The Gospel of Luke, an exposition

by Charles Rosenbury Erdman

Some one among his hearers asked him the question, “Lord, are they few that are saved?” He did not reply directly but his answer implied that many Jews who expected to be saved would be lost and many Gentiles whom the Jews expected to be lost would be saved. Jesus likened the blessings of his Kingdom to a banquet served in a palace. The door into this palace is narrow, and many who are invited refuse to pass in thereby; after a time this door is shut, and then those who before have refused to enter, intreat the Master of the house to reopen it, but in vain; they are forever excluded, and are overwhelmed with remorse and chagrin. The narrow door is that of repentance and faith in Christ; the opportunity for entrance is present but not endless; those who reject Christ will be excluded from his Kingdom; among these will be many whose folly will be specially apparent. In the parable they are represented as pleading for entrance, and on the very ground which condemned them. They are pictured as saying that they had known Christ well; they had eaten in his presence and he had taught in their streets. Why, then, had they not accepted him? These privileges only increase their guilt; and the Lord refused to recognize them as his own. Thus did Jesus describe the exclusion from his Kingdom of many Jews; and he added the equally surprising statement of the reception of Gentiles: “They shall come from the east and west, and from the north and south, and shall sit down in the kingdom of God.”

Thus Jesus gave a very practical turn to the question which had been asked in mere curiosity. It is not important to know exactly how many will be saved; it is for each who hears the gospel to place himself in that number, now and at any cost. It is not enough that one lives in a Christian land, and in a religious home, and possesses knowledge of saving truth; each must repent and accept Christ for himself. The sad truth is that many who, like the Jews, have the largest religious opportunities are the furthest from salvation: “There are last who shall be first, and there are first who shall be last.”

2. The Message to Herod and the Lament Over Jerusalem. Ch. 13:31-35

31 In that very hour there came certain Pharisees, saying to him, Get thee out, and go hence: for Herod would fain kill thee. 32 And he said unto them, Go and say to that fox, Behold, I cast out demons and perform cures to-day and to-morrow, and the third day I am perfected. 33 Nevertheless I must go on my way to-day and to-morrow and the day following: for it cannot be that a prophet perish out of Jerusalem. 34 O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, that killeth the prophets, and stoneth them that are sent unto her! how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her own brood under her wings, and ye would not! 35 Behold, your house is left unto you desolate: and I say unto you, Ye shall not see me, until ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.

A report reached Jesus that Herod was threatening his life. This report was brought by the Pharisees who hoped that it would terrify the followers of Jesus and induce him to flee to Jerusalem where he would fall into the hands of the Jewish rulers.

Instead, Jesus sent to the king a message of defiance and irony; it has no note of insolence, but reveals the courage and indignation of a true man. “Go and say to that fox”—Jesus thus addressed Herod because he saw the craftiness of the king. Herod did not wish the disrepute of killing another prophet so soon after the death of John, but he wished his realm to be rid of one whom he regarded as a dangerous leader; so he did not arrest Jesus but tried to put him to flight. The Pharisees were asked to bear this message to the king because Jesus saw that they were one with the king in the malicious cunning of their report.

“Behold, I cast out demons and perform cures to-day and to-morrow and the third day I am perfected.” Thus Jesus declared that his time and task were divinely allotted; no king could shorten the time till the task was done. When his work was complete, then in his death and resurrection the glory and grace and power of Jesus would be made perfect. “Nevertheless I must go on my way.” Jesus was to leave Galilee and Perea, the realm of Herod, not because he feared the king, but in fulfillment of his task which would take him to Jerusalem. The explicit reference to Jerusalem was made in a tone of solemn irony, “For it cannot be that a prophet perish out of Jerusalem;” that city had a monopoly in murdering prophets; it would be quite improper for Jesus to be killed in any other place.

However, the reference to Jerusalem led Jesus to pronounce a lament of touching pathos over the city he truly loved. He saw that his rejection and death would hasten the destruction of the city. He saw its doom already hovering over it like a bird of prey. He gladly would have given his divine salvation and protection, but his people would not accept him. Now they would be left to their own defense, that is to say, to the ruin which he alone could have averted. Henceforth they would not see him in his saving power until as a suffering and repentant nation they would finally welcome his return as that of their true Saviour and Lord. How Jesus always yearns to bless and to deliver, and how often he is spurned and rejected by those who need him the most!