Глава 14

1–14. Christ at dinner with a Pharisee. – 15–24. Parable of the Great Evening. – 25–35. About following Christ. Luke 14:1. It happened that on the Sabbath He came to the house of one of the leaders of the Pharisees to eat bread, and they watched Him. The story of the Lord’s stay with one Pharisee is found only in the Evangelist Luke. “Of the leaders of the Pharisees,” i.e. from representatives of Pharisaism, such as, for example, Hillel, Gamaliel. “Taste the bread” (see Matthew 15:2). "And they" (καὶ αὐτο...), i.e. they, the Pharisees, for their part. “They watched Him,” i.e. They were waiting for an opportunity to expose Him for breaking the Sabbath (cf. Mark 3:2). Luke 14:2. And behold, a man appeared before Him, suffering from water sickness. In the house of the Pharisee, Christ was unexpectedly met by a man suffering from dropsy. He was the guest of a Pharisee (cf. verse 4) and was waiting for Christ, probably at the entrance to the house. Not daring to directly turn to Him for healing on Saturday, he only with his gaze begged Christ to turn His merciful attention to him (Euphemius Zigaben). Luke 14:3. On this occasion, Jesus asked the lawyers and Pharisees: Is it permissible to heal on the Sabbath? “On this occasion” is more correct: answering (ἀποκριθείς), i.e. answering the unspoken, but clearly audible to Him, request of the patient. Luke 14:4. They were silent. And touching him, he healed him and released him. The Pharisees were silent to the question clearly posed by Christ, because they were so reasonable that they could not answer in the negative, and they did not want to agree with Christ. Then the Lord, taking the sick man to Himself or hugging him (ἐπιλαβόμενος - has exactly this meaning; in the Russian text inaccurately - “touching”), healed him and sent him home. Luke 14:5. At this he said to them: If one of you has a donkey or an ox that falls into a well, will he not immediately pull it out on the Sabbath? Luke 14:6. And they could not answer Him to this. The Lord, just as He had previously explained the need for healing the crumpled woman on the Sabbath (Luke 13:15), now explains the need for the help that He had just provided to the man suffering from dropsy. If people do not hesitate to pull out a donkey (according to Tischendorf - “son”, υἱός) or an ox that fell into a well on Saturday, then - this conclusion is implied - it was necessary to help the person who was “flooded with water.” And the Pharisees again could not find how to respond to such a statement. Luke 14:7. Noticing how those invited chose the first places, he told them a parable: The healing of the patient with dropsy took place, obviously, before the guests sat down at the table. Now that everything had calmed down, the guests began to sit down at the table, choosing the first or closest seats to the host (cf. Matt. 23:6), the Lord watched this with attention (ἐπέχων) and spoke a parable about this. This, however, is not a parable in the general sense of the word (cf. Matt. 13:3), because here the Lord directly addresses the listeners with instructions (“when you ...”), but a simple moral teaching that did not even require special explanation - so it was clear to everyone. Luke 14:8. when you are invited by someone to a marriage, do not sit in the first place, so that one of those invited by him does not happen to be more honorable than you, "For marriage", i.e. to a wedding feast, where there could be many very important and respectable people who came from other places and were unfamiliar to the local residents, whom Christ is referring to here. Luke 14:9. and the one who called you and him, coming up, would not have said to you: give him your place; and then with shame you will have to take the last place. Luke 14:10. But when you are called, when you arrive, sit down in the last place, so that the one who called you will come up and say: friend! sit higher; then you will have honor before those who sit with you, The meaning of the instruction is very simple: it is better to move from a bad seat to a good one than from a good one, with shame, under the mocking glances of guests, to sit in the latter. I. Weiss considers this instruction too practical and not in keeping with the sublimity of Christ’s teaching. In his opinion, it seems as if Christ were considering the matter from the point of view of personal gain, that He is not teaching humility and modesty here, but, on the contrary, introducing here a spirit of some kind of prudence, which devalues ​​humility. But there is no doubt that here Christ does not mean a simple phenomenon of ordinary life, but, as can be seen from His subsequent sayings (verses 14, 24), the participation of people in the Kingdom of God. The Pharisees had already, so to speak, outlined their places in this Kingdom in advance, but Christ instills in them the idea that their calculations for such places may turn out to be erroneous. Consequently, the topic and thought of the instruction are not at all unimportant. Luke 14:11. for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted. Again, there is no doubt that this general law was expressed here by Christ with reference to the hope of the Pharisees to participate in the Kingdom of God. Luke 14:12. He also said to the one who called Him: when you make lunch or dinner, do not invite your friends, nor your brothers, nor your relatives, nor rich neighbors, lest they call you and you receive reward. Luke 14:13. But when you make a feast, call the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind, Luke 14:14. and you will be blessed that they cannot repay you, for you will be rewarded at the resurrection of the righteous. Turning now, after the instructions given to those invited, to the host himself, who invited the guests, Christ advises him to invite to dinner not friends, relatives and the rich, but the poor and crippled. Only in this case can the owner hope to receive a reward at the resurrection of the righteous. I. Weiss finds this instruction inconsistent with the teachings of Christ. What misfortune is it that a rich man will repay you with hospitality for your treat? This is not at all so scary and cannot take away our right to receive a heavenly reward. But Weiss does not want to understand that here Christ is pursuing the same idea about the conditions for entry into the glorious Kingdom of God, which He has already expressed more than once. This idea is that by chasing the earthly evaluation of their actions, even good ones, people lose the right to receive a heavenly reward (cf. Matt. 5:46, 6:2, 16). From this point of view, it is really dangerous when for each of our good deeds we find ourselves a reward on earth and accept these rewards: we, so to speak, will get ours and cannot count on anything else, higher. However, one cannot think that with these words Christ generally forbade inviting rich people and friends to his feasts; This is obviously hyperbole... "On the resurrection of the righteous". Christ taught that there will be not only the resurrection of the righteous, but the resurrection of all - both the righteous and the unrighteous (cf. Luke 20:35; John 5:25). If here He speaks only about the resurrection of the righteous, then He does this in relation to the Pharisees, who believed that only the righteous would be awarded the resurrection, so that to the words “in the resurrection of the righteous” Christ mentally adds: “which you only allow.” Luke 14:15. Hearing this, one of those reclining with Him said to Him: Blessed is he who eats bread in the Kingdom of God! Having heard a speech about the resurrection of the righteous, one of the table diners, obviously confident of being a participant in this resurrection, exclaimed: “blessed,” i.e. happy is he “who eats the bread,” i.e. will be a participant in the great feast, “in the Kingdom of God,” i.e. in Messianic. Luke 14:16. He said to him, “One man made a big supper and invited many, Luke 14:17. and when the time for supper came, he sent his servant to say to those invited: go, for everything is already ready. Luke 14:18. And everyone, as if by agreement, began to apologize. The first one said to him: I bought land and I need to go and look at it; please forgive me. Luke 14:19. Another said: I bought five pairs of oxen and am going to test them; please forgive me. Luke 14:20. The third said: I got married and therefore cannot come. Luke 14:21. And, returning, that servant reported this to his master. Then, angry, the owner of the house said to his servant: go quickly through the streets and alleys of the city and bring here the poor, the crippled, the lame and the blind. Luke 14:22. And the servant said: Master! done as you ordered, and there is still room. Luke 14:23. The master said to the servant: go along the roads and hedges and persuade them to come, so that my house may be filled. Luke 14:24. For I tell you that none of those who are called will taste my supper, for many are called, but few are chosen. Christ responds to this exclamation with the parable of those called to the supper, in which he shows that none of the prominent members of the theocratic Jewish society who considered themselves fully entitled to participate in the Kingdom of the Messiah - here the Pharisees come closest - will be accepted into this Kingdom because of their own guilt. This parable is the same one given by the Evangelist Matthew (Matthew 22:1-14). The differences between them are insignificant. There the king is brought out who arranged a “marriage feast for his son,” and here he is simply a “man” who “made a great supper and invited many,” that is, of course, first of all, the Israelites faithful to the Law of Moses, which were the Pharisees and lawyers. There the king sends “slaves” - the prophets of the Old Testament, and here one servant is sent, in the meaning of the speech - Christ Himself, to notify those invited that the supper is ready (cf. Matthew 4:17). Then, what the Evangelist Matthew indicated rather vaguely, namely, the reasons why those invited did not come to the supper, Luke reveals in detail. The reasons given do not seem completely absurd: indeed, the person who bought the land might have needed to see what work needs to be started on it as soon as possible (you might miss, for example, sowing time). The apology of the one who bought the oxen is less thorough, but still he could mean that, having immediately tested them and found them unfit for work, he had the opportunity to return them to the herder-owner, who drove the herd of oxen to another place and who could not be found later. The third’s apology seems even more solid, because the law itself exempted the newlywed from performing public duties (Deut. 24:5). But, in any case, all these reasons, from the point of view of Christ, turn out to be insufficient; it is clear that Christ, by the “man” who arranged the feast, means God Himself, and for God, of course, a person must sacrifice absolutely everything in life. Evangelist Luke then adds that the new guests were called twice (in Matthew - once): first, the poor, crippled, lame and blind are gathered from the streets and alleys, i.e. - in all likelihood, this is the thought of the Evangelist Luke - publicans and sinners, and then from the roads and from under the hedges (from under the fences) - even lower standing people, i.e., according to the evangelist, pagans (cf. Rom. 2:17 et seq.). They were ordered to “force” (ἀνάγκασον in the Russian translation inaccurately - “convince”) to enter the feast. Some interpreters in this expression thought to find a basis for violence in the field of freedom of conscience, and the Roman inquisitors, on the basis of this text, asserted their right to persecute heretics. But here, undoubtedly, we are talking about moral compulsion and nothing else. In fact, could one slave forcibly bring guests with him even if he wanted to do so? No, this compulsion, rather, had the character of an intense exhortation. After all, those now called to the feast were people of the lowest strata of the people, and they could be embarrassed to go to a feast with a rich man: they needed to find out that they were actually invited to the feast (Trench, pp. 308–309). “For I tell you” (verse 24). These are the words of the master, not of Christ: Christ in the parable is depicted in the guise of a slave. “To you” – here we mean both the slave and the guests who have already entered. Luke 14:25. Many people went with Him; and He turned and said to them: Luke 14:26. If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, and wife and children, and brothers and sisters, and, moreover, his own life, he cannot be My disciple; Luke 14:27. and whoever does not bear his cross and follow Me cannot be My disciple. Many people followed the Lord, and all these people seemed to be His disciples to an outside observer. Now the Lord wants, so to speak, to make a selection of those persons who really stand in the position of disciples in relation to Him. He further indicates in the sharpest terms the responsibilities that lie on His true followers (a similar saying is found in the Evangelist Matthew, but in a more relaxed form - Matthew 10:37-39). "If anyone comes to Me" Many went to Christ, but were attracted to this only by His miracles and, moreover, did nothing to become true disciples of Christ, they only accompanied Him. “And he will not hate...” To hate does not mean to “love less” (cf. Matt. 6:24), but to actually nourish a feeling of hatred, the opposite of the feeling of love. Father, mother and others are presented here as obstacles to communion with Christ (cf. Luke 12:53), so that, loving one, it is necessary to hate others (cf. Luke 16:13). “Life” (verse 26) is taken here in the proper sense of the word as “existence” - understandable, since it is an obstacle to love for Christ (“I torment him who torments me!” St. Seraphim of Sarov said about his ascetic deeds, with which he wanted to weaken his body). "My student". The power of thought here is on the word “Mine,” which is therefore placed before the noun that it defines. “He who does not bear the cross...” (see Matthew 10:38). Luke 14:28. For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and calculate the cost, whether he has what it takes to complete it? Luke 14:29. lest when he lays the foundation and is not able to complete it, all who see it begin to laugh at him, Luke 14:30. saying: this man began to build and could not finish? Luke 14:31. Or what king, going to war against another king, does not sit down and consult first whether he is able with ten thousand to resist the one coming against him with twenty thousand? Luke 14:32. Otherwise, while he is still far away, he will send an embassy to him to ask for peace. Luke 14:33. So, anyone of you who does not renounce everything that he has cannot be My disciple. Why the Lord recognizes as His disciples only those who are capable of all the self-sacrifice that following Christ requires - the Lord explains this by the example of a man who, wanting to build a tower, calculates, of course, whether his funds will be enough for this task, so as not to remain in a ridiculous situation when, having laid the foundation of the tower, he will no longer find funds for its construction. Christ points out another instructive example in the person of the king, who, if he already decides to start a war with another king, then only after discussing his strength. If he sees that he has little strength, he will hasten to enter into an alliance with a stronger rival king. These two tributary examples are found only in one evangelist, Luke. From these examples, Christ Himself draws a conclusion (verse 33): when joining the ranks of Christ’s disciples, a person must seriously consider whether he is capable of self-sacrifice, which Christ requires from His disciples. If he does not find sufficient strength in himself for this, then it is clear that he can be a disciple of Christ only in name, but not in reality. “Whatever has” (verse 33). This refers not only to property, money or family, but also to all favorite thoughts, views, beliefs (cf. Matt. 5:29-30). To talk about the need to sacrifice everything personal for the work of serving Christ could not have come at a more opportune time, because Christ was going to Jerusalem in order to make the supreme sacrifice there for all mankind, and His disciples needed to acquire the same readiness for self-sacrifice with which the heart of their Lord and Teacher was imbued (Luke 12:49-50). Luke 14:34. Salt is a good thing; but if the salt loses its strength, how can it be corrected? Luke 14:35. not suitable for soil or manure; they throw it away. He who has ears to hear, let him hear! The meaning of this tributary saying is this: just as salt is needed only as long as it retains its saltiness, so the disciple remains a disciple of Christ until he has lost the main property that characterizes the disciple of Christ, namely, the ability to self-sacrifice. How will it be possible to kindle in students the determination for self-sacrifice if they lose it? There is nothing, just as there is nothing to return salt to its lost salinity. “But if the salt...” More precisely: but even if salt (ἐὰν δὲ τὸ ἅλας) loses its strength, and this is the idea of ​​the above expression, however, cannot be expected due to its very nature (cf. Matthew 5:13; Mark 9:50). You might be interested in: