Miracles and Murder\u2014Mat_9:18 to Mat_10:42; Mat_14:6-12; Mar_5:22 to Mar_6:29; Luk_8:41 to Luk_9:9<\/p>\n
No sooner had our Lord landed on the other side the lake than He received an urgent application from Jairus, the ruler of the synagogue at Capernaum, who fell at his feet imploring Him to come to his only daughter, twelve years of age, who was then at the point of death. He went, and as He went, the press of the crowd around Him was very great. In that crowd there was a woman, who had for twelve years suffered under a grievous disease which exhausted both her blood and her money, for she had spent all her substance in seeking the help of physicians, who could give her no relief, and she remained most poor in mind and estate. She could not, however, abandon all hope of cure. She believed that Jesus could heal her; but the peculiar nature of her disease made her unwilling to make an open application to Him, in the presence of the crowd by which He was usually surrounded. She thought it might be possible to steal a cure. Her faith in his power to heal was such, that she believed it would suffice, could she but touch Him unobserved. In that crowd she managed to come behind Him, and touch the border of his garment, and no sooner had she done so, than she felt that she was cured. At that moment, Jesus asked who had touched Him. All denied having done so; but Peter remarked on the strangeness of the question, seeing how great was the pressure of the crowd around. Jesus explained that some one had touched Him with a purpose, for He felt \u201cthat virtue (to heal) had gone out of Him.\u201d On hearing this, the poor woman cast herself trembling at his feet, declaring all that had happened to her. The strong faith which she had in this peculiar manner shown, was pleasing to our Lord, who spoke kindly and encouragingly to her\u2014\u201cDaughter, be of good comfort; thy faith hath made thee whole; go in peace.\u201d Her \u201cfaith\u201d had made her whole; the \u201cvirtue\u201d which went forth from Christ made her whole. If she had not faith, his virtue would have availed her nothing; if He had not the \u201cvirtue,\u201d her \u201cfaith\u201d had not borne this fruit. There was thus a reciprocal action between the faith of the patient and the virtue of the healer; such exactly as takes place when we come to Him to be healed of our spiritual diseases. His virtue to heal is always the same, but to bring it out, to make it applicable to our wants, we must bring the faith which can alone put us into the requisite relation to Him. Without this, his virtue remains in himself; it passes not to us; it is to us as if it were not. Many touch Christ in the press, but unless they touch Him with a purpose, the purpose of faith to be healed by the virtue that goes out of Him, it avails them not at all.<\/p>\n
Jairus, who kept close to our Lord, had doubtless been fretting at this interruption of his progress, where the alternative of life or death seemed to hang upon a moment\u2019s time. His worst fears seemed accomplished when a messenger came from the house to tell him, that he need give \u201cthe Master no further trouble, for the girl was dead.\u201d Pitying his evident distress, Jesus said to him, \u201cBe not afraid, only believe,\u201d and instead of turning back He went on. He suffered but three of the apostles to enter the house with him. These were Peter, James, and John\u2014the same three who were subsequently allowed on more than one occasion to witness things hidden from the rest. On entering He found that the death clamor, the bitter wail of the real and the hired mourners, had been raised; and Jesus said, \u201cWhy make ye this ado and weep? the damsel is not dead, but sleepeth;\u201d they derided the assertion, which they misunderstood, \u201cknowing that she was dead.\u201d This assurance on their part is important, seeing that some have contended that she was not dead in fact, but only in a swoon. Seeing the frame of mind they were in was unfit for the deep solemnity before Him, and that their presence with their clamorous grief was altogether most unfit, He sent them all away. The house was now quiet, and Jesus proceeded to the chamber of death, attended by the three disciples, and by the father and mother of the child. It was a solemn moment, as they stood around that rose, fragrant with blessings, which death had crept so soon. Jesus took the maiden by the hand, and called to her, \u201cTalitha Cumi,\u201d words which signify \u201cMaiden arise.\u201d And at the touch of that hand, at the call of that voice, her spirit came again, and she arose and left the bed on which she had lain, walking down the room. Jesus told the parents to give her some nourishment, thus recalling them from their ecstasy of trembling joy and gratitude, to the actual proof that she had indeed returned to the realities of mortal life, and needed its sustainments. Probably she had not taken any food for a long while before she died; and to her parents it must have been no small delight, to watch her receiving her victuals with the keen relish and eager appetite of vigorous health.<\/p>\n
Our Lord charged those present not to promulgate this great miracle. This injunction He gave on other occasions, but it seems to have been invariably disregarded by the parties benefited, who felt that their gratitude must have a voice.<\/p>\n
As Jesus went hence, two blind men followed Him, crying as they went, \u201cThou Son of David, have mercy upon us!\u201d He did not turn to them, but let them follow Him along the street till He had reached his house. They then came to Him, and He asked them pointedly if they believed that He was able to do this; thus again, as time advanced, more and more distinctly demanding faith as the condition of cure. On their answer, \u201cYea, Lord,\u201d He touched their eyes, but did not say \u201cBe opened,\u201d but still made the effect dependent on their faith\u2014\u201cAccording to your faith, be it unto you.\u201d And their faith was good faith, for their eyes were opened. This was the first case particularly mentioned of his giving sight to the blind: and it is distinguished from the other cases by the fact, that it is the only one in which the cure is effected by simple touch alone. At other times He employs other instrumentality in applying his power of cure, and of helping the faith of those who were to be cured\u2014the simple moisture of the mouth, or clay mixed with it. There is only one other instance of a blind man being healed by a simple word from Jesus. The reason probably was, that the blind being incapable of receiving visual impressions by which their faith might be aided, are, in gracious condescension to their infirmity, aided by the sense of touch, which they could best apprehend. And even so are they still variously dealt with. The strong in faith have their faith tried; the weak in faith have their faith strengthened. And so it is always.<\/p>\n
The presently subsequent cure of a dumb man possessed with a devil, is chiefly distinguished from others of the same kind, by the remark of the people that \u201cIt was never so seen in Israel;\u201d and by the attempt of the Pharisees to revive in connection with this the stupid and atrocious calumny, to which they had given vent when a similar miracle was performed, \u201cHe casteth out devils through the prince of devils.\u201d It strikes one with some surprise to see this charge specially associated with this form of miracle. In the former case, the man was blind and dumb; in this, dumb. Pondering on this, it occurs to us that, as is usually the case, the persons were not only dumb but deaf. As, therefore, the person could not physically hear with his own ears the words of ejection addressed to the possessing demon who used and acted through his organs, this was considered as the most difficult or incurable species of possession, beyond the reach of pretension of the popular exorcists, who therefore declared dispossession to be in such cases impossible, but through some diabolical compact or influence. This interpretation of the matter is confirmed by the fact, that the disciples, in our Lord\u2019s absence upon the Mount of Transfiguration, attempted in vain to cast out a spirit possessing a lad who had been deaf and dumb from a child. And when they asked Him the cause of their failure, He said, primarily because of their unbelief; but He added, \u201cHowbeit, this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting.\u201d It was probably their preconceived sense of the difficulty of the case, which prevented them from exercising the faith requisite to effect the miracle.<\/p>\n
Our Lord now deemed it fit, that those who were hereafter to carry on his work on earth should learn to act without his personal presence; and that through them, the gospel of the kingdom should be more extensively proclaimed by their dispersed and separate proceedings than it could be otherwise. The deeper mysteries of that kingdom, they did not themselves know, till they afterwards viewed it is a completed whole; and this, therefore, they could not teach. What they did teach, or rather proclaim, was however a step in advance of John\u2019s teaching. He had preached, \u201cRepent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.\u201d They preached, \u201cRepent for the kingdom of God is come,\u201d \u201cRepent, and believe the Gospel;\u201d and on this text, they doubtless amplified in their addresses\u2014speaking of their Lord, what He had done, and what they had heard Him say, and declaring their belief that He was the long-desired, long-expected Christ of God.<\/p>\n
They were also empowered to authenticate their mission by miracles. In performing these, they no doubt acted vicariously, as in later times, in the name of Jesus of Nazareth; and in the brief account of their proceedings, the curious circumstance transpires, that \u201cthey anointed with oil many that were sick, and healed them.\u201d Jesus never did this; and as this anointing the sick with oil was a common practice among the Jews, it must have helped to give a kind of secondary aspect to their proceedings. Whether this was that they sought, from a modest reluctance to seem to emulate their Master in this respect, or whether defective faith rendered this help necessary to themselves, cannot be said. <\/p>\n
Jesus sent them not forth uninstructed in the course they were to take, and the duties they were to discharge. They were to limit their movements to the Jewish districts, not going among the Samaritans or the Gentiles, for it was necessary that this Gospel of the kingdom should be first of all fully preached to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. He taught them that they were to go forth to the discharge of their office without any anxious care for the future. They were going forth on God\u2019s work, and they might rely upon it, that God would provide for all their wants; and in every place to which they came, they were to accept the first hospitality that offered, without seeking better, or moving from house to house. And having thus attached themselves to one household, that would become the center of operations to them. They were not to expect all things to go smoothly. Much persecution and many trials awaited them; and very often the word they taught, would seem a word of strife and division in families. But their cause and their safety were in God\u2019s keeping. He would protect them; He would vindicate their cause; and whatever came to pass, they had this comfort\u2014\u201cWhosoever confesses my name before men, him will I confess before my Father, which is in heaven.\u201d<\/p>\n
How long they were away, we know not. But when they returned, they seem to have been satisfied with their success, or with the attention with which their message had been heard, while they gratefully acknowledge that, in following their Lord\u2019s instructions, they had lacked nothing.<\/p>\n
In the meantime, by his own acts and preachings, and by theirs, the fame of Jesus was made familiar to all wide Galilee; and his proceedings and claims became the general theme of conversation. There was an extraordinary variety of opinions concerning Him. His conduct was so different from that which the nation generally had associated with the idea of the Messiah, that there were not many as yet, who fully recognized Him in that character. Some thought He might be John the Baptist raised from the dead\u2014for he had been ere this put to death by Herod. Others deemed that He might be Elias, or one of the old prophets come as a further harbinger of the Messiah; and the general disposition, among those well informed as to John\u2019s preaching and mission, was to place Him above John, and next to the Messiah, but not to regard Him as himself the Messiah. This, indeed, is the opinion which we have supposed John himself to have been for a moment inclined to entertain, when he sent his disciples to question Jesus.<\/p>\n
All these opinions were discussed at court, for Jesus was now too conspicuous to be overlooked there. Herod himself said: \u201cJohn have I beheaded; but who is this of whom I hear such great things?\u201d\u2014and he expressed a wish to see Him.<\/p>\n
John had met his end in this manner. We have seen that it was not Herod\u2019s intention to put him to death, partly because he was afraid to do so. But his more wicked and less scrupulous wife thirsted for the prophet\u2019s blood, not only out of revenge, but as a measure of prudence and security to herself. The mere fact that he was there as a prisoner, must ever keep alive in the minds of the people, and of the king himself, for what cause he was there\u2014for declaring the marriage between Herod and Herodias null and void; and who could say but that at any moment of discontent or remorse, or to gratify the people, with whom the marriage was unpopular and scandalous, the king might send her away from him? She had tried her influence upon Herod often enough, to know that it was useless to attempt to gain his consent to this murder in any direct way; and she therefore laid a deep plot to extort that consent unwillingly from him.<\/p>\n
It was his birthday, which was celebrated with high festivities at court. The Jews generally disliked the celebration of birthdays; and this was one of the heathen customs which the Herodian family had adopted from the Romans. On the present occasion, Herod gave a great supper to \u201chis lords, high captains, and chief estates;\u201d and before it closed, a fair young girl, to whom Herod was greatly attached, was introduced, and commenced one of those solo dances for which the East has long been celebrated. That fair child was Salome, the daughter of Herodias by her former husband. With such marvellous grace and thrilling effect did she perform this dance, that Herod, already warm with wine, became excited, and in the fervor of his enthusiasm, vowed that she should have whatever she asked\u2014even to the half of his kingdom.<\/p>\n
Eastern Dancing Girl<\/p>\n
Little could he imagine what this child had been tutored by her wicked mother to ask; and he was shocked and grieved when, instead of some costly bauble, she asked for the head of John the Baptist. The sternest man there must have shuddered to hear from those beautiful young lips the blood-thirsty request, so atrociously specific\u2014\u201cBring me here the head of John the Baptist in a charger.\u201d John is not only to lose his head, but the bleeding trophy is to be brought to her\u2014it is to be brought to her there\u2014that there may be no evasion\u2014that the high lords, who have heard the vow, may witness its fulfillment. Then she tells how it is to be brought. Not in any careless way, not in a napkin, not held by the hair, but in a dish; so that she\u2014that young girl\u2014may receive it into her own hands, and take it where she pleased, without danger of soiling her rich dress with a prophet\u2019s blood. This is frightful. It was done, nevertheless. His oath having been given, false pride prevented him from revolting it, notwithstanding his regret, and notwithstanding he must have felt that the infraction of each an oath was a far less crime than its fulfillment, and notwithstanding he must have seen very well to whose diabolical machinations this entanglement was owing. A man was sent to behead John in his prison; and presently it was brought to the young princess, who, doubtless, received it with becoming grace, and bore it off daintily to her mother. That the girl could go through all this, however well tutored, seems to show that Salome was indeed a true daughter of Herodias. How she received this precious gift we are not told; but there is an old tradition, that she drew forth the still warm tongue that had rebuked her crimes, and vengefully transfixed it with her bodkin.<\/p>\n
Autor: JOHN KITTO<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Miracles and Murder\u2014Mat_9:18 to Mat_10:42; Mat_14:6-12; Mar_5:22 to Mar_6:29; Luk_8:41 to Luk_9:9 No sooner had our Lord landed on the other side the lake than He received an urgent application from Jairus, the ruler of the synagogue at Capernaum, who fell at his feet imploring Him to come to his only daughter, twelve years of … Continue reading ““714. MIRACLES AND MURDER\u2014MATTHEW 9:18-10:42; 14:6-12; MARK 5:22-6:29; LUKE 8:41-9:9””<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17066","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sermons"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17066","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17066"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17066\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17066"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17066"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17066"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}