Note 1 at Lk. 22:24: Just a matter of minutes before this, Jesus had washed His disciples' feet and taught them about humility (see note 3 at Jn. 13:5, p. 416). He had also given them the new commandment of love and had told them that all men would know they were His disciples by their love, one for another. However, here were His disciples, acting contrary to everything He had taught and shown them.

It was also just a matter of weeks until Jesus would once again be seated at His Father's right hand, and He would establish His church here on the earth with these men as His leaders. These facts, coupled with Jesus' own agony over becoming sin for us (2 Cor. 5:21), would have frustrated and depressed any man to the point of giving up. Yet the Lord had already prophesied the church's ultimate triumph (Mt. 16:18) and He never wavered from that conviction.

This reveals that the Lord works through us in spite of who we are -- not because of who we are. God has chosen the foolish, weak, and base things of this world to confound and "bring to nought" the powers of Satan (1 Cor. 1:26-29). We can take courage from this. If Jesus didn't worry, knowing the full extent of His own disciples' weaknesses, then neither should we when we see the problems in the church today. We're going to win!

Note 2 at Lk. 22:24: It is amazing how spiritually dull Jesus' disciples were. They had spent over three years being discipled by the Lord, Himself. They had heard countless teachings on humility and had had those lessons demonstrated in a way that left nothing to be said. And yet, here they were violating some of the foundational principles of Jesus' ministry.

To make things worse, Jesus had just spoken of His imminent death once again, and instead of the disciples feeling compassion for Him, they were consumed with promoting their own worth.

This is in stark contrast with the actions of these same men after the day of Pentecost, and graphically illustrates the difference that the Holy Spirit makes in a person's life (1 Cor. 2:14).