St Luke Chapter XIII : Verses 22-30
Contents
- Luke xiii. Verses 22-30. Douay-Rheims (Challoner) text & Latin text (Vulgate)
- Douay-Rheims 1582 text
- Annotations based on the Great Commentary
Luke xii. Verses 22-30.
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| La Chute des Damnés. Dirk Bouts (1450/68). Louvain. (See verse 28) |
Et ibat per civitates et castella, docens, et iter faciens in Jerusalem.
23 And a certain man said to him: Lord, are they few that are saved? But he said to them:
Ait autem illi quidam : Domine, si pauci sunt, qui salvantur? Ipse autem dixit ad illos :
24 Strive to enter by the narrow gate; for many, I say to you, shall seek to enter, and shall not be able.
Contendite intrare per angustam portam : quia multi, dico vobis, quærent intrare, et non poterunt.
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.
Cum autem intraverit paterfamilias, et clauserit ostium, incipietis foris stare, et pulsare ostium, dicentes : Domine, aperi nobis : et respondens dicet vobis : Nescio vos unde sitis :
26 Then you shall begin to say: We have eaten and drunk in thy presence, and thou hast taught in our streets.
tunc incipietis dicere : Manducavimus coram te, et bibimus, et in plateis nostris docuisti.
27 And he shall say to you: I know you not, whence you are: depart from me, all ye workers of iniquity.
Et dicet vobis : Nescio vos unde sitis : discedite a me omnes operarii iniquitatis.
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.
Ibi erit fletus et stridor dentium : cum videritis Abraham, et Isaac, et Jacob, et omnes prophetas in regno Dei, vos autem expelli foras.
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.
Et venient ab oriente, et occidente, et aquilone, et austro, et accumbent in regno Dei.
30 And behold, they are last that shall be first; and they are first that shall be last.
Et ecce sunt novissimi qui erunt primi, et sunt primi qui erunt novissimi.
Douay-Rheims : 1582 text
22. And he went by the cities and townes teaching, and making his iourney vnto Hieruſalem.
23. And a certaine man ſaid to him: Lord, be they few that are ſaued? But he ſaid to them:
24. Striue to enter by the narrow gate: becauſe many, I ſay to you, ſhal ſeeke to enter, and ſhal not be able.
25. But when the good-man of the housſe ſhal enter in, and ſhut the doore, and you ſhal begin to ſtand without, and knocke at the doore, ſaying, Lord open to vs: and he anſwering ſhal ſay to you, I know you not whence you are:
26. then you shal begin to ſay: We did eate before thee and drinke, and in our ſtreetes didſt thou teach.
27. And he ſhal ſay to you, I know you not whence you are, depart from me al ye workers of iniquitie.
28. There ſhal be weeping and gnaſhing of teeth: when you ſhal see Abraham and Iſaac Iacob, and al the Prophets in the Kingdom of God, and you to be thruſt out.
29. And there ſhal come from the East and West & the North and the South; and ſhal ſit downe in the Kingdom of God.
30. And behold, they are laſt that ſhal be firſt, and they be firſt that ſhal be laſt.
Annotations
` 23. And a certain man said to him: Lord, are they few that are saved? Christ answered in the affirmative that few should be saved, as S. Luke signifies and S. Matt, plainly states, vii. 14. Isaiah speaks to the same effect, x. 22; xxiv. 13. Understand “few” by a comparison of all the inhabitants of the whole world; or of the faithful with the unbelieving, for all the latter are condemned for their unbelief, and equally many of the faithful for their wicked lives. The faithful alone are saved, and not all of these. But whether the greater number of them are saved or lost is the question. Some think that the greater number are saved, through the holy sacraments (which very many of them only receive at the end of their lives). Others think that most are lost because they live in a state of mortal sin. The rule of S. Augustine is that as men have lived, so they die. Of these opinions I have shown which is the true one, on S. James ii. 13, on the words “Mercy rejoiceth against judgment.” The judgment of S. Chrysostom, Homily xl. to the Antiochenes, who numbered 100,000 or more, is formidable.
“In our city among so many thousands, scarcely can 100 be found who will be saved, for in the youngers is great wickedness, and in the elders deadness.”
And S. Augustine (Bk. iv. ch. 53, against Dresconius) compares the Church to a threshing-floor, on which there is much more chaff than grain, i.e. more reprobate than elect.
[The following notes are adapted from the Great Commentary on Chapter vii of St Matthew's Gospel, retaining the verse numbers of St Luke's Gospel.]
24. Strive to enter by the narrow gate; for many, I say to you, shall seek to enter, and shall not be able. The narrow gate, by which there is an entrance into heaven, to blessedness and the feast of celestial glory, is, says S. Augustine, the Law of God, which straitens and represses our desires: it is also obedience, continence, mortification, the daily cross, which the law bids either to be made or to be carried. The broad gate which leads to perdition is concupiscence, too great liberty, gluttony, lust, &c. Christ has here regard to His own sanctions and explanations of the Law, as, Whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire, and, If any one shall smite thee on thy right cheek, offer him the other also, &c. For all these things are arduous and strait, or narrow. It is as though He had said, “I may seem to you to have made narrow the way of salvation by my precepts, but know ye, that it is strait even in itself, and therefore I have not straitened it, but have only described it as it really is; for the way to celestial glory is purity and sanctity, which in this corrupt state of your nature consist in a strict bridling and mortification of your passions.” By liberty and indulgence Adam fell into sin, and we all through him, and then into all concupiscence. Thus the remedy for these things is nothing else but strict self-restraint, the cross, and mortification; for contraries are cured by contraries.
S.Ambrose says, on the first Psalm. “There are two ways, one of the just, the other of the unjust: one of equity, the other of iniquity. The way of the just is narrow, that of the unjust is broad. The narrow road is that of soberness, the broad of drunkenness, that it may receive those who are tossing about.” Clemens Alexandrinus (Strom. lib. 4) cites with praise the words of Hesiod: “Intense labour is placed before virtue, the way to it is long and steep.” Also that of Simonides, “Virtue is said to dwell on rocks difficult of access.” And so S. Basil says on the first Psalm: “That broad and easy road which goeth downward hath the deceiving evil demon who draws those who follow him by indulgences to perdition. But a good angel presides over the rough, and steep, and difficult way, which leads by means of zealous toils those who pursue it to a blessed end.” Wherefore S. Luke has (xiii. 24), Strive to enter by the narrow gate;, where for strive, the Greek has ἀγωνίζεσθε, i.e. agonize, contend as it were in a contest and an agony, exercise your utmost power and might as in a wrestling match, as if for life itself, if ye conquer; but for death, if ye be overcome; according to the words of the Apostle, “Every one that striveth for the mastery (in agone, Gr. and Vulg.) is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown, but we an incorruptible.”
We then enter upon a contest, and in it we strive and agonize for heaven or for hell, for a most blessed or a most miserable eternity. And let each see in how great a match he wrestles: for the course and the way to life is the Cross; the course and the way to perdition is indulgence: it is the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. The way to life is continence, poverty of spirit and humility. Wherefore S. Barlaam said to king Josaphat, that the way to life is martyrdom, either of blood or of will and penitence: this is the way in which Christ has gone before us: and for this cause the first Christians and those who followed Him willingly met martyrdom, and when persecution had ceased, those who came after inflicted upon themselves the voluntary martrydom of an austere life in monasteries, deserts, and caves.
So also S. Perpetua saw in her dream a golden ladder, but hedged about with knives and swords. By this ladder she had to climb to heaven, and by this dream she knew that martyrdom was foretold to herself and her companions.
So also S. William, who, from Duke of Aquitaine, became a penitent hermit, gathered from these words of Christ, that all superfluities ought to be cut off, and the body only indulged in things necessary. “How many brethren,” said he, “have served the Lord these many years in Egypt without eating fish? For how many tyrants, now in hell, would Jerome’s sack, Benedict’s frock, Arsenius’ tears, Elisha’s cowl, have sufficed to keep them out of hell? But woe to us, miserable, who changed superfluity into necessity.”
Pythagoras saw the same thing in a shadow. He said that at first the path of virtue is narrow and confined, but afterwards it becomes wider by degrees: but the way of pleasure on the other hand is wide at the beginning, but afterwards it becomes more and more straitened. For as the Apostle says, “But to them that are contentious, and who obey not the truth, but give credit to iniquity, wrath and indignation. Tribulation and anguish upon every soul of man that worketh evil,” (Rom. ii. 8-9). For charity and the grace of Christ enlarge the heart, so that the believer may say confidently with the Psalmist, “I have run the way of thy commandments, when thou didst enlarge my heart.” (Ps. cxviii. 32).
The measure of this straitness and narrowness of the way to heaven, and the fewness of those who find it, and are saved, you may gather from the types. First there is Lot, who only with his two daughters escaped from the burning of Sodom and the other cities of the plain, when all the rest were burnt up because of their lusts. For the world is like Sodom, it is inflamed with lusts and passions. Wherefore the greater part of the lost are damned on account of pollutions and lusts. The second type is the deluge. From this Noah only, with seven souls, escaped. The deluge swallowed up all the rest on account of their sins. In the world is a deluge of iniquity, and thus of punishments and all calamities. The third was the entrance into the Promised Land, which was a type of heaven. Into this of six hundred thousand Israelites, there entered but two, Caleb and Joshua. All this is taught too by the infallible words of Christ, “Many are called, but few chosen,” (Matt. xxii. 14). Wisely does Cassian advise, “Live with the poor that thou mayest deserve to be found and saved amongst the few.”
This moreover is true if you consider the mass of mankind. For by far the greater portion of men are Infidels, Turks, Saracens, or heretics. S. Augustine (lib. 4 contr. Crescent. c. 53) compares the Church to a threshing-floor in which there is far more chaff than grains of wheat, more bad than good, more who will be damned than will be saved. Yet others, with greater mildness, think it probable that the greater portion of professing Christians will be saved, because most of them receive the Holy Sacraments before they die. And they justify sinners, not only those who have contrition, but who have attrition. But this seems to be true of those who have not lived in constant and habitual sins, such as fornication, usury, hatred. For such, when they are sick, conceive with difficulty any serious and efficacious purpose of amendment, or if they do conceive it, God in just punishment of their past sins suffers the demon of their bygone lusts to tempt them, and he furbishes and sharpens their memory, and so the sick man in consequence of his habits easily yields, and consents in his heart to sin, and thus he falls and is damned. Of this there are many examples.
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. The master of the house is Christ, who since as very God He is every where, is already said to be within those whom though He is in heaven He gladdens with His visible presence, but is as it were without to those whom while contending in this pilgrimage, He helps in secret. But He will enter in when He shall bring the whole Church to the contemplation of Himself. He will shut the door when He shall take away from the reprobate all room for repentance. Who standing without will knock, that is, separated from the righteous will in vain implore that mercy which they have despised. Therefore it follows, And he answering shall say to you, I know you not whence ye are. [BEDE, Catena Aurea]
26. Then you shall begin to say: We have eaten and drunk in thy presence, and thou hast taught in our streets.
27. And he shall say to you: I know you not, whence you are: depart from me, all ye workers of iniquity. This refers to the Israelites, who, according to the practice of their law, when offering victims to God, eat and are merry. They heard also in the synagogues the books of Moses, who in his writings delivered not his own words, but the words of God. CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA.
Or it is said to the Israelites, simply because Christ was born of them according to the flesh, and they ate and drank with Him, and heard Him preaching. But these things also apply to Christians. For we eat the body of Christ and drink His blood as often as we approach the mystic table, and He teaches in the streets of our souls, which are open to receive Him. THEOPHYLACT.
Or mystically, he eats and drinks in the Lord’s presence who eagerly receives the food of the word. Hence it is added for explanation, Thou hast taught in our streets. For Scripture in its more obscure places is food, since by being expounded it is as it were broken and swallowed. In the clearer places it is drink, where it is taken down just as it is found. But at a feast the banquet does not delight him whom the piety of faith commends not. The knowledge of the Scriptures does not make him known to God, whom the iniquity of his works proves to be unworthy; as it follows, And he shall say to you: I know you not, whence you are: depart from me, all ye workers of iniquity. BEDE. [From the Catena Aurea]
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.
But the twofold punishment of hell is here described, that is, the feeling cold and heat. For weeping is wont to be excited by heat, gnashing of teeth by cold. Or gnashing of teeth betrays the feeling of indignation, that he who repents too late, is too late angry with himself. BEDE.
Or the teeth will gnash which here delighted in eating, the eyes will weep which here wandered with desire. By each He represents the real resurrection of the wicked. GLOSS.
This also refers to the Israelites with whom He was speaking, who receive from this their severest blow, that the Gentiles have rest with the fathers, while they themselves are shut out. THEOPHYLACT. [From the Catena Aurea]
30. And behold, they are last that shall be first; and they are first that shall be last.
For the Fathers above mentioned, before the times of the Law, forsaking the sins of many gods to follow the Gospel way, received the knowledge of the most high God; to whom many of the Gentiles were conformed through a similar manner of life, but their children suffered estrangement from the Gospel rules; and herein it follows, And behold they are last that shall be first, and they are first that shall be last. EUSEBIUS.
For to the Jews who held the first place have the Gentiles been preferred. CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA.
Many also at first burning with zeal, afterwards grow cold; many at first cold, on a sudden become warm; many despised in this world, will be glorified in the world to come; others renowned among men, will in the end be condemned. BEDE. [From the Catena Aurea]
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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.
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