Commentary on Luke (Greek fragments) 13.19–14.3.2

“It is like a grain of mustard seed” (13:19). The example is apt, and quite sufficient to present what happened—that is, what came about with the divine and sacred proclamation, I mean the gospel, which he also calls the kingdom of God; for through it we gain the right to reign with Christ. In the beginning it was among few and confined, but afterwards it spread out and ran through all the nations. For it was spoken in Judea alone, in which the blessed disciples too were altogether few in number; but when Israel disobeyed, he commanded the holy apostles, saying: “Go and make disciples of all the nations,” and so on. As the seed of mustard, then, is much inferior in size to the seeds of other vegetables, yet rises in height beyond the measure of a vegetable, so as to become a lodging for many sparrows, so too the kingdom of heaven … sprang up—that is, the new, sacred and saving proclamation, by which we have been guided to every one of the noblest deeds of virtue and have come to know him who is by nature and truly God: it was among few in the beginning, and as it were small and confined, but afterwards advanced to growth, so as to become a shelter for those who come to it, whom one must liken to sparrows, for before God our affairs are of very small measure. The law through Moses was given to those of Israel; but since it was impossible for those on earth to be saved through its shadow and bodily worship, … the proclamation, and it has stretched out over the whole world under heaven. The Mosaic writing signified this to us in a riddle; it runs thus: “And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: Make for yourself two trumpets of beaten work; of silver you shall make them, and they shall be for you to summon the congregation and to move the camps.” And after other things: “And the sons of Aaron, the priests, shall blow the trumpets, and it shall be a perpetual ordinance for you throughout your generations.” This is so that from it you may perceive both the tutelage of the law and the perfection that comes through Christ, through the gospel way of life and an initiation beyond shadow and types. The law, then, is a trumpet, and likewise the gospel and saving proclamation; for so the prophet Isaiah too mentions it, saying: “And it shall be in that day, they will blow the great trumpet.” For truly a great trumpet sounded—the one through the holy apostles—not setting aside the first but receiving it along with itself; for through the law and the prophets they always confirm the word about Christ, using the older testimonies. So the trumpets are two, and of silver and beaten work: the silver signifying brightness, for the word from God is radiant; the beaten work indicating that the holy and divine trumpets, that is, the new and the old proclamation, would advance and make progress; for what is beaten out always advances somehow and is extended in breadth and length. And they were going to advance when Christ shone forth: the old law into spiritual contemplation, the gospel proclamation into being spread over the whole world under heaven. Moreover, the law gave to the priests the duty of directing the peoples with the trumpets; and Christ has given the preaching of himself and his decrees to the sacred ministers of the new proclamation, clearly the holy apostles. That the word of the gospel proclamation, small in the beginning, was going to spring up, as it were, into growth, is easy to see, since God foretold it through the voice of Isaiah: “The whole earth has been filled with the knowledge of the Lord, as much water covers the seas.” For like a sea the saving proclamation has been poured out everywhere and has an all-powerful onrush; and this again the God of all makes clear to us through the voice of a prophet: “And judgement will roll down like water, and righteousness like an impassable torrent.” For he calls the gospel proclamation judgement and righteousness, and he affirmed that it would roll down over the whole world under heaven like water and a torrent, whose onrush no one could check as it pours down in full flood.

“It is like leaven,” and so on (13:21). The same account would hold also for the kingdom of God being compared to leaven. For leaven is small, yet it effortlessly lays hold of the whole lump and quickly mixes its own quality into it. Something of this kind the divine word works in us too; for when it has come to be in us, it makes us holy and blameless, and having entered into mind and heart, it renders us spiritual, so that, as Paul says, our whole spirit and body and soul may be kept blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. That the divine word is poured into the depths of our understanding, the God of all will make clear when he says through one of the prophets: “Behold, days are coming, says the Lord, and I will accomplish with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah a new covenant, putting my laws; on their minds I will write them.” Let us, then, receive the spiritual and divine leaven into mind and heart, so that through so venerable and holy a leaven we may be found spiritually unleavened. For the life-giving energy of the gospel teaching, entering the mind, transforms soul and body and spirit, as it were, into its own quality. “And someone said to him, Lord, will those who are saved be few? And he said to them, Strive to enter by the narrow gate,” and so on (13:23–24).

The answer seems somehow to stray from the aim of the questioner. For he asked to learn whether those being saved are few; but he explained the path by which one can be justified, saying: “Strive to enter by the narrow gate.” What, then, do we say to this? It was the custom of Christ the Saviour of all to meet those who questioned him not always according to what they thought fit, but with an eye to what was useful and necessary for the hearers. And he did this especially when someone asked to learn one of the things that are superfluous and of no profit. For why was there any need to inquire curiously whether those being saved are many or few? What benefit would have come from this to the hearers? But it was necessary and profitable rather to know the way by which one might go to salvation. So with wise economy he keeps silent toward the idleness of the question, but transfers his words to what was necessary; and this was to know how to do those things by which one could pass through the narrow and constricted gate. For he says this somewhere else too in his teaching: “Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad the way that leads to destruction, and many are those who enter by it; but narrow is the gate and constricted the way that leads to life, and few are those who find it.” For those who wish to enter there must be, first of all, right faith, then a life beyond reproach, at least by the measure of human righteousness. For so the prophet David too made his supplications to God, saying: “Judge me, O Lord, according to my righteousness.” Yet those who wish to live holily cannot do so without toil; for the path leading to virtue is always somehow hard and steep and not passable for the many; but he who strives and chooses such labours will easily pass through the narrow gate and run the constricted way. Indeed it is written: “A man in toils toils for himself and forces back his own destruction”; for, as the Lord himself said again: “The kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent seize it.” But wide is the gate and broad the way that carries many down to ruin. And what may its breadth be taken to be? A shameful and pleasure-loving life, luxuries and revels and drunkenness, and all the practices of wickedness; love of money, and the empty show of passing petty glories; forgetfulness of the divine commandments; not having the fear of God before one’s eyes. Those, then, who wish to press through the narrow gate must depart from such things, and be with Christ and keep festival with him; for that those who are not such are cast out, the Saviour showed by a plain example, saying:

“When once the master of the house has gone in and shut the door,” and so on (13:25). As in the case of a master of the house who has gathered many of his friends to his hearth and table, and then has gone in first with those with whom he had to do so, and shut the door, he says that those who knock after this will hear: “I do not know you.” Here he does not speak of knowledge simply as acquaintance, but of the intimacy that comes by participation, as in grace and honour. For if knowledge signified to us only acquaintance, how could he who has all things naked and laid bare to his eyes, he who knows all things even before they come to be, be ignorant of any who exist? So it is not only foolish but impious to suppose that the Lord does not know some; we shall rather think that he said this because they bring with them no intimacy or relationship with him from any quarter. “For I do not know,” he says, “that you have become lovers of virtue; you have not honoured my word, nor been joined to me through good deeds.” In the same way it was said to Moses too: “I know you above all, and you have found favour with me”—instead of: You have been placed in an intimacy with me above all, and have won much favour. So of those who have in no way been made his own he says: “I do not know you; depart from me, workers of unrighteousness.” “For there is no fellowship of light with darkness.” But who might be meant by those who say to Christ, “We ate and drank in your presence”? Such a saying would fit above all those of Israel, to whom Christ also said: “You will see Abraham and the prophets in the kingdom of God, and yourselves thrown out.” How, then, did they eat and drink in the presence of God? By performing the worship of the law; for when they brought God the sacrifices of blood, they ate and made merry; and they listened in the synagogues to the books of Moses, who did not write his own things but rather interpreted those from God, for he always set before his own words: “Thus says the Lord.” But worship by blood is not enough for justification; nor could one wash away defilements by becoming a hearer of the divine laws while doing none of the things commanded. And besides, since they did not accept the faith that justifies the ungodly, nor follow the gospel decrees through which one could practise a noble and chosen life, how could they enter the kingdom of God? You may add to those named some others too who can say at times to the Judge of all: “We ate in your presence, and you taught in our streets.” And who might these be? Many have believed in Christ and celebrate the holy feasts in his honour; they attend the churches and hear the gospel teachings, but they lay up nothing of what is written in their mind, and keep their heart bare of spiritual fruitfulness. These too, then, will weep bitterly and gnash their teeth; for the Lord will deny them as well. Indeed he said: “Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of God, but he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.”

“They will come from east and west,” and so on (13:29). Many will gather with the saints, but they themselves will be thrust out; and though they held the first rank, they will then have the second, others being ranked before them. This has also happened; for the nations have been honoured above the flock of the Jews—even if this was also said of many others, without distinction. The faithful from the nations, who now seem last, as having come to know God last, will be first; they will then be first because of their sincere faith. But the unbelieving Jews, who now seem first, as having come to know God first (for “Israel,” he says, “is my firstborn son”), will then be last because of their unbelief. The saying is also understood of the faithful who seem to be last in the present life but will be first in the age to come, and again the reverse. That the Jews were going to slip wholly away from intimacy with him—spiritual intimacy, clearly—while the multitude of the nations would be brought in in their place, he showed by saying: “Many will come from the east and west, and from the north and south, and will recline with the saints”; but they themselves will be thrust out, while these will recline in the kingdom of God.

We shall reckon the first time, as has been said, as the one in which Adam was in paradise; the second, indicated as the third hour, the one in which Noah lived; the third, as the sixth hour, the one in which Abraham lived; the fourth, as the ninth hour, the one in which Moses and the prophets lived. About the eleventh hour, that is, in the fifth time, when the day—that is, the present age—was already drawing in, Christ hired the nations, called to knowledge, hired by no one else.

“Some Pharisees came, saying: Get out and go away from here” (13:31). The Pharisees, from envy, did not want Christ to stay in Jerusalem, lest by his divine signs and his initiations beyond the law he should draw many into the net of faith in him. But since, being God, he was not ignorant of their reasonings, he meets them gently and in a veiled way, as was his custom. “For tell,” he says, “this fox.” Attend closely to the force of the saying. It seems somehow to be turned toward and aimed at Herod, as some have thought; but it comes rather against the perversity of the Pharisee. For though he could have said, “Tell that fox,” he passes this by; and very cleverly, using a sort of middle expression, he all but pointed out the Pharisee who was near, saying “this fox.” He likens the man to a fox; for the beast is always somehow crafty and devious; and such too were the Pharisees.

“Behold, I cast out demons and perform cures today and tomorrow, and on the third day I am perfected” (13:32). Do you see that he promises to fulfil the very thing he knew grieved the band of the Pharisees, saying that he will rebuke unclean spirits and free from their sufferings those in sickness, and will be perfected—that is, will willingly endure the suffering on the cross for the salvation of the world under heaven? He knew, then, both how and when he would undergo death according to the flesh; but the Pharisees thought he would dread the hand of Herod, though he is the Lord of the powers. That he takes no account of human grasping he showed by saying: “Nevertheless I must go on today and tomorrow and the day following; for it cannot be that a prophet should perish outside Jerusalem.” In saying “I must,” he did not indicate an inescapable necessity hanging over him, as it were, but rather that by the authority of his own will he will walk without fear wherever he wishes and travel about Judea, no one attacking or plotting against him, until he himself willingly accepts his perfecting—I mean the one through the precious cross. For the present, he says, I work mighty deeds; and this is the time for it, and not for much longer; for that is what “today and tomorrow” means. And this, he says, is reserved for Jerusalem, and it cannot happen otherwise: she who has always made it her practice to kill the prophets will come also against the Lord of the prophets. He makes Jerusalem guilty of the blood of many saints; and what follows from this? They were to slip away from intimacy with God—spiritual intimacy, clearly—and to be sent away from the hope of the saints. By saying this, he indicated the place where he was going to undergo his passion.

That they were unmindful of God’s gifts, hard to lead and sluggish toward everything that benefited them, he showed by saying: “How often I wanted to gather your children,” and so on. For he trained them through the most wise Moses, admonished them through the holy prophets; he wished to have them under his wings, that is, under the shelter of his power; but they missed such greatly desired good things, being unmindful and ungrateful. “You will not see me until the time comes when you say: Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.” For the Lord departed from Jerusalem, leaving, as unworthy of his presence, those who had said: “Get out and go away from here.” Then, having travelled about Judea, saved many, and worked signs beyond reason, he returned again to Jerusalem; then, yes then, he sat on the foal of the donkey, and many crowds and young children, holding up the branches of palm trees, went before him, acclaiming him and saying: “Hosanna to the Son of David; blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.” So having left them as unworthy, he says he will be seen by them again when the time of his passion arrives; for then he went up again to Jerusalem and entered amid acclamations; and at that time he underwent the saving passion for us.

“Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?” (14:3).

The Lord asked the lawyers and the Pharisees whether it is lawful to heal on the Sabbath or not; but they, it says, were silent. Why have you been silent, lawyer? Quote something of what is written; show that the law through Moses ever forbade doing good on the Sabbath, if it wants us to be hard and pitiless because of the Sabbath rest. But you could not show this from anywhere. Since they kept an obstinate silence, Christ breaks down their unbreakable shamelessness, using compelling arguments to do so. If the law, he says, forbade showing mercy on the Sabbath, how do you yourself pity an ass that has fallen into a well? Will you not care for a son in danger on the Sabbath? Rebuke the sting of your natural affection, if you know the lawgiver to be hard and pitiless; do not lend a hand to the sufferer, setting before him your reverence for the law—or rather the most irrational idleness—unless you think fit to know a spiritual Sabbath rest. The God of all does not cease to be kind; he is good and loves humankind; he did not establish the law of Moses as a teacher of inhumanity, but rather as one that brings in love for one’s neighbour. How, then, was it likely that so venerable and admirable a commandment should lose its force on the Sabbath by God’s will? Why, then, have you been silent, lawyer? Admittedly you were at a loss. So, bidding a long farewell to the envious spite of the Jews, he frees from his sickness the man in the grip of dropsy. The man, fearing the Pharisees, did not come asking to be healed, because of the Sabbath, but only stood before him, so that, pitying him from the sight of him, he might heal him. The Lord, knowing this, entering into his soul as God, does not ask him whether he wants to be made well, but healed him at once; for he knew that he wanted it; for to obtain healing he stood in front of him and kept silent.