Luke 13:28

Luke 13:28-30 . There shall be weeping, &c. — Here he repeats what he had said when he commended the centurion’s faith. See on Matthew 8:11-12 . As if he said, How little soever you may now regard it, the awful word, Depart from me, &c., will wound you to the heart, and throw you into agonies of everlasting despair, attended with the bitterest weeping and gnashing of teeth — For madness and rage; when you shall see Abraham, &c. — Your holy ancestors; and all the prophets — Of the succeeding ages; in the kingdom of God — Actually possessed of God’s kingdom of glory; and shall find yourselves thrust out — Rejected and excluded with just contempt and indignation. And they shall come from the east, &c. — From the most distant heathen lands; and shall sit down in the kingdom of God — In rejoicing and admiring multitudes, to partake of the heavenly banquet with your pious ancestors, while you are utterly and for ever excluded from it. Here, therefore, as well as in Matthew, our Lord plainly affirms that many others, besides Jews, shall be saved. And there are last — There are many who are now last in point of religious advantages, that shall then be first in honour and happiness; and there are first, &c. — Many who now appear first in the enjoyment of privileges, which, on account of the abuse thereof, shall be last — Shall appear as the most infamous and miserable of mankind. See on Matthew 19:30 ; Matthew 20:16 .

Luke 13:28-29 . Comp. on Matthew 8:11 f. The words of Jesus . ἐκεῖ ] there , in the place to which ye shall thus be turned away. For the most part it is understood temporally , ἐν ἐκείνῳ τῷ καιρῷ Euthymius Zigabenus. Rarely thus in the classical writers (Soph. Phil . 394; Bornemann, Schol . p. 90 f.), but never (yet comp. ἐκεῖθεν , Acts 13:21 ) in the New Testament; and here the context points definitely by ἀπόστητε ἀπʼ ἐμοῦ to the well-known locality , as, moreover, the standing type of this formula sanctioned by use ( Matthew 13:42 ; Matthew 13:50 ; Matthew 22:13 ; Matthew 24:51 ; Matthew 25:30 ) with ἐκεῖ leads one to think only of that locality. ὅταν ὄψησθε ] What contrasts! They saw the patriarchs and prophets established in the kingdom , but in themselves experience the sense of being cast out , and instead of them come heathens from the east and west, etc. On the subjunctive form ὄψησθε , see Buttmann, Neut. Gr . p. 31 [E. T. 36]. Ἀβρ . κ . Ἰσ . κ . Ἰακώβ ] Comp. Matthew 8:11 . The Marcionite reading πάντας τοὺς δικαίους is an intentional removal of the patriarchs (Volkmar, comp, Zeller, Apostelg . p. 17).

It was not original, so that the canonical reading cannot be said to have been introduced in accordance with Matt. l.c. , or in opposition to Marcion’s views (Hilgenfeld, Baur). ἐκβαλλομ . ἔξω ] agrees with the figure, although the persons concerned are not admitted at all ; for they are members of the family , and as such, i.e. as originally belonging to the theocratic community of the patriarchs and prophets, they are by their rejection practically ἐκβαλλόμενοι ἔξω . The present tense is justifiable, since the ὁρᾶν κ . τ . λ . at the time of the ἔσται ἡ κλαυθμός will be already past . Hence: if ye shall have seen yourselves as such, become (not are ) the cast out. After they shall have seen this measure carried out, they shall be in hell, where there shall be weeping, etc.

Luke 13:28 . Ἐκεῖ , there ) in that place, to which ye shall be commanded to depart. [See that thou dost in due time reflect on that a “terror of the Lord,” lest hereafter thou shouldest in actual fact be forced to know it by bitter experience.—V. g.]— ὄψησθε ) when ye shall see , but not taste [their blessedness]. A sight full of misery. See ch. Luke 16:23 . The ungodly, on the contrary, shall be a festive sight to the saints:[132] Isaiah 66:23-24 .— Ἀβραὰμ , Abraham ) The patriarchs and all the prophets looked to Christ; and whosoever do not follow their faith, shall not recline at the heavenly feast with them.— πάντας , all ) All the prophets were saints. The Jews used to boast themselves of these, though their fathers had rejected them. There is here, as also in Luke 13:29 , a softening down of the apprehension which the ‘fewness’ of the saved might create: see Luke 13:23 .— βασιλείᾳ , the kingdom ) Luke 13:29 .— ἐκβαλλομένους , persons who are being cast out ) The Present. The weeping shall forthwith begin. [132] “They shall go forth and look upon the carcasses of the men that have transgressed against Me, for their worm shall not die,” etc. Their will shall be so entirely one with God’s, that they shall rejoice in the destruction and punishment of God’s enemies; Revelation 14:10 , at the end, Luke 11:17-18 , Luke 15:3-4 , Luke 18:20 .—ED. and TRANSL.

Verse 28. - There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when ye shall see Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and all the prophets, in the kingdom of God, and you yourselves thrust out . No less than six times is this terrible formula, which expresses the intensest form of anguish, found in St. Matthew's Gospel. St. Luke only gives us the account of one occasion on which they were spoken. They indicate, as far as merely earthly words and symbols can, the utter misery of those unhappy ones who find themselves shut out from the kingdom in the world to come. "Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob." In his revision of St. Luke's Gospel, Marcion, the famous Gnostic heretic, in place of these names, which he strikes out, inserts "all the just." He did this with a view to lower the value of the Old Testament records. Luke 13:28

Ver. 28,29. We have the same Matthew 8:11,12 , only he saith only from the east and west: See Poole on "Matthew 8:11" , See Poole on "Matthew 8:12" . Weeping and gnashing of teeth, are usual expressions by which the pains of the damned are expressed, especially by the evangelist Matthew, Matthew 8:12 Matthew 13:42,50 22:13 24:51 25:30 . One cause of this vexation of spirit, expressed under this notion, is the Jews’ sight of the rest and happiness that their relations, nay, some to whom they upon earth were enemies, should enjoy in heaven; nay, which some which were heathens should enjoy there; whereas they, who took themselves to be the only church, and to have the same right to the kingdom of heaven that children have to the inheritances of their fathers, should be cast out, as having no portion there.