30. And, lo, they are last who shall be first The same words, as we shall elsewhere see, were frequently employed by Christ, but in a different sense, (Matthew 19:30; Mark 10:31.) All that he intended here was, to throw down the vain confidence of the Jews, who, having been chosen by God in preference to all the rest of the world, trusted to this distinction, and imagined that God was in a manner bound to them. For this reason, Christ threatens that their condition will soon be changed; that the Gentiles, who were at that time cast off, would obtain the first rank; and that the Jews, deprived of their honor, would not even occupy the farthest corner in the Church. (475)
(475) “ Ne tiendront pas mesme le dernier reng, ou quelque petit coin en l'Eglise;” — “will not hold even the lowest rank, or some small corner in the Church.”