Luke 12:39 — Community Reflections

LUKE 12:39 — KING JAMES VERSION 0

“And this know, that if the goodman of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched, and not have suffered his house to be broken through.”

I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish — Jesus refuses to answer the theodicy question about the specific victims and redirects it to the questioners' own mortality. The Galileans' sudden death is not evidence of special guilt but of the universal urgency to repent before death arrives unexpectedly. The same logic applies to the eighteen killed when the Tower of Siloam fell: they were not more guilty than all others living in Jerusalem.

Church Fathers on Luke 12:39

Our Lord having taught His disciples moderation, taking from them all care and conceit of this life, now leads them on to serve and obey, saying, Let your loins be girded, that is, always ready to do the work of your Lord, and your lamps burning, that is, do not lead a life in darkness, but have with you the light of reason, showing you what to do and what to avoid. For this world is the night, but they have their loins girded, who follow a practical or active life. For such…
Theophylact · 11th century

Or, he teaches us to keep our lamps burning, by prayer and contemplation and spiritual love.
MAXIM ·

Or, to be girded, signifies activity and readiness to undergo evils from regard to Divine love. But the burning of the lamp signifies that we should not suffer any to live in the darkness of ignorance.
Cyril of Alexandria · 5th century

Read all 27 entries in the readerCatena Aurea · St. Thomas Aquinas, tr. J. H. Newman · public domain

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