And you yourselves be like unto men that wait for their lord, when he will return from the wedding; that when he comes and knocks, they may open unto him immediately.
All Commentaries on Luke 12:36 Go To Luke 12
Cornelius a Lapide
AD 1637
And be ye yourselves like unto men looking for their lord. This is the third precept of Christ, or rather the third part of the same precept. The first was to have their loins girt, the second to have their lights shining, the third to look for their lord. The first two are referred to this. The meaning Isaiah , Be you so prepared and ready as servants who expect their lord by night, that Isaiah , watchful, with loins girt and lamps burning. Hence Maldonatus thinks that this parable is one and identical, but consisting of three parts. Jansenius thinks that it is diverse; but it comes to the same thing, for, as I have said, this is another and the third part of the parable to which the other two tend and are directed. "They await their lord" says Toletus, "as those who, thinking themselves strangers, burn with the desire for Christ, and frequently, nay, continually think of Him—have their minds fixed on Him; for His love and hope bear adversity and all kinds of calamities with patience; fear to offend Him as having Him at length come to them, before their eyes; despise without difficulty whatever does not make for His coming; delight in whatever they know to be pleasing to Him; hold temporal things of small account because of their hope of eternal ones."
Symbolically, The above words, "Let your loins be girded and your lamps burning, and be ye yourselves like unto men looking for their lord," teach us (1.) That here we are as strangers journeying on to the heavenly kingdom. (2.) That we ought to outshine all others in virtue. (3.) That we should fix our hopes on the heavens, according to the words of1 S. Peter ii11 , 12 , and1 i13.
Again, S. Augustine (serm39 de Verbis Domini), asserts that these are the three subjects on which S. Paul exhorted Felix (Acts xxiv.) "Paul," he says, "taught continence, justice, and eternal life, for in these is contained the sum of the evangelical life." Secondly, in them are shown the three duties of the apostolic life: Firstly; the loins girded show that the Apostles were sent by Christ to preach the gospel through the whole world, and also to contend against all evil spirits, tyrannical rulers, unbelievers, and vices, according to the words of S. Luke , "I have given you authority to tread upon serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy." Secondly, The burning lamps shew those who ought to illuminate the world by their doctrine and preaching, according to the words, "Ye are the light of the world," Matt. v14. Thirdly, "Be like unto men looking for their lord." This signifies those who ought to despise and tread under foot this present world and all things belonging to it, and to lead a heavenly and divine life, that their minds and hearts may be fixed on heaven, as in Philippians 3:20, "Our citizenship is in heaven." S. Paul adds the result, the fruit, and the reward: "From whence also we wait for a Saviour the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall fashion anew the body of our humiliation, that it may be conformed to the body of His glory." That Isaiah , We despise earthly things, we seek for heavenly ones, because we look with a certain hope for Christ, who shall beautify and make us glorious for ever. So Toletus.
These three things the early Christians always kept rooted in their minds, who as strangers upon earth and citizens of heaven willingly poured out their wealth, their honours, their pleasures, their very present life itself for Christ, because they surely looked for the coming of the Lord Christ after this short life, and for a happy and eternal one to be given to them by Him, which indeed is true wisdom and prudence. We may see this in the Pontiffs, Virgins, Roman Martyrs for three hundred years, from S. Peter to Silvester, all of whom rejoiced in ceaseless persecutions, rejoiced to be spoiled of their goods, to be imprisoned, scourged, slain, burnt, that they might enjoy (possess) Christ in heaven. Eminent amongst others was S. Cecilia, who, when flourishing in youth, beauty, wealth, nobility, of her own will most gladly gave up all things for Christ and even her life itself, in the midst of wondering, pitying, and lamenting friends, and went joyfully and exultingly to the place of martyrdom, saying, "This is not to lose my youth but to change it; this is to give clay and receive in return gold; to give a vile and miserable hovel and receive a palace most spacious, lofty, and magnificent, built of precious stones and gold; to give a perishable thing and receive one that knows no end and is subject to no death:" and soon after, "Our Lord Jesus Christ does not give pound for pound, but what He gives as a simple sum He returns a hundredfold, and adds besides eternal life." Thus is it in her Acts.
The life of a Christian then should be nothing but one looking for the coming of Christ, that He may deliver him from this life, which is so vile and miserable and subject to so many fears and perils, and bring him to His own kingdom in the heavens and to eternal life. And hence the prophets and Paul teach everywhere that the faithful ought to live in such holiness and contempt of the things of this world, as to look eagerly and with avidity to the coming of Christ. So the patriarch Jacob when dying and longing for the coming of Christ, "I have waited for Thy salvation, 0 Lord," Genesis 49:18; and Job. "All the days of my appointed time I will wait till my change come," Job 14:14; and the Psalm , "I have waited patiently for the Lord," Psalm 40:1, and "Wait on the Lord, be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart, wait, I say, on the Lord," Psalm 47:14 (Bib. version). Isaiah 8:17, "I will wait upon the Lord;" and Isaiah 25:9, "We have waited for Him, and He will save us. This is the Lord, we have waited for Him, we will be glad and rejoice in His salvation." Jeremiah , Lamentations 3:24, "The Lord is my portion, therefore will I wait for Him;" Micah 8:7, "I will look unto the Lord, I will wait for the God of my salvation." So Joseph of Arimathæa, despising all fear of the Jews, buried Christ because he was looking, for the kingdom of God," Luke 23:51. S. Paul to the Romans , "The earnest expectation of the creation waiteth for the revealing of the sons of God," Romans 8:19; and Romans 8:23, "Ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for our redemption, to wit, the redemption of our body;" Galatians 5:5, "We wait for the hope of righteousness;" Philippians 3:20, "We wait for a Saviour;" Titus 2:12-13, "We should live soberly and righteously and godly in this present world, looking for the blessed hope and appearing of the glory of our great God;" 2 Peter 3:11 , "Seeing that these things are thus all to be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be, in all holy living and godliness, looking for and earnestly desiring the coming of the day of God? " and2Peter3:13-14 , "But according to His promise we look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness. Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for these things, give diligence that ye may be found in peace without spot and blameless in His sight." Climacus (de gradu) says, "He is righteous who fears not death; he is holy and perfect who daily expects it." So S. Francis expected the Lord when he recited, as he was dying, the words of the Psalm , "The righteous shall compass me about, for Thou shalt deal righteously with me" ( Psalm 142:7), and so died. And S. Bernard rejoiced—
Desidero te millies,
Mi jesu quando venies,
Me ltum quando facies?
Me de te quando saties?
A thousand fold I long for Thee,
When, Jesu, wilt Thou come to me?
When shall I be, 0 Lord, set free?
And with Thyself full sated be?
Memorable and dreadful is the description of S. Bridget in her Fourth Book of Revelation , chap. vii.: "In Purgatory there is a third and higher place where is no other punishment than the desire of coming to God and of His beatific vision. They are there tormented who, in this life, had not a perfect desire of coming to the presence of God and of enjoying the vision of Him." Bede mentions a like place in Purgatory (Hist. v13), and S. Gregory (Dialogues iv36), and Dionysius the Carthusian in his (Dialogue de Judicio partic. artic. xxxi.), and Bellarmine (De Purg. ii6). For there is a sort of unworthy idea and undervaluing of the great vision and glory of God because it is not desired by the faithful and the saints with ardour. This is a sign that they did not sufficiently consider His riches and joys and weigh and ponder them as is to be expected.
Live then, 0 Christian, to thy Christ, not to the world; live to the Spirit, not to the flesh—live not to time but to eternity.
When He shall return from the marriage feast. This appears to be an addition to the parable, and not to be applied of necessity to what is signified by it. It may be applied thus. Christ in His Incarnation celebrated His espousals with the Church and all the faithful. When He went up into heaven He there consummated His marriage with the same Church, because by the glory of the beatific vision He is intimately and indivisibly united to all the Blessed through all eternity. When, then, He returns from the heavens to judgment, He appears to return from His heavenly marriage that He may introduce His new bride to it. His marriage then is the highest union and the highest joy that Christ has with the beatified in heaven. So S. Gregory, Bede, Theophylact, Euthymius, Toletus, and others.
That when He cometh and knocketh the they may straightway open unto Him. Christ here shows us that we ought to make our virtues ready in this life, that adorned by them in our death, we may go out with joy and rejoicing to meet Him, for there will be no time then for working, scarcely even for repentance; for the senses will be dulled and the mind oppressed by disease and scarcely able to think of its sins and its salvation. They, then, act with the utmost recklessness who, in this life, indulge in pleasures and say that they will repent on their deathbeds—for their repentance will then be forced and too late, and therefore will seldom be true, sincere, and earnest. "The Lord cometh," says S. Gregory (Hom, xiii.) "when He hastens to judgment; but He knocks (at the door) when by the ills of disease He designs death to be near, and we open to Him at once if we receive Him with love. Whoever dreads his departure from the body is unwilling to open to the Judges , and fears to see Him as his judge whom he knows that he has despised. But he who is secure as to his hope and works, immediately opens, for he receives the judge with joy, and when his death is at hand he grows glad in the glory of his reward."
