17. When Jesus heard it, he saith unto them, 'They that are whole have no need of the physician, but they that are sick: I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. 1 Matt. 9: 12, 13; 18: 11. Luke 5: 31, 32; 19: 10. and sinners And when Jesus 1? heard it, he saith unto them, They that are whole have no need of a physician, but they that are sick: I came not to call the righteous, but sinners. 1 Tim. 1:15. sect whose name was derived from the Hebrew Phares (separated), because they pretended to be very holy. They were a large and influential sect, holding to the strict letter of the law and traditions, proud of their formal morality, and their descent from Abraham. Saw him eat. It is not probable that any Pharisees were invited, nor that they would have accepted an invitation had one been given them. — Andrews. They seem to have entered with Oriental freedom into the hall or guest-chamber where the company were seated at table. — Morison. Said unto his disciples. Notice, they speak not boldly to him, but broach the subject to his disciples, who may have been going in and out, or perhaps coming from the feast. Bible Union Notes. 17. When Jesus heard. Either he overheard it, or the disciples told him. - Bible Union Notes. The censorious scribes doubtless intended for his ear what they said to his disciples. Morison. They that are whole. Rather, strong. Sin is moral weakness; the victim needs moral strength rather than instruction. Abbott. Have no need of the phy. sician. The word means a healer. Christ's great mission as a physician was to heal the disease of sin. If any were really righteous, as the Pharisees imagined they were, then they did not need his healing power. The fact that these publicans and sinners were notoriously vile and wicked showed how sick they were, and how much they needed his attention. - Bible Union Notes. But they that are sick. A truism on the physical side of things; but, for that very reason, of the greatest possible significance in its application to the moral side of things. It was the complete explanation and the unanswerable vindication of our Saviour's conduct in going into the society of the moral waifs of the population. He went, not as a boon companion, but as a physician. This is the philosophy, in a nutshell, of all home and foreign missions. - Morison. Not to call the righteous, but sinners. Righteous means the absolutely righteous. Not "such as think themselves righteous;" for none had greater need than such self-deceivers to be called to repentance. He did not come to call the righteous; for there are none such on the earth. It was his aim to speak to men in an inviting way; that is, to call them in order to prevail with them to stop in the career which they were pursuing, and to turn toward God and goodness. Morison. To repentance. These words are not found here in the best manuscripts; but there is no doubt of their authenticity in Luke, and therefore no doubt that they are a part of Christ's response, and qualify and interpret his declaration. He comes to sinners that he may bring sinners to himself: he does not conform to them, but conforms them to him by the renew ing of their minds. His example is authority for social mingling with sinners (for the sole object of making them better), but not for acquiescing in or giving even tacit sanction to their sinful practices. — Abbott. LIBRARY REFERENCES. Trench on the Miracles, p. 163. The Genius of the Gospel, pp. 123-132. As to Eastern houses, see Land and Book, vol. ii., pp. 6-8; Miss Rogers's Domestic Life in Palestine, p. 47 ; Dr. Robinson's Later Researches, pp. 39, 44. Sermons by F. W. Robertson, series 3, "Absolution;" and series 5, "Christ's way of dealing with sin." Sermons by D. L. Moody, "Faith; R. C. Trench, Westminster Sermons; Spurgeon, series 9, " Carried by Four." On Matthew's feast, see Neander's Life of Christ, p. 230; Geikie's Life of Christ, chap. 34: Farrar's Life of Christ, chap. 24. ILLUSTRATIVE. I. Eastern houses. The houses of Capernaum, as is evident from the ruins, were like those of modern villages in this same region, low, very low, with flat roofs reached by a stairway from the yard or court. Jesus probably stood in the open lewan, or interior court, and the crowd were around and in front of him. Those who carried the paralytic, not being able "to come at him for the press," ascended to the roof, removed so much of it as was necessary, and let down their patient through the aperture. Examine one of these houses, and you see at once that the thing is natural, and easy to be accomplished. The roof is only a few feet high (made of beams three feet apart, covered with bushes, mortar, and a coating of earth); and by stooping down, and holding the corners of the couch, merely a thickly-padded quilt, as at present in this region, they could let down the sick man without any apparatus of ropes or cords to assist them. And thus, I suppose, they did. The whole affair was the extemporaneous device of plain peasants, accustomed to open their roofs, and let down grain, straw, and other articles, as they still do in this country. I have often seen it done, and done it myself to houses in Lebanon. I have the impression, however, that the covering at least of the lewan was not made of earth, but of coarse matting, or boards, or stone slabs that could be quickly removed. Land and Book. Thomson's II. Moral paralysis. In one of our city hospitals a young woman of beautiful face and form had lain motionless for many months. Except for the brightness of her face, and the action of the hands, her body was apparently dead. Yet she spoke with great confidence of her restoration to health at some future time, and was enthusiastic in planning good works then to be executed. A physician remarked that it was the saddest case he had ever witnessed. It was a paralysis, not of the flesh, but of the mind: it was a moral paralysis The will itself had lost its power of action. She could plan for the future, but not will any thing at the present moment. After a few months the inactivity bred fatal disorder, and she passed away. This is a picture of the moral paralysis of many. They mean to be Christians at some time: they do not determine to do it now. - - Anon. III. Christ taking a publican among the number of his disciples. Caste was utterly disallowed: before the great Teacher, all men, as such, were recognized as equally sons of the heavenly Father. Accustomed from infancy to take this for granted, we cannot realize the magnitude of the gift this new principle inaugurated, or its astounding novelty. A Brahmin who should proclaim it in India, and illustrate the social enfranchisement he taught by raising a despised Pariah to his intimate intercourse and friendship, would be the only counterpart we can imagine at this day. Geikie's Life of Christ. PRACTICAL. I. Ver. 3. Sin is like a paralysis, — a weakness and torpor of the conscience, and the will to do good. 2. It is our privilege to bring those to Christ who can not or will not come of themselves. 3. Ver. 4. Difficulties are in the way of the sinner's cure, to prove and strengthen faith. 4. Faith will find or make a way to come to Christ. 5. Ver. 5. We can have faith for others as well as ourselves. 6. Christ forgives and saves only on condition of faith; for the faith that loves and chooses God is the beginning of heavenly life in the soul. It is useless to forgive those who immediately plunge into sin again. 7. The first need of the soul is forgiveness; then follows the healing of the soul from its sinful nature. 8. Vers. 7, 16. The wickedness of hasty and superficial judgment of others' conduct. 9. Ver. 8. Christ knows our inmost thoughts and motives, -a terror to the bad, but a comfort to the good. 10. Vers. 9-11. Christ proves that he forgives sins, by the results that follow in renewed lives. 11. Three proofs of forgiven sin: (1) consciousness, (2) Christ's promises, (3) souls cured of sin. Thomas. 12. Ver. 14. A bad business is a poor excuse for not following Christ. Follow him out of it. Abbott. 13. Ver. 15. Matthew, an example of a fisher of men: called himself, he calls others. — Abbott. 14. Note the marvellous courage of Jesus in facing the popular prejudices of his age. 15. Ver. 16. Do not expect, in doing good, to fare better than your Master, whose best deeds were criticised and found fault with. 16. Christ is our example as to social life. Be social, even with outcasts, but not in their sins go to them with the spirit of truth and religion. 17. Why Jesus went among the publicans, not to be like them, but to make them like him. Why does the doctor go to a sick man? to catch his disease, or to cure him? — Stock. SUGGESTIONS TO TEACHERS. We have in this lesson an "ENACTED PARABLE OF SIN AND REDEMPTION," together with Christ's example in dealing with sinners. (1) The paralytic — a type of sinners (vers. 1-3). (2) He is brought to Christ (vers. 3, 4), as we must bring sinners by our labors and our prayers. (3) He comes in faith, and finds forgiveness (ver. 5). (4) Forgiveness is proved and followed by healing (vers. 6–12), as renewed lives follow and prove the forgiveness of our sins. (5) Then sinners, even of the worst class, are called to be the disciples of Christ (vers. 13, 14), and may make excellent Christians. (6) Jesus Christ goes among sinners in order to save them (vers. 15-17), — an example to us. LESSON V.-JANUARY 29. THE PHARISEES ANSWERED.- MARK 2:18-28; 3: 1-5. GOLDEN TEXT.- Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. - EXOD. 20: 8. TIME. — Summer and autumn, A. D. 28. The exact dates are uncertain. But proba bly the answer of Jesus to the disciples of John (vers. 18-22) was at Matthew's house, on the day of his feast (the close of our last lesson), and took place in the autumn. The plucking of the ears of corn (vers. 23-28) carries us back several weeks, and follows close after the healing of the paralytic and call of Matthew, for it must have been while the grain was growing in the early summer. If the time given by Luke (6:1), "the second sabbath after the first," means the first sabbath after Pentecost (Andrews), then it occurred the 19th May, A. D. 28. The healing of the withered hand was soon after. PLACE. Capernaum and its vicinity. PARALLEL PASSAGES.-Jesus' answer to John's disciples (vers. 18-22) is found in Matt. 9:14-17, and Luke 5:33-39. The plucking the ears of corn (vers. 23-28), in Matt. 12:1-8 and Luke 6:1-5. The healing of the withered hand (3:1-5), in Matt. 12: 9-14, and Luke 6:6-11. INTRODUCTION. The storm of opposition was gathering against Jesus, even in the height of his popularity. The new teacher disappointed the false hopes of the Pharisees as to the Messiah. He smote their prejudices right and left with his clear words of truth, as with Ithuriel's spear He trampled on their rules and customs, in which they had intrenched and smothered their religion. He was clearing away all their rubbish, to them like precious jewels, that the pure religion might have free course, and be glorified. He touched their conscience with his word of life, and the awakened conscience that fails of producing repentance always kindles hate. These Pharisees, therefore, were watching closely that they might find some way of stopping his prosperous career. They found every fault possible: they searched carefully for some mistake or error of his which would put him under the ban of Jewish or Roman law, or the passions of the mob, and thus put an end to this dangerous teaching. The lesson for to-day furnishes further examples of this increasing storm of opposition. 1 18. And the disciples of John and of the Pharisees used to fast and they come and say unto him, Why do the disciples of John and of the Pharisees fast, but thy disciples fast not? 1 Matt 9:14. Luke 5:33. EXPLANATORY. And John's disciples and 18 the Pharisees were fasting. and they come and say unto him, Why do John's disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but thy disciples I. Jesus' Answer to the Disciples of John. — Vers. 18-20. 18. Another ques tion must now be decided by Christ, as soon as he had answered the Pharisees at the feast of Matthew. And the disciples of John and of the Pharisees. By this time all the spiritual disciples of John must have become followers of Christ: the rest would lean toward Pharisaism. Schaff. The disciples of John may have come sincerely desiring a solution of the difficulty, while the Pharisees joined with them in the hope of catching Jesus in some real fault. Used to fast, or were fasting. It includes both senses. The Pharisees and the disciples of John were fasting at the time in question, not improbably on the same day as that on which Matthew gave the feast. It seems probable that the banquet was given on one of the two weekly fast-days observed by the Pharisees (see St. Luke 18:12), but not enjoined by the law: this meets all the points, the day, the frequent fasting, and 320 19. And Jesus said unto them, Can the children of the bridechamber fast, while the bridegroom, is with them? as long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast. 20. But the days will come, when the bridegroom shall be taken away from them, and then shall they fast in those days. fast not? And Jesus said un- 19 to them, Can the sons of the bridechamber fast, while the bridegroom is with them? as long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast. But the days will come, 20 when the bridegroom shall be taken away from them, and then will they fast in that day. -- the expostulation. Cook. Hammond's paraphrase brings out the right idea: John's disciples and the Pharisees, “according to their custom of frequent fasting, were now on a day of fast."― Morison. The Pharisees fast. Luke adds, fast often. They had instituted a fast twice in the week (on Thursday, because on that day Moses was believed to have reascended Mount Sinai; on Monday, because on that day he returned); yet this was but a traditional institution, so little sanctioned by the Mosaic law, that in it but one day of fasting was appointed for the entire year, the day of atonement. — Farrar. Fasts were connected with their superstitions as well as religion. They fasted to secure auspicious dreams, to secure any desired object, or avert any threatened ill. Abbott. But thy disciples fast not? This was the real question. Surely you will not allege that "we" and the Pharisees are too self-denied. But, if not, why is it that thy disciples fast not? — Morison. The complaint also implies, If you are a teacher come from God, why does your teaching result in leading your followers from the old established forms and customs, confirmed by the example of our own teacher, John?-Schaff. Jesus had silently left the harsh discipline of fasting behind, and had prescribed no formal rules for prayer, such as were common to the rabbis and their disciples, and to those of the Baptist; and a new deputation came to ask him for an explanation. - Geikie. 19. And Jesus said. He compares the days of his presence on the earth as a nuptial feast. Can the children (sons) of the bridechamber fast, while the bridegroom is with them? Would not fasting at such a time be most incongruous? The time referred to by our Lord, in his fine parabolic logic, is the period of festivity—often extending to a week, and sometimes even to a fortnight-which was consequent on a happily consummated marriage. If there be a time at all when fasting would be inappropriate, it is such a time. The expression the sons of the bridechamber is a Hebraistic phrase for the groomsmen, whose duty it was to convey the bridegroom to the bride's residence, and, when she was "taken," to accompany the couple back to the bridegroom's home,-giving expression all along the way, and during the whole festivity, to their feelings of gayety, congratulation, and gladness.-Morison. The bridegroom. John the Baptist had long before this called Jesus the bridegroom, and himself the friend of the bridegroom. Jesus thus represents himself in the most tender, intimate, and loving relation possible with his people. All that a perfect husband can be to a wife, in love, in tender care, in anticipating every want, in sympathy, in defence from harm, in support and supply of every want, all this, multiplied by so much as Jesus is greater and better than man, is he to his church and people.-P. The significance of the metaphor is unmistakable. Christ is the bridegroom; the Church is the bride; the ordained teachers in the Church are the children of the bridechamber, who are instrumental in bringing together bride and groom; the whole period of time intermediate between Christ's first public ministry and his second coming is the wedding-feast, during which the children of the bridechamber are bringing their Lord to the bride; the marriage-supper of the Lamb in the heavenly kingdom is the final consummation of the wedding ceremony. Abbott. As long as they have the bridegroom with them. As long as Jesus was living with them on the earth. In fact, the disciples suffered no persecution while Christ lived, and neither knew any especial experience of mourning, prior to his passion, nor observed any seasons of fasting. Abbott. 20. Shall be (or shall have been) taken away from them. By his crucifixion, a year and a half later. There is a fine mystical meaning embedded in the word that is translated shall have been taken away. The simple verb means shall have been lifted up, and the preposition in composition means away. The whole word covertly refers to the crucifixion as the upward way by which the Bridegroom of the Church was taken away. He was lifted up (John 12:32, 33), and thence went away. -Morison. Then shall they fast in those days. The best manuscripts have in that day, but the meaning is the same. Fasting should be the genuine offspring of inward and spiritual sorrow, of the sense of the absence of the Bridegroom in the soul, - not the forced and stated fasts of the old covenant, now passed away. It is an instructive circumstance, that in the Reformed Churches, while those stated fasts which were retained at their first emergence from Popery are universally disregarded even by their best and holiest sons, nothing can be more affecting and 21. an old No man also seweth a piece of new cloth on an No man seweth a piece of 21 old garment; else the new piece that filled it up taketh away from the old, and the rent is made worse. 22. And no man putteth new wine into old bottles; else the new wine doth burst the bottles, and the wine is spilled, and the bottles will be marred but new wine must be put into new bottles. 2. undressed cloth on genuine than the universal and solemn observance of any real occasion of fasting placed before them by God's providence. -Alford. Christ himself prescribed no set fasts, and none were observed by the apostolic Church. But occasional fasts were observed through. out the Old-Testament history by the Jews (1 Sam. 7:6. Neh. 1:4. Joel 2: 12. Comp. Isa. 58: 3-6), and in the New-Testament history both by Christ and his apostles (Matt. 4: Acts 13:2, 3; 14:23). Reading Christ's declaration in the light of this history, the plain inference from it appears to be this: Fasting is the expression of mourning: while Christ was with his disciples in the body, there was no occasion for mourning or fasting; so when the soul is conscious of his spiritual presence, when the Bridegroom is with the children of the bridechamber, they cannot be made to fast in reality and truth; but whenever Christ has withdrawn from the soul, whenever times of darkness hide, or experiences of sin banish him from the soul, or the strong need of a clearer sense of his presence overcomes the desire for food, or a failure in his work indicates a lack of his presence and power (Matt. 17:21), then there will be fasting. In other words, fasting is Christian only when it is the natural expression of a Christian experience. - Abbott. Vers. 21, 22. II. Illustrated by two brief Parables. 21. No man seweth a piece of new cloth. "The word new cloth properly signifies unfilled cloth, which as yet has not passed the hands of the fuller," whose business it is to shrink and contract the cloth to its natural dimensions. - Garments in the East were made sometimes of leather, sometimes of cloth. The leather which had not been dressed, and the cloth which had not been fulled (i.e., soaked and cleansed with water), was sure to shrink; and, if such undressed or unfulled (not merely new) material was used in repairing a garment, it would soon tear out the old cloth, and a new and worse rent would be produced.. - Abbott. The patch being of undressed material, would shrink when exposed to the sun, and thus cause a rent. It spoils the garment by shrinking, the new wine bursts the skins by swell-. ing: thus new customs fall short of the old, or go beyond them; in either case, when unseasonably introduced, causing rents, schisms, and inflicting serious damage. - Cook.. The disciples of John looked not for a new religion, but for a re-formation, a patching-up of the old Jewish religion. To them Christ responds, that he has come to give the world: new garments, not to patch the old ones. Any attempt to attach his religion of love to the old religion of forms would be sure to make a worse state of things than that which he j attempted to cure. Abbott. 22. New wine is wine not yet fully fermented. In its fermenting it expands, and would thus burst the bottle. - Abbott. Into old bottles. Old and frail bottles. In many parts of the country the wine is put up in the skins of animals, chiefly goats, which are translated bottles in our version. The entire body of the animal is drawn out of its skin through the opening at its neck. The hair is sometimes partially removed, and the skin tanned. The opening at the neck is used for filling, while the four feet are tied up. The grape-juice which is to undergo the process of fermentation is put into skins which are entirely new, or have been carefully found able to with. stand the pressure. -Van Lennep's Bible Lands, p. 121. These bottles, as they grew dry with age, became liable to crack, and unable to resist the pressure of the fermenting liquor. - Ellicott. Wine SKIN BOTTLES. spilled, bottles marred. Both are destroyed by putting together things which do not |