Luke chapter 22

vs 21

How could Jesus know this? Because he's super awesome, that's why. It would suck to be the person trying to betray someone who has such wide knowledge.

vs 22

Oooh, and that doesn't sound very nice either, does it. And yet, this verse exemplifies the whole attitude of God and Jesus towards the sinful nature of humanity. They know it's going to happen, and so they go along with it, their plans are in fact set around it. That doesn't make human sinfulness any less tragic or wrong or in need of punishment though.

vs 23

So the disciples all start having a conversation about who is the best candidate for "Most Likely to Betray the Messiah AD 33". Perhaps they did it in secret, or in whispers, or perhaps they did it out loud in front of Jesus and it's just a different culture. Because to me it sounds rude to do that.

vs 24

So while they're doing "Most Likely to Betray the Messiah AD 33", they also decide to take votes on "Most Likely to be Spiritually Successful AD 33". Which isn't much better of a conversation topic, really. The answer is simple - Jesus is the greatest.But then we always want to know where we are ranked so we say, "Yeah yeah, I know that, but who's the next greatest?"

vs 25

The idea being that even the kings themselves know that they benefit from their lordship, from their great position. At least, that's what I think he's saying. Lots of impersonal pronouns in this verse.

vs 26

Can I point out the age-critical culture here? What this verse really means is "the greatest should be like the least worthy", and the idiomatic way of saying that in the ancient culture was youngest. Now tell me what faith like a child means.

vs 27

Jesus points out both the normal position of the greatest person (as one who is served by many) but then shows that he is great, and yet is not in that position, but is instead in a position of service. So he is the ultimate example of greatness here.

vs 28

They ain't seen nothing yet.

vs 29-30

Woah! How often do we talk about this? I know we protestants don't like having saints and all that, fair enough. But the apostles were special. They had a kingdom conferred to them, they have twelve thrones conferred to them. They are not normal 21st century Christians. These guys were special.

I'm not saying we worship them or venerate them or anything. What I am saying is that we need to acknowlege that they lived at a special time, and had some unique experiences, and were treated uniquely too. So we need to think about then uniquely.