Week 29

Monday, July 14

Luke 22:14-34

         

Commentary

In today’s reading, Jesus sits down with his disciples to celebrate the Passover meal. Jesus remarks that he will not eat it again “until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God” (ESV), probably referring to the great marriage supper of the Lamb that God’s people will share with him in the age to come. Jesus takes the bread and the wine and tells the disciples to take in remembrance of him. The Passover celebration of the Old Covenant becomes the Lord’s Supper (or Communion, Eucharist, etc.) of the New Covenant. As Peter Toon explained, “In the Passover the slain lamb represented the efficacious death of the lambs in Egypt. In the Lord’s Supper, which emerges from the Passover, the bread and wine represent the atoning sacrifice of Christ Jesus as the true paschal lamb. Neither the slain lamb nor the bread and wine contain in and of themselves any efficacy… So the Lord’s Supper is both a proclamation and a remembrance (memorial) of what God the Father has done in his Son, Jesus Christ, just as the Passover is a proclamation and a remembrance of what Yahweh did for Israel through the slaughter of the lambs in Egypt.”[1]

Even as he institutes the Lord’s Supper, Jesus condemns his betrayer, only known to Jesus at the time. Soon after, the disciples began to argue amongst themselves about who is the greatest. Jesus interrupts them to teach that although the leaders of the world may arrogantly abuse their status for personal gain, Jesus’ followers must humbly serve each other. Jesus again refers to his betrayer but adds that he will be with his disciples and his disciples will be with him. Jesus also foretells Peter’s denial, but promises that Peter will be restored and serve the church. God is sovereign even over the sinful hearts of his enemies; he will protect and hold onto his own regardless of what Satan and his followers do or try. If you know God, keep holding onto him. If you do not, turn to him in faith and live for him!

 

Application/Discussion

1. What does this passage teach about the importance of the Lord’s Supper? Why do we celebrate the Lord’s Supper regularly rather than the Passover just once a year?

2. Compare and contrast Judas’ betrayal of Jesus and Peter’s denial of Jesus. What is the biggest difference between the two?

 

Points of Prayer

Adoration: Praise God for his grace and mercy in sending us a Savior.

Confession: Ask God to forgive you of putting things above him or neglecting to share him with others.

Thanksgiving: Thank God for the complete satisfaction of his wrath against sin for those who turn to Jesus.

Supplication: Pray for the Holy Spirit’s conviction and strengthening for a believer you know who is not living faithfully.

Tuesday, July 15

Luke 22:35-53

 

Commentary

As Jesus’ arrest draws closer, he gives some parting instructions to his disciples. He asks them to remember when he sent the 72 disciples on a ministry tour, noting God’s provision for them despite Jesus telling them to leave extra supplies behind. Jesus now tells them to have supplies (and more) prepared because they will soon face much persecution. James Edwards helpfully explained, “‘Buy a sword’ is a metaphor of admonition and preparedness, not a sanction for violence and retaliation, and certainly not a sanction to spread the gospel by violence… Had Jesus intended the Twelve to take up real swords, would he have reprimanded the disciples for calling down fire on Samaria (9:54–55) or for resorting to swords (‘No more of this!’ v. 51) when he was arrested?”[2] Jesus’ instructions are to emphasize that the Scriptures would be fulfilled in his suffering of a criminal’s death on the cross.

The scene shifts to Jesus urging his disciples to pray with him in the garden. This is the last instance of Luke’s motif of Jesus praying before major decisions (also seen in 3:21, 5:16, 6:12, 9:18, 9:28-29, 11:2, and 18:1). Luke alone notes that Jesus’ sweat becomes like blood (probably as thick as blood) and he is comforted by an angel. Luke adds that the disciples were “sleeping for sorrow” (ESV), and Jesus exhorts them to pray for strength to resist the temptation of drowning in sorrow and worry when it is time to pray and trust in God. Then, we see Judas and a mob arrive to arrest Jesus. Judas picks him out of the crowd with a kiss and one of the disciples slashes off someone’s ear. Jesus stops the violence in its tracks, heals the man’s ear, and surrenders without a fight. Despite all the angry confrontations, public miracles and teaching, and visits to Jerusalem, he is finally arrested under the cover of night by his own surrender. Jesus was not outsmarted, he willingly gave up his freedom and his life for our salvation.

 

Application/Discussion

1. How does this passage make you feel about Jesus’ love for you and about your sin?

2. Note how much Jesus prayed. If anyone was too busy for prayer or did not need prayer, it was Jesus, yet his life on earth was saturated in prayer! How does this encourage your own prayer life?

 

Points of Prayer

Adoration: Praise God for the perfect example of humility and servanthood of Christ.

Confession: Ask for the Holy Spirit’s help in clinging to God and resisting temptation.

Thanksgiving: Thank God for Jesus’ humble, obedient death and mighty, triumphant Resurrection.

Supplication: Pray for the Holy Spirit’s conviction and boldness for your church to reach out to the lost in your community.

Wednesday, July 16

Luke 22:54-72

 

Commentary

          In today’s passage, Jesus is carried off while Peter follows in the distance. As Jesus is mocked and tried, Peter warms himself by a fire and cannot admit knowing Jesus even to a servant girl or when he is identified as a Galilean. Peter’s accent would have betrayed his hometown and his being this close to the arrest of Jesus the Galilean was no coincidence. Peter insists he does not know Jesus, until the rooster crows and Jesus finds and stares at Peter. (This is another detail unique to Luke’s gospel.) Peter remembers Jesus’ prediction and goes away, weeping bitterly. As Jesus said, however, Peter would be restored. His grief to lead to repentance (2 Cor 7:10). Those who arrested Jesus mocked his Messianic claims as they beat him. Though Jesus truly was the Christ, he meekly submitted to this cruelty rather than lash out in righteous anger. As Isaiah prophesied, he was silent, like a sheep before its shearers (Isa 53:7).

At daybreak, the Sanhedrin, the official body of the most important Jewish religious leaders, gathered to try Jesus. For various reasons, including the Passover occurrence the day of, this trial did not follow Jewish customs. Truth and law, however, have no place in the conspiracy to commit the greatest evil in the history of the world. The leaders asked Jesus to admit if he was the Christ, but he said they would not believe him even if he told them, and they would not tell him what they thought if he asked them. The closest Jesus would get to the confession they desired was to say, “from now on the Son of Man shall be seated at the right hand of the power of God” (ESV) and to refuse a direct answer to their next question. While Jesus had essentially made a Messianic claim, it was veiled and vague enough that he skirted the requirements to be charged with blasphemy. Even according to the extrabiblical rules of the Sanhedrin and Rome, Jesus was innocent. Yet rather than defend himself with his words or heaven’s armies, Jesus allowed himself to be condemned so that we could die to ourselves and be raised with him.

 

Application/Discussion

1. How does Jesus’ example through insults, beatings, and false accusations teach us to respond to personal opposition or persecution?

2. How is God’s law similar to man’s law? How is it different? How can we know what is the right thing to do in any given situation?

 

Points of Prayer

Adoration: Praise God for the perfect justice he will enact on Judgement Day.

Confession: Ask God’s forgiveness for any ways you have fallen short of his goodness today.

Thanksgiving: Thank God for Jesus’ humble submission to slander, torture, and death for our salvation.

Supplication: Ask for the Holy Spirit’s help for your church members to boldly witness for Christ in your community and his strength for persecuted Christians around the world.

 

Thursday, July 17

Luke 23:1-16

 

Commentary

The scene in this passage is Jesus being tried by Pilate, the Roman governor over Israel. Notice how the Jewish leaders introduce Jesus to Pilate – what they say is a complete fabrication, tailored to make Jesus seem as threatening to Rome as possible. Only Rome had the authority to execute criminals, so the Sanhedrin presented as strong of a case as they could in hopes that Pilate would have Jesus killed. While Jesus truly is the King, his mission on earth was to die to save sinners and instruct his apostles to continue building the church after his ascension. Rome would be toppled, a few hundred years later, but Jesus came to deal with the root of every problem, even oppressive regimes, our sin. The Roman government cared little about Jewish religious matters, unless they interfered with their rule over Israel. Again, Jesus will not give a direct answer, implicate himself, or defend himself. Pilate wisely picks up on this and declares Jesus does not seem guilty of any crime. When they insist Jesus is causing dissension throughout Israel, Pilate sends Jesus to be dealt with by Herod, who ruled over Jesus’ home turf of Galilee.

Herod is excited to meet Jesus, hoping to see some miracles or magic tricks. As with the Sanhedrin and Pilate, Jesus will not give a definitive answer to Herod’s inquiries. Jesus is slandered by the Jews, beaten by the Romans, and sent back to Pilate in a fancy robe, a mockery of Jesus’ alleged status as “King of the Jews.” Luke also adds that this incident, Herod’s mockery of Jesus but agreement of Jesus’ relative innocence, caused the two rulers to befriend each other. Now reinforced by Herod’s judgement, Pilate declares he will give Jesus some kind of punishment (the 39 lashes, etc.) and release him. God, however, had other plans. Pilate would succumb to the pressure of the crowd and crucify Jesus, though both he and the Jewish crowd knew he was innocent.

 

Application/Discussion

1. God uses even evil things for his ultimate glory and the ultimate good of his people. Why are people still responsible for their sin if God brings good out of it?

2. Read Isaiah 53 – how do we see this prophecy fulfilled in Jesus?

 

Points of Prayer

Adoration: Praise God for showing his glory by shaming the proud and exalting the humble.

Confession: Ask for God to help you love the world and the lost more than a worldly cultural identity.

Thanksgiving: Thank God for working through evil to bring about our good and his glory.

Supplication: Pray for the Holy Spirit’s conviction and enlightenment to the lost in your country and his strength and boldness for the believers in your country.

Friday, July 18

Luke 23:17-31

Your Bible may be “missing” verse 17 – this verse is not present in many of our earliest copies of Luke and appears to be an accidental amalgamation of Luke’s account with Mark 15:6.

 

Commentary

The other gospel accounts fill in this scene for us – Pilate pardoned a Jewish criminal for Passover each year. Although Pilate asked if they wanted to release Jesus, the crowd called for him to release the insurrectionist Barabbas instead and Pilate caved to their pressure. Pilate seems convinced Jesus is innocent and wants him freed, but he gives into the demands of the crowd. Thus, the Romans convicted and crucified Jesus at the insistence of the Jews. Both parties are at fault here. Pilate and the crowd knew Jesus was innocent, yet still condemned and killed him. However, Jesus came to die for all of our sins; we are each ultimately at fault for the death of Christ.

Jesus is condemned and led up the hill, Golgotha, that overlooked the city of Jerusalem to display the condemned on their crosses to the whole city. Typically, crucifixion victims carried the longer vertical beams of their crosses. Jesus had likely been beaten so severely that he was not able to carry it. He had been beaten when he was arrested, brought to Herod, and, as was customary, before they led him up the hill. The cross was only part of the misery Jesus suffered! Although the Jewish crowd had been unified in calling for Jesus’ death, a new crowd (“great multitude”) of supporters of Jesus mournfully followed him up the hill. Jesus tells them they should mourn for themselves because a great calamity is coming soon. He is likely alluding to Rome’s attack on Jerusalem, still 40 years away, when the citizens there would face such cruelty that they would rather not have had children or been born themselves. This destruction is only a pale reflection of the agony the lost will face in Hell, and an even dimmer imitation of what Jesus faced on the cross to save his people from Hell.

 

Application/Discussion

1. How do we see the sin of the various people and factions in this passage – Pilate, the chief priests, the Jewish crowd, and the Roman soldiers and officials?

2. Why do you think the crowd was so insistent that Jesus must die? Why do you think Pilate arranged for Jesus’ death even though he knew Jesus was innocent? What can we learn from this passage about making godly choices?

 

Points of Prayer

Adoration: Praise God for his perfect goodness and justice.

Confession: Ask God’s help in resisting the sinful pressures of the lost world.

Thanksgiving: Thank God for giving his Son to save us, his Spirit to guide us, and his Word to teach us.

Supplication: Pray for the Holy Spirit’s guidance for your church to love people, show mercy, pursue justice, and share the gospel with boldness and eagerness.

Saturday, July 19

Luke 23:32-56

 

Commentary

Jesus’ shame and humiliation grows as he is crucified with a genuine criminal on either side of him. Jesus, to all the onlookers, was not dying for being the Christ, but for sinful crimes. Jesus yet again humbly submits himself to this torture rather than lashing out with his words, his fists, or his divine power. He is so loving that even as he dies this agonizing death, he prays for God to forgive those who are orchestrating it. The soldiers cast lots for his clothing – the Son of Man never had a bed or home of his own, and now at his death, his only remaining possession is gambled away by those who torturously kill him. The people, probably the sympathetic Jews who followed Jesus up the hill, look on in silence while the rulers and soldiers mock him cruelly. One of the criminals also mocks Jesus, but the other rebukes him and declares their guilt and Jesus’ innocence. The penitent criminal well illustrates what it takes to enter God’s paradise: 1) Acknowledge your sinfulness, 2) Acknowledge Jesus’ sinlessness and that he paid for your sins by his death, and 3) Ask for Jesus to forgive and save you from your sins. There is nothing you can do to atone for your own sins, pay for your salvation, or work your way to God. God came down to us to save him!

At the sixth hour, noon, darkness covers the land. Darkness is often a symbol of God’s judgement; here, Jesus faces God’s judgement for humanity's sins. We do not have to explain away the supernatural element by a solar eclipse or other phenomena. The Son of God was dying for the sins of humanity. That is far more miraculous than the God of the universe making it dark at noon! Similarly, the temple curtain’s splitting in two is a miracle that needs no further justification. The curtain referred to here is the curtain that separates the Holy of Holies from the rest of the temple. Through Jesus, our perfect sacrifice and eternal High Priest, we can approach God in the confidence of those who are perfectly and completed forgiven. As Jesus dies, a soldier realizes just who Jesus is and is astonished, while most of the onlookers go home in deep mourning. A God-seeking member of the Sanhedrin, Joseph, takes Jesus’ body to his family tomb and the women closest to Jesus prepare his body for burial. The body, they will soon see, does not stay put.

 

Application/Discussion

1. Have you trusted in Jesus, and only Jesus, to save you from your sins? Why or why not?

 

Points of Prayer

Adoration: Praise God for his great grace, mercy, and love.

Confession: Ask for God’s help in resisting sin and living for Christ.

Thanksgiving: Thank God for Jesus’ atoning death.

Supplication: Pray for the Holy Spirit’s conviction and enlightenment of a lost person you know well and for the passion and boldness to share with that person.

 

Sunday, July 20

Luke 24:1-27

Commentary

He is risen! In our reading today, we see several points that suggest that this either a laughably unbelievable story or a remarkably honest testimony. 1) Women were the first witnesses of the Resurrection in a society where a woman’s testimony was almost worthless in court. 2) With how much controversy surrounded Jesus’ death, his tomb would have been heavily guarded. The guards were the toughest in the world and could not have been stopped by the disciples. Further, they would have known that shirking their duty meant execution. 3) The disciples gained little besides incredible persecution from claiming Jesus rose from the dead. 4) With how much they hated Jesus and his followers, either the Sanhedrin or the Romans would have been quick to produce Jesus’ body, identify the right tomb if the disciples were mistaken, or give a plausible refutation of the Resurrection claim. 5) Jesus was far too explicit in his predictions of what was coming for the disciples to be so clueless about what would happen. Nobody in the first century would make a story up that is this easy to poke holes in. Nobody would make up these lies and die at the stake for it without ever recanting. Nobody, certainly not droves upon droves of people, would believe it! The most logical explanation for the claims of the New Testament and for how the Jesus movement turned the Roman Empire upside down is that these things truly happened.

In the rest of the passage, Jesus meets two of his followers and helps them to understand all that they have thus far failed to grasp. The entire Old Testament pointed to the coming and the necessity of Christ. As I. Howard Marshall explained, “throughout the Old Testament a consistent divine purpose is worked out, a purpose that in the end meant and must mean the cross. The terribleness of sin is found throughout the Old Testament and so is the deep, deep love of God. In the end this combination made Calvary inevitable. The two had wrong ideas of what the Old Testament taught and thus they had wrong ideas about the cross.”[3] We not only need Jesus to be our Savior, we need him to open our blind eyes and melt our hearts of stone.

 

Application/Discussion

1. Of the marks of authenticity we discussed, which is the most convincing to you?

2. In what ways does the Old Testament point us to Christ? Name as many as you can.

Points of Prayer

Adoration: How can you praise God based on what you just read?

Confession: Is there unconfessed sin in your heart today?

Thanksgiving: How can you thank God based on what you just read?

Supplication: What can you ask for God’s help with based on what you just read?

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[1] Peter Toon, “Lord’s Supper, The,” in Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology, electronic ed., Baker Reference Library (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1996), 492.

[2] James R. Edwards, The Gospel according to Luke, The Pillar New Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI:

William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2015), 640.

[3] Leon Morris, Luke: An Introduction and Commentary, Tyndale New Testament Commentaries (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1988), 358.