St Luke Chapter X : Verses 17-24
Contents
- Luke x. 17-24. Douay-Rheims (Challoner) text & Latin text (Vulgate)
- Douay-Rheims 1582 text
- Annotations based on the Great Commentary
Luke x. 17-24.
 |
| Satan falling from Heaven. Gustave Doré (1866). |
Reversi sunt autem septuaginta duo cum gaudio, dicentes : Domine, etiam dæmonia subjiciuntur nobis in nomine tuo.
18 And he said to them: I saw Satan like lightning falling from heaven.
Et ait illis : Videbam Satanam sicut fulgor de cælo cadentem.
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.
Ecce dedi vobis potestatem calcandi supra serpentes, et scorpiones, et super omnem virtutem inimici : et nihil vobis nocebit.
20 But yet rejoice not in this, that spirits are subject unto you; but rejoice in this, that your names are written in heaven.
Verumtamen in hoc nolite gaudere quia spiritus vobis subjiciuntur : gaudete autem, quod nomina vestra scripta sunt in cælis.
21 In that same hour, he rejoiced in the Holy Ghost, and said: I confess to thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hidden these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them to little ones. Yea, Father, for so it hath seemed good in thy sight.
In ipsa hora exsultavit Spiritu Sancto, et dixit : Confiteor tibi Pater, Domine cæli et terræ, quod abscondisti hæc a sapientibus et prudentibus, et revelasti ea parvulis. Etiam Pater : quoniam sic placuit ante te.
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.
Omnia mihi tradita sunt a Patre meo. Et nemo scit quis sit Filius, nisi Pater : et quis sit Pater, nisi Filius, et cui voluerit Filius revelare.
23 And turning to his disciples, he said: Blessed are the eyes that see the things which you see.
Et conversus ad discipulos suos, dixit : Beati oculi qui vident quæ vos videtis.
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.
Dico enim vobis quod multi prophetae et reges voluerunt videre quæ vos videtis, et non viderunt : et audire quæ auditis, et non audierunt.
Douay-Rheims : 1582 text
17. And the Seuentie-two returned with ioy, ſaying: Lord, the Diuels also are ſubiect to vs in thy name.
18. And he ſaid to them: I saw Satan as a lightening fal from Heauen.
19. Behold, I haue giuen you power to tread vpon ſerpents, and ſcorpions, and vpon al the power of the enemie, and nothing ſhal hurt you.
20. But yet reioyce not in this, that the ſpirits are ſubiect vnto you; but reioyce in this, that your names are written in Heauen.
21. In that very houre he reioyced in ſpirit, and ſaid: I confeſſe to thee O Father, Lord of Heauen and earth, becauſe thou haſt hid theſe things from the wiſe and prudent, and haſt reuealed them to litle ones. Yea Father, for so hath it wel pleaſed thee.
22. Al things are deliuered to me of my Father. And no man knoweth who the Sonne is, but the Father; and who the Father is, but the Sonne, and to whom the Sonne wil reueale.
23. And turning to his Diſciples, he said: Bleſſed are the eyes that ſee the things that you ſee.
24. ⋮For I ſay to you, that many Prophets and Kings deſired to ſee the things that you ſee, and ſaw them not; and to heare the things that you heare, and heard them not.
Annotations
17. And the seventy returned with joy (great joy, Syriac), saying: Lord, the devils also are subject to us in thy name. They as much as say, We have not only healed the sick according to Thy word, ver. 9; but have even cast out devils through the power of Thy name. See, says Theophylact, their humility, for they say through Thy name, not by our own power or virtue. Yet a certain amount of vain glorying seems to have crept in unawares, because Christ had chosen them in preference to others to work such wonders; but their offence was a venial one, such as the Master would soon absolve.
18. And he said to them: I saw Satan like lightning falling from heaven. Like lightning.
1. Unexpectedly: because as the lightning bursts forth unexpectedly from a tranquil sky, so were the devils suddenly cast down from heaven.
2. Violently, by the power of Michael and his angels, Rev. xii. 7.
3. Swiftly, in a moment of time.
4. Openly, in the presence of all the inhabitants of heaven.
Christ took example from the lightning to show how great and swift was the fall of Satan. Euthymius. Many think that Christ here speaks literally of the fall of Satan from heaven, i.e. from the power of which he possessed over the world before the coming of the Saviour.
Ye tell me no new thing, O my disciples, for when I sent you forth I saw the devil deprived of power, falling as it were from heaven, and about to be yet more discomfited by your ministry. Christ saith this as if to magnify the power which He had given to the disciples. See how mighty a foe is subject to you through My name. So Nazianzen, S. Basil, and well-nigh all the Fathers.
Hear Theophylact. Some understand by the word heaven the honour and glory which Satan possessed, for before the coming of Christ he was worshipped as a god.
Euthymius also: Before the incarnation Satan was had in honour, and exercised kingly power, but he fell, not from heaven, because he had already fallen from it, but from all his glory and power when Christ was made man. So also Vatablus: When I sent you forth to preach I saw, saith Christ, that the power of Satan would be broken. “For” says S. Cyril, “Satan then fell from the heights of power to the extreme of weakness.” He was venerated by men before the coming of Christ. He is now trodden under by the feet of the faithful.
Hence it is written, “I give you power to tread upon serpents.”
But this allusion to the fall of Satan is mystical and symbolical rather than literal. Literally Christ speaks of Satan’s fall from heaven, i.e. of the time when he and his angels were cast into the abyss, because through pride he sought to make himself equal with God, or because, as others think, he endeavoured to hinder the purpose of God in the incarnation of Christ.
Because, therefore, he envied the Divinity of Christ, he was cast out of heaven. The Greek word πεσόντα is in the past tense, and should therefore be translated as in the Arabic, “fallen.” The whole passage, therefore, may be rendered thus,
“Wonder not, O My disciples, that through My name ye have cast out devils; for I long since cast out of heaven Lucifer and his angels, because of their pride and discontent. But beware lest ye give way to pride, because the devils are subject unto you, and lest ye also for this cause incur a like punishment.” So S. Jerome, and all the Fathers.
But very appropriately is Lucifer compared to lightning.
1. Because by the brilliancy of lightning is very aptly shown the pre-eminence and fiery nature of Lucifer.
2. And also his excessive power to do hurt. For as the lightning shatters the hardest rock, so Satan overpowers all opposition.
3. Because of the shortness of his reign. For as the flash is quickly gone, so the dominion of Satan lasts but for this life, which is but as a moment compared with eternity.
Hence, figuratively, lightning is an emblem of this world’s glory. For as it flashes, and is quickly gone, “so passes away the glory of this world.”
Furthermore, as the brilliant lightning loses itself in the earth, so Lucifer, a bright angel, became through pride a foul fiend, and thus pride makes the best of men to become devils, whilst humility makes angels of the worst. See Isa. xiv. 11. “Thy pride is brought down to hell, thy carcass is fallen down: under thee shall the moth be strewed, and worms shall be thy covering.”
4. Because of his outward appearance, “for Satan himself transformeth himself into an angel of light.” 2 Cor. xi.14.
The full meaning of this verse is as follows:—I, saith Christ, as God saw the fall of Satan when he was cast out from heaven, and in like manner, I now, as the Son of man, see him cast out of the temples in which he was worshipped, because I teach, and in My name ye also teach, the nations to break up their idols and to worship God alone. Hence, as I cast him out of heaven, so now I deprive him of his power over men. “How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, who didst rise in the morning? how art thou fallen to the earth, that didst wound the nations?” See Isa. xiv.12.
Moraliter. S. Bernard, in his sermon, on 1 Cor. iii. 12, says,
“There is no security in heaven or in paradise, much less in the world. In heaven the angels fell in the very presence of God; in the garden of Eden, Adam; in the world, Judas, a disciple of Christ. I have said this, that no man lull himself into false security because ‘a place is holy ground.’ For it is not the place which sanctifies the men, but the men who sanctify the place.”
Mystically. ... The traitor Judas was offered heaven, but chose earth. The apostle Paul, when persecuting the Church, was the enemy of Christ; but converted, he became meet for the kingdom of heaven. Let him, whose conversation is in heaven, beware of false security; and let not him who yet loves the world, despair of salvation.
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. Power ἐξουσίαν, i.e. authority. We may take the words literally, for to Adam was given dominion over every living thing. Christ then gives His disciples power over the wild animals as well as over devils. “They shall take up serpents; and if they shall drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them: they shall lay their hands upon the sick, and they shall recover.” S. Mark xvi. 18. And so S. Paul shook off the viper which had fastened on his hand, and felt no harm. Acts xxviii. 5. Jansenius, Maldonatus, and others.
and upon all the power of the enemy:, δύναμιν rendered in the Vulgate “virtutem,” whether wild animal, or poison, or Satan himself. For by all the power of the enemy we may understand everything hostile to men.
But mystically, the passage has reference to the devils, who are described as serpents and scorpions, and called the power of the enemy, i.e. the army of Satan. S. Athanasius, Theophylact and others.
Hence Euthymius takes these serpents and scorpions as influencing the senses, or, as Bede says, “representing every kind of unclean spirit.” He adds, “There is this difference between serpents which wound with their fangs, and scorpions whose sting is in their tail, that the serpents signify men or spirits raging openly, scorpions signify them plotting in secret. Thus by the serpent which deceived Eve, we must understand the devil in the serpent’s form. See Gen. chap. iii.
20. But yet rejoice not in this, that spirits are subject unto you; but rejoice in this, that your names are written in heaven. He does not forbid them altogether from rejoicing in that the spirits were subject unto them, for this was a lawful joy, but he exhorts them to rejoice rather at their election to eternal life.
1. Because power over the devils is a grace given to the Church, and sometimes bestowed upon the unworthy, as Judas. S. Matt. vii. 22. But predestination brings men into favour with God, and ends in everlasting happiness.
2. Because, as Euthymius says, “The one joy is productive of pride and vainglory, but the other of good works, and a desire to please God.
3. Again, because the casting out of devils and the working of miracles is due to the power of God, and is independent of human merit. But they whose names are written in heaven, at some time present or future are made meet for so great a reward. Bede.
4. Lastly, because to cast out devils affects others, but it is for our own profit that our names are written in heaven. Theophylact.
are written in heaven, “in the book of life,” not by pen and ink, says Titus, but by the foreknowledge and election of God. Ye are citizens inscribed on the roll of an eternal city, not after the manner of men, but written down in the remembrances of God Euthymius. Not, says Bede, because God can forget, but that His purpose may stand fast for ever.
Hence, as the foreknowledge and election of God are twofold, so is the book of life. The one perfect and complete, in which are the names of those who are predestinated to eternal life. The other imperfect and incomplete, because they whose names are written in it may fall away, and forfeit their promised reward. So the Apostle salutes Clement and his fellow-labourers, “whose names are written in the book of life” (Phil iv.) meaning thereby that they, like the Ephesian converts, were called by God and predestinated by Christ to believe on Him, but that their final salvation was conditional on their perseverance and faith. Eph. i. And again, Eph. ii. 19, “Ye are fellow citizens with the saints, and of the household of God:” by grace here and in the glory hereafter, if ye depart not from the grace which is given you. So the Church in the “Secreta” for Lent prays, that the names of all believers may be retained in the book of God’s predestination. These then can forfeit their election, and therefore their salvation is conditional on their perseverance in well doing. For this is the interpretation of Jansenius, Francis Lucas, and others, though Maldonatus doubts whether it be the right one, and Toletus refuses to accept it.
For it is clear from ver. 18. that Christ did not give the seventy disciples to understand that they were absolutely and unconditionally predestinated to glory, for He would have them mindful of condemnation. As Satan fell from heaven, so take heed lest ye also come short of the glory prepared for you in heaven. So all the apostles were called by Christ, and yet one of them was a reprobate. “Have not I chosen you twelve; and one of you is a devil?” S. John vi. 71. And also among the deacons, who were chosen from the seventy was Nicolas, a man of impure life and the author of the heresy of the Nicolaitanes. S. Jerome, Epist. 48.
Hence we must understand the promise of Christ (S. Matt. xix. 28), “Ye which have followed me... you also shall sit on twelve seats judging the twelve tribes of Israel,” to be conditional, i.e. to be fulfilled only if they continued to follow Him to their life’s end.
21. In that same hour, he rejoiced in the Holy Ghost, because the Holy Spirit had, according to His promise, granted the disciples, though weak and unlearned men, the power of working wonders, and had thus led others to believe in Christ and to glorify God.
and hast revealed them to little ones, i.e. that thou hast revealed to my humble and unlearned disciples the truth, so that they might acknowledge Thee, the one true God, and Me whom Thou hast sent, and might be predestinated to eternal life; and that many others also, whom they have healed of their diseases, and from whom they have cast out devils, might be brought to the knowledge of God, and believe to the salvation of their soul.
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. As all things were created by My Father, so all things are created anew by Me, and redeemed from the curse of sin. That thus I might raise up those who had fallen away, and might sanctify them, and might renew all the other creatures which had become corrupt through the sin of man.
“For,” says S. Athanasius (Serm. iv. contra Arianos), “after the fall of man, all things were made partakers of his transgression. And so death reigned over all from Adam even unto Christ. The earth was given over to the curse, hell was opened, paradise shut, heaven became an enemy, and mankind being corrupted and lost, the devil triumphed over us.”
“Then He gave Him a human nature, that the Word Himself might take upon Him our flesh, and might renew in all the nature He had taken.
“All things were delivered unto Him as the physician who could heal the serpent’s bite, as the life which could restore the dead, as the light which could illuminate the darkness, as the understanding which could renew the powers of the mind.”
And in explanation, he adds, “After all things were delivered to Him, and he was made man, all things were renewed and made perfect again. The earth received a blessing instead of a curse, paradise was unlocked. Hell drew back from fear, the graves gave up their dead, and the gates were thrown open that He might enter from Eden.”
Christ does not speak here of the essence and attributes which were communicated to Him from the Father by His divine generation, as S. Chrysostom, Hilary, and S. Ambrose explain, but of the plenary power which was given to Him as man, to effect the salvation of men.
+ + +
SUB tuum præsidium confugimus, Sancta Dei Genitrix. Nostras deprecationes ne despicias in necessitatibus, sed a periculis cunctis libera nos semper, Virgo gloriosa et benedicta. Amen.
The Vladimirskaya Icon. >12th century.
Totus tuus ego sum
Et omnia mea tua sunt;
Tecum semper tutus sum:
Ad Jesum per Mariam.
No comments:
Post a Comment