IX. (1) Here, again, the order of the facts narrated varies so much in the three Gospels that the labours of the harmonist are baffled. ST. MATTHEW. ST. MARK. ST. LUKE. (1.) The Paralytic, Matthew 9:1. Mark 2:1. Luke 5:18. (2.) The call of Matthew, &c., Matthew 9:9. Mark 2:13. Luke 5:27.... [ Continue Reading ]
BEHOLD, THEY BROUGHT TO HIM. — From the other Gospels we learn: — (1) That He was teaching (Luke 5:17) in a house (apparently, from what follows, from the upper room of a house), while the people stood listening in the courtyard. (2) That the court-yard was crowded, so that even the gateway leading... [ Continue Reading ]
THIS MAN BLASPHEMETH. — The words were but an echo of the charge that had been brought at Jerusalem, that “He made Himself equal with God” (John 5:18), and may well have come from some of the same objectors. St. Mark and St. Luke give the grounds of their accusation: “What is this that this Man thus... [ Continue Reading ]
KNOWING THEIR THOUGHTS. — The better MSS. give “seeing,” as with an immediate act of intuition. St. Mark adds his usual “immediately,” and both he and St. Luke use the word which implies fulness of knowledge. WHEREFORE THINK YE EVIL? — Literally, _evil things._ The thoughts were evil because, in fa... [ Continue Reading ]
WHETHER IS EASIER,...? — The form of the question implies what we call an argument _à fortiori._ It was easier to say, “Thy sins are forgiven thee,” for those words could not be put to any outward test, and only the consciousness of the sinner could attest their power. It was a bolder and a harder t... [ Continue Reading ]
THAT YE MAY KNOW THAT THE SON OF MAN HATH POWER. — Better, _authority,_ as in John 5:27. The two passages are so closely parallel that we can hardly be wrong in thinking that the words now spoken were meant to recall those which some, at least, of those who listened had heard before. This view, at a... [ Continue Reading ]
HE AROSE, AND DEPARTED TO HIS HOUSE. — St. Mark adds his usual “immediately”; St. Luke, that he went “glorifying God.” We can picture to ourselves the exultant joy of the soul freed from the burden of its sins, and rejoicing in the new vitality of the body.... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY MARVELLED. — The better reading, adopted by most editors, gives _they were afraid._ This agrees better with St. Mark’s “they were amazed, and glorified God,” and St. Luke’s “they were filled with fear.” St. Mark gives the words they uttered, “We never saw it after this fashion;” St. Luke, “We s... [ Continue Reading ]
AS JESUS PASSED FORTH FROM THENCE. — All three Gospels agree, as has been noticed, in the sequence of the two events. And the sequence was probably, in part at least, one of cause and effect. The sympathy and power shown in healing the paralytic impressed itself on the mind of one who, as a publican... [ Continue Reading ]
AS JESUS SAT AT MEAT IN THE HOUSE. — The Greek runs, _as he sat at meat._ The insertion of the name Jesus in this part of the sentence injures the sense. What seems to have been meant is, that while Matthew sat (_i.e.,_ reclined after Roman fashion), many publicans and sinners came and reclined with... [ Continue Reading ]
WHEN THE PHARISEES SAW IT. — “Scribes of the Pharisees” (Mark 2:16). These were probably those who had been present at the healing of the paralytic. the scribes who had come from Jerusalem. They, of course, would not enter the publican’s house, but they stood outside and watched the mingled guests w... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY THAT BE WHOLE. — Literally, _They that are strong._ St. Luke gives, with a more professional precision, “They that are in health.” That, speaking from the thoughts and standpoint of those addressed (which in another than our Lord we might term grave irony), which enters so largely into our Lord... [ Continue Reading ]
GO YE AND LEARN. — The words of Hosea 6:6 — cited once again by our Lord in reference to the Sabbath (Matthew 12:7) — asserted the superiority of ethical to ceremonial law. To have withdrawn from contact with sinners would have been a formal “sacrifice,” such as Pharisees delighted to offer, and fro... [ Continue Reading ]
THE DISCIPLES OF JOHN. — The passage is interesting as showing (1) that the followers of the Baptist continued during our Lord’s ministry to form a separate body (as in Matthew 11:2; Matthew 14:12); and (2) that they obeyed rules which he had given them, more or less after the pattern of those of th... [ Continue Reading ]
CAN THE CHILDREN OF THE BRIDECHAMBER MOURN? — The words were full of meaning in themselves, but they only gain their full significance when we connect them with the teaching of the Baptist recorded in John 3:29. He had pointed to Jesus as “the Bridegroom.” He had taught them that the coming of that... [ Continue Reading ]
NO MAN PUTTETH A PIECE OF NEW CLOTH. — There is a closer connection between the three similitudes than at first sight appears. The wedding-feast suggested the idea of the wedding-garment, and of the wine which belonged to its joy. We may even go a step further, and believe that the very dress of tho... [ Continue Reading ]
NEITHER DO MEN PUT NEW WINE INTO OLD BOTTLES. — The bottles are those made of hides partly tanned, and retaining, to a great extent, the form of the living animals. These, as they grew dry with age, became very liable to crack, and were unable to resist the pressure of the fermenting liquor. If the... [ Continue Reading ]
WHILE HE SPAKE THESE THINGS. — The sequence seems so clear as, at first, hardly to admit of doubt; and yet it is no less clear that St. Mark and St. Luke represent what is told as following close upon our Lord’s return to the western side of the lake after the healing of the Gadarene, and place many... [ Continue Reading ]
BEHOLD, A WOMAN ... — The “issue of blood” was probably of the kind that brought with it ceremonial uncleanness (Leviticus 15:26), and this accounts for the sense of shame which made her shrink from applying to the Healer openly, and from confessing afterwards what she had done. It is significant th... [ Continue Reading ]
SHE SAID WITHIN HERSELF. — The words indicate a faith real but not strong. She believed, as the leper did, in the power to heal, but did not trust the love, and shrank from the thought lest the Healer should shrink from her. And she thought not of a will that seeks to bless and save, but of a physic... [ Continue Reading ]
BE OF GOOD COMFORT. — The same word of tenderness is spoken to her as had been spoken to the paralytic. What each needed, she the most of the two, was the courage, the enthusiasm of faith. THY FAITH HATH MADE THEE WHOLE. — Literally, _thy faith hath saved thee._ The rendering of the Authorised versi... [ Continue Reading ]
(23-26) The other Gospels fill up the gap. While our Lord was speaking the words of promise to the woman, messengers came from the house of Jairus, reporting that the child was dead. They whisper to him, using the self-same words as had been used by the friends of the centurion, “Why _troublest_ tho... [ Continue Reading ]
TWO BLIND MEN. — The two narratives that follow are peculiar to St. Matthew. The title by which the blind address our Lord as “the Son of David,” was that which expressed the popular belief that He was the expected Christ. It is used afterwards by the woman of Canaan (Matthew 15:22), and again by th... [ Continue Reading ]
INTO THE HOUSE. — The article indicates the house in which He sojourned at Capernaum, probably that of St. Peter. BELIEVE YE THAT I AM ABLE TO DO THIS? — The cry, “Have mercy on us,” had implied the request that He would restore their sight. In this case, as in others, faith was the antecedent cond... [ Continue Reading ]
THEN TOUCHED HE THEIR EYES. — This is the first recorded instance of the method which our Lord seems always to have adopted in the case of the blind, and, in part also, in that of the deaf. Others might have their faith strengthened by the look of sympathy and conscious power which they saw in the f... [ Continue Reading ]
STRAITLY CHARGED THEM. — The word, implying originally the panting breath of vehement emotion, is one of the strongest used by the New Testament writers (Mark 1:43; Mark 14:5; John 11:33; John 11:38) to express repugnance, displeasure, or the command that implies annoyance. It is as if our Lord saw... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY... SPREAD ABROAD HIS FAME. — As in other cases, so in this, the command was not obeyed. The question has been raised, whether the zeal which thus showed itself was or not praiseworthy; and, curiously enough, has been answered by most patristic and Roman Catholic commentators in the affirmative,... [ Continue Reading ]
A DUMB MAN POSSESSED WITH A DEVIL. — This narrative also is given by St. Matthew only. Referring to the Note in the _Excursus_ on Matthew 8:28 for the general question as to “possession,” it may be noted here that the phenomena presented in this case were those of catalepsy, or of insanity showing i... [ Continue Reading ]
The verse is obviously intended to stand in contrast with that which follows. The “multitude” gave free expression to their natural wonder, which, though it did not actually amount to faith, was yet one step towards it. The Pharisees stood aloof, not denying the facts, but having their own solution... [ Continue Reading ]
THROUGH THE PRINCE OF THE DEVILS. — In Matthew 12:24 the charge reappears, with the addition of the name of “Beelzebub,” as the prince of the devils; and, together with our Lord’s answer to it, will be better discussed in the Notes on those verses. Here it will be enough to note the coincidence with... [ Continue Reading ]
AND JESUS WENT ABOUT. — The verse is all but identical with Matthew 4:23, and may be described as recording our Lord’s second mission circuit in Galilee, in which He was accompanied probably by His disciples, whom, however, He had not as yet invested with a delegated authority as His “apostles,” or... [ Continue Reading ]
HE WAS MOVED WITH COMPASSION. — The words that follow are so vivid and emphatic that we may well believe them to have had their starting-point in our Lord’s own expression of His feelings. We find Him using the identical words in Matthew 15:32, and Mark 8:2 : “I have compassion on the multitude.” TH... [ Continue Reading ]
THEN SAITH HE UNTO HIS DISCIPLES. — No where in the whole Gospel record is there a more vivid or more touching instance of the reality of our Lord’s human emotions. It is not enough for Him to feel compassion Himself. He craves the sympathy of His companions and disciples, and needs even their fello... [ Continue Reading ]
THE LORD OF THE HARVEST — i.e., the Father who had sent Him to be the Sower of the divine seed, and who, through Him, was about to send forth the labourers.... [ Continue Reading ]