Holy Bible

He went into the house of one of the chief Pharisees. Luke 14:1-6 The gospel for the seventeenth Sunday after Trinity J. A. Seiss, D. D. I. WE HERE BEHOLD OUR SAVIOUR IN THE SOCIAL CIRCLE. Jesus was not a recluse. He had a kind and social heart. He came to instruct, benefit, and redeem men, and He took pleasure in mingling with them. With all His holiness, majesty, and glory, He was a meek and social being, worthy of all admiration and imitation. II. WE HERE HAVE A REMARKABLE TESTIMONY TO CHRIST'S GOODNESS. There is reason to suspect that His invitation to this Pharisee's house was for no friendly purpose. The Pharisees, as a class, hated Jesus, and were intent upon bringing Him into condemnation; and this man had distinguished friends with him on this occasion, who were no exception. This is proven from what occurred when they all got together in the house. Immediately in front of Christ, and in a manner thrust upon His notice, was "a certain man that had the dropsy." How he got there is to be inferred. Evidently he was placed there to tempt our Lord to commit Himself. Yes, even their hard and bitter hearts were so assured of the Saviour's goodness, that they felt warranted in building on it their plot to ruin Him. Sabbath day as it was, their convictions were deep and positive that He would not pass by the opportunity for exercising his marvellous power to cure the invalid they had stationed before Him. And that one incidental fact speaks volumes. It tells of the constant stream of healing power dispensed by the Saviour wheresoever He went. As the very cloud that would cover the sun with darkness bears the bow which the more beautifully reflects his glory, so the very wrath and malignity of these designing hypocrites did the more magnificently attest the gracious goodness of our Lord. Nor did they miscalculate. Knowing full well the nature and intent of the arrangement, and comprehending all the ill use the treacherous watchers around Him meant to make of it, He did not flinch from His wont, nor suffer His merciful power to be diverted or constrained. III. BUT HOW BASE THE COWARDICE BROUGHT BEFORE US IN THE CONDUCT OF THESE MEN! To wish to unseat and injure one of whose goodness they were so thoroughly convinced, was in itself a self-contradictory wickedness almost beyond comprehension. Shame on a zeal that attaches sanctity to such hypocrisy, or honour to such cowardice! IV. WE HERE BEHOLD THE TRUE SPIRIT OF THE LAW. The Sabbath was not ordained for itself and its own sake; nor as a mere arbitrary act of Divine sovereignty; but for the good of the living beings concerned in its observance. V. WE LIKEWISE BEHOLD FROM THIS NARRATIVE, THAT AN UNCHARITABLE PUNCTILIOUSNESS ABOUT RELIGIOUS THINGS, IS APT TO HAVE, AS ITS ACCOMPANIMENT, IF NOT ITS ROOT, SOME HIDDEN SELFISHNESS AND SELF-CONSEQUENCE. It was not that they so loved God's appointments, or that they were so devoutly concerned to obey them; but anxiety for a bludgeon to break the head of Him whose pure teachings were undermining their falsehood and tyranny. It was not God, but greed; not righteousness, but honour, place, and dominion; not concern for Moses and the prophets, but for themselves and their own consequence. On the occasion before us, there was a marked concern about honours and place. This was the inspiration of their assumed sanctity, and all their superior orthodoxy was only a sham for pride and lust of power. And only too apt is this to be the case in every intolerant and uncharitable ado about the mere "mint, anise, and cummin" of the faith. VI. BUT THE END OF THE WHOLE MATTER IS ALSO HERE SHOWN US. Such a spirit has no favour with God, and has nothing good to expect. ( J. A. Seiss, D. D. )

Benson Commentary Luke 14:1 And it came to pass, as he went into the house of one of the chief Pharisees to eat bread on the sabbath day, that they watched him. Luke 14:1-4 . And it came to pass — About this time, probably just as our Lord was finishing his journey through Herod’s dominions; he went into the house of one of the chief Pharisees — ????? ??? ???????? ????????? , of a certain one of the ruling Pharisees, that is, of a magistrate, or a member of the great council, called the sanhedrim. This person probably resided generally in Jerusalem, but had a country-seat in Peræa; and happening to meet with Jesus while he abode there, he carried him home to dinner. The invitation, however, it appears was insidious; for we are told they watched him — That is, the chief Pharisee and others of his sect, who were gathered together for this very end, watched all his words and actions, in order that they might find something to blame in them, whereby they hoped to blast his reputation as a prophet. And behold, there was a certain man before him which had the dropsy — Who, having heard that Jesus was to dine there, had got himself conveyed thither, in hopes of receiving a cure. And Jesus — Answering the thoughts which he saw arising in their hearts; spake unto the lawyers — The doctors of the law; and other Pharisees who were then present. Is it lawful to heal on the sabbath day — Can there be any thing in so benevolent an action, as healing a distempered person, inconsistent with the sacred rest required on that day? And they held their peace — Not being able, with any face, to deny the lawfulness of the action, and yet being unwilling to say any thing which might seem to authorize or countenance those cures which Christ performed on sabbath days, as well as at other times, and which in general they had been well known to censure. And he took him — ???????????? , taking him by the hand, or laying his hand on him, he healed him and let him go — ??????? , sent him away. The moment that Jesus laid his hand on the man, his complexion returned, and his body was reduced to its ordinary size; becoming, at the same time, vigorous and fit for action, as appeared by the manner in which he went out of the room. Doubtless our Lord could have accomplished this cure as well by a secret volition, and so might have cut off all matter of cavilling. But he chose rather to produce it by an action, in which there was the very least degree of bodily labour that could be, because that thus he had an opportunity of reproving the reigning superstition of the times. Luke 14:2 And, behold, there was a certain man before him which had the dropsy. Luke 14:3 And Jesus answering spake unto the lawyers and Pharisees, saying, Is it lawful to heal on the sabbath day? Luke 14:4 And they held their peace. And he took him , and healed him, and let him go; Luke 14:5 And answered them, saying, Which of you shall have an ass or an ox fallen into a pit, and will not straightway pull him out on the sabbath day? Luke 14:5-6 . And answered them — Accordingly, while the Pharisees were considering with themselves how to turn the miracle against him, he disconcerted them by proving the lawfulness of what he had done from their own practice. Which of you shall have an ass, &c., fallen into a pit on the sabbath day — Will you, for fear of breaking the sabbath, let it pass before ye attempt to draw the beast out? and not rather make all the haste you can to save its life, though it should cost you a great deal of work? But the labour of this cure was barely that Jesus laid his hand on the man. His argument, therefore, was what the grossest stupidity could not overlook, nor the most virulent malice contradict. Our Lord had used the same reasoning before, almost in the same words, when vindicating the cure of the man whose hand was withered, Matthew 12:14 ; and at another time had urged an argument in effect the same, with regard to the cure of the crooked woman, Luke 13:15 . Which may serve, among a variety of other instances, to vindicate several repetitions which must be supposed, if we desire to assert the exact and circumstantial truth of the sacred historians. And they could not answer him again — What he said was so consonant to common sense, and common practice, that they had not a word to reply. They were much ashamed, therefore, and vexed at their disappointment, having gathered themselves together, and invited him in with a design to insnare him. Luke 14:6 And they could not answer him again to these things. Luke 14:7 And he put forth a parable to those which were bidden, when he marked how they chose out the chief rooms; saying unto them, Luke 14:7-11 . And he put forth a parable — The ensuing discourse is so termed, because several parts of it are not to be understood literally. To those which were bidden — From this circumstance, that the guests were bidden, and from what is said, Luke 14:12 , it appears that this was a great entertainment, to which many were invited: which renders it still more probable that the meeting was concerted, and the company chosen with a view to insnare Jesus. When he marked how they chose out the chief rooms — ???????????? , the chief seats. The pride of the Pharisees discovered itself in the anxiety which each of them had manifested to get the chief places at table. Jesus had taken notice of it, and now showed them both the evil and the folly of their behaviour, by its consequences. He mentioned this in particular, that pride exposes a man to many affronts, every one being desirous to mortify a vain person; whereas humility is the surest way to respect. The general scope of what our Lord here says is, (not only at a marriage-feast, but on every occasion,) He that exalteth himself shall be abased, and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted. Luke 14:8 When thou art bidden of any man to a wedding, sit not down in the highest room; lest a more honourable man than thou be bidden of him; Luke 14:9 And he that bade thee and him come and say to thee, Give this man place; and thou begin with shame to take the lowest room. Luke 14:10 But when thou art bidden, go and sit down in the lowest room; that when he that bade thee cometh, he may say unto thee, Friend, go up higher: then shalt thou have worship in the presence of them that sit at meat with thee. Luke 14:11 For whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted. Luke 14:12 Then said he also to him that bade him, When thou makest a dinner or a supper, call not thy friends, nor thy brethren, neither thy kinsmen, nor thy rich neighbours; lest they also bid thee again, and a recompence be made thee. Luke 14:12-14 . Then said he also to him that bade him — In the time of dinner, Jesus directed his discourse to the person who had invited him, and showed him what sort of people he should bid to his feasts. When thou makest a dinner, &c., call not thy friends — That is, I do not bid thee call thy friends, or thy rich neighbours. Our Lord leaves these offices of courtesy and humanity as they were, and teaches a higher duty. Or, “by no means confine thy hospitality to thy rich relations, acquaintance, and neighbours, lest the whole of thy reward be an invitation from them to a like entertainment.” So Macknight: but surely it is also implied in this precept of our Lord, that we should be sparing in entertaining those that need it not, in order that we may assist those that do need, with what is saved from those needless entertainments. Lest a recompense be made thee — This fear is as much unknown to the world as even the fear of riches. But when thou makest a feast, call the poor — Have tables also for the poor, that they may partake of thy entertainments. Dr. Whitby’s observations on this passage are worthy of attention. 1st, “Christ doth not absolutely forbid us to invite our friends, our brethren, or kinsfolk, to testify our mutual charity and friendship, and how dear our relations are to us; only he would not have us invite them out of a prospect of a compensation from them again, but to prefer the exercising of our charity to them who cannot recompense us. As comparative particles are sometimes in sense negative, so negative particles are often in sense only comparative: as Proverbs 8:10 , Receive my instructions, and not (that is, rather than) silver; Joel 2:18 , Rend your hearts, and not (that is, rather than) your garments; John 6:27 , Labour not for the meat that perisheth, but for that which endureth, &c. So here, Be not so much concerned to call thy friends as to call the poor. 2d, Nor does he lay upon us a necessity, by this precept, to call the lame, the blind, or the maimed to our tables; but either to do this, or what is equivalent to us in respect of charge, and more advantageous to them and their families, namely, to send them meat or money, to refresh them at home.” And thou shalt be blessed — ???????? , happy. This will afford thee a much nobler satisfaction than banquets can give: for, though they cannot make thee any recompense in the same way, their prayers shall descend in blessings on thy head; and besides all the pleasure thou wilt find in the exercise of such beneficence, thou shalt be abundantly recompensed at the resurrection of the just, if thy bounties proceed from a principle of faith and piety. Luke 14:13 But when thou makest a feast, call the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind: Luke 14:14 And thou shalt be blessed; for they cannot recompense thee: for thou shalt be recompensed at the resurrection of the just. Luke 14:15 And when one of them that sat at meat with him heard these things, he said unto him, Blessed is he that shall eat bread in the kingdom of God. Luke 14:15 . When one of them that sat at meat heard these things, being touched therewith, he said, Blessed is he that shall eat bread in the kingdom of God — Blessed is the man who shall live in the time of the Messiah, and share the entertainments he will prepare for his people, when these virtues of humility, condescension, and charity shall flourish in all their glory. To eat bread, is a well-known Hebrew phrase for sharing in a repast, whether it be at a common meal or at a sumptuous feast. The word bread is not understood as suggesting either the scantiness or the meanness of the fare. “The kingdom of God, here, does not signify the kingdom of heaven in the highest sense, but only the kingdom of the Messiah, of which the carnal Jew here speaks, according to the received sense of his nation, as of a glorious temporal kingdom, in which the Jews should lord it over the Gentile world, enjoy their wealth and be provided with all temporal blessings and delights, in which they placed their happiness.” — Whitby. Thus also Dr. Campbell, who assigns the following reasons for understanding the expression in the same light: “1st, This way of speaking of the happiness of the Messiah’s administration suits entirely the hopes and wishes which seem to have been long entertained by the nation concerning it. 2d, The parable which, in answer to the remark, was spoken by our Lord, is on all hands understood to represent the Christian dispensation. 3d, The obvious intention of that parable is, to suggest the prejudices which, from notions of secular felicity and grandeur, the nation in general entertained on that subject; in consequence of which prejudices, what in prospect they fancied so blessed a period, would, when present, be exceedingly neglected and despised; and, in this view, nothing could be more apposite, whereas there appears no appositeness in the parable on the other interpretation;” that is, on understanding the kingdom of God, in the preceding remark, as signifying the kingdom of future glory. Luke 14:16 Then said he unto him, A certain man made a great supper, and bade many: Luke 14:16-17 . Then said he, A certain man, &c. — He delivered the following parable to show the person who made the remark, and others, that how great soever the happiness would be of those who should share the blessings of the Messiah’s kingdom, yet that many, who, under mistaken notions of it, professed to desire it, were under the force of such carnal prejudices that, though it would be offered to them with every circumstance that would recommend it, they would in fact slight, yea, and reject it, and that with disdain, preferring carnal to spiritual blessings, a kingdom of this world to one related to another; while, in the mean time, the Gentiles would embrace the gospel with cheerfulness, and thereby be prepared to sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, in the abodes of the blessed. The parable of the marriage-feast, recorded Matthew 22:1-14 , (where see the note,) was evidently spoken with the same view, though on a different occasion. Made a great supper — By this is evidently meant the rich and abundant provision which God has made in his gospel for the spiritual wants of mankind, termed a feast of fat things, Isaiah 25:6 , (where see the notes, as also on Isaiah 55:1-2 ;) a feast of truth and information for the understanding, of pardon and peace for the conscience, of love, hope, and joy for the affections; bread to nourish and strengthen, wine to cheer and exhilarate the soul and all its powers and faculties. Observe, reader, there is in Christ, and in the truth and grace displayed in, and communicated by his gospel, what will be food, nay, and a feast, a rich and agreeable feast, for the soul of man that knows its own capacities, for the soul of a sinner that knows its own necessities and miseries. This provision is called a supper, because in those countries supper-time was the chief time for feasts and entertainments of all kinds, when the business of the day was finished. The manifestation of gospel grace to the world was made in the evening of the world’s day, and the fruition of the fulness of that grace in heaven is reserved for the evening of our day. And bade many — To this feast, which is prepared for all people, Isaiah 25:6 , God had given a general invitation by the light of reason and conscience, by the secret influences of his Spirit, and the dispensations of his providence; and the whole nation of the Jews he had especially and particularly invited by his servants the prophets. And at supper-time he sent his servant — At the opening of the gospel dispensation, he sent the harbinger of the Messiah, John the Baptist, the Messiah himself, his Son and servant, with his servants, the apostles: first twelve, and then seventy, he sent through all parts of the country, during the time of Christ’s personal ministry. And when the Christian mysteries were finished; when sin was expiated by the death of Christ, death overcome by his resurrection, and the truth of the gospel sealed and confirmed by both; when a way into heaven was opened by his ascension, and the Holy Ghost, in his gifts and graces, obtained for his followers, by his intercession: when the gospel church was planted, and this rich provision was ready to be served up on a gospel table, — those who before had been invited were more closely and earnestly pressed to come in immediately, and partake of the bounty of their great Master. Such was the call given to the Jews in Jerusalem and Judea, at and after the day of pentecost, by the apostles and other Christian ministers; such was that which was afterward given to the Gentile nations, and such is the call now given to us. Its language is, all things are now ready, therefore come to the feast; to come to which, in the gospel language, is to repent of sin, and believe in Christ. Thus John the Baptist, and thus our Lord and his apostles, invited men to the gospel feast, saying, The kingdom of God is at hand, ?????? , hath approached, or is come: Repent ye, and believe the gospel. Luke 14:17 And sent his servant at supper time to say to them that were bidden, Come; for all things are now ready. Luke 14:18 And they all with one consent began to make excuse. The first said unto him, I have bought a piece of ground, and I must needs go and see it: I pray thee have me excused. Luke 14:18-20 . And they all with one consent — ??? ???? is all that is in the original. It seems most natural to supply the ellipsis by the word ?????? , consent, as our translators have done, an interpretation maintained by Beza and Wolfius. Began to make excuse — As if by mutual agreement they had all contrived to put a slight upon the entertainment, and to affront him that had kindly provided it, and invited them to partake of it. The first said, I have bought a piece of ground, &c., and another, I have bought five yoke of oxen — “It is a beautiful circumstance that our Lord here represents both these bargains as already made; so that going to see the farm and to prove the oxen that evening, rather than the next morning, was merely the effect of rudeness on the one hand, and of a foolish, impatient humour on the other; and could never have been urged, had they esteemed the inviter, or his entertainment. Accordingly, it is commonly found in fact, that men neglect the blessings and demands of the gospel, not for the most important affairs in life, with which they seldom interfere; but to indulge the caprice and folly of their own tempers, and to gratify the impulse of present passions, sometimes excited on very low occasions.” — Doddridge. Another said, I have married a wife, &c., I cannot come — “As the process of the parable represents a wise and good man offended with this excuse among the rest, we must suppose something either in the circumstance of receiving the message, or of appointing the time for entertaining company on his marriage, which implied a rude contempt of the inviter, and made the reply indecent. It was not necessary to descend to such particulars.” “If the first of the persons here invited had had so important an affair to transact as the purchasing of a farm, or the second the buying of five yoke of oxen, or the third the marrying of a wife, and if these affairs had come upon them unexpectedly, the very evening they had promised to spend at their rich neighbour’s house; but especially if these affairs could not have been delayed without missing the opportunity of doing them, their excuses would have been reasonable. But none of all these was the case. The farm and the oxen were already purchased, and the wife was married; so that the seeing of the farm, and the proving of the oxen, were pieces of unreasonable curiosity, which might easily have been deferred till next morning. And with respect to the new-married man’s pretending that he could not leave his wife for a few hours, it was such an excess of fondness as was perfectly ridiculous; not to mention that he ought to have thought of this, when the invitation was sent him the preceding day. Wherefore, their refusing so late to come to their rich friend’s supper, on such trifling pretences, was the height of rudeness, inasmuch as it implied the greatest disrespect to their friend, and contempt of his entertainment. No wonder, therefore, that he was very angry when his servant returned and brought him their answer.” — Macknight. We may observe, further, respecting these excuses, that the things which were the matter of them were not only little things, and of small concern, comparatively speaking, and things which might have been easily done at another time, which would not have interfered with this important invitation; but they, were lawful things. Each of the actions here alleged, in behalf of the refusal of these persons to attend the feast, was wholly lawful: there was nothing criminal in any of them. They were such as might well be, and are constantly done, in perfect consistency with embracing the gospel and its blessings. But these men rendered the things which were otherwise lawful and innocent, criminal and destructive by their abuse. And, while they were kept by means of them from the royal feast, they became the cause of their utter ruin. It was a wise saying of Judge Hale’s (see his Life ) that “we are ruined by things allowed.” People’s trades and families, and the necessary avocations of life, by the too great anxiety wherewith they are pursued and regarded, become as powerful obstacles to the experience and practice of true religion, and as much prevent men’s eternal salvation, as grosser sins. We have proof of this every day: while men, engaged in pursuits otherwise laudable, by their too close attachment to them, withdraw their minds totally from God, and from heaven, and neglect that which to regard duly would forward and advantage even their temporal concerns. To provide for a family, to prosecute industriously and honestly the business of a man’s calling, to be faithful to his wife, and to take care of his children, are certainly high and commendable duties, enjoined by God, and amiable in the sight of men. But when these, or any of them, are loved and pursued with such attachment and intenseness as to prevent our complying with the gracious invitations of God; to alienate our minds from Christ and the gospel; to keep us from the due and regular discharge of our duly to our God and Redeemer; — then, how laudable soever our pursuits may be, how honest and upright soever our employments, truth it is, they will as certainly exclude us from the joys of our Lord, and his eternal feast; will as certainly draw down his wrath upon us, as if our neglect of him proceeded from any cause more criminal. Luke 14:19 And another said, I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to prove them: I pray thee have me excused. Luke 14:20 And another said, I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come. Luke 14:21 So that servant came, and shewed his lord these things. Then the master of the house being angry said to his servant, Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in hither the poor, and the maimed, and the halt, and the blind. Luke 14:21-24 . So that servant came, and showed his lord these things — So ministers ought to lay before the Lord in prayer the obedience or disobedience of their hearers. Then the master of the house — Who had made the entertainment; being angry — As he reasonably might be, to see such an affront put upon his splendid preparations, and such an ungrateful return made for the peculiar kindness and respect he had shown, in sending for these guests; said to his servant, Go out quickly into the streets, &c. — Being of a benevolent and generous disposition, he determined that preparations so great should not be made in vain: and since those for whom they were first intended slighted the favour, he resolved that a great number still should be made happy with his supper, though they were of the poorer sort, nay, and diseased too; and the rather, because the persons of this class, upon whom he proposed to bestow his supper, had never partaken of such a meal before. He therefore ordered his servant to go as fast as he could into the streets and lanes of the city — Where the poor used to be, and to bring them all in, however maimed, or halt, or blind they might be. The servant readily went as directed, and quickly returned, saying, Lord, it is done as thou hast commanded — These poor, distressed people, are come in, and have sat down at the table. Many of the Jews were obedient to the gospel call, and were brought to God, and became members of the Church of Christ; but not the scribes and Pharisees, and such as Christ was now at dinner with, but such as are here mentioned, the poor of this world, and the afflicted; or such as were figuratively represented by them, the publicans and sinners. And yet there is room — The supper being great, and the hall of entertainment spacious, all those whom the servant happened to find in the streets and lanes of the city did not fill the tables. Wherefore, knowing that his lord’s intention was to make as many happy with this feast as possible, he came and told him there was still room for more. The lord said, Go out into the highways and hedges, &c. — The benevolence and generosity of this great lord were such, that he could not be easy till as many people were brought in to partake of his supper as his house, with all the apartments where tables could be placed, would contain. Wherefore he ordered his servant to go even out of the city, to the highways and hedges leading into it, where beggars usually had their stations; and to use the most earnest entreaties with those who showed any unwillingness, in order that his house might be filled with guests. Thus the apostles, and first preachers of the gospel, were not to confine their labours to the towns and cities of Judea, but extend them to all parts of the country, and invite to the gospel feast persons of all descriptions: or rather, being rejected by the Jews, they are here commanded to turn, as Paul expresses it, to the Gentiles, and to offer them the blessings of the gospel, though as unlikely to be called into the Church of Christ, as vagrants in the highways are to be invited to a feast at a nobleman’s house. As to the clause, Compel them to come in, “How vainly,” says Whitby, “these words are brought to prove, that men may be compelled by the secular arm to embrace the true faith, appears, 1st, From the nature of a banquet, to which no man is compelled by force, but only by the importunity of persuasion: 2d, From the scope of the parable, which respects the calling of the Gentiles, whom only Mohammedans think fit by force of arms to compel to the faith.” Indeed, the word ????????? , rendered compel, frequently, as Elsner has shown, signifies only, pressing persuasion. And it certainly cannot here imply that any external violence was to be used with these persons; for only a single servant was sent out to them, who surely was not capable of forcing so great a multitude to come in, as was necessary to fill his lord’s house. The proper meaning of the expression, therefore, here is, Use the most powerful persuasion with them; and so it fitly denotes the great efficacy of the apostle’s preaching to the idolatrous Gentiles, whereby vast numbers of them were prevailed with to embrace the gospel. Indeed, force has no manner of influence to enlighten men’s consciences; so that, though one should pretend to believe, and should actually practise a worship contrary to his opinion, it could never please God, being mere hypocrisy. Those, therefore, who suppose that this passage of the parable justifies the use of external violence in matters of religion, are grossly mistaken. For I say unto you, that none, &c. — This declaration of the master of the house refers to the commands given to his servant, Luke 14:21 ; Luke 14:23 . Because he had determined to reject and abandon those first invited, therefore his servant was ordered to go out and gather guests from the streets and lanes, and then from the highways and hedges. None of those men which were bidden shall taste of my supper — This is like that sentence which God passed on those ungrateful Israelites who despised the pleasant land. He sware in his wrath that they should not enter into his rest — What is here intended is, that, because the Jews rejected Christ and his gospel, they were given up by God to hardness of heart, and a reprobate mind. “Grace despised,” says Henry, “is grace forfeited, like Esau’s birthright. They that will not have Christ when they may, shall not have him when they would. Even those that were bidden, if they slight the invitation, shall be forbidden. When the door is shut, the foolish virgins will be denied entrance.” Only, the reader must remember, that not the condition of individuals, but the general state of the nation is here described; in which view, the parabolical representation is perfectly just, notwithstanding many individual Jews have believed on Christ, and obtained eternal life. Luke 14:22 And the servant said, Lord, it is done as thou hast commanded, and yet there is room. Luke 14:23 And the lord said unto the servant, Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled. Luke 14:24 For I say unto you, That none of those men which were bidden shall taste of my supper. Luke 14:25 And there went great multitudes with him: and he turned, and said unto them, Luke 14:25-27 . And there went great multitudes with him — It seems they accompanied him from place to place, with eager desire, doubtless, to have the Messiah’s kingdom erected; proposing to themselves all manner of wealth and temporal advantage therein. One day, therefore, as they were on the road with him, he thought fit to show them plainly their mistake: he turned and said, If any man come to me, and hate not, &c. — As all the hopes of temporal felicity under his reign, which his disciples entertained, were to be blasted; as he himself was to suffer an ignominious death; and as they were to be exposed unto all manner of persecutions, he declared publicly to the multitude, that, if they proposed to be his disciples, it was absolutely necessary that they should prefer his service to every thing in the world, and by their conduct show that they hated father, and mother, and wife, and children, that is to say, loved the dearest objects of their affections less than him. As in this, so in several other passages of Scripture, the word hatred signifies only an inferior degree of love. Father and mother, and other relations, are particularly mentioned by our Lord, because, as matters then stood, the profession of the gospel was apt to set a man at variance with his nearest relations. Whosoever doth not bear his cross, &c. — See on Matthew 10:37-38 . Luke 14:26 If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple. Luke 14:27 And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple. Luke 14:28 For which of you, intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first, and counteth the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it ? Luke 14:28-33 . Which of you, intending to build a tower, (the word ?????? here signifying the same as the Hebrew migdol, seems to denote any great building whatever,) sitteth not down first and counteth the cost — To illustrate the necessity of their weighing deliberately, whether they were able and prepared to bear all their losses and persecutions to which the profession of the gospel would expose them, which indeed was the only term on which they could be his disciples, he desired them to consider how prudence would direct them to act in other cases of importance. The most thoughtless person among you, as if he had said, will not resolve on a matter of such importance as the building of a house, without previously calculating the expense; because you know that the builder who begins without counting the cost, being obliged to leave off for want of money, exposes himself to the ridicule of all passengers who look on the half- finished edifice. In like manner, the king who declares war without comparing his forces with those of his enemy, and considering whether the bravery of his troops, and the conduct of his generals, will be able to make up what he wants in numbers, is sure to be ingloriously defeated, unless he humbly sue for peace before the matter comes to an engagement. So likewise — Like the person who began to build and was not able to finish; or like the king who, being afraid to face his enemy, sends an embassy and desires terms of peace; whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath — Who does not engage so earnestly and resolutely in his Christian warfare, as to hold all things cheap in comparison with life eternal, and be ready to forsake them when I call him to it; he cannot be my disciple — He cannot be acknowledged by me as such, because my disciples will be exposed to such trials, to such reproaches, losses, imprisonments, tortures, and martyrdoms, that unless they prefer me, and the cause in which I am engaged, to all visible and temporal things whatever, they certainly will not steadily adhere to me, or continue faithful and constant in my service. “Christ does not here require that we should actually renounce these [temporal] things, but that our heart and our affections should be so taken off from them, that we always love them less than we love him; and be always ready to part with them when we cannot keep them without making shipwreck of faith and a good conscience.” — Whitby. To the same purpose Baxter: “A man cannot be Christ’s disciple if he prefer not the kingdom of heaven before all worldly interest, and forsake it not all comparati

Expositor's Bible Commentary Luke 14:1 And it came to pass, as he went into the house of one of the chief Pharisees to eat bread on the sabbath day, that they watched him. Luke 14:7 And he put forth a parable to those which were bidden, when he marked how they chose out the chief rooms; saying unto them, 7 Chapter 22 THE ETHICS OF THE GOSPEL. WHATEVER of truth there may be in the charge of "other-worldliness," as brought against the modern exponents of Christianity, such a charge could not even be whispered against its Divine Founder. It is just possible that the Church had been gazing too steadfastly up into heaven, and that she had not been studying the science of the "Humanities" as zealously as she ought, and as she has done since; but Jesus did not allow even heavenly things to obliterate or to blur the lines of earthly duty. We might have supposed that coming down from heaven, and familiar with its secrets, He would have much to say about the New World, its position in space, its society and manner of life. But no; Jesus says little about the life which is to come; it is the life which now is that engrosses His attention, and almost monopolizes His speech. Life with Him was not in the future tense; it was one living present, real, earnest, but fugitive. Indeed, that future was but the present projected over into eternity. And so Jesus, founding the kingdom of God on earth, and summoning all men into it, if he did not bring commandments written and lithographed, like Moses, yet He did lay down principles and rules of conduct, marking out, in all departments of human life, the straight and white lines of duty, the eternal "ought." It is true that Jesus Himself did not originate much in this department of Christian ethics, and probably for most of His sayings we can find a synonym struck from the pages of earlier, and perhaps heathen moralists; but in the wide realm of Right there can be no new law. Principles may be evolved, interpreted; they cannot be created. Right, like Truth, holds the "eternal years"; and through the millenniums before Christ, as through the millenniums after, Conscience, that "ethical intellect" which speaks to all men if they will but draw near to her Sinai and listen, spoke to some in clear, authoritative tones. But if Jesus did no more, He gathered up the "broken lights" of earth, the intermittent flashes which had played on the horizon before, into one steady electric beam, which lights up our human life outward to its farthest reach, and onward to its farthest goal. In the mind of Jesus conduct was the outward and visible expression of some inner invisible force. As our earth moves round its elliptic in obedience to the subtle attractions of other outlying worlds, so the orbits of human lives, whether symmetrical or eccentric, are determined mainly by the two forces, Character and Circumstance. Conduct is character in motion; for men do what they themselves are, i.e . as far as circumstances will allow. And it is just at this point the ethical teaching of Jesus begins. He recognizes the imperium in imperio , that hidden world of thought, feeling, sentiment, and desire which, itself invisible, is the mould in which things visible are cast. And so Jesus, in His influence upon men, worked outward from within. He sought, not reform, but regeneration, molding the life by changing the character, for, to use His own figure, how could the thorn produce grapes, or the thistle figs? And so when Jesus was asked, "What shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?" He gave an answer which at first sight seemed to ignore the question entirely. He said no word about "doing," but threw the questioner back upon "being," asking what was written in the law: "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbor as thyself". { Luke 10:27 } And as Jesus here makes Love the condition of eternal life, its sine qua non, so He makes it the one all-embracing duty, the fulfilling of the law. If a man love God supremely, and his neighbor as himself, he cannot do more; for all other commandments are included in these, the subsections of the greater law. Jesus thus sought to create a new force, hiding it within the heart, as the mainspring of duty, providing for that duty both aim and inspiration. We call it a "new" force, and such it was practically; for though it was, in a way, embedded in their law, it was mainly as a dead letter, so much so that when Jesus bade His disciples to "love one another" He called it a "new commandment." Here, then, we find what is at once the rule of conduct and its motive. In the new system of ethics, as taught and enforced by Jesus, and illustrated by His life, the Law of Love was to be supreme. It was to be to the moral world what gravitation is to the natural, a silent but mighty and all-pervasive force, throwing its spell upon the isolated actions of the common day, giving impulse and direction to the whole current of life, ruling alike the little eddies of thought and the wider sweeps of benevolent activities. To Jesus "the soul of improvement was the improvement of the soul." He laid His hand upon the heart’s innermost shrine, building up that unseen temple four-square, like the city of the Apocalypse, and lighting up all its windows with the warm, iridescent light of love. With this, then, as the foundation-tone, running through all the spaces and along all the lines of life, the thoughts, desires, words, and acts must all harmonize with love; and if they do not, if they strike a note that is foreign to its key-note, it breaks the harmony at once, throwing jars and discords into the tousle. Such a breach of the harmonic law would be called a mistake, but when it is a breach of Christ’s moral law it is more than a mistake, it is a wrong. Before passing to the outer life Jesus pauses, in this Gospel, to correct certain dissonances of mind and soul, of thought and feeling, which put us in a wrong attitude towards our fellows. First of all, He forbids us to sit in judgment upon others. He says, "Judge not, and ye shall not be judged: and condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned". { Luke 6:37 } This does not mean that we close our eyes with a voluntary blindness, working our way through life like moles; nor does it mean that we keep our opinions in a state of flux, not allowing them to crystallize into thought, or to harden into the leaden alphabets of human speech. There is within us all a moral sense, a miniature Sinai, and we can no more suppress its thunders or sheath its lightnings than we can hush the breakers of the shore into silence, or suppress the play of the Northern Lights. But in that unconscious judgment we pass upon the actions of others, with our condemnation of the wrong, we pass our sentence upon the wrong-doer, mentally ejecting him from the courtesies and sympathies of life, and if we allow him to live at all, compelling him to live apart, as a moral incurable. And so, with our hatred of the sin, we learn to hate the sinner, and calling from him both our charities and our hopes, we hurl him down into some little Gehenna of our own. But it is exactly this feeling, this kind of judgment, the Law of Love condemns. We may "hate the sin, and yet the sinner love," keeping him still within the circle of our sympathies and our hopes. It is not meet that we should be merciless who have ourselves experienced so much mercy; nor is it for us to hale others off to prison, or ruthlessly to exact the uttermost farthing, when we ourselves at the very best are erring and unfaithful servants, standing so much and so often in need of forgiveness. But there is another " judging " that the command of Christ condemns, and that is the hasty and the false judgments we pass on the motives and lives of others. How apt we are to depreciate the worth of others who do not happen to belong to our circle! We look so intently for their faults and foibles that we become blind to their excellences. We forget that there is some good in every person, some that we can see if we only look, and we may be always sure that there is some we cannot see. We should not prejudge. We should not form our opinion upon an ex parte statement. We should not leave the heart too open to the flying germs of rumor, and we should discount heavily any damaging, disparaging statement. We should not allow ourselves to draw too many inferences, for he who is given to drawing inferences draws largely on his imagination. We should think slowly in our judgment of others, for he who leaps to conclusions generally takes his leap in the dark. We should learn to wait for the second thoughts, for they are often truer than the first. Nor is it wise to use too much "the spur of the moment"; it is a sharp weapon, and is apt to cut both ways. We should not interpret others’ motives by our own feelings, nor should we "suppose" too much. Above all, we should be charitable, judging of others as we judge ourselves. Perhaps the beam that is in a brother’s eye is but the magnified mote that is in our own. It is better to learn the art of appreciating than that of depreciating; for though the one is easy, and the other difficult, yet he who looks for the good, and exalts the good, will make the very wilderness to blossom and be glad; while he who depreciates everything outside his own little self impoverishes life, and makes the very garden of the Lord one arid, barren desert. Again, Jesus condemns pride, as being a direct contravention of His Law of Love. Love rejoices in the possessions and gifts of others, nor would she care to add to her own if it must be at the cost of theirs. Love is an equalizer, leveling up the inequalities the accidents of life have made, and preferring to stand on some lower level with her fellows than to sit solitary on some lofty and cold Olympus. Pride, on the other hand, is a repelling, separating force. Scorning those who occupy the lower places, she is contented only on her Olympian summit, where she keeps herself warm with the fires of her self-adulation. The proud heart is the loveless heart, one huge inflation; if she carries others at all, it is only as a steadying ballast; she will not hesitate to throw them over and throw them down, as mere dust or sand, if their fall will help her to rise. Pride like the eagle, builds her nest on high, bringing forth whole broods of loveless, preying passions, hatreds, jealousies, and hypocrisies. Pride sees no brotherhood in man; humanity to her means no more than so many serfs to wait upon her pleasure, or so many victims for her sacrifice! And how Jesus loved to prick these bubbles of airy nothings, showing up these vanities as the very essence of selfishness! He did not spare His words, even though they stung, when "He marked how they chose out the chief seats" at the friendly supper; { Luke 14:7 } and one of His bitter " woes " He hurled at the Pharisees just because "they loved the chief seats in the synagogues," worshipping Self, when they pretended to worship God, so: making the house of God itself an arena for the sport and play of their proud ambitions. "He that is least among you all," He said, when rebuking the disciples’ lust for preeminence, "the same is great." And such is Heaven’s law: humility is the cardinal virtue, the "strait" and low gate which opens into the very heart of the kingdom. Humility is the one and the only way of heavenly preferments and eternal promotions; for in the life to come there will be strange contrasts and inversions, as he that exalted himself is now humbled, and he that humbled himself is now exalted. { Luke 14:11 } Tracing now the lines of duty as they run across the outer life, we find them following the same directions. As the golden-milestone of the Forum marked the center of the empire, towards which its roads converged, and from which all distances were measured, so in the Christian commonwealth Jesus makes Love the capital, the central, controlling power; while at the focal point of all the duties He sets up His Golden Rule, which gives direction to all the paths of human conduct: "And as ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise". { Luke 6:30 } In this general law we have what we might call the ethical compass, for it embraces within its circle the "whole duty of man" towards his fellow; and it only needs an adjusted conscience, like the delicately poised needle, and the line of the "ought" can be read off at once, even in those uncertain latitudes where no specific law is found. Are we in doubt as to what course of conduct to pursue, as to the kind of treatment we should accord to our fellow? We can always find the via recta by a short mental transposition. We have only to put ourselves in his place, and to imagine our relative positions reversed, and from the "would" of our supposed desires and hopes we read the "ought" of present duty. The Golden Rule is thus a practical exposition of the Second Commandment, investing our neighbor with the same luminous Atmosphere we throw about ourselves, the atmosphere of a benevolent, beneficent love. But beyond this general law Jesus gives us a prescript as to the treatment of enemies. He says, "Love your enemies, do good to them that hate you, bless them that curse you, pray for them that despitefully use you. To him that smiteth thee on the one cheek offer also the other: and from him that taketh away thy cloak withhold not thy coat also". { Luke 6:27-29 } In considering these injunctions we must bear in mind that the word "enemy" in its New Testament meaning had not the wide and general signification it has today. It then stood in antithesis to the word "neighbor" as in Matthew 5:43 ; and as the word "neighbor" to the Jew included those, and those only, who were of the Hebrew race and faith, the word "enemy" referred to those outside, who were aliens from the commonwealth of Israel. To the Hebrew mind it stood as a synonym for "Gentile." In these words, then, we find, not a general and universal law, but the special instructions as to their course of conduct in dealing with the Gentiles, to whom they would shortly be sent. No matter what their treatment, they must bear it with an uncomplaining patience. Stripped, beaten, they must not resist, much less retaliate; they must not allow any vindictive feelings to possess them, nor must they take in their own hot hand the sword of a "sweet revenge." Nay, they must even bear a good-will towards their enemies, repaying their hate with love, their spite and enmity with prayers, and their curses with sincerest benedictions. It will be observed that no mention is made of repentance or of restitution: without waiting for these, or even expecting them, they must be prepared to forgive and prepared to love their enemies, even while they are shamefully treating them. And what else, under the circumstances, could they have done? If they appealed to the secular power it would simply have been an appeal to a heathen court, from enemies to enemies. And as to waiting for repentance, their "enemies" are only treating them as enemies, aliens and foreigners, wronging them, it is true, but ignorantly, and not through any personal malice. They must forgive just for the same reason that Jesus forgave His Roman murderers, "for they know not what they do." We cannot, therefore, take these injunctions, which evidently had a special and temporary application, as the literal rule of conduct towards those who are unfriendly or hostile to us. This, however, is plain, that even our enemies, whose enmity is directly personal rather than sectional or racial, are not to be excluded from the Law of Love. We must bear them neither hatred nor resentment; we must guard our hearts sacredly from all malevolent, vindictive feelings. We must not be our own avenger, taking vengeance upon our adversaries, as we let loose the barking Cerberus to track and run them down. All such feelings are contrary to the Law of Love, and so are contraband, entirely foreign to the heart that calls itself Christian. But with all this we are not to meet all sorts of injuries and wrongs without protest or resistance. We cannot condone a wrong without being accomplices in the wrong. To defend our property and life is just as much our duty as it was the wisdom and the duty of those to whom Jesus spoke to offer an uncomplaining cheek to the Gentile smiter. Not to do this is to encourage crime, and to put a premium upon evil. Nor is it inconsistent with a true love to seek to punish, by lawful means, the wrong-doer. Justice here is the highest type of mercy, and pains and penalties have a remedial virtue, taming the passions which had grown too wild, or straightening the conscience that had become warped. And so Jesus, speaking of the "offences," the occasions of stumbling that would come, said, "If thy brother sin, rebuke him; and if he repent, forgive." { Luke 17:3 } It is not the patient, silent acquiescence now. No, we must rebuke the brother who has sinned against us and wronged us. And if this is vain, we must tell it to the Church, as St. Matthew completes the injunction; { Matthew 18:17 } and if the offender will not hear the Church, he must be cast out, ejected from their fellowship, and becoming to their thought as a heathen or a publican. The wrong, though it is a brother who does it, must not be glossed over with the enamel of an euphemism; nor must it be hushed up, veiled by a guilty silence. It must be brought to the light of day, it must be rebuked and punished; nor must it be forgiven until it is repented of. Let there be, however, a genuine repentance, and there must be on our part the prompt and complete forgiveness of the wrong. We must set it back out of our sight, amongst the forgotten things. And if the wrong be repeated, if the repentance be repeated, the forgiveness must be repeated too, not only for seven times seven offenses, but for seventy times seven. Nor is it left to our option whether we forgive or no; it is a duty, absolute and imperative; we must forgive, as we ourselves hope to be forgiven. Again, Jesus treats of the true use of wealth. He Himself assumed a voluntary poverty. Silver and gold had He none; indeed, the only coin that we read He handled was the borrowed Roman penny, with Caesar’s inscription upon it. But while Jesus Himself preferred poverty, choosing to live on the outflowing charities of those who felt it both a privilege and an honor to minister to Him of their substance, yet He did not condemn wealth. It was not a wrong per se . In the Old Testament it had been regarded as a sign of Heaven’s special favor, and amongst the rich Jesus Himself found some of His warmest, truest friends-friends who came nobly to the front when some who had made louder professions had ignominiously fled. Nor did Jesus require the renunciation of wealth as the condition of discipleship. He did not advocate that fictitious egalite of the Commune. He sought rather to level up than to level down. It is true He did say to the ruler, "Sell all that thou hast, and distribute unto the poor"; but this was an exceptional case, and probably it was put before him as a test command, like the command to Abraham that he should sacrifice his son-which was not intended to he carried out literally, but only as far as the intention, the will. There was no such demand made from Nicodemus, and when Zacchaeus testified that it had been his practice (the present tense would indicate a retrospective rather than a prospective rule) to give one-half of his income to the poor, Jesus does not find fault with his division, and demand the other half; He commends him, and passes him up, right over the excommunication of the rabbis, among the true sons of Abraham. Jesus did not pose as an assessor; He left men to divide their own inheritance. It was enough for Him if He could put within the soul this new force, the "moral dynamic" of love to God and man; then the outward relations would shape themselves, regulated as by some automatic action. But with all this, Jesus recognized the peculiar temptations and dangers of wealth. He saw how riches tend to engross and monopolize the thought, diverting it from higher things, and so He classed riches with cares, pleasures, which choke the Word of life, and make it unfruitful. He saw how wealth tended to selfishness; that it acted as an astringent, closing up the valves of the heart, and thus shutting down the outflow of its sympathies. And so Jesus, whenever He spoke of wealth, spoke in words of warning: "How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of God!" He said, when He saw how the rich ruler set wealth before faith and hope. And singularly enough, the only times Jesus, in His parables, lifts up the curtain of doom it is to tell of "certain rich" men-the one, whose soul swung selfishly between his banquets and his barns, and who, alas! had laid up no treasures in heaven; and the other, who exchanged his purple and fine linen for the folds of enveloping flames, and the sumptuous fare of earth for eternal want, the eternal hunger and thirst of the after-retribution! What, then, is the true use of wealth? And how may we so hold it that it shall prove a blessing, and not a bane? In the first place, we must hold it in our hand, and not lay it up in the heart. We must possess it; it must not possess us. We may give our thought, moderately, to it, but our affections must not be allowed to center upon it. We read that the Pharisees "were lovers of money," { Luke 16:14 } and that argentic passion was the root of all their evils. The love of money, like an opiate, little by little, steals over the whole frame, deadening the sensibility, perverting the judgment, and weakening the will, producing a kind of intoxication, in which the better reason is lost, and the confused speech can only articulate, with Shylock, "My ducats, my ducats!" the true way of holding wealth is to hold it in trust, recognizing God’s ownership and our stewardship. Bank it up, give it no outlet, and your wealth becomes a stagnant pool, breeding malaria and burning fevers; but open the channel, give it an outlet, and it will bring life and music to a thousand lower vales, increasing the happiness of others, and increasing your own the more. And so Jesus strikes in with His frequent imperative, "Give"-"Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, shall they give into your bosom". { Luke 6:38 } And this is the true use of wealth, its consecration to the needs of humanity. And may we not say that here is its truest pleasure? He who has learned the art of generous giving, who makes his life one large-hearted benevolence, living for others and not for himself, has acquired an art that is beautiful and Divine, an art that turns the deserts into gardens of the Lord and that peoples the sky overhead with unseen singing Ariels. Giving and living are heavenly synonyms, and tie who giveth most liveth best. But not from the words of Jesus alone do we read off the lines of our duty. He is in His own Person a Polar Star, to whom all the meridians of our round life turn, and from whom they emanate. His life is thus our law, His example our pattern. Do we wish to learn what are the duties of children to their parents? The thirty silent years of Nazareth speak in answer. They show us how the Boy Jesus is in subjection to His parents, giving to them a perfect obedience, a perfect trust, and a perfect love. They show us the Divine Youth, still shut in within that narrow circle, ministering to that circle, by hard-manual toil becoming the stay of that fatherless home. Do we wish to learn our duties to the State? See how Jesus walked in a land across which the Roman eagle had cast its shadow! He did not preach a crusade against the barbarian invaders, tie recognized in their presence and power the ordination of God-that they had been sent to chastise a lapsed Israel. And so Jesus spoke no word of denunciation, no fiery word, which might have proved the spark of a revolution. He took Himself away from the multitudes when they would by force make Him King. He spoke in respectful terms of the powers that were; He even justified the payment of tribute to Caesar, acknowledging his lordship, while at the same time He spoke of the higher tribute to the great Over-Lord, even God. When upon His trial for life or death, before a Roman tribunal, He even stayed to apologize for Pilate’s weakness, casting the heavier sin back on the hierarchy that had bought Him and delivered Him up; while upon the cross, amid its untold agonies, though His lips were glued by a fearful thirst, He opened them to breathe a last prayer for His Roman executioners: "Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do." But was Jesus, then, an alien from His kinsmen according to the flesh? Was patriotism to Him an unknown force? Did He know nothing of love of country, that inspiration which has turned common men into heroes and martyrs, that love which oceans cannot quench, nor distance weaken, which throws an auroral brightness around the most sterile shores, and which makes the emigrant sick with a strange " Heimweh ?" Did the Son of man, the ideal Man, know nothing at all of this? He did know it, and know it well. He identified Himself thoroughly with His people; He placed Himself under the law, observing its rites and ceremonies. After the Childhood exile in Egypt, He scarcely passed out of the sacred bounds; no storms of rough persecution could dislodge the heavenly Dove, or send Him wheeling off from His native hills. And if He did not preach rebellion, He did preach that righteousness which gives to a nation its truest wealth and widest liberty. He did denounce the Pharisaic shams, the hollow hypocrisies, which had eaten away the nation’s heart and strength. And how He loved Jerusalem, forgetting His own triumph in the vision of her humiliation, and weeping for the desolations which were coming sure and fast! This, the Holy City, was the center to which He ever returned, and to which He gave His last bequest-His cross and His grave. Nay, when the cross is taken down, and the grave is vacant, He lingers to give His Apostles their commission; and when He bids them, "Go ye out into all the world," He adds, "beginning at Jerusalem." The Son of man is the Son of David still, and within His deep love for humanity at large was a peculiar love for His "own," as the ark itself was enshrined within the Holy of Holies. And so we might traverse the whole ethical domain, and we should find no duty which is not enforced or suggested by the words or the life of the great Teacher. As Dr. Dorner says, "There is only one morality; the original of it is in God; the copy of it is in the Man of God." Happy is he who see this Polar Star, whose light shines clear and calm above the rush of human years and the ebbs and flows of human life! Happier still is he who shapes his course by it, who reads off all his bearings from its light! He who builds his life after the Divine model, reading the Christ-life into his own, will build up another city of God on earth, foursquare and compact together, a city of peace, because a city of righteousness and a city of love. The Expositor's Bible Text Courtesy of BibleSupport.com . Used by Permission.