Luke 13:28-30

“ There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when ye shall see Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, and you yourselves thrust out. 29. And they shall come from the east, and from the west, and from the north, and from the south, and shall sit down in the kingdom of God. 30. And, behold, there are last which shall be first, and there are first which shall be last. ”

Wailings express despair, gnashings of teeth rage. The souls of the condemned oscillate between those two feelings. The article before the two substantives has the force of setting aside all former similar impressions as comparatively insignificant. Messianic blessedness is represented in Luke 13:28, according to a figure familiar among the Jews (Luke 14:15), under the image of a banquet presided over by the patriarchs. From Luke 13:29 it follows that the believing Gentiles are admitted as well as the faithful posterity of Abraham. Thus there are really many persons saved.

The words and behold (Luke 13:30) refer to the surprise produced by this entire reversal of position. The last here are not those who, within the confines of the kingdom, occupy the last place; they are, as the context proves, those who are excluded from it; they are in the last place, absolutely speaking. The first are all the saved. The first proposition evidently applies to the Gentiles who are admitted (Luke 13:29), the second to the Jews who are rejected (Luke 13:27-28).

Sayings similar to those of Luke 13:25-27 are found in Matthew 7, at the end of the Sermon on the Mount, also in Matthew 25:10-12 and Matthew 25:30. There is nothing to prevent us from regarding them as uttered on a different occasion. Those of Luke 13:28-29 appear in Matthew 8:11-12, immediately after the cure of the centurion's son. But they are not so well accounted for there as in the context of Luke. The apophthegm of Luke 13:30 forms (Matthew 19:30; Matthew 20:16) the preface and the conclusion of the parable of the labourers called at different hours. In this context, the last who become the first are manifestly the labourers who, having come later, find themselves privileged to receive the same hire; the first who become the last are those who, having wrought from the beginning of the day, are thereby treated less advantageously. Is this sense natural? Is not the application of those expressions in Luke to the rejected Jews and admitted Gentiles more simple?

The Epistles to the Galatians and to the Romans are the only true commentary on this piece, and on the sayings of Luke 13:28-29 in particular. Now, as the historical truth of the whole passage is certified by the parallel of Matthew, we have a clear proof that the gospel of Paul no way differed in substance from that of Jesus and the Twelve.

2. The Farewell to the Theocracy: Luke 13:31-35.

When the heart is full of some one feeling, everything which tells upon it from without calls forth the expression of it. And so, at the time when the mind of Jesus is specially occupied about the future of His people, it is not surprising that this feeling comes to light with every circumstance which supervenes. There is therefore no reason why this perfectly natural fact should be taken to prove a systematic arrangement originating with Luke.