Bible Commentaries

Luke 9:13

This narrative suggests and illustrates the following important principle: that men are often, and properly, put under obligation to do that for which they have, in themselves, no present ability.

I. To begin at the very lowest point of the subject: it is the nature of human strength and bodily fortitude to have an elastic measure, and to be so let forth or extended as to meet the exigencies that arise. Within certain limits, for man is limited in everything, the body gets the strength it wants in the exercise for which it is wanted. God may fitly call a given man to a course of life that requires much robustness and a high power of physical endurance, on the ground that when he is fully embarked on his calling the robustness will come, or will be developed in it and by means of it, though previously it seemed not to exist.

II. Intellectual force, too, has the same elastic quality, and measures itself in the same way, by the exigencies we are called to meet. Task it, and for that very reason, it grows efficient. Plunge it into darkness, and it makes a sphere of light. It discovers its own force by the exertion of force, measures its capacity by the difficulties it has endured, its appetite for labour by the labour it has endured. All great commanders, statesmen, lawgivers, scholars, preachers, have found the powers unfolded in their calling, and by it, which were necessary for it.

III. The same also is true, quite as remarkably, of what we sometimes call moral power. By this we mean the power of a life and a character, the power of good and great purposes, that power which comes at length to reside in a man distinguished in some course of estimable or great conduct. No other power of man compares with this, and there is no individual who may not be measurably invested with it. Integrity, purity, goodness, success of any kind, in the humblest persons or in the lowest walks of duty, begin to invest them finally with a character, and create a certain sense of momentum in them. Other men expect them to get on because they are getting on, and bring them a repute that sets them forward, give them a salute that means—success. This kind of power is neither a natural gift nor, properly, an acquisition; but it comes in upon one and settles on him like a crown of glory, while discharging with fidelity his duties to God and man. And here again, also, it is to be noted that the power in question, this moral power, is often suddenly enlarged by the very occasions that call for it. Not seldom is it a fact that the very difficulty and grandeur of a design, which some heroic soul has undertaken to execute, exalts him at once to such a pre-eminence of moral power that mankind are exalted with him, and inspired with energy and confidence by the contemplation of his magnificent spirit. How often, indeed, is a man able to carry a project simply because he has made it so grand a project. He strikes, inspires, calls to his aid, by virtue of his great idea, his faith, his sublime confidence in truth or justice or duty. All the simplest, most loving, and most genuine Christians of our own time are such as rest their souls, day by day, on the confidence and promise of accruing power, and make themselves responsible—not for what they have in some inherent ability, but for what they can have in their times of stress and peril, and in the continual raising of their own personal quantity and power. They throw themselves on works wholly above their ability, and get accruing power in their works for others still greater and higher. And so they grow in courage, confidence, personal volume, efficiency of every kind, and instead of slinking into their graves out of impotent lives, they lie down in the honours of heroes.

H. Bushnell, The New Life, p. 239.

References: Luke 9:18-22.—A. B. Bruce, The Training of the Twelve, p. 164. Luke 9:20-24.—Christian World Pulpit, vol. v., p. 102. Luke 9:21. —J. Keble, Sermons from Lent to Passiontide, p. 193; Homilist, vol. vi., p. 104.

Luke 9:23

It is not more certain that without holiness no man can serve God than that without self-denial no man can be holy. And so it must be, from the nature of mankind and the nature of Christ's service; for what is man's nature but sinful flesh, and what his service but a sharp corrective? No two powers can be more antagonistic than man's nature and Christ's service, and the struggle issues, as either power prevails, in apostasy or in self-denial.

I. In the first place, without crossing and denying of self there can be no purifying of the moral habits. Without a true compunction and a tender conscience, purity of heart, and the energy of a devout mind set free from the thraldom of evil, no man can have fellowship with Christ, and no man can have these without self-denial.

II. And so, again, even with those who have for a while followed Christ's call, how often do we see the fairest promise of a high and elevated life marred for want of constancy. They had no endurance, for they had no self-denial. A self-sparing temper will make a man not only an utter contradiction to his Lord, but even to himself.

III. Without self-denial there can be no real cleaving of the moral nature to the will of God. I say that, to distinguish between the passive and seeming attachment of most baptized men, and the conscious energetic grasp of will by which Christ's true disciples cleave to their Master's service.

IV. We have need to ask ourselves: (1) In what do we deny ourselves? It would be very hard for most men to find out what one thing, in all the manifold actings of their daily life, they either do or leave undone simply for Christ's sake. (2) And if we cannot find anything in which we deny ourselves already, we must needs resolve on something in which we may deny ourselves henceforward. In things lawful and innocent, and, it may be, gainful and honourable and in keeping with our lot in life; and such things as the world, by its own measure, esteems to be necessary things; we may really try ourselves: we may find matter for self-denial, and that in many ways.

H. E. Manning, Sermons, vol. i., p. 89.

Wherein consists the self-denial of which the text speaks? We must bound it by the prescribed path of each man's Christian duties and trials, but within that path, what is it, that we may know and practise it?

I. First of all, it must find its field and exercise in the thoughts. There let us plant it and thence trace its work on the words and actions. Whosoever will be Christ's disciple, must deny himself in his thoughts. It is a temptation to all men, to think highly of themselves; a temptation so subtle that, even with the utmost care to prohibit and cut off its occasion, it most usually finds its seal somewhere in a man's character. What we should aim at is, that quiet reasonable abnegation of self-will and self-regard, which lays us, for all our more solemn interests and eternal prospects, passive in the hands of our Heavenly Father—as His children, cared for by Him, as much bound to believe and trust Him as to obey and serve Him; that truest humility which is content to take Him at His word and appropriate His promises; that genuine self-denial, which links our will in His, and pours life and energy and a warm loving heart, with all its fulness of conviction and affection, into the unreserved and unconditional furtherance of His work in the world and His glory in ourselves.

II. Self-denial is a wide subject indeed; one deserving every Christian's earnest and active endeavour therein to follow the example of his Saviour. The Christian's light is to strive—not that men may follow him, but that he may lead them out to meet the Bridegroom; and the voice of Him for whom we wait may be heard in the simplest remark of a child, as well as in the deepest conclusion of a philosopher.

III. Self-denial in thought and word would ill deserve the name, if they did not lead on to self-denial in deed. If any man will come after Christ, in his outward life and acts, he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily.

H. Alford, Quebec Chapel Sermons, vol. iii., p. 32.

The Saviour hardly ever said words whose bearing is more direct upon the practical work of our daily living; and though it is a bold thing to make the assertion, we do not hesitate to assert that no words ever uttered by Christ were ever so misunderstood and misinterpreted by very many men, in many places and in many ages. Christ's teaching was, that the earnest believer must be ready to give up anything, though it should be a right hand or eye, that tended to obstruct him in his Christian course; and that he must be ready to fulfil every Christian duty, however painful, and to bear every burden laid upon him by the hand of God, though it should press upon him heavily and sorely, as the weighty cross upon the poor criminal who bore it to the place of doom.

I. The doctrine of self-sacrifice has proved sufficient to produce many instances of the purest heroism that this world has ever witnessed. Many a time it has gained victories, silently won, in struggling hearts, to which earthly battle-fields are nothing. The self-denial required by Jesus does not lie in seeking needless suffering for ourselves, but in bearing humbly and submissively what should come in the discharge of Christian duty. Let a man, says Jesus, deny himself, and take up his cross—the cross God is pleased to send him and no other. Let him bear the sorrow allotted to him in love and wisdom by the Almighty, let him not tempt the Lord by trying to take the reins of providence into his own puny hands. If we take the trials God sends us, and strive faithfully against the temptations from within and without that God permits to assail us, we shall find that we need not go out of the way to create trials for ourselves. The world, the flesh, and the great adversary are hourly seeking to mislead us, and if any man will come after Christ, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily.

A. K. H. B., Graver Thoughts of a Country Parson, p. 268.

References: Luke 9:23.—Homiletic Magazine, vol. xi., p. 10; J. H. Thom, Laws of Life, p. 251; Christian World Pulpit, vol. ii., p. 311; W. Landels, Ibid., vol. viii., p. 8; G. S. Barrett, Ibid., vol. xxx., p. 381; W. P. Roberts, Ibid., vol. xxxi., p. 235; R. Tuck, Ibid., vol. xxvi., p. 102; E. H. Higgins, Ibid., p. 316. Luke 9:24-27.—A. B. Bruce, The Training of the Twelve, p. 173. Luke 9:25.—Homiletic Quarterly, vol. v., p. 314.

Luke 9:26

False Shame.

Consider:—

I. What is there in Christ and His words of which men are ashamed? (1) Their reason is perplexed by the mystery of His Person; (2) their pride is humbled by the nature of His work.

II. How men may show that they are ashamed of Christ. (1) The shame of some is seen in their shrinking from the profession of His Name; (2) we can show our shame of Christ by silence and by compliance.

E. Mellor, In the Footsteps of Heroes, p. 50.

If we consider our Lord's saying on the subject of the last judgment, we shall find that there are three main failures, so to call them, for which Christians will be condemned at the day of account.

I. The first is disobedience—conscious, wilful disobedience to the Gospel law.

II. The second is that of false and outward profession.

III. The third is the failure to profess the truth of which they are secretly convinced.

H. P. Liddon, Penny Pulpit, No. 1,151; see also Christian World Pulpit, vol. xxvi., p. 369.

Reference: Luke 9:26.—S. A. Tipple, Echoes of Spoken Words, p. 31.

Luke 9:28-31

I. The Transfiguration throws light on the meaning of Christ's Passion. It shows that glory was His natural state, according to His own thought: "Now, O Father, glorify Thou Me with Thine own Self with the glory which I had with Thee before the world was."

II. Evidently, one object of this scene was to confirm the faith of the disciples in the Divine Nature of a suffering Redeemer.

III. This scene bears close relation to the Resurrection. On the former occasion Christ distinctly foretells His death, in the evening retires, and at night is transfigured. Again, at the Transfiguration He had two witnesses from the world of spirits, besides His three disciples; and in His Passion an angel from the unseen world is present, and the same three disciples; while, again, at the tomb, out of the same three Apostles two are found, as well as two witnesses from the unseen world.

C. W. Furse, Sermons at Richmond, p. 177.

References: Luke 9:28, Luke 9:29.—Homiletic Magazine, vol. vi., p. 24; W. Wilson, Christ setting His Face to go to Jerusalem, p. 185. Luke 9:28-32.—H. N. Grimley, Tremadoc Sermons, p. 10. Luke 9:28-36.—Homiletic Quarterly, vol. i., p. 476; Preacher's Monthly, vol. iii., p. 239; S. D. Thomas, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xxv., p. 54; G. Macdonald, Miracles of Our Lord, p. 272.

Luke 9:29-30

The Re-appearance of the Departed.

I. The Church, perfected and triumphant; the Church, expectant still, in their quiet resting-places; and the Church travailing, conflicting here, in the battlefield of this lower world—were all one upon that holy mount. And they all gathered round the same Christ—the Friend of all, the Saviour of all, the Lord of all. He was the Spring from which all came. He was the End to which all tended. They all combined to make His kingdom.

II. If we pass from the persons to their appearance, we are immediately baffled by the unearthliness of the scene to which we are admitted. Only three things occur to notice. (1) The Transfiguration left everything the same. It was Christ's own form; it was Christ's own face; the very garments appear to have been the same; only all—the figure, the countenance, the dress—became lovely and lustrous. And so with the two sainted ones from the other worlds—they were recognisable in a moment; and all we read of their appearance is, that they "appeared in a glory," which probably means that they were like their Lord—exceeding white and brilliant. (2) What was the character of the heavenly appearance? Twofold—partly physical, partly spiritual. Some from within, some from without. Who can doubt that that sun-like brightness was the beaming of the moral effulgence of the Divine nature, the holiness, the wisdom, the love, the power of God, all radiating there, and making that flood of glory so intense, that flesh and blood could not look upon it. (3) It is interesting to inquire, What was the subject which occupied the thoughts of that heavenly assembly, when they met in that sweet society? St. Luke only answers the question. They talked of Christ's exodus which He should accomplish at Jerusalem. Notice the place which the sufferings, and Resurrection, and Ascension of Jesus—making His exodus—held in the minds of the saints. It was their only topic. No wonder! it is the central truth of the whole system—that truth of truths, without which nothing else in the world is true indeed.

J. Vaughan, Fifty Sermons, 4th series, p. 218.

References: Luke 9:29.—H. Wonnacott, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xiv., p. 115; E. D. Solomon, Ibid., vol. xxviii., p. 133. Luke 9:29-31.—Church of England Pulpit, vol. x., p. 505; T. M. Herbert, Sketches of Sermons, p. 113. Luke 9:29-37.—H. W. Beecher, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xxv., p. 388. Luke 9:30, Luke 9:31.—Preacher's Monthly, vol. vii., p. 193; Homilist, new series, vol. i., p. 251; W. M. Taylor, Elijah the Prophet, p. 222. Luke 9:32.—Preacher's Monthly, vol. ii., p. 236. Luke 9:34.—J. Keble, Sermons from Lent to Passiontide, p. 1; Parker, Hidden Springs, p. 359; Homiletic Quarterly, vol. iv., p. 273. Luke 9:34, Luke 9:35.—W. T. Bull, Christian World Pulpit, vol. i., p. 523. Luke 9:35.—A. Barry, Cheltenham College Sermons, p. 256. Luke 9:36.—Homiletic Magazine, vol. vii., p. 80. Luke 9:37-42.—Ibid., vol. xiii., p. 19. Luke 9:37-45.—Preacher's Monthly, vol. in., p. 344. Luke 9:38-42.—G. Macdonald, The Miracles of Our Lord, p. 173. Luke 9:42.—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. ii., No. 100; vol. xxix., No. 1746. Luke 9:45.—R. Duckworth, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xxx., p. 232. Luke 9:49, Luke 9:50.—Phillips Brooks, Ibid., vol. xxxi., p. 277. Luke 9:49-62.—F. D. Maurice, The Gospel of the Kingdom of Heaven, p. 160. Luke 9:53-62.—G. Dawson, The Authentic Gospel, p. 131. Luke 9:54-56.—Homilist, new series, vol. vi., p. 416.

Luke 9:55-56

The Spirit of Christ and of Elijah.

No one can have failed to notice the marked difference between the stern spirit of Elijah and the gentle spirit of Christ. Of all the prophets of the Old Dispensation Elijah is the grandest and least civilised. Rénan tells us that in the pictures of the Greek Church Elijah is usually represented as surrounded by the decapitated heads of the Church's enemies. And Prescott tells us that in the sixteenth century the brutal inquisitors of Spain tried to justify their fiendish deeds by appealing to Elijah's act in calling down fire from heaven, and saying, "Lo, fire is the natural punishment of heretics." They did not understand—or else they would not—that that act of Elijah's was for ever condemned by One who was at once Elijah's Master and Elijah's God.

I. Elijah and the old heroes, doubtless, had not learnt to distinguish between the sinners and the sin. Doubtless they had not learnt to love the sinner, while they hated the sin. It was reserved for after-times to teach men that. It required a higher teaching than had yet been granted to mankind. It required the teaching of the Son of God Himself. The spirit of Elijah was a spirit of justice, a spirit of righteous retribution, a spirit of terrible vengeance: the spirit of Christ was a spirit of tenderness, a spirit of compassion, a spirit of love.

II. But because the religion of Christ is a religion of love, because it bids us be kind, patient, longsuffering, forgiving, do not fancy that therefore it is a religion of sentimentalism, fit only for weak women and effeminate men. It is nothing of the kind. It is a religion of mercy, but it is a religion of justice. It is a religion of charity and of intolerance of sin. It is a religion of love, but of hatred of oppression. If any man can see injustice and wrong done to those who cannot help themselves—and see it done, too, with callousness and indifference—then that man may be very wise and prudent in the eyes of a hollow society, but he has lost the spirit of justice, which is the spirit of Christ.

J. Vaughan, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xviii., p. 147.

References: Luke 9:56.—Homiletic Quarterly, vol. iii., p. 132; H. Jones, Ibid., vol. xxx., p. 101; W. Walters, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xii., p. 318. Luke 9:57.—Ibid., vol. v., p. 458. Luke 9:57, Luke 9:58.—H. M. Butler, Harrow Sermons, p. 244. Luke 9:57-62.—H. W. Beecher, Ibid., vol xvi., p. 404.

Luke 9:59-60

Our Lord's words in the text seem at first sight harsh and severe. They are regarded by many as breathing the very spirit of those religious movements and institutions which dissolve the nearest and most sacred ties of natural kinship and affection for the interests of the Church and for the promotion of the individual religious life.

I. But what is it that our Lord said, and under what circumstances did He say it? It is probable that the young man heard of his father's death while he was with Christ, for, if he had been in his father's house when he died the Jewish law would have pronounced him ceremonially unclean, and kept him from intercourse with others for some time. He heard of his father's death while he was with Christ, and he wanted to return to the funeral. The father was dead, and beyond the reach of his affection. The son could really do nothing for him. If he had been a good son he had already done everything for his father that it was in his power to do; if he had been a bad son it was too late now to make up for past neglect. There are scores of cases in which a clear imperative duty would require a man to be absent even from his father's funeral. If the Duke of Wellington, on the morning of the battle of Waterloo, had heard that his father was dead, and had left the army to come home to bury him, I do not know what military law would have inflicted on him, but he would have committed a great crime. There are duties which refuse to suffer a man even to go and bury his father. To such a duty this man had been called. He appears to have been selected as one of the seventy; for our Lord told him that he was to preach the kingdom of God. He might have had his purpose weakened as well as have been kept away from a great and solemn work, the opportunity for which would not occur again. His father could not suffer by his absence, and our Lord lays His hand upon him, and commands him to discharge, even in the hour of his grief, this great service. "Let the dead bury their dead."

II. Is there not something hard in the way in which our Lord remits the burial to those who had no spiritual life? Does not this look like the contempt with which many persons, claiming to be spiritual, speak of those who have no religious faith? But, certainly, that was not Christ's habit, and it was to minister to the spiritually dead that this man was called. Our Lord never spoke with contemptuous indifference of those who were dead in trespasses and sins; and it was the very eagerness of our Lord that they might rise from that spiritual death to a new and better life, that led Him to call this man away from what he was going about, and to send him to preach the Gospel. This whole narrative suggests that critical moments in a man's life bring critical duties.

R. W. Dale, Penny Pulpit, new series, No. 744.

References: Luke 9:59.—Homiletic Quarterly, vol. ii., p. 554. Luke 9:59, Luke 9:60.—H. M. Butler, Harrow Sermons, p. 255; W. Wilson, Christ setting His Face to go to Jerusalem, p. 42. Luke 9:59-62.—Homiletic Magazine, vol. xii., p. 204. Luke 9:60.—T. Cuyler, Christian World Pulpit, vol. vi., p. 65. Luke 9:61.—H. Wonnacott, Ibid., vol. xvii., p. 84; Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. vii., No. 403. Luke 9:61, Luke 9:62.—W. Wilson, Christ setting His Face to go to Jerusalem, p. 56; H. M. Butler, Harrow Sermons, p. 266. Luke 9:62.—A. Barry, Cheltenham College Sermons, p. 164; Preacher's Monthly, vol. iv., p. 61. Luke 9—Expositor, 1st series, p. 148; Parker, Christian Commonwealth, vol. vi., p. 515. Luke 10:1.—Preacher's Monthly, vol. ix., p. 98. Luke 10:1-7.—Clergyman's Magazine, vol. iii., p. 160. Luke 10:1-38.—F. D. Maurice, The Gospel of the Kingdom of Heaven, p. 160. Luke 10:2.—Clergyman's Magazine, vol. v., p. 32; W. Baird, The Hallowing of Our Common Life, p. 39. Luke 10:3-7.—W. Wilson, Christ setting His Face to go to Jerusalem, p. 85. Luke 10:3-9.—J. Clifford, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xxvii., p. 264. Luke 10:5, Luke 10:6.—Phillips Brooks, Ibid., vol. xxxi., p. 322.