SECTION XVI.

ISOLATED PARTICULARS FROM THE JOURNEY OF JESUS FROM GALILEE TO JERUSALEM. THE UNFOLDING OF THE DOCTRINE OF SALVATION IN FACTS.

(Luke x. 38-xviii. 30.)

The journey of Jesus to Jerusalem develops itself in a series of the most significant acts, which, looked at apart from their chronological sequence, readily assume, to the' contemplative eye, the form of an ideal journey into the kingdom of God — of the doctrine of salvation in pictures drawn from life, and from life's pilgrimage. From this point of view we have to examine the particular facts in the narrative of our Hellenic Christian Evangelist.

1. Care about the one thing which is needful.

(Chap. x. 38-42.)

It happened on a certain occasion, as the Lord journeyed with His disciples, that He entered into a village; the disciples, probably, meanwhile continuing their progress. Here a woman named Martha received Him into her house. She had a sister called Mary, who listened to the words of Jesus, and for this purpose placed herself at Jesus' feet. Martha, on the contrary, with great assiduity, gave herself much to do, in order to serve Him. Coming to Jesus, she said, 'Lord, dost Thou not care that my sister hath left me to serve alone? bid her therefore that she help me.' And Jesus answered and said unto her, 'Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things; but one thing is needful: Mary hath chosen the good — best — part, which shall' not be taken away from her,'

Only one thing is needful — of prime necessity — the performance of which turns aside want in all cases. In the preservation of life, it is a piece of bread; in the daily calling, it is the first and nearest; in providing for the temporal life, it is the concern of the moment; in the search after knowledge, it is the truth; in reflection, it is the life; in the law, it is love; in the Gospel, it is grace; in the Christian life, it is God — life in God through Christ. And to him whose mind is turned to the one thing in the lower sphere of life, it becomes unawares the symbol of the one thing in the higher; and thus he goes ever deeper through the harmonious centres of life, till he has found all in Him who is eternally one, his God and Saviour. He, therefore, who has caught a sight of the point of prime necessity in life, and lives for it, lives for the point of unity, and presses forward to his true unity in its deepest depth. By this means he not only attains to the festive celebration of life, but also to power over its multiplicity and diversity, so that life assumes for him the form of a pure development and manifestation of his unity, in a beautiful and harmonious fulness of existence. But he who, from the first, troubles himself about many things, without necessity, loses, with the one, also the many. Whilst Mary returns more and more from the outward to the inward, whilst, through her devotion to the one duty of receiving the divine guest with a spiritual ear, she comes to the highest of all 'one things' — peace with God; Martha is in danger of deviating ever further from the inward to that which is merely outward. And whilst the needful labour of the former becomes a festive celebration, which turns want aside; the superfluous care of the other, about the festivity, becomes ever the more a dangerous labour and indigence of heart — and her many things threaten to resolve themselves into a repulsive jumble, which burdens the soul, and turns it into a chaos.

The service of Martha, however, has also its relative warrant, so long as it remains in inward harmony with the service rendered by Mary. But it is a proof that the entanglement of Martha in her many things has begun, when, as a disturbing influence, it troubles the transparent atmosphere of the soul of Mary.

That Martha complains of Mary to the same Lord at whose feet she has set herself down — this is at once an old and a new history. But there remains to Mary the witness of her Lord, that she has chosen the best part, whose possession has the peculiarity that it shall not again be taken away from him who has it.

With the care for the one thing which is needful, the pilgrimage into the kingdom of God is begun.

2. Prayer.

(Chap. xi. 1-1.3.)

This pilgrimage, or spiritual journey, which has turned itself towards the kingdom of God, first assumes the form of prayer.

It happened, as Jesus found Himself in a certain place, that He prayed. When He ceased, one of His disciples said unto Him, 'Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples.' And He said unto them, 'When ye pray, say, Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be Thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in heaven, so on earth. Give us day by day our daily bread. And forgive us our sins; as we also forgive every one that is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.'

This instruction in prayer was confirmed by the Lord in a parable, found only in Luke, in which He depicts the efficacy of prayer in the strongest colours:

' Which of you shall have a friend, and shall go unto him at midnight, and say unto him, Friend, lend me three loaves: for a friend of mine is come to me from his journey, and I have nothing to set before him? And the other from within shall say unto him, Trouble me not: the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot rise and give thee. I say unto you,' continues the Lord, 'though he will not rise and give him — gradually raising himself — because he is his friend, yet because of his importunity be will start up — suddenly rise — and give him as many as he needeth.

'And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you. For every one that asketh, receiveth; and he that seeketh, findeth; and to him that knocketh, it shall be opened.' To this succeeds another parable: 'If a son shall ask bread of any of you, being his father, will he give him a stone? or if he ask a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent? or if he shall ask an egg, will he give him a scorpion? '(The son becomes ever more confident in his petitions. At first he asks for bread, then for a fish, and finally for an egg — and the father grants him his requests. Dreadful were the thought, that the father, instead of the thing asked for, should sarcastically offer him deceptive imitations of the good gifts — things which are useless, or even things which are noxious and poisonous.) 'If ye then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children; how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him? '

From what has been said, it now follows, that those petitioners who, in spiritual things, obtain nothing but stones, serpents, and scorpions, the proper symbols of the desert and of barrenness, which injure both themselves and others, are not true petitioners, but only pray in appearance, their heart not being turned to God.

But to true prayer belongs the spirit of truth, which hears and retains the word of God, and the spirit of simplicity, which makes it to be the light of life.

3. The spirit of truth and the spirit of simplicity.

(Chap. xi. 14-36.)

The Lord cast out a devil who was dumb. And it came to pass, when the devil was gone out, the dumb spake; and the people wondered. But some of them said, He casteth out devils through Beelzebub, the chief of the devils. And others, tempting Him, sought of Him a sign from heaven.

The Lord answered both these hostile utterances of different groups of opposers. In the answer which He gave to the one (vers. 17-28), He directed attention to the spirit and sense of truth, by which alone a man is capable of hearing and keeping the word of God; in the answer which He gave to the others (vers. 29-36), He directed attention to the spirit of simplicity, which alone receives the Spirit of God, to make the divine word a source of inward light.

First He answered those who said — who circulated the accusation amongst themselves and amongst the people, without encountering Christ Himself with it — He casteth out devils through Beelzebub, the prince of devils. For He knew well their thoughts — διανοήμαῖα, their opinions. 'Every kingdom,' He said, 'which is divided against itself is brought to desolation, and a house divided against itself falleth. If Satan also be divided against himself, how shall his kingdom stand? And ye say, that I by Beelzebub cast out devils. And if I by Beelzebub cast out devils, by whom do your children cast them out? Therefore shall they be your judges. But if I with the finger of God cast out devils, no doubt the kingdom of God is risen upon you. When the strong man armed keepeth (maintaineth) his palace, his goods are in peace — undisturbed. But when the stronger than he — αύτοῦ, his master, his superior — shall come upon him, and overcome him, he taketh from him all his armour, wherein he trusted, and divideth his spoils.' This the Lord followed up with the watchword: He that is not with Me is against Me; and he that gathereth not with Me scattereth.

He then continued: 'When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through desert places seeking rest; and finding none, he saith, I will return to my house whence I came out. And when he cometh, he findeth it swept and garnished. Then goeth he, and taketh to him seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter in and dwell there. And the last state of that man is worse than the first.'

Thus the Lord showed those enemies who blasphemed His work as Satanic, that the spirit of truth (susceptibility) was not in them. And He explained to them how, from this cause, they were not able to receive the kingdom of God and its message; nay, further, how even those among them who had at first received these, partly from the same want, were not able to keep the message in their hearts.

From the one devil which held them in bondage — from demoniacal fetters — He delivered them; but they allowed themselves to be again taken possession of by the seven devils of consummated malice and blasphemy. For the devils cannot well endure the desert wastes to which they belong, so long as they hope to find an accessible habitation in human hearts. They return, therefore; and where they find the house 'swept and garnished for their reception — satanically adorned by the spirit of falsehood — they enter in, and revel there with hellish power.

A woman's voice, which made itself heard aloud from amongst the crowd, gave the Lord an opportunity to express this leading thought of His address distinctly: 'Blessed is the womb that bare Thee,' was the cry, 'and the paps which Thou hast sucked,' The Lord answered, 'Yea rather, blessed are they that hear the word of God, and keep it.'

On this followed the answer to the second hostile utterance of the other group of opposers. The people seemed to wait for it with special eagerness, perhaps because they expected the Lord would grant the request addressed to Him for a sign from heaven, and they crowded around Him more numerously and thickly than before. Then the Lord began to speak, uttering the unexpected words, 'This is an evil generation: they seek a sign; and there shall no sign be given them, but the sign of Jonas the prophet. For as Jonas was a sign unto the Ninevites, so shall also the Son of man be to this generation. The queen of the south shall rise up in the judgment with the men of this generation, and condemn them: for she came from the utmost parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and, behold, a greater than Solomon is here. The men of Nineve shall rise up in the judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: for they repented at the preaching of Jonas; and, behold, a greater than Jonas is here.'

He then held up again to their view the leading thought of this address. What had brought life to those heathens — what had conducted the chosen spirit of the queen of the south from the darkness of a distant land to the light of the theocratic kingdom — what had moved the crowds of Nineve, if less distinguished, yet penitent, to receive the messenger of the theocracy, the messenger of God, from afar — was nothing else than the spirit of simplicity, which, in itself, is susceptibility to light. This susceptibility was wanting to the men of that generation. Therefore also could no sign from heaven be given to them; — at the most, the sign of Jonas, namely, in the sense that the Messiah came to His generation as Jonas came to the Ninevites, — a stranger — an unknown, poor, and nameless man, accrediting Himself solely by the power of His inward life.¹ The Lord now explains why they were not able to understand and receive Him. They obscure the inward light with which they have been entrusted, through the want of simplicity. 'No man,' He says, 'lighteth a candle and putteth it in a secret place or under a bushel, but on a candlestick, that they which come in may see the light.'² No one, He means to show them, acts so in natural things, as they do in spiritual. 'The light of the body,' added He further, presenting the same thought in a pictorial form, 'is the eye: therefore, when thine eye is single, thy whole body also is luminous. But when it is evil, thy whole body is dark (not only without light, but also causing darkness). Take heed, therefore, that the light which is in thee be not darkness. If thy whole body, therefore, be luminous, having no element of darkness in it, it shall be wholly luminous, as when a candle with its bright shining doth give thee light.'

So may, and must, the susceptibility to light in the spiritual sense (reason, feeling, and conscience) be cherished, and kindle into a light of the life and of the body. The element of its growth is simplicity — the convergence, concentration, and harmony of the inward life. Through the inward sensibility to the impressions of light, the word of God becomes necessarily an inward light, which also gradually drives out from the outer sensible sphere of life all elements of darkness, every portion of the old night, until the whole existence of a man, even that which is external, is not only illuminated, but also illuminating— a divine radiance, bright, beautiful, and sacred.

4. The inward life in contrast to external tendencies, and the true manifestation of the inward life by confession, in contrast to the concealment and denial of it.

(Chap. xi. 37-xii. 12.)

The Lord had soon occasion to give distinct expression to the truth, that true simplicity cannot exist without a decided tendency of the spiritual life inwards. While He was speaking, a certain Pharisee besought Him to dine with him. With surprise, however, this Pharisee remarked that He did not first wash before dinner. And the Lord said unto him, 'Now (still, even) do ye Pharisees make clean the outside of the cup and the platter; but your (own) inward part is (puffed up) full of ravening and wickedness. Ye fools, did not he that made that which is without, make that which is within also? Give then rather that which is there — within — in the cups and platters — as alms — to the poor; and, behold, all things are clean unto you. But woe unto you, Pharisees! for ye tithe mint and rue, and all manner of herbs, and pass over judgment (the self-condemnation of repentance) and the love of God: these things ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone. Woe unto you, Pharisees! for ye love — seek with fond desire — the uppermost seats in the synagogues, and — likewise — greetings in the markets — desire to be not only eminences, but excellences. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are as covered graves, over which men walk without knowing it.' Then answered one of the lawyers, 'Master, thus saying, Thou reproachest us also! 'And He said, 'Woe unto you also, ye lawyers! for ye lade men with burdens grievous to be borne, and ye yourselves touch not the burdens with one of your fingers. Woe unto you! for ye build the sepulchres of the prophets, and your fathers killed them. Truly ye witness to, and confirm, the deeds of your fathers; for they killed them, and ye build their sepulchres.' This conclusion seems at first sight to rest too strongly on outward appearance. When the fathers slay the prophets, and the children dig their graves, this seems, indeed, to be a connected work of mortal enmity. But is not this appearance dissipated when it is considered, that the children, by the sepulchral monuments with which they honour the prophets, seek to make good the evil inflicted on them by the fathers? So it seems, indeed; but there remains, nevertheless, a large balance of agreement between those fathers and these children — that is, a morbid lingering on the past, under the name of the past. What, indeed, had made the fathers also to be murderers of the prophets was, that they adorned the sepulchres of their great forefathers with a too one-sided veneration; and the children betray again the same disposition, by their desire to build monuments to the prophets, whilst they do not prize the messengers of God sent to themselves. The builders of the sepulchres of prophets crucified the Prince of all the prophets, Christ; and the superstitious reverers of the holy grave of Christ have again slain the prophets of their own time. The Lord thus continued: 'Therefore also said the wisdom of God, I will send them prophets and apostles, and some of them they shall slay and persecute: that the blood of all the prophets, which was shed from the foundation of the world, may be required of this generation; from the blood of Abel unto the blood of Zacharias, which perished between the altar and the temple: verily I say unto you, It shall be required of this generation.'

And, in conclusion, the word, 'Woe unto you, lawyers! for ye have taken away — misplaced — the key of knowledge: ye entered not in yourselves — into the temple of knowledge, — and them that were entering in ye have hindered.'

The whole of this manifold and multiform denunciation rests, then, on a fault in the foundations of the life itself — on a want of inward truth, uprightness, freshness, and purity in the religious life; the customary religious life not being deepened to its sources — confession to inquiry, obedience to conscience, prayer to the desire of the heart, piety to God. The last word to designate this condition is, that these external religionists have carried forth, and put out of the way, the key of knowledge from the temple of knowledge, which is intended to remain eternally open to all inquiring spirits.

The scribes and Pharisees were greatly embittered by these words of Jesus, and began to urge Him vehemently, and to assail Him with all kinds of questions, laying wait meanwhile for Him, in the hope of catching something out of His mouth which might form a ground of accusation against Him. This strong mutual collision had for its effect, that the people ran together in thousands, so as to tread one upon another. But the Lord seized the opportunity, openly and loudly to warn His followers against the false teaching of the Pharisees, and also against the fear of man, when they were challenged by them. He called on them freely and openly to confess His name.

And thus we perceive, that to the inward truth of the religious life, there must correspond a true ingenuousness — a free and heroic confession of the truth.

'First of all,' said the Lord, 'beware ye of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. For there is nothing covered, which shall not be revealed; neither hid, which shall not be known. The words which ye have spoken in darkness — softly — shall be — changed into words of thunder³ — heard in the light. And what ye have spoken in the ear, in closets (as He Himself had just spoken His words of reproof in the guest-chamber to the Pharisees), shall be proclaimed from the house-tops. And I say unto you, My friends. Be not afraid of them that kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do. But I will forewarn you whom ye shall fear: Fear him, which, after he hath killed, hath power to cast into hell; yea, I say unto you, Fear him. Are not five sparrows sold for two farthings; and not one of them is forgotten before God? But even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not therefore: ye are of more value than many sparrows. But I say unto you, Whosoever shall confess Me before men, him shall the Son of man also confess before the angels of God. (One must, however, would not only the negative opposite to confession — denial, but also the positive — blasphemy. Therefore it is added:) Whosoever shall speak a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him; but unto him that blasphemeth against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven. And when they bring you,' says the Lord in conclusion, 'unto the synagogues, and into magistrates and powers, take ye no thought how or what thing ye shall answer in your defence, or what ye — in general — shall say; for the Holy Ghost shall teach you in the same hour what ye ought to say.'

5. True freedom from care, and the true carefulness and watchfulness,

(Chap. xii. 13-48.)

In the midst of these earnest exhortations to His audience, the Lord was interrupted by one of the company with the unseasonable request, 'Master, speak to my brother, that he divide the inheritance with me.' And He said unto him, 'Man, who made Me a judge or a divider over you?' Then He said to His hearers, 'Take heed, and beware of covetousness; for a man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth.' Thereupon He exhibited the same truth in the form of a parable: 'The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully; and he thought within himself, saying, What shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits? And he said. This will I dg I will pull down my barns, and build greater; and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods. And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry. But God said unto him. Thou fool! this night thy soul shall be required of thee; then whose shall those things be which thou hast provided? So is it with him that layeth up (dead) treasure for himself— liveth selfishly, for himself — and is not rich — acquiring true riches⁴ — towards God — doth not live in self-dedication to God.'

The Lord followed up these teachings by a practical application of them to His disciples: 'Therefore I say unto you. Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat; neither for the body, what ye shall put on. The life is more than meat, and the body than raiment. Consider (study) the ravens; for they neither sow nor reap, they have neither storehouse nor barn, and God feedeth them. How much more are ye better than the fowls? Which of you, with taking thought, can add to his stature one cubit? If ye then be not able to do that thing which is least, why take ye thought for the rest? Consider the lilies, how they grow: they toil not, they spin not; and yet I say unto you, that Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. If then God so clothe the grass, which is to-day in the field, and to-morrow is cast into the oven, how much more will He clothe you, O ye of little faith? And seek not ye what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink, neither be ye of doubtful mind — depend on meteors, atmospheric signs, and transient appearances. For all these things do the nations of the world seek after; but your Father knoweth that ye have need of these things. But rather seek ye the kingdom of God, and all these things shall be added unto you.

'Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Sell that ye have over (superfluous), and give it in alms: provide yourselves bags which wax not old, a treasure in the heavens that faileth not, where no thief approacheth, nor moth consumeth — as principle of destruction, causeth destruction. For where 3'our treasure is, there will your heart be also.'

With these words has the Lord already introduced His exhortation to true watchfulness, which is one with true freedom from care:

'Let your loins be girded about, and your lights burning; and be ye yourselves like unto men that wait for their lord, when he will return from the wedding; that, when he cometh and knocketh, they may open unto him immediately. Blessed are those servants, whom the lord, when he cometh, shall find watching: verily I say unto you. That he shall gird himself, and make them to sit down to meat, and will come forth and serve them. And if he shall come in the second watch, or come in the third watch, and find them so, blessed are those servants. But this know — for the intensity of this watchfulness must be depicted by a still stronger figure — that if the goodman of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched, and not have suffered his house to be broken through. Be ye therefore ready also; for the Son of man cometh at an hour when ye think not.'

Then Peter said unto Him, 'Lord, speakest Thou this parable unto us alone, or even to all? 'And the Lord said, 'Who then is that faithful and wise steward, whom his lord shall make ruler over his household, to give them their portion of meat in due season? Blessed is that servant, whom his lord, when he cometh, shall find so doing. Of a truth I say unto you, that he will make him ruler over all that he hath. But if that servant say in his heart. My lord delayeth his coming, and shall begin to beat the men-servants and maidens, and to eat and drink, and to be drunken; the lord of that servant will come in a day when he looketh not for him, and at an hour when he is not aware, and will cut him in sunder, and will appoint him his portion with the unbelievers. And that servant, which knew his lord's will, and kept not himself prepared, nor did according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes. But he that knew not, and did commit things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes. For unto whom much is given, of him shall much be required; and to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more.'

6. True decision and stedfastness in the midst of the fire, and a corresponding earnest observation of the signs of the times.

(Chap. xii. 49-59.)

The Lord turned His eye further towards the consummation, and showed His disciples how stedfast they must be in the midst of the searching fires with which they should be baptized. 'I am come to send tire on the earth; and what will I if it be already kindled? But I have a baptism to be baptized with; and how am I straitened till it be accomplished! Suppose ye that I am come to give peace on earth? I tell you, Nay; but rather division: for from henceforth there shall be five in one house divided, three against two, and two against three. — So it is in the world; so in the great family of the Church, where the five confessions are thus divided amongst themselves; and so in the individual Christian family. — The father shall be against the son, and the son against the father; the mother against the daughter, and the daughter against the mother; the mother-in-law against the daughter-in-law, and the daughter-in-law against the- mother-in-law.' These variances are looked on by the Lord as unavoidable, as an effect of the fire which He kindles on the earth; and what He expects in such circumstances from His people is, above all things, stedfastness, decision.

This must not, however, manifest itself in regardlessness with reference to the things which are happening without, but in the most attentive observation of the signs of the times. In this tenor He said to the people, 'When ye see a cloud rise out of the west, straightway ye say, There cometh a shower; and so it is. And when ye see the south wind blow, ye say, There will be heat; and it cometh to pass. Ye hypocrites, ye can discern the face of the sky and of the earth; but how is it that ye do not discern this time? Why can ye not, from yourselves — from a consideration of your own private relations — come to a discernment of what is right in the matters^of the kingdom of God? Thus, when thou goest with thine adversary to the magistrate, give diligence, as thou art in the way, to be delivered from him; lest he drag thee before the judge — turning the ruler into a stern judge — and the judge deliver thee to the officer, and the officer cast thee into prison. I tell thee, thou shalt not depart thence till thou hast paid the very last mite.' That is the rule in private life by which a wise man guides himself, and which a fool neglects to his own ruin. In the light of this rule, should the individual man, or a whole generation, learn to view their relation to God. That we are on the way to the Sovereign Ruler, the signs of the times sufficiently show. And we find ourselves in the company of a stern and threatening adversary — Eternal Justice — which proceeds ever along with us, in the development of life — as the curse of sin, in our inward man — as an enslaved conscience. And the nearer we approach to the Sovereign Euler, the more does He assume for us the character of a judge: and the adversary who at first only accompanied us, threatens at last to seize us and drag us before the judge. Therefore it is high time, while we are in the wav, to come to an agreement with him, by a true reconciliation with God to be delivered from the adversary, that is from Justice, which veiled itself in that character. For if we be not delivered from him— if it come to the execution of the sentence, which the course of history anticipates —then must justice have its full sway until the judgment is consummated; because, at the same moment the sentence of judicial blindness is also consummated, from which the guilty party can only be freed by the full execution of the judgment.⁵

7. The observation especially of the rapid course of the judgment, and of the slow and noiseless development of the work of grace.

(Chap. xiii. 1-21.)

At the time when the Lord directed the attention of His hearers to the signs of approaching judgment, there were some present who brought Him word of the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices, hewing them down within the precincts of the temple itself, where probably they had been disturbers of the public order. Jesus answering, said unto them, 'Suppose ye that these Galileans were sinners above all the Galileans, because they suffered such things? I tell you. Nay: but except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.' These words He enforced by the following parable: 'A certain man had a fig-tree planted in his vineyard, and he came and sought fruit thereon, and found none. Then said he to the dresser of his vineyard, Behold, these three years I come seeking fruit on this fig-tree, and find none: cut it down; why cumbereth it the ground? And he answering, said unto him. Lord let it alone this year also, till I shall dig about it, and dung it, whether mayhap it may bear fruit; and if not, after that thou shaft cut it

Thus rapidly does the judgment advance, or also the development of the curse, which causes the judgment, and as speedily does the judgment become manifest. On the other hand, the unfolding of the true life, or of the work of grace, is at first unconspicuous and progresses slowly, even because it is the silent germination and budding of that which is most noble— of eternal life. In confirmation of tills, the Evangelist narrates the history of a cure. Jesus was teaching on the Sabbath in one of the synagogues. And, behold there was a woman which had a spirit of infirmity eighteen years and was bound together, and could in no wise lift up herself. When Jesus saw her. He called out to her, 'Woman, thou art loosed from thy infirmity 'And He laid His hands on her; and immediately she. was made straight, and glorified God. The ruler of the synagogue, filled with indignation, because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath-day, turned to the people, and said, 'There are six days ia which men ought to work: in them therefore come and be healed, and not on the Sabbath-day.' The Lord then answered him, and said, 'Thou hypocrite, doth not each one of you on the Sabbath loose his ox or his ass from the stall, and lead him away to watering? And ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan hath bound, lo! — mark it well — these eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath-day — even because it is the Sabbath-day?' And when He had said these things, all His adversaries were ashamed; and all the people rejoiced, for all the glorious things which were done by Him. Both the parables, however, which the Lord now addressed to the people,⁶ show that in the history of this cure there is indicated a characteristic of the kingdom of God, which is the occasion to many of their rejecting it, — namely, its slow and silent development.

'Unto what is the kingdom of God like? 'spake the Lord; 'and whereunto shall I resemble it? It is like a grain of mustard-seed, which a man took, and cast into his garden; and it grew, and waxed a great tree; and the fowls of the air lodged in its branches.' And again He said, 'Whereunto shall I liken the kingdom of God? It is like leaven, which a woman took and hid⁷ (mingling it) in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened.'

Both parables serve, according to the idea of the Evangelist, to explain the history of the foregoing cure, each a special side of it. The preparation for the work of healing, which Jesus accomplished on the suffering daughter of Abraham, had been matured in her heart during eighteen years of heavy affliction. These years indeed form a contrast to the three years of the previous section. In three years the preparation for the judgment is perfected; in eighteen years the preparation for deliverance. The judgment grows rapidly; the deliverance buds at first slowly, in order then certainly to ripen quickly. Besides this tedious process, however, in the development of salvation, its unconspicuousness also comes into account. From a little grain of mustard-seed must the great tree grow. This was true of the word which Christ" threw into the heart of the woman: it was true also of the history of the cure itself. The people reckoned it amongst the great and glorious acts of God; He, on the contrary, wished it to be regarded as a token that the kingdom of God would at first bud forth, without appearance, like a grain of mustard-seed. Nay, this history served also to give a conception even of the hidden character which attaches to the work of salvation. The miracles which the Lord performed directed their influence on the popular mind in Israel, and they were, to appearance, absorbed by it, swallowed up, and buried, as a little leaven seems to be absorbed by the mass of dough into which it is kneaded. But the same dough which conceals the leaven, and seems to bury it, appropriates it in the most intimate manner, and brings it thereby at length, through its own transformation, into manifestation. In this relation stood the miraculous and healing acts of Christ to the popular life among the Jews. In communicating their influence to the general mind, they were covered up and buried by the unbelief and "opposition of His enemies. But in the same measure an impression was produced on those who were susceptible. And thus Christ transformed their life into His own; and the miraculous power and healing virtue, which He deposited in the mass of His people, came at length to open manifestation in the mighty miracle which followed in due time,— namely, that of new life and salvation in the Church of believers. But the same process of mingling the divine leaven in the mass of humanity begins ever anew, until the life of Christ, His salvation and miraculous divine power, shall everywhere break forth.

After these declarations of Christ with respect to the subjective side of the way of salvation, and its true antecedent conditions, the outward or objective side must also come under review, and, in the first instance, its frustration.

8. Misconceptions regarding salvation and the new life. The false seeking after salvation, and the false friendship with the Saviour. Decisive rejection of the Saviour, and declared enmity towards Him. Contempt and disregard for His work and person. Contempt for His followers. Contempt for the blessings of His salvation. Contempt for the way of salvation.

(Chap. xiii. 22-xiv. 35.)

When the Lord took farewell of Galilee, in order to complete the establishment of the kingdom of God in Jerusalem, misconceptions concerning His kingdom and His salvation must needs come to light in the most multifarious ways.

In the first place, must that misconception become manifest which showed itself in a false seeking after salvation, and m a shallow adherence to the Lord (xiii. 22-30). This disclosure was brought about by the circumstance, that Jesus went from city to city and from village to village teaching, and journeying toward Jerusalem. The retinue which accompanied Him on the journey may have given occasion to the question put to Him, 'Lord, are there few that be saved? 'To this the Lord returned the solemn answer, 'Strive to enter in at the strait gate; for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able. When once the Master of the house is risen up, and hath shut to the door, then shall ye begin straightway to stand without— to assemble before the closed door — and to knock at the door, saying. Lord, Lord, open unto us; and He shall answer and say unto you, I know you not whence ye are: then shall ye begin to say, We have eaten and drunk in Thy presence, and Thou hast taught in our streets' They shall thus resort to an appeal to their former outward and natural connection with Him, as they cannot appeal to their having known Him, or having been His spiritual followers. But such relationships and appeals are in His eyes without weight. He will declare unto them, 'I say unto you once more, I know you not whence ye are: depart from Me, all ye workers of iniquity. There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when ye shall see Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and all the prophets, in the kingdom of God, and you yourselves thrust out. And they shall come from the east, and from the west, and from the north, and from the south, and shall sit down in the kingdom of God.'

'And, behold, there are last which shall be first, and there are first which shall be last.'

The false, vain seeking of the Jews, however, made itself known in a decisive rejection of the Saviour, and open hostility towards Him; and this exhibited itself on that occasion in an expressive and unique scene (chap. xiii. 31-35).

The same day, we are told, there came certain of the Pharisees, saying unto Him, 'Get thee out, and depart hence; for Herod will kill Thee.' And He said unto them, 'Go ye and tell that fox, Behold, I cast out devils, and I do cures to-day and to-morrow, and the third day I shall be perfected. Nevertheless I must walk — proceed on My way peacefully and in freedom — to-day, and to-morrow, and the day following; for it cannot be that a prophet perish out of Jerusalem.' Thus in an impassioned, but at the same time sorrowful tone. He expressed His confidence regarding His own life, His lofty consciousness of the certainty and safety of His journey, and the assurance He had of His decease in Jerusalem, in the most striking and elevated terms, which put to shame the vulgar artifice of those messengers, who probably intimated in this spirit the ill will of Herod. The answer of Christ throws a strong flood of light on all who misapprehend His character. Enemies in Galilee and enemies in Jerusalem, threatening princes and threatening high priests, opponents concealed under the mask of friendship in His presence, false foxes behind Him, mortal enemies at His journey's end: these all cannot rob Him of the three days of His help and health-dispensing pilgrimage, nor of the triumphant feeling of His personal safety in the way of God. Bather does this feeling rise into a brighter flame over against their enmity; and thus, with a divine rejoicing confidence of security, He sends the fox-like messengers of the fox speedily back to their home. He tells them that He has other enemies besides them, to whose malice He shall become a prey — but only according to God's purpose, for the perfecting of His own life by the suffering of death, when His works shall have been completed. And then with the thrilling pathos of love He adds: —

'O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, which killest the prophets, and stonest them that are sent unto thee; how often would I have gathered thy children together, as a hen doth gather her brood under her wings, and ye would not! Behold, your house shall be left unto you desolate;⁸ for I say unto you. Ye shall not see Me, until the time come when ye shall say, blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord.'

But His saving operations were despised by the Pharisees as His person was despised by them, even when they hypocritically pretended friendship (chap, xiv, 1-11).

The first of these things was experienced by the Lord anew at a feast in the house of a Pharisee, to which He was invited-: the last He Himself intimated to the guests in the course of His address. He went into the house of one of the chief Pharisees on the Sabbath to eat bread; but the Pharisees had of set purpose determined to watch Him, And, behold, there was a certain man which had the dropsy before Him — placed in a position of such prominence that he must attract His notice, an unconscious and innocent instrument of the malice of His enemies. — Jesus knew their intention, and answering, spake unto the lawyers and Pharisees: 'Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath-day? 'But they held their peace — they restrained themselves. And He took hold of him — accepting the unsuspecting, trustful man from the hand of malice — healed him, and let him go. He then turned to them with the explanation: 'Which of you shall have an ass or an ox fallen into a pit, and will not straightway pull him out on the Sabbath-day? 'And they could give Him no answer.

On this He directed their notice, by means of a parable, to the contempt of which they had been guilty towards His own person: 'When thou art bidden of any man to a wedding,' He said, 'sit not down in the highest place, lest a more honourable than thou be bidden of him; and he that bade thee and him come and say to thee. Give this man place; and thou must then begin — come painfully to the resolution — with shame to take the lowest room. But when thou art bidden, go and sit down in the lowest place; that when he that bade thee cometh, he may say unto thee, Friend, go up higher: then shalt thou have honour in the presence of them that sit at meat with thee.'

Thus did the Pharisees take in the house of Jehovah the first places, and 'allowed the Lord to sit in the lowest, like a despised guest. On this account the deepest humiliation awaited them.

With contempt for His person, there was most closely connected contempt for His believing people. This He showed likewise in the form of a parable, directing His speech to him who had invited Him (chap. xiv. 12-14): —

'When thou makest a dinner or a supper, call not thy friends, nor thy brethren, neither thy kinsmen, nor thy rich neighbours, lest they also bid thee again, and a recompense be made thee. But when thou makest a feast, call the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind: and thou shalt be blessed; for they have nothing wherewith to recompense thee: but thou shalt be recompensed at the resurrection of the just.'

With this word against the spiritual nepotism which lies imbedded in all Pharisaism, He rebuked the Pharisees for their exclusion of publicans and sinners from their religious fellowship, and showed them that true piety and love just consist in inviting such wanderers to be fellow-sharers in the blessings of salvation.

But how could they respect those who thirsted for salvation, when they themselves despised the salvation which had been offered to them? This also the Lord placed before their view in a parable (chap. xiv. 15-24).

One of those who sat at meat appeared to apprehend that in these parables Christ spoke of a spiritual feast in the kingdom of God. He broke out therefore in the words, 'Blessed is he that shall eat bread in the kingdom of God.' Thereupon the Lord spake to him the following parable: 'A certain man made a great supper, and bade many; and he sent his servant at supper-time to say to them that were bidden, Come, for all things are now ready. And they all began with one consent to make excuse. The first said unto him, 1 have bought a piece of ground, and I must needs go and see it: I pray thee have me excused. And another said, I have bought five pair of (draught) oxen, and I go to prove them: I pray thee have me excused. And another said, I have married a wife; and therefore I cannot come. So that servant came, and showed his lord these things. Then the master of the house, being angry, said to his servant, Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in hither the poor, and the maimed, and the halt, and the blind. And the servant said, Lord, it is done as thou hast commanded, and yet there is room. And the lord said unto the servant, Go out into the highways and hedges — to the hedged garden-paths — and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled. For I say unto you, that none of those men which were bidden shall taste of my supper.'

In this parable the Lord depicted the contempt of salvation which He had found among the Jews, and their approaching rejection on that account, in strongly defined prophetic. colours; and with equal distinctness He intimated the future calling of the Gentiles. Let one only conceive a company of guests, formed of men invited from the streets and destitute portions of the city — from the highways, and the neglected hedge-enclosures of the gardens. More strongly could not the Lord have expressed the future calling of the Gentiles to be partakers of the feast of the kingdom of God.

When He had depicted their contempt for salvation itself, there remained still one point to describe — their contempt for the true way of salvation (chap. xiv. 25-35).

About this time — when He left Galilee — great multitudes flocked to Him, in order to join themselves to Him. This occasioned Him to turn to those crowds of followers — amongst whom there were doubtless many who entertained very chiliastic, sensual views of the kingdom of God — and impress on their hearts the earnest requirements implied in following Him. 'If any man come to Me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple. And. whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after Me, cannot be My disciple.'

It is well worthy of notice, that these strong words, in their strongest form, occur in that Gospel which specially depicts the human side of the religion of Christ. The summons is here thus expressed: If any man come to Me, and hate not his father, &c., he cannot be My disciple; whilst in Matthew we read, He that loveth father or mother more than Me, is not worthy of Me, &c. (Matt. x. 37, 38). Was the Evangelist Luke specially stretched to the Hebrew form of expression — hate? We may perhaps discover two grounds which caused him to retain the original expression. There was, in the first place, the painful experience made in the school of Paul, that so many Jews, by a slavish attachment to the members of their own household, were restrained from becoming Christians, or at least decided Christians. But further, a deep insight into the inward relationships of the Christian himself might lead to the same result, — the knowledge that he must instantly alienate from himself all whom he loved, now this one, and now that — that he must hate their false forms of life, which were a temptation to himself, in order not only to be found faithful to the Lord, but to them also, in their truest and deepest interests.

On this He proceeded to impress on the hearts of those who accompanied Him, in two parables, the truth that they must determine in favour of the real way of salvation, if they would attain to salvation at all; and that otherwise it were better if they did not yet attend upon Him as His followers.

'Which of you,' He thus begins, 'intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first and counteth the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it? Lest haply, after he hath laid the foundation, and is not able to finish it, all that behold it begin to mock him, saying, This man began to build, and was not able to finish.'

That is the difficulty of active service in the following of Christ. It demands outlay, namely, of spiritual power. Equally difficult is the negative side — the warfare of the believer. This is shown in the following parable: —

'What king goeth to make war with another king — to offer him battle — and doth not sit down first, and consult whether he be able with ten thousand to meet him that cometh against him with twenty thousand. And if not, he sendeth an ambassage, while the other is yet a great way off, and desireth conditions of peace.' In this manner did many disciples, with the smallest spiritual armament, proceed to meet the prince of darkness, who with a great armament in Jerusalem was ready to join battle.

The Lord then added, 'Whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot by My disciple. Salt is good; but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be seasoned (salted)? It is neither fit for the land, nor yet for the dunghill;⁹ but men cast it out.'

The radical fault of the Jewish people, by which they were hindered from following the Lord on the way of salvation, was the want of self-renunciation. From this cause, a people which had been appointed to be a salt among the nations, had become a dead, insipid salt, which could not again be seasoned by another salt. And as such a salt is cast away, being utterly useless, even so was it with the Jewish people in the time of their rejection. The same word holds good still. It is true of New Testament Christians who have lost their love and their vitality.

That the Lord expressed a thought, so important for the people — that He indicated such a judgment — is shown by the concluding exclamation: 'He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.'

9. Grace the foundation of salvation. The knowledge of it. Disparagement of it.

(Chap. xv.)

Amongst those who, at that time, came ever in greater numbers to the Lord, one class of the people became specially prominent, viz., that of the publicans and sinners. They all drew near unto Him, says Luke, in order to hear Him. But the Pharisees and scribes murmured, saying, 'This man receiveth sinners, and eateth with them.'

This new invidious attack of pharisaical spirits even on His compassion, occasioned the Lord to give a representation of the glorious manifestation of the grace of God among sinners, which in Himself had become personal, in three parables.

The first parable compares the lost sinner with a lost sheep in the wilderness, the second with a lost piece of silver in the house, the third with a lost son in a foreign land: or rather, the first compares the grace of God to a shepherd, who leaves the ninety and nine sheep in the wilderness to seek the one which is lost; the second to a woman, who lights a candle and sweeps the whole house in order to seek for the lost piece of silver; the third to a father who prepares a feast for the lost son on his penitent return, such as has not yet fallen to the share of the other son who had always remained with him.

Grace is like to a shepherd, who, in the lost sheep, rescues with the warmest compassion a life, filled with anguish, and threatened with destruction.

Grace is like to the careful woman, who, in the lost piece of silver, misses something of value, which, faithful to the duties of her household economy, she must with the utmost diligence search for amidst the dust and filth.

Grace is like to a faithful father, who, in the lost son, not only laments the anxious and endangered life, not only seeks to recover the value of a human soul, but also desires to restore a life, akin to his own, which has been extinguished in the curse of sin and guilt — to restore the defaced image of his own being.

It has for its aim, the rescue of the living, the finding again of the precious, the reconciliation of the penitent.

It seems, on the one hand, to take it with extraordinary strictness, to reckon with the utmost exactness; for it gives itself the greatest trouble to maintain its number full — the number of the hundred sheep, of the ten pieces of silver, of the two sons. On the other hand, it is beyond all calculation bold; for it leaves the ninety and nine sheep in the wilderness, in order to rescue the hundredth; it devotes much labour through the whole house, in order to restore the one piece of silver to the nine others; it rises superior to the misconstructions of the one son, in order to receive again and keep the other. It stands, on the one hand, infinitely exalted above the lost sinner, as a shepherd with ninety and nine sheep over the lost sheep — as a woman with nine pieces of silver over the lost piece — as a father in the enjoyment of his rich possessions, with his firstborn who administers them, over the younger son, a wanderer in foreign lands, and long unheard of. On the other hand, through the constraint of free love and compassion, it is deeply involved in solicitude about the loss, and this manifests itself in great labour and sacrifice. The shepherd rests not until he has found his lost sheep, and carried it home on his shoulders; the woman sweeps the house through and through, until she has again the piece of money; the wealthy father sees the son from afar, for his heart has ever waited for him, and it is as if the calf had been expressly fattened for his coming — he has the best for him in store.

The first parable thus exhibits grace specially as compassion and pastoral fidelity: —

'What man of you, having an hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and go after that which is lost, until he find it? And when he hath found it, he layeth it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he cometh home, he calleth together his friends and neighbours, saying unto them, Rejoice with me; for I have found my sheep which was lost. I say unto you,' adds the Lord, 'that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just persons, which need no repentance.'

The second parable represents grace specially as an earnest carefulness— a strong and passionate appreciation of that which is precious: —

'Either what woman, having ten pieces of silver, if she lose one piece, doth not light a candle, and sweep the house, and seek diligently till she find it? And when she hath found it, she calleth her friends and her neighbours together, saying, Rejoice with me; for I have found the piece which I had lost. Likewise, I say unto you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth.'

In the third parable both elements are united. Grace seeks in the lost son, with divine compassion, the man who was dead, and with divine lamentation — or regret — the child of the family: —

'A certain man had two sons: and the younger of them said to his father, Father, give me the portion of goods that falleth to me. And he divided unto them his living. And not many days after, the younger son gathered all together, and took his journey into a far country, and there wasted his substance with riotous living. And when he had spent all, there arose a mighty famine in that land; and he began to be in want. And he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country; and he sent him into his fields to feed swine. And he would fain have filled his belly with the husks that the swine did eat: and no man gave unto him. Then came he to himself, and said. How many hired servants of my father's have bread enough, and to spare, and I perish with hunger! I will arise, and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against Heaven, and before thee, and am no more worthy to be called thy son: make me as one of thy hired servants. And he arose, and came to his father. But when he was yet a great way off", his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him. And the son said unto him, Father, I have sinned against Heaven, and in thy sight, and am no more worthy to be called thy son. — But the word. Make me as one of thy hired servants, died on his lips; — for, the father said to his servants, Bring forth the best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet: and bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it; and let us eat, and be merry: for this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found. And they began to be merry. Now his elder son was in the field: and as he came and drew nigh to the house, he heard music and dancing. And he called one of the servants, and asked what these things meant. And he said unto him, Thy brother is come; and thy father hath killed the fatted calf, because he hath received him safe and sound. — This imperfect and superficial account of the servant chimed in with the chagrin of the elder son. — He became angry, and would not go in. Therefore came his father out, and entreated him. And he answering, said to his father, Lo, these many years do I serve thee, neither transgressed I at any time thy commandment; and yet thou never gavest me a kid, that I might make merry with my friends: but as soon as this thy son was come — he said, with a bitterness which would not call the restored one, brother, and which now also, in the son, showed disrespect to the father — who hath devoured thy living with harlots, thou hast killed for him the fatted calf. And he said unto him, Son, thou art ever with me, and all that is mine is thine. It was meet that we should make merry and be glad: for this thy brother — thy brother, he said, with strong emphasis, in contrast to the heartless word, This thy son — was dead, and is alive again; and was lost, and is found.'

These parables, which are peculiar to the Pauline Gospel of Luke, and which entirely characterize it, belong to the most glorious inheritances transmitted to us. The two first, as has been already hinted, are in part contained also in the third. They embrace its two fundamental elements. Nevertheless they serve also, on the other hand, to throw light on the conduct of the brother in the third parable, by marked contrasts. The neighbours and friends of the shepherd rejoice with him, that he has found his sheep; the woman can invite her friends and neighbours to rejoice with her over her found piece of silver; but here the son and the brother will not rejoice with the father over the son who was lost and is found again — his own restored brother.

The explanation of this contrast is given by the Lord, in the additions to the first and second parables. The joy of the shepherd with his neighbours and friends is an image of the joy which is in heaven generally over one sinner that repent eth, — and which exists in an extraordinary degree, being greater than the joy over ninety and nine just persons, who need no repentance, who cannot get beyond their poor, dead legality — to say nothing of self-knowledge, repentance, love, and freedom.¹⁰ The joy of the woman and her friends over the lost piece of silver is an image of the joy, which is among the angels of God, over the repentance of a sinner. Finally, the joy of the father over his lost son, and the festive celebration, is a picture of the joy of God Himself. All these circles of joy rebuke, with their mild light, the pharisaic spirit, which takes offence at the reception of sinners into the kingdom of God. How gently and calmly, however, grace rebukes those who disparage it, is shown likewise by the conduct of the father towards his angry elder son.

10. The love which communicates — as the first characteristic in the unfolding of salvation. The exercise of it, and the disparagement of it.

(Chap, xvi.)

At the time when the Lord was about to leave Galilee, He found even amongst His followers much to unveil and to remedy. As the legalists were inclined to despise the publicans and sinners, so might many who were affluent be disposed to neglect the poor, instead of treating them as brethren, and helping them. Such experiences may in part have influenced the Lord, when He chose this opportunity to impress on the hearts of His disciples, by means of a parable, the law of His kingdom, according to which the wealthier must share their goods with the poor, in the free exercise of love.

'There was a certain rich man, which had a steward; and the same was accused unto him, that he had wasted his goods. And he called him, and said unto him, How is it that I hear this of thee? give an account of thy stewardship; for thou mayest be no longer steward. Then the steward said within himself, What shall I do? for my lord taketh away from me the stewardship: I cannot dig; to beg I am ashamed. I know — I have already found out — what I must do, that when I am put out of the stewardship, they may receive me into their houses. So he called every one of his lord's debtors unto him, the one after the other. To the first he said, How much owest thou unto my lord? And he said, An hundred measures¹¹ of oil. And he said unto him, Take thy bill (which he thus returned to him), and sit down quickly, and write (another with the specification) fifty. Then said he to another, And how much owest thou? And he said, An hundred measures¹² of wheat. And he said unto him, Take thy bill and write fourscore. And the lord commended the unjust steward, because he had done wisely. For the children of this world are wiser in their generation than the children of light.'

In this parable, the idol of this world, Plutus or Mammon, appears as the possessor of earthly goods. The affluent man is his steward. He becomes a Christian, and is thus unfaithful to Plutus. The maxims of brotherly love alter the maxims of selfish gain: he gives — he assists the brethren. For this the spirit of covetous acquisition calls him to account. The steward must perceive that he has fallen out with the spirit of the world, in his mode of acquisition and possession. He observes, that this master no longer acknowledges him, and that his dismissal is near at hand; in other words, that it must come to an entire separation between his new manner of acting, and his old world of selfish gain, and that he might easily come to poverty, if he stopped short half-way. He becomes now first wholly untrue to his former master, in order to secure for himself a new existence, in the resolute exercise of benevolence. Amongst the debtors he desires to prepare for himself an asylum. For he cannot dig, and will not beg. That is, he has no ability for a difficult profession, to which he is not called, and which he has not learned; and as little does he desire to seek his bread in an ignoble, humiliating manner. He therefore seeks a new existence amongst the debtors of his lord — amongst the poor. At first he makes the most resolute effort. The debt of the first he reduces to fifty. Then, however, his moral prudence shows itself more 'strongly. The debt of the next he reduces to fourscore.¹³ Thus he secures for himself a maintenance. Plutus himself, on his own maxims, must praise this calculation. Even from an economical point of view is Christian benefice commendable.

The Lord makes, nevertheless, the additional remark: 'For the the children of this world are wiser in their generation than the children of light.' If Mammon himself had made this remark, it must have been reversed: The children of light are, in their generation, wiser than the children of the world. Thereupon said Jesus further, for the sake of explanation, 'And I say unto you, Make to yourselves friends of the Mammon of unrighteousness; that when ye are left (by your earthly possessions, as unclothed spirits), they may receive you into everlasting habitations. He that is faithful in that which is least, is faithful also in much: and he that is unjust in the least, is unjust also in much. If therefore ye have not been faithful in the unrighteous Mammon — faithful householders of God, stewards of divine liberality — who will commit to your trust that which is true (essential)? And if ye have not been faithful in that which is another's (which is intrusted to you, and does not belong to your own proper self), who shall give you that which is your own (how can you expect that your own shall be faithfully restored to you? that is, if you treat the goods of another, entrusted to you, as if they were your own, how can you get again your own true self)? No household servant can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one (the true master), and love the other (the false); or else he will hold to the one (the true), and despise the other (the false). Ye cannot serve God and Mammon.'

The Pharisees also, who were covetous, heard all these things; and they derided Him. And He said unto them, 'Ye are they which justify yourselves before men; but God knoweth your hearts: for that which is highly esteemed among men is abomination (unclean and worthless) in the sight of God.' (As a rule, the ideal of human greatness is a gradually developed product of wickedness and self-deception — of a reciprocal action between the vanity of the worshipper and that of the object of his worship.)

He then added, in order to show them that their time was past: 'The law and the prophets were until John: since that time the kingdom of God is preached, and every man presseth into it '(is under the pressure of a mighty process of development, which is turned in that direction).

The Pharisees were just the persons to blind themselves to the fact, that since the appearance of John the Baptist, the dawn of a new era had begun. Without presentiment of the future, they still rejoiced in the old phantom of their religious greatness, in their lofty pretensions to external righteousness, which in the sight of God, had already become an abomination, ripe for judgment. That, however, they might not fallaciously misapply the last word, as if the Lord meant to abrogate Moses and the prophets. He added further:

'It is easier for heaven and earth to pass, than that one tittle of the law should fail.'

And for the elucidation of what had been said, there followed, by way of example, the declaration:

'Whosoever putteth away his wife, and marrieth another, committeth adultery; and whosoever marrieth her that is put away from her husband, committeth adultery.'

This example must, at the same time, have shown them how much they themselves had departed from the law of Moses, although they boasted of being the representatives and defenders of the law, in contrast to Him.

When He had thus taught the Pharisees their blindness with respect to the new period, Me held up to their view, in the parable of the rich man and Lazarus, a warning mirror of the future which awaited them, should they continue, heartlessly, to rejoice in their riches, without kindness to their poor brethren at the door.

'There was a certain rich man, who clothed himself in purple and byssus — in splendid robes of purple and bright white linen — and held sumptuous banquets every day. And there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, which was laid at his gate, full of sores; and gladly would he have satisfied himself with the crumbs which fell from the rich man's table: moreover, the dogs came and licked his sores. And thus he lay there among the wild dogs, with which he must share his scanty piece of bread, and which, as if in sympathy, associated themselves with him. And now came the death of the poor man, and his being carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom.¹⁴ The rich man also died, and was buried. And in the lower world (the realm of the dead) he lifted up his eyes — he looked upwards — being in torments, and saw — thus high above him — Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. And he himself cried (for attendants were now wanting), and said, Father Abraham — still ever leaning on his descent from Abraham — have mercy upon me, and send Lazarus (whom he thus well knew, but still always regarded as a born servant of the lich), that he may dip the tip of his finger in water (because, no doubt, he dreaded a greater degree of contact with one who had been unclean), and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame. But Abraham said. Son (acknowledging, without scruple, the natural descent, but without ascribing any effect whatever to the fact), 'remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things: but now he is comforted, and thou art tormented. And beside all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed: so that they which would pass from hence to you cannot; neither can they pass to us that would come from thence. Then he said, I pray thee therefore, father, that thou wouldest send him to my father's house — again Lazarus, to whom^he would grant no rest in Abraham's bosom, and whom he still ever treats contemptuously — for I have five brethren; that he may be a witness to them — of future retribution — lest they also come into this place of torment — into which thus he had come, he thought, or at least pretended to think, unwarned, and therefore unjustly. Abraham understood well what he would say, and answered. They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them. And he said. Nay, father Abraham; but if one went to them from the dead — a ghost appeared to them — they will repent. To this Abraham answered: 'If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rose from the dead.'

The last word has been confirmed by the history of the resurrection of Jesus.¹⁵

Thus is the selfish possession and enjoyment of the rich man turned into curse and damnation; whilst in the way of beneficence and love he might have been a companion of angels, and an heir of heaven.

11. Forgiving love, as the second characteristic of the unfolding of salvation.

(Chap. xvii. 1-10.)

At that time the Lord, in strong terms, impressed on the hearts of His disciples the duty of placability— the obligation to show brotherly love by forgiveness.

Forgiving love is a special form of the love of our neighbour in its spiritual relations and manifestations. Its exercise is connected with forbearance and with correction, which is a requirement of love.

True love, in its spiritual or inward relationships, is, first of all, forbearance. It shows consideration for the weak, the little ones.

'It is impossible,' says the Lord, 'but that offences (occasions of evil) will come: but woe unto him through whom they come. It were better for him that a millstone (of a mill driven by asses) were hanged about his neck, and he cast into the sea, than that he should offend one of these little ones. Take heed to yourselves.'

But the same love which, in its solicitude to spare another, reveals itself as heavenly tenderness, will also, on the other hand, by the fidelity with which it rebukes a brother, approve itself as a heavenly courageousness.

'If thy brother trespass against thee, rebuke him,' is the instruction of the Lord.

And the love which can spare and rebuke, is then also first strong enough in the right way to forgive.

'And if he repent/ it is further added, 'forgive him.' How unlimited must be the power and alacrity to forgive, is shown by the Lord in the following example: 'And if he trespass against thee seven times in a day, and seven times in a day turn again to thee, saying, I repent, thou shalt forgive him.'

Thus must the forgiving love of the Christian exhibit itself as a reflection of divine grace and compassion, deep and unfathomable, strong and invincible — a divine triumph over all temptations to illwill, to revenge, or even only to harshness. In this way, the human heart, according to its natural disposition — even the noblest — can never forgive. The disciples felt this strongly, and with honest open-heartedness they gave expression to it, in the words, 'Lord, increase our faith! '

They knew then well, that the perfecting of love can only spring from the perfecting of faith; for they did not ask for an increase of love itself in order thus to love, but for an increase of faith. The Lord entered quite into the thought, saying, 'If ye have faith as a mustard-seed, and say to this wild fig-tree, Be thou plucked up by the root, and be thou planted in the sea, it should obey you.' Thus can faith with a word cast out the deep-rooted wild tree of revenge from the nutritive soil of egotism, and cast it into the sea of forgiving love, there to perish.

But the faith which can accomplish this, must be grounded in humility. This Christ teaches, in conclusion, by a parable: 'Which of you, having a servant ploughing, or feeding cattle, will say unto him, when he is come from the field, Go straightway and sit down to meat? and will not rather say unto him. Make ready wherewith I may sup, and gird thyself, and serve me, till I have eaten and drunken; and afterward thou shalt eat and drink? Doth he thank that servant because he did the things that were commanded him? I trow not. So likewise ye, when ye shall have done all those things which are commanded you, say, We are unprofitable servants: we have done that which was our duty to do.'

Only in this deep, pure ground of heavenly humility, grows in its full strength the faith which wholly subdues selfishness, and produces a love which can forgive all things, according to the example of Christ.

12. The free manifestation of thankfulness to God, as the third characteristic of salvation.

(Chap. xvii. 11-19.)

In this passage the Evangelist brings before our view the duty of thanksgiving for salvation received, in a Gospel fact, which again he only records. For this end, he makes us in the first place acquainted with the occasion in which it originated: It came to pass, namely, that Jesus, as He went to Jerusalem, passed through between Samaria and Galilee (see vol. ii. 446). And as He entered into a certain village, there met Him ten men that were lepers. These stood still at a distance — according to the legal prescription— lifted up their voices — strained their voice, hoarse from the disease — and called, 'Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.' And when He saw them. He said unto them, 'Go show yourselves unto the priests.' And in the way, as they went, they were cleansed. And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, and with a loud voice glorified God, and threw himself down on his face at His feet, and gave Him thanks. And he was a Samaritan. And Jesus answering, said, 'Were there not ten cleansed? but where are the nine? Are there found none that returned to give glory to God, save this stranger?' And He said unto Him, 'Arise, go thy way; thy faith hath made thee whole.'

Seldom does succouring love and compassion to the wretched reach the deepest ground of their heart, and win them wholly. And oftentimes it is the outwardly orthodox who are the last to attain to the full power of a true faith. Sometimes it is the one Samaritan among the nine Jews who presents himself before the Lord, with the jubilee of thanksgiving, But when a man allows himself effectually to be taken hold of by the saving power of Christ, when he experiences the fact of the grace of God within him, and accepts it, he comes and testifies aloud, in praises to God, what great things He hath done for him. This thankfulness is a rare blossom of the inward life; but where it appears, it makes itself known as a testimony to divine grace.

13. Calm patience in waiting for the manifestation of salvation in regal power.

(Chap. xvii. 20-37.)

Being asked, about this time, by the Pharisees a question which probably had its occasion in His festive progress towards Jerusalem,¹⁶ when the kingdom of God should come. He answered, 'The kingdom of God cometh not amidst signs of outward (heathenish) display.¹⁷ Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, Lo there; for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.'¹⁸ Then turning Himself to His disciples, He said, 'The days will come, when ye shall desire to see one of the days of the Son of man, and ye shall not see it. And they shall say to you, See here! or, see there! Go not after them, nor follow them. For as the lightning, that flashing forth— throws its bluish, all-illuminating light — from the one end under heaven unto the other, so shall also the Son of man be in His day. But first must He suffer many things, and be rejected by this generation.'

This is the hope of the Christian with regard to the glorious appearing of the Lord and His kingdom, according to the Hellenic Gospel, which has the transformation and renovation of the present life especially in view.

Above all things, therefore, must the disciples be freed from the expectation of a heathenish display of heavenly signs — from the troubled humours of chiliastic expectations. They clearly comprehend that the kingdom of God is not to be pointed out by external manifestations of this or that kind, here or there; that this kingdom begins to reveal itself first in the depth of the inner, personal, historical, and social life, concealed by the veil of individual and historical conditions, and then only ripens gradually into outward manifestation.

They cannot and may not, indeed, repress a longing for the glorious time of that festive manifestation; and often will this longing turn into great pain during the sorrowful days of the deepest obscuration of the glory of their Lord. Then would they give all to see even one of His days.

How seductive will be to them then the voice which meets them with, See here, See there! when, now in this form, and now in that, false images of that kingdom shall be extolled in their hearing — ecclesiastic and separatistic, hierarchical and political, chiliastic and socialistic phantoms of the world's transformation.

Yet their thoughts are too pure, too exalted, and too spiritual, concerning their Lord and His coming, to allow them to be deceived by these many-coloured and dazzling phantasmagorias. They stir not from the spot, however men may proclaim. See here! — they follow not in their train, however loudly men may proclaim, See there.

In fidelity of soul they wait for that glorious shining of the royal manifestation of Christ, which, with its lightning blaze, shall illuminate, set on fire, the whole world, with its bluish light judge it, with its bright fire transform it — for that great manifestation which is exalted above all doubt and dispute (demonstration itself), which cannot deceive or delude.

They well know, however, that days of obscuration and darkness precede — that the Son of man must first suffer many things, and be rejected by this generation.

The Lord then depicts to His disciples the character of the time before His coming, and the end of the world: 'As it was in the days of Noe, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man. They did eat, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark; and the flood came, and destroyed them all. Likewise also, as it was in the days of Lot: they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they budded; but the same day that Lot went out of Sodom, it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all. Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man shall be revealed.'

A false semblance of world transformation shall thus precede the day of the judgment; and the most shall quiet and delight themselves with its deceptive light, live only for that which is without — for the world, but, hollow and deserted within, shall forget the deep import of life — eternity, and God, and the judgment; and thus, in the blindness of their carnal security, be overtaken by the judgment day, and overwhelmed in destruction.

For this day will mightily and suddenly unfold all its terrors when it comes at length. Therefore does the Lord give to His disciples the further instruction:

'In that day, he which shall be upon the house-top, and his stuff in the house, let him not come down to take it away; and he that is in the field, let him likewise not return back. Remember Lot's wife. Whosoever shall seek to save his life — in its possessions — shall lose it; and whosoever shall lose his life, shall then — first — 'have it.'

In haste, then, and resolutely, must believers seek deliverance by flight. That, however, this exhortation is to be understood spiritually, is shown by the following delineation of the judgment — dissolving, crossing, and cutting through all previously existing relationships:

'I tell you, in that night (the great and terrible night of the judgment) there shall be two men in one bed; the one shall be taken — taken with, and the other shall be left — sent away. Two women shall be grinding together; the one shall be taken, and the other left.'

The last communication of Jesus surprised the disciples in a high degree. Such a separation by the judgment in the midst of Israel itself — in the midst of the Church itself — this prospect might, indeed, appear to them as too terrible; and amazed, they asked Him, 'Where, Lord?'

He gave them to understand that the judgment, in its manifestation, would everywhere follow in the track of that which had fallen a prey to judgment — that it would seize hold of and reveal that which was already inwardly judged. 'Wheresoever the body is, thither will the eagles be gathered together.'

14. Persevering 'prayer for the coming of salvation in its saving manifestations.

(Chap, xviii. 1-8.)

In this passage we learn how the heart of the Church shall be affected during the period of her feeble, undisplayed life — of the overshadowing of Christianity by the power and glory of the world. The Hellenic Christian was most attracted by the disclosures which the Lord left behind to His Church on this point; and hence we may explain how Luke alone should have preserved the following parable, amongst the things which have been handed down.

And He spake unto them a parable — to supplement His exhortations regarding their behaviour in the prospect of the day of His coming — that men ought always to pray, and not to faint. 'There was in a city a judge, which feared not God, nor regarded man. And there was a widow in that city, and she came unto him, saying. Avenge me of mine adversary. And he would not for a while; but afterward he said, Though I fear not God, nor regard man, yet because this widow troubleth me, I will avenge her, lest she at last come, and — excited by the anger of despair — with the fist strike me in the face.' The Lord thus continued: 'Hear what the unjust judge saith. And shall not God avenge His own elect, which cry day and night unto Him, though He show Himself great of heart in His rule over them — and therefore, in the majesty of His divine fortitude and forbearance, be long unsearchable in His dispensations towards them?¹⁹ I tell you He will avenge them speedily.'

The Church, which in her essential character and destiny is the bride of Christ, and awaits His festive appearance, is here presented in the form of a widow. It seems as if her betrothed husband had died in a distant land. Meanwhile, she lives in a city, in which she is ever oppressed by a merciless adversary, the prince of this world. As she continually cries to God for help, it may seem to her, in her hours of weakness, as if He had become toward her an unjust judge — as if He altogether ruled without divine justice, and without love to men. Nevertheless, she does not allow herself to be led astray by the deceptive appearance. 8he continues instant in prayer for His coming. And if this also be long delayed, because God is guided by great and comprehensive views, and trains His children amidst great trials, with a view to prepare them for a great life in eternity, it appears at length with unlooked-for speed.

The period of suffering, which appeared to the untried, fainthearted Christian infinitely long, appears at last to the tried, and now magnanimous and victorious Christian, in the retrospect, to be but a little while.

The Lord closed the announcement of His coming for the deliverance of His Church with the words: 'Nevertheless, when the Son of man cometh, shall He find faith on the earth? 'With a painful sigh, He seems to indicate that the expectation of His coming should become so rare on earth, that it would one day be difficult for Him to make Himself known as at hand to mankind in general, and even to His Church.

So little will the vain apprehensions of men, accustomed to the gaudy, false representations of the kingdom of heaven, be able to distinguish the true manifestation in its divine simplicity, and spiritually sublime but concealed beauty; and this because of the lack of faith,

15. The final entrance into the kingdom of God in the spirit of humility — in the spirit of childlike simplicity — and in the spirit of evangelical poverty and voluntary renunciation of the world.

(Chap, xviii. 9-30.)

In the last place, the disposition and temper is depicted, with which the Christian pilgrim at length completes his journey into the kingdom of God, and enters its sanctuary. It is presented to us in three characteristic features: in perfected humility, childlike simplicity, and poverty of spirit. The first characteristic is exhibited in a parable, which again only Luke records; the second, in the form of occasional observations; and the third, by means of an occurrence which took place, and a conversation in connection with it, between the Lord and His disciples.

The first characteristic of the ripe Christian is humility. He spake this parable unto certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others: 'Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican. The Pharisee took a position (the attitude of prayer), and prayed for himself — with and for himself²⁰ — thus: God, I thank Thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess. And the publican stood afar off (without consciously assuming any attitude), and would not so much as lift up his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner. I tell you,' continued the Lord, 'this man went down to his house justified rather than the other; for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased, and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.'

This address of Jesus belongs, without doubt, to the last part of the time when He took His departure from Galilee to Jerusalem. The train of His followers had ever become greater; and the pharisaically self-righteous in the company may have gradually begun to repel those of the publicans who believed on Him. That such dispositions could find utterance among His followers, is shown by the dissatisfaction which many of them exhibited later, when He became the guest of Zaccheus (chap. xix. 7). We must not suppose that the Lord, in the publican of this parable, designed to depict the first commencement of conversion — repentance. This publican is already a man who prays; and in order to pray, he goes up to the temple at Jerusalem. But he has no other prayer, at the end of his pious pilgrimage, than the prayer for grace; whilst, ashamed before God, he casts down his eyes, and with penitent sorrow smites upon his breast. With this lively feeling of humility, the ripe believer also enters the house of salvation, deeply bowed down and ashamed in the presence of his God, under a sense of his sins; but yet with full confidence of faith in the presence of His grace.

In this faith is the humility of the ripe pilgrim one with childlike simplicity, which the Lord likewise in these days impresses once more on the heart of His disciples. They brought unto Him also infants — narrates the Evangelist further — that He might lay His hands on them, — as they formerly had brought the sick to Him. When His disciples saw it, they rebuked them — forbade those who brought the children in harsh terms. But Jesus called them unto Him (αὐτά). — the children, with them that brought them — and said, 'Suffer little children to come unto Me, and forbid them not; for of such is the kingdom of God. Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, shall in no wise enter therein.'

But when a man has thrust the false treasures of this life out of his heart — when he has become free, in evangelical poverty and i-enunciation of the world, from a childish worship of temporal goods and relationships, then only does he become such a child in the spirit of the kingdom of heaven, as, with a large, pure, and simple recognition, can appreciate and receive its large, pure, and simple blessings. This we learn in what follows.

A certain ruler asked Him, saying, 'Good Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou Me good? None is good, save one, that is, God. Thou knowest the commandments, Do not commit adultery, Do not kill, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness. Honour thy father and thy mother.' And he said, 'All these have I kept from my youth up.' Now when Jesus heard these things. He said unto him, 'Yet lackest thou one thing: sell all that thou hast, and distribute unto the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, follow Me.' And when he heard this, he was very sorrowful; for he was very rich. And when Jesus saw that he was very sorrowful, He said, 'How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of God! For it is easier for a camel to go through a needle's eye, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.' And they that heard it said, 'Who then can be saved? 'And He said, 'The things which are impossible with men, are possible with God.' Then Peter said, 'Lo, we have left all, and followed Thee.' And He said unto them, 'Verily I say unto you. There is no man that hath left house, or parents, or brethren, or wife, or children, for the kingdom of God's sake, who shall not receive manifold more in this present time, and in the world to come, life everlasting.'

With the entire renunciation of the world, for Christ's sake, is the kingdom of heaven first wholly won, and the soul ripe to apprehend and to receive the commencements of the glorious manifestation of the kingdom in this life, and hereafter its perfected manifestation in the life to come.

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