Luke 11:17 — Community Reflections

LUKE 11:17 — KING JAMES VERSION 0

“But he, knowing their thoughts, said unto them, Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; and a house divided against a house falleth.”

Whereas Matthew 5:15 uses the lamp under a bowl teaching to call disciples to visible witness, Luke 11:33 places it in the context of the sign controversy, connecting the lamp to the self that either receives or refuses light. The person who enters the house should see light — Jesus' ministry is the lamp on the stand, available to all who enter, and the failure to see is a failure of the eye, not a failure of the lamp.

Church Fathers on Luke 11:17

The suspicion of the Pharisees being utterly without reason, they dared not divulge it for fear of the multitude, but pondered it in their minds. Hence it is said, But he, knowing their thoughts, said to them, Every kingdom divided against itself will be brought to desolation.
Chrysostom · 4th century

He answered not their words but their thoughts, that so at least they might be compelled to believe in His power, who saw into the secrets of the heart.
Bede · 8th century

Herein also He shows His own kingdom to be undivided and everlasting. Those then who possess no hope in Christ, but think that He casts out devils through the chief of the devils, their kingdom, He says, is not everlasting. This also has reference to the Jewish people. For how can the kingdom of the Jews be everlasting, when by the people of the law Jesus is denied, who is promised by the law? Thus in part does the faith of the Jewish people impugn itself; the glory of the…
Ambrose · 4th century

Read all 19 entries in the readerCatena Aurea · St. Thomas Aquinas, tr. J. H. Newman · public domain

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