Зображення сторінки
PDF
ePub

elders of the people came unto him as he was teaching, and said: By what authority doest thou these things? and who gave thee this au24 thority? And Jesus answered and said unto them: I also will ask you one thing; which if ye tell me, I in like wise will tell you by what 25 authority I do these things: The baptism of John, whence was it? from heaven, or of men? And they reasoned with themselves, saying: If we shall say: From heaven; he will say unto us: Why did ye not 26 then believe him? But if we shall say: Of men; we fear the people;

Sanhedrim, and perhaps making the inquiry with the authority of that body. Jesus had now returned from Bethany to Jerusalem, and whilst walking in the temple and teaching his disciples and auditors, he met these insidious men. They proposed these two questions, What was Jesus' authority, and, From whom he derived it. For he had entered the city in triumph, hosannas had been shouted by the people, he had cleared the courts of the temple of merchandise, and healed the sick and preached the Gospel in the sacred places, without asking permission from the Sanhedrim, the Jewish ecclesiastical court.

24. Our Lord did not wish to elude the question, or merely to confound his adversaries, and disappoint them by not explicitly declaring himself to be the Messiah, as they expected. His motives were higher. According to the customs of the Jewish doctors, and even Grecian disputants, if any one proposed a captious question to another, the other had a right to ask one in return, and not to answer the question addressed to him until his own had received a reply. The question of Jesus showed with what consummate wisdom he could involve them in their own snare. He took the wise in their own craftiness. 25. The baptism of John. Or, better, according to Newcome, by John. The leading feature in his

office stands for his whole ministry. Baptism was his striking peculiarity, and the epithet of the Baptist was always joined to his name. From heaven, or of men? From God, or of merely human authority? Jesus had already given every reasonable proof of his own divine commission. If his miracles and instructions were not convincing, nothing could be sufficient to persuade his wilful opponents. But the question he now proposes brings them to a dilemma from which all their adroitness could not set them free. Why did ye not then believe him? i. e. in his testimony of me?

If John's mission was authorized by God, they would be inexcusable in not being his followers. The Saviour could also draw another inference from this fact, that if John came from God he was not alone to be believed and followed, but also Jesus, to whose Messiahship he had often testified, and of which he was the forerunner. If they acknowledged John as being from heaven, they must acknowledge Jesus to be also. If they could not pronounce upon John's baptism, they were certainly incompetent to decide upon the claims of Jesus.

26. We fear the people. Luke adds, that they "will stone us." As their reasoning with themselves to fix upon an answer showed their total want of truth, so this confession argued their moral cow

for all hold John as a prophet. And they answered Jesus, and said: 27 We cannot tell. And he said unto them: Neither tell I you by what authority I do these things. But what think ye? A certain man 28 had two sons; and he came to the first, and said: Son, go work today in my vineyard. He answered and said: I will not; but after- 29 ward he repented, and went. And he came to the second and said 30 likewise. And he answered and said: I go, sir; and went not. Whether of them twain did the will of his father? They say unto 31 him: The first. Jesus saith unto them: Verily I say unto you, that the publicans and the harlots go into the kingdom of God before you. For John came unto you in the way of righteousness, and ye believed 32

ardice, lest they should commit themselves. Jesus had answered them so that they could find no handle of accusation against him. What depth of sagacity!

27. We cannot tell. A palpable falsehood, for their very querying with themselves proved that they knew the whole subject throughout. There are none so blind as those who will not see.-Neither tell I you, &c. As the question of Jesus required to be answered first, and they had confessed their inability, he was released from the obligation of making them any reply. As they had pleaded ignorance, he takes them at their own word, and infers their incompetency to be judges in the matter. Still, in the subsequent parables he indirectly informs them what was the nature and source of his authority, and their guilt in resisting it. The wounds which Jesus inflicted upon the spiritual pride of the Scribes and Pharisees, and his detection of their hypocrisy, so exasperated them, that they could only be satisfied with his crucifixion.

28. The object of the following parable was to rebuke them for disbelieving John; the object of the one succeeding it was to condemn them for rejecting Jesus.-A certain man had two sons.-Under

this figure Jesus describes two classes; the Scribes and Pharisees, and the openly immoral and irreligious.

29, 30. Repented, i. e. changed his mind. By the son who expressed his willingness to obey, are represented the professedly religious, who yet in the end were the most hardened and guilty. By the other one, are imaged those who, openly vicious at first, afterwards repented and brought forth the fruits of righteousness. The condition of the hypocrite is more hopeless than that of those in bondage to their appetites and passions.

31. Of them twain, i. e. which of the two.-They say unto him: The first. Thus condemning themselves out of their own mouth.Publicans, &c. They were classed among the most vicious. They corresponded to the son who first refused, but afterwards went to the vineyard. Though disobedient and sensual, they had been more affected by the preaching of John, than the learned and respectable. They, who promised the least, performed the most; whilst they, who promised the worst, proved the best.

32. In the way of righteousness. Campbell translates it, in the way of sanctity, referring to the austerities of John's mode of life in the desert,

him not; but the publicans and the harlots believed him; and ye, when ye had seen it, repented not afterward, that ye might believe 33 him.- -Hear another parable: There was a certain householder, which planted a vineyard, and hedged it round about, and digged a wine-press in it, and built a tower; and let it out to husbandmen, and 34 went into a far country. And when the time of the fruit drew near, he sent his servants to the husbandmen, that they might receive the 35 fruits of it. And the husbandmen took his servants, and beat one,

in respect to food, drink, and clothing, which was severe enough to please the most punctilious Pharisee. Although they would not acknowledge John's divine authority, yet, as he came in the way of righteousness, preaching reformation, and practising virtue, their not be lieving on him was a mark of their ill dispositions. But the publicans, &c. See Luke vii. 29, xvi. 16. See note on Mat. xi. 12. Great moral revolutions proceed from the lower to the higher, not from the higher to the lower classes of society. The mightiest changes in history have been effected by the instrumentality of the obscure, the forgotten, and the despised.-When ye had seen it, repented not. You not only failed to repent as soon as the vilest sinners, but, even after you had seen their repentance, the good effects of John's influence upon them, you still continued impenitent.

33-46. Parallel to Mark xii. 112, Luke xx. 9—19.

33. The object of this parable was to condemn the Jews for their unbelief and rejection of the prophets and the Messiah himself, as that of the preceding was to reprove them for their impenitence under the preaching of John. The same imagery is found in Isa. v. 1—7. The householder represents God, the husbandmen the Jews, the servants the prophets and wise men sent from time to time to recall the nation to their allegiance, the

son is Jesus Christ. It is a historical view of Jewish disobedience, containing also a prediction of Jesus' death.-Householder. Master of a family.-A vineyard. Judea was favorable for the cultivation of the vine.-Hedged it. Or, fenced it. It was a custom to enclose vineyards with walls, or fences, or hedges of thorns.-Digged a winepress, i. e. a wine-trough, or vat. We learn from Mark xii. 1, that the upper vat or press, in which the grapes were trodden by men, is not meant here, but the lower receptacle, into which the liquor flowed through a grated opening from the upper one. The lower cistern was dug in a rock, or the earth, and plastered. Chardin, the modern traveller, found vats built in this way in Persia.-Built a tower. The tower was a place of abode for the keepers, who protected the vineyard from the depredations of men and animals.-Went into a far country. The original simply is, went away, or went abroad, without specifying whether far or near. It would be absurd to seek a particular moral correspondence to every circumstance in the parable. The hedge, the wine-vat, the tower, are ornamental.

34. The time of the fruit. The season of gathering the fruit.-Sent his servants, i. e. the prophets.— Might receive the fruits of it. It was a custom to pay the rent in kind, or with a part of the produce.

35, 36. Beat one, and killed anoth

But 38

and killed another, and stoned another. Again, he sent other servants, 36 more than the first; and they did unto them likewise. But last of all 37 he sent unto them his son, saying: They will reverence my son. when the husbandmen saw the son, they said among themselves: This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and let us seize on his inheritance. And they caught him, and cast him out of the vineyard, and slew him. 39 When the lord, therefore, of the vineyard cometh, what will he do 40 unto those husbandmen? They say unto him: He will miserably 41 destroy those wicked men; and will let out his vineyard unto other husbandmen, which shall render him the fruits in their seasons. Jesus 42 saith unto them: Did ye never read in the Scriptures: "The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner; this is the Lord's doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes"? There- 43 fore say I unto you, the kingdom of God shall be taken from you,

er, &c. This had been historically true of Jeremiah, the prophets in the time of Elijah, and Zechariah, not to speak of others. Luke xiii. 34. Heb. xi. 37. 1 Sam. xxii. 18. 1 Kings xix. 10. 2 Chron. xxiv. 21, 22, xxxvi. 16. Neh. ix. 26. Jer. xxxviii. 6.—More than the first. Not in number, but of greater dignity

and honor.

37. Sent unto them his son. God finally commissioned his son with an embassy, to bring his chosen people to a sense of their duty. Although he had sent many prophets, and they had been persecuted and slain, yet the riches of his compassion were not exhausted, but he still gave a beautiful manifestation of his long-suffering and love, by sending his beloved Son, For, though they had maltreated his previous messengers, yet it seemed that they would surely reverence the brightness and image of God.

39. Slew him. A virtual prediction of Jesus' own death.

40. The lord, i. e. the owner. 41. Miserably destroy those wicked men. To preserve the paronomasia, or play upon words, contained in the original, Campbell translates it, he will put those wretches to a

wretched death. This remark is ascribed by Mark and Luke to Christ, and not to his hearers. These diversities are to be expected in independent writers, and bear witness to the honesty of their accounts.

42. In the Scriptures. Ps. cxviii. 22, 23.-The stone which the builders rejected, &c. Having led them by his parable to condemn themselves out of their own mouth, he proceeds to bring home the application more pointedly to the Jews, quoting for this purpose a passage from their Scriptures, in which reference is made to architecture. The stone which was laid aside as worthless, by the builders, finally becomes the main strength and ornament of the edifice. So it was in things spiritual. The stone despised by Jewish builders proved to be the Rock of ages, the chief corner-stone-the crucified Jesus, to be the Messiah of the world.-Head of the corner. Not the foundation, but the uppermost stone of the corner, which binds all below it firmly together. Some critics ingeniously transpose the 42d and 43d verses, so that the 41st and 43d, the 42d and 44th verses, come together, as the sense seems to require,

44 and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof. And whosoever shall fall on this stone shall be broken; but on whomsoever it 45 shall fall, it will grind him to powder.- - And when the chief priests

and Pharisees had heard his parables, they perceived that he spake of 46 them. But when they sought to lay hands on him, they feared the multitude; because they took him for a prophet.

2

A

CHAPTER XXII.

The Parable of the Marriage Supper.-Conversations of Jesus.

ND Jesus answered and spake unto them again by parables, and said: The kingdom of heaven is like unto a certain king, which 3 made a marriage for his son, and sent forth his servants to call them

43. The kingdom of God shall be taken from you. The ecclesiastical superiority of the Jews shall be destroyed. Their privileges shall be taken away, and given to a nation, i. e. the Gentiles, who will be more faithful, and, in the language of the parable, render the owner the fruits in their season. This has been fulfilled. The hearers of Jesus could no longer mistake his meaning, after he had made this declaration.

44. An evident continuation of the metaphor in verse 42, expressing the different degrees of criminality and punishment of neglecting and rejecting the Christ. Isa. viii. 14. Criminals in the east were sometimes put to death by being thrown from a pillar or eminence upon a rock below, or, if that did not terminate life, large stones were cast upon them to crush them. Jesus probably alludes to this custom. Whoever runs against the cornerstone, whoever is offended with Christ, shall injure himself; but he on whom it falls shall be ground to powder; they who reject and persecute me shall perish miserably.

45, 46. Mark xii. 12. A prophet. But not the prophet, the Messiah. His parables were so simple, and

his application so direct, that they could not mistake his meaning, and their anger was kindled to such a flame, that they were ready to have done him personal violence on the spot, if his popularity had not been so great as to overawe them. But they bided their time, wove more thickly the meshes of their conspiracy, and, ere many more days had passed, they had so far turned the tide of popular favor by their cabals, as to be able to gratify their envenomed passions.

[ocr errors][merged small]

1. Jesus answered and spake. Proceeded to speak. A similar parable is related, Luke xiv. 15-24.

2. Kingdom of heaven. The administration of the Gospel.-A marriage. More properly, a marriage feast. The object of this parable appears to be similar to that of the vineyard let out to husbandmen, in the last chapter. The Gospel was first proffered to the Jews, but they rejected it as a nation, and were destroyed by the Romans. It was then made free to the Gentiles, whom they esteemed the offscouring of the world. Stories resembling this parable are found in the Rabbinical writings.

« НазадПродовжити »