Luke 22:1-53

Jesus Is Crucified And Rises Again (22:1-24:53).

We now come to the final Section of Luke which is also in the form of a chiasmus (see analysis below). Central in this final chiasmus is the crucifixion of Jesus. This brings out how central the crucifixion is in the thinking of Luke. As the Servant of the Lord He is to be numbered among the transgressors for their sakes (Luke 22:37). This is indeed what the Gospel has been leading up to, something that is further demonstrated by the space given to Jesus' final hours. He has come to give His life in order to redeem men (Luke 21:28; Luke 22:20; Luke 24:46; Acts 20:28; Mark 10:45), after which He will rise again, with the result that His disciples are to receive power from on high (Luke 24:49) ready for their future work of spreading the word, so that through His death repentance and forgiveness of sins should be preached in His name to all nations beginning from Jerusalem (Luke 24:46). Note especially how closely the forgiveness of sins is connected with His suffering, death and resurrection. This belies the argument that Luke does not teach atonement, for without atonement there can be no forgiveness, and why else is it so closely connected with His suffering and death?

But another emphasis raises its head here. Right from the commencement of Jesus' ministry Satan, the hidden but powerful cosmic adversary, had sought to destroy His ministry (Luke 4:1), and having failed in that he will now seek to destroy both Jesus Himself, and the band of twelve whom He has gathered around Him. Luke wants us to see that there are more than earthly considerations in view. To him this is a cosmic battle.

This final section may be analysed as follows:

a Satan enters into Jesus' betrayer who plots His betrayal in return for silver (Luke 22:1).

b Jesus feasts with His disciples (Luke 22:7).

c They discuss who is the greatest, but learn that they are rather to be servants, for which reason they will sit at His table with responsibility for His people (Luke 22:23).

d Jesus comes to the Garden of Gethsemane where He shuns what He has to face but submits to His Father's will. In contrast Peter is revealed to be empty and as lacking the power that will later come in fulfilment of Christ' words (Luke 22:29).

e Jesus is exposed to the mockery of the soldiers and the verdicts of the chief priests and then of Pilate and Herod (Luke 22:63 to Luke 23:25).

f Jesus is crucified (as the King of the Jews, the Messiah) and judgement is forecast on Jerusalem (Luke 23:26).

e Jesus is exposed to the mockery of the chief priests (the rulers) and to the verdicts of the two thieves and the Roman centurion (Luke 23:34).

d Jesus is brought to the Garden where He is buried, but defeats death, the tomb when opened proving to be empty in fulfilment of Christ's words (Luke 23:50 to Luke 24:10).

c The risen Jesus sits at table with two of His disciples a prelude to their future (Luke 24:11).

b The risen Jesus feasts with His disciples (Luke 24:36).

a God's Power will enter into His faithful disciples and they are to be His witnesses to His glory and triumph (in contrast with Satan entering His betrayer who sought His downfall) (Luke 24:48).

· ‘And they returned to Jerusalem with great joy and were continually in the Temple, blessing God' (Luke 24:53).

Note how in ‘a' Satan enters into Judas to empower him to betray Jesus, and in the parallel the Holy Spirit will enter the other Apostles to empower them to be witnesses to Jesus. Judas is His betrayer, the others are His witness. In ‘b' Jesus feasts with His disciples before He dies and shows them the bread and the wine, in the parallel He feasts with His disciples after the resurrection and shows them His hands and His feet. In ‘c' they are to sit at His table, and in the parable two of His disciples sit with Him at table, symbolic of their future. In ‘d' Jesus enters a Garden which will lead to His death, in the parallel He is brought into a Garden which will lead to His resurrection. In ‘e' Jesus is exposed to the verdicts of the chief priests and rulers, and in the parallel He is exposed to the mockery of the chief priests and the thieves. But central to all in ‘f' is His crucifixion as King of the Jews and Messiah.

The drama is in three stages:

· The time of preparation of His disciples for the future before His trial and crucifixion.

· The trial and crucifixion itself.

· The resurrection and preparation for the sending forth of His disciples to all nations.

This will be followed in Acts by a description of this outreach until it reached Rome itself. We would surely therefore expect that in this first part His words will include words of preparation for that future. That should be kept in mind in all our interpretation.