Luke 1:53 — Community Reflections

LUKE 1:53 — KING JAMES VERSION 0

“He hath filled the hungry with good things; and the rich he hath sent empty away.”

He has filled the hungry with good things but has sent the rich away empty — the third reversal is economic: the hungry filled with good things, the rich sent away empty. The good things are not specified — material provision, spiritual nourishment, or both. The rich sent away empty reverses the normal expectation: the wealthy leave satisfied; the poor leave hungry. In the kingdom's economy, this pattern is inverted. The Beatitudes' blessed are the poor and woe to the rich (Luke 6) are the Magnificat applied to specific situations.

Church Fathers on Luke 1:53

Because human prosperity seems to consist chiefly in the honors of the mighty and the abundance of their riches, after speaking of the casting down of the mighty, and the exalting of the humble, he goes on to tell of the impoverishing of the rich and the filling of the poor, He has filled the hungry, &c.
Gloss (Glossa Ordinaria) · medieval compilation

These words regulate our conduct even with respect to sensible things, teaching the uncertainty of all worldly possessions, which are as short lived as the wave which is dashed about to and fro by the violence of the wind. But spiritually all mankind suffered hunger except the Jews; for they possessed the treasures of legal tradition and the teachings of the holy prophets. But because they did not rest humbly on the Incarnate Word they were sent away empty, carrying nothing…
Basil the Great · 4th century

Read all 3 entries in the readerCatena Aurea · St. Thomas Aquinas, tr. J. H. Newman · public domain

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