for my sake shall find it. 40 He that receiveth you receiveth me, and he that receiveth me receiveth him that sent me. 41 8 He that receiveth a prophet in the name of a prophet shall receive a prophet's reward; and he that receiveth a righteous man in the name of a righteous man shall receive a righteous man's reward. 42 h And whosoever shall give to drink unto one of these little ones a cup of cold water only in the name of a disciple, verily I say unto you, he shall in no wise lose his reward. XI. 1 And it came to pass, when Jesus had made an end of commanding his twelve disciples, he departed thence to teach and to preach in their cities. 2 Now when John 25="will save," Mark viii. 35. The past participles are used in anticipation, with reference to that day when the loss and gain shall become apparent. But "hath found" and "hath lost" are again somewhat different in position: the first implying earnest desire to save, but not so the second any will or voluntary act to destroy. This is brought out by the for my sake, which gives the ruling providential arrangement whereby the losing is brought about. But besides the primary meaning of this saying as regards the laying down of life literally for Christ's sake, we cannot fail to recognize in it a far deeper sense, in which he who loses his life shall find it. In Luke ix. 23, the taking up of the cross is to be "daily;" in ch. xvi. 24 || Mk. "let him deny himself" is joined with it. Thus we have the crucifying of the life of this world, the death to sin spoken of Rom. vi. 4-11, and life unto God. And this life unto God is the real, true life, which the self-denier shall find, and preserve unto life eternal. See John xii. 25 and note. 40.] Here in the conclusion of the discourse, the Lord recurs again to His Apostles whom He was sending out. From ver. 32 has been connected with whosoever, and therefore general. receiveth, see ver. 14; but it has here the wider sense of not only receiving to house and board,-but receiving in heart and life the message of which the Apostles were the bearers. On the sense of the verse, see John xx. 21, and on him that sent me, "I send you," ver. 16, and Heb. iii. 1. There is a difference between the representation of Christ by His messengers, which at most is only official, and even then broken by personal imperfection and infirmity (see Gal. ii. 11; iv. 13, 14),--and the perfect unbroken representation of the Eternal ech. xviii. 5. John xii. 44. John viii. 19: 8 see 1 Kings Kings iv. 8 xiv. 8 fr. h xvii. 10 Father by His Blessed Son, John xiv. 9: his (i. e. the doer's) reward: not, the reward of one of these little ones,' as before a prophet's reward, a righteous man's reward. XI. 1. thence] No fixed locality is assigned to the foregoing discourse. It was not delivered at Capernaum, but on a journey, see ch. ix. 35. their cities is also indeterminate, as in ch. iv. 23; ix. 35. 2-30.] MESSAGE OF ENQUIRY FROM THE BAPTIST : OUR LORD'S ANSWER, AND DISCOURSE THEREON TO THE MULTITUDE. Luke vii. 18-35. There have been several different opinions as to the a ch. xiv. 3. had heard in the prison the works of Christ, he sent t two tread, by means of. reason why this enquiry was made. I will state them, and append to them my own view. (1) It has been a very generally received idea that the question was asked for the sake of the disciples themselves, with the sanction of their master, and for the purpose of confronting them, who were doubtful and jealous of our Lord, with the testimony of His own mouth. This view is ably maintained by Chrysostom, and has found strenuous defenders in our own day. The objections to it are,that the text evidently treats the question as coming from John himself; the answer is directed to John; and the following discourse is on the character and position of John. These are answered by some with a supposition that John allowed the enquiry to be made in his name; but surely our Saviour would not in this case have made the answer as we have it, which clearly implies that the object of the miracles done was John's satisfaction. (2) The other great section of opinions on the question is that which supposes doubt to have existed, for some reason or other, in the Baptist's own mind. This is upheld by Tertullian and others, and advocated by De Wette, who thinks that the doubt was perhaps respecting not our Lord's mission, but His way of manifesting Himself, which did not agree with the theocratic views of the Baptist. This he considers to be confirmed by ver. 6. Olshausen and Neander suppose the ground of the doubt to have lain partly in the Messianic idea of the Baptist, partly in the weakening and bedimming effect of imprisonment on John's mind. Lightfoot carries this latter still further, and imagines that the doubt arose from dissatisfaction at not being liberated from prison by some miracle of our Lord. Others have supposed that John, perplexed by the various reports about the worker of these miracles, sent his disciples to ascertain whether it was really He who had been borne witness to by himself. (3) It appears to me that there are objections against each of the above suppositions, too weighty to allow either of them to be entertained. There can be little doubt on the one hand, that our Saviour's answer is directed to John, and not to the disciples, who are bonâ fide messengers and nothing more:-"Go and shew John" can I think bear no other interpretation and again the words "blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in me must equally apply to John in the first place, so that, in some sense, he had idea of his objective faith being shaken by his imprisonment is quite inconsistent not only with John's character, but with our Lord's discourse in this place, whose description of him seems almost framed to guard against such a supposition. The last hypothesis above mentioned is hardly probable, in the form in which it is put. We can scarcely imagine that John can have doubted who this Person was, or have been confounded by the discordant rumours which reached him about His wonderful works. But that one form of this hypothesis is the right one, I am certainly disposed to believe, until some more convincing considerations shall induce me to alter my view. (4) The form to which I allude is this: John having heard all these reports, being himself fully convinced Who this Wonderworker was, was becoming impatient under the slow and unostentatious course of our Lord's selfmanifestation, and desired to obtain from our Lord's own mouth a declaration which should set such rumours at rest, and (possibly) which might serve for a public profession of His Messiahship, from which hitherto He had seemed to shrink. He thus incurs a share of the same rebuke which the mother of our Lord received (John ii. 4); and the purport of the answer returned to him is, that the hour was not yet come for such an open declaration, but that there were sufficient proofs given by the works done, to render all inexcusable, who should be offended in Him. And the return message is so far from being a satisfaction designed for the disciples, that they are sent back like the messenger from Gabii to Sextus Tarquinius, with indeed a significant narrative to relate, but no direct answer; they were but the intermediate transmitters of the symbolic message, known to Him who sent it, and him who received it. It is a fact not to be neglected in connexion with this solution of the difficulty, that John is said to have heard of the works, not of Jesus, but of (the) Christ: the only place where that name, standing alone, is given to our Lord in this Gospel. с 4 Jesus an Num. xxiv. 17. Dan. ix. 24. John vi. 14. c Isa. xxix. 18: XXXV. 4, 7 John of his disciples, 3 and said unto him, Art thou he that bGen. xlix. 10. should come, or do we look for another? swered and said unto them, Go and shew John again those things which ye do hear and see: 5 the blind receive their sight, and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor u have the gospel preached to them: 6 and blessed is he, whoso e Isa. viii. 14, ever shall not be offended in me. e ii. 23: iii. 2: 36 x 25, 38: xiv. 11. d Isa. lxi. 1. Luke iv. 18. James ii. 5. 15. ch. xiii. 57: xxiv. 10: xxvi. 31. 33. 1 Cor. i. 23: ii. 14. 7 And as they departed, Jesus began to say unto the mix multitudes concerning John, What went ye out into the wilderness to see? fa reed shaken with the wind? ■ literally, are evangelized. ▾ render, gaze upon. (the word in vv. 8, 9, is different.) So that it would seem as if the Evangelist heard] From his own disciples, Luke vii. It must not be forgotten that the words here used by our Lord have an inner and spiritual sense, betokening the blessings and miracles of divine grace on the souls of men, of as Galv. Eph. iv. 14. 1 Pet. ii. 8. which His outward and visible miracles were symbolical. The words are mostly cited from Isa. xxxv. 5, where the same spiritual meaning is conveyed by them. They are quoted here, as the words of Isa. liii. are by the Evangelist in ch. viii. 17 as applicable to their partial external fulfilment, which however, like themselves, pointed onward to their greater spiritual completion. the poor have the gospel preached to them (are evangelized)] Stier remarks the coupling of these miracles together, and observes that with the dead are raised, this is united, as being a thing hitherto unheard of and strange, and an especial fulfilment of Isa. lxi. 1. 6.] See note on ver. 2. offended in] scandalized at, take offence at. 7-30.] The discourse divides itself into TWO PARTS: (1) vv. 7-19, the respective characters and mutual relations of John and Christ: (2) vv. 20-30, the condemnation of the unbelief of the time-ending with the gracious invitation to all the weary and heavy laden to come to Him, as truly He that should come. 7.] The following verses set forth to the people the real character and position of John; identifying him who cried in the wilderness with him who now spoke from his prison, and assuring them that there was the same dignity of office and mission throughout. They are not spoken till after the departure of the disciples of John, probably because they were not meant for them or John to hear, but for the people, who on account of the question which they had heard might go away with a mistaken depreciation of John. And our Lord, as usual, takes occasion, from reminding them of the impression made on them by John's preaching of repentance, to set forth to them deep truths regarding g ch. xiv. 5: xxi. 26. Luke i. 70. h MAL. iii. 1. Mark i. 2. 8 But what went ye out for to see? a man clothed in soft raiment ? behold, they that wear soft clothing are in kings' houses. 9 But what went ye out for to see? a prophet? 8 yea, I say unto you, and more than a prophet. 10 For this is he, of whom it is written, h Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, which shall prepare thy way before thee. 11 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 His own Kingdom and Office. Luke i. 76. 8. But] i. e. what was it, if it was not that ? what went ye out] The repetition of this question, and the order of the suggestive answers, are remarkable. The first sets before them the scene of their desert pilgrimage-the banks of Jordan with its reeds, but no such trifles were the object of the journey: this suggestion is rejected without an answer. The second reminds them that it was a man-but not one in soft clothing, for such are not found in deserts. The third brings before them the real object of their pilgrimage in his holy office, and even amplifies that office itself. So that the great Forerunner is made to rise gradually and sublimely into his personality, and thus his preaching of repentance is revived in their minds. in soft raiment] Contrast this with the garb of John as described ch. iii. 4. Such an one, in soft raiment, might be the forerunner of a proud earthly prince, but not the preacher of repentance before a humble and suffering Saviour; might be found as the courtly flatterer in the palaces of kings, but not as the stern rebuker of tyrants, and languishing in their fortress dungeons. 9.] We read, ch. xxi. 26, that 'all accounted John as a prophet.'John was more than a prophet, because he did not write of, but saw and pointed out, the object of his prophecy;-and because of his proximity to the kingdom of God. He was moreover more than a prophet, because he himself was the subject as well as the vehicle of prophecy. But with deep humility he applies to himself only that one, of two such prophetic passages, which describes him as a voice of one crying, and omits the one which gives him the title of my messenger, here cited by our Lord. 10. thy] Our Lord here changes the person of the original prophecy, which is my. And that He does so, making that which is said by Jehovah of Himself, to be addressed to the Messiah, is, if such were needed (compare also Luke i. 16, 17, and 76), no mean indication of His own eternal and co-equal Godhead. It is worthy of remark that all three Evangelists quote this prophecy similarly changed, although St. Mark has it in an entirely different place. Also, that the high dignity and honour, which our Lord here predicates of the Baptist, has a further reference: He was thus great above all others, because he was the forerunner of Christ. How great then above all others and him, must HE be. 11. hath ... risen] Not merely a word of course, but especially used of prophets and judges, see reff., and once of our Saviour Himself, Acts v. 30. he that is least] This has been variously rendered and understood. Chrysostom and other ancient interpreters, put the pause after "least," and take the words "in the Kingdom of heaven" with what follows: understanding "he that is least" of our Lord. But such an interpretation is surely adverse to the spirit of the whole discourse. We may certainly say that our Lord in such a passage as this would not designate Himself as he that is least" compared with John, in any sense: nor again is it our Lord's practice to speak of Himself as one in the Kingdom of heaven, or of His own attributes as belonging to or dependent on that new order of things which this expression implies, and which was in Him rather than He in it. Again, the analogy of such passages as Matt. v. 19; xviii. 1, would lead us to connect the preceding adjective least with in the Kingdom of heaven, and not the following. The other, the usual interpretation, I am convinced, is the right one: but he that is least in the kingdom of heaven, is greater than he. There is very likely an allusion to Zech. xii. 8: "He that is feeble among them at that day shall be as David." Thus the parallelism is complete: John, not inferior to any born of women-but these, even the least of them, are born of another birth (John i. 12, 13; iii. 5). John, the nearest to the King and of heaven is greater than he. 121 And from the days of 1 Luke xvi. 16. John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force. 13 For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John: 14 and if ye ch. xvi, 12. will receive it, this is Elias, which was for to come. 15 1 He that hath ears [* to hear], let him hear. W render, shall come. I omitted in some of the best MSS. the Kingdom-standing on the threshold --but never having himself entered; these, "in the Kingdom," subjects and citizens and indwellers of the realm, whose citizenship is in heaven. He, the friend of the Bridegroom: they, however weak and unworthy members, His Body, and His Spouse. 12.] The sense of this verse has been much disputed. (1) the verb rendered " suffereth violence" has been taken in a middle sense; 'forcibly introduces itself, breaks in with violence,' as in the similar passage Luke xvi. 16.. Certainly such a sense agrees better with "is preached" which we find in Luke, than the passive explanation: but it seems inconsistent with the latter half of the verse to say that it breaks in by force, and then that others break by force into it. (2) the verb is taken passively; suffereth violence.' And thus the construction of the verse is consistent: and the violent take it by force.' Believing this latter interpretation to be right, we now come to the question, in what sense are these words spoken? Is the verb in a good or a bad sense? Does it mean, 'is taken by force, and the following, and men violently press in for their share of it, as for plunder;'-or does it mean, 'is violently resisted, and violent men tear it to pieces?' (viz. its opponents, the Scribes and Pharisees ?) This latter meaning bears no sense as connected with the discourse before us. The subject is not the resistance made to the kingdom of heaven, but the difference between a prophesied and a present kingdom of heaven. The fifteenth verse closes this subject, and the complaints of the arbitrary prejudices of this generation' begin with ver. 16. We conclude then that these words imply From the days of John the Baptist until now (i. e. inclusively, from the beginning of his preaching), the kingdom of heaven is pressed into, and violent personseager, ardent multitudes-seize on it. Of the truth of this, notwithstanding our Lord's subsequent reproaches for unbelief, we have abundant proof from the multitudes who followed, and outwent Him, k Mal. iv. 5. Luke i. 17. 1 ch. xiii. 9. Luke viii. 8. Rev. ii. 7, 11, 17, 29: iii. 6, 13, 22. and thronged the doors where He was, and would (John vi. 15) take Him by force to make Him a king. But our Lord does not mention this so much to commend the violent persons, as to shew the undoubted fact that He that should come was come :-that the kingdom of heaven, which before had been the subject of distant prophecy, a closed fortress, a treasure hid, was now undoubtedly upon earth (Luke xvii. 21 and note), laid open to the entrance of men, spread out that all might take. Thus this verse connects with ver. 28, "Come unto Me all," and with Luke xvi. 16, " every man presseth into it." Compare also with this throwing open of the kingdom of heaven for all to press into, the stern prohibition in Exod. xix. 12, 13, and the comment on it in Heb. xii. 18-24. 13, 14.] The whole body of testimony as yet has been prophetic,the Law and Prophets, from the first till Zacharias the priest and Simeon and Anna prophesied; and according to the declaration of prophecy itself, John, in the spirit and power of Elias, was the forerunner of the great subject of all prophecy. Neither this-nor the testimony of our Lord, ch. xvii. 12-is inconsistent with John's own denial that he was Elias, John i. 21. For (1) that question was evidently asked as implying a re-appear ance of the actual Elias upon earth: and (2) our Lord cannot be understood in either of these passages as meaning that the prophecy of Malachi iv. 5 received its full completion in John. For as in other prophecies, so in this, we have a partial fulfilment both of the coming of the Lord and of His forerunner, while the great and complete fulfilment is yet futureat the great day of the Lord. Mal. iv. 1. The words here are not "which for to come," but are strictly future, who shall come. Compare ch. xvii. 11, where the future is used. The if ye will (are willing to) receive it must be taken as referring to the partial sense of the fulfilment implied: for it was (and is to this day) the belief of the Jews that Elias in person should come before the end. was |