The Great Commentary (Mossman/Cobb English)

Whose blood Pilate mingled. That is, whom while they were sacrificing in Mount Gerizim in Samaria, Pilate slew. He slew them that their blood might be mingled with the blood of their victims. Josephus relates the whole at length ( Antiq book xviii. Digitized by Google 330 IL chap. 7), as also does Hegesippus on the destruction of Jerusalem Josephus says, “ A certain impostor incited the people to assemble on Mount Gerizim, a mountain which they held very sacred, by the promise of shewing them certain vessels which Moses had deposited there and he had dug up. They credulously took arms and occupied the village Tirathaba, awaiting the arrival of others that they might ascend the mountain in force. But Pilate seized it before them, and held it with cavalry and foot soldiers. These attacked the Samaritans in the village, killing some and putting the rest to flight He also took many prisoners, the chief and most powerful of whom he put to death.” It may be said, u Josephus asserts them to have been Samaritans ; how then does Christ call them Galileans?” The answer is, " They were called Samaritans from their country and nation, but Galileans from their sect and heresy.” So says Baronius. To explain the matter, observe that Judas of Galilee, as St Luke says, Acts v. 37, was the author of the sect of Galileans who rebelled against Caesar, saying that it was not lawful for the Jews, who were a faithful people, and worshipped the true God, to be subject to Caesar, a Gentile, and an idolater, and to give him tribute ; for they ought to acknowledge and obey no other lord but God. So S. Cyril in the Catena^ Theophylact, Euthymius, and Titus. Hence Pilate sent a force and destroyed them. This sect arose about the time of Christ. Hence Christ and the Apostles, being Galileans by nation, were accused of the same, and they therefore carefully taught in opposition that tribute ought to be given to kings and to Caesar, even if Gentiles. Francis Lucas thinks that these Galileans were slain by Pilate in Jerusalem, when they were sacrificing in the Temple, because Pilate was Procurator of Judaea and not of Samaria. But Josephus plainly says that they were killed in Mount Gerizim, which is in Samaria. The Samaritans, moreover, were a schism from the Jews, and would not go into the Temple at Jerusalem, but built another in their own power on Mount Gerizim, as we find from S. John iv. 20. Pilate therefore attacked these Samaritans as rebels, and put them to death in Samaria, as open enemies to Caesar. Digitized by Google GODS JUDGMENTS LEAD TO REPENTANCE. 33 1 When the slaughter of the Samaritans was frequently repeated, there were different opinions on the subject, many affirming that they were wicked men and hated by God; their sacrifices not only being rejected but also mixed with their blood. They related this to Christ and asked His opinion of the matter, but Christ made a wise use of this occasion, and drew from it an argument to rouse them to repentance, lest a similar vengeance should fall upon ffiem. The preacher should follow this example, and when public slaughter, pest, famine, or wars befall, exhort his people to repentance, that they may escape such inflictions and, with them, the torments of Gehenna

Then said one unto Him, Lord, are there few that be saved t Christ answered in the affirmative that few should be saved, as S. Luke signifies and S. Matt, plainly states, viL 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 Jives). 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 judgDigitized by Google CHRIST’S FEARLESSNESS. 341 menu" The judgment of S. Chrysostom, Homily xL to the Antiochenes, who numbered 100,000 or more, is formidable. " In our city,” he says, “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 Ver 31. — The same day there came certain of the Pharisees , saying, ; Herod will kill Thee9 as he slew John Thy forerunner. Christ seems not to have preached in Galilee at this time, as He had previously left it (Matt, xix.), but in Perea in Judaea, for Herod ruled over Perea as well as Galilee. So thinks F. Lucas. Maldonatus and others, however, suppose that these things were done in Galilee, that S. Luke may now insert by recapitulation what had been done there previously, as we find in ver. 24 and chap. ix. 51. Moreover the Pharisees, by this falsehood, pretended that Herod was hostile to Christ, that they might banish Him from among them, or at least that they might test His freedom and conscience and depress Him by implanting in his mind the fear of Herod, and might thus drive Him out of their country. “ Lest,” says Euthymius, “ by His presence and miracles He might gain fame and attract a multitude.” And perhaps, when going from Perea to Judaea, He might fall into the hands of the chief Priests, whom they knew to be contriving His death, as is plain from S. John vii 20. 25. Herod, indeed, was not opposed to Christ, for he desired to see Him and His miracles, as in chap. ix. 9 ; nay, he would not condemn Christ when Christ was sent to him by Pilate, but sent Him back to Pilate clad in a white (alba, Vulg., Xdftwpc, Greek) robe, as if He were worthy of ridicule and not death, chap. xxiiL So Jansenius, Maldonatus, F. Lucas and others

And He said to them Christ answered the Pharisees freely and loftily when they brought up the fear of Herod. He said that He feared neither Herod, nor the Pharisees, nor the rulers, but He would continue to preach, though against the will of them all, until the day appointed by the Father for His death. He called Herod Digitized by Google 342 TI. •‘a fox/' because he was cunning, crafty, (versipellis) and false, for he killed John the Baptist by fraud and falsehood. Such are heretics the type of whom was Herod, for they seek to kill those who believe, in Christ But Christ here rather addresses the Pharisees, and calls them all foxes because they would have instilled a false fear of Herod into His mind, that in flying from Judaea He might be taken by the rulers and put to death. Titus says that “ He appears, as some think, to direct the whole force of His words against Herod alone, but He turns them against the wickedness of the Pharisees rather than Herod, for He did not say * that fox,' but * this fox.’ ” In fact, to show that the Pharisees resembled foxes by their pretended fraud, He carefully used a middle term, and, as S. Theophylact says, “with intention,” for by saying “fox” in the singular He made them think that He meant Herod, but by the addition of the demonstrative pronoun “ this,” He signified that they themselves were the crafty ones. Thus Emmanuel Sk : “The word ‘that* may apply either to Herod or to him who invented the falsehood that Herod wished to kill Christ; and who must have been one of the Pharisees, the enemies of Christ The meaning then is, You Pharisees, like crafty and deceitful foxes, would fill Me with the fear of Herod, that I may no longer preach among you; but I forewarn you that I fear neither you nor Herod, nor will I, for any reason, cease to preach ; for I am sure that my Father will not suffer Me to be taken and put to death before the day appointed by Him shall have arrived.” Behold, least out devils — I proceed to perform my work against the will not only of Herod but of you — today and to-morrow, that is, for some time yet, and the third day, that is, in a short time, when I shall have finished my ministry and preaching, I shall be perfected, i.e. “ I shall receive my consummation in a glorious death on the cross, undergone by me willingly and courageously for the salvation of men,” as the Apostle says, Hebrews xi. Observe the Hebraism by which an indefinite time is put for a definite, as in Hosea vi 2. So S. Cvril and Theophylact. Euthymius Digitized by Google CHRIST’S CONSTANCY IN HIS MISSION. 343 says, “ To-day ; and therefore to-morrow ; that is, for some time yet, though a short one, that is about three months,” for Christ appears to have said this a little before the Feast of Dedication, which is kept upon the 25th of the month Casleu, which answers to part of our November and December, and He was crucified in the following March. Christ therefore boldly said this to the Pharisees to show, 1. That He feared not death but sought it 2 . To show His Divine Power, by which He would live among then, and teach them, even against their will, as long as the Father and Himself pleased and determined. 3. To increase the vexation of the perverse Pharisees, for they already wished for His destruction. Christ also calls His death “a consummation,” because in it and by it He consummated the whole ooconomy of His Incarnation, and the whole work of the mission on which He was sent by the Father, that is, the expiation of all sins, the redemption of the human race, the salvation of the elect ; as in Hebrews x. 14

Nevertheless I must walk,1 * Must,” says S. Bonaventure, “ not from compulsion but from Divine decree.” So S. Cyril, and Titus. Christ repeats this (which He had said in the preceding verse) to show that He was constant in fearing neither Herod nor the Pharisees, and in His determination to preach, against their will, for a short time still, to the day appointed by the Father. The meaning is : “ To-day and to-morrow, and the third day following I must walk in the towns and villages, and preach, and on that third day following, that is soon after, be perfected by death on the cross, as I have already said. I now add that on the third day I shall do the same, for although I shall be perfected on this day, yet on this day also I must walk. All the time of my life, even to my death, I must walk in this country, and preach, and work cures, and cast out devils, because I have consecrated my whole life to holy actions, and my death to generous suffering ; for I have offered myself to God as a holocaust” In Hebrew “ to walk ” is taken for “ to work S. John viii. 12., xii 35; Ps. i. 1, and elsewhere. The Syriac has, “ I must walk to-day and to-morrow, and on the third day I shall Digitized by Google 344 make my journey,” i.e. I shall set out to Jerusalem to my death, and thence to Heaven from which I came. Morally , the faithful, and especially the apostolic man, may learn to labour strenuously in the Lord’s vineyard even to death and martyrdom, like SS. Peter, Paul, Chrysostom, Athanasius and others. So our own Father Canisius, though worn out by many and great labours, yet ceased not from them until his seventy-seventh year, when he was released at once from them and from his life. These were his words. “ To the soldiers of Christ,” their term of service (stipendia) is not finished till the end of their lives. When they have ended then they begin: death alone gives them their discharge. There is one abode for those who have merited it, heaven. So our own Sacchinus in Bk. iiL of his life: “Let us labour therefore even to death, that after death we may rest for ever in a blessed felicity; for earth is the course (stadium) of a little labour, heaven is the seat of eternal repose.” For it cannot be that a prophet should perish out of Jerusalem. In the Greek •&* bdtyirai ; that is, it is not fitting, it does not happen. * It cannot be done ” is read by the Syriac It is a hyperbole It means, “ Such is the wickedness and barbarity of Jerusalem, that it seems proper to her that the prophets should be killed by herself, nay, she will not suffer this to be done by any other, but takes it amiss if it be I do not fear Herod therefore, whom you cast up to Me, because I shall not be put to death by him now in Galilee, but some months hence in Jerusalem, the murderess of the prophets, where, not by Herod, but by yourselves, O Pharisees, I shall be crucified and slain.” “ For they were accustomed,” says S. Theophylact, “to pour out the blood of the servants, even as they poured out that of the Lord Himself.” So Titus, Jansenius, Maldonatus, and F. Lucas. The last named says : “ It cannot be that a prophet should be slain outside Jerusalem, he must be slain within it; not because none were slain outside, for Jezebel slew many in Samaria, i. Kings xviii. 13, xix. 10, but as it was most usual for their slaughter to take place within the walls. For the kings had their abode there, and the rulers, the nobles, the scribes, the wise men, and the Digitized by Google " JERUSALEM, WHICH KILLEST THE PROPHETS.” 345 Pharisees, holy in their own eyes, who, like the people, would not endure the rebukes and admonitions of the prophets ; so that the city was changed from the house of God, into the slaughter-house of the prophets, and professed to be, as it were, their place of torture. We read, 2 Kings xxi. 16, “Manasseh shed innocent blood very much, till he had filled Jerusalem from one end to another.” In like manner at Rome, in various places, and especially at the Ursus Pileatus, where is now the Church of S. Bibiana, a great number of Christians were slain by the unbelieving Emperors : so that the place obtained the vulgar name of u The Shambles of the Martyrs.” Thus it might then have been said with truth, " It is not possible that a Pope should be killed out of Rome, for almost all the Popes, from S. Peter to Silvester, for 300 years, were put to death by the Emperors at Rome for the faith of Christ” Digitized by Google ( 346 ) CHAPTER XIV. 2 Christ healeth the dropsy oh the sabbath : 7 teacheth humility : 12 to feast the poor : 15 under the parable of the great supper ; sheweth how worldly minded men , who contemn the word of Godt shall be shut out of heaven : 25 those who will be his disciples , to bear their cross must make their accounts aforehand9 lest with shame they revolt from him afterwards , 34 and become altogether unprofitable,, like salt that hath lost his savour . AND it came to pass, as he went into the house of one of the chief Pharisees to eat bread on the sabbath day, that they watched him. 2 And, behold, there was a certain man before him which had the dropsy. 3 And Jesus answering spake unto the lawyers and Pharisees, saying, Is it lawful to heal on the sabbath day? 4 And they held their peace. And he took him , and healed him, and let him go ; 5 And answered them, saying, Which of you shall have an ass or an ox fallen into a pit, and will not straightway pull him out on the sabbath day ? 6 And they could not answer him again to these things. 7 H And he put forth a parable to those which were bidden, when he marked how they chose out the chief rooms ; saying unto them, 8 When thou art bidden of any mdn to a wedding, sit not down in the highest room ; lest a more honourable man than thou be bidden of him ; 9 And he that bade thee and him come and say to thee, Give this man place ; and thou begin with shame to take the lowest room. 10 But when thou art bidden, go and sit down in the lowest room ; that when he that bade thee cometh, he may say unto thee, Friend, go up higher : then shalt thou have worship in the presence of them that sit at meat with thee. 1 1 For whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased ; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted. 12 IT Then said he also to him that bade him, When thou makest a dinner or a supper, call not thy friends, nor thy brethren, neither thy kinsmen, nor thy rich neighbours ; lest they also bid thee again, and a recompence be made thee. 13 But when thou makest a feast, call the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind : 14 And thou shalt be blessed; for they cannot recompense thee: for thou shalt be recompensed at the resurrection of the just. 15 H And when one of them that sat at meat with him heard these things, he said unto him. Blessed is he that shall eat bread in the kingdom of God. 16 Then said he unto him, A certain man made a great supper, and bade many : Digitized by Google THE HOLY GOSPEL OF S. LUKE. 347 17 And sent his servant at supper time to say to them that were bidden, Come; for all things are now ready. iS And they all with one consent began to make excuse. The first said unto him, I have bought a piece of ground, and I must needs go and see it : I pray thee have me excused. 19 And another said, I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to prove them s I pray thee have me excused. 20 And another said, I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come. 21 So that servant came, and shewed his lord these things. Then the master of the house being angry said to his servant, Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in hither the poor, and the maimed, and the halt, and the blind. 22 And the servant said, Lord, it is done as thou hast commanded, and yet there is room. 23 And the lord said unto the servant, Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled. 24 For I say unto you. That none of those men which were bidden shall taste of my supper. 25 1 And there went great multitudes with him : and he turned, and said unto them, 26 If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and hit own life also, he cannot be my disciple. 2 7 And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple. 28 For which of you, intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first, and counteth the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it f 29 Lest haply, after he hath laid the foundation, and is not able to finish it , all that behold it begin to mock him, 30 Saying, This man began to build, and was not able to finish. 31 Or what king, going to make war against another king, sitteth not down first, and consulteth whether he be able with ten thousand to meet him that cometh against him with twenty thousand ? 32 Or else, while the other is yet a great way off, he sendeth an ambassage, and desireth conditions of peace. 33 So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple. 34 1 Salt is good : but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be seasoned? 35 It is neither fit for the land, nor yet for the dunghill ; but men cast it out. He that hath ears to hear, let him hear