Lukechapter 14
35 verses · Luke · about AD 62 · The Gospels
And whoever does not carry his cross and follow Me cannot be My disciple.
Introduction
Luke, The Gospels, Luke Overview.
Luke wrote this chapter for readers who knew that where a guest sat at dinner was a public statement of his rank. Almost all of it takes place at one Sabbath meal in the house of a leading Pharisee, with every guest watching. Jesus speaks in turn to the guests, to the host and to the whole company, and then to the crowds on the road. Listen for the pictures of seating, invitations and excuses, all taken from the customs of a formal banquet. Then listen for the sudden change of tone when the talk turns to what following Him will cost.
Context
- Who
- A Greek reader who knew that where you sat at dinner was a public statement
- What
- A Sabbath healing and three sayings at a Pharisee's dinner, followed by teaching on the cost of following Jesus.
- Where
- At the house of a leading Pharisee on the Sabbath, and then on the road among the crowds travelling with Jesus.
- When
- On the road to Jerusalem, about AD 29 to 30.
- Why
- To overturn the rules of rank and repayment that governed social life, and to show that the kingdom's welcome comes with a full claim on the disciple.
Historical context
Seating at a formal meal was a map of the guests' relative standing. Couches were arranged around the table with clearly ranked positions, and a host placed people according to their honour. Taking a high place and being moved down in front of everyone was a genuine humiliation, which is why Greek and Jewish moralists alike advised aiming low.
Show the rest of the historical context, 3 more paragraphs
The advice about whom to invite cuts against the engine of that society. Meals created obligation: you invited those who could invite you back, and the exchange of hospitality built the networks that carried business, protection, and status. Inviting the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind meant spending on people who could return nothing, deliberately stepping outside the system.
The excuses in the banquet parable are all plausible and all insulting. A man who has bought a field and must go see it, or bought five yoke of oxen and must examine them, has done both backwards; nobody bought land or working animals unseen. And since a second summons announced that the food was already prepared, refusing at that point wasted a feast and shamed the host publicly.
The two cost-counting pictures are ordinary prudence: a man building a tower on his land who runs out of money halfway and becomes the village joke, and a king who works out whether ten thousand men can meet twenty thousand before he marches.
Significance
The banquet parable ends with servants sent to the roads and hedges to compel people to come in so the house will be full. Luke's Gentile readers were the ones out on the roads, and they knew it.
Show the rest of the significance, 1 more paragraph
The demand that follows is the counterweight, and it is severe: whoever does not carry his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple, and none of you can be my disciple who does not renounce all that he has. Theophilus, invited freely, is told plainly what the invitation costs.
The heads below are this chapter's scenes. The numbered points under each are its verses.
Healing a Sick Man at a Pharisee's Table
Luke 14:1-2
were watching Him closely: On a Sabbath Jesus ate in the home of a leading Pharisee, and those present were watching Him closely. Before Him was a man with dropsy, a swelling from fluid in the body, which Luke names by its proper term.
Luke 14:1
“A Pharisee, of higher rank than usual, invited Jesus to a banquet. Although he knew their bad intentions, he went with him and ate in their company. He did not submit to this act of condescension to honor his host. He rather instructed his fellow guests by words and miraculous deeds that might lead them to the acknowledgment of the true service, even that taught us by the gospel. He knew that even against their will he would make them eyewitnesses of his power and his suprahuman glory.”
Cyril of Alexandria · written before 444 · Commentary on Luke, Homily 101patristic
2 more voices on this verseWhat preachers and commentators have said about this verse, in their own words.
Luke 14:1
“Let us first mark in this passage — how our Lord Jesus Christ accepted the hospitality of those who were not His disciples. We read that "He went into the house of one of the chief Pharisees to eat bread." We cannot reasonably suppose that this Pharisee was a friend of Christ. It is more probable that he only did what was customary for a man in his position. He saw a stranger teaching religion, whom some regarded as a prophet, and he invited Him to eat at his table.”
Luke 14:1
“When Christ asked them whether they thought it lawful to heal on the sabbath day (and herein he is said to answer them, for it was an answer to their thoughts, and thoughts are words to Jesus Christ), they would say neither yea nor nay, for their design was to inform against him, not to be informed by him.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
a man with dropsy: Adam Clarke notes that the Greek name for dropsy comes from the word for water. Clarke thought the Pharisee had brought the man as a trap, while John Wesley thought he came hoping to be healed. Matthew Henry notes that Jesus healed him before he asked.
Luke 14:2
“The dropsy - Ὑδρωπικος, dropsical; from ὑδωρ, water, and ωψ, the countenance, because in this disorder the face of the patient is often very much bloated. Probably the insidious Pharisee had brought this dropsical man to the place, not doubting that our Lord’s eye would affect his heart, and that he would instantly cure him; and then he could most plausibly accuse him for a breach of the Sabbath. If this were the case, and it is likely, how deep must have been the perfidy and malice of the Pharisee!”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
2 more voices on this verse
Luke 14:2
“There was a certain man before him - It does not appear that he was come thither with any insidious design. Probably he came, hoping for a cure, or perhaps was one of the family.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755)evangelical
Luke 14:2
“We do not find that he offered himself, or that his friends offered him to be Christ's patient, but Christ prevented him with the blessings of his goodness, and before he called he answered him. Note, It is a happy thing to be where Christ is, to be present before him, though we be not presented to him.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Luke 14:3-4
lawful to heal on the Sabbath: This time Jesus speaks first, asking the experts in the law and the Pharisees whether it is lawful to heal on the Sabbath. They remained silent, and Jesus healed the man and sent him on his way, asking nothing of him.
Luke 14:3
“And Jesus answering, spake unto the lawyers and Pharisees,.... All the Oriental versions, for "lawyers", read "Scribes": these, with the Pharisees, were got together in a body, in their brother Pharisee's house, to watch the motions of Christ; who knew their designs upon him, and the thoughts of their hearts, and made answer to them, by putting the following question; saying, is it lawful to heal on the sabbath day?”
1 more voice on this verse
Luke 14:3
“Jesus, answering - To “answer,” in the Scriptures, does not always imply, as among us, that anything had been said before. It means often merely to “begin” or to take up a subject, or, as here, to remark on the case that was present. Is it lawful ... - He knew that they were watching him. If he healed the man at once, they would accuse him. He, therefore, proposed the question to them, and when it was asked, they could not say that it was not lawful.”
took hold of the man: They remained silent, and Adam Clarke notes that any answer they gave would have condemned them. Matthew Henry reads took hold of the man as an embrace, Jesus taking the swollen man in His arms. Jesus healed him at once and sent him home.
Luke 14:4
“Disregarding then the snares of the Jews, He cures the dropsical, who from fear of the Pharisees did not ask to be healed on account of the sabbath, but only stood up, that when Jesus beheld him, He might have compassion on him and heal him. And the Lord knowing this, asked not whether he wished to be made whole, but forthwith healed him. Whence it follows; And he took him, and healed him, and let him go. Wherein our Lord took no thought not to offend the Pharisees, but only that He might benefit him who needed healing.”
Cyril of Alexandria · written before 444 · Catena Aurea by Aquinaspatristic
2 more voices on this verse
Luke 14:4
“They held their peace - They could not answer the question but in the affirmative; and as they were determined to accuse him if he did heal the man, they could not give an answer but such as would condemn themselves, and therefore they were silent.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Luke 14:4
“Or, He took him, that is, he laid hands on him, to cure him; epilabomenos , complexus--he embraced him, took him in his arms, big and unwieldy as he was (for so dropsical people generally are), and reduced him to shape. The cure of a dropsy, as much as any disease, one would think, should be gradual; yet Christ cured even that disease, perfectly cured it, in a moment.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Luke 14:5-6
falls into a pit: Jesus presses the silent room with their own practice: any of them would pull a son or ox out of a pit on the Sabbath. They were unable to answer, as with the ox and donkey in chapter 13.
Luke 14:5
“As they were silent from ill will, Christ refutes their unrelenting shamelessness by the convincing arguments that he uses. "Whose son of you," he says, "or whose ox shall fall into a pit, and he will not immediately draw him out on the sabbath day?" If the law forbids showing mercy on the sabbath, why do you take compassion on that which has fallen into the pit?… The God of all does not cease to be kind. He is good and loving to people.”
Cyril of Alexandria · written before 444 · Commentary on Luke, Homily 101patristic
2 more voices on this verse
Luke 14:5
“And answered them, saying,.... Murmuring secretly at what he had done: 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? being just ready to be drowned there; and therefore it must be much more right and necessary to cure a man, a reasonable creature, just drowning with a dropsy, as this man was. The Syriac and Persic versions, instead of "an ass", read "a son", very wrongly: a like kind of reasoning is used by Christ, in See Gill on Mat 12:11, Luk 13:15.”
Luke 14:5
“Now this was an evidence of their hypocrisy, and that it was not out of any real regard to the sabbath that they found fault with Christ for healing on the sabbath day (that was only the pretence), but really because they were angry at the miraculous good works which Christ wrought, and the proof he thereby gave of his divine mission, and the interest he thereby gained among the people.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
unable to answer these questions: John Gill notes that pulling a son or ox from a pit agreed with their own practice, so any answer would have exposed them. Their silence is the second after verse 4.
Take the Lowest Seat; Invite Those Who Cannot Repay
Luke 14:7-9
chose the places of honor: Jesus draws the parable from a habit He watched at the table, guests choosing the places of honor. The counsel draws on the wisdom books' warning against exalting oneself before a ruler, applied here to a wedding banquet.
Luke 14:7
“A parable - The word parable, here, means rather a “precept, an injunction.” He gave a “rule or precept” about the proper manner of attending a feast, or about the humility which ought to be manifested on such occasions. That were bidden - That were invited by the Pharisee. It seems that he had invited his friends to dine with him on that day. When he marked - When he observed or saw. Chief rooms - The word “rooms” here does not express the meaning of the original.”
2 more voices on this verse
Luke 14:7
“Here he brings home the charge to particular persons; for Christ will give every man his own. He marked how they chose out the chief rooms; every man, as he came in, got as near the best seat as he could. Note, Even in the common actions of life, Christ's eye is upon us, and he marks what we do, not only in our religious assemblies, but at our tables, and makes remarks upon it.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Luke 14:7
“First the dropsical man is cured, in whom the abundant discharges of the flesh crushed down the powers of the soul, quenched the ardour of the Spirit. Next, humility is taught, when at the nuptial feast the desire of the highest place is forbidden. As it is said, And he spake, Sit not down in the highest room.”
Ambrose of Milan · written before 397 · Catena Aurea by Aquinaspatristic
do not sit in the place of honor: Guests at a formal meal took places by rank, and the seat nearest the host was the place of honor. Albert Barnes notes that Jesus thought the courtesies of the table worth teaching. Many guests outrank any one man, Matthew Henry notes.
Luke 14:8
“Art bidden - Are invited. To a wedding - A wedding was commonly attended with a feast or banquet. The highest room - The seat at the table nearest the head. A more honourable man - A more aged man, or a man of higher rank. It is to be remarked that our Saviour did not consider the courtesies of life to be beneath his notice. His chief design here was, no doubt, to reprove the pride and ambition of the Pharisees; but, in doing it, he teaches us that religion does not violate the courtesies of life.”
1 more voice on this verse
Luke 14:8
“Note, It ought to check our high thoughts of ourselves to think how many there are that are more honourable than we, not only in respect of worldly dignities, but of personal merits and accomplishments. Instead of being proud that so many give place to us, it should be humbling to us that there are so many that we must give place to.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
take the last place: The host who seats the guests also moves them. The move happens in front of the whole room, and the middle places are already taken, so the proud guest goes to the bottom. Bede read that shame as the end of a man's high thoughts about his own works.
Luke 14:9
“For he will have to give place to one more honourable who is bidden afterwards, seeing that he is overtaken by the activity of those who followed him, and with shame he occupies the lowest place, now that knowing better things of the others he brings low whatever high thoughts he once had of his own works.”
Bede · written before 735 · Catena Aurea by Aquinaspatristic
Luke 14:10-11
sit in the last place: Sitting in the last place lets the host say, Friend, move up to a better place, so honor is given instead of claimed. The point reaches past table manners to the reversal that runs through the whole Gospel.
Luke 14:10
“The lowest room - The lowest seat at the table; showing that you are not desirous of distinctions, or greedy of that honor which may properly belong to you. Shalt have worship - The word “worship” here means “honor.” They who are sitting with you shall treat you with respect. They will learn your rank by your being invited nearer to the head of the table, and it will be better to learn it thus than by putting yourself forward. They will do you honor because you have shown a humble spirit.”
2 more voices on this verse
Luke 14:10
“For if a man wishes not to be set before others, he obtains this honour according to the divine word. As it follows; That when he that bade thee cometh, he may say unto thee, Friend, go up higher. In these words He does not harshly chide, but gently admonishes; for a word of advice is enough for the wise. And thus for their humility men are crowned with honours; as it follows, Then shall thou have worship.”
Cyril of Alexandria · written before 444 · Catena Aurea by Aquinaspatristic
Luke 14:10
“Friend--said to the modest guest only, not the proud one (Lu 14:9) [BENGEL]. worship--honor. The whole of this is but a reproduction of Pr 25:6, 7. But it was reserved for the matchless Teacher to utter articulately, and apply to the regulation of the minutest features of social life, such great laws of the Kingdom of God, as that of Lu 14:11.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
everyone who exalts himself: Jesus turns table manners into a rule of the kingdom and repeats it at 18:14, after the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector. Albert Barnes calls it God's regular plan with the proud and the lowly.
Luke 14:11
If then any one wish to be set above others, let him win it by the decree of heaven, and be crowned by those honours which God bestows. Let him surpass the many by having the testimony of glorious virtues; but the rule of virtue is a lowly mind that loves not boasting: yes! it is humility. And this the blessed Paul also counted worthy of all esteem: for he writes to such as are eagerly desirous of saintly pursuits, "Love humility."
Cyril of Alexandria · written before 444 · Commentary on the Gospel of Luke, Sermon 102patristic
Luke 14:12-14
the man who had invited Him: Jesus tells His host to leave out friends, relatives, and rich neighbors, who may repay him. He is to invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind, who cannot repay. His repayment comes at the resurrection of the righteous.
Luke 14:12
“Call not thy friends, etc. - Our Lord certainly does not mean that a man should not entertain at particular times, his friends, etc.; but what he inculcates here is charity to the poor; and what he condemns is those entertainments which are given to the rich, either to flatter them, or to procure a similar return; because the money that is thus criminally laid out properly belongs to the poor.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
2 more voices on this verse
Luke 14:12
And for this reason the Lord declared, "When thou makest a dinner or a supper, do not call thy friends, nor thy neighbours, nor thy kinsfolk, lest they ask thee in return, and so repay thee. But call the lame, the blind, and the poor, and thou shall be blessed, since they cannot recompense thee, but a recompense shall be made thee at the resurrection of the just."
Irenaeus · written before 202 · Against Heresies Book Vpatristic
Luke 14:12
"Give" (saith Pliny, Epist.) "to thy friends, but let it be to thy poor friends, not to those that need thee not." (2.) "Be not proud of it. " Many make feasts only to make a show, as Ahasuerus did ( Esth. i. 3, 4 ), and it is no reputation to them, they think, if they have not persons of quality to dine with them, and thus rob their families, to please their fancies.
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
invite the poor, the crippled: These are the guests a host would leave off his list, since none of them could return the meal. The same four groups come back in verse 21, when the master of the great banquet sends for them. John Gill reads all four as poor.
Luke 14:13
“But when thou makest a feast,.... An entertainment for others, a dinner, or a supper: call the poor, the maimed, the lame, and the blind; that is, the poor maimed, the poor lame, and the poor blind; otherwise it is possible that rich men may be maimed, lame, and blind; whereas these are not intended, but such who are in indigent circumstances, that stand in need of a meal, and to whom it is welcome.”
1 more voice on this verse
Luke 14:13
“The poor - Those who are destitute of comfortable food. The maimed - Those who are deprived of any member of their body, as an arm or a leg or who have not the use of them so that they can labor for their own support.”
Jesus moves the repayment from the guest to God, and He dates it at the resurrection. Adam Clarke writes that God counts Himself the debtor of the man who gives for His sake. Irenaeus linked the verse to the first resurrection.
Luke 14:14
“For they cannot recompense thee - Because you have done it for God’s sake only, and they cannot make you a recompense, therefore God will consider himself your debtor, and will recompense you in the resurrection of the righteous. There are many very excellent sayings among the rabbins on the excellence of charity.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Luke 14:14
“John, therefore, did distinctly foresee the first "resurrection of the just," and the inheritance in the kingdom of the earth; and what the prophets have prophesied concerning it harmonize [with his vision]. For the Lord also taught these things, when He promised that He would have the mixed cup new with His disciples in the kingdom. The apostle, too, has confessed that the creation shall be free from the bondage of corruption, [so as to pass] into the liberty of the sons of God.”
Irenaeus · written before 202 · Against Heresies Book Vpatristic
The Great Supper and the Excuses
A guest pronounces a blessing on everyone who will eat at the feast in the kingdom of God. The remark asks nothing of the speaker, and Jesus answers it with the parable of the great banquet as a warning.
Luke 14:15
“The verses before us contain one of our Lord's most instructive parables. It was spoken in consequence of a remark made by one who was sitting at table with Him in a Pharisee's house. "Blessed," said this man, "is he who shall eat the feast in the kingdom of God." We are left to conjecture as to the object of this remark. It is likely that he who made it was one of that class of people who wish to go to Heaven, and like to hear good things talked of, but never get any further.”
4 more voices on this verse
Luke 14:15
Oh, brothers and sisters, what a banquet that is! How great is the harmony and joy of those who eat at this heavenly table! They enjoy food that produces everlasting life, not that ordinary food which passes right on through the body. Who will be considered worthy to be in that group? Who is so blessed as to be called to and counted worthy of that divine feast? "Blessed is he who will eat bread in your kingdom."
Athanasius of Alexandria · written before 373 · Festal Letterpatristic
Luke 14:15
“One of them that sat at table hearing these things - And being touched therewith, said, Happy is he that shall eat bread in the kingdom of God - Alluding to what had just been spoken. It means, he that shall have a part in the resurrection of the just.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755)evangelical
Luke 14:15
“Blessed is he that shall eat bread in the kingdom of God - The kingdom of God here means the kingdom which the Messiah was to set up. See the notes at Mat 3:2. The Jews supposed that he would be a temporal prince, and that his reign would be one of great magnificence and splendor. They supposed that the “Jews” then would be delivered from all their oppressions, and that, from being a degraded people, they would become the most distinguished and happy nation of the earth. To that period they looked forward as one of great happiness.”
Luke 14:15
“This thought will be very seasonable when we are partaking of bodily refreshments: Blessed are they that shall eat bread in the kingdom of God. (1.) In the kingdom of grace, in the kingdom of the Messiah, which was expected now shortly to be set up.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Luke 14:16-18
prepared a great banquet: The host's two calls follow the custom of naming the day first and the hour later, yet the guests all began to make excuses. The first says he has bought a field and must go see it, though no buyer would purchase land unseen.
Luke 14:16
“We understand the man to be God the Father. For similes represent the truth but are not the truth itself. The Creator of the universe and the Father of glory made a great supper, a festival for the whole world, in honor of Christ. In the last times of the world and at our world's setting, the Son rose for us. At this time, he suffered death for our sakes and gave us to eat his flesh, the bread from heaven that gives life to the world.”
Cyril of Alexandria · written before 444 · Commentary on Luke, Homily 104patristic
A second summons at the hour of the meal followed the first invitation, so the guests had already accepted once. Albert Barnes notes that the custom still held in Palestine in his day.
Luke 14:17
“Sent his servant - An invitation had been sent before, but this servant was sent at the time that the supper was ready. From this it would seem that it was the custom to announce to those invited just the time when the feast was prepared. The custom here referred to still prevails in Palestine. Dr. Thomson (“The Land and the Book,” vol. i. p. 178) says: “If a sheikh, beg, or emeer invites, he always sends a servant to call you at the proper time.”
1 more voice on this verse
Luke 14:17
“That servant who was sent is Christ Himself, who being by nature God and the true Son of God, emptied Himself, and took upon Him the form of a servant. But He was sent at supper time. For not in the beginning did the Word take upon Him our nature, but in the last time; and he adds, For all things are ready. For the Father prepared in Christ the good things bestowed upon the world through Him, the removal of sins, the participation of the Holy Spirit, the glory of adoption.”
Cyril of Alexandria · written before 444 · Catena Aurea by Aquinaspatristic
they all began to make excuses: Each excuse concerns a thing lawful in itself, as John Wesley notes. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown observe that each man asks to be excused and none says he will refuse to come. A field already bought could be seen another day.
Luke 14:18
“And they all with one consent began to make excuse,.... Or, "they all together", as the Vulgate Latin version, באחת, "in one", or "at once": in Jer 10:8 rendered "altogether"; and so the Ethiopic version, which adds, "with one voice": but their words and language were not the same: their excuses are differently expressed. Some render απο μιας, "from one hour": or the selfsame hour; immediately, directly, as soon as ever they were bidden, they began to frame excuses; they at once agreed, as by common consent, to excuse themselves from coming.”
4 more voices on this verse
Luke 14:18
“I have bought a piece of ground - Perhaps he had purchased it on condition that he found it as good as it had been represented to him. I must needs go - I have necessity, or am obliged to go and see it; possibly pleading a contract or an agreement that he would go soon and examine it. However, we may learn from this that sinners sometimes plead that they are under a “necessity” to neglect the affairs of religion.”
Luke 14:18
“All of them perish by things in themselves lawful. I must needs go - The most urgent worldly affairs frequently fall out just at the time when God makes the freest offers of salvation.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755)evangelical
Luke 14:18
“Each differs from the other, and each has its own plausibility, but all come to the same result: "We have other things to attend to, more pressing just now." Nobody is represented as saying, I will not come; nay, all the answers imply that but for certain things they would come, and when these are out of the way they will come.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Luke 14:18
“Yet, on the contrary, they all found out some pretence or other to shift off their attendance. This bespeaks the general neglect of the Jewish nation to close with Christ, and accept of the offers of his grace, and the contempt they put upon the invitation. It also intimates the backwardness there is in most people to close with the gospel call.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Luke 14:19-20
bought five yoke of oxen: Another has bought five yoke of oxen to try out, though ten oxen would be tested before purchase. The excuses rise in triviality, each offered to refuse an invitation already accepted.
Luke 14:19
“He who has bought five yoke of oxen is he who neglects his intellectual nature, and follows the things of sense, therefore he cannot comprehend a spiritual nature.”
Origen of Alexandria · written before 253 · Catena Aurea by Aquinaspatristic
2 more voices on this verse
Luke 14:19
“I go to prove them - To try them, to see if he had made a good bargain. It is worthy of remark that this excuse was very trifling. He could as easily have tried them at any other time as then, and his whole conduct shows that he was more disposed to gratify “himself” than to accept the invitation of his friend. He was selfish; just as all sinners are, who, to gratify their own worldliness and sins, refuse to accept the offers of the gospel.”
Luke 14:19
“Or let us suppose that three classes of men are excluded from partaking of that supper, Gentiles, Jews, Heretics. The Jews by their fleshly service impose upon themselves the yoke of the law, for the five yoke are the yoke of the Ten Commandments, of which it is said, And he declared unto you his covenant, which he commanded you to perform, even ten commandments; and he wrote them upon two tables of stone. (Deut. 4:13.) That is, the commands of the Decalogue. Or the five yoke are the five books of the old law.”
Ambrose of Milan · written before 397 · Catena Aurea by Aquinaspatristic
Deuteronomy 24:5 freed a new husband from war for a year. Matthew Henry notes that it never freed him from the feasts of the LORD. Albert Barnes calls the third excuse the most trifling of the three.
Luke 14:20
“And another said, I have married a wife,.... And his pretence might be, that he had his own marriage feast, and friends to attend, nor could he leave his wife directly; but his circumstances were such as made an invitation to a feast the more agreeable, and he might have brought his wife and friends along with him, who would have been as welcome as himself: and therefore I cannot come.”
3 more voices on this verse
Luke 14:20
“I have married a wife ... - Our Saviour here doubtless intends to teach us that the love of earthly relatives and friends often takes off the affections from God, and prevents our accepting the blessings which he would bestow on us. This was the most trifling excuse of all; and we cannot but be amazed that “such” excuses are suffered to interfere with our salvation, and that people can be satisfied for “such” reasons to exclude themselves from the kingdom of God.”
Luke 14:20
“Or marriage is not blamed; but purity is held up to greater honour, since the unmarried woman careth for the things of the Lord, that she may be holy in body and spirit, but she that is married careth for the things of the world. (1 Cor. 7:34.)”
Ambrose of Milan · written before 397 · Catena Aurea by Aquinaspatristic
Luke 14:20
“It is true, he that married was excused by the law from going to war for the first year ( Deut. xxiv. 5 ), but would that excuse him from going up to the feasts of the Lord, which all the males were yearly to attend? Much less will it excuse from the gospel feast, of which the other were but types.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Luke 14:21-22
into the streets and alleys: The angry owner sends his servant into the streets and alleys to bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind, and the lame. These are the guests Jesus told His host to invite in verse 13.
Luke 14:21
“So that servant came and showed his Lord these things,.... The several excuses which those that were bidden to the supper made. So the ministers of the Gospel come to God and Christ, and give an account of the success of their ministry, which is often with grief, and not with joy: then the master of the house being angry; as well he might, at their ingratitude to him, their slighting of his kindness, and the contempt they poured upon his entertainment.”
3 more voices on this verse
Luke 14:21
“Because then the proud refuse to come, the poor (Greg. Hom. 36.) are chosen, since they are called weak and poor who are weak in their own judgment of themselves, for there are poor, and yet as it were strong, who though lying in poverty are proud; the blind are they who have no brightness of understanding; the lame are they who have walked not uprightly in their works.”
Ambrose of Milan · written before 397 · Catena Aurea by Aquinaspatristic
Luke 14:21
“Showed his lord - Told his master of the excuses of those who had been invited. Their conduct was remarkable, and it was his duty to acquaint him with the manner in which his invitation had been received. Being angry - Being angry at the people who had slighted his invitation; who had so insulted him by neglecting his feast, and preferring “for such reasons” their own gratification to his friendship and hospitality. So it is no wonder that God is angry with the wicked every day.”
Luke 14:21
“They will do it hereafter at the judgment-seat of Christ: they shall be produced as witnesses against those who persist and perish in their unbelief, to prove that they were fairly invited; and for those who accepted the call, Behold, I and the children thou hast given me.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
The servant has brought in the poor and the lame from the town, and seats remain. Gregory the Great read the first gathering as the believers from Israel, with room left for the Gentiles. John Bunyan read the words as room in heaven for himself.
Luke 14:22
“But let us hear what the servant adds after the poor have been brought to the supper: Lord, it is done as you commanded, and still there is room. Many such were gathered from Judea to the Lord's supper, but the multitude that believed from the people of Israel did not fill the place of the heavenly banquet. The throng of Jews has already entered, but there is still room vacant in the kingdom where the multitude of the Gentiles must be received.”
Gregory the Dialogist · written before 604 · Forty Gospel Homilies, Homily 36patristic
3 more voices on this verse
Luke 14:22
“I REMINDED YOU, this morning, [See Sermon #485, Volume 8—NO ROOM FOR CHRIST IN THE INN.] that there was no room for Christ and His parents in the inn at Bethlehem—and also that there were then other places where, although there was no room for Christ, far inferior persons found a welcome and entertainment. I need, this evening, to convince you that although there are still many sinners who seem to have no room for Christ in their hearts and lives, yet there is plenty of room for sinners in the heart and love of Christ!”
Charles Spurgeon · written before 1892 · The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 3221: “'Yet There Is Room'” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition)Particular Baptist
Luke 14:22
“These words, but especially those, And yet there is room, were sweet words to me; for truly I thought that by them I saw there was place enough in heaven for me.”
John Bunyan · Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners (1666)English Puritan
Luke 14:22
“And yet there is room - On some occasions, so numerous are the guests that there is not room for them to sit in the court of the person who makes the feast, and a larger is therefore borrowed.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Luke 14:23-24
the highways and hedges: The master widens the search to the highways and hedges and tells the servant to compel them to come in. The whole scene is an invitation, so compel names urgent persuasion, aimed at a full house.
Luke 14:23
“Go out into the highways - Since enough had not been found in the lanes and streets, he commands the servant to go into the roads - the public highways out of the city, as well as to the streets “in” it - and invite them also. Hedges - A hedge is the inclosure around a field or vineyard.”
2 more voices on this verse
Luke 14:23
“Or, He sends to the highways and about the hedges, because they are fit for the kingdom of God, who, not absorbed in the desire for present goods, are hastening on to the future, set in a certain fixed path of good will. And who like a hedge which separates the cultivated ground from the uncultivated, and keeps off the incursion of the cattle, know how to distinguish good and evil, and to hold up the shield of faith against the temptations of spiritual wickedness.”
Ambrose of Milan · written before 397 · Catena Aurea by Aquinaspatristic
Luke 14:23
“Compel them to come in - With all the violence of love, and the force of God's word. Such compulsion, and such only, in matters of religion, was used by Christ and his apostles.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755)evangelical
not one of those men who were invited: The sentence falls on the guests who declined. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown hear Jesus lifting the veil of the parable here and calling the banquet His own. Albert Barnes limits the sentence to those who had rejected Him in that manner.
Luke 14:24
“For I say unto you - These may be considered as the words of Jesus, making an application of the parable to the Pharisees before him. None of those men - This cannot be understood as meaning that no “Jews” would be saved, but that none of those who had “treated him, in that manner” - none who had so decidedly rejected the offer of the gospel - would be saved. We may here see how dangerous it is “once” to reject the gospel; how dangerous to grieve away the Holy Spirit.”
1 more voice on this verse
Luke 14:24
“I say unto you, That none--Our Lord here appears to throw off the veil of the parable, and proclaim the Supper His own, intimating that when transferred and transformed into its final glorious form, and the refusers themselves would give all for another opportunity, He will not allow one of them to taste it.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Counting the Cost: Towers, Kings, and Salt
Luke 14:25-27
He turned and said to them: Jesus tells the crowds that anyone who does not hate his family, even his own life, cannot be His disciple. The Semitic idiom speaks of preference, a love for Him so far above every other that lesser loves look like hatred.
Luke 14:25
“We learn, firstly, from this passage — that true Christians must be ready, if need be, to give up everything for Christ's sake. This is a lesson which is taught in very remarkable language. Our Lord says, "If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters — yes, even his own life — he cannot be My disciple!" This expression must doubtless be interpreted with some qualification . We must never explain any text of Scripture in such a manner as to make it contradict another.”
1 more voice on this verse
Luke 14:25
“Those that undertake to follow Christ must count upon the worst, and prepare accordingly. He tells them what the worst is that they must count upon, much the same with what he had gone through before them and for them. He takes it for granted that they had a mind to be his disciples, that they might be qualified for preferment in his kingdom.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
does not hate his father: The list runs from father, mother, wife and children to brothers, sisters and a man's own life. Matthew Henry reads hate as loving less, the way Jacob loved Leah less than Rachel. Adam Clarke reads it by Matthew 10:37.
Luke 14:26
“And hate not - Matthew, Mat 10:37, expresses the true meaning of this word, when he says, He who loveth his father and mother More than me. In Mat 6:24, he uses the word hate in the same sense.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
2 more voices on this verse
Luke 14:26
“Mention is not made here of houses and lands; philosophy will teach a man to look upon these with contempt; but Christianity carries it higher. [1.] Every good man loves his relations; and yet, if he be a disciple of Christ, he must comparatively hate them, must love them less than Christ, as Leah is said to be hated when Rachel was better loved.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Luke 14:26
“For if for thy sake the Lord renounces His own mother, saying, Who is my mother? and who are my brethren? (Matt. 12:48, Mark 3:33.) why dost thou deserve to be preferred to thy Lord? But the Lord will have us neither be ignorant of nature, nor be her slaves, but so to submit to nature, that we reverence the Author of nature, and depart not from God out of love to our parents.”
Ambrose of Milan · written before 397 · Catena Aurea by Aquinaspatristic
carry his cross: A condemned man carried his own cross to the place of execution, and the crowd on the road to Jerusalem knew the sight. Jesus is walking toward His own cross as He says it. John Gill takes the cross to mean reproach, affliction and death, borne patiently.
Luke 14:27
“Whosoever doth not bear his cross,.... All reproach, afflictions, persecutions, and death itself, cheerfully and patiently; the Ethiopic version renders it, "of his death the cross"; it signifies whatever is trying and disagreeable to flesh and blood: and come after me; bearing his cross; as Christ himself was about to do, and which doubtless he had in view; cannot be my disciple; he is not so in reality, nor does he deserve the name.”
1 more voice on this verse
Luke 14:27
“He must bear his cross, and come after Christ; that is, he must bear it in the way of his duty, whenever it lies in that way. He must bear it when Christ calls him to it, and in bearing it he must have an eye to Christ, and fetch encouragements from him, and live in hope of a recompence with him.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Luke 14:28-30
count the cost: A man planning a tower first counts the cost, and an abandoned foundation was a familiar and shameful sight. The picture pairs the warning of verse 27 with an honest reckoning before the commitment is made.
Luke 14:28
“To build a tower - Probably this means no more than a dwelling house, on the top of which, according to the Asiatic manner, battlements were built, both to take the fresh air on, and to serve for refuge from and defense against an enemy. It was also used for prayer and meditation. This parable represents the absurdity of those who undertook to be disciples of Christ, without considering what difficulties they were to meet with, and what strength they had to enable them to go through with the undertaking.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Luke 14:28
“THIS passage is peculiar to Luke. He tells us that at the time when our Lord uttered it, great multitudes followed Him. It is observable that when our Lord was forsaken by the crowd, He was not depressed, and when His ministry became popular He was not elated. He was calm and wise in the midst of the excitement of the thronging multitudes. This passage is sufficient evidence of that fact.”
lays the foundation: A foundation with no tower on it stood open to the ridicule of everyone who saw it. Gregory the Great applied the mockery to unseen enemies who rejoice at a believer's failure. Matthew Henry cites 2 John 8 on losing finished work.
Luke 14:29
But we must consider what is said: "All who see it begin to mock him," because, according to the voice of Paul, "We have been made a spectacle to the world, to angels and to men." And in everything we do, we ought to consider our hidden adversaries, who always press upon our works, who always rejoice at our failure. Beholding these, the Prophet says: "My God, in you I trust; I shall not be ashamed, nor let my enemies mock me."
Gregory the Dialogist · written before 604 · Forty Gospel Homilies, Homily 37patristic
could not finish what he started: The ridicule is short, and it is the builder's epitaph. John Gill applies it to a man who starts to build a religious life and cannot finish it. Spurgeon notes that Luke alone records these pictures of counting the cost of building.
Luke 14:30
“Saying, this man began to build,.... He set out well, he promised great things, and made a considerable bluster and stir, as if he would carry things at once to a very high pitch: and was not able to finish; it was all noise and talk, and nothing else: falling off from a profession of religion, exposes men to contempt and scorn; such are not only cast out of churches with disgrace, but are despised by men, by wicked men; and are a reproach, a proverb, and a taunt in all places; and even are mocked by devils too.”
Luke 14:31-33
first sit down and consider: A king with ten thousand first considers whether he can meet twenty thousand, or he sends to ask for terms of peace. Both pictures end in one total demand: any one of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be My disciple.
Luke 14:31
"Or what king, He says, wishing to make war with another king, does not consider with himself, whether with his ten thousand he can prevail over one who is more mighty than himself?" And what does this mean? "Our wrestle is not against blood and flesh, but against governments; against empires; against the worldholders of this darkness; against wicked spirits in the heavenly regions."
Cyril of Alexandria · written before 444 · Commentary on the Gospel of Luke, Sermon 105patristic
1 more voice on this verse
Luke 14:31
“Note, First, Those that persist in sin make war against God, the most unnatural, unjustifiable war; they rebel against their lawful sovereign, whose government is perfectly just and good. Secondly, The proudest and most daring sinner is no equal match for God; the disproportion of strength is much greater than that here supposed between ten thousand and twenty thousand.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
ask for terms of peace: The weaker king asks for peace early. Matthew Henry turns the picture round, with the sinner as the weaker king at war with God. Gregory the Great read the distance as the time before judgment, when terms of peace can still be asked.
Luke 14:32
“What then must be done, brothers, except that while we see that we with a single army cannot prevail against his double one, we send an embassy while he is still far off, and ask for terms of peace? For he is said to be far off because he is not yet seen as present through judgment.”
Gregory the Dialogist · written before 604 · Forty Gospel Homilies, Homily 37patristic
1 more voice on this verse
Luke 14:32
“Or else - If he is not able. If he is satisfied that he would be defeated. An ambassage - Persons to treat with an enemy and propose terms of peace. These expressions are not to be improperly pressed in order to obtain from them a spiritual signification. The general scope of the parable is to be learned from the connection, and may be thus expressed: 1. Every man who becomes a follower of Jesus should calmly and deliberately look at all the consequences of such an act and be prepared to meet them.”
give up everything he has: The verse applies both pictures, the tower and the war, to every man who would follow Jesus. John Wesley read giving up everything as withdrawing the heart from all created things and using them only for God. Adam Clarke applied it first to the preachers.
Luke 14:33
Whoever would truly be a follower of God must break the bonds of attachment to this life. This is done through complete separation from and forgetfulness of old habits. It is impossible for us to achieve our goal of pleasing God unless we snatch ourselves away from fleshly ties and worldly society. We are then transported to another world in our manner of living. The apostle said, "But our citizenship is in heaven." The Lord specifically said, "Likewise every one of you that does not renounce all that he possesses cannot be my disciple."
Basil of Caesarea · written before 379 · The Long Rules 5patristic
2 more voices on this verse
Luke 14:33
“By withdrawing his affections from all the creatures; By enjoying them only in and for God, only in such a measure and manner as leads to him; By hating them all, in the sense above mentioned, cannot be my disciple - But will surely desist from building that tower, neither can he persevere in fighting the good fight of faith.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755)evangelical
Luke 14:33
“Whosoever he be of you - This seems to be addressed particularly to those who were then, and who were to be, preachers of his Gospel; and who were to travel over all countries, publishing salvation to a lost world.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Luke 14:34-35
if the salt loses its savor: Dead Sea salt could hold enough impurity to lose its flavor while looking unchanged. Then it is fit neither for the soil nor for the manure pile. He who has ears to hear, let him hear leaves the cost with the hearer.
Luke 14:34
"Salt is good, but if the salt becomes tasteless, with what can it be seasoned? It is cast out," he says. He continues, "Let there be salt in you," that is, the divine words that bring salvation. If we despise these, we become tasteless, foolish and utterly useless. The congregation of the saints must throw out these things, by the gift of mercy and love to them from Christ, the Savior of us all.
Cyril of Alexandria · written before 444 · Commentary on Luke, Homily 105patristic
2 more voices on this verse
Luke 14:34
“Salt is good - See on Mat 5:13 (note), and Mar 9:50 (note). On the subject referred to this place from Luk 14:23, Compel them to come in, which has been adduced to favor religious persecution, I find the following sensible and just observations in Dr. Dodd’s notes. “1st.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Luke 14:34
“If Christianity will not prevail to cure men of their worldliness and sensuality, if that remedy has been tried in vain, their ease must even be concluded desperate. [2.] It is of no use. It is not fit, as dung is, for the land, to manure that, nor will it be the better if it be laid in the dunghill to rot; there is nothing to be got out of it.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
He who has ears to hear: Salt that has lost its taste is useless even as manure, and Matthew Henry notes that nothing can be got out of it. Jesus closed the parable of the sower at 8:8 with the same call to hear. Bede took it as a call to obey what is heard.
Keep studying
Studies8
Sources for this chapter
The summary
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory; John Calvin, Commentaries; John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the New Testament and Matthew Henry, Complete Commentary.
The exposition
Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes; Bede; Charles Spurgeon, The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 1159: “Counting the Cost” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition); Cyril of Alexandria; Gregory the Dialogist; Irenaeus, Against Heresies Book V; J. C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on the Gospels, Luke; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Bunyan, Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners; John Gill; John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.