LUKE 16:21 — KING JAMES VERSION 0
“And desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man’s table: moreover the dogs came and licked his sores.”
And longing to eat what fell from the rich man's table. Even the dogs came and licked his sores — longing to eat the crumbs from the table: the Great Banquet parable's invitation to the poor, crippled, blind, and lame — Lazarus is that person, right outside the rich man's gate, wanting crumbs. The dogs who lick his sores communicate his complete vulnerability — the scavenging animals have more physical contact with him than the rich man who passes by daily.
Church Fathers on Luke 16:21
Our Lord had just before advised the making friends of the Mammon of unrighteousness, which the Pharisees derided. He next confirms by examples what he had set before them, saying, There was a certain rich man, &c.
There was, not is, because he had passed away as a fleeting shadow.
But not all poverty is holy, or all riches criminal, but as luxury disgraces riches, so does holiness commend poverty.
Read all 17 entries in the readerCatena Aurea · St. Thomas Aquinas, tr. J. H. Newman · public domain
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