X.
(1) AFTER THESE THINGS THE LORD APPOINTED OTHER SEVENTY ALSO. — Some
MSS. of importance give “seventy-two,” but the evidence
preponderates in favour of the reading “seventy.” The number had a
threefold significance. (1) Seventy elders had been appointed by Moses
to help him in his work of teachin... [ Continue Reading ]
THE HARVEST TRULY IS GREAT. — See Note on Matthew 9:37. The verses
that follow contain, as might have been expected from the analogous
circumstances, much in common with those spoken on the mission of the
Twelve. We have here, as in the sermons on the Mount and on the Plain,
an example of our Lord’s... [ Continue Reading ]
AS LAMBS AMONG WOLVES. — See Note on Matthew 10:16.... [ Continue Reading ]
CARRY NEITHER PURSE, NOR SCRIP. — See Notes on Matthew 10:9; Mark
6:8.... [ Continue Reading ]
(5-7) PEACE BE TO THIS HOUSE. — See Notes on Matthew 10:12. St. Luke
gives, what is only implied in St. Matthew, the very form of the
salutation.... [ Continue Reading ]
AND IN THE SAME HOUSE REMAIN. — See Note on Matthew 10:11.
THE LABOURER IS WORTHY OF HIS HIRE. — See Note on Matthew 10:10. The
exact reproduction of the words by St. Paul in 1 Timothy 5:18, as a
citation from “the Scripture,”’ is every way interesting. The
Apostle could scarcely have failed to have... [ Continue Reading ]
EAT SUCH THINGS AS ARE SET BEFORE YOU. — The precise form of the
precept is peculiar to St. Luke, but the spirit is the same as that of
the words which had been spoken to the Twelve. The Evangelist
preachers were to accept whatever was provided for them by a willing
host, and to avoid even the appea... [ Continue Reading ]
THE KINGDOM OF GOD IS COME NIGH UNTO YOU. — Here again the form of
the words is peculiar to St. Luke. This was to be the burden of those
who, as preachers, were, in the strictest sense, the heralds of the
great King.... [ Continue Reading ]
INTO WHATSOEVER CITY YE ENTER, AND THEY RECEIVE YOU NOT. — See Notes
on Matthew 10:13.... [ Continue Reading ]
BE YE SURE OF THIS, THAT THE KINGDOM OF GOD IS COME NIGH UNTO YOU. —
There is something very solemnly impressive in the fact that this is
the message to be uttered alike to the believing and the unbelieving.
Now, as of old, the prophets of the Lord had to utter their
proclamation, whether men would... [ Continue Reading ]
IT SHALL BE MORE TOLERABLE IN THAT DAY FOR SODOM. — See Note on
Matthew 10:15.... [ Continue Reading ]
(13-16) WOE UNTO THEE, CHORAZIN! — See Notes on Matthew 11:21, where
the words appear as spoken at an earlier period. We have again to
choose between the two alternative views, (1) that the words were
spoken but once, and floated in men’s memories without any very
definite note of time or place, and... [ Continue Reading ]
HE THAT HEARETH YOU HEARETH ME. — See Note on Matthew 10:40. Another
fragment of our Lord’s teaching meets us under the same conditions
as before.... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THE SEVENTY RETURNED AGAIN WITH JOY. — It is obvious from the
immediate sequence of the two facts that the mission of the Seventy
was, as stated above, confined within narrow limits of space and time.
LORD, EVEN THE DEVILS ARE SUBJECT UNTO US. — Better, _the demons._
The tone in which the disci... [ Continue Reading ]
I BEHELD SATAN AS LIGHTNING FALL FROM HEAVEN. — The tense of the
first Greek verb implies continuous action: _I was beholding Satan as
he fell_... While they were working their Master had been following
them in spirit, gazing, as it were, on each stage of their victorious
conflict. Their triumph ove... [ Continue Reading ]
BEHOLD, I GIVE UNTO YOU... — The better MSS. have, “I have
given,” as of something already bestowed in its completeness. In the
power to “tread on serpents and scorpions,” we have a manifest
reference to the words of Psalms 91:13. Those words stand in closest
sequence with the promise which had been... [ Continue Reading ]
NOTWITHSTANDING IN THIS REJOICE NOT. — Above all exercise of power
was the consciousness of the divine life, the feeling that they had a
Father in heaven who had, to speak after the manner of men, registered
their names as citizens of His kingdom. That was the great blessing
for them, and for all be... [ Continue Reading ]
IN THAT HOUR JESUS REJOICED IN SPIRIT. — The words that follow are
found also in Matthew 11:25 (see Notes on those verses), but the
opening clause that introduces them is peculiar to St. Luke, and is
noticeable as the one instance where the word “rejoiced,” which
appears in the Magnificat (Luke 1:47... [ Continue Reading ]
ALL THINGS ARE DELIVERED TO me. — The marginal reading, which
prefixes “And turning to His disciples” to this verse instead of
the next, can hardly be regarded as more than a transcriber’s error.... [ Continue Reading ]
(23-24) BLESSED ARE THE EYES WHICH SEE THE THINGS THAT YE SEE... —
Another instance of repeated words, St. Matthew reporting them as
spoken after the parable of the Sower (Matthew 13:16. See Note on that
verse).... [ Continue Reading ]
MANY PROPHETS AND KINGS.... — There is a slight verbal difference
here as compared with St. Matthew’s report, which gives “prophets
and righteous men.”... [ Continue Reading ]
AND, BEHOLD, A CERTAIN LAWYER STOOD UP. — On the word “lawyer”
and its difference from the more generic “scribe,” see Note on
Matthew 22:35. Here, as there, the “tempting” does not necessarily
imply hostile purpose. It was simply a test-question to see if the new
Teacher was sound in His view of the... [ Continue Reading ]
THOU HAST ANSWERED RIGHT. — The acceptance of the lawyer’s answer
as theoretically true was part of the method of our Lord’s teaching.
The words that followed, “This do, and thou shalt live,” were
those of a Prophet who knew what was in the man, and read the secrets
of his heart, and saw how little... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT HE, WILLING TO JUSTIFY HIMSELF... — The question implied a
conscience half-awakened and uneasy. It is characteristic that no
doubt seems to cross his mind as to his love of God. There he felt
that he was safe. But there were misgivings as to the second
commandment, and, as if feeling that there... [ Continue Reading ]
A CERTAIN MAN WENT DOWN. — Better, _was going down._ We enter here
upon the first of a series of parables, which differ from those in St.
Matthew in having more the character of actual human histories,
illustrating a truth, rather than mere similitudes (“parables” in
the usual sense of the word) com... [ Continue Reading ]
BY CHANCE.... — The passage is the only one in the New Testament in
which the phrase occurs. Our Lord seems to use it as with a touch of
what we have elsewhere termed irony. It seemed so casual, as such
opportunities always do to men who neglect them, and yet it was, in
the purpose of God, the test-... [ Continue Reading ]
LIKEWISE A LEVITE. — The passage is memorable as the only mention of
Levites in the Gospels. He is represented as at once better and worse
than the priest — better in that he does not altogether turn aside,
but “comes” and looks; worse in that his second thoughts are at
variance with his first, and... [ Continue Reading ]
A CERTAIN SAMARITAN. — For the chief facts connected with the
Samaritans and their relation to the Jews, see Note on Luke 9:52.
There is something noticeable in the change of word. It was not likely
that the hated alien should be coming down from Jerusalem. His journey
would probably be to, or from,... [ Continue Reading ]
AND WENT TO HIM. — Every detail is in harmony with the tender pity
described in the previous verse. All fear of risk from robbers, or
from the police of Rome, who might take him for a robber, is put
aside; the “oil and wine,” which had been provided for personal
refreshment, are freely given to be u... [ Continue Reading ]
TWO PENCE — _i.e., two denarii,_ according to Matthew 20:2 the
average wages of a labourer for two days; or, taking the estimate of
Mark 6:37, enough for a meal of twenty-five men. It was therefore a
sufficient and liberal provision for all probable contingencies. This,
however, was not, in the Sama... [ Continue Reading ]
WHICH NOW OF THESE THREE ...? — There is a certain subtle
discernment in the form of the question. The point under discussion
was as to whom the Jew should look on as his neighbour. It is answered
indirectly by the narrative, which showed who had proved himself a
neighbour to the Jew. The Samaritan... [ Continue Reading ]
GO, AND DO THOU LIKEWISE. — This was the practical, though not the
formal, answer to the question of the lawyer. If he acted in the
spirit of the Samaritan, he would need no “nicely-calculated less or
more” of casuistic distinctions as to who was and who was not his
neighbour. Fellowship in the same... [ Continue Reading ]
HE ENTERED INTO A CERTAIN VILLAGE. — The identity of the two names
that follow, and, we may add, of the characters connected with the
names, leaves hardly room for doubt that the village thus spoken of
was Bethany. (See Note on Matthew 21:1.) St. Luke’s reason for not
giving the name is probably con... [ Continue Reading ]
A SISTER CALLED MARY, WHICH ALSO SAT AT JESUS’ FEET. — The better
MSS. give, “at the Lord’s feet.” Few readers can fail to notice
the identity of character here and in the entirely independent
narratives of John 11:12. There also Martha is active (John 11:20) and
conspicuous in serving (John 12:2);... [ Continue Reading ]
MARTHA WAS CUMBERED. — Literally, _was distracted;_ drawn hither and
thither by conflicting cares.
ABOUT MUCH SERVING. — We may probably infer from this that our Lord
had been invited as an honoured guest, and that Mary had been asked to
meet Him; and, so far, the narrative agrees with what is sugg... [ Continue Reading ]
AND JESUS ANSWERED. — The better MSS. give, “And _the Lord_
answered.” (See Note on Luke 7:13.)
MARTHA, MARTHA. — We note a special tenderness of reproof in the
two-fold utterance of the name, of which this and the like iteration
of “Simon, Simon,” in Luke 22:31, are the only examples in our
Lord’s... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT ONE THING IS NEEDFUL. — Some of the better MSS. present a
singular various-reading, _There is need of few things, or of one
only._ It is obvious that this might be taken either literally or
spiritually. They might mean (1) that He who spoke, and the others who
were coming, needed not the many th... [ Continue Reading ]