which it must have been designed to correct and improve. Jesus had more than once, of late, rebuked the temporal and worldly views of his apostles respecting his kingdom. Still the feeling, again and again, displayed itself; and his reply now seems to be purposely framed with reference to it, and to be made in this spirit-'The reward, about which you are speaking, shall be an hundredfold more than you have relinquished—but, as to the present life, it shall be a sort of property, dominion, and influence, whose chief feature shall be persecution-it is in a period to come, that you are to expect the life eternal.' In a free paraphrase of the original, it might be expressed thus- Lands, houses, and brethren you have left; and, in lieu of these, lands, houses, and brethren you shall have but they shall be the land of the exile, the house of the imprisoned martyr, the many, brethren, the first born of whom shall be esteemed stricken of God, and his name a cause of your being hated of all men.' JESUS FORETELLS THAT HE IS TO BE BETRAYED, PUT TO DEATH, AND RISE AGAIN. Ver. 32-34. And they were in the way going up to Jerusalem; and Jesus went before them: and they were amazed; and as they followed, they were afraid. And he took again the twelve, and began to tell them what things should happen unto him, saying, Behold, we go up to Jerusalem; and the Son of man shall be delivered unto the chief priests, and unto the scribes ; and they shall condemn him to death, and shall deliver him to the Gentiles: and they shall mock him, and shall scourge him, and shall spit upon him, and shall kill him: and the third day he shall rise again. Agreeably with the view, given in the preceding section, of our Lord's words to his disciples, we find him, in the very next portion of the narrative, again telling them plainly those circumstances about his future history, which were incompatible with their perverse view of his kingdom. They had grounds now for believing on him, in spite of much that was incomprehensible to them in his proceedings; and, all amazed, they found him journeying still onwards to Jerusalem, and to certain death. Nevertheless they followed him, assured that he was the Christ, and expecting, no doubt, some miraculous solution of a difficulty which to them was inexplicable. His plain avowal of his approaching death seems to have kept alive this state of suspense and surmise, instead of tending to remove it. O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken: ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory?'* was applicable to them even to the last period of their earthly intercourse with their Master. *Luke xxiv. 25, 26. THE AMBITIOUS REQUEST OF JAMES AND JOHN. Ver. 35-45. And James and John, the sons of Zebedee, come unto him, saying, Master, we would that thou shouldest do for us whatsoever we shall desire. And he said unto them, What would ye that I should do for you? They said unto him, Grant unto us that we may sit, one on thy right hand, and the other on thy left hand, in thy glory. But Jesus said unto them, Ye know not what ye ask: can ye drink of the cup that I drink of? and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with? And they say unto him, We can. And Jesus said unto them, Ye shall indeed drink of the cup that I drink of; and with the baptism that I am baptized withal shall ye be baptized: but to sit on my right hand and on my left hand is not mine to give; but it shall be given to them for whom it is prepared. And when the ten heard it, they began to be much displeased with James and John. But Jesus called them to him, and saith unto them, Ye know that they which are accounted to rule over the Gentiles exercise lordship over them; and their great ones exercise authority upon them. But so shall it not be among you: but whosoever will be great among you, shall be your minister: and whosoever of you will be the chiefest, shall be servant of all. For even the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many. That all Jesus now said, about the near approach of his kingdom, was interpreted by the apostles in the sense in which every Jew expected the renewal of the theocracy, is evident from the request of James and John. They asked for posts of honour; and it was in vain that our Saviour, by allusion to the cup which his Father had given him to drink, and the baptism through which he was to pass, endeavoured to awaken them to a sense of their error. He was obliged plainly to tell them, that, what he was going to purchase for them-that which made it expedient for him to go away-was, not the prizes of his kingdom, but the means of obtaining them. To sit on my right hand, and on my left hand, is not mine to give; but it shall be given to them for whom it is prepared.' JESUS RESTORES BARTIMEUS TO SIGHT. Ver. 46-52. And they came to Jericho and as he went out of Jericho with his disciples and a great number of people, blind Bartimæus, (the son of Timæus,) sat by the highway side begging. And when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out, and say, Jesus, thou son of David, have mercy on me. And many charged him that he should hold his peace: but he cried the more a great deal, Thou son of David, have mercy on me. And Jesus stood still, and commanded him to be called. And they call the blind man, saying unto him, Be of good comfort, rise; he calleth thee. And he, casting away his garment, rose, and came to Jesus. And Jesus answered and said unto him, What wilt thou that I should do unto thee? The blind man said unto him, Lord, that I might receive my sight. And Jesus said unto him, Go thy way; thy faith hath made thee whole. And immediately he received his sight, and followed Jesus in the way. Besides the indication of divine power and divine mercy displayed in this miracle, its moral-its instructive character is also apparent. The disciples had now been familiarized with this secondary and peculiar application of miracles by Jesus. In cases of blindness removed especially, their attention had been directed to the symbolical lesson conveyed thereby, concerning a partial blindness of heart, and the gradual removal of it in their case, as well as to that total blindness which characterised others, who were not in the train of our Lord's followers. On one occasion particularly,* when his repeated instructions had not been understood, we may remember that his discourse was followed up by a very remarkable cure of blindness. Here we have a similar instance of dulness to another lesson, followed by the like miracle. May we not infer that he intended them to see in this also an emblem of spiritual blindness, and its merciful removal by him? It was our Lord's custom even to repeat instruction that had been understood; but there was much more reason for doing so, when it had not at first produced the due impression. At this moment, certainly, the apostles appear to have required a continual renewal of the warning that to many important features of Gospel truth they were still blind; that they still needed to apply for sight to Jesus, and were still to hope for it only by persevering in faith. This use of the miracle, if it was so applied, would not interfere with its more essential character, that of its being wrought in evidence of his divine power, at a critical season, when his followers were amazed and staggered at his continuing his progress steadily to Jerusalem. Nor, again, does it prevent us from considering it as an act of mercy likewise, on the bodily * See chap. viii. and the remarks on it. |