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.
(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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