Dear Father Angelo,
Your words gave me great peace of mind. Thank you.
Today, I would like you to explain the Gospel of Luke 14:19-23—specifically the passage where the master “makes” people come and fill at his banquet.
Thank you; I have been unable to find a satisfactory explanation through search engines. Please, would you be so kind as to clarify this for me?
The Priest’s Answer
Dear,
1. The text of Luke 14:23 that you mentioned is as follows: “The master then ordered the servant, «Go out to the highways and hedgerows and make people come in that my home may be filled.»”
The Lord speaks these words in reference to the wedding feast which the original guests refused to attend. Because of their refusal, the Lord sent his servants to call whomever they might find—first in the squares and streets of the city, and subsequently even along the hedges and the roads.
2. Several Holy Fathers have sought to identify what the city squares, the lanes, the hedges, and the roads represent.
Saint Augustine states [transl]: “From the squares and the lanes came the Gentiles—that is, the pagans; from the hedges come the heretics: for the hedges they construct create divisions.”
The Jerusalem Bible also distinguishes between two categories of people: those in the squares and the lanes of the city are “the poor, the crippled, the blind, and the lame”—the impoverished and the ritually impure within Israel.
Meanwhile, those called from the roads and along the hedges represent the Gentiles.
The Gentiles came from the streets and lanes: let the heretics come from the hedges, here they shall find peace. For those who make hedges, their object is to make divisions.
San Cirillo di Alessandria scrive: “The chiefs therefore of the Israelitish populace remained aloof from the supper, as being obdurate and proud and disobedient, and scorned so surpassing an invitation, because they had turned aside to earthly things, and fixed their mind upon the vain distractions of this world. But the vulgar multitude was called in, and after them immediately and without delay the Gentiles.” (Cyril of Alexandria, Commentary on Luke (1859) Sermon CIV)
3. But let’s get to those words: make people.
The traditional interpretation has been this: it’s not about making by physical violence, because if someone doesn’t believe and is forced to accept the sacraments, it would be a sacrilege.
That “make them” means to persuade.
4. This expression is found in Sacred Scripture other times, as for example in the case of Lydia, who “After she and her household had been baptized, she offered us an invitation, «If you consider me a believer in the Lord, come and stay at my home,» and she prevailed on us.” (Acts 16:15).
Evidently, this was not physical violence, but rather very strong insistence.
5. Another example is that of the disciples at Emmaus. When Jesus “gave the impression that he was going on farther. But they urged him, «Stay with us, for it is nearly evening and the day is almost over.»“ (Luke 24:28-29).
Some say this insistence is well-practiced by Palestinian hospitality.
6. The Jerusalem Bible writes [transl]: “The force used to bring in the wretched ones is intended only to express the triumph of grace over their lack of preparedness, and is by no means a violation of their conscience.
It is well known how the phrase ‘make people come in’ has been abused throughout history.”
This alludes to forced conversions, which find no justification either within the parable itself or in the overall spirit of the Gospel.
7. Marco Sales writes: “This word, ‘make them,’ demonstrates how vivid is God’s desire to do good to men and to make them partakers of His happiness.”
Wishing you may succeed in persuading many toward the Gospel and the Sacraments, I bless you
Father Angelo
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