CRITICAL NOTES
Luke 22:47. A multitude.—“Composed of Levitical guards under their generals, a Roman tribune with some soldiers, part of a cohort from the Fort of Antonia, and some priests and elders” (Farrar). To kiss Him.—The preconcerted sign.
Luke 22:48. Betrayest thou? etc.—In the order in the original the basest circumstance of the deed of treachery is made prominent—“Judas, with a kiss betrayest thou?” etc.
Luke 22:50. One of them.—St. John tells that it was Peter, and that the servant’s name was Malchus. Perhaps the synoptists omit the former name, from prudential motives. Suffer ye thus far.—If we are to understand these words as addressed to the disciples, they mean, “Let them do what they please; resist them not,” and are equivalent to the longer speech reported in Matthew 26:52-54. If, however, they are addressed to the captors, they might be interpreted to mean, “Allow Me thus much liberty”—i.e., to set Him free for a moment to heal the wounded man. The former is perhaps to be preferred, as the words can be understood as virtually equivalent to the remonstrance addressed to the disciples in the parallel account in St. Matthew, and as the next words of Jesus are spoken to the captors.
Luke 22:52. A thief.—Rather, “a robber” (R.V.).
Luke 22:53. This is your hour, etc.—I.e., “This is the time when power is given you against Me by the determinate counsel of God (Acts 4:28), and in which the Power, or Prince, of darkness, is permitted to exercise his rancour against Me” (Bloomfield). Perhaps there is also an allusion to the darkness of the night, as harmonising with deeds of treachery and violence.
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.— Luke 22:47-53
The Arrest.—The agony (lit. “struggle”) in the garden of Gethsemane was now past, and Christ had won the victory, so that now He was fortified against the new form of temptation to which He was subjected. For still the “power of darkness” (Luke 22:53), was arrayed against Him, and the tempter, who had sought in vain to overthrow His self-possession by suggestions of coming evil, now resorts to force and arms. The quiet of the garden and of the midnight hour is broken in upon by the arrival of a multitude of enemies, led by one into whom Satan had entered. All through the scene that followed the Divine majesty and calmness of the Saviour are very conspicuous. Neither the baseness of the act of betrayal, nor the rash conduct of one of His would-be defenders, nor the malignant rage of His enemies, provokes Him to a hasty word. He expostulates in turn with the traitor, with the disciple who drew his sword, and with His captors.
I. An appeal to conscience.—If anything might have aroused the fiercest and most righteous indignation, it was surely the conduct of Judas. He knew the place where Christ was to be found, and the reason why He was accustomed to resort thither. Yet He did not hesitate to violate the sanctity of the place of prayer used by his Master, so bent was he upon carrying out his evil purpose. He goes before the armed band as their leader, and as if to make sure that Christ should not escape, even if he had to capture Him with his own hands. And then, too, as the crowning act of baseness, he had arranged to point out the Saviour to His captors by drawing near to Him and kissing Him. Surely we have sin here in its last and most hateful form: when the evil purpose is disguised by hypocritical pretence, and the sinner is so hardened as not even to recognise his own baseness. There is a certain severity, mingled with tenderness, in the expostulation addressed by Jesus to the traitor. His calling him by his name might have reminded him of friendly, confidential intercourse in former days. “Is it by this mark of affection, the kiss of discipleship and friendship, that the signal is to be given to the enemy? Dost thou kiss and betray?” In words calculated to sting and arouse the sleeping conscience, Jesus reveals to the fallen apostle the blackness of his guilt. He calls the evil by its name and reveals it in all its hideousness. And had not the heart of Judas been hardened, the remonstrance of Jesus might not have been in vain. Had he, even at his last moment, repented and asked forgiveness, we cannot doubt but that it would have been freely extended to him. The pleading of Christ with the sinner falls in vain on the heart that is wedded to its sin.
II. A call to patience.—Before Jesus had had time to reply to the question of the apostles, “Lord, shall we smite with the sword?” one of them, Peter, acted on his own impulse and struck wildly at one of the crowd. Perhaps Malchus, the servant of the high priest, who received the blow, was more prominent than his fellows in laying hands upon Jesus; yet was he less guilty than others—less guilty, for example, than the high priest, from whom probably he caught by contagion the spirit of rancorous hatred against the Saviour. The high priest veiled his hatred under courteous phrases and legal forms: the uncultured, rude servant manifested his hatred in a rough, brutal way. Yet was the master more guilty than the servant. Peter’s action was hasty and ill-advised. It is not for the Church to wield the sword of justice; she is apt to strike the wrong person. His action, too, not only endangered his own safety, but was calculated to compromise his Master’s cause. For it was necessary for Jesus, in order to clear Himself from the accusations brought against Him by the Jews, to be able to say, “My kingdom is not of this world; if My kingdom were of this world, then would My servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews” (John 18:36). And so Christ restrained the apostle from striking another blow, and healed the wound he had inflicted. His words prescribed patience instead of resistance. “Suffer ye thus far”—“allow these men to go as far as this, to bind Me and take Me away.” How marvellous the patience shown by Him, whose next action proved His possession of superhuman power! What a rebuke does not His submission to violence and wrong administer to us, who are so eager to resent every petty affront! He returns good for evil, and blesses His enemies. He heals the man who was binding His hands, and who not only asked for no benefit, but was even devoid of faith in Him who conferred it.
III. A rebuke of cowardice.—Christ turns from those who were merely acting under orders, and addresses the members of the Sanhedrim, who had not thought it beneath their dignity to be present at the arrest of their victim, and rebukes their cowardice. Surely all this parade of soldiers and officers for the capture of one man, who offered no resistance, was unnecessary! He was no desperate malefactor, but one who had often taught the people the way of righteousness, in the courts of the Temple. Had He been an evil-doer they might have arrested Him openly, in the daylight. And even now it was not the force they brought against Him that compelled His surrender. It was “their hour”—the hour appointed by God for their triumph and for His submission; a greater than an earthly power aided them, but it was “the power of darkness.” And so, even at the time when Christ yielded to His foes, He declared plainly that He was the light, that resistance to Him was of the essence of sin, and anticipated the triumph of the light over darkness. This hour would pass, and the Sun of Righteousness, which was now suffering eclipse, would shine forth in His strength.
SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS ON Luke 22:47-53
Luke 22:47-53. The Arrest of Jesus.
I. The traitor’s kiss (Luke 22:47-48).
II. The attempt, on the part of the disciples, to defend Him (Luke 22:49-51).
III. The protest of Christ against the treachery and cowardice of His enemies (Luke 22:52-53).
Luke 22:47. “Went before them.”—A twofold act of treachery Judas was guilty of.
1. He led the band to the place where they might find Jesus.
2. He pointed Him out, so as to secure His apprehension.
Luke 22:48. “Judas, betrayest thou?”—Every word in the sentence indicates the depth of guilt belonging to this evil deed.
I. Its treachery.—“Judas, betrayest thou?”
II. Its malice.—“Betrayest.”
III. Its ingratitude.—“The Son of man.”
IV. Its hypocrisy.—“With a kiss.”
“Betrayest thou?”—Jesus spoke appealingly to Judas, but only cast a look upon Peter. The words were lost upon Judas: the look brought Peter to repentance.
Luke 22:48; Luke 22:61. Two Rebukes.—These rebukes were given by our Lord to two disciples. Both quiet, but potent.
I. To the arch-hypocrite.—A few mild words.
II. To the denying disciple.—A look.
III. Their results.—Each rebuke was followed by repentance. But what a difference! Heaven in the one; hell in the other. The one tearful; the other tearless. The one leading to contrition and restoration; the other to remorse, anguish, suicide.—Campbell.
Luke 22:49. “Shall we smite?”—The enigmatical warning of Luke 22:36 was evidently in the minds of the disciples. They were not sure whether or not He intended them to use the swords they carried.
Luke 22:50. “Smote a servant.”—By this action Peter
(1) endangered his own safety, and
(2) compromised the cause of his Master, both by manifesting a spirit antagonistic to His and by giving occasion for the charge of resisting the officers of justice being made against Him.
Luke 22:51. “Healed him.”—A mark
(1) of Christ’s power,
(2) of His mercy, even towards an enemy.
I. How readily the Saviour repaired the damage caused by the mistaken zeal of His servants!
II. How Christ blesses His enemies, even while manifesting intensest opposition!
III. Christ teaches us that in doing good the need is the claim.—Hastings.
Luke 22:52-53. The Weapons and Stratagems used against Christ Unnecessary.—
1. His whole previous conduct might have made it clear to them that He would offer no resistance.
2. He had oftentimes been within their grasp, but they had not had courage to seize Him.
Luke 22:52. “Chief priests.”—In spite of their dignity, they were drawn, by motives of curiosity and malice, to witness His arrest. The phrase “which were come to Him” seems to imply that they had just arrived, possibly to receive Him into their custody the moment He was apprehended.
Luke 22:53. “Your hour.”—
1. A time appointed by God.
2. A time strictly limited, and short.
“This is your hour.”—Our Lord here distinguishes between the power exercised over Him by men, and that by the Evil One; but so as to make the “power” which rules over them to be that of darkness, while His own assertion of this shows that all was by the determinate counsel and fore-know ledge of God.—Alford.