The Pulpit Commentaries
Matthew 11:1-30
EXPOSITION
Matthew only. And it came to pass, when Jesus had made an end. The same formula recurs in Matthew 7:28; Matthew 13:53; Matthew 19:1; Matthew 26:1. In all five cases it marks the end of important speeches.
(1) The sermon on the mount (Mt 5-7:27);
(2) the charge to the disciples (Matthew 10:5);
(3) the parables (Matthew 13:1);
(4) discourses to the disciples (Matthew 18:1.);
(5) prophecies about the end of the world, etc. (Matthew 24:1., Matthew 24:25.).. for the bearing that this has upon the sources of the Gospel.
Of commanding his twelve disciples, he departed thence. Whence? We have no knowledge. Perhaps the place had been named in the original context, from which the discourse was derived. Matthew 9:35 suggests that it was some place on his journey (cf. Alford), hut our verse in itself implies rather some fixed centre of work, e.g. Capernaum. To teach and to preach in their cities. If he ceases to speak at length, it is that he may begin more aggressive work (cf. Matthew 7:28, Matthew 7:29; Matthew 13:53, Matthew 13:54). Their. It is hardly by accident that the word recurs, with the same reference, as it seems, to the Jews generally, in the passages just quoted (cf. Matthew 12:9, note).
JESUS THE ONE THAT SHOULD COME.
(1) Matthew 11:2 : The Baptist's question, and its answer: the Coming One has come.
(2) Matthew 11:7 : Jesus' recognition of the greatness of John as herald.
(3) Verses 16-19: Yet both John and he himself are rejected.
(4) Verses 20-24: Woe on those who disregard the signs of God's work.
The Baptist's question, and its answer. Parallel passage: Luke 7:18.
Now when John had (omit, with the Revised Version) heard in the prison; i.e. Machaerus (Schurer, 1. 2:27; comp. Matthew 3:1, note; Matthew 14:1, note). Matthew alone tells us that he was already in prison. The works of Christ; of the Christ (Revised Version); τοῦ Χριστοῦ. Not the proper name, but the official title (Matthew 1:16,Matthew 1:17, notes). The title may be merely due to the evangelist's narrative, or may represent the actual terms in which the message was brought to John. It brings out the pathos of the situation. John had prepared the way of the Christ, and had at the baptism taken part in his anointing. Yet of all the works that the Christ now did there was none to set his kinsman and herald free. He sent two of his disciples; by his disciples (Revised Version). Possibly the slight difference between διά, the true reading here, and δύο, which is genuine in Luke, points to the common source (observe here a Greek source) having been written, but with the close similarity in sound this need not have been the case. Observe that the true reading lays slightly more emphasis on the fact of the inquiry coming from John himself (vide infra). "Sent by" is the equivalent of the Hebrew דיב חלש (Exo 4:13; 1 Samuel 16:20; 1 Kings 2:25; comp. also Revelation 1:1).
And said unto him. The question was brought from John; the answer is sent back to him (verse 4). This points to the cause of the question lying ultimately, not with his disciples, but with himself. Although John might justly fear that they would follow him rather than Jesus (cf. Matthew 9:14, note), yet he seems to have made this inquiry for his own sake. He who stood on the Jewish side of the threshold of the kingdom (verse 11) did not understand the methods by which the King was acting, and thus his faith was tried. In this he recalls his great prototype, whose plans seemed to have failed and his boldness to have done no good (1 Kings 19:13, 1 Kings 19:14). To both the answer implied that success was assured to quiet spiritual work. Art thou (emphatic) he that should come? he that cometh (Revised Version); ὁἐρχόμενος (comp. Matthew 3:11, note). The title was probably derived from Psalms 118:26, and would become the more known from the LXX. of Habakkuk 2:3 (comp. Hebrews 10:37), and perhaps also from a directly Messianic interpretation of Genesis 49:10. Or do we look for. The word (προσδοκῶμεν) contains no thought of looking about for, but only of earnest expectation. Another? Ἕτερον, and so in Luke 7:19; but ἄλλον in Luke 7:20. Observe that in both records the evangelist's own summary of John's message speaks of a difference in kind, but that in the form given by the messengers (Luke 7:20) it is only a matter of a second person coming (comp. Galatians 1:6, Gal 1:7; 1 Corinthians 12:8, etc.; 1 Corinthians 15:39, etc.). John's disciples, that is to say, are represented as failing to catch the point of their master's question whether he must look, after all, for a Messiah who acts differently from the way in which Jesus acts.
Jesus; and Jesus (Revised Version, with even the Received Text). Answered and said unto them. He makes no verbal self-defence, but appeals to the effects of his work. Observe that a similar appeal to effects of the same character as those mentioned here—restoration to normal powers and bringing spiritual truths home to the poorest—is still the great argument for the Messiahship of Jesus. Go; go your way (Revised Version); πορευθέντες (cf. Matthew 11:7). And show John again; and tell John (Revised Version); for ἀπαγγέλλω does not in itself contain the idea of bringing word in answer to an inquiry, but merely emphasizes the source or place from which the message comes (Matthew 8:33; cf. Bishop Westcott on 1 John 1:2, 1 John 1:5). Those (the, Revised Version) things which ye do hear and see. Observe that in Luke
(1) the order of the verbs is reversed;
(2) the tense is not the present, as here, but the aorist, the miracles being regarded from the point of time when the disciples had returned to John. The present tense in Matthew brings out what St. Luke had already indicated by his preceding explanatory verse that the messengers arrived when the Lord was actually performing miracles.
The blind receive their sight, and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear (and, Revised Version), the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to them. The first and the last of the examples selected by our Lord are fulfilments or' prophecy (Isaiah 61:1). Observe that
(1) the words are taken from the LXX. (εὐαγγελίσασθαι πτωχοις … τυφλοῖς ἀνάβλεψιν), which, perhaps, represents a different reading from the Massoretic text (cf. Cheyne, in loc., 'Critical Note').
(2) Our Lord reverses the order of the expressions, taking the restoration of sight to the blind as the commencement of a series of physical miracles, and thus making spiritual work the climax.
(3) He does not quote Isaiah's phrase, "liberty to the captives," although the quotation of its context could not but suggest it to John, the reason being, it would seem, that he desired to call John's attention away from the more political part of Messiah's work to that which alone forms the basis of permanent political improvement—the restoration of the individual.
(4) In accordance with this is the fact that when he was laying stress on the character of his adherents as the one qualification for sharing in his kingdom, he alluded to the same passage of Isaiah (vide Matthew 5:3). John was not wholly emancipated from the Jewish tendency to regard the external results of the kingdom; our Lord's mind dwelt rather on the internal results. Although John's difficulty had been felt when he heard of the works (verse 2, note), our Lord only said in reply, "Tell him of my works." It was an old message, and yet a new one. In the nature of those works, when fully understood, lay the true solution of his difficulty. Observe that here also Christ adds a Beatitude (verse 6). The blind (Matthew 9:27, note), (and the lame. The "and" is doubtless genuine here, its omission in some manuscripts being due to the parallel passage in Luke. Observe the rhythm, "blind and lame," "lepers and deaf," "and dead and poor." Perhaps this is the result of oral transmission. The lame walk (Isaiah 35:6). The dead are raised up. "Quod novissime factum erat juveni Nainitico". The gospel; good tidings.
And blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended (Matthew 5:29, note) in me; shall find none occasion of stumbling in me (Revised Version). But exhibits perfect trust under delay and disappointment (James 1:12).
Jesus' recognition of the greatness of John as herald. Verses 7-11: parallel passage: Luke 7:24.
And as they departed; and as these went their way (Revised Version). Fulfilling his command (Matthew 11:4). It' we may combine the language of St. Matthew and St. Luke ("when the messengers of John were departed"), we may say that they had left the circle immediately round our Lord, but were hardly further than the outskirts of the crowd. What went ye out into the wilderness to see? to behold (Revised Version); θεάσασθαι (cf. θέατρον,). It almost suggests that they went out as though to see a spectacle. They were stirred by no deeper motive. Bengel compares John 5:35. A reed shaken with the wind? If the reed referred to by our Lord was the papyrus, which still grows freely in certain parts of the Jordan valley, the description of this plant in 'Rob Roy on the Jordan,' John 17:1., is specially interesting: "There is first a lateral trunk, lying on the water and half-submerged. This is sometimes as thick as a man's body, and from its lower side hang innumerable string-like roots from three to five feet long, and of a deep purple colour .. These pendent roots … retard much of the surface-current where the papyrus grows On the upper surface of the trunks the stems grow alternately in oblique rows;, their thickness at the junction is often four inches, and their height fifteen feet, gracefully tapering until at the top is a little round knob, with long, thin brown, wire-like hairs eighteen inches long, which rise and then, recurving, hang about it in a thyrsus-shaped head." He also says, "The whole jungle of papyrus was floating upon the water, and so the waves raised by the breeze were rocking the green curtain to and fro." This explained "a most curious hissing, grinding, bustling sound, that was heard like waves upon a shingly beach," as "the papyrus stems were rubbing against each other as they nodded out and in." It is, however, much more probable that the reed referred to was "the Arundo donax, a very tall cane, growing twelve feet high, with a magnificent panicle of blossom at the top, and so slender and yielding that it will lie perfectly fiat under a gust of wind, and immediately resume its upright position." It grows especially on the western side of the Dead Sea. To our Lord's question no answer was needed. John had rejected the overtures of the nationalists (John 1:19), and had not feared to rebuke a king (Matthew 14:4).
Behold, they that wear soft clothing are in kings' houses. Menahem the Essene was by the wish of Herod the Great made deputy to Hillel in the Sanhedrin, but afterwards left his office. "Whither did he go out? Abai said. He went out to destruction. Rabba said, He went out for the service of the king. There is also a Baraitha [i.e. an 'uncanonical' Mishna] to this effect, that Menahem went out for the service of the king, and there went out with him eighty pairs of disciples clothed in Syrian robes" (Talm. Bab., 'Chagigah,' 16b, edit. Streane). It has been conjectured, though hardly on sufficient evidence, that our Lord was thinking of this ease; but the Talmudic passage at least illustrates the gorgeousness of the apparel of the courtiers, and suggests the luxury of living that St. Luke speaks of ("They which are gorgeously apparelled, and live delicately, are in kings' courts"). It is, however, only fair to Menahem to say that Gratz is able to suppose that he merely went back again to his solitude.
But what went ye out for to see? A prophet? But wherefore went ye out? To see a prophet? (Revised Version). Yea, I say unto you, and more than a prophet. Our Lord accepts their estimate of John, but says that it is insufficient. He thus passes on to show the relation in which John stood to himself. John was more than a prophet such as they thought of, for he was "the subject as well as the vehicle of prophecy" (Alford), and was the immediate forerunner of the great King. More than; much more than (Revised Version). Περισσότερομν is probably neuter, for this not only agrees with τι, but emphasizes the thought more than the masculine (cf. Matthew 12:6, note).
For. Omitted in the Revised Version. It is here an explanatory gloss, though genuine in Matthew 3:3. This is he, of whom it is written. Our Lord justifies his assertion of John's unique position. Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, which shall prepare thy way before thee. Malachi 3:1, not from the LXX., but freely from the Hebrew, which runs, "Behold, I send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me." Observe in Matthew
(1) "thy way"
(2) "before thee," instead of "before me;"
(3) the first clause is made to end with nearly the same phrase as the second, Matthew's form is the more rhythmical, perhaps because of oral repetition. Luke (Luke 7:27), save for the omission of ἐγώ, is the same; Mark (Mark 1:2) only omits ἐγώ and "before thee." Christ does not hesitate to apply to himself a prophecy of the coming of God, nor did the early Church shrink from recording this of him. Such an application of an Old Testament passage Bengel calls "luclentissimum argumentum Deitatis Christi." (On this subject, of. Bishop Westcott, Add. Note on Hebrews 3:7.)
Verily. Matthew only. This solemn asseveration (Matthew 5:18, nine) would the more remind them of their duty towards John; and, if its force may be extended to the next clause, call their attention the more forcibly to his being only the herald of better things. I say unto you, Among them that are born of women (Job 14:1) there hath not risen. These last words have the emphasis in the Greek, οὐκ ἐγήγερται, i.e. to work and energy as a prophet (Luke 7:16; Matthew 24:11, Matthew 24:24). A greater than John the Baptist. This seems almost less praise than verse 9. But our Lord probably intended to tacitly meet the objection that Moses or Abraham was to be listened to rather than John (cf. Matthew 3:9, note). Notwithstanding (yet, Revised Version) he that is least (but little, Revised Version, ὁδὲ μικότερος: cf. μείζων, Matthew 18:1) in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. The weakest Christian is greater in privileges than the greatest of the Old Testament saints. John could preach repentance, but the joys of redemption he knew nothing of. He is therefore judged according to the rule, "Minimum maximi mains est maximo minimi".
It is curious that in St. Luke's account of this speech of our Lord's he should omit our verses 12-14 (on verse 15, see note there), thus leaving out all Christ's plainer and more direct teaching about the relation of John to himself. St. Luke places (Luke 16:16) our verses 12 and 13 in what appears to be merely a cento of sayings. Possibly the original occasion has been recorded by neither evangelist, but in Matthew the passage certainly brings out the thought upon which our Lord was insisting on this occasion. And. Slightly adversative (δέ), for there is a change of subject. Christ urges his hearers to more definitely range themselves under his banner. From the days of John the Baptist until now. Yet this was not more than a few months! Possibly the sentence had become modified in oral teaching, so as to include many years, say up to a.d. 50 or 60. St. Luke's ἀπὸ τότε is easy enough. Observe the implied success of John's work as herald. He so prepared the way that men were eager to enter the kingdom which he had said was at hand. The kingdom of heaven. The realm ruled over by Messiah, of which the then community of believers was the earnest. Suffereth violence (βιάζεται). In Luke it is middle, "Every man entereth violently into it;" and though it is certainly passive here, St. Luke's phrase compels us to understand the reason of the violence to be entrance into the kingdom. The kingdom is not ill treated, but it is as it were taken by storm (Meyer). Nosgen strangely understands the phrase to mean that the kingdom is set forward with power, and he would apparently see in "the violent" a special reference to our Lord and John. And the violent; and men of violence (Revised Version); καὶ βιασταί: only they; men whose mind is made up and who care not what force and power they employ to attain their object. Take it by force; ἁρπάζζουσιν αὐτήν, "grasp it for themselves," like rough and violent bandits seizing their prey. Weiss sees in this verse blame of the politico-Messianic endeavours to hasten the completion of the kingdom. This explanation is good in itself (cf. John 6:15), but disconnects the verse from its context. Our Lord is describing the energy with which some souls are pressing in, and urging the need of such energy if salvation is to be obtained.
For. It is only right that there should be such a seizing of the kingdom of heaven, for in a certain sense the function of the prophets and the Law ceased with John. All. Not one alone, but all, however various their teaching. The prophets and the law. In Luke (Luke 16:16) the Law is mentioned first, because the context is there dealing chiefly with the Law. Here our Lord has said that John was more than a prophet, and he naturally continues to speak of prophets first. The mention of the Law comes in almost as an afterthought, and yet without it the Jews might have fallen back on the Law when the prophets failed them (cf. verse 11, note). Prophesied. Including the ideas both of predicting Messiah and of making known the will of God (cf. Matthew 5:19, note). Until John. The message of the written Word was considered as active—the prophets and the Law still spoke—until, in tact, he came who was the close of that epoch.
In Matthew only. And if ye will receive it. Our Lord gives the information plainly, but doubts if it will be of any use to them. Will (θέλετε). For the reception of a truth depends upon the attitude of the will In this case to acknowledge John as Elijah would mean to accept the present consequences of that reformation which Elijah was to bring about (Malachi 4:6). But "the human will has a natural disinclination to cultivate and sharpen the conscience in combination with the knowledge of the law, has no desire to look into this mirror, and men as a rule desire to have quite a different picture of themselves from that which conscience shows them". It. My statement. Not him, i.e. John, with Revised Version margin. This (αὐτός). He and no other (John 1:21). Is Elias. In spiritual work, not in identity of person (John 1:21). (On the Jewish expectation of the return of Elijah, see Lightfoot, 'Hor. Hebr.,' on Matthew 17:10.) Which was for to come; which is to come (Revised Version). The phrase ὁμέλλων ἔρχεσθαι) is perhaps best understood, not as an independent remark by our Lord about Elijah, but as a current saying, representing the popular expectation of him, and adopted by our Lord, who gave it his own interpretation. It can hardly point also to a yet future coming of the prophet. But compare Bishop Westcott, on John 1:21, and Schurer, II. 2:156.
He that hath ears to hear, let him hear. A solemn exhortation, often spoken by our Lord at the close of an utterance. See Matthew 13:9, Matthew 13:43; Mark 4:23; Luke 14:35. It means—You are all formed by nature to learn God's commands; answer, therefore, to your powers, and obey him. See Psalms 40:6 (cf. Hebrews 10:5).
Yet both John and he himself are rejected, though the results of their efforts were such as to fully justify the apparent difference of their methods. Parallel passage. Luke 7:31.
But. In contrast to the obedience asked for in Matthew 11:15, this generation closes its ears. Whereunto shall I liken. A common rabbinic phrase, which is often found in the fuller form recorded in Luke, "Whereunto shall I liken … and to what are they like?" (see Matthew 7:24, note). This generation?. It is like unto children sitting in the markets, and calling unto their fellows, and saying, We have piped unto you, and ye have not danced; we have mourned unto you, and ye have not lamented. There are two ways of understanding the illustration which our Lord here uses.
(1) Many modern commentators insist on the grammar and on the historical order in which the complaints are made, and believe that the Jews correspond to the pipers and the mourners, while it is John that refuses to rejoice, and our Lord that will not be sad.
(2) But the more usual interpretation is preferable. For
(a) in an illustrative saying one has chiefly to regard its general sense;
(b) in verses 18, 19 the action of John and of our Lord in "coming" corresponds to the activity of the children;
(c) this interpretation seems much more in accordance with the context.
The verses are therefore to be understood as meaning- John mourned in urging repentance, our Lord rejoiced in gospel liberty and preaching, but both alike were only ridiculed by the Jews. Markets; marketplaces (Revised Version); for there is no thought of the children helping their elders in traffic. And calling (which call, Revised Version) unto their fellows. Addressing them, but not necessarily noisily (Luke 6:13; Luke 13:12).
For John came neither eating (Matthew 3:4) nor drinking (Luke 1:15), and they say, He hath a devil; i.e. he is possessed of strange and melancholy fancies (see Bishop Westcott on John 7:20).
The Son of man (Matthew 8:20, note) came eating and drinking, and they say, Behold (ἰδού, simply demonstrative, as in the LXX. of 1 Samuel 24:12; 2 Samuel 24:22) a man gluttonous (a gluttonous man, Revised Version, for the Greek, ἄνθρωπος φάγος, merely reproduced the original Semitic order), and a wine-bibber, a friend of publicans and sinners (Matthew 9:10, note). A friend. The idea of affection, which through common use of the words has fallen so much into the background both in the Greek φίλος and our English "friend," is brought out clearly in the Syriac roh'mo, which is, perhaps, the very word that our Lord spoke. But; and (Revised Version); καί: i.e. and yet, whatever you may say. Wisdom; i.e. the Divine wisdom, by which all creation was made (Proverbs 8:22-20; Wis. 7:22), and which is the source of all true understanding (Proverbs 8:12), particularly of the will of God (Wis. 7:27, 28; comp. Luke 11:49, "The Wisdom of God" speaking in Scripture). Is justified (ἐδικαιώθη). The aorist is used either as expressing what is wont to happen, or perhaps as expressing the completeness of the justi fication, (cf. ἐβλήθη, John 15:6). Nosgen, contrary to New Testament usage, under stands ἐδικαιώθη as meaning "is condemned because of her works" ("So haben sie die Weisheit... um ihrer Werke willen ve rurtheilt"), but the ordinary interpreta tion holds good that she is acquitted of any error or wrong. Of her children; works (Revised Version); ἀπὸ τῶν ἔργων αὐτῆς, with the Sinaitic manuscript and the original hand of the Vatican, besides some of the versions. The common reading, τέκνων, has come from Luke. In these words lie the chief difficulty of this difficult sentence. Of (ἀπό) may be used of agents (comp. James 1:13; James 5:4 : Luke 6:18, almost as though it were ὑπό), but it is more natural to understand it here of the causes or reasons for the verdict. And ἀπό thus gives au excellent sense. Our Lord says that the Divine Wisdom is justified in the minds of men from the results she brings about. Of what is he thinking? Doubtless moral results, and probably those found in the change that might be seen in the publicans and sinners of which he has just been speaking. The Divine Wisdom, which appeared to the careless and unsympathetic so strange and changeable in her methods, is, notwithstanding, pronounced to be in the right, because of the results of her activity, the men and the women brought under her influence. These κανιναὶ κτίσεις (2 Corinthians 5:17; Galatians 6:15) are always the best justification of misunderstood plans. While, however, this seems the best interpretation of the sentence as recorded in Matthew, it must be confessed that in Luke it appears more natural to understand "her children" as those who justify her; and further, this was probably St. Luke's own interpretation. For he seems to purposely give an explanation of the apothegm in the verses (Luke 7:29, Luke 7:30) by which he joins the equivalent of our verses 16-19 to the equivalent of our verse 11. He there tells us that all the people and the publicans "justified God," having been baptized with the baptism of John, but the Pharisees and the lawyers rejected God's plan towards them, not having been baptized by him. Wisdom's children justified her; others did not. Anyhow, ἔργων would appear to be the more original of the two terms, for with the explanation preferred above, τέκνων would be very easily derived from it. It may, indeed, be due to a more primitive confusion between אהָדָבָעֹ ("her works," cf. Ecclesiastes 9:1) and אהָדָּבְעַ ("her servants," Hebrew דבֶעֶ), this last word being commonly rendered δοῦλοι, and, perhaps through παῖδες, even υἱοί and τέκνα, but even then it is unlikely that the former and harder reading should be only due to a mistake for the latter. That the harder and metaphorical should be changed into the easier and more literal, even as early as St. Luke's time, appears much more probable.
Woe on those who reject him. The parallel passage, Luke 10:12, comes almost at the close of the commission to the seventy. It is represented in the commission reported by St. Matthew by Matthew 10:15 alone, which is almost verbally identical with Matthew 10:24. It is possible that St. Matthew or the author of the source used by him did not care to interrupt the subject of Matthew 10:1. by inserting more of these verses there, even though that place more nearly represented their original position. Observe that here they are connected with the rejection of John and of our Lord; in Luke, with the rejection of his disciples and of himself in them.
In Matthew only. It seems to be a kind of introduction, like verse 7a, perhaps marking verses 20-24 as a fresh section in the discourses. It serves more particularly as an explanation why our Lord especially mentioned these cities. Then began he to upbraid the cities wherein most of his mighty works (Matthew 7:22, note) were done, because they repented not. "Quilibet auditor Nov. Test. est nut multo beetler (verse 11) ant multo miserior antiquis" (Bengel).
Woe unto thee, Chorazin. The modern Kerazeh, two miles from the northwest bank of the sea of Galilee. Among its ruins are the remains of a synagogue. The corn of both it and Kephar Ahim (probably Capernaum)was so excellent as to make R. Jose say that, had they been nearer Jerusalem, it would have been used for the temple offerings. Woe unto thee, Bethsaida. Schurer (I. Mat 2:14; compare, however, II. 1:136) thinks that this is probably not identical with the large town Bethsaida Julias on the east bank of the Jordan as it enters the sea of Galilee. It is, perhaps, Khan Minyeh (Nosgen), and if so was a little south-west of Capernaum. For if the mighty works, which were done in you, had been done in Tyre and Sidon. The transposition of parts of these clauses in the Revised Version approaches more closely the order of the Greek, and better Dreserves the double emphasis there given. Tyro and Sidon (Ezekiel 28:1.). They would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes (Jonah 3:6; Daniel 9:3; Esther 4:1; comp. also Job 2:8; 2 Samuel 3:31; and Ezekiel's description of the effect of Tyre's punishment upon her princes, Ezekiel 26:16).
But; πλήν: howbeit (Revised Version). Setting this aside (comp. Bishop Lightfoot, on Philippians 3:16); whatever might have been does not matter; this shall be. I say unto yon, It shall be more tolerable for Tyro and Sidon at the day of judgment (Matthew 10:15, note) than for you. "Pessimis pejores event et insanabiliores" (Wetstein).
And thou, Capernaum (Matthew 4:13, note), which art exalted unto heaven; Shalt thou be exalted unto heaven? (Revised Version); Μὴ ἕως οὐρανοῦ ὑψωθήσῃ; i.e. Shalt thou be raised high in public estimation, as thou thinkest, who art so proud of thy share in the busy and gay life on the lakeside? Shalt be brought down to hell; thou shalt go down unto Hades (Revised Version). The change of voice in the two clauses (ὑψωθήση … καταβήσῃ) may imply that if thou 'art indeed raised, it will be by Another; but if thou fallest, it will be by thyself. Observe that our Lord's words are an adaptation of Isaiah's address to the King of Babylon (Isaiah 14:13). For if the mighty works, which have been done in thee, had been done in Sodom (transposed in the Revised Version, as in verse 21), it would have remained until this day. In this verso the stress lies on the effect of the moral attitude; in verse 21, on the moral attitude itself.
(see notes supra, Matthew 11:20 and Matthew 10:15).
In close connexion with the preceding.
Christ professes his full acceptance of his Father's plan, on both its sides.
And says that all his work is due to and conditioned by the Father.
Yet freely invites all to him.
Observe that, whether by "accident" or "design," Matthew 11:25 are a statement of the good news contained in the expression, "Jesus the Son of God," while Matthew 12:1 leads us to regard him as the Son of man.
Parallel passage: Luke 10:21, Luke 10:22, where the verses are recorded immediately after the return of the seventy. We know no other occasion which would be so likely to evoke this utterance. Although it is just possible that the seventy returned when our Lord was addressing the people in the manner related in the preceding verses of this chapter, it seems much more likely that a sense of a moral and not of a temporal connexion guided St. Matthew in his arrangement. What is true in a time of success (Luke 10:17, Luke 10:18) is equally true in a time of failure (verses 20-24). Observe the difference in the style of verse 27 (Luke 10:22) from that of verses 25, 26, suggesting the use of another, apparently Johannine, source. But this must have been added before either St. Matthew or St. Luke incorporated the passage. Observe that the comparatively early date thus indicated for Johannine phraseology suggests that the language and form of the Fourth Gospel underwent a long process of development before St. John completed his work.
At that time; season (Revised Version); ἐν ἐκείνῳ τῷ καιρῷ. St. Luke's phrase ("in that very hour," ἐν αὐτῇ τῇ ὥρᾳ) is more precise, definitely connecting the utterance with the return of the seventy. St. Matthew's refers rather to that stage or period in his ministry (cf. Matthew 12:1; Matthew 14:1). Jesus answered. Only in Matthew. If we could suppose this to be the original context of the passage, the" answer" would probably refer to some expression of astonishment or complaint at his solemn statement in verses 20-24. Professor Marshall's derivation of both "answered" and "rejoiced" (Luke) from a common Aramaic original appears very strained. And said, I thank thee; better, as the Revised Version margin, praise (ἐξομολογοῦμαί σοι). There is no thought of gratitude, but of publicity in assent (Luke 22:6), in confession (Matthew 3:6) and in acknowledgment (Romans 14:11; Philippians 2:11), and thus of praise (Joshua 7:19; Ezra 10:11 (Lucian); 2 Chronicles 30:22; Romans 15:9). It implies a profession of personal acceptance by Christ of God's methods. "I profess to thee my entire and joyful acquiescence in what thou doest." Hence St. Luke introduces the utterance by ἠγαλλάσατο, adding τῷ πνεύματι τῷ ἁγίῳ, thus giving us a glimpse of the unity of purpose and feeling inherent in the Trinity, even during the time that the Word "tabernacled among us." O Father. Father occurs in Matthew 6:9; Matthew 26:39; Luke 23:1. Luke 23:34, Luke 23:46: John 11:41; John 12:27; John 17:1; in fact, in all the recorded prayers of our Lord except Matthew 27:46, which is a quotation, and where the phrase, "My God, my God," emphasizes his sense of desolation. The word expresses perfect relationship and intimate communion. It points to the trust, the love, and the obedience of Christ, and to the depth of natural affection and confidence between him and the First Person of the Trinity. It suggests mercies in the past, care in the present, and provision for the future. Lord of heaven and earth. Acts 17:24, by St. Paul, who may have derived it from these words of our Lord, or perhaps from Psalms 146:6 or Isaiah 42:5. As "Father" was the note of personal relationship, so is this of sovereign majesty. Christ unites the thought of God's love to himself with that of his ownership of all creation, thus paving the way for the main subject of the prayer—his Father's method of dealing with men of various kinds and tempers. Because; that (Revised Version), perhaps as more idiomatic with "thank." But ὅτι here gives, not the contents of the "thanksgiving," but the reason for it. Thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes. The laws by which religious impressions are received, whether ultimately for good or for evil (2 Corinthians 2:15, 2 Corinthians 2:16; John 9:39), are here attributed to God. Observe that the sentence is not a kind of hendiadys, but that Christ accepts his Father's action in both directions. The one is the subject of his entire acquiescence as much as the other. Hast hid … hast revealed. The aorists (cf. Isaiah 42:19, note) may be understood here as either
(1) describing what took place in each case, or
(2) regarding God's action as a whole from the standpoint of the hereafter (cf. Romans 8:29, Romans 8:30). These things. The truths respecting Christ's teaching and work. In this context the reference would be to the general contents of Isaiah 42:2. From the wise and prudent; i.e. as such (there is no article). For mental excellence and intelligence (vide infra)in themselves cannot grasp spiritual truths, but are, on the contrary, often means by which the veil between man and God is made thicker. On the difference between "wise" (σοφοί) and "prudent" (συνετοί, understanding, Revised Version), see Bishop Lightfoot, on Colossians 1:9. (For the general truth, cf. Job 37:24; 1 Corinthians 1:19.) And hast revealed them (Matthew 13:11, note); for even the most guileless heart has no power to see spiritual truths unless God draws back the veil. Unto babes (νηπίοις). The thought is of their helplessness and dependence. In comparison with the Pharisees and scribes, all our Lord's disciples were little more (cf. Matthew 11:16).
Even so; yea (Revised Version); ναί. A renewed acceptance of the immediately preceding facts. Father. In Matthew 11:25, Πάτερ: here, ὁΠατήρ. There the term referred more directly to God as his own Father; here to him as Father of all, notwithstanding the methods he used. For. Giving the reason of Christ's acceptance. That would make this clause closely dependent on the preceding. But this seems unnatural. So; i.e. in this double method. It seemed good (it was well-pleasing, Revised Version) in thy sight (εὐδοκία ἐγένετο); literally, it was good pleasure before thee—an Aramaism equivalent to "it was thy will" (compare the Targum of Judges 13:23; 1 Samuel 12:22 [וי מדק אוער]; see also Matthew 18:14). The phrase implies, not merely that it seemed good to God, but that, in a sense, it was his pleasure. For the workings out of the laws of truth must give pleasure to the God of truth. (On the aorist ἐγένετο, see Matthew 11:25, note.)
All things. Not in the widest sense, for this would forestall Matthew 28:18 but all things that are required for my work of manifesting the truth. The utterance is thus both closely parallel to John 8:28, and also in most intimate connexion with the preceding verses. God's twofold action in hiding the truth from some and revealing it to others is, our Lord says, all of a piece with my whole work. This is all arranged by my Father, and the knowledge of God by any man is no chance matter. Are delivered unto me; have been delivered (Revised Version); rather, were delivered (παρεδόθη). Here also it is possible to interpret the aorist from the standpoint of the hereafter (John 8:25, note); but, as it is immediately followed by the present tense, it more probably refers to some time earlier than that at which our Lord was speaking. The time of his entrance on the world naturally suggests itself. Observe when bringing out his dependence upon his Father, our Lord lays stress on the notion of transmission (παρεδόθη); but in Matthew 28:18, where he is bringing out his post-resurrection greatness (Philippians 2:9), he merely mentions his authority as an absolute gift (ἐδόθη). Notice the contrast implied in παρεδόθη to the Jewish παράδοσις. The Pharisees boasted that their tradition came from God, though through many hands; Christ claimed to have received his from God himself. Of (ὑπό). For the transmission was immediate; there were no links between the Giver and the Receiver (cf. Bishop Lightfoot, on Galatians 1:12). My Father; me … my. Observe the double claim; his unique position as Teacher is due to his unique relation by nature. And no man knoweth; i.e. with a gradual, but at last complete, perception (ἐπιγινώσκει). In the Gospels this word is used of the knowledge of God and of Christ in this verse alone, though such a reference is especially suited to its meaning of perfection of know. ledge (cf. Bishop Lightfoot, Colossians 1:9). The Son. Not "me," because Christ wished to bring out more clearly his unique relation to God, and thus to emphasize the impossibility of any one, even an advanced disciple, fully knowing him. But the Father. Not "his Father." It may be that Christ wishes to include the suggestion that after all there is a sense in which his Father is the Father of all men, but more probably, by making ὁπατήρ completely parallel to ὁυἱός, he wishes to suggest that the full idea of Sonship and Fatherhood is nowhere else so fully satisfied. Neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him. The connexion is—You may think this (i.e. verse 25) strange, but I alone have that knowledge of God which enables me to understand his ways; I alone, yet others also, if I reveal him to them. As St. Luke expressed it in his form of our verse 19, "Wisdom is justified of her children" (comp. also John 14:9). To whomsoever. Though but a babe (verse 25). Will reveal; willeth to reveal (Revised Version); βούληται … ἀποκαλύψαι. Not "is commanded," for Christ claims equality (see Chrysostom). Notice the idea of plan and deliberation, and not that of mere desire, unable, perhaps, to assign a reason for its existence (θέλω); cf. Philemon 1:13, Philemon 1:14.
In Matthew only. Verse 28: An invitation to all who need him, and an unconditioned promise of welcome. Verse 29: A summons to submit to his teaching, and a promise that those who do so shall find rest in it. Verse 30: For his "service is perfect freedom."
Notice the sharp contrast between the width of this invitation and the apparent limitation of the preceding statement (verse 27). The truths of prevenient grace and man's free-will may not be separated.
Come (δεῦτε); Matthew 4:19, note. There is less thought of the process of coming than in the very similar invitation in John 7:37. Unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden. The toilers and burdened (οἱκοπιῶντες καὶ πεφορτισμένοι). Our Lord purposely did not define in what the toil and burden consisted; for he would include all, from whatever quarter their toil and burden came. But since the spiritual is the central part of man (Matthew 5:3, note), the more that the toil or burden is felt there so much the stronger would our Lord's reference to it be. He would therefore be inviting most especially those that toil in legal ways of righteousness (Romans 10:2, Romans 10:3), and are burdened under Pharisaic enactments (Luke 11:46). And I. Emphatic (κἀγώ). However others may treat you. Will give you rest (ἀναπαύσω ὑμᾶς). Not to be identified with the phrase in John 7:29 (see there). As contrasted with παύω (see Bishop Lightfoot, on Philemon 1:7 and on Ignat., 'Ephesians,' § 2), ἀναπαύω refers to temporary rather than permanent cessation from work, and it thus especially connotes refreshment of body and soul obtained through such rest. In confortuity with this we find ἀνάπαυσις regularly used in the LXX. as a translation of sabbathon ("sabbath-keeping," e.g. Exodus 16:23, for which σαββατισμός comes in Hebrews 4:9 as an equivalent). The thought, therefore, here is not that those who come to Christ will have no more work, but that Christ will give them at once such rest and refreshment of soul that they may be fit for work, should God have any in store for them.
Matthew 11:29, Matthew 11:30 have so much in common with both the language and the thought of Ec 51:26, 27, that probably this passage was in our Lord's mind. It is noteworthy that most of the other signs of acquaintance with Ecclesiasticus are found in the Epistle of St. James. Take my yoke upon you. For there is work to be done, therefore enter on it. The yoke is the service that Christ gives us to do, and therefore implies more than his teaching. This, however, is so important a part of his service, both in itself and as being the means of knowing what he wishes done, that Christ speaks of it as though almost identical with his yoke. And learn of me. The figure of the oxen passes into that of the scholars. The "of" is slightly ambiguous, and may refer to Christ as the Example from which they may draw the lesson for themselves (Matthew 24:32), or as the Teacher who will himself instruct them (Colossians 1:7). The second meaning is more suitable here. (For the thought, comp. John 8:31.) For. The reason why they should learn from him and no other teacher. He alone was what he claimed to teach, therefore he alone could teach it properly, and therefore from him alone could they learn that type of character which they ought to develop. I am. Observe the claim. It is almost greater than that of verse 27. Meek. Primarily, as regards God (Matthew 5:5, note). Receiving in my degree whatever yoke my Father puts on me. And lowly in heart. As regards men. Observe that meek and lowly correspond, though the order is reversed, to "He humbled himself and became obedient" (Philippians 2:8, where ἐταπείνωσεν ἑαυτόν does not refer to the Incarnation (ἐκένωσεν ἑαυτόν), but to his relation to others in this world). In heart (Matthew 5:8, note). "Lowly in heart" very nearly corresponds to "he that is of a lowly spirit." Such a person as Christ's experience shows (Philippians 2:9) "shall obtain honour" (Proverbs 29:23). And ye shall find rest unto your souls. In this learning and service. The words are taken from Jeremiah 6:16 (not the LXX.; cf. also Ecclesiasticus 6:28), where they form the promise given to those that ask for the old paths and walk in the good way of the Divine commandments. But these roads were now more clearly made known in Christ. Observe the full force of the two expressions, I will give you rest (Jeremiah 6:28), and Ye shall find rest. The tired comers are at once refreshed by Christ; these accept his service and teaching, and in performing it find further rest. The first rest may be termed the peace of justification; the second, that of sanctification. Both are obtained through Christ alone, yet they are not to be confused, much less identified, with one another.
For. The fact of my giving work will not prevent this rest, but the contrary. My yoke is easy (χρηστός); suave, Latin; "sore" (Wickliffe); "sweete" (Rheims). And so are God's judgments (Psalms 119:39, ' Psalms of Solomon,' 8:38). Contrast Ecclesiasticus 28:19, 20. And my burden is light. For "his commandments are not grievous" (1 John 5:3). "Omnia levis suut caritati".
HOMILETICS
The message of John.
I. His QUESTION.
1. Its cause. He had heard the works of Christ. He was in prison, in the gloomy fortress of Machaerus. He had been there six months at least, perhaps much longer. But he was not kept wholly without knowledge of the outer world; his disciples were allowed access to him; they related to him the mighty works of the great Prophet of Galilee. Nothing could interest John more deeply. The works were the works of the Christ, the Messiah; such as were attributed to him by the prophets, They would naturally fill the thoughts of the Baptist, and form the great subject of conversation between him and his disciples.
2. Its meaning. "Art thou he that should come, or are we to look for another?" What could the Baptist mean? He had witnessed the descent of the Holy Spirit upon our Lord; he had borne witness that he was the Son of God, the heavenly Bridegroom; he had pointed him out to his own disciples as the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world: how could he have any doubt about his Messiahship? Probably he was not the man he had been. The long imprisonment had told upon him. It must have been especially irksome to one who had been so long accustomed to the tree open life of the wilderness. Confinement, enforced inactivity, with no work, no employment for his ardent energies, tamed the spirit that had been so strong. Perhaps he sank at times into seasons of melancholy like Elijah his prototype. It may well have been so: he was a high saint of God, very bold and full of strength, but he was human; and human nature has, and must have, its inconsistencies and weaknesses. No man lives at all times up to his highest level; and it has been often noticed that God's saints fail sometimes in that very grace which is their most striking characteristic; Elijah, for instance, in courage, Moses in meekness, Peter in steadfastness. John had heard in the prison the works of Christ; but he had heard also from his disciples how he sat at meat with publicans and sinners; he had heard that his apostles had not adopted the ascetic life; he had heard that he had not publicly announced himself as the Messiah. It may be that he was somewhat; disappointed. He longed for something decisive; he longed, perhaps, to see the wrath of God manifested against the profligacy of Herod, against the hollow hypocrisy of the Pharisees. He wished, perhaps, to urge Jesus to declare himself openly, to use his Divine power to put down sin and to introduce the reign of righteousness; he wished to accelerate the march of the Divine purpose, tie had waited long; and now he had been a whole winter, perhaps more, cooped up in prison. It is no wonder if he became sometimes impatient; no wonder if the reports which he heard of the teaching and actions of Jesus, so holy, and yet in some respects so unlike his own, disappointed and perplexed him. He would have been more than human if, under such circumstances, his faith had never failed him. Holy Scripture presents to us men as they really were. It does not draw ideal pictures; it exhibits the imperfections as well as the graces of holy men. We should be very thankful for this. It is one of the secondary evidences of the simple truthfulness of God's Word, and it offers to us a more interesting study, a more encouraging lesson. An ideal character has far less human interest than the actual portrait of a real man; and the thought that the saints of the Bible, who conquered in the fight and won the crown of life, were partakers of our sins and weaknesses is full of encouragement and help to us. Doubtless the result of the message tended to strengthen the Faith of the messengers; but to suppose that this was the one object of the message seems to introduce an element of unreality into the Baptist's conduct. "Art thou he that should come?" There is a wavering sometimes, an agonizing doubt in the hearts of the best of God's servants. It comes from the temptations of the evil one; it arises sometimes, as perhaps in the case of the Baptist, partly from physical causes. The mortal body weigheth down the mind; it is to good men the most distressing of trials. The Baptist sent to the Lord in his difficulties; he put the question to him clearly and plainly. So we must come direct to Christ when we are troubled with the like perplexities. He will be gracious unto us, as he was to John, as he was to Thomas. He will give us peace in believing, helping us to persevere, like the Baptist, steadfast unto the end. "Are we to look for another?" No; there is none other Saviour, no other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved. We look only for him, for fuller manifestations of his grace; we look for his coming, when he shall make this body of our humiliation like unto the body of his glory.
II. THE LORD'S ANSWER.
1. He directs the messengers to his works. He does not affirm his Messiahship in words; he did so to the woman of Samaria; he did so to the man born blind; now he points to his works. The Lord adapts his teaching to the circumstances of each case, to the different characters, the varying spiritual needs of his disciples. Deeds are more convincing than words. If we would convince others of the deep reality of the experiences of personal religion, we must show its power in our lives. Words, glowing descriptions, will not convince; we must exhibit in the quiet, humble life of holiness the power of the Lord working in our hearts. The lives of God's saints are the best evidence to unbelievers of the strength of Christian motives, and of the reality of the promised help of the Holy Spirit; they are the facts which prove the presence and the energy of the great Cause.
2. What those works were.
(1) they were the works of the Christ, his proper works, the works attributed to him by the prophets. They proved that Jesus was the Christ; they were signs, evidences of his Divine origin, of his sacred office. John's disciples had now seen some of these great works with their own eyes; they were to report to their master the things which riley had seen and heard. There is no evidence like that of an eye-witness. Such is the evidence of the apostles: "That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you." It is the best evidence which we can give to others of the power of the Christ now: "We know it, we have felt it;" but only those whose lives are pure and holy can give that most convincing proof.
(2) They were works of mercy; they were wonders, such as might be expected from the Son of God. The presence of God in the world could not be without some attestation; it must bring with it accompanying miracles. The Incarnation, the most mysterious of miracles, seems to necessitate a train of lesser miracles; it could not stand alone; an event of such overwhelming magnitude must imply momentous issues, and must be surrounded by stupendous circumstances.
(3) But among these miracles of power there is one miracle of grace. "The poor have the gospel preached to them." It was a strange thing then—a thing unheard of. The Gentile teachers despised the poor and ignorant; so did the Jewish rabbis (John 7:49). It was Christianity that first taught men to care for the poor, Christ who first set the holy example. It was a change, a miraculous change wrought among the nations by the power of Christ's religion. Isaiah had mentioned it as one of the works of the Christ (Isaiah 61:1). And still to care really for the poor, to teach them, to preach Christ to them, is one of the marks of genuine piety and love of Christ. These were the appointed works of the Christ. They had been wrought by the Lord Jesus. He was the Christ: there was no room for doubt.
3. The blessedness of simple faith. Some were offended. They found stumbling-blocks in our Lord's humility, in the lowliness of his earthly surroundings, in his tenderness to outcasts and sinners, in his long-suffering patience, in his delay to execute judgment. Perhaps John the Baptist himself found for a time a stumbling-block in some of these things. Blessed is he who is not offended in Christ; who recognizes Christ's spiritual greatness, Christ's infinite goodness, Christ's deep and holy love. Blessed is he who sees nothing in Christ to repel, but everything to attract and to convince. He is blessed, for he will find in Christ all that he needs—peace, comfort, hope, rest for his soul. Such blessedness, we may be sure, the holy Baptist found, even if he wavered for a moment through that human frailty which belonged even to his exalted character.
LESSONS.
1. God's saints are not perfect; follow them, but as they followed Christ.
2. Trials of faith will come; be steadfast, looking unto Jesus.
3. Go straight to him in all your difficulties.
4. Meditate much on his holy life; it is one of the greatest helps to faith.
The Lord's testimony to John the Baptist.
I. HIS CHARACTER.
1. He was no reed shaken by the wind. The multitudes who had now heard John's message and the Lord's answer had once gone into the wilderness to see the Baptist, drawn thither by the powerful attraction of his preaching and character. What had they found there? Were they disappointed? Was he unlike the report which they had heard of him? Was he weak, vacillating, wavering hither and thither like the reeds that grew on the banks of Jordan? No; he was one of the strongest of men. They must not misunderstand him; they must not judge him harshly. He had shown some disappointment, it may be, some impatience. The Christ, whom he had so gladly welcomed, had not in all respects fulfilled his expectations; some doubts had perplexed his soul. But who was there born of women who was always steadfast, absolutely independent of outward circumstances and mental depression? John was a great and holy man, an example of firm and constant courage. We must honour good men; we must not magnify the occasional weaknesses which must appear even in the noblest lives. Envious men exaggerate these little blemishes; the world loves to dwell upon the faults of God's people. Christ teaches us to admire the beauty of holiness, and not to talk about the imperfections which must be found even in real saints.
2. He was no self-indulgent man. He was not clothed in soft raiment, like those courtiers of Herod Antipas who were persecuting him. They lived in kings' houses; he chose the wilderness for his abode. He was wholly unworldly, a very hero of self-denial.
3. He was a prophet. He was commissioned by God, he spoke for God. But he was more than a prophet, for he himself was the subject of prophecy, and he was (what no other prophet had been) the immediate forerunner of the Christ. He was the messenger of whom that prophet, whose name signifies "My messenger," had spoken. He was the messenger of God, and he prepared the way of God. It is worthy of notice that the words, "Thy way before thee," of the Gospel answer to the words, "The way before me," in the prophecy. In the unity of the Godhead there is a distinction of Personality. The Father sends the Son; the Lord of hosts comes himself; for "in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." Therefore John was more than a prophet, standing as he did in such very close relations with the Lord of whom the prophets spoke.
II. HIS GREATNESS.
1. There had been no greater man than he. From the beginning, through the long years of the world's history, no one had surpassed John in all that constitutes real greatness. In loftiness of soul, in singleness of purpose, in disinterestedness, in heroic self-denial, he stands almost alone, seldom equalled, never surpassed. Such was the judgment of the Lord Jesus Christ. It throws a light from heaven upon the confusion of the world, and shows where real greatness is to be found; not always in king's houses, not always among the rich, the high born, the luxurious. The greatest of men is he who is nearest to Christ, who humbles himself the most, who most denies himself, who is the most steadfast, the most decided in the cause of religion. True greatness is measured by self-denial, by humility, by devotion, by purity of heart and life.
2. Yet the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater. What encouragement there is in these words! There had been none greater than John; but the humblest Christian is in some sense greater yet—greater, that is, in privileges, in advantages, in gifts of grace. The kingdom of heaven is the Church of Christ, and all the members of that Church have very high and holy privileges—that fellowship which is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ, the gift of the Spirit, the Word of God, the holy sacraments, all the precious means of grace. "Many prophets and kings have desired to see those things which ye see, and have not seen them; and to hear those things which ye hear, and have not heard them." John had not seen what the Lord's disciples saw, he had not heard what we have heard; he knew not the blessed story of the cross. He had not our privileges; he had not the helps which we have. He was not himself a member of the Church of Christ, the kingdom of heaven upon earth. He announced it. Those who are in that kingdom are higher in spiritual privileges than the herald of the kingdom. If they used those precious means of grace as they ought, they might be higher in sanctity even than the holy Baptist. Then to be a Christian, to have those sacred privileges, involves an awful responsibility—a very high and holy hope.
III. HIS MINISTRY HAD DONE ITS WORK.
1. The kingdom of heaven was come. John had announced its coming; it was at hand, he said. Now it was come; it was manifested in the world. The preaching and miracles of Christ had excited a wide and deep interest throughout Palestine. He was followed everywhere by eager multitudes. The enthusiasm for a time was boundless, the excitement intense. They sought to take him by force to make him a King. The kingdom of heaven was suffering violence. There may have been something of undisciplined zeal, of unchastened enthusiasm. It may be that many of these violent ones did not continue steadfast when the days of trial came. But now they crowded into the ranks of Christ's disciples; they offered to follow him whithersoever he went. There was a mighty movement. The kingdom of God was preached, and every man was pressing into it. There is a holy violence, a sacred zeal; but it must be zeal according to know]edge—the zeal of St. Paul or St. John, not a troubled wave of popular excitement. However, this enthusiasm, even if not lasting in all men, was better far than indifference; it showed a real interest in Divine things; it showed that the kingdom was come.
2. Prophecy was being fulfilled. The prophets had foretold the coming kingdom; the Law, too, had prophesied through its institutions, its ritual, its sacrifices. All was type and prophecy until John; John was the last of the Old Testament prophets. There was no need of types now that the antitype had appeared. Prophets were no longer raised up to predict the salvation of the Messiah; for he was in the world.
3. It was fulfilled in John the Baptist. John himself was the Elijah of whom the Prophet Malachi had spoken; he had gone before the Lord in the spirit and power of Elijah. He was not, indeed, the Elijah whom the Jews expected, in their literal interpretation of the prophecy—the actual Elijah of the Old Testament, whom Elisha beheld as he went up by a whirlwind into heaven. But he was the Elijah of whom Malachi had spoken; Elijah's second self, his representative; a reproduction of his character, filled and animated with his spirit.
4. The importance of this warning. Not all would receive it. People expected a literal Elijah; they would not believe that John was the Elijah of prophecy. They expected a Messiah very different from Jesus, a kingdom very different from that kingdom which was not of this world. But let them listen who had ears to hear, whose spiritual senses were not blunted by the tradition and formalism of the Pharisees. The Lord called for fixed, earnest attention. It was a solemn truth which he proclaimed. The kingdom of heaven was in the world; it was come near to his hearers. It was a momentous announcement. To enter into that kingdom was a blessing unutterable; to reject it involved a tremendous condemnation. For that kingdom was from heaven, and its lead was the heavenly King himself. Listen, and come. "He that hath ears to hear, let him hear."
IV. BUT THE JEWS WOULD NEITHER LISTEN TO THE FORERUNNER NOR TO THE KING HIMSELF.
1. Their opposition to the Baptist. The Jews in our Lord's time were perverse; they were like wilful children who will not be amused. They reproached John with his asceticism; they said it was severe and unsocial. John (they said) separated himself from society; he would not share in its amusements; his austerity was unnatural, ungenial; he had no sympathy with human life. "We have piped unto you," they said, "and ye have not danced." They did not understand his lofty character. He was not of the world; he had higher aspirations, holier joys; he did not need the pleasures which so many seek; he had no taste for these things, for his whole heart was given to God and to the world to come. That sensuality which he condemned, those festivities which he shunned, brought him to the martyr's death.
2. Their opposition to Christ. He lived a social life among men, sharing in their innocent enjoyments. He would have us sanctify the whole life, its business and its recreations, as well as its times of prayer and devotion. Therefore he set us an example in all the relations of life. He worked as a carpenter at Nazareth; he mixed freely with men, accepting invitations from time to time, even when publicans and sinners were to sit at meat with him. His conduct was condemned as well as that of the Baptist. Men called him, in their wicked slander, a gluttonous man and a wine-bibber. It was a cruel falsehood; he was absolutely holy, in all things temperate and self-denying. But his exalted goodness excited their jealousy and malice. They hated it; they writhed under the consciousness of his greatness and their own littleness. And so they set themselves to invent malicious falsehoods. They contrasted his life with the asceticism of the Pharisees and the disciples of John. He and his disciples fasted not as they did. They had mourned unto him, and he had not lamented. The world hates holiness; it will attribute unworthy motives to the best of men; it will misrepresent their conduct and try to blacken their character. Whatever they do, whether they live in society or in retirement, they will not escape censorious criticism. Some will be called self-indulgent, others harsh and puritanical. They must not be distressed. They are not alone in this unkind treatment, these false constructions. They suffer no more than the Baptist, who in the Lord's judgment was inferior to no one that had been born of women; no more than the Lord Christ himself. The ambition of the Christian must be to please the Lord. The world's judgment is a very small matter; the judgment of God is of momentous importance.
3. But there were a faithful few. The wisdom of God was justified by the children of God, by those to whom the Lord had given power to become the sons of God. They received the Saviour; they recognized the wisdom of God in his teaching, in his most holy life. They saw that there was wisdom beth in the life of the Baptist and in the life of Christ. The mission of the Baptist was not that of Christ. His conduct was suitable for the task assigned to him; so was the life of Christ for his most sacred work. The children of God honour holiness wherever they find it; they recognize true holiness in all its forms, under all its varying aspects. They show in their estimate of others the wisdom which is from above, which is first pure, then peaceable, without partiality and without hypocrisy. Such are children of wisdom, being children of God.
LESSONS.
1. Honour good men; dwell on their excellences, not on their defects.
2. Take the Lord's estimate of true greatness, not the world's. The world thought Tiberius great; the Lord, John the Baptist.
3. Try to live up to the responsibilities of the Christian life; it is a high dignity to be least in the kingdom of God.
4. Hate slanderous gossip; you may be speaking ill of one whom God will exalt.
The Lord's denunciation of judgment.
I. ITS CAUSE.
1. Knowledge. The Lord's tone assumes a greater severity—a severity which perhaps favours the view that St. Luke gives (Luke 10:13) the true chronological order. The people of Galilee had seen most of the mighty works of Christ. His life had been long before their eyes; they knew him well; they watched him as he walked in their streets, as he healed the sick, or cleansed the leper, or gave sight to the blind. They knew every feature of that holy face, every tone of that blessed voice. They had been astonished with a great astonishment. But now they were becoming so familiar with the Lord's power that his miracles, it may be, excited less wonder. Perhaps, like the Nazarenes (Luke 4:23), they were beginning to regard his healing virtue almost as if it were at their disposal, almost as their right. They knew him, or seemed to know him, so well now, that the old excitement had passed away, the intense interest with which they used to regard him was becoming lukewarm.
2. Obstinate indifference. They repented not. They had heard his teaching, they had seen his works. There had been excitement, astonishment, enthusiasm; but even that was passing away, and, except in comparatively few, there had been no repentance. Repentance had been the first note of John the Baptist's preaching, the first note of our Lord's; but the message had been unheeded, the works by which the message had been attested had not produced real conviction. All had been done that could be done to bring them to repentance; but they would not come unto Christ that they might have life. And now the Lord upbraids them, not in wrath, but in sorrow; as afterwards he wept over the impenitent Jerusalem. Let us listen to those solemn words, and let us take to our hearts the great truth that repentance, a change of heart, is the essence of personal religion, and that all outward privileges, whatever they may be, are lost upon us if they do not, by the grace of God, produce that inward change.
II. ITS TERMS.
1. The judgment of Chorazin and Bethsaida. Bethsaida was the home of three of the apostles. Chorazin, too, it seems, had been often graced by the Lord's presence. They had had great opportunities, but they had failed to use them; and now the woe goes forth against them. "Woe unto thee ]" It is a word of judgment, but it is also a word of sorrow (comp. Revelation 18:10, Revelation 18:16, Revelation 18:19). The Lord grieves while he pronounces sentence. "Peace be unto thee!" would come more sweetly from the lips of the Prince of Peace; but he could not say "Peace," where there was no peace. The Galilaeans, it may be, had often condemned the idolatry and the licentiousness of the great cities which lay near their northern border. But, in truth, the guilt of Tyre and Sidon was not so great as that of Chorazin and Bethsaida. For guilt is measured, not absolutely, as it is seen in the guilty deed; but relatively, in its relations to opportunities, to privileges, to knowledge. The men of Tyre and Sidon had not seen the works of Christ; had they seen them, he himself says, they would have repented. Their knowledge was less; their guilt was less; their condemnation would be less.
2. The judgment of Capernaum.
(1) It had become the Lord's own city. He had chosen to dwell there when he left the unbelieving Nazareth. The people of Capernaum had known him well and long; they had seen many of his miracles; they had followed him in crowds when he went to the house of Jairus; the maiden whom he had raised from the dead lived among them. The rulers of their synagogue, the centurion who had built it, could bear witness to the power and goodness of the Saviour. They all knew him; they had watched him day after day as he walked by the lake; they had listened, many of them, as he taught sitting in some fishing-boat by the shore. Several of his apostles, Matthew the publican, James and John, Peter and Andrew, were well known at Capernaum; people had talked to them constantly about their Master—his wonder-working power; his unique and unapproachable holiness; his tender, compassionate love; his calm, simple dignity. He had been long one of the principal subjects of talk, one of the great centres of interest, in that little town. All the details of his daily life had been scanned with eager curiosity, all his doings had been watched by observant eyes. But were the people of Capernaum much improved by the presence of this great Example? Some were; but not the most of them—not the town as a whole. "Shalt thou be exalted unto heaven?" the Lord asks sorrowfully. "No," was the solemn answer; "thou shalt be cast down unto Hades." For the light of God's presence and love had shone in all its glory on Capernaum; and, in the midst of light, its people had turned their backs to the light, and had loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.
(2) Capernaum worse than Sodom. The men of Sodom were wicked, and sinners against the Lord exceedingly. The Jews regarded the very name of Sodom with abhorrence and horror. But, in truth, they themselves had sinned more deeply yet; in the very presence of the Son of God they persisted in their sin and hardness. The Lord knew, in the far-reaching range of his Divine knowledge, that the men of Sodom would have repented if they had had the privileges granted to Capernaum. "Therefore," he said in Divine sorrow, "it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment than for thee." The words suggest many deep, mysterious, awful thoughts. The Lord does not satisfy our curiosity; he throws a veil over the secrets of the Divine judgment. It is enough for us to know that that judgment is both just and merciful. Account will be taken of circumstances, opportunities, privileges. The heathen will not be judged as the Christians, nor the ignorant as they that have know]edge. Is there hope for them who die unblest? We read this saying of our Lord's; we compare it with other Scriptures—for instance, with the latter part of the sixteenth chapter of Ezekiel; and we feel that "the secret things belong unto the Lord our God; but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever, that we may do all the words of this Law." "What is that to thee?" the Lord seems to say to us (as once he said to Peter) when our restless thoughts busy themselves about the dark problems of the mysterious future. "What is that to thee? follow thou me." We have greater privileges than the people of Capernaum. We have the Word of God, his sacraments, the promise of his Spirit. We have not known Christ after the flesh; but we may know him by a holier, a more precious knowledge—the knowledge by which the true sheep know the good Shepherd. Let us fear the condemnation of those who, living in the light, love darkness rather than light; let us use our privileges; let us strive always to grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
LESSONS.
1. The heart must be changed; excitement, privileges, will not save us.
2. Pray for that great inner change of repentance; be satisfied with nothing less.
3. Use the means of grace; neglect involves an awful responsibility.
The joy of Christ over the penitent.
I. THE THANKSGIVING.
1. The Father's care for the lowly minded.
(1) The connection as given by St. Luke seems best to explain the Lord's thanksgiving. The seventy had just brought back tidings of their success; the Lord gives thanks for it. But if this discourse as recorded by St. Matthew is to be regarded as a continuous whole, we note here a transition in the Lord's thoughts from the hard-hearted and impenitent to the faithful few. He seems to answer his own thoughts. He had grieved over the impending condemnation of those who had rejected him. In holy communion with the Father he turns to Divine joy over those to whom he had given power to become the sons of God. Such transitions from sorrow to joy are common in the Christian life.
(2) The Lord's joy. He rejoiced in spirit, St. Luke tells us. He was "a Man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief." An apocryphal account of his life says that he was often seen to weep, never to smile. But here we read of his joy. It is very sweet and touching to think that amid the bitter sorrows of his self-sacrificing life the Lord Jesus had his hours of joy. It comforts us, as we strive in earnest meditation to sympathize with the suffering Lord, to remember that the long anguish which he endured for us was relieved by some gleams of holy gladness. It is enough for the disciple if he be as his Master. The most afflicted, the most sorrowful life will have its joys, if it is a Christian life; for the Christian who learns of Christ will learn to share his joy. The Lord rejoices, not in earthly comforts, earthly successes, but in the salvation of souls; he layeth the lost sheep on his shoulder, rejoicing; he saith unto his friends, "Rejoice with me; for I have found my sheep which was lost." The true disciple rejoices in the Lord, in his presence, in communion with him, in his triumphs over evil. And the true disciple, loving the Lord above all things, strives to give him that joy in which he himself tells us that he rejoices, by a deeper repentance, by an increasing hatred of sin, by a closer walk with Christ, by earnest efforts to draw the wanderers into the fold of the good Shepherd, to feed the sheep which the good Shepherd loved.
(3) The cause of his joy. These things, the deep spiritual truths of his kingdom, his exceeding great love, his Divine wisdom, his message of atonement and reconciliation with God, had been hidden from the wise and prudent, from the Pharisees and rabbis of Capernaum; but they were revealed unto babes. Not that Christ rejoiced over the rejection of the wise and prudent. He wept over them. "Ye will not come to me," he said, "that ye might have life." The relation of the two clauses of the sentence is like that in Romans 6:17. The wise and prudent would not come to Christ; they would not see the things that belonged to their peace; now they were hidden from their eves. The Lord rejoices because, although God the Father in his awful justice had now hidden these great truths from those who wilfully closed their eyes to them, he had revealed them unto babes. There were simple-hearted, humble men, even in Capernaum, who received the Saviour's message. To such God had revealed all the blessed truth. They saw it in its beauty and glory. It was to him that all praise was due. He is the Lord of heaven and earth, sovereign in his dealings with men. He doeth all things according to the counsels of his almighty will. But that will is not arbitrary; it is the will of an all-holy Being, who is infinitely just and infinitely merciful. We must believe, in simple trustfulness, in his love and mercy. Only let us come to him, as little children come to a wise and good father; then he will reveal to us all those most holy truths which can be realized in the heart only by a revelation from God. God shines into his people's hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. He reveals his Son in all his grace and love to those who seek him. He had revealed these things, these secrets of peace and holiness, to the lowly disciples of the Saviour; he doth reveal them still to all faithful and humble hearts. For this the Lord Jesus, the incarnate Son, praised the eternal Father. For this we praise him now. "Even so, Father: for so it seemed good in thy sight." His will is sovereign; it is holy, just, and good; his will is best.
2. The Father's love for the Son. The Lord Jesus seemed a man among men. He was rejected and despised. But, in truth, he was the almighty Son of God. All things had been given into his hand; all power was his. None knew him fully, in all the mystery and glory of his Divine personality, save only God the Father. Nor can any know the Father fully, save the Son. But the Lord adds at once the gracious words, "and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him." "No man hath seen God at any time;" he is invisible, he dwelleth in the unapproachable light which no human eye can penetrate; but the only begotten Son hath declared him. He reveals to his chosen all that we need to know, all that man can know, of God and of his relations with mankind. Then the Lord Jesus Christ, who loved us and died for us, is one in the mystery of his being with the adorable Father. Here is our hope and joy. As Man, he is touched with the feeling of our infirmities; as God, he is able to save us to the uttermost.
II. THE GRACIOUS INVITATION.
1. He invites all. He had said that no man could know the Father unless the Son willeth to reveal him. But God willeth that all men should be saved. Christ Jesus gave himself a Ransom for all; now he invites all. He knew that not all would come; not all felt the need of a Saviour; therefore he addresses those that labour and are heavy laden. There is much toil in this life of ours—endless, unsatisfactory toil; the poor toil hard for their daily bread; the rich toil in the life of ambition or literature, or in the pursuit of pleasure. That toil will only end in weariness. "Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher; all is vanity." Many, too, are heavy laden, some with the cares of this life, some with pain and sickness, some with the consciousness of sin. All such the gracious Saviour calls.
2. He bids them come to himself. There is need of effort in the spiritual life. Men must not lie still, listless, lukewarm, indifferent. They must come. Coming implies spiritual effort; there must be thought, meditation, earnest prayer, a diligent use of all the appointed means of grace. We must rouse up our souls. The prodigal son would never have recovered his lost home if he had remained in the far country. He said," I will arise, and go." And we must come to Christ. He himself the Centre of his religion. It is not a philosophy, or a code of morals, or a theology, that is to save our souls; it is a Person—the Lord Jesus Christ himself. He can give rest to the weary; he can refresh the toiling, anxious soul; he can give peace to the mind distracted by bewildering doubts. None could dare say this but only God. Put the words into the mouth of St. Paul or St. John, or any the very greatest of saints; for them to say such things would be arrogant, presumptuous in the extremest degree. But from the lips of the Lord Jesus Christ those great words were only the simple truth, words of tenderness and lowliness. The very fact that he stood there in human form, that he uttered those words in human language, that he had submitted to contradiction and rejection, proved his lowliness, his condescension. It would be far otherwise were he not, what we know that he was, the Almighty God.
3. His yoke and his burden. But these who would come to him must take up his yoke and his burden. And his yoke is obedience, and his burden is the cross. The yoke seems irksome at first; but we must learn of him. He himself learned obedience by the things which he suffered. And he is meek and lowly in heart. He will teach by his example, by the voice of his Spirit speaking in the soul, all who come to him. He will teach them ever deeper lessons of the calm peace of submission of will, the sweetness of holy obedience. The cross seems at first a heavy burden, sharp and hard to bear. But the Lord Jesus, who himself bore the cross for us in his blessed love, helps his suffering people. He bears the cross for them; he lifts it on their shoulders; he supports it by his strength; and in time the heavy burden comes to be light, according to his gracious promise. He bids us take up our cross daily; only thus can we follow him. He goeth before his people, leading the way to the everlasting rest. Those who follow him shall find rest; rest even here—the restfulness of trusting faith; and at the last, rest in the Paradise of God, where the holy dead rest from their labours; where the wicked cease from troubling, and the weary are at rest.
LESSONS.
1. The Lord rejoiced in the salvation of souls; so shall we, if we are truly his.
2. Let us come to Christ as little children; to such he revealeth the deep truths of religion.
3. He invites all to come to him. Let us come. None can give rest, but only he.
4. Let us take up the cross. We must, if we would follow him. Men would separate the cross from the crown; the thing is impossible. God hath joined them together; they cannot be put asunder.
HOMILIES BY W.F. ADENEY
A prophet's doubt.
What is most remarkable about this question is that it was put by John the Baptist, the forerunner of Christ. Let us look at the doubt in relation to the prophet who felt it.
I. THE SUBJECT OF THE DOUBT. This was most fundamental. Was Jesus the Christ or not? No doubt can be more serious than this. There are many questions which cannot be answered, and people are not to be called sceptics because they do not see all truth. It is impossible to think on the great problems of existence without the most perplexing surmises, and yet while all these unsettled ideas may pass through the mind, it is still possible for faith to be fixed on a rock with a deep conviction of God, and a calm trust in Christ. But we must be clear and decided on these two points—not theoretically, but practically. We cannot understand the Trinity, and we may be quite unable to comprehend the Incarnation. Still, it is of vital importance to know whether indeed Jesus Christ is the Son of God and the Saviour of the world, whether we can come to God through him and trust him as our eternal Redeemer.
II. THE RECEPTION OF THE DOUBT. A doubt as to the end of his work is in the mind of the Baptist. Had he made a mistake in pointing to Christ? Consider this man who entertains such a thought.
1. A prophet. Inspiration does not prevent personal weakness. Advanced knowledge will not secure us against the invasions of doubt. An apostle was a doubter (John 20:25).
2. A good man. John the Baptist was no deceiver of the people. His heart was right with God. Yet he doubted. Doubt is not sinful in itself.
3. A privileged man. John had known Christ, had baptized him. Yet he doubted. It is not enough to know Christ after the flesh.
4. A religious leader. It is possible for a great religious teacher to be in error. Does the pope ever have a doubt? Certainly it is foolish for preachers to assume infallibility. Sympathy with doubters by confession of difficulties would be a tie of union between teacher and learner. Yet the pulpit is not a place in which to air one's doubts. If the teacher is in serious uncertainty as to his message, is he not a blind leader of the blind?
III. THE CAUSES OF THE DOUBT. How dared the black thought venture to roost in the mind of the great prophet?
1. In disappointment. Jesus had not developed into the Messiah John had expected. The promising career of the Nazarene seemed to be passing into a simple ministry of preaching and healing. But John had a mistaken idea of the Messiahship. Sometimes doubts arise from the disappointment of erroneous religious notions.
2. In adversity. John lay in prison—he who all his life had lived in the wilderness! We need not be astonished that he was depressed.
3. Without full grounds of assurance. John never had been exactly a Christian. There is much doubt infecting the border-land of Christian faith.
IV. THE TREATMENT OF THE DOUBT.
1. Confession. John did not deny it; he did not hide it in shame; on the contrary, he clearly expressed it. We have half conquered our doubts when we have distinctly stated them.
2. Inquiry. John did not rest satisfied with doubt. He sought a solution of his difficulty.
3. Resorting to Christ. John sent to Christ. We can best learn about Christ by going straight to Christ. It is wise to bring our doubts to him. He meets doubt by showing his great works. To-day the answer to doubt is the work of Christ in the world.—W.F.A.
The greatness of the least Christian.
These words of our Lord read like a paradox. They are alter the manner of his strong startling sayings that arrest attention and dart surprising thoughts into our mind. Nevertheless, understood as he meant them to be, they contain no exaggeration.
I. THE GREATNESS OF JOHN THE BAPTIST. All parties of Jews had agreed in honouring the wonderful prophet of the wilderness. He had now passed from his popular work to the seclusion of a dungeon, and the frown of the government was upon him. In his lonely imprisonment he had been visited by distressing doubts, and Jesus had just heard of his difficulties. But all the more did our Lord delight to honour his forerunner, and now that John was seen at the greatest disadvantage, Jesus, magnanimously passing by the slight offered to himself, described him with language of the highest possible honour.
1. John was great as a man. His life was lofty, simple, unselfish, and devoted.
(1) He showed fearless courage in standing before a king and denouncing royal wickedness.
(2) He showed deep humility in giving place at the height of his popularity to an obscure New-Comer.
2. John was great as a prophet. His influence was felt throughout Palestine and even beyond its borders. Alone, but a voice crying in the wilderness, he thundered against the prevalent evils of all classes, and succeeded in spreading an earthquake-wave through society.
3. John was great in preparing for Christ. This was his peculiar function, and herein lay his unique supremacy. He was the last of the pro-Christian prophets, and he prepared the soil for the new seed of the Word of Christ.
II. THE OBVIOUS INFERIORITY OF' THE LEAST CHRISTIAN. It would be a piece of inordinate vanity for a commonplace Christian to pretend that he was in himself superior to John the Baptist. There are very imperfect Christians who yet cannot be denied the name of followers of Christ.
1. These people are inferior in character. Compared with John the Baptist, they are cowardly, selfish, and worldly.
2. These people are inferior in gifts. They are not prophets. They see no new truth; they speak no Divine words; they do nothing remarkable, and very little that is at all helpful to their fellows.
III. THE SECRET OF THE CHRISTIAN GREATNESS. Obviously this does not consist in personal goodness or attainment. It is purely a result of new advantages. It is like the elevation of the dwarf on the giant's shoulders. The rider will reach the goal first if he is on a swift horse and is contending with a foot-runner, although he may not be so agile. Modern ammunition and military tactics give the soldiers of Europe and America an immense advantage over barbarous warriors, although the latter may in some cases equal them or even surpass them in strength and courage. The least Christian has certain advantages which were beyond the reach of the greatest prophet.
1. The knowledge of Christ. The context shows that John had not reached this knowledge. Yet it is the heritage of every Christian.
2. The life from Christ. The Christian is redeemed, and to him a new life is given. Christ is in him.
3. The baptism of the Holy Spirit. The world waited for that in waiting for the advent of Christ. Christians live under the new dispensation of the Spirit. John belonged to the servitude of the Law; Christians enjoy the sonship of the gospel.—W.F.A.
Children in the market-place.
Our Lord must have watched the children at play in the market-place, and have been grieved when a discontented spirit had been manifested by some of them. tie had seen how no effort on the part of their companions could move these obstinate children from their sullen mood. And now he finds the behaviour of the children to be typical of that of their parents. Elder people may learn from children. The unconventional manners of children may reveal something of the character of the age, or something of human nature itself, that is too often hidden under the veneer of mere fashion.
I. IT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO SATISFY THE UNSYMPATHETIC. The disagreeable children can be enticed by no action of their companions. They will not dance to the gay music nor join in the mock mourning. A third method would be equally unsuccessful, because they are not to be pleased. They are sitting; there is always something wrong with children when they sit down for long; the life has gone out of them. Similarly there are people who are dissatisfied with all methods of religious work. Old staid methods are dull and gloomy to them; new and more lively methods are unseemly and irreverent. From the sobriety of the Quakers' meeting to the unrestrained fervour of a Salvation Army meeting they cannot discover any worship to suit them, and they find fault with all ways of conducting Church services. If some one could invent a new style of worshipping God this would be of no use for the discontented people. Their discontent lies deeper. The children had no mind to play; these people have no mind to pray. Therefore we shall not reach them by new methods. They are in a hopeless condition unless we can touch their hearts and lead them into a better state of mind. It is useless to pander to their prejudices. Perhaps at present all we can do is to pray for them.
II. UNSYMPATHETIC PEOPLE MISTAKE AUSTERITY FOR INSANITY. In our Lord's day these people could only explain John the Baptist by saying that he was possessed by the devil. There are men and women to whom the very idea of self-denial is absurd. They have always lived a self-indulgent life, and they cannot understand why anybody in his senses should do otherwise. Such people have not the least conception of the high claims of duty. Moreover, they do not understand the darker sides of life. To them Gethsemane is a perfect enigma.
III. UNSYMPATHETIC PEOPLE MISTAKE SOCIABILITY FOR SELF-INDULGENCE. The very people who say that the austere prophet is mad, when they see Christ, who is not austere, accuse him of laxity of conduct. This is enough to show that their opposition is insincere, or at least that it springs from their own state of mind, and not from any defect in those whom they presume to criticize. It is much to learn that the highest religion is not ascetic, and yet that it is not self-indulgent. The real reason why Jesus ate and drank with all sorts of people was not an indifference to moral distinctions, a hunger for popularity, or a love of ease—all vices utterly foreign to his character. It was just his brotherly love seeking to help and bless everybody. We cannot understand the story of Jesus till we catch his spirit. Then we see that the safest protection against the evil of the world is not ascetic isolation, but a self-forgetting life spent for the good of our fellow-men.—W.F.A.
A lament over wasted privileges.
Jesus is already approaching the sadder stage of his brief ministry; already to the eye of sense it begins to look like a failure. To some it was a failure. The seed had fallen by the wayside, and the birds had carried it away. A similar lament to that of Christ might well be uttered over many regions of favoured Christendom.
I. THE GREATNESS OF THE PRIVILEGES. NO places on earth had been more privileged than these Galileean towns. Here Jesus had lived and worked; here his greatest miracles had been performed, and every miracle was an object-lesson setting forth before the eyes of men the blessings of the kingdom.
1. Privileges of knowledge. The inhabitants of these cities had heard the gospel from the very lips of the Saviour. They had seen the spirit of his life and the laws of the kingdom in everything he did. They who dwell in Christian ]ands have privileges denied to the heathen. Still more have the children of a Christian home. If we have known Christ from our childhood, have been trained in Christian truth, have seen the work of Christ in the society in which we have lived, ours is the condition of Chorazin, Bethsaida, and Capernaum.
II. THE NEGLECT OF THE PRIVILEGES. These cities had heard, but they had not heeded. They had seen, but they had not followed. The gospel had come to their doors, but the foolish people had not received it into their hearts. The explanation of this indifference is given in the earlier verses of the chapter. The negligent people were unsympathetic—they were like listless children sitting in the market-place. Their condition is representative of that of multitudes in our own day. The labours of the Church are expended on them in vain. They have had the truth of Christ's gospel preached in their ears time after time. Yet to them it is nothing. Their very familiarity with the words only seems to render them callous to the meaning. They could pass an examination in religious knowledge with credit; some of them have done so, and have won high places and carried off prizes. Yet they are utterly indifferent to Christ. Here is an appalling condition! It is due to the hardening effect of sin or to the deadening that comes with wilful worldliness. If men and women will absorb themselves in questions of money-making, amusement, and fashion, they cannot receive Christ or feel the blessedness of his gospel.
III. THE MELANCHOLY DOOM OF THOSE WHO WASTE GREAT PRIVILEGES. The cities are to be cast down. The prophecy of Christ has been literally fulfilled. All three cities have disappeared, and have left scarcely a ruin behind. Or at least there is a dispute as to what ruins may be identified with them, and Capernaum in particular has occasioned much trouble to the map-makers. The neglect of Christian privileges cannot continue for ever. He who has buried his talent will most assuredly be called to account for it. Then the doom will be proportionate to the privileges neglected. The vices of the three cities of Galilee may not have reached the hideous blackness of the wicked cities of the plain, nor the notorious corruption of Phoenicia. But the greater privileges will be thrown into the scale and will weigh it down. Decorous, respectable people who enjoy Christian privileges and neglect them will be more heavily condemned than the most degraded heathen.—W.F.A.
The revelation to babes.
St. Luke associates these words with the return of the seventy from their triumphant mission (Luke 10:21). Therefore we see that our Lord is not thinking only or chiefly of children, but rather of the childlike. To these God has revealed great truths which he has not given to the worldly wise. So, following the context of St. Matthew, we are reminded that the citizens of Capernaum and other towns missed the truth which a handful of fishermen had laid hold of. At first the gospel began to spread among the lower classes of the Roman empire. The same is seen in India to-day.
I. WHY THE REVELATION IS HIDDEN FROM THE WISE. This cannot be owing to an arbitrary decision of God without need or reason. We must look for the explanation in the character and conduct of the wise. Now, it is not to be supposed that our Lord would depreciate intellect as such, because that would be to speak ill of one of the great works of God; moreover, he had a great intellect himself. Neither could he wish to discourage mental activity, to praise indolence and carelessness of thought. Where, then, do the disadvantages of the wise lie?
1. The wise have no special privilege in regard to religious truth. This does not reach us through intellectual efforts, nor does it rest on a foundation of scientific or literary acquirements. The child and the philosopher, the simple and the learned, must find God's greatest truth in the same way, and that a way as open to the babe in intellect as to the intellectual giant.
2. The wise are tempted to look in the wrong direction for religious truth. The man of science cannot easily escape from the thraldom of his scientific methods; the scholar is often so buried in his learning that he finds it hard to lift up his eyes from his books—and, alas ] the truth he most needs is not in them; the thinker cannot escape from the notion that he by his thought must reach truth more readily than those who have not his trained faculties, and he tries to climb to religious truth on the aerial ladder of speculation.
3. The wise are in danger of pride. It is difficult for them to confess their ignorance and helplessness. The truly wise are perhaps most ready to do this; but Christ rather referred to those who accounted themselves wise or who had a reputation for wisdom, such as the scribes.
II. HOW THE REVELATION IS REVEALED TO BABES.
1. We must remember that it is a revelation. The truth of Christ is not a product of human thinking, nor is it a discovery that men have to make for themselves. It could never be got by the pursuit of science or learning. It is a gift of God, and he can give it as readily to a babe as to a wise man.
2. This revelation only comes to those who are receptive. A feeling of wisdom is rather one of fulness and satisfaction. It is necessary, however, to feel empty and needing light and guidance. Now, the childlike soul is just in this condition.
3. The knowledge of truth is conditioned by faith. Some despise religious faith as lacking in foundation, and treat knowledge or even doubt as superior to it. But this is to misapprehend religious faith, which is not the acceptance of a creed, but trust in a Person. We want grounds for this confidence, but when we trust God we are prepared to receive his revelation, and the most childlike are the most ready to trust him.—W.F.A.
The yoke of rest.
It is a common mistake to divide these verses and to quote the first of them—the invitation to the weary—without the others, which are really essential to the practical comprehension of Christ's method of giving rest; because it is in the conclusion of the whole passage that we discover how we may obtain rest from Christ. We must, therefore, look both at the blessing offered and at the means by which this blessing may be obtained.
I. THE BLESSING IS REST.
1. In what it consists. The soul of man in weariness and unrest craves for peace and repose. This is more than the outward calm of quiet circumstances. Many have that who are victims to a storm of unrest within—ship-wrecked sailors tossing on the waves of their own passions. The true rest is not idleness. While the heart is at rest the hand may be at work. We can never work so well as with a restful mind. Neither is this rest a state of mental torpor. The mind may be wide awake, but calm and at peace—like the sea when its waves are still, and yet its deep waters teem with life, and great fleets sweep over its surface.
2. For whom it is designed. Those who labour and are heavy laden. Some people are naturally restful, constitutionally placid. But Christ desires to bring rest to troubled souls. He has sympathy for the toiling multitude; he brings peace to those whose lives are burdened. This may apply especially to those whose toil is inward—in the effort to overcome temptation, and who are heavily laden with the weight of sin.
II. THE BLESSING OF REST IS TO BE OBTAINED BY WEARING THE YOKE OF CHRIST. Let us see what this involves.
1. A personal approach to Christ. Jesus begins his words to the weary with the gracious invitation, "Come unto me." Let not any heartbroken, despondent person hold back in fear, for the invitation is just for him. "Arise; the Master calleth thee!" But he cannot receive the blessing until he goes to Christ. Rest begins in personal contact with Christ.
2. Submitting to the rule of Christ. Some have thought that by his reference to the yoke our Lord meant to indicate that the weary might yoke themselves to him, and that he and his tired disciple might walk under the same yoke—the greater part of the weight of which he would bear. Certainly there is some yoke to be borne by Christ's disciple. We do not escape from restlessness by plunging into lawlessness and self-will. On the contrary, our self-will is the source of our deepest unrest. When this is conquered we shall be at peace. Therefore the service of Christ, which involves the suppression of self, is the way of inward restfulness. To bear his yoke, nay, even to carry his cross, is to find rest. While we look for personal comfort and escape from duty, we are miserable and restless; when we cease to think of our own ease and give ourselves up to Christ's service, to bear his yoke, we find peace.
3. Following in the way of Christ. They who would have rest must learn of Christ. Then the rest does not come in a moment. It will be obtained just in the degree in which the great lesson is learnt. Further, this is a lesson in meekness and lowliness. Then rest will come in proportion as we become meek and lowly like Christ.—W.F.A.
HOMILIES BY P.C. BARKER
Matthew 11:2 (see also Luke 7:18)
The forearming against a foreseen unbelief.
Note in introduction that St. Luke's placing of this narrative is the preferable one. it was during the period of absence of the twelve, after they had been "commanded," that John was beheaded. The entire current of tiffs chapter, that seems so exceptional in its character in some respects, is blown upon and troubled, as it were, by that presence, an ever-disturbing one, the phenomenal one, of unbelief. Notice—
I. A PROPHET'S FORESEEING OF THE WORKING OF UNBELIEF, POSSIBLY EVEN BEING TOUCHED WITH A FEELING OF IT HIMSELF; AND HIS PROVISION AGAINST IT, WHETHER FOR HIS PEOPLE ALONE OR FOR, THE SAKE OF HIMSELF AND THEM. It is stud by Jesus Christ here that a greater prophet had not arisen than John the Baptist. He had heralded Christ; he had baptized him; he had announced and pointed to him as "the Lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the world," and worthily had he already confessed him and the truth before the gainsaying and the ungodly. It is just conceivable that, in his prison and bonds, stone untoward wave of doubt may have crossed his peaceful breast. But it is all the more unlikely, whereas we read that it was when he heard through his disciples of the mighty works of Christ that he sent the question, "Art thou he that should conic, or do we look for another?" Again, as his end drew near, it was certainly not merely plausibly, but justly and really likely, that his anxiety for the informed faith, and the strong, firm faith of his disciples, should be quickened. Had the evangelist made one comment of his own that the reason of John, when he sent his interrogation to his Lord and Master, was "to the end that" his own little flock, soon to be as sheep without their Shepherd, "might" the rather "believe," and might not fail to know the one, only good Shepherd, this old question would never once have been stirred. That neither of the evangelists does this need be no surprise at all to us, unless indeed it might be to a suggestion of our too easily awaking unbelief, oscillating as we so often are, between unbelief and credulily. And see, therefore," the mighty works," say his disciples to John; and he to them again, "the mighty works;" and he sends two of them to Jesus, and he also, having done afresh all a glorious circle of mighty works, while they witnessed, he, of his own abounding sweet grace, grace to teach, and grace to help, and grace to guard the astray, and to confirm the weak, takes up the word, and re-echoes it home to the prison—"the mighty works!"—these "that I do bear witness of me." And, at all events, we are not told that the mission and the return message were in vain. If it were so, that John himself needs for the last earthly agony one more reviving word. of the Holy One, he has it; and for their life his followers and disciples have it. Was it, indeed, a last word of recognition of his servant by the Lord and Master and Saviour of him, that there was added the benediction, "And blessed is he who shall not be offended in me"? John the Baptist was too near the blessing now to let it slip; too near to be permitted to let it slip, or to slip himself from the grasp, or be plucked from the hand of that Saviour. The works of Christ, the works of Christianity, the works of the Christian, and the works of the man who says he is such, but in works denies it, are, and shall be to the end, the test of each respectively.
II. THE: UNEXPECTED OCCASION THAT CHRIST, EVER WATCHFUL, UTILIZES, IN ORDER TO DIRECT AND TO AID THE BELIEF OF "THE MULTITUDES." John the Baptist had roused a vast amount of attention in the nation. He had not failed in a jot of the accomplishment of the work he had been appointed to do, and had been announced centuries past, as appointed to do; nor had he failed in the realization of the character, and all that belonged to it, which was prophesied as the mark of him. It appears (verse 7) that "multitudes" had been present while Jesus had given audience to the deputation from John the Baptist, and had given answer to them also. Christ had, of course, ever approved of the attention that the nation had given to the appearance and preach-of his forerunner. But of what use, and to what end was it, that they gave attention to that herald if they proceeded no further, if they did not "come to him"? The threefold question of Christ leads up now to this, and bears, strictly upon tile question of the people's belief. The question is, "What was it ye went out into the wilderness to see?" They went out in wondering, excited throngs. They heard a preacher of novel utterance; they saw a personage of unusual habit and diet; some believed and some believed not, but all had their thoughts, and all talked and argued. When confronted with the question, it was impossible to them to answer that they had gone out for nothing; impossible fur them to admit that they had. gone out to see a mere natural product, a mere native of the desert, stunted grass, or a trembling barren reed, the habitat of which was the sandy or rocky wind-blown waste. It was equally impossible for them to plead that they had gone there to see the luxury, wealth, show of social life—the diametrical opposite of the desert; this every one knew was not there, and had not been there by any accident now. No, they could not deny that they had been out to see a prophet; and the further truth was, the prophet, allowed and incontestable—for it was "he of whom it was written," in their well-known and prized prophetic oracles, "Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, to prepare thy way before thee." They had flocked out to see John the Baptist, and "he it was who had testified of him." What an introduction for those multitudes to Christ! Why should they not now, "mighty works" and all else added, "believe on" and "follow" him? And Christ adds, the youngest true convert of the Church, the tyro in the school of the Church, the as yet unfledged apostle, is greater than he, more blessed, and with still nobler career before him. What a call of grace! What an inspiration to be offered to human ear! And how true, that in a certain sense the knell of prophecy had ceased, and yielded place to the ringing tidings of the Church of the kingdom ] Its doors had been open but for a short time, but what press into it had there been, and how eagerly had the longing, craving, starving, and determined taken possession of its blessed shelter and hope!
III. THE METHOD WHICH CHRIST DID NOT HESITATE TO USE IN ORDER TO CHARACTERIZE GENERALLY THE CONDUCT OF THE UNBELIEVING OF THAT GENERATION. He used a similitude which, plainly as it must speak to any type of national mind, was probably additionally telling and significant to those for whom he then in the first instance spoke. A picture of the perversity of children suffices to portray this. The music of Christ is not listened to, nor the wail of warning of John; neither the stern rigour of this, nor the winning attractiveness of that! Such as these, who is to seek them, who to win, who to save? Dwell on the fact that Christ consents to condescend, by all and various method, to ply the stubborn, the rebellious, the hard-hearted, the "stiff-necked." What patience is this that instructs, but also argues and pleads, and by each avenue of approach to mind, to heart, to temper, to make his urgent and pitiful appeal! At last, where are the children of disobedience? But Wisdom's children justify their name and parentage.
IV. THE DISTINCT DENOUNCING OF JUDGMENT, WITH THE ANNOUNCING OF THE DAY OF JUDGMENT, FOR THOSE WHO RESISTED AND REFUSED THE TEACHING AND INTENT OF "THE MIGHTY WORKS" WROUGHT BY HIM. The lips that loved mercy, and belonged to a heart that supremely loved mercy, speak thus forth that very reason, because they love mercy, and the day of judgment was not yet come. The Lord "mourns for towns where the wonders of Divine power had been most manifestly set forth, which once had the mystery of God, and which might have brought forth the fruit of virtues." The Saviour's "Woe'!" is denunciation indeed, but denunciation mingled with the most pathetic of grief. Tyre and Sidon had indeed trodden under foot the law of nature, and "without cause;" but these towns, after that they had transgressed the natural and the written Law, also make light of those "mighty wonders" which had been wrought among them.
V. THE CALM OUTFLOW OF THE SON'S PERFECT SYMPATHY OF PRAISE TOWARD THE FATHER. Dwell on:
1. The title by which the Father is addressed, as "Lord of heaven and earth"—once the Maker of both, ever the Ruler and Disposer of both, but withal to be adored as the Uniter of the one to the other. It is a reminiscence of the prayer Jesus taught: "Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven."
2. The perfect consent and harmony that the known counsel and will of God the Father receives of the Son.
3. The matter which now serves to illustrate this, viz. the revealing to the childlike, the poor in spirit, the pure, the meek, of those things, deep as hell and high as heaven, which their souls were indeed able to receive, and which became "more abundant life" in them; and the withholding them from others, viz. those whose blindness, but self-sufficiency, could only misconceive, misrepresent, adulterate them, and increase their own condemnation.
4. The fact that Christ utters no vindication, but does speak perfect acquiescence in the sovereign sight and sovereign will. Dwell also generally on the symptoms suggested by this pause, this personal episode, so full of feeling, occurring in the midst of the current of all that was transpiring in the crooked and perverse generation. What did it mean? How close it seemed to bring heaven down to earth, and what absolute and real inter-communion!
VI. THE ENDING OF ALL THE ARGUMENT AND EXPOSTULATION' WITH UNBELIEF BY THAT UNSURPASSED INVITATION AND OFFER, OF SURPASSING GRACE, "COME UNTO ME, ALL THAT LABOR," ETC. First, note the covering, forgiving love Of this call. It is as though the memory of his own mission, and the supremest object and end of it, flashed again fresh upon the wonderful vision already of the Saviour, partly as he had threaded the way that day through the subterfuges of unbelief, and partly as just now for one moment of elysian communion he had addressed himself to the Father. Second, note the breadth and the length of that call—"Come to me, all that toil and are heavily burdened (do not translate "All ye"). Those that day, and in that place, who had tangled themselves in the meshes and the excuses of unbelief; those far and wide, as the good tidings should travel to them, of an all-sufficient help; those down through all the ages of time who had toiled, to take nothing, and had overburdened themselves, to break their own strength;—to all these the invitation of this surpassing grace is given. Thirdly, note the intrinsic, inherent, unconscious right and claim involved in the invitation on the part of him who gives it. There is no mistaking the word of it; it is "Come to me." Fourthly, note the engagement entered into. "I will give you rest"—rest from biting care; rest from bitter memory; rest from the chagrin of vain and wasted toil; rest from a reproaching conscience; rest from remorse. Who ever offered to enter into such an engagement except he who now did so? And he only can perform it. What tribute to his faithfulness to that offer, invitation, assurance, would millions, absolutely untold, render and present from that day to this! Lastly, note the more developed form of the simple call, "Come to me." It is this: "Take my yoke on you," and the burden I bear with it. The yoke is easy, the burden is light; for I am meek, and give my neck meekly to the yoke, and the burden follows, lightly weighing. These are of the highest things to be learned on earth of Jesus. Nor is there honour to compare with this—to wear the yoke that he wore, and wear it like him; to bear the burden he bore, and bear it like him. So have we learned of Jesus, and so shall learn, more and more.—B.
HOMILIES BY MARCUS DODS
John's inquiry.
I. THE MOTIVE OF THIS INQUIRY OF JOHN'S is not at once apparent. What was causing him perplexity, if not disappointment, about our Lord? He was disappointed because the works he heard of were not the kind of works he had himself expected the Messiah to perform. His own work had been to denounce prevailing iniquities, and to predict the advent of One who should cleanse with fire where he cleansed with water; who would come in the same spirit as himself, but with a mightier manifestation of it; One who would lay the axe to the root of the tree of evil, and quickly execute judgment in Israel. His whole soul went forth with expectation, and there was nothing to meet it. He had learned how short a time would be given to any one who was resolved to root out evil from the land. Why, then, this passive inactivity on the part of Jesus? Why was he content to go about in villages, helping beggars, speaking with uninfluential sinners, while the nation groaned under foreign tyranny and cried for its king? From this doubting inquiry of John's we may learn several things, as:
1. How entirely Jesus had to depend on himself. What must have been the clearness of aim and stability of purpose which could put aside not only the popular expectation, but the grave judgments and suggestions of men like John?
2. John's state of mind shows how apt people are to allow their own distresses to distort their views of Providence. When things go against us, and the despotic laws of the world move on and pay no respect to our prayers or our piety, we are apt to admit doubts where all was plain and sure to us.
3. When we ourselves are not used in God's work, we are tempted to think he is doing nothing. If a religious movement goes on without us, we think of it critically and with suspicion.
4. We see here how insignificant the effects of the gospel always seem. John saw only what he thought a good doctor could rival.
II. THE ANSWER SENT BY JESUS TO JOHN becomes at once intelligible so soon as the nature of the inquiry is understood. The important item in the report was the preaching of the gospel to the poor. it had always been recognized as characteristic of the Messiah that the poor were to be gladdened when he came. He would not overlook those whom all other governors overlooked. This was equivalent to saying that no human necessities were beyond the relief he brought. He was to bring in a religion available for all men—for those who had nothing but humanity to recommend, aid, or support them. Until his kingdom was fully established this could only be a proclamation of good news, and so works of beneficence went hand in hand with the preaching, to show that the promise was not mere word. The miracles were thus actual proclamations. To the report of what they saw and heard the messengers were to add the words, "Blessed is he whosoever shall not be offended in me." As if he would say, "I have chosen my methods of action. Blessed is he who understands the characteristic features of the kingdom and can rejoice in them. Blessed is he who does not take offence at the Saviour of the world because he comes with mercy and not with judgment. Blessed is he who understands that the most penetrating, lastingly efficacious powers in the world are forgiveness, tenderness, and pitiful ministering to the common wants." This word of warning applies to several kinds of misapprehension.
1. There are those to whom it seems unintelligible that Christ's work is so slow, that he is so tardy in making any marked impression on the world, that things should go on so much as if he had no power in heaven or on earth. In times of need they are tempted to ask, "Art thou he that should come?" But blessed are ye who, thus tempted, are able to accept Christ's way, not in sullen resignation, but believing that it is unintelligible to you only because his aim is higher than yours, his love greater, his wisdom more unclouded, his methods more radical. He will not always explain; he expects you will trust him warmly and lovingly, and so grow to understand his spirit; he will trust you for coming at last to see as he sees, and he leaves with you this loving word.
2. Christ here shows in what spirit he meets honest doubt about his Person and work. He knew that beneath that question of John's, which so shocked the bystanders, there was a heart more capable of loyalty to him than was to be found in any of those who gave their easy assent to claims they scarcely understood. That question of John's was of more value to him than the unreasoning hosannas of thoughtless followers; for through that question he saw a man in terrible earnest, to whom the answer was eternal life or eternal darkness. Nothing can be more contemptible than the doubts which are paraded, as if to doubt were an intellectual achievement, as if the man who lives in doubt were in a more advanced stage than he who has found the truth. Of such doubters, who question truth not that they may be answered, but for the sake of display, we have more than enough in these days. But there are also doubters, like the Baptist, whose doubt is wrung from an agonized heart, whose whole happiness is bound up in the question they put, and who, if Jesus be not the Christ, will sink in infinite despair. They try to fit in Christ's Word and salvation to what they actually find in their own life; they try to make Christ's rule as real as their own worldly business, and find themselves forced to wonder whether Christ is indeed meaning to rule on earth. Then Christ shows them that the power he desires on earth is just that power he is actually and all round putting forth, in bringing light to darkened souls, life to the dead. This is the real work he came to do, and by doing which he proves his claim. If anything were needed to prove the absence of resentment with which our Lord viewed John's question, it is his defence of John from the reflections of the people. He points out to them that he had never been a man with whom the idea of weakness could be associated—a reed shaken with the wind. He was the very last whose opinion would be moulded by his position. But it was of small moment what they thought of John as a man compared to their right understanding of the comparative value of the preaching of John and the preaching of the kingdom—of the difference between the reformation urged by John and the regeneration proclaimed by himself. In order sharply to mark this he says, "Among them that are born of women there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist: notwithstanding he that is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he." He was a true prophet, yea, more than the greatest prophet bad been, but all his zeal for righteousness, for the unflinching application of the Law, bad, as it now appeared, unfitted him to appreciate the temper and spirit of the new era. Any one in the kingdom animated by the characteristic spirit of love is greater than he. It is not so much a comparison of any individual with John as of the new era with the outgoing era. It is rather the instrument than the man that is spoken of. John could point out a thousand wrongs that needed to be redressed, a thousand sins that must be abandoned; but Jesus, without much denunciation of sin, gave men a love for himself that ejected the love of sin. John put the righteousness of God in the front of his teaching; Jesus put the love of God. And he who has the smallest tincture of the spirit of Jesus has more influence than one who has the inflexible righteousness of John.—D.
John and Jesus: children in the market-place.
After dismissing the messengers of John, there appeared to our Lord urgent need of indicating with precision the merits and defects of the Baptist's work, so that the people might understand hew it was the Baptist was disappointed in the Messiah he had so enthusiastically heralded, and what were the relations mutually held by the Baptist, the Messiah, and the people. In doing so our Lord touches on—
I. THE GREATNESS OF JOHN AND HIS WORK. He is unhesitating in the praise and admiration he bestows. Challenging comparison with any hero of old time, the conclusion still is, "There hath not risen a greater." And the distinctive greatness of his character was only in keeping with the unique importance of his work. This is indicated when he says of John that he was more than a prophet—a messenger preparing the way, an immediate forerunner. Up to John's time the prophets and the Law had prophesied; now the kingdom was not pointed at, but stormed and possessed. It is no longer a hope, it is a present reality; the kingdom is come. The land which had seemed very far off to the older prophets was there for whosoever had faith to win it. [By the unusual expression he employs, our Lord apparently intends to emphasize the two ideas,
(1) that only men of earnestness and vigour can win the kingdom, and
(2) that in the entrance there is much disorder and tumult.
1. Of the first of these Bunyan is the best expositor, in his picture of the man who with his drawn sword made his way into the palace. Bunyan knew that it is only by the men that can stand blows and the sight of blood that the kingdom is won even now. Many, indeed, are they who still bar the entrance, and they fight with every variety of weapon.
2. In periods when appeal is made to the elementary forces of human nature, much that is indecorous, much that is illegal, is apt to be done. And when the religious life of a community is trying to shape for itself new forms, there always come to the front men of violence, men of the type of Luther, who disgust men of taste like Erasmus, but who are the fit instruments for taking by assault the new stronghold in which faith is to find refuge. The Pharisees were shocked to see the kind of people who crowded after Jesus, and the manner of their following. We are warned, therefore, to judge no movement by its superficial unseemliness and disorderly ways, but by the underlying principles which are really its moving power.
II. Diverse as were the types of character exhibited by John and Jesus, and by their message, both were unsatisfactory to the mass of the people. John demanded of them a righteousness which seemed impossible; and Jesus was still more unsuitable, even unintelligible—a mere good-natured time-server, indifferent to the sorrows of his people so long as he could be tolerably comfortable. John has nothing but stern denunciation—we have piped unto him, but not a step will he dance. Jesus goes to the other extreme; has no ear for any of our national sorrows, and seems quite able to be happy, though overtaxed and under foreign rule—we have mourned unto him, and he has not lamented.
1. There are people who live at feud with their generation because they cannot get their own whim petted, their own idea responded to. They cannot fall in with any of the religious movements of their time, and find in the market-place of life only food for their own disappointed vanity. The children of Wisdom, on the contrary, justify the wisdom which moves religious leaders to adopt differing methods. They see in John a congruity to his work. In one who was impartially to criticize all classes, and be an embodied conscience to the whole community, there was wisdom in showing, even in his outward aspect, that he was prepared to lead the way in stern repression of self-indulgence, and superiority to the influences of fashion and worldly expectation. It is quite true he is extreme, one-sided, a man of one idea, but much of the most important work in the world is effected by men of one idea, who are blind to all else but the one thing they have to do. Similarly, a free, cheerful intercourse with men became him whose work it was, not to reveal one aspect of God, but his whole attitude towards men, and whose nature it was to be every man's Fellow, the Son of man. If Jesus is not only to convince of sin, but to save his people from their sins, how can he do so save by loving them and moving among them, and giving them his hand to help them?
2. Goodness may manifest itself in various forms of life, and we must judge men's manner and conduct by the work they have to do. Our heavenly Father is pleased with modes of life as diverse as the natures he has bestowed on us, and we need not condemn ourselves or others on the ground that our goodness does not express itself in a certain conventional form.
3. The man who makes his own tastes and expectations the measure of the religious movements of his time is apt to make mistakes fatal to his own religious growth. He will get no good from any of the movements that stir and advance other people, and he will get all the harm, the hardening of the heart, the self-righteous vanity, the hypocritical blindness to the truth, which must result from opposing the work of God in his own generation. Let us be sure we are giving our serious conviction and fullest energy to some form of life we are persuaded God approves, that we are not playing at religion like children in the market-place. Seek God in the way that commends itself to your conscience, bug be sure it is him and not your own method you adore, and when you have found him try and see him in all and through all and over all.—D.
Jesus rejected by the wise, but owned by babes and the Father.
Having illustrated by one or two sayings of our Lord what was his judgment of John and of those who heard John's teaching, Matthew sets alongside of these others regarding the towns which had enjoyed exceptional opportunities of forming an adequate idea of his Person and work. The complaint against these cities was that "they repented not." They were not sinners above other men, as Sodom and Gomorrah had been. But when Jesus came exhibiting the kingdom of heaven, and inviting men to enter it, they were expected to repent of having chosen any other object as their chief good, and to welcome the kingdom as the Father's best gift. They were summoned at once to repentance and faith. In our Lord's judgment, then, that is the most damning condition of human life, in which a man has seen the kingdom of God but not felt drawn to it above all else. In the case of Capernaum there is an additional element of woe. For some months Jesus had made it the centre of his operations. And it may not unnaturally have occurred to the inhabitants that, as Jerusalem had rejected the Messiah, this town might be exalted to the high position of metropolis of the kingdom. But when he definitely enounced the pure spirituality of his mission, intense repugnance and resentment at once took the place of admiration, and from a heaven of Messianic expectation they fell to a hell of disappointment, bitterness, and godless despair. Such transitions are of not infrequent occurrence. Religious enthusiasm has been kindled under false impressions of what our Lord offers, and when it becomes apparent that he does not bestow an easy conquest over sin, but only grace which enables a man through painful self-denial to win self-mastery, bitter murmuring takes the place of hope, and he turns in fierce resentment against our Lord, as if he were accountable for the misconceptions of his kingdom which a worldly, weak, and self-seeking nature cannot but make. In what spirit and temper did our Lord accept this sad result of his teaching? Admitting frankly and without any sneer that the wise and prudent had discountenanced him, he finds his solace in the fact that the babes had received him, and that, if earthly authorities disowned his claim, his Father knew him. The wise and prudent in his day were the trained teachers, the leaders in religion, the men who had been at much pains to ascertain the meaning of Scripture, and to maintain the kind of character which they considered acceptable to God. They had their minds made up already about all things human and Divine, and to minds thus filled with preconceived ideas Jesus seemed either unintelligible or blasphemous. Sadly, therefore, he turns to those who were unsophisticated by centuries of systematic teaching, but could by their native instincts discern between good and evil. The law illustrated by our Lord's experience is again and again referred to in Scripture, as if all religious teachers had been brought into practical contact with it. Paul e.g. says, "Not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called;" and this not as if God were jealous of the wise, or had some special dislike to men of education, but because the mind of the educated man has difficulties in the way of his acceptance of the gospel from which the uneducated is happily exempt. When we are introduced to truths which the intellect is too small to comprehend, we are tempted to reject them because the ordinary methods of inquiry fail us. Few men of intellect escape the mental perplexity and suffering which this entails. There are truths which we must accept in faith, on the word of him who is better informed than we, and whom we know to be true. Intellect has its place and its function in connection with Christian truth; but in point of fact and as matter of history intellect has not discovered God. Christ has done so, and that man makes best growth in Christ's school who has humility enough to accept his teaching. But while our Lord was thus on all hands met by repulse and unbelief, he had one unfailing source of comfort. The Father knew who he was—that he was no misled enthusiast, no pretentious blasphemer, but God's own Son. Again, men might despise his unconventional teaching, mistaking genuine simplicity for ignorance of high matters, they might upbraid him with contradicting the received teaching about God, but he could say truthfully, "No man knoweth the Father save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him." By this consciousness did he stimulate himself again to return, and once more to seek to convince men of the Father's love. And there was a third element in this sustaining consciousness. Judged by his present success, he seemed feeble and of small influence, yet he reminded himself that "all things were delivered unto him of his Father." He was to be God so far as men and this world were concerned. Men might ignore him and deny his teaching, but they could not prevent him from raising the dead, from rebuking the winds and waves, from returning their contempt with compassion, their hatred with love, from living righteously and lovingly so as to be a light to all generations. They could not prevent him from accepting God's Spirit and living in his humanity as the perfect image of the Father, and thus exercising an influence on human affairs that deepens as the world grows. But the practical outcome of our Lord's experience of the hostility, suspicion, and contempt of men was not merely to confirm his own consciousness of his fellowship with the Father, but also to lead him confidently to invite to himself all who found life laborious and burdensome. And that he does this at the very moment when we should have naturally expected to find him most hopeless, is not without significance. He has been compelled by the cold reception given him to revise his claims, to cross-examine his own consciousness of a Divine commission, and the result of this is the tenderest and most assured invitation to weak and weary men that ever fell from his lips. It is not the cheerful and over-confident utterance of a happy moment; it is the sober, weighty, reasoned deliverance of one who has pondered the matter all round, and who promises only what he knows he can stand to and make good. He bids you consider that you may have rest. However defeated and soiled with the dust of conflict, however paralyzed and dismayed your heart, however weary of the little that comes of all your striving, to you he offers partnership with himself. He will make all things a school, in which you will be encouraged by his presence, and from which you shall pass into that full maturity and fitness for all the future which begin in meekness and lowly carrying of his yoke.—D.
HOMILIES BY J.A. MACDONALD
The credentials of Messiah.
The precepts of the charge which Jesus had given to his disciples are here called his commands. Christ's commissions are commands (cf. Psalms 105:8; 1 Corinthians 9:16). He "made an end of commanding." The instructions of Christ are complete. Then "he departed to teach," more privately, "and preach," publicly, "in their cities." His ministry leaves men without excuse. "Now when John had heard in prison," etc. We have here—
I. THE INQUIRY OF JOHN.
1. As to its occasion.
(1) Jesus wrought the works of the Christ. Miracles were expected of Messiah (see John 7:31).
(2) He wrought them in the cities of Galilee. The cities of Galilee were the cities of the disciples (cf. verse 20, etc.; Acts 2:7). Jesus took care of their cities while they visited others—perhaps the cities of Judaea. He does not allow the interests of those who do his work to suffer. The remotest connection with Christ is attended with blessing. Even the ungodly enjoy civilizing influences where the religion of Jesus is in the air.
(3) The fame of the Messianic works reached John in his prison. It was carried to him there by his own disciples (see Luke 7:18). So John saw with gladness the fulfilment of his own words, "He must increase, but I must decrease" (John 3:30). He was truly "the friend of the Bridegroom."
2. As to the matter.
(1) It had respect to the Coming One. This was one of the titles of Messiah (see Psalms 118:26; Matthew 21:9; Matthew 23:1. Matthew 23:39).
(2) It concerned his identity. Jesus met the general expectation as to his lineage. He was "of the house and lineage of David" (cf. Psalms 132:11; Jeremiah 23:5; Luke 2:4; John 7:42). As to the place of his manifestation. His birth was at Bethlehem (see Micah 5:2). His ministry chiefly in Galilee (see Isaiah 9:1, Isaiah 9:2). As to the time. It was approaching the completion of Daniel's seventy weeks, viz. of years (Daniel 9:24, etc.). Moreover, Jesus did the works of the Christ, as we have seen.
(3) Yet the inquiry is raised, "Do we look for another?" Many prophecies describe the coming of Messiah in glory; but Jesus came in humiliation. For this reason, overlooking the fact that many likewise describe his coming in humiliation, Jesus was rejected by the Jews, and they still indeed "look for another."
(4) The imprisoned John, who was yet to be beheaded, was the fitting forerunner of the Christ in his advent in suffering and death (see John 17:12). Elijah, in full form, who cannot be imprisoned, will herald the second advent of Jesus in power.
3. As to the reason.
(1) Was it that John doubted? His prophetic impulses, taken together with his repeated testimonies, forbid this supposition (cf. John 1:6, John 1:33; John 3:26; John 5:32, John 5:33). The confidence of John was not shaken by his sufferings. He was not "a reed shaken by the wind" (verse 7). John knew that the works, of which he had heard in the prison, were "the works of the Christ."
(2) It was rather that the disciples of John questioned. Like the majority of their countrymen, they might have stumbled at the meanness of the birth of Jesus and the humility of his station (see verse 6). They might also have questioned as to why, if Jesus were the Christ, he did not deliver their master from prison. Doubters may ever find occasions.
(3) But why did John send his doubting disciples to Jesus? He judged that to be the true way to fix their wavering minds. All doubters should take the hint. Instead of conversing with Voltaire, let them converse with Jesus. Let them honestly study his Word. By earnest prayer let them seek the light of his Spirit upon it.
II. THE ANSWER OF JESUS.
1. It was indirect, yet decisive.
(1) It differed in form from his express answers upon other occasions. To the woman of Samaria he said, "I that speak unto thee am he." To the man who had been born blind he said, "Thou hast both seen him, and he it is that speaketh with thee." To the high priest, when adjured, he said, "I am [the Christ, the Son of the Blessed]: and ye shall see the Son of man sitting at the right hand of power, and coming with the clouds of heaven".
(2) The form of the answer on the present occasion was suited to the temper of the questioners. It was an appeal to evidence. Jesus encourages the use of reason in religion. He recognizes the province of private judgment.
2. It was an appeal to testimony.
(1) "Go and tell John the things which ye do hear." They were now in the region in which "most of his mighty works were done" (verse 20). They had the best opportunity for examining witnesses.
(2) They could take evidence respecting the raising of the daughter of Jairus; and they had the report of the raising of the son of the widow of Nain (see Matthew 9:25, Matthew 9:26; Luke 7:17, Luke 7:18, etc.). The rabbins held that "in the land where the dead should arise, the kingdom of the Messiah should commence."
3. It was also an appeal to sense.
(1) "Go and tell John the things which ye do see" (cf. Isaiah 35:5, Isaiah 35:6; Isaiah 42:7). For Jesus doubtless wrought miracles before them.
(2) Certainly they heard the gospel preached to the poor. This was a new thing. The scribes, like the heathen philosophers, courted the rich, and treated the poor and ignorant with contempt (John 7:49). To preach the gospel to the lowly was a Messianic mark (cf. Isaiah 61:1 with Luke 4:18; also Zephaniah 3:12; Zechariah 11:11). The Son of David was to be the poor man's King (see Psalms 72:2, Psalms 72:4, Psalms 72:12, Psalms 72:13).
4. The Messianic miracles were parabolic works.
(1) The blind receiving sight was not only a proof that Jesus was the Christ, but also a specimen of the power which Messiah claimed to enlighten the prejudiced and error-blinded mind. In both senses, the opening of the eyes of the blind is God's prerogative (see Psalm clxii. 8).
(2) He that made the lame to walk can give steadiness and consistency to the limping and irregular life.
(3) The cleansing of the leper set forth the power of Christ to purify the soul from the corruption of sin.
(4) Making the deaf to hear, he evinced his power to reduce to obedience the most obstinate.
(5) In raising the dead, he proved himself the source of spiritual life also to the "dead in trespasses and sins."
5. It was an appeal to experience.
(1) To be offended in Christ, after appealing to us with such convincing evidence, would be a great unhappiness. How melancholy has been the history of the unbelieving Jew! That many should be offended is an actual mark of Messiah (see Isaiah 52:14).
(2) Happy is he who is not offended with the lowliness of Jesus. Whether in his Person or in his disciples. To rise above such offences is to many a difficult lesson.
(3) Those who drink into the spirit of the humiliation and sufferings of Jesus will also share in his future glory.—J.A.M.
The greatest of the prophets.
Two of John's disciples came to Jesus with the inquiry, "Art thou he that cometh, or look we for another?" Having replied to this inquiry and sent the men away, Jesus seized the opportunity to discourse to the multitude concerning John. Note: Jesus improved every opportunity. In this, as in everything, we should endeavour to follow him. In the description of John we see—
I. THE FEATURES OF A GREAT CHARACTER.
1. Deep and earliest conviction.
(1) John was no "reed shaken with the wind." The reed, hollow and pliant, was a fit symbol of levity and inconsistency (see Isaiah 36:6).
(2) In the marshes of the wilderness were many reeds; and John was among them, but not of them. Had he been a fickle character, he would not have had his immense following. For, however reedlike the multitude may be, they are led, for good or ill, by the stronger will. Many went out "for to see"—led by curiosity. So still are there many who attend the ministry of the gospel "for to see" and to be seen.
(3) John was not the creature of circumstances. He made circumstances bend to righteousness. He would not dishonour his conscience to purchase liberty or life; he carried his integrity to the prison and to the block.
(4) His testimony concerning Christ was like himself, decisive and unwavering. "He confessed, and denied not; and he confessed," and still he stuck to it (cf. John 1:20; John 3:28). Nor does he now, in prison, waver; for his object in sending his disciples to Jesus was not to settle any doubt in his mind, but to fix their faith.
2. Superiority to vulgar ambition.
(1) Some derive their greatness from their clothes. They affect "soft clothing." They are dependent for their distinction upon the skill of their tailor or dressmaker. Such weakness was not in John, whose raiment was rough and strong—camel's hair and leather. A man's character may be seen in his dress. The man in the rough clothes may be "great in the sight of the Lord" (Luke 1:15).
(2) Some derive their greatness from their surroundings. "They that wear soft raiment are in kings' houses." The address of the courtier, like his dress, is flattering. John, the son of a chief priest, might have been a courtier had he chosen; but his sphere was in the wilderness.
3. Integrity.
(1) As Elijah behaved before Ahab and Jezebel, so did John, who came in the spirit and power of Elijah, behave before Herod and Herodias. He would not wink at the sin of Herod because he occupied a throne; nor would he conciliate the favour of Herodias by silence when she should be reproved.
(2) Integrity was more to him than meat and drink. "John came neither eating nor drinking" (cf. verse 18; Luke 1:15). lie was a sell-denying man. Those who live a life of mortification are the less likely to be lured away from the integrity of religion.
4. The favour of God.
(1) This is the surest mark of greatness, for God cannot flatter. Jesus waited until John's disciples had retired before he pronounced his eulogy upon John.
(2) John when in prosperity bore testimony to Jesus. Jesus now, John being in adversity, bears testimony to John. The judgment of God is not influenced by the judgments of men.
(3) The testimony of Jesus to John came when John had finished his testimony. Judgment comes when our work is done (John 12:26). However consistency may suffer in the running, it will win at the goal.
II. THE TOKENS OF A GREAT PROPHET.
1. He was a prophet whose coming was predicted.
(1) He was predicted by Isaiah and Malachi (see Isaiah 40:3; Malachi 3:1; Malachi 4:5). lie was also predicted in the same quality by his father Zecharias, who was instructed by Gabriel (see Luke 1:17, Luke 1:76-42). As a prophet predicted John stands alone.
(2) John "came in the spirit and power of Elijah," not in his person. The latter he disclaimed. The absence of the article in connection with the name of Elijah (verse 14) shows this to be an autonomasia, or that he is the typical, not the actual, Elijah.
(3) He fulfilled the character of Elijah as described in prophecy.
(a) As forerunner to Messiah;
(b) appearing before the destruction of the second temple, to which Messiah was to come;
(c) as preaching repentance to turn the hearts of the wayward children to the faith of the fathers;
(d) all this before the coming of the day of judgment upon the nation.
(4) Elijah in person, however, will yet come to restore all things. Had the Jews received John as the forerunner of Jesus, had they repented to receive the gospel, then John would have been Elijah to them. Gospel truths must be received. Elijah in spirit introduced Jesus in humiliation at his first coming; Elijah in person, as the Jews still expect him, may introduce Jesus when he comes again, or herald his advent in glory.
2. John was the last and greatest of the prophets.
(1) "All the prophets and the Law prophesied." The Law prophesied of the gospel in its types. Christ began from Moses to interpret the Scriptures concerning himself (Luke 24:27).
(2) "Prophesied until John." John's testimony was the complement and completion of all the rest. Thence, being turned into history, prophecy ceased to be prophecy.
(3) The Old Testament in Malachi ends with Elijah; the New, in Mark, begins with Elijah again. The fulfilment of prophecy begins with John, who began to unfold, the sublimer system of the gospel (see Luke 16:16).
(4) John was more than a prophet. He was God's messenger. He was to go before the face of Immanuel. Our honour lies in our nearness to Christ. John testified to the Person of Christ.
III. THE LIMITS OF HUMAN GREATNESS.
1. John was the greatest of all that had arisen.
(1) "Among them that are born of women." A personage was introduced to the first Napoleon as the son of an eminent man. "Nay," said the sagacious emperor, "do not tell me who was his father, but who was his mother."
(2) The expression, "born of women," or naturally born, may be in contrast to the Son of God. Of the kingdom of heaven Jesus is the King.
(3) The superiority of John to his predecessors may be limited to his official distinction as the harbinger of Christ.
2. Yet is he surpassed by the least in the kingdom.
(1) The least in the kingdom of glory surpasses the greatest upon earth. There are degrees of greatness there. Here we are "lower than the angels; "there, "equal unto the angels" (see Psalms 8:5; Luke 20:36).
(2) The least of the prophets of the gospel is greater than John. The first preachers of the gospel worked miracles; but "John did no sign" (John 10:41). Every gospel minister declares the blessings already come of which John preached only the near approach (cf. Matthew 13:7; Luke 7:28).
(3) The least saint under the gospel, in possessing the higher gifts of the Spirit, has a richer experience than John enjoyed. (cf. Zechariah 12:8; John 3:31). The saint is not only "born of a woman," but also "born of God" (John 1:13). John did not know all those matters which a catechumen learns now from the Apostles' Creed.
(4) There is a progress in which human greatness evermore surpasses itself.
3. Since John men rush into the kingdom.
(1) Conspicuous in the rush are the poor, the publicans and the sinners—those who, according to the scribes, would have little right. "It is no breach of good manners to go into heaven before our betters" (Henry).
(2) He that will enter into the joys of salvation must be in earnest. He has to overcome the world, the flesh, and the devil. Earnestness in such a battle must be violent.
(3) "Since John." His ministry, which lasted about two years, was very successful. The thousands who embraced the gospel were probably roused by the ministry of John.—J.A.M.
The judgment of God.
The "generation" here rebuked is the race or succession of obstinately impenitent Jews headed and represented by the scribes and Pharisees. We are reminded—
I. THAT THE JUDGMENT OF GOD COMMENCES IN THIS WORLD.
1. The wicked are here convicted by the truth.
(1) The conceited scribe, who affected the wisdom of the sage, and the proud Pharisee, who affected the purity of the saint, are together humbled to the dust by being likened to querulous and pettish children, so utterly unreasonable and foolish that they can be pleased no way. Upon the principle, "The greater the truth the greater the libel," the justness of the rebuke is its sting.
(2) They waywardly rejected the testimony of John, who came in the habit of austerity (see Luke 1:15), preaching the self-denial of repentance and reformation. Note: The habit of a minister should agree with the matter of his ministry. To justify themselves, the Pharisees said of John, "He hath a devil." Note: The best actions of the good may become the worst of their accusations with the wicked (see Psalms 69:10). But truth searches the conscience.
(3) They rejected likewise the ministry of Jesus, whose habit was social, affable, and familiar, in keeping with that grace which distinguished his gospel from the message of John. Note: The true minister will, upon occasion, pipe as at a funeral or pipe as at a wedding (cf. 1 Corinthians 9:22; 1 Corinthians 12:6, 1 Corinthians 12:11). To justify themselves, the Pharisees said of Jesus that he was "a gluttonous man and a wine-bibber, a friend of publicans and sinners." Note: Unparalleled excellency is not proof against the reproach of tongues. Envy and malice may give an odious colouring to the noblest conduct.
(4) The simile of the children in the market-place accuses the impenitent Jews with treating the solemn messages of John and of Jesus as unrealities. For the piping of the children was but dramatic as they played at funerals and weddings. The sinner persuades himself that what he is unwilling to imitate does not come from God. So he distorts facts, carps at virtue as "extreme," and turns virtues into vices. But all this aggravates his accusation.
2. The condemnation of the wicked is the commendation of the good.
(1) "Wisdom is justified of her children." Christ is "Wisdom" itself. The disciples of Jesus are the "children" of wisdom (see Hebrews 2:13). Such were the "publicans and sinners" who received the messages which the Pharisees refused.
(2) The children of Wisdom justify the ways of Wisdom. They see the austere ways of John to be in good keeping with his mission; and what the Pharisees attribute to the devil they discern to be of God. So likewise the friendly, social ways of Jesus. To the upright in mind everything is good, as everything is evil to the vicious in heart.
(3) Those only truly justify Christ, "the Wisdom of God," who receive wisdom from him and exercise it in union with him. There must be an internal witness before there can be an internal belief. External evidence cannot carry internal conviction. "The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God."
(4) Wisdom is justified of her children when the fruits of wisdom bear testimony before men to the excellence of the principles that give them birth. The children of Wisdom are charged with the very character and credit of Christianity. It depends upon them to extend or diminish its influence in the world.
(5) Wisdom justifies her children.
3. The providence of God has its rewards.
(1) Tyre and Sidon, heathen cities of Phoenicia, were notable for their pride, luxury, idolatry, and their cruel and selfish exultation against Israel in the day of his reverses (see Ezekiel 18:2, Ezekiel 18:15, Ezekiel 18:16; Ezekiel 26:2; Ezekiel 27:3). They were warned by the Hebrew prophets, but repented not. The Babylonian invasion brought down their pride.
(2) Sodom, for her licentiousness, was destroyed by a tempest of fire from heaven.
(3) The cities of Galilee, specially favoured with the presence, teaching, and miracles of Jesus, were, for their impudence, doomed; and so complete has been their destruction, that their position is now uncertain.
II. THAT THE JUDGMENT OF GOD WILL BE COMPLETED IN THE WORLD TO COME.
1. Justice is not fully vindicated in this world.
(1) In many cases the righteous suffer from the hand of the wicked more than the wicked suffer from the hand of God in providence. There is a balance of equity to be adjusted between the righteous and the wicked.
(2) So is there a balance of equity to be adjusted between the wicked and the wicked. Desperately wicked persons escape punishment, or suffer it slightly, while others far less culpable suffer it in severity. Tyre and Sidon have yet to settle accounts with Chorazin and Bethsaida. So has Sodom with Capernaum.
(3) Only at the last day, when all the lights of all the ages come together, will it be possible to settle all the cross-accounts of humanity.
2. Tendencies of character will be considered in the judgment to come.
(1) In the scrutiny of motives it will be seen who was more or less impenitent; who would or would not, with increased light, have repented and reformed. It will be inquired not only how bad men are, but how much worse they would be with increased facilities for sinning, and how much better they might have been but for their own fault.
(2) Then it will be pleaded against the impenitence of Chorazin and Bethsaida that had Ezekiel, when denouncing the sin of Tyre, confirmed his prophecy by such miracles as Jesus wrought, there would have been repentance. It might have been a repentance like that of Nineveh, induced by fear; yet even that would be such a recognition of God as was wanting in the cities of Galilee. It will likewise be pleaded against the impenitence of Capernaum that had Lot wrought miracles he would not have seemed to the men of Sodom as one that mocked. Determined infidelity, the result of perverse false reasoning and self-righteous pride, was not the sin of the heathen cities.
3. There will be a righteous apportionment of punishment to the degree of guilt.
(1) Those who, like Capernaum, are exalted to heaven in opportunity, and still cleave to the earth, then they shall sink into hell. Capernaum was even more highly blessed with opportunity than Chorazin and Bethsaida, and its sin and misery are proportionately greater.
(2) The enlargement of the faculties through the preaching of the gospel will be an increased capacity for reward or punishment. What a terrible punishment will be the reproach in hell of having missed the opportunity of getting to heaven!
(3) But who can estimate the turpitude of that impenitence which is the very sinfulness of sin? No temporal punishment is sufficient to mark its heinousness. Hence even Sodom, which was destroyed by fire from heaven, will have to come up again for punishment. Though the men of Sodom will have been damned more than four thousand years, yet are they still to come up for a final doom.
(4) Will there not be a classification of characters at the judgment? How else will corporations such as Sodom and Tyre and Capernaum appear? May not the licentious be grouped under the heading of Sodom; the proud under the designation of Tyre; and the obstinately wicked under the style of the cities of Galilee? In what sense was Moses gathered to his people in contradistinction to his brother Aaron, who was gathered to Ms people (cf. Deuteronomy 32:50)?—J.A.M.
The knowledge of the Holy.
The "things" to which our Lord here refers may be better gathered Item what follows than from what goes before. They arc evidently spiritual things (Luke 19:42); things pertaining to—
I. THE HIGHEST KNOWLEDGE.
1. The knowledge of the Father.
(1) As the "Lord of heaven and earth." Thus known, he is recognized as the Source of all created things. Moreover, he is so constantly recognized as never to be merged or lost in second causes. He is the Ruler as well as the Creator of all.
(2) As the "God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ" (1 Peter 1:3). This knowledge recognizes the relationship of the Father to the Son in the mystery of the Incarnation. It moreover recognizes the covenant relationship in which the Father stands to the Son.
(3) As "our Father," viz. in respect to our creation in his image and his care over us in nature (Genesis 1:26; Matthew 5:45). In respect to our redemption through the Son of his love, by which we receive adoption into his family and renewal in his likeness.
2. The knowledge of the Son.
(1) This knowledge recognizes the reality of his manhood. It was no phantom. He was "bone of our bone."
(2) It recognizes also the reality of his Godhead. Those who only saw the manhood of Jesus never saw the Son of God. The discernment of the Father dwelling in him is essential to our seeing him as the Son (see John 14:8).
(3) The knowledge of the Son of God recognizes the beatification of the manhood in the Godhead. Christ as God is one with the Father; as Mediator he receives his power and glory from the Father (cf. Matthew 11:27; Matthew 28:18; John 5:22, John 5:27). We are encouraged to deliver our souls for their salvation into the hands into which the Father hath delivered "all authority and power" (see Zechariah 6:13).
II. THE METHOD OF ITS COMMUNICATION.
1. It is not attained by natural reason.
(1) Deists boast of the powers of reason, and plead for natural theology. They would substitute this for the theology of the Bible.
(2) But where would our natural theologians be but for the Bible? There are no natural theologians where the Bible has not been before them. Clearly, therefore, they credit their reason with the hints which they got from the Bible, whether they acknowledge it or not.
(3) But, after all, how far has their natural theology carried them? In its chapters they discourse of the Creator. But what about the Fatherhood of God? What about the Son of God and the Saviour of the world? These are matters about which sinners need to be certainly informed.
2. It is attained by Divine revelation.
(1) To this source we are indebted for the Bible. The evidence upon this subject is ample. The fact that there are no natural theologians without the Bible shows that human reason is not its source.
(2) "No one knoweth the Son, save the Father." The mystery of the Incarnation is only perfectly known to God. "Neither doth any know the Father, save the Son." The being and attributes of God are only perfectly known to Christ.
(3) These great subjects are only known to us just so far as they are revealed. We are drawn to the Son by the Father (John 6:44). The Son reveals himself by personal manifestation to the believer. This is a higher evidence than that of the miraculous works of the Father (see John 14:11).
(4) The happiness of man lies in his knowledge of God. It is "life eternal" (see John 17:1). There is no comfortable intercourse between a sinful man and a holy God but through the one competent Mediator (see John 14:6).
III. THE PERSONS WHO ARE HONORED WITH IT.
1. Not the "wise and understanding."
(1) This phrase is used in irony. The reference is to the scribes and Pharisees, who were "wise and understanding," viz. in their own conceits. They looked down upon the common "people who knew not the Law" as "accursed;" while they themselves, confounding the traditions of the elders with the Law, made the latter void. And so wise and understanding were they in their care net to be deceived by appearances, that they failed to discern the Messiah whom they sought.
(2) There are many who in our day expose themselves to the same irony. Some of the darkest upon spiritual questions are amongst the great scholars in human literature and science (see 1 Corinthians 1:21). And some have taken a leading part in opposition to the transcendent truth (see 1 Timothy 6:20).
(3) Such persons become subjects of judicial blindness. "Thou hast hid these things from the wise and understanding." Spiritual ignorance comes as a punishment upon obstinate unbelievers (cf. John 12:39, John 12:40; Acts 28:26, Acts 28:27; Romans 11:7, Romans 11:8).
(4) Moreover, Christ thanks the Father for this judicial dealing. Note: We must not let false compassion displace in us a proper jealousy for the justice and honour of God. Thanksgiving is the proper "answer" to dark and. disquieting thoughts. And mercy may be thankful for a judgment that is mingled with mercy in hiding from the obstinate a knowledge which would aggravate their doom.
2. The revelation is to babes.
(1) This is a Jewish term for unlearned persons (see Romans 2:20). It is, therefore, applied to the disciples of Jesus, who were simple men (cf. Psalms 8:2; Matthew 21:15, Matthew 21:16; Acts 4:13; 1 Corinthians 2:6). In this sense "to our children" belong "things that are revealed" (Deuteronomy 29:29).
(2) To the simple people Jesus gives his invitation, "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." The poor people are first called who groan under the burdens heavy and grievous to be borne, of laws and traditions laid on their shoulders by the scribes and Pharisees (see Matthew 23:4; Acts 15:10). If the Pharisee would himself come to Jesus, he must first become a babe (see Matthew 18:3).
(3) These only will implicitly submit to the guidance of Jesus who labour for the "rest" of his love. Others will seek rest in titles, riches, pleasures, extremes of ambition and avarice. They do but increase their unrest. True rest is in the "meek and lowly" heart—the heart that is in sympathy with the blessed heart of Jesus.
(4) Those only will take the yoke of Christ upon them who feel the burden of sin. The distressing sense of guilt and depravity. Taking upon us the yoke of Christ is submitting to him as our Ruler (of. 1 Kings 12:10; 1 Timothy 6:1). If he releases us from the drudgery of sin, it is that we may serve him in the bonds of truth and love. One yoke gives place to another; we cannot be "as gods"—independent.
3. The revelation is heavenly.
(1) Its rest is glorious. Rest from the weary ways of sin. For the wicked there is no rest. The peace that passeth understanding. The anticipation of heaven.
(2) Its yoke is easy. It is the sweet yoke of love. "It is a yoke that is lined with love" (Henry). The commandments of love are not grievous. The gospel law is the liberty of the purest love. It is a wonderful contrast to the bondage of sin (see Deuteronomy 28:47, Deuteronomy 28:48; Isaiah 10:27; Daniel 9:24).
(3) Its burden is light. It is sweet to the loyal servant to know that the cross he bears is Christ's. The love of Christ lightens the burden, and so he sustains it himself. "Cast thy burden upon the Lord, and he will sustain thee" (Psalms 55:22). He will carry thyself and thy load. Thou art thyself thy load (cf. Isaiah 43:2; Isaiah 63:9; Dan 3:25; 2 Corinthians 1:5; 2 Corinthians 4:17).—J.A.M.
Rest for the weary.
We have here—
I. A BURDEN.
1. Some are laden with sin.
(1) Guilt. Their bad life is set in array against them. The Spirit of God comes to them in the Law, in the Gospel, by the ministry, over an open grave.
(2) Depravity. Vestiges of vanity, of pride, self-will, selfishness.
2. Others groan under the distresses of life.
(1) Poverty.
(2) Sickness.
(3) Temptation. Satan takes advantage of our depression.
(4) Persecution. Permitted to wean us from the world. To prepare us for a better.
II. A RELIEF.
1. Christ offers pardon to the guilty.
(1) He gives rest to the conscience; removes the sense of guilt.
(2) He gives peace to the heart.
2. Christ offers purity to the unholy.
(1) This his merits have purchased.
(2) His Spirit is efficient.
(3) His promises are assuring (see Ezekiel 36:25; 1 Thessalonians 5:23).
3. Christ offers grace for the needy.
(1) He will remove the thorn in the flesh,
(2) or he will enable us to rise above the affliction.
III. THE MEANS.
1. We must go to Christ.
(1) We may go to church without going to Christ.
(2) We may go to the Lord's table without going to Christ.
(3) We must have a personal interview and acquaintance with him.
To this end we must seek him. In his house; at his table; at the footstool of his throne.
2. We must approach him humbly.
(1) In the contrast of his glorious purity we sink abashed.
"I loathe myself when God I see,
And into nothing fall."
(2) We should pray for the grace of his Spirit.
3. We must approach him obediently.
(1) By ceasing to do evil. Every idol must be thrown down.
(2) By learning to do well. Acts of justice. Acts of mercy. Habits of truth and goodness.
4. We must approach him believingly.
(1) Realize Christ here—now.
(2) Realize that he is here, and now ready to remove your burden.
(3) You will soon realize that his service is rest—present, everlasting.
How lamentable that all do not come to Jesus! Angels lament this. Good men lament it. There is no excuse for those who will not seek such a blessed Saviour.—J.A.M.
HOMILIES BY R. TUCK
The mission of miracles.
"When John had heard in the prison the works of Christ." Archbishop Thomson says, "Many Fathers are pleased to say that John had no doubts himself; that his faith was too strong for that, and that he only sent the two disciples to Jesus that they might have their faith refreshed by a stronger draught than their own master could administer. I cannot and do not believe it. There can hardly be a doubt that in thus sending his disciples to inquire of Jesus he wished to satisfy a doubt and a misgiving that had sprung up in his mind. 'Why this tarrying? Why this great delay? Why not proclaim the truth upon the mountaintops and in the city that Jesus the Christ, the Messiah, is come, that the people might bow down to him, and then rise as one man to shake off the Roman yoke?' It was his own misgiving. The faith is still there, but clouded over for the moment by a certain doubt, 'Art thou he that should come, or do we look for another?'" Archbishop Trench explains the force of the term "works" as applied to our Lord's miracles. "A further term by which St. John very frequently names the miracles is eminently significant. They are very often with him simply 'works.' The wonderful is for St. John only the natural form of working for him who is dwelt in by all the fulness of God. He must, out of the necessity of his higher being, bring forth these works greater than man's." "These miracles are the fruit after its kind which the Divine tree brings forth; and may, with a deep truth, be styled the 'works' of Christ, with no further addition or explanation."
I. THE PECULIARITIES OF THE CHRISTIAN MIRACLES. It is well to remember that the Christian is not the only set of miracles; their characteristic features can best be seen on comparing them with others, especially those recorded, with more or less authority, in ecclesiastical history. Note these peculiarities:
1. The miracles of Christ were kept within remarkable limitations. The fewness, not the abundance, surprises us. Christ's restraint of miracle is far more surprising than his working miracles at all.
2. The miracles of Christ were purely philanthropic in their character. The apparent exceptions are proofs of the truth, for they were philanthropic to the disciples, parts of their spiritual training.
3. The miracles of Christ were in full harmony with the character and words of their author.
4. Less is made of the miracles of Christ as credentials than we should have expected.
II. THE PURPOSE OF THE CHRISTIAN MIRACLES. The true way to the vindication of the miracles is to show that the reason of a thing affords the best proof of its existence. Some of the heavenly bodies have been discovered, not by sight with the help of the telescope, but by the reason for their existence, which was found in the force of their gravitation, and the aberration of certain neighbouring bodies. It was first shown that they must be there, and then it was found that they were there.
1. The miracles were a necessary part of Christ's mission. He was both Redeemer from sin and Giver of life. His was really a spiritual work; not, therefore, immediately apparent to human vision. He must, in some outward palpable form, illustrate his higher work. He did the outward work of healing bodily disease and driving out evil spirits that he might lead men to look to him for spiritual healings and redeemings.
2. The miracles were also a necessary part of Christ's revelation. He had a mission, and was a revelation. The Father-God was set before men in Jesus Christ. He was "God manifest in the flesh." Christ's character must show men what the Father is; and Christ's works—his miracles—must show men what the Father does.—R.T.
The way to deal with our doubts.
Whether the doubts were John's own, or such as he knew disturbed the minds of his disciples, he certainly took the wisest and most hopeful way in which to secure their removal. If a man is an intelligent man he is sure to have doubts; doubts come in the process of thinking; but everything depends on the way in which a man deals with his doubts. He may foster them; he may indulge them; or he may make earnest effort to secure their removal. He may keep them to himself, and grow proud of them; or he may take them to Jesus, and get them solved and dissipated.
I. JOHN DEALING WITH HIS OWN DOUBTS.
1. Thinking them over in his own heart. It is certain that John had occasional glimpses, at least, of the higher and more spiritual aspects of Messiah's mission; but it is equally certain that he never shook himself quite free from those temporal notions of Messiah which were the characteristic of his age. The teaching and healing, and the very gentle ways, of Jesus, did not at all match the idea of Messiah which he had formed. The Jewish nation was not likely to be delivered from Roman bondage by such a man. Perhaps, after all, the work of Jesus was only preparing work, like his own had been.
2. Talking them over with his disciples. They might well be more puzzled than he, for they had none of those prophetical visions which had been vouchsafed to him. Evidently the talk did not mend matters. It even seemed to increase the uncertainty, and it made John feel that something must at once be done. Neither thinking doubts over, nor talking doubts over, ever helps us very much. Too often they grow big by brooding; and so much de ends on the friends whom we choose for the talk.
II. JOHN TAKING HIS DOUBTS TO THE LORD JESUS. He would have actually gone himself, but he could not. So he sent two disciples, that he might see through their eyes and hear through their ears. Our Lord solved the doubts by, in effect, saying, "You find a difficulty in recognizing me because you are hindered by wrong ideas concerning the character of Messiah's mission." A Messiah who heals, delivers, and saves, exactly fits a forerunner who called to repentance. John's doubts fled when he learned to say, "He is the Messiah, he must be the Messiah, for I see that his moral and spiritual work is precisely the carrying on, the completion, of that moral work of mine."—R.T.
The classes Christ helped.
The point of the answer sent by our Lord to John is usually thought to be the proof he was giving of his Divine power; he was opening the eyes of the blind; he was making the lame walk; he was cleansing the lepers; he was unstopping the ears of the deaf; he was raising the dead. Must he not, then, be the Messiah? Nicodemus properly argued, "Rabbi, we know that thou art a Teacher come from God, for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him." And yet it may be that this was not our Lord's precise point. Indeed, John knew all about these miracles, and it was because he could not make up his mind about them that he sent the inquiry. It may be that our Lord fixed the attention of the messengers on the kinds of persons for whom he was working, and the character of the work he was doing for them. And we can see that just this would be the most suggestive and helpful answer for John. It would show him that Jesus was Messiah in a spiritual sense. "It might seem, at first sight, as if the thing that would make fitting impression on John was the display of Divine power in these miracles of healing and restoration. It would seem as if John would be bound to argue that he must be Divine who could do such mighty works. But that is only the surface-teaching of the miracles. The prominent thing in our Lord's response is his pointing out who it is gets the benefit of his work; it is as if he had said, "See all you can, but be sure to notice and to tell John this—it is the blind who are being blessed; it is the lame, it is the lepers, it is the deaf, who are being blessed; it is the poor who are being savingly blessed." It is as if the Lord had said, "Be sure and point out to John the character of my work; that will be an all-sufficient answer to his question." Jesus worked for those who were sufferers because of sin. He came to be "God saving men from their sins." Jesus did not touch national disabilities, social struggles, class weaknesses, or political contentions; these things formed no sphere for him. Where sin had been, there he went. Where sin was, there he came. What sin had done, that he strove to remedy. So the suffering made for him a sphere. The ignorant, the poor, the perishing, were ready for his gospel.—R.T.
A critical estimate of John.
One does not readily associate the idea of criticism, and especially criticism of persons, with our Divine Lord. We forget that there are both good and bad criticisms, and that estimates of character which bring out the good are just as truly criticisms as those which bring out the bad. Here we have one of the few estimates formed by our Lord which have been preserved in the Gospels. Everybody had talked about John. Everybody had formed some opinion concerning him. It was generally recognized that he was a Jehovah-prophet. What our Lord's disciples thought of him we can only surmise. The impressions they were likely to take, from his sending this message of inquiry, our Lord sought at once to correct.
I. WAS JOHN VACILLATING? This would be the first impression of the disciples. John had most plainly testified to Jesus as Messiah. On the ground of his testimony, some of them had joined Jesus; and now he seemed to be doubting his own work, and making them doubt. The man was "a reed, shaken by the wind." The reed is a familiar type of uncertainty and instability. A broken reed is one of the most helpless things. Jesus rejects such an explanation. There was no real vacillation indicated by John's inquiry; only such passing doubt as depression brings.
II. WAS JOHN BECOMING SELF-INDULGENT? This was rather amalicious suggestion, but the great Heart-reader knew that some one was fashioning it in his heart. "John has had so much to do with courts, he is evidently getting spoiled, and losing his spiritual sensitiveness in self-indulgence." Jesus rejects that explanation as altogether unreasonable. True, John is in a palace; but he is in its prison, not in its banqueting-hall. There in the prison his clothing is as rough as it was in the desert.
III. WAS JOHN ONLY A PROPHET? This was a supercilious suggestion. "Don't make too much of John. He was sent to preach and baptize; that was his prophetic work, and when it was done he was done." The idea was that his opinion about Messiah really did not matter. Jesus scorns this view; declares John to have been "more than a prophet," and proceeds to give his own positive criticism. John was at once great and little. Great because he was announcer of Messiah. Little because he never stepped over the borders of Judaism to become a member of Messiah's kingdom. John's weakness and uncertainty resulted from this—he looked on Christ from outside his kingdom; a man must come inside if he would appraise it truly.—R.T.
Violent entrance into the kingdom.
"The kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force." It is difficult to accept restfully any of the explanations offered of this very bold figure. We cannot think who had been showing such "violence" in pushing into Christ's new kingdom. Evidently our Lord is dealing with John's mistake. He was filled with doubts because Christ's ways were so gentle. If Jesus meant to establish the Messianic kingdom, John felt that he would have to put more force into it. So Jesus, thinking of this idea of John's, says, "It is the common mistake men have made ever since that vigorous ministry of John's. Everybody seems to think the Messianic kingdom is to be established by violence. They are all tempting me to use force." Men were disposed violently to hurry the kingdom into premature existence. They will have it now. They will take it by storm.
I. MEN'S WAY OF GETTING THE KINGDOM. Because the only kingdom they could realize was an outward one, some good they could possess, some liberty, some position, some rights and privileges, some wealth which they could gain and hold, therefore they thought they must grasp, and push, and strive, and fight. These are men's ways of getting all kinds of outside good. Illustrate by the crowding and pushing to get the benefits of our Lord's healings. To get something men can be violent; each striving to be first, and the "violent taking by force."
II. CHRIST'S WAY OF GETTING MEN INTO THE KINGDOM. He evidently trusted to first getting the kingdom into them; for to him the kingdom was inward, a state of mind and heart, a gracious relation with God, character moulded to the Divine image, and then conduct ruled by the Divine will. From our Lord's point of view there was no room for physical force, though plenty of room for moral energy. Violence was altogether unsuitable; indeed, as he taught in the sermon on the mount, the gentle and submissive elements of character, rather than the strong and forceful, made ways into his kingdom. The best comment on our Lord's words here—a comment which brings out clearly enough that he is rebuking the violence of those who use force, and in no way praising it—is found in the familiar but most gentle and gracious words of verses 28-30.—R.T.
An unfavourable estimate of a generation.
Generations have their marked characteristics. Generations of humanity; generations of races; generations of nations; if we would be subtile we might even say, generations of classes. Thus we speak of ages of faith, sceptical ages, scientific ages, dark ages, ages of conflict, aesthetic ages, and so on. But it is necessary to distinguish between the abstract philosophical estimate of an age made by the historians, and the rough-and-ready estimate of a particular period, or a particular people, made by the prophet or the preacher, who brings a testing message. Our Lord was not attempting what we should mean by a critical examination of the characteristics of the people of Palestine in the first century. He is rather, in the fashion of the quickly observant preacher, noticing what conditions of society make his work difficult. Neither the austere John nor the friendly Jesus pleased the fickle multitude.
I. A GENERATION THAT WOULD NOT BE DRIVEN TO GOODNESS. The element of fear was prominent in John Baptist's work. He demanded, he threatened, he prophesied of judgment to come. But that fickle generation responded in moments of excite-merit, and then tired, and fell back on their old self-indulgences. They were like children, who were induced to play at funerals, but soon tired of the mock solemnity, and wanted a change. And the generation did but illustrate an abiding characteristic of humanity. Force soon wearies men; fear soon becomes familiar; threats cease to alarm; the terror of the gospel may open hearts; but if something does not follow the terror that can satisfy hearts, they will soon shut again, and closer than ever.
II. A GENERATION THAT WOULD NOT BE DRAWN TO GOODNESS. John drove; Jesus drew. Jesus entered into all the common spheres of men, bringing cheer of sympathy and help. He was everywhere a Joy-bringer. And yet the generation soon tired of him; even as children tire of playing at weddings. They tire because they cannot have altogether their own way. That was the secret of the fickleness of the generation. They wanted John to be what they wished. They wanted Jesus to be and do and say just what they wished; and they were like sulky children who could not get their own way. John and Jesus both had to be what God would have them be.—R.T.
The justification of wisdom.
John's peculiarity was no oddity; it was the power arranged for him in the Divine wisdom. The peculiarity of Jesus was no eccentricity; it was the expression of that Divine Spirit of wisdom which dwelt in him. Men may criticize the methods of John and Jesus; the story of the ages fully justifies the wisdom of those methods.
I. WISDOM USES VARIOUS AGENCIES. "The spiritual unfoldings of wisdom in the religions world are manifold." John moves you by his fear and terror; Jesus moves you by his quiet goodness. John's wisdom thunders; the wisdom of Jesus flows out in mild words. Men "wonder at the gracious words which proceed from his mouth." Through the intellect God appeals to you in one way; and through sympathy in quite another way. How sweetly gentle is electricity in the growth of lilies, and in the generation of birds, bees, butterflies! But in certain conditions it gathers itself up, and flashes in lightning, accompanied with terrible artillery. "Wisdom in John Baptist was ascetic and sincere; in Jesus it was freer, gentler, and sweetly social" (Pulsford). We can never fairly judge an agency until we see how it stands in its relation—what it does, what it is calculated to do. Then what seems insignificant and even unsuitable is plainly seen to be an inspiration of wisdom.
II. WISDOM IS JUSTIFIED IN THE ADAPTATION OF ITS AGENCIES. Estimate fairly what John had to do, and his austerity and severity are fully justified. Estimate fairly what Jesus has to do, and his friendliness and readiness to enter into the common spheres of life are fully justified. Wisdom is justified in all her methods and changes.
III. WISDOM ONLY FALLS TO JUSTIFY ITSELF TO A RIVAL WISDOM. "The children of pride and self-will justify Wisdom in no form. They puff up their own conceit by complaining of every mode in which she presents herself. John comes to them grave enough, earnest as life and death, smiting at the roots of their hereditary nature; but they say, ' What a gloomy fellow!' Jesus comes, bland and winning, ready to sit at table with every class of men; but they say, ' He is fond of a good dinner and his wine.' So that neither can John break them from their old habits, nor Jesus attract them to the Divine-human life."—R.T.
The Divine reserve.
From some the higher truth is hidden; to some the higher truth is revealed. This cannot be explained by what is called the "sovereignty" of God; because we must think of God as acting on good judgment, though the materials of his judgment may be more than we can comprehend, or beyond our power to appreciate aright. Here the difficulty of the Divine reserve is not great. We can easily recognize the wisdom of leaving those who think themselves wise to their fancied wisdom; and bestowing gifts on those who are conscious of their ignorance and want to be taught.
I. GOD REVEALS TRUTH FREELY, BUT WITH DISCRIMINATION. Jesus spoke quite freely; anywhere, everywhere, on all occasions, he dropped the seeds of Divine truth; and yet he observed that only some of the seeds went into the soul, germinated, and brought forth fruit. This found expression in his parables. This was sometimes a distress to him. Freely he had preached in Galilee, but the fickle people heard him for a while, and then turned against him. Capernaum saw his mighty works, but evil influences closed the avenues of faith, and the well-to-do, and the Pharisee proud of his religion, and the scribe proud of his learning, united to leave him alone to be the Friend of the poor, who "know not the Law." In the manner characteristic of the pious Jew, and eminently characteristic of himself, Jesus saw the workings of Divine wisdom in this. His revelation of God was proving a touchstone; God was making the truth tell on some, and fail in making its way to others. And apostles saw the gospel to be "a savour of life unto life, and of death unto death." Preached to all, the gospel is reserved from some.
II. THE DISCRIMINATION CONCERNS THE CHARACTER OF THE PROPOSED RECIPIENTS. Not their circumstances. Truth is not reserved for the poor only. The contrast presented by our Lord is between guileful, self-satisfied man and simple, receptive child. He does but give expression to a recognized universal law of teaching. The man who thinks he knows will not learn. The man who feels that he does not know is glad to learn. But our Lord searchingly suggests, what we well know to be the case, that these two men represent types of character. It is not that the one knows and the other does not know; it is that the one is guileful and conceited, and feels as if he knew; while the other is humble and diffident, and feels as if he did not know. Christ's revelation of the Father, and the redemption, never can be interesting to any but simple, childlike souls.—R.T.
The Son and the Father.
It is remarkable that Jesus almost always used the term "Father" when he spoke of God. And he used the term so constantly that it may even be treated as the key-note of the revelation which he brought. He came to earth in order to bring to men "good news of God;" and the good news may be gathered up into a sentence, "He is your Father. You ought to be anxious about standing in right relations with your Father." It is easy to show how that will open out into an answer to the questions, "How can we get back into right relations? And how can we keep in right relations?" Jesus says, "I am the Truth about the Father; I am the Way back to the Father; I am the Model Life of the Son with the Father." "No man cometh unto the Father but by me." Then we see the meaning and point of the closing verses of the chapter. Jesus really says, "Come unto me, and I will teach you how to be a son with his Father; and you will find that is rest to your souls."
I. THE RELATIONS OF THE SON AND THE FATHER. It would be to miss the point altogether to bring in ideas concerning what is called the "eternal Sonship." Our Lord is not thinking of his abstract and absolute Divine relationships. He was a Man; as a Man he was a Son; he was a model Son, a firstborn Son. His Sonship was a headship, a leadership; after him come a multitude of sons who, with him, call God their Father. In the expressions our Lord uses we can find two things characteristic of the relations between the Son and the Father; and representative-of the proper relations between every son and the Father.
1. Intimacy. "Truly our fellowship is with the Father." Observe, however, that our Lord speaks of it as a present intimacy, fullest confidence, mutual confidence, between the Father and the Son, though the Son was a Man in earthly spheres.
2. Trust. The Father fully gave all the earth-concerns, the redemptive earth-concerns, into the hands of his Sou. In this, too, representing the trust he still puts in all who are sons in his Son.
II. THE COMPETENCY OF THE SON TO REVEAL THE FATHER. "The Son will reveal him." This will open out simply by showing how Jesus reveals
(1) the Divine holiness;
(2) the Divine pitifulness;
(3) the Divine power;
(4) the Divine love.
But it needs to be seen that Christ reveals the Father by what he was, even more than by what he said or did.—R.T.
A yoke for two.
"Take my yoke upon you." Christ's yoke, of which he speaks here, is the yoke of Sonship, his relation to God, and the responsibilities, duties, and burdens which it involved. And his point is that he did not want to bear that yoke alone. It was a yoke meant for two. It could only be borne aright when disciples and he bore the yoke together. Illustration may be taken from the yoke fitted to the shoulders of the two oxen that drew the Eastern plough. That yoke was only easy for each ox as they both cheerfully bore it together. So with the yoke of Sonship. It did not lie easy on Christ's shoulder unless his disciples bore it with him. It never could lie easy on their shoulder unless he bore it with them. It is true that rest comes for man in the spirit of sonship; but it is also true that it does not come to man in a lonely sonship—only in a sonship fully shared with Christ.
I. A YOKE FOR ONE. "Take my yoke." There must be a sense in which our Lord's yoke was his own, and could be shared by nobody. And there is a sense in which each individual man must "bear his own burden." But Christ and we have more that is common to humanity, than that is unique to ourselves. We can and do "bear one another's burdens." There is a tendency to exaggerate the uniqueness of our Lord's experience. It is healthier and wiser to dwell fully on the commonness of his experience and ours. The piece of the yoke on Christ was exactly his piece, and had its peculiar pressure; but it was only part of a yoke, which really lay on two shoulders.
II. A YOKE FOR TWO. "Take my yoke upon you," and let us share it together; then it will grow light and easy for us both. Can we bear Christ's yoke with him? Yes, if we understand aright what that yoke was.
1. it was honouring God in a gracious human life. We can share in that.
2. It was revealing God as the loving Father, in a beautiful human Sonship. We can share in that.
3. It was doing the Father's work, and seeking and saving the wandering and lost sons and daughters. We can share in that. And the strange thing is that lifting up and sharing Christ's yoke is the way to rest, the only way. Rest for any man can only come out of finding the Father in heaven. No one can find the Father until he gets the Spirit of the Son into his heart. Jesus seems to say, "My rest is in being a Son; my yoke is the yoke of Sonship. Bear my yoke, and you too shall find rest unto your souls."—R.T.
The exchange of yokes.
It is remarkable that so much attention should be given to the first clause of this very familiar and beautiful passage, "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden," and so little attention should be given to the later clause, "Take my yoke upon you." These later clauses present the very suggestive thought, that our spiritual dealing with Christ is an exchange of yokes. The "yoke" gives us the idea of a burden which calls for effort, and even strain, to bear it, and keep on bearing it. There is an exchange in all yoke-bearings of love. We and these whom we love bear yokes together. My friend bears mine, and I bear his.
I. OUR YOKE, AND THE WAY IN WHICH CHRIST TAKES IT. Our sins, our cares, our sorrows. Estimate what these are to Christ by what they are to us. Never think they become lighter because our Lord takes them on himself. But what a relief to us that shifting of our yoke is! Christ takes it:
1. Wholly. We need keep none for lonely bearing.
2. Cheerfully. Making us feel as if it were be that was benefited by the taking.
3. Lovingly. As if he would melt and win us by the taking.
"'Tis enough that he should care;
Why should I the burden bear?"
II. CHRIST'S YOKE, AND THE WAY IN WHICH WE TAKE IT.
1. Yoke of Christian profession.
2. Yoke of Christian living.
3. Yoke of Christian duty.
4. Yoke of Christian affliction.
These go to make up Christ's yoke, as it can become our yoke. We too often beat' it half-heartedly, as a sort of must. Persons will sometimes say, "Oh yes, I submit, for there is nothing else I can do." But a true submission is willing submission, whether anything else can be done or not. Or we bear Christ's yoke carelessly, as though nothing were involved in the bearing, not even the supreme honour of our Divine Lord.
How different Christ's yoke for us appears and is! We never really find out what it is while we only look at it. We know it when we lift it up on our shoulder; then we find that the "yoke is easy, and the burden light."—R.T.