is called, a regular certificate, duly signed and sealed, from the proper authorities to those whom it may concern in the country to which he comes. Even so shall it be with those who cannot prove their claim in the Court of Heaven. They contend with their Judge in vain. It is a fearful scene which is here foreshadowed. They seem to have gone on deceiving themselves to the last. They appeal to His justice (so little do they know themselves 1) rather than to His mercy. They speak of gifts rather than of graces; of wonderful works exhibited by them, but of no work of holiness wrought within them. They were admired of men, but they are not approved of God. Christ, who claims to Himself the office of Judge, He who now speaks to them, but whom they will not hear, will then, in that supreme day of decision, plainly pronounce that sentence of which they have been so often warned.3 Their works were, after all, works of iniquity. Within they were full of hypocrisy.* If they appeared righteous before men, God knew their hearts. So "I saw," says the Dreamer in the familiar Allegory, that there was a way to hell even from the gates of Heaven." 6 5 CXXXIII. HEARING AND DOING. St. Matthew vii. 24-29. Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock: and the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock. And every one that heareth these 12 St. Pet. i. 8-11. 2 See, for an exact parallel, 1 Cor. xiii. 1, 2. 3 Augustine observes, as Abp. Trench notes (Expos. Ser. on Mount, p, 317) that "I never knew you," is but another way of saying "Ye never knew me." See St. Matt. xxiii. 28, where the two are combined. 5 St. Luke xvi. 15. sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand: And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell and great was the fall of it. And it came to pass, when Jesus had endel these sayings, the people were astonished at his doctrine: for he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes. From saying and doing, the Lord turns to hearing and doing; to the infinite distance between the mere hearer and the doer of the Word. This He enforces by an impressive Parable, with which the Divine Sermon concludes. With Him is no respect of persons. "Whosoever will, let him come." Gentile is as welcome as Jew. The Lord here speaks of obedience and disobedience as respectively wisdom or folly. In that hill country of Galilee the floods were sometimes violent; it was also a sandy soil; and the Lord's hearers would have before their eyes actual instances of the illustrations He adduces. "I will liken him," He says, speaking of the wise and obedient, whatever a careless and ungodly world may think of him. It is even as it was in the days of Noah, when there were scoffers who knew not till the flood came, and took them all away. Then shall the foolish and disobedient 2 "be likened." After the catastrophe, the common consent of all men shall approve this comparison. These are they whom the Lord of old reproved by His Prophet because they heard His words but did them not; 3 listening to them simply as to a song, or a tune played upon an instrument of music. But will mere listening ever make a man anything? Will listening qualify a man for any profession, or trade, or business? A man may listen to the plainest and profoundest lectures upon these, but unless he rise up and practice, unless he try and do, he will be no whit nearer the desired end. "Be ye doers of the Word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves." "Blessed are they that hear the Word of God, and keep it.” 6 We are 11 St. Pet. iii. 20; 2 St. Pet. iii. 3-7; St. Matt. xxiv. 37-39. 2 Tit. iii. 3. Compare the comparison in the first Psalm. 4 Eze. xxxiii. 30-33. told in a few words what was the present effect of the Sermon, the impression this strange Preacher made upon the people. They were astonished. It was so unlike what they were accustomed to hear. Two things are noted about His teaching. As to the manner of it: it was as one having authority." Throughout we have His "I say unto you." He spake as one sent of God; so that they took Him for a Prophet at the least. Then as to the matter and substance of it: it was "not as the Scribes." How did the Scribes teach? Their teaching was not concerning "the weightier matters of the Law," 2 but chiefly of trifling traditions; "teaching for doctrines the commandments of men;" making the word of God of none effect through their tradition." 3 "Take heed therefore how ye hear." CXXXIV. THE LEPER CLEANSED. St. Matthew viii. 1. St. Mark i. 40-45. St. Luke v. 16. St. Matt. viii.-When he was come down from the mountain, great multitudes followed him. St. Mark i.-And there came a leper to him, beseeching him, and kneeling down to him, and saying unto him, If thou wilt, thou canst make me clean. And Jesus, moved with compassion, put forth his hand, and touched him, and saith unto him, I will; be thou clean. And as soon as he had spoken, immediately the leprosy departed from him, and he was cleansed. And he straitly charged him, and forthwith sent him away; and saith unto him, See thou say nothing to any man: but go thy way, shew thyself to the priest, and offer for thy cleansing those things which Moses commanded, for a testimony unto them. But he went out, and began to publish it much, and to blaze abroad the matter, insomuch that Jesus could no more 1 St. Luke vii. 16. 2 St. Matt. xxiii. 23. 3 St. Mark vii. 1-13. openly enter into the city, but was without in desert places : and they came to him from every quarter. St. Luke v.-And he withdrew himself into the wilderness, and prayed. Of the multitudes who heard our Lord's Sermon on the Mount, the first feeling, we are told, was astonishment; their next impulse, we find, was to follow Him. Our Lord. now proceeds to follow up His Divine words by certain. Divine deeds; miracles, works of wonder; "confirming the word by signs following." Here is the first of these. This poor man, so St. Luke tells us in the corresponding account, was "full of leprosy." It had, as is generally the case with that fell disease, invaded the whole man. This, the most dreadful disease of antiquity, was fitly taken as a type of sin. Observe this poor leper's energy. He did not lie down in despair, but roused Himself to come to the good Physician. Observe his earnestness, "beseeching Him. "Observe his humility, "kneeling down to Him." Observe his faith, "saying unto Him, If Thou wilt, Thou canst make me clean." Observe too the compassion of the Lord. "For we have not an High Priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities." Observe the ready response, the echo as it were, to this poor man's faith. The leper's prayer dictated the Lord's answer; "If Thou wilt: I will." He asks to be made clean, for leprosy was ceremonial defilement, shutting the sufferer out from the society of men, from the service of the sanctuary; 3 typical herein of the defilement produced by sin. The Evangelist notes the action. of the Lord. He could dare to touch him. "On On the pure person of the second Adam no defilement could pass. He could convey purity, but could not receive pollution." "His hand was not made unclean by touching the leper, but the whole body of the leper was cleansed by the touch of that 1 St. Mark, evidently an eye-witness, alone describes this attitude of the leper. St. Luke adds that "he fell on his face;" the usual mode of prostration in the East. 2 Bengel. 3 In the parish church of Greys, near Henley, may still be seen a Leper window, through which these dreaded outcasts were allowed to look. A Plain Commentary. 1 holy hand." The prohibition that follows may have been meant to be limited till the cleansed leper had shown himself to the Priest, and offered the sacrifice of thanksgiving appointed in the Law,2 and obtained the official decree in his favour; another testimony to them that He was the Christ. He touched the leper to show that He was not subject to the Law, but superior to it. He sent him when cleansed to the Priest, to show that He came to fulfil it. This disobedience, though prompted by a grateful zeal, was attended with inconvenient results. We need sometimes to be saved from our friends. Our Lord had no need to precipitate matters. His hour was not yet come. See Him now withdrawing Himself from His growing popularity even into the wilderness. There is a time for meditation, as well as a time for action. Now He prays as a man who had come from dissipating this leprosy as God. CXXXV. THE PARALYTIC HEALED. St. Mark ii. 1-3. And again he entered into Capernaum, after some days; and it was noised that he was in the house. And straightway many were gathered together, insomuch that there was no room to receive them, no, not so much as about the door: and he preached the word unto them. And they come unto him, bringing one sick of the palsy, which was borne of four. 4 From meditation He proceeds to action; to preaching from prayer. The news of His return home,3 if He could be said to have a home, was soon spread abroad; and immediately a crowd collects. Let us try to realise the scene. We are in one of the houses of that favoured and ungrateful 1 Chrysostom, Hom. xxvi. 2 Lev. xiv. 1-32. In the original it is very graphic. Capernaum is called by St. Matthew (ix. 1) "His own city." to 4 He had not where, of His own, lay His head. The house was probably St. Peter's. See St. Mark i. 29. |