29He taught them a lesson. “Consider the fig tree and all the other trees. 30When their buds burst open, you see for yourselves and know that summer is now near; 31in the same way, when you see these things happening, know that the kingdom of God is near. 32Amen, I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things have taken place. 33Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.
34“Beware that your hearts do not become drowsy from carousing and drunkenness and the anxieties of daily life, and that day catch you by surprise 35like a trap. For that day will assault everyone who lives on the face of the earth. 36Be vigilant at all times and pray that you have the strength to escape the tribulations that are imminent and to stand before the Son of Man.”
37During the day, Jesus was teaching in the temple area, but at night he would leave and stay at the place called the Mount of Olives. 38And all the people would get up early each morning to listen to him in the temple area.
OT: Dan 7:13–14
NT: Luke 17:22–37. // Matt 24:29–35; Mark 13:24–31
Catechism: second coming, 671, 697; watchfulness, 2612
Lectionary: Luke 21:25–28, 34–36: First Sunday Advent (Year C)
[21:25–28]
Turning the attention from Jerusalem to the world, Jesus announces the cosmic upheaval that will accompany the end times. There will be signs that cause people to be perplexed and even to die or faint of fright (the Greek verb can mean either). These events are described in a general way using imagery often found in the prophets concerning the heavens, the sun, and the moon—for example, the passage from Joel that Peter will later quote in his Pentecost sermon: “I will set signs in the heavens and on the earth . . . / The sun will darken, / the moon turn blood-red, / Before the day of the LORD arrives” (Joel 3:3–4; see Acts 2:19–20).47 Jesus’ second coming will then follow, which he describes here by drawing from Daniel, as elsewhere in the Gospel (Luke 9:26; 22:69): the Son of Man will come in a cloud with power and great glory (Dan 7:13–14). In response, Jesus’ disciples should not cringe in fear (Luke 21:26) but rather raise their heads, knowing that the day of redemption is at hand (Eph 4:30). When he comes as “deliverer” from heaven (Rom 11:26), “the times of universal restoration” (Acts 3:21) and of the resurrection of the body (1 Cor 15:22–23, 51) will come to pass.
[21:29–33]
Jesus illustrates his teaching with a lesson (literally, “parable”) about a fig tree. Earlier, a parable about a barren fig tree indicated that the time for producing fruit was running out for Jerusalem (Luke 13:6–9). This parable is also about all the other trees, recalling other sayings that likewise emphasize bearing good fruit (3:8–9; 6:43–44). When the trees begin to sprout leaves, it is a sign that summer and the time for fruit is near. Similarly, when these signs occur, the kingdom of God in its fullness is near, bringing either judgment or redemption, and answering the petitions of those who have prayed for its coming (11:2).
Jesus adds two related sayings. The first emphasizes just how near the things are that he has prophesied—that is, regarding Jerusalem’s fall, which is the sign of the end times. They will take place within the lifetime of this generation, a phrase that as elsewhere in Luke (7:31; 11:29–32, 50–51; 17:25) must refer to Jesus’ contemporaries. A biblical generation is forty years (on account of the wilderness generation, Num 32:13). Indeed, Jesus preached these words around AD 30 (or 33), and Jerusalem fell in AD 70. The second saying emphasizes just how certain Jesus’ words are. More firm even than heaven and earth (Luke 21:25–26), they will not pass away and are thus worthy to be believed.
[21:34–36]
Recalling what he has taught elsewhere in the Gospel, Jesus concludes with a call to be vigilant (12:37) so as not to become drowsy (9:32; 22:45–46), for reasons such as drunkenness (12:45) or the anxieties of daily life (8:14), and thus be caught by surprise by the day of the Lord’s coming. This can be applied to everyone—those of Jesus’ generation, those alive at his second coming, and all those in between. All must pray for the strength to escape (see 21:21) the judgment and to stand (v. 28) for the redemption that the Son of Man will bring.
[21:37–38]
Following the conclusion of Jesus’ discourse, a brief summary serves to frame the Jerusalem ministry section (19:45–21:38). The mention of Jesus’ routine of teaching in the temple area by day and of the eagerness of the people to go to listen to him echoes the description back at the beginning of the Jerusalem ministry (19:47–48). However, there is also a new piece of information that looks forward in the narrative: Jesus goes at night to the Mount of Olives. Other Gospels specify further that he would go to Bethany (Matt 21:17; Mark 11:11–12), on the mount’s eastern slope (see Luke 19:29). Luke’s more general reference provides a hint of what is to come. On the night of his arrest, Jesus will go, as is “his custom, to the Mount of Olives” (22:39).
These two verses are the calm before the storm. The very next verse (22:1) announces the feast of Passover, beginning the narrative of Jesus’ suffering and death (22:1–23:56).
1. Jean-Noël Aletti, L’art de raconter Jésus Christ: L’écriture narrative de l’évangile de Luc (Paris: Seuil, 1989), 115–16.
2. Luke 11:37–54; 12:1; 13:31; 14:1–6; 15:2; 16:14–15; 17:20; see 18:9–14.
3. This change is likely associated with Luke’s generally positive presentation of Pharisees in Acts (Acts 5:34–39; 23:9). Their beliefs (e.g., on the resurrection) were closer to Jesus’ teachings than the views of the Sadducees (Luke 20:27; Acts 23:8). Moreover, Luke’s companion, Paul, was a Pharisee (Acts 23:6; 26:5).
4. Luke 19:47–48; 20:1–8, 19; 22:4, 52, 66; 23:10; 24:20.
5. See the discussion in Klyne R. Snodgrass, “The Temple Incident,” in Key Events in the Life of the Historical Jesus, ed. Darrell L. Bock and Robert L. Webb (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2010), 450–52.
6. Snodgrass, “The Temple Incident,” 455–60.
7. When Luke last mentioned a visit to Jerusalem, the twelve-year-old Jesus was listening to the teachers in the temple (hieron), asking questions and giving answers (Luke 2:46–47).
8. In the central section, “crowd” is used twelve times but “people” just once (Luke 18:43). However, once Jesus reaches Jerusalem, the term “people” predominates.
9. The only exception is Mark’s passage regarding the great commandment (Mark 12:28–34), a subject already treated in Luke 10:25–28.
10. Jesus is also proclaiming the good news (euangelizō) here in Jerusalem, just as he did throughout the Galilean ministry (Luke 4:18, 43; 7:22; 8:1).
11. Both passages also begin with the same six Greek words (Luke 5:17; 20:1).
12. The image may refer more specifically to the Jerusalem temple—where Jesus is teaching (Luke 20:1). See the discussion of Qumran fragments 4Q500 and 4Q162 in Klyne R. Snodgrass, Stories with Intent: A Comprehensive Guide to the Parables of Jesus (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2008), 288.
13. Jesus just quoted this sermon when cleansing the temple (Luke 19:46; Jer 7:11).
14. See 2 Kings 17:23; 24:2; Jer 25:4; Amos 3:7.
15. In Greek, this question matches the beginning of the question in Isaiah’s song of the vineyard (Isa 5:4 LXX).
16. This exclamation (mē genoito) is found fourteen other times in the New Testament, all in letters of Luke’s companion, Paul (Romans, 1 Corinthians, and Galatians).
17. The images of son and stone are related by a Hebrew wordplay—ben (son) and ’eben (stone)—underlying the Greek text; see, similarly, “children” and “stones” in Luke 3:8. See Snodgrass, Stories with Intent, 290.
18. In Ephesians (Eph 2:11–22), Christ is the cornerstone that brings together Israel and the Gentiles.
19. See also Rom 9:33 and 1 Pet 2:6–8, passages that cite Isa 8:14 together with Isa 28:16.
20. Josephus, Jewish War 2.118, 433; Jewish Antiquities 18.4.
21. Josephus, Jewish War 2.169–74; Jewish Antiquities 18.55–59, reports how Pilate brought military sta
ndards with Caesar’s image on them into Jerusalem, but ongoing Jewish protests convinced him to remove them.
22. David Hendin, Guide to Biblical Coins, 5th ed. (Nyack, NY: Amphora, 2010), 485–88.
23. Josephus, Jewish Antiquities 13.298.
24. Tertullian, On Idolatry 15.3, in De Idololatria: Critical Text, Translation and Commentary, trans. J. H. Waszink and J. C. M. van Winden (Leiden: Brill, 1987), 53: “Consequently you should render to the emperor your money, to God yourself.”
25. According to Josephus (Jewish War 2.165; Jewish Antiquities 18.16), Sadducees deny an afterlife involving rewards or punishments and hold that the soul perishes at death along with the body.
26. Josephus, Jewish Antiquities 13.297; 18.16.
27. 2 Macc 12:43–44; Job 19:25–26; Ps 16:10–11; Isa 26:19; Ezek 37:1–14; Dan 12:2.
28. Joseph Ratzinger, Eschatology: Death and Eternal Life, trans. Michael Waldstein and Aidan Nichols (Washington, DC: Catholic University of America Press, 1988), 114.
29. Josephus, Jewish War 4.529–32.
30. Ratzinger, Eschatology, 124. Indeed, Josephus (Jewish War 2.163; 3.372–74; Jewish Antiquities 18.14) explains that the Pharisees believed in both an immediate life after death because of the immortality of the soul and a future resurrection of the body.
31. This is similar to the indirect way he just referred to himself as the “beloved son” (of God) using a parable (Luke 20:13).
32. Richard B. Hays, Echoes of Scripture in the Gospels (Waco: Baylor University Press, 2016), 233.
33. These three titles were all proclaimed in the infancy narrative (Luke 1:32; 2:11).
34. m. Sheqalim 6:5.
35. Josephus, Jewish War 5.208–23; Jewish Antiquities 15.391–96; see m. Middot 3:8.
36. Josephus, Jewish War 6.260–84.
37. Josephus, Jewish War 7.1–4.
38. Joseph A. Fitzmyer, The Gospel according to Luke, 2 vols., AB (New York: Doubleday, 1981–85), 2:1334.
39. Josephus, Jewish War 5.212–17; Jewish Antiquities 3.123, 180–83. See G. K. Beale, The Temple and the Church’s Mission (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 2004), 45–50.
40. Josephus, Jewish War 2.261–63.
41. Josephus, Jewish War 6.285–88.
42. Josephus, Jewish Antiquities 3.320; 20.101.
43. Josephus, Jewish War 6.289–310.
44. As with Luke 19:43–44, no conclusions can be drawn on the basis of these verses about the dating of Luke’s Gospel.
45. In the †Septuagint version of all the Old Testament examples given in this paragraph, the same Greek words are found as those used here in Luke.
46. Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History 3.5.3; Epiphanius, Panarion 29.7.7–8; 30.2.7.
47. See also Isa 24:19; 34:4; Joel 2:10; Hag 2:6, 21.
The Passover of the Messiah
Luke 22:1–71
The approaching feast of Passover signals the arrival of the Messiah’s “exodus” (9:31)—namely, his suffering and death (22:1–23:56) followed by his resurrection and ascension into heaven (24:1–53). Now the Scriptures and Jesus’ predictions will be fulfilled (18:31–33), thus accomplishing God’s plan of salvation in Jesus.
The Plot to Hand Jesus Over (22:1–6)
1Now the feast of Unleavened Bread, called the Passover, was drawing near, 2and the chief priests and the scribes were seeking a way to put him to death, for they were afraid of the people. 3Then Satan entered into Judas, the one surnamed Iscariot, who was counted among the Twelve, 4and he went to the chief priests and temple guards to discuss a plan for handing him over to them. 5They were pleased and agreed to pay him money. 6He accepted their offer and sought a favorable opportunity to hand him over to them in the absence of a crowd.
OT: Exod 12; Lev 23:5–8; Deut 16:1–8
NT: Luke 2:41; John 11:53; 13:2, 27. // Matt 26:1–5, 14–16; Mark 14:1–2, 10–11
[22:1]
Passover is the annual celebration of Israel’s liberation from slavery in Egypt through the exodus (Exod 12). It is followed by the weeklong feast of Unleavened Bread (Lev 23:5–8; Deut 16:1–8), all of which was also called Passover by the time of Jesus. Unleavened bread—“the bread of affliction” recalling the “hurried flight” from Egypt (Deut 16:3; see Exod 12:39)—is eaten with the Passover lamb the first night and throughout the following week (Exod 12:8, 18). Luke earlier mentioned the Passover when Jesus was twelve years old (Luke 2:41–42), which foreshadowed the events taking place now.
[22:2]
With the feast approaching, the chief priests and the scribes continued their efforts to find a way to put him to death (19:47; 20:19). However, since Jesus had the support of the people (19:48; 21:38), they were afraid of them and sought to do it covertly.
[22:3–6]
The breakthrough came when Judas, called Iscariot, turned traitor even though he was one of the Twelve (6:16; Acts 1:16–17, 25). Satan—that is, the devil—who was awaiting the opportune time (Luke 4:13), now entered into him (see John 13:2, 27) as an instigator to sin, though Judas still remained free and responsible for his actions—and hence blameworthy (Luke 22:22; see Catechism 407). He went to the chief priests and temple guards (a police force, see 22:52–54; Acts 4:1, 3; 5:24) and conferred with them about handing Jesus over. They were pleased (literally, “they rejoiced”) but “over wrongdoing” (1 Cor 13:6). One of Judas’s motives was money (Matt 26:15; John 12:6); he thus failed to heed Jesus’ words “to guard against all greed” (Luke 12:15). From then on, he looked for an opportunity to hand him over, when no crowd of supporters would be present. Jesus’ prediction is about to be fulfilled: “The Son of Man is to be handed over to men” (9:44 [emphasis added]).
Preparing for the Passover (22:7–13)
7When the day of the feast of Unleavened Bread arrived, the day for sacrificing the Passover lamb, 8he sent out Peter and John, instructing them, “Go and make preparations for us to eat the Passover.” 9They asked him, “Where do you want us to make the preparations?” 10And he answered them, “When you go into the city, a man will meet you carrying a jar of water. Follow him into the house that he enters 11and say to the master of the house, ‘The teacher says to you, “Where is the guest room where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?”’ 12He will show you a large upper room that is furnished. Make the preparations there.” 13Then they went off and found everything exactly as he had told them, and there they prepared the Passover.
OT: Exod 12:6, 18; Lev 23:5–6
NT: Luke 19:29–32. // Matt 26:17–19; Mark 14:12–16
Catechism: celebrating Passover, 1096; Passover and Eucharist, 1151, 1339–40
[22:7]
The feast that “was drawing near” (22:1) has now arrived, specifically, the day for sacrificing the Passover lamb,1 the fourteenth day of the Jewish month of Nisan (falling in March or April). Prior to the temple’s destruction in AD 70, tens of thousands of lambs were sacrificed that afternoon in assembly-line fashion to accommodate the hundreds of thousands of pilgrims to Jerusalem (with one lamb for every ten or so people). The lambs were slaughtered near the altar by those who brought them to the temple, with priests collecting the blood in basins that were poured out at the base of the altar.2 Pilgrims then returned with their lamb to their place of lodging to roast it for the meal. After sundown (hence, after the beginning of the fifteenth of Nisan), the lamb was eaten with unleavened bread and bitter herbs (Exod 12:8; Lev 23:5–6).
[22:8–13]
As the Jewish leaders and Judas were getting ready, so was Jesus. Aware of the significance of this Passover, Jesus sent two disciples (as in Luke 19:29–30) to make preparations for both the sacrifice and the meal. As observant Jews, Peter and John understood what needed to be done. The key question was: Where? Perhaps Jesus, knowing that he was a marked man, had quietly made prior arrangements that he now communicates to them, and thus the location of the meal was unknown to Judas beforehand. Another possibility is that by special foreknowledge, Jesus explains how events will unfold
(see 19:30–31). Once they go into the city, they will be met by a man who is carrying a jar of water. The rendezvous may thus occur near a pool, such as the Pool of Siloam in the southeastern part of the city that collected the waters from the Gihon spring. They are to follow him into the house that he enters, perhaps not too far away in the southwestern part of the city, the traditional location of the Last Supper. The master of the house, though unnamed, is a trusted acquaintance of Jesus, whom he knows as the teacher.3 In his hospitality, he makes available the guest room (Greek katalyma), the same word earlier translated “inn” (2:7), where Jesus at his birth did not receive hospitality. Here it is a furnished, large upper room, perhaps the same place later used by the early Christians (Acts 1:13). Just like the two disciples who were sent to fetch the colt (Luke 19:32), Peter and John went off and found everything just as he had told them.
Last Supper, Part 1: Institution of the Eucharist (22:14–20)
14When the hour came, he took his place at table with the apostles. 15He said to them, “I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer, 16for, I tell you, I shall not eat it [again] until there is fulfillment in the kingdom of God.” 17Then he took a cup, gave thanks, and said, “Take this and share it among yourselves; 18for I tell you [that] from this time on I shall not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.” 19Then he took the bread, said the blessing, broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body, which will be given for you; do this in memory of me.” 20And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which will be shed for you.”
The Gospel of Luke Page 48