Luke 9:52 Commentary and Bible Study

He sent messengers ahead to the villages where he was going. Why? To prepare accommodation for a large party – Christ and his disciples. Some advanced arrangements were necessary for such a group. It was necessary that they should be provided for.Did the Lord Jesus expect the people to recognize him? Yes, they should have done so – his fame had spread far abroad by now; this was at the end of his public ministry. All knew of his miracles and healings, of his wonderful teaching and gracious words. Where is he now? He is about to cross over to the far side of the Jordan, in what was known as Perea. The beginning of the so called Perean ministry in Luke is parallel to the point at which the other Gospels describe the Lord as crossing over to the far side of Jordan (Matthew 19:1; Mark 10:1; John 10:40), but only Luke gives us the details of what occurred there. Though no precise location is given here by Luke, they appear to be in a Samaritan region just before the Jordan is crossed.The point about this narrative is that this was a Samaritan area. The Samaritans were very conscious that he and his party were Jews and they were not Jews. They were out of sympathy with his mission, because he was on his way to Jerusalem, and that was somehow very obvious to them. They wanted a benefit for themselves, and they wanted him to give them some of the same things that other had been given, but he was only passing through their region and on the move. They saw that his face was set to go to Jerusalem – that he had a work to accomplish there, and that nothing would deter him from it. It must have been apparent from his words or the words of the disciples in the advanced party, from what he made known of his plans, from the temporary use of accommodation. ‘He is not staying; he is only passing through.’ It sounds as if it was not possible for the advanced party to make arrangements for them to stay in the area. There was a hostility to his mission.