Church Fathers Commentary Luke 14

St. Cyril of Alexandria: Although our Lord knew the malice of the Pharisees, He still became their guest so that He might benefit those who were present with His words and miracles. This is why the text says, 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. They watched to see whether He would disregard the observance of the law or do anything that was forbidden on the Sabbath day. So when the man with dropsy came among them, He rebuked the insolence of the Pharisees, who wanted to find fault with Him, by asking a question, as it is said: And, behold, there was a certain man before him which had the dropsy. And Jesus answering...

The Venerable Bede: When it says that Jesus answered, it refers to the preceding words, And they watched him. For the Lord knew the thoughts of men.

Theophylact of Ohrid: But with His question, He exposes their folly. For while God blessed the Sabbath, they forbade doing good on the Sabbath; but a day that does not permit good works is accursed.

The Venerable Bede: But those who were asked are rightly silent, for they perceived that whatever they said would be turned against them. For if it is lawful to heal on the Sabbath day, why did they watch the Savior to see if He would heal? If it is not lawful, why do they take care of their cattle on the Sabbath? This is why the text says, But they held their peace.

St. Cyril of Alexandria: Disregarding the snares of the Jews, He cures the man with dropsy. This man, out of fear of the Pharisees, did not ask to be healed because it was the Sabbath. Instead, he only stood up, so that when Jesus saw him, He might have compassion on him and heal him. And the Lord, knowing this, did not ask if he wished to be made well, but immediately healed him. This is why the text says: And he took him, and healed him, and let him go. In this, our Lord was not concerned about offending the Pharisees, but only about helping the one who needed healing. For it is right for us, when a great good can be achieved, not to worry if fools take offense.

But seeing the Pharisees awkwardly silent, Christ counters their stubborn impudence with some important considerations. As the text continues: And he answered and said to them, 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?

Theophylact of Ohrid: It is as if He said, "If the law forbids showing mercy on the Sabbath day, then you should have no concern for your son when he is in danger on the Sabbath day. But why do I speak of a son, when you do not even neglect an ox if you see it in danger?"

The Venerable Bede: With these words, He not only refutes His watchers, the Pharisees, but also condemns them for their covetousness, since in rescuing their animals, they are motivated by their own desire for wealth. How much more, then, should Christ deliver a man, who is so much better than cattle!

St. Augustine of Hippo: Now, He has aptly compared the man with dropsy to an animal that has fallen into a pit (for he is afflicted by water), just as He compared the woman whom He described as bound, and whom He Himself set free, to a beast that is untied to be led to water.

The Venerable Bede: By this suitable example, then, He settles the question, showing that those who violate the Sabbath through an act of covetousness are the very ones who contend that He violates it through an act of charity. This is why the text says, And they could not answer him again to these things. Mystically, the man with dropsy is compared to one who is weighed down by an overflowing stream of carnal pleasures. For the disease of dropsy gets its name from a watery fluid.

St. Augustine of Hippo: Alternatively, we can rightly compare the man with dropsy to a covetous rich man. For just as the first man's thirst increases the more he swells with unnatural fluid, so also the second man's desire for riches grows more ardent the more abundant they become, especially when he does not use them well.

St. Gregory the Great: Rightly, then, is the man with dropsy healed in the Pharisees' presence, for the bodily infirmity of the one expresses the spiritual disease of the others.

The Venerable Bede: In this example, He also aptly refers to the ox and the ass to represent either the wise and the foolish, or both nations: the Jew, oppressed by the burden of the Law, and the Gentile, not subject to reason. For the Lord rescues from the pit of sinful desire all who are sunk in it.

St. Ambrose of Milan: First, the man with dropsy is cured, in whom the abundant discharges of the flesh crushed the powers of the soul and quenched the ardor of the Spirit. Next, humility is taught when, at the wedding feast, the desire for the highest place is forbidden. As it is said, Sit not down in the highest room.

St. Cyril of Alexandria: For to rush hastily toward honors that are not fitting for us indicates rashness and casts a slur upon our actions. Hence it follows: lest a more honorable man than you be invited...

St. John Chrysostom: And so the seeker of honor did not obtain what he coveted but suffered a defeat; while busying himself with how he might be loaded with honors, he is treated with dishonor. Because nothing is as valuable as modesty, He leads His hearer to the opposite, not only forbidding him to seek the highest place but bidding him to search for the lowest. As it follows: But when you are bidden, go and sit down in the lowest room.

St. Cyril of Alexandria: For if a man does not wish to be set before others, he obtains this honor according to the divine word. As it follows: That when he that bade you comes, he may say to you, 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 honors, as it follows: Then shall you have worship.

St. Basil the Great: To take the lowest place at a feast, according to our Lord’s command, is fitting for everyone. However, to rush contentiously for this same place is to be condemned as a breach of order and a cause of tumult. A strife raised about it will place you on the same level as those who dispute about the highest place.

Therefore, as our Lord says here, it is the host’s responsibility to arrange the seating. Thus, in patience and love, we should conduct ourselves, doing all things decently and in order, not for external appearance or public display. Nor should we seem to practice or affect humility through forceful contradiction, but rather gain it by condescension or patience. For resistance or opposition is a far stronger sign of pride than taking the first seat at a meal when we obtain it by authority.

Theophylact of Ohrid: Now, let no one consider these precepts of Christ to be trivial and unworthy of the sublimity and grandeur of the Word of God. You would not call a physician merciful who professed to heal gout but refused to cure a scar on the finger or a toothache. How, then, can the passion of vainglory seem slight, when it agitated those who sought the first seats?

It was fitting, therefore, for the Master of humility to cut off every branch of this bad root. Observe also that when the supper was ready, and the wretched guests were contending for precedence before the Savior’s eyes, it provided the perfect occasion for this advice.

St. Cyril of Alexandria: Having therefore shown from such a simple example the degradation of the ambitious and the exaltation of the humble-minded, He adds a great truth to a small one by pronouncing a general sentence, as it follows: For every one who exalts himself shall be abased, and he that humbles himself shall be exalted. This is spoken according to divine judgment, not human experience, in which those who desire glory often obtain it, while others who humble themselves remain without glory.

Theophylact of Ohrid: Moreover, the one who thrusts himself into honors is not respected in the end, nor by all people. While he is honored by some, he is disparaged by others—and sometimes even by the very people who outwardly honor him.

The Venerable Bede: Since the Evangelist calls this admonition a parable, we must briefly examine its mystical meaning. Whoever has been invited to the wedding feast of Christ’s Church, being united to its members by faith, must not exalt himself as higher than others by boasting of his merits. For he will have to give place to a more honorable person who is invited after him, seeing that he is surpassed by the diligence of those who followed him. With shame he then takes the lowest place, for, by recognizing the better qualities of others, he lowers whatever high thoughts he once had of his own works.

A person sits in the lowest place according to the verse, The greater you are, humble yourself in all things. When the Lord comes, whomever He finds humble, He will bless with the name of friend and command him to go up higher. For whoever humbles himself as a little child, he is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. It is well said, Then shall you have glory, so that you do not begin to seek now what is kept for you in the end.

This can also be understood to apply in this life, for daily God comes to His wedding feast, despising the proud and often giving the humble such great gifts of His Spirit that the assembly of those who sit at the meal—that is, the faithful—glorify them in wonder. But in the general conclusion that is added, it is plainly declared that our Lord's preceding discourse must be understood symbolically. For not everyone who exalts himself before men is abased by them, nor is he who humbles himself in their sight exalted by them. But whoever exalts himself because of his own merits, the Lord will bring low; and whoever humbles himself on account of God’s mercies, the Lord will exalt.

Theophylact of Ohrid: Since a supper is composed of two parties—the invited and the inviter—and having already exhorted the invited to humility, He next rewards the inviter with His advice, guarding him against making a feast to gain the favor of men. Hence it is said, Then He also said to the one who invited Him, When you make a dinner or a supper, do not call your friends.

St. John Chrysostom: Many are the sources from which friendships are made. Leaving out all unlawful ones, we will speak only of those which are natural and moral. The natural ones are, for instance, between father and son or brother and brother, and others like them, which He meant when He said, Nor your brothers, nor your kinsmen. The moral ones are when a man has become your guest or neighbor, and with reference to these He says, nor your neighbors.

The Venerable Bede: So then, brothers, friends, and the rich are not forbidden from being invited, as if it were a crime to entertain one another. But this practice, like all other necessary interactions among people, is shown to fail in meriting the reward of everlasting life. As it follows, Lest they also invite you in return, and you be repaid. He does not say, “and a sin is committed against you.” He speaks similarly in another place: And if you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? (Luke 6:33).

There are, however, certain mutual feasts of brothers and neighbors which not only bring a penalty in this life but also condemnation in the life to come. These are celebrated by the general gathering of all, or by each member of the company offering hospitality in turn; and they meet together so that they may commit foul deeds and, through an excess of wine, be provoked to all kinds of lustful pleasure.

St. John Chrysostom: Let us not, then, bestow kindness on others in the hope of a return, for this is a cold motive, and for this reason such a friendship soon vanishes. But if you invite the poor, God, who never forgets, will be your debtor, as it follows: But when you make a feast, call the poor, the maimed, the lame, and the blind.

For the humbler our brother is, the more Christ comes through him and visits us. He who entertains a great man often does it out of vainglory or, very often, self-interest, so that through such a person he may gain promotion. I could indeed mention many who pay court to the most distinguished nobles for this reason: that through their assistance they may obtain greater favor from the ruler.

Let us not, then, invite those who can repay us, as it follows, And you will be blessed, for they cannot repay you. And let us not be troubled when we receive no return for a kindness, but rather when we do. For if we have been repaid by man, we will receive nothing more; but if man does not repay us, God will. As it follows, For you will be recompensed at the resurrection of the just.

The Venerable Bede: And though all will rise again, it is still called the resurrection of the just, because in that resurrection they do not doubt that they are blessed. Whoever, then, invites the poor to his feast will receive a reward in the life to come. But he who invites his friends, brothers, and the rich has already received his reward. Yet if he does this for God’s sake, following the example of the sons of Job, God, who Himself commanded all the duties of brotherly love, will reward him.

St. John Chrysostom: But you say, “The poor are unclean and filthy.” Wash him, and have him sit with you at the table. If he has dirty garments, give him clean ones. Christ comes to you through him, and you stand there trifling?

Gregory of Nyssa: Do not, then, let them lie there as if they were worthless. Reflect on who they are, and you will discover their preciousness. They have put on the image of the Savior. They are heirs of future blessings, bearing the keys of the kingdom, able accusers and defenders—not speaking themselves, but examined by the Judge.

St. John Chrysostom: It would be fitting, then, for you to receive them upstairs in the best room. But if you shrink from this, at least admit Christ below, where the servants and attendants are. Let the poor man be at least your doorkeeper, for where there are alms, the devil dares not enter. And if you do not sit down with them, at least send them dishes from your table.

Origen of Alexandria: Mystically, however, he who shuns vainglory calls to a spiritual banquet the poor (that is, the ignorant), so that he may enrich them; the weak (that is, those with offended consciences), so that he may heal them; the lame (that is, those who have wandered from reason), so that he may make their paths straight; and the blind (that is, those who do not discern the truth), so that they may behold the true light. But it is said, They cannot repay you; that is, they do not know how to return an answer.

Eusebius of Caesarea: Our Lord had just taught us to prepare our feasts for those who cannot repay, since we will have our reward at the resurrection of the just. Someone then, supposing the resurrection of the just to be the same as the kingdom of God, praised the previously mentioned reward, for the text continues: When one of them that sat at meat with him heard these things, he said to him, Blessed is he that shall eat bread in the kingdom of God.

St. Cyril of Alexandria: That man was carnal and a careless hearer of the things Christ delivered, for he thought the reward of the saints was to be bodily.

St. Augustine of Hippo: Or it was because he longed for something far off, while the very bread he desired lay before him. For who is that Bread of the kingdom of God other than He who says, I am the living bread which came down from heaven? Do not open your mouth, but your heart.

The Venerable Bede: But because some receive this bread by faith alone, as if merely smelling it, but are reluctant to truly taste its sweetness with their mouths, our Lord, through the following parable, condemns the dullness of such men as unworthy of the heavenly banquet. For the text continues: But he said to him, A certain man made a great supper, and invited many.

St. Cyril of Alexandria: This man represents God the Father, just as images are used to convey a resemblance of power. For whenever God wishes to declare His avenging power, He is called by the names of a bear, leopard, lion, and other such creatures; but when He wishes to express mercy, He is called by the name of man. Therefore, the Maker of all things and Father of Glory—the Lord—prepared the great supper that was fulfilled in Christ.

For in these last days, as it were at the twilight of our world, the Son of God has shone on us and, enduring death for our sake, has given us His own body to eat. For this reason also, the lamb was sacrificed in the evening according to the Mosaic law. Therefore, the banquet prepared in Christ was rightly called a supper.

St. Gregory the Great: Or, He made a great supper, having prepared for us the full enjoyment of eternal sweetness. He invited many, but few came, because sometimes those who are subject to Him by faith still oppose His eternal banquet by the way they live.

This reveals a general difference between the delights of the body and those of the soul. Fleshly delights, when not possessed, provoke a longing for them; but once they are possessed and consumed, the one who partakes soon turns from satisfaction to disgust. Spiritual delights, on the other hand, are often disliked when not possessed, but are desired all the more once they are.

But heavenly mercy brings these despised delights back to our memory and, so that we might drive away our aversion, invites us to the feast. Thus it follows: And he sent his servant, etc.

St. Cyril of Alexandria: That servant who was sent is Christ Himself, who, being God by nature and the true Son of God, emptied Himself and took on the form of a servant. He was sent at suppertime. For the Word did not take on our nature in the beginning, but in the last days. And he adds, For all things are now ready. For the Father prepared in Christ the good things bestowed on the world through Him: the removal of sins, the participation of the Holy Spirit, and the glory of adoption. Christ invited people to these things through the teaching of the Gospel.

St. Augustine of Hippo: Alternatively, the Man is the Mediator between God and men, Christ Jesus. He sent His servant so that those who were invited might come—that is, those who were called by the prophets He had sent. In former times, these prophets were often sent to the people of Israel, inviting them to come at suppertime to the supper of Christ. They received the ones who invited them but refused the supper. They received the prophets but killed Christ, and in this way, they ignorantly prepared the supper for us. The supper now being ready—that is, Christ having been sacrificed—the Apostles were sent to the same people to whom the prophets had been sent before.

St. Gregory the Great: This servant, then, who is sent by the master of the house to invite guests to the supper, signifies the order of preachers. It is often the case that a powerful person has a lowly servant; yet when his lord gives an order through him, the servant who speaks is not despised, because respect for the master who sent him is still maintained in the heart. Our Lord, then, offers what He ought to be asked for, not what He asks others to receive. He wishes to give what could hardly be hoped for. Yet, they all at once begin to make excuses, for the text continues: And they all with one consent began to make excuse. Behold, a rich man invites, and the poor hurry to come. We are invited to the banquet of God, and we make excuses.

St. Augustine of Hippo: Now, there were three excuses, about which it is added: The first said to him, I have bought a piece of ground, and I must go and see it. The purchased field denotes government. Therefore, pride is the first vice to be rebuked. For the first man wanted to rule, being unwilling to have a master.

St. Gregory the Great: Or, the field represents worldly possessions. Therefore, the one who goes out to see it is the one who thinks only of external things for the sake of his livelihood.

St. Ambrose of Milan: Thus, the worn-out soldier is assigned to demeaning duties, just as one who, intent on things below, buys earthly possessions for himself, cannot enter the kingdom of heaven. Our Lord says, Sell all that you have, and follow me.

It follows: And another said, I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to test them.

St. Augustine of Hippo: The five yoke of oxen are understood to be the five senses of the flesh: in the eyes, sight; in the ears, hearing; in the nostrils, smell; in the mouth, taste; and in all the limbs, touch. The "yoke" is more easily apparent in the first three senses: two eyes, two ears, two nostrils. Here are three yokes. And in the mouth is the sense of taste, which is found to be a kind of double, in that nothing can be tasted that is not touched by both the tongue and the palate. The pleasure of the flesh, which belongs to touch, is secretly doubled. It is both external and internal. But they are called "yoke of oxen" because earthly things are pursued through these senses of the flesh. For oxen till the soil, and people who are far from faith, given over to earthly things, refuse to believe in anything except what they can perceive through the five senses of the body. “I believe nothing but what I see.” If these were our thoughts, we would be hindered from the supper by those five yoke of oxen. But so that you may understand that it is not the delight of the five senses that charms and brings pleasure, but rather that a certain curiosity is indicated, he does not say, "I have bought five yoke of oxen and I go to feed them," but "I go to test them."

St. Gregory the Great: Curiosity is also rightly represented by the bodily senses, because they cannot comprehend internal realities but are aware only of what is external. This curiosity, not knowing its own secret, inner life, seeks to cast off a life that feels foreign to it and desires instead to dwell on external things. But we must observe that the one who makes an excuse for his farm, and the other who does so to test his five yoke of oxen, both mix words of humility into their excuses. For when they say, "I ask you, have me excused," and then disdain to come, the words sound humble, but the action is prideful. It follows: And another said, I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.

St. Augustine of Hippo: That is the delight of the flesh which hinders many; I wish it were external and not internal. For the one who said, "I have married a wife," taking pleasure in fleshly delights, excuses himself from the supper. Let such a person take care, lest he die from an inner hunger.

St. Basil the Great: But he says, "I cannot come," because when the human mind degenerates toward worldly pleasures, it is too weak to attend to the things of God.

St. Gregory the Great: But although marriage is good, appointed by Divine Providence for the procreation of children, some seek in it not the fruitfulness of offspring but the lust for pleasure. And so, an unrighteous thing may be fittingly represented by means of a righteous one.

St. Ambrose of Milan: Or, marriage is not being blamed, but purity is held in greater honor, since the unmarried woman is anxious about the things of the Lord, how to be holy in body and spirit. But the married woman is anxious about worldly things.

St. Augustine of Hippo: Now John, when he said, all that is in the world is the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, began where the Gospel's list of excuses ended. The lust of the flesh: "I have married a wife." The lust of the eyes: "I have bought five yoke of oxen." The pride of life: "I have bought a farm." But, proceeding from a part to the whole, the five senses have been spoken of under the category of the eyes alone, which hold the chief place among them. For although sight properly belongs to the eyes, we are accustomed to ascribing the act of "seeing" to all five senses.

St. Cyril of Alexandria: But who can we suppose these people to be, who refused to come for the reasons just mentioned, other than the rulers of the Jews, who throughout sacred history we find were often rebuked for these things?

Origen of Alexandria: Alternatively, those who have bought a field and reject or refuse the supper are those who have accepted other divine doctrines but have despised the word they once possessed. But the one who has bought five yoke of oxen is the one who neglects his intellectual nature and follows the things of the senses; therefore, he cannot comprehend a spiritual nature. And the one who has married a wife is he who is joined to the flesh, a lover of pleasure rather than a lover of God.

St. Ambrose of Milan: Or, let us suppose that three classes of people are excluded from partaking in that supper: Gentiles, Jews, and Heretics. The Jews, by their carnal service, impose the yoke of the Law upon themselves, for the "five yoke" are the yoke of the Ten Commandments, of which it is said: And he declared to you his covenant, which he commanded you to perform, that is, the Ten Commandments, and he wrote them on two tablets of stone. These are the commands of the Decalogue. Or, the five yoke are the five books of the Old Law. But heresy, indeed, like Eve with a woman’s obstinacy, tests the devotion of faith. And the Apostle says that we must flee from covetousness, so that we are not entangled in the customs of the Gentiles and unable to come to the kingdom of Christ. Therefore, the one who has bought a farm is a stranger to the kingdom, as is the one who has chosen the yoke of the Law rather than the gift of grace, and also the one who excuses himself because he has married a wife.

It follows: And the servant returned and told these things to his lord.

St. Augustine of Hippo: God does not require messengers for the sake of knowing about lesser beings, as if He gained anything from them, for He knows all things steadfastly and unchangeably. But He has messengers for our sake and for theirs, because to be present with God, to stand before Him to consult Him about His subjects, and to obey His heavenly commands is good for them according to the order of their own nature.

St. Cyril of Alexandria: But the Master of the household was angry with the rulers of the Jews who refused His call—as they themselves confessed, Have any of the rulers believed on him?—for they deserved His indignation and wrath. As it follows: Then the master of the house, being angry...

Pseudo-Basil: This is not to say that the passion of anger belongs to the divine substance, but that an operation which in us is caused by anger is called the "anger" and "indignation" of God.

St. Cyril of Alexandria: Thus, the master of the house is said to have been enraged with the leaders of the Jews, and in their place were called men taken from the Jewish multitude, who were of weak and powerless minds. For at Peter’s preaching, first three thousand, then five thousand believed, and afterward a great many people. As it follows, He said to his servant, Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in the poor and maimed and blind and lame.

St. Ambrose of Milan: He invites the poor, the weak, and the blind to show that physical weakness excludes no one from the kingdom of heaven, and that the one who lacks the incentive to sin is guilty of fewer sins; or that the infirmities of sin are forgiven through the mercy of God. Therefore, He sends to the streets, so that they may come from the broader ways to the narrow way.

Because the proud refuse to come, the humble are chosen. For those who are weak in their own estimation of themselves are called "weak" and "poor." Yet there are some who are poor and still, as it were, strong, who are proud despite their poverty. The blind are those who have no brightness of understanding; the lame are those who have not walked uprightly in their works.

But since the faults of these people are expressed in the weakness of their bodies, just as those who were invited and refused to come were sinners, so also are these who are invited and do come. The difference is that the proud sinners are rejected, while the humble ones are chosen.

God, then, chooses those whom the world despises, because for the most part, the very experience of being scorned brings a person to his senses. And people hear the voice of God all the sooner when they have nothing in this world in which to take pleasure.

When the Lord calls certain people from the streets and lanes to the supper, He signifies those people within the city who had learned to observe the constant practice of the Law. But the multitude from the people of Israel who believed did not fill all the places in the great banquet hall.

Thus it follows: And the servant said, ‘Lord, what you commanded has been done, and still there is room.’ For although great numbers of the Jews had already entered, there was still room in the kingdom for the great number of the Gentiles to be received.

Therefore, it is added: And the Lord said to the servant, ‘Go out to the highways and hedges and compel people to come in, that my house may be filled.’ When He commanded His guests to be gathered from the highways and hedges, He was seeking a rural people—that is, the Gentiles.

Or, He sends to the highways and hedges because those who are fit for the kingdom of God are not absorbed in the desire for present goods but are hastening toward the future, set on a fixed path of good will. And these people, like a hedge that separates cultivated ground from uncultivated ground and keeps out trespassing cattle, know how to distinguish good from evil and to hold up the shield of faith against the temptations of spiritual wickedness.

St. Augustine of Hippo: The Gentiles came from the streets and lanes; the heretics come from the hedges. For those who make a hedge are seeking a division. Let them be drawn away from the hedges, torn away from the thorns. But they are unwilling to be compelled. "We will enter by our own will," they say. "Compel them to come in," He says. Let necessity be applied from the outside; from that, a will arises.

St. Gregory the Great: Those, then, who are broken down by the calamities of this world and return to the love of God, are compelled to enter. But the sentence that comes next is very terrible: For I tell you, none of those men who were invited shall taste my supper. Let no one, then, despise the call, lest, if he makes an excuse when invited, he will not be able to enter when he wishes to.

St. Gregory the Great: The mind is kindled when it hears of heavenly rewards, and it already desires to be there, where it hopes to enjoy them without ceasing; but great rewards cannot be reached except by great labors. Therefore it is said, And there went great multitudes to him: and he turned to them, and said, etc.

Theophylact of Ohrid: Because many of those who accompanied Him did not follow with their whole heart, but lukewarmly, He shows what kind of person His disciple ought to be.

St. Gregory the Great: It may be asked how we are instructed to hate our parents and relatives, when we are commanded to love even our enemies.

But if we weigh the force of the command, we can do both by making the right distinction: we are to love those who are united to us by the bond of the flesh, whom we acknowledge as our relatives, and yet hate and avoid—that is, refuse to acknowledge—those whom we find to be enemies in the way of God.

For in a sense, a person is loved through hatred when, because of their carnal wisdom, we do not listen to the evil things they say.

St. Ambrose of Milan: For if, for your sake, the Lord renounces His own mother, saying, Who is my mother? and who are my brethren? why do you deserve to be preferred to your Lord? But the Lord desires that we neither be ignorant of nature nor be its slaves, but instead submit to nature in such a way that we revere the Author of nature and do not depart from God out of love for our parents.

St. Gregory the Great: Now, to show that this hatred toward relatives does not proceed from inclination or passion but from love, our Lord adds, yes, and his own life also.

It is plain, therefore, that a person ought to hate his neighbor by loving as himself the one who hated him. For we rightly hate our own soul when we do not indulge its carnal desires, when we subdue its appetites, and when we wrestle against its pleasures. That which is brought to a better condition by being despised is, in a sense, loved through hatred.

St. Cyril of Alexandria: But life itself must not be renounced. The blessed Paul preserved his life, both in body and soul, so that while still living in the body he might preach Christ. Yet, when it was necessary to despise life in order to finish his course, he did not count his own life dear to himself.

St. Gregory the Great: How the hatred of life ought to be shown, He declares as follows: Whoever does not bear his cross, etc.

St. John Chrysostom: He does not mean that we should place a beam of wood on our shoulders, but that we should always have death before our eyes, just as Paul also died daily and despised death.

St. Basil the Great: By bearing the cross, one also proclaims the death of his Lord, saying, The world is crucified to me, and I to the world. We anticipate this in our very baptism, in which our old man is crucified so that the body of sin may be destroyed.

St. Gregory the Great: Alternatively, the cross is so-called from the torture it involves. We bear our Lord’s cross in two ways: either when we afflict our bodies through abstinence, or when, through compassion for our neighbor, we consider all their needs our own.

But because some practice abstinence of the flesh not for God’s sake but for vainglory, and show compassion not spiritually but carnally, it is rightly added, And comes after me. For to bear His cross and come after the Lord is to practice abstinence of the flesh or show compassion for our neighbor out of a desire for eternal gain.