1 _st. Luke 14:1-6_. To accept an invitation to the house of a Pharisee, after the previous scenes, was to do an act at once of courage and kindness. The host was one of the _chief_ of his sect. There is no proof of the existence of a hierarchy in this party; but one would naturally be formed by sup... [ Continue Reading ]
3. _Jesus at a Feast: Luke 14:1-24_. The following piece allows us to follow Jesus in His domestic life and familiar conversations. It is connected with the preceding by the fact that it is with a Pharisee Jesus has to do. We are admitted to the entire scene: 1 _st._ The entering into the house (Luk... [ Continue Reading ]
2 _d. Luke 14:7-11_. Here is the point at which the guests seat themselves at table. The recommendation contained in this passage is not, as has often been thought, a counsel of worldly prudence. Holtzmann ascribes this meaning, if not to the Lord, at least to Luke. But the very term _parable_ (Luke... [ Continue Reading ]
3 _d. Luke 14:12-14_. The company is seated. Jesus, then observing that the guests in general belonged to the upper classes of society, addresses to His host a lesson on charity, which He clothes, like the preceding, in the graceful form of a recommendation of intelligent self-interest. The μήποτε,... [ Continue Reading ]
῎Αρτον φάγεσθαι (fut. of φάγω) merely signifies, to be admitted to the heavenly feast. There is no allusion in the expression to the excellence of the meats which shall form this repast (Luke 14:1). Jesus replies, “Yes, blessed; and therefore beware of rejecting the blessedness at the very moment wh... [ Continue Reading ]
4 _th. Luke 14:15-24_. The conversation which follows belongs to a later time in the feast. Jesus had been depicting the just seated at the Messiah's banquet, and receiving a superabundant equivalent for the least works of love which they have performed here below. This saying awakes in the heart o... [ Continue Reading ]
. In the report which the servant gives of his mission, we may hear, as Stier so well observes, the echo of the sorrowful lamentations uttered by Jesus over the hardening of the Jews during His long nights of prayer. The _anger_ of the master (ὀργισθείς) is the retaliation for the hatred which he d... [ Continue Reading ]
“ _And there went great multitudes with Him: and He turned, and said unto them_, 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._ 27. _And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and... [ Continue Reading ]
4. _A Warning against hasty Professions: Luke 14:25-35_. The journey resumes its course; great crowds follow Jesus. There is consequently an attraction to His side. This appears in the plurals ὄχλοι, _multitudes_, the adjective πολλοί, and the imperfect of duration συνεπορεύοντο, _were accompanying... [ Continue Reading ]
_The Improvident Builder._ Building here is the image of the Christian life, regarded in its positive aspect: the foundation and development of the work of God in the heart and life of the believer. The _tower_, a lofty edifice which strikes the eye from afar, represents a mode of living distinguish... [ Continue Reading ]
VERS. 31, 32. _The Improvident Warrior._ Here we have an emblem of the Christian life, regarded on its negative or polemical side. The Christian is a king, but a king engaged in a struggle, and a struggle with an enemy materially stronger than himself. Therefore, before defying him with a declaratio... [ Continue Reading ]
_The Application of those two Parables, with a new Figure confirming it._ “ _So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple._ 34. _Salt is good: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be seasoned?_ 35. _It is neither fit for the la... [ Continue Reading ]