Commentary on Matthew, Mark, Luke - Volume 2.pdf

<strong>Commentary</strong> on Matthew, Mark, Luke - Volume 2
Luke 13:31-33
31. The same day some of the Pharisees came, saying to him, Depart, and go hence: for Herod
intends to kill thee. 32. And he said to them, Go, tell that fox, Lo, I cast out devils, and I perform
cures today and tomorrow, and the third day I am completed. 280 33. But yet I must walk today and
tomorrow, and the following day; for it is not a usual occurrence that a prophet perish anywhere
else than in Jerusalem. 281
It deserves our attention, that Christ gives the designation, daughter of Abraham, to one whose
body had been enslaved by Satan during eighteen years. She was so called, not only in reference
to her lineage, as all the Jews without exception gloried in this title, but because she was one of the
true and actual members of the Church. Here we perceive also what Paul tells us, that some are
delivered to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord
Jesus,
(1 Corinthians 5:5.)
And the length of time points out to us that, though the Lord does not immediately relieve our
distresses, yet we ought not to despair.
It is difficult to ascertain the precise time when this happened, farther than that Christ was at
that time residing in Galilee, as during the whole period of his public calling he remained longer
there than in any other place. Certain persons, wishing to be considered as his friends, advise him
that, if he wishes to be in safety, he should go beyond the boundaries of Herod’s jurisdiction. In
what manner those who gave that advice were affected towards him we have no means of knowing;
but I am strongly inclined to conjecture, that they attempted to drive him to some other place,
because they saw that the greater part of the people in that place were attached to Christ, so that
the Gospel was generally received. We must observe who those advisers were. Luke says that they
were some of the Pharisees Now we know that that sect was not so favorable to Christ as to make
it probable that those men were anxious about his life. What then? Their design was, to awaken in
him such fears as would drive him to some place of concealment; for they expected that, in a short
time, his authority would decline, and that his whole doctrine would vanish away. But we must
also direct our attention to the first originator and contriver of this scheme, Satan; for, as he
endeavored at that time to interrupt the progress of the Gospel, by terrifying the Son of God, so he
constantly invents and hatches up new grounds of alarm, to strike the ministers of Christ with
dismay, and to constrain them to turn aside.
280 “Et au troisieme iour ie pren fin;” — “and on the third day I conclude.”
281 “Car il n’advient point qu’aucun Prophete meure hors de Ierusalem;” — “for it does not happen that any Prophet dies out
of Jerusalem.”
109
John Calvin