Samaria.
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.Luk. 9:51-56
The Spirit of the Old Testament and of the New.We have here one of the memorable incidents of our Lords last journey to Jerusalem. Very solemnly and very sweetly does the Evangelist introduce the reference to His passionwhen the time was come that He should be received up. It mitigates the bitterness of His Lords sufferings and death, looking on as it thus does to the issue and the end, to the taking up of Christ into heaven, to His reception in His heavenly home and into His Fathers glory.
I. The insult.He sent messengers before His face as harbingers, to use that word in its most proper sense. And they went, and entered into a village of the Samaritans, to make ready for Him. And they did not receive Him, because His face was as though He would go to Jerusalem. This refusal of theirs was no piece of ordinary inhospitality such as the Samaritans were wont to show to Galilan pilgrims on their way to the feasts at Jerusalem. It was not merely as such a pilgrim that they shut their doors against Him; for this we must remember was Christs solemn progress from Galilee to Juda as Messiah, with these messengers everywhere announcing Him as such. But, as the Samaritans esteemed it, a Messiah going to Jerusalem to observe the feasts there did by His very act proclaim that He was no Messiah; for on Gerizim, as they believed, the old patriarchs had worshipped, consecrating it to be the holy mountain of Godwhich, therefore, and not Jerusalem, the Christ, when He came, would recognise and honour as the central point of all true religion.
II. The anger of the apostles.The sons of Zebedee were probably with the Lord when the tidings were brought back of the village which, refusing to receive Him, had missed the opportunity of entertaining, not angels, but the Lord of angels, unawares. Upon this provocation all their suppressed and smouldering indignation against the schismatics, through whose territory they were journeying, breaks forth. At this instance of contempt shown to their Lord and to themselves (for no doubt a feeling of personal slight mingled with their indignation, however little they may have been aware of it themselves), the sons of thunder would fain play Old Testament parts. They feel that a greater than Elias is here; for they are fresh from the Mount of Transfiguration, where they had seen how the glory of Moses and Elias paled before the brighter glory of Him whom they served. An outrage against Him, and a rejecting of Him, should therefore not be less terribly avenged. With all of carnal and sinful which mingled with this proposal of theirs, yet what insight into the dignity of their Lord, and the greatness of the outrage directed against Him, does it revealwhat faith in the mighty powers with which He was able to equip His servants! And yet it might almost seem as though, with all this confidence of theirs, there was a latent and lurking sense upon their part of a certain unfitness in this their proposal; and thus out of no desire to intrude into their Lords office, but only out of a feeling that this avenging act might not exactly become Him, they proffer themselves as the executors of the judgment. It will become the servants, though it might not perfectly become the Lord.
III. The disciples rebuked.He turned, and rebuked them: Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of. You are missing, Christ would say, your true position, which is, having been born of the spirit of forgiving love, to be ruled by that spirit, and not by the spirit of avenging righteousness. You are losing sight of the distinction between the old covenant and the new, missing the greater glory of the latter, and that it is the higher blessedness to belong to it. It behoves us to see clearly that there is no slight cast here on the spirit of Elias. Both spirits, that which breathed through and informed the prophets and saints of the old covenant, as well as that which should inform the disciples of the new, are Divine. The difference between them is not of opposition, but only of time and degree. The spirit of the old testament was a spirit of avenging righteousness; God was teaching men His holiness by terrible things in righteousness. But the spirit of the new covenant, not contrary, but brighter, is that of forgiving love; in it He is overcoming mans evil with His good. Each economy has one predominating tone from which it takes its character. The two apostles were for the moment failing to recognise this. In a confusion of old and new, and not knowing of what manner of spirit they were, they had fallen back on the rudiments of Gods education of His people, when it was their privilege to go on unto perfection, and to teach the world the far greater might of meekness and of love. In their missing of all this there was a fault and matter of blame, yet blame by no means so severe as some are disposed to find. They were rebuked for choosing that which, perfectly good in its own time, was only not good now because a better had come in, for returning to the lower level of the old covenant when Christ had lifted them up, if only they had understood this, to the higher level of the new.Trench.
SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS ON Luk. 9:51-56
Luk. 9:51-56. The courage and meekness of Christ.
I. The Divine courage and firmness of Christ in despising death.
II. The deadly enmities produced by differences about religion.
III. With what headlong ardour the nature of man is hurried on to impatience!
IV. How ready we are to fall into mistakes in imitating the saints!
V. By the example of Christ we are called to the exercise of meekness.Calvin.
Luk. 9:51. Received up.Our Lords agony, cross, and passion were at hand; but He looked through them all to His glorious ascension.
Luk. 9:52. To make ready for Him.An indication of the dignity which was mingled with the humility of the Saviour. He required some preparation to be made for His coming, attended as He was by disciples, and did not choose to subject Himself to the inconveniences of haphazard arrangements made after His arrival, when a little foresight and management might prevent confusion and discomfort.
Luk. 9:53. Did not receive Him.Note the disastrous effects of religious prejudice.
I. It leads to a rejection of the Saviour.
II. It prompts a rudeness and discourtesy of which worldly people would be ashamed to be guilty.
III. It robs those who are blinded by it of those rich blessings which would result from communion with the Saviour and with His true disciples.
Luk. 9:54. James and John.Christ had surnamed them Boanerges, or Sons of Thunder (Mar. 3:17), and their present proposal strikingly harmonises with some aspects of the character that gained for them the name. We should do them wrong if we imagined that their proposal was a mere outburst of personal annoyance. It sprang from sincere jealousy for the honour of their Lord, though with it there may have mingled party passionsome remains of old-standing dislike of Jews to Samaritans.
Luk. 9:55. Ye know not.James showed, when he suffered in patience death by the sword, that he had learned the meek spirit of Christ.
What manner of spirit.
1. They thought they were actuated simply by zeal for Christ, but pride and anger vitiated their zeal.
2. The spirit they manifested was not such as became the apostles of the gospel, who were sent to proclaim mercy even to the chief of sinners.
Elias Spirit.Elias spirit, I hope, was no evil spirit. No; but every good spirit, as good as Elias, is not for every person, place, or time. Spirits are given by God, and men inspired with them, after several manners, upon several occasions, as the several times require. The times sometimes require one spirit, sometimes another. Elias time, Elias spirit. As his act good, done by his spirit, so his spirit good in his own time. The time changed; the spirit, then good, now not good. But why is it out of time? For the Son of man is come. As if He should say, Indeed, there is a time to destroy (Ecc. 3:3); that was under the law, the fiery law, as Moses calls it; then a fiery spirit would not be amiss. The spirit of Elias was good till the Son of man came; but now He is come, the date of that spirit is expired. When the Son of man is come, the spirit of Elias must be gone; now specially, for Moses and he resigned lately in the mount. Now no lawgiver, no prophet, but Christ.Andrewes.
Luk. 9:56. Give People Time.They went to another village.
I. Christs action here illustrates the importance of giving people time to accept His claims.This need not involve any surrender of the truth. No good is done by speaking as if the truth were less certain, less supremely important, than in our hearts we believe it to be. But who are we, that we should dare to foreclose the time of others growth? The impenetrable reserves of truth, its distances of unapproachable light, make us incapable of judging how God may lead men on to it. Who can tell how he may help others by his own reverent and hopeful patience!
II. This example of Christ ought to help us in the ordinary affairs of life.How much unsuspected beauty might be disclosed around us if we gave people time! Remember that they who would foreclose the case for others would themselves be without light and hope if God had not borne with them. They are depending moment by moment on His long-suffering. And think how much forbearance we have received from others! So much, that we have been often unconscious that we needed any. If we considered these things, we would gladly give others time to amend.Paget.
Salvation.The love of God can pursue and convict the most lost and erring. It goes after lost sheep. But how? By our accepting the yoke of Christ we come in touch with this store of vitality. The prime aim of the new creation is to take the will of God as the motive of life. Thy will be done is the acceptable prayer for salvation. Salvation from what? From the crushing or subtle power of temptationfrom all that harms us. Do not associate salvation merely with deliverance from a future hell: salvation is deliverance from evil habit, from disappointment, from worry. This incoming saving power of God is for daily use.Jones.
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Appleburys Comments
The Inhospitable Samaritans
Scripture
Luk. 9:51-55 And it came to pass, when the days were well-nigh come that he should be received up, he stedfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem, 52 and sent messengers before his face; and they went, and entered into a village of the Samaritans, to make ready for him. 53 And they did not receive him, because his face was as though he were going to Jerusalem. 54 And when his disciples James and John saw this, they said, Lord, wilt thou that we bid fire to come down from heaven, and consume them? 55 But he turned, and rebuked them.
Comments
that he should be received up.That is, the closing days of His ministry that led to the ascension (Act. 1:9). But the incident of sending the seventy shows that the ascension, while approaching, was still several months away. According to Johns record, Jesus went first to the Feast of Tabernacles (Joh. 7:1-2) and later to the Feast of Dedication (Joh. 10:22). Why did Luke include this section which is not given by Matthew and Mark? It was to give Theophilus information which Luke considered important as he reassured him of the things in which he had been instructed.
entered into a village of the Samaritans.This was not the first time that Jesus had been in Samaria. See Joh. 4:1-4. See 2Ki. 17:24-28 for the origin of the Samaritans. The old controversy over the correct place to worship continued from the rebuilding of Jerusalem after the Babylonian captivity until the days of Jesus (Joh. 4:20-24). The Samaritans held to the Pentateuch as their sacred scriptures, disregarding the other portions of the Old Testament which mention Jerusalem and the place or worship.
And they did not receive him.The fact that He was going to Jerusalemprobably to the feast of Tabernaclesstirred the old prejudice and led them to refuse lodging to Jesus and His disciples. But see Joh. 4:39-42 for their reaction to the invitation of the woman at the well, and Act. 8:5-40 for the account of Philips ministry in Samaria.
bid fire come down from heaven.James and John were not nicknamed sons of thunder without cause (Mar. 3:17). Their rash proposal was met with prompt rebuke by Jesus. There were other villages in which to spend the night. Violence seldom serves to abolish prejudice. By contrast, Luke shows the power of preaching Christ to bring joy to the lives of the people in the city of Samaria (Act. 8:4-8).
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
(51) When the time was come that he should be received up.Literally, When the days of His assumption were being fulfilled. The noun is peculiar to St. Luke, and is derived from the verb used of the Ascension, in Mar. 16:19, 1Ti. 3:16. It can here refer to nothing else, and the passage, as occurring in the midst of a narrative, is remarkable. It is as though St. Luke looked on all that follows as seen in the light of the Ascension. Every word and act was consciously a step forward to that great consummation.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
95. THE SAMARITANS WILL NOT RECEIVE JESUS JAMES AND JOHN REPROVED, Luk 9:51-56 .
51. Time that he should be received up The being received up signifies his being received or ASSUMPTION into heaven at his ascension. The phrase by implication takes in all his sufferings, death, and resurrection. The clause, time was come that he should be received up, is very erroneously translated. Owen well renders it, When the days were being fulfilled. That is, during the period or stage of our Lord’s earthly ministry, which was closed by his death. This was at the beginning of the last six months of his life. At this time he left Galilee for the last time. Mat 19:1. His mission hereafter was in Peraea and Judea. And during this period Jerusalem was the centre towards which, how often soever he diverged, he must ever gravitate until his final hour there. His adjacent ministries should be temporary, for duty, like destiny, should be perpetually pointing toward the scene of his final suffering. Hence the different passages in Luke, with the corresponding ones in the other evangelists, which allude to Jerusalemite journeys, designate not one, but several. Set his face With a firmness unshaken by foreseen suffering.
To Jerusalem For some time, as we learn from John, (Joh 7:1-14,) Jesus had been driven by the rage of his enemies into Galilee, where he now had finished his mission, as the Feast of Tabernacles was at hand. To that feast his half-skeptical brothers advised him to go and display his miraculous powers before the world. He declines their advice, feeling bound to a different course. While they go to the feast by the caravan route, he prepares to pass to Judea secretly, and by a route and for special purposes of his own.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘And it came about, when the days were well-nigh come that he should be received up, he steadfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem.’
We have already seen in Luk 9:22; Luk 9:31; Luk 9:44 that Jesus’ destiny is to die in Jerusalem. We are now told that the remainder of Luke’s Gospel is to be read in that light. All that is said from now on is to have as its background His coming death and resurrection. Note how by implication His death and resurrection are seen together. This was specifically so in Luk 9:22, it is shown to be so in Luk 9:44 by the use of the term ‘exodus’ as a synonym for ‘death and what lies beyond’, and here by the description of His being ‘received up’ (compare Luk 13:33). The two terms used in the latter two cases connect Him to Moses and Elijah, for Moses led the Exodus of God’s people out of Egypt and Elijah was ‘received up’ into Heaven. ‘Received up’ here must include His death, for His purpose in going to Jerusalem is to die (Luk 13:33; compare also Joh 12:32-33), but the comparison with its use of Elijah (2Ki 2:10-11 LXX) suggests that it also includes His resurrection.
The previous section to this has concentrated on Who He is, culminating in His Transfiguration, and is now behind us. From now on concentration is to be on His teaching, His warnings and His response to His enemies in preparation for the final climax. This will then result, in Acts, in the spreading of the Kingly Rule of God throughout ‘the world’. And in order to concentrate our minds on the cross in relation to it Luke depicts all that follows in terms of His ‘set purpose to go to Jerusalem’ to die. All that He does and teaches from now on He does against the background of the cross.
As usual Luke achieves his impression by silences, a typical Lucan approach. Jesus actually visits Jerusalem three times during the course of these chapters, but Luke deliberately passes over the fact so as give the theological impression of one drawn out journey to Jerusalem. For he wants us to see that from this moment on Jesus is heading towards His death in Jerusalem.
He does, for example, draw attention to Jesus going through Samaria on the way to Jerusalem in the verses immediately following this verse, after which He almost certainly visits Jerusalem in Luk 10:38, for Mary and Martha lived at Bethany on the outskirts of Jerusalem (Joh 11:1). But he describes it merely as ‘a visit to a certain village’. He does not want to disturb the idea that Jesus is ‘on His way to die in Jerusalem’.
He is probably also in or near Jerusalem at the time of Luk 13:34, compare Mat 23:37, for Matthew’s context for that saying is Jerusalem, and Luk 13:22; Luk 13:33 in Luke appear to be building up to being again at Jerusalem. Yet in Luk 17:11 He is passing between Galilee and Samaria ‘on the way to Jerusalem’. A number of visits to Jerusalem in fact ties in with John’s Gospel, which depicts precisely that. But Luke wants us to recognise that in all this journeying His eye is on His final entry into Jerusalem to die and on His final triumph there, and he therefore refrains from mentioning actual visits to Jerusalem before that. Theologically from this point on He is making one long ‘ journey to be received up in Jerusalem’.
Matthew and Mark both only deal with this period briefly. Having led up to the recognition of Jesus as ‘the Christ’ by His disciples, and the revelation then made that He must suffer, they move swiftly on to that suffering (especially Mark). Luke has the same pattern, but expands the period over which it is revealed that He will suffer. Thus Luke emphasises the cross more than all.
The following verses reveal this progress towards Jerusalem:
‘Who appeared in glory, and spoke of His exodus which He was about to accomplish at Jerusalem’ (Luk 9:31).
‘And it came about that when the time was come that He should be received up, He set His face like a flint to go to Jerusalem’ (Luk 9:51).
‘And they did not receive Him, because His face was as though He was going to Jerusalem’ (Luk 9:53).
‘And Jesus answering said, “A certain man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among thieves, who stripped him of his clothing, and wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead” ’ (Luk 10:30).
“Or those eighteen, on whom the tower in Siloam fell, and slew them, do you think that they were sinners above all men who dwell in Jerusalem?” (Luk 13:4).
‘And He went through the cities and villages, teaching, and journeying towards Jerusalem’ (Luk 13:22).
“Nevertheless I must walk to day, and to morrow, and the day following, for it cannot be that a prophet perish out of Jerusalem” (Luk 13:33).
“Jerusalem, Jerusalem, which kills the prophets, and stones those who are sent to her, how often would I have gathered your children together, as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you would not!” (Luk 13:34).
‘And it came about that as He went to Jerusalem, He was passing through the midst of (between) Samaria and Galilee’ (Luk 17:11).
‘Then He took to him the twelve, and said to them, “Behold, we go up to Jerusalem, and all things which are written by the prophets concerning the Son of man shall be accomplished” (Luk 18:31).
‘And as they heard these things, He added and spoke a parable, because He was nigh to Jerusalem, and because they thought that the kingly rule of God was about to immediately appear’ (Luk 19:11).
‘And when He had thus spoken, He went on before, going up to Jerusalem’ (Luk 19:28).
Now while the parable of the Good Samaritan (Luk 10:30) does not depend on His being near Jerusalem, for a priest and Levite required such a background wherever He was, the parable certainly makes better sense as being given there, and this is especially so as it is followed immediately by His visit to Bethany which is on the outskirts of Jerusalem. The same applies to His reference to the Tower of Siloam in Luk 13:4, while Luk 13:22; Luk 13:33-34 equally give the appearance of an immediate approach to Jerusalem culminating in His cry over it. After that we then have the further approach in Luk 18:31; Luk 19:11; Luk 19:28. So each approach towards Jerusalem is to be seen as part of the one final great approach when He enters Jerusalem in triumph to die.
This also explains why He can here approach Jerusalem through Samaria in the following verses in this chapter, and yet can later approach it through Peraea. This first visit is from Luke’s point of view a ‘non-visit’, for it is not with a view to His death.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Jesus Sets His Face Towards Jerusalem Followed By Centring on the Lord’s Prayer For The Evangelisation of the World (9:51-11:54).
This section commences with Jesus setting His face towards Jerusalem because the time for Him to be received up (as mentioned in Luk 9:22; Luk 9:31; Luk 9:44) is approaching, and it centres around the Lord’s Prayer for the evangelisation of the world (Luk 11:1-4) which is exemplified throughout. This is apparent from an analysis:
a ‘And it came about when the days were well nigh come that He should be received up He steadfastly set His face to go to Jerusalem’ (Luk 9:51).
b The Samaritans reject Him because of the physical place to which He is going. They do not look underneath to the heart. Nevertheless there is no woe on the Samaritans (Luk 9:52-56).
c Call to discipleship and singleness of purpose so that they may proclaim the Kingly Rule of God (Luk 9:57-62).
d The seventy go out preaching seeking men to win under the Kingly Rule of God – woes on the cities who reject them (Luk 10:1-15).
e “He who hears you hears Me, and he who Hears Me hears Him Who sent me” (Luk 10:16).
f The disciples rejoice because the devils are subject to them, Jesus declares ‘I saw Satan fallen from heaven.’ They will be delivered from serpents and scorpions (Luk 10:17-20).
g Jesus rejoices in the Spirit, God has revealed His truth to babes, and given to His Son the privilege of revealing Him (Luk 10:21-24).
h About the Good Samaritan who responds and gives good things to the one in need (Luk 10:25-37).
i About Martha who serves well and feeds Jesus and the Apostles, and Mary who chooses the better part, the presence of Jesus (Luk 10:38-42).
j The Lord’s Prayer for the evangelisation of the world (Luk 11:1-4).
i About the friend at midnight who responds and feeds his friend (Luk 11:5-8).
h God will freely give from His goodness to those who reveal their need of Him (Luk 11:9-10)
g Those who come to Him as Father will receive good things, (not serpents and scorpions), including the Holy Spirit given to those who seek Him (Luk 11:11-13).
f The Pharisees accuse Jesus of being aligned with Satan because the devils are subject to Him, and He describes Satan’s total humiliation and defeat (Luk 11:14-22).
e “He who is not with Me is against Me, and he who does not gather with Me, scatters” (Luk 11:23).
d Evil spirits are out looking for men to possess. Woe to the present generation for rejecting the Great One and His preaching (Luk 11:24-32).
c The light is shining and men should open their eyes to it with singleness of eye and let it fill their lives (Luk 11:33-36).
b The Scribes and Pharisees reject Him because He refuses to conform to their physical requirements, for they also do not look at the heart. But there are woes on the Pharisees, for they should know better (Luk 11:37-52).
a ‘And when He was come out from there the Scribes and Pharisees began to press Him hard and provoke Him to speak of many things lying in wait for Him to catch something out of His mouth’ (Luk 11:53-54).
Note that in ‘a’ mention is made of Jesus being ‘received up’ as a result of the action of His enemies, and in the parallel the Scribes and Pharisees are trying to entrap Him so that they can accuse Him. In ‘b’ the Sadducees are influenced by the physical place to which He is going, they do not look at the heart, however, no woe is to be declared on the Samaritans, but in the parallel the Pharisees are influenced by His failure to conform to their physical requirements, they too do not look at the heart, but woes are declared on the Pharisees for they should have known better. In ‘c’ men are called to follow Him with singleness of purpose, and in the parallel they are called to singleness of eye. In ‘d’ the seventy go out preaching and woes are declared on those who do not hear, and in the parallel evil spirits go out looking for men to possess and Jesus speaks of woes on the people because they reject His preaching. In ‘e’ there is a saying of Jesus, and in the parallel a similar saying is given. In f there is rejoicing over the defeat of Satan, and in the parallel Jesus is accused of complicity with Satan and describes his total defeat. In ‘g’ Jesus rejoices in the Spirit and reveals the Father to His own, and in the parallel the Holy Spirit is given to those who ask the Father for Him. In ‘h’ the Good Samaritan gives good gifts to the one in need, while in the parallel God will respond to those who reveal their need of Him. In ‘i’ Jesus is fed and in the parallel the friend at midnight is fed. Central to the whole passage in ‘j’ is the Lord’s prayer, which is reflected throughout the surrounding material.
Connections In This Passage With the Lord’s Prayer.
Central to this section is the Lord’s Prayer in Lucan form as follows:
‘Father.’ See Luk 10:21-22; Luk 11:11-13, the first full revelation in Luke of the special nature of the Father in relation to His special people. Compare Luk 1:32; Luk 2:49; Luk 6:36; Luk 9:26.
‘Hallowed be Your Name.’ This has in mind the prophecy of Eze 36:23-32 where we learn that His name is to be hallowed by the future outpouring of the Spirit and the transformation of His true people. See Luk 10:21 where the Spirit is connected with the full revelation of God to His people; and Luk 11:13 which refer to the Holy Spirit’s coming. But His Name will also be hallowed by the coming about of His Kingly Rule (Luk 9:62; Luk 10:9, Luk 11:20) and His judgment on sinners (Luk 10:13-15), and by His being known in the eyes of many nations (Eze 38:23). If we take its wider meaning of ensuring that His name is treated with reverence and worship and is not blasphemed (Isa 8:13; Isa 29:23) we can consider Luk 11:14-52 where the hypocrisy of those who claimed to be His mouthpiece and brought shame on Him is condemned. See especiallyLuk 11:19-20; Luk 11:42; Luk 11:49.
‘Your Kingly Rule come.’ See Luk 9:52 to Luk 10:20 which are concerned with the spread of the Kingly Rule of God. Also Luk 11:20 where the coming of the Kingly Rule of God causes the defeat of Satan. The Good Samariatan can also be seen as es establishing the Kingly Rule of God (see on that passage).
‘Give us day by day tomorrow’s bread.’ See Luk 10:38-42; Luk 11:5-8 which speak of the provision of food. The Good Samaritan also provides the needy Jew, who represents the people of God, with his daily food. We see there an example of how God does cause His people to be fed, often through strangers.
‘Forgive us our sins for we ourselves also forgive everyone who is indebted to us.’ See Luk 10:25-37 where the good Samaritan personifies forgiveness.
‘And bring us not into testing.’ See Luk 10:25; Luk 11:16, the deliverance from Satan (Luk 11:14-26) and the comparison of those who will be brought into testing (Luk 11:37-53), of whose teaching the disciples must beware lest it test them (Luk 12:1).
And possibly ‘deliver us from the evil one’. See Luk 10:17-20; Luk 11:14-26.
The Father’s special concern and something of His nature is shown in Luk 10:21-22; Luk 11:11-13. The dedicated disciples and the seventy are appointed in order to hallow God’s name and establish the Kingly Rule of God, (see Luk 9:57 to Luk 10:20), and there is rejoicing over deliverance from the Enemy (Luk 10:17-24). The Good Samaritan exemplifies the Kingly Rule of God coming to bring provision and salvation from a non-Temple source when the Temple has failed, including ‘daily food’ and the willingness to forgive others. The provision of ‘bread’ is described in different ways from Luk 10:25 to Luk 11:13, illustrating the giving of the Holy Spirit. Jesus is constantly ‘tested’ (specifically mentioned in Luk 10:25; Luk 11:16). But He will not bring His own into testing, delivering them by the defeat of Satan (Luk 11:14-26), and by His teaching as the greatest of all teachers bringing light instead of darkness (Luk 11:27-36), while He will bring the Scribes and Pharisees into Judgment where they will be thoroughly tested (Luk 11:37-53), because they have refused the light.
So it will be noted that the Section follows this overall pattern, the spreading of the Kingly Rule of God; the provision of bread, which illustrates the coming of the Holy Spirit; the confrontation with and defeat of evil spirits by the Stronger than he; the presence of the Greatest of Teachers Who comes bringing light which divides men into those who seek the light and those who remain in darkness; ending with those who remain in darkness and are condemned. And all is exemplified in the Good Samaritan who comes bringing eternal life, life to the dead.
Jesus Sets His Face Towards Jerusalem.
Jesus Rebukes His Own Disciples: Rejection by the Samaritans In Luk 9:51-56 we have the unique story of Jesus and His disciples being rejected by a village in Samaria. Jesus has been rejected before, such as the story of His visit to the city of Nazareth. But this story of a village in Samaria places emphasis, not upon His lack of healings, but rather upon Jesus training His disciples on how to handle rejection with the right attitude of the spirit, or the heart. Thus, a key phrase in this passage is “Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of,” (Luk 9:55).
Luk 9:51 Comments – In Luk 9:51 Jesus set His face towards Calvary. Jesus had just returned from the Mount of Transfiguration where He was strengthened by Moses and Elijah, who discussed Jesus’ death at Jerusalem.
Luk 9:31, “Who appeared in glory, and spake of his decease which he should accomplish at Jerusalem.”
Now note:
Luk 9:62, “And Jesus said unto him, No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back , is fit for the kingdom of God.”
Jesus was not just going to the city of Jerusalem. He was heading towards an event, which was the Cross. Jesus set His face towards Jerusalem because He had set His heart to be obedient to the Father (Php 2:8). We see in Heb 12:2 that Jesus endured the Cross for the joy that was set before Him. So, Jesus’ face was not just set towards Jerusalem and to the event of the Cross. His face was ultimately set towards the joy that would come through His obedience unto death.
Php 2:8, “And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.”
Heb 12:1, “Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,”
The Lord will often give us a divine Word or visitation when we have very important issues to fact in our lives. Kenneth Hagin explains that these divine encounters are given to us to strengthen us for the long and difficult task ahead. [216]
[216] Kenneth Hagin, Following God’s Plan For Your Life (Tulsa, Oklahoma: Faith Library Publications, c1993, 1994), 118.
The Purpose of Jesus’ Decision to go to Jerusalem – Jesus experienced several times of testing, when God the Father tested Him to demonstrate His love and devotion to God. The most obvious time was Jesus’ forty days of temptation in the wilderness preceding His public ministry (Luk 4:1-13). However, Jesus’ decision to stay in Jerusalem and dialogue with the priests was perhaps His first tests (Luk 2:49), when He chose to pursue His love for God’s Word instead of following His parent’s home to Nazareth. The next time when Jesus faced a difficult decision was when His set His face towards Jerusalem, where Calvary awaited (Luk 9:51). Another time of testing came in the Garden of Gethsemane when His prayed, “Not my will, but thine.” (Luk 22:41-42) Reflecting upon these four periods of testing, we see how they each preceded Jesus’ move from one phase of ministry into a higher phase, leading Him from justification, indoctrination, divine service, perseverance, to glorification with the Father. For example, His decision to stay with the teachers of the Law in the temple as the age of twelve indicated that He was moving from a time of justification as a child to indoctrination and training in God’s Word. His forty days of tempting in the wilderness preceded His phase of divine service. His decision to set His face towards Jerusalem preceded a period of perseverance, and His decision in the Garden to go to the Cross preceded His glorification with the Father. We, too, will face similar seasons of testing, where our Heavenly Father wants us to demonstrate our love and devotion to Him.
Scripture Reference – Note a similar verse:
Isa 50:7, “For the Lord GOD will help me; therefore shall I not be confounded: therefore have I set my face like a flint , and I know that I shall not be ashamed.”
Luk 9:54 Comments – The apostles of Jesus Christ still have some racial prejudices against the Samaritans despite hearing the teachings of Jesus. Luk 9:54 demonstrates how we all have to go through a growing process as Christians and that God will use us while we are growing. Man’s anger cannot fulfill the righteousness of God. Note:
Jas 1:19, “Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath: For the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God.”
This story is similar to the one is 2 Kings where the King of Israel wanted to smite the armies of Syria. Note:
2Ki 6:21-22, “And the king of Israel said unto Elisha, when he saw them, My father, shall I smite them? shall I smite them? And he answered, Thou shalt not smite them: wouldest thou smite those whom thou hast taken captive with thy sword and with thy bow? set bread and water before them, that they may eat and drink, and go to their master.”
The calling down of fire by Elijah’s actions was a defensive measure in 2Ki 1:3-17. In contrast, Jesus’ disciples wanted to call down fire from heaven in an offensive act, which is a different spirit from what Elijah’s had. Note also:
2Co 10:8, “For though I should boast somewhat more of our authority, which the Lord hath given us for edification, and not for your destruction , I should not be ashamed:”
Luk 9:55 But he turned, and rebuked them, and said, Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of.
Luk 9:55 Luk 11:13, “If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?”
Luk 12:12, “For the Holy Ghost shall teach you in the same hour what ye ought to say.”
Luk 9:56 For the Son of man is not come to destroy men’s lives, but to save them. And they went to another village.
Luk 9:56 Joh 3:16, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”
Training for Discipleship Luk 9:51 to Luk 10:37 give us three accounts of Jesus teaching His disciples on different aspects of serving in the Kingdom of God. He teaches on the right attitude of a disciple, which is to walk in love (Luk 9:51-56), on the cost of discipleship, which involves a person’s willingness to serve the Lord with all of his heart, mind, body and finances (Luk 9:57-62), and on using the authority of the name of Jesus (Luk 10:1-24). These narrative stories reveal the progressive training of Christian disciples. One must first have the right attitude of the heart, always desiring to save others rather than to destroy lives (Luk 9:51-56). This is the preparation of the heart. Then a disciple has to be willing to give himself entirely to the Lord (Luk 9:57-62). This involves a mental decision of the mind. When one takes these two steps, he is ready to go out with authority and power in the name of Jesus and work signs and miracles (Luk 10:1-24). This is the physical service of our bodies yielded to Him. Thus, we have three lessons by Jesus Christ on the spiritual, mental and physical preparations for discipleship. Just as He “stedfastly set His face to go to Jerusalem,” so must His disciples be ready to do the same.
Outline Here is a proposed outline:
1. Rebuke – Rejection by Samaritans Luk 9:51-56
2. Correction – Three Examples of Cost of Discipleship Luk 9:57-62
3. Exhortation – The Seventy Sent Out Luk 10:1-24
4. Instruction – Instructs Lawyer on Eternal Life Luk 10:25-37
The Travel Narrative to Jerusalem: Jesus Teaches His Disciples to Testify and Walk in His Authority Luk 9:51 to Luk 21:38 is commonly called the Travel Narrative because it gives us the longest account of Jesus’ final journey to Jerusalem. This narrative material begins with His rejection by the Samaritans while passing through their country and culminates in His triumphant entry into the city of David and His daily teaching in the Temple. Luke gives his readers unique narrative material in this section of his Gospel in an effort to show how all of these events led to His death and atonement on Calvary. In this section, emphasis is placed upon Jesus training the twelve apostles to become witnesses of Him through His teaching ministry. We see Jesus’ teaching ministry mentioned in Luk 13:22.
Luk 13:22, “And he went through the cities and villages, teaching, and journeying toward Jerusalem.”
At this point in Jesus’ ministry, He sets His face towards Jerusalem with the decision that His time in Galilee was ending, where He had enjoyed a successful ministry, and it was time to face Calvary. His objective has been reached, as He had revealed Himself to the Twelve as the Savior of the World and the Son of God, and they had embraced Him. These disciples now saw Him as the Christ, the Son of the Living God (Luk 9:20). With this phase of His ministry complete, it was now time for His destiny to Calvary to be fulfilled.
The emphasis in the Travel Narrative changes from Jesus revealing His divine authority and power to His disciples towards an emphasis upon teaching and instructing His disciples on how to walk in the authority of His name. The Travel Narrative begins by showing Jesus training and sending out the seventy disciples to become witnesses of the Kingdom of God. We find Him exhorting, correcting and rebuking the people He meets along this journey. This journey to Jerusalem, thus, serves as a training ground for the twelve apostles to learn how to fulfill their divine commission after His ascension into Heaven. They, too, will embark upon their own separate journeys to the Cross, while testifying of the Kingdom of God as will be recorded in the book of Acts. They, too, will encounter people on a daily basis and learn how to minister to them by watching Jesus during His journey to the Cross. Jesus’ final words before His ascension will be a commission to His disciples to be witnesses of the Kingdom of God (Luk 24:46-49).
In 2Ti 4:1-2 Paul instructs young Timothy in a similar manner. He says, “I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom; Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine.” Thus, Paul’s phrase “be instant in season, out of season” means to be always ready to speak under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit because He will be there every time to anoint a preacher of the Gospel. Paul was simply telling this young preach from years of personal experience that God would be faithful to speak through him on all occasions and with all types of messages. Young Timothy must learn to let the Holy Spirit lead him on what needed to be said for each occasion, whether it was with reprove, rebuke, or exhortation with all longsuffering and doctrine. For we see Jesus Christ in the Gospel speaking different ways to different people. Some He instructed and encouraged because of their good hearts. Others He rebuked because of the hardness of their hearts. While others He corrected because of their simple ignorance. This is what we find Jesus doing in His Travel Narrative from Galilee to Jerusalem.
It is interesting to note that much of this material in the Travel Narrative, particularly Luk 9:51 to Luk 19:48, is unique to the four Evangelists. This is because Luke is giving a unique message to his readers, which message is the equipping and training of the Twelve to take the Gospel to the uttermost parts of the world.
Rejection by the Samaritans
v. 51. And it came to pass, when the time was come that He should be received up, He steadfastly set His face to go to Jerusalem,
v. 52. and sent messengers before His face; and they went, and entered into a village of the Samaritans to make ready for Him.
v. 53. And they did not receive Him because His face was as though He would go to Jerusalem.
v. 54. And when His disciples James and John saw this, they said, Lord, wilt Thou that we command fire to come down from heaven, and consume them, even as Elias did?
v. 55. But He turned, and rebuked them, and said, Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of.
v. 56. For the Son of Man is not come to destroy men’s lives, but to save them. And they went to another village.
John and James, the “sons of thunder,” had not yet learned the full lesson of humility, as this incident shows. When the days of His being received up were altogether fulfilled, when the days of His assumption were in course of accomplishment, “implying the approach of the closing scenes of Christ’s earthly experience,” then He firmly set His face to journey up to Jerusalem. It was not the last journey which the Lord was here undertaking, but one which would settle His fate, so far as the leaders of the Jews were concerned. From this time forth He might expect a falling away of popular favor. He made this journey through Samaria. But when, in one case, He sent messengers ahead to provide lodging, He met with a flat refusal. The Samaritans, a mixed people, had fallen away from the Jewish Church, accepted only the Pentateuch as God’s revealed Word, and did not worship at Jerusalem. There was, on that account, little love lost between the Jews and the Samaritans, Joh 4:9. In this case the people of the Samaritan village would not give Jesus lodging, because, literally, His face was journeying to Jerusalem; He was headed in that direction, that was His destination. But this treatment of their Master filled John and James with the greatest indignation. Referring to the act of Elijah, 2Ki 1:10, they wanted to follow his example and have the village destroyed by fire from heaven. But Jesus turned to them and very earnestly upbraided them for their suggestion. The spirit of Christ and the New Testament is not bent upon destroying the souls of people, but upon saving them. Rather than show any resentment, Jesus chose a different village to lodge in. This lesson is in place even today. The Christian Church, the Christian congregation, uses no force in bringing Christ and His Gospel to people, for His kingdom is not of this world. “Here Christ says: Remember of what spirit ye are children, namely, of the Holy Spirit, who is a Spirit of peace, not of division. This Peter also forgot in the garden, when Christ said to him: Put the sword into the sheath. It requires not fighting, but suffering. The Holy Spirit permits it now, and maintains His silence that Christ is thus crucified and abominably dealt with. Thus, because we have the pure doctrine, it happens also to us that everything that is great in the world uses power and might against this doctrine. But God alone upholds it, else it would have been destroyed long ago. But since they vilify the doctrine and defend their godless estate, we cannot hold silence, but must speak against them. But we are here like John and James; our heart has this feeling, that we desire revenge upon the godless tyrants. Here every one should repent thoroughly and pray God that He would keep us from such murderous thoughts. revenge we should not desire, hut have compassion, and remember why the Son of Man is come, namely, that we should not desire judgment and revenge upon the sinners.”
Luk 9:51. When the time was come About this time the feast of dedication approacheda solemnity not appointed by the law of Moses, but by that heroic reformerJudasMaccabeus,in commemoration of his having cleansed the temple, and restored its worship, after both had been profaned by Antiochus Epiphanes: but although this feast was of human institution, and Jesus foresaw that further attempts would be made upon his life at Jerusalem, he did not fear it, but went thither with the utmost calmness and resolution. St. Luke explains the reason of this: he had now continued upon earth very near to the final period of his life below, and was soon to be taken up to heaven, whence he had come down; he therefore resolved from this time forth to appear as openly as possible, and to embrace every opportunity of fulfilling the duties of his ministry. When the time was come, or fulfilled, ( , ) according to the Hebrew idiom, signifies, when the time drew on, or approached. The word , in this passage, signifies Christ’s being received or taken up into heaven; for we find the word , whence it is derived, applied expressly to his ascension, Mar 16:19. Act 1:2. The word , days or times, does not always imply a determinate space, but is sometimes used in a loose and indefinite sense, as in this place. The phrase, he stedfastly set his face, imports a strong and intrepid resolution, notwithstanding the foreknowledge that our Saviour had of the dangers which awaited him. See Eze 4:3.
Luk 9:51 ff. Luke now enters upon his narrative of the journey of Jesus to Jerusalem at the close of His earthly career, and transfers to this journey all that follows as far as Luk 18:30 . [120] Not until Luk 18:15 does he again go parallel with Matthew and Mark. The journey is not direct , for in that case only three days would have been needed for it, but it is to be conceived of as a slow circuit whose final goal , however, is Jerusalem and the final development there. The direct journey towards Jerusalem does not begin till the departure from Jericho, Luk 18:35 . Jesus, with His face towards Jerusalem, wishes to pass through Samaria (Luk 9:52-53 ); but being rejected, He turns again towards Galilee, and does not appear again on the borders of Samaria till Luk 17:11 , [121] whence it is plain that Luke did not transfer the history of Martha and Mary (Luk 10:38 ) to Bethany, in which respect, according to John, he was assuredly in error. This being conceded, and in consideration of Luke in general having so much that is peculiar to himself, since he, following his sources and investigations (Luk 1:3 ), so frequently varies from Matthew and Mark in the sequence of events and the combination of discourses, the judgment of de Wette appears wrong: that the whole section, namely, is an unchronological and unhistorical collection, probably occasioned by the circumstance that Luke had met with much evangelical material which he did not know how to insert elsewhere, and therefore threw together in this place (comp. also Reuss, 206; Hofmann, Schriftb . II. 2, p. 355). In that case the very opposite of Luke’s assurance (Luk 1:3 ) would be true, and Bruno Bauer’s sneer on the subject of the journey would not be without reason. He must actually have found the chronological arrangement of what is recorded in this large section as belonging to the end of the sojourn in Galilee, and this must have determined his special treatment, in respect of which he intersperses at Luk 13:22 and Luk 17:11 hints for enabling the reader to make out his whereabouts in the history (comp. Ewald). But Kuinoel (following Marsh and Eichhorn) quite arbitrarily deduces the section Luk 9:51 to Luk 18:14 from a gnomology bearing upon the last journey of Christ, on the margin of which also much belonging to an earlier time was written. The assumption of Schleiermacher, moreover, is incapable of proof (comp. Olshausen and Neander, Ebrard also, and Bleek): that there are here blended together the narratives of two journeys to Jerusalem to the feast of the Dedication and to the Passover. So also Hofmann, Weissag. u. Erfll . II. p. 113. Decidedly opposed to this, however, is the fact that the intercalation of other historical elements (Luk 10:25 to Luk 18:31 ) must again be assumed. Finally, the assertion of Wieseler ( Chronol. Synopse , p. 319 ff.), that Luk 9:51 to Luk 13:21 is parallel with Joh 7:10 to Joh 10:42 (then Luk 13:22 to Luk 17:10 with Joh 11:1-54 ; and lastly, Luk 17:11 to Luk 19:28 with Joh 11:55 to Joh 12:11 ), so that thus Luke in Luk 9:51 is introducing, not the last journey to Jerusalem, but the last but two, is negatived on purely exegetical grounds by (see subsequently). The older harmonistic schemes also placed the journey in question parallel with Joh 7:10 , but got themselves, awkwardly enough, out of the difficulty of by means of the evasion: “non enim Lucas dicit, dies illos jam impletos esse, sed factum hoc esse, dum complerentur ,” Calovius. In various ways attempts have been made to solve the question, whence Luke derived his narrative (see especially Ewald, Jahrb . II. p. 222, and Evang . p. 282 ff.; Weizscker, p. 209 ff.). Yet, apart from his general sources, in regard to which, however, it is not needful, in view of the Logia , to presuppose a later treatment and transposition (Ewald), it can scarcely be inferred as to the general result that in this peculiar portion of his Gospel down to Luk 18:14 a special evangelical document, a special source containing a journey , must have been in Luke’s possession, and that this was rich in fragments of discourse, partly, indeed, in such as occur also in the Logia , although differently arranged, and in part differently put together, but pre-eminently rich in parabolic and narrative discourses, such as were in accordance with the Pauline views; for the entire omission of these discourses by Matthew and Mark sufficiently proves that (in opposition to Holtzmann) they did not as yet appear in the Logia , but formed an anthology of the Lord’s original sayings that grew up out of a later development. Weizscker, p. 141 ff., has ingeniously endeavoured to indicate the, relations of the several portions to the doctrinal necessities of the apostolic age , in regard to which, however, much remains problematical, and in much he takes for granted tendencies whose existence cannot be proved. It is totally unfounded to attribute to Luke any modification of his accounts brought about by motives of partisanship [122] (Baur, Kstlin, and others), in respect of which Kstlin, p. 236, supposes that he vaguely and contradictorily worked up an older narrative about the journey through Samaria and Peraea, because after he had once brought Jesus to Samaria he would not wish to mention expressly His leaving this region again immediately. (But see on Luk 9:56 .)
[120] That there is actually before us in this place a narrative of a journey has indeed been denied, but only under the pressure of harmonistic criticism. Even Weiss rightly maintains its character as the narrative of a journey whose goal is Jerusalem. Still its contents are not to be limited to the ministry of Jesus outside of Galilee. See also Weizscker, p. 207.
[121] Therefore it is not to be said that Luke makes the chief part of the journey pass through Samaria, whereby, according to Baur ( Evang . p. 433 f.), he wished to support the Pauline universalism by the authority of Jesus. In ver. 51 ff. Luke relates only an attempt to pass through Samaria, which, however (ver. 56), was abandoned. This, moreover, is opposed to Baur’s comparison of the Gospel of Luke with that of John (p. 488), and opposed to Kstlin, p. 189.
[122] That thus, for instance, by the narrative of the fiery zeal of the sons of Zebedee he just desired to prove how little they were capable of going beyond the limits of Judaism. Comp. Hilgenfeld, Evang . p. 182 f.
Luk 9:51 . . . .] when the days of His taking up ( i.e. the days when their consummation ordained by God, His assumption, was to occur) were entirely completed , i.e. when the period of His receiving up ( assumptio , Vulg.) was very near . Euthymius Zigabenus aptly says: . In the New Testament occurs only in this place. But it appears in the same sense of the taking up into heaven , and that likewise of the Messiah, in the Test. XII. Patr . p. 585: ; and in the Fathers (see Suicer, Thes . I. p. 282); although in the New Testament the verb is the customary word to express this heavenly reception , Mar 16:19 ; Act 1:2 ; Act 1:11 ; Act 1:22 ; 1Ti 3:16 . Comp. 1Ma 2:58 ; Sir 48:9 ; 2Ki 2:11 ; Sir 49:14 ; Tob 3:6 . The objections of Wieseler are unfounded: that the plural , as well as the absence of any more precise limitation for . ( ), is opposed to this view. The plural is as much in place here [123] as at Luk 2:6 ; Luk 2:22 ; Act 9:23 ; and , without more precise limitation , in no way needed such a limitation, because by means of it leaves it absolutely without doubt that the current idea of Christ’s assumption is meant, as, moreover, , Act 1:2 , and 1Ti 3:16 , although without any local definition, presented no ambiguity to the Christian consciousness. Comp. the ecclesiastical usus loquendi of assumptio without qualification. Wieseler himself explains: “when the days drew to an end in which He found a reception (in Galilee, to wit), He journeyed towards Jerusalem in order to work there.” An erroneous device, the necessary result of harmonistic endeavours. Nobody could guess at the supplementary “in Galilee;” and what a singularly unsuitable representation, since, indeed, Jesus up to this time almost always, and even so late as at Luk 9:43 , found appreciation and admiration in Galilee!
] ipse , in view of the subsequent sending forward of His messengers .
. .] He settled (stedfastly directed) His countenance , a Hebraism ( ), Jer 21:10 ; Jer 42:15 ; Jer 44:12 ; Gen 31:21 ; 2Ki 12:18 ; Dan 11:17 , to be traced to the source that he made use of. Comp. Gesenius (who points out the existence of the same usage in Arabic and Syriac) in Rosenmller, Rep . I. p. 136, and Thesaur . II. p. 1109. The meaning is: He adopted His settled purpose to journey to Jerusalem ( , genitive of purpose ); , , , Theophylact.
[123] If Luke had written . . he would thereby have declared that what followed happened on the very day of the assumption. Comp. Act 2:1 . But Bengel well says: “unus erat dies assumtionis in coelum, sed quadraginta dies a resurrectione, imo etiam hi dies ante passionem erant instar parasceves. Instabat adhuc passio, crux, mors, sepulcrum, sed per haec omnia ad metam prospexit Jesus, cujus sensum imitatur stylus evangelistae.” Comp. Joh 12:23 ; Joh 13:3 ; Joh 13:31 ; Joh 13:17 , and elsewhere.
THIRD SECTION Luk 9:51 to Luk 19:27
_____________ Luk 9:51-62
(Parallel to Luk 9:57-60. Mat 8:19-22.)
51And it came to pass, when the time was come [when the days were fulfilling] that he should be received up, he steadfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem, 52And sent messengers before his face: and they went, and entered into a village of the Samaritans, to make ready for him. 53And they did not receive him, because his face was as though 54he would go to Jerusalem. And [But] when his disciples James and John saw this, they said, Lord, wilt thou that we command fire to come down from heaven, and consume them, even as Elias [Elijah] did? 55But he turned, and rebuked them, and said, Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of [Know ye not of what spirit ye are children V. O.11]. 56For the Son of man is not come to destroy mens lives, but to save them [om. this sentence]. And they went to another village. 57And it came to pass, that, as they went in the way, a certain man said unto him, Lord, I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest. 58And Jesus said unto him, [The] Foxes have holes, and [the] birds of the air have nests [habitations, ]; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head. 59And he said unto another, Follow me. But he said, Lord, 60suffer me first to go and bury my father. Jesus said unto him, Let the dead bury their 61dead: but go thou and preach the kingdom of God. And, another also said, Lord, I will follow thee; but let me first go bid them farewell, which are at home at my house. 62And Jesus said unto him [om., unto him, V. O.12], No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
Chronological.We believe that the here-mentioned journey must be cordinated with Joh 7:1 (Friedlieb, Krafft, Hug, Lcke, Wieseler, a. o.). The grammatical expression of Luk 9:51 admits of this, and the remark, Joh 7:10, that the Saviour went up secretly, agrees admirably with Lukes account that He travelled through Samaria. The arrangement of the events in Stier, who places Joh 7:1 immediately after Mat 16:12, and makes the Saviour remain three whole months at Jerusalem, appears to us supported by no sufficient reasons, and to offer internal difficulties. We consider it, on the other hand, entirely probable that the Saviour, between the feast of Tabernacles, John 7, and the feast of the Dedication, John 10, spent yet some time in Galilee.
Luk 9:51. When the days were fulfilling that He should be received up.With these words Luke begins a new particular narrative of travel, and for Harmonistics the question is naturally of great importance what we are to understand by the expression . . We should be relieved of great difficulties if we found ourselves allowed to understand by it the coming to an end of the days in which the Saviour found a favorable reception in Galilee (Wieseler, Lange), but even if the grammatical possibility of this interpretation was sufficiently proved, yet the whole way of conceiving the first period of the public life of the Saviour, as a time of favorable reception in contrast with the conflict afterwards arising, appears to be hardly in the spirit of Luke. The translation of in the sense of: To come to an end, is at least not favored by Act 2:1, and moreover the whole Pauline usage of our Evangelist is decidedly in favor of interpreting the in the ecclesiastical sense of Assumtio. Comp. Act 1:2; Act 11:22; 1Ti 3:16. We believe, therefore, that this is here indicated as the final term of the earthly manifestation of the Saviour, to which even His death was only a natural transition. But we are not obliged, therefore, as yet to assume that here the journey to the last Passover is meant; on the other hand, the opposite seems to be deducible from Luk 13:22; Luk 17:11. Quite as little can we assume that here two journeys to feasts have been confounded (Schleiermacher), and least of all that it is not even an account of any particular journey which begins here (Ritzschl). It appears, on the other hand, that here one of the last journeys is designated which the Saviour, on the approach of the end of His life, had entered upon with His view directed to His exaltation, and at the same time that in this whole narrative of journeying, Luk 9:51 to Luk 18:14, different details do not appear in their strict historical sequence. This was fully permitted to the Evangelist, since on his pragmatical position the whole public life of the Lord might properly be called a journey to death, as Bengel strikingly explains it: Instabat adhuc passio, crux, mors, sepulcrum, sed per hc omnia ad metam prospexit Jesus, cujus sensum imitatur stilus Evangelist. Moreover, it clearly appears that this whole account of this journey in Luke is drawn from one or several distinct written sources (); yet respecting their nature and origin it is impossible to determine anything certain, and for the credibility of this part also we must be contented with the declaration which Luke has made respecting his whole Gospel in the introduction, Luk 1:1-4.
He steadfastly set His face, .We cannot agree with the opinion (Von Baur) that nothing is here meant to be intimated than that Jesus, in all of the journeys which He was now making, never lost the final goal out of His mind, but made them with the continual, unshaken consciousness that they, wherever they led, were properly a . True, there lies in the word the conception of a steadfast undaunted beholding of the final goal of the journey but that nevertheless an immediate commencement and continuance of the journey itself was connected therewith is sufficiently apparent from Luk 9:53-56.
Luk 9:53. And they did not receive Him.It is true that the caravans for Jerusalem often journeyed this way (see Josephus, Ant. Jud. xx. 6. 1; and Lightfoot, on Joh 4:4), but for all that, hospitality might very well have been refused to a company travelling separately, and, above all, to the Saviour; if the report of the increasing hatred against Him had already made its way even to Samaria, and obtained there some influence. [The fact that the company were Jews is quite sufficient to account for the refusal, without the wholly superfluous and ungrounded supposition that they were influenced by any condition of parties among the Jews. If Jewish hatred against the Saviour had had any influence among the Samaritans, it would have been in His favor.C. C. S.] Respecting the hatred between Samaritans and Jews, comp. Lange, on the Gospel of John.
Luk 9:54. James and John.There is just as little ground for assuming (Euth. Zigab.) as for denying (Meyer) that the sons of Zebedee themselves were the messengers. The exasperation that filled them is as easily comprehensible as the entreaty for vengeance which they uttered. 1. They had seen the Lord upon Tabor, where Moses and Elijah did Him homage: shortly after, a conversation of high moment had directed their attention to Elijah and his relation to the kingdom of God. Is it a wonder that an image from the history of this prophet came up before their souls, and a spark of his fiery zeal set their hearts into a flaming glow? Comp. 2Ki 19:12. That the name Boanerges was given them for a humiliating reminder of what here took place, is, as already remarked, without any ground.
As Elijah did, . .Upon the authority of B., L., and some cursives and variations, these words have been often suspected (Mill, Griesbach), and finally omitted by Tischendorf. We believe, however, that their early omission must be explained on the ground that in the answer of Jesus an indirect censure of this example was discovered (De Wette). On the other hand, it is probable that the words proceeded from the disciples themselves, since such an apparently unreasonable inquiry could be best justified by an express appeal to the man who had also performed such a miracle of punishment.
Luk 9:55. Know ye not of what Spirit ye are?The Saviour does not disapprove this Elijah-like zeal unconditionally. e knows that this, on the plane of the old Theocracy, was not seldom necessary; but this does He seriously censure: that His disciples so entirely overlooked the distinction between the Old and the New Testament, that they, in the service of the mildest Master, still continued to believe that they could act as was permitted the stern reformer of Israel on his rigoristic position. They ought far rather to have considered that they, in His society, had, from the very beginning, become partakers of another Spirit, which knew no pleasure in vengeance. Not only of this does the Master powerfully admonish them, that they should be the bearers of this Spirit, but also that they in His society were already the dwelling-places of this Spirit. We find no ground for removing these words as spurious from the text, notwithstanding that they had been quite early suspected and expunged by many. (See Tischendorf, ad loc.) Their rejection, however, is sufficiently explained by the fact that they seemed to contain an indirect censure of Elijahs way of dealing, and therefore gave offence to the copyists, although from a mistaken understanding of them. Perhaps it was feared also that by retaining these words the ancient Christian zeal in the persecution of heretics would be seen to be condemned, and they were therefore discreetly left out. In both cases the omission is at least fully intelligible, but not in what way they had come into the other manuscripts if the Saviour had not uttered them. And would Luke have written only without adding anything more; precisely as he had previously, Luk 9:42, said in reference to an evil spirit? On the contrary, as respects the last words in the Recepta: The Son of Man is not come, &c., the number as well as the weight of the authorities for their spuriousness is in our eyes decisive. They are in all probability, as a fitting conclusion of an ecclesiastical lesson, transferred either from Mat 18:18, or Luk 19:10. The grounds, at least, on which, for example, Stier, iii. p. 95, will still vindicate them, appear to us rather subjective and unsatisfactory.
Luk 9:57. And it came to pass.The correct historical sequence of this occurrence appears to have been observed by Matthew, Luk 8:19-20. The second may have taken place almost contemporaneously with it, the third probably on another occasion; but it is related by Luke here, on account of the similarity of the case, in one connection with the others. Our Evangelist apparently gives them at the beginning of this last narrative of travel, for the reason that they have all relation to one most momentous subject, the following of the Saviour in the way of self-denial, of toil, and of conflict.
A certain man.According to Matthew, a scribe. If we proceed upon the presupposition that the Evangelist, in the case of very special callings of disciples, had in mind only the calling of apostles, and that therefore the here-mentioned person must necessarily have been one of the Twelve, the conjecture of Lange is then in the highest degree happy, that we here in the two following accounts have the history of the calling of Judas Iscariot, Thomas, and Matthew. On the other hand, we do not know whether the first was a scribe: we believe, moreover, that we must assume, on chronological grounds, that the calling of Matthew had already taken place. The first of these three men is moreover not called by Jesus, but, unrequested, offers himself to Him as companion of His journey. He utters the language of excited enthusiasm, follows the impression of the moment, and is the type of a sanguine nature.
Luk 9:58. The foxes.The answer of the Saviour does not of itself entitle us to accuse the scribe who offers himself as a disciple, of an interested end; but it only presupposes that his resolution had been taken too hastily to be well matured and well considered. The Saviour therefore desires that he should first consider how little rest and comfort he had to expect in this journey. He Himself had less than even the wildest beasts possess, and can therefore call His followers also only to daily self-denial. The Saviour here does not primarily refer to the humbleness and poverty of His life, but to His restless and wandering life, although the first of these thoughts need not be wholly excluded. Does, perchance, the presentiment also express itself in these words that even dying He should lay His head to rest in a place which was not even His own property? At all events, we have to admire the deep wisdom of the Saviour in this, that on this occasion He calls himself the Son of Man, as if He would intimate that He who requires so much self-denial, also fully deserves it. As far as we from other passages are acquainted with even the better-minded scribes, we shall be very well able to assume that this one, at such a word, went from thence with a disturbed mind. The interpretation, moreover, that the Saviour with this pregnant answer only meant to say, But I know not as yet for the coming night where I shall sleep (Herder), or, that The Divine Spirit which restlessly worked in Him, suffered itself to be hemmed in under no roof, within no four walls (Weisse), belongs fitly in a collection of exegetical curiosities. The view of Schleiermacher, that the scribe wished to follow the Saviour to Jerusalem on whichever of the many roads to Jerusalem He might travel, we cannot approve, since it rests upon an improbability, in presupposing that not Matthew but Luke has given this occurrence in the right historical connection. To better purpose may we, in order to understand this mans meaning, compare the language which Ittai used towards David, 2Sa 15:21.
Luk 9:59. And He said unto another, Follow Me.According to Matthews intimation also: , Jesus first called this man to follow Him, and encouraged him, therefore, while He rather deterred the former. The melancholy temperament is treated by the Lord very differently from the sanguine. According to Matthew, he is one of the , belonging to the wider circle which is alluded to also in Joh 6:66. If the scribe was too inconsiderate, this man is too melancholy, and even in the most immediate neighborhood of the Prince of life, he sees himself pursued by gloomy images of death. The Lord knows that this man must choose at once or without doubt he will never choose, and deals with him, therefore, with all the strictness, but at the same time with all the wisdom, of love.
First to go and bury my father.The sense is not that the father was already old, and that he wished to wait for his death (so, among others, Hase, Leben Jesu, second edition), for then he would have demanded an indefinite, perhaps a long postponement, and would have deserved a sharper answer. No, without doubt his father had died, and he had perhaps only quite lately received the intelligence of his death. It is not, however, probable that he would have mingled among the people and approached the Saviour, immediately from the house of death, after he had become Levitically unclean. He wishes, on the other hand, to go to his dead father, and cherishes the hope that the Saviour, for his sake, will postpone His departure or else permit him to follow afterwards.
Luk 9:60. Let the dead.See Lange, ad loc. in Matthew. With a man of such a character the Saviour considers it absolutely necessary to insist on the exact fulfilment of the high principle, that for His sake, one must unconditionally leave all. If even the Nazarites were not permitted to defile themselves by touching the mortal remains of their kindred (Num 6:6-7), without this prohibition having been viewed as too strict, the Saviour also does not require too much when He here demanded the leaving of the dead father; the more so since He made good a thousandfold that which was given up for His sake, by the joyful calling to preach the Gospel of the kingdom of God. Duty to a handful of dust must now give way before duty towards mankind. It is of course understood, that the Saviour here by the first mentioned means the spiritually dead, and it at once appears how much, by the double sense in which the word is here used, the expression gains in beauty and power. Here also, in the use of language by the Synoptic and the Johannean Christ, there is discernible an admirable agreement. Comp. Joh 5:24-25.
Luk 9:61. Lord, I will follow Thee.Luke does not state definitely whether the initiative proceeded from the Saviour or the disciple. It may be that Jesus had first called him, yet it is also possible that he here offers himself. This history has a remarkable concurrence with the prophetical calling of Elisha, 1Ki 19:19; 1Ki 19:21, and the form of the Saviours answer also appears borrowed from what took place with Elisha, who was called when ploughing. Here the Saviour insisted upon undivided devotion, as He in the first case insisted upon ripe consideration, in the second upon courageous decision. The inquirer is either not to follow, or to follow wholly and perfectly.
Luk 9:62. No man.Before all things the Saviour will give the man to feel that in the kingdom of God a severe labor must be accomplished,a labor which will be doubly severe and certainly unfruitful, if the whole man does not take part in it. He portrays to us from life the plougher whose hand is on the plough, whose eye is turned back, and whose work roust thereby become toilsome, ill regulated and insignificant. [The light, easily overturned plough of the East lends force to the image.C. C. S.] What should He have to do with such laborers in His kingdom? To be compared with this, although not to be identified with it, is the example of Lots wife, Luk 17:32, and the apostolic saying, 2Pe 2:22.
Remarks on the whole Section.It has often been remarked that Luke, without observing a strict chronological sequence, brings together here four different characters: Luk 9:51-56 the Choleric, Luk 9:57-58 the Sanguine, Luk 9:59-60 the Melancholic, Luk 9:61-62 the Phlegmatic. Without precisely asserting that the Evangelist had the definite purpose to portray the Saviours manner of dealing with men of the most different temperaments, we yet cannot deny that he is much more concerned for the union of similar facts than for strict chronological arrangement. It is not probable that in the last period of the public life of the Saviour, when enmity against Him had already so considerably increased, a scribe would have followed Him even then; on the contrary, it is much more credible that this, as Matthew relates, took place at an earlier period of time. That this last case occurred twice (Stier), appears to us on internal grounds hardly admissible.
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL
1. It has more than once been inquired what temperament is to be ascribed to the Son of Man, and the decision has been made in favor of some one of the four, e.g. the choleric (Winkler). But the comparison of our Saviours temper of soul and manner of dealing with that of the four different men coming here into view, gives us plainly to perceive that every strongly pronounced temperament necessarily represents something one-sided, while it is precisely in the perfect harmony of His predispositions, powers, and movements of soul, that the characteristics of the entirely unique personality of Jesus must be sought.
2. The insult which the Saviour received from the Samaritans must have been the greater, the more widely the fame of His Messianic dignity had penetrated even among them. To a Messiah who was going up to Jerusalem instead of restoring the temple-service on Gerizim, they could not possibly extend hospitality. But at the same time, this hatred is also a striking symbol of the reception which is now as ever prepared for the Christian in the midst of an unbelieving world, as soon as this becomes aware, or conjectures, that his countenance also is directed towards the heavenly Jerusalem.
3. The heavenly mildness of the Saviour over against religious hatred on the one hand and the desire of vengeance on the other, only becomes rightly apparent, if we not only compare Him with Elijah, but above all consider who He was, and what reception He was entitled to demand. His vengeance on Samaria for the refusal of recognition here, we read in Act 8:14-17.
4. It is quite as incorrect to overlook the special necessity of the requirements, Luk 9:60-62, for those times, as to suppose that they were exclusively suitable for those times. On the contrary, there is here expressed in a peculiar form the high principle which binds all His disciples immutably, without respect to time or place, and with which we have already become acquainted, Luk 9:23-25.
5. The very strictness of the requirements which the Saviour imposes on His followers, is an incontrovertible proof of the exalted self-consciousness which He continually bore within Himself. Who has ever demanded more, but who also has promised more and rendered a greater reward than He? And in that which He here demands of others, He Himself has gone before in accomplishing the will of His Father at every time without rebuke.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL
Luk 9:51-56. The steady step with which the Saviour goes towards His
Passion and His Glory.The distinction between this village of the Samaritans and Sychar, Joh 4:40.The power of deep-rooted religious hatred.The strife between exaggerated religiosity and genuine humanity.The hatred in Samaria the presage of the conflict in Jerusalem.The fiery zeal of the sons of Zebedee: 1. Flaming out, 2. rebuked, 3. purified.The Saviour over against: 1. Bigoted enemies, 2. unintelligent friends.Jesus the meek Servant of the Father.True and false religious zeal. Comp. Rom 10:2.Religious hatred, false zeal, and meekness.The distinction between the spirit of the Old and that of the New Covenant.
Luk 9:57-62. The following of Jesus; a threefold precept: 1. No very hasty step; the Master requires earnest consideration; 2. no melancholy resolution; the Master requires a courageous walk; 3. no unresolved wavering; the Master requires entire devotion.Well-meaning but ill-considered steps, Jesus dissuades from.The restless life of the Lord.Whoever will follow the Son of Man, must count on self-denial.What is heaviest, must weigh heaviest.The dead father and the living Gospel.To the spiritually dead commit the care of the lifeless dust.Forgetting what is behind, reaching on to what is before.The love of the Saviour in an apparently arbitrary refusal.The undecided man between the Saviour and them of his house.The useless plougher on the field of the kingdom of God: 1. His type; 2. his work; 3. his sentence.Three stones of stumbling on the way of following Jesus: 1. Overhastiness, 2. heavy-heartedness, 3. indecision.
The whole Section. The Divine harmony in the Son of Man, and the different temperaments of the children of men.The wisdom of the Saviour in converse with and in guiding men of the most different kinds.How: 1. Different temperaments are related to the Saviour; 2. how the Saviour is related to different temperaments.Severity and love, holiness and grace, in the Son of Man united in noblest wise.Comp. especially the admirable sermons of Fr. Arndt on Luk 9:52-62.
Starke:The consideration of death must not depress us, since we know that we are travelling towards the heavenly Jerusalem.J. Hall:Oh, deep humiliation, that He whose is the heaven and all the habitations therein, entreats for a lodging, and does not even find it.Quesnel:When one has once begun in good earnest the journey to heaven, he has little credit thereafter in the world.Not to be hospitable, especially towards those who follow Christ, is unrighteous. Heb 13:2.Zeisius:How thirsty for vengeance after all is flesh and blood!Against sin we must be zealous, but not against the persons of the sinners.Although one may indeed follow the saints, yet herein considerateness is to be used.Canstein:To the church of Christ there has no might and power for the destruction of men been given.Nova Bibl. Tub.:Whoever with Christ seeks only easy days, let him stay away from Him.Brentius:A Divine call must be accepted without conferring with flesh and blood, let it cost what it may. Gal 1:16.Parents one must honor, but for the sake of the kingdom of heaven let them also go. Mat 19:29.The ministry demands the whole man.Zeisius:It is easy and hard to be a Christian.
Heubner:How many profitless and superfluous drones there are in the ministry. Such workers are corpses that will all yet be buried.Jesus commonly comes even to us not unannounced.Augustine:Opus est mitescere pietate.Palmer:Earthly desire, earthly love, earthly sorrowthese are the three powers that scare men away from Christ.Beck (on Luk 9:51-56):Know ye not what Spirit ye are children of? 1. What Spirit we are children of; 2. what Spirit we ought to be children of.Gerok:The four temperaments under training of Jesus Christ, the Searcher of hearts.Schaufler (on Luk 9:61-62):Anything but a conditional following of Jesus!
Footnotes:
[11]Luk 9:55.Tischendorf omits all between and . according to A., B., C., ., Cod. Sin. As to this, Alford says, It is hardly conceivable that the shorter text, as edited by Tischendorf, should have been the original, and all the rest insertion. The words have such a weight of authority against them, that they would be worthy of rejection, if it were explicable how they came into the text. How easily, on the other hand, out of regard to Elijah, could an intentional omission take place! Moreover, the brief, simple, and pregnant word of rebuke is so unlike a copyists interpolation, and as worthy of Jesus Himself, as it is, on the other hand, hard to conceive that Luke, on an occasion so unique, limited himself to the bare . Meyer, It is in itself something very improbable, that the original narrative should have been expressed with such boldness as according to this text: He turned and rebuked them, without the communication of the Redeemers own expressions, and, on the other hand, it is not less improbable, that if the text had originally read barely [as proposed], it should have been already in the ancient church supplemented as it now appears in the Received Text. For it is already so found in the Vulgate, four manuscripts of the Itala, and in most of the other ancient versions, as well as in Marcion, Clemens Alexandrinus, Cyprian, Augustine, Ambrosius, and others. The early omission of the words was perhaps originally occasioned by an accidental error in copying, the eye of the copyist being misled from to ., as Meyer supposes, and then this shorter text being retained in the church from dogmatical considerations also, namely, because the words of Christ were used by Marcion, who already read them, as we see from Tertull. adv. Marc. Luk 4:23, and other anti-Jewish Gnostics, to justify their rejection of the Old Testament and the Jewish economy. Bleek. The spuriousness of the words: For the Son of Man is not come, &c., is not much contested. It appears to be the interpolation of a sentence customary with our Lord, from Mat 18:11, or Luk 19:10.C. C. S.]
[12][Luk 9:62.Om., . The variations show this to be an interpolated supplement to the verb: some insert it before, some after ., some giving . Alford. Cod. Sin. has it.C. C. S.]
(51) And it came to pass, when the time was come that he should be received up, he stedfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem, (52) And sent messengers before his face: and they went, and entered into a village of the Samaritans, to make ready for him. (53) And they did not receive him, because his face was as though he would go to Jerusalem. (54) And when his disciples, James and John, saw this, they said, Lord, wilt thou that we command fire to come down from heaven, and consume them, even as Elias did? (55) But he turned, and rebuked them, and said, Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of. (56) For the Son of man is not come to destroy men’s lives, but to save them. And they went to another village.
I apprehend, by the time being come that Jesus should be received up, is not meant that his public ministry in preaching was now nearly over; for, according to all calculation, the crucifixion of Christ was, at least, six months after. But, probably, it means, that it was now arrived when he should ascend from Galilee to Jerusalem; for after this, we do not find our Lord again in Galilee. The indisposition in the Samaritans to receive Jesus, it is possible, might arise from their discovering our Lord’s wishes to go up to Jerusalem. And this they construed into a partiality for the temple, at the holy city, in preference to the mountain of Samaria, for worship, Reader! observe, I do not decide upon it: I only offer my conjecture. See Joh 4:9-29 . But whether I am correct or not in this view of the subject, one point I beg the Reader not to overlook, the striking contrast of our Lord’s mind to that of the apostles’ James and John. They were for calling fire from Heaven to resent the insult offered to Jesus. But Jesus himself manifested nothing but meekness and love. Oh! how blessed, how very blessed is it to behold Jesus pre-eminent in mercy, as he is pre-eminent in greatness!
50 And Jesus said unto him, Forbid him not: for he that is not against us is for us.
51 And it came to pass, when the time was come that he should be received up, he stedfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem,
Ver. 51. That he should be received up ] The word (Poly. Lyser.) implies a metaphor from fathers owning and acknowledging their children after long absence.
He set his face ] He steeled his forehead against all discouragements, .
51. ] . , not past not, when the days were fulfilled; but, were being fulfilled: i.e. approaching their fulfilment. ‘ When the time was come ,’ E. V., is too strong: when the days were come would be better, for that would include the whole of the journey in those days. See reff.
can have but one meaning (which, as the word itself is not found elsewhere, must be determined by the sense of the cognate verb: see reff.), His assumption, i.e. ascension into heaven. . Euthym [78]
[78] Euthymius Zigabenus, 1116
resumes the subject , not without some emphasis implying his own voluntary action.
. [ . ] ., a Hebraism, see reff., implying determinate fixed purpose: cf. Isa 50:7 , the sense of which, as prophetic of the Messiah going to his sufferings, seems to be referred to in this expression. The LXX have there, .
Luk 9:51-56 . Looking southward. Samaritan intolerance .
Luk 9:51 forms the introduction to the great division, Luk 9:51 to Luk 18:15 . It makes all that follows up to the terminus ad quem stand under the solemn heading: the beginning of the end . From this time forth Jesus has the close of His earthly career in view. His face is fixedly set towards Jerusalem and heaven . This conception of Jesus, as from this point onwards looking forward to the final crisis, suggests various reflections.
1. The reference to the last act of the drama comes in at a very early place in Lk.’s history.
2. The part of the story lying behind us does not adequately account for the mood of Jesus. We do not see why He should be thinking so earnestly of a final crisis of a tragic character, or even why there should be such a crisis at all. That the religious guides of Israel more or less disapproved of His ways has appeared, but it has not been shown that their hostility was of a deadly character. The dinner in Simon’s house speaks to relations more or less friendly, and the omission of the sharp encounter in reference to hand-washing, and of the ominous demand for a sign from heaven, greatly tends to obscure the forces that were working towards a tragic end, and had the cross for their natural outcome. It does not seem to have entered into Lk.’s plan to exhibit Christ’s death as the natural result of the opinions, practices, prejudices and passions prevalent in the religious world. He contemplated the event on the Godward, theological side, or perhaps it would be more correct to say on the side of fulfilment of O. T. prophecy. The necessity of Christ’s death, the (Luk 9:22 ) = the demand of O. T. Scripture for fulfilment, vide Luk 24:26 .
3. In the long narrative contained in the next eight chapters, Jesus does not seem to be constantly thinking of the end. In Mk. and Mt. it is otherwise. From the period at which Jesus began to speak plainly of His death He appears constantly preoccupied with the subject. His whole manner and behaviour are those of one walking under the shadow of the cross. This representation is true to life. In Lk., on the other hand, while the face of Jesus is set towards Jerusalem, His mind seems often to be thinking of other things, and the reader of the story forgets about the cross as he peruses its deeply interesting pages.
, etc., when the days of His assumption were in course of accomplishment, implying the approach of the closing scenes of Christ’s earthly experience; here and in Act 2:1 , only, of time ; in Luk 8:23 in the literal sense. . His assumption into heaven, as in Act 1:2 . The substantive in this sense is a . . in N. T. It occurs in the Test., xii. Patr. The verb occurs in a similar sense in various places in the Sept [96] The assumption into heaven includes the crucifixion in Lk.’s conception, just as the glorification of Jesus includes the Passion in the Johannine conception. “Instabat adhuc passio, crux, mors, sepulchrum; sed per haec omnia ad metam prospexit Jesus, cujus sensum imitatur stylus evangelistae,” Bengel. The was an act of God. , He made His face firm (from , akin to , Thayer’s Grimm), as if to meet something formidable and unwelcome, the cross rather than what lay beyond, here in view. Hahn, who does not believe that Lk. is here referring to Christ’s final journey to Jerusalem, tones down the force of this word so as to make it express in Oriental fashion the idea of Jesus addressing Himself to a journey not specially momentous.
[96] Septuagint.
Luke
CHRIST HASTENING TO THE CROSS
Luk 9:51 There are some difficulties, with which I need not trouble you here, as to bringing the section of this Gospel to which these words are the introduction, into its proper chronological place in relation to the narratives; but, putting these on one side for the present, there seems no doubt that the Evangelist’s intention here is to represent the beginning of our Lord’s last journey from Galilee to Jerusalem-a journey which was protracted and devious, and the narrative of which in this Gospel, as you will perceive, occupies a very large portion of its whole contents.
The picture that is given in my text is that of a clear knowledge of what waited Him, of a steadfast resolve to accomplish the purpose of the divine love, and that resolve not without such a shrinking of some part of His nature that He had ‘to set His face to go to Jerusalem.’
The words come into parallelism very strikingly with a great prophecy of the Messiah in the Book of the Prophet Isaiah, where we read, ‘The Lord God will help me, therefore shall I not be confounded’-or, as the words have been rendered, ‘shall not suffer myself to be overcome by mockery’-’therefore have I set my face like a flint.’ In the words both of the Prophet and of the Evangelist there is the same idea of a resolved will, as the result of a conscious effort directed to prevent circumstances which tended to draw Him back, from producing their effect. The graphic narrative of the Evangelist Mark adds one more striking point to that picture of high resolve. He tells us, speaking of what appears to be the final epoch in this long journey to the Cross, ‘They were in the way, going up to Jerusalem, and Jesus went before them; and they were amazed: and as they followed, they were afraid.’ What a picture that is, Christ striding along the steep mountain path far in advance-impelled by that same longing which sighs so wonderfully in His words, ‘How am I straitened till it be accomplished,’-with solemn determination in the gentle face, and His feet making haste to run in the way of the Father’s commandments! And lagging behind, the little group, awed into almost stupor, and shrinking in uncomprehending terror from that light of unconquerable resolve and more than mortal heroism that blazed in His eyes!
If we fix, then, on this picture, and as we are warranted in doing, regard it as giving us a glimpse of the very heart of Christ, I think it may well suggest to us considerations that may tend to make more real to us that sacrifice that He made, more deep to us that love by which He was impelled, and may perhaps tend to make our love more true and our resolve more fixed. ‘He set His face to go to Jerusalem.’
I. First, then, we may take, I think, from these words, the thought of the perfect clearness with which all through Christ’s life He foresaw the inevitable and purposed end.
Now, there is another thing to be noticed. That vision of the certain end which here fills His mind and impels His conduct, was by no means new with Him. Modern unbelieving commentators and critics upon the Gospels have tried their best to represent Christ’s life as, at a certain point in it, being modified by His recognition of the fact that His mission was a failure, and that there was nothing left for Him but martyrdom! I believe that that is as untrue to the facts of the Gospel story upon any interpretation of them, as it is repulsive to the instincts of devout hearts; and without troubling you with thoughts about it I need only refer to two words of His. When was it that He said, ‘Destroy this temple, and in three days I will build it up’? When was it that He said, ‘As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up’? The one saying was uttered at the very beginning of His public work, and the other in His conversation with Nicodemus. On the testimony of these two sayings, if there were none else, I think there is no option but to believe that from the first there stood clear before Him the necessity and the certainty of the Cross, and that it was no discovery made at a certain point of His course.
And then, remember that we are not to think of Him as, like many an earthly hero and martyr, regarding a violent and bloody death as being the very probable result of faithful boldness, but to believe that He, looking on from the beginning to that end, regarded it always as being laid upon Him by a certain divine necessity, into which necessity He entered with the full submission and acquiescence of His own will, and from the beginning knew that Calvary was the work for which He had come, and that His love would fail of its expression, and the divine purpose would fail of its realisation, and His whole mission would fail of all its meaning, unless He died for men. The martyr looks to the scaffold and says, ‘It stands in my way, and I must either be untrue to conscience or I must go there, and so I will go.’ Christ said, ‘The Cross is in My path, and on it and from it I shall exercise the influence, to exercise which I have come into the world, and there I shall do the thing which I came forth from the Father to do.’ He thought of His death not as the end of His work, but as the centre-point of it; not as the termination of His activity, but as its climax, to which all the rest was subordinated, and without which all the rest was nought. He does not die, and so seal a faithful life by an heroic death,-but dies, so bearing and bearing away man’s sin. He regarded from the beginning ‘the glory that should follow,’ and the suffering through which He had to wade to reach it, in one and the same act of prescience, and said, ‘Lo, I come, in the volume of the book it is written of Me.’
And I think, dear friends, if we carried with us more distinctly than we do that one simple thought, that in all the human joys, in all the apparently self-forgetting tenderness, of that Lord who had a heart for every sorrow and an ear for every complaint, and a hand open as day and full of melting charity for every need-that in every moment of that life, in the boyhood, in the dawning manhood, in the maturity of His growing human powers-there was always present one black shadow, towards which He ever went straight with the consent of His will and with the clearest eye, we should understand something more of how His life as well as His death was a sacrifice for us sinful men!
We honour and love men who crush down their own sorrows in order to help their fellows. We wonder with almost reverence when we see some martyr, in sight of the faggots, pause to do a kindness to some weeping heart in the crowd, or to speak a cheering word. We admire the leisure and calm of spirit which he displays. But all these pale, and the very comparison may become an insult, before that heart which ever discerned Calvary, and never let the sight hinder one deed of kindness, nor silence one gracious word, nor check one throb of sympathy.
II. Still further, the words before us lead to a second consideration, which I have just suggested in my last sentence-Our Lord’s perfect willingness for the sacrifice which He saw before Him.
‘Clear knowledge of the end as divinely appointed and certain’; yes, one might say, and if so, there could have been no voluntariness in treading the path that leads to it. ‘Voluntariness in treading the path that leads to it, and if so, there could have been no divine ordination of the end.’ Not so! When human thought comes, if I may so say, full butt against a stark, staring contradiction like that, it is no proof that either of the propositions is false. It is only like the sign-boards that the iceman puts upon the thin ice, ‘dangerous!’ a warning that that is not a place for us to tread. We have to keep a firm hold of what is certified to us, on either side, by its appropriate evidence, and leave the reconciliation, if it can ever be given to finite beings, to a higher wisdom, and, perchance, to another world!
But that is a digression from my more immediate purpose, which is simply to bring before our minds, as clearly as I can, that perfect, continuous, ever-repeated willingness, expressing itself in a chain of constant acts that touch one upon the other, which Christ manifested to embrace the Cross, and to accomplish what was at once the purpose of the Father’s will and the purpose of His own.
And it may be worth while, just for a moment, to touch lightly upon some of the many points which bring out so clearly in these Gospel narratives the wholly and purely voluntary character of Christ’s death.
Take, for instance, the very journey which I am speaking of now. Christ went up to Jerusalem, says my text. What did He go there for? He went, as you will see, if you look at the previous circumstance,-He went in order, if I might use such a word, to precipitate the collision, and to make His Crucifixion certain. He was under the ban of the Sanhedrim; but perfectly safe as long as He had stopped up among the hills of Galilee. He was as unsafe when He went up to Jerusalem as John Huss when he went to the Council of Constance with the Emperor’s safe-conduct in his belt; or as a condemned heretic would have been in the old days, if he had gone and stood in that little dingy square outside the palace of the Inquisition at Rome, and there, below the obelisk, preached his heresies! Christ had been condemned in the council of the nation; but there were plenty of hiding-places among the Galilean hills, and the frontier was close at hand, and it needed a long arm to reach from Jerusalem all the way across Samaria to the far north. Knowing that, He steadfastly set His face to go to Jerusalem, and, if I might use the expression, went straight into the lion’s mouth. Why? Because He chose to die.
And, then, take another circumstance. If you will look carefully at the Scripture narrative, you will find that from about this point in His life onwards there comes a distinct change in one very important respect. Before this He shunned publicity; after this He courted it. Before this, when He spoke in veiled words of His sufferings, He said to His disciples, ‘Tell no man till the Son of man be risen from the dead.’ Hereafter though there are frequent prophecies of His sufferings, there is no repetition of that prohibition. He goes up to Jerusalem, and His triumphal entry adds fuel to the fire. His language at the last moment appeals to the publicity of His final visit to that city-’Was I not daily with you in the Temple and ye laid no hands upon Me?’ Everything that He could do He does to draw attention to Himself-everything, that is to say, within the limits of the divine decorum, which was ever observed in His life, of whom it was written long, long ago, ‘He shall not strive, nor cry, nor cause His voice to be heard in the streets.’ There is, then, a most unmistakable change to be felt by any who will carefully read the narratives in their bearing upon this one point-a resolve to draw the eyes of the enemy upon Himself.
And to the same purpose, did you ever notice how calmly, with full self-consciousness, distinctly understanding what He is doing, distinctly knowing to what it will lead, He makes His words ever heavier and heavier, and more and more sharply pointed with denunciations, as the last loving wrestle between Himself and the scribes and Pharisees draws near to its bloody close? Instead of softening He hardens His tones-if I dare use the word, where all is the result of love-at any rate He keeps no terms; but as the danger increases His words become plainer and sterner, and approach as near as ever His words could do to bitterness and rebuke. It was then, whilst passionate hate was raging round Him, and eager eyes were gleaming revenge, that He poured out His sevenfold woes upon the ‘hypocrites,’ the ‘blind guides,’ the ‘fools,’ the ‘whited sepulchres,’ the ‘serpents,’ the ‘generation of vipers,’ whom He sees filling up the measure of their fathers in shedding His righteous blood.
And again, the question recurs-Why? And again, besides other reasons, which I have not time to touch upon here, the answer, as it seems to me, must unmistakably be, Because He willed to die, and He willed to die because He loved us.
The same lesson is taught, too, by that remarkable incident preserved for us by the Gospel of John, of the strange power which accompanied His avowal of Himself to the rude soldiers who had come to seize Him, and which struck them to the ground in terror and impotence. One flash comes forth to tell of the sleeping lightning that He will not use, and then having revealed the might that could have delivered Him from their puny arms, He returns to His attitude of self-surrender for our sakes, with those wonderful words which tell how He gave up Himself that we might be free, ‘If ye seek Me, let these go their way.’ The scene is a parable of the whole work of Jesus; it reveals His power to have shaken off every hand laid upon Him, His voluntary submission to His else impotent murderers, and the love which moved Him to the surrender.
Other illustrations of the same sort I must leave untouched at present, and only remind you of the remarkable peculiarity of the language in which all the Evangelists describe the supreme moment when Christ passed from His sufferings. ‘When He had cried with a loud voice, He yielded up the ghost,’-He sent away the spirit-’He breathed out’ His spirit, ‘He gave up the ghost.’ In simple truth, He ‘committed His spirit’ into the Father’s hand. And I believe that it is an accurate and fair comment to say, that that is no mere euphemism for death, but carries with it the thought that He was active in that moment; that the nails and the spear and the Cross did not kill Christ, but that Christ willed to die! And though it is true on the one side, as far as men’s hatred and purpose are concerned. ‘Whom with wicked hands ye have crucified and slain’; on the other side, as far as the deepest verity of the fact is concerned, it is still more true, ‘I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again.’
But at all events, whatever you may think of such an exposition as that, the great principle which my text illustrates for us at an earlier stage is, at least, irrefragably established-that our dear Lord, when He died, died, because He willed to do so. He was man and therefore He could die; but He was not man in such fashion as that He must die. In His bodily frame was the possibility, not the necessity, of death. And that being so, the very fact of His death is the most signal proof that He is Lord of death as well as of life. He dies not because He must, He dies not because of faintness and pain and wounds. These and they who inflicted them had no power at all over Him. He chooses to die; and He wills it because He wills to fulfil the eternal purpose of divine love, which is His purpose, and to bring life to the world. His hour of weakness was His hour of strength. They lifted Him on a cross, and it became a throne. In the moment when death seemed to conquer Him, He was really using it that He might abolish it. When He gave tip the ghost, He showed Himself Lord of death as marvellously and as gloriously as when He burst its bands and rose from the grave; for this grisly shadow, too, was His servant, and He says to him, ‘Come, and he cometh; do this, and he doeth it.’ ‘Thou didst overcome the sharpness of death’ when Thou didst willingly bow Thy head to it, and didst die not because Thou must , but because Thou wouldest .
III. Still further, let me remind you how, in the language of this verse, there is also taught us that there was in Christ a natural human shrinking from the Cross.
And now, if you will take along with that the other thought that I suggested at the beginning of these remarks, and remember that this shrinking must have been as continuous as the vision, and that this overcoming of it must have been as persistent and permanent as the resolve, I think we get a point of view from which to regard that life of Christ’s-full of pathos, full of tender appeals to our hearts and to our thankfulness.
All along that consecrated road He walked, and each step represented a separate act of will, and each separate act of will represented a triumph over the reluctance of flesh and blood. As we may say, every time that He planted His foot on the flinty path the blood flowed. Every step was a pain like that of a man enduring the ordeal and walking on burning iron or sharp steel.
The old taunt of His enemies, as they stood beneath His Cross, might have been yielded to-’If Thou be the Son of God, come down and we will believe.’ I ask why did not He? I know that, to those who think less loftily of Christ than we who believe Him to be the Son of God, the words sound absurd-but I for one believe that the only thing that kept Him there, the only answer to that question is-Because He loved me with an everlasting love, and died to redeem me. Because of that love, He came to earth; because of that love, He tabernacled among us; because of that love, He gazed all His life long on the Cross of shame; because of that love, He trod unfaltering, with eager haste and solemn resolve, the rough and painful road; because of that love, He listened not to the voice that at the beginning tempted Him to win the world for Himself by an easier path; because of that love, He listened not-though He could have done so-to the voices that at the end taunted Him with their proffered allegiance if He would come down from the Cross; because of that love, He gave up His spirit. And through all the weariness and contumely and pain, that love held His will fixed to its purpose, and bore Him over every hindrance that barred His path. Many waters quench it not. That love is stronger than death; mightier than all opposing powers; deep and great beyond all thought or thankfulness. It silences all praise. It beggars all recompense. To believe it is life. To feel it is heaven.
But one more remark I would make on this whole subject. We are far too much accustomed to think of our Saviour as presenting only the gentle graces of human nature. He presents those that belong to the strong side of our nature just as much. In Him are all power, manly energy, resolved consecration; everything which men call heroism is there. ‘He steadfastly set His face.’ And everything which men call tenderest love, most dewy pity, most marvellous and transcendent patience, is all there too. The type of manhood and the type of womanhood are both and equally in Jesus Christ; and He is the Man, whole, entire, perfect, with all power breathed forth in all gentleness, with all gentleness made steadfast and mighty by His strength. ‘And he said unto me, Behold the lion of the tribe of Judah. And I beheld, and lo, a lamb!’-the blended symbols of kingly might, and lowly meekness, power in love, and love in power. The supremest act of resolved consecration and heroic self-immolation that ever was done upon earth-an act which we degrade by paralleling it with any other-was done at the bidding of love that pitied us. As we look up at that Cross we know not whether is more wonderfully set forth the pitying love of Christ’s most tender heart, or the majestic energy of Christ’s resolved will. The blended rays pour out, dear brethren, and reach to each of us. Do not look to that great sacrifice with idle wonder. Bend upon it no eye of mere curiosity. Beware of theorising merely about what it reveals and what it does. Turn not away from it carelessly as a twice-told tale. But look, believing that all that divine and human love pours out its treasure upon you, that all that firmness of resolved consecration and willing surrender to the death of the Cross was for you. Look, believing that you had then, and have now, a place in His heart, and in His sacrifice. Look, remembering that it was because He would save you, that Himself He could not save.
And as, from afar, we look on that great sight, let His love melt our hearts to an answering fervour, and His fixed will give us, too, strength to delight in obedience, to set our faces like a flint. Let the power of His sacrifice, and the influence of His example which that sacrifice commends to our loving copy, and the grace of His Spirit whom He, since that sacrifice, pours upon men, so mould us that we, too, like Him, may ‘quit us like men, be strong,’ and all our strength and ‘all our deeds’ be wielded and ‘done in charity.’
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Luk 9:51-62 When the days were approaching for His ascension, He was determined to go to Jerusalem; 52and He sent messengers on ahead of Him, and they went and entered a village of the Samaritans to make arrangements for Him. 53But they did not receive Him, because He was traveling toward Jerusalem. 54When His disciples James and John saw this, they said, “Lord, do You want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them?” 55But He turned and rebuked them, [and said, “You do not know what kind of spirit you are of; 56for the Son of Man did not come to destroy men’s lives, but to save them.”]And they went on to another village.
Luk 9:51-62 A new section of Luke’s Gospel that describes Jesus’ travel to Jerusalem begins here (cf. Luk 9:51 to Luk 19:44). Luke structures his Gospel around Jesus’ travels and especially His march to Jerusalem (cf. Luk 9:51; Luk 13:22; Luk 17:11; Luk 18:38; Luk 19:11; Luk 19:28). We are thankful that Luke recorded this section, for this tremendous information is unique to Luke.
Luk 9:51
NASB”when the days were approaching”
NKJV”when the time had come”
NRSV”when the days drew near”
TEV, NJB”As the time drew near”
This is another idiom, literally “to fill up with” (a present passive infinitive). There was a set plan for Jesus’ life and death (cf. Act 2:23; Act 3:18; Act 4:28; Act 13:29). Jesus had revealed to them what would happen in Jerusalem (cf. Luk 9:22; Luk 9:31) and now Luke comments that the time of these events was approaching.
“for His ascension” Jesus has told them of His upcoming trial, death, and resurrection (cf. Luk 9:22; Mat 16:21; Mar 8:31), but now Luke introduces “the ascension,” that special event forty days after the resurrection, where Jesus is taken into heaven by a cloud from the Mount of Olives (cf. Luk 24:51; Act 1:2; Act 1:9; Act 1:11; Act 1:22; 1Ti 3:16). It had not been mentioned before and it is not defined here at all, but simply mentioned in passing. It may be an intentional linking of Elijah’s ascension (2Ki 2:9-11) with Jesus’ ascension (Act 1:2; Act 1:11).
SPECIAL TOPIC: THE ASCENSION
NASB”He was determined to go to Jerusalem”
NKJV”He steadfastly set His face to go to Jerusalem”
NRSV”he set his face to go to Jerusalem”
TEV”he made up his mind and set out on his way to Jerusalem”
NJB”he resolutely turned his face toward Jerusalem”
This is another Semitic idiom. The NRSV is closest to a literal translation. He metaphorically looked straight ahead. He let nothing distract Him to the right or to the left. God’s will was in Jerusalem (cf. Mar 10:32). This may be an allusion to Isa 50:7 or Jer 42:15; Jer 42:17 (cf. Dan 9:3).
Luk 9:52 This is the only time the Gospels mention Jesus sending people ahead of Him to prepare for His visit. Who they were and why they were rejected is uncertain.
It is surprising that Luke is the only Synoptic Gospel to record this negative account when his other accounts related to Samaritans are so positive (cf. Luk 10:25-27; Luk 17:11-19; Act 1:8; Act 8:1-14; Act 8:25; Act 9:31; Act 15:3). Luke mentions this outcast group often to show Jesus’ love and concern for all people (i.e., his Gentile audience), but not here!
Luk 9:53 “they did not receive Him, because He was traveling toward Jerusalem” This relates to Jewish/Samaritan prejudices. These two groups hated each other. It is also possible that they knew He was traveling to a feast at the Temple and they rejected Jerusalem as the site of the true Temple, which they thought was on Mt. Gerizim, near Shechem. Josephus mentions Jewish travelers to Jerusalem feasts being harassed (cf. Antiq. 20.6.1).
This verse sets the stage for the request of James and John in Luk 9:54, which Jesus rebukes in Luk 9:55.
Luk 9:54 “James and John” See Mar 3:17, where these two men are called “sons of thunder.” This very incident is how they got their nicknames.
The KJV (NRSV and TEV footnote) inserts a phrase (“just as Elijah did,” which is in MSS A, C, D, W), but it is not in MSS P45,75, , B, or L. The UBS4 committee gave the shorter reading a “B” rating (almost certain).
Luk 9:55-56 The KJV inserts a phrase (“and said, ‘You do not know what manner of spirit you are of. For the Son of Man did not come to destroy men’s lives, but to save them”), which is found only in the uncial manuscript K and later versions. It is missing in MSS P45,75, , A, B, C, L, and W. The UBS4 committee gave the shorter reading an “A” rating (certain).
These verses are peculiar to Luke.
when the time was come = in (Greek. en. App-104.) the fulfilling of the days. Marking a certain stage of the Lord’s ministry.
that He should be received up = for the receiving Him up. Greek. analepsis. Occurs only here in the N.T. The kindred verb analambano is used of the ascension of Elijah in Septuagint. (2Ki 2:11), and of the Lord in Mar 16:19. Act 1:2, Act 1:11, Act 1:22, and 1Ti 3:16.
he = He Himself.
set His face. See note on Luk 9:31, Isa 50:7.
51.] ., not past-not, when the days were fulfilled; but, were being fulfilled: i.e. approaching their fulfilment. When the time was come, E. V., is too strong: when the days were come would be better, for that would include the whole of the journey in those days. See reff.
can have but one meaning (which, as the word itself is not found elsewhere, must be determined by the sense of the cognate verb: see reff.), His assumption, i.e. ascension into heaven. . Euthym[78]
[78] Euthymius Zigabenus, 1116
resumes the subject, not without some emphasis implying his own voluntary action.
. [.] ., a Hebraism, see reff., implying determinate fixed purpose: cf. Isa 50:7, the sense of which, as prophetic of the Messiah going to his sufferings, seems to be referred to in this expression. The LXX have there, .
Luk 9:51. And it came to pass, when the time was come that he should be received up, he stedfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem,
It is a very remarkable expression that is here used: when the time was come that he should be received up. It does not say that he should depart, or that he should die. It overleaps that, and speaks only of his glorious ascension into heaven. When that time was drawing near,and, of course, his death would come before it,Christ stedfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem, where he knew that he should die upon the cross.
Luk 9:52-53. And sent messengers before his face: and they went, and entered into a village of the Samaritans, to make ready for him. And they did not receive him, because his face was as though he would go to Jerusalem.
And, of course, Jerusalem was a sort of rival of Samaria; and if he was going there to worship, they did not want him to stay with them. Yet the Samaritans were believers in the first five Books of the Bible; they accepted the Pentateuch, and they ought therefore to have practiced hospitality, imitating Abrahams noble example. They erred both against their own Scriptures and against the dictates of humanity when they refused to receive Christ because he was on his way to Jerusalem.
Luk 9:54. And when his disciples James and John saw this, they said, Lord, wilt thou that we command fire to come down from heaven, and consume them, even as Elias did?
James and John, two of the most loving of Christs disciples, John the most loving of all, startle us all by failing in the matter of love, and so being as bad as the Samaritans themselves. I have often noticed that very liberal minded people, who denounce bigotry in general, do it with about seven times as much bigotry as those who are out-and-out bigots. In fact, it is a wonderfully easy thing to be a bigot against all bigotry, and to be illiberal towards everybody except fellow-liberals. Well, that is a pity; it is better far to have the spirit of Christ, even when the Samaritans refuse to exercise hospitality. At any rate, let them live. You notice that John quotes the example of Elijah; and this should teach us that the best men mentioned in Scripture did things which we may not copy, and that they did some things rightly which it would be wrong for us to do. Under special inspiration of God, Elijah, the prophet of fire, may call down fire from heaven; but you and I must not do so; we are not sent for any such purpose. Let us, therefore, be cautious how we make even prophets our exemplars in everything,
Luk 9:55-56. But he turned and rebuked them, and said, Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of. For the Son of man is not come to destroy mens lives, but to save them.
If that principle had been always remembered, and followed, there would have been no persecution. To cause a man to suffer in his person, or in his estate, because of his religious opinions, be they what they may, is a violation of Christianity. Consciences belong to God alone; and it is not for us to be calling for fire, the stake, the rack or imprisonment, for men because they do not believe as we do. The Son of man is not come to destroy mens lives, but to save them.
Luk 9:56. And they went to another village.
That was the easiest thing for them to do, and a great deal better than calling for fire from heaven upon anybody. If one village would not receive them, another would; and if you cannot get on with one person, get on with somebody else. Do not grow angry with people. That is not the way to make them better. To fight Gods battles with the devils weapons is generally, in the end, to fight the devils battles on his behalf; let none of us make such a mistake as that.
Luk 9:51. , of His being received up [of His assumption]) An appropriate term, especially after His glorification on the mount: comp. Act 1:2. There was but one day of His being received up into heaven; but the forty days after the resurrection, nay, even these days before His Passion, were equivalent to a Preparation (parascene): comp. Luk 2:22. There were still imminent His passion, cross, death, sepulture; but through all these Jesus looked onward to the goal; and this feeling of His is imitated by the style of the Evangelist. He who is aiming at reaching the city, and must pass a rugged part of the path to it, does not mention the path but the goal, when he wishes to say whither he is going. [The passages, Luk 9:51; Luk 10:38; Luk 13:10; Luk 13:22; Luk 13:33; Luk 17:11; Luk 18:31; Luk 18:35; Luk 19:11; Luk 19:28, with which comp. Luk 9:31, subsequently bring Him on nearer and hearer towards Jerusalem, and cannot be understood excepting of one and the same journey.–No other journey can be placed between this journey and the Passion itself, excepting that secret going up to the Feast of Tabernacles, Joh 7:10.-Harm., p. 387.]- , His face) Luk 9:29.-) Eze 28:21, , LXX. . And so often. Add Isa 50:6-7, – , , . [A firm resolution is of the greatest use in the case of difficulties.-V. g.]- , to Jerusalem) Luk 9:31. Herein is seen the fruit of the appearance on the mount [Luk 9:31].
Luk 9:51-56
SECTION FOUR
THE MINISTRY OF JESUS IN PEREA;
JOURNEYS TOWARD JERUSALEM
Luke 9:51 to 19:28
1. THE INHOSPITABLE SAMARITANS
Luk 9:51-56
At this point Luke begins to narrate a new portion of the ministry of Christ, which is not found in the other writers of the gospel. Only a few notes of time and place as recorded by Matthew and Mark are parallel to Luke’s history. This portion of Luke’s record has been regarded as one of the most difficult parts to harmonize and bring into chronological order; some have regarded the task as impossible, while others have supposed that Luke from this point to Luk 18:15 has thrown together a mass of discourses and incidents without reference to chronology or order. However such a supposition in regard to about one-third of Luke’s record is hardly consistent with the accuracy, research, and order proposed by Luke in chapter 1, verses 1-4. It seems easy to find order and connection, but little apparent chronology. Luke’s record has been found regular and orderly thus far when compared with the records of Matthew and Mark. Why should we not expect the same characteristic in this portion of Luke’s writings?
During the last six months of Christ’s ministry John records our Lord’s journey to the feast of tabernacles (Joh 7:10), his presence at the feast of dedication (Joh 10:22), his going down from Perea to Bethany to raise Lazarus (Joh 10:40-42; Joh 11:1-17), and his final journey to Jerusalem from a city called Ephraim (Joh 11:54; Joh 12:1).
51 And it came to pass, when the days-The language of Jesus makes it clear that he was fully conscious of the time of his death; it was rapidly drawing near to the close of his ministry. The time when “he should be received up” means the time of the ascension of Jesus after his resurrection. Luke as well as Joh 17:5 reveals a yearning on the part of Jesus to return to the Father; this was in the mind of Christ at the transfiguration. He now “stedfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem.” This is emphatic; Jesus himself with fixedness of purpose set his face against the difficulties and dangers that would befall him. This look on the face of Jesus as he went to his doom is noted later in Mar 10:32. Luke three times mentions Jesus making his way to Jerusalem; here and in Luk 13:22; Luk 17:11. John mentions three journeys to Jerusalem during the later ministry. (John 7:10; 11:17; 12 1.) It is natural to take these journeys to be the same in each record. However, Luke does not make definite location of each incident, and John merely supplements here.
52 and sent messengers before his face:-Jesus was going from Galilee; it seems that he would pass through Samaria and he sent messengers before him to make ready. These messengers went into Samaria to fulfill the orders which they had received. The Samaritans did not object when people went north from Jerusalem through their country, but they objected seriously to the Jews going through their country up to Jerusalem. Jesus repudiated Mount Gerizim as the place of worship by going to Jerusalem. This was an unusual precaution by Jesus, and we do not know why he sent messengers before him at this time.
53 And they did not receive him,-Jesus was going to Jerusalem, and the Samaritans refused to receive him “because his face was as though he were going to Jerusalem.” This was the reason that they refused to receive him. When the Samaritans found that it was a Jewish party going to one of the Jewish feasts, they refused to entertain Jesus and his company. The Jews had no dealings with the Samaritans, and the Samaritans naturally retaliated in the same spirit upon all who accepted the Jewish place of worship to the neglect of the Samaritan place on their sacred mountain.
54 And when his disciples James and John-Perhaps the recent appearance of Elijah on the mount of transfiguration reminded James and John of the incident in 2Ki 1:10-12. These two disciples, who afterwards showed great moderation and love, here exhibited the fiery zeal of their misguided loyalty to Jesus by asking should they call “fire to come down from heaven, and consume them?” This may be why they were called “Sons of thunder,” or “Boanerges.” (Mar 3:17.) They were indignant at the failure of the Samaritans to receive their Lord. There was no love between the Jews and the Samaritans at any time, and now for them to treat their Lord in such a way was more than James and John could stand. The allusion seems to be to the attempt of Ahaziah to capture Elijah.
55, 56 But he turned, and rebuked them.-Certain it is that here Jesus rebuked the bitterness of James and John toward the Samaritans, as he had already done to John for his intolerance in forbidding the man to cast out demons in the name of Christ, because he had refused to follow them. Jesus taught them a spirit of tolerance. The disciples of Jesus were to learn that his spirit was not that of Elijah, not that which would burn and destroy to make converts.
the Steadfast Face
Luk 9:51-62
The Masters steadfast face rebukes us! Alas, we so often flinch and cannot appropriate Isa 50:7. But whether we follow afar off or closely, that lithe, alert, eager figure is always in front and taking the upward path.
We need to remember which kingdom we belong to. We have passed out of the sphere of force and war, into the kingdom of the Son of Gods love. It is a reversal of the divine plan of evolution to go back to the fire of vengeance. The only fire that we can invoke is that of the Holy Spirit; and it is remarkable that one of these two brothers lived to call down that very fire on those same villages. See Act 8:14-25.
The Lord was ever acting as a winnowing fan, detecting the wheat and the chaff in human motive. Be prepared to follow your Lord through loneliness, homelessness, the rupture of tender ties, and the plowing of a solitary furrow. But keep your eye fixed on the correlatives supplied on the eternal side of your life!
Intolerance Rebuked; Faithfulness Enjoined — Luk 9:51-62
And it came to pass, when the time was come that He should be received up, He steadfastly set His face to go to Jerusalem, and sent messengers before His face: and they went, and entered into a village of the Samaritans, to make ready for Him. And they did not receive Him, because His face was as though He would go to Jerusalem. And when His disciples James and John saw this, they said, Lord, wilt Thou that we command fire to come down from heaven, and consume them, even as Elias did? But He turned, and rebuked them, and said, Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of. For the Son of Man is not come to destroy mens lives, but to save them. And they went to another village. And it came to pass, that, as they went in the way, a certain man said unto Him, Lord, I will follow Thee whithersoever Thou goest. And Jesus said unto him, Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of Man hath not where to lay His head. And He said unto another, Follow Me. But he said, Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father. Jesus said unto him, Let the dead bury their dead: but go thou and preach the kingdom of God. And another also said, Lord, I will follow Thee; but let me first go bid them farewell, which are at home at my house. And Jesus said unto him, No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God- Luk 9:51-62.
This portion readily divides into two sections. In Luk 9:51-56 we have our Lords solemn and stern rebuke of the spirit of intolerance. Then in Luk 9:57-62 He lays down certain principles of discipleship which we who profess to love Him need to keep in mind.
We are told that He steadfastly set His face to go to Jerusalem. He left Galilee knowing exactly what awaited Him in Judea. He had been there before. They had tried to put Him to death then, but, we are told, His hour had not yet come. They could not do a thing to harm Him physically until He voluntarily put Himself into their hands. He could say, No man taketh My life from Me, I lay it down of Myself. But now the hour was drawing nigh when the purpose for which He came to earth should be fulfilled. Jesus had come to give Himself a ransom for all; so with this in view, He steadfastly set His face to go to Jerusalem. Nothing could turn Him aside. When He spoke of the cross on which He was to be crucified, even Peter remonstrated with Him, saying, Be it far from Thee, Lord: this shall not be unto Thee. But Jesus rebuked him, saying, Get thee behind Me, Satan: thou art an offence unto Me: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men. Jesus did not allow anyone or anything to turn Him aside from the great purpose He had come to fulfil.
With His face set as a flint to go to Jerusalem, as He passed with His disciples through a part of Samaria, He sent messengers ahead into a near-by village to make preparations for their nights lodging. We know there was intense hatred between the Samaritans and the Jews, neither wishing to have any dealings with the other. These Samaritans were a kind of mongral race of people, partly of Israelitish extraction and partly decended from the mixed races which the king of Assyria had brought into the land after carrying away the ten tribes. These had intermarried with the remaining Israelites, and a mixed sort of worship had developed among them, based to some extent upon the five books of Moses; but the Samaritans refused to accept all other parts of the Old Testament. They had their own temple on Mount Gerizim, and they looked with suspicion and indignation upon the Jews because of their claim of being the chosen people of the Lord. The Jews, on the other hand, returned the compliment by detesting the Samaritans, whom they looked upon as the followers of a pseudo-religion which had no scriptural basis. As the little company journeyed on through Samaria, the people of the village where they had hoped to spend the night refused to receive them because the face of Jesus was set as though He would go to Jerusalem. Realizing that He was not going to settle down among them as their teacher, but was extending His ministry to those whom the Samaritans hated, they in turn vented their spite upon Him by refusing Him entertainment. Had He come specially to them they might have received Him and His message, but for the time being He was interested in another people.
There is nothing, I suppose, that is more characterized by bitterness than religious intolerance. One group of religious people looks with suspicion upon those of another group; and often the closer they are together, the more intense is the ill-feeling between them. This was clearly manifested in the case of the Jews and Samaritans.
James and John were so indignant because of the way their Master was treated on this occasion that they were ready to go to all lengths to take vengeance upon them. They said to Jesus, Lord, wilt Thou that we command fire to come down from heaven, and consume them, even as Ellas did? We generally think of James and John as being two very gracious and devoted young men; but gracious and devoted men can become exceedingly hard and bitter when it comes to dealing with others in regard to differences. These disciples whom Jesus named Boanerges, that is, sons of thunder, here answer to their name, and thought they were manifesting their faithfulness to Christ by seeking to emulate Elijah and to destroy the Samaritans. They appeared to think that if they did call for fire to come down from heaven, God would answer and blot out the city that had refused to harbor Jesus and His followers for the night; and so they would enjoy seeing their religious enemies completely annihilated.
How awful is such a spirit, and yet how frequently has it been manifested down through the centuries! History tells us how Churches have fought Churches, and Christians have contended with other Christians, using bitterest invective of speech and even going so far as to put one another to death. Our hearts are filled with horror as we think of the myriads of the early Christians who were martyred at the command of the pagan emperors of Rome. But the amazing thing is that during the centuries following the destruction of paganism, we find professing Christians arrayed against others who also bore the Christian name; and Mystery Babylon was responsible for the deaths of far more than pagan Rome ever destroyed. Even in Protestantism during the centuries that followed the Reformation, what unholy strife has often existed; and how sadly have believers failed to walk together in holy fellowship! When at last we all stand before the judgment-seat of Christ, there to give an account of the deeds done in the body, how ashamed we will be if we have ever been guilty of manifesting the spirit that characterized James and John when they would have destroyed that Samaritan village because its people did not understand, and therefore did not receive the Saviour as He was journeying on to Jerusalem.
The compassionate heart of Christ spurned the suggestion of the two energetic disciples, and instead of giving them liberty to do as they desired, He rebuked them and said, Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of. For the Son of Man is not yet come to destroy mens lives, but to save them. These two disciples must have felt this stern reprimand keenly, and doubtless they learned a lesson through it which they did not soon forget.
Now let us carefully consider for a few minutes the words of our Lord, for they embody a wondrous truth: The Son of Man is not come to destroy mens lives, but to save them. Elsewhere He said that He came not to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. God, we are told, was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them. The Lord Jesus was on His way to the cross to bear the judgment due to sinners; therefore He could say to a poor, lost woman, Neither do I condemn thee; go and sin no more. It is precious indeed to realize that:
Theres a wideness in Gods mercy,
Like the wideness of the sea:
Theres a kindness in His justice,
That is more than liberty.
For the love of God is broader
Than the measure of mans mind.
And the heart of the Eternal
Is most wonderfully kind.
God looks with tender compassion upon men. Even though they have trampled upon His love and rejected His blessed Son, still His heart is going out to them; He is waiting for them to repent, and longing to save them. He is not willing that any should perish, but that all should turn to Him and live. Oh, the wonder of His grace! To think that some of the worst enemies of the cross of Christ have been arrested by divine power and gloriously converted, and afterwards have become the greatest advocates of the salvation which the Lord Jesus has wrought out on Calvary. We think of Saul of Tarsus persecuting the Church of God, hailing believers to prison and condemning them to death; and yet at last stopped by the risen Christ on the way to Damascus, and his heart completely won for the Saviour whom he had rejected so long.
But there is something more here, I believe, in these words-The Son of Man is not come to destroy mens lives, but to save them-which is not involved in the deliverance from judgment. Many people have the idea that becoming a Christian means to lose all the joy of living, and to go on through the rest of ones days in a melancholy, gloomy kind of existence, afraid of this and afraid of that and, therefore, in constant distress of mind. This is but a caricature of real Christianity. When people think of following Christ as involving a life of constant struggle and repression, they fail to understand the blessedness of the new birth. No one enters into life in reality until he knows Christ. The unsaved may talk of seeing life but actually they are but courting death. Only the one who has trusted Christ enjoys life at its best. It is in this sense that Jesus speaks when He said He came not to destroy mens lives. He did not come to take away from us all joy and happiness; He did not come to make His followers gloomy recluses, afraid to enjoy the good things that divine providence lavishes upon us. He came to give us to realize that it is only as we know God revealed in Christ that we get the best out of life.
Heaven above is softer blue;
Earth beneath is sweeter green:
Something lives in every hue,
Christless eyes have never seen.
Birds with sweeter songs oerflow;
Flowers with newer beauty shine,
Since I know, as now I know,
I am His and He is mine.
Thus one of our Christian poets taught us to sing. No one is so prepared to enjoy the good things of this life as the man who knows what it is to be right with God. We are told in Johns First Epistle that He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. And with this divine, eternal life which is given freely to all who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, there comes the capacity to enjoy all Gods gifts and to recognize that they come down from Him, a loving Heavenly Father who is deeply interested in everything that concerns the welfare of His own. When one comes to know Christ, the things that once seemed of value he discerns to be very unimportant; where as things that at one time he shrank from he now learns to appreciate to the fullest possible way.
In the next section we have our Lord once more laying down principles of discipleship which are applicable throughout the entire period until He returns again in power and glory. We read, It came to pass, that, as they went in the way, a certain man said unto Him, Lord, I will follow Thee withersoever Thou goest. Here was a man who was evidently attracted by the grace of Christ. He came to Jesus apparently of his own accord, and declared his readiness to be identified with Him, but the Lord Jesus immediately tested him by saying, Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of Man hath not where to lay His head. It is as though He would say to this professed disciple, If you follow Me you must not expect earthly gain; I do not promise an easy time down here; I do not guarantee temporal comforts. I have no home Myself-I, who came from heaven- I am walking through this scene as a stranger and I have no certain dwelling-place, nor have I earthly riches to bestow upon My disciples; so if you are going to follow Me, it means a life of self-denial, of self-abnegation all the way.
Does this nullify what we have been noticing in connection with the previous verses? Not at all! For there is no happier life in this world than the life into which one enters when he takes his place in fellowship with Christ and goes through this scene as a stranger and a pilgrim.
Conditions of discipleship have not changed, they are still the same as of old. To follow Christ does not insure one a life of comfort and ease. Savonarola well said, A Christian life consists in doing good and suffering evil. The more faithful we are to Christ the more we may have to suffer from the world, but we can go through this in fellowship with our rejected Lord, and find a joy in sharing His rejection that the soul can never find in the enjoyment of the worlds favor. In this instance we do not know whether the man went on with the Lord or whether he turned disappointedly away.
To another Jesus said, Follow Me, and the one addressed replied, Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father. But Jesus, as it were, said, You must not put anything first. My claims are paramount to every other. This man said, as it were, Yes, Lord; I love You, and I will be ready to follow You some day; but I have an aged father, and I cannot leave him until he passes away and I bury him; and when that takes place I will be prepared to follow you. The Lord answered, Let the dead bury their dead: but go thou and preach the kingdom of God. In otherwords, it is as if He had said, If My message has touched your heart and soul; if I have won your trust and confidence; if you feel a divine call to represent Me in Israel, do not wait until family circumstances change. Begin immediately to tell others what God has done for you and what He can do for them.
I am afraid sometimes many of us have answered the Lord the way this man did. We have allowed the claims of kindred to come between us and the work of Christ; but it must be Christ first, then everything else will follow in its right place.
A third man came up and said, Lord, I will follow Thee; but Stop there for just a moment. This little word of three letters has robbed many of their souls and hindered them from giving their lives to Christ. Is it hindering you? What is the but you have in mind? I will follow Thee; but -I cannot give up this, or that, or something else. Is that it? I will follow Thee; but-I cannot yield wholly to Thee on some particular point. What is the but that is hindering you? This man said, Lord, I will follow Thee; but-I must return and settle things up with the folks at home; I am not ready to follow You yet; I must go and talk it over with them first. He had to learn that the claims of Christ were paramount to every other. Jesus said to him, No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God. Oh, that we might all realize this more and more, and that Christ might ever have the preeminent place in our hearts and lives!
IV. The journey to Jerusalem — Chapter 9:51-19:27
CHAPTER 9:51-62
1. His Face Set Toward Jerusalem. (Luk 9:51-52)
2. The Rejected Messengers and His Rebuke. (Luk 9:53-56)
3. Tests of Discipleship. (Luk 9:57-62.)
The fifty-first verse marks a new part in this Gospel. The time was come; His hour was approaching. As the perfect Man we have seen Him. As babe, as child, as man in all His loveliness we have seen Him and now the compassionate, loving One, He, who always pleased God in a perfect obedience steadfastly set His face to go up to Jerusalem. Coming from Galilee the messengers entered into a village of the Samaritans, who would not receive Him because His face was set toward Jerusalem, the city the Samaritans hated. James and John asked the Lord to command fire to come down from heaven to consume them as Elias did. They believed the Lord had the power to do this. They had been with Him and had seen His deeds of love and kindness and yet they could make so strange a request. He then rebuked them. Later John went again into Samaria, but manifested a far different spirit (Act 8:1-40).
Chapter 61
When The Time Was Come
From old eternity the Son of God determined to save his people by the sacrifice of himself; and nothing could keep him from the accomplishment of his determined purpose. Having pledged himself as our Surety in the covenant of grace, he never went back on his word, or even thought about doing so (Pro 8:23-32). Though we fell in the garden through the sin and fall of our father Adam, our Lords purpose never changed. At last the appointed time came; and the Son of God assumed our nature that he might die in our stead upon the cursed tree (Rom 5:6-8; Gal 4:4-6). He had a baptism to be baptized with. He had a cup to drink. With ardent desire, he longed to eat the last passover supper with his disciples. Now, his hour had come. Now, in due time, when the fulness of time was come, Luke tells us It came to pass, when the time was come that he should be received up, he stedfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem
He had set his face like a flint upon the accomplishment of the great work he had undertaken for us and refused to be hindered. With the Son of God, there was no turning back. Though there were none to help and many who tried to hinder him, he would not be deterred from his great work.
A Ready Substitute
Because of his great love for us, the Son of God went to Calvary to die as our Substitute willingly (Luk 9:51). Our great Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ came into this world resolutely determined to fulfil his covenant engagements as our Surety. Never once did he flinch. When his hour came, he stedfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem.
There was a time fixed in the purpose of God from eternity for the sufferings and death of our Redeemer. He knew the hour appointed. He knew his time was at hand. He never paused, never hesitated, never flinched from his purpose. He never thought about hiding from his enemies or saving himself. He had come to save others. Himself he could not and would not save.
When he saw the hour approaching, he looked through his death and sufferings and looked beyond them, to the glory that should follow. The Lord Jesus knew what his reward would be. He knew that soon he would be received up into glory (1Ti 3:16), received up into the highest heavens, to be enthroned as Zions King. Moses and Elias spoke of his death as his departure out of this world, as the decease he would accomplish at Jerusalem. The Master himself looked upon it as a thing to be desired. Why? By his death, he would save his people. By his death, he would glorify his Father. And by his death, he would be translated into a better world, a better life, in better company.
May God give us grace to look upon death as a desirable thing, not a thing to be dreaded and feared. If we are Christs, death should be looked upon as a welcome friend. Soon we shall be received up, to be with Christ where he is (Joh 14:1-3; 2Co 5:1-9; Php 1:21-23).
Knowing that the hour had come, anticipating the joy set before him, the Lord Jesus stedfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem the place where he was to suffer and die. He was fully determined to go, and would not be dissuaded. He went directly to Jerusalem, because there his business lay. There he must lay down his life for his sheep. Courageously and cheerfully, he went to Jerusalem to die for us.
Yes, he knew all that would befall him there. But he had a mission to accomplish. He did not fail; neither was he discouraged; but set his face as a flint, knowing that he should be not only justified, but glorified too by the redemption he would accomplish there as our Substitute (Isa 50:7).
How should this shame us for, and shame us out of, our reluctance and backwardness to do anything for him, suffer anything for his sake, or bear any reproach for him! How can we draw back and turn from him and his service who stedfastly set his face against all opposition, to go through and finish the great work of obtaining eternal redemption for us by the sacrifice of himself at Jerusalem?
Let us ever give thanks to God our Saviour for his willingness to suffer for us and save us! The Lord Jesus knew full well all that awaited him at Jerusalem; the betrayal, the mock trial, the mockery, the crown of thorns, the spit, the spear, the agony. Yet, he never flinched! His heart, set upon us from eternity, drove him as it were, to the torment of divine wrath and judgment. His love for us caused him to hasten to his torment, that he might redeem us from the wrath of God. It was the desire of his soul to die in our place at Jerusalem!
In the light of these things, who could ever question the willingness of God to save sinners? Jesus Christ is an able, ready, willing Saviour! He who was ready to suffer at Jerusalem is ready to save today! Nowhere is it written that he is unwilling. Everywhere it is written that he is willing to save!
May God give us grace to follow our Lords example. Like my Master, I pray that God will give me grace to spend my life for him who spent his life for me. Let me be ready and willing to go anywhere for Christ, do anything for Christ, endure anything for Christ. When his will is known, my duty is clear. Let my face be set stedfastly, for the glory of God.
The Samaritans Great Loss
There was a village of Samaritans who allowed racial prejudice to rob them of eternal blessedness (Luk 9:52-53). If you want to see the origins of the racial strife between the Samaritans and the Jews, you can read about it in 2 Kings 17 and Ezra 4. But whatever the origin, racial prejudice is a horrible evil and often is the cause of even greater evil. These unnamed Samaritans would not receive the Lord Jesus because he was evidently determined to go to Jerusalem, and the Jews had no dealings with the Samaritans.
What a sad picture this is of mans obstinate unbelief! The Lord Jesus sends his messengers. By the gospel we preach, we make ready for him, preparing the way of the Lord. Yet, multitudes, the vast majority, like these Samaritans, find a reason not to receive him.
Angry Apostles
James and John were enraged by the behaviour of these Samaritans who so ill-treated the Master. And when his disciples James and John saw this, they said, Lord, wilt thou that we command fire to come down from heaven, and consume them, even as Elias did? (Luk 9:54) They were in a tizzy! They said, Lord, give us leave to do so and we will command fire to come down from heaven and burn them to ashes. We will make them like Sodom!
Much could and should be said about this. James and John were zealous, but wrong. They used the Scripture, but did so rashly. They cited the prophets, but cited them in an manner never intended. Let me just say this: zeal without knowledge is a dangerous thing. It is an army without a general, a ship without a rudder. Multitudes have done great harm in the kingdom of God with zeal for the honour of Christ, but zeal that refused direction. Be warned!
The Lord Jesus sternly rebuked James and John for their suggestion and thereby sternly rebukes the spirit of persecution. But he turned, and rebuked them, and said, Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of (Luk 9:55). The reproof he gave to James and John for their fiery, furious zeal is highly instructive. Human religion often seeks to establish itself by the sword or by legislation. The church and kingdom of God has other weapon (2Co 10:4). The only weapons Gods church ever uses or seeks to use, the only weapons by which God is honoured, in opposing evil and in overthrowing false religion is prayer and preaching. Godliness cannot be legislated, faith cannot be forced and righteousness cannot be established by the laws of men, by political might, or by the sword of war.
Our Masters Mission
For the Son of man is not come to destroy mens lives, but to save them. And they went to another village (Luk 9:56). The Lord Jesus came to save his people from their sins (Mat 1:21; Joh 3:16-17; 1Ti 1:15). Everything revealed in holy scripture about the Lord Jesus Christ proclaims with loud voice, Jesus saves! Jesus saves! His sovereign purpose in predestination is his purpose of grace. His covenant is the covenant of grace. His incarnation is the incarnation of God in human flesh, God come to save! His miracles of mercy were but pictures of mercy flowing from his heart to needy souls. His doctrine is the doctrine of grace. Grace was poured into his lips from eternity as the sinners Surety; and grace pours from his lips to everlasting!
We have heard the joyful sound:
Jesus saves! Jesus saves!
Spread the tiding all around,
Jesus saves! Jesus saves!
Priscilla Jane Owens
He says to needy sinners, Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else. He calls poor, lost, helpless, ruined, doomed, damned sinners to himself with the promise of mercy, grace, salvation and eternal life to all who come to him!
that: Luk 24:51, 2Ki 2:1-3, 2Ki 2:11, Mar 16:19, Joh 6:62, Joh 13:1, Joh 16:5, Joh 16:28, Joh 17:11, Act 1:2, Act 1:9, Eph 1:20, Eph 4:8-11, 1Ti 3:16, Heb 6:20, Heb 12:2, 1Pe 3:22
he stedfastly: Luk 12:50, Isa 50:5-9, Act 20:22-24, Act 21:11-14, Phi 3:14, 1Pe 4:1
Reciprocal: Gen 31:21 – set his 2Ki 12:17 – set his face 2Ch 32:2 – he was purposed to fight Psa 31:15 – My times Isa 50:7 – I set Jer 42:15 – If Eze 1:9 – they turned Dan 11:17 – set Mat 11:29 – for Mat 26:46 – General Mar 10:32 – they were amazed Luk 13:22 – journeying Luk 17:11 – General Luk 19:28 – he went Joh 4:4 – General Joh 11:7 – Let
THE FASCINATION OF THE CROSS
He stedfastly set His face to go to Jerusalem.
Luk 9:51
The fascination of the Cross! Why was Christ so enamoured of such a goal? Why did He hasten to its outstretched arms, as He did to Mary?
I. He wished that none who followed Him should drink of a more bitter cup.
II. He must do His Fathers will, knowing that only in this way could He come at the reward of obedience.
III. He bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness.
Illustrations
(1) There is no picture in history more inspiring and significant than this of the Son of Man taking the highway to Calvary, because in the distance He heard the call of the Cross, as the sailor obeys the call of the ocean, and as the soldier obeys the bugle-call of battle.
(2) In the language of this verse, there is also taught us that there was in Christ a natural human shrinking from the Cross. That steadfast and resolved will held its own, overcoming the natural human reluctance. He set His face. Because the path was darkened by mysterious blackness and led to a cross, therefore He, even He, Who did always the things that please the Father, and ever delighted to do His will, needed to set His face to go up to the mountain of sacrifice. Through all the weariness and contumely and pain, His love held His will fixed to its purpose, and bore Him over every hindrance that barred His path. Many waters quench it not. That love is stronger than death, mightier than all opposing powers, deep and great beyond all thought or thankfulness.
1
The time was come means it was getting near the time when Jesus was to leave the earth and ascend to heaven. That made it necessary for him to be in Jerusalem, hence he turned his steps in that direction.
And it came to pass, when the time was come that he should be received up, he steadfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem,
[When the time was come that he should be received up] it is a difficulty amongst some, why there should be any mention of his receiving up; when there is no mention of his death. But let it be only granted that under that expression his decease is included the ascension of Christ, and then the difficulty is solved. The evangelist seems from thence to calculate. Moses and Elias had spoken of his departure out of this world, that is, of his final departure, when he took leave of it at his ascension into heaven: and from thenceforward, till the time should come wherein he should be received up, he steadfastly set his face towards Jerusalem, resolving with himself to be present at all the feasts that should precede his receiving up.
He goes therefore to the feast of Tabernacles; and what he did there, we have it told us, John_7. After ten weeks, or thereabout, he went up to the feast of Dedication, Luk 13:22; Joh 10:22; and at length to the last feast of all, his own Passover, Luk 17:11.
LET us notice in these verses, the steady determination with which our Lord Jesus Christ regarded His own crucifixion and death. We read that “when the time was come that He should be received up, He steadfastly set His face to go to Jerusalem.” He knew full well what was before Him. The betrayal, the unjust trial, the mockery, the scourging, the crown of thorns, the spitting, the nails, the spear, the agony on the cross,-all, all were doubtless spread before His mind’s eye, like a picture. But He never flinched for a moment from the work that He had undertaken. His heart was set on paying the price of our redemption, and going even to the prison of the grave, as our surety. He was full of tender love towards sinners. It was the desire of His whole soul to procure for them salvation. And so, “for the joy set before Him, He endured the cross, despising the shame.” (Heb 12:2.)
Forever let us bless God that we have such a ready and willing Savior. Forever let us remember that as He was ready to suffer, so He is always ready to save. The man that comes to Christ by faith should never doubt Christ’s willingness to receive Him. The mere fact that the Son of God willingly came into the world to die, and willingly suffered, should silence such doubts entirely. All the unwillingness is on the part of man, not of Christ. It consists in the ignorance, and pride, and unbelief, and half-heartedness of the sinner himself. But there is nothing wanting in Christ.
Let us strive and pray that the same mind may be in us which was in our blessed Master. Like Him, let us be willing to go anywhere, do anything, suffer anything when the path of duty is clear, and the voice of God calls. Let us set our faces steadfastly to our work, when our work is plainly marked out, and drink our bitter cups patiently, when they come from a Father’s hand.
Let us notice, secondly, in these verses, the extraordinary conduct of two of the apostles, James and John. We are told that a certain Samaritan village refused to show hospitality to our Lord. “They did not receive him, because his face was as though he would go to Jerusalem.” And then we read of a strange proposal which James and John made. “They said, Lord, wilt thou that we command fire to come down from heaven and consume them, even as Elias did?”
Here was zeal indeed, and zeal of a most plausible kind,-zeal for the honor of Christ! Here was zeal, justified and supported by a scriptural example, and that the example of no less a prophet than Elijah! But it was not a zeal according to knowledge. The two disciples, in their heat, forgot that circumstances alter cases, and that the same action which may be right and justifiable at one time, may be wrong and unjustifiable at another. They forgot that punishments should always be proportioned to offences, and that to destroy a whole village of ignorant people for a single act of discourtesy, would have been both unjust and cruel. In short, the proposal of James and John was a wrong and inconsiderate one. They meant well, but they greatly erred.
Facts like this in the Gospels are carefully recorded for our learning. Let us see to it that we mark them well, and treasure them up in our minds. It is possible to have much zeal for Christ, and yet to exhibit it in most unholy and unchristian ways. It is possible to mean well and have good intentions, and yet to make most grievous mistakes in our actions. It is possible to fancy that we have Scripture on our side, and to support our conduct by scriptural quotations, and yet to commit serious errors. It is as clear as daylight, from this and other cases related in the Bible, that it is not enough to be zealous and well-meaning. Very grave faults are frequently committed with good intentions. From no quarter perhaps has the Church received so much injury as from ignorant but well-meaning men.
We must seek to have knowledge as well as zeal. Zeal without knowledge is an army without a general, and a ship without a rudder. We must pray that we may understand how to make a right application of Scripture. The word is no doubt “a light to our feet, and a lantern to our path.” But it must be the word rightly handled, and properly applied.
Let us notice, lastly, in these verses, what a solemn rebuke our Lord gives to persecution carried on under color of religion. We are told that when James and John made the strange proposal on which we have just been dwelling, “He turned and rebuked them, and said, Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of. For the Son of man is not come to destroy men’s lives, but to save them.” Uncourteous as the Samaritan villagers had been, their conduct was not to be resented by violence. The mission of the Son of man was to do good, when men would receive Him, but never to do harm. His kingdom was to be extended by patient continuance in well doing, and by meekness and gentleness in suffering, but never by violence and severity.
No saying of our Lord’s, perhaps, has been so totally overlooked by the Church of Christ as that which is now before us. Nothing can be imagined more contrary to the will of Christ than the religious wars and persecutions which disgrace the annals of Church history. Thousands and tens of thousands have been put to death for their religion’s sake all over the world. Thousands have been burned, or shot, or hanged, or drowned, or beheaded, in the name of the Gospel, and those who have slain them have actually believed that they were doing God service! Unhappily, they have only shown their own ignorance of the spirit of the Gospel, and the mind of Christ.
Let it be a settled principle in our minds, that whatever men’s errors may be in religion, we must never persecute them. Let us, if needful, argue with them, reason with them, and try to show them a more excellent way. But let us never take up the “carnal” weapon to promote the spread of truth. Let us never be tempted, directly or indirectly, to persecute any man, under pretense of the glory of Christ and the good of the Church. Let us rather remember, that the religion which men profess from fear of death, or dread of penalties, is worth nothing at all, and that if we swell our ranks by fear and threatening, in reality we gain no strength. “The weapons of our warfare,” says Paul, “are not carnal.” (2Co 10:4.) The appeals that we make must be to men’s consciences and wills. The arguments that we use must not be sword, or fire, or prison, but doctrines, and precepts, and texts. It is a quaint and homely saying, but as true in the Church as it is in the army, that “one volunteer is worth ten pressed men.”
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Notes-
v51.-[The time that he should be received up.] The Greek word so translated is peculiar, and is only found here in the New Testament. It would be rendered morn literally, “the days of his reception up.” About the meaning of the expression there is a curious difference of opinion.
Some think, with Heinsius and Hammond, that the meaning is, “the time of his death, and being lifted up upon the cross.”
Others think, with Suicer and Bengel, that the meaning is, “the time of his ascension, or being taken up to heaven.”
This latter sense seems far the more probable of the two, and is confirmed by the fact that the Syriac and Arabic versions both render the word, “his ascension.” Besides this, the Greek verb which is several times used to describe the ascension, is the very verb from which the word before us is derived. See Mar 16:19, Act 1:2, Act 1:22.
v53.-[They did not receive him.] The wretched state of feeling between the Samaritans and the Jews, is painfully illustrated by the circumstances here mentioned. Charity was indeed well-nigh extinct, where such a state of things existed. Those who wish to see the origin of the estrangement between the Jews and Samaritans, should read 2Ki 17:1-41; and Ezr 4:1-24.
v54.-[His disciples, James and John, &c.] There is something very remarkable in the spirit exhibited by these two disciples on this occasion. It shows us that it was not without good reason that our Lord called them Boanerges, or sons of thunder, when He first ordained them to be apostles. Mar 3:17. It shows us also the gradually transforming power of the grace of God in John’s character. Three times we have sins against charity recorded in the Gospels as committed by John. Once we find him and his brother asking to sit at Christ’s right and left hand in His kingdom, and to be preferred before all the other apostles. Once we find him forbidding a man to cast out devils, because he did not follow the apostles. Here again we find him showing a fierce and cruel spirit against the Samaritan villagers for not receiving our Lord. Yet this was the apostle who proved at last most remarkable for preaching love and charity. No change is too great for the Lord to work.
[Even as Elias did.] Appeals to the Old Testament, like this, have often been made by fanatical men in order to justify violent actions. The case of Oliver Cromwell and many of his followers will naturally occur to some readers.
The examples of men who were raised up to do special works in the times of the Old Testament must not be followed in all things. The man who presumes to imitate Joshua and Elijah in all their dealings with the enemies of God, must furnish proof of his call and commission to walk in their steps.
v55.-[He turned and rebuked them, &c.] Our Lord’s entire disapproval of all persecution for religion’s sake is very plainly taught in this passage. Whatever we may think of men’s doctrines or practices, we are not to persecute them.
Poole says, “Christ did not approve of the Samaritan worship, yet he did not think that the way to change their minds was to call for fire from heaven against them. It is not the will of God that we should approve of any corrupt worship, and join with those who use it. But neither is it his will that we should by fire and sword go about to suppress it, and bring men off from it.”
Quesnel remarks, “It often happens that the ministers of the Church, under pretence of zeal for her interests, offend against Christian meekness. The Church knows no such thing as revenge, and her ministers ought not to know it either. Their wrath should be incensed against sin, not against the sinner. The fire of heaven is one day to come down to purify the world by destruction. At present it comes down only to sanctify it by edification.”
[What manner of spirit ye are of.] The disciples were forgetting the nature of that Spirit by whom they professed, as Christ’s disciples, to be guided. They were forgetting that He was a Spirit of love and meekness and gentleness, and that all acts of a revengeful and violent character were grievous to Him. “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness.” (Gal 5:22.) Their own Master had taught them that if any man smote them on one cheek they were to turn to him the other also. (Mat 5:39.) But all this for the time was forgotten. A fierce temper and a sense of injured dignity make men bad reasoners, and drive good instruction out of their memories.
Bengel remarks, that we should compare with the conduct of these two disciples “the fact that when Jesus prayed on the cross, employing the very words of the twenty-second and thirty-first Psalms, he did not pray against his enemies, but for them.”
It is an interesting fact, that the apostle John, at a later period in his life, came down to Samaria in a very different spirit. He came with Peter on a special mission from Jerusalem, to confer spiritual blessings on Samaritan believers. And we are told that he “preached the Gospel in many villages of the Samaritans.” (Act 8:25.)
Luk 9:51. When the days were being fulfilled. When the time was near, when the days of the final period were come, not when the time itself had come.
That he should be received up, i.e., into heaven. The clause cannot mean that the days of His favorable reception in Galilee were at an end. The apparent difficulty, that His Ascension did not take place until months afterwards, is met at once by considering that the Evangelist does not imply an immediate ascension, but rather regards the history from this point as a journey to death and subsequent glorification.
He steadfastly set his face. He not only had but showed the fixed purpose, to go to Jerusalem. He saw what was before Him there, and went to meet it.
The time now drew on, wherein our Saviour was to be received up into heaven, and accordingly he sets his face to go to Jerusalem, that he might there suffer, and from thence ascend.
Now here we have observable, 1. That although Jerusalem was the nest of his enemies, the stage upon which his bloody sufferings were to be acted, the fatal place of his death, yet nothing terrified with danger, he sets his face for Jerusalem, that is, come what will, he will go with an invincible courage and resolution.
Learn thence, that although Christ had a perfect and exact knowledge of all the bitter sufferings he was to undergo, for and on the behalf of his members, yet did it not in the least dishearten him in, or discourage him from, that great and glorious undertaking.
Observe, 2. That although Christ was first to suffer before he did ascend, and to be lifted up upon the cross, before received up into heaven, yet is there no mention of his death here, but of his ascension only; as if all thoughts of death were swallowed up in his victory over death; teaching us, by his example, to overlook our sufferings and death, as not worthy to be named or mentioned with that glory which we are received into after death. The evangelist does not say the time was come when he should suffer, but when he should be received up.
Luk 9:51-53. When the time was come, &c. , when the time was fulfilled That is, according to the Hebrew idiom, drew on, that he should be received up The Greek word , in this passage, signifies Christs being taken up into heaven; for we find , from whence it is derived, applied expressly to his ascension, Mar 16:19; Act 1:2; Act 1:11; Act 1:22; 1Ti 3:16. He had now continued on earth very near the whole period determined, and was soon to be taken up to heaven, from whence he had come down; he therefore resolved from this time forth to appear as openly as possible, and to embrace every opportunity of fulfilling the duties of his ministry. He steadfastly set his face Without fear of his enemies, or shame of the cross; to go to Jerusalem He did not travel thither privately, as he had often done before, but he declared his intention, and entered on the journey with great courage. And sent messengers before his face, &c. The road to Jerusalem from Galilee lay through Samaria; wherefore, as the inhabitants of this country bare the greatest ill-will to all who worshipped in Jerusalem, Jesus thought it necessary to send messengers before him, with orders to find out quarters for him in one of the villages; but they did not receive him The inhabitants of the village refused him entertainment, because his intention, in this journey, was publicly known. The Samaritans could not refuse lodging to all travellers that went to Jerusalem, for the high-road lay through their country; such travellers only as went thither professedly to worship, were the objects of their indignation; hence the expression, because his face was as though he would go to Jerusalem It plainly appeared that he was going to worship at the temple, and thereby, in effect, to condemn the Samaritan worship at mount Gerizim.
First Cycle: The Departure from Galilee.
First Period of the Journey, Luk 9:51 to Luk 13:21.
1. Unfavourable Reception by the Samaritans: Luk 9:51-56.
Ver. 51. Introduction.
The style of this verse is peculiarly impressive and solemn. The expressions … betray an Aramaic original. The verb , to be fulfilled, means here, as in Act 2:1, the gradual filling up of a series of days which form a complete period, and extend to a goal determined beforehand; comp. , Luk 2:21-22. The period here is that of the days of the departing of Jesus from this world; it began with the first announcement of His sufferings, and it had now reached one of its marked epochs, the departure from Galilee. The goal is the , the perfecting of Jesus; this expression combines the two ideas of His death and ascension. Those two events, of which the one is the complement of the other, form together the consummation of His return to the Father; comp. the same combination of ideas in and , Joh 3:14; Joh 8:28; Joh 12:32; Joh 13:3. For the plural , Luk 1:21-22.
Wieseler (in his Synopsis) formerly gave to the meaning of good reception: When the time of the favourable reception which He had found in Galilee was coming to an end. But as this meaning would evidently require some such definition as , he now understands by . ., the days during which Jesus should have been received by men (Beitrge, etc., p. 127 et seq.). But how can we give to a substantive the meaning of a verb in the conditional? and besides, comp. Act 1:2, which fixes the meaning of . On the other hand, when Meyer concludes from the passage in Acts that the ascension only is here referred to, he forgets the difference of context. In Acts 1 this meaning is evident, the death being already a past event; but here it is difficult to believe that the two events yet to come, by which the departure of Jesus to heaven () was to be consummated, are not comprehended in this word.
The pronoun , by emphasizing the subject, brings into prominence the free and deliberate character of this departure. On the of the apodosis, see vol. i. pp. 133, 136. This (and He also) recalls the correspondence between the divine decree implied in the term , to be fulfilled, and the free will with which Jesus conforms thereto. The phrase corresponds in the LXX. to (Jer 21:10) or (Eze 6:2), dresser sa face vers (Ostervald), to give one’s view an invariable direction towards an end. The expression supposes a fear to be surmounted, an energy to be displayed.
On the prepositional phrase to Jerusalem, comp. Luk 9:31 and Mar 10:32 : And they were in the way going up to Jerusalem; and Jesus went before them: and as they followed they were afraid. To start for Jerusalem is to march to His death; Jesus knows it; the disciples have a presentiment of danger. This confirms our interpretation of .
LXXVI.
THE PRIVATE JOURNEY TO JERUSALEM.
(Through Samaria. Probably September, A. D. 29.)
cLUKE IX. 51-56; dJOHN VII. 10.
d10 But when his brethren were gone up unto the feasts, then went he also up, not publicly, but as it were in secret. [This section follows immediately after the preceding. The secrecy of this journey consists in the fact that Jesus did not join the caravans or pilgrim bands, and that he did not follow the usual Peran route, but went directly through Samaria.] c51 And it came to pass, when the days were well-nigh come that he should be received up, he steadfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem, 52 and sent messengers before his face: and they went, and entered into a village of the Samaritans, to make ready for him. [Taken in its strictest sense, the expression “taken up” refers to our Lord’s ascension, but it is here used to embrace his entire passion. Though our Lord’s death was still six months distant, his going to Jerusalem is described as attended with a special effort, because from that time forth Jerusalem was to occupy the position of headquarters, as Capernaum had done, and his [441] withdrawals and returns would be with regard to it. The presence of the twelve alone is sufficient to account for the messengers. He did not wish to overtax the fickle hospitality of the Samaritans by coming unannounced.] 53 And they did not receive him, because his face was as though he were going to Jerusalem. [Had Jesus come among them on a missionary tour he would doubtless have been received. But when he came as a Jew passing through to Jerusalem, and using their highway as a convenience, they rejected him.] 54 And when his disciples James and John saw this, they said, Lord, wilt thou that we bid fire to come down from heaven, and consume them? 55 But he turned, and rebuked them, 56 And they went to another village. [Refusing to receive a religious teacher was considered a rejection of his claim. This rejection roused the ire of the two sons of thunder and prompted them to suggest that the example of Elijah be followed ( 2Ki 1:9-12), but Jesus was a Saviour and not a destroyer, so he passed on to another village. The conduct of John in after years contrasts sharply with the wish which he here expressed– Act 8:14-25.]
[FFG 441-442]
RETALIATORY SPIRIT OF JAMES & JOHN
Luk 9:51-56. And it came to pass, while the days of His taking up [i.e., His crucifixion] were being fulfilled, and He turned His face to go to Jerusalem. And He sent messengers before His face, and they, going, entered into a village of the Samaritans, so as to prepare for Him. And they did not receive Him, because His face was going toward Jerusalem. And His disciples, James and John, seeing, said, Lord, do you wish that we may command fire to descend from heaven and consume them, as Elijah did? And turning, Me rebuked them, and said, Do you not know of what spirit you are? for the Son of man came not to destroy the lives of men, but to save them; and they went on into another village. He is now journeying to Jerusalem, accompanied by His apostles, having declined to go in time for the opening of the festival, when the road would be thronged with multitudes. Samaria, the old kingdom of Israel under Jeroboam, stretches across Canaan in the middle, from the Jordan on the east, to the Mediterranean Sea on the west, so that the direct route from Galilee to Jerusalem led through Samaria. As He goes along, preaching on His way, and sends out some of His disciples to notify the people, so they might be on hand to hear the Living Word, and profit by the opportunity, entering a Samaritan village and notifying them about Jesus coming, they refuse to receive Him, because He was going to Jerusalem; as there was long an inveterate prejudice on the part of the Samaritans toward the Jews, as they, after Nehemiah rejected Sanballat from a participation in building the temple, had rallied all their forces, and built a magnificent rival temple on Mt. Gerizim, thus becoming the uncompromising rivals of the Jews for the holy mount, the Christhood, and all the blessings of the Abrahamic Covenant; as they were not pure-blooded Jews, but a mixture of the Jews with the heathens, who had been transported thither from the Babylonian Empire by Esarhaddon, the king of Babylon. If His face had not been toward Jerusalem, doubtless they would have received Him, as they were looking for Christ, but wanted Him to be a Samaritan. In all probability, they were near the spot where Elijah had called down fire from heaven, as that was in Samaria, and on the convenient route to Jerusalem. I passed over it, making the same journey. Thus, in all probability, being reminded of that notable event, they thought it an auspicious time to exercise their power. Jesus rebukes them, Do you not know of what spirit you are? As the apostles of Christ, they properly belong to the spirit of love, kindness, mercy, sympathy, and forgiveness; whereas Elijah lived under the law dispensation and the theocracy, when Divine retribution was the normal economy. This, however, incontestably illustrates their imperative need of a second work of grace, as James and John were among the most spiritual of the apostles, and still actuated by this retaliatory spirit. If our Saviors apostles needed the sanctifying fire to burn out of them unholy tempers, we certainly all need it too.
Luk 9:51-56. Inhospitable Samaritans.The journey was begun by the direct road through Samaria (for Lk.s interest in Samaritans cf. Luk 10:33, Luk 17:16; contrast Mat 10:5), though Jesus appears (Mk., Mt.) later to have gone across Jordan into Pera (cf. Luk 9:56*).
Luk 9:51. received up: a reference to the Ascension.
Luk 9:52. before his face: cf. Luk 1:76, Luk 10:1. A Hebraism.
Luk 9:53. going to Jerusalem: especially for the Passover, which intensified the antagonism of the Samaritans towards the rival sanctuary.
Luk 9:54. cf. 2Ki 1:10, though the mg., here is only a copyists (sound) comment. The references to Elijah in the Gospels form an interesting study.
Luk 9:55. The mg., though probably not belonging to the original text, is in true accord with the character and aim of Jesus.
Luk 9:56. another village: perhaps across Jordan, more likely still m Samaria.-We have then a parallel with the Galilean ministry, an initial rejection (Luk 4:28 f.) followed by better treatment.
Verse 51
When the time was come, &c.; that is, towards the close of his life, long after the occurrences mentioned above. The incident seems to be narrated here, out of the order of time, for the purpose of introducing it, in connection with the other cases here related, in which the disciples were reproved by the Savior. The passage Luke 9:37-42 censures their want of faith; Luke 9:46-48 reproves ambition; Luke 9:49-50, intolerance; and Luke 9:51-56, resentment and anger.
Luke 9:52. Samaritans. The nearest route from Galilee to Jerusalem led through Samaria.
9:51 {11} And it came to pass, when the time was come that he should be received up, he stedfastly {m} set his face to go to Jerusalem,
(11) Christ goes willingly to death.
(m) Literally, “he hardened his face”: that is, he resolved with himself to die, and therefore ventured upon his journey and cast away all fear of death, and went on.
1. The importance of toleration 9:51-56
The first verse (Luk 9:51) sets the agenda for all that follows until Jesus’ Triumphal Entry. It was now time for Jesus to begin moving toward Jerusalem and the Cross. As He did so, He immediately encountered opposition (cf. Act 20:3; Act 21:4; Act 21:11-14), but He accepted it and refused to retaliate against His opponents. Jesus’ attitude here recalls His reaction to the opposition He encountered in Nazareth at the beginning of His Galilean ministry (Luk 4:16-30), and it previews His attitude in His passion. It also contrasts with the disciples’ attitude toward others and provides a positive example for reader disciples who sometimes encounter antagonists who are similar to the Samaritans.
It is difficult to make this incident fit into its Lukan context chronologically. Probably our writer was not following a strict sequence of events here but inserted this incident where he did for thematic purposes.
The time had come for Jesus to begin moving toward Jerusalem for His final visit before the Cross (cf. Gen 31:21; Jer 21:10; Jer 44:12). Luke looked beyond His passion there to His ascension. In this Gospel, Luke presented the ministry of Jesus before His ascension, and in Acts He reported what Jesus did after His ascension through His disciples (cf. Act 1:2). By focusing on the ascension, Luke reminded his readers of the glorious outcome of the passion and the continuing ministry of Jesus’ disciples. Jesus’ resoluteness in view of the suffering that lay ahead of Him also gives a positive example to readers.
V. JESUS’ MINISTRY ON THE WAY TO JERUSALEM 9:51-19:27
This large section of the Book of Luke has no counterpart in the other Gospels, but some of the material in it occurs in other parts of the Gospels (cf. Matthew 19-20; Mark 10). The section consists largely of instruction that Jesus gave His disciples with only brief references to geographic movements. Luke de-emphasized the topographical data in this section except those relating to Jerusalem. [Note: Carson and Moo, p. 200, n. 1.] We have already noticed that Luke had more interest in lessons than in details of geography and chronology. The skeletal references to Jesus’ movements show a general shift from Galilee toward Jerusalem (e.g., Luk 9:52; Luk 10:38; Luk 13:22; Luk 13:32-33; Luk 17:11; Luk 18:31; Luk 18:35; Luk 19:1; Luk 19:28-29). However, His journey was not direct (cf. Luk 10:38; Luk 17:11). Jesus visited Jerusalem more than once, but this section records Jesus leaving Galilee and arriving in Jerusalem for the last time before His passion. Luke presented what were really three trips to Jerusalem as one. [Note: Edersheim, 2:128.] John told us more about those three trips.
The ministry of Jesus during this journey was not just different because of where it took place. It took on new characteristics. His ministry to the disciples seems to have occupied His primary attention, though Luke featured this less than Mark. We have noted a strong emphasis on Jesus’ identity (Christology) in the previous chapters. Now the disciples’ mission becomes the dominant theme. There are many words of warning to the rich and the complacent as well as to the Pharisees in this section. Many students of Luke and Acts have noticed the common emphasis on travel that characterizes both books and have pointed out some significant comparisons. Jerusalem was for Jesus the destination toward which He pressed, as Rome was for Paul.
The literary structure of this section is a chiasm (inverted parallelism). The central, focal sections, where the emphasis falls, are the growth of the kingdom to include Gentiles as well as Jews (Luk 13:18-21) and the judgment coming on Israel for the Jews’ rejection of Jesus (Luk 13:22-35). [Note: See Bailey, p. 123, for a diagram of the chiasm.]
A. The responsibilities and rewards of discipleship 9:51-10:24
This part of the new section continues to focus attention on Jesus’ disciples (cf. Luk 9:1-50). The problem of their attitude toward other people also continues (cf. Luk 9:46-50). There is further instruction on the cost of discipleship too (Luk 9:57-62; cf. Luk 6:20-49). The heart of this part of the Gospel is Jesus’ preparation of the disciples for their second mission. The contrast between disciples and non-disciples becomes stronger, and the duties and privileges of discipleship emerge clearer.
Whereas the Gospel writers used the term "disciple" (lit. learner) to describe a wide variety of people who sought to learn from Jesus, believers and unbelievers alike, as Jesus moved toward the Cross His discipleship training focused increasingly on His believing disciples.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures
Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
THE JOURNEY TOWARDS DEATH
A. The Divine Harmony in the Son of Man and the Four Temperaments of the Children of Men
Fuente: A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical by Lange
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
Fuente: Expositions Of Holy Scripture by Alexander MacLaren
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Fuente: Spurgeon’s Verse Expositions of the Bible
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
Fuente: F.B. Meyer’s Through the Bible Commentary
Fuente: Commentaries on the New Testament and Prophets
Fuente: Gaebelein’s Annotated Bible (Commentary)
Fuente: Discovering Christ In Selected Books of the Bible
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Fuente: Lightfoot Commentary Gospels
Fuente: Ryle’s Expository Thoughts on the Gospels
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Fuente: Godet Commentary (Luke, John, Romans and 1 Corinthians)
Fuente: McGarvey and Pendleton Commentaries (New Testament)
Fuente: William Godbey’s Commentary on the New Testament
Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible
Fuente: Abbott’s Illustrated New Testament
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)