Mark 11
THE
TRIUMPHAL ENTRY OF JESUS INTO
1 “And
when they came nigh to
the mount of Olives, He sendeth
forth two of His disciples,” And when they
drew nigh unto
Matthew
(Matthew 21:1) says, "When they drew nigh unto
unto Bethphage." Mark
mentions the three places together, because Bethphage
and
distance
from
journey
of about seven hours. The country between
rugged,
and desolate. It is from the height overhanging
view
of
the
preceding sabbath had supped, and probably passed the
night, at
that
on the following day (answering to our Palm Sunday) He had come still nearer
to
for
the ass and the colt. So His way to
the
Mount of Olives, and the
through
which flows the brook Kedron, lies close to
means
"the house of green figs," as
means
"the house of dates." The date palm growing in the neighborhood would
furnish
the branches with which the multitude strewed the way on the occasion
of our
Lord's triumphal entry. He sendeth
two of his disciples. Who were they?
Bede thinks that they were Peter and Philip. Jansonius, with greater probability,
thinks
that they were Peter and John, because a little after this Christ sent these
two to
prepare for the Passover. But we know nothing certain on this point.
2 “And
saith unto them, Go your way into the village over
against you: and as
soon as ye be entered into it, ye shall find a
colt tied, whereon never man sat;
loose him, and bring him.” Go your way into the village that is over against you.
The
village over against them would most likely be Bethphage,
towards which they
were
then approaching. Straightway as ye enter
into it, ye shall find a colt tied,
whereon no man ever yet sat. Mark
mentions only the colt. Matthew mentions the ass
and
the colt. But Mark singles out the colt as that which our Lord specially
needed;
the
mother of the animal accompanying it as a sumpter
(pack animal). Animals
which
had never before been used were alone admissible for sacred purposes.
We
read in Numbers (Numbers 19:2) of "the heifer on which never came yoke."
Our
Lord here beholds things absent and out of sight, as though they were present.
So
that He revealed this to His disciples by the gift of prophecy which His
divinity
added
to His humanity. Here,
therefore, is a manifest proof of His divinity. It was
by the same Divine power that he revealed to Nathanael what had taken place
under
the fig tree. (John 1:48)
3 “And
if any man say unto you, Why do ye this? say ye that the Lord hath
need of him; and straightway he will send him
hither.” The
Greek, according
to the
best authorities here, is εὐθέως
αὐτὸν ἀποστελλει
πάλιν ῶδε
– eutheos auton
apostellei palin
ode - literally, straightway he sendeth it back
hither again, The verb
here
in the present may represent the verb in the future, "he will send it
back." But
the
word "again" (πάλιν) is not
quite so easily explained. There is strong authority
for
the insertion of this word, which necessarily changes the meaning of the
sentence.
Without
the πάλιν, the
sentence would actually mean that our Lord, by His Divine
prescience,
here tells His disciples that when the colt was demanded by them the
owner
would at once permit them to take it. But if the word πάλιν be inserted, it can
only
mean that this was a part of the message which our Lord directed His disciples
to
deliver as from Himself, "The Lord hath need of him; and he, the Lord, will
forthwith
send him back again." The passage is so interpreted by Origen,
who
twice
introduces the adverb in his commentary on Matthew. The evidence of the
oldest
uncials is strongly in favor of this insertion. Our Lord was unwilling that
the disciples
should take away the colt if the owner objected, He might have taken
the
animals away in his own supreme right, but He chose to accomplish His will by
His
providence, powerfully and yet gently; and, if the reading here be allowed, He
further
influenced them by the promise that their property should be returned to them.
It was
the will and purpose of Christ, who for these three years had gone about on
foot,
and
traveled over the whole of
King of
not be
surrounded with the “pomp and circumstance" of an earthly monarch. He
rides
on an
ass's colt, that He might show His kingdom to be of another kind, that is,
spiritual and heavenly. And
so He assumes a humble equipage, riding upon a colt,
His
only housings being the clothes of His disciples. And yet there was dignity as
well as
humility in His equipage. The ass of the East was, and is, a superior animal
to
that known amongst us. The judges and princes of
and
their sons on asses' colts. So our Lord rode upon an ass's colt; and there were
no
gleaming swords in his procession, or other signs of strife and bloodshed.
But
there were palm branches and garments spread all along His path - the evidences
of
devotion to Him. So He came in gentleness, not that He might be feared on
account
of His
power, but that He might be loved on account of His goodness.
4 “And
they went their way, and found the colt tied by the door without in a place
where two ways met; and they loose him. 5
And certain of them that stood
there
said unto them, What do ye, loosing the
colt? 6
And they said unto them even
as
Jesus had commanded: and they let them go. 7
And they brought the colt to
Jesus,
and cast their garments on him; and He sat upon
him.” By the
door without, in a
place where two ways met (ἐπὶ τοῦ ἀμφόδου – epi tou
amphodou – on the encircling
road;
literally, in the open street).
8 “And
many spread their garments in the way:
and others cut down branches
off the trees, and strawed them in the way.” Others cut
down branches off the
trees, etc. According to the best authorities, the
words should be rendered, and
others
branches (or, leaves, for strewing), which thy had cut from the fields
(ἄλλοι δὲ στοιβάδας κόψαντες ἐκ τῶν
ἀγρῶν – alloi de stoibadas
kopsantes ek
ton agron). The
branches were cut in the fields; and the smaller, leafy portions of
them,
suitable for their purpose, were carried out.
9 “And
they that went before, and they that followed, cried, saying, Hosanna;
Blessed is He that cometh in the name of the
Lord:” The
word Hosanna literally
means "Oh, save!" It
may have been originally the cry of captives or rebels for mercy;
and
thus have passed into a general acclamation, expressive of
joy and deliverance.
10 “Blessed
be the kingdom of our father David, that cometh in the name of
the Lord: Hosanna in the highest.” This verse should be read thus: Blessed be
the kingdom that cometh, the kingdom of our father David -
that is, the kingdom
of Messiah, now coming, and about to
be established - Hosanna in the highest;
that is,
Hosanna in the highest realms of glory and
blessedness, where salvation
is perfected.
11 “And
Jesus entered into
He had looked round about upon all things, and
now the eventide was come, He
went out unto
by
Matthew. It is an important addition to his narrative. The moment of our Lord's
triumphant
entry into
against
the profaners of the temple. He was then surrounded by an enthusiastic and
admiring
multitude; so He contented Himself on this occasion with looking round
about
upon all things (περιβλεψάμενος
πάντα – periblepsamenos panta
– looking
about all). His keen and searching eye saw at a glance all that was going on,
and
penetrated everything. But without any comment or action at that
time, He went
out
unto
and
especially Peter, saw what was involved in this visit of inspection, which
prepared
them for what took place on the morrow. (Compare Genesis 18:20-21).
The
Triumphant Entry (vs. 1-11)
Christ
was a King, but His royalty was misunderstood during His ministry upon earth.
The
devil had offered Him the kingdoms of this world, and He had refused them. The
people
would have taken Him by force and have
made Him a king, but He had hidden
Himself
from them. Yet it was right and meet
that He should in some way assume a
kingly
state and accept royal honors. The triumphal entry interests us, because it
was the acknowledgment and reception of Jesus with the joyful homage
due to
Him as King of
what was to be the issue of this His
last visit to the metropolis. He foresaw,
and He had foretold in the hearing
of His disciples, that He was about to be
put to a violent death.
Notwithstanding His clear perception of this His
approaching sacrifice, He had come
cheerfully to the city where He was to
share the fate of the prophets. It
is absurd to draw from this narrative the
inference that Jesus was now looking
for popular and national acceptance;
He was not so misled. But it is
remarkable that He should choose to receive
the homage of the multitude almost
upon the eve of His betrayal and
condemnation. In His apprehension,
the Priesthood and the Kingship of the
Messiah were most closely connected.
And to our minds there is no
discordance between the sorrows
Jesus was about to endure and the
honors He now consented to accept.
The occasion was well chosen, and
brings before us our Lord’s
independence of all human standards and
preconceptions. Ours was a
King whose royalty suffered no tarnishing of
its splendor when He rode in
majesty, although He rode to death.
Ø It was the
scene of His ministry. In and near
Christ’s mighty
works had been wrought, many of His discourses
had been
delivered, many of His disciples had been made. It was
becoming that for
once, in this scene of His labors, His claims
should be
publicly recognized and His honor publicly displayed.
Ø It was to
be the scene of His martyrdom and sacrifice. It has
often
been noted, as a
witness to human fickleness, that the same roads
and public places
should within a few days resound with the
incongruous
shouts, “Hosanna!” and “Crucify him!” How true
was the language
of Pilate — they crucified their King! (John 19:15)
On the one hand,
it could not be that a prophet should perish out of
of David should
openly welcome and acknowledge David’s Son and
David’s Lord, and the
establishment of the predicted kingdom.
who welcomed Jesus, His own
attendants and disciples, the villagers from
Bethany, the citizens of
up to the feast. The multitude was a
very varied and representative crowd;
including Israelites of many
classes, and doubtless differing from one
another in the measure of their
knowledge of Jesus and their appreciation
of His character and His Claims. As
is often the case when Christ is extolled
and praised, some were drawn into
the general enthusiasm and rejoicing by
the force of example and under the
inspiration of feeling. The general
welcome was an anticipation of the
honor which shall be rendered to Jesus,
when “every tongue shall acknowledge him to be Lord, to the glory of
God
the Father.” (Philippians
2:11)
simple circumstances of this entry,
so natural and almost childlike, are all
significant of our Savior’s dignity
and majesty. Mark mentions only
the colt. Matthew mentions the ass
and the colt. But Mark singles out the
colt as that which our Lord
specially needed; the mother of the animal
accompanying it as a sumpter. Animals which had never before been
used were alone admissible for
sacred purposes. We read in Numbers
(19:2) of “the heifer on which never came yoke.” Our Lord here
beholds things absent and out of
sight, as though they were present. So that
He revealed this to His disciples by
the gift of prophecy which His divinity
added to His humanity. Here,
therefore, is a manifest proof of His divinity.
It was by the same Divine power that
he revealed to Nathanael what had
taken place under the fig tree. (John 1:47-48) In the bringing of the ass’s
colt for Him to ride, there was a
fulfillment of an ancient prediction;
(Zechariah 9:9) and the act itself,
according to the usage of the East, was
becoming to royalty. In the
spreading of their garments upon the foal’s back,
the strewing the road with their
clothes and with the branches of trees, there
was a picturesque, if very simple,
expression of their admiring reverence and
loyalty. It was the will and purpose of Christ, who
for these three years had
gone about on foot, and traveled
over the whole of
show Himself at length the King of
Judah, that is, the Messiah and Heir of
David; and so He resolves to enter
great King, with royal dignity. But He
will not be surrounded with the”
pomp and circumstance” of an earthly
monarch. He rides on an ass’s colt,
that He might show His kingdom to be
of another kind, that is, spiritual and
heavenly. And
so He assumes a humble equipage, riding upon a colt, His
only housings being the clothes of
His disciples. And yet there was dignity
as well as humility in His equipage.
The ass of the East was, and is, a
superior animal to that known
amongst us. The judges and princes of
rode on “white asses,” (Judges 5:10) and their sons on asses’ colts.
(Judges
10:4) So our Lord rode upon an ass’s colt; and
there were no gleaming swords
in His procession, or other signs of
strife and bloodshed. But there were palm
branches and garments spread all
along His path — the evidences of devotion to
Him. So He came in
gentleness, not that He might be feared on account of His
power, but that he might be loved on
account of his goodness.
The unpremeditated shouts and exclamations
with which Jesus was greeted
were an expression of fervid,
popular sentiment. Yet they were also to
some extent a confession of Jesus’
Messiah-ship and an acknowledgment
of His royalty.
Ø Notice the
character in which they hailed him: He came “in
the
Name of the Lord;” He
brought in” the
from Hebrew prophecy, these appellations could not be used without
very special significance.
Ø Notice the
joyous language in which they hailed Him. They called
Him “Blessed”! They greeted Him
with the cry, “Hosanna in
highest”! that is, Hosanna in the highest realms of glory
and
blessedness,
where salvation is perfected. The word
Hosanna
means
“Oh, save!” It may have been originally the cry of
captives or
rebels for mercy; and thus have passed into a general
acclamation,
expressive
of joy and deliverance. It was
enthusiastic and lofty
language; but meaner
terms would have been inappropriate,
unworthy, and unjust.
were
conscious of it as they shouted. Their words are a quotation from Psalm
118.
Ø ‘Hosanna!’ The word was a Hebrew
imperative, ‘Save us, we beseech
thee,’ and had come into liturgical use from Psalm 118.
That psalm
belonged specially to
the Feast of Tabernacles, and as such was
naturally
associated with the palm branches; the verses from it now
chanted
by the people are said to have been those with which the
inhabitants
of
came up to keep the
feast. The addition of ‘Hosanna to the
Son of
David’ made it a
direct recognition of the claims of Jesus to be the
Christ; that of ‘Hosanna in the highest’ (comp. Luke
2:14) claimed
heaven
as in accord with earth in this recognition.
Ø ‘Blessed be [‘the King,’ in Luke] He that
cometh in the Name
of the Lord.’ These
words, too, received a special, personal
application. The welcome was now given, not to the crowd of
pilgrims, but to
the King.
Ø As in Luke,
one of the cries was an echo of the angels’ hymn
at the Nativity, ‘Peace on earth, and glory in the highest’
(Luke
2:14).
Ø ‘Blessed be the kingdom of our father David.’ We have to
think
of these shouts as filling the air as he rides slowly
on in silence. He
will not check them at
the bidding of the Pharisees (Luke 19:39).
Yet, because of the unpreparedness of the people, the fulfillment was
only provisional, not
ultimate; typical, not actual. In its spiritual idea,
its
universal influence - “all the city was
moved”, its spontaneous
acclaim,
it spoke of that which is to come;
in its outwardness, its
question, “Who is this?” and answer, “This is Jesus, the Prophet
of
from praise to
execration, it showed how distant the people were
from the true
realization.
(Compare
Luke 19:37-44) “And when He was come nigh, even now at the
descent of
the mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to rejoice and
praise
God with a loud voice for all the mighty
works that they had seen; Saying,
Blessed be the King that cometh in the name
of the Lord: peace in heaven, and
glory in the highest. And some of the Pharisees from among the
multitude said
unto Him, Master, rebuke thy disciples.
And He answered and said unto them, I
tell you that, if these should hold their
peace, the stones would immediately cry out.
And when He was come near, He beheld the
city, and wept over it, Saying, If
thou hadst known,
even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong
unto thy peace! but now they are hid from thine eyes. For the
days shall come
upon thee, that thine
enemies shall cast a trench about thee, and compass thee
round, and keep thee in on every side, And shall lay thee even with the ground,
and thy children within thee; and they shall
not leave in thee one stone upon
another; because thou KNEWEST NOT THE TIME OF THY VISITATION!”
(Like
which
only depended upon their spiritual preparedness. (Reader, don’t
you sense
the feeling
that we too are on the verge of The Apocalypse? Jesus said, “When
ye see these things come to pass, know ye that
it is nigh, even at the doors” [ch.
13:29] – CY
– 2010)
THE LESSON OF THE BARREN FIG TREE
12 “And on the morrow, when they were come from
This
was, therefore, the day after Palm Sunday (as we call it) - on the Monday,
the
11th day of the month Nisan, which, according to our
computation, would
be
March 21. He hungered. This
showed His humanity, which He was ever wont
to do
when He was about to display His Divine power. The fact that He hungered
would
lead us to the conclusion that He had not been spending the night in the
house
of Martha and Mary. It is far more likely that He had been in the open air
during
the previous night, fasting and praying.
13 “And seeing a fig tree afar off having leaves, He came, if haply He
might find any thing thereon: and when He
came to it, He found nothing but
leaves; for the time of figs was not
yet.” And seeing
a fig tree afar off having
leaves, He came, if haply He might find anything thereon.
Matthew (Matthew
21:19)
says He saw "one fig tree" (μὶαν συκῆν
– mian sukaen), and
therefore more
conspicuous.
Fig trees were no doubt plentiful in the neighborhood of Bethphage,
"the
house of figs." Dean Stanley ('Sinai and
Olivet
is still sprinkled with fig trees." This fig tree had leaves, but no
fruit; for it
was
not the season of figs (ὁ γὰρ καιρὸς
οὐκ ῆν
σύκων – ho gar kairos
ouk aen sukon
–
for it was not season of
figs). Other trees would all be bare at this early season, but
the
fig trees would be putting forth their broad green leaves. It is possible that
this
tree,
standing by itself as it would seem, was more forward than the other fig trees
around.
It was seen "from afar," and therefore it must have had the full
benefit of
the
sun. Our Lord says (Luke 21:29), "Behold the fig tree, and all the trees: when
they now shoot forth, ye
see it, and know of your own selves that the summer is
now nigh." He
puts the fig tree first, as being of its own nature the most forward
to put
forth its buds. But then it is peculiar to the fig tree that its fruit begins
to
appear
before its leaves. It was, therefore, a natural supposition that on this tree,
with
its leaves fully developed, there might be found at least some ripened fruit.
Our Lord,
therefore, approaches the tree in His hunger, with the expectation of
finding
fruit. But as He draws near to it, and realizes the fact that the tree, though
full
of leaf, is absolutely fruitless, He forgets His natural hunger in the thought
of the
spiritual figure which this tree began to present to His mind. The accident
of His
hunger as a man, brought Him into contact with a great parable of spiritual
things,
presented to Him as God; and as He approached this fig tree full of leaf,
but
destitute of fruit, there stood before him the striking but awful image of the
Jewish
nation, having indeed the leaves of a great profession, but yielding no fruit.
The
leaves of this fig tree deceived the passer-by, who, from seeing them, would
naturally
expect the fruit. And so the fig tree was cursed, not for being barren,
but
for being false. When our Lord, being hungry, sought figs on the fig tree,
He
signified that He hungered after something which He did not find. The Jews
were
this unprofitable fig tree, full of the leaves of profession, but fruitless.
Our
Lord never did anything without reason; and, therefore, when He seemed
to do
anything without reason, He was setting forth in a figure some great reality.
Nothing but His Divine yearning after the Jewish people, His
spiritual hunger for
their salvation, can explain this typical action with regard to
the fig tree, and indeed
the whole
mystery of His life and death. (I
recommend Spurgeon Sermon –
Mark 11 -
Nothing but Leaves - #1091 – this website – CY – 2019)
14 “And Jesus answered and said unto it,
No man eat fruit of thee hereafter
for ever. And His disciples heard it” No man eat
fruit from thee henceforward
for ever (εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα
– eis ton aiona – into the eon). These
words, in their
application
to the Jewish nation, have a merciful limitation - a limitation which
lies
in the original words rendered "for ever," which literally mean for the age.
"No
man eat fruit of thee henceforward, for the age;" until the times of the
Gentiles
be fulfilled. A day will doubtless come when
"I am a dry
tree" (Isaiah 56:3), shall
accept the words of its true Lord, "From
me is thy fruit found" (Hosea 14:8), and shall
be clothed with the richest fruits
of all
trees. (See Trench on the Miracles). Matthew (Matthew 21:19) tells us that
"immediately the fig tree withered away."
"Straightway a shivering fear and
trembling
passed through its leaves, as though it was at once struck to the heart
by the
malediction of its Creator." Our Lord's disciples heard His words; but
they
appear
not to have noticed the immediate effect of them upon the tree. It was not
until
the next day that they observed what had happened. This miracle would
show
His disciples how soon He could have withered His enemies, who were
about
to crucify Him; but He waited with long-suffering for their salvation,
by
repentance and faith in Him.
JESUS
CLEANSES THE
15 “And they come to
began to cast out them that sold and bought
in the temple, and overthrew the
tables of the moneychangers, and the seats
of them that sold doves;”
And they come to
nor
the holy of holies (into which the high priest might alone enter), but into the
temple
court; for into that the people went to pray, and to witness the sacrifices
which
were being offered before the holy place; for this court was, so to speak,
the
temple of the people. Our Lord was not a Levitical
priest, because He was
not
sprung of Levi and Aaron. Therefore He could not enter the holy place,
but
only the outer court of the temple. And began to cast out (ἐκβάλλειν – ekballein –
to be casting out) - it was
a forcible expulsion - them that sold and them
that bought
in the temple. There were two occasions on which our Lord
thus purged the temple:
one at
the beginning of his public ministry, and the other at the end of it, four days
before
His death. There was a regular market in the outer court,' the court of the
Gentiles,
belonging to the family of the high priest. The booths of this market are
mentioned
in the rabbinical writings as the booths of the son of Hanan,
or Annas.
But this
market is never mentioned in the Old Testament. It seems to have sprung
up
after the Captivity. Our Lord adopted these strong measures
(1) because the temple
courts were not the proper places for merchandise, and
(2)
because these transactions were often dishonest, on account of the avarice
and covetousness of the priests.
The priests, either themselves or by their families, sold
oxen and sheep and doves
to those who had need to offer them in the temple. These
animals were, of course,
needed for sacrifices; and there was good reason why they
should be ready at hand
for those who came up to worship. But the sin of the priests lay in permitting this
buying and selling to go on
within the sacred precincts, and in trading dishonestly.
There were other things needed for the sacrifices, such as
wine, and salt, and oil.
Then there were also the
money-changers (κολλυβιστής
– kollubistaes), from
κόλλυβος – kollubos - , a
small coin) - those who exchanged large coins for
smaller, or foreign money for the half-shekel. Every
Israelite, whether rich or
poor, was required to give the half-shekel, neither less nor
more. So when money
had to be exchanged, an allowance or premium was required by
the money-changer.
Doves or pigeons were required on various occasions for
offerings, chiefly by the
poor, who could not afford more costly offerings. From these
also the priests had
their gain. The seats of them that
sold the doves. These birds were often sold by
women, who were provided with seats.
16 “And would not suffer that any man should carry any vessel through the
temple.”
And he would not suffer
that any man should carry a vessel through
the temple. It was a great temptation to make the
temple, at least the great court
of the
Gentiles, a thoroughfare. It was so extensive that a long and tedious circuit
would
be avoided, in going from one part of the city to another, by passing through
it. To
those, for example, who were passing from the sheep market,
the upper
part of the city, the shortest cut was through this court and by Solomon's
Porch.
The distance would be greatly increased if they went round it. So the priests
permitted
servants and laborers, laden with anything, to take this shorter way
through
the great court of the temple. But our Lord hindered them, forbidding
them
with the voice of one that had authority, and restraining them with His
hand,
and compelling them to go back. He would have the whole of
His Father's
House regarded as sacred. (Ezekiel 43:12)
17 “And He taught, saying unto them, Is it not written, My house shall be
called
of all nations the house of prayer? but ye
have made it a den of thieves.”
My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the
nations (πᾶσιν τοῖς ἔθνεσιν
–
pasi tois
ethnesin – to all the nations). Mark, writing for Gentiles, assures them
that
the God of the Jews is the God of all the
nations; and that the court of the Gentiles,
which
was then so profaned, was a constituent part of His house of prayer.
notes
Christ's action in driving out the profaners of the temple as a great proof of
His
Divine
power, that He alone should have been able to cast out so great a multitude.
He
says, "A fiery splendor flashed from his eyes, and the majesty of Deity
shone in
His
countenance." The words, "My house shall be called the house of prayer," are a
quotation
from Isaiah 56:7; and it is a remarkable coincidence that in v. 11 of that
chapter
the rulers of the people are described as looking "every
one for his gain
from his quarter." A den of
thieves (σπήλαιον ληστῶν – spaelaion laeston
–
cave of robbers); this should
be rendered, a
den of robbers. The Greek word for
"thief"
is κλέπτης – kleptaes, not ληστής – laestaes - robber. The
two terms are
carefully
distinguished in John (John 10:1), "the same is a thief (κλέπτης)
and a
robber (λῃστής)." These
priests, wholly intent upon gain, by various fraudulent
acts
plundered strangers and the poor, who came purchase offerings for the worship
of
God. Observe that the temple is called the house of God, not because He dwells
in
it in
any corporeal sense, for "He dwelleth not in temples made with hands"
(Acts
7:48; 17:24; I Kings 8:27; II Chronicles 2:6), but because the temple is the
place set apart for the worship of God, in
which He specially gives ear to the
prayers of His people, and in which He
specially promises His spiritual presence.
Hence we learn what reverence is due to the houses of God; so
that, as the master
of a
house resents any insult offered to his house as an insult to himself, so
Christ
reckons
any willful dishonor done to His house as a wrong and insult to Him.
18 “And the scribes and chief priests heard it, and sought how they might
destroy Him: for they feared Him, because
all the people was astonished
at His doctrine.” And the
chief priests and the scribes - this is the right order
of the
words - heard it (ἤκουσαν
– aekousan - hear), and
sought (ἐζήτουν
–
ezaetoun – they sought; began to seek, or were seeking
(imperfect) - how they
might destroy Him (ἀπολέσουσιν
– apolesousin – they
shall be destroying).
They
were seeking how they might, not only put Him to death, but "utterly
destroy Him," stamp out
his name and influence as a great spiritual energy in
the
world. This action of His raised them to the highest pitch of fury and
indignation.
Their authority and their interests were attacked. But the people
still
acknowledged His power; and the scribes and Pharisees feared the people.
19 “And when even was come, He went out of the city.” And when
even was come;
literally,
and whenever (ὅταν – hotan - when) evening
came; that is, every evening.
During
these last days before His crucifixion, He remained in
day,
and went back to
of one
of these days, "And He left them, and went forth out of the city to
and lodged there." So
true it was that "He
came unto his own, and His own received
Him not." (John
1:11) No one in that city, which He
loved so well, offered to receive
Him.
The end was drawing near. But the fellowship of Martha and Mary must have
been
soothing to Him; and
(Dear Reader,
the 12th verse of John 1 says “But as many
as received Him, to them gave He power, to
become the sons of God, even to
them that believe on His name”! Will you not receive Him today? – CY –
2010)
20 “And in the morning, as they passed by, they saw the fig tree dried up
from
the roots.
21 And Peter calling to remembrance saith unto Him, Master,
behold, the fig tree which thou cursedst is withered away.”
And as they passed
by in the morning, they saw the fig tree withered away from
the roots. They had
returned
the evening before, probably after sunset, to
had
not noticed the withered tree. Matthew gathers the whole account of the fig
tree
into
one notice. Mark disposes of the facts in their chronological order. It was on
the
Monday
morning, the day after the triumphant entry, and when they were on their
way to
into
In the
evening He returned to
were
on their way into the city, they saw what had happened to the fig tree.
And
then Peter calling to remembrance saith unto Him; Rabbi, behold, the fig tree
which thou cursedst is withered
away (ἐξήρανται
– exaerantai – has
withered),
the
same Greek word as in the preceding verse.
22 “And Jesus answering saith unto them, Have
faith in God. 23 For
verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall
say unto this mountain, Be thou
removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and
shall not doubt in his heart, but shall
believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have
whatsoever he saith.” Have faith
in God; literally, have the faith of God - full,
perfect,
effectual faith in Him; faith like a grain of mustard seed. You may be
staggered
and perplexed at what you will see shortly; but "have faith in God."
The
Jews may seem for a time to flourish like that green fig tree; but they will
"soon
be cut down as the grass, and be withered as the green herb." What seems
difficult
to you is easy with God. Trust in
the Divine omnipotence. The things
which
are impossible with men are possible with him. Our Lord then uses a
metaphor
frequently employed to indicate the accomplishment of things so
difficult
as to be apparently impossible. He employs a bold and vivid hyperbole;
and,
pointing probably to the
shoulders
of which they were then standing, He says, "With this faith you might say
to
this mountain, Be thou taken up and cast into the sea, and it shall come to
pass."
24 “Therefore I say unto you, What things soever
ye desire, when ye pray,
believe that ye receive them, and ye shall
have them.” All
things whatsoever ye
pray
and ask for, believe that ye have received them; and ye shall have them. But
you
must "ask in faith, nothing wavering." (James 1:6)
25 “And when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have ought against any: that
your
Father also which is in heaven may forgive
you your trespasses.” And wheresoever
ye stand praying (στήκητε
προσευχόμενοι
– staekaete proseuchomenoi – ye may be
standing praying). The
ordinary attitude of Eastern nations in prayer is here indicated,
namely,
"standing," with the head, doubtless, bowed in reverence. The promise
of this
text
is that requests offered in prayer by a faithful heart will be
granted - granted as
God knows best. The connection of these verses with the
former is close. One great
hindrance
to the faith without which there can be no spiritual power, is the presence
of
angry and uncharitable feelings. These must all be put away if we would hope
for a
favorable answer from God.
26 “But if ye do not forgive, neither will your Father which is in heaven
forgive your trespasses.” There appears to be sufficient evidence to
justify the
Revisers
in their omission of this verse; although its omission or retention does not
affect
the general exegesis of the passage.
The
Fruit of the Fruitless Fig Tree (vs. 12-14, 19-25)
This
action of our Lord Jesus is one of the very few He is recorded to have
performed to
which
exception has been taken. It has been objected that the “cursing” of the fig tree
was a
vindictive act, and unlike and unworthy of the gracious and beneficent
Redeemer.
In
answer to this objection, a distinction must be drawn between a vindictive
and a
judicial
proceeding; the latter having no element of personal irritation or ill
feeling.
It must
not be forgotten that the Lord Jesus was and is the Judge, and this symbolical
action was
a picture of His judicial function in exercise. It has also been objected
that
the doom
pronounced and carried into effect was unjust, inasmuch as
the season for
figs had
not yet come, and Jesus looked for what, in the nature of things, it was not
reasonable
to expect. In answer to this, it must be remembered that
trees have no
consciousness,
and no capacity for sentient suffering; and that, in the analogous case
of the
barren professor of religion, no sentence of condemnation is pronounced except
as the
consequence of moral culpability. This
passage has two distinct movements,
each
containing its own spiritual lesson impressively conveyed.
Ø The
fruitless fig tree is an emblem of the immoral or useless professor
of Christianity.
Leaves are beautiful in themselves, are indicative of
life and vital
vigor, and seem to promise fruit; yet, in the case of such
trees as that
here spoken of, it is the
fruit which is the end for which
the tree is allowed to occupy ground, to absorb
nourishment, to
engage the toil of the husbandman or gardener. It is so in the moral
domain. The
foliage corresponds to outward
position, to visible
standing, and
audible confession. These are excellent
and admirable
where they are
not deceptive. But where there is “nothing but leaves”
to meet the eye
of the husbandman, where there is the “name
to live”
without the life, ( like the
there is the
language of belief and of devotion with no corresponding
principles and
conduct, — all this is disappointing to the Divine
Husbandman and
Vine-dresser. (Reader, I recommend – Mark 11 -
Spurgeon Sermon – Nothing But Leaves – this web
site – CY – 2010)
Ø The withering
of the fig tree is symbolical of the moral doom and
destruction of the
unfruitful professor of religion. The tree may live,
although it bear no
fruit. But the fruitless Christian carries his own
condemnatiou
within him. The Lord who came to earth to save,
lives in heaven to
reign, and finally will return to judge. It would not
be
just to found an argument upon what is but an illustration
Nevertheless, there is
very much express teaching from our Lord’s lips
as to the doom of the hypocrite.
The fruitless scribes and Pharisees
incurred
His anger and His condemnation; and there is no reason to
suppose
that those more privileged, and equally false and spiritually
worthless,
can escape their doom. To be fruitless is to “wither away.”
For the barren there is
no place in the vineyard of God.
PRAYER. It is a lesson we should scarcely have expected
to find attached
to this miracle. The amazement of Peter and the other disciples
was excited
by this exercise of power on the part of the Master. In reply
to their expressions
of wonder, Jesus, who was ever ready to give to the conversation
a practical
and profitable turn, discoursed upon the power of faith and
prayer.
Ø Faith gives
efficacy to effort. It removes mountains. But such is not
the work of the
doubter or of the vacillating. All moral miracles and
spiritual
triumphs are due to the faith which is placed, not in human
skill or power,
but in God Himself.
Ø Faith gives
efficacy to prayer. There are those who are mighty in
prayer. This is because they believe in God, to whom “all things
are possible.” Hesitating, half-hearted prayer is dishonoring
to God.
We are directed to
believe that we have received, at the very moment
when we offer our entreaties; which is certainly only possible to
strong faith. Yet
what encouragement
is there so to pray!
Ø The works
which may in this manner be accomplished, the blessings
which may thus be
obtained, are described in remarkable language.
Trees may be withered,
mountains may be removed, all things may
be had, by those who
have faith. No wonder that the poet says of faith,
it —
“Laughs
at impossibilities,
And
cries, ‘It shall be done!”
Ø Yet there
is a condition of a moral kind laid down by Christ. A
sincere and
forgiving disposition is indispensable. If we appeal to
a gracious and
benignant Father, if we ask of Him needed forgiveness,
we must approach
Him with a mind unstained by wrath, by malice, by
any lack of
charity.
The
Holy House (vs. 15-18)
It is
significant that our Lord should have performed the authoritative and
symbolical
act of
cleansing the temple twice — at the commencement, (John 2:13-17) and here,
again at
the close of His ministry, four days before His death. We learn that no real
reformation
had taken place in the religious habits of the chief priests and the people
who
frequented the holy place; they continued to practice the abuses which had been
already so
justly and so sternly rebuked. And we
learn also that Jesus, although hated
and
despised by the rulers, had abated none of His claims to authority and
jurisdiction!
Ø This was the
abuse of the temple. The holy house had been erected
for the
manifestation of the Divine glory, the celebration of Divine
worship, the
realization of Divine communion. No other material
structure has
ever possessed the sanctity which attached to this.
There were grades
of sanctity, culminating in the holy of holies; yet
all the precincts
and courts were consecrated to the God of Israel.
(“This is the law of the house; Upon the top of the mountain
the whole limit thereof round about shall be
most holy. Behold
this is the law of the house.” – Ezekiel
43:12 – I should think that
the modern church should rethink their turning
of vestibules into
markets – CY –
2010) To turn such a building to any
secular purpose
was an
unjustifiable abuse.
Ø The profanation
of
the temple. Three stages of profanation were
referred to: vessels
used for common purposes were carried through
the courts; money was
exchanged — foreign money,
with
the images, the superscription, the symbols, which denoted
heathenism,
for the shekels of the sanctuary; and doves and other
victims,
used for sacrifice and offerings, were openly bought and sold
Turning
the sacred precincts to purposes of gain was a heinous offense
against the majesty of the Lord of the temple.
Ø But even
this was not the worst, for there is implied the violation of
the temple. The
traffic which took place was distinguished by injustice
and fraud: “Ye have made it a den of robbers.” The
family of the high
priest are known to have
made this merchandise a source of unlawful
gain. In the exchange of
money there was unfairness, in the sale of
animals there was
extortion. It was bad enough that in the Lord’s
house there should be
trading, it was far worse that there
should be
rapacity
and fraud.
Ø This was independent.
Jesus
took counsel of no one, but acted of His
own accord, as One who
had no superior to whom to refer. He acted in
His own Name and in that
of His Father.
Ø It was peremptory.
We feel that it was but seldom that the meek and
lowly Jesus acted as on
this occasion. There was an unsparing severity
in His action and in His
language, when rescuing the holy house from
the profane intruders.
He did well to be angry.
ü It was impressive.
The
priests, who profited by the robbery, were
enraged; the scribes,
who resented the exercise of authority by the
Nazarene, were incensed;
and the people, who witnessed this
remarkable act, were
astonished.
INTERFERENCE. Our Lord
not only acted; He taught and explained the
meaning of His action. We cannot
suppose that He was animated by any
superstitious feelings in so acting,
and the record shows us what were His
motives.
Ø
He regarded the temple as the house of His Father, God.
Ø It was in
his view the house of prayer, and was to be reserved for
communion between human
spirits and Him who is the Father of
spirits.
Ø And it was
intended for the service of all nations, which gave it a
peculiar dignity and
sacredness in His eyes. These considerations
show why a Teacher,
whose whole teaching was peculiarly spiritual,
should display a zeal
for the sanctity of a local and material
representation of the Divine presence.
ü Its
immediate effect was to provoke the dread, the malice, and the
plots of the
scribes and priests. The incident occurred but a few days
before our Lord’s
crucifixion, and it appears to have led to that awful
event. In their
own interests, the religious leaders of the Jews felt
themselves
constrained to crush the power of One whose conduct and
teaching were so inconsistent
with their own. Thus one of the highest
exercises of our
Lord’s righteous authority was the occasion of His
most cruel humiliation
and shameful death.
ü Its more
remote effect has been to enhance the conception entertained
of Christ’s
character and official dignity and power. Humanity is God’s
true temple, too long
defiled by the occupation of the spiritual foe, and
desecrated to the
service of sin. Christ is
the Divine Purifier, who
dispossesses the enemy,
and restores the sanctuary to its destined ends,
the indwelling, the
worship, and the glory of the Eternal! - “What?
Know
ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost
which
is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?
For
ye are bought with a price: therefore
glorify God in your
body,
and in your spirit, which are God’s.” (I
Corinthians 6:19-20)
CHRIST’S AUTHORITY CHALLENGED, DEFENDED AND
VINDICATED
27 “And they come again to
temple, there come to Him the chief
priests, and the scribes, and the elders,
28 And say unto Him, By what authority doest thou these things? and who
gave
thee this authority to do these
things?” By what
authority doest then these things?
We
learn from v. 18 that the chief priests and scribes had already been seeking
how
they
might destroy Him, and they wanted to establish some definite charge, whether
of
blasphemy or of sedition, against Him. They now approach Him as He walked in
the temple,
and demand by what authority He was doing these things, such as
casting
out the profaners of the temple, teaching and instructing the people,
accepting
their Hosannas, etc. And who gave thee this
authority to do these things?
According
to the best reading, this sentence should run, or (Ἐν – En instead
of
καὶ - kai) who gave thee, etc., instead of "and
who gave thee," etc. So that the
questions are directed to two things - was
His authority inherent? or, was it derived?
29 “And Jesus answered and said unto them, I will also ask of you one
question,
and answer me, and I will tell you by
what authority I do these things.” I will ask
of you one question (ἐπερωτήσω
ὑμᾶς ἕνα
λόγον – eperotaeso humas
hena logon –
shall be inquiring of
you one word). The verb justifies the translation, one
question,
for
"one word." The question which our Lord put to them was one on which
hung
the
solution of that proposed by the scribes. It is as though he said, "You do
not
believe
me when I say that I have received power from God. Believe then John
the
Baptist, who bare witness of me that I was sent from God to do these
things."
30 “The baptism of John, was it from heaven, or of men? answer me.”
By the
"baptism of John" our Lord means his
testimony concerning Himself,
His
doctrine, and all His preaching. It is a synecdoche - the part put for the
whole.
The
argument is incontrovertible. It is this: "You ask from whence I derive my
authority
- from God or from men? I in my turn ask you from whom did John
the
Baptist derive his authority to baptize and to teach? from heaven or from men?
If he
had it from God, as all will confess, then I too have the same from God; for
John
testified of me, saying that he was but a servant, the friend of the Bridegroom;
but that I was the Messiah, the Son of God: and
this too when you sent messengers
to him
for his special purpose, that you might know from him whether he was the
Messias." (See John 1:20; 10:41.) Answer me. This is characteristic of Mark's style,
and of
our Lord's dignified earnestness.
31 “And they reasoned with themselves, saying, If we shall say,
From heaven; He will say, Why then did ye
not believe him?
32 But if we shall say, Of men; they feared the people: for all men
counted
John, that he was a prophet indeed.” They reasoned with themselves,
(like men anxious and perplexed) If we shall say, From heaven; He will say,
Why then did ye not believe him? For
he told you I was the
promised Messias,
and bade you prepare yourselves by repentance
to receive my grace and
salvation. But should we say, From men —
they feared the people: for all
verily held John to be a prophet.” This is a broken sentence, but very expressive.
The
evangelist leaves his reader to supply what they meant. They deemed it prudent
not to
finish the sentence; and probably cut it short with some significant
gesture.
They did
not like to confess that they feared the people; although
this was the true
reason why
they hesitated to say that John’s baptism was of men. They knew that
all the
people held John to be a prophet. They were thus thrown on one or other
horn of a
dilemma.
33 “And they answered and said unto Jesus, We cannot tell. And Jesus
answering saith
unto them, Neither do I tell you by what authority I
do these things.” We know not. They had seen the life of John. They had
heard His holy and Divine teaching. They were witnesses to His death for
THE TRUTH; and yet they lie. They might have
said,” We think it imprudent
or
inexpedient to say;” but for this they had not sufficient moral courage.
“Neither tell I you by
what authority I do these things.” You will
not answer
my
question; neither will I therefore answer yours; because your answer
to mine
is the answer
to your own. “He thus shows,” says
but would not answer; and that
He
knew, but did not speak, because
they were
silent as
to what they knew.” Our Lord did thus but mete out to them the
measure
which they
meted to Him. (An example of God taking
man in his own craftiness!
I
Corinthians 3:19; Job 5:13 - CY – 2019)
Authority
Vindicated (vs. 27-33)
The
conflict between the Divine Prophet and the leaders of the Jewish people was
now
at its
height. Jesus knew that His hour was at hand, and no longer either concealed
Himself,
or restrained His tongue from words of merited indignation, rebuke, and
almost
defiance. Thus the enmity of His foes was provoked, and His condemnation
was
assured.
EXERCISED. In three
respects this was now made most plain.
Ø The
teaching of Jesus at this time was characterized by the
assumption of a
superiority of knowledge and insight which must
have been galling
to the pride of His questioners, and which they
may have deemed
altogether arrogant.
Ø His public
entry into
aroused their hostility;
for, without courting their favor or support,
He took to Himself the
homage due to the King of Israel
Ø His
cleansing of the temple was an authoritative act, which was felt
all the more
acutely by His enemies as an attack upon themselves,
because their own practices were rebuked and their own
credit was
threatened, not to say that the base gains of some of them
were
imperiled. In
these respects Christ claimed and exercised a special
and vast
authority.
IMPUGNED. It is evident that it was a formal deputation
which
surrounded Him in the temple, and
sought to overawe and silence Him by
the question which they put: “By what authority doest thou these things?
and
who gave it thee?” There was on their part the assumption of their
own judicial right to inquire, to
silence, to condemn. They had acted in a
very similar manner with respect to
John the Baptist. To us this deputation,
and its inquisitorial proceedings,
are interesting, because they conclusively
establish the fact that the Lord
Jesus did claim to act as none other acted,
and thus aroused the hostility of
his unsympathizing and unspiritual foes.
HIMSELF. The way in
which He did this is remarkable.
Ø Why did not
Jesus directly account for His actions to the priests,
scribes, and
elders? Because He had done no wrong; in the acts He
had publicly
performed there was nothing for which they dared
expressly to
impugn Him. Because they themselves had corruptly
suffered and justified
one of the evils which he had redressed. To this
their conscience
testified. Because, being
unable to defend their own
position, they
could not be allowed to attack His. Because, above all,
being what He
was, (the Only Begotten Son of God
sent to redeem
the world) He was not
accountable, either to them or to others, for His
actions.
Ø Why did
Jesus vindicate Himself by retorting upon His assailants? by
reducing them to
helpless silence? Because He thus made evident the
agreement between John’s
ministry and His own. It was well known
that John had confessed
Jesus to be the One who should come, the
Messiah. (John 1:29-33, 3:26-36) Jesus appealed to John’s witness,
at the same time
claiming to have greater witness than that of John
(John 5:32-40) By the “baptism
of John” our Lord means his
testimony concerning
Himself, His doctrine, and all His preaching. It
is a synecdoche — the part put for the whole. The argument is
incontrovertible. It is
this: “You ask from whence I derive my
authority — from God or
from men? I in my turn ask you from whom
did John the Baptist
derive his authority to baptize and to teach? from
heaven or from men? If he had
it from God, as all will confess, then I
too have the same from
God; for John testified of me, saying that he
was but a servant, the
friend of the Bridegroom; but that I was the
Messiah, the Son of God:
and this too when you sent messengers
to him for his special
purpose, that you might know from him whether
he was the Messias.” John said
“I am not the Christ” (John 1:20)
and the Jews own
testimony was “all things that John spake of this
man
were true. (John 10:41)
- “Answer me!” Christ thus
exhibited
the utter incompetency of His enemies to judge His claims. They were
not prepared publicly
either to avow or to disavow sympathy with,
confidence in, the
ministry of the great forerunner. How,
then, could
any
stress be laid upon their judgment with respect to him to whom
John
had witnessed?
Ø What was
the effect of this method of dealing with His assailants? It
is evident that
the leaders of the Jews were discredited and put to shame.
It is equally
evident that the minds of the people were influenced in
Christ’s favor. But, above all, the true, proper, underived,
and
incomparable authority of Christ shines
forth in unrivalled
brightness and beauty.
One final
note, as Christians we are to “be ready
always to give an answer to
every man that asketh you
a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness
and fear” – (I Peter 3:15) The life and works of Christ are His
justification. They
prove Him “sent from God.” (John
6:29) The experience of the operation of
Christian doctrine and practice in the
ages subsequent to the Cross. (the last
two thousand years) bear Him witness. The immediate witness of the conscience
and the heart
(yours and mine – CY – 2010) does the same! All Divine revelations
have similar evidence, and stand or fall together. Had they
believed John, they
would have
believed Jesus. As they believed neither, it must have been because they
hated the truth. (Let us beware lest this
attitude come upon you and me – CY – 2010)
It was for
the interests of true religion that this fact should
be made evident. Christ
proceeded
to prove the traditional unrighteousness of the Jewish people
and their
leaders in a series of following “parables” or similitudes,
which were at
the same
time so many appeals to conscience. There is an unbroken connection
between ch. 11 and ch.12 .
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The Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem (vs. 1-11)
“To
Jerusalem, to Bethphage and Bethany,” the order of
mention being
determined
by reckoning from the place whither the
movement was being
made. They
began, therefore, with
fragrant with tender associations with both the human
and the Divine.
arrangements for its
being celebrated with becoming order and dignity.
Ø
The unforeseen and unexpected was
foreseen and prepared for by
Christ. If Divine
advents are delayed, or Divine celebrations fail of their
loftiest end, it is not because of failure or unreadiness
in him. He was
willing to have made this triumph a real, permanent, and universal one. He
is ever in advance of the event, whether it be a triumph or a
crucifixion.
Above all, he was ready in himself.
Ø
It was to his own disciples he looked
for a supply of what was required
for his triumph. He appealed to their recognition of his
authority — “ the
Lord.” The claim was allowed by the stranger who
owned the colt. It was
freely given when asked. Christians are to make ready for their Lord’s
triumph. They have all that he needs, if it be but freely rendered. He will
throne himself amidst their gifts if they have him enthroned in their hearts.
Nothing but what is freely rendered is
acceptable to him or desired by him.
It should be enough for a disciple to know what
the Lord will have him do
and of what the Lord has need.
volume and excitement as it
approached the city.
Ø
The movement was natural and spontaneous. No
signs of getting it up.
The enthusiasm it expressed already existed.
Direction and order were
imparted, but the motive was self-developed.
Ø
It was of a predominantly spiritual character.
The attraction did not lie in
the accessories, but in the central Figure. Never had the native glory of
the
Messiah been so
manifest. The Jews, had they only known, were on the
verge of an apocalypse, which only depended upon their spiritual
preparedness. “Meekness is nobler and mightier than force, goodness than
grandeur” (Godwin).
Ø
It was a manifest fulfillment of
prophecy. The people were conscious of
it as they shouted. Their words are a quotation from Psalm 118.
o
“‘Hosanna!’ The word was a Hebrew imperative,
‘Save us, we
beseech thee,’ and had come into liturgical use from Psalm 118.
That psalm belonged specially to the Feast of
Tabernacles, and
as such was naturally associated with the palm branches; the
verses from it now chanted by the people are said to have been
those with which the inhabitants of
welcome the pilgrims who came up to keep the feast. The
addition of ‘Hosanna to the Son of David’ made it a direct recognition
of the claims of Jesus to be the Christ; that of ‘Hosanna in the highest’
(compare Luke 2:14)
claimed heaven as in accord with earth in this
recognition.
o
‘Blessed be [‘the King,’ in St. Luke] he that
cometh in the Name of the
Lord.’ These words, too, received a special,
personal application. The
welcome was now given, not to the crowd of pilgrims, but to the King.
o
As in Luke, one of the cries was an echo of the
angels’ hymn at the
Nativity, ‘Peace
on earth, and glory in the highest’ (Luke 2:14).
o
As in Mark, ‘Blessed be
the kingdom of our father David.’ We have
to think of these shouts as filling the air as he rides slowly on in
silence.
He will not check them at the bidding of the
Pharisees (Luke 19:39), but
his own spirit is filled with quite other thoughts than theirs” (Plumptre).
Yet, because of the unpreparedness
of the people, the fulfillment was
only provisional, not ultimate; typical, not actual. In its spiritual idea,
its universal influence (“all the city was moved”), its spontaneous
acclaim, it spoke of that which is to come; in its outwardness,
its
question, “Who is this?” and answer, “This is Jesus, the Prophet
of Nazareth of Galilee,” its readiness to pass from praise to
execration, it showed how distant the people were from the true
realization.
Ø
Seen in the destination to which he
came. “He
entered the temple.” He
is Priest as well as King. “Yet have I set my King upon my holy hill of
Zion” (Psalm 2:6). It is from the holy place
that his rule extends; and
there it begins, and is most intensely and specially exercised. He is Key to
all the mysteries there; Center of all the symbols and rites. This
suggests
that his reign is primarily and essentially a spiritual one. As King of
saints
he reigns in the earth.
Ø
Expressed and exercised in a “look.” “He looked round about upon all
things.” “Not simply as one might gaze who had never been there before:
an arbitrary and wanton idea; but as one who had a right to inspect the
condition of the place, and who was determined to assert and exercise that
fight” (Morison). So is he Lord of that temple not made with hands — the
body in which he dwelt, and the spirit in which he offered the eternal
sacrifice; and so will he take account of the secrets of human nature in the
great day, for is he not “the Son of man”?
“The Lord hath
need of him.” (v. 3)
How
singular the conjunction! Need of a colt! In what sense was such a
creature
necessary for the Lord of all? In what sense is anything created
necessary
to the Creator? As showing forth his glory, and fulfilling his
purposes.
CAPACITY OF
GLORIFYING GOD.
EXCLUSIVELY
OR MORE FITTINGLY EXPRESS A CERTAIN
PHASE OF
THE DIVINE GLORY. What else could so set forth the
meekness, the lowliness, of the Son of man? or the privilege
and freedom
the young Church, of which he was the only burden and law?
In that colt
the brute world had its most honored representative. So in
human poverty,
simplicity, weakness, and ignorance, the glory of God may be
shown forth
the more conspicuously.
CHRIST, i.e. OF
GOD, ALL THINGS.
GLORIOUSLY
ENDOWED, IN PERSONAL CONSECRATION AND
EFFORT FOR
THE GLORY OF GOD. If he had need for a colt, we cannot
say he has no need for us.
Jesus Surveying the Temple (v. 11)
highest standpoint.
nothing upon which the look can rest
with approval and satisfaction. It
goes round, but returns not. It goes through and beyond. The
temple in its
condition was symbolical of the people.
He has it not in his heart to inflict the final stroke at
once. He will wait. A
day of grace is still left. Is this our case — as a Church? as individuals?
The Destruction of the Fig Tree (vs.
12-14, 20 -25)
Ø
Not an outcome of petulance or
disappointment. The idea of Christ
being “in a temper” is preposterous! The difficulty as to the phrases, “if
haply he might find anything thereon,” and “he found nothing but leaves;
for it was not the season of figs,” is for the most part factitious and
artificial. Our Lord was not mistaken — first expectant and then
disappointed. “He came to the tree, not for the sake of eating, but for the
sake of performing an adumbrative action (sed aliquid praefigurandi
causa)” (Zuiugli).
“His hunger, too, was the occasion that gave shape to
his adumbrative action, when he went to the leafy tree to see if there was
fruit on it” (Morison).
Ø
But neither was it an action symbolizing the penalty of spiritual
barrenness. Its proximity in spirit and time to the
cleansing of the temple
inclines the mind to a parabolic meaning in that direction; so also Peter’s
strong word “cursedst,” which seems at first to
convey an impression of
moral displeasure. As a merely natural incident, it is hard to reduce the
disproportion it exhibits between the apparently judicial sentence and its
occasion. On the other hand, it is harder still to explain Christ’s total
silence as to the reference to spiritual barrenness and its penalty, if such a
reference had ever been intended. The circumstance that a day intervened
between the sentence of Christ and Peter’s noting the result, would seem
to demand that the Master should have “pointed the moral” in some more
manifest way. Again, what he did teach concerning the occurrence, so far
as it has been preserved, suggests that the action was “adumbrative” in a
simpler and more direct sense, of that, namely, of which he spoke — the
power of God commanded through faith. “The significance
of this event is
different from that of the parable given by St. Luke (Luke 13:6), to
show the doom of impenitence. In that, the fig tree was planted in a
vineyard; everything was done for its culture that could be done; and not
till after years of barrenness was it cut down. Here the fig tree was
growing
by the road; it belonged to no one, and nothing had been done for its
improvement; and it was destroyed when its uselessness was made
manifest. It was fruitless, because the fruit season had not come, and no
old fruit remained on the branches. It was, therefore, not a fit emblem of
the impenitent Jews. But the destruction of a senseless and worthless
thing
made known the power of Christ, as sufficient to destroy, though used only
to restore” (Godwin, ‘Matthew’). As illustrative of Divine power it was
splendidly significant. To wither was within the power of any one, but to
wither by a word was a supernatural act only possible to one in
closest
fellowship with God.
in God.”
Ø
Greater results than it are attained by
his servants if they will but
believe.
o
In doing. The words “shall say unto this
mountain,” etc., are figurative.
A magnificent promise! Not only such an act as
the withering of the fig
tree, but one comparable to the uprooting of the
which it grew (against which, by the way, there could surely be no
“judicial resentment”
even in the most metaphorical sense). It is spoken
of moral and spiritual difficulties met with in fulfilling the great
commission, or in individual spiritual growth.
o
In receiving. Here the whole doctrine of prayer
came up again for
review. The answer was not to be merely looked forward to as
coming, or even imminent, but was to be realized as already
fulfilling itself in present experience. A secret of intense and
successful devotion.
Ø
The ground of
all such power is moral and spiritual oneness with God.
The general conditions of prayer being answered,
viz. agreeableness to the
Divine will, advantage of the kingdom of God,
etc., are all supposed. But,
in addition, the boon of forgiveness is chiefly referred to as of
greatest
moment; and, in connection with it, the necessity of a forgiving disposition
in the petitioner, as a condition of his being answered. This is one of
the
highest phases of spiritual or moral power, and is only possible through
partaking of the Divine Spirit, in other words, through oneness with God.
Jesus Cleansing the Temple (vs. 11-15)
A second
occasion; the first occurring at the beginning of His ministry
(John
2:13-17). A fulfillment of Malachi 3:1-2.
TO DECAY
AND ABUSE. Most of the abominations swept away by
Christ had their origin in immemorial custom, and the
demands of the
worshippers themselves. Traffic came to assume a religious
character, and
gain was excused on account of ceremonial exigencies and
conveniences.
This tendency recurs and culminates. How suggestive the
contrast — “a
house of prayer,” “a den of thieves”!
AND
PURPOSE. The essence of the old worship was simple, personal
devotion, of which rites and sacrifices were only of use as
the expression.
Through the intrusion of the business spirit, the latter
came to be regarded
as important for their own sake.
PURE
WORSHIP. This act of Christ is in perfect accord with
his whole
character and life. It but expresses his spirit and
influence. Every reform Or
advance of the Church is due to his
agency.
REVELATION
HE MAKES OF THE CHARACTER OF God AND THE
SIGNIFICANCE
OF SACRED THINGS. The
original purpose of the
temple is restated, and he emphasizes the spiritual side of
worship. It is to
pray, to commune with our Father, we go up into the temple.
Everything
which interferes with or corrupts that simple motive, is an
abuse and an
evil. The gospel, in recalling men to a sense of
righteousness and the love
of God, creates the prayer-spirit. And the Holy Ghost
sustains the
communion thus established. From time to time the Spirit
takes of the
things of God and reveals them afresh, making fresh advents
to the heart,
and kindling the flame of zeal and love.
AND
ENLIGHTENMENT, WILL PROVOKE HATRED AND
OPPOSITION
IN THOSE WHOSE INTERESTS ARE THREATENED;
BUT THERE
WILL EVER BE OTHERS BY WHOM IT WILL BE
WELCOMED. Those who
are interested in the status quo will resent
interference with it. Priestly importance and the spirit of
selfishness are
potent antagonists to true worship. But the “multitude” has
within it ever
some who yearn after better things. The human longing after
the Divine is
enshrined in the common heart of man.
The Church — Tdeal and
Actual (v. 17)
Ø A twofold character. (Isaiah
56:7.)
o
A house of prayer. This recognition of a
spiritual end to be secured by
the institution of the temple is most remarkable, as having taken place
in an era of ceremonialism. It is not a priestly but a prophetic point of
view, in which details are lost sight of in the inward and eternal. The
temple was to be “called a house of prayer” as indicative not of a
special but rather of an exclusive purpose; any other being a
transgression and an offense. It was to be set apart for the most
sacred occupations of the soul — fellowship and communion
with God. An emphasis was thereby given to the Divine side of
life. Men were to seek the presence of God that they might receive
his grace and truth. A space was marked off from the business and
secularities of life, so that, undisturbed from without, and aided by
all the circumstances of devotion, the higher nature might be called
forth and educated. Instead of worldly cares and competitions
distracting the worshippers, they were to be engrossed for a while
with their Father’s business. How important is this witness of the
Church to the claims of the unseen and eternal!
It is the sphere
within which the highest exercise of human faculties may take place,
and the noblest life may be laid hold of.
There may be no immediate
demand for what it provides, yet does it minister to the deepest and
most lasting human needs.
o
The spiritual home of mankind. The defect of
Judaism was that it was
too national and exclusive: all that was to cease. From the earliest times
the universality of the Divine grace was declared by the prophets.
Even from within a principle of expansion began
to discover itself.
The presence of the “stranger” within the camp
led to the recognition
of the “proselytes of the gate,” and by-and-by to the institution of the
“court of the Gentiles”
in the temple itself. The fundamental doctrine
of Jehovah itself implied such an intention as ultimate if not
immediate, for before him there was no respect of persons, and He
was the Father of all. The promises, too, were all couched in terms
that precluded a merely local or temporary enjoyment of
their blessings. Even as taught in the Old Testament the doctrine of
election is declared to be a temporary provision for the benefit of
others besides the elect. The chief end of the temple, or the Church
which it represented, could not be secured save by the conversion
of the world to the knowledge of Jehovah, and the spiritual coming
of mankind to
as the spiritual successor of Judaism, to give effect to this. The
Church is a witness to the oneness of the race
in its origin and destiny,
and the great foster-mother of mankind. Through her charity, and
not by mechanical necessities or material interests, is the unity
of the world to be realized.
Ø This
twofold intention of the Church is certain to be fulfilled. As we
have seen, it is:
o
the Divine purpose: everything God wills will
be; and
o
the genius of Christianity. If Judaism declared a universal brotherhood,
Christianity is that brotherhood. It teaches us to say,” Our Father,” and
realizes itself in the communion of saints. The Church is not an end in
itself, but is for the world.
Christianity is nothing if it is not evangelistic
and aggressive.
intended has been frustrated by the
worldliness of men. The consequence
has been:
Ø A
complete contradiction to its original purpose. Even in Jeremiah’s
day the epithet, “a den of thieves,” could be applied to it (Jeremiah
7:11);
so soon does spiritual decay run to its term! That which was meant
to be a universal good became a universal curse. The abuse of sacred
things is ever the most mischievous of all abuses. Instead of Divine charity,
human selfishness: the wrangling and violence of robbers where the peace
of God was to be looked for. The contrast is utter,
but the transition is easy
and natural. The very extension of Judaism, outstripping as it did the
expansion of affection in its members, sufficed to ensure its corruption.
Worshippers came from distant places to offer
sacrifice, and being unable
to bring animals with them for the purpose, they sought for them on the
spot. Gradually, therefore, the courts of the temple were invaded by
cattle-
dealers and their herds. Another inconvenience was felt in the difficulty of
exchanging foreign money for the sacred coin which could alone be
accepted in the treasury. Here the money-changer stepped in. The whole
process was gradual and easily explained; but the result was none the less
an evil, which required to be sternly corrected. Nor can Christians plead
innocence of this sin. “The history of Christian Churches,” says Plumptre,
“has not been
altogether without parallels that may help us to understand
how such a desecration came to be permitted. Those who remember the
state of the great cathedral of
Elizabeth and James, when mules and horses,
laden with market produce,
were led through
bargains were struck there, and burglaries planned, and servants hired, and
profligate assignations made and kept, will feel that even Christian and
Protestant England has hardly the right to cast
a stone at the priests and
people of
this is not the purpose for which the sanctuary has been hallowed, and the
lesson of the past is surely that of a constant watchfulness against
insidious
abuses, and above all of the need of a deeper and more continuous
consecration of the worshippers themselves.
Ø
Divine anger and rejection. The wrath of the Lord of the temple was
typical for all time. As the temple, so the Church or the soul which defiles
itself will be visited by penal consequences. Sacred names and ceremonies
will not consecrate vile ends. There is nothing more abhorrent to God than
the travesty of religion, the seeking of gain under the mask of Godliness.
Christ’s Authority Challenged and Defended (vs.
27-33)
This was a
necessary consequence of his action in the cleansing of the temple. By
so doing he claimed to be the Judge of things religious and
sacred, and to direct
the conscience of man.
RELIGIOUS SYSTEMS AND INSTITUTIONS OF MEN IS ONE OF
AUTHORITY. Only direct Divine sanction, or a higher truth
vindicating
itself at the bar of reason and conscience, or in the field
of experience, can
justify the attitude of Christ and his religion towards the
religions and
superstitions of men. Arbitrary assumption will soon belay
itself, and the
spiritual nature of man must be satisfied. This question of
authority is sure
to be raised sooner or later by the upholders of the systems
and beliefs
Christianity impugns. And Christians are counselled
to “give a reason of
the hope that is in” them.
SUFFICIENCY OF EVIDENCE,
Ø The
life and works of Christ are his justification. They prove him “sent
from God.” The evidence upon which our belief in
these is based is as
strong, at least, as for any other
historic matter.
Ø
The experience of the operation of
Christian doctrine and practice in
the
ages subsequent to the Cross.
Ø The
immediate witness of the conscience and the heart. With the
first
and the third of these the temple authorities were
already conversant.
AUTHORITY OF CHRIST OR HIS SERVANTS MAY BE RESISTED
AND EXPOSED.
Ø
Christ knew the motives of his
inquisitors.
Ø
He placed them in a false position in
order to expose these to
themselves
and others.
Ø
All Divine revelations have similar
evidence, and stand or fall together.
Had they believed John, they would have believed Jesus. As
they
believed neither, it must have been
because they hated the truth. It was
for the interests of true religion that this fact
should be made evident. He
proceeded to prove the traditional unrighteousness of the
Jewish people
and their leaders in a series of “parables” or similitudes, which were at
the same time so many appeals to conscience. (It
would be well for the
preacher to remark upon the unbroken
consecution of ch. 11 and 12 in
the spoken discourse of Christ.)
Jesus the King (vs. 1-3)
On the
occasion described in these verses Jesus assumed kingly authority.
Loved as a
Friend, revered as a Teacher, and followed as a Worker of
miracles,
he now declared his kingliness, and demanded obedience and
homage.
Therein he taught us, his subjects, some lessons.
two disciples this command must have appeared
strange. After finding the
animal denoted, they were not to ask for it, but to take it;
and if their
action was questioned they were merely to say, “The Lord
hath need of
him.” If it belonged to a foe, some might arrest or assail
them for robbery.
It was not the first occasion, however, on which they simply
obeyed. Christ
had a right to their absolute obedience, and their faith was
tested by this
demand upon it. Unquestioning obedience to truth and to duty
is far too
rare. We want to see the reasons for a command, the probable
issues of it,
and when we see neither too often we withhold obedience.
Peril from this
is now more frequent, because authority as such is weakened
on all sides.
Children in the home, which is the true sphere for the
cultivation of
obedience, are too often allowed to question when they ought
to be told to
obey. If we are sure of duty as followers of Jesus Christ,
we must be
regardless of consequences. He anticipates our difficulties,
as he foresaw
the question of the owner of the colt. He asks us to take
one step, and to
take it boldly, although we do not see what the next will
be, nor whither it
may lead us. If we go on to the
and cut off our foes from following us. If an angel rouses
us from sleep,
and we arise and follow him, the great iron gate we cannot
stir will open to
us of its own accord.
REQUIRES, We forget
that we are not the absolute owners of anything.
All we have is held in trust; but our seeming possession
tests our
disposition, and helps to develop character. If we wish to
prove the
honesty of a servant, and let his skill in management grow,
we do not give
him a small sum each day, and check and watch him till the
evening, and
then expect a strict account. No; we put a large sum at his
disposal, and
“after a long time ‘ reckon with him, with the result, that
if he has been
faithful he has increased his capital and his fitness. So
God puts at our
disposal wealth, talents, etc., in the hope that for our own
sake we will use
all loyally for him. Christ Jesus, during his ministry, was
as one “having
nothing, and yet possessing all things.” No colt was his,
but one was there,
and when its owner heard “The Lord hath need of him,” it was
ready for
the Lord’s use. The message sent to that man, when it comes
home to our
hearts, should silence all objections to the making of
effort or sacrifice. If
we have to give up some luxury so as to help the poor, if we
have to
sacrifice leisure that is hardly earned to teach the
ignorant, if we have to
part with one who is dear to us, our anger and defiance will
be quieted
when we say to ourselves, “The Lord
hath
need of them.” The owner was
perhaps a secret disciple. The Lord knew him, although the
apostles did
not. Now, after loving Jesus quietly, the opportunity for
showing his love
was suddenly proffered, and he gladly gave what he could.
Christ asks of
us, as he asked of him, what is possible and reasonable; and
instead of
waiting to do something great, let us do what we can, and
that which is
mean in itself will be hallowed and glorified when
used by our Lord.
his kingliness had been concealed except from the
nearest and dearest
disciples. On this occasion it was declared. Yet the spiritual
nature of that
kingliness was so evident in his dress, in the animal he
bestrode, and in his
attendants, that when a few days afterwards he was charged
with calling
himself a King, no reference was made to this incident
before Herod or
Pilate. Such is the nature of his kingdom still. His
sovereignty is not
advanced by material force or by worldly cunning. To him, as
a spiritual
Ruler, gifts do not take the place of earnest prayer; nor is
attendance on the
means of grace a substitute for fellowship of soul with God.
His kingdom
was inaugurated by death; it was founded on a grave; it was
built up by the
Spirit, “that the excellency of the power may be of God, and
not of us.”
Hence he approached
but on an ass, on which rode messengers of peace; as if he
were
determined that he would not come in judgment till to the
last love had
been tried. Thus he comes to us, in quiet suggestions, in
holy desires, in
tears, and prayers; but hereafter he will come in power and
great glory,
fulfilling the vision
conquering, and to conquer.
Palm Sunday (vs. 8-10)
We
sometimes wonder that the greatest Teacher, the divinest
Master the
world ever
saw, was so little recognized during his ministry. Our surprise
would be
lessened if we fairly put ourselves in the position of his
contemporaries.
Suppose news came to our metropolis that in a distant
hamlet,
among working people, a child had been born, and that rumors of
portents
accompanying his birth found favor in that country-side. Suppose
that, as
years rolled on, it was reported that this child, now a man, had
done some marvellous works; and that, after several visits to the
city, he
came into
it accompanied by his followers, chiefly peasants, neither learned
nor
wealthy. The probabilities are that although some might know him to
be a great
teacher, a man of unquestioned holiness and of astonishing
pretensions,
the hum of business would not be hushed for a moment, and
few would turn aside to see his festal procession.
Ø
His welcome would
have been more speedy and general had he come
differently. All through his ministry we find evidence of
that. There was
eagerness for a Messiah of a certain type. A promise to restore the
theocracy, and overthrow the Roman tyranny, would have been hailed with
a unanimous shout of delight. But our Lord would not be content, and
never is, with a worldly homage, such as a Christian nation, for example,
offers when it calls itself by his Name, and violates his principles. Unless
he
rules human hearts, he has no joy and the ruled no bliss. Even an earthly
king desires real loyalty; but he cannot read men’s thoughts nor see how in
heart his flatterers despise him. If he could, how thankfully would he turn
from the adulation of courtiers to the unsophisticated love of his
children!
So our Lord turned from priests and Pharisees to
the humble peasants of
Galilee and the
loving children in
homage, Christ came, and still comes, quietly. He comes not with peals of
thunder and visions of angels, nor even as a national leader appealing to
popular passion and armed force; but, in quiet thoughts and in happy
Christian homes, he reveals’ himself to those
seeking the truth, or burdened
with sin.
Ø
Even such a welcome as this given on
Palm Sunday was unusual. His
motto seemed to be, “He shall not strive, nor cry, nor cause his voice to be
heard in the streets.” Popular applause was suppressed, and even natural
enthusiasm was cooled. If people would take him by force to make him a
king, he departed and did hide himself from them. If the disciples saw a
glimpse of his glory on the Mount of Transfiguration, he said, “See that ye
tell no man.” His miracles were quietly wrought, generally with but few
witnesses, and those blessed were often told not to publish it. But on this
first day of the last week he wished to have an unwonted procession. In the
crowds who had come together for the Passover all the elements of it were
ready, if he only gave a sign of his willingness to receive it. And this he
did.
He arranged for it. He sent to the village for
the young colt, and when it
was brought he sat upon it, and allowed a simple procession to be formed,
which increased in numbers and enthusiasm as they drew nearer to
Jerusalem.
Ø
This exceptional scene was wisely
ordered.
o
The memory of it would help the disciples in the
dark days which ended
that eventful week; for they would reflect that it was not want of power,
but want of will, which did not allow him to rouse the people in his
defense. “The Good Shepherd giveth his life for the sheep.”
o
Besides, it would give an opportunity to the
people to see him as the
King he claimed to be, and it was possible that
some who had resisted
other influences might yield to this, and pay him homage now, lie had
come as a babe to
a child, only to be wondered at when he sat among the doctors; he
had come to the feasts, and scarcely any had recognized him. He
had come” unto his own, and his own received him
not.” Once
more, in a new way, he would draw near. He would try one more
avenue to the closed heart before uttering the pathetic lament,
“O
Jerusalem, Jerusalem, how often would I have
gathered thy children… and ye would not!”
o
Further, there was something prophetic and
typical in this procession.
The triumphal entry was a symbol of the
resurrection on that day week,
and of his later ascension to heaven amidst the hosannas of the angels.
It was a prophecy also of his kingly progress
through history, and of
his second coming in glory, when all in heaven and all on earth will
cry, “Blessed is he that cometh in the Name of the Lord!”
may see, perhaps, representatives of ourselves.
Ø Enthusiasts
were there. They had seen his miracles, and with loud
hosannas spread their garments in his
way. He foresaw with sadness the
change that would come over them. They applauded on Olivet,
but they
were absent from Calvary. Beware of spasmodic enthusiasm,
and ask for
grace to stand by Christ’s cause in times of trouble as well
as in times of
triumph.
Ø Foes
were there. They kept quiet while the crowd of his followers
surrounded them; but soon they would
raise the cry, “Crucify him!
crucify him!” It is possible to “crucify the
Son of God afresh, and
put him to an open shame.” (Hebrews
6:6)
Ø Disciples
were there. The blind who had been restored, demoniacs who
had been delivered, learners who had sat reverently
at his feet. In the
procession which still is following the
Lord, may we find our place!
Jesus in the
Temple (v. 15)
“Jesus went into the temple.” The act was characteristic and
suggestive.
AND THAT OF
JOHN. From the beginning to the end of his ministry the
Baptist, so far as we know, was a stranger to the temple
courts. John was
in the wilderness, and the people from Jerusalem and Judea
“went out” to
hear him. Christ was never apart from his people. He was not
a voice
crying in the wilderness, but the Good Shepherd, who,
instead of expecting
his strayed sheep to seek him, came after them, to seek and
to save that
which was lost. In accordance with this, Jesus entered into
the temple, or
taught in the synagogues, or went into the homes of the
people, to teach
the ignorant and to bless the needy. Here is a
distinguishing mark of the
great Redeemer as contrasted with the great reformer; and it
is also
distinctive of their work. A reformer points the way of
righteousness to
those willing to walk in it. A Redeemer, by the power of his
love and life,
touches and turns the hearts of the children of men. John
said in effect, “Do
what you can in the way of moral reform.” Christ in effect
said, “I have
come to do for you is uplifted to her lofty pedestal; but,
conscious of her
beauty and of his failures, the sinner can only say, “It is
high, I cannot
attain unto it.” Christ Jesus comes down amongst us from the
lofty
heavens, as One meek and lowly, and says, “Behold, I stand
at the door,
and knock: if any man will open the door, I will
come in to him.”
DISPENSATION. He was
often accused of setting himself against the
Law. This act was one of many proofs he gave of the truth of
his words, “I
came not to destroy, but to fulfill.” He knew, as others did
not, that the
work of the temple was almost done, and that it would
shortly perish in the
flames; he knew that, though it had such marvellous
material stability, it
was one of “the things that could be shaken,” and would be
removed, so
that “the things which could not be shaken might remain.”
But so long as
the temple remained as the house of God he honored it, and
encouraged his
disciples to do so. He kept its feasts; he taught and healed
its worshippers;
he led his followers to join in its praises and prayers and he
showed the
people, by this act of cleansing, that they were guilty if
they desecrated
God’s appointed house of prayer.
FORBEARANCE
AND PATIENCE. As followers of Christ we should
learn to put up with, and to use to the utmost, what we know
is imperfect
and transient. If we see an organization which aims at what
we approve,
but which in our judgment is imperfect, and resolve to
withhold our
sympathy and support till it perfectly accords with our
views, we are not
following our Lord in this. If we recognize the faults of
our fellow-
Christians, and are so vexed at their folly that we
determine to have no
more fellowship or co-operation with them, we are not
following our Lord
in this. If we have attempted to reform society or to rescue
a sinner, and
have apparently failed, so that we give up all further
effort in despair, we
are not following our Lord. For once before, at the
beginning of his
ministry, he had cleansed this temple and driven forth the
buyers and
sellers, but the evil had reasserted itself, so that it was
defiled as much as
formerly. Still patiently and hopefully he cleansed it
again, and made the
place ring with his words of truth,
and beautified it by his works of mercy.
FALSE AND
EVIL. He went to
the temple to worship, although in the
crowds he saw there so few that were spiritually in sympathy
with him. But
he would not allow any mistake to be made about his
association with evil.
He was not like those who are so silent about wrong-doing or
false
teaching that all around suppose that they sympathize with
it. Such silence
is guilty. If Christ saw evil he looked upon it with pain
and shame, and
therefore once more before he left the temple, which was the
scene of it, he
made a bold protest and uttered a final rebuke. He
associated with the
good, but he cast out the evil.
Christ Cleansing the Temple (vs. 15-17)
The acts of
our Lord were not merely intended to accomplish an immediate
result. Had
they been, they were sadly ineffectual. If, for example, he had
simply set
before himself the design of clearing the temple of intruders, he
could have
secured that end more permanently than he did. But he
recognized
that the noblest thing is not to cut off a public abuse, but to dry
up the
spring whence it flows, which often lies deep in the human heart.
Remedial
measures are better than repressive legislation. When our Lord
for a
second time cleansed the temple, his main object was not to put down
the abuse immediately
by force, but to rebuke the sin, and so to lead the
people to
think about it, confess, and forsake it. He wished to establish the
principle
that the temple of God should be free from worldliness, a
principle
which is capable of world-wide application. As the material
temple
rises before our vision through the mists of past years, we hail it as
an image of
the invisible temple in which the Eternal God is praised and
served by
his people. Two truths appear prominently in this incident.
the sins of other people and of other times, we
are:
Ø
Apt to forget how naturally and
imperceptibly they obtained place and
power. The Jews easily lapsed into this desecration.
The Mosaic code
ordained sacrifices of oxen, goats, and sheep in great numbers. In process
of time the habits of the nation changed, so that it was no longer
possible,
as it had been in the pastoral period, to take a victim from a flock or
herd
close at hand. Jerusalem was now a large and crowded city. Space was
costly, and a large area seemed to be necessary where worshippers could
obtain victims. In the vast temple area a large space was available. It was
close by the sacrificial altar, and not set apart for the actual worship of
the
chosen people. If it were used for stalls and pens, a good rental would be
secured which would pay for the repair and decoration of the building, and
so the glory of the sanctuary would be maintained and devout worshippers
accommodated. So the abuse grew up, amid the protests of the few and the
silence of the many, and all were tolerating an evil which they could not
openly defend. Evils have generally sprung up in the Church insidiously. If
they had come in their hideous maturity they would have been repelled
with horror, but they were welcomed when they came like the tiny child a
legendary saint took on his shoulders, to find him grow so heavy as to
crush him with his weight. Examples of this may be found in ecclesiastical
history: e.g. papal pretensions,
simony, erastianism; all of which in their
germ seemed to have about them something reasonable and right.
Ø
The root of the
special evil here denounced was covetousness. Probably
that was the besetting sin of the nation in our Lord’s day. Publicans sold
themselves to the tyrants of their country, because wealth was more to
them than patriotism. Priests and Sadducees let out sites to the temple
traders, because they would make gain of godliness, and cared more for the
temple income than for spiritual worship. This spirit pervaded the entire
nation. There was no sign of the splendid generosity of David, and no
need, as in Moses’ days, to restrain the people from giving. The sin
appeared among the apostles. We see it in all its hideousness in Judas
Iscariot, who betrayed his Lord for thirty
pieces of silver, and then flung
the money at the feet of the priests as they sat in the
love of money is declared to be “the root of all evil,” and the statement
is
in harmony with the words of our Lord about the difficulty a rich man
would find in entering his kingdom. Show how generally such teaching is
forgotten among different classes of our population. See the effects of this
in the floating of unsound speculations in which the fortunes of the
unwary
are wrecked; in the unfairness of men to each other in the common
relations of life; in the unjust wars of aggression which the nation has
sometimes waged. The Christian Church is called upon to set an example
of the opposite of all this, in her princely generosity and in her
Christ-like
self-sacrifice.
Ø
There are other ways besides
covetousness by which desecration may
enter God’s temple.
There is unbelief, which silences the voice of prayer in
professed believers; worldliness, which puts material organization in the
place of spiritual power; pride, which prevents hearty fellowship amongst
God’s people; expediency, which usurps the
throne of truth; and self-
indulgence, which expels self-devotion. So the temple is defiled; for “know
ye not that ye are the
when he saw the sanctuary of his Father transformed into a place of
worldly traffic, and he feels it still as he beholds a Christian community
desecrated by the power of sin.
We too soon get accustomed to evils, and tolerate them,
until One mightier
than ourselves alone can expel them. What priests and
Levites failed to do,
Jesus did, and none resisted him.
Ø
His coming was an act of sublime condescension. It would have been far
pleasanter to him to go into the fields, where the sower
cast his seed; or to
sail over the lake, in which fishermen plied their nets; or to walk over
the
hillsides, on which the flowers whispered of his Father’s love. He knew
what the temple was, yet he did not forsake it; but came again and again,
in
spite of the unreality and sin that prevailed in it. As willingly he will
enter
the heart or the Church, which is unworthy of his presence.
2. His
coming was not such as might have been expected. The Jews
had
often read the words, “The Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to
his temple,” etc., but as they were looking heavenward the prophecy was
fulfilled by the coming of this young Galilean Peasant. As they waited in
vain for a startling advent, so some now wait for a special manifestation
of
his presence, and ignore the fact that he is already with them in the holy
thoughts which they refuse to welcome. “Behold, them standeth
one
among you, whom ye know not.” It is the realized presence of the living
Christ which will purge the heart or the Church
of evil thought and habit,
and transform it into the temple of the Most High. May He, who is the
source of spiritual power and heavenly purity, come amongst
us and
abide with us for ever!
The Royal Entry into the Royal City (vs. 1-10)
Simple
indeed are the preparations for the entry of Zion’s King into his
own city.
“Go your way into the village that is over against you: and
straightway
as ye enter into it, ye shall find a colt tied, whereon no man
ever yet
sat; loose him, and bring him.” The long-waiting prophecy is now
to be fulfilled -
“Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion;
Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem:
Behold, thy King cometh unto thee:
He is just, and having salvation;
Lowly, and riding upon an ass,
And upon a colt the foal of an ass.”
And the
daughter of Zion did rejoice greatly. What a scene of gladness!
What a shout
of triumph! They bring the colt covered with their garments,
while the
way is prepared by the soft branches of palms scattered and loose
robes cast
upon the ground. And the lowly, mighty King enters, and the
cries rend
the still air.
“Hosanna;
Blessed is he that cometh
In the Name of the Lord:
Blessed is the kingdom that cometh,
The kingdom of our father David:
Hosanna in the highest.”
There are
times when truth bursts through all that hides it, and declares
itself as
the sun through a rent cloud. So is it here. Without restraint the
children of
Israel proclaim their King as did Pilate when he wrote, “The
King of the
Jews.” True, Pilate did not believe, nor did the shouting crowd
at the
gates of the city for long together. The same walls soon heard the
cry,
“Crucify him! crucify him!” But for the time the truth prevails. It is
uppermost.
As in the Transfiguration, the hidden glory is revealed. Perhaps
unconsciously,
these voices bear witness to the truth. It is a scene to carry
in the eye,
to be engraven on the heart. Let us learn —
AUTHORITY. It is not stituted or
upheld by them; it is not destroyed by
their absence. Christianity is independent of external
support.
ASSERT ITSELF. Yea, though it may be rejected, it will leave
its
testimony for following ages of faith and unbelief to ponder
according to
their respective needs.
COMETH IN
THE NAME OF THE LORD. Other kings and other
kingdoms will rise in a temporary prevalence of power, and
fall into dark
oblivion and disgrace. But the true will quietly assume its
rightful place,
whether men accept or reject, Jesus is a King. “To this end
have I been
born.” Jesus is “King of the Jews,” though their priests cry
aloud, “We
have no king but Caesar.” Jesus is the King of kings. But
the kingdom is
“not of this world,” nor will it pass away as the kingdoms
of this world. It
abideth for ever. And happy is the
man who is a true and faithful subject
under this heavenly reign.
The Barren Fig Tree (vs. 11-25)
How changed
is the scene! The great King entered into the royal city, and
the great
High Priest into the holy temple. Then — O significant words! —
“he looked
round about upon all things.” Alas, what scenes caught those
calm eyes!
in the eventide he left Jerusalem, accompanied only by the
twelve. On
the morrow,, returning again to Jerusalem from Bethany, where
he had spent
the night, “he hungered.” A mere touch of the pen discloses a
link of
connection between him and every one who in hunger seeks and has
not his
daily bread. But a “fig tree having leaves” from “afar” attracts his
keen sight,
and “he came, if haply he might find anything thereon,” as the
leaves
which usually appear after the fruit promised. Alas, his hope is
mocked! “He
found nothing but leaves.” Then he, who giveth nature
its
greenness,
who maketh the fig tree to blossom, and hangeth the fruit on the
vine and
the olive, uttered his “curse” in prohibiting it to minister any more
to the
wants of man. The morrow finds it “withered away.” There were
watching
disciples for whose use this and the other trees grew in the great
garden, and
this must be used for their highest good. By it he will impress
upon their
hearts a solemn truth. It is a parable enacted. But the parable
goes unexpounded, while a great lesson on faith in God is given.
By
common
consent, this withered tree conveys a deep teaching on immature
professions.
Following so immediately after the jubilant cry of yesterday, it
seems to
speak in condemnation of that all too hasty and untrustworthy
demonstration,
those shouts of welcome to the King of Jerusalem which
would be so
seen exchanged for the cry of repudiation, “We have no king
but
Caesar.” The strength of the tree is exhausted in the immature foliage.
This seems
to point to the immature haste of profession made by them who
cried
“Hosanna!” and who would show how vain the hopes would be that
relied upon
that cry, for in a few days it would be exchanged for “Crucify
him!” It
was the one visible curse of him who in reality curses everything
that is
false and pretentious. Significantly it is related, “and his disciples
heard it.”
The morrow declares that the Lord’s word is a word of power,
as the
drooping leaves and dried-up branches and trunk, even “from the
roots,”
declare. Peter’s exclamation draws forth from the Master a
profound
reply, which seems designed to lead the thoughts of the disciples
away from
all that is false, unreal, and untrue, on which they may not place
their hope,
to him who is worthy of their faith, and who never disappoints
them that
trust in him. Henceforth this fig tree stands before us as:
presumption.
MUST FOLLOW FROM TRUST IN EMPTY, UNNATURAL BOASTS
AND PROMISES. Many are dependent upon, or at least
influenced by, the
professions of others. There are weak souls that lean upon
stronger ones
for support, who are comforted and strengthened by their
fidelity, or led
astray by their dejection.
ADMONITION TO ALL TO TRUST IN THE TRUSTWORTHY. And in
this case, perhaps, not to commit themselves to the frail,
unworthy cry of
an excited multitude, but to have calm faith in God, who can
sweep away
the false and delusive, the weak and fruitless fig tree, and
with equal ease
the firmly rooted mountain from its place. The “mountain”
may have found
its antitype in the firmly fixed power that waged its
opposition to the
world’s Redeemer, and would soon hang him on a tree. That
which could
not satisfy the hunger, and that which could crush and
overwhelm the
King, were equally amenable, as is every mountain and every
deceitful
thing to the mighty power of God,
invoked by a faith held in a true spirit.
The Cleansing of the Temple (vs. 15-18)
Jesus came
to “bear witness unto the truth.” One truth was the sanctity of
that “house
of prayer” which was opened for “all the nations.” But have
the
rightful guardians of that house preserved for it this sacredness, that the
feet of the
wearied and the heart of the sorrowful of all nations might be
allured
within its hallowed walls, where in humble penitence and prayer,
and with
strong cries to the God of heaven and earth, they might find rest
and peace
and shelter? Nay, verily. Cruel covetousness has let out the
sacred
enclosure for gainful purposes. The love of money, the root of this
evil, has
led men to sell God’s house to purposes of merchandise; and, if
worse could
be, to trickery and thieving. Ah, they robbed God of his
rightful
honor; and they robbed the poor, and the sorrowful, and the
homeless,
and the heart-sick, and the sin-sick, of the one place of refuge
where they
might find peace and healing and rest! They turned the “house
of prayer”
into “a den of robbers.” In the place where men might seek
heavenly
blessing, they filched earthly pelf. Sin is great in proportion to its
nearness to
the restraints of righteousness. How great, then, was this!
Their cry
was, “This is the place for money-changers and barterers, for
pilferers
and thieves.” So great a lie must be contradicted by “the Truth;”
even if he
lose his life in doing it. The true fire burns in his breast: he
cannot be
silent. The zeal: of the Lord consumes him. He takes advantage
of the
popular enthusiasm which now for a time runs in his favor. The
astonished
multitude “hung upon him, listening.” And though he needs not
their help,
yet he disappoints not their hope. He put forth his own regal
authority,
and with his word and holy hands “cast out” the traders,
“overthrew”
the tables of “the money-changers,” and refused to allow men
to desecrate
the holy pavement by carrying burdens over it. Nor would he
“suffer
that any man should carry a vessel through the temple.” It might be
asked — How
could he do this single-handed? Apart from that Divine
power which
now and again he restrained not, “the chief priests and the
scribes
feared him,” and the multitude stood” astonished at his teaching.”
Cowardice
and guilt are always staggered at religious enthusiasm. In this
incident we
may learn —
DEDICATED TO PURPOSES OF WORSHIP. It is his
high testimony to
the efficacy of prayer, that the very place where it is
offered is holy ground.
If all places are holy in his view, all are not to be used
indiscriminately.
There is an appropriate place for each work. And sacred
places are
devoted to sacred acts. This is here declared to be
according to Christ’s
will.
EARTHLY AFFAIRS INTO THE HOUSE OF THE LORD IS A
WICKED AND UNWARRANTABLE DESECRATION. HOW strongly
this speaks against intruding worldly thoughts into acts of
Divine worship,
and worldly motives into holy service! He who “set a bound
for the waters
that they may not pass over,” has forbidden the trespass
upon the threshold
of his house of anything that is “of the earth,
earthy.”
THE HOUSE OF THE LORD IS CONSECRATED FOR THEM TO
THIS PURPOSE. It cannot, however, be that only one house
should be
opened. It is, therefore, the house in every nation that is
so opened is
consecrated and sacred whither the tribes of men may go up
to offer
worship and service, to present the sacrifice of song, to
seek help and rest
and mercy.
CLEANSED AND CONSECRATED TEMPLE OF THE HEART
WHERE THE LORD IS TRULY WORSHIPPED MUST BE
PRESERVED FREE FROM CORRUPT DESECRATION, The hidden
place, the quiet solitudes of the soul where prayer is to be
truly made, may
not be polluted by trickery and deceit. And the very
consecration of it as a
temple where God may be approached declares that it need not
be a place
of burdens; for he will speak the word of faith and peace,
will ease and
comfort the troubled, will give rest to the weary, and
solace and salvation
to the tempted and tried. Happy the man whose heart is a
pure temple of
God!
The Symbolic Triumph (vs. 1-11)
mandate, as having a pre-emption or
right to be served before all others.
The act was the more impressive because standing out in rare
contrast to
the ordinary tenor of Christ’s conduct.
shouts as King and Lord. Hosanna is
“Save now!” The words of
acclamation are cited from a “Hallelujah”
psalm (Psalm 118:25-26),
which both celebrates and foretells deliverance. His kingdom
prevails by
truth, meekness, and love. May “his unsuffering
kingdom” come!
PROPHECY. He is the predicted King and
Savior, the Representative of
God upon earth. Thus in this cheerful, humble scene of
instructive, popular
gladness, and rejoicing, we have an emblem of the progress
of Christianity
through the world.
God’s House Vindicated (vs. 12-19)
THE
NATIONS. It contains the idea of the Divine house, and
therefore of
the home for all men.
PLACE. “Peace and
purity should be maintained in the service of God.”
The Church should be like the home. The associates of
traffic and the
passions it excites should be shut out.
“Let vain and busy thoughts have there
no part;
Bring not thy plough, thy plots, thy
pleasures thither.
Christ purged his temple; so must thou
thy heart.
All worldly thoughts are but thieves met
together
To cozen thee. Look to thy actions well;
For
churches either are our heaven or hell.”
(George
Herbert.)
ADVANTAGES, AND ARE EXPOSED TO GREAT TEMPTATIONS.
Religion intensifies all it touches. “We become better or
worse in dealing
with sacred things” (Godwin).
The Withered Tree (vs. 20-26)
fig tree is destroyed for the sake of a lesson to
the spirit. Much lower life is
destroyed from day to day that the
higher may be preserved.
MIRACULOUS
POWER. He could destroy; that was evident. But he
came not to destroy, but to save. And while he lavished his
power upon the
sick and suffering, to heal, cheer, and deliver, he
economized the dread
power of destruction. Compare what is said on this subject
in ‘Ecce
Homo!’
often, a bold figure of speech. To
the undivided thought and will nothing is
ideally impossible. Actually our power is limited, as is our
thought. But we
are born for the ideal, and to overcome our limitations.
Prayer is essentially
part of faith; it is the exercise of the will, the entire
going-forth of the man
in that direction in which he is called endlessly
to exert himself.
works by love. How mistaken is it
to limit faith to intellectual assent!
Devils believe, but love not, and are weak. Faith and love
are other words
for the might of God in the soul. “Oh, my brothers, God
exists! Believing
love will relieve us of a load of care!” — will lift
mountains’ weight from
the spirit, and make our ideals a present reality. But the
unloving,
unforgiving soul remains fettered in
itself, unreleased, unfree, and weak.
Critics Criticized (vs. 27-33)
action is wrong; or, if it is right,
it is done from a wrong motive, or done by
the wrong person. “Ill will never said well.”
call others to account, and refuse to give account
of itself, The arbitrary
temper is directly opposed to the “sweet
reasonableness of Christ.”
ANSWERS. The true man thinks of the
fact, and tries to get at it and state
it. The other, of how much he can afford to tell; how much ‘twere well to
keep back. “Truth should be the first question with men, not
consequences.”
discuss with candid inquirers and
give instruction, here holds his peace.
Sometimes the rule is, “Answer a fool according to his
folly;” sometimes,
“Answer him not according to his folly.” Truth and the good
of souls must
be our guide. “Incompetency may be
exposed and assumption resisted for
the sake of truth.”
Our Lord’s Public Entry into Jerusalem (vs. 1-11)
Parallel Passages: Matthew 21:1-11; 14-17; Luke 19:29-44;
John 12:12-19.
thousand six hundred feet above
between the two cities is upwards of fifteen miles.
Travel-stained and
weary with this uphill journey, gradually ascending all the
way, our Lord
stayed over sabbath with the
family of Bethany, where he got rested and
refreshed. Bethany, which St. John calls “the town of Mary
and her sister
Martha,” is fifteen furlongs, or nearly two miles, from
Jerusalem, and gets
its name from the fruit of the palm trees that once
flourished, there,
signifying “house of dates.” It is now called Azariyeh, from the name of
Lazarus, and in memory of the miracle wrought in raising him
from the
dead. Next day, being the 10th of Nisan,
or 1st of April — the day on
which the Paschal lamb was set apart — was the day chosen by
him, who is
our true Paschal Lamb, for his public entry into Jerusalem,
there to be
sacrificed for us. Of the caravan of pilgrims that
accompanied our Lord and
his disciples in the journey from Jericho, some had
proceeded onward
direct to the holy city; others had pitched their tents in
the wooded vale of
Bethany; and others, again, on the western slopes of Olivet,
opposite to
and in full view of the city. Those who bad advanced to
Jerusalem had, it is
probable, brought word thither of the
approach of the Prophet of Nazareth.
drawing to a close. The time of his
departure was at hand. There is no
longer need of enjoining secrecy with regard to his
miracles, or of
concealment in respect of his office, lest public excitement
might ensue, or
lest his work might be interfered with or interrupted by the
opposition of
enemies, before the seed of truth, which he had sown by his
discourse’s
and parables, should get time to take root in the public
mind. Publicity
rather than secrecy is now needed. The great Passover Lamb
is to be
sacrificed, and so the Priest is on his way to the place of
sacrifice; the
Prophet is going up to the house of God to renew the work of
reformation,
to rectify abuses, to restore, or at least exhibit, the
purity befitting the
service of the sanctuary, and to teach daily, as he did, in
the temple. Above
all, the King is going up to his capital; the daughter of
Zion is to receive
her King with rejoicing. Hitherto he had indeed gone about
continually,
doing good, yet with little or no outward show; save by the
crowds that
followed for healing or hearing, and on some rare occasions
and with some
signal exceptions, he had been
little recognized, being rather “despised and
rejected of men.” Now the time has come for him to announce
his kingdom
and claim the honor of a King. The public avowal of his
dignity, the official
declaration of his Messiahship,
and the formal proclamation of his
kingdom, now behoved to be made.
He was now going to assert his right
to reign. Now, for the first and only time, he assumes
somewhat of royal
state in entering his metropolis. Nor yet was there anything
very great or
very garish in this exhibition of royalty; the whole was
carried out in lowly
guise. Christ was indeed a King, but King of the realm of
truth; and his
entrance into Jerusalem was a royal procession — a right
royal one, though
in a spiritual sense. He was King, but not such a King as
the multitude, and
even his disciples, expected. He was not a King coming with
chariots and
horses, with battle-bow or weapons of war, as earthly rulers
and worldly
conquerors; but “just, and bringing salvation.” He was the
spiritual King of
an unworldly, but universal and unending kingdom.
which our Lord gives his disciples,
probably Peter and John, to go to the
village over against them — perhaps Bethphage,
which means “house of
figs” — there are several particulars so precise, minute,
and striking, that
they imply superhuman knowledge. How else could he tell them
beforehand
Ø that immediately on entering the village they would find an ass and her colt;
Ø
that they were not loose, but tied, and so ready
to be employed by their
owner;
Ø
that that colt had never been tamed, or broken
in, and that no man had
ever sat on its back;
Ø
the exact position in which the colt would be
found — not in the
courtyard, but outside; at the door, yet not in the public street, but on
a road that ran round (ἀμφόδου – amphodou – encircling
road;) the rear of the house or
village;
Ø
that in case of any demur on the part of persons
standing by, they
should reform them for whose use it was required; and
Ø
that the ready consent of the owner would be
obtained — “and
straightway he will send them”? Another reading of this latter clause has
the future, and adds πάλιν – palin - , so that the sense is, “He [Christ]
will send it back again.”
been directed. The colt was brought and led quietly
along, its mother by its
side, accompanying it. Then the disciples cast their abbas, or outer
garments, on them, and set Jesus upon
them — ἐπάνω αὐτῶν - epano
auton –
being either on the garments, or on one of
the animals. The former view is that
of Theophylact, who
refers the pronoun to the garments, saying, “Not the
two beasts of burden, but the garments;” so also Euthymius, Beza, and
many others. Many explain the pronoun of the beasts of
burden, but
understand it variously — some supposing our Lord to have
mounted them
alternately; others supplying τινός, as Krebs and Kuinoel; and others,
again, having recourse to an enallage
of number; while some copyists have
ventured to substitute αὐτοῦ or αὐτῆς. The
intention of the disciples was
to do their Master royal honor in the true Eastern
style of improvising, and
just as in Old Testament times, a throne had been extemporised for Jehu, as
we read in IIKings 9:13,
“Then they hasted, and took every man his
garment, and put it under him [Jehu]
on the top of the stairs, and blew with
trumpets, saying, Jehu is king.” Scarcely
had the disciples prepared the
housing and got their Master mounted on the colt thus
caparisoned, when
the very great multitude, or rather the most part of the
multitude, not to be
outdone in devotion and loyalty, strewed some their
garments, while others
cut down branches off the trees or out of the
fields (ἀγρῶν – agron – fields),
read by Tischendoff and Tregelles), and spread them in the way. Thus the
streaming multitude from Galilee, from Bethany — some
before, some
behind the central figure of the Savior — tapestried the line of march with
their garments, or strewed it with
fronds (στοιβάδας – stoibadas - a rare word,
as if στειβάδας – steibadas - , from στείβω – steibo - to tread; and thus, that
which is trodden on, a litter of
leaves or bed of small leafy branches, then
the material of such, viz. young branches). It may
perhaps be worthy of note,
that in the former case the aorist (ἔστρωσαν – estrosan - strew) is used
to
denote the throwing down of their
garments as a thing done readily and at
once; while the cutting of the branches and the
spreading of them in the way,
as requiring mere time, are expressed in the
imperfect; that is, they kept cutting
them and continued strewing them as they proceeded.
Many similar tokens of
honor and respect are on record,
and practiced even to the present day. Thus,
when Mordecai issued from the
Esther) were strewn with myrtle; like honor was shown to
Xerxes by his
army before crossing the Hellespont;
so also, as we are informed by
Robinson, in his ‘Biblical Researches,’ the Bethlehemites threw their
garments under the feet of the English consul’s horses at
Damascus, when
they had come to implore his aid. In the ‘Agamemnon’ of AEschylus, too,
we read that the doomed monarch, when entering the palace on
his return
to Mycenae, was, in imitation of the barbaric pomp of
Eastern kings,
tempted to walk on costly carpets.
lowliness of the animal was in keeping
with the character of the procession.
It was humble, yet right royal. The ass in the East is
stately, sprightly,
sleek, and shiny; it is highly esteemed, and employed alike
for work and
riding. Persons of rank used it commonly for the latter
purpose. Thus we
read of Balsam, of Caleb’s daughter, and of Abigail riding
on asses. Moses’
wife rode on an ass, as she went down with her husband from Midian into
Egypt. At a still earlier period it was the same animal that
Abraham rode
on that eventual day, when, rising early in the morning, he
saddled his ass
and went to offer his son Isaac in sacrifice. It was,
moreover, the animal on
which the judges of Israel rode, as we learn from such
passages as the
following: — “Speak, ye that ride on white asses, ye that
sit in judgment;”
so also Jair the Gileadite, who judged Israel two and twenty years, “had,”
as we read, “thirty sons that rode on thirty ass colts, and
they had thirty
cities.” We have evidence of the same in Jacob’s blessing of
his sons, when
he says of Issachar that he is “a
strong ass, couching down between two
burdens.” Animals unyoked or unused were employed for sacred
purposes;
thus, in Numbers 19:2, it is written, “Speak unto
the children of
that they bring thee a red heifer without spot, wherein is
no blemish, and
upon which never came yoke;” again, in I Samuel 6:7,
“Now therefore
make a new cart, and take two milch
kine, on which there hath come no
yoke.” Thus it was every way suited to the procession,
sacred and solemn,
peaceful and royal, that advanced on this occasion towards
Jerusalem. The
horse, on the other hand, would have been unbecoming in such
a
procession, since the horse was the emblem of war from an
early to a late
period in Hebrew history; thus, in Exodus 15 we read, “Sing
ye to the
Lord, for he hath triumphed gloriously: the horse and his
rider hath he
thrown into the sea;” and also in
Jeremiah 8:6, “Every one turned to his
course, as the horse rusheth into the battle.”
passing out of the city gates,
crossed the Kedron, and advanced in one long
continuous line up the opposite side of Olivet till it met
the procession that
accompanied our Lord. The persons that composed this crowd
had been
attracted by the miracle of the raising of Lazarus, and they
bore their
willing testimony to that stupendous
fact, as
12:17), where we read ὁτι – hoti - that, instead ὁτε – hote - when, “ The people
therefore that was with him bare record
that he called Lazarus out of his grave,
and raised him from the dead.” The people from the
city bore in their hands
palm branches, the emblems of victory. In the ancient games the
crowns
were various — olive, laurel, pine, or parsley; but in every
game the victor
bore in his hand the palm branch of victory. Accordingly,
with these palm
branches in their hands, they welcomed him as victorious
over death and
the Conqueror of the king of terrors. Soon the crowd from
Jerusalem and
the multitude from Bethany met and mingled; and now all
united formed
one grand triumphal procession, the like of which had never
climbed or
crossed that hill. before.
Hitherto the acknowledgment of the Savior’s kingly power was
confined to
actions — those of himself and his disciples; now the
multitudinous voices
of the united crowd made the welkin ring with shouts of
triumph. The
proclamation, no longer limited to action, now found
utterance in words —
words in which the men of Bethany and the people from
Jerusalem all took
part, saying, “Hosanna to the Son of David!” as we have it
in the Gospel
by St. Matthew. This term “Hosanna! “was originally a supplication,
signifying “Save now!” and thus some understand it here,
“Grant salvation
to the Son of David!” as the Hebrew verb from which it comes
is
sometimes followed by a dative. It would in this way be
nearly equivalent
to “God save the king!” It may, however, be better
understood as a joyful
acclamation of welcome to the Savior-King long promised, but
now
present, like the Io triumphe of the
Romans or the paean of the Greeks.
“Blessed is he that cometh in the Name of the Lord!” Here we
have one of
the designations of Messiah, who was spoken of as the
Coming One; ages
had passed, but still his arrival was a matter of
expectation; centuries had
roiled away, but his advent was still future. And now that
he has come, it is
in the name, invested with the authority and bearing the
commission, of the
great Jehovah. He came as the Vicegerent of God on earth,
and as the
Mediator for man with heaven. On the occasion hero referred
to, the
crowd accorded him a most cordial welcome and received him
with truly
regal honors. So enthusiastic were they in the reception of
their Messiah,
that they did not confine themselves, in expressing their gratulation, to the
well-known words of the familiar psalm; carried away with
the outburst of
general joy, they expressed in their own spontaneous
utterances their fond
anticipation of his Messianic reign, saying, “Blessed
is
the kingdom that
cometh, the kingdom of our father David!” for David was the
great
theocratic king, and eminently typical of Messiah’s kingly
power.
“Hosanna in the highest!” that is, the highest places
or the highest strains.
So difficult did they find it to express their exuberant
joy, and to vent their
feelings of jubilation, that they appealed to Heaven itself
to give its
sanction, and called as it were on the heavenly hosts to
join them and take
part in their exultation, heaven and earth being presumed of
one accord and
in perfect unison on the subject. Another explanation makes
the words
mean “in the highest degree,” in order to convey still
greater intensity of
feeling; while a third regards it as an address to the Most
High, equivalent
to “O thou that dwellest in the
heavens, save, we pray; for all salvation
owns thee as its Source!”
fulfillment of Zechariah’s prophecy is
here noticed by St. Matthew. “Tell
ye the daughter of Sion, Behold,
thy King cometh unto thee, meek, and
sitting upon an ass, and a colt the
foal of an ass,” is the prediction in
Zechariah 9:9; or the exact rendering of the last clause may
rather be,
“and sitting upon an ass (chamar), even
a
colt (air), son of she-asses
(athonoth),” the ve being exegetical. The evangelist, in quoting the
prophet’s words, informs us that the purpose of what now
transpired was
their fulfillment. The meaning of ἵνα – hina - here, as in
other similar passages, is
either telic, or final,
“in order that;” or ecbatic, that is, eventual or
consecutive, “so that.” If the
word be taken in the former sense, it marks
the Divine purpose, and with God purpose and result are
coincident; if in
the latter sense, it is a consequence, or the evangelist’s
reflection on the
circumstance of what had been foretold being duly fulfilled.
That ἵνα had
acquired in later Greek a weakened or modified meaning, so
as to stand
midway between purpose and result, or even to denote the
latter, is pretty
generally admitted.
Ø
A cause of circumspection. This is one practical effect of Christ’s
omniscience. He had perfect knowledge of the state of matters in and
round the village whither he sent his two disciples on the errand we here
read of. He told them beforehand where the animal he wanted would be
found and how it would be found — the how and where; the inquiry that
would be made of them and the answer they were to return, and the
readiness with which the desired permission would be granted them. It is a
natural and indeed necessary inference that he is equally acquainted with
ourselves — our persons, situations, and circumstances. He knows
perfectly the great things and the little things of our histories; our condition
and conduct in matters the most minute, as well as in those we deem of
most importance. From all this we learn the necessity of circumspection.
The old Roman wished his house so constructed
that all that transpired
inside might be seen outside — that to the eye of every passer-by the
interior of his dwelling and all that was done in it might be visible. The
Savior’s eye penetrates not our houses merely,
but our hearts. All we
think, as well as all we say and all we do, is every moment uncovered to his
inspection and open to his cognizance. How circumspect, then, we should
be! Who would not shrink from having exposed to the view of neighbor or
friend or kinsman every thought that lies deep down in the recesses of his
heart? Who would care to have every word he utters in the secret chamber
made known to his fellow-man? And who would feel quite at ease if he
knew that the eyes of some great man or nobleman or prince rested on all
his actions throughout an entire day? How careful we are to have things
presented in the best possible light, when we expect the presence of some
person of consequence or superior rank for the space of a few hours! Oh,
then, how we should feel chastened and subdued by the thought that One
greater than even the greatest of the kings of the earth knows all we do,
hears all we say, and is cognizant of all we think; and that, not for a few
hours of a single day, but every hour of every day! Surely this reflection,
if
duly realized, would be a powerful help to make us circumspect in thought
and word and work, guarding our hearts, “for out of them are the issues of
life,” “keeping the door of our lips that we offend not with our tongue,”
and using circumspection in all our works and ways.
Ø
A source of consolation.
The presence of a friend is often most
encouraging. The consciousness that a friendly eye is upon us in time of
difficulty, or emergency, or at some critical juncture, is a source of
strength, inspiring with courage and stimulating to energy. In sorrow or
suffering, also, a sympathetic eye goes a long way to give relief, or, where
that is out of the question, to sustain us in our sufferings. But to know
that
from behind the silent blue of the arching heaven a friendly eye is ever on
us, a friendly heart ever beats in sympathy with us, a friendly hand is
ever
stretched forth to wipe away the tear of sorrow, is a source of comfort
unfailing as unspeakable. The little things that vex us, the heavy griefs that
crush us, our afflictions, whether physical, or mental and more inward, are
known alike to that Friend who never changes, and who never fails nor
forsakes us.
A ground of confidence. The fulfillment of God’s Word in the past and
at the present is one of the surest grounds of confidence in time to
come.
St. Matthew, writing in the first instance for
Hebrew Christians who had
the prophecies in their hand, and were thus in a position to compare
prediction with performance, and having, besides, a special propensity in
that direction, is careful to note the fulfillment of prophecy, and to draw
the attention of his countrymen to the fact. The prediction referred to in
this passage had preceded its fulfillment by five centuries and a half; but
it
did not fail. God’s words are “pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of
earth, purified seven times;” not one of them shall ever fail or be
falsified.
“How firm a foundation, ye saints of the
Lord,
Is laid
for your faith in his excellent Word!”
Human
inconstancy. A heathen
moralizes on the fickleness of popular
favor; it is changeable as the breeze. The psalmist no doubt had experience
of it, when he hastily concluded and hurriedly said that all men are
liars; but
though his generalization was, as subsequent experience taught him, too
sweeping, yet he had had sufficient ground for his statement just then.
Hence we have the salutary caution in another
psalm, “Trust not in princes,
nor man’s son.” Paul upbraids the Galatians with their changeableness,
when he says, “I bear you record, that, if possible, ye would have plucked
out your own eyes, and have given them to me. Am I therefore become
your enemy, because I tell you the truth?” A great and good man, now
with God, having had a bitter experience on one occasion of the
variableness of human favor, wrote down in his diary the cool but cutting
words, “Is it strange that men and the moon should change?” Yet never
were the fickleness and consequent worthlessness of human popularity so
strikingly exemplified as in the case of the crowd that shouted long and
lustily, Hosanna. Hosanna in the highest! but just
four days after, and
before the week was out, cried long and loudly, “Crucify him! crucify
him!” What a lesson is thus taught the follower of Jesus! What a warning
to set little store by human favor and popular applause!
Ø
The sight of
the city. Of the three roads that led over the Mount of
Olives — one between the two northern crests, a
second right over the
summit, — the third, or southern, then as now the main road, and the one
most frequented from
approaching the city. At a spot where it winds round the southern ridge of
the hill, the city, by a turn of the road, is at once brought full in
view. At
the descent from this shoulder of Olivet, “when he was come near, he
beheld the city,” looking across the
buildings, its dwellings, rising full before him, were all seen in the clear air
of a Judaean sky; at the same time, its guilty
inhabitants and their future
fate were equally open to his eyes.
Ø
Jesus weeps. He paused and pondered. The sight of that splendid capital,
the knowledge of its crimes, the remembrance of God’s mercies, the
thought that it might have been spared if, like
day of its visitation and the things that belonged to its peace, — all
these
considerations awoke the sorrow and called forth the sympathy of the
Savior. “Jesus wept over it,” as Luke informs us. He dropped a tear in
silence (ἐδάκρυσεν – edakrusen
- weeps) at the grave of Lazarus –
John 11:35, a departed friend; but in view of
the doomed city of
He shed a flood of tears, weeping aloud (ἔκλαυσεν – eklausen –
He laments – Luke 19:41). But
while His tears testified his love
and showed His tenderness, His lips pronounced the city’s fearful doom.
Ø
His affecting apostrophe. “If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in
this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace!” Jerusalem had its
day, and in vain was that day protracted. “If thou hadst
known, even thou,”
O ill-fated city; even thou, with all thy guilt;
even thou, who hast so long
abused the forbearance of a long-suffering God; even thou, who hast been
so often reproved, and yet ever hardened thyself against reproof; even
thou, who hast had so many warnings from the prophets of God and
apostolic men; even thou, whose children I would have gathered as a hen
gathereth her chickens under her wings;
if thou, oven thou, after so many
days of mercy and of privilege have been misspent, after so many days of
grace have been lost and for ever; if thou, even thou, hadst
known, at least
in this thy day, in this thy last day of privilege and of promise, in
this thy
last day of heavenly ministration, in this day of merciful visitation still
thine,
though the eleventh hour of thy existence and the eve of thy destruction!
Never was apostrophe to place or person so
tender, and never was
aposiopesis so terrible; for the sentence is suddenly broken off and left
unfinished; the clause which should state the consequence is omitted. After
this omission the Savior pauses, and then adds, “But now they are hid from
thine eyes.” The sentence might be
taken as the expression of a wish: “Oh
that thou hadst known the things that belong to
thy peace!” and the sense
would have remained the same and the sentiment equally solemn.
Ø
Application to ourselves. Our Lord’s address on this occasion is as
practical as it is pathetic. Personally applied, what an appeal it makes to
each one of us! Jerusalem had its day, patriarchs and prophets had their
day, evangelists and apostles had their day, ancient Jews and early
Christians had their day, the apostolic and
other Church Fathers had their
day, the schoolmen and the reformers had their day, our forefathers and
the
men of preceding generations had their day; but “our fathers, where are
they? and the prophets, do they live for ever?”
Now, the present is our day.
God says to each of us — This,
the present, is thy day! Let conscience reecho
the solemn truth, for the past is gone, and gone for ever; the future is
to come, and may never come to us; the present is all we can call our
own.
This, then, is our day; for “now is the accepted
time, and now is the day of
salvation.”
Ø
The purpose for which it is vouchsafed.
Day is not merely a measure of
time, or portion of duration, or period of light, or a unit of a month or
of a
year, or a fragment of existence, made up of so many hours; it is that
season for getting good and doing good which God has given us, and
which he has assigned us for accomplishing the work for which he sent us
into the world. It is thy day, reader; for God has given it to thee for a
great
purpose, and that purpose is the securing of thine
own eternal well-being
and the welfare of thy fellow-creature, and in both the glory of the great
Creator. It is thy day; for it is thy property as long as Heaven is pleased to
continue the boon. It is thy day; but not thine to
waste or misspend; it is
not thine to while away, or trifle away, or sin
away, at thy option. It is
thine; for it is a talent lent, a
treasure given you by God, and for which
thou shalt have to render an account. It is thy
day for imitating the Savior
in working the work of him that sent thee: and “This is the work of God,
that ye believe in him whom he hath sent;” “This is his commandment, that
we should believe on the Name of his Son Jesus Christ;” this is thy day
for
attending to the conditions of peace, the things that tend to and make for
peace, such as the righteousness of Christ received by faith, repentance of
sin, and reformation of life. It is thy day for cultivating personal and
practical religion in thine own soul; thy day,
moreover, for the discharge of
the duties of relative religion, because, in a certain sense, every man
should
be his brother’s keeper, and no man is to live wholly to himself, or to
seek
entirely and selfishly, and therefore sinfully, his own things only, but to
look also upon the things of others. It is thy day to do something for God,
something for the Church, something for the world, endeavoring to leave it
better than you found it — something useful in thy day and generation.
The Blighting of the Barren Fig Tree (vs. 12-26)
Parallel passages:
Matthew 21:12-22; Luke 19:45-48
Ø
Miracles of mercy. Mercy has been called God’s darling attribute;
judgment is his strange work. The only-begotten Son, who has declared the
Father unto us, has manifested the selfsame
character. His miracles are
miracles of mercy — all save two. Of these two, one was permissive and
punitive, when our Lord allowed the devils to enter into the swine of the
Gadarenes; the other, which is recorded in this passage, is a sort of symbol
such as the old prophets used when they inculcated any solemn utterance,
or wished specially to impress any predicted event. This custom was
common in New as well as in Old Testament times. Thus Jesus washed his
disciples’ feet. Thus also Agabus, when he foretold
Paul’s imprisonment at
Jerusalem, symbolized the fact by taking the
apostle’s girdle and therewith
binding his own hands and feet, saying, “So shall the Jews at
bind the man that owneth this girdle.” In like
manner our Lord, by this
miracle of the blasted fig tree, most symbolically and significantly sets
forth
the blight of barrenness which so justly fell upon the Jewish people, and
which is sure to fall upon any people or any person who has only the leaves
of an outside profession, but who wants the fruits of a genuine faith or
a
heartfelt piety. To pronounce a curse on a senseless tree might appear
meaningless — it might even seem vindictive. Not so, however, when the
Savior, in order to express the hopes which the
appearance of the tree
excited, and the disappointment which its want of fruit occasioned,
devoted that tree by a striking figure to future and for ever fruit-lessness.
He thereby converts that tree into a symbol of
the hypocrite or false
professor, be he Gentile or be he Jew; and makes it a danger-signal, at once
to warn us of the danger and ward off the doom.
Ø
Judgment succeeds the abuse of mercy. Another lesson which our Lord
teaches us by this tree is the consequence of abused mercy. When mercy
has been abused, judgment must succeed. The day of grace does not
always last; and when that day has passed, and its privileges have been
misused, the axe is then laid to the root of the tree, that it may be hewn
down and cast into the fire. Such was the case with the body of the Jewish
nation at the very time this miracle was wrought. Their day of grace was
expiring. Their heart had remained untouched by that most pathetic appeal,
“If thou hadst known,
even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which
belong unto thy peace!” Now, however, they were hid from their eyes. A
woe similar to that pronounced on Chorazin and
had gone forth against all that people, notwithstanding the fact that they
had once been the people of God, and notwithstanding the many and great
privileges which they had enjoyed, as well as the loud and leafy professions
they had made.
Ø
The relation of the miracle of the fig tree to the parable of the fig
tree.
The fact of this relationship should be kept in
view. The miracle narrated in
this passage and the parable recorded by Luke are in a great measure
the converse of each other. The parable of the fig tree long spared
through
the intercession of the vine-dresser, and this miracle of the fig tree
suddenly
withered to the very roots, are to a large extent the right opposite of each
other. The one represents mercy pleading, the other judgment suddenly and
surely Overtaking the guilty; the one the long-suffering kindness of God,
the other the swift vengeance of Heaven; the one mercy prevailing over
judgment, the other judgment without mercy; the one a tree spared in hope
of fruitfulness, the other a tree suddenly scathed to the very earth
because
of its barrenness. There is, however, one point, and only one point, in
common; and that is, the end of continued unfruitfulness is cursing, the end
of barrenness is burning, and the end of all leaf and no fruit is the
speedy
execution of the sentence, “Bind them in bundles, and burn them.”
Ø
A comparison and a contrast. In the sixth
chapter of the Epistle to the
Hebrews, we find a beautiful comparison and an
awful contrast; by the
former the lesson of the parable is enforced, and by the latter the warning
of this miracle receives a solemn sanction. “The earth,” we there read,
“which drinketh in the rain that cometh oft upon it, and bringeth forth
herbs meet for them for whom it is
dressed, receiveth blessing from God:
but that which beareth thorns and briers is
rejected, and is nigh unto
cursing; whose end is to be burned.”
Ø
He hungered. The Savior was on
his way from Bethany to Jerusalem. It
was in the morning, and he was hungry. This may appear strange. What
had been the matter with the friendly family of
our Lord had been so often and so hospitably entertained? Had they
forfeited the high character for hospitality which they had so well earned?
Had they forgotten its rights and become
inconsiderate towards their Guest
— a Guest whom they so
highly honored, and who had such claims upon
them? Had they forgotten his wants, or neglected to supply them? Had
Martha ceased her thrift, and given up her
housewifery? Be this as it may,
it could be no intentional neglect, much less a studied slight; it must
have
been some strange oversight. Or, as our Lord’s time on earth was soon to
terminate, and as much was to be done that day, perhaps he left
an earlier hour than usual; and, doing so, he could not wait till the
customary hour for breakfast, and would not allow the household
arrangements to be broken through for his convenience. Or perhaps he
wished to reach the temple in time for the morning sacrifice at nine
o’clock, before which time a devout Jew seldom
broke his fast. Or perhaps
he was so intent on his Father’s business, and so intensely absorbed in
his
own great work, and so rapt in contemplation of its grand results, that he
neglected the food provided for him. Or, in the absence of any direct
statement, and where we are left to conjecture, we may suppose that it is
just possible that he had shunned the shelter of any roof, and spent the
previous night in prayer on some lone hillside or other sequestered spot. At
all events, the broad fact stands out that he, by whom all things were
made,
became hungry; that he, who had fed thousands in a wilderness with a few
loaves and fishes, would fain have satisfied the cravings of appetite with a
few unripe figs.
Ø
Leafage without fruitage, or all leaf and no fruit. The district through
which our Lord passed on his way, as he went from
was a fig region. A village by the way had its name from this very
circumstance; that village was Bethphage, which, as we
have already seen,
means “house of figs.” Journeying through this district, he would, as might
be expected, see many fig trees. His eye, however, rested on one at some
distance. From St. Matthew’s special mention of this one fig tree we
conclude that there must have been something peculiar in its appearance.
Our Lord singled it out from all or any in the
district. It was rich in leaves,
and so, full of promise. We must have in recollection the well-known fact
in reference to the fig tree, that it puts forth its fruit before its
leaves. The
leaves of the fig tree, when they appeared, warranted the expectation of the
figs. The leaves of this tree, visible to a distance, must have been large
and
numerous, and thus they held out the hope of abundant figs. The leafy
honors of the tree bespoke its abundant fruitfulness. On the other hand, we
are informed that “the time of figs was not yet,” by which some
o
understand that the fig harvest had not yet come
— the time of
gathering the figs had not yet arrived. According to this understanding, in
which
coincide, while the leaves indicated the existence of figs on the tree, the
season of the year intimated with equal certainty that they had not been
gathered off the tree; whatever fruit, therefore, the tree had, it retained.
Figs there should have been, and if the tree had
been true to its promise,
figs there would have been. Figs there should have been still on the tree,
for they had had time to grow, but not yet time to be gathered. There was
every reason to expect figs on that fig tree, still green they might be,
still
immature, and not yet fully ripened. And yet this forwardness of the foliage
implied the forwardness of its fruit. The advanced state of the one naturally
induced the hope of a proportionately advanced state in the other. But not
so. Our Lord approaches this goodly tree, but no fruit is there — not one
fig among all its branches, not one fig among all its leaves. We must
notice
another explanation of the supposed difficulty in the words “for the time of
figs was not [yet].” We put aside at once such attempted explanations as
that of Heinsius, who, by accenting and changing
the breathing, read οῦ -
instead of οὐ the negative, and rendered accordingly, “for where he was, it
was the season of figs,” that is, fruits ripened in
than in the less mild climate of
interpretation of those who read the clause interrogatively, viz. “for was it
not the time of figs?” and the no less objectionable explanation of καιρὸς -
kairos - season in the sense of a favorable season, for in that case the
season, not the tree, would have deserved the malediction; or in the
signification of favorable weather, as Olshausen. All
these, however
ingenious they may appear, are evasive shifts and no more. But, discounting
them, we find an interpretation other than that first given and simpler,
which,
o
understanding the reference to be to a precocious or premature
foliation, takes the words in their plain and natural sense. It was not the
time or season of figs — “denn es war nicht Feigenzet,”
as Fritzsche
properly renders it; but this tree antedated the season by putting forth its
leaves prematurely. The appearance of the leaves was unseasonably early;
still, as their appearance implied the prior existence of fruit, the
passer-by
was thus invited to approach the tree, and induced to expect and hope for
fruit. The show of leaves, though not the season of the year, favored this
expectation; accordingly he came, if therefore (ἄρα – ara - consequently),
as it was reasonable to expect from the tree having leaves, he shall find
anything in it (ἐν αὐτῇ - en autae – in her) within the compass of this
umbrageous tree, among its leaves and branches. But though He came
(ἐπ αὐτὴν
– ep hautaen – on her) close upon it, right up to
it, yet,
notwithstanding his nearness to it, and the narrowness with which he
inspected it, he found nothing but leaves.
o
Symbol of profession without
performance. According to either of the
explanations above given, either (1) or (2), especially
perhaps the latter,
that large fig tree, with its fine foliage and luxuriant leaves, occupying,
as it
did, a prominent position near the wayside, and visible far off by reason
of
its grand proportions and magnificent appearance, was nothing better than
a huge practical lie, an embodied falsehood, a palpable untruth. That
tree
made a promise, but it broke it; it held out a hope, but it disappointed
it; it
professed much, but performed nothing. Never was there a more striking
symbol of any people than that fig tree was of the Jews. They had enjoyed