The Great Commentary of Cornelius a Lapide: S. Luke
Ver. 2. — The harvest truly is great, but the labourers are few. See
Ver. 3. — Go your ways : behold, I send you forth as lambs among wolves . That by your innocent and holy lives, through the power of My grace working in you, you may change the wolf into the lamb, i.e., convert evil men from the error of their way. Fear not, therefore, for under My protection no harm can befall you. For, as S. Ambrose says, “ the good Shepherd takes care that the wolves do His flock no harm.”
Ver. 4. — Carry neither purse (provide neither gold, nor silver, nor brass in your purse, S. Matt, x.) nor scrip . Neither purse for money, nor scrip for food ; for the Shepherd will supply both if needful. He commands them to look to Him who sent them forth for the necessaries of life. Euthymius.
For the preacher ought to have such trust in God, that although unprovided with the expenses of their present life, he should be convinced that they will not fail him ; lest whilst his mind is taken up with things temporal, he should be less mindful of things eternal. S. Gregory. See S. Matt. x. For Christ here gives to the seventy disciples the same commands which He before gave to His twelve apostles.
And salute no man by the way . Do not turn aside to salute your friends or to commune with your acquaintances, but avoid all such delays, and devote yourselves entirely to the preaching of My gospel. SS. Augustine, Ambrose, Gregory and others.
But on the other hand, Euthymius says, Christ means not that His disciples should uncourteously refuse a passing salutation. He only forbids those formal greetings, which are hindrances to the ministry, and causes of offence. So writes S. Ambrose, who here alludes to the command of Elijah, “ If thou meet any man, salute him not; and if any salute thee, answer him not again” (2 Kings iv. 29) : a command given lest Gehazi might enter into converse with some one by the way, and thus be forgetful of the duty he was sent to perform.
Ver. 7. — For the labourer is worthy of his hire. By hire we must understand not money or its equivalent, but food and nourishment. For the preaching of the kingdom of heaven is above price. Hence S. Augustine says on Ps. ciii. : What do they receive ? They bestow spiritual gifts, they receive carnal ; they give gold, they receive that which is worthless. Therefore it is clear that the apostles should live by the gospel, and that their hearers were bound by every law, natural and divine, to support them. They were forbidden then to carry either purse or scrip, because God put it into the hearts of those that attended on their teaching to provide for all their wants. For S. Gregory says (Horn. 17), He who forbids us to carry scrip or purse, ordains that we should live of the gospel. Because it is fitting that we should receive earthly things from those to whom we offer heavenly rewards. And again, Christ shows why He bade His disciples carry neither scrip nor purse, not because these things are unneeded, but in order to teach that it was the duty of those to whom they were sent to supply them. S. Augustine, De Consent. Evang. lib. ii.
Ver. 16. — He that heareth you heareth Me; and he that despiseth you despiseth Me. For you are my apostles, and ambassadors. And he
* " Eastern salutations are matters of no small importance, but carried out with great ceremony, and therefore productive of much delay and waste of time.*’
who despises an envoy despises the monarch who sent him. Therefore we ought to regard the commands of our religious superiors as if they issued from the mouth of Christ Himself. Hence S. Bernard (de Praecepto), Whatever God, or man speaking in the place of God, enjoins, that — unless contrary to the known will of the Almighty — must be looked upon as a divine command. And again, We must render to those whom God has put over us, in all things lawful, the same obedience as we would render to God. See further S. Matt. x. and xi.
Ver. 17. — And the seventy returned with joy (great joy, Syriac), saying, Lord, even the devils are subject to us through Thy name. They as much as say, We have not only healed the sick according to Thy word, ver. 9 ; but have even cast out devils through the power of Thy name. See, says Theophylact, their humility, for they say through Thy name, not by our own power or virtue. Yet a certain amount of vain glorying seems to have crept in unawares, because Christ had chosen them in preference to others to work such wonders ; but their offence was a venial one, such as the Master would soon absolve.
Ver. 18. — And He said unto them , I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven. Like lightning.
1. Unexpectedly: because as the lightning bursts forth unexpectedly from a tranquil sky, so were the devils suddenly cast down from heaven.
2. Violently, by the power of Michael and his angels, Rev. xii. 7.
3. Swiftly, in a moment of time.
4. Openly, in the presence of all the inhabitants of heaven.
Christ took example from the lightning to show how great and swift was the fall of Satan. Euthymius. Many think that Christ here speaks literally of the fall of Satan from heaven, i.e. from the power which he possessed over the world before the coming of the Saviour.
Ye tell me no new thing, O my disciples, for when I sent you forth I saw the devil deprived of power, falling as it were from heaven, and about to be yet more discomfited by your ministry.
Christ saith this as if to magnify the power which He had given to the disciples. See how mighty a foe is subject to you through My name. So Nazianzen, S. Basil, and well-nigh all the Fathers.
Hear Theophylact. Some understand by the word heaven the honour and glory which Satan possessed, for before the coming of Christ he was worshipped as a god.
Euthymius also : Before the incarnation Satan was had in honour, and exercised kingly power, but he fell, not from heaven, because he had already fallen from it, but from all his glory and power when Christ was made man. So also Vatablus : When I sent you forth to preach I saw, saith Christ, that the power of Satan would be broken. “ For” says S. Cyril, “ Satan then fell from the heights of power to the extreme of weakness.” He was venerated by men before the coming of Christ. He is now trodden under by the feet of the faithful Hence it is written, “ I give you power to tread upon serpents.” But this allusion to the fall of Satan is mystical and symbolical rather than literal. Literally Christ speaks of Satan’s fall from heaven, i.e. of the time when he and his angels were cast into the abyss, because through pride he sought to make himself equal with God, or because, as others think, he endeavoured to hinder the purpose of God in the incarnation of Christ.
Because, therefore, he envied the Divinity of Christ, he was cast out of heaven. The Greek word moira is in the past tense, and should therefore be translated as in the Arabic, “fallen.” The whole passage, therefore, may be rendered thus, “ Wonder not, O My disciples, that through My name ye have cast out devils ; for I long since cast out of heaven Lucifer and his angels, because of their pride and discontent. But beware lest ye give way to pride, because the devils are subject unto you, and lest ye also for this cause incur a like punishment.” So S. Jerome, and all the Fathers.
But very appropriately is Lucifer compared to lightning.
preaching the power of Satan would be quickly broken,” or what amounts to the same thing, “ Whilst ye were absent preaching and working miracles in obedience to My command, I saw the power of Satan growing weak, and Satan, as it were, cast down from heaven.”
1. Because by the brilliancy of lightning is very aptly shown the pre-eminence and fiery nature of Lucifer.
2. And also his excessive power to do hurt. For as the lightning shatters the hardest rock, so Satan overpowers all opposition.
3. Because of the shortness of his reign. For as the flash is quickly gone, so the dominion of Satan lasts but for this life, which is but as a moment compared with eternity.
Hence, figuratively, lightning is an emblem of this world’s glory. For as it flashes, and is quickly gone, “ so passes away the glory of this world.”
Furthermore, as the brilliant lightning loses itself in the earth, so Lucifer, a bright angel, became through pride a foul fiend, and thus pride makes the best of men to become devils, whilst humility makes angels of the worst. See Isa. xiv. 11. “Thy pomp is brought down to the grave, the worm is spread under thee, and the worms cover thee.”
4. Because of his outward appearance, “ for he transforms himself into an angel of light,” 2 Cor. xi. 14.
The full meaning of this verse is as follows : — I, saith Christ, as God saw the fall of Satan when he was cast out from heaven, and in like manner, I now, as the Son of man, see him cast out of the temples in which he was worshipped, because I teach, and in My name ye also teach, the nations to break up their idols and to worship God alone. Hence, as I cast him out of heaven, so now I deprive him of his power over men. “ How art thou fallen, O Lucifer, son of the morning. How is the light which was in thee become darkness.” See Isa. xiv. 12.