THE GOSPEL OF ST. MATTHEW
INTRODUCTION
BY THE REVEREND JOHN MONRO GIBSON, D.D.
DOCTOR MONRO GIBSON was pastor of St. John's Wood Presbyterian
Church, London. It was once described by Sir W. Robertson Nicoll as "a
strong and generous church, perhaps the strongest and the most generous
church in the English Presbyterian Communion," A proof of its minister's
pulpit influence was indicated by the fact that the services were always
attended by capacity congregations. This volume on St. Matthew's Gospel
amply illustrates his expository gifts.
The Four Gospels furnish the only reliable information on the ministry of
Jesus in the days of his flesh. They present various aspects of the Master's
life and teaching. St. Matthew arranged his material to give the impression
of Jesus as the persuasive teacher and sympathetic worker of miracles,
whose supreme greatness was certified by his power to forgive sin and to
lead men to God. St. Matthew's purpose was to demonstrate that Jesus
Christ is the Messianic King of prophecy. The teaching of this Gospel is set
forth by Doctor Gibson with a sense of its opulent worth for our day.
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CONTENTS
CHAPTER 1. The Coming of the Christ,
CHAPTER 2. His Reception,
CHAPTER 3. His Herald,
CHAPTER 4. His Baptism.
CHAPTER 5. His Temptation,
CHAPTER 6. Beginning of His Galilean Ministry,
CHAPTER 7. The Gospel of the Kingdom,
CHAPTER 8. The Signs of the Kingdom,
CHAPTER 9. The King's Ambassadors,
CHAPTER 10. The Shadow of the Cross,
CHAPTER 11. The Parables of the Kingdom,
CHAPTER 12. The Crisis in Galilee,
CHAPTER 13. The New Departure,
CHAPTER 14. Last Words at Capernaum,
CHAPTER 15. Last Days in Peraea,
CHAPTER 16. To Jerusalem,
CHAPTER 17. Conflict in the Temple,
CHAPTER 18. The Prophecy on the Mount,
CHAPTER 19. The Great Atonement Day,
CHAPTER 20. The Third Day,
CHAPTER 21. The Gospel for All the Nations through "All the Days."
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CHAPTER 1.
THE COMING OF THE CHRIST. -- MATTHEW 1
THE New Testament opens appropriately with the four Gospels; for,
though in their present form they are all later in date than some of the
Epistles, their substance was the basis of all apostolic preaching and.
writing. As the Pentateuch to the Old Testament, so is the fourfold Evangel
to the New.
That there should be a manifold presentation of the great facts which lie at
the foundation of our faith and hope, was both to be expected and desired.
The Gospel of Jesus Christ, as proclaimed by the first preachers of it, while
in substance always the same, would be varied in form, and in number and
in variety of details, according to the individuality of the speaker, the kind
of audience before him, and the special object he might have in view at the
time. Before any form of presentation had been crystallised, there would
therefore be an indefinite number of Gospels, each "according to" the
individual preacher of "Christ and Him crucified." It is, therefore a
marvellous proof of the guidance and control of the Divine Spirit that out
of these numerous oral Gospels there should emerge four, each perfect in
itself, and together affording, as with the all-round completeness of
sculpture, a life-like representation of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is manifestly
of great advantage to have these several portraits of our Lord, permitting
us to see Him from different points of view, and with varying arrangements
of light and shade; all the more that, while three of them set forth in
abundant variety of detail that which is more external, -- the face, the
features, the form, all the expression of that wondrous Life, -- the fourth,
appropriately called on that account "the Gospel of the heart of Jesus,"
unveils more especially the hidden riches of His inner Life. But, besides
this, a manifold Gospel was needed, in order to meet the wants of man in
the many-sidedness of his development. As the heavenly "city lieth four
square," with gates on the east, and the west, and the north, and the south,
to admit strangers coming from all points of the compass; so must there be
in the presentation of the Gospel an open door for all mankind. How this
great purpose is attained by the fourfold Gospel with which the New
Testament opens can be readily shown; and even a brief statement of it may
serve a useful purpose as introductory to our study of that which is known
as the First Gospel.
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The inscription over the cross was in three languages: Hebrew, Latin, and
Greek. These languages represented the three great civilizations which
were the final outcome of ancient history -- the Jewish, the Roman, the
Greek. These three were not like so many nations selected at random, but
stood for three leading types of humanity. The Jew was the man of the
past. He could claim Moses and the prophets; he had Abraham for his
father; his records went back to the Genesis of all things. He represented
ancient prerogative and privilege, the conservatism of the East. The Roman
was the man of the present. He was master of the world. He represented
power, prowess, and. victory; and while serving himself heir to the culture
which came from the shores of the AEgean Sea, he had combined with it
the rude strength and restless activity of the barbarian and Scythian of the
North. The Greek was the man of the future. He had lost his political
empire, but still retained an empire in the world of thought. He represented
humanity, and the ideal, and all the promise which was afterwards to be
realised in the culture of the nations of the West. The Jew was the man of
tradition, the Roman the man of energy, the Greek the man of thought.
Turning now to the Gospels, we find the wants of each of these three types
provided for in a wondrous way. St. Matthew addresses himself especially
to the Jew with his Gospel of fulfilment, St. Mark to the Roman with "his
brief and terse narrative of a three years' campaign," St. Luke to the Greek
with that all-pervading spirit of humanity and catholicity which is so
characteristic of his Evangel; while for those who have been gathered from
among the Jews and Romans and Greeks -- a people who are now no
longer Jews or Greeks, but are "all one in Christ Jesus," prepared to
receive and appreciate the deeper things of Christ -- there is a fourth
Gospel, issued at a later date, with characteristics specially adapted to them
the mature work of the then venerable John, the apostle of the Christian.
It is manifest that for every reason the Gospel of St. Matthew should
occupy the foremost place. "To the Jew first" is the natural order, whether
we consider the claims of "the fathers," or the necessity of making it clear
that the new covenant was closely linked to the old. "Salvation is of the
Jews;" the Christ of God, though the Saviour of the world, had been in a
very special sense "the Hope of Israel," and therefore it is appropriate that
He should be represented first from the standpoint of that nation. We have,
accordingly, in this Gospel, a faithful setting forth of Christ as He
presented Himself to the mind and heart of a devout Jew, "an Israelite
indeed, in whom was no guile," rejoicing to find in Him One who fulfilled
ancient prophecy and promise, realised the true ideal of the kingdom of
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God, and substantiated His claim to be Himself the divine Saviour-King for
whom the nation and the world had waited long.
The opening words of this Gospel suggest that we are at the genesis of the
New Testament, the genesis not of the heavens and the earth, but of Him
who was to make for us "new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth
righteousness." The Old Testament opens with the thought, "Behold I
make all things;" the New Testament with that which amounts to the
promise, "Behold I make all things new." It begins with the advent of "the
Second Man, the Lord from Heaven." That He was indeed a "Second
Man," and not merely one of the many that have sprung from the first man,
will presently appear; but first it must be made clear that He is man indeed,
"bone of our bone, flesh of our flesh;" and therefore the inspired historian
begins with His historic genealogy. True to his object, however, he does
not trace back our Lord's descent, as does St. Luke, to the first man, but
contents himself with that which is especially interesting to the Jew, setting
Him forth as "the son of David, the son of Abraham." There is another
difference between the genealogies, of a more serious kind, which has been
the occasion of much difficulty; but which also seems to find readiest
explanation in the different object each Evangelist had in view. St. Luke,
writing for the Gentile, is careful to give the natural descent, while St.
Matthew, writing for the Jew, sets forth that line of descent -- diverging
from the other after the time of David -- which made it clear to the Jew
that He was the rightful heir to the kingdom. The object of the one is to set
Him forth as the Son of Man; of the other to proclaim Him King of Israel.
St. Matthew gives the genealogy in three great epochs or stages, which,
veiled in the Authorised Version by the verse division, are clearly exhibited
to the eye "in the paragraphs of the Revised Version, and which are
summed up and made emphatic at the close of the genealogical tree (ver.
17). The first is from Abraham to David; the second from David to the
captivity in Babylon; the third from the captivity to Christ. If we glance at
these, we shall find that they represent three great stages in the
development of the Old Testament promises which find their fulfilment in
the Messiah.
"To Abraham and to his seed were the promises made." As given to
Abraham himself, the promise ran thus: "In thy seed shall all the nations of
the earth be blessed." As made to David, it indicated that the blessing to
the nations should come through a king of his line. These were the two
great promises to Israel. There were many others; but these stand out from
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the rest as constituting the mission and the hope of Israel. Now, after long
waiting, both are to be fulfilled in Christ. He is the chosen Seed in Whom
all nations shall be blessed. He is the Son of David, who is to sit upon His
throne for ever, and reign, not over Israel alone, but over men, as "Prince
of Peace" and "King of Glory." But what has the captivity in Babylon to do
with it? Very much; as a little reflection will show.
The captivity in Babylon, as is well known, was followed by two great
results:
(1) it cured the people of idolatry for ever, so that, while politically the
kingdom had passed away, in reality, and according to the spirit, it was
then for the first time constituted as a kingdom of God. Till then, though
politically separate from the Gentile nations, spiritually Israel had become
as one of them; for what else than a heathen nation was the northern
kingdom in the days of Ahab or the southern kingdom in the time of Ahaz?
But after the captivity, though as a nation shattered into fragments,
spiritually Israel became and continued to be one.
(2) The other great result of the captivity was the Dispersion. Only a small
remnant of the people came back to Palestine. Ten of the tribes passed out
of sight, and but a fraction of the other two returned. The rest remained in
Babylon, or were scattered abroad among the nations of the earth. Thus
the Jews in their dispersion formed, as it were, a Church throughout the
ancient world, -- their eyes ever turned in love and longing to the Temple
at Jerusalem, while their homes and their business were among the Gentiles
-- in the world, but not of it; the prototype of the future Church of Christ,
and the soil out of which it should afterwards spring. Thus out of the
captivity in Babylon sprang, first, the spiritual as distinguished from the
political kingdom, and, next, the world-wide as distinguished from the
merely national Church. Clearly, then, the Babylonish captivity was not
only a most important historical event, but also a stage in the grand
preparation for the Advent of the Messiah. The original promise made to
Abraham, that in his seed should all the nations of the earth be blessed, was
shown in the time of David to be a promise which should find its fulfilment
in the coming of a king; and as the king after God's heart was
foreshadowed in David, so the kingdom after the Divine purpose was
foreshadowed in the condition of the people of God after the captivity in
Babylon, purified from idolatry, scattered abroad among the nations, with
their innumerable synagogues (prototypes of our churches) and their
peculiarities of faith and life and worship. Abraham was called out of
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Babylon to be a witness for God and the coming Christ; and, after the long
training of centuries, his descendants were taken back to Babylon, to
scatter from that world-centre the seed of the coming kingdom of God.
Thus it comes to pass that in Christ and His kingdom we see the
culmination of that wonderful history which has for its great stages of
progress Abraham, David,f1 the Captivity, Christ.
So much for the earthly origin of the Man Christ Jesus; but His heavenly
descent must also be told; and with what exquisite simplicity and delicacy
is this done. There is no attempt to make the words correspond with the
greatness of the facts. As simple and transparent as clear glass, they allow
the facts to speak for themselves. So it is all the way through this Evangel.
What a contrast here to the spurious Gospels afterwards produced, when
men had nothing to tell, and so must put in their own poor fictions, piously
intending sometimes to add lustre to the too simple story of the Infancy,
but only with the effect of degrading it in the eyes of all men of taste and
judgment. But here there is no need of fiction, no need even of rhetoric or
sentiment. The fact itself is so great that the more simply it is told the
better. The Holy One of Israel came into the world with no tinsel of earthly
pomp; and in strict harmony with His mode of entrance, the story of His
birth is told with like simplicity. The Sun of Righteousness rises like the
natural sun, in silence; and in this Gospel, as in all the others, passes on to
its setting through the heaven of the Evangelist's thought, which stands,
like that other heaven, "majestic in its own simplicity."
The story of the Incarnation is often represented as incredible; but if those
who so regard it would only reflect on that doctrine of heredity which the
science of recent years has brought into such prominence, if they would
only consider what is involved in the obvious truth that, "that which is born
of the flesh is flesh," they would see that it was not only natural but
necessary that the birth of Jesus Christ should be "on this wise." Inasmuch
as "the first man is of the earth, earthy," "the Second Man" must be "of
heaven," or He will be no Second Man at all; He will be sinful and earthy
like all the others. But all that is needful is met in the manner so chastely
and beautifully set forth by our Evangelist, in words which, angelic in their
tone and like the blue of heaven in their purity, so well become the angel of
the Lord.
Some wonder that nothing is said here of Nazareth and what took place
there, and of the journey to Bethlehem; and there are those who are fain
even to find some inconsistency, with the third Gospel in this omission, as
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if there were any need to wonder at omissions in a story which tells of the
first year on one page and the thirtieth on the next! These Gospels are not
biographies. They are memorials, put together for a special purpose, to set
forth this Jesus as the Son of God and Saviour of the world. And the
special object, as we have seen, of St. Matthew is to set Him forth as the
Messiah of Israel. In accordance with this object we have His birth told in
such a way as to bring into prominence those facts only in which the
Evangelist specially recognised a fulfilment of Old Testament prophecy.
Here again the names give us the main thoughts. Just as Abraham, David,
Babylon, suggest the main object of the genealogy, so the names
Emmanuel, Jesus, suggest the main object of the record of His birth. "All
this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet."
The first name mentioned is "Jesus." To understand it as St. Matthew did,
we must bear in mind that it is the old historic name Joshua, and that the
first thought of the Hebrew mind would be, Here is One who shall fulfil all
that was typified in the life and work of the two Old Testament heroes who
bore that name, so full of hopeful significance.f2 The first Joshua was
Israel's captain on the occasion of their first settlement in the Land of
Promise after the bondage in Egypt; the second Joshua was Israel's high
priest at their second settlement in the land after the bondage in Babylon.
Both were thus associated with great deliverances; but neither the one nor
the other had given the rest of full salvation to the people of God (see
<580408>Hebrews 4:8); what they had done had only been to procure for them
political freedom and a land they could call their own, -- a picture in the
earthly sphere of what the Coming One was to accomplish in the spiritual
sphere. The salvation from Egypt and from Babylon were both but types of
the great salvation from sin which was to come through the Christ of God.
These or such as these must have been the thoughts in the mind of Joseph
when he heard the angel's words: "Thou shalt call His name Joshua; for it
is He that shall save His people from their sins."
Joseph, though a poor carpenter of Nazareth, was a true son of David, one
of those who waited for the salvation of Israel, who had welcomed the
truth set forth by Daniel, that the coming kingdom was to be a kingdom of
the saints of the Most High, -- not of political adventurers, as was the idea
of the corrupt Judaism of the time; so he was prepared to welcome the
truth that the coming Saviour was One who should deliver, not from the
rule of Rome, but from the guilt and power and death of Sin.
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As the name Joshua, or Jesus, came from the earliest times of Israel's
national history, the name Emmanuel came from its latest, even out of the
dark days of King Ahaz, when the hope of the people was directed to the
birth of a Child who should bear this name. Some have thought it enough
to show that there was a fulfilment of this hope in the time of Ahaz, to
"make it evident that St. Matthew was mistaken in finding its fulfilment in
Christ; but this idea, like so many others of the same kind, is founded on
ignorance of the relation of the Old Testament history to the New
Testament times. We have seen that though Joshua of the early times and
his successor of the same name did each a work of his own, yet both of
them were in relation to the future but prototypes of the Great Joshua who
was to come. In the same way exactly, if there was, as we believe, a
deliverance in the time of Ahaz, to which the prophet primarily referred, it
was, as in so many other cases, but a picture of the greater one in which
the gracious purpose of God, manifested in all these partial deliverances,
was to be "fulfilled," i.e., filled to the full. The idea in the name
"Emmanuel" was not a new one even in the time of King Ahaz. "I will be
with you;" "Certainly I will be with you;" "Fear not, for I am with you," --
such words of gracious promise had been echoed and re-echoed all down
the course of the history of the people of God, before they were enshrined
in the name prophetically used by Isaiah in the days of King Ahaz; and they
were finally embodied, incarnated, in the Child born at Bethlehem in the
fulness of the time, to Whom especially belongs that name of highest hope,
"Emmanuel," "God with us."
If, now, we look at these two names, we shall see that they not only point
to a fulfilment, in the largest sense, of Old Testament prophecy, but to the
fulfilment of that which we all need most -- the satisfaction of our deepest
wants and longings. "God is light;" sin is darkness. With God is the
fountain of life; "sin when it is finished bringeth forth death." Here shines
the star of hope; there lies the abyss of despair. Now, without Christ we
are tied to sin, separated from God. Sin is near; God is far. That is our
curse. Therefore what we need is God brought near and sin taken away --
the very blessings guaranteed in these two precious names of our Lord. As
Emmanuel, He brings God near to us, near in His own incarnate person,
near in His loving life, near in His perfect sympathy, near in His perpetual
presence, according to the promise, "Lo, I am with you alway, even unto
the end of the world." As Jesus, He saves us from our sins. How he does it
is set forth in the sequel of the Gospel, culminating in the sacrifice of the
cross, "to finish the transgression, and to make an end. of sins, and to make
reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness." For
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He has not only to bring God down to us, but also to lift us up to God; and
while the incarnation effects the one, the atonement, followed by the work
of the Holy Spirit, is necessary to secure the other. He touches man, the
creature, at his cradle; He reaches down to man, the sinner, at His cross --
the end of His descent to us, the beginning of our ascent with Him to God.
There we meet Him and, saved from sin, we know Him as our Jesus; and
reconciled to God, we have Him with us as Emmanuel, God with us,
always with us, with us throughout all life's changes, with us in death's
agony, with us in the life to come, to guide us into all its wisdom and
honour and riches and glory and blessing.
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CHAPTER 2.
HIS RECEPTION. --MATTHEW 2.
THIS one chapter contains all that St. Matthew records of the Infancy. St.
Mark and St. John tell us nothing, and St. Luke very little. This singular
reticence has often been remarked upon, and it certainly is most
noteworthy, and a manifest sign of genuineness and truthfulness: a token
that what these men wrote was in the deepest sense not their own. For if
they had been left to themselves in the performance of the task assigned
them, they could not have restrained themselves as they have done. The
Jews of the time attached the greatest importance to child-life, as is evident
from the single fact that they had no less than eight different words to mark
the successive stages of development from the new-born babe up to the
young man; and to omit all reference to these stages, except the slight
notice of the Infancy in this chapter, was certainly not "according to
Matthew" the Jew, -- not what would have been expected of him had he
been left to himself. It can only be explained by the fact that he spoke or
was silent according as he was moved or restrained by the Holy Ghost.
This view is strikingly confirmed by comparison with the spurious Gospels
afterwards published, by men who thought they could improve on the
original records with their childish stories as to what the boy Jesus said and
did. These awkward fictions reflect the spirit of the age; the simple records
of the four Evangelists mirror for us the Spirit of Truth. To the vulgar mind
they may seem bare and defective, but all men of culture and mature
judgment recognise in their simplicity and naturalness a note of manifest
superiority.
Much space might be occupied in setting forth the advantages of this
reticence, but a single illustration may suggest the main thought. Recall for
a moment the well-known picture entitled, "The Shadow of the Cross,"
designed and executed by a master, one who might surely be considered
qualified to illustrate in detail the life at Nazareth. We have nothing to say
as to the merit of the picture as a work of art: let those specially qualified
to judge speak of this; but is it not generally felt that the realism of the
carpenter's shop is most painful? The eye is instinctively averted from the
too obtrusive details; while the mind gladly returns from the startling
vividness of the picture to the vague impressions made on us by the mere
hints in the sacred Scriptures. Was it not well that our blessed Saviour
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should grow in retirement and seclusion; and if so, why should that
seclusion be invaded? If His family life was withdrawn from the eyes of the
men of that time, there remains the same reason why it should be
withdrawn from the eyes of the men of all time; and the more we think of
it, `the more we realise that it is better in every way that the veil should
have been dropped just where it has been, and that all should remain just as
it was, when with unconscious skill the sacred artists finished their perfect
sketches of the child Jesus.
Perhaps, however, the question may be asked: If St. Matthew would tell us
so little, why say anything at all? What was his object in relating just what
he has set down in this chapter? We believe it must have been to show how
Christ was received. It seems, in fact, to correspond to that single sentence
in the fourth Gospel, "He came unto His own, and His own received Him
not;" only St. Matthew gives us a wider and brighter view; he shows us not
only how Jerusalem rejected Him, but how the East welcomed Him and
Egypt sheltered Him. Throughout the entire Old Testament our attention is
called, not merely to Jerusalem, which occupied the centre of the ancient
world, but to the kingdoms round about, especially to the great empires of
the East and South -- the empire of the East represented in succession by
Ancient Chaldea, Assyria, Babylonia, Media, and Persia; and that of the
South -- the mighty monarchy of Egypt, which under its thirty dynasties
held on its steady course alongside these. How natural, then, for the
Evangelist whose special mission it was to connect the old with the new, to
take the opportunity of showing that, while His own Jerusalem rejected her
Messiah, her old rivals of the East and of the South gave Him a welcome.
In the first chapter the Child Jesus was set forth as the Heir of the promise
made to Abraham and his seed, and the fulfilment of the prophecy given to
the chosen people; now He is further set forth as the One who satisfies the
longings of those whom they had been taught to regard as their natural
enemies, but who now must be looked upon as "fellow-heirs" with them of
God's heritage, and "partakers of His promise in Christ by the Gospel." It
will be seen, then, how the second chapter was needed to complete the
first, and how the two together give us just such a view of the Advent as
was most needed by the Jews of the period, while it is most instructive and
suggestive to men of all countries and of all time. As, then, the last
paragraph began with, "Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise,"
we may regard this as beginning with, "Now the reception of Jesus Christ
was on this wise."
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According to the plan of these expositions, we must disregard details, and
many interesting questions, for the consideration of which it is surely
enough to refer to the many well-known and widely-read books on the Life
of Christ; and confine ourselves to those general thoughts and suggestions
which seem best fitted to bring out the spirit of the passage as a whole.
Let us, then, look first at the manner of His reception by Jerusalem, the city
which as Son of David He could claim as peculiarly His own. It was the
very centre of the circle of Old Testament illumination. It had all possible
advantages, over every other place in the world, for knowing when and
how the Christ should come. Yet, when He did come, the people of
Jerusalem know nothing about it, but had their first intimation of the fact
from strangers who had come from the far East to seek Him. And not only
did they know nothing about it till they were told, but, when told, they
were troubled Matthew 1:3. Indifference where we should have expected
eagerness, trouble where we should have looked for joy!
We have only to examine the contemporary accounts of the state of society
in Jerusalem to understand it thoroughly, and to see how exceedingly
natural it was. Those unacquainted with these records can have no idea of
the gaiety and frivolity of the Jewish capital at the time. Every one, of
course, knows something of the style and magnificence in which Herod the
Great lived; but one is not apt to suppose that luxurious living was the rule
among the people of the town. Yet so it seems to have been. Dr.
Edersheim, who has made a special study of this subject, and who quotes
his authorities for each separate statement, thus describesf3 the state of
things: "These Jerusalemites -- townspeople as they called themselves --
were so polished, so witty, so pleasant... And how much there was to be
seen and heard in those luxuriously furnished houses, and at these
sumptuous entertainments! In the women's apartments friends from the
country would see every novelty in dress, adornments, and jewellery, and
have the benefit of examining themselves in looking-glasses... And then the
lady-visitors might get anything in Jerusalem, from a false tooth to an
Arabian veil, a Persian shawl, or an Indian dress!" Then, after furnishing
what he calls "too painful evidence of the luxuriousness at Jerusalem at
that time, and of the moral corruption to which it led," he concludes by
giving an account of what one of the sacred books of the time describes as
"the dignity of the Jerusalemites," mentioning particulars like these: "the
wealth which they lavished on their marriages; the ceremony which insisted
on repeated invitations to the guests to a banquet, and that men inferior
should not be bidden to it; the dress in which they appeared; the manner in
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which the dishes were served, the wine in white crystal vases; the
punishment of the cook who failed in his duty," and so on.
If things of that kind represented the dignity of the people of Jerusalem, we
need not ask why they were troubled when they heard that to them had
been born in Bethlehem a Saviour who was Christ the Lord. A Saviour
who would save them from their sins was the very last thing people of that
kind wanted. A Herod suited them better, for it was he and his court that
set the example of the luxury and profligacy which characterised the
capital. Do not all these revelations as to the state of things in the capital of
Israel set off more vividly than ever the pure lustre of the quiet, simple,
humble, peaceful surroundings of the Babe of Bethlehem and Boy of
Nazareth? Put the "dignity" and trouble of Jerusalem over against the
humility and peace of Bethlehem, and say which is the more truly dignified
and desirable. When We look at the contrast we cease to wonder that, with
the exception of a very few devout Simeons and Annas, waiting for the
consolation of Israel, Jerusalem, as a whole, was troubled to hear the
rumour of the advent of her Saviour-King.
Herod's trouble we can so readily understand that we need not spend time
over it, or over what he did to get rid of it, so thoroughly in keeping as it
was with all that history tells us of his character and conduct. No wonder
that the one thought in his mind was "Away with Him!"
But who are these truly dignified men, who are now turning their backs on
rich and gay Jerusalem, and setting their faces to the obscurity and poverty
of the village of Bethlehem? They are men of rank and wealth and learning
from the far East -- representatives of all that is best in the old civilisations
of the world. They had only the scantiest opportunities of learning what
was the Hope of Israel, and how it should be realised; but they were
earnest men; their minds were not taken up with gaiety and frivolity; they
had studied the works of nature till their souls were full of the thought of
God in His glory and majesty; but their hearts still yearned to know if He,
Whose glory was in the heavens, could stoop to cure the ills that flesh is
heir to. They had heard of Israel's hope, the hope of a child to be born of
David's race, who should bring divine mercy near to human need; they had
a vague idea that the time for the fulfilment of that hope was drawing near;
and, as they mused, behold a marvellous appearance in the heavens, which
seemed to call them away to seek Him whom their souls desired! Hence
their long journey to Jerusalem and their eager entrance into Bethlehem.
Had their dignity been the kind of dignity which was boasted of in
----

Jerusalem, they would no doubt have been offended by the poverty of the
surroundings, the poor house with its scanty furniture and its humble
inmates. But theirs was the dignity of mind and soul, so they were not
offended by the poor surroundings; they recognised in the humble Child the
object of their search; they bowed before Him, doing Him homage, and
presented to Him gifts as a tribute from the East to the coming King of
righteousness and love.
What a beautiful picture; how striking the contrast to the magnificence of
Herod the Great in Jerusalem, surrounded by his wealthy and luxurious
court. Verily, these were wise men from the East, wise with a wisdom not
of this world -- wise to recognise the hope of the future, not in a monarch
called "the Great," surrounded by the world's pomp and luxury, but in the
fresh young life of the holy heaven-born Child. Learned as they were, they
had simple hearts -- they had had some glimpse of the great truth that it is
not learning the world needs so much as life, new life. Would that all the
wise men of the present day were equally wise in heart! We rejoice that so
many of them are; and if only all of them had true wisdom, they would
consider that even those who stand as high in the learning of the new West
as these men did in the learning of the old East, would do themselves
honour in bowing low in presence of the Holy Child, and acknowledge that
by no effort of the greatest intellect is it possible to reach that truth which
can alone meet the deepest wants of men -- that there is no other hope for
man than the new birth, the fresh, pure, holy life which came into the world
when the Christ was born, and which comes into every heart that in simple
trustfulness gives Him a welcome as did these wise men of old. There, at
the threshold of the Gospel, we see the true relation of science and
religion.
"Let knowledge grow from more to more,
But more of reverence in us dwell;
That mind and soul, according well,
May make one music as before."
All honour to these wise men for bending low in presence of the Holy
Child; and thanks be to God for allowing His servant Matthew to give as a
glimpse of a scene so beautiful, so touching, so suggestive of pure and high
and holy thought and feeling.
The gifts of the East no doubt provided the means of securing a refuge in
the South and West. That Egypt gave the fugitives a friendly welcome, and
a safe retreat so long as the danger remained, is obvious; but here again we
----

are left without detail. The one thing which the Evangelist wishes to
impress upon us is the parallel between the experience of Israel and Israel's
Holy One. Israel of the Old Testament, born in Palestine, had to flee into
Egypt. When the time was ripe for return, the way was opened for it; and
thus the prophet speaks of it in the name of the Lord: "When Israel was a
child, then I loved him, and called My son out of Egypt." Now that the
Holy One of Israel has come to fulfil old Israel's destiny, the prophetic
word, which had been only partially realised in the history of the nation, is
fulfilled in the history of the Anointed One. Hence, just as it happened with
the nation, so did it happen with the nation's representative and King; born
in His own land, He had to flee into Egypt, and remain there till God
brought Him out, and set Him in His land again.
Other points of agreement with the prophetic word are mentioned. It is
worthy of note that they are all connected with the dark side of prophecy
concerning the Messiah. The reason for this will readily appear on
reflection. The Scribes and Pharisees were insistent enough on the bright
side, the side that favoured their ideas of a great king, who should rescue
the people from the Roman yoke, and found a great world-kingdom, after
the manner of Herod the Great or of Caesar the mighty. So there was no
need to bring strongly out that side of prophecy which foretold of the
glories of the coming King. But the sad side had been entirely neglected. It
is this, accordingly, which the Evangelist is prompted to illustrate.
It was, indeed, in itself an occasion of stumbling that the King of Israel
should have to flee to Egypt. But why should one stumble at it, who
looked at the course of Israel's history as a nation, in the light the prophets
threw upon it? It was an occasion of stumbling that His birth in Bethlehem
should bring with it Such sorrow and anguish; but why wonder at it when
so great a prophet as Jeremiah so touchingly speaks of the voice heard in
Ramah, "Rachel weeping for her children and would not be comforted," --
a thought of exquisite beauty and pathos as Jeremiah used it in reference to
the banished ones of his day, but of still deeper pathos as now fulfilled in
the sorrow at Ramah, over the massacre of her innocents, when not Israel
but Israel's Holy One is banished from the land of His birth. Again, it was
an occasion of stumbling that the King of Israel, instead of growing up in
majesty in the midst of the Court and the capital, should retire into
obscurity in the little village of Nazareth, and for many years be unheard of
by the great ones of the land; but why wonder at it when the prophets
again and again represent Him as growing up in this very way, as "a root
out of a dry ground," as a twig or "shoot out of the stem of Jesse,"
----

growing up "out of His place," and attracting no attention while He grew.
Such is the meaning of the words translated, "He shall be called a
Nazarene." This does not appear in our language; hence the difficulty
which many have found in this reference, there being no passage in any of
the prophets where the Christ is spoken of as a Nazarene; but the word to
Hebrew ears at once suggests the Hebrew for "Branch," continually
applied to Him in the prophets, and especially connected with the idea of
His quiet and silent growth, aloof from the throng and unnoticed by the
great.
This completes, appropriately, the sketch of His reception. Unthought of
by His own, till strangers sought Him; a source of trouble to them when
they heard of Him; His life threatened by the occupant, for the time, of
David's, throne, He is saved only by exile, and on returning to His people
passes out of notice: and the great world moves On, all unconscious and
unconcerned, whilst its Saviour-King is preparing, in the obscurity of His
village home, for the great work of winning a lost world back to God.
----

CHAPTER 3.
HIS HERALD. -- MATTHEW 3:1-12.
THIRTY years have gone since all Jerusalem was in trouble at the rumour
of Messiah's birth. But as nothing has been heard of Him since, the
excitement has passed away. Those who were troubled about it are aging
or old or dead; so no one thinks or speaks of it now. There have been
several political changes since, mostly for the worse. Judea is now a
province of Rome, governed by procurators, of whom the sixth, called
Pontius Pilate, has just entered on his office. Society is much the same as
before -- the same worldliness and luxurious living after the manner of the
Greek, the same formalism and. bigotry after the manner of the Scribe.
There is no sign, in Jerusalem at least, of any change for the better.
The only new thing stirring is a rumour in the street. People are telling one
another that a new prophet has arisen. "In the Palace?" -- "No." "In the
Temple?" -- "No." "Surely somewhere in the city?" -- "No." He is in the
wilderness, clad in roughest garb, subsisting on poorest fare -- a living
protest against the luxury of the time. He makes no pretence to learning,
draws no fine distinctions, gives no curious interpretations, and yet, with
only a simple message, -- which, however, he delivers as coming straight
from God Himself, -- is drawing crowds to hear him from all the country
side. So the rumour spreads throughout the town, and great numbers go
out to see what it is all about; some perhaps from curiosity, some in hope
that it may be the dawn of a brighter day for Israel, all of them no doubt
more or less stirred with the excitement of the thought that, after so many
silent centuries, a veritable prophet has come, like those of old. For it must
be remembered that even in gay Jerusalem the deep-rooted feelings of
national pride and patriotism had been only overlaid, not superseded, by
the veneer of Greek and Roman civilisation, which only seemed for the
moment to satisfy the people.
So they go out in multitudes to the wilderness; and what do they see? "A
man clothed in fine raiment," like the Roman officials in the palace, which
in those degenerate days were Jerusalem's pride? "A reed shaken by the
wind," like the time-serving politicians of the hour? Nay, verily; but a true
prophet of the Lord, one reminding them of what they have read in the
Scriptures of the great Elijah, who suddenly appeared in the wild mountain
----

region of Gilead, at a time when Phoenician manners were making the
same havoc in Israel that Greek manners are now making in Jerusalem.
Who can he be? He seems to be more than a prophet. Can he be the
Christ? But this he entirely disclaims. Is he Elijah then? John probably
knew that he was sent "in the spirit and power of Elijah," for so his father
had learned from the angel on the occasion of the announcement of his
birth; but that was not the point of their question. When they asked, "Art
thou Elijah?" they meant "Art thou Elijah risen from the dead?" To this he
must, of course, answer, "No." In the same way he must disclaim identity
with any of the prophets. He will not trade upon the name of any of these
holy men of old. Enough that he comes, a nameless one, before them, with
a message from the Lord. So, keeping himself in the background, he puts
his message before them, content that they should recognise in it the
fufilment of the well-known word of prophecy: "A voice crying in the
wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make His paths straight."
John wishes it to be distinctly understood that he is not that Light which
the prophets of old have told them should arise, but is sent to bear witness
to that Light. He has come as a herald to announce the approach of the
King, and to call upon the people to prepare for His coming. Think not of
me, he cries, ask not who I am; think of the coming King, and make ready
for HIM, -- "Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make His paths straight."
How is the way of the Lord to be prepared? Is it by summoning the people
to arms all over the land, that they may repel the Roman invader and
restore the ancient kingdom? Such a proclamation would no doubt have
struck a chord that would have vibrated through all the land. That would
have been after the manner of men; it was not the way of the Lord. The
summons must be, not to arms, but to repentance: "Wash you, make you
clean: put away the evil of your doings." So, instead of marching up, a host
of warriors, to the Roman citadel, the people troop down, band after band
of penitents, to the Jordan, confessing their sins. After all it is the old, old
prophetic message over again, -- the same which had been sent generation
after generation to a back-sliding people, its burden always this: "Turn ye
unto Me, saith the Lord of Hosts, and I will turn unto you, saith the Lord
of Hosts."
Like many of the old prophets, John taught by symbol as well as by word.
The preparation needed was an inward cleansing, and what more fitting
symbol of it than the water baptism to which he called the nation? "In that
day," it was written in the prophets, "there shall be a fountain opened to
----

the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, for sin and for
uncleanness." The prophecy was about to be fulfilled, and the baptism of
John was the appropriate sign of it. Again, in another of the prophets the
promise ran, "Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be
clean; from all your filthiness and from all your idols will I cleanse you...
and I will put my spirit within you." John knew well that it was not given
to him to fulfil this promise. He could not grant the real baptism, the
baptism of the Holy Ghost; but he could baptise with water; he could give
the sign and assurance to the truly. penitent heart that there was
forgiveness and cleansing in the coming One; and thus, by his baptism with
water, as well as by the message he delivered, he was preparing the way of
the Lord. All this, we cannot but observe, was in perfect accord with the
wonderful prophetic utterance of his father Zacharias, as recorded by" St.
Luke: "Thou, child, shalt be called the prophet of the Highest: for thou
shalt go before the face of the Lord to prepare His ways; to give
knowledge of salvation unto His people by "the remission of their sins," --
not to give salvation, which only Christ can give, but the knowledge of it.
This he did not only by telling. Of the coming Saviour, and, when He came,
pointing to Him as "the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the
world:" but also by the appropriate sign of baptism, which gave the same
knowledge in the language of symbol addressed to the eye.
The summons of the prophet of the wilderness is not in vain. The people
come. The throngs increase. The nation is moved. Even the great ones of
the nation condescend to follow the multitude. Pharisees and Sadducees,
the leaders of the two great parties in Church and State, are coming; many
of them are coming. What a comfort this must be to the prophet's soul.
How gladly he will welcome them, and let it be known that he has among
his converts many of the great ones of the land! But the stern Baptist is a
mart of no such mould. What cares he for rank or position or worldly
influence? What he wants is reality, simplicity, godly sincerity; and he
knows that, scarce as these virtues are in the community at large,, they are
scarcest of all among these dignitaries. He will not allow the smallest
admixture of insincerity or hypocrisy in what is, so far, a manifest work of
God. He must test these new-comers to the uttermost, for the sin of which
they need most to repent is the very, sin which they are in danger of
committing afresh in its most aggravated form in offering themselves for
baptism. He must therefore test their motives: he must at all risks ensure
that, unless their repentance is genuine, they shall not be baptised. For their
own sakes, as well as for the work's sake, this is necessary. Hence the
strong, even harsh language he uses in putting the question why they had
----

come. Yet he would not repel or discourage them. He does not send them
away as if past redemption, but only demands that they bring forth fruit
worthy of the-repentance they profess. And lest they should think that
there was an easier way of entrance for them than for others, lest they
should think that they had claims sufficient because of their descent, he
reminds them that God can have his kingdom upon earth, even though
every son of Abraham in the world should reject Him: "Think not to say
within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father: for I say unto you, that
God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham."
It is as if he said, The coming kingdom of righteousness and truth will not
fail, even if Pharisees and Sadducees and all the natural children of
Abraham refuse to enter its only gate of repentance; if there is no response
to the Divine summons where it is most to be expected, then it can be
secured where it is least to be expected; if flesh become stone, then stone
can be made flesh, according-to the word of promise. So there will be no
gathering in of mere formalists to make up numbers, no including of those
who are only "Jews outwardly." And there will be no half measures, no
compromise with evil, no parleying with those who are unwilling or only
half willing to repent. A time of crisis has come, -- "now also the axe is
laid unto the root of the trees." It is not lifted yet. But it is there lying
ready, ready for the Lord of the vineyard, when He shall come (and He is
close at hand); then, "every free which bringeth not forth good fruit is
hewn down and cast into the fire."
Yet not for judgment is He coming, -- John goes on to say, -- but to fulfil
the promise of the Father. He is coming to baptise you with the Holy Ghost
and with fire -- to purify you through and through and to animate you
with a new life, glowing, upward-striving, heaven-aspiring; and it is to
prepare you for this unspeakable blessing that I ask you to come and put
away those sins which must he a barrier in the way of His coming, those
sins -which dim your eyes so that you cannot see Him, which stop your
ears so that you cannot recognise your Shepherd's voice, that clog your
hearts so that the Holy Spirit cannot reach them, -- repent, repent, and be
baptised all of you; for there cometh One after me, mightier than I, whose
meanest servant I am not worthy to be, -- He shall baptise you with the
Holy Ghost and with fire, if you are ready to receive Him; but if you are
not, still you cannot escape Him, "Whose fan is in His hand, and He will
throughly cleanse His threshing-floor; and He will gather His wheat into
the garner, but the chaff He will burn up with unquenchable fire" (R.V.).
----

The work of John must still be done. It specially devolves upon the
ministers of Christ; would they were all as anxious as he was to keep in the
background, as little concerned about position, title, official rank, or
personal consideration.
----

CHAPTER 4.
HIS BAPTISM. -- MATTHEW 3:13-17.
"THE baptism of John, was it from Heaven or of men?" This question
must have been asked throughout the length and breadth of the land in the
days of his mission. We know how it was answered; for even after the
excitement had died away, we are told that "all men counted John for a
prophet." This conviction would of course prevail in Nazareth as well as
everywhere else. When, therefore, the Baptist removed from the wilderness
of Judea and the lower reaches of the Jordan to the ford of Bethany, or
Bethabara, -- now identified with a point much farther north, within a
single day's journey of Nazareth, -- the people of Galilee would flock to
him, as before the people of Judea and Jerusalem had done. Among the
rest, as might naturally be expected, Jesus came. It was enough for Him to
know that the baptism of John was of Divine appointment. He was in all
things guided by His Father's will, to whom He would day by day commit
His way. Accordingly, just as day by day He had been subject to His
parents, and just as He had seen it to be right to go up to the Temple in
accordance with the Law, so He recognised it to be His duty to present
Himself, as His countrymen in such large numbers were doing, to receive
baptism from John. The manner of the narrative implies that He came, not
as if He were some great person demanding special recognition, but as
simply and naturally as any of the rest: "Then cometh Jesus from Galilee to
the Jordan unto John, to be baptised of him."
John looks at Him. Does he know Him at all? Perhaps not; for though they
are cousins, their lives have been lived quite apart. Before their birth their
mothers met; but it is doubtful if they themselves have seen each other
before, and even if they have, in earlier years, they may both be so changed
that recognition is uncertain. The one has had his home in the South; the
other in the North. Besides, the elder of the two has spent his life mostly in
the desert, so that probably he is a stranger now even to his own
townspeople, and his father and mother, both very old when he was born,
must be dead and gone long ago. Perhaps, then, John did not know Jesus
at all; certainly he did not yet know Him as the Messiah. But he sees
something in Him that draws forth the homage of his soul, Or possibly he
gathers his impressions rather from what Jesus says. All the rest have
confessed sin; He has no sin of His own to confess. But words would no
----

doubt be spoken that would convey to the Baptist how this disciple looked
on sin, how the very thought of it filled Him with horror, how His whole
soul longed for the righteousness of God, how it was a sacred passion with
Him that sin should perish from the hearts of men, and righteousness reign
in its place. Whether then, it was by His appearance, the clear eye, the calm
face, -- an open window for the prophet to look through into His soul, --
or whether it was by the words He spoke as He claimed a share in the
baptism, or both combined, John was taken aback -- surprised a second
time, though in just the opposite way to that in which `he had been
surprised before. The same eagle eye that saw through the mask of
Pharisee and Sadducee could penetrate the veil of humility and obscurity;
so he said: "I have need to be baptised of Thee, and comest Thou to me?"
Think of the majesty of this John. Remember how he bore himself in
presence of the Pharisees and Sadducees; and how he faced Herod, telling
him plainly, at the risk of his life, as it afterwards proved, "It is not lawful
for thee to have thy brother's wife." Remember that all Judea, and
Jerusalem, and Galilee had been bowing down in his presence; and now,
when an obscure nameless One of Nazareth comes to him, only as yet
distinguished from others by the holiness of His life and the purity of His
soul, John would not have Him bow in his presence, but would himself
bend low before Him: "I have need to be baptised of Thee, and comest
Thou to me?" Oh, for more of that grand combination of lofty courage and
lowly reverence! Verily, "among them that are born of women there hath
not risen a greater than John the Baptist."
But Jesus answering said unto him, "Suffer it now; for thus it becometh us
to fulfil all righteousness" (R.V.). Though about to enter on His Messianic
work, He has not yet taken its burden on Him; accordingly He comes, not
as Messiah, but in the simplest and most unassuming way; content still, as
He has been all along till now, to be reckoned simply as of Israel. This is
what we take to be the force of the plural pronoun "us."
On the other hand, it should be remembered that Jesus must have
recognised in the summons to the Jordan a call to commence His work aa
Messiah. He would certainly have heard from His mother of the prophetic
words which had been spoken concerning His cousin and Himself; and
would, therefore, as soon as He heard of the mission of John, know well
what it meant -- He could not but know that John was preparing the way
before Him, and therefore that His time was close at hand. Of this, too, we
have an indication in His answer to the expostulation of John. "Suffer it
----

now," He says; as if to say, I am as yet only one of Israel; My time is at
hand, when I must take the position to which I am called, but meantime I
come as the rest come: "Suffer it now; for thus it becometh us to fulfil all
righteousness."
While then Jesus came simply in obedience to the will of God, He must
have come with a very heavy burden. His study of the Scriptures must have
made Him painfully familiar with the dark prospects before Him. Well did
He know that the path of the Messiah must be one of suffering, that He
must be despised and rejected, that He must be wounded for the people's
transgressions and bruised for their iniquity; that, in a word, He must be
the suffering Priest before He can be the reigning King, This thought of His
priesthood must have been especially borne in upon Him now that He had
just reached the priestly age. In His thirteenth year -- the Temple age --
He had gone to the Temple, and now at the age when the priest is
consecrated to his office, He is summoned to the Jordan, to be baptised by
one whom He knows to be sent of God to prepare the way before Him.
Those Scriptures, then, which speak of the priestly office the Messiah must
fill, must have been very much in His mind as He came to John and offered
Himself to be baptised. And of all these Scriptures none would seem more
appropriate at the moment than those words of the fortieth Psalm: "Lo, I
come: in the volume of the book it is written of Me, I delight to do Thy
will, O My God."
At this point we can readily see the appropriateness of His baptism, and
also an element in common between it and that of the people. They had
come professing to be willing to do the will of God by turning from sin to
righteousness. He had no need to turn from sin to do the will of God: but
He had to turn from the quiet and peaceful home life at Nazareth, that He
might take up the burden laid upon Him as Messiah. So He as well as they
had to leave the old life and begin a new one; and in this we can see how
fitting it was that He as well as they should be baptised. Then, just as by
baptism -- the symbol, in their case, of separation from sin and
consecration to God -- John made "ready a people prepared for the Lord;"
so by baptism -- the symbol, in His case, of separation from private life
and consecration to God in the office of Messiah, -- the Lord was made
ready for the people. By baptism John opened the door of the new
Kingdom. From the wilderness of sin the people entered it as subjects;
from the seclusion of private life Jesus entered it as King and Priest. They
came under a vow of obedience unto Him; He came under a vow of
obedience unto death, even the death of the Cross.
----

This, then, is the moment of His taking up the Cross. It is indeed the
assumption of His royalty as Messiah-King; but then He knew that He
must suffer and die before He could enter on His glory; therefore, as the
first great duty before Him, He takes up the Cross. In this we can see a still
further appropriateness in the words already quoted, as is suggested in the
well-known passage in the Epistle to the Hebrews: "Sacrifice and offering
thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared me: in burnt offerings
and sacrifices for sin thou hast had no pleasure. Then said I, Lo, I come (in
the volume of the book it is written of me) to do thy will, O God." Ah,
who can understand the love in the heart of Jesus, who can measure the
sacrifice He makes, as He bends before John, and is baptised into the name
of "the Christ," the Saviour of mankind!
The act of solemn consecration is over. He comes up out of the water. And
lo, the heavens are opened, and the Spirit of God descends upon Him, and
a voice from heaven calls, "This is My beloved Son, in Whom I am well
pleased."
"The heavens were opened." What was the precise natural phenomenon
witnessed we can only conjecture, but whatever it was, it was but a symbol
of the spiritual opening of the heavens. The heaven of God's love and of all
holy Angels, shut from man by sin, was opened again by the Christ of God.
Nothing could be more appropriate, therefore, than that just at the moment
when the Holy One of Israel had bowed Himself to take up His heavy
burden, when for the first time it was possible to say, "Behold the Lamb of
God, that taketh away the sin of the world!" the heavens should open to
welcome Him, and in welcoming Him, the Sin-bearer, to welcome all
whose sins He came to take away.
"And He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon
Him." This was His anointing for the work He had come to do. The priests
of the line of Aaron had been anointed with oil: He was anointed with that
of which the oil was but a symbol, -- the Holy-Spirit descending from the
open heaven. From His birth, indeed, He had been guided by the Spirit of
God. But up to this time He had, as we have seen, nothing more than was
needed to minister to that growth in wisdom which had been going on in
private life these thirty years, nothing more than was necessary to guide
Him day by day in His quiet, unexacting duties at home. Now He needs far
more. Now He must receive the Spirit without measure, in the fulness of
His grace and power; hence the organic form of the symbol. The emblem
used when the apostles were baptised with the Holy Ghost was tongues of
----

fire, indicating the partial nature of the endowment; here it is the dove,
suggesting the idea of completeness and, at the same time, as every one
sees, of beauty, gentleness, peace, and love. Again let it be remembered
that it is on Him as our representative that the Spirit descends, that His
baptism with the Holy Ghost is in order that He may be ready to fulfil the
word of John, "He shall baptise you with the Holy Ghost and with fire."
Heaven opened above Him means all heavenly blessings prepared for those
who follow Him into the new Kingdom. The descent of the Spirit means
the bestowment on Him and His of heaven's best gift as an earnest of all
the rest.
Last of all there is the voice, "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well
pleased," spoken not merely to Himself individually, -- all along, in the
personal sense, He was God's beloved Son, in whom He was well pleased,
-- but to the Messiah, as the Representative and Head of a new redeemed
humanity, as the First-born "among many brethren, as One who at the very
moment was undertaking suretyship on behalf of all who had already
received Him or should in the ages to come receive Him as their Priest and
King -- "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased."
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed
us with all spiritual and heavenly blessings in Him: with an open heaven, a
present Spirit, a reconciled Father's voice. Blessed be our loving Lord and
Saviour that He came so humbly to the Jordan, stooped so bravely to the
yoke, took up our heavy Cross, and carried it through these sorrowful
years to the bitter, bitter end. And blessed be the Holy Spirit of all grace,
that He abode on Him, and abides with us. May the grace of the Lord Jesus
Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost, be
with us all!
----

CHAPTER 5.
HIS TEMPTATION. --MATTHEW 4:1-11.
MUCH has been written on the possibility of temptation in the experience
of a sinless Being. The difficulties which have been raised in this region are
chiefly of a metaphysical kind, such as it is possible -- for some minds, we
might say inevitable -- to raise at every point in that mysterious complexity
which we call life. Without attempting to enter profoundly into the
question, may not an appeal be made to our own experience? Do we not all
know what it is to be "tempted without sin," -- without sin, that is, in
reference to the particular thing to which we are tempted? Are there not
desires in our nature, not only thoroughly innocent, but a necessary part of
our humanity, which, nevertheless, give occasion to temptation? But on its
being recognised that to follow the impulse, however natural, would lead
to wrong-doing, the temptation is instantly repelled and integrity perfectly
preserved. In such a case there is temptation, conflict, victory -- all
without sin. Surely then what is possible to us on occasion, was also
possible to our Lord on all occasions, all through His pure and spotless life.
His taking our nature indeed involved not only the possibility, but the
necessity, of temptation.
The passage before us records what is known as the Temptation, by which
it is not, of course, meant that it was the only one. Our Lord was all His
life exposed to the assaults of the Tempter, which seem indeed to have
increased in violence as He approached the end of His life. Why, then, is
this attack singled out for special record? The reason seems obvious. It
marks the beginning of the life-work of the Messiah. In His quiet home at
Nazareth Jesus must have had the ordinary temptations to which childhood
and youth are subject. That was the time of quiet preparation for the great
campaign. Now, the war must begin. He must address Himself to the
mighty undertaking of destroying the works of the devil. The great
adversary, therefore, wisely endeavours to mar it at the outset, by a
deliberately planned series of assaults, directed against all the vulnerable
points of that human nature his great antagonism must wear. From this
time onward our Lord's whole life was to be a warfare, not against the
rage of wicked men only, but against the wiles of the unseen adversary,
whose opposition must have been as bitter and relentless as that of his
representatives in flesh and blood. From the nature of the case, the conflict
----

waged in the spiritual sphere could not appear in the history. It belonged to
that hidden life, of which even the closest disciples could see but very little.
We get a hint of it occasionally in certain looks, and words betokening
inward conflict, and in those frequent retirings to solitary places to pray;
but of the actual soul experience we have no record, except in the case of
this first pitched battle, so to call it, of the lifelong conflict. It is evident
that our Lord Himself must have given His disciples the information on this
deeply interesting subject which enabled them to put it on record, for the
encouragement and comfort of His people in all time to come. Blessed be
His Holy Name, for this unveiling of His hidden life.
The greater portion, indeed, is still veiled. A dark cloud of mystery hangs
over the forty days. Nothing else is told of them in this Gospel than that
Jesus fasted for that time -- an indication of sustained intensity in the life
of His spirit. From St. Mark and St. Luke we learn that the temptation
lasted throughout the entire period -- a fact not at all inconsistent with
sustained spiritual elevation, for it is just at such periods that man is most
exposed to the assaults of the enemy. We may not penetrate the darkness
of these forty days. Like the darkness in Gethsemane, and again, from the
sixth to the ninth hour on Calvary, it forbids entrance. These were times
when even "the disciple whom Jesus loved" could not be with Him. These
are solitudes that can never be disturbed. Only this we know that it was
necessary that our Saviour should pass through these dark "cloud-gates" as
He entered on and as He finished His priestly work on earth.
But though we cannot comprehend what our Lord did for us during these
forty days, when He "recovered Paradise to all mankind." we, may,
remembering that He was tempted not only as our Representative. but as
our Exemplar endeavour with all humility and reverence to enter into this
soul-experience of our Lord, so far as the vivid representation of its main
features in the inspired record warrants.
It is always difficult to tell the story of soul-experience in such a way as to
come home to the common mind and heart of humanity. It will not do to
tell it in the language of philosophy or psychology, which none but those
familiar with such discussions could understand. It must be addressed to
the imagination as well as to the pure reason. If this had been sufficiently
kept in view, it might have saved many a difficulty on the part of those who
have set themselves to discover exactly what were the outward
circumstances of the temptation, forgetting that here especially it is the
inward and spiritual with which we have to do, not the outward and
----

physical. It is not what happened to the body of Jesus, -- whether it was
actually carried to a pinnacle of the Temple or not, -- with which we have
any concern in connection with the subject of temptation; but what
happened to His soul: for it is the soul of man, not his body, which is
tempted.
It is above all things necessary to hold firmly to the reality of the
temptation. It was no mere sham fight: it was just as real as any we have
ever had when most fiercely assailed by the tempter. This will, of course,
dispose of the vulgar idea that the devil appeared in recognisable shape,
like one of Dore's fiends. Some people cannot rise above the folly of
imagining that there is nothing real that is not material, and therefore that
our Saviour could have had no conflict with Satan, if Satan had not
assumed some material shape. The power of temptation consists of its
appearance of being suggested without sinister intent. Our Lord was
tempted "like as we are," and therefore had not the advantage of seeing the
tempter in his proper person. He may have appeared "as an angel of light,"
or it may have been only as an invisible spirit that he came. However that
may be, it was unquestionably a spiritual experience; and in that consists its
reality and value.
In order firmly to grasp the reality of the conflict, we must not only bear in
mind that our Lord had to contend with the same invisible adversary whom
we must encounter, but that He had to meet him just as we have to meet
him -- not as God, but as man. The man Christ Jesus was tempted, and in
His human nature He triumphed. He had "emptied Himself" of His Divine
attributes; and to have had recourse to them when the battle raged too
fiercely for His resources as a man, would have been to have
acknowledged defeat. What need was there to show that God could
triumph over Satan? There needed no Incarnation and no wilderness
contest for that. Had it not been as a man that He triumphed there had been
no victory at all. It is true that He went into the wilderness in the power of
the Spirit; but so may we go into any wilderness or anywhere. It was
through Divine strength He triumphed, but only in that strength made
perfect in human weakness according to the promise which is valid for us
all. Here too "He was tempted like as we are," with the same ways and
means of resisting the temptation and overcoming it as are available to us.
It follows from all this that we should not look at this temptation scene as
something quite foreign to ourselves, but should endeavour to enter into it,
and, as far as possible, to realise it. Observe first the close connection with
the baptism. This is made prominent and emphatic in all the three accounts.
----

Evidently, then, it supplies the key to it. The baptism of Christ was His
consecration to the work of His Messiahship. And let us not imagine that
He had any ready-made plan for the accomplishment of it. His was no
stereotyped life-work, such as that which most of us take up, in which we
can learn from those who have gone before how they set about it and
proceed accordingly. Even with all that advantage most of us have to do
not a little hard thinking, before we can lay our plans. Could it be, then,
that He who had such a work before Him had no need to think over it, and
plan it, and weigh different methods of procedure, and face the difficulties
which every one who enters on a new enterprise has to meet? Do not let us
forget for a moment that He was a real man, and that in planning the
course He would pursue, as in all other points, He" was tried like as we
are.
Accordingly, no sooner is He baptised, than He withdraws by Himself
alone, as Moses and others had done when about to enter on their work, to
commune with God and to take counsel with His own thoughts. Was He
free from all misgiving? Let us not imagine that it was impossible for Him
to doubt. Tempted in all points like as we are, He must have known this
sore temptation. One may well suppose, then, that He was visited again
and again with misgivings during these forty days, so that it was not at all
unnatural that temptation should take the form: "If Thou be the Son of
God."
Look now at the first temptation, and mark the double human weakness to
which it was addressed. On the one hand doubt -- "If Thou art the Son of
God;" on the other, hunger -- for He had fasted long and had as strong a
craving for bread as any of us would have had in the circumstances. See
now the force of the temptation. He is suffering from hunger; He is
tempted to doubt. How can He have relief? "If Thou be the Son of God,
command that these stones be made bread." Special powers are intrusted
to Him for His work as Messiah. Should He not use them now? Why not?
So in his subtlety suggests the tempter. In vain. He had taken His place
among His brother-men, and would not separate Himself from them. They
could not command stones to be made bread; and would He cease to be
their brother? What saith the Law? A well-known passage leaps into His
memory: "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that
proceedeth out of the mouth of God." Man must trust in God, and when he
is hungry in the wilderness, as Israel was of old, must look upwards for his
help. So must I; so will I. And He bears the hunger, repels the doubt, and
conquers His subtle foe.
----

The thought of the doubt that must exist in other minds if not in His own,
gives occasion for a second assault. To have proved His power by
commanding the stones to be made bread would only have gratified a
personal craving. But would it not advance His work to make some signal
display of the powers by which He shall be accredited -- do something that
would attract universal attention; not in the desert, but in Jerusalem; --
why not show to all the people that God is with Him by casting Himself
from the pinnacle of the Temple? "If Thou be the Son of God. cast Thyself
down: for it is written, He shall give His angels charge concerning Thee;
and in their hands they shall bear Thee up, lest at any time Thou dash Thy
foot against a stone." One sees at once the added force of this temptation.
The hunger remains, together with the weakness of body and faintness of
spirit which always accompany it. And the very weapon He used to repel
the first assault is turned against Him now, for His adversary has found a
passage of Scripture, which he uses with great effect. Moreover, the appeal
seems to be to that very spirit of trustfulness which stood Him in such
stead in His first encounter. Is He not hard beset? What then? Does He in
this emergency summon to His aid any ally denied to us in similar stress of
trial? No: He does exactly what we have to do in the same case: meets
Scripture quoted with a bias by other Scripture thought of without
prejudice. He recognises that the Scripture first presented to His mind is
only a part of the truth which bears on the case. Something more must be
had in view, before the path of duty is clear. To meet the distracting
thought, this word occurs, "Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God. It is
one thing to trust, another to tempt. I was trusting when I refused to
command the stones to be made bread. But I should be tempting God were
I to cast myself down from a pinnacle of the Temple. I should be
experimenting upon Him, as did the children of Israel at Meribah and at
Massah (for that is the connection of the words He quotes) when they said,
"Is the Lord among us or not?" I must not experiment, must not tempt, I
must simply trust. Thus victory is gained a second time.
If it is not right to begin His work by any such display as that which the
Tempter has just suggested, how shall it be begun? A question surely of
unexampled difficulty. The air was full of expectancy in regard to the
coming of King Messiah., The whole nation was ready to hail him. Not
only so, but even the heathen nations were more or less prepared for His
coming. Why not take advantage of this favourable state of things at home
and abroad? Why not proclaim a kingdom that will satisfy these
widespread expectations, and gather round itself all those enthusiasms;
and, after having thus won the people, then proceed to lead them on to
----

higher and better things? Why not? It would be bowing down to the prince
of this world. It is clearly a temptation of the Evil One. To yield to it would
be to fall down before him and worship him in exchange for the kingdoms
of this world and the glory of them. It would be gaining the allegiance of
men by methods which are not of God, but of the great adversary. He
recognises the device of Satan to lure Him from the path of self-denial
which He sees to be the path of duty; accordingly, with energy He says,
"Get thee hence, Satan; for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy
God, and Him only shalt thou serve." In establishing My kingdom I must
show Myself to be a servant and worshipper of God and of Him only;
accordingly, no worldly methods must be used, however promising they
may seem to be; the battle must be fought with spiritual weapons, the
kingdom must be established by spiritual forces alone, and on truth and
love alone must I depend: I choose the path of the Cross. "Get thee hence,
Satan."
The crisis is passed. The path of duty and of sorrow lies plain and clear
before Him. He has refused to turn aside to the right hand or to the left.
The Tempter has been foiled at every point, and so must withdraw, for the
time, at least, "Then the devil leaveth Him; and, behold, angels came and
ministered unto Him."
----

CHAPTER 6.
BEGINNING OF HIS GALILEAN MINISTRY. --
MATTHEW 4:12-25.
DID our Lord's ministry begin in Galilee? If so, why did He not Himself
set the example of "beginning at Jerusalem"? As a matter of fact we learn
from the fourth Gospel that He did begin at Jerusalem; and that it was only
after He was rejected there that He changed the scene of His labours to the
North. Why then do the three Evangelists not mention this earlier ministry
in the South? The answer to this question seems suggested by the stress
laid by each of the three on the fact of John's imprisonment, as giving the
date after which Christ commenced His work in the North. Here, for
example (ver. 12), it is put thus: "Now when He heard that John was
delivered up, He withdrew into Galilee." Their idea, then, seems to be that
the Judean ministry of Christ belonged rather to the closing months of
John's career; and that only after John's mission, the sphere of which had
been mainly in the South, had closed, could the special work of Christ be
regarded as having begun.
If we review the facts we shall see how natural and accurate was this view
of the case. John was sent to prepare the way of the Lord, to open the door
of Jerusalem and Judea for His coming. At first the herald meets with great
success. Jerusalem and Judea flock out to him for his baptism. The way
seems ready. The door is opened. The Messiah has come; and John has
pointed Him out as "the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the
world." Now the Passover is at hand. People will be gathered together
from all parts of the land. What better time for the Lord to come to His
temple? And, as we are told in the fourth Gospel, Jesus takes the
opportunity, goes up to Jerusalem, enters into the Temple, and at once
begins to cleanse it. How is He received? As one whose way has been
prepared, whose claims have been duly authenticated by a prophet of the
Lord, as all acknowledge John to be? Not at all. Forth step the Temple
officials and ask Him by what authority He does these things. He has come
unto His own; His own receive Him not. He does not, however, too hastily
accept their suicidal refusal to receive Him. He gives them time to think of
it. He tarries in the neighbourhood, He and John baptising in the same
region; patiently waiting, as it would seem, for signs of relenting on the
part of the rulers and Pharisees, -- one of whom, indeed, has come by
----

night and made inquiries; and who can tell what the result will be --
whether this Nicodemus may not be able to win the others over, so that
after all there will be waiting for the King the welcome He ought to have,
and which He is well entitled to expect after the reception given to His
herald? But no: the impression of John's preaching and baptism is wearing
off: the hardness of heart returns, and passes into positive bitterness, which
reaches such a height that at last Herod finds the tide so turned that he can
hazard what a few months before would have been the foolhardy policy of
seizing John and shutting him in prison. So ends the mission of John --
beginning with largest hope, ending in cruellest disappointment.
The early Judean ministry of Christ, then, as related by St. John, may be
regarded as the opportunity which Christ gave to the nation, as represented
by the capital and the Temple, to follow out the mission of John to its
intended issue -- an opportunity which the leaders of the nation wasted
and threw away, and which therefore came to nothing. Hence it is that the
three Evangelists, without giving any of the details which were afterwards
supplied by St. John, sum up the closing months of the forerunner's
ministry in the one fact which suggests all, that John was silenced, and shut
up in prison. We see, then, that though Jesus did in a sense commence His
work in Galilee, He did not do so until He had first given the authorities of
the city and the Temple the opportunity of having it begin, as it would
seem most natural that it should have begun, in the centre of the old
kingdom.
But though it was His treatment in the South which was the immediate
cause of this withdrawal to the North and the beginning of the
establishment of the new kingdom there, yet this was no unforeseen
contingency -- this too was anticipated in the prophetic page, for herein
was fulfilled the word of Isaiah the prophet, spoken long ago of this same
northern land: "The land of Zabulon and the land of Nepthalim, by the way
of the sea, beyond Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles; the people which sat in
darkness saw great light; and to them which sat in the region and shadow
of death light is sprung up."
It is the old story over again. No room in the inn, so He must be born in a
manger; no safety in Judea, so He must be carried to Egypt; no room for
Him in His own capital and His Father's house, so He must away to the
country, the uttermost part of the land, which men despised, the very
speech of which was reckoned barbarous in the polite ears of the
metropolitans, a region which was scarce counted of the land at all, being
----

known as "Galilee of the Gentiles," a portion of the country which had
been overrun more than any other by the foreign invader, and therefore
known as "the region and shadow of death;" here it is that the new light
will arise, the new power be first acknowledged, and the new blessing first
enjoyed one of the many illustrations of the Lord's own saying, "Many of
the last shall be first, and the first last."
Here, then, our Lord begins the work of setting up His kingdom. He takes
up the same message which had seemed to return void to its preacher in
the South. John had come saying, "Repent ye; for the kingdom of heaven is
at hand." The people of the South had seemed to repent; and the kingdom
seemed about to come in the ancient capital. But the repentance was only
superficial: and though it still remained true that the kingdom was at hand,
it was not to begin in Jerusalem.
So, in the new, and. to human appearance, far less promising field in the
North, the work must be begun afresh; and now the same stirring words
are ringing in Galilee, as rang a few months before in Judea: "Repent; for
the kingdom of heaven is at hand."
It is now in fact close at hand. It is interesting to note its first beginnings.
"And Jesus walking by the sea of Galilee,f4 saw two brethren, Simon called
Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea; for they were
fishers. And He saith unto them, Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of
men. And they straightway left their nets, and followed Him. And going on
from thence He saw other two brethren, James the son of Zebedee, and
John his brother, in a ship with Zebedee their father, mending their nets;
and He called them and they immediately left the ship and their father, and
followed Him."
Observe in the first place that, though John is in prison, and to all human
appearance failure has been written on the work of his life, the failure is
only seeming. The multitudes that had been stirred by his preaching have
relapsed into their old indifference, but there are a few whose souls have
been permanently touched to finer issues. They are not of the lordly
Pharisees or of the brilliant Sadducees; they cannot even claim to be
metropolitans: they are poor Galllean fishermen: but they gave heed when
the prophet pointed them to the Lamb of God, the Messiah that was to
come; and though they had only spent a short time in His company, yet
golden links had been forged between them; they had heard the Shepherd's
voice: had fully recognised His Kingly claims; and so were ready, waiting
for the word of command. Now it comes. The same Holy One of Nazareth
----

is walking by the shores of their lake. He has been proclaiming His
kingdom, as now at last beginning; and, though the manner of its
establishment is so entirely different from anything to which their thoughts
have been accustomed in the past, their confidence in Him is such that they
raise no doubt or question. Accordingly, when they see Him coming alone
and unattended, without any of the trappings or the suits of royalty,
without any badge or sign of office, with a simple word of command, -- a
word of command, moreover, which demanded of them the sacrifice of all
for His sake, the absolute trusting of themselves and all their future to His
guidance and care, -- they do not hesitate for a single moment; but first
Andrew and Simon his brother, and a little further on James and John his
brother, straightway leave nets, father, friends, home, everything, and
follow Him.
Such was the first exercise of the royal authority of the new King. Such
was the constitution of His -- Cabinet shall we call it? -- or of His
Kingdom itself, shall we not rather say? for, so far as we can see, His
cabinet at this moment was all the kingdom that he had. Let us here pause
a moment and try to realise the picture painted for us in that grey morning
time of what we now call the Christian Era. Suppose some of our artists
could reproduce the scene for us: in the background the lake with the
deserted boats upon the shore, old Zebedee with a half sad, half bewildered
look upon his face, wondering what was happening, trying to imagine what
he would do without his sons, and what his sons would do without him and
the boat and the nets; and, in the foreground, the five men walking along,
four of them without the least idea of where they were going or of what
they had to do. Or suppose that, instead of having a picture of it now, with
all the light that eighteen centuries have shed upon it, we could transport
ourselves back to the very time and stand there on the very spot and see
the scene with our own eyes; and suppose that we were told by some
bystander, That man of the five that looks like the leader of the rest thinks
himself a king: he imagines he has been sent to set up a kingdom of Heaven
upon the earth; and he has just asked these other four to join him, and there
they are, setting out upon their task. What should we have thought? If we
had had only flesh and blood to consult with, we should have thought the
whole thing supremely ridiculous; we should have expected to see the four
men back to their boats and nets again in a few days, sadder but wiser men.
How far Zebedee had a spiritually enlightened mind we dare not say;
perhaps he was as willing that his sons should go, as they were to go; but if
he was, it could not have been flesh and blood that revealed it to him; he as
well as his sons must have felt the power of the Spirit that was in Christ.
----

But if he did not at all understand it or believe in it, we can fancy him
saying to the two young men when they left: "Go off now, if you like; you
will be back again in a few days, and foolish as you have been, your old
father will be glad to take you into his boat again."
It is worth while for us to try to realise what happened in its veriest
simplicity; for we have read the story so often, and are so thoroughly
familiar with it, that we are apt to miss its marvel, to fail to recognise that it
is perhaps the most striking illustration in all history of the apostle's
statement, "God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound
the wise, and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound
the things which are mighty,... that no flesh should glory in His presence,"
Where was ever a weaker thing in this world than the beginning of this
kingdom? It would be difficult to imagine any commencement that would
have seemed weaker in worldly eyes. Stand by once again and look at it
with only human eyes; say, is it not all weakness together? -- weakness in
the leader to imagine He can set up a kingdom after such a fashion,
weakness in the followers to leave a paying business on such a fool's
errand. But "the foolishness of God is wiser than men: and the weakness of
God is stronger than men." And now that we look back upon that scene,
we recognise it as one of the grandest this earth has ever witnessed. If it
were painted now, what light must there be in the Leader's eye, what
majesty in His step, what glory of dawning faith and love and hope in the
faces of the rest -- it must needs be a picture of Sunrise, or it would be
utterly unworthy of the theme!
Now follow them: where will they go, and what will they do? Will they
take arms and call to arms the countryside? Then march on Jerusalem and
take the throne of David, and thence to Rome and snatch from Caesar the
sceptre of the world? "And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their
synagogues, and preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom, and healing all
manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people." Teaching
-- preaching -- healing: these were the methods for setting up the
kingdom. "Teaching" -- this was the new light; "preaching the Gospel of
the Kingdom" -- this was the new power, power not of the sword but of
the Word, the power of persuasion, so that the people will yield themselves
willingly or not at all, for there is to be not a shadow of constraint, not the
smallest use of force or compulsion, not the slightest interference with
human freedom in this new kingdom; and "healing," -- this is to be the
great thing; this is what a sick world wants, this is what souls and bodies of
----

men alike are crying out for -- "healing all manner of sickness and all
manner of disease among the people." Heavenly light, heavenly power,
heavenly healing -- these are the weapons of the new warfare: these the
regalia of the new kingdom. "And the report of Him went forth into all
Syria; and they brought unto Him all that were sick, holden with divers
diseases and torments, possessed with devils, and epileptic, and palsied;
and He healed them" (R.V.). Call to mind, for a moment, how in the
extremity of hunger He would not use one fraction of the entrusted power
for His own behoof. "Himself He cannot save." But see how He saves
others. No stinting now of the heavenly power; it flows in streams of
blessing: "They brought unto Him all that were sick... and He healed
them."
It is daybreak on the shores of Galilee. The Sun of Righteousness has risen
with healing in His wings.
----

CHAPTER 7.
THE GOSPEL OF THE KINGDOM. ("SERMON ON THE
MOUNT.") --MATTHEW 5., 6., 7.
IT may seem almost heresy to object to the time-honoured title "Sermon
on the Mount;" yet, so small has the word "sermon" become, on account
of its application to those productions of which there is material for a
dozen in single sentences of this great discourse, that there is danger of
belittling it by the use of a title which suggests even the remotest
relationship to these ephemeral efforts. No mere sermon is this, only
distinguished from others of its class by its reach and sweep and power: it
stands alone as the grand charter of the commonwealth of heaven; or, to
keep the simple title the evangelist himself suggests (<400423>Matthew 4:23), it
is "The Gospel (or good news) of the Kingdom." To understand it aright
we must keep this in mind, avoiding the easy method of treating it as a
mere series of lessons on different subjects, and endeavouring to grasp the
unity of thought and purpose which binds its different parts into one grand
whole.
It may help us to do this if we first ask ourselves what questions would
naturally arise in the minds of the more thoughtful of the people, when they
heard the announcement, "The kingdom of heaven is at hand." It was
evidently, to such persons the Lord addressed Himself. "Seeing the
multitudes," we read, "He went up into the mountain," perhaps for the
purpose of selecting His audience. The idle and indifferent would stay
down on the plain; only those who were in some measure stirred in spirit
would follow Him as He climbed the steep ascent from the shore of the
lake to the plateau above; and in their minds they would in all probability
be revolving such questions as these:
(1) "What is this kingdom, what advantages does it offer, and who
are the people that belong to it?"
(2) "What is required of those that belong to it? what are its laws
and obligations?" And it these two questions were answered
satisfactorily, a third would naturally follow --
----

(3) "How may those who desire to share its privileges and assume
its obligations become citizens of it?" These, accordingly, are the
three great questions dealt with in succession.
I. THE NATURE. AND CONSTITUTION OF THE KINGDOM (vv. 2-
16: first in itself, and then in relation to the world).
1. In Itself ("The Beatitudes"), <400502>Matthew 5:2-12.
The answer to the questions in the people's hearts is given in no cold
didactic way. The truth about the heavenly kingdom comes warm from a
loving heart yearning over the woes of a weary and heavy-laden humanity.
Its first word is "Blessed"; its first paragraph, Beatitudes. Plainly the King
of Heaven has come to bless. There is no thunder nor lightning nor tempest
on this mount; all is calm and peaceful as a summer's day.
How high the key-note struck in this first word of the King! The
advantages usually associated with the best earthly government are very
moderate indeed. We speak of the commonwealth, a word which is
supposed to mean the common welfare; but the common welfare is quite
beyond the power of any earthly government, which at most can only give
protection against those enemies that would hinder the people from doing
what they can to secure their own welfare. But here is a kingdom which is
to secure the well-being of all who belong to it; and not well-being only,
but something far beyond and above it: for "eye hath not seen, nor ear
heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God
hath prepared for them that love Him," and which His ambassador
wrapped up in that great word "Blessed," the key-note of the Gospel of the
Kingdom.
As he proceeds to show wherein this blessedness is to be found, we are
struck by the originality of the conception, and its opposition to vulgar
ideas. What the ordinary way of thinking on the subject is to this day can
be readily seen in that very word "wealth," which in its original significance
means welfare, but from the mistaken idea that a man's life consists in the
abundance of the things which he possesses has come to mean what it
means now. Who can tell the woes that result from the prevalence of this
grand mistake -- how men are led off in pursuit of happiness in a wrong
direction altogether, away from its true source, and set to contending and
competing with one another, so that there is constant danger -- a danger
averted only by the degree in which the truth enshrined in the Beatitudes
prevails -- that "the common wealth" will become the common woe?
----

What a different world this would be if only the teaching of Christ on this
one subject were heartily accepted -- not by a few here and there, but by
society at large! Then should we see indeed a kingdom of heaven upon
earth.
For observe wherein our new King finds the universal weal. We cannot
follow the beatitudes one by one; but glancing over them we see, running
through them all, this great truth -- that blessedness is essentially spiritual,
that it depends not so much on a man's condition as on his character, not
so much on what he has as on what he is. It needs no great effort of
imagination to see that if men in general were to make it their main object
and endeavour in life to be what they ought to be, rather than to scramble
for what they can get, this earth would speedily become a moral paradise.
In expounding the blessedness of the kingdom the Master has unfolded the
character of its members, thus not only explaining the nature of the
kingdom and the advantages to be enjoyed under it, but also showing who
those are that belong to it. That this was intended seems evident from the
first and the last of the beatitudes, both ending with the emphatic words
"theirs is the kingdom of heaven." It is as if on the two gates at the hither
and farther end of this beautiful garden were inscribed the words, "The
truly blessed ones, the citizens of the commonwealth of heaven, are those
who are at home here." Originality of conception is again apparent. A
kingdom so constituted was an entirely new thing in the-world. Previously
it had been a matter of race or of place or of forced subjection. The
forefathers of these people had belonged to the kingdom of Israel, because
they belonged to Israel's race; themselves belonged to the empire of Rome,
because their country had been conquered and they were obliged to
acknowledge Rome's sway; moreover, they were subjects of Herod
Antipas, simply because they lived in Galilee. Here was a kingdom in which
race distinctions had no place, which took no account of territorial limits,
which made no appeal to force of arms or rights of conquest -- a kingdom
founded on character.
Yet it is no mere aristocracy of natural virtue. It is not a Royal Academy of
the spiritually noble and great. Its line seems rather to stretch down to the
lowest, for who else are the poor in spirit? And the mourners and the meek
are no elect classes of nature's nobility. On the other hand, however, it
runs up to heights even quite out of sight of the easy-going virtue of the
day; for those who belong to this kingdom are men full of eager
aspirations, bent on heart purity, given to efforts for the good of others,
----

ready even to suffer the loss of all things for truth and righteousness' sake.
The line is stretched so far down that even the lowest may enter; yet it runs
up so high that those have no place in it who are satisfied with mere
average morality, who count it enough to be free from vices that degrade
the man, and innocent of crimes that offend the state. Most respectable
citizens of an earthly commonwealth such honest men may be; but no
kingdom of heaven is open to such as they. The foundations of common
morality are of course assumed, as is made specially evident in the next
division of the great discourse; but it would have been quite misleading had
the Herald of heaven's kingdom said "Blessed are the honest." or "Blessed
is the man who tells no lies." The common virtues are quite indispensable;
but there must be something beyond these -- first a sense of need of
something far higher and better, then a hungering and thirsting after it, and
as a necessary consequence some attainment of it, in order to citizenship in
the kingdom of heaven and enjoyment of its blessedness.
The last beatitude breaks forth into a song of joy. No light-hearted joy, as
of those who shut their eyes to the dark things in life, but joy in facing the
very worst the world can do: "Blessed are ye when men shall revile you,
and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for
My sake. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad." O wonderful alchemy of
heaven, which can change earth's dust and ashes into purest gold[ Think,
too, what riches and royalty of spirit in place of the poverty with which the
series began.
These eight beatitudes are the diatonic scale of heaven's music. Its key-
note is blessing; its upper octave, joy. Those who heard it first with
quickened souls could no longer doubt that the kingdom of heaven was at
hand; indeed, was there on the mountain that day!
2. In Relation to the World (vv. 13-16).
The original promise to Abraham was twofold: "I will bless thee," "Thou
shalt be a blessing" (<011202>Genesis 12:2). The beatitudes correspond to the
former, the passage before us to the latter. The beatitudes are, so to speak,
the home affairs of the kingdom of heaven; the passage which follows is
occupied with foreign relations. Those spoke of blessedness within, this
speaks of usefulness without; for the disciples of Christ are known not only
by their personal character and disposition, but also by their influence on
others.
----

The relations of the members of the kingdom to "those that are without" is
a complex and difficult subject; but the essence of it is set forth with
surpassing clearness, comprehensiveness, and simplicity by the use of two
unpretentious but most expressive figures, almost infinite in their
suggestiveness -- salt and light. This is our first experience of a well-
known characteristic of the teaching of Christ -- viz., His use of the
simplest and most familiar objects of nature and circumstances of daily life,
to convey highest and most important truth; and at once we recognise the
touch of the Master. We cannot fail to see that out of all nature's infinity
He has selected the two illustrations, -- the only two, which exactly fit and
fill the purpose for which He employs them. To the thoughtful mind there
is something here which prepares for such tokens of mastery over nature as
are found later on in the hushing of the storm and the stilling of the sea.
"Salt" suggests the conservative, "light" the liberal, side of the politics of
the kingdom; but the two are not in opposition, they are in fullest harmony,
the one being the complement of the other. Christian people, if they are
what they profess to be, are all conservatives and all liberals: conservators
of all that is good, and diffusers of all that is of the nature of light. Each of
these sides of Christian influence is presented in succession.
"Ye are the salt of the earth." The metaphor suggests the sad fact that,
whatever tendency to upward development there may be in the world of
nature, there is a contrary tendency in the world of men, so far as character
is concerned The world has often made great advances in civilisation; but
these, unless counteracted by forces from above, have always been
accompanied by a degeneracy in morals, which in course of time has
brought about the ruin of mighty states. All that is best and most hopeful in
mere worldly civilisation has in it the canker of moral evil,
"That rotting inward slowly moulders all."
The only possible counteractive is the introduction of an element into
society which will hold in check the forces that make for unrighteousness,
and be itself an elevating and purifying influence. Such an element
Christians were to be in the world.
Such, to a large extent, they have been. That they were the salt of the
Roman empire during the evil days of its decline, no student of history can
fail to see. Again, in the Dark Ages that followed, we can still trace the
sweetening influence of those holy lives which were scattered like shining
grains of salt through the ferment and seething of the times. So it has been
----

throughout, and is still. It is true that there is no longer the sharp
distinction between Christians and the world which there was in days when
it cost something to confess Christ. There are now so many Christians in
name who are not so in reality, and, on the other hand, so many in reality
who are not so in name, and moreover so many who are Christians neither
in name nor in reality, but who are nevertheless unconsciously guided by
Christian principles as the result of the wide diffusion of Christian thought
and sentiment -- that the conservative influence of distinctive Christianity
is very difficult to estimate and is far less appreciated than it should be. But
it is as real and efficient as ever. If Christianity, as a conservative force in
society, were to be suddenly eliminated, the social fabric would fall in
ruins; but if only the salt were all genuine, if Christian people everywhere
had the savour of the eight beatitudes about them, their conservative power
as to all that is good, and restraining influence as to all that is evil, would
be so manifest and mighty that none could question it.
If the salt would only keep its savour -- there is the weak point. We know
and feel it after the experience of all these centuries. And did not our
omniscient Lord lay His finger on it at the very outset? He needed not that
any one should tell Him what was in man. He knew that there was that in
His truth which would be genuinely and efficiently conservative; but He
knew equally well that there was that in man which would to a large extent
neutralise that conservative power, that the salt would be in constant
danger of losing its savour. Hence, after the encouraging words "Ye are
the salt of the earth," He gives an earnest warning which necessarily
moderates the too sanguine anticipations that would otherwise have been
excited.
Alas! with what sad certainty has history proved the need of this warning!
The salt lost its savour in the churches of the East, or it would never have
been cast out and trodden under foot of the Mohammedan invaders. It lost
its savour in the West, or there would have been no papal corruption,
growing worse and worse till it seemed as if Western Christendom must in
turn be dissolved -- a fate which was only averted by the fresh salt of the
Reformation revival. In modern times there is ever the same danger,
sometimes affecting all the churches, as in the dark days preceding the
revival under Whitefield and Wesley, always affecting some of them or
some portions of them, as is too apparent on every hand in these days in
which we live. There is as much need as ever to lay to heart the solemn
warning of the King. It is as pungent as salt itself. "Of what use," He asks,
"is tasteless salt? It is fit only to be cast out and trodden under foot of
----

men." Equally useless is the so-called Christian, who has nothing in
character or life to distinguish him from the world; who, though he may be
honest and truthful and sober, a very respectable citizen of an earthly
kingdom, has none of the characteristic marks of the kingdom of heaven,
none of the savour of the beatitudes about him. It is only because there are
still so many savourless Christians that the value of the Church as a
conservative influence on society is so little recognised; and that there are
so many critics, not all unintelligent or wilfully unfair, who begin to think it
is time that it were cast out and trodden under foot of men.
"Ye are the light of the world." We need not stay to show the liberality of
light. Its peculiar characteristic is giving, spending; for this purpose wholly
it exists, losing its own life in order to find it again in brightness diffused on
all around.
Observe, it is not "Ye carry the light," but "Ye are the light." We are apt to
think of light in the abstract -- as truth, as doctrine, as something to be
believed and held and expounded. We quote the familiar words, "Great is
the Truth, and it shall prevail," and we imagine they are true. They are true
indeed, in the long run, but not as often understood, certainly not in the
region of the moral and spiritual. Of course truth in the abstract, especially
moral and spiritual truth, ought to prevail; but it never does when men's
interests lie, or seem to lie, in the contrary direction. Such truth, to be
mighty, must be vitalised; it must glow in human hearts, burn on human
tongues, shine in human lives. The King of truth knew this well; and hence
He placed the hope of the future, the hope of dispelling the world's
darkness, not in abstract truth, but in truth incarnate in the true disciple:
"Ye are the light of the world."
In the strictest and highest sense, of course, Christ Himself is the Light of
the world. This is beautifully set forth in discourses reported by another
Evangelist (<430812>John 8:12, 9:5); and, indeed, it has ,been already taught by
implication in the Evangel before us, where, as we have seen, the opening
of Christ's ministry is likened to sunrise in the land of Zebulon and
Naphtali (<400416>Matthew 4:16). But the personal Christ cannot remain upon
the earth. Only for a few years can He be in this way the Light of the
world, as He expressly says in one of the passages above referred to
(<430905>John 9:5); and He is speaking now not for the next few years, but for
the coming centuries, during which He must be represented by His faithful
disciples, appointed to be His witnesses (<440108>Acts 1:8) to the ends of the
----

earth; so at once He puts the responsibility on them, and says, "Ye are the
light of the world."
This responsibility it was impossible to avoid. As a matter of course, the
kingdom of heaven must be a prominent object in the sight of men. The
mountain of the Lord's house must be established on the top of the
mountains (<230202>Isaiah 2:2), and therefore may not be inconspicuous: "A
city set on a hill cannot be hid." It has been often said, but it will bear
repeating, that Christians are the world's Bible. People who never read a
word of either Old or New Testament will read the lives of those who
profess to draw their inspiration thence, and will judge accordingly. They
will form their opinions of Christ and of His kingdom by those who call
themselves or are called by others Christians. "A city set on a hill cannot be
hid." Here we have a truth complementary to that other conveyed in the
symbol of salt. It taught that true Christians exert a great deal of silent,
unobserved influence, as of salt hidden in a mass; but, besides this, there is
their position as connected with the kingdom of heaven which forbids their
being wholly hid.
Indeed, it is their duty to see to it that they are not artificially hid: "Neither
do men light a lamp, and put it under the bushel, but on the stand; and it
shineth unto all that are in the house" (R.V.). How beautifully does the
illustration lend itself to the needed caution against timidity, without giving
the least encouragement to the opposite vice of ostentation! Why does
light shine? Simply because it cannot help it; it is its nature; without effort
or even consciousness, and making no noise, it, quietly does its duty; and
in the doing of it does not encourage but even forbids any looking at itself
-- and the brighter it is, the more severely does it forbid it. But while there
is no ostentatious obtrusiveness on the one hand, there is no ignoble
shirking on the other. Who would ever think of kindling a light and then
putting it under a bed? Yet how many Christians do that very thing when
they are called to work for Christ, to let the light He has given them shine
in some of the dark places where it is most needed!
Here, again, our Lord lays His finger on a weak spot. The Church suffers
sorely, not only from quantities of savourless salt, -- people calling
themselves Christians who have little or nothing distinctively Christian
about them, -- but also from bushel-covered lights, those who are
genuinely Christian, but who do all they can to hide it, refusing to speak on
the subject, afraid to show earnestness even when they feel it most,
carefully repressing every impulse to let their light shine before men, doing
----

everything, in fact, which is possible to render their testimony to Christ as
feeble, and their influence as Christians as small, as it can be. How many in
all our Christian communities are constantly haunted by a nervous fear lest
people should think them forward! For one person who makes a parade of
his Christianity there are a hundred or a thousand who want always to
shrink into a corner. This is not modesty; it is the sign of an unnatural self-
consciousness. The disciples of Christ should act simply, naturally,
unconsciously, neither making a display on the one hand nor hiding their
light on the other. So the Master puts it most beautifully and suggestively:
"Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works"
(not the worker -- that is of no consequences -- but the works), "and
glorify your Father which is in heaven."
So closes the first great division of the Manifesto of the King. It had begun
with "goodwill to men": it has shown the way of "`peace on earth"; it
closes with "glory to God in the highest." It is a prolonged echo of the
angels' song. The Gospel of the Kingdom, not only as set forth here in
these beautiful paragraphs, but in all its length and breadth and depth and
height, in all its range and scope and application, is but an expansion of its
very first proclamation: "Glory to God in the highest, on earth peace,
goodwill to men."
II. THE LAW OF THE KINGDOM (<400517>Matthew 5:17-7:12).
1. General Principles (vv. 17-20).
After blessing comes obligation -- after beatitude, law. It is the same order
as of old. The old covenant was in its origin and essence a covenant of.
promise, of blessing. Mercy, not duty, was its key-note. When God called
Abraham to the land of promise, His first word was: "I will bless thee, and
make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing" (<011202>Genesis 12:2).
Later on came the obligation resulting, as in <011701>Genesis 17:1: "Walk
before me, and be thou perfect." So in the history of the Nation, the
promise came first and the law followed it after an interval of four hundred
years -- a fact of which special use is made by the Apostle Paul
(<480317>Galatians 3:17, 18). The Mosaic dispensation itself began by an
acknowledgment of the ancient promise ("I am the God of your fathers" --
<020306>Exodus 3:6), and a fresh declaration of Divine mercy ("I know their
sorrows, and am come to deliver them" -- <020307>Exodus 3:7, 8). When
Mount Sinai was reached, the entire covenant was summarised in two
sentences, the first reciting the blessing, the second setting forth the
resulting obligation: "Thus shalt thou say to the house of Jacob, and tell the
----

children of Israel; Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I
bare you on eagles' wings, and brought you unto Myself. Now, therefore,
if ye will obey My voice indeed, and keep My covenant, then ye shall be a
peculiar treasure unto Me-above all people" (<021903>Exodus 19:3-5). The very
Decalogue itself is constructed on the same principle; for before a single
commandment is given, attention is called to the great salvation which has
been wrought on their behalf: "I am the Lord thy God, which brought thee
out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage." Thus closely does
the proclamation of the new kingdom follow the lines of the old; far above
and beyond it in respect of development, in essence it is the same.
It was therefore most appropriate that, in entering on the subject of the law
of His kingdom, Christ should begin with the caution, "Think not that I am
come to destroy the law or the prophets." On this point there would
necessarily be the greatest sensitiveness on the part of the people. The law
was their glory -- all their history had gathered round it, the prophets had
enforced and applied it; their sacred Scriptures, known broadly as "The
Law and the Prophets," had enshrined it. Was it, then, to be set aside for
new legislation? The feeling was quite natural and proper. It was necessary,
therefore, that the new King should set Himself right on a matter so
important. He has not come to overturn everything. He accepts the old
covenant more cordially and thoroughly than they do, as will presently
appear; He will build on it as a sure foundation; and whatever in His
legislation may be new grows naturally out of the old. It is, moreover,
worthy of notice that while the Mosaic economy is specially in His mind,
He does not entirely leave out of consideration the elements of truth in
other religious systems; and therefore defines the attitude He assumes as a
Legislator and Prophet, in terms of the widest generality: "I am not come
to destroy, but to fulfil."
While in the widest sense He came not to destroy, but to fulfil, so that He
could with fullest liberality acknowledge what was good and true in the
work of all former teachers, whoever and wherever they had been, thus
accepting and incorporating their "broken lights" as part of His "Light of
the world" (compare <430109>John 1:9), He can speak of the old covenant in a
way in which it would have been impossible to speak of the work of earth's
greatest and best. He can accept it as a whole without any reservation or
deduction: "For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or
one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled." Observe,
however, that this statement is not at all inconsistent with what He teaches
concerning the temporary character of much of the Mosaic legislation; it
----

simply makes it clear that whatever passes away, does not pass by
destruction, but by fulfilment -- i.e., the evolution of lets hidden life -- as
the bud passes into the rose. The bud is there no longer; but it is not
destroyed, it is fulfilled in the rose. So with the law as infolded in the Old
Testament, unfolded in the New. How well fitted to inspire all thoughtful
minds with confidence must have been the discovery that the policy of the
new kingdom was to be on the lines, not of brand-new experimental
legislation; but of Divine evolution!
Not only does He Himself do homage to the law, but takes order that His
followers shall do the same. It is no parting compliment that He pays the
old covenant. It is to be kept up both in the doing and in the teaching, from
generation to generation, even in its least commandments. Not that there is
to be such insistence on very small matters as to exclude altogether from
the kingdom of heaven those who do not press every jot and tittle; but that
these will be reckoned of such importance, that those who are lax in
doctrine and practice in regard to them must be counted among the least in
the kingdom; while those who destroy nothing, but seek to fulfil
everything, will be the great ones. What a foundation is laid here for
reverence of all that is contained in the law and the prophets! And has it
not been found that even in the very smallest features of the old covenant,
even in the details of the tabernacle worship, for example, there is for the
devout and intelligent Christian a treasury of valuable suggestion? Only we
must beware of putting jots and tittles in the place that belongs to the
weightier matters of the law, of which we have warnings sufficient in the
conduct of the scribes and Pharisees. Their righteousness had the
appearance of extending to the minutest matters; but, large as it seemed in
popular eyes, it was not nearly large enough; and accordingly, in closing
this general definition of His relation to the old covenant, our Lord had to
interpose this solemn warning: "I say unto you, that except your
righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes anti Pharisees,
ye shall in no case enter the kingdom of heaven." Theirs was a
righteousness as it were of the tips of the fingers, whereas He must have
"the whole body full of light"; theirs was a righteousness that tithed mint
and anise and cummin, and neglected judgment, mercy, and faith; theirs
was in the narrow sphere of the letter, that which He demanded must be in
the large and lofty region of the Spirit.
----

2. Illustrations from the Moral Law (vv. 21-48).
The selection of illustrative instances is made with consummate skill. Our
Lord, avoiding that which is specially Jewish in its interest, treats of
matters that are of worldwide importance. He deals With the broadest
principles of righteousness as adapted to the universal conscience of
mankind, starting at the lowest point of mere earthly morality and rising to
the very highest development of Christian character, thus leading up to the
magnificent conclusion: "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father
which is in heaven is perfect."
He begins with the crime which the natural conscience most strongly and
instinctively condemns, the crime, of murder; and shows that the scribes
and Pharisees, and those who had been like them in bygone days, really
destroyed the sixth commandment by limiting its range to the muscles, so
that, if there were no actual killing, the commandment was not broken;
whereas its. true sphere was the heart, the essence of the forbidden crime
being found in unjustifiable anger, even though no word is uttered or
muscle moved, -- a view of the case which ought to have been suggested
to the intelligent student of the law by such words as these: "Thou shalt not
hate thy brother in thine heart" (<031917>Leviticus 19:17); or again: "Whoso
killeth his neighbour ignorantly, whom he hated not in time past,... is not
worthy of death, inasmuch as he hated him not in time past"
(<051904>Deuteronomy 19:4). Hatred in the heart, then, is murder. How
searching! And how terribly severe the sentence! Even in its least
aggravated form it is the same as that decreed against the actual shedding
of blood. All the three sentences are death-penalties, only there are
aggravations in the penalty where there are aggravations in the offence.
Such is the Saviour's teaching on the great subject of sin. Yet there are
those who imagine that the Sermon on the Mount is all the gospel they
need!
The two practical applications which follow press the searching subject
home. The one has reference to the Throne of Grace, and teaches that all
offences against a brother must be put away-before approaching it. The
other has reference to the Throne of Judgment, and teaches by a familiar
illustration drawn from common experience in the courts of Palestine that
it is an awful thing to think of standing there with the memory of a single
angry feeling that had not been forgiven and utterly removed (<400526>Matthew
5:26).
----

The crime of adultery furnishes the next illustration; and He deals with it
on the same lofty principles and with the same terrible severity. He shows
that this crime, too, is of the heart -- that even a wanton look is a
commission of it; and again follows up His searching exposition by a
twofold practical application, first showing that personal purity must be
maintained at any cost (vv. 29, 30), and then guarding the sacredness of
home, by that exaltation of the marriage bond which has secured the
emancipation of woman and her elevation to her proper sphere, and kept in
check those frightful evils which are ever threatening to defile the pure and
sacred spring from which society derives its life and sustenance (vv. 31-
32).
Next comes the crime of perjury -- a compound sin, which breaks at the
same time two commandments of the Decalogue, the third and the ninth.
Here, again, our Lord shows that, if only due homage is paid in the heart to
reverence and to truth, all swearing is superseded. Let a man habitually live
in the fear of the Lord all the day long, and "his word is as good as has
oath" -- he will always speak the truth, and will be incapable of taking the
name of the Lord in vain. It is of course to be remembered that these are
the laws of the kingdom of Christ; not laws meant for the kingdoms of this
world, which have to do with men of all sorts, but for a kingdom made up
of those who hunger and thirst after righteousness, who seek and find
purity of heart. This passage accordingly has no bearing on the procedure
of secular courts of justice. But, though the use of oaths may still be a
necessity in the world, in the kingdom of heaven they have no place. The
simple "Yea, yea," "Nay, nay," is quite enough where there is truth in the
inward parts and the fear of God before the eyes; and the feeling of
reverence, not only for God Himself, but for all the works of His hands,
will effectually prevent the most distant approach to profanity.
The sin of revenge furnishes the next illustration. The Pharisaic perversion
of the old law actually sanctioned private revenge, on the ground of a
statute intended for the guidance of the courts of justice, and given for the
sake of curbing the revengeful spirit which without it would lead a
prosecutor to demand that his enemy should suffer more than he had
inflicted. In this way they really destroyed that part of the Mosaic
legislation, whereas He fulfilled it by developing still further, -- bringing,
in fact, to perfection, -- that spirit of humanity which had dictated the law
at the first. The true spirit of the Mosaic legislation was to discourage
private revenge by assigning such cases to the courts, and curbing it still
further by the limitation of the penalty imposed. Was not this spirit most
----

nobly fulfilled, carried to its highest development, when the Saviour laid it
down as the law of His kingdom that our revenge is to be the returning of
good for evil?
The four practical illustrations (vv. 39-42.) have been a source of difficulty,
but only to those who forget that our Saviour is all the while warning
against "the letter that killeth," and showing the need of catching "the
spirit" of a commandment which "giveth life" to it. To deal with these
illustrations according to the letter, as telling us exactly what to do in
particular cases, is not to fulfil, but to destroy the Saviour's words. The
great thing, therefore, is to catch their spirit; then they will be found of use,
not for so many specified cases, but for all cases whatever. As an
illustration of the difficulties to which we refer, mention may be made of
the prejudice against the passage which suggests the turning of the other
cheek, on the ground that it encourages a craven spirit. Take it as a definite
command, and this would be in many cases the result. It would be the
result wherever fear or pusillanimity was the motion. But where is there in
all this passage the least trace of fear or pusillanimity? It is all love and
magnanimity. It is the very antipodes of the craven spirit. It is the heroism
of self-denying love!
The last illustration cuts at the root of all sin and crime, the tap-root of
selfishness. The scribes and Pharisees had made use of those regulations,
most needful at the time, which separated Israel from other nations, as an
excuse for restricting the range of love to those prepared to render an
equivalent. Thus that wonderful statute of the old legislation, "Thou shalt
love thy neighbour as thyself," was actually made a minister to selfishness;
so that, instead of leading them to a life above the world, it left them not a
whit better than the lowest and most selfish of the people. "If ye love them
which love you, what reward have ye? Do not even the publicans the
same?" Thus was the noble "royal law according to the Scripture"
destroyed by the petty quibbling use of the word "neighbour." Our Lord
fulfilled it by. giving to the word neighbour its proper meaning, its widest
extent, including even those who have wronged us in thought or word or
deed, "I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do
good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you,
and persecute you."
How lofty, how far beyond the reach of the natural man! -- but not
impossible, or it would not have been demanded. It is one of the things of
the kingdom concerning which the assurance is given later on: "Ask, and
----

ye shall receive; seek, and ye shall find." Still, the Master knows full well
that it is no small demand He is making of poor human nature. So at this
point He leads our thoughts upward to our Father in heaven, suggesting in
that relationship the possibility of its attainment (for why should not a child
be like its father?) and the only example possible, for this was a range of
righteousness beyond the reach of all that had gone before -- He Himself
as the Son of the Father would later set it forth before the eyes of men in
all its lustre. But that time is yet to come, and meantime He can only point
upward to the Highest, and urge them to this loftiest height of
righteousness by the tender plea, "That ye may be the children of your
Father which is in heaven: for He maketh His sun to rise on the evil and on
the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust."
How beautiful and expressive are these symbols from nature, and how
encouraging the interpretation of nature His use of them suggests! And
what shall we say of their suggestiveness in the higher sphere of the spirit?
Already the Sun of Righteousness is rising with healing in His wings; and in
due time the rain of the Spirit will fall in fulness of blessing; so shall His
disciples receive all that is needful to raise them to the very highest in
character and conduct, in beatitude and righteousness; and accordingly
their Master may well finish His whole exposition of the morals of the
kingdom with the stirring, stimulating call, "Be ye therefore perfect, even
as your Father which is in heaven is perfect."
3. Illustrations from Religious Duty (<400601>Matthew 6:1-18).
The righteousness of the kingdom is still the great subject; for the reading
of the Revised Version in the first verse of the chapter is evidently the
correct one. The illustrations of the preceding passage have all come under
the head of what we call morality as distinguished from religion, but it is
important to observe that our Lord gives no sanction to the separation of
the two.
Morality divorced from religion is a flower without root, which may bloom
for a while, but in the end must wither away; religion without morality is
-- nothing at all; worse than nothing, for it is a sham. It is evident, of
course, that this great word "righteousness," as used by our Lord, has a far
wider scope than is given to it by those who take it merely as the
equivalent of truth and honesty, as if a man could in any proper sense of
the word be righteous, who was ungenerous to his neighbours, unfilial to
God, or not master of himself.
----

Again, we have a principle laid down: "Take heed that ye do not your
righteousness before men, to be seen of them" (R.V.). It is the same great
principle as before, though the caution in which it is embodied is different.
For if we compare ver. 20 of the preceding chapter, and remember its
subsequent development in the verses which follow, we find that it agrees
with the warning before us in insisting on righteousness of the heart as
distinguished from that which is merely outward. The difference lies in this,
that whereas, in the cases already dealt with, external conformity with the
law is good so far as it goes, but does not go nearly far enough ("except
your righteousness shall exceed," exceed, i.e., by reaching back and down
to the deepest recesses of the heart), in the cases now to be taken up
external conformity is not good in itself, but really evil, inasmuch as it is
mere pretence. Accordingly the caution now must needs be much stronger:
"Be ye not as the hypocrites."
It is not, however, the being seen which is condemned, otherwise the
caution would be at variance with the earnest-counsel in <400516>Matthew 5:16,
and would, in fact, amount to a total prohibition of public worship. As
before, it is a matter of the heart. It is the hidden motive which is
condemned: "Take heed that ye do not your righteousness before men, to
be seen of them."
The principle is applied in succession to Almsgiving, to Prayer, to Fasting.
Almsgiving is no longer regarded as distinctively a religious duty. Nor can
it be put under the head of morality according to the common idea attached
to that word. It rather occupies a kind of borderland between them, coming
under the head of philanthropy. But whence came the spirit of
philanthropy? Its foundation is in the holy mountains. Modern philanthropy
is like a great fresh-water lake, on the shores of which one may wander
with admiration and delight for great distances without discovering any
connection with the heaven-piercing mountains. But such connection it
has. The explorer is sure to find somewhere an inlet showing whence its
waters come, a bright sparkling stream which has filled it and keeps it full;
or springs below it, which, though they may flow far underground, bring
the precious supplies from the higher regions, perhaps quite out of sight. If
these connections with the upper springs were to be, cut off, the beautiful
lake would speedily dry up, and disappear. Almsgiving, therefore, is in its.
right place here: its source is in the higher regions of the righteousness of
the kingdom. And in these early days the lakes had not been. formed, for
the springs were only beginning to. flow from the great Fountain-head.
----

The general object our Lord has in view, moreover, leads Him to treat the
subject, not in relation to those who receive, but to those who give. There
may be good done through the gifts of men who have no higher object in
view than the sounding of their own trumpet; but, so far as they themselves
are concerned, their giving has no value in the sight of God. Everything
depends on the motive: hence the injunction of secrecy. There may indeed
be circumstances which suggest or even require a certain measure of
publicity, for the sake of the object or cause to which gifts are devoted; but
so far as the giver is concerned, the more absolute the secrecy the better.
For though it is possible to give in the most open and public way without
at all indulging the petty motive of ostentation, yet so weak is human
nature on that side of it, that our Lord puts His caution in the very
strongest terms, counselling us not only to avoid courting the attention of
others, but to refrain from even thinking of what we have done; for that
seems to be the point of the striking and memorable words "Let not thy left
hand know what thy right hand doeth."
The trumpet-blowing may be a great success. What the Master thinks of
that success is seen in the caustic irony of the words "Verily I say unto
you, they have their reward." There it is -- and you can see just how paltry
and pitiful it is; for there is nothing a man is more ashamed of than to be
caught in even the slightest attempt to parade himself. But if the praise of
men is never thought of, it cannot be said "they have their reward." Their
reward is to come; and though it doth not yet appear, it will certainly be
worthy of our Father Who seeth in secret.
Under the head of Prayer two cautions are given. The one may be
dismissed in a few words, not only because it exactly corresponds with the
preceding case, but because among us there is scarcely any temptation to
that against which it is directed. The danger now is all the other way. The
temptation for true children of the kingdom is not to parade their devotion
for show, but to conceal it for shame. Still there are some directions in
which even yet the caution against ostentation in prayer is needed -- as,
for instance, by those who in public or social prayer assume affected tones,
or try in any way to give an impression of earnestness beyond what is really
felt. Of the sanctimonious tone we may say that it has its reward in the
almost universal contempt it provokes.
The other caution is directed, not against pretence, but against superstition.
It will be seen, however, that the two belong to the same category, and
therefore are most appropriately dealt with together. What is the sin of the
----

formalist? It is that his heart is not in his worship. What is the folly of the
vain repetitionist? It is the same -- that his heart is not in his words. For
there is no discouragement of repetition, if it be prompted by genuine
earnestness. Our Lord again and again encouraged even importunate
prayer, and Himself in the Garden offered the same petition three times in
close succession. It is not, then, repetition, but "vain repetition," -- empty
of heart, of desire, of hope -- that is here rebuked; not much prayer, but
"much speaking," the folly of supposing that the mere "saying" of prayers
is of any use apart from the emotions of the heart in which true prayer
essentially consists.
To guide us in a matter so important, our Lord not only cautions against
what prayer ought not to be, but shows what it ought to be. Thus,
incidentally as it were, He hands to us this pearl of great price, this purest
crystal of devotion, to be a possession of His people for ever, never to lose
its lustre through millenniums of daily use, its beauty and preciousness
becoming rather more and more manifest to each successive generation.
It is given especially as a model of form, to show that, instead of the vain
repetitions condemned, there should be simplicity, directness, brevity,
order -- above all, the plain, unadorned expression of the heart's desire.
This main object is accomplished perfectly; a whole volume on the form of
prayer could not have done it better, or so well. But, besides this, there is
instruction as to the substance of prayer. We are taught to rise high above
all selfish considerations in our desires, seeking the things of God first; and
when we come to our own wants, asking nothing more than our Father in
heaven judges to be sufficient for the day, while all the stress of earnestness
is laid on deliverance from the guilt and power of sin. Then as to the spirit
of prayer, mark the filial reverence implied in the invocation, -- the
fraternal spirit called for by the very first word of it, and the spirit of
forgiveness we are taught to cherish by the very terms in which we ask it
for ourselves. All this and more is superadded to the lesson for the sake of
which the model prayer has been given.
The third application is to Fasting. In another place (<400914>Matthew 9:14)
will be found the principle to be followed in regard to times of fasting.
Here it is taken for granted that there will be such times, and the principle
announced at the beginning of the chapter is applied to the exercise. Let it
be done in secret, before no other eye than His Who seeth in secret; thus
only can we have the blessed recompense which comes to the heart that is
truly humbled in the sight of God.
----

This principle plainly condemns that kind of fasting which is done only
before men, as when in the name of religion people will abstain from
certain kinds of food and recreation on particular days or at appointed
times, without any corresponding humbling of the heart. The fasting must
be before God, or it is a piece of acting, "as the hypocrites," who play a
part before men, and when they go home put off the mask and resume their
proper life. "Be ye not as the hypocrites;" therefore see that your fasting is
before God; and then, if the inward feeling naturally leads to restriction of
the pleasures of the table or of society, or to any other temporary, self-
denial, let it by all means be followed out, but so as to attract just as little
attention as possible; and not only so, but if any traces of the secret
exercise still remain when the penitential hour with God alone is over,
these are to be carefully removed before returning to the ordinary
intercourse of life. Our "penitence and prayer" are for ourselves only, and
for God. Before men our light should shine.
The three illustrations cover by suggestion the whole ground; for prayer
may well be understood in that large scriptural sense in which praise is
included, and fasting is suggestive of all mortification of the flesh and
humbling of the spirit. The first shows true religion in its outgoing, the
second in its upgoing, while the third abases self; and all three are mutually
helpful, for the higher we soar God-ward in praise and prayer, the lower
shall we bend in reverent humility, and the further will our hearts go out in
world-wide charity.
All depends on truth in the inward parts, on the secret life of the soul with
God. How impressively is this stated throughout the whole passage!
Observe the almost rhythmical repetitions: "Be ye not as the hypocrites,"
three times repeated: "Verily I say unto you, they have their reward," the
very words three times repeated; "Let thine alms be in secret," "Pray to thy
Father which is in secret," "That thou appear not unto men to fast, but
unto thy Father which is in secret"; and once more, three times repeated,
"Thy Father which seeth in secret Himself shall reward thee." No vain
repetitions these. They press the great lesson home with a threefold force.
4. Duty in relation to the World and the things of it (<400619>Matthew 6:19-
7:12).
From this point onwards the plan of the discourse is not so apparent, and
some have given up the idea of finding orderly sequence in it; yet there
seems to be no insuperable difficulty, when the right point of view is taken.
The perplexity seems to have arisen from supposing that at this point an
----

entirely new subject begins, whereas all that follows on to <400712>Matthew
7:12, arranges itself easily under the same general head -- the
Righteousness of the Kingdom. According to this arrangement of the
discourse there is an introduction of fourteen verses (<400503>Matthew 5:3-16),
and a concluding passage of almost exactly the same length (<400713>Matthew
7:13-27); while the main discussion occupies nearly three chapters, the
subject throughout being the Righteousness of the Kingdom, dealt with,
first as morality (<400517>Matthew 5:17-48), second as religion (<400601>Matthew
6:1-18), and finally as spirituality (<400619>Matthew 6:19-7:12), beginning and
ending with a general reference to the law and the prophets (<400517>Matthew
5:17, 7:12). The first of these divisions had to do with righteousness as
between man and man;f5 the second with righteousness before God alone;
while the third, on the consideration of which we now enter, deals with
righteousness as between the children of the kingdom and the world in the
midst of which it is set up. And just as in the paragraphs already considered
we have been shown that our Lord came not to destroy, but to fulfil the
code of ethics, and the rules for Divine service in the law and the prophets,
so in this it will be made equally apparent that He came not to destroy, but
to fulfil the principles involved in the political code by which Israel was
separated from the nations of the world to be the Lord's peculiar people.
The subject before us now, therefore, is the relations of the children of the
kingdom to the world, and it is dealt with --
(1) As regards the good things of the world. From the Beatitudes we have
already learned that the blessedness of the children of the kingdom is to
consist not in the abundance of the things they possess, but in qualities of
soul, possessions in the realm of the unseen. Yet the children of the
kingdom cannot do without the good things of this world; what, then, has
the law of the kingdom to say in regard to their acquisition and use? The
subject is large and difficult; but with amazing clearness and force,
comprehensiveness and simple practical utility, it is set forth in a single
paragraph, which is also characterised by a surpassing beauty of language.
As before, the strait and narrow path is marked off by cautions on the right
and on the left. On the one side must be shunned the Scylla of greed, on
the other the Charybdis of care. The one is the real danger of seeking too
much, the other the supposed danger of having too little, of "the good
things of life."
It is not, however, a question of quantity. As before, it is a question of the
heart. On the one hand, it is not the danger of having too much, but of
----

seeking too much; on the other, it is not the danger of having too little, but
of fearing that there will not be enough. It is a mistake, therefore, to say
that the one caution is for the rich and the other for the poor. True, indeed,
the rich are in greater danger of Scylla than of Charybdis, and the poor in
more peril from the pool than from the rock; still a rich man may be, often
is, a victim of care, while a poor man may readily have his heart far too
much set on the yearly or weekly increase of his little store. It seems better,
then, to make no distinction of classes, but to look at each caution as
needed by all.
(a) Against seeking the good things of the world too earnestly (vv. 19-24).
It is important to notice the strong emphasis on the word "treasure." This
is evident not only from the reduplication of it -- for the literal translation
would be, "Treasure not for yourselves treasures upon the earth" -- but
also from the reason against it assigned in ver. 21: "Where thy treasure is,
there will thy heart be also." It is clear, then, that there is no prohibition of
wealth, but only of making it "thy treasure." But against this the law of the
kingdom is in the highest degree decided and uncompromising. The
language is exceedingly forcible, and the reasons marshalled are terribly
strong. With all faithfulness, and with growing earnestness, the Master
shows that to disobey this law is foolish, pernicious, fatal. It is foolish; for
all earthly treasures are perishable, eaten by moth, consumed by rust, stolen
by thieves, while the heavenly treasures of the spiritually-minded are
incorruptible and safe for evermore. It is not only foolish, but most
pernicious, -- injurious to that which is most sensitive and most precious
in the life, that which is to the soul what the eye is i to the body, the
darkening of which means the darkening of the whole body, not the mere
clouding of the vision, but the condition suggested by the awful words "full
of darkness"; while the corresponding deterioration in the lower ranges of
the life is indicated by what follows: "If therefore the light that is in thee be
darkness, how great is that darkness!" It is not only foolish and most
pernicious, but fatal, for No man can serve two masters"; so that to set the
heart on the world means to give up the kingdom. It is vain to try to satisfy
two claimants of the heart. One or other must be chosen: "Ye cannot serve
God and Mammon."
(b) Against anxiety about the things of the world. The Revised Version
has, by its correct translation, now removed the difficulty which seemed to
lie in the words "Take no thought." To modern ears these words seemed to
encourage thoughtlessness and to bless improvidence. Our translators of
the seventeenth century, however, had no such idea. It is the result of a
----

change of meaning in a current phrase. At the time the translation was
made, "to take thought" meant to be anxious, as will appear from such a
passage as that in the first book of Samuel (<090905>1 Samuel 9:5), where Saul
says to his servant, "Come and let us return; lest my father leave caring for
the asses, and take thought for us," evidently in the sense of "be anxious
about us."f6 It is then, manifestly, not against thoughtfulness and
providence, but against anxious care that the caution is directed.
Although this evil seems to lie in the opposite direction from that of
avarice, it is really the same both in its root and its fruit, for it is due to the
estrangement of the heart from our Father in heaven, and amounts, in so
far as it prevails, to enslavement to the world. The covetous man is
enslaved in one way, the anxious man in another; for does not our common
language betray it every time we think or speak of "freedom from care"?
We need not wonder, then, that our Lord should connect what He is about
to say on this evil so closely with what He has said on the other, as He
does by the use of the word therefore: "Therefore I say unto you, Be not
anxious for your life."
But though, like the other, it is slavery, the sin of it is not nearly so great,
and hence the difference of tone, which cannot but be observed as this new
caution is given. It is no longer strong condemnation, but gentle
expostulation; not dark threatening now, but tender pleading. As before,
reason after reason is given against yielding to the all too natural weakness
of the human heart. We are encouraged to remember what God has given
already: the life, with such amazing powers and capabilities; the body, with
all its marvellous intricacy and adaptation: and can it be supposed that He
is likely to withhold the food to maintain the life, the raiment to clothe the
body? -- to remember how the little birds of the air and the modest lilies of
the field are not forgotten: how then can we think that our Father would
forget us, who are of so much more value than they? -- to remember that
the very fact that we know Him as our Father should be guarantee enough,
preventing us from an anxious solicitude pardonable in the heathen, who
have no such knowledge of a Father in heaven Who knoweth what His
children need; -- to remember also how vain and fruitless is our care,
seeing we cannot in the very smallest lengthen the life for which we fret,
while our times are wholly in the hand of Him Who gave it at first and daily
satisfies its wants. Such is a bare outline of the thought in this passage, to
attempt to expound or illustrate which would be to spoil it. The best way
to deal with such a passage is first to study it carefully to see that its
meaning and the point of all its parts are clearly apprehended, and then
----

quietly, slowly, lovingly to read it over and let its heavenly music enter into
the soul. Then, when the reading is finished and the great lesson has filled
the heart with trustful love, we may look back upon it and observe that not
only is a great spiritual lesson taught, but incidentally we are encouraged
and directed to interrogate Nature and learn what she has to teach, to gaze
on her beauty and lovingly look at what she has to show. Thus we find, as
it were by the way, in the simple words of our King, the germ principles of
science and of art.
But these are wayside pearls; no special attention is called to them. These
glimpses of nature come so naturally from the Lord of nature that nothing
is made of them -- they "flash along the chords and go"; and we return to
the great lesson which, now that the cautions have been given, can be put
in its positive form: "Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and His
righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you" (<400633>Matthew
6:33). Seek ye first His kingdom, and His righteousness. Already as we
have seen, this lesson has been implied in the Lord's Prayer; but it is well
that it should be expressly set down -- this will insure that the treasure is
above, that the eye is clear, that the life is one: "and all these things shall be
added," so that to-morrow need not trouble you. Trouble there must be in
the world, but no one need have more than each day brings: "Sufficient
unto the day is the evil thereof."
(2) As regards the evil in the world. The transition from the good things of
the world to the evil that is in it comes quite naturally from the turn the
Master's thought has taken in the close of the preceding paragraph. It is
important to observe, however, that the whole subject of the evil in the
world is not in view at this point. Has not the evil in the world in the large
sense been in view from the beginning throughout; and has not the great
subject of righteousness had all along as its background the dark subject of
sin? The one point here is this: the attitude of the children of the kingdom
to the evil which they cannot but see in the people of the world by whom
they are surrounded.
Here, as before, there are two warnings, each against a danger lying in
opposite directions: the one, the danger of making too much of the evil we
see, or think we see, in others; the other, that of making too little of it.
(a) As against making too much of it -- the danger of censoriousness
(<400701>Matthew 7:1-5). Here, again, the. language is very strong, and the
warning given is solemn and earnest -- a sure sign that the danger is real
and great. Again, too, considerations are urged, one after another, why we
----

should beware. First, there is so much evil in ourselves, that we should be
most careful how we condemn it in others, for "with what judgment ye
judge ye shall be judged; and with what measure ye mete, it shall be
measured to you again." Moreover, severity is a sign not of purity, but of
the reverse: "Why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but
considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?" Our severity should be
applied to ourselves, our charity to others: especially if we would have any
success in the correcting of our neighbour's faults: "How wilt thou say to
thy brother, Let me cast out the mote out of thine eye; and lo, the beam is
in thine own eye?" (R.V.) Otherwise we are hypocrites, and we must
thoroughly reform ourselves before we have any idea even how to begin to
improve others: "Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own
eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy
brother's eye." Of what exceeding value is this teaching just where it
stands! The Saviour has been summoning His people not only to pure
morality and true godliness, but to lofty spirituality of mind and heart; and
knowing what was in man -- knowing that dangers lurked on his path at
every turn, and that even the highest spirituality has its special danger, its
besetting sin He points it out, paints it in all its blackness, spares not the sin
of the saint any more than the sin of the sinner, calls the man that gathers
his skirts about him with the word or the thought "I am holier than thou"
by the same ugly name with which He brands the poor fools who disfigure
their faces that they may be seen of men to fast. Yet, severe as it is, is it not
needed? does not our best judgment approve and applaud? and are we not
glad and grateful that our Lord has warned us so earnestly and impressively
against a danger it might never have occurred to us to fear?
But there is another side to the subject; so we have another warning, in
relation to the evil we see in the men of the world. It is --
(b) Against making too little of it (ver. 6). Though we may not judge, we
must discriminate. It may be wrong to condemn: but it may be necessary to
withdraw, otherwise sacred things may be profaned and angry passions
stirred, and thus much harm may be done though only good was intended.
Such is the manifest purport of the striking caution: "Give not that which is
holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they
trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you."
The Saviour is now about to close what He has to say on the
Righteousness of the Kingdom in its relation to the Law and the Prophets;
and He does it by setting forth in most memorable words a great privilege
----

and a compact, comprehensive, portable rule -- a privilege which will keep
the heart right with God, a rule which will keep the heart right with man
(vv. 7-12). The former is of course the more important of the two, so it
comes first and has much the larger space. It is the mighty privilege of
prayer. When we think of the height and the depth, the length and breadth,
of the Righteousness of the Kingdom -- when we think of the dangers
which lurk on every hand and at every stage in our life-journey -- we may
well cry, "Who is sufficient for these things?" To that cry of the heart this
is the answer: "Ask, and it shall be given you." We have had prayer before;
but it was prayer as a part of righteousness, prayer as a religious duty.
Now it is prayer as a power, as the one sure and only means of avoiding
the terrible evils on every side, and obtaining the unspeakable blessings, the
"good things" (ver. 2) of the kingdom of heaven. This being so, it was of
the greatest importance that we should have faith to use it. Hence the
repeated assurance, and the plain strong language in which it is conveyed;
hence, too, the simple, strong, and touching arguments to dispel our
doubts and encourage our trust (vv. 9-11).
Here, again, of what priceless value are these few words of our blessed
Lord! Just where they are needed most they come, bringing "strength to
the fainting heart" in view of the seemingly inaccessible heights of God's
holy hill, on which the city of His kingdom is set. Why need we faint or
fear, now that we can ask and be sure of receiving, can seek and be sure of
finding, can knock at door after door of these halls of Sion, and have them,
one after another, opened at our touch?
Again as before, prayer to God is closely connected with our behaviour to
men. In the model prayer we were taught to say "Forgive us our debts, as
we forgive our debtors"; and not only so, but a special warning was added,
that if we do not forgive others, we cannot be forgiven. So here too we are
reminded that if we are to expect our Father to act in a fatherly way to us
by giving us good things, we must act in a brotherly way to our
neighbours. Hence the golden rule which follows, and hence its connection
with the prayer-charter by the word "therefore." And now that our
relations to God and man have been summed up in the filial relation
embodied in prayer, and in the fraternal relation embodied in the Golden
Rule, all is complete, and the proof of this is furnished in the appropriate
concluding words: "This is the Law and the Prophets."
III. INVITATION TO ENTER THE KINGDOM. -- (<400713>Matthew 7:13-
29).
----

The Master has now said everything necessary in order to clear away
popular misapprehensions, and place the truth about His kingdom fairly
before the minds of His hearers. He has explained its nature as inward and
spiritual, setting forth the character of those who belong to it, the
blessedness they will enjoy, and the influence they will exert on the world
around them. He has set forth clearly and fully the obligations that wilt rest
upon them, as summed up in the comprehensive requirement of
righteousness un-understood in a larger and deeper sense than ever before
-- obligations of such stringency as to make it apparent that to seek the
kingdom of God and His righteousness is no holiday undertaking, that it is
no easy thing to be a Christian, but that it requires self-restraint, self-
humbling, self-denial; and that therefore His kingdom cannot be attractive
to the many, but must appeal to those who are earnest-spirited enough to
ask and seek and knock for admittance.
Now that all has been fully and faithfully set forth -- now that there is no
danger of obtaining disciples under misapprehension -- the great invitation
is issued: Enter ye in. It is the free universal invitation of the Gospel, as
large and liberal as that later one, "Whosoever will, let him come," though
given in such a way as to keep still prominently before the minds of all
comers what they may expect, and what is expected of them: "Enter ye in
by the narrow gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth
to destruction, and many be" they that enter in thereby. For narrow is the
gate, and straitened the way, that leadeth unto life, and few be they that
find it" (R.V.).
The terms of this first invitation are very significant. The motives of fear
and hope are appealed to; but not directly or specially. In the background
lies, on the one hand, the dark doom of "destruction," and on the other the
glorious hope of "life"; but neither the one nor the other is made emphatic.
The demand for "righteousness" has been elaborated in full, and warnings
against sin have been multiplied and pressed with intensest earnestness; but
Christ does not now, as on account of the hardness of men's hearts He felt
it needful later on to do, set forth in language that appeals vividly to the
imagination the fate of those who take the broad way of easy self-
indulgence; nor does He endeavour to picture the things which eye hath
not seen, nor ear heard, nor heart conceived, which God hath prepared for
them that love Him; He simply suggests in the briefest manner, by the use
of a single word in each case -- and that word characterised not so much
by strength as by suggestiveness -- what will be the fate of one, the goal of
the other. Suggestive as both words are in the highest degree, they are not
----

emphatic, but lie as it were in the background, while the attention is kept
on the present alternative: on the one hand the wide gate, the broad way,
the many thronging it; on the other, the narrow gate, the straitened way,
the few finding it. Our Lord summons not so much to a choice that will
pay, as to a choice that will cost; and in so doing makes His appeal to all
that is noblest and highest and best in human nature.
Throughout the whole discourse He has been leading up to this point. He
has been setting forth no prospect of happiness "to draw the carnal eye,"
but an ideal of blessedness to win the spiritual heart. He has been unfolding
a righteousness, which, while it cannot but be repulsive to man's natural
selfishness, profoundly stirs and satisfies his conscience; and now, in strict
keeping with all that has gone before, the appeal is made in such a way as
shall commend it, not to the thoughtless, selfish crowd, but to those whose
hearts have been drawn and whose consciences have been touched by His
presentation of the blessedness they may expect and the righteousness
expected of them. From all this there is surely to be learned a most
important lesson, as to the manner in which the Gospel should usually be
presented -- not by sensational descriptions of the glories of heaven or the
horrors of hell, nor by the mere reiteration of exhortations to "come to
Jesus," but by such information of the mind, awakening of the heart, and
stirring of the conscience as are found in perfection in this great discourse
of the Master.
It is characteristic of the large view our Lord takes of human life that He
speaks of only two paths. There seem so many, leading off in all different
directions; and so there are on a limited view of life's horizon; but when
eternal issues are in sight, there are but two: the easy path of self-
indulgence leading down to death, and the difficult path of dutyf7 leading
up to life.
It is worthy of remark that there is not a trace of asceticism in our Lord's
representation. The straitness referred to is not outward, any more than the
righteousness is; so that there is no encouragement given to self-imposed
restrictions and limitations, as in the monastic vows of "poverty, chastity,
and obedience." The way is strait enough in itself without any effort of
ours to make it straiter. It is enough that we set ourselves to keep all the
commandments: so shall we have a sufficiency of exercise to toughen our
spiritual fibre, to strengthen our moral energies, to make us men and
women instead of slaves of lust or tools of mammon. For; be it ever
remembered, the way we take leads on naturally and unavoidably to its
----

end. Destruction is no arbitrary punishment for self-indulgence; nor is life
an arbitrary reward for self-discipline and surrender to the will of God. The
path of self-indulgence "leadeth to destruction," by a law which cannot be
annulled or set aside. But the path of self-restraint and self-surrender (for
these are what make of us men, and not "blind mouths," as Milton
expressively puts it), the path which is entered by the strait gate, and is
continued along the narrow way, is one which in the course of natural
development "leadeth unto life."
The call to enter is followed by words of solemn warning against certain
dangers which might beset even those who wish to enter. First, the danger
of false guidance: "Beware of false prophets." The danger lies in the future.
Hitherto, while speaking throughout of present duty, there have been
backward glances over the past, as our Lord has made it evident, point
after point, that the righteousness of His kingdom was not the destruction,
but the fulfilment of the law and the prophets. Now, however, He
anticipates the time when there will be those claiming to speak in the name
of God, or in His own name, whose doctrines will not be a fulfilment, but a
destruction of the Truth, and a constant danger to those who may be
exposed to their wolf-like ravages. There is manifestly no reference to such
differences of opinion as divide real Christians from each other in these
days. The doctrine throughout this manifesto is not speculative, but
practical; it nowhere brings into prominence matters of opinion, or what
are called theological tenets, but everywhere lays stress on that which
immediately and powerfully affects the life. So it is here also, as is evident
from the criterion suggested for the detection of false teachers: "By their
fruits ye shall know them." Besides, the connection in which the caution
occurs makes it evident that our Lord had specially in view those teachers
who would lead their disciples astray as to the way of life, especially those
who would dare to make that easy which he had shown to be "strait," who
would set before their hearers or readers a broad path instead of the
narrow one which alone leadeth unto life. This is a danger which besets us
in these days. There is so strong a sentiment abroad in favour of liberality
-- and liberality properly so called is so admirable, and has been so much a
stranger in times past -- that we are in danger of accepting in its name
easy-going representations of the Christian life which amount to a total
abolition of the strait gate and the narrow way. Let us by all means be
liberal enough to acknowledge all who have entered by the strait gate of
genuine repentance, and are walking in the narrow way of faith and
obedience, however much they may differ from us in matters of opinion,
forms of worship, or modes of work; but let us beware how we give even
----

the smallest encouragement to any on the broad road to imagine that they
can continue as they are, and find it all right in the end. So to tamper with
truth in the guise of liberality is to play the wolf in sheep's clothing.
The test our Lord gives for "discerning the spirits" is one which requires
time for its application, but it is the only sure one; and when we remember
that the Master is now looking forward into the future history of His
kingdom, we can see why He should lay stress on a test whose operation,
though slow, was sure. It is of course assumed that the first criterion is the
Word of the Lord Himself. This is-the law of the kingdom; but, knowing
well what was m man. the Lord could not but foresee that there would be
those who could so twist any words that might be spoken on those great
subjects as to lay snares for the unwary; and therefore, besides the obvious
appeal "to the law and to the testimony," He supplied a practical test
which, though less speedy in its application, was perfectly sure in its
results.
The announcement of so important a test leads to the development of the
general principle on which its validity depends -- viz., the vital connection
between essential doctrine and life. In the long run the one is always the
outcome of the other. In the spiritual as in the natural world every species
brings forth fruit "after its kind." "Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs
of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit: but a corrupt
tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit,
neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit." The law being so
absolute, making it certain, on the one hand, that where there is truth in the
inward parts there will be good fruit in the outward life, and on the other,
that where there is corrupt fruit in the outward life there must be that
which is corrupt in the hidden man of the heart, it follows that the criterion
is so sure as to be without appeal: "Every tree that bringeth not forth good
fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire" (ver. 19), and therefore may well
determine the question as to who are trustworthy teachers in the Church:
"Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them."
In the development of the principle the Master's thought has been enlarged
so as to include not teachers only, but all His disciples; and His range of
view has been extended so as to embrace the last things. The great day of
Judgment is before him. He sees the multitudes gathered around the
throne. He foresees that there will be many on that great day who will
discover, when it is too late, that they have allowed themselves to be
deceived, that they have not been careful enough to test their spiritual
----

guides, that they have not been careful enough to try themselves and make
sure that their fruits were such that the Lord of the vineyard could
recognise them as His own. He is filled with sympathy and sorrow at the
prospect; so He lifts up His voice in earnest warning, that, if possible, none
of those to whom the words will ever come may allow themselves to fall
into so fatal an error: "Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall
enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of My Father
which, is in heaven."
How naturally, and as it were unconsciously and inevitably, He has passed
from the Teacher to the Judge! Not as a personal claim. In His earliest
teaching He kept personal claims as much in the background as possible.
But now it is impossible to avoid some disclosure of His divine authority.
He must speak of the Judgment; and He cannot speak of it without making
it appear that He is Judge. The force of this is all the greater that He is, as
it were, surprised into it; for He is evidently not thinking of Himself at all,
but only of those who then were or would afterwards be in danger of
making a most fatal mistake, leading to consequences awful and
irreparable. We can well imagine that from this point on to the end there
must have been a light on His face, a fire in His eye, a solemnity in His
tone, a grandeur in His very attitude, which struck the multitude with
amazement, especially at the authority (ver. 29) with which He spoke:
"Many will say to Me in that day, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy by Thy
name, and by Thy name cast out devils, and by Thy name do many mighty
works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from
me, ye that work iniquity" (R.V.).
Again, observe the form the warning takes, revealing the consciousness
that to depart from Him was doom -- one of the many tokens throughout
this discourse that none else than the Lord of life and glory could possibly
have spoken it. Yet how many vainly think that they can accept it without
acknowledging Him!
The same solemn and regal tone is kept up throughout the impressive
passage which closes all, and presses home the great warning against
trusting to any experience short of the surrender of the life to do the will of
God as set forth in the words of Christ His Son. The two classes He has
now in view are not the two great classes who walk, the one in the broad
and the other in the narrow way. They are two classes of hearers. Most of
those that throng the broad way are not hearers at all; they have no desire
or intention of seeking any other than the broad way -- they would as little
----

think of going up into a mountain and listening to a discourse on
righteousness, as they would of wearing a hair shirt or doing any other kind
of penance; but those our Lord has now in view all have the idea of seeking
the right way: their very attitude as hearers shows it -- they are all of the
churchgoing class, to translate into modern phrase; and what He fears is
that some of them may deceive themselves by imagining that because they
hear with interest and attention, perhaps admiration, therefore they are in
the narrow way. Accordingly He solemnly warns them that all this may
amount to nothing: there may be attention, interest, admiration, full assent
to all; but if the hearing is not followed by doing, all is in vain.
It may almost go without saying that, after what our Lord has just been
teaching as to the vital connection between the faith of the heart and the
"fruits" of the life (vv. 15-23), there is no "legalism" here. In fact, the
doing is not outward; it is a doing of the heart. The righteousness He has
been expounding has, as we have seen, been a righteousness of the heart,
and the doing of it, as a matter of course, is a heart-work, having its root in
faith, which is the beginning of the doing in every case, according to His
own word in another place: "This is the work of God, that ye believe on
Him Whom He hath sent."
The illustration with which He presses home the warning is in the highest
degree appropriate and forcible. The man who not only hears, but does,
makes thorough work, digs deep (as St. Luke puts it in his record), and
founds the house he is building for time and eternity upon solid rock; while
the man who hears but does not, is one who takes no care as to his
foundation, but erects his house just where he happens to be, on loose sand
or earth, which the first storm will dislodge and sweep away. Meanwhile
testing times are coming -- rains, floods, winds -- the searching trials of
life culminating in the final judgment in the life to come. These all test the
work of the builder, and render apparent the wisdom of the man who
provided against the coming storm by choosing the rock foundation, for his
house abides through all; and the folly of the other, who without a
foundation carelessly risked all, for his house gives way before the storm,
and great is the fall of it.
Alas for many hearers of the Word! Alas for many admirers of the "Sermon
on the Mount"! Where will they be when everything turns on the question
"Wert thou a doer of it? "
----

CHAPTER 8.
THE SIGNS OF THE KINGDOM. -- MATTHEW 8-9:35.
REFERRING to <400423>Matthew 4:23, we find the work of Christ at the
beginning of His ministry summarised as teaching and preaching and
healing all manner of diseases. Of the teaching and preaching we have had
a signal illustration in what is called the Sermon on the Mount; now the
other great branch of the work is set before us in a group of miracles,
filling up almost the whole of the eighth and ninth chapters.
The naturalness of the sequence will be at once apparent. If men had
needed nothing more than counsel, guidance, rules of life, then might the
Gospel have ended when the Sermon on the Mount was concluded. There
are those who think they need nothing more; but if they knew themselves
they would feel their need not only of the Teacher's word, but of the
Healer's touch, and would hail with gladness the chapters which tell how
the Saviour dealt with the poor leper, the man with the palsy, the woman-
with the fever, those poor creatures that were vexed with evil spirits, that
dead damsel in the ruler's house. We may well rejoice that the great
Teacher came down from the mountain, and made Himself known on the
plain and among the city crowds as the mighty Healer; that His stern
demand for perfect righteousness was so soon followed by that
encouraging word, so full of comfort, for such as we: "I came not to call
the righteous, but sinners" (<400913>Matthew 9:13). The healing, then, is quite
as essential as the teaching. The Sermon points out the way, unfolds the
truth; but in the touch and word of the King Himself is found the life. The
Christ of God had come, not as a mere Ambassador from the court of
heaven to demand submission to its laws, but as a mighty Saviour, Friend,
and Comforter. Hence it was necessary that He should make full proof of
His mission in this respect as well as in the other; and accordingly the noble
ethics taught on the mount are followed by a series of heavenly deeds of
power and lovingkindness done in the plain.
The group in chaps, 8. and 9. is well fitted to give a comprehensive view of
Christ's power and willingness to save. If only they were looked at in this
intelligent way, how the paltry prejudices against "miracles" (a word, let it
be observed, not once to be found in this Gospel) would vanish. Miracles,
wonders, prodigies -- how incredible in an age of enlightenment! Yes; if
they were introduced as miracles, wonders, prodigies; but they are not.
----

They are signs of the kingdom of heaven -- just such signs of it as the
intelligent reason demands; for how otherwise is it possible for One Who
comes to save to show that He is able to do it? How could the people have
been expected to welcome Him as a Saviour, unless He had taken some
means to make it evident that He had the power as well as the will to save?
Accordingly, in consonance with what enlightened reason imperatively
demands of such an One as He claims to be, we have a series of "mighty
deeds" of love, showing forth, not only His grace, but His power -- power
to heal the diseases of the body, power over the realm of nature, power
over the unseen world of spirit, power to forgive and save from sin, power
to restore lost faculties and conquer death itself. Such are the appropriate
signs of the kingdom spread before us here.
Let us look first at that which occupies the foremost place, -- power to
heal disease. The diseases of the body are the outward symptoms of the
deep-seated malady of the spirit; hence it is fitting, that He should begin by
showing in this region His will and power to save. Yet it is not a formal
showing of it. It is no mere demonstration. He does not seek out the leper,
set him up before them, and say, "Now you will see what I can do." All
comes about in a most simple and natural way, as became Him Who was
no wonder-worker, no worker of miracles in the vulgar use of that word,
but a mighty Saviour from heaven with a heart of love and a hand of
power.
THE LEPER (<400801>MATTHEW 8:1-4).MATTHEW 8:1-4).
"And when He was come down from the mountain, great multitudes
followed Him. And behold, there came to Him a leper." What will He do
with him? Should He say to him, "Poor man, you are too late -- the
sermon is done"? or should He give him some of the best bits over again?
No, there is not a sentence in the whole of it that would be any answer to
that cry, "Lord, if Thou wilt, Thou canst make me clean." What does He
do, then? "Jesus put forth His hand, and touched him, saying, I will: be
thou clean. And immediately his leprosy was cleansed."
Is it, then, a great stumbling-block in your way, O nineteenth-century
critic, that you are expected to believe that the Lord Jesus actually did heal
this leper? Would it take the stumbling-block away to have it altered?
Suppose we try it, amended to suit the "anti-supernaturalism" of the age.
"And behold, there came a leper to Him, saying, Lord, if Thou wilt, Thou
canst make me clean. And Jesus put out His hand, and motioned him away,
----

saying, Poor man, you are quite mistaken, I cannot help you. I came to
teach wise people, not to help poor wretches like you. There are great laws
of health and disease; I advise you to find them out, and obey them: consult
your doctor, and do the best you can. Farewell." Oh, what nonsense many
wise people talk about the difficulty of believing in Divine power to heal!
The fact is, that if Christ had not proved Himself a healer, men could not
have believed in Him at all.
There could have been no better introduction to the saving work ,of the
Christ of God. Leprosy was of all diseases the most striking symbol of sin.
This is so familiar a thought that it need not be set forth in detail. One
point, however, must be mentioned, as it opens up a vein of tender beauty
in the exquisite simplicity of the story -- the rigorous separation of the
leprous from the healthy, enforced by the ceremonial law, which made it
defilement to touch a leper. Yet "Jesus stretched forth His hand, and
touched him." "He was holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners;"
therefore He could mingle with them, contracting no stain Himself, but
diffusing health around Him. He could take no defilement from the leper's
touch; the current was all the other way: "virtue" went out of Him, and
flowed in healing streams through the poor leper's veins. O lovely symbol
of the Saviour's relation to us sinners! He has in His holy Incarnation
touched our leprous humanity; and remaining stainless Himself, has set
flowing a fountain of healing for all who will open to Him hearts of faith
and let Him touch them with His pure heart of love. Those were most
wonderful words spoken on the mount: they touch the conscience to the
quick and fire the soul with heavenly aspiration; but this touch of the leper
goes to our hearts, for it proves to us that, though the time is coming when
He shall sit as Judge and say to all the sinful, "Depart from Me," as yet He
is the loving Saviour, saying, "Come unto Me, ye weary," and touching the
leprous into health.
That our Saviour was totally averse to anything at all sensational, and
determined rather to repress than encourage the mere thirst for marvels, is
evident from the directions given to the leper to say nothing about what
had happened to him, but to take the appointed method of giving thanks to
God for his recovery, at the same time registering the fact, so that while his
cure should not be used to gather a crowd, it might be on record with the
proper authorities as a witness to the truth of which it was a sign.
----

THE CENTURION'S SERVANT (<400805>MATTHEW 8:5-13).MATTHEW 8:5-13).
This case, while affording another valuable illustration of the Master's
willingness and power to save, differs in several important points from the
first, so that the lesson is widened. First and chiefly, the application was
from a Gentile; next, it was not on his own behalf that the centurion made
it, but on behalf of another, and that other his servant; and, further, it was a
request to heal a patient out of sight, out of knowledge even. as it would
seem. Each of these particulars might suggest a doubt. He has healed this
Jew; but will He listen to that Gentile? He has responded to this man's own
cry; but will He respond when there is no direct application from the
patient? He has cured this man with a touch: but can he cure a patient miles
away? The Saviour knew well the difficulties which must have lain in the
way of this man's faith. He has evidence, moreover, that his is genuine
faith, and not the credulity of superstition. One could readily imagine an
ignorant person thinking that it made no difference whether the patient
were present, or a thousand miles away: what difference does distance
make to the mere magician? But this man is no ignorant believer in charms
and incantations. He is an intelligent man, and has thought it all out. He has
heard of the kingdom of heaven, and knows that this is the King.
Reasoning from what he knows of the Roman kingdom, how orders given
from a central authority can be despatched to the outskirts, and be
executed there with as great certainty as if the Emperor himself had gone
to do it, he concludes that the King of the spiritual world must in like
manner have means of communication with every part of His dominion;
and just as it was not necessary, even for a mere centurion, to do
personally everything he wanted done, having it in his power to employ
some servant to do it, so it was unreasonable to expect the King of heaven
Himself to come in person and heal his servant: it was only necessary,
therefore, that He should speak the word, and by some unseen agency the
thing would be done. At once the Saviour recognises the man's thoughtful
intelligence on the subject, and, contrasting with it the slowness of mind
and heart of those of whom so much more might have been expected, "He
marvelled, and said to them that followed, Verily I say unto you, I have not
found so great faith, no, not in Israel."
The thought of this immediately suggests to Him the multitudes that shall
exercise a similar faith in ages to come, and in lands far off; and, as on the
mount, when He looked forward to the great future, His heart yearned
over the mere hearers of the word shut out at last: so here He yearns with a
great yearning over His unbelieving countrymen, whose exclusion at last
----

from the heavenly kingdom would be felt with all the sharper pain that such
multitudes from far less favoured lands were safe within -- at home, with
the patriarchs of the chosen nation -- while they, the natural heirs of the
kingdom, were exiles from it for evermore. Hence the wail and warning
which follow His hearty appreciation of the centurion's faith: "And I say
unto you, that many shall come from the east and the west, and shall sit
down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven: but
the sons of the kingdom shall be cast forth into the outer darkness: there
shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth."
How fared it with the centurion's appeal? Was it any hindrance that he was
a foreigner, that he made it not for himself but for a servant, and that the
patient was so far away? None whatever. As he rightly judged, the King of
heaven had resources in abundance to meet the case. Without the least
hesitation, Jesus said to the centurion, "Go thy way: and as thou hast
believed, so be it done unto thee. And his servant was healed in the
selfsame hour."
THE FEVER PATIENT (<400814>MATTHEW 8:14, 15).MATTHEW 8:14, 15).
The leprosy and palsy were symbols of sin wholly possessing its victims:
the one suggestive of the state of those who are positively defiled by sin,
the other of the condition of those who, though sound to all outward
appearance, are simply wanting in inward life, paralysed in that part of their
being which constitutes life. These two cases, then, were most suitable for
setting forth the saving power of the Christ of God as regards the
unconverted, be they Jew or Gentile. This third cure is within the circle of
the disciples. It is a case of fever in the home of Peter. It therefore fitly
suggests the diseases to which those are still liable who have come to
Christ and been healed of their leprosy or palsy, the chronic disease which
defiled or paralysed them in time past; but who are still liable to contagion,
still exposed to attacks of fever, acute diseases which, though temporary,
are most dangerous, and, just as certainly as the others, need the touch of
the Great Physician for their healing. These fevers separate us from Christ
and unfit us for His service; but they need not continue to do this, for if
only we allow Him to enter the house and touch us, the fever will cease;
and, like this patient in the home of Peter, we may at once arise and
minister unto Him.
The three specific cases which have been so appropriately selected and
given in detail are followed by a general enumeration of a number of
----

similar ones dealt with in like manner, "when the even was come" -- the
whole experience of that eventful day leading to the joyful recognition of
the fulfilment of a grand prophetic word spoken long ago of the Messiah
that was to come: "Himself took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses."
The quotation is most suggestive. It raises the question of our Lord's
personal relation to disease. We have seen reason to believe that disease
could not contaminate His holy flesh; and certainly we never read of His
suffering from any sickness of His own. Did He then know nothing
personally of disease and fleshly infirmity? If not, how could He be tempted
in all points like as we are? The solution seems to lie in this most
interesting quotation. It is not a literal citation from the Septuagint, but it is
a thoroughly fair and true reproduction of the idea of the prophet; and it
clearly suggests to the mind that the Christ's relation to human sickness
was of the same kind as His relation to human sin. Though personally He
had no sin, yet "He was made sin for us," so that He felt the intolerable
weight pressing Him down as in the garden, and the awful darkness
wrapping Him round as on the cross. In the same way, even though His
flesh may never actually have been subjected to physical disease, He
nevertheless could not remove diseases from others without bearing them
Himself. Ah! it cost Him far more than we are apt to think, to say, "I will,
be thou clean." It was only by the sacrifice of His life that He could take
away the sin of the world; and we believe that it was only by the sacrifice
of a part of His life that He could take away the disease of a sufferer. When
He said, "Somebody hath touched Me, for virtue has gone out of Me," we
may be sure it was no mere jostling of the crowd: it was an outflow of His
life, a partial shedding, so to speak, of His precious blood. Just as later, in
the words of St. Peter, "He bare our sins in His own body on the tree," so
already "Himself took our infirmities and bare our sicknesses."
THE IMPULSIVE SCRIBE (<400818>MATTHEW 8:18-20).MATTHEW 8:18-20).
The two incidents which follow, though at first sight apparently different in
character from the great majority of the group, are quite in place among
the mighty deeds of the Master, manifesting, as they do, His penetrating
insight into character. To all appearance there could have been no better
offer than that of the impulsive scribe -- "Master, I will follow Thee
whithersoever Thou goest"; and, had it been made with a full
understanding of all it meant, it would beyond all question have been at
once accepted; but He Who "knew what was in man" saw at once what
manner of man this was -- how he was quite unprepared for the hardships
----

he would have to undergo; and therefore, while by no means declining the
offer, He gives him fair warning of what he might expect, in these
memorable words: "The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have
nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay His head." There is infinite
pathos in the words. Moreover, the form in which the truth is put, while
fitted effectually to deter the selfish and faint-hearted, would be no
discouragement to a truly devoted and courageous soul, but would rather
fire it with a holier ardour to follow the Son of man anywhere, at whatever
cost, rejoicing to be "counted worthy to suffer shame" and loss "for His
name."
THE HESITATING DISCIPLE (<400821>MATTHEW 8:21, 22).MATTHEW 8:21, 22).
This case is one of the opposite description. Judging from the way in which
the scribe had been dealt with, it might have been expected that when this
disciple asked to be excused for a time, in order to discharge a duty which
seemed so urgent, the answer would have been one not only allowing but
even enforcing the delay. But no. Why the difference? Again, because the
Master saw "what was in man." This was no impulsive, impetuous nature
which needed a word of caution, but one of those hesitating natures which
need to be summoned to immediate decision. It would seem also, from the
peculiar expression, "Leave the dead to bury their own dead" (R.V.), that
he belonged to an ungodly family, to associate again with whom at such a
critical time in his history would be most prejudicial; and it must be
remembered that it would not have been the mere attending of the funeral;
there were the laws of uncleanness, which would oblige him, if he went, to
stay many days; and meantime the golden opportunity might be gone.
Thus are we guarded against the two opposite dangers -- the one besetting
the eager and impulsive, the other the halting and irresolute. In neither case
are we told what the result was. We may surmise that the scribe
disappeared from view, and that the other joined the party in the boat; but
"something sealed the lips of that Evangelist"; from which we may perhaps
infer that his main object in relating the two incidents was, not to give
information of them, but to show forth the glory of the Master as the
Searcher of hearts; to signalise the fact that He was no less Master of the
minds than of the bodies of men.
----

THE STORM STILLED (<400823>MATTHEW 8:23-27).MATTHEW 8:23-27).
It was not enough that the Saviour of man kind should have power to
grapple with disease and skill to search the hearts of men: He must be
Master not only of life, but of its environment too. That He is becomes
apparent before the boat which carries the little company reaches the other
side of the lake. One of those tempests which often lash the Sea of Galilee
into sudden fury has burst upon them, and the little boat is almost covered
with the waves. Here is a situation beyond the reach even of the Great
Physician, unless indeed He be something more. He is something more. He
is Lord of nature, Master of all its forces!
Must He not be? He has come to reveal the unseen God of nature; must He
not then make it manifest, now that the occasion calls for it, that winds and
waves are "ministers of His, that do His pleasure"? Again, it is no mere
"miracle," no mere marvel which He works in the salvation of His terrified
disciples -- it is a sign, an indispensable sign of the kingdom of heaven.
The story is told with exquisite simplicity, and with all the reality of
manifest and transparent truthfulness. "He was asleep" -- naturally enough
after the fatigues of the day, notwithstanding the howling of the storm; for
why should He fear wind or wave? Is there not a promise here for all His
followers when tempest-tossed: "So He giveth His beloved sleep"?
His disciples let Him sleep as long as they dare; but the peril is too
imminent now. So they come to Him and awake Him, saying, "Save, Lord;
we perish!" Though no concern for Himself would ever have disturbed His
slumber, the first cry of His disciples rouses Him at once to action. The
resources of His human nature, beyond which He never went for the
purpose of meeting His own personal needs, had been completely
exhausted; but there is no diminution of His power to save those who call
upon Him. Without any trace remaining of weariness or weakness, He
hastens to relieve them. First,f8 He quiets the tempest in the disciples'
hearts, rebuking their unbelief and calming their fears; then He stills the
storm without, rebuking the winds and the sea; "and there was a great
calm." It reads like the story of creation. No wonder the astonished
disciples exclaimed: "What manner of man is this, that even the winds and
the sea obey Him?"
----

DEMONS CAST OUT (<400828>MATTHEW 8:28-34).MATTHEW 8:28-34).
Visible nature is not man's sole environment. There is an unseen universe
besides; and He Who would be Saviour of mankind must be Master there
as well. That this also is sure is now proved beyond a doubt. For it is
important to observe that this is not an ordinary case of healing, otherwise
its true place would have been with the group of bodily diseases at the
beginning of this series. When we consider its salient features, we see that
it is just in its right place, closely following, as it does, the stilling of the
storm. There are storms in the spiritual world, more terrible by far than any
in the realm of nature; and it is necessary that these darker storms be also
subject to the control of the Saviour of mankind. "The prince of the power
of the air" and all his legions must be subject to the "Son of man." And this
subjection, rather than the cure of the individual sufferers, is the salient
feature of the passage. It is not the men, but the demons possessing them,
who cry out, "What have we to do with Thee, Jesus, Thou Son of God? art
Thou come hither to torment us before the time?" Well did these evil
spirits know who He was; and well, also, did they know that He was
mightier than they, and that the time was coming when they would be put
entirely under His feet: "Art Thou come to torment us before the time?"
The sequel has been the occasion of much cavil. It has been represented as
entirely beyond the bounds of rational belief; but why? The whole subject
of demoniacal possession is a most difficult one; but many of the calmest
and deepest thinkers, quite apart from the testimony of the Gospel, have
found themselves unable to explain a multitude of dark facts in history and
experience apart from the reality of demoniacal influence. If a spirit can
exercise a malign influence on a man, why not on an animal? Moreover,
seeing that the keeping of these swine was an open breach of the law, what
difficulty is there in supposing that Christ should allow their destruction,
especially when we consider that this transference of the malign influence
not only made more apparent His absolute control over the spirits of evil,
but taught a most striking and instructive lesson as to their affinities? For
certain persons there is no more instructive and no more needful passage in
Scripture than this. The difficulty is, that those who prefer to keep their
swine will not welcome the mighty Exorcist, but, like these people of old,
beseech Him to "depart out of their coasts."
----

SINS FORGIVEN (<400901>MATTHEW 9:1-13).MATTHEW 9:1-13).
Master of disease -- Searcher of hearts -- Master of the forces of nature
-- Master of the powers of the Unseen: is not this enough? Not yet; He
must make it evident that "the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive
sins." To heal the diseases of the body was a great and blessed thing to do,
but it was not thorough work; for what are all these varied diseases --
leprosy, fever, palsy -- but symptoms of one great disorder which has its
roots, not in the flesh, but in the soul, a disease belonging to that region of
the unseen, in which He has now made manifest His power -- the dark
disease of sin. The time has now come to show that He can deal effectually
with it; and immediately on His return to His own side of the lake, the
opportunity presents itself. "They brought to Him a man sick of the palsy,
lying on a bed."
As a case of palsy, it is not new. The centurion's servant was a palsy case;
and though from His treatment of it, as of the leprosy and fever, it might
fairly have been inferred that He could deal also with that which was
deeper, it was not enough to leave it to inference -- it must be made
manifest. It may have been that the disease of this man had been in some
special manner connected with previous sins, so that his conscience may
have been the more exercised as he looked back over his past life; but
whether this was so or not, it is obvious that his conscience was at work,
-- that much as his palsy may have troubled him, his guilt troubled him
much more. Why, otherwise, should the Saviour have addressed him as He
did, making no reference to the disease, but dealing directly with his
spiritual condition? Moreover, the special affection shown in the Saviour's
mode of address seems to indicate His recognition of that broken and
contrite spirit with which the Lord is well pleased. It would scarcely be too
strong to translate it thus: "My dear child, be of good cheer; thy sins are
forgiven."
The Saviour is coming closer and closer to human need, dealing more and
more thoroughly with the world's want and woe. If we look at it aright, we
cannot but recognise it as really a greater thing to heal the deep disease of
the soul, than to heal any or all of the diseases of the body, greater even
than to still the storm or rule by superior power the spirits of evil. For here
there is something more needed than power or skill, even though both be
infinite. We have already had a glimpse of the need there was, even in
taking away human sickness, that the Healer Himself should suffer. But
deeper far is this necessity if the disease of the soul is to be reached. It is
----

only the Lamb of God that can take away the sin of the world. These
scribes were right for once when they made more of this claim than of any
that had gone before, saying within themselves, "This man
blasphemeth;"... "Who can forgive sins but God only?"
How could He prove to them His power actually to forgive the man's sins?
A demonstration of this is quite impossible; but He will come as near to it
as may be. He has already recognised the faith of the bearers, and the
penitence of the man himself; just as quickly He discerns the thoughts of
the scribes, and gives them proof that He does so by asking them,
"Wherefore think ye evil in your hearts?" Then, answering their thought
(which was, "He is only saying it"), He replies in effect, "It is indeed as
easy to say one thing as another, if saying is all; but that you may be sure
that the saying of it is not all, I shall not repeat what I said before, the
result of which from the nature of the case you cannot see, but something
else, the result of which you shall see presently"; whereupon, turning to the
sick of the palsy, He said: "Arise, take up thy bed, and go unto thine house.
And he arose, and departed to his house." With characteristic reticence, the
sacred historian says nothing of the feelings of the happy man as he hied
him home with a double blessing beyond the power of words to tell.
Is it possible to imagine any better proof that could have been given of
Christ's authority to forgive sins? Let those who have a horror of anything
extraordinary suggest some way in which this assurance could have been
given without any manifestation of superhuman power. If they cannot, why
continue those unreasoning objections to the kind of proof He did give,
when no other proof can be even suggested that would have at all suited
the purpose?
The purpose was accomplished, so far at least as the people were
concerned. Whether the scribes found some way of evading the conclusion,
the Evangelist does not say; but he does say that "when the multitudes saw
it, they marvelled," or, as the probably more correct version of the Revisers
gives it, "they were afraid." This is true to nature, for now they knew that
they stood in the presence of One Who could look them through and
through, and touch them in their sorest spot; so it was natural that their
first feeling should be one of awe. Still, they could not but be thankful at
the same time that there was forgiveness within their reach; so quite
consistently the narrative proceeds -- And they "glorified God, which had
given such power unto men."
----

Now that His power to deal with sin is made so apparent, it is time to let it
be known that all sinners are welcome. Hence most appropriately there
follows the call of one from among the most despised class to take a place
among His closest followers. We can well understand how the modest
Matthew, who never mentions anything else about himself, was glad to
signalise the grace of the Master in seeking out the hated and despised
publican. Not only does Christ welcome him, but consents to sit at meat
with his former associates (ver. 10); and when the self-righteous Pharisee
complains, He takes occasion to speak those memorable words, so full of
warning to those who think themselves righteous, so full of comfort to
those who know themselves sinners: "They that be whole need not a
physician, but they that are sick... I am not come to call the righteous, but
sinners to repentance."
DEATH VANQUISHED (<400914>MATTHEW 9:14-26).MATTHEW 9:14-26).
The focal point of the passage is the chamber of death in the house of
Jairus. There we earn that He Who had shown Himself to be Lord of
nature and of human nature, Master of the spirits of evil, and Saviour from
sin, is also Conqueror of Death. He needs no preparation for the
encounter. The summons comes to Him in the midst of a discourse, yet He
asks not a moment's delay, but sets out at once; on the other hand, He is in
no haste, for He has time to attend to another sufferer by the way; and
there is no exhaustion afterwards, for He deals with another case, and still
another, on His way back.
The question with which He was engaged when the summons came was
one raised by the disciples of John, who, as we learn from the other
accounts, were prompted by the Pharisees in the hope of exciting
antagonism between the followers of John and of Jesus. Perhaps also they
had the hope of setting Him at variance with Himself, for had He not
declared that one jot or one tittle should not pass from the law till all was
fulfilled? Why, then, did not His disciples fast? To this it might have been
answered that the frequent fasts observed by Pharisees, and also by the
disciples of John, were not really appointed by the law, which prescribed
only one day of fasting in the year -- the great atonement day. But the
Saviour gives an answer of much wider scope and farther-reaching
significance. There was involved, not the question of fasting only, but of
the entire ceremonial law; and He disposes of it all by a series of
characteristic illustrations, each of them as good as a volume on the subject
could have been. The first of these illustrations sets the true principle of
----

fasting in full, clear light by a simple question -- "Can the children of the
bridechamber mourn, as long as the bridegroom is with them? but the days
will come, when the bridegroom shall be taken away from them, and then
shall they fast." There is here much more to think of besides the answering
of the question. There is a treasury of valuable suggestion in His calling
Himself the Bridegroom, thus applying to Himself the rich imagery of the
Old Testament on this theme; while at the same time He adopts the very
figure which John himself had used in order to mark his relation to Jesus as
the Bridegroom's friend (cf. <430329>John 3:29); and it is especially worthy of
note how this keeps up the Gospel idea, -- the great joy, as of a marriage,
in the yielding of the heart to Christ. No less striking is His touching
reference to the dark days coming, the first distinct foreshadowing of the
Cross. It has been well said by a German writer, "What man has ever
looked so calmly, so lovingly (lieblich), from such a height into such an
abyss!" from the position of the Bridegroom of humanity to that of the
outcast on the Cross. Ah! the shadow of that Cross is never off Him, not
even when He is exulting in His bridegroom joy. But these are only
incidental suggestions; the main idea is the true principle of fasting, which,
like all the observances of the New Testament, must be the expression of
that which is in the heart. Let the heart only be true, and when the
Bridegroom of the heart is present, fasting will be entirely out of the
question; but when He is absent no rule will be needed -- they will fast as
the natural expression of their sorrow.
The two companion illustrations which follow set in the clearest light the
large subject of the relation of the new dispensation to the old in respect of
forms. As to substance, He had already made it plain that the old was not
to be destroyed, nor even superseded, but fulfilled, to its last jot and tittle,
as harvest fulfils seed-time. But as to form, the case was entirely different.
The new life, while losing nothing which was in the old, was to be larger
and freer, and therefore must have new garments to match. To try to piece
out and patch the old would be no improvement, but much the reverse, for
a worse rent would be the only result. The second illustration, suggested
like the first by the associations of the marriage feast (the Saviour's
illustrations are never far-fetched -- He always finds exactly what He
needs close at hand, thus proving Himself Master of the imagination as of
all else), is to the same purpose. The new wine of the kingdom of heaven,
though it retains all the the excellence of the old vintage, yet having fresh
properties of its own, must have fresh skins to hold it, that its natural
expansion be not hindered; for to attempt to confine it in the old vessels
would be to expose them to destruction and to lose the wine.
----

What a striking illustration of these suggestive words of warning has been
the history of doctrine and of form in those churches which cling to the
worn-out ritualism of the Old Testament! Old Testament forms were good
in their time; but they are not good to hold the new wine of spiritual life:
and to attempt to combine them, as modern ritualists do, is to injure both,
to do violence to the forms by subjecting them to a strain for which they
were never intended, and to lose the greater part of the life by trying to put
it in moulds which were never intended for it. There is now no longer the
excuse which our Lord was so ready to make, at that time of transition, for
those who were slow to recognise the superiority of the new -- a point
which is brought out in the pendant to this illustration which the Evangelist
Luke records: "No man also having drunk old wine straightway desireth
new: for he saith, The old is better;" or rather, according to the more
correct reading, "the old is good." Thus. while the true principle was laid
down for all time, excuse was made on behalf of John and his disciples, for
clinging with a natural fondness to that which had done good service in the
past. A very needful lesson this for too ardent reformers, not considerate
enough of what is in many respects wholesome and praiseworthy
conservatism.
It was in the midst of these important teachings that the message came
from the chamber of death, to which we must now again direct our
thoughts: "While He spake these things unto them, behold, there came a
ruler, and worshipped Him, saying, My daughter is even now dead: but
come and lay Thy hand upon her, and she shall live. And Jesus arose, and
followed him, and so did His disciples." This promptness is a most precious
revelation of the Divine readiness to help at any moment. No need of
waiting for a convenient time. Any moment is convenient for Him, to
Whom the affairs even of the infinite universe are no burden.
The same lesson is still more strikingly taught by His manner of dealing
with the case which met Him on the way to the ruler's house. So hastily
had He set out, in response to the ruler's appeal, that one would have
thought this of all times the most inconvenient -- especially for a chronic
invalid -- to gain a hearing. Here is a woman who has had a disease for
twelve years, and who therefore might surely be asked to wait a few hours
at least, till the Physician should be at leisure! And the case is not at all
forced on His attention; she does not stand in front of Him, so that He
cannot pass without noticing her, -- she only "came behind Him"; nor does
she take any means that seem likely to arrest His attention, -- she only
"touched the hem of His garment." But it is enough. Slight as the
----

indication is that some one needs His help, He at once observes it; nor does
He exhibit the least sign of impatience or of haste; He turns round, and
speaks in the kindest manner, assuring her, as it were, of her right to enjoy
the great blessing of health, which had just come to her, for as soon as she
had touched Him He had cured her of her long and weary ailment. What
encouragement to the most timid soul! And what a revelation of the large
sympathy and ever-ready helpfulness of our Saviour Christ, and of our
heavenly Father Whom He so gloriously reveals!
The scene is now changed to the chamber of death. There are most
interesting details given in the fuller account by the Evangelist Mark, but
our scope is large enough here without endeavouring to bring them all in.
The maid had been at the point of death when the father left the house;
now it is all over, and the room is full of noisy mourners. These clamorous
demonstrations were evidently very painful to the sensitive heart of Christ,
not only, perhaps, on account of their unreality, but also because of their
inappropriateness in view of the better hope which He was bringing into
light. For we take it that in these words "Give place: for the maid is not
dead, but sleepeth," there was not only a reference to His intention at once
to bring the dead one back to life, but to the true nature of death- in His
kingdom. In it death was to be death no longer -- only a sleep, with the
prospect of a speedy and blessed awaking. Therefore such heathenish
lamentations were to be henceforward out of place. Perhaps, too, He
wished to set these people thinking on the great subject of death -- what it
is, what it means, and whether after all it need be death in the sense in
which alone the noisy mourners thought of it. But "they laughed Him to
scorn," so they must be "put forth." The Lord of life cannot reveal Himself
to such as these. Only the faithful disciples, and the parents whose hearts
have been prepared for such a revelation by the discipline of genuine grief,
are permitted to be present. It is probable that both parents had their hearts
fully opened to the Lord; for though the mother had waited by the
daughter's bedside, she had no doubt gone with her husband in spirit on his
hopeful errand; and the father's faith must have been greatly confirmed by
what had happened on the way back -- there was nothing lost by that
delay, even though in the meantime the message had come from the house
that it was too late. It was not too late: it was well that the damsel had
died; for now the Saviour has the opportunity to show that He is no less
Master of the last great enemy than of all the other enemies of man. "He
took her by the hand, and the maid arose."
----

LOST FACULTIES RESTORED (<400927>MATTHEW 9:27-34).MATTHEW 9:27-34).
The raising of the dead may be regarded as the culminating point of the
series; yet there is a special value in the two that follow in close succession
before the series is complete. We have seen already that, occurring, as they
do immediately after, they show that His power is not at all exhausted -- a
token this of the exhaustlessness of the Divine love and helpfulness. But,
besides this, are they not resurrections too -- the raising again of faculties
that had long been dead? Vision is a large part of our natural life: and to
lose it is to descend, so far, into the darkness of death. And as the eye is to
impression, so is the tongue to expression. The one is the crown of life on
its receptive side, the other on its communicative side (cf. <195708>Psalm 57:8;
108:1, 2). The eye, then, may well represent life on the one side of it and
the tongue on the other; while the two together represent it as completely
as it is possible to do. Thus these two cases really come nearer to the idea
of spiritual resurrection than even the raising of the dead damsel, In the
case of the daughter of Jairus there was no part left alive to make its appeal
to the Lifegiver on behalf of the rest; but with the others it was different:
the blind men, for example, were able to cry for mercy (ver. 27); and it was
possible for the Saviour to say to them, as He touched their eyes,
"According to your faith be it unto you" (ver. 29), which He could not
have said to the damsel.
Had the series ended with the raising of the daughter of Jairus, it had been
made sufficiently apparent that Christ was able and willing to raise the
dead; but it had still remained unrevealed by what means a man spiritually
dead could secure for himself the resurrection of his lost spiritual powers.
Now it is clear. The death of the spirit is parallel, not to the total death of
the damsel, but to the partial death of the blind; for though the spirit of a
man be dead, his mind remains alive, his heart too, his conscience even, and
his body of course; there remains enough of him, so to speak, to imitate the
example of these two blind men, to ask the Son of David for mercy, to
follow Him till he finds it, to allow Him first to draw out the dormant
faculty of faith, and then, having prepared him for the mighty boon, to pour
celestial light upon his soul, bestowing on him a life so new and fresh and
blessed, that it will seem to him as if it were, and it will in point of spiritual
fact really be, life from the dead.
It seems more than likely that it was because He wished to subordinate the
physical to the spiritual that He strictly charged them, saying, "See that no
man know it." If the main thing had been the restoration of bodily sight, the
----

more who heard of it the better. But His great purpose was far higher, --
even to put an end to spiritual blindness and death; therefore He must limit
His dealings with natural blindness to those who were prepared to receive
the lower blessing without injuring them in their higher nature; and to make
known such a case in the way of advertisement through the country-side
would have been to descend from His lofty position as Saviour of men and
Herald of the kingdom of heaven to that of oculist for the neighbourhood.
But, though we can readily see why the Saviour should forbid the
publication of the cure, it was natural enough that the men should disobey
the order. They probably attributed His injunction to modesty, and thought
they were showing a proper appreciation of what had been done for them
by publishing it abroad. Blameworthy they certainly were; but not
inexcusable.
The other case -- the cure of the dumb demoniac -- comes, if possible,
still closer to the spiritual condition with which it was the work of the
Saviour especially to deal. Like the former, it was the loss of a faculty; but,
unlike it, it was not the natural loss of it, but the eclipsing of it by the
malign presence of a spirit of evil. How closely parallel is this to the case of
the spiritually dead. What is it that has destroyed the great faculty by which
God is known and worshipped? Is it not sin? Let that demon be cast out,
and not only will the eye see, but the tongue will speak; there will be a new
song in the mouth, even praise to the Most High.
Furthermore, as the cure of the blind men brought into prominence the
power of faith, this brings into prominence the power of Christ to save to
the uttermost. For what more helpless case could there be? He could not
cry, for he was dumb. He could not follow Christ as the blind men had
done, for he had not control of himself; so he must be brought by others.
Yet for him, as well as for them, there is full salvation, as soon as he comes
into the presence of the Lord of life. No wonder the multitudes mar-veiled,
and said, "It was never so seen in Israel"! and no wonder that the
Pharisees, unable in any other way to evade the force of such a succession
of manifest signs of the kingdom of heaven, should be driven to the
contradictory and blasphemous suggestion, "He casteth out devils through
the prince of the devils" (ver. 34).
The series is now complete; and, long as it has been, we could not dispense
with a single case. There has been no repetition. Each case reported in
detail has had its own special and peculiar value: the leper, the centurion's
servant, the mother-in-law of Peter, the dealings with the impulsive scribe
----

and the hesitating disciple, the stilling of the storm and mastery of the
unseen legions of evil, the forgiving of sin, and welcoming of repentant
sinners, the healing of the chronic invalid by the way, the raising of the
dead damsel, and the restoring of sight to the blind and speech to the
dumb, -- all different, all most precious, all needed to bring out some
aspect of the truth concerning Jesus as the Saviour of mankind, all together
giving us a most comprehensive presentation of the signs of the kingdom
of heaven. And now that the nature of His work has been so fully set forth
in its two great departments of teaching and of healing, the rest is left
unrecorded, except in the general statement that "Jesus went about all the
cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel
of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the
people" (ver. 35).
----

CHAPTER 9.
THE KING'S AMBASSADORS. -- MATTHEW 9:36-10:42.
I. -- THE MISSION (<400936>Matthew 9:36-10:5).
So far the King Himself has done all the work of the kingdom. But it has
grown upon Him, so that He can no longer do it without assistance; He
must therefore provide Himself with deputies. His doing so will be the first
step in the organisation of His world-wide kingdom. He reveals, however,
no plan laid down to meet all possible emergencies. It is enough to provide
for necessities as they develop themselves. He constructs no mechanism
beforehand into the different parts of which life may be afterwards guided
or forced; His only care is about the life, knowing well that if only this be
full and strong, the appropriate organisation will be ready when it is
needed.
In conformity with this principle He does not make His arrangements,
necessary as they manifestly are, without first providing that they shall not
be mechanical, but vital, that they shall originate, not as a contrivance of
mind, but as an outflow of soul. First, we are informed by the Evangelist
that the soul of the Master Himself was stirred with compassion as He
looked upon the multitude, and thought how much they needed in the way
of shepherding, and how little it was possible for them to have. It was no
matter of planning for the extension of His kingdom; it was a great
yearning over the sheep that were scattered, and torn (ver. 36, Gk. of
oldest MSS.), and lost (<401006>Matthew 10:6). But it is not enough that the
Master's heart should be touched: the disciples also must be moved. So He
turns their thoughts in the same direction, urging them to observe how
plenteous the harvest, how few the labourers; and therefore to pray that the
lack may be speedily supplied. He sets them thinking and praying about it
-- the only way to lay foundations for that which shall be true and lasting.
Let it be observed further, that the two emblems He uses present most
strikingly the great motives to missionary work: compassion for the lost,
and zeal for the Divine glory. "Sheep having no shepherd," -- this appeals
to our human sympathies; the Lord of the harvest deprived of His harvest
for want of la-bourers to gather it in, -- this appeals to our love and
loyalty to God.
----

The result of their thought and prayer presently appears; for we read in the
next sentence of the setting apart of the twelve disciples to the work. It
does not follow, because the narrative is continuous, that the events
recorded were; it is probable that an interval elapsed which would be
largely spent in prayer, according to the word of the Master.
This is the first mention of the Twelve in this Gospel; but it is evident that
the number had been already made up, for they are spoken of as "His
twelve disciples." It would appear from the second and third gospels that,
immediately before the delivery of the Sermon on the Mount, the Twelve
were chosen from the whole number of disciples to be constantly with
Him, as witnesses of His works and learners of His doctrine. By this time
they had been so far instructed and trained by their companionship with
Christ, that they could be safely intrusted with a mission by themselves;
accordingly, He for the first time gives them power to do deeds of mercy
of the same sort as those which He Himself had been doing, as signs of the
kingdom of heaven.
As the apostles have not been mentioned bet fore, their names are
appropriately given here. The number "twelve" was no doubt significant, as
suggestive of the twelve tribes of Israel; but there was plainly no attempt to
have the tribes represented separately. It would seem as if all were
Galileans, except one, and that one was Judas Iscariot (i.e., the man of
Kerioth, supposed to be a town in Judea). The reason of this almost
exclusive choice of Galileans is in all probability to be found in the simple
fact that there were none other available. There had been those, in the
course of His Judean ministry, who had after a certain fashion believed on
Him; but there was not one of them whom He could trust with such work
as this (<430223>John 2:23-5). It may be thought, indeed, that surely there might
have been some better representative -- at least, than Judas proved himself
to be -- of the southern tribes; but why should we think so? We have no
reason to suppose that Judas was a traitor at heart when he was chosen.
Perhaps there was in him at that time the making of as grand an apostle as
the best of them. It was not long, indeed, before the demon in him began to
betray itself to the searching glance of the Master (<430670>John 6:70) but had
he only in the power of the Master he followed, cast that demon out of his
own heart, as possibly enough he may have helped in this very mission to
cast demons out of others, all would have been well. The subsequent fall of
the traitor does not by any means show that Christ now made a mistaken
choice; it only shows that the highest privileges and opportunities may, by
the tolerance of sin in the heart, be not only all in vain, but may lead to a
----

condemnation and ruin more terrible by far than would have been possible
without them.
Not only was the apostolate Galilean, -- it was plebeian, and that without
a solitary exception. It seems to include not a single person of recognised
rank or position. Again, we believe that this is to be accounted for by the
simple fact that there were none of these available. We cannot suppose that
if there had been a disciple like Paul in the ranks, the Master would have
hesitated to give him a place in the sacred college; but, seeing there was
none, He would not go out of His way to secure a representative of the
learned or the great. Had Nicodemus been bold enough to come out
decidedly on the Lord's side, or had Joseph of Arimathea developed earlier
that splendid courage which he showed when the Master's work on earth
was done, we can scarcely doubt that their names might have been included
in the roll. But there is no such name; and now, as we look back, was it not
better so? Otherwise there could not have been such a wonderful
illustration of the great fact that "God hath chosen the weak things of the
world to confound the things which are mighty"; there could not otherwise
have been the same invincible evidence that the work these men did was
not the work of men, but was indeed and in truth the doing of God.
Though they were all from the lower ranks of life, they were characterised
by great varieties of gifts and dispositions. Some of them, indeed, are
scarcely known to us at all. It may be that they were more or less ordinary
men, who made no special mark; but it would be rash to set this down as
certain, or even as probable, seeing that our records of the time are so
scanty, and are manifestly constructed with the idea, not of giving to every
man his due -- as would be the poor ideal of a mere writer of history --
but of making nothing of the men, and everything of the cause and of the
Master in Whose great Personality theirs was merged. But those of them
who do appear in the records are men of such varied dispositions and
powers that the Twelve might after all have been a fair miniature of the
Church at large. Some of the selections seem very strange. We have
already referred to Judas the traitor. But there were those among them
who must have been far less likely men than he. There were two in
particular, the choice of whom seemed to violate all dictates of wisdom and
prudence. These were Matthew the publican and Simon the Cananean or
Zealot. To have a publican, hated as the whole class was, among the
apostles, was apparently to invite the hostility and contempt of the great
majority of the nation, and especially of those who were strongly national
in feeling. On the other hand, to invite one who was known as a Zealot a
----

radical and revolutionist in politics, a man who had identified himself with
the wildest schemes for the overthrow of the Government, was to provoke
the opposition of all the law-abiding and peace-loving people of the time.
Yet how could the heavenly King have more effectually shown that His
kingdom was not of this world, that the petty party spirit of the day had no
place in it whatever, that it mattered not what a man had been, if now he
was renewed in the spirit of his mind, and consecrated in heart and soul
and life to do the will of God and serve his Master Christ?f9
So it has come to pass that, though these twelve men had nothing at all to
recommend them to the favour of the world, and though there was very
much from every worldly point of view to create the strongest prejudices
against them and to militate against their influence, yet they have, by the
grace of their Divine Master, so triumphed over all, that when we think of
them now, it is not as fishermen, nor as publican or Zealot -- even the
traitor has simply dropped out of sight -- we see before us only "the
glorious company of the apostles"!
II. -- THE COMMISSION (<401005>Matthew 10:5-42).
"These twelve Jesus sent forth" (in pairs, as we learn elsewhere, and as is
indicated here, perhaps, by the grouping in the list), "and charged them."
This leads us to look at their commission. It begins with a limitation,
which, however, was only to be temporary. The time had not yet come for
the opening of the door to the Gentiles. Besides this, we must remember
that the Saviour's heart was yearning over His own people. This appears in
the tender way He speaks of them as "the lost sheep of the house of
Israel." Moreover, the apostles were by no means ready, with all their
national prejudices still rank in them, to be intrusted with so delicate and
difficult a duty as getting into communication with an alien race.
Accordingly their field is strictly limited to their own countrymen.
There seems to have been a limitation also in their message. They had
themselves been to some extent instructed in regard to the nature of the
kingdom, its blessedness, its righteousness, its leading principles and
features; but, though they may have begun to get some glimpse of the truth
in regard to these great matters, they certainly had not yet made it their
own; accordingly they are given, as the substance of their preaching, only
the simple announcement, with which the Baptist had also begun his
ministry, and with which Christ commenced His: "The kingdom of heaven
is at hand." Though there seems to have been a limitation on the teaching
side, there was none on the side of healing, for their Lord empowers them
----

to do the very same things for the relief of their suffering fellow-
countrymen as they had seen Himself doing. We have already seen how
much teaching there was in these signs of the kingdom; and we can well
believe that it was far better, considering the stage of advancement the
apostles had reached, that reliance should be placed on the light such deeds
of mercy would necessarily throw on the nature of the kingdom, than on
any exposition which, apart from their Master, they could at that time have
been able to give. Above all it is to be clear that the privileges of the
kingdom are free to all; its blessings are to be dispensed without money
and without price: "Freely ye have received, freely give."
How, then, were they to be supported? About this they were to give
themselves no concern. They were now to put in practice the great
command, "Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness,"
relying on the promise, "all these things shall be added unto you." But in
no miraculous way are they to look for the provision of their wants. They
are to be maintained by those among whom and for whom they labour.
This was to be no burden, but a privilege, reserved for those who were
found "worthy" (ver. 11). Nor was it to be divided among as many as
possible. They were to stay on with the same person who first received
them, as the one whom the Master had chosen for the honour; while, if any
refused to recognise it as a privilege, there was to be no weak solicitation,
but a dignified withdrawal. The regulations throughout are manifestly
intended to keep most vividly before their minds that they went not in their
own names, nor in their own strength, nor at their own charges, -- that
they were ambassadors of a King, clothed with His authority, armed with
His power, vested with His rights; so that there is a manifest
appropriateness in the solemn words with which this part of the
commission closes: "Verily I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for
the land of Sodom and Gomorrha in the day of judgment, than for that
city" which rejects you (ver. 15).
The part of the charge which follows, and which the limitation of our plan
will not allow us to illustrate point by point, bears not so much on the work
more immediately before them as on the whole work of their apostolate. It
may have been spoken, as some suppose, later on, and only put here as
germane to the occasion; for, as we have seen, the arrangement of this
gospel is not chronological, but is largely topical. Still there seems no very
strong reason for supposing that the entire discourse was not spoken at this
very time; for why should not the apostles in the very beginning of their
----

way have some idea of what it would cost them to accept the work to
which they were now called?
The leading thoughts are these: They must expect to be exposed to trial
and suffering in the prosecution of their mission. The Master Himself was
sorely tried, and the servant must not expect exemption. He is not indeed
to court trials, or to submit to persecutions which are not inevitable:
"When they persecute you in this city, flee ye into another." On the other
hand, when the path of duty lies evidently through trial or danger, he must
not shirk it, but face it boldly; and in all emergencies he is to place implicit
confidence in Him Whose servant he is: "When they deliver you up, be not
anxious how or what ye shall speak: for it shall be given you in that hour
what ye shall speak" (R.V.). "The very hairs of your head are all numbered.
Fear ye not, therefore." There is no way of avoiding the cross; and they
would be quite unworthy of their Master should they seek to avoid it. Yet
there is a great reward for those who bravely take it up and patiently bear it
to the end. It is the way to higher honour (ver. 32), and to the only life that
is worthy of the name (ver. 39); while to turn away from it is to choose a
path which leads to shame (ver. 33) and death (ver. 39).
The passage, taken up, as so much of it has been, with the anticipations of
ill-treatment which the apostles will receive in setting out as sheep in the
midst of wolves, closes most appropriately and beautifully with a series of
blessings on those who will treat them well, ending with the encouraging
assurance that even a cup of cold water given to a thirsty disciple will not
be forgotten of God.
The lessons on Christian work with which this passage abounds are so
numerous that it would be vain to attempt to unfold them. It is not merely
a record of facts; it is an embodiment of great principles which are to
govern the disciples of Christ in their service to the end of the world. If
only the Church as a whole were to think and pray as Christ taught His
disciples to think and pray before this great event; and then if the labourers
whom God has sent, or would, in answer to the prayers of the Church,
immediately send, into His harvest were to act -- not necessarily according
to the letter, but in every part according to the spirit of these instructions,
-- using their own faculties with all the wisdom of the serpent, and trusting
to Divine grace and power with all the simplicity of the dove -- it would
not be long before all the scattered sheep were gathered into the fold, all
the ripe sheaves garnered for the Lord of the harvest!
----

CHAPTER 10.
THE SHADOW OF THE CROSS. -- MATTHEW 11., 12.
I. -- DISCOURAGEMENTS (Matthew 11).
HITHERTO almost everything has been hopeful and encouraging in our
Evangelist's record of the Saviour's ministry. It began like daybreak on the
shores of the sea of Galilee. Great multitudes followed Him wherever He
went; and those whom He called to be with Him cheerfully responded to
the summons. When He preached the Gospel of the kingdom, the people
were astonished at His doctrine, and recognised that He "taught them as
one having authority, and not as the scribes." His works of healing were
warmly welcomed, and to a large extent appreciated by the people
generally, though already it was apparent that those whose selfish interests
were touched by the progress of the truth were ready to cavil and
complain. Notwithstanding this, the work has grown upon Him so that He
has found it necessary to arm His twelve disciples with powers like His
own, and send them forth as heralds of His kingdom through the land.
But the path of the King is not to be a triumphal progress. It is to be a via
dolorosa, leading to a cross and a grave. Many prophecies had been
already fulfilled, as our Evangelist has shown again and again: but there are
others of a different sort which can as little fail of their fulfilment, -- like
that which speaks of the Messiah as "despised and rejected of men, a man
of sorrows, and acquainted with grief." It is not at all to be wondered at,
then, that the Evangelist should now give his readers some idea of the
discouragements which met the King in the setting up of His kingdom on
the earth. The first of these which he mentions comes from a quarter from
which least of all it might have been expected.
1. John in doubt (<401101>Matthew 11:1-15).
It was, indeed, not at all unnatural that John should be in doubt. Think of
his character: stern, uncompromising, severe, and bold to rashness. Think
of his circumstances: languishing in prison for the truth's sake, without any
prospect of rescue; -- after all, was Jesus King, or Herod? Remember, too,
in what terms he had predicted the coming One: "Now also the axe is laid
unto the roots of the trees;"... "He that cometh after me is mightier than
I;"... "Whose fan is in His hand, and He will throughly purge His floor,
----

and gather His wheat into the garner; but He will burn up the chaff with
unquenchable fire." Did not this betoken a work which would be swift,
severe, thorough, -- very different from anything of which he could hear in
his prison cell? The coming of the kingdom was too gentle and too slow
for the stern, impatient Baptist. Accordingly, "offended" (see ver. 6, R.V.:
"finding occasion of stumbling") in his Master, he sends this message, in
the hope possibly that it may constrain Him to avow Himself and to bring
matters to a crisis: "Art thou He that should come, or do we look for
another?"
Though it was natural enough that John should doubt, it was none the less
trying to Jesus. The disciples were only children yet. Not one of them
could enter into full sympathy with Him. John, the forerunner, was the one
strong man, on whom He had reason thoroughly to rely, who had been
tried again and again, and always found brave and true. Yet it is he who
sends the doubting message. What a shock it must have been to the
sensitive heart, what a trial to the faith, of the Man Christ Jesus!
The message must have been a very disturbing and disconcerting one, and
fitted, if widely known, to neutralise to a large degree in the minds of the
people the witness John had borne to Jesus. It is the last thing the
Evangelist would have thought of mentioning, if he had been actuated in
the selection of his material by motives of policy; and the fact that this
incident is published in two of the Gospels is a striking illustration of what
is manifest throughout -- the perfect simplicity and candour of the sacred
historians.
Have we not reason to be most thankful that they did record it? To the
truly thoughtful mind it is no weakening of the testimony of "John; while it
is full of comfort for the honest doubter, giving him the assurance that even
when the most serious questions trouble him -- even though the very
foundations of his faith seem to be shaken -- "there hath no temptation
taken" him "but such as is common to man," such as even a brave and true
soul like John had to face; full of encouragement also to do just as he did,
-- go straight to the Master Himself with the doubts, and let Him deal with
them -- wisely, faithfully, tenderly -- as He does here.
How, then, does He deal with them? By a miracle, opening the prison
doors, and so making it perfectly plain to him that not Herod, but Jesus, is
King? By a sudden outburst of vengeance, destroying hosts of unrepentant
sinners and alarming all the country side, and so satisfying the sternest
thoughts of the Baptist in his cell? Not at all. He deals with them as He
----

intends to deal with doubters always: points him quietly to the many tokens
of His Divine mission -- not in the way of judgment wrought on sinners
nor of any grand demonstration which will astonish the nation, but in the
quiet progress of His helpful, healing, comforting work: "Go, and show
John again those things which ye do hear and see: the blind receive their
sight, and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the
dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to them." Then
He encourages him to hold fast the beginning of his confidence firm unto
the end, by adding the significant words, "Blessed is he, whosoever shall
find none occasion of stumbling in Me" (R.V.). It was far better for John
himself that he should be allowed to rally, than that anything special should
be done to meet his doubts. He did rally; he did secure the blessing his
Master set before him; he was satisfied without any open demonstration,
satisfied to wait on and suffer in faith and patience, till at last he sealed the
testimony of his magnificent life by a martyr's death.
Those are in some respects to be envied who in childlike simplicity believe
without doubt or question; but there is a special blessing for those who by
the very force of their nature must wrestle with doubt:, yet in the trying
hour find no occasion of stumbling in Him. They come out of the conflict
more than conquerors through Him that loved them.
The answer sent to John was kind; but there was no flattery in it -- not
even a word of commendation of his heroic endurance. The Master knew
the strength of His disciple, and He dealt with him accordingly. But as
soon as the messengers are gone He tells the people what He thinks of him.
He in effect deprecates the thought of judging John by a message sent in an
hour of weakness and despondency. "Do not imagine for a moment," He
seems to say, "that the man you went out into the wilderness to see is
feeble as a reed, or soft as a courtier. He is all, and more than all, you took
him to be. He is a prophet indeed; and much more, for He is a herald of the
heavenly King. Among them that are born of woman there hath not risen a
greater than John the Baptist; and though he has not the advantages of
even the little ones in the kingdom of heaven, inasmuch as he belongs to
the old dispensation, yet, as herald of the new, he occupies a peculiarly
honoured place -- he stands between the old and the new; for all the
prophets and the law prophesied until John; while from the days of John
the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven is preached, and men are
pressing into it. He is, in fact, if only you had ears to hear, if only your
minds were open to read the Scriptures according to the spirit of them, that
----

very Elijah whose coming your prophet has taught you to expect" (vv. 7-
14).
So far we have followed what seems to be the drift of our Saviour's words
in regard to John; but there is more than this in them. He is contrasting the
feebleness and fickleness of the multitude with the strength and stability of
John. There is before His mind, throughout, the thought of the
transcendent importance of the events of the time as compared with the
thoughtlessness of the people of the time. The question "What went ye out
for to see?" was intended not merely to bring into relief the greatness of
John, but to search their hearts. The important events of the time had
circled first around John the Baptist, then around Himself. The people had
not the least idea of the transcendent greatness of John and still less of the
infinite greatness Of Him to Whom he had borne witness. Jesus did not
wish as yet fully to assert His own claims, yet He desired to bring the
inconsiderate multitudes to some conception of the things which their eyes
saw, to rebuke and, if possible, to correct their thoughtlessness and
indifference.
It is to the presence of this underlying thought that some forms of
expression are due which otherwise are difficult to understand. This applies
in particular to ver. 12, which has been a terrible stumbling-block to
expositors. So far as the position of John was concerned, it was enough to
say that from his time the kingdom of God was preached (the form found
in St. Luke); but in view of the levity and thoughtlessness of the multitudes
it is put in such a way as to suggest that it is not your thoughtless, fickle,
reed-hunting, sight-seeing people, that get the kingdom, but eager, earnest,
"violent" men. The same thought accounts for the manner in which the
paragraph closes, indicating that that which had been spoken ought to lead
to more serious thought, more intelligent appreciation both of the herald
and of the kingdom which in the spirit and power of the Great Elijah he has
heralded: "He that hath ears to hear, let him hear."
But would they hear? Alas, no! and this accordingly must be put down as a
second and most serious discouragement.
2. The Unreasonableness of the People (<401116>Matthew 11:16-19).
Unable to recognise the true significance of the events of the time, with
deaf ears to the heavenly message which first the herald and then the King
had brought them, they fastened their attention on that which was merely
incidental: the asceticism of John, the social friendliness of Jesus. Of the
----

first they complained, because it was not like the second; of the second
they complained, because it was not like the first. Any excuse for a
complaint; no ear to hear nor soul to appreciate the message of either. To
what can He liken them? To a set of children, sitting in the market-place
indeed, but with no thought of business in their heads: they are there only
to amuse themselves: and even in their games they are as unreasonable as
they can be. One set proposes to play a wedding, and the rest say, "No, we
want a funeral"; then, when the others take it up and start the game of
funeral, they change their tune, and say, "No, we prefer a wedding."
Nothing will please those who have no intention to be satisfied. Caring
nothing for the kingdom which John heralded, the multitude only noticed
the peculiarity of his garb, and the stern solitariness of his life, and said he
must be a lunatic. When the King Himself comes with no such peculiarity,
but mingling on familiar and friendly terms with the people, still caring
nothing for the kingdom which He preached, they and fault with Him for
the very qualities the absence of which they deprecated in John. If they had
acted, not as foolish children, but as wise men, they would have recognised
that both were right, inasmuch as each was true to himself and to the
position he filled. It was right and fitting that the last of the old prophets
should be rugged and stern and solitary, even as the great Elijah, in whose
spirit and power he came. It was no less right and fit that the Saviour-King
of men should set out on new lines and introduce the new dispensation in a
manner suited to its distinctive features of freedom and familiar
friendliness. Thus, in the one case, and in the other, "wisdom is justified of
her children."
3. The Unbelief of the Cities (<401120>Matthew 11:20-24).
Though the multitudes which had flocked to hear John might be fickle and
thoughtless, surely better things might be expected of those favoured
towns by the lake of Galilee, where the signs of the kingdom had been so
abundantly exhibited and the truth of the kingdom so earnestly and
frequently preached. But no: even they "repented not." They would bring
their sick in crowds to get them healed; but they hid as it were their faces
from Him. They had not indeed treated Him as the people of Nazareth had
done; for Nazareth had cast Him out, and Capernaum had taken Him in.
Yet His lamentation is not over Nazareth, but over Capernaum. We can
readily see why. What He suffered at Nazareth was a personal indignity.
He was so summarily ejected that He had not time or opportunity to set
before them the signs of the kingdom. But in Capernaum the time and
opportunity had been ample. The truth had been fully told; the signs had
----

been fully wrought. The people had seemed to listen; and all betokened a
happy issue. We can imagine the Saviour waiting and hoping and longing
(for again, let it be remembered that He was very man, and that this
experience discouraged Him as it would discourage any of us), and then
tasting all the bitterness of hope deferred, ending in crushing
disappointment.
For a long time He continues silent, bearing the heavy burden in His heart,
till the fountain of grief could be pent up no longer: "Then began He to
upbraid the cities wherein most of His mighty works were done, because
they repented not." The words He speaks are very awful; but it is in the
last resort. Love and mercy have been His theme from day to day; and it is
only because these are obstinately rejected that wrath and judgment must
now find a voice. It is not a wrathful voice: there are tears in it. What must
it have cost Him to speak these awful words about Capernaum's
impending doom! To think that those who were nearest His heart of all, to
whom He devoted the freshness of His first days of service, the dew of His
youth, so to speak -- that they would have none of Him, but preferred to
remain in sin with all the woe it necessarily entailed, -- oh! it must have
been torture to that loving heart. And we may be sure there was no less
pathos in this last appeal to Bethsaida, Chorazin, and Capernaum, than
there was in the later lamentation over the city of the South.
How does the Saviour bear Himself under these repeated
discouragements? The passage which follows will show (vv. 25-30). Some
have found a difficulty in the word "answered," because there appears no
question with which it is connected. But did not these discouragements
require an answer? As we read, first of the doubts of John, then of the
thoughtlessness of the multitudes, and then of the impenitence of the
favoured cities by the lake, is there not a question in our hearts, becoming
more and more urgent as each new discouragement appears, What will He
say to this? What can He answer? Thus our minds are well prepared for
that which immediately follows: "At that time Jesus answered and said, I
thank Thee, O Father." Is it to be a thanksgiving, then, after such a series
of disappointments and vexations? Even so. As He has looked to the cities
of the plain, His voice has been a wail; now that He looks up to His Father,
wailing ceases, and thanksgiving takes its place. So will it always be to
faith which is genuine and deep enough. It is only when we look below and
around that we are depressed. When we look up we are strong. "I will lift
up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help. My help cometh
from the Lord Who made heaven and earth." Was it the remembrance of
----

this passage at the time of need which suggested the form of His
thanksgiving: "I thank Thee, Father, Lord of heaven and earth"?
Surely we have here the living original of that grand apostolic word. "In
everything give thanks"; for if "at that season" (R.V.) the Saviour of men
found occasion for thanksgiving, we may well believe that at any season,
however dark, we may find something to stir our hearts to gratitude; and
the very exercise of thanksgiving will bring a deep spiritual joy to set
against the bitterest sorrow, even as it was with our Lord, Who. as St.
Luke informs us, "rejoiced in spirit" as He lifted up His soul in thanks to
God that day.
What, then, does He find to be thankful for? First, He discovers a cause for
gratitude in the very limitation which occasions His sorest disappointments:
"I thank Thee,... because Thou hast hid these things from the wise and
prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes." There is of course the
cheering thought that amid the general unbelief and rejection there are
some childlike souls who have welcomed the truth. Some are fain to make
this the sole cause of thankfulness, as if He meant to say, "I thank Thee,
that though Thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, Thou
hast revealed them unto babes." But there is no authority for introducing
this little word. The Saviour gives thanks, not merely in spite of this hiding,
but because of it. It is true, indeed, that He uses the language of
resignation, "Even so, Father: for so it seemed good in Thy sight," which
makes it evident that the fact that so many of the wise and intelligent
rejected His gospel presented a real difficulty to His mind, as it has done to
earnest souls in all ages. But while it was no doubt enough for Him to feel
sure that it was right in the sight of God, we are not without indication in
what follows, that His faith not only led to resignation, but enabled Him to
see for Himself that it was wisely ordered. For what is the great object of
the Gospel? Is it not to dethrone itself and enthrone God in the hearts of
men? It is clear, then, that, if it had in any way appealed to pride and self-
sufficiency, it would have defeated its own end. Suppose the revealing of
things had been to the wise and prudent as such, what would have been the
result? The kingdom of heaven would have become a mere scholarship
prize. And however good a thing scholarship may be, and however
important that it be encouraged, this is not the work of the Christ of God.
His Gospel is for all; so it is addressed not to the great in intellect, which
would confine it to the few, but to the lowly in heart, which brings it within
reach of all, -- for the very wisest and greatest in intellect may be, and
ought to be, meek and lowly in heart.
----

Indeed, is it not to the meek and lowly heart that even the truths of science
are disclosed? A man who approaches nature with a preconceived theory,
about which his mind is already made up, is sure to miss the mark. To enter
into its secrets, prejudices and prepossessions must be laid aside, and things
observed with open mind and simple receptiveness. In this connection one
sees the special appropriateness of the reference to "the Lord of heaven
and earth." The principle is one which is not restricted in its range: it runs
all through nature. Still more appropriate is the appeal to the fatherhood of
God. It is not for the Father to be partial to his clever children, and leave
the less favoured ones to shift for themselves. To Him they are all "babes";
and to them He must be not examiner, nor prize-giver, but above all
Father, if they would understand and feel His love. So the more one thinks
of it, the more in every point of view does it seem good and necessary that
these things should not be made known to the "wise and understanding"
(R.V.) as such, but should be revealed to "babes," and to those of childlike
spirit. It is well. The wisest and most learned may join in the thanksgiving,
for it is far better for them to take their places with the rest, as many
happily do, and receive the same loving welcome; and those of us who
cannot call ourselves wise and learned should surely be most devoutly
thankful that, however impossible it may be to compete with these highly
favoured ones in Obtaining the prizes of earth, we are at no disadvantage in
striving for "the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus."
The next great thought which comes to the relief of the Saviour in His
discouragement is that, while there are barriers in the heart of man, there is
no barrier in the heart of God, no limit whatever to the outpouring of
Divine love and grace: "All things are delivered unto Me of My Father."
Even at the time when it is borne in upon Him that men will have none of
Him, He exults in the thought that He has everything for them. If only they
could see it! If only they knew the boundless treasure there was for them in
God! If only they knew that God had put all within their reach by sending
them His Son! But the Son is unknown except to the Father, who sent
Him; and the Father is unknown except to the Son, Who has come to
reveal Him. But He has come to reveal Him; and with the revealing the
way will be opened for all good things to follow. As He thinks of it His
heart yearns over the orphaned children of men, and He exults in the
thought that He has for them the revelation of the Father's heart and home,
with enough and to spare for all His children (ver. 27).
Then follows such an outpouring of heart as there never has been before.
He knows that only in the Father can the children of men find rest, and so
----

He says "Come unto Me," and I will lead you to the Father, Who alone
knows Me, as I alone know Him; and you, finding Him in Me, shall know
Him too, and your hearts shall be at rest.
It is beautiful and most touching to observe how our Lord is, as it were,
compelled to make His appeal more personal than He has ever done
before. We look in vain through His previous utterances as reported in this
Gospel for such reduplication of the personal pronouns as there is here.
What is the reason of it? We can see it when we read between the lines.
Hitherto His great subject has been the kingdom of heaven. This kingdom
He has been preaching through all the country-side, setting forth its purity
and blessedness, unfolding its unspeakable riches, and entreating all to
enter in by the strait gate, which He has thrown open to receive them. But
they will not enter. These things, in spite of all He can say, are hid from
them. Well He knows what is the difficulty: it is the hardness of their
hearts. If He could only get at these hearts! How can He do it? It can only
be by the opening out of all His heart to them; so He will make His
pleading, a personal entreaty now. Hence the peculiarly winning form His
invitation now assumes. It is no longer "Enter ye in at the strait gate"; it is
not even, "I have come to call sinners to repentance"; it is the cry of a
loving, yearning heart, "Come unto Me." And how tenderly He thinks of
them! -- no more upbraiding now, no more reproof. He will try to reach
the conscience through the heart, and so He does not even think of them as
sinners now -- He forgets everything but their weariness and woe: "Come
unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will rest you."f10
We shall not, however, dwell on the precious words with which this
chapter ends. They are as rich and suggestive as they are simple and heart-
thrilling; but for this very reason we must not attempt to do more than
place them in their setting, which is often missed, for the words themselves
have attracted so much attention, and so filled the minds and hearts of
those who have looked at them that too little has been made of their
surroundings. Observe only how nobly the Son of Man comes out of this
ordeal of disappointment and discouragement. See the grandeur of His
faith. "At that season," when we should expect to see Him in the depths,
He rises to the very height of His dignity and majesty. This passage above
all others has been cited as an. example of the self-assertion of Jesus-say
rather His sublime consciousness of Divine dignity, prerogative, and
power; yet so entirely natural and unassuming is it all, that in the very same
breath He can say, without conveying to the most thoughtful mind the least
feeling of incongruity: "I am meek and lowly in heart." Then behold what
----

manner of love! These chilling blasts of doubt, indifference, and unbelief
only fan it into a warmer, steadier flame. The sweetest of all His
invitations, the most touching of all His appeals, comes from a heart which
has just been wounded in its tenderest place, and has tasted the bitterness
of cruel disappointment. Who can measure the patient love which "at that
season" finds such utterance?
II. -- THE CONTRADICTION OF SINNERS (Matthew 12.).
The darkness deepens on the Saviour's path. He has now to encounter
direct antagonism. There have been, indeed, signs of opposition before.
When the man sick of the palsy was forgiven, "certain of the scribes said
within themselves, This man blasphemeth" (<400903>Matthew 9:3); but it was
only "within themselves," they did not venture to speak out. Again, after
the feast in the house of Levi, the Pharisees complained, but not to Christ
Himself; "they said unto His disciples, Why eateth your Master with
publicans and sinners?" (<400911>Matthew 9:11). And when the dumb demoniac
was cured, the Pharisees muttered, "He casteth out devils through the
prince of the devils" (<400934>Matthew 9:34), but did not yet say it to His face.
But now they are emboldened to attack Him directly. Possibly they saw as
clearly as any the discouraging aspect of affairs for the new kingdom. They
had, in all probability, heard of the doubts of John, had taken note of the
fault-findings of the people (if, indeed, these had not been first suggested
by themselves), had observed that even "the cities where most of His
mighty works were done repented not" (<401120>Matthew 11:20); and having
therefore less occasion to fear consequences, they might think it safe to
attack one who stood for a rapidly failing cause.
1. Observe, first, the spirit in which our Lord meets the repeated attacks of
which the record is given in this chapter. There are four in close
succession. The first is the charge of Sabbath-breaking made against the
disciples, because they rubbed a few ears of corn in their hands as they
passed through the fields on the Sabbath day; and following it, the
entangling question put to the Master in the synagogue. Then there is the
accusation founded on the healing of the blind and dumb demoniac: "This
man doth not cast out devils, but by Beelzebub the prince of the devils"
(ver. 24). The third attack is the hypocritical application, "Master, we
would see a sign from Thee" (ver. 38), the word "Master" being evidently
used in mockery, and the request for "a sign" a scornful way of suggesting
that all the signs He was giving were worth nothing. These three attacks
were made by the Pharisees, and were most irritating and vexatious, each
----

in its own way. The first was annoying on account of its pettiness, the
second because of its bitter malice, while the third was a studied insult; and
yet, galling as these repeated attacks must have been, we may well suppose
that the keenest wound of all to the gentle spirit of the Son of man would
be the last, inflicted by the members of His own family, who seemed at this
time as unsympathetic and unbelieving as the Pharisees themselves; for the
untimely interruption recorded at the close of the chapter was intended, as
we loam from the account in the second gospel, to put Him under restraint
as a madman. This last interruption, in which even His mother joined, must
have been gall and wormword to that tender heart.
Now "consider Him that endured such contradiction of sinners against
Himself" (<581203>Hebrews 12:3). How does He bear Himself through these
storms of calumny and insult? He bears Himself so that out of this dark
chapter of His history there comes to us one of the loveliest portraits of
Him to be found anywhere. It had been sketched by one of the old masters
as an ideal portrait, and is now at last matched in real life: "Behold My
Servant, Whom I have chosen; My Beloved, in Whom My soul is well
pleased: I will put My spirit upon Him, and He shall show judgment to the
Gentiles. He shall not strive, nor cry; neither shall any man hear His voice
in the streets. A bruised reed shall He not break, and smoking flax shall He
not quench, till He send forth judgment unto victory. And in His name shall
the Gentiles trust" (vv. 18-21). What gentleness and tenderness, yet what
strength and majesty! -- for, though "He strives not," nor lifts up His voice
in angry altercation, while He will not break the bruised reed, nor quench
the smoking flax, He will nevertheless declare judgment, and secure
victory, and make His name such a power in the earth, that the Gentiles
shall hope in Him and the world go after Him. We can fancy the glow on
the Evangelist's face as he pauses in the midst of the sad record of these
cruel assaults, to look at, and show to us, that lovely portrait of the Son of
man. And is. it not all the lovelier that it shines out from such a
background? Does it not give new significance to the tender words which
linger in our ears from the chapter of discouragement before: "Learn of
Me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your
souls"?
2. It would have been a great thing if our Lord had only borne in dignified
silence these repeated provocations; but He is too good and kind to leave
these misguided people to their own devices without an effort to enlighten
their dark minds and arouse their sleeping consciences. How patiently He
----

reasons with them! We may glance at each attack in succession as an
illustration of this.
On the charge of Sabbath-breaking He endeavours to set them right by
citing appropriate scriptures (vv. 3, 4); appealing to the law itself (ver. 5);
furnishing them with a great principle laid down by one of the prophets, the
key of the whole position (ver. 7); and concludes by an illustrative act,
accompanied by a simple and telling argument, which appeals to the
universal conscience and heart (vv. 9-13). Again, how patiently He answers
the malicious charge of collusion with Satan, showing them in the clearest
manner, and with amazing power, how far they are astray, and what a
dangerous path they are treading (vv. 25-37). So, too, in meeting the third
attack: though He cannot but sternly rebuke the hypocritical application for
"a sign," He yet does it in such a way as to prepare for them in due time,
when perhaps they may be ready to appreciate it, a new sign -- His death
and resurrection -- overcoming the difficulty arising from the fact that He
could not yet speak of it in plain terms (for it was at a later period than this
that He began to speak plainly of it even to His disciples) by veiling it
under the figure of "the sign of the prophet Jonas": a way of putting it
which had the advantage of being memorable, and at the same time
enigmatical enough to veil its meaning till the event should lighten it all up,
and bring out its deep suggestiveness; and while thus preparing them for
the new sign when it should come, He warns them against that evil state of
mind and heart which threatened to render even it of no avail (vv. 38-45).
And then, with what marvellous readiness does He use the painful
interruption with which the chapter ends for the teaching of truth of the
highest and purest and tenderest quality! What patience, what long-
suffering, what meekness of wisdom, what faithfulness, what strength and
tenderness! Every line of the likeness drawn by the inspired hand of the old
master is more than justified (vv. 46-50).
3. Observe, further, that in all His dealings with His bitterest foes He never
in the least degree lowers His dignity, but rather asserts it in the boldest
and strongest terms. It may be questioned, indeed, if there is any chapter in
all the history in which this is more marked. This, again: may be illustrated
from all the four occasions.
In the argument on the Sabbath question hear Him as He draws Himself
up, in presence of His accusers, and says: "In this place is One greater than
the temple" (ver. 6); and again: "The Son of man is Lord even of the
Sabbath day" (ver. 8). Must there not have been something heavenly-
----

majestic in His took and bearing when words like these were allowed to
pass unchallenged by such men? This consciousness of dignity appears no
less in the argument by which the second charge is met. In proof of this we
may point to verses 28 and 30; and the same impression is produced by the
solemnly repeated "I say unto you" (vv. 31, 36), in each case introducing
one of those declarations of judgment to which reference is made in the
passage quoted from the prophet (vv. 18-20). Quite as conspicuous is the
same feature in the third remonstrance, in which He asserts His superiority
to the great ones of the old covenant in language which acquires, from the
connection in which it occurs, a strength far beyond the mere terms
employed: "Behold, a greater than Jonas,... behold, a greater than
Solomon, is here" (vv. 41, 42). And in the last of the four sad encounters
the same lofty consciousness of peerless dignity is manifest. Son of Mary is
He? brother of James and Joses? See Him lift His eyes to heaven, and
speak of "My Father," and look down the ages, and out to the uttermost
bounds of earth, and say, "Whosoever shall do the will of My Father which
is in heaven, the same is My brother, and sister, and mother" (ver. 50).
4. We have seen how kindly and patiently the Saviour deals with these
cavillers, so as to give them every opportunity of seeing their folly and
wickedness, and the beauty and excellence of the truth they are resisting.
But He does much more than this. He speaks not only so as to meet their
objections, and give them the opportunity of being set right, but so as to
provide instruction, warning, and encouragement for all succeeding ages.
To show in any satisfactory way how this is done would require separate
treatment for each of the four instances; but it may be possible in a very
brief way to suggest it.
The first attack gave Him the opportunity of speaking on the Sabbath law.
As we have seen, He began to treat the subject from the strictly Jewish
standpoint, using the example of David and the ritual of the Temple to
correct the misapprehensions and misrepresentations of those with whom
in the first instance He had to do. But He does not leave it as a mere
Jewish question; He broadens His view, and shows that the day of rest is
for humanity at large -- not, however, as a burden, but as a blessing, the
principle which underlies it being "mercy, and not sacrifice." Thus, out of
this conflict there has come to us the Magna Charta of the people's
Sabbath, the full text of which is given in the corresponding passage of the
second gospel: "The Sabbath was made for man, and not man For the
Sabbath: therefore the Son of man is Lord also of the Sabbath." Here we
have, on the one hand, the vindication of our rights against those who
----

would deprive us of the day of rest, as if the privilege had been intended
only for the Jews, and was abolished when the dispensation closed; and, on
the other, the assertion of our liberty against those who, by their petty
regulations and restrictions, would make God's precious gift a burden
instead of a blessing. And how wisely and beautifully does He confirm to
us our privileges by following the charter with an argument which, though
coming still under the head of the great principle ("Mercy, and not
sacrifice"), is no mere repetition, but illustrates the wider aspect just
unfolded, by its freedom from Jewish colour, and its appeal to the
conscience and heart of mankind at large: "What man shall there be among
you, that shall have one sheep, and if it fall into a pit on the Sabbath day,
will he not lay hold on it, and lift it out? How much, then, is a man better
than a sheep?" (vv. 11, 12).
The second attack gave Him the opportunity of bringing out with great
distinctness and vividness the witness of the Spirit of God to His work as
Saviour of mankind. These Pharisees regarded His miracles as mere
displays of power, apart altogether from the spirit of purity, mercy, and
grace so manifest in them all. It was only this narrowness of view that
made it possible for them to imagine that the Spirit of evil, to whom of
course no one could deny a certain measure of mere power, was behind
them. How completely He answers their blasphemous suggestion by
showing that the works He did, judged, not by the mere power they
displayed, but by their whole spirit and tendency, were at the very opposite
pole from the works of Satan, we plainly see; but the point now is the
permanent value of His reasoning. At first sight it may seem to be quite out
of date. Whoever dreams now of disposing Of the works of Christ by
attributing them to Satan? Let us not be over-hasty, however, in
concluding that old objections are out of date. If we look closely at those
regarded as the newest, we may find that they are but old ones in a new
dress. What of the position taken by some intelligent men in our day, who
candidly admit the power of Christianity to elevate and sanctify men, and
yet set it down as false?
As an illustration of this, we cannot do better than refer to a recent
productionf11 of the Agnostic School, in which there is the most emphatic
testimony to the blessed power of Christianity in particular instances,
followed by these most candid and generous words: "What needs
admitting, or rather proclaiming, by agnostics who would be just, is that
the Christian doctrine has the power of elevating and developing
saintliness, which has had no equal in any other creed or philosophy." Yet
----

the book in which that sentence occurs assumes throughout that this
doctrine, which has had no equal in producing saintliness -- a quality
which in another place is described as "so lofty, so pure, so attractive, that
it ravishes men's souls" -- is untrue! Is, then, the argument of our Lord
out of date? and is it too late to ask the old question, "Can Satan cast out
Satan?"
It does not always follow, of course, that that which is good in its effects in
particular cases, is thereby proved to be true. Truth and falsehood are to be
determined fundamentally on other grounds than those of proved utility --
this applies alike to truth and duty; there is an absolute truth and falsehood
quite irrespective of utility, and there is an absolute right and wrong quite
irrespective of utility, -- but though we cannot in particular cases prove
that to be true which appears to be beneficial, yet we cannot but believe
that in the end, the true, the good, and the beautiful will be found to
coincide; and we maintain that, seeing the effects of genuine Christianity on
human character have been tested for nearly two thousand years, and have
been found to "make for righteousness," nobility, purity, all that is good
and gracious, high and holy, it is too late in the day to set it down to the
father of lies. We may be mistaken in our passing judgments, may be misled
into accepting as eternally true and right some measure or doctrine which
has not yet had time to develop its real nature and character, which may
produce good results at first, and then by degrees develop other results of
quite a contrary kind -- take the history of Monasticism as a case in point;
but when there have been ample time and opportunity for testing the fruits
of a system, as there has been in the case of Christianity; when we observe
that the gospel of Christ has had these wonderful effects through eighteen
successive centuries among all ranks and classes, nations and races of men
-- it ought surely to require something stronger than Agnosticism (which
at the worst can only say, "I do not know") to make us believe the
outrageously improbable supposition that it is false, and therefore
presumably of the kingdom of lies and of unclean things. There have been
too many devils cast out of human hearts to make it at all doubtful that in
very deed "the kingdom of God has come" among us (ver. 28). There has
been too much spoiling of "the strong man's goods" to make it at all
doubtful that "a stronger than he" has mastered him and is spoiling his
house. "The Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works
of the devil" (<620308>1 John 3:8); and wherever He has been admitted into
human hearts He has done it, setting up His kingdom of "righteousness and
peace and joy in the Holy Ghost." The argument is as fresh to-day as the
----

day it was propounded; and it has now all the added strength of centuries
of confirmation.
The third attack gave our Lord the opportunity of laying bare the root of
unbelief, and setting forth the important truth that, when the heart is
estranged from God, mere signs are unavailing. The signs He had given in
abundance should have been enough, especially when' the only way of
evading their force the ingenuity of scepticism could devise had been
closed by the powerful argument just delivered. Besides this there was the
crowning sign of the resurrection still to come; yet He knew that even that
would fail to satisfy -- not for reasons intellectual, but because of the spirit
of the age, as He points out in that striking and powerful parable (vv. 43-
45), and hints in the suggestive term, "an evil and adulterous generation"
(ver. 39), the word "adulterous" referring to the well-known, and at that
time thoroughly understood, language of the Old Testament, according to
which estrangement of heart from God is branded as spiritual adultery.
(See Jeremiah 3., Hosea 1., 2., and many other passages.)
Herein we see a sufficient explanation of the widespread unbelief of the age
in which we live. It is because the heart of this generation is so far
estranged from God, so wedded to the earthly and material, so taken up
with selfish aggrandisement and the multiplication of the luxuries of life. In
many cases of unbelief the individual is not so much to blame as the spirit
of the age of which he is the representative. Observe that the Lord does not
say, "Ye evil Pharisees," but, "An evil and adulterous generation", thus
making it evident that the spirit of scepticism was not peculiar to
themselves, but a something diffused throughout society. Hence it comes
that many men, of blameless lives -- of whom it would be a breach of
charity to say that they loved darkness rather than light, because their
deeds were evil -- nevertheless declare themselves unsatisfied with the
signs of the divine mission of Christ our Lord. Why is this? It is because
they are infected with the spirit of the age, engrossed with the material, the
sensible, the secular; while their hearts, "swept and garnished" though they
be, are "empty" of God: "The god of this world hath blinded the minds of
the unbelieving, that the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, Who is
the image of God, should not dawn upon them" (<470404>2 Corinthians 4:4,
R.V.).
Such persons not only cannot recognise the signs of the kingdom of
heaven, but are in a state of heart and mind to which no sign can possibly
be given. We are indebted to the fine candour of the late Mr. Darwin for a
----

striking illustration of this. In his Life there is an interesting
correspondence with Professor Asa Gray, the great botanist, who,
wondering how Darwin could remain unconvinced by the innumerable
evidences of design in nature, took the liberty of asking him if he could
think of any possible proof which he would consider sufficient. To this Mr.
Darwin replied: "Your question, `What would convince me?' is a poser. If
I saw an angel come down to teach us so, and I was convinced, from
others seeing him, that I was not mad, I should believe." If he had left it
there, it might have been pertinent to ask him whether Christ is not just
such an angel come down from heaven to teach us, and whether a
sufficient number of persons did not see Him in the flesh, to say nothing of
the multitudes who know Him in the spirit, to convince us that we are not
mad in believing it. He did not, however, leave it there, but went on to say:
"If man was made of brass and iron, and in no way connected with any
other organism which had ever lived, I should perhaps be convinced."
Nothing could be more candid, or more in keeping with the transparent
honesty of this great man. But what an acknowledgment! Man must cease
to be man, and become a metal machine, and the universe must cease to be
a harmonious-whole, before there can be evidence enough for so simple
and elementary a principle as design in the universe; and then only a
"perhaps"! If all this were done for me, "I should perhaps be convinced." Is
our Lord's answer to the seekers after a sign out of date? "Verily I say
unto you, There shall no sign be given unto this generation" (<410812>Mark
8:12). How could there be?
What will He make of the distressing interruption caused by the
interference of His mother and brethren? Knowing their motives and
intentions as He did, He could not for a moment yield; and how was it
possible to deal with them without a public rebuke, from which, seeing that
His mother was involved in it, His heart would instinctively shrink? It was
a most painful position; and the more we think of it, and try to imagine
possible ways of extrication, the more we must admire the wisdom and
kindness shown in the way in which He confronted the difficulty. He makes
use of the opportunity for giving a new and most winning view of the
kingdom of heaven as a happy family, united each to Him, self, and all to
the Father by the holiest bonds; thus opening out the paradise of a perfect
home to all who choose to enter it, taking the sacred ties involved in the
sweet words "brother" and "sister" and "mother," and giving them a range,
a dignity, and a permanence they never had before.
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In all this there was no word of direct censure; yet the sadly mistaken
conduct of His kindred did not pass without implied rebuke; for the effect
of His words was to make it clear that, sacred as were, in His eyes, the ties
of earth, their only hope of permanence was in alliance with the higher ties
of heaven. He has come in the loving Father's name to gather in His
wandering children; and if His mother and brethren according to the flesh
attempt to hinder Him, He cannot listen to them for a moment, but must
steel His heart against their blind appeals, and that, not only for His works'
sake, but for theirs also. They are slow to believe; but the east likely way to
bring them to faith would be to yield to their unbelief. He will prosecute
the path of duty, though it involve the sacrifice of all that cheers and
comforts His heart; He must set His face as a flint to finish the work His
Father has given Him to do, and they will understand Him by-and-by.
There is no doubt they would go home with sore hearts that day; but no
very long time would elapse till they would all be most grateful that their
foolish, however well-meant, interference had failed of its intent.
The course of events in later times has proved that the gentle rebuke
involved in our Lord's reception of the message from His mother was not
only necessary at the time and for her, but for the ages to come as well. We
have seen that, in each of the attacks recorded before, our Saviour replies
in such a way that His words not only meet the objection of the moment,
but continue of permanent value to meet similar objections and gainsayings
in ages to come. So is it here. It certainly is no fault of Mary herself, whose
name should ever be held in the highest respect by all who love the Lord,
that a corrupt Church, reversing all the teaching of the Church's Head, not
only elevated the earthly relationship far above the spiritual, but in virtue of
this relationship put the mother in the place of the Son, and taught an
ignorant people to worship her and trust in her as a mediator. But the fact
that this was done, and is persisted in to this day, shows that when our
Lord set aside the mere earthly relationship as one that must be merged in
the spiritual, He was correcting not only a pardonable error of Mary, but a
most unpardonable error that afterwards, without any encouragement
whatever from her, should be committed in her name.
After all, however, it is not the setting aside of the claims of Mary and the
lowering of the earthly relationship m comparison with the heavenly, which
is the great thing in the passage; but the Gospel of the Family of God. We
have had the Gospel of the Kingdom of God, and glad tidings it has been
indeed; but have we not here something even better? It is much to be
permitted to hail the Son of God as our King; is it not better still to be
----

encouraged to hail Him as a Brother, to know that all that is sweetest and
tenderest in the dear words "brother," "sister," "mother," can be imported
into our relation to Him? How it endears the heavenly relationship, and
hallows the earthly!
Again, how it rebukes all sectarianism! He "stretches out His hand towards
His disciples," and then to all the world by that word "whosoever." And it
is not the mere promise of salvation with which this "whosoever" is
connected. There are Christians in the present day who can scarcely allow
themselves to be sectarian enough to deny that there is salvation out of the
Church to which they happen to belong: they are good enough to think that
these people who do not follow with them may somehow or other be
saved; but the idea of fraternising with them! that is quite another thing.
Now listen to the Saviour Himself: "Whosoever shall do the will of My
Father which is in heaven (no question) of what Church he belongs to, or
anything of that sort), "the same is My brother, and sister, and mother." No
arm's-length recognition there; He takes all true disciples to His heart.
Observe, moreover, the emphasis on doing. with which we are already
familiar. In setting forth the Gospel of the Kingdom, our Lord was careful
to warn His hearers: "Not every one that saith unto Me, Lord, Lord, shall
enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of My Father"
(<400721>Matthew 7:21); and now that He is setting forth the Gospel of the
Family the emphasis is still in the same place. It is not "Whosoever shall
connect himself with this church or that church;" it is not "Whosoever shall
be baptised, and take the sacrament;" it is "Whosoever shall do the will of
My Father in heaven." This emphasis on doing, in connection with these
endearing relations, is most significant. There must be love among the
members of the family: and what else than love is the characteristic of the
family ties? But how is love to be shown? How are we to distinguish it
from mere sentiment? Our Saviour is careful to teach us; and never is He
more careful than in those passages where tender feeling is most prominent
-- as, for example, in His parting words in the upper room, where again
and again He reminds His disciples that obedience is the only sure test of
love: "If ye love Me, keep My commandments; He that hath My
commandments, and keepeth them. he it is that loveth Me" (<431415>John
14:15, 21). For the same reason obedience is here set forth as the only
certain mark of the true disciple: "Whosoever shall do the will of My
Father which is in heaven, the same is My brother, and sister, and mother."
----

CHAPTER 11.
THE PARABLES OF THE KINGDOM. -- MATTHEW 13.
"THE same day went Jesus out of the house, and sat by the sea side." We
can well imagine that, after such a series of discouragements and
mortifications, the weary and heavy-laden Saviour would long to be alone,
to get away from the abodes of men, to some lonely place where silent
nature around Him would calm His spirit and furnish a temple in which He
might lift up His soul to God. How long He was allowed to be alone we
cannot tell; but possibly He may have contrived for a time to remain
unobserved. How burdened His spirit must have been! What strength of
faith it must have needed to look forward with any hope to the future of
His work at such a `time of crushing disappointment! We must remember
that He was true man, and therefore His heart must have been very sore as
He dwelt on the painful experiences through which He had just been
passing. The obstacles which lay right in His path must have seemed well-
nigh insuperable; and it would have been no wonder if at such a time He
had despaired of the prospects of the kingdom of righteousness and peace
and joy He had come to set up on the earth. He did not despair; but He did
most deeply ponder; and the result of His thinking appears in the series of
parables recorded in this chapter, which set forth, on the one hand, the
nature of the obstacles the kingdom must meet, and the reason why it must
meet them, and on the other, its certain prospect, notwithstanding these, of
growth and development onward to its final consummation.
If He was permitted to enjoy His seclusion, it was only for a short time.
"He could not be hid," His quiet retreat was discovered; and presently
there came to Him great multitudes, so many that the only convenient way
to address them all was to get into a boat, and speak to the people
gathered on the shore. It is a lovely picture: the multitudes on the shore
with the green fields around and the hills behind, and the Master speaking
from the little boat. Viewed apart from the sorrowful experience of the
past, it would have been full of cheer and hope. What more encouraging
sight than such a throng gathered to hear the words of light and hope He
had for them? But how can He view it apart from the sorrowful experience
of the past? Have not these crowds been around Him day after day, week
after week; and what has come of it all?
----

It is one thing to sow the seed of the kingdom; it is quite another to gather
the harvest. The result depends on the soil. Some of it may be hard, so that
the seed cannot enter; some of it, though receptive on the surface, yet so
rocky underneath, that the fairest shoots will wither in a day; some of it so
filled with seeds of thorns and weeds that plants of grace are choked as
they attempt to grow; while only a portion, and it may be a small
proportion of the whole, can yield a fair or full return. Such were His
thoughts as He looked on the field of men before Him, and glanced from it
to the fields of the plain of Gennesaret around, in the foreground of which
as in a picture the multitudes were set. As He thought, so He spoke, using
the one field as a parable of the other, thus veiling, and at the same time
beautifully revealing, His. thought in a figure, which, simple as it was,
demanded some degree of spiritual understanding for its appreciation; and
accordingly after speaking the parable He adds the suggestive word, "Who
hath ears to hear, let him hear."
There is something very touching in that word. It thrills with the pathos of
these precepting chapters of disappointment. He had such a message for
them -- good tidings of great joy, rest for the weary and heavy laden,
words of life and light and hope eternal -- if only there were ears to hear.
But that sad passage of Isaiah is running in His mind: "By hearing ye shall
hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and shall not
perceive: for this people's heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of
hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see
with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand with their
heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them." That is the great
obstacle, the one hindrance. Oh! if only men would hear; if only they would
not close the ears of their souls! "Who hath ears to hear, let him hear."
I. THE PRINCIPLE OF PARABOLIC INSTRUCTION.
The parable is a new style of teaching as compared with that of which the
"Sermon on the Mount" was so notable an example. That discourse was
not by any means lacking in illustration; still its main lines of thought were
of the nature of direct spiritual instruction. But here there is no direct
spiritual teaching. It is all indirect, it is parabolic through and through. No
wonder the disciples noticed the difference, and came to the Master with
the question, "Why speakest Thou unto them in parables?" The answer He
gives is a revelation of the thoughts which have been passing in His mind.
Of this disclosure we have already availed ourselves in our attempt to
picture the scene; but it remains to look at this weighty passage as
----

answering the disciples' question, and so explaining the rise of that form of
instruction in which, as in all that He did, He showed himself a perfect
Master.
The whole thing turns on the distinction between earnest inquirers and
careless hearers. There must have been many of the latter in His audience,
for this was no selected company, like that which listened to the Sermon on
the Mount. The earnest inquirer has ears to hear; the other has not. The
difference this makes is most strikingly set forth in the strong declaration:
"Whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance:
but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath,"
-- that is, instead of being the better for what he has heard, he is the
worse; not apprehending the truth, he is only perplexed and confused by it,
and instead of going away enriched, he is poorer than ever.
What, then, is to be done? If, instead of doing the people good, it only
does them harm, why try to teach them at all? Why not let them alone, till
they come with ears to hear, ready to receive? Happily this sad alternative
is not the only resource. The truth may be put in such a way that it has
both a shell and kernel of meaning: and the kernel may be so inclosed in the
shell that it can be kept safely there, ready for the time when the inner fruit,
which is the true food of the soul, can be used. For this purpose the parable
is pre-eminently serviceable. The shell of meaning is so simple and familiar,
that even a child can understand it; being of the nature of a story, it is very
easily remembered; and connected as it is with that which is frequently
observed, it will come up again and again to the minds of those in whom
the thought has been lodged; so that, even if, on first hearing it, there is no
possibility of understanding its deep spiritual significance, the time may
come when it will flash upon the spirit the light which has been concealed
within and so preserved from waste.
Take this parable of "The Sower" as an illustration. The disciples, having
ears to hear, were ready to get the good of it at once, so to them He
expounds it (vv. 18-23) on the spot. The rest were not ready to receive and
apply it. Having ears (but not ears to hear), they heard not; but did it
follow from this that it was useless, even worse than useless, to give it
them? Had the teaching been direct, it would have been so; for they would
have heard and rejected, and that would have been the last of it. But put as
it was in parabolic form, while they were not prepared to understand and
apply it then. they could not but carry it away with them; and, as they
walked the fields, and observed the birds picking the seeds from the
----

trodden field-paths, or the tiny plants withering on the rocky ledges, or the
springing wheat strangled with rank growths of thorns, or the healthy
growing wheat plant, or later in the season the rich golden grain on the
good soil, they would have opportunity after opportunity of getting a
glimpse of the truth, and finding that which at the first they were so
unprepared to receive.
In this we can see the harmony of the passage before us, with its parallels
in the second and third Gospels, where the object of speaking in parables is
represented as being "that seeing, they might not see. and hearing they
might not understand" (see <410412>Mark 4:12, and <420810>Luke 8:10).
It is true that the object of the parable was to veil as well as to reveal; and
the effect, which was also an intended effect, was to veil it from the
unprepared heart and reveal it to the heart prepared; but inasmuch as the
heart which is unprepared to-day may be prepared to-morrow, or next
month, or next year, the parable may serve, and was intended to serve, the
double purpose of veiling it and revealing it to the same person -- veiling it
from him as long as his heart was gross, but revealing it to him as soon as
he should turn to the Lord and be willing to use his spiritual powers of
apprehension for the purpose for which they had been given him. Thus,
while this method of instruction was of the nature of judgment on the
hardhearted for the moment, it was really in the deepest sense a device of
love, to prolong the time of their opportunity, to give them repeated
chances instead of only one. It was judgment for the moment, with a view
to mercy in the time to come. So we find, as always, that even when our
Saviour seems to deal harshly with men, His deepest thoughts are thoughts
of love; and in His recourse to the parabolic veil, He is once more
illustrating the truth of the prophet's description of Him cited in the
foregoing chapter: "A bruised reed shall He not break, and smoking flax
shall He not quench, till He send forth judgment unto victory."
How many difficulties might have been avoided if expositors had used less
of the mere "dry light" of the understanding, and tried more to lay their
hearts alongside the beating heart of Christ! "Is not my word like as a fire?
saith the Lord." Had this been remembered, and the fire of love in such a
passage as this brought to bear upon the heart, before it was used "like a
hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces," how different in many cases
would have been the result! It is sad to think that this very passage as to
the object of the parables has been used as if it simply taught predestination
in its hardest sense, dooming the poor misguided soul to hopelessness for
----

ever; whereas, if we enter at all into sympathy with the Saviour's heart in
the sad and trying circumstances in which the words were spoken, we find
in it no harshness at all, but the yearning of a patient love, seeking if by any
means He may reach and gain the lost.
We have, indeed, the evidence on every side that the Saviour's heart was
greatly moved at this time. We have already recognised the pathos of the
cry, "Who hath ears to hear, let him hear." We have seen the sorrow of His
heart in the sad quotation from the prophet Isaiah. On the ether hand, what
joy He has in those who do see and hear! -- "But blessed are your eyes,
for they see; and your ears, for they hear. For verily I say unto you, That
many prophets and righteous men have desired to see those things which
ye see, and have not seen them; and to bear those things which ye hear, and
have not heard them." The same satisfaction appears later (ver. 51), when,
after finishing the series, He asks His disciples, "Have ye understood all
these things?" and they say unto Him, "Yea, Lord." He adds, "Therefore
every scribe which is instructed unto the kingdom of heaven is like unto a
man that is an householder, which bringeth forth out of his treasure things
new and old." The Saviour evidently rejoices in the thought that these
disciples, having ears to hear, are making real progress, -- so much so that
in due time they will be ready to be teachers of others, each having a
treasury of his own; and not only will they be in possession of the old, but
will have power to strike out new views of sacred truth, and so be
prepared with freshness and variety to set forth the glad tidings of the
kingdom of heaven. How fully these hopes were realised we have only to
look forward to the epistles to see. There we have things old, the very
truths the Master taught in the days of His flesh; and not the old alone, for
there are things new as well, fresh settings of the old, new aspects, varied
applications of the truth -- a treasury indeed for the ages to come. The
Saviour, then, had good reason to take comfort that some of the seed He
was sowing in tears was falling on good soil, and promising a rich and
blessed harvest.
But the dark and discouraging side is never long out of sight. Returning to
His own country, and teaching in their synagogue, He so impressed the
people that they could not but ask certain questions, which, if they had
only pondered them, would have led them to the truth: "Whence hath this
man this wisdom, and these mighty works?" But the mere outside things
that met their eyes so engrossed their attention, that their heads and hearts
remained as empty as ever. Instead of pressing the question Whence?
which would have led them up to heaven and to God, they dwelt upon
----

"this man," this common man, this carpenter's son, with a mother called
Mary, and brothers with the common names, James and Joseph, Simon and
Judas; so, proving themselves to be of the earth earthy, they closed their
ears and were "offended in Him." It was very evident that the only hope of
reaching people of that kind was to speak in parables, which they could
remember without understanding in the meantime, with the hope that by-
and-by as they thought of the subject without such prejudices as these
which now cause them to stumble, they may at last understand, and receive
the truth and inherit eternal life.
II. THE GROUP OF SEVEN.
So far we have dealt with the parabolic method of teaching, and in doing
so have glanced at only one of the seven parables the chapter contains,
every one of which invites special study; but inasmuch as our plan will not
admit of this, we shall attempt nothing more than a general view of the
entire group; and to this we restrict ourselves the more willingly that there
is a unity in the cluster which is apt to escape notice when they are
considered apart, and because by letting go the details we get the
prominent features more vividly before our minds.
The arrangement seems to be in three pairs, with a single concluding
parable. The first pair -- "The Sower" and "The Tares" -- set forth the
manner of the establishment of the kingdom of heaven, and the obstacles it
must encounter. The sphere from which both parables are taken is
admirably suited to bring out the radical distinction in regard to the manner
of its establishment between the new kingdom and those with which the
people were already familiar. They were founded by the sword; this
kingdom by the Word. Not force, but persuasion, is to be the weapon; and
accordingly there is placed before the mind, not a warrior hasting to battle,
but a sower sowing seed. "The field is the world," we are told -- the world
of men, of human hearts; and the seed is "the word of the kingdom." It is
"good seed," and therefore it ought to be welcome; but there are serious
obstacles in the way.
The first parable sets forth the obstacles encountered in the soil itself.
Sometimes the seed falls on hard soil, where it cannot penetrate the
surface, and presently birds come and carry it away -- representing those
hearers of the word who, though they remember it for a short time, have
their hearts hardened against it, so that it does not enter, but is presently
snatched away by trifling worldly thoughts which come fluttering into the
mind. Then there is the shallow soil, a little loose earth on the surface, and
----

close under it the hard rock, harder even than the trodden wayside -- a
kind of soil in which the seed will rapidly take root and spring up, and as
rapidly wither away in the noonday heat, and which therefore fitly
represents those who are easily impressed, but whose impressions do not
last; who make many resolutions indeed, but in so half-hearted and
impulsive a way that they are destined to be blighted by the first blast of
temptation. Finally, there is the preoccupied soil, where thorns and thistles
hold the ground and choke the springing plants of grace, representing those
who "are choked with cares, and riches and pleasures of this life, and bring
no fruit to maturity."
The good soil is marked by characteristics which are simply the negatives
of these: it is not hard, so the seed enters; not shallow, so it takes root; not
preoccupied, so it holds the ground, and springs up and brings forth fruit,
"in some thirty, in some sixty, in some a hundred-fold."
There are, however, other obstacles than those found in the nature of the
soil. There is the diligence of the enemy, and the impossibility of getting rid
of those who have come under his influence, as set forth in the second
parable, that of "The Tares of the Field." In this parable the good seed is
no longer the word, but "the children of the kingdom"; as if to suggest that
Christians themselves are to be to the world what the word has been to
them; while the bad seed -- sown when men sleep, sown when Christians
are asleep -- does not remain as mere seed, but embodies itself in "children
of the wicked one," who take their places side by side with the true
children of the kingdom, and whom it is so difficult to distinguish from
them, that the separation may not be attempted till the time of the harvest,
when it shall be complete and final, and "the righteous shall shine forth as
the sun in the kingdom of their Father."
The second pair -- "The Mustard Seed" and "The Leaven" -- set forth the
growth of the kingdom notwithstanding the many obstacles it must
encounter, the one indicating its growth as recognisable to the observant
eye, the other its pervasive power as permeating society. This twofold view
of the development of the kingdom is in the same line of thought as the
illustrations of the light and the salt in the Sermon on the Mount. The
prophecy these parables infold is most marvellous, spoken as it was in a
time of so deep discouragement. There is true pathos in the thought of the
grain of mustard seed, "the least of all seeds," and in the little word "hid,"
which comes in so significantly. in the parable of the Leaven; and there is
great strength of faith in the readiness of mind to recognise the hopeful
----

thought of the inherent life and energy hidden in the tiny germ, and
working all unseen in the little leaven which literally disappeared in the at
first unaltered mass.
The parables of "The Hid Treasure" and "The Pearl" form a third pair,
shadowing forth the unsearchable riches of Christ. The reduplication of the
thought adds greatly to its impressiveness, and moreover affords the
opportunity of suggested variation in the experience of those who find the
treasure. The merchantman we naturally think of as representing the rich,
and the man finding the treasure m the field as one of the poor in this
world's goods. Both alike, however, "buy" their prize at the price of all
that they possess, on the principle which underlies all our Lord's teaching
as to the way of life: "Whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he
hath cannot be My disciple." The one comes upon his treasure
unexpectedly; the other finds it in the course of diligent search. Both alike,
however, recognise its exceeding value as soon as it is seen; and it is under
no constraint, but willingly and gladly -- "for joy thereof," as it is put in
the case of the man who from his not seeking it might have been thought
indifferent to it -- that each one sells all that he has and buys it.
The last parable, according to the arrangement we have suggested, stands
alone. It is the parable of "The Net," and its subject is the consummation of
the Kingdom. Its teaching is indeed, to a great extent anticipated in the
parable of the tares of the field; but in that parable, though "the end of the
world" is pictured in the most impressive imagery, it is not the main
thought, as it is here, where the one lesson is, that the present mixed state
of things cannot continue for ever, that there must come a time of
separation, when those in whose hearts God reigns shall be gathered to a
place by themselves, where they shall be satisfied for ever, with their
treasure no longer hid, but open in all its immeasurable fulness; while those
who refused to allow God to reign in their hearts, and preferred their own
selfishness and sin, shall be cast away and consumed, with "wailing and
gnashing of teeth."
----

CHAPTER 12.
THE CRISIS IN GALILEE. -- MATTHEW 14.-15:12.
THE lives of John and of Jesus, lived so far apart, and with so little
intercommunication, have yet been interwoven in a remarkable way, the
connection only appearing at the most critical times in the life of our Lord.
This interweaving, strikingly anticipated in the incidents of the nativity as
recorded by St. Luke, appears, not only at the time of our Saviour's
baptism and first introduction to His Messianic work, but again at the
beginning of His Galilean ministry, which dates from the time when John
was cast into prison, and once again as the stern prophet of the desert
finishes his course; for his martyrdom precipitates a crisis, to which events
for some time have been tending.
The period of crisis, embracing the facts recorded in the two chapters
following and in part of the sixteenth, is marked by events of thrilling
interest. The shadow of the cross falls so very darkly now upon the
Saviour's path, that we may look for some more striking effects of light
and shade, -- Rembrandt-like touches, if with reverence we may so put it,
-- in the Evangelist's picture. Many impressive contrasts will arrest our
attention as we proceed to touch briefly on the story of the time.
I. -- THE BANQUET OF HEROD AND THE FEAST OF CHRIST
(<401401>Matthew 14:1-21).
"Among them that are born of woman there hath not risen a greater than
John the Baptist." Such was the Saviour's testimony to His forerunner in
the hour of his weakness; and the sequel fully justified it. The answer which
came to John's inquiry brought him no outward relief. His prison bolts
were as firmly fastened as before, Herod was as inexorable, the prospect
before Him as dark as ever; but he had the assurance that Jesus was the
Christ, and that His blessed work of healing the sick and preaching the
gospel to the poor was going on; and that was enough for him. So he was
quite content to languish on, resting in the Lord and waiting patiently for
Him. We learn from St. Mark that Herod was in the habit of sending for
him at times, evidently interested in the strange man, probably to some
extent fascinated by him, and possibly not without some lingering hope that
there might be some way of reconciling the preacher of righteousness and
securing the blessing of so well-accredited a messenger of Heaven. There is
----

little doubt that at these times the way was open for John to be restored to
liberty, if only he had been willing to lower his testimony against Herod's
sin, or consent to say no more about it; but no such thought ever crossed
his noble soul. He had said, "It is not lawful for thee to have her;" and not
even in the hour of deepest depression and darkest doubt did he for a
moment relax the rigour of his requirements as a preacher of righteousness.
As he had lived, so he died. We shall not dwell on the details of the
revolting story. It is quite realistic enough in the simple recital of the
Evangelist. One cannot help recalling in this connection four hideous
pictures of Salome with the head of John the Baptist recently displayed, all
on the line, in the Salon at Paris. Of what possible use are such
representations? To what sort of taste do they minister? There was no
picture of John looking with flashing eyes at the guilty monarch as he said,
"It is not lawful for thee to have her." That is the scene which is worthy of
remembrance: let it abide in the memory and heart; let the tragic end serve
only as a dark background to make the central figure luminous, "a burning
and a shining light."
The time of Herod's merciful visitation is over. So long as he kept the
Baptist safe (<410619>Mark 6:19, 20) from the machinations of Herodias, he
retained one link with better things. The stern prisoner was to him like a
second conscience; and so long as he was there within easy reach, and
Herod continued from time to time to see him and hear what he had to say,
there remained some hope of repentance and reformation. Had he only
yielded to the promptings of his better nature, and obeyed the prophet, the
way of the Lord would have been prepared, the preacher of righteousness
would have been followed by the Prince of Peace; and the gospel of Jesus,
with all its unspeakable blessing, would have had free course in his court
and throughout his realm. But the sacrifice of the prophet to the cruelty of
Herodias and the folly and wickedness of his vow put an end to such
prospects; and the fame of Christ's deeds of mercy, when at last it reached
his ears, instead of stirring in him a living hope, aroused the demon of
guilty conscience, which could not rid itself of the superstitious fear that it
was John the Baptist risen from the dead. Thus passed away for ever the
great opportunity of Herod Antipas.
The disciples of John withdrew in sorrow, but not in despair. They had
evidently caught the spirit of their master; for as soon as they had
reverently and lovingly taken up the mortal remains and buried them, they
came and told Jesus.
----

It must have been a terrible blow to Him, -- perhaps even more than it was
to them, for they had Him to go to; while He had none on earth to take
counsel with: He must carry the heavy burden of responsibility all alone;
for even the most advanced of the Twelve could not enter into any of His
thoughts and purposes; and certainly not one of them, we might indeed say
not all of them together, had at this time anything like the strength and
steadfastness of the great man who had just been taken away. We learn
from the other accounts that at the same time the Twelve returned from
their first missionary journey; so that the question would immediately come
up, What was to be done? It was a critical time. Should they stir up the
people to avenge the death of their prophet? This would have been after
the manner of men, but not according to the counsel of God. Long ago the
Saviour had set aside, as quite apart from His way of working, all appeals
to force; His kingdom must be a kingdom of the truth, and on the truth He
will rely, with nothing else to trust to than the power of patient love. So He
takes His disciples away to the other side of the lake, outside the
jurisdiction of Herod, with the thoughtful invitation: "Come ye yourselves
apart into a desert place, and rest awhile."
What are the prospects of the kingdom now? Sin and righteousness have
long been at strife in the court of Galilee; now sin has conquered and has
the field. The great preacher of righteousness is dead; and the Christ, to
Whom he bore such faithful witness, has gone to the desert. Again the sad
prophecy is fulfilled: "He is despised and rejected of men; a man of
sorrows, and acquainted with grief." That little boat crossing from the
populous shores of Gennesaret to the desert land on the other side -- what
does it mean? Defeat? A lost cause? Is this the end of the mission in
Galilee, begun to the music of that majestic prophecy which spoke of it as
daybreak on the hills and shores of Naphtali and Zebulun, Gennesaret and
Jordan? Is this the outcome of two mighty movements so full of promise
and hope? Did not all Jerusalem and Judea go after John, confessing their
sins and accepting his baptism? And has not all Galilee thronged after
Jesus, bringing their sick to be healed, and listening, at least with outward
respect and often expressed astonishment, to His words of truth and hope?
Now John is dead, and Jesus is crossing with His own disciples and those
of John in a boat -- one boat enough to hold them all -- to mourn
together in a desert place apart. Suppose we had been sitting on the shore
that day, and had watched it getting ever smaller as it crossed the sea, what
should we have thought of the prospects? Should we have found it easy to
believe in Christ that day? Verily "the kingdom of God cometh not with
observation."
----

The multitudes will not believe on Him; yet they will not let Him rest. They
have rejected the kingdom; but they would fain get as much as they can of
those earthly blessings which have been scattered so freely as its signs. So
the people, noticing the direction the boat has taken, throng after Him,
running on foot round the northern shore. When Jesus sees them, sad and
weary as He is, He cannot turn away. He knows too well that it is with no
pure and lofty devotion that they follow Him; but He cannot see a
multitude of people without having His heart moved with a great longing
to bless them. So He "went forth, and healed their sick."
He continued His loving work, lavishing His sympathy on those who had
no sympathy with Him, tilt evening fell, and the disciples suggested that it
was time to send the people away, especially as they were beginning to
suffer from want of food. "But Jesus said unto them, They need not depart:
give ye them to eat. And they say unto Him, We have here but five loaves,
and two fishes. He said, Bring them hither to Me."
The miracle which follows is of very special significance. Many things
point to this.
(1) It is the one miracle which all the four Evangelists record.
(2) It occurs at a critical time in our Lord's history. There has been
discouragement after discouragement, repulse after repulse, despite and
rejection by the leaders, obstinate unbelief and impenitence on the part of
the people, the good seed finding almost everywhere hard or shallow or
thorny soil, with little or no promise of the longed-for harvest. And now a
crowning disaster has come in the death of John. Can we wonder that
Christ received the tidings of it as a premonition of His own? Can we
wonder that henceforth He should give less attention to public preaching,
and more to the training of the little band of faithful disciples who must be
prepared for days of darkness coming on apace -- prepared for the cross,
manifestly now the only way to the crown?
(3) There is the significant remark (<430604>John 6:4) that "the Passover was
nigh." This was the last Passover but one of our Saviour's life. The next
was to be marked by the sacrifice of Himself as "the Lamb of God that
taketh away the sin of the world." Another year, and He will have fulfilled
His course, as John has fulfilled His. Was it not, then, most natural that His
mind should be full, not only of thoughts of the approaching Passover, but
also of what the next one must bring. This is no mere conjecture; for it
----

plainly appears in the long and most suggestive discourse St. John reports
as following immediately upon the miracle and designed for its application.
The feeding of the five thousand is indeed a sign of the kingdom, like those
grouped together in the earlier part of the Gospel (8, 9). It showed the
compassion of the Lord upon the hungry multitude, and His readiness to
supply their wants. It showed the Lordship of Christ over nature, and
served as a representation in miniature of what the God of nature is doing
every year, when, by agencies as far beyond our ken as those by which His
Son multiplied the loaves that day, He transmutes the handful of seed-corn
into the rich harvests of grain which feed the multitudes of men. It taught
also, by implication, that the same Cod Who feeds the bodies of men with
the rich abundance of the year is able and willing to satisfy all their spiritual
wants. But there is something more than all this, as we might gather from
the very way it is told: "And He commanded the multitude to sit down on
the grass, and took the five loaves,... and looking up to heaven, He
blessed, and brake, and gave the loaves to the disciples, and the disciples to
the multitude." Can we read these words without thinking of what our
Saviour did just a year later, when He took bread and blessed it, and brake
it, and gave it to the disciples and said, "Take, eat, this is My body"
(<402626>Matthew 26:26)? He is not, indeed, instituting the Supper now; but it
is very plain that the same thoughts are in His mind as when, a year later,
He did so. And what might be inferred from the recital of what He did
becomes still more evident when we are told what afterwards He said --
especially such utterances as these: "I am the bread of life;... The bread
which I will give you is My flesh, which I will give for the life of the
world;... Verily I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man,
and drink His blood, ye have no life in you."
We have, then, here, not a sign of the kingdom only, but a parable of life
eternal, life to be bestowed in no other way than by the death to be
accomplished at Jerusalem at the next passover, life for thousands, life
ministered through the disciples to the multitudes, and not diminished in
the ministering, but growing and multiplying in their hands, so that after all
are fed there remain "twelve baskets full," -- far more than at the first: a
beautiful hint of the abundance that will remain for the Gentile nations of
the earth. That passover parable comes out of the anguish of the great
Redeemer's heart. Already, as He breaks that bread and gives it to the
people, He is enduring the cross and despising the shame of it, for the joy
set before Him of giving the bread of life to a hungry world.
----

One can scarcely fail at this point to contrast the feast in honour of Herod's
birthday with the feast which symbolised the Saviour's death. "When a
convenient day was come, Herod on his birthday made a supper to his
lords, high captains, and chief estates of Galilee; and "the rest is well
known, -- the feasting, mirth, and revelry, ending in the dark tragedy,
followed by the remorse of a guilty conscience, the gnawing of the worm
that dieth not, the burning of the fire that is not quenched. Then think of
that other feast on the green grass in the pure air of the fresh and breezy
hillside -- the hungry multitudes, the homely fare, the few barley loaves
and the two small fishes; yet by the blessing of the Lord Jesus there was
provided a repast far more enjoyable to these keen appetites than all the
delicacies of the banquet to the lords of Galilee -- a feast pointing indeed
to a death, but a death which was to bring life and peace and joy to
thousands, with abundance over for all who will receive it. The one is the
feast to which the world invites; the other is the least which Christ provides
for all who are willing to "labour not for the meat that perisheth, but for
that which endureth unto eternal life."
II. -- CALM ON THE MOUNTAIN AND TROUBLE ON THE SEA.
We learn from the fourth Gospel that the immediate result of the
impression made by our Lord's miraculous feeding of the five thousand
was an attempt on the part of the people to take Him by force and make
Him a king. Thus, as always, their minds would run on political change,
and the hope of bettering their circumstances thereby; while they refuse to
allow themselves to think of that spiritual change which must begin with
themselves, and show itself in that repentance and hunger and thirst after
righteousness, which He so longed to see in them. Even His disciples, as
we know, were not now, nor for a long time subsequent to this, altogether
free from the same spirit of earthliness; and it is quite likely that the general
enthusiasm would excite them not a little, and perhaps lead them to raise
the question, as they were often fain to do, whether the time had not at last
come for their Master to declare Himself openly, put Himself at the head of
these thousands, take advantage of the widespread feeling of irritation and
discontent awakened by the murder of John the Baptist, whom all men
counted for a prophet (<411132>Mark 11:32), hurl Herod Antipas from the high
position he disgraced, and, with all Galilee under His control and full of
enthusiasm for His cause, march southward on Jerusalem. This was no
doubt the course of action they for the most part expected and wished;
and, with One at their head Who could do such wonders, what was there
to hinder complete success?
----

May we not also with reverence suppose that this was one of the occasions
on which Satan renewed those assaults which he began in the wilderness of
Judea? A little later, when Peter was trying to turn Him aside from the path
of the Cross, Jesus recognised it, not merely as a suggestion of the disciple,
but as a renewed temptation of the great adversary. We may well suppose,
then, that at this crisis the old temptation to bestow on Him the kingdoms
of the world and the glory of them -- not for their own sake, of course
(there could have been no temptation in that direction), but for the sake of
the advancement of the interests of the heavenly kingdom by the use of
worldly methods of policy and force -- was presented to Him with peculiar
strength.
However. this may have been, the circumstances required prompt action of
some kind. It was necessary that the disciples should be got out of reach of
temptation as soon as possible; so He constrained them to enter into a
boat, and go before Him to the other side, while He dispersed the
multitude. And need we wonder that in the circumstances He should wish
to be entirely alone? He could not consult with those He trusted most, for
they were quite in the dark, and anything they were at all likely to say
would only increase the pressure put upon Him by the people. He had only
One for His Counsellor and Comforter, His Father in heaven, Whose will
He had come to do; so He must be alone with Him. He must have been in a
state of great physical exhaustion after all the fatigue of the day, for though
He had come for rest He had found none; but the brave, strong spirit
conquers the weary flesh, and instead of going to sleep He ascends the
neighbouring height to spend the night in prayer.
It is interesting to remember that it was after this night spent in prayer that
He delivered the remarkable discourse recorded in the sixth chapter of St.
John, in which He speaks so plainly about giving His flesh for the life of the
world. It is evident, then, that, if any question had arisen in His mind as to
the path of duty, when He was suddenly confronted with the enthusiastic
desire of the multitudes to crown Him at once, it was speedily set at rest:
He now plainly saw that it was not the will of His Father in heaven that He
should take advantage of any such stirring of worldly desire, that Be must
give no encouragement to any, except those who were hungering and
thirsting after righteousness, to range themselves upon His side. Hence, no
doubt, the sifting nature of the discourse He delivered the following day.
He is eager to gather the multitudes to Himself; but He cannot allow them
to come under any false assumption; -- He must have spiritually-minded
disciples, or none at all: accordingly He makes His discourse so strongly
----

spiritual, directs their attention so far away from earthly issues to the issues
of eternity ("I will raise him up at the last day" is the promise He gives
over and over again, whereas they wanted to be raised up then and there to
high places in the world), that not only did the multitude lose all their
enthusiasm, but "from that time many of His disciples went back, and
walked no more with Him," while even the Twelve themselves were
shaken in their allegiance, as seems evident from the sorrowful question
with which He turned to them: "Will ye also go away?" We may reverently
suppose, then, that our Lord was occupied, during the early part of the
night, with thoughts like these -- in preparation, as it were, for the faithful
words He will speak and the sad duty He will discharge on the morrow.
Meantime a storm has arisen on the lake -- one of those sudden and often
terrible squalls to which inland waters everywhere are subject, but which
are greatly aggravated here by the contrast between the tropical climate of
the lake, 620 feet below the level of the Mediterranean, and the cool air on
the heights which surround it. The storm becomes fiercer as the night
advances. The Saviour has been much absorbed, but He cannot fail" to
notice how angry the lake is becoming, and to what peril His loved
disciples are exposed. As the Passover was nigh, the moon would be nearly
full, and there would be frequent opportunities, between the passing of the
clouds, to watch the little boat. As long as there seems any prospect of
their weathering the storm by their own exertions He leaves them to
themselves; but when it appears that they are making no progress, though
it is evident that they are "toiling in rowing," He sets out at once to their
relief.
The rescue which follows recalls a former incident on the same lake
(<400823>Matthew 8:23-27). But the points of difference are both important and
instructive. Then He was with His disciples in the ship, though asleep; in
their extremity they had only to rouse Him with the cry, "Save, Lord, or
we perish!" to secure immediate calm and safety. Now He was not with
them; He was out of sight, and beyond the reach even of the most piercing
cries. It was therefore a much severer trial than the last, and remembering
the special significance of the miracle of the loaves, we can scarcely fail to
notice a corresponding suggestiveness in this one. That one had dimly
foreshadowed His death; did not this, in the same way, foreshadow the
relations He would sustain to His disciples after His death? May we not
look upon His ascent of this mountain as a picture of His ascension into
heaven -- His betaking Himself to His Father now as a shadow of His
going to the Father then -- His prayer on the mount as a shadow of His
----

heavenly intercession? It was to pray that He ascended; and though He, no
doubt, needed, at that trying time, to pray for Himself, His heart would be
poured out in pleading for His disciples too, especially when the storm
came on. And these disciples constrained to go off in a boat by themselves,
-- are they not a picture of the Church after Christ had gone to His Father,
launched on the stormy sea of the world? What will they do without Him?
What will they do when the winds rise and the waves roar in the dark
night? Oh! if only He were here, Who was sleeping in the boat that day,
and only needed to be roused to sympathise and save! Where is He now?
There on the hilltop, interceding, looking down with tenderest compassion,
watching every effort of the toiling rowers. Nay, He is nearer still! See that
Form upon the waves! "It is a spirit," they cry; and are afraid, very much
as, a little more than a year afterward, when He came suddenly into the
midst of them with His "Peace be unto you," they were terrified and
affrighted, and supposed that they had seen a spirit (<422437>Luke 24:37). But
presently they hear the familiar voice: "Be of good cheer: it is I; be not
afraid." There can be no doubt that the remembrance of that night on the
lake of Galilee would be a wondrous consolation to these disciples during
the storms of persecution through which they had to pass after their Master
had ascended up to heaven; and their faith in the presence of His Spirit, and
His constant readiness to help and save, would be greatly strengthened by
the memory of that apparently spectral Form they had seen coming across
the troubled sea to their relief. Have we not some reason, then, for saying
that here, too, we have not only another of the many signs of the kingdom
showing our Lord's power over nature and constant readiness to help His
people in time of need, but a parable of the future, most appropriately
following that parable of life through death set forth in the feeding of the
thousands on the day before?
There seems, in fact, a strange prophetic element running all through the
scenes of that wondrous time. We have already referred to the disposition
on the part even of the Twelve, as manifested next day at the close of the
discourse on the "bread of life," to desert Him -- to show the same spirit
which afterward, when the crisis reached its height, so demoralised them
that "they all forsook Him, and fled"; and have we not, in the closing
incident, in which Peter figures so conspicuously, a mild foreshadowing of
his terrible fall, when the storm of human passion was raging as fiercely in
Jerusalem as did the winds and waves on the lake of Galilee that night?
There is the same self-confidence: "Lord, if it be Thou, bid me come unto
Thee on the water;" the same alarm when he was brought face to face with
the danger the thought of which he had braved; then the sinking, sinking as
----

if about to perish, yet not hopelessly (for the Master had prayed for him
that his faith should not fail); then the humble prayer, "Lord, save me"; and
the gracious hand immediately stretched out to save. Had the adventurous
disciple learnt his lesson well that day, what it would have saved him! May
we not say that there is never a great and terrible fall, however sudden it
seems, which has not been preceded by warnings, even long before, which,
if heeded, would have certainly averted it? How much need have the
disciples of Christ to learn thoroughly the lessons their Lord teaches them
in His gentler dealings, so that when darker days and heavier trials come
they may be ready, having taken unto themselves the whole armour of God
to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.
There are many other important lessons which might be learnt from this
incident, but we may not dwell on them; a mere enumeration of some of
them may, however, he attempted. It was faith, in part at least, which led
the apostle to make this venture; and this is, no doubt, the reason why the
Lord did not forbid it. Faith is too precious to be repressed; but the faith of
Peter on this occasion is anything but simple, clear, and strong: there is a
large measure of self-will in it, of impulsiveness, of self-confidence,
perhaps of love of display. A confused and encumbered faith of this kind is
sure to lead into mischief, -- to set on foot rash enterprises, which show
great enthusiasm, and perhaps seem to rebuke the caution of the less
confident for the time, but which come to grief, and in the end bring no
credit to the cause of Christ. The rash disciple's enterprise is not, however,
an entire failure: he does succeed so far; but presently the weakness of his
faith betrays itself. As long as the impulse lasted, and his eye was fixed on
his Master, all went well; but when the first burst of enthusiasm was spent,
and he had time to look round upon the waves, he began to sink. But how
encouraging it is to observe that, when put to extremity, that which is
genuine in the man carries it over all the rest! -- the faith which had been
encumbered extricates itself, and becomes simple, clear, and strong; the
last atom of self-confidence is gone, and with it all thought of display;
nothing but simple faith is left in that strong cry of his, "Lord, save me!"
Nothing could be imagined better suited than this incident to discriminate
between self-confidence and faith. Peter enters on this experience with the
two well mixed together, -- so well mixed that neither he himself nor his
fellow-disciples could distinguish them; but the testing process precipitates
one and clarifies the other, -- lets the self-confidence all go and brings out
the faith pure and strong. Immediately, therefore, his Lord is at his side,
and he is safe; -- a great lesson this on faith, especially in revealing its
----

simplicity. Peter tried to make a grand thing of it: he had to come back to
the simple, humble cry, and the grasping of his Saviour's outstretched
hand.
The same lesson is taught on a larger scale in the brief account of the cures
the Master wrought when they reached the other side, where all that was
asked was the privilege of touching His garment's hem, "and as many as
touched were made perfectly whole;" not the great ones, not the strong
ones, but "as many as touched." Only let us keep in touch with Him, and
all will assuredly be well with us both in time and in eternity.
III. -- ISRAEL AFTER THE FLESH AND ISRAEL AFTER THE
SPIRIT (Matthew 15.).
Issue is now joined with the ecclesiastical leaders at Jerusalem, who send a
deputation to make a formal complaint. When Jerusalem was last
mentioned in our Gospel it was in connection with a movement of quite a
different character. The fame of the Saviour's deeds of mercy in Galilee
had then just reached the capital, the result being that many set out at once
to find out what new thing this might be: "There followed Him great
multitudes of people from Galilee, and from Decapolis, and from
Jerusalem, and from Judea, and from beyond Jordan" (<400425>Matthew 4:25).
That wave of interest in the south had now died down; and instead of eager
multitudes there is a small sinister band of cold, keen-witted, hard-hearted
critics. It was a sad change, and must have brought new distress to the
Saviour's troubled heart; but He is none the less ready to face the trial with
His wonted courage and unfailing readiness of resource.
Their complaint is trivial enough. It is to be remembered, of course, that it
was not a question of cleanliness, but of ritual; not even of ritual appointed
by Moses, but only of that prescribed by certain traditions of their fathers
which they held in superstitious veneration. These traditions, by a
multitude of minute regulations and restrictions, imposed an intolerable
burden on those, who thought it their duty to observe them; while the
magnifying of trifles had the natural effect of keeping out of sight the
weightier matters of the law. Not only so, but the most trivial regulations
were sometimes so managed as to furnish an excuse for neglect of the
plainest duties. Our Lord could not therefore miss the opportunity of
denouncing this evil, and accordingly He exposes it in the plainest and
strongest language.
----

The question with which He opens His attack is most incisive. It is as if He
said, "I am accused of transgressing your tradition. What is your tradition?
It is itself transgression of the law of God." Then follows the striking
illustration, showing" how by their rules of tradition they put it within the
power of any heartless son to escape entirely the obligation of providing
even for his aged father or mother -- an illustration, be it remembered,
which brought out more than a breach of the fifth "commandment; for by
what means was it that the ungrateful son escaped his obligation? By
taking the name of the Lord in vain; for surely there could be no greater
dishonour to the name of God than meanly to mark as dedicated to Him
("Corban") what ought to have been devoted to the discharge of an
imperative filial duty. Besides, it was not at all necessary that the money or
property should be actually dedicated to sacred uses; it was only necessary
to say that it was, only necessary to pronounce over it that magic word
Corban, and then the mean hypocrite could use it for the most selfish
purposes -- for any purpose, in fact, he chose, except that purpose for
which it was his duty to use it. It is really difficult to conceive such iniquity
wrapped up in a cloak of so-called religion. No wonder our Lord was
moved to indignation, and applied to His critics the strong language of the
prophet: "Ye hypocrites, well did Isaiah prophesy of you, saying, This
people honoureth Me with their lips; but their heart is far from Me,
teaching as their doctrines the precepts of men" (R.V.). No wonder that He
turned away from men who were so deeply committed to a system so vile,
and that He explained, not to His questioners, but to the multitude who
had gathered round, the principle on which He acted.
There seems, however, to have been more of sorrow than of anger in His
tone and manner. How else could the disciples have asked Him such a
question as that which follows: "Knowest Thou that the Pharisees were
offended, after they heard this saying?" Of course the Pharisees were
offended. They had most excellent reason. And the disciples would have
known that He had no intention of sparing them in the least, and no
concern whether they took offence or not, if His. tone had been such as an
ordinary person would naturally have put into such an invective. It is
probable that He said it all calmly, earnestly, tenderly, without the slightest
trace of passion; from which it would not be at all unnatural for the
disciples to infer that He had not fully realised how strong His language
had been, and into what serious collision He had brought Himself with the
leaders in Jerusalem. Hence their gentle remonstrance, the expression of
those feelings of dismay with which they saw their Master break with one
party after another, as if determined to wreck His mission altogether. Was
----

it not bad policy to give serious offence to persons of such importance at
so critical a time?
The Saviour's answer is just what was to be expected. Policy had no place
in His plan. His kingdom was of the truth; and whatever was not of truth
must go, be the consequences what they might. That system of
traditionalism had its roots deeply and firmly fastened in the Jewish soil; its
fibres were through it all; and to disturb it was to go against a feeling that
was nothing less than national in its extent. But no matter: firmly, deeply,
widely rooted though it was, it was not of God's planting, and therefore it
cannot be let alone: "Every plant, which My heavenly Father hath not
planted, shall be rooted up." It is for all ritualists, ancient and modern, all
who teach for doctrines what are only commandments of men, seriously to
ponder this most radical utterance by One Whose right it is to speak with
an authority from which there is no appeal.
Having thus condemned the ritualistic teaching of the day, He disposes
next of the false teachers. This He does in a way which ought to have been
a warning to those persecutors and heresy-hunters who, by their unwise
use of force and law, have given only larger currency to the evil doctrines
they have tried to suppress. He simply says "Let them alone: they be blind
leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the
ditch." Expose their error by all means; root it out if possible; but as for the
men themselves, "let them alone."
The principle He sets forth as underlying the whole subject is the same as
that which underlies His teaching in the Sermon on the Mount -- viz., that
"out of the heart are the issues of life." The ritualist lays stress on that
which enters into the man -- the kind of food which enters his mouth, the
objects which meet his eye, the incense which enters his nostril; Christ sets
all this aside as of no consequence in comparison with the state of the heart
(vv. 16-20). Such teaching as this was not only irreconcilable with that of
the scribes and Pharisees from Jerusalem, but it lay at the very opposite
pole.
Was it on this account that after this interview Jesus withdrew as far as
possible from Jerusalem? He is limited, indeed, in His range to the Holy
Land, as He indicates in His conversation with the woman of Canaan; but
just as after the death of John He had withdrawn out of the jurisdiction of
Herod to the east, so now, after this collision with the deputation from
Jerusalem, He withdraws to the far north, to the borders of Tyre and
Sidon. And was it only a coincidence that, just as Jerusalem had furnished
----

such sorry specimens of dead formalism, the distant borders of heathen
Tyre and Sidon should immediately thereafter furnish one of the very
noblest examples of living faith? The coincidence is certainly very striking
and most instructive. The leaders from Jerusalem had been dismissed with
the condemnation of their own prophet: "This people honoureth Me with
their lips, but their heart is far from Me;" while out of far-away
heathendom there comes one whose whole heart is poured out to Him in
earnest, persevering, prevailing prayer. It is one of those contrasts with
which this portion of our Lord's history abounds, the force of which will
appear more clearly as we proceed.
The suppliant was "a woman of Canaan," or, as she is described more
definitely elsewhere, a Syro-Phoenician woman. Yet she has learned of
Jesus -- knows Him as the Christ, for she calls Him "Son of David" --
knows Him as a Saviour, for she comes to ask that her daughter may be
healed. Her application must have been a great solace to His wounded
heart. He always loved to be asked for such blessings; and, rejected as He
had been by His countrymen, it must have been a special encouragement to
be approached in this way by a stranger. That it was so may be inferred
from what He said on similar occasions. When the Roman centurion came
to have his servant healed, Jesus commended his wonderful faith, and then
added: "I say unto you, That many shall come from the east and west, and
shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of
heaven." So, too, when it was announced to Him that some Greeks desired
to see Him, the first effect was to sharpen the agony of His rejection by His
own countrymen; but immediately He recovers Himself, looks beyond the
cross and the shame to the glory that shall follow, and exclaims, "I, if I be
lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto Me." There can be no
doubt that at this time of rejection in Galilee it must have been a similar
consolation to receive this visit from the woman of Canaan.
How, then, can we explain His treatment of her? First, He answered her
not a word. Then He reminded her that she did not belong to Israel, as if
she therefore could have no claim on Him. And when she still urged her
suit, in a manner that might have appealed to the hardest heart, He-gave
her an answer which seems so incredibly harsh, that it is with a feeling of
pain one hears it repeated after eighteen hundred years. What does all this
mean? It means "praise and honour and glory" for the poor woman; for the
disciples, and for all disciples, a lesson never to be forgotten. He Who
knew what was in man, knew what was in this noble woman's heart, and
He wished to bring it out -- to bring it out so that the disciples should see
----

it, so that other disciples should see it, so that generation after generation
and century after century should see it, and admire it, and learn its lesson.
It cost her some minutes' pain: Him also, -- how it must have wrung His
heart to treat her in a way so foreign to every fibre of His soul! But had He
not so dealt with her, what a loss to her, to the disciples, to countless
multitudes! He very much needs a shining example of living faith to set
over against the dead formalism of these traditionalists; and here it is: He
must bring it out of its obscurity, and set it as a star in the firmament of His
gospel, to shine for ever and ever. He tested her to the uttermost, because
He knew that at the end of all He could say: "O woman, great is thy faith:
be it unto thee even as thou wilt." The heart of the Saviour was never filled
with a deeper tenderness or a wiser and more far-seeing love than when He
repulsed this woman again and again, and treated her with what seemed at
the moment most inexcusable and unaccountable harshness.
The lessons which shine out in the simple story of this woman can only be
touched in the slightest manner. We have already referred to the contrast
between the great men of Jerusalem and this poor woman of Canaan;
observe now how strikingly is suggested the distinction between Israel
according to the flesh and Israel according to the spirit. The current idea of
the time was that lineal descent from Abraham determined who belonged
to the house of Israel and who did not. The Saviour strikes at the root of
this error. He does not indeed attack it directly. For this the time has not
yet come: the veil of the Temple has not yet been rent in twain. But He
draws aside the veil a little, so as to give a glimpse of the truth and prepare
the way for its full revealing when the time shall come. He does not
broadly say, "This woman of Canaan is as good an Israelite as any of you;"
but He says, "I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the horse of Israel"
-- and heals her daughter notwithstanding. Was it not, then, evident that
this poor woman after all did in some sense belong to the lost sheep of the
house of Israel whom Jesus came to save?
The house of Israel? -- what does Israel mean? Learn at Peniel. See Jacob
in sore distress at the brook Jabbok. A man is wrestling with him, --
wrestling with him all the night, until the break of day. It is no mere man,
for Jacob finds before all is over that he has been face to face with God.
The man who wrestled with him indeed was the same as He Who wrestled
with this woman of Canaan. The Divine Man struggles to get away without
blessing the patriarch. Jacob cries, in the very desperation of his faith, "I
will not let Thee go, except Thou bless me!" The victory is won. The
blessing is granted, and these words are added: "What is thy name?...
----

Jacob." "Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel" (i.e., prince
with God): "for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and
hast prevailed."
Was this woman, then, or was she not, "a prince" with God? Did she, or
did she not, belong to the true house of Israel? Let us now look back to vv.
8 and 9: "This people" (i.e., the children of Israel according to the flesh...
"honoureth Me with their lips: but their heart is far from Me. But in vain
do they worship Me." In vain do they worship: are they, then, princes with
God? Nay, verily; they are only actors before Him, as the Saviour plainly
says. Truly they are not all Israel who are of Israel; and just as truly they
are not the only Israel who are of Israel, for here is this woman of Canaan
who earns the name of Israel by as hard a contest and as great a victory as
that of Jacob at the brook Jabbok, when first the name was given.
Another instructive contrast is inevitably suggested between the foremost
of the apostles and this nameless woman of Canaan. The last illustration of
faith was Peter's venture on the water. What a difference between the
strong man and the weak woman! To the strong, brave man the Master had
to say "O thou of little faith! wherefore didst thou doubt?" To the weak
woman, "O woman, great is thy faith." What an encouragement here to the
little ones, the obscure, unnoticed disciples! "Many that are first shall be
last, and the last first."
The encouragement to persevering prayer, especially to parents anxious for
their children, is so obvious that it need only be named. That silence first,
and then these apparent refusals, are trials of faith, to which many earnest
hearts have not been strangers. To all such the example of this woman of
Canaan is of great value. Her earnestness in making the case of her
daughter her own (she does not say, "Have mercy on my daughter;" but,
"Have mercy on me;" and again, "Lord, help me"), and her unconquerable
perseverance till the answer came, have been an inspiration ever since, and
will be to the end of the world.
The lesson taught by our Lord's dealing with the woman of Canaan is
conveyed again on a larger scale by what happened in the region of
Decapolis, east of the Sea of Galilee; for it was in that region, as we learn
from the more detailed account in the second Gospel, that the events which
follow came to pass.
The distance from the one place to the other is considerable, and the route
our Lord took was by no means direct. His object at this time seems to
----

have been to court retirement as much as possible, that He might give
Himself to the preparation of His disciples -- and we may with reverence
add, His own preparation also -- for the sad journey southward to
Jerusalem and Calvary. Besides, His work in the north is done: no more
circuits in Galilee now; so He keeps on the far outskirts of the land, passing
through Sidon, across the southern ridge of Lebanon, past the base of
mighty Hermon, then southward to Decapolis -- all the way on border
territory, where the people were more heathen than Jewish in race and
religion. We can imagine Him on this long and toilsome journey, looking in
both directions with strange emotion -- away out to the Gentile nations
with love and longing; and (with what mingled feelings of pain and
eagerness who can tell?) to that Jerusalem, where soon He must offer up
the awful sacrifice. When, after the long journey, He came nigh to the Sea
of Galilee, He sought seclusion by going up into a mountain. But even in
this borderland He cannot be hid; and when the sick and needy throng
around Him, He cannot turn away from them. He still keeps within the
limits of His. commission, as set forth in His reply to the woman of
Canaan; but, though He does not go to seek out those beyond the pale,
when they seek Him, He cannot send them away; accordingly, in these
heathen or semi-heathen regions, we have another set of cures and another
feeding of the hungry multitude.
We need not dwell on these incidents, as they are a repetition, with
variations, of what He had done at the conclusion of His work in Galilee.
As to the repetition, -- strange to say, there are those who cavil, whenever
similar events appear successively in the story of the life and work of
Christ. As if it were possible that a work like His could be free from
repetition! How often does a physician repeat himself in the course of his
practice? Christ is always repeating Himself. Every time a sinner comes to
Him for salvation, He repeats Himself, with variations; and when need
arose in Decapolis -- like that which had previously arisen at Bethsaida,
only more urgent, for the multitude in the present case had been three days
from home, and were ready to faint with hunger -- must their wants go
unrelieved merely to avoid repetition? As to the telling of it -- for this of
course might have been avoided, on the ground that a similar event had
been related before -- was there not most excellent reason for it, in the
fact that these people were not of the house of Israel in the literal sense?
To have omitted the record of these deeds of mercy would have been to
leave out the evidence they afforded that the love of Christ went out not to
Jews only, but to all sick and hungry ones.
----

Sick and hungry -- these words suggest the two great needs of humanity.
Christ comes to heal disease, to Satisfy hunger; in particular, to heal the
root disease of sin, and satisfy the deep hunger of the soul for God and life
in Him. And when we read how He healed all manner of disease among the
multitudes in Decapolis, and thereafter fed them abundantly when they
were ready to faint with hunger, we see how He is set forth as a Saviour
from sin and Revealer of God beyond the borders of the land of Israel.
It is worth noticing how well this general record follows the story of the
woman of Canaan. Just as she -- though not of Israel after the flesh --
proved herself to be of Israel after the spirit, so these heathen or semi-
heathen people of Decapolis forsake their paganism when they see the
Christ; for of no heathen deity do they speak: they "glorified the God of
Israel" (ver. 31). Thus we have a contrast similar to that which we
recognised in the case of the woman of Canaan, between those scribes and
Pharisees of Jerusalem -- who drew near to the God of Israel with their
lips while the heart was far away -- and these people of Decapolis, who,
though "afar off'" in the estimation of these dignitaries of Jerusalem, are in
truth "nigh" to the God of Israel. Is there not in the events of the chapter a
wondrous light cast on the true meaning of the name Israel, as not
according to the flesh, but according to the spirit?
IV. -- THE CULMINATION OF THE CRISIS -- (<401601>Matthew 16:1-
12).
All this time Jesus has been keeping as much out of the way of His
ungrateful countrymen as the limits of His commission would permit,
hovering, as it were, around the northern outskirts of the land. But when in
the course of this largest circuit of all His northern journeys, He reaches
Decapolis, He is so near home that He cannot but cross the lake and revisit
the familiar scenes. How is He received? Do the people flock around Him
as they did before? If it had been so, we should no doubt have been told.
There seems to have been not a single word of welcome. Of all the
multitudes He had healed and blessed, there is no one to cry, "Hosanna to
the Son of David!"
His friends, if He has any, have gone back, and walk no more with Him;
but His old enemies the Pharisees do not fail Him; and they are not alone
now, nor, as before, in alliance only with those naturally in sympathy with
them, but have actually made a league with their great opponents, the two
rival parties of Pharisee and Sadducee finding in their common hatred of
the Christ of God a. sinister bond of union.
----

This is the first time the Sadducees are mentioned in this Gospel as coming
in contact with Jesus. Some of them had come to the baptism of John, to
his great astonishment; but, beyond this, they have as yet put in no
appearance. They were the aristocracy of the land, and held the most
important offices of Church and State in the capital. It is therefore the less
to be wondered at that up to this time the Carpenter of Nazareth should
have been beneath their notice. Now, however, the news of His great
doings in the north has at last compelled attention; the result is this
combination with the Pharisees, who have already been for some time
engaged in the attempt to put Him down. There is indication elsewhere
(<410815>Mark 8:15) that the Herodians had also united with them; so we may
look upon this as the culmination of the crisis in Galilee, when all the
forces of the country have been roused to active and bitter hostility.
The Pharisees and Sadducees, as is well known, were at opposite poles of
thought; the one being the traditionalists, the other the sceptics, of the
time, so that it was quite remarkable that they should unite in anything.
They did, however, unite in this demand for a sign from heaven. Neither of
them could deny that signs had been given, -- that the blind had received
sight, lepers had been cleansed, the lame healed, and deeds of mercy done
on every side. But neither party was satisfied with this. Each was wedded
to a system of thought according to which signs on earth were of no
evidential value. A sign from heaven was what they needed to convince
them. The demand was practically the same as that which the Pharisees and
scribes had made before (<401238>Matthew 12:38), though it is put more
specifically here as a sign from heaven. The reason why the Pharisees
adopted the same method of attack as before is not far to seek. Their
object was not to obtain satisfaction as to His claims, but to find the easiest
way of discrediting them; and, knowing as they did from their past
experience that the demand of a special sign would be refused, they
counted on the refusal beforehand, to be Used by their new allies as well as
themselves as a weapon against Him. They were not disappointed, for our
Lord was no respecter of persons; therefore He spoke just as plainly and
sternly when the haughty Sadducees were present as He had done before
they made their appearance.
The words are stern and strong; but here again it is "more in sorrow than in
anger" that He speaks. We learn from St. Mark that, as He gave His
answers, "He sighed deeply in His spirit." There had been so many signs,
and they were so plain and clear -- signs which spoke for themselves, signs
which so plainly spelt out the words, "The kingdom of heaven is among
----

you" -- that it was unspeakably sad to think that they should be blind to
them all, and find it in their heart to ask for something else, which in its
nature would be no sign at all, but only a portent, a barren miracle.
We can see in this how determined our Lord was not to minister to the
craving for the merely miraculous. He would work no miracle for the mere
purpose of exciting astonishment or even of producing conviction, when
there was quite enough for all who were at all willing to receive it, in the
regular, natural, and necessary development of His work as the Healer of
the sick, the Shepherd of the people, the Refuge of the troubled and
distressed. Had there been no signs of the times, there might have been
some reason for signs in the heavens; but when there were signs in
abundance of the kind to appeal to all that was best in the minds and hearts
of men, why should these be discredited by resorting to another kind of
sign much inferior and far less adapted to the securing of the special object
for which the King of heaven had come into the world? The signs of the
times were after all far more easily discerned than those signs in the
heavens by which they were accustomed to anticipate both fine and stormy
weather. There were signs of blessing enough to convince any doubter that
the summer of heaven was easily within His reach; on the other hand, in the
state of the nation, and the rapidly developing circumstances which were
hastening on the fulfilment of the most terrible of the prophecies
concerning it, there were signs enough to give far more certain indication
of approaching judgment, than when the red and lowering morning gave
token of the coming thunderstorm (vv. 2, 3). So He tells them, convicting
them of wilful blindness; and then repeats in almost identical terms the
refusal He had given to the scribes and Pharisees before: "A wicked and
adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given
unto it, but the sign of the prophet Jorras" (see <401239>Matthew 12:39, and
remarks on it).
"And He left them, and departed." How sad for Him; how awful for them!
Had there been in their hearts one single aspiration for the true and good,
He would not have left them so. Where are these Pharisees and Sadducees
now? What do they now think of the work of that day?
"He left them, and again entering into the boat departed to the other side"
(<410813>Mark 8:13). Did He ever cross the lake again? If He did, there is no
record of it. He passed in sight of it in that sorrowful southward journey to
Jerusalem which He must presently commence; and He will visit the same
shore again after His resurrection to cheer the apostles at their toil; but this
----

seems to have been the last crossing. What a sad one it must have been! --
after a beginning so bright that it was heralded as daybreak on
Gennesaret's shore, after all His self-denying toil, after all the words of
wisdom He has spoken and the deeds of mercy He has done upon these
shores, to leave them, as He does now, rejected and despised, an outcast,
to all outward appearance a failure. No wonder He is silent in that crossing
of the lake; no wonder He is lost in saddest thought, turning over and over
in His mind the signs of the times forced so painfully on His attention!
The disciples with Him in the boat had no share in these sad thoughts.
Their minds, as it would seem, were occupied for the most part with the
mistake they had made in provisioning the boat. Accordingly, when at last
He broke silence, He found them quite out of touch with Him. He had been
thinking of the sad unbelief of these Pharisees and Sadducees, and of the
awful danger of allowing the spirit which was in them to dominate the life;
hence the solemn caution: "Take heed, and beware of the leaven of the
Pharisees and of the Sadducees." The disciples meantime had been
counting their loaves, or rather, looking sadly on the one loaf which, on
searching their baskets, they found to be all they had; and when the word
leaven caught their ear, coupled with a caution as to a particular kind of it,
they said one to another, "It is because we have taken no bread!" Another
cause of sadness to the Master. He had been mourning over the blindness
of Pharisees and Sadducees; He must now mourn over the blindness of His
own disciples; and not blindness only, but also forgetfulness of a thrice-
taught lesson: for why should the mere supply of bread be any cause of
anxiety to them, after what they had seen once and again in these very
regions to which they were going?
But these hearts were not shut against Him; theirs was not the blindness of
those that will not see; accordingly, the result is very different. He did not
leave them and depart; nor, on the other hand, did He explain in so many
words what He meant. It was far better that they should find out for
themselves. The riddles of nature and of life are not furnished with keys.
They must be discerned by thoughtful attention; so, instead of providing
them a key to His little parable, He puts them in the way of finding it for
themselves by asking them a series of questions which convinced them of
their thoughtlessness and faithlessness, and led them to recognise His true
meaning (vv. 8-12).
----

CHAPTER 13.
THE NEW DEPARTURE. (FOUNDING OF THE CHURCH.)
-- MATTHEW 16:13-17:21.
THIS conversation at Caesarea Philippi is universally regarded as marking
a new era in the life of Christ. His rejection by "His own" is now complete.
Jerusalem, troubled at His birth, had been troubled once again when He
suddenly came to His Temple, and began to cleanse it in His Father's
name; and though many at the feast were attracted by His deeds of mercy,
He could not commit Himself to any of them (<430224>John 2:24): there was no
rock there on which to build His Church. He had passed through Samaria,
and found there fields white unto the harvest, but the time of reaping was
not yet. Galilee had given better promise: again and again it had appeared
as if the foundation of the new kingdom would be firmly laid in the land of
"Zebulun and Naphtali"; but there had been bitter and crushing
disappointment, -- even the cities where most of His mighty works were
done repented not. The people had eagerly welcomed His earthly things;
but when He began to speak to them of heavenly things they "went back,
and walked no more with Him." And though opportunity after opportunity
was given them while He hovered on the outskirts, ever and anon
returningf12 to the familiar scenes, they would not repent; they would not
welcome or even receive the kingdom of God which Christ came to found.
The country has been traversed from the wilderness of Judea, in the far
south, even unto Dan; and as there had been no room for the Infant King in
the inn, so there was none in all the land for the infant kingdom.
Thus it comes to pass that, with the very small band He has gathered
around Him -- called in the land indeed, but now of necessity called to
come out of it -- He withdraws to the neighbourhood of the Gentile town
of Caesarea Philippi; not for seclusion only, but, as the event shows, to
found an Ecclesia -- His Church. The scenery in this region is
exceptionally beautiful, and the place was in every way suited for a season
of quiet communion with nature and with nature's God. It was, moreover,
just outside the land; and in the place and surroundings there was much
that must have been suggestive and inspiring. Is not this great mountain, on
one of the southern flanks of which they are now resting, the mighty
Hermon, the great landmark of the north, rearing its snowy head on high to
catch the precious clouds of heaven, and enrich with them the winds that
----

shall blow southward over Palestine? And are not these springs which issue
from the rock beside them the sources of the Jordan, the sacred river? As
the dew of Hermon, and as the flowing of the water-springs, shall be that
Church of the living God, which, as the sequel will unfold, had its first
foundation on this rocky hillside and by these river sources.
Into this remote and rocky region, then, the Master has retired with the
small band of faithful disciples, on whom alone He can depend for the
future. But can He depend even on them? Have they not been tainted with
the general apostasy? Does He not already know one of them to be in heart
a traitor? (cf. <430670>John 6:70). And have not all of them just needed the
caution themselves to beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and
Sadducees? Are they really strong men of faith, like "faithful Abraham," or
are they to be like reeds shaken by the wind? The time has come to test it.
This He does, first by asking them what they think of Himself, and then by
showing them what they must expect if they still will follow Him. First
there must be the test of faith, to ascertain what they have learned from
their intercourse with Him in the past; then the test of hope, lest their
attachment to Him should be based on expectations doomed to
disappointment.
I. -- THE CHRIST (<401613>Matthew 16:13-20).
The faith test is a strictly personal one. We have seen how the Master has,
so to speak, focussed His gospel in Himself. He had begun by preaching
the Gospel of the Kingdom, and calling men to repentance; but as time
passed on He found it necessary to make a more personal appeal, pressing
His invitations in the winning form, "Come unto Me." When things came
to a crisis in Galilee He first in symbol and then in word set Himself before
the people as the bread of life, which each one must receive and eat if he
would live. Thus He has been making it more and more evident that the
only way to receive the Kingdom of God is to welcome Himself as the Son
of the living God come to claim the hearts of men for His Father in heaven.
How is it with the little band? Is theirs the popular notion, which classes
the Son of God as only one among other gifted sons of men, or do they
welcome Him in the plenitude of His divine prerogative and power? Hence
the first inquiry, which brings out the answer: "Some say that Thou art
John the Baptist: some, Elias; and others, Jeremias, or one of the
prophets." This is manifestly the popular idea at its highest and best. There
were, no doubt, among the people those whose thought already was
"Away with Him! away with Him!" But it might well go without saying
----

that the disciples had no sympathy with these. It did, however, remain to be
seen whether they were not content, like the rest of the people, to accept
Him as a teacher sent from God, a great prophet of Israel, or at most a
John the Baptist, the mere herald of the coming King. We can imagine,
then, with what intensity of feeling the Master would look into the
disciples' eyes as He put the testing question, "But whom say ye that I
am?" and with what joy He would hail the ready response of their
spokesman Peter, when, with eyes full of heavenly light and heart glowing
with sacred fire, he exclaimed, "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living
God!"
It would be beyond belief, were it not so sadly familiar a fact, that some,
professing honestly to interpret this passage, resolve the answer of the
apostle into little or nothing more than the popular idea, as if the Sonship
here referred to were only what any prophet or righteous man might claim.
He surely must be wilfully blind who does not see that the apostolic answer
which the Lord accepts is wide as the poles from the popular notions He so
decisively rejects; and this is made peculiarly emphatic by the striking
words with which the true answer is welcomed -- the Saviour's first
personal beatitude (as if to suggest, His is the kingdom of heaven -- cf.
<400503>Matthew 5:3, 10): "Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-jona: for flesh and
blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but My Father which is in heaven." It
will be remembered that, in asserting His own personal relation to the
Father, Christ had said: "No man knoweth the Son, but the Father; neither
knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son
will reveal Him" (<401127>Matthew 11:27); and now that to one at least the
Father has been revealed in the Son, He recognises the fact with joy. These
notions of the people about Him were but earth-born notions, the
surmisings of "flesh and blood": this faith of the true apostle was born from
above; it could have come only from heaven.
Now at last, therefore, the foundation is laid, and the building of the
spiritual temple is begun. The words which follow (ver. 18) are quite
natural and free from most, if not from all, the difficulties in which perverse
human ingenuity has entangled them, if only we bear in mind the
circumstances and surroundings. The little group is standing on one of the
huge rocky flanks of mighty Hermon, great boulders here and there around
them; and in all probability, well in sight, some great stones cut out of the
rock and made ready for use in building, like those still to be seen in the
neighbourhood of Baalbec, to the north of Hermon; for this region was
famous for its great temples. Now, when we remember that the two words
----

our Lord uses (pe>trov and pe>tra) for "rock" in our version have not
precisely the same meaning -- the one (Petros, Peter) signifying a piece of
rock, a stone, the other (Petra) suggesting rather the great bed-rock out of
which these stones are cut and on which they are lying -- we can
understand that, while the reference is certainly in the first place to Peter
himself, the main thing is the great fact just brought out that he is resting,
in the strength of faith, on God as revealed in His Son. Thus, while Peter is
certainly the piece of rock, the first stone which is laid upon the great
underlying foundation on which all the faithful build, and therefore is in a
sense -- the common popular sense, in fact -- the foundation stone, yet
the foundation of all is the Bed-Rock, on which the first stone and all other
stones are laid. Bearing this well in mind, we further see that there is no
inconsistency between this and those other scriptures in which God is
represented as alone the Rock of our salvation. The Bed-Rock, "the Rock
of Ages," is here, as elsewhere, God as revealed in His Son, and Peter is
the first stone "well and truly laid" upon it.
If the surroundings suggest the use of the words "Petros" and "Petra,"
stone and rock, the circumstances suggest the use of the word Ecclesia, or
Church, which is here employed by our Lord for the first time. Up to this
time He has spoken always of the kingdom, never of the church. How is
this to be explained? Of course the kingdom is the larger term; and now it
is necessary that that portion of the kingdom which is to be organised on
earth should be distinguished by a specific designation; and the use of the
word "church" in preference to the more familiar "synagogue" may be
accounted for by the desire to avoid confusion. Besides this, however, the
word itself is specially significant. It means an assembly "called out," and
suggests the idea of separateness, so appropriate to the circumstances of
the little band of outcasts.
To see into this more fully let us recall the recent teaching as to the true
Israel (chap. 15.), no longer to be found in the old land of Israel. If there is
to be an Israel at all, it must be reconstituted "outside the camp." In view
of this, how strikingly significant is it that just as Abraham had to leave his
country and go to a strange land to found the old theocracy, so Christ has
to leave His country and go with His followers to those remote northern
regions to constitute "the Israel of God," to inaugurate His Church, the
company of those who, like these faithful ones, come out and are separate
to be united by faith to Him! Christ with the Twelve around Him is the
Israel. of the New Testament; and we can imagine that it was on this
occasion especially that in the prayers which we know from St. Luke's
----

Gospel He offered in connection with this very conversation, He would
find these words of devotion especially appropriate: "Behold, I and the
children which God hath given Me" (<580213>Hebrews 2:13). The family of
God (see <401249>Matthew 12:49) are by themselves apart, disowned by those
who still bear unworthily the name of Israel; and most appropriate it is that
on this occasion our Lord should begin to use that great word, which
means first "called out" and then "gathered in": "on this rock I will build
MY CHURCH."
When we think of the place and the scene and the circumstances, the sad
memories of the past and the gloomy forebodings for the future, what
sublimity of faith must we recognise in the words which immediately
follow: "The gates of hell shall not prevail against it"! Oh! shame on us
who grow faint-hearted with each discouragement, when the Master, with
rejection behind Him and death before Him, found it encouragement
enough after so much toil to make a bare beginning of the new temple of
the Lord; and even in that day of smallest things was able to look calmly
forward across the troubled sea of the dark future and already raise the
shout of final victory!
But that day of victory is still far off; and before it can even begin to come,
there must be a descent into the valley of the shadow of death. He is about
to tell His disciples that He must go up to Jerusalem and die, and leave
them to be the builders of the Church. He cannot continue long to be the
Keeper of the keys; so He must prepare them for taking them from His
hand when the time shall come for Him to go. Hence the words which
follow, appropriately addressed in the first place to the disciple who had
first confessed Him: "I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of
heaven." "Honour to whom honour is due:" the first member of the Church
is to be its prime minister as well. When the Master's voice shall be silent,
the voice of the rock-disciple (and of the other disciples as well, for the
same commission was afterwards extended to them all) shall have the same
authority to bind, to loose, to regulate the administration of Church affairs
as if He Himself were with them. It is not yet time to tell them how it
would be -- viz., by the coming and indwelling of His Spirit; it is enough
now to give them the assurance that the infant Church shall not be left
without authority from above, without power from on high.
The Church is founded; but for a time it must remain in obscurity. The
people are not ready; and the gospel which is to be the power of God unto
salvation, is not yet complete, until He shall go up to Jerusalem and suffer
----

many things and die. Till then all that has passed in this sacred northern
retreat must remain a secret: "He charged His disciples that they should tell
no man that He was the Christ" (R.V.).
II. -- THE CROSS (<401621>Matthew 16:21-28).
A still more searching test must now be applied. It is not enough to
discover what they have learned from their intercourse with Him in the
past; He must find out whether they have courage enough to face what is
now impending in the future. Their faith in God as revealed in Christ His
Son has been well approved. It remains to be seen whether it is strong
enough to bear the ordeal of the cross, to which it must soon be subjected:
"From that time forth began Jesus to show unto His disciples how that He
must go unto Jerusalem and suffer many things of the elders and chief
priests and scribes, and be killed."
Already from time to time He had darkly hinted what manner of death He
should die; but it was only from this time that He began to show it unto
them, to put it before them so that they could not fail to see it. Herein see
the wisdom and tender considerateness of "the Son of man." So dark and
difficult a lesson would have been too much for them before. The ordeal
would have been too severe. Not until their faith has begun with some
firmness to grasp His true and proper divinity, can their hope live with such
a prospect. There must be some basis for a faith in His rising again, before
He can ask them even to look into the dark abyss of death into which He
must descend. That basis is found in the confession of the rock-apostle;
and relying on it He can trust them by-and-by, if not at once, to look
through the darkness of the suffering and death to the rising again, the
prospect of which He sets before them at the very same time: "and be
raised again the third day." Besides, there was no possibility of their ever
beginning to understand the atonement till they had grasped the truth of the
incarnation. To this day the one is intelligible only in the light of the other.
Those to whom Jesus of Nazareth is only "one of the prophets" cannot
begin to see how He must suffer and die. Only those who with the apostles
rise to the realisation of His divine glory are prepared to understand
anything of the mystery of His Cross and Passion.
As yet, however, the mystery is too deep and the prospect too dark even
for them, as becomes painfully evident from the conduct of the bravest of
them all, who "took Him, and began to rebuke Him, saying, Be it far from
Thee, Lord: this shall not be unto Thee."
----

We naturally and properly blame the presumption of the apostle, who,
when he did not understand, might at least have been silent, or have
contented himself with some modest question, instead of this unbecoming
remonstrance with One Whose Messiahship and Divine Sonship he had just
confessed. But, though we may blame him for what he said, we cannot
wonder at what he thought and felt. The lesson of the cross is just
beginning. The disciples are just entering a higher form in the Master's
school; and it does not follow, because they have undergone so well their
examination on the great lesson of the past, that they are prepared all at
once to take in what must be the great lesson of the future. They have had
time for the first: may they not be allowed time for the second? Why, then,
is Peter reproved so very severely?
We may say, indeed, that faithfulness to Peter himself required it. The
strong commendation with which his noble confession has been greeted,
instead of making him humble, as it ought to have done, inasmuch as it
reminded him that it was not of himself but from above he had the power
to make it, seems to have made him over-confident, trustful to that very
flesh and blood to which he had been assured he was, in regard to that
confession, in no wise indebted. It was therefore necessary that the warm
commendation accorded to the strength of his faith should be balanced by
an equally strong condemnation of his unbelief. But there is more than this
to be said. Christ is looking at Peter, and speaking to Peter; but he
recognises another, whom He names and whom in the first place he
addresses: "Get thee behind Me, Satan." He recognises the same old
enemy, with the same old weapon of assault; for it is the same temptation
as that which formed the climax of the conflict in the wilderness, a
temptation to prosecute His work by methods which would spare Him the
awful agony of the cross. The devil had departed from Him then; but only,
as we were informed, "for a season"; and there are frequent indications in
the subsequent history that at critical times the great adversary took
opportunities of renewing the old temptation. This is one of these
occasions. Let us by all means bear in mind that our Lord was true man --
that He was "compassed with infirmity," that He was "tempted in all points
like as we are," though ever without sin; let us not imagine, then, that His
human soul was always on so serene a height that the words of one who
loved Him and whom He loved so much would have no effect on Him. It
was hard enough for Him to face the awful darkness, without having this
new stumbling-block set in His path. It is a real temptation, and a most
dangerous one; He may not therefore tamper with it for a moment: He may
not allow His affection for His true disciple to blind Him to the real Source
----

of it; He must realise with whom He has to deal; He must behind the love
of the apostle recognise the malice of the evil one, who is using him as his
instrument; accordingly, with His face set as a flint, with His whole being
braced for resistance, so that not a hair's-breadth shall be yielded, He says:
"Get thee behind Me, Satan: thou art a stumbling-block unto Me" (R.V.)
-- words which clearly indicate that He had recognised the danger, and
summoned the resources of His faith and obedience to put the stumbling-
block away.
"Resist the devil, and he will flee from you." We may be sure, therefore,
that so soon as the energetic words were spoken he was gone: the
stumbling-block was out of the way. The words which follow may
therefore be regarded as spoken to Peter himself, to bring to his own
consciousness the difference between the heavenly faith which had come by
revelation from above, and the earthly doubt and denial, which was
evidently not of God, though so natural to flesh and blood: "Thou mindest
not the things of God, but the things of men" (R.V.).
Thus once more the Christ of God takes up the cross of man. In doing so
He not only sets aside the protest, uttered or unexpressed, of His disciples'
hearts; but He tells them plainly that they too must take the same dark path
if they would follow Him: "Then said Jesus unto His disciples, If any man
will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow
Me." So He tests them to the uttermost. He withdraws nothing He has said
about the blessedness of those who welcome the kingdom of heaven; but
the time has come to put the necessary condition in its strongest light, so
that, if they still follow, it will be not blindly,. but with eyes fully open to all
that it involves. He has given hints before of the stringency of the Divine
requirement; He has spoken of the strait gate and the narrow way; now He
goes to the very heart of that hard matter, and unfolds the innermost secret
of the kingdom of heaven. "Let him deny himself:" here is the pivot of all
-- the crux.
Be it observed that this is not `"self-denial" as currently understood, a term
applied to the denial to self of something or other which perhaps self cares
very little about, but something much more radical. It is the denim of self
involving as its correlative the giving of the life to God. It is the death of
self-will, and the birth of God-will,f13 as the central force of the life.
"Let him deny himself, and take up his cross." Each one has "his" cross,
some point in which the will of God and self-will come in direct opposition.
To the Captain of our salvation the conflict came in its very darkest and
----

most dreadful form. Its climax was in the Garden, when after the great
agony He cried: "Not My will, but Thine be done." Our conflict will not be
nearly so severe: it may even be on a point that may seem small, --
whether or not we will give up some besetting sin, whether or not we will
do some disagreeable duty, whether or not we will surrender something
which stands between us and Christ, -- but whatever that be in which the
will of God and our own will are set in opposition, there is our cross, and it
must be taken up, and self must be denied that we may follow Christ.
"They that are Christ's have crucified the flesh."
Is this, then, the great salvation? Does it resolve itself into a species of
suicide? Do we enter the kingdom of life by death? It is even so; and the
words which follow resolve the paradox: "For whosoever will save his life
shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for My sake shall find it." It is
a surrender of life, certainly, for the giving up of self means the giving up
of all; but these words "for My sake" make all the difference. It is a
surrender which, in dethroning self, enthrones Christ in the life. It is dying
indeed; but it is dying into life: it is an act of faith which puts an end to the
old life of the flesh, and opens the gate for the new life of the spirit.
We have seen that all may hinge on some point that may seem quite small,
in which case the sacrifice is plainly not to be compared with the
compensation; but even when the very greatest sacrifice is demanded, it is
folly not to make it: "For what shall a man be profited, if he shall gain the
whole world, and forfeit his life?" (R.V.). And, if life is forfeited, how can
it be bought back again: "What shall a man give in exchange for his life"?
(R.V.) "In Him was life," and in Him is life still; therefore He is more to us
than all the world. It is better to suffer the loss of all things for Christ than
to have all that flesh and blood could desire without Him.
The world is very large; and the Son of man must have seemed very small
and weak that day, as He told them of the coming days when He should
suffer so many things at His enemies' hands, and die; but this is only while
the time of testing lasts: things will be seen in their true proportion by-and-
by, when "the Son of man shall come" (what a golden background this to
the dark prospect immediately before them! He must go; yes; but He shall
come) "in the glory of His Father with His angels; then He shall reward
every man according to his works." Thus, with the searching test the
Saviour gives the reassuring prospect; and test by reason of its indefinite
distance they may fail to find in it all the encouragement they need for the
present distress, He gives them the further assurance that, before very long,
----

there shall be manifest tokens of the coming glory of their now despised
and slighted King: "Verily I say unto you, There be some standing here,
which shall not taste of death till they see the Son of man coming in His
kingdom."
III. -- THE GLORY (<401701>Matthew 17:1-8).
"After six days" -- the interval is manifestly of importance, for the three
Evangelists who record the event all lay stress on it. St. Luke says "about
an eight days," which indicates that the six days referred to by the others
were days of interval between that on which the conversation at Caesarea
Philippi took place and the morning of the transfiguration. It follows that
we may regard this important epoch in the life of our Lord as covering a
week; and may we not speak of it as His passion week in the north? The
shadow of the cross was on Him all His life through; but it must have been
much darker during this week than ever before. At the beginning of it He
had been obliged for the first time to let that shadow fall upon His loved
disciples, and the days which followed seem to have been given to thought
and prayer, and quiet, unrecorded conversation. Beyond all question their
thought would be fixed on the new subject of contemplation which had just
been brought before them, and whatever conversation they had with one
another and with the Master would have this for its centre. It cannot but
have been a very sad and trying week. The first tidings of the approach of
some impending disaster is often harder to bear than is the stroke itself
when afterwards it falls. To the disciples the whole horizon of the future
would be filled with darkest clouds of mystery; for though they had been
told also of the rising again and the glory that should follow, they could as
yet get little cheer from what lay so far in the dim distance, and was,
moreover, so little understood that even after the vision on the mount, the
favoured three questioned with each other what the rising from the dead
might mean (<410910>Mark 9:10). To the Master the awful prospect must have
been much more definite and real; yet even to His human soul it could not
have been free from that namelessness of mystery that must have made the
anticipation in some respects as bad as the reality, rendering the week to
Him a passion week indeed.
No wonder that at the end of it He has a great longing heavenward, and
that He should ask the three most advanced of His disciples, who had been
with Him in the chamber of death and were afterwards to be witnesses of
His agony in the Garden, to go with Him to a high mountain apart. The
wisdom of His taking only these three was afterwards fully apparent, when
----

it proved that the experience awaiting them on the mountain-top was
almost too much for even them to bear. It is of no importance to identify
the mountain; probably it was one of the spurs of the Hermon range, at the
base of which they had spent the intervening week. We can perfectly
understand the sacred instinct which led the Saviour to seek the highest
point which could be readily reached, so as to feel Himself for the time as
far away from earth and as near to heaven as possible. When we think of
this, what pathos is there in the reference to the height of the mountain and
the loneliness of the spot: He "bringeth them up into a high mountain
apart"!
We are told by St. Luke that they went up "to pray." It seems most natural
to accept this statement as not only correct, but as a sufficient statement of
the object our Saviour had in view. The thought of transfiguration may not
have been in His mind at all. Here, as always, He was guided by the will of
His Father in heaven; and it is not necessary to suppose that to His human
mind that will was made known earlier than the occasion required. We are
not told that He went up to be transfigured: we are told that He went up to
pray.
It seems probable that the idea was to spend the night in prayer. We know
that this was a not infrequent custom with Him; and if ever there seemed a
call for it, it must have been now, when about to begin that sorrowful
journey which led to Calvary. With this thought agree all the indications
which suggest that it was evening when they ascended, night while they
remained on the top, and morning when they came down. This, too, will
account in the most natural manner for the drowsiness of the apostles; and
the fact that their Lord felt none of it only proved how much more vivid
was his realisation of the awfulness of the crisis than theirs was. We are to
think of the four, then, as slowly and thoughtfully climbing the hill at
eventide, carrying their abbas, or rugs, on which they would kneel for
prayer, and which, if they needed rest, they would wrap around them, as is
the Oriental custom. By the time they reached the top, night would have
cast its veil of mystery on the grandeur of the mountains round about them:
while snowy Hermon in the gloom would rise like a mighty giant to
heaven, its summit "visited all night by troops of stars." Never before nor
since has there been such a prayer meeting on this earth of ours.
A careful reading of all the records leads us to think of the following as the
order of events. Having gone up to pray, they would doubtless all kneel
down together. As the night wore on, the three disciples, being exhausted,
----

would wrap themselves in their cloaks and go to sleep; while the Master, to
whom sleep at such a time was unnatural, if not impossible, would continue
in prayer. Can we suppose that that time of pleading was free from agony?
His soul had been stirred within Him when Peter had tempted Him to turn
aside from the path of the Cross; and may we not with reverence suppose
that on that lonely hilltop, as later in the Garden, there might be in His
heart the cry, "Father, if it be possible"? If only the way upward were open
now! Has not the kingdom of God been preached in Judea, in Samaria, in
Galilee, away to the very borderlands? and has not the Church been
founded? and has not authority been given to the apostles? Is it, then,
absolutely necessary to go back, back to Jerusalem, not to gain a triumph,
but to accept the last humiliation and defeat? There cannot but have been a
great conflict of feeling; and with all the determination to be obedient even
unto death, there must have been a shrinking from the way of the cross,
and a great longing for heaven and home and the Father's welcome. The
longing cannot be gratified: it is not possible for the cup to pass from Him;
but just as later in Gethsemane there came an angel from heaven
strengthening him, so now His longing for heaven and home and the smile
of His Father is gratified in the gladdening and strengthening experience
which followed His prayer -- a foretaste of the heavenly glory, so vivid, so
satisfying, that He will thenceforth be strong, for the joy that is set before
Him, to endure the Cross, despising the shame. For behold, as He prays,
His face becomes radiant, the glory within shining through the veil of His
mortal flesh. We all know that this flesh of ours is more or less transparent,
and that in moments of exaltation the faces of even ordinary men will shine
as with a heavenly lustre. We need not wonder, then, that it should have
been so with our Lord, only in an immeasurably higher degree: that His
face should have shone even "as the sun"; and that, though He could not
yet ascend to heaven, heaven's brightness should have descended on Him
and wrapped Him round, so that even "His raiment was white as the light."
And not only heavenly light is round, but heavenly company; for "behold,
there appeared unto them Moses and Elias talking with Him."
The disciples could not sleep through all this. "When they were fully
awake, they saw His glory, and the two men that stood with Him"
(<420932>Luke 9:32, R.V.). How they recognised them we are not told. It may
have been through their conversation, which in part at least they
understood; for the substance of it has been preserved in St. Luke's
Gospel, where we read that they "spake of His decease (literally, exodus)
which He should accomplish at Jerusalem." The human soul of Jesus no
doubt longed for an exodus here and now, from this very height of Hermon
----

in the presence of God; but He knows this cannot be: His exodus must be
accomplished in a very different way, and at Jerusalem. This Moses and
Elijah knew; and their words must have brought Him encouragement and
strength, and given steadiness and assurance to the wavering hearts of
Peter, James, and John.
That the conversation was intended for their benefit as well, seems
indicated by the way in which Peter's intervention is recorded: "Then
answered Peter, and said unto Jesus." What he said is quite characteristic
of the impulsive discipline, so ready to speak without thinking. On this
occasion he blunders in a very natural and pardonable way. He feels as if he
ought to say something; and, as nothing more to the purpose occurs to
him, he blurts out his thoughtless proposal to make three tabernacles for
their abode. Besides the thoughtlessness of this speech, which is manifest
enough, there seems to lurk in it a sign of his falling back into the very
error which a week ago he had renounced -- the error of putting his
Master in the same class as Moses and Elias, reckoning Him thus, as the
people of Galilee had done, simply as "one of the prophets." If so, his
mistake is at once corrected; for behold a bright luminous cloud -- fit
symbol of the Divine presence: the cloud suggesting mystery, and the
brightness, glory -- wraps all from sight, and out of the cloud there comes
a voice: "This is My beloved Son, in Whom I am well pleased; hear ye
Him."
We now see how appropriate it was that just these two should be the
heavenly messengers to wait upon the Son of man on this occasion. The
one represented the law, the other the prophets. "The law and the prophets
were until John;" but both are now merged in the gospel of Jesus, Who is
all and in all. Moses and Elijah have long had audience of the people of
God; but behold a greater than Moses or Elijah is here, and they must
withdraw; and accordingly, when the Voice is silent and the cloud has
cleared away, Jesus is left alone. No one remains to divide His authority
and none to share His sorrow. He must tread the winepress alone. Moses
and Elijah return to the world of spirits -- Jesus, God's beloved Son, to
the world of men. And all His human sympathies were fresh and quick as
ever; for, finding His three disciples fallen on their faces for fear, He came
and touched them, saying, "Arise, and be not afraid." They no doubt
thought their Lord had laid aside His human body, and left them all alone
upon the mountain; but with His human hand He touched them, and with
His human voice He called them as of old, and with His human heart He
welcomed them again. Reassured, they lifted up their eyes, and saw their
----

Lord -- the man Christ Jesus as before -- and no one else. All is over; and
as the world is unprepared for it, the vision is sealed until the Son of man
be risen from the dead.
Why were their lips sealed? The more we think of it, the more we shall see
the wisdom of this seal of secrecy, even from the other nine; for had they
been prepared to receive the revelation, they would have been privileged to
witness it. The transfiguration was no mere wonder; it was no sign granted
to incredulity: it was one of those sacred experiences for rare spirits in rare
hours, which nature itself forbids men to parade, or even so much as
mention, unless constrained to it by duty.
It is one of the innumerable notes of truth found, wherever aught that is
marvellous is recorded in these Gospels, that the glory on the mount is not
appealed to, to confirm the faith of any but the three who witnessed it.
Upon them it did produce a deep and abiding impression. One of them,
indeed, died a martyr's death so very early that we have nothing from his
pen (<441202>Acts 12:2); but both the others have left us words written late in
their after life, which show now ineffaceable was the impression produced
upon them by what they saw that memorable night. John evidently has it in
mind, both in the beginning of his Epistle and of his Gospel, as where he
says: "We beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the
Father;" and Peter thus conveys the assurance which the experience of that
night left with him to the end: "We have not followed cunningly devised
fables, when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord
Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of His majesty. For He received from
God the Father honour and glory, when there came such a voice to Him
from the excellent glory, This is My beloved Son, in Whom I am well
pleased. And this voice which came from heaven we heard, when we were
with Him in the holy mount." But while the impression made upon the
three who witnessed it was so deep and abiding, it could not be expected
to have any direct evidential value to others; accordingly it remained
unused in their dealings with others until their Master's work had been
crowned by His resurrection from the dead, which was to be the sign, as
He had again and again said to those who kept asking. Him for a sign from
heaven. The transfiguration was indeed a sign from heaven; but it was no
sign for a faithless generation: it was only for those who "by the strength of
their faith and the purity of their devotion were prepared to receive it.
Signs fitted to satisfy the doubting heart had been wrought in great
abundance (<401104>Matthew 11:4, 5); and the crowning sign was to be
----

certified by many infallible proofs, after which it would be time to speak of
the experience of that sacred night upon the holy mount.
How fitly the transfiguration closes this memorable week! As we linger
with the Lord and His disciples at the sources of the Jordan, we realise that
we have reached what we may call the water-shed of doctrine in His
training of the Twelve. Slowly have they been rising in their thoughts of
Christ, until at last they recognise His true divinity, and make a clear and
full confession of it. But no sooner have they reached that height of truth
than they are constrained to look down into the dark valley before them, at
the bottom of which they dimly see the dreadful cross; and then, to comfort
and reassure, there is this vision of the glory that shall follow. Thus we
have, in succession, the three great doctrines of the faith: Incarnation,
Atonement, Resurrection. There is first the glory of Christ as the Son of
God; then His shame as Bearer of our sin; then the vision of the glory that
shall follow, the glory given to Him as His reward. For may we not regard
that company upon the mount as a miniature of the Church in heaven and
on earth? There was the great and glorified Head of the Church, and round
Him five representative members: two from the family in heaven, three
from the family on earth -- those from the Church triumphant, these from
the Church still militant -- those from among the saints of the old
covenant, these the firstfruits of the new. Could there have been a better
representation of "the whole family in heaven and on earth"? How
appropriate that the passion week of the north, which began with the
founding of the Church in the laying of its first stone, should end with a
vision of it as completed, which must to some extent have been a fulfilment
of the promise. "He shall see of the travail of His soul, and shall be
satisfied"!
Observe, too, in quick succession, the great key-words of the new age: The
Christ (<401616>Matthew 16:16), The Church (ver. 18), The Cross (ver. 24),
The Glory (ver. 27): the latter, as still in the future, made real by the glory
on the holy mount. The mediaeval interpreters, always on the watch for the
symbolism of numbers, especially the number three, regarded Peter as the
apostle of faith, James of hope, and John of love. And though we may set
this aside as a touch of fancy, we Cannot fail to observe that just as the
mind, in its grasp of truth, is led from the incarnation to the atonement, and
thence to the resurrection and the glory that shall follow; so the cardinal
graces of the Christian life are called out in quick succession: first faith
with its rock-foundation; then love with its self-sacrificing devotion; and
finally hope with its vision of heavenly glory. The whole gospel of Christ,
----

the whole life of the Christian, is found in this brief passage of the first
Evangelist, ending with the suggestive words, "Jesus only."
IV. -- THE DESCENT (<401709>Matthew 17:9-21).
Who can tell what each step downward cost the Son of man? If it seemed
good to the disciples to be on the mountain-top, what must it have been to
the Master! and what utter denial of self and conscious taking up of the
cross it must have been to leave that hallowed spot! We have already seen
a reason, as regards the disciples, why the vision should be sealed till the
time of the end; but was there not also a reason which touched the Master
Himself? It was well that He had enjoyed such a time of refreshing -- it
would be something to look back to in darkest hours; but it must be a
memory only: it may not therefore be a subject of conversation -- not the
glory, but the cross, must now, both for Himself and for His disciples, fill
all the near horizon.
This view of the case is confirmed by the manner in which He deals with
their question respecting Elijah. It was a very natural question. It was no
doubt perplexing in many ways to be absolutely forbidden to tell what they
had seen; but it seemed especially mysterious in view of Elijah's
appearance, which they not unnaturally regarded as a fulfilment of the
prophecy for which the scribes were waiting. Hence their question, "Why,
then, say the Scribes that Elias must first come?" Our Lord's answer
turned their thoughts to the true fulfilment of the prophecy, which was no
shadowy appearance on a lonely hill, but the real presence among the men
of the time of a genuine reformer who had come in the spirit and power of
Elijah, and who would certainly have restored all things, had not these very
scribes and Pharisees, failing to recognise him, left him to the will of the
tyrant who had done away with him. Then most significantly He adds, that
as it had been with the Elijah, so would it be with the Messiah of the time:
"Likewise shall also the Son of man suffer of them." Thus, in showing
them where to look for the true fulfilment of the prophecy, He turns their
attention as well as His own away from the glory on the mount, which
must now be a thing oF the past, to that dark scene in the prison cell,
which was so painfully impressed upon their minds, and those still darker
scenes in the near future of which it was the presage.
At the foot of the mountain there is presented one of those striking
contrasts with which, as we have seen, this Gospel abounds. It is very
familiar to us through Raphael's great painting; and we shall certainly not
make the mistake of attempting to translate into our feeble words what is
----

there seen, and may now be regarded as "known and read of all men."
Leaving, therefore, to the imagination the contrast between the glory on
the mount and the misery on the plain, let us briefly look at the scene itself.
Briefly; for though it well deserves detailed treatment, the proper place for
this would be the full record of it in the second Gospel; while the more
general way in which it is presented here suggests the propriety of dealing
with it in outline only. Without, then, attempting to enter on the striking
and most instructive details to be found in St. Mark's Gospel, and without
even dealing with it as we have endeavoured to deal with similar cures
under the head of the Signs of the Kingdom, it may be well to glance at it
in the light of the words used by our Lord when He was confronted with
the sorrowful scene: "O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I
be with you? how long shall I suffer you?"
It seems evident from these words that He is looking at the scene, not so
much as presenting a case of individual suffering, appealing to His
compassion, as a representation in miniature of the helplessness and
perverseness of the race of men He has come to save. Remember how well
He knew what was in man, and therefore what it must have been to Him,
immediately after such a season of pure and peaceful communion on the
holy mount, to have to enter into sympathy with all the variety of
helplessness and confusion He saw around Him. There is the poor plague-
stricken boy in the centre; beside him his agonised father; there, the feeble
and blundering disciples, and the scribes (<410914>Mark 9:14) questioning with
them; and all around the excited, sympathetic, and utterly perplexed
multitude. Yet the kingdom of heaven is so near them, and has been so
long proclaimed among them! Alas! alas for the perversity of men, that
blinds them to the Sun of Righteousness, already arisen with healing in His
wings, and for the unbelief even of the disciples themselves, which renders
them, identified though they are with the kingdom, as helpless as all the
rest! When we think of all this, need we wonder at the wail which breaks
from the Saviour's sorrowful heart, need we wonder that He cries "How
long? how long? "
"Bring him hither to Me." Here is the solvent of all. "From that very hour"
the boy is cured, the father's heart is calmed and filled with gladness, the
cavillers are silenced, the multitudes are satisfied, and the worn-out faith of
the disciples is renewed. Out of chaos, order, out of tumult, peace, by a
word from Christ. It was a wilder sea than Galilee at its stormiest; but at
His rebuke the winds and waves were stilled, and there was a great calm.
----

So would it be still, if this generation were not perverse and faithless in its
turn -- the world perverse, the Church faithless. Above the stormy sea of
human sin and woe and helplessness, there still is heard the lamentation
"How long shall I be with you? how long shall I suffer you?" Here are we
groaning and travailing in this late age of the world and of the Church, the
worst kind of demons still working their wilt in their poor victims, the cry
of anxious parents going up for lost children, disciples blundering and
failing in well-meant efforts to cast the demons out, wise and learned
scribes pointing at them the finger of scorn, excited and angry multitudes
demanding satisfaction which they fail to get -- Oh, if only all could hear
the voice of the Son of man as the multitude heard it that day; and if we
would only with one consent recognise the majesty of His face and mien as
they did (see <410915>Mark 9:15), bring to Him our plague-stricken ones, our
devil-possessed, bring to Him our difficulties and perplexities, our vexed
questions and our hard problems, would He not as of old bring order out
of our chaos, and out of weakness make us strong? Oh, for more faith,
faith to take hold of the Christ of God, come down from His holy
habitation, and with us even to the end of the world, to bear the infirmities
and carry the sorrows and take away the sins of men! -- then should we be
able to say to this mountain of evil under which our cities groan, "Be thou
removed, and be thou cast into the sea," and it would be done. If only the
Church of Christ in the world to-day had through all its membership that
faith which is the only avenue by which the power of God can reach the
need of man, our social problems would not long defy solution -- "nothing
would be impossible"; for over the millions of London, and the masses
everywhere, there broods the same great heart of love and longing which
prompted the gracious words, "Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are
heavy laden, and I will give you rest;" and there is not a wretched one in all
the world for whom there is not a blessed ray of hope in this pathetic wail
which still proceeds from the loving heart of Him Who is the same
yesterday and to-day and for ever. "O faithless and perverse generation,
how long shall I be with you? how long shall I suffer you? bring him hither
to Me."
"Bring him hither" -- this is a work of faith as well as a labour of love. The
Church on earth is in the same position now as were the nine when the
Master was absent from them on the mountain-top. He has ascended up on
high, and the work must be carried on by the members of His body on the
earth; and it is only in proportion to their faith that any success can attend
them in their work.
----

Is faith, then, all that is necessary? It is: provided it be genuine living faith.
This seems to be the point of the reference to the grain of mustard seed.
The little seed, small as it is, is set in true relation to the great life-force of
Mother Nature, and therefore out of it by-and-by there comes a mighty
tree; and in the same way even feeble faith, if it be genuine, and therefore
set in true relation to the power of the Father of our spirits, becomes
receptive of a force which in the end nothing can resist. But genuine living
faith it must be: there must be the real opening up of the soul to the Spirit
of the living God, so that the man's nature becomes a channel through
which unobstructed the grace and power of God shall flow. It need
scarcely be remarked that the notion which mistakes faith for mere belief of
certain doctrines is utterly misleading. In nothing is the perversity of a
faithless generation more conspicuous than in the persistency with which
this absurd and unscriptural notion of faith holds its ground, even with
those who are supposed to be leaders of thought in certain directions. If
only that mountain of folly could be cleared away, there would be a
decided brightening of the spiritual outlook; for then men everywhere
would see that the faith which Christ expects of them, and without which
nothing can be accomplished, is no mere intellectual belief, but the laying
open and leaving open of the entire nature to the Spirit of Christ. Thus
spurious dead faith would be utterly discredited, and genuine living faith
would alone be recognised; and while the first effect would be to disclose
the exceeding scantiness of the Church's faith, the result would be that
even though what stood the test should be small as a grain of mustard seed,
it would have in it such vitality and power that by-and-by it would become
mighty and all-pervading, so that before it mountains would disappear (ver.
20).
The last words of the paragraphf14 carry us back to the ultimate necessity
for prayer. It is plain that our Lord refers to habitual prayer. We cannot
suppose that these nine disciples had utterly neglected this duty; but they
had failed to live in an atmosphere of prayer, as was their Master's rule.
We may be sure that they had not prayed at the base of the mountain as
their Lord had prayed on the summit, or they would certainly not have
failed in their attempt to cure the lunatic child. This demand for prayer is
not really anything additional to the faith set forth as the one thing needful.
There has been a good deal of discussion lately as to whether we can think
without words. We shall not presume to decide the question; but it may
safely be affirmed that without words we could not think to any purpose.
And just as the continuance and development of our thinking are
dependent on words, so the continuance and development of our faith are
----

dependent on prayer. Is not the weak spot of our modern Christianity just
here? In this age of tear and wear, bustle and excitement, what becomes of
prayer? If the amount of true wrestling with God in the daily life of the
average Christian could be disclosed, the wonder might be, not that he
accomplishes so little, but that God is willing to use him at all.
----

CHAPTER 14.
LAST WORDS AT CAPERNAUM. -- MATTHEW 17:22-
18:35.
THE TEMPLE TRIBUTE (<401722>MATTHEW 17:22-27.)MATTHEW 17:22-27.)
THE way southward lies through Galilee; but the time of Galilee's
visitation is now over, so Jesus avoids public attention as much as possible,
and gives Himself up to the instruction of His disciples, especially to
impressing upon their minds the new lesson of the Cross, which they find it
so very hard to realise, or even to understand. A brief stay in Capernaum
was to be expected; and there above all places He could not hope to escape
notice; but the manner of it is sadly significant -- no friendly greeting, no
loving welcome, not even any personal recognition, only a more or less
entangling question as to the Temple tax, addressed, not to Christ Himself,
but to Peter: "Doth not your Master pay the half-shekel?' (R.V.). The
impulsive disciple showed his usual readiness by answering at once in the
affirmative. He perhaps thought it was becoming his Master's dignity to
show not a moment's hesitation in such a matter; but if so, he must have
seen his mistake when he heard what his Lord had to say on the subject,
reminding him as it did that, as Son of God, He was Lord of the Temple,
and not tributary to it.
Some have felt a difficulty in reconciling the position taken on this
occasion with His previous attitude towards the law, notably on the
occasion of His baptism, when in answer to John's remonstrance, He said,
"It becometh us to fulfil all righteousness"; but it must be remembered that
He has entered on a new stage of His career. He has been rejected by those
who acknowledged allegiance to the Temple, virtually excommunicated, so
that He has been constrained to found His Church outside the
commonwealth of Israel: He must therefore assert His own rights and
theirs in spiritual things (for it must be remembered that the "half-shekel"
was not the tribute to Caesar. but the impost for the maintenance of the
Temple worship). But while asserting His right He would not insist on it:
He would stand by His disciple's word, and so avoid putting a stumbling-
block in the way of those that were without, and who therefore could not
be expected to understand the position He took. While consenting to pay
the tax, He would provide it in such a way as not to lower His lofty claims
----

in the view of His disciples, but rather to illustrate them, bringing home, as
it must have done, to them all, and especially to the "pilot of the Galilean
lake," that all things were under His feet, down to the very "fish of the sea,
and whatsoever passeth through the paths of the seas" (<190808>Psalm 8:8,
50:10-12). The difficulty which some feel in regard to this miracle, as
differing so much in its character from those wrought in presence of the
people as signs of the kingdom and credentials of the King, is greatly
relieved, if not altogether removed, by remembering what was the special
object in view -- the instruction of Peter and the other disciples -- and
observing how manifestly and peculiarly appropriate it was for this
particular purpose.
THE LITTLE ONES (<401801>MATTHEW 18:1-14).MATTHEW 18:1-14).
The brief stay at Capernaum was signalised by some other lessons of the
greatest importance. First, as to the great and the small in the kingdom of
heaven. We learn from the other Evangelists that by the way the disciples
had disputed with one another who should be the greatest. Alas for human
frailty, even in the true disciple! It is most humiliating to think that, after
that week, with its high and holy lessons. the first thing we hear of the
disciples should be their failure in the very particulars which had been
special features of the week's instruction. Recall the two points: the first
was faith in the Christ, the Son of the living God, and over against it we
have from lack of faith the signal failure with the lunatic child; the second
was self-denial, and over against it we have this unseemly strife as to who
should be greatest in the kingdom.
It is startling and most sad; but is it not true to nature? Is it not after the
most solemn impressions that we need to be most watchful? And how
natural it is, out of what is taught us, to choose and appropriate what is
welcome, and, without expressly rejecting, simply to leave unassimilated
and unapplied what is unwelcome. The great burden of the instruction for
the last eight or ten days had been the Cross. There had been reference to
the rising again, and the coming in the glory of the kingdom; hut these had
been kept strictly in the background, mentioned chiefly to save the disciples
from undue discouragement, and even the three who had the vision of
glory on the mount were forbidden to mention the subject in the meantime.
Yet they let it fill the whole field of view; and though when the Master is
with them He still speaks to them of the Cross, when they are by
themselves they dismiss the subject, and fall to disputing as to who shall be
the greatest in the kingdom!
----

How patiently and tenderly their Master deals with them! No doubt the
same thought was in His heart again: "O faithless and perverse generation,
how long shall I be with you? how long shall I suffer you?" But He does
not even express it now. He takes an opportunity, when they are quietly
together in the house, of teaching them the lesson they most need in a
manner so simple and beautiful, so touching and impressive, as to
commend it to all true-hearted ones to the end of time. Jesus called a little
child to Him, "and set him in the midst of them." Can we doubt that they
felt the force of that striking object lesson before He said a word? Then, as
we learn from St. Mark, to whom we always look for minute details, after
having set him in the midst of them for them to look at and think about for
a while, He took him in His arms, as if to show them where to look for
those who were nearest to the heart of the King of heaven.
Nothing could have been more suggestive. It perfectly suited the purpose
He had in view; but the meaning and the value of that simple act were by
no means limited to that purpose. It most effectually rebuked their pride
and selfish ambition; but it was far more than a rebuke -- it was a
revelation which taught men to appreciate child-nature as they had never
done before. It was a new thought the Lord Jesus so quietly introduced
into the minds of men that day, a seed-thought which had in it the promise,
not only of all that appreciation of child-life which is characteristic of
Christendom to-day, and which has rendered possible such poems as
Vaugban's "Retreat," and Wordsworth's grand ode on "Immortality," but
also of that appreciation of the broadly human as distinguished from the
mere accidents of birth or rank or wealth which lies at the foundation of all
Christian civilisation. The enthusiasm of humanity is all in that little act
done so unassumingly in heedless Capernaum.
The words spoken are in the highest degree worthy of the act they
illustrate. The first lesson is, "None but the lowly are in the kingdom:
Except ye be converted (from the selfish pride of your hearts), and become
(lowly and self-forgetful) as little children, ye shall not enter into the
kingdom of heaven." A most heart-searching lesson! What grave doubts
and questions it must have suggested to the disciples! They had faith to
follow Christ in an external way; but were they really following Him? Had
He not said, "If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself? We're
they denying self? On the other hand, however, we need not suppose that
this selfish rivalry was habitual with them. It was probably one of those
surprises which overtake the best of Christians; so that it was not really a
proof that they did not belong to the kingdom, but only that for the time
----

they were acting inconsistently with it; and therefore, before they could
think of occupying any place, even the very lowest in the kingdom, they
must repent, and become as little children.
The next lesson is, The lowliest in the kingdom are the greatest:
"Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is
greatest in the kingdom of heaven." Again a most wonderful utterance,
now so familiar to us, that we are apt to regard it as a thing of course; but
what a startling paradox it must have been to the astonished disciples that
day! Yet, as they looked at the bright, innocent, clear-eyed, self-
unconscious little child, so simple, so trustful, there must have come a
response from that which was deepest and best within them to their
Master's words. And though the thought was new to them at the time, it
did come home to them: it passed into their nature, and showed itself
afterwards in precious fruit, at which the world still wonders. They did not
indeed get over their selfishness all at once; but how grandly were they
cured of it when their training was finished! If there is one thing more
characteristic of the apostles in their after life than any other, it is their self-
forgetfulness, their self-effacement, we may say. Where does Matthew ever
say a word about the sayings or doings of Matthew? Even John, who was
nearest of all to the heart of the Saviour, and with Him in all His most
trying hours, can write a whole gospel without ever mentioning his own
name; and when he has occasion to speak of John the Baptist does it as if
there were no other John in existence. So was it with them all. We must
not forget that, so far as this lesson of self-denial is concerned, they were
only beginners now (see <401621>Matthew 16:21); but after they had completed
their course and received the Pentecostal seal, they did not disgrace their
Teacher any more: they did then really and nobly deny self; and thus did
they at last attain true greatness in the kingdom of heaven.
So far we have what may be called the Saviour's direct answer to the
question as to the greatest; but He cannot leave the subject without also
setting before them the claims of the least in the kingdom of heaven. He
has shown them how to be great: He now teaches them how to treat the
small. The two things lie very close together. The man who makes much of
himself is sure to make light of others; and he who is ambitious for worldly
greatness will have little regard for those who in his eyes are small. The
lesson, then, would have been incomplete had He not vindicated the claims
of the little ones.
----

It is manifest, from the whole strain of the passage which follows, that the
reference is not exclusively to children in years, but quite as much to
children in spiritual stature, or in position and influence in the Church. The
little ones are those who are small in the sense corresponding to that of the
word "great" in the disciples' question. They are those, therefore, that are
small and weak, and (as it is sometimes expressed) of no account in the
Church, whether this be due to tender years or to slender abilities or to
scanty means or to little faith.
What our Lord says on this subject comes evidently from the very depths
of His heart. He is not content with making sure that the little ones shall
receive as good a welcome as the greatest: they must have a special
welcome, just because they are small. He identifies Himself with them --
with each separate little one: "Whoso shall receive one such little child in
My name receiveth Me." What a grand security for the rights and
privileges of the small! what a word for parents and teachers, for men of
influence and wealth in the Church in their relations to the weak and poor!
Then follow two solemn warnings, wrought out with great fulness and
energy. The first is against putting a stumbling-block in the way of even
one of these little ones -- an offence which may be committed without any
thought of the consequences. Perhaps this is the very reason why the
Master feels it necessary to use language so terribly strong, that He may, if
possible, arouse His disciples to some sense of their responsibility: "Whoso
shall offend one of these little ones which believe in Me, it were better for
him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned
in the depth of the sea." How jealously He guards the little ones! Verily he
that toucheth them "toucheth the apple of His eye."
From the corresponding passage in St. Mark, it would appear that Christ
had in view, not only such differences of age and ability and social position
as are found in every community of disciples, but also such differences as
are found between one company and another of professing Christians (see
<410938>Mark 9:38-42). This infuses a new pathos into the sad lament with
which He forecasts the future: "Woe unto the world because of offences!
for it must needs be that offences come: but woe to that man by whom the
offence cometh!" The solemn warnings which follow, not given now for
the first time (see <400529>Matthew 5:29, 30), coming in this connection,
convey the important lesson that the only effectual safeguard against
causing others to stumble is to take heed to our own ways, and be ready to
make any sacrifice in order to maintain our personal purity, simplicity, and
----

uprightness (vv. 8, 9). How often alas! in the history of the Church has the
cutting off been applied in the wrong direction; when the strong, in the
exercise of an authority which the Master would never have sanctioned,
have passed sentence of excommunication against some defenceless little
one; whereas if they had laid to heart these solemn warnings, they would
have cut off, not one of Christ's members, but one of their own -- the
harsh hand, the hasty foot, the jealous eye, which caused them to stumble!
The other warning is: "Take heed that ye despise not one of these little
ones." To treat them so is to do the reverse of what is done in heaven. Be
their guardian angels rather, if you would have the approval of Him Who
reigns above; for their angels are those who always have the place of
honour there. Is there not something very touching in this home reference,
"My Father which is in heaven"? -- especially when He is about to refer to
the mission of mercy which made Him an exile from His home. And this
reference gives Him an additional plea against despising one of these little
ones; for not only are the highest angels their honoured guardians, but they
are those whom the Son of man has come to seek and to save. The little
lamb which you despise is one for whom the heavenly Shepherd has
thought it worth His while to leave all the rest of His flock that He may go
after it, and seek it on the lonely mountains, whither it has strayed, and
over whose recovery He has greater joy than even in the safety of all the
rest. The climax is reached when He carries thoughts above the angels.
above even the son of man, to the will of the Father (now it is your Father;
for He desires to bring to bear upon them the full force of that tender
relationship which it is" now their privilege to claim): "Even so it is not the
will of your Father which is in heaven, that one of these little ones should
perish."
TRESPASSES (<401815>MATTHEW 18:15-35).MATTHEW 18:15-35).
The transition is natural from those solemn words in which our Lord has
warned His disciples against Offending "one of these little ones," to the
instructions which follow as to how they should treat those of their
brethren who might trespass against them. These instructions, occupying
the rest of this chapter, are of perennial interest and value, so long as it
must needs be that offences come.
The trespasses referred to are of course real. Much heartburning and much
needless trouble often come of "offences" which exist only in imagination.
A "sensitive" disposition (often only another name for one that is
----

uncharitable and suspicious) leads to the imputing of bad motives where
none exist, and the finding of sinister meanings in the most innocent acts.
Such offences are not worthy of consideration at all. It is further to be
observed that our Lord is not dealing with ordinary quarrels, where there
are faults on both sides, in which ease the first step would be not to tell the
brother his fault, but to acknowledge our own. The trespass, then, being
real, and the fault all on the other side, how is the disciple of Christ to act?
The paragraphs which follow make it clear.
"The wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable;" accordingly
we are first shown how to proceed in order to preserve the purity of the
Church. Then instructions are given with a view to preserve the peace of
the Church. The first paragraph shows how to exercise discipline; the
second lays down the Christian rule of forgiveness.
"If thy brother shall trespass against thee," -- what? Pay no heed to it?
Since it takes two to make a quarrel, is it best simply to let him alone? That
might be the best way to deal with offences on the part of those that are
without; but it would be a sad want of true brotherly love to take this easy
way with a fellow-disciple. It is certainly better to overlook an injury than
to resent it; yet our Lord shows a more excellent way. His is not the way of
selfish resentment, nor of haughty indifference; but of thoughtful concern
for the welfare of him who has done the injury. That this is the motive in
the entire proceeding is evident from the whole tone of the paragraph, in
illustration of which reference may be made to the way in which success is
regarded: "If he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother." If a man sets
out with the object of gaining his cause or getting satisfaction, he had
better let it alone; but if he wishes not to gain a barren triumph for himself,
but to gain his brother, let him proceed according to the wise instructions
of our Lord and Master.
There are four steps:
(1) "Go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone." Do not wait till
he comes to apologise, as is the rule laid down by the rabbis, but go to him
at once. Do not think of your own dignity. Think only of your Master's
honour and your brother's welfare. How many troubles, how many
scandals might be prevented in the Christian Church, if this simple direction
were faithfully and lovingly carried out! In some cases, however, this may
fail; and then the next step is:
----

(2) "Take with thee one or two more, that in the mouth of two or three
witnesses every word may be established." The process here passes from
private dealing; still there must be no undue publicity. If the reference to
two or at most three (see R.V.) fail, it becomes a duty to
(3) "tell it unto the church," in the hope that he may submit to its decision.
If he decline, there is nothing left but
(4) excommunication: "Let him be unto thee as an heathen man and a
publican."
The mention of church censure naturally leads to a declaration of the
power vested in the church in the matter of discipline. Our Lord had
already given such a declaration to Peter alone; now it is given to the
church as a whole in its collective capacity: "Verily I say unto you,
Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and
whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven." But the
question comes: What is the church in its collective capacity? If it is to
have this power of discipline, of the admission and rejection of members --
a power which, rightly exercised on earth, is ratified in heaven -- it is
important to know something as to its constitution. This much, indeed, we
know: that it is an assembly of believers. But how large must the assembly
be? What are the marks of the true church?
These questions are answered in vv. 19 and 20. It is made very plain that it
is no question of numbers, but of union with one another and the Lord. Let
it be remembered that the whole discourse has grown out of the strife with
one another which should be the greatest. Our Lord has already shown
that, instead of ambition to be the greatest, there must be readiness to be
the least. He now makes it plain that instead of strife and division there
must be agreement, unity in heart and desire. But if only there be this unity,
this blending of hearts in prayer, there is found the true idea of the Church.
Two disciples in full spiritual agreement, with hearts uplifted to the Father
in heaven, and Christ present with them, -- there is what may be called the
primitive cell of the Church, the body of Christ complete in itself, but in its
rudimentary or germinal form. It comes to this, that the presence of Christ
with His people and of His spirit in them, uniting them with one another
and with Him, is that which constitutes the true and living church; and it is
only when thus met in the name of Christ, and acting in the spirit of Christ,
that assemblies of believers, whether large or small, have any guarantee
that their decrees on earth are registered in heaven, or that the promise
----

shall be fulfilled to them, that what they ask "shall be done for them of My
Father which is in heaven."
These words were spoken in the day of small things, when the members of
the Church were reckoned by units; therefore it is a mistake to use them as
if very small gatherings for prayer were especially pleasing to the great
Head of the Church. It does indeed remain true, for the encouragement of
the faithful few, that wherever two or three are met in the name of Jesus
He is there; but that makes it no less disappointing when the numbers
might be reasonably expected to be very much larger. Because our Lord
said, "Better two of you agreed than the whole twelve at strife," does it
follow that two or three will have the power in their united prayers which
two or three hundred would have? The stress is not on the figure, but on
the agreement.
The words "There am I in the midst of them" are very striking as a
manifestation of that strange consciousness of freedom from limitations of
time and place, which the Lord Jesus felt and often expressed even in the
days of His flesh. It is the same consciousness which appears in the answer
to the cavil of the Jews as to the intimacy with Abraham He seemed to
them to claim, -- "Before Abraham was, I am." As a practical matter also
it suggests that we do not need to ask and wait for the presence of the
Master when we are truly met in His name. It is not He that needs to be
entreated to draw near to us: "There am I."
So far the directions given have been with a view to the good of the
offending brother and the honour of Christ and His cause. It remains to
show how the offended person is to act on his part. Here the rule is very
simple: "forgive him." What satisfaction, then, is the offended party to get?
The satisfaction of forgiving. That is all; and it is enough.
It will be observed, indeed, that our Lord, in His discourse up to the point
we have reached, has said nothing directly about forgiveness. It is fairly
implied, however, in the manner of process, in the very first act of it
indeed; for no one will go to an offending brother with the object of
gaining him, unless he have first forgiven him in his heart. Peter appears to
have been revolving this in his mind, and in doing so he cannot get over a
difficulty as to the limit of forgiveness. He was familiar, of course; with the
rabbinical limit of the third offence, after which the obligation to
forgiveness ceased; and, impressed with the spirit of his Master's teaching,
he no doubt thought he was showing great liberality in more than doubling
the number of times the offence might be repeated and still be considered
----

pardonable: "Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive
him? till seven times?" It has been thought that some of his brethren had
been treating Peter badly, so that his patience was sorely tried. Be that as it
may, the question was not at all unnatural. But it was founded on a fallacy,
which our Lord cleared away by His answer, and thoroughly exposed by
means of the striking parable which follows. The fallacy was this: that we
have a right to resent an injury, that in refraining from this we are
forbearing to exercise our right, and consequently that there is a limit
beyond which we have no call to exercise such forbearance. Our Lord by
His answer clears away the limit, and makes the obligation unconditional
and universal (ver. 22).
The parable shows the reason why. there should be no limit -- viz., that all
believers, or members of the Church, by accepting from God the unlimited
forgiveness He has extended to them, are thereby implicitly pledged to
extend a like unlimited forgiveness to others. There is no duty on which
our Lord insists more strenuously than this duty of forgiving those who
trespass against us, always connecting closely together our forgiving and
our being forgiven; and in this parable it is set in the strongest light.
The greatest offence of which our fellow-man can be guilty is as nothing to
the sins we have committed against God. The proportion suggested is very
startling. The larger sum is more than two millions sterling on the lowest
computation; the smaller is not much more than four guineas. This is no
exaggeration. Seven times altogether for a brother's offences seems almost
unpardonable: do we never offend against God as many times in a single
hour? Then think of the days, and the years! This is a startling thought on
the one side; but how cheering on the other! For the immensity of the debt
does not interfere in the slightest with the freeness and fulness and
absoluteness of the forgiveness. Verily there is no more satisfying or
reassuring presentation of the gospel than this parable, especially these very
words, which rang like a knell of doom in the unmerciful servant's ear: "I
forgave thee all that debt." But just in proportion to the grandeur of the
gospel here unfolded is the rigour of the requirement, that as we have been
forgiven so must we forgive. While we gladly take the abounding comfort,
let us not miss the stern lesson, evidently given with the very strongest
feeling. Our Lord paints the picture of this man in the most hideous
colours, so as to fill our minds and hearts with a proper loathing of the
conduct of those he represents. The same intention is apparent in the very
severe terms in which the punishment is denounced: "His lord was wroth,
and delivered him to the tormentors." After this how awful is the closing
----

sentence: "So likewise shall My heavenly Father do also unto you, if ye
from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses."
Is that tender name of Father out of place? By no means; for is it not the
outraged love of God that cries out against the unforgiving soul? And the
words "from your hearts," -- are they not too hard on poor frail human
nature? It is easy enough to grant forgiveness with the lips, -- but from the
heart? Yet so it stands written; and it only shows the need we have, not
only of unmeasured mercy, but of unmeasured grace. Nothing but the love
of Christ can constrain to such forgiveness. The warning was a solemn one,
but it need have no terror for those who have truly learned the lesson of
the Cross, and welcomed the Spirit of Christ to reign in their hearts. "I can
do all things through Christ Who strengtheneth me."
There is an admirable fulness and harmony in Christ's teaching on this
subject, as on every other. The duty of unlimited forgiveness is most plainly
enjoined; but not that weak forgiveness which consists simply in permitting
a man to trespass as he chooses. Forgiveness and faithfulness go hand in
hand. The forgiveness of the Christian is in no case to be the offspring of a
weak unmanly indifference to wrong. It is to spring from gratitude and
love: gratitude to God, Who has forgiven his enormous debt, and love to
the enemy who has wronged him. It must be combined with that
faithfulness and fortitude which constrains him to go to the offending party
and frankly, though kindly, tell him his fault. Christ's doctrine of
forgiveness has not an atom of meanness in it, and His doctrine of
faithfulness has not a spark of malice. "The wisdom that is from above is
first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be entreated, full of mercy
and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy. And the fruit of
righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace."
----

CHAPTER 15.
LAST DAYS IN PERAEA. -- MATTHEW 19:1-20:16.
THERE were two main roads from Galilee to Jerusalem. One passed
through Samaria, on the west of the Jordan, the other through Peraea, east
of it. It was by the former that our Lord went northward from Judea to
begin His work in Galilee; it is by the other that He now goes southward to
complete His sacrifice in Jerusalem. As "He must needs go through
Samaria" then, so He must needs go through Peraea now. The main
thought in His mind is the journey; but He cannot pass through the large
and important district beyond the Jordan without bringing the kingdom of
heaven near to the people, and accordingly we read that "great multitudes
followed Him, and He healed them there." We learn from St. Luke's
Gospel that "He went through the cities and villages teaching, and
journeying towards Jerusalem"; and from the details there recorded,
especially the mission of the seventy which belongs to that period, it is
evident that these circuits in Peraea must have occupied several months.
Concerning the work of these months our Evangelist is silent, just as he
was silent concerning the earlier work in Judea and Samaria, as recorded
by St. John. We are reminded by this of the fragmentariness of these
memorials of our Lord; and when we consider how much is omitted in all
the narratives (see <432125>John 21:25) we can understand how difficult it is to
form a closely connected history without any gaps between, and with
accurately fitted joinings at the intersections of the different accounts.
There is, however, no difficulty here; for by comparison with the third
Gospel we find that our Evangelist omits all the circuits in Peraea, and
takes up the story again when our Lord is just about to leave that region
for Jerusalem. When we take his point of view we can see how natural this
was. It was his special calling to give a full account of the work in Galilee.
Hence the haste with which he passes from what it was necessary for him
to tell of the early years in the south till the work in Galilee began; and in
the same way, now that the work in Galilee is done, he hastens to the great
crisis in Jerusalem. In following the journey southward,he lingers only in
two places, each of them associated with special memories. The one is
Capernaum, where Jesus, as we have seen, tarried for a few days before
taking final leave of Galilee; the other is the place beyond Jordan, in the
region where in baptism He had solemnly entered on His work (cf.
----

<431040>John 10:40), where again He remains for a brief period before going up
to Jerusalem for the last time.
MARRIAGE AND DIVORCE (<401903>MATTHEW 19:3-12).MATTHEW 19:3-12).
There it was, and then, that the Pharisees came to Him with their
entangling question concerning divorce. To know how entangling it was it
is necessary to remember that there was a dispute at the time between two
rival schools of Jewish theology -- the school of Hillel and that of
Shammai -- in regard to the interpretation of <052401>Deuteronomy 24:1. The
one school held that divorce could be had on the most trivial grounds; the
other restricted it to cases of grievous sin. Hence the question: "Is it lawful
for a man to put away his wife for every cause?" The answer Jesus gives is
remarkable, not only for the wisdom and courage with which He met their
attack, but for the manner in which He availed Himself of the opportunity
to set the institution of marriage on its true foundation, and give perpetual
security to His followers for the sanctity of home, by laying down in the
clearest and strongest manner the position that marriage is indissoluble
from its very nature and from its divine appointment (vv 4-6). As we read
these clear and strong utterances let us bear in mind, not only that the
laxity which unhappily prevailed in Rome had extended to Palestine, but
that the monarch of the country through which our Lord was passing was
himself one of the most flagrant offenders. How inspiring it is to think that
then and there should have been erected that grand bulwark of a virtuous
home: "What God hath joined together, let not man put asunder."
The Pharisees must have felt that He spoke with authority; but they are
anxious not to lose their opportunity of getting Him into a difficulty, so
they press Him with the disputed passage in Deuteronomy: "Why did
Moses, then, command to give a writing of divorcement, and to put her
away? "Our Lord's answer exposes the double fallacy lurking in the
question. "Why did Moses command?" He did not command; he only
suffered it -- it was not to further divorce, but to check it, that he made
the regulation about the "writing of divorcement." And then, not only was
it a mere matter of suffrance, -- it was a suffrance granted "because of the
hardness of your hearts." Since things were so bad among your fathers in
the matter of marriage, it was better that there should be a legal process
than that the poor wives should be dismissed without it; but from the
beginning it was not so -- it was not intended that wives should be
dismissed at all. Marriage is in itself indissoluble, except by death or by that
which in its very nature is the rupture of marriage (ver. 9).
----

The wide prevalence of lax views on this subject is made evident by the
perplexity of the disciples. They were not at all prepared for such
stringency, so they venture to suggest that if that is to be the law, better
not marry at all. The answer our Lord gives, while it does admit that there
are circumstances in which celibacy is preferable, plainly intimates that it is
only in quite exceptional cases. Only one of the three cases He mentions is
voluntary; and while it is certainly granted that circumstances might arise in
which for the kingdom of heaven's sake celibacy might be chosen (cf. <460726>1
Corinthians 7:26), even then it must be only in cases where there is special
grace, and such full preoccupation with the things of the kingdom as to
render it natural; for such seems to be the import of the cautionary words
with which the paragraph closes: "He that is able to receive it, let him
receive it." How completely at variance with this wise caution have been
the Romish decrees in regard to the celibacy of the clergy may go without
saying.
THE CHILDREN (<401913>MATTHEW 19:13-15).MATTHEW 19:13-15).
"Then were there brought unto Him little children" -- a happy
interruption! The Master has just been laying the solid foundations of the
Christian home; and now the group of men by whom He is surrounded is
joined by a troop of mothers, some carrying infants in their arms (for the
passage in St. Luke expressly mentions infants), and some leading their
little ones by the hand, to receive His blessing. The timeousness of this
arrival does not seem to have struck the disciples. Their hearts had not yet
been opened to the lambs of the fold, notwithstanding the great lesson at
Capernaum. With as little regard for the feelings of the mothers as for the
rights of the children, they "rebuked those that brought them" (<411013>Mark
10:13), and motioned them away. That this wounded the heart of the
Saviour appears in His answer, which is stronger, as indicating displeasure,
than is shown in our translation; while in the second Gospel it is expressly
mentioned that Jesus "was much displeased." How can we thank the Lord
enough for that sore displeasure? A distinguished opponent of Christianity
has lately been asking whether he is expected to accept the kind and
peaceful Jesus, Who smiles in one place, or the stern Judge Who frowns in
another -- with the evident implication that it is impossible to accept both.
How any person of intelligence can find difficulty in supposing that Christ
could without inconsistency be either gentle or stern, as the occasion
required, is very marvellous; but here is a case in which the sternness and
gentleness are blended together in one act; and who will say that there is
----

the least incompatibility between them? He was much displeased with the
disciples; His heart was overflowing with tenderness to the children: and in
that moment of conflicting feeling He utters that immortal sentence, these
noblest and now most familiar of household words, "Suffer little children,
and forbid them not, to come unto Me: for of such is the kingdom of
heaven."
The rights of woman had been implicitly taught in the law of marriage
carried back to the original creation of male and female; the treatment of
woman had been vindicated from the rudeness of the disciples which would
have driven the mothers away; and this reception of the children, and these
words of welcome into the kingdom for all such little ones, are the charter
of the children's rights and privileges. It is very plain that Christ has
opened the kingdom of heaven, not only to all believers, but to their
children as well. That "the kingdom of heaven" is here used in its ordinary
sense throughout this Gospel, as referring to the heavenly kingdom which
Christ had come to establish upon earth, cannot be denied; but it is a very
fair inference from the Saviour's words that, seeing the children are
acknowledged as having their place in the kingdom on earth, those of them
who pass away from earth in childhood certainly find as sure and cordial a
welcome in the kingdom above.
"The holy to the holiest leads,
The kingdoms are but one."
The porch is on earth, the palace is in heaven; and we may be very sure
that all whom the King acknowledges in the porch shall be welcome in the
palace.
What a rebuke in these words of our Lord to those who deal with children
indiscriminately as if they were all dead in trespasses and sins. How it must
grieve the Saviour's heart when lambs of his own fold who may have been
His from their earliest infancy are taught that they are utterly lost, and must
be lost for ever, unless they pass through some extraordinary change,
which is to them only a nameless mystery. It is a mistake to think that
children as a rule need to be dragged to the Saviour, or frightened into
trusting Him: what they need is to be suffered to come. It is so natural for
them to come that all they need is very gentle leading, and above all
nothing done to hinder or discourage them: "Suffer little children, and
forbid them not, to come unto Me: for of such is the kingdom of heaven."
----

THE RICH YOUNG MAN (<401916>MATTHEW 19:16-22).MATTHEW 19:16-22).
Another inference from these precious words of Christ is the importance of
seeking to win the children for Christ while yet they are children, ere the
evil days come, or the years draw nigh, when they will be apt to say they
have no pleasure in Him. It is a sad thing to think how soon the
susceptibility of the child-nature may harden into the impenetrability which
is sometimes found even in youth. Is there not a suggestion of this in the
story of the young man which immediately follows?
There was everything that seemed hopeful about him. He was young, so
his heart could not be very hard; of good moral character, amiable in
disposition, and stirred with noble aspirations; moreover, he did the very
best thing in coming to Christ for guidance. Yet nothing came of it,
because of one obstacle, which would have been no hindrance in his
childhood, but which proved insurmountable now. Young as he was, his
affections had had time to get so intertwined with his worldly possessions
that he could not disengage them, so that instead of following Christ "he
went away sorrowful."
The manner of our Lord's dealing with this young man is exceedingly
instructive. Some have found a difficulty in what seems to them the strange
answer to the apparently straightforward and admirable question, "What
good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life?" Why did He not give
the" same answer which St. Paul afterwards gave to the Philippian jailer?
Why did He not only fail to bring himself forward as the way, the truth,
and the life, but even disclaim the goodness which the young man had
imputed to Him? And why did He point him to the law instead of showing
him the Gospel? Everything becomes quite clear when we remember that
Christ dealt with people not according to the words they spoke, but
according to what He saw to be in their hearts. Had this young man been in
a state of mind at all like that of the Philippian jailer when he came
trembling and fell down before Paul and Silas, he would no doubt have had
a similar answer. But he was in the very opposite condition. He was quite
satisfied with his own goodness; it was not salvation he was seeking, but
some new merit to add to the large stock he already had: "what good thing
shall I do" in addition to all the well-known goodness of my character and
daily life? what extra claim can I establish upon the favour of God?
Manifestly his idea of goodness was only conventional; it was the goodness
which passes muster among men, not that which justifies itself before the
all-searching eye of God; and having no higher idea of goodness than that,
----

he of course used it in no higher sense when he addressed Christ as "good
Master." There could, then, be no more appropriate or more heart-
searching question than this, -- "Why callest thou Me good?" (it is only in
the conventional sense you use the term, and conventional goodness is no
goodness at all); "there is none good but One, that is God." Having thus
stimulated his easy conscience, He sends him to the law that he may have
knowledge of his sin, and so may take the first step towards eternal life.
The young man's reply to this reveals the secret of his heart, and shows
that Christ had made no mistake in dealing with him as He did. "Which?"
he asks, evidently expecting that, the Ten Commandments being taken for
granted, there will be something higher and more exacting, the keeping of
which will bring him the extra credit he hopes to gain.
The Lord's answer to his question was well fitted to take down his spiritual
pride, pointing him as it did to the commonplace Decalogue, and to that
part of it which seemed the easiest; for the first table of the law is passed
over, and only those commandments mentioned which bear upon duty to
man. And is there not special skill shown in the way in which they are
marshalled, so as to lead up to the one which covered his weak point? The
sixth, the seventh, the eighth, the ninth, the fifth are rapidly passed in
review; then the mind is allowed to rest on the tenth, not, however in its
mere negative form, "Thou shalt not covet," but as involved in that positive
requirement which sums up the whole of the second table of the Law,
"Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself." We can imagine how the
Saviour would mark the young man's countenance, as one after another
the commandments were pressed upon his conscience, ending with that one
which should have pierced him as with a two-edged sword. But he is too
strongly encased in his mail of self-righteousness; and he only replies, "All
these things have I kept from my youth up: what lack I yet?" Clearly it is a
surgical case; the medicine of the Commandments will not do; there must
be the insertion of the knife: "Go, and sell that thou hast, and give to the
poor."
Let us not, however, mistake the tone. "Jesus beholding him loved him"
(<411021>Mark 10:21); and the love was never warmer than at the moment
when He made this stern demand. There was sorrow on His face and in His
tone when He told him of the hard necessity; and there was a heart full of
love in the gracious invitation which rounded off the sharp saying at the
end: "Come, and follow Me." Let us hope that the Saviour's
compassionate love was not finally lost on him; that, though he no doubt
did lose the great opportunity of taking a high place in the kingdom, he
----

nevertheless, before all was done, bethought him of the Master's faithful
and loving words, repented of his covetousness, and so found an open
door and a forgiving welcome.
DANGER OF RICHES (<401923>MATTHEW 19:23-26).MATTHEW 19:23-26).
So striking an incident must not be allowed to pass without seizing and
pressing the great lesson it teaches. No lesson was more needful at the
time. Covetousness was in the air; it was already setting its mark on the
Hebrew people, who, as they ceased to serve God in spirit and in truth,
were giving themselves over more and more to the worship of mammon;
and, as the Master well knew, there was one of the twelve in whom the
fatal poison was even then at work. We can understand, therefore, the deep
feeling which Christ throws into His warning against this danger, and His
special anxiety to guard all His disciples against an over-estimate of this
world's riches.
We shall not, however, fully enter into the mind of our Lord, if we fail to
notice the tone of compassion and charity which marks His first utterance.
He is still thinking kindly of the poor rich young man, and is anxious to
make all allowance for him. It is as if He said, "See that you do not judge
him too harshly; think how hard it is for such as he to enter the kingdom."
This will explain how it is that in repeating the statement He found it
desirable, as recorded by St. Mark, to introduce a qualification in order to
render it applicable to all cases: "How hard is it for them that trust in riches
to enter into the kingdom!" But while softening it in one direction, He puts
it still more strongly in another: "Again I say unto you, it is easier for a
camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter into
the kingdom of God." We shall not enter into the trivial discussion as to
the needle's eye; it is enough to know that it was a proverbial phrase,
probably in common use, expressing in the strongest way the
insurmountable obstacle which the possession of riches, when these are
trusted in and so put in place of God, must prove to their unfortunate
owner.
The disciples' alarm expressed in the question "Who, then, can be saved?"
does them much credit. It shows that they had penetration enough to see
that the danger against which their Master was guarding them did not beset
the rich alone; that they had sufficient knowledge of themselves to perceive
that even such as they, who had always been poor, and who had given up
what little they had for their Master's sake, might nevertheless not be free
----

enough from the well-nigh universal sin to be themselves quite safe. One
cannot help thinking that the searching look, which St. Mark tells us their
Lord bent on them as He spoke, had something to do with this unusual
quickness of conscience. It reminds us of that later scene, when each one
asked, "Lord, is it I?" Is there any one of us, who, when that all-seeing Eye
is fixed upon us, with its pure and holy gaze into the depths of our being,
can fail to ask, with the conscience-stricken disciples, "Who, then, can be
saved?"
The answer He gives does not at all lighten the pressure on the conscience.
There is no recalling of the strong words which suggest the idea of utter
impossibility. He does not say, "You are judging yourselves too strictly";
on the contrary, He confirms their judgment, and tells them that there they
are right: "With men this is impossible"; but is there not another
alternative? "Who art thou, O great mountain? before Zerubbabel thou
shalt become a plain; With God all things are possible." A most significant
utterance this for those to ponder who, instead of following our Lord's
dealing with this case to its close, treat it as if the final word had been "If
thou will enter into life, keep the commandments." This favourite passage
of the legalists is the one of all others which most completely overthrows
his hopes, and shows that so deep are the roots of sin in the heart of man,
even of the most amiable and most exemplary, that none can be saved
except by the power of divine grace overcoming that which is to men an
impossibility. "Behold, GOD is my salvation."
It is worthy of note that it is as a hindrance to entering the kingdom that
riches are here stigmatised, -- which suggests the thought that the danger
is not nearly so great when riches increase to those who have already
entered. Not that there is even for them no serious danger, nor need of
watching and of prayer that as they increase, the heart be not set upon
them; but where there is true consecration of heart the consecration of
wealth follows as a natural and easy consequence. Riches are a
responsibility to those that are in the kingdom; they are a misfortune only
to those who have not entered it.
As on the question of marriage or celibacy, so on that of property or
poverty, the Romanist has pushed our Lord's words to an extreme which is
evidently not intended. It was plain even to the disciples that it was not the
mere possession of riches, but the setting the heart on them, which He
condemned. If our Lord had intended to set forth the absolute renunciation
of property as a counsel of perfection to His disciples, this would have
----

been the time to do it; but we look in vain for any such counsel. He saw it
to be necessary for that young man; but when He applies the case to
disciples in general, He does not say "If any man will come after Me, let
him sell all that he has, and give to the poor," but contents Himself with
giving a very strong warning against the danger of riches coming between
man and the kingdom of God. But while the ascetic interpretation of our
Lord's words is manifestly wrong, the other extreme of reducing them to
nothing is far worse, which is the danger now.
REWARDS (<401927>MATTHEW 19:27-20:16F15).MATTHEW 19:27-20:16F15).
The thought of sacrifice very naturally suggests as its correlative that of
compensation; so it is not at all to be wondered at that, before this
conversation ended, the impulsive disciple, so much given to think aloud,
should blurt out the honest question: "Behold, we have forsaken all and
followed Thee; what shall we have therefore?" He could not but remember
that while the Master had insisted on His disciples denying self to follow
Him, He had spoken no less clearly of their finding life through losing it,
and of their being rewarded according to their deeds (see <401624>Matthew
16:24-27). A more cautious man would have hesitated before he spoke;
but it was no worse to speak it than to think it: and then, it was an honest
and fair question; accordingly our Lord gives it a frank and generous
answer, taking care, however, before leaving the subject, to add a
supplementary caution, fitted to correct what was doubtful or wrong in the
spirit it showed.
Here, again, we see how thoroughly natural is our Saviour's teaching. "Not
to destroy, but to fulfil," was His motto. This is as true of His relation to
man's nature as of His relation to the law and the prophets. "What shall we
have?" is a question not to be set aside as wholly unworthy. The desire for
property is an original element in human nature. It was of God at the first;
and though it has swelled out into most unseemly proportions, and has
usurped a place which does by no means belong to it, that is no reason why
it should be dealt with as if it had no right to exist. It is vain to attempt to
root it out; what it needs is moderating, regulating, subordinating. The
tendency of perverted human nature is to make "What shall we have?" the
first question. The way to meet that is not to abolish the question
altogether, but to put it last, where it ought to be. To be, to do, to suffer,
to enjoy -- that is the order our Lord marks out for His disciples. If only
they have it as their first anxiety to be what they ought to be, and to do
what they are called to do, and are willing, in order to this, to take up the
----

cross, to suffer whatever may be theirs to suffer, then they may allow as
large scope as they please to the desire for possession and enjoyment.
Observe the difference between the young man and the disciples. He was
coming to Christ for the first time; and if our Lord had set before him what
he would gain by following Him, He would have directly encouraged a
mercenary spirit. He therefore says not a word to him about prospects of
reward either here or hereafter. Those who choose Christ must choose
Him for His own sake. Our Saviour dealt in no other way with Peter,
James, and John. When first He called them to follow Him, He said not a
word about thrones or rewards; He spoke of work: "Follow Me, and I will
make you fishers of men"; and it was not till they had fully committed
themselves to Him that He went so far as to suggest even in the most
general way the thought of compensation. It would have spoiled them to
have put such motives prominently before them at an earlier stage. But it is
different now. They have followed Him for months, even years. They have
been tested in innumerable ways. They are not certainly out of danger from
the old selfishness; but with the exception of one of them, who is fast
developing into a hypocrite, all they need is a solemn word of caution now
and then. The time had come when their Master might safely give them
some idea of the prospects which lay before them, when their cross-bearing
days should be over.
The promise looks forward to an entirely altered state of things spoken of
as "the regeneration" -- a remarkable term, reminding us of the vast scope
of our Saviour's mission as ever present to His consciousness even in these
days of smallest things. The word recalls what is said in the book of
Genesis as to "the generation of the heaven and of the earth," and suggests
by anticipation the words of the Apocalypse concerning the regeneration,
"Behold, I. make all things new," and "I saw a new heaven and a new
earth." That the reference is to that final restitution of all things, and not
merely to the new dispensation, seems evident from the words which
immediately follow: "When the Son of man shall sit on the throne of His
glory." Why, then, was the promise given in words so suggestive of those
crude notions of an earthly kingdom, above which it was so difficult and so
important for the disciples to rise? The answer is to be found in the
limitation of human language: "Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither
have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for
them that love Him"; accordingly, if the promise was to be of any use to
them in the way of comfort and encouragement, it must be expressed in
terms which were familiar to them then. To their minds the kingdom was as
----

yet bound up with Israel; "the twelve tribes of Israel" was as large a
conception of it as their thoughts could then grasp; and it would certainly
be no disappointment to them when they afterwards discovered that their
relation as apostles of the Lord was to a much larger "Israel," embracing
every kindred and nation and people and tribe; and though their idea of the
thrones on which they would sit was then and for some time afterwards
quite inadequate, it was only by starting with what ideas of regal power
they had, that they could rise to those spiritual conceptions which, as they
matured in spiritual understanding, took full possession of their minds.
The Lord is speaking, however, not for the apostles alone, but for all His
disciples to the end of time: so He must give a word of cheer, in which
even the weakest and most obscure shall have a part (ver. 29). Observe
that here also the promise is only for those who have left what they had for
the sake of Christ. We are not authorised to go with a message after this
form: "If you leave, you will get." The reward is of such a nature that it
cannot be seen until the sacrifice is made. "Except a man be born again, he
cannot see the kingdom of God;" until a man loses his life for Christ's sake,
he cannot find it. But when the sacrifice has been' made, then appears the
compensation, and it is seen that even these strong words are not too
strong: "Every one that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or
father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for My name's sake, shall
receive an hundred-fold, and shall inherit everlasting life." The full
consideration of this promise belongs rather to St. Mark's Gospel, in which
it is presented without abridgment.
The supplementary caution -- "But many that are first shall be last; and the
last shall be first" -- is administered in apparent reference to the spirit of
the apostle's question, which exhibits still some trace of mercenary motive,
with something also of a disposition to self-congratulation. This general
statement is illustrated by the parable immediately following it, a
connection which the unfortunate division into chapters here obscures; and
not only is an important saying of our Lord deprived in this way of its
illustration, but the parable is deprived of its key, the result of which has
been that many have been led astray in its interpretation. We cannot
attempt to enter fully into the parable, but shall only make such reference
to it as is necessary to bring out its appropriateness for the purpose our
Lord had in view. Its main purport may be stated thus: many that are first
in amount of work shall be last in point of reward; and many that are last in
amount of work shall be first in point of reward. The principle on which
this is based is plain enough: that in estimating the reward it is not the
----

quantity of work done or the amount of sacrifice made that is the measure
of value, but the spirit in which the work is done or the sacrifice made. The
labourers who made no bargain at all, but went to work on the faith of
their Master's honour and liberality, were the best off in the end.
Those who made a bargain received, indeed, all they bargained for; but the
others were rewarded on a far more liberal scale, they obtaining much
more than they had any reason to expect. Thus we are taught that those
will be first who think least of wages as wages, and are the least disposed
to put such a question as, "What shall we then have?" This was the main
lesson for the apostles, as it is for all who occupy places of prominence in
the kingdom. It is thus put in later years by one of those who now for the
first time learned it: "Look to yourselves, that we lose not those things
which we have wrought, but that we receive a full reward" (<630108>2 John
1:8). "Look to yourselves," see that your spirit be right, that there be
nothing selfish, nothing mercenary, nothing vainglorious; else much good
labour and real self-denial may miss its compensation.
Besides the lesson of caution to the great ones, there is a lesson of
encouragement to the little ones in the kingdom -- those who can do little
and seem to themselves to sacrifice little for Christ. Let such remember
that their labour and self-denial are measured not by quantity but by
quality, by the spirit in which the service, however small it be, is rendered,
and the sacrifice, trifling as it seems, is made. Not only is it true that many
that are first shall be last; but also that many of the last shall be first. "If
there be first a willing mind, it is accepted according to that a man hath,
and not according to that he hath not."
Neither in the general statement of our Lord, nor in the parable which
illustrates it, is there the slightest encouragement to idlers in the vine-yard
-- to those who do nothing and sacrifice nothing for Christ, but who think
that, when the eleventh hour comes, they will turn in with the rest, and
perhaps come off best after all. When the Master of the vineyard asks of
those who are standing-in the market-place at the eleventh hour, "Why
stand ye here all the day idle?" their answer is ready, "Because no man hath
hired us." The invitation came to them, then, for the first time, and they
accepted it as soon as it was given them. Suppose the Master of the
vineyard had asked them in the morning, and at the first hour and the
second and the third, and so on all the day, and only at the eleventh hour
did they deign to notice His invitation, how would they have fared?
----

CHAPTER 16.
TO JERUSALEM. -- MATTHEW 20:17-21:17.
I. -- THE GOING UP (<402017>Matthew 20:17-34).
WE have now reached the last stage of the long and sorrowful journey to
Jerusalem. From the corresponding passage m the second Gospel we learn
that the disciples were greatly moved by something in their Master's
manner: "they were amazed; and as they followed, they were afraid." It
would appear, indeed, that they had considerable hesitation in following at
all, for it is pointedly mentioned that "Jesus went before them," a hesitation
which was no doubt due to the same feeling which prompted Peter, on the
first announcement of the journey to Jerusalem and what it would involve,
to say "Be it far from Thee, Lord"; and as then, so now, the Saviour felt it
as an obstacle in. His onward path which He must resolutely put out of the
way; and it was doubtless the new and severe effort required of that heroic
will to set it aside, and in doing so to face the gathering storm alone, which
explained His unwonted agitation as He addressed Himself to the last stage
of the fatal journey.
Still, He longs to have His disciples in sympathy with Him. He knows well
that not yet have they fully appreciated what He has said to them;
accordingly, at some convenient point on the way, He takes them by
themselves and tells them once again, more distinctly and definitely than
ever, what must be the issue of the step lie is now taking (vv. 17-19). St.
Luke tells us that even yet "they understood none of these things." Their
minds must have been in a state of great bewilderment; and when we think
of this, we may well admire that strong personal devotion to their Master
which made them willing, however reluctantly and hesitatingly, still to
follow Him into the dark unknown. With the one sad exception, they were
thoroughly loyal to their King; they trusted Him absolutely; and though
they could not understand why He should be mocked and scourged and
crucified in His own capital, they were willing to go with Him there, in the
full expectation that, in some way they then could not imagine, He should
triumph over his enemies and erect those thrones and bring in that glory of
the kingdom of which He had spoken.
This failure of theirs to comprehend the real situation, which one
Evangelist mentions, is well illustrated by an incident which happened on
----

the road as recorded by the others -- one of those evidently undesigned
coincidences which continually meet us, and which, in a higher degree than
mere circumstantial agreements, confirm our faith in the accuracy of the
sacred writers. "Then came to Him the mother of Zebedee's children with
her sons, worshipping Him, and desiring a certain thing of Him," -- the
"certain thing," as it turned out, being that the two sons should have the
chief places of honour in the kingdom. From the form in which the request
was presented it would seem as if it had been founded on a
misapprehension of one of His own sayings. In St. Mark's Gospel, where
the part which the two sons themselves had in it is related, the very words
of the application are given thus: "Master, we would that Thou shouldest
do for us whatsoever we shall desire," as if to remind Him of His promise
to any two of them who should agree as touching anything they should ask
(<401819>Matthew 18:19), and to claim the fulfilment of it. It need not be
assumed that the request was a purely selfish one. However vague their
ideas may have been as to the days of darkness that awaited them in
Jerusalem, we cannot suppose that they left them wholly out of view; and if
not, they must have been prepared, or have thought themselves prepared,
to take foremost places in the battlefield as well as in the triumph that
would surely follow. There may well have been, then, a touch of chivalry
along with the grosser motive which, it is to be feared, was their main
inspiration.
This makes it easier for us to understand the possibility of their coming
with such a request at such a time. We all know how easy it is to justify a
selfish proceeding when there is something to offset it. We Ourselves know
how natural it is to think of those scriptures which suit our purpose, while
we conveniently forget for the moment those that do not. Was it, then,
unnatural that James and John, forgetting for the moment what their Lord
had taught them as to the way to true greatness in His kingdom, should
satisfy themselves with the thought that they were at all events taking up
their cross in the first place, and as to the ulterior object were certainly
acting up to the very plain and emphatic word of the Master Himself: "I
say unto you, that if two of you shall agree on earth as touching anything
that they shall ask, it shall be done for them."
This view of their state of mind is confirmed by our Lord's way of dealing
with them. He first asks them what it is they have agreed upon; and, when
the mother tells Him, He quietly shows them that, so far from agreeing
together, none of them know what they are asking. They are all using the
same words, but the words might as well be in an unknown tongue, --
----

better perhaps, inasmuch as to misunderstand is a degree worse than not to
understand at all. He then proceeds to show them that the fulfilment of
their request would involve issues for which as yet they were by no means
prepared: "Jesus answered and said, Ye know not what ye ask. Are ye able
to drink of the cup that I shall drink of?" Their answer confirms the view
suggested, that they did not leave out altogether the thought of cross-
bearing; but we have only to remember what took place in the course of a
week to see that in saying "We are able," they knew as little of what they.
were promising as they had known of what they were asking. He will not,
however, break the bruised reed of their devotion, nor quench the feeblest
spark-of self-denying courage; accordingly He does not slight their offer,
but, in accepting it, He reminds them that the honours of the kingdom of
heaven are not for favourites, or for those who may first apply, but only for
those who approve themselves worthy in the sight of Him Who seeth all,.
and who rewards every man according to his deeds (ver. 23).
The ten were not much better than the two. It was natural, indeed, that,
when they heard it, they should be "moved with indignation"; but, though
natural, it was not Christian. Had they remembered the lesson of the little
child, or even thought deeply enough of that very recent one about the last
and the first, they would have been moved with something else than
indignation. But need any one wonder that selfishness should be so very
hard to kill? Is it not true to nature? Besides, the Spirit had not yet been
given, and therefore we need not wonder that even the plainest teaching of
the Lord Himself failed to cast the selfish spirit out of His disciples then.
"Knowledge comes, but wisdom lingers." On the other hand, think of the
marvellous patience of the Master. How disappointing it must have been at
such a time to see in all of them a spirit so wholly at variance, with all that
by precept and example He had been labouring to instil into them! Yet
without one word of reproach He teaches them the old lesson once again,
gives them liberally the wisdom which they lack, and upbraids them not.
The words of Christ not only meet the case most fully, but reach far
beyond the immediate occasion of their utterance. Thus He brings good
out of evil, and secures that even the strife of His disciples shall make for
"peace on earth." He begins by showing how absolutely in contrast to the
kingdoms of the world is the kingdom He has come to establish. In them
the great ones "lord it over" (R.V.) others; in it the great ones are those
who serve. What a revolution of thought is involved in this simple contrast!
of how much that is great and noble has it been the seed! The dignity of
labour, the royalty of service, the pettiness of selfish ambition, the majesty
----

of self-sacrificing love; the utter condemnation of the miserable maxim
"Every man for himself"; the world's first question "What shall we have?"
made the last, and its last question "What shall we give?" made the very
first -- such are some of the fruits which have grown from the seed our
Lord planted in so ungenial soil that day. We are, alas! still very far from
realising that great ideal; but ever since that day, as an ideal, it has never
been quite out of sight. Early Christianity under the guidance of the
apostles strove, though with all too little success, to realise it; the chivalry
of the Middle Ages, with its glorification of knighthood,f16 was an attempt
to embody it; and what is the constitutionalism of modern times but the
development of the principle in political life, the real power being vested
not in the titular monarch, who represents ideally the general weal, but in a
ministry, so designated to mark the fact that their special function is to
minister or serve; the highest position in the realm bearing the humble title
of Prime Minister, or first servant of the state. It is of value to have the
principle before us as an ideal, even though it be buried under the
tombstone of a name, the significance of which is forgotten; but when the
kingdom of heaven shall be fully established on the earth, the ideal will be
realised, not in political life only, but all through society. If only the
ambition to serve our generation according to the will of God were to
become universal, then would God's kingdom come and His wilt be done
on earth even as it is in heaven.
Of this great principle of the heavenly kingdom the King Himself is the
highest illustration: "even as the Son of man came not to be ministered
unto, but to minister, and to give His life a ransom for many." There are
those who write about "the service of man" as if the thought of it were a
development of nineteenth-century enlightenment; but there it is in all its
truth and grandeur in the life, and above all in the death of our Lord and
Saviour Jesus Christ! His entire life was devoted to the service of man; and
His death was but the giving up in one final act of surrender what had all
along been consecrated to the same high and holy ministry.
These closing words of the great lesson are memorable, not only as setting
before us the highest exemplification of the law of service, which as "Son
of Man" Christ gave to the world; but as presenting the first intimation of
the purpose of the great sacrifice He was about to offer at Jerusalem.
Again and again He had told the disciples that it was necessary; but now
for the first time does He give them an idea why it was necessary. It is too
soon, indeed, to give a full explanation; it will be time enough to unfold the
doctrine of atonement after the atonement has been actually made.
----

Meantime He makes it plain that, while His whole life was a life of
ministering as distinguished from being ministered unto, the supreme
service He had come to render was the giving of His life as a ransom,
something to be rendered up as a price which must be paid to redeem His
people. It is plain from this way of putting it, that He viewed the giving up
of His life as the means by which alone He could save the "many" who
should, as His redeemed or ransomed ones, constitute His kingdom.
On the way to Jerusalem lay the beautiful city of Jericho. The place now
called by that name is such a wretched assemblage of miserable hovels that
it is difficult for the traveller to realise that the Jericho of the days of our
Lord was not only the most luxurious place of resort in Palestine, but one
that might vie with its fashionable rivals throughout the Roman Empire.
Since the days of Herod the Great it had been the winter residence of the
Court. Jerusalem being on the cold hill-top, it was convenient to have
within easy reach a warm and sheltered spot in the deep valley of the
Jordan; and with a delightful winter climate and a rich and fertile soil,
Jericho needed only the lavish expenditure of money to make it into "a
little Paradise," as Josephus calls it. With its gardens of roses and groves of
palm, it was, even before the time of Herod, so beautiful a place, that, as a
gem of the East, Antony bestowed it on Cleopatra as an expression of his
devotion; after it passed into the hands of Herod, a theatre was erected and
an amphitheatre, and many other noble and costly buildings; and during the
season it was thronged by the rich and the great of the land, among whom
would be distinguished visitors from foreign parts. What effect would all
this grandeur have on Christ and His disciples as they passed through it on
their way to Jerusalem? We are not told. Two things only are noted as
worthy of record: the salvation of a rich publican (<421901>Luke 19:1-10), and
the healing of two poor blind men. Not the gardens and palaces of the city,
but its sins and sorrows, engage the Saviour's thoughts and occupy His
time.
As a rule, we regard it as waste of time to deal with the "discrepancies"
between the different Evangelists; but as one of the most serious of them
all has been found here it may be well to look at it to see how much or how
little it amounts to. First, the other Gospels speak of the cure of a blind
man, and tell his name, Bartimaeus; this one says that two blind men were
cured, and does not mention any name. If the other Evangelists had said
that only one was healed, there would have been a real discrepancy; but
they do not. Another "discrepancy" which has been noticed is that St.
Matthew says Christ "touched their eyes," while the others do not mention
----

the touch, but only tell us what He said; but surely there is no difficulty in
supposing that Christ both touched the eyes and spoke the words at the
same time. It is true that the words as recorded by St. Mark and St. Luke
are not identical, but they are precisely to the same effect; and it is quite
possible that every word which both of them report was actually said and
that other words besides were spoken which have not been preserved.
These differences are not discrepancies at all; but there remains one which
may fairly enough be so characterised. The first and second Gospel
represent the cure as taking place on the way into Jericho; the third puts it
on the way out.
Various suppositions, more or less plausible, especially less, have been
made to "reconcile" these two representations: such as the fact that there
were really two Jerichos, the old and the new, the cure being wrought as
the Saviour passed from the one to the other, so that both accounts would
be strictly accurate; or again, that cures may have been wrought both in
entering and in leaving Jericho. But why should we trouble ourselves to
reconcile so small a difference? It is not of the slightest consequence
whether the cure took place on the way in or on the way out. If it had been
a point on which strict accuracy was essential, care would doubtless have
been taken to note the very moment and the very spot where it took place
-- as, for example, in the case of the cure of the nobleman's son at
Capernaum (<430452>John 4:52); but it was not; and therefore we have no more
reason to wonder at the variation in so unimportant a detail than at those
variations from the accurate text which we continually find in the
quotations from the Old Testament Scriptures. The discrepancy does not in
the slightest degree affect the credibility of any of the witnesses; it only
serves, together with the other variations, to show the independence of the
different accounts. How small must be the minds, or how strong the
prejudices, of those who find support for their unbelief in discrepancies of
which this is acknowledged to be one of the gravest examples!
It so happens, too, that there is no story in all the Gospels which shines
more lustrously in its own light. It is full of beauty and pathos in all the
versions of it which have come down to us; but most of all in the graphic
story of St. Mark, to whose Gospel therefore its illustration may be
regarded as belonging by special right.
II. -- THE ROYAL ENTRY (<402101>Matthew 21:1-17).
----

Travelling from Jericho, it is probable that our Lord reached Bethany on
the evening of Friday, a week before His crucifixion. The next day, being
the Jewish Sabbath, He would spend in retirement, probably in the house of
Lazarus, whom a short time before He had raised from the dead. The
following day, the first day of the week, would therefore be the date of His
entry into Jerusalem as the Royal Son of David, come to claim His
kingdom.
That this entrance into the capital is a most important event in the history
of Jesus is evident not only from its nature and consequences, but also
from the fact that it is one which all the four Evangelists record. Indeed, it
is just at this point that the four narratives converge. The river of the water
of life, which "was parted and became four heads" diverging at times in
their course, now unites its waters in one channel broad and deep; and all
the four Evangelists, though in different accents still, and with variation in
the selection of details, combine to tell the same wondrous story of our
Saviour's passion, the story of "the decease which He should accomplish at
Jerusalem."
This was the first occasion on which our Lord distinctly put forth His claim
to royalty. From the beginning of His ministry He had shown Himself to be
a "prophet mighty in word and in deed," and to those who followed Him it
became manifest that He was the Prophet foretold by Moses, for whose
coming they had been taught to look with eager eyes (see
<051815>Deuteronomy 18:15-19). From the beginning of His ministry, too, the
Saviour had been proclaiming "the gospel of the kingdom"; but when we
examine carefully all He says about it, we find that He never expressly
asserts that He Himself is King. Not that He conceals the all-important
truth: He speaks of the kingdom in such a way that those who have ears to
hear may learn that He is King Himself as, for instance, when He says,
"Suffer the little children to come unto Me, and forbid them not: for of
such is the kingdom of heaven." One might quite readily infer from these
words that Jesus Himself was King; but the claim is not thereby formally
made. Besides, not only is it true that up to this time He did not formally
assume the royal title, but He even resisted attempts made to thrust it upon
Him (e.g., <430615>John 6:15). For this refusal to be crowned by the multitude
there was only too good reason. Their ideas of royalty were entirely
different from His. Had He allowed Himself to be borne on the tide of
popular favour to royal honours, His kingdom would have been thereby
marked as "of this world," it would have been stamped as something very
different from the kingdom of "righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy
----

Ghost" He had come to establish. Had He been a mere enthusiast, He
would undoubtedly have yielded to such a tidal wave of public excitement;
but His unerring wisdom taught Him that He must reach His throne by
another path than that of popular favour. Rather must it be through
popular rejection -- through the dark portals of despite and death; and for
that, His hour had not then come.
Now it has come. He has been steadily advancing to Jerusalem for the very
purpose of accomplishing that decease which is to be the portal of His
royalty. Already fully revealed as Prophet, He is about to be made "perfect
through suffering" as our great High Priest. It is time, therefore, that He
reveal Himself as King, so that no one may have it afterwards to say that
He never really claimed the throne of His father David.
How, then, shall He assert His right? Shall a herald be sent to proclaim
with the sound of a trumpet that Jesus of Nazareth is King over Israel in
Jerusalem? To take such a course would be to court misunderstanding. It
would be to raise the standard of revolt against the Romans. It would stir
the city in a very different fashion from that in which the Prince of Peace
would have it stirred. It would be the signal for tumult, bloodshed, and
disastrous war. The ordinary method is evidently not to be thought of.
How, then, shall it be done?
Our Lord is never at a loss for means to accomplish His designs in His own
way, which it; always the best. He sends to a neighbouring village for a
young ass, mounts it, and rides into the city. That is all He does. Not a
word said about royalty, no herald, no trumpeter, no proclamation, no
royal pomp, nothing whatever to rouse the Roman jealousy or ire --
nothing but the very ordinary circumstance of a man riding into the city on
an ass's colt, a mode of conveyance not in itself calculated to attract any
special notice. What was there, then, in such an act to secure the end?
Nothing in itself; but a great deal when taken in connection with a
remarkable prophecy in the Book of Zechariah well known to every Jew,
and much in the thoughts of all who were looking for the promised
Messiah. It is true, indeed, that an ordinary man might have done the same
thing and the people have taken no notice of him. But Jesus had become
the object of very great interest and attention to large numbers of the
people on account of the miracles He had been working -- notably that
great miracle which still stirred the minds of the whole community, the
raising of Lazarus from the dead. The chief priests and scribes, indeed, and
the men of influence in Jerusalem, regarded Him with all the greater
----

rancour on account of His miracles of mercy, and they had been specially
embittered against Him since the raising of Lazarus; but it was different
with the body of the people, especially those who had come or were
coming from Galilee and other distant parts of the land to be present at the
great Paschal feast. We are told by St. John that a large number of these
had gone out the day before to Bethany, both to see Lazarus, who was
naturally an object of curiosity, and also to see Jesus Himself; these
accordingly were precisely in the state of mind in which they would most
readily catch up the idea so naturally suggested by the significant act of our
Saviour's riding into the city of David on a colt the foal of an ass. The
result, accordingly, was as had been intended, and is thus described by our
Evangelist: "The most part of the multitude spread their garments in the
way; and others cut branches from the trees and spread them in the way.
And the multitudes that went before Him, and that followed, cried, saying,
Hosanna to the Son of David; Blessed is He that cometh in the name of the
Lord; Hosanna in the highest" (R.V.).
The excellence of the method adopted by our Saviour to set forth His royal
claims will still further appear when we consider that it arose quite
naturally out of the circumstances in which He was placed. So much was
this the case that some have thought He was taken by surprise, that He had
no intention of calling forth the testimony of the people to His royal claims,
that in fact He was only giving way to a movement He could not well
resist; but this shallow view is plainly set aside, not only by what has been
already advanced, but also by the answer He gives to the Pharisees who
ask Him to rebuke and silence His disciples: "I tell you that if these should
hold their peace, the stones would immediately cry out" (<421939>Luke 19:39,
40).
Not only did the means adopted by our Lord rise naturally out of the
circumstances in which He and His followers were placed, but they were
specially suited to suggest important truths concerning the kingdom He
claimed as His own. We have already seen that, if He had entered the city
in regal pomp and splendour, it would have conveyed an entirely false idea
of the kingdom. The method He did adopt was such as to give a true idea
of it.
First, it strikingly suggested the kingliness of lowliness, which, as we have
seen, was one of its great distinctive principles. As we look back over His
recent instructions to His disciples, we see how very much this thought
was in His heart and how great was the importance He attached to it. He
----

had just taught them that the Son of man had come, not to be ministered
unto, but to minister and to give His life a ransom for many; and His
manner of entering into His capital must be in harmony with the lowly, self-
renouncing work He has come to do. Thus He shows in the most
impressive way that His kingdom is not of this world. There is no
suggestion of rivalry with Caesar; yet to those who look beneath the
surface He is manifestly more of a king than any Caesar. He has knowledge
of everything without a spy (ver. 2); He has power over men without a
soldier (ver. 3); He has simply to say "The Lord hath need," and
immediately His royal will is loyally fulfilled. Evidently He has the mind of
a King and the will of a King: has He not also the heart of a King, of a true
Shepherd of the people? See how He bears the burden of their future on
His heart, a burden which weighs so heavily upon Him that He cannot
restrain His tears (<421941>Luke 19:41-44). There is no kingly state; but was
not His a kingly soul, Who in such humble guise rode into Jerusalem that
day?
Not less than lowliness is peace suggested as characteristic of His
kingdom. First by the manner of His entrance; for while the horse and the
chariot were suggestive of war, the ass was the symbol of peace. And then,
the prophecy is one of peace. Immediately after the words quoted by the
Evangelist there follows this remarkable promise: "I will cut off the chariot
from Ephraim, and the horse from Jerusalem, and the battle bow shall be
cut off; and He shall speak peace unto the heathen; and His dominion shall
be from sea even to sea, and from the river even to the ends of the earth."
It would seem, indeed, that some at least in the multitude realised that
through the Messiah was to be expected a deeper peace than that between
man and man. This deeper peace may have been suggested to their minds
by the words following next in the prophecy, which goes on to speak of
prisoners of hope rescued from the pit, and turning to the stronghold; or by
the Psalm from which their cry "Hosanna in the highest" was taken (Psalm
118.); certain it is that their minds did rise to a higher conception of the
work of the Messiah than they had given token of before; for the cry of
some of them at least was "Peace in heaven, and glory in the highest"
(<421938>Luke 19:38). A striking proof this, of the fitness of His manner of
entering into His capital to suggest. the purest, highest, and best thoughts
concerning the kingdom which He claimed as His own.
As Jerusalem was the city of the great King, the Temple was His house,
His royal palace, and accordingly He enters it and takes possession in His
Father's name. We are told by St. Mark that "when He had looked round
----

about upon all things, it being now eventide, He went out unto Bethany
with the twelve." But St. Matthew, who is accustomed to pay more
attention to the logical than to the exact chronological sequence of events,
proceeds at once to relate the purging of the Temple, which really took
place the following day, but which was so plainly the natural sequel of His
royal entrance that he very properly gives it in close connection therewith.
Besides, what the King did on entering the Temple the next day admirably
illustrates the prophecy. For what saith the prophet? "Behold thy King
cometh unto thee: He is just, and having salvation." "He is just," --
therefore He will not tolerate the unholy traffic in the Temple, but "cast out
all them that sold and bought in the Temple, and overthrew the tables of
the money-changers and the seats of them that sold the doves; and He saith
unto them, My house shall be called a house of prayer; but ye make it a den
of robbers" (R.V.): "and having salvation" -- accordingly, when He sees
the blind and the lame in the Temple He does not turn them out, He does
not turn away from them, "He healed them." The casting out of the traders
illustrated the righteousness of the kingdom, the healing of the blind and
lame, its peace, and the shouts of the children which followed, its joy.
This coming of the King to His capital has been familiarly spoken of as "the
triumphal entry." The term seems unfortunate and misleading. The waving
of palms, the strewing of branches and leaves, the spreading of garments
on the way -- all this gave it something of the aspect of a triumph; but that
it was no triumph none knew better than the man of Sorrows, Who was the
centre of it all. There was certainly no triumph in His heart that day. If you
wish to look into His heart, watch Him as He comes to the turn of the road
where first the great city bursts upon His sight. How it glitters in the sun,
its palaces and towers gleaming in the splendour of the day, its magnificent
Temple, which had taken nearly half a century to build, rearing its stately
head high above all, into the glorious heaven -- a city and a temple for a
king to be proud of, especially when seen through waving palm branches
held in the hands of a rejoicing throng who shout "Hosanna to the Son of
David, Hosanna in the highest!" Surely His soul must be thrilled with
jubilant emotion!
Ah! but look at Him: look at Him closely. Go up to Him, near enough to
see His face and hear what He is saying. Is He jubilant? His eyes are wet
with tears; and with tears in His voice He is speaking "the saddest words of
tongue or pen": O Jerusalem; "if thou hadst known, even thou, at least in
this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace! but now they are hid
from thine eyes. For the days shall come upon thee, that thine enemies shall
----

east a trench about thee, and compass thee round, and keep thee in on
every side, and shall lay thee even with the ground, and thy children within
thee; and they shall not leave in thee one stone upon another; because thou
knewest not the time of thy visitation." Ah! well the Man of Sorrows knew
what all that shouting and rejoicing were worth; not even for a moment
was He misled by it; no less certainly now when the plaudits of the
multitudes were ringing around Him, than when He had been on the way
going up to Jerusalem, did He know that, though He was the rightful King,
He should receive no king's welcome, but should suffer many things and
die. He knew that it was to no royal palace, but to the bitter cross, He was
advancing, as He rode down Olivet, across the Kedron, and up to the city
of David. Yet it is not the thought of His own cross that draws the tears
from His eyes; it is the thought of the woes impending over those whom
He has come to save, but who will have none of Him. O the depth of divine
love in these self-forgetful tears!
One thrill of joy the day had for the King of sorrows. It was His welcome
from the children. The plaudits of the multitude He seems to have received
in silence. Why should He be moved by hosannas from the lips of those
who, as soon as they shall find out what manner of King He is, will cry
"Away with Him"? But the hosannas of the children are genuine music to
His soul. The little ones at least are true. There is no guile in their spirits.
"Of such is the kingdom of heaven." It is most touching to observe how
lovingly the heart of the Saviour goes out to the little ones at this most
trying time. The climax of pathos in His lament over Jerusalem is reached
when, after speaking of the fate of the city, He adds, "and thy children
within thee"; and the same deep sympathy with the little ones is shown in
the answer He gives to the mean-spirited priests and scribes who were
moved with indignation and tried to silence their sweet voices: "Have ye
never read, Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings Thou hast perfected
praise?"
"And He left them, and went out of the city into Bethany, and He lodged
there," -- not in the house of Lazarus, we may he sure, or He would not
have "hungered" when in the morning He returned to the city (ver. 18); no
doubt under the open canopy of heaven or at best under some booth
erected as a temporary shelter. What were His thoughts, what His feelings,
as He looked back on the day and forward to the week?
----

CHAPTER 17.
CONFLICT IN THE TEMPLE. -- MATTHEW 21:18-23.
IT had been written that the Lord should suddenly come to His Temple
(<390301>Malachi 3:1); but He would not too hastily assert His rights. The first
day He simply "looked round about upon all things" (<411111>Mark 11:11), and
then withdrew to Bethany. The second day -- without, however, even yet
assailing the authority of those in power -- He assumed His prerogative as
Lord of the Temple by casting out the traffickers, healing the blind and the
lame, and accepting the hosannas of the children. The scribes and Pharisees
showed some displeasure at all this, and raised objections; but the answer
they received silenced, if it did not satisfy them. Thus two days passed
without any serious attempt to dispute His authority; but on the third day
the conflict began. It was a dark and terrible day, and of its fateful history
we have a full account in this Gospel.
The day opens with the sight on the-way to the city of the withered fig
tree, a sad symbol of the impending fate of Israel, to be decided ere the day
closed by their final rejection of their Saviour-King. This was our Lord's
single miracle of judgment; many a stern word of warning did He speak,
but there is no severity in His deeds: they are all mercy and love. The single
exception, if exception it may be called, makes this great fact stand out
only the more impressively. It was necessary for love's sake to show that in
that arm, which was always strong to save, there was also strength to smite
if the sad necessity should come; but so tender-hearted is He that He
cannot bear to strike where the stroke can be felt, so He lets it fall on an
unconscious tree. Thus to the end He justifies His name of Jesus, Saviour,
and illustrates the blessed truth of which His whole life is the expression,
that "God is love." "The Son of man is not come to destroy men's lives but
to save them." Judgment is His strange work; from the very thought of it
He shrinks, as seems suggested to us here by the fact that, in the use He
makes of the circumstance in His conversation with the disciples, He
refrains from speaking of its dark significance, but rather takes the
opportunity of teaching from it an incidental lesson full of hope and
comfort regarding the power of faith and the value of prayer (vv. 21, 22).
As soon as on the third day He enters the Temple the conflict begins. It
would seem that the interval our Lord had in mercy allowed for calm
----

reflection had been used for no other purpose than to organise a conspiracy
for the purpose of entangling Him in His words and so discrediting His
authority. We gather this from the carefully framed questions with which
He is plied by one party after another. Four successive attacks are recorded
in the passage before us: the first by the chief priests and elders of the
people demanding His authority; the next by the Pharisees, assisted by the
Herodians, who endeavoured by means of the difficulty of the tribute
money to embroil Him with the Roman power; this was again immediately
followed by a third, in which the prime movers were the Sadducees, armed
with what they considered an unanswerable question regarding the life to
come; and when that also broke down there was a renewed attack of the
Pharisees, who thought to disconcert Him by a perplexing question about
the law,
We may not discuss the long sad history of these successive attacks with
any fulness, but only glance first at the challenge of our Lord's authority
and how He meets it, and next at the ordeal of questions with which it was
followed.
I. -- THE CHALLENGE (<402123>Matthew 21:23-22:14).
"By what authority doest Thou these things? And who gave Thee this
authority?" The question was fair enough; and if it had been asked in an
earnest" spirit Jesus would have given them, as always to the honest
inquirer, a kind and satisfying answer. It is not, however, as inquirers, but
as cavillers, they approach Him. Again and again, at times and in ways
innumerable, by fulfilment of prophecy, by His mighty deeds and by His
wondrous words, He had given proof of His Divine authority and
established His claim to be the true Messiah. It was not therefore because
they lacked evidence of His authority, but because they hated it, because
they would not have this man to reign over them, that now they question
Him. It was obvious that their only object was to entangle Him;
accordingly our Lord showed how in the net they were spreading for Him
their own feet were caught.
He meets their question with a counter-question, "The baptism of John,
whence was it? from heaven, or of men?" The more we examine this
question, the more must we admire the consummate wisdom it displays.
We see at once how it turns the tables on His critics; but it is far more
important to notice how admirably adapted it was to lead them to the
answer of their own question, if only they would follow it out. They dared
not repudiate the baptism of John; and had not John baptised Jesus, and
----

solemnly borne repeated testimony to His Messiahship? Had he not most
emphatically borne that very testimony to a formal deputation sent by
themselves? (<430119>John 1:19-27). Finally, were not the ministry and
testimony of John closely associated in prophecy with that very coming of
the Lord to His Temple which gave them so deep offence: "Behold, I will
send My messenger, and he shall prepare the way before Me: and the Lord,
whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to His temple:... behold, He shall
come, saith the Lord of hosts." Our Lord's counter-question, then, was
framed with such exquisite skill as to disappoint their malice, while at the
same time it was suited to-guide the earnest inquirer to the truth.
The propounders of the question were not true men, but hypocrites. A
negative answer they could not give. An affirmative they would not give.
So when they refused to answer, our Lord replied, "Neither tell I you by
what authority I do these things."
The Lord of the Temple now assumes the offensive, and directs against His
opponents a series of parables which He holds up to them as a triple mirror
in which from different points of view they may see themselves in their true
character, and as a set of danger signals to warn them of their impending
doom. He presents them with such marvellous skill that He makes the
Pharisees their own judges, and constrains them to pass sentence on
themselves. In the first parable He constrains them to declare their own
guilt; in the second, He makes them decree their own punishment; in the
third, He warns them of the impending fate of the people they were leading
to destruction.
We have said that in these parables Christ assumes the offensive; but this is
true only in a very superficial sense. In the deepest sense He spoke them
not against the Pharisees, but for them. His object was to carry home to
their hearts the conviction of sin, and to impress them with a sense of their
danger before it was too late. This was what above all they needed. It was
their only hope of salvation. And how admirably suited for His purpose
were these three parables! Their application to themselves was plain
enough after it was stated, but not beforehand; the effect of which was that
they were put in a position to give an impartial verdict on their own
conduct. It was the same method so effectively employed by Nathan in
bringing conviction to the conscience of David. Had Christ charged the sin
of the Pharisees directly home upon them they would have been at once
thrown on the defensive, and it would have been impossible to reach their
conscience through the entanglements of prejudice and personal interest.
----

Christ wishes to disentangle them from all that was darkening their moral
vision, and He uses the parable as the most effective means. It is a great
mistake, then, to suppose that Jesus contented Himself with turning the
tables on them, and carrying the war, so to speak, into the enemy's
country. It was with them a war of words, but not with Him. He was
seeking to save these poor lost ones. He wished to give them His best for
their worst. They had come to entangle Him in His talk. He does His best
to disentangle them from the meshes of self-deception. The tone of all
three parables is exceptionally severe; but the spirit of them is love.
THE TWO SONS (<402128>MATTHEW 21:28-32).MATTHEW 21:28-32).
The parable of the two sons is exceedingly simple; and the question
founded upon it, "Whether of them twain did the will of his father?"
admitted of but one answer -- an answer which seemed, as it was spoken,
to involve only the simplest of all moral judgments; yet how keen the edge
of it when once it was disclosed! Observe the emphatic word did,
suggesting without saying it, that it made comparatively little difference
what they said (see 23:3). So far as profession went, the Pharisees were all
that could be desired. They were the representatives of religion in the land;
their whole attitude corresponded to the answer of the second son: "I go,
sir." Yet when John -- whom they themselves admitted to be a prophet of
the Lord -- came to them in the way of righteousness, they set his word
aside and refused to obey him. On the other hand, many of those whose
lives seemed to say "I will not," when they heard the word of John,
repented and began to work the works of God. Thus it came to pass that
many of these had entered the kingdom, while the self-complacent Pharisee
still remained without.
The words with which the parable is pressed home are severe and
trenchant; but they are nevertheless full of gospel grace. They set in the
strongest light the welcome fact that the salvation of God is for the chief of
sinners, for those who have been rudest and most rebellious in their first
answers to the divine appeal; and then, while they condemn so very
strongly the self-deceiver, it is not for the purpose of covering him with
confusion, but in order to open his eyes and save him from the net in which
he has set his feet. Even in that terrible sentence which puts him lower
down than open and disgraceful sinners, there is a door left still unlatched
for him to enter. "The publicans and harlots go into the kingdom of God
before you"; but you may enter after them. If only you, like them, would
"afterward" repent -- if you would repent of your hypocrisy and
----

insincerity, as they have repented of their rudeness and rebellion -- you
would be as gladly welcomed as they into the kingdom of God.
THE HUSBANDMEN (<402133>MATTHEW 21:33-46).MATTHEW 21:33-46).
The second parable follows hard on the first, and presses the chief priests
and Pharisees so closely that they cannot fail to see in the end that it is
themselves they have been constrained to judge and condemn (ver. 45). It
is indeed difficult to suppose that they had not even from the beginning
some glimpse of the intended application of this parable. The vineyard was
a familiar symbol with a definite and well-understood meaning, from which
our Lord in His use of it does not depart. The vineyard being the nation,
the owner is evidently God; the fruit expected, righteousness; the
particulars mentioned (the fence, the press, the tower) implying the
completeness of the arrangements made by the owner for securing the
expected fruit. The husbandmen are the leaders of the people, those who
are responsible for their direction and control. The going to a far country
represents the removal of God from their sight; so that they are, as it were,
put upon their honour, left to act in the matter of the vineyard according to
the prompting of their own hearts. All this is contained in the few lines
which make up verse 33, and forms the groundwork of this great parable.
Thus are set forth in a very striking manner the high privileges and grave
responsibilities of the leaders of the Jewish people, represented at the time
by the chief priests and Pharisees He was then addressing. How are they
meeting this responsibility? Let the parable tell.
It is a terrible indictment, showing in the strongest light the guilt of their
fathers, and pointing out to them that they are on the verge of a crime far
greater still. Again and again have prophets of righteousness come in the
name of the Lord, and demanded the fruits of righteousness which were
due. How have they been received? "The husbandmen took his servants,
and beat one, and killed another, and stoned another." So have their fathers
acted time after time and still the patience of the owner is not exhausted,
nor does He even yet give up all hope of fruit from His favoured vineyard;
so, as a last resort, He sends His son, saying, "They will reverence my
son."
We can imagine the tone in which the Son of God would speak these
words. What a sublime consciousness is implied in His use of them! and
how touchingly does He in this incidental way give the best of all answers
to the question with which His enemies began! Surely the son, the only and
----

well-beloved son,f17 had the best of all authority to act for the father! In the
former parable He had appealed to the recognised authority of John; now
He indicates that the highest authority of all is in Himself. If only their
hearts had not been wholly shut against the light, how it would have
flashed upon them now! They would have taken up the cry of the children,
and said, "Hosanna! blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord":
and the parable would have served its purpose before it had reached its
close. But they are deaf and blind to the things of God; so the awful
indictment must proceed to the bitter end.
If there was in the heart of Christ an exalted consciousness of His filial
relation to God as He spoke of the sending of the Son, what a pang must
have shot through it as He proceeded to depict in such vivid colours the
crime they are now all ready to commit, referring successively as He does
to the arrest, the handing over to Pilate, and the crucifixion without the
gate: "They caught him, and cast him out of the vineyard, and slew him."
How apalling it must have been to Him to speak these words! how
appalling it ought to have been to them to hear them! That they did feel the
force of the parable is evident from the answer they gave to the question,
"What will he do to those husbandmen?" and, as we have said, they must
surely have had some glimpses of its application to themselves; but it did
not disturb their self-complacency, until our Lord spoke the plain words
with which He followed up the parable, referring to that very Psalm from
which the children's cry of "Hosanna" was taken. From it He selects the
symbol of the stone rejected by the builders, but by God made the head of
the corner, applying it to Himself (the rejected stone) and them (the
builders). The reference was most appropriate in itself; and it had the
further advantage of being followed by the very word which it would be
their salvation now to speak. "Hosanna" is the word which immediately
follows the quotation He makes, and it introduces a prayer which, if only
they will make their own, all will yet be well with them. The prayer is,
"Save now, I beseech Thee, O Lord"; followed by the words, "Blessed be
He that cometh in the name of the Lord." May we not assume that our
Lord paused after making His quotation to give them the opportunity of
adopting it as their own prayer? His whole heart was longing to hear these
very words from them. Have we not the proof of it further on, in the sad
words with which He at last abandoned the hope: "I say unto you, ye shall
not see Me henceforth till ye shall say, Blessed is He that cometh in the
name of the Lord" (<402339>Matthew 23:39)?
----

Seeing they will not take the warning of the parable, and that they refuse
the opportunity given them while yet under its awe-inspiring influence, to
repent and return, He must give sentence against them: "Therefore say I
unto you, The kingdom of God shall be taken away from you, and given to
a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof." This sentence He follows up by
setting before them the dark side of the other symbol: "Whosoever shall
fall on this stone shall be broken: but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will
grind him to powder." They were stumbling on the stone now, and about
to he broken upon it; but the danger that lay before them if they persisted
in their present unbelief and sin, would be far greater still, when He Whom
they now despised and rejected should be at the head of all authority and
power.
But all is vain. Steeling their hearts against His faithful words, they are only
the more maddened against Him, and fear alone restrains them from
beginning now the very crime against which they have just had so terrible a
warning: "When they sought to lay hands on Him, they feared the
multitudes, because they took Him for a prophet."
THE MARRIAGE FEAST (<402201>MATTHEW 22:1-14).MATTHEW 22:1-14).
The manner in which this third parable is introduced leaves room for doubt
whether it was spoken in immediate connection with the two preceding.
The use of the word "answered" (ver. 1) would rather suggest the idea that
some conversation not reported had intervened. But though it does not
form part of a continuous discourse with the others, it is so closely
connected with them in scope and bearing that it may appropriately be
dealt with, as concluding the warning called forth by the first attack of the
chief priests and elders. The relation between the three parables will be best
seen by observing that the first has to do with their treatment of John; the
second and third with their treatment of Himself and His apostles. The
second and third differ from each other in this: that while the King's Son,
Who is prominent in both, is regarded in the former as the last and greatest
of a long series of heavenly messengers sent to demand of the chosen
people the fruits of righteousness, in the latter He is presented, not as
demanding righteousness, but as bringing joy. Duty is the leading thought
of the second parable, privilege of the third; in the one sin is brought home
to Israel's leaders by setting before them their treatment of the messengers
of righteousness, in the other the sin lies in their rejection of the message of
grace. Out of this distinction rises another -- viz., that while the second
parable runs back into the past, upwards along the line of the Old
----

Testament prophets, the third runs down into the future, into the history of
the apostolic times. The two together make up a terrible indictment, which
might well have roused these slumbering consciences, and led even scribes
and Pharisees to shrink from filling up the measure of their iniquities.
A word may be necessary as to the relation of this parable to the similar
one recorded in the fourteenth chapter of St. Luke, known as "The parable
of the Great Supper." The two have many features in common, but the
differences are so great that it is plainly wrong to suppose them to be
different versions of the same. It: is astonishing to see what needless
difficulties some people make for themselves by the utterly groundless
assumption that our Lord would never use the same illustration a second
time. Why should He not have spoken of. the gospel as a feast, not twice
merely, but fifty times? There would, no doubt, be many variations in His
manner of unfolding the thought, according to the circumstances, the
audience, the particular object in view at the time; but to suppose that
because He had used that illustration in Galilee He must be forbidden from
reverting to it in Judea is a specimen of what we may call the insanity of
those who are ever on the watch for their favourite "discrepancies." In this
case there is not only much variation in detail, but the scope of the two
parables is quite different, the former having more the character of a
pressing invitation, with only a suggestion of warning at the close; whereas
the one before us, while preserving all the grace of the gospel as suggested
by the figure of a feast to which men are freely invited, and even
heightening its attractiveness inasmuch as it is a wedding feast -- the most
joyful of all festivities -- and a royal one too, yet has throughout the same
sad tone of judgment which has been characteristic of all these three
parables, and is at once seen to be specially appropriate to the fateful
occasion on which they were spoken.
As essentially a New Testament parable, it begins with the familiar formula
"The kingdom of heaven is like." The two previous parables had led up to
the new dispensation; but: this one begins with it, and is wholly concerned
with it. The King's Son appears now, not as a messenger, but as a
bridegroom. It was not the first time that Jesus had spoken of Himself as a
bridegroom, or rather as the Bridegroom.f18 The thought was a familiar one
in the prophets of the Old Testament, the Bridegroom, be it remembered,
being none other than Jehovah Himself. Consider, then, what it meant that
Jesus should without hesitation or explanation. speak of Himself as the
Bridegroom. And let. us not imagine that He simply took the figure, and
applied it to Himself as fulfilling prophecy; let us not fail to realise that He
----