Luke 22:14

Luke 22:14-18. When the hour was come, &c. — When the evening approached, Jesus left Bethany; and every thing being prepared by the time he came into the city, they all sat down at the appointed hour. And he said, With desire I have desired — That is, I have earnestly desired it. He desired it, both for the sake of his disciples, to whom he desired to manifest himself further, at this solemn parting; and for the sake of his whole church, that he might institute the grand memorial of his death. For I will not any more eat thereof until, &c. — That is, it will be the last time I shall eat with you before I die. The particle until, used here and Luke 22:18 , does not imply that, after the things signified by the passover were fulfilled, in the gospel dispensation, our Lord was to eat the passover. It is only a Hebrew form of expression, signifying that the thing mentioned was no more to be done for ever. Until it be fulfilled in the kingdom of heaven — That is, until the deliverance of mankind from the bondage of sin and death is procured by my death and resurrection; a deliverance typified by that of our fathers from the Egyptian bondage, to keep up the memory of which the passover was instituted.

And he took the cup, and gave thanks — Having spoken as above, Jesus took a cup of wine in his hand, that cup which used to be brought at the beginning of the paschal solemnity, and gave thanks to Almighty God for his great goodness to his people, mentioning, no doubt, some of the principal instances thereof, especially their redemption, first from Egypt, and then from Babylon. And said, Take this, and divide it among yourselves, for I will not drink, &c. — As if he had said, Do not expect me to drink of it: I will drink no more before I die. Or, his meaning might be, After what passes, this evening, I will not drink any more with you of the fruit of the vine; therefore, as it is the last paschal supper that I shall partake of with you, let that consideration be an additional reason for your celebrating it with peculiar seriousness and devotion. Until the kingdom of God shall come — Till the gospel dispensation shall be fully opened, or till that complete and spiritual redemption, which is typified by this ordinance, shall be fulfilled and perfected.

Luke 22:14-18 . On Luke 22:14 comp. Matthew 26:20 ; Mark 14:17 . “Describitur, Luke 22:15-18 , quaedam quasi prolusio s. coenae, coll. Matthew 26:29 ,” Bengel. Luke 22:15 . ἐπιθυμίᾳ ἐπεθύμησα ] I have earnestly longed , Genesis 31:30 . See Winer, p. 413 [E. T. 584]. This longing rested on the fact (see Luke 22:16 ) that this Passover meal was actually His last, and as such was to be of special importance and sacredness. Thus He could only earnestly wish that His passion should not begin before the Passover; hence: πρὸ τοῦ με παθεῖν . τοῦτο ] pointing to: this , which is already there. Luke 22:16 . οὐκέτι κ . τ . λ .] namely, after the present meal. ἐξ αὐτοῦ ] of the Passover. ἕως ὅτου κ . τ . λ .] till that it (the Passover) shall be fulfilled in the kingdom of God . The rationalistic interpretation: “sed aliquando vos in coelo mecum gaudiis propriis ac summis perfruemini” (Kuinoel), is purely arbitrary. Jesus means actually a Passover (specifically such a one, not merely the Messianic feasts in general, Matthew 8:11 ; Luke 22:30 ; Luke 14:15 ) in the Messiah’s kingdom, which should hold the same relation to the temporal Passover as that which is perfect (absolute) holds to the incomplete. This corresponds to the idea of the new world (of the ἀποκατάστασις , παλιγγενεσία ), and of the perfected theocracy in the αἰὼν μέλλων . Comp. on Matthew 26:29 .

The impersonal view (Paulus, Baumgarten-Crusius), according to which the meaning is said to be: till the establishment of the kingdom shall be brought about, is an evasion opposed to the context. Completely without foundation, moreover, Schenkel says that the adoption of the Gentiles into the divine covenant is the fulfilment of the Old Testament Passover. Luke 22:17 f. According to Luke, Jesus, after He had spoken quite at the beginning of the meal the words, Luke 22:15-16 , receives a cup handed to Him ( δεξάμενος , not the same as λαβών , Luke 22:19 ), and after giving thanks hands it to the disciples that they might share it (the wine in it) among themselves (observe the emphatic ἑαυτοῖς ), for He assures them that He should certainly not drink, etc. He therefore , according to Luke, declines to drink of the Passover wine , wherefore also in Luke 22:18 the absolute οὐ μή , but in Luke 22:16 the relative οὐκέτι οὐ μή , is used. REMARK. Although this refusal to drink the wine, which is not to be explained away, is in itself psychologically conceivable in so deeply moved and painful a state of mind, yet it is improbable in consideration of the characteristic element of the Passover.

(14-18) And when the hour was come. —See Notes on Matthew 26:20 ; Mark 14:17 . The other Gospels name “the evening.” St. Luke uses simply “the hour” as referring to the appointed time, “in the evening” (literally, between the two evenings, i.e., the close of twilight; see Exodus 12:6 ), for the “killing,” the lamb being eaten afterwards as soon as it was roasted. It is characteristic of the comparatively late date of St. Luke’s narrative that he speaks of “the twelve Apostles,” while the other two reports speak of “the disciples.” (Comp. Luke 9:10 ; Luke 17:5 ; Luke 24:10 .)

{4} And when the {e} hour was come, he sat down, and the twelve apostles with him. (4) Christ, having ended the passover according to the order of the law, forewarns them that this will be his last banquet with them in terms of this earthly life. (e) The evening and twilight, at which time this supper was to be kept.

Verses 14-38. - The Last Supper. Verse 14. - And when the hour was come, he sat down, and the twelve apostles with him . The preparation had been made in the "large upper room," and the Lord and the twelve sat down, or rather reclined on the couches covered with carpets, the tables before them laid with the dishes peculiar to the solemn Passover Supper, each dish telling its part of the old loved story of the great deliverance. There was the lamb the Paschal victim, and the bitter herbs, the unleavened bread and the reddish sweet conserve of fruits - commemorating, it is said, by its color the hard labors of brickmaking, one of the chief burdens of the Egyptian bondage - into which the Blaster dipped the sop, and gave it to the traitor-apostle ( John 13:26 ). The Lord reclined, probably, at the middle table; St. John next to him; St. Peter most likely on the other side; and the others reclining in an order corresponding more or less closely with the threefold division of the twelve into groups of four. The Supper itself had its special forms and ceremonies, which the Lord transformed as they proceeded in such a way as to change it into the sacred Supper of the New Testament. Luke 22:14

14-38. The last Supper. 14 . when the hour was come ] If the meal was intended to be directly Paschal, this would be “between the two evenings” ( Exodus 12:6 ); a phrase interpreted by the Jews to mean between three and six, and by the Samaritans to mean between twilight and sunset. Probably Jesus and His disciples, anxious to avoid dangerous notice, would set forth towards dusk. he sat down ] Rather, reclined. The custom of eating the Passover standing had long been abandoned.