XVII. (1) IT IS IMPOSSIBLE BUT THAT OFFENCES WILL COME. — In this instance, the absence of any apparent connection might, perhaps, justify us in looking on the two precepts as having been noted by St. Luke for their own intrinsic value, without regard to the context in which they had been spoken. ... [ Continue Reading ]
IT WERE BATTER FOR HIM... — See Note on Matthew 18:6, where the order of the two sayings is inverted. Assuming the words to have been repeated where we find them here, the “little ones” must mean the disciples of Christ who are, in both senses of the word “offended” by the worldliness of those who p... [ Continue Reading ]
TAKE HEED TO YOURSELVES. — The position of the words is remarkable, and they have nothing corresponding to them in the parallel passage in Matthew 18:21, where see Note. It is as though our Lord saw in the disciples the tendency to sit in judgment on the sins of others, on such sins especially as He... [ Continue Reading ]
IF HE TRESPASS AGAINST THEE. — Better, _if he sin._ The better MSS. omit the words, “against thee,” and so make the command more general, and the verb is the same as that in Matthew 18:21, the teaching of which is here manifestly reproduced. The outward form seems at first to present a somewhat lowe... [ Continue Reading ]
THE APOSTLES SAID UNTO THE LORD, INCREASE OUR FAITH. — The form in which the fragment that thus commences is brought before us suggests, as has been stated before (see Notes on Luke 7:13; Luke 10:1), that it was a comparatively late addition to the collection of “the words of the Lord Jesus” (Acts 2... [ Continue Reading ]
IF YE HAD FAITH AS A GRAIN OF MUSTARD SEED. — The words remind us, and must have reminded the disciples, of those of Matthew 17:20, which were called forth by the failure of the disciples to heal the demoniac boy after the Transfiguration. The “sycamine tree” (probably not the same as the “sycamore,... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT WHICH OF YOU, HAVING A SERVANT..? — The words contain in reality, though not in form, an answer to their question. They had been asking for faith, not only in a measure sufficient for obedience, but as excluding all uncertainty and doubt. They were looking for the crown of labour before their wo... [ Continue Reading ]
GIRD THYSELF, AND SERVE ME. — Better, _minister to me._ The words receive a fresh significance if we connect them with Luke 12:37, of which they are, as it were, the complement. There the Master promises that He will gird Himself, and minister to His disciples. Here He tells them that He too require... [ Continue Reading ]
DOTH HE THANK THAT SERVANT..?_ — _The words are spoken, of course, from the standpoint of the old relations between the master and the slave, not from that of those who recognise that master and slave are alike children of the same Father and servants of the same Master. In order to understand their... [ Continue Reading ]
SAY, WE ARE UNPROFITABLE SERVANTS. — There is something very suggestive in the use of the same word as that which meets us in the parable of the Talents (Matthew 25:30). God, we are taught, may recognise and reward the varying use which men make of gifts and opportunities. But all boasting is exclud... [ Continue Reading ]
AND IT CAME TO PASS, AS HE WENT TO JERUSALEM. — This is the first distinct note of time in St. Luke’s narrative since Luke 9:51. It appears to coincide with the journey of which we read in Matthew 19:1; Mark 10:1, and is the commencement of the last progress through the regions in which our Lord had... [ Continue Reading ]
TEN MEN THAT WERE LEPERS. — On the general character of leprosy, see Notes on Matthew 8:2. As only one of these was a Samaritan, it seems probable that the unnamed village was, as has been said, on the border-land of the two provinces. It is, perhaps, significant that our Lord takes neither of the u... [ Continue Reading ]
JESUS, MASTER, HAVE MERCY ON US. — The Greek word for “Master” is again that which has been noticed as St. Luke’s usual equivalent for “Rabbi.” (See Note on Luke 5:5.) We may believe that the earlier instance of leprosy being cleansed (Matthew 8:2), possibly many such instances (Matthew 11:5), had i... [ Continue Reading ]
GO SHEW YOURSELVES UNTO THE PRIESTS. — On the meaning and object of this command, see Note on Matthew 8:4. Here, however, it may be noted, there was no accompanying touch as the outward means and pledge of healing, and the command was therefore, in a greater degree than it had been before, a trial a... [ Continue Reading ]
TURNED BACK, AND WITH A LOUD VOICE. — The words imply that the work of healing was not accomplished till the company of lepers were at least out of sight.... [ Continue Reading ]
AND HE WAS A SAMARITAN. — As in the parable of the Good Samaritan, St. Luke’s purpose in the selection of the incident falls in with what may be called the Catholicity of his Gospel, the breaking down of every middle wall of partition that divided the Jew from the other nations of the world. As the... [ Continue Reading ]
WERE THERE NOT TEN CLEANSED? — There is, it is clear, a tone of mingled surprise, and grief, and indignation, in the question thus asked. Looking to the facts of the case, an ethical question of some difficulty presents itself. If the nine had had faith to be healed — and the fact that they were hea... [ Continue Reading ]
SAVE THIS STRANGER. — The word for “stranger” means literally, _a man of another race,_ an _alien._ It is not found elsewhere in the New Testament, but is used in the LXX. of Isaiah 56:3. It was probably a term of contempt in common use among the Jews. (Comp. the kindred word “aliens,” with special... [ Continue Reading ]
THY FAITH HATH MADE THEE WHOLE. — The verb, elsewhere rendered, as in Luke 7:50, “hath saved thee,” is obviously used here so as to include both its higher and lower meanings. The nine had had sufficient faith for the restoration of the health of their body; his had gone further, and had given a new... [ Continue Reading ]
WHEN HE WAS DEMANDED OF THE PHARISEES. — The question may have been asked in a different tone, by different classes of those who bore the common name of Pharisee. There were some who were really looking for the coming of the Messianic kingdom; there were some who altogether rejected the claim of Jes... [ Continue Reading ]
THE KINGDOM OF GOD IS WITHIN YOU. — The marginal reading, “among you.” has been adopted, somewhat hastily, by most commentators. So taken. the words emphatically assert the actual presence of the Kingdom. It was already in the midst of them at the very time when they were asking when it would appear... [ Continue Reading ]
WHEN YE SHALL DESIRE TO SEE ONE OF THE DAYS OF THE SON OF MAN. — The words express both the backward glance of regret, and the forward look of yearning expectation. The former feeling had been described before, when the disciples were told that the children of the bride-chamber should fast when the... [ Continue Reading ]
SEE HERE; OR, SEE THERE. — See Note on Matthew 24:23. The words are all but identical, but the difference in the context and the occasion should be noticed as another illustration of that reproduction of the same forms of thought and language to which attention has so often been called.... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR AS THE LIGHTNING. — See Note on Matthew 24:27. There is, however, a noticeable variation in the form; the two “parts under heaven” taking the place of the “east” and the “west,” and the “_day_ of the Son of Man” taking the place of the more formal “coming,” or _parousia,_ which, as far as the Go... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT FIRST MUST HE SUFFER MANY THINGS. — See Notes on Matthew 16:21; Matthew 17:22. The interposition of this prophecy of the Passion in a discourse which bears primarily on the Second Advent is an individualising feature of this record of St. Luke’s.... [ Continue Reading ]
AS IT WAS IN THE DAYS OF NOE. — See Notes on Matthew 24:26. Here, also, the “days” of the Son of Man take the place of the _parousia. _... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY DID EAT, THEY DRANK. — Better, as in St. Matthew, _they were eating and drinking, marrying,_...; the tense throughout being that which implies continuous and repeated action. THE FLOOD. — The Greek word is always used in the New Testament for the deluge of Noah, that meaning having been stampe... [ Continue Reading ]
LIKEWISE ALSO AS IT WAS IN THE DAYS OF LOT. — The illustration does not occur in the otherwise parallel passage of Matthew 24:26, but was naturally suggested by our Lord’s frequent reference to the Cities of the Plain (Luke 10:12; Matthew 10:15; Matthew 11:23); The allusion to Lot in 2 Peter 2:7, ma... [ Continue Reading ]
IT RAINED FIRE AND BRIMSTONE. — The combination of the two Greek words is found in the LXX. version of Genesis 19:24, and obviously suggested the like combination here and in Revelation 14:10; Revelation 20:13; Revelation 21:8.... [ Continue Reading ]
HE WHICH SHALL BE UPON THE HOUSETOP, AND HIS STUFF. — Better, _his goods,_ as in Matthew 12:29; Mark 3:27. (See Notes on Matthew 24:17.)... [ Continue Reading ]
REMEMBER LOT’S WIFE. — The reference to this, as to the history of Lot generally, is peculiar to St. Luke, and speaks strongly for the independence of his Gospel. The account of Lot’s wife had, however, already been used, or was used shortly afterwards (the date of the Wisdom of Solomon being an uns... [ Continue Reading ]
WHOSOEVER SHALL SEEK TO SAVE HIS LIFE. — The better MSS. give a word which is rendered elsewhere by “purchase” (Acts 20:28; 1 Timothy 3:13), and perhaps always suggests, as the other word for “save” does not suggest, the idea of some transaction of the kind. So here, the man must purchase, as it wer... [ Continue Reading ]
TWO MEN IN ONE BED. — See Notes on Matthew 24:40. The one to be “taken” is probably here, as there, the man who is rescued from destruction. Here there is a variation enough to prove independence, the “two in one bed” being prefixed to the examples given in St. Matthew as an instance of even closer... [ Continue Reading ]
WHERE, LORD? — The question comes in naturally here, where the future had been foreshadowed in parables and dark sayings. It would not have been natural in Matthew 24:28, where the whole context determined the locality of which our Lord was speaking. WHERESOEVER THE BODY IS. — See Note on Matthew 2... [ Continue Reading ]