XX. (1-8) AND IT CAME TO PASS. — See Notes on Matthew 21:23; Mark 11:27. AND PREACHED THE GOSPEL. — The Greek verb (_to evangelise_) is one specially characteristic of St. Luke. Neither St. Mark nor St. John use it at all; St. Matthew once only (Matthew 11:5), in a passive sense; St. Luke ten time... [ Continue Reading ]
TELL US, BY WHAT AUTHORITY ...? — The form of the question is nearly identical in the three Gospels.... [ Continue Reading ]
ALL THE PEOPLE WILL STONE US. — St. Luke gives the more vivid utterance in place of the more general “we fear the people” in the other Gospels. As indicating the readiness of the people of Jerusalem to proceed to extremities of this kind, we may refer to their treatment of our Lord (John 8:59; John... [ Continue Reading ]
(9-19) THEN BEGAN HE TO SPEAK TO THE PEOPLE. — See Notes on Matthew 21:33; Mark 12:1. The presence of this, as well as of the last section, in the first three Gospels, with so little variation, indicates the impression which these facts and teaching made at the time, and probably also that they occu... [ Continue Reading ]
BEAT HIM, AND SENT HIM AWAY EMPTY. — The description agrees almost verbally with St. Mark.... [ Continue Reading ]
AND SENT HIM AWAY EMPTY. — The emphatic repetition of the words that had been used in the previous verse is peculiar to St. Luke.... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY WOUNDED HIM ALSO. — The verb is peculiar to St. Luke, and has a characteristic half-surgical ring in it. It is used by him again in Acts 19:16.... [ Continue Reading ]
IT MAY BE. — The doubt implied in the qualification is a feature peculiar to St. Luke’s report. The better MSS. omit the clause “when they see him.”... [ Continue Reading ]
HE SHALL COME AND DESTROY THESE HUSBANDMEN. — St. Luke agrees with St. Mark in putting these words into our Lord’s lips, and not, as St. Matthew does, into those of the by-standers. THEY SAID, GOD FORBID. — No other English phrase could well be substituted for this, but it is worth remembering that... [ Continue Reading ]
AND HE BEHELD THEM. — Better, _He looked on them._ The Greek verb implies the gaze turned and fixed on its object, in addition to the mere act of beholding.... [ Continue Reading ]
WHOSOEVER SHALL FALL UPON THAT STONE. — See Note on Matthew 21:44. The verse, which is omitted by many of the best MSS. in St. Matthew, is found in all MSS. of St. Luke. If we were to receive it, on this evidence, as belonging strictly to the latter Gospel only, the Greek word for “bruised” might ta... [ Continue Reading ]
(20-26) AND THEY WATCHED HIM. — See Notes on Matthew 22:15 and Mark 12:13. AND SENT FORTH SPIES. — The noun is, again, one of St. Luke’s characteristic words not used by any other New Testament writer. It expresses rather the act of those who lie in ambush, than that of “spies” in the strict sense... [ Continue Reading ]
NEITHER ACCEPTEST THOU THE PERSON OF ANY. — To “accept the person” takes the place of “regarding” or “looking at” the person of Matthew 22:16, where see Note. The precise combination which St. Luke uses meets us again in Galatians 2:6.... [ Continue Reading ]
THEIR CRAFTINESS. — The Greek noun does not appear in the other Gospels, but is used four times by St. Paul, as in 2 Corinthians 4:2; Ephesians 4:14.... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THEY COULD NOT TAKE HOLD OF HIS WORDS. — As St. Luke is fuller in his account of the plot of the questioners (Luke 20:20), so is he in that of its defeat. THEY MARVELLED AT HIS ANSWER. — There is an interesting, though obviously undesigned, parallelism with the narrative of the incident in whic... [ Continue Reading ]
(27-39) THEN CAME TO HIM CERTAIN OF THE SADDUCEES. — See Notes on Matthew 22:23; Mark 12:18.... [ Continue Reading ]
THE CHILDREN OF THIS WORLD MARRY. — The three reports of the question are all but absolutely identical. In the form of the answer there are slight variations. The contrast between “the children of this world “or “age,” those, _i.e.,_ who belong to it (see Note on Luke 16:8), and those of “that world... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY WHICH SHALL BE ACCOUNTED WORTHY. — Another word common to St. Luke and St. Paul (2 Thessalonians 1:5), and to them only in the New Testament.... [ Continue Reading ]
NEITHER CAN THEY DIE ANY MORE. — The record of this teaching is peculiar to St. Luke. The implied thought is that death and marriage are correlative facts in God’s government of the world, the one filling up the gaps which are caused by the other. In the life eternal there is no need for an addition... [ Continue Reading ]
EVEN MOSES SHEWED AT THE BUSH. — The precise meaning of the verb is that of “indicating,” “pointing to,” rather than actually “shewing.” In his mode of reference to the words of Exodus 3:6, St. Luke agrees with St. Mark (Mark 12:26).... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR ALL LIVE UNTO HIM. — St. Luke alone adds the words. They are of value as developing the meaning of those that precede them. All life, in the truest, highest sense of that term, depends upon our relation to God. We live to Him, and in Him. And so when He reveals Himself as the God of those who ha... [ Continue Reading ]
MASTER, THOU HAST WELL SAID. — The words came, it is obvious, from the better section of the Pharisees, who welcomed this new defence of the doctrine on which their faith rested.... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY DURST NOT ASK HIM ANY QUESTION AT ALL. — The singular omission by St. Luke of the question which is recorded by St. Matthew (Matthew 22:34) and St. Mark (Mark 12:28), and which would have fallen m so well with the general scope and tenor of his Gospel, may take its place, though we cannot accou... [ Continue Reading ]
HOW SAY THEY THAT CHRIST IS DAVID’S SON? — Better, _that the Christ._ See Notes on Matthew 22:41; Mark 12:35. The implied subject of the verb is clearly, as in St. Mark, “the scribes.” St. Luke agrees with St. Mark in not giving the preliminary question, “What think ye of Christ?..,” which we find i... [ Continue Reading ]
(45-47) THEN IN THE AUDIENCE OF ALL THE PEOPLE. — Better, _in the hearing._ See Notes on Matthew 23, especially Luke 20:6, and Mark 12:38. St. Luke’s report agrees almost verbally with the latter. CHIEF ROOMS. — Better, _chief places._... [ Continue Reading ]