Luke 14 - Introduction
Luke 14. The various Discourses of Jesus at a Banquet. "The Son of Man eating and drinking.... [ Continue Reading ]
Luke 14. The various Discourses of Jesus at a Banquet. "The Son of Man eating and drinking.... [ Continue Reading ]
1-6. Sabbath healing of a Man with the Dropsy. 1. _of one of the chief Pharisees_ Rather, of THE RULERS of THE PHARISEES. The rendering of our version gives the general sense but is inadmissible. It is perhaps due to the translators being aware that the Pharisees had (strictly speaking) no Rulers.... [ Continue Reading ]
Luke 9:51 to Luke 18:31_. Rejected by the Samaritans. A lesson of Tolerance._ This section forms a great episode in St Luke, which may be called the departure for the final conflict, and is identical with the journey (probably to the Feast of the Dedication, John 10:22) which is partially Luke 9:51... [ Continue Reading ]
_And behold_, _there was a certain man before him_, _which had the dropsy_ The verse represents with inimitable vividness the flash of recognition with which the Lord at once grasped the whole meaning of the scene. The dropsical man was not one of the guests; he stood _as though by accident_in the p... [ Continue Reading ]
_answering spake unto the lawyers and Pharisees_ See on Luke 5:22. He took the initiative, and answered their unspoken thoughts. _Is it lawful to heal on the sabbath day?_ We have already seen (Luke 6:1-11; Luke 13:11-17; comp. John 5:11; John 9:14), that these Sabbath disputes lay at the very centr... [ Continue Reading ]
_they held their peace_ It was the silence of a splenetic pride and obstinacy which while _secretly_convinced determined to remain unconvinced. But such silence was His complete public justification. If the contemplated miracle was unlawful why did not they the great religious authorities of Judaism... [ Continue Reading ]
_an ass or an ox_ The unquestionable reading if we are to follow the MSS. is -a _son_or an ox." The strangeness of the collocation (which however may be taken to imply -a son nay even an ox") has led to the conjectural emendation of _huios_into _ois_-a sheep" (whence the reading _probaton_-a sheep... [ Continue Reading ]
_they could not answer him again to these things_ A fact which never makes any difference to the convictions of ignorant hatred and superstitious narrowness.... [ Continue Reading ]
7-11. Humility; a Lesson for the Guests. 7. _he put forth a parable_ See on Luke 4:23. _to those which were bidden_ to the invited guests, as distinguished from the onlookers. _they chose out_ Rather, they were picking out for themselves. The selfish struggle for precedence as they were taking th... [ Continue Reading ]
_to a wedding_ The term is used generally for any great feast; but perhaps our Lord here adopted it to make His lesson less immediately personal. _a more honourable man than thou_ Philippians 2:3, "in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves.... [ Continue Reading ]
_thou begin with shame to take the lowest room_ If, by the time that the guests are seated, it be found that some one has thrust himself into too high a position for his rank, when he is removed he will find all the other good places occupied. There is an obvious reference to Proverbs 25:6-7. How mu... [ Continue Reading ]
_then shalt thou have worship_ Rather, glory. It need, however, hardly be said that nothing is farther from our Lord's intentions than to teach mere calculating worldly politeness. From the simple facts of life that an intrusive person renders himself liable to just rebuffs, he draws the great spiri... [ Continue Reading ]
_whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased_ Rather, humbled. See on Luke 1:52; Luke 13:30, and Matthew 23:12. A similar lesson is prominent in the Book of Proverbs (Proverbs 15:33; Proverbs 16:18-19; Proverbs 29:23), and is strongly enforced by St Peter (1 Peter 5:5).... [ Continue Reading ]
12-14. Whom to invite; a Lesson to the Host. 12. _call not thy friends_, _nor thy brethren_ In this, as many of our Lord's utterances, we must take into account (1) the idioms of Oriental speech; (2) the rules of common sense, which teach us to distinguish between the letter and the spirit. It is ob... [ Continue Reading ]
_call the poor_ Matthew 25:35. The duty is recognised in another form by Nehemiah. "Eat the fat, and drink the sweet, and send portions unto them for whom nothing is prepared," Nehemiah 8:10.... [ Continue Reading ]
_at the resurrection of the just_ The same duty is enforced with the same motive by St Paul, 1 Timothy 6:17-19. By the phrase "_the resurrection of the just,"_our Lord possibly referred to the twofold resurrection, Luke 20:35; 1Co 15:23; 1 Thessalonians 4:16, &c. But the allusion may be more general... [ Continue Reading ]
15-21. THE REFUSED BANQUET; A LESSON TO A GUEST. 15. _when one of them that sat at meat with him heard these things_ He may have wanted to diminish the force of the rebukes implied in the previous lessons by a vapid general remark. At any rate, he seems to have assumed that _he_would be one of thos... [ Continue Reading ]
_A certain man made a great supper_ The difference between this parable and that of the King's Supper will be clear to any one who will read it side by side with Matthew 22:1-10. He who gives the invitation is God. Psalms 25:6. _and bade many_ The breadth and ultimate universality of the Gospel mes... [ Continue Reading ]
_sent his servant at supper time_ This is still a custom in the East, Proverbs 9:1-5; Thomson, _Land and Book_, 1 Chronicles 9: The message of the servant corresponds to the ministry of John the Baptist and of Jesus Himself. _Come; for all things are now ready_ "Repent ye; for the kingdom of heaven... [ Continue Reading ]
_with one consent_ i.e. _apo mias gnomes;_or -with one voice," if we understand _phones._ to make excuse The Greek word is the exact equivalent of our - _to beg off."_The same fact is indicated in John 1:11; John 5:40, and in the "ye would not" of Luke 13:34; and the _reason_is the antipathy of the... [ Continue Reading ]
_I go to prove them_ The second has not even the decency to plead any _necessity._He merely says -I am going to test my oxen," and implies -my will is sufficient reason.... [ Continue Reading ]
_I cannot come_ The -I cannot," as in Luke 11:7, is only an euphemism for -I will not." He thinks his reason so strong that there can be no question about it. He relies doubtless on the principle of the exemption from war, granted to newly-married bridegrooms in Deuteronomy 24:5. Perhaps St Paul is... [ Continue Reading ]
_that servant came_, _and shewed his lord these things_ We have here a shadow of the complaints and lamentations of our Lord over the stiffnecked obstinacy of the Jews in rejecting Him. _Then the master of the house being angry_ "God, when He's angry here with any one His wrath is free from pertur... [ Continue Reading ]
_and yet there is room_ -Grace, no less than Nature, abhors a vacuum." Bengel.... [ Continue Reading ]
_into the highways and hedges_ i.e. _outside_the city; intimating the ultimate call of the Gentiles. _compel them to come in_ By such moral suasion as that described in 2 Timothy 4:2. The compulsion wanted is that used by Paul the Apostle, not by Saul the Inquisitor. The abuse of the word "Compel" i... [ Continue Reading ]
_For I say unto you_ Since the - _you_" is plural this verse is probably the language of our Lord, indirectly assuming that His hearers would see the bearing of this parable. _none of those men which were bidden shall taste of my supper_ It must be remembered that Jesus had now been distinctly and d... [ Continue Reading ]
25-35. Lessons of Whole-heartedness, and of Counting the Cost; the Tower-builder; the warring King; the SAVOURLESS SALT. 25. _And there went great multitudes with him_ This is evidently a scene of the journey, when multitudes of the Galilaean pilgrims were accompanying Him on their way to one of th... [ Continue Reading ]
_and hate not his father and mother_ It is not so much the true explanation to say that _hate_here means _love less_(Genesis 29:31), as to say that when our nearest and dearest relationships prove to be positive obstacles in coming to Christ, then all natural affections must be flung aside; comp. De... [ Continue Reading ]
_doth not bear his cross_ Not only must self be mortified, but even the worst sufferings endured, 1 Thessalonians 3:4-5. The allusion to the cross must still have been mysterious to the hearers (Matthew 10:38), the more so since they were dreaming of Messianic triumphs and festivities.... [ Continue Reading ]
_intending to build a tower_ This and the next similitude are meant, like the previous teachings, to warn the expectant multitudes that to follow Christ in the true sense might be a far more serious matter than they imagined. They are significant lessons on the duty of deliberate choice which will n... [ Continue Reading ]
_all that behold it begin to mock him_ Very possibly this might have actually happened in some well-known instance, since the Herodian family had a passion for great buildings and probably found many imitators. First failure, then shame awaits renegade professions and extinguished enthusiasms.... [ Continue Reading ]
_what king_, _going to make war against another king_ Rather, TO MEET ANOTHER KING IN BATTLE. There may be an historical allusion here to the disturbed relations between Herod Antipas and his injured father-in-law Hareth, king of Arabia, which (after this time) ended in the total defeat of the forme... [ Continue Reading ]
_desireth conditions 0f peace_ This is sufficient to overthrow the interpretation which sees Man and Satan in the warring kings. Another view is that it implies the hostility of man to God, and the urgent need of being reconciled to Him (e.g. Bengel says on the word -king," "Christiana militia regal... [ Continue Reading ]
_forsaketh not all that he hath_ i.e. every affection, gift or possession that interferes with true discipleship. We must be ready -to count all things but loss for Christ," Philippians 3:7-8.... [ Continue Reading ]
_Salt is good_ The true reading is _Salt therefore is good,_connecting this verse with what has gone before. This similitude was thrice used by Christ with different applications. "Ye are the salt of the earth," Matthew 5:13. "Have salt in yourselves," Mark 9:50. Here the salt is the inward energy o... [ Continue Reading ]
_men cast it out_ There is nothing stronger than salt which can restore to it its lost pungency. Hence, if it have been spoilt by rain or exposure, it is only fit to be used for paths. The peril of backsliding, the worthlessness of the state produced by apostasy, is represented in St John (Luke 15:6... [ Continue Reading ]