1883 Haydock Douay Rheims Bible
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| Luke 1:1 | Forasmuch as many have taken in hand to set forth, in order, a narration of the things that have been accomplished among us: | That have been accomplished.{ Ver. 1. Completae sunt. peplerophoremenon. I know the pretended differences betwixt plerophoreisthai, and plerousthai. But divers learned critics, after St. Chrysostom take notice, that they are many times taken for the same. So 2 Timothy 4:5. Ministerium tuum imple. plerophoreson, toutesti, says St. Chrysostom, plerosou. log. th. p. 371. Ed. Savil. and on the 17th ver. of the same chapter, ut per me impleretur, plerophorethe, toutesti, plerothe. (Ibid. p. 376.)|} In the Protestant translation, of things most surely believed. They have followed Beza, and Erasmus: but other learned critics have shewn that the same Greek word often signifies to fulfil; and it is clearly proved by St. Chrysostom. |
| Luke 1:2 | According as they have delivered them unto us, who from the beginning were eye-witnesses and ministers of the word; | |
| Luke 1:3 | It seemed good to me also, having diligently attained to all things from the beginning, to write to thee in order, most excellent Theophilus, | Having diligently obtained. Here we see, that although the Holy Ghost regulated the pen of the holy writers, that they might not err; they still employed human means to search and find out the truth of things they mentioned. Even so do general councils, and the president thereof, the holy pontiff, discuss and examine all causes by human means, although they have the promise from Jesus Christ of the aid, assistance, and direction of his holy Spirit; (St. John 16:13,) as is manifest from the very first council of the apostles, held at Jerusalem. (Acts 15:7.; Acts 15:28.) --- Most excellent Theophilus. This word, Theophilus, by its etymology, signifies a lover of God: but here we may rather understand some particular person, by the title given him of most excellent, or best: which, at that time, was given to persons in dignity; as to to Felix, (Acts 23:26.) and to Festus, (Acts 26:25.) (Witham) --- Kratiste, may signify most powerful from Kratos, strength, or Kratein, to conquer; or, as most generally given, from Kreitton. --- Theophilos, may be interpreted either a lover of God, or one beloved of God. Whoever, therefore, loves God, and desires to be beloved by Him, should consider this gospel as penned for himself, and should preserve it as a pledge deposited in his hands. (Ven. Bede) |
| Luke 1:4 | That thou mayest know the truth of those words in which thou hast been instructed. | |
| Luke 1:5 | There was in the days of Herod, the king of Judea, a certain priest named Zachary, *of the course of Abia, and his wife was of the daughters of Aaron, and her name Elizabeth. 1 Paralipomenon 24:10. | The Almighty appointed to Moses that there should be but one high priest at a time, to whom, at his decease, a successor should be chosen. This rule obtained till the time of David, by whom, by the inspiration of God, many were appointed at once. (1 Paralipomenon 24.) According to this regulation, Zachary (Zacharias) is said to perform the office of priest, according to the order of his course. (Ven. Bede) --- Zacharias seems here to be described as high priest, who once a year entered alone in the inward sanctuary with the blood of the victims, which he offered for himself and the sins of the people. (St. Ambrose) --- He was not chosen by a fresh lot to offer up incense, but by a previous lot, according to which the family of Abia succeeded to the office of high priest. The people waited without, according to Leviticus 16:12.; whilst the high priest carried the incense into the holy of holies, on the 10th day of the 7th month. (Ven. Bede) --- Of the course of Abia.{ Ver. 5. De vice Abia, ex ephemerias.|} What we read in the Greek for course, is commonly put for the employment of one day, but here for the functions of a whole week. For by appointment of David, (1 Paralipomenon xxiv,) the descendants from Aaron were divided into 24 families; of which the eighth was Abia, from whom descended this Zacharias, who at this time was in the week of his priestly functions. (Witham) --- It is worthy of remark, that there were three Herods. The first was the one here spoken of, (surnamed Ascalonite, from his palace in the city of Ascalon, in Palestine) the same who murdered the Innocents. The second was the son of the first, (surnamed Antipas) who derided Christ at the time of his passion, the same who beheaded the Baptist. The third was Herod Agrippa, who beheaded St. James, imprisoned St. Peter, and who was afterwards, for his great pride, stricken by an angel, and devoured by worms. Our Saviour was born in the reign of the first Herod, by whom the prophecy of Jacob, related in the book of Genesis (Genesis 49.) was fulfilled: The sceptre shall not be taken, etc. Herod was an Idumaean, and made king of the Jews by the Romans. The Jews, after they entered the land of promise, were first governed by judges, until Saul: then by kings, until the Babylonian captivity; after that by high priests, until the time of Hyrcanus, whom Herod having killed, succeeded. From that period to the present day, they have been governed by strangers. (Ven. Bede, and Denis the Carthusian) --- Elizabeth was of the race of Aaron, by her father; but her mother was probably of the race of David, from whom the blessed Virgin, cousin of Elizabeth, descended. See below, ver. 36. |
| Luke 1:6 | And they were both just before God, walking in all the commandments and justifications of the Lord without blame. | Both just, ... walking ... without blame.{ Ver. 6. Sine querela, amemptoi, irreprehensibiles.|} Not that in the sight of God they were exempt even from all lesser feelings[failings?], which are called venial faults; but only from such sins as might make them forfeit the grace and favour of God. (Witham) --- Three things are here to be noticed: 1. that good men do keep all God's commandments, which some moderns declare to be impossible; 2. that men are justified not by imputation only of Christ's justice, nor by faith alone, but by walking in the commandments; 3. that keeping and doing the commandments, is properly our justification through Jesus Christ. The Greek word dikaiomata, is properly rendered by Catholics, justifications or commandments, because the keeping of them through Jesus Christ, is justification. But our separated brethren purposely avoid this word against the justification of the Catholics, as one of their leaders in innovation blushes not to advance. Hence Beza, in his annotations on the New Testament, ann. 1556, uses the word constituta, which his scholars render into English by ordinances. (Bristow) |
| Luke 1:7 | And they had no son, for that Elizabeth was barren, and they both were well advanced in years. | |
| Luke 1:8 | And it came to pass, that while he executed the priestly office before God, in the order of his course, | |
| Luke 1:9 | According to the custom of the priestly office, it was his lot to offer incense, going into the temple of the Lord; | It was his lot. The priests drew lots for the different functions to be performed in the same week; and now it fell by lot to Zacharias, to burn or offer up incense, morning and evening, in that part of the temple called the holy, where was the altar of incense: Zacharias was in this part of the tabernacle. (Witham) --- See Exodus 30:6, 8. |
| Luke 1:10 | *And all the multitude of the people were praying without, at the hour of incense. Exodus 30:7.; Leviticus 16:17. | And all the ... people were praying without: that is in that part of the temple called the court of the Israelites. For the Jews themselves were not permitted to enter into the first part of the tabernacle, called the holy, much less into the second part of it, called the holy of holies; the people then prayed, and performed their private devotions, in that division of the temple called the court of the Israelites, and were there waiting for the coming out of the priest Zacharias. (Witham) --- We here see that the priest's functions profited the people, though they neither heard nor saw the priest, but only joined in intention with him; and so may the prayers of the priest in the Catholic Church, though offered up in an unknown tongue. |
| Luke 1:11 | And there appeared to him an Angel of the Lord, standing on the right side of the altar of incense. | |
| Luke 1:12 | And Zachary seeing him, was troubled, and fear fell upon him. | The cause of this fear, was the general sentiment that obtained with the Jews, that they would die immediately on seeing an angel. (Bible de Vence) |
| Luke 1:13 | But the Angel said to him: Fear not, Zachary, for thy prayer is heard: and thy wife, Elizabeth, shall bear thee a son, and thou shalt call his name John; | Thy prayer is heard. We cannot suppose, as St. Augustine observes, (lib. ii. QQ. Evang. ch. I., tom. 3, part 2, p. 249. Ed. Ben.) that he was praying to have children, when his wife was so advanced in years; that he did not think possible; but he was praying for the people, and for the coming of the Messias. See St. Chrysostom, hom. 2:de incomprehensibili, tom. 1, p. 454. Nov. Ed. Ben. (Witham) --- Zacharias so far despaired of having any offspring, that he did not believe the angel, when he made him the promise. When therefore the angel says, thy prayer is heard, we must understand it of the prayer he offered in behalf of the people, to whom salvation and remission of sins were to be brought by Christ. The angel, moreover, told him of the birth of his son, who was to be the precursor of Christ. (St. Augustine) --- The son that is to be born of thee, will shew that thy prayer is heard, when he cries out, behold the Lamb of God. (St. Chrysostom) --- It is always a mark of singular merit, whenever the Almighty either appoints or changes the name of a man. (Ven. Bede) --- The name of John is derived from the Hebrew word, Jochanan, which frequently occurs in the Old Testament, as 1 Paralipomenon 3:15.; 1 Paralipomenon 6:9.; 1 Paralipomenon 12:12. etc. and signifies, blessed with grace or divine favour; see also in Isaias 30:18, 19. |
| Luke 1:14 | And thou shalt have joy and gladness, and many shall rejoice in his birth. | This was fulfilled not only at his birth, but ever after by the Catholic Church, celebrating his nativity. (Haydock) |
| Luke 1:15 | For he shall be great before the Lord: and shall drink no wine, nor strong drink, and he shall be filled with the Holy Ghost, even from his mother's womb: | After the angel had assured him of the joy this son should bring to many, he acquaints him of the excellency of his virtue. He shall be great before the Lord. He did not extend the boundaries of empire; he did not obtain the triumphs of war, and force captive and degraded kings to pay him homage: but, what is much greater, preaching in a desert, he renounced the pleasures of the world, and with the greatest fortitude repressed and subdued the concupiscence of the flesh. Therefore it is said, he shall drink no wine, nor strong drink. (St. Ambrose) --- And shall drink no wine, nor strong drink:{ Ver. 15. Siceram, sikera, from the Hebrew shecar, or shacar, ebrius fuit.|} literally, sicera, by which is signified any liquor that is apt to make a man drunk, according to St. Jerome. (Witham) --- This prohibition of the angel was a part of the consecration of the Nazarites. See Numbers 6:3. The word sicera properly signifies wine of the palm-tree; and next to wine of the grape, there was no more common liquor, none more intoxicating. (Bible de Vence) --- And he shall be filled with the Holy Ghost, even from his mother's womb; from which words some conjecture, that St. John the Baptist, though conceived in original sin, yet might have been freed from the guilt of it before he came into the world. Of this see St. Augustine, Ep. lvii. now Ep. clxxxvii. ad Dardanum. t. ii, p. 685. Ed. Ben. (Witham) |
| Luke 1:16 | And he shall convert many of the children of Israel to the Lord, their God: | |
| Luke 1:17 | And he shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elias: *that he may turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the incredulous to the wisdom of the just, to prepare for the Lord a perfect people. Malachias 4:6.; Matthew 11:14. | Turn the hearts of the fathers, etc. The angel applies these words (Malachias 4:6.) to St. John the Baptist; telling his father, that he shall convert many of the children of Israel, etc. by bringing them to the knowledge of Christ. Secondly, that he shall go before him, or be his precursor and forerunner. --- In the spirit and power of Elias; that is St. John shall be the forerunner of Christ's first coming to redeem mankind, as Elias shall be the forerunner of Christ's second coming to judge the world. Thirdly, that St. John, by converting the Jews, shall also turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, etc. The meaning of which obscure words seems to be, that whereas Moses, Abraham, and the prophets, (whose souls were in a place of rest) knew by a revelation from God, that their children, the Jews, lived in sin and disobedience to the laws of God; and on this account were offended and displeased at them: now when they shall know that they have been converted by the preaching of St. John, they shall rejoice, and be reconciled to their children, the Jews: for as our Saviour tells us, (Luke 15:7.) there is joy in heaven upon any one sinner that doth penance. The angel, to explain the foregoing words, adds, and the incredulous to the wisdom and prudence of the just; that is St. John's preaching shall make them truly wise and just. (Witham) --- With reason is he said to precede Christ, who was his forerunner both in his birth and in his death. In the spirit of prophecy, and in the power of abstinence, and patience, and zeal, they resembled each other; Elias was in the desert, St. John was in the desert also. The one sought not the favour of king Achab, the other despised the favour of Herod. The one divided the Jordan, the other changed it into a laver of salvation. The one is to be the forerunner of Jesus Christ's second coming, as the other was of his first. (St. Ambrose) |
| Luke 1:18 | And Zachary said to the Angel: Whereby shall I know this? for I am an old man, and my wife is advanced in years. | Whereby shall I know this? Zacharias could not question the Divine Power, but he doubted of what the angel told him. (Witham) --- It was customary with the Jews, when they heard that any wonderful event was to take place, to inquire whether the Almighty had manifested his will by any supernatural sign. Zacharias puts this question to the angel, not through any doubt concerning the omnipotence of God, but because what was promised could not be compassed in the natural order of things: for, I am an old man and my wife is advanced in years. (Dionysius) |
| Luke 1:19 | And the Angel answering, said to him: I am Gabriel, who stand before God: and am sent to speak to thee, and to bring thee these good tidings. | The name Gabriel signifies, the strength of God; or, God is my strength. The angels are sometimes styled by proper names, in order to shew their respective duties; thus, no angel could better be appointed to declare the precursor, as also the Messias himself, than he who was styled the power of God: since he came to declare the coming of one who was to destroy the power of the devil, and overthrow his kingdom. (Nicholas of Lyra) See Tobit 12:15; Apocalypse 1:4.; Apocalypse 8:2. |
| Luke 1:20 | And behold, thou shalt be dumb, and shalt not be able to speak until the day wherein these things shall come to pass: because thou hast not believed my words, which shall be fulfilled in their time. | On account of the many signs the angel had given, that what he said was true, the unbelief of Zacharias seemed inexcusable; for the angel appeared in a holy place, in the temple, and during divine service: he, moreover, foretold what related to the redemption of all the people, and to the glory of God; from all which circumstances, Zacharias ought to have concluded, that it was a good angel, and that what he said would eventually come to pass. (Nicholas of Lyra) --- Shalt be dumb, etc. He seems to have been both dumb and deaf by the Greek text, and by what we may learn from ver. 62; where we find, that those who were present did not speak, but rather made signs to him. (Witham) |
| Luke 1:21 | And the people were waiting for Zachary: and they wondered that he staid so long in the temple. | |
| Luke 1:22 | And when he came out he could not speak to them, and they understood that he had seen a vision in the temple. And he made signs to them, and remained dumb. | |
| Luke 1:23 | And it came to pass, after the days of his office were accomplished, that he departed to his own house. | After the days of his office were accomplished; that is the weekly ministry; for during that time, the priests lodged in buildings joining to the temple, separated from their wives. (Witham) --- When it fell to the lot of any of the priests to offer incense, they not only separated from their wives, but left their houses; wherefore it is said, as soon as the day, etc. As it was ordained that the priesthood should continue in the family of Aaron, it was necessary they should have wives. But, as we do not now so much seek after priests of the same family, as those who are virtuous, it has been decreed, that priests should observe perpetual continency, that they may be able to assist at all times at the altar. (Ven. Bede) --- For the law of perpetual celibacy of the clergy, See St. Jerome, lib. 1:chap. 9:19. advers Jovin. et. ep. 50; also St. Ambrose, in 1 Tim iii. |
| Luke 1:24 | And after those days his wife, Elizabeth, conceived, and hid herself five months, saying: | |
| Luke 1:25 | Thus hath the Lord dealt with me in the days wherein he hath had regard to take away my reproach among men. | |
| Luke 1:26 | And in the sixth month, the Angel Gabriel was sent from God into a city of Galilee, called Nazareth, | |
| Luke 1:27 | To a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the name of the virgin was Mary. | The word Miriam, or Mary, is expounded by St. Jerome from different etymologies, to signify in Hebrew, star of the sea, and in Chaldaic, lady. Both interpretations admirably well agree with her, who is the glorious Queen of heaven, our patroness and star, to direct us in the stormy ocean of this world. --- "O you," cries out St. Bernard, "who find yourselves tossed to and fro in this tempestuous life, turn not your eyes away from the brightness of this star, if you would not be overwhelmed in these storms. If the winds of temptations arise; if you fall among the rocks of tribulation; look up to the star, call upon Mary. If you are agitated, and hard driven with the surges of pride, ambition, detraction, jealously, or envy; look up to the star, call upon Mary. If anger, covetousness, or lust, beat furiously on the vessel of your soul; look up to the star, call upon Mary. If you are beginning to founder, and are just sinking into the gulf of melancholy and despair; think on Mary. In dangers, in distresses, in perplexities, think on Mary, call on Mary. Let her name be never absent from your mouth; from your mouth let it constantly descend into your heart; and, that you may obtain the suffrage of her prayers; both in life and death, never depart from the example of her pious conversation." (St. Bernard, hom. 2:super Missus est.) |
| Luke 1:28 | And the Angel being come in, said to her: Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with thee: Blessed art thou among women. | Hail, full of grace:{ Ver. 28. Gratia plena. See Lucas Burgensis on this place.|} by the greatest share of divine graces granted to any creature. This translation, approved by the ancient Fathers, agrees with the ancient Syriac and Arabic versions. There was no need therefore to change it into gracious, with Erasmus; into freely beloved, with Beza; into highly favoured, with the Protestant translators. For if seven deacons (Acts 6:3.) are said to be full of the Holy Ghost, as it is again said of St. Stephen, (Acts 7:55.) and also of the same St. Stephen, (Acts vi. ver. 8.) that he was full of grace, (as the learned Dr. Wells translates it in his amendments made to the Protestant translation) why should any one be offended at this salutation given to the blessed mother of God; who would not have been raised to this highest dignity, had not her soul been first prepared for it by the greatest share of divine graces? --- The Lord is with thee, by his interior graces; and now, at this moment, is about to confer upon thee the highest of all dignities, by making thee truly the mother of God. (Witham) --- The Catholic Church makes frequent use of these words which were brought by the archangel from heaven, as well to honour Jesus Christ and his virgin Mother, as because they were the first glad tidings of Christ's incarnation, and man's salvation; and are the very abridgment and sum of the whole gospel. In the Greek Church, they are used daily in the Mass [the Divine Liturgy]. See the Liturgy of St. James, and that of St. Chrysostom. |
| Luke 1:29 | But she having heard, was troubled at his saying, and thought with herself what manner of salutation this should be. | When she had heard. In the Greek text, when she had seen; as if she also saw the angel, as St. Ambrose observed. (Witham) |
| Luke 1:30 | And the Angel said to her: Fear not, Mary, for thou hast found grace with God: | |
| Luke 1:31 | *Behold thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and shalt bring forth a Son, and thou shalt call his name, Jesus.** Isaias 7:14.; Luke 2:21. | It may perhaps in the first instance of reflection, appear shocking to our ideas, that a God should dwell in a human body; but does not the sun emit its rays into all kinds of places, without any detriment to its purity? How much more would the Sun of justice, assuming a most pure body, formed of the purest blood of the spotless Virgin, not only remain free from every the least stain himself, but even impart additional sanctity to his virgin Mother. (St. Thomas Aquinas) |
| Luke 1:32 | He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the most High, and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of David, his father: *and he shall reign in the house of Jacob for ever, Daniel 7:14.; Daniel 7:27.; Micheas 4:7. | He ... shall be called; that is according to the style of the Scriptures, he shall truly be the Son of God. (Witham) |
| Luke 1:33 | And of his kingdom there shall be no end. | Those are here called of the house of Jacob, who out of the multitude of the Jews believed in Christ. This is conformable to that text of St. Paul: All are not Israelites that are of Israel, but the children of the promise are accounted for the seed. (Romans 9:6, 8.) (St. Chrysostom, hom. vii. on S. Matt.) --- And of his kingdom there shall be no end: which clearly shews it was not to be a temporal, but a spiritual and an eternal kingdom. (Witham) |
| Luke 1:34 | And Mary said to the Angel: How shall this be done, because I know not man? | How shall this be done? She only asks about the manner. --- Because I know not man.{ Ver. 34. Quia virum non cognosco. St. Augustine, quod profecto non diceret, nisi Deo Virginem se ante vovisset. (De Virginitate, ch. IV, tom. 6, p. 343. Ed. Ben.)|} This answer, as St. Augustine takes notice, would have been to no purpose, had she not made a vow to God to live always a virgin. (Witham) --- Listen to the words of this pure Virgin. The angel tells her she shall conceive; but she insists upon her virginity, holding her purity in higher estimation than the promised dignity. (St. Gregory of Nyssa.) --- She did not doubt the truth of what the angel said, (as Calvin impiously maintained) but she wished it might not happen to the prejudice of her vowed virginity. (St. Ambrose, St. Augustine, Ven. Bede, Theophylactus, etc. etc.) |
| Luke 1:35 | And the Angel answering, said to her: The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the most High shall overshadow thee. And therefore also the Holy which shall be born of thee, shall be called the Son of God. | The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, etc. By the divine power thou shalt bring forth, and yet remain always a pure virgin. --- And therefore also the Holy which shall be born of thee, shall be called (shall be) the Son of God. The second person of the ever blessed Trinity, being united to our human nature, remaining unchangeably the same God, and being born of the Virgin Mary; it must needs be true to say that God was born, that God suffered and died for us; and consequently that the blessed Virgin Mary was truly the mother of God, or of him that is truly God; though not the mother of the Godhead: as the Catholic Church declared in the council of Ephesus, (431) against the heretic Nestorius. (Witham) --- Seek not for natural order in things that transcend nature. You ask, how shall this be done, since you know not man? This, your ignorance of man, is the very reason why this will take place within you. For had you not been pure, you never would have been deemed worthy of so great a mystery. Not because marriage is bad, but because virginity is far more excellent. The common Lord of all ought in his birth to have something common with all mankind, and still something different. He was conceived and born in the womb like the rest of mankind, but he differed from them in being born of a virgin. (St. Chrysostom, xlix. in Genes.) |
| Luke 1:36 | And behold thy cousin, Elizabeth, she hath also conceived a son in her old age: and this is the sixth month with her that is called barren: | We find that Aaron, who was of the tribe of Levi, took a wife of the tribe of Juda, viz. Elizabeth, the sister of Naasson. In the successors of David we find that Joiada, the chief priest, took a wife of the family of David, viz. the daughter of Joram; from which it appears that both the royal and sacerdotal tribes were united, and that Mary and Elizabeth were relatives. It was certainly proper that Christ should be born of both these tribes, because he was in himself both king and priest. (Ven. Bede) |
| Luke 1:37 | Because no word shall be impossible with God. | |
| Luke 1:38 | And Mary said: Behold the handmaid of the Lord, be it done to me according to thy word. And the Angel departed from her. | Behold the handmaid. With all modesty and humility of heart and mind, the blessed Virgin consented to the divine will: and from that moment in her was conceived the Saviour and Redeemer of the world. (Witham) --- Thus ought the virgin, who brought forth meekness and humility itself, to shew forth an example of the most profound humility. (St. Ambrose) |
| Luke 1:39 | And Mary rising up in those days, went into the mountainous country with haste, into a city of Juda: | This city is generally supposed to be Hebron, a sacerdotal town, (Josue 21:11.) situated in the mountains, to the south of Juda, and about 120 miles from Nazareth. (Bible de Vence) |
| Luke 1:40 | And she entered into the house of Zachary, and saluted Elizabeth. | |
| Luke 1:41 | And it came to pass, that when Elizabeth heard the salutation of Mary, the infant leaped in her womb: and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Ghost: | The infant leaped in her womb.{ Ver. 41. Exultavit, eskirtese. Which signifies to leap, or skip like lambs, etc.|} According to the general opinion of the interpreters, this motion of the child at the time was not natural: and some think that God gave to St. John [the Baptist], even in his mother's womb, a passing knowledge of the presence of his Redeemer. See St. Augustine in the above cited letter to Dardanus. (Witham) |
| Luke 1:42 | And she cried out with a loud voice, and said: Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb. | In the same words she is pronounced blessed by Elizabeth, and by the angel Gabriel, both inspired by the Holy Ghost, and this not only to the praise of Jesus, but for his sake, to the praise of Mary, calling her blessed, and her fruit blessed; and thus, as Ven. Bede asserts, holding her up to the veneration of both men and angels. |
| Luke 1:43 | And whence is this to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? | The mother of my Lord. A proof that Christ was truly God, and the blessed Virgin Mary truly the mother of God. (Witham) --- Elizabeth was a just and blessed woman; yet the excellency of the mother of God does so far surpass that of Elizabeth, and of every other woman, as the great luminary outshines the smaller stars. (St. Jerome praef. in Sophon.) |
| Luke 1:44 | For behold as soon as the voice of thy salutation sounded in my ears, the infant in my womb leaped for joy. | |
| Luke 1:45 | And blessed art thou that hast believed, because those things shall be accomplished that were spoken to thee by the Lord. | |
| Luke 1:46 | And Mary said: My soul doth magnify the Lord: | |
| Luke 1:47 | And my spirit hath rejoiced in God, my Saviour. | In God my Saviour, as appears by the Greek text,{ Ver. 47. Salutari meo, soteri mou, Salvatori meo.|} though literally in Latin, in God my salvation. (Witham) |
| Luke 1:48 | Because he hath regarded the humility of his handmaid: for behold, from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed. | The humility of his handmaid,{ Ver. 48. Humilitatem, tapeinosin, not tapeinophrosunen. By which latter word is signified the virtue of humility of mind and heart. But humilis, and humilitas, in Latin, even in Cicero, is put to signify vilem et abjectam conditionem: and so also tapeinos, and tapeinosis in Greek, as in the 70 [the Septuagint] 1 King 1:11. the Latin Vulgate for tapeinesin, has afflictionem famulae tuae. And this is the sense in this and the 52d verse; as it is confirmed by the antithesis, or opposition, betwixt those of a high, and of a low state or condition.|} that is the humble, low, and abject condition; as perhaps might be translated both in this and in ver. 52. For the blessed Virgin does not here commend and praise her own virtue of humility; as divers interpreters observe. See St. Francis de Sales, in his introduction to a devout life, part 3, ch. VI. (Witham) --- As death entered into the world by the pride of our first parents, so was it proper that the path to life should be opened by the humility of Mary. (Ven. Bede) --- Not Elizabeth only, but all nations of believers are to call her blessed. (Theophylactus) |
| Luke 1:49 | For he that is mighty hath done great things to me: and holy is his name. | |
| Luke 1:50 | And his mercy is from generation to generations, to them that fear him. | |
| Luke 1:51 | He hath shewed might *in his arm: he hath scattered the proud in the conceit of their heart. Isaias 51:9.; Psalm 88:14. | The wise men of the Gentiles, the Pharisees and Scribes, were powerful; but these the Almighty cast down, and exalted those, who humbled themselves under his powerful hand. (1 Peter v.) The Jews were proud in their strength, but their incredulity brought on them their humiliation; whilst the low and mean among the Gentiles, have by faith ascended to the summit of perfection. (St. Cyril of Alexandria in St. Thomas Aquinas' catena aurea.) (Witham) |
| Luke 1:52 | He hath put down the mighty from their seat, and hath exalted the humble. | |
| Luke 1:53 | *He hath filled the hungry with good things: and the rich he hath sent empty away. 1 Kings 2:5.; Psalm 33:11. | The Jews were rich in the possession of the law, and the doctrines of the prophets; but, as they would not humbly unite themselves to the incarnate word [Jesus Christ], they were sent away empty, without faith, without knowledge, deprived of all hopes of temporal goods, excluded from the terrestrial Jerusalem, and also from that which is in heaven. But the Gentiles, oppressed with hunger and thirst, by adhering to their Lord, were filled with all spiritual gifts. (St. Basil in Ps. xxxiii.) |
| Luke 1:54 | He hath received Israel, his servant, being mindful of his mercy. | |
| Luke 1:55 | As he spoke to our fathers, *to Abraham, and to his seed, for ever. Genesis 17:9.; Genesis 22:16.; Psalm 131:11.; Isaias 41:8. | |
| Luke 1:56 | And Mary abode with her about three months: and she returned to her own house. | |
| Luke 1:57 | Now Elizabeth's full time of being delivered was come, and she brought forth a son. | |
| Luke 1:58 | And her neighbours and kinsfolks heard that the Lord had shewed his great mercy towards her, and they congratulated with her. | |
| Luke 1:59 | And it came to pass that on the eighth day they came to circumcise the child, and they called him by his father's name, Zachary. | |
| Luke 1:60 | And his mother answering, said: Not so, but he shall be called John. | |
| Luke 1:61 | And they said to her: There is none of thy kindred that is called by this name. | |
| Luke 1:62 | And they made signs to his father, how he would have him called. | |
| Luke 1:63 | And demanding a tablet, he wrote, *saying: John is his name. And they all wondered. Luke 1:13. | As then in circumcision, so now in baptism, names are given. And as we see here, and is all the Old Testament, great respect was had of names, so must we be aware of profane and secular names, and rather, according to the catechism of the council of Trent, take names of saints and holy persons, which may put us in mind of their virtues. (De Bap. in fine.) |
| Luke 1:64 | And immediately his mouth was opened, and his tongue loosed, and he spoke, blessing God. | |
| Luke 1:65 | And fear came upon all their neighbours: and all these words were divulged over all the mountainous country of Judea. | |
| Luke 1:66 | And all they that had heard them, laid them up in their heart, saying: What a one, think ye, shall this child be? For the hand of the Lord was with him. | |
| Luke 1:67 | And Zachary, his father, was filled with the Holy Ghost: and he prophesied, saying: | |
| Luke 1:68 | *Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, because he hath visited and wrought the redemption of his people: Psalm 71:18. | |
| Luke 1:69 | *And hath raised up a horn of salvation to us, in the house of David, his servant. Psalm 131:17. | As Christ was born of the race of David, he is here called the horn of salvation in the house of David. As Isaias says, a vineyard is planted in the horn, Luke 5. --- A powerful salvation.{ Ver. 69. Cornu salutis, keras soterias. Abscissum est cornu Moab. (Jeremias 28:25.) Cornu David. (Psalm 74:5.) See also Psalm 131:17, etc.|} According to the letter both of the Latin and Greek text, a horn of salvation. But as it is generally agreed, that by horn, in the phraseology of the Scriptures, is understood strength and power, and that horn sounds awkwardly in English, and other languages, I hope it may be literally enough translated, a powerful salvation. (Witham) |
| Luke 1:70 | *As he spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets, who are from the beginning: Jeremias 23:6.; Jeremias 30:10. | |
| Luke 1:71 | Salvation from our enemies, and from the hand of all that hate us: | That he would save us, etc. Literally, salvation from our enemies. The construction and sense is, that God, as he had declared by his prophets, would grant us salvation, or would save us. (Witham) --- This is not to be understood of temporal, but of spiritual enemies. For the Lord Jesus, strong in battle, came to destroy all our enemies, and thus to deliver us from their snares and temptations. (Origen, hom. xvi.) --- He is that King of Glory, the Lord strong and powerful, the Lord powerful in battle. (Psalm xxiii.) |
| Luke 1:72 | To shew mercy to our fathers: and to remember his holy covenant. | To remember his holy covenant, that is of his promise, or of the covenant made with Abraham, that he would bless all nations in his seed. (Witham) --- At the coming of Christ, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob were made partakers of his mercy. For, we cannot suppose that they who saw his day, and were glad, should not participate in the fruit of his coming; since St. Paul says: he maketh peace through the blood of the cross, both to the things that are on earth, and the things that are in heaven. (Colossians 1:20.) (Origen, hom. x.) |
| Luke 1:73 | *The oath which he swore to Abraham, our father, that he would grant to us: Genesis 22:16.; Jeremias 31:33.; Hebrews 6:13.; Hebrews 6:17. | \f + \fr 1:73-74\ft According to the oath which he swore.{ Ver. 73. Jusjurandum quod juravit, orkon on in the accusative case, for kat orkon, secundum juramentum. Ibid. daturum se nobis, that is se effecturum, etc. tou dounai emin, etc.|} The words according to, are no addition to the letter of the text: they only barely express what is here signified; to wit, that God swore to Abraham, that he would grant us, or make it come to pass, that being delivered from our enemies, sin and the devil, we should be in a condition to serve him without fear, in holiness, etc. (Witham) |
| Luke 1:74 | That being delivered from the hand of our enemies, we may serve him without fear, | |
| Luke 1:75 | In holiness and justice before him, all our days. | It is possible, we here see, to have true justice, not only in the sight of man, or by the imputation of God, but in his sight; and the coming of Christ was to give men such justice. |
| Luke 1:76 | And thou, child, shalt be called the prophet of the most High: for thou shalt go before the face of the Lord, to prepare his way. | |
| Luke 1:77 | *To give knowledge of salvation to his people, unto the remission of their sins. Malachias 4:5.; Luke 1:17. | Jesus is our salvation, and St. John [the Baptist] was sent to give to the people the knowledge of this salvation: he bore testimony of Christ; (Theophylactus) by whom alone remission of sins can be obtained. |
| Luke 1:78 | Through the bowels of the mercy of our God: in which *the Orient, from on high, hath visited us. Zacharias 3:8.; Zacharias 6:12.; Malachias 4:2. | The rising light,{ Ver. 78. Oriens. e anatole. Vulgò ortus Solis. See Mr. Legh Crit. Sacra on anatello, orior, germino, S. Hierom [St. Jerome] on Jeremias 23:5. tom. 3, p. 634. suscitabo David germen justum, sive orientem justum. And on Zacharias 6:12, p. 1737. Ecce vir, oriens nomen ejus, where he expounds it by anatole, anaphue, and blastema.|} or the rising sun, hath visited us from on high. The Rheims translation hath the Orient, the Protestant, the day-spring. Both seem more obscure than they need be. The Latin, as well as the Greek, hath a noun substantive, by which Christ himself is signified. Yet the same word, in both languages, is sometimes taken for a rising light, and sometimes for a bud, or branch; in which latter sense it is expounded by St. Jerome. (Comment in Zachar. p. 1737, tom. 3, Ed. Ben.) But in this place it is rather taken for a light that riseth, by the following words, to enlighten them that sit in darkness, etc. (Witham) --- The Orient. It is one of the titles of the Messias, the true light of the world, and the sun of justice. (Challoner) --- By this he shews that God has forgiven us our sins, not through our merits, but through his own most tender mercy; (Theophylactus) and that we are to solicit this forgiveness through the bowels of his most tender mercy. |
| Luke 1:79 | To enlighten them that sit in darkness, and in the shadow of death: to direct our feet into the way of peace. | The Gentiles were in darkness, and given to the adoration of idols, till the light arose and dispelled the darkness, spreading on all sides the splendour of truth. (St. Basil on Isai.) --- With reason it is said in this place, who sit in darkness; for we did not walk in darkness, but sat down, as if destitute of all hopes of being delivered. (St. Chrysostom, hom. xiv. on S. Matt.) --- Then our steps are directed in the paths of peace, when in our every action we act conformably to the grace of the Almighty. (St. Gregory, hom. xxxii.) |
| Luke 1:80 | And the child grew up, and was strengthened in spirit: and was in the deserts until the day of his manifestation to Israel. | St. John remained in the desert till the 30th year of his age. The reason why he concealed himself so long was because he feared the cruelty of Herod; for, though he was not under his jurisdiction, not being on the confines of Bethlehem, yet on account of the remarkable events that took place at his birth, by which he was declared the precursor of the Messias, he had reason to dread the cruelty of the jealous and suspicious Herod. Peter of Alexandria, Nicephorus, Baronius, and others, say, that when he was yet in his mother's arms, he was conveyed into the desert, and there concealed in the caves and fissures of the rocks, where people concealed themselves on the approach of their enemies. Cedrinus adds, that 40 days after their flight, the mother of St. John died; after which, an angel is said to have undertaken the care of the Baptist; but most probably this office was performed by some attendant on St. Elizabeth. (Tirinus) ---The Baptist remained in the desert till he began his public ministry, which by a law of the Jews could not be much before he had attained his 30th year. He is styled by antiquity the first hermit. See St. Jerome in Vita Pauli. |
| Luke 2:0 | The birth of Christ: his presentation in the temple: Simeon's prophecy. Christ, at twelve years of age, is found amongst the doctors. | |
| Luke 2:1 | And it came to pass, that in those days there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus, that the whole world should be enrolled. | By the whole world, is understood the Roman empire. (Witham) --- This decree was promulgated in the 752nd year of Rome, in the 3970th year of the world, and the 42nd year of the reign of Augustus, when there was universal peace, and the temple of Janus remained shut for 12 years. (Jansenius, concord. Evan.) --- It was the custom among the Jews to be numbered according to their tribes and families. Hence arose the necessity of the journey of the Holy Family to Nazareth [to Bethlehem?]. This enrolment probably included the number, as well as the property of each family, that the taxes might be proportioned. (Jansenius, concord. Evan.) |
| Luke 2:2 | This enrolling was first made by Cyrinus, the governor of Syria. | By Cyrinus, or Publius Sucp. Quirinus. (Witham) --- This was the first census made by Quirinus, governor of Syria: nine years after the birth of Christ, this same Quirinus was charged to make a second, when Judea was reduced to a Roman province, by the deposition and exile of Archelaus. |
| Luke 2:3 | And all went to be enrolled, every one into his own city. | Into his own city, that is the city of every one's family. Now Joseph and Mary, being both of the family of David, were obliged to go to Bethlehem, the city of David, where by Providence, according to the predictions of the prophets, the Messias was to be born. (Witham) --- This decree took place by a special providence of the Almighty, that every one might be compelled to go to his own country; and that thereby the Saviour of Israel might more easily escape the snares of the treacherous Herod. (Ven. Bede) --- This circumstance, moreover, was a public testimony, to be kept in the archives of the country, of the birth and descent of the Messias. Augustus only meant to enumerate his subjects, but among them was numbered his God. |
| Luke 2:4 | And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judea, to the city of *David, which is called **Bethlehem: because he was of the house and family of David, 1 Kings 20:6. --- ** Micheas 5:2.; Matthew 2:6. | The evangelist here mentions the city of David, to remind us how exactly that was fulfilled, which God promised to David, that an everlasting king should be born of him: and the reason why the inspired writer was content to mention the relationship between Joseph and David, omitting that of the Blessed Virgin and the royal prophet, was, because in the law it was commanded that persons of the same family should intermarry; hence it is added in the subsequent verse, with Mary, his espoused wife. (St. Irenaeus, haer. lib. 3:chap. 11.) |
| Luke 2:5 | To be enrolled with Mary, his espoused wife, who was with child. | |
| Luke 2:6 | And it came to pass that when they were there, her days were accomplished, that she should be delivered. | |
| Luke 2:7 | And she brought forth her first-born son, and wrapped him up in swaddling-clothes, and laid him in a manger: because there was no room for them in the inn. | In a manger within a stable, or place where beasts were sheltered. And it is the common opinion that an ox and an ass were there at that time. See Baronius, Tillemont, etc. (Witham) --- O wonderful mystery! O astonishing condescension of a God-man! From his birth he takes upon himself poverty. Had such been his pleasure, Christ might, at his birth, have shaken the heavens by his power, and terrified all nature by his majesty. But these were not the attendants of his coming; for he came not to destroy, but to save; not to display riches, but to teach us a contempt of human grandeur. He therefore condescended not only to become man, but even the vilest of men. (Metaphrastes) |
| Luke 2:8 | And there were in the same country shepherds, watching, and keeping the night-watches over their flock. | |
| Luke 2:9 | And behold an Angel of the Lord stood by them, and the brightness of God shone round about them, and they feared with a great fear. | |
| Luke 2:10 | And the Angel said to them: Fear not: for behold I bring you good tidings of great joy, that shall be to all the people: | |
| Luke 2:11 | For this day is born to you a Saviour, who is Christ, the Lord, in the city of David. | Because the light of life is risen to us, dwelling in the region of the shadow of death. (Ven. Bede) |
| Luke 2:12 | And this shall be a sign unto you: You shall find the infant wrapped in swaddling-clothes, and laid in a manger. | On the eastern side of the town of Bethlehem, say St. Justin, St. Jerome, etc. there was a cave cut in the side of a rock, in which was a manger used by the people of those environs; so that these shepherds easily understood the angel, who told them they should find him laid in a manger. Sts. Jerome, Gregory of Nazianzus, Cyril, say that they found the child between an ox and an ass, according to the version of the Septuagint. Habacuc 3:2.: You shall find him laid between two beasts. In the place where this crib was, St. Helen built a magnificent church in honour of the blessed Virgin Mary. Ven. Bede says that she built another in honour of the tree shepherds; whence St. Bernard concludes, that there were only three shepherds that came to adore the divine infant in the manger. (Tirinus) --- It might be necessary to give them notice of this humble appearance of the Messias, to encourage them to go and pay him their homage. (Barradius) |
| Luke 2:13 | And suddenly there was with the Angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God, and saying: | |
| Luke 2:14 | Glory to God in the highest: and on earth, peace to men of good will. | And on earth, peace to men of good will.{ Ver. 14. Pax hominibus bonae voluntatis. The Greek copies, eirene, en anthropois eudokia, hominibus bona voluntas; but the author of the Latin Vulgate must have read, anthropois eudokias, which reading is found in some ancient Greek manuscripts in the Alexandrian, that called of Cambridge, and others. The common reading of the Fathers is, bonae voluntatis, and not bona voluntas; but then some expounded it thus: pas sit hominibus, qui habent bonam voluntatem, scilecet per Dei gratiam. Others thus: sit pax bonae voluntatis divinae hominibus; which sense and construction Lucas Brugensis prefers. And what confirms this exposition is, that eudokia, and eudokein, are commonly applied when the will of God is signified; yet sometimes also, eudokia signifies the good will of men; as Philippians 1:15; Romans 10:1. etc.|} I had translated, peace to men of his good will, looking upon the sense to be, that a peace and reconciliation were offered, and given to men from the good will and mercy of God. The ordinary Greek copies altogether favour this exposition. And Bellarmine (lib. ii, de Verb. D. Luke 11.) is so convinced of this sense, that he brings it for an instance of one of those places, in which the true sense of the Latin is to be found by the Greek text; which is many times true: but Bellarmine might not take notice, that several of the best Greek manuscripts are conformable to the Latin Vulgate, and have peace to men of good will; as it is also expounded by divers of the ancient Fathers, that peace is offered to men of good will, to those who by the grace of God are disposed to believe and obey the Gospel-doctrine. And upon this, having advised with others, I did not think fit to change the former Rheimish translation. (Witham) --- The reason why the will is designated in preference to any other power of the soul, is, because the will moves the rest; consequently the goodness or badness of an action depends chiefly on the will. By this also the angels wished to shew, that the peace which Christ came to bring into the world, was the internal peace of our souls, of which the external peace that subsisted under Augustus, was a figure. (Nicholas of Lyra) --- Peace is made on earth, since human nature, before an enemy of God, is now reconciled and united to him by his incarnation. (Theophylactus) --- In this hymn of the angels there is a remarkable difference observable in some of the Greek and Latin copies. The latter have it according to this text, men of good will; the former, good will among men, or to men. Eudokia, signifies the gratuitous benevolence of God towards man. So that this sentence seems divided into three parts: glory to God, peace on earth, and good will to men. (Jansenius, conc. Evang.) --- The birth of Christ giveth not peace of mind, or salvation, but to such as are of good will, because he worketh not our good against our wills, but with the concurrence of our will. (St. Augustine, quaest. ad Simplic. lib. 1. q. 2. t. 4.) |
| Luke 2:15 | And it came to pass that after the Angels departed from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another: Let us go over to Bethlehem, and let us see this word that is come to pass, which the Lord hath shewed to us. | The word which always was, let us see how it is made for us; that which we could not see, when it was the word, let us see because it is made flesh. (Ven. Bede) --- See how particularly the Scripture weighs the meaning of every word. The shepherds hastened to see the word, for when the flesh of the Lord is seen, the word is seen, which is the Son. (St. Ambrose) |
| Luke 2:16 | And they came with haste: and they found Mary and Joseph, and the infant lying in a manger. | |
| Luke 2:17 | And seeing, they understood of the word that had been spoken to them concerning this child. | They saw this with the eyes of their body, but with their internal eyes they discovered other wonders, viz. that he, who lay there in such great poverty, was their Messias, their great King, and the Son of God. (Barradius) |
| Luke 2:18 | And all that heard wondered: and at those things that were told them by the shepherds. | |
| Luke 2:19 | But Mary kept all these words, pondering them in her heart. | Mary kept all these things, and compared what was accomplished in her, concerning the Lord, with what had been written of him by the prophets. (Ven. Bede) --- She considered in her heart the arguments of faith. (St. Ambrose) |
| Luke 2:20 | And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God, for all the things they had heard, and seen, as it was told unto them. | |
| Luke 2:21 | *And after eight days were accomplished, that the child should be circumcised: his name was called *Jesus, which was called by the Angel, before he was conceived in the womb. Genesis 17:12.; Leviticus 12:3. --- ** Matthew 1:21.; Luke 1:31.. | Should be circumcised; which might be done not only in the temple, or in a synagogue, but in any house. (Witham) --- Many reasons may be alleged why our Saviour submitted to the painful and humbling knife of circumcision: 1. to manifest to the whole world the reality of his human nature, and the difference between his divinity and humanity; 2. to shew he approved of circumcision, which he had instituted; 3. to prove that he was of the seed of Abraham; 4. to teach us humility and obedience, by observing a law to which he was not bound; 5. that by receiving the burthen of the law, he might free those that were under the law, (Galatians 3.); and lastly, that the Jews might have no excuse for rejecting him, because he was uncircumcised. (St. Epiphanius and Nicholas of Lyra) |
| Luke 2:22 | And after the days of her purification, *according to the law of Moses, were accomplished, they carried him to Jerusalem, to present him to the Lord, Leviticus 12:6. | Of her purification. The blessed Virgin mother stood not in need of this ceremony, to which she submitted herself, as her Son did to that of circumcision. (Witham) --- Whence St. Lawrence Justinian in his sermon on the purification, very well observes: grace raised the Virgin above the law; humility subjected her to it. Jesus Christ, in subjecting himself to the law of Moses, has left an example to princes and magistrates, to obey their own laws; for then they may expect them to be observed by others, when themselves shew respect to them. (Barradius.) |
| Luke 2:23 | As it is written in the law of the Lord: *That every male opening the womb shall be called holy to the Lord. Exodus 13:2.; Numbers 8:16. | Every male opening the womb.{ Ver. 23. Omne masculinum adaperiens vulvam, pan arsen dianoigon metran, on which words Ven. Bede says: quod ait Lucas, adaperiens vulvam, consuetae nativitatis more loquitur ... sed juxta fidem Catholicam exiit clauso Virginis utero, etc.|} This translation is more conformable to the doctrine of the Fathers, that Christ was born without opening the womb; which Ven. Bede calls the doctrine of the Catholic Church. (Witham) --- (Exodus 13:2.; Numbers 8:16.) |
| Luke 2:24 | And to offer a sacrifice, according as it is *written in the law of the Lord, a pair of turtle-doves, or two young pigeons. Leviticus 12:8. | This was the offering of the poorer classes. |
| Luke 2:25 | And behold there was a man in Jerusalem named Simeon, and this man was just and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Ghost was in him. | A man ... named Simeon, whom some conjecture to have been one of the Jewish priests. --- Waiting for the consolation of Israel, for the happy coming of the Messias. --- And the Holy Ghost was in him, by the spirit of grace and of prophecy. (Witham) --- The consolation here expected by Holy Simeon, was the coming of the Messias, and the consequent redemption of mankind from sin and the devil; not a redemption only, as some carnal Jews thought, from the power of temporal enemies. These supposed the Messias was to come in order to raise them in power above all nations, to whom before his coming they had been subject. (St. Gregory of Nyssa in Dionysius) --- Many have pretended that Simeon was a priest; the best and oldest interpreters say he was a laic. (Bible de Vence) |
| Luke 2:26 | And he had received an answer from the Holy Ghost, that he should not see death, before he had seen the Christ of the Lord. | And he had received an answer, ... that he should not see death; that is die. (Witham) |
| Luke 2:27 | And he came by the spirit into the temple. And when his parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him according to the custom of the law; | And he came by the spirit, or moved by the holy Spirit. (Witham) |
| Luke 2:28 | He also took him into his arms, and blessed God, and said: | |
| Luke 2:29 | Now thou dost dismiss thy servant, O Lord, according to thy word, in peace: | |
| Luke 2:30 | Because my eyes have seen thy salvation, | Thy salvation; that is the Saviour, whom thou hast sent. (Witham) |
| Luke 2:31 | Which thou hast prepared before the face of all people: | Before the face of all people; not of Israel only, but also as a light to be revealed to the Gentiles, the spiritual children of Abraham: to whom also the promises were made. (Witham) |
| Luke 2:32 | A light to the revelation of the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people, Israel. | |
| Luke 2:33 | And his father and mother were wondering at these things which were spoken concerning him. | In the Greek, Joseph and the mother of Jesus. (Bible de Vence) |
| Luke 2:34 | And Simeon blessed them, and said to Mary, his mother: *Behold, this child is set for the ruin, and for the resurrection of many in Israel, and for a sign which shall be contradicted. Isaias 8:14.; Romans 9:33.; 1 Peter 2:7. | Is set for the ruin. Christ came for the redemption and salvation of all men: but Simeon prophesies what would happen in consequence of the wilful blindness and obstinacy of many. (Witham) --- Not that God sent his Son for the fall of any man; but that many, by their own perverseness, in wilfully refusing to receive and obey him, would take occasion of falling. (Challoner) --- And for a sign which shall be contradicted, to signify that Christ, and his doctrine, should be as it were a mark, or butt, against whom the Jews should discharge the arrows and darts of their malice. (Witham) --- Hence St. Paul, (2 Corinthians 2:16.) We are to one the odour of death unto death, but to the other the odour of life unto life. |
| Luke 2:35 | And thy own soul a sword shall pierce, that out of many hearts thoughts may be revealed. | And thy own soul a sword shall pierce. These words, which figuratively express the grief of the blessed Virgin mother, when present at the death of her Son, are to be taken by way of a parenthesis. --- That out of many hearts thoughts may be revealed, and these are to be joined with what went before; to wit, that child shall be a sign of contradiction, set unto the fall and resurrection of many, that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed and disclosed; when some shall believe, and others remain in their obstinacy. (Witham) --- Ven. Bede, and many others, understand this of the sharp sorrow, which wounded the soul of the blessed Virgin Mary, at the time of Christ's passion. (Barradius) --- Carthusianus [Denis the Carthusian?] and Jansenius explain this passage as follows: Behold, this child is placed for a sign that shall be contradicted, which as a sword of most poignant grief will pierce thy soul, O Virgin! But Christ shall be contradicted, that the thoughts of the Jews may be revealed from many hearts, and it may appear who among them are good, and who are wicked and hypocrites. (Barradius) |
| Luke 2:36 | And there was one Anna, a prophetess, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Aser: she was far advanced in years, and had lived with her husband seven years from her virginity. | Anna, a prophetess. She was another witness that Jesus was the Messias, venerable for age, and more for her piety. --- And had lived with her husband seven years from her virginity; that is had been seven years a wife: and from the death of her husband, had remained always a widow: now 84 years of age: who departed not from the temple, but was constantly there at the times of prayer, with fastings and prayers, serving God day and night. (Witham) |
| Luke 2:37 | And she was a widow until fourscore and four years: who departed not from the temple, by fastings and prayers serving night and day. | |
| Luke 2:38 | Now she at the same hour coming in, gave praise to the Lord: and spoke of him to all that looked for the redemption of Israel. | |
| Luke 2:39 | And after they had performed all things according to the law of the Lord, they returned into Galilee, to their own city, Nazareth. | |
| Luke 2:40 | And the child grew and waxed strong, full of wisdom, and the grace of God was in him. | The child grew, and waxed strong, full of wisdom, and (ver. 52) increased in wisdom and age. The Arians from this, pretend to prove that Christ was not truly God, who cannot advance or increase in wisdom. The true meaning is, that Jesus, as he advanced in age as man, gave greater marks of his divine wisdom, and discovered himself full of knowledge, wisdom, etc. (Witham) |
| Luke 2:41 | And his parents went every year to Jerusalem, *at the solemn day of the Pasch. Exodus 23:15.; Exodus 34:18.; Deuteronomy 16:1. | How can we account for what is related in this verse, that his parents went up every year to Jerusalem, during the childhood of Jesus, when, as we are taught in other parts, his parents did not dare to fix their abode in Jerusalem, for fear of Archelaus: but this, says St. Augustine, will not be very difficult to answer; for, it might be easier for them to ascend up to Jerusalem on these particular occasions, without being noticed in so numerous a crowd, and privately return; though it might not be prudent for them to fix their habitation there, lest they might be too much noticed: and, as no one has yet informed us how long Archelaus continued to reign, what St. Luke relates might have taken place after the death of that prince. (St. Augustine) |
| Luke 2:42 | And when he was twelve years *old, they went up to Jerusalem, according to the custom of the feast. | about the year A.D. 12. to A.D. 8, according to the Vulgate.* |
| Luke 2:43 | And after they had fulfilled the days, when they returned, the child, Jesus, remained in Jerusalem, and his parents knew it not. | |
| Luke 2:44 | And thinking that he was in the company, they came a day's journey, and sought him among their kinsfolks and acquaintance. | It may be asked how the blessed Virgin and St. Joseph could possibly have come so far without missing him; but we must take notice, that when the people went up to the temple from remote parts of Judea, the men went in one company, and the women in a separate company, whilst the children went in either company indifferently: so that St. Joseph imagined that he was with Mary, his mother, whilst she imagined he was with St. Joseph. (Nicholas of Lyra) |
| Luke 2:45 | And not finding him, they returned into Jerusalem, seeking him. | |
| Luke 2:46 | And it came to pass, that after three days they found him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the doctors, hearing them, and asking them questions. | |
| Luke 2:47 | And all, that heard him, were astonished at his wisdom, and his answers. | |
| Luke 2:48 | And seeing him, they wondered. And his mother said to him: Son, why hast thou done so to us? behold, thy father and I have sought thee, sorrowing. | |
| Luke 2:49 | And he said to them: How is it that you sought me? did you not know, that I must be about the things that are my Father's? | I must be about the things that are my Father's? By these words he shewed, that not St. Joseph, but only God, was his father. (Witham) |
| Luke 2:50 | And they understood not the word that he spoke unto them. | They understood not, etc. That is, knew not when, or by what means, Christ designed to make himself known to the world. (Witham) |
| Luke 2:51 | And he went down with them, and came to Nazareth: and was subject to them. And his mother kept all these words in her heart. | Was subject to them. Astonishing humility! which the Son of God was pleased to teach by his example, as also obedience to parents. (Witham) --- The evangelist relates nothing of our Saviour from the age of twelve till the age of thirty, except that he was subject to St. Joseph and the blessed Virgin. The divine Spirit shewing by this, that nothing is so great and amiable in Christians, as ready obedience to the directions of their superiors. (Barradius) --- All children are hereby taught what subjection and obedience is due from them to their parents. |
| Luke 2:52 | And Jesus increased in wisdom, and age, and grace with God and men. | Not that he was wiser at any future period of his life, than he was at the moment of his conception, but this is said, because he chose to manifest increasing signs of wisdom as he increased in years. --- In the same manner also he increased in grace, by displaying, as he advanced in age, the gifts of grace with which he was endowed; and by this excited men to the praise of God, from the consideration of favours God had bestowed upon him; and thus he conduced to the honour of God, and the salvation of men. (St. Gregory) --- The sun, always equally brilliant in itself, is said to increase in splendour, till it has reached its meridian brilliancy. |
| Luke 3:0 | John's mission and preaching. Christ is baptized by him. | |
| Luke 3:1 | Now in the fifteenth year* of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea, and Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, and Philip, his brother, tetrarch of Iturea, and the country of Trachonitis, and Lysanias, tetrarch of Abilina, about the year A.D. 28, according to the Vulgate. | Pilate being governor of Judea, literally, procurator; that is with a subordination to the president of Syria. (Witham) --- This was Herod Antipas, son of Herod the great, mentioned in Luke 1:5. |
| Luke 3:2 | *Under the high priests, Annas and Caiphas: The word of the Lord came to John, the son of Zachary, in the desert. Acts 4:6. | Under the high priests, Annas and Caiphas. There was properly but one high priest at a time; and Caiphas had this office and title all the ten years that Pilate governed Judea. See Josephus, lib. xviii. Antiq. Luke 3:--- In these short notes I shall not pretend to examine the chronological difficulties, as to Christ's birth, death, etc. (Witham) |
| Luke 3:3 | *And he came into all the country about the Jordan, preaching the baptism of penance for the remission of sins, Matthew 3:1.; Mark 1:4. | To all who read, it is plain, that St. John [the Baptist] not only preached baptism, but likewise conferred it upon many; yet, he could not give baptism to the remission of sins. (St. Gregory, hom. xx.) --- When the victim was not yet immolated, how could they obtain remission of sins? How could St. Luke say, preaching the baptism of penance, for the remission of sins? The ignorant Jews not considering the greatness of their transgressions, St. John came exhorting them to acknowledge their sins, and do penance for them; that being converted, and truly contrite, they might seek after their Redeemer, and thus obtain remission of their offences. (St. Chrysostom, hom. X. in Matt.) --- From these words originated an opinion, that the baptism of John remitted sins. Thus Prudentius, in his hymn on St. John: Hortatur ille primus, et Doctor novae Fuit salutis, nam sancto in flumine Veterum pictas lavit errorum notas. The fallacy of this sentiment, now universally exploded, may be detected from two passages of Scripture: 1. Where John himself declares that he does not baptize with the Holy Ghost; and secondly, in the Acts, (Acts 19.) where St. Paul orders those who had only been baptized by John, and had not heard of the Holy Ghost, to be rebaptized. We must then conclude, that St. John's baptism was only a ceremony or initiation, by which they enrolled themselves as his disciples, to do penance, as a preparation for the remission of sins by means of the second baptism, viz. of Jesus Christ. (Jansenius, Evan. Conc.) |
| Luke 3:4 | As it is written in the book of the words of Isaias, the prophet: *A voice of one crying in the wilderness: Prepare ye the way of the Lord: make his paths straight: Isaias 40:3.; John 1:23. | |
| Luke 3:5 | Every valley shall be filled: and every mountain and hill shall be brought low: and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough ways plain: | Every valley, etc. If these words, in one sense, were a prediction of the deliverance of the Israelites from their captivity, (Isaias 40:3.) and an admonition to level the roads for those that were to return, they also signified the redemption of mankind from the slavery of sin; and that all obstacles, which retarded this benefit, should be removed, and also that the proud should be depressed, and the humble receive graces. (Witham) |
| Luke 3:6 | And all flesh shall see the salvation of God. | This text is given according to the Septuagint. |
| Luke 3:7 | He said, therefore, to the multitudes that came forth to be baptized by him: *Ye offspring of vipers, who hath shewed you to flee from the wrath to come? Matthew 3:7.; Matthew 23:33. | This saint of the desert, seeing all the inhabitants of Palestine surrounding and admiring him, was not elated with the honour, but openly and severely rebuked them. (St. Chrysostom, hom. xi. on S. Matt) --- According to St. Matthew, the Baptist addressed these words principally to the Pharisees and Sadducees, there and then present. |
| Luke 3:8 | Bring forth, therefore, fruits worthy of penance, and do not begin to say: We have Abraham for our father. For I say to you, that God is able of these stones to raise up children to Abraham. | It is one thing to bring forth fruits of penance, and another to bring forth worthy fruits. We should know that the man who has committed nothing unlawful, may have a right to use the lawful things of the world, and can perform works of piety, without forsaking innocent enjoyments, unless he pleases. But, if he has fallen into great crimes, let him abstain from what is lawful, as much as he has transgressed, by yielding to guilt. Nor is equal penance required of him who has sinned little, and of him who has fallen into many crimes. And let those, whose consciences convict them, labour to lay up a treasure of good works, proportioned to the injury they have done themselves by their sins. (St. Gregory, hom. xx. in Evang.) --- It is not sufficient for penitents to forsake their sins, they must also bring forth worthy fruits, according to that of the psalmist, decline from evil, and do good. (Psalm xxxvi.) As it is not enough to extract the dart; and external application is also necessary. He says not fruit, but fruits, to shew the abundance of good works we ought to perform. (St. Chrysostom, hom. X. on S. Matt.) --- He does not mean to say that they did not descend from Abraham, but that their descending from Abraham would avail them nothing, unless they kept up the succession of his virtues. (St. Chrysostom, hom. xi. and xii. on S. Matt.) --- What can those be thought but stones, who have given themselves to the adoration of stones; to which, says the psalmist, they are assimilated, who place their trust in them? By this the Baptist prophesies, that faith shall be infused into the stony hearts of the Gentiles, who by faith shall become the children of Abraham. (St. Ambrose) --- Consider, says St. Chrysostom, how St. John draws them from boasting of their pedigree, and trusting to their descent from Abraham, to place their hope of salvation in the practice of penance and a holy life. (hom. xi.) --- A lesson this for Catholics, not to expect to find mercy at the last day, for being members of the true religion, unless they live up to the maxims which it prescribes. If I should have all faith, so that I could move mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing. (1 Corinthians 13:2.) |
| Luke 3:9 | For now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree, therefore, that bringeth not forth good fruit, shall be cut down and cast into the fire. | By this example is meant that anger of God, which the Jews raised against themselves by their impiety towards their Messias. The axe is laid to the root of the tree, for the branches are already lopt off; but the tree was not rooted up, for a remnant of Israel shall be saved. (St. Cyril, lib. 3. on Isai. xl.) |
| Luke 3:10 | And the people asked him, saying: What then shall we do? | |
| Luke 3:11 | And he answering, said to them: *He that hath two coats, let him give to him that hath none: and he that hath meat, let him do in like manner. James 2:15.; 1 John 3:17. | He that hath two coats, etc. St. John exhorts them to works of charity towards the poor, by giving what is superfluous. (Witham) --- Here we are taught that whatever we have more than our own wants require, must be bestowed on those who are in need; for the love of that God, of whom we have received all. (St. Basil, in Avar.) --- Charity to the poor is frequently recommended in Scripture, as a powerful method of redeeming sin, and reconciling us to divine mercy. This was Daniel's advice to king Nabuchodonosor: "May my counsel please thee, O king, and do thou redeem thy sins with alms and mercy to the poor." (Daniel iv.) Hence St. Chrysostom says: "The poor are physicians, and their hands are an ointment for your wounds." (hom. xiv. in ep. 1. ad Tim.) --- See the unbounded love of God; he offers us his mercy, provided we will relieve our indigent brethren! (Haydock) |
| Luke 3:12 | And the publicans also came to be baptized, and said to him: Master, what shall we do? | The Baptist exhorts worldlings to abstain from every species of fraud, that by first restraining all desires of the goods of others, they may at length come to communicate some of their own to their neighbours. (Ven. Bede) |
| Luke 3:13 | But he said to them: Do nothing more than that which is appointed you. | Do nothing more. You who are military men, exact no more of the people than what is allowed and appointed you. (Witham) |
| Luke 3:14 | And the soldiers also asked him, saying: And what shall we do? And he said to them: Do violence to no man: neither calumniate any man: and be content with your pay. | The Baptist knew that such as engage in war, are not murderers, but ministers of the law; not avengers of injuries, but defenders of the public weal. Had he thought otherwise, he would have said: "cast away your arms, abandon the service, never strike, maim, or destroy any one:" these are not the things which are blameable in the military, but their cruelty, their revenge, their implacable dispositions, and lust of power. (St. Augustine, lib. 22. cont. Faust.) |
| Luke 3:15 | And as the people were of opinion, and all were thinking in their hearts of John, that perhaps he might be the Christ: | Many reasons might have induced the people to think that John was the Christ: 1. The wonders that took place at his birth and conception, his mother being very old, and without any prospect of offspring: 2. the excellence of his preaching, his mortified life, and the novelty of his baptism; and thirdly, the report which then generally prevailed among the Jews, that the Messias was already come; on account of the coming of the magi, and the murder of the infants by Herod: both which circumstances were probably fresh in their memory; and several perhaps, who witnessed them, were still living. (Denis the Carthusian) |
| Luke 3:16 | John answered, saying to them all: *I indeed baptize you with water: but there shall come one mightier that I, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to loose: **he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire: Matthew 3:11.; Mark 1:8.; John 1:26. --- ** Matthew 3:11.; Acts 1:5.; Acts 11:16.; Acts 19:4. | See Matthew 3:11. That baptism cannot be valid, in which the name of the Holy Ghost only is invoked. For, the tradition concerning life-giving grace, must be preserved entire. To add or to omit any thing, may exclude from life everlasting. For, as we believe, so also are we baptized, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. (St. Basil, lib. de Spirit. Sanc. ch. XXII.) --- Fire. This is a metaphor, to signify the Holy Ghost and his gifts, particularly the fire of divine love to the expiation of sins, and is very common in Scripture. Sometimes also he is represented by water, as in St. John 4:10, et dein. and 7:38.-39; Isaias xliv. etc. etc. Hence, in the hymn to the Holy Ghost, the Church uses both figures. Thou who art call'd the Paraclete, Best gift of God above, The living Spring, the living Fire, Sweet unction and love. |
| Luke 3:17 | Whose fan is in his hand, and he will purge his floor, and will gather the wheat into his barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire. | By the barn-floor is here prefigured the Church of Christ, in which many are called, but few are chosen. This perfect cleansing of the floor, as it is in the Greek, is performed both here when the wicked, on account of their open crimes, are excluded from the communion of the faithful by the Church; or, on account of their hidden sins, are after death by infinite justice chastised; but most especially at the end of the world, when the Son of man shall send his angels to gather from his kingdom all scandals. (Ven. Bede) |
| Luke 3:18 | And many other things, exhorting, did he preach to the people. | |
| Luke 3:19 | *But Herod, the tetrarch, when he was reproved by him for Herodias, his brother's wife, and for all the evils which Herod had done, Matthew 14:4.; Mark 6:17. | See in St. Mark 6:17. The wife of his brother (Philip.) The Greek adds the name, and he is also named in St. Mark; but he is a different person from the tetrarch, mentioned in Luke 3:ver. 1. (Bible de Vence) --- It was not at this time that John [the Baptist] was cast into prison; but, as St. John [the evangelist] relates, after our Saviour had begun to work miracles, and after his baptism. St. Luke anticipates this event, in order to describe more strongly the malice of Herod; who, whilst he saw multitudes flocking to hear the words of John, his own soldiers believing, and all the people receiving baptism, still could despise the Baptist, could imprison him, and put him to death. (Ven. Bede) |
| Luke 3:20 | He added this also above all, and shut up John in prison. | |
| Luke 3:21 | *Now it came to pass, when all the people were baptized, that Jesus also being baptized, and praying, heaven was opened: Matthew 3:16.; Mark 1:10.; John 1:32. | The motive of his baptism, as he himself informs us, was, that he himself might fulfil all justice. What is here meant by justice, but that obligation of doing first ourselves what we wish others to do? --- Let no one then refuse the laver of grace, since Christ did not refuse the laver of penance. (St. Ambrose) --- Although all our sins are forgiven in baptism, still the frailty of the flesh is not yet perfectly strengthened. For, after passing this red sea, we rejoice at the destruction of the Egyptians, but still we must fight with assurance of the grace of Christ, against the enemies we shall undoubtedly meet with in the desert of this world, till at length we arrive at our true country. (Ven. Bede) --- It is said the heavens were opened, because they had been hitherto shut. The sheepfolds of heaven and earth are now united under the one Shepherd of the sheep: heaven is opened, and man, though formed of the earth, is admitted to the company of angels. (St. Chrysostom) |
| Luke 3:22 | And the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape, as a dove upon him: and a voice came from heaven: *Thou art my beloved Son, in thee I am well pleased. Matthew 3:17.; Matthew 17:5.; Luke 9:35.; 2 Peter 1:17. | The reason why the Holy Ghost shewed himself in the shape of a dove, was because he could not be seen in the substance of his divinity. But why a dove? To express that simplicity acquired in the sacrament of baptism. Be ye simple as doves; to signify that peace bestowed by baptism, and prefigured by the olive branch which the dove carried back to the ark, a true figure of the Church, and which was the only security from the destructive deluge. (St. Ambrose) --- You will object: Christ, though he was God, would not be baptized till the age of 30, and do you order baptism to be received sooner? When you say, though he was God, you solve the difficulty. For, he stood not in need of being purified at all; of course, there could be no danger in deferring his baptism. But you will have much to answer for, if, being born in corruption, you pass out of this world without the garment of incorruption. (St. Gregory of Nazianzus, orat. 40.) \f + \fr 3:22\fk Remarks on the two Genealogies of Jesus Christ.\ft To make some attempt at an elucidation of the present very difficult subject of inquiry, we must carry in our minds, 1. That in the Scripture language the word begat, applies to the remote, as well as the immediate, descendant of the ancestor; so that if Marcus were the son, Titus the grandson, and Caius the great-grandson of Sempronius, it might, in the language of Scripture, be said, that Sempronius begat Caius. This accounts for the omission of several descents in St. Matthew. 2. The word begat, applies not only to the natural offspring, but to the offspring assigned to the ancestor by law. 3. If a man married the daughter and only child of another, he became in the view of the Hebrew law the son of that person, and thus was a son assigned to him by law. The two last positions shew in what sense Zorobabel was the son both of Neri and Salathiel, and Joseph the son both of Jacob and of Heli, or Joachim. --- "St. Matthew, in descending from Abraham to Joseph, the spouse of the blessed Virgin, speaks of a son properly so called, and by way of generation, Abraham begot Isaac, etc. But St. Luke in ascending from Jesus to God himself, speaks of a son properly or improperly so called. On this account he make use of an indeterminate expression, in saying, the son of Joseph, who was of Heli. That St. Luke does not always speak of a son properly called, and by way of generation, appears from the first and last he names; for Jesus was only the putative son of Joseph, because Joseph was the spouse of Mary, the mother of Christ; and Adam was only the son of God by creation. This being observed, we must acknowledge in the genealogy in St. Luke, two sons improperly so called, that is, two sons-in-law, instead of sons. As among the Hebrews, the women entered not into the genealogy, when a house finished by a daughter, instead of naming the daughter in the genealogy, they named the son-in-law, who had for father-in-law the father of his wife. The two sons-in-law mentioned in St. Luke are Joseph, the son-in-law of Heli, and Salathiel, the son-in-law of Neri. This remarks clears up the difficulty. Joseph, the son of Jacob, in St. Matthew, was the son-in-law of Heli, in St. Luke; and Salathiel, the son of Jechonias, in St. Matthew, was the son-in-law of Neri, in St. Luke. Mary was the daughter of Heli, Eliacim, or Joacim, or Joachim. Joseph, the son of Jacob, and Mary, the daughter of Heli, had a common origin; both descending from Zorobabel, Joseph by Abiud the eldest, and Mary by Resa, the younger brother. Joseph descended from the royal branch of David, of which Solomon was the chief; and Mary from the other branch, of which Nathan was the chief. by Salathiel, the father of Zorobabel, and son of Jechonias, Joseph and Mary descended from Solomon, the son and heir of David. And by the wife of Salathiel, the mother of Zorobabel, and daughter of Neri, of which Neri Salathiel was the son-in-law, Joseph and Mary descended from Nathan, the other son of David, so that Joseph and Mary re-united in themselves all the blood of David. St. Matthew carries up the genealogy of Jesus to Abraham; this was the promise of the Messias, made to the Jews; St. Luke carries it up to Adam, the promise of the Messias, made to all men." Whatever the difficulties attending the genealogies may be, it is evident that they arise from our imperfect knowledge of the laws, usages, and idiom of the Jews, from our ignorance of the true method of reconciling the seeming inconsistencies, or from some corruptions that in process of time may possibly have crept into the text. The silence of the enemies of the gospel, both heathen and Jewish, during even the first century, is itself a sufficient proof, that neither inconsistency nor corruption could be then alleged against this part of the evangelical history. If the lineal descent of Jesus from David were not indisputable, he could not possess the character essential to the Messias, nor any right to the Jewish throne. We may confidently then assert, that his regular lineal descent from David could not be disproved, since it was not even disputed at a time when alone it could have been done so successfully; and by those persons who were so deeply interested in falsifying the first Christian authorities.* |
| Luke 3:23 | And Jesus himself was beginning about the age of thirty years: being (as it was supposed) the son of Joseph, who was of Heli, who was of Mathat, | |
| Luke 3:24 | Who was of Levi, who was of Melchi, who was of Janne, who was of Joseph, | |
| Luke 3:25 | Who was of Mathathias, who was of Amos, who was of Nahum, who was of Hesli, who was of Nagge, | |
| Luke 3:26 | Who was of Mahath, who was of Mathathias, who was of Semei, who was of Joseph, who was of Juda, | |
| Luke 3:27 | Who was of Joanna, who was of Reza, who was of Zorobabel, who was of Salathiel, who was of Neri, | |
| Luke 3:28 | Who was of Melchi, who was of Addi, who was of Cosan, who was of Elmadan, who was of Her, | |
| Luke 3:29 | Who was of Jesus, who was of Eliezer, who was of Jorim, who was of Mathat, who was of Levi, | |
| Luke 3:30 | Who was of Simeon, who was of Judas, who was of Joseph, who was of Jona, who was of Eliakim, | |
| Luke 3:31 | Who was of Melea, who was of Menna, who was of Mathatha, who was of Nathan, who was of David, | |
| Luke 3:32 | Who was of Jesse, who was of Obed, who was of Booz, who was of Salmon, who was of Naasson, | |
| Luke 3:33 | Who was of Aminadab, who was of Aram, who was of Esron, who was of Phares, who was of Judas, | |
| Luke 3:34 | Who was of Jacob, who was of Isaac, who was of Abraham, who was of Thare, who was of Nachor, | |
| Luke 3:35 | Who was of Sarug, who was of Ragau, who was of Phaleg, who was of Heber, who was of Sale, | |
| Luke 3:36 | Who was of Cainan, who was of Arphaxad, who was of Sem, who was of Noe, who was of Lamech, | Who was of Cainan. Notwithstanding the veneration due to the Latin Vulgate, which is to be esteemed authentic, Cornelius a Lapide calls it a chronological problem, whether the word Cainan be the true reading, or whether it hath slipt into the text. It is true Cainan is found in the Septuagint Genesis 10:24., Genesis 11:44., and 1 Paralipomenon 1:18; though, in this last place, Cornelius a Lapide says, it is wanting in one edition of the Septuagint by Sixtus V.; at least it is not read in all those places, neither in the Hebrew, nor Latin Vulgate. Some say that here in St. Luke's text, is found Cainan, because his citations are conformable to the Septuagint. Others conjecture that Cainan and Sale were only different names of one and the same person, so that the sense may be, who was of Sale, who is also Cainan. Qui fuit Sale, qui et Cainan. (Witham) |
| Luke 3:37 | Who was of Mathusale, who was of Henoch, who was of Jared, who was of Malaleel, who was of Cainan, | |
| Luke 3:38 | Who was of Henos, who was of Seth, who was of Adam, who was of God. | What could be more beautiful, than that this holy race should begin from the Son of God, and be continued up to the Son of God; that the creature might go before in figure, and the Son of God might follow after in reality; that he who was made after the image of God, might first appear, that the true image of his eternal Father may descend from his glory. Thus did St. Luke mean to refer the origin of Christ to God, of whom he was the true and eternal Son. To shew this still more evidently, the evangelist had before introduced the Almighty speaking from heaven: This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. (St. Ambrose) |
| Luke 4:0 | Christ's fasting, and temptation. He is persecuted in Nazareth: his miracles in Capharnaum. | |
| Luke 4:1 | And *Jesus being full of the Holy Ghost, returned from the Jordan: and was led by the spirit into the desert, Matthew 4:1.; Mark 1:12. | about the year A.D. 30. |
| Luke 4:2 | For the space of forty days, and was tempted by the devil. And he ate nothing in those days: and when they were ended he was hungry. | In collating the present narrative with that of St. Matthew it appears that Jesus Christ was not tempted till the expiration of forty days. (Bible de Vence) --- Many reasons may be assigned why Christ permitted himself to be tempted. 1st. To merit for man the grace of overcoming temptations. 2d. To encourage us under temptations. 3d. To teach us not to be cast down with temptations, however grievous they may be, since even Jesus Christ submitted to them. 4thly. To point out to us the manner in which we ought to behave in time of temptation. (Dionysius) |
| Luke 4:3 | And the devil said to him: If thou be the Son of God, command this stone that it be made bread. | The tempter here appears to endeavour to discover by stratagem whether Christ was the Son of God. He does not say, if thou be the Son of God, "pray" that these stones be made bread, which he might have said to any man; but "command," effect by thine own authority, that this come to pass. If Christ had done this, the tempter would have instantly concluded, that Jesus Christ was the Son of God, since only God could effect such a miracle. (Dionysius) |
| Luke 4:4 | And Jesus answered him: It is written: *That man liveth not by bread alone, but by every word of God. Deuteronomy 8:3.; Matthew 4:4. | |
| Luke 4:5 | And the devil led him into a high mountain, and shewed him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time: | |
| Luke 4:6 | And he said to him: To thee will I give all this power, and the glory of them: for to me they are delivered, and to whom I will I give them. | |
| Luke 4:7 | If thou, therefore, wilt adore before me, all shall be thine. | |
| Luke 4:8 | And Jesus answering, said to him: *It is written: Thou shalt adore the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve. Deuteronomy 6:13.; Deuteronomy 10:20. | |
| Luke 4:9 | And he brought him to Jerusalem, and set him on a pinnacle of the temple, and he said to him: If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down from hence. | |
| Luke 4:10 | *For it is written, that he hath given his Angels charge over thee, that they keep thee: Psalm 90:11. | We have the devil here again citing Scripture, (Psalm xc. ver. 11.) (Read what is given on this subject in note on ver. 6, Luke 4:of St. Matthew's gospel) which shews how very dangerous a thing it is to put the Scripture, in the first instance, indiscriminately into every, even the most illiterate person's hands, without any previous disposition of the mind and heart, by study and prayer. How much more satisfactory must it be to be guided by the Church of God, which Christ has promised to secure against all error, and which he commands all to obey! How much more rational to begin with distributing elementary catechisms, approved by the Catholic Church as conformable to the word of God, and then only opening to them the sacred mystic book, when their minds and hearts are better prepared to avail themselves of the inestimable treasure, and of justly appreciating and exploring the golden lore. If humility be a virtue that renders us most pleasing to God, it is a virtue particularly necessary for the proper understanding of Holy Writ. This will teach us to submit (whenever the Scripture is either silent or obscure in points of faith) our own private and unassisted judgment to the judgment and comments of the Church. This was the sentiment of a great philosopher of this nation, who, when charged with scepticism and a love of novelty by his contemporaries, replied: "However fanciful I may be esteemed in matters of philosophy, in religious concerns I like to go the beaten road. Where the Scripture is silent, the Church is my text. Where that speaks, it is but the comment; and I never refer any thing to the arbitration of my own judgment, but in the silence of them both." |
| Luke 4:11 | And that in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest perhaps thou dash thy foot against a stone. | |
| Luke 4:12 | And Jesus answering, said to him: It is said: *Thou shalt not tempt the Lord, thy God. Deuteronomy 6:16. | |
| Luke 4:13 | *And when all the temptation was ended, the devil departed from him for a time. | about the year A.D. 31. For a time, viz. until his Passion, in which he again most grievously tempted him, by the hands of impious persecutors, whom he could not overcome with sensuality, covetousness, or vanity. The devil now deals with men in the same manner. He tempts them, and, being overcome, leaves them for a time, to prompt them to rest in a fatal security; that indulging indolence, they may at some future period be attacked, with greater certainty of success, when unprepared. Knowing, therefore, the trick and design of our infernal enemy, how much does it behove us to be on our guard; and having overcome in one temptation, prepare ourselves for another; never resting in the presumptuous thought, that we are sufficiently strong in virtue to resist the enemy, without fresh preparation. (Dionysius) --- This history of the various temptations to which our Saviour subjects himself, as related by St. Luke, is exactly the same as that given by St. Matthew with this only difference, that the order in which the temptations took place is not the same in both evangelists: but it does not matter what order is observed, where all the circumstances are related. (St. Augustine) |
| Luke 4:14 | *And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit into Galilee, and the fame of him went out through the whole country. Matthew 4:12.; Mark 1:14. | |
| Luke 4:15 | And he taught in their synagogues, and was extolled by all. | |
| Luke 4:16 | *And he came to Nazareth, where he was brought up, and he went into the synagogue, according to his custom, on the sabbath day, and he rose up to read. Matthew 13:54.; Mark 6:1.; John 4:45. | |
| Luke 4:17 | And the book of Isaias, the prophet, was delivered unto him. And as he unfolded the book, he found the place where it was written: | As he unfolded the book: and again, (ver. 20) when he had folded the book. Books at that time where not like our now-a-days, but were skins or parchments, rolled or folded up. (Witham) --- Some are of opinion that the Jews of Nazareth, having heard of the miracles and fame of Jesus, and that he was accustomed to teach in the synagogues, though he had never been instructed in any learning, when he rose to speak, purposely gave him the book of Isaias, which was esteemed the most difficult to be explained, in order to try his learning; though it is probable that it was done by the all-directing interposition of Divine Providence. (Maldonatus) |
| Luke 4:18 | *The Spirit of the Lord is upon me: wherefore he hath anointed me, to preach the gospel to the poor he hath sent me, to heal the contrite of heart, Isaias 61:1. | By the poor are to be understood the Gentiles; who might truly be called poor, since they possessed neither the knowledge of the true God, nor of the law, nor of the prophets. (Origen) --- Isaias in this place speaks of himself, as a figure of the Messias. The captivity of Babylon, which is the literal object of this prophecy, was a figure of the then state of mankind; the return from this captivity announced by the prophet, and effected by Cyrus, represented the redemption of man, effected by Jesus Christ. (Bible de Vence) |
| Luke 4:19 | To preach deliverance to the captives, and sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of reward. | To set at liberty them that are bruised, or oppressed. These words are not in the prophet; but are added by St. Luke, to explain the others. --- To preach the acceptable year, as it were the jubilee year, when slaves used to be set at liberty. (Witham) |
| Luke 4:20 | And when he had folded the book, he restored it to the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. | To observe and admire a person that had never learned letters, and who stood up amongst them an experienced teacher. (Menochius) (John 7:15.) See Maldonatus. |
| Luke 4:21 | And he began to say to them: This day is fulfilled this Scripture in your ears. | By this Christ wished to shew that he was the Messias foretold by the prophet Isaias, whom they so anxiously expected: he declares himself to be the person pointed out by the prophet. There seems also to be a secret reprehension in these words of Christ; as if he were to say: Why are you so desirous to behold the Messias, whom, when he is before your eyes, you will not receive? Why do you seek him in the prophets, when you neither understand the prophets, nor perceive the truth of their predictions, when they are fulfilled before you eyes? (Maldonatus) |
| Luke 4:22 | And all gave testimony to him: and they wondered at the words of grace that proceeded from his mouth, and they said: Is not this the son of Joseph? | |
| Luke 4:23 | And he said to them: Doubtless you will say to me this similitude: Physician, heal thyself: as great things as we have heard done in Capharnaum, do also here in thy own country. | I see you will object to me this similitude, (parabolen) or trite saying, applied to such as attended to the concerns of others, and neglected their own. (Menochius) |
| Luke 4:24 | And he said: Amen, I say to you, that no prophet is accepted in his own country. | |
| Luke 4:25 | In truth I say to you, *there were many widows in the days of Elias, in Israel, when heaven was shut up three years and six months: when there was a great famine throughout all the land: 3 Kings 17:9. | |
| Luke 4:26 | And to none of them was Elias sent, but to a widow at Sarepta of Sidon. | |
| Luke 4:27 | *And there were many lepers in Israel in the time of Eliseus, the prophet: and none of them was cleansed but Naaman, the Syrian. 4 Kings 5:14. | |
| Luke 4:28 | And all they in the synagogue, hearing these things, were filled with anger. | |
| Luke 4:29 | And they rose up, and thrust him out of the city: and they brought him to the brow of the hill, whereon their city was built, that they might cast him down headlong. | |
| Luke 4:30 | But he passing through the midst of them, went his way. | Passing through the midst of them, went his way. Perhaps by making himself on a sudden invisible, or by striking them with blindness, or by changing their minds, and hearts, as he pleased. (Witham) --- All commentators observe on these words, that the evangelist wished to shew that Christ worked a miracle on this occasion, and by it proved his divinity. This is the opinion of Sts. Euthymius, Ambrose, and Thomas Aquinas. St. Ambrose says, we must observe that Christ did not suffer from necessity, but because he wished it. He was not taken by the Jews, but delivered up himself; at his own pleasure he is seized, and at his own pleasure he escapes; when he wills it, he is condemned; and when he wills it, he is freed. The most common opinion is, that he rendered himself invisible on this occasion; though others imagine that he changed their wills, or withheld their hands. (Maldonatus) --- When we observe the outrageous treatment Jesus Christ met with from the people of Nazareth, we are not surprised that he should shut up the fountain of his beneficence against them for their incredulity, and return to Capharnaum. (Haydock) |
| Luke 4:31 | *And he went down into Capharnaum, a city of Galilee, and there he taught them on the sabbath-days. Matthew 4:13.; Mark 1:21. | Although Christ was well acquainted with the obduracy of the Jews, nevertheless, like a good physician, he condescends to pay them another visit, and try what a fresh medicine might effect in this their last stage, as it were, of existence. He publicly preaches therefore in the synagogue, according as Isaias had declared of him, and struck amazement into every heart. The Jews themselves considered him as something very extraordinary; as one of the prophets, or ancient saints. But Christ, that they might conceive a higher opinion of his person, does not make use of the expressions they did, but speaks as Lord and Master of the law. (St. Cyril) |
| Luke 4:32 | *And they were astonished at his doctrine: for his word was with power. Matthew 7:28. | |
| Luke 4:33 | *And in the synagogue there was a man who had an unclean devil, and he cried out with a loud voice, Mark 1:23. | |
| Luke 4:34 | Saying: Let us alone; what have we to do with thee, Jesus of Nazareth? art thou come to destroy us? I know thee who thou art, the Holy one of God. | |
| Luke 4:35 | And Jesus rebuked him, saying: Hold thy peace, and go out of him. And when the devil had thrown him into the midst, he went out of him, and hurt him not at all. | |
| Luke 4:36 | And there came fear upon all, and they talked among themselves, saying: What word is this: for with authority and power he commandeth the unclean spirits, and they go out? | |
| Luke 4:37 | And the fame of him was published in every place of the country. | |
| Luke 4:38 | And Jesus rising up out of the synagogue, went into Simon's house. *And Simon's wife's mother was taken with a great fever: and they besought him for her. Matthew 8:14.; Mark 1:30. | It is evident that St. Peter was married; but after his call to the apostleship, he left his wife, as St. Jerome writes, in ep. xliii. Luke 2:ad Julianum, and lib. 1:adv. Jovin. See Matthew 19:29. |
| Luke 4:39 | And standing over her, he commanded the fever: and it left her. And immediately rising, she ministered to them. | |
| Luke 4:40 | And when the sun was down, all they that had any sick with divers diseases, brought them to him. But he laying his hands on every one of them, healed them. | The evangelist mentions this circumstance, because these distressed people did not dare to bring their sick before that time, either through fear of the Pharisees, or of violating the sabbath. (Origen) |
| Luke 4:41 | *And devils went out of many, crying out and saying: Thou art the Son of God. And rebuking them, he suffered them not to speak: for they knew that he was Christ. Mark 1:34. | It appears, that when the devil expresses himself thus, it is less through conviction than artifice. He suspected the fact; and to certify the same, he said to him in the desert, if you be the Son of God, change these stones into bread. In the same manner by saying here, you are the Son of God, he wished to give him an occasion of explaining himself on the subject. (Bible de Vence) --- But Jesus Christ would not accept of the testimony of evil spirits, lest he might be suspected of some intelligence with them, to cause himself to be acknowledged the Son of God. (Bible de Vence) |
| Luke 4:42 | And when it was day, going out, he came into a desert place: and the multitudes sought him, and came to him: and they detained him, that he should not depart from them. | |
| Luke 4:43 | To whom he said: I must preach the kingdom of God to other cities also: for therefore am I sent. | From the apparent good dispositions of these people, we might be induced to think, that if Christ had yielded to their solicitations, and remained with them, he could have drawn all to himself; yet he did not choose to do this, but has left us an example worthy of our imitation, in seeking out the perishing and strayed sheep; for by the salvation of one soul, our many sins will be remitted. (St. Chrysostom, in cat. Graec. Pat. hom. in Matt.) |
| Luke 4:44 | And he was preaching in the synagogues of Galilee. | Our divine Redeemer frequented the Jewish synagogue, to shew he was no seducer. If he had inhabited wilds and deserts, it might have been objected to him, that he concealed himself, like an impostor, from the sight of men. (St. Chrysostom, in cat. Graec. Pat. hom. in Matt.) |
| Luke 5:0 | The miraculous draught of fishes. The cure of the leper and of the paralytic. The call of Matthew. | |
| Luke 5:1 | And *it came to pass, that when the multitudes pressed upon him to hear the word of God, he stood by the lake of Genesareth, | about the year A.D. 31. What St. Luke here gives till ver. 10, is mentioned purposely to shew on what occasion, and by what miracle, Peter, Andrew, James, and John, were called. (Maldonatus) |
| Luke 5:2 | *And saw two ships standing by the lake: but the fishermen were gone out of them, and were washing their nets. Matthew 4:18.; Mark 1:16. | Washing their nets. See St. (Matthew 4:18.; Mark 1:16.), where it is said, that Christ saw them when they were casting their nets; that is some of them were casting, others washing, or mending, their nets. (Witham) |
| Luke 5:3 | And going into one of the ships that was Simon's, he desired him to thrust out a little from the land. And sitting down, he taught the multitudes out of the ship. | Why is it mentioned that there were two ships; that one of them was Simon Peter's, that Christ went into that one, and sat down in it, and sitting he taught out of that ship? No doubt, answer many of the ancient commentators, to shew that the Church was figured by the bark of Peter, and that in it is the chair of Christ, a permanent authority, prefigured by Christ's sitting down, and the true word of God. |
| Luke 5:4 | Now when he had ceased to speak, he said to Simon: Launch out into the deep, and let down your nets for a draught. | Epanagage eis to bathos. Put back from whence you have just now returned. Where you failed without Christ, with Christ you will prove successful. Now is the proper time, when you act in my presence, and according to my orders; before it was not, when you followed your own, and not my will. (Maldonatus) --- St. Augustine interprets the text, Launch out into the deep, as spoken of distant nations, to whom the gospel was afterwards delivered: tolle signum in gentes, ad eas, quoe propè, et ad eas quoe longè. (Isaias 5:26.; Isaias 11:12.) |
| Luke 5:5 | And Simon answering, said to him: Master, we have labored all the night, and have taken nothing: but at thy word I will let down the net. | Though these words of St. Peter seem to express his little hope of success, as he had been toiling (kopiasantes) the whole night, the most favourable time for fishing, yet they were intended by St. Peter to shew his great confidence, that notwithstanding his bad success, he was willing to obey; he relied on his words, and let go his net in the same place where before he had been disappointed; and the event proved that the obedience and confidence of Peter were not in vain. (Maldonatus, etc.) |
| Luke 5:6 | And when they had done this, they enclosed a very great multitude of fishes, and their net was breaking. | When Christ commanded Peter to let go the net, as great a quantity of fishes were taken as this Lord of the land and sea wished. For the voice of the Lord is the voice of power, at the command of which, in the beginning of the world, light and every created thing sprang into existence. This it was that so much astonished Peter. (St. Gregory of Nazianzus, ch. XXXI.) --- The net is broken, but the fishes are not lost, because the Lord preserves his servants among the scandals (schisms and heresies) of his enemies. (Ven. Bede) |
| Luke 5:7 | And they beckoned to their partners that were in the other ship, that they should come and help them. And they came, and filled both the ships, so that they were almost sinking. | The other ship was probably at such a distance from them, that they could not be heard, had they called out to them; and this also is another proof of the greatness of the miracle, that though the other ship was fishing in the same place, though a little removed, they could catch nothing. (Maldonatus) --- This also shews that Peter was to call in other co-labourers, and that all were to come into Peter's ship. (St. Ambrose, in Luc.) |
| Luke 5:8 | Which when Simon Peter saw, he fell down at Jesus' knees, saying: Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord. | Such was the excess of St. Peter's humility, that he judged himself unworthy the presence of Christ, and by this rendered himself more worthy. So the centurion, for a similar act of self-abasement, merited to hear from Truth itself, that he was preferred to all Israel. Euthymius is however of opinion, that St. Peter desired Christ to leave him through fear, lest some evil should befall him, because he was not worthy of his presence. In the same manner as the widow of Sarepta thought her son had died, because she was not worthy of the presence of Elias. (3 Kings 17:18.) (Maldonatus) |
| Luke 5:9 | For he was wholly astonished, and all that were with him, at the draught of the fishes which they had taken: | |
| Luke 5:10 | And so were also James and John, the sons of Zebedee, who were Simon's partners. And Jesus saith to Simon: Fear not; from henceforth thou shalt be taking men. | Jesus Christ answers the thought of St. Peter, that instead of any loss or evil coming to him, he should, on the contrary, receive a great reward, by being appointed a fisher of men; and, as he had taken so many fishes by the divine assistance, so he should take in his net innumerable souls, not so much by his own industry, as by the divine grace and assistance. (Maldonatus) |
| Luke 5:11 | And when they had brought their ships to land, leaving all things, they followed him. | We may suppose that these four apostles, like Andrew, followed Jesus Christ at the first call, but without attaching themselves to him; and that now they attached themselves to him, never to leave him more. |
| Luke 5:12 | *And it came to pass, when he was in a certain city, behold a man full of leprosy, who seeing Jesus, and falling on his face, besought him, saying: Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean. Matthew 8:2.; Mark 1:40. | By falling on his face, he shewed his humility and modesty, that all men might learn to be ashamed of the stains of their lives; but this, his bashfulness, did not prevent him from confessing his misery; he exposed his wound, he solicits a cure: Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean. He did not doubt the goodness of the Lord, but in consideration of his own unworthiness, he durst not presume. That confession is full of religion and faith, which places its trust in the will of God. (St. Ambrose) |
| Luke 5:13 | And stretching forth his hand, he touched him, saying: I will: Be thou cleansed. And immediately the leprosy departed from him. | The law forbade lepers to be touched; but he, who is the Lord of the law, dispenses with it. He touches the leper, not because he could not cleanse him without it, but in order to shew that he was not subject to the law, nor to fear of any infection. At the touch of Christ leprosy is dispelled, which before communicated contagion to all that touched it. (St. Ambrose) |
| Luke 5:14 | And he charged him to tell no man: but, Go, shew thyself to the priest, *and offer for thy cleansing according as Moses commanded, for a testimony to them. Leviticus 14:4. | Because men in sickness generally turn their thoughts towards God, but when they recover, forget him, the leper is commanded to think of God, and return him thanks. Therefore is he sent to the priest, to make his offering, (Leviticus 14:4.) that, committing himself to the examination of the priest, he might be accounted among the clean. (St. Chrysostom, hom. xxvi. in Matt.) --- By this our Saviour would testify to the priest, that this man was healed not by the ordination of the law, but by the power of grace, which is above the law. He likewise shews that he did not come to destroy, but to fulfil the law. (St. Ambrose) --- Jesus Christ seems here to approve of the legal sacrifices, which the Church does not receive; and this he did, because he had not yet established that most holy of all holy sacrifices, the sacrifice of his own body. The figurative sacrifices were not to be abrogated, before that, which they prefigured, was established by the preaching of the apostles, and the faith of Christian believers. (St. Augustine, quest. 2:b. 3. de quaest. evang.) --- By this leper is represented the whole human race, which was covered with a spiritual leprosy, and languishing in the corruption of sin; for all have sinned, and need the glory of God; (Romans iii.) therefore he stretched forth his hand, that is he clothed himself with our human nature, that we might be cleansed from our former errors, and might offer in return for this favour our bodies, a living sacrifice to God. (Ven. Bede) |
| Luke 5:15 | But the fame of him went abroad the more: and great multitudes came together to hear, and to be healed of their infirmities. | |
| Luke 5:16 | And he retired into the desert, and prayed. | Christ did not stand in need of this retirement, since, being God, he was free from every stain, and likewise present in every place. But, by this his conduct, he wished to teach us the time most proper, both for our active employments, and for the more sublime duties of prayer and contemplation. (St. Gregory of Nazianzus, Orat. xxviii.) --- en upochoron, he withdrew after his great prodigies, to avoid the praise of the multitude, and to pray assiduously, and with fresh instance, for the salvation of man. |
| Luke 5:17 | And it came to pass on a certain day, that he sat teaching. And there were Pharisees and doctors of the law sitting by, that were come out of every town of Galilee, and Judea, and Jerusalem: and the power of the Lord was to heal them. | But the fame of Jesus had now spread far and wide. It was for this reason that it is here said, the Pharisees and doctors of the law came out of every town in Galilee, etc. not indeed through any intention of becoming his disciples, but through a spirit of envy; as they now saw every one leaving them, and following our Saviour. Perhaps also to calumniate him, as we often find them to have done, when they beheld him making converts from them. (Denis the Carthusian) |
| Luke 5:18 | *And behold, men brought in a bed a man who had the palsy: and they sought means to bring him in, and to lay him before him. Matthew 9:2.; Mark 2:3. | |
| Luke 5:19 | And when they could not find by what way they might bring him in, because of the multitude, they went up upon the roof, and let him down through the tiles, with his bed, into the midst, before Jesus. | Let us learn from this example, how diligent we should be in procuring spiritual health, both for ourselves and for our friends. (Haydock) |
| Luke 5:20 | And when he saw their faith, he said: Man, thy sins are forgiven thee. | Great is the Lord, who pardons men on account of the merits of others. If you are diffident of the pardon of your grievous sins, have recourse to the Church. She will pray for you; and the Almighty, at her intercession, will grant you that pardon he might have denied to your prayers. (St. Ambrose, lib. V. in Luc.) |
| Luke 5:21 | And the Scribes and the Pharisees began to think, saying: Who is this who speaketh blasphemies? Who can forgive sins, but God alone? | How great is the madness of this unbelieving people, who confessing that God alone can forgive sins, will not believe God when he grants pardon. (St. Ambrose) --- They indeed spoke the truth, for none can forgive sins but God only, who forgives our offences by the ministry of others, to whom he has committed this power, both in baptism and penance. But Christ, by forgiving sins as God, that is with his own power, clearly proves to all his divinity. (Ven. Bede) |
| Luke 5:22 | And when Jesus knew their thoughts, answering, he said to them: What is it you think in your hearts? | |
| Luke 5:23 | Which is it easier to say: Thy sins are forgiven thee: or to say: Arise, and walk? | |
| Luke 5:24 | But that you may know that the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins, (he saith to the sick of the palsy) I say to thee: Arise, take up thy bed, and go into thy house. | The Son of man ... on earth. By which act, says St. Cyril, it is clear that the Son of man hath power on earth to remit sins; which he said both for himself and us. For he, as God-man, the Lord of the law, forgiveth sins; and we also have obtained by him that wonderful grace when he said to his disciples: Whose sins you shall forgive, they are forgiven them. (John 20:23.) And how should he not be able to remit sins, who gave others the power to do the same? (Bristow) |
| Luke 5:25 | And immediately rising up before them, he took up the bed on which he lay: and he went away into his own house, glorifying God. | |
| Luke 5:26 | And all were astonished, and they glorified God. And they were filled with fear, saying: We have seen wonderful things to-day. | At the sight of the exertion of divine power, the Jews would rather fear than believe; for had they believed they would never have feared, but rather loved; for perfect love excludes fear. (St. Ambrose) |
| Luke 5:27 | *And after these things he went forth, and saw a publican, named Levi, sitting at the custom-house, and he said to him: Follow me. Matthew 9:9.; Mark 2:14. | |
| Luke 5:28 | And leaving all things, he rose up, and followed him. | The profane Julian charged St. Matthew with levity, in leaving all and following a stranger at one word. But hereby is seen the marvellous efficacy of Christ's word and internal working, which in a moment can alter the heart of man, and cause him to despise what before was most near and dear to him. And this was done not only whilst Christ was living on earth, but daily in his Church. Thus St. Anthony, St. Francis, and others, hearing this word in the Church, forsook all and followed Jesus. (St. Jerome, in Matt. ix.; St. Athanasius, in vita. St. Anthony; St. Augustine, Confess. lib. viii. Luke 11.; St. Bonaventure, in vit. St. Francis.) |
| Luke 5:29 | And Levi made him a great feast in his own house: and there was a great company of publicans, and of others, that were at table with them. | And Levi made him a great feast, to testify his gratitude to Jesus for the favour he had done him. It appears that both St. Mark and St. Luke affect, through consideration for St. Matthew, to designate him here by his less known name of Levi; whereas he designates himself, through humility, in this same circumstance, by his more known appellation of Matthew. (See Matthew 9:9.) (Bible de Vence) |
| Luke 5:30 | *But the Pharisees and Scribes murmured, saying to his disciples: Why do you eat and drink with publicans and sinners? Mark 2:16. | |
| Luke 5:31 | And Jesus answering, said to them: They who are in health need not the physician: but they that are sick. | Jesus Christ gives them here to understand, that they were of the number of those who languished under a severe indisposition, and that he was come to act as their Physician. (St. Chrysostom, hom. xxxi. in Matt.) |
| Luke 5:32 | I came not to call the just, but sinners, to penance. | |
| Luke 5:33 | And they said to him: *Why do the disciples of John fast often, and make prayers, and the disciples of the Pharisees in like manner: but thine eat and drink? Mark 2:18. | St. Matthew says, it was St. John the Baptist's disciples themselves that objected this to Christ. Most probably both they and the Pharisees endeavoured all they could to press this objection. (St. Augustine, de cons. Evang. lib. 2:chap. 27) --- Why do you not fast, as is customary with all that wish to regulate their lives according to the law? The reason why the saints fasted was, that they might, by afflicting their bodies, subdue their passions. Jesus Christ, therefore, had no need of fasting, being God, and of course free from every, the least, disorderly motion of concupiscence. Neither did his attendants stand in need of fasting, for being enriched with his grace, they were strengthened in virtue, without the help of fasting. When, therefore, Christ fasted forty days, he fasted to set an example to carnal men. (St. Cyril) --- As long as the Spouse is with us, we are in joy, we cannot fast, we cannot mourn. But when he has been driven away by sin, then we must both fast and weep. (Ven. Bede) |
| Luke 5:34 | And he said to them: Can you make the children of the bridegroom fast, whilst the bridegroom is with them? | |
| Luke 5:35 | But the days will come, when the bridegroom shall be taken away from them; then shall they fast in those days. | |
| Luke 5:36 | And he spoke also a similitude to them: That no man putteth a piece from a new garment upon an old garment: otherwise he both rendeth the new, and the piece taken from the new agreeth not with the old. | |
| Luke 5:37 | And no man putteth new wine into old bottles: otherwise the new wine will burst the bottles, and it will be spilled, and the bottles will be lost. | |
| Luke 5:38 | But new wine must be put into new bottles, and both are preserved. | |
| Luke 5:39 | And no man drinking old, hath presently a mind to new: for he saith, The old is better. | |
| Luke 6:0 | Christ excuses his disciples. He cures upon the sabbath-day: chooses the twelve, and makes a sermon to them. | |
| Luke 6:1 | And *it came to pass on the second first sabbath, that as he went through the corn-fields, his disciples plucked the ears of corn, and did eat, rubbing them in their hands. Matthew 12:1.; Mark 2:23. | about the year A.D. 31. As this chapter is almost verbally like to the 5th, 7th, and 12th of St. Matthew, and the 3d of St. Mark, the reader is referred to these for further explanation. --- On the second-first sabbath. An obscure passage, on which St. Jerome says to Nepotianus,{ Ver. 1. In Sabbato secundo-primo en sabbato deuteroproto. See St. Chrysostom, Hom. xl. in Matt. in the Latin edition, in the Greek of Savil om lth p. 262, tom. ii. otan e argia e, kai tou sabbatou tou kuriou, kai eteras eortes diadechomenes. See St. Hieron.[St. Jerome,] ad Nepotianum. tom. iv, part 2, p. 262. Ed. Ben.|} that he consulted his master, St. Gregory of Nazianzus, but in vain. St. Chrysostom, Hom. xl. in Matt., takes it for a double feast, or a double rest: by which we may either understand a sabbath, and another feast concurring on the same day; or a sabbath and a feast immediately succeeding to each other. Theophylactus says the same; and that then the latter day, on which they were to rest, was called the second-first. Others say, that when the Jews kept their solemn paschal feast for seven days, the last day was called the second-first, because it was kept with equal solemnity as the first day had been. See Maldonatus. Later interpreters have found out other expositions, of which the most plausible seems to be, that by the second-first sabbath may be understood the feast of Pentecost (which also happened when corn was ripe in Palestine). To understand this we must take notice, that the Jews had three great and solemn feasts: 1. That of the Pasch, or the great paschal feast, with the seven days of unleavened bread; the 2d. was the great feast of Pentecost; and the 3d. was the feast, called of tabernacles. It is supposed then that the paschal feast was called the first-first sabbath, that Pentecost was called the second-first sabbath, and that of tabernacles the third-first, or great sabbath. (Witham) |
| Luke 6:2 | And some of the Pharisees said to them: Why do you that which is not lawful to do on the sabbath-days? | The Scribes and Pharisees boasted much, as do many modern teachers, of their great knowledge of Scriptures, but our Saviour often sheweth their profound ignorance. (Bristow) |
| Luke 6:3 | And Jesus answering them, said: Have you not read so much as this, what David did, when himself was hungry, and they that were with him: | |
| Luke 6:4 | *How he went into the house of God, and took and eat the bread of proposition, and gave to them that were with him, which it is not lawful to eat **but only for the priests? 1 Kings 21:6. --- ** Exodus 29:32.; Leviticus 24:9. | |
| Luke 6:5 | And he said to them: The Son of man is Lord also of the sabbath. | |
| Luke 6:6 | And it came to pass also on another sabbath, that he entered into the synagogue, and taught. *And there was a man, whose right hand was withered. Matthew 12:10.; Mark 3:1. | |
| Luke 6:7 | And the Scribes and Pharisees watched, to see if he would heal on the sabbath: that they might find an accusation against him. | |
| Luke 6:8 | But he knew their thoughts: and said to the man who had the withered hand: Arise, and stand forth in the midst. And rising, he stood forth. | |
| Luke 6:9 | Then Jesus said to them: I ask you, if it be lawful on the sabbath-days to do good, or to do evil: to save life, or to destroy? | |
| Luke 6:10 | And looking round about on them all, he said to the man: Stretch forth thy hand. And he stretched it forth: and his hand was restored. | |
| Luke 6:11 | And they were filled with madness, and they talked one with another, what they might do to Jesus. | |
| Luke 6:12 | And it came to pass in those days, that he went out into a mountain to pray, and he passed the whole night in the prayer of God. | |
| Luke 6:13 | *And when it was day, he called his disciples: and he chose twelve of them, (whom also he named apostles:) Matthew 10:1.; Mark 3:13. | These twelve Christ chose as individual companions and domestics. To these he committed the charge of founding and governing his Church. He sent them as legates, or ambassadors, (for this is the import of the word apostle) to all the world. Hence their power was more universal than that of bishops, which is confined to their own dioceses or districts. The jurisdiction of the apostles was not limited to place. (Tirinus) --- This power which Jesus Christ delegated to his apostles, and which was for the benefit and regulation of the universal Church in all future ages, the apostles, in their turn, delegated to their successors in the ministry, with such regulations and limitations as have been judged in the Holy Ghost necessary for the proper government of the spiritual kingdom of God upon earth. And it is the height of presumption to question any ordinations that come to us with the authority of the Catholic Church: for, "whatever the Church says, is true; whatever she permits is lawful; whatever she forbids, is evil; whatever she ordains, is holy; whatever she institutes, is good." (St. Augustine) --- How futile then is the objection of Calvin, who pretends, that an apostle, being nothing but a legate, can make no laws, nor prescribe or teach any thing not expressed in his mandatum! (Calvin, Institutes lib. 4:chap. 8) |
| Luke 6:14 | Simon, whom he surnamed Peter, and Andrew, his brother, James and John, Philip and Bartholomew, | |
| Luke 6:15 | Matthew and Thomas, James, the son of Alpheus, and Simon, who is called Zelotes: | |
| Luke 6:16 | And Jude, the brother of James, and Judas Iscariot, who was the traitor. | Judas, surnamed Thaddeus (Matthew 10:3.; Mark 3:18.) At the head of his epistle he styles himself Judas, brother of James. (Bible de Vence) |
| Luke 6:17 | And coming down with them, he stood in an open plain, and the company of his disciples, and a very great multitude of people from all Judea and Jerusalem, and the sea-coast both of Tyre and Sidon, | To a more extended and even part of the mountain, as we learn from comparing this text with St. Matthew (Matthew 5:1.) as it was from the mountain that Jesus Christ addressed to the people the following discourse. (Bible de Vence) |
| Luke 6:18 | Who had come to hear him, and to be healed of their diseases. And they that were troubled with unclean spirits, were cured. | |
| Luke 6:19 | And all the multitude sought to touch him, for virtue went out from him, and healed all. | |
| Luke 6:20 | *And he lifting up his eyes on his disciples, said: Blessed are ye poor: for yours is the kingdom of God. Matthew 5:2. | (Matthew 5:3-10.) mentions eight beatitudes, St. Luke only four; but St. Luke only gives an abridgment in this place of the discourse, which St. Matthew gives more at length. We are also to remark, that in these four the whole eight are comprised, and that both evangelists place poverty in the first place, because it is the first in rank, and, as it were, the parent of the other virtues; for he who hath forsaken earthly possessions, deserves heavenly ones. Neither can any man reasonably expect eternal life, who is not willing to forsake all in affection, and in effect also, if called upon for the love of Jesus Christ. (St. Ambrose) --- Not that every one under great poverty is happy, but that the man who prefers the poverty of Christ to the riches of the world, ought certainly to be esteemed such. Many indeed are poor in worldly substance, but are avaricious in affection; to such as these poverty is no advantage. Nothing that is against the will, merits reward; therefore all virtue is known by the will. Blessed, therefore, are the poor, who bear poverty for the sake of Christ: he himself hath already trodden the path before us, and taught us by his example that it leads to honour and enjoyment. (St. Cyril in St. Thomas Aquinas) |
| Luke 6:21 | *Blessed are ye that hunger now: for you shall be filled. Blessed are ye that weep now: for you shall laugh. Matthew 5:6. | |
| Luke 6:22 | *Blessed shall you be when men shall hate you, and when they shall separate you, and shall reproach you, and cast out your name as evil, for the Son of man's sake. Matthew 5:11. | |
| Luke 6:23 | Be glad in that day, and rejoice: for behold, your reward is great in heaven. For according to these things did their fathers to the prophets. | |
| Luke 6:24 | *But wo to you that are rich: for you have your consolation. Ecclesiasticus 31:7.; Amos 6:1. | Jesus Christ having declared how meritorious poverty of spirit was to eternal life, proceeds to denounce heavy chastisements upon the rich and proud. (St. Cyril in St. Thomas Aquinas) --- Although in great riches there are great inducements to sin, yet there are not wanting even in that state great incitements to virtue; neither is this woe aimed against those who abound in affluence; but against "those who abuse that affluence which Providence has bestowed upon them: Non enim census, sed affectus, in crimine est." (St. Ambrose) |
| Luke 6:25 | *Wo to you that are filled: for you shall hunger. Wo to you that laugh now: for you shall mourn and weep. Isaias 65:13. | As before he promised blessings to those that hunger, that weep, that are outcasts for Christ's sake; so here, and in the next verse, he denounces curses to such as are filled, that laugh, and are praised; that is to such, as so far seek their beatitude in present enjoyment, as to become indifferent with regard to the good things of the next world. (Haydock) |
| Luke 6:26 | Wo to you when men shall bless you: for according to these things did their fathers to the false prophets. | Wo to you, when men shall bless you. The ministers of the gospel must not value themselves, when they are applauded by men; for so did the fore-fathers of the Jews, formerly commend the false prophets, when they flattered the people, and spoke things that were pleasing to them. (Witham) |
| Luke 6:27 | But I say to you that hear: *Love your enemies, do good to them that hate you. Matthew 5:44. | |
| Luke 6:28 | Bless them that curse you, and pray for them that calumniate you. | |
| Luke 6:29 | And to him that striketh thee on the one cheek, offer also the other. And him that taketh away from thee thy cloak, hinder not to take thy coat also. | |
| Luke 6:30 | Give to every one that asketh thee, and of him that taketh away thy goods, ask them not again. | Jesus Christ does not order us never to refuse a petition: but the meaning of his words is, that we are to give what is just and reasonable, what will be neither injurious to yourself nor your family; for what is unjustly asked, may be justly denied. (St. Augustine, lib. X. Luke 40. de serm. Dom. in Monte.) --- But in this, the sin we commit is often far from trivial; particularly, when to the refusal of a just request, we add also reprehensions and complaints. For why, say we, does he not labour? why has he reduced himself to penury, through his own indolence?---But, tell me, do you live upon the fruits of your own industry? On the supposition that you do, is it not that you may have some plea to reprehend another for the morsel of bread he begs at your hands? You give him no charitable relief, give him then no contumelious words: if you have no compassion for him yourself, do not prevent others from shewing him commiseration. Abraham, in the number of guests he received, had the honour of receiving under his roof even angels. Let us not, therefore, be strict and unfavourable judges in regard of our suffering and distressed neighbours, lest perhaps we ourselves come to be more severely judged. (St. Chrysostom collected from hom. xxi. in ep. ad. Rom. --- Hom. xi. in ep. ad. Heb. and hom. 2:de Lazaro.) |
| Luke 6:31 | And as you would that men should do to you, do you also to them, in like manner. | |
| Luke 6:32 | And if you love them that love you, what thanks have you? for sinners also love those that love them. | |
| Luke 6:33 | And if you do good to them that do good to you; what thanks have you? for sinners also do this. | |
| Luke 6:34 | *And if you lend to them of whom you hope to receive; what thanks are to you? for sinners also lend to sinners, to receive as much. Deuteronomy 15:8.; Matthew 5:42. | |
| Luke 6:35 | But love ye your enemies: do good, and lend, hoping for nothing thereby: and your reward shall be great, and you shall be the sons of the Most High: for he is kind to the unthankful, and to the evil. | Hoping for nothing, but merely impelled by a desire of doing good. They who only give when sure of having a greater return, do not give, but traffic with their generosity; in which there is no charity. (Haydock) |
| Luke 6:36 | Be ye, therefore, merciful, as your father also is merciful. | |
| Luke 6:37 | *Judge not, and you shall not be judged: condemn not, and you shall not be condemned. Forgive, and you shall be forgiven. Matthew 7:1. | What can be imagined more kind, what more merciful, than this conduct of our Sovereign Lord, that the sentence of the judge should be left in the hands of the person to be judged? (Jansenius, Comment. in sanct. Evang.) |
| Luke 6:38 | Give, and it shall be given to you: good measure, and pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall they give into your bosom. *For with the same measure that you shall mete, it shall be measured to you again. Matthew 7:2.; Mark 4:24. | Here all solicitude of diffidence, all delay of avarice, is cut off; for what truth promises to repay, humility may safe expend. (St. Leo, Serm. vi.) |
| Luke 6:39 | And he spoke also to them a similitude: Can the blind lead the blind? do they not both fall into the ditch? | |
| Luke 6:40 | *The disciple is not above his master: but every one shall be perfect, if he be as his master. Matthew 10:24.; John 13:16. | |
| Luke 6:41 | *And why seest thou the mote in thy brother's eye, but the beam that is in thy own eye, thou considerest not? Matthew 7:3. | |
| Luke 6:42 | Or how canst thou say to thy brother: Brother, let me pull the mote out of thy eye: when thou thyself seest not the beam in thy own eye? Thou hypocrite, cast first the beam out of thy own eye: and then shalt thou see clearly to take out the mote from thy brother's eye. | |
| Luke 6:43 | *For there is no good tree that bringeth forth evil fruit: nor an evil tree that bringeth forth good fruit. Matthew 7:18.; Matthew 12:33. | |
| Luke 6:44 | For every tree is known by its fruit. For men do not gather figs from thorns: nor from a bramble bush do they gather grapes. | |
| Luke 6:45 | A good man, out of the good treasure of his heart, bringeth forth that which is good: and an evil man, out of the evil treasure, bringeth forth that which is evil. For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh. | |
| Luke 6:46 | And why call you me *Lord, Lord: and do not the things which I say? Matthew 7:21.; Romans 2:13.; James 1:22. | |
| Luke 6:47 | Every one that cometh to me, and heareth my words, and doth them: I will shew you to whom he is like. | |
| Luke 6:48 | He is like to a man building a house, who digged deep, and laid the foundation upon a rock. And when a flood came, the stream beat vehemently upon that house, and it could not shake it: for it was founded on a rock. | That man buildeth safely who hath both faith and good works; whereas the man that trusteth to his faith alone, to his reading or knowledge of Scripture, and doth not work and live accordingly, buildeth on sand. (Bristow) |
| Luke 6:49 | But he that heareth, and doth not: is like to a man building his house upon the earth without a foundation: against which the stream beat vehemently, and immediately it fell: and the ruin of that house was great. | |
| Luke 7:0 | Christ heals the centurion's servant: raises the widow's son to life: answers the messengers sent by John: and absolves the penitent sinner. | |
| Luke 7:1 | And *when he had finished all his words in the hearing of the people, he entered into Capharnaum. Matthew 8:5. | about the year A.D. 31. It was not immediately after he had spoken the preceding words that Christ entered Capharnaum, for in the interim he healed the man afflicted with the leprosy, according as St. Matthew related it in its proper place. (St. Augustine) |
| Luke 7:2 | And the servant of a certain centurion, who was dear to him, was sick, and ready to die. | This history, though different in some circumstances from that related by St. Matthew 8., is most likely a relation of the same event, and the apparent discrepancies may be easily reconciled. St. Matthew says it was the centurion's boy; St. Luke calls him his servant: but in these terms there is no necessary contradiction. And whereas the former says the centurion went himself to Christ, St. Luke mentions that he sent the ancients, or senators, of the Jews. Here, as in other places, we may suppose, that the former evangelist, for the sake of brevity, attributes to the centurion what was done in his name and with his authority; and through the whole narrative he represents our Saviour answering the centurion as if personally present. (Jansenius, concord. Evan.) |
| Luke 7:3 | And when he had heard of Jesus, he sent to him the ancients of the Jews, desiring him to come and heal his servant. | When St. Luke says that the centurion begs of our Lord to come to him, he must not be supposed to contradict St. Matthew, who says, that the centurion objected he was not worthy to receive him under his roof. St. Luke seems here to relate the words of the Jews, who most probably would stop the centurion as he was going to Christ, and promise to intercede with our Lord for him. (St. Chrysostom, hom. xxvii. in Matt.) --- Some pretend that the centurion, after having sent to Jesus, went himself; but there is no necessity for such a supposition. We see in another case, that the petition of the sons of Zebedee, made by them to Jesus Christ, according to St. Mark 10:35., was made to him by the mouth of their mother, according to St. Matthew 20:20. And this the old adage also teaches: qui facit per alium, facit per se; what a man does by another, he does by himself. |
| Luke 7:4 | And when they came to Jesus, they besought him earnestly, saying to him: He is worthy that thou shouldst do this for him. | |
| Luke 7:5 | For he loveth our nation: and he hath built us a synagogue. | |
| Luke 7:6 | And Jesus went with them. And when he was now not far from the house, the centurion sent his friends to him, saying: *Lord, trouble not thyself: for I am not worthy that thou shouldst enter under my roof. Matthew 8:8. | Jesus Christ went with them, not because he could not cure him, when absent, but that he might set forth the centurion's humility for our imitation. He would not go to the child of the ruler of the synagogue, lest he might appear to be induced by the consideration of his consequence and riches; but he went to the centurion's servant, that he might appear to despise his humble condition. (St. Ambrose) |
| Luke 7:7 | Wherefore neither did I think myself worthy to come to thee: but say the word, and my servant shall be healed. | |
| Luke 7:8 | For I also am a man subject to authority, having under me soldiers: and I say to one, Go, and he goeth: and to another, Come, and he cometh: and to my servant, Do this, and he doth it. | |
| Luke 7:9 | Which when Jesus heard, he marvelled: and turning about to the multitude that followed him, he said: Amen, I say to you, I have not found so great faith, even in Israel. | Our Lord does not speak of the patriarchs, but of the Israelites of his own time, with whose faith he compares and prefers that of the centurion, because they had the assistance of the law and of the prophets; but this man, without any such instruction, willingly believed. (Ven. Bede) |
| Luke 7:10 | And they who were sent, returning to the house, found the servant whole, who had been sick. | |
| Luke 7:11 | And it came to pass, after this, that he went into a city called Naim: and there went with him his disciples, and a great multitude. | Naim is a city of Galilee, about two miles from Mount Thabor. It was by divine dispensation, that so very great a multitude was present on this occasion, in order to witness this stupendous miracle. (Ven. Bede) --- The burying-places of the Jews were out of the precincts of the city, as well for the preservation of health as decency. Thus Joseph of Arimathea, had his sepulchre in the rock of Mount Calvary, which was out of the city. (Tirinus) |
| Luke 7:12 | And when he came nigh to the gate of the city, behold a dead man was carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow: and much people of the city was with her. | The evangelist seems to relate this miracle, as if it had happened by mere accident; though, beyond a doubt, divine Providence disposed all things to increase the splendour of the miracle. Jesus Christ would not raise this young man to life before he was carried out to be buried, that he might meet him near the gates of the city, where the assembly of the people took place. Besides this, there were present both the multitude that followed Jesus, and the multitude that followed the corpse, to the end that all these might be eye-witnesses to the miracle, and many might praise God, as Ven. Bede remarks. It was very proper that Christ should work this miracle just as he was entering the city, that he might preach the gospel with better success, from the opinion they must form of him, after beholding so great a miracle, and so great a favour bestowed upon them. (Maldonatus) --- In a few words, the evangelist paints to life the affliction of this distressed widowed parent: a mother and a widow, without the least hopes of children, deprived of him who was her only support, the life of her habitation, the source of all her maternal tenderness and satisfaction, now in the prime of health, the only branch of her succession, and the staff of her old age. (St. Gregory of Nyssa, de hominis opificio.) |
| Luke 7:13 | Whom when the Lord had seen, he had compassion on her, and said to her: Weep not. | |
| Luke 7:14 | And he came near and touched the bier. (And they that carried it, stood still.) And he said: Young man, I say to thee, arise. | Here Christ shews that he raised the dead by his own power, and at his own command: I say to thee, arise. This shews that it is the voice of God that speaks; for the dead can hear the voice of him alone, according to St. John. Amen, I say to you, the hour cometh, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God; and they who hear shall live. (St. John 5:25.) (Maldonatus) --- Our Saviour is not like Elias, weeping for the son of the widow of Sarepta; nor Eliseus, who applied his own body to the body of the dead child; nor Peter, who prayed for Tabitha: but he it is that calls the things that are not, as those that are; who speaks to the dead as to the living. (Titus Bostrensis) |
| Luke 7:15 | And he that was dead, sat up, and began to speak. And he delivered him to his mother. | |
| Luke 7:16 | And there came a fear on them all: and they glorified God, saying: *That a great prophet is risen up among us: and God hath visited his people. Luke 24:19.; John 4:19. | And there came a fear on them all; that is a certain reverential awe and trepidation seized them, and an uncommon degree of astonishment at the divinity which appeared to them. (Menochius) --- And they glorified God: (edoxazan) they gave praise and glory to God for thus visiting his people, by sending them the Saviour he had promised them. (Polus, synop. crit.) |
| Luke 7:17 | And this rumour of him went forth throughout all Judea, and throughout all the country round about. | |
| Luke 7:18 | And John's disciples told him of all these things. | |
| Luke 7:19 | *And John called to him two of his disciples, and sent them to Jesus, saying: Art thou he who is to come: or expect we another? Matthew 11:2. | |
| Luke 7:20 | And when the men were come to him, they said: John, the Baptist, hath sent us to thee, saying: Art thou he who is to come: or expect we another? | The men; (oi andres) viz. the two disciples sent by John the Baptist, who delivered their master's message; but, before Jesus Christ undertook to reply to their question, he performed on the spot various kinds of miracles. |
| Luke 7:21 | (And in that same hour, he cured many of their diseases, and sores, and evil spirits, and to many that were blind, he gave sight.) | |
| Luke 7:22 | And, answering, he said to them: Go and relate to John what you have heard and seen: *That the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are made clean, the deaf hear, the dead rise again, to the poor the gospel is preached: Isaias 35:5. | Then addressing himself to these disciples of John the Baptist, he ordered them to go and relate to their master all they had seen and heard; and to tell him, that he declared all those to be happy, who, strong in faith, should not take occasion to doubt of his divine power, (the proofs of which they had so recently seen) from the weakness of his flesh, which he had taken upon himself for the love of man. --- Jesus Christ alludes to the known and full testimonies that had been given of him by the prophets. The Lord giveth food to the hungry, the Lord looseth them that are in fetters, the Lord enlighteneth the blind, he lifteth up them that are cast down, ... and he who does these things, shall reign for ever thy God, O Sion, from generation to generation. (Psalm cxlv.) (St. Ambrose) --- The words of the prophet Isaias are not less descriptive of the promised Messias: God himself will come, and will save you. Then shall the eyes of the blind be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped. The lame man shall leap as a hart, and the tongue of the dumb shall be free. (Isaias 35:4, 5, 6.) (Theophylactus) |
| Luke 7:23 | And blessed is he, whosoever shall not be scandalized in me. | |
| Luke 7:24 | And when the messengers of John were departed, he began to speak to the multitudes concerning John: What went you out into the desert to see? a reed shaken with the wind? | |
| Luke 7:25 | But what went you out to see? a man clothed in soft garments? Behold, they that are in costly apparel and live delicately, are in the houses of kings. | |
| Luke 7:26 | But what went you out to see? a prophet? Yea, I say to you, and more than a prophet. | Because the Scripture styles him an angel; or, because he is the immediate precursor of him whom all the prophets announced at a distance. |
| Luke 7:27 | *This is he of whom it is written: Behold I send my angel before thy face, who shall prepare thy way before thee. Malachias 3:1.; Matthew 11:10.; Mark 1:2. | |
| Luke 7:28 | For I say to you: Amongst those that are born of women, there is not a greater prophet than John, the Baptist: but he who is lesser in the kingdom of God, is greater than he. | |
| Luke 7:29 | And all the people hearing, and the publicans, justified God, being baptized with the baptism of John. | Justified God; that is feared and worshipped God, as just, merciful, etc. (Witham) --- There are only two different sets of men, who glorified God for the baptism of John, and these seemed the most remote from works of piety; viz. the ignorant multitude, who scarcely knew the law; and the publicans, who were in general the most avaricious of mortals, and were looked upon as public sinners. If the preaching of John the Baptist had such an effect upon these men; what kind of hearts must not the Scribes have had, who, with all the advantage of the knowledge of the law, still refused to believe? This verifies the saying of our Lord, in St. Matthew Luke 21:31: Amen, I say unto you, that the publicans and harlots shall go into the kingdom of heaven before you. (Maldonatus) --- God has hidden these things from the wise and prudent, and has revealed them to little ones; (St. Luke, 10:21.) for so it hath seemed good in his sight (Luke, 10:21.) |
| Luke 7:30 | But the Pharisees, and the lawyers, despised the counsel of God against themselves, being not baptized by him. | |
| Luke 7:31 | And the Lord said: *Whereunto then shall I liken the men of this generation? and to what are they like? Matthew 11:16. | |
| Luke 7:32 | They are like to children sitting in the market-place, and speaking one to another, and saying: We have piped to you, and you have not danced: we have mourned, and you have not wept. | Speaking one to another: (prosphonousin allelois) they seem to have been alternate choirs of youths, answering each other in the above words. (Menochius) |
| Luke 7:33 | *For John, the Baptist, came, neither eating bread, nor drinking wine, and you say: He hath a devil. Matthew 1:6. | |
| Luke 7:34 | The Son of man is come eating and drinking, and you say: Behold a man that is a glutton and a drinker of wine, a friend of publicans and sinners. | |
| Luke 7:35 | And wisdom is justified by all her children. | |
| Luke 7:36 | And one of the Pharisees desired him to eat with him. And entering the house of the Pharisee, he sat down to meat. | And one of the Pharisees, by name Simon, as we learn in ver. 40. |
| Luke 7:37 | *And behold, a woman in the city, who was a sinner, when she knew that he sat at meat in the Pharisee's house, brought an alabaster-box of ointment: Matthew 26:7.; Mark 14:3.; John 11:2.; John 12:3. | A woman in the city, who was a sinner. Some say she had only been of a vain airy carriage; one that loved to be admired for her beauty and wit; but the common exposition and more conformable to the text, is, that she had been of a lewd, debauched life and conversation. (Witham) --- Mary Magdalene. |
| Luke 7:38 | And standing behind at his feet, she began to wash his feet with tears, and wiped them with the hairs of her head, and kissed his feet, and anointed them with the ointment. | Jesus Christ was then at table, after the manner of the Orientals, reclined at length on a couch, a little raised from the ground, having his face turned towards the table, and his feet extended. He had quitted his sandals, according to the custom of the country, before he had laid himself on the couch. (Bible de Vence) |
| Luke 7:39 | And the Pharisee, who had invited him, seeing it, spoke within himself, saying: This man, if he were a prophet, would know surely who and what kind of woman it is that toucheth him: for she is a sinner. | The Pharisee was egregiously deceived. 1. In thinking that Christ was ignorant of the character of the woman, when he not only clearly saw the past bad conduct of the woman, but the present unjust thoughts of the Pharisee; 2. in his erroneous inference that Christ could not be a prophet; for all things are not necessarily revealed by God to his prophets; 3. by judging of Christ, after his own and the other Pharisees' treatment of sinners; who, elated with pride, and thinking themselves just, kept all public sinners at a respectful distance; whereas not those who are well, but such as are sick, need the physician. (Menochius) |
| Luke 7:40 | And Jesus answering, said to him: Simon, I have somewhat to say to thee. But he said: Master, say it. | |
| Luke 7:41 | A certain creditor had two debtors; the one who owed five hundred pence, and the other fifty. | |
| Luke 7:42 | And, whereas they had not wherewith to pay, he forgave them both. Which, therefore, of the two loveth him most? | Which will love him most? as we read in the Protestant version, and in the Greek, agapesei. But Christ, seeming to require love as a previous disposition to the remission of sins, as appears from ver. 47 below, the Catholic Church has adopted the version of St. Augustine, hom. xxiii. in the present tense: quis ergo plus eum diligit? (Jansenius, Comment. in Evang.) |
| Luke 7:43 | Simon answering, said: I suppose that he to whom he forgave most. And he said to him: Thou hast judged rightly. | In proportion to our sins, should be our grief, says St. Cyprian: ut poenitentia non sit minor crimine. (lib. de lapsis.) |
| Luke 7:44 | And turning to the woman, he said to Simon: Dost thou see this woman? I entered into thy house, thou gavest me no water for my feet: but she hath washed my feet with tears, and wiped them with her hair. | |
| Luke 7:45 | Thou gavest me no kiss: but she, since she came in, hath not ceased to kiss my feet. | |
| Luke 7:46 | My head, with oil, thou didst not anoint: but she, with ointment, hath anointed my feet. | |
| Luke 7:47 | Wherefore I say to thee: Many sins are forgiven her, because she hath loved much. But to whom less is forgiven, he loveth less. | Many sins are forgiven her, because she hath loved much. In the Scripture, an effect sometimes seems attributed to one only cause, when there are divers other concurring dispositions; the sins of this woman, in this verse, are said to be forgiven, because she loved much; but (ver. 50,) Christ tells her, thy faith hath saved thee. In a true conversion are joined faith, hope, love, sorrow, and other pious dispositions. (Witham) |
| Luke 7:48 | And he said to her: *Thy sins are forgiven thee. Matthew 9:2. | |
| Luke 7:49 | And they that sat with him at table began to say within themselves: Who is this that forgiveth sins also? | |
| Luke 7:50 | And he said to the woman: Thy faith hath saved thee: go in peace. | This is one of those places upon which modern sectaries lay so much stress, in order to prove that faith alone can save us. But if they will attentively consider the different parts of this history, they will easily discover the fallacy of their argument. Because, before Christ spoke these words: thy faith, etc. he had said to Magdalene: many sins are forgiven her, because she hath loved much. Therefore she was justified not so much through her faith, as her charity: still she had faith, or she would not have come to Jesus, to be delivered from her sins. It was therefore her faith, working by charity, that justified her: and this is the doctrine of the Catholic Church. Nevertheless, she had not that faith, which modern sectaries affirm to be necessary for their justification, viz. a belief that they are already justified, and that their sins are forgiven: this faith the woman here mentioned had not before Christ spoke those words to her; for it was to obtain the remission of her sins, that she performed so many offices of charity, washing his feet with her tears, etc. But is may be asked, why then does Christ attribute her salvation to her faith? The answer is easy, and has often been given, viz. that faith is the beginning of salvation; for it was her faith that brought her to Christ: for had not the woman believed in him, she never would have come to him to obtain the remission of her sins. (Maldonatus) |
| Luke 8:0 | The parable of the seed. Christ stills the storm at sea: casts out the legion: heals the issue of blood: and raises the daughter of Jairus to life. | |
| Luke 8:1 | And it came to pass afterwards, that he travelled through the cities and towns, preaching and evangelizing the kingdom of God: and the twelve with him; | |
| Luke 8:2 | And certain women who had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities: *Mary called Magdalene, out of whom seven devils were gone forth, Mark 16:9. | about the year A.D. 31. Mention is made in the gospels, of a woman who was a sinner, (Luke 7.) of Mary of Bethania, the sister of Lazarus, (John 11.; John 12.; Mark 14.; Matthew 26.) and of Mary Magdalene, who followed Jesus from Galilee, and ministered to him. Many think all this to belong to one and the same person: others think these were three distinct persons. See the arguments on both sides in Alban Butler's Lives of the Saints, July 22d; and also more at large in the dissertations upon the three Marys, at the conclusion of the harmony in the Bible de Vence. |
| Luke 8:3 | And Joanna, the wife of Chusa, Herod's steward, and Susanna, and many others, who ministered unto him of their substance. | The wife of Chusa, Herod's steward. Literally, his procurator, as in the Rheims translation. The Greek signifies one that provides for another, or manages his concerns. The same word is used, (Matthew 20:8.; Galatians 4:2.) (Witham) --- The Greek word is epitropou. It was the custom of the Jews, says St. Jerome, that pious women should minister of their substance, meat, drink, and clothing, to their teachers going about with them. But as this might have given cause of scandal among the Gentiles, St. Paul mentions that he allowed it not. (1 Corinthians 9:5.; 1 Corinthians 9:12.) They thus ministered to our Lord and his apostles of their worldly substance, from whom they received spiritual riches. |
| Luke 8:4 | And when a very great multitude was gathered together, and hastened out of the cities to him, he spoke by a similitude: | |
| Luke 8:5 | *A sower went out to sow his seed: and as he sowed, some fell by the way side, and it was trodden down, and the fowls of the air devoured it. Matthew 13:3.; Mark 4:3. | |
| Luke 8:6 | And other some fell upon a rock: and as soon as it was sprung up, it withered away, because it had no moisture. | |
| Luke 8:7 | And other some fell among thorns, and the thorns growing up with it, choked it. | |
| Luke 8:8 | And other some fell upon good ground: and sprung up, and yielded fruit a hundred-fold. Saying these things, he cried out: He that hath ears to hear, let him hear. | Ears to hear, let him hear, etc. that is he that is willing to hear the word of God, and diligently comply with what is therein commanded, let him be attentive to the words of Christ. For the sight, hearing, and other senses, were not given to man to be used only as beasts use them, but likewise that they might profit his soul to eternal life. (Tirinus) |
| Luke 8:9 | And his disciples asked him what this parable might be. | After the multitude had left our divine Saviour, his disciples wishing thoroughly to understand the meaning of his instructions, came to him, and desired he would give them an explanation of the parable. (Tirinus) |
| Luke 8:10 | To whom he said: To you it is given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God: but to the rest in parables, *that seeing, they may not see, and hearing, they may not understand. Isaias 6:9.; Matthew 13:14.; Mark 4:12.; John 12:40.; Acts 28:26.; Romans 11:8. | |
| Luke 8:11 | Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God. | |
| Luke 8:12 | And they, by the way side, are they that hear; then the devil cometh, and taketh the word out of their heart, lest believing, they should be saved. | |
| Luke 8:13 | Now they upon the rock, are they who when they hear, receive the word with joy: and these have no roots; who believe for a while, and in time of temptation, fall away. | |
| Luke 8:14 | And that which fell among thorns: are they who have heard, and going their way, are choked with the cares and riches, and pleasures of this life, and yield no fruit. | The sense of the Greek text is: they produce no fruit that arrives at maturity. (Bible de Vence) |
| Luke 8:15 | But that on the good ground, are they who in a good and perfect heart, hearing the word, keep it, and bring forth fruit in patience. | |
| Luke 8:16 | *Now no man that lighteth a candle, covereth it with a vessel, or putteth it under a bed: but setteth it upon a candlestick, that they who come in, may see the light. Matthew 5:15.; Mark 4:21. | Our Lord calls himself the lighted candle, placed in the middle of the world. Christ was by nature God, and by dispensation man: and thus, not unlike a torch placed in the middle of a house, does our Lord, seated in the soul of man, illumine all around him. But by the candlestick, is understood the Church, which he illuminates by the refulgent rays of his divine word. (St. Maximus.) --- By these expressions, Jesus induces his audience to be very diligent, and quite alive in the momentous affair of salvation; informing them that they are placed in the public view of the whole world. (St. Chrysostom, hom. xv. in Matt.) |
| Luke 8:17 | *For there is not any thing secret, that shall not be made manifest: nor hidden, that shall not be known, and come abroad. Matthew 10:26.; Mark 4:22. | |
| Luke 8:18 | Take heed, therefore, how you hear. *For whosoever hath, to him shall be given: and whosoever hath not, that also which he thinketh he hath, shall be taken away from him. Matthew 13:12.; Matthew 25:29. | He here exhorts his audience to attend to what he was about to deliver, and to apply themselves with all their attention to the divine word; for he who has a desire of hearing the word, shall also receive the grace and power of understanding it. But the man who has no desire of hearing it, though from his learning he might expect to understand it, shall not understand it, because he does not willingly attend to the divine admonitions; hence it is said, Whosoever hath, to him also shall be given. (Ven. Bede) |
| Luke 8:19 | *And his mother and brethren came to him: and they could not come at him for the crowd. Matthew 12:46.; Mark 3:32. | |
| Luke 8:20 | And it was told him: Thy mother and thy brethren stand without, desiring to see thee. | These brethren were not the sons of the blessed Virgin Mary, mother of God, as Helvidius wickedly taught; nor yet the sons of Joseph, by another wife; for, as St. Jerome writeth, not only Mary, but Joseph also, observed virginity. (Contra Helvidium, ch. IX. et ibidem, ch. VIII.) --- In the scriptural idiom, cousins are called brethren. (Bristow) |
| Luke 8:21 | He answering, said to them: My mother and my brethren are they, who hear the word of God, and do it. | There is no tie of affinity and friendship so proper, and so becoming man, as that made by faith in Christ, and strengthened by charity. (Tirinus) |
| Luke 8:22 | *And it came to pass on a certain day, that he went into a little ship with his disciples, and he said to them: Let us go over to the other side of the lake. And they launched forth. Matthew 8:23.; Mark 4:36. | And they launched forth: literally, they went up. The sense is, being gone abroad, they set forward, or launched forth, as in the Protestant translation. (Witham) |
| Luke 8:23 | And when they were sailing, he slept; and there came down a storm of wind on the lake, and they were filled, and were in danger. | And they were filled; that is the little ship was filled with water. (Witham) |
| Luke 8:24 | And they came and awaked him, saying, Master, we perish. But he arising, rebuked the wind, and the raging of the water: and it ceased, and there was a calm. | In this Christ evidently shews two distinct natures; his human nature, denoted by his sleep; and his divine nature by stilling the tempest at sea. (Ven. Bede) |
| Luke 8:25 | And he said to them: Where is your faith? And they being afraid, wondered, saying one to another: Who is this: (think you) that he commandeth both the winds and the sea, and they obey him? | After Christ had appeased the storm at sea, the disciples, all astonishment at the miracle, began to whisper to each other, saying, Who is this? not that the disciples were ignorant of whom they were speaking, but they wondered at his mighty works, and at the glory of his divine power. (St. Ambrose) |
| Luke 8:26 | And they sailed to the country of the Gerasens, which is over against Galilee. | Here St. Matthew relates the history of the two demoniacs, whilst St. Mark and St. Luke speak only of one; but the man mentioned in these two evangelists, was a man of some consideration and consequence, for whose cure the country was deeply interested. (St. Augustine, de concord. evang.) |
| Luke 8:27 | And when he was come forth to the land, there met him a certain man who had a devil now a very long time, and he wore no clothes, neither did he abide in a house, but in the tombs. | |
| Luke 8:28 | And when he saw Jesus, he fell down before him: and crying out with a loud voice, he said: What have I to do with thee, Jesus, Son of the most high God? I beseech thee, do not torment me. | This is not a voluntary confession, which merits a reward, but a forced acknowledgment, extorted against their wills. Like fugitive servants, who, when they meet their masters, think of nothing but of deprecating punishment. The devils think our Lord is come down upon earth to judge them. (St. Jerome) --- The torment from which this devil desires to be freed, is the pain and affliction he would suffer by being forced to yield to the power of Christ, in leaving the man; not the general torment of hell, to which he knew he was unchangeably and irrevocably condemned. He was also tormented with the fear, lest he should be now consigned to those eternal pains before his time, as it is expressed in St. Matthew. For, though the evil spirits are unavoidably condemned, and already suffer the chief torments of hell, yet the rigorous fulfilment of all is deferred to the day of judgment. (Jansenius, conc. Evang.) |
| Luke 8:29 | For he commanded the unclean spirit to go out of the man. For many times it seized him, and he was bound with chains, and kept in fetters: and he broke the bonds, and was driven by the devil into the deserts. | |
| Luke 8:30 | And Jesus asked him, saying: What is thy name? But he said: Legion: because many devils were entered into him. | He did not put the question through ignorance of his name, but that his answer might shew forth the divine power in a more glorious manner; as also for our instruction, that knowing the great number of our invisible enemies, we might work out our salvation with fear and trembling, placing all our confidence in God. (Denis the Carthusian) |
| Luke 8:31 | And they besought him that he would not command them to go into the abyss. | |
| Luke 8:32 | And there was there a herd of many swine feeding on the mountain: and they besought him that he would suffer them to enter into them. And he suffered them. | If, says St. Athanasius, the infernal spirits have no power over such impure beasts as swine, with much greater reason then are they deprived of power over man, who is made after God's own image, and redeemed by the blood of his son, Christ Jesus. We should therefore fear only God, and despise the devil. (Life of St. Anthony) |
| Luke 8:33 | The devils, therefore, went out of the man, and entered into the swine: and the herd ran violently down a steep place into the lake, and were stifled. | This event shews what was before asserted, that many devils had possession of the man. The obstinacy of the Sadducees, who denied the existence of evil spirits, was thus likewise refuted; as well as the cavils of certain moderns, who pretend that these effects which appeared in the demoniacs, were not produced by the power of the devil, but were the consequences of some violent natural malady. (Jansenius, conc. Evang.) |
| Luke 8:34 | Which, when they that fed them, saw done, they fled away, and told it in the city and in the villages. | |
| Luke 8:35 | And they went out to see what was done: and they came to Jesus, and found the man, out of whom the devils had departed, sitting at his feet, clothed, and in his right mind, and they were afraid. | |
| Luke 8:36 | And they also that had seen it told them, how he had been healed from the legion. | |
| Luke 8:37 | And all the multitude of the country of the Gerasens besought him to depart from them: for they were taken with great fear. And he going up into the ship, returned back again. | |
| Luke 8:38 | Now the man, out of whom the devils were departed, besought him that he might be with him. But Jesus sent him away, saying: | |
| Luke 8:39 | Return to thy house, and tell how great things God hath done to thee. And he went through the whole city, publishing how great things Jesus had done to him. | |
| Luke 8:40 | And it came to pass, that when Jesus was returned, the multitude received him. For they were all waiting for him. | |
| Luke 8:41 | *And behold there came a man whose name was Jairus, and he was a ruler of the synagogue: and he fell down at the feet of Jesus, beseeching him that he would come into his house, Matthew 19:18.; Mark 5:22. | See this explained in Matthew ix. and Mark v. |
| Luke 8:42 | For he had an only daughter, almost twelve years old, and she was dying. And it happened, as he went, that he was thronged by the multitudes. | |
| Luke 8:43 | And there was a certain woman having an issue of blood twelve years, who had bestowed all her substance on physicians, and could not be healed by any: | All her substance; (olon ton bion) that is all that she had to live upon. |
| Luke 8:44 | She came behind him, and touched the hem of his garment: and immediately the issue of her blood stopped. | |
| Luke 8:45 | And Jesus said: Who is it that touched me? And when all denied, Peter, and they that were with him, said: Master, the multitudes throng and press thee, and dost thou say: Who touched me? | All denied that they had designedly touched him, though, on account of the pressure of the crowd, many unwillingly touched him. (Menochius' Commentaria.) |
| Luke 8:46 | And Jesus said: Some body hath touched me: for I know that virtue is gone out from me. | |
| Luke 8:47 | And the woman seeing, that she was not hid, came trembling, and fell down before his feet, and declared, before all the people, for what cause she had touched him, and how she was immediately healed. | |
| Luke 8:48 | But he said to her: Daughter, thy faith hath healed thee: go in peace. | In the Greek, have confidence. |
| Luke 8:49 | While he was yet speaking, there cometh one to the ruler of the synagogue, saying to him: Thy daughter is dead, trouble him not. | [To the ruler of the synagogue.] Para tou archisunagogou, which some interpret, from the house of the ruler. (Menochius) --- In vain do you trouble him. (Menochius) |
| Luke 8:50 | But Jesus hearing this word, answered the father of the maid: Fear not, believe only, and she shall be healed. | |
| Luke 8:51 | And when he was come to the house, he suffered no man to go with him, but Peter, and James, and John, and the father and mother of the maiden. | |
| Luke 8:52 | And all wept and mourned for her. But he said: Weep not; the maid is not dead, but sleepeth. | |
| Luke 8:53 | And they laughed scornfully at him, knowing that she was dead. | |
| Luke 8:54 | But he taking her by the hand cried out, saying: Maid, arise. | |
| Luke 8:55 | And her spirit returned, and she rose immediately. And he bade them give her to eat. | This returning of the souls again, to reanimate the bodies of those whom Christ and his apostles raised from death, (and especially Lazarus, who had been dead four days) doth evidently prove the immortality of the soul. From this place we may also conclusively infer against our adversaries, who say, that every one goeth straight to heaven or hell, that it is not probable that they were called from the one or the other; and therefore from some third place. |
| Luke 8:56 | And her parents were astonished, whom he charged to tell no one what was done. | |
| Luke 9:0 | Christ sends forth his apostles: feeds five thousand with five loaves: is transfigured: and casts out a devil. | |
| Luke 9:1 | Then *having called together the twelve apostles, he gave them power, and authority over all devils, and to cure diseases. Matthew 10:1.; Mark 3:15. | Over all devils; so that none should be able to resist them. For all were not equally easy to be expelled, as we shall see in this same chapter, in the person of a possessed child, whom the apostles could not heal, because they did not use prayer and fasting against it; and because their faith was not sufficiently strong and ardent. (Calmet) |
| Luke 9:2 | And he sent them to preach the kingdom of God, and to heal the sick. | |
| Luke 9:3 | *And he said to them: Take nothing for your journey, neither staff, nor scrip, nor bread, nor money, neither have two coats. Matthew 10:9.; Mark 6:8. | |
| Luke 9:4 | And whatsoever house you shall enter into, abide there, and depart not from thence. | And depart{ Ver. 4. Et inde ne exeatis, but in the ordinary Greek copies, without ne, kai ekeithen exerchesthe.|} not from thence. In the ordinary Greek copies we find, and depart from thence. The sense appears, by the other evangelists, (Matthew 10:11.; Mark 6:10.) that Christ gave this admonition to his disciples, not to change their lodging from house to house; but while they staid in a town, to remain in the same house. And though the negative be here omitted in the Greek, interpreters bring it to the same, by telling us that the sense is, stay here, and depart from thence; that is stay in that house, so that leaving the town, you may depart from the same house. (Witham) |
| Luke 9:5 | And whosoever will not receive you, *when ye go out of that city, shake off even the dust of your feet for a testimony against them. Acts 13:51. | |
| Luke 9:6 | And going out, they went about through the towns preaching the gospel, and healing every where. | |
| Luke 9:7 | *Now Herod, the tetrarch, heard of all things that were done by him; and he was in a doubt, because it was said Matthew 14:1.; Mark 6:14. | |
| Luke 9:8 | By some; That John was risen from the dead: but by some others; that Elias had appeared: and by others; that one of the ancient prophets was risen. | Risen from the dead. Herod was perplexed and in suspense about the report, that it was John [the Baptist] that was risen from the dead. ... From this it appears, that some of the Jews, and Herod himself, believed in some kind of metempsychosis, or transmigration of souls. Josephus says, (Antiquities lib. xviii, Luke 2.) that the Pharisees believed the soul to be immortal; and after death, to depart to some subterraneous places, where they received the recompense of good, or evil, according to their actions. There the souls of the wicked remain for ever, without the power of departing thence. The souls of the good sometimes returned, and entered other bodies. Herod probably thought that the soul of John the Baptist was united to that of Christ, in the same body, and was thence enabled to perform new and more extraordinary functions. Such were the reveries of some of the Rabbins; who, as St. Jerome remarks, abused the passages of the gospel we are now explaining, in support of this Pythagorean doctrine. Most of the Jews believed the true doctrine of the resurrection, viz. that of the body; which must one day be renewed to life by the same soul which now animates it: and this is the doctrine of faith and of the Church, which she teaches you from both the Old and New Testament, instead of that transmigration of souls, which has no foundation or appearance of truth. It is probable that this error was widely diffused among the Jews, in our Saviour's time. It was a doctrine suited to the taste of the Orientals. Some think they can see traces of it in the history of Elias. That prophet being taken away, and the Jews seeing Eliseus perform the same miracles, said, that the spirit of Elias had rested on him. (Calmet) |
| Luke 9:9 | And Herod said: John I have beheaded: but who is this of whom I hear such things? And he sought to see him. | |
| Luke 9:10 | And the apostles being returned, related to him all they had done: and taking them, he retired apart into a desert place, which belongeth to Bethsaida. | |
| Luke 9:11 | Which, when the people knew, they followed him: and he received them, and spoke to them of the kingdom of God, and healed them who had need of healing. | |
| Luke 9:12 | Now the day began to decline. And the twelve came and said to him: *Send away the multitude, that going into the towns and villages round about, they may lodge and get victuals; for we are here in a desert place. Matthew 14:15.; Mark 6:36. | |
| Luke 9:13 | But he said to them: Give you them to eat. And they said: *We have no more than five loaves and two fishes: unless perhaps we should go and buy food for all this multitude. John 6:9. | |
| Luke 9:14 | Now there were about five thousand men. And he said to his disciples: Make them sit down by fifties in a company. | |
| Luke 9:15 | And they did so: and made them all sit down. | |
| Luke 9:16 | And taking the five loaves, and the two fishes, he looked up to heaven, and blessed them: and he broke, and distributed to his disciples, to set before the multitude. | |
| Luke 9:17 | And they did all eat, and were filled. And there were taken up of fragments, that remained to them, twelve baskets. | |
| Luke 9:18 | *And it came to pass, as he was alone praying, his disciples also were with him: and he asked them, saying: Whom do the people say that I am? Matthew 16:13.; Mark 8:37. | As he was alone praying: that is remote from the people, though his disciples are said to have been with him. (Witham) |
| Luke 9:19 | But they answered, and said: John the Baptist: but some say Elias: and others say, that one of the former prophets is risen again. | |
| Luke 9:20 | And he said to them: But whom do you say that I am? Simon Peter answering, said: The Christ of God. | |
| Luke 9:21 | But he strictly charging them, commanded they should tell this to no man, | |
| Luke 9:22 | Saying: *The Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the ancients, and chief priests, and Scribes, and be killed, and rise again the third day. Matthew 17:21.; Mark 8:31.; Mark 9:30. | |
| Luke 9:23 | *And he said to all: If any man will come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily, and follow me. Matthew 10:38.; Matthew 16:24.; Mark 8:34.; Luke 14:27. | |
| Luke 9:24 | *For whosoever will save his life, shall lose it: for he that shall lose his life for my sake, shall save it. Luke 17:33.; John 12:25. | |
| Luke 9:25 | For what doth it profit a man if he gain the whole world, and lose himself, and cast away himself? | |
| Luke 9:26 | *For whosoever shall be ashamed of me, and of my words; of him shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he shall come in his majesty, and that of his Father, and of the holy Angels. Matthew 10:33.; Mark 8:38.; 2 Timothy 2:12. | |
| Luke 9:27 | *But I say to you, truly: There are some standing here that shall not taste death, till they see the kingdom of God. Matthew 16:38.; Mark 8:39. | Kingdom of God. This is generally understood of the transfiguration, in which Christ shewed to the three disciples an essay of his glory. (Calmet) |
| Luke 9:28 | *And it came to pass about eight days after these words, that he took Peter, and James, and John, and went up into a mountain to pray. Matthew 17:1.; Mark 9:1. | Mountain, etc. Since Christ has ascended the mountain, both to pray and to be transfigured, all of us who hope for the fruit of his resurrection, and long to see the king in his glory, must dwell in heaven by our thoughts, and apply our minds to continual prayer. (Ven. Bede) |
| Luke 9:29 | And whilst he prayed, the appearance of his countenance was altered: and his raiment became white and glittering. | |
| Luke 9:30 | And behold two men were talking with him. And they were Moses and Elias, | And behold two men. Moses and Elias, by ministering to our Lord in his glory, shewed him to be the Lord of both the Old and New Testament. The disciples also, upon seeing the glory of their fellow-creatures, would be filled with admiration at the condescension of their divine Master; and considering the delights of future happiness, be stirred up to a holy emulation of those who had laboured before them, and be fortified in their ensuing conflicts; for nothing so much lightens the present labour, as the consideration of the future recompense. (St. Cyril) |
| Luke 9:31 | Appearing in majesty: and they spoke of his decease, which he was to accomplish in Jerusalem. | They spoke of his decease,{ Ver. 31. Excessum, exodon. Mr. Bois, the canon of Ely, shews it a proper word for death. So 2 Peter 1:15. post obitum meum, meta ten emen exodon.|} or his departure out of this world. St. Peter useth the same Greek word for his death. (2 Peter 1:15.) (Witham) |
| Luke 9:32 | But Peter, and they that were with him, were heavy with sleep. And awaking, they saw his majesty, and the two men that stood with him. | |
| Luke 9:33 | And it came to pass, that as they were departing from him, Peter saith to Jesus: Master, it is good for us to be here: and let us make three tabernacles, one for thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elias: not knowing what he said. | It is good for us. It is not good, O Peter, for Christ to remain always. Should he have remained there, the promise he had made thee would never have been fulfilled. Thou wouldst never have obtained the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and the reign of death would not have been destroyed. Seek not for joys before the time, as Adam sought to be made like God. The time will come, when thou shalt for eternity behold him, and reign with him who is life and light. (Damasus, Orat. de Transfigurat. Domini.) --- Three tabernacles. The Lord does appoint thee the builder, not of tabernacles, but of his whole Church. Thy disciples, thy sheep, have fulfilled thy desire, by erecting tabernacles for Christ and his faithful servants. These words of St. Peter, let us make, etc. were not spoken of himself, but by the prophetic inspiration of the Holy Ghost. Therefore it is added, he knew not what he said. (Damasus, Orat. de Transfigurat. Domini.) --- St. Peter knew not what he said, because by proposing to make three tabernacles for these three personages, he improperly ranked together, the servants and their Lord, the creature and the Creator. (Titus Bostrensis) |
| Luke 9:34 | And as he spoke these things, there came a cloud, and overshadowed them: and they were afraid, when they entered into the cloud. | |
| Luke 9:35 | And a voice came out of the cloud, saying: *This is my beloved Son, hear him. 2 Peter 1:17. | And a voice, etc. This is the voice of the Father from the cloud, as if he should say, "I call him not one of my sons, but my true and natural Son, to the resemblance of whom all others are adopted. (St. Cyril) --- Not Elias, not Moses, but he whom you see alone, is my beloved Son. (St. Ambrose) --- Therefore, it is added: and when the voice was heard, Jesus was alone, lest any one should imagine these words, This is my beloved Son, were addressed to Moses or Elias." (Theophylactus) |
| Luke 9:36 | And whilst the voice was uttered, Jesus was found alone. And they held their peace, and told no man in those days any of these things which they had seen. | |
| Luke 9:37 | And it came to pass, that on the day following, when they came down from the mountain, there met him a great multitude. | |
| Luke 9:38 | *And behold a man, among the crowd, cried out, saying: Master, I beseech thee, look upon my son, for he is my only one. Matthew 17:14.; Mark 9:16. | |
| Luke 9:39 | And lo, a spirit seizeth him, and he suddenly crieth out, and he throweth him down and teareth him so that he foameth, and bruising him, hardly departeth from him: | |
| Luke 9:40 | And I desired thy disciples to cast him out, and they could not. | |
| Luke 9:41 | And Jesus answering, said: O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you, and suffer you? Bring thy son hither. | |
| Luke 9:42 | And as he was approaching, the devil threw him down and tore him. | |
| Luke 9:43 | And Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit, and cured the boy, and restored him to his father. | |
| Luke 9:44 | And all were astonished at the mighty power of God: but while they all wondered at all the things he did, he said to his disciples: Lay you up in your hearts these words: for it shall come to pass, that the Son of man shall be delivered into the hands of men. | |
| Luke 9:45 | But they understood not this word, and it was hid from them, so that they perceived it not. And they were afraid to ask him concerning this word. | They understood not this word. They understood well enough what was meant by being delivered into the hands of his enemies, and being put to death; but they could not comprehend how Jesus Christ, whom they knew to be the Messias, and the Son of God, and whom they believed to be immortal, and eternal, could suffer death, or affronts and outrages from men. These ideas seemed incompatible; they perceived in them some mystery, which they could not penetrate. (Calmet) |
| Luke 9:46 | *And there entered a thought into them, which of them should be greater. Matthew 18:1.; Mark 9:33. | And there entered a thought, etc. It is improbable that all the disciples had fallen into this fault: but the evangelist, that he might not point out any in particular as guilty of it, says indiscriminately, that this thought had entered among them. (St. Cyril in St. Thomas Aquinas) |
| Luke 9:47 | But Jesus seeing the thoughts of their heart, took a child, and set him by him, | |
| Luke 9:48 | And said to them: Whosoever shall receive this child in my name, receiveth me: and whosoever shall receive me, receiveth him that sent me. For he that is the least among you all, he is the greatest. | |
| Luke 9:49 | And John answering, said: Master, we saw one casting out devils in thy name, and we forbade him, because he followeth not with us. | We forbade him. St. John having the most love for his Lord, and being particularly beloved by him, thought all were to be excluded from these gifts, who were not obedient to his divine Master. (St. Augustine) --- But we must remember, that not the minister is the author of these miracles, but the grace which is in him, who performs these wonders by virtue of the power of Christ. (St. Cyril) --- How wonderful is the power of Christ, who by his grace works miracles in the persons of the unworthy, and those that are not disciples; as men are sanctified by the priest, though the priest should not be in the state of grace! (Theophylactus) |
| Luke 9:50 | And Jesus said to him: Forbid him not: for he that is not against you, is for you. | Forbid him not. Our Lord is not moved by this event, to teach us that perfect virtue entertains no thoughts of revenge, and that anger cannot be found where the fulness of charity reigns. The weak must not be driven away, but assisted. Let the breast of the religious man be ever unmoved by passion, and the mind of the generous undisturbed by desires of revenge. (St. Ambrose) |
| Luke 9:51 | And it came to pass when the days of his assumption were being accomplished, that he steadfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem. | The days of his assumption, that is of his ascension into heaven. See the same Greek word in (Mark 16:19.; Acts 1:11.) --- He steadfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem, or literally, he fixed{ Ver. 51. Faciem suam firmavit, ut iret in Jerusalem, to prosopon autou esterixe tou poreuesthai. --- Facies ejus erat euntis in Jerusalem, to prosopon autou en poreuomenon.|} his countenance to go up to Jerusalem. --- And (Luke 9:53.) because his face was of one going to Jerusalem. These expressions come from the style of the Hebrews. See (4 Kings 12:17; Jeremias 42:15; Ezechiel 4:3.) The sense is, that the Samaritans perceived that he and his company were going up to adore in Jerusalem, at which they were displeased, having an antipathy against the Jews and their temple. (Witham) --- It is not here said, as some interpreters have believed, that his journey to Jerusalem was the last of his life, in which he was crucified. It appears from the context, that there were still many months before the death of Christ, and that this journey was probably for the feast of Pentecost. But that year was the last of the life of Jesus Christ and he already knew the dispositions of the Jews, and what was to befall him shortly. These words, he set his face, are often used in Scripture for obstinacy and hardness in evil. (Proverbs 7:13; Proverbs 21:29; Jeremias 42:15. etc.) But we may likewise take them to signify a strong resolution, and intrepid and inflexible firmness, to perform what you have resolved. Jesus Christ shewed by his air, by his conduct and discourse, that notwithstanding the malice of his enemies, he was determined to go to Jerusalem. (Calmet) |
| Luke 9:52 | And he sent messengers before his face: and going, they entered into a city of the Samaritans to prepare for him. | Messengers, etc. St. Jerome believes that Christ sent true angels before him to announce his coming. The Greek word aggelos, generally signifies an angel; but it likewise means a messenger. Most interpreters believe he sent James and John, to prepare what was necessary for provisions and lodging. This precaution was necessary, as he was always followed by great crowds. The history, from verse 51 to the end of the chapter, is mentioned by none of the evangelists, except St. Luke. (Calmet) |
| Luke 9:53 | And they received him not, because his face was of one going to Jerusalem. | |
| Luke 9:54 | And when his disciples, James and John, had seen this, they said: Lord, wilt thou that we command fire to come down from heaven and consume them? | Wilt thou that we command fire, etc. In the Greek is added as Elias did. These words might be first in the margin, and thence by transcribers taken into the text. The two apostles, called the sons of thunder, knew their Master was greater than Elias; and therefore they are for calling for fire from heaven, as he had done. (Witham) --- It was probably this trait in the life of James and John, which gained them the name of boanerges, the sons of thunder. Their too great zeal for the glory of Jesus Christ, and the spirit of revenge, of which they were not yet healed, caused them to make this petition; which seemed in some manner justified by the example of Elias, 4th book of Kings, Luke 1:10. Many editions have the addition of these words, as Elias did. (Calmet) |
| Luke 9:55 | And turning, he rebuked them, saying: You know not of what spirit you are. | You know not of what spirit you are, that is that my Spirit, which you ought to follow, is the Spirit of mercy, mildness, and patience. (Witham) |
| Luke 9:56 | *The Son of man came not to destroy souls, but to save. And they went into another town. John 3:17.; John 12:47. | But to save souls. It might be translated, to save men's lives;{ Ver. 56. Animas in most Greek copies, psuchas anthropon.|} but is seems better here to stick to the letter, especially since in most Greek copies we read, the souls of men. (Witham) |
| Luke 9:57 | And it came to pass, as they walked in the way, that a certain man said to him: I will follow thee withersoever thou goest. | Follow thee, etc. Although the Sovereign Lord of all is most munificent, yet he does not lavish his gifts on all without distinction, but bestows them on the worthy only. When, therefore, this man offered to follow Christ, he answers him by telling him, that all who follow him, must daily take up their cross, and renounce the conveniences of this life. Thus he mentions what was reprehensible in his person. There appears likewise great presumption in his conduct, as he did not petition to be admitted, as other Jews did, but seems to claim the honour of the apostleship; an honour which none must assume, but such as are called by God. (Hebrews v.) (St. Cyril in St. Thomas Aquinas) |
| Luke 9:58 | *Jesus said to him: The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air, nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head. Matthew 9:20. | |
| Luke 9:59 | But he said to another: Follow me. And he said: Lord, suffer me first to go, and to bury my father. | |
| Luke 9:60 | And Jesus said to him: Let the dead bury their dead: but go thou, and preach the kingdom of God. | Bury their dead, etc. Though this was an act of religion, yet it was not permitted him; that we may learn to prefer always the concerns of God to all human considerations. (St. Ambrose) --- However necessary this might appear, however easy, however short the time which it would take up, might be, it is not permitted him. Not the least delay can be allowed, although a thousand impediments stand in the way; for spiritual things must be preferred to things even the most necessary. (St. Chrysostom, hom. xxviii. on S. Matt.) |
| Luke 9:61 | And another said: I will follow thee, Lord: but let me first take my leave of them that are at my house. | |
| Luke 9:62 | Jesus said to him: No man putting his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God. | Putting his hand to the plough. A proverb and metaphor, to signify that nothing must hinder a man from God's service. (Witham) --- Christ seems here to allude to the call of Eliseus by Elias. The former was at the plough, and the latter called him. Immediately Eliseus quits his plough, runs with Elias's permission to bid adieu to his father and mother, sacrifices two of his oxen, roasts them with the wood of the plough, and joins the company of the prophets. Jesus Christ wishes that all who follow him, should in like manner think of nothing else. (Calmet) |
| Luke 10:0 | Christ sends forth, and instructs his seventy-two disciples. The good Samaritan. | |
| Luke 10:1 | And after these things the Lord appointed also other seventy-two: and he sent them two and two before his face, into every city and place, whither he himself was to come. | Other seventy-two. Most Greek copies, and the Syriac version, have seventy, as in the Protestant translation. Yet there seems no doubt but the true number was seventy-two. For seventy-two may be called seventy; but had they been only seventy, they could never have been called seventy-two. This was also the exact number of the judges chosen to assist Moses; (Exodus 24:1.) though called seventy, (Numbers 11:16.) as it is evident, because there were six chosen out of every one of the twelve tribes. In like manner the exact number of the interpreters called the Septuagint must have been seventy-two; and also the just number of the Sanhedrim. --- Two and two, that one might be a help and comfort to the other; as also a witness of the carriage and behaviour of his companion. (Witham) |
| Luke 10:2 | And he said to them: *The harvest indeed is great, but the labourers are few. Pray ye, therefore, the Lord of the harvest, that he send labourers into his harvest. Matthew 8:37. | |
| Luke 10:3 | Go: *Behold I send you as lambs among wolves. Matthew 10:16. | |
| Luke 10:4 | *Carry neither purse, nor scrip, nor shoes; **and salute no man by the way. Matthew 10:10.; Mark 6:8. --- ** 4 Kings 4:29. | As Moses formerly chose twelve elders as princes and fathers of the twelve tribes of Israel, and afterwards gave to each of these elders six others, to assist them in the arduous work of governing the people, so our divine Saviour chose twelve apostles to govern his Church. He likewise afterwards gave six disciples to each apostle, which makes 72, to serve as priests, and assist in governing the Church. (Tirinus) --- Salute no man, that is go forwards promptly, and do not stay to amuse yourselves with vain compliments and useless civilities towards those whom you meet. This was a proverb. Eliseus said the same to Giezi, when he sent him to restore life to the child of the widow of Sunamis. If any man meet you, salute him not; think of nothing but of executing the orders I give you. (Calmet) |
| Luke 10:5 | Into whatsoever house you enter, first say: Peace be to this house: | |
| Luke 10:6 | And if the son of peace be there, your peace shall rest upon him: but if not, it shall return to you. | |
| Luke 10:7 | And in the same house, remain, eating and drinking such things as they have: *for the labourer is worthy of his hire. Remove not from house to house. Deuteronomy 24:14.; Matthew 10:10.; 1 Timothy 5:18. | |
| Luke 10:8 | And into what city soever you enter, and they receive you, eat such things as are set before you; | |
| Luke 10:9 | And heal the sick that are therein, and say to them: The kingdom of God is come nigh unto you. | |
| Luke 10:10 | But into whatsoever city you enter, and they receive you not, going forth into the streets thereof, say: | |
| Luke 10:11 | *Even the very dust of your city that cleaveth to us, we wipe off against you: yet know this that the kingdom of God is at hand. Acts 13:51. | |
| Luke 10:12 | I say to you, it shall be more tolerable at that day for Sodom, than for that city. | |
| Luke 10:13 | *Wo to thee, Corozain, wo to thee, Bethsaida: for if in Tyre and Sidon had been wrought the mighty works, that have been wrought in you, they would have done penance long ago, sitting in sack-cloth and ashes. Matthew 11:21. | |
| Luke 10:14 | But it shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon, at the judgment, than for you. | |
| Luke 10:15 | And thou, Capharnaum, which art exalted unto heaven: thou shalt be thrust down to hell. | And thou, Capharnaum, etc. Capharnaum is situated on the western coast of the sea of Tiberias. Christ having left Nazareth, made the former city the usual place of his abode. There was no city in which he had preached so much, or wrought so many miracles. On this account, he said it was exalted to the heavens; but for its incredulity he threatens it shall be cast down even unto hell. (Calmet) |
| Luke 10:16 | *He that heareth you, heareth me: and he that despiseth you, despiseth me. And he that despiseth me, despiseth him that sent me. Matthew 10:40.; John 13:20. | |
| Luke 10:17 | And the seventy-two returned with joy, saying: Lord, the devils, also, are subject to us in thy name. | |
| Luke 10:18 | And he said to them: I saw Satan as lightening falling from heaven. | I saw Satan as lightning, etc. Many expound it in this manner: I, who am from eternity, saw Satan with all the rebellious angels, as glorious as they were, fall from heaven; fear then, and tremble, though you have received such favours from God. Others take it in this sense, that Christ, by his incarnation, hath seen the power of the devils lessened and confounded, according to what he also said, (John 12:31.) Now shall the prince of this world be cast out. (Witham) --- What connexion have these words with what goes before? Some understand them thus: the reign of the devil is near at an end; this prince of darkness is going to be overturned; he will fall from the air, where he reigns, with the same precipitation as lightning, which cuts the clouds and presently disappears. It is almost the same thing he says in other places. "The prince of this world is already judged; behold now is the judgment of this world; behold now the prince of this world shall be cast forth! When I sent you to preach the gospel to the poor, I saw Satan fall; I saw his empire overturned. The last effort which this empire of darkness shall make is the death of our Saviour, as he himself says: This is your hour, and the power of darkness. Since his resurrection he has bound the dragon in the abyss for a thousand years; he has shut up the entrance, and sealed it with his seal." (Apocalypse 12:9.; Apocalypse 20:2.) Others think that Jesus speaks here of the fall of Lucifer, at the beginning of the creation. Wishing to give his disciples a lesson in humility, on account of the vain complacency which he saw they took in the miracles they wrought, he says to them: Beware of pride, that precipitated the first angel from heaven: I have seen him in the glory with which he was surrounded, and I have seen him hurried into the abyss. Fear, lest the same should happen to you. The former explanation appears to us more simple and literal. (Calmet) |
| Luke 10:19 | Behold, I have given you power to tread upon serpents, and scorpions, and upon all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall hurt you. | Given you power, etc. By these words our Saviour seems to insinuate, that the venom of serpents, and the other noxious qualities of some animals, proceed from the malice of the devil. These are the arms and the instruments he makes use of to kill us, being the prince of death and a murderer from the beginning, as the Scripture styles him. The Jews attributed sickness, poisons, and every thing of the same kind to evil spirits. |
| Luke 10:20 | But yet rejoice not in this, that spirits are subject unto you: but rejoice in this, that your names are written in heaven. | |
| Luke 10:21 | *In that same hour he rejoiced in the Holy Ghost, and said: I give thanks to thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them to little ones. Yea, Father: because so it hath pleased thee. Matthew 11:25. | He rejoiced in the Holy Ghost. In almost all Greek copies, we read in spirit, without holy. And it is expounded of Christ's own spirit. (Witham) --- I give thanks, etc. In this verse we see plainly refuted the heretical Marcion, and his follower Manicheus, who asserted that God was not the creator of the earth, or of any thing existing on the earth. St. Epiphanius says, that in a gospel written by Marcion, the words Father and earth were entirely omitted. Who does not here deplore the blindness of heretics, who, in order to spread their errors, do not hesitate thus to corrupt the original Scripture received by the whole Christian world!!! (Denis the Carthusian) |
| Luke 10:22 | All things are delivered to me by my Father: and no one knoweth who the Son is, but the Father: and who the Father is, but the Son, and to whom the Son will reveal him. | |
| Luke 10:23 | And turning to his disciples, he said: *Blessed are the eyes that see the things which you see. Matthew 13:16. | |
| Luke 10:24 | For I say to you, that many prophets and kings have desired to see the things that you see, and have not seen them; and to hear the things that you hear, and have not heard them. | |
| Luke 10:25 | *And behold a certain lawyer stood up, tempting him, and saying: Master, what must I do to possess eternal life? Matthew 22:35.; Mark 12:28. | Eternal life? The law of Moses does not expressly promise eternal life to the observers of it, but confines its promises to temporal blessings during this life. Still we always find that the Jews hoped in another life after this. This opinion is clearly observable in the books of Scripture, written both before and after the captivity, and in Josephus and Philo. (Calmet) |
| Luke 10:26 | But he said to him: What is written in the law? how readest thou? | |
| Luke 10:27 | He answering, said: *Thou shalt love the Lord, thy God, with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind: and thy neighbour as thyself. Deuteronomy 6:5. | |
| Luke 10:28 | And he said to him: Thou hast answered right: this do, and thou shalt live. | |
| Luke 10:29 | But he willing to justify himself, said to Jesus: And who is my neighbour? | Neighbour? It appears this was a celebrated controversy among the doctors of the law; some probably affirming, that the Jews only were so; while others maintained that their friends alone were their neighbours. (Maldonatus) |
| Luke 10:30 | And Jesus answering, said: A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among robbers, who also stripped him, and having wounded him, went away leaving him half dead. | A certain man, etc. This some would have to be a history: others rather judge it spoken by way of parable, to teach us to perform offices of charity towards all men without exception. (Witham) --- Were we to adhere to the mere words of this parable, it would seem to follow, that only those who do us good were to be esteemed our neighbours; for the context seems to intimate, that the Levite and the priest were not neighbours to the man who fell among the robbers, because they did not assist him. But according to the opinion of most fathers, the intent of this parable is the shew, that every person who has need of our assistance is our neighbour. (Maldonatus) |
| Luke 10:31 | And it happened that a certain priest went down the same way, and seeing him, passed by. | Our Saviour here shews the Jewish priests how preposterous was their behaviour, who, though scrupulously exact in performing all external acts of religion, entirely neglected piety, mercy, and other more essential duties. The Jews despised the Samaritans as wicked and irreligious men; but our Saviour here tells them that they were less exact in works of charity towards their neighbours than the very Samaritans. (Tirinus) |
| Luke 10:32 | In like manner, also, a Levite, when he was near the place and saw him, passed by. | |
| Luke 10:33 | But a certain Samaritan being on his journey, came near him: and seeing him, was moved with compassion; | |
| Luke 10:34 | And going up to him, bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine: and setting him upon his own beast, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. | This is the allegorical meaning of the parable: The man that fell among robbers, represents Adam and his posterity; Jerusalem, the state of peace and innocence, which man leaves by going down to Jericho, which means the moon, the state of trouble and sin: the robbers represent the devil, who stripped him of his supernatural gifts, and wounded him in his natural faculties: the priest and Levite represent the old law: the Samaritan, Christ; and the beast, his humanity. The inn means the Church; wine, the blood of Christ; oil, his mercy; whilst the host signifies St. Peter and his successors, the bishops and priests of the Church. (Origen, St. Jerome, St. Ambrose, St. Augustine, and others) |
| Luke 10:35 | And the next day he took out twopence, and gave them to the host, and said: Take care of him; and whatsoever thou shalt spend over and above, I at my return will repay thee. | |
| Luke 10:36 | Which of these three, in thy opinion, was neighbour to him that fell among the robbers? | |
| Luke 10:37 | But he said: He that shewed mercy to him. And Jesus said to him: Go, and do thou in like manner. | |
| Luke 10:38 | Now it came to pass as they went, that he entered into a certain town: and a certain woman, named Martha, received him into her house: | |
| Luke 10:39 | And she had a sister, called Mary, who sitting also at the Lord's feet, heard his word. | |
| Luke 10:40 | But Martha was busy about much serving: who stood, and said: Lord, hast thou no care that my sister hath left me alone to serve? speak to her, therefore, that she help me. | Calvin here ridicules the professors of evangelical poverty, because they gather from this place that there are two states of life, viz. the active and the contemplative, figured by Martha and Mary. But what will he answer, when he is informed, that this is the opinion not merely of monks, but even of a St. Augustine, (Serm. xxvii. De verbis Domini,) of a St. Jerome, (Com. 3 cap. of Jeremiah,) of a St. Gregory, and many others? Not that they were ignorant that there was another more natural explanation; but they were of opinion that nothing could be found more proper for the illustration of these different states of life. (Maldonatus) |
| Luke 10:41 | And the Lord answering, said to her: Martha, Martha, thou art careful, and art troubled about many things. | |
| Luke 10:42 | But one thing is necessary. Mary hath chosen the best part, which shall not be taken away from her. | One thing is necessary. Some think that Christ's meaning was, that Martha was preparing many dishes, when one was sufficient. But others, that this one thing necessary, was to learn, and comply with the will of God; which Mary was employed about. (Witham) |
| Luke 11:0 | He teaches his disciples to pray. Casts out a dumb devil. Confutes the Pharisees; and pronounces woes against them for their hypocrisy. | |
| Luke 11:1 | And it came to pass, that as he was praying in a certain place, when he ceased, one of his disciples said to him: Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples. | |
| Luke 11:2 | And he said to them: When you pray, say: *Father, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Matthew 6:9. | Father, hallowed be thy name, etc. See Matthew vi. In the ordinary Greek copies here are all the seven petitions, as in St. Matthew: and so they are in the Protestant Testament. Yet St. Augustine in his Enchiridion, (chap. 1:tom. 6, p. 240,) says there were read seven petitions in St. Matthew and only five in St. Luke. We may also take notice, that though in the Greek copies here in St. Luke are all seven petitions of the Lord's prayer, yet the doxology, for thine is the kingdom, etc. is omitted in all Greek copies, and by the Protestants; which is a new argument and proof, that the said doxology is an addition from the Greek liturgy. (Witham) |
| Luke 11:3 | Give us this day our daily bread. | In the Greek it is called epiousion; that is supersubstantial. This is not the bread that goeth into the body, but the bread of eternal life, that supports the life of the soul. It is here called daily bread. Receive then daily, what will daily profit you; and continue so to live, that you may be daily in proper dispositions for receiving it. All who are under sin, have received a wound, and must seek for a cure. The cure is this heavenly and most venerable sacrament. (St. Augustine, Serm. 2:de verbo Dei.) |
| Luke 11:4 | And forgive us our sins: for we also forgive every one that is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation. | Christ does not teach us to pray for afflictions of the body, but always enjoins us to pray, that we may not enter into temptation. When, therefore, temptation attacks us, we must beg of God grace to withstand it, that the promise in St. Matthew (Matthew 10.) may be fulfilled in us, he who perseveres to the end shall be saved. (Ven. Bede in Reg. Brev. 221) |
| Luke 11:5 | And he said to them: Which of you shall have a friend, and shall go to him at midnight, and shall say to him: Friend, lend me three loaves? | This parable is not found in any one of the evangelists, except St. Luke. Our Saviour having taught his disciples the aforesaid form of prayer, now shews them the utility and efficacy of prayer in general. He wishes to inculcate the necessity of perseverance in prayer. A friend comes to borrow of another friend at an unseasonable hour; his request is refused; he insists, and obtains, by his perseverance, what he could not have gained without it. Thus also the Almighty wishes to be importuned; he wishes us to pray with zeal and perseverance. This is the model we ought to follow. (Calmet) --- God would not exhort us so earnestly to pray, unless he was ready to grant our petitions. Let us blush at our sloth: he is more ready to give than we are to receive. (St. Augustine) |
| Luke 11:6 | For a friend of mine is come off his journey to me, and I have nothing to set before him. | |
| Luke 11:7 | And he, from within, should answer and say: Trouble me not, the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed: I cannot rise and give thee. | |
| Luke 11:8 | Yet if he shall continue knocking: I say to you, although he will not rise and give him, because he is his friend: yet because of his importunity he will rise, and give him as many as he needeth. | After our Saviour had given his apostles this form of prayer, knowing that men would recite it with remissness and negligence, and then on account of not being heard, would desist, he teaches here to avoid this pusillanimity in prayer; perseverance in our petitions being the most advantageous. (St. Cyril in St. Thomas Aquinas) |
| Luke 11:9 | *And I say to you: Ask, and it shall be given you: seek, and you shall find: knock, and it shall be opened to you. Matthew 7:7.; Matthew 21:22.; Mark 11:24.; John 14:13.; James 1:5. | Our petitions are frequently not immediately granted, that our earnestness and assiduity may be increased; that we may learn to esteem the gifts of God, and preserve them with care, for whatever we procure with labour, we preserve with care, lest by losing it we lose our labour also. (St. Basil in Con. Mon.) |
| Luke 11:10 | For every one that asketh, receiveth: and he that seeketh, findeth: and to him that knocketh, it shall be opened. | How comes it to pass then, that many pray, and receive not? To this we answer, that if they approach in a proper manner, and observe the necessary conditions of the petition, they will undoubtedly receive what they ask for; but if, on the contrary, they deviate from this rule, and ask not, as they ought, they will not receive; because as St. James says, you ask, and receive not, because you ask amiss. (Chap. 1.) By asking for things that are prejudical to your well-being; or, if for spiritual blessings, you do not receive them, on account of your evil motives. (Origen in St. Thomas Aquinas) |
| Luke 11:11 | *And which of you, if he ask his father bread, will he give him a stone? or a fish, will he, for a fish, give him a serpent? Matthew 7:9. | |
| Luke 11:12 | Or, if he shall ask an egg, will he reach him a scorpion? | |
| Luke 11:13 | If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father from heaven give the good Spirit to them that ask him? | |
| Luke 11:14 | *And he was casting out a devil, and the same was dumb. And when he had cast out the devil, the dumb spoke, and the multitude wondered. Matthew 9:32.; Matthew 12:22. | This possessed person is said in St. Matthew to have been also blind. Upon him, therefore, were wrought three wonders: the blind saw, the dumb spoke, the possessed was delivered; which daily takes place in the persons of such as are converted to the number of true believers: the devil is expelled, and they both receive the light of faith beaming upon their eyes, and having the strings of their silent organs loosed to sound forth the praises of God. (Ven. Bede) --- And the multitude, etc. The multitude, though devoid of learning, were constant admirers of the actions of our Lord, whilst the Scribes and Pharisees either denied them, or by a sinister interpretation, ascribed them to the power of the unclean spirit. (Ven. Bede) |
| Luke 11:15 | But some of them said: He casteth out devils, *through Beelzebub, the prince of devils. Matthew 9:34.; Mark 2:22. | |
| Luke 11:16 | And others tempting, asked of him a sign from heaven. | |
| Luke 11:17 | But he seeing their thoughts, said to them: Every kingdom divided against itself shall be brought to desolation, and house upon house shall fall. | And house upon house shall fall. He speaks of a house or family divided, which thereby shall fall to ruin. (Witham) |
| Luke 11:18 | And if Satan also be divided against himself, how shall his kingdom stand? because you say, that through Beelzebub I cast out devils. | |
| Luke 11:19 | Now if I cast out devils through Beelzebub: through whom do your children cast them out? Therefore they shall be your judges. | Your judges. They will condemn you of injustice, envy, and hatred against me, and blasphemy against God; because when they perform any exorcisms, though they appear but little more than human in their actions, yet you ascribe them to the virtue of God; but when I perform any miracle, though there always appear most evident signs of the power and virtue of God, you ascribe all to the hand and machinations of the devil. (Tirinus) |
| Luke 11:20 | But if I by the finger of God cast out devils: doubtless the kingdom of God is come upon you. | |
| Luke 11:21 | When a strong man, armed, keepeth his court, those things which he possesseth are in peace. | |
| Luke 11:22 | But if a stronger than he come upon him and overcome him, he will take away all his armour wherein he trusted, and will distribute his spoils. | |
| Luke 11:23 | He that is not with me, is against me: and he that gathereth not with me, scattereth. | |
| Luke 11:24 | When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through places without water, seeking rest: and not finding, he saith: I will return into my house whence I came out. | Man, etc. By this one man is meant the whole Jewish people, out of whom the unclean spirit had been driven by the law. (St. Ambrose) --- For as long as they were in Egypt, they lived after the manners of the Egyptians, and were the habitation of the unclean spirit; but it was expelled from them, when they slew the paschal lamb in figure of Christ, and escaped destruction by sprinkling themselves with its blood. (St. Cyril in St. Thomas Aquinas) --- But the evil spirit returned to his former habitation, the Jews, because he saw them devoid of virtue, barren, and open for his reception. And their latter state is worse than their former; for more wicked demons possessed the breasts of the Jews than before. Then they raged against the prophets only; but now they persecute the Lord himself of the prophets: therefore have they suffered much greater extremities from Vespasian and Titus, than from Egypt and Babylon; for besides being deprived of the merciful protection of Providence, which before watched over them, they are destitute of all grace, and delivered up to a more poignant misery, and a more cruel tyranny of the devil. (St. Chrysostom, hom. xliv. on S. Matt.) |
| Luke 11:25 | And when he is come, he findeth it swept and garnished. | |
| Luke 11:26 | Then he goeth and taketh with him seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and entering in, they dwell there. And the last state of that man becometh worse than the first. | The last state, etc. But these words are also addressed to us Christians, who may often, and with reason, fear lest the vice we think extinguished in us, again return and seize on our slothful and careless souls, finding them cleansed indeed from the filth of sin by the grace of baptism, but destitute of every ornamental and protective virtue. It brings with it seven other evil spirits, by which we must understand every vicious inclination. (Ven. Bede) --- The latter state of these souls is worse than the former; because having been delivered from all former sins, and adorned with grace, if they again return to their iniquities a much more grievous punishment will be due for every subsequent crime. (St. Chrysostom, hom. xliv. on S. Matt.) |
| Luke 11:27 | And it came to pass, as he spoke these things, that a certain woman, from the crowd, lifting up her voice, said to him: Blessed is the womb that bore thee, and the paps that gave thee suck. | |
| Luke 11:28 | But he said: Yea, rather, blessed are they who hear the word of God, and keep it. | Menounge, imo vero, yes indeed. Our Saviour does not here wish to deny what the woman had said, but rather to confirm it: indeed how could he deny, as Calvin impiously maintained, that his mother was blessed? By these words, he only wishes to tell his auditors what great advantage they might obtain by attending to his words. For the blessed Virgin, as St. Augustine says, was more happy in having our Saviour in her heart and affections, than in having conceived him in her womb. (Tirinus) |
| Luke 11:29 | And when the people were gathered together, he began to say: *This generation is a wicked generation: they ask a sign, and a sign shall not be given them, but the sign of Jonas, the prophet. Matthew 12:39. | But the sign of Jonas. Instead of a prodigy in the heavens or in the air, I will give you one in the bosom of the earth, more wonderful than that of the prophet Jonas, who came out alive from the belly of the fish, which had swallowed him. Thus I will return alive from the bosom of the earth three days after my death. (Calmet) --- He gave them a sign, not from heaven, for they were unworthy to behold it, but from the deep; the sign of his incarnation, not of his divinity; of his passion, not of his glory. (Ven. Bede) |
| Luke 11:30 | *For as Jonas was a sign to the Ninivites, so shall the Son of man also be to this generation. Jonas 2:1. | |
| Luke 11:31 | *The queen of the South shall rise in the judgment with the men of this generation, and shall condemn them: because she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and behold more than Solomon here. 3 Kings 10:1.; 2 Paralipomenon 9:1. | Queen of the South shall condemn this generation, not by exercising the power of judgment against them, but by having performed an action which, when put in competition with theirs, will be found superior to them. (Ven. Bede) |
| Luke 11:32 | The men of Ninive shall rise in the judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it, *because they did penance at the preaching of Jonas; and behold more than Jonas here. Jonas 3:5. | |
| Luke 11:33 | *No man lighteth a candle, and putteth it in a hidden place, nor under a bushel: but upon a candlestick, that they that come in may see the light. Matthew 5:15.; Mark 4:21. | |
| Luke 11:34 | *The light of thy body is thy eye. If thy eye be single, thy whole body will be lightsome: but if it be evil, thy body, also, will be darksome. Matthew 6:22. | If thy eye be single. As when the eyes of the body are pure, and free from the mixture of bad humours, the whole body is lightsome; so if the eyes of the mind, viz. reason, faith and understanding, are not infected with the pestiferous humours of envy, avarice, and other vices, the whole mind will be illuminated by the presence of the Holy Ghost. Take care, therefore, lest by giving way to these vices, the light which is in thee be turned into darkness. (Barradius) |
| Luke 11:35 | Take heed, therefore, that the light which is in thee, be not darkness. | |
| Luke 11:36 | If then thy whole body be lightsome, having no part of darkness; the whole shall be lightsome and as a bright lamp shall enlighten thee. | The whole shall be lightsome. Not only all thy body, but all about thee; all thy ways and actions. (Witham) |
| Luke 11:37 | And as he was speaking, a certain Pharisee prayed him to dine with him. And going in, he sat down to eat. | |
| Luke 11:38 | And the Pharisee began to say, thinking within himself, why he was not washed before dinner. | Washed, etc. There was nothing ordained by the law concerning this washing of the hands, which the Pharisees observed before taking meat. Christ and his apostles washed their hands when they pleased, without looking for any mystery in such things, or making to themselves vain obligations in frivolous and indifferent things. They did not neglect what was ordained by the law in certain cases for purification; but beside that, they observed nothing more. (Calmet) |
| Luke 11:39 | And the Lord said to him: *Now you Pharisees make clean the outside of the cup, and of the platter: but your inside is full of rapine and iniquity. Matthew 23:25. | |
| Luke 11:40 | Ye fools, did not he that made that which is without, make also that which is within? | |
| Luke 11:41 | But yet that which remaineth, give alms; and behold all things are clean unto you. | But yet that which remaineth, give alms.{ Ver. 41. Verumtamen quod superest, date eleemosynam plen ta enonta dote eleemosunen; quae adsunt, quae penes vos sunt. It is not to loipon, etc.|} The sense seems not to be of what remaineth, give alms, as some expound it; but by the Greek, the sense is, give alms of what you have, that is of your goods, according to your abilities; and as Tobias said to his son, If thou hast much, give much; if little, give a little willingly. (Tobias 4:9.) --- All things are clean unto you. Not that alms without other pious dispositions, will suffice to your salvation; but that other necessary virtues will be given you, by the mercies of God. (Witham) --- These are the means I propose to you to gain that interior purity I am speaking of. But will alms suffice to expiate all sorts of crimes? Is it enough for the murderer, the homicide, etc. to give alms? Undoubtedly not. Our Saviour only compares alms-deeds with the exterior washing which the Pharisees affected. As if he had said, "It is not by the washing in common water that you will take out the stains of your souls, but by the works of charity. Charity will be more efficacious to cleanse you than all the waters of the rivers and of the sea." Or, according to Euthymius, if you wish to cleanse yourselves truly, bring forth worthy fruits of penance, give up ill acquired possessions; and as for the rest, redeem you sins by alms. Thus shall all things be made clean to you, as well within as without the vase. (Calmet) |
| Luke 11:42 | But wo to you Pharisees, because you tithe mint and rue, and every herb, and pass over judgment, and the charity of God: Now these things you ought to have done, and not to leave the others undone. | |
| Luke 11:43 | *Wo to you Pharisees, because you love the uppermost seats in the synagogues, and salutations in the market-place. Matthew 22:6.; Mark 12:39.; Luke 20:46. | Salutations in the market-place, etc. Such as wish to be saluted, and have the first places, that they may appear great, are likened to sepulchres, which are covered externally with ornaments, but are filled inwardly with rottenness. (St. Cyril in St. Thomas Aquinas) |
| Luke 11:44 | Wo to you, because you are as sepulchres that appear not, and men that walk over are not aware. | Sepulchres that appear not. This comparison is partly different from that of Matthew 23:27. For there Christ compares hypocrites to whitened sepulchres, which may be seen and avoided; here he compares them to sepulchres covered with grass, which appear not: yet the comparison, in the main, is the same; that whether they appear or not, still under them is corruption: as the interior of the Pharisees was always full of vice and corruption. (Witham) --- Men that walk, etc. Because they bear with them a fair outside, but are made up of nothing but corruption. (St. Ambrose) |
| Luke 11:45 | Then one of the lawyers answering, said to him: Master, in saying these things, thou reproachest us also. | Then one of the lawyers, etc. Correction, which turns to the advantage of the meek, appears always more intolerable to the wicked. Christ denounces woes against the Pharisees for deviating from the right path, and the doctors of the law found them equally applicable to themselves. (St. Cyril in St. Thomas Aquinas) --- How miserable is the conscience which, upon hearing the word of God, thinks itself insulted, and always hears the punishment of the reprobate rehearsed as the words of its own condemnation. (Ven. Bede) |
| Luke 11:46 | But he said: Wo to you lawyers also: *because you load men with burdens which they cannot bear, and you yourselves touch not the packs with one of your fingers. Matthew 23:4. | |
| Luke 11:47 | Wo to you who build the monuments of the prophets: and your fathers killed them. | Woe to you who build, etc. Not that the building of the monuments of the prophets was in itself blameworthy, but only the intention of these unhappy men, who made use of this outward shew of religion and piety, as a means to carry on their wicked designs against the prince of prophets. (Challoner) |
| Luke 11:48 | Truly you bear witness that you consent to the doings of your fathers: for they indeed killed them, and you build their sepulchres. | Build, etc. See the notes Matthew 23:29. (Witham) |
| Luke 11:49 | Therefore, also, the wisdom of God said: I will send to them prophets and apostles, and some of them they will kill and persecute: | The wisdom of God said. In St. Matthew it is, Behold I send to you prophets and wise men; and in this passage of St. Luke, the wisdom of God saith, I will send, etc.: thus is Christ truly the wisdom of the Almighty God. (St. Ambrose) |
| Luke 11:50 | That the blood of all the prophets, which was shed from the foundation of the world, may be required of this generation, | |
| Luke 11:51 | *From the blood of Abel unto the blood of **Zacharias, who was slain between the altar and the temple. Yea, I say to you, it shall be required of this generation. Genesis 4:8. --- ** 2 Paralipomenon 24:22. | Blood of Zacharias, etc. This Zacharias was, according to some Zacharias the son of Joiada, whom the Jews slew between the temple and the altar. (Theophylactus,---also St. Jerome, who moreover mentions that some editions had Zacharias, son of Joiada.) --- This generation. Not that this generation of the Jews should be punished for the crimes of others, but that having before their eyes the severe chastisements their ancestors had received, in punishment of their wickedness, they had not grown better, but had imitated their perversity. (St. Chrysostom, hom. lxxv. in Matt.) |
| Luke 11:52 | Wo to you lawyers, for you have taken away the key of knowledge: you yourselves have not entered in, and those that were entering in you have hindered. | You have taken away the key of knowledge. A comparison of a master that locks others out. As if Christ said: you pretend, as masters and teachers, to open and expound the law and the prophets; and by your false doctrine and interpretations, you neither observe the law, nor permit others to observe it. See Matthew 23:13. (Witham) --- The key of knowledge is faith; for by faith we come to the knowledge of truth, according to that of Isaiah, How shall they understand, if they have not believed? Cap.[Chap.?] vii, (according to Septuagint) these doctors of the law took away the key of science, by not allowing the people to believe in Christ. (St. Cyril in St. Thomas Aquinas) |
| Luke 11:53 | And as he was saying these things to them, the Pharisees and the lawyers began vehemently to urge him, and to oppress his mouth about many things, | And to oppress (that is, stop) his mouth about many things.{ Ver. 53. Et os ejus opprimere de multis: apostomatizein auton peri pleionon.|} This is the literal signification of the Greek: they started one question upon another, to raise confusion and confound the answers. (Witham) |
| Luke 11:54 | Lying in wait for him, and seeking to catch something out of his mouth, that they might accuse him. | |
| Luke 12:0 | Christ warns us against hypocrisy, the fear of the world, and covetousness: and admonishes all to watch. | |
| Luke 12:1 | And when great multitudes stood about him, so that they trod one upon another, he began to say to his disciples: *Beware ye of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. Matthew 16:6.; Mark 8:15. | Beware ye of the leaven, etc. Christ calls the hypocrisy of the Pharisees leaven, which changes and corrupts the best intentions of men; for nothing is more destructive than hypocrisy to such as give way to it. (Theophylactus) |
| Luke 12:2 | *For there is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed: nor hidden, that shall not be known. Matthew 10:26.; Mark 4:22. | |
| Luke 12:3 | For whatsoever things you have spoken in darkness, shall be published in the light: and that which you have spoken in the ear, in the chambers, shall be preached on the house-tops. | House-tops. Our divine Saviour speaks here according to the custom of his own nation, where it was not uncommon for men to preach from the house-top, when they wished to deliver any thing to the public; for their houses had flat roofs. (Ven. Bede) |
| Luke 12:4 | And I say to you, my friends: Be not afraid of them that kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do. | |
| Luke 12:5 | But I will shew you whom ye shall fear: fear ye him who, after he hath killed, hath power to cast into hell. Yea, I say to you, fear him. | |
| Luke 12:6 | Are not five sparrows sold for two farthings, and not one of them is forgotten before God? | |
| Luke 12:7 | But even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not, therefore: you are of more value than many sparrows. | |
| Luke 12:8 | And I say to you: *Whosoever shall confess me before men, him shall the Son of man also confess before the Angels of God. Matthew 10:32.; Mark 8:38.; 2 Timothy 2:12. | Whosoever shall confess me. By these words we are informed, that more than bare inward protestations of fidelity will be demanded of us; for he moreover requires an exterior confession of our faith. (St. Ambrose) |
| Luke 12:9 | But he that shall deny me before men, shall be denied before the Angels of God. | |
| Luke 12:10 | *And whosoever speaketh a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him: but to him that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven. Matthew 12:32.; Mark 3:29. | |
| Luke 12:11 | And when they shall bring you into the synagogues, and to magistrates, and powers, be not solicitous how or what you shall answer, or what you shall say. | |
| Luke 12:12 | For the Holy Ghost shall teach you in the same hour what you ought to say. | |
| Luke 12:13 | And one of the multitude said to him: Master, speak to my brother that he divide the inheritance with me. | The inheritance. This man might think, that Jesus being the Messias, would act like a king and a judge. (Witham) --- Speak to my brother, etc. See in this the spirit of this world, at the very time Jesus is teaching disinterestedness, and the contempt of riches, he is interrupted by a man, who begs him to interfere in a temporal concern: deaf to every thing else, this man can think of his temporal interest only. (Calmet) --- He begged half an inheritance on earth; the Lord offered him a whole one in heaven: he gave him more than he asked for. (St. Augustine) |
| Luke 12:14 | But he said to him: Man, who hath made me a judge or divider over you? | Judge, etc. Our Saviour does not here mean to say that he or his Church had not authority to judge, as the Anabaptists foolishly pretend; for he was appointed by his Father, the King of kings, and the Lord and Judge of all. He only wished to keep himself as much detached as possible from worldly concerns: 1. Not to favour the opinion of the carnal Jews, who expected a powerful king for the Messias. 2. To shew that the ecclesiastical ministry was entirely distinct from political government, and that he and his ministers were sent not to take care of earthly kingdoms, but to seek after and prepare men for a heavenly inheritance. (St. Ambrose, Euthymius, Ven. Bede) |
| Luke 12:15 | And he said to them: Take heed and beware of all covetousness: for a man's life doth not consist in the abundance of things which he possesseth. | |
| Luke 12:16 | And he spoke a similitude to them, saying: *The land of a certain rich man brought forth plenty of fruits. Ecclesiasticus 11:19. | |
| Luke 12:17 | And he thought within himself, saying: What shall I do, because I have no place to lay up together my fruits? | |
| Luke 12:18 | And he said: This will I do: I will pull down my barns, and will build greater: and into them will I gather all things that are grown to me, and my goods. | |
| Luke 12:19 | And I will say to my soul: Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years, take thy rest, eat, drink, make good cheer. | Much goods, etc. It is evident how far this poor man was mistaken, when he called these things goods, which with more reason ought to be esteemed evils. The only things that can rightly be called goods, are humility, modesty, and its other attendants. The opposite to these ought to be esteemed evils; and riches we ought to consider as indifferent. (St. Chrysostom) |
| Luke 12:20 | But God said to him: Thou fool, this night do they require thy soul of thee: and whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided? | |
| Luke 12:21 | So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich towards God. | |
| Luke 12:22 | And he said to his disciples: Therefore I say to you: *Be not solicitous for your life, what you shall eat: nor for your body, what you shall put on. Psalm 54:23.; Matthew 6:25.; 1 Peter 5:7. | Therefore I say to you, etc. Our Lord proceeds step by step in his discourse, to inculcate more perfect virtue. He had before exhorted us to guard ourselves against the fatal rocks of avarice, and then subjoined the parable of the rich man; thereby insinuating what folly that man is guilty of, who applies all his thoughts solely to the amassing of riches. He next proceeds to inform us that we should not be solicitous even for the necessities of life: wishing by this discourse to eradicate our wicked propensity to avarice. (Theophylactus) |
| Luke 12:23 | The life is more than the food, and the body is more than the raiment. | |
| Luke 12:24 | Consider the ravens, for they do not sow, nor do they reap, neither have they store-house, nor barn, and God feedeth them. How much are you more valuable than they? | |
| Luke 12:25 | And which of you by thinking can add to his stature one cubit? | |
| Luke 12:26 | If then you are not able to do even the least thing, why are you solicitous for the rest? | |
| Luke 12:27 | Consider the lilies how they grow: they labour not, neither do they spin. But I say to you, not even Solomon, in all his glory, was clothed like one of these. | |
| Luke 12:28 | Now if God clothe in this manner the grass that is to-day in the field, and to-morrow is cast into the oven: how much more you, O ye of little faith? | |
| Luke 12:29 | And seek not you what you shall eat, or what you shall drink: and be not lifted up on high: | And be not lifted up on high.{ Ver. 29. Nolite in sublime tolli, me meteorizesthe; See St. Augustine, incipit superbire de talibus. lib. v. QQ. Evang. Q. 29.|} St. Augustine (lib. 2:QQ. Evang. q. 29. t. 3, part 4, p. 257.) expounds it thus: do not value yourselves for the plenty and variety you have of things to eat. Others, by the Greek, look upon it as a metaphor, taken from meteors in the air, that appear high, and as it were in suspense whether to remain there or to fall down; so that they expound it: be not distracted and disturbed with various thoughts and cares how to live. (Witham) |
| Luke 12:30 | For all these things do the nations of the world seek after. But your Father knoweth that you have need of these things. | |
| Luke 12:31 | But seek ye first the kingdom of God and his justice: and all these things shall be added unto you. | |
| Luke 12:32 | Fear not, little flock, for it hath pleased your Father to give you a kingdom. | Christ styles the elect in this place, his little flock, on account of the greater number of the reprobate; or rather through his love of humility, because though the Church be most numerous, yet he wishes it to continue in humility to the end of the world, and by humility to arrive at the reward which he has promised to the humble. Therefore, in order to console us in our labours, he commands us to seek only the kingdom of heaven, and promises us that the Father will bestow it as a reward upon us. (Ven. Bede) |
| Luke 12:33 | *Sell what you possess, and give alms. Make to yourselves bags which grow not old, **a treasure in heaven which faileth not: where the thief approacheth not, nor moth corrupteth. Matthew 19:21. --- ** Matthew 6:20. | Be not solicitous that whilst you are fighting for the kingdom of heaven, the necessities of this life will be wanting to you, on account of his command. Sell what you possess, that you may bestow charity; which those do, who having left all things, nevertheless labour with their hands for their livelihood, and to bestow the rest in charity. (Ven. Bede) |
| Luke 12:34 | For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. | |
| Luke 12:35 | Let your loins be girded, and lamps burning in your hands, | Let your loins be girded; that is be prepared to walk in the way of virtue; a comparison taken from the custom of the eastern people, who girded up their long garments, when they went about any business. (Witham) --- After our divine Saviour had given his disciples such excellent instructions, he wishes to lead them still farther in the path of perfection, by telling them to keep their loins girt, and to be prepared to obey the orders of their divine Master. By lamps burning in their hands he wished to insinuate, that they were not to pass their lives in obscurity, but to let their lights shine before men. (Theophylactus) |
| Luke 12:36 | And you yourselves like to men who wait for their lord, when he shall return from the wedding: that when he cometh, and knocketh, they may open to him immediately. | |
| Luke 12:37 | Blessed are those servants, whom the Lord, when he cometh, shall find watching. Amen, I say to you, that he will gird himself, and make them sit down to meat, and passing, will minister to them. | |
| Luke 12:38 | And if he shall come in the second watch, or if he shall come in the third watch, and find them so, blessed are those servants. | In the first watch is childhood, the beginning of our existence, and by the second is understood manhood, and by the third is meant old age. He, therefore, who does not comply with our divine Master's injunctions in the first or second watch, let him be careful not to lose his soul by neglecting to be converted to God in his old age. (St. Gregory in St. Thomas Aquinas) |
| Luke 12:39 | *But this know ye, that if a master of a family did know at what hour the thief would come, he would surely watch, and would not suffer his house to be broke open. Matthew 24:43. | Some have imagined that the devil, our implacable enemy, is designated by the thief, and our souls by the house, and man by the householder: yet this interpretation does not agree with what follows; for the coming of our Lord is compared to the thief, as if surprising us on a sudden. This latter opinion, therefore, seems to be the more probable one. (Theophylactus) |
| Luke 12:40 | Be you also ready: *for at what hour you think not, the Son of man will come. Apocalypse 16:15. | |
| Luke 12:41 | And Peter said to him: Lord, dost thou speak this parable to us, or likewise to all? | |
| Luke 12:42 | And the Lord said: Who (thinkest thou) is the faithful and wise steward, whom his lord setteth over his family, to give them their measure of wheat in due season? | |
| Luke 12:43 | Blessed is that servant, whom when his lord shall come, he shall find so doing. | |
| Luke 12:44 | Verily I say to you, he will set him over all that he possesseth. | |
| Luke 12:45 | But if that servant shall say in his heart: My lord is long a coming; and shall begin to strike the men-servants, and maid-servants, and to eat, and to drink, and be drunk: | |
| Luke 12:46 | The lord of that servant will come in a day that he expecteth not, and at an hour that he knoweth not, and shall separate him, and shall appoint him his portion with unbelievers. | |
| Luke 12:47 | And that servant who knew the will of his lord, and hath not prepared, and did not according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes. | |
| Luke 12:48 | But he that knew not, and did things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes. And unto whomsoever much is given, of him much shall be required: and to whom they have committed much, of him they will demand the more. | Shall be beaten with few stripes. Ignorance, when it proceeds from a person's own fault, doth not excuse, but only diminisheth the fault. (Witham) |
| Luke 12:49 | I am come to send fire on the earth, and what will I but that it be kindled? | I am come to send fire on the earth. By this fire, some understand the light of the gospel, and the fire of charity and divine love. Others, the fire of trials and persecutions. (Witham) --- What is the fire, which Christ comes to send upon the earth? Some understand it of the Holy Ghost, of the doctrine of the gospel, and the preaching of the apostles, which has filled the world with fervour and light, and which was signified by the flames of fire which appeared at the descent of the Holy Ghost upon the apostles. My words, says the Lord, in Jeremias, (Chap. 23:29.) are as a fire, and as a hammer, that breaketh the rock in pieces. Others understand it of the fire of charity, which Christ came to enkindle upon the earth, and which the apostles carried throughout the whole world. But the most simple and literal opinion seems to be, the fire of persecution and war. Fire is often used in Scripture for war: and our Saviour declares in St. Matthew that he is come to bring the sword, and not peace; that is, the doctrine of the gospel shall cause divisions, and bring persecutions, and almost an infinity of other evils, upon those who shall embrace and maintain it. But it is by these means that heaven must be acquired, it is thus that Jesus Christ destroys the reign of Satan, and overturns idolatry, superstition, and error, in the world. So great a change could not be made without noise, tumult, fire, and war. (Calmet) |
| Luke 12:50 | And I have a baptism, wherewith I am to be baptized: and how am I straitened until it be accomplished? | I am to be baptized, with troubles and sufferings. --- And how am I straitened? etc. not with fear, but with an earnest desire of suffering. (Witham) |
| Luke 12:51 | *Think ye that I am come to give peace on earth: I tell you no, but separation: Matthew 10:34. | |
| Luke 12:52 | For there shall be from henceforth five in one house divided, three against two, and two against three | |
| Luke 12:53 | Shall be divided: the father against the son, and the son against his father, the mother against the daughter, and the daughter against the mother, the mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. | |
| Luke 12:54 | And he said also to the multitudes: When you see a cloud rising out of the west, presently you say: A shower is coming: and so it happeneth: Matthew 16:2. | In these words he reproaches them, that they knew well enough how to judge of the weather by the appearance of the heavens; but were ignorant how to distinguish the times: that is could not discern that the time marked by the prophets, for the coming of the Messias, was accomplished. In Palestine, the Mediterranean Sea, which was to the west, was accustomed to send clouds and rain; and the south winds, which came from Arabia and Egypt, very warm countries, caused dryness and heat. (Calmet) |
| Luke 12:55 | And when ye see the south wind blow, you say: There will be heat: and it cometh to pass. | |
| Luke 12:56 | You hypocrites, you know how to discern the face of the heavens, and of the earth; but how is it that you do not discern this time? | |
| Luke 12:57 | And why even of yourselves do you not judge that which is just? | |
| Luke 12:58 | *And when thou goest with thy adversary to the ruler, whilst thou art in the way, endeavour to be delivered from him: lest, perhaps, he draw thee to the judge, and the judge deliver thee to the exactor, and the exactor cast thee into prison. Matthew 5:25. | |
| Luke 12:59 | I say to thee: thou shalt not go out thence, until thou pay the very last mite. | |
| Luke 13:0 | The necessity of penance. The barren fig-tree. The cure of the infirm woman, etc. | |
| Luke 13:1 | And there were present, at that very time, some that told him of the Galileans, whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. | Whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. These seem to have been some of the seditious followers of Judas, the Galilean, or Gaulonite, who denied that God's people were to pay taxes; and it is thought that some of them, coming to offer up sacrifices in the temple, Pilate caused them to be slain at that very time, so that their blood was mixed with the sacrifices. (Witham) --- Whose blood, etc. that is whom he had caused to be massacred in the temple, at the time they were offering sacrifices. The history, to which allusion is made in this place, is not well known; but there is great probability that these Galileans were disciples of Judas, the Galilean, who taught that they ought not to pay tribute to foreigners. As they were spreading this doctrine in Jerusalem, and perhaps even in the temple, Pilate laid violent hands upon them, and caused them to be murdered amidst the sacrifices. (Calmet) --- Galileans, etc. These were the followers of one Judas, a Galilean, of whom St. Luke makes mention in the Acts of the Apostles, (Acts 5.) who held it unlawful to call any one lord. Many of this sect were punished by Pilate, because they would not allow this title to be given to Caesar; they also maintained that no other sacrifices could lawfully be offered, except such as were prescribed by the law, by which opinion they forbade the accustomed sacrifices offered up for the emperor and people of Rome. Pilate, irritated by these their opinions, ordered them to be slain in the midst of their sacrifices, and this was their blood mixed with that of the victims. (St. Cyril in St. Thomas Aquinas) |
| Luke 13:2 | And he answering, said to them: Think you that these Galileans were sinners above all the men of Galilee, because they suffered such things? | Sinners, etc. People are naturally inclined to believe, that those who are unfortunate, and afflicted with calamities, must likewise be culpable and impious. The Jews were very much given to these sentiments, as we see in many places of Scripture; John 9:2 and 3. Our Saviour wishes to do away with this prejudice, by telling them that the Galileans, who are here spoken of, were not the most culpable among the inhabitants of that country; shewing by this, that God often spares the most wicked, and sends upon the good the most apparent signs of vengeance, that he may exercise the patience, and crown the merit of the latter, and give to the former an example of the severity which they must expect, if they continue in their disorders. Neither can it be said, that in this God commits any injustice. He uses his absolute dominion over his creatures, when he afflicts the just; he procures them real good, when he strikes them; and his indulgence towards the wicked, is generally an effect of his mercy, which waits for their repentance, or sometimes the consequences of his great anger, when he abandons them to the hardness of their reprobate hearts, and says, "I will rest, and be angry with you no longer." (Ezechiel, Luke 16:42.) This is the most terrible mark of his final fury. (Calmet) |
| Luke 13:3 | I say to you, No: but unless you shall do penance, you shall all likewise perish. | This prediction of our Saviour upon the impenitent was afterwards completely verified; for Josephus informs us, that under the government of Cumanus, 20,000 of them were destroyed about the temple. (Jewish Antiquities, lib. xx, Luke 4.) That upon the admission of the Idumeans into the city, 8,500 of the high priest's party were slain, insomuch that there was a flood of blood quite round the temple. (The Jewish War, lib. iv, Luke 7.) That in consequence of the threefold faction that happened in Jerusalem before the siege of the Romans, the temple was every where polluted with slaughter; the priests were slain in the exercise of their functions; many who came to worship, fell before their sacrifices; the dead bodies of strangers and natives were promiscuously heaped together, and the altar defiled with their blood. (The Jewish War, lib. vi, Luke 1.) That upon the Romans taking possession of the city and temple, mountains of dead bodies were piled up about the altar; streams of blood ran down the steps of the temple; several were destroyed by the fall of towers, and others suffocated in the ruins of the galleries over the porches. (The Jewish War, lib. vii, Luke 10.) |
| Luke 13:4 | Or those eighteen upon whom the tower fell in Siloe, and slew them: think you that they also were debtors above all the men that dwell in Jerusalem? | Or those eighteen, etc. The Almighty permitted these people to be thus chastised, that the others might be filled with fear and apprehension at the sight of another's dangers, and thus become the heirs of the kingdom of heaven. But then you will say, is another punished that I may become better? No; he is punished for his own crimes; but his punishment becomes to those that witness it the means of salvation. (St. Chrysostom, Concio. 3. de Lazaro.) |
| Luke 13:5 | I tell you: No: but unless you do penance, you shall all likewise perish. | Unless you do penance, etc. The Jews did not penance; and therefore, forty years after our Lord's Passion, the Romans came, and beginning with Galilee, destroyed this impious nation to its roots, and polluted not only the court of the temple, whither the sacrifices were carried, but the inner sanctuary, with human blood. (Ven. Bede) |
| Luke 13:6 | He spoke also this parable: A certain man had a fig-tree planted in his vineyard, and he came seeking fruit on it, and found none. | A certain man, etc. Each one, inasmuch as he holds a place in life, if he produce not the fruit of good works, like a barren tree encumbers the ground; because the place he holds, were it occupied by others, might be a place of fertility. (St. Gregory) |
| Luke 13:7 | And he said to the tiller of the vineyard: Behold these three years I come seeking fruit on this fig-tree, and I find none. Cut it done, therefore; why doth it take up the ground? | |
| Luke 13:8 | But he answering, said to him: Lord, let it alone this year also, until I dig about it, and dung it. | |
| Luke 13:9 | And if happily it bear fruit: but if not, then after that thou shalt cut it down. | And if happily it bear fruit. It is a way of speaking, when a sentence is left imperfect; yet what is not expressed, may be easily understood; as here we may understand, well and good, or the like. (Witham) |
| Luke 13:10 | And he was teaching in their synagogue on their sabbath. | |
| Luke 13:11 | And behold there was a woman, who had a spirit of infirmity eighteen years: and she was bent down, and could not look upwards at all. | |
| Luke 13:12 | And when Jesus saw her, he called her to him, and said to her: Woman, thou art delivered from thy infirmity. | |
| Luke 13:13 | And he laid his hands upon her, and immediately she was made straight, and glorified God. | |
| Luke 13:14 | And the ruler of the synagogue, being angry that Jesus had healed on the sabbath, answering, said to the multitude: There are six days wherein you ought to work: in them therefore come, and be healed, and not on the sabbath-day. | The president of the synagogue, when he saw the woman, who before crept on the ground, now raised by the touch of Christ, and hearing the mandate of God, was filled with envy, and decried the miracle, apparently through solicitude for keeping the sabbath. But the truth is, he would rather see the poor woman bent to the earth like a beast, than see Christ glorified by healing her. (St. Cyril in St. Thomas Aquinas) |
| Luke 13:15 | And the Lord answering him, said: Ye hypocrites, doth not every one of you, on the sabbath-day, loose his ox or his ass from the manger, and lead them to water? | |
| Luke 13:16 | And ought not this daughter of Abraham, whom Satan hath bound, lo, these eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the sabbath-day? | |
| Luke 13:17 | And when he said these things, all his adversaries were ashamed: and all the people rejoiced for all the things that were gloriously done by him. | |
| Luke 13:18 | He said, therefore: To what is the kingdom of God like, and whereunto shall I resemble it? | |
| Luke 13:19 | *It is like to a grain of mustard-seed, which a man took and cast into his garden, and it grew, and became a great tree, and the birds of the air lodged in the branches thereof. Matthew 13:31.; Mark 4:31. | Our Lord was this mustard-seed, when he was buried in the earth; and He became a tree, when he ascended into heaven; but a tree that overshadowed the whole creation, in the branches of which the birds of heaven rested; that is, the powers of heaven, and all such as by good works have raised themselves from the earth. The apostles are the branches, to repose in whose bosoms we take our flight, borne on the wings of Christian virtue. Let us sow this seed (Christ) in the garden of our hearts, that the grace of good works may flourish, and you may send forth the various perfumes of every virtue. (St. Ambrose) |
| Luke 13:20 | And again he said: Whereunto shall I compare the kingdom of God? | |
| Luke 13:21 | *It is like to leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened. Matthew 13:33. | The flour represents us Christians, who receive the Lord Jesus into the inner parts of our soul, till we are all inflamed with the fire of his heavenly wisdom. (St. Ambrose) |
| Luke 13:22 | And he went through the cities and towns teaching, and making his journey to Jerusalem. | |
| Luke 13:23 | And a certain man said to him: Lord, are they few that are saved? But he said to them: | |
| Luke 13:24 | *Strive to enter by the narrow gate: for many, I say to you, shall seek to enter, and shall not be able. Matthew 7:13. | Shall seek, etc. Shall desire to be saved; but for want of taking sufficient pains, and not being thoroughly in earnest, shall not attain to it. (Challoner) --- Our Lord answers here in the affirmative: viz. that the number of those who are saved, is very small, for a few only can enter by the narrow gate. Therefore does he say, according to St. Matthew, (Matthew 7.) Narrow is the way that leadeth to life, and few there are that enter therein. This does not contradict what is said in the 8th chapter of St. Matthew: That many shall come from the east, and sit down in the kingdom of God; for many indeed shall join the blessed company of the angels, but when considered with the number of the slain, they will appear but few. (St. Augustine, serm. xxxii. de Verb. Dei.) |
| Luke 13:25 | *But when the master of the house shall be gone in, and shall shut the door, you shall begin to stand without, and knock at the door, saying: Lord, open to us: and he answering, shall say to you: I know you not whence you are. Matthew 25:10. | When the Almighty casts any off, he is said not to know them: in the same manner as a lover of truth may be said not to know how to tell a falsehood, being withheld powerfully from it by his love of truth. (St. Gregory, mor. Luke 8.) |
| Luke 13:26 | Then you shall begin to say: We have eaten and drunk in thy presence, and thou hast taught in our streets. | These words are addressed particularly to the Jews, because Christ was born of them according to the flesh, eat and drank with them, and taught publicly in their streets; but they apply to us Christians also, for we eat the body of Christ, and drink his blood, when each day we approach the mystical table, and we hear him teaching us in the streets of our souls. (Theophylactus) --- Many very fervent at the beginning afterwards grow lukewarm; and many, though at first frozen, have suddenly glowed with virtue; many, who in this world were contemned, have received glory in the next; while others, in honour amongst men, have passed to eternal torments. (Ven. Bede) |
| Luke 13:27 | And he shall say to you: *I know you not whence you are: **depart from me, all ye workers of iniquity. Matthew 7:23. --- ** Psalm 6:8.; Matthew 25:41. | |
| Luke 13:28 | There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth: when you shall see Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and all the prophets, in the kingdom of God, and you yourselves thrust out. | |
| Luke 13:29 | And there shall come from the east, and the west, and the north, and the south, and shall sit down in the kingdom of God. | |
| Luke 13:30 | *And behold they are last who shall be first, and they are first who shall be last. Matthew 19:30.; Matthew 20:16.; Mark 10:31. | |
| Luke 13:31 | The same day there came some of the Pharisees, saying to him: Depart, and get thee hence: for Herod hath a mind to kill thee. | |
| Luke 13:32 | And he said to them: Go and tell that fox: Behold I cast out devils, and do cures, to-day and to-morrow, and the third day I am consummated. | It is rather surprising that Christ should make use of these opprobrious words, which could be of no service to himself, but which would only serve to irritate king Herod, should they come to his ears. But Christ, by these words, probably wished to shew that he was not the least afraid of him whom the Pharisees feigned to have a design on his life: for it is supposed that the Pharisees had invented this fiction, in order to compel him to leave them quiet. (Maldonatus) |
| Luke 13:33 | Nevertheless I must walk to-day, and to-morrow, and the day following: because it cannot be that a prophet perish out of Jerusalem. | Nevertheless I must walk, (that is, labour in the mission, teaching, etc.) to-day, and to-morrow, etc. that is for a while. --- It cannot be that a prophet,{ Ver. 33. Quia non capit prophetam, etc. ouk endechetai, non contingit.|} etc. Not that all the prophets suffered in Jerusalem, though many did; and it is rather to prophesy, that he himself, the great Prophet, and their Messias, should be put to death at Jerusalem. (Witham) |
| Luke 13:34 | *Jerusalem, Jerusalem, that killest the prophets, and stonest them that are sent to thee, how often would I have gathered thy children, as the bird doth her brood under her wings, and thou wouldst not? Matthew 23:37. | |
| Luke 13:35 | Behold, your house shall be left to you desolate. And I say to you, that you shall not see me till the time come, when you shall say: Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord. | |
| Luke 14:0 | Christ heals the dropsical man. The parable of the supper. The necessity of renouncing all to follow Christ. | |
| Luke 14:1 | And it came to pass, when Jesus went into the house of a certain chief of the Pharisees, on the sabbath-day, to eat bread, and they were watching him. | This was the Hebrew expression for taking a meal; their frugality probably suggested this method of expression, bread being the principal part of their repast. (Calmet) --- What a contrast here between the actions of the Pharisees and those of our Saviour! They watched all his actions, in order to have an opportunity of accusing him, and of putting him to death; whilst he, on the contrary, seeks after nothing but the salvation of his enemies' souls. (Tirinus) |
| Luke 14:2 | And behold there was a certain man before him, who had the dropsy. | Our divine Saviour, regardless of the wicked designs which these Pharisees meditated to destroy him, cures the sick man, who did not dare to ask the favour of him, for fear of the Pharisees. He could only persuade himself to stand in his presence, hoping that Christ would at length cast a compassionate look upon him: who being well pleased with him, did not demand of him if he wished to be cured, but without demur proceeded to work this stupendous miracle in his behalf. (St. Cyril) --- In which Christ did not so much consider whether the action would give scandal to the Pharisees, as whether it would afford the sick man comfort; intimating, that we ought ever to disregard the raillery of the fools, and the scandal which men of this world may take at our actions, as often as they are for the honour of God, and the good of our neighbour. (Theophylactus) |
| Luke 14:3 | And Jesus answering, spoke to the lawyers and Pharisees, saying: Is it lawful to heal on the sabbath-day? | Is it lawful? Jesus knew their thoughts, and that they would blame him as a sabbath-breaker: yet he healed the man, and confounded them by the example and common practice of pulling an ass out of a pit on the sabbath-day. (Witham) |
| Luke 14:4 | But they held their peace. But he, taking him, healed him, and sent him away. | |
| Luke 14:5 | And answering them, he said: Which of you, whose ass or his ox shall fall into a pit, and he will not immediately draw him out, on the sabbath-day? | By this example Christ convicts his adversaries, as guilty of sordid avarice, since, in delivering beasts from the danger of perishing on the sabbath-day, they consult only their own advantage, whilst he was only employed in an act of charity towards his neighbour; an action they seemed so warmly to condemn. (Ven. Bede) |
| Luke 14:6 | And they could not answer him to these things. | |
| Luke 14:7 | And he spoke a parable also to them that were invited, marking how they chose the first seats at the table, saying to them: | A parable. What parable? In the text there is no parable, but only instruction. Maldonatus thinks that our Saviour spoke a parable on this occasion, which St. Luke has omitted, giving us only the moral and the substance of the instruction conveyed by it. (Calmet) --- To take the lowest place at a feast, according to our Saviour's injunctions, is certainly very becoming; but imperiously to insist upon it, is far from acting according to our Saviour's wishes, particularly when it is destructive of regularity, and productive of discord and contention. (St. Basil) |
| Luke 14:8 | When thou art invited to a wedding, sit not down in the highest place, lest perhaps one more honourable than thou be invited by him: | |
| Luke 14:9 | And he who invited thee, and him, come and say to thee: Give place to this man; and then thou begin, with blushing, to take the lowest place. | The lowest place. A person of the first quality is not to do this literally, which would be preposterous; but it is to teach every on humility of heart and mind. (Witham) |
| Luke 14:10 | But when thou art invited, go sit down in the lowest place; that when he who invited thee cometh, he may say to thee: *Friend, go up higher. Then shalt thou have glory before them that sit at table with thee. Proverbs 25:7. | |
| Luke 14:11 | *Because every one that exalteth himself, shall be humbled: and he that humbleth himself, shall be exalted. Matthew 23:12.; Luke 18:14. | |
| Luke 14:12 | And he said to him also that had invited him: *When thou makest a dinner, or a supper, call not thy friends, nor thy brethren, nor thy kinsmen, nor thy neighbours who are rich; lest they also invite thee again, and a recompense be made to thee. Tobias 4:7.; Proverbs 3:9. | Christ does not here forbid the invitation of friends and relatives, since that would be acting directly contrary to his own maxims and spirit, which breathe nothing but charity and union. He merely wishes to purify our motives in the disposal of our charity, by insinuating that there is more merit in giving to the indigent, from whom we can expect no remuneration. (Calmet) --- It is only an effect of avarice, to be liberal to those who will repay us, says St. Ambrose. It is our duty as acknowledged even by heathens (Cicero de Off. lib. i.) to assist those who stand most in need of it; but our practice says the same author, is to be most obsequious to those from whom we expect most, though they want our services the least. St. Ambrose, Ven. Bede, and St. Chrysostom are of the same opinion. |
| Luke 14:13 | But when thou makest a feast, call the poor, the feeble, the lame, and the blind: | |
| Luke 14:14 | And thou shalt be blessed, because they have not wherewith to make thee recompense: for recompense shall be made thee at the resurrection of the just. | |
| Luke 14:15 | When one of them that sat at table with him, had heard these things, he said to him: Blessed is he that shall eat bread in the kingdom of God. | |
| Luke 14:16 | But he said to him: *A certain man made a great supper, and invited many. Matthew 22:2.; Apocalypse 19:9. | By this man we are to understand Christ Jesus, the great mediator between God and man. He sent his servants, at supper-time, to say to them that were invited, that they should come; that is he sent his apostles to call the people of Israel, who had been invited to his supper on almost innumerable occasions: but they not only refused the invitation, but also murdered the Lord who had invited them. We may remark, that the three different excuses exactly agree with what St. John says: All that is in the world is the concupiscence of the flesh, and concupiscence of the eyes, and the pride of life. The one says, I have married a wife, by which may be understood the concupiscence of the flesh; another says, I have bought five yoke of oxen, by which is denoted the concupiscence of the eyes; and the pride of life is signified by the purchase of the farm, which the third alleges in his justification. (St. Augustine, de verb. Dei.) |
| Luke 14:17 | And he sent his servant, at supper-time, to say to them that were invited, that they should come, for now all things are ready. | |
| Luke 14:18 | And they began all at once to make excuse. The first said to him: I have bought a farm, and I must needs go out and see it: I pray thee, have me excused. | |
| Luke 14:19 | And another said: I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to try them: I pray thee, have me excused. | |
| Luke 14:20 | And another said: I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come. | |
| Luke 14:21 | And the servant returning, told these things to his lord. Then the master of the house being angry, said to his servant: Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in hither the poor, and the feeble, and the blind, and the lame. | |
| Luke 14:22 | And the servant said: Lord, it is done as thou hast commanded, and yet there is room. | |
| Luke 14:23 | And the lord said to the servant: Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled. | Compel them to come in. This is almost the only expression in the New Testament, which can give to the intolerant a plea for persecution. The spirit of the gospel is the spirit of mildness, and the compulsion which it authorizes to bring infidels or heretics into the Church, is such as we use towards our friends, when we press them to accept of our hospitality. The great pope, St. Gregory, forbade the Jews to be persecuted in Rome, who refused to receive the faith of Christ. "That is a new and unheard of kind of preaching," says he, "which demands assent by stripes." (Haydock) |
| Luke 14:24 | But I say to you, that none of those men that were invited, shall taste my supper. | |
| Luke 14:25 | And there went great multitudes with him: and turning, he said to them: | |
| Luke 14:26 | *If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple. Matthew 10:37. | Hate not, etc. The law of Christ does not allow us to hate even our enemies, much less our parents: but the meaning of the text is, that we must be in that disposition of soul so as to be willing to renounce and part with every thing, how near or dear soever it may be to us, that would keep us from following Christ. (Challoner) --- The word hate is not to be taken in its proper sense, but to be expounded by the words of Christ, (Matthew 10:37.) that no man must love his father more than God, etc. (Witham) --- Christ wishes to shew us what dispositions are necessary in him who desires to become his disciple; (Theophylactus) and to teach us that we must not be discouraged, if we meet with many hardships and labours in our journey to our heavenly country. (St. Gregory) --- And if for our sakes, Christ even renounced his own mother, saying, Who is my mother, and who are my brethren? why do you wish to be treated more delicately than your Lord? (St. Ambrose) --- He wished also to demonstrate to us, that the hatred he here inculcates, is not to proceed from any disaffection towards our parents, but from charity for ourselves; for immediately he adds, and his own life also. From which words it is evident, that in our love we must hate our brethren as we do ourselves. |
| Luke 14:27 | *And whosoever doth not carry his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple. Matthew 10:38.; Matthew 16:24.; Mark 8:34. | |
| Luke 14:28 | For which of you, having a mind to build a tower, doth not first sit down and reckon the charges that are necessary, whether he have wherewithal to finish it? | For which of you, etc. The similitude, which our divine Saviour makes us of, represents the offices and duty of a true Christian, for he has to build within himself and conduct others by his example to war with the devil, the world, and the flesh; and he has to season, purify, and keep all his actions free from corruption by the spiritual salt of mortification and prayer. (Tirinus) |
| Luke 14:29 | Lest after he hath laid the foundation, and is not able to finish it, all that see it begin to mock him, | Lest after, etc. Here he wishes to shew us, that we are not to embrace any state of life, particularly that of an ecclesiastic, without previous and serious consideration, whether we shall be able to go through with the difficulties and dangers which will inevitably befall us: lest afterwards we find ourselves constrained to yield to our enemies, who will deride us, and say: This man began to build, and was not able to finish. (Tirinus) |
| Luke 14:30 | Saying: This man began to build, and was not able to finish. | |
| Luke 14:31 | Or what king about to go to make war against another king, doth not first sit down and think, whether he be able with ten thousand to meet him that with twenty thousand cometh against him? | |
| Luke 14:32 | Or else whilst the other is yet afar off, sending an embassy, he desireth conditions of peace. | |
| Luke 14:33 | So likewise every one of you that doth not renounce all that he possesseth, cannot be my disciple. | |
| Luke 14:34 | *Salt is good. But if the salt shall lose its savour, wherewith shall it be seasoned? Matthew 5:13.; Mark 9:50. | But if the salt, etc. Man, after he has once been illumined with the light of faith, should he be so unfortunate as to fall into the sink of his former evil habits, what remedy is there remaining for him? He is, as our Saviour says, neither profitable for the land nor for the dunghill, but shall be cast out. (Luke 14:35.) (Ven. Bede) |
| Luke 14:35 | It is neither profitable for the land, nor for the dunghill, but shall be cast out. He that hath ears to hear, let him hear. | |
| Luke 15:0 | The parables of the lost sheep, and of the prodigal son. | |
| Luke 15:1 | Now the publicans and sinners drew near unto him, to hear him. | |
| Luke 15:2 | And the Pharisees and the Scribes murmured, saying: This man receiveth sinners, and eateth with them. | |
| Luke 15:3 | And he spoke to them this parable, saying: | |
| Luke 15:4 | *What man of you that hath a hundred sheep, and if he shall lose one of them, doth he not leave the ninety-nine in the desert, and go after that which is lost until he find it? Matthew 18:12. | What man, etc. Christ left the ninety-nine in the desert, when he descended from the angelic choirs, in order to seek last man on the earth, that he might fill up the number of the sheepfold of heaven, from which his sins had excluded him. (St. Ambrose) --- Neither did his affection for the last sheep make him behave cruelly to the rest; for he left them in safety, under the protection of his omnipotent hand. (St. Cyril in St. Thomas Aquinas) |
| Luke 15:5 | And when he hath found it, doth he not lay it upon his shoulders rejoicing: | |
| Luke 15:6 | And coming home call together his friends and neighbours, saying to them: Rejoice with me, because I have found my sheep that was lost? | |
| Luke 15:7 | I say to you, that even so there shall be joy in heaven upon one sinner that doth penance, more than upon ninety-nine just who need not penance. | Joy in heaven, etc. What incitement ought it not to be to us to practise virtue, when we reflect that our conversion causes joy to the troops of blessed spirits, whose protection we should always seek, and whose presence we should always revere. (St. Ambrose) --- There is greater joy for the conversion of a sinner, than for the perseverance of the just; but it frequently happens, that these being free from the chain of sin, remain indeed in the path of justice, but press not on eagerly to their heavenly country; whilst such as have been sinners, are stung with grief at the remembrance of their former transgressions, and calling to mind how they have forsaken their God, endeavour by present fervour to compensate for their past misconduct. But it must be remembered that there are many just, whose lives cause such joy to the heavenly court, that all the penitential exercises of sinners cannot be preferred before them. (St. Gregory, hom. xxxiv.) |
| Luke 15:8 | Or what woman, having ten groats, if she lose one groat, doth not light a candle and sweep the house, and seek diligently, till she find it? | In the preceding parable, the race of mankind is compared to a lost sheep, to teach us that we are the creatures of the most high God, who made us, and not we ourselves, of whose pasture we are the sheep. (Psalm xcix.) And in this parable mankind are compared to the drachma, which was lost, to shew us that we have been made to the royal likeness and image even of the omnipotent God; for the drachma is a piece of money, bearing the image of the king. (St. Chrysostom in St. Thomas Aquinas) |
| Luke 15:9 | And when she hath found it, call together her friends and neighbours, saying: Rejoice with me, because I have found the groat which I had lost. | |
| Luke 15:10 | So I say to you, there shall be joy before the Angels of God upon one sinner doing penance. | Before the angels. By this it is plain that the spirits in heaven have a concern for us below, and a joy at our repentance, and consequently a knowledge of it. (Challoner) |
| Luke 15:11 | And he said: A certain man had two sons: | A certain man had two sons. By the elder son is commonly expounded the Jewish people, who for a long time had been chosen to serve God; and by the younger son, the Gentiles, who for so many ages had run blindly on in their idolatry and vices. (Witham) --- Some understand this of the Jews and Gentiles, others of the just and sinners. The former opinion seems preferable. The elder son, brought up in his father's house, etc. represents the Jews; the younger prodigal is a figure of the Gentiles. (Calmet) |
| Luke 15:12 | And the younger of them said to his father: Father, give me the portion of substance that falleth to me. And he divided unto them his substance. | It is very probable, from this verse, that the children of the family, when come to age, could demand of their parents the share of property which would fall to their lot. For these parables suppose the ordinary practices of the country, and are founded on what was customarily done. Grotius thinks this was the common law among the Phoenicians. --- The Gentiles, prefigured by the prodigal son, received from their father, (the Almighty,) free-will, reason, mind, health, natural knowledge, and the goods which are common to mankind, all which they dissipated and abused. Sinners who have besides received the gift of faith and sanctification, by baptism, and who have profaned the holiness of their state, by crimes, are more express figures of the bad conduct of this son. (Calmet) |
| Luke 15:13 | And not many days after, the younger son gathering all together, went abroad into a far country: and there wasted his substance by living riotously. | |
| Luke 15:14 | And after he had spent all, there came a mighty famine in that country, and he began to be in want. | |
| Luke 15:15 | And he went, and joined himself to one of the citizens of that country. And he sent him into his farm to feed swine. | |
| Luke 15:16 | And he would fain have filled his belly with the husks the swine did eat: and no man gave unto him. | Husks. This expresses the extreme misery of his condition. There is no need of seeking any other mystery in this word. Horace, by a kind of hyperbole, (B. ii, Ep. 1.) represents the miser as living upon husks to be able to save more. Vivit siliquis et pane secundo. --- And no man gave unto him; that is gave him bread, mentioned before; for as for the husks, he could take what he pleased. (Witham) |
| Luke 15:17 | And returning to himself, he said: How many hired servants in my father's house have plenty of bread, and I here perish with hunger? | |
| Luke 15:18 | I will arise, and will go to my father, and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee: | How merciful is the Almighty, who, though so much offended, still does not disdain the name of father. --- I have sinned. These are the first words of a sinner's confession to the author of nature. God knows all things; still does he expect to hear the voice of your confession. It is in vain to think of concealing your sins from the eyes of him whom nothing can escape; and there can be no danger of acknowledging to him what his infinite knowledge has already embraced. Confess then that Christ may intercede for you, the Church pray for you, the people pour forth their tears for you. Fear not that you cannot obtain pardon, for pardon is promised to you; grace, and a reconciliation with a most tender parent, are held out to you. (St. Ambrose) --- Before thee, etc. By this does our Redeemer shew, that the Almighty is here to be understood by the name of father: for the all-seeing eye of God only beholds all things, from whom even the secret machinations of the heart cannot be concealed. (St. Chrysostom in St. Thomas Aquinas) |
| Luke 15:19 | I am not worthy to be called thy son: make me as one of thy hired servants. | |
| Luke 15:20 | And rising up, he went to his father. And when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and was moved with compassion, and running to him, fell upon his neck and kissed him. | |
| Luke 15:21 | And the son said to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and before thee: I am not now worthy to be called thy son. | |
| Luke 15:22 | But the father said to his servants: Bring forth, quickly, the first robe, and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet: | The first; that is the best robe: by it, is meant the habit of grace. (Witham) |
| Luke 15:23 | And bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it, and let us eat and make merry: | |
| Luke 15:24 | Because this, my son, was dead, and is come to life again: he was lost and is found. And they began to be merry. | Was dead, and is come to life again. A sinner, in mortal sin, is deprived of the divine grace, which is the spiritual life of the soul. At his conversion it is restored to him, and he begins to live again. (Witham) |
| Luke 15:25 | Now his elder son was in the field: and when he came and drew nigh to the house, he heard music and dancing: | His elder son, etc. We have already remarked, that this son represents the Jews. He boasts of having always served his father faithfully, and of never disobeying him. This is the language of that presumptuous people, who believe themselves alone holy; and despising the Gentiles with sovereign contempt, could not bear to see the gates of salvation laid open also to them. The 28th, 29th, and 30th verses express admirably the genius of the Jewish people; particularly his refusing to enter his father's house, shews their obstinacy. (Calmet) |
| Luke 15:26 | And he called one of the servants, and asked what these things meant. | |
| Luke 15:27 | And he said to him: Thy brother is come, and thy father hath killed the fatted calf, because he hath received him safe. | |
| Luke 15:28 | And he was angry, and would not go in. His father, therefore, coming out, began to entreat him. | |
| Luke 15:29 | And he answering, said to his father: Behold, for so many years do I serve thee, and I have never transgressed thy commandment, and yet thou hast never given me a kid to make merry with my friends: | I have never transgressed, etc. With what face could the Jews, represented here by the eldest son, say they have never transgressed the commandments of their father? This made Tertullian think that this was not the expression of the Jews, but of the faithful Christians; and, therefore, he interprets the whole parable as applied to a disciple of Christ. But we should recollect, that it is not uncommon for presumption to boast of what it never has done. The whole history of the Jews is full of numberless details of their prevarication and disobedience. (Calmet) --- A kid, etc. The Jews demanded a kid, but the Christians a lamb; therefore was Barabbas set at liberty for them, whilst for us the lamb was immolated. (St. Ambrose) |
| Luke 15:30 | But as soon as this, thy son, is come, who hath devoured his substance with harlots, thou hast killed for him the fatted calf. | |
| Luke 15:31 | But he said to him: Son, thou art always with me, and all I have is thine. | |
| Luke 15:32 | But it was fit that we should make merry and be glad, for this, thy brother, was dead, and is come to life again: he was lost, and is found. | |
| Luke 16:0 | The parable of the unjust steward: of the rich man and Lazarus. | |
| Luke 16:1 | And he said also to his disciples: There was a certain rich man who had a steward: and the same was accused unto him, that he had wasted his goods. | There was a certain rich man, etc. By this parable, our Saviour advises his disciples to accompany their penitential works with deeds of mercy to the poor. (Ven. Bede) --- There is a certain erroneous opinion, that obtains pretty generally amongst mankind, and which tends to increase crimes, and to lessen good works: and this is, the foolish persuasion that men are not accountable to any one, and that we can dispose as we please of the things in our possession. (St. Chrysostom) --- Whereas we are here informed, that we are only the dispensers of another's property, viz. God's. (St. Ambrose) --- When, therefore, we employ it not according to the will of our Master, but fritter and squander it away in pleasure, and in the gratification of our passions, we are, beyond all doubt, unjust stewards. (Theophylactus) --- And a strict account will be required of what we have thus dissipated, by our common Lord and Master. If then we are only stewards of that which we possess, let us cast from our minds that mean superciliousness and pride which the outward splendour of riches is so apt to inspire; and let us put on the humility, the modesty of stewards, knowing well that to whom much is given, much will be required. Abundance of riches makes not a man great, but the dispensing them according to the will and intention of his employer. (Haydock) --- The intention of this parable, is to shew what use each one ought to make of the goods which God has committed to his charge. In the three former parables, addressed to the murmuring Scribes and Pharisees, our Saviour shews with what goodness he seeks the salvation and conversion of a sinner; in this, he teaches how the sinner, when converted, ought to correspond to his vocation, and preserve with great care the inestimable blessing of innocence. (Calmet) --- A steward, etc. The parable puts us in mind, that let men be ever so rich or powerful in this world, God is still their master; they are his servants, and must be accountable to him how they have managed his gifts and favours; that is, all things they have had in this world. (Witham) |
| Luke 16:2 | And he called him, and said to him: How is it that I hear this of thee? Give an account of thy stewardship: for now thou canst be steward no longer. | And he called him, etc. Such are the words which our Lord daily addresses to us. We daily see persons equally healthy, and likely to live as ourselves, suddenly summoned by death, to give an account of their stewardship. Happy summons to the faithful servant, who has reason to hope in his faithful administration. Not so to the unfaithful steward, whose pursuits are earthly: death to him is terrible indeed, and his exit is filled with sorrow. All thunder-stricken at these words, "now thou canst be steward no longer," he says within himself, what shall I do! (St. Thomas Aquinas) |
| Luke 16:3 | And the steward said within himself: What shall I do, for my lord taketh away from me the stewardship? To dig I am not able: To beg I am ashamed. | |
| Luke 16:4 | I know what I will do, that when I shall be put out pf the stewardship, they may receive me into their houses. | |
| Luke 16:5 | Therefore, calling together every one of his lord's debtors, he said to the first: How much dost thou owe my lord? | |
| Luke 16:6 | But he said: A hundred barrels of oil. And he said to him: Take thy bill: and sit down quickly, and write fifty. | |
| Luke 16:7 | Then he said to another: And how much dost thou owe? Who said: A hundred quarters of wheat. He said to him: Take thy bill and write eighty. | |
| Luke 16:8 | And the lord commended the unjust steward, forasmuch as he had done wisely: for the children of this world are wiser in their generation than the children of light. | And the lord commended, etc. By this we are given to understand, that if the lord of this unjust steward could commend him for his worldly prudence, though it were an overt act of injustice; how much more will the Almighty be pleased with those who, obedient to his command, seek to redeem their sins by alms-deeds? (St. Thomas Aquinas) --- "Give alms out of thy substance," says holy Tobias to his son, "and turn not thy face from any poor person: for so it shall come to pass, that the face of the Lord shall not be turned from thee. According to thy abilities be merciful. If thou hast much, give abundantly; if thou hast little, take care, even of that little, to bestow willingly a little. For thus thou storest up to thyself a good reward, for the day of necessity. For alms deliver from sin, and from death, and will not suffer the soul to go into darkness." (Tobias 4:7, 8, etc.) (St. Thomas Aquinas) --- Children of this world, etc. are more prudent and circumspect as to what regards their temporal concerns, than they who profess themselves servants of God, are about the concerns of eternity. --- Commended the unjust steward.{ Ver. 8. Villicum iniquitatis, that is iniquum, oikonomon tes adikias.|} Literally, the steward of iniquity: not for his cheating and injustice, but for his contrivances in favour of himself. --- In their generation; that is in their concerns of this life. They apply themselves with greater care and pains, in their temporal affairs, than the children of light, whom God has favoured with the light of faith, do to gain heaven. (Witham) |
| Luke 16:9 | And I say to you: Make to yourselves friends of the mammon of iniquity, that when you shall fail, they may receive you into everlasting dwellings. | Make for yourselves friends, etc. Not that we are authorized to wrong our neighbour, to give to the poor: evil is never to be done, that good may come from it. (St. Thomas Aquinas) --- But we are exhorted to make the poor our friends before God, by relieving them with the riches which justly indeed belong to us, but are called the mammon of iniquity, because only the iniquitous man esteems them as riches, on which he sets his affections; whilst the riches of the virtuous are wholly celestial and spiritual. (St. Augustine, de quaest. Evang.) --- Of the mammon of iniquity. Mammon is a Syriac word for riches; and so it might be translated, of the riches of iniquity. Riches are called unjust, and riches of iniquity, not of themselves, but because they are many times the occasion of unjust dealings, and of all kind of vices. (Witham) --- Mammon signifies riches. They are here called the mammon of iniquity, because oftentimes ill-gotten, ill-bestowed, or an occasion of evil; and at the best are but worldly, and false: and not the true riches of a Christian. --- They may receive. By this we see, that the poor servants of God, whom we have relieved by our alms, may hereafter, by their intercession, bring our souls to heaven. (Challoner) --- They may receive you into their eternal tabernacles. What a beautiful thought this! What a consolation to the rich man, when the term of his mortal existence is approaching, to think he shall have as many advocates to plead for his admittance into the eternal mansions of rest, as he has made friends among the poor by relieving their temporal wants. The rich give to the poor earthly treasures, the latter return in recompense eternal and infinite happiness. Hence we must infer, that the advantage is all on the side of the giver; according to the saying of our Lord, happier is the condition of him who gives, than of him who receives. (Haydock) |
| Luke 16:10 | He that is faithful in that which is least, is faithful also in that which is greater: And he that is unjust in that which is little, is unjust also in that which is greater. | He that is faithful in that which is least. This seems to have been a common saying, and that men judged of the honesty of their servants by their fidelity in lesser matters. For example, a master that sees his servant will not steal a little thing, judges that he will not steal a greater, etc. --- And he that is unjust in that which is little, is unjust also in that which is greater. The interpreters take notice, that here temporal goods are called little, and spiritual goods are called greater; so that the sense is, that such men as do not make a right use of their temporal goods, in the service of God, will not make a good use of spiritual graces as they ought to do. See Maldonatus. (Witham) |
| Luke 16:11 | If then you have not been faithful in the unjust mammon, who will trust you with that which is the true? | If then you have not been faithful in the unjust mammon;{ Ver. 11. In iniquo mammona, en to adiko Mammona.|} that is in fading and false riches, which are the occasion of unjust and wicked proceedings. --- Who will trust you with that which is the true? that is God will not intrust you with the true and spiritual riches of his grace. (Witham) |
| Luke 16:12 | And if you have not been faithful in that which is another's: who will give you that which is your own? | And if you have not been faithful in that which is another's: so again is called false worldly wealth, which passeth from one to another; so that it cannot be called a man's own, who will give you that which is your own? that is how can you hope that God will bestow upon you, or commit to your care, spiritual riches or gifts, which, when rightly managed, would be your own for all eternity? See St. Augustine, lib. 2:qq. Evang. q. 35. p. 263. (Witham) --- That which is another's. Temporal riches may be said to belong to another, because they are the Lord's; and we have only the dispensing of them: so that when we give alms, we are liberal of another's goods. But if we are not liberal in giving what is another's, how shall we be so in giving our own? Nothing one would have thought so properly belonged to the Jews, as the kingdom of heaven, the preaching of the gospel, and the knowledge of heavenly things. But they were deprived of all for their infidelity in the observance of the law, which was first intrusted to them. (Calmet) |
| Luke 16:13 | *No servant can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or he will hold to the one, and despise the other: you cannot serve God and mammon. Matthew 6:24. | No servant can serve two masters, etc. This is added to shew us, that to dispose of our riches according to the will of the Almighty, it is necessary to keep our minds free from all attachment to them. (Theophylactus) --- Let the avaricious man here learn, that to be a lover of riches, is to be an enemy of Christ. (Ven. Bede) |
| Luke 16:14 | Now the Pharisees who were covetous, heard all these things: and they derided him. | Now the Pharisees, etc. Christ had admonished the Scribes and Pharisees not to presume too much on their own sanctity, but to receive repenting sinners, and to redeem their own sins with alms. But they derided these precepts of mercy and humility; either because they esteemed what he commanded them to be useless, or because they thought they had already complied with them. (Ven. Bede) --- The Pharisees considered temporal riches as true goods, and the recompense which God had promised to such as observed his laws; they therefore laughed at the doctrine of Jesus Christ, which extolled liberality and alms-deeds, and despised the Master who, on all occasions, testified his great regard for poverty in his discourses, in his conduct, in the choice of his apostles, who were all poor, and had no pretensions whatever to exterior pomp or show. (Calmet) |
| Luke 16:15 | And he said to them: You are they who justify yourselves before men: but God knoweth your hearts: for that which is high to men, is an abomination before God. | Who justify yourselves, etc. But our Lord, detecting their hidden malice, shews that their pretended justice is all hypocrisy. (Theophylactus) --- But God knoweth, etc. They justify themselves before men, whom they look upon as despicable, and abandoned sinners, and esteem themselves as not standing in need of giving alms as a remedy of sin; but he who shall lay open the secrets of hearts, sees the base atrocity of that pride which thus blinds them, and swells within their breasts. (Ven. Bede) --- Yes, all those exterior actions which appeared great, and which were admired by men, being vitiated with improper motives and sinister designs, are an abomination in the sight of God. (Haydock) |
| Luke 16:16 | *The law and the prophets were until John: from that time the kingdom of God is preached, and every one useth violence towards it. Matthew 11:12. | The law and the prophets, etc. Not that the law was made void by the coming of John [the Baptist], but that what the law and the prophets had taught, had been suited to the very imperfect dispositions of the Jews, who as yet were incapable of relishing perfect virtue. At the coming of John, the gospel began to be preached, and this called men to a life of perfect sanctity. (St. Thomas Aquinas) --- Our Saviour came not to destroy, but to fulfil the law and the prophets. (Matthew 5:17.) |
| Luke 16:17 | *And it is easier for heaven and earth to pass, than one tittle of the law to fail. Matthew 5:18. | |
| Luke 16:18 | *Every one that putteth away his wife, and marrieth another, committeth adultery: and he that marrieth her that is put away from her husband, commmitteth adultery. Matthew 5:32.; Mark 10:11.; 1 Corinthians 7:10-11. | |
| Luke 16:19 | There was a certain rich man, who was clothed in purple and fine linen: and feasted sumptuously every day. | There was a certain rich man, etc. By this history of the rich man and Lazarus, he declares that those who are placed in affluent circumstances, draw upon themselves a sentence of condemnation, if seeing their neighbour in want, they neglect to succour him. (St. Cyril, in Cat. Graec. patrum.) --- He that hath the substance of this world, and shall see his brother in need, and shut up his bowels against him, how doth the charity of God abide in him? (1 John 3:17.) A received tradition of the Jews informs us, that this Lazarus was a beggar, then at Jerusalem, suffering in the most wretched condition of poverty, and infirmity: him our Saviour introduces, to manifest more plainly the truth of what he had been saying (St. Cyril, in Cat. Graec. patrum.) --- By this, we are not to understand that all poverty is holy, and the possession of riches criminal; but, as luxury is the disgrace of riches, so holiness of life is the ornament of poverty. (St. Ambrose) --- A man may be reserved and modest in the midst of riches and honours, as he may be proud and avaricious in the obscurity of a poor and wretched life. --- Divers interpreters have looked upon this as a true history; but what is said of the rich man seeing Lazarus, of his tongue, of his finger, cannot be literal: souls having no such parts. (Witham) --- In this parable, which St. Ambrose takes to be a real fact, we have the name of the poor mendicant; but our Lord suppresses the name of the rich man, to signify that his name is blotted out of the book of life: besides, the rich man tells Abraham, that he has five brothers, who were probably still living; wherefore, to save their honour, our Lord named not their reprobated brother. |
| Luke 16:20 | And there was a certain beggar, by name Lazarus, who lay at his gate, full of sores, | |
| Luke 16:21 | Desiring to be filled with the crumbs that fell from the rich man's table; and no one did give him: moreover, the dogs came and licked his sores. | |
| Luke 16:22 | And it came to pass that the beggar died, and he was carried by the Angels into Abraham's bosom. And the rich man also died: and he was buried in hell. | Abraham's bosom.{ Ver. 22. In sinum Abrahae, eis ton kolpon tou Abraam. --- Ver. 22. In inferno, en to ade. See Pearson on the Creed, (p. 236) and our Catholic controvertists.|} The place of rest, where the souls of the saints resided, till Christ had opened heaven by his death. (Challoner) --- It was an ancient tradition of the Jews, that the souls of the just were conducted by angels into paradise. The bosom of Abraham (the common Father of all the faithful) was the place where the souls of the saints, and departed patriarchs, waited the arrival of their Deliverer. It was thither the Jesus went after his death; as it is said in the Creed, "he descended into hell," to deliver those who were detained there, and who might at Christ's ascension enter into heaven. (Calmet) See 1 Peter 3:19. --- "Many shall come from the east and the west, and shall sit down with Abraham." (Matthew 8:11.) |
| Luke 16:23 | And lifting up his eyes when he was in torments, he saw Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom: | |
| Luke 16:24 | And he cried, and said: Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, to cool my tongue, for I am tormented in this flame. | |
| Luke 16:25 | And Abraham said to him: Son, remember that thou didst receive good things in thy life-time, and likewise Lazareth evil things: but now he is comforted, and thou art tormented. | It appears from Philo, (de Execrat. p. 9, 37 b.) that the Jews not only acknowledged the existence of souls, and their state of happiness or misery after this life, but also that the souls of the saints and patriarchs interceded with God for their descendants, and obtained from them the succour they stood in need of. (Calmet) |
| Luke 16:26 | And besides all this, between us and you there is fixed a great chaos: so that they who would pass from hence to you, cannot, nor from thence come hither. | Between us and you is fixed a great chaos, or gulf; that is God's justice has decreed, that the bad should forever be separated from the good. We may here take notice that the Latin and Greek word, (ver. 22) translated hell, even in the Protestant translation, cannot signify only the grave. (Witham) |
| Luke 16:27 | And he said: Then, Father, I beseech thee that thou wouldst send him to my father's house: | In this parable we are taught an important truth, viz. that we must not expect to learn our duty from the dead returning to life, nor by any other extraordinary or miraculous means, but from the revelation of truths, which have already been made known to us in the Scriptures, and from those to whom the tradition of the Church has been committed, as a most sacred deposit. These, say the Fathers, are the masters from whom we are to learn what we are to believe, and what to practise. (Calmet) |
| Luke 16:28 | For I have five brethren, that he may testify to them, lest they also come into this place of torments. | |
| Luke 16:29 | And Abraham said to him: They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them. | |
| Luke 16:30 | But he said: No, father Abraham; but if one went to them from the dead, they will do penance. | |
| Luke 16:31 | And he said to him: If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they believe if one rise again from the dead. | If they hear not, Moses, etc. We think that if we saw a man raised from the dead, who should tells us what he had seen and suffered in another world, it would make more impression upon us than past miracles, which we hear of, or the promises and threats of the prophets, apostles, and our blessed Saviour, which are contained in Scripture; but it is a false notion, a vain excuse. The wicked, and unbelievers, would even in that case find pretexts and objections for not believing. (St. Chrysostom, hom. iv.) --- They would say that the dead man was a phantom; that his resurrection was not real; his assertions nugatory. When Christ raised Lazarus from the dead, the miracle was known, evident and public; yet we find none of the Pharisees converted by it. They were even so mad as to enter into a design to kill Lazarus, to get rid of a witness who deposed against their incredulity. How many other miracles did he not perform in their sight, which they attributed to the prince of darkness, or to magic? Christ raised himself from the dead. This fact was attested by many unexceptionable witnesses. And what do the hardened Jews do? They object, that his disciples, stealing away the body, maliciously persuaded the people that he had risen again. Such is the corruption of the human heart, that when once delivered up to any passion, nothing can move it. Every day we see or hear of malefactors publicly executed, yet their example has no effect on the survivors, nor does it prevent the commission of fresh crimes. (Calmet) --- "We have also the more firm prophetical word; whereunto you do well to attend, as to a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day-star arise in your hearts." (2 Peter 1:19.) --- We may learn many very instructive lessons from this affecting history of Lazarus. --- The rich may learn the dreadful consequences to be apprehended from riches, when made subservient to sensuality, luxury, and ambition. The poor may learn to make their poverty and sufferings, however grievous to nature, instrumental to their future happiness, by bearing them with patience and resignation to the will of heaven. The former are taught that to expose a man to eternal misery, nothing more is required than to enjoy all the good things of this world according to their own will; the latter, that however they may be despised and rejected of men, they may still have courage, knowing that the short day of this fleeting life, with all its apparent evils, will soon be over; and that the day of eternity is fast approaching, when every one shall receive according as he has done good or evil in his body. (Haydock) |
| Luke 17:0 | Lessons of avoiding scandal; of the efficacy of faith, etc. The ten lepers. The manner of the coming of Christ. | |
| Luke 17:1 | And *he said to his disciples: It is impossible that scandals should not come: but wo to him through whom they come. Matthew 18:7.; Mark 9:41. | The world being corrupted as it is, and the spread of evil so wide, it is impossible that scandals should not come. (Bible de Vence) --- It is impossible, morally speaking, with regard to the malice of men. (Witham) |
| Luke 17:2 | It were better for him that a millstone were put about his neck, and he cast into the sea, than that he should scandalize one of these little ones. | It were better. Christ here speaks after the manner of the Jews, who were accustomed to inflict this punishment only on the greatest malefactors. So that we must be ready to undergo the most excruciating torments, rather than cause any scandal to our neighbour; though we must here observe, that if our neighbour take scandal at our good works, we ought not on that account to desist from doing good, or desert the truth. (Ven. Bede) --- St. Luke, in this chapter, inserts four instructions, which have no connection with each other, and which by the writers of evangelical harmony, are given in different places; as in Matthew xviii. after ver. 14, etc. |
| Luke 17:3 | Take heed to yourselves. *If thy brother sin against thee, reprove him: and if he do penance, forgive him. Leviticus 19:17.; Ecclesiasticus 19:13.; Matthew 18:15. | |
| Luke 17:4 | And if he sin against thee seven times in a day, and seven times in a day turn again to thee, saying: I repent: forgive him. | |
| Luke 17:5 | And the apostles said to the Lord; Increase our faith. | Increase our faith. The disciples having heard our Saviour inculcating maxims hard to flesh and blood, such as avoiding scandal, and forgiving our enemies, humbly beg their faith may be increased, that they may be able to comply with these maxims; for they had heard Christ say, that every thing was possible to him that believed. (Theophylactus) --- Christ compares faith to a grain of mustard seed; because, though the grain be small, it is nevertheless stronger than most herbs. (St. Chrysostom) |
| Luke 17:6 | *And the Lord said; If you had faith like to a grain of mustard-seed, you might say to this mulberry-tree; Be thou rooted up, and be transplanted into the sea, and it shall obey you. Matthew 17:19. | To this mulberry-tree. In St. Matthew, (xvii. 19.) we read, to this mountain. Christ might say both at different times. (Witham) |
| Luke 17:7 | But which of you having a servant ploughing or feeding cattle, will say to him when he is come from the field: Immediately go, sit down to table: | The design and end of this parable is to shew that, rigorously speaking, we are useless servants with regard to God. This sovereign Master has a right to exact of us every kind of service, and to make us apply ourselves to any task he may think proper, without our having any reason to complain either of the difficulty, trouble, or length of our labours; we are entirely his, and he is master of our persons, time, and talents. We hold of him whatever we possess, and woe to us if we abuse his trust, by applying our talents to any use contrary to his designs. But though he be Lord and Master, he leaves our liberty entire. If he produces in us holy desires, if he works in us meritorious actions, gives us virtuous inclinations and supernatural gifts, he sets to our account the good use we make of them; and in crowning our merits, he crowns his own gifts. (St. Augustine, lib. ix. Confes. and Serm. 131.) (Calmet) |
| Luke 17:8 | And will not rather say to him: Make ready my supper, and gird thyself, and serve me whilst I eat and drink, and afterwards thou shalt eat and drink? | |
| Luke 17:9 | Doth he thank that servant, because he did the things which he commanded him? | |
| Luke 17:10 | I think not. So you also, when you shall have done all the things that are commanded you, say: We are unprofitable servants: we have done that which we ought to do. | Unprofitable servants. Because our service is of no profit to our Master; and he justly claims it as our bounden duty. But though we are unprofitable to him, our serving him is not unprofitable to us; for he is pleased to give, by his grace, a value to our good works, which, in consequence of his promise, entitles them to an eternal reward. (Challoner) --- The word useless, when joined to servant, generally means a servant from whom his master does not derive the service he has a right to expect; as in St. Matthew 25:30. Here the word is taken in a less odious sense. It means a servant who does not testify sufficient zeal and ardour in his master's service, who is not very eager to please him. With regard to God, we are always useless servants, because he wants not our services; and without his assistance, we can neither undertake nor finish any thing to please him. (Calmet) |
| Luke 17:11 | And it came to pass, as he was going to Jerusalem, that he passed through the midst of Samaria and Galilee. | |
| Luke 17:12 | And as he entered into a certain town, there met him ten men, that were lepers, who stood afar off: | |
| Luke 17:13 | And they lifted up their voice, saying: Jesus, master, have mercy on us. | |
| Luke 17:14 | And when he saw them, he said: *Go, shew yourselves to the priests. And it came to pass, that as they went, they were cleansed. Leviticus 14:2. | To the priests. Jesus sends them to the priests, to convince the latter of the reality of the cures which he wrought, and oblige them by that to acknowledge him for their Messias; 2ndly, that the lepers might enjoy the fruit of their cure, by returning to the society of their fellow men, after they had been declared clean, and satisfied all the demands of the law; for there were may ceremonies previous to be gone through. (Calmet) --- And lastly, to shew that in the new law, such as are defiled with the leprosy of sin, should apply to the priests. Hence, says St. Augustine, let no one despise God's ordinance, saying that it is sufficient to confess to God alone. (Lib. de visit. infirm.) |
| Luke 17:15 | And one of them, when he saw that he was cleansed, went back, with a loud voice, glorifying God. | |
| Luke 17:16 | And he fell on his face before his feet, giving thanks: and this man was a Samaritan. | |
| Luke 17:17 | And Jesus answering, said, Were there not ten made clean? and where are the nine? | |
| Luke 17:18 | There is no one found to return and give glory to God, but this stranger. | |
| Luke 17:19 | And he said to him: Arise, go thy way: for thy faith hath made thee whole. | Thy faith hath made thee whole. Were not the others also made whole? They were cleansed indeed from their leprosy, but it no where appears that they were justified in their souls like this Samaritan, of whom it said, thy faith hath made thee whole; whereas it was said of the others, that they were made clean, viz. of their leprosy in their body, though not justified in their soul: this the Samaritan alone seems to have obtained. (Maldonatus) |
| Luke 17:20 | And being asked by the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God should come? he, answering them, said: The kingdom of God cometh not with observation. | When the kingdom of God should come? or when is it to come? when will the Messias come? The Pharisees might say this in a mocking and an insulting manner, to signify that he could not be their true Messias. --- The kingdom of God cometh not with observation; that it, so as to be observed; not with great marks of temporal power, as you imagine. (Witham) --- The Pharisees expected a Messias powerful according to this world, a conqueror, a monarch, a revenger of the injuries of Israel; one who would restore them to liberty, and bless them with temporal goods and prosperity. In Jesus, they saw nothing, which corresponded to these magnificent hopes; and therefore asked him, by way of insult and reproach, when this kingdom of God would come, which he so often talked of and announced to his disciples. He answers them, that the manifestation of the Messias, and the establishment of his kingdom, shall not be effected in a conspicuous, splendid manner. It shall be brought about insensibly, and the accomplishment of the designs of the omnipotence of our Lord shall appear a casualty, and the effect of secondary causes. You shall not see the Messias coming at the head of armies, to spread terror and desolation. His arrival shall not be announced by ambassadors, etc. every thing in the establishment of my kingdom shall be the reverse of temporal power. (Calmet) |
| Luke 17:21 | Neither shall they say: Behold here, or behold there: for, lo, the kingdom of God is within you. | Is within you. It is with you; your Messias is already come. --- He standeth in the midst of you, as John the Baptist told you. (John 1:26.) (Witham) |
| Luke 17:22 | And he said to his disciples: The days will come, when you shall desire to see one day of the Son of man, and you shall not see it. | To see one day, etc. Hereafter, when I shall be no longer visibly among you, you shall heartily wish for one day's conversation with me. (Witham) --- This verse is addressed to the disciples. He insinuates that he will take from them this corporeal presence, and they shall be exposed to persecution and affliction: then they shall wish to see one day of the Son of man, and shall not be able to obtain it. They shall wish ardently to see him, to entertain themselves with him, and consult him, but shall not have that happiness. This was meant to excite the disciples to profit more of his presence whilst they enjoyed it. (Calmet) |
| Luke 17:23 | *And they will say to you: Lo here, and lo there. Go ye not after, nor follow them: Matthew 24:23.; Mark 13:21. | |
| Luke 17:24 | For as the lightening that lighteneth from under heaven, shineth unto the parts that are under heaven, so shall the Son of man be in his day. | For as the lightning, etc. See Matthew 24:27. (Witham) --- Christ here alludes to the glory with which he shall appear when he shall come to judge the world, surrounded by his angels, etc. when he will appear like lightning, that shall penetrate the inmost recesses of our souls, and shall suffer no crime, not even the slightest thought of our souls, to pass unnoticed. This is the time when he will manifest his glory, and not on his entry into Jerusalem, as the disciples imagined: for he informs them, that he will then have to suffer a cruel death. (Ven. Bede) |
| Luke 17:25 | But first he must suffer many things, and be rejected by this generation. | |
| Luke 17:26 | *And as it was in the days of Noe, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man. Genesis 7:7.; Matthew 24:37. | |
| Luke 17:27 | They did eat and drink, they married wives, and were given in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark: and the flood came, and destroyed them all. | After having compared his second coming to lightning, in order to shew how sudden it will be, he next compares it to the days of Noe [Noah] and Lot, to shew that it will come when men least expect it; when, entirely forgetting his coming, they are solely occupied in the affairs of this world, in buying and selling, etc. He only mentions those faults which appear trivial, or rather none at all, (passing over the crimes of murder, theft, etc.) purposely to shew, that if God thus punishes merely the immoderate use of what is lawful, how will his vengeance fall upon what is in itself unlawful. (Ven. Bede) |
| Luke 17:28 | *Likewise, as it was in the days of Lot: They did eat and drink, they bought and sold, they planted and built: Genesis 19:25. | |
| Luke 17:29 | And in the day that Lot went out of Sodom, it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all: | |
| Luke 17:30 | Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man shall be revealed. | |
| Luke 17:31 | In that hour he that shall be on the house top, and his goods in the house, let him not go down to take them away: and he that shall be in the field, in like manner, let him not return back. | When you see war lighted up in Judea, lose no time, but betake yourselves to flight for safety. Indeed the Christians, forewarned by these predictions, and other prophecies of the apostles, according to Lactantius, (lib. 4:chap. 21.) fled from the danger beyond the Jordan, into the states of Herod, to Pella and the neighbouring villages. See Eusebius, Eccles. Hist. lib. 3:chap. 5. |
| Luke 17:32 | Remember Lot's wife. | As Lot only escaped destruction by leaving all things, and flying immediately to the mountain, whereas his wife, by shewing an affection for the things she had left, and looking back, perished; so those who, in the time of tribulation, forgetting the reward that awaits them in heaven, look back to the pleasures of this world, which the wicked enjoy, are sure to perish. (St. Ambrose) --- Ta opiso epilanthanesthai, tois de emprosthen epekteinesthai. (Philippians 3:13.) |
| Luke 17:33 | *Whosoever shall seek to save his life, shall lose it: and whosoever shall lose it, shall preserve it. Matthew 10:39.; Mark 8:35.; Luke 9:24. | |
| Luke 17:34 | I say to you: *in that night there shall be two men in one bed: the one shall be taken, and the other shall be left. John 12:25.; Matthew 24:40. | By these different examples, Christ wishes to insinuate that good and bad men will be found in every state of life. By those in bed, are understood the rich, by those in the mill, are understood the poor; whilst those in the field designate the pastors of his flock, who are labouring in the vineyard of the Lord. (St. Cyril and St. Ambrose) |
| Luke 17:35 | Two women shall be grinding together; the one shall be taken, and the other shall be left: two men shall be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other shall be left. | |
| Luke 17:36 | They answering, said to him: Where, Lord? | |
| Luke 17:37 | He said to them: Wheresoever the body shall be, thither will the eagles also be gathered together. | To the question of his disciples in the preceding verse, our blessed Saviour only returns this enigmatical answer, which seems to mean, that where-ever there are guilty Jews, there shall their enemies pursue them and find them out, not only in Jerusalem, but in all the cities of Judea, Galilee, etc. every where the vengeance of the Lord shall follow them, and overtake them. For the interpretation of other parts of this chapter, see (Matthew 24.) (Calmet) --- If we observe some discrepancies between the precise words of our Lord, as given by St. Matthew and St. Luke, as in St. Matthew, (Matthew 24:40.) and in St. Luke (Luke 17:34.) and elsewhere in various places, we can reconcile those apparent variations, by supposing that our Lord, in the course of his conversation, made use of both expressions. (Haydock) |
| Luke 18:0 | We must pray always. The Pharisee and the publican. The danger of riches. The blind man is restored to sight. | |
| Luke 18:1 | And *he spoke also a parable to them, that we ought always to pray, and not to faint, Ecclesiasticus 18:22.; 1 Thessalonians 5:17. | Always to pray, that is to pray daily, and frequently; (Witham) and also to walk always in the presence of God, by a spirit of prayer, love, and sorrow for sin. |
| Luke 18:2 | Saying: There was a judge in a certain city, who feared not God, nor regarded man. | This judge, who feared not God, nor cared for man, yet yielded to the importunity of the widow, represents the absolute and sovereign power of God. But we must not suppose the Almighty has any of the faults we see in this iniquitous judge. Comparisons are not meant to hold good in every particular. The only consequence to be drawn from the present parable, is this: if a man, who has neither piety nor tenderness for his fellow creatures, yield to the importunity of a widow, who is not wearied out with repeating her petitions; how much more will God, who is full of bounty and tenderness to man, and only seek occasions to grant him his gifts, hear the prayers of the fervent, and fill with benedictions the petitioner, who can continue like the widow to importune his interference, and can beg without languor or discouragement? (Calmet) |
| Luke 18:3 | And there was a certain widow in that city, and she came to him, saying: Avenge me of my adversary. | Avenge me; that is do me justice. It is a Hebraism. (Witham) |
| Luke 18:4 | And he would not for a long time. But afterwards he said within himself: Although I fear not God, nor regard man, | And he would not for a long time. The Almighty does not always hear us as soon as we could wish, nor in the manner that seems best to us; but if we are not always heard according to our desires, we always are as far as is conducive to our salvation. He sometimes delays, in order to exercise our patience, and increase our ardour: sometimes he grants, in his anger, what, in him mercy, he would refuse. Let us then pray always, desire always, love always. Desire always, and you pray always. This is the continual voice of prayer, which the Almighty demands of you. You are silent, when you cease to love. The cooling of charity, is the silence of the heart. (St. Augustine, in Psalm xxxvii.) (Witham) |
| Luke 18:5 | Yet because this widow is troublesome to me, I will avenge her, lest continually coming, she weary me out. | She weary me out.{ Ver. 5. Sugillet me, upopiaze me. The Greek word literally signifies, lest she give me strokes on the face, that make me appear black and blue; which were called, upopia. This word, upopiazein, is only used in one other place in the New Testament, (1 Corinthians 9:27.) where St. Paul says, castigo, or contundo corpus meum. Now, as we cannot imagine that this judge feared lest the widow should beat him in this shameful manner, the word metaphorically seems to imply, lest she should injuriously upbraid and continually reproach me.|} This, as much as I am able to find out, seems the literal signification both of the Latin and Greek text. (Witham) |
| Luke 18:6 | And the Lord said: Hear what the unjust judge saith: | |
| Luke 18:7 | And will not God avenge his elect, who cry to him day and night: and will he have patience in their regard? | |
| Luke 18:8 | I say to you, he will quickly avenge them. But yet, when the Son of man cometh, shall he find, think you, faith on earth? | In the Greek, although he suffer for the present the elect to be oppressed. (Bible de Vence) --- Our divine Redeemer adds, this, to shew that faith must necessarily accompany our prayers. For whosoever prays for what he does not believe he shall obtain, will pray in vain; let us, therefore, entreat the Father of mercies to grant us the grace of prayer, and firmness in faith; for faith produces prayer, and prayer produces firmness of faith. (St. Augustine, de verb. Dom. Serm 36.) --- But of this there is little left on the earth, and there will be still less at the second coming of the Son of God. |
| Luke 18:9 | He spoke also this parable to some who trusted in themselves as just, and despised others. | In this chapter we have three examples of prayer: one of the persevering widow; another of the poor publican, who solicits the divine mercy by the acknowledgment of his crimes; and the third of the proud Pharisee, who only goes to the temple to pronounce his own panegyric, and enter upon an accusation of his humble neighbour, whose heart is unknown to him. (Calmet) |
| Luke 18:10 | Two men went up into the temple, to pray: the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican: | |
| Luke 18:11 | The Pharisee standing, prayed thus with himself: O God, I give thee thanks that I am not as the rest of men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, nor such as this publican: | The Pharisee standing. The Greek is, standing by himself, that is separated from the rest. Some understand this term, standing, as if in opposition to kneeling or prostrating, which they suppose to be the general posture in which the Jews offered up their prayers, and that of the humble publican. The Christians borrowed this practice from them. We see the apostles and disciples praying on their knees: (Acts 7:59.; Acts 9:40.; Acts 20:36.) In the Old Testament, we see the same observed. Solomon, Daniel, and Micheas (3 Kings 8:54.; Daniel 6:10.; Micheas 6:6.) prayed in that posture. Others however, think that the people generally prayed standing, as there were neither benches nor chairs in the temple. (Calmet) --- There are four ways by which men are guilty of pride: 1st, By thinking they have any good from themselves; 2nd, by thinking that though they have received it from above, it was given them as due to their own merits; 3rd, by boasting of the good they do not possess; and fourthly, by desiring to be thought the only persons that possess the good qualities of which they thus pride themselves. The pride of the Pharisee seems to have consisted in attributing to himself alone the qualities of which he boasted. (St. Gregory, mor. lib. xxiii, Luke 4.) --- He who is guilty of publicly speaking against his neighbour, is likewise the cause of much damage to himself and others. 1st, He injures the hearer; because if he be a sinner, he rejoices to find an accomplice; if he be just, he is tempted to vanity, seeing himself exempt from the crimes with which others are charged. 2nd, He injures the Church, by exposing it to be insulted for the defects of its members. 3rd, He causes the name of God to be blasphemed; for, as God is glorified by our good actions, so is he dishonoured by sin. 4th, He renders himself guilty, by disclosing that which it was his duty not to have mentioned. (St. Chrysostom, Serm. de Phar. et Pub.) |
| Luke 18:12 | I fast twice in the week: I give tithes of all that I possess. | See how the Pharisee here, by pride, lays open to the enemy his heart, which he had in vain shut against him by fasting and prayer. It is in vain to defend a city, if you leave the enemy a single passage, by which he may enter in. (St. Gregory, mor. lib. xix. Luke 12.) |
| Luke 18:13 | And the publican, standing afar off, would not so much as lift his eyes towards heaven: but struck his breast, saying: O God, be merciful to me a sinner. | |
| Luke 18:14 | I say to you, this man went down to his house justified rather that the other; *because every one that exalteth himself shall be humbled; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted. Matthew 23:12.; Luke 14:11. | If any one should ask why the Pharisee is here condemned for speaking some few words in his own commendation, and why the like sentence was not passed on Job, who praised himself much more; the difference is evident: the former praised himself without any necessity, merely with an intention of indulging his vanity, and extolling himself over the poor publican; the latter, being overwhelmed with misery, and upbraided by his friends, as if, forsaken of God, he suffered his present distress in punishment of his crimes, justifies himself by recounting his virtues for the greater glory of God, and to preserve himself and others in the steady practice of virtue, under similar temptations. (Theophylactus) |
| Luke 18:15 | *And they brought to him also infants, that he might touch them. Which when the disciples saw, they rebuked them. Matthew 19:13.; Mark 10:13. | |
| Luke 18:16 | But Jesus, calling them together, said: Suffer children to come to me, and forbid them not; for of such is the kingdom of God. | |
| Luke 18:17 | Amen, I say to you: Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a child, shall not enter into it. | |
| Luke 18:18 | *And a certain ruler asked him, saying: Good master, what shall I do to possess everlasting life? Matthew 19:16. | |
| Luke 18:19 | And Jesus said to him: Why dost thou call me good? None is good but God alone. | |
| Luke 18:20 | Thou knowest the commandments: *Thou shalt not kill: Thou shalt not commit adultery: Thou shalt not steal: Thou shalt not bear false witness: Honour thy father and mother. Exodus 20:13. | |
| Luke 18:21 | But he said: All these things have I kept from my youth. | |
| Luke 18:22 | Now when Jesus had heard this, he said to him: Yet one thing is wanting to thee: sell all that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, follow me. | |
| Luke 18:23 | He having heard these things, was sorrowful: for he was very rich. | |
| Luke 18:24 | And Jesus seeing him become sorrowful, said: How hardly shall they that have riches, enter into the kingdom of God. | |
| Luke 18:25 | For it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God. | |
| Luke 18:26 | And they that heard it, said: Who then can be saved? | |
| Luke 18:27 | He said to them: The things that are impossible with men, are possible with God. | |
| Luke 18:28 | Then Peter said: Behold we have left all things, and have followed thee? | |
| Luke 18:29 | He said to them: Amen, I say to you, there is no man that hath left house, or parents, or brethren, or wife, or children, for the kingdom of God's sake, | |
| Luke 18:30 | Who shall not receive much more in this present time, and in the world to come, life everlasting. | |
| Luke 18:31 | *Then Jesus took unto him the twelve, and said to them: Behold, we go up to Jerusalem, and all things shall be accomplished which were written by the prophets, concerning the Son of man. Matthew 20:17.; Mark 10:32. | |
| Luke 18:32 | For he shall be delivered to the Gentiles, and shall be mocked, and scourged, and spit upon: | |
| Luke 18:33 | And after they have scourged him, they will put him to death, and the third day he shall rise again. | |
| Luke 18:34 | And they understood none of these things, and this word was hid from them, and they understood not the things that were said. | They understood well enough the sense of the words he spoke to them. But they could not understand how they could be reconciled with the idea they had previously conceived of the Messias. They were scandalized in the first place, to think that God should suffer any thing inflicted by man; they were scandalized in the second place, to hear that sufferings and death could lead to victory and empire; and lastly, they were scandalized, (their own feelings taking the alarm) lest they should be forced to imitate their Master in this part which he had chosen for himself. (Haydock) |
| Luke 18:35 | *Now it came to pass, that when he drew nigh to Jericho, that a certain blind man sat by the way-side, begging. Matthew 20:29.; Mark 10:46. | This blind man is, according to some interpreters, different from the other two whom Jesus Christ cured as he was going out of Jericho. (Bible de Vence) --- See (Matthew 20:29.; Mark 10:46.) et dein. |
| Luke 18:36 | And when he heard the multitude passing by, he asked what this meant. | |
| Luke 18:37 | And they told him, that Jesus, of Nazareth, was passing by. | |
| Luke 18:38 | And he cried out, saying: Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me. | |
| Luke 18:39 | And they that went before, rebuked him, that he should hold his peace. But he cried out much more: Son of David, have mercy on me. | |
| Luke 18:40 | And Jesus standing, commanded him to be brought to him. And when he was come near, he asked him, | |
| Luke 18:41 | Saying: What wilt thou that I do to thee? But he said: Lord, that I may see. | |
| Luke 18:42 | And Jesus said to him: Receive thy sight; thy faith hath made thee whole. | |
| Luke 18:43 | And immediately he saw, and followed him, glorifying God. And all the people, when they saw it, gave praise to God. | |
| Luke 19:0 | Zacheus entertains Christ. The parable of the pounds. Christ rides upon an ass, and weeps over Jerusalem. | |
| Luke 19:1 | And entering in, he walked through Jericho. | |
| Luke 19:2 | And behold there was a man, by name Zacheus; and he was the chief of the publicans, and was rich. | What sinner can despair when he sees the Saviour of mankind seeking to save him; when he beholds even a publican and a rich man, at the same time, who, as our Saviour informs us in another place, are so seldom truly converted, brought to the light of faith, and the grace of a true conversion! (St. Ambrose) --- Zacheus (who as a farmer of the customs, not a collector, as some falsely imagine) immediately hearkened to the interior voice of the Almighty, calling him to repentance; he made no delay, and therefore deserved immediately not only to see, but to eat, drink, and converse with Jesus. (St. Cyril) --- Behold here the three steps of his conversion: 1. an ardent desire of seeing Jesus; 2. the honourable reception he gave him in his house; 3. the complete restitution of all ill-acquired property. |
| Luke 19:3 | And he sought to see Jesus, who he was: and he could not for the crowd, because he was low of stature. | |
| Luke 19:4 | And running before, he climbed up into a sycamore-tree, that he might see him: for he was to pass that way. | |
| Luke 19:5 | And when Jesus was come to the place, looking up, he saw him, and said to him: Zacheus, make haste, and come down; for to-day I must abide in thy house. | |
| Luke 19:6 | And he made haste, and came down, and received him with joy. | |
| Luke 19:7 | And when they all saw it, they murmured, saying: That he was gone to be a guest with a man that is a sinner. | |
| Luke 19:8 | But Zacheus standing, said to the Lord: Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor; and if I have wronged any man of any thing, I restore him fourfold. | |
| Luke 19:9 | Jesus said to him: This day is salvation come to this house: because he also is a son of Abraham. | Zacheus is here styled a son of Abraham; that is his spiritual son, a partaker of the promises made to Abraham concerning the Messias: not that he was actually born of his seed, but because he imitated his faith; and as Abraham at the voice of God, left the land and house of his father; so Zacheus renounced his goods and possessions, by giving them to the poor. (Ven. Bede) |
| Luke 19:10 | *For the Son of man is come to seek, and to save that which was lost. Matthew 18:12. | |
| Luke 19:11 | As they were hearing these things, he added and spoke a parable, because he was nigh to Jerusalem: and because they thought that the kingdom of God should immediately be manifested. | That the kingdom of God should immediately be manifested. The disciples were full of the expectation of the temporal kingdom of the Messias, though he had divers times told them he was to suffer and die on a cross. (Witham) --- Notwithstanding all that Jesus had said to them about his kingdom, his death, his consummation, and resurrection, they still believed that the kingdom of God was going to be manifested, and that Jesus, in this journey, would make himself be acknowledged king by the whole nation of the Jews. They could not lay aside the ideas they had formed of the personal and temporal reign of the Messias. Every thing which they could not reconcile with this standard, was completely impenetrable to them. It was a language they could not comprehend. (Calmet) |
| Luke 19:12 | He said, therefore: *A certain nobleman went into a far country, to receive for himself a kingdom, and to return. Matthew 25:14. | This parable is an exact prophetic history of what happened to Archelaus Antipas, son of Herod the great, about thirty-six years afterwards. Judea being then tributary, he was obliged to go to Rome to receive his kingdom from the hands of the emperor Augustus. The Jews, who hated him for his cruelty, sent an embassy to the emperor, to accuse him of many crimes, and disappoint him in his hopes of gaining his crown. But Augustus confirmed it to him, and sent him back to reign in Judea, where he revenged himself on those who had opposed his pretensions. With regard to the instruction, which is meant to be conveyed by this parable; this nobleman is the Son of God, who came among the Jews to take possession of the kingdom, which was his due. But being rejected and treated unworthily, and even put to a disgraceful death on the cross, he will one day come again, armed with vengeance, and inflict the effects of his anger upon them. This was partly fulfilled at the destruction of Jerusalem, and will be completed at the general judgment. (Calmet) (Bible de Vence) |
| Luke 19:13 | And calling his ten servants, he delivered them ten pounds, and said to them: Trade till I come. | Ten pieces of money, each of which was called a mna. To translate pounds, gives the English reader a false notion, the Roman coin called a mna not corresponding to our pound. (Witham) --- A mna was 12.5 ounces, which, at five shillings per ounce, is £3 2s. 6d. |
| Luke 19:14 | But his citizens hated him: and they sent an embassage after him, saying: We will not have this man to reign over us. | |
| Luke 19:15 | And it came to pass, that he returned, having received the kingdom: and he commanded his servants to be called, to whom he had given the money: that he might know how much every man had gained by trading. | |
| Luke 19:16 | And the first came, saying: Lord, thy pound hath gained ten pounds. | |
| Luke 19:17 | And he said to him: Well done, thou good servant, because thou hast been faithful in a little, thou shalt have power over ten cities. | |
| Luke 19:18 | And the second came, saying: Lord, thy pound hath gained five pounds. | |
| Luke 19:19 | And he said to him: Be thou also over five cities. | All the disciples of Christ have not the same degree of honour in this world, nor in the next; because all do not make an equal use of the graces they receive. Some are in the first rank, as apostles; then those, to whom the gift of prophecy has been committed; then doctors, etc. each exalted according to his merit. For there are many mansions, and many degrees of glory, in the house of the heavenly Father. (Calmet) --- For there is one brightness of the sun, another of the moon, and another of the stars; for star differeth from star in brightness. (1 Corinthians 15:41.) |
| Luke 19:20 | And another came, saying: Lord, behold here is thy pound, which I have kept laid up in a napkin: | |
| Luke 19:21 | For I feared thee, because thou art an austere man: thou takest up what thou didst not lay down, and thou reapest what thou didst not sow. | |
| Luke 19:22 | He saith to him: Out of thy own mouth I judge thee, thou wicked servant. Thou knewest that I was an austere man, taking up what I laid not down, and reaping that which I did not sow: | |
| Luke 19:23 | And why then didst thou not give my money into the bank, that at my coming, I might have required it with usury? | |
| Luke 19:24 | And he said to them that stood by: Take the pound away from him, and give it to him that hath ten pounds. | |
| Luke 19:25 | And they said to him: Lord, he hath ten pounds. | |
| Luke 19:26 | *But I say to you, that to every one that hath shall be given, and he shall abound: and from him that hath not, even that which he hath, shall be taken from him. Matthew 13:12.; Matthew 25:29.; Mark 4:25.; Luke 8:18. | |
| Luke 19:27 | But as for those my enemies, who would not have me reign over them, bring them hither; and kill them before me. | |
| Luke 19:28 | And having said these things, he went before going up to Jerusalem. | |
| Luke 19:29 | *And it came to pass, when he was come nigh to Bethphage and Bethania, at the mountain called Olivet, he sent two of his disciples, Matthew 21:1.; Mark 11:1. | |
| Luke 19:30 | Saying: Go ye into the town, which is over against you; entering into it, you shall find the colt of an ass tied, on which no man ever sat: loose him, and bring him hither. | |
| Luke 19:31 | And if any man shall ask you: Why do you loose him? You shall say thus unto him: Because the Lord hath need of his service. | |
| Luke 19:32 | And they that were sent went their way, and found the colt standing, as he had said to them. | |
| Luke 19:33 | And as they were loosing the colt, the owners thereof said to them: Why loose you the colt? | |
| Luke 19:34 | But they said: Because the Lord hath need of him. | It may here be asked, how the owners of the colt knew who the Lord was, of whom the disciples spoke? It may be answered, that perhaps they had already heard that Jesus of Nazareth, who the Jews thought was to be their temporal king, was coming about that time to Jerusalem, and that they saw from their dress, or other external marks, that they were the disciples of Jesus. (Dionysius) |
| Luke 19:35 | *And they brought him to Jesus. And casting their garments on the colt, they set Jesus thereon. John 12:14. | |
| Luke 19:36 | And as he went, they spread their clothes underneath in the way. | |
| Luke 19:37 | And when he was now coming near the descent of Mount Olivet, the whole multitude of his disciples began with joy to praise God with a loud voice, for all the mighty works they had seen, | |
| Luke 19:38 | Saying: Blessed is he who cometh king in the name of the Lord, peace in heaven, and glory on high. | |
| Luke 19:39 | And some of the Pharisees, from amongst the multitude, said to him: Master, rebuke thy disciples. | |
| Luke 19:40 | And he said to them: I tell you, that if these shall hold their peace, the stones will cry out. | The stones. This is a proverb, as if he had said: God has resolved to glorify me this day, in order to fulfil the prophecies. Nothing can hinder the execution of his decrees; if men were silent, he would make even the stones to speak. (Calmet) --- At the crucifixion of our Redeemer, when his friends were silent through fear, the very stones and rocks spoke in his defence. Immediately after he expired, the earth was moved, the rocks split, and the monuments of the dead opened. (Ven. Bede) --- Nor is it any wonder if, contrary to nature, the rocks bespeak the praises of the Lord, since he was even praised by a multitude, much more insensible than the rocks themselves, in crucifying him only a few days after, whom they now salute with Hosannahs of joy. (St. Ambrose) |
| Luke 19:41 | And when he drew near, seeing the city, he wept over it, saying: | He wept. St. Epiphanius tells us, that some of the orthodox of his time, offended at these words, omitted them in their copies, as if to shed tears, were a weakness unworthy of Christ: but this true reading of the evangelist is found in all copies, and received by all the faithful; and the liberty which those who changed them took, was too dangerous ever to be approved of by the Church. Neither do these tears argue in Jesus Christ any thing unworthy of his supreme majesty or wisdom. Our Saviour possessed all the human passions, but not the defects of them. The Stoics, who condemned the passions in their sages, laboured to make statues or automata of man, not philosophers. The true philosopher moderates and governs his passions; the Stoic labours to destroy them, but cannot effect his purpose. And when he labours to overcome one passion, he is forced to have recourse to another for help. (Calmet) --- Our Saviour is said to have wept six times, during his life on earth: 1st, At his birth, according to many holy doctors; 2ndly, at his circumcision, according to St. Bernard and others; 3rdly, when he raised Lazarus to life, as is related in St. John 11.; 4thly, in his entry into Jerusalem, described in this place; 5thly, during his agony in the garden, just before his apprehension, when, as St. Luke remarks, (Chap. 22.) his sweat was as drops of blood trickling down upon the ground; and 6thly, during his passion, when he often wept, on account of his great distress of mind, occasioned principally by the knowledge he had of the grievousness of men's sins, and the bad use they would make of the redemption he was, through so many sufferings, procuring for them. (Dionysius) |
| Luke 19:42 | If thou also hadst known, and that in this thy day, the things that are for thy peace: but now they are hidden from thy eyes. | If thou also hadst known. It is a broken sentence, as it were in a transport of grief; and we may understand, thou wouldst also weep. Didst thou know, even at this day, that peace and reconciliation which God still offers to thee. (Witham) --- What can be more tender than the apostrophe here made use of by our Saviour! Hadst thou but known, etc. that is, didst thou but know how severe a punishment is about to be inflicted upon thee, for the numberless transgressions of thy people, thou likewise wouldst weep; but, alas! hardened in iniquity, thou still rejoicest, ignorant of the punishment hanging over thy head. Just men have daily occasion to bewail, like our blessed Redeemer, the blindness of the wicked, unable to see, through their own perversity, the miserable state of their souls, and the imminent danger they are every moment exposed to, of losing themselves for ever. Of these, Solomon cries out; (Proverbs 2:13.) They leave the right way, and walk through dark ways. We ought to imitate this compassion of our blessed Redeemer; and, as he wept over the calamities of the unfortunate Jerusalem, though determined on his destruction; so we ought to bewail the sins not only of our friends, but likewise of our enemies, and daily offer up our prayers for their conversion. (Dionysius) |
| Luke 19:43 | For the days shall come upon thee; and thy enemies shall cast a trench about thee, and compass thee round, and straiten thee on every side, | And compass thee, etc. Christ's prophecy is a literal description of what happened to Jerusalem, under Titus. (Witham) |
| Luke 19:44 | And beat thee flat to the ground, and thy children who are in thee: *and they shall not leave in thee a stone upon a stone: because thou hast not known the time of thy visitation. Matthew 24:2.; Mark 13:2.; Luke 21:6. | |
| Luke 19:45 | *And entering into the temple, he began to cast out them that sold therein, and them that bought, Matthew 21:12.; Mark 11:15. | |
| Luke 19:46 | *Saying to them: It is written: My house is the house of prayer. But you have made it a den of thieves. Isaias 56:7.; Jeremias 7:11. | |
| Luke 19:47 | And he was teaching daily in the temple. And the chief priests, and the Scribes, and the rulers of the people sought to destroy him: | |
| Luke 19:48 | And they found not what to do to him. For all the people heard him attentively. | All the people, as they heard him with so great attention. So Virgil said: ----- pendetque iterum narrantis ab ore. (Witham) --- The original Greek, exekremato autou akouon, shews how eagerly they catched the words that dropped from his sacred lips, all enraptured with the wisdom of his answers, and the commanding superiority of his doctrines. Seneca (Controv 9:1.) uses a similar turn of expression: Ex vultu discentis pendent omnium vultus. The chief priests and rulers were all apprehension lest the people, who followed Jesus with such avidity, and who had conceived such high sentiments of his character, might prevent the execution of their murderous designs. |
| Luke 20:0 | The parable of the husbandmen. Of paying tribute to Caesar; and of the resurrection of the dead. | |
| Luke 20:1 | And *it came to pass, in one of the days as he was teaching the people in the temple, and preaching the gospel, the chief priests and the Scribes, with the ancients, met together, Matthew 21:23.; Mark 11:27. | In one of the days. This happened on the last week (on the Tuesday) two or three days before Christ suffered. See the contents of this chapter, (Matthew 21.; Matthew 22.; Mark 11.; Mark 12.) (Witham) |
| Luke 20:2 | And spoke to him, saying: Tell us, by what authority dost thou these things? or, who is he that hath given thee this authority? | Authority? By what authority do you make yourself a teacher of the people, a censor of the priests, a reformer of the laws and customs? If Jesus Christ had not publicly given undeniable proofs of his mission, by his miracles, the Pharisees would have had a right to demand an answer to this question; but, after what had been done in their own sight, it was no longer excusable to oppose the preaching of the Son of God. (Calmet) --- Our Saviour himself teaches, that if he had not proved the divinity of his mission by his doctrine and works, it had been no sin to disbelieve or reject him. (John 5:31.; John 5:36.; John 10:25.; John 10:37.; John 15:22-24.) |
| Luke 20:3 | And Jesus answering, said to them: I will also ask you one word. Answer me: | |
| Luke 20:4 | The baptism of John, was it from heaven, or of men? | Jesus does not gratify them by a direct answer; they did not deserve it, because they only interrogated him through captious and improper motives. He only replies by casting on them the very difficulties with which they sought to entangle him. (Calmet) --- Our divine Redeemer proposes to the chief priests a question concerning St. John the Baptist, to shew them how inconsistent was their uniform opposition to the ways of God. Because, though they believed in what was preached by St. John, (at least outwardly, through fear of the Jews) yet they would not believe him, or his doctrines, to whom St. John had given testimony, "That he was the Lamb of God, that had come to take away the sins of the world." (Theophylactus) |
| Luke 20:5 | But they thought within themselves, saying: If we shall say, From heaven: he will say: Why then did you not believe him? | |
| Luke 20:6 | But if we say, Of men: the whole people will stone us: for they are certain that John was a prophet. | |
| Luke 20:7 | And they answered, that they knew not whence it was. | |
| Luke 20:8 | And Jesus said to them: Neither do I tell thee by what authority I do these things. | |
| Luke 20:9 | And he began to speak to the people this parable: *A man planted a vineyard, and let it out to husbandmen: and he was abroad for a long time. Isaias 5:1.; Jeremias 2:21.; Matthew 21:33.; Mark 12:1. | A long time. Not that God (who is here represented by the man that planted a vineyard) confines himself to any particular place, either distant or near; but he only seems to absent himself in order that when he comes to receive the fruit of the vineyard, he may punish the negligent more severely, and reward the diligent with greater liberality. Likewise God is more intimately present with the good, by continually showering down upon them his special graces; and less so with the wicked, by refusing them, on account of their indispositions, any of his favours. (St. Ambrose) |
| Luke 20:10 | And at the season he sent a servant to the husbandmen, that they should give him of the fruit of the vineyard. But they beating him, sent him away empty. | |
| Luke 20:11 | And again he sent another servant. But they beat him also, and treating him reproachfully, sent him away empty. | |
| Luke 20:12 | And again he sent the third: and they wounded him also, and cast him out. | |
| Luke 20:13 | Then the lord of the vineyard said: What shall I do? I will send my beloved son: it may be, when they see him, they will reverence him. | |
| Luke 20:14 | But when the husbandmen saw him, they thought within themselves, saying: This is the heir; let us kill him, that the inheritance may be ours. | |
| Luke 20:15 | And casting him out of the vineyard, they killed him. What, therefore, will the lord of the vineyard do to them? | As this whole parable may be applied exactly to the Jews, to the prophets and Christ; so may this last part, with no less accuracy, be applied to our Saviour. The husbandmen, before they killed the lord's beloved son, first cast him out of the vineyard. So the Jews did not kill the Son of God immediately themselves: they first cast him out from themselves, into the hands of Pilate, a Gentile, and then procured his death. (Theophylactus) --- Thus sinners likewise act, by casting Christ out of their hearts, and crucifying him by sin. (Ven. Bede) --- To reconcile St. Matthew and St. Luke, we must observe, says St. Augustine that this parable was not only spoken to those who questioned his authority, but to the people themselves; as St. Luke tells us. |
| Luke 20:16 | He will come, and will destroy these husbandmen, and will give the vineyard to others. And when they heard this, they said to him: God forbid. | |
| Luke 20:17 | But he looking on them, said: What is this then that is written, *The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner? Psalm 117:22.; Isaias 28:16.; Matthew 21:42.; Acts 4:11.; Romans 9:33.; 1 Peter 2:7. | |
| Luke 20:18 | Whosoever shall fall upon that stone, shall be bruised: and upon whomsoever it shall fall, it will crush him to pieces. | Fall upon. That is, whosoever sins against God, yet believes, will be spared by God for a short time to repent, though he kills his own soul by mortal sin: but, upon whomsoever it shall fall, that is, he who denies Christ, and continues on hardened in his sin, upon him the fury of God shall fall, and he shall be utterly destroyed. It will grind him to powder, like the dust which the wind driveth from the face of the earth. (Psalm i.) (Ven. Bede) |
| Luke 20:19 | And the chief priests, and the Scribes, sought to lay hands upon him the same hour: but they feared the people: for they knew that he spoke this parable against them. | Lay hands on him. Thus they themselves proved him to be the Lord's beloved Son, as he had just described himself in the preceding parable. (Ven. Bede) |
| Luke 20:20 | *And being upon the watch, they sent spies, who should feign themselves just, that they might take hold of him in his words, that they might deliver him up to the authority and power of the governor. Matthew 22:15.; Mark 12:13. | Of the governor, etc. Of the governor, Pilate, who in the name of the Romans, exercised absolute authority in the country: for the Jews had lost the power of life and death, which was put into the hands of their presidents. (Calmet) |
| Luke 20:21 | And they asked him, saying: Master, we know that thou speakest and teachest rightly: and hast no respect of person, but teachest the way of God in truth: | |
| Luke 20:22 | Is it lawful for us to give tribute to Caesar, or not? | If our divine Saviour had returned them for answer, that they ought to give tribute to Caesar, they would have accused him of being an enemy to the law; but if, on the contrary, he said it was not lawful, they would have accused him to Pilate as an enemy to the state. (Theophylactus) --- For there was then a great misunderstanding among the Jews: some, who wished to keep peace with the Romans, said that it was lawful; but the Pharisees denied it, and said: "The people of God ought to be exempt from such a tax. They were bound by the law to give tithes and first-fruits to God; therefore they ought not to be bound by human laws to give likewise tax to men who were heathens." (St. Jerome) |
| Luke 20:23 | But he, considering their deceit, said to them: Why tempt you me? | |
| Luke 20:24 | Shew me a penny. Whose image and inscription hath it? They answering, said to him: Caesar's. | |
| Luke 20:25 | And he said to them: *Render, therefore, to Caesar the things that are Caesar's: and to God the things that are God's. Romans 13:7. | |
| Luke 20:26 | And they could not reprehend his word before the people: and wondering at his answer, they held their peace. | We may here be astonished at the incredulity of the chiefs of the Jews, who, though they ought to have admired his wisdom, as something divine, and believed in him, are only surprised that he should have escaped their duplicity and snares. (Ven. Bede) --- Their pride must have been a good deal hurt, to have been thus publicly refuted and confused by the wisdom of our Saviour's answer. (Theophylactus) |
| Luke 20:27 | *And there came to him some of the Sadducees, who deny that there is any resurrection, and they asked him, Matthew 22:23.; Mark 12:18. | |
| Luke 20:28 | Saying: Master, Moses wrote unto us: *If any man's brother die, having a wife, and he leave no children, that his brother should take her to wife, and raise up seed to his brother. Deuteronomy 25:5. | |
| Luke 20:29 | There were therefore seven brethren: and the first took a wife, and died without children. | |
| Luke 20:30 | And the next took her to wife, and he also died childless. | |
| Luke 20:31 | And the third took her. And in like manner all the seven, and they left no seed, and died. | |
| Luke 20:32 | Last of all the woman died also. | |
| Luke 20:33 | In the resurrection, therefore, whose wife of them shall she be? since the seven had her to wife. | |
| Luke 20:34 | And Jesus said to them: The children of this world marry, and are given in marriage: | |
| Luke 20:35 | But they that shall be accounted worthy of that world, and of the resurrection from the dead, shall neither be married, nor take wives. | |
| Luke 20:36 | Neither can they die any more: for they are equal to the Angels, and are the children of God, being the children of resurrection. | The children of resurrection; that is of the just, who shall rise to a happy resurrection: not but that the wicked shall also rise, but to their condemnation and greater misery. (Witham) --- Jesus Christ begins with stating the wide difference between the state of things in this mortal life and in that which is to come: that marriage necessary here, will be unnecessary hereafter. For, in this life, they are children of men, subject to death, and therefore under the necessity of continuing their race by generation; but in the next life, they shall be children of resurrection, living for eternity, never to die, and consequently sons of God, and immortal. Resurrection is a kind of regeneration to immortality. Hence St. Paul explains to our Saviour's rising again, these words of the 2nd Psalm: Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee. (Calmet) |
| Luke 20:37 | Now that the dead rise again, Moses also shewed at the bush, *when he calleth the Lord, The God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob: Exodus 3:6. | |
| Luke 20:38 | For he is not the God of the dead, but of the living: for all live to him. | |
| Luke 20:39 | And some of the Scribes answering, said to him: Master, thou hast said well. | The Scribes, seeing the Sadducees thus silenced, seemed to side entirely with our Saviour saying: Master, thou hast said well. And, apprehensive of being exposed to a similar disgrace and discomfiture themselves, they were afraid to ask him any more questions. But this was only an apparent and false conformity; for they afterwards procured him to be put to death by the Romans. Thus mortal hatred or envy may indeed be smothered for a time, but can hardly ever be extinguished. (Theophylactus) |
| Luke 20:40 | And after that they durst not ask him any more questions. | |
| Luke 20:41 | But he said to them: How say they that Christ is the son of David? | |
| Luke 20:42 | And David himself saith in the book of psalms: *The Lord said to my Lord, sit thou on my right hand, Psalm 109:1.; Matthew 22:44.; Mark 12:36. | |
| Luke 20:43 | Till I make thy enemies thy footstool. | |
| Luke 20:44 | David then calleth him Lord: and how is he his son? | Christ indeed is both the Lord and Servant of David. He is Servant, according to the flesh, being a descendant of David; and he is Lord, according to the spirit, being Lord of all. (St. Chrysostom) --- We hear in our times of a new sect of Pharisees, who neither believe that Christ is the true Son of God, nor that he is God born of a pure virgin. To such we object this question: How is he the Son of David, and his Lord? Not by human, but by divine dominion. (St. Cyril) --- He has two natures: the nature of man, according to which, David was his father; and the nature of God, according to which, he was Son of God, and Lord of David. Thus is the difficulty solved. |
| Luke 20:45 | And in the hearing of all the people, he said to his disciples: | How forcible are our divine Redeemer's reasonings, when he uses any text out of the prophets. When he performs the most stupendous miracles, his enemies generally have something to reply; when he cites a text of Scripture, they have nothing to say. All are silent. (St. Chrysostom) |
| Luke 20:46 | *Beware of the Scribes, who desire to walk in long robes, and love salutations in the market-place, and the first chairs in the synagogues, and the chief rooms at feasts: Matthew 23:6.; Mark 12:38.; Luke 11:43. | The reproach he makes the Scribes in this place, is similar to what he had objected against the Pharisees. (St. Matthew 23:5.) Both these sects were filled with the same spirit of pride and vanity, which shewed itself in their dress, in their exterior, and in every part of their conduct. If our Saviour here attacks them upon their long trains, or other affected forms of their dress, he does not pronounce an absolute condemnation of things, which in themselves are indifferent, but of their abuse of them, making them serve only the purpose of vanity and affectation. (Calmet) |
| Luke 20:47 | Who devour the houses of widows, feigning long prayer. These shall receive greater damnation. | These shall receive a greater condemnation, because they not only commit ordinary evil actions, but also make their prayers, and virtue itself, a cloak to their hypocrisy and vanity, and the cause of their greater depravity, famishing the widows whom themselves ought to compassionate and relieve. (Theophylactus) --- Or, the greater honours and rewards they received for their wickedness, the greater punishment must they endure to expiate it. (Ven. Bede) --- Jesus Christ seems in this place to allude to the avaricious practice of the Jews, draining the purses of widows by their stipulated long prayers for their departed husbands, (see Matthew 23:14.; Mark 12:40.) and thus abusing so holy a thing as prayer, merely to gratify their avarice. |
| Luke 21:0 | The widow's mite. The signs that should forerun the destruction of Jerusalem, and the end of the world. | |
| Luke 21:1 | And *looking on, he saw the rich men cast their gifts into the treasury. Mark 12:41. | |
| Luke 21:2 | And he saw also a certain poor widow casting in two brass mites. | |
| Luke 21:3 | And he said: Verily I say to you, that this poor widow hast cast in more than they all. | Whatever we offer to the Almighty with a good intention is acceptable to him; for he regards not the gift, but the heart of the giver. (Ven. Bede) --- God does not appreciate the smallness of the gift, but the greatness of the affection with which it is offered. (St. Chrysostom, hom. 1:ad Hebraeos.) |
| Luke 21:4 | For all these have, of their abundance, cast into the offerings of God: but she, of her want, hast cast in all her living that she had. | |
| Luke 21:5 | And as some were saying of the temple, that it was adorned with goodly stones and gifts, he said: | |
| Luke 21:6 | These things which you see, *the days will come, in which there shall not be left a stone upon a stone, that shall not be thrown down. Matthew 24:2.; Mark 13:2.; Luke 19:44. | It was by the divine dispensation of Providence that this city and temple were destroyed; for had the ancient rites and sacrifices continued, some that were but weak in their faith, might have been filled with astonishment at the sight of these different modes of worship, existing at the same time, and thus have been lead astray from the path of truth. (Ven. Bede) |
| Luke 21:7 | And they asked him, saying: Master, when shall these things be: and what shall be the sign when they shall begin to come to pass? | Master, when shall these things be? etc. See the annotations, Matthew 24:3. (Witham) |
| Luke 21:8 | He said: Take heed that you be not seduced; for many will come in my name, saying, I am he: and the time is at hand: go ye not, therefore, after them. | In my name. They shall not say that they belong to me, or that I sent them: but they shall take to themselves my name, viz. Christ, or Messias, which title is incommunicable to any but myself. In effect, in less than two centuries, there appeared many false Christs and impostors, who pretended to be the one that was to come, the desired of nations. (Calmet) --- Perhaps this prophecy is yet to be more expressly fulfilled before the dissolution of the world. Many pious and learned Christians suppose this passage to refer to the time of Antichrist. (Haydock) |
| Luke 21:9 | And when you shall hear of wars and seditions, be not terrified: these things must first come to pass, but the end is not yet immediately. | |
| Luke 21:10 | Then he said to them: Nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. | |
| Luke 21:11 | And there shall be great earthquakes in divers places, and pestilences and famines, and terrors from heaven, and there shall be great signs. | Terrors from heaven. Josephus, in his history of this war, in which Jerusalem was destroyed by Titus, (lib. vii. Luke 12) relates, at length, many of the prodigies which were the forerunners of the dreadful end of this unfortunate city. During a whole year a meteor, like a flaming sword, was seen impending over the city. There were likewise seen in the air, appearances of chariots and numerous armies, which pressed one upon another. On the night of Pentecost, the priests, after a confused noise, heard distinctly these words, "Let us go hence;" which are supposed to have been spoken by the angels, who had hitherto guarded and protected the holy city, but now were taking their leave of it. Josephus was in the Roman camp, before the city, during the siege, and an eye-witness of what passed on the occasion. (Haydock) |
| Luke 21:12 | But before all these things they will lay their hands on you, and persecute you, delivering you up to synagogues and into prisons, dragging you before kings and governors, for my name`s sake: | This verse is spoken to the apostles alone; and was verified, by most of them having been martyred and put to death, before the destruction of Jerusalem. (Calmet) |
| Luke 21:13 | And it shall happen to you for a testimony. | |
| Luke 21:14 | Lay it up, therefore, in your hearts, not to meditate before how you shall answer. | |
| Luke 21:15 | For I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which all your adversaries shall not be able to resist and gainsay. | I will give, etc. In some parts it is said, that Christ himself will speak by the mouths of his disciples, as in this passage of St. Luke; in other places, as St. Matthew Luke 16. that the Father will speak; and St. Matthew Luke 10. that the Spirit of the Father will speak. In these different texts there is no contradiction, but a most perfect harmony. What one of the divine Persons says, all three say; for the voice of the Trinity is only one. (St. Ambrose) |
| Luke 21:16 | And you shall be betrayed by your parents and brethren, and kinsmen and friends: and some of you they will put to death. | |
| Luke 21:17 | And you shall be hated by all men, for my name's sake. | |
| Luke 21:18 | But a hair of your head shall not perish. | A hair of your head, etc. A hair shall not perish from the head of the disciples of Christ; because not only their most heroic actions, and their public confessions of his name, but even their passing thoughts shall be crowned with adequate rewards. (Ven. Bede) |
| Luke 21:19 | In your patience you shall possess your souls. | In your patience, etc. We then truly possess our souls, when we live in all things perfect, and from the citadel of virtue command and control all the motions of the mind and heart. (St. Gregory, Mag. Moral. V. Luke 13.) |
| Luke 21:20 | *And when you shall see Jerusalem compassed about with an army: then know that the desolation thereof is at hand. Daniel 9:27.; Matthew 24:15.; Mark 13:14. | |
| Luke 21:21 | Then let them that are in Judea, flee to the mountains: and let them that are in the midst thereof, depart out: and let not them in the countries, enter into it. | |
| Luke 21:22 | For these are the days of vengeance, that all things may be fulfilled that are written. | Days of vengeance, etc. These are truly the days of vengeance; days, that will arise to punish this people for having spilt the blood of the Lord. (Ven. Bede) |
| Luke 21:23 | But wo to them that are with child, and give suck in those days; for there shall be great distress in the land, and wrath upon this people. | |
| Luke 21:24 | And they shall fall by the edge of the sword: and shall be led away captives into all nations, and Jerusalem shall be trodden down by the Gentiles: till the times of the nations be fulfilled. | Whoever reads Josephus's history of the calamities which befell Jerusalem before its destruction, will find none of these terrible menaces unfulfilled. Seventy thousand were carried away captives in this war. After the soldiers were weary of killing, Titus ordered the finest of the young men to be kept to adorn his triumph. The number of captive Jews was so great in Rome, as to make the heathen poet, Rutilius Numantianus, who lived about the year 410, complain of it as a great burden to the empire. Atque utinam nunquam Judea subacta fuisset Pompeii bellis, imperioque Titi; Latius excisae pestis contagia serpunt Victoresque suos natio victa premit. --- Trodden down, etc. After Jerusalem had been taken and destroyed by the Romans, another city was built from its ruins, called Aelia, after the name of the emperor Aelius Adrian. This was inhabited by pagans and some Christians for the Jews were forbidden even to come near it, for more than two or three centuries. Tertullian informs us, that they even bought, at a great price, permission to see it at a distance, and drop a tear over the ashes of their ancient and ill-fated country. Thus was Jerusalem trodden under foot, till the time of the nations was accomplished; that is, till Christianity, in every nation, had triumphed over the persecution of paganism. (Calmet) --- Till the times of the nations be fulfilled. According to the common exposition of this, and some other places, the Jews from the time of the destruction of their temple and city, under Titus Vespasian; and especially from their utter destruction under the emperor Adrian, in punishment of their obstinate blindness, shall remain dispersed through the world under miseries and oppressions, till the gospel hath been preached to all nations; then, not long before the end of the world, the Jews shall be converted, and acknowledge Jesus to be their true Messias. See Romans 11:25. (Witham) |
| Luke 21:25 | *And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars: and upon the earth distress of nations, by reason of the confusion of the roaring of the sea and of the waves: Isaias 13:10.; Ezechiel 32:7.; Joel 2:10.; Joel 2:15.; Matthew 24:29.; Mark 13:24. | |
| Luke 21:26 | Men withering away for fear, and expectation of what shall come upon the whole world. For the powers of heaven shall be moved. | The powers of heaven, etc. Some explain this of the angels, who shall be terrified and tremble at the sight of so many calamities. Others understand it of the heavenly bodies, the sun, moon, stars, etc. which shall in some sort, likewise, be confused in the general dissolution. The prophets often make use of such expressions, when speaking of the fall of monarchies, or the ruin of nations. The heavens shall be astonished and moved, etc. (Ezechiel 32:7; Joel 3:15.) (Calmet) |
| Luke 21:27 | And then they shall see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with great power and majesty. | The Jews shall not see him corporally, but at the last judgment. Then, says the Scripture, (Zacharias 12:10.) They shall see him whom they pierced with nails. But in the ruin of Jerusalem, all who will compare his predictions with the event, can evidently see that this was the day of his coming, so plainly marked in his words. Every body could see that this was evidently the hand of God that punished them. (Calmet) |
| Luke 21:28 | *But when these things begin to come to pass, look up, and lift up your heads: because your redemption is at hand. Romans 8:23. | |
| Luke 21:29 | And he spoke to them a similitude: See the fig-tree, and all the trees: | |
| Luke 21:30 | When they now shoot forth their fruit, you know that summer is nigh. | |
| Luke 21:31 | So you also, when you shall see these things come to pass, know that the reign of God is at hand. | |
| Luke 21:32 | Amen, I say to you, this generation shall not pass away, till all things be fulfilled. | |
| Luke 21:33 | Heaven and earth shall pass away: but my words shall not pass away. | |
| Luke 21:34 | And take heed to yourselves, lest perhaps your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and the cares of this life: and that day come upon you suddenly. | |
| Luke 21:35 | For as a snare it shall come upon all that sit upon the face of the whole earth. | |
| Luke 21:36 | Watch ye, therefore, praying at all times, that you may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that are to come, and to stand before the Son of Man. | |
| Luke 21:37 | And in the day-time he was teaching in the temple: but at night going out, he abode in the mount that is called Olivet. | In the mount that is called Olivet. In this last week, Christ, after preaching in the day-time in the temple, when constantly in the evenings to pray in the garden of Gethsemani, as Judas knew very well. See Luke 22:39. (Witham) |
| Luke 21:38 | And all the people came early in the morning to him in the temple, to hear him. | |
| Luke 22:0 | The treason of Judas. The last supper. The first part of the history of the Passion. | |
| Luke 22:1 | Now* the feast of unleavened bread, which is called the Pasch, was at hand. Matthew 26:2.; Mark 14:1.; | about the year A.D. 33. |
| Luke 22:2 | And the chief priests, and the Scribes, sought how they might put Jesus to death: but they feared the people. | |
| Luke 22:3 | *And Satan entered into Judas, who was surnamed Iscariot, one of the twelve. Matthew 26:14.; Mark 14:10. | And Satan entered into Judas. The meaning only seems to be, that the devil tempted and overcame him. (Witham) --- Satan entered into Judas not all at once, but by degrees. He first gained possession by avarice, next by theft, and lastly he impelled him to the blackest treachery and cruel parricide. The Scripture only says that Satan had entered into him when he was entirely abandoned to iniquity, had hardened his heart against all grace, and shut his ears against every instruction of Jesus. In like manner the Scripture says of a good man, who is strengthened in grace, that the Holy Spirit dwells in him. (Calmet) |
| Luke 22:4 | And he went, and discoursed with the chief priests, and the magistrates, how he might betray him to them. | Many even now shudder at the mention of the crime of Judas, and are surprised to think that he could be guilty of such ingratitude, when themselves are negligent in avoiding the like crimes. For he who breaks the law of charity and truth, betrays Christ, who is charity and truth, and does it not through any infirmity or ignorance, but designedly and maliciously. (Ven. Bede) |
| Luke 22:5 | And they were glad, and covenanted to give him money. | |
| Luke 22:6 | And he promised. And he sought for an opportunity to betray him in the absence of the multitude. | |
| Luke 22:7 | And the day of the unleavened bread came, on which it was necessary that the Pasch should be killed. | |
| Luke 22:8 | And he sent Peter and John, saying, Go and prepare for us the Pasch that we may eat. | |
| Luke 22:9 | But they said: Where wilt thou that we prepare? | |
| Luke 22:10 | And he said to them: Behold, as you go into the city, there shall meet you a man carrying a pitcher of water: follow him into the house, which he entereth into: | |
| Luke 22:11 | And you shall say to the master of the house: The Master saith to thee: Where is the guest-chamber, where I may eat the Pasch with my disciples? | |
| Luke 22:12 | And he will shew you a large dining-room furnished: and there prepare. | |
| Luke 22:13 | And they going, found as he had said to them, and they made ready the Pasch. | |
| Luke 22:14 | *And when the hour was come, he sat down, and the twelve apostles with him, Matthew 26:20.; Mark 14:17. | |
| Luke 22:15 | And he said to them: With desire I have desired to eat this Pasch with you before I suffer. | With desire I have desired: literally, with a desire have I desired.{ Ver. 15. With a desire have I desired. This is commonly reputed a Hebraism, or form of speech peculiar to the Hebrews: hearing, I have heard; seeing, I have seen, etc. But the judicious critic, Mr. Blackwall, has produced parallel expressions out the most exact Greek classics, in his learned book, entitled, The Sacred Classics defended and illustrated; and has clearly proved, by examples, that many forms of speech, called, reputed, and carped at, as Hebraisms, are frequently found in the best Greek classics. (Witham)|} The repetition expresseth a great and earnest desire. (Witham) |
| Luke 22:16 | For I say to you, that from this time I will not eat it, till it may be fulfilled in the kingdom of God. | |
| Luke 22:17 | And having taken the chalice, he gave thanks, and said: Take, and divide it among you. | Taken the chalice. This is not the chalice of his blood, (the latter is spoken of ver. 20, and 1 Corinthians 11:25.) but it is the cup which the master of the repast blessed with ceremony, then drank of it, and gave it to all the guests. The modern Jews still observe this custom; not only on the Pasch, but on all other great feasts. The father of the family pours wine into a cup, takes it in his right hand, elevates it, blesses it, tastes, and gives it round to the invited. Our Saviour on this occasion complies with the custom; and after supper takes the chalice, which he converts into his own blood. (Calmet) |
| Luke 22:18 | For I say to you, that I will not drink of the fruit of the vine, till the kingdom of God come. | I will not drink, etc. that is from this hour of the supper, to the time of his resurrection, in which he will come in the kingdom of God, he would not taste wine. For St. Peter testifies, (Acts 10:41.) that he took meat and drink after his resurrection. (Ven. Bede) |
| Luke 22:19 | *And taking bread, he gave thanks, and brake, and gave to them, saying: This is my body which is given for you: Do this for a commemoration of me. 1 Corinthians 11:24. | THIS IS MY BODY. See the annotations on the same words of consecration, (Matthew 26:26.; Mark 14:22.; 1 Corinthians 11:24.) --- Do this for a commemoration of me. By these words he gave a power and precept to them, and their successors, to all bishops and priests, to consecrate and offer up the same; yet so, that they are only the ministers and instruments of Jesus Christ, who instituted this sacrifice, this and all other sacraments, who is the chief and principal Priest, or offerer. It is Christ that chiefly consecrates and changes the elements of bread and wine into his own body and blood; it is he that chiefly and principally forgiveth sins in the sacraments of baptism, penance, etc. It is what St. Augustine so often repeats against the Donatists, that it is Christ that baptizeth, though the instrumental minister be a sinner or a heretic; and this is what all Catholics confess and profess. --- The holy sacrifice and sacrament is to be offered and received with a devout and grateful remembrance of Christ's benefits, and especially of his sufferings and death for all mankind. But to teach that it is a bare, though devout memorial, or a remembrance only, so as to exclude the real presence of Christ, under the outward appearances of bread and wine, is inconsistent with the constant belief and consent of all Christian churches, both of the west and east, and contradicts the plain words of Christ. The learned bishop of Meaux, in his Exposition of the Catholic Faith, desires all Christians to take notice, that Christ does not command them to remember him, but to take his body and blood with a remembrance of him, and his benefits: this is the import of all the words, put together. This is my body: this is my blood: do this in, for, or with a remembrance of me. (Witham) --- This sacrifice and sacrament is to be continued in the Church to the end of the world, to shew forth the death of Christ, until he cometh. But this commemoration, or remembrance, is by no means inconsistent with the real presence of his body and blood, under these sacramental veils, which represent his death; on the contrary, it is the manner that he himself hath commanded, of commemorating and celebrating his death, by offering in sacrifice, and receiving in the sacrament, that body and blood by which we were redeemed. (Challoner) --- Which is given, etc. He does not say, which shall be offered for you, but which is offered;{ Ver. 19. In the original, the present tense is used in this and in the following verse. Touto esti to soma mou, to uper umon didomenon. And, Touto to poterion, ... to uper umon ekchunomenon. Here we must also remark, that the relative To, which, is not governed or ruled (as some would perhaps think) by the noun, blood, but by the word chalice, or cup; (poterion) which evidently sheweth that the blood, as the contents of the chalice, or as in the chalice, is shed for us: (in the present tense, for so the Greek hath it, and not only as upon the cross) And, therefore, as it followeth hence evidently, that it is no bare figure, but his blood indeed, so it followeth necessarily that it is a sacrifice and propitiatory, as shed for our sins. For all who know Scripture phraseology, know also that blood to be shed for sin, is to be sacrificed in atonement for sin. --- Beza, in his Annot. Nov. Test. an. 1556, [erroneously] says this cannot be truly said either of the chalice, or of the contents of the chalice; which is to give the lie to the evangelist, or to deny it to be true Scripture, though he declares the words are found in all both Greek and Latin copies. (Bristow)|} because it was already a true sacrifice, in which Christ was truly present which he offered in advance to his eternal Father, before that which he was going to offer the next day, in a different manner, on the cross. This sacrifice was the consummation of the figurative Pasch, and the promise or pledge of the bloody offering, which Christ would make on the cross. ... It was not the mere figure of his body, which was crucified, but the true body and the true blood. In the same manner it is both the one and the other which are given, and really present, in the Eucharist. (Calmet) --- To renew the memory of what I have this day done, in giving you my body; and what I shall do to-morrow, in delivering my blood and my life for the whole world, do you hereafter what you now see me do. Take bread, break it, sand say, This is my body; and it will become so really and truly, as it now is in my hands. (Calmet) |
| Luke 22:20 | In like manner, the chalice also, after he had supped, saying: This is the chalice, the new testament in my blood, which shall be shed for you. | |
| Luke 22:21 | *But yet behold, the hand of him that betrayeth me, is with me on the table. Matthew 26:21.; Mark 14:20.; John 13:18. | |
| Luke 22:22 | And the Son of man indeed goeth, *according to that which is determined: but wo to that man by whom he shall be betrayed. Psalm 40:9. | |
| Luke 22:23 | And they began to enquire among themselves, which of them it was that should do this thing. | |
| Luke 22:24 | And there was also a strife amongst them, which of them should seem to be the greater. | |
| Luke 22:25 | And he said to them: *The kings of the Gentiles lord it over them; and they that have power over them, are called beneficent. Matthew 20:25.; Mark 10:42. | |
| Luke 22:26 | But you not so: but he who is the greater among you, let him be as the younger: and he who is the leader, as he that serveth. | |
| Luke 22:27 | For which is greater, he that sitteth at table, or he that serveth? Is not he that sitteth at table? but I am in the midst of you, as he that serveth. | |
| Luke 22:28 | And you are they who have continued with me in my temptations: | |
| Luke 22:29 | And I assign to you, as my Father hath assigned to me, a kingdom, | And I assign to you, as my Father hath assigned to me, a kingdom; that is as my heavenly Father decreed to exalt me, even as man, and with my human nature, above all creatures; so will I also make you, according to your different merits, partakers of my glory. (Witham) |
| Luke 22:30 | That you may eat and drink at my table, in my kingdom: and may sit upon thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. | That you may eat and drink of the spiritual banquet of the joys of heaven which in the Scriptures are divers times compared to a feast or banquet. (Witham) --- Sit upon thrones. Judas is excepted from the dignity of this great promise. For it is probable he had gone out before the Lord spoke these words. They likewise are excepted, who (St. John 6:66.) having heard the words of an incomprehensible mystery, turned back and went away. (Ven. Bede) |
| Luke 22:31 | And the Lord said: Simon, Simon, behold Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat: | Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat. In these words is expressed both what Satan desired, and what God permitted. Satan desired leave to tempt them, that he might make them fall from their faith in Christ. Almighty God permitted this temptation, this trial, to convince them how weak they were of themselves: he permitted their frailty to be partly overcome, yet so that rising again by his grace, they should be cleansed and purified as wheat when it is sifted: and that shortly after, being strengthened and confirmed by the coming of the Holy Ghost, they might become new men, enabled to stand firm against all the attacks of their greatest adversaries. (Witham) |
| Luke 22:32 | But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and thou being once converted, confirm thy brethren. | That thy faith fail not. The faith of Peter, established by the coming of the Holy Ghost, hath never failed, nor can fail, being built upon a rock, which is Christ himself, and being guided by the spirit of truth, as Christ promised. (John 15:26.; John 16:13.) --- And thou being once converted, confirm thy brethren, even all the other apostles and bishops, over whom I have made and constituted thee and thy successors the chief head, that such a head being appointed by divine authority, all occasions of schisms and divisions might cease, says St. Jerome. (Witham) --- Admire the superabundance of the divine patience. That the disciple might not lose courage, he promised him pardon before he has committed the crime, and restores him again to his apostolic dignity, saying, confirm thy brethren. (St. Cyril) |
| Luke 22:33 | But he said to him: Lord, I am ready to go with thee, both into prison and to death. | |
| Luke 22:34 | *And he said: I say to thee, Peter, the cock shall not crow this day, till thou thrice deny that thou knowest me. And he said to them: Matthew 26:34.; Mark 14:30. | |
| Luke 22:35 | *When I sent you without purse, and scrip, and shoes, did you want any thing? Matthew 10:9. | |
| Luke 22:36 | But they said: Nothing. Then said he to them: But now he that hath a purse, let him take it, and likewise a scrip: and he that hath not, let him sell his coat, and buy a sword. | That hath not, etc. Whilst the apostles are contending for prerogative, he reminds them that now is the time of danger and slaughter; for I, your Master, (says he) shall be led to a dishonourable death, and reputed among the wicked: as all which hath been foretold of me shall have their end; that is, be fulfilled. Wishing also to insinuate the violence of the assaults they themselves will have to sustain, he mentions a sword; but does not reveal all, lest they should be too much alarmed; nor does he entirely suppress the mention of it, lest sudden attacks might overpower them, had they not been forewarned. (Theophylactus) |
| Luke 22:37 | For I say to you, that this, which is written, must yet be fulfilled in me: *And he was reckoned with the wicked: For the things concerning me have an end. Isaias 53:12. | |
| Luke 22:38 | But they said: Lord, behold here are two swords. And he said to them: It is enough. | Behold here are two swords, etc. The disciples not understanding the hidden meaning of the words in the preceding verse, and thinking they should have need of swords against the attack of the traitor Judas, say, behold here two swords. (St. Cyril) --- But if he had wished them to rely upon human aid, not even a hundred swords would have sufficed; but, if the power of man was unnecessary in their regard, even two swords are sufficient, and more than are wanted. (St. Chrysostom) --- Even two swords are sufficient testimony of our Saviour's having suffered spontaneously. One to shew that the apostles had courage to contend for their Master, and that their Lord had the power of healing the servant, Malchus, who was maimed; the other, which was not drawn from its scabbard, shews that the apostles were withheld from doing in his defence as much as they could have done. (Ven. Bede) |
| Luke 22:39 | *And going out, he went, according to his custom, to the mount of Olives. And his disciples also followed him. Matthew 26:36.; Mark 14:32.; John 18:1. | |
| Luke 22:40 | And when he was come to the place, he said to them: Pray, lest ye enter into temptation. | |
| Luke 22:41 | *And he was withdrawn away from them a stone`s cast: and kneeling down, he prayed, Matthew 26:39.; Mark 14:35. | |
| Luke 22:42 | Saying: Father, if thou wilt, remove this chalice from me: nevertheless, not my will, but thine, be done. | |
| Luke 22:43 | And there appeared to him an Angel from heaven, strengthening him. And being in an agony, he prayed the longer. | An angel ... strengthening him. Christ, our Redeemer, was truly God and truly man. And being made man by a real union of his divine person and nature, to our weak and infirm human nature, he likewise took upon him our infirmities, sin excepted. We must consider him as man, when we read of his being tempted in the wilderness, (Matthew iv.) when he wept at the raising of Lazarus out of the grave, (John xi.) as often as we read of his praying; and here, when we read of his praying, and redoubling his prayer in the garden, when we find him seized with fear, sadness, and grief: for though, as God, he could prevent and hinder these passions and affections natural to man, yet he could also permit them to affect his human nature; as he permitted himself to be seized with hunger, after fasting forty days; and so he permitted his human nature to be seized with fear and grief in this garden of Gethsemani. As angels came and ministered to him after his fast in the wilderness, so an angel came as it were to propose to him the divine decree, that he was to suffer and die for the redemption of mankind; and as man, he is said to be strengthened and comforted by the angel: he, who as God, was Lord and maker of the angels, and so needed not to be strengthened by his creatures. Besides what happened to Christ as man, were ordained as instructions for us. We are taught by angels appearing, that they were not only ready to assist and wait upon Christ, but that, by the order of divine Providence, they are also ready to assist us in our temptations and afflictions. --- In an agony. This Greek word signifies, a strife, or combat; not that there could be any opposition or contrariety in the interior of Christ, whose human will was always perfectly subject to his divine will, and the sensitive part to reason: yet, inasmuch as he was truly man, his human nature dreaded all those sufferings which at that time were represented to his soul, and which in a few hours he was to undergo. (Witham) |
| Luke 22:44 | And his sweat became as drops of blood trickling down upon the ground. | And his sweat became as drops of blood, etc. This has sometimes happened, though in a lesser degree, to persons under extraordinary grief, if we believe Aristotle, lib. 3:Animanium, ch. XIX. p. 891, and lib. de part. Animalium, ch. V. p. 1156. Ed. Aureliae Allobr. an 1607. --- This passage of Christ's bloody sweat, and of the apparition of the angel, was heretofore wanting in divers both Greek and Latin copies; as appears by St. Jerome, (lib. 2:cont. Pelagianos. tom. iv, part 2, p. 521) and by St. Hilary, lib. X. de Trin. p. 1062. Nov. Ed. It seems to have been left out by ignorant transcribers, who thought it not consistent with the dignity of Christ. But we find it in the above-said place, in St. Jerome, in St. Chrysostom (hom. lxxxiv. in Matt.), in St. Augustine (in Psalm cxl. tom. iv, p. 1564, and in Psalm xciii, p. 1013.) in St. Epiphanius in Ancorato, p. 36, Ed. Petav. (Witham) |
| Luke 22:45 | And when he rose up from prayer, and was come to his disciples, he found them sleeping for sorrow. | |
| Luke 22:46 | And he said to them: Why sleep you? arise, pray, lest you enter into temptation. | |
| Luke 22:47 | * As he was yet speaking, behold a multitude: and he that was called Judas, one of the twelve, went before them, and drew near to Jesus, to kiss him. Matthew 26:47.; Mark 14:43.; John 18:3. | |
| Luke 22:48 | And Jesus said to him: Judas, dost thou betray the Son of man with a kiss? | |
| Luke 22:49 | And they that were about him, seeing what would follow, said to him: Lord, shall we strike with the sword? | |
| Luke 22:50 | And a one of them struck the servant of the high priest, and cut off his right ear. | |
| Luke 22:51 | But Jesus answering, said: Suffer ye thus far. And when he had touched his ear, he healed him. | |
| Luke 22:52 | And Jesus said to the chief priests, and magistrates of the temple, and the ancients that were come to him: Are you come out, as it were against a thief, with swords and clubs? | |
| Luke 22:53 | When I was daily with you in the temple, you did not stretch forth your hands against me: but this is your hour, and the power of darkness. | |
| Luke 22:54 | *Then laying hold on him, they led him to the high priest's house: but Peter followed afar off. Matthew 26:57.; Mark 14:53.; John 18:24. | |
| Luke 22:55 | *And when they had kindled a fire in the midst of the hall, and were sitting about it, Peter was in the midst of them. Matthew 26:59.; Mark 14:66.; John 18:25. | |
| Luke 22:56 | Whom, when a certain servant maid had seen sitting at the light, and had looked upon him intently, she said, This man was also with him. | |
| Luke 22:57 | But he denied him, saying: Woman, I know him not. | |
| Luke 22:58 | And after a little while, another seeing him, said: Thou also art one of them. But Peter said: O man, I am not. | |
| Luke 22:59 | *And about the space of one hour after, another man affirmed, saying: Surely this man was also with him: for he is also a Galilean. John 18:26. | |
| Luke 22:60 | And Peter said: Man, I know not what thou sayest. And immediately, while he was yet speaking, the cock crew. | |
| Luke 22:61 | And the Lord turning, looked on Peter. And Peter remembered the word of the Lord, how he had said: *Before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice. Matthew 26:34.; Mark 14:30.; John 13:38. | |
| Luke 22:62 | And Peter went out, and wept bitterly. | |
| Luke 22:63 | And the men that held him, mocked him, and struck him. | |
| Luke 22:64 | And they blindfolded him, and smote him on the face. And they asked him, saying: Prophesy, who is it that struck thee? | |
| Luke 22:65 | And many other things, blaspheming, they said against him. | |
| Luke 22:66 | *And as soon as it was day, the ancients of the people, and the chief priests, and Scribes, came together, and they brought him into their council, saying: If thou be the Christ, tell us. Matthew 27:1.; Mark 15:1.; John 18:28. | |
| Luke 22:67 | And he said to them: If I shall tell you, you will not believe me: | |
| Luke 22:68 | And if I shall also ask you, you will not answer me, nor let me go. | |
| Luke 22:69 | But hereafter the Son of man shall be sitting on the right hand of the power of God. | |
| Luke 22:70 | Then said they all: Art thou then the Son of God? He said: You say that I am. | |
| Luke 22:71 | Then they said: What need we any farther testimony? For we ourselves have heard it from his own mouth. | |
| Luke 23:0 | The continuation of the history of the Passion. | |
| Luke 23:1 | And the whole multitude of them rising up, led him away to Pilate. | |
| Luke 23:2 | And they began to accuse him, saying: We have found this man perverting our nation, *and forbidding to give tribute to Caesar, saying that he is Christ, the king. Matthew 22:21.; Mark 12:17. | |
| Luke 23:3 | *And Pilate asked him, saying: Art thou the king of the Jews? But he answering, said: Thou sayest it. Matthew 27:11.; Mark 15:2.; John 18:33. | |
| Luke 23:4 | Then Pilate said to the chief priests, and to the multitude: I find no cause in this man. | |
| Luke 23:5 | But they were more earnest, saying: He stirreth up the people, teaching throughout all Judea, beginning from Galilee to this place. | |
| Luke 23:6 | But Pilate hearing of Galilee, asked if the man were a Galilean? | |
| Luke 23:7 | And when he understood that he belonged to Herod's jurisdiction, he sent him away to Herod, who himself was also at Jerusalem in those days. | He sent him away to Herod. Pilate, in this instance, not only extricated himself from the importunities of the Jewish priests, (ver. 5) but moreover obeyed the Roman law in that particular, which forbade any one to be condemned by a governor to whom he was not the subject. (Theophylactus) |
| Luke 23:8 | And Herod seeing Jesus, was very glad, for he was desirous of a long time to see him, because he had heard many things of him: and he hoped to see some miracle wrought by him. | |
| Luke 23:9 | And he questioned him with many words. But he answered him nothing. | |
| Luke 23:10 | And the chief priests, and the Scribes, stood by, earnestly accusing him. | |
| Luke 23:11 | And Herod, with his soldiers, despised him: and mocked him, putting on him a white garment, and sent him back to Pilate. | And mocked him. It is evident from the behaviour of Herod on this occasion, that he was far from believing him to be that seditious person he was represented; otherwise he would have undoubtedly treated his prisoner with less ridicule, and paid more serious attention to the accusations of his enemies. (Theophylactus) --- Putting on him a white garment. The Greek signifies not only a white, but a shining splendid robe: perhaps with some resemblance to royal garments, but at the same time through scorn and derision. (Witham) |
| Luke 23:12 | And Herod and Pilate were made friends together that same day: for before they were enemies one to another. | |
| Luke 23:13 | Then Pilate calling together the chief priests, and the magistrates, and the people, | |
| Luke 23:14 | Said to them: You have brought this man to me, as one that perverteth the people, and behold I, having examined him before you, *find no cause in this man touching those things wherein you accuse him. John 18:38.; John 19:4. | |
| Luke 23:15 | Nor Herod either: For I sent you to him, and behold nothing worthy of death is done to him. | Nothing worthy of death is done to him. Herod has not treated him as a criminal, or one worthy of death. He only derided him as a fool: had there been any cause to punish him, he would not have failed to have done it himself, or commanded me to put him to death. (Calmet) |
| Luke 23:16 | I will chastise him, therefore, and release him. | It was a very common punishment among the Jews to scourge those who had committed crimes for which death would have been too severe. According to the laws of the Hebrews, (Deuteronomy 25:3.) the number of blows could not exceed thirty-nine. Pilate dares not condemn Jesus to death, because he believes him innocent; yet not to disoblige the people and magistrates, who demanded his death, he takes a middle way, which, as is usual in such cases, satisfies neither party. He neither saves the innocent Victim, nor satisfies justice. In lieu of one punishment, Jesus suffers two. He is at length both scourged and crucified. (Calmet) |
| Luke 23:17 | Now of necessary, he was to release to them one upon the feast-day. | |
| Luke 23:18 | But the whole multitude cried out together, saying: Away with this man, and release unto us Barabbas; | |
| Luke 23:19 | Who, for a certain sedition made in the city, and for murder, was cast into prison. | |
| Luke 23:20 | And Pilate spoke to them again, desiring to release Jesus. | |
| Luke 23:21 | But they cried out, saying: Crucify him, crucify him. | |
| Luke 23:22 | And he said to them the third time: *Why, what evil hath this man done? I find no cause of death in him: I will chastise him, therefore, and let him go. Matthew 27:23.; Mark 15:14. | |
| Luke 23:23 | But they were instant with loud voices, requiring that he might be crucified: and their voices prevailed. | |
| Luke 23:24 | And Pilate gave sentence that their petition should be granted. | |
| Luke 23:25 | And he released unto them him, who for murder and sedition, had been cast into prison, whom they had desired: but Jesus he delivered up to their will. | |
| Luke 23:26 | *And as they led him away, they laid hold on one Simon, of Cyrene, coming from the country: and they laid the cross on him to carry after Jesus. Matthew 27:32.; Mark 15:21. | |
| Luke 23:27 | And there followed him a great multitude of the people and of women: who bewailed and lamented him. | |
| Luke 23:28 | But Jesus turning to them, said: Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not over me, but weep for yourselves, and for your children. | Weep not over me. If you knew the evils that threaten and must soon fall upon your city, upon yourselves, and upon your children, you would preserve your tears to deplore your own misfortunes. My death is for the good of mankind; but it will be fatal to your nation because you have been pleased to make it so. In the ruin of Jerusalem, which is at hand, happy shall they be who have no children. They shall save themselves the grief of seeing their sons and daughters perish miserably, and in some sort of suffering as many deaths as they have children to die. (Calmet) |
| Luke 23:29 | For behold the days shall come, wherein they will say: Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that have not borne, and the paps that have not given suck. | |
| Luke 23:30 | Then shall they begin to say to the mountains: *Fall upon us; and to the hills: Cover us. Isaias 2:19.; Osee 10:8.; Apocalypse 6:16. | |
| Luke 23:31 | For if in the green wood they do these things, what shall be done in the dry? | In the green wood: by which are signified persons of virtue and sanctity; as by the dry wood, the wicked, who bring forth no fruit, and who, like dry wood, are fit to be cast into the fire. (Witham) --- If they be thus cruel with me, how will they treat you! |
| Luke 23:32 | And there were also two others malefactors led with him, to be put to death. | |
| Luke 23:33 | *And when they were come to the place, which is called Calvary, they crucified him there: and the robbers, one on the right hand, and the other on the left. Matthew 27:33.; Mark 15:22.; John 19:17. | Called Calvary. A place at a small distance from Jerusalem, where condemned malefactors were beheaded. So Christ, as a malefactor, dies on Calvary for the redemption of all: that where sin abounded, grace might more abound. (Ven. Bede) --- In this mountain, according to the Hebrew doctors, were interred the remains of our protoparent, Adam. (St. Athanasius) |
| Luke 23:34 | And Jesus said: Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. But dividing his garments, they cast lots. | |
| Luke 23:35 | And the people stood beholding, and the rulers with them derided him, saying: He saved others, let him save himself, if he be Christ, the elect of God. | |
| Luke 23:36 | And the soldiers also mocked him, coming to him, and offering him vinegar, | |
| Luke 23:37 | And saying: If thou be the king of the Jews, save thyself. | |
| Luke 23:38 | And there was also a superscription written over him in Greek, and Latin, and Hebrew letters: This is the King of the Jews. | |
| Luke 23:39 | And one of these robbers who were hanging, blasphemed him, saying: If thou be Christ, save thyself, and us. | |
| Luke 23:40 | But the other answering, rebuked him, saying: Neither dost thou fear God, seeing thou art under the same condemnation? | |
| Luke 23:41 | And we indeed justly, for we receive the due reward of our deeds: but this man hath done no evil. | |
| Luke 23:42 | And he said to Jesus: Lord, remember me, when thou shalt come into thy kingdom. | |
| Luke 23:43 | And Jesus said to him: Amen, I say to thee, this day thou shalt be with me in paradise. | I say to thee: This day thou shalt be with me in Paradise; that is in a place of rest with the souls of the just. The construction is not, I say to thee this day, etc., but, thou shalt be with me this day in the paradise. (Witham) --- In paradise. That is, in the happy state of rest, joy and peace everlasting. Christ was pleased by a special privilege, to reward the faith and confession of the penitent thief with a full discharge of all his sins, both as to the guilt and punishment, and to introduce him, immediately after death, into the happy society of the saints, whose limbo (that is, the place of their confinement) was now made a paradise by our Lord's going thither. (Challoner) --- The soul of the good thief was that same day with Jesus Christ, in the felicity of the saints, in Abraham's bosom, or in heaven, where Jesus was always present by his divinity. (St. Augustine) --- St. Cyril, of Jerusalem, says he entered heaven before all the patriarchs and prophets. St. Chrysostom thinks that paradise was immediately open to him, and that he entered heaven the first mankind. (Tom. V. homil. 32.) |
| Luke 23:44 | And it was almost the sixth hour: and there was darkness over all the earth until the ninth hour. | |
| Luke 23:45 | And the sun was darkened; and the veil of the temple was rent in the midst. | |
| Luke 23:46 | And Jesus crying with a loud voice, said: *Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit. And saying this, he gave up the ghost. Psalm 30:6. | |
| Luke 23:47 | Now the centurion seeing what was done, glorified God, saying: Indeed this was a just man. | |
| Luke 23:48 | And all the multitude of them that were come together to that sight, and saw the things that were done, returned striking their breasts. | |
| Luke 23:49 | And all his acquaintance, and the women that had followed him from Galilee, stood afar off beholding these things. | |
| Luke 23:50 | *And behold there was a man, by name Joseph, who was a counsellor, a good and just man: Matthew 27:57.; Mark 15:43.; John 19:38. | |
| Luke 23:51 | He had not consented to their counsel and doings; of Arimathea, a city of Judea, who also himself expected the kingdom of God. | Arimathea. In other parts of Scripture it is called Ramatha, a city of Judea, where Samuel, the prophet, was born. (Ven. Bede) |
| Luke 23:52 | This man went to Pilate, and begged the body of Jesus. | This man went to Pilate. We may suppose that from his rank and condition in life, he had always access to Pilate. |
| Luke 23:53 | And taking him down, he wrapped him in fine linen, and laid him in a sepulchre that was hewed in stone, wherein never yet any man had been laid. | |
| Luke 23:54 | And it was the day of the parasceve, and the sabbath drew near. | Parasceve. That is, the eve or day of preparation for the sabbath. (Challoner) --- And the sabbath drew near. Literally, shined. The sabbath began in the evening, at sunset. It may, perhaps, be said to shine by the moonlight, at full-moon, or because of a great many lights that used to be set up at that time, on account of the great sabbath. (Witham) --- We learn from Maimon, that all the Jews were so strictly bound to keep a light in their dwellings on the sabbath-day, that although a man had not bread to eat, he was expected to be from door to door, to purchase oil for his lamp. (Pastorini) |
| Luke 23:55 | And the women that were with him from Galilee, following after, saw the sepulchre, and how his body was laid. | |
| Luke 23:56 | And returning, they prepared spices, and ointments: and on the sabbath-day they rested, according to the commandment. | |
| Luke 24:0 | Christ's resurrection; and manifestation of himself to his disciples. | |
| Luke 24:1 | But *on the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they came to the sepulchre, bringing the spices which they had prepared. Matthew 28:1.; Mark 14:2.; John 20:1. | |
| Luke 24:2 | And they found the stone rolled back from the sepulchre. | |
| Luke 24:3 | And going in, they found not the body of the Lord Jesus. | |
| Luke 24:4 | And it came to pass, while they were astonished in mind at this, behold two men stood by them in shining apparel. | |
| Luke 24:5 | And as they were afraid, and bowed down their countenance towards the ground, they said to them: Why seek you the living among the dead? | It is worthy of remark, that none of the disciples or friends of Christ, were so much astonished and struck at the many apparitions of angels, etc. as to be cast down to the ground, as the guards and his enemies were, but only through respect and reverential fear looked down upon the ground. Nor even did any of them fall down prostrate to adore our Saviour, when he appeared to them; because Christ was not now to be sought in the earth, among the dead, but was risen, and was to be looked for from heaven. Hence is derived the Catholic custom of praying in Pascal time, and on all Sundays, etc. not on the knee, but with the body respectfully bent, and bowing down their countenance towards the ground. (Ven. Bede) |
| Luke 24:6 | He is not here, but is risen: remember how he spoke to you, when he was yet in Galilee, | |
| Luke 24:7 | Saying: *the Son of man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again. Matthew 16:21.; Matthew 17:21.; Mark 8:31.; Mark 9:30.; Luke 9:22. | |
| Luke 24:8 | And they remembered his words. | |
| Luke 24:9 | And going back from the sepulchre, they told all these things to the eleven, and to all the rest. | |
| Luke 24:10 | Now it was Mary Magdalene, and Joanna, and Mary, the mother of James, and the other women that were with them, that told these things to the apostles. | |
| Luke 24:11 | And these words seemed to them as an idle tale: and they did not believe them. | |
| Luke 24:12 | But Peter rising up, ran to the sepulchre; and stooping down, he saw the linen cloths laid by themselves, and went away wondering in himself at that which was come to pass. | |
| Luke 24:13 | *And behold, two of them went that same day to a town which was sixty furlongs from Jerusalem, named Emmaus. Mark 16:12. | St. Jerome thinks the Cleophas, one of the two disciples, was a citizen of Emmaus, and that he invited Jesus to take meat in his house. His house was afterwards changed into a church, which the same Father says existed in his time. Some think Cleophas was brother to St. Joseph; others, that he was husband of Mary, sister of the blessed Virgin Mary, and father of St. James the less. Both the Latins and Greeks keep the feast of St. Cleophas, and give him the name of an apostle. Usuard says he was martyred by the Jews. (Calmet) |
| Luke 24:14 | And they talked together of all these things which had happened. | |
| Luke 24:15 | And it came to pass, that while they talked and reasoned with one another, Jesus himself also drew near, and went with them. | |
| Luke 24:16 | But their eyes were held, that they should not know him. | But their eyes were held: either by our Saviour's changing his features, or in what manner he pleased. (Witham) |
| Luke 24:17 | And he said to them: What are these discourses that you hold one with another, as you walk, and are sad? | |
| Luke 24:18 | And the one, whose name was Cleophas, answering, said to him: Art thou alone a stranger in Jerusalem, that hast not known the things that have been done there in these days? | Art thou alone a stranger in Jerusalem? or, art thou the only stranger in Jerusalem? which was to signify, that every one must needs have heard of what had passed in regard to Jesus. (Witham) |
| Luke 24:19 | He said to them: What things? And they said to him: Concerning Jesus, of Nazareth, who was a prophet, mighty in work and word, before God, and all the people: | |
| Luke 24:20 | And how our chief priests and rulers delivered him to be condemned to death, and crucified him. | |
| Luke 24:21 | But we hoped that it was he who should have redeemed Israel: and now, besides all this, to-day is the third day since these things were done. | We hoped, etc. as if they had lost their former hopes, or now knew not what to hope for: but perhaps, as St. Augustine observes, they might use this caution speaking before a stranger. (Witham) --- These two disciples were in the same error as the other Jews; who expected that the Messias would deliver them from subjection to strangers, and re-establish them in their ancient liberty. The cross and passion had been a subject of scandal and fall to them. They say, we did hope; as if their hopes were now at an end. What increased their diffidence was, that Christ had promised to rise again the third day, and some of the women had said that he really had risen. But they expected as public and glorious a manifestation of his resurrection, as his death had been ignominious and known to the whole world. Behold, now this is already the third day since these things are passed: if he had wished to manifest his power, he should have done it already. Thus the disciples reason, as if the third day were already past, and as if it were certain that he was not risen again. So difficult a thing is it to believe what we very ardently wish! (Calmet) Proprium hoc miseros sequitur vitum Nunquam rebus credere laetis. |
| Luke 24:22 | Yea, and certain women also of our company, affrighted us, who, before it was light, were at the sepulchre, | |
| Luke 24:23 | And not finding his body, came, saying, that they had also seen a vision of Angels, who say that he is alive. | |
| Luke 24:24 | And some of our people went to the sepulchre, and found it so as the women had said; but him they found not. | |
| Luke 24:25 | Then he said to them: O foolish, and slow in heart, to believe in all the things which the prophets have spoken! | |
| Luke 24:26 | Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and so to enter into his glory? | |
| Luke 24:27 | And beginning from Moses, and all the prophets, he expounded to them in all the Scriptures, the things that were concerning him. | |
| Luke 24:28 | And they drew nigh to the town whither they were going: and he made as though he would go farther. | |
| Luke 24:29 | But they constrained him, saying: Stay with us, because it is towards evening, and the day is now far spent. And he went in with them. | |
| Luke 24:30 | And it came to pass, whilst he was at table with them, he took bread, and blessed, and brake, and gave to them. | The ancient Fathers think our Saviour consecrated, on this occasion, and administered the Eucharist to the two disciples. In the Acts of the Apostles, this same term, breaking of bread, is explained without difficulty of the Eucharist. St. Luke seems fond of this manner of expression, to signify that sacrament. (Calmet) |
| Luke 24:31 | And their eyes were opened, and they knew him: and he vanished out of their sight. | |
| Luke 24:32 | And they said one to the other: Was not our heart burning within us, whilst he was speaking in the way, and opened to us the Scriptures? | |
| Luke 24:33 | And rising up the same hour they went back to Jerusalem: and they found the eleven gathered together, and those that were with them, | |
| Luke 24:34 | Saying: The Lord is risen indeed, and hath appeared to Simon. | |
| Luke 24:35 | And they told what things were done in the way: and how they knew him in the breaking of bread. | |
| Luke 24:36 | *Now whilst they were speaking these things, Jesus stood in the midst of them, and said to them: Peace be to you; it is I, fear not. Mark 16:14.; John 20:19. | |
| Luke 24:37 | But they being troubled and affrighted, supposed that they saw a spirit. | The apostles thought they saw a Spirit, either good or bad, that had taken the form of Jesus, and was come to deceive them. For that they did not doubt spirits appeared, we have abundant proofs throughout the whole New Testament: and our Saviour, instead of combating this opinion, seems rather to have confirmed it on more than one occasion. Indeed St. Augustine thinks it cannot, without temerity, be denied, that there are occasional apparitions of angels, of demons, and the souls of the dead. (Calmet) --- This, however, will not justify the credulity of many ignorant and weak people, who think that nobody can die, but their spirit is sure to appear; much less will it justify the superstitious observations of unusual occurrences, which are so commonly reported to happen, as significant of a departed soul. These occurrences are rare; nor should we suppose that the Almighty would be willing to suspend or change the established laws of nature without a sufficient cause, viz. some known good either to the departed soul, or surviving friends. (Haydock) |
| Luke 24:38 | And he said to them: Why are you troubled, and why do thoughts arise in your hearts? | |
| Luke 24:39 | See my hands and feet, that it is I myself: feel, and see: for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as you see me to have. | A spirit hath not flesh and bones, as you see me to have. This was one argument of a true and real body. We may take notice, that Christ brought such proofs, as he knew were sufficient to convince them of his resurrection, though they were not of themselves demonstrations. For when they imagined they saw or touched a body, and that he eat with them, these things might apparently be done by a spirit. See Genesis xviii. ver. 9. and Genesis xix. ver. 3. and ver. 16. where we read that angels, in the shape of men, eat, and took Lot and his wife, and his daughters, by the hand, and led them away from Sodom. Our senses, therefore, may sometimes be deceived, as may be shewn by divers other instances. But the arguments which Christ made use of at this time, to induce the apostles to believe his resurrection, are to be taken with all the circumstances: as 1st, with the corroborating testimonies of the Holy Scriptures, in which his resurrection was foretold; 2ndly, they called to their minds what he himself had told them so often, that he would rise again the third day; 3rdly, concurred also the testimonies already given by the angels, that he was risen; 4thly, the miracles at his death and resurrection; 5thly, Christ himself at the same time opened their understanding, to know and believe this truth, that he was truly risen. (Witham) |
| Luke 24:40 | And when he had said this, he shewed them his hands and his feet. | |
| Luke 24:41 | But while they yet believed not, and wondered for joy, he said: Have you here any thing to eat? | |
| Luke 24:42 | And they offered him a piece of a broiled fish, and a honeycomb. | |
| Luke 24:43 | And when he had eaten before them, taking the remains, he gave to them. | Christ eat, not because he stood in need of food to sustain himself after his resurrection, as we sustain our bodies and lives by corporal refreshment; but he did it, to shew his disciples that his body was really risen from the dead. (Ven. Bede) |
| Luke 24:44 | And he said to them: These are the words which I spoke to you while I was yet with you, that all things must needs be fulfilled, which are written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms concerning me. | |
| Luke 24:45 | Then he opened their understanding, that they might understand the Scriptures. | If, after all the extraordinary opportunities of instruction, which the apostles had had from the mouth of our divine Saviour, it was still necessary that he should instil into them a new light, by opening their minds to understand the Scriptures; what are we to think of the presumptuous attempts of the numerous tribe of modern self-inspired interpreters, who are always ready to descant on the word of the Lord; though so perfectly ignorant that their authority, so far from being admitted, would be laughed to scorn, were they to attempt to explain the slightest difficulty, on the most indifferent subject of profane literature? To such a degree has the spirit of seduction spread itself at the present day! (Haydock) |
| Luke 24:46 | And he said to them: *Thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise again from the dead the third day: Psalm 18:6. | |
| Luke 24:47 | And that penance and remission of sins should be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. | Beginning at Jerusalem. The sense is, that they were first to preach to the Jews, and afterwards to all nations. (Witham) |
| Luke 24:48 | *And you are witnesses of these things. Acts 1:8. | |
| Luke 24:49 | *And I send the promise of my Father upon you: but stay you in the city, till you be endued with power from on high. John 14:26. | The promise of my Father; that is the Holy Ghost, whom Christ had promised that his Father and he would send. (John 14:26.; John 16:7) (Witham) |
| Luke 24:50 | And he led them out as far as Bethania: and lifting up his hands, he blessed them. | |
| Luke 24:51 | *And it came to pass, whilst he blessed them, that he departed from them, and was carried up to heaven. Mark 16:19.; Acts 1:9. | Like a second Elias he was taken into heaven, but in a much more glorious manner. Elias was taken up in a mortal and corruptible body: but our divine Saviour, in a glorious, impassible, and immortal state; where now he is our head, having taken upon himself the nature of man, and is crowned with more than angel's glory. (Theophylactus) --- What a glory this for us! Our head is clothed with everlasting glory; so shall we, his members, receive a share in his eternal kingdom. (St. Chrysostom) |
| Luke 24:52 | And they adoring, went back to Jerusalem with great joy. | |
| Luke 24:53 | And they were continually in the temple, praising and blessing God. Amen. |