Luke 22:33

Luke 22:33 . Μετὰ σοῦ , with thee ) These words, especially as being put in the beginning of the sentence, are emphatic. Comp. Psalm 18:30 .[239] ἕτοιμος , ready ) Peter has much trust in himself. [There had been need of full willingness and of no common power. It is not without good reason one may conjecture that Peter, in his so overweening self-confidence, had respect to those things which had been mentioned but a while before concerning the perseverance of the disciples and the intercession of the Lord ( Luke 22:28 ; Luke 22:32 ). And no doubt both had their efficacy, but not that kind of efficacy which he at the time imagined they had.—V. g.]— εἰς , into ) The most grievous of all trials are imprisonment and death [But it was not becoming that Jesus should be kept confined in a prison . From the time that He once began, He continued on, even until He breathed His last, without hindrance amidst the very bands (or “in the very hands ”) of His enemies, and on the cross, to do and teach all that was good.—V. g.] [239] Rather 29, “ By thee (LXX. ἐν σοὶ ) I have run through a troop, and by my God have I leaped over a wall.”—E. and T.

(33) Lord, I am ready to go with thee. —There is something like a latent tone of indignation as well as devotion. The disciple half-resented the thought that a special prayer should be necessary for him. Here, again, the Greek order of the words is more emphatic than the English, “With Thee am I ready . . .”

Verse 33. - And he said unto him, Lord, I am ready to go with thee, both into prison, and to death. This kind of confident enthusiasm is usually a sign of weakness. Jesus, the Heart-reader , knew too well what such a wild protestation was worth, and went on at once to predict his friend's and servant's awful fall, that very night. Luke 22:33

Luke PARTING PROMISES AND WARNINGSLuke 22:24 - Luke 22:37 . It was blameworthy, but only too natural, that, while Christ’s heart was full of His approaching sufferings, the Apostles should be squabbling about their respective dignity. They thought that the half-understood predictions pointed to a brief struggle immediately preceding the establishment of the kingdom, and they wished to have their rank settled in advance. Possibly, too, they had been disputing as to whose office was the menial task of presenting the basin for foot-washing. So little did the first partakers of the Lord’s Supper ‘discern the Lord’s body,’ and so little did His most loving friends share His sorrows. I. Our Lord was not so absorbed in His anticipations of the near Cross as to be unobservant of the wrangling among the Apostles. Even then His heart was enough at leisure from itself to observe, to pity, and to help. So He at once turns to deal with the false ideas of greatness betrayed by the dispute. The world’s notion is that the true use and exercise of superiority is to lord it over others. Tyrants are flattered by the title of benefactor, which they do not deserve, but the giving of which shows that, even in the world, some trace of the true conception lingers. It was sadly true, at that time, that power was used for selfish ends, and generally meant oppression.

One Egyptian king, who bore the title Benefactor, was popularly known as Malefactor, and many another old-world monarch deserved a like name. Jesus lays down the law for His followers as being the exact opposite of the world’s notion. Dignity and pre-eminence carry obligations to serve. In His kingdom power is to be used to help others, not to glorify oneself. In other sayings of Christ’s, service is declared to be the way to become great in the kingdom, but here the matter is taken up at another point, and greatness, already attained on whatever grounds, is commanded to be turned to its proper use. The way to become great is to become small, and to serve. The right use of greatness is to become a servant. That has become a familiar commonplace now, but its recognition as the law for civic and other dignity is all but entirely owing to Christianity. What conception of such a use of power has the Sultan of Turkey, or the petty tyrants of heathen lands? The worst of European rulers have to make pretence to be guided by this law; and even the Pope calls himself ‘the servant of servants.’ It is a commonplace, but like many another axiom, universal acceptance and almost as universal neglect are its fate. Ingrained selfishness fights against it. Men admire it as a beautiful saying, and how many of us take it as our life’s guide?