INTRODUCTION
In presenting Jesus’ last
supper, agony, and betrayal, mocking and trial, Luke has been schematic; he has
not lost the element of sorrow, of grief, but he has preferred to stress parts
of these episodes which can do the most good for Theophilus, his reader.
Suffering is meaningful to our Christian life because Christ suffered, died and
resurrected and gave us new life. When we accept the suffering, difficulties,
and hardship. Criticism, humiliation, suppression for the peace, justice, unity
and equality we share the same suffering of our lord Jesus Christ. Because
Jesus Christ has brought salvation through his passion, death and resurrection.
So st. Luke continue to tell the sorrowful story in the same manner, not
suppressing the anguish and sorrow of these terrible moments but stressing the
elements which will most benefit the Christians dedicated to Christ.
The Sanhedrin was a group of
seventy men, plus their president, the ruling high priest; this was
constitutionally the equivalent of the Judicial, executive and legislative
powers rolled into one. Under Roman domination the Sanhedrin was made up of the
chief priests, representative of the Scribes and representative of the elders,
or wealthy of Israel. The Sanhedrin brings Jesus to the Roman authority. The
Roman authority at this time was Pontius Pilate reported directly to the
governor of the Middle East stationed in Damascus. The charge against Jesus is
to catch Pilate attention. To Pilate question “Are you the king of Jews?”
Jesus’ answer is apparently enough to denial that Pilate found no guilt in this
man on this charge. Thus three times Pilate insists that Jesus is innocent,
certainly not guilty of death, particularly not deserving of the crucifixion
that every body asked for. After this Pilate gave Jesus into the hand of
People, to do with as they pleased. Thus Luke presumes that the crowed had
choice to prefer a man like Barabbas than to a man like Jesus. This reflection
on irony of these details, as of others also occurs in Acts of the Apostles.
CHAPTER-ONE
THE LAST SUPPER
The seven
days of the Feast of Unleavened Bread were at hand and the Passover was the
first day of that day of that feast. Jerusalem was crowded with pilgrims and
among them was Jesus whom the members of the Sanhedrin were determined to get
rid of because Jesus’ volcanic teachings were damaging their reputation and
authority. Would the people follow him, perhaps in a revolt? Certainly they
would resent and perhaps resist his public arrest. Then the authorities got a
break: Judas came to them with a propositions.
Why did he do it? Judas’ reasons for
betraying Jesus have fascinated many. Luke’s own answer is simple: “Satan
entered into Judas.” Jesus and the early church were conscious of a cosmic
struggle going on between them powers of heaven and the powers of the darkness,
between Jesus the Messiah and Satan. Jesus had defeated the Tempter when he
tried to subvert his motives and his mission in the wilderness (4:1-13). During
Jesus’ ministry God’s purposes were being fulfilled and Satan could not gain
foot-hold. But now Judas gives him his first opportunity since those
wildernesses of long ago.
While Judas is engaged in his
nefarious arrangements with religious authorities, Peter and John are, at
Jesus’ direction, marking the necessary preparation for all of them to eat
their Passover Meal in the Holy City. The time arrives, and Jesus and The
Twelve gather in that upper room for their last supper together.
In Luke’s account of what takes
place at that meal, Jesus gives the disciples first the cup, and then bread,
and then the cup a second time. There probably were variations among the early
Christians as to the way they observed the Lord’s Supper. (1Cor.10: 16-21
certainly suggests that worshippers received the cup before the bread.) Luke’s
account may have been one basis for search differences or, after the fact may
have reflected some of that lack of uniformity. However, the oldest New
Testament account of the Last Supper is that of Paul (1cor.11: 23-27)-bread first
and then the cup- and the wording there is similar to the words used in
celebrating the lord’s Supper in most present-day churches.
The supper has tow-fold
significance, which came about because it was related to the Passover meal on
the one hand, and inexorably associated with Jesus’ death on the other. So
perhaps from the very first the regular celebration of this meal included both
commemoration of the Lord’s passion and anticipation of the heavenly banquet in
the kingdom of God.
(22:1-23)
Now the feast of Unleavened Bread
drew near, which is called the Passover. And the chief Priests and the Scribes
were seeking how to put Him to death; for they feared the people.
Then Satan entered into Judas called
Iscariot, who was of the number of the twelve; he went away and conferred with
the chief Priests and Officers how he might betray to them. And they were glad,
and engaged to give him money. So he agreed, and sought an opportunity to
betray him to them in the absence of the multitude.
Then
came the day of Unleavened Bread, on which the Passover lamb had to be
sacrificed. So Jesus sent Peter and John, saying, “go and prepare the Passover
for us, that we may eat it.” They said to him, “where will you have us prepare
it?” he said to them, “behold, when you have entered the city, a man carrying a
jar of water will met you; follow him into the house which he enters and then
the house holder, ‘ the Teacher says to, where is the guest room, where I am to
eat Passover with my disciples?’ and he will show you the large upper room
furnished; there make ready.” And they went, and founded it as He had told
them; and they prepared Passover.
And when the hour came, he sat at
the table, and the apostles with him. And he said to them, “I have earnestly
desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer; for I tell you I shall
not eat it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.” And he took a cup, and
when he had given thanks; he, said, “take this, and divide it among yourself;
for I tell you that from now on I shall no drink of the fruit of the wine until
the kingdom of God comes.” And he took bread, and he had given thanks he broke
it and gave it to them, saying, “This is my Body which is given for you. Do
this in remembrance of me.” Like wise the cup after supper, saying, “this cup
which is poured out for you is the new covenant in my Blood.”
Jesus and his disciple were
celebrating the Passover. That feast may commemorate the deliverances of the
Israelites from Egypt long and it anticipated the coming the Messianic
deliverance. The blood of a lamb had forebears from death of the time of the
first Passover (Exod.12: 7-13). So the blood of Jesus was to bring into being a
new covenant and initiate a new Exodus, freeing from the salivary of sin and
death.
1.1 Upper
Room Discourse
Now we come to Jesus’ talk with his
disciples and it is filled with pathos. Discipleship is the theme- theirs and
his. The subject is kicked off by the disciples’ littleness: “ I’m more
important than you.” Pagan, worldly values are not kingdom values, Jesus tells
them. Beware of equating greatness with power and dignity with recognition. In
the kingdom greatness and recognition go to those who give of themselves in
humble service. Jesus points to his own ministry to illustrate his meaning: “I
am among you as one who serves.”
For him, the life of service had
brought on a series of trials-tests of spiritual stamina. The temptation in the
wilderness showed Jesus choosing the way of humble service rather than that of
supremacy and headship. His ministry was a continual reaching down to help,
expressions of self-giving love for others. Because of the adoring crowds there
was always the temptation to accept some sort of worldly lordship. In John’s
Gospel the people actually try “to take
him by force and make him king” (Jn. 6:14-15). Jesus calls all this “my
trials,” and he appreciated the companionship of his chosen disciples during
all of that time. The final wrestling was yet to come in the Garden o
Gethsemane, but he appreciated heir loyalty to this point.
Ultimately their loyalty would be
rewarded. In “my kingdom” they would “Judge the twelve of Israel,” meaning have
authority, but only such authority as belongs to those who on earth have
learned the meaning of service. The Twelve were to be the nucleus of the New
Israel. The old Israel by rejecting the Messiah had lost its birthright.
However, when his final testing came the disciples would fall away. The lord’s
prediction is not clear in English. Here is a more literal translation of the
Greek text:
Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded
to have all of you, that he might sift you like wheat, but I have prayed for
you, Simon, that your faith may not fail; and when you have turned again,
strengthen your brethren.
(22:31-32)
Simon Peter
had always been the leader of The Twelve and would continue to be in time to
come.
The final interchange shows how far
the disciples are from understanding their Lord. Jesus recalls the balmy days
when the first sent them out on their own. Then with the kind of exaggerated
figure of speech he liked to use he says in effect, “Things will be difficult.
You will need a sword more than a coat.” Taking him literally they miss the
point: “Lord, here are two swords.” He gives up; they are so far from
appreciating his meaning. “That’s enough of that,” he says, and with that their
evening ends.
CHAPTER- TWO
THE PASSION OF CHRIST
At night
Jesus and the disciples would go to the Mount Olives just outside the city.
And, as was his habit on so many former occasions, Jesus spends the night in
prayer. The awful moment has arrived. He urges the disciples to pray; then
taking his most intimate ones with him Peter, James, and John-he goes apart to
pray himself. Temptation is the key word here, for Jesus is besieged by doubt.
Is a showdown with the authorities what the Heavenly Father wants him to do?
His disciples are obviously not prepared to the kingdom on earth. Is this the
time or would he not be deserting the very cause for which he had come into the
world? And what about the Jerusalem he loved, the Jerusalem he had wept over?
If he stayed now and defaced his enemies, the Sanhedrin and the Holy city would
undoubtedly have his blood on their hands. Should he permit himself to be the
cause of their monstrous sin? Should he not slip away in the darkness and avoid
it all? Rationalization. Temptation is rationalization –finding a good reason
for not doing one’s God- intended job.
Gethsemane was a spiritual
battleground of world dimensions, and Peter and others slept through it, later
to succumb to temptation themselves.
(22:39-46)
And he came out, and went, as was
his custom, to the Mount of Olives; and the disciples followed him. And when he
came to the place he said to them. “Pray that you may not enter into temptation.”
And he withdrew from them about a stone’s throw, and knelt down and prayed,
“father, if thou art willing, remove this cup from me; nevertheless not my
will, but thine, be done.”* And when he rose from prayer, he came to the
disciples and found them sleeping for sorrow, and he said to them, “Why do you
sleep? Rise and pray that you may not enter into temptation.”
2.1 The Arrest
The
arresting party arrives, a hired mod, actually, including some slaves who were
not there through choice, all carrying clubs and swords, with members of the
Sanhedrin discreetly in the background. It begins like a bad play. Judas
identifies Jesus with a kiss, awkwardly insincere. Then one of the disciples
takes an indecisive swipe at the arresting bunch with his sword. Jesus rebukes
him; then over the heads of his captors he speaks to the Sanhedrin members in
the shadows, people who needed no help from Judas to identify their arch-enemy:
“I was with you day after day in the Temple.” A legal arrest would have taken
place openly. This is happening under cover of darkness because it is the work
of the prince of darkness. The spiritual battle with the light of the world had
know been joined.
(22:47-53)
While he was still speaking there
came a crowd, and the man called Judas, one of the twelve, was leading them. He
drew near to Jesus to kiss him; but Jesus said to him, “Judas, would you betray
the son of man with a kiss? And when those who were about him saw what would
foffow, they said, “Lord, shall we strike with the sword?” and one of them
strike the slave of the high priest and cut off his right ear. Hut Jesus said,
“no more of this!” and he touched his ear and healed him. Then Jesus said to
the chief priests and officers of the temple and elders, who had come out
against him,” have you come out as against a robber, with swords and clubs?
When I was with you day after day in the temple, you did not lay hands on me.
But this is your hour, and the power of darkness.”
2.2 Peter’s Denial
Luke crowds
the trial of Jesus into a matter of hours. The late evening early morning time
in the high priest’s house provides the setting for the soldiers’ cruel
buffoonery and Peter’s denial. Perhaps no phase in the Gospel is more charged
with feeling than, “and the lord turned and looked at Peter. And Peter
remembered the words of Jesus.” He is the only disciple named in the Last
Supper account. And is the only disciple named in the resurrection appearances.
Peter’s spiritual agony and his ultimate authority in the early days of the
Christian church are carefully noted by Luke.
(22:54-65)
Then they seized him and led him
away, bringing him into the high priest’s house. Peter followed at a distance;
and when they had kindled a fire in the middle of the courtyard and sat down
together, Peter sat among them. Then a maid, seeing him, as he sat in the light
and gazing at him said, “This man was also with him.” But he denied it saying,
“woman I do not know him.” And little later some one else saw him and said,
“You also are one of them.” But Peter said, “Man, I am not.” And after an
interval of about an hour still another insisted, saying, “certainly this man
also was with him; for he is Galilean.” But Peter said, “Man, I do not know
what you are saying.” And immediately, while he still speaking, the cock
crowed. And the lord turned and looked at Peter. And Peter remembered the word
of the lord, how he had said to him,” Before the cock crows today, you will
deny me three times.” and he went out and wept bitterly.
2.3 The Trial
The succession of events called a
“trial” was like a powerful motorboat driven by the Sanhedrin members, who left
a wake of uncomfortable, guilty people. There were some reputable men among the
seventy members of the Sanhedrin. Some of them-like’ Nicodemus and Joseph of
Aramathea-were certainly uncomfortable at the twisted political charges against
Jesus, which their leaders took to Pilate. Pilate had political insights into
the motives of people who came into his court; he was no fool. He knew Jesus
was innocent and he must have been uncomfortable with the travesty of justice
he ultimately permitted. And Herod? He was not a profound man. He had gotten
rid of troublesome John the Baptist in his heavy-handed way. This Jesus, like
John but different, made him uncomfortable with his silence. Cruel humor is the
face-saving cover-up of frustrated bullies. There were even uncomfortable folk
in the shouting crowd. They were trapped in the Sanhedrin’s evil orchestrations
and did not have the courage to be conspicuous. (Notice the sorrowing crowd,
23:27,48). Evils make people uncomfortably guilty when they cannot find the
courage to resist it. The “Trial” was a black scene of monstrous evil, and for
many it was made worse by the pervasive fog of their guilty share in it.
(23:1-25)
Then the whole company of them
arose, and brought him before Pilate. And they began to accuse him, saying, “We
found this man perverting our nation, and forbidding us to give tribute to
Caesar, and saying that he himself is Christ a king.” And Pilate asked him, “are
you the king of Jews?’ and he answered him, “you have said so.” And Pilate said
to the chief priests and the multitudes, “I find no crime in this man.” but
they were urgent, saying, “he stirs up the people, teaching throughout all
Judea, from Galilee even to this Place.”
When the Pilate heard this, he asked
whether the man was a Galilean. And when he learned that he belonged to Herod’s
jurisdiction, e sent him over to Herod, who was himself in Jerusalem at that
time. When Herod saw Jesus, he was very glad, for he had long desired to see
him, because he had heard about him, and he was hoping to see some sign doe by
him. So he questioned him at some length; but he made no answer. The chief
Priests and the scribes stood by, vehemently accusing him. And Herod with his
soldiers treated with contempt and mocked him; then, arraying him in gorgeous
spparel, he send him back to Pilate. And Herod and Pilate become friends within
each other that very day, for before this day had been at enmity with each
other.
Pilate then called together the
chief Priest and the rulers and the people, and said to him,” you brought me
this man as one who was perverting the people; and after examining him before
you, behold, I did not find any guilty of this man of your charges against him;
neither did Herod did, for he sent him back to us. Behold, nothing deserving
death has been done by him; I will therefore chastise him and release him.”
But they all cried out together,
“away with this man, and release to us Barabbas”-a man who had been thrown into
Prison for an insurrection started in the city, and for murder. Pilate
addressed them once more, desiring to release Jesus; but they shouted out,
“crucify him!” A third time he said to them, “why, what evil has he done? I
have found in him no crime deserving death; I will therefore chastise him and
release him.” But they were urgent, demanding with loud cries that he should be
crucified. And their voices prevailed. So Pilate gave sentence that their
demand should be granted. He released the man who had been thrown into prison
for insurrection and murder, whom they asked for; but Jesus he delivered up to
their will. Notice that in the questions the chief priests and their colleagues
addressed to Jesus they identify the Christ with the Son of God. Luke has been
at pains throughout his Gospel to make it clear that Jesus Christ the Son of
God and now even his enemies bear witness to that fact.
The irony of Jesus’ trial lies in
its duplicity; it is at every point the opposite of what it seems. Sanhedrin
thought they were judging Jesus, yet he reminds the court that he rather than
they is the ultimate judge. For the Son of man will be given authority by God
both to rule and to judge (22; 69 And Dan. 7:13f). Jesus was always at pains to
avoid being a political Messiah, yet that was the only charge leveled at him
before Pilate. Jesus the innocent is condemned for seditions while Barabbas,
guilty of sedition, is released. Pilate, the representative of Roman justice,
makes it a travesty. Truth, right and justice were all unseated that day. It
was only with the eyes of faith that the Son of man was able to see that “his
kingdom shall not be destroyed” (Dan. 7:14).
CHAPTER-THREE
THE CRUCIFIXION
The
awareness of the early church that Jesus the Messiah was the suffering Servant
the Old Testament described made it natural (perhaps inevitable) to think of
the events of his passion in scriptural terms. Allusions to the vicarious
suffering of Isaiah’s Servant of the Lord (Isa.52: 13-53:12) lie behind the whole
account, as do quotations from the Psalms. The parting of his clothes and the
scoffing echo Psalm 22:7,18; the gift of vinegar is found in Psalm 69:21. Also
the account is filled with much intended symbolism. None of this can be or
should be peeled away. However, awareness of it helps us realize that we are
viewing what took place through the eyes of faith and perhaps we should be on
our knees, as Luke was figuratively on his as he wrote the account.
Jesus urges the sorrowing multitude
to mourn, not for him, but for what was happening to their Holy City and to
their nation. During perhaps the most painful moments of the crucifixion ordeal
Jesus prayerfully reaches out in forgiving love. For whom is he praying? It is
ambiguous. You write your own script about the extent of the Lord’s caring. It
is interesting that the mocking titles hurled at him all identify him as the
Messiah – “Christ,” “Chosen One,” “King.” And the Messiah reaches out to the
thief on the adjacent cross, the kind of disinherited person he had always
reached out to during his ministry. We do not know what the man expected from
Jesus, but Jesus’ promise is out of all proportion to his request.
It was a widespread belief in
antiquity that in great and tragic moments the natural world showed its
sympathy for the distress humans were suffering. That is the point of the
detail about darkness. And the rent curtain in the Temple separating the Holy
of Holies from the congregation symbolized new open access to the inner
presence of God. As we said, the description is full of symbolism.
The comment of the Roman centurion
that Jesus was innocent sums up a major Lucan theme-first Pilate, then the
penitent thief, now the centurion. Isaiah’s words had taken on flesh and blood:
Surely he has borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows; Yet we esteemed him
stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our
transgressions. (Isa.53: 4-5) the generous act of Josephs of Arimathea took
great courage. It was a gesture, which showed he was not in sympathy with the
decision of the Sanhedrin. Whether he was a secret believer in Jesus is not
clear (cf., John 3:1-12; 7:50-52; 19:39-41).
(23:26-56)
And as they led him away, they seized one
Simon of Cyrene, who was coming in from the country, and laid on him the cross,
to carry it behind Jesus. And there
followed him a great multitude of the people, and of women who bewailed and
lamented him. But Jesus turning to them said, “Daughters of Jerusalem, do not
weep for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children. For behold, the
days are coming when they will say, ‘Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that
never bore, and the breasts that never gave suck!’ Then they will begin to say to the mountains,
‘fall on us’; and to the hills, ‘cover us.’
For if they do this when the wood is green, what will happen when it is
dry?
Two others also, who were criminals, were led
away to be put to death with him. And
when they came to the place, which is called The Skull, there they crucified
him, and the criminals, one on the right and one on the left. And Jesus said, “Father, forgive them; for
know not what they do.” And they cast lots to divide his garments. And the people stood by, watching; but the
rulers scoffed at him, saying, “He saved others; let him save himself, if he is
the Christ of God, his Chosen One!” The
soldiers also mocked him, coming up and offering him vinegar, and saying, “If
you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!”
There was also an inscription over him, “This is the King of the Jews.”
One o the criminals who were hanged railed at
him, saying, and “Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us!” But the other rebuked him, saying, “Do you
not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed justly; for we are receiving
the due reward of our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong.” And he said,
“Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” And he said to him, “Truly, I say to you,
today you will be with me in Paradise.”
It was about the sixth hour, and there was
darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour, while the sun’s light
failed; and the curtain of the temple was torn in two. Then Jesus, carrying with a loud voice, said,
“Father, into thy hands I commit my spirit!” And having said this he breathed
his last. Now when the centurion saw that had taken place, he praised God, and
said, “ Certainly this man was innocent!” And all the multitudes who assembled
to see the sight, when they saw what had taken place, returned home beating
their breasts. And all his acquaintances
and the women who had followed him from Galilee stood at a distance and saw
these things.
Now there was a man named Joseph from the
Jewish town of Arimathea. He was a member of the council, a good and righteous
man, and who had not consented to their purpose and deed, and he was looking
for the kingdom of God. This man went to
Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus.
Then he took it down and wrapped it in linen shroud, and laid him in a
rock-hewn tomb, where no one had ever yet been laid. It was the day of Preparation, and the
Sabbath was beginning. The women who had come with him from Galilee followed,
and saw the tomb, and how his body was laid; then they returned, and prepared
spices and ointments.
On the Sabbath
they rested according to the commandment.
What
happened at “the place, which is called The Skull” exposed us to a kaleidoscope
of attitudes towards Jesus. There is the vulgar curiosity of the crowd, the
contemptuous derision of the rulers, the callous frivolity of the gurnards, and
the bitter invective of the criminal. There is also the penitent thief’s open
awareness of something indescribable and centurion’s awe in the presence of
sheer goodness. In the midst of these ripples of reaching and tension, of
hostility, indifference, and awe, there is from Jesus a ground swell of caring,
forgiveness, and love. “He is the image of the invisible God,” wrote Paul a
generation later (col.1: 15).
CONCLUSION
The
Jewish Scripture had foretold the coming of Yahweh’s kingdom. The divine
witness and the power of Jesus suggest that Jesus is the Messiah who
inaugurates this kingdom. Surprising as it may be, this Messiah not only had to
begin the kingdom, but he also had to die. The kingdom, then, is begun in a peculiar
way, for it did not reach its completion in the life of Jesus, nor has it
reached its fulfillment in the life of Jesus’ witnesses. Jesus’ death was
followed by resurrection, an entry for Jesus into the age to come. His
followers, however, remained in this age with the result that, through some of
the characteristic, which belongs to the kingdom of God are felt by believers,
many of the characteristics of this age are still characteristics of their
lives. Experiences, interpreted by the guidance of God’s own spirit, helped the
early Christians to realize both the Messiahship of Jesus and the Partial
entrance of God’s kingdom into their world. Luke, like others, began to see
that Jesus was the good news of God, but that the good news of God had to be given
to all mankind; thus, there was a plan of God extending beyond the time and
place of Palestine in 30 A.D. extending for as long as God desired.
Jesus, then, has returned to the
right hand of his Father, as God had already determined he would; the plan of
salvation, however, with Jesus at its dynamic center, is still looking to be
completed. With great gratitude we have studied the life of Jesus as Luke gave
it to us; now we look forward to seeing the completion of Jesus’ mission, as
Luke has invited us to see it, in Luke’s second and final volume. The gospel
has given us the invaluable teachings, deeds and character of Jesus; let us see
how all this is transmitted faithfully to the ends of the earth.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
CAIRD, G. St.
Luke, Philadelphia: Westminister, 1978.
KEALY, S. The
Gospel of Luke, Denville: Dimension, 1979.
KARRIS, R. Invitation
to Luke, City: Image Bookes, 1977.
KARRIS, R. What
are they saying about Luke and acts? Mahwah: Paulist Press, 1979.
LAVERDIERE, E. Luke, Wilmington: Glazier, 1980.
