CRITICAL NOTES
Luke 24:44. These are the words.—I.e., “this is the meaning of the words.” Probably in Luke 24:44-49 St. Luke gives a summary of Christ’s discourses during the time between the Resurrection and the Ascension. Law of Moses, etc.—Perhaps here we have a reference to the Jewish division of the books of the Old Testament—i.e., into the Pentateuch, the Prophets (Joshua, Judges, four books of Kings, and the Prophets, except Daniel), and the Hagiographa.
Luke 24:45. Then opened.—Cf. Luke 24:27.
Luke 24:46. And thus it behoved.—Omit these words; omitted in R.V.; probably an explanatory note.
Luke 24:48. These things.—I.e., His death and resurrection.
Luke 24:49. The promise of My Father.—The allusion is to Old-Testament prophecies and to the discourses in John 14-16. Tarry ye.—Lit. “sit ye down.” City of Jerusalem.—Rather, “the city” (R.V.). Endued.—Rather, “clothed” (R.V.). Cf. Judges 6:34, where the same figure is used in the original.
Luke 24:50. Led them out.—I.e., either from the house in which they were, or from the city. As far as Bethany.—“Not quite to the village itself, but over the brow of the Mount of Olives, where it descends on Bethany; see Acts 1:12” (Alford). “On the wild uplands which immediately overhang the village, He finally withdrew from the eyes of His disciples, in a seclusion which, perhaps, could nowhere else be found so near the stir of a mighty city; the long ridge of Olivet screening those hills, and those hills the village beneath them, from all sound or sight of the city behind; the view opening only on the wide waste of desert-rocks and ever-descending valleys, into the depths of the distant Jordan and its mysterious lake. At this point the last interview took place. ‘He led them out as far as Bethany;’ and they ‘returned’ probably by the direct road over the summit of Mount Olivet. The appropriateness of the real scene presents a singular contrast to the inappropriateness of that fixed by a later fancy, ‘seeking for a sign,’ on the broad top of the mountain, out of sight of Bethany, and in full sight of Jerusalem, and thus in equal contradiction to the letter and the spirit of the gospel narrative” (Stanley, Sinai and Palestine). Lift up his hands.—Rather, “lifted up His hands” (R.V.), “lift” being archaic. The attitude was that of prayer and benediction.
Luke 24:51. Was parted from them.—Rather, “parted from them” (R.V.); the verb is not in the passive. Carried up.—“Not by an angel or by a cloud, but absolutely and without reference to any particular agent. We must imagine our Saviour slowly rising above His disciples, with His hands still raised in the attitude of blessing, until a cloud conceals Him from the eyes of His followers.”—Speaker’s Commentary.
Luke 24:52. Worshipped Him.—This can only mean here the adoration which is offered to a Divine Being. With great joy.—“The joy of the disciples in consequence of their Master’s exaltation, which was a pledge of the victory of His cause, already fulfilled the saying of Jesus, ‘If ye loved Me ye would rejoice, because I said, I go unto the Father, for My Father is greater than I (John 14:28)” (Godet). “A prelude to Pentecost” (Bengel). Amen.—Omit this word; omitted in R.V.; probably a liturgical addition.
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.— Luke 24:44-53
The Church Below, the Lord Above.—These closing verses of the Gospel are a summary of all our Lord’s instructions during the forty days before the Ascension. The Gospel reaches its climax in the Resurrection. The space between it and the Ascension, as well as the Ascension itself, are but the results of the Resurrection manifested in act, and as a kind of border-land between the two halves of our Lord’s activity, are even more properly narrated as the foundation of “all that Jesus” continued “to do and teach” since then, than as the crown of His earthly ministry.
I. The teachings of the forty days (Luke 24:44-49).—
1. First was taught Christ’s relation to the Old Testament. He recalled His former declarations, which had sounded so enigmatical then, and were so clear now. The teaching here summarised bore both upon His dignity and office as the Christ and the Fulfiller of the Old-Testament revelation, and on the inmost purpose and contents of that revelation as in all its parts pointing onward to Him. Law, Prophets, and Psalms make up the whole Hebrew Scriptures. So Jesus saw Himself in all the sundry times and divers manners of the older Word of God. The fact of prediction of Him as Messiah, and of His death and resurrection as being the very heart of the Old Testament, is attested by His own authority, which cannot be waived aside as of no moment in the controversies now raging as to these books. Nor can we understand the significance of the Old Testament by dint of learning only. There must be a moral and spiritual preparation; Jesus must open our minds, that we may understand the Scriptures.
2. Instruction in the universal blessings flowing from His death and resurrection. If any gross idea of outward dominion, secured by the sword, lingered in the disciples’ minds, this teaching would end them, unfolding, as it did, the sublime prospect of a universal monarchy, of which the instrument was the proclamation of the Cross and Resurrection, and of which the blessings were repentance and the remission of sin. The weapon seems feeble, but it is mighty, because it is in His name, “based on His revealed character and nature, wielded by His authority, and in dependence on His might, and in a very real sense as representing Himself.
3. The personal duty of the disciples. “Ye are witnesses of these things.” For the first disciples that was true in a way that it cannot be for us. And it is significant of much that the office was declared by Jesus to be that of witnesses; for witness implies “fact.” Not theories nor principles, nor speculations, nor dogmas, still less imaginations and fancies, had they to speak. The gospel is a veracious record of things that actually happened, and is established, not by argument, but by testimony. In a sense, each generation of Christians has the same office and responsibility. We cannot say we have seen, but we can say we have felt. Every man who has himself tasted that the Lord is gracious, is able, and therefore bound, to proclaim Him to others. The Church, in all its members, is Christ’s witness.
4. The gift of the needful qualifications. “The promise of My Father” is that Holy Spirit which is the last of all the Father’s promised gifts, of which He had spoken so abundantly in the last discourses in the upper room, and which, according to St. John, He had breathed upon them when He rose. The possession of that gift is our fitness for the office of witnessing.
II. The departure.—Did the disciples know, like Elisha, that “the Lord would take away their Master from their head that day”? At all events He knew, and the knowledge would breathe peculiar tenderness and urgency over His unrecorded words. “He lifted up His hands and blessed them.” Like the high priest when he had finished his service, He lifted up His hands over the congregation to give the blessing. The hands which had been pierced with nails, the arms which had been stretched out upon the cross, were spread above the bowed heads of the little group, and dropped gifts which fulfilled His benediction. His whole work is summed up, and His whole heart revealed, in that last attitude and act. Sweet, and ever to be remembered, are the last looks of our dear ones. Jesus would have this remembrance of Him stamped deepest on all our hearts. In the act of blessing, our Lord withdrew a step or two, and then, possibly, with arms still lifted in benediction, “was carried up into heaven.” The word employed implies a slow, continuous motion, which we cannot but contrast with the whirlwind which swept Elijah to heaven. The mortal needed to be lifted by an external and forcible agency from his native earth. But Jesus was going to His own home, and needed no aid to raise Him thither, whence it had needed the strong compulsion of His infinite love to bring Him down. The Ascension witnesses to the completeness of His sacrifice, to its acceptance by the Father, to the presence within the veil of our all-powerful Intercessor, to the elevation to supreme authority of the Man who is our Brother. The eternal Word ascended where He had been from before the beginning, but the manhood is new to the throne of the universe. Where He is, there shall also His servants be; and as He is, so shall they, too, become. The disciples showed us how we should think of the Ascension, when they worshipped Him, thus declaring Him to be the Son of God, and then turned all the more joyfully to their homely tasks, and drowned the pain of parting in the flood of joy which poured over their spirits. They made all life worship, every place a temple, and every act and word adoration.—Maclaren.
SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS ON Luke 24:44-53
Luke 24:44-49. The Last Instructions.
I. He recalls His earlier teaching, and causes them to understand the fulfilment He had effected of the prophecies of the Old Testament.
II. He gives directions for the future, and promises help to enable them to accomplish their task.
Luke 24:44. “While I was yet with you.”—The expression is worthy of notice, for it proves that Jesus felt that His departure was already accomplished. He was no longer with them otherwise than exceptionally. His abode was elsewhere.—Godet.
Luke 24:45. “Opened their understanding.”—This teaches us
(1) that Christ has immediate access to the human spirit and power over it; and
(2) that the interpretations of the Old Testament given by the apostles have the direct sanction of Christ.
“That they might understand the scriptures.”—The Word of God by itself is not sufficient; for our due understanding of it we need the illumination of the Spirit.
Luke 24:46-47. The Substance of Christian preaching.
I. Good tidings founded upon the work of the Saviour—His sufferings and His resurrection.
II. The duty of repentance.
III. The privilege of the remission of sins.
Luke 24:46. “To suffer and to rise.”—Here, as everywhere, suffering and glory are inseparably connected.
Luke 24:47. “Beginning at Jerusalem.”—
1. Jerusalem was the centre of the then existing kingdom of God.
2. It contained the worst of sinners—those who had insulted and crucified the Saviour.
Luke 24:48. “Ye are witnesses.”—That which renders testimony valuable is its being given by witnesses who are
(1) possessed of full information;
(2) who are sincere in character; and
(3) who are sober-minded. In all these points the apostles were admirably qualified for their office as witnesses, and their willingness to seal their testimony with their blood shows us how firmly convinced they were of the truths they taught.
Luke 24:49. “The promise of the Father.”—The gift of the Spirit as bestowed on the day of Pentecost. This gift promised in Isaiah 44:3; Jeremiah 31:33; Ezekiel 36:27; Joel 2:28.
An Equipment of Power.
I. The Lord’s servants must be men of power.
II. An equipment of power is provided.—
1. It is power.
2. It is power from on high.
3. It is not developed out of ourselves.
4. Nor is it obtained by connection with the world.
III. Power is to be waited for.—Roberts.
Ministerial Power.—Some of those powers of the Spirit which experience teaches us to be of most avail in meeting the exigencies of ministerial life in our time.
I. The power of holiness.
II. The power of knowledge.
III. The power of a single aim.
IV. The power of sympathy.
V. The power of the Divine commission.—Vaughan.
Luke 24:50-53. The Ascension.
I. The identity of the crucified and risen Saviour.
II. We, too, must ascend, to be judged, to stand before the throne.
III. The goal of the Church’s hope is the return of the ascended Christ.—Markby.
Christ’s Departure.
I. He ascended by His own power and His own will.
II. He alone left behind Him a finished work.
III. He ascended to begin the second work.—That of intercession—distinct from the work on earth, but yet of one piece with it, and serving to accomplish the same great end.
IV. By His Spirit, He still works in the world.
V. He has marked a way for us into heaven.—A track of light goes through the darkness into the very heart of heaven.—Nicoll.
The Ascension.
I. The gospel is all fact.—All our gospel mysteries, are, in their basis and substance, facts. The Christian year is a commemoration of facts. The Ascension is an event, a historical fact.
II. It is something more.—It is not mere history; it is a life. Like each gospel fact, it presupposes or else predicts every other. The Ascension presupposes the Incarnation, and predicts the Advent. The Ascension says:
1. Your home is not here. Yonder is your rest and your home. Home is a presence more than a place. Where Christ is, is the soul’s true home.
2. Seek Him yonder, correct all that is superstitious and carnal in your religion.—Vaughan.
Luke 24:50. Christ’s Last Hours on Earth.
I. The last meeting.
II. The last journey.
III. The last promise.
IV. The last blessing.
V. The last glimpse.—W. Taylor.
“He lifted up His hands.”—As a father, who is about to leave his children, gathers them together once more, speaks to them, and then raises his hands to bless them, so, at the moment of re-entering into the invisible world, Jesus imposes a benediction upon the head of His apostles which will remain upon the whole Church until His return.—Godet.
Luke 24:51. “While He blessed them.”—As Elijah left his mantle with Elisha, by whom he was seen when taken up, so Christ, at His ascension, left a blessing with His apostles and with His Church.—Wordsworth.
“Carried up into heaven.”—By His resurrection He had taken up again His human life which He had voluntarily given up to death; by His ascension He resumes His celestial life, His life in the form of God (Philippians 2:6), which He had laid aside on becoming incarnate in human form. And in the new condition in which His exaltation places Him, His human life is so interpenetrated by His Divine life that it becomes the adequate and eternal manifestation of it. “I see,” said the dying Stephen, “the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God” (Acts 7:56). “The fulness of the Godhead dwells in Him in a bodily form” (Colossians 2:9).—Godet.
The Parting Blessing.—The Saviour’s life had been one of continual blessing. And here we have the last impression left on the apostles’ minds of their Lord’s feeling towards them. His last thoughts were with them, His last energies were for them.
I. This thought is the inheritance of the Church.—The “while” bound Christ and the Church together, in the power of a last impression, for the rest of their earthly lives. His ascent on high does not sever Him in blessing from us.
II. But besides connection there is activity.—The ascended Christ is a blessing Christ, unchanged by His exaltation. He uses His exaltation for the benefit of His friends.
III. The thought we should have of the other world is, therefore, one of joy.—To the Christian the unseen must ever be a place of blessing. The place whither Jesus went must partake of His aspect in entering it. The disciples knew, from their Master’s teaching, something of the awfulness of the other world. But now He leaves them something better to think of. He is to bless from heaven. It was to be henceforth a place in which they had the dearest interest. He blessed in ascending, and if so, what but blessing could they look for from that other sphere?—Power.
Luke 24:52. “They worshipped Him.”—No one can reasonably doubt that this worship was offered to Him as a Divine being. St. Luke only uses this word in another place in his gospel (Luke 4:7-8), and there it is used in the sense of rendering the honour due to God alone. In the Acts it is employed in the same sense (Luke 7:43, Luke 8:27, Luke 24:11, Luke 10:25-26).
Luke 24:53. “In the Temple.”—The narrative of St. Luke begins in the Temple and ends in the Temple.
“Praising and blessing God.”—The two essential elements of worship.
I. Adoration.—Acknowledgment of the Divine perfections.
II. Thanksgiving for all the benefits He has bestowed.