Expository Thoughts on the Gospels

The one great subject which stands out prominently in this passage of Scripture is the Sabbath day. It is a subject on which strange opinions prevailed among the Jews in our Lord's time. The Pharisees had added to the teaching of Scripture about it, and overlaid the true character of the day with the traditions of men. It is a subject on which diverse opinions have often been held in the churches of Christ, and wide differences exist among men at the present time. Let us see what we may learn about it from our Lord's teaching in these verses.

Let us learn in the first place, from this passage that our Lord Jesus Christ does not do away with the observance of a weekly Sabbath day, he neither does so here nor elsewhere in the four Gospels. We often find his opinion expressed about Jewish errors on the subject of the Sabbath; but we do not find a word to teach us that his disciples were not to keep a Sabbath at all.

It is of much importance to observe this. The mistakes that have arisen from a superficial consideration of our Lord's sayings on the Sabbath question are neither few nor small; thousands have rushed to the hasty conclusion that Christians have nothing to do with the fourth commandment, and that it is no more binding on us than the Mosaic law about sacrifices. There is nothing in the New Testament to justify any such conclusion.

The plain truth is that our Lord did not abolish the law of the weekly Sabbath: he only freed it from incorrect interpretations, and purified it from man made additions. He did not tear out of the decalogue the fourth commandment: he only stripped off the miserable traditions with which the Pharisees had incrusted the day, and by which they had made it not a blessing but a burden. He left the fourth commandment where he found it, a part of the eternal law of God, of which no jot or tittle, was ever to pass away. May we never forget this!

Let us learn in the second place, from this passage that our Lord Jesus Christ allows all works of real necessity and mercy to be done on the Sabbath day.

This is a principle which is abundantly established in the passage of Scripture we are now considering. We find our Lord justifying his disciples for plucking the ears of corn on a Sabbath. It was an act permitted in Scripture (? Deuteronomy 23:25). They "?were an hungred?" and in need of food, therefore they were not to blame. We find him maintaining the lawfulness of healing a sick man on the Sabbath day. The man was suffering from disease and pain. In such a case it was no breach of God's commandment to afford relief. We ought never to rest from doing good.

The arguments by which our Lord supports the lawfulness of any work of necessity and mercy on the Sabbath are striking and unanswerable. He reminds the Pharisees, who charge him and his disciples with breaking the law, how David and his men, for want of other food, had eaten the holy showbread out of the tabernacle. He reminds them how the priests in the temple are obliged to do work on the Sabbath by slaying animals and offering sacrifices. He reminds them how even a sheep would be helped out of a pit on the Sabbath, rather than allowed to suffer and die, by any one of themselves Above all, he lays down the great principle that no ordinance of God is to be pressed so far as to make us neglect the plain duties of charity. "?I will have mercy, and not sacrifice?." The first table of the law is not to be so interpreted as to make us break the second; the fourth commandment is not to be so explained as to make us unkind and unmerciful to our neighbor. There is deep wisdom in all this. We are reminded of the saying, "?Never man spake like man.

In leaving the subject, let us beware that we are never tempted to take low views of the sanctity of the Christian Sabbath. Let us take care that we do not make our gracious Lord's teaching an excuse for Sabbath profanation. Let us not abuse the liberty which he has so clearly marked out for us, and pretend that we do things on the Sabbath from "?necessity and mercy,?" which in reality we do for our own selfish gratification.

There is great reason for warning people on this point. The mistakes of the Pharisee about the Sabbath were in one direction; the mistakes of the Christian are in another. The Pharisee pretended to add to the holiness of the day; the Christian is too often disposed to take away from that holiness, and to keep the day in an idle, profane, irreverent manner. May we all watch our own conduct on this subject! Saving Christianity is closely bound up with Sabbath observance. May we never forget that our great aim should be to "?keep the Sabbath holy?" Works of necessity may be done: "?It is lawful to do well." and show mercy; but to give the Sabbath to idleness, pleasure-seeking, or the world, is utterly unlawful. It is contrary to the example of Christ, and a sin against a plain commandment of God.

The first thing which demands our notice in this passage is the desperate wickedness of the human heart, which it exemplifies. Silenced and defeated by our Lord's arguments, the Pharisees plunged deeper and deeper into sin. They "?went out and held a council against Him how they might destroy Him."

What evil had our Lord done, that he should be so treated? None, none at all. No charge could be brought against his life. He was holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners; his days were spent in doing good. No charge could be brought against his teaching. He had proved it to be agreeable to Scripture and reason, and no reply had been made to his proofs. But it mattered little how perfectly he lived or taught: he was hated.

This is human nature appearing in its true colors! The unconverted heart hates God, and will show its hatred whenever it dares, and has a favorable opportunity. It will persecute God's witnesses; it will dislike all who have anything of God's mind and are renewed after his image. Why were so many of the prophets killed? Why were the names of the apostles cast out as evil by the Jews? Why were the early martyrs slain? Why were John Hus, and Jerome of Prague, andRidley and Latimer burned at the stake? Not for any sins that they had sinned, not for any wickedness they had committed. They all suffered because they were godly men. And human nature, unconverted, hates godly men because it hates God.

It must never surprise true Christians if they meet with the same treatment that the Lord Jesus met with. "Marvel not if the world hates you?" (? 1 John 3:13). It is not the utmost consistency or the closest walk with God that will exempt them from the enmity of the natural man. They need not torture their consciences by fancying that if they were only more faultless and consistent, everybody would surely love them. It is all a mistake. They should remember that there was never but one perfect man on earth, but He was not loved but hated. It is not the infirmities of a believer that the world dislikes, but his godliness; it is not the remains of the old nature that call forth the world's enmity, but the exhibition of the new. Let us remember these things, and be patient. The world hated Christ, and the world will hate Christians.

The second thing which demands our notice in this passage is the encouraging description of our Lord Jesus Christ's character, which St. Matthew draws from the prophet Isaiah. "?A bruised reed he will not break, and a smoking flax shall He not quench."

What are we to understand by the bruised reed and smoking flax? The language of the prophet no doubt is figurative. What is it that these two expressions mean? The simplest explanation seems to be that the HolyGhost is here describing persons whose grace is at present weak, whose repentance is feeble, and whose faith is small. Towards such persons the Lord Jesus Christ will be very tender and compassionate. Weak as the bruised reed is, it shall not be broken; small as the spark of fire may be within the smoking flax, it shall not be quenched. It is a standing truth in the kingdom of grace that weak grace, weak faith and weak repentance are all precious in our Lord's sight. Mighty as he is, he "? despiseth not any?" (? Job 36:5).

The doctrine here laid down is full of comfort and consolation. There are thousands in every church of Christ to whom it ought to speak peace and hope. There are some in every congregation that hears the Gospel who are ready to despair of their own salvation because their strength seems so small. They are full of fears and despondency because their knowledge, faith, hope and love appear so dwarfish and diminutive. Let them drink comfort out of this text; let them know that weak faith gives a man as real and true an interest in Christ as strong faith, though it may not give him the same joy. There is life in an infant as truly as in a grown up man; there is fire in a spark as truly as in a burning flame. The least degree of grace is an everlasting possession. It comes down from heaven; it is precious in our Lord's eyes. It shall never be overthrown.

Does Satan make light of the beginnings of repentance towards God, and faith towards our Lord Jesus Christ? No, indeed he does not! He has great wrath because he sees his time is short. Do the angels of God think lightly of the first signs of penitence and feeling after God in Christ? No, indeed, "?there is joy?" among them when they behold the sight! Does the Lord Jesus regard no faith and repentance with interest unless they are strong and mighty? No, indeed! As soon as that "?bruised reed,?" Saul of Tarsus, begins to cry to him, he sends Ananias to him, saying: "?behold he prayeth?" (? Acts 9:11). We err greatly if we do not encourage the very first movements of a soul towards Christ. Let the ignorant world scoff and mock, if it will; we may be sure that "?bruised reeds?" and "?smoking flax?" are very precious in our Lord's eyes.

May we all lay these things to heart, and use them in time of need, both for ourselves and others! It should be a standing maxim in our religion, that a spark is better than utter darkness, and little faith better than no faith at all. "?Who hath despised the day of small things??" (?Zechariah 4:10.) It is not despised by Christ. It ought not to be despised by Christians.

This passage of Scripture contains "?things hard to be understood.?" The sin against the Holy Ghost in particular has never been fully explained by the most learned divines. It is not difficult to show from Scripture what the sin is not, is difficult to show clearly what it is. We must not be surprised. The Bible would not be the book of God, if it had not deep places here and there, which man have no line to fathom. Let us rather thank God that there are lessons of wisdom to be gathered, even out of these verses, which the unlearned may easily understand.

Let us gather from them in the first place, that there is nothing too blasphemous for hardened and prejudiced men to say against religion. Our Lord casts out a devil, and at once the Pharisees declare that he does it "?by? the prince of devils?"

This was an absurd charge. Our Lord shows that it was unreasonable to suppose that the devil would help to pull down his own kingdom, and "?Satan cast out Satan. But there is nothing too absurd and unreasonable for men to say when they are thoroughly set against religion. The Pharisees are not the only people who have lost sight of logic, good sense and temper when they have attacked the Gospel of Christ.

Strange as this charge may sound, it is one that has often been made against the servants of God. Their enemies have been obliged to confess that they are doing a work, and producing an effect on the world. The results of Christian labor stare them in the face and they cannot deny them. What then shall they. They say the very thing that the Pharisees said of our Lord, "?It is the devil.?" The early heretics used language of this kind about Athanasius, the Roman Catholics spread reports of this sort about Martin Luther. Such things will be said as long as the world stands.

We must never be surprised to hear of dreadful charges being made against the best of men, without cause. "?If they called the Master of the house Beelzebub, how much more shall they call them of his household??" It is an old device. When the Christian's arguments cannot be answered, and the Christian's works cannot be denied, the last resource of the wicked is to try to blacken the Christian's character. If this be our lot, let us bear it patiently. Having Christ and a good conscience, we may be content; false charges will not keep us out of heaven. Our character will be cleared at the last day.

In the second place, let us gather from these verses the impossibility of neutrality in religion. "?He that is not with Christ is against Him, and he that gathereth not with him scattereth abroad.

There are many persons in every age of the church, who need to have this lesson pressed upon them. They endeavor to steer a middle course in religion; they are not so bad as many sinners, but still they are not saints. They feel the truth of Christ's Gospel when it is brought before them; but they are afraid to confess what they feel. Because they have these feelings, they flatter themselves they are not so bad as others, and yet they shrink from the standard of faith and practice which the Lord Jesus sets up. They are not boldly fighting on Christ's side, and yet they are not openly against him. Our Lord warns all such people that they are in a dangerous position. There are only two parties in religious matters, there are only two camps, there are only two sides. Are we with Christ, and working in his cause? If not, we are against him. Are we doing good in the world? If not, we are doing harm.

The principle here laid down is one which it concerns us all to remember. Let us settle it in our minds that we shall never have peace and do good to others unless we are thorough-going and decided in our Christianity. The way of Gamaliel never yet brought happiness and usefulness to anyone, and never will.

In the third place, let us gather from these verses the exceeding sinfulness of sins against knowledge.

This is a practical conclusion which appears to flow naturally from our Lord's words about the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost. Difficult as these words undoubtedly are, they seem fairly to prove that there are degrees in sin. Offenses arising from ignorance of the true mission of the Son of man will not be punished so heavily as offenses committed against the noontide light of the dispensation of the Holy Ghost. The brighter the light, the greater the guilt of him who rejects it; the clearer a man's knowledge of the nature of the Gospel, the greater his sin if he willfully refuses to repent and believe.

The doctrine here taught is one that does not stand alone in Scripture. St. paul says to the Hebrews: "?It is impossible for those who were once enlightened? if they shall fall away, to be renew them again unto repentance.? If we sin willfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, but a fearful looking for of judgment?" (? Hebrews 6:4,? 6;? 10:26-27). It is a doctrine of which we find mournful proofs in every quarter. The unconverted children of godly parents, the unconverted servants of godly families and the unconverted members of evangelical congregations are the hardest people on earth to impress. They seem past feeling. The same fire which melts the wax hardens the clay. It is a doctrine, moreover, which receives awful confirmation from the histories of some whose last ends were eminently hopeless. Pharaoh, and, and Ahab, and Judas Iscariot, and Julian and Francis Spira are fearful illustrations of our Lord's meaning. In each of these cases there was a combination of clear knowledge and deliberate rejection of Christ. In each there was light in the head, but hatred of truth in the heart. And the end of each seems to have been "?blackness of darkness? forever."

May God give us a will to use our knowledge, whether it be little or great! May we beware of neglecting our opportunities, and leaving our priviledges unimproved. Have we light? Then let us live fully up to our light. Do we know the truth? Then let us walk in the truth. This is the best safeguard against the unpardonable sin.

In the last place, let us gather from these verses the immense importance of carefulness about our daily words. Our Lord tells us that for every idle word that men shall speak they shall give account in the day of judgement.And he adds, "?By thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shall be condemned.?"

There are few of our Lord's sayings which are so heart-searching as this. There is nothing, perhaps, to which most men pay less attention than their words. They go through their daily work, speaking and talking without thought or reflection, and seem to fancy that if they do what is right, it matters but little what they say.

But is it so? Are our words so utterly trifling and unimportant? We dare not say so with such a passage of Scripture as this before our eyes. Our words are the evidence of the state of our hearts, as surely as the taste of the water is an evidence of the state of the spring. "?Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.?" The lips only utter what the mind conceives. Our words will form one subject of inquiry at the day of judgment: we shall have to give account of our sayings, as well as of our doings. Truly these are very solemn considerations. If there were no other text in the Bible, this passage ought to convince us that we are all "?guilty before God,?" and need a righteousness better than our own, even the righteousness of Christ (see? Philippians 3:9).

Let us be humble as we read this passage in the recollection of time past. How many idle, foolish, vain, light, frivolous, sinful and unprofitable things we have all said! How many words we have used which, like thisle-down, have flown far and wide and sown mischief in the hearts of others that will never die! How often when we have met our friends, "?our conversation,?" to use an old saint's expression, "?has only made work for repentance.?" There is deep truth in the remark of Burkitt, "?A profane scoff or atheistical jest may stick in the minds of those who hear it, after the tongue that spake it is dead. A word spoken is physically transient, but morally permanent.?" "?Death and life," says Solomon, "are in the power of the tongue.?" (? Proverbs 18:21).

Let us be watchful as we read this passage about words, when we look forward to our days yet to come; let us resolve, by God's grace, to be more careful over our tongues, and more particular about our use of them; let us pray daily that our "?speech may be always full of grace?" (? Colossians 4:6). Let us say every morning with holy David, "?I will take heed to my ways that I sin not with my tongue.?" Let us cry with him to the Strong One for strength, and say: "?Set a watch before my mouth, and keep door of my lips.?" Well indeed might St. James say, "?If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man.?" (?Ps. 39:1; 141:3 James 3:2).