The Great Commentary of Cornelius a Lapide: S. Luke
“Call not thy friends.” Christ counselled this as the more perfect way. He did not command it as of necessity. For it is lawful, nay, meritorious, for us to invite our friends, if it be done out of friendship and kindness. Whence Bede says, “ Brethren then, and friends, and the rich are not forbidden, as though it were a crime, to entertain one another, but this, like all the other necessary intercourse among men, is shown to fail in meriting the reward of everlasting life,” unless, as I have said, such entertainment springs from a higher motive of brotherly love or charity.
“Lest they also bid thee again.” Like worldly men are wont to do from gratitude or else avarice, for “ to be hospitable to those who will make a return, is,” says S. Ambrose, “ but a form of avarice.”
“ And a recompence be made thee ” by man, and this prove worthless and transient. If you regard this alone, you exclude the spiritual recompence from God and deprive yourself of it ; if you look for both you will receive both, but both lessened, for the one lessens and as it were interferes with the other ; but if you regard the divine alone, and only admit or rather bear with the human recompence because it is offered you, you will receive the divine whole and undiminished.
Ver. 13. — But when thou makest a feast, call the poor , the maimed , the lame, the blind. “ The maimed,” ἀναπήρους, the cripple, the mutilated , i.e. those wanting in body or mind. S. Chrysostom assigns the reason. “ If ye invite the poor, God will be your debtor. For the humbler the brother is, so much the more does Christ come through him and visit us. For he who entertains a great man does it often from an interested motive or from vainglory. But thou sayest, the poor man is unclean and filthy. Wash him and make him sit with thee at table. If he has dirty garments, give him clean ones. If thou wilt not receive him in a quiet chamber, at least admit him where thy servants are. If thou art not willing that he should sit at meat with thee, send him a dish from thy table.”
Following this counsel, S. Gregory had often twelve beggars at his table, and therefore was rewarded by receiving Christ Himself in the guise of a poor man. S. Louis of France also, not content with entertaining 120 beggars at his table daily, and on feast days 200, frequently waited upon them himself, and even washed their feet. In like manner acted S. Louis the Minorite, Bishop of Toulouse, following the example of his uncle S. Louis; S. Hedwig, Duchess of Poland, and her niece S. Elizabeth, the daughter of Andrew king of Hungary, who fed 900 poor every day, receiving a rich reward in divine favour and grace.
Mystically . Origen says, “ He who shuns vainglory, calls to a spiritual banquet the poor, that is, the ignorant, that he may enrich them ; the weak, that is, those with offended consciences, that he may heal them; the lame, that is, those who have wandered from reason, that he may make their paths straight ; the blind, that they may discern the truth.”
Ver. 14. — And thou shalt be blessed, for thou shalt be recompensed at the resurrection of the just, when, says the Interlinear, the entertainers of the poor will enter into blessedness.
The neediness of the guests purifies the intention of the host, who expects no return from them, but acts solely out of love to God. Wherefore God, who considers that what is done to the poor is done unto Him, will grant him a bounteous reward, even the everlasting delights of the heavenly banquet, according to the promise, “ and I appoint unto you . . . that ye may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom.” S. Luke xxii. 29. Hence S. Chrysostom says, “ Let us be troubled not when we receive no return of a kindness, but when we do ; for if we have received it, we shall receive nothing more ; but if man does not repay us, God, out of love for whom we have acted, will be our recompense.”
Ver. 15. Blessed is he that shall eat bread in the kingdom of God ; i.e., in the resurrection of the just, of which Christ had made mention in the preceding verse. S. Cyril, in the Catena, says, “ This man was carnal, for he thought the reward of the saints was to be bodily.” He must therefore have been one of the Pharisees, for they believe in the resurrection, which the Sadducees deny. Acts xxiii. 8. For in heaven God feeds, satisfies, and fills (inebriat) the blessed with all delights. So the Psalmist : “ I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with Thy likeness.” Ps. xvii. 15. And again, “They shall be satisfied with the plenteousness of Thy house, and Thou shalt give them drink of Thy pleasures as out of the river.” Ps. xxxvi. 8. This joy S. Augustine describes at length in his Soliloquies and Meditations.
Mystically. “He was sighing for something which was afar off, and the bread itself was lying before him. For who is that Bread of the kingdom of God but He who says, I am the living bread which came down from heaven.” S. John vi. 51.
Ver. 16. That He said unto him , A certain man made a great supper. This parable is very similar to that recorded by S. Matthew. See commentary on S. Matt xxii. 2.
But you will ask, What was this supper? 1. Some understand by it, the incarnation of the Word of God, the preaching of His Gospel, and the redemption wrought by Him. For this is the great supper to which Christ, when He became incarnate, invited us. S. Matthew calls it a dinner. It is a dinner as regards the Church Militant ; a supper with respect to the Church Triumphant. In this sense Leonidas addressed his comrades before the battle : “ Let us dine, fellow-soldiers, for we shall sup in the nether (or rather the upper) world.” For the Church Militant here on earth is striving eagerly to attain the Church Triumphant in Heaven.
2. S. Cyril, in the Catena , understands the Eucharist by the supper. “ The man,” he says, “ is God the Father, who has prepared for us a great supper in Christ, for He has given us His own body to eat. Whence the Church makes choice of this parable for the Feast of the Blessed Sacrament.”
3. But in its literal sense, the supper is the happiness and glory of heaven. It is called a supper, because it will be given in the evening, i.e. at the end of the world, when life and its troubles are over : because, also, it will be our only and everlasting refreshment.
The great supper, says S. Gregory (Hom. 36), is the full enjoyment of eternal sweetness ; for after it no guest is cast out.
A great. For nothing greater than it can be imagined, since God Himself will be our food and feast. Hence, Euthymius says, “ Hereby is signified the unspeakable fruition of God, who will fulfil the utmost expectations of the blessed. For ‘eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him.’ ” 1 Cor. ii. 9.
And bade many : e.g. the whole nation of the Jews, who were the Church and the chosen people of God, and specially their rulers, who were bidden to “ repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” S. Matt. iii. 2.
Ver. 17. — And sent his servants , &c., sent the Apostles after the resurrection to say that all things were ready for the heavenly feast.
Ver. 18. — And they all with one consent began to make excuse. The first said unto him, I have bought a piece of ground, &c. The Scribes and Pharisees, and the chief Priests are here clearly indicated ; for they, invited by Christ to the Gospel feast, made light of it, because they were so intent on their farms, i.e. their worldly possessions, that they had neither time nor inclination to think about the salvation of their souls. “ God,” says S. Gregory (Horn. 36 in Evang.), “offers what ought to have been asked. Unasked, He is ready to give, what we could scarcely dare hope for. He announces that the delights of the eternal feast are ready, and with one consent they make excuse.” “ They say, I pray thee, and then disdain to come. The word sounds of humility, but the action is pride.” S. Bernard rightly calls men who seek wealth, pleasure, honour and the like, lunatics. “ I once ” says he, “ saw five men : why should I not look on them as lunatics? For the first, with swollen cheeks, was chewing the sand of the sea shore. The second, standing by a lake of sulphur, was endeavouring to inhale the foul and noxious vapour which arose therefrom. The third, leaning over a blazing furnace, was enjoying the burning sparks which he received within his gaping jaws. The fourth, seated on a pinnacle of a temple, was drawing in with open mouth the light breezes, and if they seemed to flow less freely he fanned himself, as if in hope of inhaling the whole atmosphere. The fifth, standing aside, was laughing at the others, although himself the most deserving of ridicule, for he was busily engaged in sucking his own flesh, applying now his hands, now his arms, now one part of his body, now another to his mouth.” By these figures S. Bernard pictures the various kinds of sin. The first represents the greedy, the second the lustful, the third those prone to anger, the fourth the ambitious, and the fifth those who boast themselves over much of their possessions and are self-satisfied, who are never content, but ever thirsting for the good things of this world.