{N}1,{/}1 It would be necessary to lengthen the translation too much if we wanted to express everything that Luke condenses here in a few words.
The events {C}that have taken place{/} among us. Luke uses, possibly intentionally, a verb with a wide extent that can convey two different meanings: "that are fully worthy of faith", and: "that signal a fulfillment". Fulfillment: it might be understood that said events fulfill the hope of the people of God; the meaning is better yet the following: said events have reached term and they are self sufficient, or meaning, that it is the definitive good news.

{N}1,{/}2 From the outset Luke denies those to whom his testimony could upset and that state without any proof whatsoever that he wrote it down much after the events without being at his side the direct witnesses. How can we think that he relied on rumors and theological tales to speak of events that are so charged with significance? It is the case with the annunciation and the resurrection. The {C}witnesses{/} (this term should be understood in the strictest sense of eyewitnesses) and the {C}servants of the word{/} are for Luke the apostles and not just any believer.

{N}1,{/}4 {C}After I had carefully gone over the whole story from the beginning{/}. Luke accompanied Paul on his trip to Jerusalem (Acts 21) and it may be that he was with the oldest christian communities several times, the ones in Jerusalem and Caesarea. There he met the very first apostles and disciples, possibly including even Mary.
{C}The teachings you have received.{/} The text says precisely: "the things in which you were catechized". This verb is derived from the word {C}echo{/}: it refers to the teaching that the disciple memorizes and could repeat like an echo of the words of the teacher. Later the word catechesis belonged to the vocabulary of the primitive Church. With this Luke confirms that the gospel was written down starting from the requirements of the catechesis.

{N}1,{/}8 Zechariah was a member of the clan, or the group of Abiah. With respect to the classes of priests and their service in the Temple, see 1Chr 24,10 and Ex 30,7. The text tells us that Elizabeth was Aaron's daughter, or meaning, that she also belonged to a family of priests. If, as the gospel states, Elizabeth was Mary's relative, there exists a probability that Mary was also from a priestly family, which means, of the tribe of Levi, which justifies the mission entrusted to Joseph, of the tribe of David (Mt 2,20).
{C}It fell to him by lot to enter the sanctuary{/}. Offering the incense was an exceptional honor. Only the High Priest entered once a year in the remotest part of the Sanctuary, which was called Holy of Holies. In the first room called the Holy Place, the priests entered only to offer the incense and each week, to renew the bread of the offering. There is where the candlestick with seven arms, the table for the bread and the incense altar were found (Heb 9,1-8). 

{N}1,{/}12 {C}The fear overpowered him: {/}the original text takes again the words from Gen 15,12.

{N}1,{/}17 The text says: "He will go ahead preceding the Lord": like a herald that precedes his master and opens the way. Yet we can interpret this in another way: he will walk (or meaning he will act) in the presence of the Lord (or meaning: saintly fulfilling his will).

{N}1,{/}18 {C}Zechariah said: "Who can assure me of this?"{/} Many authors make the observation that in the stories about vocation or missions, the person called always presents an objection that underlines the difficulties there are for the fulfillment of the divine promises: Abraham and Sarah are old (Gen 17,17); Moses does not know how to speak (Ex 4,10); Gideon is not famous (Jdg 6,15) ... Some make the conclusion that these objections are a literary artifice without any other end than to bring out the power of God. He will perform what is impossible. Well true it is that in all of these stories the same traditional manner is noted for presenting God's call and for developing the dialogue. Yet there is no reason to speak here of pure fiction: Zechariah's doubt is the normal reaction of a man in the flesh who, in certain circumstances, has to make an act of faith. No one commits himself seriously to God without calculating the risks and the difficulties of his decision. The objections that we read in the calls to Joseph, Zechariah and Mary do not pretend as much to underline the difficulties that oppose the divine demands (and in this all of them are similar). Rather they want us to discover the profound attitude of any such person who is called; and in this, the cases of Mary and Zechariah are not alike. Mary asks to know what attitude to take: will she remain a virgin or not? Zechariah on the other hand, doubts that the miracle is possible.
{C}I am Gabriel{/}. Gabriel, one of the seven angels of the highest level according to the jewish beliefs. The text adds: {C}the one who stand before God{/}, or meaning, one of the seven who are able to remain in his presence. Gabriel, the one who announces the end times in Dn 8,16 and 9,21.

{N}1,{/}27 {C}Mary.{/} In the Bible this name does not appear in any other place except with Miriam, Moses' sister (Ex 15,20; Num 12; Mi 5,4). Mary and Joseph live in Nazareth, a town in Galilee of which nothing is said in the history before Jesus.
Officially, Mary is not yet {C}wife.{/} She is however much more than bride, since she can live the conjugal life with the one to whom she is betrothed. She remains however under the tutelage of her father and lives under his roof.

{N}1,{/}31 The document that Luke translates on this page conforms to the style of the books of the holy history. He does not doubt in taking the same words as in Gen 16,11-12 referring to the birth of Ishmael.

{N}1,{/}34 The text says: "How can this be so, since I do not know man?" Mary's question can be interpreted in several ways:
- it is communicated to Mary that God wants to carry out this work immediately, and at that precise moment she is alone.
- Mary says that until the moment she has not had relations.
- Mary says that she has not had and does not mean to have relations with any man, concretely with Joseph, her husband.
The second interpretation is difficult to sustain: if Mary, almost married, was thinking about having relations with Joseph very shortly, the angel should have expressed himself in another way in order to state that she must remain virgin until she had conceived this son. Because he would not be born in the same way as, to give examples, Isaac or Gideon (Gen 18,10; Jdg 13,3).

{N}1,{/}35 {C}Power of the Most High... Holy Spirit, ... Son of God.{/} Luke intentionally names the three divine persons when telling of the coming to this world of the Son, gift from the Father, who at the same time will communicate to us the Spirit.

{N}1,{/}39 It would be difficult to find in the Bible any precedent of what happened then. Mary, who received more, is the one who visits Elizabeth. Her trip apparently, responds to a prophetic intuition: she is not going to help her cousin but rather she had a mission to carry out. Something slightly similar can be found in the story in 2Sam 6 which refers to the transfer of the ark, in which it is also read that it{C} remained three months{/}, and that David {C}leapt {/}in front of the ark (6,11 and 16).

{N}1,{/}46 {C}Then Mary said:{/} Some manuscripts and ancient authors take: then Elizabeth said. Several authors see in the Canticle of Mary, in the Magnificat (to use the latin term so well known) a canticle of the primitive Church that Luke adapted to the case of Mary and that could also have been fitting to Elizabeth.
It can be doubted that Mary had composed it in such a spontaneous way from the biblical quotations and that, after the elapse of some forty years, she had transmitted it to Luke. It is more probable that Luke took this canticle and put it down in this place to express what she felt and what she said at that moment. But it is difficult to think that Luke, accustomed to weighing all of the terms he used, had referred to another one than Mary when he used the words: {C}all the generations will call me happy{/}, even when similar formulas have been emphatically pronounced by ancient personages (1Sam 2,1-10). 

{N}1,{/}68 The same is valid for Zechariah's canticle as what is said with respect to the Canticle of Mary. If we leave out verses 76 and 77, we might possibly find a composition of the primitive Church of Palestine. And it is a very old canticle, since this Church still feels identified with the people of Israel. Once again it emphasizes the historical dimension of the salvation of Jesus, Savior of Israel.

{N}2,{/}1 The text says: {C}there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus.{/} "The Caesar": in this way the roman emperor was called in order to remember Julius Caesar, the great ancestor. {C}Augustus{/} means divine. The emperor Octavius had had himself proclaimed god, receiving this nickname from Augustus in the year 27 before Christ. The roman Empire had subjected all of the Middle East and its governor in Syria had authority over Palestine, which is where Herod ruled.

{N}2,{/}4 The text says: {C}Because he was of the house and of the family of David{/}. {C}The house{/} included the ministers and the servants of David; speaking about {C}the family{/}, Luke explains precisely that Joseph is a descendant of David in the strict sense.

{N}2,{/}6 Many people feel frustrated when they are deprived of seeing Mary and Joseph unsuccessfully searching for lodging and going to take shelter in a stable, after being denied access to the common inn. The greek word {C}kataluma{/}, which is often translated by: {C}inn,{/} is found in two other places in the New Testament: Mk 14,14 and Lk 22,11: it is the upstairs room where Jesus celebrates the Last Supper. If we look in the greek Old Testament, the word designates at times a shelter for the nomads in the desert (it was without doubt the oldest meaning), but also the room of a banquet of sacrifice, parts of a private house, any lodging. There is no reason to deny one of the most ancient traditions that situates the birth of Jesus in a grotto or cave located in the center of the ancient village of Bethlehem; there was where St. Jerome lived for some years while he translated the Bible into latin. The meaning of hospitality at this time and in these circumstances makes it almost impossible to believe that Joseph and Mary had not foreseen anything or that they did not receive welcome somewhere. On the contrary, one can well imagine the owner of the crowded house saying to Mary: You cannot give birth among those men, in the back there is a space for the animals and you will be better off there. 

{N}2,{/}12 {C}Look how they will recognize him{/}. A sign is given to them not only so they recognize him, but rather so they understand who this child is. It is the same sign indicated in Is 7,14: the Virgin gives birth to a child, who is brought up in the midst of a great poverty. The signs that are indicated show them how the one who makes our salvation rise up does this from his own humility and poverty.
{C}A savior who is Messiah-Lord{/}. The two words that are juxtaposed here clearly state that this Messiah, in reality, cannot be distinguished from the same Lord-God. Conforming to the sign in Is 7,14, Mary is named first in 2,16.

{N}2,{/}14 {C}A multitude of the heavenly army{/}. This supernatural manifestation is much more similar to many others that will follow in the history of the Church than to the ones read in the Old Testament. See however Gen 28 and Is 6,2. God wants to proclaim the marvels that he is doing and his works are never hidden for all. The angels reveal them today to those poor ones just as yesterday Balaam did this unwillingly (Num 24), and just as tomorrow the children in the Temple (Mt 21,16) and the prophets of the New Testament (Eph 3,5) will.
The text says: "Peace to humans of good will (or: of pleasure)". Here two interpretations fit. Peace to humankind {C}because God takes pleasure in them (or feels reconciled):{/} God has now approached humanity. Or rather: peace to those men and women {C}in whom God takes pleasure{/}, here meaning, to those whom God has chosen (Dan 2,23; Lk 3,22). Fortunate are those who have been chosen to receive God's gift in the person of Jesus, and especially for those shepherds called to the house in Bethlehem.

{N}2,{/}19 {C}As for Mary {/}. This is a supplementary proof that Mary was the one who, directly or indirectly, informed the evangelist.

{N}2,{/}22 In the commentary on 2,7 we speak of that {C}firstborn{/}. See also in this respect the note related to Ex 12,12 that recalls the permanent value of that law, or at least its spirit, for the people of God. For any other birth the mother must purify herself; but in the case of the firstborn the child was presented and redeemed.

{N}2,{/}34 {C}He will be for the rise or fall of people of Israel{/}; as it suits the one who will be in Israel (and later possibly in the Church) a hidden God (Is 8,14-17).
{C}He will be a sign of contradiction{/}, just as the great prophets were who announced him (Jer 1,17-19; Is 50, 5-7).
{C}The secret thoughts of many will come to light{/}: John notes down this effect of the ministry of Jesus (3,19; 9,41) with regard to:{C} the many {/}as in Mk 14,24). It is an allusion to Is 53,11-12 that opposes the only Servant of Yahweh to "the many", a crowd which he saves. Very possibly upon writing down these words and speaking about the sword that will pierce Mary's soul, Luke has the crucifixion of Jesus in mind and the text in Zech 12,10: "They will look at the one who was pierced".
{C}They returned to Galilee{/}. These words from Luke exclude what Matthew related and favors the general opinion about which Mt 2 tells us Jesus' future mission through popular images. They were quite far from the history, but in agreement with what was being told about the protagonists of the sacred history, whether it was Abraham or Moses.

{N}2,{/}49 The text could be translated: in the things of my Father, but it is an idiom of Hebrew that means: {C}where my Father{/}.

{N}3,{/}2 The text says: {C}during the pontificate of Annas and Caiaphas{/}. This notation is important because the person of the High Priest, by right the person responsible for the chosen people, was considered as sacred. There was no more than one high priest and the position was held for life, but during those years it was at the discretion of the roman power and Annas, an ex-high priest, father-in-law to Caiaphas, enjoyed his own high authority.

{N}3,{/}4 It is known that the evangelists adapted this text that they copied from the greek Bible (the Septuagint). The prophet said: A voice cries out: prepare in the desert the way of the Lord...  And they wrote down: A voice {C}cries out in the desert{/}: prepare ...
It is easy to see that for Luke the Lord, who for the Prophet was Yahweh, is Christ as we already indicated. And in the same way in 3,6 {C}will see the salvation{/}, becomes: to see the Savior.

{N}3,{/}7 (7-9) is identical to Mt 3,7-10. But Matthew states precisely that the invective is addressed to a group of Pharisees and Sadducees who had come only to get information (Jn 1,19), while Luke directs it to the people who come to be baptized by John.
{C}How can you think that you will escape the punishment that is approaching?{/} The text says: Who has told you that you will escape {C}the wrath{/} that is coming? The Wrath is one of those words that allowed believers to speak of God without naming him or dishonoring his name by attributing human sentiments directly to him. The Fury is a threat suspended over the heads of the guilty parties. It is a sentence that has already been pronounced and that is going to be executed shortly (Is 26,10; Wis 18,23). Some speak of {C}wrath {/}to designate a great trial (Pro 11,4; Sir 7,16), since they are convinced that the disgrace would not afflict the people if they hadn't been unfaithful (1Mac 2,49).
The threat of fire is not a secondary element in John's preaching: taking up again the teachings of the prophets he sees the coming of the Lord and his Messiah as the hour of judgment. Did John see this judgement as the end of the world? Without a doubt no more than the prophets did. They recognized a realization of the judgment that weighed over the whole history in the present tragedies. Yet in the case of John it is special because he presented himself as the one who comes before the Messiah (besides the testimony of the evangelists we have Acts 18,25 and 19,4).
Those who came to John converted because they knew that evil would be severely punished. Jesus does not eliminate this perspective (Mt 18,8; Lk 13,5), but he leaves others open. All persons do not have the same motivations. Jesus responds to each one according to the image of God that each one has. He talks about {C}the fire{/} and {C}the gehenna - hell{/} to those who understand the language of the prophets.
{C}In the Spirit and the fire{/}: we understand that it will be one or the other.

{N}3,{/}10 John shares with the Essennes of the desert the conviction that God's Judgment is imminent and that the Kingdom of God is going to bring with it punishment for sinners, but it differs from them by offering salvation to everyone. The Essennes considered that only those who entered into their communities would be saved. John on the other hand shows a way of salvation to the publicans and the {C}soldiers{/} (Jews who acted as auxiliaries of the roman troops.).

{N}3,{/}16 {C}One with more power than I{/}. The one who is powerful, strong, brave and the conqueror is God, and together with him his Messiah (Is 11,2; 49,25; 53,12). See Mt 12,29.
{C}In the Holy Spirit and the fire{/}: possibly we should understand that it would be one or the other.

{N}3,{/}23 The genealogies according to Matthew and according to Luke are very different. It is known that the genealogy can follow the sanguineous paternity or the adoptive paternity, and that rungs can be skipped, but we would like to know more. Some have imagined that one of them would be the genealogy of Mary, which seems impossible. Where did Luke obtain the one we read here? There is no answer.

{N}4,{/}5 In the jewish literature of the time of Jesus we find something about this subject. In a vision God shows to Satan the glorious Messiah who, from the top of a hill, dominates the universe; Satan falls to the ground and should subject himself. Other texts refer to the Messiah coming down from Heaven towards the crowd of faithful people congregated in the Temple. Contrary to these popular beliefs, the Gospel states that the Savior saves us through his obedience to the Father.

{N}4,{/}16 {C}He stood up to do the reading{/}. The president of the assembly could invite whichever person worthy of credit to do the reading and the corresponding commentary (Act 13,15). {C}He found the passage{/} (he did not choose it), whether it was the text assigned to that Saturday by the jewish liturgy, or whether it was found by coincidence.

{N}4,{/}18 The final verse says very precisely:{C} to set free those who are oppressed{/}. This last word has a rather wide significance. In Isaiah 58,6 it talks more about those whose debts make them crushed, but the term also points to all the forms of oppression of the weak in any system.

{N}4,{/}21 The text says: "Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your ears". This should be understood: this prophecy has just been fulfilled and you are getting news of it. Jesus starts from a fact, the preaching and the miracles that he has just realized, not in Nazareth but rather in his new residence in Capernaum. All of this has been reported in Nazareth. These signs are the forerunners of {C}a grace{/}, a jubilee year granted by God himself. The phrase that follows confirms this meaning, since Luke says: all were lost in wonder about {C}these words of the grace (of God) {/}that came from his lips. The same expression is read in Acts 14,3 and 20,32: there we understand that it means a {C}proclamation of the grace{/} that God now concedes to humankind.
In reality, the change cannot but surprise us that is produced in the assembly at the end of verse 22. We said in the commentary that possibly Luke wanted to put together in one scene two diverse reactions, one favorable and the other hostile, of his compatriots from Nazareth; but this is not certain. We translated with: {C}all approved him{/}, a verb that means: {C}all gave him testimony{/}, but yet, with a grammatical form that is slightly different, it would mean: {C}all protested against him.{/} If this were the meaning, those listening were immediately scandalized about the commentary that Jesus proposes to them, not only because he takes hold of the text to glorify his own preaching and the miracles carried out in Capernaum, but also because he prefers to ignore the last verse of the reading that talks about the vengeance of God against the oppressors of his people (Is 61,2). This was for them the most important. Jesus eliminated this revenge against the foreigner, and was going to say it in even clearer way with the examples that he recalls in verses 25-27.

{N}4,{/}24 {C}No prophet is well received in his own country.{/} Surely Jesus had meditated this truth for some time back: he had gone to Capernaum knowing that an artisan would hardly convince his compatriots that God had anointed him.

{N}5,{/}19 {C}They removed tiles{/}. This detail shows us how the evangelist, when reproducing the oral tradition which referred to the events and words of Jesus, adapts at least the scenery and the gestures. Mark painted us a house in Palestine covered with reeds and clay in which a hole was opened in the roof (2,4); Luke speaks to greek people who were only familiar with tiles.

{N}5,{/}36 {C}In order to mend an old coat{/}. According to some this {C}mending {/}would mean reforming the erroneous interpretation that the teachers of the Law and the Pharisees give to the Law. Most probably Jesus has not come to {C}mend{/} the religion of the Old Testament, in which what is divine and what is human, or the essential versus the accessory, were intimately mixed at the end of a long tradition. Jesus, leaving aside the molds of the jewish practices, introduces us to a new definitive stage, announced in the Old Testament (see verses Mt 5,17 and Heb 10,9). When we say that Jesus takes the Law to its perfection, it does not only mean to go one step further on the way of interiorization of the faith or of a more perfect morality. Jesus reorients all the perspectives of the faith starting from a new and unexpected event, which is the death and resurrection of the Messiah.
New people and new ways of thinking are needed to keep the new wine that symbolizes a new creation (Jn 2) and the Holy Spirit (Acts 2,13; Eph 5,18). Luke explains the risk that the Gospel runs if the Church accepts accommodating itself to those "jewish-izers" or "jewish Christians" who will not dare to overturn the religious vision of the jewish community and the "justice" or form of perfection that was being looked for before Jesus.

{N}6,{/}14 {N}THE LIST OF THE TWELVE{/}
See the note put down about Mark 3,14. It is known that the list of the Twelve is not the same in the three synoptic gospels, to which it would be necessary to add Acts 1,13 as well. 
It is not known whether Judas {C}of James{/} should be translated for {C}son{/} or {C}brother of James{/}. On the other hand it is seen that he replaces Thaddeus (who is called Lebbe in some of the ancient manuscripts), mentioned in Matthew and Mark. Is Thaddeus the same as the Judas of James? Or rather was he one of the Twelve who retired and was soon forgotten, being replaced at that moment by Judas of James, who after Pentecost took the title of apostle, being perhaps one of the Lord's brothers? 
Luke tells us about the replacement of Judas Iscariot (Acts 1,15), but he was not obliged to tell us about other replacements, which was reasonable since there was a time during which the title of apostle was being given to some who founded new communities. Outside of this, there is no other reason to identify Bartholomew with Nathaniel: the fact that John 1, 45-50 shows us this last name among the first disciples is not proof that he belonged to the number of apostles.
Simon the Zealot is called the Canaanite in Mt 10,4. This word in Hebrew means the same as zealot in Greek: the fanatic. It referred to nationalists who later would become terrorists and attack the Romans and their collaborators.

{N}6,{/}43 {C}There is no good (healthy) tree{/}. These sentences of Luke refer to a clean or pure conscience. It is necessary to purify our mind and our spirit so that later our words and our actions produce fruits of justice and goodness.

{N}6,{/}46 In this whole discourse Luke gives us short sentences from Jesus that Matthew would also putdown in the Sermon on the Mount. Some of these sentences have probably been somewhat modified. Here for example, only Christians could invoke Jesus in this way:  "Lord! Lord!"

{N}7,{/}2 Compare with Jn 4,46, who seems to inform about the same healing. This comparison helps us to appreciate the kind of precision that can be expected from the stories about the miracles. Among other things it is seen that John talks about {C}an official of the king{/}. Yet some years later, the Romans substituted the king and the synoptic gospels, either forgetting or ignoring the old situation, tell us about {C}a roman centurion{/}. Yet it is not absolutely impossible that two recoveries in the same place with points of similarity have been mixed together.

{N}7,{/}13 Naim, a small town very close to Shunem, where Elisha brings a dead man back to life (2Kgs 4,8). {C}He returned him to his mother{/}: just as Elijah did (1Kgs 17,23). In other places the comparison between Jesus and Elijah will return, especially in 9,27-62. And the people talk about a {C}great prophet{/} because in the Bible only with Elijah and Elisha is it said that they had brought the dead back to life.
{C}God has visited his people{/}: he has remembered them and has intervened as in Gen 50,24; Ruth 1,7 and Lk 1,68.

{N}7,{/}21 Jesus' response is taken from Is 61,1, the same text that Jesus comments on in the synagogue of Nazareth: Lk 4,18.
{C}Good news are given to the poor{/}. The prophet spoke of himself, about his being sent to announce to the exiled of Babylon the forgiveness of God and the return to their land.  His words are adapted to the preaching of Jesus. Jesus emphasizes the revival of the poor. Today still, this sign is the one that measures the authenticity of our evangelization, not the multiplication of our help or the publication of documents about our love of the poor.
Jesus comes to save everyone. But by choosing the poor (Lk 1,47) and dedicating himself to them (Lk 15,1), is how he gives to the world the sign that saves the world.

{N}7,{/}30 It was difficult to think that decent people would go down to the desert to mix with the mob of ignorant people and later take off their clothes to go into the Jordan. But might this not be the way to be reborn?

{N}7,{/}33 {C}He has an evil spirit{/}. Keep in mind that the greek language and the gospel talk often about demons when referring to a psychological disorder or an eccentricity. No one was about to think that John was an instrument of the devil.

{N}7,{/}35 Compare verse 35 with Matthew 11,19. Matthew says that her works justified the wisdom, meaning: the results demonstrated that she had acted well. Luke says that her children justified the wisdom, or meaning, her children were able to see that she had acted well.

{N}7,{/}37 This woman who takes the liberty of entering Simon's house is not just anyone: she is from his own social milieu. She is well to do and is not a prostitute, in spite of the fact that her life has not been a model one. Luke does not name her, but he did do enough so that Mary of Bethany is recognized, the relative of Martha and Lazarus (Jn 12,3).

{N}8,{/}3 It was not hard for Jesus to find the language that the simple people understood, since he belonged to them; yet from the more well to do and learned environments many friends came to him as well. The women, usually forgotten in the religious society, many times understood him better because they did not observe the whole life and the persons with the lenses and the labels of the parties and the dogmas. Jesus had a deep relation with various women: possibly Mary was no less to him than Peter and John. Since his time was measured, he did not have to defend himself from those friends and do-gooders who without doubt would have monopolized him with time, trying to give his evangelization firm bases and social support as do those who trust human wisdom. 

{N}8,{/}12 Luke manifests here his own apostolic concern{C}: he does not want them to believe and be saved{/}. Leaving aside the Sower and the sowing, he stresses that there is no salvation without faith, which requires that the Word be heard. From the beginning he identifies the seed with the Word of God; at the end of the parable, he will celebrate those who listen to the Word and make it reality.

{N}8,{/}16 {C}Take care of the way you listen{/}. In Luke these short parables confirm the parable of the Sower and they tell us that the best disposition in order to know more is to have yield what one already received. The one who received this teaching as a precious secret should make it his own in such a way that this person can transmit it to others and be the light for the world; and it will merit receiving a deeper understanding of the things of God.

{N}8,{/}43 {N}YOUR FAITH HAS SAVED YOU{/}
Numerous ancient manuscripts have for this verse a longer text that is closer to Mk 5,25. This detail does not deserve our attention as much as the words of Jesus: {C}Your faith has saved you{/}. This is found in Matthew and in Mark in the same story, and besides four more times in Luke (7,50; 17,19; 18,42 and Acts 14,9). What faith does it mean? As poorly learned the sick persons could have been, they knew however enough to consider Jesus as a prophet (Mk 6,15) and they approached him with the same certainty: God has visited his people (Lk 7,16).
This is the faith just as it is found in the simple and not theologian people. And Jesus is the first to value it. If we refer to the stories of miracles in the Old Testament that can be compared to those in the gospels --although in fact they will only be found in the chapters referring to Elijah and Elisha (1Kgs 17; 2Kgs 1-7) -- the faith is not absent, but it is not the most important thing (Num 21,9). The stories point out the charisma of the prophet, and the prophet, who has the faith and the charisma, asks God for the miracle. The Gospel, on the other hand, and especially Mark's gospel, gives testimony to the power of Jesus, who, contrary to the prophet, does not ask God yet gives an order. Luke however, takes pleasure in remembering the words of Jesus that celebrate the power of the faith.
Many people look down on that power of faith and immediately think: it is the same faith that attracts customers to where there are peddlers and hawkers. They do not see there any more than the power of suggestion, which in some cases gives the push that is needed, but does not have value in the medical plane, and even less in the religious one.
The word of Jesus invites us rather to envy this faith without instruction that often recognizes the prophets yet does not make a great use of the established Church; it is one of our greatest riches. In the world around us, in the beginning of everything that is great there was faith, if not under the form of {C}God has visited his people{/}, at least in its lay version: luck will help us. All people in all religions understand that language.
The Old Testament, although it shows this faith in action (see Heb 11), speaks little of it. The writings of the New Testament on the other hand praise the faith at every turn; but more frequently this deals with the faith in Christ the Lord. Those books praise believers that conscientiously live their new lives as baptized ones and the importance of the faith according to Christ (see note on Acts 4,12), which in turn allows the access to the supernatural assets. With this concern we are a little apart of the field where ordinary people are fighting in order to survive. Yet here the Gospel reminds us of our many brothers and sisters for whom the next day's bread is not assured and for whom doctors and health services are like a luxury out of their reach. Their faith, badly or poorly taught, uninstructed, conditioned by the immediate needs (2Kgs 4,39; Jn 2,3), is no less valuable in the eyes of God. An irrational optimism brings them at times to think that God will get them out of the difficult situation and God likes that idea that they have of Him.

{N}9,{/}7 {C}This is John, raised from the dead.{/} The people thought that at the end of time Elijah would return (Mal 3,23; Sir 48,10), and with him the dead prophets and the martyrs. They considered John a martyr and thought he would return to punish Herod. His death followed the many other deaths of the executed or crucified patriots, giving them the certainty that the Judgment was approaching.  Some associated Jesus with John: Jesus did the miracles that John had not worked.

{N}9,{/}10 This mention of {C}Bethsaida{/} seems to contradict John 6,1. But the text is not certain and Bethsaida is missing in many manuscripts.

{N}9,{/}51 {C}The time when Jesus would be taken up to heaven{/}. The text is recalling Elijah (2Kgs 2,1). {C}He set out resolutely{/}; the text says: "he made his face hard". The word {C}face{/} will return in idioms characteristic of Hebrew: he sent before his face ... (v. 52); because his face was set towards Jerusalem (v. 53) ... he sent them ahead (10,1). This style indicates that the trip to Jerusalem is inscribed within the great tradition of the holy history. Just as the pilgrims went up to Jerusalem to find the {C}face{/}, or meaning, the divine presence, in the same way Jesus walks imperturbably towards the place of his Passion, that will also be the place of his glorification.
Jesus follows the most direct way, which crosses Samaria, with the predictable problems in this hostile country. Regarding the question from James and John (the {C}sons of thunder{/}: Mk 3,17): see 2Kgs 1,10.

{N}9,{/}56 {C}Jesus rebuked them{/}. Several manuscripts add: you do not know of which spirit you are; the Son of Man did not come to lose but to save (see 19,10).

{N}10,{/}1 These instructions of Jesus to the {C}seventy {/}or{C} seventy-two disciples{/} are practically the same as those given to the apostles in 9,1. It seems like Luke, in the same way as Matthew, had at hand two rather similar accounts. Matthew mixed them into only one (Mt 10,5. Luke would have placed one in 9,1 and the other here.

{N}10,{/}17 It is good to notice the Hebrew form used in Jesus' response upon retaking the words of his disciples. They say: Your{C} name{/}, and Jesus responds: your {C}names{/}. The disciples {C}rejoice{/} and Jesus says: {C}Do not rejoice{/}. Satan falls {C}from heaven{/}, and what is written {C}in heaven{/} are the names of the disciples. Also note that the disciples speak of{C} the demons{/} that obeyed them and Jesus says: {C}the spirits{/}; and for Him the adversaries are not the spirits but rather {C}Satan{/}.

{N}10,{/}27 Matthew and Mark take this question from a teacher of the Law about the first commandment. Only Luke makes it a question previous to another one about who is the neighbor. It is not implausible that this teacher had given the response to the first question (contrary to Matthew and Mark) but only Jesus could think of placing them both on the same plane.
{C}Do this and you shall live{/}: the formula that accompanies the commandments in several places in Deuteronomy (8,1).

{N}10,{/}29 {N}THE NEIGHBOR{/}
The oldest rabbinical commentaries of the bible -- ones that were contemporaries of the gospels -- show that the teachers were divided with respect to the question about who is the neighbor. The question raised to Jesus then was of great current importance. And the interpretations of the word {C}neighbor{/} went from the closest family members, to all jewish brothers and sisters, even to the proselytes who were still not yet fully jewish. But no one had passed that barrier between Jews and non Jews which was as much a national one as a religious one.
Jesus' answer is therefore absolutely new. Just as the philosopher Henri Bergson has demonstrated, going from the neighbor as a member of one's same social group to a neighbor that could be any other person, is not only an enlargement, but even more it is acceding to another world. The love of the neighbor that was trying to be practiced among the Jews and Greeks in the primitive Church in spite of mutual distrust (and that was one of the principal worries of Paul in 2Cor 8-9) was a new asset given to the world. John on his part saw it as a totally new commandment (Jn 13,34; 1Jn 2,8). If now at this time Jesus' answer does not seem so extraordinary, it is simply because that parable has already transformed our consciences. However, that love of one's neighbor continues to appear as a novelty in the present world. It is true that there are many examples of people helping the distant neighbor in individual cases and of saving the underprivileged; however it is an even more surprising thing when the love allows the re-encounter of social groups between which barriers exist. 

{N}10,{/}33 Note in 2Chr 28, 8-15 a certain story which is somewhat strange in which the ancestors of the Samaritans acted in a similar way. Various details of the text seem to have inspired Jesus' parable, but there the lesson is different. In the book of Chronicles, the humanity of the Samaritans is presented as something very normal; they did no more than recognize the superiority and the sacred character inherent to all members of the people of Judah. Here on the other hand, Jesus steps on the pride of his own people, showing us how we must overcome any barrier and prejudice of race.

{N}10,{/}41 {C}Mary chose the better part{/}. The word of Jesus becomes more significant if the situation of those two sisters is considered more closely. Mary, it is said, is Martha's sister: sister in the strict sense or more probably cousin or relative? The one who {C}welcomed to her home{/} is Martha, but yet hadn't Mary arrived in the group that accompanied Jesus? John tells us that this sister of Martha is the same Mary who poured the perfume on the Lord's feet (Jn 11,2 and 12,3) and who appears again a little later in Jn 20,11. Yet if John, always so precise in the concrete details, did not mix these roles, then that Mary to whom the risen Jesus appears, can be no other than Mary of Magdala.
It is therefore very possible that this Mary, Martha's sister, had arrived in the group that followed Jesus (Lk 8,2). According to custom she should have joined the group of women who took care of the domestic work while the men spoke of men's things, yet she stayed with the men. And when Martha complains, Jesus praises her, one who despised the "what will they say" and became itinerant together with Him, for the service of the Kingdom, now having every facility in order to receive the Word.

{N}10,{/}42 {C}Only one thing is needed{/}. Many manuscripts bring a different text: "Few things are necessary". Others put: "Few things are necessary, in fact only one". It would seem that {C}few things{/} is a revised text in monastic environments that justified with these words their ascetic practices. Others, later, wanted to reconcile the two versions.

{N}11,{/}5 This comparison depicts the situation of the simple families of his time. The house in Palestine had no more than one room, and when everyone had stretched out on the carpets or the straw and sticks where they slept together, all covered by the same blankets, it was impossible to get up and look for something in the darkness without upsetting everyone and everything.

{N}11,{/}9 Jesus does not speak only of asking God, yet also of searching and even asking of others who have and who know what we do not know, even when we feel humiliated because we appear as poor and ignorant people.
It is noteworthy to mention also the example given by Jesus: that man was not asking for himself, but rather in order to attend a friend who was passing through.

{N}11,{/}12 One part of the ancient manuscripts says here: ... {C}how much more from heaven will the Father give...{/}

{N}11,{/}14 Here Luke does not take note as much of the opposition of the Pharisees, contrary to Matthew, as of the positive aspect of Jesus' teaching: he will free his own from the devil and he asks them to join him. 

{N}11,{/}27 This blessing concludes the instructions to the disciples on prayer and vigilance against the devil. It is very similar to another that ended the preaching in parables (8,21).

{N}11,{/}29 {C}The Queen of the South will rise up{/}. In verses 31 and 32 the gospel uses the word {C}rise up{/}, that here has a double meaning. As a witness the Queen of the South will rise up to accuse. Yet also this verb, together with the verb "wake up", is one of the two ways used in the New Testament to mean: {C}resurrect{/}.

{N}11,{/}33 Luke joins these two comparisons in order to make them refer to conscience. The division that is produced around Jesus is fundamentally due to the fact that many people refuse the light although God put it inside of each of them, in their conscience (2,31-34; Jn 9).

{N}11,{/}41 Our translation adds at the beginning {C}according to you{/}, which is not in the text but helps to see how Jesus speaks in an ironic manner. The text says: Give alms with what you have! and everything will be clean for you. Many understand this as if Jesus said to the Pharisees: you must think first in giving alms. Yet this was exactly what the Pharisees did better than anyone else (Mt 6,2) and what left their consciences quiet. 
The greek word that is translated with {C}what you have{/} can also be translated as {C}what is in the inside{/}, for this reason some translate as: Give alms, that come from inside (meaning the heart), and everything will be clean for you.
There have also been long discussions about the greek word that means {C}with what you have{/}, in order to know if it should be translated as: {C}with your assets, {/}or {C}with what is left over{/}, because afterwards it would be easier to say to the rich up to what point they are obligated to give, and if that is a duty of justice or of charity. Yet it is evident that said discussions have nothing to do, nor with the text, nor with the way that the gospel has of referring to money.

{N}11,{/}44 In order to understand this verse, let us remember that people became unclean or impure by touching a dead body. The tradition wanted the case to be the same when one stepped on an apparently inoffensive flat stone that covered a tomb. And Jesus thinks of the pilgrim who, having prepared and made oneself clean, realizes too late that he put his/her foot where one should not: I did not even see it and I got unclean!

{N}11,{/}45 The teacher of the Law feels alluded to by Jesus' words: many of them belonged to the group of Pharisees (Mk 2,16). {C}You load burdens on the people{/}. In the religious language the {C}burden{/} meant the commands of the Law. After multiplying the negative precepts that common workers without comforts or outside help could not fulfill, the intellectuals do not worry about the pastoral reality: how to save all those people? Anyone who has a pastoral position will feel touched by the reproaches of Jesus, in the least by paying attention to what happens nowadays around us: what a tremendous absence of the word of God announced to the masses! And what blindness exists so often in the teachers of the New Law!

{N}11,{/}48 Once again the irony of Jesus. He does not repeat what he already said in verse 47, since he says {C}build{/} without any other complement and he takes it in the figurative sense: since the prophets were already eliminated, you have the open field to dominate in the institutions.

{N}11,{/}50 {C}You will have to answer for the blood of all the prophets{/}. The generation of Jesus was very sensitive to the vengeance that God would exact for the blood of his martyrs; for everyone the guilty ones were the enemies of Israel, as much the pagans as the "sinners". Jesus affirms that the present generation, including their religious leaders, is the first guilty party and the one who will pay. {C}From the saint {/}(the text says "just") {C}Abel{/}, the first death of the Bible, to {C}Zechariah{/} (2Chr 14,20). He was not the last one chronologically, but his murder was read at the end of the book of the Chronicles that concluded the hebrew Bible.
{C}Since the foundation of the world{/}. It is very noteworthy that this prophecy from Jesus places the blame on his contemporaries for all the blood shed since the creation, or better yet, the foundation of the world. It would be an error to think that they were more to blame than any other group of any other time. Rather we should understand that, in the death of Jesus, there was present in some way the violence of all of humanity.
In three places Jesus embraces the whole extension of history and refers to the beginning: in Mt 19,4 to affirm the indissolubility of marriage; in Mt 13,35 the evangelist affirms in his name that he reveals to us the hidden secrets of our destiny. Here he gives one of the keys of our destiny by vindicating the first place among all victims. The tragic end of many of his contemporaries (they also belonged to the people that God made his instrument for the salvation of the world), illustrated the unique importance of this hour of history.

{N}11,{/}52 {C}You have taken the key of knowledge{/}. In the sense that they imposed their own organization, their own schools, their methods of discussion and their own subjects of investigation. These, however, are not necessarily what helps to better investigate the biblical revelation, and since they were the ones who taught the people, the people could not reach the knowledge "that builds" either (1Cor 8,1).

{N}12,{/}16 Jesus takes again the example we read in Sir 11,19. Yet that book stressed that no one is sure of his future even though it is assured; Jesus instead puts the accent on the greed: the rich man does not think of anything more than increasing his fortune.

{N}12,{/}21 This verse is missing in some ancient manuscripts. However it comes as a response to the question in verse 13. In the hebrew language it says: This is {C}the lot{/} of the one who stores up... which contrasts with the question: Tell him to give me {C}my lot{/} of the inheritance.

{N}12,{/}22 In Luke these words and this praise of the "holy" carefree attitude are addressed to those whom God chose to be the beneficiaries of his Kingdom, as we see in the last sentence (32), which is found only in this gospel.

{N}12,{/}25 {C}Which of you can add ...{/} The text could be translated: extend his or her life of half a meter, or add half a meter to their height. The first expression seems somewhat strange to us; the second would mean something enormous. Possibly Jesus speaks in an ironic way as he did in other places: as fabulous as it seems, to gain half a meter would still be a small thing before God.

{N}12,{/}32 {C}Do not worry little flock.{/} Words of consolation according to the biblical tradition that motivates the poor people, the Rest of Israel, promising them the return to their land and the arrival of God with his hands loaded with the benefits of his Kingdom: Mi 7,14; So 3,11-18; Is 41,8-14; 54,3-8. The {C}little flock{/} is the group of disciples already formed around Christ as the nucleus of the new people of God.
{C}It has pleased the Father{/}: this is the same verb {C}to please{/} that in Mt 3,17 expresses the choice of Jesus as Messiah. Flock or people, object of a free choice of God: the gift of the faith in Christ.
{C}Give you the Kingdom{/}. Would this mean that God would give the Kingdom or that he did give it already? Very possibly he already gave them the Kingdom, not only in the sense that he made them enter into it, but also that he gave them the responsibility of his kingdom: each one of these words has its equivalent in the promises to Peter: Mt 16,13-19.
{C}Sell what you have{/}. These words of Jesus are not sufficient to explain putting properties together for common use that the first christian community of Jerusalem tried doing (Acts 4). Jesus does not speak of putting together but rather of distributing. The primitive Church probably followed the intents carried out previously by the communities of Essenes.

{N}12,{/}33 Let us not forget that to make one's purse {C}in the heavens{/} just as this text says, which conserves the hebrew formula of expression, means to have it {C}with God{/}.

{N}12,{/}35 The text says: "Have the loins girded tight". This means to have the folds of the tunic pulled up and tied at the waist, which would permit one to work easily: the worker is ready. And in the same way the master will put on work clothes in order to serve his servants:{C} He himself will put on the apron.{/}

{N}12,{/}37 This agrees with other texts in the Bible that try to convince us of the incredible simplicity, cordiality and servitude of God when he wants to manifest himself to his servants (Gen 18,22; So 3,17; see also Jn 13,4).
{C}At midnight or daybreak{/}. At midnight or daybreak, during the long night. A prolonged wait. This text does not leave way to say that Jesus was thinking about returning imminently in order to inaugurate the Kingdom. And we do not have any reasons to think that the evangelists arranged these words of Jesus himself, whilst he himself believed in his imminent return (see Mk 9,1).

{N}12,{/}45 Those paragraphs are addressed to those who will be entrusted with the work of Jesus. However in Luke gospel they are the continuation of the previous warnings that demand from any disciple of Jesus that he or she be faithful in his or her work. Whether or not we are conscious of the fact that God carries out his work and that his Kingdom grows with or without us, the Christian must always be aware of his or her own responsibility.
The faith, in the greek language, goes closely tied to the credibility. The disciple has judged that God is trustful; God at the same time judges that the disciple is trustful and he entrusts him or her with a responsibility at the same time as the Spirit confers on him or her a personal capacity or charisma (Rom 12,5-8; 1Cor 12,4-11). From whichever angle that one looks at the gospel, one will always find this reciprocity between God and ourselves, between the Father and his sons and daughters.

{N}12,{/}56 Luke gives here the same "saying of the Lord" that Matthew takes again in his gospel (16,4). But here it lost the hebrew opposition between {C}sky and earth{/} that existed in the latter. 
{C}How is it that you do not understand the present times?{/} It is difficult to interpret history well. However a group of events can occur that allows for discerning that a decisive hour has come within the Sacred History. The ministry of Jesus marks one of these stages. The events referring to the destruction of Jerusalem will mark another stage (Lk 21,28).
{C}You  will perish in the same way{/}. A threat for each one of those who do not convert: they will perish in the sense that Jesus said: the one who wants to save his life will lose it (9,24). A threat for the whole of Israel that goes to its destruction materially and also is going to lose the Messiah who was its light.

{N}13,{/}11 One will note that the illness or disease is attributed here to a demonic influence; and it is known that Luke especially does not clearly distinguish between the possessed and the ill. Jesus does not reject the idea that the evil spirit takes advantage of our ailments.

{N}13,{/}19 These two short parables that Matthew put together with others referring to the kingdom of God (Mt 13) are better here in this place. Since Jesus did not tell parables at any moment but rather when the events occurred that could be commented on through such parables. In the present case, Luke concludes the first part of Jesus' trip from Galilee to Jerusalem (9,51 - 13,21): the mission especially demonstrated that the kingdom of God is developing.
Here will be noted the adaptation of some details of the original text for a better understanding of the readers. For Palestinians (Mt 13,31), mustard is a foul smelling plant that is planted in the fields; for Luke, who is greek, it is a medicinal herb that must be found in the garden.

{N}13,{/}22 Once again Luke recalls the going up of Jesus to Jerusalem, like initiating another section of this part of his gospel (see 9,51). Afterward he puts down several sentences of Jesus that clarify and presage the unbelief of Israel with respect to him.

{N}13,{/}25 The same words of Jesus are read in Mt 7,22: there Jesus dialogues with bad Christians. Here it deals with Jesus' fellow countrymen: he denies the privileges of his brothers and sisters by the flesh (8,19) and the rights of the race of Abraham.

{N}13,{/}31 Is this a well-intentioned warning or an interested suggestion? Jesus answers with a word of mockery for Herod: he is not a lion but only a fox. Jesus does not retreat due to fear of death, but because his death awaits him in Jerusalem.

{N}13,{/}34 {C}How often have I tried to bring together your children!{/} To reunite the children of Israel, is what should be God's work in the times of the Messiah (Is 49,6; Ez 36-37). Not only to put an end to the division between Judah and Israel, the original sin of the nation, but also to reunite the numerous Jews that had emigrated to other countries (Jn 7,35).

{N}14,{/}7 The two paragraphs that follow help us to see that Jesus repeated on many occasions the teachings of his predecessors. In 14,7-9 he repeats Pro 25,6; but here Luke puts a new accent on it by pointing out the word that means as much {C}invited{/} as {C}called{/}: Jesus addresses those who are called to the faith and the Church. The same thing happens in the following parable up to verse 15. In regards to verse 11, it summarizes several texts from the prophets (Is 2,11-18; Ez 2,31). Jesus inserts himself into a secular culture just as the prophets had done before him; but even in the places in which he does not innovate, his lessons of wisdom are placed in a new vision of existence: today God makes himself present.

{N}14,{/}15 {C}Happy are those who take part in the banquet!{/} Jesus answers that even if the banquet is held later, today is when the invitations are made.
{C}He sent his servant{/}, according to the oriental custom: that servant is Jesus.

{N}14,{/}21 {C}Bring in the poor, the blind ...{/} These, who are collected in the same city in lack of decent people, are the poor of Israel. Later others will be looked for along the way and those converted ones from other nations will be forced to enter.

{N}14,{/}25 {C}Walking along with Jesus were great crowds of people. {/}Jesus speaks, not for the reduced group of the disciples, but rather for all those who will begin to follow him. In this place Luke relates one of the sentences of Jesus that most scandalized his disciples: "If one of you wants to come to me and does not leave his father..." It is known that the original text says: "wants to come to me and does not{C} hate{/} his father..." This is the translation of a hebrew verb that means {C}to hate{/} in many cases, but also designates in the case of a choice what is rejected. What did not have the priority was disdained in some way, and there Hebrew says: hated. Matthew was aware that this word could be misinterpreted by the non Jews, so he changed the sentence in Mt 10,37. In any case, Jesus is aware at all times of this Everything that is God, if we compare with the nothing that are the feelings, the cares and the needs of the present time. All love is bearer of eternity, but no love is authentic if it prefers what can be enjoyed in the time to what is unique and eternal.

{N}14,{/}28 {C}Build a house{/}. The text says: {C}a tower{/}, designating in this way the small stone shelter intended for the caretaker of the vineyard (Mk 12,1). Keep a watch and take care of one's own existence to make it more responsible. Take side in the relentless war that will end with the triumph of the kingdom of God.

{N}14,{/}34 Luke refers in this sentence to those who would dare to follow Christ without having renounced everything else: this one would become salt that does not give flavor.

{N}15,{/}1 {C}The tax collectors{/}. All of them were considered sinners, without distinguishing between the higher administrators who filled their own pockets cooperating with the roman oppressor and the lower level civil workers who accepted without too many scruples a controversial job. The majority of the texts say here {C} All {/}(!) the tax collectors ...

{N}15,{/}4 {C}Leave the other ninety-nine in the desert.{/} In the desert, meaning in the lands that are no good for farming and where the flocks go through. This opposition between ninety nine and one projects us into another world, which is the one of mercy. God does not act here as in other biblical texts in the way of a just king worried about reestablishing justice in favor of the poor, but rather as the Father who loves the sinner. He does not take notice of the statistics and the positive balances of his government in the world: he forgets everything in order to enjoy an unheard of relationship with only one person saved from his own evilness.

{N}16,{/}8 The master {C}admired{/}. This is the normal translation of the verb that is read in the text and that also means {C}praise or commend{/}.
{C}The citizens of this world.{/} This means the hebrew idiom that we read here: {C}the children of this world{/}. They are those who live according to the customs of this world.
{C}The filthy money{/}. The original text says: the dirty {C}Mammon. {/}This was the name of an aramean god, well informed in business and who was only named to speak badly of money. This did not prevent people of loving him secretly. In verse 16 we read simply: {C}the mammon{/}. 

{N}16,{/}14 {C}What people have as great{/}. The Bible recalled that God knows how to upset the human inequalities and how to humiliate the proud (1Sam 2,3; Ez 17,24; Job 34,18-28). Isaiah had expressed that human pride insults God (Is 2,16-17). Jesus repeats it in a more simple way which is more universal at the same time.

{N}16,{/}16 {C}Ended with John{/}. Matthew seemed to say that the proclamation of the gospel begins with John (11,12). Luke prefers to say that John closes the Old Testament.

{N}16,{/}18 {C}Anyone who divorces{/}. This sentence of Jesus was one of those that seemed most demanding: it went against the Law and disconcerted everyone. For this reason this sentence is read here. Yet Jesus did not think of imposing a new obligation but only of recalling the law of the beginning, the one that remains in force no matter what accommodations are provided for by human societies.

{N}16,{/}19 This parable does not have an introduction. {C}Lazarus{/}: he is the only person in the parables of Jesus who has a name. His name, which means: God helps, could be a teaching about the meaning of the life of the poor. However, some very ancient authors seem to ignore the name of Lazarus. It could be that the petition of the rich man that the poor man rise from the dead had induced some to think that he was the Lazarus that Jesus resurrected, and for this reason introduced his name here.
The text says: "he dressed in purple and with shimmer": this was the most precious color and the finest linen. 
{C}Even the dogs:{/} worthless animals; it is a sign of the humiliation of the poor.
{C}Together with Abraham{/}. The text says: "in the fold of Abraham's coat". This was a traditional way of expressing the situation of the just awaiting the resurrection.
{C}In hell{/}. This term designates here the place of the dead. The parable describes the beyond just as the contemporaries of Jesus conceived it: in the wait for the resurrection of the righteous, the deceased were living in a mysterious country that extended beneath the earth. There inviolable frontiers separated the various dominions corresponding to the various categories of souls. One, called paradise was reserved for the just. They would rise with a body of light, the evil on the other hand, with a disgusting body.

{N}17,{/}5 There were Matthew writes: if you (truly) had faith (17,20), Luke puts down:{C} if you have faith{/}, supposing that the disciples already have it.

{N}17,{/}10 The text uses for those servants the term {C}unnecessary{/}; they were not useless, since God counts on their work, but rather they are not of those technicians or specialists that are difficult to replace. They are only laborers, and these are always more than enough in number, so how can they not be happy because the master "gives them" work!

{N}17,{/}11 {C}On the way to Jerusalem{/}. This mention, as in 9,51 and 14,25, opens a new section. {C}Along the borders of Galilee{/} and Samaria: this very imprecise notation justifies the presence of a Samaritan in the group of lepers. The lepers, excluded from the settlements of clean people, often live in groups.

{N}17,{/}21 {C}The Kingdom is among you{/}. One could understand that the Kingdom is an interior reality of the person, but this meaning is much less probable. What is more obvious and respects better the sense of the words is to join this sentence of Jesus with the many others where he confirms that the Kingdom is already present, at the door, within our reach.

{N}17,{/}25 Contrasting with the previous sentence, this one talks to us about the glorious coming of the Son of Man to give fulfillment to his kingdom.
{C}In the days of the Son of Man{/}. Jesus uses preferently this title when he is dealing with his glorious coming: the Son of Man is Jesus after entering in the divine Glory. We would speak about Christ. Luke keeps the biblical expression: {C}the day {/}(verse 30) or{C} the days{/}. On that day the Son of Man will carry out the hope of the {C}day of Yahweh, the Lord{/}, about which the prophets spoke, whether it was a day of punishment (Am 5,18; So 1,15; Jl 1,15; Ez 22,24), or whether it was a day of salvation (Is 11,10; 13,6), and that later was designated as the day of Judgement (Mal 3,19; Is 26). John will speak of the last day (6,39).

{N}17,{/}33 What we read in this verse is found in a rather similar form in another four places (Mt 16,25; Mk 8,35; Mk 13,15; Lk 9,24). Luke however, puts down here two verbs that are characteristically his own: {C}to acquire{/} one's life (Acts 20,28; 1Tim 3,13) meaning: to save one's life. And the other verb, {C}to bring to life{/}, usually applies to the midwife who helps at a birth. Jesus invites us to give light to our eternal {C}I. {/}

{N}18,{/}1 {N}THE HUMAN FACE OF GOD{/}
The parables in which Jesus lends God such a human face will surely bring some uneasiness to those people who have a philosophical training. At first one is touched by the humanity of God; yet later one reflects, and the parable then is no more than a comparison of what one cannot trust too much. Is not God the One and the Only, the Absolute and the first Substance, eternal, immutable and unshakable? It is here then, where the faith sees with greater clarity than reason. The God of the philosophers, even when generously granted the qualities of every person worthy of this name, does not prevent us from habitually conceiving him to the image and likeness of the principles and of the professors.
Jesus on the other hand invites us to see in him everything that we admire in the truly intelligent people, those who like to use the humor and the fantasy; among lovers, how little they observe the moderation; among parents, worried about their children. It is true that these parables have originated figurations of God and religious practices that many times forgot about the mystery of the Infinite. But we should not distrust less of the certainties of our preaching and the speeches with respect to That One whom our theology ignores more often than recognizes. We will become more indulgent with respect to the excesses of popular devotion if we recall that the proper mission of the Christian revelation is that of initiating a simple and trustful communion between God and his sons and daughters. Our Bible left to others the prostration and only speaks of it upon mentioning the heavenly city: Rev 4,10; 5,14; 7,11...

{N}18,{/}22 That man had the bad luck of calling Jesus with one of the names that are proper to God and Jesus gives him the response that he deserved, asking for the impossible, as only God is used to do: he asks him to sacrifice everything, at once, and without knowing where they are going to take him.

{N}19,{/}7 {C}I will pay back to him four times more{/}. This is what the Law demanded: Ex 21,37. {C}If I have cheated anyone{/}: it is the classical word{C} sicofant{/}, which has much to do with blackmail. It is in this way that Zaccheus could enrich himself, especially if he worked for the Romans.

{N}19,{/}11 Luke places this parable in Jericho, the city where Herod's son Arquelao had his palace. He had gone to Rome in order to obtain the confirmation of his father's will that gave him the power. His opponents sent in vane the delegation that is spoken about in 14, and he had them executed upon returning. Through these historic details, Luke speaks to us not only of the stories that the disciples will render to Christ when he returns, but also about the judgment of death pending over Israel that did not want to recognize him as their Messiah. Afterwards he will speak several times about the destruction of Jerusalem.

{N}19,{/}39 {C}Some of the Pharisees said{/} ... A hostile attitude or an invitation to prudence as in 13,31? It bothers them that the people receive Jesus with these acclamations reserved for the Messiah, when they themselves have not recognized him as such. But the response of Jesus goes on the same side as in Mt 21,16.
In fact, if this entrance into Jerusalem had taken place on the feast of the Tabernacles several months before the Passion (see the commentary on Mt 21,1), the confrontations in the Temple that follow here would have motivated the decision of the authorities to detain Jesus. And because of this he went away: Jn 10,40 and 11,53.

{N}20,{/}9 {C}He let it out to some tenants. {/}If we report on the well known text from Isaiah that Jesus just finishes quoting and that Mark develops in 12,1, here we find something new: in Isaiah 5 the threats are for the vineyard, here they are for the tenants. Israel is not in some aspects the Kingdom, but rather it works in this vineyard - just as it will occur in the Church itself.
{C}He went abroad{/}, or meaning far away, because the rents were only collected every five years.
{C}He will make those tenants perish{/}. In the parable, the workers want to take possession of the inheritance, a very understandable desire in time of social oppression like the one that the Jews of that time knew. But, in reality, whom do these rebels represent? The chief priests feel alluded to in 20,19, but it is more probable that the parable is not limited to them: the vineyard is the kingdom of God and no people can take it over. This refers as equally to the present community of the Church as it does to Israel at that time.

{N}20,{/}13 {C}I will send my beloved son.{/} This is one of the places where Jesus affirms his identity more clearly, and this is the reason for which many interpreters want the parable not to owe but a little to Jesus and almost everything to the Christian community. The Church would have it redone more than transmitted. According to them, Jesus would have spoken in parables, meaning with stories in which only the global meaning should be taken, and not looking for the figurative meaning of every detail like it occurs with the allegories. And, they say, here many allusive or allegorical parts are noticeable, so therefore it could not be from Jesus.
It can be objected that the authors in the time of Jesus, both in the jewish world as in the greek world, very commonly mixed together the parable and the allegory, and no one has proven that only Jesus did not have the right to do so. There is no reason to systematically attribute to the Church everything that is allusive and especially this mention of the Son sent after all the servants, who are the prophets.

{N}20,{/}20 Following here come controversies of Jesus with several contenders, from which he comes out a winner: {C}no one dared to ask him more question (46).{/} Matthew presents a discussion with the Pharisees and later another with the Sadducees: these two groups, for him, figure as all the enemies of Jesus and he usually names them together (3,7; 16,1; 22,34). Luke on the other hand, after telling of the hostility of the Pharisees during the ministry of Jesus in Galilee, takes away all the responsibility from them in the condemnation to death and does not name them among his adversaries.
{C}Give to Caesar the things that are Caesar's{/} means, not what belongs to Caesar, but rather what is of his order, of his jurisdiction.

{N}21,{/}24 For many experts the paragraphs 20-24 where Luke records the prophecies of Jesus about the ruin of Jerusalem contain so many precise notations that they must have been written down after the events. It is the only serious argument that they can wield in order to situate this gospel at a later date, after the Jewish war: some rush to place it in the years 80-85. Yet nothing prevent us to say that Jesus had prophesized the destruction of Jerusalem, just as it is demonstrated with the memory that the first christian generation kept of it. It is not possible to deny at first glance that the text has experienced some adjustments after the siege and the overtaking of Jerusalem in the year 70, but who knows? Is it certain that Luke gave too many details, as do those who saw the prophecy realized? For anyone who has had in hands any of the prophecies of modern times, close to us and with a definite date and who knows how they were fulfilled, this prophecy is not surprisingly precise. Luke had some idea of the manner of how the roman armies acted in the conquered countries, and it was enough for him to transmit the words of Jesus in the terms in which he did.

{N}21,{/}37 {C}He would pass the night on the Mount of Olives.{/} Luke says here the same thing as Mark 11,11. During the days of the pilgrimage, Jesus stays, like numerous other pilgrims, in the areas around the city. He was going to Bethany, passing through the Mount of Olives.  But we should not confuse this stay in Bethany with the custom that he had of going to spend part of the night in an isolated place where he could pray. For this he went to the garden of Gethsemane (22,39; Mt 26,36) on the slope of the Mount of Olives.

{N}22,{/}1 {C}The Passover and the Unleavened Bread {/}were two different feasts in the beginning, but the secular tradition had associated them (Dt 16,1-8). The lamb was sacrificed  on the afternoon of the 14th of Nis\u00e1n (we would say on the eve before the 14th, and the week of the unleavened bread began with the 14th day, or meaning, at sundown of the 13th day, according to the hebrew manner of counting the days. Then, in all the homes, what was left of any fermented bread was thrown out (1Cor 5,8).
{C}Satan entered into Judas (3){/}: we read the same thing in Jn 13,2.

{N}22,{/}10 {C}You will find{/} a man. The police was looking for Jesus. John says it straight to the point: 7:45; 11,8; 12,53. It would have been out of place for him to enter into the city to celebrate the Passover. It is very probable that the one who receives him is a friend belonging possibly to the party of the Essennes, who celebrated the Passover that year three days before the official date (see the note on the Date of the Passover in Jn 18,18).
Did Jesus celebrate the jewish Passover with his disciples? It is a disputable point. If one adheres to Luke's text in 22,21 (and the same in Matthew and Mark) it would seem that Jesus celebrated the jewish Passover and that that meal, that Supper, is the last one during which the Eucharist is celebrated. Normally the Passover is celebrated in a more spacious area, the lower floor; in this friendly house instead, Jesus isolates himself with the Twelve in the upstairs room. There is nothing surprising about the fact that Jesus responds here as he did on many other occasions giving to the words a different meaning: they ask him about the Passover and He prepares the true Passover that is the Eucharist. When we read especially John's gospel, it gives the impression that everything is performed according to the spirit of the New Covenant; the old Passover is eliminated Jesus is celebrating its fulfillment or its new realization on a more elevated plane.

{N}22,{/}19 A number of ancient manuscripts end verse 19 after {C}This is my Body{/}, and omit all of verse 20. Will it be necessary to think that others corrected Luke's text and they added for him what was missing in order for it to be in agreement with the other evangelists? What is more probable is that the first ones had corrected Luke and omitted verse 20 and the end of verse 19, because verses 17 and 18 speak already of distributing a cup of wine and they saw in this a repetition. This mention of the cup passed out before sharing the bread, followed by a second cup, consecrated, was not surprising, since the Passover rite stipulated various. Other manuscripts equally manifest the same confusion: they omitted verse 20 (not the end of 19) and placed verse 19 before verses 17 and 18 in order to reestablish the traditional order: bread, wine.
However it cannot be excluded that the second cup was absent in Luke's text. In this case, it could be that the first cup was the cup traditionally mentioned. Then Luke would have distributed the words of Jesus that accompanied his whole celebration, between the consecration of the bread and the consecration of the wine; these words extensively surpassed the concise formula of the liturgical consecration. Together with the first (and only) cup would be the proclamation of his own Passover, meaning, of his passing through death and resurrection; together with the fraction of the bread, the institution of the Eucharist.

{N}22,{/}31 Take note of the opposition between: shake {C}all of you{/}, and: I have prayed {C}for you {/}(in singular form). Once again Jesus establishes the primacy of Peter in the most spiritual field, that is to strengthen the faith in the Church.

{N}22,{/}38 It may be fitting to remember that during centuries the supporters of the political power of the Pope and of his authority over the kings took to heart this sentence. They said that the two swords meant the spiritual power and the political power and that the two were for the successor of Peter.

{N}22,{/}41 The text says more precisely: {C}he pulled away{/} from them. This expression joins two affirmations: Jesus says good bye brusquely; he also overcomes the natural desire of looking for support and human consolation and he relies only on prayer.

{N}22,{/}49 The ex-zealots of the apostles (see Mt 10,4) had not lost their capacity for defense.

{N}22,{/}52 Luke mentions here the high priests and the Elders: Mt 26,47 named them at the beginning of this episode as those who had sent the troops. It is evident that by changing the place of this mention, Luke lost a preposition (sent{C} by{/} the high priests) and with this he makes the higher authorities arrive at night in Gethsemane. They surely would not move for such a task.

{N}23,{/}11 They put a {C}white{/} cloak on him, like for a crazy person, or {C}a lavish resplendent one{/}, proper to a king who wants to be superior to Pilate in the art of mocking. This gesture, might it be solely, as some think, the equivalent in Luke of what we read in Mt 27,28? Will they not all have taken advantage, the great ones like the small ones, of the opportunity to manifest the vile sentiments they similarly held and that incited them to humiliate Jesus? And for lack of imagination, is it not the custom that several fall in the same? 

{N}23,{/}34 This verse is missing in many ancient manuscripts: it was probably copied from Acts 7,60.

{N}24,{/}13 This story of Luke's combines several traditions; they are composed in a very studied manner. It is one of the pages of the Gospel in which best appears a symmetrical structure starting from the center which is verse 22: {C}they said that he was alive{/}. The beginning and the conclusion bring the same elements in inverse order:
13.they leave Jerusalem
14.they talk about what happened
15.Jesus approaches
16.their eyes do not recognize him
17.Jesus opens the dialogue and later:
29.they invite Jesus
31.their eyes recognize him
Jesus disappears
32.they talk about what happened
33.they return to Jerusalem
In the same way verses 19-23 and 27-24 oppose each other:
prophecy-prophet
the cross-he suffered
we were waiting-it is hard for them to believe
tomb-tomb
{C}They got up to return to Jerusalem{/}. The women returned from the tomb towards the apostles and likewise the apostles will return from the Mount of Olives to Jerusalem: this is the center from which the Church will spread after receiving the Spirit.
{C}He has appeared to Simon (34).{/} This appearance to Simon before the other apostles is given testimony to in 1Cor 15,5.

{N}24,{/}45 {N}IT WAS IN THE SCRIPTURES{/}
Luke shows us the risen Jesus giving to the apostles and the Church the bases of a christian interpretation of the Scriptures (24,27 and 46-47).
{C}The suffering of the Messiah and his resurrection{/}. It would be difficult to find one text that speak explicitly of this, but the whole biblical history is made up of deaths and resurrections. Many psalms are the thanksgiving of a believer who was at the edge of the tomb and to whom God returns life. The famous poem of the Servant that is read in Is 53 points out without a doubt the faithful minority that will ensure the future of Israel. But in fact, God wanted him to designate that faithful minority under the figure of a unique Servant; still more God had him to speak of an unjust death, of resurrection, of forgiveness of the sins in order to express the destiny of that faithful people. That is enough for us to apply that text to the one that summarized in his person the destiny of the chosen people.
One word from Jesus in Jn 10,35 reminds us that Scripture cannot be changed. It could be said that in such and such a place the words surpass the thoughts of the author, that they appeared there by accident ... But it is a fact that they are there, and although we must keep the priority on what is essential in the message, the word that surprises, or the unusual image should always be received as a call to reflection. In a discussion the opponent could say that the response of Jesus in Jn 10,35 was not unquestionable and that Jesus turned the text round to suit himself; in the same way it would be very difficult to prove that the Scripture announced the death and resurrection of Jesus, if from the start the opponent has not recognized Christ as the Messiah. A purely rationalistic discussion of the text will very rarely lead one to the faith; see how the devil makes excellent use of the biblical texts in the episode of the Temptation in Mt 4 and Lk 4.
The Christian interpretation of the Scriptures is not limited to a rational investigation that brings back the texts in their context so as not to say more that what the sacred author wanted to say. When Jesus said: {C}It was in the Scripture{/}, he was not first trying to prove that it was written down. Better we say that the resurrection of Jesus gives the Scripture a dimension that it did not have beforehand. A jewish interpretation already existed that had taken form as the experience of God's people was developing, but now new events imposed a rereading of the texts. Mt 13,52 makes this understood by speaking of a teacher of the Law who, after having lived the experience of the Kingdom of God, discovers new treasures in the ancient text.
The {C}letter{/} is an instrument with which the Spirit plays freely, and the daily experience teaches us that the wisdom of the sacred book penetrates in the hearts without always passing through the paths of logic. Very frequently an image suggests a line of thought, the connection is made with other images that the book offers, with other passages where the same words are found, and little by little the threads are tied together as far as to establish an interpretation or to discover God's play in the situations which we live.
The believer, or the prophet, who rereads the Scripture does not betray the texts, but rather gives them a new life, and in the end, he will have made a poetic use of them, in the first sense of the term: the poet is the one who {C}creates{/}. Poetry is not subject in the first place to dialectic norms and the same can be said, at a more elevated level, of the Scripture. God is as much a poet as a dialectician (without saying he is even much more) and the Holy Spirit insinuates the truth beyond the letter. Like it or not, that kind of poetic or prophetic interpretation is generally more powerful that the rational exegesis in order to illuminate the spirit. Of course, unbalanced or perverse lucubration must be prevented, and the second letter of Peter raises up with force against personal interpretations (see the note written down on 2P 1,20 on the inspiration of the Bible). This is the reason for reading the Scripture in the Church. This does not mean that we only repeat what the elders or what the hierarchy have said, yet rather that we have our eyes and our ears open to be sure that we stand in the great trend of the tradition. In this way we do not stray.
The prophecy proceeded this way in the primitive Church, and the Scripture left us two unsurpassable models of this in the letter to the Hebrews and in the Revelation. One book, over all, facilitated the flourishing of that prophecy: it was the book of Psalms. These were believed to have David as their author, and on the other hand the Messiah was a son of David. Those two facts originated the development of many comments about one or another verse of the psalms. The learned and the monks meditated about the intuitions and the prayers of David, and from that point on they tried to better understand the mystery of Christ.
In the two passages of Luke that we have cited, Jesus stresses what will be the basis for the apostolic preaching, and to these first lessons Luke refers when he tells us that Jesus instructed his apostles {C}through the Holy Spirit {/}after the Resurrection (Acts 1,2).

{N}24,{/}47 {C}Repentance in his name{/} {C}should be proclaimed{/} (Acts 2,38; 3,19; 5,31). This can be interpreted: the conversion and forgiveness will be preached in order to belong to him, or: the conversion with his authority will be preached.
{C}The power that comes from above.{/} This expression derives from another: "the power of the Most High" (Lk 1,35), which designates the Spirit, gift of the Father.

