Luca 22:12 Commento

All the evangelists, whatever they omit, give us a particular account of the death and resurrection of Christ, because he died for our sins and rose for our justification, this evangelist as fully as any, and with many circumstances and passages added which we had not before. In this chapter we have, I. The plot to take Jesus, and Judas's coming into it (Luk 22:1-6). II. Christ's eating the passover with his disciples (Luk 22:7-18). III. The instituting of the Lord's supper (Luk 22:19, Luk 22:20). IV. Christ's discourse with his disciples after supper, upon several heads (v. 21-38). V. His agony in the garden (Luk 22:39-46). VI. The apprehending of him, by the assistance of Judas (Luk 22:47-53). VII. Peter's denying him (Luk 22:54-62). VIII. The indignities done to Christ by those that had him in custody, and his trial and condemnation in the ecclesiastical court (Luk 22:63-71).

Now the feast of unleavened bread drew nigh,.... Which lasted seven days; during which the Jews eat their bread without leaven, in commemoration of the haste in which they went out of Egypt; being such, that they had not time to leaven their dough, but took it with their kneadingtroughs along with them, as it was; and as figurative of the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth, with which the Gospel feast is to be kept; see Exo 12:34. Which is called the passover; because the Lord passed over the houses of the Israelites, when he slew all the firstborn in Egypt; now the time of this feast drew near, when the conspiracy was formed against the life of Christ: Matthew and Mark are more precise, and suggest, that it was two days before the passover; see Mat 26:2.

And they went,.... From Bethany to Jerusalem: and found as he had said unto them; they met the man with the pitcher of water, and by following him, found the house Christ meant to keep the passover at; they told the master of it, what Christ ordered them, who immediately showed them a very convenient room, as he had described to them: and they made ready the passover; provided a lamb, and got it killed and dressed, and prepared every thing necessary for the keeping of the feast, according to divine appointment; See Gill on Mat 26:19.

Let us then ascend with the Lord united to us, to the upper part in which is the guestchamber, which is shown by the understanding, that is, the goodman of the house, to every one of the disciples of Christ. But this upper room of our house must be large enough to receive Jesus the Word of God, who is not comprehended but by those who are greater in comprehension. And this chamber must be made ready by the goodman of the house, (that is, the understanding,) for the Son of God, and it must be cleaned, wholly purged of the filth of malice. The master of the house also must not be any common person having a known name. Hence He says mystically in Matthew, Go ye to such a one.

Now in the upper parts he has a large room furnished, that you may consider how great were his merits in whom the Lord could sit down with His disciples, rejoicing in His exalted virtues.

[Daniel 6:10] "Now when Daniel learned of it, that is, of the law which had been enacted, he entered his house, and with the windows in his upper room opened up in the direction of Jerusalem, he continued to bow his knees three times a day and worshipped, and made confession before his God just as he was previously accustomed to do." We must quickly draw from our memory and bring together from all of Holy Scripture all the passages where we have read of domata, which mean in Latin either "walled enclosures" (menia) or "beds" or "sun-terraces," and also the references to anogaia, that is, "upper rooms." For after all, our Lord celebrated the passover in an upper room (Mark 14:15, Luke 22:12), and in the Acts of the Apostles the Holy Spirit came upon the one hundred and twenty souls of believers while they were in an upper room (Acts 1:13). And so Daniel in this case, despising the king's commands and reposing his confidence in God, does not offer his prayers in some obscure spot, but in a lofty place, and opens up his windows towards Jerusalem, from whence he looked for the peace . He prays, moreover, according to God's behest, and also according to what Solomon had said when he admonished the people that they should pray in the direction of the Temple. Furthermore, there are three times in the day when we should bow our knees unto God, and the tradition of the Church understands them to be the third hour, the sixth hour, and the ninth hour. Lastly, it was at the third hour that the Holy Spirit descended upon the Apostles (Acts 2:15) . It was at the sixth hour that Peter, purposing to eat, ascended to the upper room for prayer (Acts 10:9). It was at the ninth hour that Peter and John were on their way to the Temple (Acts 3:1).

Perhaps Christ speaks this as symbolizing something mystical and necessary. Wherever waters enter, the waters of holy baptism, Christ stays there. How or in what way does this happen? They free us from all impurity, and they wash us from the stains of sin. They do this so that we also might become a holy temple of God and participants in his divine nature, by participation of the Holy Spirit. So that Christ may rest and stay in us, let us receive the saving waters, also confessing the faith that justifies the wicked and raises us high so that we might be counted as an upper room.…He that would say that the soul of every saint is an upper room would not miss the truth.

And he will show you a large upper room furnished; prepare it there. And going, they found it as he had told them, and they prepared the Passover. The large upper room is the spiritual law that, moving out of the narrow confines of the letter, welcomes the Savior in a high place. For he who still observes the killing letter and understands nothing else in the lamb but the animal, undoubtedly celebrates the Passover below, because he does not yet comprehend the majesty of the spirit. But he who has followed the water bearer, that is, the herald of grace, into the house of the Church, this one, transcending the roof of the letter through the life-giving Spirit, prepares a dwelling for Christ in the high chamber of the mind, because he understands all the mysteries of the Passover or other decrees of the law written about him.

Why then does the Lord observe the Passover? In order to prove by all His actions to His very last breath that He is not an opponent of the Law. Let us also eat this Passover with understanding; let us understand by the day of unleavened bread the entire life spent in spiritual light, having nothing of the oldness of the former disobedience in Adam. Truly leading such a life, we must be nourished by the mysteries of Jesus. These mysteries will be prepared by Peter and John — activity and contemplation, fervent zeal and peaceful meekness. For the believer must be ardent in doing good, zealous against evil, and gentle toward those who commit evil. For one must hate evil, not the one who does evil. That person must be healed, for he suffers. To do evil means precisely to be troubled by the evil one and to suffer from malice. If we have Peter and John preparing the supper, that is, a good life, which Peter represents, and true teaching, which John the Theologian represents, then with such preparers a "man" will meet them, that is, we will then find the truly human being, created in the image of the Creator, or rather, the Maker, carrying a "pitcher of water." Water signifies the grace of the Spirit, as the evangelist John teaches (John 7:38–39), and the pitcher signifies the fragility and softness of heart. For the one who receives spiritual grace is humble and contrite of heart, and to the humble the Lord gives grace (James 4:6). Recognizing himself as earth and ashes and saying with Job, "You fashioned me like clay" (Job 10:9), he will carry the grace of the Spirit in the easily broken and easily crushed vessel of his heart. Following such a disposition, we will enter the house of the mind, whose master — the mind — will show us a large furnished upper room. The "upper room" is the lofty dwelling place of the mind, that is, the divine and spiritual things among which it lives and moves with love. They are furnished, for there is nothing harsh in them, but even what is crooked becomes a straight path for such a mind, as Solomon also said: "They are all plain to him who understands, and right to those who find knowledge" (Prov. 8:9). You would not err in saying also that the mind, although it performs a lofty work by acting according to the power of the mind, nevertheless its knowledge is still spread out and very close to the earth. But truly lofty knowledge, and the unknowing that surpasses the mind, is above every height — when the mind no longer acts but receives action. First we must act with our own mind, and then the grace of the Lord will act in us, catching us up, as it did the prophets, and releasing us from every natural power. Truly it is said that in such-and-such a prophet there was a rapture from the Lord. Similarly here, when this upper room is furnished, Jesus comes with His disciples and performs the mysteries, coming to us Himself and manifesting His own power in us, rather than waiting for us to come to Him. The "disciples" of God the Word are all reflections upon creation. When the Word thus acts in us, then we will understand the communion of the Passover and be even more nourished by reflections upon creation, as it is said: "I consider Your heavens — the work of Your fingers" (Ps. 8:4).

Now on the same fifth day He sends two of His disciples to prepare the Passover, namely, Peter and John, the one in truth as loving, the other as loved. In all things showing, that even to the end of His life He opposed not the law. And He sends them to a strange house; for He and His disciples had no house, else would He have kept the Passover in one of them. So it is added, And they said, Where will thou that we prepare? He sends them for this reason to an unknown man: to show them that He voluntarily underwent His Passion, since He who so swayed the mind of one unknown to Him, that He should receive them, was able to deal with the Jews just as He wished. But some say that He gave not the name of the man, lest the traitor knowing his name might open the house to the Pharisees, and they should have come and taken Him before that the supper was eaten, and He had delivered the spiritual mysteries to His disciples. But He directs them by particular signs to a certain house; whence it follows, And ye shall say to the goodman of the house, The Master saith, Where is the guestchamber, &c. And he will show you an upper room, &c. By the day of unleavened bread, we must understand that conversation which is wholly in the light of the Spirit, having lost all trace of the old corruption of Adam's first transgression. And living in this conversation, it becomes us to rejoice in the mysteries of Christ. Now these mysteries Peter and John prepare, that is, action and contemplation, fervid zeal and peaceful meekness. And these preparers a certain man meets, because in what we have just mentioned, lies the condition of man who was created after the image of God. And he carries a pitcher of water, which signifies the grace of the Holy Spirit. But the pitcher is humbleness of heart; for He giveth grace to the humble, who know themselves to be but earth and dust.

The chief priests and scribes plot our Lord's destruction, Luk 22:1, Luk 22:2. Judas, at the instigation of the devil, betrays him, Luk 22:3-6. He eats his last supper with his disciples, Luk 22:7-18. Institutes the eucharist, Luk 22:19, Luk 22:20. Announces one of his disciples as the traitor, Luk 22:21-23 : The contention which should be greatest, Luk 22:24-30. Warns Peter against Satan's devices, Luk 22:31, Luk 22:32. Peter's resolution, Luk 22:33. His denial foretold, Luk 22:34. Tells his disciples to make prudent provision for their own support, Luk 22:35-37. The two swords, Luk 22:38. He goes to the Mount of Olives, and has his agony in the garden, Luk 22:39-46. Judas comes with a mob, Luk 22:47, Luk 22:48. Peter cuts off the ear of the high priest's servant, which Christ heals by a touch, Luk 22:49-51. He addresses the chief priests and captains of the temple, Luk 22:52, Luk 22:53. They lead him to the high priest's house, and Peter follows and denies his Master, Luk 22:54-60. Christ looks upon him, he is stung with remorse, and weeps bitterly, Luk 22:61, Luk 22:62. Jesus is mocked, and variously insulted, Luk 22:63-65. The next morning he is questioned before the council, Luk 22:66, Luk 22:67. He acknowledges himself to be the Son of God, Luk 22:68-70. They condemn him, Luk 22:71.

CONSPIRACY OF THE JEWISH AUTHORITIES TO PUT JESUS TO DEATH--COMPACT WITH JUDAS. (Luk 22:1-6) (See on Mat 26:1-5.)