Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Luke 4:42
And when it was day, he departed and went into a desert place: and the people sought him, and came unto him, and stayed him, that he should not depart from them.
42. when it was day ] St Mark (Mar 1:35) uses the expression “rising up exceedingly early in the morning, while it was yet dark.” It was His object to escape into silence, and solitude, and prayer, without being observed by the multitudes.
into a desert place ] Densely as the district was populated, such a place might be found in such hill ravines as the Vale of Doves at no great distance.
the people sought him ] Rather, were earnestly seeking for Him. It is characteristic of the eager impetuosity of St Peter, that (as St Mark tells us, Luk 1:36) he, with his friends, on this occasion (literally) “hunted Him down” ( katedioxan).
stayed him ] Rather, tried or wished to detain Him. It is the tentative imperfect.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Luk 4:40; Luk 4:42
Now when the sun was setting, all they that had any sick
Now when the sun was setting
When the sun set another sun arose.
The eventide of nature brought the morning of restoration. Nature perishes: Grace is eternal. Come to Christ when you can–early in the day, or in the shades of evening–He is ever ready. In Luk 4:42 mark an attempt to localise Christ. This is often done even now. But He is not to be parochially or congregationally shut in. He is the light of every life. He must gather His sheep from every hill, and call His own from unexpected places. (J. Parker, D. D.)
The miracles of healing at Capernaum
These words form a very vivid contrast with what is recorded in the former part of this chapter. In Nazareth He did no mighty works. Could not, not would not. It was not because the people there didnt want help. It was as bad to be sick up there as in Capernaum. But it was because of their unbelief. Then in wonderful contrast comes this story of Capernaum. That contrast we can still make. We may have this Nazareth, Jesus in the midst with all His healing power, and yet our hearts unblessed; or it may be to us Capernaum, and Jesus moving in and out amongst us, laying His hands on every one of us and making us whole.
I. THE SCENE HERE PICTURED. The sun was setting; the mountains were lifting up their heads into the golden crimson, and the lake was bathed in the sunset hues. Across the rocky paths came wearied ones from the inland villages with withered limbs; blind men groping their way and asking piteously if they were right; deaf men trying to read the signs of His coming in everybodys face; and, across the lake, boat-loads of sick ones, the glassy surface of the lake just broken by the ripple of the oar; and thus they came, until what a sight it was about the gate of the city!
II. FOLLOW THE MASTER THROUGH THE WARDS OF HIS HOSPITAL. NOW the whisper runs through the crowd, He comes. He comes–those eyes of His all filled with compassion; and moving about amongst them, He laid His hands on every one of them. No poor woman was thrust away outside; no poor little child was forgotten.
1. Notice that the power of the Lord is a healing power–not to condemn the world. And
2. See how the Lord uses this power–with what gentleness.
3. Notice how the Lord deals with men in their individuality–every one of them.
III. Look AT THE SICK ONES. First, here is a heathen woman. Here stands a sturdy Roman soldier who has been maimed in some fight, &c. In Christs hospital every case is peculiar. (New Outlines of Sermons on New Testament.)
Gods Kingdom
Which kingdom? There is
(1) the kingdom of nature;
(2) that of providence;
(3) that of glory.
But none of these is the kingdom I am going to talk about. There is another kingdom, the kingdom of His grace, the kingdom in the hearts of men, called the kingdom of God in my text.
I. THIS KINGDOM IS ONE; THE KINGDOMS OF THE EARTH ARE MANY. The kingdom of God does not resemble any of these. It is a spiritual kingdom.
II. THE KINGDOMS OF THIS WORLD ARE NOT HAPPY, THE KINGDOM OF GRACE IS.
III. THE KINGDOMS OF EARTH ARE MAINTAINED BY FORCE; THE THRONE OF GODS KINGDOM IS ESTABLISHED IN THE AFFECTIONS OF ITS SUBJECTS.
III. THE KINGDOMS OF EARTH DECAY; THE KINGDOM OF GOD NEVER.
IV. Practical questions:
1. Are we members of this kingdom?
2. If not, are we willing to become members? (E. G. Gange.)
Imposition of hands
This rite is a symbol of any kind of transmission, whether of a gift or an office (Moses and Joshua, Deu 34:9), or of a blessing (the patriarchal blessings), or of a duty (the transfer to the Levites of the natural functions of the eldest son in every family), or of guilt (the guilty Israelite laying his hands on the head of the victim), or of the sound, vital strength enjoyed by the person who imparts it (cures). It is not certainly that Jesus could not have worked a cure by His mere word, or even by a simple act of volition. But, in the first place, there is something profoundly human in this act of laying the hand on the head of any one whom one desires to benefit. It is a gesture of tenderness, a sign of beneficial communication such as the heart craves. Then this symbol might be morally necessary. Whenever Jesus avails Himself of any material means to work a cure–whether it be the sound of His voice, or clay made of His spittle–His aim is to establish in the form best adapted to the particular case, a personal tie between the sick person and Himself; for He desires not only to heal, but to effect a restoration to God, by creating in the consciousness of the sick a sense of union with Himself, the organ of Divine grace in the midst of mankind. This moral aim explains the variety of the means employed. Had they been curative means (of the nature of magnetic passes, for example) they could not have varied so much. But as they were addressed to the sick persons soul, Jesus chose them in such a way that His action was adapted to its character or position. In the case of a deaf mute, He puts His fingers into his ears; He anointed the eyes of a blind man with His spittle, &c. Thus their healing appeared as an emanation from His person, and attached them to Him by an indissoluble tie. Their restored life was felt to be dependent on His. (F. Godet, D. D.)
The Great Physician
We have here a picture of Jesus as the Great Physician of soul and body, the Divine restorer of health to both body and mind. It is never to be forgotten how He thus met the sufferings of humanity, and brought effective deliverance as none other ever could or ever will bring, to a world ever groaning and travailing in pain. And what He did then, He is doing still. We cannot now see His earthly Form, nor do we look for miracles to be wrought upon us; but each of us has his own peculiar care or trouble, and needs the Divine Physician to relieve his distress.
1. True, there are earthly reliefs, and it is our duty to make proper use of them; but they are all more or less temporary and fleeting.
(1) For the body: medical relief and advice, &c. Yet these can give no immunity from disease. And most remedies soon lose their power.
(2) For the mind: distraction, pleasure, &c. These also are but the results of the experience of others, but they have no last in them, and they may only make the pain worse to bear than before.
2. True also, that if present relief is not to be had, we may still be buoyed up by earthly hope. But alas! how often is this but hope deferred, which makes the heart sick; and how often is the miserable and weary sufferer brought to such a state that the only earthly hope left him is the hope that he may soon be done with earth altogether, and his poor pained body be laid to rest in the grave! Oh, how vain are all earthly hopes, and how doomed to disappointment are those who trust in them. But, thank God! our Christian philosophy is not so cold. We have more than this.
I. A PRESENT HELP. We have learned that present, earthly, personal comfort is not such a grand object after all; that there are higher things, and better things, within our reach. What are these? Growing better, being sanctified, making this life not an end but a beginning and preparation for a higher and better life. Not only so, but we can go to Jesus as truly as could the friends at Capernaum, and help to take our sufferers there. Nor have we far to go. He is always at hand, and always accessible. Moreover, He is unchangeable; not like earthly friends and comforts, but always the same; the truest help in any and every kind of suffering–whether of mind, body, or estate, as many a soul has proved, in sickness, poverty, anxiety, loneliness.
II. A FUTURE HOPE. If, in spite of every aid, the burdens of life press heavily on us, we have more than the silence of the grave to look for; we know that while our body sleeps, our soul is with Christ in paradise, and that one day there will be a happy reunion. Conclusion: Let us first find the way ourselves to this present help and future hope, and then we shall be able to point our friends to it and to Jesus who is indeed our only help and our only hope. And then, one word more for our comfort. You will remember that our blessed Lord was not done with the sufferers when He laid His hands upon them and conferred present relief in trouble. They might go home with glad hearts, and enjoy the blessing of God, but a time would come when they might again suffer in body or in mind, and when they would at last have to give up all hope of earthly remedy. But Jesus was not forgetting them. Tired and wearied as He was, He rose up a great while before day, and departed into a solitary place, and there prayed. He was blessing them even more in His absence than while with them in bodily presence. Even so is it still with the sufferers and with the healed. Jesus is not only ever blessing us with divine comfort and strength, but He is pleading for us with the Father. He knows the pain of each heart, and He will bless us and it for our good if we will but go to Him. (George Low, M. A.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Luk 4:42
That He would not depart from them
How to prolong the gracious visits of Christ
I.
WHAT MEANS SHOULD BE EMPLOYED TO PROLONG THE GRACIOUS VISITS OF CHRIST? I answer, generally, we must endeavour to render His continuance with us agreeable to Himself; and to avoid or banish from among us everything which tends to render it otherwise. When we wish to induce an earthly friend to reside with us as long as possible, we naturally endeavour to render his residence with us agreeable; for no person will voluntarily continue long in a disagreeable place, or in unpleasant society. But more particularly; if we would prolong our Saviours gracious visits, either to ourselves, to our habitations, or to the place in which we reside, we must show Him that we greatly desire and highly value His presence. No person will consent to stay long with those by whom his presence is not desired. Least of all will those consent to this who are sensible of their own worth, and who know that there are other places where they would be more welcome. Now our blessed Saviour is perfectly sensible of His own worth. He knows that, great and powerful as He is, He can confer no favour upon a Church or upon individuals more valuable than His gracious presence. He, therefore, justly expects that we should prize it accordingly, and consider everything else as nothing in comparison with this. The fact is, that, when we prefer any object to Christ, we make an idol of that object, and set up that idol in His presence. And can we expect that He will continue long with those who prefer an idol before Him?
1. The more He seems to depart from us, the more earnestly must we follow Him with our prayers and supplications, saying, with Jacob, We will not let Thee go, except Thou bless us; and, like the persons mentioned in our text, staying Him that He may not forsake us.
2. With prayer we must unite penitence. Especially must we repent of those sins which have been the probable cause of His beginning to withdraw. Without this, even prayer will not avail, as is evident from the case of Joshua, when his army was repulsed before Ai.
3. If we would prevent the Saviour from depriving us of His gracious visits, we must receive them with profound humility and a deep sense of our unworthiness of such a favour.
4. H we would prevent the Saviour from leaving us, we must assign sufficient reasons why He should prolong His stay. The glory of His Father, the honour of His great name, the welfare of His people, the prosperity of His cause, are each of them reasons of sufficient weight to influence His conduct; and while either of these reasons requires His stay we may be sure that He will not leave us.
5. If we would prevent Christ from leaving us, we must furnish Him with employments, and with such kind of employments as are suited to His character. Now the ruling passion of our Saviour is the love of doing good. My meat, says He, is to do the will of My Father and to finish His work. And again He says, It is more blessed to give than to receive. Agreeably, we find that, when on earth, He went about doing good, and, where He found opportunities of doing the most good, there He always made the longest stay.
II. SOME OF THE REASONS WHICH SHOULD INDUCE US TO EMPLOY THESE MEANS.
1. We ought to employ these means, because a neglect of them will infallibly grieve and offend our Redeemer.
2. The blessed effects which result from the gracious visits of Christ, furnish another reason why we should employ all proper means and make every possible exertion to induce Him to prolong them.
3. Another reason which should induce us to employ these means, may be found in the evils which result from the Saviours departure. These evils are in full proportion to the benefits which result from His presence.
4. The conduct of impenitent sinners affords another reason why we should do this. (E. Payson, D. D.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 42. And the people sought him] Rather, Sought him earnestly. Instead of , sought, I read, , earnestly sought. This reading is supported by ABCDFLMS-V, and more than seventy others. Wetstein and Griesbach have both received it into the text. The people had tasted the good word of God, and now they cleave to Christ with their whole heart. Hearing the words of Christ, and feeling the influence of his Spirit upon the soul, will attract and influence the heart; and indeed nothing else can do it.
And stayed him] Strove to detain him; they caught hold of him. Thus showing their great earnestness to be farther instructed.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
See Poole on “Mar 1:35“, and following to Mar 1:39, where that evangelist reports the same things that this evangelist mentions, only with more circumstances. Mark saith, he went out a great while before day into a solitary place to pray. He saith also that Simon and others followed him, and found him, and told him that all men sought him. Luke addeth that the others desired him not to depart from thence. They desired his stay, in order to his miracles, the healing of their sick, dispossessing demoniacs, &c. Christ replied, (as Mark saith), Let us go into the next towns, that I may preach there also; for therefore came I forth. Luke saith he told them, he must preach the gospel of the kingdom to other cities also; for therefore he was sent. Accordingly, (saith Luke), he did preach in the synagogues of Galilee. Mark adds also that he cast out devils. How can any think that preaching the gospel is not the great work of the minister of Christ, but prayers are to be preferred before it, or administering the sacraments greater, when it is expressly said, that Christ baptized none, but his disciples, Joh 4:2; and Paul saith, Christ sent him not to baptize, but to preach the gospel; and Christ omitted opportunities of working miracles that he might preach to other cities, and only wrought miracles to confirm the doctrine he preached; and we so often read of his going about preaching and teaching, never of his praying, but alone with his disciples, or in a mountain or solitary place; (though doubtless he, or some others, did pray at their worship in the synagogues); unless any will be so mad as to think, that the sole end of preaching was to convert men from Judaism, or paganism, to an outward owning and professing of Christ, though under that profession, by reason of their sottish ignorance and debauched lives, they remain twice more the children of the devil than many Jews and pagans are? What was Christs great work is certainly his ministers, viz. to preach the gospel of the kingdom.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
42. stayed him“werestaying Him,” or sought to do it. What a contrast to theGadarenes! The nature of His mission required Him to keep moving,that all might hear the glad tidings (Mt8:34).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And when it was day,…. The “day after”, as the Persic version renders it;
at the dawning, or “break of day”, as the Syriac. He rose a great while before it was day, as Mark says, Mr 1:35 but did not go out till it was day, or till day was coming on, when
he departed from Peter’s house, and from Capernaum:
and went into a desert place; for the sake of solitude, that he might be retired from company, and have an opportunity of privately praying to God:
and the people sought, and came unto him: they first went to Simon’s house, and not finding him there, sought for him elsewhere: and when they understood where he was, they came to him,
and stayed him that he should not depart from them; they laid hold on him, and held him, and did all they could to persuade him, to abide with them constantly, and not think of removing from them: though perhaps this was not so much from love to Christ’s person and presence, or any regard to his ministry, and the good and welfare of their immortal souls, as on account of the miracles he wrought, and the corporal benefits he bestowed on them.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
When it was day ( ). Genitive absolute with aorist middle participle. Mr 1:35 notes it was “a great while before day” (which see for discussion) when Jesus rose up to go after a restless night. No doubt, because of the excitement of the previous sabbath in Capernaum. He went out to pray (Mr 1:35).
Sought after him ( ). Imperfect active indicative. The multitudes kept at it until “they came unto him” ( , aorist active indicative). They accomplished their purpose, , right up to him.
Would have stayed him ( ). Better,
They tried to hinder him . The conative imperfect active of , an old and common verb. It means either to hold fast (Lu 8:15), to take, get possession of (Lu 14:9) or to hold back, to retain, to restrain (Phlm 1:13; Rom 1:18; Rom 7:6; 2Thess 2:6; Luke 4:42). In this passage it is followed by the ablative case.
That he should not go from them ( ‘ ). Literally, “from going away from them.” The use of (not) after is the neat Greek idiom of the redundant negative after a verb of hindering like the French ne (Robertson, Grammar, p. 1171) .
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
Sought after [] . Imperfect tense : were seeking.
Came unto him [ ] . Stronger than came to; for ewv is even up to, showing that they did not discontinue their search until they found him. Mark’s narrative here is fuller and more graphic. ===Luk5
CHAPTER V
1 – 11. Compare Mt 4:18 – 22; Mr 1:16 – 20.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
1) “And when it was day,” (genomenes de hemeras) “Then when day came,” the following day, when it was light enough for people to see the movement of Jesus.
2) “He departed and went into a desert place:” (ekselthon eporeuthe eis eremon topon) “He went out and away into a desert or little inhabited place,” as He often withdrew in solitude, from the secularized and carnal pursuing masses, to pray, Mar 1:35.
3) “And the people sought him,” (kai hoi ochloi epeizetoun auton) “And the crowds sought (for) him,” through appeals to Simon and other disciples intimately associated with Jesus.
4) “And came unto him,” (kai elthon heos autou) “And they came of their own accord up to him,” in the uninhabited location where He had withdrawn for the night.
5) “And stayed him,” (kai kateichon auton) “And they detained him,” delayed Him for a time, by appeals to Simon Peter and other of His disciples, Mar 1:36-37.
6) “That he should not depart from them.” (tou me poreuesthai ap’auton) “So that he should not go away from them,” with some of their sick yet unhealed, Mat 8:18. Contrast this attitude with that of Nazareth, Luk 4:29.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
(42-44) And when it was . . .Again we have a narrative omitted by St. Matthew, but common to St. Luke and St. Mark. See Notes on Mar. 1:35-39.
The people sought him.The Greek tense implies continued seeking.
And stayed him.Better, tried to stay Him. Their wish was that He should remain at Capernaum, heal their sick, teach them, and perhaps also that they and their fellow-townsmen might thus share in the fame of the new Prophet.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
‘And when it was day, he came out and went into a desert place, and the multitudes sought after him, and came to him, and would have stopped him, that he should not go from them.’
The result of all this was increasing popularity. So desiring privacy in order to speak with His Father He went aside into a desert place to pray, but even there the people sought Him out and tried to persuade Him to stay with them. Jesus was constantly being interrupted at prayer simply because people, including His own disciples, were constantly seeking Him.
It is interesting that Jesus is never depicted as praying together with His disciples, although He does teach them how to pray. Nor does He encourage them to pray with Him. In John 17 He is praying for them. He always goes alone to pray. This again confirms His uniqueness. None could share in His prayers. But all were to pray.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
The withdrawal of Jesus:
v. 42. And when it was day, He departed and went into a desert place; and the people sought Him, and came unto Him, and stayed Him that He should not depart from them.
v. 43. And He said unto them, I must preach the kingdom of God to other cities also; for therefore am I sent.
v. 44. And He preached in the synagogues of Galilee. The very next morning, at break of day, Jesus left Capernaum. He followed the method He employed at other times also: He went out into the solitude to be all alone in prayer and communion with His heavenly Father. It would be of advantage to most Christians if they would occasionally withdraw from the bustle of modern business and spend some time after the example of Christ. We are too liable to lose our balance and the sense of proportion according to Biblical standards if there is only the ceaseless hurry of work, alternating with rounds of pleasure. Sunday should be the day for quiet communion with God, not spent in contempt of God’s Word and in loud and boisterous picnics, but in prayerful contemplation of our need of God. But the absence of Jesus was soon noticed, and a large multitude of people, with Peter in the lead, went out to search for Him and bring Him back. But He would not be persuaded by them. He knew that it was not the Word of Life for which they were eager, but the miracles which they hoped to see. And so He explained to them the principal purpose of His ministry. The obligation rests upon Him to bring the Gospel news of the kingdom of God to other cities also. This work He has taken upon Himself; in this work He wants to show all faithfulness. And so He departed on a preaching tour of Galilee, Himself proclaiming the Gospel-message in His sermons in the synagogues of Galilee.
Summary. Jesus, in the wilderness, is tempted of the devil, begins His Galilean ministry, teaches in Nazareth, where the people try to kill Him, and at Capernaum heals a demoniac and other sick people.
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
Luk 4:42-44 . See on Mar 1:35-39 , who is more precise and more vivid.
The bringing of so many sick folks to Him, Luk 4:40 , is to be explained, not by this hasty departure, the appointment of which had been known (Schleiermacher), but, in accordance with the text (Luk 4:37 ), by the fame which the public healing of the demoniac in the synagogue had brought Him.
] not simply: to Him , but: even up to Him , they came in their search, which therefore they did not discontinue until they found Him. Comp. 1Ma 3:26 ; Act 9:38 ; Act 23:23 .
] namely, to announce not only here, but everywhere throughout the land, the kingdom of God.
] It is otherwise in Mar 1:36 , whose expression is original, but had already acquired in the tradition that Luke here follows a doctrinal development with a higher meaning.
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
42 44. ] JESUS, BEING SOUGHT OUT IN HIS RETIREMENT, PREACHES THROUGHOUT JUDA. Mar 1:35-39 . The dissimilitude in wording of these two accounts is one of the most striking instances in the Gospels, of variety found in the same narration. While the matter related (with one remarkable exception, see below) is nearly identical, the only words common to the two are .
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
42. ] = . , Mark.
The great number of sick which were brought to the Lord on the evening before, and this morning, is accounted for by Schleierm. from His departure having been fixed on and known beforehand: but it is perhaps more simple to view it, with Me [39] ., as the natural result of the effect of the healing of the dmomac in the synagogue, on the popular mind.
[39] Meyer.
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Luk 4:42-44 . Withdrawal from Capernaum (Mar 1:35-39 ). , when it was day, i.e. , when people were up and could see Jesus’ movements, and accordingly followed Him. In Mk. Jesus departed very early before dawn, when all would be in bed; a kind of flight . : in Mk. Simon and those with him, other disciples. But of disciples Lk. as yet knows nothing. , to the place where He was. From the direction in which they had seen Him depart they had no difficulty in finding Him. , they held Him back, from doing what He seemed inclined to do, i.e. , from leaving them, with some of their sick still unhealed.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Luk 4:42-43
42When day came, Jesus left and went to a secluded place; and the crowds were searching for Him, and came to Him and tried to keep Him from going away from them. 43But He said to them, “I must preach the kingdom of God to the other cities also, for I was sent for this purpose.”
Luk 4:42 This verse is one of Luke’s ways of showing
1. the humanity of Jesus and His need to get away and relax
2. the crowds seeking Jesus, not for His teachings, but for His physical healings and exorcisms. He did not want to be known for these things, but they did give Him access to large numbers of people.
Luk 4:43 “the kingdom of God” The Kingdom of God is a central concept of Jesus’ preaching. It involves the reign of God in human hearts now which will one day be consummated over all the earth. The kingdom is placed in the past in Luk 13:28, in the present in Luk 17:21, and in the future in Mat 6:10-11. See SPECIAL TOPIC: THE KINGDOM OF GOD at Luk 4:21.
“I was sent for this purpose” Jesus knew something of His special calling and purpose by age twelve (cf. Luk 2:49). Mar 10:45 reveals Jesus’ mature self-understanding. Jesus is the Father’s special agent, His sent One, His anointed One (cf. Joh 17:3). The verb here is apostell (cf. Luk 4:18), which came to be used of those special disciples Jesus commissioned and sent (Apostles of Joh 17:18; Joh 20:21). This term takes on special meaning in John’s Gospel, but in the Synoptic Gospel it is just one of several Greek words used for sending.
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
And when, &c. Figure of speech Polysyndeton in verses: Luk 4:42-44. Compare Mar 1:35-39.
sought Him. All the texts read “were” seeking after Him “
unto = up to. Greek. heos.
stayed Him = held Him fast. Greek. katecho. See note on 2Th 2:6.
not. Greek. me. App-105.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
42-44.] JESUS, BEING SOUGHT OUT IN HIS RETIREMENT, PREACHES THROUGHOUT JUDA. Mar 1:35-39. The dissimilitude in wording of these two accounts is one of the most striking instances in the Gospels, of variety found in the same narration. While the matter related (with one remarkable exception, see below) is nearly identical, the only words common to the two are .
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Luk 4:42. , even to, [as far as to]) They did not give over seeking before that they found Him.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
when: Luk 6:12, Mar 1:35, Joh 4:34
and the: Mat 14:13, Mat 14:14, Mar 1:37, Mar 1:45, Mar 6:33, Mar 6:34, Joh 6:24
and stayed: Luk 8:37, Luk 8:38, Luk 24:29, Joh 4:40
Reciprocal: Mat 8:18 – saw
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
2
Wherever Jesus went the crowds followed. Stayed him means they detained him; not by force to be sure, but by earnest requests.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Luk 4:42-44. RETIREMENT AND SUBSEQUENT PREACHING. Mark (Mar 1:35-39) is much fuller. The difference in the words of the two accounts is remarkable.
Bring the good tidings. Lit., evangelize. The word does not occur in Matthew and Mark.
For therefore was I sent (Luk 4:43). For to this end came I forth (Mark). The two independent accounts suggest the harmony of will between the Father and the Son in the coming work of Redemption.
He preached (was preaching, continued to preach) a different word from that in Luk 4:43, meaning to proclaim as a herald does.
In the synagogues of Judea (Luk 4:44). This is the more probable reading. If the common reading be accepted, we can identify this journey with that spoken of in Mar 1:39. Luke probably gives here a general sketch of our Lords first circuit in Galilee, and includes also the journey to Jerusalem, mentioned in John 5, which took place not very long afterwards (or before, according to some). It is characteristic of Luke to sum up or anticipate this. But as none of the first three evangelists ever allude to these earlier journeys to Jerusalem, and such an allusion here seemed strange, the transcribers soon changed Judea into Galilee, which is found in many ancient authorities. The latter reading is, however, retained by many editors.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Observe here, 1. The great work and business of our Saviour’s life; to preach the gospel. I must preach the kingom of God for therefore came I forth. Preaching was Christ’s great work, it is undoubtedly his ministers’. Christ omitted some opportunities of working miracles, that he might preach to other cities: this was his great work.
Observe, 2. It being Christ’s great design to plant and propagate the gospel, he would not confine his ministry to one particular place, not to the great city of Capernaum, but resolves to preach the word in smaller towns and vilages; leaving his ministers herein an instructive example, to be as willing to preach the gospel in the smallest villages, as in the largest and most populous cities, if God calls us there. Let the place be never so obscure and mean, and the congregation never so small and little, if God sends us thither, the greatest of us must not think it beneath us to go and instruct an handful of people.
Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament
5 th. Luk 4:42-44.
The more a servant of God exerts himself in outward activity, the more need there is that he should renew his inward strength by meditation. Jesus also was subject to this law. Every morning He had to obtain afresh whatever was needed for the day; for He lived by the Father (Joh 6:57). He went out before day from Peter’s house, where no doubt He was staying. Instead of, And when it was day, Mark says, While it was still very dark ( ). Instead of, the multitude sought Him, Mark says, Simon and they that were with him followed after Him…, and said unto Him, All men seek Thee. Instead of, I must preach, Mark makes Jesus say, Let us go, that I may preach…, etc. These shades of difference are easily explained, if the substance of these narratives was furnished by oral tradition; but they become childish if they are drawn from the same written source. Holtzmann thinks that Luke generalizes and obscures the narrative of the primitive Mark. The third evangelist would have laboured very uselessly to do that! Bleek succeeds no better in explaining Mark by Luke, than Holtzmann Luke by Mark. If Mark listened to the narrations of Peter, it is intelligible that he should have added to the traditional narrative the few striking features which are peculiar to him, and particularly that which refers to the part taken by Simon on that day. As we read Mar 1:36-37, we fancy we hear Peter telling the story himself, and saying: And we found Him, and said to Him, All men seek Thee. These special features, omitted in the general tradition, are wanting in Luke.
The words of Jesus, Luk 4:43, might be explained by a tacit opposition between the ideas of preaching and healing. If I stayed at Capernaum, I should soon have nothing else to do but work cures, whilst I am sent that I may preach also. But in this case the verb should commence the phrase. On the contrary, the emphasis is on the words, to other cities…Jesus opposes to the idea of a stationary ministry at Capernaum, that of itinerant preaching. The term , to tell news, is very appropriate to express this idea. The message ceases to be news when the preacher remains in the same place. But in this expression of Jesus there is, besides, a contrast between Capernaum, the large city, to which Jesus in no way desires to confine His care, and the smaller towns of the vicinity, designated in Mark by the characteristic term , which are equally entrusted to His love.
It is difficult to decide between the two readings, , I have been sent in order to…, and , my mission is to…The second perhaps agrees better with the context. A very similar various reading is found in the parallel passage, Mar 1:38 ( or ). Mark’s term appears to allude to the incarnation; Luke’s only refers to the mission of Jesus.
The readings and , Luk 4:44, recur in Mar 1:39. The former appears less regular, which makes it more probable: Jesus carried the preaching into the synagogues.
The absurd reading , which is found in the six principal Alex., should be a caution to blind partisans of this text.
Fuente: Godet Commentary (Luke, John, Romans and 1 Corinthians)
XXXIII.
JESUS MAKES A PREACHING TOUR
THROUGH GALILEE.
aMATT. IV. 23-25; bMARK I. 35-39; cLUKE IV. 42-44.
b35 And in the morning, a great while before day, he rose up went out [i. e., from the house of Simon Peter], and departed into a desert place, and there prayed. [Though Palestine was densely populated, its people were all gathered into towns, so that it was usually easy to find solitude outside the city limits. A ravine near Capernaum, called the Vale of Doves, would afford such solitude. Jesus taught ( Mat 6:6) and practiced solitary prayer. We can commune with God better when alone than when in the company of even our dearest friends. It is a mistaken notion that one can pray equally well at all times and in all places. Jesus being in all things like men, except that he was sinless ( Heb 2:17), must have found prayer a real necessity. He prayed as a human being. Several reasons for this season of prayer are suggested, from which we select two: 1. It was a safeguard against the temptation to vainglory induced by the unbounded admiration and praise of the multitude whom he had just healed. 2. It was a fitting preparation on the eve of his departure on his first missionary tour.] c42 And when it was day, he came out and went into a desert place. [Mark has in mind the season when Jesus sought the Father in prayer, and so he tells us it was “a great while before day.” Luke has in mind the hour when Jesus faced and spoke to the multitude, so he says, “When it was day.”] b36 And Simon. [As head of the house which Jesus had just left, Simon naturally acted as leader and guide to the party which sought Jesus] and they that were with him [they who were stopping in Simon’s house; viz.: Andrew, James, and John] followed after him [172] [literally, “pursued after him.” Xenophon uses this word to signify the close pursuit of an enemy in war. Simon had no hesitancy in obtruding on the retirement of the Master. This rushing after Jesus in hot haste accorded with his impulsive nature. The excited interest of the people seemed to the disciples of Jesus to offer golden opportunities, and they could not comprehend his apparent indifference to it]; 37 and they found him, and say unto him, All are seeking thee. [The disciples saw a multitude seeking Jesus for various causes: some to hear, some for excitement, some for curiosity. To satisfy the people seemed to them to be Christ’s first duty. Jesus understood his work better than they. He never encouraged those who sought through mere curiosity or admiration ( Joh 6:27). Capernaum accepted the benefit of his miracles, but rejected his call to repentance– Mat 11:23.] 38 And he saith unto them, Let us go elsewhere into the next towns [the other villages of Galilee], that I may preach there also; for to this end came I forth. [I. e., I came forth from the Father ( Joh 16:28) to make and preach a gospel. His disciples failed to understand his mission. Afterwards preaching was with the apostles the all-important duty– Act 6:2, 1Co 1:17.] cand the multitudes sought him after him, and came unto him, and would have stayed him, that he should not go from them. [They would have selfishly kept his blessed ministries for their own exclusive enjoyment.] 43 But he said unto them, I must preach the good tidings of the kingdom of God to the other cities also: for therefore was I sent. [Jesus sought to arouse the entire nation. That which the disciples regarded as a large work in Capernaum was consequently in his sight a very small one. Those who understand that it is God’s will and wish to save every man that lives upon the earth will not be overelated by a successful revival in some small corner of the great field of labor.] b39 And he aJesus went about in all Gailiee [The extreme length of Galilee was about sixty-three miles, and its extreme width about thirty-three miles. Its average [173] dimensions were about fifty by twenty-five miles. It contained, according to Josephus, two hundred and forty towns and villages. Its population at that time is estimated at about three millions. Lewin calculates that this circuit of Galilee must have occupied four or five months. The verses of this paragraph are, therefore, a summary of the work and influence of Jesus during the earlier part of his ministry. They are a general statement, the details of which are given in the subsequent chapters of the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke–the Gospel of John dealing more particularly with the work in Juda], binto their synagogues throughout all Galilee, ateaching in their synagogues [The word “synagogue” is compounded of the two Greek words “sun,” together, and “ago,” to collect. It is, therefore, equivalent to our English word “meeting-house.” Tradition and the Targums say that these Jewish houses of worship existed from the earliest times. In proof of this assertion Deu 31:11, Psa 74:8 are cited. But the citations are insufficient, that in Deuteronomy not being in point, and the seventy-fourth Psalm being probably written after the Babylonian captivity. It better accords with history to believe that the synagogue originated during the Babylonian captivity, and was brought into the motherland by the returning exiles. Certain it is that the synagogue only came into historic prominence after the books of the Old Testament were written. At the time of our Saviour’s ministry synagogues were scattered all over Palestine, and also over all quarters of the earth whither the Jews had been dispersed. Synagogues were found in very small villages, for wherever ten “men of leisure,” willing and able to devote themselves to the service of the synagogue, were found, a synagogue might be erected. In the synagogues the people met together on the Sabbaths to pray, and to listen to the reading of the portions of the Old Testament, and also to hear such instruction or exhortation as might be furnished. With the permission of the president of the synagogue any one who was fitted might deliver an address. Thus the synagogues furnished Jesus (and in later times his disciples also) with a congregation [174] and a suitable place for preaching. We find that on week days Jesus often preached in the open air. But the synagogues are thus particularly mentioned, probably, because in them were held the most important services, because they were necessary during the rainy and cold season, and because their use shows that as yet the Jewish rulers had not so prejudiced the public mind as to exclude Jesus from the houses of worship], and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, band casting out demons [Mark singles out this kind of miracle as most striking and wonderful], aand healing all manner of disease and all manner of sickness among the people. 24 And the report of him went forth into all Syria [caravans passing through Galilee back and forth between the Mediterranean seaports on the west and the Persian cities on the east, and between Damascus on the north and Egypt on the south, would carry the reports concerning Jesus far and wide]: and they brought unto him all that were sick, holden with divers diseases and torments, possessed with demons, and epileptic, and palsied; and he healed them. [Thus, by his actions, Jesus showed that the kingdom of God had come. The wonders of Moses were mostly miracles of judgment, those of Jesus were acts of compassion. The diseases here enumerated are still among the most difficult for physicians to handle. The term “palsy” included all forms of paralysis, catalepsy, and cramps.] 25 And there followed him great multitudes [these popular demonstration, no doubt, intensified the erroneous notion of his disciples that the kingdom of Jesus was to be one of worldly grandeur] from Galilee and Decapolis [Decapolis is formed from the two Greek words “deka,” ten, and “polis,” city. As a geographical term, Decapolis refers to that part of Syria lying east, southeast, and south of the Lake of Galilee. There is some doubt as to which were the ten cities named, for there seem at times to have been fourteen of them. Those commonly reckoned are 1. Damascus. 2. Philadelphia. 3. Raphana. 4. Sycthopolis. 5. Gadara. 6. Hyppos. 7. Dion. 8. Pella. 9. Galas. 10. Kanatha. The [175] other four are Abila and Kanata (distinct from Kanatha), Csarea Philippi, and Gergesa. None of these were in Galilee save Sycthopolis. According to Ritter, these cities were colonized principally by veterans from the army of Alexander the Great. A reminiscence of their Macedonian origin is found in the fact that there was a city named Pella in Macedonia. These cities are said to have been formed into a confederacy by Pompey the Great. In the time of Jesus they were chiefly inhabited by Greeks or heathens, and not by Jews. Josephus expressly calls Gadara and Hyppos Greek cities] and Jerusalem and Juda and from beyond the Jordan. [The land beyond Jordan was called Pera, which means “beyond.” According to Josephus, it included territory between the cities of Pella on the north and Machrus on the south. That is to say, its northern boundary began on the Jordan opposite the southern line of Galilee, and its southern boundary was at Moab, about the middle of the east shore of the Dead Sea.] c44 And he was preaching in the synagogues of Galilee.
[FFG 172-176]
Fuente: McGarvey and Pendleton Commentaries (New Testament)
EVANGELISM OF JESUS
Mar 1:35-39; Luk 4:42-44. From Capernaum, His headquarters, He now radiates out through the surrounding country, accompanied by His disciples, Peter, Andrew, James, and John, going everywhere preaching the Living Word. And He was preaching in their synagogues throughout all Galilee, and casting out demons. We find the constant work of Jesus, in all His ministry, consisted in demoniacal ejectment in the interest of the soul, and physical healing in the interest of the body, thus gloriously fulfilling His mission as the Redeemer of mankind. Lord, help us to be true to our calling, and walk in Thy footprints! In that case we will labor incessantly in the work of both soul and body. Man is a dependency, and consequently always actuated by spiritual influence, either demoniacal or Divine. As Satan is the great deceiver, it becomes his climacteric stratagem so to delude his votaries as not only to render them unconscious of demoniacal possession, but even plunge them so deeply into infidelity that they do not believe in diabolical existence. Humanity is uniform in all ages. We see, everywhere, bodily ailments prevalent, and readily admit the need of the Healer. With the needed spiritual illumination, we would equally obviously recognize demoniacal possession on all sides, and the imperative need of the Omnipotent Ejector. The idea generally prevails that these demoniacal possessions were only peculiar to the time and place of our Savior’s ministry. This is a mistake. They are everywhere, and will continue till Satan is cast out. Whereas the E.V. calls them devils, you will observe the R.V., in harmony with the original, calls them demons, devil being the appropriate cognomen of Satan, and a translation of the Greek diabolus; whereas, in all of these cases, where the E.V. speaks of casting out devils, diabolus does not occur in the original, but daimonion, demon. These demons are the innumerable host of evil spirits which now throng this world, all seeking a home in some human beast. Some have many of these demons, like the Gadarene; others, fewer. But all who are not dominated by the Holy Spirit, are more or less demonized.
Mat 4:23-25. And Jesus was going round all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every disease and every malady among the people. The old prophets all vividly predicted the coming kingdom; John the Baptist, with stentorian voice, proclaimed its ingress; while Jesus, following him, preached the kingdom as a present reality, exhorting the people to fly thither, thus finding refuge from death and hell. During the gospel dispensation, the kingdom of God on earth is encompassed on all sides with Satanic antagonism, only becoming the asylum of the faithful few, who live in constant anticipation of the return of our glorious King, when He will cast out the enemy and conquer the world.
And His fame went abroad into all Syria. Whereas Galilee, which is bounded on the south by Samaria, west by the great sea, east by the Jordan, and north by Syria, was the center of our Savior’s evangelistic peregrinations, and the scene of most of His mighty works.
And they brought to Him all those who were afflicted, being possessed with various diseases and troubles; i.e., from all parts of the surrounding country, they are now bringing the people who are afflicted with every diversity of diseases and physical ailments, and He is healing them, to the infinite joy of the poor sufferers and their friends and the ineffable glory of His ministry. And the demonized; i.e., the people who needed spiritual help, because they were possessed with demons, which must be cast out or they will drag them into hell. And the lunatics. In that day they had no lunatic asylums for the benefit of the people thus unfortunately afflicted with mental derangement, but their friends had to take care of them the best they could, or let them run at large, the terror and annoyance of the community. Doubtless many of these lunatics were epileptical. And the paralyzed; and He healed them all. Nervous paralysis, which is very common at the present day, as a rule, is incurable by medical skill. Here we see the Great Healer finds no stubborn cases fevers retreat away, paralytics leap and run to tell the glorious news, lunatics and epileptics are healed in a moment by His word, while all demons, evacuating their victims, retreat before Him.
Many multitudes followed Him from Galilee. The whole country, from the Jordan to the sea, from Samaria to Syria, stirred as by a sweeping avalanche, rises up and follows this wonderful Nazarene. And Decapolis. This proper name is from deka, ten, and polis, city, and means the ten cities, with the country they represent, lying east of the Jordan and southeast of the sea of Galilee, and inhabited by Gentiles. And Jerusalem, and Judea, and beyond the Jordan. Almost one year of our Lord’s ministry has passed away. His fame has not only spread throughout all the land of Israel, but has swept over the surrounding Gentile countries like a tornado, bringing multitudes from the ends of the earth to satisfy their curiosity, and see whether the paradoxical reports they have heard are true.
Fuente: William Godbey’s Commentary on the New Testament
4:42 {9} And when it was day, he departed and went into a desert place: and the people sought him, and came unto him, and stayed him, that he should not depart from them.
(9) No zealous response on the part of the people ought to hinder us in the race that God has appointed unto us.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
Jesus’ first preaching tour of Galilee 4:42-44 (cf. Mark 1:35-39)
Again Luke stressed the wide ministry that Jesus purposely carried on. This pericope records what happened the morning following the previous incident (cf. Luk 4:40). The people of Nazareth had wanted Jesus to leave, but the people of Capernaum begged Him to stay. Jesus wanted to reach as many people as possible with His message. "Judea" (Luk 4:44) evidently refers to the whole Roman province that included Galilee, not just to southern Palestine. The words "must," "kingdom of God," and "sent" are all unique to Luke’s narrative here. Luke’s concept of the kingdom of God is the same as that of the other Gospel writers, namely, the rule of God on earth through David’s descendant, Messiah.
"Along with ’preach,’ these words constitute a programmatic statement of Jesus’ mission and also of Luke’s understanding of it." [Note: Leifeld, p. 874.]
This section (Luk 4:31-44) contains representative incidents from Jesus’ Galilean ministry that illustrate what He did and the reactions of people to Him (cf. Act 10:38). Note that Jesus’ teaching ministry was primary and His healings were secondary. His miracles served to authenticate His message. This was true of the apostles’ preaching and miracles in Acts too.
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
Chapter 15
THE KINGDOM OF GOD.
IN considering the words of Jesus, if we may not be able to measure their depth or to scale their height, we can with absolute certainty discover their drift, and see in what direction they move, and we shall find that their orbit is an ellipse. Moving around the two centers, sin and salvation, they describe what is not a geometric figure, but a glorious reality, “the kingdom of God.” It is not unlikely that the expression was one of the current phrases of the times, a golden casket, holding within it the dream of a restored Hebraism; for we find, without any collusion or rehearsal of parts, the Baptist making use of the identical words in his inaugural address, while it is certain the disciples themselves so misunderstood the thought of their Master as to refer His “kingdom” to that narrow realm of Hebrew sympathies and hopes. Nor did they see their error until, in the light of Pentecostal flames, their own dream disappeared and the new kingdom, opening out like a receding sky, embraced a world within its folds. That Jesus adopted the phrase, liable to misconstruction as it was, and that He used it so repeatedly, making it the center of so many parables and discourses, shows how completely the kingdom of God possessed both His mind and heart. Indeed, so accustomed were His thoughts and words to flow in this direction that even the Valley of Death, “lying darkly between” His two lives, could not alter their course, or turn His thoughts out of their familiar channel; and as we find the Christ back of the cross and tomb, amid the resurrection glories, we hear Him speaking still of “the things pertaining to the kingdom of God.”
It will be observed that Jesus uses the two expressions “the kingdom of God” and “the kingdom of heaven” interchangeably. But in what sense is it the “kingdom of heaven?” Does it mean that the celestial realm will so far extend its bounds as to embrace our outlying and low-lying world? Not exactly, for the conditions of the two realms are so diverse. The one is the perfected, the visible kingdom, where the throne is set, and the King Himself is manifest, its citizens, angels, heavenly intelligences, and saints now freed from the cumbering clay of mortality, and forever safe from the solicitations of evil. This New Jerusalem does not come down to earth, except in the vision of the seer, as it were in a shadow. And yet the two kingdoms are in close correspondence, after all; for what is the kingdom of God in heaven but His eternal rule over the spirits of the redeemed and of the unredeemed? What are the harmonies of heaven but the harmonies of surrendered wills, as, without any hesitation or discord, they strike in with the Divine Will in absolute precision? To this extent, then, at least, heaven may project itself upon earth; the spirits of men not yet made perfect may be in subjection to the Supreme Spirit; the separate wills of a redeemed humanity, striking in with the Divine Will, may swell the heavenly harmonies with their earthly music.
And so Jesus speaks of this kingdom as being “within you.” As if He said, “You are looking in the wrong direction. You expect the kingdom of God to be set up around you, with its visible symbols of flags and coins, on which is the image of some new Caesar. You are mistaken. The kingdom, like its King, is unseen; it seeks, not countries, but consciences; its realm is in the heart, in the great interior of the soul.” And is not this the reason why it is called, with such emphatic repetition, “the kingdom,” as if it were, if not the only, at any rate the highest kingdom of God on earth? We speak of a kingdom of Nature, and who will know its secrets as He who was both Natures child and Natures Lord? And how far-reaching a realm is that! From the motes that swim in the air to the most distant stars, which themselves are but the gateway to the unseen Beyond! What forces are here, forces of chemical affinities and repulsions, of gravitation and of life! What successions and transformations can Nature show! What infinite varieties of substance, form, and color! What a realm of harmony and peace, with no irruptions of discordant elements! Surely one would think, if God has a kingdom upon earth, this kingdom of Nature is it. But no; Jesus does not often refer to that, except as He makes Nature speak in His parables, or as He uses the sparrows, the grass, and the lilies as so many lenses through which our weak human vision may see God. The kingdom of God on earth is as much higher than the kingdom of Nature as spirit is above matter, as love is more and greater than power.
We said just now how completely the thought of “the kingdom” possessed the mind and heart of Jesus. We might go one step farther, and say how completely Jesus identified Himself with that kingdom. He puts Himself in its pivotal center, with all possible naturalness, and with an ease that assumption cannot feign He gathers up its royalties and draws them around His own Person. He speaks of it as “My kingdom”; and this, not alone in familiar discourse with His disciples, but when face to face with the representative of earths greatest power. Nor is the personal pronoun some chance word, used in a far-off, accommodated sense; it is the crucial word of the sentence, underscored and emphasized by a threefold repetition; it is the word He will not strike out, nor recall, even to save Himself from the Cross. He never speaks of the kingdom but even His enemies acknowledge the “authority” that rings in His tones, the authority of conscious power, as well as of perfect knowledge. When His ministry is drawing to a close He says to Peter, “I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven”; which language may be understood as the official designation of the Apostle Peter to a position of pre-eminence in the Church, as its first leader. But whatever it may mean, it shows that the keys of the kingdom are His; He can bestow them on whom He will. The kingdom of heaven is not a realm in which authority and honors move upwards from below, the blossoming of “the peoples will”; it is an absolute monarchy, an autocracy, and Jesus Himself is here King supreme, His will swaying the lesser wills of men, and rearranging their positions, as the angel had foretold: “He shall reign over the house of David for ever, and of His kingdom there shall be no end.” Given Him of the Father it is, {Luk 22:29, Luk 1:32} but the kingdom is His, not either as a metaphor, but really, absolutely, inalienably; nor is there admittance within that kingdom but by Him who is the Way, as He is the Life. We enter into the kingdom, or the kingdom enters into us, as we find, and then crown the King, as we sanctify in our hearts Christ as 1Pe 3:15.
This brings us to the question of citizenship, the conditions and demands of the kingdom; and here we see how far this new dynasty is removed from the kingdoms of this world. They deal with mankind in groups; they look at birth, not character; and their bounds are well defined by rivers, mountains, seas, or by accurately surveyed lines. The kingdom of heaven, on the other hand, dispenses with all space-limits, all physical configurations, and regards mankind as one group, a unity, a lapsed but a redeemed world. But while opening its gates and offering its privileges to all alike, irrespective of class or circumstance, it is most eclective in its requirements, and most rigid in the application of its test, its one test of character. Indeed, the laws of the heavenly kingdom are a complete reversal of the lines of worldly policy. Take, for instance, the two estimates of wealth, and see how different the position it occupies in the two societies. The world makes wealth its summum bonum; or if not exactly in itself the highest good, in commercial values it is equivalent to the highest good, which is position. Gold is all-powerful, the goal of mans vain ambitions, the panacea of earthly ill. Men chase it in hot, feverish haste, trampling upon each other in the mad scramble, and worshipping it in a blind idolatry. But where is wealth in the new kingdom? The worlds first becomes the last. It has no purchasing-power here; its golden key cannot open the least of these heavenly gates. Jesus sets it back, far back, in His estimate of the good. He speaks of it as if it were an encumbrance, a dead weight, that must be lifted, and that handicaps the heavenly athlete. “How hardly,” said Jesus, when the rich ruler turned away “very sorrowful,” “shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of God”; {Luk 18:24} and then, by way of illustration, He shows us the picture of the camel passing through the so-called “needles eye” of an Eastern door. He does not say that such a thing is impossible, for the camel could pass through the “needles eye,” but it must first kneel down and be stripped of all its baggage, before it can pass the narrow door, within the larger, but now closed gate. Wealth may have its uses, and noble uses too, within the kingdom-for it is somewhat remarkable how the faith of the two rich disciples shone out the brightest, when the faith of the rest suffered a temporary eclipse from the passing cross-but he who possesses it must be as if he possessed it not. He must not regard it as his own, but as talents given him in trust by his Lord, their image and superscription being that of the Invisible King.
Again, Jesus sets down vacillation, hesitancy, as a disqualification for citizenship in His kingdom. At the close of His Galilean ministry our Evangelist introduces us to a group of embryo disciples. The first of the three says, “Lord, I will follow Thee whithersoever Thou goest”. {Luk 9:57} Bold words they were, and doubtless well meant, but it was the language of a passing impulse, rather than of a settled conviction; it was the coruscation of a glowing, ardent temperament. He had not counted the cost. The large word “whithersoever” might, indeed, easily be spoken, but it held within it a Gethsemane and a Calvary, paths of sorrow, shame, and death he was not prepared to face. And so Jesus neither welcomed nor dismissed him, but opening out one part of his “whithersoever,” He gave it back to him in the words, “The foxes have holes, and the birds of the heaven have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay His head.” The second responds to the “Follow Me” of Christ with the request that he might be allowed first to go and bury his father. It was a most natural request, but participation in these funeral rites would entail a. ceremonial uncleanness of seven days, by which time Jesus would be far away. Besides, Jesus must teach him, and the ages after him, that His claims were paramount; that when He commands obedience must be instant and absolute, with no interventions, no postponement. Jesus replies to him in that enigmatical way of His, “Leave the dead to bury their own dead: but go thou and publish abroad the kingdom of God”; indicating that this supreme crisis of his life is virtually a passing from death to life, a “resurrection from earth to things above.” The last in this group of three volunteers his pledge, “I will follow Thee, Lord; but first suffer me to bid farewell to them that are at my house”; {Luk 9:61} but to him Jesus replies, mournfully and sorrowfully, “No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God”. {Luk 9:62} Why does Jesus treat these two candidates so differently? They both say, “I will follow Thee,” the one in word, the other by implication; they both request a little time for what they regard a filial duty; why, then, be treated so differently, the one thrust forward to a still higher service, commissioned to preach the kingdom, and afterwards, if we may accept the tradition that he was Philip the Evangelist, passing up into the diaconate; the other, unwelcomed and uncommissioned, but disapproved as “not fit for the kingdom?” Why there should be this wide divergence between the two lives we cannot see, either from their manner or their words. It must have been a difference in the moral attitude of the two men, and which He who heard thoughts and read motives detected at once. In the case of the former there was the fixed, determined resolve, which the bier of the dead father might hold back a little, but which it could not break or bend. But Jesus saw in the other a double-minded soul, whose feet and heart moved in diverse, opposite ways, who gave, not his whole, but a very partial, self to his work; and this halting, wavering one He dismissed with the words of forecasted doom, “Not fit for the kingdom of God.”
It is a hard saying, with a seeming severity about it; but is it not a truth universal and eternal? Are any kingdoms, either of knowledge or power, won and held by the irresolute and wavering? Like the stricken men of Sodom, they weary themselves to find the door of the kingdom; or if they do see the Beautiful Gates of a better life, they sit with the lame man, outside, or they linger on the steps, hearing the music indeed, but hearing it from afar. It is a truth of both dispensations, written in all the books; the Reubens who are “unstable as water” can never excel; the elder born, in the accident of years, they may be, but the birthright passes by them, to be inherited and enjoyed by others.
But if the gates of the kingdom are irrevocably closed against the halfhearted, the self-indulgent, and the proud, there is a sesame to which they open gladly. “Blessed are ye poor,” so reads the first and great Beatitude: “for yours is the kingdom of God”; {Luk 6:20} and beginning with this present realization, Jesus goes on to speak of the strange contrasts and inversions the perfected kingdom will show, when the weepers will laugh, the hungry be full, and those who are despised and persecuted will rejoice in their exceeding great reward. But who are the “poor” to whom the gates of the kingdom are open so soon and so wide? At first sight it would appear as if we must give a literal interpretation to the word, reading it in a worldly, temporal sense; but this is not necessary. Jesus was now directly addressing His disciples, {Luk 6:20} though, doubtless, His words were intended to pass beyond them, to those ever-enlarging circles of humanity who in the after-years should press forward to hear Him. But evidently the disciples were in no weeping mood today; they would be elated and joyful over the recent miracles. Neither should we call them “poor,” in the worldly sense of that word, for most of them had been called from honorable positions in society, while some had even “hired servants” to wait upon them and assist them. Indeed, it was not the wont of Jesus to recognize the class distinctions Society was so fond of drawing and defining. He appraised men, not by their means, but by the manhood which was in them; and when He found a nobility of soul-whether in the higher or the lower walks of life it made no difference who stepped forward to recognize and to salute it. We must therefore give to these words of Jesus, as to so many others, the deeper meaning, making the “blessed” of this Beatitude, who are now welcomed to the opened gate of the kingdom, the “poor in spirit,” as, indeed, St. Matthew writes it.
What this spirit-poverty is, Jesus Himself explains, in a brief but wonderfully realistic parable. He draws for us the picture of two men at their Temple devotions. The one, a Pharisee, stands erect, with head uplifted, as if it were quite on a level with the heaven he was addressing, and with supercilious pride he counts his beads of rounded egotisms. He calls it a worship of God, when it is but a worship of self. He inflates the great “I,” and then plays upon it, making it strike sharp and loud, like the tom-tom of a heathen fetish. Such is the man who fancies that he is rich toward God, that he has need of nothing, not even of mercy, when all the time he is utterly blind and miserably poor. The other is a publican, and so presumably rich. But how different his posture! With heart broken and contrite, self with him is a nothing, a zero; nay, in his lowly estimate it had become a minus quantity, less than nothing, deserving only rebuke and chastisement. Disclaiming any good, either inherent or acquired, he puts the deep need and hunger of his soul into one broken cry, “God be merciful to me a sinner”. {Luk 18:13} Such are the two characters Jesus portrays as standing by the gate of the kingdom, the one proud in spirit, the other “poor in spirit”; the one throwing upon the heavens the shadow of his magnified self, the other shrinking up into the pauper, the nothing that he was. But Jesus tells us that he was “justified,” accepted, rather than the other. With nought he could call his own, save his deep need and his great sin, he finds an opened gate and a welcome within the kingdom; while the proud spirit is sent empty away, or carrying back only the tithed mint and anise, and all the vain oblations Heaven could not accept.
“Blessed” indeed are such “poor”; for He giveth grace unto the lowly, while the proud He knoweth afar off. The humble, the meek, these shall inherit the earth, aye, and the heavens too, and they shall know how true is the paradox, having nothing, yet possessing all things. The fruit of the tree of life hangs low, and he must stoop who would gather it. He who would enter Gods kingdom must first become “as a little child,” knowing nothing as yet, but longing to know even the mysteries of the kingdom, and having nothing but the plea of a great mercy and a great need. And are they not “blessed” who are citizens of the kingdom-with righteousness, peace, and joy all their own, a peace which is perfect and Divine, and a joy which no man taketh from them? Are they not blessed, thrice blessed, when the bright shadow of the Throne covers all their earthly life, making its dark places light, and weaving rainbows out of their very tears? He who through the strait gate of repentance passes within the kingdom finds it “the kingdom of heaven” indeed, his earthly years the beginnings of the heavenly life.
And now we touch a point Jesus ever loved to illustrate and emphasize, the manner of the kingdoms growth, as with ever-widening frontiers it sweeps outward in its conquest of a world. It was a beautiful dream of Hebrew prophecy that in the latter days the kingdom of God, or the kingdom of the Messiah, should overlap the bounds of human empires, and ultimately cover the whole earth. Looking through her kaleidoscope of ever-shifting but harmonious figures, Prophecy was never weary of telling of the Golden Age she saw in the far future, when the shadows would lift, and a new Dawn, breaking out of Jerusalem, would steal over the world. Even the Gentiles should be drawn to its light, and kings to the brightness of its rising; the seas should offer their abundance as a willing tribute, and the isles should wait for and welcome its laws. Taking up into itself the petty strifes and jealousies of men, the discords of earth should cease; humanity should again become a Unit, restored and regenerate fellow-citizens of the new kingdom, the kingdom which should have no end, no boundaries either of space or time.
Such was the dream of Prophecy, the kingdom Jesus sets Himself to found and realize upon earth. But how? Disclaiming any rivalry with Pilate, or with his imperial master, Jesus said, “My kingdom is not of this world,” so lifting it altogether out of the mould in which earthly dynasties are cast. “This world” uses force; its kingdoms are won and held by metallic processes, tinctures of iron and steel. In the kingdom of God carnal weapons are out of place; its only forces are truth and love, and he who takes the sword to advance this cause wounds but himself, after the vain manner of Baals priests. “This world” counts heads or hands; the kingdom of God numbers its citizens by hearts alone. “This world” believes in pomp and show, in outward visibilities and symbols; the kingdom of God cometh not “with observation”; its voices are gentle as a zephyr, its footsteps noiseless as the coming of spring. If man had had the ordering of the kingdom he would have summoned to his aid all kinds of portents and surprises: he would have arranged processions of imposing events; but Jesus likens the coming of the kingdom to a grain of mustard cast into a garden, or to a handful of leaven hid in three sata of meal. The two parables, with minor distinctions, are one in their import, the leading thought common to both being the contrast between its ultimate growth and the smallness and obscurity of its beginnings. In both the recreative force is a hidden force, buried out of sight, in the soil or in the meal. In both the force works outward from its center, the invisible becoming visible, the inner life assuming an outer, external form. In both we see the touch of life upon death; for left to itself the soil never would be anything more than dead earth, as the meal would be nothing more than dust, the broken ashes of a life that was departed. In both there is extension by assimilation, the leaven throwing itself out among the particles of kindred meal, while the tree attracts to itself the kindred elements of the soil. In both there is the mediation of the human hand; but as if to show that the kingdom offers equal privilege to male and female, with like possibilities of service, the one parable shows us the hand of a man, the other the hand of a woman. In both there is a consummation, the one par perfect work, an able showing us the whole mass leavened, the other showing us the wide-spreading tree, with the birds nesting in its branches.
Such, in outline, is the rise and progress of the kingdom of God in the heart of the individual man, and in the world; for the human soul is the protoplasm, the germ-cell, out of which this world-wide kingdom is evolved. The mass is leavened only by the leavening of the separate units. And how comes the kingdom of God within the soul and life of man? Not with observation or supernatural portents, but silently as the flashing forth of light. Thought, desire, purpose, prayer-these are the wheels of the chariot in which the Lord comes to His temple, the King into His kingdom And when the kingdom of God is set up within you the outer life shapes itself to the new purpose and aim, the writ and will of the King running unhindered through every department, even to its outmost frontier, while thoughts, feelings, desires, and all the golden coinage of the hear bear, not, as before, the image of Self, but the image and superscription of the Invisible King-the “Not I, but Christ.”
And so the honor of the kingdom is in our keeping, as the growths of the kingdom are in our hands. The Divine Cloud adjusts its pace to our human steps, alas often far too slow! Shall the leaven stop with us, as we make religion a kind of sanctified selfishness, doing nothing but gauging the emotions and staging its little doxologies? Do we forget that the weak human hand carries the Ark of God, and pushes forward the boundaries of the kingdom? Do, we forget that hearts are only won by hearts? The kingdom of God on earth is the kingdom of surrendered wills and of consecrated lives. Shall we not, then, pray, “thy kingdom come,” and living “more nearly as we pray,” seek a redeemed humanity as subjects of our King? So will the Divine purpose become a realization, and the “morning” which now is always “somewhere in the world” will be everywhere, the promise and the dawn of a heavenly day, the eternal Sabbath!