William Burkitt's Expository Notes

Matthew 11:4

Observe here, 1. The way and means which our Saviour takes for the conviction and satisfaction of John's disciples, that he was the true Messias; he appeals to the miracles wrought by himself, and submits the miracles wrought by him to the judgment of their senses; Go and shew John the miracles which you hear and see.

Observe, 2. The miracles themselves. The blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the deaf hear, &c. Christ was all this in. literal sense, and in. mystical sense also; he was an eye of understanding to the ignorant,. foot of power to the weak: he opened an ear in deaf hearts, to receive the word of life: and the poor are evangelized, that is, turned into the spirit and temper of it; the gospel; the rich hear the gospel, but the poor receives, that is, they feel the powerful impressions of it: as we say, such an one is Italianized, when his carriage is such as if he were. natural Italian. The passive verb enagzelizonrai denotes, non actum predicationis, sed effectum evangelii pradicati; the good effect which the gospel had upon the hearts and lives of the poor, transforming them into the likeness of itself.

Learn, It is. blessed thing, when the preaching of the gospel has such. powerful influence upon the minds of men, that the temper of their minds and the actions of their lives are. willing transcript of the spirit and temper of the holy Jesus.

Note, That as it was prophesied of the Messias, that he should preach the gospel to the poor, Isaiah 61:1. accordingly they were the poor whom Christ preached unto; for the Pharisees and Rabbies neglected them as the people of the earth, John 7:49. And Grotius says, that they had. proverb, That the Spirit of God never rests but upon. rich man. Besides the Pharisees and Rabbies doctrines, which they preached, were vain traditions, allegorical interpretations, and cabalistical deductions, which transcended the capacities of the vulgar, so that they could profit very little by repairing to their schools, and by hearing their interpretations of the law; and therefore our Saviour, in the close of this chapter, calls the people off from them to learn of him, Come unto me, &c. Matthew 11:28

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William Burkitt's Expository Notes

Matthew 11:4

Old Testament

New Testament