John Calvin Commentary Luke 24:26

"Behooved it not the Christ to suffer these things, and to enter into his glory?" — Luke 24:26 (ASV)

Ought not Christ to have suffered these things? There is no room to doubt that our Lord spoke to them about the office of Messiah, as it is described by the Prophets, so that they might not take offense at his death. A journey of three or four hours provided ample time for a full explanation of these matters.

Christ did not, therefore, state in a few words that Christ ought to have suffered, but explained at great length that he had been sent so that he might atone for the sins of the world by the sacrifice of his death—that he might become a curse to remove the curse, that by having guilt imputed to him he might wash away the defilements of others. Luke put this sentence in the form of a question to present it with greater force; this implies that he used arguments to show the necessity of his death.

The sum of what is stated is that the disciples were wrong in troubling themselves about their Master’s death (without which he could not fulfill what belonged to the Christ, because his sacrifice was the most important part of redemption). For in this way, they closed the gate, so that he might not enter into his kingdom.

This should be carefully observed. For since Christ is deprived of the honor due to him if he is not regarded as a sacrifice for sins, the only way by which he could enter into his glory was that humiliation or emptying, (Philippians 2:7) from which the Redeemer arose.

But we see that no small offense is committed today by the inversion of this order. For among the multitude of those who declare, in magnificent language, that Christ is King, and who extol him with divine titles, hardly one person in ten thinks of the grace that has been brought to us by his death.