A Commentary on the Gospel of St. Luke (Volume 2) (Paperback)

Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: SIXTH PART, THE PASSION. Chap. xxn. And Xxhl THE Saviour had taken up a truly royal attitude in the temple. Now this short anticipation of His kingdom, the normal blossoming of His prophetic activity, is over; and limiting Himself to a silence and passivity which have earned for this period the name of the Passion, He exercises that terrestrial priesthood which was to be the transition from His prophetic ministry to His celestial sovereignty. We find in the fourth Gospel (chap. xii.) a scene which must have occurred on one of the days referred to by Luke xxi. 37, 38, the discourse which Jesus uttered in the temple in answer to the question of some Greek proselytes who had desired to converse with Him, and the divine manifestation which took place on that occasion. Then it is said, " And He departed, and did hide Himself from tUcm" (ver. 36). This departure could not be that of Matt. xxiv. 1 (parall. Luke xxi. 5). The scene which precedes differs too widely. It took place, therefore, one or two days later; and this supposition agrees with the meaning of the last two verses of chap. xxi., which forbid us to believe that after the eschatological discourse Jesus did not reappear in the temple. Thus, if we place the entry into Jerusalem on Sunday afternoon, the purification of the temple on Monday (Mark), the captious questions put to Him on Tuesday, and the prophecy respecting the destruction of Jerusalem on the evening of that day, the temple scene related John xii. may have occurred on Wednesday; in which case, Jesus would pass the last day, Thursday, in His retreatat Bethany with His disciples. If it is alleged, with Bleek, that the entry on Palm Day took place on Monday, each of the events mentioned is put back a day; and the temple scene falling in this case on Thursday...