路加福音

Meditative Reflection
Spiritual Apathy

“Now the Feast of Unleavened Bread called the Passover, was approaching, and the chief priests and the teachers of the law were looking for some way to get rid of Jesus….” (Lk. 22:1-2)

The Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread were looked upon as one festival . The Passover began on the first day of the festival which was on 14^th of Nisan (our April), with the Feast of Unleavened Bread beginning on the 15^th day and it lasted seven days (Lev. 23:5-8).

The Passover was obviously the most important of all festivals to Israel as it commemorated the deliverance of the Jews from Egypt and the establishment of Israel as a nation by God’s redemptive act, especially through the slaying of Egypt’s first-born while sparing Israel of theirs with the slaughter of the Passover Lamb. This was the reason why hundreds of thousands Jews flocked into Jerusalem at this time.

I can imagine, as chief priests and teachers of the law, how busy they would have been in preparing for and observing this festival, and the great significance they attached to such a festival:

- It was a time to remind themselves of God’s wonderful grace in delivering them from the bondage of Egypt;

- It was time to remind themselves of God’s special favor upon them as God slayed all of Egypt’s first-born. He had spared all of theirs with the slaughter and shedding of the blood of the Passover Lamb.

- It was a time to remind themselves not to lose hope, as God had saved their fathers with His mighty hand. He would do the same with the sending of their Messiah.

- It was also a time to remind them to consecrate themselves with the eating of unleavened bread and the removal of yeast in their homes.

And yet, we find them totally focused and pre-occupied with how to get rid of Jesus:

- Perhaps, all these preparations had become routine, and they had become “pros”. As a result, as important as this festival was, to them, it had lost its spiritual significance.

- Yes, Passover should be a time for them to look forward to God’s promised deliverance through the Messiah, but the many false-Messiahs, including the Maccabees, had dashed their hopes. The excitement generated by the people over Jesus, to them, was just another false hope. They had come to accept their lot under the hands of the Romans.

- As a result, instead of using this time of consecration for self-reflection, especially in examining their motive toward Jesus, they were bent on getting rid of Him for good, and at all cost!

It is quite easy for us to criticize the chief priests and the teachers of the law. However, if we also observe Lent and Easter as just another church event; if we take Christ’s sacrifice on the cross for granted; if we do not look forward to His coming and fail to use this time for self-reflection and examination, we too could fall into the same spiritual apathy.

Therefore, allow me to ask you, “What is your focus these days? What have you been pre-occupied with during this season of Lent and Easter?”

Meditative Reflection
We Eat to Remember, He Ate to Fulfill

“This is my body, given for you, do this in remembrance of me.” (Lk. 22:19)

Luke’s account of the Lord’s Supper, though short, does contain some information unique to his gospel. One of them is the repeated saying that He would not eat or drink it (meaning the bread and the cup) until its fulfillment in the Kingdom of God (v. 16) or until the Kingdom of God comes (v. 18).

Both the repetition and the emphatic way He expressed it  point to the finality of this Lord’s Supper or what it represented in that it did put an end to what was foreshadowed by the Passover:

1. As John the Baptist clearly points out, Jesus is "the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world" (Jn. 1:29). Just as the blood of the lamb saved the lives of the first-born of Israel, the blood that He shed saves for eternity the souls of all those who will believe in Him. There is no need for any other path to salvation — He is "the Way, the Truth and the Life" (Jn. 14:6); and there is no need for another savior or messiah, "for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved" (Acts 4:12).

2. There is nothing else needed to be done by Jesus in imparting salvation, apart from the giving of His body for us, and pouring His blood for us. Luke’s emphases here include:

1. The giving of His body for us

While the act of breaking the bread might be out of simple necessity to divide up the bread, and we know what the Scripture said, “not one of His bones will be broken" (Ps. 34:20 and Jn. 19:36), yet the breaking of the bread does point to the extremes He had to go to in order to save us. Though not one bone of His was broken, His heart had already been broken for our sins. The totality of His giving was vividly symbolized by the breaking of the bread. Luke’s emphasis appears to be the repeated words, “for you”. That was the only reason He came, the only reason He lived on earth, the only reason He suffered, the only reason He died — all for us!

2. The pouring of His blood for us

I believe that the Lord’s Supper should include the act of pouring of the wine into the cup, which would be a more fitting symbol of, again, the extremes He was willing to go to so as to redeem us. He did not hold back anything, but gave His all, including that which is most precious of a person, His blood — pouring it out as it were — for us, to take away all our sin. Luke’s emphasis here, like the other Synoptic Gospels, is on it being the “new covenant”. As Hebrews 10 helpfully points out, under the Old covenant, the blood of the sacrifices — bull and goats — can never take away sins, but under this New Covenant, it is not the blood of animals any more, but the blood of the sinless Christ Jesus. In this sacrifice He offered Himself once and “has made perfect forever those who are being made holy” (Hebrews 10:4, 14).

In instituting this Lord’s Supper, Jesus desires that we will remember Him, not just the merits of His sacrifice, but He Himself who has not held back anything but gave all of Himself to us. But I am greatly touched also by another emphasis of Luke in what Jesus said, “I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer.” (22:15)

Did He mean He was eagerly waiting to suffer and die? According to Matthew 26:36-46, Jesus loathed the thought of this suffering and death. He prayed very humanly for not having to drink this cup, although He eventually submitted to the will of the Father. However, the thought of what would be accomplished because of His death brought Him joy— “for the joy set before Him, (He) endured the cross, scorning its shame and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God” (Heb. 12:2).

I believe, when Jesus ate of the bread and drank of the cup that night, His intense desire was expressing the joy Hebrews 12 talks about. Through the eating of the bread and the drinking of the cup, He was showing the disciples the absolute necessity and the finality of His victory on the cross!

Meditative Reflection
Even Judas Had a Way Out

“The Son of Man will go as it had been decreed, but woe to that man who betrays Him.” (Lk 22:22)

As a new believer, I often wondered why Judas was not saved, since he showed his remorse to the point of suicide. But as I grew in the Lord, I have come to understand that remorse is not exactly repentance.

In fact, Jesus offered him many chances of not committing this horrible sin or of repenting from it.

Even at the Last Supper, Jesus purposely made known to him that He knew what he was about to do. “Yes, it is you” should be enough to shock him out of his sin (Matt. 26:25). He should know that Jesus knows everything. But he did not stop in his tracks.

Then, after Jesus was wrongly condemned by the Sanhedrin, he was so seized with remorse that he went to return the money to the chief priests. But this was only remorse, and not repentance. He could have come before Jesus and confessed his sin and asked for forgiveness.

Since, he had the “courage” to take his own life, he could have suffered with Jesus and come to His defense.

In my Christian life, I have had the privilege of walking alongside some serious backsliders, who had committed or were about to commit sins of presumably irrecoverable consequences. They all showed deep remorse, but just the same, most were bent on sinning as if they had no choice. It is reassuring to know that Jesus even gave Judas a way out, he just did not take it.

Meditative Reflection
Two Swords were Enough!

“But now if you have a purse, take it, and also a bag, and if you don’t have a sword, sell your cloak and buy one. It is written, ‘And He was numbered with the transgressors’…” (Lk. 22:36-37)

The quote from Isaiah 53:12 by Jesus is significant at least in two aspects:

(1) It, once and for all, silences all critics who deny that Isaiah 53 has anything to do with Jesus. Indeed, the prophecy of the suffering servant is not about Israel as a nation (as many Jewish rabbis still insist even today), but it is all about Christ’s suffering.

(2) Through this quotation, Jesus gives the most vivid warning to the disciples of the imminent danger they would be in in a few hours after their supper.

In warning them, His reminder of the fact that they lacked nothing before also serves two purposes as well:

a. It affirms that God is absolutely faithful and they will continue to experience this in the post-resurrection. They were the apostles (those being sent), and the “sender” would continue to be faithful.

b. In contrast, it also shows the grave reality of the result of the death of Jesus, even though  it would only be for a short three days. For three days, the entire world was enveloped in the greatest darkness it had ever experienced since creation, it was as if the power of darkness had won (Lk. 22:53). For three days, with Jesus in the tomb, the disciples had to fend for themselves — that threw Jesus’ disciples into danger that they had never known. But the good news is, even two swords would be enough, because ultimately the power of Satan is always limited. The two swords might be the best analogy of the two days when Jesus lay in the tomb, because on the third day, He rose again from the tomb and destroyed the power of sin, of death and of Satan!

Meditative Reflection
Hindsight is always 20/20

“Why are you sleeping?” He asked them, “Get up and pray so that you will not fall into temptation.” (Lk. 22:46)

True, hindsight is always 20/20. But I cannot help but think what if the disciples were able to stay awake, pray and watch with Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane.

The reason why Jesus could stay awake to watch and pray, while the disciples could not, has nothing to do with fatigue. In fact, Jesus had to be even more tired than they were, exhausted to the point of death. The difference did not have anything to do with His divinity either. The difference lies in the fact that Jesus knew and sensed the gravity of the hour, and that the salvation of the entire humankind hung in the balance and depended
on whether He would go through with  offering Himself in utter obedience to the Father. Had the disciples not only believed in the words of their Master, but also shared His feeling, they would have watched and prayed with Him.

And if they had, Jesus would still have to experience His torture, mockery and eventual death on the cross, meaning the work of salvation would still be accomplished. The difference would be that the disciples would not have fled and disappeared, but would have followed Jesus all the way to the cross. Of course, in God’s omniscience, they were spared so that they could be the witnesses of His death and resurrection. They, all eleven of them, eventually faced their own death, and some through the cross.

Like the disciples, no one knows what tomorrow may bring, but if we are able to watch and pray often, we will not be panicking in the face of crisis or test, like the disciples.

Meditative Reflection
A Blessing in Disguise?

“But Jesus answered, “No more of this!” And He touched the man’s ear and healed him.” (Lk. 22:51)

Reading the story of the high priest’s servant who had his ear cut off by Peter, I was reminded by the testimonies I have heard over time, from those who went through financial hardship, sickness and other kinds of disasters. Through them, they came to know Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior, or they came to take their faith in Christ seriously. Invariably, they saw that what they had gone through was a blessing in disguise and they did not regret the pain they had to endure at the time.

While the Bible is silent about the fate of this servant of the high priest, the Apostle John cared to tell us that his name was Malchus (Jn. 18:10). That leads me to believe that, perhaps, he was known in the first church. Otherwise, why was there really a need for John to mention his name.

Some even believe that because of the use of the article “the” with “servant” by John, Malchus was the special deputy of the high priest (Expository Bible, John, 168). In any case, this Malchus had to be part of those who hated Jesus. The fact that he was the first and only one who suffered at the hand of Peter, he had to be standing closest to Jesus and was taking the lead to arrest Him.

The poor guy got the surprise of his life, because he must know that Jesus was such a gentle person. Though he carried his sword, he never even thought of drawing it, only to have his ear cut off by Peter. But that was not his greatest surprise. He must have been totally frozen as Jesus picked up the ear from the ground and pieced it back to his head.

I doubt whether he was really took part in the arrest and kangaroo court that followed. Would he not have spent the rest of the night holding his ear in bewilderment, wondering “Who really is He?”?

As much as Peter acted presumptuously and in total ignorance of Jesus’ mission, his foolish act, in the gracious hand of the Lord, had turned into a blessing in disguise for Malchus! Indeed, as long as we leave it in the hands of our Lord, all things can become a blessing.

Meditative Reflection
The Rooster Crows Twice

“Before the rooster crows twice, you will disown me three times.” (Mark 14:72)

It is interesting to note that our Lord forewarned Peter of his denial using the rooster’s crow as a tool to wake him up from his spiritual slumber.

The rooster’s crow is indeed very appropriate for the purpose. In the rural setting, we all know that many people depend on the rooster’s crow to wake them up from their sleep. Because of Peter’s failure to “watch and pray” (Lk. 22:46), he had fallen not only into sleep in the Garden of Gethsemane, but he had also fallen into a spiritual slumber — losing his spiritual bearing.

He might have thought that he had woken up at the arrest of Jesus, but his spiritual drowsiness prompted him to react only with human instinct — cutting the ear of the high priest’s servant with his sword which really accomplished no purpose at all.

And as Jesus was led to the court of the high priest, he thought he was courageous enough to enter into the  enemy’s territory through his own strength, not knowing that he was far from spiritually prepared to face the greatest threat of his own life.

Then, according to the gospel of Mark, at the repeated queries of a servant girl, his carnality was fully exposed — denying the Lord, not only once, not only twice, but thrice — as many times as Jesus pleaded for the removal of His cup from the Father. But because Jesus watched and prayed, He was able not to deny His Heavenly Father and His heavenly call. On the contrary, because Peter did not watch and pray, even as the rooster crowed, his spiritual slumber was too deep to be awakened. Mercifully, the rooster crowed again, and Peter was able to wake up from his slumber. He broke down and wept.

Have you heard the rooster crow? How many times has it crowed already? It is never too late to wake up and weep.