Luke

22:47-53

Culmination of Messiah's mission, 19:45-24:53

2. The meaning of Messiah's death, 22:1-23:25

iv] The arrest of Jesus

Synopsis

Jesus has just returned from his time of prayer to find the disciples sleeping. It is at this point that Judas arrives leading a ocloV, "crowd" to arrest Jesus. Judas steps forward and kisses Jesus (a sign to the arresting authorities, Mk.14:44). The disciples then react in defence, but Jesus' halts any further violence, healing the cut ear of the chief priest's "slave". Jesus goes on to make the point that he was daily to be found in the Temple and that therefore his arrest at night, as if he were a lhsthV, "bandit", is improper, to say the least, but "this is your hour, and that of the power of darkness."

 
Teaching

Messiah's kingship is not realised through the power of this world.

 
Issues

i] Context: See 22:1-6.

 

ii] Structure: The arrest of Jesus:

The arrival of the arresting party, v47-48;

The disciples' attempted defence, v49-51;

Jesus interprets the arrest, v52-53;

"am I leading a rebellion .....?"

"this is your hour and the power of darkness."

 

iii] Interpretation:

It is very difficult to find any dignity in the sordid nature of this event. Judas, the chief priests, temple police and elders (22:52), probably sought to justify their actions, but Jesus, in a word, exposes their corruption. For Judas, the kiss is his undoing - me thinkest thou protesteth too much. The deceitfulness of his action, identified in the kiss, is likely the catalyst that erodes all justification and leads to his metamelomai, "repentance / regret", Matt.27:3. The deceitfulness of the arresting party is similarly exposed in a word. Any justification for a lawful and proper arrest of Jesus is dispelled by the fact that they are arresting him in the darkness of night when he has openly taught in the temple during the day.

Luke makes a point of Jesus' control over the arrest by recording his instruction to the disciples, Eate, "Stop!". It is very unlikely that Jesus is establishing the principle that it is improper to defend oneself, or an innocent other, but he is certainly making the point that the establishment of the kingdom of God has nothing whatsoever to do with worldly props of force - swords and the like. We are inclined to think that human management, applied sociology, pragmatics, ......, will grow the church, but of course, the gospel is the power of God unto salvation. Fining people a penny during the Elizabethan era, for not attending church, is unlikely to have saved anyone. For Jesus, only the way of the cross will overcome the powers of darkness.

Given the way Luke links this episode to the preceding one, it is clear that he wants the reader to recognise the failure of the disciples to prayerfully hold to their faith in a time of testing and trial. Messiah's kingship is not realised through the power of this world. So, at the first test, they fumble. Luke would have us learn a lesson, namely that the kingdom of God is realised, "not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit', says the Lord Almighty."

Finally, there is Jesus' interpretation of the arrest. The arresting party may think that they are about the business of righteousness, but in actual fact, they are about Satan's business; they stand on the wrong side of history, aligned with the reign of darkness, rather than the reign of light. The Church Fathers would sometimes use fishing imagery, describing Jesus as the bait that hooked Satan. God gives Satan his wish to test Jesus as he tested Job, but then Satan finds himself hooked on Jesus' obedience, with Jesus the victor over the dark domain. This hour was Satan's, but only because it was granted to him - an hour that leads to his doom. The religious authorities have placed themselves on the wrong side of a cosmic battle, the determined outcome of which was settled before the beginning of time.

 

iv] Synoptics:

See 3:1-20. The narrative of the arrest of Jesus is paralleled in Matthew 26:47-56, Mark 14:43-52, and John 18:2-11. Commentators are divided on Luke's source. Creed takes the view that Luke has simply redacted Mark's account, while Taylor, Marshall, ...., take the view that Luke has worked off Mark and his own source material (L). As already noted, the Passion Narrative is likely to be the most firmly fixed story in the oral tradition of the early church, and also most likely the first documented. As a historian, it does seem that Luke has researched far and wide for his gospel and so it would not be impossible for his version of the Passion to be a free composition. Luke's account is shorter than Mark's, leaving out some obvious explanatory information (something an author will often do when he knows his subject too well). Luke does not record the flight of the disciples (he doesn't want to rub their nose in the mud???), and only he records the healing of the servant's ear. With Luke, the use of a sword by the disciples is for defence, rather than an attempt to free Jesus. Of particular note is Jesus' interpretation of the arrest in v53, as compared to Matthew and Mark's "that the prophets / scriptures might be fulfilled."

 
Text - 22:47

The arrest of Jesus, v47-53: i] The arrival of the arresting party, v47-48. With a genitive absolute construction + the temporal adverb eti, "still", Luke closely links this episode with the previous one. Calling the arresting party a ocloV, "crowd", is rather strange, although in v52 he identifies those who make up the party - John adds some Roman soldiers. Judas prohrceto, "goes before", guiding the arresting party to Jesus. Mark tells us the the kiss serves to identify Jesus, cf., Mk.14:44.

lalountoV (lalew) pres. part. "while [he] was [still] speaking" - he speaking [still, yet, behold = suddenly a crowd appeared]. The genitive participle and its genitive subject "he" forms a genitive absolute construction, temporal, as NIV.

oJ legomenoV (legw) pres. mid. part. "the man who was called" - [and] the one being called [judas, one the twelve, was going before them]. The participle serves as a substantive, subject of the verb "to go before." "One of the twelve" stands in apposition to Judas, the nominative complement of the participle, with the genitive "of the twelve" being adjectival, partitive.

tw/ Ihsou (ouV ou) dat. "Jesus" - [and he drew near to] jesus. Dative of direct object after to verb "to draw near to."

filhsai (filew) aor. inf. "to kiss" - to love = kiss [him]. The infinitive is adverbial, final, expressing purpose; "in order to kiss him."

 
v48

autw/ dat. pro. "him" - [but/and jesus said] to him. Dative of indirect object.

filhmati (a atoV) dat. "with a kiss" - [judas,] in = with a kiss [do you betray the son of man]? The dative is instrumental, expressing means; "by means of a kiss." For "Son of Man" see oJ uiJoV tou anqrwpou, 5:24.

 
v49

ii] The disciples' attempted defence, v49-51. Luke implies a hesitant reaction by the disciples to the move to arrest Jesus. They are not sure whether they should react with violence, and when they do, Jesus tells them to stop. The reader is brought into their dilemma. Does such an action properly align with kingdom business in this critical age of trial and testing?

oiJ "-" - [but/and] the ones [around him]. The article serves as a nominalizer, turning the prepositional phrase "around him" into a substantive, subject of the participle "having seen."

idonteV (oJraw) aor. part. "when [Jesus followers] saw" - having seen. The participle is adverbial, best treated as temporal, as NIV.

to esomenon (eimi) "what was going to happen" - the thing = that will be. The participle serves as a substantive, accusative object of the participle "having seen." "What would follow", ESV.

eij "-" - [they said, lord,] if [we will strike]. Possibly introducing an incomplete conditional clause, "if you are willing then we will strike with a sword", but such a statement would more likely be a 3rd. class condition, an + subj. Marshall suggests that eij is used here to introduce a direct question, cf., 22:42. See Culy for his take. Either way, the use of the future tense of the verb "to strike" is probably deliberative, used instead of a subjunctive.

en + dat. "with" - in = with [a sword]. Instrumental use of the preposition, expressing means; "by means of a sword."

 
v50

According to John, the name of the servant was Malchus and the disciple who struck out with his sword was Peter.

ex (ek) + gen. "of [them]" - [and a certain one] from [them struck the slave, servant of (belonging to) the chief priest and cut off the right ear of him]. The preposition is used in the place of a partitive genitive.

 
v51

The sense of Jesus' command is not overly clear. If addressed to the disciples, Plummer suggests "Suffer my assailants to proceed these lengths against me (but no further)", but if to the assailants then "Tolerate thus much violence on the part of my followers." The second option seems unlikely, the first is possible, "Stop, that is enough / no more", as NIV, so TNT, JB. Creed suggests a third option, "Let events take their course - even to my arrest." This seems more likely; "Let them have their way", Barclay, so Nolland.

apokriqeiV (apokrinomai) aor. pas. part. "answered" - [but/and] having answered [jesus said]. Attendant circumstance participle expressing action accompanying the verb "to say." The construction serves to introduce direct speech; see apokriqeiV, 1:19.

eate ewV toutou "no more of this" - leave alone = cease until / as far as this. A strong idiomatic instruction to "cease what one is doing", Thompson; see above.

ayamenoV (aptw) aor. mid. part. "he touched" - [and] having touched. Attendant circumstance participle expressing action accompanying the verb "to heal", as NIV.

tou wtiou (on) gen. "ear" - the ear [he healed him]. Genitive of direct object after the verb "to touch." Jesus touched where the man's ear had been. Only Luke records this healing.

 
v52

iii] Jesus interprets the arrest, v52-53. Jesus exposes the corruption of the arresting authorities with a rhetorical question, v52-53a. Do they really suggest that he is a lh/sthV, "a robber" (the word is most likely being used here for a terrorist), given that every day he was to be found teaching in the temple courts?

proV + acc. "to [the chief priests]" - [and jesus said] toward [chief priests and commanders of the temple (temple police), and elders]. Used here to introduce an indirect object in the place of a dative; see proV 1:61.

touV paragenomenouV (paraginomai) aor. part. "who had come" - the ones having come. The participle serves as an adjective, attributive, limiting the arresting authorities, as NIV.

ep (epi) + acc. "for [him]" - upon [him]. Spatial, here expressing opposition; "who had come out against him", ESV.

meta + gen. "with" - [have you come out] with [swords and clubs]. Expressing accompaniment.

wJV "-" as [coming out upon = against a thief, robber = terrorist]. Here serving as a comparative, "as if you were coming out against = to arrest a terrorist."

 
v53

Jesus interprets the arrest in cosmic terms, v53b. In Mark and Matthew, Jesus' interprets the event in the terms of the fulfilment of scripture. Luke exegetes this idea with "this is your hour", namely, the arrival of that point in time when God realises the long-promised kingdom in the redemptive act of the Son of Man - "the time is fulfilled, the kingdom of God is at hand." All history has pointed to this moment in time, a critical moment when the powers of darkness are given their head to reign. In these last days, days of trouble, temptation, testing and trials, all humanity must choose on which side of history they stand; with the suffering Son of Man, or with the powers of darkness. As it turns out, Judas and the religious authorities lead those throughout the ages who choose the wrong side of history.

kaq hJmeran "every day" - according to a day. The preposition kata functions as a distributive in this idiomatic phrase, given the sense "day after day / daily".

ontoV (eimi) gen. pres. part. "I was" - [me] being [with you in the temple]. The genitive participle and its genitive subject, mou, "me", forms a genitive absolute construction, temporal, "When I was with you day after day in the temple", ESV.

ep (epi) + acc. "on [me]" - [you did not stretch out the hands] upon [me]. Spatial, again probably used here to express opposition, "against me", Cassier, but possibly just "you made no attempt to lay a hand on me", Barclay.

all (alla) "but" - but [this is the hour of you]. Strong adversative standing in a counterpoint construction; "not ......, but ...."

tou skotouV (oV ouV) gen. "when darkness [reigns]" - [and the authority, power] of darkness. The genitive is adjectival, usually treated as verbal, subjective, as NIV; "this is the reign of darkness", Cassirer.

 

Luke Introduction

Exegetical Commentaries

 

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