CLXXI.

CHRIST'S TESTIMONY CONCERNING JOHN.

St. Matthew xi. 7-11.

And as they departed, Jesus began to say unto the multitudes concerning John, What went ye out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken with the wind? But what went ye out for to see? A man clothed in soft raiment? behold, they that wear soft clothing are in kings' houses. But what went ye out for to see? A prophet? yea, I say unto you, and more than a prophet. For this is he, of whom it is written, Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, which shall prepare thy way before thee. Verily I say unto you, Among them that are born of women there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist: notwithstanding he that is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.

The Lord will not let His servant suffer in the eyes of others. Though neglected, and in a prison, He bears this testimony to him. It is conveyed in the shape of a question. He puts it to their own consciences. He reminds them how once they went into the wilderness in crowds to see him whom now they seem to have forgotten. And what was it that they went out to see? A reed, a courtier, a prophet simply? No reed was he, shaken by every wind of doctrine; swayed hither and thither by the fear of man, or by the fickle breath of popular applause. No courtier. Had he been such, he would not have been found in the wilderness, wearing a rough garment; nor would he now be languishing in a prison; but be rather in a palace, in soft raiment, gorgeously apparelled, living delicately. The Lord tells them what he was not, and now He tells them what he is," much more than a prophet;"3 inasmuch as he was himself the subject of prophecy, the special messenger of the

1 St. Matt. iii. 1-5.

1

3 St. Luke viii. 26.

2 St. Luke vii. 25.

Messiah, the herald of the Christ. He refers them to their own Scriptures, to a prophet of their own, on the subject. And He adds this highest praise ever accorded to any mother's son among men. There hath not, He declares, ever arisen a greater. Notwithstanding-let the humblest Christian here see his surpassing privilege-the least Saint of the New Dispensation is in some respects greater than the greatest saint of the former dispensation. The lowest in the Church of Christ is, as regards knowledge and opportunity,2 greater than the greatest of men that ever lived in the Church of the Jews. "A dwarf upon a mountain sees farther than a giant in the valley."

"3

CLXXII.

THE SAME SUBJECT-continued.

St. Matthew xi. 12-15.

And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force. For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John. And if ye will receive it, this is Elias, which was for to come. He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.

The Lord adds this note concerning His Church, fixing as it were its date, from the days of the Baptist, who was the link between the two dispensations. Here he compares His Church to a fortress. It cannot, in those days especially it could not, be easily entered. It must be stormed by earnestness of purpose, by effectual, fervent prayer. Men must gird themselves to the work. They must be prepared to

1 Alford notes that our Lord here changes the person of the original prophecy. "And that He does so, making that which is said by Jehovah of Himself to be addressed to the Messiah, is . . . no mean indication of His own eternal and co-equal Godhead. It is worthy of remark that

all three Evangelists agree in their citation of this prophecy thus changed."

2 The comparison, as we find from the parallel passage of St. Luke (vii. 28) is chiefly as regards his character of prophet.

3 Henry.

encounter difficulties. They must persevere; must labour and fight, as it were, to enter in. The Baptist, the Lord here tells us, was the last and greatest of the Prophets. The Law of Moses expired, so to speak, with him; or rather, it gave place, as twilight gives place to sunlight, to the better covenant of Christ. He was the Elijah of whom it was foretold that He should come before the coming of the Lord.' "If ye will receive it," says our Saviour. He knew how hardly they would receive it; how comparatively few would receive it; how strong was the force of prejudice; how they stopped the ears of their mind to the voices of their own prophets. Therefore He bids them make better use of the faculties which God had given them, lest they hear in vain.3

CLXXIII.

A CHILDISH GENERATION.

St. Matthew xi. 16-19.

But whereunto shall I liken this generation? It is like unto children sitting in the markets, and calling unto their fellows, and saying. We have piped unto you, and ye have not danced; we have mourned unto you, and ye have not lamented. For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, He hath a devil. The Son of man came eating and drinking, and they say, Behold a man gluttonous, and a winebibber, a friend of publicans and sinners. But wisdom is justified of her children.

It is hard to say what the men of that generation, these childish, wayward Jews, were like. They, grown up men, were as captious and unreasonable as children; children in understanding, only in malice men. The Lord seems as it were to labour for language in which to describe their conduct. He searches for a simile, and applies to them an adage of their own. Their conduct might be compared to

Matt. iv. 5; St. Luke i. 17.

2 The original verb denotes volition. Unwillingness was at the root

of their unbelief.

3 St. Matt. xiii. 14, 15.

4 St. Luke vii. 31.

that of children in their games. There are those whom nothing seems to satisfy. Pipe to them, or mourn-neither can please. Let your song be of joy or of sorrow, a funeral dirge or a wedding ditty, it is all one. "As children in their games imitate the business and realities of life, so these in the great realities now before them show all the waywardness of children. The similitude is to two bodies of children " playing in the market-place or broad places of the streets, "the one inviting the other to play, first at the imitation of a wedding, secondly at that of a funeral; to neither of which will the others respond." So with that generation of the Jews, the Pharisees among them in particular.2 They would not be content with any of God's dispensations, with any of the Divine ways of dealing. They reject, practically, first the Messenger, and now the Master; the Forerunner and the Messiah; the Baptist and the Christ. He appeared as an ascetic, not mingling much in the society of men, and content with such food as the wilderness where he dwelt might afford. They put his austerity down to madness inspired of the devil. That temperate life which rebuked their licentiousness, they attribute to the influence of an evil spirit. Our Lord for the highest reasons adopted a somewhat different course to the Baptist.3 He is found at a marriage feast. He sits down with repentant publicans and sinners. And yet this course likewise fails to please them. They actually find fault with Him for doing that which they found fault with His Forerunner for failing to do. And they attribute to the basest passions, what He ever did from the purest motives.5

1

He concludes with a proverb which contrasts the conduct of the true children of wisdom with that of these childish and capricious ones. Of her children wisdom has been always justified. Those who are indeed wisdom's children will always approve wisdom's ways. They are not the ones to find fault with her various methods, but come ever at her call.2

CLXXIV.

HE UPRAIDETH THE IMPENITENCE OF CHORAZIN AND BETHSAIDA.

St. Matthew xi. 20-22.

Then began he to upbraid the cities wherein most of his mighty works were done, because they repented not: Woe unto thee, Chorazin! woe unto thee, Bethsaida! for if the mighty works, which were done in you, had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. But I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the day of judgment, than for you.

Of two of the cities wherein most of His mighty works were done, we hear little else than of their impenitence. Of their wonderful opportunity they made no account. They behaved as though the Christ had never come into their midst. It is remarkable that "most of His mighty works were done in two cities, one of which (Chorazin) is no where else even named in the Gospels; while no single miracle is related as having been performed in either city." This shows us that there were many other things that Jesus did which are not written in the books which have come down to us. The reference here is to some unrecorded miracles, of

4

1 Prov. i. 20-22; ii. 1.

2 Ps cxlv. 17; xxv. 10; Rev. xv. 3. 3 A Plain Commentary. Chorazin is named nowhere else save in the parallel place of St. Luke. This Bethsaida is to be distinguished from

that other place of the same name mentioned in St. Mark viii. 22, and St. Luke ix. 10.

St. John xx. 30; xxi. 35; St. Luke iv. 23.