The Great Commentary of Cornelius a Lapide: S. Luke
Ver. 19. — And another said, I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to prove them , &c. Another kind of avarice is here described, viz., the desire of possessing oxen, and animals for tillage, or food, or some other purpose ; for the riches of the patriarchs lay in their herds. So think Theophylact and Titus. S. Gregory, however (Horn. 36), says, “ What are we to understand by the five yoke of oxen but the five senses ? which are rightly called yokes, because they are double in the two sexes.”
Ver. 20. — And another said , I have married a wife , &c. What, asks S. Gregory, are we to understand by a wife but carnal gratifications ? The Pharisees, like many at the present time, were ensnared by carnal gratifications and luxury. These are the thorns which choke the word of God. S. Luke viii. 14.
Let us all then give heed to the warning of S. Paul, and remember that “the fashion of this world passeth away” (1 Cor. vii. 31). “For the ‘res temporalis’ consists in possession, and ‘res æterna’ in expectation ,” S. Gregory (Horn. 36). Not that marriage is censured here (save so far as it interferes with the work of salvation), says S. Ambrose, but purity is held up to greater honour, for “ the love of the things of this world is a fetter to (viscus est) the wings of the spirit.” Gloss.
In carnal things, desire begets satiety, and satiety disgust ; but in spiritual things, satiety provokes desire. S. Gregory.
S. Augustine (serm. 33, De Verb. Domini) explains and applies somewhat differently the excuses of the invited guests :
“The piece of ground which was bought denotes government. Therefore pride is the first vice reproved.
“The five yoke of oxen are taken to be the five senses, by means of which earthly things are pursued. For the oxen till the ground ; but men at a distance from faith, given up to earthly things, are occupied with carnal matters.
“ ‘Love not the world, therefore, neither the things that are in the world,’ for ‘the world passeth away, and the lust thereof,’ 1 S. John ii. 15, 17. Away then with wicked and vain excuses, and let us come to the supper wherewith we may be inwardly nourished. Let not the lifting up of pride hinder us, neither let lawless curiosity fright us, and turn us away from God. Let not the pleasures of the flesh keep us from the pleasure of the heart. Let us come and be filled.”
Ver. 21. — So that servant came, and shewed his lord these things, &c. We are here taught that Christ chose the outcasts and poor in place of the Priests and Pharisees who had made light of His gospel. According to that which is written, “ The publicans and harlots go into the kingdom of God before you.” S. Matt xxi. 31. And again, “ Many that are first shall be last : and the last shall be first.” S. Matt xix. 30.
For albeit that Christ preached from the commencement of His ministry both to the Pharisees and to the multitude, yet the Pharisees, as of higher rank, were the first invited, to preserve the unity of the parable; and also because Christ would have the scribes first, by reason of their position, acknowledge Him, and then be His witnesses amongst the people. But the contrary came to pass. “They,” says Euthymius, “who refused to acknowledge Him, were the chief Priests and rulers of the people, and these, who were chosen in their stead, were the humble and the outcasts of the nation.” For of a truth “ God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty.”
Symbolically. S. Augustine says (serm. 34 De Verb. Dom.) : Who were those that came, but the poor, and the maimed, and the halt, and the blind ? Those who absented themselves were those who thought themselves rich, and robust ; who, as it were, could walk well, and see clearly, the hopelessness of whose state was proportionate to their pride.
Let the beggars come to the feast at the invitation of Him who made Himself poor that we might become rich.
Let the weak come, for the physician has no need of those that are whole, but of those that are sick.
Let the lame come and say, “Order my steps in Thy word.”
Let the blind come and say, “ Lighten Thou mine eyes, that I sleep not in death.”
These poor and miserable creatures teach us :
1. That none are to be despised, but that salvation in Christ is to be offered to all.
2. That it is easier for the poor to obey the gospel precepts, and therefore to be saved, than for the rich.
3. That we must despair of no one's salvation, however wretched, blind, or perverse he may be.
Ver. 22. — And the servant said, Yet there is room. The number of the elect is not yet complete. Heaven is not yet filled with those who are to obtain salvation. Learn to imitate the zeal of this servant , who rejected no one, however blind, deformed, or maimed, but busied himself in summoning and saving more and more.
Ver. 23. — And the lord said unto the servant, Go out into the highways and hedges , &c. Go forth, without the city — without Jerusalem, and beyond Judaea, and call the Gentiles to Christ.
Into the highways. “The partings of the highways” (S. Matt xxii. 9), i.e. into the roads which lead to all nations and to the ends of the earth.
And hedges. The hamlets and villages, which were surrounded not by walls but by hedges. Hence we are taught that the Gospel is to be preached by the Apostles and their successors, even to savage and uncivilised nations ; a duty which is recognised more and more by the followers of Christ.
Hence the servant does not say, as he added of the Jews in the 22nd verse, “it is done as thou hast commanded;” because the work is not yet finished among the Gentiles ; it is being done more fully from day to day, to be completed at the end of the world. “The meaning of this verse,” says Titus, “ is, that after the Israelites had been gathered in, the people of the Gentiles were also to be called, i.e. men who, as being born and brought up in the country, in the highways and hedges without the city, were entirely uncivilised.” Or, as Theophylact interprets it, “The Israelites were within the city, having received the law, and having been granted a more civilised lot in life ; but the Gentiles were aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, strangers from the covenants of promise, and without God in the world.” (Eph. ii. 12.)
Compel them to come in. Many of the Gentile nations were wholly given up to idolatry and evil living. Hence they were to be compelled to salvation by the burning zeal and energy of the preacher, even by the scourge and judgments of God sent upon them “in demonstration of the Spirit and of power” (1 Cor. ii. 4). For “ our gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance.” 1 Thess. i. 5.
“ Therefore,” says Suarez, “compel them to come in, either by afflicting them with labour and sorrows, or by converting them, as it were, miraculously, by a mighty effort and powerful call.”
Ver. 24. — For I say unto you , that none of those men which were bidden shall taste of my supper , because they made light of my invitation . So the Pharisees and the rulers of the Jews, given up to earthly enjoyments, are to be excluded from the heavenly feast because, called by Christ to accept the teaching of His gospel, they refused the invitation. “ Because I have called and ye refused, I also will laugh at your calamity ; I will mock when your fear cometh.” Prov. i. 24. Then shall they, too late, repent of their ingratitude and folly, and shall say, “What hath pride profited us, or what good hath riches with our vaunting brought us ? For those things are passed away like a shadow.” Wisdom v. 8.
So far Christ had said all these things in the house of the Pharisee, whose invitation He had accepted, in order that He might instruct him and his friends. Let all those, therefore, who are followers of Christ, imitate His example, and not take part in any entertainment unless it be for the purpose of reaping spiritual fruit.
Ver. 26. — If any man come to Me, &c. That having left all (ver. 33) he may, with the Apostles and the seventy disciples, follow Me, the Master and Teacher of perfection.
All these things are of evangelical counsel, and not of precept ; although they may be said in a measure to extend to all Christians, inasmuch as they are bound to hate their parents, i.e. to give up the love of their friends and relations — even the love of life, if such love oppose itself to the law of Christ. Hence Maldonatus thinks this to be of precept ; Jansenius, of counsel. But see S. Matt. x. 37.