Luke 13 - In Depth Bible Commentaries

2763the Kingdom of the God. 13:30 And look--there are last people who will be first, and there are2762(...continued)ynITeê ‘!ApC'l; rm: Üaoyail'_k.Ti-la; !m"ßytel.WqAxêr'me ‘yn:b' yaiybi ÛiÛh'`#r,a'(h' hceîq.mi yt;ÞAnb.WDon’t you (singular) be afraid, because I am with you;from (the) east I will bring your descendant(s),and from (the) west I will gather you,saying to the north, Give!,and to (the) south, Do not be exhausted!Bring my sons from far away,and my daughters from the earth’s end!mh. fobou/ o[ti meta. sou/ eivmiavpo. avnatolw/n a;xw to. spe,rma soukai. avpo. dusmw/n suna,xw seevrw/ tw/| borra/| a;gekai. tw/| libi, mh. kw,luea;ge tou.j uiòu,j mou avpo. gh/j po,rrwqenkai. ta.j qugate,raj mou avpV a;krwn th/j gh/jDon't be afraid, because I am with you.From (the) east I will bring your descendant(s),and from (the) west I will gather you together.I will say to the north, Lead on!,and to southwest wind, Don't hinder!Lead on my sons from a land far away,and my daughters from the earth's corners!Jesus obviously believes that through what he is doing, and the work of the Kingdom thathe announces and brings, there is a new "gathering-together" of God's people, from all across theearth, who will be welcomed into the joyful celebration of that Kingdom. See the next footnote.2763Fitzmyer comments that "In verses 28-29 the notion of the door, narrow or closed, hascompletely disappeared; the theme has become the joyous banquet of the kingdom at whichthose admitted recline with the master, the patriarchs of Israel of old, and all the prophets. Thoseadmitted will be people who come not only from Jesus' contemporaries who have striven to walkthrough the narrow door while it was still open, but also people from east and west, north andsouth...The joy of those admitted to the banquet of the kingdom is contrasted with the weeping(continued...)1314