15. See C. Kavin Rowe, Early Narrative Christology: The Lord in the Gospel of Luke (Berlin: de Gruyter, 2006; Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2009), 151–57.
16. E.g., Gregory the Great, Pastoral Rule 3.39.
17. The Roman Missal (Totowa, NJ: Catholic Book Publishing, 2011), Communion Antiphon (option) for the Common of Pastors (For One Pastor).
18. Augustine, Sermon 340.1, in Sermons, trans. Edmund Hill, 11 vols., WSA III/9 (Hyde Park, NY: New City Press, 1990–97), 9:292.
19. Ambrose, Exposition of the Holy Gospel according to Saint Luke 7.131, trans. Theodosia Tomkinson (Etna, CA: Center for Traditionalist Orthodox Studies, 1998), 289.
20. Brant Pitre, Jesus, the Tribulation, and the End of the Exile: Restoration Eschatology and the Origin of the Atonement (Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2005), 209–10.
21. This small, copper coin is the lepton (also Luke 21:2); 128 of them made up a day’s wage (denarius).
22. Philo, Embassy 299–305; Josephus, Jewish Antiquities 18.55–62, 85–89.
23. N. T. Wright, Jesus and the Victory of God (Minneapolis: Fortress, 1996), 331.
24. Klyne R. Snodgrass, Stories with Intent: A Comprehensive Guide to the Parables of Jesus (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2008), 255–65.
25. Ambrose, Luke 7.165 (trans. Tomkinson, 303). Among modern scholars, see Arthur A. Just Jr., Luke 9:51–24:53: A Theological Exposition of Sacred Scripture (St. Louis: Concordia, 1997), 536.
26. A tower (see Luke 13:4; 14:28) often represents the Jerusalem temple (see Matt 21:33; Mark 12:1) on account of Isaiah’s song of the vineyard (Isa 5:1–2), the details of which were already interpreted at Qumran in reference to Jerusalem and its temple (4Q500).
27. John Paul II, Salvifici Doloris (On the Christian Meaning of Human Suffering) 12 (emphasis in the original).
28. On the physical effects of demonic oppression, see comment on Luke 4:39.
29. Some scholars suggest a link to the “eighteen” in the previous passage (Luke 13:4). Jesus will himself refer to the “eighteen years” (v. 16), revealing special knowledge about the woman’s situation.
30. The rabbis later detailed what was permitted or forbidden for one’s animals on the sabbath: m. Shabbat 5:1–4; 7:2; 15:1–2; Eruvin 2:1–4.
31. The Greek verb dei (“must”) again here indicates what is necessary according to God’s plan (see comment on Luke 2:49), which differs from what the synagogue leader believes “ought” to happen (dei, v. 14).
32. Bovon, Luke, 2:292: the woman is “like a regenerated Eve.”
33. Richard B. Hays, Reading Backwards: Figural Christology and the Fourfold Gospel Witness (Waco: Baylor University Press, 2014), 69. Luke’s text and the verse from Isaiah (LXX) have four consecutive Greek words in common (a string found nowhere else in the Bible) plus related forms of a verb.
34. On the link between the “kingdom” and the new creation (“Paradise”), see Luke 23:42–43.
The Last Are First at God’s Kingdom Banquet
Luke 13:22–14:35
Jesus continues his journey to Jerusalem in the next part (13:22–17:10) of the travel narrative. As before, he is accompanied by crowds (14:25) and teaches about discipleship. More specifically, this next unit (13:22–14:35) focuses on parables and events involving meals, through which Jesus teaches about the banquet in the kingdom of God. This banquet involves a reversal: those considered “last” will become “first” (13:29–30; 14:10–11, 13, 21).
The Narrow Door into the Kingdom of God (13:22–30)
22He passed through towns and villages, teaching as he went and making his way to Jerusalem. 23Someone asked him, “Lord, will only a few people be saved?” He answered them, 24“Strive to enter through the narrow door, for many, I tell you, will attempt to enter but will not be strong enough. 25After the master of the house has arisen and locked the door, then will you stand outside knocking and saying, ‘Lord, open the door for us.’ He will say to you in reply, ‘I do not know where you are from.’ 26And you will say, ‘We ate and drank in your company and you taught in our streets.’ 27Then he will say to you, ‘I do not know where [you] are from. Depart from me, all you evildoers!’ 28And there will be wailing and grinding of teeth when you see Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God and you yourselves cast out. 29And people will come from the east and the west and from the north and the south and will recline at table in the kingdom of God. 30For behold, some are last who will be first, and some are first who will be last.”
OT: Ps 6:9; 107:3; Isa 25:6–9; 43:5–6
NT: Matt 25:10–12. // Matt 7:13–14, 22–23; 8:11–12; 19:30; 20:16; Mark 10:31
Catechism: call to conversion, 1036; people of all nations enter the kingdom, 543
Lectionary: Twenty-First Sunday Ordinary Time (Year C)
[13:22]
The reminder that Jesus is making his way to Jerusalem begins the next part (13:22–17:10) of the central section. Along the journey, he visits towns and villages as before (9:52, 56; 10:1, 38), and his main activity continues to be teaching (see 11:1–2; 13:10).
[13:23–24]
Someone asks, “Lord, will only a few people be saved?”1 Others will later ask a related question—“Who can be saved?” (18:26)—and twice Jesus is similarly asked about “eternal life” (10:25; 18:18). All these questions refer to life “in the age to come” (18:30).
Jesus does not give numbers or percentages, but he does indirectly contrast the “few” in the question with the many who are unsuccessful in their attempt to be saved. Jesus’ words serve as a warning to the “great” (14:25, same Greek word as “many”) crowds following him. They are also echoed in his parable about the “many” guests invited to a dinner (14:16), none of whom actually gets to taste it (14:24).
The image Jesus uses here is that of entering through the narrow door. One must strive or struggle to do so. Using the same Greek verb, Paul writes, “Fight the good fight of the faith” (1 Tim 6:12 NRSV). Many are not able or strong enough. Despite God’s universal saving will (1 Tim 2:4), salvation should not be taken for granted!
[13:25–27]
Jesus develops the image further: the narrow door is now locked from the inside by the master of the house (see Luke 14:21). Those outside try knocking to get in: Lord, open the door for us. Once again, the nearby use of the title “Lord” (kyrios) in the narrative (13:23) and then in the parable suggests that Jesus is the Lord and master of the house. This identification is confirmed by their plea—We ate and drank in your company and you taught in our streets—which refers precisely to what Jesus has been doing (11:37; 13:22).
Twice they are rebuffed with the phrase: I do not know where you are from. Although they know Jesus, they have not acknowledged him but rather denied him; now it is their turn to be denied (12:8–9): Depart from me, all you evildoers! These words echo those of the psalmist—“Away from me, all who do evil!” (Ps 6:9). Now it is too late to knock (Luke 11:10). The evildoers have missed their chance to repent (13:1–9).
[13:28–29]
All that is left for those excluded is wailing and grinding of teeth (see Ps 112:10), a combined image often found in Matthew and associated with the outer darkness and fiery furnace of hell (Matt 8:12; 13:42, 50; 22:13; 25:30).
However, those who are saved will enter into the kingdom of God with the patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as well as all the prophets. They come from east, west, north, and south, referring at one level to the restoration of Israel (Isa 43:5–6), and specifically to the reuniting of Samaritans and Jews, descendants of the northern kingdom of “Ephraim” and the southern kingdom of “Judah,” gathered “from the four corners of the earth” (Isa 11:12–13).2 At another level, the phrase refers to the inclusion of the Gentiles (see Isa 49:6).
In the kingdom, they recline at table (Luke 12:37), in a banquet that has already been prefigured in earlier meal scenes in Luke (see 9:17) and explained by Jesus in his parable of the servants awaiting their master’s return (12:35–38)
. Jesus thus answers the question about salvation (13:23) by discussing entrance into the kingdom banquet.3
[13:30]
In the banquet, some are last [eschatos] who will be first [prōtos], and some are first who will be last. For example, some who are Gentiles will enter into eternal life in the kingdom, whereas some in Israel may be judged unworthy to enter (see Acts 13:46–48). This message of reversal will be developed in two upcoming parables, where Jesus contrasts the leaders in Israel with the poor (Luke 14:13, 21). In one parable, the person who goes to the “lowest” or last (eschatos) place is then invited higher, whereas the one who went to the seat of honor ends up in the “lowest” (i.e., last) place (14:9–10). In the other parable, the one invited “first” (prōtos, 14:18) ends up not even tasting the dinner (14:24).
Jesus’ Death Foreshadowed (13:31–35)
31At that time some Pharisees came to him and said, “Go away, leave this area because Herod wants to kill you.” 32He replied, “Go and tell that fox, ‘Behold, I cast out demons and I perform healings today and tomorrow, and on the third day I accomplish my purpose. 33Yet I must continue on my way today, tomorrow, and the following day, for it is impossible that a prophet should die outside of Jerusalem.’
34“Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how many times I yearned to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, but you were unwilling! 35Behold, your house will be abandoned. [But] I tell you, you will not see me until [the time comes when] you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.’”
OT: Deut 32:11; Ps 118:26
NT: Luke 19:38–46. // Matt 23:37–39
Catechism: Jesus and the Pharisees, 575; passion in Jerusalem, 557–58; announcement of the temple’s destruction, 585
[13:31]
The Pharisees are typically Jesus’ foes, yet here some of them try to help him, unless they are acting from a hypocritical motive (12:1). Since Jesus sends them back to Herod (13:32), they are certainly in touch if not in league with him (see Mark 3:6; 8:15; 12:13). As tetrarch, Herod governed not only Galilee but also Perea4 east of the Jordan. The other Gospels record that Jesus spent some time “across the Jordan” (Matt 19:1; Mark 10:1; John 10:40) before his final arrival in Jerusalem. Whether he is there now or still in Galilee (see Luke 17:11), he is advised to leave. Herod’s wish to kill Jesus—as he had killed John the Baptist—was already implied by his earlier efforts to see him (9:9), leading Jesus to move toward Bethsaida, outside of Herod’s jurisdiction (9:10).
[13:32–33]
Ultimately, however, it is not Herod’s scheming that determines Jesus’ movement but rather God’s plan, according to which Jesus must (see 2:49) go to Jerusalem. That is the city where a prophet like him (4:24; 7:16, 39) should die (18:31–33). For the time being (today and tomorrow), he can continue the activities that characterize his mission: to cast out demons (11:14–20) and perform healings (14:4). In a short time—the third day (which elsewhere refers to his resurrection 9:22; 18:33; 24:7, 46)—Jesus will accomplish his purpose by completing his mission.
Jesus calls Herod a fox, perhaps a reference to Herod’s crafty5 or destructive character (Song 2:15) but also to his relative insignificance (Neh 3:35)6—he is no kingly lion (Prov 20:2). However, there may be a subtle wordplay in the epithet, since in Hebrew the word “fox” (shu‘al) sounds similar to Saul (sha’ul).7 As Saul wanted to kill David, but David was warned to escape (e.g., 1 Sam 19:1–2; 22:5), so now Herod wants to kill Jesus, the son of David who inherits David’s throne (Luke 1:32; 18:38–39).8 Indeed, Jesus earlier recalled a passage about David’s flight from Saul (6:3–4) and later, as he was evading Herod (9:9–10), used “five loaves” to feed the people as David had done (see comment on 9:12–15).
BIBLICAL BACKGROUND
The Duration of Jesus’ Public Ministry
Like Matthew and Mark, Luke presents only one journey of Jesus as an adult to Jerusalem, for the feast of Passover (Luke 22:1–15), at which he is put to death. As a result, the duration of Jesus’ public ministry as portrayed by the †synoptic Gospels is typically described as about one year, though nothing in them requires such a limit. On the other hand, John’s Gospel presents Jesus going up to Jerusalem for many feasts spread over at least two-plus years but as many as three and a half years.a In fact, there seem to be indications in the synoptic Gospels that the evangelists are aware that Jesus’ public ministry lasted several years and involved various trips to Jerusalem. Jesus’ lament over Jerusalem is one example: “Jerusalem, Jerusalem . . . how many times I yearned to gather your children together” (Luke 13:34 [emphasis added]; also Matt 23:37). For Jesus’ listeners, the natural way to understand these words would be to conclude that Jesus had made multiple trips to Jerusalem.b Another example that some have interpreted as pointing to Jesus’ multiyear ministry is the phrase “for three years” in the parable of the barren fig tree (Luke 13:7). Despite the awareness of a Judean and multiyear ministry suggested by these texts, Luke retains the framework of describing one journey of Jesus from Galilee to Jerusalem. He is perhaps thus indicating Jesus’ definitive departure from Galilee; even in John’s Gospel, Jesus does not return to Galilee between his later visits to Jerusalem (John 7:9–10; 10:40; 11:54). The journey framework is also due to Luke’s “theological geography” that moves toward Jerusalem in the Gospel (for Jesus’ death and resurrection) and then from Jerusalem in Acts (for the mission to the Gentiles). Luke thus tends to omit precise details of place when recounting, on the one hand, events occurring in Gentile territory north of Galilee, such as Peter’s confession in Caesarea Philippi (Luke 9:18; see Matt 16:13; Mark 8:27), and on the other, events (perhaps from previous trips to Jerusalem) occurring in or near Jerusalem but which are recounted long before Jesus’ arrival in the city (e.g., Luke 10:38–42).c
a. Harold W. Hoehner, “The Chronology of Jesus,” in Handbook for the Study of the Historical Jesus, ed. Tom Holmén and Stanley E. Porter, 4 vols. (Leiden: Brill, 2011), 3:2336–37.
b. John P. Meier, A Marginal Jew: Rethinking the Historical Jesus, 5 vols. (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1991–2016), 1:404. Meier also mentions Luke 4:44, which says that Jesus preached in the synagogues of Judea; see Mark 1:39.
c. See Raymond E. Brown, The Gospel according to John, 2 vols., AB (New York: Doubleday, 1966–70), 1:422.
[13:34]
Jerusalem—the city where Jesus will die—is now twice addressed in a lament that recalls Jesus’ earlier words: you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you (11:47–51). Jesus’ mission is to gather Jerusalem’s children and bring about Israel’s restoration, like a hen gathering her brood under her wings. The image portrays Jesus in the same role as God toward the wilderness generation: “Like an eagle to protect his brood, / he too yearned for his young; / spreading his wings, he received them / and bore them aloft on his back” (Deut 32:11 NETS). Jesus yearned to do this (literally, “was willing”), but they were unwilling.
[13:35]
Like Jeremiah (see Jer 7:6, 13–15), Jesus warns that the consequence for Jerusalem of its leaders’ continuing to shed innocent blood—not just his own but also that of his disciples (Acts 7:59–60; 12:2)9—will be judgment on the city. Earlier, the image was that of the fig tree to be cut down (Luke 13:6–9). Now Jesus prophesies using another image with similar meaning: your house will be abandoned (see Jer 12:7). These words refer to the destruction of Jerusalem and its temple, which the Romans carried out in AD 70.
Nonetheless, in interpreting this and similar sayings, it is important to remember that “God has not rejected his people” (Rom 11:2)10—the people of Israel—“for the gifts and the call of God are irrevocable” (Rom 11:29). Resistance to Jesus from part of Israel is included in God’s plan, a divine mystery that allows for the gospel message to go to the Gentiles (Rom 11:25; see Acts 28:28).
The following words, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord’ (from Ps 118:26), look forward
to Jesus’ arrival in Jerusalem, when he will be hailed with the acclamation: “Blessed is the king / who comes in the name of the Lord” (Luke 19:38; see Matt 21:9; Mark 11:9; John 12:13). Though the people of Jerusalem will respond favorably (Luke 19:48), its leaders will not join in that chorus of praise (19:39, 47), so Jesus will again warn about its coming destruction (19:41–44; 21:6, 20). Only at his second coming in glory, which is the emphasis in the parallel verse (Matt 23:39), will all of Jerusalem proclaim this blessing.
Sabbath Healing and Banquet Parables in a Pharisee’s House (14:1–24)
1On a sabbath he went to dine at the home of one of the leading Pharisees, and the people there were observing him carefully. 2In front of him there was a man suffering from dropsy. 3Jesus spoke to the scholars of the law and Pharisees in reply, asking, “Is it lawful to cure on the sabbath or not?” 4But they kept silent; so he took the man and, after he had healed him, dismissed him. 5Then he said to them, “Who among you, if your son or ox falls into a cistern, would not immediately pull him out on the sabbath day?” 6But they were unable to answer his question.
7He told a parable to those who had been invited, noticing how they were choosing the places of honor at the table. 8“When you are invited by someone to a wedding banquet, do not recline at table in the place of honor. A more distinguished guest than you may have been invited by him, 9and the host who invited both of you may approach you and say, ‘Give your place to this man,’ and then you would proceed with embarrassment to take the lowest place. 10Rather, when you are invited, go and take the lowest place so that when the host comes to you he may say, ‘My friend, move up to a higher position.’ Then you will enjoy the esteem of your companions at the table. 11For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.” 12Then he said to the host who invited him, “When you hold a lunch or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or your wealthy neighbors, in case they may invite you back and you have repayment. 13Rather, when you hold a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind; 14blessed indeed will you be because of their inability to repay you. For you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”
The Gospel of Luke Page 35