Bible Commentaries

Chapter72

Prayer

Almighty God, we have come at the appointed time to the appointed place, and we know that thou wilt be more gracious to hear than we can be expressive in prayer; thine answer is greater than our request, as thy grace is greater than our sin. Thou art able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think: as the heaven is high above the earth, so is thy thought high above our thought. In thy presence we see our littleness, and before the unsearchable riches of Christ we see our poverty; but those riches were gathered for us—he who was rich for our sakes became poor, that we through his poverty might become rich. Through death we have life, through blood we have cleansing and forgiveness, yea, thou hast made the wrath of man to praise thee, and out of evil hast thou brought infinite good.

Behold, thou dost work by thine own way, and none can search thee: we cannot find thee out unto perfection, nor can we understand the mind of the Lord and express it in words of men. We will therefore trust thee, resting in thee with unquestioning love, casting all our care, as we have cast all our sin, upon him who is mighty to save. We will not question thee, nor set up our reason against thee, nor endeavor to clear away the cloud by our own feeble breath. Whilst we are in the cloud do thou speak to us, and thy voice shall give us security and joy.

Through all the week thou hast kept us; thou hast beset us behind and before, and laid thine hand upon us. Thou hast measured out unto us our food, and thou hast kept for us a place of rest, and thou hast not withheld the blessing of sleep. The light has been the brighter for thy presence, and the darkness has rested upon us, not as a fear, but as a benediction, because of thy tender care. Gathered together in thine house our hearts glow with ardent love, and our mouth is opened in sweet and holy hymn, which we breathe unto the heavens because we must praise the hand from which our blessings come.

As for our sin, it is our daily distress; we loathe it and repeat it; we pray for its forgiveness and then commit it again. Yet the blood of Jesus Christ thy Son cleanseth from all sin. If our daily sin be upon us, so is the daily sacrifice near at hand—the eternal cross, the tree of life, the way to pardon. "God forbid that we should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ." We would be crucified with Christ—we would know the fellowship of his sufferings that we may also know the power of his resurrection. We would be fellow-sufferers with Christ, he atoning, we repenting: he the one propitiation, and we the receivers of the atonement which he made. Grant unto us sweet answers to this our prayer, then shall all other prayers be answered in this infinite reply, "He that spared not his own Matthew 18:1-14

1. At the same time came the disciples unto Jesus, saying, Who is the greatest (superior) in the kingdom of heaven?

2. And Jesus called a little child (probably one of Peter"s) unto him, and set him in the midst of them.

3. And said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.

4. Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

5. And whoso shall receive one such little child in (on account of) my name receiveth me.

6. But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea.

7. Woe (an interjection of sorrow) unto the world because of offences! for it must needs be that offences come; but woe to that man by whom the offence cometh!

8. Wherefore if thy hand or thy foot offend thee (cause thee to sin) cut them off, and cast them from thee: it is better for thee to enter into life halt or maimed, rather than having two hands or two feet to be cast into everlasting fire.

9. And if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: it is better for thee to enter into life with one eye, rather than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire.

10. Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones; for I say unto you, That in heaven their angels do always behold the face of my Father which is in heaven.

11. For the Son of man is come to save that which was lost.

12. How think ye? If a man have an hundred sheep, and one of them be gone astray, doth he not leave the ninety and nine, and goeth into the mountains, and seeketh that which is gone astray?

13. And if so be that he find it, verily I say unto you, he rejoiceth more of (over) that sheep, than of the ninety and nine which went not astray.

14. Even so it is not the will of your Father which is in heaven, that one of these little ones should perish.

Greatness In the Kingdom

AT the same time came the disciples unto Jesus, saying, Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?" So blatantly can we debase the sublimest subjects! See how they put their words together, and learn from the wild incoherence how possible it is for us to commit the same impious ironies. "Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?" as if there could be any greatness there of our making, as if our stature could outshoulder the great dignities, as if we could be somebody in the infinite kingdom of light and purity and grace. These men were not struck by the grandeur of the idea of the heavenly kingdom, they were plagued with the vexatious question as to which of them should cut a figure in it!

Is it not so now, to some extent? Are we overwhelmed by the occasion, or do we lift our heads above it and wave our hand over it as if we were bigger after all? In the church, for instance, in holy Matthew 18:15-35

15. Moreover if thy brother shall trespass (and if thy brother shall sin) against thee, go and tell him his fault (convict him) between thee and him alone: if he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother.

16. But if he will not hear thee, then take with thee one or two more, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established.

17. And if he shall neglect (refuse) to hear them, tell it unto the church: but if he neglect to hear the church (assembly or society), let him be unto thee as an heathen man and a publican.

18. Verily I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.

19. Again I say unto you, That if two of you shall agree on earth as touching anything that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven.

20. For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them. (Ubi tres, ibi Ecclesia—a saying of the Fathers.)

21. Then came Peter to him, and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times?

22. Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times; but, Until seventy times seven (symbolic numbers).

23. Therefore is the kingdom of heaven likened unto a certain king, which would take account of his servants.

24. And when he had begun to reckon, one was brought unto him, which owed him ten thousand talents (two millions and a half sterling):

25. But forasmuch as he had not to pay, his lord commanded him to be sold, and his wife and children, and all that he had, and payment to be made.

26. The servant therefore fell down, and worshipped him, saying, Lord, have patience with me, and I will pay thee all.

27. Then the lord of that servant was moved with compassion, and loosed him, and forgave him the debt (literally a debt contracted through a loan).

28. But the same servant went out, and found one of his fellow-servants, which owed him an hundred pence; and he laid hands on him, and took him by the throat, saying, Pay me that thou owest.

29. And his fellow-servant fell down at his feet, and besought him, saying, Have patience with me, and I will pay thee all.

30. And he would not; but went and cast him into prison, till he should pay the debt.

31. So when his fellow-servants saw what was done, they were very sorry, and came and told unto their lord all that was done.

32. Then his lord, after that he had called him, said unto him, O thou wicked servant, I forgave thee all that debt, because thou desiredst (entreatedst) me:

33. Shouldest not thou also have had compassion on thy fellow-servant, even as I had pity on thee?

34. And his lord was wroth, and delivered him to the tormentors, till he should pay all that was due unto him.

35. So likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto you, if ye from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses.

Brotherhood and Forgiveness

A thread of connection binds these apparently broken sentences. The subject is the child-heart—these are illustrations of its actions in daily life. A notable consequence is the fact that Jesus Christ himself was the living exemplification of his own doctrine. He was himself the child in the midst of us; he was meek and lowly in heart. Our first lesson, therefore, is founded on the fact that the child-heart may be associated with the keenest intellectual penetration. Carefully considered, it will be found that these illustrations are most remarkable instances of Christ's intellectual virility, especially as revealing profound knowledge of human nature.

How could he know how to portray sin so vividly who knew no sin himself? How could he enter into feelings which had never excited his own heart? Account for this. Yet never was sin drawn by the hand of so powerful an artist. We are told that only those who have known delirium tremens can describe its effect, or give any true hint of its infernal revelations. Surely only the sinner can talk about sin. There will be some slip of the tongue on the part of any man who attempts to talk about that of which he himself has had no experience: he will break down in his portraiture, he will employ false colours, he will set things in undue relationships. Yet the absolutely sinless One describes sin: spotless, incorruptible Virtue sits down to paint every lineament of hideous vice, the Sun of holiness undertakes to photograph the ghastliness of crime!

How can it be done? We should mock the man who knew nothing about music undertaking to give his opinion about it. A man who had never handled a brush or mingled two colours would be mocked if he claimed to paint the simplest object in nature. His want of experience would be thrown in his face as an argument against his pretensions, and justly so. It is in this way that men acquire influence and draw around themselves the trust of others; their experience is so rich, so varied, so painful in its exactness, so exquisitely coincident with the facts of this tragical life. Jesus Christ, however, undertakes to describe sin, and to track the evil motive all through and through its winding way in the cavernous heart, and to watch its coming out at the last in vivid and actual expression. How will he do this? We can tell, too, exactly how the Sun will paint the portrait of crime—we can compare the photograph with the original, we can say, "Look on this picture and on this," and laugh at the minister who undertook to complete a photograph about which he himself knew nothing. In this way we can tell precisely whether Christ preached in pretence or in truth when he attempted to describe human nature.

The doctrine must be without value if he does not fully understand the nature to which he proposes to apply it. We have many superficial religions, simply because we have many superficial theories of human nature. How can he prescribe for a disease who never heard of it before? How can he undertake to speak a language of which he does not know so much as one letter? We have easy remedies, because we have ignorant conceptions of the symptoms and realities with which we have to deal. Christianity is mysterious because sin is mysterious—the remedy must be adapted to the disease. Christ saw the mystery of our life, and adapted the mystery of his religion to it. Beware of any suggestion that is marked by extreme and miscalled simplicity in this matter of redeeming and reclaiming human nature. Human nature is not itself a simple construction: find simple keys for simple locks, but where the lock is complicated, the key must match its complication in every line.

When I enter the Christian sanctuary and hear the Christian religion enunciated, I am struck by its mysteriousness, its remoteness from all common things, its metaphysical and transcendental claim and point of observation, and in my ignorance I say, "Surely something simpler than this could be devised." But God sends me back to consider my own nature—know thyself. When I have studied the lock, I find that the mystery was in me, not in God—in sin, not in truth—in rebellion, not in redemption.

How could Jesus Christ undertake to speak that parable of the prodigal son? His audacity amazes me. Let him paint the well-behaved boy, that never left his father's house an hour, that retired regularly and rose punctually, and pursued the even tenor of his way all through the hours of the day, with undeviating punctiliousness; let him tell us about his prayers, his virtues, his untempted integrity, his paper loyalty—there he may be at home; but Son of God, Child of the heavens, Companion of angels—how can he undertake to describe the way of the prodigal? He will stumble; he will make the most ludicrous mistakes. How will he talk about riotous living and harlots, and all the ways of darkness and all the speech of hell? He will pronounce that speech like a foreigner; there will be an accent in its utterance that will make us smile as if mocking the man who had undertaken to speak such a speech. Let any critic sit down to consider the parable of the prodigal son simply as a delineation of human nature, and say if he could amend one word, add one hue to the vivid colouring, or mark in more graphic boldness the outline of the madman's career.

Whence this knowledge of human nature? Truly Jesus needed not that any should testify of Matthew 18:23-35.—The principal ideas suggested by this parable are:—1. The kingdom of heaven recognises individual responsibility, —a king would take account of his servants; 2. The kingdom of heaven is a kingdom of justice,—"his lord commanded him to be sold," etc. ( Matthew 18:25)! 3. The kingdom of heaven is a kingdom of mercy,—"the lord of that servant was moved with compassion;" 4. The kingdom of heaven teaches that personal obligation should become a social benefit,—he who has been forgiven should forgive; 5. The kingdom of heaven having failed in mercy will have recourse to absolute justice,—"his lord was wroth, and delivered him to the tormentors, till he should pay all that was due unto him."