Lucas 14
Theophylact of Ohrid
Lucas 14:1
The Lord, although He knew the corruption of the Pharisees, nevertheless entered into their house; He entered because He was concerned for the benefit of their souls. For they, if they had wished, could have received benefit both from His words and teaching, and from the manifestation of signs. — Commentary on Luke
Lucas 14:2
Therefore, when the man "suffering from dropsy" came forward into the midst, the Lord looked not to avoiding giving them offense, but to bestowing a kindness on the one in need of healing. For where very great benefit is at hand, we ought not to concern ourselves with those who are foolishly scandalized. — Commentary on Luke
Lucas 14:3
The Lord exposes the foolishness of those who intended to reproach Him; therefore He asks whether it is lawful to heal on the Sabbath or not. Does He not clearly put them to shame as fools? For while God Himself blessed the Sabbath, they forbid doing good on it, and thus make it accursed. For that day is not blessed in which no good deed is performed. — Commentary on Luke
Lucas 14:3
[(as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274)] But by His question He exposes their folly. For while God blessed the sabbath, (Gen. 2:1.) they forbade to do good on the sabbath; but the day which does not admit the works of the good is accursed. — Catena Aurea by Aquinas
Lucas 14:4
But they, understanding where the question was leading, kept silent. Then Jesus does His work and through a touch heals the sick man. — Commentary on Luke
Lucas 14:5
[(as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274)] As though He said, If the law forbids to have mercy on the sabbath-day, have no care of thy son when in danger on the sabbath-day. But why speak I of a son, when thou dost not even neglect an ox if thou seest it in danger? — Catena Aurea by Aquinas
Lucas 14:5-6
Then by this act He also shames the Pharisees, saying to them as if thus: if the Law forbade showing mercy on the Sabbath, would you not care for your son who fell into misfortune on the Sabbath? And why do I speak of a son? Would you leave an ox without help if you saw it in distress? How is it not madness, then, to lie in wait to accuse someone for healing on the Sabbath a man suffering from dropsy? Every person who has become gravely ill in soul from a dissolute and careless life and is in need of Christ also suffers from dropsy. Such a person will be healed if he presents himself before Christ. For whoever constantly keeps in mind that he is before God and that God sees him will sin as little as possible. — Commentary on Luke
Lucas 14:7
Do you see what the suppers of Christ are like, how they are turned to the profit of souls and not to the stuffing of the belly? For look, He healed the man suffering from dropsy, He taught the Pharisees that doing good on the Sabbath is a good deed. Then, when He saw that they were making a commotion over sitting in the front seats, He heals this passion too, one arising not from a small cause but from a great and hard-to-avoid one, namely vainglory. And let no one consider the teaching about this to be trivial and unworthy of the majesty of God. For you could by no means call that physician benevolent who promises to cure gout and whatever serious disease there may be, but refuses to treat a bruised finger or a toothache. Moreover, how can one consider the passion of vainglory trivial when it troubles in every way those who love to sit in the front seats? Therefore it was necessary for the Teacher, the Author and Perfecter of humility — Christ — it was necessary to cut off every branch of this evil root: vainglory. Please also take this into consideration: if it had not been the time of the meal and the Lord had begun speaking about this, setting aside discussion of other matters, they could have reproached Him. But as it was, when it was the time of the supper and when the passion for preeminence was tormenting the wretches before the Savior's eyes, His admonition was most timely. — Commentary on Luke
Lucas 14:7-11
[(as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274)] Now let no one deem the above precepts of Christ to be trifling, and unworthy of the sublimity and grandeur of the Word of God. For you would not call him a merciful physician who professed to heal the gout, but refused to cure a scar on the finger or a tooth-ache. Besides, how can that passion of vainglory appear slight, which moved or agitated those who sought the first seats. It became then the Master of humility to cut off every branch of the bad root. But observe this also, that when the supper was ready, and the wretched guests were contending for precedency before the eyes of the Saviour, there was a fit occasion for advice. Moreover, he is not to be respected in the end, nor by all men, who thrusts himself into honours; but while by some he is honoured, by others he is disparaged, and sometimes even by the very men who outwardly honour him. — Catena Aurea by Aquinas
Lucas 14:8-9
Look from the other side also at this: from what mockery He delivers man and how He teaches him propriety. For how much shame there is in the case where you take a place unbefitting to you, and then someone more honored than you arrives, and the one who invited you says: "Give him your place!" And this can happen often. And you yourself will have to yield, while they will sit higher. — Commentary on Luke
Lucas 14:10
On the contrary, how praiseworthy it is when one who is worthy of the first place initially sits below others, and then turns out to be the one presiding, so that everyone yields precedence to him. Does it really seem to you a small thing, this teaching of the Lord, which prescribes the highest of virtues — humility, plants it in the souls of the listeners, and leads the one who is obedient to it toward propriety? The same thing was later taught by the disciple of Christ, Paul: "all things," he says, "should be done decently and in order" (1 Cor. 14:40). And how shall this be? "Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others" (Phil. 2:4). Do you see that the disciple preaches the same thing as the Teacher? — Commentary on Luke
Lucas 14:11
How should we understand the words: "everyone who exalts himself will be humbled"? For many who exalt themselves in this life enjoy honor. "Will be humbled" means that whoever enjoys great honor in this world is wretched and lowly before God. Moreover, such a person is not honored to the end nor by all, but as much as some respect him, so much do others revile him, perhaps even among those very ones who respect him. Thus, this saying of truth is just. And everyone unworthy of a high position, yet claiming it for himself, will be humbled both before God at the time of the last judgment, even if in this life he were above all. No one is worthy of exaltation by nature. Therefore let no one exalt himself, lest he be humbled to the utmost. — Commentary on Luke
Lucas 14:12-14
At the supper there were two classes of those reclining at table — the hosts and the guests. The Lord first turned with exhortation to the guests, taught them saving humility, and offered them plain fare, and then He pays honor to the one who had invited Him and repays the hospitality with an exhortation, that he should not give feasts for the sake of any human favor and expect immediate recompense. For the fainthearted, when inviting friends or relatives, do so with a view to swift gratitude, and if they do not receive it, they become vexed. But the magnanimous, enduring until the life to come, receive their reward from Him who is truly rich (Eph. 2:4, 7). — Commentary on Luke
Lucas 14:12-14
[(as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274)] The supper being composed of two parties, the invited and the inviter, and having already exhorted the invited to humility, He next rewards by His advice the inviter, guarding him against making a feast to gain the favour of men. Hence it is said, Then said he also to him that bade him, When thou makest a dinner or a supper, call not thy friends. — Catena Aurea by Aquinas
Lucas 14:15
The Lord, saying this, turns us away from trading in friendliness. And a certain man, having heard this and thinking that God would honor and treat the righteous with sensible foods, said: "Blessed is he who shall eat bread in the Kingdom of God." He was probably not spiritual enough to understand, that is, he was guided by human reasoning. For a natural man is such that he believes nothing supernatural, for he judges everything by the laws of nature. There are three states in man: carnal, natural, and spiritual. "Carnal" is when someone desires to enjoy pleasures and rejoice, even if this is accompanied by causing harm to others. Such are all the covetous. The "natural" state is when someone desires neither to harm nor to be harmed. Such is life according to the law of nature. For nature itself suggests this to us. And the "spiritual" state is when someone for the sake of good is willing even to endure harm and insult. The first state is close to nature, the middle one is in accordance with nature, and the third is above nature. Anyone who thinks about human things and cannot understand anything supernatural is called natural (1 Cor. 2:14), since he is guided by the soul and spirit. But when someone is guided by the spirit and no longer lives himself, but Christ lives in him (Gal. 2:20), that one is spiritual, that one has risen above nature. So then, the one who thought that the reward of the saints would be sensible was natural, since he could not understand anything supernatural. — Commentary on Luke
Lucas 14:16
Since the one reclining with the Lord said: "blessed is he who shall eat bread in the Kingdom of God," the Lord teaches him at considerable length how we ought to understand the feast of God, and delivers the present parable, calling His man-loving Father a man. For in Scripture, when an allusion is made to the punishing power of God, God is called a lion and a bear (in Church Slavonic — a panther, a leopard) (Hos. 13:7–8); but when the intention is to indicate some act of His love for mankind, then God is presented in the person of a man (Luke 15:11–24), just as in the present passage. Since the parable speaks of the most philanthropic economy which God accomplished in us, having made us partakers of the Flesh of His Son, He is called a man. This economy is called a "great supper." It is called a "supper" because the Lord came in the last times and, as it were, at the "supper" of the age, and a "great supper" because the mystery of our salvation is undeniably great (1 Tim. 3:16). — Commentary on Luke
Lucas 14:17
Who is this servant? The Son of God, who took the form of a servant, having become Man (Phil. 2:7), and of whom as Man it is said that He was sent. Pay attention to the fact that it does not simply say "a servant," but "that" servant, who in the proper sense pleased God according to His humanity and served well. For not only as the Son and God who is well-pleasing to the Father, but also as the Man who alone and by Himself sinlessly submitted to all the decrees and commandments of the Father and "fulfilled all righteousness" (Matt. 3:15), is it said of Him that He served God and the Father. Which is why He alone can properly be called the servant of God. He was sent "when the time of supper came," that is, at a definite and fitting time. For no other time was more fitting for our salvation than the time of the reign of Augustus Caesar, when evil had reached its very peak and needed to fall. Just as physicians leave a festering and foul disease alone until it has drained all the bad fluid, and only then apply remedies, so it was necessary for sin to manifest all the forms proper to it, and then for the great Physician to apply the remedy. Therefore the Lord allowed the devil to fill up the measure of evil, and then, having become incarnate, healed every form of evil through His perfectly holy life. He sent "at the hour," that is, at the present and fitting time, as David also says: "Gird Your sword upon Your thigh, and Your beauty" (Ps. 45:3). The sword, without doubt, is the Word of God. The thigh signifies the birth in the flesh, which was accomplished at the ripeness of the fruit, that is, at the proper time. He was sent "to tell those who were bidden." Who are these bidden ones? Perhaps all people, since God called everyone to the knowledge of Himself, whether through the good ordering of visible things or through the natural law; or perhaps especially the Israelites, who were called through the Law and the prophets. To them, to the lost sheep of the house of Israel, the Lord was especially sent (Matt. 15:24). Go, for all is already prepared. For the Lord proclaimed to all: The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand (Matt. 4:17), and it is within you (Luke 17:21). — Commentary on Luke
Lucas 14:18-20
And they "all began... to make excuses," that is, as if by common agreement. For all the leaders of the Jews refused to have Jesus as King, and therefore were not deemed worthy to taste of the supper — some out of love for wealth, others out of love for pleasures. For by those of whom one bought a field and another five yoke of oxen, one may understand those attached to wealth, and by the one who married, the lover of pleasure. If you wish, understand by the one who bought the field the person who, on account of worldly wisdom, does not accept the mystery of salvation. For the field is this world and nature in general, and whoever looks only at nature does not accept the supernatural. Thus, the Pharisee, having perhaps fixed his gaze on the earth, that is, observing only the laws of nature, did not accept that the Virgin gave birth to God, since this is above nature. And all who boast of external wisdom, on account of this earth, that is, out of attachment to nature, did not acknowledge Jesus, who renewed nature. By the one who bought five yoke of oxen and is testing them, one may also understand the person attached to matter, who has yoked the five senses of the soul to the bodily senses and made the soul into flesh. Therefore, as one occupied with earthly things, he does not wish to participate in the spiritual supper. For the wise man also says: "How can he become wise who handles the plow?" (Sirach 38:25). And by the one who falls away on account of a wife, one may understand the person attached to pleasures, who, having cleaved to the flesh — the ally of the soul — and being one with it, as one joined to it, cannot please God. You may also understand all of this literally, for we fall away from God both on account of a yoke of oxen and on account of marriage, when we become attached to them, spend our whole life on them, toil over them even to the point of blood, yet do not think upon or investigate anything Divine — neither a thought nor a saying. — Commentary on Luke
Lucas 14:21
The rulers of the Jews were rejected, and none of them believed in Christ, as they themselves even boasted of their malice. "Has any of the rulers believed in Him?" they said (John 7:48). So these lawyers and scribes, as the prophet said, having become foolish fell away from grace, while the simple-hearted among the Jews, who are likened to the lame and blind and maimed, "the base things of the world and the despised" (1 Cor. 1:27–28), were called. For the people "wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of the mouth" of Jesus (Luke 4:22), and rejoiced at His teaching. — Commentary on Luke
Lucas 14:22-23
But after the Israelites entered, that is, the chosen ones among them, whom God predestined to His glory (Rom. 8:29–30), such as Peter, the sons of Zebedee, and the rest of the multitude who believed — after that, the grace of God was poured out also upon the Gentiles. For by those found on the "roads" and "lanes" one can understand the Gentiles. The Israelites were inside the city, since they received the law and inherited a civic way of life. But the Gentiles, being strangers to the covenants and alienated from the legislation of Christ, and not being fellow citizens with the saints (Col. 1:21, 12; Eph. 2:12, 3), led their lives not on one road, but on many "roads" of lawlessness and ignorance, and in "hedges," that is, in sins; for sin is a great hedge and partition wall, separating us from God (Isa. 59:2). By the word "on the roads" is hinted the brutish life of the Gentiles, divided into many opinions, and by the word "in the lanes" is indicated their life in sins. He does not simply command to call those (who are along the roads and by the hedges), but to compel them, even though faith is a matter of each person's free will. He said "compel" so that we might understand that the conversion of the Gentiles, who were in deep ignorance, is a sign of the great power of God. For if the power of the One being preached were small and the truth of the teaching were not great, how could people who served idols and performed shameful deeds have been persuaded, suddenly coming to know the true God and to lead a spiritual life? Wishing to point out the wondrousness of this conversion, he called it compulsion. As if someone were to say: the Gentiles did not even wish to leave their idols and sensual pleasures, yet by the truth of the preaching they were compelled to leave them. Or alternatively: the power of signs constituted a great compulsion to turn to faith in Christ. — Commentary on Luke
Lucas 14:24
This supper is prepared daily, and we are all called to the Kingdom which God prepared for people even before the creation of the world (Matt. 25:34). But we are not deemed worthy of it—some because of curiosity for wisdom, others because of love for material things, and still others because of love for the flesh. And the love of God for mankind grants this Kingdom to other sinners who are blind in their rational eyes, who do not understand what the will of God is, or even if they understand, are lame and immobile toward fulfilling it, and poor, as having been deprived of heavenly glory, and maimed, as not manifesting in themselves a blameless life. To these sinners, wandering along the wide and broad paths of sin, the Heavenly Father sends an invitation to the supper through His Son, who became a servant in the flesh, who came to call not the righteous but sinners (Matt. 9:13), and He abundantly feasts them in place of those who are wise and wealthy and who indulge the flesh. Upon many He sends diseases and calamities, and through this involuntarily compels them to renounce such a life, by judgments that He alone knows, and brings them to His supper, turning the infliction of calamities into a motivation for them. There are many examples of this. In a simpler sense, the parable teaches us to give to the poor and maimed rather than to the rich. What the Lord was urging a little earlier, to that very thing, it seems, He also spoke this parable, affirming all the more that one ought to feast the poor. We are taught by this parable yet another thing as well, namely: that we ought to be so zealous and generous in receiving the brethren (the least), that we should persuade them to partake of our goods even when they do not wish to. In this there is a powerful admonition for teachers, that they should instruct their disciples in what is proper even when they do not wish it. — Commentary on Luke
Lucas 14:25
[(as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274)] For because many of those that accompanied Him followed not with their whole heart, but lukewarmly, He shows what kind of a man his disciple ought to be. — Catena Aurea by Aquinas
Lucas 14:26
Since many of those who followed Jesus did not follow with complete zeal and self-denial, but had a very cold disposition, He, teaching what His disciple should be like, expresses His thoughts on this matter, as if portraying and painting him, affirming that he must hate not only those close to him outwardly, but also "his own soul." But look, in your simplicity and inexperience, do not be scandalized by this saying. For the Lover of mankind does not teach inhumanity, does not suggest suicide, but wants His sincere disciple to hate his relatives only when they hinder him in the matter of worshipping God and when in his relations with them he finds difficulties in the accomplishment of good. On the contrary, when they do not hinder this, He teaches to honor them even to one's last breath. And how does He teach? By the best teaching, that is, by His own deeds. For He obeyed Joseph (Lk. 2:51), despite the fact that he was not His father in the proper sense, but only His supposed father. And He always had great care for His Mother, so that even while hanging on the cross, He did not forget Her, but entrusted Her to His beloved disciple (Jn. 19:26–27). How then would He, teaching one thing by deed, suggest something different in words? No, as I said, He commands us to hate our parents only when they threaten danger to the worship of God. For then they are no longer parents, no longer relatives, when they oppose us in such a beneficial matter. What we affirm is also evident from the fact that we are commanded to hate "our own soul." For by this commandment, without doubt, we are not ordered to kill ourselves, but to abandon the desires of the soul that separate us from God, and not to care about the soul (life) if torment is to come, so long as eternal gain lies ahead. And that the Lord teaches this, and not suicide, He Himself shows, first, by the fact that when the devil, tempting Him, suggested that He throw Himself down from the pinnacle of the temple, He rejected the temptation (Mt. 4:5–7), and second, by the fact that He did not deliver Himself to the Jews (each time), but withdrew and, passing through their midst, hid from the murderers (Lk. 4:30). Therefore, whoever has relatives that harm him in the matter of worshipping God, and yet gladly continues his attachment to them, placing it above pleasing God, and sometimes out of love for life, in the face of threatened torment, inclines toward renouncing the faith — that one cannot be a disciple of Christ. — Commentary on Luke
Lucas 14:28-30
By the parable of the tower, the Lord teaches us that, having once resolved to follow Him, we should preserve this very intention and not merely lay "a foundation" alone — that is, begin to follow but not follow through to the end, as those who lack sufficient preparation and zeal. Such were those of whom the evangelist John says: "many of His disciples went back from Him" (John 6:66). And every person who has resolved to practice virtue but has not attained to Divine knowledge, since he began virtue imperfectly and unwisely, builds imperfectly, for he cannot reach the tower of lofty knowledge. Therefore he becomes a laughingstock to the people and demons who look upon him. And in another sense: by the foundation you may understand the word of teaching. For the word of a teacher discoursing, for example, on temperance, cast upon the soul of a disciple, is like a foundation. Upon this word, as upon a foundation, there must also be "building" — that is, the accomplishment of deeds — so that the "tower," that is, the virtue which we have intended to practice, may be completed by us, and moreover may be strong before the face of the enemy. And that the word is the foundation, while the deed is the building, the apostle teaches us sufficiently when he says: "I have laid the foundation," Jesus Christ, "and another builds upon it" (1 Cor. 3:10), and further enumerates various buildings (1 Cor. 3:12–15), that is, the accomplishment of deeds either good or evil. Therefore, let us fear lest the demons begin to mock us, of whom the prophet says: "children shall rule over them" (Isa. 3:4) — that is, over those rejected by God. — Commentary on Luke
Lucas 14:28-30
[(as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274)] For we ought not to lay a foundation, i. e. begin to follow Christ, and not bring the work to an end, as those of whom St. John writes, That many of his disciples went backward. (John 6:66.) Or by the foundation understand the word of teaching, as for instance concerning abstinence. There is need therefore of the above-mentioned foundation, that the building up of our works be established, a tower of strength from the face of the enemy. (Ps. 61:3.) Otherwise, man is laughed at by those who see him, men as well as devils. — Catena Aurea by Aquinas
Lucas 14:31-32
And this parable teaches us not to be double-minded, not to be nailed to the flesh while cleaving to God, but, if we intend to wage war against the evil powers, to advance against them as against enemies and to oppose them by deed itself. Sin also becomes a king, reigning in our mortal body (Rom. 6:12), when we allow it. But our mind too was created as a king. Therefore, if it intends to rise up against sin, it must wage war against it with all its soul, for its soldiers are strong and terrible, and appear greater and more numerous than us; since the soldiers of sin are demons, who against our ten thousand direct, it seems, a force of twenty thousand. And they, being bodiless and contending with us who live in the body, appear to have greater strength. Nevertheless, we can fight against them, even though they seem stronger than us. For it is said: "Through God we shall do valiantly" (Ps. 60:12) and "The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear?... Though a host should encamp against me, my heart shall not fear" (Ps. 27:1, 3). Moreover, God, who became incarnate for our sake, gave us "authority to tread... over all the power of the enemy" (Luke 10:19). Therefore we, though in the flesh, yet have weapons that are not carnal (2 Cor. 10:3–4). Although by reason of our bodily nature we constitute, it seems, ten thousand against their twenty thousand, by reason of their bodiless nature, nevertheless we must say: "The Lord God is my strength" (Hab. 3:19)! — Commentary on Luke
Lucas 14:31-32
[(as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274)] The king is sin reigning in our mortal body; (Rom. 6:12.) but our understanding also was created king. If then he wishes to fight against sin, let him consider with his whole mind. For the devils are the satellites of sin, which being twenty thousand, seem to surpass in number our ten thousand, because that being spiritual compared to us who are corporeal, they are come to have much greater strength. — Catena Aurea by Aquinas
Lucas 14:33
And they must never be reconciled with sin, that is, be enslaved to the passions, but with special force resist them and must conceive an irreconcilable hatred toward them, desiring nothing passionate in the world, but leaving everything. For he cannot be a disciple of Christ who does not leave everything, but has an attachment to something in the world that is harmful to the soul. — Commentary on Luke
Lucas 14:34-35
A disciple of Christ must be "salt," that is, he must not only be good in himself and free from evil, but must also communicate goodness to others. For such is salt. It, itself remaining unharmed and free from corruption, preserves from corruption other things to which it imparts this property. But if salt loses its natural power, it is of no use for anything, "it is fit neither for the land nor for the dunghill." These words have the following meaning: I desire that every Christian be useful and able to edify, not only the one entrusted with the gift of teaching, such as the apostles, teachers, and pastors, but I require that the laypeople themselves also be fruitful and useful to their neighbors. But if the one who is supposed to serve for the benefit of others is himself worthless and falls from the condition befitting a Christian, then he will be able neither to give benefit nor to receive benefit. "It is fit neither for the land nor for the dunghill," it says. The word "land" hints at receiving benefit, and the word "dunghill" at giving benefit. Therefore, as one who neither serves for benefit nor receives benefit, he must be rejected and cast out. Since the speech was obscure and parabolic, the Lord, rousing the listeners so that they would not take what He said simply about salt, said: "He who has ears to hear, let him hear," that is, he who has a mind, let him understand. For by "ears" here one must understand the perceptive faculty of the soul and the capacity for understanding. Thus, every one of us believers is salt, having received this property from the Divine words and from grace above. And that grace is salt, listen to the Apostle Paul: "Let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt" (Col. 4:6), so that speech, when it is without grace, may be called unsalted. Therefore, if we neglect this property of the Divine words and do not receive it into ourselves and do not make it our own, then we shall be foolish and senseless, and our salt has truly lost its strength, as not possessing the property of heavenly grace. — Commentary on Luke
Lucas 14:34-35
[(as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274)] But not only those who are gifted with the grace of teachers, but private individuals also He requires to become like salt, useful to those around them. But if he who is to be useful to others becomes reprobate, he cannot be profited, as it follows, But if the salt has lost his savour, where-with shall it be seasoned? But because His discourse was in parables and dark sayings, our Lord, in order to rouse His hearers that they might not receive indifferently what was said of the salt, adds, He that hath ears to hear, let him hear, that is, as he has wisdom let him understand. For we must take the ears here as the perceptive power of the mind and capacity of understanding. — Catena Aurea by Aquinas