Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

The Parable of the Ten Virgins-The Parable of the

Talents-The Day of Judgment.

MATTHEW XXV.

This chapter is a continuation of the last, and refers to the same terrible event the destruction of Jerusalem. But our divine Lord clearly glides from that awful subject, into the destruction of the world and the day of judgment.

I must get you to read the first thirteen verses of the chapter, or I shall have no pages to spare to explain much of the parable which they contain. It is usually called "The Parable of the Ten Virgins." It refers to a custom among the Jews, and still practised among people in Eastern nations. When two persons are married, the bridegroom goes out at night to meet his wife. He has his friends with him, and she has hers, called here "ten virgins," or young unmarried women. Torches and lamps are always carried in these processions. Our Lord represents five of the virgins as foolishly forgetting to take any oil with them. When, therefore, the party were all in a bustle to trim their lamps and light those which had gone out, while they had fallen asleep and to go to meet the bridegroom on his arrival at the house of her father, where the bride was-they had no time to buy or get oil elsewhere, and asked the other virgins to supply them. But, as the others had only oil enough for themselves, they could not spare any to their foolish companions. So the foolish virgins had to leave the company to get oil; but, before they could get back, the procession was gone, the party had entered the bridegroom's house, and, agreeably to their custom, the door was shut, and no further admittance given to any.

By this our Lord teaches us, that if we are not prepared with grace or holiness in our hearts when Christ comes to judgment, we shall be able to get none after; and, as the foolish virgins were shut out of the bridegroom's chamber, so must we in such a case be shut out of heaven.

There is also another parable, which is known by the name of "The Parable of the Talents."

The design of Christ in this parable, is to teach us all to use our time, and abilities, and money, and whatever we have, diligently, in the best way we can, to promote his glory. These are our talents entrusted to us to use properly. Talents, you know, were pieces of gold and silver; a golden

talent was worth about seven thousand pounds, and a silver one about four hundred and fifty pounds; but some of our talents are of much more value than gold and silver, and must be answered for by even the poorest amongst us.

The last thing in this chapter is a grand description of the day of judgment. Passing from the destruction of Jerusalem to that of our sinful world, our blessed Lord describes himself as about to come in all his glory, attended by all his angels, and seated on his judgment throne. All nations, of all times, shall be raised from the dead, and appear before him; and then he shall make one grand division between them, and separate for ever the righteous from the wicked, just as a shepherd would divide his sheep from the goats.

Sheep and goats are not, indeed, generally seen together amongst us; we have very few goats, but in some countries abroad, especially about the hilly countries in Greece, there are flocks of both sorts of animals feeding together. Now, the righteous are often called in Scripture by the name of sheep, because they are thought to be good emblems of innocent, harmless and pure persons, while goats, from various causes, are emblems of the opposite characters.

[graphic][merged small]

Having separated the two, the great and heart-searching Judge will place the righteous at his right hand, which is considered as the place of honour, and the wicked at his left hand, as a sign of their dishonour; or, to speak in other words, he will mark the righteous with his approval, and

the wicked with disgrace and shame. He will then invite the righteous, and say to them, "Come, ye blessed "-and introduce them to his heavenly kingdom; while to the wicked he will say, "Depart from me, ye cursed!" He will even notice and reward the acts of kindness done to those who love him, as if done to himself, and will say, "Inasmuch as ye have done it to one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me." While neglect, unkindness, and cruelty, shown towards those who love him, will equally be marked and punished; for he will say to the guilty, "Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me." "And these shall go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into life eternal."

The Passover-The Sufferings of Christ.

MATTHEW XXVI.

When our blessed Jesus came into the world to save sinners, he knew what he had to suffer. He was to die that we might live. And now the time of his death began rapidly to approach: and he told his disciples that in two days the passover was to be eaten, in remembrance of the eating of the lamb at the escape of the children of Israel out of Egypt, and that then he was to be betrayed, that he might be crucified.

The disciples soon found that it was but too true they must lose their beloved Lord and Master. For "the chief priests, Scribes, and elders of the people," who had so often shown their hatred to Jesus, because he exposed their wickedness to the people, and reproved them for their hypocrisy and other crimes, now assembled together in the palace of the High Priest, called Caiaphas, and consulted that they might take Jesus by subtilty and kill him. They, however, did not like to venture to do so just at the passover, for they feared lest there should be “ an uproar among the people." The people had received great benefits from Jesus; many of them and their friends, who would travel from all parts of Judea to the feast, had been cured of their diseases by his kindness, and had seen the miracles which he had done, and it was, therefore, natural to suppose that if they had any gratitude about them, they would avenge any insults offered to him.

A few days before the passover, Jesus came to Bethany, a village near Jerusalem, and was invited to eat at the house of Simon the leper ;-very

likely one who had been a leper, and whom he had cured, and so he showed him this gratitude for his kindness. At all events he entertained Christ, and it is here related to his honour.

While Jesus was eating, a woman approached him, and poured some precious ointment on his head, which she had brought in an alabaster box. According to our customs, this would seem very rude, and particularly free behaviour in a female. But it was different in the Jewish country, and was a mark of very high respect, the ointment being expensive, and the fragrant smell proceeding from it most grateful to all present. Some of the disciples thought the woman was extravagant; but Christ knew her motive in what she did, and commended her love. Who she was is not exactly certain, as some suppose she was Mary Magdalene, out of whom Christ had cast seven devils, and others that she was Mary, the sister of Martha and Lazarus. The fame of her kind act-her liberal token of love to Jesus-was, however, well known and spread abroad at that time; and wherever the gospel was preached this was mentioned to her praise.

And now the moment arrived when the sufferings of our gracious Saviour began. One of his disciples, Judas, the wretched man! went to the chief priests, and offered to deliver up Christ to them for thirty pieces of silver—the paltry price paid for a purchased servant,-about three pounds fifteen shillings! They durst not take Christ publicly for fear of the people, but Judas offered to take them to one of his private retreats, and there to deliver him up; and with the greatest care, he watched for the most favourable opportunity.

There were seven days in which the Jews ate their unleavened bread,— or bread not made of yeast or anything to ferment it, and during this time the passover was celebrated. You remember that the reason of eating this bread, was to keep the Jews in mind, that they were delivered from Egyptian bondage in the greatest haste, so that they had not even time to mix the leaven with their dough, ready made in their troughs.

Jesus sat, or more properly, leaned or laid down at the passover with his disciples. The first passover was eaten standing, as another additional sign of the haste in which the people were to escape, but this sign was afterwards not used, and now they lay down, leaning on their elbows, just as we do on a sofa, this being the fashion in the Jews' country, and is still so in that part of the world. While our blessed Saviour took the passover, he said to his disciples, "One of you shall betray me." So that he showed that he knew what wickedness was in the heart of Judas, and that he

could have escaped from his treachery if he pleased; but he came into the world to give his precious life a ransom for sinners.

66

His disciples were very sorrowful, and all were afraid lest they should be tempted to do so wicked a thing as to betray their beloved Lord; and they asked with great concern, Lord, is it I ?" Then he said to them, "He that dippeth his hand with me in the dish, the same shall betray me." They would all do this, for this was the way of eating, taking it out of one dish with their fingers, and not with knives and forks as we eat; but then this was to show how villanous the man would be; for to eat together was the greatest sign of friendship, and so this showed his conduct to be as bad as it possibly could be. Yet Judas, in order to disguise himself before the other disciples, daringly asked, "Master, is it I?" and Christ said it was he.

Jesus then took bread and blessed it, and brake it, and gave it to the disciples, as is now done, after his example, at the Lord's Supper; and in like manner he took the cup. When he gave the bread, he said, “This is my body"-meaning, this represents my body to be broken for you,—it could not actually be his body, for his body remained the same. So, also, he said, when he took the cup, "This is my blood, of the New Testament "—that is, this represents my blood to be shed for sinners, and represents it by a different sign from that which has been used; hitherto the blood of beasts was shed as the sign that he was to die, but now and henceforth wine, the blood or juice of the grape, was to be the sign. Both of these-the bread and the wine-were to be taken, and afterwards to be continued in the Church, and received by Christians in remembrance that Christ died for them—" for the remission of sins," that is, the pardoning of sins.

It was now evening, and supposed, from the time of year, to have been moonlight. Jesus proposed to take a cooling walk to the mount of Olives, near Jerusalem, and at a place called Gethsemane, that is, an olive-mill, s place to press the sweet oil out of olives, such as we use in our salads-at this place he desired his disciples to sit down, while he retired to pray. He took, however, Peter, and "the two sons of Zebedee,"—that is, James and John, that they might see and bear witness of what he endured to save sinners.

Then he told them that his soul was "exceedingly sorrowful."

And now the dear Saviour began to feel that human nature which he had taken, shrink from the tortures which he knew it must endure, and he prayed that "the cup might pass from him "-that he might not suffer.

« AnteriorContinuar »