The Lord then answered him, and said,
You hypocrite, does not each one of you on the sabbath loose his ox or his donkey from the stall, and lead him away to watering?
All Commentaries on Luke 13:15 Go To Luke 13
Cornelius a Lapide
AD 1637
The Lord then answered him, and said, Thou hypocrite. Hypocrites who feign sanctity abroad, when within they are full of envy and malice. S. Chrysostom in the Catena: "Christ rightly called him a hypocrite, because he had the face of one who observed the law carefully, but the mind of cunning and envy. He was not disturbed for the Sabbath and its violation, but because of Christ, because He obtained glory." I have treated the subject at length, Sirach 1:37 , on the words ne fueris, and Sirach 2:14 , Væ duplici.
This daughter of Abraham. The argument of Christ is most applicable and forcible, showing that the healing was not a servile Acts , but one liberal and divine, and therefore, not only not unworthy, but rather most worthy, of the Sabbath—for the Sabbath, nay, even God Himself, the author of it, was wonderfully sanctified and made glorious, as S. Irenæus shows when he says that, "Christ, in healing the sick on the Sabbath day, acted not contrarily but according to the law." Christ then compares, opposes, and prefers the bond and release of the woman to the bond and release of the ox and ass.
Again, every word contains a pregnant antithesis. In the first Christ compares, and prefers the woman, as a daughter of Abraham, to the ox or ass2. He compares and prefers the spiritual bond and deliverance of the woman to those of the ox and ass3. The woman had suffered this bondage for eighteen years. The ox had borne its tether, and therefore its thirst, only an hour or two4. The setting of the ox free was a long and troublesome work, but the healing of the woman was the act of a moment, in which the obligation of the Sabbath could in no way be violated5. By this release the woman was restored to perfect health and sanctity, but the ox only drank a little draught of water. Lastly, He convicts the ruler and the Pharisees of inhumanity, because, in the words of Bede, "he postponed the healing of a human being to care of cattle."
The glorious things that were done by Him. The Syraic—In all the miracles which were done by His hand.
