VIII. (1) We enter here on a series of events, following, in St. Matthew’s arrangement, on the great discourse. They are common to St. Mark and St. Luke, but are not narrated, as the following table will show, in the same order: — ST. MATTHEW. ST. MARK. ST. LUKE. (1.) The leper (Matthew 8:1).... [ Continue Reading ]
A LEPER. — The discussion of leprosy, as to its nature, symptoms, and causes, would be at once long and difficult. The word, which is Greek and not Hebrew in its origin, has probably been used with varying extent of meaning, sometimes including elephantiasis, or even cancer. Even in its narrower mea... [ Continue Reading ]
JESUS PUT FORTH HIS HAND, AND TOUCHED HIM. — The act was itself a proof at once of the will and the power to heal. He did not fear becoming unclean by that contact, and was therefore not subject to the law that forbade the touch. And He met the one element of doubt in the sufferer’s mind by the word... [ Continue Reading ]
SEE THOU TELL NO MAN. — St. Mark adds, with his usual vividness, “straitly charged,” or vehemently urged him, and “forthwith sent him away.” The reasons of the command are not given, but are not far to seek. (1.) The offering of the gift was an act of obedience to the Law (Leviticus 14:10; Leviticus... [ Continue Reading ]
In St. Luke the narrative follows immediately upon the Sermon on the Plain; in St. Matthew (the healing of the leper intervening), upon the Sermon on the Mount. The juxtaposition in both cases seems to imply a connection between the teaching and the act that had fixed itself on men’s minds. The act... [ Continue Reading ]
MY SERVANT. — The Greek word might mean either “servant” or “boy.” The former meaning is the more common, and is fixed as the meaning here by St. Luke’s use of the word which means strictly “slave.” He is described as paralysed, but the words “grievously tormented” point to more acute suffering than... [ Continue Reading ]
I WILL COME AND HEAL HIM. — In St. Luke’s report the words are omitted, but they are implied in our Lord’s act in going with the elders of the synagogue. While He went, some one, it would seem, ran on in front to tell the centurion that his prayer was heard. Then, in his humility, he sends off some... [ Continue Reading ]
LORD, I AM NOT WORTHY. — In St. Luke’s report, the friends deliver the message as beginning with “Trouble not thyself,” the word being a colloquial one, which starting from the idea of flaying, or mangling, passed into that of “worrying,” “vexing,” and the like. The sense of unworthiness implied at... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR I AM A MAN UNDER AUTHORITY. — He gives, not without a certain _naïveté,_ the process of reasoning by which he had been led to this conviction. His own experience had taught that in every well organised system a delegated authority could, in its turn, be delegated to others. The personal presence... [ Continue Reading ]
HE MARVELLED. — The fact is stated in both records, and is not without significance in its bearing on the reality of our Lord’s human consciousness. Facts came to Him, in that true humanity, as to other men, unlooked-for, and as with a novelty that caused surprise. I HAVE NOT FOUND SO GREAT FAITH,... [ Continue Reading ]
St. Luke does not give the words that follow, and the omission is significant. Either he did not know of them, and then we must infer the entire independence of his record, or knowing them, he, writing for Gentiles, thought it best to omit words here which our Lord had afterwards repeated, and which... [ Continue Reading ]
THE CHILDREN OF THE KINGDOM. — The form of the phrase is a Hebraism, indicating, as in “the children of the bride-chamber,” those who belonged to the kingdom, _i.e.,_ in this case, the Israelites, to whom the kingdom of heaven had, in the first instance, been promised, the natural heirs who had forf... [ Continue Reading ]
AS THOU HAST BELIEVED. — The words were, of course, sent as a message. Better, _As thou didst believe_ — referring to his one great act of faith.... [ Continue Reading ]
AND WHEN JESUS WAS COME INTO PETER’S HOUSE. — St. Mark (Mark 1:29) and St. Luke (Luke 4:38) relate more specifically that it was on the Sabbath, and that our Lord had previously taught in the synagogue and healed a demoniac. The sons of Zebedee and of Jona had all been present, and when the service... [ Continue Reading ]
SHE AROSE, AND MINISTERED UNTO THEM. — The fact is stated as showing the completeness of the work of healing. The “great fever” had not left behind it its usual sequel of weakness and exhaustion.... [ Continue Reading ]
WHEN THE EVEN WAS COME. — Or, as St. Luke has it, “While the sun was setting.” There were two reasons why the time should be thus specified. (1) It was natural that the sick should be brought in the cool of the evening, rather than in the scorching heat of the afternoon; and (2) it was the Sabbath,... [ Continue Reading ]
HIMSELF TOOK OUR INFIRMITIES. — The citation is interesting as showing St. Matthew’s way of dealing with Messianic prophecies. We see in Isaiah 53 throughout a picture of our Lord’s spiritual work of redemption, and the words quoted are almost the cardinal text for the special view of the atonement,... [ Continue Reading ]
TO DEPART UNTO THE OTHER SIDE — _i.e.,_ the eastern shore of the Sea of Galilee. Here, too, though less conspicuously than in the other Gospels, there is indicated the yearning for a time of rest and retirement.... [ Continue Reading ]
A CERTAIN SCRIBE CAME. — The facts that follow are placed by St. Luke, as we have seen, in quite another stage of our Lord’s ministry. The fact that it was a scribe that came is striking, as showing that the impression made by our Lord’s teaching was not confined to the “common people” that “heard h... [ Continue Reading ]
THE FOXES HAVE HOLES. — Our Lord’s answer seems to indicate that it was hardly more than the show. The scribe had not counted the cost, and, like the young ruler that had great possessions, needed to be taught. To follow the Son of Man was not to be the adherent of a new sect or party, or the servan... [ Continue Reading ]
SUFFER ME FIRST TO GO AND BURY MY FATHER. — A curious tradition, preserved by Clement of Alexandria, says that the disciple who came with this request was Philip. Nothing in the Gospel history, however, suggests this. Philip had been called before, and had obeyed the call (John 1:43). All that we ca... [ Continue Reading ]
LET THE DEAD BURY THEIR DEAD. — The point of the half-epigrammatic, half-proverbial saying, lies in the contrast between the two meanings of the word “dead.” “Let those who have no spiritual life linger in the circle of outward routine duties, and sacrifice the highest spiritual possibilities of the... [ Continue Reading ]
The two narratives that follow are brought together in all three Gospels; but St. Mark and St. Luke place them, as we have seen, after the parables which St. Matthew gives in chapter 13 ENTERED INTO A SHIP. — The better MSS. give, as often elsewhere, “_the_ ship,” or boat — _i.e.,_ one which, belon... [ Continue Reading ]
THERE AROSE A GREAT TEMPEST. — Storms such as that here described are of common occurrence in all inland seas. The wind sweeps through the narrow mountain valleys, and the sea, which a few minutes before was smooth as glass, is at once rough with the white crests of the foaming waves. The ship was o... [ Continue Reading ]
LORD, SAVE US: WE PERISH. — As given by St. Mark the words indicate even more of the impatience of panic: “Master, carest Thou not that we perish?” They began to think that He was indifferent to their safety, and believing, it may be, that He Himself had a charmed life, they were half angry at that... [ Continue Reading ]
WHY ARE YE FEARFUL, O YE OF LITTLE FAITH? — St. Luke puts the question more strongly: “Where is your faith?” as though it had all drifted away under the pressure of their fears. Yet the word “of little faith” was singularly appropriate. They had not altogether lost their trust in Him, but they had n... [ Continue Reading ]
THE MEN MARVELLED. — This use of so vague a term as “men,” as applied to the disciples, is so exceptional as to suggest the thought that there were others in the boat with them. The marvel was not without a “great fear” (Mark 4:41). The Presence among them was mightier even than they had thought, an... [ Continue Reading ]
THE COUNTRY OF THE GERGESENES. — The exact determination of the locality presents many difficulties. In all the three Gospels we find various readings, of which the best supported are Gadarenes in St. Matthew, and Gerasenes in St. Mark and St. Luke. “Gergesenes” is, however, found in some MSS. of hi... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY CRIED OUT, SAYING... — St. Mark adds that the demoniac, seeing Jesus from afar, ran and did homage (“worshipped” in the English version) to Him, and (with St. Luke) gives the fuller form of his cry, “What have I to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of the Most High God?” It is remarkable that this... [ Continue Reading ]
AN HERD OF MANY SWINE. — We are surprised at first to find swine kept in a country where their flesh could not be an article of food. But though the Jews did not eat pork, Roman soldiers did, and the swine may have been kept to supply the wants of the legion with which the man was familiar. The pun... [ Continue Reading ]
SO THE DEVILS BESOUGHT HIM. — As St. Mark gives the words, “that He should not send them out of the country,” or district, in which they were; as in St. Luke’s report, “that He would not command them to go out into the deep,” _i.e.,_ the abyss, the “bottomless pit” of Revelation 9:1; Revelation 9:11... [ Continue Reading ]
HE SAID UNTO THEM, GO. — Men have asked sometimes, in scorn, why the word was spoken; why permission was given for a destructive work which seemed alike needless and fruitless. The so-called rationalistic explanation, that the demoniacs drove the swine down the cliff in a last paroxysm of frenzy, is... [ Continue Reading ]
THE WHOLE CITY — _i.e.,_ the population of Gadara or Gerasa (more probably the former), according to the reading which we adopt in Matthew 8:28. St. Mark and St. Luke add, that they found the demoniac “clothed, and in his right mind, sitting at the feet of Jesus,” in the clinging gratitude of faith.... [ Continue Reading ]