Matthew 12:21

Matthew 12:21

Observe:

I. What is involved in the significant phrase, "His name." There may be very much or very little in a name taken merely as a sign for personal identification. But if any more than this be attempted, and if it be given as descriptive of certain predispositions to nature, and of certain virtues of mind and manners, it may contain far too much or too little. There is nothing more appropriate than a great name for a great man, or a good name for a good man; but the little is sorrowfully encumbered when he has to bear a name made conspicuous by virtue or by genius. Great care was taken in the naming of the Christ. The name was to be descriptive, and to be expressive of that which was to be the great function of His coming. It was to be suggestive not only of greatness, but of that greatness which was to be peculiarly and eternally His own. "Thou shalt call His name Jesus; for He shall save His people from their sins." The great radical idea of operative Christianity is salvation; it is only as this is being realized that its other aspects are of value to man. The name of Jesus was to symbolize the whole of morality in the sum and symmetry of a perfect combination.

II. What is involved in the trust which the Gentiles were to repose in it. The nations were to trust Him, not as some today are disposed to do, as a beneficial force amidst the powers which make for civilization. That He had been and is this no honest thinker can, we imagine, well doubt. But the Gentiles were to trust Him as that which He assumed Himself to be, and for that which He had done, and for the more He claimed the ability of doing. They must trust Christ for far more than they can understand or have the power to conceive, and trust that all things are in arrangement to "work together for good." To have this trust in Him, the nations must be convinced of the fulness not only of His manhood, but of the perfectness and all-comprehensiveness of His knowledge of all that is above man. It is when man has discovered that he can know no more of God than is revealed in Christ that he is justified in seeking only for godliness after Christ. If He be believed when He says, "Whosoever hath seen Me hath seen the Father," man has no higher wisdom to expect; it suffices him, and he trusts.

J. O. Davies, Sunrise on the Soul,p. 257.

References: Matthew 12:22. T. Evans, Expositor,2nd series, vol. iii., Matthew 12:22. Parker, Hidden Springs,p. 284; T. Birkett Dover, The Ministry of Mercy,p. 102.Matthew 12:28. New Outlines on the New Testament,p. 10. Matthew 12:30. H. J. Wilmot-Buxton, Sunday Sermonettes for a Year,p. 190; J. C. Hare, Sermons in Herstmonceux Church,vol. ii., p. 225.