Luke 14:1-35
THE DROPSICAL MAN. THE GREAT SUPPER. DIVERS SAYINGS AND PARABLES 1-6. The sabbath question again. The man with the dropsy healed (peculiar to Lk).... [ Continue Reading ]
THE DROPSICAL MAN. THE GREAT SUPPER. DIVERS SAYINGS AND PARABLES 1-6. The sabbath question again. The man with the dropsy healed (peculiar to Lk).... [ Continue Reading ]
TO EAT BREAD] So far from being abstemious on the sabbath, the Jews carried the pleasures of the table to excess. 'The Hebrews honour the sabbath chiefly by inviting each other to drinking and intoxication' (Plutarch). 'Rabbah Abba bought flesh of thirteen butchers that he might be sure to taste the... [ Continue Reading ]
THERE WAS.. BEFORE HIM] Spectators often enter the house to witness an Eastern banquet.... [ Continue Reading ]
IS IT LAWFUL TO HEAL?] See on Matthew 12:10.... [ Continue Reading ]
AN ASS] Nearly all modern editors read 'a son.' The rabbis allowed 'an ox or an ass, a son or a daughter, a man-servant or a maid-servant' to be drawn out of a well on the sabbath. Thus they allowed to themselves breaches of the sabbath day which they denied to Christ.... [ Continue Reading ]
A PARABLE] An elastic word. Here it means a piece of advice, inculcating humility. CHOSE.. THE CHIEF ROOMS] RV 'seats,' i.e. places on the couches: see on Mark 12:39. A good illustration of the pride of the rabbis is the conduct of Rabbi Simeon ben Shetah, who when invited to dinner by king Jannæus... [ Continue Reading ]
ON PLACES OF HONOUR AT FEASTS (peculiar to Lk, but a similar discourse occurs in the 'Western' text of St. Matthew, Luke 20:28, q.v.). It is probable that the dropsical man was healed before the dinner began, and that there then ensued an unseemly struggle for places, which gave occasion for the 'pa... [ Continue Reading ]
Cp. Matthew 23:12 repeated Luke 18:14.... [ Continue Reading ]
THY FRIENDS, etc.] A man is not in the true sense hospitable, who entertains only those who can entertain again. Such interested hospitality is not wrong, but there is no merit in it, and it does not lay up treasure in heaven.... [ Continue Reading ]
ON ENTERTAINING THE POOR (peculiar to Lk, whose Gospel is full of sympathy with the poor).... [ Continue Reading ]
AT THE RESURRECTION OF THE JUST] i.e. at the glorious resurrection to life eternal which the righteous only will enjoy, with which is contrasted 'the resurrection of condemnation' which awaits the unrighteous (John 5:29). 'The resurrection of the just' here answers exactly to' the resurrection _from... [ Continue Reading ]
EAT BREAD IN THE KINGDOM OF GOD] The mention of the 'resurrection of the just,' with which, according to Jewish ideas, the reign of the Messiah would begin, reminds this Jew of the great feast, which the Messiah would then hold: see on Matthew 8:11.... [ Continue Reading ]
THE GREAT SUPPER (peculiar to Lk, although Matthew 22:1 presents many points of similarity: see on that passage). Here the 'certain man' is God, the many bidden are the rulers of the Jews, the servant who invites them is Jesus Christ. When the rulers refuse the invitation to the feast (i.e. to enter... [ Continue Reading ]
The excuses show careless unconcern, not hardened wickedness. Business occupations, family ties, and various distractions, are pleaded as excuses for not taking God's summons seriously.... [ Continue Reading ]
COMPEL _them_ TO COME IN] Our Lord does not here (as has often been supposed) sanction religious persecution. 'He said “Compel them,” not commanding force to be used, but indicating that in the case of Gentiles a more urgent and persistent kind of preaching must be used, seeing that they were under... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR I SAY] Here Christ drops the parabolic form and speaks in His own person. 'For I (Christ) say unto you, that none of the Jewish rulers who have rejected My invitation shall taste of My supper, i.e. of the blessedness in store for the saints of God.'... [ Continue Reading ]
THAT WE MUST GIVE UP ALL TO FOLLOW CHRIST, AND COUNT THE COST BEFORE WE DO SO. The two parables of the Rash Builder (Luke 14:28) and the Rash King (Luke 14:31) are peculiar to Lk. The multitude who follow Jesus (Luke 14:25) are inclined to believe that He is the Messiah, and expect great temporal be... [ Continue Reading ]
HATE] 'This does not imply the _feeling_ of hatred, but a readiness to _act_ as if one hated. The nearest and dearest must be forsaken, and opposed, and offended, if need be, to follow Christ.' 28-33. None of the details of these two parables or similes are significant. The parables simply enforce... [ Continue Reading ]
FORSAKETH NOT ALL] Only the Apostles (and the Seventy) were required to do this in act, but every disciple is required to do it in will, i.e. to subordinate all earthly interests and claims to Christ's, when the two are incompatible. 34, 35. SALT] i.e. 'discipleship.' In Matthew 5:13; (q.v.) it mea... [ Continue Reading ]
THE LAND.. THE DUNGHILL] These have no special meaning. The sense is that the discipleship which makes no sacrifices is valueless for any purpose.... [ Continue Reading ]