Luke 15:1-10
THE LOST SHEEP... [ Continue Reading ]
THE LOST SHEEP... [ Continue Reading ]
ἮΣΑΝ ΔῈ ΑΥ̓ΤΩ͂Ι ἘΓΓΊΖΟΝΤΕΣ ΠΆΝΤΕΣ ΟἹ ΤΕΛΩ͂ΝΑΙ ΚΑῚ ΟἹ ἉΜΑΡΤΩΛΟῚ�. ‘And there were drawing near to Him all the tax-gatherers and the sinners to listen to Him.’ The ἦσαν ἐγγίζοντες seems to imply that group after group of these neglected classes approached Him. St Chrysostom says that their very life w... [ Continue Reading ]
CHAPS. Luke 9:51 to Luke 18:31 This section forms a great episode in St Luke, which may be called the departure for the final conflict, and is identical with the journey (probably to the Feast of the Dedication, John 10:22) which is partially touched upon in Matthew 18:1 to Matthew 20:16 and Mark 10... [ Continue Reading ]
ΔΙΕΓΌΓΓΥΖΟΝ. ‘Were loudly murmuring’ (Luke 19:7; Joshua 9:18). “With arid heart they blame the very Fount of Mercy,” Gregory the Great. In all ages it had been their sin that they ‘sought not the lost.’ Ezekiel 34:4. ΟἽ ΤΕ ΦΑΡΙΣΑΙ͂ΟΙ ΚΑῚ ΟἹ ΓΡΑΜΜΑΤΕΙ͂Σ. See Excursus VI. ΚΑῚ ΣΥΝΕΣΘΊΕΙ ΑΥ̓ΤΟΙ͂Σ. He n... [ Continue Reading ]
ΕἾΠΕΝ … ΤῊΝ ΠΑΡΑΒΟΛῊΝ ΤΑΎΤΗΝ. Matthew 18:12-14. In these three parables we have pictures of the _bewildered_ sinner (3–7); the _unconscious_ sinner (8–10); the _voluntary_ sinner (11–32).... [ Continue Reading ]
ΤΊΣ ἌΝΘΡΩΠΟΣ. The word is used to suggest the truth that _a fortiori_ God (Luke 15:7) will be even more compassionate. ἙΚΑΤῸΝ ΠΡΌΒΑΤΑ. And yet out of this large flock the Good Shepherd grieves for _one_ which strays. There is an Arab saying that God has divided pity into a hundred parts, and kept n... [ Continue Reading ]
ἘΠΙΤΊΘΗΣΙΝ ἘΠῚ ΤΟῪΣ ὬΜΟΥΣ ΑΥ̓ΤΟΥ͂ ΧΑΊΡΩΝ. The Received text has ἑαυτοῦ, ‘_his own shoulders_.’ All anger against the folly of the wanderer is swallowed up in love, and joy at its recovery. “He bare our sins in His own body,” 1 Peter 2:24. We have the same metaphor in the Psalm of the shepherd king ... [ Continue Reading ]
ΣΥΝΚΑΛΕΙ͂ ΤΟῪΣ ΦΊΛΟΥΣ ΚΑῚ ΤΟῪΣ ΓΕΊΤΟΝΑΣ. See on Luke 14:12. ΣΥΝΧΆΡΗΤΈ ΜΟΙ. “For the _joy_ set before Him, He endured the cross,” Hebrews 12:2; comp. Isaiah 53:11.... [ Continue Reading ]
ΛΈΓΩ ὙΜΙ͂Ν. _I_—who know (John 1:51). ΧΑΡᾺ … ἜΣΤΑΙ … Ἤ. ‘There shall be greater joy … _than_.’ ἢ sometimes follows a positive and not a comparative form, as in θέλω ἤ, 1 Corinthians 14:19, λυσιτελεῖ … ἤ, Luke 17:2, ἰσχύει οὗτος ἢ ἡμεῖς, Numbers 22:6, LXX[289], καλόν ἐστιν … ἤ, Matthew 18:8. This con... [ Continue Reading ]
ΔΡΑΧΜᾺΣ ἜΧΟΥΣΑ ΔΈΚΑ. Ten drachmas. This parable is peculiar to St Luke. The Greek drachma (about 10_d._) corresponds to the Latin denarius. Each represented a day’s wages, and may be roughly rendered shilling. Tob 5:14; Thuc. III. 17; Tac. _Ann._ I. 17. These small silver coins were worn by women as... [ Continue Reading ]
ΣΥΝΚΑΛΕΙ͂. Some MSS. read συγκαλεῖται, which would express a more personal joy, just as ἦν� expresses a more personal loss. ΕΥ̓͂ΡΟΝ ΤῊΝ ΔΡΑΧΜῊΝ ἫΝ�. She does not say ‘my piece.’ If the woman be intended to represent the Church, the loss of the ‘piece’ entrusted to her may be in part, at least, her... [ Continue Reading ]
ΧΑΡᾺ ἘΝΏΠΙΟΝ ΤΩ͂Ν�. Comp. Luke 12:9. The same as the ‘joy in heaven’ of Luke 15:7; the Te Deums of heaven over the victories of grace. ἘΠῚ ἙΝῚ ἉΜΑΡΤΩΛΩ͂Ι ΜΕΤΑΝΟΟΥ͂ΝΤΙ. “I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live.” Ezekiel 33:11.... [ Continue Reading ]
ΕἾΧΕΝ ΔΎΟ ΥἹΟΎΣ. The primary applications of this divine parable,—which is peculiar to St Luke, and would alone have added inestimable value to his Gospel—are (1) to the Pharisees and the ‘sinners’—i.e. to the professedly religious, and the openly irreligious classes; and (2) to the Jews and Gentile... [ Continue Reading ]
THE SON LOST AND FOUND... [ Continue Reading ]
ΤῸ ἘΠΙΒΆΛΛΟΝ ΜΈΡΟΣ ΤΗ͂Σ ΟΥ̓ΣΊΑΣ. This would be one third (Deuteronomy 21:17). The granting of this portion corresponds to the natural gifts and blessings which God bestows on all alike, together with the light of conscience, and the rich elements of natural religion. Here we have the history of a si... [ Continue Reading ]
ΜΕΤ' ΟΥ̓ ΠΟΛΛᾺΣ ἩΜΈΡΑΣ. This shadows forth the _rapidity_ (1) of national, and (2) of individual degeneracy. “In some children,” says Sir Thomas Elyot in _The Governour_, “nature is more prone to vice than to vertue, and in the tender wìttes be sparkes of voluptuositie, whiche norished by any occasi... [ Continue Reading ]
ΔΑΠΑΝΉΣΑΝΤΟΣ ΔῈ ΑΥ̓ΤΟΥ͂ ΠΆΝΤΑ. _Historically_, “On that hard Roman world, disgust And secret loathing fell; Deep weariness, and sated lust Made human life a hell.” M. ARNOLD. _Individually_, “The limits are narrow within which, by wasting his capital, a man obtains a supply of pocket-money.” G... [ Continue Reading ]
ἘΚΟΛΛΉΘΗ ἙΝῚ ΤΩ͂Ν ΠΟΛΙΤΩ͂Ν ΤΗ͂Σ ΧΏΡΑΣ ἘΚΕΊΝΗΣ. ‘_He attached himself to one of the citizens_.’ There is, however, a touch of intended degradation in the word ἐκολλήθη. (Comp. Aesch. _Agam._ 1566.) It means that he became absolutely dependent on his employer—a veritable _astrictus glebae_. In the N.T... [ Continue Reading ]
ΓΕΜΊΣΑΙ ΤῊΝ ΚΟΙΛΊΑΝ ΑΥ̓ΤΟΥ͂�. אBDL, &c. Other MSS. have softened it into χορτασθῆναι ἐκ. See note. 16. ἘΠΕΘΎΜΕΙ. “_He was longing_.” ΓΕΜΊΣΑΙ ΤῊΝ ΚΟΙΛΊΑΝ ΑΥ̓ΤΟΥ͂� … Vulg[291] _cupiebat implere ventrem suum_. The plain expression—purposely adopted to add the last touch to the youth’s degradation—gav... [ Continue Reading ]
ὮΔΕ. אBL. It has probably been lost in some MSS. by _homoeoteleuton_ with ἐγὼ δέ. 17. ΕἸΣ ἙΑΥΤῸΝ ΔῈ ἘΛΘΏΝ. His previous state was that of his false self—a brief delusion and madness—‘the old man with his affections and lusts.’ Now he was once more beginning to be “in his right mind.” “The heart of... [ Continue Reading ]
ἈΝΑΣΤᾺΣ ΠΟΡΕΎΣΟΜΑΙ ΠΡῸΣ ΤῸΝ ΠΑΤΈΡΑ ΜΟΥ. The ἀναστὰς is pictorial, comp. Acts 5:17; Mark 1:35, &c. The youth in the parable had loved his father, and would not doubt about His father’s love; and in the region which the parable shadows forth, the mercy of God to the returning penitent has always been... [ Continue Reading ]
ΚΑῚ�. A mere flash of remorse is not enough; a journey must be taken: the back must be at once and finally turned on the far land; and all the shame of abandoned duties and forsaken friends be faced. “The course to the unific rectitude of a manly life” always appears to the sinner to be, and sometim... [ Continue Reading ]
ΠΆΤΕΡ, ἭΜΑΡΤΟΝ. ‘_Father, I sinned_.’ There is a deeper accent in this ἥμαρτον than in that of Luke 15:18. Then he spoke in remorse for consequences; now in contrition for offences. Like a true penitent he grieves not for what he has _lost_, but for what he has _done_. Here again the language of Dav... [ Continue Reading ]
ΕἾΠΕΝ ΔῈ Ὁ ΠΑΤΉΡ. He at once issues his commands to the servants; he answers _his son_ by deeds not by words. It is as though he had purposely cut short the humble self-reproaching words of shame which would have entreated him to make his lost son like one of his hired servants. “While they are yet... [ Continue Reading ]
ΘΎΣΑΤΕ. ‘Sacrifice it’ (comp. Herod. I. 118, where there is a sacrifice and supper for a son’s safety). Hence perhaps one reason for assigning to St Luke the Cherubic symbol of the calf (Introd. p. xix).... [ Continue Reading ]
ΝΕΚΡῸΣ ἮΝ ΚΑῚ�. The metaphor of ‘death’ to express the condition of impenitent sin is universal in the Bible. “Thou hast a name that thou livest and art dead,” Revelation 3:1. “Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead,” Ephesians 5:14. “You hath He quickened who were dead in trespasses and... [ Continue Reading ]
ἮΝ ΔῈ Ὁ ΥἹῸΣ ΑΥ̓ΤΟΥ͂ Ὁ ΠΡΕΣΒΎΤΕΡΟΣ Κ.Τ.Λ. Many have felt a wish that the parable had ended with the moving and exquisite scene called up by the last words; or have regarded the remaining verses as practically a _separate_ parable, Such a judgment—not to speak of its presumption—shews a narrow spirit... [ Continue Reading ]
ΤΊ ΕἼΗ ΤΑΥ͂ΤΑ. The question indicates contempt—“what all this was about.” For the construction comp. Luke 1:29; Luke 18:36; Luke 22:23. See note on Luke 18:36.... [ Continue Reading ]
ὨΡΓΊΣΘΗ. The feelings of the Jews towards the Gentiles (1 Thessalonians 2:14-16) when they were embracing the offers of the Gospel—(“The Jews … were filled with envy and spake against those things which were spoken by Paul, contradicting and blaspheming,” Acts 13:45)—and the feelings of the Pharisee... [ Continue Reading ]
ΔΟΥΛΕΎΩ ΣΟΙ. ‘I am thy slave.’ He does not say “Father:” and evidently regards the yoke not as perfect freedom but as distasteful bondage. The slave is ever dissatisfied; and this son worked in the spirit of a “hired servant.” ΟΥ̓ΔΈΠΟΤΕ ἘΝΤΟΛΉΝ ΣΟΥ ΠΑΡΗ͂ΛΘΟΝ. This is the very spirit of the Pharisee... [ Continue Reading ]
Ὁ ΥἹΌΣ ΣΟΥ ΟὟΤΟΣ Ὁ ΚΑΤΑΦΑΓΏΝ ΣΟΥ ΤῸΝ ΒΊΟΝ ΜΕΤᾺ ΠΟΡΝΩ͂Ν. Every syllable breathes rancour. He disowns all brotherhood; and says “came,” not “_returned_;” and tries to wake his father’s anger by saying “_thy_ living;” and malignantly represents the conduct of his erring brother in the blackest light; a... [ Continue Reading ]
ΤΈΚΝΟΝ. _Child_. The elder brother is still a ‘child’ of his father, however erring. ΣῪ ΠΆΝΤΟΤΕ ΜΕΤ' ἘΜΟΥ͂ ΕἾ. ‘_Thou_ (emphatic) _always art with me_.’ ΠΆΝΤΑ ΤᾺ ἘΜᾺ ΣΆ ἘΣΤΙΝ. So far as the elder son is sincerely “a doer of the law” he is “justified,” Romans 2:13. All that his father had was his. T... [ Continue Reading ]
ΕΥ̓ΦΡΑΝΘΗ͂ΝΑΙ ΔῈ ΚΑῚ ΧΑΡΗ͂ΝΑΙ ἜΔΕΙ. There was a moral fitness in our mirth. “They glorified God … saying, Then hath God also to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life,” Acts 11:18. It would be impossible to mark more emphatically God’s displeasure at the narrow, exclusive, denunciatory spirit whi... [ Continue Reading ]