Saturday, May 18, 2019

Luke 22:21-38 comments: Peter's denial foretold


22:21 ¶  But, behold, the hand of him that betrayeth me is with me on the table. 22  And truly the Son of man goeth, as it was determined: but woe unto that man by whom he is betrayed! 23  And they began to enquire among themselves, which of them it was that should do this thing. 24  And there was also a strife among them, which of them should be accounted the greatest. 25  And he said unto them, The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them; and they that exercise authority upon them are called benefactors. 26  But ye shall not be so: but he that is greatest among you, let him be as the younger; and he that is chief, as he that doth serve. 27  For whether is greater, he that sitteth at meat, or he that serveth? is not he that sitteth at meat? but I am among you as he that serveth. 28  Ye are they which have continued with me in my temptations. 29  And I appoint unto you a kingdom, as my Father hath appointed unto me; 30  That ye may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom, and sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel. 31  And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat: 32  But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren. 33  And he said unto him, Lord, I am ready to go with thee, both into prison, and to death. 34  And he said, I tell thee, Peter, the cock shall not crow this day, before that thou shalt thrice deny that thou knowest me. 35  And he said unto them, When I sent you without purse, and scrip, and shoes, lacked ye any thing? And they said, Nothing. 36  Then said he unto them, But now, he that hath a purse, let him take it, and likewise his scrip: and he that hath no sword, let him sell his garment, and buy one. 37  For I say unto you, that this that is written must yet be accomplished in me, And he was reckoned among the transgressors: for the things concerning me have an end. 38  And they said, Lord, behold, here are two swords. And he said unto them, It is enough.

This is a fascinating and informative passage for us. Jesus states that his betrayer, Judas, is right there and makes an important point about evil. Even if an event is predetermined and ordained by God, such as Christ’s crucifixion, the person or persons involved in it are still guilty.  For instance, we can say that World War Two was inevitable and God was going to use it for many and various reasons, but that does not eliminate the guiltiness of those who caused it on both the Allied and Axis sides.

Matthew 18:7  Woe unto the world because of offences! for it must needs be that offences come; but woe to that man by whom the offence cometh!

We ask ourselves then why or how is a certain person used for evil in an event of great or small importance. It would seem that our inclination to do evil makes us a candidate for a particular job in God’s plan of history just as our inclination to obey Him makes us a candidate for another job. In the first we cannot blame God because of the fact that we choose to serve ourselves and by that choice are chosen for our evil task. In the second case, God honors our determination to obey Him with the blessing of being part of His plan of redeeming mankind to Himself, or at least the part of it who will and whom He knows will.

The character of Judas, as we have seen, was one part in making him be selected as the traitor. Evil is going to happen in a fallen reality because of man’s rebellious spirit. But, it is not necessary for you specifically to be a part of it. You choose whom you will serve but the how is not up to you or often at least not in the way you think it should be.

In the next section Christ defines servant leadership. A person fit to lead must be one who is willing to and, in fact, does serve. A true Christian leader is a servant. Throughout history many people have felt called to lead by virtue of what their society called a noble birth or perhaps they obtained status with money and power or military prowess without coming from an aristocratic lineage. But the Bible sets certain parameters for a leader. One is found in 2Samuel.

2Samuel 23:3  The God of Israel said, the Rock of Israel spake to me, He that ruleth over men must be just, ruling in the fear of God.

Christ left us the example of a leader, in this case God in the flesh, humbling Himself to serve others, those weaker than Himself clearly but also those who should be serving Him.

Here also is a hint of who twelve are seated around the throne of God are in Revelation.
Revelation 4:4  And round about the throne were four and twenty seats: and upon the seats I saw four and twenty elders sitting, clothed in white raiment; and they had on their heads crowns of gold.

Perhaps Judas is replaced by Paul. But, these Apostles will suffer with Christ and are worthy to sit in judgment with Him.

This brings us in verse 31 to the significance of using thee, the singular you, and you, the plural, something more modern Bibles do not have. The use of the singular thee, thou, and thine was dying out by the King James translators’ time. They were used in intimate forms in Shakespeare such as, “O Romeo, Romeo, wherefore are thou Romeo?” and resigned to dialects in Northern England and Scotland, finally held onto by religious groups like the Quakers. However, distinguishing between the singular you and the plural you can be important to understanding as in this passage.

Jesus tells Simon Peter that Satan desires to harm the Apostles, the plural you. But Jesus has prayed to the Father for Simon, that his mind would be fully onboard with Christ’s mission, that he would strengthen his brothers in the Lord.

Peter’s tongue then writes a check that his faith cannot cash. But, Christ foretells that Peter will soon deny that he even knows Jesus.

The next part of this passage justifies a distinct dispensational approach to the Bible and God’s way of dealing with mankind at different times. Jesus had sent out His disciples, as reported in Luke 9, to preach depending solely on the benevolence of the Jews to whom they would preach, trusting in God for their needs.

Luke 9:1 ¶  Then he called his twelve disciples together, and gave them power and authority over all devils, and to cure diseases. 2  And he sent them to preach the kingdom of God, and to heal the sick. 3  And he said unto them, Take nothing for your journey, neither staves, nor scrip, neither bread, neither money; neither have two coats apiece. 4  And whatsoever house ye enter into, there abide, and thence depart. 5  And whosoever will not receive you, when ye go out of that city, shake off the very dust from your feet for a testimony against them. 6  And they departed, and went through the towns, preaching the gospel, and healing every where.

Now, they are to provide for themselves the things he had formerly told them not to carry, even to a sword for self-defense. Brigands and robbers were a common threat when traveling through the countryside. So, preachers must be careful about picking out a passage and insisting that it applies directly to their time and instructing their congregations that this is the model they should go by.

Verse 37 alludes to Isaiah 53 and when Jesus does that as he does with Psalm 22 from the Cross itself it is good to read the entire passage. But, here is the direct verse He is referring to;

Isaiah 53:12  Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.

Read Isaiah 52:13 through chapter 53. Here, Jesus affirms this is about Him. In the 11th century a Jewish commentator nicknamed Rashi began insisting that the passage in Isaiah was about the Jews as a whole rather than the Messiah in an attempt to counteract Christian teaching. To accept Rashi’s viewpoint is to call Christ a liar. While not the first teacher to suggest it Rashi was the first to teach it as a doctrine of Jewish belief. Scholars note that while the interpretation of the suffering servant in Isaiah as Israel itself was not unknown among the Jews as far back as the third century typically the servant was the Messiah until the Middle Ages and the time of Rashi. Writing after the massacres of Jews during the First Crusade Rashi was the first to seek a unifying meaning for the entire passage as a reference to the suffering of the Jews.(8) Rashi is so influential that I’ve read that some Jewish Bibles in their commentaries predominantly reflect his opinions. The Jewish Study Bible, edited by Adele Berlin and Marc Zvi Brettler notes that, "...the ArtScroll Tanach follows rabbinic interpretation rather than a more literal rendering of the biblical text itself..." and explains how the Biblical translators of that Bible relied heavily on Rashi.(9) 


(8) Joel E. Rembaum, "The Development of a Jewish Exegetical Tradition regarding Isaiah 53," The Harvard Theological Review75, no. 3 (1982): 294. http://www.jstor.org/stable/1509755.


(9) Adele Berlin and Marc Zvi Brettler, eds. The Jewish Study Bible (New York: Oxford University Press, 2014), 2017, 2018.

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