How the call to the Church passed from Israel to the Gentiles
The contempt for Christ on the part of his people opened the door to the Gentiles. But what two classes of Gentiles are represented by the two classes of men in the parable?
The contempt for Christ on the part of his people opened the door to the Gentiles. But what two classes of Gentiles are represented by the two classes of men in the parable?
Editor’s Notes
In this part, Fr. Coleridge tells us…
How the Gentiles were given the place rejected by Israel at the banquet-chamber
That so many of Christ’s people rejected the Gospel not by ignorance alone, but by actual contempt and hatred.
Why the invitation, once spurned, passes to the lowly—and will not be offered again.
He shows us that those today who despise God’s call to the Church forfeit their place at the eternal feast, and cannot count on that call coming again.
For more context on this section, and its place in the Gospel and the Liturgy, see the previous part.
Our Lord in the Pharisee’s House
The Preaching of the Cross, Part II
Chapter VIII
St. Luke xiv. 1-35.
Story of the Gospels, § 111-3
Burns and Oates, London, 1887
Christ’s warning: The Banquet will go on—with or without you
How the call to the Church passed from Israel to the Gentiles
Who are those who are brought in?
Having explained the parable and the three classes of men who spurn the invitation to the banquet, Fr Coleridge addresses the two classes who answer the call.
The banquet-chamber must be filled, and filled with men who had not been invited and then rejected the invitation. If we are to understand by these first invited guests, the Jews to whom our Lord was now preaching, it is natural to look to those who were not Jews as represented by those who are brought in to supply the forfeited places.
These, in the parable, are said to be of two classes. First, there are dwellers in the city, but poor, feeble, blind, and lame, men who had no position or capacity to fit them to be the guests in such a feast. These are brought in, and the servant tells his lord that there is still room for more. The second time he is sent forth, this time outside the city, into the highways and hedges, which are to be ransacked for guests.
But what do these poor and the outcast within the city, and those in the highways and hedges, represent in salvation history?
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