1A v tom, keď sa boly sišly desaťtisíce zástupu, takže šliapali jedni po druhých, začal hovoriť svojim učeníkom: Najprv sa vystríhajte kvasu farizeov, ktorý je pokrytstvo. 2Ale nieto ničoho ukrytého, čo by nemalo byť odkryté, ani tajného, čo by sa nemalo zvedieť. 3A preto všetko, čo ste povedali vo tme, bude sa čuť na svetle; a čo ste v komorách šeptali do ucha, bude sa hlásať na domoch. 4Ale vám, svojim priateľom, hovorím: Nebojte sa tých, ktorí zabíjajú telo a ktorí potom nemajú viacej čo urobiť. 5Ale ukážem vám, koho sa máte báť: bojte sa toho, ktorý, keď zabije, má moc uvrhnúť do pekla. Áno, hovorím vám, toho sa bojte! 6Či nepredávajú päť vrabčekov za dva groše? A ani jeden z nich nie je zabudnutý pred Bohom. 7Ale aj vlasy vašej hlavy všetky sú spočítané. Nebojte sa teda! Vy ste drahší nad mnoho vrabcov. 8Ale hovorím vám: Každého, kto mňa vyzná pred ľuďmi, vyzná i Syn človeka pred anjelmi Božími. 9Ale ten, kto mňa zaprel pred ľuďmi, bude zaprený pred anjelmi Božími. 10A každému, kto povie slovo proti Synovi človeka, bude odpustené; ale tomu, kto sa rúhal Svätému Duchu, nebude odpustené. 11A keď vás budú vodiť do synagóg, pred úrady a pred vrchnosti, nestarajte sa, jako alebo čo máte povedať na svoju obranu alebo čo máte riecť; 12lebo Svätý Duch vás naučí v tú istú hodinu, čo treba povedať. 13A ktosi zo zástupu mu povedal: Učiteľu, povedz môjmu bratovi, aby si rozdelil so mnou dedičstvo! 14Ale on mu povedal: Človeče, kto ma ustanovil za sudcu alebo za deliteľa nad vami? 15A povedal im: Hľaďte a chráňte sa lakomstva! Lebo keď má niekto hojnosť, zato jeho život nie je z jeho majetku. 16A povedal im aj podobenstvo a riekol: Ktoréhosi bohatého človeka zem hojne zarodila. 17A rozmýšľal v sebe a povedal: Čo urobím? Lebo nemám, kde by som shromaždil svoju úrodu. 18A povedal: Toto spravím: zborím svoje stodoly a nastaviam väčších a shromaždím tam všetky svoje plodiny a svoj majetok 19a poviem svojej duši: Dušo, máš mnoho majetku, složeného na mnoho rokov; odpočívaj, jedz, pi a veseľ sa. 20A Bôh mu povedal: Blázne, tejto noci požiadajú tvoju dušu od teba, a to, čo si nahotovil, čie bude? 21Tak je to s tým, kto si shromažďuje poklady a nie je bohatý v Bohu. 22A povedal svojim učeníkom: Preto vám hovorím: nestarajte sa o svoj život, čo budete jesť, ani o telo, čím sa odejete. 23Lebo život je viac ako pokrm, a telo viac než odev. 24Povážte vrany, že nesejú ani nežnú, ktoré nemajú komory ani stodoly, a Bôh ich živí. A o koľko drahší ste vy nad vtákov! 25A kto z vás môže starajúci sa pridať k veľkosti svojej postavy čo len jeden lakeť? 26Ak tedy ani len najmenšie nemôžete, prečo sa o to ostatné staráte? 27Povážte ľalie, jako rastú; nepracujú ani nepradú, a hovorím vám, že ani Šalamún v celej svojej sláve nebol tak odiaty jako jedna z nich. 28Ak tedy trávu na poli, ktorá je dnes a zajtra sa hodí do pece, Bôh tak odieva, o koľko skôr zaodeje vás, ó, ľudia malej viery. 29A vy nehľadajte, čo budete jesť alebo čo budete piť, ani sa takými starosťami neznepokojujte, 30lebo to všetko hľadajú národy tohoto sveta, a veď váš Otec vie, že to potrebujete. 31Ale hľadajte kráľovstvo Božie, a to všetko vám bude pridané. 32Neboj sa, malé stádečko! Lebo sa zaľúbilo vášmu Otcovi dať vám kráľovstvo! 33Predajte svoje imania a dajte almužnu! Urobte si mešce, ktoré nevetšejú, nepominuteľný poklad v nebesiach, kde sa neblíži zlodej, a moľ nekazí; 34lebo kde je váš poklad, tam bude i vaše srdce. 35Nech sú vaše bedrá opásané a sviece horiace! 36A vy podobní ľuďom, očakávajúcim svojho pána, kedy sa vráti zo svadby, aby mu, keď prijde a zaklepe, hneď otvorili. 37Blahoslavení to sluhovia, ktorých, keď prijde pán, najde bdieť! Ameň vám hovorím, že sa opáše a usadí ich za stôl a prijdúc bude ich obsluhovať. 38A keby prišiel za druhej stráže a za tretej stráže keby prišiel a našiel tak, blahoslavení sú tí sluhovia! 39Ale to vedzte, že keby vedel hospodár, v ktorú hodinu prijde zlodej, bdel by a nedal by preboriť svoj dom. 40Teda aj vy buďte hotoví, lebo v tú hodinu, ktorú sa nenazdáte, prijde Syn človeka. 41A Peter mu povedal: Pane, či len nám hovoríš toto podobenstvo a či aj všetkým? 42A Pán povedal: Nuž kto tedy je to ten verný a opatrný správca, ktorého ustanoví pán nad svojou čeľaďou, aby jej na čas dával vymeraný pokrm? 43Blahoslavený ten sluha, ktorého, keď prijde jeho pán, najde tak robiť! 44Pravdu vám hovorím, že ho ustanoví nad celým svojím majetkom. 45Ale keby povedal ten sluha vo svojom srdci: Môj pán odkladá s príchodom! A začal by sluhov biť aj slúžky a jesť a piť a opíjať sa - 46prijde pán toho sluhu v deň, v ktorý sa nenazdá, a v hodinu, ktorej nezná, a rozpoltí ho a jeho diel položí s nevernými. 47A oný sluha, ktorý znal vôľu svojho pána a nezhotovil sa ani neurobil podľa jeho vôle, bude veľmi bitý. 48A zase ten, ktorý neznal, ale konal veci, hodné bitky, bude menej bitý. A od každého, komu je mnoho dané, bude sa vyhľadávať mnoho, a komu mnoho sverili, od toho budú viacej požadovať. 49Oheň som prišiel hodiť na zem, a čo chcem, ak už je zapálený? 50Ale mám byť ponorenýponorením, a jaký som stiesnený, dokiaľ sa nesplní! 51A či sa domnievate, že som prišiel dať pokoj na zemi? Nie, hovorím vám, ale rozdelenie. 52Lebo odteraz budú piati v jednom dome rozdelení, traja proti dvom a dvaja proti trom. 53Rozdelený bude otec proti synovi a syn proti otcovi, mať proti dcére a dcéra proti materi, svokra proti svojej neveste a nevesta proti svojej svokre. 54A vravel i zástupom: Keď vidíte oblak, že vystupuje od západu, hneď hovoríte, že ide dážď, a býva tak. 55A zase keď vidíte, že veje poludný vietor, hovoríte, že bude horúčava, a býva. 56Pokrytci, tvárnosť zeme a neba viete zkúmať a posúdiť, a jakože potom tohoto času nezkúmate? 57A prečo aj sami od seba nesúdite toho, čo je spravedlivé? 58Lebo kým ideš so svojím protivníkom k vrchnosti, na ceste sa pričiň o to, aby si sa ho sprostil, aby ťa snáď nezavliekol k sudcovi, a sudca by ťa vydal hajdúchovi, a hajdúch by ťa uvrhnul do žalára. 59Hovorím ti, že nevyjdeš ztade, dokiaľ nezaplatíš aj posledného haliera.
Jamieson Fausset Brown Bible Commentary 1 WARNING AGAINST HYPOCRISY. (
Luke 12:1-
Luke 12:12)
meantime--in close connection, probably, with the foregoing scene. Our Lord had been speaking out more plainly than ever before, as matters were coming to a head between Him and His enemies, and this seems to have suggested to His own mind the warning here. He had just Himself illustriously exemplified His own precepts.
his disciples first of all--afterwards to "the multitudes" (
Luke 12:54).
covered--from the view.
2 hid--from knowledge. "Tis no use concealing anything, for all will one day come out. Give free and fearless utterance then to all the truth." (Compare
1Cor 4:3,
1Cor 4:5).
4 I say, &c.--You will say, That may cost us our life. Be it so; but, "My friends, there their power ends." He calls them "my friends" here, not in any loose sense, but, as we think, from the feeling He then had that in this "killing of the body" He and they were going to be affectingly one with each other.
5 Fear Him . . . Fear Him--how striking the repetition here! Only the one fear would effectually expel the other.
after he hath killed, &c.--Learn here--(1) To play false with one's convictions to save one's life, may fail of its end after all, for God can inflict a violent death in some other and equally formidable way. (2) There is a hell, it seems, for the body as well as the soul; consequently, sufferings adapted to the one as well as the other. (3) Fear of hell is a divinely authorized and needed motive of action even to Christ's "friends." (4) As Christ's meekness and gentleness were not compromised by such harsh notes as these, so those servants of Christ lack their Master's spirit who soften down all such language to please ears "polite." (See on
Mark 9:43-
Mark 9:48).
6 five . . . for two farthings--In
Matt 10:29 it is "two for one farthing"; so if one took two farthings' worth, he got one in addition--of such small value were they.
than many sparrows--not "than millions of sparrows"; the charm and power of our Lord's teaching is very much in this simplicity.
8 confess . . . deny--The point lies in doing it "before men," because one has to do it "despising the shame." But when done, the Lord holds Himself bound to repay it in kind by confessing such "before the angels of God." For the rest, see on
Luke 9:26.
10 Son of man . . . Holy Ghost--(See on
Matt 12:31-
Matt 12:32).
13 COVETOUSNESS--WATCHFULNESS--SUPERIORITY TO EARTHLY TIES. (Luke 12:13-53)
Master, &c.--that is, "Great Preacher of righteousness, help; there is need of Thee in this rapacious world; here am I the victim of injustice, and that from my own brother, who withholds from me my rightful share of the inheritance that has fallen to us." In this most inopportune intrusion upon the solemnities of our Lord's teaching, there is a mixture of the absurd and the irreverent, the one, however, occasioning the other. The man had not the least idea that his case was not of as urgent a nature, and as worthy the attention of our Lord, as anything else He could deal with.
14 Man, &c.--Contrast this style of address with "my friends," (
Luke 12:4).
who, &c.--a question literally repudiating the office which Moses assumed (
Exod 2:14). The influence of religious teachers in the external relations of life has ever been immense, when only the INDIRECT effect of their teaching; but whenever they intermeddle DIRECTLY with secular and political matters, the spell of that influence is broken.
15 unto them--the multitude around Him (
Luke 12:1).
of covetousness--The best copies have "all," that is, "every kind of covetousness"; because as this was one of the more plausible forms of it, so He would strike at once at the root of the evil.
a man's life, &c.--a singularly weighty maxim, and not less so because its meaning and its truth are equally evident.
16 a certain rich man, &c.--Why is this man called a "fool?" (
Luke 12:20) (1) Because he deemed a life of secure and abundant earthly enjoyment the summit of human felicity. (2) Because, possessing the means of this, through prosperity in his calling, he flattered himself that he had a long lease of such enjoyment, and nothing to do but give himself up to it. Nothing else is laid to his charge.
20 this night, &c.--This sudden cutting short of his career is designed to express not only the folly of building securely upon the future, but of throwing one's whole soul into what may at any moment be gone. "Thy soul shall be required of thee" is put in opposition to his own treatment of it, "I will say to my soul, Soul," &c.
whose shall those things be, &c.--Compare
Ps 39:6, "He heapeth up riches and knoweth not who shall gather them."
21 So is he, &c.--Such is a picture of his folly here, and of its awful issue.
and is not rich toward God--lives to amass and enjoy riches which terminate on self, but as to the riches of God's favor, which is life (
Ps 30:5), of "precious" faith (
2Pet 1:1;
Jas 2:5), of good works (
1Tim 6:18), of wisdom which is better than rubies (
Pro 8:11) --lives and dies a beggar!
22 (See on
Matt 6:25-
Matt 6:33).
25 which of you, &c.--Corroding solicitude will not bring you the least of the things ye fret about, though it may double the evil of wanting them. And if not the least, why vex yourselves about things of more consequence?
29 of doubtful, &c.--unsettled mind; put off your balance.
32 little flock, &c.--How sublime and touching a contrast between this tender and pitying appellation, "Little flock" (in the original a double diminutive, which in German can be expressed, but not in English)--and the "good pleasure" of the Father to give them the Kingdom; the one recalling the insignificance and helplessness of that then literal handful of disciples, the other holding up to their view the eternal love that encircled them, the everlasting arms that were underneath them, and the high inheritance awaiting them!--"the kingdom"; grand word; then why not "bread" (
Luke 12:31 [BENGEL]). Well might He say, "Fear not!"
33 Sell, &c.--This is but a more vivid expression of
Matt 6:19-
Matt 6:21 (see on
Matt 6:19-
Matt 6:21).
35 loins . . . girded--to fasten up the long outer garment, always done before travel and work (
2Kgs 4:29;
Acts 12:8). The meaning is, Be in readiness.
lights, &c.--(See on
Matt 25:1).
36 return from the wedding--not come to it, as in the parable of the virgins. Both have their spiritual significance; but preparedness for Christ's coming is the prominent idea.
37 gird himself, &c.--"a promise the most august of all: Thus will the Bridegroom entertain his friends (nay, servants) on the solemn Nuptial Day" [BENGEL].
38 second . . . third watch--To find them ready to receive Him at any hour of day or night, when one might least of all expect Him, is peculiarly blessed. A servant may be truly faithful, even though taken so far unawares that he has not everything in such order and readiness for his master's return as he thinks is due to him, and both could and would have had if he had had notice of the time of his coming, and so may not be willing to open to him "immediately," but fly to preparation, and let his master knock again ere he admit him, and even then not with full joy. A too common case this with Christians. But if the servant have himself and all under his charge in such a state that at any hour when his master knocks, he can open to him "immediately," and hail his "return"--that is the most enviable, "blessed" servant of all.
41 unto us or even to all?--us the Twelve, or all this vast audience?
42 Who then, &c.--answering the question indirectly by another question, from which they were left to gather what it would be:--To you certainly in the first instance, representing the "stewards" of the "household" I am about to collect, but generally to all "servants" in My house.
faithful and wise--Fidelity is the first requisite in a servant, wisdom (discretion and judgment in the exercise of his functions), the next.
steward--house steward, whose it was to distribute to the servants their allotted portion of food.
shall make--will deem fit to be made.
44 make him ruler over all he hath--will advance him to the highest post, referring to the world to come. (See
Matt 25:21,
Matt 25:23).
45 begin to beat, &c.--In the confidence that his Lord's return will not be speedy, he throws off the role of servant and plays the master, maltreating those faithful servants who refuse to join him, seizing on and revelling in the fulness of his master's board; intending, when he has got his fill, to resume the mask of fidelity ere his master appear.
46 cut him in sunder--a punishment not unknown in the East; compare
Heb 11:37, "sawn asunder" (
1Sam 15:33;
Dan 2:5).
the unbelievers--the unfaithful, those unworthy of trust (
Matt 24:51), "the hypocrites," falsely calling themselves "servants."
48 knew not--that is knew but partially; for some knowledge is presupposed both in the name "servant" of Christ, and his being liable to punishment at all.
many . . . few stripes--degrees of future punishment proportioned to the knowledge sinned against. Even heathens are not without knowledge enough for future judgment; but the reference here is not to such. It is a solemn truth, and though general, like all other revelations of the future world, discloses a tangible and momentous principle in its awards.
49 to send--cast.
fire--"the higher spiritual element of life which Jesus came to introduce into this earth (compare
Matt 3:11), with reference to its mighty effects in quickening all that is akin to it and destroying all that is opposed. To cause this element of life to take up its abode on earth, and wholly to pervade human hearts with its warmth, was the lofty destiny of the Redeemer" [OLSHAUSEN: so CALVIN, STIER, ALFORD, &c.].
what will I, &c.--an obscure expression, uttered under deep and half-smothered emotion. In its general import all are agreed; but the nearest to the precise meaning seems to be, "And what should I have to desire if it were once already kindled?" [BENGEL and BLOOMFIELD].
50 But . . . a baptism, &c.--clearly, His own bloody baptism, first to take place.
how . . . straitened--not, "how do I long for its accomplishment," as many understand it, thus making it but a repetition of
Luke 12:49; but "what a pressure of spirit is upon Me."
till it be accomplished--till it be over. Before a promiscuous audience, such obscure language was fit on a theme like this; but oh, what surges of mysterious emotion in the view of what was now so near at hand does it reveal!
51 peace . . . ? Nay, &c.--the reverse of peace, in the first instance. (See on
Matt 10:34-
Matt 10:36.) The connection of all this with the foregoing warnings about hypocrisy, covetousness, and watchfulness, is deeply solemn: "My conflict hasten apace; Mine over, yours begins; and then, let the servants tread in their Master's steps, uttering their testimony entire and fearless, neither loving nor dreading the world, anticipating awful wrenches of the dearest ties in life, but looking forward, as I do, to the completion of their testimony, when, reaching the haven after the tempest, they shall enter into the joy of their Lord."
54 NOT DISCERNING THE SIGNS OF THE TIME. (
Luke 12:54-
Luke 12:59)
to the people--"the multitude," a word of special warning to the thoughtless crowd, before dismissing them. (See on
Matt 16:2-
Matt 16:3).
56 how . . . not discern, &c.--unable to perceive what a critical period that was for the Jewish Church.
57 why even of yourselves, &c.--They might say, To do this requires more knowledge of Scripture and providence than we possess; but He sends them to their own conscience, as enough to show them who He was, and win them to immediate discipleship.
58 When thou goest, &c.--(See on
Matt 5:25-
Matt 5:26). The urgency of the case with them, and the necessity, for their own safety, of immediate decision, was the object of these striking words.