Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Matthew 8:19
And a certain scribe came, and said unto him, Master, I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest.
19. We are not told whether this scribe, thus brought face to face with privation and hardship, was daunted like the young ruler (ch. Mat 19:16), or persevered like the sons of Zebedee (ch. Mat 20:22).
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
And a certain scribe came … – It is not improbable that this man had seen the miracles of Jesus, and had formed an expectation that by following him he would obtain some considerable worldly advantage. Christ, in reply to his professed purpose to follow him, proclaimed his own poverty, and dashed the hopes of the avaricious scribe. The very foxes and birds, says he, have places of repose and shelter, but the Son of man has no home and no pillow. He is a stranger in his own world – a wanderer and an outcast from the homes of people. Compare Joh 1:11.
Son of man – This means, evidently, Jesus himself. No title is more frequently given to the Saviour than this, and yet there is much difficulty in explaining it. The word son is used in a great variety of significations. See the notes at Mat 1:1. The name Son of man is given to Jesus only three times in the New Testament Act 7:56; Rev 1:13; Rev 14:14, except by himself. When he speaks of himself, this is the most common appellation by which he is known. The phrase Son of God, given to Christ, denotes a unique connection with God, Joh 10:36. The name Son of man probably denotes a corresponding unique connection with man. Perhaps the Saviour used it to signify the interest he felt in man; his special love and friendship for him; and his willingness to devote himself to the best interests of the race. It is sometimes, however, used as synonymous with Messiah, Mat 16:28; Joh 1:34; Act 8:37; Joh 12:34.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Mat 8:19-22
Master, I will follow Thee.
Impetuous and hesitating discipleship
I. The significance of Christs treatment of the impetuous scribe. He declares his determination to follow Christ, lead where He may. Christ checks rather than encourages the man. We may regard the determination of the scribe as-the resolution of an unreflecting emotionalist, and an ambitious worldling. Our Lords words have important applications in our own day.
II. The suggestiveness of Christs treatment of the shrinking and hesitating disciple. Christ might have seen in this request a sensitive shrinking from the sacrifice and sufferings involved in following Him. The man had heard the words in Mat 8:20, or Christ might have foreseen that to grant it, would be attended with fatal results to his yet unripened discipleship. Immediate decision was the essential conditions of his salvation. (J. Taylor.)
Followers on the sea-shore
I. The followers on the sea-shore.
1. The hasty follower who is the first who presents himself, and he is sifted by Christ.
2. The tardy follower is hastened by Jesus. He is called not to bury the dead, but to preach the life-giving word.
3. The last of the three followers is halting with a divided heart, and is reproved. It is not the claims of family, but the clinging of His own unloosened attachment that divides and detains Him.
II. The passage across the lake. (A. M. Stuart.)
The corrective test
I. High-sounding words are not always a proof of deeply rooted faith.
II. Christ should be followed for what He is in Himself, as well as for what He has to bestow.
III. The omniscience of Christ enables Him to detect the most hidden motives of men.
IV. The poverty of Christ may well excite our wonder and gratitude. (H. G. Parrish, B. A.)
Following Christ
Every man has a Master; business, home, etc., command and we obey. Every person has a master passion, also every man is a master. Has the power of will; is a servant by consent. The resultant of these two facts, is necessitated relationship to something.
I. Christ is a valuable companion because He embodies a lofty and perfect moral ideal, the expression of the grandest conception of truth this world has ever known. He gives the idea and the grace to imitate it.
II. Christ is a pleasant companion. Imparts joy and sense of security-hope.
III. Christ is a safe guide. But if a man is to follow Christ there are some conditions which he must observe.
1. There must be a fixed purpose. I will must be will and not impulse only.
2. You will require courage.
3. You will have to take on the habits of the Lord Jesus. You cannot follow Him and be selfish and narrow. (J. R. Day, D. D.)
The lower duty hinders the higher
It is not that you desire wrong things; it is not that you desire to avoid right things; but you say, Suffer me first to do the inferior, and then I shall be ready for the superior. Suffer me first to take care of myself. Suffer me first to take care of my household. Suffer me first to take care of my business. Suffer me first to take care of my party. Suffer me first to look after this enterprise, and then-No! this constant habit of humbling the higher, and making it subordinate to the lower; this constant preference of the inferior to the superior, works demoralization. A man does not need to throw away his Bible, nor defy his God, nor sell his soul voluntarily. He only needs to say, Suffer me first to do this lesser thing. The moment that is done, there will be another Suffer me first in its place. And so we shall put the inferior duties in the place of higher duties, and go through life, and fail at last. (Beecher.)
Religion must surmount difficulty
A man fascinated with the idea of raising fruit, goes to the country and sets out his orchards with bright anticipations as to the result. But no sooner have his trees got well started than all nature becomes his tormentor. The frost blasts the blossoms. The worms gnaw the roots. The insects sting both blossom and roots. And when he has toiled year after year, and brought his trees into such a state that he thinks that he is going to have a profusion of delicious fruit, the black wart seizes his plum-trees, and the gum-canker attacks his cherry-trees, and the winterblight kills his pear-trees, and his apple-trees will not bear anyhow; and at last disgusted with raising fruit, he comes back to the city, and says, I prefer, after all, that other people should be my pomologists. I have had enough of gardening. (Beecher.)
Religion more than resolution
Oh! what pictures there would be, if I could only take the trouble to learn to paint the things that I dream about! Such frescoes I Such magnificent renderings of magnificent scenes! Such portraitures! The trouble is, that while my imagination is fruitful enough, it is a shiftless and careless fruitfulness, and it never comes down lower than that, and dies in the nest where it was born. I think of things, and turn them over, and turn them over, and make pictures, and forget them, and make pictures, and forget them; but I am not an artist. An artist is a man whose wishes get down through his shoulders to his fingers; and he makes what he wishes he was going to make. He does. He turns into account that which would otherwise die as smoke or cloud. Men of reverie are like clouds that never rain. Men of function shower down resolutions in the form of drops, and results spring up from them. (Beecher.)
Religious impressions not to be checked
I. The importance of a prompt and resolute devotedness of mind to the great concern of religion. This is to follow Christ, and includes:
1. The candid reception of His revelation.
2. It involves a surrender of ourselves to Christ as our Saviour and Governor.
3. It imparts an ardent solicitude for the prevalence of his religion.
II. The egregious folly of stifling religious impressions in favour of such devotedness, by worldly considerations. Let the dead bury their dead.
1. Some are prevented from an immediate compliance with their convictions, by the notion that their happiness is to be found in the world, which they would be required to abandon.
2. Some by the remonstrances of worldly relatives and friends.
3. Some by some particular worldly object of pursuit, upon which, for the moment, they are intent, and which promises soon to leave them at liberty. (J. Leifchild.)
I. The men of the world are but dead men. The sentence of death passed upon all men still abides: it is not repealed. As dead as men in their graves. You rotting above the ground, and they under (Rom 8:10). As there is in the sinner a seeming life, so is there in the righteous a seeming death. They may seek a new life.
1. They may become alive in their apprehensions of God.
2. They are alive in their devotions to God.
3. These awakened sinners are alive in their obedience to God.
II. As the men of the world are, so also are the things about which they are conversant. They are dead things, they have no real life in them. They perish in the using. (W. Gilpin, M.A.)
Jesus a homeless wanderer
I. The striking fact.
II. Reasons for this.
1. As the Son of Man He was the federal representative of our race, in certain important respects.
He showed:
(1) That man has forfeited all right to shelter upon earth.
(2) That we should seek shelter elsewhere, and not look for our portion on earth.
2. In the work of our redemption it was needful for Jesus to stoop thus low.
(1) It was part of the penalty lie bore.
(2) He went down to the lowest of men.
(3) It was to illustrate the unearthliness of His religion.
III. Some additional reflections:
1. Christian, adore the humiliation and condescension of your loving Lord.
2. Be willing if need be to suffer shame and poverty with Him.
3. If more happily circumstanced be amazed and overwhelmed with gratitude at your superior lot.
4. Yet set not your affections on earthly possessions.
5. Nor despise poorer brethren.
6. If offering to follow Christ, count the cost.
7. In another sphere, how this saying is reversed. (T. G. Horton.)
Not where to lay His head
A little boy, between four and five years old, was one day reading to his mother in the New Testament; and when he came to these words, The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay His head, his eyes filled with tears, his tender breast heaved, and at last he sobbed aloud. His mother inquired what was the matter; but for some time he could not answer her. At length, as well as his sobs would let him, he said, I am sure, mamma, if I had been there, I would give Him my pillow.
The foxes and birds better accommodated than Christ
I. Christs remark on the provision made for the habitation of the inferior creatures. Men have reason, are able to contrive habitations for themselves; Providence hath furnished them with trees, stones, etc., for this end. Suitable provision also made for the inferior creatures. Tame animals are accommodated by the care of man; wild beasts directed by instinct to proper places (Job 39:27; Psa 104:17).
II. Christs representation of his own destitute circumstances.
1. How wise and faithful was Christ in this representation; how much instruction doth it convey to His followers. A test of sincerity.
2. The condecension of Christ in submitting to these hardships is truly admirable.
3. How reasonable is it that the disciples of Christ should be humble when they have, and contented when they have not, the comfortable accommodations of life!
4. With how much pleasure should we think of the exaltation and glory of Christ in heaven. (J. Orton.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 19. A certain scribe] Though , ONE scribe, may be considered as a Hebraism, yet it is probable that the literal construction of it was intended, to show that few of this class came to the Lord Jesus for instruction or salvation.
Master] Rather, teacher, from , I teach, which itself seems to be derived from , I show, and means the person who shows or points out a particular way or science.
I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest.] A man who is not illuminated by the Spirit of God thinks himself capable of any thing: he alone who is divinely taught knows he can do nothing but through Christ strengthening him. Every teacher among the Jews had disciples, and some especially that followed or accompanied them wherever they went, that they might have some person at hand with whom they might converse concerning the Divine law.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
We have the same story in Luk 9:57,58; only Luke saith it was as they went in the way; and saith, a certain man thus said unto him. Matthew more particularly describeth the man from his office, or ordinary employment. Both agree in what he said to our Saviour,
Master, ( so they usually called their teachers, to whose conduct they gave up themselves),
I will follow thee, that is, I am resolved or I am ready to follow thee,
whithersoever thou goest. Thus men often take up sudden resolutions to walk with God, and to be his servants, upon sinister accounts, and before they have well considered what they are like to meet withal who own themselves the disciples of Christ. Our Saviour, knowing his heart, and that this resolution was either bottomed in his curiosity to see his miracles, or in a hope of some livelihood from him, fits him with an answer, letting him know what difficulties those that followed him must look to meet with.
The foxes have holes, &c. Alas! thou dost not know what it is to follow me; my external condition is worse than that of the birds of the air, they have fixed nests, or the beasts of the earth, the worst of them have holes, but I have no fixed habitation on earth. He both here and in many other texts calls himself
the Son of man, ( a name never, that we read of, given to him but by himself), to declare the truth of his human nature, and that he had a natural compassion for men; that he was a child born, a son given to us, Isa 9:6; the person prophesied of as the Messias. Dan 7:13; the person mentioned who was to have all things put under his feet, Psa 8:6; 1Co 15:27; Heb 2:8.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
19. And a certain scribe came, andsaid unto him, Master, I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And a certain Scribe came,…. “As they went in the way”, Lu 9:57 to go to the sea side, in order to take shipping, and pass to the other shore;
and said unto him, Master, or Rabbi, I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest. One would have thought, that this man desired in good earnest to be a disciple of Christ, were it not for Christ’s answer to him, who knew his heart: from whence it appears, that he, seeing the miracles which Christ wrought, and observing the fame of him among the people, began to think that he would be generally received as the Messiah; and by joining himself to him, promised himself much ease, honour, and wealth. These seem to be the motives, which prevailed upon him to take so sudden and hasty a step; for he did not wait to be called to follow Christ, as the other disciples were, but offers himself to be one; that is, to be one of his intimates, one of his apostles; and besides, he rashly promises to do that, which he knew nothing of, and which in some cases is impossible to be done.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
A scribe ( ). One ()=”a,” indefinite article. Already a disciple as shown by “another of the disciples” ( ) in 8:21. He calls Jesus “Teacher” (), but he seems to be a “bumptious” brother full of self-confidence and self-complacency. “Even one of that most unimpressionable class, in spirit and tendency utterly opposed to the ways of Jesus” (Bruce). Yet Jesus deals gently with him.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
THE TESTING OF PROFESSED DISCIPLES
V. 19-22
1) “And a certain scribe came, and said unto him,” (kai proselthon eis grammateus eipen auto) “And approaching one particular scribe said directly to him;” Scribes were official clerks and archives keepers of the laws of the Jews. They wrote or recorded and filed records of decisions of Jewish courts, and were copyists of the Old Testament Scriptures, Mat 2:4.
2) “Master, I will follow thee,” (didaskale alkoloutheso soi) “Teacher, I will follow you (around),” go along with you. The idea is, I think you are a teacher that it would be a credit to follow. He avowed a willingness to be identified with Jesus and recognize Him as a teacher but not as Savior or Lord.
3) “Whithersoever thou goest” (hopou ean aperche) “Wherever you may go,” wherever you may choose to go, just any place, like a disciple. He was warm with enthusiasm.
The word scribe (Gk. grammateis) means writer and is derived from (Heb sopherim) meaning to write, record, count, calculate, or set in order. The office of Scribes, as technical writers and record keepers, (archivists) was a special place in the Old Testament order of teaching and classifying the precepts of both written and oral law and traditions of the Jews, 2Sa 8:17; 2Sa 20:25; 1Ki 4:3; Jer 8:8; Jer 36:10; Jer 36:12; Jer 36:26.
These Scribes added to the law, Scripture, and precept records Six Things:
1) The Hallachoth, rabbi decisions on questions of rituals.
2) The Mishna, rabbi or codes resulting from those decisions.
3) The Talmud, made up of Mishna and Gemara.
4) The Midrashim, consisting of commentaries on the Old Testament.
5) The Hagada, Philosophical reasonings on the Old Testament.
6) The Kabbala, a listing of mystical interpretations they found in or invented meanings for the Scriptures, neither in harmony with the grammatical or lexical meaning of passages, allegorical or scriptural in nature.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
Mat 8:19
. And a scribe approaching. Two men are here presented to us by Matthew, and three by Luke, all of whom were prepared to become disciples of Christ, but who, having been prevented by a diversity of vices from following the right course, receive a corresponding variety of replies. It might at first sight appear strange, that Christ sends back, and does not admit into his family, one who offers to follow him immediately and without delay: while he detains another along with him who, by asking leave for a time, showed himself to be slower and less willing. But there are the best reasons for both. Whence arose the great readiness of the scribe to prepare himself immediately to accompany Christ, but from his not having at all considered the hard and wretched condition of his followers? We must bear in mind that he was a scribe, who had been accustomed to a quiet and easy life, had enjoyed honor, and was ill-fitted to endure reproaches, poverty, persecutions, and the cross. He wishes indeed to follow Christ, but dreams of an easy and agreeable life, and of dwellings filled with every convenience; whereas the disciples of Christ must walk among thorns, and march to the cross amidst uninterrupted afflictions. The more eager he is, the less he is prepared. He seems as if he wished to fight in the shade and at ease, neither annoyed by sweat nor by dust, and beyond the reach of the weapons of war. There is no reason to wonder that Christ rejects such persons: for, as they rush on without consideration, they are distressed by the first uneasiness of any kind that occurs, lose courage at the first attack, give way, and basely desert their post. Besides, this scribe might have sought a place in the family of Christ, in order to live at his table without expense, and to feed luxuriously without toil. Let us therefore look upon ourselves as warned, in his person, not to boast lightly and at ease, that we will be the disciples of Christ, while we are taking no thought of the cross, or of afflictions; but, on the contrary, to consider early what sort of condition awaits us. The first lesson which he gives us, on entering his school, is to deny ourselves, and take up his cross, (Mat 16:24.)
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(19) A certain scribe came.The facts that follow are placed by St. Luke, as we have seen, in quite another stage of our Lords ministry. The fact that it was a scribe that came is striking, as showing that the impression made by our Lords teaching was not confined to the common people that heard him gladly. As Nicodemus had already come confessing that He was a Teacher come from God, so in Galilee there was one whom the Sermon on the Mount, or some like discourse, had led to volunteer at least the show of discipleship.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
19-22. Matthew here relates two incidents illustrating our Lord’s selection of disciples. Two contrasted cases are presented. In the first, a disciple of no ordinary qualifications offers himself, and is not accepted. In the other a chosen disciple presents a very strong plea for being excused, but is imperatively retained.
Luke adds a third instance of a man who was almost ready to follow our Lord, but had a small cause for postponement; our Lord rejects him.
The incident which Matthew here relates of the scribe, is placed by Luke in a very different part of the Lord’s history. Yet in Luke it stands isolated like a separate anecdote, whereas here in Matthew it has the air of being a proposition made by the scribe to our Lord as he was about to cross the lake.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
19. A certain scribe As a professional man, read in law, and probably of the tribe of Levi, he would appear to be a more eligible disciple than the fisherman or the toll-gatherer. Whithersoever He seems prepared for trials. There is no proof of any ambitious motive. Yet our Lord sees that he has not the material for a true apostle. He neither accepts nor rejects him; he only gives a vivid picture of his own poor accommodations, and the scribe’s ardour seems to evaporate. It is very probable that the scribe acted more wisely in staying than in going. He would have spoiled perhaps a good scribe, and have made a poor apostle. Not every profound Christian scholar is bound to be a preacher of the Gospel. He does not seem to have even persisted to cross the Gennesaret. There are those who have an idea that there is something in the life of a missionary attractive and romantic. When such are the motives, a most miserable failure results.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘And there came a scribe, and said to him, “Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.’
Matthew in his Jewishness takes particular note of the fact that this would-be close disciple was a Scribe. (For the fact that he was already seen as a disciple, compare ‘another’ in Mat 8:21). That he was a Scribe was not important to Luke. He wanted his Gentile readers to apply the story to themselves. But Matthew was very much aware of the Scribe’s status in the eyes of the Jews, so he draws attention to what he was (although he could have been a Scribe of the Pharisees, a Scribe of the Sadducees, or a more general ‘unattached’ Scribe. Matthew is stressing status rather than a particular viewpoint).
He then points out that in spite of the fact that Jesus has given the command to go over to Gentile territory, the Scribe says that he will follow Him wherever He goes. It was a promise of full commitment in the face of a choice which was probably not to the Scribe’s liking, that of going into Gentile territory, but he was willing to make it. Matthew wanted his Jewish readers to realise that not all Scribes rejected Jesus.
‘Teacher.’ This was an address used a umber of times to Jesus by both Scribes and Pharisees (Mat 9:11; Mat 12:38; Mat 22:15-16; Mat 22:35, compare the Sadducees in Mat 22:23-24). The rich young man also addresses Him as ‘Teacher’ (Mat 19:16). It denoted respect, sometimes genuine and sometimes feigned, and is regularly on the lips of the critical. But there is absolutely no reason to think that it is feigned here. It was a natural address for a Scribe, and coming from a Scribe could be seen as ultra respectful. He is acknowledging that Jesus is an outstanding teacher, and worthy of being followed, even by a trained Scribe. (It should be noted that when Jesus wants to identify Himself to others in Matthew with Whom He was on friendly enough terms to use their possessions that He once uses ‘the Lord’ (Mat 21:3), and once ‘the Teacher’ (Mat 26:18). This confirms that ‘Teacher’ can be used in Matthew by believers).
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Mat 8:19 . ] Never, not even in passages like Joh 6:9 , Mat 21:19 , Rev 8:13 (in answer to Winer, p. 111 [E. T. p. 145]; Buttmann, neut. Gr . p. 74 [E. T. 85]), is equivalent to the indefinite pronoun , to which the well-known use of is certainly opposed, but is always found, and that in the N. T. as well, with a certain numerical reference, such as is also to be seen (Blomfield, Gloss. in Persas , 333) in the passages referred to in classical writers (Jacobs, ad Achill. Tat . p. 398, ad Anthol . XII. p. 455). It is used (Mat 6:24 ) in the present instance in view of the about to be mentioned in Mat 8:21 ; for this , Mat 8:19 , and the subsequent , were both of them disciples of Jesus. It is therefore to be interpreted thus: one, a scribe . It follows from Mat 8:21 that this already belonged to the number of Jesus’ disciples in the more general sense of the word, but he now intimated his willingness to become one of His permanent and intimate followers.
The difference in time and place which, as regards the two incidents, Mat 8:19-22 (in Mark they are omitted), is found in Luk 9:57-60 , is not to be removed. The question as to which evangelist the preference is to be assigned in point of the historical faithfulness of his narrative, falls to be decided in favour of Matthew (Rettig in d. Stud. u. Krit . 1838, p. 240 ff.), as compared with the loose and indefinite account in Luke (Schleiermacher, Schneckenburger, Gfrrer, Olshausen, Arnoldi, Holtzmann), who, moreover, adds Luk 9:61 f.) still a third, and doubtless no less historical an incident with which he had been made acquainted. Schleiermacher inaptly refers to the various roads by which Jesus might travel to Jerusalem (Schleiermacher, Schrift. d. Luk . p. 169). It is clear, however, from the fact of this narrative occurring so far on in Luke, that he cannot have supposed that the was Judas Iscariot , and that the was Thomas (Lange). As far was he from supposing that the one was Bartholomew and the other Philip (Hilgenfeld), according to the discovery already made by Clement of Alexandria.
Observe, further, how quite differently Jesus answers the scribe with his supposed claims as compared with the simple-minded (Ewald), and how in addressing the latter He merely says, .
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
DISCOURSE: 1336
HOW WE ARE TO FOLLOW CHRIST
Mat 8:19-22. A certain Scribe came and said unto him, Master, I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest. And Jesus saith unto him, The foxes hare holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of Man hath not where to lay his head. And another of his disciples said unto him, Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father. But Jesus said unto him, Follow me: and let the dead bury their dead.
ONE would have supposed, that, in such a history as that of our Lord, none but great things would be recorded; and that smaller incidents would be passed over as unworthy of notice: but the inspired writers, notwithstanding an inexhaustible fund of matter presented itself to their view, and they had previously determined to be as concise as possible, were directed by God to relate many circumstances, which to us would have appeared too insignificant to be mentioned in such a work. And for this we have abundant reason to be thankful: for, had any other plan been followed, the Scriptures would have been less calculated for general use. Great events occur but rarely, and to few; whereas small circumstances arise daily and hourly; nor is there any one to whom they may not profitably be applied. The short conversations recorded in the text appear of little moment; yet are they singularly instructive, and applicable to every human being. They serve in a peculiar manner to put us on our guard against two destructive errors, precipitancy on the one hand, and procrastination on the other: they guard us, I say, against,
I.
Precipitancy
This is a common and fatal error in the Christian world
[The Scribe here mentioned was manifestly guilty of it. He came to our Lord professing a determination, which he was but ill qualified to execute. Doubtless his intention was good: he came in a very respectful manner, and voluntarily engaged himself to become a stated follower of Christ: but it is probable that he thought his office and talents, as a Scribe, would procure him a more elevated station among the disciples: and it is evident that he expected to find his adherence to Christ rewarded with an abundance of earthly comforts. Our Lord therefore rectified his mistake, and told him, that his followers must expect no better fare than he himself had, which yet in some respects was inferior to that which the wildest animals enjoyed: for foxes had their holes, and birds of the air their nests; whereas the Son of Man, though Lord of all, had not where to lay his head.
The same fault obtains very commonly amongst ourselves. Multitudes take up a profession of religion upon grounds equally mistaken: they expect to find ease, and interest, and honour, as their portion here: and, because such things are promised to the believer in a spiritual view, they are ready to look for them altogether in a worldly view. They see that vital religion ennobles the soul; and therefore they expect the world to estimate it according to its true value. But they are much mistaken: and]
It is of great importance that this error should be rectified
[Before any person makes a profession of religion, it is requisite that he should consider carefully, what duties are required of him, and what difficulties are to be encountered by him. Now the duties are, not such as the Scribe apprehended: namely, to wait upon Christ in an external profession of his religion (for we may go to the outward ordinances with the greatest punctuality imaginable, and yet be as far from Christ as ever); but to mortify the whole body of sin; to crucify the old man with the affections and lusts; to be altogether dead to the world, and alive unto God; and to have the same mind as was in Christ Jesus, viewing every thing as he viewed it, regarding every thing as he regarded it, and doing every thing as he did it. This is a work not to be undertaken lightly, or to be executed easily. There are also innumerable difficulties to be encountered. Whatever a man may think about worldly ease, or interest, or honour, he will find that he must sacrifice all these, and be, like his Master, despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. He that will follow Christ acceptably, must follow him without the camp, bearing his reproach. He must engage in a warfare, and maintain it manfully, against all his spiritual enemies. He must endure hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ: and if his own life stand in competition with his duty to God, he must sacrifice it cheerfully, accounting death in his cause the greatest honour.
Now these things, I say, should be well considered, and maturely weighed. We should consider whether Christ be worthy of all this labour and sorrow; whether heaven will be a sufficient recompence for it; and whether God has given us a heart to choose him thus for our portion and eternal great reward? In this manner we should count the cost; and then, from a conviction that the pearl of great price is indeed worth all that we possess, we should sell all, and buy it.]
But there is another error, against which we need equally to be guarded; namely,
II.
Procrastination
This indeed is even more common than the former
[The person whom our Lord enjoined to follow him, was already a disciple: but it was our Lords will that he should become a more stated attendant on him, and a preacher of his Gospel. But, though this man did not intend to shrink from the duty imposed on him, he thought he had a more imperious duty at the present, and that his obedience to the Saviours call should be postponed to that. But our Lord would admit of no delay: he intimated to the man, that, however commendable it was to shew a filial respect to his deceased parent, and however short the time might be that he would be detained by it, his call to follow him was clear, and of paramount obligation. He intimated further, that the business which he had desired to engage in might just as well be performed by others, who, being destitute of spiritual life, were unfit for the higher office to which he was called: Let the dead bury their dead; but go thou, and preach the kingdom of God [Note: Compare Luk 9:60.].
Now, though we may suppose that there was something peculiar in this, and therefore not applicable to ourselves in its full extent, it is evident that our Lord intended to impress on the minds of all this solemn truth, that nothing could justify a disobedience to his commands, or a delay in dedicating ourselves to his service.
But the fact is, that almost every one imagines he has some present engagement of more importance; and, when called to follow Christ, replies, Let me first go, and do this or that: let me finish my present business; let me get out of my present situation; let me attain such an object. They will not say, I will never follow Christ; but they plead some excuse for not following him at present. Alas! how many thousands perish through this delusion! They think the fit time is not yet come; they promise themselves a more convenient season; and thus they delay, till death cuts short their purposes, and puts an end to their existence.]
But this evil, like the former, must be banished from us
[If so specious a plea was not admitted by our Lord, what other can be? We must not understand our Lord as pouring contempt on filial duty; for he requires all to shew piety at home, and to requite their parents to the utmost of their power: but he would have us to know that the duty of devoting ourselves to him is superior to every other, and that the kingdom of God and his righteousness must be sought by us in the first place. If any attention to worldly duties be pleaded for the neglect of our souls, he would remind us that the plea will not be admitted in the day of judgment. On some particular occasions, indeed, he will have mercy and not sacrifice: but, in the great work of salvation, our duty to God must supersede every other. The care of our soul is the one thing needful; and that must be attended to, whatever else may be neglected. That admits of no delay. This is the only moment that we can call our own: and he who postpones the concerns of his soul till the morrow, has reason to fear that God will say to him, Thou fool, this night shall thy soul be required of thee. This should be regarded as the only accepted time, the only day of our salvation.]
From hence then we may further learn,
1.
How to estimate the things of time
[Our blessed Lord has taught us this effectually by his example. Though he was the Maker and Proprietor of all things, he chose to dwell in a more destitute condition than the beasts of the field or the fowls of the air, even without any stated place where to repose his head. By this he has shewn what an empty worthless portion riches are; and how contented the poor should be with their humble lot. He has shewn, that to serve, and honour, and enjoy God is the most desirable state on earth; and that whether we have a larger or smaller portion in our way to heaven, is scarcely worth a thought. To follow him is our one duty, and should be our one concern. If we have much of this world, we should serve him with it; and if but little, we should live, like the birds of the air, in a cheerful dependence on his good providence [Note: Mat 6:26.]; contented equally to abound, or to suffer need; and feeling that when we have nothing, we are really possessing all things.]
2.
How to act in reference to eternity
[The thought of eternity must, so to speak, swallow up every other. We must make no account of any thing that is to be sacrificed, or any thing that is to be endured, in the service of our God; but must devote ourselves to him without hesitation and without reserve. If, like the disciple in the text, we are called to preach the Gospel of the kingdom, we should shew what exalted thoughts we have of the ministerial office, by our self-denying diligence in the discharge of it. We should not seek great things for ourselves, or entangle ourselves with the affairs of this life, but be contented with less of this worlds goods, that we may be more at liberty to advance the interests of our Redeemer and the welfare of his Church and people. But, whatever be our station in the world, we are equally called to follow Christ; and on our obedience to that call our eternal happiness depends. I say not, that we should neglect our civil or social duties; for God commands us to perform them with all diligence: but I do say, that where the concerns of time and eternity interfere with each other, we must labour, not for the meat that perisheth, but for that which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of Man will give unto us.]
Fuente: Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae (Old and New Testaments)
IV
SEASON OF RETIREMENT PART IV THE CLOSING INCIDENTS
Harmony, pages 94-103 and Mat 17:14-18:35 ; Mat 8:19-22 ; Mar 9:9-50 ; Luk 9:37-62 ; Joh 7:2-10 .
When Christ and the three disciples who were with him at the transfiguration returned from the Mount they saw a great multitude gathered about the nine and the scribes questioning with them. Then follows the story of the failure of the nine to cast out the evil spirit of a demoniac boy and Jesus’ rebuke of their little faith, upon which our Lord healed the boy and restored him to his father. This story is interesting from several points of view. First, the case was an exceptional One and so difficult that the nine were unable to cast the Evil spirit out. Second, this is the only case of demonical epilepsy in the New Testament, the description of which by Mark is very vivid and much more in detail than that of either of the other evangelists. Third, Christ’s momentary impatience at dwelling amid such an environment is nowhere else so expressed, perhaps the more distressing from the contrast with the scene of the transfiguration, a few hours before. Fourth, the rebuke of the boy’s father is a fine lesson. He said, “If thou canst do anything, have compassion on us, and help us.” Jesus answered, “If thou canst!” We see here the point of the rebuke. Herefore we have found the form of faith that said, “If thou wilt, thou canst,” but this man reversed it: “If thou canst do anything, help us.” But the rebuke of Jesus set him right in his faith and then healed the boy. What a lesson for us! So often the Lord has to set us right in our faith before he can consistently give us the blessing. Fifth, the explanation which Jesus gave of their failure and the possibilities of God through the children of faith are a most helpful encouragement to the Christian of today. All difficulties may be removed by the power of faith. Sixth, the prescription of prayer as a means to the strengthen- ing of faith is a valuable suggestion as to the mans of our overcoming. Prayer is the hour of victory for the child of God. This is the winning point for every worker in the kingdom. All victories for God are won in the closet before the day of battle. Let us heed the lesson.
While on the way from Caesarea Philippi Jesus revealed again to his disciples that he must suffer and die and rise again, but they did not understand and were afraid to ask him. They were very slow to comprehend the idea of a suffering Messiah. This they did not understand fully until after his resurrection. This thought is more fully developed in connection with his submitted test of his messiahship which is discussed elsewhere in this INTERPRETATION OF THE GOSPELS.
When they came to Capernaum an event occurred which made a lasting impression on Peter. This was the incident of the half-shekel for the Temple. When asked if his Lord was accustomed to pay the Temple tax, Peter said, “Yes.” But Peter did not have the money to pay it with, and our Lord, after showing Peter that he (Jesus) was exempt, told him to go to the sea and take the piece of money from the mouth of a fish and pay the Temple tax for Peter and himself, in order that there might be left to the Jews no occasion of stumbling with reference to him as the Messiah.
In section 70 (Mat 18:1-14 ; Mar 9:33-50 ; Luk 9:46-50 ) we have the lesson on how to be great, which arose from their dispute as to who among them should be the greatest. To this Jesus replied that the greatest one of all was to be servant of all, and illustrated it by the example of a little child. The characteristic of the little child to be found in the subjects of his kingdom is humility.. Then he goes on to show that to receive one of such little children was to receive him. Here John, one of the “sons of thunder,” interrupted him with a question about one whom he saw casting out demons, yet he was not following with them. Then Jesus, after setting John right, went on with his illustration of the little child, showing the awful sin of causing a little one who believes on him to stumble, and pronounces a woe unto the world because of the occasion of stumbling, saying that these occasions must come, but the woe is to the man through whom they come. The occasions of stumbling arise from the sin of man and the domination of the devil, but that does not excuse the man through whom they come.
Now follows a pointed address in the second person singular, showing the cases in which we become stumbling blocks, in which he also shows the remedy, indeed a desperate remedy for a desperate case. This passage needs to be treated more particularly. Then, briefly, what the meaning of the word “offend”? If thy hand offend thee, if thine eye offend thee, if thy foot offend thee; what is the meaning of this word? We find it in the English in the word “scandal,” that is, “scandal” is the Anglicized form of the Greek word here used. But the word “scandalize,” as used in the English, does not express the thought contained in this text, since that is a modern derived meaning of the word. Originally it meant the trigger of a trap, that trigger which being touched caused the trap to fall and catch one, and from that of its original signification it came to have four well-known Bible meanings. An instance of each one of the four meanings, fairly applicable to this passage here, will be cited. First, it means a stumbling block, that which causes any one to fall, and in its spiritual signification, that which causes any one to fall into a sin. If thy hand causeth thee to fall into a sin, if thine eye causeth thee to fall into a sin, if thy foot causeth thee to fall into a sin, cut it off, pluck it out. It is more profitable to enter heaven maimed than to have the whole body cast into hell. The thought is as we see it in connection with a stumbling block, that we fall unexpectedly into the sin, as if we were going along not looking down and should suddenly stumble over something in our regular path, where we usually walk. Now, “if thine eye causeth thee, in the regular walk of life, to put something in that pathway that, when you were not particularly watching, will cause you to stumble and fall into a sin” that is the first thought of it.
Its second meaning is an obstacle or obstruction that causes one to stop. He does not fall over this obstacle, but it blocks his way and he stops. He does not fall, but he does not go on. To illustrate this use of the word, John the Baptist, in prison, finding the progress of his faith stopped by a doubt, sent word to Christ to know, “Art thou he that should come, or do we look for another?” Evidently showing that some unbelief had crept into his heart that had caused him to stop. He was not going on in the direction that he had been going, and hence, when Jesus sent word to John of the demonstrations of his divinity, He added this expression, using this very word, “Blessed is the man who is not offended in me.” “Blessed is the man who in me does not find an obstacle that stops him.” Anything that is an occasion of unbelief fulfils this meaning of the word. If thine eye causes something to be put in thy path that suggests a doubt as to the Christian religion, and by that doubt causeth thee that had been going steadily forward, to stop, pluck it out. Let me give another illustration: In the parable of the sower, our Saviour, in expounding why it was that the grain that had fallen upon the rock and came up and seemed to promise well for awhile, afterward, under the hot sun, withered away and perished, says, “There are some people that hear the word of God and, for awhile, seem to accept it, but when tribulation or persecution cometh they are offended they are stopped.” That is the meaning of the word strictly. Persecution and tribulation cometh and an obstacle is put in their path that causes them to stop. Now, if thine eye causes an obstacle to be put in thy Christian path, that causeth thee to stop and not go forward, pluck it out. Yet another illustration: Our Saviour, who had announced a great many doctrines that people could easily understand and accept, suddenly, on one occasion, announced a hard doctrine, very hard, and from that time it is said that many of his disciples followed him no more. They stopped. Now, there was something in them, in the eye or the hand or the foot, that found an occasion of unbelief in the doctrine he announced, and they stopped. I remember a very notable instance, where a man, deeply impressed in a meeting, and giving fair promise of having passed from death to life, happened to be present when the scriptural law of the use of money was expounded, and he stopped. Some obstacle stretched clear across his path. It was the love of money in his heart. He couldn’t recognize God’s sovereignty over money. As if he had said, “If you want me to cry; if you want me to say I am sorry, I will say it; if you want me to join the church, I will join it; if you want me to be baptized, I will be baptized; but if you want me to honor God with my money, I stop.”
Now, the third use of the word. It is sometimes used to indicate, not something over which one stumbles and falls into a sin, and not an obstacle that blocks up his pathway, but in the sense of something that he runs up against and hurts himself and so becomes foolishly angry. As when one, at night, trying to pass out of a dark room, strikes his head against the door, and in a moment flies into a passion. “Now, if thine eye causeth thee to run up against an object that when you strike it offends you, makes you mad, pluck it out and cast it from thee.”
These three senses of this word have abundant verifications in the classical Greek and a vast number of instances in the Bible, in the Old and New Testaments. But there is a fourth use of the word. That is where the eye has caused a man to turn aside from the right path and to reject the wise counsel of God, and to indulge in sin until God has given him up; then God sets a trap for him right in the path of his besetting sin. In Rom 11:9 we find that use of the word: “Let their table be made a trap for them.” That is to say, God, after trying to lead a man to do right, if he persists in doing wrong, the particular sin, whatever hat may be, whether it be of pride, or lust, or pleasure, whatever it may be, that particular, besetting sin which has caused him to reject God, will make the occasion of his ruin, and in the track of it God will set the trap, and the man is certain to fall into it and be lost. Now, these are the four Bible uses of this term “offend.” Greek: Scandalon , the noun, and skandalizo, the verb. “If thine eye causeth thee to offend,” that is, “If your eye causeth you to put something in your path over which you will unexpectedly fall into a sin; if thine eye causeth thee to put an obstacle clear across your path, so that you stop; if thine eye causeth thee to put some object against which you will unthoughtedly run and hurt yourself and become incensed; if thine eye causeth thee to go into a sin that shall completely alienate you from God, and in the far distant track of which God sets a trap that will be sure to catch your soul pluck it out.”
The next thing needing explanation: People who look only at the shell of a thing may understand this passage to mean mutilation of the body. They forget that the mutilation of the body is simply an illustration of spiritual things. Take a case: One of the most beautiful and sweet-spirited girls I ever knew, before whom there seemed to stretch a long and bright and happy future, was taken sick, and the illness, whatever the doctors may call it, was in the foot, and the blood would not circulate. The doctors could not bring about the circulation and that foot finally threatened the whole body. Then the doctors said, “This foot must be amputated.” And they did amputate it. They amputated it to save her life. They cut off that member because it offered the only possible means of saving the other foot and both hands and the whole body and her life. It was sternness of love, resoluteness of affection, courage of wisdom that sacrificed a limb to save the body. Now using that necessity of amputation, as an illustration, our Saviour says, “If thy hand offend thee, cut it off; if thy foot offend thee, cut it off. If thine eye offend thee, pluck it out.” But that he does not mean bodily mutilation is self-evident from this: that if we were to cut off our hand we could not stop the spiritual offense; if we were to pluck out the eye we could not stop the spiritual offense on the inside, in the soul; no lopping off to external branches would reach that. But what our Saviour means to teach is this: That as a wise physician, who discovers, seated in one member of the body, a disease that if allowed to spread will destroy the whole body, in the interest of mercy cuts off that diseased limb, so, applying this to spiritual things, whatever causes us to fall into sin, we should cut loose from it at every cost.
One other word needs to be explained, the word “Gehenna.” It is a little valley next to Jerusalem that once belonged to the sons of Hinnom. It came to pass that in that valley was instituted an idol worship, and there the kings caused their children to pass through the fire to Moloch, and because of this iniquity a good king of Israel defiled that valley, made it the dumping ground of all refuse matter from the city. The excrement, the dead things, the foul and corrupt matter was all carried out and put in that valley. And because of the corruption heaped there, worms were always there, and because of the burning that had been appointed as a sanitary measure, the fire was always there. Now that was used as an illustration to indicate the spiritual condition of a lost soul; of a soul that had become as refuse matter; of a soul that had become entirely cut loose from God and given up to its own devices; that had become bad through and through; that had become such a slave to passion, or lust or crime, that it was incorrigible, and the very nature of the sin which possessed it was like a worm that never dies. There was a gnawing, a ceaseless gnawing going on, referring to conscience, and there was a burning and a thirst going on. Now those images our Saviour selected were to represent the thought of hell.
Having explained its words, look now at the passage itself: “If thine eye offend thee, pluck it out.” What is the principle involved in that exhortation? First, that it is a man’s chief concern to see that he does not miss the mark; that he does not make shipwreck; that he does not ruin himself. That is the chief concern of every boy, of every girl, of every man and woman, to see to it that he does not miss the mark of his being; that he does not make shipwreck; that he does not go to utter ruin.
The next thought involved in it is that in case we do miss the mark; in case we do make shipwreck; in case our soul is lost, then there is no profit and no compensation to us in any thing we ever had. “For what shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose his own soul?” If he misses the main thing, if he makes shipwreck of his own soul, then wherein does the compensation come to him that in his life he had this or that treasure, this pleasure or that; that he was able to attain to this ambition or that; that he for such a while, no matter how long, was on top in society or fashion in the world? What has it profited him if the main thing worthy of supreme concern, is lost?
The next thought is this: Whatever sacrifice is necessary to the securing of the main thing, that we must make. That is what this passage means, and no matter how dear a treasure may be to us; no matter how much we esteem it, if it be necessary that we should give it up or that our soul should be lost, this passage calls on us to give it up. A man may have in a ship a vast amount of money which he idolizes, but in the night he is alarmed by the cry of fire; he rushes upon the deck and he finds that the ship is hopelessly in flames and that the only way of escape is to swim to the shore. Now he stands there for a moment and meditates: “I have here a vast amount of money, in gold. If I try to take this gold with me in this issue in which the main thing, my life, is involved, it will sink me. My life is more than this money. O glittering gold, I leave you. I strike out, stripped of every weight and swim for my life.” It means that he ought to leave behind everything that would jeopardize his gaining the shore. A ship has a valuable cargo. It has been acquired by toil and anxiety and industry. It may be that the cargo in itself is perfectly innocent, but in a stress of weather, with a storm raging and with a leak in the vessel and the water rising, it becomes necessary to lighten that ship. Now whatever is necessary to make it float, to keep it above water, that must be done. If there be anything which, if permitted to remain in that ship, will sink it, throw it out. They that do business in great waters know the wisdom of this. Why? It is a question of sacrificing the inferior to the greater and better.
The next thought involved is this: Whenever it says, “If thine eye offend thee, pluck it out,” I venture to say that it is a demonstration, by the exhortation addressed to us personally, that if ruin comes to us it comes by our own consent. I mean to say that no matter what is the stress of outside seduction, nor how cunningly the devil may attempt to seduce and beguile us, all the devils in hell and all the extraneous temptations that may environ a man can never work his shipwreck if he does not consent.
The next point involved is, that whenever one does consent to temptation, whenever the ruin comes to him, it comes on account of some internal moral delinquency. Out of the heart are the issues of life. Out of the heart proceed murder, lust, blasphemy, and every crime which men commit. I mean to say that as the Bible declares that no murderer shall inherit eternal life, that external incentives to murder amount to nothing unless in him, in the man, in the soul, there be a susceptibility or a liability or moral weakness that shall open the door to the tempter and let in the destroyer.
Now if that be true we come naturally to the next thought in this text, that is, God saves a man, and if God can save a man, he must save him in accordance with the laws of his own nature. That is to say, that God must, in order to the salvation of that man, require truth in the inward part; that nothing external will touch the case; that God’s requirements must take hold, not of the long delayed overt act, but of the lust in the heart which preceded the act and made the act. And therefore, while a human court can take jurisdiction only of murder actually committed, God goes inside of the man and says, “Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer.” From hate comes murder. If God saves you he must save you from the internal hate. Human law takes hold of a case of adultery. God’s law goes to the eye: “Whosoever looketh upon a woman to lust after her hath already committed adultery with her in his heart.” God requireth truth in the inward part. And if one is saved he must be saved internally; he must be saved, not only from the guilt and penalty of sin, but he must be saved from the love of it and from the dominion of it.
The next point: With that law looking inside, looking at our thoughts, looking at the springs of action, the question comes up, “How shall one save his soul? How shall one so attain to the end of his being as that in the main thing he shall not miss the mark?” He has to look at it as an exceedingly sober question. There is no child’s play about it. He must not rely upon the quack remedies of philosophers and impostors, or rely upon any external rite, upon joining the church or being baptized, or partaking of the Lord’s Supper. The awful blasphemy of calling that the way to heaven! God requireth truth in the inward part, and if we are saved, we must be saved inside. As a wise man, having my chief business to save my soul, I must scrupulously look at everything with which I come in contact. Some men’s weaknesses are in one direction and some in another, but the chief thing for me is to find out my weakness, what is my besetting sin, where is the weak point in my line of defense, where am I most susceptible to danger, where do I yield most readily? And if I find that the ties of blood are making me lose my soul, I must move out of my own family, and therefore in the Mosaic law it is expressly said, “If thine own son, if the wife of thy bosom, shall cause thee to worship idols and turn away from the true God, thou shalt put thine own hand on the head as the first witness, that they may be stoned. Thou shalt not spare.” It is a question of our life, and if our family ties are such that they are dragging us down to death, we must strike out for our life. And that is why marriage is the most solemn and far-reaching question that ever came up for human decision. More souls are lost right there, more women go into hopeless bondage, more men are shipwrecked by that awful tie, than by anything else.
Then he goes on to show that these little believers must not be despised, because their angels are always before their heavenly Father, just as the angels of more highly honored Christians. This thought he illustrates with the parable of the ninety and nine, the interpretation of which might be considered as follows: (1) If there are many worlds and but one is lost, (2) if there are many creatures and only man is lost, (3) if there were many just persons, and only one is lost, then we find the lost world, the lost race, the one lost man is near the heart of the Saviour, the principle being that the weakest, the most needy, the most miserable are nearest the Shepherd’s heart. “Even so it is not the will of your Father which is in heaven, that one of these little ones should perish,” is the conclusion of the Saviour.
In section 71 (Mat 18:15-35 ) we have our Lord’s great discussion on forgiveness, i.e., man’s forgiveness of man. This subject is amply treated in volume 1, chapter xvi of this INTERPRETATION and also in my sermon on “Man’s Forgiveness of Man.” (I refer the reader to these discussions for a full exposition of this great passage.)
In section 72 (Mat 8:19-22 ; Luk 9:57-62 ) we have a very plain word on the sacrifices of discipleship. Here three different ones approached Christ asking permission to be his disciples. The first one that came proposed to go with him anywhere. Jesus told him that he had no abiding place; that he was a wanderer without any home, which meant there were many hardships in connection with discipleship. The second one that came to him wanted to wait till he could bury his father, which according to Oriental customs, might have been several years, or at least, thirty days, if his father was dead when he made the request, including the time of mourning. Luke tells of one who wanted first to bid farewell to them of his own house. But Jesus said, “No man, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.” The import of all this is that Christ will not permit his disciples to allow anything to come between them and him. He must have the first place in their affections. The expression, “No man, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God,” means that the man who is pretending to follow Christ and is looking back to the things he left behind is not fit for his kingdom. This is a strict test, but it is our Lord’s own test.
Then, following the Harmony, we have, in the next section, the counsel of the unbelieving brothers that Jesus go into Judea and exhibit himself there. But he declined to follow their counsel and remained in Galilee. This incident shows that the brothers of Jesus had not at this time accepted him, which was about six months before his death and thus disproves the theory that the brothers of Jesus were apostles.
We now come to the close of this division of the Harmony in section 74 (Luk 9:51-56 ; Joh 7:10 ), which tells of Jesus setting his face toward Jerusalem in view of the approach of the end of his earthly career. This going up to Jerusalem, John says, was after his brothers had gone, and it was not public, but as it were in secret. He sent James and John, the “sons of thunder,” ahead to Samaria to make ready for him, but the Samaritans rejected him because he was going toward Jerusalem, which exemplifies the old, deep-seated hatred between the Jews and the Samaritans. This section closes with a rebuke to James and John for wanting to call down fire upon these Samaritans. The next chapter of this INTERPRETATION connects with this section and gives the results of this trip to Jerusalem and his ministry in all parts of the Holy Land.
QUESTIONS
1. What was the incident immediately following the transfiguration?
2. What are the points of interest in the story of the epileptic boy?
3. What revelation did Jesus again make to his disciples while on the way from Caesarea Philippi, how did the disciples receive it and why?
4. Tell the story of Peter and the Temple tax and give its lesson.
5. What was the lesson on “greatness” here and what its occasion?
6. What was the point in the illustration of the little child?
7. What is the lesson from John’s interruption of our Lord here?
8. How does Jesus show the awfulness of the sin of causing a little child who believes on him to stumble?
9. From what do the occasions of stumbling arise and upon whom rests the responsibility for them?
10. What would you give as the theme of Mat 18:8-9 ; and Mar 9:43 ; Mar 9:45 ; Mar 9:47-50 ?
11. What are the several meanings of the word “offend” in these passages? Illustrate each.
12. What is the application of all these meanings? Illustrate.
13. Explain the word “Gehenna” as used here.
14. Looking at the passage as a whole, what is principle involved the exhortation? Give details.
15. What reason does Christ assign for the command not to despise one of these little ones and what does it mean?
16. How does he illustrate this
17. In a word what is the author’s position on the subject of man’s forgiveness of man?
18. What is Christ’s teaching here on discipleship and what is the meaning of his language addressed to each of the three, respectively, who approached him here on the subject?
19. What advice here given Jesus by his brothers, how did Jesus regard it, and what the lesson of this incident?
20. What are the closing incidents of this division of our Lord’s ministry and what are their lessons?
Fuente: B.H. Carroll’s An Interpretation of the English Bible
19 And a certain scribe came, and said unto him, Master, I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest.
Ver. 19. Master, I will follow thee, &c. ] As Samson followed his parents till he met with a honeycomb; or as a dog follows his master till he come by a carrion. Vix diligitur Iesus, propter Iesum. But, as Isaac loved Esau, for venison was his meat, Gen 25:28 , and as Judah’s rulers “loved with shame, Give ye,”Hos 4:18Hos 4:18 ; so do hypocrites; they serve not the Lord Jesus Christ, but their own bellies, Rom 16:18 ; they have his person in admiration only for advantage,Jdg 1:16Jdg 1:16 ; they can bear the cross with Judas, so they may bear the bag and lick their own fingers. Ephraim is a heifer that loveth to tread out the grain, because while it treads it feeds, Hos 10:11 . But such delicate self-seekers are rejected, as here; when those that have honest aims and ends hear, “Come and see,”Joh 1:46Joh 1:46 .
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
19. ] Both the following incidents are placed by St. Luke long after, during our Lord’s last journey to Jerusalem. For it is quite impossible (with Greswell, Diss. iii. p. 155, sq.) in any common fairness of interpretation, to imagine that two such incidents should have twice happened, and both times have been related together. It is one of those cases where the attempts of the Harmonists do violence to every principle of sound historical criticism. Every such difficulty, instead of being a thing to be wiped out and buried up at all hazards (I am sorry to see, e.g., that Bp. Wordsw. takes no notice, either here or in St. Luke, of the recurrence of the two narratives), is a valuable index and guide to the humble searcher after truth, and is used by him as such (see Prolegomena, ch. i. iv. 2 f.).
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Mat 8:19 , , either “ one , a scribe” (Weiss and very decidedly Meyer, who says that never in N. T. = ), or “a certain scribe,” indefinite reference, so Fritzsche, falling back on Suicer, I., p. 1037, and more recently Bleek and others. Vide Winer, xviii. 9, who defends the use of for as a feature of later Greek. , a scribe! even one of that most unimpressionable class, in spirit and tendency utterly opposed to the ways of Jesus. A Saul among the prophets. He has actually become warmed up to something like enthusiasm. A striking tribute to the magnetic influence of Jesus. : already more or less of a disciple perhaps he had been present during the teaching on the hill or at the encounter between Jesus and the scribes in re washing (Mat 15:1 f.), and been filled with admiration for His wisdom, moral earnestness and courage; and this is the result. Quite honestly meant, but.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
a = one. A Hebraism for “a”.
Master = Teacher. App-98. Mat 8:1.
goest = mayest go.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
19.] Both the following incidents are placed by St. Luke long after, during our Lords last journey to Jerusalem. For it is quite impossible (with Greswell, Diss. iii. p. 155, sq.) in any common fairness of interpretation, to imagine that two such incidents should have twice happened, and both times have been related together. It is one of those cases where the attempts of the Harmonists do violence to every principle of sound historical criticism. Every such difficulty, instead of being a thing to be wiped out and buried up at all hazards (I am sorry to see, e.g., that Bp. Wordsw. takes no notice, either here or in St. Luke, of the recurrence of the two narratives), is a valuable index and guide to the humble searcher after truth, and is used by him as such (see Prolegomena, ch. i. iv. 2 f.).
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Mat 8:19. , …, one Scribe, etc.) Out of so great a multitude, this man alone exhibits such an emotion. Yet he seems to have been fond of comfort, a Scribe less hardy than the fishermen. The Scribes came often to tempt our Lord.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
Our King discerning his True Followers
Mat 8:19-20. And a certain scribe came, and said unto him, Master, I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest. And Jesus saith unto him, The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head.
Was this scribe charmed by what he heard and saw of our Lord? We think so. In a sudden fit of enthusiasm, he calls him “Master.” He had probably hurried round the shore after Jesus, and he declares he will always follow him, let the Master go where he may. His is an unreserved discipleship which knows no time or place: “I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest.” His was an unasked-for following, for the Lord had not said to him, “Follow me.” It was the best fruit of nature, but not the result of grace. Our King soon tests this loudly-expressed loyalty, by telling the new convert that he was so poor a master, that beasts of the fields, and “birds of the air “, were better off for lodgings than himself. If the leader fared so badly, there was a poor look-out for the follower. How great was the humiliation of our Lord and King! He had no palace, and no silken canopy. He who was our Head had not where to lay his own head.
Did this scribe have his name inscribed among the poor scholars of a homeless teacher? We do not know. How stands it in our case? Can we follow a penniless cause? Can we proclaim a despised doctrine?
Mat 8:21. And another of his disciples said unto him, Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father.
The first man was too fast, the second was too slow. This person was a disciple: Jesus sent him on a mission; he was not ready to start. He must do something else first. That something had to do with a dead relative. It was a grave fault to put the sepulchre before the Saviour. His father would be sure to be buried by some other member of the family; but no other could obey the command of Christ which this disciple had received. We may leave work which another can do when our Lord appoints us a peculiar personal service. It must bo Christ first, and father next. Living commands must take precedence of duties to the dead. Soldiers cannot be excused from war on account of domestic claims.
Mat 8:22. But Jesus said unto him, Follow me; and let the dead bury their dead.
Our Lord repeated his command, “Follow me” Others could bury the dead; it was for the disciple to obey his orders. Men who are unrenewed are dead, and they are quite able to attend to such dead business as a funeral. Much of the concerns of politics, party tactics, committee-meetings, social reforms, innocent amusements, and so forth, may be very fitly described as burying the dead. Much of this is very needful, proper, and commendable work; but still only such a form of business as unnregenerate men can do as well as the disciples of Jesus. Let them do it; but if we are called to preach the gospel, let us give ourselves wholly to our sacred calling. Let not the higher worker entangle himself with what worldlings can do quite as well as he can. “Follow me” is a precept which will need all our powers to carry it out; but by grace we will obey.
Fuente: Spurgeon’s The Gospel of the Kingdom
certain: Ezr 7:6, Mar 12:32-34, Luk 9:57, Luk 9:58, 1Co 1:20
I will: Luk 14:25-27, Luk 14:33, Luk 22:33, Luk 22:34, Joh 13:36-38
Reciprocal: Jos 3:3 – ye shall remove Rth 1:16 – whither 2Sa 15:21 – surely 1Ch 24:6 – the scribe Mar 4:16 – which Rev 14:4 – which follow
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
8:19
A full description of the work and character of the scribes will be given at chapter 13:52, but I will state now that they were a very important group of men among the Jews. They made great pretentions of learning and wished to be recognized as an indispensable class. This scribe came to Jesus with an air of one who was deeply concerned in the work of the new teacher who was gaining so much fame among the people. But Jesus knew his heart as he always did all other men, and knew that he had mixed motives in his apparent devotional attitude.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Mat 8:19. And one who was a scribe. One is emphatic; either one disciple (Mat 8:21) who was a scribe, or one scribe, suggesting that it was are for one of that class to be among his followers. It is an ingenious hypothesis of Lange, that these persons all became Apostles, being specially called at this time. But it is probable that the Twelve had been chosen before this occurrence. He thinks Judas and Thomas are the persons here spoken of, while the third (mentioned by Luke only) is Matthew.
Master, i.e., teacher, an important confession on the part of a scribe.
I will follow thee, etc. Probably suggested by the fact that our Lord was about to depart. But the proposal is to follow Jesus as a teacher and to faithfully adhere to Him.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
8:19 {4} And a certain scribe came, and said unto him, Master, I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest.
(4) The true disciples of Christ must prepare themselves for all kinds of miseries.