Luke 22:15

22:7-18 Christ kept the ordinances of the law, particularly that of the passover, to teach us to observe his gospel institutions, and most of all that of the Lord's supper. Those who go upon Christ's word, need not fear disappointment. According to the orders given them, the disciples got all ready for the passover. Jesus bids this passover welcome. He desired it, though he knew his sufferings would follow, because it was in order to his Father's glory and man's redemption. He takes his leave of all passovers, signifying thereby his doing away all the ordinances of the ceremonial law, of which the passover was one of the earliest and chief. That type was laid aside, because now in the kingdom of God the substance was come.

Luke 22:15 . Καὶ , and ) There is described in the verses 15–18, a kind of prelude, as it were, to the Holy Supper. Comp. Matthew 26:29 .— ἐπεθύμησα , I have desired ) He had desired for the sake of the disciples, to whom He wished now at last to manifest Himself more openly in His very act of bidding them farewell; He had desired it for His own sake also, because He was about forthwith after it to enter into His glory.— τοῦτο ) this , which is a Passover peculiarly memorable.— πρὸ , before ) By this word, explanation is given of the τοῦτο , this . [His enemies were hardly leaving Him this much time (viz. sufficient to celebrate the Passover): but yet they were forced to delay the accomplishment of their purpose, even until both the Passover banquet and several remaining incidents had passed by.—V. g.]

(15) With desire I have desired. —The peculiar mode of expressing intensity by the use of a cognate noun with the verb of action, though found sometimes in other languages, is an idiom characteristically Hebrew (comp. “thou shalt surely die” for “dying thou shalt die,” in Genesis 2:17 ), and its use here suggests the thought that St. Luke heard what he reports from some one who repeated the very words which our Lord had spoken in Aramaic. The whole passage is peculiar to him, and implies that he had sought to fill up the gaps in the current oral teaching which is reproduced in St. Matthew and St. Mark. It was natural that in so doing he might feel some uncertainty as to the precise position of these supplementary incidents, and hence the difficulties, of no great importance, which present themselves on a comparison of the three narratives. The words now before us bear obviously the impression of having been spoken at the beginning of the Feast. The Master yearned, if we may so speak, for a last Passover with His “friends,” as we yearn for a last Communion with ours; all the more so, we may believe, because it was in His purpose to perfect the former by transfiguring it into the latter. The words have been thought to confirm the view that our Lord was anticipating by twenty-four hours the strictly legal time of the Passover. It must be admitted, however, that they-do not in themselves suggest that thought.

Verse 15. - And he said unto them, With desire I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer . This peculiar expression, "with desire," etc., is evidently a reproduction by St. Luke of the Lord's very words repeated to him originally in Aramaic (Hebrew), They seem to be a touching apology or explanation from him to his own, for thus anticipating the regular Passover Supper by twenty-four hours. He had been longing with an intense longing to keep this last Passover with them: First as the dear human Friend who would make this his solemn last farewell. (Do not we, when we feel the end is coming, long for a last communion with our dearest ones?) And, secondly , as the Divine Master who would gather up into a final discourse his most important, deepest teaching. We find this teaching especially reported by St. John in his Gospel (13-17.). And thirdly , as the Founder of a great religion , he purposed, on this momentous occasion, transforming the most solemn festal gathering of the ancient Jewish people, which commemorated their greatest deliverance, into a feast which should - as age succeeded age - commemo-rate a far greater deliverance, not of the old chosen race only, but of every race under heaven. These were three of the reasons why he had desired so earnestly to eat this Passover with them. "To-morrow, at the usual hour, when the people cat their Passover, it will be too late for us." This he expresses in his own sad words, " before I suffer." Luke 22:15

15 . With desire I have desired ] i.e. I earnestly desired. A Hebraism. Matthew 13:14 , &c. to eat this passover ] The expression may perhaps point to the fact that this was not the actual Jewish Paschal meal, but one which was intended to supersede it by a Passover of far more divine significance.

15. With desire … desired—"earnestly have I longed" (as Ge 31:30, "sore longedst"). Why? It was to be His last "before He suffered"—and so became "Christ our Passover sacrificed for us" (1Co 5:7), when it was "fulfilled in the Kingdom of God," the typical ordinance thenceforth disappearing.

With desire I have desired - This is a Hebrew form of expression, and means "I have greatly desired." The reasons why he desired this we may suppose to have been: 1. That, as he was about to leave them, he was desirous once of seeing them together, and of partaking with them of one of the religious privileges of the Jewish dispensation. Jesus was "man" as well as God, and he never undervalued the religious rites of his country, or the blessings of social and religious contact; and there is no impropriety in supposing that even he might feel that his human nature might be prepared by the service of religion for his great and terrible sufferings. 2. He doubtless wished to take an opportunity to prepare "them" for his sufferings, and to impress upon them more fully the certainty that he was about to leave them, that they might be prepared for it. 3. We may also suppose that he particularly desired it that he might institute for "their" use, and for the edification of all Christians, the supper which is called by his name - "the Lord's Supper." All his sufferings were the expression of love to his people, and he was desirous of testifying "always" his regard for their comfort and welfare. Before I suffer - Before I die.