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THE 
 
 MIRACLES OF OUR LORD. 
 
 EXPOSITORY AND HOMILETIC. 
 
 JOHN LAIDLAW, D.D., 
 
 professor of theology, new college. edinburgh ; author of 
 "the bible doctrine of man," etc. 
 
 HODDER AND STOUGHTON, 
 27, PATERNOSTER ROW. 
 
Printed by Hazell, Watson, & Viney, Ld., London and Aylesbui-y. 
 
%0 
 
 E'. H. L. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 T T has long seemed to the writer that there 
 was room for such treatment of the Gospel 
 Miracles as is here offered. Since the two Series 
 of Notes by the late Archbishop of Dublin became 
 the cherished possession of every preacher, the 
 Parables and the Miracles of our Lord have been 
 more than ever favourite topics of pulpit and 
 class prelection. Trench's Notes on the Parables 
 has been followed up during the last twenty 
 years by many valuable expositions from the 
 British and Continental press. The Notes on the 
 Miracles, on the other hand, has remained almost 
 the only available book of its kind. Recent 
 theological literature teems with excellent treatises 
 on this theme from the apologetic and philosophical 
 side. It is sufficient to name those of Canon 
 Mozley and Professor Bruce. But on the didactic 
 
8 PREFACE. 
 
 aspect, while competent studies of particular 
 miracles, or groups of miracles, are to be had, 
 there is nothing, since Trench, which covers the 
 whole ground. It is true that all good commen- 
 taries on the Gospels provide exegetic material, for 
 the preacher and student, on the miracle-narratives. 
 But the advantage of a connected expository 
 view of them cannot be well attained in a 
 comment on the Four Gospels, far less on any 
 one Gospel ; while the relation of the miracles 
 to one another, and the lessons to be derived 
 from them as a whole, cannot be treated at all 
 in an ordinary commentary. Hence the lack 
 which the present work is meant in some 
 measure to supply. 
 
 The aim is entirely expository and didactic. 
 The Apologetic questions are assumed to have 
 been sufficiently dealt with by other writers. 
 Even within the range chosen, the aim has been 
 necessarily restricted. For full and exact exegesis 
 of the narratives as part of the Gospel record 
 it is always needful to refer to the increasingly 
 rich body of New Testament comment. All that 
 is sought here is to set each incident in the 
 
PREFACE. 9 
 
 light of the best exposition. For the spiritual 
 lessons, again, the plan followed is not to collect 
 the entire uses which might be made of each 
 narrative. This would have given a mere out- 
 line of homiletic hints, which does not seem a 
 very profitable task, however carefully done. The 
 attempt made is to indicate, under most of the 
 miracles, some one line of spiritual application, 
 and so give an actual instance of their pulpit 
 use. But the method followed is not invariable ; 
 a certain liberty of treatment is claimed. 
 
 Remarks and references intended for the pro- 
 fessional student are mostly thrown to the foot 
 of the page, so that the ordinary reader may have 
 a clear course in the text. 
 
 Among several friends from whom useful hints 
 have been received, special mention must be 
 permitted of the Rev. W. Robertson Nicoll, of 
 The Expositor, but for whose kind suggestion at 
 the first the volume might never have taken 
 shape. 
 
 Edinburgh, fanna^y 1890. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 l^TROTi\JCTio^.— ARRANGEMENT AND SIGNIFICANCE 
 
 OF THE MIRACLES 13 
 
 THE NATURE-MIRACLES. 
 
 _ I. THE WATER MADE WINE 
 _ II. SIMON PETER'S DRAUGHT OF FISHES 
 
 III, THE STILLING OF THE STORM 
 
 IV. THE MIRACLE OF THE LOAVES . 
 V. WALKING UPON THE WATER 
 
 VI. THE SECOND MIRACULOUS FEEDING 
 VII. THE COIN IN THE FISH's MOUTH 
 VIII. THE WITHERING OF THE FRUITLESS FIG-TREE 
 
 37 
 51 
 61 
 
 74 
 
 87 / 
 105 
 116 
 125 
 
 THE HEALING-MIRACLES. 
 
 I. THE courtier's SON . 
 11. THE DEMONIAC IN THE SYNAGOGUE 
 
 III. SIMON'S wife's MOTHER 
 
 IV. THE CLEANSING OF THE LEPER ' . 
 V. PARDON SEALED BY POWER . 
 
 146 
 156 
 
 165 V 
 
 178 
 
12 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 VI. THE WITHERED HAND .... 
 VII. THE CENTURION OF GREAT FAITH 
 VIII. AT THE POOL OF BETHESDA 
 IX. THE GADARENE AND OTHER DEMONIACS 
 X. THE WOMAN WITH AN ISSUE OF BLOOD 
 XI. TWO BLIND MEN, AND A DUMB DEMON 
 XII. THE SYRO-PHCENICIAN WOMAN 
 XIII. THE DEAF MAN OF DECAPOLIS 
 XIV. THE BLIND MAN AT BETHSAIDA . 
 XV. THE EPILEPTIC BOY .... 
 XVI. THE MAN BORN BLIND .... 
 XVII. THE WOMAN WITH A SPIRIT OF INFIRMITY 
 XVIII. THE DROPSICAL MAN .... 
 XIX. TEN LEPERS CLEANSED 
 XX. BLIND BARTIMEUS .... 
 
 PAGE 
 
 i8q 
 
 208 
 218 
 229 
 240 
 247 
 258 
 268 
 278 
 289 
 300 
 310 
 314 
 323 
 
 THE THREE RAISINGS FROM THE DEAD. 
 
 I. THE DAUGHTER OF JAIRUS 338 
 
 II. THE widow's son 348 
 
 III. LAZARUS OF BETHANY . . . . . • ?>SS_/' 
 
 THE POST-RESURRECTION MIRACLE. 
 
 SECOND MIRACULOUS DRAUGHT OF FISHES . 
 
 373 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 ARRANGEMENT AND SIGNIFICANCE OF THE 
 MIRACLES. 
 
 SINCE the miracle-narratives form so intrinsic and 
 important a part of the Great Biography recorded 
 in the Gospels, the order in which we treat them deserves 
 some attention. The order of the events themselves 
 would at first sight seem the only admissible one in 
 such treatment as we propose. And to this order, in 
 all its leading points, we adhere. The historical ar- 
 rangement carries the collateral advantage of making 
 our study of the Gospel miracles an epitome of the life 
 of Christ from one point of view. It also aids the 
 imagination in recalHng and presenting them. Reading 
 them in this order, we can walk with Him in spirit as 
 He went about doing good in the curriculum of His 
 earthly Hfe. But another law of grouping calls for 
 attention. The broad distinction between the Nature- 
 miracles and the Redemption-miracles has always as- 
 serted itself in all thoughtful treatment. The miracles 
 of Jesus wrought upon external nature, though not 
 without relation to His redeeming work, — indeed 
 bearing very closely on the Revelation of His Person, 
 
I4 THE MIRACLES OF OUR LORD. 
 
 and on the rule and preservation of His spiritual 
 kingdom, — are clearly distinguishable from the Healing- 
 miracles, and deserve, therefore, to be treated in their 
 own order and internal connection. Accordingly, it has 
 seemed best, at the expense of some dislocation of 
 historic continuity, to treat the Nature-miracles, as they 
 are called, together in one group, in the order of their 
 actual occurrence, reserving only the one post-Resur- 
 rection miracle — the Second Draught of Fishes — for 
 its proper place, at the close of all. 
 
 The Redemption-miracles, again, have not only been 
 distinguished from the Nature-miracles, but have been 
 by some {e.g. Westcott) subdivided into (a) Miracles 
 upon Man, — the Healings and the Raisings ; and {b) 
 Miracles in the Spirit World, — the Casting-out of 
 Devils ; thus assigning the cures of demoniacal pos- 
 session to a special rubric. For many reasons this 
 division is undesirable, as it is also not strictly logical, 
 for these were miracles on man and miracles of healing. 
 Other still more minute and subtle modes of arranging 
 and distributing the Redemption-miracles have been 
 discarded as interfering with the historical order, which 
 it is of so much importance to preserve. Accordingly, 
 the cures of Possession, like all the other Healing 
 miracles, are considered here in the order and place 
 of their actual occurrence. The only group of Re- 
 demption-miracles which easily bears detachment, and 
 which properly stands as climax to the others, is that 
 of the Three Raisings from the Dead. These, there- 
 fore, are treated together as the highest of the Lord's 
 redemptive wonders, to which all the others lead up, 
 culminating in the Lazarus-miracle, which stands in 
 immediate historic connection with the close of the 
 Saviour's earthly ministry. We thus arrange the 
 
INTR OD UC TION. 1 5 
 
 whole as Nature miracles, Healing miracles, and 
 miracles of Resurrection.* 
 
 I. The Nature-Miracles. 
 
 These are usually reckoned nine in all, by those who 
 rely on the historicity of the Gospels, and who therefore 
 hold that the Feeding of Four Thousand and the 
 Second Draught of Fishes are actual occurrences and 
 not mistaken dupHcates of the narrators. In their 
 succession as to time they stand thus : I. The Beginning 
 of Miracles ; II. Simon Peter's Draught of Fishes ; 
 III. The StilHng of the Storm ; IV. The Miracle of 
 the Loaves ; V. Walking on the Water ; VI. The 
 Second Miraculous Feeding ; VII. The Coin in the 
 Mouth of the Fish; VIII. The Withering of the Fig Tree ; 
 IX. The post-Resurrection Miracle. Among themselves 
 they fall into two conspicuously separable classes, — 
 miracles of power and miracles of providence. To the 
 first belong those forming the group I., IV., V., and VI. 
 
 * This combination of historic continuity, so far as possible, with 
 rational or logical grouping, must be left to justify itself. None of 
 the other modes of arrangement seemed so satisfactory. Trench's, 
 though at first glance that of succession in time, turns out not to be 
 so. It reverses entirely the order of the demoniac cures, displaces 
 sereral other incidents — in short, foregoes all other advantages, and 
 does not even attain to that of historical connection. Westcott's 
 suggested arrangement in his fruitful study of thirty years ago, 
 Characteristics of the Gospel Miracles, though in many respects attrac- 
 tive, neglects historic succession altogether. It was meant rather as 
 combination for homiletic purposes, than as an order in which the 
 records themselves should be expounded. Steinmeyer's (The Miracles 
 of our Lord, in relation to Modern Criticism. Trans. Edin. : T. & T. 
 Clark. 1875), based upon a cunning analysis of the New Testament 
 term for a miracle (arjfji.e'iov), as meaning Sign, Symbol, Witness, and 
 Prophecy, and grouping our Lord's wonders accordingly, has all the 
 faults of the most artificial arrangement, while it totally dislocates the 
 order of time. 
 
1 6 THE MIRACLES OF OUR LORD. 
 
 These relate to events of a kind which never can occur 
 under the ordinary laws of the universe, and which, 
 therefore, directly disclose a Creative or Almighty 
 Power. The other five take their miraculous character 
 from their occurring at the command or foresight of 
 the Redeemer. An unexpected haul of the nets, the 
 sudden cessation of a storm, the finding of a coin in 
 a fish, the instantaneous withering of a tree, as mere 
 events, remain within the category of the natural. To 
 account for their occurrence at His call, we need suppose 
 no suspension of the laws of nature, only a supernatural 
 knowledge on His part of natural facts, and control of 
 natural movements. We are entitled to call them 
 Miracles of Providence because they illustrate His 
 providential function as ruler and governor of the 
 universe ; or, otherwise, because they are actions of the 
 Christ, the Head of the Redemptive Order, as He stands 
 in closest fellowship with the God who governs the 
 world. Those of the first group suggest another form 
 of Divine action and reflect another and different ray 
 of His Christly glory. They are akin to the creative 
 rather than to the providential action of God. The 
 change of water into wine, the multiplying of the loaves, 
 walking upon the water, are acts of Divine supremacy 
 over natural law. We must hold them to occupy, there- 
 fore, a peculiar place in their bearing upon the revelation 
 of our Lord's personaHty.* 
 
 The principle on which we derive spiritual lessons 
 from the Gospel miracles, or expound their significance, 
 also demands a few words. That the miracles are to be 
 
 * On the important apologetic and philosophical question of the true 
 conception of a miracle consult the clear and comprehensive discussion 
 in Dr. Bruce's Miraculous Element in the Gospels, chap, ii,, "Miracles 
 in relation to the Order of Nature." 
 
INTR OD UC TION. 1 7 
 
 held as not bare attestations of a Divine commission, 
 far less mere wonders ; that they are to be studied in 
 their symbolic or didactic aspects as well as in their 
 evidential character, is now an axiom of New Testament 
 exposition. The laws and limits of such spiritual 
 interpretation may not bear exact definition ; but we 
 shall not err if we assume them to be " contained 
 implicitly in the spiritual interpretation of the evangelical 
 writers themselves."* The synoptic accounts of the 
 HeaHngs as they teach the nature and place of faith, 
 the feeding of the multitude as expounded in the sermon 
 which followed on ''Christ the Bread of Life" (John vi.), 
 the cure of the man born blind as demonstrating Jesus 
 to be the Light of the World (John ix.), are instances 
 sufficient to indicate the line of propriety and truth. 
 We may with its guidance brush aside a great deal 
 of mere allegorizing, both ancient and modern. And 
 keeping to it, we shall never • betray the narratives 
 into the hands of those who would see in what they 
 record, not actual occurrences, but only figures of 
 speech. If we keep, in short, to the central position 
 that the Gospel miracles are an integral portion of the 
 revelation made through Jesus Christ, we shall get a 
 view of them which is germane to our purpose. It will, 
 at the same time, be more true to their real character 
 than either that which regards them as mainly evidential 
 on the one hand, or mainly allegorical on the other. 
 Now when we ask what the Gospels reveal, our answer 
 is unhesitating — the Person of Jesus and His relation to 
 the Kingdom of Heaven which He came to establish. 
 In Himself and in His coming for human Redemption 
 He reveals God. He reveals in redeeming, and by 
 
 * Westcott, Characteristics of the Gospel Miracles, pref., xii. 
 
 2 
 
1 8 THE MIRACLES OF OUR LORD. 
 
 redeeming He supremely reveals. How this idea will 
 justify and illumine the Healing-miracles of Jesus is 
 obvious. In these He is eminently acting as a Deliverer 
 of men from sin and its effects. He is effectually revealing 
 the self-sacrificing love of Highest God, when He, the 
 Son of God, is seen to bear our infirmities and carry 
 our sicknesses. In relation, however, to the Nature- 
 miracles the idea requires a few words of expansion. 
 That these contain express teaching as to the Kingdom 
 of Heaven and its King will appear as we consider 
 them in detail. Yet it is of use to indicate in general 
 and beforehand how this is to be construed. That 
 this group of miracles must bear a special relation to 
 the Person and Work of Jesus is evident. They are 
 comparatively few. All of this class that were wrought 
 are recorded. They are not, like the Healing-miracles 
 of the Gospel narrative, samples out of a mass which 
 remain untold. Further, they are entirely peculiar to 
 the Gospel history. Apostles healed the sick and even 
 raised the dead, but they never turned water into wine 
 or walked the waves. These miracles must have in 
 them, therefore, an element which, regarded evidentially, 
 is unique. They show Jesus not merely as prophet, 
 messenger, or Messiah in a delegated sense. They 
 declare Him truly Divine and none other than Son of 
 the Highest. To be more definite still, they should be 
 regarded, not as mere proofs or evidences of Divinity 
 in Jesus ; rather as revelations of the God-man. That 
 to which they bear witness is not a mere theological 
 proposition, the thesis of our Saviour's Godhead. It 
 is the fact of the Incarnation. This fact, new and 
 unexampled even in the economy of God's revelation of 
 Himself to men, was then historical^ unfolding itself 
 among them. The details of the Incarnate Life are so 
 
INTR OD UCTION. 1 9 
 
 many momenta in that revelation. How important 
 among these details must have been the miracles is 
 obvious. The habit, too persistent among commentators, 
 of telling off the incidents in the sacred Biography 
 as alternately illustrative of the Humanity and of the 
 Divinity of Jesus, has not been a fortunate one. It has 
 an unhappy tendency to split up the Central Figure. 
 When we regard the PersonaHty discovered to us in 
 these narratives as the one, indissoluble God-man ; 
 when we note the object of the narratives as the report 
 to mankind at large and for all time of the appearance of 
 that Person, the Epiphany of God incarnate, then alone 
 do we occupy the right point of view for understanding 
 them. From this point we see how momentous in their 
 bearings are the miracles of the Gospel-record, and not 
 least among these the miracles wrought on Nature. 
 
 To this we have the unmistakable testimony of the 
 Evangelists themselves. St. John is most explicit in 
 his assertion that the " beginning of miracles" at Cana 
 was intended to manifest the glory of the Word made 
 flesh, Himself the revelation of the Father, full of grace 
 and truth. At the calHng of the Fisher-Apostles, the 
 miracle of the Great Draught is described as concen- 
 trating their attention on His Person and spiritual 
 Lordship. The Storm-stilling is expressly said to have 
 drawn the thoughts of the beholders as with one con- 
 sent to the same problem, ''What manner of man is 
 this, that even the winds and the sea obey Him ? " 
 The miraculous Feeding was such a disclosure of pro- 
 phetic and Messianic greatness as to lead thousands 
 to the conclusion that this was none other than the 
 expected Christ. Yet His own words following led on 
 His disciples to see in it a far grander and deeper 
 revelation of His Person than the outside world could 
 
20 THE MIRACLES OF OUR LORD. 
 
 perceive. Thus for all the miracles, and certainly not 
 least for those wrought on nature, the Incarnation itself 
 is the key. They are full of meaning when we read in 
 them the actual manifestation of the God-man. This, 
 rather than the proof of any abstract proposition as to 
 the Divinity of Jesus, is the truth or fact unfolded by 
 His wonderful works. 
 
 The bearing of the Nature-miracles upon the character 
 and claims of His kingdom is also clear, and of all but 
 equal importance. The first miracle was j)lainly meant 
 '* to foreshadow by a symbolic action the nature of the 
 new era He was about to inaugurate, to say in deed 
 what the Evangelist says in word. The law came by 
 Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ." 
 The second symbohses the formation of the present 
 Church. The calling of its first founders was thus 
 sealed by a sacramental sign which binds all its servants 
 to their Lord, and to their work as fishers of men. The 
 Storm-incidents tell us of His constant nearness to His 
 servants, through all the present dispensation of the 
 Kingdom. Whether He seem to sleep or to be at a 
 distance, He is always actually within call of His cause 
 and its workers, to protect, refresh, and comfort. The 
 miraculous Feedings, again, represent Him Who is the 
 Bread of Life as the spiritual centre of the Kingdom's 
 influence. The first of them was a test-miracle, and 
 sets forth the spirituality of men's reception of Jesus 
 Christ as the test of their true submission to His 
 Kingdom and its rule. The stater-incident (Matt. xvii. 
 24) has a bearing on the internal support of the King- 
 dom and on its relation to other institutions among 
 men. The most singular of the Nature-miracles, the 
 withering of the fig-tree, sets forth Christ as Lord 
 of the Kingdom, more specially as vindicating its 
 
INTRODUCTION. 21 
 
 independence of all prescriptive right. In this incident 
 He foreshadows the doom of the favoured nation hitherto 
 identified with the Kingdom of God, but which had 
 forfeited its place. The last of them^the post-Resur- 
 rection scene on the Sea of Galilee, has a prophetic 
 bearing on the final success and perfection of the 
 Kingdom of Heaven among men. 
 
 II. The Redemption-Miracles. 
 
 The miracles of Healing are usually reckoned twenty- 
 one in number. These together with the three Rais- 
 ings from the Dead and the nine Nature-miracles make 
 up the thirty-three in all of the Gospel narratives. 
 This is Trench's enumeration, and it is the common one. 
 It includes the healing of Malchus' ear, which, as not 
 seeming to belong to the miracle-narratives, may be 
 passed over. There are, however, two very briefly 
 narrated acts of casting out an evil spirit, which are 
 omitted by Trench as by most. The one is recorded in 
 the first Gospel only (Matt. ix. 27) ; the other in two 
 of the synoptics (Matt. xii. 22-7; Luke xi. 14), and 
 has considerable importance, as the occasion of the 
 sharpest controversy between Jesus and His enemies on 
 the topic. These two added would raise the number of 
 all the miracles to thirty-five. Of the Nature-miracles 
 and the Raisings from the Dead all that took place are 
 apparently recorded. It is plain, however, that the 
 twenty or twenty-two Healing-miracles recorded in 
 detail are a mere handful out of the numberless cures 
 which the Lord must have actually wrought. The 
 modesty and repression of the narratives on what con- 
 stituted the great body of our Lord's wonderful works 
 is everywhere evident. 
 
22 THE MIRACLES OF OUR LORD. 
 
 The modes of grouping these miracles of Redemption 
 are numerous and suggestive. That which concerns 
 their distribution in the four Gospels we pass by as 
 belonging mainly to the apologetic and historic side 
 of our study.* More directly to our purpose is the 
 classification of the Healing-miracles as miracles of 
 personal faith, of intercession, and of love (Westcott). 
 This arrangement divides them into : {a) those in which 
 the believing patients made their own appeal to Jesus 
 (five in all) ; {U) those in which the cures were asked 
 by friends or relatives (nine, if we include the two 
 cases of possession, Matt. ix. and xii.); (c) those in 
 which the Lord acted with entire spontaneity, on the 
 impulse of His own love and compassion {eight, which 
 would be . increased to eleven if we added the three 
 Raisings). The grouping of the first two classes sug- 
 gests the valuable lessons as to the place of Faith, both 
 personal and representative, in the order of salvation 
 which will come so often before us in commenting 
 on the narratives. In regard to the third group, 
 a coincidence — though it is also something more — 
 
 * No doubt the distribution of the entire body of miracles in the 
 evangelic narratives has its significance even for a spiritual and 
 interpretative treatment. For example, it is significant that the group 
 of eleven miracles contained in the triple tradition, i.e., occurring in all 
 the three synoptic Gospels, includes at least one specimen of each 
 great class ; e.g., tv^o Nature-miracles (the Storm-stilling and the 
 Feeding of Five Thousand) ; eight Healing-miracles, two of them 
 instances of expulsion (the Gadarene demoniac and the lunatic boy) ; 
 and one Restoration from the Dead, the daughter of Jairus. In 
 short, these eleven are typical ; and being well-accredited themselves, 
 serve to accredit those narratives in the other Gospels in which 
 other instances but no other kinds of miracles are recorded. All this 
 justifies the view usually taken of their classification and connection 
 as one body of mighty and merciful acts, (See Dr. Bruce in capp. iii 
 and iv. op. cit., " The Miracles in their relation to the Witnesses and 
 the Records.") 
 
INTR OD UC TION. 23 
 
 deserves notice. The unsolicited Healings were, with 
 only one apparent exception (that of the Gadarene 
 demoniac), those done on the Sabbath day. The 
 prevailing religious scruple about Sabbath-work ac- 
 counts for the absence of request in most of these 
 cases. The other class of unsolicited acts of His 
 almighty love explains itself. No one ventured to 
 ask Him to raise the dead. In the three instances 
 in which He did so, He acted solely upon His own 
 motion. 
 
 A classification of the Healing-miracles is sometimes 
 undertaken based upon the kinds of disease or of 
 organic defect removed. The use of such a study to 
 the Christian apologist is to show that the diseases and 
 infirmities healed by Jesus were either such as are 
 incurable by human means, or such as when cured in 
 the course of nature are never entirely removed on the 
 instant, as were these. Several of them were diseases 
 specially common in the East at the time. In short, all 
 of them are '* well-chosen cases, the healing of which 
 under the circumstances peculiar to each could not be 
 ascribed to human skill." * For our purpose, this 
 classification has one valuable hint. Human maladies, 
 in all their sad variety, are at root effects of sin, and are 
 therefore symbolically related to moral evil, so that their 
 removal by Jesus has certain distinct teachings as to 
 the multiplex virtues and effects of His saving grace. 
 This kind of symbolism has been most frequently illus- 
 trated by reference to His cleansing of the lepers. 
 
 * Our Lord's Miracles of Healings considered in relation to Medical 
 Science. T. W. Belcher, M.D. (now Rev. Dr. Belcher, Bristol). 
 Oxford, 1872. The chapters of this brief and purpose-like treatise 
 are arranged upon the principle above stated : Fevers ; Paralysis ; 
 Leprosy ; Demoniacal Possession (and Lunacy), etc. 
 
24 THE MIRACLES OF OUR LORD. 
 
 There is no reason why it should not be more generally 
 and broadly construed. If leprosy specially represents 
 the defilement of sin and the isolation from God and 
 good which it entails, blindness and deafness may repre- 
 sent the corresponding loss of man's spiritual percep- 
 tions; paralysis, the deadening of the moral nature 
 under sin — our spiritual inability to serve God, or to 
 attain salvation. Possession is a terrible allegor}^ of 
 the bondage of the sinner in the grasp of Satan ; and 
 physical death, of the last dread fruitage which sin 
 brings forth when it is finished. It was fitting that He 
 Who was manifested to destroy the works of the devil 
 should show Himself conqueror over these lesser ills, 
 in detail, and thus predict in figure and symbol His 
 larger victory. The cleansing of the leper figures forth 
 His removal of sin's defilement and His restoring us 
 to the fellowship of God ; opening blind eyes. His dis- 
 pelling our darkness and gifting' us with spiritual sight ; 
 making the palsied rise up and walk, the power to lead 
 a new life, with which He seals His pardons ; casting 
 out devils. His entry as strong Son of God into our 
 world to dispossess its evil prince ; recalling the dead, 
 that entire spiritual resurrection of which He is the 
 source and centre. Indeed, this line of thought leads 
 beyond mere analogy. It brings us to the real import 
 of the healing ministry of Jesus as a revelation of 
 redemption. These works must be regarded not as 
 mere evidences of His power and commission to re- 
 deem ; nor as mere figures or emblems of redemption. 
 They were themselves an integral part of His redemp- 
 tive work. When He cared for poor sick people and 
 restored their bodily health, when He relieved the 
 lunatic and the maniac from their mental tortures and 
 recalled them to quietness and sanity, when He set the 
 
INTRODUCTION. 25 
 
 possessed free from the yoke of demons, He was setting 
 His seal on man's entire nature, body, mind, and spirit, 
 as precious to Him. He was claiming it for God, and 
 He was doing in it a part of the same redeeming work 
 which He completed when He drew men from their 
 sinful Hfe into pardon and peace. In a number of 
 instances the bodily healings are accompanied or 
 followed up by an express deaHng with the subjects 
 of them as to their deliverance from sin. See the 
 instances of the man let down through the roof, the 
 paralytic at Bethesda, and the man born blind. These 
 are sufficient to establish the principle. It was as the 
 Friend of man and the Saviour of sinners that Jesus 
 wrought His miracles of heaUng. When He thus bare 
 their infirmities He was not merely prefiguring His 
 passion. He was doing part of the same work which He 
 accompUshed on the tree. When He restored sight, 
 strength, and health to man's corporeal frame. He was 
 giving an earnest of that complete salvation which 
 includes the redemption of the body. These works 
 were not so much parables or pictures of redemption as 
 themselves redemptive acts. It is one great necessity 
 that is presented to the eye of redeeming love in man's 
 sin and his misery. It is one strong redeemer who 
 is risen up to destroy the works of the devil in the 
 physical and the moral sphere alike. The one gospel 
 of glad tidings is preached in our Lord's deeds of 
 mercy and in His words of truth. The whole healing 
 ministry, in short, was a grand proclamation of redemp- 
 tion. The proclamation by miracle was one fitted to 
 engage men's attention at the outset, for the evils it 
 dealt with were such as all men could appreciate. Yet 
 was it far more than a mere bid for their attention. 
 He proclaims a whole salvation from evil, root and 
 
26 THE MIRACLES OF OUR LORD. 
 
 branch, when He presents Himself as the physician of 
 a sin-sick world. 
 
 The special questions involved in some of the narra- 
 tives of healing will be best considered in commenting 
 on the accounts themselves. The most difficult of 
 them, that of demoniacal possession, is no exception. 
 It should be studied in its connection with the evangehc 
 history. But a brief general conspectus of that group 
 of miracles may be in place here. There are seven 
 detailed instances of the kind in the Gospels. Of these 
 the earliest in point of time is : i. That of the demoniac 
 in the synagogue at Capernaum (Mark and Luke). 
 Then, 2. the man of Gadara (Matt., Mark, Luke); 3. 
 The man with a dumb spirit (Matt. ix. 32). 4. The man 
 both blind and dumb (Matt. xii. 22 ; Luke xi. 14). 5. 
 The Syrophenician's daughter (Matt., Mark). 6. The 
 lunatic boy (Matt., Mark, Luke). 7. The woman with a 
 spirit of infirmity (Luke xiii.). Besides these specified 
 cases, general references to the expulsion of evil spirits 
 by Jesus and to their action in His presence occur in all 
 the synoptic Gospels, e.g.. Matt. iv. 24, viii. 16; Mark 
 i- 34j 39> iii- n I Luke iv. 41. In the fourth Gospel 
 neither references nor instances are found. Any idea 
 of personal opinion on St. John's part adverse to the 
 fact of demoniacal possession is excluded by the record 
 (Mark ix. 38) of that Apostle's jealousy on the score 
 of the power given to him and to his fellow-disciples to 
 cast out devils. The distribution of these narratives in 
 the Gospels, however, and even the silence of the 
 fourth Gospel on the topic, is suggestive. This evan- 
 gelist gives large prominence to the Judean and 
 Jerusalem ministry ; none of the cases mentioned in 
 any Gospel occur in that part of the country. The 
 general statements all relate what took place in the 
 
INTRODUCTION. 27 
 
 northern districts. Three of the detailed cases are 
 Galilean, and the other four occurred in localities at 
 least semi-heathen. It is certainly fitted to throw some 
 light on the whole subject of possession, when we note 
 that the Scripture records include no case in the Old 
 Testament under the strict regime of the Theocracy, in 
 the New Testament none within the central districts of 
 Judaism ; that those occurring in the Gospel history 
 all take place either in Galilee or on the outskirts of 
 Palestine, those recorded in the Acts of the Apostles 
 in Samaritan or heathen cities ; the one apparent ex- 
 ception being St. Peter's cures in Jerusalem (Acts 
 V. 16), where, however, it is expressly said that those 
 vexed with unclean spirits, like the other sufferers on 
 that occasion, were brought into the capital out of the 
 cities round about [twz^ izkpi'^ TroXewf/]. This geo- 
 graphical distribution is paralleled by their apparent 
 limitation as to time. Their frequent occurrence in the 
 time of Jesus and His Apostles, with their comparative 
 infrequency before and since, is another significant fact. 
 The question to which the modern mind turns most 
 eagerly is, whether it is not possible to explain posses- 
 sion as simply a popular fallacy by which certain 
 mental or nervous diseases were assigned to demoniac 
 influence as their cause. The explanation labours 
 under the grave disadvantage to all Christian minds of 
 reflecting heavily either on the Saviour's knowledge 
 or alternatively on something still more vital. But 
 indeed in the hands of any candid inquirer it breaks 
 down before the facts. The explanation assumes that 
 mania and other mental or nervous disorders are those 
 which the Jews of the day ascribed to possession, 
 and that this was their way of accounting for such 
 forms of human ailment. But this is disproved by the 
 
28 THE MIRACLES OF OUR LORD. 
 
 narratives themselves. Not mania only, but epilepsy, 
 dumbness, blindness, and in one case spinal or dorsal 
 paralysis, are included among infirmities due in a certain 
 sense to possession, whereas in other cases the same 
 infirmities are described as present without possession. 
 To say that this was a theoretic or imaginary cause by 
 which mental and nervous diseases were in evangelic 
 times accounted for, is not possible, so long as we 
 cannot Hmit the diseases to be so explained. That 
 certain individual sufferers were regarded as under 
 demoniac influence, while others in almost all respects 
 similarly afflicted were not so regarded, is the fact 
 against which this modern hypothesis must for the 
 present at least go to pieces. If a solution exists in 
 this direction it has not yet been found. Our Lord's 
 own words on the subject of possession and its cure 
 lift the whole topic into a higher region. Possession 
 is a part of Satanic working which was brought to light 
 mainly by the Lord's own coming. His entry ''first 
 binds the strong one," disturbs the kingdom of darkness 
 and prepares for its overthrow. Jesus does not, however, 
 regard the poor demoniacs as sinners par excellence. 
 It is not to them He addresses His " Go, and sin no 
 no more." The terrible phrase, " Ye are of your father 
 the devil," he appHes to a very different class of people. 
 He grasps in his discourses the idea of a kingdom of 
 God which is to displace the Satanic, — to dispossess it 
 of both realms, that of physical evil and oppression on 
 the one hand, that of moral disorder and sin on the 
 other. The possessed are under the tyranny of Satan. 
 The Son of God is come to set them free. They, like 
 all other sinners, are under the moral yoke of sin ; from 
 this also He is come to deliver. This which is His 
 main work carries the other with it. Now this view 
 
INTRODUCTION. 29 
 
 of Jesus is radical to His entire teaching and ministry. 
 We must hold fast with Him on both sides of His 
 teaching if we are to understand His doctrine and 
 practically enter into His work. If we rationalize and 
 explain away Christ's view of physical and psychical 
 evil, we shall find ourselves at length rejecting His / 
 view of moral evil. The strong Christian doctrine of 
 sin and its effects brings into the light of a redemptive 
 revelation the entire foundation of evil. Hence its 
 practical force. Christ and Christians are bound to 
 war against the moral and the physical evils of man- 
 kind alike, for both belong to the prince of this world 
 who is to be cast out. 
 
 One other group of the miracles is bound together 
 by an ethical rather than a physical link of connection, 
 viz., the Sabbath Healings. As the cures of possession 
 led up to the sharpest break of Jesus with the leaders of 
 His nation, — formed indeed the occasion of their throw- 
 ing themselves into bitter and blasphemous opposition to 
 His kingdom ; so His Sabbath cures wounded them in 
 their tenderest sensibilities, as keepers and expounders 
 of the law, and brought them to the brink of His 
 murder. Seven of the detailed miracles were done 
 on the Sabbath, besides, probably, others described 
 in general terms. The first two, the cure of the 
 demoniac in the synagogue at Capernaum and the 
 raising of Peter's wife's mother out of fever, occurred 
 on the same day. These occasioned apparently no 
 controversial remark. All the others involve this 
 element. The cure of the withered hand, the woman 
 under a spirit of infirmity, and the instance of the 
 dropsical man, are recorded with the Sabbath contro- 
 versy full in view. The two of St. John's Gospel 
 (chaps. V. and ix.) bring it into the centre, for the 
 
30 THE MIRACLES OF OUR LORD. 
 
 resolving of this strife was evidently one of the main 
 doctrinal purposes which the author of the Fourth 
 Gospel. had in view in relating so prominently these 
 two Sabbath healings. The general principles illus- 
 trated in these cases may be here summarized. In the 
 first two Sabbath cures and the many heahngs which 
 followed on the evening of that day, we see Jesus taking 
 possession of the Sabbath to baptize it with the Spirit 
 of His Gospel. In the three that follow, He illustrates 
 the humane purposes of the Sabbath. It is an insti- 
 tution germane to the ministry of compassion : '"I will 
 have mercy and not sacrifice." He also declares His 
 own claim as Messiah to develop and enlarge its scope. 
 If in any measure it belonged to that law of carnal 
 commandments which was fixed in ordinances, the 
 higher law of Christ has now taken it up. The 
 Sabbath was made for man, and the Son of Man, 
 the Head of the New Humanity, is Lord also of the 
 Sabbath day. Here the controversy between Him and 
 His foes reached a point of entire success on His part. 
 They deemed that when they had condemned Him and 
 His healing work under cover of Jehovah's Sabbath 
 law they had righteousness and justice on their side. 
 But He appeals to the original intention of the Sabbath. 
 He takes it up as its reformer and its Lord. He re- 
 duces them to entire silence upon their own premises 
 and exceptions, and when we pass on to the last two 
 instances, those recorded in St. John's Gospel, we find 
 they have no arguments left. In the story of the man 
 born blind, they simply persist in denying the fact of the 
 miracle because the alleged worker of it is in their account 
 a transgressor, and " God heareth not sinners." In 
 the instance of the man at the pool the contest reaches 
 another cHmax. Jesus in His vindicatory words takes 
 
INTRODUCTION. 31 
 
 the Sabbath question up to a still higher platform. It 
 was founded, as He and they agree, upon the Creator's 
 resting on the seventh day. But their narrow and 
 bigoted interpretation of what is work and rest go 
 altogether to the ground when the nature of God's 
 resting is understood, when His working is seen to 
 be in another sense ceaseless ; and as the Father, so 
 also the Son. " My Father worketh hitherto, and I 
 work." Argument was then at an end. So far as they 
 were concerned, beaten out of that field, shamed before 
 the people who rejoiced in His deeds of mercy, there 
 was nothing left them but to resolve upon His destruc- 
 tion. These two Jerusalem Sabbath-cures are related 
 in the fourth Gospel, as is the climax-miracle of the 
 raising of Lazarus, among other reasons, for the purpose 
 of showing the steps by which the leaders of the nation 
 arrived at their fatal conclusion. It is obvious that the 
 relation of Jesus to the Sabbath question, as worked out 
 in these narratives, is very far from that which modern 
 anti-Sabbatism supposes. Indeed it is the very reverse. 
 Only on the supposition that the Sabbath was a sacred 
 and inviolable institution could there be a unique pre- 
 eminence in being its Lord. Those who refuse to see 
 in Jesus' w^ords and acts here the grandest claim to 
 secure Sabbath rest and its mercy for man, as well as 
 to raise and transform it for the spiritual purposes 
 of His Church and Kingdom, are as bhnd to His real 
 meaning and aims as were the Pharisees themselves. 
 
 The Raisings from the Dead form the last and highest 
 group of the Redemptive-miracles. The general ques- 
 tions which these suggest will be best considered in 
 commenting on the actual instances in detail. 
 
 It has been already made sufficiently plain that we 
 are to deal with the spiritual lessons of the Gospel 
 
32 THE MIRACLES OF OUR LORD. 
 
 miracles, not with the apologetic questions arising out 
 of these or any other of the miraculous narratives of 
 Scripture. The central proposition to which all believ- 
 ing theologians and exegetes unhesitatingly assent, 
 that the Gospel miracles form an important, consti- 
 tutive part of the Revelation of Christ's Person and 
 Work, is enough for our purpose. They are not to us 
 mere signs, the evidential value of which has passed 
 away. The need for their actual, historical occurrence 
 no doubt passed. It was due at a particular date ; it 
 belonged to the era of His personal manifestation ; but, 
 having once occurred, the record of them remains an 
 integral part of the Revelation, and the reception and 
 impression from that record, an essential part of the 
 faith of those who accept the Revelation. On the same 
 principle, there is no call for defence or explanation of 
 the mode in which the miracles occurred in detail. A 
 miracle is a miracle. Elaborate explanations of how 
 the occurrence may be conceived to have taken place 
 simply render their constructors ridiculous. The older, 
 rationalistic methods of explaining away the miraculous 
 element in these acts of Jesus have long since become 
 the laughing-stock of educated Christendom. The 
 laborious attempts of otherwise believing theologians, 
 such as Weiss and Beyschlag, in our own day, to reduce 
 the supernatural element in the narrative to a minimum, 
 are already far on the way to appear almost equally 
 ridiculous. From its very nature as an immediate 
 Divine operation, the miracle admits no explanation of 
 mode or process. All such attempts are self-contra- 
 dictory. They are suggestions of secondary reasons 
 or causes for that which ex hypothesi has only a Great 
 First Cause. 
 
 Finally, as regards the records themselves, no theory 
 
INTR OD UC TIOiV. 33 
 
 of mechanical, verbal inspiration is assumed when we 
 assume their substantial historicity. But accepting this 
 bond fide, we do not find ourselves at liberty to proceed 
 as if the Gospel writers had on some occasion mistaken 
 a parabolic or figurative speech for an actual transaction, 
 or a divergent tradition of the same event for a distinct 
 and repeated occurrence. The second miraculous 
 Feeding, the Coin in the Fish's Mouth, the Blasting 
 of the Fig-tree, must be unhesitatingly accepted as 
 facts by those who accept once for all the historicity 
 of the records. The narrators give these as actual 
 occurrences. To proceed to correct their record, as if 
 they were childish or incompetent recorders, does not 
 seem very reasonable criticism. It is to carry revenge 
 for the mechanical theory of inspiration to an extreme 
 which is sure to recoil some day on the heads of those 
 who indulge it. A few years wall soon leave sere and 
 dry a good deal of our present proposed redaction of 
 the Sacred Biography. 
 
I. 
 
 THE NATURE-MIRACLES. 
 
THE WATER MADE WINE. 
 John ii. i-ii. 
 
 THAT this miracle should be expressly designated 
 .by the Evangelist who alone records it as the 
 '' beginning of the signs " which Jesus did, prepares us 
 for several inferences as to its character, as well as for 
 some peculiarities in the record of it. Before all, it 
 rules out as wholly fabulous the traditionary miracles 
 of the Infancy and Youth. Then, it suggests the pre- 
 eminently emblematic or symbolic bearing of the act. 
 It is plain that the author of the Fourth Gospel attends 
 to what the miracles teach rather than to what they 
 prove ; that he has in view not so much the marvellous 
 in them, as the significant. That he should supply 
 this account of the first of all the Lord's mighty works 
 — one of signally prophetic meaning — is exactly what 
 we should expect. It is true, no working out of the 
 spiritual symbol follows the record of the incident in 
 this case, as it does in most of the other miracle- 
 narratives of St. John's Gospel. But the prologue, 
 and indeed the whole of the first chapter, more 
 especially the conversation with Nathan ael at its close, 
 has led up to it. And the hint conveyed in the 
 concluding words here(ver. ii) is unmistakable. Thus 
 
38 THE MIRACLES OF OUR LORD. 
 
 was begun the ''beholding of His glory," while ''the 
 Word made flesh dwelt among us " (i. 14). Once more, 
 that it was the first of the miracles may account for 
 the paradoxical elements in the transaction and the 
 exegetic puzzles of the narrative. These are best 
 solved by the straightforward assumption that the 
 thing actually took place at the time and in the way 
 recorded. Whatever begins a series of unwonted acts, 
 and so marks the entrance of the Life recorded upon 
 a new stage, may well be surrounded with difficulties 
 such as confessedly belong to this passage of the Gospel 
 history. 
 
 Vv. I, 2. "And the third day . . . to the marriage y 
 These opening words show the strict sequence of the 
 story with what has gone before— a sequence which is 
 of moment for our interpretation of the miracle. " The 
 third day" is probably to be reckoned from the de- 
 parture of Jesus from that part of the Jordan district 
 where the calling of the five disciples had taken place, 
 as detailed in the preceding chapter. Surrounded by 
 this first circle of believing followers. He had now 
 arrived at the little Galilean town of which Nathanael, 
 the latest convert of the five, was a native (xxi. 2).* 
 Here, at a marriage feast, was found the "mother of 
 Jesus." This evangelist never uses her name any 
 more than he does his own or that of James his brother 
 — a delicate note of authenticity. She was in some 
 
 * From early Christian centuries the place has been identified with 
 the existing village of Kefr Kenna, about five miles from Nazareth, on 
 the road to Tiberias. Dr. Robinson's attempt to transfer the identifi- 
 cation to the lonely site of Khurbet Kana, eight or nine miles to the 
 north, is now thought to have been founded on misinformation, and 
 opinion generally has recurred to the older view. See Farrar's Z,?/i? of 
 Christ, i., 161 ; and Rev. A. Henderson's Palestine (Handbook), § 108. 
 
THE WATER MADE WINE. 39 
 
 charge on the occasion, perhaps as related to the bridal 
 pair. On her account Jesus and His party, on their 
 arrival, were invited, and accepted the invitation. Such 
 are the mere outward connections. But we must think 
 that between this narrative and that which has preceded 
 it there is a deeper connection than that of time or 
 place. The manifestation of Him Who has just been 
 named "Son of God" and ''Son of man" (i. 49, 51) 
 was now begun — at least, within the circle of His 
 followers. From this time forth, these five first dis- 
 ciples, and those who should be added to them, were 
 to find that wherever Jesus came, there was " heaven 
 opened," and the glory of the Only Begotten was to 
 be seen. 
 
 Vv. '3, 4. ^^ And when they wanted wine . . . Mine 
 hour is not yet corned "When the wine failed " (R.V.). 
 Various reasons have been suggested why Mary went 
 to Jesus about the failure of the wine. The want was 
 no doubt partly due to the sudden accession to the 
 company which His arrival with His following had 
 brought about. It was natural she should tell her Son, 
 in Whom she had always found a wise counsellor. But 
 what good did she expect by consulting Him on such an 
 occasion ? One commentator — Bengel — quaintly sug- 
 gests that she wished Him to rise and go, that the other 
 guests might follow His example, and so relieve the 
 entertainer. Another — Calvin — still more quaintly, 
 that she wanted Him to entertain the guests with some 
 of His discourse, and so make them forget that the 
 wine was done. We have no reason to think she had 
 any instance to warrant her in expecting a miraculous 
 interposition, for what followed was the beginning of 
 His miracles. But the most natural explanation, after 
 all, is that, cherishing her well-grounded faith in Him 
 
4b THE MIRACLES OF OUR LORD. 
 
 as Messiah, seeing Him now for the first time an openly 
 accredited teacher, surrounded by believing disciples, 
 catching up sympathetically the elevated tone of the 
 company fresh from Jordan's banks, she believed that 
 the hour of His public manifestation to Israel was 
 come, and deemed it not unlikely that by some stroke 
 of power He would relieve the present situation. If 
 this be so, then it is easy to understand how the 
 expression of her expectation should have been met 
 as it was. 
 
 *' Womany In the address itself there is no 
 harshness such as the English word conveys to our 
 ears. The same word was used when He spoke, in 
 tones of deepest tenderness, from the Cross, confiding 
 her to the care of His loving and faithful disciple 
 (xix. 26).* Yet there is in it a very definite hint. It is 
 not " Mother ! " but " Woman ! " The word showed that 
 He must now gently disengage Himself from mere 
 horpe and family environment. Henceforth He Who 
 had been known as Mary's son was to become more 
 even than the Jews' Messiah, or the local King of Israel. 
 He was the Christ, the Saviour of the world. Reproof, 
 moreover, though of gentle kind, is conveyed in the 
 words that follow : " What have I to do with thee .^" This 
 proverbial expression, as used in Scripture, has a flexi- 
 bility of application not represented by the English 
 phrase.f Its general sense has been fairly put thus : 
 ' Let Me alone ; what is there common to thee and Me ? 
 
 * Farrar suggests, in addition, that if our Lord spoke, as is. likely, 
 in Aramaic, the word would be iinJN, not ^i^•^<, i.e., more like domina 
 than feniina. 
 
 f Tt ifiol Kai aoL For the varied use, cf. Josh. xxii. 24; Judges xi. 
 12; 2 Sam. xvi. 10, xix. 22; I Kings xvii. 18; 2 Kings iii. 13; 
 Matt. viii. 29; Mark i. 24; Luke viii. 28. 
 
THE WATER MADE WINE. 41 
 
 We stand in this matter on altogether different grounds " 
 (Trench). May we not assume that Mar3^'s suggestion 
 was met in this way, because it savoured of that false 
 and mistaken idea of Messiah's kingdom which Jesus 
 had so oft to repudiate in His public life, and which 
 had been presented in its grossest form at the Temp- 
 tation : " Make yourself the Christ of the Jews by force 
 of wonders so striking that none shall be able to resist 
 them " ? 
 
 The request implied in Mary's appeal was granted in 
 one sense, though put aside in another. Such, at least, 
 seems to be the effect of the rather enigmatical sa3dng, 
 " Mine hour is not yet come" This can hardly mean, 
 as it is often taken, that not yet, but in a few minutes, 
 would be the proper time for the miracle. Not till the 
 wine was wholly exhausted would His hour have arrived. 
 As yet it was only failing. Otherwise He might have 
 seemed to mingle elements rather than to change them.* 
 Such a meaning is too trivial. The true explanation 
 must preserve the significance of the phrase His *' hour " 
 — a vox signata all through the sacred narrative for His 
 showing to mankind as the God-appointed Sufferer and 
 Saviour. That "hour" is not yet come. The thing 
 almost anticipated by Mary is going to be done, but her 
 thoughts of it are not His. No immediately outward 
 eftecLwJll follow. The showing unto His true Israel to 
 take place now is of an inward, spiritual, and prepara- 
 tory kind. This work, now to be wrought, was for the 
 sake only of the little band of believing followers, and 
 would have no startling public consequence. Grace had 
 won to Him these honest young hearts, and for them 
 He should do this beginning of His signs and manifest 
 
 * Augustine, quoted by Trench. 
 
42 THE MIRACLES OF OUR LORD. 
 
 forth His glory ; but His "hour," in the larger sense, 
 was not yet come.* 
 
 Vv. 5-8. ^^ His mothei^ saith unto the servants. . . . 
 And they bare it^ The amount of rebuke intended, 
 whatever it was, must have been " mitigated by the 
 manner of speaking it." Plainly, too, Mary saw "in 
 His seeming denial a real granting of her desire. She 
 not merely nothing doubts His compliance, but in some 
 degree guesses at and even indicates" (Trench) "the form 
 of it in these words to the servants," i.e., the friends who 
 assisted or attended to the guests.f The first necessity 
 after a journey in the East is to wash the feet, and be- 
 fore a meal to wash the hands. Hence the presence of 
 the six water-jars, capable of holding from ten to twenty 
 gallons each, was appropriate and convenient when so 
 many guests were gathered. Jesus bids fill them with 
 water, and the servants filled them to the brim. The 
 enormous quantity of water thus provided is made 
 prominent. Then He bids them draw and bear to the 
 guests, beginning with him who sat at the head of 
 the table as ruler or steward (R.V.). What they now 
 drew was wine ; and this, whether on the more common 
 understanding of the narrative that they took it from 
 the pots they had filled with water, or on the less usual 
 but exegetically accurate one, J that, having drawn all 
 
 * This exegesis is supported by a precisely parallel saying re- 
 corded in vii, 6. He is urged by His yet unconvinced kindred to go 
 up to the capital and prove Himself openly to be Messiah. He 
 answers, " My time is not yet come." The word is Kaipbs, as here it 
 is ibpa ; but the idea is the same. In that case, also, the suggestion 
 is complied with. He did afterwards quietly go up to the Feast. Yet 
 the "hour of Christ," the time of His revelation to mankind, had not 
 arrived even then. 
 
 f The word is didKovoi, not 8ov\ol. 
 
 X Westcott's. See his Cow. on this Gospel in loc. 
 
THE WATER MADE WINE. 43 
 
 this quantity of water from the well or spring, they 
 " drew on " now from the original source. In either 
 case the fact is satisfied by the simple statement that 
 what they bore to the guests was wine, whether drawn 
 from the filled jars or from the original w^ell. There is 
 no need at all for the assumption that any of the liquid 
 was wine except that which the servants carried and 
 the guests tasted.* That this was wine, and wine of 
 the best, is set forth by the graphic touch which follows. 
 Vv. 9, 10. "PVhen the ruler of the feast had tasted 
 . . . thou hast kept the good wine until nowT The 
 miracle could not have been more conclusively proved 
 to be real. Water only was taken from that well whence 
 the jars were filled. This the servants could testify. 
 Wine it was when presented to the guests. This the 
 architriclinos testified in unconscious simplicity, when, 
 knowing not whence it came, he pronounces it good — 
 so good that he must hail the bridegroom and humorously 
 charge him with departure from all ordinary customs, 
 thus under cover of playful rebuke paying the highest 
 compliment to him and to the wine. Nothing could be 
 more complete, as a simple and convincing arrangement 
 of facts. But how differently is the miracle done from 
 what human imagination could have suggested, from 
 what the original suggestor herself — shall we say ? — 
 expected. The guests go on enjoying the wine till the 
 conclusion of the banquet, without the consciousness 
 that any such work has been wrought. Instead of 
 
 * Thus we rid ourselves of the groundless supposition that the 
 " quantity was enormous " (Trench). " The force of the words would 
 favour the idea, rather, that only the water that was drawn from the 
 vessels underwent the marvellous transmutation, and that the process 
 took place in the transition " (Dr. Hugh Macmillan, The Marriage hi 
 Catia, p. 148). 
 
44 THE MIRACLES OF OUR LORD. 
 
 calling for a pause, summoning all attention, making 
 the company observe the water in the jars, and then 
 with solemn and sudden action converting it into wine, 
 He furnishes this munificent and princely supply, as it 
 were by stealth, with the connivance of the attendants, 
 and letting it be fully known only to His mother and 
 to His disciples. 
 
 Two clauses in the narrative have been felt to have 
 significance in pointing out the results. " The servants 
 who drew the water knew" — they only, and not the 
 guests — whence the wine came. Active participation 
 in the service of Christ's kingdom is the way to a per- 
 ception of its secrets. '' His disciples believed on Him." 
 Whatever knowledge of that wonder might by-and-bye 
 become general, it is plain that no immediate stir was 
 made by it, and that none was intended. For those 
 who had faith in Him already, did Jesus mainly disclose 
 His glory. How clearly this evidential principle of His 
 was present to the mind of the Evangehst comes out 
 afresh in the record of the second sign which Jesus 
 did in Cana (iv. 43-54). See infra, on The Healing of 
 the Courtiey^s Son. 
 
 Let us now look at the fact, the mode, and the motive 
 of this miraculous act. 
 
 That it was a miracle, a creation-miracle, the turning 
 of water into wine, stands on the face of the record.* 
 Every attempt to reconcile belief in the record with 
 an evasion of the creative act implied in it has been 
 a failure. Such suppositions as that the spiritual 
 elevation of the guests under the power of the Lord's 
 discourse made them think that to be wine which was 
 only water (Ewald), or that He gave to that which still 
 
 * Cf. John iv. 46 : eTroirjcre to vdup oXvov. 
 
THE WATER MADE WINE. 
 
 45 
 
 remained water the force and sap of wine (Neander *) 
 or even that this was a supply of wine produced in the 
 ordinary way and providentially arriving in the nick of 
 time at the believing prayer or omniscient foresight of 
 the Saviour (Weiss), will not satisfy the fact, nor the 
 plain and honest meaning of the recording Evangelist, 
 an eye-witness of the wonder. Nor can we be in any 
 doubt as to what was actualty produced. It was what 
 in all the languages spoken by man is understood as 
 wine ; a gift of God's bounty more misused indeed by 
 men than most, — all the more blameable they. But that 
 either this wine which Jesus now made or that which 
 He afterwards used at His communion table was any- 
 wise different in its qualities and effects from the wine 
 which those countries usually produce would not have 
 entered into any reasonable mind to conceive, except 
 for a foregone conclusion. It is an insult to the com- 
 mon sense of an}' plain reader of Scripture to ask him 
 to believe that the wines of the Bible were not intoxi- 
 cating when used in excess. That our Lord's first 
 miracle should have consisted in the abundant supply 
 of a gift which the receivers might possibly have 
 abused (though there is everything in the narrative to 
 imply that they did not) will occasion no more difficulty 
 to any reasonable mind than that as Creator of the 
 world and Author of nature He should have put at 
 the disposal of mankind the produce of the vine. 
 
 Some of those who rest in the fact of the miracle and 
 regard it as creative have vainly attempted to conceive 
 and describe the mode in which it was wrought. It 
 has long been usual to suggest that this act may be 
 
 * "Intensified the powers of water into those of wine" {Life of 
 Christ, p. 176, EngHsh translation). 
 
46 THE MIRACLES OF OUR LORD. 
 
 thought of on the analogy of nature's work ; that 
 what was done here in a moment was the same thing 
 which is done in countless vineyards year by year. 
 ''The essence of the miracle," says Olshausen, ''consists 
 in divinely effecting the acceleration of the natural 
 process." * So also Augustine long ago.f 
 
 The analogy is tempting, but we gain nothing by it as 
 an explanation. Indeed, it is impossible, and after all 
 inept. There is no real parallel. We can trace these 
 processes in nature ; but here we can trace no process. 
 Should we attempt it, we should speedily wander from 
 the analogy. We should have to imagine not only 
 accelerated processes of nature, but also those artificial 
 changes, anticipated and condensed, by which the fruit 
 of the vine becomes a beverage — the ripening of the 
 wine as well as of the grape. There are no natural 
 laws by which water in a well or in a jar will change 
 into wine. Nature never would do this, however long 
 time you gave her. True, nature does every year 
 prepare that of which men make wine. That is the 
 ordinary mode of the Divine working, the usual exercise 
 of the Divine efficiency, and we call it the law of nature. 
 But here was another mode of working, equally Divine, 
 though wholly inscrutable and extraordinary. Here 
 were no vines, no summer blossoms, no autumn fruit, 
 no stored and seasoned vintages. By the direct and 
 simple ^^/ of Him "Who giveth all " wine was produced 
 in abundance for the comfort of this wedding company. 
 
 Finally, for the Purpose. One of the main difficulties, 
 according to some expositors, is the absence of sufficient 
 motive. This is a miracle, they say, without a moral 
 
 * On the Gospels, iii., 373 (Clark's translation). 
 
 •f "Ipse fecit vinim in nuptiis . . . qui omni anno hoc facit in 
 vitibus.'' 
 
THE WATER MADE WINE. 47 
 
 end. The negative critics go further, and disparage it 
 as being so unUke Christ's other labours, wrought usually 
 for the relief of the needy, for the comfort of the sick 
 and sad. Here was a needless display of power, to 
 increase the hilarity of a marriage party — a Luxury- 
 wonder, or miracle of Ostentation. The mind of the 
 recording Evangelist as to the motive becomes clear 
 enough, from the pre-eminent place which he has 
 assigned to the work. It is placed at the outset of the 
 fourth Gospel, with the evident intention of showing 
 (i) that Jesus struck a key-note to His ministry so 
 entirely contrasted with that of the Baptist, whose 
 disciples these first followers of Jesus had original^ 
 been.* It betokened the exchange of an ascetic, or 
 legal, for a free, human, and joyous form of piety ; the 
 transition from a low^er and earthlier to a higher and 
 more universal form of the Divine religion — a form not 
 so easy as that of separation and asceticism, but the 
 truest and deepest consecration of the human spirit in 
 all things to God. Who can miss the significance of 
 this scene in which the '' Son of man came eating and 
 drinking " — this scene which imparts a touch of universal 
 humanity to the Gospel of Jesus, which in His name 
 sanctifies common life and human joy, beautifies the 
 marriage tie and the family affections, sets on the fore- 
 front of His miracles and in the heart of His ordinances 
 the use of a bounty too frequently abused ? Who can 
 fail to see that in all this the objections above alluded 
 to have been answered by the Master Himself? In all 
 ages the children of this world's market-place have 
 made their objections, not founded on the reality of the 
 case, but drawn from their own obdurate blindness to 
 all Divine manifestation. The older and austerer form 
 
 * See Olshausen, iii., 374, 
 
48 THE MIRACLES OF OUR LORD. 
 
 of revealed religion was too narrow and gloomy. It 
 was "mad and had a devil." The new form — the 
 religion of Christ — must be strait-jacketed and blind- 
 folded. If it venture to walk open and free as its 
 Founder meant, the old objection is transferred from 
 Himself to it : " Behold, a gluttonous man and a wine- 
 bibber, a friend of publicans and sinners." (2) Nor 
 can the objection about the triviality of the occasion 
 / justify itself, as if it were the mere relieving of a dinner- 
 table dilemma. Rather the reverse is the true inference. 
 The gracious Lord has sympathy with all needs, the 
 finer as well as the commoner. He Who multiplied the 
 loaves for the relief of a hungry congregation might 
 increase the store of wine for the resolving of a social 
 perplexity. The minor graces and courtesies of life 
 are taken account of, in Christianity, as well as the 
 sterner realities. Indeed, who shall say there is no 
 direct moral end in this action ? Contrast with His 
 strictness as to His own extremest needs Jesus' 
 readiness to aid others by His wonder-working. Recall 
 how this narrative stands in almost the same relative 
 place in the fourth Gospel as that of the Temptation 
 in the first and third. He Who will do no miracle at 
 the suggestion of Satan, Who will yield to no demand 
 of selfishness or ambition the use of His Divine power, 
 wrought His first miracle at the suggestion of social 
 and family kindness. (3) But, indeed, to search for an 
 exact necessity as motive here is to miss the whole 
 point. These wedding guests could have done without 
 more and better wine. It is a miracle of Superfluity if 
 you will. The Well-spring of Grace and Truth in Jesus 
 Christ overflows at the first onset. He is come to give 
 life, and more abundant. In this He is a faithful Image 
 of the Creator and Upholder of all, who has no esteem 
 
THE WATER MADE WINE. 49 
 
 for bare existence, but is ever enriching and beautifying 
 human hfe, '' fiUing men's hearts with food and gladness." 
 Allow the Gospel-writer to be his own interpreter, and 
 the moral glory of this miracle becomes clear. It is 
 placed in the front of the Miracle-record not merely 
 to point a contrast between the Saviour's ministry and 
 that of the Baptist, but to show how the new economy 
 surpasses the old. The miraculous ministry of Israel's 
 Leader began with turning water into blood, a miracle 
 of judgment. The Gospel-miracles commence with a 
 wonder of kindliness and beneficence. Just as the 
 plagues of Egypt contrast with the healings of Galilee 
 and Judea, so does this banquet-miracle introduce us 
 to the blessings of the Kingdom in its highest and final 
 dispensation. In this act the commonest gift of nature, 
 the merest necessity of human existence — pure water — 
 became the vehicle of a higher power. " So it is the 
 peculiarity of Christ's Spirit and labours, the peculiarity 
 of the work of Christianity, not to destroy what is 
 natural, but to ennoble and transfigure it ; to enable it, 
 as the organ of Divine powers, to produce effects beyond 
 its original capacities." * 
 
 Nor let us fail to catch the inspiration of that un- 
 conscious prophecy, so appropriately conveyed in the 
 words of the happy wedding guest: "Thou hast kept 
 the good wine until now." The application of this 
 saying, to mark the difference between the way of the 
 world and the way of Christ, has been enshrined in 
 the well-known words of Jeremy Taylor, and in the 
 hymn of Keble.t In closer keeping with the Evan- 
 gelist's line of thought we may apply it to express the 
 increasing richness of Divine Revelations. The weak 
 
 * Neander, Life of Christ (Bohn's translation), p. 177. 
 t See quotation and allusion in Trench on this miracle, 
 
 4 
 
50 THE MIRACLES OF OUR LORD. 
 
 and beggarly elements of the former dispensation are 
 succeeded by the new wine of the Kingdom. He Who 
 spake to the fathers by the prophets hath spoken to us 
 by His Son. This whole transaction reveals His glory 
 as the Bringer of the final and highest dispensation. 
 In Jesus Christ, God '' has kept His best till last." 
 
 In fine, it is plainly meant that we should see in 
 this work an epitome of the Lord's entire miraculous 
 activity. In it all His glory is His grace and ' we. In 
 the Nature miracles we are to note how always He is 
 " not ministered unto, but ministers." In .he Healing 
 miracles we see the power of the wonder-worker con- 
 stantly merged in the tenderness of the Saviour, telling, 
 e.g.y the paralytic his sins were forgiven ere He com- 
 manded him to rise up and walk, following the man 
 healed at Bethesda into the temple that He might 
 charge him to go and sin no more, bidding the mother 
 by the gate of Nain dry her tears ere He restored her 
 son; carr3dng consolation into the bereaved home at 
 Bethany ere He cried with power, *' Lazarus, come 
 forth." What a wealth of revelation in this whole body 
 of miraculous transaction ! What an Epiphany of Jesus 
 Christ, of which the spiritual mode and meaning are, 
 so to say, anticipated in this the first of them ; an un- 
 folding of glorious power, of unselfish care, of human 
 fellowship, of symbolic truth ! No wonder he who saw 
 and recorded it lays emphasis on this " beginning of 
 miracles," as that in which " He manifested forth His 
 glory, and His disciples believed in Him." 
 
ol 11. 
 
 SIMON PETER'S DRAUGHT OF FISHES. 
 Luke v. i-ii. 
 
 I. 'nr^HE Scene opens upon a delicious glimpse of 
 -L our Lord's Galilean ministry, His week-day 
 work, His every-day human intercourse. It is morning. 
 In the fresh early hour Jesus is walking by the shore 
 of the Lake of Gennesaret, in the neighbourhood of 
 some populous village ; walking by Himself for re- 
 freshment and meditation. By this time He has become 
 well known to passers-by. The fisher people and 
 townsfolk catch sight of Him, crowd round Him 
 group after group closes in, till His walk is brought 
 to a standstill. He feels impelled to address them, 
 casts His eyes about for an elevation from which to 
 speak, — not easy to be found on the level shore. He 
 sees two boats standing close to land ; the fishers, just 
 gone out of them, their night's work over, were wash- 
 ing their nets hard by. The boats belonged to four 
 young men. His recent converts and disciples. Enter- 
 ing one of the craft, which was Simon's, He asks His 
 friend to push her a little off, so as to command the 
 multitude with more ease. Then, with the prow for 
 His pulpit. He teaches the people who stand crowded 
 and clustered before Him on the rising beach. Jesus 
 
52 THE MIRACLES OF OUR LORD. 
 
 carefully honoured all the means of grace in the Divine 
 institutions of His time and nation ; a glance at the 
 preceding chapter of Luke's Gospel shews Him preach- 
 ing in the most regular and accepted circumstances, — on 
 the Sabbath day, in the synagogue, during the ordinary 
 course of public worship, conducted in every particular 
 — except perhaps that slight one of His sitting down 
 to speak — exactly as any rabbi or elder of the Jews 
 would have conducted it. Here you have something 
 different — week-day ministry, open-air preaching, a 
 quite extempore service, an occasional and entirely 
 singular pulpit; but all so like the mission on which 
 He came to earth, that, in season or out of season. He 
 might proclaim the Kingdom of God. 
 
 2. The Deed or Sign which followed when He had 
 '' left speaking " is a good illustration of the mutual 
 influence of every-day religion and every-day work. 
 Simon had waited on Christ at His preaching, and lent 
 Him his boat for a platform. Jesus will now help 
 Simon at his fishing, and reward him for his sacrifice. 
 To interpret the nature of the deed itself, let us first 
 note that it is done of set purpose and intention on the 
 Lord's part. He insists upon the cast of the net being 
 made when Simon's experience told him that it was 
 hopeless. The result, therefore, was not one merely 
 fortuitous, prodigious, or marvellous, but a miracle, in 
 the proper sense, wrought by the will and purpose of 
 the Lord, for ends which will presently appear. This 
 view is confirmed by Peter's " Nevertheless, at Thy 
 word!' etc. The assertion of the future Apostle, " I 
 will do it at Thy bidding," is the point, as Steinmeyer 
 well remarks, on which the effect of the incident hangs. 
 Peter acknowledges that if left to himself and his own 
 will he would not throw the net ; his own professional 
 
SIMON PETER'S DRAUGHT OF FISHES. 53 
 
 experience and knowledge would keep him from doing 
 so. Thus he places himself in such a position that 
 Jesus alone must be honoured as the Worker of the result 
 which follows: *If I do catch anything, this happens 
 not in the natural order of things, or of chance, but 
 comes from Thee.' A shoal of fish is b}^ no means of 
 itself a miraculous occurrence. Everything here turns 
 upon the revelation of a mastery over nature claimed by 
 Jesus. Yet the greatness of the catch was the point of 
 impression according to the narrative. And it is eas}' 
 to see why. For the end in view, what was needed 
 for these fishermen about to be made Apostles, was 
 an experience in their own calling which should take 
 possession of their imagination as an emblem of the 
 great future which lay before them in their new career 
 as fishers of men.* For this purpose a draught phe- 
 nomenally large was the thing of moment. It is, 
 therefore, comparatively indifferent to our interpre- 
 tation Jiozv Jesus wrought this work ; whether b}^ 
 exceptional perception of the movements of the fish, 
 by preternatural knowledge of the place where they 
 were to be found, by calling in prayer for a special 
 providential interference, or by a direct act of power 
 compelling the creatures themselves. Yet as the work, 
 when wrought, irresistibly carried the thoughts of the 
 spectators to the power and glory of the Worker, to 
 the Divine elements in His Person, we classify it as 
 one of the Nature-miracles, a work of Him Who is the 
 Word creative and providential. More particularly we 
 are to note that here we have a Christ-miracle — a work 
 of the God-man — a work revealing His Lordship over 
 nature, and that not so much as omnipotent God, 
 rather as the Head of the human race, the Ideal Man, 
 
 * Bruce, The Miraculous Element, etc., p. 231. 
 
54 THE MIRACLES OF OUR LORD. 
 
 to Whom alone the ascriptions of dominion over all 
 creatures (cf. Psalm viii. with Heb. ii. 6-9) fully apply. 
 Man's own com.mission to rule on earth, to command 
 the tribes of land and air and sea, is fulfilled but im- 
 perfectly, with toil and danger. Here is the Second 
 Man, the Lord from heaven, giving proof on this 
 Galilean lake that all things are now put under His 
 feet for His Messianic work. Nor is this central con- 
 ception of the miracle without its suggestion as to the 
 mode. For it suggests, not external, forcible compulsion 
 of the creature-world, rather an exercise of that same 
 kind of providential control which guides their periodic 
 migrations. It hints at the possession in perfection by 
 The Man of a sympathetic power over animated nature, 
 which in some degree belonged to man unfallen-, and of 
 which some faint and wavering image appears now and 
 then in exceptional, poetic human individuals. 
 
 3. The Effects or Results of the deed, which also 
 disclose its Purpose, were these : a general impression 
 of astonishment, a spiritual crisis in the instance of 
 Peter, and a complete and immediate decision on his 
 part and that of the other Fisher-Apostles. 
 
 The astonishment was probably shared by a large 
 circle of spectators, ^^ All that were with himr In this 
 way the act was a ctal to that whole neighbourhood of 
 Christ's Divine commission, and a confirmation of the 
 teaching to which so many had just listened. The 
 fisher-folks acquainted with the lake and v/ith that 
 particular pursuit were specially fitted to receive the 
 impression of such a miracle. What direction the im- 
 pression took further in susceptible minds is brought 
 out by the description of Simon Peter's case. Prepared 
 by previous disclosures to himself and his friends of 
 Jesus' Messianic character (see John i. and ii.), Simon 
 
SIMON PETER'S DRAUGHT OF FISHES. 55 
 
 had this day put himself more entirely into Jesus' 
 hands, in the pointed speech, '' Nevertheless at Thy 
 word." When the astounding result followed, it burst 
 upon his already educated perception that the Lord God 
 of Israel was beside him in that boat. The claims of 
 Jesus suddenly rose on Peter s conviction to those of the 
 Highest. He is proved to be both God and Lord. The 
 sequel is according to the law of finest spiritual analogy. 
 Much as such proof of God's nearness and immanence 
 in man is desired by earnest spirits, when it is 
 granted the conviction of Divine nearness instantane- 
 ously reacts on their own sense of personal sin and 
 unworthiness ; the inmost depth of their heart is stirred 
 — its candour flashes forth ; it is not possible that such 
 as they should dwell with or serve Israel's Holy One. 
 ^^ He fell down at Jesus' knees, saying, Depart from me, 
 for I am a sinful man, O Lord'' Hereupon comes the 
 immediate ^^ Fear not'' of Jesus. It is not the bare 
 presence of God before which Peter and his fellows 
 stand. It is rather that God has come to them in the 
 one Mediator between God and man : * Fear not ; I am 
 with thee : peace be unto thee.' Grounded on this 
 redemptive revelation in its Highest Person there 
 shall follow redeemed service. ' Depart from thee ! 
 Nay ! I will never depart from thee, nor thou from 
 Me. Thy Lord will not let go His hold of thee. He 
 hath taken thee a blessed captive. Henceforth thou 
 shalt catch men.' A sinful man ! Yes ; it is well. 
 Just such sinful men, come to themselves, most deeply 
 conscious of their sinfulness, the Lord needs to be His 
 messengers. It is the mark of most of them, that at 
 the moment when they have seen the glory of their 
 Lord and got their call to be His ministers, they 
 are then most overcome with a sense of their own 
 
56 THE MIRACLES OF OUR LORD. 
 
 unworthiness. When Moses got that sight of the glory, 
 that revelation of the grace of Jehovah he had so 
 earnestly besought, '' he made haste, and bowed his head 
 toward the earth, and worshipped. And he said. If now 
 I have found grace in Th}^ sight, O Lord, let my Lord, 
 I pray Thee, go among us ; for it is a stififnecked people " 
 (Exod. xxxiv. 8, 9). Isaiah's well-known cry of " un- 
 clean lips " when he saw the Lord and spake of His 
 glory was followed by his ready, " Here am I ; send me " 
 (Isa. vi.). Jeremiah, sanctified from the womb, ordained 
 to be a prophet, when the first call to actual ministry 
 came, replied, " Ah, Lord God ! behold, I cannot speak : 
 for I am a child " (Jer. i. 6). Saul of Tarsus, prostrate 
 on the ground, blinded by the vision of the Lord whom 
 he was persecuting — the proud Pharisee melted in a 
 moment by that sight into childlike humbleness and 
 submission — cries, ** Lord, what wilt Thou have me 
 to do ? " (Acts ix. 6). The point of spiritual similarity 
 in all these instances is notable. The Divine is so 
 revealed that the sinful man is smitten to the dust, and 
 the new man, clothed in humility, rises a fit instrument 
 for the Divine service. A real sight of God, a real 
 view of sin, a sense of being dealt with by the Lord 
 Himself Who saves us, girds us, sends us whither He 
 will, — such are the grades of Christ's curriculum for 
 Christian ministry. Those who have been in their 
 own persons notable instances of His saving grace, 
 conscious of their deep indebtedness to that grace — 
 who ''love much, being much forgiven"^ — these are His 
 choice messengers to others. " Fear not, Simon ; from 
 henceforth thou shalt catch men!' 
 
 This brings us to what was the crowning purpose of 
 the miracle — to be a sign and seal of the calling of these 
 converts of His as preachers of the Gospel, messengers 
 
SIMON PETER'S DRAUGHT OF FISHES. 57 
 
 of the Kingdom, fishers of men. It is childish criticism 
 to aver that the Synoptics have contradicted one another, 
 or that Luke has contradicted himself (cf. Matt. iv. 
 18-22; Mark i. 16-20; Luke iv. 38), because the call 
 and decision of the fisher-apostles are so related that 
 we cannot hold this lake-scene to have been the first 
 meeting of Jesus with Peter and his friends, or even 
 the only scene in which the significant words about 
 man-fishing were used. It is evident that these men 
 were prepared by Jesus, for His purpose, not in a single 
 moment, but by varied action and influence of His upon 
 them. They were already believers in Him, friends and 
 disciples of His, prior to this transaction. They had 
 received further hints that He meant to make them 
 special fellow-workers for Him. Now the decisive step 
 was taken ; they left their secular calling to be put in 
 training for the apostleship which was to follow. That 
 the condensed narrative should sometimes seem to lose 
 .the perspective of these steps and merge them in a 
 single bold picture is easy to understand.* The ex- 
 quisite propriety of the scene to this call has been 
 often remarked upon. See in this the skill of the Great 
 Fisher. While Peter and his friends were fishing at 
 Jesus' direction, they were caught themselves. He did 
 a miracle which none were so competent to judge and 
 witness as fishers — a miracle which was likely to make 
 the greatest impression upon fishermen, and so He won 
 them — taking them as it were in their own net. So 
 
 * "' None but those abstractionists who must measure all phenomena, 
 however infinite in variety, upon the Procrustean bed of their own 
 logical formulas, will see in this account the stamp of a legendary 
 story. It has all the freshness of life and reality about it. Whoever 
 is well-read in the history of the diffusion of Christianity in all ages 
 will be able to recall miany analogous cases'" (Neander, Life of Christ, 
 p. 172). 
 
58 THE MIRACLES OF OUR LORD. 
 
 His grace ever works, fitting itself into nature's fitnesses. 
 The wise men of the East, whose business and dehght 
 it was to study the heavens, were guided by a star to 
 Bethlehem's Babe. Those who followed Jesus from 
 Capernaum for bread because they saw the loaves 
 multiplied were taught of the bread from heaven. 
 She who came to Sychar's well at noon for water went 
 home with the water of life everlasting springing up 
 in her soul. " So these," says Dr. Donne (quoted by 
 Trench), *'who were made glad when they took great 
 store of fish, were taken in that draught and made 
 nobler and higher, but fishers still. Christ makes 
 heaven all things to all men, that He may gain all." 
 
 The decision itself is recorded in the closing words 
 of the narrative (ver. 1 1) : '' And when they had brought 
 their boats to land, they left all and followed Him" 
 (cf. Matt. iv. 20, 22 ; Mark i. 18, 20). The characteristic 
 point in this decision is not so much the sacrifice of 
 their all, the forsaking of their trade and their usual 
 home, the entireness of their consecration, as their 
 doing all this at the right moment and out of attach- 
 ment to the right Man — the chosen Christ of God, Who 
 chooses and calls them. The history of religion is full 
 of incidents of self-denial and asceticism — marvels of 
 abnegation. Many men have left far more than did 
 these four fishermen. But what an illustration is their 
 case of the Master's words elsewhere : " Faithful in a 
 few, thou shalt be ruler over many " ! The yielding 
 up of their nets and boats, on the part of these four 
 men, has made its mark on the civilization of the 
 world, on the progress of the race, on the increase 
 of the kingdom of God, second to nothing that has 
 ever happened in the history of mankind, because 
 to them it was given to seize the ripe hour and to 
 
SIMON PETER'S DRAUGHT OF FISHES. 59 
 
 cast in their lot with the Son of man for the world's 
 redemption. 
 
 4. The Symbolic Meaning of the incident. We 
 cannot but regard it as an acted parable. We are 
 justified in so regarding it when we note how Jesus 
 used this figure of the Net and Fishes for one of His 
 illustrations of the nature and work of the Kingdom,* 
 and that He doubled this miracle on the same Galilean 
 lake after the Resurrection, f Thus He called these 
 fishermen now for apostolic work, and with this sign 
 renewed He sealed them afresh for it ere He left the 
 world. 
 
 The analogies between the work of fishers and the 
 work of Christ's servants are many. Trench, culling 
 from patristic and other ancient sources, has given us 
 some of the more recondite of these. That the fisher 
 takes his prey alive; J draws them to him, not drives 
 them from him ; draws to one another all he has taken ; 
 that his work is one of art or skill, rather than of force 
 and violence. More obvious are the features of patience, — 
 wearing out long nights and many disappointments, and 
 toil, — "endure hardness," says Paul to Timothy in a 
 martial metaphor ; so here Christ calls His servants to a 
 laborious art. But each Christian worker will probably 
 best make his own commentar^^, and find out what 
 touches himself in the way Christ will have His servants 
 be "fishers of men." E.g., that the fishers must be 
 first caught themselves, entirely drawn to Jesus and 
 bound to His service ; that they must catch others, as 
 
 * Matt. xiii. 47. 
 
 t John xxi. 4-1 1. 
 
 X This suggestion comes indeed from the text itself of the word to 
 Peter : avdpusirovs ia-Q ^(oypQv (Luke v. lO). Zuypecu is to " take ahve.'" 
 See R.V., »iarg. 
 
6o THE MIRACLES OF OUR LORD. 
 
 He caught them, by touching the conscience, rousing 
 that sense of sin which alone leads to an entire depend- 
 ence on the Saviour; that a sense of unfitness on the 
 part of those called to spiritual work is the best evidence 
 of fitness ; that Christ's servants are to look for great 
 successes. They are not indeed to despise the art and 
 care needed to win some single soul (Jesus Himself 
 sets the example of such), but they are called to be 
 fishers rather than anglers — social and not solitary 
 workers, expecting not a mere occasional capture, but 
 netfuls ; that all their success is at His inspiration, 
 and comes most surely when they follow implicitly 
 His bidding ; that as boats and nets are needed 
 to catch fish, yet not the nets and boats, but the 
 catch, is that on which fishers set their hearts ; so, 
 not means and methods, but results, must occupy the 
 supreme place in the Christian worker's thought, — not 
 attractive services, effective speech, or crowded audience, 
 but immortal souls.* 
 
 * Many commentators, especially among the ancients, expound the 
 details of this miracle as prophetic hints of the future progress of 
 the Gospel. For some account of these see " The post-Resurrection 
 Miracle. " 
 
III. 
 
 THE STILLING OF THE STORM, 
 Matt. viii. 18-27; Mark iv. 35-41 ; Luke viii. 22-5. 
 
 THIS incident, recorded by all the Synoptics, is 
 placed by Mark and Luke in immediate con- 
 secution to the delivery of the parable-discourse most 
 fully recorded in Matt, xiii. And in all three accounts 
 it is immediately followed by the visit to Gadara and 
 the cure of the demoniac there. The combined im- 
 pression, then, is that it occurred, appropriately enough, 
 shortly after a very definite crisis or turning-point in 
 the Lord's ministry. He w^s now taking leave of the 
 Pharisees, scribes, and regular attenders on the syna- 
 gogue-worship, by whom His first advances had been 
 repelled. He was now addressing Himself more to 
 the masses of the people. He preaches to them in the 
 fields, on the highways, by the lake-shore. He has 
 adopted a new style of speech for their benefit. " He 
 spake to them in parables, and without a parable spake 
 He not unto them." Mark tells us how the enthusiasm 
 of the people showed itself now that He had turned 
 more entirely to them. They so crowded the house 
 in Capernaum into which He had retired with the 
 disciples, that there was no leisure left Him and them 
 
62 THE MIRACLES OF OUR LORD. 
 
 to take their customary meals. His relatives became 
 alarmed, and thought it their duty to arrest Him as 
 insane. His mother seconded the efforts of His 
 brethren in the more gentle form of trying to interrupt 
 His discourse and to recall Him into the privacy of 
 their family life.* But Jesus intimated that the Church 
 of His beheving followers was now His family and His 
 home, and went on with His work. Then followed, as 
 related in this chapter, similar crowdings by the shore, 
 His securing a boat to wait on Him lest the multitude 
 should throng Him, His retiring into it, and then 
 having to speak from it to the people gathered on the 
 beach. The Evangelist adds that it was at the close of 
 the well-known parable-sermon so preached that He 
 sought the retirement and rest of this voyage to the 
 opposite coast, — *'the same day when the even was 
 come." The ship puts off from the shore, followed by 
 a flotilla of boats filled with people tr3dng to accompany 
 his voyage. The disciples took Him with them, " even 
 as He was in the boat," i.e.y without His ever leaving 
 it, or without any change of dress, perhaps without any 
 refreshment, glad to get Him away from His incessant 
 labours. Tired out with these, He lay down at once 
 in the stern, and fell fast asleep on the cushion, f A 
 sudden squall arose, such as oft happens in an inland 
 lake among mountains. " A great storm of wind," as it 
 is called. Waves beat into the ship. "They were 
 filled with water, and were in jeopardy." But Jesus 
 slept calmly on. Why did He sleep ? Just because 
 
 * Mark iii. 20, 31. Cf. Matt. xii. 46-50; Luke viii. 19-21. 
 
 t As TTpoaKecpdXeiov may mean a support or prop of any kind, some 
 hold that no other pillow is meant than the bench or bulwark, the 
 wooden back of the irpvfxi'v itself. Steinmeyer prefers to think of a 
 soft cushion, because of the Septuagint use of the word in Ezek. xiii. 18. 
 
THE STILLING OF THE STORM. 63 
 
 He was weary. Let us avoid the absurdities of those 
 commentators who go about to render a special reason. 
 " He slept to try their faith ! " or even, as good Matthew 
 Henry, " He slept to show that He was man ! " He 
 slept because He was human, because His human life 
 was real, and not merely played or acted. He ate 
 when He was an hungered and food was to be had. 
 When thirsty He asked for a draught of water. When 
 His friends were grieved He wept along with them, 
 and when there was cause for gladness He rejoiced in 
 spirit. So here He slept because He was tired. 
 
 But in such a storm, why should He sleep ? Why, 
 just because He was not only true man, but man of true 
 faith — because He had perfect trust in His heavenly 
 Father's arm. Some of His saints have shown true faith 
 and heroism in like case. See David lying down to rest 
 ringed round with cruel foes : "I laid me down and slept; 
 I awaked ; for God sustained me. I will not be afraid 
 of ten thousands of people, that have set themselves 
 against me round about" (Psalm iii.). See Peter, whom 
 bloody Herod has imprisoned and may bring forth at 
 any moment for death, lying fast asleep in his dungeon 
 till the angel of deliverance wakes him (Acts xii. 6). 
 Or see yon noble Scottish martyr, with sentence of 
 death about to be put in execution, slumbering peace- 
 fully within a few hours of his doom. And shall not 
 the King of saints and Prince of believers manifest in 
 the highest degree a sublime and simple confidence in 
 God ? There it is. Jesus fast asleep amid the dash- 
 ing waves and drenching storm. But was the danger 
 real ? Yes ; to human eyes very real. To these 
 fishermen, who had known that water all their days, it 
 was real, and they were afraid for themselves and Him. 
 It was very natural, this fear, though foolish. Natural 
 
 r 
 
64 THE MIRACLES OF OUR LORD. 
 
 that they should dread the idea of all their hopes 
 and prospects being lost in this premature grave, 
 yet foolish that they should fear for themselves and 
 Him so meaningless an end. The Roman general 
 called to his frightened boatman in a similar case, 
 *' Fear not, you carr}^ Caesar and all his fortunes." But 
 these fisher- disciples might have said to themselves, 
 '' Let us never be afraid, we carry Christ and His 
 kingdom." Yet nature got the upper hand of faith, and 
 they gave way to their headlong terrors. 
 
 They had abstained for a while from disturbing Him, 
 but now they could do so no longer. They crowded 
 round Him. They awoke Him. They cried, " Lord, 
 save lis, we perish ! Master^ carest Thou not that 
 we perish ? Master, master, we perish ! " Though 
 unmoved by the piercing shrieks of the wind and the 
 hoarse menace of the waves, He wakes at the first cry 
 of the disciples. He arose calmly, composedly. The 
 Son of man had been sleeping. The Son of God 
 awakes and speaks. For Himself exhausted, for others 
 still mighty. He looked down at the waves. He looked 
 up into the heavens. He rebuked the wind and said 
 unto the sea, Peace ! he still ! The wind ceased, the 
 raging of the water was at an end — and there was a 
 great calm. What a revelation of God in man ! It is 
 not so much the mere Power that impresses. We have 
 seen Him do as great works before, and greater. But, 
 as the wondering disciples said to the other crews 
 and their chnging passengers, 'it is the manner of the 
 man ! ' In what condition is man b}- himself more 
 thoroughly helpless than in a storm at sea — in a frail 
 boat — the sport of the elements — a mere straw upon 
 the waters, with death opening all her mouths upon 
 him? In no condition, unless you add that in which 
 
 I 
 
THE STILLING OF THE STORM. 65 
 
 Jesus was a few moments before — fast asleep. A 
 waking man in a shipwreck may be on the watch for 
 some means of escape. But a man asleep in a boat 
 rapidly filling with water and on the point of going 
 down ! — such and so helpless did Jesus seem the one 
 moment ; and the next ! He stands and speaks to the \ 
 elements, and they hear with the facility and readiness 
 of well-trained servants. " What manner of man is 
 this ! for He commandeth even the luinds and zuater, and 
 they obey Him." 
 
 The word rebtike an this description is a very sug- 
 gestive one. Is this simply figurative language and 
 poetic style ? or is it like that in another place : " He 
 rebuked the fever, and it left her " ? Are we to conclude 
 that the disturbances of nature are of hostile operation, 
 that all physical evils, alike in nature and in man, are 
 among those works of the devil which according to 
 Scripture the Christ was manifested to destroy ? It 
 may be a more accurate position if we say that through 
 the sin of man all these had their entrance into the 
 world ; that storms and earthquakes, pestilences and 
 famines, calamities and disasters, as overtaking man 
 from the side of nature, are part of that confusion and 
 disorder which sin has brought into God's creation. 
 And in this light His word of rebuke has a great and 
 blessed meaning. It shows that the Maker is now come 
 to be the Healer of the world. Even amid the physical 
 ills that prey upon us — '* when storms are sudden and 
 waters deep " — we have this act of power to comfort 
 us : " He rebuked the winds and the sea, and there 
 was a great calm." This Redeemer and Restorer is 
 none other than the Great Creator. As such He is 
 clothed with the same mighty powe.r As easily and 
 as effectually as He said, Let light be, and light was, 
 
 5 
 
66 THE MIRACLES OF OUR LORD. 
 
 can He say to the darkness which has come by sin, 
 Be dispelled ! be gone ! As easily as He commanded 
 and it stood fast at the first, shall He say to the 
 troubled tempest of this world's ills and sorrows, when 
 His. time has come, Peace! be still !'* 
 
 But He had His own disciples to rebuke and correct 
 as well as the storm to still. Some say that this came 
 -first. It is recorded in that order certainly in Matthew's 
 Gospel: first the disciples corrected, and then the storm 
 calmed. In that case the very order of the events is a 
 fresh tribute to His glory. He was so collected, so certain 
 of His power, He thought so little of the danger, that 
 He first, after He was awoke, chode and corrected the 
 disciples for their want of faith before He proceeded 
 to remove the cause of their fear. However this may be, 
 the reproof to the disciples is very instructive. " Why 
 are ye fearful, O ye of little faith ? " This probably 
 before stilling the storm. Then after it : '' Where is your 
 faith ? How is it that ye have no faith ? " These 
 questions do not imply that they were absolutely faith- 
 less. This could not be. Their instinctive application 
 to Him when things became so bad, the words with 
 which they awoke Him, ^^ Master, save tts!^^ — these show 
 clearly enough their belief that He could and would 
 deliver Himself and them from the danger. But He 
 reproves them for the littleness, the narrowness of their 
 faith, for the want of larger trust. They ought to have 
 had such confidence in Him as to believe that sleeping 
 
 * " In the Greek, each of His commands is given by a single verb in 
 the imperative mood. To the winds He said, 2tcu7ra, ' Be at peace.' 
 And to the waves, UecpifjLuao, ' Be still.' . . . There is a simple 
 Divine dignity in the words which irresistibly reminds us of the 
 creative command, Yeht 'or, ' Let there be light ; ' or the healing 
 command. Ephphaiha, 'Be opened.' His style reveals Him. It is the 
 Lord of Nature Who speaks " (see Cox, Expositor s Note-book, p. 321). 
 
 i 
 
THE STILLING OF THE STORM. 67 
 
 or waking .made no difference to Him, that the boat 
 which carried Him and them together could not be 
 overwhelmed. It was not that they had no faith ; but — 
 like one who has a piece, though in sudden panic he 
 forgets to fire — it was as bad as if they had had none. 
 They failed to apply their faith fully. It was not ready 
 for use. /They believed Jesus to be the Christ, they 
 had left all to follow Him, and had they been con- 
 sistent with their own belief they had showed no 
 such unworthy fear. But Fear for the moment ruled, 
 and not Faith. Thus they became as weak as we 
 all are when our faith is not at hand in the time 
 of need ; thus they justly incurred the rebuke : 
 Where is your faith ? How is it that ye have no 
 faith ? 
 
 This touching lesson — Fear paralyzing Faith ; Jesus 
 rebuking UnbeHef and putting Fear to flight ; Faith the 
 conquering opposite of Fear — these things come home 
 to all Christians. How like is unbelief in every age 
 — alike foolish and unreasonable. We think, perhaps, 
 had we been with Jesus in that ship we should never 
 have been disturbed. And yet how certain it is that their 
 failure in faith is just that which we perpetual^ make 
 ourselves ! These disciples believed in their Master's 
 power and glory. They had entrusted to Him their 
 souls, their lives, their all ; and yet they forgot all this 
 in a moment of panic, of mere natural, human fear. 
 How exactly like us and our unbelief! For unbelief is 
 always the same confused, feeble, sinful thing. You 
 have received Christ for your Saviour ; you have long 
 ago known His great salvation ; and yet let any sudden 
 squall arise, and you fear and cry out as if all were lost 
 You grow downcast when days are dark and friends 
 are few. You are unstrung when some sudden trial 
 
68 THE MIRACLES OF OUR LORD. 
 
 crushes your home. Your knees fail and your hands 
 hang down. BeHevers, why is this ? Why should 
 it be ? Where is your faith ? Let not your heart 
 be troubled. Ye believe in God ; believe also in Jesus. 
 You believe in His Ahnightiness^ as the Christ of God, 
 to Whom all things in providence are entrusted for His 
 people's sake. Is there anything in your lot or life He 
 cannot master, Whom the winds and waves obey ? You 
 believe in His Wisdom. Are not your times in His 
 hand ? And your times of storm and terror you have 
 found before to be His times of help and healing. 
 You believe in His Love ; and His love is never more 
 active toward you than in the tempest of trial. You 
 believe in His Faithfulness^ — that His promise stands 
 sure, " I will never leave thee, nor never, never forsake 
 thee." 
 
 We are all vo3'agers on the sea of life, and we shall 
 not get across, any of us, without storms. Some of us 
 may have very much less of these than others. (Some 
 sailors get easy winds, and sunny days, and prosperous 
 voyages, and happy escapes. Others are always un- 
 fortunate, as they say. They are becalmed, or over- 
 ladeUj or badly manned, or ill-piloted. Almost every 
 voyage is a mishap ; and they tumble and scramble 
 through their life, beggared and shipwrecked at ever^ 
 turn. /But the weather of this voyage or its chance 
 is a secondary question. Let the first question be, Is 
 Christ with us in the ship ? It matters little how calm 
 and smiHng the sea at the outset if He be not with us. 
 Most of us, in youth, flatter ourselves that the voyage 
 will be easy and prosperous. These treacherous waters 
 may soon tell another tale. Yet, if He be with you and 
 in you, it matters little how the waters rage. Only 
 have faith in Him, and you shall see how the danger 
 
THE STILLING OF THE STORM. 69 
 
 will flee before you. That which seemed insur- 
 mountable will part asunder and make a wav for you. 
 Billows that threatened to engulf you will bend their 
 willing backs to bear you on. Winds that beat and 
 blustered once so contrary will waft you to the desired 
 haven, till, some bright morning, the sails shall be furled 
 and the anchors dropped in the Harbour of Eternal 
 Rest. 
 
 The effect of this miracle on the minds of the 
 beholders was great. " The men marvelled; " " They 
 feared exceedingly ; " '* They^ being afraid^ wondered, 
 saying one to another. What manner of man is this ? " 
 None of these men, from the disciples to the most 
 casual passenger, could be ignorant of the mighty works 
 which Jesus had been doing. But this one seemed to 
 throw the others into the shade ; for it seemed to throw 
 a more direct hght on the mystery of Who and Whence 
 He was. Prophets and servants of the Lord had in 
 former times dealt with disease, with suffering, and 
 even death, and overcome it in the name of the Lord. 
 But this simple mastery of nature on the part of man, 
 this speaking to the winds and waves as if they were 
 His faithful hounds which crept quietly behind Him at 
 a word — this stirred at least an awed curiosity, if it 
 did not suggest a marvellous explanation. *' Who hath 
 gathered the wind in His fists ? Who hath bound the 
 waters in a garment ? Who hath established all the 
 ends of the earth ? What is His name, and what is 
 His Son's name, if thou canst tell ? " 
 
 There can be no doubt as to the class of our Lord's 
 wonders to which this one belongs. It is a miracle 
 wrought upon nature, but of the providential order. 
 Like that of the Draught of Fishes, it teaches that to 
 Christ, as God-Man, Mediator, has been committed 
 
70 THE MIRACLES OF OUR LORD. 
 
 all power, as over all things, so over the physical 
 universe. Its distinctive teaching may be summed up 
 in these two items : (i) Directly, it teaches that to Him 
 as Lord of providence belongs all power to defend His 
 cause and people from danger, and that He is continually 
 exercising that power which on special and signal 
 occasions has called out not only the fervent adora- 
 tion of His own, but has attracted the wonder and 
 admiration of the world ; (2) Less directly, but very 
 significantly, the story suggests the perpetual presence 
 of Christ in and with His Church, for its protection and 
 deliverance. In this scene Jesus was training His 
 disciples to recognise not only His God-manhood, but 
 His spiritual oneness with His people and cause. He 
 was training them to reckon upon His power and 
 presence when these should no longer appeal to the 
 senses. They w^ere to see Him always in the ship. 
 His bodily sleep or His bodily absence was to make 
 no real difference. His cause can never founder or be 
 wrecked, for He is ever with it. His Church is a sacred 
 ark tossed to and fro on the heaving waters of time, 
 beaten from its course by many storms, swept by many 
 waves, all but wrecked often, not so much by rocks and 
 shoals external to it, as by the " mutinies, contentions, 
 confusions, and groundless panics of its own crew." 
 Yet though at such times Christ may appear to be 
 asleep, to be absent from His Church altogether. He is 
 in point of fact always ready, and will come at His 
 people's prayer. How strikingly has this been exempli- 
 fied throughout the long history of the Church ! The 
 resuscitative power of Christianity, so impressive even 
 to the eye of the historian, means to the Christian far 
 more : it means the perpetual indwelling of the Christ. 
 During seasons of persecution, or when the cold waves 
 
THE STILLING OF THE STORM. 71 
 
 of deism, rationalism, and infidelity swept over the 
 Church, how often did the Christian religion seem on the 
 point of being extinguished ! But as oft has the hidden 
 Christ within arisen, the victorious power of resistance 
 been imparted, and the danger has passed away.* 
 
 This narrative raises in a very direct way a question 
 which underlies all the miracle-histories, viz., the relation 
 of the miracle-working power to the constitution of 
 our Lord's Person, and more especially to the conditions 
 of the status hiimilis. Does He work His wonders in 
 virtue of a power or faculty residing in Himself, upon 
 which at any moment He can draw by a simple act of 
 will ? Or were they all wrought by specific acts of 
 faith and prayer to His Father, and each of them 
 instances of an unction of the Holy Ghost which might 
 be expressed in the phrase, "for God was with Him" ? 
 (Acts X. 38.) The answer to this question by no means 
 involves us in any discussion of the Lord's Divinity. 
 Opposite views upon it are held by men equally believ- 
 ing in His real Godhead. But those who incline to the 
 Kenotic view of the status hiunilis, who desire to main- 
 tain the likeness of Jesus in all things to His brethren, 
 and that therefore He must always have worked and 
 walked by faith, prefer the latter ansvvei. The former 
 
 * This thought has been vigorously worked out by Canon Liddon : 
 "Christianity contains within itself the secret of its perpetual youth, of 
 its indestructible vitality. . . . Amid the storms of hostile prejudice and 
 passion, in presence of political vicissitudes, or of intellectual onslaughts, 
 or of moral rebellion and decay, an unreal Saviour must be found out. 
 A Christ upon paper, though it were the sacred pages of the 
 Gospel, would have been as powerless to save Christendom as a Christ 
 in fresco. A living Christ is the key to the phenomenon of Christian 
 history " {University Sermons, Second Series, Sermon IX. : Rivingtons, 
 1879). 
 
72 THE MIRACLES OF OUR LORD. 
 
 is thought to " harmonize best with that idea of His 
 Person according to which He is to all intents and 
 purposes God upon earth." It is hardly possible to 
 settle the question by mere exegesis. A large array of 
 passages, our present text among them, plainly favour 
 the idea of a resident indwelling power on which He 
 draws at will. Other passages, not so numerous, yet 
 clearly enough suggest the idea of a power not indwell- 
 ing, but transcendent, called into play by the prayers 
 and faith of Jesus ie.g.^ Luke xi. 20; Mark vii. 34; 
 John xi. 41 ; Luke xviii. 43 ; Matt. xv. 31). We must 
 conclude that the two ways of regarding these works 
 as wrought by faith and yet wrought by an indwelling 
 power are not mutually exclusive, but rather mutually 
 complementary. 
 
 Beyschlag's remark here is very much to the point.* 
 The Temptation-narrative throws light upon their 
 mutual relation. The appeals made to Jesus by the 
 Tempter presuppose that He could in His own strength 
 do supernatural things. These appeals failed because 
 they blindly overlooked His unbending principle to will 
 no miracle without an understanding with His Father. 
 This suggests the real solution. The miracle-power 
 of Jesus belongs to Him not as the Second Person of 
 the Godhead in a human mask ; but as the Second 
 Adam, the head and representative of the New Humanity. 
 To Him belongs supremely such dominion over nature as 
 unfallen man may have in some measure possessed, such 
 as man redeemed and glorified yet may show. To Him 
 belongs the power and right to grapple with disease and 
 death, because He is manifested to destroy the works 
 of the devil. Yet, on earth. He was not the Son of 
 
 * Das Leben Jsu, 2*'' Auf., i,, p. 297. 
 
THE STILLING OF THE STORM. 73 
 
 man in glory ;— during the status humilis this inherent 
 gift and right of the Theanthropic Person was held 
 in strict subordination to His then present Messianic 
 task, in constant correspondence with the will of the 
 Heavenly Father Whose work He had come to 
 fulfil. 
 
IV. 
 
 THE MIRACLE OF THE LOAVES. 
 
 Matt. xiv. 13-21 ; Mark vi. 30-44 ; Luke ix. 10-17 ; 
 John vi. 1-14. 
 
 IF we had been allowed to ask one of those who lived 
 in the days of the Gospel-history, one who was an 
 eye-witness of the works of Jesus, which of all His 
 miracles was the greatest, or at least made the greatest 
 impression in its time, he would no doubt have replied, 
 " The Miracle of the Loaves and Fishes^ And the 
 reasons why it should have been so accounted are 
 plain ; for while the Raising of Lazarus, for example, 
 was as much or more obviously Divine, yet when we 
 consider the direct Divine power implied in this act, so 
 like Him ''Who satisfieth everything that lives," as 
 well as the multitude of witnesses before whom it was 
 wrought, and who were themselves immediate partakers 
 of the benefit, we can see how it has attained to such a 
 place in the record — being recounted by every one of the 
 four Evangelists, with all the details exactly correspond- 
 ing. We thus see how it has broken the teeth of the 
 Rationalists to explain it away ; and how, indeed, it 
 marked a sort of crisis in the Redeemer's personal 
 ministry, causing as it did a separating and sifting 
 
THE MIRACLE OF THE LOAVES. 75 
 
 of true believers in Jesus from the unbelieving 
 v^orld.* 
 
 It happened at a time when Jesus wished to retire 
 with the Twelve from the busy western shores of the 
 Sea of Galilee, and struck across the lake in a boat 
 towards the north-eastern district, which was partly 
 desert, or at least much less frequented, and to which 
 He had been wont to repair for quiet. But the retire- 
 ment He sought was not that day obtained. The 
 people saw Him departing. They knew His course. 
 They ran afoot, ix. by land, round the north end of the 
 lake. Boats for them were out of the question. They 
 were too numerous. It was Passover time. Thousands 
 of strangers from other parts of Galilee were on their 
 way to the capital, and were anxious for this oppor- 
 tunity of seeing Jesus. Led on by those acquainted 
 with His route and habits, they were conducted to the 
 very spot, and so eagerly and promptly that when Jesus 
 ' went forth " at the quiet, lonely spot He aimed at. 
 He found the ground pre-occupied by a vast congre- 
 
 * Even Keim admits that it is the greatest and best-attested of the 
 Nature-miracles. It is in vain that attempts are made, once more, to 
 reduce it from the rank of these by what is practically the rationalistic 
 hypothesis of Paulus, viz., that Jesus began with the handful before 
 Him, trusting the providence of God and the laws of human nature 
 for the rest, and that His generous confidence, awoke the sympathies 
 of the people to bring out of their stores all they had. Weiss revives 
 this with unusual caution and reverence. He is sure " that the inten- 
 tion of all the four accounts is to describe a miracle," that "a miracle 
 of Divine providence at least must be assumed." He would not even 
 interdict (!) simple faith from keeping to the idea of a creative 
 miracle (ii. 385-6: Clark, 1883). Beyschlag, in his terser way, puts 
 it as an act of "heroic trust in God" on Jesus' part (i. 320). It would 
 be a waste of time and worse to go over the arguments in reply. It is 
 simply impossible that the disciples and the people could have put the 
 construction upon the whole events which they did, if the provision 
 came after all out of the wallets of the multitude themselves. 
 
76 THE MIRACLES OF OUR LORD. 
 
 gation. Nothing disappointed, the unwearied Saviour 
 began afresh, — spoke all day long, healed diseases, until 
 the day began to wear to a close, and then a practical 
 difficulty presented itself to the Saviour's mind.* In 
 the hurry of their unpremeditated chase the people had 
 brought little or no provision. It was late ; the towns 
 and villages lay some miles off. They had wanted food 
 all day. Nature now required sustenance. How was 
 it to be obtained ? In a few words He made the need 
 plain to the disciples. They said it would be impossible 
 to convey food at once from a distance for such a 
 multitude. They called for their store at His bidding, 
 and found only a trifle left. Then, when He had thus 
 thoroughly aroused the attention of the disciples, made 
 them take unforgetable note what the provision on hand 
 exactly amounted to, and had excited their expectation 
 as to what He would do, He proceeded. " Bring them 
 hither to Me,^^ And the lad came with his humble store. 
 ^^ Five loaves^^ or ^^ cakes" of the coarsest kind of bread, 
 and " two small fishes ^^ — a mere morsel of the plainest 
 relish for the bread. The Master took it, placed it before 
 Him, Himself evidently on some elevated place on the 
 hillside, making that the head of His table. "Now" 
 He said, " let the people sit down to meaty It was a 
 pleasant enough dining-room. Green grass to sit on, 
 and plenty of it. In the calm and cool of the evening, 
 welcome to rest on after the hard running of the morn- 
 ing and the standing pressed and packed together 
 through the day to get within sound of the Preacher's 
 voice. Now they dispersed themselves over the 
 ground in companies or groups, like parterres or plots of 
 
 * So St. John, who makes Him anticipate what the Synoptics 
 describe the disciples as initiating. 
 
THE MIRACLE OF THE LOAVES. 77 
 
 garden flowers.* " By hundreds and by fifties," says 
 Mark. Twenty groups of two hundred and fifty each 
 would give exactly the five thousand of the narrative. 
 Matthew no doubt adds " women and children." But 
 these were perhaps seated apart, according to Eastern 
 manners; at all events, they were not numerous, for it was 
 a crowd of Passover pilgrims, who were mostly males. 
 
 To return. The people are all seated, tired and 
 hungry, ready to begin ; but there is nothing before 
 them. Any little store some of them had is long since 
 exhausted. The Twelve stand by, empty-handed, won- 
 dering, waiting. Then in sight of all the people Jesus 
 took that mere handful, held it up before God, blessed, 
 brake, and gave it to His disciples. Ever as He broke 
 it, He had enough to fill the hands of each of the Twelve, 
 as full as His own were at the first. Each Apostle, as 
 he went to the head of a company and gave away an 
 armful, found that he had as much remaining for the 
 head of the next company ; and each of the eaters down 
 the ranks, as he took the handful from his next neigh- 
 bour and filled his own lap to eat from, found that he 
 had as much left to hand to his next neighbour again. 
 Thus the happy, wondrous meal went on, until, when 
 the whole multitude had finished eating, the Master rose 
 again in His place and said to the disciples, " Gather 
 up the fragments," and the remainder was grown to such 
 plenty that it filled twelve baskets,! such as Jews were 
 wont to carry with them on their journeys. 
 
 There is much that is characteristic and significant 
 in the minor details of this miracle — the orderly dis- 
 posal of the people, the regular distribution of the food, 
 the command about the overplus. These suggest to 
 
 * llpao-iat, Trpaaiai is the Evangelist's expression, which may refer 
 to the bright colours of Eastern dresses. 
 ■\ Ko0iVot. 
 
78 THE MIRACLES OF OUR LORD. 
 
 US that, like all His realms of nature and providence, 
 His spiritual kingdom is under law ; that there is 
 nothing too small to be taken pains with and done well 
 in His service. " Let all things be done decently and 
 in order ; for He is not the Author of confusion, but of 
 peace, as in all the churches of the saints." The main 
 design of this notice about the fragments, however, 
 was to confirm the fact of the miracle, to put it on 
 record in every memory, so that He might appeal to it, 
 as He did in subsequent conversation. The immediate 
 effect of this wonder was very great. It crowned the 
 series of mighty works wrought at this stage of His 
 ministry. The people followed Him again in greater 
 crowds than before. The}^ would have carried Him 
 straight off on their pilgrimage to Jerusalem and pro- 
 claimed Him there King of Israel. The days of Moses 
 were come back again. He could feed thousands of 
 the people with miraculous food as their Great Law- 
 giver had done. This must be the Prophet like unto 
 Moses. " This is of a truth that Prophet which shouhi 
 come into the woidd^ How strange and fickle a thing 
 is the human heart ! Two days afterwards they forsook 
 Him almost to a man, because He preached to them the 
 spiritual doctrine of His Person and His Cross. To 
 make Him King in Jerusalem was one thing ; to throne 
 Him in their hearts and lives was quite another. 
 When He spoke of giving His flesh for the life of the 
 world, and of the mystic eating of that flesh as the 
 sole way to life eternal, their enthusiasm vanished in 
 a day. They strove among themselves and murmured 
 at Him ; and even of His former followers many went 
 back and walked no more with Him. 
 
 It has been forcibly pointed out * that we have really 
 
 * By Weiss, Bruce, and others. 
 
 i 
 
THE MIRACLE OF THE LOAVES. 79 
 
 no sufficient reason for this great act unless we assume 
 that in the intention of Jesus it was a symbolic, di- 
 dactic, and decisive miracle. It was meant both to 
 teach and to test. It supplied a text for the searching 
 discourse which followed shortly after in the synagogue 
 at Capernaum. It applied a touchstone to the en- 
 thusiasm of the multitude. " You must not follow Me," 
 He said, '* to eat of the loaves. The meat which I give, 
 which I am, is that which is spiritual and endureth 
 to life eternal." To expound this testing application of 
 the miracle in full would mean a complete commentary 
 on the sixth chapter of St. John's Gospel ; for this 
 discourse was itself the application. The theme is, 
 Christ's Person and Work as the Life of Men. The 
 resulting crisis is also there clearly described. And 
 as then, so still, the sifting, discriminating elements in 
 Christianity are the Incarnation and the Sacrifice of 
 the Son of God. The unbelieving world still stumbles 
 over these. Those who cordially accept them are no 
 longer "of the world." 
 
 Let us turn to some of the teaching aspects of this 
 miracle. 
 
 Its most obvious inference is one which it yields in 
 common with several of the Nature-miracles, presenting, 
 as they all do, the Lordship over nature and provi- 
 dence which belongs to Jesus as Head of the spiritual 
 kingdom. The followers of Christ are here taught 
 that when engaged in the work of the kingdom they 
 are to have no anxiety about the supply of their bodily 
 wants. It was an acted commentary on that elemen- 
 tary principle in His teaching, 'Seek and serve the 
 kingdom of God, and its King will take care of your 
 earthly and bodily provisions.' He Himself makes 
 precisely this apphcation of the incident on a subse- 
 
 \ 
 
8o THE MIRACLES OF OUR LORD. 
 
 quent occasion, when the disciples supposed one of 
 His sayings to reflect on their insufficient supply of 
 food. "Do ye not remember when I brake the five 
 loaves among five thousand, how many baskets full of 
 fragments took ye up ?" (Mark viii. 14-19.) As if He 
 would say, 'About such matters as bread trouble not 
 yourselves in My service, but depend upon M3' Father's 
 providence and Mine.' * 
 
 A less obvious inference, but one which invites ex- 
 pansion, is its symbolic bearing on the spiritual pro- 
 vision of the kingdom and the mode of its distribution 
 to mankind. The event took place at a time when 
 the disciples had made their first trial of preaching the 
 word of the kingdom. They were anxious about the 
 result. In the most instructive and comforting way 
 this feeding of the multitude showed, and was meant 
 to show, how the Living Word, Christ, in the preached 
 word, the Gospel, becomes the Bread of Life to a 
 perishing world. We cannot be wrong in so inter- 
 preting an event from which the Lord Himself drew 
 His discourse on the Heavenly Bread. This, the 
 central thought, we take for granted, viz., that it is 
 Christ Himself Who is the Bread from Heaven, the 
 Heart of Scripture, the Life of Preaching, the All in 
 All of Hearing, Believing, and Experience: "Jesus 
 Christ, the same yesterda}-, to-day, and for ever." Let 
 us look at what the narrative suggests as to the way 
 in which the Gospel of Christ becomes thus effectual. 
 The significant points in the action of that day were the 
 
 * Steinmeyer would have this to be the main if not the only 
 meaning of both the miraculous feedings. " We ought to consider 
 these (two) miracles as prophecies of the future dominion of the 
 kingdom ; for there it really did rule, where those who sought it had 
 all the wants that arose in connection with their holy work miracu- 
 lously supplied " {The Miracles of our Lord, etc., p. 258). 
 
THE MIRACLE OF THE LOAVES. 8i 
 
 provision accepted from the disciples, the blessing of it 
 by Jesus, and the distribution of it among the people. 
 Each of these has its lesson to carry. 
 
 I. *' Give ye them to eatT The provision made by 
 the Twelve, — the five loaves and two fishes. For what 
 immediate purpose the Lord made the demand, " How 
 many loaves have ye ? Go and see," has been already 
 hinted. It was to clinch the fact. He first put it 
 thoroughly on record that natural means had failed, and 
 thus prepared for the reception of the supernatural. 
 But this incident of the loaves sought and accepted 
 at the hands of men has another meaning. It has 
 a significance in the spiritual or parabolic sense. 
 Doubtless the Lord could have fed the people without 
 the loaves. He could have made bread out of stones, 
 or grass, out of anything or nothing. But He chose 
 with a Divine significance to ask from the Twelve what 
 they had. With that He began. Upon that as a basis 
 He wrought this marvellous work. That is to say, 
 in this work, supernal though it was, the servants had 
 a part assigned them. They had to prepare the means, 
 to do their part, to do their best. It was very little and 
 very poor, but it was their utmost, and the Master gave 
 it the blessing. 
 
 Has not this a meaning for us in the service of His 
 Gospel ? We are to do our best, humanly speaking, 
 for His cause. We are not to shield our indolence or 
 selfishness under the plea that His cause is supernatural 
 and almighty, that its real power lies above and beyond 
 the means, and can even succeed without them. 'Tis 
 true that Christ and His Gospel can do without us. 
 Its success rests at bottom upon nothing in us. It 
 depends not really upon any man's study or efforts, 
 contributions or sacrifices. It needs us not; but surely 
 
 6 
 
82 THE MIRACLES OF OUR LORD 
 
 it deserves of us the best we can present. And in 
 another sense it does need us. This is the Lord's way. 
 He will reach men's hearts by man's ministry, and 
 build His Church on the love and devotion of countless 
 human souls. The Master desires and demands of 
 His servants that they " Go and see " to the utmost of 
 their providing, that He may bless it and satisfy His 
 folk with His goodness. It may be a poor handful of 
 barley cakes when all is done, so far as it is ours ; but 
 He can make it the life of thousands. 
 
 " Give YE them to eat," and the astonished disciples 
 are ready to cry, '' Ah, Lord ! but what have we to give 
 so many ? " This is His secret. What He tells us to do 
 He puts us in a position to do. He asks us to do more 
 for Him than we can in order to show us how easy 
 it is when we rest it on Himself. By commanding us 
 to feed them He gives the pledge that His servants, 
 hearkening to His voice, shall have wherewithal to 
 feed His people. " I will abundantly bless her provision, 
 and will satisfy her poor with bread." 
 
 2. " Bring them Jiither to MeT The blessing of Jesus 
 was that which converted a handful of provision into 
 a plenteous feast. Need it be said that it is ever so 
 with the Gospel. The servant, the worker, the preacher, 
 does his best, if he is earnest ; and then, if he is wise, 
 he counts it nothing and less than nothing without the 
 Master's blessing. The most elaborate human effort is 
 utterly useless and powerless in Divine things, simply 
 as human effort. Eminently does this apply to the 
 labour of the Gospel ministry. If we were asked to 
 select from literature the acme of effort in that kind, we 
 should without hesitation fix upon the Court-preaching 
 of Louis XIV.'s time in France. In that depraved Court, 
 amid intense profession of religion, there were such 
 
THE MIRACLE OF THE LOAVES. 83 
 
 preachers (Bossuet, Bourdaloue, Massillon) as have 
 never since the da3^s of the Apostles been surpassed for 
 impassioned vehemence and power of oratory. The 
 preachers were pious, evangehcal, intensely in earnest. 
 Admiring crowds gathered round them. The result in 
 France, in Paris, in those royal and noble circles, was 
 nothing. It was perhaps the most useless and ineffectual 
 preaching that ever dropped from human lips. 
 
 On the other hand, how often has the Master blessed 
 most largely and sovereignly the plain efforts of plain, 
 humble, and earnest men ! How often has He been 
 pleased to use of the labours of his trained and 
 accomplished workers even those parts that were to 
 themselves the least pleasing, or comfortable ! It 
 is a necessary balance to that other necessity for our 
 utmost and conscientious all. In this labour (as in 
 most) success is skill — the success of turning many to 
 righteousness. He that ''winneth souls "is the ''wise" 
 worker. And doubtless those who aim at this per- 
 sistently, painstakingly, will win and wear the crown. 
 But for us all, both that speak and hear, the prime 
 requisite is to comply with the injunction of our Lord 
 about the loaves : '' Bring them hither to Me!' Let us 
 get our spiritual provision passed under the Master's 
 blessing hand. Let us neither give nor take what has 
 not first gone round by the head of the table. If all 
 our utterances only went from the study to the pulpit, 
 to the classroom, to the teacher's d^sk by way of the 
 mercy-throne, and then came from us to the pew 
 through another cloud of the incense of the hearers' 
 prayers, we should doubtless have Pentecostal days of 
 the Gospel's power. 
 
 For Christ blesses all the real bread that is brought 
 to Him. Human effort or pains about it He will 
 
84 THE MIRACLES OF OUR LORD. 
 
 honour at His gracious will. The word itself He is 
 bound to bless by His unfailing promise. We some- 
 times misstate this glorious truth of Divine influence. 
 It is too often so put as to be a practical depreciation 
 of the means of grace. As if the word, the thing 
 spoken and heard, were nothing in itself; as if no good 
 were to be expected from the use of it ; or, at least, as 
 if all good to be had from it were suspended upon a 
 perchance or a possibility, upon the accompaniment of 
 a capricious and mysterious power. This is nothing 
 else than unbelief, and that of the most vile and mis- 
 chievous kind, because it borrows the form of orthodox 
 devoutness. If there be a truth made plain to the faith 
 of Christians, it is that so oft as we ask of the Father in 
 Jesus' name what is according to His will, we have the 
 things that we ask. As oft as I take this living bread — 
 these words that are spirit and life — and ask His 
 blessing with them, I have that blessing. As oft as 
 you receive His word in simple reliance on His presence, 
 you have that presence. He honours His own provision 
 and keeps His promise. " It shall not return unto 
 Him void." The particular preacher or the individual 
 hearer may lose the blessing through his own unbelief. 
 Yet " if we believe not. He abideth faithful. He cannot 
 deny Himself." The feast will infallibly and invariably 
 satisfy where the Lord and His people meet. 
 
 3. The Distribution of the Food. ^^ He blessed and 
 brake the loaves, and gave them to His disciples to set 
 before themr It was through the blessing the miracle 
 was wrought, but it was in the breaking and parting of 
 the bread that it was realized. For a miracle it was, 
 and no prodigy. No mountains of bread were seen 
 growing up under the Saviour's hands. In His hands 
 there saw nothing seen but five barley cakes and two 
 
 J 
 
THE MIRACLE OF THE LOAVES. 85 
 
 small fishes. In the Apostles' hands there were just 
 the broken portions of the same ; and in every eater's 
 hands there were just enough for himself and to spare 
 for his neighbour. No one saw a prodig}^, but all felt 
 and enjoyed a miracle in this bread as they parted it 
 and used it. 
 
 So is it with the Gospel. It is in the distribution of the 
 word of life, in the breaking of it down, in the turning 
 it over, in the sharing and the spreading of it, that the 
 benefit is realized. It is quite possible to make a fetich 
 of pulpit or Bible ; possible to talk as if the Scriptures 
 were God, as if from preaching streamed forth some 
 magical or mesmeric power. Power there is in the 
 Bible ; it differs divinely from all other books. Power 
 there is in the Gospel preached ; it differs infinitely from 
 speech on any other theme. But the power is in 
 the theme, and it is only realized in the practical 
 and diffusive use of it. *' The Word of God is quick 
 and powerful," '' living and active," i.e., living and 
 life-giving : living in itself, life-giving only in its 
 distribution. 
 
 Grains of corn laid up in the granary will long 
 retain their vital force, though it is only when planted 
 in the soil that they germinate and reproduce. The 
 best science tells us, however, that no cereal seed has a 
 trustworthy record of vitaUty for moie than a hundred 
 years. But the Word of the Lord is " an incorruptible 
 seed." It hveth and endureth for ever. In creeds 
 and confessions, in printed books, in written discourses 
 it is always living, even when buried alive ; but it is 
 only as it is planted out) broken down, turned over, 
 spoken about from living hearts, by living lips, from 
 faith to faith, that it becomes, by the grace of its 
 Author, powerful, life-giving, and free. 
 
86 THE MIRACLES OF OUR LORD. 
 
 It is one of the best features of Christian work in 
 our day that, while the preaching of the Gospel through 
 the usual channels is useful and relished as ever, 
 considerable reinforcement has come to aid, a large 
 contingent of Christian volunteers is added to the 
 " army of ordained preachers." How many in our 
 time are brought to Christ by the work of the lay 
 evangelist, or by the faithful dealing of private friends 
 and neighbours. Thus is the Living Bread passed 
 along the ranks by the eaters themselves, and not only 
 by those who minister to them. There may be a note 
 of warning for the Christian Church in such facts, as 
 well as a token for good. It may mean that the usual 
 agencies are too narrow, too apathetic, too inflexible, 
 too little adapted to the wants of the masses. It is for 
 the Church of Christ to arouse herself to the facts, to 
 recognise and welcome all such work, to bring it into 
 harmony with her own God-commissioned, Christ- 
 entrusted functions, to utilize and unify this spon- 
 taneous and untrammeled help which her Lord is 
 raising up for her in " His compassion for the mul- 
 titudes " when " they are as sheep not having a 
 shepherd." 
 
V. 
 
 WALKING UPON THE WATER. 
 Matt. xiv. 22-33 ; Mark vi. 45-52; John vi, 15-21. 
 
 THE close connection of this incident with that 
 of the first miraculous feeding stands forth on 
 the face of all the narratives. The contrast of the two 
 scenes is no less marked. That work was done in the 
 light of day, in a puhlic concourse, before more than 
 five thousand people ; this on a stormy lake, at night, 
 in presence of a handful of frightened men in a boat. 
 Yet the spirit of the work, how exactly the same 
 simple and loving mind of Jesus. Neither was an 
 argumentative presentation of signs to convince the 
 doubter. Each was the gracious intervention appro- 
 priate to the relief of distress. Both are radiant, for 
 those who look into them, with redemption glory. 
 
 I. Jesus Alone. It was late in the afternoon that 
 He had fed the multitudes with the miraculous bread. 
 His first work then at the close of the miracle was to 
 cause the disciples to take ship immediately and cross 
 again to the western shore, towards Bethsaida and 
 Capernaum. It seems that He had some difficulty. 
 He had to " constrain " them. Perhaps they, too, were 
 carried away by the frenzy of the time, and would 
 have joined the people in proclaiming Him king ; or 
 
88 . THE MIRACLES OF OUR LORD. 
 
 perhaps they were unwiUing to leave Him behind 
 among the people at a moment of such excitement. 
 So soon as the disciples were off in their boat, He 
 dismissed the people. They had quietly dispersed, 
 the more that they saw Jesus remaining behind, for 
 they no doubt expected to find Him easily in the 
 morning. 
 
 His object thus gained, '' He went up into a mountain 
 apart to pray ; and when the evening was come He was 
 there alone." That is to say, the first evening or 
 afternoon had passed into the second evening or night- 
 fall ; twilight deepened into dark, dark into midnight, 
 midnight passed and the chill morning hours, and still 
 He was there, alone, praying. We have here " Jesus 
 as our example in prayer ; " not only praying with and 
 for others, but actually a suppliant by Himself, and 
 such a suppliant ! An example of solitary prayer — He 
 had no closet, but a " mountain apart." An example of 
 continued prayer — He had been so busy all day that 
 the night must be drawn upon, and the whole night : He 
 only ceased towards the dawn. An example of special 
 prayer — that is, of a special season devoted to it beyond 
 the common. Of this several instances are recorded ; 
 such as (Mark i.) after the first Sabbath's work in 
 Capernaum, and again (Luke vi. 12) just before the 
 choosing of the Apostles, on which occasion He con- 
 tinued all night in prayer to God, and when it was day 
 proceeded to the calling of the Twelve. So here He 
 gave a night to prayer after the first mission of the 
 Apostles and at what we may call the crisis of His 
 Galilean ministry. Observe especially this last note 
 of connection. John expressly records that Jesus 
 departed that evening into the mountain alone, because 
 He perceived that the people would come and take 
 
WALKING UPON THE WATER. 89 
 
 Him by force, to make Him a king. He probably 
 passed, that night, through one of those inward ex- 
 periences which, as recorded in other instances of Him, 
 were followed by significant public acts and words. 
 He " perceived " the ease with which He could then 
 have founded a great party in the Jewish nation, an 
 outward and visible following far more powerful, to 
 human appearance, than that which He did finally leave 
 on earth. But the decision wrought out in that night's 
 prayer appeared the very next day. He went straight, 
 when He had crossed to the other side, and preached 
 in the synagogue of Capernaum, as John records it, 
 such a sermon that almost all but the Twelve left Him, 
 and many disciples went back and walked no more with 
 Him. " It is the Spirit that quickeneth," He said ; 
 " the flesh profiteth nothing." And He iiad to found 
 His kingdom not on the glory of the flesh, which 
 " falleth away," but on the power of the Spirit in that 
 word of God which liveth and abideth for ever. 
 
 2. The Disciples Alone. Jesus had given instruc- 
 tions to the Twelve to make straight for the other 
 shore. He had left them in ignorance how He 
 Himself was to cross, or whether He was to come 
 at all that night. They endeavoured to carry out His 
 instructions, but soon the wind rose. It was against 
 them. It blew a hurricane. Their sails had to be 
 taken down. They betook themselves to the oars, and 
 made but slow progress ; for by the fourth watch of the 
 night — that is, about three or four o'clock — they had 
 only made out some three miles. While they were thus 
 in the ship, in the midst of the lake, tossed with 
 waves. He was '' alone on the land " (Mark vi. 47). As 
 the storm rose and grew dangerous, doubtless they 
 thought of that other day, ' not so long before, when 
 
90 THE MIRACLES OF OUR LORD. 
 
 they were in peril on the same waters, and had Jesus 
 on board asleep, and went and roused Him to save 
 them. Was not this one of His reasons for sending 
 them away by themselves in a night of storm, viz., 
 that they might learn to trust an absent as well as a 
 present Master ; that from the slighter trial of trusting 
 a sleeping Saviour with them in the ship they might 
 be trained to the greater faith of trusting a Saviour 
 distant on the land, and so be trained to live altogether 
 by faith and not by sight. He leads them to it by 
 degrees, as an eagle teaches her young to fly. 
 
 Another stroke of Mark's description, too, should be 
 noted. Ver. 48 : " And He saw them toiling in rowing^ 
 From the mountain side, from His place of prayer. He 
 saw them. His mind reverted to their case. His 
 eye rested ox\ them in the darkness. To Him that 
 struggling speck among the waters was not invisible ; 
 and as He saw them He thought of them and hasted 
 to their aid. The situation is most suggestive. They 
 are in the ship amid the waves ; He stands high upon 
 the shore and views them from afar. They are labour- 
 ing at the oar; He is praying on the mount. They 
 in the dark and tempest make little way, and see not 
 Him and seem parted from Him ; but He has His e3^e 
 upon them and His heart with them all the while, and 
 at the right moment and in a way peculiarly His own 
 He comes to their relief In this way — by proving 
 the real communication between Him and them, when 
 apparently parted by time, space, and circumstances on 
 earth — He was training their faith to hold fast His 
 presence when He should be on earth with them no 
 more. Is it not most instructive to us ? We are still 
 in the ship, and sometimes storms will rise. But let 
 us reflect. The ship is His'; it cannot sink. Sometimes 
 
WALKING UPON THE WATER. 91 
 
 the winds are contrary, but they, too, are under His 
 control. Above all, while we are at sea He is on the 
 heavenly shore ; while we toil He prays ; while we are 
 in darkness He sees us ; His eyes never fail to rest 
 on us ; He slumbers not nor sleeps. And then He can 
 and does come to our help in ways so surprising to 
 men, so effectual for His cause, so glorifying to Him- 
 self, that all are constrained to cry, " Of a truth this is 
 the Son of God." 
 
 3. Jesus comes to them walking on the water. 
 He had been absorbed in prayer. The night was far 
 spent. The storm was very great. It was necessary 
 that He should rejoin them. If we suppose, with some, 
 that our Lord's original instruction was for them to 
 beat about the shore where they left Him till He should 
 be ready, and that the wind blowing from this shore 
 drove them in spite of their efforts towards the southern 
 end of the lake, the necessity that He should go to 
 them, seeing they could not come to Him, grows plainer. 
 He came after them, through the darkness, by a mode 
 of progression unknown to men, and only on this 
 occasion, so far as we know, used by Him, — ^^ walking 
 upon the seaT This, when we define its place among 
 the Nature-miracles, must be held a work of power 
 rather than of providence. A great take of fish, a 
 sudden cessation of storm, occur within the ordinary 
 course of events. They were notable miracles when 
 they fell out in His hand and at His word. But this 
 is a direct act of control over natural law, carrying with 
 it the suggestion of Divine power, the power of Him 
 ** Who treadeth upon the waves of the sea "—Divine 
 power, in a form fitted to remind us of the Jehovah- 
 angel who parted the Red Sea and gave manna in the 
 desert. Yet is it a Theanthropic miracle, as taking rank 
 
92 THE MIRACLES OF OUR LORD, 
 
 with the others in exempHfying Christ's dominion over 
 all the works of God for redemptive purposes. Nay, 
 further, we should find here the hint of a precise 
 element in redemption. The exact point of the act 
 is not the suspension of natural law. The law of 
 gravity is not suspended, so much as superseded, by 
 the intervention of a higher law, viz., the liberation 
 of a spiritual or glorified body from the bondage of 
 earthly conditions. For Jesus Himself this act was 
 (like the Transfiguration, say) a momentary ante- 
 dating of the time when His body glorified should 
 pass through shut doors, vanish and appear suddenly, 
 and at length float upwards from the top of Olivet. 
 Among other things, He was proving here His right, 
 and ours in Him through redemption, to a spiritual 
 body, for which in His day of power this present body 
 of our humiliation shall be at last exchanged.* 
 
 However this may be, note well that it was only for 
 the sake of others, and out of love for them, He thus 
 assumed His glory, so to say, before the time. For 
 Himself He took no unusual ways of being transported 
 
 * Perhaps we should rather say with Olshausen that such inci- 
 dents as this and the Transfiguration scene, go to prove that the 
 glorification of our Lord's body was a ripening process, of which 
 these are glimpses. " It is common to conceive of the glorifying of 
 our Lord's body as effected either at the Resurrection or Ascension 
 and as the work of a moment. But if we suppose the Spirit's work 
 in glorifying and perfecting Christ's body to have been spread over 
 the Saviour's whole life (certain periods being still distinguished 
 as seasons of special activity), much that is obscure will be made 
 clear. . . . This transaction is not to be viewed as a work wrought 
 upon Him (far less upon the waves) and effected by magic, as though 
 some external power had laid hold of Him and borne Him up ; but as 
 the result, effected by His own will, of an energy inherently belonging 
 to Himself . . . the manifestation of His hidden glorj-^, designed to 
 build up His disciples in the faith " {On the Gospels, ii., i88. Clark). 
 
WALKING UPON THE WATER. 93 
 
 from place to place. ''Jesus, wearied with His journey, 
 sat thus on the well." Only this once, and for His 
 disciples' sake, He flew on the wings of the wind and 
 walked the raging billows. He would not turn a 
 single stone into bread to serve His own hunger, but 
 He multiplied the barley loaves to feed the fainting 
 multitude. He would not suspend the laws of gravity 
 to throw Himself down from the pinnacle of the Temple 
 into the streets to be a world's wonder, but He flung 
 Himself from the mount on these angry waters, and 
 flew from crest to crest with angelic swiftness to aid 
 His frightened followers on that night of storm.* 
 
 It was the fourth watch of the night ere He came, 
 and when He did " He would have passed by them." 
 No doubt all that night they often thought of Him 
 and prayed He would come, and for this no doubt 
 He delayed His coming. For the same reason when 
 He came He seemed about to pass them by, that 
 they might entreat Him. How His praying and His 
 answering correspond ! He prays before the storm : 
 He prays during the storm. But when it is at its 
 
 * F. D. Maurice has touched another aspect of the same thought 
 with his own characteristic felicity. " It is not a violation of the laws 
 of nature for the Son of Man to prove that the elements are not 
 man's masters. . . . When He raised up His disciples' hearts to trust 
 in Him, He was teaching poor, weak, ignorant men the true law of 
 their being, and thereby teaching them to reverence and not to despise 
 the laws which He had imposed on the winds and on the waves 
 The whole beautiful narrative is not an argumentative assertion of a 
 Divine religion which can confute disputants, but the practical mani- 
 festation of a Divine kinghood to meet the cravings and necessities 
 of human beings. What does a debater care for /^ is I; be not afraid? 
 What else does a man tossed about in a tempest care for? The 
 words were not spoken to scribes or Pharisees, and were not heard 
 by them. They were spoken to fishermen out in a boat at night ; 
 and by such they have been heard ever since " {Discourses on the 
 Gospel of St. John p. 176. London : Macmillan, 1885). 
 
94 THE MIRACLES OF OUR LORD. 
 
 worst He answers prayer and comes to help. So is 
 it with Him and His people still. He foresees our 
 trials, and as our Advocate prays for us, *^ Simon, 
 Simon ! Satan hath desired to have you. But I have 
 prayed for thee." He prays with us during our trials 
 as our Intercessor, and what comfort there. *^Let us 
 therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace." He 
 delays or seems to delay His help ; He passes or 
 seems to pass us by ; but it is all that we ma}^ desire 
 Him and cry to Him. Let us never suppose there is 
 any difficulty in bringing the Lord to save and help us. 
 None whatever. The only difficulty is to bring our- 
 selves to trust Him. This only is the labour. When 
 that is done, He is with us and we with Him. 
 
 '' But when they saw Him walking upon the sea, they 
 supposed it had been a spirit, and cried out : for they all 
 saw Him, and were trouhled^^ (Mark vi. 49, 50). How 
 they saw Him is not said. It was dark and stormy, 
 but perhaps some halo of transfiguration glory sur- 
 rounded His figure, or perhaps the morning grey was 
 beginning to break in on the shadows of night, for " it 
 was about the fourth watch," i.e., close upon the dawn. 
 Anyhow, the whole ship's crew, as one man, struck 
 motionless with fear, bent their eyes upon the passing 
 figure ; and the next moment all broke out in one spon- 
 taneous cry. Most natural. Yet had faith been at 
 hand it should not have been so, for the Evangelist 
 expressly says, with a touching frankness, that their 
 fear at first and their amazement at last were quite 
 inconsistent with what that day's miracle of the loaves 
 should have taught them, for he adds, " Their heart was 
 hardened^' (ver. 52). So our faithlessness breeds fear. 
 It is natural that when an unusual or mysterious 
 providence befalls us we should be troubled and dis- 
 
WALKING UPON THE WATER. 95 
 
 concerted. But it is quite wrong and inconsistent on 
 the part of believers. It is blameworthy hardness of 
 heart. For the part of a child of God is to fear no 
 appearance of His God and Father, however singular ; 
 rather to judge that its singularity must have in it 
 some token of special design, and therefore of special 
 mercy. 
 
 Observe how Jesus removed their fear and strength- 
 ened, their faith : ^^ And immediately He talked with them " 
 (ver. 50). With His voice, the familiar conversational 
 voice, He reassured them. How welcome it must have 
 sounded from that strange background, and out of the 
 mouth of that weird figure moving across the waters ! So 
 is it with Christ's people ever in their perplexing trials. 
 It is only thus they can be reassured and calmed, for 
 they know His voice. It is when singular providences 
 interpret themselves in gracious words that their fear 
 is dispelled. That phantom Jesus on the waves would 
 only have terrified His brethren if He had not spoken. 
 So would all power in Providence be but a riddle to us, 
 or a terror, were it not for the word of our Lord and 
 Brother expounded to us by His Spirit, and making 
 providence plain. When clear, true perception of 
 Himself goes with His acts, then amid the strangest 
 of them all we can have joy and peace. The words 
 uttered by that voice were most vividly remembered 
 by the whole company: " It is I; be not afraid" Years 
 afterwards they found place exactly alike in all the 
 records of this memorable night. And they are the 
 words which carry comfort still to the heart of His 
 Church, because they are the announcement of His own 
 presence and personality. True, some of these very 
 words, '' It is I," '^ I am He," * made a strong band of 
 
 * 'E7CJ eiixi, John xviii. 6. 
 
96 THE MIRACLES OF OUR LORD. 
 
 armed men give back and fall to the ground. For the 
 discovery of a Person behind events is always searching 
 and discriminative. It is the assurance of One who 
 rules over all things in love which gives courage and 
 calmness to God's children in their times of trial. 
 
 The conclusion of the story has that slight confu- 
 sion of outline which proves its simple and veracious 
 character. All the accounts agree that it was out on 
 the lake Jesus came to them. '' When the ship was in 
 the midst of the sea " (Matthew, Mark) ; " When they had 
 rowed about five-and-twenty or thirty furlongs " (John). 
 This entirely precludes the explanation of the rational- 
 ists, that the disciples mistook His sudden appearance 
 on the other shore for a walking upon the waters.* 
 But what followed is not so clear. According to the 
 first evangelist, St. Peter's significant adventure comes 
 in just here. The apparent divergence of the narratives 
 towards their conclusion is an incidental proof of the 
 actuality of that incident. It is easy to conceive how 
 it could have perturbed the order of reminiscence. The 
 first two Gospels say distinctly that immediately after 
 this Jesus went up into the vessel, and the storm 
 ceased. The fourth Gospel simply says that their fears 
 being calmed '* they were willing therefore to receive Him 
 into the boat: and straightway the boat was at the 
 land w^hither they were going." f These words cannot 
 be construed to mean that they did not actually receive 
 
 * Even Weiss rather stumbles here in his attempts to get a simple 
 riddance, as he thinks, of the difficulties presented by the narrative. 
 On his hypothesis it is a transformed and heightened recollection, 
 not an actual occurrence. Hence Peter's part in it is " nothing but a 
 transparent allegory of the story of his denial." What ground has 
 a believing commentator to stand on if he gives up the historicity of 
 the Gospels ? 
 
 t John vi. 21, R.V. 
 
WALKING UPON THE WATER. 97 
 
 Him, for in that case the second half of the verse 
 should have been adversatively expressed, and not 
 consequently — ^^ but straightway," not ^^ and straight- 
 way." Those who see here an irreconcilable contra- 
 diction between St. John and the Synoptics betray 
 their own foregone conclusion. To say one wills or 
 is willing to do a thing, implying in terse narration, 
 that it was forthwith done, is a form of speech suffi- 
 ciently intelligible and actually met with in the Gospels.* 
 The combined impression of the three accounts is un- 
 mistakeable. Jesus came to the boat's company by 
 walking the sea. They, when their terror was allayed, 
 received Him into the boat. The strain of their hard 
 night's labour was then at an end ; and, so soon after 
 as to appear by comparison almost immediately, they 
 safely reached the shore. 
 
 With regard to the feelings excited by this miracle, 
 there are two statements supplementary of each other. 
 Mark's account runs, ^^They were sore amazed m themselves 
 beyond measure, and ivondered.^^ f They were filled with 
 astonishment such as they had never before experienced, 
 even at His marvels ; but, adds the Evangelist, it was a 
 blind and senseless astonishment, for if they had con- 
 sidered what was implied in the multiplying of the 
 loaves, they would have seen how like Him it was to 
 allay the perplexities of the night by following them 
 across the waves. He is Lord over all things, and to 
 Him all power in heaven and on earth is given. But 
 with many the multiplying of Jesus' wonders only 
 hardened the heart. Matthew gives another side of 
 the impression made : " Then they that were in the ship 
 came and worshipped Him , saying. Of a truth Thou art the 
 
 * Comp. Matt, xviii. 23; John i. 43. 
 
 I Mark vi. 51. The Revisers' Greek text omits Kal edavfxa^ov. 
 
 7 
 
98 THE MIRACLES OF OUR LORD. 
 
 Son of God r^ "They that were in the ship " seems to 
 mean the sailors or oarsmen, and perhaps some other 
 passengers distinct from the disciples. While His friends 
 and disciples, unable to surmount the limitations of 
 human familiarity, were blindly astonished, comparative 
 strangers saw at once and acknowledged a Divine power. 
 
 4. Peter, walking on the Water, goes to Jesus 
 (Matt. xiv. 28-31). This episode, or epilogue, Matthew 
 alone records, and it may profitably stand by itself as a 
 distinct theme. Between the utterance of the words, 
 " It is I ; be not afraid," and the receiving Jesus into the 
 boat this incident occurs. 
 
 Ver. 28. '■^ Lord, if it be Thou, bid me come unto Thee on 
 the watery Had there been no name given, we should 
 have had no hesitation in concluding that it was Simon 
 Peter who spoke thus. Philip or Thomas might still be 
 questioning whether it was the Lord. John, doubtless, 
 calmly adoring, was preparing to receive his Master 
 into the ship. But it is Peter who rushes from the 
 extreme of childish terror which he had just this 
 moment shared w^ith all the rest to a faith, in its bold- 
 ness, bordering on presumption. He at once accepts 
 the marvellous fact of the Lord's treading the waves. 
 He is not questioning that it is Jesus Who so walks. 
 His " If it be Thou " implies no doubt of the fact. 
 Rather, he is so sure of it, he so challenges all dubiety, 
 that at the bidding of this voice he will throw himself 
 into the water to come to Jesus. It is no other than 
 the Lord Who can thus walk the waves, and Peter also 
 may do the like at the Lord's bidding. This was faith, 
 quick and intuitive, penetrating to the heart of the deed 
 — the Son's control over nature for His brethren's 
 sake. It was also a sympathetic eagerness to be where 
 * L'att. xiv. 33. The Revisers omit ''came and.'" 
 
WALKING UPON THE WATER. 
 
 99 
 
 Christ was, as, when in the charming scene on that 
 same lake after the Resurrection, Peter throws himself 
 into the sea and swims to land, that he may be first 
 at the Master's feet. Faith was here, then, and love. 
 Wherein lay the fault in Peter's proposal ? We 
 answer : 
 
 a. In self-confidence, self-preference : " Bid me." 
 He would outdo and outdare all the rest with a 
 mightier displa}^ of faith. Here, just as at the supper- 
 table, with his greater show of humility, "Thou shalt 
 never wash my feet " (John xiii.), Peter rehearsed, so 
 to speak, his great fall. He boasted a larger faith than 
 all the rest, and fell to a lower and pitiable depth of fear ; 
 as in that sadder after-scene he boasted a greater faith- 
 fulness, and fell to the lowest depths of unfaithfulness 
 short of final apostasy. The secret springs of the 
 action, in both cases, are discovered by comparison 
 of the two. " Let him that thinketh he standeth take 
 heed lest he fall." 
 
 h. In the impulsiveness which even in religious faith 
 is allied to rashness, and therefore to weakness. Ex- 
 aggerated faith is really, as appears in* this instructive 
 stor}^, weak faith, little faith. It is a small faith boasting 
 itself, stretching itself out and overdoing itself. Here 
 was Jesus. So much was plain. No one could really 
 doubt the fact, or the proof it gave of Jesus' love and 
 power that in this marvellous way, treading the waves 
 underfoot, He had come to His disciples' help. It was 
 enough ; for firm and solid faith enough. But Peter 
 must have more. So he asks that he, too, may walk 
 on the waters — a thing to which faith was perfectly 
 competent had it been needed, but which the Master 
 Himself had neither suggested nor enjoined. There is 
 a human wilfulness about it, a seeking of signs, marks 
 
loo THE MIRACLES OF OUR LORD. 
 
 of mere power for wonder's sake, which Jesus Himself 
 was ever careful to avoid and to repel. On this occasion, 
 however (ver. 29), He said. Come ! Though He had not 
 suggested, far less commanded. He permits it. In this 
 He acted with His consummate kindness and wisdom. 
 To have repressed Peter's suggestion might have 
 checked that bold and loving disposition which the 
 Master sought to train for deeds of renown. To be 
 let try this thing, and suffer partial failure in it, was the 
 way by which Peter's real faith would be strengthened 
 and his fault of carnal overboldness corrected. The 
 Lord puts His answer in the form of a simple permission 
 — *' Come ! " 
 
 ^^And when Peter was come down out of the ship he 
 ivalked on the water to go to Jesus." The disciple actually 
 did what he had proposed — proved and honoured the 
 power of Jesus, exemplified in a signal way the tr^th 
 that " through Christ which strengtheneth him " a 
 believer can do all things, that all things are possible 
 to him that believeth. 
 
 Ver. 30. " But when he saw the wind boisterous he 
 was afraid." His eye somehow wandered from Jesus. 
 He began to be self-conscious, to reflect, to take note 
 of the winds and waves, and that moment he began 
 to sink. His only resource was another appeal, this 
 time one of fear and flight : ^^ Lord^ save me !" Trench 
 remarks well how little availed the swimmer's art to 
 Peter at this point. He was a good swimmer on other 
 occasions. But this failed him now. " For there is no 
 mingling of nature and grace in this way. He who 
 has entered the wonder-world of grace must not sup- 
 pose that he may fall out of it at any moment that he 
 will, and betake himself to his old resources of nature ; 
 he has foregone these, and must carry out what he has 
 
WALKING UPON THE WATER. loi 
 
 begun, or fail at his peril." The life of faith must be 
 consistent with itself throughout. 
 
 Ver. 31. "And immediately Jesus stretched forth His 
 hand and caught hiniT It is a most merciful Saviour 
 Peter and we have to deal with. How He helps our 
 weak faith and forgives our wilfulness, bears with all 
 our follies, and glorifies His grace in us, even when we 
 have blundered and bungled in our attempts to serve 
 Him, so as well-nigh to bring disgrace upon His cause ! 
 " And said unto him, O thou of little faith, wherefore 
 didst thou doubt ?^^ A most gentle and considerate re- 
 buke. Gentle, for the Lord acknowledges His servant's 
 faith, while He chides its littleness and rebukes the 
 doubt. Considerate, for it is not administered till Peter 
 is saved from sinking and held safe in Jesus' hand. 
 Further, it is so given as to honour all that was really 
 right in the disciple's action. It is not, " Wherefore 
 didst thou come ? " or, " propose to come ? " but, 
 " Wherefore didst thou doubt ? " Why not go through 
 with what was undertaken in such faith ? 
 
 If we inquire for the exact point of the miraculous in 
 this incident, we must find it in Peter's being permitted 
 to share so far in that mastery over the lower, natural 
 law through a higher, which Jesus as Head of re- 
 deemed humanity was then exercising. It comes into 
 line with most of our Lord's acts of power over human 
 nature and its needs, when we observe that faith on 
 the part of Peter was the mediating link. '' So long as 
 the inner soul of Peter was purely and simply turned 
 towards the Person of the Lord, he was capable of re- 
 ceiving within himself the fulness of Christ's life and 
 spirit, so that what Christ could do he could do ; but so 
 soon as his capacity for receiving the Spirit was conr 
 tracted by his giving place and weight to a foreign 
 
I02 THE MIRACLES OF OUR LORD. 
 
 power, the result was . . . that the sea-walker fell 
 back under the dominion of earthly elements." * 
 
 The spiritual analogue runs easily from this point of 
 view. The Person of Christ is the centre of all w^orking 
 power for His people in the spiritual sphere. So long 
 as their attention and trust are fixed on Him in be- 
 lieving work, they share His power and difficulties 
 cease to exist. Their faith removes mountains, or 
 walks on the waves. But when we begin to measure 
 our position and its probabilities by sense, by human 
 calculation, according to man's judgment, that moment 
 we begin to fail, for we lose spiritual power. Those 
 who are working for Christ in this world are engaged 
 in that to which human power is quite unequal. The 
 whole secret of their success is to keep constant and 
 believing hold of Him ; for He hath said, " I will never 
 leave thee nor forsake thee ; so that we may boldly say, 
 The Lord is mine helper, and I will not fear what man 
 shall do unto me." 
 
 The spiritual lessons of this episodic scene are 
 these : — 
 
 (i) The danger of self-preference in Christ's service, 
 for Peter's '' Bid me " was at the root of his failure. 
 
 (2) The mistake of looking ' at the hindrances and 
 difficulties of such work, rather than at the power and 
 Person of Him Whose work it is. It was when Peter 
 looked away from the Saviour to the storm that he 
 began to sink. 
 
 (3) The evil oi wilfulness^ seen even in wilful Y^2iys of 
 serving Christ. The real error which Peter committed 
 lies in that he undertook what the Lord did not require 
 of him. No doubt he asked and obtained His permis- 
 sion ; but even this shows how the Lord m.ay permit 
 
 * Olshausen, On the Gospels, ii., 192. 
 
WALKING UPON THE WATER. 103 
 
 His servants to find the bottom of their own resolu- 
 tions, and in His wise love teach them deep and useful 
 lessons by their own failures. Peter assayed here to 
 do by faith what faith was no doubt quite competent 
 to do had the Master needed it and asked it. But 
 taking it up of his own motion, even with the Lord's 
 permission, the disciple threw himself into circumstances 
 of danger and difficulty to which his measure of faith 
 proved unequal. 
 
 To aim at being for Christ, to expect to do for Christ, 
 what Christ has neither enjoined nor promised is really 
 not faith, but fanaticism. There is a considerable 
 resemblance between the two, on the surface. The 
 one has been again and again mistaken for the other. 
 There is a likeness in their tone, in their earnestness, 
 in their ardour, sometimes for a while in their effects ; 
 but they are entirely different in their source, their 
 principle, and their results. Faith arises out of grace. 
 Fanaticism has its source in self. Faith is ruled by the 
 Word of the Lord. Fanaticism b}^ the wish, will, and 
 impulse of the creature. Faith results in solid fruits 
 and works for Christ. Fanaticism burns itself out in a 
 fruitless fervour, or dashes itself to pieces in a terrible 
 fall. The dangers of our time lie, however, for the 
 most part in quite another direction. The material and 
 the secular have in these days the most powerful sway 
 over the minds of men. The spiritual is treated as if 
 it did not exist at all. Far more frequently than 
 fanaticism is mistaken for faith, is faith ridiculed and 
 run down as fanatical. And in truth all real living and 
 working for Christ has in it an element of paradox, 
 which the world is very apt to mistake for enthusiasm. 
 It is aiming at results, and expecting results which lie 
 quite beyond the channel of ordinar}^, rational life 
 
104 'rHE MIRACLES OF OUR LORD. 
 
 There is no real success in the work of Christ's kingdom 
 which is not to man's judgment as impossible as to 
 tread the waves. When Paul went to convert the 
 nations of Greece and Rome to the faith of the Crucified 
 Nazarene, he went to walk on the waters. All reason 
 was against the probability of his success. When 
 Luther revived the Gospel of free grace in face of the 
 Roman hierarchy and the empire, he went to walk on 
 the waters. Pope, emperor, princes, and churchmen 
 were ready to swallow him up. There is not a true 
 missionary abroad or true mission worker at home but 
 goes to seek results above nature, by methods that 
 work beyond reason. If we would truly serve Jesus 
 and His kingdom, walk on the waves we must ; for we 
 walk by faith, not by sight. Only let us gather from 
 this story the condition, and take our motto from Isaiah 
 rather than from Peter. Instead of choosing for oneself 
 the path of duty and saying, " Lord, bid me come," let 
 us put ourselves and our service always into His hands, 
 saying in answer to His question, ''Who will go for 
 us ? '* " Here am I ; send me." 
 
VI. 
 
 THE SECOND MIRACULOUS FEEDING. 
 Matt. xv. 29-38, xvi. 4-12; Mark viii. 1-9, 13-21. 
 
 THE principle upon which we comment, without 
 hesitation, on this as a transaction distinct from 
 the feeding of the five thousand has been already 
 announced. This second feeding is recorded in two of 
 the Synoptic Gospels, in both of which the first has 
 also been described. The substantial historicity of the 
 evangelic narrative must stand or fall by such features. 
 The plain and clear judgment of the narrators is that 
 this was another gracious work of Jesus to be related 
 beside and quoted in addition to that former multiply- 
 ing of the loaves. The criticism which sets aside this 
 judgment usually finds nothing in any part of the 
 Gospels so definitely related that it may not be moulded 
 as the critic wills. Faithfulness to our bond fide accept- 
 ance of the Gospels as history leaves us no alternative 
 in such a case. But there are minor details here which 
 fortify the assumption that this is a work distinct from 
 the former. The occasion and the motive of the 
 second miracle differ from those of the first. The 
 circumstantial details of the two transactions are care- 
 fully and sharply set side by side, especially in the 
 recapitulatory conversation recorded by both Evangelists 
 
io6 THE MIRACLES OF OUR LORD. 
 
 in immediate sequence to this occurrence itself. The 
 differences will come out as we read (i) the story of 
 the feeding four thousand, and then (2) the after 
 conversation in which both are recounted. 
 
 I. The Story and its Lessons. Though the locality 
 was not wide apart from that of the former feeding, nor 
 the lapse of time between the two very considerable, 
 this incident plainly occurs in a new connection and 
 after a distinct crisis in the Saviour's ministry. Since 
 the former gathering and the dispersion which followed 
 it there has occurred the visit to the district of Tyre 
 and Sidon. The incidents of the Syro-Phoenician 
 woman and of the deaf man at Decapolis have just 
 been related. The neighbourhood of the lake has 
 again been reached. The spot, so far as we can learn, 
 is a mountain solitude on the eastern side. After an 
 extended and fatiguing journey, Jesus and His disciples 
 sat down there — pitched their encampment for rest. 
 But soon the magic of His name begins to act. 
 Thousands flock out of town and village, till the desert 
 becomes like a busy fair. This time it is no holiday 
 business on the people's part, no mere divergence on a 
 Passover journey. It is a deliberate gathering of great 
 multitudes, who seized the opportunity, not previously 
 presented to them, of bringing their diseased and dis~ 
 tressed to the Healer's feet. He healed them all, and 
 doubtless interspersed words of teaching and warning. 
 Three days have passed. These wondering throngs 
 increased and lingered until it became necessary to 
 consider how they were to be sustained. 
 
 It is Jesus Himself, not the disciples, who on this 
 occasion suggest the question of relief for their hunger. 
 He states the case carefully — the greatness of their 
 number, the length of time, the weakly state of some, 
 
THE SECOND MIRACULOUS FEEDING. 107 
 
 the great distances others have come. '^ I have com- 
 passion on the multitudes." Such emphasis of pity 
 called forth by so common a distress is characteristic 
 of Jesus and His Gospel, No one ever cared as He 
 did for men's spiritual interests. It is the best proof 
 of His greatness and completeness as man that this 
 highest estimate of the soul is combined with tenderest 
 care for the body. The divinity of His religion comes 
 out precisely on the same lines. Christianity, indeed, 
 puts such supreme value on the soul that it seems 
 sometimes to overlook the body. Yet its true spirit 
 comes out in the combined care for both. It em- 
 phasizes the worth of the immortal being, man, and 
 the consequent moment of everything belonging to that 
 bemg. There is no side-proof of its Divine origin, of 
 its universal human fitness, to which it can more con- 
 fidently appeal than this ; that it has done more for the 
 physical nature of man, for his present improvement, 
 for his bodily relief and welfare than any other religion. 
 " More " is too feeble an expression. Ask Paganism at 
 its best in the history of civiHzed Greece and Rome. 
 Ask Mohammedanism, Buddhism, Confucianism in the 
 present. Where are their asylums, their hospitals, their 
 reformatories, their dispensaries and charitable insti- 
 tutions ? Nowhere. This word of Jesus, '' / have 
 compassion on the multitude,'' is the seed-plot of all 
 the philanthropy of modern civilization, which it needs 
 only the as 3^et faintly-whispered cruelties of modern 
 Positivism to bring into brighter relief. 
 
 The conversation which ensues between the Master 
 and the disciples closely resembles that on the former 
 occasion. He proposes to supply the people's imme- 
 diate wants in terms which seem to say that He has 
 full provision ready. They remind Him that all stores 
 
io8 THE MIRACLES OF OUR LORD. 
 
 are nigh exhausted. He rephes, ' Use what you have ; ' 
 * See how much there is, or how httle ; ' * Bring it out 
 and set it before them.' They made their answer 
 about the seven loaves and the few httle fishes. He 
 went on as if they had said seven hundred. In all this 
 the disciples must have felt conscious of being led over 
 familiar ground, and might have blushed to find their 
 faith so slow upon the road. For not anticipating the 
 miracle, we cannot blame them. It was not His wont 
 to work miracles for the supply of ordinary wants. But 
 they were wrong in not immediately remembering, when 
 He proposed to supply the want, what already tested 
 power He had for so doing. We wonder at their un- 
 believing forgetfulness. As face answers to face in the 
 glass, so does the heart of man to man. This unbelief 
 of theirs is just like ours. We have been delivered, 
 and we forget the deliverance. When we are next in 
 straits, we think we shall never be again relieved. 
 We stand despairing at the foot of the next hill after 
 our gracious Deliverer has removed mountains. Each 
 time our trials rise, we act as if God's grace were 
 exhausted and His mercy clean gone for ever. Was 
 there ever anything more like our own hearts' folly 
 than the question of these disciples : " From whence 
 can a man satisfy these with bread here in the wil- 
 derness ? " 
 
 Then follows the sitting down of the multitude, the 
 blessing of the scanty provision, its distribution at 
 the hands of the disciples, the entire satisfying of 
 the people, and the gathering up of the fragments. It 
 is impossible to read this account in good faith and 
 not admit that a direct and godhke act of creation is 
 described in it. By no device of misinterpretation 
 can this transaction be explained away. There is no 
 
THE SECOND MIRACULOUS EEEDING. 109 
 
 shadow of plausibility on this occasion for the sugges- 
 tion that His generosity stimulated others to bring out 
 their hidden stores. This was no passing pilgrim 
 company like the former. It was a steady concourse, 
 three days gathered. Everything was exhausted. 
 There was nothing left to bring out. Perhaps it is this 
 impossibility of getting over the Divine in the story 
 which has prompted the theory that it is only another 
 version of the former. But the honest critic will 
 have this consideration left him — that the reporters and 
 narrators of the incident, even if there was but one, 
 must have believed it to be a veritable act of miraculous 
 or creative supply, else it never could have taken this 
 form in their account.* 
 
 Think of these thousands from various places and 
 stations, dwellers in town and hamlet, remote upland, 
 or busy shore, all brought to Jesus' feet, wrapped there 
 three days in the quiet of the mountain solitude, 
 sharers in the blessedness of those healing miracles, 
 happy hearers of those glorious words of life eternal, 
 now seated together at this wondrous feast, so simple 
 in its materials, so Divine in its plenty. It is a scene 
 fitted to touch the imagination and the heart. Can we 
 fail to see what it pictures and prophesies ? It proclaims 
 and predicts the Evangelical Christ Jesus had com- 
 passion on the multitudes, and they followed Him 
 then, and the common people heard Him gladly. It 
 is so still. Through all the centuries and amid all the 
 sections of Christendom it has been ever so. Where 
 Christ is lifted up He draws and heals and feeds the 
 nations. One cannot think of the great recuperative 
 movements of Christianity — its successful appeals to 
 the conscience of mankind, the occasional swing of its 
 
 * See this acutely argued by Dr. Bruce, p. 221, op.ctt. 
 
no THE MIRACLES OF OUR LORD, 
 
 refreshings and revivings, or the constant hold it has 
 on the human heart even where formahsm, ceremoniaHsm, 
 traditionalism, or indifference have stiffened its cultivated 
 followers — without seeing in those Galilean gatherings 
 a foreshadow of its history. Christ feeds the multitudes 
 always with the perpetual feast and freshness of His 
 Word. The Gospel of Jesus is its own attraction, 
 because it provides a real substance for an immortal 
 nature to feed on. '* I am the Bread of Life : he that 
 Cometh to Me shall never hunger ; he that believeth on 
 Me shall never thirst. ... If any man eat of this Bread 
 he shall live for ever ; and the Bread that I will give is 
 My flesh, which I will give for the life of the world." 
 
 Some subsidiary lessons the details of the story have 
 for us. 
 
 a. A lesson in generosity. Jesus made His 
 disciples bring out their seven loaves and small fishes, 
 and give thus their all away. No doubt some of them 
 wondered why. It is our common plea for withholding 
 from the cause of charity or of religion that what we 
 have we shall need for ourselves — at least there is a 
 fear that we may. But as our household commentator 
 has it, *' Niggardliness for to-day, arising out of thought- 
 fulness for to-morrow, is a complication of corrupt 
 affections that ought to be mortified."* Withholding 
 from a' just claim of beneficence or piety is wrong. 
 Withholding on the plea of carefulness for the future is 
 a double wrong on the part of a Christian. 
 
 b. A lesson of thankfulness. First, Jesus took the 
 seven loaves and brake them and gave to His disciples, 
 and the disciples to the multitude. Then, as if they 
 had overlooked the few small fishes, Mark relates that 
 they also were brought to Him, and He blessed and 
 
 * Matthew Henry, in loc. 
 
THE SECOND MIRACULOUS FEEDING. in 
 
 commanded to set them also before them. Two words 
 are used — '' Gave thanks " and '' blessed " * — one in 
 connection with the first part of the meal, and the other 
 with the second. With such words He turned these 
 poor materials into a royal feast. Let us also learn 
 that giving of thanks is a blessing upon our daily food. 
 We cannot rival the miracle, but we can imitate the 
 spirit of it. It is a pithy proverb, ''Nature is content 
 with little, Grace with less, but Lust with nothing." A 
 thankful spirit will bless and in a sense multiply our 
 bread. One has seen a Christian household, where the 
 housemaster's '' Grace before meat " was so full of 
 adoration and simple, grateful piety, that it seemed to 
 shed a lustre over the table and everything on it. 
 
 2. The recounting of both the Miraculous 
 Feedings (Matt. xvi. 4-12 ; Mark viii. 13-21). A short 
 while after the second Feeding the disciples crossed 
 with Jesus to the western shore of the lake, about the 
 district of Magdala (or Magadan, R.V.). There they 
 were met by a fresh outburst of scepticism and 
 opposition from the leading Jewish parties, and after 
 a brief stay He left them and was re-crossing to the 
 eastern side. The disciples had forgotten to take 
 bread, and had no more than a single loaf with them in 
 the boat. In the course of conversation Jesus said, 
 ** Take heed, and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees 
 and of the leaven of Herod." Even while under the 
 Master's teaching they were not without risk of being 
 swayed by the current opinion of their time. He was 
 warning them against the influence of those from 
 whom they had just parted — the traditionahsm of the 
 one part}^ and the secularism of the other. The 
 disciples missed His meaning. They took His remark 
 
 * Euxa/JtaT/^cras : ev\oyr)aas. 
 
112 THE MIRACLES OF OUR LORD, 
 
 as a covert allusion to their carelessness about the 
 ship's provision ; just as people still will find petty 
 allusions in the great words that are read or spoken to 
 them from the pulpit in Christ's name. But He made 
 good use of their strange blunder. With a sharp but 
 affectionate rebuke He reads them an unforgetable 
 lesson. ' Bread ! Why should any of God's children, 
 who are better than the ravens and the sparrows, the 
 lilies and the grass of the field, be concerned about 
 bread ? The Great Householder waters His flowers 
 and fodders His cattle : will He not feed His children ? 
 O ye of little faith, do ye not yet understand, neither 
 remember ? ' And then with great emphasis and 
 exactness He makes them repeat the details of the 
 two miracles of the Loaves. 
 
 If we follow the suggestions of this recapitulation, 
 we shall find — 
 
 (i) That our Lord makes His disciples keep in 
 mind that there were two distinct occasions of this 
 sort. Twice had He filled the people in the wilderness 
 from an armful of bread. He makes them recall and 
 recount to Him the number of loaves to begin with — 
 five in the one case, seven in the other ; the number of 
 men fed on each occasion — five thousand and four thou- 
 sand ("besides women and children," add the Evangelists 
 in both accounts) ; the number of baskets in each case 
 filled with the remains of the feast ; last, the precise 
 kind of receptacle used on each occasion, the word 
 being carefully preserved in both instances, and in 
 the recital of the story here ; '* basket " (ko^wo^^ in 
 the first, ''hamper" {airvpli) in the second, — twelve 
 baskets, seven hampers. It is not easy to see how 
 more pains could have been taken to obviate the 
 suggestion that the second incident was a mere altered 
 
THE SECOND MIRACULOUS FEEDING. 113 
 
 version of the first. Particularly is this detail about 
 the baskets or hampers of fragments an incidental 
 confirmation of the actuality of both events. It might 
 appear to one unacquainted with their customs a strange 
 thing that in gatherings of such people in such places 
 there should be baskets at all. But we learn from 
 those who knew their customs well that wherever there 
 were Jews on a journey there was sure to be just such 
 baskets to carry their provisions, and even their bedding, 
 though it were but clean straw. It was of moment for a 
 scrupulous Hebrew to preserve himself from ceremonial 
 defilement when travelling ; and it is believed that in 
 this way they often provided sleeping accommodation 
 for themselves.* It is a singular confirmation of this 
 account, as well as of the distinction between the 
 basket and the hamper, that the historian in Acts 
 ix. 25 uses the second word (cnrvpl^) to denote the 
 receptacle in which St. Paul effected his escape when 
 he was let over the walls of Damascus. It is but one 
 among many instances of the significant fact that the 
 more minutely and fairly we scrutinize the Scripture 
 records the more do they justify themselves as accurate 
 history. 
 
 2. Some have ingeniously made the repetition of this 
 miracle symbolic or prophetic. Hilary and Augustine 
 are quoted in favour of the exposition that Christ 
 showed Himself twice, in acted parable, as the Bread 
 of Life — to the Jew first, and also to the Gentile, t In 
 support of the theory that this second was a miracle 
 wrought among a less exclusively Jewish, perhaps even 
 a semi-heathen, population, Mark's previous mention of 
 
 * "Judaeis, quorum cophinus foenumque supellex." 
 
 Juvenal Satirce, iii,, 13. 
 ■]■ See Trench, in loc. 
 
 8 
 
114 THE MIRACLES OF OUR LORD. 
 
 " the coasts of Decapolis," the expression of the 
 people's feehngs as given in Matthew, " They glorified 
 the God of Israel," the more immediate action of the 
 Lord Himself in the second Feeding, have all been 
 adduced. If an intention of symbolizing, under this 
 second Feeding, the future offer of life in Christ to the 
 nations be admitted, some confirmation could be derived 
 from its juxtaposition in the narrative to the story of 
 the Syro- Phoenician woman ; some use also could be 
 made of the symbolic numbers characteristic of each 
 miracle,* and some light would be thrown upon the 
 failure of the disciples to expect a mode of relief from 
 the perplexity, similar to that which they had once before 
 experienced. In this case, their not expecting Him to 
 do such a work again in a half-heathen district would 
 foreshadow their subsequent slowness to understand 
 that '' God had granted unto the Gentiles also repentance 
 unto life." On the other hand, it has been often noted 
 that Luke's omission of the second Feeding would be 
 difficult to account for, had he shared the opinion that 
 many of the recipients were Gentiles, still more had he 
 beUeved it to symbolize the great Pauline revelation of 
 Christ for the world. 
 
 3. We may content ourselves with seeing clearly that 
 the reduplication of the miracle and the recapitulation 
 of both were meant to enforce the duty of remembering 
 the Lord's mercies. "Do ye not yet understand, 
 neither remember ? " (Matt. xvi. 9). Let us note that 
 word "remember." To forget is the habit of unbe- 
 lief, — to forget past deliverances. "Our fathers under- 
 stood not Thy wonders in Egypt ; they remembered 
 not the multitude of Thy mercies ; but provoked Him at 
 
 * 5»ooo, 5, 12 in the one; 4,000, 7, 7 in the other. Westcott, 
 Characteristics, etc., note on p. 12. 
 
THE SECOND MIRACULOUS FEELIX^ 115 
 
 the Red Sea." ^ The whole history of Israel in the 
 desert is set before us as an ensample of the terribleness 
 of unbelief It is the habit of forgetting, questioning, 
 provoking the Lord at every fresh difficulty. The habit 
 of faith, on the other hand, is that of remembering the 
 Lord's mercies, counting upon His promises, and trea- 
 suring up their fulfilments. '* The Lord which delivered 
 me out of the paw of the lion, and out of the paw of the 
 bear, will deliver me out of the hand of this Philistine."! 
 The Psalter is full of it. " I will remember the works 
 of the Lord. Surely I will remember Thy wonders of 
 old ; " "I remember the days of old ; I meditate on all 
 Thy works ; I muse on the work of Thy hands." \ To 
 cultivate the spirit of accurate and full memory of the 
 Lord's wonders and deliverances in our own case and 
 that of others is the discipline of faith, that by which 
 it is increased, made joyful, thankful, abounding. '' Ye 
 that fear the Lord, trust in the Lord : He is their help 
 and shield. The Lord hath been mindful of us : He 
 will bless us."§ 
 
 * Psalm cvi. 7. \ Psalms Ixxvii., cxliii. 
 
 f I Sam. xvii. 37. § Psalm cxv. 11, 12. 
 
VII. 
 
 THE COIN IN THE FISHS MOUTH. 
 Matt. xvii. 24-7. 
 
 THE manner of the narrator here should guide us 
 as to the exact use of the narration. The story 
 is not strictly a miracle-narrative at all, for the miracle 
 is not actually told. Yet, so entirely is the actuality of 
 the deed taken for granted, that in this respect it much 
 resembles other miracle-narratives in which the Evan- 
 gelists hasten on to the purpose or the results without 
 dwelling on particulars {e.g.^ John ii. i-ii). The 
 miracle is assumed, and no explanations nor substan- 
 tiating details are thought necessary. The uses in- 
 tended by this narrative are (i) doctrinal and (ii) ethical. 
 The doctrine taught is the place of Jesus in the king- 
 dom of heaven — His own place of Sonship by right of 
 nature, and that which He wins for His followers in 
 grace. The moral enforced is, that greatness in the 
 kingdom is best proved by service and humility. The 
 context of the story and the fine turns of the conversa- 
 tion are plainly the things on which the Evangelist 
 intends the effect to rest. The actual deed — the finding 
 of the stater in the mouth of the fish — is to him so 
 much a mere matter of course, that it is left to the sense 
 of the reader to supply. 
 
THE COIN IN THE FISH'S MOUTH. 117 
 
 i. To apprehend the point of the story the some- 
 what nice results of the best translation must be 
 regarded. Readers of the A. V. alone — ix.^ when not 
 careful students of the margin — are left in ignorance 
 of it by the want of specific accuracy in rendering 
 the names of two ancient coins.* The question raised 
 in the conversation between Peter and the tax-collectors, 
 as the A.V. puts it, is about "tribute." But really the 
 thing in question is not the secular tax-levying which 
 comes up in chap, xxii., where there was an attempt 
 made to entrap the Lord into a political discussion on 
 a question entirely of the Roman or Imperial taxation. 
 There may have been an intention, on this occasion also, 
 to embarrass or perplex, though it is not apparent on 
 the surface of the dialogue. But the question concerned 
 another kind of tax altogether. It was not the tribute 
 {k7]V(t(jv) due to Caesar, but the temple-tax due to 
 Jehovah, which was the subject of inquiry.! The state 
 of the facts is this : the law described in Exod. xxx. 
 12-16 had fixed at half a shekel % the sum to be paid by 
 every Israelite of full age at the sacred enumeration. 
 This sum was considered partly as a donation for 
 the erection of the sanctuary, partly as a ransom or 
 
 * Sidpax/J-a, in ver. 24, and its double, arar-qp, in ver. 27, which 
 the Revisers have rendered "half-shekel" and "shekel" respectively. 
 
 t Even so, however, one of their favourite dilemmas might be 
 intended by the Jewish leaders. ' Does He pay the tribute, then is He 
 subservient to the Temple, and is no Divine Messiah. Does He de- 
 cline, then we may charge Him with dishonouring Moses and the law.' 
 Thus Dean Howson, Meditations on the Miracles of Christ, Second 
 Series, p. 75. But the interpretation seems harsh. 
 
 X The Greek translator, using the very term 8i8pa.xp.ov (Exod. 
 xxx. 13) which is used in our text, helps us to follow the import of 
 the whole transaction. For some niceties of scholarship, however, as 
 to these coins, and the changes in their usage, consult the foot-notes in 
 Trench on this miracle. 
 
ii8 THE MIRACLES OF OUR LORD. 
 
 atonement money. This ancient act became, after the 
 Captivity, the wai rant for a yearly collection of personal 
 poll-tax for the support of the Temple service. As all 
 members of the Covenant people — those living out of 
 Palestine not excepted — had to perform this religious 
 duty, delegates from the Temple travelled at the appro- 
 priate season through all the provinces for the purpose 
 of collecting it. Some hold that by the time of our Lord 
 this tax had been secularized by the Romans or annexed 
 to the Imperial exactions. Others, with better evidence, 
 believe this undoubted transference to have taken place 
 later. The narrative certainly conveys an impression 
 of manner on the part of the collectors suitable to the 
 gathering of a semi-voluntary contribution rather than to 
 the inevitable demands of the Roman puhlicanus. The 
 incident in our history occurs at a moment when the 
 Lord and His Apostles had just returned to what might 
 be called their own stated residence, after a considerable 
 absence. Peter is met, alone, by those who collected 
 the Temple money with the question whether or not 
 his Master was in the habit of paying this sacred tribute. 
 The words suggest a widespread recognition, by this 
 time, of His place as a rehgious teacher. The ques- 
 tioners thought it not improbable that, like some other 
 persons of religious standing — priests and Levites, for 
 example — Jesus would hold Himself exempt. Peter, 
 either counting simply on precedent, or " zealous for 
 the Lord's honour, and confident that His piety would 
 make Him prompt in whatever God's ordinance re- 
 quired," * answers without hesitation that his Master 
 would pay the tax. Hereupon hangs the conversa- 
 tion which follows between the Lord and Peter, so 
 soon as the disciple had rejoined his Master, Jesus 
 
 * Trench, in he. 
 
THE COIN IN THE FISH'S MOUTH. 119 
 
 takes him up at once on the point, discovers a startling 
 knowledge of what had passed, and puts it to him, in 
 parabolic fashion, whether upon reflection he finds that 
 he has answered rightly. The thing in question is a 
 tribute of the kingdom of heaven, a contribution to the 
 support of the Lord's house. Now, when kings take 
 taxes, do they exact them of the children of the palace, 
 or only of other people, i.e., of their subjects in general ? 
 The answer is plain and the inference inevitable. The 
 sons of royalty are untaxed. Had Peter forgot his own 
 distinct confession (recorded in the previous . chapter of 
 this gospel) ? Had he forgot that Jesus was Lord of 
 the Temple, neither a subject nor a servant, but a Son 
 in His Father's house ? Had He not showed on other 
 occasions that the Temple was His to defend from 
 intrusion, to clear from abuse? Even suppose there 
 had been previous payment of this tribute on the part 
 of Jesus, the time was come — in the unfolding of the 
 doctrine of His Messiahship — to plant it rightly and 
 firmly in the mind of the disciples that His Divine 
 claim exempted Him de jure from such an exaction.* 
 It was needful to carry the demonstration so far. 
 This is the doctrinal aim of the whole passage. 
 Its worth in the eyes of the recording Evangelist 
 was to bring out how, indirectly, subtly, but not 
 on that account the less effectively, the Lord had 
 used this incident to assert that He was the Christ, 
 the Son of God, therefore not ^wing the temple- 
 tribute ; that He was the sinless Redeemer of a 
 sinful people, and therefore not personally chargeable 
 
 * So Bengel, founding upon Peter's affirmative, says, " Ergo Jesus 
 etiam priore anno solverat. Sed interim solenniter pro filio Dei agnitus 
 decentissime jamnunc apiid Petrmn dignitati sitoe cavet:^ See his 
 Gnomon, in loc. 
 
I20 THE MIRACLES OF OUR LORD. 
 
 with that poll-tax which suggested an atonement for 
 sin. 
 
 ii. So much for the doctrinal side of the conversation ; 
 but now for its moral or ethical aspect. A comparison 
 of the synoptic narratives makes it plain that during 
 this homeward journey to Capernaum, probably near 
 its close, occurred the dispute among the disciples about 
 priority in the kingdom which drew from the Lord several 
 touching and instructive utterances. There is reason 
 to think this is one of them. The words immediately 
 following our story in Matthew's Gospel tell us that 
 at the same time * they came to put their question to 
 Jesus on this topic. Mark says that, "being in the 
 house, He asked them, What was it that ye disputed 
 among yourselves by the way ? " The suggestion has 
 much probability, that with Peter alone in the house 
 the Lord here forestalls the discussion and makes 
 this incident bear upon it. It is when viewed in this 
 connection that the present story becomes luminous, 
 and that the words of Jesus about the temple-tax are 
 seen to have their moral design. To teach '' the fore- 
 most disciple " a lesson of humility and self-effacement, 
 Jesus directs his attention pointedly to His own claim, 
 to His willingness to waive it, and to His reason for so 
 doing, viz., lest offence should follow upon a premature 
 or punctilious assertion of even a Divine right. This, 
 rather than any other, is the point of ethical moment 
 in the narrative — not so much the poverty of His lot as 
 Son of man. His command over the resources of nature 
 and providence as Son of God, the extraordinary manner 
 in which upon occasion His necessities were relieved — 
 not so much these, as the forbearance and self-restraint 
 of the Kingdom's Head ; an example to His followers 
 
 * ev iKeivri tt) iopa, Matt, xviii. I, 
 
THE COIN IN THE FISH'S MOUTH. 121 
 
 of meekness and self-repression for the Kingdom's sake. 
 The key to the moral intention of the story, then, lies 
 in the words, " But lest we cause them to stumble " 
 (R.V.).* It was a lesson of meekness and wisdom. 
 Jesus waives the exercise of a right founded upon the 
 plainest and most momentous grounds, lest the exercise 
 of it in the circumstances should prove a stumbling- 
 block to those who were as yet unprepared to receive 
 the grounds themselves. Thus does Jesus set forth one 
 of the most characteristic features of Christian morality. 
 After these two lessons — the Christological and the 
 Ethical — have been thus taught in words, Jesus 
 instructs Peter how both shall be countersigned and 
 confirmed by deed. The disciple is to take his fishing 
 gear and go down to the lake, there to make his cast, 
 to take up the first fish that rose from the deep to his 
 hook, and, opening its mouth, he shall find in it a stater 
 or shekely the amount which would exactly cover the 
 temple-tribute for two. This he is to take and give to 
 the collectors for his Lord and for himself f The com- 
 bination of humility and majesty, simplicity and dignity, 
 in the whole transaction is striking. He who had not 
 
 * See Dr. Bruce, Miraculous Element, etc., pp. 232, 233. The author's 
 exegetical tact is in this instance conspicuous. 
 
 f Why " for Me and thee," with no mention of the others? Bengel 
 has the too ingenious (?) suggestion that the other disciples were as yet 
 under twenty years of age, therefore not personally liable to the tax, 
 but were reckoned "the family"' of Jesus, who represented them; 
 whereas Peter as a familj'-man must pay for himself. This commen- 
 tator also gives a six-pointed view of the fish-taking itself, as Multiplex 
 omniscientice et onmipotentice niiracuhmi. Weiss prefers to regard it 
 simply as an instance of " superhuman knowledge of a miraculous 
 dispensation. ... In order to ratify His independence God will give 
 Him, in a miraculous way, what Jesus desires to pay to Him, out of 
 regard for men " {Life of Christ, ii., p. 337, note). But he hints, in 
 the text, at misapprehension of an oral tradition. 
 
122 THE MIRACLES OF OUR LORD. 
 
 where to lay His head, has not wherewithal to pay 
 this impost. Yet the lesson He would impress upon 
 His own followers, to allay their shallow ambition, 
 and the deference He would render to the rehgious 
 feelings of His countrymen, made the payment 
 imperative. The real interests of his kingdom must 
 never suffer for want of internal supply while He 
 who is its Head is King and Lord of all. Therefore 
 a singular mode of supplying the immediate want is 
 employed, to .stamp with the signet of miracle the 
 incident and all its lessons. 
 
 These lessons are : (i) To declare the Messiahship of 
 Jesus as Son of God in the highest ^ense, and Head of 
 the kingdom of heaven. (2) To show that the Kingdom 
 has for its internal supply and support a treasury as 
 inexhaustible as that universe which is at the disposal 
 of its Lord. (3) To set forth the forbearance and self- 
 repression with which even Divine and spiritual claims 
 are to be presented to men at large, especially when 
 these affect the consciences of others. 
 
 Certain subordinate aspects of these lessons, espe- 
 cially of the last, deserve a word further. Is the claim 
 of sonship in the house of God, with its consequent 
 privilege, made by Jesus for Himself alone, or does it 
 in any sense include also His followers ? If the latter, 
 how is the assertion of it to be tempered with the same 
 moral reservation as the Lord Himself has exercised ? 
 An immediate application of the principle all round, as 
 Weiss says, would have opened a wider perspective. In 
 the completed kingdom of God all its members would be 
 sons in the fullest sense. If the kingdom was destined 
 to grow until it included the whole nation, then would 
 all be free from the temple-tax ; and, since the Temple 
 service could not be upheld without it, this maxim of 
 
THE COIN IN THE FISH'S MOUTH. 123 
 
 Jesus presented the prospect of a time when, with the 
 completion of the theocracy, the need of a special 
 sacred building would disappear. That Jesus did not 
 wish this inference to take immediate effect is obvious. 
 For the principle which He here so carefull}^ sets forth, 
 and on which He acted at the time, is not to advance 
 His kingdom by any offensive disturbance of the exist- 
 ing rehgious arrangements. But the truth which He 
 announces in this utterance, " Then are the children 
 free," was undoubtedly that which brought about the 
 deliverance of the Christian Church in the Apostolic 
 age from the bondage of the older dispensation. 
 
 Again, let us assume that one distinctive intention of 
 the miracle is to set forth that Christ as Head of the 
 kingdom secures its internal supplies.* Let us even 
 suppose that Christ's words here anticipate ni a ger- 
 minal way the Apostohc principle that the workers and 
 ministers of the kingdom are to be " free " from worldly 
 toil and assessment — are, in short, to be supported for 
 the Gospel's sake. The story will in that case convey 
 to Christians a moral hint for the application and 
 regulation of the principle. Bengel has shrewdly 
 remarked that men who are occupied with worldly affairs 
 take offence at the children of God most easily when 
 money matters are in question-j It was precisely on a 
 question of money that our Lord was most careful not to 
 give offence. And in this His closest followers have kept 
 themselves scrupulously in His footsteps. If St. Paul's 
 doctrine as to ministerial support be based on one part 
 
 * So Westcott, Characteristics of tJie Gospel Miracles, p. 21, note. 
 
 \ ^^ Facilliri'ie, ttbi de pecunia agitur, scandahim capiuttt a Sanctis 
 homines negotia mundana ctirantes" {Gnomon, in lac). Cf. Stein- 
 meyer's remarks on making this quotation, The Miracles of Our Lord, 
 etc., p. 235. 
 
124 THE MIRACLES OF OUR LORD. 
 
 of the Master's teaching here, his refined and conscien- 
 tious mode of applying it is as manifestly an exempli- 
 fication of the other. " So hath the Lord ordained that 
 they which preach the gospel should live of the gospel. 
 But I have used none of these things, . . . that when 
 1 preach the gospel I may make the gospel of Christ 
 without charge, that I abuse not my power in the 
 gospel" (i Cor. ix. 14, 15, 18). 
 
VIII. 
 
 THE WITHERING OF THE FRUITLESS FIG-TREE. 
 Matt. xxi. 17-22 ; Mark xi. 12-14, 20-4. Cf. Luke xiii. 6-9. 
 
 THIS incident stands entirely alone among the 
 miracles as the only one which is not of a 
 beneficent or merciful character. Long custom has 
 made all readers familiar with the designation of it as 
 a Miracle of Judgment. The expression is misleading. 
 It was a symbol or prediction of judgment. The 
 burden it bore in act and sign was doom for that which 
 the fruitless fig-tree represented. But so far as concerns 
 the literal object upon which the word fell, the expres- 
 sion is too large. It is out of all just proportion of 
 thought and language to place the blasting of a way- 
 side tree over against Christ's numberless miracles of 
 mercy, and note it as a Judgment-miracle. Indeed, the 
 incident barely falls within the class of miracles. The 
 supernatural element in it is predictive rather than 
 directly miraculous. The word spoken against the tree 
 was fulfilled in a way so notable and immediate as to 
 mark a Divine hand. But in its proper object and scope 
 it was really an acted parable, like those symbolic 
 actions or prophecies ' without words ' of which the 
 ancient seers Jeremiah and Ezekiel furnish plenty of 
 instances. 
 
126 THE MIRACLES OF OUR LORD. 
 
 The last stage of the Lord's ministry has been 
 reached. It is early morning on one of the days of 
 the Passion week. He has left the Bethany home, 
 where He spent His nights, and is passing along the 
 way towards the capital. His heart is full of the dis- 
 appointment and sorrow which the retrospect of His 
 three years' ministry excited within Him. The rejection 
 of His Messianic claim by the leaders of the people 
 has long been plain. Even the people have answered 
 to His call with no steadiness or depth. An occasional 
 burst of enthusiasm there was, like the last, which took 
 place the day before, as He wended over Olivet, but 
 no permanent conviction or acceptance. And now the 
 forecast of their final rejection of Him mingles in His 
 mind with the darker forecast of their doom as a Church 
 and nation. The incident which befell on the way 
 that morning gives to all this the graphic and fateful 
 expression which one notices so often in the minuter 
 incidents accompanying some great historical transac- 
 tion. Many fig-trees lined the slopes along which 
 Jesus and His disciples were passing; indeed, they 
 gave its name to one of the neighbouring villages. It 
 was an April morning — not yet, therefore, the ordinary 
 time even for the earliest of these having fruit, which 
 usually takes place in June. But one fig-tree stood out 
 from all its fellows. It shone from afar in precocious 
 glow of glossy leaves ; and as in this tree the fruit for 
 the most part precedes the foliage, the inference was 
 natural and tempting. The first ripe fresh figs would 
 be grateful food on which to break one's fast. After 
 some considerable detour the tree was reached, only to 
 find that it ''bore nothing but leaves." The prophetic 
 temperature of the moment makes itself felt in the very 
 mode of the narrative. "And He answered and said 
 
THE WITHERING OF THE FRUITLESS FIG-TREE. 127 
 
 unto it^ No man eat fruit from thee henceforward for 
 every The narrative of the first Evangelist suggests 
 that then, on the instant, as if touched by an electric 
 current, the tree paled to its centre. But it was only 
 as the company passed the same place on the following 
 morning that they saw the fig-tree " withered away from 
 the roots J' It was Peter who reminded his Master of 
 the blighting words spoken the morning before, and, 
 pointing to the blasted trunk and scattered leaves, not 
 only emphasized its fulfilment, but elicited from the 
 Lord an explanation. In their direct bearing our 
 Lord's words give the key to the precise nature of 
 the incident. The withering of that tree was 
 Heaven's answer to the Son of man's request. It 
 was a result of faith — of faith in God. Such signs 
 as these accompanied and sealed His ministry, 
 because it was a ministry of constant faithfulness 
 to His Father in heaven, of constant correspondence 
 with His purpose, and of constant trust in His 
 superintending power. Let the disciples but have 
 such faith, and to them also it shall be given to do 
 such things and greater things than these; '^ and all 
 things whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer^ believing^ ye 
 shall receiver 
 
 But where are the words that should justify the 
 symbolic or prophetic application of the incident to the 
 downfall of the Jewish nation and Church ? Literally 
 they are not given. They are easily read, however, 
 between the lines of our Lord's answer to Peter ; 
 especially when the story is set in the light which 
 converges upon it from the entire evangelic narratives. 
 The incident itself would be meaningless, and the 
 words used about the tree and its curse would be 
 utterly overstrained and disproportionate, could we not 
 
128 THE MIRACLES OF OUR LORD. 
 
 read through it all the larger prophetic meaning.* But 
 besides this there is much in the cognate passages of 
 the Gospels to help us to the meaning. Several months 
 before, if not even a year or so earlier, Jesus had 
 thrown into one of His brief, terse parables on public 
 affairs all the force of a vision or prophecy (Luke 
 xiii. 1-9). Some sad stories of bloodshed and disaster 
 had been related in His hearing, and the usual casuistic 
 question raised about the guilt of those who had so 
 suffered under Divine judgments. Jesus gave that wise 
 and humane reply which has become classic to the 
 modern mind, but His prophetic spirit soared upwards 
 on the suggestions of the conversation. From its native 
 height His soul surveyed the years past and to come ; 
 and His burden was of judgment. He put His vision 
 in the form of a dialogue overheard between the owner 
 and the caretaker of a barren fig-tree. '' Three years,'^ 
 says the one, ^^ have I come seeking fruit on this tree, and 
 find none: cut it down; why bumbereth it the ground? ^^ 
 This was judgment ; and without any express key to 
 it every commentator with his eyes open finds that it 
 was the judgment on a spiritually fruitless priesthood 
 and people which the Saviour foresaw. But the judg- 
 ment had not yet become ripe. It was possible, barely 
 possible, it might yet be averted; and the apologue 
 
 * The Philistinism of many commentators appears at its baldest on 
 this incident. The solemn discussions about whether a tree could 
 incur moral blame, could therefore justly be subjected to curse, and 
 so on, are surely rather preposterous. It is necessary in com- 
 mentators to have a little imagination, and especially not to take 
 prophetic speech in prosaic literality. Scarcely less preposterous are 
 the so-called moral problems raised as to our Lord's apparent dis- 
 appointment at the fruitlessness of the tree, when " by His Divine 
 power He must have known that there were no figs upon it ! " How 
 on such principles of interpretation the Gospels could describe a 
 human life of the Son of God it is impossible to conceive. 
 
THE WITHERING OF THE FRUITIESS FIG-TREE. 129 
 
 ends with the tender, but almost desponding, proposal 
 of the vine-dresser, that the tree should have another 
 year of respite, the worker another year of care and 
 culture to bestow upon it, and that in the event of 
 failure this should be final. 
 
 Is it possible to doubt what would be the impression 
 on the minds of the men who had heard this apologue 
 not so long before, when they stood that morning 
 round Peter pointing out to them the doom of the 
 fruitless fig-tree? It needed no words to carry home 
 the sad conclusion. The year of frist had passed, and 
 passed in vain. They expected no words, in that circle 
 of His inner teaching, alone with Him and the mute 
 symbol of their nation's doom. They were accustomed 
 to read His mind in such symbolic actions. But indeed 
 words had not been wanting. It was only two days 
 before that, as they wound in festal procession down 
 the slopes of Olivet, they had marked Him pour out 
 His soul in that unforgetable lamentation over the ''too 
 late " of His misled and miserable fellow-countrymen 
 (Luke xix. 41-4). Moreover, both the Evangelists, 
 who record our present incident, follow it up almost 
 immediately with the parable of the Wicked Husband- 
 man. Matthew, as usual, giving the words of the Lord 
 more fully, includes in the same connection the cognate 
 parables of the Two Sons and the Marriage Feast with 
 its rejected invitations. The parable first mentioned, 
 occurring in both the Gospels which narrate our present 
 story, and in that kind of consecution which denotes a 
 strong traditional, i.e., historical, continuity, contains 
 precisely the ideas that are appropriate to this symbol. 
 Those to whose keeping the privileges of God's vineyard 
 had been intrusted for many generations are in graphic 
 figure shown to have abused their trust in the most 
 
I30 THE MIRACLES OF OUR LORD. 
 
 shameful manner, are reminded that they have maltreated 
 the messengers sent to them age after age, and are now 
 represented, in a figure which has the vividness of direct 
 accusation, as ready to put to death the Son and Heir. 
 The parable ends with words which seem to echo 
 the language of this present symbol, in a prophecy 
 of judgment the plainest and most awful: ''There- 
 fore say I unto you, The kingdom of God shall be 
 taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth 
 the fruits thereof." * 
 
 Some commentators think they may read this or 
 something approaching to it in the words which did 
 actually accompany the Withering of the Fig-tree. Our 
 Lord assures His disciples that they too in the exercise 
 of faith should say as He had said to the fig-tree, and 
 the result should follow; nay, the still greater result 
 of removing this mountain should be granted to their 
 prayer of faith. It is possible to read this as a veiled 
 prediction that the transference of God's kingdom from 
 the unworthy nation should take place through their 
 ministry ; and even still greater marvels — the removal 
 of the mountain of Gentile prejudice and pagan idolatry, f 
 Be this as it may, the appropriateness and force of the 
 original action remains, illuminated as it is by the words 
 and events among which it is set down. Three years 
 the Lord Christ had sought fruit on this fair tree of the 
 Jewish Church and people. He sought fruit, and He 
 expected it. Appearances made that expectation not 
 only reasonable but probable. The undeniable piety of 
 Israel in those times towards the Law and the prophets, 
 the punctuality and anxiety with which the sacrifices and 
 ceremonies were performed, seemed to promise the joy- 
 
 * Matt. xxi. 43. 
 
 f See Steinmeyer, The Miracles of Our Lord, p. 268. 
 
THE WITHERING OF THE FRUITLESS FIG-TREE. 131 
 
 ful reception of Him to whose coming they all pointed 
 forward. Nevertheless it failed. The Messenger of the 
 Covenant, when He came to His Temple, was rejected 
 by His nation. The tree full of leaves proved itself to 
 the searching Eye to be void of fruit. Sentence is pro- 
 nounced — the sin of fruitlessness is changed into the 
 curse of barrenness. And as that withered tree stood 
 in sight of the passers-by a weird prophecy of Israel's 
 rejection by the Lord of the Kingdom, so stands Israel 
 herself, age after age, the open scorn of the world, — 
 Judaism, a dead and fruitless religion, withered and 
 spiritless. Wherever men look for truth, peace, con- 
 solation, or strength, it is never more to her. Men eat 
 no fruit of that kind from her any more for ever. Yet 
 there she stands, a monument of Divine judgment and 
 of the unerring prevision of Him who thus foretold 
 her doom, when reluctantly at last He found that she 
 had rejected His grace. 
 
 The contrast between the idyllic opening of the 
 miraculous ministry at the marriage in Cana and this 
 stern and gloomy close of the Passion week is deeply 
 suggestive. Thus the last of our Lord's Nature-signs 
 during His earthly sojourn strangely links itself to the 
 first. As the first rung in with joyful note the new 
 Kingdom of God, and spoke, in language of symbol, 
 of the abundant grace and truth which should flow out 
 to men from its King and Lord, so does this last ring 
 out with solemn tone the close of Israel's year of grace, 
 and mark the passing over of the Kingdom's gifts and 
 glory to the nations of men at large. Only one other 
 symbolic picture, and that of the final and universal 
 success of the Kingdom, remains to be considered, when 
 we come to the closing scene of the post-resurrection 
 days. 
 
II. 
 
 THE HEALING-MIRACLES. 
 
THE COURTIER'S SON. 
 John iv. 43-54- 
 
 THAT only a few of our Lord's mighty works are 
 recorded at length is plain. The author of this 
 Gospel assures us, with a burst of rhetoric in his 
 concluding sentence, that an entirely detailed record 
 of the works of Jesus would have been impos- 
 sible. During the Lord's first public Jerusalem visit, 
 we are here reminded, several miracles had been 
 wrought, and believing effects had followed (cf. ii. 23). 
 This, however, now to be related was the second of 
 His Galilean miracles. And here a word is in place 
 as to the principle on which the fourth Gospel arranges 
 its miracle-histories. Reckoning the miracle of the 
 Loaves and the Walking on the Water one continuous 
 narrative, there are but seven of them in all. With the 
 one exception just named, these are all peculiar to this 
 Gospel. For throughout it presupposes a knowledge 
 on the part of its readers of the Synoptic accounts, and 
 is in relation to the miracles, as to all other facts of 
 the life, mainly supplementary. These seven are, evi- 
 dently, also selected — three from the Galilean ministry, 
 three from the Jerusalem visits, and one after the 
 
136 THE MIRACLES OF OUR LORD. 
 
 Resurrection. The selection has, in every instance, a 
 doctrinal purpose. Besides the one before us, John 
 records the Cana miracle, as the beginning of the 
 manifestation of His glory ; the Bethesda Healing 
 (chap, v.), because of its double bearing on the Sabbath 
 controversy and on the Lord's Divine Sonship ; the 
 miracle of the Loaves (chap, vi.), because of the sermon, 
 
 Christ the Bread of Life,' immediately appended ; 
 the Cure of the Man Born Blind (chap, ix.), because 
 of the argumentative demonstration of His Christhood 
 which followed ; the Raising of Lazarus (chap, xi.), as 
 the crown of His mighty works, and as closely con- 
 nected with His apprehension and crucifixion ; the 
 second Draught of Fishes (chap, xxi.), because of 
 its prophetic bearing on the future of the Christian 
 Church. 
 
 The historical importance of the present narrative 
 lies in its record of a turning-point in the Lord's 
 career. It is the introduction to the healing ministry 
 in Galilee, and is therefore a fit supplement to the 
 Synoptic records, which mainly report these healings. 
 The practical or spiritual significance of the passage 
 consists in showing that thus early in that heaHng 
 ministry the Saviour emphasized the true connection 
 between miracle and faith. 
 
 The relation of this narrative to the ministry of Jesus 
 and its principal work-place is stated in vv. 43-7. 
 
 The reason given for the transference from Judea 
 and Samaria to the northern province seems at first 
 sight paradoxical, or reads as if it had got out of its 
 proper place. There has been a great variety in the 
 exegetical solutions proposed. To say that Jesus made 
 this change because Judea, the country of His birth, 
 because Jerusalem, the centre of the theocracy, had, on 
 
THE COURTIER'S SON. 137 
 
 the proverbial and well-known principle, rejected Him, 
 gives a good sense. But the expression, "His own 
 country," is never applied, in our Lord's case, to 
 Judea or the capital, whereas it is three times ap- 
 plied in the Synoptics to a Galilean district.* Again, 
 to make the Evangelist mean that Jesus went into 
 Cana and Capernaum, but not to Nazareth and its 
 neighbourhood, and so give the proverb its directest 
 application, would no doubt express a good sense, but 
 one to which nothing in the context leads up. The most 
 helpful suggestion is that which would slightly trans- 
 pose the place of ver. 44, so that the whole statement 
 should run thus : — On His return to Galilee from the 
 south, Jesus was received with a readiness denied Him 
 in His earliest ministry even there. This change was 
 occasioned by the impression made on those Galileans 
 who had been visitors at Jerusalem during the Passover 
 time, and had seen the works then wrought. What 
 had not been done by His presence and words at home 
 was now done even for His own countrymen by the 
 report from a distance ; so true is it, as He Himself 
 testified, that a prophet hath no honour in his own 
 country. 
 
 When under these new and more favourable circum- 
 stances Jesus returned to Galilee, He went at first to 
 Cana, where His first miracle had been wrought. Thus 
 He took up His Gahlean work where He left it off, and 
 thus was the connection resumed. St. John's reason 
 for recording this second Cana incident, omitted by the 
 other Evangelists, is plainly to account for the promi- 
 nence which His heahngs in Galilee at once assumed. 
 The courtier or nobleman of our story was a king's 
 officer, or public functionary of the court of Herod 
 
 * Matt, xiii. 57; Mark vi. 4; Luke iv. 24. 
 
138 THE MIRACLES OF OUR LORD. 
 
 Antipas.* Some think he was the steward Chuza, 
 mentioned in Luke's Gospel, or the Manaen of Acts 
 xiii., who was Herod's foster-brother. At all events, 
 he was a person in such position that the event to be 
 related, happening in his family, soon became widely 
 and publicly known. When this man heard of Jesus' 
 return to the province, he went at once from his own 
 home in Capernaum to Cana, that he might bring the 
 Healer to the bedside of his fevered boy. A previous 
 acquaintance with the fame of Jesus is of course 
 implied, and ver. 45 has suggested how it might have 
 been gained. A certain degree of belief in Jesus and 
 His power is also presupposed. The education of 
 this elementary faith into full adherence to Jesus as 
 the Christ is the spiritual thread of the story. 
 
 This is the first recorded pf the Healing-mirac-les. 
 It is the first occasion on which a cure was asked of 
 Jesus. It is the first instance in which a conversation 
 of the sort is detailed to us. In all these lights we are to 
 mark how the Lord uses it to bring out the connection 
 of the Healing-miracles with the faith of the receiver, 
 and especially, in the case of healings obtained on suit, 
 with the faith of the intercessor. Nothing in these 
 narratives is more instructive than the glimpses they 
 present of the grounds and character of faith. Their 
 likenesses and difference, their parallels and contrasts, 
 are full of interest. As varied and contrasted as were 
 the states of mind and moods of faith in those with 
 whom He dealt, so various and widely different were 
 our Lord's ways of dealing with each. Now we see 
 Him tenderly directing a weak faith. Anon, by 
 
 * BacriXi/c6s. "Royal" or " king's officer " is the designation most 
 in favour with recent scholars, which R.V. puts in margin. The 
 " courtier" of A.V. margin is more convenient. 
 
THE COURTIER'S SON. 139 
 
 apparent refusal, bringing out the strength of a strong 
 faith ; by hint or question giving all men to know that 
 miracle is mainly useful, not as the ground, but as the 
 reward of faith ; that bodily healings are valued b}^ 
 Him chiefly as inlets to saving and spiritual health ; 
 that belief in Him as a healer of disease and a controller 
 of nature is meant to lead on to faith in Him as the 
 Son of God and Saviour of sinners. The aim of the 
 conversation which follows was to indicate the grounds 
 on which faith should rest, and the manner in which its 
 growth may be strengthened. The intention of the 
 record of it plainly is to suggest principles which ruled 
 all our Lord's action and utterance during His healing 
 ministry. 
 
 Ver. 48. ^^ Jesus therefore said unto himy Except ye see 
 signs and wonders ye will in no wise believe'^ (R.V.).* 
 Our Lord had just come out of Samaria, where a great 
 awakening had taken place without any miracles being 
 seen at all, and just before that out of Judea, where, not- 
 withstanding His many miracles. He had been virtually 
 rejected. Further, this kindlier reception He was now 
 obtaining in GaHlee, had been indirectly occasioned by 
 the Jerusalem-miracles. The impression of His life and 
 character and words among Galileans from His child- 
 hood had not effected in long ^^ears what the report 
 of these signs from a distance had produced in a few 
 weeks. ' You Gahleans,' says Jesus, speaking to the 
 courtier, but through him to His countrymen, ' have 
 received Me in so far as miraculous evidence has left 
 you no choice, but your faith is still only of that weaker 
 sort which leans on the crutch of sensible evidences.' 
 These words cannot be fairly construed into a dis- 
 
 * To the usual word for miracle in this Gospel, arjuela, " signs," 
 there is joined here the rarer word, repara, "prodigies."' 
 
I40 THE MIRACLES OF OUR LORD. 
 
 paragement of miracles on our Lord's part ; that He 
 wrought them unwillingly, or that He counted them of 
 no value. The words in their connection are spoken with 
 a corrective and educative purpose. They are intended 
 to correct the unreasonable tendency of the human 
 heart to demand a surfeit of external witness, to require 
 a kind and amount of evidence for Divine facts that 
 are inconsistent with the Divine methods and detri- 
 mental to the spiritual nature. When men have had 
 sufficient evidence to accredit Divine communications, 
 and still refuse to accept these, they violate a law of 
 spiritual knowledge. When they demand additional, 
 reiterated, and superfluous evidence, they are showing 
 themselves not wise and cautious, but bigoted and 
 unbelieving. Again, the saying is educative. Our 
 Lord often points the contrast between the lower and 
 the higher kinds of evidence and grounds of spiritual 
 intercourse (cf. John xx. 29). Here He is leading on 
 this father by his desires and by his affections to a 
 higher and stronger faith than that which had brought 
 him already to Jesus. He has taken this elementary faith 
 in hand, and we shall see it mount to higher ground. 
 
 Ver. 49. ^^The nobleman saith unto Hinty Sir, come down 
 ere my child die." The father comes out with a touching 
 appeal for his son's life, with a simple expression of his 
 own personal trust. His faith cannot be called clear or 
 strong, but it is real. He still thinks Jesus must make 
 the journey from inland Cana down to the Capernaum 
 shore ere aught can be done. But necessity and love 
 are handmaids of faith, and they are helpers of which 
 Jesus ever gladly avails Himself This man wants no 
 signs and wonders, he says ; he wants not even this 
 healing as a wonder, but only for the saving of his child. 
 
 Ver. 50. ^^ Jesus saith unto him, Go thy way; thy son 
 
THE COURTIERS SON. 141 
 
 liveth. The man believed the word that Jesus spake 
 unto him, and he went his way." The faith of the 
 courtier has now a second test to undergo. The first 
 lay in that word of ver. 48, apparently stern, which 
 might have wounded his pride ; but his persistent, 
 affectionate prayer surmounted it. Now Christ honours 
 his faith by putting it to the test of trusting His word 
 without sign or wonder. He believed the word 
 spoken to him, and acted on his behef by quietly 
 taking his journey to Capernaum. It is not for us 
 to pry into the modus operandi of a miracle. Yet this 
 healing at a distance seems to transact itself before 
 us, in the spiritual scene, as vividly as those in which 
 Jesus stood over the patient and cured by sign and 
 speech. We are permitted to perceive, as it were, the 
 very moment when the cure was wrought. So soon as 
 the Saviour's loving eye saw the spark of true faith 
 leap out from this parent's anxious breast. He said to 
 Himself, " Now My Father worketh, and I may work." 
 A Divine drawing had brought the man to Jesus. The 
 father had the child there in his heart. The Healer's 
 hand lay, as it were, upon the lad. Distance was 
 nothing, either to that parent's love or to Jesus' power. 
 Jesus pauses to see if there be a heaven-sent faith in 
 that heart ; and the moment it reaches out in this cry, 
 ' There is no other helper but Thou. Come down ere 
 my child die,' the circle is complete. As the ray from 
 Heaven illuminates the parent's heart, the ray of healing 
 darts into his distant child, and the word of the Healer 
 seals it : *' Thy son liveth." No need for any Capernaum 
 journey on His part. He said, and it was done. The 
 heahng beams of the Sun of Righteousness dispense 
 benign influences from one end of the heavens to the 
 other, and there is nothing hid from the heat thereof 
 
142 THE MIRACLES OF OUR LORD. 
 
 Vv. 51-3. ^^ And as he was now going . . . A/'m." It 
 was one o'clock in the afternoon when the word was 
 spoken. There is no need to interpose a whole day 
 between this and the sequel of the story. There is no 
 need for a third test of delay, invented by some of the 
 commentators (as Meyer and Lampe). The explanation 
 of the "yesterday," in ver. 52, is simple enough. The 
 Jewish day, by which St. John reckons, ended at sunset. 
 No doubt the courtier took his departure so soon as 
 possible when his prayer was answered. The mes- 
 sengers were not despatched from Capernaum till 
 perhaps some hours after the sudden cessation of the 
 fever in the patient, /.<?., till it had become clear that 
 he was cured. So the meeting described took place 
 probably not far from Capernaum, and not long after 
 sunset, when the words used would be appropriate 
 enough. When the cortege was met, the father eagerly 
 asked when the son began to amend.* They answered 
 that it was not mere amendment, but instantaneous 
 health ; and this, in a case of fever, proved the preter- 
 natural element.f The fever had left him suddenly 
 and entirely at the seventh hour on the previous day, 
 />., at the very hour when Jesus spoke the healing word. 
 Thus was the faith which accepted a word without a 
 sign confirmed by a sign unasked and unexpected. The 
 delighted father not only received his son back from the 
 dead, but " himself believed and his whole house." His 
 
 * Ko/i^ore/ooz' 'iox^i ^^ did better^ or rnore bravely^'' some think a 
 homely expression of the servants, but Godet says it suits well 
 the mouth of a man of rank. 
 
 f "There is no professional cure of fever. All that physicians 
 can do is to pilot the ship through the storm and obviate the tendency 
 to death. The best that can be expected from the ablest physician 
 is a long illness and a tardy convalescence." — Belcher's Our Lord's 
 Miracles of Healing, p. 27. 
 
THE COURTIER'S SON. 143 
 
 faith was rewarded, sealed, and perfected, i.e.^ they all 
 became firm followers of Jesus as indeed the Christ. 
 Let us notice these results of the narrative : 
 
 1. The Progress of Faith. Faith, 'at first slender and 
 tentative, becomes firm and influential. The process 
 is worthy of notice. At first it rested on external 
 testimony, but was backed by such anxiety to attain the 
 object that the man came so far to seek it. Then its 
 tenacity is proved and strengthened by a seeming 
 rebuff. Another and great step is taken when Christ's 
 word for the cure is accepted instead of His personal 
 coming down. Next, it is crowned and perfected by 
 the incontestable proof of the miracle. Last of all, 
 it becomes fruitful in promoting like faith in others, 
 " His whole house " went with him in the following of 
 Christ. The process was one of reasonable assent at 
 every step. Believe up to present evidence, according 
 to present light, and then by so honouring God expect 
 more evidence, fuller light, and stronger faith. What 
 most of us need in our Christianity is not more evidence 
 — the lamp can be choked with oil, if the oil is not 
 used — it is to follow with entire cordiality the light that 
 has shone so fully on us already. 
 
 2. Chrisfs Evidential Method. How He connects 
 
 sign and spirit, miracle and faith. He deprecates the 
 
 purely external connection — the believing only what 
 
 is seen. Such demand for seen evidence ends usually 
 
 in downright unbelief.* His method is to lead His 
 
 disciples to such inward, spiritual acquaintance with and 
 
 confidence in Himself that they trust His word, and so 
 
 by-and-bye behold His work. When His trusting ones 
 
 believe, then in due time they also see.f So was it 
 
 * John vi. 30 and 36. 
 f John xi. 40. 
 
144 THE MIRACLES OF OUR LORD. 
 
 here. And the appHcation of the method is instructive. 
 In this case it seems almost paradoxical. It seems for 
 a moment to forsake the evidential path. The courtier 
 himself breaks off the argument with an appeal: "Come 
 down ere my child die." Jesus accepts the loving earnest- 
 ness and tenacity of a faith otherwise slender. He will 
 lead this man into His Kingdom by the heart-strings, for 
 He avails Himself of every access to the souls of men. 
 This courtier would have Jesus go down and heal his 
 son. Jesus healed his son and did not go down. Thus 
 He suited His method to the case — was the helper of 
 the father's- faith as well as the healer of his son's 
 malady. In this instance He did precisely the reverse 
 of what He did to the centurion, though for the same 
 ultimate end. By declining to go to this man's house 
 He strengthened his faith ; by offering to go to the 
 centurion's house He brought out and honoured his 
 humihty. Finally, there is here established the principle 
 of connection between miracle and faith which our 
 Lord constantly insists on, and on which the whole 
 healing ministry is a comment, namely, that miracle is 
 not the ground of faith, but its reward. " He could do 
 no mighty works there because of their unbelief." " Be 
 it unto thee according to thy faith." So it is still ; the 
 inward and spiritual life is the precursor of the evident 
 and outward triumphs of Christianity, and not the con- 
 verse. Answers to prayer, successful labours, wide- 
 spread victories for Christ's Kingdom — these are not the 
 grounds of faith for those who get them. They come 
 as rewards to those who have first believed and trusted 
 Him from whom they come. 
 
 It is not needful to discuss at any length the attempts 
 to identify this miracle with the Healing of the Cen- 
 
THE COURTIER'S SON. 14S 
 
 turion's Servant recorded in two of the Synoptic 
 Gospels. The differences are numerous and important. 
 They are, — difference of place, this being wrought in 
 Cana, that in Capernaum, though the persons concerned 
 both belonged to the latter town ; of station, the king's 
 officer {fiaaCKiKo^ has little or no affinity with the 
 centurion (cKUTOPTapxos;) ; of nationality, the former in all 
 probability a Jew, the latter certainly a Gentile ; in the 
 relationship of the patient, here a son, there a servant, 
 though a dear and familiar one ; of disease, in this case 
 fever, in the other paralysis ; of historical connection in 
 the narratives, this being immediately related to Jesus' 
 return from the Samaritan sojourn, that being placed 
 by Matthew and Luke in immediate sequence to the 
 Sermon on the Mount. The inner differences are even 
 greater. The slender and tentative faith of this man 
 forms a contrast to the firm and great faith of the 
 centurion, who is not worthy, he says, to have Jesus 
 come under his roof; whereas this man's fixed idea at 
 first was to bring the Saviour to the bedside of the 
 patient. Indeed, a comparison of the two amounts to 
 contrast, rather than rests in mere difference. 
 
 The resemblances are so slight and the differences 
 so marked as to make it difficult to appreciate the 
 grounds on which some commentators desire to identify 
 them. Among the most recent, however, Beyschlag 
 decides for non-identification against Weiss, and in the 
 strongest terms. * 
 
 * Das Lebenjesu, W. Beyschlag, i. 255. 
 
 10 
 
11. 
 
 THE DEMONIAC IN THE SYNAGOGUE. 
 Mark i. 21-8 ; Luke iv. 31-7. 
 
 A CONTINUOUS account is given, at this point in 
 these two Gospels, of the Lord's first vSabbath in 
 Capernaum. The whole passage presents a remark- 
 able view of His labours on one single day. In the 
 earlier part of the day He goes to the synagogue, 
 teaches with great impression, and deepens this still 
 further by the first instance of His power over " the 
 possessed." In the after part of the day He raises 
 Simon's mother-in-law from her fevered bed to perfect 
 health. Later on the same evening the afflicted people 
 of the whole town are gathered round the door, and He 
 heals them all. The night's rest which followed must 
 have been of the briefest, for He rose the next morning 
 long before day broke and retired into a solitary place 
 for prayer. We are enabled by this minute and graphic 
 narrative to follow His footsteps for nearly twenty- four 
 consecutive hours, and thus obtain a vivid glimpse of 
 his actual and active ministry. 
 
 In the first paragraph of this account we are called 
 to note how Jesus made Himself Lord both of the 
 synagogue and of the Sabbath. But lately we saw 
 Him at week-day preaching and in open-air services.* 
 
 * See p. 51. 
 
THE DEMONIAC IN THE SYNAGOGUE. 14 
 
 Now we see Him claiming the stated religious ordi- 
 nances of the time for His Kingdom and its work. The 
 number of His miracles done upon the Sabbath is quite 
 a noticeable feature in these narratives, and became by- 
 and-bye a main count in the indictment of His enemies 
 against Him. In these Sabbath-healings He was pre- 
 paring the way for what the Spirit of His gospel has 
 effected, viz., the change of the observance from the 
 secluded sanctity of the older into the merciful and 
 benevolent activity of the newer dispensation. Not 
 less noticeable is the diligence with which Jesus made 
 use of the synagogue worship all through His Galilean 
 ministry for the proclamation of His glad tidings, and 
 in this He was closely followed by His apostles, as the 
 Book of Acts bears witness on almost every page. 
 Here, also, He was detaching the permanent element 
 from the perishable in the ancient worship. The con- 
 trast between His treatment of the Temple and of the 
 synagogue is significant. While He reverences the 
 former, He speaks of it as about to vanish away. The 
 latter He fosters, and by His labours and those of His 
 servants moulds — as He did also the seventh-day rest 
 — into a perpetual Christian institution. As we mark 
 Jesus teaching and healing on the Sabbath day in the 
 synagogues of Galilee, we shall learn that He is re - 
 cuing and ripening that combination of sacred rest 
 and reHgious instruction of which He found in these 
 the germs. In short, we see Him preparing for all 
 future ages the blessing of the Lord's day, as well as 
 the worship and teaching of the Christian Church. 
 
 Let us now enter with Him and His little band of 
 followers on this Sabbath morning into the house of 
 prayer, perhaps the very one which the centurion 
 proselyte had built for his townsfolk?. It was probably 
 
148 THE MIRACLES OF OUR LORD. 
 
 the Sabbath immediately following the call of Peter and 
 his brethren to be *' fishers of men." On this first visit 
 He at once took up His position as a public religious 
 Teacher. Thenceforward so to teach in these meetings 
 on the sacred day became His recognised custom. 
 From this first instance of it began also the astonish- 
 ment of the people at His doctrine, or rather *' at His 
 teaching." Both the substance and the manner of His 
 utterances impressed them ; at the outset the latter 
 especially. It was so different from that to which they 
 had been used. Fresh, plain, and to the purpose, it was 
 such a relief from the dry hair-splitting and tradition- 
 alism of their stated instructors, such a contrast to 
 the glosses and guesswork of those so-called interpre- 
 ters of the law. Most of all, it had a majesty and force 
 which sprang from the Person of the Speaker, Himself 
 the Truth. ^^ For He taught them as having authority, 
 and not as the scribes.^' As He was teaching in this 
 manner, the discourse was singularly interrupted. A 
 voice burst out— a shriek rather than a voice — that 
 stopped the Speaker and hushed the audience into 
 death-like stillness. " Let atone / Go away, Jesus of 
 Nazareth ! Art Thou come to destroy us ? I know Thee 
 who Thou art, the Holy One of God^ * Unnoticed by 
 those who had charge of the meeting, one of those 
 unhappy creatures, '' the possessed," had crept into the 
 synagogue, and while our Lord was making His first fresh 
 impressions on this rapt audience the Evil One tried to 
 throw them into disorder, to break the spell of spiritual 
 truth and power, to bring discredit on the Master's 
 work as if He were the Author of confusion and ex- 
 citement. But Jesus was not to be taken at unawares. 
 
 * The words are given with almost Hteral sameness in both 
 Gospels. 
 
THE DEMONIAC IN THE SYNAGOGUE. 149 
 
 ^^ Hold thy peace y He will have no testimony from such 
 a quarter. We read in Mark's narrative (ver. 34), *' He 
 suffered not the demons to speak, because they knew 
 Him." And again (at iii. 12), when they "fell down 
 before Him and cried, saying. Thou art the Son of God, 
 He charged them much that they should not make Him 
 known." So then, addressing the unclean spirit as 
 distinct from the man. He added, *' Come out of himr 
 This word was with power. It had authority like His 
 teaching, in another and marvellous sense. For when 
 the demon had thrown his victim into violent fits, had 
 hurled him with a convulsive bound into the midst of 
 the astonished congregation, and had uttered a cry of 
 helpless rage, he came out and left the man prostrate 
 but unhurt. 
 
 This is the first recorded of several similar incidents, 
 the features of which are noticeably alike. It is need- 
 ful once for all to enter into the question. What were 
 these cases ? How are we to regard our Lord's cures 
 wrought upon them ? Was He dealing in these simply 
 with disease bodily, mental, or both, or with something 
 worse than either ? Was there a real or merely a 
 figurative " casting out " of an unclean spirit in these 
 healings ? 
 
 As has been already noticed, the view most in favour 
 at present is one which sees nothing in all these cases 
 but lunacy, mania, epilepsy, and the like.* It therefore 
 holds the narratives to be coloured by the prevalent 
 notion of their age, which is said to have regarded all 
 such ailments as the result of demoniacal possession. 
 It ought to be remembered that many who take this 
 view have no intention of thereby denying the reality 
 or importance of the cures. That which they allow 
 
 * See Introduction, pp. 26-9. 
 
150 THE MIRACLES OF OUR LORD. 
 
 would be still among the greatest of miracles, namely, 
 that with a word Jesus should restore a furious maniac 
 to sanity and calmness, or cure a confirmed case of 
 nervous disorder, the most difficult of all forms of 
 disease to deal with, as every physician knows. But 
 the question is, in the first place, one of facts, and 
 the theory now stated does not satisfy these. That 
 the demoniacs of the New Testament include only the 
 mentally or nervously afflicted, that all such were 
 regarded by the writers as possessed, are both 
 assumptions unsupported by the sources. It is toler- 
 ably plain, — 
 
 a. That by the Gospel-writers themselves a dis- 
 tinction is made between demoniacal possession and 
 mental or nervous disease. In Matt. iv. 24 we read, 
 among our Lord's healings, of ** those which were 
 possessed with devils, those which were lunatic (epileptic, 
 R.V.), and those that had the palsy." * In this first 
 chapter of Mark (ver. 34) it is said, " He healed many 
 that were sick of divers diseases, and cast out many 
 devils." The same distinction is made in the corre- 
 sponding place of the third Gospel (Luke iv. 40, 41), 
 while in another (vii. 21) infirmities, plagues, and evil 
 spirits are enumerated.! 
 
 b. \i is also clear that by the Evangelists some 
 nervous disorders are regarded as natural, while other 
 cases of the same disorders are spoken of as aggravated 
 by possession. Compare, for example, the case of a 
 man naturally deaf and dumb (Mark vii. 32) with that 
 of one described as dumb by reason of an evil spirit 
 
 * Aai/xopt^o/ji^vovs, Kal <T€\7jvi.a^ofJ.evov$, Kai irapaXvriKovs. 
 
 f Nocrct)!/ /cat /xaaTiyojv Kai irvevfxdTwv irovt^pCiv. It is surely worth 
 notice that it is the physician-evangelist who records the largest 
 number of these (five out of the seven) as cases, plainly, of possession. 
 
THE DEMONIAC IN THE SYNAGOGUE. 151 
 
 (Matt. ix. 32), or of one blind and dumb for a similar 
 reason (Matt. xii. 22). The man whose cure is recorded 
 in John v. had a natural impotence, not unconnected 
 certainly with personal sin ; yet a similar infirmity re- 
 corded in Luke xiii., where the moral character of the 
 patient is conspicuously not in question, is ascribed to 
 Satanic oppression. It cannot therefore, upon a fair 
 reading of the Gospels, be alleged that all such disorders 
 were, in those times, or by the Gospel-writers, attributed 
 to evil spirits. 
 
 c. Further, what is still more formidable to this 
 theory is the language of Jesus, both in performing 
 these miracles and in discoursing of them. He addresses 
 the unclean spirit, commands it to come out of the man, 
 speaks of it as distinct from the patient himself. To 
 the disciples by themselves He specifies a " kind which 
 Cometh not forth but by prayer and fasting." Above 
 all, there are the passages where, both in defending His 
 own cures of this class and in congratulating His dis- 
 ciples on theirs. He declares them to be real victories 
 over Satanic power.* To suppose Him to speak in 
 accordance with an insane idea of the victims them- 
 selves, or to favour the superstitious notion of the age, 
 if, after all, the thing done was the removal of a mental 
 or nervous disorder only, is to adopt an interpretation 
 which, to say the least of it, brings the Saviour's truth- 
 fulness into serious hazard. On the other hand, we 
 must repudiate the view of Olshausen and Weiss, who 
 would maintain the accuracy of the language used, by 
 regarding the patients, in these cases, as persons of 
 preternatural wickedness, — so given over to certain sins 
 and morally under the power of Satan, that they could 
 truthfully be spoken of as possessed. It is certainly 
 
 * Matt. xii. 25-9 ; Luke x. 17-20, xi. 17-22. 
 
152 THE MIRACLES OF OUR LORD. 
 
 of a very different class of persons from the demoniacs 
 that it is said, Satan had entered into them, or that they 
 belonged to the Father of lies. The attempt to identify 
 this with the language used about possession is futile. 
 d. Once more, when we take in all the facts we 
 must not overlook the physical and psychical elements 
 in "possession," because we are compelled to think that 
 there was also something beyond or below the natural. 
 Doubtless the two men in the tombs at Gadara were 
 maniacs. The man here who cried out in the synagogue 
 was insane, and so of the many similar cases alluded to 
 in the mass, though not detailed. But they were some- 
 thing more or worse, for this plain reason over and 
 above those already given, that they took the opportunity 
 whenever they saw Jesus, of declaring Him to be the 
 Son of God.* If these were only poor maniacs and 
 lunatics, how did they discover and proclaim v/hat was 
 hid as yet from all the rest of the Jewish nation ? It 
 is vain to say that the awakening hope of Messiah 
 found expression through these diseased minds, when 
 the invocation occurred, as in this instance, upon our 
 Lord's first public appearance in Capernaum, or as in that 
 other was actually uttered by the maniac on the eastern 
 shore, shut out from every kind of human companion- 
 ship, and to whom the Person of Jesus was presumably 
 unknown. It is worse than vain to say, that when He 
 began to be thought of as the Christ, the first so to 
 recognise Him should be those diseased in their minds. 
 When did insanity or epilepsy render a soul more 
 susceptible to receive a spiritual impression or reveal 
 the Christ of God to the heart ? What is plainly 
 recorded in the present case was: something more than 
 
 * Besides the two specified instances, of. the general statement, 
 Mark i. 34 ; Luke iv. 41. 
 
THE DEMONIAC IN THE SYNAGOGUE. 153 
 
 a mental malady, viz., a preternatural or infernal op- 
 pression of the man's personality ; in the exact words 
 of the narrative, that the man " had the spirit of an 
 unclean demon," or ''was in an unclean spirit." Cf. 
 Mark i. 23 and Luke iv. 33. 
 
 Let us consider the authority and value of this miracle 
 occurring as it does at the opening of the Galilean 
 ministry. Take the words of the amazed congregation 
 in the synagogue as an expression of these. " What 
 is this ? a new teaching ! with authority He conimandeth 
 even the unclean spirits, and they obey Himr * How 
 clearly this brings out the connection between miracle 
 and doctrine. The human mind in its inquiries 
 demands such a connection. f Here is pow^r ; but 
 to what does the power witness ? It must never 
 be forgotten that the value of our Lord's miracles 
 as evidence does not depend on their being mere acts 
 of power. If we put ourselves in the position of 
 accepting mere wonder as evidence of the Divine, we 
 lay ourselves open to become the prey of Antichrist, 
 for Scripture tells us that *' His coming is after the 
 working of Satan with all power and signs and lying 
 wonders."? What word then, what teaching is this 
 which is attended with such power ? His teaching is 
 that the kingdom of God is come near to men, for 
 He that teaches is the Saviour of the world. His 
 name is Jesus, for He shall save His people from their 
 sins. He " was manifested " to take sin away and at 
 
 * Mark i. 27, R.V. That is, attention was fixed on the new method 
 of Jesus with demoniacs: cure by a word and not by the arts of the 
 exorcist. 
 
 f " Miracle is the sign and seal of doctrine. But as the seal torn 
 from the deed or writing to which it was affixed proves nothing, so 
 miracles are of no force apart from doctrine," — J. Gerhard. 
 
 J 2 Thess. ii. 9. 
 
154 THE MIRACLES OF OUR LORD. 
 
 last abolish its effects. Compare with this claim, these 
 signs following. If we ask what are the physical 
 effects of sin, it is answered : sicknesses of all kinds ; 
 fevers, palsies, leprosies, blindness, — each of these a 
 death begun — a partial dying ; and finally death 
 itself, " the wages of sin." Now as we follow Jesus 
 through His Galilean ministry will there be any need 
 to question what word, what new doctrine, or what 
 kind of Person is here ? We can say as He said to 
 John's messengers, " The bUnd see, the lame walk, the 
 lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, 
 and to the poor the gospel is preached." Is this an}' 
 other than He who was sent of God to be the Saviour 
 of the world ? These miracles of healing are the 
 appropriate signs and seals of the glad tidings of 
 salvation — as redemption-miracles they are the true 
 credentials of a Divine Redeemer. 
 
 But this argument goes a step higher. If we ask 
 ourselves what are the mental and psychical effects of 
 sin — we answer, those moral disorders, those fearful 
 infirmities in which mind and body both seem to be 
 involved, when the gates of the human soul seem to 
 stand ajar so that an evil spirit may enter and take 
 possession ; and towards all such cases our Lord 
 manifested the utmost tenderness and promptness of 
 cure. Those actually tormented by unclean demons 
 were special objects of His miraculous power. Indeed 
 He seems to begin thus early in His merciful ministry 
 with one of these, in order to bring this argument for 
 His Divine authority and Christly office to the test. 
 What power is this, that commandeth even the unclean 
 spirits and they do obey Him ? Can we hesitate a 
 moment to answer. What power, but that which 
 was manifested to destroy such works. Vainly will 
 
THE DEMONIAC IN THE SYNAGOGUE. 155 
 
 the cavillers at this same class of miracles try to say 
 that it is by Beelzebub He casts out demons. The 
 answer is ready. What power is this ? No power of 
 nature. It is above and beyond nature. No power 
 infernal ; a house divided against itself cannot stand. 
 It is the Son of God that was manifested to destroy 
 the works of the devil. If an^^thing else were wanting 
 to crown the proof it would be this — the unclean spirits 
 obey Him, because they recognise Him. His is a 
 power to which they cannot choose but 3deld. He is 
 One they cannot choose but know. Repressed and 
 confused by His presence, they shriek out in blind 
 terror the proof of His divinity. This blessed One 
 entering our sin-stained world, and on behalf of mis- 
 erable man throwing down His challenge to the powers 
 of darkness, is to them no unknown Champion. They 
 flee from Him, proclaiming in their flight who and 
 whence He is, '* Earth has not 3^et recognised her 
 King, has not yet perceived Him under His disguise ; 
 but heaven and hell alike bear witness to Him ; the 
 devils also believe and tremble." * 
 
 * Trench, in he. 
 
III. 
 
 SIMON'S WIFE'S MOTHER: A SABBATH-DAYS 
 LABOURS. 
 
 Matt. viii. 14-17; Mark i. 29-34; Luke iv. 38-41, 
 
 THIS narrative stands in the closest possible con- 
 nection with what precedes. Mark and Luke both 
 tell us that immediately after Jesus and His company 
 rose from the synagogue worship where the demoniac 
 had been healed, and came into the house, the case of 
 Simon's mother-in-law was brought under His notice, 
 and then that this led to a remarkable gathering of sick 
 persons that same evening, when He healed "every one 
 of them." The passage claims distinct comment be- 
 cause it brings before us not so much a particular 
 incident as a whole mass of His healing labours, and 
 these taking place on one single Sabbath-day, 
 
 I. The Fever rebuked. It was in the ^^ House of 
 Simon and Andrew.'^ They were of Bethsaida, but 
 had now a home in Capernaum. Perhaps they had 
 removed thither in order the better to suit their atten- 
 dance on Jesus and His ministry. The fact that these 
 disciples had a home, that they lived in family relations, 
 that their house was open for Jesus and His following, 
 that the table was spread there on the Sabbath, after 
 the synagogue-meeting — all this gives a glimpse of a 
 simple, natural, religious life. It is related in immediate 
 context that Simon, Andrew and the others " forsook 
 
SIMON'S WIFE'S MOTHER. 157 
 
 all and followed Jesus." * Probably nine readers out 
 of ten, when the sentence occurs about " leaving all and 
 following Jesus," frame to themselves an idea, coloured 
 by the mediseval conception of renouncing the world, 
 forsaking the natural duties of life and abjuring common 
 sense. Yet here on the same page we can behold the 
 actual scene. These fisherman, just as before, kept 
 home and friends and table, and provided as God helped 
 them "things honest in the sight of all men;" all the 
 more carefully too that they were doing it now, not for 
 their own comfort and support only, but for Jesus and 
 His Gospel. 
 
 When they entered the house they found Peter's 
 mother-in-law ^^ laid and sick of a fever!^ />., struck 
 down or prostrate with fever, and St. Luke adds the 
 technical detail that it was a '' great fever " t with which 
 she was " holden " (R.V.). " Anon " they tell Him of 
 her, " They besought Him for her!^ At once He attended 
 to the case.J '^ He touched her hand ^^ (Matt.); '^ took 
 her by the hand and lifted her up " (Mark) ; " stood over 
 her, and rebuked the fever (Luke), and immediately she 
 arose, and ministered unto them!' 
 
 * Luke V. II, where this expression follows our present story. Cf. 
 Mark i. 20, where it almost immediately precedes. 
 
 f ni;/3eT<l; fieydXci). Most careful commentators refer to the lan- 
 guage of Galen and other ancient physicians as distinguishing fevers 
 by the terms /xeyas and fiiKpos. The expression " /lolden (^avpexo/Jt-ivr]) 
 of a fever" is again used by St. Luke in Acts xxviii. 8, and is also the 
 proper medical or technical expression. For much elaborate infor- 
 mation on these points see T/ie Medical Language of St. Luke, Rev. 
 W. K. Hobart, LL.D., Dublin, 1882; also Belcher, Our Lord' s Miracles 
 of Healing, p. 20, etc. 
 
 X St. Mark's use of eu^ews is notable in this place, ver. 29, ''^Forth- 
 with they entered into the house;" ver. 30, "Anon they tell Him 
 of her ; " ver. 31, " Immediately the fever left her," — the same adverb m 
 all three verses. 
 
158 THE MIRACLES OF OUR LORD. 
 
 The noticeable features of the transaction are these : 
 (i) That this heaUng was done at the request of those 
 around Him. Jesus sought out many cases Himself, 
 and healed them unasked. Here He gives examples 
 numberless of the converse — for this was only the first 
 of a whole crowd of such answered requests that after- 
 noon and evening, — direct seals of His own maxim, 
 " Ask, and ye shall receive." Ask not only for your- 
 selves, but for others. " Ask believing, and it shall be 
 done unto you." (2) The specific action with which 
 the cure was accompanied. The " laying His hands " 
 upon the patients. This action seems to have charac- 
 terised the whole group of Healings which took place 
 on this occasion, for St. Luke says of this great 
 transaction, that " He laid His hands on every one of 
 them and healed them" (Luke iv. 40). The action, 
 though not invariable, was a very frequent one with 
 Him. We may read it as giving a sacramental character 
 to these Healings.* It was significant that the Sent of 
 God and the Saviour of men should use such an action. 
 It means that He comes to reverse the curse of disease 
 and suffering, as to remove the sin which brought it. 
 That He absolves from the guilty the yoke of sin and 
 restores men to the favour of God. (3) The immediate 
 and entire recovery of the patient. In addition to the 
 statement common to all the Synoptic Gospels, that 
 the completeness of the recovery was proved by the 
 good dame's prompt help at the table, St. Luke records 
 the " rebuke " of the fever — a detail which would strike 
 the mind of a physician. The transaction is utterly 
 
 * It has been noted that a visible sign of some sort was used by 
 Jesus in twenty-two out of the thirty-three of His miracles. And 
 that though He laid His hand upon lepers even — He never did so to 
 demoniacs. 
 
S/A/OJV'S WIFE'S MOTHER. 159 
 
 removed by these details out of the category of an 
 ordinary event. There are sudden cessations of febrile 
 attack, but they leave the patient prostrate. At the 
 best, riddance of fever is usually followed by a long and 
 slow convalescence. Here was something entirely 
 different.* How great was the impression made by 
 this instantaneous cure of an acute malady, the im- 
 mediate sequel showed. 
 
 We can see the appropriateness of this work, in the 
 circumstances of the case. It would have been strange 
 indeed, if Jesus had not used His healing power on the 
 occasion. Often in the public view and on far-carried 
 patients He exerted His merciful gift. How natural 
 this " home-specimen," as Calvin calls it, of His grace. 
 Here was His disciple's near relation, His own hostess, 
 struck down with sickness. It was most fitting that 
 He should bring with Him the joy of immediate relief 
 and dispel the shadow that darkened His temporary 
 home. 
 
 2. The Evening's Work. The miracles of the day 
 soon spread their report through the place, and before 
 nightfall the whole city "was gathered together at the 
 door." Those who had heard of the forenoon miracle 
 brought all the possessed persons they could get, and 
 He " cast out devils," not suffering them to speak. 
 That is to say, as much as possible He repressed 
 those demonstrations of which a notable specimen had 
 occurred in the synagogue. The testimony was not 
 such as He desired. It was premature and unsuitable. 
 As Matthew Henry quaintly says. It was extorted in the 
 process of expulsion, and being a confession made upon 
 the rack, it was not admitted in evidence. Again, the 
 miracle of the afternoon — sudden and entire removal of 
 
 * Comp. note at p. 142 supra. 
 
i6o THE MIRACLES OF OUR LORD. 
 
 fever — suggested that His help was available for other 
 forms of illness. Fevers are among ^he most common 
 and fatal of acute diseases, and if He could cure them 
 with a word, why not other sicknesses, and indeed 
 every sort of disease and infirmity ? Forthwith the 
 entire ailing persons of the town were brought to Him. 
 They waited indeed until sunset, for then the Sabbath 
 was over, and they could with a freer conscience set 
 about what they deemed the un-Sabbatic labour of 
 carrying sick people. Jesus did not agree with them in 
 that opinion, and soon found occasion, in the course of 
 His Healing ministry, to show that He did not. But 
 He respected their scruples, and though the Sabbath 
 was now passed and He might have claimed the even- 
 ing's rest, He did not so. He began afresh, and car- 
 ried on probably late into the night His toilsome work. 
 So great was the crowd and so numerous the cases, that 
 it was impossible to bring them one b}^ one into the 
 house. They were gathered together before it. He 
 went on casting out devils, healing the sick, laying His 
 hands upon them, without exception and without re- 
 striction, until it could be literally said that " He healed 
 them all." 
 
 It is at this point and on this eminent occasion of 
 His scattering broadcast over a whole community these 
 gracious benefits so worthy of the Redeemer of man- 
 kind, that St. Matthew cites the well-known words from 
 Isaiah's great Messianic Passional as being there and 
 then fulfilled, *' Himself took our infirmities and hare 
 our sicknesses" The inspired insight implied in the 
 quotation grows upon us as we reflect upon it. It is 
 the very word required to elevate this whole mass of 
 miraculous detail into a universal human connection, to 
 place it in the central light of the Redeemer's Person 
 
SIMON'S WIFE'S MOTHER. i6i 
 
 and Work. Not indeed that the meaning Hes on the 
 surface. It is at first blush paradoxical to quote words 
 which seem to express, not what the recovered crowds 
 and their friends were enjoying, but what the Healer 
 Himself was undertaking. But note the occasion. Not 
 without significance are these words quoted in connec- 
 tion with this remarkable Sabbath day's work. From 
 morning to evening, and beyond evening into night, had 
 Jesus been curing diseases — bodily, mental and spiritual. 
 He was doubtless much fatigued. Much virtue had 
 gone out of Him. Much compassion had been excited 
 within Him. He had many harrowing cases of pos- 
 session to deal with. Many sore distresses had been 
 subjected to His view. True, He had been victorious 
 over them all. It was a day of gladness in that place 
 such as had never been seen since it was a pkce of 
 human habitation, and doubtless the soul of Immanuel 
 rejoiced in this outpouring of God-like help. But this 
 well-chosen citation directs our attention to some other 
 aspects of the Lord's Healing offices. Think of the 
 Son of God, the Eternal King of a city where no in- 
 habitant can ever say, *' I am sick," now sojourning 
 among suffering men. See what work ready for Him, 
 what evils to grapple with in one little town of one 
 obscure province of this dark earth, on one Sabbath 
 afternoon. Then, think of His three years' ministry, 
 day after day healing, helping, suffering with and for 
 men. Think, further, of the tremendous mass of human 
 misery which Jesus Christ, through His blessed Gospel, 
 has come to remove ; of the weight of His glorious but 
 mighty undertaking, as it lay upon His mind during 
 that compassionate, open-eyed, public life of His in 
 Judaea and Galilee. Think, finally, of the innumerable 
 evils of humanity meeting upon Him — Him alone — who 
 
 II 
 
i62 THE MIRACLES OF OUR LORD. 
 
 was to redeem us from them, and the force of the 
 words will make itself felt. 
 
 It is a further surprise, leading to a further expansion 
 in the sense of this great utterance, to note that the 
 words '^ took " and '' ba?'e " will not admit of being ren- 
 dered " took away " or " bore off." They are the proper 
 terms for representative, place-taking, substitutionary 
 suffering. Scholarship admits no other rendering of 
 them. Now, at first sight, or on a superficial view, it 
 does seem strange to say that Jesus " bare " or '' carried," 
 like a surety or substitute, men's sicknesses and infirmi- 
 ties when, in point of fact, He was sympathizing with 
 them, or, better still, was relieving and removing them. 
 But the truth is, in a great deal of our Christian teaching, 
 the central doctrine of Atonement has been shrivelled 
 up to a mere test-point of orthodoxy, instead of taking 
 on the breadth of the Scriptures. Is not this quotation 
 of the Evangelist a fresh light thrown on the vicarious 
 work of Jesus ? Not His death alone bare that character, 
 but His life as well. The same redeeming energy was 
 shown in these blessed Heahngs as when in the latest 
 and highest phase of it, He, through the Eternal Spirit, 
 offered Himself without spot unto God.* And the 
 connection of the two sides of this great redemptive 
 work becomes clear when we read the Scriptures in 
 their own light. Accept the doctrinal standpoint of the 
 sacred writers, and the whole becomes clear as a sun- 
 beam. Suffering and disease are effects of sin and 
 types of sin. The removal of disease, then, is an 
 effect and a symbol of the removal of sin itself. And 
 He who takes away the sin of the world is He who 
 takes it upon Himself in life and death. As Jesus 
 
 * See some good notes on " The Gospel of the Miracles," G. G. 
 Findlay, The Monthly Interpreter, September, 1886. 
 
SIMON'S WIFE'S MOTHER. 163 
 
 wrought these mighty and merciful works throughout 
 the towns and villages of Galilee, He was showing 
 Himself by type and foretaste the suffering yet con- 
 quering Redeemer upon whom the Lord has laid that 
 iniquity of us all from which all our pains and diseases 
 flow.* This central thought brings the diseases and 
 sufferings of the children of God in every age within 
 the sweep of that Healing ministry of Jesus. There is 
 more in this one line of the Gospel to support suffering 
 Christians than in all the writings of the philosophers. 
 It is not that the merciful Son of man relieved a certain 
 limited amount of human pain and misery in a small 
 area of the earth during the few years of His public 
 ministry. If that were all, the record of the Healing 
 miracles might have to be regarded as an aggravation 
 rather than a consolation to suffering mankind. But 
 let faith grasp the fact. Let God's word interpret it to 
 our hearts and minds. Let us see in the Healer of 
 Galilee, the Lamb of God and the Redeemer of the world. 
 Let us think of Him as doing by forecast, and in some 
 special instances, with His loving touch on those sick 
 multitudes, what He is doing for the entire body of 
 His redeemed as He works out their redemption. He 
 '• Who His own self bare our sins in His own body on 
 the tree," in the same great act " took our infirmities, 
 and bare our sicknesses." He took the cause and the 
 sting of them upon Himself. And in the gracious 
 communication of His healing and saving might to His 
 redeemed, He broadens out the miracles of Capernaum 
 to cover our entire Christian experience. Sicknesses 
 and infirmities are to His children no longer of the 
 
 * "Unus homo corpore et anima constat. Una animae et corporis 
 corruptela. Unam utrique opem, ut res ferebat, hie Medicus praestitit " 
 (Bengel, in he). 
 
1 64 THE MIRACLES OF OUR LORD. 
 
 curse, but within the covenant. He bore them for us 
 in His passion; He bears them with us in His com- 
 passion. He can be touched with a feehng of them all. 
 He touches them with the transmuting power of His 
 love, and so makes them " hght afflictions which are but 
 for a moment, working out for us a far more exceeding 
 and eternal weight of glory." 
 
IV. 
 
 THE CLEANSING OF THE LEPER. 
 Matt. viii. 2-4; Mark i. 38-45; Luke v, 12-16. 
 
 THE popular exposition of this and of the other 
 Leper-narratives of the Bible has become vitiated 
 by some confusions which ought to be cleared up. In 
 the first place, the best experts now insist on distin- 
 guishing the Leprosy of Scripture, or of the Hebrews, 
 from the so-called " true Leprosy " of mediaeval and 
 modern times. This disease is one of the most for- 
 midable and hopeless of known maladies, and finds its 
 nearest analogue in scrofula or syphilis. It is irre- 
 mediable by any known human means. Though not 
 directly contagious, there is always the terrible risk to 
 those who mingle much with the sufferers of at last 
 falling under its power. This was the malady known 
 from an early period of European civilization, for which 
 the Lazarettos or Lazar-houses of the Middle Ages 
 were provided. The attention of Christian philanthropy 
 at the present day has been roused to the aid of those 
 who are attempting, in India, in the South Seas, and in 
 other localities where it still prevails, to stamp it out 
 by isolation ; and spiritual ministrations have for 
 years been supplied to these isolated sufferers with 
 a chivalry as high as the spirit of Jesus has inspired 
 in any age. On the other hand, every probability. 
 
1 66 THE MIRACLES OF OUR LORD, 
 
 derived from the terms used in Scripture and in ancient 
 medicine, from the very full description of its symptoms 
 in the Old Testament, and from the whole strain of 
 the narratives in which it occurs in the sacred text, 
 goes to show that the Leprosy there meant is a totally 
 different malady. It was a skin disease of various and 
 complicated forms, some of which may have had a 
 resemblance to the symptoms of the modern terror. It 
 was of repulsive aspect, indeed, but neither usually fatal 
 nor absolutely irrecoverable. Whether the Hebrew 
 Leprosy was always or ever contagious, is the second 
 point of confusion which ought to be cleared. But 
 here the true solution is not so evident. It involves 
 the allied question, whether the Mosaic rules for its 
 segregation were sanitary only, or were in no respect 
 so, but only symbolic and religious. The truth seems 
 to lie between the two. There is no need for the 
 antithesis. There is fair ground for concluding that 
 this leprosy was not necessarily infectious by contact ; 
 but that it was contagious in the wider sense of being 
 communicable by social or family interchange ; also that 
 other similar diseases really infectious were not easy to 
 distinguish from it. The Hebrew legislation, therefore, 
 justifies itself at once on sanitary and on ceremonial 
 grounds.* 
 
 The use of Leprosy as a type for sin is quite 
 legitimate, but the analogy requires to be handled with 
 greater accuracy and point than is usually applied to it. 
 The usage in the Christian pulpit and commentary dates 
 from the Fathers themselves, who no doubt had the 
 proper Hebrew Leprosy in view. But most theological 
 
 * See for the full discussion of this subject : Sir Risdon Bennet, 
 M.D., etc., op. cit., pp. 15-53; Belcher, do., pp. 81-105; Dr. Greenhill, 
 in Bible Educator, iv., pp. 76-8; Edersheim, Life and Times of Jesus 
 the Messiah, \., 491-6. 
 
THE CLEANSING OF THE LEPER. 167 
 
 or religious teaching on the topic has been coloured 
 by the impression of " the deep-seated, all-pervading, 
 corrupting, and mortal character of mediaeval leprosy, 
 rather than from anything said in the Bible."* Yet the 
 figure presented in the Hebrew Leprosy is full of sig- 
 nificance, full of that peculiar aptness which marks the 
 emblems of Scripture when truthfully interpreted. All 
 diseases, especially those which Jesus healed, have 
 their symbolic side, as has been already remarked,! 
 but Divine legislation itself emphasized the special- 
 ties of this one. There was, {a) its repuisiveness. 
 We naturally shrink from skin diseases. In these 
 maladies the bodily mischief is, so to say, en evidence. 
 The instinct of all healthy life is revolted by it. So, 
 could we see our own sinful nature and life as these 
 appear in the sight of holy beings, above all of the 
 Holiest, we should be appalled at its loathsomeness. 
 Then {b) the suggestion of impurity or defilement in 
 Leprosy is most, patent. The appropriate and almost 
 invariable word for its removal is " cleansing " in 
 the narratives of our Lord's cures. The same word is 
 significantly used in His commission to His disciples : 
 " Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast 
 out devils " (Matt. x. 8). Thus is Leprosy distinguished 
 from other forms of human ill. A saying is quoted 
 from Augustine to the effect that when Lepers were 
 restored to health they were mundati, not sanati, be- 
 cause Leprosy is an ailment affecting merely the colour, 
 not the health or soundness of the senses and the limbs. 
 This is undoubtedly an exaggeration, but it serves to 
 bring us back to the true state of the question. It is 
 jLi^n its uncleanness that the emphasis of the Bible 
 
 * Sir R. Bennet, at p. 47. 
 f See Introduction, p. 24. 
 
i68 THE MIRACLES OF OUR LORD. 
 
 representations of Leprosy depend. And this leads to 
 the kindred idea of (c) isolation or separation — an idea 
 burned into the Hebrew mind by the sacred legislation. 
 The Leper was treated by the Mosaic law as cut off 
 from the living. He was to be shunned, as the same 
 law required its subjects to shun all defilement by the 
 touch of the dead. On its removal the same offerings 
 and lustrations were appointed as for those who had 
 defiled themselves for the departed. 
 
 Here, then, is a sufficiently expressive symbolism. 
 Sin, like Leprosy, is hideous in the sight of all pure 
 beings — it covers the soul, as that covers the body, 
 with a universal taint of impurity. It is incurable by 
 any ordinary human appliances. It separates from the 
 camp of God's Israel, because it cuts off from the 
 fellowship of God. The dead in trespasses and sins 
 have no place in the true Church of the living God. 
 It is discovered by the law, but it is taken away only 
 by the Son, who was manifest to do that which the law 
 could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh. 
 
 Let us now look at (i) this particular instance of 
 Leprosy, and (2) at our Lord's method of dealing 
 with it. 
 
 I. The incident happened in one of the Galilean tours. 
 Matthew relates it as occurring when Jesus came down 
 from the Mount of Beatitudes. We should have looked 
 for it as likely to take place on a country road, or at 
 least outside the gates of a town ; but Luke says it was 
 when *' He was in one of their cities," while Mark 
 places it in the preaching tour through the neigh- 
 bouring "towns," following on the Capernaum cures 
 already narrated. Attention is at once arrested by the 
 Leper's Faith. This is the first instance in which we 
 are called specially to note that element. The cure of a 
 
THE CLEANSING OF THE LEPER. 169 
 
 fever patient, or of a demoniac, must take place with no 
 reference to the sufferer's state of mind. Friends, in 
 some of these cases, brought the patients and showed 
 faith in the Healer. Now one comes of his own 
 motion, declaring his own confidence in the Saviour. 
 From this point onwards the narratives are rich with 
 references to the link between personal faith and the 
 desired healing. This man's faith is shown by his 
 immediate and earnest application, *' He came to Jesus, 
 beseeching Him,'' and his rendering to Jesus something 
 like Divine honours, " Kneeling down to Him, he wor- 
 shipped Him.'' Still more distinctly does the character 
 of his faith come out in his words, made emphatic by 
 their exact reproduction in all three Gospels : " Loj^d, if 
 Thou wilt Thou canst make me clean." This faith was 
 original. There had been no previous instance, amid 
 all the Judean and Galilean healings, of such a cure. 
 No wonder, for lepers dwelt by themselves ; were indeed 
 regarded more as outcasts than as sufferers. Nobody 
 thought of them, or of bringing them to Jesus. They 
 were least likely to see or even hear of Him ; but the 
 great and spreading fame of the Healer had reached 
 this poor outcast, and, reasoning justly upon the facts, 
 he told himself that One mighty enough to do all these 
 other wonders, could no doubt remove Leprosy. And 
 it was courageous. For this was no slight form of the 
 malady, St. Luke notes that this man was "full of 
 leprosy." The disease was virulent and total. The 
 patient honoured Jesus, therefore, in taking to Him 
 such a case and in such a spirit. ' Bad as my ailment 
 is, beyond human help and hope, I come to Jesus with 
 more than hope, with assurance of His abihty.' But 
 what of this " if Thou wilt!' Usually it is assumed 
 that here was a defect in the man's faith. It is, at 
 
I70 THE MIRACLES OF OUR LORD. 
 
 least, as probable that it shows his entire and implicit 
 trust. Jesus had made no announcement that he would 
 heal every case or kind of disease, — though the facts 
 had already witnessed that He could, and in all proba- 
 biHty would, heal all who applied to Him. Still it had 
 been made clear that He would work no miracles upon 
 compulsion, nor even upon mere sohcitation. When 
 His townsfolk of Nazareth demanded of Him, with an 
 insulting unbelief, that He would do at home what He 
 had done abroad, He reminded them that like deeds of 
 love and mercy had been done in times of old, not 
 according to the caprice or the wishes of men, but 
 according to the Divine counsel. The cure of a leper 
 was one of the instances He quoted. " There were 
 many lepers in Israel," he said, in the days of Ehsha, 
 but it was not one of his countrymen the prophet 
 healed by the power and will of Jehovah, " None of 
 them was cleansed saving Naaman the Syrian." * 
 One could almost suppose this leper had got some 
 rumour of that speech. He had somehow conceived 
 that view of Christ's Divine commission which it 
 presents ; for he says, in effect, *' I know not whether 
 it is the purpose of God that under Thy mission any 
 lepers should be cleansed. Of the power of God in 
 Thee to do it, 1 have no doubt, for it is mightily wit- 
 nessed ; and as for the intention, I cast myself on Thy 
 Godlike heart ; If Thou wilt, Thou canst." 
 
 In most of these particulars, this man's faith is a 
 model for us of the faith which saves. We have not, 
 indeed, his difficulty to overcome. We know it is our 
 Lord's intention to save sinners. We know it from 
 the proclamation ; every line and letter of the Gospel 
 assures us of His willingness. We know it from the 
 
 * Luke iv. 27. 
 
THE CLEANSING OF THE LEPER. 171 
 
 facts. None who came to Him as a Saviour was ever 
 cast out. Let us see that we grasp firmly His power 
 and wilHngness to save sinners still. " Thou canst 
 make me clean." It is no small part of faith to own 
 and honour His authority and power. " Believe ye that 
 I am able to do this ? " '' That ye may know that the 
 Son of man hath power (i^ovcriav, right, authority) on 
 earth to forgive sins." Many think it a matter of 
 course that they believe His power to save them when 
 they shall apply to Him. Their easy assent rises from 
 a slight view of the cure to be wrought. It is another 
 thing to come to Him with -confidence, under the clear 
 conviction that one is " full of the leprosy " of sin. Yet 
 how many are there, pining under inward pollution, 
 groaning under fetters of habitual vice, wandering about 
 without spiritual health and cure, saying, in effect, there 
 is no hope ! It is indeed the heart of faith to go to 
 Him with earnest beseeching and with reliance on His 
 might — ' Thou art able — Thou alone — to save me.' 
 
 "7/" Thou wilt." We abolish the "if." Of His 
 willingness there can be, dare be, no question. ^' God 
 will have all men to be saved and come to the know- 
 ledge of the truth." The declared will of God is a 
 ground of acceptance and access to salvation for all. 
 ' But the glad tidings are not yet accessible to all.' 
 ' Many to whom they are familiar are not saved.' Yes, 
 to every thoughtful mind there is mystery surrounding 
 this subject of the Divine intention as to men's final fate. 
 But what we may learn here is, how a believing mind 
 ought to deal with that mystery. It should afford 
 another occasion of honouring and trusting the Christ 
 of God. Let us take this problem, this harmonizing of 
 Divine power and Divine intention, as one wrapped up 
 in God's great gift of Christ to men, and bring it for 
 
172 THE MIRACLES OF OUR LORD. 
 
 solution, not to a doctrinal formula, not even to the 
 form of sound words — far less to the babble of human 
 speculation, but to the Wonderful Counsellor Himself, 
 ' Blessed Christ, Thou hast power to save whom Thou 
 wilt ; and by Thine own word it is made clear that Thy 
 will and power combine to save us. " Him that cometh 
 unto Me I will in no wise cast out." Thou wilt, Thou 
 canst make us clean.' 
 
 2. St. Mark alone has the significant words, ^^ And 
 Jesus, moved with compassion" We can see what an 
 appeal there was to the Saviour-heart of Jesus in the 
 case of such a man. There was shame and disgrace 
 involved in the disease. There was isolation and re- 
 pulsion. Sick and troubled persons usually draw 
 men's sympathies, and are cared for by their fellow- 
 men above others on account of their sufferings. With 
 lepers it was precisely the reverse. If the leper went 
 into a synagogue, a vacant space was made round 
 him. If he walked abroad he went with dishevelled 
 hair, with his mouth covered, and crying out Unclean, 
 unclean, lest any one should touch him. He was 
 shunned, not pitied, and if people had thought of this 
 man at all, they would have tried to keep him out of 
 the Saviour's way rather than bring him near it.* 
 
 How exactly here again our Lord's healing mercy 
 is dispensed so as to meet the case, so as to heal heart 
 and soul and body all in one. Word and act, both 
 significantly recorded by all the three EvangeHsts ; 
 show us how He did it. He ^^ put forth His hand, and 
 touched him, saying, I will, be thou clean^ The act before 
 the word. This was His immediate answer to the 
 leper's " if." The doubt in the sufferer's mind was 
 
 * See the vivid contrast between the Rabbinic treatment of lepers 
 and that adopted by Jesus (Edersheim, he. cit.). 
 
THE CLEANSING OF THE LEPER. 173 
 
 mainly whether Jesus would have anything to do with 
 outcasts from the Church and commonwealth of Israel, 
 and this was His reply. He did not always touch even 
 the lepers when He healed them, as we see from the 
 other Leper-story in Luke xvii. But here, in the first 
 instance, the act was most significant. That touch was 
 everything to the lonely outcast. It swept the barrier 
 down that held him aloof from mankind. Every looker- 
 on shrunk back for fear of defilement. All held their 
 breath at the unwonted boldness of the act. But the 
 outstretched hand of the Son of man was laid with 
 fearless and loving clasp on the unclean. We may 
 think the word had been enough without the touch. 
 In many of His cures He used the word alone. But 
 here the act was the very heart of the transaction ; 
 for above all others a leper needed the touch of brother- 
 hood and health. And this act reflected — how simply, 
 yet grandly — the power as well as the grace of Jesus. 
 He touched the polluted and took no pollution. He 
 was the pure One to whom all things are pure. For 
 any other the touch would have been defilement. But 
 in Him purity swept away uncleanness, life banished 
 death. The creative health of the Redeemer abolishes 
 by its first contact the loathsome disease of the sinner. 
 Then the word ; how apt ! " I will ; " exactly it meets 
 and yet overpasses the leper's prayer. That had been 
 couched in a simple human appeal to the Healer's 
 power, and with a modest submission to His will. The 
 royal w^ord of the Redeemer leaps out in reply. If 
 there were an incompleteness in the faith which 
 prompted the prayer, it was swallowed up in the 
 completeness of the answer. 'Thou hast honoured 
 the power; sure of the '' canst^^^ be assured also of the 
 " wilty To him that hath shall be given, and he shall 
 
174 THE MIRACLES OF OUR LORD. 
 
 have more abundance.' How kingty is Christ's giving. 
 He will have faith from those He blesses. He honours 
 faith as faith honours Him, — the more faith, the larger 
 blessing. But He drives no bargain about its degree 
 or kind. It is simply that He be trusted. Only 
 believe ! All things are possible to him that be- 
 lieveth ! " As soon as He had spoken^ He spake 
 and it was done. He commanded and it stood fast. 
 '^Immediately the leprosy departed from him, and he 
 was cleansed." 
 
 Two things in the sequel deserve special attention. 
 The Saviour's injunction and the man's disregard of it. 
 
 (i) The charge was twofold — to keep silence and 
 to go to the priest. The injunction, '' See thou say 
 nothing to any man" was not unusual with Jesus in 
 His Healing-miracles. The reasons for it might lie 
 partly in the circumstances of the Master Himself. 
 Much noise about the cure hindered His work ; and in 
 this case it proved so according to St. Mark's pointed 
 detail in ver. 45. Yet it could not be absolute con- 
 cealment of the healing that the Lord intended to enjoin 
 in this case, for it was performed in public before a 
 multitude of people (cf. Matt. viii. 2). Rather, then, 
 the other reason for the commanded silence must be 
 supposed the stronger one here, viz., that which con- 
 cerned the moral effect upon the subject of the cure. 
 The disposition of the man was evidently such that 
 silence, for a time at least, was a needful discipline. 
 But the second part of the charge, " Go thy way, show 
 thyself to the priest, and offer . . . for a testimony unto 
 them" throws the clearest light upon the Saviour's 
 intention. His immediate and almost forcible discharge 
 of the man from the spot emphasizes the whole : " He 
 strictly {m. sternly) charged him, and straightway sent him 
 
THE CLEANSING OF THE LEPER. 175 
 
 oiiV (Mark i. 43, R.V.). It has all the effect of a para- 
 dox. The blessing hand, a momenti before stretched 
 out to the unclean, now thrusts him away when he is 
 cleansed. He who let a leper, of all men, draw near, 
 sends him from His presence when he is a leper no 
 more. This brings again into full view the precise 
 religious significance of leprosy and its cure. Leprosy 
 was a social and spiritual ban, even more than it was 
 a disease. Set free from the disease, this man must 
 at once be also set free from the curse and isolation 
 which his disease entailed. That the Lord held this 
 essential to such cases is proved by the uniformity of 
 His procedure (cf. the narrative of Luke xvii.). This 
 miracle must have for the Worker its proper attestation, 
 and for the subject its due legal, social, and religious 
 fruits. These could only be attained in the way here 
 so pointedly prescribed, by recourse to those in charge 
 of the sacred legislation. That Jesus was mainly 
 anxious to forestall prejudice to His own work, by 
 getting the priests at once to countersign the cure, 
 is not thinkable. It would be altogether unlike Him. 
 Yet it is not unfitting to suppose Him desirous of 
 having the work attested by a due observance of the 
 Mosaic law, and of thus having its validity carried 
 home to the minds of all, and especially of those who 
 administered the law.* But the main design, doubt- 
 less, of this immediate despatch to the priest was to 
 complete the benefit for the man himself He was 
 really not cured in the highest sense till he was socially 
 and spiritually restored to the commonwealth of Israel, 
 
 * Despite the preponderance of authorities against it, I have never 
 been able to see that the words "for a testimony unto them" need 
 be construed otherwise than as epexegetic of the words, "Moses 
 commanded," i.e.^ the Mosaic legislation was on this point one of 
 moral and religious significance. 
 
176 THE MIRACLES OF OUR LORD. 
 
 and that by obedience to the Divine requirements. So 
 let all our spiritual work and the marvels of God's 
 grace among us be brought to the test of the Divine 
 precept, to the law and to the testimony. That these 
 are really Divine works will be incontestably proved 
 only by that criterion ; not by premature noising of 
 them abroad, not by crude and immature display of 
 them, but by the countersign of God's own witness in 
 heart and life. Leprosy was a vivid type of sin, in the 
 social death which it entailed. The means appointed 
 for its ceremonial cleansing were emblematic of a 
 restoration which goes to the very heart of the spiritual 
 life. To honour these as Jesus here did was to set 
 forth a deep truth of His salvation. His pardon, His 
 pronouncement that the soul is clean, carries with it 
 that complete removal of sin's pollution and power 
 which the pure and impartial judgment of God's law 
 must attest. '' Purge me with hyssop and I shall be 
 clean ; yea, wash Thou me and I shall be whiter than 
 snow. Make me to hear joy and gladness, that the 
 bones which Thou hast broken may rejoice. Restore 
 unto me the joy of Thy salvation, and uphold me with 
 Thy free spirit." 
 
 (2) The man apparently broke both the injunctions 
 laid upon him. He did not go to the priest, and he 
 did not keep silence. The result was a temporary 
 injury, at least, if not more, to the Healer's work. 
 The cleansed leper was probabty what we call a well- 
 meaning man. He thought he knew a better way to 
 honour Jesus and promote His cause than that which 
 Jesus Himself prescribed, and the sequel is significant. 
 It is perhaps not too much to say that the blunder of 
 this self-willed and vain-glorious patient had a share 
 in bringing about the final catastrophe. " He had his 
 
THE CLEANSING OF THE LEPER. 177 
 
 share — however far from his intention — in bringing 
 his Healer to the cross." * Let us learn that obedience 
 is the only true thankoffering for healed and pardoned 
 sinners; and obedience in the line of the Lord's re- 
 quirement. Not unusual, alas ! is this man's mistake 
 among the subjects even of Divine mercy. They will 
 prate or boast or strain their service to some fond and 
 far-off goal, when the plain, God-appointed work they 
 should do for Jesus lies neglected in their hands. " To 
 obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the 
 fat of rams." 
 
 * Dr. George Macdonald. 
 
 12 
 
V. 
 
 THE PARALYTIC LET THROUGH THE ROOF: 
 PARDON SEALED BY POWER. 
 
 Matt. ix. 1-8; Mark ii. I -12; Luke v. 17-26. 
 
 A FEW days before this occurrence Jesus had 
 healed almost all the sick people in Capernaum. 
 The whole city on that occasion had been gathered 
 together at the door of the house where He lodged to 
 obtain or to witness the fruits of His power. During the 
 intervening days He had retired into the wilderness 
 for prayer. Now that He was returned, the excitement 
 was as great as ever, the crowds as overwhelming ; 
 but His intention was to preach the Word, to follow up 
 the miracles by testimony. The house where He was 
 teaching was so filled that there was not room so much 
 as about the doors. Some of the hearers were as un- 
 usual as the concourse was vast. '' There were Pharisees 
 and doctors of the law sitting by which ivere come out 
 of every town of Galilee, and Judea, and Jerusalem!^ 
 But the teaching met with an unusual interruption. 
 The Lord's healing power was drawn upon for a 
 special manifestation, which brought out in strong relief 
 the real meaning of His miracles, viz., that they were 
 signs and seals of Spiritual and Saving Grace. 
 
 It was the case of '' one sick of the palsy," who 
 
THE PARALYTIC LET THROUGH THE ROOF. 179 
 
 had either been overlooked at the former healings, or 
 whom it had not been possible then to bring near to 
 Jesus, or who had been struck down by his disease in 
 the interval, and who was now brought, doubtless, by 
 his own desire, and through the zeal of his friends, to 
 share the benefit, as it were, out of season ; to obtain 
 the blessing of the violent who take it by force. They 
 could not this day get at the Healer in the usual 
 manner. The sufferer could not come otherwise than 
 borne on his pallet. His bearers mounted to the roof, 
 broke up the tiling, and let him down by ropes either 
 into the upper room or into the central court where 
 Jesus was teaching.* The surprise of the crowded 
 audience at the interruption, their strained attention to 
 see and hear what would follow, we can imagine. But, 
 perhaps, we seldom realize the astonishment which 
 filled their minds at the words which the Saviour first 
 spoke. " When He saw their faithy He said unto the sick 
 of the palsy y Son, be of good cheer; thy sins be forgiven 
 theeT Words surprising, but no doubt at first dis- 
 appointing to the four friends, to the congregation, and 
 to the disciples of Jesus. Also surprising, but not 
 unwelcome, to those envious watchers, the Pharisees 
 and scribes. What, no miracle after all ! nothing but 
 words, vain and fruitless ; nay, bold and blasphemous ! 
 Surely they have caught Him now speaking unadvisedly 
 with His lips. There was one to whom the words 
 were neither vain nor disappointing — the man himself. 
 
 * The construction of an Eastern house made it easy enough to 
 mount the roof from outside. The opening of the roof does not imply 
 such danger or disturbance as we are apt to think of. Simplest of 
 all, is the notion that the man was let down into the central court 
 rather than into an upper room. And the description of the crowd 
 favours this idea. Not one apartment, but the whole house, was 
 thronged. 
 
i8o THE MIRACLES OF OUR LORD. 
 
 Doubtless the word, — spoken in reward of faith, — 
 went directly to his heart, full as it was of a sense of 
 sin, a desire for pardon, a fear of death, or a dread that 
 he would miss salvation. '' Son, be of good cheer ; thy 
 sins be forgiven thee." 
 
 Meanwhile the thoughts of the audience were busy, 
 especially of those critics, those "sitters by," or 
 '' lookers on." " Sitting there and reasoning in their 
 hearts!^ '' they said within themselves, This man blas- 
 phemeth; " " who can forgive sins but God only ? " The 
 word " reasoning," as apphed to their cogitations, is 
 not out of place. These critics were not so unreason- 
 able as some modern ones, who profess to receive 
 Christianity and yet exclude the supernatural from the 
 work and from the Person of Jesus Christ. If He was 
 merely and simply man the Pharisees were right. But 
 was He merely and simply man ? There lay the whole 
 question. Was He grasping at a Divine prerogative ? 
 Had He not given proof enough in the things done 
 already that He held a Divine commission, and was 
 able to speak for God to men's consciences and with 
 Divine authority ? Were they not present that day to 
 discover at least whether it was so ? And yet they were 
 in their hearts prejudging and foreclosing the whole 
 question. So Jesus answers them, takes up their 
 unspoken thoughts, giving them, in so doing, another 
 weighty proof of His Divinity. The Evangehsts thus 
 pointedly express it : " When Jesus perceived in His 
 spirit that they so reasoned within themselves. He said 
 unto them, IVhy reason ye these things in your hearts ? " 
 A little before, it is simply recorded that He saw the 
 faith of the paralytic and his four friends, for they gave 
 visible proofs of it ; but He employed His Spirit, His 
 heart-searching power, to read the thoughts of the 
 
THE PARALYTIC LET THROUGH THE ROOF. i8i 
 
 scribes and Pharisees. ^^ Wherefore think ye evil in your 
 hearts ? Their displeasure was due, after all, not to zeal 
 for God, not to jealousy for the Divine honour, but to 
 this — that they were resolved not to acknowledge Jesus 
 as sent of God. They heard His words, they saw His 
 wonders, but when He went on to claim the power 
 which belonged to Him, of forgiving sins — the power 
 with which He came to bless mankind, that redeeming 
 might of which both His teaching and His miracles 
 were simply attestations — they say in their hearts, '' This 
 man blasphemeth." But this is the '' Living Word " 
 before whom men's hearts, too, are naked and opened, 
 and He plunges into these hearts its dividing and 
 disclosing knife. 
 
 For He goes on : '' Whether is it easier to say to the 
 sick of the palsy. Thy sins be forgiven thee, or to say, 
 Arise, and take up thy bed, and walk ? " Our Lord does 
 not mean to imply that it is easier to forgive sins than 
 to heal disease. The contrary is implied. Does He, 
 then, propose to prove His power to do a hard thing 
 by doing a thing less hard ? No ! What He proposes 
 to prove is His own claim to be credited with both 
 powers — to be trusted in every word He utters. Now, 
 says He, Whether is it easier to say. Thy sins be forgiven 
 thee, or to say, Arise, take up thy bed and walk ? They 
 could have no difficulty in answering, nor can we. It 
 is much easier to " say " ' thy sins be forgiven thee.' 
 Every Jewish rabbi — every so-called priest — can and 
 does say it. But it is only when the true Saviour and 
 Pardoner of men comes that He can say with equal 
 ease and effect, ' Rise ! take up thy bed and walk ' — 
 a power to which none of these false pardoners dare 
 lay claim, though it be the lesser power of the two. 
 For the claim ' to forgive sins ' is one which cannot 
 
1 82 THE MIRACLES OF OUR LORD. 
 
 be at once and easily disproved, even when it is false ; 
 but the claim to heal disease with a word — completely 
 and immediately — is one which any child in the house 
 will reject, if it be not at once verified. ' If then/ 
 says Jesus, ' I give unquestionable evidence of Divine 
 power, where you can all see it, by making this para- 
 lytic rise up and walk, you are bound to believe Me in 
 the higher and spiritual region where you cannot see.'* 
 ^' But that ye may know that the Son of man hath power 
 on earth to forgive sins (He saitJi to the sick of the 
 palsy), I say unto thee, Arise, and take up thy bed, and 
 go thy way into thine house. And immediately he arose, 
 took up the bed, and went forth before them all ; inso- 
 much that they were all amazed and glorified God, saying. 
 We never saw it on this fashiony 
 
 Notice what it was that lent a fresh and peculiar 
 lustre to this act of healing — what made it seem un- 
 paralleled even to those who had seen Him work m.any 
 and equally great miracles. It was this : He put on the 
 foreground on this occasion and publicly proclaimed 
 those spiritual and saving effects which on other occa- 
 sions were quietly and privately wrought in the souls 
 of those whose bodies He healed. Here He put the 
 forgiveness of sins first — made the miracle of grace 
 the thing predominant in the minds of all, and then 
 wrought the physical cure as the seal or proof of the 
 reality of pardon. So we read, '' They were all amazed^ 
 and they glorified God, and ivere filled ivith fear, saying, 
 We have seen strange things to-day " (Luke). What was 
 strange was not the miracle of healing, for such had 
 He wrought among them in plenty ; but the instanta- 
 neous and certain forgiveness of sins, supported by 
 
 * Cf. Steinmeyer's remarks on evKoiru}Tepou, as here used, T/ie 
 Miracles of our Lord, etc., p. 84. ' 
 
THE PARALYTIC LET THROUGH THE ROOT. 183 
 
 such unquestionable evidence. For no doubt could 
 remain in any mind that, sure as this man's body 
 rose strong and lithe before their eyes, loosed from 
 the fetters of disease, his soul was risen up to life 
 and liberty ; he was a pardoned sinner, an accepted 
 child of God. The wonderful work of that day was 
 the salvation of a soul made visible, if we may so 
 speak, sustained to the very senses, by the sign of 
 bodily healing which immediately followed it. 
 
 The gist of the story is, that wherever Christ works 
 unto salvation, the inner and more spiritual effects are 
 countersigned and witnessed by other gifts of His of 
 an outward and evident sort ; or, to put it in a word, 
 Pardon is sealed by Power. The relative value put 
 upon these two classes of effects of redeeming grace 
 varies. The subject of them may prefer the pardon 
 to the power. The onlookers may prefer the power 
 to the pardon. But in the plan and work of their 
 Author they are inseparably unjj:ed, and their bearings 
 and relations to each other are full of suggestiveness 
 when duly considered. Let us look at their mutual 
 relation : — 
 
 I. In the personal sphere. Power to resist sin is the 
 only certain proof that sin is pardoned. Holiness is 
 the best and indispensable evidence to ourselves that 
 our sins are forgiven. Whether is easier to say : ^ My 
 sins are forgiven me,' or 'Soul, arise! take up the bed 
 of th}^ spiritual inability and walk. Be victorious over 
 temptation ; be holy ; be sin free ' ? Some of us can 
 say whether we have found this task to be easy. How 
 vainly you say it to yourself by yourself. How you 
 might as soon say, ' Walk on the waters ! ' ' Fly in the 
 air ! ' Is it not therefore as vain and foolish for us to 
 pass acts of self-pardon and say, because of certain 
 
1 84 THE MIRACLES OF OUR LORD. 
 
 feelings and impressions within our own heart, '' My 
 sins are forgiven me " ? But you reply, " It was not ' my 
 heart to my heart that said it ' ; no other than the voice 
 of Jesus it was that sounded in those dear words, * Thy 
 sins be forgiven thee.' " Was it so ? Then let us 
 bring it to the proof When He says this He always 
 follows it up by something more. He gives no counter- 
 feit pardons. His forgiveness is always countersigned 
 and sealed by power. He never leaves a forgiven soul 
 paralyzed and powerless under the thrall, in the bonds 
 of its iniquity. He never says, " Thy sins be forgiven 
 thee," but He adds and means it, " Arise, take up thy 
 bed and walk." "Sin," says Bishop Jeremy Taylor, 
 *' passes on to eternal death only by the line of im- 
 penitence. Sin can never carry us to hell, if the line be 
 broken by a timely and effectual repentance. As then a 
 man leaves his sin, he is pardoned and he is sure of it. . . . 
 It is the blood of Christ that redeems us ; but then 
 only is it shown to be .effectually applied to us when it 
 redeems from our (former) vain conversation. . . . But 
 they have great reason to doubt their pardon altogether 
 whose repentance is broken into fragments, and is never 
 a whole and entire change of life ; those, I mean, who 
 resolve against sin, and pray against it, and hate it 
 in all the resolution of their understanding, till that 
 unhappy period comes, or that special temptation is 
 present in which they are used to act it ; and, then, 
 they shall as infaUibly sin, as they will certainly 
 repent it when they have done so." This is not to 
 get the victory over sin, but to be within its power. 
 For it is certain that they who sin and repent, and 
 sin again in like circumstances, are under the power 
 and dominion of sin. And they can do nothing so 
 likely to drug their souls to an eternal sleep as to 
 
THE PARALYTIC LET THROUGH THE ROOF. 185 
 
 keep on saying to themselves, '' Pardon and peace," 
 when the voice of Jesus has not said. Pardon and 
 power. 
 
 It will not for a moment be supposed this m.eans that 
 holiness secures pardon, any more than the story could 
 mean that the man received forgiveness because he 
 arose and walked. Nor does it mean that holiness must 
 be complete before one can be assured of pardon. This 
 paralytic knew he was pardoned before he was healed, for 
 Christ had said it. But the power that enabled him to 
 arise and walk remained with him as the abiding evi- 
 dence that His pardon was real. So in our salvation. 
 We may be assured, and well assured, that we have 
 heard the voice of Jesus say, '' Thy sins be forgiven 
 thee." That assurance depends on His work, and is 
 witnessed by His Spirit. But what we say is, let us 
 mark how witnessed. If it was truly His voice that 
 pardoned and commanded, you will arise and walk. 
 You will be laying aside sin, and fleeing from sin, and 
 rising above sin. Not satisfied with an easy and off- 
 hand impression that all is well, you will " work out 
 your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is 
 God which worketh in you both to will and to work for 
 His good pleasure."* 
 
 2. On the public scale. Power to overcome sin, to 
 assuage and finally remove the effects of sin, is the best 
 witness to the Saviour's right to forgive it. Why did 
 Jesus work this miracle of healing on the paralytic ? 
 He tells us Himself. Not only or chiefly for the man's 
 sake, but " that ye may know that the Son of man hath 
 power on earth to forgive sins." 
 
 In other words, — to put this on the broad and public 
 scale, — the physical and social results of Christianity, 
 * Phil. ii. 12, 13 (R.V.). 
 
1 86 THE MIRACLES OF OUR LORD. 
 
 though in their own degree inferior or second to its 
 spiritual power, are the patent proofs of its reaUty, 
 because they flow from that power. Jesus Christ has 
 come into the world of morally sick and paratyzed men. 
 He has proclaimed the gospel of pardon and peace with 
 God. He has sealed His claim to the rightful and 
 effectual proclamation of it by saying, also, with effect, 
 to our sin-sick humanity, ''Arise and walk." Chris- 
 tianity has changed the face even of the civilized world. 
 It has elevated woman, freed the slave, repressed public 
 cruelty, promoted constitutional government, spread the 
 blessings of light and liberty wherever it has come ; 
 has built our hospitals, refuges, and asylums, institutions 
 unknown to the world without Christ and before Christ. 
 This is a great power, but it is the issue and proof of 
 something greater. If that greater thing were not real 
 and valid, these truly great results had never been 
 effected by it. The visible and manifest benefits wit- 
 ness to a source deeper than themselves. The gospel 
 of Jesus has promoted the healing of men's bodies, the 
 opening of their minds, the elevation of their morals, 
 because first and deepest it speaks always to the 
 conscience and the heart, and has for its main business 
 to put men right with God. 
 
 In our time there are strenuous attempts made to 
 . keep this link of connection out of sight. There are 
 many who write and speak on behalf of the benefits 
 and blessings of Christianity who would have us make 
 nothing of its Divine claim. They dream, too, of con- 
 serving its social influence and even its exquisite ethical 
 results, while by their teaching they empty it of its 
 spiritual and supernatural character. Is this a think- 
 able or possible position ? Let us suppose for a 
 moment that the man in our story at that first word 
 
THE PARALYTIC LET THROUGH THE ROOF. 187 
 
 of Jesus about forgiveness had looked up in His face 
 with the reply that this was not at all the matter about 
 which he had come ; that a man and his sins must be 
 left to God alone ; that he had been brought, on the 
 report of Jesus' healing power, to ask only the plain 
 matter-of-fact boon of relief from his palsy, — is it likely 
 there would have been any act of healing done that 
 day ? It is the question which must be faced by those 
 who would separate the secondary benefits of the 
 gospel from its primary claims, and imagine they can 
 retain the former when they reject the latter. Those 
 who think they approve Christianity because of the 
 mental, moral, and even material progress which it 
 promotes, while they disapprove its so-called mystical 
 claim to deal with conscience of sin and peace toward 
 God, have cut the ground from under their own feet. 
 From the thing they reject, the gospel derives all its 
 power to produce the thing they approve. It was a 
 Christ accepted as the power of God to forgive sin 
 who cured palsies and leprosies of old. It is the same 
 Christ of God revealing Himself in spiritual power to 
 men's inner experience who is the heart of Christianity 
 still, and gives it all its effect upon the world at large. 
 
 Let us close with two questions: (i) Are we treating 
 with the ** Son of man " for the cure of sin, and accepting 
 His treatment ? The cure of sin. He tells us, begins 
 with its forgiveness, with the settlement of the con- 
 science in the sight of God. Let us not reverse the 
 order of free grace. ' It requires not, first, complete 
 conquest over sin, and, only then, provides pardon for 
 it. On the contrary, sin forgiven is sin subdued — 
 though the conquest must be followed up. It is 
 '* cancelled sin " of which the redeemed can confidently 
 ask their Redeemer to '■'■ break the power." Is it to 
 
1 88 THE MIRACLES OF OUR LORD. 
 
 Him we come for pardon ? viz., to God's appointed Sin- 
 bearer — the Lamb of God who taketh away sin, and 
 therefore in His own Person has power to forgive. Let 
 us beware of the self-deceiving as well as pretended 
 piety of the scribes. '' Who can forgive sins but God 
 only ? " they said ; yet missed Divine forgiveness after 
 all, for they knew not when He came, the Christ of God, 
 the only One whom He has sent for the remission of 
 sins. 
 
 (2) Do we believe that He '' has power on earth to 
 forgive sins " ? It is true that forgiveness is a Divine 
 and heavenly prerogative. Only He can discharge the 
 debt to whom it is due. But it is an expressive setting 
 forth of the grand fact of human redemption through the 
 God-man, when as Son of man He claims to exercise 
 on earth this Divine grace of pardon. Many who are 
 habitual hearers of the gospel seem to miss this truth 
 or pervert it. They speak as if the power of pardon 
 had never yet come dow^n from heaven, as if it were locked 
 up in the secrets of eternity. The clearing of a soul 
 from guilt is, they seem to think, something that stands 
 only in the Divine purpose, never to be certainly known 
 here by man, nor to yield any certain joy; possibly to be 
 whispered on a death-bed, but never proclaimed till the 
 judgment day. Jesus Christ preached a better gospel. 
 His glorious claim as our Redeemer and Pardoner is 
 to pronounce an immediate, an assured and abiding 
 pardon, — down here, on earth, this very hour; in His 
 word and by His spirit. He sheds abroad the sense of 
 reconciliation in the sinner's heart, and to countless 
 souls still says as He did of old : '' Son ! be of good 
 cheer ; thy sins be forgiven thee." 
 
VI. 
 
 THE MAN WITH THE WITHERED HAND. 
 Matt. xii. 9-14; Mark iii. 1-6; Luke vi. 6-1 1. 
 
 IN all these three accounts this Healing is recorded 
 in immediate connection with the incident of the 
 disciples being challenged for plucking the ears of corn 
 on the Sabbath-day. It is evidently so placed by the 
 Evangelists on purpose to bring out what Jesus taught 
 as to the observance of the Sabbath, as to the place 
 which works of necessity and mercy properly had on 
 that day, even according to the law of Moses, much 
 more the beneficent character of the day of which the 
 Son of man claims to be Lord. 
 
 The time and place of this miracle are both very 
 clearly indicated. It was on the Sabbath; ''Another 
 Sabbath," Luke says, than that on which the corn- 
 plucking took place ; and in their synagogue, where He 
 was teaching according to His wont. " There was a man 
 there ivhose hand was withered^ St. Luke, true to his 
 habit of giving more exact details of the ailment, notes 
 that it was the " right hand." The disease is supposed 
 to have been a local atrophy, that is to say, a wasting 
 confined to the part. The arm, small and useless, 
 loses flesh, loses power, and finally becomes like a dead 
 thing. Tradition says the man was a bricklayer, who 
 
IQO THE MIRACLES OF OUR LORD. 
 
 came to our Lord and besought Him for a cure that he 
 might be able to work for his bread and not have to 
 beg. Disabled as he was, he was found at the place 
 of public worship on the Sabbath, and got a blessing 
 there. Some have suggested that he was there upon 
 the advice of the Pharisees, in order to lay a snare for 
 Jesus ; but it is extremely unHkely that one who showed 
 such direct and obedient faith -in the Saviour, would 
 have lent himself as a tool to His enemies. It is 
 plain, however, that they took prompt note of his 
 presence, and ^^ watched ^^ the Lord. Ever since the 
 day when He said to the sick of the palsy, " Thy sins 
 be forgiven thee," they had sought occasion against 
 Him. And now this new accusation had come up, that 
 in His healings He did not observe the rabbinic rules 
 of Sabbath-keeping. It was part of their tradition that 
 nothing of a medical kind should be done on the Sabbath, 
 except in a very extreme case. And they watched Him 
 now, for this one could have stood over till the next day. 
 They evidently expect, however, that He will cure 
 the man. It has become so Divine a custom of His to 
 heal, that though there was only one man in the syna- 
 gogue with disease, and that such as might have been 
 easily overlooked, they expect that it will not escape 
 His gracious notice. Thus, out of His abundant 
 goodness, they mean in their baseness to construct a 
 snare. But Jesus knew their thought. He was aware 
 of the point of interest on which it was fixed, and He 
 went straight to that point. So far from avoiding the 
 case. He Himself introduced it. He said to the man, 
 " Rise up and stand forth in the midst.^^ The man 
 silently did as he was bidden. Jesus put him where 
 all might see. He prepared to do the miracle with 
 more than usual formality and publicity, just because it 
 
THE MAN WITH THE WITHERED HAND. 
 
 191 
 
 had been made by His enemies a test or trial of His 
 views upon the subject under dispute. Note the fear- 
 less and dignified manner of the Lord Jesus, His signal 
 wisdom and even kindness towards the objectors, while 
 at the same time He hastened with bowels of compassion 
 to help the sufferer. 
 
 Now that all eyes are looking on and every listener 
 intent, the question is stated. Matthew says they put 
 it, in the words, '' Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath 
 days ? " Mark says that He put it to them, and Luke 
 combines the iwo accounts. In their own thoughts, or 
 in whispers among themselves, or perhaps even at last 
 in some bold, outspoken word, they challenged Him, 
 and He took up the challenge. During this anxious 
 pause, when the attention of the whole synagogue is 
 riveted upon Him, He puts the question. But He 
 puts it wisely and rightly. '' / will ask you one thing. 
 Is it lawful on the Sabbath days to do good or to do evil, 
 to save life or to destroy it ? " ^ Here is a diseased person 
 who has come or who has been brought this day into 
 My presence. My attention, as also yours, has been 
 fixed upon his case. You say this is a question of Vv^ork 
 to be done, or not done, on the Sabbath. But I will 
 convince you in your own consciences, that it is not a 
 thing which may be lawfully let alone. Is this poor 
 man to be dismissed, unhealed, when a word can heal 
 him. Am I to do this evil, or am I to do good ? ' So 
 putting the question, it is already answered. For it is not 
 what amount of doctors' work may be done lawfully on 
 the day of rest. Let the doctors settle that to their 
 own Master. Are we to do evil on the Sabbath by 
 letting good lie undone ? Is that the Sabbath law ? 
 or, is it not rather in its spirit this which says : 
 " I will have mercy and not sacrifice." St. Matthew 
 
192 THE MIRACLES OF OUR LORD. 
 
 at this point supplies us with an illustration which 
 our Lord used to clench His argument.* 'Try 
 your objection by what you yourselves would do 
 were your own property concerned. You would not 
 act as you want me to act, were it one of your own 
 sheep which had fallen into a pit on the Sabbath day.' 
 When temporal loss was in the case, they would 
 speedily see through all sophistries about Sabbath 
 work, and accommodate the traditions of the elders 
 to their worldly interest. How humihating to them, 
 how characteristic of Him, the words that follow: 
 " How much, then, is a man better than a sheep ! " Jesus 
 touchingly implies that to Him men are very precious. 
 He is their Shepherd. They may hold one another 
 cheap and valueless ; but they have an immortal worth 
 in His eyes. ' A man better than a sheep ! Of course 
 he is. This is really too elementary teaching. It 
 might be needful for bhnd Pharisees of old to be told 
 so, but we know better than to need that.' Yes ! we 
 know better ; but to do better is the thing. In this 
 Christian Britain of ours is there no need still for this 
 radical humanitarianism of Jesus Christ ? Have the 
 owners of the soil acted up to it as regards the dwellers 
 on that soil ? Have they always counted a man better 
 than a sheep ? or a deer ? or shall we go lower in the 
 scale of animal life for a man's worth in their eyes ? 
 Have the cultivators of the soil acted up to it in regard 
 to those who " labour the land ? " Have these labourers 
 been always as well housed and cared for as the animals 
 that share their labour, or the still lower animals that 
 aid their master's sport ? "A man better than a 
 sheep ! " It is to be feared we have not yet quite 
 learned this elementary lesson in the love of our kind, 
 
 * Matt. xii. II, 12. 
 
THE MAN WITH THE WITHERED HAND. 193 
 
 and stand rebuked before the simple and sublime phil- 
 anthropy of Him who gave His life for men, and 
 counts one human being of more value than the whole 
 material world. *' Wherefore it is lawful to do well on the 
 Sabbath days." 
 
 To put a question properly is almost to answer it, 
 and this putting of the question by Jesus about Sabbath- 
 healing really answered it altogether. *' Is it lawful 
 on the Sabbath days to do good or to do evil ? " 
 And then that illustration of the sheep in the pit left 
 no evasion possible. The objectors were completely 
 nonplussed. " They held their peace J' They were 
 silenced. They were not however convinced, so as 
 by hearty confession to withdraw their hard thoughts 
 of Him ; but in sullen silence cherished these thoughts 
 still. '' He looked round about upon them allj^ He threw 
 a rapid, searching glance round the whole company 
 to see if there was any softening, any faith. " With 
 anger" — the meek and gracious Redeemer angry ! 
 Yes ! surely ! a holy resentment — a righteous indigna- 
 tion, at wilful blindness, at persistent unbelief. Angry 
 at sin, and therefore angry without sin. But, mark 
 what is joined with it, — " being grieved for the hardness 
 of their hearts" — vexed at their wilful blindness to plain 
 truth, their hard-hearted resistance to simple human love. 
 Look on that pitying face from which the flush of holy 
 wrath melts, only to change into the sadness of com- 
 passion. What a glimpse it gives us into the story of 
 His life on earth ! His holy soul has to dwell in the 
 closest contact with sin, has to read its darkest lines 
 in the depths of men's hearts, has to enter, as here, into 
 direct conflict with it, to endure its opposition to His 
 kingdom, its assaults upon His own Person and Work, — 
 
 13 
 
ig4 THE MIRACLES OF OUR LORD. 
 
 the contradiction of sinners against Himself. Truly 
 in all this He was " bearing the sins of many." 
 
 Let us finish here, what the story has to tell us of the 
 defeat and rage of the Pharisees. He had answered 
 them completely. And, then, He did more. He wrought 
 the miracle in such a way as to afford them no handle. 
 ^^ He saith to the man, Stretch forth thine hand, and he 
 stretched it out, and his hand zuas restored whole as the 
 other. ^^ Was there anything in this which, even on 
 their own principles, could be called Sabbath-work ? 
 There was no examination of the disease, there was no 
 preparation for the cure, there was no touching even of 
 the withered limb, there was in fact no outward or overt 
 act of healing at all. The thing was done silently by 
 the Lord's own unexpressed will ; He said to the 
 man, " Stretch out thine hand," and when the man did 
 so, it was to prove that the miracle had been wrought 
 without observation. " And they were filled with mad- 
 ness " — with rage at their defeat, at the breaking of 
 their traditional rules, the fall of their authority, the 
 honour brought to Jesus by every fresh work. BafQed 
 in mere fault-finding, they now band and plot together 
 — ally themselves for this purpose with the Herodians, 
 the court-party in Galilee, to whom on political grounds 
 they were quite opposed. Already, at this early period, 
 their councils point forward to His death. The im- 
 mediate result was virtually to close His Capernaum 
 ministry. For though we shall find not a few miracles 
 yet done in Capernaum, He laboured no more so statedly 
 in that town and synagogue, but occupied Himself 
 thenceforth in missionary tours to different parts of 
 the country. 
 
 It is pleasing now to turn to the person most 
 immediately interested in this miracle, viz., the man 
 
THE MAN WITH THE WITHERED HAND. 195 
 
 himself. He had quietly and modestly kept his place 
 in the synagogue till the Lord bade him ''Rise and 
 stand forth in the midst." At that bidding He came 
 forward, a silent but steady example of faith. And 
 there are two things in his conduct which cast a special 
 lustre upon it ; the one more external, the other more 
 internal and spiritual. 
 
 I. He obeyed God rather than men. He doubtless 
 knew what was going on in the meeting. He was 
 aware of the malice of the Pharisees. He knew that 
 they were watching Jesus to accuse Him of healing on 
 the Sabbath. By his prompt obedience he took the side 
 of Jesus against the Pharisees, and submitted himself 
 entirely to His direction. There is something very 
 instructive in the readiness of such men, — the man at 
 Bethesda, the blind man of John ix., and this man here, — 
 to side with Jesus against His powerful opponents on 
 the disputed question of the Sabbath-law. It was not 
 mere self-interest ; no doubt it was natural for them to 
 take the side of their Healer and Helper. But the fact 
 is capable of another explanation. Their readiness to 
 go with Him in a matter of external obedience was the 
 proof of that instinctive and deep-lying trust in Him, 
 which made them fit subjects for His healing. These 
 poor men went with Jesus on the Sabbath question 
 because of their faith in Him for everything. It was 
 the instinct of spiritual life which kept them right 
 where the wise and learned were wrong. So has it 
 been many times in the history of Divine Grace. It is 
 often alleged that the humbler members of the Christian 
 body — the " common folk " of our Evangelical Churches 
 for instance, over-rate secondary points in religion, 
 adhere to particular doctrines, practices, or movements 
 without much reason or argument. They may have 
 
196 THE MIRACLES OF OUR LORD. 
 
 something better than argument. When the heart of 
 God's children responds to the guidance of His Spirit, 
 it is quick to discern where Christ is. Adhesion to one 
 side or another of some so-called minor question ma}' 
 for them make all the difference between following or 
 departing from Him. 
 
 2. This man obeyed where obedience was an act of pure 
 trust. — The first command, " Rise up and stand forth," 
 tested the courage of his faith ; it rose above the fear 
 of man. The second command, '' Stretch forth thine 
 hand," tested the inner, deeper faith of the spiritual 
 nature. Had he not been completely reliant on Christ, 
 he would at this point have doubted. His hand was 
 withered. He could not do this thing that he was bid 
 to do. But he implicitly obeyed, and in obeying he was 
 healed. In that moment of stretching it out, it was 
 restored whole as the other. It is an impressive illus- 
 tration of the way of life. There is none that casts a 
 clearer hght on the foolish puzzles men make to them- 
 selves out of the doctrines of grace. I have no spiritual 
 ability. I cannot repent. I cannot believe. I cannot 
 come to Christ. Yet the Divine voice sounding in my 
 ear from Jesus' lips, is, " Repent ! BeUeve ! Come 
 unto Me and live ! " At this point it is with some not 
 unusual to say, they know it is their duty to believe, 
 but they cannot believe ; they ought to come, but 
 they cannot come. Now, in so far as this is true, what 
 does it mean ? It means that of and by ourselves we 
 cannot. But God never bids us of our own strength 
 to believe. When He commands what we cannot of 
 ourselves do, He pledges and promises in that command 
 grace and strength to do it. Think, again, for a moment 
 of this man's cure, or that of the Paralytic let down 
 through the roof " Stretch out thine hand," " Rise 
 
THE MAN WITH THE WITHERED HAND. 197 
 
 up and walk," " Take up thy bed, and go unto thine 
 house." Did these men say, any one of them, '' I 
 cannot do this thing. It is my disease that I cannot 
 move." It would have been quite true as regards the 
 sufferers. But who was the Speaker ? 'Twas no 
 common passer-by that mocked them with an empty 
 call to get up or stand forth ? No ; it was the Divine 
 Healer and Helper of men. They heard and heeded 
 Him, and were cured in the act. 
 
 So it is with us all in beheving unto salvation. We 
 are in ourselves helpless, graceless, strengthless. Jesus 
 says, " Look unto Me and be ye saved," ^' Come unto 
 Me and rest," '' Believe and live." Is it for any one of 
 us to say, " I cannot " ? If it were only the preacher's 
 advice, or a friend's prescription, it might be so an- 
 swered. But this is Jehovah-Jesus who commands — 
 
 " Thou tempest-tossed soul, be still, 
 My promised grace receive ; 
 'Tis Jesus speaks. I must, I will, 
 I can, I do believe." 
 
VII. 
 
 THE CENTURION OF GREAT FAITH. 
 Matt. viii. 5-13; Luke vii. i-io. 
 
 THIS is another of the mighty works that were 
 done in Capernaum. Jesus wrought a miracle 
 in this town before ever He came to it (John iv. 46). 
 On the first Sabbath of His pubhc teaching in it, He 
 wrought so many that the Evangelists could not record 
 them in detail. And though, as has been said, the 
 stated Capernaum ministry appears about this time 
 to have been broken in upon, His miracles there did 
 not cease. Both the recording Evangelists place this 
 incident in immediate sequence to the Sermon on the 
 Mount. It probably occurred on His return to Caper- 
 naum from the tour in the course of which that sermon 
 was spoken. 
 
 '^ There came unto Him a certain centurionP A centu- 
 rion was an officer in the Roman army who commanded 
 a company (nominally) of a hundred men. Four such 
 are honourably mentioned in the New Testament. They 
 were mostly Italians by birth. This one was probably 
 in the service of Herod. Like Cornelius, he was a 
 proselyte or convert to the faith of Israel before He 
 became a believer in Jesus. It was precisely among 
 such persons that the Gospel had its earliest triumph 
 
THE CENTURION OE GREAT FAITH. 199 
 
 and greatest success. Educated and upright Gentiles, 
 sick of the immorahties and puerilities of the old heathen 
 religions, finding in the higher circles around them 
 only a general scepticism, sought for light in the pure 
 revelation of the Hebrews, and were thus prepared 
 to accept Christ and His Gospel with a readiness sur- 
 passing that of the Jews. This narrative anticipates 
 many similar suggestions in the Acts of the Apostles, 
 and hints not obscurely the course that Christianity was 
 to take among the nations. Further, the story is that 
 of a soldier's faith. His frank and ready acceptance 
 of the claims of Jesus, his bold confession of belief in 
 His supreme authority and power, his simplicity, deci- 
 sion, humility, all make this man stand out at the head 
 of a long and honourable line of Christian soldiers. 
 These hold an eminent rank in the annals of Divine 
 grace from this man's time and that of Cornelius of 
 Csesarea down to those of Colonel Gardiner, of Hedley 
 Vicars, and of Henry Havelock. 
 
 The character of the man comes out («) in his 
 natural affection and care for his servant, a slave, yet 
 specially valuable and dear to him as a son. The word 
 used in both accounts to describe the lad (besides 
 ''slave") is one which answers to the old English 
 " chylde," and denotes a servant in a peculiarly honour- 
 able sense.* (Z?) In his reverence for such religious 
 light as he had already attained, and by his readiness 
 to promote it in the most liberal way. '' He loveth our 
 nation, and hath built us a synagogue," was the testi- 
 
 * Matthew uses Tra^s only. Luke uses it in the reported speech of 
 ver. 7, ''Speak the word, and my boy shall be healed."' Otherwise 
 the third Evangelist uses SoOXos throughout. Hai s is translated in 
 Acts iv. 27 by "child," where the Old Testament conception of 
 Messiah as both son and servant is the one which rules the 
 expression. 
 
200 THE MIRACLES OF OUR LORD. 
 
 mony of the Jewish authorities to his worth, {c) By 
 his modesty and reticence, reckoning himself as a 
 Gentile and a soldier unworthy either to go personally 
 to Jesus or have Jesus come to him, using, therefore, 
 the intercession of the Jews — thus acknowledging the 
 place of the chosen people. His was one of those 
 lovel}^ and loveable characters who by some gift of 
 nature, some Divine predisposition, are not far from 
 the kingdom of heaven. When its door w^as opened 
 to him he went immediately in. There is some varia- 
 tion in the two narratives as to detail. Matthew's 
 represents the centurion as going to Jesus and pre- 
 ferring his request in person, and consistently relates 
 the whole conversation as taking place between the 
 Lord and him. Luke's more circumstantial account 
 tells that from the first he employed his Jewish friends 
 to convey the request. They did so with an urgency 
 which misinterpreted probably the original message, 
 ^* Beseeching the Lord that He would come and heal " the 
 patient. When Jesus was on the way to the house, 
 another message met Him, explaining why he did not 
 himself come to Jesus, — deprecating the trouble and the 
 social risk implied in such a visit. Then Jesus, with 
 an outburst of wonder at the centurion's faith, implied 
 almost without words that the thing he requested was 
 done, and when the messengers returned they ^^ found 
 the servant whole which had been sickT That one of 
 these accounts has undergone modification is obvious. 
 The most natural mode of explaining the modification 
 is to hold that the more abbreviated narrative relates 
 what passed through interposing persons and message?, 
 as if it had been directly transacted between Jesus and 
 the centurion himself. Such variation perfectly consists 
 with historical validity, on the common sense principle. 
 
THE CENTURION OF GREAT FAITH. 20 1 
 
 that one may be said to do that which he causes others 
 to do for him. Such independent rendering of the same 
 transaction in minutiis by the two narrators is better 
 evidence of its historicity than an exact verbal agree- 
 ment in the two accounts could have been. 
 
 The case itself is thus described in the two narratives. 
 It was one of paralysis accompanied by grievous pain 
 (Matt.) ; and the sufferer was considered ''ready to die " 
 (Luke). Non-professional commentators have been a 
 good deal troubled about this description of " palsy," — 
 the more ordinary features of that disease being pain- 
 less infirmity and long, but not dangerous illness. 
 Medical authority finds no difficulty in the description. 
 Another proof that the more knowledge of all sorts 
 we bring to the study of the sacred narratives the 
 better. " In this instance," says Sir Risdon Bennet, 
 "we have probably a case of progressive paralysis, 
 attended by muscular spasms, and involving the res- 
 piratory movements, where death is manifestly imminent 
 and inevitable. In such a case there would be symptoms 
 indicative of great distress, as well as immediate danger 
 to Hfe." * Our Lord's healing of this grievous disease 
 is described in a single phrase (Matt. viii. 13; Luke 
 vii. 10). It was one of those instantaneous cures 
 wrought by a word and at a distance from the patient, 
 which were the exception among His healings rather 
 than the rule. The exception in each case was 
 determined by the circumstances and the faith of the 
 petitioner. Compare this one with those of the courtier's 
 son and the Syrophenician's daughter. The reasons why 
 
 * The Diseases of the Bible, p. 92. See also several similar cases 
 described from actual observation, Belcher, Our Lord's Miracles of 
 Healing, p. 56. Trench calls attention to the account of the death 
 of Alcimus in 1 Mace. ix. 55, 56, as one from " palsy '" with great 
 torment. 
 
202 THE MIRACLES OF OUR LORD. 
 
 most of His cures were done in presence of the patients 
 and their friends are obvious enough. But the inference 
 from these healings at a distance is valuable. They help 
 to set aside the unsatisfactory explanation of Jesus' 
 healing power which some seek to derive from His 
 personal magnetism, His power of personal influence, 
 or the analogy of alleged removals of nervous disease 
 through beneficent human agency of this kind. "The 
 power that could arrest disease of a mortal character 
 and recal to life by a word spoken at a distance, 
 . . . was a spiritual force of a different order from 
 that possessed by any mesmerist, magician, or mortal 
 man."* 
 
 The points in this occurrence which made the main 
 impression on those who witnessed it at the time, and 
 on those by whom it was afterwards narrated, come out 
 when we observe where the two accounts exactly and 
 verbally coincide. These are the expression of confi- 
 dence which the centurion placed in Jesus, drawn in 
 a memorable way from the familiar facts of his own 
 professional life. Then, the Lord's expression of 
 wonder at such faith, and the incisive terms in which 
 He set forth its greatness. The Lord ''marvelled," — a 
 genuine human wonder, — which we shall not find at 
 all stumbling, or foreign to our conception of the man 
 Christ Jesus, unless we have allowed one-sided theo- 
 logical views to take our Saviour away from us and 
 cannot tell where they have laid Him. We read some- 
 times that He "marvelled" at men's unbelief (Mark 
 vi. 6). This day He " marvelled " at faith. It delighted 
 the heart of the Son of man with a rare joy. He pointed 
 it out to the crowd. He dwelt upon it. He com- 
 pared it with such faith — genuine enough — -as He had 
 
 * Sir R, Bennet, nt supra, p. 96. 
 
THE CENTURION OF GREAT FAITH. 203 
 
 already met with ; and He gave it the palm. He *' had 
 not found such faith, no not in Israel." Then, without 
 a word more about the disease of the boy, without a 
 step nearer the house, the cure was done. It was not 
 to work the cure Jesus had gone so far. It was simply 
 the natural human impulse yielding to the hearty solici- 
 tations of the friends. But when His having done so 
 brought out the centurion's great and self-effacing faith, 
 the Lord was more than satisfied. Up to the soldier's 
 expectation and beyond it, the gracious answer was 
 given. 
 
 As in all such cases, our Lord takes pains to fix our 
 attention on the faith in response to which the cure was 
 wrought. Let us ask wherein consisted the greatness 
 of the faith here so signally praised. 
 
 I. It was great when we consider the man in whom it 
 was found. ''When he heard of Jesus." The centurion 
 had not apparently been present at any of the numerous 
 healings done in that city, 3^et on the report of these he 
 resolves to put the desperate case of his servant into His 
 hands. How favourably does he contrast with those 
 who saw many miracles yet did not believe. Moreover, 
 he could make no claim in his own right to the ministry 
 and mercy of Jesus. In the way of his faith there was 
 a barrier not present to others. According to St. 
 Matthew, the Lord uses this for warning. He reminds 
 His hearers that their national privileges w^ould not 
 secure salvation. Here was a stranger entering the king- 
 dom before them — a first fruits of those who should rise 
 up speedily and lay claim to the blessings of Christ's 
 Gospel. Yes ! glancing forward to the day when all 
 God's children should be gathered round their Father's 
 table, the prophetic eye of the world's Redeemer sees 
 the blessed myriads of the nations seated with the 
 
204 THE MIRACLES OF OUR LORD. 
 
 fathers of the Covenant, while many of its children 
 have no place there. This faith, then, was in itself so 
 great that the Lord had not found the like, so prompt, 
 so implicit, so profound, so honouring to God's grace ; 
 not among the townsfolk of Capernaum, nor the 
 Jews of Jerusalem, nor the disciples themselves. No ! 
 not in Israel. How much greater when we consider 
 who and what he was. This Roman soldier was the 
 morning star of Western faith, — first among "the many" 
 who should " come from the West," and sit down in 
 the kingdom of God ; and they have come. Should not 
 the " tide of empire westward rolled," lead us to look 
 out in hope for the fulfilling of that other word ; that 
 the East shall send her dusky myriads to glory, as the 
 West already her hardy and restless sons ? But let us 
 not forget the warning word. Wc are the children of the 
 kingdom now. The simple and despised are going in, 
 while the educated and the cultivated are being left out. 
 2. This faith was great in its view of Clirisfs Power. 
 The words it used have left a deep mark on the Gospel 
 narrative. Jesus had awakened the thirst and fire of 
 consecrated faith in his fisher-apostles by a symbolic 
 work within the sphere of their calling. But this 
 man's faith expressed itself with rough poetic force 
 in the language appropriate to his own : " For I also 
 am a man set under authority " (Luke vii. 8). His 
 argument is evidently one from less to more. ' I am a 
 servant, and know how to obey ; a master, and know 
 how to be obeyed. If my word, who am only a sub- 
 ordinate in command, be so promptly heeded, how much 
 more Thine ? My word, with the authority of Herod or 
 Caesar, how much more Thine with the authority of God !' 
 " Only speak the word, and my servant shall be healed." 
 Simply and boldly the imperial idea is applied by this 
 
THE CENTURION OF GREAT FAITH. 205 
 
 honest believer to the region of the Kingdom. The 
 stringent order of miUtary obedience is an image to his 
 mind of the absolute certainty with which its Head must 
 be obeyed. The union of all governmental power, as 
 then known on earth, in the will of king or emperor, 
 represents the subjection of all things to this Gracious 
 One in whom is mirrored the love and grace of High- 
 est God. And in its bold simpHcity this faith hits the 
 mark. Though it be not all the truth — as what one 
 conception or figure can contain all the complex fulness 
 of the kingdom of God ? — it goes to the heart of the 
 truth about the power of Christ. It puts the crown of 
 the universe on His head, and the sceptre of universal 
 dominion into His hand. It views all the bright armies 
 of heaven, all the myriad inhabitants of earth, all the 
 powers of nature, and all the resources of grace as at 
 the bidding of Jesus. 
 
 In so thinking and speaking, faith acts just as 
 it ought. Such whole-hearted honour put upon the 
 Lord is the least tribute faith in Him ought to 
 bring. Is there anything so miserable and foolish 
 as our half-hearted, grudging, and timid faith, that 
 trusts Him a little and then misgives and draws 
 back ? Total unbelief, blind and guilty though it be, 
 has a kind of consistency about it. It allows Him 
 nothing; it denies Him all. But to allow Him some 
 power and not all, to trust Him half way, is so un- 
 reasonable. To suppose He can help in an easy case, 
 but not in a hard one ; near at hand, but not at a distance 
 —to look for stinted answers, and niggard blessings, few 
 fruits and rare conversions — is not all this the thing 
 which starves our spiritual life and dishonours Christ 
 and impoverishes His kingdom. Oh ! to believe and 
 pray and work in the faith of this centurion that all 
 
206 THE MIRACLES OF OUR LORD. 
 
 power is given unto Jesus both in heaven and on earth, 
 that His Power is ready at the touch of need, at the cry 
 of faith, to fly apace upon its errands of mercy. 
 
 3. This faith was great in its sole dependence upon 
 Christ and His will. Almost all who came to Jesus for 
 cures thought it needful to bring the sufferer into His 
 presence, or if the patient was too ill for that, to have 
 Him come and stand over the bed and touch, and speak, 
 and heal. Their faith, even where real enough, needed 
 the personal contact, the external means. This man's 
 faith rose at one bound above all these restrictions. It 
 needed no help from sight or sense. It made nothing 
 of difficulty or distance. It viewed all things as Christ's 
 servants ; the imperial eagles of His grace needed no 
 other highway through the universe than the Lord's 
 commandment and His suppliant's faith. In this it 
 was unparalleled in the experience of Jesus, and He 
 spake and acted accordingly, not only crowning this 
 remarkable faith with its appropriate encomium, but 
 answering to it by simply bidding the disease depart. 
 By a silent act of His will, without those means and 
 signs with which most of His cures were wrought, was 
 this one done. How slow we often are to trust the 
 Lord till we can see how and by which means He will 
 answer or deliver us. If we trusted Him heartily and 
 thoroughly, we should be far more willing to leave all 
 in His mighty and gracious hands. We should never 
 prescribe to Him how we would have deliverance come. 
 He is King of all hearts, commander of all armies ; 
 and whether He choose to save by many or by few, 
 nigh at hand or afar off, let Him only say the word and 
 the blessing shall come. 
 
 4. This faith was great in its self-forgetting humble- 
 ness. There was not a vestige of desire for honour to 
 
THE CENTURION OF GREAT FAITH. 207 
 
 himself, for consideration of his standing, in the way the 
 centurion preferred his request. Indeed, there was the 
 fullest expression of the opposite. ^^ Lord ! trouble not 
 ThyselJ, for I am not worthy, etc." Most striking 
 humility ! Men called the centurion noble and hon- 
 ourable. He was worthy, they said, for whom Jesus 
 should do this. He showed that gracious unconscious- 
 ness of it all which belongs to the truest worth. He 
 thought Himself unfit even to make personal application 
 to Jesus. Jesus thought it not unmeet to propose going 
 to him. He was unworthy in his own esteem to receive 
 Jesus under his roof; and therefore was counted worthy 
 Christ should dwell in his heart.* So mindful of Jesus, 
 so unmindful of self, is this man, that he would have 
 the Lord get all the honour, and the thing be so done as 
 to keep himself out of sight altogether. How hard it 
 is to be simple, unconscious, and humble in our faith — 
 to have no thought of our own credit and honour in 
 the work of grace on ourselves and others ! But this 
 is faith's true mark — None but Christ. 
 
 Such, then, is a Great Faith. Its greatness is proved 
 when itself is forgotten and Christ is all in all. Glass 
 is good just in proportion as you see no glass, are 
 conscious of no medium, but only of the landscape it 
 discloses or the sunlight it transmits. This is great 
 faith, which looks so wholly at Christ's Power as to see 
 no difficulty in the hardest case ; so wholly at Christ's 
 will as not even to think of the means by which the 
 blessing may be wrought, if only He wills it ; so 
 wholly at Christ's glory, that no thought of self steals 
 in at all. We can conceive how the Lord marvelled and 
 said, '' I have not found so great faith ; no, not in Israel." 
 
 * Au.'^ustine, quoted by Trench. 
 
VIII. 
 
 AT THE POOL OF BETIJESDA. 
 
 John v. i-i8. 
 
 "T^HIS is the first of St. John's three Judean miracles 
 i selected not only for doctrinal purposes, but as 
 typical examples of the Saviour's mighty works. In 
 this "the ]ame walks," in the next (chap, ix.) " the blind 
 receives sight," in the crowning instance (chap, xi.) " the 
 dead is raised up." The present narrative divides itself 
 into three scenes, where the subject of it is found and 
 dealt with : At the Pool; On the Street; and In the 
 Temple. 
 
 I. At the Pool {yv. 2-9). So rich is Jerusalem even 
 to this day in the remains of ancient reservoirs and 
 fountains, that modern geographers cannot agree which 
 of several suitable localities was Bethesda. That called 
 the Fountain of the Virgin or the Upper Pool of Siloam 
 is now the favourite. It lies to the south of the Temple 
 area. Along one side of it are the remains of ancient 
 columns, which once probably supported the porches or 
 halls named in the story. Our Lord's Sabbath morning 
 walk led Him, purposely no doubt, past this place. 
 What the scene was like we may fairly conjecture. It 
 is easy to picture to ourselves an open-air tank or bath 
 surrounded by covered enclosures, in which lay the sick 
 
AT THE POOL OF BETHESDA. 209 
 
 folk waiting for the medicinal period of the Fountain's 
 '^waters.* The beneficent eye of the Healer rests upon 
 the one in that hospital whose case was the worst ; the 
 senior of the house .; a man who had suffered from 
 paralysis or entire nervous prostration for eight-and- 
 thirty years. How much of that time he had lain in 
 the porches is not said. There had been very little 
 chance of cure from the first, as he afterwards explains ; 
 there was "now very little hope. He continued there 
 more from habit than anything else. His face wore 
 the look of dull acquiescence that comes by hope deferred. 
 On him Jesus fixed His gaze — '' saw hhn, and knew that 
 he had been now a long time in that case" It is a 
 sentence to remember by the bedsides of those on whom 
 long, wearing, wearisome infirmity has descended. He 
 knows our frame, tells our wanderings, puts our tears 
 into His bottle. Nigh forty years had this man been 
 a helpless wreck, yet the moment of his deliverance 
 had at last come. ^^ Wilt thou be made whole ?"\ A 
 startling question, intended to take the man's attention, 
 rouse his expectations, revive his dead or dying hopes, 
 and so prepare him for the exercise of faith. The 
 
 * All critical opinion is now agreed that ver. 4 ot the Textus 
 receptus is a marginal gloss which has crept into the text. It seems 
 better, however, to retain, in spite of some variations of reading, the 
 last clause of ver. 3 : " Waiting for the moving of the waters.'' The 
 evidence for this is strong enough to convince such judges as Ewald 
 and Godet, though not the Revisers of the English Version. The 
 R.V., by relegating this clause, along with ver. 4, to the margin, takes 
 away something helpful to the understanding of ver. 7 : orav rapaxdy 
 TO vdup, "when the water is troubled." That the waters were 
 beneficial and were moved at intervals are facts recognised in the 
 narrative. It is only the description of the supposed cause — an angel 
 visit — which disappears from the true text. 
 
 J '^ IVonldest thoir' (R.Y.). QeXeis lays stress on the will, which 
 shared in the paralysis. 
 
 14 
 
2IO THE MIRACLES OF OUR LORD. 
 
 words so thoroughly succeeded in starthng him, that he 
 feels as if he had been charged with carelessness 
 or indifference in not being healed. He explains what 
 the marginal note of ver. 4 was, no doubt, meant to 
 prepare us for and to expand — that his poor and un- 
 befriended condition made it impossible for him to get 
 the cure, for which yet he seems to wait. This he 
 states as if he felt instinctively that the Questioner was 
 one to whom his whole mind should be opened. Jesus 
 accepts the frankness and trustfulness of the answer ; 
 takes him at his word. He is wiUing, but he is not able 
 to be made whole. He cannot avail himself of the 
 healing waters. Well ! he shall have help from another 
 and unexpected source. " Rise ! take up thy bed, and 
 walky With this word of authority there went, no 
 doubt, to complete the impression, the tones of the 
 Speaker and the look — that undescribed and probably 
 indescribable thing, which must have oft shone through 
 the fleshly veil to those who were privileged to behold 
 the Word made flesh. The man felt that this Unknown 
 One was no ordinary being. What would have been 
 mockery from common lips he received as truth and 
 life from those which now opened to bid him rise and 
 walk. He asked no question. He started no difficulties. 
 He obeyed as his Deliverer bade him, and he was 
 healed in the act of obeying. He took up the little 
 pallet — by this time in all likelihood a wretched mass of 
 rags — on which he had lain so long.* In his joy he 
 would most likely have left it there, had not his Healer 
 expressly bidden him bear it. For what purposes is 
 clear. Hardly to be a reminder of his by-past errors, 
 far less a badge of shame ; but rather («) as a proof of 
 his power not only to walk, but to bear his bed, and so 
 
 * Kpd^^arov is the distinctive word for the meanest kind of couch. 
 
AT THE POOL OF BETHESDA. 211 
 
 of his complete recovery ; {U) as a mark of identity that 
 he was the very man who had lain so long helpless in 
 Bethesda's porches ; (c) as a test of his faith, of gratitude 
 to his Deliverer — a proof-test which was to be of so 
 much moment for the issue and impression of the 
 whole occurrence. It was fitted to show that he did 
 fully trust and implicitly obey his gracious Healer, for 
 *' // was the Sabbath on that day^ 
 
 Thus, ' at the Pool/ the sufferer and the Saviour 
 met. In the Saviour's word and act we see uncaused 
 and unsought grace, pure redeeming mercy. In its 
 immediacy and ease we are reminded of the Creative 
 Fiat. He commanded and it stood fast. In the help- 
 less sufferer we note openness, trust, and implicit 
 obedience. He rose at a word, when mere nature and 
 sense felt every physical impossibihty. He went at a 
 word, when there was almost equal difficulty in the 
 social and religious sphere. 
 
 2. On the street (vv. 10-13). We follow the man 
 now from the scene of his cure to the scene of his 
 trial ; from where he met his Saviour to where he 
 must meet his Saviour's enemies and witness for his 
 Healer. The cured man is passing along the street 
 carrying his bed. Such an action on the Sabbath 
 w^as fitted, and doubtless intended, to draw attention. 
 Had he gone away light and free, men would not 
 have known of the cure. Had it been an ordinary 
 day of work and burdens when he passed along carry- 
 ing his bed, he would have escaped notice. But 
 this day he arrested so much attention that the reli- 
 gious authorities — whom St. John not unusually denotes 
 as "the Jews" — interfered. Ver. 10: ^^ They said unto 
 him that was cured, It is the Sabbath-day : it is not lawful 
 for thee to carry thy bed.'' A strange mental phenomenon. 
 
212 THE MIRACLES OF OUR LORD. 
 
 These men cannot but have known one who had been 
 so long a cripple. They were certainly made aware of 
 the fact of his cure. Yet they can take no notice of it. 
 They put no questions about the cure ; how he who had 
 lain so long helpless was hthe and active now. For 
 this only they have eyes : he is carrying a burden on 
 the Sabbath-day. They are so bent upon small righ- 
 teousnesses that they contrive to overlook the Saviour 
 of the world and His wonders of mercy. Ver. 1 1 : 
 *' He answered them. He that made me whole, the same 
 said unto me, Take up thy bed and walkT Simple and 
 straightforward faith ! ' He who has wrought such a 
 healing could surely enjoin no wrong.' True and 
 genuine insight ! the insight of faith which tracks and 
 holds by the Divine, both in the physical and in the 
 moral region, in places where sense has little or no light. 
 ' He bade me, a cripple, rise and walk. I did it and was 
 right, for He is mighty. He bade me thus carry my bed 
 on the Sabbath. I do it, and again I cannot but be right, 
 for He who is so mighty must be holy too.' Such was 
 the instinctively wise and firm-footed reasoning of this 
 believing soul. Compare the similar utterances of the 
 blind man in chap. ix. But the reasoning in this case, 
 as in that, had no effect. They only want to know 
 (ver. 12) who it was that had caused this scandal. 
 Note the malignity and bitterness of their question. 
 It is not, ' Who is He that cured thee ? ' ' Let us know 
 who is this wonderful and merciful Healer, that we may 
 go with thee to adore Him ; ' but, ' Who is He that bade 
 thee carry thy bed on the Sabbath ? ' A more appalling 
 example of the blinding effects of self-righteousness 
 could not well be imagined. They built up their whole 
 fabric of religion upon minute observance, not so much 
 of God's law, as of their own traditional glosses and 
 
AT THE POOL OF BETHESDA. 213 
 
 expositions of it.* They can see no good in One who 
 held different views and followed a different practice. 
 He must be a sinner. He has broken the Sabbath, and 
 no miracle of healing which He may have wrought must 
 weigh for a moment against this judgment. At the 
 time the man was not able to identify his Healer. Jesus 
 had slipped away through the crowd. His appearance 
 was not familiar to the patient. This new disciple was^ 
 thus tried and tested, not without secret upholding 
 grace) When, from his after interview with Jesus, he 
 learnt His place as well as His power, he went with 
 characteristic frankness to the Jews with the informa- 
 tion. So we read the character and its lesson. It is a 
 picture of faith and bigotr}- opposed. Bigotry said. This 
 cannot be a miracle. This man, being a sinner, cannot 
 be a Saviour. What met this effectively was not luke- 
 warmness, not a mere vague and tolerant ' perhaps.' 
 It was a firm persuasion that the Healer was good and 
 holy, as He was merciful and mighty. Earnest, well- 
 grounded faith is the only successful antidote to blind 
 and bitter zeal. Here we have the two, face to face, in 
 that street of Jerusalem. 
 
 When the man had told the rulers that it was Jesus 
 who had healed him, their opposition showed itself in 
 some openly persecuting form, for their rage at this 
 assault on their favourite orthodoxism was on this occa- 
 sion stirred to its depths. He had not only broken their 
 Sabbath law Himself, but had induced another to do the 
 like. He might go on till He had led the people into 
 rebellion against the whole system. He, on the other 
 hand, " answered them." That is to say, in His public 
 
 * Ot' those about Sabbath observance see a minute account in 
 Stapfer's Prt/<'5//«c in the Time of Christ , p. 350 (Redder & Stoughton : 
 1886). 
 
214 THE MIRACLES OF OUR LORD. 
 
 teaching at the time He made a reply which has left its 
 mark deep on this narrative. He carried His argument 
 'into the very citadel of their legalistic Sabbath doctrine. 
 On some other occasions of Sabbath-healing,* He had 
 replied to their scruples by reference to the law of kind- 
 ness, which supersedes that of ritual (Matt. xii. 12 ; 
 Luke xiii. 15, and xiv. 5). To other Sabbatic scruples 
 He had opposed the superiority of man, especially the 
 Son of man, over that which was made for him, not he 
 for it (Mark ii. 28). But here He assails the principle 
 on which they grounded their minute rules about what 
 work might or might not be done on the Sabbath-day. 
 It was a perversion of the sacred record, " God rested 
 on the seventh day from all His work which He had 
 made" (Gen. ii. 2). His reply is that the living God, 
 His Father, does not keep the Sabbath in their sense 
 of it. Ceaseless are His works of benevolence and 
 power in the world which He once for all has made. 
 So also the Son. He supersedes the law of rest from 
 labour on the Sabbath-day by the higher law applicable 
 to Him and to His Father of work which is always 
 rest. Man's nature requires that weekly pause from 
 week-day work. He expends himself in world's work. 
 So God commands for him a day in which he may not 
 only cease from earth, but look to heaven. With the 
 Son of God it is otherwise. His Divine work needs no 
 cessation. To heal men's bodies and save men's souls 
 breaks no Sabbath. It is part of the unceasing w^ork of 
 Highest God. " My Father worketh hitherto, and I workT 
 The Son of God cannot possibly break the Sabbath in 
 such deeds of mercy, any more than the loving Father of 
 all with whom He stanc^.s in unbroken union and fellow- 
 ship. This cHmax of our Lord's Sabbatic arguments 
 
 * See the Sabbath-curcs briefly discussed ante, pp. 29-31. 
 
AT THE POOL OF BETHESDA. 215 
 
 brought out the anti-climax of His enemies' utmost hate. 
 " Therefore the Jews sought the more to kill Him, because 
 He not only brake the Sabbath, but also called God His 
 own Father, making Himself equal with God'' (R.V.). 
 
 3. In the Temple (vv. 14, 15). The Healer and the 
 healed meet once more, — this time in God's house ; 
 another hnk connecting these Sabbath-miracles with 
 Divine service. The man had gone to the Temple so 
 soon as he was free from his burden and from his ques- 
 tioners, full of thankful thoughts, after eight-and-thirty 
 years of enforced absence. Another proof that he was, 
 in his chastened spirit, a fit subject for the Lord's heal- 
 ing work. Jesus repaired to the sacred place, among 
 other reasons, doubtless, for the purpose of finding 
 him and completing His spiritual work in the man — to 
 reveal Himself more fully to the man's soul, and thus 
 perfect the inward cure. When the Lord found him He 
 said (v. 14), ^^ Behold, thou art made whole: sin no more, 
 lest a worse thing befall thee'' (R.V.). Here we have 
 a benefit recalled and an injunction given. First an 
 affectionate and solemn reminder of blessing received. 
 How strange that to the newly-healed the Healer must 
 say, " Thou art made whole." Yet this is our constant 
 experience. We so soon forget the blessings Christ 
 bestows, that continual reminders and gracious counsels 
 are needful. Then a tender and faithful warning : "Sin 
 no more." As in a former case Jesus had brought out 
 the connection between pardon and power, so here 
 He discovers the link between sin and suffering. He 
 points out sin as the cause of all sickness, sorrow, death, 
 and woe. It is true that He expressly refuses to help 
 men to blame their neighbours by tracing particular 
 sufferings or misfortunes to their own particular sins 
 (cf. Luke xiii. 1-5 ; John ix. 2-4). But in dealing with 
 
 ■v.. 
 
2i6 THE MIRACLES OF OUR LORD. 
 
 -the individual conscience, as here, and in a former 
 instance (Luke v. 20), He takes quite another method, 
 and pushes home this inference to its depths. What an 
 affecting sign of our nature's weakness, of our moral 
 impotence, that we need such proofs and reminders 
 and warnings : ^ You have suffered ; you are healed : sin 
 no more.' Note, further, how this last affectionate 
 injunction is planted firmly between a remembered 
 blessing and a threatened woe : '' Lest a worse thing 
 come unto thee." A worse thing! worse than the major 
 ^^portion of a lifetime spent in helplessness and misery ! 
 Surely this would be something worse than death. Is 
 it not a hint of the ' second death,' the doom of the 
 impenitent ? Man's present life is full of the pains and 
 penalties of sin ; but these plainly, in Christ's view, 
 do not exhaust sin's awful and prolific harvest. The 
 righteousness of the principle on which they happen at 
 all in this world prepares for ' eternal sin ' an eternal 
 judgment. Besides the general truth of the connec- 
 tion between sin and suffering here vindicated, we have 
 in all likelihood something more special. The case here 
 dealt with by Jesus was one in which disease and sin 
 are mixed up together ; where what began as sin 
 remains as disease, and that which is now disease con- 
 tinues to breed sin. We find the characteristics of the 
 gracious Healer peculiarly illustrated in an instance 
 which brings us wMthin the shadow of these obscure 
 and difficult forms of human ill. He shows at once the 
 utmost tenderness for the sufferer and the sternest 
 faithfulness towards the sinner. He lays down also the 
 profound and ever-to-be-remembered law, that the cure 
 in such cases is, at heart, moral and spiritual, not 
 merely physical. He says, in effect, to this man : 
 'Though I have now lifted you up from your "mattress- 
 
AT THE POOL OF BETHESDA. 217 
 
 grave," you are not cured unless you cease from sin. 
 My cure is one of soul and body together. My word 
 avails for both, if you will but hear it. As effectual as 
 was My '' Rise and walk," shall now be, when heard in 
 your inmost spirit, My " Sin no more." ' 
 
 Is there not a width and depth in this word of Jesus 
 which reaches into the recesses of the Christian ethic? 
 This man had heard and obeyed Christ in two things 
 already. As he acted an the Lord's first bidding his 
 palsy was removed. As he acted on the second and 
 bore his bed through the Sabbath quiet of the Jeru- 
 salem streets, his witness was crowned with an undying 
 interest and meaning. As he should hear and act upon 
 the third, he should be eternally blessed. The power 
 of the Bidder was pledged in all three cases alike when 
 He issued the instruction. At the command of Jesus, 
 and in the power of His might-giving word, he did the 
 first two. May we not conclude that he lived from 
 this time forth a holy life in the power of that last 
 and highest commandment ? 
 
 To be no more a sinner — not to sin — is the law of 
 the believer's heart and life, because it is his Saviour's 
 command./ The resolution of the saint's paradox with 
 which the Christian doctrine of sanctification has so 
 much to do must be found on this principle, " Lord, 
 give what Thou commandest, and then command what 
 Thou wilt." Does He not give it in the command 
 itself ? If, vv'hen He says, ' Rise, walk,' you success- 
 fully obey — if, when He says, 'Witness, work, face the 
 hostile world as a saved sinner,' you obey and con- 
 quer because He has conquered — wh}-, when He says, 
 * Sin no more,' should you not also succeed by His 
 grace ? " He that is born of God doth not commit sin, 
 and he cannot sin, because His seed abideth in him." 
 
IX. 
 
 THE GAD A RENE AND OTHER DEMONIACS. 
 
 Matt. viii. 28-34, xii. 22-37; Mark v. 1-20; Luke viii. 2, 26-39, 
 xi. 14-23. 
 
 THE mission to Gadara contains but one incident, 
 though a very striking one. The Lord crossed 
 the lake to do this one work, and then return. It was 
 as He landed from the voyage, made memorable by the 
 storm-stilling, that this encounter took place. Modern 
 research claims to have ascertained the exact locality 
 of the transaction. St. Luke says it was '^ over against 
 Galilee." The ruins right opposite the plain of Gen- 
 nesaret, from which they had sailed, bear still the name 
 of Kersa or Gersa. " The country of the Gerasenes " 
 is the general indication given in at least two of the 
 Gospels, according to the reading adopted by the re- 
 visers. About a quarter-of-an-hour to the south of 
 Gersa is a steep bluff, which descends abruptly on a 
 narrow ledge of shore. The whole neighbourhood 
 abounds in limestone caverns and rock -chambers. 
 These local features meet the requirements of the 
 story. Night had long since fallen, if we follow 
 the consecution of the narrative preceding, — possibly 
 morning had dawned ere they made the shore. No 
 sooner almost had they stepped out upon it than 
 
THE GAD A RENE AND OTHER DEMONIACS, 219 
 
 their journey was interrupted by the attack of a fierce 
 demoniac. The first Gospel speaks of two, but the ter- 
 rible pre-eminence of one of these has left its mark on 
 the reminiscence of the eye-witnesses, and the other two 
 accounts speak of him alone. The gloomy mountains 
 close to the eastern shore of the lake, at this part, 
 were his haunt. His special abode was " among the 
 tombs " — those caves, namely, which served for vaults 
 of sepulture, and dens of unclean things. His fierce- 
 ness had made the way impassable. He could not be 
 bound, even with a chain. The attempt had often been 
 made, but he had burst the chains and broken the 
 fetters. In this dreadful condition he had fled from 
 the city, and now for a long time infested this mountain 
 burial-place. Night and day he roamed around it, 
 wreaking vengeance on his own poor flesh, '' crying 
 and cutting himself with stones." Naked, powerful, 
 and untamable, he made the rocks and tombs ring 
 with his yells. The man was a maniac of the worst 
 type. Convulsive strength, nakedness, and self-muti- 
 lation are all well-known symptoms. But his mania 
 was the physical and psychical ground of a far more 
 terrible visitation. We are not to perplex this topic 
 by supposing that, because there was something worse 
 than nature here, there were no natural or second 
 causes at all. This was a madman who had probably 
 brought his disease upon himself by his wickedness, 
 but now there was added to his madness the demoniac 
 element in its extremest form. As in other instances 
 of the same class, the words of our Lord to the 
 man and about him, the recognition, in the most 
 pointed terms, by him of the person and power of 
 Jesus, confirm the impression which the entire record 
 of these cases in the Gospels renders irresistible, that 
 
220 THE MIRACLES OF OUR LORD. 
 
 we have in them a quite peculiar infliction of Satanic 
 tyranny over the souls and bodies of men. 
 
 I. The Miracle itself. With peculiarly graphic force 
 the case of the poor victim has been described in St. 
 Mark's Gospel ; but the three accounts are all express 
 in relating the exact words in which he addressed the 
 Lord, and almost equally detailed in relating the strange 
 accompaniments and sequel of the cure. At a great 
 distance the demoniac had perceived the party ; perhaps 
 the noise of their landing had, in that still region, first 
 caught his attention, and he came bounding, as his 
 wont was, to the attack. But on the first look of Jesus 
 his fierceness is changed into awe, and instead of 
 springing upon the company he bows himself at the 
 Lord's feet, and worships. Jesus, in a calm, command- 
 ing voice, says to the unclean spirit, *' Come out of the 
 man." At this wcrd, with rapid alternation, like that 
 of mania, there bursts forth a most fearful shriek from 
 the unhappy victim. He cried with a loud voice. What 
 have I to do with Thee^ Jesus, Thou Son of the Most 
 High God? I adjure Thee by God that Thou torment me 
 not* 
 
 Amid this fearful paroxysm Jesus draws the man 
 into a conversation, asking, as a skilful physician would, 
 his name ; seeks, that is, to disentangle his human 
 personalit}^ from the complex consciousness, which the 
 victim's strange answer about the legion of evil spirits 
 discloses.f Then follows the request of the man (Mark 
 V. lO), or of the demons (Luke and Matthew expressty ; 
 
 * So both Mark and Luke in the same words ; Matthew in more 
 condensed form, but with the plural number. 
 
 f From modern records of psj^chical derangement many instances of 
 double consciousness may be cited. The Life of Pfarrer Blumhardt, of 
 Boll, in Wurtemberg, contains some of the most striking to be met with, 
 
THE GAD A RENE AND OTHER DEMONIACS. 221 
 
 and Mark again, v. 12), that Jesus would not send 
 them out of the country, that "He would not command 
 them to depart into the abyss," but that He would 
 suffer them to enter into a herd of swine, two thou- 
 sand strong, that was feeding on the mountain from 
 which the man had descended. Permission having 
 been given, or taken, the Lord's command to leave the 
 human victim was at once obeyed. The swine dashed 
 violently down the steep, and were drowned in the 
 lake. Their keepers fled in astonishment to the nearest 
 city. When the townsfolk and dwellers round assem- 
 bled to see this thing, they found the man who had 
 been noted as the scourge of the whole country, 
 sitting, clothed, and in his right mind, at the feet of 
 Jesus. 
 
 2. The Episode of the Swine. Stier remarks that 
 expositors of various shades fly from this narrative as 
 if the spirits had entered into them and plunged them 
 in a sea of unbelief. The facts of the case must be 
 steadily borne in mind. First, the confusion of con- 
 sciousness on the part of the subject colours the 
 narrative. The rapid transitions from the human to 
 the demon mind are evident in its picturesque conden- 
 sation. The man worships, the demons deprecate ; the 
 man runs to Jesus, the demons entreat Jesus to let them 
 alone. Must we not think that the same commingling 
 of words and actions pervades the whole ? Then, 
 the only word spoken by Jesus at all in this episodic 
 part of the transaction is the one majestic " Depart," 
 recorded in Matthew, which is the w^ord of expulsion. 
 That it is also regarded by the evangelists as a word of 
 permission for what follows is clear enough. But all 
 else is conjecture of commentators. That the sequel 
 was needful in order to make the expulsion visible 
 
222 THE MIRACLES OF OUR LORD. 
 
 to the man himself; or that the swine's destruction 
 was intended to punish the Gadarenes, if they were 
 heathens, for insulting the Jews, if they were Jews for 
 having swine at all, are tasteless irrelevancies which 
 were better omitted. The loss of the unclean animals 
 is part of the fact ; but no part of the miracle. It was 
 a mere concomitant, something that happened in con- 
 nection with it ; but, really no more to be considered as 
 the doing of the Healer than the throwing down of the 
 epileptic lad, rending him sore, and leaving him for 
 dead, when the Lord bade the evil spirit depart out of 
 him. The command was obeyed in both cases, though 
 the outgoing tenants strove to do all the mischief they 
 could at their exit. Whether the desire of the demons 
 was thus really attained is open to question. By con- 
 necting the miracle with a disagreeable catastrophe, 
 the prejudice of the people was excited against the 
 Redeemer, His mission prevented from going further 
 in this region, and the evil spirits were not sent out of 
 the country, but rather remained in it. So some ; but 
 others take the view, on the whole more consonant to 
 the text, that the evil spirits pleaded for some refuge, 
 some local habitation, rather than return to the abyss ; 
 that they deemed those unclean animals to be suitable ; 
 that in this they deceived themselves ; for the swine 
 would not live with such tenants, but rushed into the 
 lake, and sent the dislodged spirits to the very place 
 from which they sought to be preserved. 
 
 3. The Conduct of the Gadarenes. — '' The whole mul- 
 titude . . . besought Him to depart from them.^^ This is 
 to be ascribed to ignorance and fear rather than to 
 avarice. Otherwise, says Calvin, they would not have 
 besought Jesus to depart, but would have driven Him 
 out. To be more moved by the swine's destruction 
 
THE GAD A RENE AND OTHER DEMONIACS. 223 
 
 than delighted and encouraged by the demoniac's de- 
 liverance, discovered the working of natural conscience. 
 The natural mind when unenlightened dreads the 
 approach of the Divine, of the Supernatural, as expect- 
 ing evil from that source rather than good. The same 
 principle accounts for the way in which many still treat 
 Christ and His grace. There is a mixture of motives- 
 It is not that they reject and disbeHeve everything 
 spiritual. It is not that they deliberately conclude for 
 this world and against life eternal. But they stand in 
 awe of anything very real and powerful in religion. 
 They have a notion that there is something in it. But 
 it bewilders and frightens them, and, as they think, 
 bodes them no good. On the other hand, they do un- 
 derstand their own temporal interest. They perceive 
 that spiritual enthusiasm, when honest and real, is 
 likely to interfere with it, and bring about loss. Thus, 
 between the clear view of what they will almost cer- 
 tainly lose by being aroused to spiritual realities, and 
 the covert dread of what gain such arousal ma}^ bring, 
 they have no other conclusion than to try to get quietly 
 and decently rid of it. If He would just go away — if 
 these currents of spiritual movement would pass by and 
 leave them alone. So they are of those, still, who 
 " pray Him to depart out of their coasts." 
 
 4. The Gadarene Missionary. — As the Lord took 
 them at their word, and was mounting on ship- 
 board to return, the saved man interposed, most 
 naturally and humbly clung to his deliverer, and 
 besought that he might go with Him out of that 
 evil place. Jesus had better use for him. " Go home 
 to thy friends, and tell them how great things the Lord 
 hath done for thee, and hath had compassion on thee'' 
 He is sent first to his own house and friends. What a 
 
224 THE MIRACLES OF OUR LORD. 
 
 meeting ! We can picture them as they stand at the 
 door, or at the village end, and watch his approach ; 
 half-believing and half-fearing, while yonder he comes 
 calm, clothed, happy, and full of good news. So let all 
 grace from Christ begin to tell at home. If it cannot 
 win its way there it lacks some of its vital force. 
 Those who for 'the most part work for Christ away 
 from their own circle, seldom or never within it, 
 betray a consciousness that their influence does not 
 prevail at home, because the change is not fully seen 
 and acknowledged there. ^^ Shew how great things God 
 hath done unto theeT This is the true method of the 
 household missionary. He has a story to tell of per- 
 sonal experience, of marvellous mercy, of grateful love, 
 that he has been himself saved with a great salvation, 
 and has a great Saviour to commend to others. This, 
 in his mouth — and on due occasion all Christ's pubHc 
 servants will employ it as well, — touches men's hearts, 
 and spreads the glory of Jesus. " He departed, and 
 began to publish in Decapolis how great things Jesus had 
 done for him : and all men did marvel!^ The mission 
 was successful, for the worker did exactly at first as the 
 Lord bade him, and he was soon able to do more. 
 The letter 'of his commission enlarged. He began at 
 home, and then neighbours wanted to hear the story^ 
 the people in the next village, soon those in the large 
 towns, till at last he told it to all Decapolis, and be- 
 came Christ's messenger and herald to the whole 
 region. His doctrine enlarged as well as his diocese. 
 He was to go and celebrate his cure. But he could 
 not tell his story without giving Jesus all the praise, 
 and he found that praising Jesus was giving glory to 
 God, and so he preached a Divine Saviour. '' All men 
 did marveir The most terrible sufferer from infernal 
 
THE GADARENE AND OTHER DEMONIACS. 225 
 
 power, in all the record of the Gospels, becomes a 
 preacher of salvation to Ten Cities. Since this district 
 could not bear, at the time, Christ's personal presence, 
 He leaves behind Him a herald of salvation, not vi^ithout 
 relation to His own subsequent return to it. A majestic 
 entrance of the Sun of Righteousness into a region of 
 the Shadow of Death ! For though but a momentary 
 gleam, a ray of light was left there. Jesus went these 
 few hours to Gadara. He found a demoniac and left a 
 missionary. 
 
 Other Demoniacs in the Gospel History. The only 
 instances of '^ possession " in which the personality of 
 the victim comes into any prominence are the one 
 now commented on, and that of the man in the 
 synagogue. The Fathers were in the habit of regard- 
 ing these two as emblems respectively of the state of 
 Jew and Gentile under sin, — the former unclean, yet 
 quiet and apparently subdued, attending on divine 
 worship ; the other fierce and openly raging among 
 the tombs. The Lord proves His power upon both. 
 He is a Saviour for man, — mighty to deliver the Jew 
 from his formal religion and his yoke of bondage, — 
 to rescue, also, the Gentile sold more terribly into the 
 dominion of Satan. That one of our Lord's devoted 
 female followers, Mary of Magdala, had been the 
 subject of His gracious power in this kind is no more 
 than mentioned in the Gospels (cf. Luke viii. 3 with 
 Mark xvi. 9). The heaHng of the demonised dumb 
 (Matt. ix. 33) forms part of a Capernaum episode, 
 which deserves to be treated as a whole.* It is in con- 
 nection with the cure of the blind and dumb demoniac 
 (Matt. xii. 22 ; Luke xi. 14) that the controversy on 
 this topic between Jesus and His enemies reaches its 
 
 * See Section XI. 
 
 15 
 
226 THE MIRACLES OF OUR LORD. 
 
 climax. Hardened and maddened by the involuntary 
 exclamation of the multitude on this occasion, " Is not 
 this the Son of David '^ " the Pharisees of Jerusalem 
 brought out their utmost argument, cunningly adapted 
 to entrap a partially enlightened people. ' Yes ! no 
 doubt very wonderful. The chiefest of all demons 
 alone could give such power to cast out demons.' 
 Our Lord's reply is given at some length in all the 
 Synoptic Gospels (cf. Mark iii. 22-30 with the other 
 two places last-named). First, He uses the home- 
 thrust drawn from their own practice of exorcism. 
 According to these pretensions their own disciples 
 cast out demons. If so, by whom ? Then follows 
 the thought with which He raises the whole contro- 
 versy to a higher platform. If the moral aspect of this 
 question be left out the whole degenerates into ab- 
 surdities and superstitions of the Jewish doctrine 
 concerning Satan and his demons. Introduce the 
 moral idea of an evil kingdom, of which man's own 
 sinfulness makes him a thrall till the Deliverer come, 
 then all is clear. Satan cannot cast out Satan, else 
 how shall his kingdom stand ? But his casting out 
 shows the finger or spirit of God ; and this new thing 
 which Jesus brings in is no other than the kingdom of 
 God. Last of all. He warns these traducers that their 
 evil is not spoken merely against Himself, but against 
 the Holy Spirit of God, and thus verges on that 
 " eternal sin " for which neither here nor hereafter can 
 there be forgiveness. 
 
 A closing word on this whole topic. If it be asked, 
 Why were such cases known only at that particular 
 time ? and, How account for their entire disappearance 
 since ? it must be replied that both these questions 
 proceed upon inaccurate assumption. The sacred 
 
THE GADARENE AND OTHER DEMONIACS. 227 
 
 literature does not confine " possession " to the time 
 of our Lord's sojourn on earth. That such phenomena 
 were known before He came is implied in the narra- 
 tives themselves. There are several instances of 
 possession dealt with by the apostles after His de- 
 parture. The records of early Christianity bear out 
 the same impression. That such disorders should, 
 indeed, have been peculiarly prevalent in that stage of 
 human history will not appear strange to reflective 
 students of it. If, as Trench has remarked, there 
 was anything that more specially marked the period of 
 our Lord's coming and that immediately succeeding it 
 with an ethical character, it was precisely the wreck 
 and confusion of men's spiritual life, — the disharmony 
 and hopelessness which overtook men who knew not 
 revelation, and the tendency to rush into sensual 
 enjoyments as the refuge from despairing thoughts. 
 The Greek and Roman world was never so beset as 
 then with magicians, soothsayers, and spiritual pre- 
 tenders of all sorts, — the decay of faith giving place to 
 horrid superstitions. The whole period, in short, was 
 the hour of darkness before the dawn. The night of 
 men's ignorance was about to expire. Is it any 
 wonder that at such a time such soul-maladies as 
 these, such instances of infernal domination, should 
 have specially abounded ? * " Why not admit," says 
 Pressense, " that in this age, which saw the close of a 
 world, a new and strange form of evil was called forth ? 
 ... In a great crisis of history may not this terrible 
 influence have made itself felt in an altogether special 
 manner upon individuals whose minds are already 
 diseased ? Psychology has its mysteries as well as 
 
 * Trench, Notes on the Miracles, pp. 163, 164. Cf. Westcott, Charac- 
 teristics^ etc.f pp. 77-81. 
 
228 THE MIRACLES OF OUR LORD 
 
 metaphysics, and its facts often pass explanation. 
 There is no reason against supposing possession to 
 be a kind of exceptional mental alienation —that is to 
 say, the substitution of a foreign influence for the moral 
 being which lies fettered and bound."* 
 
 As to the question. How account for their entire 
 disappearance now ? we should, again, have to be 
 quite certain of the facts before attempting to answer. 
 Is it certain that there is no analogy between the 
 terrible facts of evil possession and what modern 
 physicians call ''moral insanity"? Is it quite clear 
 that there is no such thing as possession extant still 
 — if we may not say in our penitentiaries and asylums, 
 at least in the depths of heathen darkness, and in 
 the orgies of false religions ? We should require to 
 listen to competent medical authorities on the former, 
 and to those long acquainted with heathenism on the 
 latter, of these topics. The whole subject is too obscure 
 for dogmatism on either side. But the plain sense 
 of the sacred narrative seems to carry with it the 
 assumption that there was and can be such a pheno- 
 menon as possession — a demonised state, different 
 from madness, t 
 
 * Jesiis Christ : His Life, Times, and Work. Hodder & Stough- 
 ton, 1875. 
 
 f Those who wish to see both sides of the question should consult 
 Jahn, Archceologia Biblica, p. 200 et seqq., Enghsh trans., third 
 edition, Oxford, 1836; also the articles on this topic in Winer, 
 BibliscJies Realworterbitch, Herzog, Real Encyclop. Among recent dis- 
 cussions, see. Prebendary Row, The Supernatural in the New Testa- 
 ment, and Edersheim's Appendix XVI. in his Life and Times of Jesus 
 the Messiah, who shows successfully that the New Testament writers 
 are not to be charged with the superstitious notions of the Jews- on 
 this subject. 
 
X. 
 
 THE WOMAN WITH AN ISSUE OF BLOOD. 
 Matt. ix. 20-2 ; Mark v. 25-34 ; Luke viii. 43-8. 
 
 THIS incident is marked out among our Lord's 
 healings by these two peculiarities : It was a 
 miracle within a miracle ; and it was a cure obtained 
 without a word spoken beforehand. All three Syn- 
 optists concur in recording this event episodically in 
 the heart of 'another transaction, — the Raising of the 
 Daughter of Jairus ; and the two whose notes of time 
 are clearest place the combined occurrence in imme- 
 diate consecution to the return from Gadara. The 
 people had recognised His returning vessel, and lining 
 the shore near Capernaum, were waiting for Him, and 
 received Him gladly. No sooner has He set foot on 
 land, than He is called to go on an errand of mercy, 
 and finds another merciful work to do on the road. The 
 power of Jesus not only flows out, but overflows and 
 dispenses blessings by the way. The crumbs that fall 
 from His Table are better than the feasts of other 
 masters. It was also a healing granted without any 
 previous conversation. In this it was exceptional. He 
 usually talked with the patient or with those interested 
 in the case before He wrought the cure. In these collo- 
 quies we have found varied and fruitful illustrations of 
 
230 THE MIRACLES OF OUR LORD. 
 
 the nature, origin, and growth of faith. This story, as 
 much as any, illustrates faith, though it does so in 
 a fresh and original way. The faith of this woman 
 was so fearless, prompt, and resolute, that without 
 question or explanation, before a word had been spoken, 
 she believes, resolves, acts. She has snatched the 
 blessing, and is only not permitted to steal it. For He 
 would not let her go until He had obtained a confession 
 of her faith and an account of her cure from her own 
 lips. Thus, though the conversation was not held till 
 the cure had been wrought, the exception confirmed 
 the rule on which He acted, that, apart from faith, 
 and the acknowledgment of faith, there could be no 
 
 iessing. 
 An old writer has said that in the words with which 
 this story ends our Lord Jesus puts a remarkable 
 honour upon faith. He seems to take the crown off 
 His own head and put it on the head of Faith. For 
 He does not say, ' My power,' but, " Thy faith hath 
 made thee whole." He had good reasons for speaking 
 as He did on this occasion. There were some defects 
 in the woman's way of thinking about the Healer, — not 
 to be wondered at when we consider how very partial 
 must have been the knowledge of Him she possessed. 
 There were also some peculiarities in her own case, 
 which disposed her to hide the whole transaction. But 
 Christ permits no false shame on the part of His 
 patients to rob either their faith or His power of the 
 appropriate honour. Had the woman been suffered 
 to go away without acknowledging the source and 
 manner of her healing she might have attributed the 
 cure, on His part, to a magical virtue that flowed 
 unconsciously and involuntarily from His Person ; and 
 
 on her part, to physical contact rather than believing 
 
THE WOMAN WITH AN ISSUE OF BLOOD. 231 
 
 trust. But He turns on her with a conscious and 
 loving explanation. He said, * No ! it was not chance 
 nearness to My body in the crowd that wrought the 
 cure ; it was not the touch of My garment's hem. It 
 was the dealing of thy soul with thy Saviour, — -a vital 
 and spiritual transaction, '* Thy faith hath made thee 
 whole." ' This is, on the forefront of it, what the 
 incident has to teach us, viz., that faith is a reasonable 
 and intelligible thing. Christ by His words here would 
 have all men take notice that His healing is no magical 
 or mesmeric transaction ; that it is neither by chance 
 nor by charm that diseases are removed and souls are 
 saved, but in a way free and open to all sufferers and 
 sinners. For there is no risk of our attaching unt 
 moment to faith, or of its usurping aught of the 
 Saviour's honour, if we observe what it really is, as 
 illustrated in this instance. It is simply a strong and 
 reasonable persuasion of Christ's power, issuing in an 
 immediate and practical recourse to Him. If He puts 
 the crown of peace and assurance on the head of faith, 
 such faith when examined puts the crown back again 
 on the head of Jesus, and says, *'To Him be all the 
 glory." Two things in the narrative especially claim 
 our attention : the woman's confidence in Christ and 
 Christ's action towards her. 
 
 I. The woman^s faith in the Saviour , its strength and 
 its weakness. — Tradition makes her a resident, not at 
 Capernaum, but at Paneas, or Cesarea Philippi, who had 
 wandered to Galilee, seeking relief from her trouble. 
 Two brazen statues, supposed to commemorate the 
 miracle, existed at that place in the time of Eusebius 
 (fourth century), and were seen by him as he records.* 
 Another Church historian, a century later, describes the 
 * Eccles. Hist. vii. 18. 
 
232 THE MIRACLES OF OUR LORD. 
 
 destruction of the same monument by order of the 
 Emperor JuHan.* These notices, otherwise not of 
 much value, confirm the impression suggested, even by 
 the sacred narrative, that she was a stranger to the 
 district where she was healed. This woman put 
 herself in His way on this eventful occasion, and 
 thus proved the strength of her faith. She had 
 most likely never seen Him before, had never heard 
 Him speak, had never beheld one of His miracles. 
 In these circumstances it would not have been sur- 
 prising, after all she had suffered and spent, through 
 her wasting disease and her physicians together, had 
 she thought of coming to the Gahlean Healer as a 
 forlorn hope. On the contrary, she not only had 
 hope so much as led her to think it worth while to 
 make the journey, but she had somehow gathered a 
 strong persuasion of His ability, such that she said to 
 her neighbours, to herself, or to both, ^^ If I may touch 
 but His clothes I shall be whole^ Nor was the per- 
 suasion arbitrary or fanatical. It was simple and 
 generous, but it was thoroughly reasonable, because 
 justified by facts. It was when she had ^^ heard the 
 things concerning Jesus " f that she came to Him. What 
 these were we can suppose. His fame as a Healer of 
 diseases was now spread through all Syria. His 
 uniform tenderness to the poor was noted. Some of 
 the ^^ gracious words " that proceeded out of His 
 mouth were no doubt current among the common 
 people who heard Him gladly. For this woman it 
 was enough. She was filled with a belief that He 
 was able to heal even her. She never seems to have 
 
 * Sozomen, Hist. Eccles., v. 21. 
 
 f Mark v. 27 (R.V.)., rd irepl rod 'lyjaov. The addition of rd in the 
 Revisers' Greek is an improvement on the Textus Recephts, 
 
THE WOMAN WITH AN ISSUE OF BLOOD. 233 
 
 doubted for a moment her right to take the cure if she 
 could get it. Such a Saviour should not come within 
 arm's length of her, but she would stretch out her hand 
 for the blessing. Though she should have to press her 
 way through the crowd to reach Him she would touch 
 Him and be healed. 
 
 No doubt there were defects in this faith. Its 
 strength and weakness lay close together. It had the 
 defect, so to say, of its quality. Its promptness may 
 have owed something to the mechanical or material 
 conception of the Healer's power, as if it were some 
 atmosphere that surrounded Him, or some magical 
 influence that flowed even from His garments. The 
 swift and secret touch was directed perhaps to the 
 sacred fringe of His Jewish robe, in which, with a 
 superstitious fondness, the healing power was thought 
 specially to reside.* But even so. " Happily it was 
 not the imaginations of her head that were to cure her, 
 but the faith she harboured in her heart, and this was 
 evident and pleasing to her Lord." j The confidence 
 she had in Jesus was typical in that it was strong and 
 well-founded. That it was mixed with those other 
 elements from which the Lord proceeds immediately 
 to purify it may teach us a double lesson. It hints, on 
 
 * Not that it was altogether superstition, for there was a moral 
 significance in the hem of the garment. " Over the close-fitting 
 tunic Jesus most probably wore the square outer garment, or Tallith 
 with the customary fringes {Zizith) of four long white threads with 
 one of hyacinth • colour knitted together on each of the four corners " 
 (Edersheim), " Two of these fringes usually hung down at the 
 bottom of the robe; one hung over the shoulder when the robe was 
 folded round the person. This was probably the KpaarreSov which 
 the woman touched, as not requiring she should stoop down in the 
 thick-moving crowd " (Farrar). See, however, the full and guarded 
 statement of Edersheim. 
 
 f Olshausen, On the Gospels, ii. ii. 
 
234 THE MIRACLES OF OUR LORD. 
 
 the one hand, how small a part of Gospel truth may 
 save the soul if there be faith to receive and love to 
 act upon it. The spiritual value of faith is not to be 
 reckoned by the correctness of conception on which it 
 rests. Yet, on the other hand, the trust which is well- 
 founded and generous will meet with its reward in a 
 rapid and progressive enlightenment through Christ's 
 word and spirit. 
 
 For let us note next that this faith, as it was buoyant 
 in persuasion, was prompt and immediate in action. 
 She ^^ came in the crowd behind, and touched His 
 garment^ And it was as immediate in its success. 
 Mark says, '^ Straightway the fountain of her blood was 
 dried upT Luke, in language less rhetorical and more 
 exact, ^^Immediately the issue of her blood was stanched" 
 There followed also another swift consequence. Jesus, 
 Himself, at once distinguished the believing touch 
 from all common stare and pressure of the throngs 
 around Him, and astonished His disciples by singling 
 it out. The incident has ever been a favourite and 
 piquant analogue for the effects of living faith in Christ 
 as contrasted with mere professed or traditional 
 adherence to Him. As that day in the streets of 
 Capernaum many pressed Him, but one touched Him, 
 so is it still.* Why it is so this story may instruct us. 
 This woman came at once to the vital touch, because 
 she was so convinced of her disease and its danger. 
 But so many nominal followers of Christ are trying to 
 persuade themselves that their disease is not fatal. 
 She was quite done with all other physicians, and 
 broken off from them. But many of us have not yet 
 been conclusively shut up to Christ. This woman 
 
 * IIH premunt ista tetigit^' " Caro premit, fides tangit," are the 
 exquisite phrases of Augustine. 
 
THE WOMAN WITH AN ISSUE OF BIOOD. 235 
 
 went straight to Jesus so soon as she heard that He 
 was nigh. But so many among us are waiting for the 
 " convenient season." She made the most inconvenient 
 season serve her turn. The Healer was on His way 
 elsewhere. Jairus and the disciples were hurrying 
 Him along. It was the worst time and place for such 
 an invalid. But it was hers, for it was given her of 
 God ; she made the best of it, and was saved. Some 
 of our hearers say their difficulties are pecuHar. There 
 is nothing in ordinary preaching, in the common state- 
 ments of the Gospel, that meets their case and relieves 
 their perplexities. They are waiting for some clearer 
 light, for some more special agency. This woman's 
 case was peculiar. She was by Jewish law unclean. 
 She could not repair to the synagogue where so many 
 met Jesus and were healed. She could not stand up 
 before the Healer in a public audience and tell her case 
 and get His hands laid on her, as so many did. The 
 ordinary mode of even these Healing miracles would 
 not have met her need. So she got her health, in the 
 crush of a street procession, by stealing behind Him, 
 and pressing with the energy of hope till her fingers 
 grasped His garment ; for she was fully persuaded that, 
 peculiar as was her case, she should find in Him an 
 appropriate and certain cure. Those who in their soul- 
 search for spiritual health follow her example will be 
 as successful and as blessed as was she. 
 
 2. The SavioiiJ'^s Acli'on towards the Woman) its Wis- 
 dom and Tenderness.— The critical point in this miracle 
 is that at first sight it seems '^ as if it had been wrought 
 outside the consciousness and will of Jesus."^ It is 
 eminently an instance of healing by contact. But 
 whereas healings by touch, on His part, accompanied 
 
 * Godet, in he. 
 
236 THE MIRACLES OF OUR LORD. 
 
 with other actions and with speech, are frequent, and 
 whereas cure by touching Him is elsewhere referred to 
 in mere general terms,* in this instance alone it looks 
 as if it had taken place without previous concurrence 
 of His at all. The dilemma of explanation lies between 
 conceiving of the cure as done entirely without His 
 will, therefore magical and mechanical, unlike all 
 His other gracious works ; or importing the notion of 
 a concealed consciousness on His part, which gives an 
 uncandid effect to the subsequent conversation. Godet 
 supplies the idea that in each of Jesus' miracles there 
 are, as it were, two poles, — the receptivity of the sub- 
 ject and the activity of the worker. That whereas, in 
 some cases, receptivity is languid and the Lord's con- 
 scious action is most intense, here it is the reverse. The 
 active faith of the sufferer, as it were, takes the blessing 
 by storm, though from One who is always willing to 
 bless. He was not, indeed, unconscious of the virtue 
 He put forth, nor of the faith which received it. But 
 to bring that faith into clearness and purity it was 
 necessary to bring the subject herself into conscious 
 and open relation to her Healer. On this principle the 
 occurrence may be conceived of thus : As He is being 
 hurried along the narrow and crowded street, jostled by 
 the eager throng who are watching the issue of the 
 Ruler's application, the Lord becomes suddenly aware 
 of an outgoing of His power in response to an act of 
 faith, equally quick and bold. He straightway turns 
 round, and puts the question which amazed the 
 disciples, and drew forth Simon's characteristic remon- 
 strance. But Jesus re-asserts the fact with peculiar 
 emphasis, "Somebody hath touched Me." Searching 
 the crowd around, and hitherto behind. Him, His gaze 
 
 * Matt. xiv. 36 ; Mark iii. 10, vi. 56. 
 
THE WOMAN WITH AN ISSUE OF BLOOD. 237 
 
 falls on one female form comparatively young. The face, 
 if Eastern dress let it be a moment seen, told its tale. 
 The thin and pinched features, the pallor of habitual ill- 
 health, helped, perhaps, to single it out. But now there 
 mingles in it the glow of instantaneous success, and the 
 blush of womanly sensibility. She knew instantly that 
 she was healed. She felt in that moment how far her 
 sanguine boldness had carried her. She perceived, 
 indeed, that nothing was hid from her Healer, but also 
 that His mien was as gracious as His person was 
 mighty. Knowing that her touch had involved the risk 
 of defilement for Him, — saint and rabbi, as to her He 
 was, — but believing that in His power it was now all 
 swallowed up and cancelled, she came forward at His 
 word. What look of His met hers we can imagine. 
 A rare delight filled His countenance — a foretaste of 
 the joy set before Him — at the signal proof of confi- 
 dence given by this poor lone woman. This sunshine 
 of His face, added to the joy of her own success, gave 
 her courage to tell Him all the truth, hoth. for ivhat cause 
 she had touched Htm, and how she was healed imme- 
 diately. The avowal cost her not a little. She came 
 *^ fearing and trembling " as she *^ fell down before Him,^^ 
 and made her confession ^^ before all the peopled But it 
 was richly rewarded. ^^ Daughter, ^^ He said, ^^ be of 
 good cheer^ No one in all the Gospel story was ever 
 addressed by Him with this tender appellation but 
 herself. All three evangelists have recorded the term 
 as if they marked the special honour it implied. And, 
 then, in the added words. He clears her faith to her 
 own mind. He confirms her cure as a permanent 
 healing, and He claims to be Himself the knowing and 
 willing Author of it all. 
 
 We can see why, for His own sake, and His work's 
 
238 THE MIRACLES OF OUR LORD, 
 
 sake, Jesus had to make this cure public. But we are 
 also to note how good it was for the subject of it 
 herself. She did not mean, perhaps, to " filch the 
 blessing." Her failing leaned to virtue's side. She 
 deemed it not worth while to have Him stop for her, 
 when He was in such urgenc}^, and stand and speak 
 the healing. One quiet touch would do all she needed. 
 Had she been allowed to slip away without the public 
 scene, she would have lost two things : the honour of 
 confessing her faith, and of having her cure confirmed. 
 He drew her out of her privacy that He might crown 
 her faith with His great encomium, '' Thy faith hath saved 
 thee; " and that He might remove all fear that the cure 
 would fail, or the disease relapse, " Go in peace, and be 
 whole of thy plagued Reserve was her fault, a wish to 
 hide the cure ; thus at once cheating her own self of 
 comfort, and withholding from the Lord His due honour. 
 He corrects that fault most gently and wisety. He 
 does not insist upon publicity till the healing had taken 
 place, thus making confession as easy as possible for 
 her. The object of its publication then becomes ap- 
 parent, viz., to show that the medium of the cure was 
 faith, not physical contact; to confirm what she had 
 already taken by His own pronounced bestowal of it, 
 and to bring her out in grateful acknowledgment both 
 for His glory and her good. 
 
 There are Christians whose fault is reserve. They 
 would be saved, as it were, by stealth. The Saviour 
 will not have it so. True conversion, no doubt, is 
 first of all a secret transaction very close and personal 
 between the soul and Christ. But because it is so, 
 it cannot remain so. The virtue which is gone out 
 of Him is a savour which cannot be hid. A seen 
 religion is not always real, but a real religion is always 
 
THE WOMAN WITH AN ISSUE OF BLOOD. 239 
 
 seen. We cannot claim Christ for ours but He will 
 also declare His part in the blessed bond, and have us 
 acknowledge that we are His. '' To confess with the 
 mouth " is an essential part of the salvation .which 
 comes by believing with the heart. Indeed^ it is the 
 consummation of it. " With the heart man believeth 
 unto righteousness." This is the private justification 
 of the man before God. '' With the mouth confession 
 is made unto salvation." This crowns the transaction. 
 It is more than its mere publication, namely, its perfec- 
 tion. The salvation is neither comforting nor complete 
 until it is openly acknowledged.* Is this why there 
 are so many comfortless Christians ? — unassured, un- 
 confirmed, as well as un comforted. They are to be 
 Christ's followers .so modestly and quietly that no one 
 shall know of them. Let them take heed lest He also 
 should be unaware of them, and have to say sorrowfully 
 at the last, " I never knew you." 
 
 * See Augustine's picturesque story of the conversion of Victorinus, 
 the Roman rhetorician. Confessions, viii. 3, 4, 5. 
 
XL 
 
 TWO BLIND MEN, AND A DUMB DEMON. 
 Matt. ix. 27-38. 
 
 THIS passage of the history is pecuHar to St. 
 Matthew. It closes with one of those general 
 paragraphs in which the miracles and ministry of the 
 Lord are strikingly summed up. Besides, it contains 
 two of what may be called the minor miraculous inci- 
 dents. These are described in the fewest words, but 
 with peculiar beauty. Crowded into a little space of 
 the narrative, they are full of individual interest, like 
 the subordinate groups of a great historical painting. 
 What wealth inexhaustible there must have been in His 
 life, when His bye-walks and spare hours were filled up 
 with deeds like these ! If we are to follow the apparent 
 note of time given in this Gospel, He is just returning 
 to the house of His disciples in Capernaum, from the 
 home of Jairus. One stirring event had followed, that 
 day, on the heels of another ; a leisure moment had 
 surely now arrived ; but no ! still another claim upon 
 His compassion. 
 
 ver. 27. When Jesus departed thence y two blind men 
 followed Him, crying, and saying. Thou Son of David, 
 have mercy on us. — This is the earliest in the notable 
 group of such cases in the Gospels. After this one, 
 
TPVO BLIND MEN, AND A DUMB DEMON. 241 
 
 their occurrence in order of time appears to be, the 
 cure of the " possessed " who was bhnd and dumb 
 (Matt. xii. 22), that of the man whose eyes were opened 
 at Bethsaida Juhas (Mark viii. 22), that of the man 
 sent to Siloam — distinguished as a cure of congenital 
 bhndness (John ix.), and that of Bartimeus and his com- 
 panion near Jericho (in all the Synoptists). We are 
 reminded by these instances of the great frequency of 
 blindness in Eastern countries. From causes con- 
 nected with the climate, with the soil, with the customs 
 of the people, severe and destructive forms of ophthal- 
 mic inflammation are far more common than with us. 
 To these have to be added the causes which in every 
 country make us familiar with this pathetic form of 
 Inhuman infirmity. The blind had the attention and 
 sympathy of Jesus in the days of His flesh, and for no 
 one class of physical sufferers has the spirit of His 
 gospel done more in all the lands to which it has 
 penetrated. Our Lord's cures of blindness are also 
 specially noted in the Gospels as making for the proof of 
 His Christhood. The two men here and the two at 
 Jericho call Jesus by a name not often used, but to the 
 Jew expressly significant of the Messiah. '' Thou Son 
 of David," they said, " have mercy on us." When He 
 cast out the demon from one blind and dumb the people 
 said, " Is not this the Son of David ? " The result of 
 the cure of the man born blind was a demonstration 
 of His claim publicly conducted before His enemies in 
 Jerusalem. This class of miracles carried with it 
 evidence pecuharly conclusive to the mind of the Jew, 
 no doubt because it had been prominently asserted in 
 the prophets as one of the marks of Messiah and His 
 times, that by Him '' the eyes of the blind should 
 see out of obscurity and darkness." The spiritual 
 
 16 
 
242 THE MIRACLES OF OUR LORD. 
 
 propriety of this prominence is obvious. Blindness 
 is a constant Bible figure for man's moral incapacity 
 in things Divine which persists even in the face of 
 God's revelation. The removal of blindness was a 
 peculiarly appropriate type of the mission of Jesus, of 
 His coming to be the Light of the World and to give 
 to those who follow Him the Light of. Life. 
 
 ver. 28. And ivhen He was come into the house, the 
 blind men came to Him : and Jesus saith unto them, 
 Believe ye that I am able to do this ? — -The faith of these 
 men proved its strength by its importunity. They had 
 followed Him along the street, crying after Him ; now 
 they pushed their way into the house. They would 
 take no denial, at least, no silent one. So He puts them 
 to a further test. His early cures had been wrought 
 almost without solicitation. Now that evidences were 
 multiplied, the kingdom recognised, a proportionate 
 expression of faith is expected. Hence the question 
 intended to bring out their desire in a definite form. 
 There was no previous instance of opening blind eyes, 
 at least, none is recorded. Do ye believe, He asked, 
 in My power and its sufficiency for your particular 
 need ? Faith is a full and firm acceptance of Christ's 
 ability in general and for our own peculiar instance. 
 This element of faith is primal and fundamental. It is 
 its ground-tone ; yet easily overlooked or undervalued, 
 because taken for granted. * You believe that " He is 
 able." You never doubted it, would never presume 
 to question it.' Yes ! but does it possess your 
 thoughts ? Does it fill your soul ? Does it fire your 
 resolution and make you forget yourself? Was 
 Abraham the prince of Old Testament believers — the 
 father of the faithful ? Here is the description of 
 Abraham's faith, " He was strong in faith, giving glory 
 
TIVO BLIND MEN, AND A DUMB DEMON. 243 
 
 to God, being fully persuaded that what He had 
 promised He was able also to perform."* Was Paul 
 foremost among New Testament saints ? Note how he 
 expresses his trust in his closing days, with the sword 
 and the crown of martyrdom before him. " I know 
 whom I have believed, and am persuaded that He is 
 able to keep that which I have committed to him against 
 that day."-)- This is not only the ground-tone of faith, it 
 is its vital hue — the proof of its life — the appropriating 
 and active element. The Lord's test applied to it, is not 
 how much we believe, w^hat articles are in our creed, but 
 whether we trust Him as able to do for us this very 
 thing now in hand. Do we believe that He is able to 
 open our blind eyes, soften our hard heart, conquer our 
 stubbornest lust, keep us through and through to the 
 end ? That * Christ is able/ why it is one of those familiar 
 verities whose greatness hides them from our view. 
 Like the vast blue dome above us, we know it is there 
 always. We walk free under its canopy, safe by its light, 
 but seldom "lift up our eyes" to its depths and riches. 
 To acquiesce in the belief that " He is able " is hardly 
 worth calling faith. It is certainly not faith in exercise. 
 Let us look up into the heaven of His redeeming power. 
 Let us fasten our gaze upon star after star of promise 
 in its sureness, and for each, as we need it, believe 
 that He is, ''able to make all grace abound," ''able to 
 succour them that are tempted," " able to keep us from 
 falHng," " able to save to the uttermost," " able to do 
 exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think." 
 
 " They say unto Him, Yea, Lord.'' (ver. 29) " Then 
 touched He their eyes, saying, According to your faith be 
 it done unto you'' (R.V.). — They had proved their faith, 
 now they simply and frankly confess it, and He imme- 
 
 * Rom. iv. 20, 21. t 2 Tim. i. 12. 
 
244 THE MIRACLES OF OUR LORD. 
 
 diately and generously honours it. He touched their 
 eyes, for this was His usual and appropriate mode of 
 conveying through another sense His personal action 
 in the cure of blindness. And then He proclaims 
 Faith's charter. He pronounces it free of the treasure 
 house of His grace. Whatever you need, only believe 
 for it ; whatever the boon, only believe Him able and 
 willing, and it is yours. Faith is itself nothing, yet 
 links " man's emptiness to Christ's fulness," and avails 
 for everything. 
 
 vv. 30, 31. And . . .Jesus straitly charged them. 
 . . . But they spread abroad His fame in all that country. 
 — This is a good instance of the diversity of treatment 
 needed as to the proclamation of the miracles. He gives 
 almost threatening charges of silence in this case and 
 in that of Jairus' daughter recorded in this context; 
 and yet in the intervening story of the woman who 
 touched Him the treatment is reversed. The reason 
 is plain. Otherwise hers would have been not so much 
 a quiet cure as one lost and buried. She who touched 
 in secret, was made to confess openly. These two men, 
 who cried after Him in the street, were blessed privately 
 in the house and sent quietly away. Moreover, this 
 treatment fell in with the Lord's general course at this 
 time. Notoriety of miraculous working among those 
 who had already seen so much of it, would only have 
 fostered the false view of His Christhood which was 
 rising, and would have interfered with His leisure to 
 teach. Henceforth, for a time, the miracles are not so 
 frequent, and more space is given in the narrative to 
 His doctrine. Such is the key to these charges of 
 silence. His design was to prevent the people from being 
 misled by the mere report of them, to avert their deluded 
 violence of enthusiasm, or His enemies' urgency of hate. 
 
7JF0 BLIND MEN, AND A DUMB DEMON. 245 
 
 Yet plainly the deeds themselves were not meant to be 
 hid, for the recollection and the record of them has not 
 failed even in the case of such as those before us, which 
 might have been counted of less moment. The ques- 
 tion has been discussed whether we should blame or 
 praise these two men, who, despite the Saviour's words, 
 spread His fame. Trench notes the curious fact that 
 all his Romish authorities, and most of the patristic, 
 applaud or excuse, while Protestant commentators see 
 here a fault, ^' even though it were one into which only 
 grateful hearts could have fallen." 
 
 vv. 32, 33. And as they went forth, behold, there was 
 brought to Him a dumb man possessed with a devil. 
 And when the devil was cast out, the dumb man spake. — 
 No sooner are the blind men restored and gone out, 
 than a fresh party entered, bringing another case. 
 Surely He bare our infiirmities and carried our sick- 
 nesses. This \vas one '* possessed," and in consequence, 
 both deaf and dumb, as the one word used properly 
 signifies. Apparently the demonic element here is the 
 ruling one. The case is so described as to distinguish 
 it from an ordinary case of dumbness. There was no 
 organic defect. The mental and moral causes only of 
 the disorder had to be removed, and " the dumb spake." 
 Our Lord dealt with the cause, struck at the root, by 
 casting out the demon. In like manner He treats our 
 spiritual maladies. Dealing with S3^mptoms only will 
 never please any good doctor. Nor does it satisfy our 
 Great Physician. A clean heart is what He promises 
 first. Then, all thoughts, words and acts shall be 
 clean. The evil spirit He will first expel, and then the 
 liberated soul will express itself to God as well as hear 
 His voice. It will no more be deaf and dumb. " Behold 
 he prayeth." This miracle produced a great impression. 
 
246 THE MIRACLES OF OUR LORD, 
 
 Why so, we may easily understand. The Jewish rabbis 
 and teachers practised exorcism. They professed to 
 cast out evil spirits. They did perhaps produce effects 
 of a noticeable kind on nervously disturbed persons. 
 But a deaf and dumb '' possessed " person was beyond 
 their reach. They could do nothing with such a case. 
 They could not address the man. He was beyond the 
 scope of any influences which they could bring to bear. 
 Jesus Himself explains to the disciples in another case, 
 where " possession " is ascribed to a " dumb spirit," 
 that such were peculiarly hard even for faith to deal 
 with.* Here, then, was an instance of Jesus' power 
 specially fitted to impress the people, and it also 
 specially exasperated the hostility of His enemies. 
 " The multitude marvelled^ sayings It 7vas never so seen 
 in Israeli The first Gospel at this point closes a 
 narrative which contains ten of our Lord's miracles 
 related in close consecution. It sums up in a sentence 
 countless unrecorded acts of the same sort, which He 
 did as He went about teaching, preaching, and healing 
 all manner of disease and sickness. Then it adds a 
 paragraph which prepares the way for a new section of 
 the history. Hitherto Jesus has laboured chiefly in the 
 home country of Galilee, near the Lake, and has been 
 Himself the sole Preacher of the Kingdom. Henceforth 
 His work takes a wider range, and He associates the 
 Twelve with Him, both as heralds and as healers. 
 
 * St. Mark ix. 29. 
 
XII. 
 
 THE SYRO-PHCENICIAN WOMAN. 
 Matt. xv. 21-28; Mark vii. 24-30. 
 
 THE first thing to note here is the change, at this 
 point, in the scene and circumstances of our 
 Lord's miracles. Last chapter recorded the close of 
 the stated Galilean ministry, which had its centre at 
 Capernaum. The " year of success," as it has been 
 called, was ended. The " year of opposition " was now 
 begun. His labours consist henceforth of a succession 
 of tours or journeys. The section immediately before 
 us may be named the mission to North Galilee, or, 
 more accurately. Outer Galilee, as contrasted with His 
 ministry in the central districts near the Sea of Tiberias. 
 In these and the following passages of the Gospels 
 mention is made of Tyre and Sidon in the north-west, 
 of Cesarea Philippi in the north, of Decapolis on the 
 east and south-east of the Lake. These were the out- 
 skirts of Palestine, so that Galilee of the Gentiles was 
 not left unvisited by Jesus. May we not suppose one 
 reason for this journey to have been, that in His own 
 person He might sketch in outHne the missionary plan 
 which He left His apostles to fill up ? For, as He 
 charged His messengers, so He Himself *' began at 
 Jerusalem," was early at Samaria, did most of His 
 
248 THE MIRACLES OF OUR LORD. 
 
 miracles and gave much of His teaching in Galilee, and 
 now went to the '' uttermost parts of the land," entering 
 at least the borders of heathendom. 
 
 We are, further, expressly told that one object of this 
 tour was retirement, both because of the crisis His 
 work in Galilee had reached, and for the sake of His 
 disciples. He had not found this retirement by with- 
 drawing to the eastern shores of the Lake, for He had 
 been followed thither by crowds of people. But now 
 the passover companies — no longer fed with miraculous 
 bread — had gone up to Jerusalem. Many even of His 
 own followers had been scared by His faithful words in 
 the synagogue of Capernaum. He now, therefore, 
 departs quietly with His disciples into the half-heathen 
 country to the north of Palestine proper, where He 
 '' desires to be hid." Even there, however, as the 
 sequel shows. His fame had preceded Him ; and He 
 has soon to move onwards to similar outlying regions. 
 During the whole tour the miracles recorded — each of 
 them striking and full of character — are nevertheless 
 few. In the district of Tyre and Sidon only the one 
 before us ; in Decapolis, the Cure of one Deaf and 
 Dumb ; towards the north-east of the Lake, the Feeding 
 of Four Thousand, and near Bethsaida Julias, in the 
 same region, the Restoration to Sight of a Blind Man ; 
 upon his return from Cesarea Philippi, the Transfigura- 
 tion and the Healing of the Epileptic. The curative works 
 of this group fall now to be considered in their order. 
 
 Our present story is the first of these. In regard to 
 the principal subject of it, the mother of the possessed 
 child, let us note, first : 
 
 Her person. — She was a ''woman of Canaan, a Syro- 
 phoenician by nation." That is to say, by her descent 
 she was a Gentile of the Gentiles, for she was sprung 
 
THE SYRO-PHCENICIAN WOMAN. 249 
 
 of those original inhabitants of Canaan whom Israel 
 received commission to exterminate. The Gospel does 
 not blot out differences of race, and there have been, 
 even under its sway, favoured and foremost races. But 
 it proves its fitness for man as such, by winning 
 trophies of grace out of all races. She is also called a 
 "Greek," implying that she was by reHgion a pagan. 
 She was not even so much as a Grecian or proselyte, 
 and is perhaps the only example of a heathen being 
 directl}' blessed by our Lord Himself in the flesh ; for 
 the Centurion of Capernaum was obviously already a 
 convert to the Jewish faith. Here, then, is an early- 
 gleam of the "justifying of the uncircumcision through 
 faith." " For Christ to throw the devil out of a 
 Canaanite was very like the white banner of Christ's 
 love to the nations, and the King's royal standard set 
 up to gather in the heathen under his colours." * 
 
 Her case. — It was not her own, but her little daugh- 
 ter's. Yet she makes it her own in the words of her 
 touching petition, '^ Have mercy on meT Anxiety about 
 her child brought her to Jesus. " My daughter is 
 grievously vexed with a demons t There were degrees 
 of that misery, and this was of the worst sort. St. Mark 
 says the young girl had or was held by an unclean 
 spirit. This clearly puts the case into the same cate- 
 gory as that of the boy brought by his father to the foot 
 of the Mount of Transfiguration. The theory which 
 would attribute "possession" always to moral causes 
 in the subjects of it, will not cover these instances. 
 Young people of that age could not be among the 
 
 * Samuel Rutherford. The Trial and Triumph of Faith, — his well- 
 known twenty-seven sermons on this narrative. (F. C. Assembly's 
 edition, 1845, P- 24.) 
 
 t KaKm daifiovC^erac, Matt. xv. 22. 
 
250 THE MIRACLES OF OUR LORD 
 
 desperately wicked in whom Satan ruled through their 
 own evil will. Some terrible physical or hereditary 
 malady was the seat or organ of the demonic power. 
 This sad burden, then, the woman brings on her heart 
 to Jesus. His coming within range of her residence 
 stirred up perhaps long dormant hope. She had come 
 from her Phoenician hom^e, probably some distance, 
 found the house of those Jewish friends with whom 
 Jesus sought shelter and privacy, and with the boldness 
 of a mother's love and of an importunate faith preferred 
 her request. 
 
 Her address. — It was very earnest. *' She cried imto 
 Himr " She came and fell down at His feet, and besought 
 Him that He would cast forth the devil out of her daughter ^^ 
 (Mark vii. 25, 26). But it is Matthew that records here 
 the pivot word — " She cried, saying, Have mercy on 
 me, O Lord, thou Son oj Davids This distinctively 
 Jewish appellation used by her shows that she was to 
 appeal to Him as Israel's Messiah. She could not, at 
 first at least, be supposed to see the world-wide bearing 
 of His Messianic claim. There was probably in her 
 mind no perception of any claim on her own part except 
 her need, no clear expectation, but some desperate hope 
 that One who was spiritual King of the Jews would be- 
 stow on her, in passing, this boon. From this point of 
 view what follows will be no longer thought of as device 
 or pretended refusal on His part, but a straightforward 
 and worthy leading on to the higher ground from 
 whence He could consistently grant her request. 
 
 Her reception. — And here we note, first : The silence 
 of Jesus. ^^ He answered her not a word!^ This is 
 certainly very unusual. We have never met anything 
 like it in His dealings with His patients and suppliants. 
 At the first word they are usually healed. Some of 
 
THE SYRO-PII(ENICIAN WOMAN. 251 
 
 them were even applied to by Him, to let Him heal 
 them : " Wilt thou be made whole ? " Even when He 
 did not at the first asking work the cure, He put some 
 question or made some statement which led up to it. 
 But here is absolute silence ; not as yet a refusal, but 
 the lips usually so ready with kindness and mercy are 
 dumb. Then we have the intercession of the Twelve. 
 '' And His disciples came and besought Him^ saying, Send 
 her away ; for she crieth after us." The meeting was 
 evidently in the street, or if in the house, she followed 
 them out to the street. His silence did not damp her 
 importunity, for she pressed on, repeated her request, 
 ran and cried after Him. At this point the disciples 
 intercede. They seem more merciful than the Master! 
 They assign a plausible reason for their intercession. 
 ' It was your wish, Master, to be quiet here. Now she 
 will raise the town and the whole country-side upon us, 
 and all the sick folks and possessed and maimed will 
 presently be brought, and we shall be as busy as at 
 Capernaum. Besides, she is troublesome ; send her 
 away.' Could we have a more perfect illustration of 
 some of Christ's own parables, such as, * The Unjust 
 Judge,' and ' The Friend at Midnight ' ? Man will 
 answer an importunate and persevering prayer, not 
 from unmixed kindness, but partly from selfishness. 
 How much more the God of all grace ! Be earnest ! 
 Be often ! Be importunate in prayer ! Take no 
 refusal ; you will get none from Him. The compassion 
 of the disciples was a seeming compassion ; the silence 
 of Jesus a seeming harshness. They would have her 
 answered to be rid of her ; but He delays the answer 
 with a Divine, " much more " of mercy and abounding 
 grace in which He means to bless. 
 
 His reply to the Twelve. — " But He answered and said, I 
 
252 THE MIRACLES OF OUR LORD. 
 
 am not sent hut unto the lost sheep of the house of Israeli 
 This was the real reason. His silence was no feint. His 
 delay was no pretence. He explains to the disciples that 
 He cannot be cajoled nor teased into going beyond His 
 commission. He has none to do miracles among the 
 heathen. *' Jesus Christ was a minister of the circum- 
 cision for the truth of God, to confirm the promises 
 made unto the fathers."* He was acting upon principle, 
 therefore, in being silent to this woman, though He 
 afterwards treats her case as an exception. It is an 
 exception which confirms the principle. When Jesus 
 Christ, the crucified, is risen and ascended, then shall 
 He be preached to all nations, races, and classes of men. 
 Under His Gospel there shall " neither Greek nor Jew, 
 circumcision nor uncircumcision. Barbarian, Scythian, 
 bond nor free." f But so long as Jesus of Nazareth is 
 exercising His personal ministry, so long as He is 
 Himself the preacher, it is to the Jew only He is sent. 
 It is a blessed word that He is "sent" to any. He 
 loves the word. Forty-four times He uses it. '' I am 
 not come of Myself, but He that sent Me is true." That 
 He is come to the Jew first, is a pledge that He shall 
 be preached by and by to all. But meanwhile He is 
 true to His Father's commission. He anticipates not 
 the Divine plan and order. He is the obedient son. 
 The Jews had rejected Him, yet they are " the lost 
 sheep of the house of Israel " to whom He is sent. 
 
 As He thus gave His reason Jesus probably stood 
 still. A look of benevolence and compassion, no doubt, 
 filled His face as He was speaking. Perhaps the 
 woman drew encouragement from the quiet reasonable- 
 ness of His answer. It was not caprice, nor pride, nor 
 harshness, but duty and obedience on His part that 
 * Rom. XV. 8. t Col. iii. ii. 
 
THE SVRO-PHCENICIAN WOMAN. 253 
 
 explained the answer now; hence, also, the silence before. 
 Here, therefore, her faith found something to which to 
 cling. She pressed to His feet. She fell down there. 
 She came and worshipped Him, saying, now with quiet 
 sobs, as before with uplifted cries, ^^ Lord, help me !" 
 
 Up to this moment He had been silent to her. He 
 had spoken only to the disciples. Now He admits her 
 another step by turning to her and speaking. " But He 
 answered and said, It is not meet to take the children's 
 bread, and to cast it to dogs." It is no satisfactory 
 rendering of these words to say, Jesus uses the con- 
 temptuous language of the Jews for the purpose of 
 conversational fence. Nor does it seem proper to 
 parallel this story, with wrestling Jacob or with parley- 
 ing Joseph, far less with the Divine withdrawals of 
 that God Who '' hides a smiling face behind a frowning 
 Providence." That Providence did . so deal with this 
 woman is admitted. That God in Christ, if you will, 
 did so deal with her is true and certain, but to suppose 
 that the man Christ Jesus does in this conversation 
 deal otherwise than simply and openly in His statements 
 and reasons, would be repulsive to every mind. The 
 words are not a mere apparent refusal. Taken along 
 with the sentence just spoken to the disciples about 
 His own commission — they will bear only one meaning 
 as addressed to the woman, ' Though you call Me Son 
 of David, yet you are not of Israel, and to them am I 
 sent. It is children's bread I have to give, and you 
 are not of the family circle, but outside. It is not meet 
 to throw the children's bread to dogs.' Two things 
 break the seeming harshness of the word, and these 
 her faith quickly apprehends. He uses not the ordinary 
 word for dogs, which would have suggested the large 
 wild dogs of Eastern cities, — masterless scavengers, 
 
254 THE MIRACLES OF OUR LORD. 
 
 prowling round streets and walls in gangs for plunder. 
 He says, "Little dogs," using a w^ord denoting those 
 which Roman customs had introduced into Palestine in 
 our familiar Western manner of treating the animal as 
 a domestic favourite. Further, He indicates that the 
 distinetion between Jew and Gentile was only for a 
 time endorsed by Him. Soon the whole Gentile world 
 would get access to the table ; at present, it was not 
 ready. " Let the children first be filled!' 
 
 So her answer was founded upon His own words. 
 '' Truth, Lord! Yet the dogs eat of the cnnvbs ivhich fall 
 from their master's table!' * She takes not the least ex- 
 ception to them; on the contrary, she draws the sweetest 
 meaning with perfect logic out of their seeming bitter- 
 ness. ' Truth, Lord ! " Dog" I am, unclean, unworthy. 
 What, then, though I be ? Men show kindness to 
 dogs ; masters, at least, do to their own. And it is the 
 Master I am deahng with.' '' If she were a dog, she 
 was His dog ; and it cannot be ill with us if we stand 
 in the meanest relation to Christ."t OJ't again, thus ; 
 ' Truth, Lord ! It may not be meet to take the children's 
 bread and cast it to the dogs. The time has not come 
 for full and equal admission of all Gentiles to Jewish 
 blessings. But even before the meal is over, the dogs 
 under the table get crumbs. J This is all I ask, an 
 exception. Thou hast thyself made it so. Thou hast 
 come within a Gentile's reach. There is a rule or a law 
 
 * *' Yea, Lord ; for even the dogs, etc."' R.V., is an improvement which 
 the Vulgate had anticipated, " Utique, Domine ! nam et catelli, etc." 
 The connecting particles are affirmative, not adversative. 
 
 f Matt. Henry. 
 
 \ Trench and others suggest that by "the crumbs" more may be 
 meant than that which falls accidentally to the ground. For it was 
 the custom during eating to use instead cf a napkin the soft white 
 part of the bread, which, having thus used, they threw to the dogs. 
 
THE SYRO-PHCENICIAN WOMAN. 
 
 255 
 
 against me ; be it so. Thy mercy breaks through all 
 bounds and rules, — the bread falls from a full and 
 bounteous table, and the children are none the poorer. 
 The blessing has come my way and I must have it, dog 
 though I be.' *' I will not let Thee go except Thou 
 bless me." 
 
 Whatever foothold she may have found in Jesus' 
 words, we can never but admire the wit and wisdom 
 of her answer. " Grace is a witty and under- 
 standing spirit, ripe and sharp. . . . Faith is thus 
 pregnant, as to draw saving conclusions from hard 
 principles, and to extract the spirit of the promises."* 
 Doubtless He gave her the occasion, and did so 
 meaningly and lovingly. But how cordial her trust 
 in Him ! How clear her insight into the heart of 
 Jesus ! How humble and how bold her faith, that even 
 out of that word ''dogs," which would have sent most 
 away in anger or despair, she extracted an argument 
 that could not be answered. So the wit and truth and 
 boldness of her faith got the victory. She took the 
 word that sounded like a refusal and a reproach, and 
 turned it into an implicit assent. Jesus rejoiced to be so 
 overcome. " O woman, great is Thy faith, be it unto thee 
 even as thou wilt. For this saying go thy way ; the devil is 
 gone out of thy daughter^ Like the only other in the 
 Gospels whose faith Jesus called great, she beheved 
 that nearness or distance made no difference to His 
 power, that He had only to " speak the word " and the 
 cure was done, and so went her way home in perfect con- 
 fidence. When she was come to her house, she ^^ found 
 the child laid upon the bed and the demon gone out'^\ 
 
 * Rutherford, nt supra, p. 180. 
 
 t This is the reading of Alford, Tischendorf, Westcott and Hort, 
 with several others. The Revisers have adopted it. 
 
256 THE MIRACLES OF OUR LORD. 
 
 Faith is the great equahser. When it is made plain 
 that not race or Church connection, not ritual observ- 
 ance but simple personal recourse to Christ, brings 
 God and His grace into our life, an immense spiritual 
 revolution has been effected. All races of men and every 
 human being are declared to be free and equal in rela- 
 tion to God's best gift to mankind. In these acts and 
 words of His, Jesus Himself was preparing the way for 
 what St. Paul so soon was to preach. He singles out 
 for His praise of their great faith precisely the two 
 among those He blessed, who were Gentiles ; and these, 
 as has been ingeniously suggested, represented respec- 
 tively the two divisions of the Gentile world, — the 
 Roman centurion, a child of Japheth ; this Caananite 
 mother, a daughter of Ham. Thus taking the Jews as 
 representing the other Semitic races, our Lord saw 
 during His own ministry the seed-corn of the entire 
 Catholic Church in her African, Western and Eastern 
 branches.* At all events, there is here forestalled what 
 has had so often to be re-proclaimed since, that salva- 
 tion by faith is the water-mark of Christianity, that 
 which proves it to be the supreme and universal religion. 
 This faith was great — (i) In overcoming obstacles. 
 Its greatness, as Trench says, was of the same order 
 in this respect as that of the Paralytic let through 
 the roof, and of Blind Bartimeus. These were three 
 mighties. The first overcame physical hindrances ; 
 the second, hindrances opposed by his fellow-men ; 
 this woman, more heroically than all, those presented 
 by Christ Himself — silence, exclusion, and apparent 
 
 * So Archer Butler, Sermons, First Series, 1859, Sermon xi. : "The 
 Canaanite mother a type of the Gentile Church." But modern ethno- 
 logists, while allowing the old Canaanite tribes to have been of Ham, 
 make the Phoenicians certainly Semitic. 
 
THE SYKO-PHCENICIAN WOMAN. 257 
 
 reproach. (2) It was implicit trust in Christ's word for 
 the instantaneous cure of her absent child. In this 
 respect it was of the same order as that of the Courtier 
 at Cana and the Centurion at Capernaum, only greater 
 in degree than even the last. In these healings granted 
 to believing prayer for another, faith shows peculiarly 
 generous and noble. Jesus hails its appearance with 
 a corresponding and surpassing generosity ; at once 
 avails Himself of it, that it may conduct as with 
 lightning flash the blessing to the absent sufferer, and 
 assures the trustful suppliant that the cure is done. 
 (3) It was great in spiritual tact. This is the charac- 
 teristic excellence on which, doubtless, the Lord's 
 special encomium here rested. If we are right in our 
 exposition of His action in the case, that it was not 
 feigned refusal, but a needful process by which alone 
 at that point in His mission a soul outside of Israel 
 could be led to Christ, then, the greatness of her faith 
 lay in the quick-witted tact with which the woman 
 perceived and accepted her relationship to the world's 
 Redeemer. Just as good sense is a right feeling for 
 reality in the common world of our everyday life, faith 
 is a right feeling for the spiritually and eternally real. 
 It is the trustful willingness to accept our due relation 
 to our Saviour God. With His leading, this believing 
 spirit saw all in their right places — the Master, the 
 children, and the dogs. Taking at once the lowest 
 room, her faith won the highest praise, and forestalled 
 the day of a universal gospel. 
 
 i; 
 
XIII. 
 
 THE DEAF MAN OF DECAPOLIS. 
 Mark vii. 31 — end. 
 
 THIS incident befell upon our Lord's return journey 
 from the scene of the preceding story. Leaving 
 the borders of Tyre and Sidon, He kept still to the 
 outlying districts of the country, — on this occasion, 
 those to the north-east and east of the sea of Galilee. 
 Then travelling on towards the lake. He passed 
 through the coasts of Decapolis. During this pro- 
 gress a great gathering took place on a mountain 
 somewhere in that neighbourhood. Multitudes came 
 to Him, having with them the lame and Wind, and 
 dumb and maimed, and many other ailing folks, and 
 cast them down at His feet, and He healed them.* 
 These works were done among a people to whom they 
 were mostly new, who were comparatively unacquainted 
 with Jesus, and on whom this appearance of His made 
 a great impression. St. Matthew's general account 
 closes with an expression which indicates that a great 
 number of these onlookers were not Jews by nation, 
 and perhaps not even by rehgion. It is said that 
 "they glorified the God of Israel." It was a region 
 hitherto unvisited by Jesus, and, perhaps, partly 
 
 * Matt. XV. 29-31. 
 
THE DEAF MAN OF DECAPOLIS. 259 
 
 heathen. Hence the special interest which attended 
 His deeds there and the praises these evoked. 
 
 The special instance selected by St. Mark out of 
 this group of healings is that of a deaf man who, if 
 not absolutely dumb, was unable to utter articulate 
 and intelligible sounds.* It is the remark of Dr. Kitto, 
 on this passage, who was himself totally deaf from his 
 thirteenth year, that the man had either become deaf 
 before the organs of speech had acquired their full 
 strength, or had been so long deaf as to have partially 
 lost, by the disuse of talk, the full command of them. 
 If, howxver, as is more likely, he had never heard, then 
 the want of articulate speech is fully accounted for. 
 The deafness is the fountain of the evil. When Jesus 
 proceeds to the cure the ears first are opened, then the 
 bond of the tongue is loosed. The order is that which 
 Nature has established in the relations of the two sets 
 of organs, of nerve centres and of corresponding mental 
 habitudes. It is the receiving of articulate sounds by 
 the ear, the action of these upon the brain and the 
 mind, which, in the ordinary course, awakens and 
 educates the corresponding functions of speech. The 
 entire closure of the one set of organs must prevent the 
 other ever coming into use. Even in such a case, were 
 the ears to be unstopped, there must ensue a long and 
 complex process before speech could be evoked at all ; 
 much more ere it would become clear and fluent. 
 
 Now note how on this occasion nature is surpassed. 
 It is only when we consider this exquisite law of the 
 
 * The Revisers have not departed from the A. V. rendering of 
 fioryikdXos, "had an impediment in his speech." Meyer, relying on 
 its use in the Septuagint for " dumb," holds with the Vulgate and 
 Luther that the man was a deaf-mute. The conclusion he thinks is 
 confirmed by the use of dXdXovs in v. 37, and not refuted by v. 35. 
 
26o THE MIRACLES OF OUR LORD. 
 
 relation J between sound and speech in the mechanism of 
 the senses and the brain that we can appreciate the 
 truly stupendous character of the work here so simply 
 narrated. With a touch and with a sigh Jesus 
 opened the barred sense. But that is followed by a 
 still greater marvel. The entire process of establish- 
 ing correspondence between the centres of hearing and 
 the centres of speech was abridged into a moment, 
 and at the word of the Healer, '' Be opened," the 
 deaf man not only heard, but the dumb spal^e plain. 
 This man's case was simply one of natural malady. 
 There is no hint here of any demoniac influence, as 
 in some similar instances. It was purely physical, 
 and most likely congenital defect. But these things 
 are for us an allegory ; the}^ are symbols of what defect 
 and deformity sin has wrought in the human soul. 
 How dumb we are toward God ! How we restrain 
 prayer before Him! How seldom our, souls go out 
 frankly to Him ! How little our heart-speech is 
 exercised in the spiritual sphere, compared with our 
 readiness to hold converse with our fellow-men ! 
 And why ? We remain dumb and speechless toward 
 God because we have been dead and deaf to His 
 voice, because we have no spiritual receptivity. Let 
 but the avenues of the soul be opened. Let God's 
 word enter. Let His call be heard and accepted by 
 the soul, then will its utterance and expression be 
 stirred. '^ Christ begins His cure with the ears, and 
 so acts in accordance with nature, since from hearing 
 speaking comes, and to hearken in Bible language is 
 to obey."* '' Hear, and your soul shall live." Thus 
 our Lord honours natural law even when He surpasses 
 it. For how rapid are His processes. No sooner is 
 
 * d/co77 begets viraKor}. Luther. 
 
THE DEAF MAN OF DECAPOLIS. 261 
 
 the soul's ear opened to hear Jesus than its tongue is 
 unloosed to answer Him, and cries, '' Lord, what wilt 
 Thou have me to do " ? 
 
 The Cure and its Method. His usual method was 
 suggested by those who brought the man to Jesus 
 (ver. 32). They beseech Him to put His hand upon him. 
 So He virtually did, but His methods are ever fresh 
 and full of adaptations, and there were some new 
 actions used by the Healer specially suited to the case. 
 (i) ^^ He took him aside from the multitude^'' (ver. 33 a). 
 We are not expressly told for what reasons ; but as this 
 feature of the method re-appears in the immediately 
 following instance (Mark viii. 23), we may gather that 
 a desire to secure privacy and prevent popular excite- 
 ment was one of them. Further, as the curative acts 
 were both in this and the following instance more 
 peculiar and elaborate than was His wont, the retire- 
 ment may have been meant to obviate any profane 
 imitation of these. But, doubtless, it had reference 
 to the special needs of this patient, and was fitted to 
 secure an entirely undisturbed rapport between Him- 
 self and the deaf man, such as was requisite to the 
 efficacy of the other peculiar means employed on this 
 occasion.* For we find that when He had taken him 
 aside, (2) " He put (or thrust) His fingers into his ears, 
 and He spit, and touched his tongue'' (ver. 33, b), i.e., 
 He used certain means or signs in effecting the cure. 
 It was His common practice to use no means at all, but 
 with a word to heal. The need for these unusual and 
 suggestive actions in this instance is tolerably plain. 
 They were not so much means by which He conveyed 
 the blessing, as signs by which He explained to the 
 man's mind how the blessing came. In all cases where 
 * So Meyer, in loc. 
 
262 THE MIRACLES OF OUR LORD. 
 
 it was competent He based His miracles of healing 
 on the patient's faith. Now in ordinary cases faith 
 " cometh by hearing," and this was just a case where 
 by hearing it could not come. Jesus, therefore, spoke 
 to the deaf man in his own language — the language of 
 signs. He put " His finger into his ears," in the action 
 of boring them through, as much as to say that He 
 intended to open them. Then He touched the stammer- 
 ing tongue with His hand, which He had first appHed 
 to His own mouth, to imply that the loosening power 
 belonged to Jesus, resided in Him bodily, and was 
 conveyed to this poor sufferer by the touch of His 
 lips and hands. Last of all, the look to heaven was 
 meant to say to the man that Jesus' power was a 
 Divine power, that it was no other than the power of 
 God. He and His Father were one. By these signs 
 He reached the man's ntind, awakened or quickened 
 his faith, and brought about that co-operation of human 
 trust and confidence with His healing power which He 
 sought in all possible cases. It was no part of His 
 plan that such restorations of hearing or sight should 
 be viewed as mere portents of supernatural power, 
 rather that they should become means of attachment 
 to Himself as the Christ, and channels of spiritual 
 enlargement and impression. Nothing can be more 
 helpful to Christian workers confronted by some *■ hard 
 case ' than this thought, that Christ can unlock the 
 door of every human spirit. Did He take this original 
 way to reach the deaf man's faith, and shall He lack 
 means to open a path to the heart of any sinner, 
 however closed it may seem ? Even in Nature's 
 beneficence, God has not left Himself " without 
 witness " unto any. Much more let us be sure His 
 Gospel has an individual as well as a universal fitness, 
 
THE DEAF MAN OF DECAPOLIS. 263 
 
 and Christ can let Himself in to the most secluded 
 soul. 
 
 The manner of the Healer is, also, on this occasion 
 peculiar, as it is particularly recorded. '' Looking up to 
 heaven He sighed for groaned), and saith unto Him " 
 (ver. 34). The look, as already remarked, may have been 
 partly a sign for the man's own attention, but doubtless 
 is connected with the sigh which accompanied it. Both 
 together give us a glimpse of what we know must have 
 pervaded the experience of Jesus, though not often 
 detailed in the record. We are told in general that 
 He was a man of sorrows and of loneliness. This 
 scene, as the Evangelist depicts it, sets before us 
 the solitary Saviour in presence of the sins and suf- 
 ferings of a lost and erring race. He looks upward. 
 He recalls the God who dwells in Him. He leans 
 visibly for a moment on His eternal oneness with 
 His Father. In the freedom and power of His corre- 
 spondence with God He looks to heaven. In His 
 fellow-feeling as a human Saviour — our brother High- 
 priest — He sighs when He thinks of earth. Thus is 
 the groan an utterance proceeding from the God-man, 
 an expression of His double-sided nature in presence 
 of all the woes and maladies of our human world. 
 Some think we may more exactly interpret this sigh 
 over the dumb man, whose speech He was to loose, on 
 the analogy of His reflections when He opened blind 
 eyes. That made Him feel and lament the more men's 
 spiritual blindness.* So this made Him sad at the 
 hardness of men's spiritual hearing, at the incapacity 
 of their tongues to speak God's praise. At all events 
 we may say with Luther,t This sigh " was not drawn 
 
 * See e.g. John ix. 39-41. 
 
 f See quotation in Stier, Words of the Lord Jesus, iii. 394 (Clark, 
 1859). 
 
264 THE MIRACLES OF OUR LORD. 
 
 from Him by the single tongue and ears of this poor 
 man. It is a common sigh over all tongues and ears, 
 yea, over all hearts, bodies, souls, and over all men 
 from Adam to his last descendant. This Gospel thus 
 paints Christ that He who was man took such an 
 interest in thee and in me, and in all of us, as we ought 
 to take in ourselves, when He was involved in the sins 
 and sufferings in which we w^ere involved." So far we 
 may read the meaning of that sigh. Where we cannot 
 fathom it, let us leave it in the sacred mystery which 
 belongs to our Divine Saviour and human brother. As 
 seen in these Gospels, the Incarnation is no make- 
 believe. Here is no Deity in the mask of man riding 
 triumphant over our ills on the chariot of His Godhead. 
 Yet neither is there here a mere man " o'erburthened 
 by His brethren's sin," — able to sigh but not to succour. 
 
 " The giddy waves so restless hurled 
 The vexed pulse of this feverish world ; 
 He views and counts with stead}^ sight, 
 Used to behold the Infinite." * 
 
 From the same lips whence broke this sigh of sympathy 
 and compassion there issues the next moment. 
 
 The Word of Power. "He saith unto him, 
 Ephphatha, that is, Be opened. And straightway his 
 ears were opened, and the string of his tongue was 
 loosed, and he spake plain." Mark records the Aramaic 
 word which Jesus used ; an indication that He not 
 unfrequently, if not always in His popular addresses, 
 used the vernacular of Palestine. More than the others 
 this Evangelist records these Aramaic words, either 
 for the graphic effect so characteristic of his writing — 
 or because his narrative was based on the recitals of 
 
 * Keble, Christian Year: Twelfth Sunday after Trinit}-. This 
 exquisite hymn is the finest of poetic commentaries on this narrative 
 
THE DEAF MAN OF DECAPOLIS. 265 
 
 the Apostle Peter, whose vivid mind retained these 
 expressions, and who loved to record his Lord's 
 emphatic use of his native tongue. The best reason 
 we can find for the recording of this particular Aramaic 
 expression, is just that it is one word, — that, literally, 
 with a word He did such wonders. A glance to 
 heaven, — a sigh, — a word, and the miracle is done ! 
 What wonder that the hearers remembered the word, 
 and put it on record. There is in this something so 
 altogether unlike man and man's ways, — his much 
 speech about what he counts great things. Here is 
 something so Divine, so godlike. It reminds one not 
 of the creature but of the Creator. It is the style 
 of the Eternal. A divine word it is, in its simplicity 
 and power like a Creation word ; yet divine also, in 
 another sense, as a Redemption word. Creation makes. 
 Redemption remakes, or restores. It was expressly 
 foretold of the great day of Restoration, ^'Then shall 
 the ears of the deaf be unstopped, and the tongue of the 
 dumb sing." * The day of our Lord's earthly ministry 
 was hailed, with His own consent, by just such tokens, 
 and in these were recognised the signs of still higher 
 Redeeming might. Shut senses He opens in His 
 miracles, shut hearts by His word and Spirit, shut 
 graves at last by His trumpet voice. ' Be opened ' is 
 His watchword as a Redeemer. Wherever He comes, 
 comes a loosening and liberating influence — ears are 
 unstopped, then souls awakened, then lips unsealed, 
 and the praises of the new creation everywhere pour 
 forth. 
 
 The Result. (Vv. 36, 37.) '' And He charged them that 
 they shotdd tell no man : but the more He charged them, 
 so much the more a great deal they published it ; and 
 
 * Isa. XXXV. 5, 6. cf. Matt. xi. 4, 5 ; Luke vii. 22. 
 
266 THE MIRACLES OF OUR LORD. 
 
 were beyond measure astonished, saying, He hath done 
 all things well: He maketh both the deaf to hear, and the 
 dumb to speaky 
 
 The reasons of the charge of silence we have already 
 hinted at. He was evidently desirous to be retired at 
 this time, and it is the more noticeable that it was 
 precisely in this region of Decapolis that He had on a 
 former occasion given the opposite instruction to the 
 saved demoniac — *' Go home and tell thy friends " — 
 and he went and published it through all that region. 
 The altered circumstances, the peculiarities of in- 
 dividuals, were handled by our Lord in a freedom 
 and breadth which His followers would do well to 
 imitate. Why should we insist that every case of 
 spiritual impression be immediately trumpeted to all 
 the world, when the word of the Lord Jesus to that 
 soul may be, " See thou tell no man " ? Why, on the 
 other hand, should men insist that in all cases con- 
 version is a thing too mysterious and sacred to be 
 spoken of, when the Lord's instruction to another may 
 be, " Go and shew thy friends how great things the 
 Lord hath done for thee " ? This may upon occasion be 
 the very method needful to perpetuate and advance the 
 hfe of grace in that soul. In this instance the charge 
 was given not so much to the man himself as to all 
 present. The prohibition, however, only heightened 
 their zeal. The desire on Jesus' part to suppress any 
 popular excitement based on mere wonder was coun- 
 teracted by an enthusiasm on their part, honest enough 
 in its way. It was vain to enjoin silence. Wider and 
 wider spread the unbidden fame, till from the lips of 
 these less prejudiced, though less instructed, crowds, 
 who had beheld a succession of miracles, there swelled 
 a hymn of praise, such as is not recorded elsewhere, 
 
THE DEAF MAN OF DECAPOLIS. 267 
 
 and which has remained a fit expression of the Healer's 
 glory. The word has a siibhme simplicity. If His 
 " Be opened" reminds us of Creation's /«/, their "He 
 hath done all things well " recalls the Creator's praise. 
 The parallel is appropriate. The new creation is fairer 
 than the old. It is more glorious to re-make what 
 sin has marred, than to call out of nothing. Rejoicing 
 angels and ransomed souls will usher in, with such 
 praises, the day of universal Restitution and Regenera- 
 tion, " Great and marvellous are Thy works. Lord God 
 Almighty. Just and true are Thy ways, Thou King of 
 Saints." 
 
XIV. 
 
 THE BLIND MAN AT BETHSAIDA. 
 Mark viii. 22-6. 
 
 THIS miracle, like the preceding, is narrated by 
 St. Mark alone, and plainly belongs to the same 
 group. Nothing in the narrative intervenes but the 
 Feeding of the Four Thousand and the conversation 
 which followed in crossing and re-crossing the lake. 
 Jesus was at this time avoiding familiar ground. He 
 passes on, in the next recorded tour, to Cesarea Philippi. 
 This makes it all but certain that the Bethsaida of 
 our story is not the city of Andrew and Philip, but 
 the " village," as it is called by the Evangelist, on the 
 north-eastern shore which Herod had recently raised to- 
 the dignity of a town, and distinguished by the name 
 of Julias^ in honour of the daughter of the Emperor 
 Augustus. In details this cure closety resembles 
 that of the deaf man in Decapolis. The withdrawal of 
 the patient into seclusion before the cure is wrought, 
 the unusual elaborateness of the Healer's action in 
 working it, and the steps taken to avoid publicity after- 
 wards, are common to both. These features have been 
 by some attributed partly to a materialising conception 
 of miracle in the mind of the Evangelist, and partly to 
 his desire to surround it with an air of mystery. The 
 
THE BLIND MAN AT BETHSAIDA. 269 
 
 conclusive answer is that St. Mark records other heal- 
 ings of our Lord as wrought with all the simpKcity, 
 openness, and promptitude ascribed to them in the 
 other Gospels. If, therefore, a common character of 
 reticence and complexity belongs to these cures, as is 
 undoubtedly the case, this must be explained by some- 
 thing in the circumstances either of Jesus or of the 
 men themselves, probably of both. These heahngs 
 belong to a group of occasional works done in a dis- 
 trict removed from His usual work-place, where there- 
 fore a certain elaborateness of process towards the cure 
 may have been needful to catch the attention and rouse 
 the faith of the patients. The precautions taken both 
 before and after the cure to keep it quiet show that the 
 Lord meant to repress the mere external notoriety 
 which in these new regions was apt to follow upon His 
 miracles. Indeed, there appears, at this time, some- 
 thing like a desire to close, or, at least, restrict the 
 healing ministry altogether. That this should come 
 out in miracle-narratives pecuHar to the second Gospel 
 is precisely what we should expect. For the record of 
 our Lord's '' successive retirements from the presence 
 of conflicting tides of feeling forms a feature of this 
 Gospel." * 
 
 When Jesus and His disciples had arrived at Beth- 
 saida, ** They bring to Hint a blind man and beseech Him 
 to touch him " (ver. 22). The preferable reading, which 
 suggests a company on their travels, not Jesus alone 
 (" and they come," etc., R.V.), also the prevalence of the 
 present tense through the story, belong to those minute 
 graphic touches in this Gospel which are invaluable. 
 ^^ And He took hold of the blind man by the hand and 
 
 * Dr. Marcus Dods, hitrodnction to the Neiv Testament (Hodder & 
 Stoughton, 1889), p. 31. 
 
270 THE MIRACLES OF OUR LORD. 
 
 brought (lit, conveyed) him out of the village^ Here re- 
 cent criticism prefers the reading, which gives a slightly 
 greater prominence to Jesus' action, than even the 
 words of the received text that ^' He led him out of the 
 town." * The man did not belong to Bethsaida, but to 
 some neighbouring hamlet. This made it both possible 
 and desirable he should be conveyed some little dis- 
 tance out of the place, that no adventitious excitement 
 might be caused there by what was to follow. 'Hence 
 also the charge given to avoid the village and its 
 inhabitants on his way home. 
 
 Ver. 23. '' When He had spit on his eyes and laid 
 His hands upon him, He asked him if he saw ought.^* 
 Here, again, there is a close resemblance in detail to the 
 cure of the deaf man in our last story. As in that case, 
 so in this, Jesus held it necessary to do more than had 
 been prayed for. That He should touch him was all 
 that was specified by those who brought the man. 
 Possibly because in both cases the men were brought 
 by their friends, and therefore their own desire and 
 expectation were little stirred, the Lord found it need- 
 ful by these various actions to quicken faith and hope. 
 The use of the saliva is common to both these cases, 
 and to that of the man in John ix. This was a well- 
 known Jewish remedy for affections of the eyes, f 
 Indeed, there are traditions of its use for various 
 disorders in all popular treatment of the simpler and 
 homelier sort. These actions on Jesus' part show 
 that He conveyed His Divine healing to His afflicted 
 brethren through that blessed humanity by which He 
 was of kin to them. It suggests that He took flesh 
 and blood for this among many other reasons, that the 
 
 * e^r}V€yK€v instead of e^y^yayev. 
 
 "j" See some illustrations in Edersheim in loc. 
 
THE BLIND MAN AT BETHSAIDA. 271 
 
 Godhead dwelling in Him bodily might through that 
 very body impart its gifts and effects to men. 
 
 Immediately on this first action Jesus put the ques- 
 tion, " Seest thou aught ? " * He desires to draw the 
 man's attention to the process of restoration, to lead 
 him into an intelligent appreciation of the cure as 
 wrought by His Divine power, yet through the tender 
 human hand. Ver. 24 : ^^ And he looked upy The first 
 visual movement is naturally towards the source of 
 light. In looking up he looks around as well, and 
 says, *^ I see men ; for I behold them as trees walking^ t 
 The friends and disciples standing round him most 
 likely now begin to stir, and as they move he sees 
 them indistinctly, in blurred and magnified outline. 
 He knows they are men by their motion, though in 
 size they seem trees. His ability thus to describe the 
 effect of partial vision sufficiently shows that the man 
 had not been born blind. 
 
 Ver. 25. *' Then again He laid His hands upon his eyes; 
 and he looked steadfastly^ and was restored^ and saw all 
 things clearly.'^X At the second application the cure was 
 complete. The men seemed no longer large and dim 
 like trees ; the trees no longer seemed to waver. The 
 objects of life and nature took their proper shapes and 
 proportions ; the fair landscape lay firm and clear in 
 the sunshine. For what if, after all, one reason why 
 the Healer, to begin with, led him out of the village 
 were simply that his eyes might first open on nature's 
 face, on those country sights that had been familiar 
 
 * So in the more lively reading followed by the Revisers. 
 
 f This abrupt phrase, rather than the easier reading of the 
 received text, is now all but universally accepted. 
 
 X R.V., with the best authority, reads thus, instead of " made him 
 look up," and ** all things " instead of " every man." 
 
272 THE MIRACLES OF OUR LORD. 
 
 once ? * And from this quiet spot the Lord dismissed 
 him, with vision perfectly restored, to his rural home. 
 The one thing in which this miracle stands quite alone 
 is that it was not an entire cure in an instant, but was 
 divided into two distinct stages. This might possibly 
 be explained as the restoration of the visual organs first, 
 and then of the power to use them. The sight may 
 have been organically complete at the first touch, while 
 the power of accurately perceiving the size and relations 
 of objects was only imparted by the second apphcation 
 of the healing hand. The explanation, however, would 
 apply only to the cure of one born blind. In the case 
 expressly so described (John ix.), though there were pre- 
 liminaries, sight itself was instantaneous and complete. 
 In the present case, therefore, we must suppose either 
 that the man himself had need of the mental spur which 
 a cure by stages might supply, or that this unusual 
 method had some such didactic and suggestive purposes 
 as have usually been found in it. 
 
 This brief, terse story is full of spiritual beauties. 
 The picture of gentleness and condescension presented at 
 the outset is perfect. Think of the Lord of Glory taking 
 the hand of this poor man in His own, not giving it to 
 any of the man's friends or of the disciples, but Himself 
 guiding the sightless patient to the place of healing. 
 One has but to conjure up the scene to have its moral 
 power blaze into one's conscience. What a lesson it 
 reads us of the true levelling force of Christ's religion ; 
 of the directness of the Christian service. How much 
 we spoil our imitation of Jesus by putting proxy-work 
 in room of personal effort. The isolating, too, of the 
 blind man before his cure is characteristic of Jesus, 
 and suggestive of some of His spiritual processes. 
 
 * So Bengel suggests. 
 
THE BLIND MAN AT BETHSAIDA. 273 
 
 Especialty does it fit into the analogy suggested b}^ 
 this and the immediately preceding miracle. The un- 
 sealing of the senses of these secluded men was best 
 done in quiet, where their minds also could be reached. 
 That opening of the inward sense which is to be 
 followed by a spiritual revolution requires aloofness 
 in its primary stages. So was Saul of Tarsus with- 
 drawn for three days into the isolation of physical 
 blindness ; and later on for perhaps as many years 
 into the seclusion of the Arabian desert, that he might 
 be fitted with far-reaching spiritual vision to be the 
 apostle of the universal dispensation. So, also, had 
 the '' solitary monk who shook the world " to be first 
 the lonely wrestler in his cell at Erfurt, gaining through 
 years of spiritual struggle that insight into the grace 
 of salvation by faith and the freedom of the Christian 
 man by which he set Europe free from mediaeval 
 bondage. 
 
 But the thing in this story which offers itself most 
 readily as a spiritual emblem is the progressiveness of 
 the cure. Blindness can be so dealt with. A demon 
 must be cast out wholly or not at all. Leprosy must 
 be at once and entirely removed, for the man is a leper 
 still if but one spot remains. But sight may be 
 gradually restored and yet the recovery may be 
 genuine and complete. As we have seen already 
 Jesus' cures of bhndness are types of the gracious 
 opening of spiritual eyesight. This usually takes place 
 by degrees. Indeed, one may say that gradual enlarge- 
 ment is the law of inward vision. While, therefore, 
 Jesus often gave sight instantaneously to poor blind 
 folk, it was fitting that He should make this excep- 
 tional case more exactly illustrative of the usual course 
 of spiritual enlightenment. Let us note then — 
 
 18 
 
274 THE MIRACLES OF OUR LORD. 
 
 That the first stage of this cure was real sight. As 
 soon as Jesus had laid his hands on the man's eyes and 
 put His question, the man, looking up and around, could 
 say, " I see." The first step in spiritual illumination is 
 to give the power of sight, — the Seeing Eye. There is 
 no time when the man can be said neither to have 
 sight nor to be blind. If he can see at all he is 
 blind no more. There must be an absolute beginning. 
 What is taught here is not gradual regeneration. It 
 is the picture of a regenerate man being gradually 
 enlightened. 
 
 At this first stage, however, sight may be very imper- 
 fect. Among those who receive the grace of God this 
 is not uncommon. They see, but their sight is not 
 clear, nor strong. They cannot distinguish things that 
 differ. They confound many parts of Divine truth. 
 This produces mistakes and errors both of belief 
 and conduct. They entertain exaggerated and dis- 
 proportionate views of some truths, and have no view 
 of other truths at all. This, again, occasions division 
 and distraction, and renders these partially enlightened 
 ones an easy prey to deceivers. How often we see 
 those who are newl}' brought under spiritual impres- 
 sions imposed upon by teaching that is partial and one- 
 sided. Drawn away from the scriptural ordinance of 
 instruction, till the first fervour of their unripe zeal 
 cools down, by-and-bye they tire of their self-chosen 
 teachers, and having nothing to fall back on lapse into 
 carelessness and spiritual sloth. These more serious 
 consequences will, however, be averted where there is a 
 humble consciousness of imperfect spiritual knowledge. 
 Had this man cried out at the unripe stage, "Now 
 I see perfectly," his cure might have been arrested. 
 But he knew so much as to know that his vision was 
 
THE BLIND MAN AT BETHSAIDA. 275 
 
 incomplete, and hence his straightforward answer. 
 Not even to our Healer must we profess more inward 
 clearness than we have. Indeed, however reticent of 
 our doubts with men, we cannot too completely and 
 confidentially lay them before the Lord. 
 
 Another characteristic of the imperfect stage of 
 spiritual vision is that it is accompanied with feelings 
 of uneasiness, and even of alarm. To leave, for a 
 moment, the analogue of a blind man partially restored 
 to sight, notice what happens to ordinary eyesight 
 when the conditions are suddenly altered. When we 
 come out at night into a dark and moonless sky, even 
 though clear and without clouds, we are conscious at 
 first of nothing but an intense opaque gloom. The 
 indoor lights are fresh in our eyes, and w^e can see 
 nothing clearly. But presently the influence of the 
 blue dome above is felt ; the eye gets accustomed to its 
 new conditions; the tempered light of the stars has 
 power ; the darkness begins to dispart before us, and 
 the way lies plain. Man}^, for the first time, feel pain 
 and perplexity about religion when they come under 
 spiritual impressions. Up to that point they supposed 
 they knew all about religious truths, and firmly be- 
 lieved them. Now, when they have real need for their 
 knowledge and summon up their faith, they find only 
 clouds and darkness. So long as the artificial lights 
 and trumpery limits of this world filled and bounded 
 their vision, they fancied that they saw. But when 
 they come out, led by a Divine Hand, to look at the 
 real and eternal they feel for the first time bewildered 
 and sightless ; and it may take much purging and 
 training at their Redeemer's charge ere full spiritual 
 eyesight comes. ^'^ Open Thou mine eyes," is a needful 
 prayer for us all. It is mcst appropriate on the lips 
 
276 THE MIRACLES OF OUR LORD. 
 
 of those to whom the kingdom of heaven is but newty 
 discovered, or who have been brought to a standstill in 
 their further apprehension of it. But let us understand 
 the prayer we offer. Ask the Great Healer to open 
 your eyes ! In that case you may be asking a sharp 
 surgical operation or a long, slow process of couching 
 for the inward eye, — a process in which seclusion, 
 patience, and continuous application of the means of 
 cure may be the ruling elements. At all events, the 
 answer will be something very different from the easy 
 course of which we are apt to dream. As if by some 
 magical transformation, without process and without 
 trouble, we could become enlightened and holy. 
 
 Betimes Christ gives to all His own complete sight. 
 In His light they shall see light clearly. The remedy 
 for all imperfect spiritual vision is renewed contact and 
 closer acquaintance with Jesus. Its secret is to live 
 nearer Him — let His Hght-giving Word dwell in us 
 more richly, — in short, to have Him lay His hands 
 on us anew. He has made express provision for the 
 progressive enlightenment of His believing followers. 
 The great historical instance of this is patent. Though 
 with His own hand He had opened the eyes of His 
 disciples, while He companied with them in the flesh, 
 yet when He left them they still '' saw men but as 
 trees walking." They were surprised at His betrayal, 
 utterly abashed at His death. Upon His resurrection 
 they believed, "but some of them doubted"; and 
 up to His parting hour what the most looked for was 
 a mundane revolution, and the transference of empire 
 from the Roman to the Jew. All that Jesus said was, 
 " When I am gone you shall have another Teacher." 
 This gives us the rule or law for progressive enlighten- 
 ment. These two points in the spiritual process are 
 
THE BLIND MAN AT BETHSAIDA, 277 
 
 fixed. No one can be a follower of Jesus, or heir of 
 the kingdom at all, without the first incisive touch of 
 the new birth. He cannot " see " it but by the Holy 
 Ghost. But as distinctly there is another and further 
 office of the Spirit — to enlarge with His unction those 
 who already have the faculty of sight. *' After I heard 
 of your faith in the Lord Jesus," says Paul, " I cease 
 not to pray that, having the eyes of your heart 
 enlightened, ye may know what is the hope of His 
 calling, what the riches of the glory of His inheritance 
 in the saints, and what the exceeding greatness of 
 His power to us-ward who believe." * Yes ! in His 
 good time Christ completes the work He has begun. 
 " The eyes of them that see shall not be dim." He 
 begins by bringing us out of darkness. He carries 
 us on into '' marvellous light." 
 
 * Eph. i. 18-19 (R.V.). 
 
XV. 
 
 THE EPILEPTIC BOY. 
 Matt. xvii. 14-21 ; Mark ix. 14-29; Luke ix. 37-43. 
 
 IN a well-known masterpiece of Raphael, the canvas 
 is divided into two parts by a Hne across the 
 middle. In the upper field of the painting is the 
 Transfiguration ; in the lower half — a vivid group — 
 this parent presenting his afQicted son to the disciples. 
 The painter found his theme and its justification in the 
 Evangelists. For not without design, surely, were there 
 placed — as in all the three accounts — two such contrasted 
 scenes on one page. Above, heaven opened, in the 
 calm of the Transfigured Christ. Below, hell on 
 earth, in one of the saddest instances of human misery. 
 But stay ! Christ was the centre of the scene above ; 
 in that below, He was absent for the moment. Mean- 
 while there stands the voluble father with his poor boy ; 
 before him the nine disciples, faltering and abashed at 
 their failure ; close round them their malicious critics, 
 no longer repressing a triumphant sneer ; wider off a 
 ring of curious spectators, wondering whether Jesus and 
 His cause have now begun to decline. When He 
 arrives all is changed ; He comprehends the case at a 
 glance. His mere presence turns the tide. The whole 
 attention of the people fastens on Him. '^Straightway, 
 
THE EPILEPTIC BOY. 279 
 
 all the nmltttude, when they saw Hiniy were greatly amazed , 
 and running to Him saluted Him." They are surprised, 
 no doubt, first of all at this marvellously timed return ; 
 perhaps, also, when they come closer to Him, at some 
 exalted look, more than His usual majesty, that lingers 
 on His face from the glory of the ^' Holy Mount." If 
 so, it is a glory which attracts while it astonishes ; 
 and, at all events, they gather round Him with all the 
 glad enthusiasm of former days. For it is tolerably 
 evident that in this story we are transferred once more 
 to the familiar ground of Inner Galilee. Only in a 
 locality where His usual foes were present as well as 
 the crowds who knew Him could such incidents take 
 place. Immediately Jesus gets at the heart of matters. 
 "//<? asked the scribes, What question ye with them?" 
 * Question Me now if you have aught to say.' But they 
 fell back silenced. Argument and debate are soon at 
 an end in Jesus' presence ; it is need that now begins 
 to speak. When those who came merely to argue 
 about Christ were dumb, the man who needed Him 
 struggled forward eager and ready. Throwing himself 
 on his knees at Jesus' feet, ''Master" he "answered," 
 — though he had not been previously addressed at all, — 
 " / have brought unto Thee my son, zvhich hath a dumb 
 spirit." Then he rushes on with his description of the 
 ailment, a case of epileptic lunacy, complicated by 
 " possession." * " Wheresoever it taketh him, it dasheth 
 him down, and he foameth, and grindeth his teeth, and 
 pinetJi away." Having begun his story with what 
 
 * The accounts taken together supply all the usual symptoms of 
 epilepsy — the convulsive cries, the tearing, foaming, and bruising. 
 St. Matthew's word gives the'character of periodic lunacy; St, Mark 
 supplies the most graphic details. All three consent on the demoniac 
 element. 
 
28o THE MIRACLES OF OUR LORD. 
 
 expressed a measure of faith — namely, that it was to 
 Jesus Himself he had meant to bring his son — he breaks 
 off with an expression of disappointment : " / spake to 
 Thy disciples that they should cast him out, and they could 
 notr 
 
 Hereupon the Lord looked round with rebuke upon 
 them all, — the disciples, no doubt, included, — but espe- 
 cially the scribes with the rest, and the suppliant as well. 
 ^^ O faithless generation, how long shall I be with you ? 
 how long shall I bear with you ? " An expression of the 
 poignant sorrow of all His Hfe, at the slowness of heart 
 of His own, at the obdurate unbelief of His contem- 
 poraries. An expression, too, of Divine home-sickness, 
 though not of impatience with earth ; for He must 
 abide till the mustard seed of His Kingdom is planted 
 in human hearts. He cannot leave the world till that 
 is accomplished. How long shall it be ? Then, turning 
 more particularly to the father of the sufferer, He said, 
 ^^ Bring him unto Me" When brought near, the lad 
 was taken with one of his paroxysms. The evil spirit 
 flung him, as it were, in defiance at the Healer's feet, 
 writhing and foaming. With characteristic calmness 
 Jesus turns from the sad spectacle, and enters into con- 
 versation with the father — proceeds, that is to say, to 
 His purposed end deliberately, and in His own way. 
 For, in accordance with His wonted spiritual method, 
 He must get at the faith of the man, that his child might 
 be blessed. Indeed this, in St. Mark's detailed account, 
 which we mainly follow, is the heart of the story. Like 
 some others, it brings out eminently the creative moral 
 force of Jesus. In His presence, and in converse with 
 Him, the human soul brings forth spiritual utterances 
 such as, unvisited by Him, it had never breathed. As 
 the sun draws out of earth's lowliest places forms of 
 
THE EPILEPTIC BOY. 281 
 
 beauty that reflect his own radiance, so in these Gospel 
 colloquies we are ever and anon arrested not only 
 by Christ's own thoughts and words of power, but by 
 sayings He elicits from others. He is the Lord and 
 Lover of humanity ; and for His cause out of the mouths 
 of its very babes and sucklings strength is ordained. 
 
 Note, then, how Jesus led this man to the striking 
 utterance with which we associate his story. First He 
 inquires, like a gentle physician, how long this terrible 
 thing has had possession of the youth. The father 
 replies, " Of a cliild''^ — i.e., from infant years, or rather 
 early boyhood. But no sooner does the man get his 
 mouth opened than off he goes again in a description of 
 the malady, telling how oft and how suddenly the victim 
 was seized, so as to be almost destro3^ed by falling into 
 the fire or into the water. Then he brings himself to 
 a pause by a pathetic but almost desponding appeal : 
 " If Thou canst do anything, have compassion on us and 
 help us." Jesus takes up the word, " If Thou canst. " * 
 ' Nay,' He said, ' the difficulty is not there. It is not 
 My power that is in doubt any more than My willingness. 
 I am both able and willing. The real question is, If 
 thou canst believe.' Wisely and tenderly Jesus takes 
 this man's struggling belief in hand and brings it to 
 birth. 'Think not that to get much you must give 
 much ; that for this great cure you must have a great 
 faith. Only trust Me, only have confidence in My 
 power and grace.' " All things are possible to him that 
 helievethr Pressed by his eager love for his child, 
 anxious to prove his reliance upon Jesus, the man 
 
 * Many moderns prefer to read " To Et Ivvrl' instead of the received 
 " To et Zvvaaai incTrevaac." The reading is abrupt and difficult, but the 
 sense would be substantially the same : "As to this, If thou canst," 
 etc. 
 
282 THE MIRACLES OF OUR LORD. 
 
 catches a glimpse of new and higher grace. This 
 gracious One who invites his trust can dispel his dis- 
 trust, and with voice and tears together he cries out, 
 ^' Lord, I believe ; help Thou mine unbelief." All this 
 has taken place in a few minutes — in less time, perhaps, 
 than it has taken to read it ; not in presence of the great 
 crowd, but among those who ran forward to meet Jesus 
 on His first appearance, foremost of whom was the 
 father with his child. The multitude, who are still at 
 some distance, perceive a halt. Jesus is talking to the 
 man. The sufferer is lying w^allowing on the ground. 
 Something is going to be done. Then the people begin 
 to run towards the group of which Jesus is the centre. 
 So soon as He saw them gathering He delayed no more. 
 Faith has been expressed by the father, and all is 
 now ready ; Jesus turns to the piteous object at His 
 feet, and addresses the demon in terms of majesty and 
 power : ^^Thoti dumb and deaf spirit, I charge thee, come 
 out of him, and enter no more into him!^ '^ And having 
 cried, and rent him sore, he came out of him^ The 
 parting shriek of rage was the first sign that the lad, 
 hitherto dumb, would now speak. The malicious 
 injuring of the tenement showed that the evil-minded 
 tenant had received irresistible notice to quit. Then 
 throwing, what seemed the dead body, at the Saviour's 
 feet, ^' he went outr The Healer who could have raised 
 him from the dead took up the seeming corpse, and he 
 arose ; and, as Luke records, He delivered him again to 
 his father. 
 
 Let us fix our attention on the central expression in 
 this narrative, as it illustrates believing grace. 
 
 I. Faith, like light, reveals its own source. Here 
 is a real human response to the Divine call, the recep- 
 tive hand stretched out for the blessing. " I believed 
 
THE EPILEPTIC BOY. 283 
 
 But in the very act it becomes plain that the power so 
 to reach out to Christ is regarded as a heavenly grace 
 —the gift of that Lord in whom the man beheves. 
 Again, as in that previous instance of the Syro- 
 phoenician, the Lord lets the decisive word be taken out 
 of His own lips. When the man had said, " If Thou 
 canst do anything," and Jesus has replied, "If thou 
 canst believe," all seems for a moment at an end. The 
 responsibility is rolled back on the helpless man. 
 The Saviour's help seems all shut up under this one 
 condition. Anything can be done, everything can be 
 got by faith, and by this alone. Is this to say poor 
 trustless men can get no good of God's grace ? The 
 treasure-house is locked, and man has lost the only 
 key to it. ' Nay,' says this immortal answer, ' it is 
 precisely the Christ of God and Helper of man who 
 can put this key into his hand.' 'If I can believe. 
 Yea, Lord, so I do ; but since it is by believing all is 
 obtained, Thou art the Source and Giver of behef 
 too. Help Thou mine unbehef.' So they stand out 
 in this utterance, those two sides, the really twin 
 aspects of the answer to what seems oft an insoluble 
 puzzle. Believing is at once man's act and God's grace. 
 So much man's act that the Lord cannot help without 
 it. So much God's grace that the man who believes 
 disclaims all the merit of it. So much man's act that 
 the Almighty Giver waits for it. So much God's grace 
 that the receiver prays for it, as well as for all it 
 receives ; and in the act of taking God's gifts ascribes 
 to Him alone the power to take them. The moment it 
 dawns on this poor father's mind that Jesus wants to 
 be trusted for his child's deliverance, he sees an end of 
 his perplexities. Jesus is sufficient both for the cure 
 and for the faith that gets the cure. Thus the faith 
 
284 THE MIRACLES OF OUR LORD. 
 
 that is in him reveals its origin. Just as a hill torrent, 
 after bursting from its buried spring and cleaving its 
 way through worn and riven rock, when it gets strength 
 enough to form a tiny pool, and for the first time gathers 
 its waters and smoothes out its wrinkles, reflects the 
 skies and the clouds whence it came. 
 
 This whole story is a vivid comment on the words, 
 ^' By grace are ye saved through faith, and that not of 
 yourselves ; it is the gift of God." Through faith ! Is 
 faith the condition ? Nay, but this itself is the grace 
 and the gift of God. On my act of simple trust in 
 Christ depends all my salvation. But when I am made 
 to feel, as this burdened soul was, that I have no choice 
 — that there is no possible weighing of courses — that 
 I cannot but flee to Jesus and cast my burden on Him, 
 I recognise a power above my own, — a sweetly con- 
 straining power that shuts me up to this. I trust Him 
 for the salvation, and in the very act 1 turn my gaze on 
 Him who gave it all; the act was mine, but the grace 
 was His. For if it is all through my faith, all my faith 
 is still His gift. 
 
 2. Faith detects unbelief, and finds a refuge from 
 IT. Nothing is more moving in the whole story than 
 the way in which the man is drawn on to see wh*ere 
 the knot of the case lay. At first he evidently supposes 
 that all turns on the intense form of the malady, of 
 which, on every occasion, he indulges in graphic de- 
 scription. Then, he thinks, it was not removed because 
 of the absence of Jesus, and the lesser might of the 
 disciples. Again, misconstruing the quiet and tender 
 manner of Jesus Himself, he entertains a fear lest 
 even He should fail to grapple with it. At length, at 
 the Lord's stirring word, the spark of intelligent faith is 
 struck, and it flashes light upon the darkness of his 
 
THE EPILEPTIC BOY. 285 
 
 own heart. The scales fall from his eyes. He per- 
 ceives where the hindrance had lain all the while. 
 Nothing stood in the way but his own doubting, and 
 he now cries out for help to remove it. 
 
 It is a miserable and guilty thing that we trust our 
 Saviour with so feeble a trust, that we have questioned 
 Him so often, that we have still to complain of so much 
 coldness and deadness of heart. Yet the man who 
 complains of his own deadness is at least alive. In 
 this keen sense of imperfection, in this directness of 
 self-accusation, you have some notes of a believing 
 soul. It is the man into whose blindness one ray of 
 light has penetrated, who feels how great is the darkness 
 that remains, and how precious would be the unclouded 
 day. Such an one is he w^ho, in eagerly expressing 
 his faith, confesses and bemoans his want of faith, 
 and repairs anew to the Author and Finisher of faith 
 Himself 
 
 For faith as it discloses unbelief discovers also the 
 only cure for it. What is this but fresh recourse to 
 Him from whom the grace came ? To say, '' I believe," 
 is to put trust in Jesus for the thing desired. To say 
 to Him, *' Help mine unbelief," is to put more trust in 
 Hirft. It is to exercise the same grace in a new direc- 
 tion, which further reveals its nature. For faith in its 
 heart and essence is a venture ; not a peradventure, 
 nor a perchance, but an enterprise. Its first action 
 launches the soul into a new element, and in that 
 element must it thenceforth move. "As the soul thus 
 ventures out, as it quits the apparent and familiar 
 security of sense or sight (to which faith is. the true 
 antithesis), new needs, new truths, new fears and 
 longings are borne in upon it ; it discerns new capa- 
 cities and new deficiencies; it begins to suspect both 
 
286 THE MIRACLES OF OUR LORD. 
 
 within and beyond itself wonders and perils that before 
 were hidden from it." * Now this venture of faith is 
 rewarded by the discovery not only of new needs and 
 faults unknown to the unspiritual mind, but of new 
 resources in Him for whose sake and in v/hose strength 
 the venture has been made. When the soul, thrown 
 into this strange element, becomes conscious and timid 
 at the step alread}^ taken, there remains no way to 
 cover its confusion but to take another. Having gone 
 so far as to trust Christ for one thing beyond sense 
 and sight, we are bound to go on and trust Him for 
 some other, and soon for everything. Faith is bold to 
 beg and borrow of its Lord. Its own nothingness and 
 povert}^ make it even bolder. It fills all the vessels it 
 has out of His never-failing stores, and then goes back 
 to Him for more and larger vessels to fill with more 
 abundance. 
 
 The side-lights of the story are full of instruction — 
 e.g., (i) the vicarious power of faith. The success of this 
 poor father for his child is typical of a w4iole class of 
 our Lord's acts of mercy. One-half of the detailed 
 healings in the Gospel histor}^ were wrought at the 
 prayer of friends. A considerable proportion were 
 cures of those who could in nowise appeal to Jesus 
 on their own behalf, and who therefore, so far as re- 
 ceptive faith was concerned, were represented by their 
 intercessors. Among the countless undetailed healings 
 the proportion of such cures must have been great. 
 Indeed, this was evidently a principle of the Lord's 
 healing ministry. What a Gospel, this, of which the 
 Author plainly says by His deeds, ' Not only come, but 
 bring ! ' ' Come for yourselves and find rest. Bring 
 also the halt, the blind, the weak, the little ones, that 
 * The Hallowing of JVork,F. Paget, D.D. (Rivingtons, 1889), p. 27. 
 
THE EPILEPTIC BOY. 287 
 
 they too may get the blessing, and My house ma}^ be 
 filled.' How far-reaching this principle is, will appear 
 when we consider the gracious teachings of Chris- 
 tianity as to infant salvation, its still wider teaching 
 as to the place of representative faith for those who 
 can own and confess nothing for themselves ; also, the 
 marvellous spiritual results of patient, persevering, 
 intercessory prayer. Nor should the reflex action of 
 the principle be forgot. This father stands beside the 
 Christ of history, a monument of faith, timid yet true, 
 because his love for his boy set him there. His " Have 
 compassion on 11s and help ^/5," like the heathen mother's 
 ** Have mercy on me,'^ was highly honoured by Jesus. 
 The parental love that identified itself with the suffering 
 child was used by Him as a step to the faith which 
 united child and parent both to the Healer. Thus 
 will true spiritual affection for those committed to our 
 care draw ourselves and them into closest bonds with 
 Christ. 
 
 (2) The situation of the unsuccessful nine. Their failure 
 had been conspicuous, and rankled in their minds. So 
 after the cure was wrought and all joyfully ended, they 
 came to Jesus privately in the house, and inquired the 
 cause. He, without a word of reproach or a single 
 aggravating hint, laid His hand firmly on the exact truth. 
 It was unbelief, want of faith, or rather of the watch- 
 fulness in prayer which keeps faith ready for action. 
 '* This kind can come forth by nothing^ but by prayer and 
 fasting." Does not the situation recur ? Are there 
 not social evils preying on the body politic, " open 
 sores," even of the modern world, with which Christianity 
 — at least the Christianity of the Churches — seems 
 unable to cope ? Are there not times when their 
 failure threatens to shame the cause of Christ, if not 
 
288 THE MIRACLES OF OUR LORD. 
 
 Christ Himself? But the Church is not Christ. His 
 working is not to be measured by that of any human 
 representatives, official or unofficial. We must not 
 repeat the mistake of the multitude that day, and 
 because the disciples have failed think that Jesus will 
 fail. Note, however. His reply as to their failure. It 
 is to the effect that there are evils not to be met suc- 
 cessfully without exceptional devotion and self-sacrifice 
 in His followers. There are kinds of demonism — how 
 many of them are still with us ! — in face of which 
 ordinary easy-going Christianity breaks down. To cast 
 them out heroism is needed ; and surely Christ and His 
 cause have never wanted for heroes and heroic devotion 
 when the need came. It is noticeable that Jesus 
 emphasizes the realit}^ rather than the quantity of faith. 
 He says, if it be only present and ready to wrestle with 
 God, though it were as a grain of mustard seed, it can 
 remove mountains. This brings us back to the central 
 lesson of the story — the sclf-forgetftilness of real faith. 
 There is no more subtle form of self-righteousness 
 than the way many Christians have of torturing inquiry 
 after faith itself as an inward act, a condition or pre- 
 requisite of salvation, sifting and separating, analyzing 
 and defining various forms of that particular experience. 
 Let us not parley about faith, but flee to Him who is 
 rich in mercy and ready to relieve — to Him and His 
 boundless grace, which can cover us and our sins and 
 our fears and our trust too, despite its mixture of 
 distrust, — " Lord, I believe ; help Thou mine unbelief." 
 
XVI. 
 
 THE MAN BORN BLIND. 
 John ix. 
 
 A WELL-KNOWN modern sceptic has stated the 
 conditions under which, were a miracle produced, 
 he would hold himself bound to believe it. They are 
 to this effect : that there should be a committee of 
 competent judges, in whose presence it should be 
 wrought ; that they should have every opportunity of 
 testing the reality of all that was done ; and that the 
 wonder should be repeated before them at their request, 
 till they were satisfied of its actuality. The conditions 
 are of course impossible. For the result would not be 
 a miracle at all, but simply a new concurrence of events 
 scientifically found to hold good upon due occasion. 
 But if sifting the evidence for a miracle, stating every 
 possible objection to it, discussing publicly, not cen- 
 turies afterwards, but at the time and on the spot, the 
 whole details, turning the occurrence out and in, back 
 and forth, exhausting every effort to shake its validity, 
 and then finding that it has been a veritable work 
 above the ordinary processes of nature and beyond 
 the powers of men — if such cross-examination should 
 seem to any one essential to his believing in the 
 
 19 
 
290 THE MIRACLES OF OUR LORD, 
 
 historicity of the miracles, — in this instance it actually 
 took place, and we have the circumstantial record of it 
 in this chapter. 
 
 This treatment is entirely exceptional in the miracle- 
 narratives; but on that account this single specimen has 
 all the greater apologetic value. It can no more be 
 said that the difficulties of the modern mind are wholly 
 disregarded in the Gospels. Here is precisely that 
 argumentative handling of the various difficulties about 
 a miracle with which we are so famihar. The occur- 
 rence is related. Then arise the questions upon it : 
 Was there really anything unusual done ? How was it 
 done ? Who was the doer of it ? Was the doing of 
 it a mark of Divine commission and authority ? Who 
 and what shall we conclude the worker of it to be ? 
 These and such as these are the questions which every 
 age — our own pre-eminentl}^ — has asked about the 
 miracles of Jesus. They are asked and answered, in 
 this instance, in presence of the facts themselves. 
 Let us read the narrative in this light. There are four 
 parts to the story. 
 
 I. The Introduction of the Case (vv. 1-5). The 
 whole incident hangs upon that grand word of Jesus, 
 " I am the Light of the world" (viii. 12). This text 
 for the entire section contained in these two chapters 
 here again recurs (ver. 5). Of this great utterance, the 
 restoration to sight of a man born blind was the con- 
 temporaneous and actual illustration. The analogy so 
 suggested runs deeper than at first sight appears. The 
 light of Divine salvation concentrated in the face of 
 Jesus Christ overcomes the darkness of man's evil, 
 moral and physical. Such is the thesis to be illustrated. 
 Significantly enough, the story is introduced by a dis- 
 cussion of the evil — the connection of its moral and 
 
THE MAN BORN BLIND. 291 
 
 physical aspects. '' As He passed by, He saw a v.ian. . . . 
 Master, wlio did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was 
 born blind ?'^ Physical evil the result of sin was the 
 problem present to the mind of the disciples as the}^ 
 looked at this poor man. But they took it by the 
 wrong handle. Whose sin was it that caused this evil ? 
 The Lord's answer does not disturb the principle which 
 connects sin and suffering. No one asserted this more 
 strongly than He. Onl}^ He exposes the false notion of 
 its retributive distribution. Suffering, it is true, follows 
 sin ; but here and now the distribution of suffering is not 
 according to the persons or proportions of the sinning. 
 Saints suffer ; sinners suffer. Saints often suffer in this 
 life more than sinners, but neither suffer in proportion 
 to their sin. That question runs into another world 
 than this. ' Let us take a higher point of view/ says 
 Jesus. * Our work in this suffering world is not to 
 speculate about the origin of the evil, not to scrutinize 
 its distribution, not to judge our suffering neighbours, 
 but to help and heal them.' Evil is here. In face of 
 this, the onl}^ Christ-like question is how to remedy it. 
 Jesus saw in this blind man a prepared troph}^ of His 
 grace. Christians need go no further in the line of 
 causal inquir3^ This man is here, poor and blind, that 
 '' the work of God should be manifest in him." Man's 
 darkness suggested to Jesus the light He could pour 
 into it ; man's misery. His power to relieve it; man's 
 present need, meant for Jesus the call to immediate 
 beneficent action. " / must work the works of Him that 
 sent Me, while it is dayT 
 
 2. The Miracle Itself (vv. 6, 7). As Jesus passed 
 by. His compassionate gaze had fastened upon the 
 man born blind. So soon as the preliminary^ ques- 
 tions of the disciples were disposed of, He proceeds 
 
292 THE MIRACLES OF OUR LORD. 
 
 spontaneously to work the cure. There was no request 
 on the man's own part. In his total darkness and 
 unacquamtance with the facts there could scarce be. 
 There was none on the part of others in his behalf. 
 The course of procedure in this case was in some 
 respects unusual. It consisted of two stages. First, 
 He made a plaster of moistened cla}-, with which He 
 covered the blind man's eyes. Then He bade him go 
 and wash in Siloam. The man obeyed. To say that he 
 returned with his eyesight perfectly restored would not 
 accurately express the result, for this man had never 
 eyesight before. The blessing which burst on this poor 
 child of darkness for the first time is expressed in one 
 phrase of simple majesty worthy of the creative might 
 revealed in it. " He washed^ and came sceingy 
 
 That the Lord should have employed the medium of 
 the moistened cla}^ that the cure should have taken 
 place after a certain process of application, was peculiar 
 to this case. Signs to help the faith of the patient, a 
 process or progress to the beneficent result, were not 
 altogether unusual in these healings.* The speciality 
 in our present case is the paradoxical character of the 
 means employed. But for the idea of a certain virtue 
 in the saliva, and the known use of it in pious cere- 
 monies, one would regard the plastering of the eyes 
 with moistened clay as grotesquely unfit to procure 
 sight. The other part of the process — sending the man 
 to wash in a sacred fountain — has also its popular 
 parallels, but was specially meant, no doubt, here to 
 test the obedient trust of the patient, and therefore was 
 an inteUigible step to the spiritual result which the 
 Healer had in His ultimate view. The whole work 
 illustrates not merely in general the success of Christ 
 
 * Cf. Mark vii. 33, and viii. 23. 
 
THE MAN BORN BLIND. 293 
 
 — the Light of the world — in dispelling the darkness 
 of human ills, but more specially the analogy between 
 the cure of physical blindness and the enlightening of 
 the mind in the knowledge of Christ. The narrative 
 which follows displays to us the transition by well- 
 marked steps of a human soul from the total darkness 
 of an innocent ignorance to a firm and rock-like assur- 
 ance of Jesus as the Son of God. 
 
 Upon this clear teaching of the miracle many in- 
 genious religious analogies have been imposed. The 
 Fathers saw in this cure of blindness by washing a 
 doctrine of the baptismal font. Into a passing inter- 
 pretation of the name Siloam preachers have commonly 
 read an image of Messiah — the sent One — as the 
 fountain opened for the removal of all spiritual impurity 
 and blindness. More ingeniously still, some find in 
 the first process, of the clay, a reference to the helpless 
 religious methods of the Pharisees — the function of 
 blind guides to aggravate the spiritual bUndness that 
 men naturally labour under ; in the second, the function 
 of Jesus to wash away the artificial obstructions and 
 restore lost power to the organ.* However tempting 
 some of these analogies may be, it does seem unlikely 
 that there was meant a symbol within a S3'mbol. 1 he 
 great, broad truth, " I am come, a Light into the world," 
 was sufficiently illustrated by the giving of sight to one 
 born blind, with all its rich suggestiveness of moral 
 and spiritual illumination. We do not need to com- 
 plicate the noble outline of the teaching by allegorizing 
 with curious detail the spittle, the clay, and the 
 washing. This is surely false exegesis, as colour upon 
 colour is false blazonry. 
 
 3. The Discussion. This, which turns on the 
 
 * So Bruce, p. 204. 
 
294 THE MIRACLES OF OUR LORD. 
 
 actuality of the miracle and the character of the Worker, 
 falls into several stages or acts (vv. 8-34). First of all, 
 there is the friendly discussion among neighbours and 
 acquaintances (vv. 8-12). With much dramatic vividness 
 and simplicity the narrative gives the immediate im- 
 pression made upon those to whom the man had long 
 been a familiar object at his usual place of alms-getting. 
 Their surprise took at first the natural form of doubting 
 his identity. When that doubt was dispelled upon his 
 own testimony, and the man had told by whom and 
 how his sight was given him, the next recourse would 
 have been to the Healer; but He could not be found. 
 Then followed the appeal to the judgment of the 
 Sanhedrim, or, at least, to the Pharisees as their 
 religious leaders — a step which shows how entirely 
 the people were subject to this authority. Here the 
 evangelist bids us note that it was a Sabbath on which 
 all this had been done. This prepares us for the 
 inevitable bias with which the work and the Worker 
 will be regarded. When the man had repeated to the 
 Pharisees the story of his cure precisely as he had 
 told it to his friends and neighbours, the dilemma 
 appeared. ' Either we must deny the fact of the 
 cure, or we must admit that Jesus did no wrong in 
 making the clay and commanding a lustration on the 
 Sabbath.' ' Now,' said the most, ' we cannot afford 
 this last. We must be right about the Sabbath, and 
 He must be wrong. There can, therefore, have been 
 no work of healing wrought by such a transgressor 
 of the law.' Some took the other alternative. 'The 
 facts are too firm and strong for denial. There must 
 be some allowance for the Healer's action on the 
 Sabbath : for how can a man that is a sinner do such 
 miracles ? ' Thus the dilemma split them up into two 
 
THE MAN BORN BLIND. 295 
 
 parties (ver. 16). It would seem to have been the major 
 part who wanted to deny the cure, for the action proceeds 
 henceforward entirely on their lines. They attempted 
 first to elicit some unfavourable opinion from the man 
 himself. ^^IVhatsayesf thou of HiniJ^ etc. But the happ}^ 
 subject of the healing was immovable. The man who had 
 opened his eyes must be a good man, a God-sent man — 
 in one word, '' a prophet." Then they try another 
 tack. ' Let us assail the facts in detail. Perhaps this 
 is not the man ; or, if so, perhaps he was not born 
 blind. Let us call his parents.' These, when called, 
 proved to be wary, not to say wily, witnesses, out of 
 w^hom very little could be got. Yet all that is obtained 
 makes for Jesus and against the Pharisees. They will 
 not deny that the man is their son, and so his identity 
 is confirmed. They will not deny that he was born 
 blind. So the ground of the miracle is established on 
 the best possible evidence. They not only admit, but 
 affirm, that he is now a seeing man ; only they will sa}^ 
 nothing as to '' how " the sight came or who wrought 
 the marvel. On these points they refer to their son 
 himself, as of mature age. For themselves, says the 
 narrator, they feared the excommunication which had 
 been determined on for all confessors of Jesus. 
 
 Then the man is recalled, and a browbeating 
 attempt made to bring him round to the opinion of his 
 judges. What form it took is not at first sight quite 
 clear. It is pos<=^ible to read it thus : At last they too 
 are reluctantly convinced of the fact. Their attempts 
 to disprove it have failed. It is a miracle ; a Divine 
 work has been wrought ; but they will rather accept 
 the absurd conclusion that somehow this Divine work 
 has been wrought by a false prophet, a sinning man, in 
 the act of sin, than yield to the claims of Jesus. This 
 
296 THE MIRACLES OF OUR LORD. 
 
 suicidal conclusion they will force upon the man himself. 
 ** Give God the praise : we know that this man is a sinner" 
 (A.V.). The other and greatly more probable view of 
 their line of argument is, that they still persist in their 
 denial of the facts, and try to coerce or cajole the 
 subject into a like denial. * Give up your fooHsh story. 
 It must be false. Tell truth and give glory to God ' 
 (R.V.). *We know that such a thing as you assert 
 could not happen, for the man is a sinner.' The idiom 
 of the words (more accurately rendered in R.V. than 
 in A.V. *), and the reply of the man, who simply 
 stands upon his experience, that now he sees who once 
 was blind, make it almost certain that the latter is the 
 correct exegesis. That is to say, the debate is still 
 about the facts, and the mail with great spirit reasserts 
 the facts. This blessed experience of his, " One thing 
 1 know,'' is the rock on which all their dogmas must be 
 shattered for him. Their Sabbath law may be right or 
 wrong, their view of Jesus and His character may be 
 as they please, but his assurance of the healing and of 
 the Healer is unassailable. 
 
 Then, in the manner of torturing cross-examiners, 
 they begin again to overhaul the details (vv. 26-y) ; but 
 the man declines to gratify them, unless indeed, as he 
 suggests in well-planted irony, they really at last desire 
 to be of a mind with him and follow Jesus. The 
 judicial " sham at this point completely breaks down. 
 They openly abuse him for his obstinacy, and revile 
 him as a disciple of Jesus. They affect to take the 
 rejoicing experience of the seeing man as if it were a 
 mere piece of religious partisanship, meant to thwart 
 and oppose their own. Hereupon the man whose eyes 
 were opened gets his mouth opened too, and finds 
 
 * Compare the same idiom in an Old Testament passage: Josh. vii. 19. 
 
THE MAN BORN BLIND. 297 
 
 a tongue to testify for Jesus. In a few trenchant 
 sentences he exposes their Wind and bigoted sophistries. 
 ' Here is the undeniable fact that a blessed work has 
 been wrought — a work of unparalleled might — the 
 giving of sight to one born blind. Yet you affect to 
 know not whence the Worker comes, nor whence His 
 power. By all the teaching of our common faith it is 
 clear that such an One must be of God. He cannot be 
 the notorious transgressor you make Him, for God hears 
 not sinners. He must be a worshipper and a worker 
 of the will of God, for such alone God heareth.' The 
 only reply was another torrent of personal abuse. 
 They reproach the poor man as blinded in his mind if 
 not in his body ; altogether born in sins, and unfit to 
 be heard by the spiritual leaders of the people. The 
 scene ends in his excommunication. But who can 
 doubt with whom remained the victory ? This beggar 
 who had been blind and was still unlearned was right, 
 when the teachers of the nation were wrong — a signal 
 instance of the due exercise of private judgment. This 
 protesting Israelite stood out against the whole council of 
 the Jews; in his own way, an Athanasius contra mundum. 
 4. The Spiritual Result (vv. 35-41). This last 
 section tells how the Lord, in this instance, completed 
 His work. He who began by conferring on this blind 
 beggar the light of the eye leaves him not till He 
 has endowed him with the light of the Spirit. The 
 bodily cure must lead on to spiritual illumination, that 
 Jesus may be seen to be the Light of life. The 
 subject of the blessing was evidently being 'prepared 
 for it. "To him that hath shall be given." He has 
 already showed himself a nobler witness than the man 
 (cap. V.) at the pool of Bethesda. Here is one who 
 at once boldly pronounced his Healer to be a prophet, 
 
298 THE MIRACLES OF OUR LORD. 
 
 and so acknowledged His Divine commission. Further, 
 he had worked out, and that under fire of hostile 
 argument, the still higher conviction that his Healer 
 was ^ of God,' ' One whom God heareth,' a doer of 
 the Divine will. He recognises, in short, not only the 
 sacred office of Jesus, but His holy character. There 
 remained a supreme step of faith, to which, however, 
 he must be led, as he deserved, after this courageous 
 confession in the face of a whole Sanhedrim of foes. 
 
 When Jesus heard that they had cast him out, He 
 carefully sought him, put to him the question w-hich 
 suggested faith in a Divine Redeemer, directly and 
 simply declared Himself ^to be that Saviour, received 
 the ready confession and the cordial adoration of His 
 now enlightened disciple (vv. 35-8). Thus was ful- 
 filled to this witnessing follower the Lord's own 
 beatitude on those who suffer for righteousness' sake. 
 Thus cast out of the Jewish Church, he is received 
 into the Kingdom of Heaven by the King's own hand. 
 It is worthy of notice that only in this case and in that 
 of the woman at the well * does the Lord directly 
 testify of His Messiahship. What others, more wise 
 and prudent, had to work out by successive steps of 
 reason and faith was revealed in gentlest, simplest form 
 to these babes of the Kingdom. The epithet ' Son of 
 God ' in Jesus' question occurs in some ancient readings 
 as 'Son of man.' Precise scholarship maintains that 
 neither of these epithets must needs have been taken 
 by our Lord's contemporaries as equivalent to Messiah. 
 Any single instance of His use of them cannot, there- 
 fore, be held as conveying to the hearers a direct 
 assertion of His Christhood. But His teaching was 
 constantly filling out both these epithets and making 
 
 * John iv. 26. 
 
THE MAN BORN BLIND. 299 
 
 them expositions of that full and glorious Christhood 
 which He claimed. We have no need to read into the 
 expression 'Son of God/ as here used by Him, any 
 conclusion of Nicea, Constantinople, or Chalcedon. It 
 was not to enforce a dogma of His identity with the 
 Divine Essence or of His place in the Trinity that 
 Jesus used the phrase. It was simpl}^ to lead on this 
 disciple to see in his Healer the Divine Saviour, the image 
 of the one Living and True God. The man who had re- 
 ceived his bodily sight at the hand of Jesus now kneels 
 to worship Him, beholding with his inward eye the glory 
 of God's '^ Only Begotten, full of grace and truth." 
 
 In its closing verses (39-41) the chapter brings us 
 back to the truth with which it opened, and shows us 
 one parting flash of its obverse side. The Light of the 
 world is Healer of the blind, but also Judge and 
 Condemn er of those who think the}^ see. ' Are we then 
 among the blind so meant ? ' said the Pharisees. But 
 Jesus answers with an unexpected irony : ' Would 
 God you were so ! for in that case you might receive 
 your sight.' ^^ Now ye say , We sec ; therefore your sin 
 rcmainethy This whole chapter, it has been remarked, 
 shows modern criticism its own portrait. The defenders 
 of Judaic Sabbatism reasoned thus : God cannot lend 
 His power to a violator of our Sabbath law ; hence 
 the cure alleged did not take place. Modern opponents 
 of the supernatural in the Gospel history reason after 
 exactly the same fashion, merely substituting a scientific 
 axiom for a religious statute. ' Miracles do not happen ; 
 therefore, however well attested this cure of one born 
 blind, it did not occur.' But the fact holds good against 
 the statute, of whatever kind it be, and will in the end 
 force it to abdicate.* 
 
 * See Godet, m loc. 
 
XVII. 
 
 THE WOMAN WITH A SPIRIT OF INFIRMITY. 
 Luke xiii. 10-17. 
 
 WE have before us now the last group of our 
 Lord's Healing Miracles. Like the group 
 immediately preceding, they are scattered incidents 
 in a tour of travel. But the journey, or series of 
 journeys, during which they befell belongs to the 
 epoch " when the days were well-nigh come that He 
 should be received up." * Sometimes these wanderings 
 were in Samaria, sometimes in Perea, and anon nearer 
 to the capital. For their general direction is summed 
 up in the words, ^^ He went on His way through 
 cities and villages, teaching, and journe3nng on unto 
 Jerusalem." f Conversations, addresses, and parables 
 chiefly occupy this section of the history, the record 
 of which belongs almost exclusively to the third 
 Gospel. The only miracles related besides the one 
 before us are the Cure of Dropsy, the Cleansing of 
 Ten Lepers, and the Healing of Bartimeus. These 
 are recorded by St. Luke alone, with the exception 
 of the last, which is common to the Synoptists, and, 
 indeed, belongs to what we may call the Passion 
 journey, and not to the more leisurely pilgrimage 
 
 * Luke ix. 51. \ Luke xiii. 22. 
 
THE WOMAN WITH A SPIRIT OF INFIRMITY. 301 
 
 described only in the third Gospel. Very noticeable 
 in this portion of the history is the variety of scene in 
 which His merciful deeds were done and His w^ords 
 spoken. Sometimes in a private company ; sometimes 
 in a gathering of the people thick together ; * now it 
 was a dinner-party in the house of a certain Pharisee;! 
 again among "the many thousands of the multitude 
 gathered together, insomuch that they trode one upon 
 another." % Our present incident took place as He was 
 teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath Day ; 
 the next on another Sabbath, when He went to eat 
 bread in the house of a chief Pharisee. 
 
 This reminds us, once more, of the comparative pro- 
 minence and frequency^ of these Sabbath-day cures. § 
 It is quite plain, as this narrative brings out, that 
 nothing but the blindest Pharisaism, in its design to 
 misinterpret Jesus and His work, could have led men 
 to suppose that there was anything in these deeds of 
 His inconsistent with the true observance of the day, 
 or with the spirit of the Divine law. It is as obvious, 
 on the other hand, that only a secularism, equally blind 
 and a similar misconstruction of His acts could find in 
 these Sabbath miracles any intention to abolish the 
 day, to take away aught of its sacredness, or loose a 
 jot of its Divine obligation. To distinguish it as He 
 did by w^orking upon it so many of His miracles was 
 to consecrate it to the purposes of His Gospel and to 
 baptize it into the spirit of His Kingdom. By this 
 time it had come to be a recognised fact, joyfully 
 understood by the people, dreaded and hated by His 
 enemies, that whenever congregations w^ere gathered 
 about Him on a Sabbath, His words of truth were 
 
 * Luke xi. 29. J Luke xii. i. 
 
 t Luke xi. 37. § See pp. 29-31, supra. 
 
302 THE MIRACLES OF OUR LORD. 
 
 almost sure to be illustrated by some of those deeds 
 of mercy. 
 
 Truly it was Sabbath-day's work, like His Father's 
 care, which no Sabbath rest suspends ; like His own 
 Divine mission, which has made the Lord's Day a 
 hallowed weekly pause to so many of earth's toiling 
 and suffering millions. 
 
 Nor is it unworthy of notice how many of these 
 Sabbath cures were connected with the religious 
 observance of the day. Several of them were wrought 
 before the public assembly of worshippers in the place 
 where prayer was wont to be made. So far from a 
 design to secularize the Sabbath, or to make its 
 observance less dear than it had been to devout 
 Israelites of old, this practice of His tells all the 
 other way. It was a reward for the diligence and 
 faithfulness of these diseased folks, who, in spite of 
 their ailments, were found in God's house on the 
 sacred day, that they should there meet with their 
 gracious Deliverer. Thus it was He came upon the 
 man with the withered hand, this woman bent double 
 with infirmity, and even the poor creature with the 
 unclean spirit in the Capernaum synagogue. It is 
 to be feared that were He now to revisit our places 
 of worship on the da}^ dedicated to Himself, He would 
 find fewer opportunities than of old to do such works 
 of mercy. Very much slighter ailments than those 
 suffice to keep multitudes of Christian -worshippers out 
 of the house of God and away from the appointed 
 means of grace. Our Lord did His wonders of mercy 
 anywhere — in the house, on the public streets — just 
 as everywhere He preached the Gospel. But He put 
 honour upon the ordinances of God by His frequent 
 teachings in the synagogue on the Sabbath, and in like 
 
THE WOMAN WITH A SPIRIT OF INFIRMITY. 303 
 
 manner set His special seal on the faith and obedience 
 of the sufferers He met with there. 
 
 Vv. 1 1-3. ^^ And, behold, there was a woumn which had a 
 spirit of infirmity eighteen years, and was bowed together, 
 and could in no wise lift up herself. And when Jesus saw 
 her, He called her to Him, and said unto her, Woman, thou 
 art loosed from thine infirmity. And He laid His hands 
 on her: and immediately she was made straight, and glori- 
 fied God.^^ It is not quite clear whether this should be 
 regarded as a case of ''possession" in any sense. That 
 this woman had '' a spirit of infirmit}' " does not mean 
 that she was of a weak and infirm spirit. She was 
 indeed of a most brave and patient temper. The phrase, 
 however, denotes that her disease had no mere physical 
 origin, but was one of those mysterious derangements 
 of the nervous system which take their rise in the mind 
 rather than in the body. Whether it is meant to be 
 ascribed to the indwelling of an evil spirit is, to say the 
 least, very doubtful. Certainly no domination by an 
 "unclean " spirit, as in other detailed instances, can be 
 supposed in this case.* The woman's habitual attend- 
 ance at the synagogue, the Lord's title for her, "a 
 daughter of Abraham," the promptness of her thanks- 
 giving to God when she was healed — all forbid the 
 supposition. Yet the direct connection of certain forms 
 of human ailment with the malice of man's Infernal Foe 
 is an idea clearly Biblical. That foe may therefore be 
 said to have bound this daughter of faith in some such 
 sense as that in which he is said to have inflicted boils 
 on Job, or in which St. Paul describes his '' stake in the 
 flesh," as a messenger of Satan sent to buffet him. 
 
 * The condition v>as one neither of natural sickness nor of the 
 customary possession. The Lord neve ' laid His hand " upon the 
 actually possessed,— S//f/'. 
 
304 THE MIRACLES OF OUR LORD. 
 
 The sufferer made no application to Jesus for healing. 
 His Sabbath-day patients, for obvious reasons, never 
 did. This one had come to the synagogue because it 
 v^ras her wont, and because the effort to reach it and 
 share in its blessing was one of the ways in which she 
 fought against the advance of her malady. She was 
 there with no design to intercept the Healer and get a 
 cure. There is no indication that she knew Him at all 
 before, far less knew that He was to be in the syna- 
 gogue that day. In all likelihood the first token she 
 had of His presence, as she sat bent prone in her place, 
 was when the sound of His gracious voice struck upon 
 her ear, and the still more gracious words that He 
 spake as He was teaching won her prepared heart. 
 Then, it is significantly said. He saw her and singled 
 her out for a signal instance of His mercy. The ex- 
 pression afterwards used, when He turned the attention 
 of the ruler and all the congregation to her case, shows 
 how deeply and tenderly He had looked into it. ' Lo ! ' 
 He said, 'see how long she has suffered.' Her bent 
 form and furrowed face were to Him as a book in which 
 He read the story of her eighteen years* bondage and 
 of her patient struggle to sustain her infirmity.* Her 
 faithful attendance on Divine worship, and perhaps other 
 features to which we have no clue in the narrative, 
 lighted up to Him her genuine religious and spiritual 
 character. For by the title He gives her hardly any- 
 thing so commonplace can be meant as merely that she 
 was a Jewess. In all probability it was intended to 
 point her out as one of that inner circle of pious believ- 
 ing Israelites — the class to which belonged His own 
 mother, the parents of the Baptist, the devout Simeon, 
 the prophetess Anna — those, namel}^, '' who were look- 
 
 * So Cox, Expositions, 3rd Series, p. 343 (Fisher Unwin : 1887). 
 
THE WOMAN WITH A SPIRIT OF INFIRMITY. 305 
 
 ing for the Consolation of Israel."* At all events, 
 there are sufficient hints that Jesus had found in this 
 woman one specially prepared for His mercy ; and this 
 helps to explain the pecuharly spontaneous and trium- 
 phant manner in which He proceeds to remove her 
 ailment. He called her to Him. He spoke the word 
 of liberation : " Woman, thou art loosed from thine 
 infirmity." Then He laid His hands upon her, and im- 
 mediately she was cured. There were apparently two 
 elements in the case to be dealt with : one physical — 
 spinal curvature, or dorsal paralysis ; the other nervous 
 or mental — some infirmity which paralyzed the will. 
 With His word and touch together the cure was done. 
 The word, majestic and commanding, proclaimed her free 
 from the subtle bond, the root of the mischief, which 
 chained her will. Then His hand laid on her, a sensible 
 aid to her faith, gave strength and suppleness to the 
 disused muscles. As the woman rose erect from her 
 long sad bondage, her grateful piety broke forth on the 
 instant into an irrepressible thanksgiving, a voluntary 
 act of praise before all the people. 
 
 Vv. 14-7. ^^ And the ruler of the synagogue answered 
 with indignation^ because that Jesus had healed on the 
 Sabbath Day, and said unto the people, There are six days 
 in which men ought to work : in them therefore come and 
 be healed, and not on the Sabbath Day. The Lord then 
 answered him, and said. Thou hypocrite, doth not each one 
 of you on the Sabbath loose his ox or his ass from the stall, 
 and lead him away to watering ? A nd ought not this 
 woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan hath 
 bound, lo, these eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on 
 
 * It is easy to believe it more than a coincidence that her story 
 should be recorded by the same evangelist who alone gives us the 
 full account of that pious circle. 
 
 20 
 
3o6 THE MIRACLES OF OUR LORD. 
 
 the Sabbath Day ? And when He had said these things, 
 all His adversaries were ashamed : and all the people 
 rejoiced for all the glorious things that were done by HimT 
 — The scene had become very offensive to the narrow 
 mind of the presiding elder. This official was the 
 chief of the elders who formed the local Sanhedrim. 
 Though only first among his equals, the virtual rule of 
 the synagogue devolved upon him. He would have 
 the superintendence of the service, and would determine 
 in each case who was to be called upon to read, to 
 conduct the prayers, or to deliver an address. The 
 reputation of Jesus for piety and wisdom was by this 
 time so universally acknowledged, that it was no doubt 
 practically impossible for the most prejudiced syna- 
 gogue ruler to prevent these duties being assigned to 
 Kim whenever He visited any place on a Sabbath. 
 Even this president of a Perean country synagogue 
 had not been able to do so. Jesus was already noted 
 for having set aside Pharisaic opinion as to Sabbath 
 work. This particular Pharisee had probably hoped 
 that no conflict of opinion would arise on the occasion. 
 But that in open congregation, in the place of worship 
 where he ruled, the daring Innovator should perform 
 one of His Sabbath-breaking cures was too much for 
 him. It quite overcame any little sense and proper 
 feeling he possessed. He broke out into angry vitupe- 
 ration. Not daring to attack the Lord directly, nor 
 even the thankful woman, in a covert and cowardly 
 manner He spoke at them both. With an almost 
 ludicrous confusion of meaning he scolds the people, 
 who had been simply onlookers. 'There is a whole 
 set of week-days,' he says, ' in which men are to do 
 work' — as if the Lord's word and touch of blessing 
 were manual labour, or could even be brought under 
 
THE WOMAN WITH A SPIRIT OF INFIRMITY. 307 
 
 the Rabbinic laws about medical practice. ' On these 
 days,' he cries to the people, ' come and be healed,' 
 unconsciously admitting the Lord's healing power, but 
 again inconsequently assuming that the woman or any 
 one else there had come on purpose to be cured on the 
 Sabbath. 
 
 Jesus answered him with a pungent and well-merited 
 rebuke.* ' You reproach the people, but 3^our quarrel 
 is really with Me. You pretend to be zealous for the 
 law, but you are only jealous of My work. You 
 Pharisees deserve no credit for even conscientiously 
 mistaken views about the sanctity of the seventh day. 
 Your ideas of its observance are quite sane and 
 sensible so soon as a question arises affecting your 
 own material interests. You would have no scruples 
 in relieving the wants of a suffering animal on that day 
 by a certain amount of Sabbath labour. But when I 
 loose from long years of Satanic bondage one of your 
 human sisters, a daughter of the chosen family, and do 
 it with no labour at all, you are filled with horror at 
 the breach of Sabbatic law.' Such hypocrisy is its 
 own complete self-exposure. But this trenchant reply of 
 Jesus completely shuts the mouths of his adversaries, 
 and brings the admiration of the hearers to a height ; 
 for not only the words He had spoken, but the glorious 
 things He had done, filled them with joy. 
 
 Before we pass from this woman's pathetic and 
 instructive story, let us note its spiritual lesson. She 
 had come to her accustomed place in the synagogue in 
 spite of all weariness and difficulty, and a blessed piece 
 of work it was for her. Had she not gone that day to 
 
 * vTTOKpLTai, "Ye hypocrites," is now the preferred reading. This 
 both relieves the abruptness of the singular and answers better to the 
 vfMuv (" each one of you ") immediately following. 
 
3o8 THE MIRACLES OF OUR LORD. 
 
 the place of worship, it is next to certain she had never 
 met with Jesus. In the way of her usual waiting upon 
 God — a troublesome routine it might have seemed to 
 many — she got the blessing ; not merely relief from 
 her bodily chain, but, if we have read her character 
 aright, the glorious liberty of those who saw in Christ 
 Jesus the Lord's salvation. What good cheer is in the 
 story for those who, amid bodily infirmities, mental 
 oppression, or household burdens and afflictions — 
 tempting them to defer their duty to God's house — 
 find their way statedly thither. Every pastor knows 
 that these are often the most blest of all the company that 
 gathers in God's house. For the Master of the house 
 sees them and calls them to Him. To the drooping 
 spirit, to the burdened heart of those who come there 
 just because He bids them. He oft comes, as it were, all 
 unbidden, and makes them glad with an unexpected 
 visitation. 
 
 " Sometimes a light surprises 
 
 The Christian while he sings ; 
 It is the Lord, who rises 
 
 With healing in His wings. 
 When comforts are'declining, 
 
 He grants the soul again 
 A season of clear shining, 
 
 To cheer it after rain."* 
 
 The spiritual counterpart to this story is to be found 
 in those visits of Christ the Consoler to His people in 
 His house, by which they are loosed from a spirit of 
 bondage. The saints of the pre-Christian dispensation 
 have recorded similar experiences. David, in the thirty- 
 eighth Psalm, says : "I am bent and bowed down 
 greatly ; I go mourning all the day long. . . . But I, as a 
 deaf man, hear not, as a dumb man that openeth not his 
 
 * Cowper. 
 
THE WOMAN WITH A SPIRIT OF INFIRMITY. 309 
 
 mouth. . . . For in Thee, O Lord, do I hope : Thou wilt 
 answer, O Lord my God." So the unknown Psalmist in 
 the seventy-seventh : " I said, This is my infirmity. . . . 
 Thy way, O God, is in Thy Holy Place." And Asaph in 
 the seventy-third : '' It was too painful for me, until I 
 went into the sanctuary of God." Base are our souls, 
 and bent toward the earth, instead of looking up to 
 heaven. In nowise can we lift ourselves up till the 
 voice of Christ through His Gospel proclaims our 
 liberation, and the hand of His Spirit, laid on us, 
 makes us actually free. '' Who can make straight 
 that which God hath made crooked ? " Nay ! but 
 what sin and Satan have made crooked the grace of 
 God can make straight. 
 
XVIII. 
 
 THE DROPSICAL MAN. 
 Luke xiv. i-6. 
 
 THIS chapter forms another section in the journal 
 of travel with which all this portion of the third 
 Gospel is occupied. The miracle, vvith the account of 
 which it opens, gave rise to a conversation of graphic 
 originality, carried on by a series of parabolic illustra- 
 tions. Chiefly, perhaps, for the sake of introducing 
 these is the healing narrated. The incident in itself is 
 not dwelt on, and the reasoning which arose upon it 
 closely resembles that which we have just considered. 
 It was again on a Sabbath, probably after the syna- 
 gogue service in some town or village where Jesus had 
 been resting over the day. He had accepted the in- 
 vitation of a chief Pharisee to eat bread at his house 
 
 Ver. I : ^^ And it came to pass . . . that they watched 
 Himy Marvellous kindness and patience were shown 
 on His part towards those who thus lay in wait to 
 see if He would commit Himself by any deed or word 
 through which they might frame an accusation against 
 Him. But no doubt He went thither because He had 
 truth to teach for which no opportunity was so fit. 
 
 Ver. 2 : " And^ behold, there was a certain man before 
 
THE DROPSICAL MAN. 311 
 
 Him which had the dropsy^* Possibl}' the man had 
 been drawn in along with the groups of gazers and 
 news-tellers that not uncommonly occupied the veran- 
 dahs and courts of an Eastern house during an en- 
 tertainment, f More likely he was placed there by 
 envious design, though unconsciously, no doubt, on 
 his own part. But if the host and his co-religionists, 
 outraging all the laws of hospitality, had laid a trap 
 for their Guest, the result must have astonished them. 
 The man was healed. The spirit of the Sabbath was 
 expounded with surpassing breadth and force ; and 
 then there followed '' such searching, humbling table- 
 talk as they had probably never heard before." % 
 
 Vv. 3, 4. ^^ And Jesus answering spake unto the 
 lawyers and Pharisees, saying. Is it lawful to heal on 
 the Sabbath or not ? But they held their peace. And 
 He took him, and healed him, and let him go " (R.V.). 
 So soon as He came in, Jesus' eye had lighted upon 
 the man as a fit subject for His mercy. He had been 
 so placed as to be in view of all ; and their minds were 
 keenly directed to the same object, watching if Jesus 
 would again offend, as so recently He had done. He 
 goes straight to the mark, opens the topic Himself, 
 and anticipates their objections. With the power and 
 authority of a Master, He challenges their disapproval. 
 He appeals to their conscience, their charity, and their 
 religion, — not as loaded with their senseless human 
 additions, but as it stood in the law^ of God and in the 
 intent of the Lawgiver. ' Is it lawful to heal, to do 
 good, to be merciful on the Sabbath ? ' They were 
 
 * ^v vdpiOTn.Kbs, " was dropsical." St. Luke here, as on some other 
 occasions, uses a technical term, 
 t Cf. the incident in Luke vii. 36. 
 X Bruce, Training of the Twelve, p. 87. 
 
312 THE MIRACLES OF OUR LORD. 
 
 silenced, because there was no answer but one that 
 could be given to the question as thus put in a right 
 way. Upon the reluctant consent, implied in their 
 silence, He at once acted. He took the man, laid 
 His hands on him or embraced him, rid him of his 
 troublesome disease, relieved him from his ques- 
 tionable position, and with delicate courtesy allowed 
 him to withdraw before He resumed the conversation. 
 
 Vv. 5,6. " And He said unto them, Which of you 
 shall have an ass \juarg. son] or an ox fallen into a well, 
 and will not straightway draw him tip on a Sabbath Day ? 
 And they could not answer again to these things" (R.V.). 
 As on the immediately preceding occasion. His appeal 
 to themselves against themselves is irresistible. Had 
 it been not a man but a dumb animal that was in ques- 
 tion — a piece of property even, let us say, instead of 
 a suffering fellow-creature — they would have had no 
 scruple in saving its life, even at the expense of some 
 Sabbath labour. The aptness of the parallel should be 
 noticed. In the former story there was an evident 
 fitness between the illustration chosen — the loosing of 
 an ox or ass from the stall — and the merciful deed He 
 had just wrought : the loosing of a believing woman 
 from the chain of her eighteen years' curvature. Here, 
 an animal fallen into a pit of water was the appropriate 
 parallel to a man in danger of death from dropsy. And 
 the ' much more ' was equally cogent in this case as 
 in that. If the now preferred reading in ver. 5 be 
 accepted,* the argument rises in cogency. For as not 
 the most scrupulous Sabbatarian could have hesitated 
 
 * vLos instead of 6vos. It is said that the Rabbis had rules which 
 would have enabled them to evade the argument from animal distress 
 (see Buxtorf, cited by Bruce, Training of the Twelve, p. 87); but this 
 was unanswerable. 
 
THE DROPSICAL MAN. 313 
 
 for an instant to rescue a child, a son, fallen into 
 danger of life on that day, no more would He delay, 
 would not even taste bread on this Sabbath afternoon, 
 till He had rescued this object of His compassion. 
 Again, as at the close of the former encounter, His 
 adversaries were reduced to shame and silence. And 
 again no doubt the people rejoiced in the glorious 
 things that were done by Him. 
 
 In passing from this the last of the Sabbath healings, 
 let us sum up the teaching to be derived from their 
 number as recorded in the Gospels, from the loving 
 detail with which they are told. We see that Jesus 
 took pains to emphasize the humane element in the 
 original institution as a day of rest, while He rescued 
 it from the exaggerations of Pharisaism. Also, as 
 we have seen. He gave it the sanction of His own 
 observance as a day of public worship and religious 
 congregation. But we note further, that by these deeds 
 of healing He put signal honour upon it as a day for 
 showing mercy. His religion, as St. James has it, 
 is one which makes benevolence a form of worship, 
 and turns acts of human kindness into a liturgy.* It 
 is so for all days ; but His own example must ever 
 remind Christians that care for the poor, the sick, and 
 the ignorant are duties specially fitted for the Lord's 
 Day. It is consecrated by His Spirit for the service of 
 man, as well as for the worship of God. 
 
 * James i. 27. 
 
XIX. 
 
 TEN LEPERS CLEANSED. 
 Luke xvii. 1 1-9. 
 
 OUR Lord is upon His last pilgrimage to Jerusalem. 
 The scene on the Mount of Transfiguration and 
 the conversation held there gives us the key to all this 
 part of the history. That scene prefigured the glory 
 to which He was soon to be exalted, and the words 
 spoken showed the way — '' the departure which He was 
 about to accomplish " — through the cross to the crown, 
 through the garden and the sepulchre to the throne. 
 He must be received up ; therefore He set His face 
 steadfastly to go thither. His route at this particular 
 point is described as being through the midst of 
 Samaria and Galilee, which is thought to mean that 
 He was travelling on the borders of these countries, 
 between the two, without penetrating the interior of 
 either. This note of place prepares us to understand 
 the gathering there of a band of outcasts of mixed 
 nationality. 
 
 One day, as He is approaching a village, ten men 
 rush forward to meet Jesus and His compan}^ But 
 just as they are within hail they stop and begin to 
 address Him. You can see the piteous group, with 
 clothes rent, heads bared, and hair dishevelled, a cloth 
 
TEN LEPERS CLEANSED. 315 
 
 bound strangely on the lower face and upper lip. They 
 cannot go into the village, so they waylay Him at the 
 entrance of it. They dare not come nearer to clean 
 people than a certain measured distance.* Therefore 
 they " stood afar off," and lifted up their voice as one 
 man. But instead of their usual warning cry, " Unclean ! 
 unclean ! " or a whining petition for alms, it was a voice 
 of earnest and solemn entreaty, ^^ Jesus I Master ! have 
 mercy on us" The Lord's treatment of this case is 
 entirely different from that with which He met the 
 leper of an earlier narrative. When that first subject 
 of His cleansing power came kneeling to Him, Jesus 
 put His hand on him, effected his cure on the spot, and 
 then sent him to the priest for confirmation. Here the 
 procedure is almost reversed. No touch is laid on the 
 lepers, no healing word spoken over them ; but at once, 
 '' wJien He saw them, He said unto them. Go shew your- 
 selves unto the priests^ On His side there is an elevation 
 of tone, a dash, as it were, of triumphant joy, in this 
 unexpected order, f As concerned them, this treatment 
 was quite in accord with the assurance implied in their 
 cry, and which only did justice to His now well-known 
 and established reputation. So, without cleansing them, 
 without so much as telling them that they were to be 
 cleansed. He bids them take the cure on trust, and 
 proceed to show themselves to the constituted authorities 
 as persons who were lepers no more. 
 
 I. Thus was their faitli tested. It was a strong 
 test, but their perfect confidence in Jesus was equal to 
 it. They instantly set out. They had seen no charm 
 used, had heard no words of cleansing ; they felt, as 
 
 * As much as one hundred and fiftj^ feet, if the wind were 
 blowing from their direction, 
 f Godet m loc. 
 
3i6 THE MIRACLES OF OUR LORD. 
 
 yet, no change wrought upon their diseased bodies ; 
 but they went, in the firm faith that the thing would be 
 done. They set their face to go to the priest, which 
 would have been mere mockery but for the belief that 
 the cure would come. They acted out their faith. 
 Every step they took away from the presence of Jesus 
 was a proof that they trusted Him ; and their confidence 
 was soon rewarded. We can see them going steadily 
 on together, in silent determination, all in their rags, 
 wretchedness, and uncleanness, just as they were when 
 they appealed to Jesus. Right soon, as they went 
 along, a cry of joy broke from one and another and 
 another. The cure had come. New life shot into their 
 wasted frames ; the lagging steps quickened into a firm 
 and steady tramp ; the shrivelled arms were raised in 
 exulting strength. Their flesh became clean as a little 
 child's, and every man saw before his eyes in his 
 fellows the wonderful transformation which he felt in 
 himself. " It came to pass^ that^ as they went, they were 
 cleansedr 
 
 Could there be a better illustration of faith, from one 
 point of view, than the conduct of these ten men ? 
 When Jesus first sent them away, they had no sensible 
 proofs of an answer to their cry ; but He having said, 
 '*Go show yourselves unto the priests," they took it as 
 implying that their prayer would be answered, and at 
 once did as He bade them. ' How do you know that 
 you are ready to appear before God ?' was once asked of 
 one dying ; and the answer was, '' Sir, God knows that 
 I have taken Him at His word." This is faith. These 
 men took Jesus at His word, and they soon realized the 
 blessedness of so doing. Constantly we stumble at the 
 plainness and simplicity of this act of faith — trusting 
 the bare word of God. We so often say, * If I could 
 
TEN LEPERS CLEANSED. 317 
 
 only feel something, see some improvement, experience 
 some joy, have some evidence in myself, then I would 
 beheve.' Such language transferred to these patients 
 of Jesus would run, ' Let us first see some signs of the 
 leprosy removing, feel some pulse of recovered health? 
 then we shall believe, and go to the priests for a certi- 
 ficate.' Put thus, it would be recognised at once as 
 the language of downright unbelief. Yet how often we 
 mock the message of salvation with just such treatment 
 in our hearts, if not in speech ! ' O God, Thou tellest 
 me to trust Christ and I shall be saved. I cannot trust 
 Christ, but I can trust my own feeling ; and if I felt at 
 once happy and triumphantly holy, I could believe that 
 He would save me.' That is to say, you will trust 
 Christ no farther than you can see or feel. You will 
 set your own heart and its impressions above the word 
 of the Living God, above the promise and gift of the 
 loving Saviour. Oh, let us be done with this most 
 irrational and guilty unbelief! Christ's method of sal- 
 vation is not that we first feel ourselves to be healed 
 and then believe in Him as our Healer. His prime 
 requirement is to be trusted. '' Look unto Me, and be 
 saved." "Come unto Me, . . . and ye shall find rest 
 unto your souls." " Come now, and let us reason 
 together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, 
 they shall be as white as snow; though they be red 
 like crimson, they shall be as wool." 
 
 2. We come now to the further stage of the story. 
 Jesus' treatment of these ten lepers had in one respect 
 tested their faith. He sent them away with a mere 
 implied promise that they would be healed. They 
 believed Him and got the blessing. But this treatment 
 was further intended to test their love — i.e., to bring out 
 whether their faith was fruitful trust in Him as God's 
 
3i8 THE MIRACLES OF OUR LORD. 
 
 representative to thein, or whether it was a mere formal 
 faith in His office as a healer, so well known that He 
 could not be disbelieved. For these reasons He did the 
 cure, only after they had left Him. He sent them away 
 out of His presence and on the road to the priests, 
 and then healed them. Thus an entirely new situation 
 arose. When diseased folks were healed instantly 
 by Jesus and were still before Him, they could not 
 withhold their acknowledgment. In a case like this it 
 might be very different ; and so it proved, for only one of 
 the ten stood the test. His conduct is thus described : — 
 Vv. 15-6. ^^ And one of them ^ when he saw that he was 
 healed, turned back y and with a loud voice glorified God, and 
 fell down on his face at His feet , gl'^'l^g Him thanks: and 
 he was a Samaritan." As soon as he felt in himself that 
 he was made whole, the man's heart rushed back to the 
 Deliverer. He turned him about on the instant, and 
 was speedily prostrate at Jesus' feet in adoring praise. 
 No doubt he had a formal command to go on. Had he 
 so resolved, he would have had something with which 
 to quiet his conscience. Jesus had bidden him and the 
 rest go to the priests. But love is the best casuist. 
 Love said, ' No ! the spirit is more than the letter ; 
 though the mere literal instruction seems to be set 
 aside by thus returning, gratitude and love demand it.' * 
 So he turned back, that he might go straight to the 
 Healer and in Him to God — to both, as it were, in one — 
 when he glorified God and gave thanks to Jesus. f This 
 
 * As the instruction could be implemented by appearing before any 
 local priest without a visit to the Temple, some commentators sup- 
 pose that the man may have done so before he went back. But the 
 whole strain of the story is against this supposition. 
 
 ■f Godet bids us notice how do^d'^eiv as directed to God and ei'xa- 
 picrreiv to Jesus are distinguished. But no doubt the sentiments 
 mingled in one common flame of love. 
 
TEN LEPERS CLEANSED. 319 
 
 he did as one not loath to let his gratitude be known. 
 Since he had lifted up his voice before in the cry for 
 mercy, should he not hft it up now in the accents of 
 praise ? Long before he reached the spot where Jesus 
 and the disciples had halted his glad notes were heard, 
 for he was not ashamed that all should know the story 
 of his cleansing. Now this exception was himself the 
 outcast among these outcasts. Jesus remarks that 
 it was " the alien " alone who was grateful. Keenly 
 enough, no doubt, this sting of unthankfulness in ^' His 
 own " pierced the heart of the Redeemer. But the in- 
 cident helps us to look through Christ's eyes upon all 
 mankind. To the Christian, as to his Lord, there are 
 now no foreign or alien peoples. He who has unveiled 
 for us the face of our Father in heaven has removed the 
 wall of partition between His worshippers. He reveals 
 in one the fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of 
 man. 
 
 How shall we explain the conduct of the others ? 
 It is possible that, finding themselves cured, they took 
 no further steps at all, but proceeded as speedily as 
 possible to obliterate all traces of their ever having 
 been lepers — a course which would of necessity pre- 
 clude their returning to Jesus. More likely, holding 
 to the letter of Jesus' instructions, they went on to 
 the priests, anxious to have the stamp of the law 
 to their restoration. For thus only could they be 
 officially declared clean and restored to society. Then, 
 it is not improbable that they received charges from 
 their priests to take no further notice of the Healer, 
 but return to their homes. Thus we see that they 
 were more attached to the letter than to the spirit ; to 
 man they had more respect than to God ; in a word, 
 they thought more of themselves than of their 
 
320 THE MIRACLES OF OUR LORD. 
 
 Deliverer ; — in this how apt a type of multitudes who 
 externally profit by the name of Christ ! It was the 
 civil right these men valued. Escape from the in- 
 conveniencies of leprosy was far more to them than 
 the honour of Jesus or even the glory of God in Him. 
 The Samaritan, on the other hand, if we read his 
 story aright, postponed his own interest. It might 
 have been, and perhaps was, said to him, when about 
 to turn back, ' You are not yet pronounced clean and 
 readmitted into society. It is the act of a fool to risk 
 all the benefit at this stage.' But he would listen to 
 no such reasonings. His faith wrought by love, and 
 his love must prove itself by instant thanksgiving. 
 Are we then to say that the others were not believers 
 at all, and this Samaritan alone had faith ? Let us 
 mark the Lord's comment on the scene. 
 
 Vv. 17-9. ^^ And Jesus answering said, Were there 
 not ten cleansed ? but where are the nine ? There are 
 not found that returned to give glory to God, save this 
 stranger. And He said unto him, Arise, go thy way : 
 thy faith hath made thee whole.^^ No doubt the nine 
 had a confidence in Jesus' power which carried them 
 through the test set them. They had that outside 
 faith which sufficed to trust His word for healing. 
 But they had no regard either to the Divine glory 
 or the redeeming might of Jesus. They took His 
 cleansing of them as a mere common thing. At first 
 the miracles of Christ had been fresh and startling. 
 But now, as His love repeated them, men did with 
 Christ's miracles as they do with His Father's bounties 
 — see nothing Divine in them, because they are so 
 common. This their unbelief, their seeing no glory of 
 God in what Jesus did to them, is proved by their 
 unthankfulness : "They returned not to give glory to 
 
TEN LEPERS CLEANSED. 321 
 
 God." Jesus Himself, who knew what was in man, 
 was astonished at this instance of ingratitude and 
 irrehgion. Unbehef with its baneful blight counter- 
 works the work of God at every point. Times and 
 places there were when Jesus could do no miracle 
 because of men's unbelief. Then, again, when He 
 wrought them abundantly, there were men who saw 
 His miracles and did not believe. Now it has come 
 even to this : there are men experiencing the miracle 
 in themselves and yielding no homage to their Healer. 
 Thus unbelief brings forth its bitter fruit of ingrati- 
 tude. Even in Christians it makes melancholy havoc, 
 blinding them to the Divine hand in their deliverances, 
 leading them to cheapen God's marvellous grace, and 
 coldly trace to second causes the change that once 
 they rejoiced over as life from the dead. Of men at 
 large unbelief and ingratitude make heathens. It is 
 pronounced to be the very sin of the heathen that 
 ''when they knew God, they glorified Him not as 
 God, neither were thankful ; but became vain in their 
 imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened." * 
 On the other hand, Jesus recognised the thankful 
 Samaritan as a true believer ; for gratitude to God is, 
 as it were, the link between natural and spiritual 
 religion. In this case the one soon passed into the 
 other. This man's faith was a living tie between his 
 soul and Christ. So with the force of a vital chord it 
 drew him back in love and gratitude to his Deliverer's 
 feet. The others had got their cleansing as a sign of 
 Jesus' power. They were favoured to be its objects 
 out of God's sovereign mercy, as the rain falls and the 
 sun shines on the just and on the unjust. But to him 
 the blessing was a seal of faith, a pledge of larger 
 
 * Rom. i. 21. 
 
 21 
 
322 THE MIRACLES OF OUR LORD, 
 
 blessing to follow. The cure was by Jesus' crowning 
 word confirmed, and to it was added the moral cure — 
 a pronounced salvation. 
 
 This story shows how little spiritual value or 
 efficacy the Gospel writers — taught by their Divine 
 Master — attach to mere miracle, and how essentially 
 the Gospels differ in this respect from all legendary 
 religious biography. We are here told that men may 
 expect and even experience miracles without any real 
 faith in Jesus, — with belief indeed in His power, but 
 without surrender to His rule. The two ways of 
 receiving a benefit of this kind from Christ are here 
 sharply distinguished. The one seeks a boon from 
 Him ; the other receives Him through the benefit. 
 The superficial and external faith gets a healing ; the 
 true faith brings salvation and proves itself in disciple- 
 ship.* To all times this remains an important lesson 
 for the Christian Church. When multitudes are at- 
 tracted to her ranks, and thousands declare them- 
 selves spiritually impressed, we cannot be too thankful. 
 But when the tests of vital Christianity are applied, 
 we are oft driven back on the Lord's question : 
 "Where are the nine?" In practical self-denying 
 work, in thankful generosity and real consecration, 
 where are they ? A formal, ceremonial, and cere- 
 monious Christianity is common enough ; a desire also 
 for the social advantages and indirect benefits of the 
 Christian profession, without too much of its hazard 
 and responsibility. But for hves of outspoken confession 
 and single-eyed devotion to Jesus among His professed 
 followers, it is to be feared that one in ten would be 
 too high a proportion to fix yet, even in the most 
 favoured portions of Christendom. 
 
 '^ See Edersheim, m he. 
 
XX. 
 
 BLIND BAR TIME US. 
 Matt. xx. 29-34 ; Mark x. 46-52 ; Luke xviii. 35-43. 
 
 MATTHEW speaks of two blind men. Mark 
 dwells upon one, and says it was that well- 
 known blind man, Bartimeus, the son of Timeus. 
 Luke speaks of the case as that of a " certain blind 
 man," and describes it as happening when Jesus was 
 come nigh unto Jericho, or in the neighbourhood of 
 Jericho ; whereas Matthew and Mark speak of it as 
 taking place when Jesus was going out of Jericho. Such 
 discrepancies as these are a subject of discussion with 
 two classes of commentators. Some are so impressed 
 with their gravity as to read in them conflict with fact. 
 They seem only able to construe them, in an instance like 
 the present, as proof that no such healing took place. 
 They apparently find it inconceivable that One who went 
 about doing good could have met two such cases so 
 near each other, or that while there were two, as the first 
 Gospel says, Mark and Luke might record only the in- 
 cidents in which the well-known and strongly marked 
 character of Bartimeus came out. Those writers, again, 
 who insist on exact literal correspondence between the 
 Evangelists are apt to' labour too vehemently in the 
 way of reconciling them. The task here is certainly 
 
324 THE MIRACLES OF OUR LORD. 
 
 not difficult There would be nothing at all surprising 
 in the fact that, though two blind men might be cured 
 that day and even together, one of the accounts should 
 dwell entirely on the case of Bartimeus. The words 
 that passed and the sentiments brought out were the 
 real subject of the record, and not any official catalogue 
 or exact statistics of the persons whom Jesus healed. 
 There are some whose alarm becomes excessive at any 
 variation of statement in the several Gospels, as if it 
 imperilled inspiration. What most imperils the belief 
 in inspiration is to found it upon such mere exact 
 verbal coincidence as these writers seek to discover. 
 What is really proved by these variations is the 
 freedom and independence of the narrators, their 
 honesty, their substantial accuracy, and the truthful- 
 ness of their narratives. 
 
 The scene was Jericho, the city of palm trees, of 
 the balsam trade, the fragrant city, where a chief 
 tax-gatherer resided because of its produce, in whose 
 neighbourhood robbers lurked because of the rich 
 caravans to be lighted on there. Into that city Jesus 
 had come, surrounded by a thickly gathering multitude. 
 As He passed along. He saw the chief publican in a 
 tree, called him down, received him as a penitent, and 
 abode at his house. Now He is departing from Jericho, 
 preparing to pass through the rocky defiles and brigand- 
 haunted wastes that lay between Him and Jerusalem. 
 But His escort is larger than ever. As it moves off 
 from Jericho fresh multitudes join it. We must im- 
 agine not so much a crowd as an orderly procession 
 — some before to prepare the way, more clustering 
 behind, Jesus in the midst, with the disciples imme- 
 diately round Him. As they move leisurely along, 
 He is teaching, — telling them perhaps that Parable of 
 
BLIND BARTIMEUS. 325 
 
 the Pounds with which the nobleman entrusted his 
 servants. 
 
 Now see yonder bHnd man seated by the wayside I 
 That is his usual place, — begging his usual occupation. 
 But another idea fills his mind to-day. He has heard 
 much of Jesus of Nazareth. The country is filled with 
 the rumour that He is on His way to Jerusalem to be 
 crowned King of the Jews. To the blind man it has 
 somehow become clear that this is the Christ promised 
 to the Fathers. He is prepared to confess his faith in 
 Him, for he has a great boon to ask of Him. He has 
 taken up his usual place since early morn, is watching 
 with feverish anxiety on the Jerusalem road for the 
 first sign of His approach, when, hark ! the tramp of 
 a great multitude. Yes ! nearer and nearer it comes. 
 He asks the bystanders or the first comers '' what it 
 meanty They answered and told him, ^^ Jesus of 
 Nazareth passeth by'^ Now then his great opportunity 
 has come. He lifts up his voice, in the words of that 
 most eloquent and simple prayer he has prepared, and 
 repeats it till the time of answer came : ^^ Jesus , Thou 
 Son of David y have mercy on mc^ Note what obstacles 
 this man's faith overcame. 
 
 I. His circumstances.— He was but a poor blind 
 man, a customary object of charity. He who was 
 passing by was a great Teacher, a Prophet of the 
 people, reputed to be the Messiah, and probably the 
 future King of Israel. Moreover, He was in the 
 heart of a procession, engaged in teaching, and much 
 engrossed in this momentous crisis of His public life. 
 But Bartimeus was not to be hindered by any of 
 these things. As to the difference in rank between 
 himself and Jesus, he made nothing of it, or rather 
 he made an encouragement of it. When he heard 
 
326 THE MIRACLES OF OUR LORD. 
 
 the name, Jesus of Nazareth ! his heart leaped up 
 within him. ' This is the very Person I want to meet. 
 I am poor ; He is the Friend of the poor, and to them 
 His Gospel is preached. 1 am blind ; He is the Healer 
 of the blind, and therefore the Saviour for me. I am 
 a despised and forgotten waif by the roadside ; He is 
 the King of Israel, the Gatherer of outcasts ; the Healer 
 of the broken-hearted, the One who remembers the 
 forgotten. There is a great suitability for poor, 
 blind, begging Bartimeus, son of Timeus, in Jesus of 
 Nazareth, the Son of David, the Christ of God.' As 
 to the engrossment of Jesus, or the crowd surrounding 
 Him, that was no hindrance to Bartimeus, or such an 
 one as his faith turned into a help. What better could 
 he wish than to be in the way when Jesus of Nazareth 
 passes by ? It is for him the accepted time, the day 
 of his visitation. If any one is hindered from coming 
 to Christ by considerations of environment, be this the 
 answer of faith : The worse your circumstances, the more 
 need you have of Christ, the more evident is it that 
 you are of those to whom He is offered and for whom 
 He is intended. When He is nigh, as He is in this 
 word of faith which is preached, let no argument 
 find place in your heart for a moment that the time is 
 unsuitable, or that there may be a more convenient 
 season. He is passing by ; raise to Him, like Barti- 
 meus, the urgent prayer, "Jesus, thou Son of David, 
 have mercy on me." 
 
 2. The desire of worldly advantage. — Here was a great 
 procession coming. In an ordinary case Bartimeus 
 would doubtless have laid himself out to make a har- 
 vest of the passing caravan. On this occasion he made 
 up his mind to forego that altogether. He weighed the 
 two things, and he said to himself, ' No ! no alms 
 
BLIND BARTIMEUS. 327 
 
 to-day ; I will direct my whole efforts to getting a 
 cure from Jesus of Nazareth.' He did not attempt 
 both things, but deliberately sacrificed the alms-getting 
 for the eyesight. Doubtless he would have been a fool 
 to do otherwise. Yet that is the folly men are com- 
 mitting every day, and not the thoughtless alone 
 among men. Those who have some glimpse of the 
 priceless value of spiritual light and peace, yet let 
 year after year leave them as it found them, because 
 they are too busy in the world to seek salvation, or too 
 much afraid of losing present advantage to set aside 
 its claims even for a season and '' count the cost " of 
 their immortal nature. Jesus and His multitudes are 
 passing by while some of us are busy gathering pennies 
 by the wayside. A soul in earnest, a soul prepared for 
 the Master's grace, will hold it of such urgent moment, 
 that everything must stand aside till this great question 
 be settled. 
 
 3. The opposition of others. — Bartimeus had begun his 
 cry betimes. As soon as he learnt what the approach- 
 ing footsteps meant, he started it and kept it up till the 
 foremost part of the procession reached the place where 
 he sat. When these forerunners, as Luke tells us — 
 " they which went before " — rebuked him that he should 
 hold his peace, it did not silence Bartimeus. As the 
 procession thickened and came opposite this clamouring 
 petitioner, many charged him that he should hold his 
 peace, '' but he cried out the more a great deal." What 
 were the motives of the crowd in trying to silence 
 Bartimeus we are not told. Perhaps the vulgar notion 
 that it was improper for a common beggar like him to 
 take up the time and attention of Jesus ; perhaps, that 
 with all their popular enthusiasm for Jesus, they were 
 not pleased at the blind man for the boldness of his ex- 
 
328 THE MIRACLES OF OUR LORD. 
 
 pression that Jesus was the Christ. This is the rather 
 confirmed by the contrast between the name quoted 
 by his informants and that used by Bartimeus in his 
 cry. They told him it was " Jesus of Nazareth " that 
 passed by. But all the three F^vangelists are careful 
 to record that this petitioner firmly based his plea on 
 the Christhood, ''Thou Son of David."* The crowd 
 were the professed friends of Jesus, yet were ready 
 to suppress one whose faith went further, was more 
 outspoken and enthusiastic than their own. 
 
 It is not easy to conceive any obstacle in the way of 
 the spiritually anxious more stumbling than this, when 
 the professing, and sometimes even the real followers of 
 Christ, object to the ardour of their expressions or the 
 evident feeling they show. 'This is going too far. It 
 is excitement. It is extravagance. There is no need 
 to make such a stir. It disturbs the Church.' The 
 real meaning is, It puts us about, it suggests an un- 
 comfortable suspicion that we are not in earnest, when 
 we see some spirit-stirred ones counting all things loss 
 to win Christ, and overturning the cold formal decency 
 of the Church with their new-born fervour. But if such 
 anxious ones are really led of God, they will cry so 
 much the more ; the water of discouragement flung 
 upon the flame of their desire will only make it burn 
 the higher and the hotter, for He who moves their 
 hearts is all the while secretly pouring oil upon that 
 heavenly flame. See, too, the reward that awaits a 
 
 * The signal use of this Messianic title in connection with cures of 
 blindness has been already pointed out (see p. 241). Westcott 
 remarks that healing of the blind is exclusively a miracle of the 
 Gospels. No cases occur in the Old Testament or in the apostolic 
 healings. Besides the detailed cures, all of which we have now 
 discussed, general notices of our Lord's restoring sight occur : Matt, 
 xi. 4, 5, XV. 30, xxi. 14 ; Luke vii. 22. 
 
BLIND BARTIMEUS. 329 
 
 persevering soul seeking grace and Christ. When 
 Bartimeus kept calling and took no discouragement, and 
 when at length Jesus bade him come, it was the same 
 crowd that had at first discouraged the petitioner that 
 then cheered him on. They turned their tune altogether, 
 and instead of ^^ Hold thy peacej^ they said, ^' Be of 
 comfort, rise; He calleth theey Thus, says Augustine, 
 does it often happen in the conflict of a spiritual soul. 
 " If a man will only despise these obstacles from a 
 world which calls itself Christian and overcome them, 
 if despite of all opposers he will go on until Christ is 
 evidently and plainly with him, then they who began 
 by reprehending will finish by applauding, they who 
 at first said, ' He is mad,' will end with saying, ' He 
 is a saint.'"* 
 
 Now the procession has reached that point when 
 Jesus Himself comes opposite Bartimeus. As soon as 
 the cry with its unusual title and its imploring tones 
 meets the .Saviour's ears. He comes to a standstill. 
 * Who is that man,' He says, ' that I hear crying ? ' 
 Jesus, straitened till his Jerusalem work be done, could 
 not pass the cry of the needy. He must needs pause 
 and hear it. ' It is only blind Bartimeus, that sits 
 constantly at this place begging.' * But it is not alms 
 he is asking to-day : where is he ? ' 'He is sitting on 
 the bank there over against us.' ' Call him,' He says. 
 ' Bring him unto Me.' This is how Christ finds those 
 that inquire after Him. We know that He is found of 
 those that seek Him not, surprises those that look not 
 for Him, singles out for search those that had forgotten 
 Him. How certainly then, as this story shows, is He 
 the Rewarder of them that diligently seek Him. It was 
 a moment of rare triumph for Jesus. He is attended 
 * See Trench, in loc. 
 
330 THE MIRACLES OF OUR LORD. 
 
 by a joyful crowd. But He turns, how characteris- 
 tically, from the happy throng to the one miserable 
 man who needs His help. 
 
 The words which made the suppliant aware of Jesus' 
 call were most probably spoken, as we have said, by 
 the very people who before strove to silence him. 
 ^ Now is your chance ; Jesus is bidding you come. No 
 fear now — you are a saved man ; it is as good as done.' 
 Look at him ! How he springs to his feet. Is this 
 the feeble mendicant that used to sit yonder ? See 
 how he tosses from him the wrapper in which he was 
 wont to protect himself from the weather. '* Casting 
 away his garment^ he rose, and came to Jesus^ And to 
 what a Saviour he has come ! ^^ Jesus answered and 
 said unto him, What wilt thou that I shoidd do unto 
 thee ? " A royal, nay a Divine style, surely this ; 
 ' Name thou thy wish ; it is Mine to fulfil it.' And 
 what has opened Jesus' lips to such a golden saying ? 
 What but the golden key of outspoken faith : " Thou 
 Son of David." ' Well then,' says Jesus, ' I am 
 Messiah and King for thee. What wilt thou have out 
 of all My royal treasures?' Yes! but, petitioner, express 
 thy petition plainly and pointedly. " Have mercy on 
 me ! " But what specific mercy ? To be particular in 
 prayer is a form of faith. It illustrates and evidences 
 the man's entire trust in Jesus to have him say distinctly 
 as Bartimeus immediately does, ^' Lord, that I might 
 receive my sights No doubt Jesus knew what he wanted; 
 but He will have him tell it out, that in the fuller 
 exercise of his faith he may be more prepared to receive 
 the blessing. To hear some people on prayer one 
 would think it was chiefly meant to inform and to move 
 God. But at least one-half the power of prayer is to 
 prepare us for the mercy which God is waiting and 
 
BLIND BARTIMEUS. 331 
 
 anxious to bestow. ''The waterman in his boat, that 
 with his hook takes hold of the shore, doth not thereby 
 pull the shore to the boat, but the boat to the shore : 
 so in prayer, we do not so much draw the mercy to 
 ourselves, as ourselves to the mercy." It is one of 
 the secrets of the spiritual life that we get from God 
 just as much as we can take, that is, as much as we 
 truly ask. 
 
 So we come to the cure. There was on this occasion 
 no process as at Bethsaida, no intervening actions as 
 at Siloam's pool, but for a ripe faith a ready response. 
 ^^ Jesus had compassion, and touched their eyes " (Matt.). 
 " Go thy way ; thy faith hath made thee wJiole^^ (Mark). 
 " Receive thy sight : thy faith hath saved thee. And im- 
 mediately he received his sight " (Luke). The pertinacious 
 vitality of faith had proved itself in this instance, and 
 it met, according to Christ's method, with an instant 
 and abundant reward. It was proved not only by the 
 Wind man's firm conviction of Jesus' Messiahship, but 
 by his irrepressible expression of it, by his conquest of 
 all the obstacles put in his way, by his joyous alacrity 
 when Jesus called him, by his prompt application of 
 Christ's offered grace to his most particular need. And 
 now, as all the Evangelists add, the proof was crowned 
 by the first use he made of the new gift of sight. He 
 left his alms, forgot his garment, and '' followed Jesus 
 in the way." From this conduct the Lord received 
 honour both direct and indirect, for all the people when 
 they saw it swelled His praises. These two forms of 
 service to Christ react upon each other. If all who 
 know about Him were to profess Him, there would be 
 much increase of spiritual light in the Church. If all 
 who profess Christ were to experience what they profess, 
 there would be much increase of spiritual heat. If all 
 
332 THE MIRACLES OF OUR LORD. 
 
 who have experienced Christ were to Hve up to their 
 experience of His mercy, the Church would be like a 
 mass of molten metal in the midst of a cold world — 
 the world, indeed, would be set on fire, and the whole 
 earth would be filled with His glory. 
 
III. 
 
 THE THREE RAISINGS FROM THE DEAD, 
 
THE THREE RAISINGS. 
 
 THIS group forms the climax of our Lord's mighty 
 works. In the others He showed Himself Lord 
 of nature and Healer of men. In these He is seen 
 to have the keys of Death, and of the world beyond. 
 Of the three instances related, one — that of the ruler's 
 daughter — occurs in all the Synoptic accounts ; the 
 other two belong respectively to the third and fourth 
 Gospels. That these were all the occasions on which He 
 grappled with Death, is clear from the character of the 
 events, and from the explanation suggested in each case. 
 The exceptional occurrence seems to require exceptional 
 reasons. One has been just hinted at. Perhaps it was 
 not fitting that the Lord of life should ever encounter 
 Death without disturbing his rule. At all events, these 
 are the only instances in which the Gospels bring Jesus 
 face to face with man's last enemy, and in each He 
 breaks the spell. When His own time came to enter 
 Death's dominion, He could not beholden of it. There 
 is another reason which is common to all the three. 
 The cases exceptionally appealed to His compassion. 
 One was a widowed mother's only son. Another, the 
 ruler's only child. The last, His own dear friend and 
 the beloved brother in the family Jesus loved. But 
 
336 THE MIRACLES OF OUR LORD. 
 
 there are some more special reasons which deserve 
 attention. Although we shall presently treat the three 
 in the customary order of their increasing marvellous- 
 ness, the order of occurrence brings us first to the incident 
 at Nain. ■ There seems, at first sight, no reason suggested 
 why our Lord should disturb the reign of Death in this 
 case, but simply a characteristic impulse or outburst of 
 Saviour-like pity. That there may have been some 
 spiritual motive connected with the youth himself we 
 dare only conjecture. To the recording Evangelist it 
 seemed the fitting crown to a series of the Lord's 
 miraculous labours. In the case of Jairus' daughter 
 no raising from the dead was at first thought of or 
 expected. The anxious father came to solicit Jesus' 
 healing touch. But when the message reached Him 
 that the child was dead, He had to determine whether 
 there should be an open failure of His help, a bitter 
 disappointment to the father, or whether Death should 
 be, in this instance, made to yield back his prey. The 
 precautions for privacy and reticence as to the miracle 
 are fully explained upon this view. In the highest 
 instance — that of Lazarus — we are furnished with 
 detailed reasons in the narrative itself why the sick- 
 ness was allowed to be fatal, and how the whole was so 
 overruled and arranged that the recall of His friend 
 from the dead should crown the miraculous workings of 
 Jesus, and lead on through strange and dark steps to 
 the glory of the Cross and the Resurrection. 
 
 These great works of Jesus were not, as we have 
 repeatedly said, bare signs to arrest men's attention — 
 not mere portents or proofs of His Divinity. They 
 were portions and instalments of His redeeming work ; 
 in them He both rescued men and destroyed the work 
 of their foe. This was well seen when He dispelled 
 
THE THREE RAISINGS. 337 
 
 disease and restored to men physical powers blighted 
 or lost by sin ; still better was it seen when He baffled 
 evil spirits and cast them out. Now best of all when 
 He thus put His hand on the empire of Death. No 
 doubt it was but a partial instalment of his victory over 
 it. Nothing is gained by overstating the place and 
 power of the Gospel miracles. True, there are only 
 these three instances recorded in which He disturbed 
 the Kingdom of the Dead before His own Resurrection. 
 True it is, also, that what these three obtained was not an 
 awaking to the life glorified and immortal, but restoration 
 for a time to their earthly bodies before those bodies 
 had perished. They had not yet received the spiritual 
 or resurrection body. Nevertheless, it is an instalment, 
 an infeftment, a taking possession of the house of the 
 dead, such as implies His right and power and intention 
 of rifling it when His time comes. It gives us bold- 
 ness to say, " He hath abolished death." For He calls 
 it now by a new and a softer name. The dead in Christ 
 are asleep, not dead ; for they who are to rise again in 
 glory are meanwhile but in a kind of slumber. Thus 
 He recalled these three from Death's grasp : one newly 
 departed — one as he was being carried out to burial 
 — one four days entombed, and over whose remains 
 Death's corruption may possibly have begun to creep ; 
 and they all instantly heard the voice of the Son of 
 God and hved. It is enough ! See behind them the 
 whole company of the redeemed who shall rise up 
 in that day and stand upon their feet an exceeding 
 great army ! Four days, or forty years, or four 
 thousand years, — what matters the lapse of time. It 
 is but a sleep, when so certainly they shall be called in 
 the morning. ''Them that are fallen asleep in Jesus 
 will God bring with Him." 
 
 22 
 
I. 
 
 THE DAUGHTER OF JAIRUS. 
 Matt. ix. i8, 19, 23-6 ; Mark v. 22-4, 35-43 ; Luke viii.41-2, 49-56. 
 
 AMONG Other reasons why this beautiful story 
 should take precedence in this group is the fact 
 that it alone, of its kind, belongs to the ' Triple Tradi- 
 tion.' Matthew records it very briefly, Luke more at 
 length, Mark with most detail, whose account, therefore, 
 we shall mainly follow. With his usual graphic force 
 he lets us see the moment, so to speak, when the action 
 begins. Jesus and the twelve have just landed from 
 the Gadarene visit ; they are still on the margin of the 
 lake, when, lo ! a petitioner falls on his face before the 
 Lord. It is Jairus, one of the rulers in the synagogue 
 of Capernaum, where the Lord had so often taught. 
 Most likely he was one of the elders who had entreated 
 Jesus' help on a former occasion for the centurion and 
 his servant. Now it is his own case; his little daughter 
 is lying at the point of death.* He came with intense 
 earnestness, "/<?// at Jesus' feet, and besought Hint 
 grcathr With an almost incoherent eagerness he 
 cries, '' Come and lay Thy hands upon her, that she 
 
 * eaxo.T<j)S e'xet said by grammarians to be a late Greek expression. 
 It corresponds to the Latin in extremis. 
 
THE DAUGHTER OF JAIRUS. 339 
 
 may be healed; and she shall live^^ (ver. 23). Jairus 
 had doubtless seen much of Jesus. He had very good 
 reason to be convinced of His power, and accordingly 
 expresses unhesitating faith, so far as the words of 
 his prayer go. Yet we never read before this that 
 Jairus was a disciple. Never, till the hand of Death 
 seemed laid on the daughter, had the father yielded 
 full homage to Christ. For sorrow and death are 
 strong messengers, and men will listen to them who 
 have shut their ear to all other — 
 
 " Eyes that the pieacher could not school 
 By wayside graves are raised, 
 And men say, God be pitiful. 
 
 Who neer said, God be praised.''* 
 
 Ver. 24. Jesus at once went with him ; so did the 
 disciples ; so did all the people, forming a vast and 
 crowded procession. Through the streets of His 
 favourite town, they closed round Him, followed Him, 
 and " thronged Him." What a picture is this of the 
 Saviour in the fulness of grace and truth, in the 
 beauty of redeeming love — travelling, voyaging, every- 
 where, in the house, at the synagogue, by the wayside, 
 on the crow^ded street, His ear open to the cry of 
 human woe, and His hand ready to help. So full of 
 compassion is He, that it runs over, so to speak — as 
 was notably shown that day. He was hastening with 
 Jairus along the street, the crowd hanging with delight 
 on His every step and pressing after Him. Ah ! 
 there's a poor woman, wanting to be healed by Him, 
 and she has always missed Him hitherto. Tradition 
 says she belonged to another part of the country. 
 She had come to Capernaum as the likeliest place to 
 find Him. For days, perhaps for weeks, He had not 
 
 * Mrs. Browning. 
 
340 THE MIRACLES OF OUR LORD. 
 
 been there, or she had not been able to put herself in 
 His way. She was unclean, and could not go to the 
 synagogue. She never had courage to come forward 
 in any public assembly. Now is her first chance likely 
 to be lost. As fast as the eagerness of a distracted 
 parent can urge Him to go, He is on His way to see 
 the dying maiden. Surely no hope for this poor woman 
 to-day. Nay ! Jesus has always time to help and heal. 
 He can heal two or two thousand at once. ' Fear not, 
 hidden one ! Thou art not unknown nor unregarded ! 
 Time enough to come behind Him in the press and 
 touch His garment and be healed.' Time for more. 
 What mercy, and what majesty of mercy, in Jesus ! 
 He takes time. He talks to the woman, brings out 
 her faith, confirms her cure, finishes His work in her; 
 then calmly turns again to the case of Jairus and his 
 child, as if there had been no urgency at all.* As 
 neither there really was. The interruption on the 
 way, the healing of the woman, the conversation with 
 her, the completion of the cure, had occupied some 
 time. And the delay of these minutes served some- 
 what the same purpose in the glory of the event as 
 did the four days* delay in the case of Lazarus. 
 Meanwhile the maiden had died, and the intelligence 
 had just come from the ruler's house. 
 
 ^'v. 35-6. ^^ While He yet spake . . . only believed 
 There is a slight apparent difference in the Evangelists' 
 account of this part of the story. Matthew makes 
 Jairus say at the first, *' My daughter is even now dead : 
 but come lay Thy hand upon her, and she shall live."t 
 This, however, is only a condensed or abridged account. 
 When the father left his house to go for Jesus, the 
 child was just dying. Even when he found the Lord, 
 
 * See at p. 229, supra. f Matt. ix. 18. 
 
THE DAUGHTER OF JA IK US. 341 
 
 he had every reason to fear that the child would be 
 gone before He could arrive. Mark tells us more fully 
 what happened. The delay with the woman and the 
 conversation with her proved fatal, as the outsiders 
 thought. A message came from the ruler's house : 
 '' Thy daughter is dead : why trouMest tliou the Master 
 any further?" Jesus catches the words as they are 
 uttered. He overheard while it was being said, and 
 took the w^ord out of the messenger's mouth. He 
 spoke before Jairus had time to think a hopeless or 
 unbelieving thought. He checks fear ere it begins to 
 rise. " Be not afraid, only believe " — language which 
 all the more precludes the idea of a mere apparent 
 death. 
 
 At this point the Lord separates Himself from the 
 crowd. He takes only three out of the tw^elve Apostles 
 — for the first time making that selection of the same 
 three, repeated more than once afterwards. As they 
 approached the house the noise and tumult of Oriental 
 wailing became apparent. Neighbours assisted; in many 
 cases mourners were hired, and even musicians — the 
 " minstrels " mentioned by Matthew — to make lament 
 over the dead. As Jesus and His company entered 
 the house He said, ^' Why make ye this ado, and weep ? 
 the damsel is not dead, but slcepeth." This expression 
 did not mean that the death was unreal, that it was 
 only a swoon. He used the same expression afterward 
 of Lazarus ; and when misunderstood He put it plainly, 
 ' Lazarus is dead.' We have ample proof of the 
 reality of the death of the child in the present case. 
 The poor father's impression when he went away ; the 
 words of the messengers that met them ; the consider- 
 able time which must have elapsed — for the minstrels 
 and mourners already occupied the room ; above all. 
 
342 THE MIRACLES OF OUR LORD. 
 
 the scorn with which His words were received by 
 those who supposed them to be literal, — all this is 
 doubtless recorded to bring out in clearer light the 
 reality of the miracle. 
 
 Jesus knew well what He said when He uttered 
 these precious w^ords : ''The damsel is not dead, but 
 sleepeth." The hearers laughed, and, if they had only 
 known it, there was good reason why their mouth 
 should be filled with laughter and their tongue with 
 melod}'. There was One come among them to abolish 
 death — to break that ancient, world-wide reign, and 
 turn again the captivity of mortal men. Oh ! it was 
 trul}' an occasion for laughter, not of scorn, but of joy. 
 How calm and sure He is ! ' She is not dead, but 
 sleepeth. I am come to awake her out of sleep.' He that 
 quickens the dead is well entitled to use such language. 
 He " calleth those things which be not as though they 
 were." Human nature has oft sought to anticipate 
 this word. All languages and all nations have striven 
 to soften the sharpness of death by calling it a slumber. 
 Our burial-places we call ' cemeteries/ taking the word 
 from the old Pagan Greeks, who meant by it a sleeping 
 apartment. 'Tis not said of the blessed dead alone, 
 for wicked kings in the Old Testament are said to 
 ''sleep with their fathers." And of those that shall 
 rise to shame and everlasting contempt it is said, " they 
 sleep in the dust." * The blessed word here is that 
 other one — " not dead." He hath abolished death. 
 " O death ! I will be thy plagues. O grave ! I will be 
 thy destruction." That is what nature could never 
 reach, could never dream. Therefore is He now entitled 
 to take that other tender, precious word "sleepeth," 
 and use it as no longer a figurative but a real description 
 
 * Dan. xii. 2. 
 
THE DAUGHTER OF J AIR US. 343 
 
 of the state of His own departed ones — waiting His 
 resurrection voice ; as much within reach of it as 
 Lazarus in his tomb at Bethany ; as the young man at 
 the gate of Nain ; nay, as near to it as this little maid, 
 whom a touch of the hand and a gentle whisper sufficed 
 to restore to life. Dead as she appeared to human 
 sense, to Him she only slept. 
 
 ''Give place/" He said to the noisy mourners in 
 the house of Jairus, "Give place!" as He put them 
 all forth and shut in Himself and the three disciples, 
 with the parents only and the corpse of their little 
 maid. Note it well, believing mourners ! Say to your 
 natural regrets, to your worldly fears and griefs, to the 
 sorrow that worketh death, ''Give place!" See that they 
 hinder not Christ and His comforts to come in. Jesus 
 of Nazareth is at the door. He says to your dis- 
 quieting and vexing thoughts, " Give place ! " Here 
 is Christ the Consoler come to thee. He brings with 
 Him ''strong consolation," fetched from the Paradise 
 where thy departed rest in the Lord, from the future 
 glory to be revealed when thy ransomed ones shall 
 return to their own border. ' Our friend is not dead, 
 but sleepeth,' and so sleeps that he shall " do well 
 in the day when the Son of man returns in His power 
 to awaken His own out of sleep. 
 
 When He had put all the others out, the scene within 
 the house is simply and beautifully described (ver. 40). 
 ''He taketh the father and mother of the damsel^ and them 
 that ivere with Him " {ix.y only the three Apostles before 
 named), " and entereth in where the damsel was lying." 
 The house is now quiet and still. They are in the 
 presence of the dead — the parents believing, hoping 
 against hope — the three witnesses chosen, no doubt, 
 because of their preparedness of spirit. There, in an 
 
344 THE MIRACLES OF OUR LORD. 
 
 atmosphere of faith, of calm and reverent expectation, 
 not before a scornful company, nor even in presence of 
 curious onlookers, Jesus does this mighty work. He 
 takes the corpse by the hand. He says, " Talitha 
 cunii ! Maid, arise !^' St. Mark, only, gives the very 
 words in the old Syriac, — the Jewish vernacular of the 
 day ; the language known to the child, the language of 
 the house and common life, — gives them, as they were 
 no doubt remembered by Peter, who oft described the 
 scene in his preaching, and whose cycle of recollections 
 of the Gospel histor}^ formed the basis of the narrative 
 written by the pen of his companion Mark.* "Maid, 
 arise ! " The little one looked up, arose, walked, for 
 she was twelve years old. Luke at this point uses 
 the words, "And her spirit came again, and she arose 
 straightway.'' This leaves no shadow of doubt as to 
 how the incident was conceived of by the disciples. It 
 was no recovery from swoon or mere apparent death. 
 It was the case of a dead person come to life again. 
 ^^ And Jesus commanded to give her meaty How like 
 Him ! How calm and sure He was, when He entered 
 the house, of what He had come to do ! How full of 
 quiet power ! He took her by the hand and said, 
 * Arise ! ' How thoughtful and mindful of every 
 detail, as if He had been a kind, careful physician ! 
 ' Forget not to give her meat.' We may dare say He 
 waited till He saw it given to her, and she ate and was 
 refreshed. 
 
 Vv. 42-3. "And they were astonished with a great 
 astonishment. And He charged them straitly that no 
 man should know it.^^ The reasons why this work was 
 done in such privacy are tolerably plain. Why the 
 nois}^ mourners with their scorn and laughter are put 
 * See p. 265, supra. 
 
THE DAUGHTER OE J AIR US. 345 
 
 forth is evident. He casts not his pearls before swine. 
 Why the townspeople and neighbours are excluded we 
 may judge to be that they had seen enough of His 
 mighty works, and He would not lavish or blazon His 
 miracles before them. Not even the twelve were per- 
 mitted to see this work, only the favoured three who 
 afterwards saw the glories of Tabor and the sorrows of 
 Gethsemane. He did not admit even a single relative or 
 inmate of the house, except the parents, and He charged 
 them that no man should know it. It is all in keeping 
 with the abstinence our Lord practised in the exercise 
 of His miraculous power. There is no prodigality 
 about His miracles. Plentiful when the relief of human 
 misery and the entrance of spiritual light w^ere His 
 objects, they were never wrought merely to compel 
 belief or overawe mankind. All these reasons converge, 
 as has been already said, in the case of the supreme 
 wonder — calling one back from the dead. The cha- 
 racter, therefore, of the miracle, as of a kind to be 
 very solemnly wrought and very seldom repeated, 
 explains the precautions taken to secure its privacy, 
 though of this work also we are told that the fame of 
 it went abroad into all that land. 
 
 This story suggests many analogies of the way in 
 which the Saviour quickens the spiritually dead. 
 
 I. Those whom He calls early are called easily. 
 The Httle maid was dead, — but in death was beautiful 
 as sleep. Her dear remains were not yet dressed for 
 the tomb, — far less carried out for burial. So when 
 Jesus came to raise her, the ease, the quietness, with 
 which He did it — taking her by the hand, in a tender 
 word calling her again to life — irresistibly suggests the 
 easy recall of a spirit not far gone on its journey to the 
 world unseen. In the young man's case He laid his 
 
346 THE MIRACLES OF OUR LORD. 
 
 hand on the bier ; in Lazarus' case he cried with a loud 
 voice. Here all is so simple one cannot help drawing 
 out the spiritual analogue — viz., that the early called 
 are easily awakened. They are not bound in the 
 grave-clothes of evil habit. They are not corrupting 
 in the loathsomeness of open sins. They are not 
 hardened by long-standing worldliness and indifference. 
 So when the Lord calls them, it is quietly and gently. 
 He opens their hearts like Lydia's. The dew of their 
 youth, the early grace, comes gently down. Children 
 and young people are easily awakened. And this is 
 exactly what we should expect. Instead of thinking that 
 children and youth are less likely to be graciously im- 
 pressed, we ought to reckon them the likeliest of all within 
 the Christian circle. In the Christian family and Church 
 early religious impression should be, in point of fact is, 
 the commonest form of converting grace. But let us 
 learn from the words and acts of Jesus here how it 
 should be followed up. Young converts need instruc- 
 tion. They want building up in the faith. They lack 
 knowledge ; they cannot have experience. They know 
 not so much either of sin or of salvation as those converted 
 older and later. Therefore they must needs be spirit- 
 ually fed and sustained. They should have interesting 
 ministry, instructive books; be led on to search the 
 Scriptures, and thus learn wisdom. " He commanded 
 that something should be given her to eat." 
 
 2. Such early impression is truly Divine work. All 
 we say about its simplicity or likelihood is comparative. 
 The little maid was really dead. No power could raise 
 the dead but that of Jesus, for it was Divine. When 
 we speak of it as easy by comparison, we invite no 
 reference to man's ease or difficulty ; with man it is 
 impossible. So with every conversion ; it is a Divine 
 
THE DAUGHTER OF J AIR US. 347 
 
 act. This kind and form of early grace we are greatly 
 encouraged to expect. Nevertheless, it is the Divine 
 Saviour who takes each by the hand and lifts them up. 
 "Maid, arise!" What words of power are those of 
 Jesus! His "Come" gives the lame power to walk. 
 His '* Look " gives eyes to the blind. His '• Hearken " 
 opens deaf ears. His " Arise " causes the dead to stand 
 up on their feet and live. Let us hear the " voice of 
 the Son of God." Give what Thou commandest and 
 then command what thou wilt. Somebody said Luther's 
 words were half-battles ; but the words of Jesus are 
 whole creations. They are spirit and life. He makes 
 the very thing He bids. '' Awake ! arise ! and Christ 
 shall give thee light." And it is all done in quietness, 
 that spiritual resurrection. At least, it is not done 
 amid the laughter of the scornful. No ! nor before the 
 curious multitudes. " The kingdom cometh not with 
 observation ! " When prayerful, hopeful, believing 
 friends are pleading for 3^our soul; or, perhaps, — more 
 plainly to set forth the sovereign power of Jesus, — when 
 friends and spiritual advisers have said their last word, 
 and no light has come into your dead heart, — quietly^ 
 you know not how, nor whence, when you are alone 
 with God, it steals upon you like the dawn of day. 
 His coming has been as the morning, and like morning 
 songs His voice. 
 
II. 
 
 THE WIDOW'S SON. 
 Luke vii. 11-17. 
 
 THIS narrative is found in Luke only. The time 
 of its occurrence is apparently fixed by its 
 connection with the previous story of the centurion 
 and his servant. " The next day," or " shortly there- 
 after,"* came what we now read. Evidently it occurred 
 in the height of the Lord's first Galilean ministry or 
 Capernaum labours, and before the message of John 
 Baptist's disciples to Jesus, so that in the list of 
 wonders reported to John was included the raising 
 of the dead. The incident is briefly and simply told. 
 
 Ver. II. ^^ And it came to pass the day after, tJiat He 
 went into a city called Nainy The place is nowhere 
 else mentioned in Scripture. A village still bears the 
 name, with old rock-tombs adjoining it, and correspond- 
 ing in exact locality, about three miles south of Mount 
 Tabor, on the slope of a hill which the traveller climbs 
 on the way from Galilee to Jerusalem. Our Lord went 
 to it from Capernaum either on a preaching tour, — 
 for it was about a convenient day's journey from that 
 
 * According as we have h tt] or iv t<^ c^tjs — i.e., as the word 
 understood is Tj/nepa or xpoi'w. 
 
THE WIDOW'S SON. 349 
 
 place; or, what is still more likely, He took it as the 
 first stage of one of His pilgrimages to Jerusalem which 
 we know He made about this time. The fact that 
 '' much people went with Him and many of His 
 disciples" would suit either of these suppositions, but 
 more especially the latter. 
 
 Ver. 12." Now ivlun He came nigh to the gate of the city^ 
 behold^ there was a dead man carried out, the only son of 
 his mother^ and she was a widow : and much people of the 
 city zvas with her^ The people of the East always bury 
 their dead outside their towns. The time was probably 
 towards evening, for Jesus' journey was most likely 
 closing for the day; but in those countries they must bury 
 soon and whenever they can. The train of the Prophet 
 of Galilee and the funeral procession met at the gate ; so 
 that a natural and necessary pause was made by both 
 parties. Luke's description of fhe funeral prepares us 
 for what is to follow. It was that of a young man — a 
 man in the prime of life ; the support and pillar of his 
 home ; the only son of his mother, and that mother a 
 widow. The case is just such as arrests and solemnizes 
 us on our own streets, stirs the sympathy of neighbours, 
 or even excites the attention and interest of a com- 
 munity. So it was that day. The widow, according 
 to Eastern custom — a custom followed, too, in some 
 Western nations — was in the funeral train, and " much 
 people of the city was with her." 
 
 Ver. 13. '' And when the Lord saw her, He had compas- 
 sion on her, and said unto her. Weep tioty * The Lord ' as 
 a title for Jesus is comparatively rare in the Gospels, 
 occurs oftenest in this one, and is therefore perhaps 
 here used as another note of preparation for what is to 
 come. That He felt for the widow is what we are 
 prepared to expect. He had compassion on the blind, 
 
350 THE MIRACLES OF OUR LORD. 
 
 on the sick, on the palsied, on the lepers, on the 
 possessed, and how much more in this case of bitter 
 and sore bereavement ! How truly human is His com- 
 passion ! — "When the Lord saw her." His em.otions 
 were as genuine and simple as those of the purest child. 
 His attention was aroused by the crowd. He was 
 moved by the sympathizing looks of the people. His 
 quick eye singled out at once the bereaved mother. 
 His compassion fastened upon her, and He said unto 
 her, " Weep not ! " Here is something not quite usual. 
 A man at once compassionate and wise does not try 
 to check natural grief. He rather endeavours to find 
 some consideration that will abate and moderate it. 
 But here is no argument, no consolator}^ words ; only a 
 simple, weighty, authoritative summons: "Weep not!" 
 This arouses attention, stirs expectation of something 
 to come. The bearers of the bier or open coffin, 
 already checked by the concourse of people, came 
 almost to a standstill. The crowd gathered closer, 
 and Jesus drew nearer to the bier. 
 
 Ver. 14. He laid His hand upon it for a moment. 
 Struck by the majesty and boldness of the action, 
 the bearers stood entirely still. The idlers by the 
 gate rose up in wonder. The people of Nain began 
 to take a closer look of the Prophet. The people ot 
 Capernaum and other followers in His train with the 
 disciples drew near in breathless attention. They 
 were doubtless more prepared from all they had seen 
 to guess what might follow, but on that account more 
 wonderstruck than all the rest. ' What now ! ' said 
 they to themselves. ' We have seen Him bid the 
 fevered patient in a moment into calmness and health. 
 He has spoken the word, and the leper became clean, 
 the paralytic took up his bed and walked, the raving 
 
THE WIDOW'S SON, 351 
 
 demoniac became sane, — but this is Death ! We have 
 seen Him call men's lives across the line between sickness 
 and health, weakness and strength, madness and sanity; 
 but across this gulf — the great gulf between this world 
 and that other — will He ever dare or be able to call ? 
 Yes ! He speaks — speaks to the corpse. With a word 
 as simple, as natural, as authoritative as that with 
 which He arrested the weeping mother, He speaks to her 
 dead son : " Young man, I say unto thee, Arise ! " 
 
 " Arise !" Nothing but that — not another word. As 
 easily as we awaken a sleeper, Jesus raises the dead.* 
 
 Ver. 15. " And he that was dead sat up, and began to 
 speaky A dead man no more — breaking the silence of 
 death, bursting forth into speech, and such speech as 
 we can well imagine. Adoring praise of his Divine 
 Deliverer ; glad recognition of his surrounding and 
 astonished friends ; comforting assurances to his 
 startled mother, half afraid to believe amid her tears, 
 that he was really Hving. 
 
 And the deed that had begun in sympathy and 
 compassion for the bereaved mother ended in real and 
 substantial comfort. As Elijah to the widow of Zare- 
 phath, " See, thy son liveth ; " as Elisha to the lady of 
 Shunem (almost within view of Nain), " Take up thy 
 son," — so here Jesus restores this son to his parent. It 
 was, so far as we can judge, the first instance in which 
 our Lord had raised the dead. It would have been 
 
 * I^ reply to a groundless sarcasm of Keim, Godet says, ''The 
 resurrection is in no way attributed to the touching of the bier, but to 
 command of Jesus. The interruption of the connection between the 
 soul and the body in death, as in sleep, is only relative ; and as 
 man's voice suffices to re-establish this connection in any one who is 
 wrapt in slumber, so the word of the Lord has power to restore 
 this interrupted connection even in the ^^0.2^^:'' —Conivnentary on the 
 Gospel of St. Lttke, in loc. 
 
352 THE MIRACLES OF OUR LORD. 
 
 very natural in the young man, so marvellously restored, 
 thenceforward to have left his home and accompanied 
 Jesus in His journeys. It might have been very 
 helpful to our Lord's work to have carried with Him 
 where He went this living witness of His power to 
 quicken the dead. But we read that our Lord sent 
 him back to his own natural sphere of life, — " He 
 delivered him to his mother." 
 
 Ver. 1 6. ^^ And there came a fear on ally It was no 
 wonder. A dead man sat up and spoke; a corpse carried 
 out on his bier this moment, and the next a living son 
 restored to a joyous mother. And all this not done in a 
 corner, but at the gate of a city, in the open highway, 
 in the presence of a great crowd, in a manner the most 
 absolutely God-like — no preparation, no previous know- 
 ledge between the parties, no pomp of words, no labour of 
 prayers, but a single command, and "he that was dead sat 
 up, and began to speak." The first feeling of terror or 
 natural fear, which we all instinctively understand, at 
 the sight of one come to life from the dead, gave place 
 the second moment to the still deeper and holier feeling 
 of awe and reverence for Him who by a word had 
 called the dead to life. "And they glorified God, saying. 
 That a great prophet is risen up among us; and, That God 
 hath visited His peopled This was the crowning miracle 
 of the Capernaum labours or the period of our Lord's 
 first Galilean ministry. We have seen that already 
 the whole of that country was filled with His fame 
 as a Teacher and Healer, but this raised His fame to 
 another degree altogether. The news of it travelled to 
 the south as far as Judea. It rang in the streets of 
 the capital. It reached the Baptist in his lonely prison 
 at Machserus beyond Jordan. And he sent his mes- 
 sengers to settle for all his followers and for himself 
 
THE WIDOW'S SON. 353 
 
 the question whether Jesus had fully and finally ac- 
 cepted the promise of His infancy and of His baptism 
 — that He should be the Lord's Christ, the world's 
 Saviour. " Art Thou He that should come, or look we 
 for another ? " Meanwhile the people of Galilee, as 
 represented at Nain, were solving that question for 
 themselves. They said, " A great prophet is risen up 
 among ns." Only the greatest prophets had in former 
 ages raised the dead. Perhaps the Prophet also was 
 in their minds, for they added, " that God hath visited 
 His people!^ It was one of those rare moments in the 
 life of the Son of man when the confession of Pente- 
 cost seemed on the point of being forestalled. But it 
 could not be till He should suffer and be glorified. 
 
 The place of this miracle in St. Luke's Gospel, as that 
 of crown or climax to the mighty works of a whole 
 period, suggests the arguments to be derived from it. 
 '* No man can do these miracles except God be with 
 him," was an inference long since estabhshed. But 
 now there is more gained than merely to prove that 
 Jesus has 'God with Him' as other great prophets have 
 had. Works like this, taken along with His words and 
 teaching and claims, go far to prove that He is Himself 
 God. We notice as we read these miracles one after 
 another that it came to be not merely the thing done, 
 but the way He did it, which struck the spectators and 
 made them think of Him as more than man. The ease, 
 the majesty — the Godlikeness, in short — told on men's 
 minds as He raised a cripple or healed a withered 
 hand — much more when He cast out an evil spirit. 
 " What new doctrine is this ? for with authority com- 
 mandeth He the unclean spirits, and they obey Him." 
 " Who is this that forgiveth sins also ? There is none 
 that forgiveth sins, but God only." There were they 
 
 23 
 
354 THE MIRACLES OF OUR LORD. 
 
 on the brink of the truth, unwittingly and unwillingly. 
 Now at the point we have reached, it is not so much the 
 fact of His raising the dead as the manner of it which 
 suggests His Divinity. Sometimes a like miracle had 
 been done by Divinely commissioned prophets of old. 
 Yet the difference is very striking. Here all is done in 
 His own name, — not, as in the Old Testament instances, 
 in the name of Jehovah ; but with a simple, " I say unto 
 thee." In a manner, too, so direct and majestic. Notice 
 only the fewness of the words spoken. There are just 
 six words in the original used by Jesus in the entire 
 transaction, — two ('' Weep not ") to comfort the mourn- 
 ing mother ; and four (''Youth ! I say. Arise") to restore 
 the dead son. While the whole resurrection power is 
 condensed into the one word, Arise. The contrast 
 between this and any such miracle by prophet or 
 apostle is obvious, and the inference points to nothing 
 short of absolute Divinity. In the eloquent words of a 
 great French preacher, " Elijah raised the dead, it is 
 true ; but he was obliged to bend himself many times 
 over the body of the child he raised. He breathes ; 
 he stretches himself out ; he paces up and down. It is 
 easy to see that he is invoking a power beyond himself; 
 that he is demanding from the empire of the dead a 
 soul which is not subject to his voice, and that he is 
 not himself the master of Hfe and death. Jesus Christ 
 raises the dead as easily as He performs the commonest 
 actions of life. He speaks as Master to those who 
 sleep the sleep that knows no waking. You feel at 
 once that He is God of the dead, as of the living, — 
 never more calm than when He is doing the grandest 
 of His works."* 
 
 * Massillon (quoted by Trench). 
 
III. 
 
 LAZARUS OF BETHANY. 
 John xi. 35-53. 
 
 THE silence of the first three Gospels as to the 
 raising of Lazarus is explicable on either of two 
 lines of suggestion ; and the explanation is strengthened 
 by their coincidence, which is also possible. The 
 Synoptics relate the Galilean words or works, and for the 
 most part omit the Judean. The fourth Gospel pursues 
 the converse method. Within the particular class of 
 miracles before us — The Raisings from the Dead — this 
 is the exact state of the case. The first three omit this 
 last and greatest Resurrection miracle. But the fourth 
 Gospel omits the two which the Synoptists give. That 
 St. John must have known of the two former is un- 
 doubted. That the other Evangelists knew of the 
 Lazarus miracle is by analogy to be assumed. But as 
 St. John did not feel impelled to relate the former to 
 lead up to this one, neither did the Synoptists feel the 
 need for giving this last as the crown of theirs. The 
 other line of explanation suggests that there may have 
 been need for their withholding it. There is an obvious 
 reticence in all their references to the family at Bethany. 
 There is room, therefore, for the conjecture that in the 
 oral and other sources on which their narratives are 
 
356 THE MIRACLES OF OUR LORD. 
 
 based, it was usual to veil the allusions to a family 
 still living, one member of which, at least, would have 
 been otherwise brought into dangerous prominence. 
 All need for such reticence had passed away when the 
 fourth Gospel came to be written.* 
 
 The steps which in St. John's account lead up, through 
 the charming narrative, to the miracle itself, are these : 
 When the news reached Him of His friend's sickness, 
 Jesus sent back to the distressed sisters a message 
 which was an implicit prediction of the miracle (ver. 4), 
 "This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of 
 God." Then in conversation with the disciples about 
 His return to Judea, He lets fall the expression (ver. 
 1 1), '^Our friend Lazarus sleepeth ; but I go, that I may 
 awake him out of sleep." No doubt this opens up the 
 Christian mode of speech about death. It was fitting 
 that He who saw the other side should thus speak of 
 the death He was about to destroy. The hint of a 
 special intention in this particular case, however, is plain 
 enough. Then comes the conversation with Martha 
 (ver. 23), " Thy brother shall rise again." Martha 
 shrinks from following out her own timid hint (ver. 22), 
 " Whatsoever Thou wilt ask, even now, God will give it 
 Thee." She takes His reply to speak only of the far-off 
 general Resurrection, which she treats as cold comfort 
 to her present consuming grief. But as His wont ever 
 is. He puts a Living Person instead of an abstract 
 dogma (ver. 25), ''I am the Resurrection and the 
 Life." 'Not to believe in the God whom I reveal, and 
 in the Redemption which 1 bring, is the only death. 
 The other is but a name, and shall vanish.' " Believest 
 
 * Compare the way in which John alone gives Peter's name as he 
 who used his sword in the garden, though all the Synoptists record 
 the fact. 
 
LAZARUS OF BETHANY. 357 
 
 thou this ? " Martha's answer is full of simple honesty. 
 It was the best thing she could have said. It means, 
 * I do not understand all these words of Thine, or dare 
 not think I do, but I trust Thee,' " I believe that Thou 
 art the Christ the Son of God " (ver. 27). We are 
 familiar through the study of these records with the 
 method of Jesus. Whenever He is to do any of His 
 wondrous works He first kindles the spark of faith in 
 the hearts of those concerned, and fans it by His skilful 
 questions into a clear flame, that by the light of it His 
 miracle may be justly seen. So here, He reasons with 
 Martha, draws out her faith from a vague, blind trust to 
 a distinct and conscious confession of His Christhood. 
 Not yet does she expect the event, not yet is all her 
 unbelief slain. It has to receive another blow from 
 Jesus' hand presently. But faith and expectation are 
 now firmly riveted on Him. 
 
 Then we come to the story of His own emotions 
 after the meeting with both sisters has been described, 
 and they set out, all three, to the scene of the great 
 Wonder which is to follow. 
 
 V^^- 3 5 "7- ^* Jesus wept. Then said the Jews, Behold 
 how He loved him ! And some of them said, Could not this 
 man, which opened the eyes of the blind, have caused that 
 even this man should not have died?^^ It is as Jesus 
 moves along towards the grave of Lazarus that His 
 tears flow, and the sight suggests to the beholders two 
 opposite remarks made most likely by oppositely- 
 minded parties. Then said the Jews, " Behold how He 
 loved him ! " A valuable testimony to the naturalness 
 and the genuineness of His human emotions. ^^And 
 some of them said," — a phrase used to indicate the less 
 favourably minded. If He opened the eyes of the 
 blind, could He not have prevented the death of this, 
 
358 THE AIIRACLES OF OUR LORD. 
 
 His friend ? The miracle done on the man sent to the 
 Pool of Siloam was one that had agitated Jerusalem on 
 one of His former visits, and it is now remembered. 
 No mention is made by these inhabitants of the capital 
 of the two raisings from the dead which took place 
 in Galilee. These were probably discredited, even if 
 heard of, in Jerusalem. And they now half-insinuate 
 that even the Siloam miracle could not have proved 
 real power, since so little power is shewn by Jesus 
 here in a case where He is believed to have had so 
 much heart and wish to do a good turn. These natural 
 human tears are accepted as evidence that He had no 
 power to do more than weep. He is so human ; He 
 cannot be Divine, — instead of seeing the glorious truth 
 to be that He is so evidently and supremely both in one, 
 Ver. 38. ^^ Jesus therefore groaning again in Himself^ 
 Cometh to the graved The groan was wrung from Him 
 doubtless partly by these words of unbelief just uttered. 
 But there are several sources of the emotion here ex- 
 pressed, some of them tenderly human, others sublimely 
 superhuman. The sorrow of the sisters drew out His 
 sympathy, the murmurs of the Jews chafed upon His 
 spirit, but deeper still was the perception by His clear- 
 seeing eye of that which was the cause of all — the 
 indignation felt by the Lord of Life at that which sin had 
 wrought. With this repeated expression of His profound 
 emotion. He went forward to the grave. " It was a cave, 
 and a stone lay upon it^^ (or, ^^ against //"). This, like 
 many other touches in the narrative, indicates the social 
 position of the Bethany family. It was not a common 
 burial-place among many, but like what we call a 
 family vault. These were caverns, partly natural, partly 
 artificial in some rocky hill, probably in imitation of the 
 
 * "Being moved with indignation in Himself," R.V., margin. 
 
LAZARUS OF BETHANY. 359 
 
 ancestral cave of Machpelah, to which the Jew looked 
 back with such reverence. These vaults usually had 
 a stone at the entrance, either like a cover or trough- 
 stone, when the cave was vertical, or like a door when 
 it was horizontal, to keep out beasts of prey ; often used 
 also as a memento of the dead. Jesus bids roll it 
 away, when a significant incident occurs. Martha inter- 
 poses. It is she, so attentive to all proprieties, so 
 observant and so active, that even grief cannot absorb 
 her incessant care. It is she who now cries out that 
 it would be impossible to approach the remains, con- 
 sidering the time they had been in the tomb. She 
 thinks Jesus wants to see the body, and she — *' the sister 
 of him that was dead^' (ver. 39) — shrinks from the 
 exposure of the corpse. Or, perhaps, she surmises 
 that after all Jesus means to do something ; but a feel- 
 ing of the glaring impossibility of the thing gets the 
 better of her, and she cries out, as if protesting against 
 any attempt on the part of Jesus to grapple with Death's 
 power.* It is just her former cry, '' Lord, if Thou hadst 
 been here " something might have been done then, but, 
 alas ! nothing can be done now. It is all over ; he has 
 been dead four days. 
 
 That this was her meaning our Lord's answer 
 shows. He reminds her of His former implied promise 
 (ver. 40), '' Said I not unto thee, that, if thou wouldest 
 believe, thou shouldest see the glory of God ? " He had 
 prepared these friends and followers of His to expect 
 the event. Were not these the steps by which He had 
 led them on ? ' This is no death.' ' It shall be for 
 
 * " It was the common Jewish idea that corruption commenced on 
 the fourth day, that the drop of gall, which had fallen from the 
 sword of the Angel and caused death, was then working its effect^ 
 and that as the face changed, the soul took its final leave from the 
 resting-place of the body." — Edersheim, 'Jesus the Messiah,'' i., 324. 
 
360 THE MIRACLES OF OUR LORD. 
 
 the glory of God.' ' Thy brother shall rise again.' 
 * I am the Resurrection,' — steps dark enough to nature, 
 impossible to unbelief, but plain to faith. Let us 
 mark the secret of Faith's progress. Each step is taken 
 in absolute dependence on the Lord. Unbehef says, 
 ' Seeing first, then believing' Faith, or rather Faith's 
 Lord, says, ^ Believing first, and then seeing.' What 
 an end of triumph He prepares for this ^' more excellent 
 way " ! Faith — 
 
 " Laughs at impossibilities, 
 
 And says, It shall be done ! " 
 
 " Take ye away the stone,'' Jesus had said (ver. 41, a), 
 '^Tlien they took away the stone from the place where the 
 dead was laid." He employed natural means to remove 
 natural obstructions, that His Divine power might come 
 face to face with the supernatural element. He puts 
 forth supernatural power to do just that which no less 
 power could accomplish ; but all the rest — removing 
 the stone beforehand, loosening the grave-clothes after- 
 wards — He bids men do in the ordinary way. No 
 doubt the power which could call Lazarus from the 
 sleep of death included power to rend the rocks, roll 
 away the stone, strip off the grave-bands without human 
 aid. But mark the reticence of power — the Divine 
 modesty, if we may so say, of the miracle which tells 
 us that this setting aside for once of the stern law of 
 Death is the work of Him who is the Lord of law, and 
 respects it in all His worlds — the Author not of con- 
 fusion, but of peace. To have done these other things 
 without means would not have rendered the true marvel 
 greater, it would only have added something of prodigy 
 to miracle, which Jesus never did. What is still more 
 to the purpose, it would have been out of keeping with 
 His working, who never wastes His power, who never 
 
'LAZARUS OF BETHANY. 361 
 
 confuses the natural and the supernatural, the human 
 and the Divine. In His all-wise hand the two systems 
 are one plan. The supernatural is never made to do 
 the work of the natural, but the natural is the basis and 
 preparation for the supernatural. 
 
 The principle is a most important one, and most 
 pointedly applicable to the kingdom of grace. You 
 say, if God means to save my friend, or my child. His 
 salvation will be of grace ; and grace is wholly super- 
 natural. The new heart is a Divine gift ; nothing but 
 an immediate act of Divine power will make him a new 
 creature ; just as nothing but the voice of Jesus could 
 call Lazarus from the tomb. True ! yet He bids you 
 ' take away the stone.' Remove ignorance, root up 
 bad habits, implant good ones, rescue your neglected 
 brother from degradation and misery. Give your 
 children Christian education, prepare their minds to 
 receive the truth in Jesus. Do these things, then may 
 you pray and look for the raising of tlie morally lifeless. 
 But if you do nothing ; if you neglect to teach, to train, 
 to strive and pray for them, wonder not if they sink 
 into utter ungodliness and spiritual death. 
 
 Ver. 41, ^. '^ And Jesus lifted up His eyes, and said, 
 Father, I thank Thee that Thou hast heard Me^ Now 
 the attention of the whole multitude is arrested. He 
 is on the eve of some great act. The disciples and the 
 sisters, already prepared by the various steps through 
 which He has led them, are transfixed in eager expecta- 
 tion. The company gathers round Him at the grave's 
 mouth with a solemn awe. He prays. He lifts up 
 His eyes to heaven. He addresses God by that name 
 in the use of which He had already so offended the 
 Jews. With holy familiarity and boldness, needing 
 no introductory adoration, and using no names of 
 
362 THE MIRACLES OF OUR LORD. 
 
 worship, but as a Son in His love and confidence, He 
 says simply, '' Father ! " And then follows — what ? 
 Not an impassioned suppHcation, not the wrestling 
 and struggling of a prophet with death, gaining a 
 hearing with God, and winning back a soul to life by 
 his agonies and cries. Not so ! Jesus* prayer is 
 already granted. Before He left Bethabara — perhaps 
 even before the message came about His friend's 
 sickness — He had made His request unto God, asking, 
 in the raising of Lazarus, a step needful to the unfold- 
 ing of His Messiahship. Here He openly gives thanks 
 that it is already heard ; shewing His perfect con- 
 fidence in His power with God that the answer should 
 come. His standing on a quite different footing from 
 that of any prophet or messenger of God, and His 
 foresight of the result. 
 
 Ver. 42. " / kneiv that Thou hearest Me always : but 
 because of the people that stand by I said it, that they 
 may believe that Thou hast sent Me." Both the event 
 and its accompaniments were fitted to produce this 
 impression. The miracle itself w^as overwhelming 
 as a proof of power with God. But the manner of it, 
 the thanksgiving here uttered beforehand, the address 
 to God, the name by which He calls Him, all would 
 convey the impression to the witnesses, not of a mere 
 prophet, Hke Elijah or Elisha, but of the Son of the 
 Father, and the sent of God. 
 
 Vv. 43, 44. "And when He thus had spoken, He 
 cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth" More 
 exactly what He cried was, '' Lazarus ! hither ! forth ! " 
 without a verb at all. The simple grandeur, brevity, 
 and force of this resurrection-call corresponds with the 
 mighty effect. The great voice or shout, from One 
 who was wont to speak so gently and quietly, thrilled 
 
LAZARUS OF BETHANY. 363 
 
 the heart of every listener. Stillness and fear, for 
 some moments, held possession of the whole company. 
 Every eye was riveted on the dark mouth of the 
 opened sepulchre. The echo of the loud cry had 
 hardly ceased when a figure stood sharply outlined 
 against the gloom, in its swathing of white linen, and 
 in a moment more sprang forward, struggling with the 
 grave-bands, and eager to throw himself at his Re- 
 deemer's feet. We can almost share the mingled pulse 
 of fear and joy that throbbed through that crowd as 
 he ^Uhat had been dead^'' came forth. The instinctive 
 shudder and recoil — ^just for an instant — from what 
 seems a walking corpse. Then, the forward wave, the 
 rush of joyous recognition, when they saw that it was 
 Lazarus alive. Next, eagerly clustering round, they 
 help him off with the grave clothes. They unbind 
 the napkin from his face. At the word of Jesus, and 
 almost as soon as it was spoken, '' they loose him, and 
 let hint go." The significance of this mighty deed we 
 cannot over-estimate, for it is, on the one hand, a pro- 
 foundly significant S3mibol of Christ's redemption, and, 
 on the other, a signal testimony to His right and power 
 to redeem. Whether we regard it as a symbol or a 
 witness, it is equally noteworthy. 
 
 I. This great transaction was an eminent emblem of 
 Christ's regenerating and soul-quickening work ; and 
 that both in the details and in the substance. The 
 details if followed out make an almost complete allegory 
 of spiritual resurrection. The sinner, like Lazarus, is 
 dead, buried, we may say already corrupt and loath- 
 some. Christ comes Himself to the sinner's tomb. He 
 bids, 'Take away the stone.' He calls His servants 
 to ply all preliminary means. He sends His agents to 
 warn and teach. But when all this is done there is no 
 
364 THE MIRACLES OF OUR LORD. 
 
 life till He calls. He cries with a loud voice. It is 
 the " effectual call " of His word and spirit. The man 
 hears, the dead lives, the soul is converted. Then, 
 once more, comes in the use of means. Remove 
 hindrances ; explain to the restored soul the way of 
 life more perfectly. Let him use all appointed helps 
 for enlargement and strengthening. Let the living 
 help their new-raised brother — '^ Loose ye him, and 
 let him go." Not to dwell on detail, let us note that 
 the hinge of comparison between the spiritual and the 
 literal resurrection is that the moving power of both is 
 the Divine in the human, God manifest in Jesus Christ, 
 (i) The Divine element in the transaction. The 
 mighty shout which raised Lazarus of Bethany was 
 not the prayer of a mortal. It was the command of 
 God. St. Paul lays it down as an axiom that it is 
 the part of God alone '^ to quicken the dead, and call 
 those things that be not, as though they were." * The 
 act of resurrection and the act of creation stand, he 
 sa3^s, upon the same rank. Both are supernatural ; 
 beyond human comprehension and human power. To 
 speak to the dead that they may hear, to call the thing 
 that is not as if it were, these are mysteries to human 
 thoughts, and marvels to human power. If such things 
 are to happen within the region of the actual and historic, 
 it must be because a Divine element enters that realm 
 — an act of God's free will. In creation He does a 
 new thing. He says of that which had no existence 
 before ' Let it be,' and it is. In resurrection He 
 speaks to the dead. The dead hears, and lives. And 
 now there is a third set of events which we must place 
 in the same rank. He calls the unregenerate soul, in 
 which there is no grace, no faith ; He says ^ Believe 
 
 * Rom. iv. 17. 
 
LAZARUS OF BETHANY. 365 
 
 and live,' and that soul springs up to spiritual being. 
 In these three acts, Creation, Resurrection, Regenera- 
 tion, or the spiritual birth, we have a miracle of the 
 same kind — a direct act of Divine power. The Divine 
 will is first cause, without the intervention, in the act 
 itself, of any second cause whatever. The loud voice 
 at the grave of Lazarus was an emblem of the Divine 
 element in every conversion — the mystery and marvel 
 which every conversion implies. That Jesus raised 
 Lazarus was plain. How He did it was hid from the 
 onlookers. So in regeneration — that the Divine Spirit 
 alone quickens will be evident, but the mode of opera- 
 tion remains mysterious and inexpressible.* 
 
 (2) This power which raises the dead is the power 
 of God, in the voice of Jesus. The Father hath given 
 all things into His hands, — the spiritual creation and 
 the natural alike ; the spiritual resurrection now, as, on 
 a future day, the literal and general. '' Verily, verily, I 
 say unto you. The hour is coming, and now is, when the 
 dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God : and they 
 that hear shall live. For as the Father hath life in 
 Himself ; so hath He given to the Son to have life 
 in Himself." t Jesus in the Church now is the Life of 
 it. His spirit works as a spirit of life. He calls — men 
 hear and live. The Son of God carries on His Father's 
 work of raising men from the dead. The spiritual 
 resurrection is going on. One rises and leaves his 
 lusts and base passions, and becomes a sober, true. God- 
 fearing man. Another leaves his poor legal strivings, 
 and becomes a humble debtor to the grace of God for 
 righteousness. Another rises from the tomb of doubt 
 — that ''creeping palsy of the mind, despair of truth" — 
 and sits clothed at the Redeemer's feet. Another flings 
 
 * John iii. 8. f John v. 25, 26. 
 
366 THE MIRACLES OF OUR LORD. 
 
 his dumb idols and gilded saints to rottenness, and 
 turns to Jesus. The voice by which all these are 
 awakened is the voice of the Son of God. To some 
 it comes as the gentle whisper spoken over the dead 
 maiden newly fallen on sleep, and not yet dressed for 
 burial ; to others, in the' more peremptory tones 
 addressed to the corpse on its bier at the gate of 
 Nain. To others, again, it comes in the loud voice 
 uttered at the door of the tomb where the dead had 
 lain four days. The Son of God in this hour that 
 now is, and through this gospel that we preach, is 
 causing the dead in sin to hear His voice and come 
 forth. Blessed are they who have part in this first 
 resurrection ! 
 
 2. This act is a supreme testimony to the Divinity 
 and glory of Jesus. The whole manner, accompani- 
 ment, and consequences of the miracle mark it as the 
 chiefest of His mighty deeds. It was done in the neigh- 
 bourhood of Jerusalem, in the broadest day, in the 
 greatest publicity. A large number of credible witnesses, 
 inteUigent, and no wise friendly to Jesus, saw and 
 heard the whole transaction. Jesus cried with a loud 
 voice. The dead man, on the instant, leapt out of the 
 open sepulchre bound in the grave-clothes, — for there 
 had been no preparation and no possible collusion. To 
 add to all, the subject of the miracle himself, whose 
 testimony was the strongest, was in evidence — lived 
 and continued to live for years afterwards. Hundreds 
 and thousands of people crowded out to Bethany to 
 see the man who had come back from the other world, 
 at Jesus' word ; while those that hated Jesus, instead 
 of attempting to disprove the facts, which they certainly 
 would have done had there been the slightest chance 
 of success, saw no way of arresting the overwhelming 
 
LAZARUS OF BETHANY. 367 
 
 tide of popular conviction but by putting both Jesus 
 and Lazarus to death. By this stupendous deed so 
 pubhcly wrought, so universally and undeniably wit- 
 nessed, Jesus' claim to be the Christ was brought to 
 a climax. Those who opposed His claims had no 
 longer any plausible excuse for doubt — it became 
 hostile denial. They simply resolved not to believe in 
 Him. They would not have Him to be their Messiah, 
 let His claims be never so clear. His followers were 
 confirmed beyond the possibihty of doubt. Their 
 numbers were swelled by remarkable accessions. Many 
 of the eye-witnesses became from that moment faith- 
 ful disciples. Many more of those who crowded to 
 Bethany from all parts to see Lazarus, '* went away, 
 and believed on Jesus." His triumphal entry at the 
 next Passover was formed of those who had been 
 with Him when He raised Lazarus, and the whole city 
 was moved, and went forth to meet Him, because of 
 the fame of this recent and mighty miracle.* Thus 
 His enemies had no alternative but to plan His be- 
 trayal and death. Whatever reasons the first three 
 Evangelists had for not recording this miracle (and 
 some of these we can easily imagine), it is clear what 
 reason led St. John to record it at such length. It is 
 the keystone of the whole narrative (as given in all the 
 Gospels) of our Lord's Last Days and Passion, for it 
 explains how His entire ministry was brought to a 
 crisis. 
 
 It serves exactly the same purpose in modern thought 
 as it served in the history of its own time. If we would 
 bring any writer or speaker on the character and claims 
 of Jesus to a test, let us see what he makes of the 
 raising of Lazarus. At that point he must either 
 
 * John xii. 9-18. 
 
368 THE MIRACLES OF OUR LORD. 
 
 worship Jesus of Nazareth or crucify Him.* The 
 reason is very plain. Admit the historical character of the 
 transaction — imposture is out of the question — and this 
 deed establishes the Gospel. There is no prodigality 
 of such works. Sufficient that He shewed the reality of 
 the other world, that He brought Hfe and immortality to 
 light, that He gave proof and pledge of the Resurrection 
 of the body, and that He asserted beyond the possibiHty 
 of denial His own power as the Son of God. This one 
 act unbelievers themselves have acknowledged to have 
 been enough. " If I could be persuaded," said Spinoza 
 (as Bayle reports him) "that Jesus did really raise 
 Lazarus, I would shatter my own system to pieces, and 
 embrace without hesitation the faith of a Christian." 
 
 The fact that Lazarus was four days buried, — the 
 whole details of the story, and its undoubting acceptance 
 as fact by Jews, hostile and friendly, have prevented 
 any reputable commentator from supposing that the 
 death was not real. Some, however, ask whether 
 Lazarus was really in the other world or only in an 
 unconscious state. If truly departed, where he was 
 during the four days ; what he could or did make 
 
 * Exactly here, it is, that Renan shatters his ideal Jesus, by 
 making Him complicit, however reluctantly, in a pious fraud of the 
 Bethany family. Strauss exerts all his skill to compile the elements 
 of a mythical history, such as he thinks was here invented by the 
 author of the fourth Gospel. Scarcel}'^ has he persuaded even himself, 
 as his restless return to the question in , later writings shews. Not 
 thus is fiction written ; especially not thus in the second century, as 
 Godet well says, — witness the apocryphal gospels. Renan, too, has 
 become ashamed of his earlier fiasco, and now falls in (see his 
 thirteenth edition) with the weak recent theory, that a parable has 
 been mistaken, in the evangelic tradition, for a history. So these 
 negative critics toil and vex themselves in vain, while this matchless 
 narrative, presenting a Jesus so tenderly human, so absolutely Divine, 
 stands untouched. Nothing but the actual historic appearance of 
 such a Being can account for the record. 
 
LAZARUS OF BETHANY. 369 
 
 known of the experience through which he had passed. 
 The questions are very idle. An old tradition tells us 
 that he was thirty years of age when he was raised, 
 and that he lived thirty years thereafter. Another 
 tradition weirdly tells us that the first question he asked 
 of Jesus was whether he should die again, and being 
 answered in the affirmative, was never seen afterwards 
 to smile. We should like to picture with one great 
 Christian poet of our time the wondrous moral elevation 
 of this restored life, — 
 
 " Heaven opened to a soul while yet on earth, 
 Earth forced on a soul's use while seeing heaven." * 
 
 We should like to ask, with the other, why " he told 
 not " of the life beyond, or if so, " what sealed the lips 
 of that Evangelist ? " f But no doubt these things are 
 hidden from us in a wise and holy silence. Disclosures 
 about them could not advance spiritual knowledge. 
 The most minute and undeniable evidence about them 
 does not of itself create saving faith. Thousands of Jews, 
 at the time, were aware of the facts, with all the evidence 
 for them which Spinoza himself could have craved, 
 and in a few days afterwards they crucified the Lord oi 
 Glory. 
 
 * Browning, '^ An Epistle of Karshish.'' 
 j Tennyson, " In Memoriam,'' xxxi., xxxii. 
 
IV. 
 
 THE P0ST-RESURREC210N MIRACLE. 
 
THE SECOND MTRACULOUS DRAUGHT OF FISHES. 
 John xxi. 1-14. 
 
 THIS is the only incident after His resurrection 
 which can be classed with our Lord's former 
 mighty deeds. Not that it was the only supernatural 
 incident of the Forty Days. The entire appearances 
 and events of the Post-resurrection life were super- 
 natural, and the Ascension crowned them. Nor were 
 even these the last of our Lord's miracles, if we take a 
 large enough view. Pentecost followed, with all the 
 spiritual wonders of the New Dispensation. The 
 miracles of the ministering Jesus were followed by the 
 miracles of the risen Saviour, and these by the spiritual 
 triumphs of the ascended Christ. The most recent of 
 His miracles is the latest conversion of a human soul 
 to His love, and the last of His miracles on earth will 
 be the last conquest of His grace in this stage of His 
 kingdom's history. But the incident before us fitly 
 closes the series of those symbolic acts of power by 
 which Jesus on earth sealed His ministry, — those signs 
 which He did in their presence for the confirmation and 
 instruction of His disciples. 
 
 As St. John alone records the "beginning of 
 miracles " in Cana, it is fitting his Gospel should close 
 with this idyllic scene of more than human beauty. 
 
374 THE MIRACLES OF OUR LORD. 
 
 The open-air picture, the morning freshness, the 
 naturalness of the incidents and characters, the simphcity 
 of the narrative, stamp it with an incomparable grace. 
 It was the third time that Jesus showed Himself to His 
 disciples, in a company or group, after He was risen 
 from the dead. This re-appearance took place, not, 
 like the two former ones, in Jerusalem, but by that 
 favoured lake where so many of His mighty works had 
 been done, whose shores and bordering hills were vocal 
 with the echoes of His voice, whose waves had borne 
 the impress of those " blessed feet, that bled for us 
 on the accursed tree." It happened " on this wise." 
 The apostles had not at once followed the instructions 
 of the Resurrection Angel by leaving Jerusalem for 
 Galilee, there to keep tryst with their risen Lord. 
 Through the obstinacy of Thomas a whole week at 
 least had elapsed. Jesus had meanwhile twice appeared 
 to them assembled together in the capital. Even now, 
 though on the appointed ground, they had not gone 
 straight to the mountain of rendezvous, but were 
 hngering by their own familiar haunts. They were 
 seven, most of them natives of the lake-shore : Peter, 
 seemingly restored to his lead ; Didymus, no more 
 faithless, but believing ; Nathanael, whose conversion is 
 related by John, and who is thought to be the Bar- 
 tholomew of the other Gospels ; " the two sons of 
 Zebedee " — a phrase by the use of which the writer 
 keeps his custom of never naming his brother nor 
 himself; and tv/o others, wholly nameless. '^ Simon 
 Peter saith unto them, I go a fishing. They say unto 
 him, We also go with theeT There is a sparkle in 
 this utterance as of men returning with glee to an old 
 and favourite pastime, or throwing themselves with 
 zest into something which will help to relax the strain of 
 
THE SECOND MIRACULOUS DRAUGHT OF FISHES. 375 
 
 excitement kept up for long by great events. There is 
 also in it, especially on Peter's part, a fling as of im- 
 patience; not certainly anything so faithless as would 
 have been *'a renunciation of their hope to see Christ 
 again before He went up on high," * yet the abruptness 
 of his word tells of an uneasy desire to bury thought in 
 instant action of some kind, to dull the keen edge of 
 suspense by making as if they might just as well plunge 
 back after all into common mundane life and toil. So 
 we see them once more on their native lake, at their 
 old employment, when to them, so employed, He comes. 
 Let us note then — 
 
 I. The manner of His coming. They had toiled all 
 night with no success. Morning Hght has come in, and 
 they are drawing near the shore. A Stranger addresses 
 them as soon as they are within hail. '' Children — lads 
 — have ye any meat ? " — any relish one could have to 
 eat with his bread ? This is some traveller, doubtless, 
 who wants his morning meal and would buy fish of them 
 if they had caught any. But, friendly as he speaks, they 
 have nothing to give him. " They answered Him, No.'' 
 " Cast the net" He said, '* on the right side of the ship, 
 and ye shall find.'' You think they will be slow to take 
 a stranger's advice, one not so hkely to know as they, 
 experienced fishers on that lake ; nevertheless " they cast 
 therefore." A kind of instinct led them. They knew not 
 the Speaker, yet they could not but do what He bade ; 
 and then the mystery was solved, for '* now they were not 
 able to draw it for the mtdtitude of fishes." The whole 
 truth flashed into the mind of John, and it was like 
 a sudden recollection. That very lake the scene, in 
 Simon Peter's boat, after a fruitless night of toil ^^ Le 
 
 * So Cox. in an ingenious reading of the scene with which one 
 cannot quite agree. Expositor's Note-Book, p. 361. 
 
376 THE MIRACLES OF OUR LORD. 
 
 down your nets for a draught!^ and then the instan- 
 taneous success. Though years had elapsed, (and such 
 years !) it came all back to John's mind. 'Yes ! The 
 same voice I heard is here, though the eye cannot see 
 Him, and cannot recognise Him.' John has no doubt of 
 it, and he breathes the discovery to Peter, ^^ It is the 
 Lovdy Peter needs no more to act straightway like 
 himself. '* When he heard that it was the Lord^^ he 
 tightened his fisher's coat about him, and dashed in 
 over the nets, not to be outrun by John this time. 
 "One would have liked to see him swim those hundred 
 yards, and stagger to his knees on the beach." * 
 
 How like themselves are both these disciples. John 
 is the first to perceive Jesus. The eagle-glance of faith 
 is quick to see the Divine. With instinct of the loving 
 heart, the bosom-friend is first to detect his Divine 
 Friend's presence. ' Ah !' says he to himself, ' it is our 
 Lord hath played us this loving trick, — it is His way.' 
 He imparts the calm, quiet recognition to his brother 
 apostle. How precious this faculty to note and point 
 out the Divine in life, though it may be others that act. 
 John is the Seer^ the lover, the teacher ; but Peter is 
 the doer. It is Peter that plunges into the waves and 
 gets first to Jesus' feet. So it always had been between 
 these two. John was the first to reach the sepulchre, 
 Peter the first to enter it ; John the first to believe that 
 Christ is risen, Peter the first to greet the risen Christ. 
 Thus ever have we these two classes — the men of faith, 
 the men of action ; the men of thoughtful wisdom, and 
 the men of loving zeal. The Church's eyes and the 
 Church's hands, — all helpful to one another and needful 
 for the body. John says to Peter, *' It is the Lord," which 
 Peter would not have perceived. Peter casts himself 
 
 * Ruskin. 
 
THE SECOND MIRACULOUS DRAUGHT OF FISHES. 377 
 
 into the sea, which John could not have done. '* The 
 eye cannot say to the hand, I have no need of thee ; 
 nor, again, the head to the feet, I have no need of you. 
 Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in 
 particular." * 
 
 Well ! the others get to the beach too in time, in 
 such slow way as men in general do get in this world 
 to its true shore, much impeded by that wonderful 
 dragging the net with fishes. They, too, are eager to 
 see this Stranger of whom now every heart holds a 
 recognition, though the eye cannot attest that it is He. 
 There a new wonder meets the view. A fire of coals 
 burning on the shore, and fish laid thereon, and bread. 
 When Jesus met them in the upper room first after 
 His rising, He partook of their meal — broiled fish and 
 a piece of an honeycomb. Now He provides for them, 
 has all ready for them as they return, cold and weary, 
 from their night's work. But He will not let them 
 stand and gaze in mere wonder. "Bring of the fish 
 which ye have now caught; " * make use of the fruit of 
 your labours; take care to secure the results.' They 
 hastened to the beach, — Peter, ever foremost in action, 
 at their head, — and *^ drew the net to land full of great 
 fishes, an hundred and fifty and three : and for all there 
 were so many, yet was not the net broken^ Their work 
 done, He calls them to partake the morning meal. 
 " Come and break your fast!' As they sit round the 
 fire, and share His provision and their own, and He 
 blesses, breaks, and parts it, as their Master so oft had 
 done by that very shore, and on those sunny slopes, 
 in humble Galilean homes, and in the city's upper 
 room, they could not any more refuse the assent of 
 their whole heart. 'This is Jesus once again!' 
 * I Cor. xii. 21-7. 
 
378 THE MIRACLES OF OUR LORD. 
 
 " None durst ask Him, Who art Thou ? knowing that 
 it was the LordT 
 
 But why wish to ask Him ? Where was the need ? 
 Plainly because the mere bodily sense cannot identify 
 Him. There is some glory, or some change towards 
 glory, which marks this and almost all the Post-resur- 
 rection appearances, so that the senses are puzzled. 
 His comings and goings, His interviews with them 
 all through the forty days, are not according to the 
 ordinary laws of body. Consequently it is upon the 
 evidence, not so much of the senses, as of the mind 
 and heart, that they know Him to be their risen 
 Saviour. His w^ords. His actions, and the love that 
 shines through all, tell them it is Jesus, and no one is 
 so faithless and blind as to say. Who art thou that 
 appearest thus in the guise of a stranger ? And this is 
 all significant. He is preparing them to live by faith 
 in a world where Jesus shall no more be with them in 
 the flesh. Therefore, even while still bodily present 
 with them. He will disguise that presence, so that they 
 shall perceive Him by faith and love, rather than by 
 sense. He is training them for the time when even 
 they that companied with Him from the beginning shall 
 no more know their Master after the flesh, and when 
 all disciples must walk by faith, not by sight. From 
 such an interview as this one here described, which 
 lies so deliciously pictured on a kind of borderland 
 between faith and sense, it is plainly but another step, 
 till believers see '' no man," not even Jesus, in the garb 
 of traveller or stranger, but hear His words, and feel 
 His grace, and know the power of His resurrection and 
 the fellowship of His sufferings, and feast with Him 
 as really as these did by the Galilean sea, though now 
 it is with One '' whom, having not seen, we love, and 
 
THE SECOND MIRACULOUS DRAUGHT OF FISHES. 379 
 
 in whom, though now we see Him not, yet beheving 
 we rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory." 
 
 2. The meaning of the miracle. It is easy to see 
 that the purpose is different from that, for example, 
 which appeared in the raising of Lazarus. After His 
 own resurrection there was no need of any mere act of 
 power to convince the disciples of His Godhead. That 
 would have been taking the less to prove the greater. 
 But there were two things they much needed. One 
 was to get proof upon proof that Jesus was really risen. 
 The other was, to learn how they should do His work 
 when Jesus was not only risen, but gone away into 
 heaven ; and the point of this story is that it supplies 
 both these things. 
 
 (1) It proved in a \'ery striking way that their own 
 Jesus it was who rose from the dead. Notice the par- 
 ticular proof afforded by this third appearance. Some- 
 times the appearing Saviour addressed their judgment, 
 as when He reasoned with them out of the Scriptures 
 that His rising again ought to have been expected by 
 them. Sometimes He addressed their senses, as when 
 He showed them His hands and His feet ; when He 
 ate before them, and said, You may be sure it is a true 
 bodily resurrection, " for a spirit hath not flesh and 
 bones as ye see Me have." But here He addressed 
 their memory and their faith : You may be sure I am 
 your own Lord, when I do again exactly as I did before, 
 on this very lake, the works none other man could do. 
 To repeat the miracle of the Draught of Fishes was to 
 prove His identity in the most convincing way. 
 
 Some great tone-poet comes to you, and performs one 
 of his masterpieces, and goes his way. The compo- 
 sition, let us suppose, has never been written out ; no 
 one could repeat it but the composer himself. Vainly 
 
38o THE MIRACLES OF OUR LORD. 
 
 would any pretender appear and say, ' I am he,' for 
 he could not produce the proof youi would be sure to 
 seek. You wait years, perhaps. A stranger comes. 
 He says, I am your former friend ; do you not re- 
 cognise me ? Time and travel have changed his 
 countenance, the senses refuse to identify him in the 
 usual way. ^ I will prove it,' he says, seats himself 
 at the instrument, calls out the marvellous and well- 
 remembered strains. No other could so thrill you but 
 himself. Yes, you say, it is beyond a doubt. I know 
 him by his work. So, if the comparison may be par- 
 doned, was it here. Even when the senses were 
 baffled, the hearts of the disciples said, ' Yes ! it is the 
 same Christ. The same Jesus v/ho lived and died is 
 now risen again, for He does the same things, in 
 giving us again great store of fish.' This is the highest 
 kind of proof for the identity of the risen One. Is He 
 identical in bod}' because of the print of the nails and 
 the gash of the spear ? Is He identical in being be- 
 cause Mary calls Him Rabboni, and all the eleven say 
 it is the Lord, and Thomas adds, ' My Lord and my 
 God' ? Then is not this third — the proof of identity 
 in power and glory — the crowning proof of all ? This 
 must be Jesus ; no phantom in His likeness, no de- 
 lusive appearance, but the same Christ of God, at whose 
 command are all the treasures of Nature and Providence, 
 and under whose feet are also the fish of the sea, for 
 He is head over all things, to His body the Church. 
 
 (2) It was not only a seal of their Lord's resurrec- 
 tion, it was also a symbol of their future work. The 
 first miraculous draught of fishes had been a parable as 
 much as a miracle. Jesus said to them in the first 
 moment of their astonishment then, '' Fear not ; ye 
 shall catch men," and from that hour Peter, Andrew, 
 
THE SECOND MIRACULOUS DRAUGHT OF FISHES. 381 
 
 James, and John left all and followed Him. Would 
 not these men feel in their deepest hearts the meaning 
 of this repeated sign from their risen Lord ? Was He 
 not saying, Now I send you out, in a wider sense than 
 ever, to be fishers of men ? In these closing inter- 
 views He was preparing them for their great work of 
 carrying His Gospel into all the earth. They were 
 about to embark on the sea of the world, in His 
 vessel, the Church. He was Himself no more to be 
 with them in bodily presence. Henceforth He would 
 stand upon the heavenly shore. Many a night, dark 
 and dreary, they would have to toil profitless ; but as 
 oft as He should command, the net would be filled. At 
 last, they would draw it to land, the success of His 
 kingdom would be complete and glorious beyond all 
 expression. His faithful servants would share His 
 triumphs, and inherit the fruit of their labours, enter 
 into their rest followed by their works, and on the 
 resurrection morning they would sit down to meat 
 with Him in His everlasting kingdom. 
 
 One is tempted to dwell on this attractive allegory a 
 little longer, there are so many things suggested by 
 the details of the charming story, (rt) Here are seven 
 fishermen, well equipped, well acquainted wath the 
 waters they fish in, toiling all night, and nothing caught. 
 Yet, at the Master's word, casting on the right side, 
 the net is filled. The servants of the kingdom may be 
 well furnished, well placed, well acquainted with their 
 work outwardly, yet not thereby is their real success 
 secured. It is the Lord's presence and the Lord's 
 command that makes it sure. It is for His servants 
 to watch well for all such directions, and to follow them 
 promptly and fully. The thing which made the differ- 
 ence here is most suggestive. An activity based upon 
 
382 THE MIRACLES OF OUR LORD. 
 
 mere human impulse and sympathy, — '' I go a fishing. 
 We also go with thee" — was fruitless. That which drew 
 its inspiration from the word of Christ had immediate 
 success, (b) A conversation about non-success opens 
 the way for better things ; so the Lord oft begins the 
 blessing with His Church and servants when He makes 
 them feel and be concerned about the want of blessing. 
 He, first, unknown to us, operates upon us by a sense 
 of need, a discovery of poverty, and then presents us 
 with an opportunity of repairing that need, (c) The 
 blessing and the success come by casting the old net 
 in a new way, in a new direction. It is the unchanging 
 Gospel that we are to preach, it is the once-delivered 
 and imperishable salvation ; but in each age and time 
 it needs new castings, fresh forms, it must be put on the 
 right side of the ship, and it is the ever living Spirit that 
 will keep us right with His progressive indications. 
 
 The meal on the shore, too, is suggestive of many 
 things besides the final feast of heaven. It is, indeed, 
 more strictly suggestive of '^ times of refreshing " upon 
 earth, for it is early in the day, fitting for more labour. 
 Where Jesus got the fish and bread and fire of coals, 
 we are not told, but there it was ready ; and how like 
 the gracious surprises He prepares for His faithful ser- 
 vants. Surprising success followed by surprising 
 satisfaction and soul comfort. Unusual labours and 
 unusual fruitfulness followed by unusual communion 
 with Himself, — festive moments, when Christ holds a 
 feast with His people upon the heights of a new world. 
 Times of reformation, revival, gospel success and 
 spiritual gladness, followed, maybe, by other days of 
 toil and nights of watching. Then note how His extra- 
 ordinary provision beforehand did not exclude their 
 contribution to the meal. *' Bring of the fish which ye 
 
THE SECOND MIRACULOUS DRAUGHT OF FISHES. 383 
 
 have now caught." The joy. of the Spirit and the 
 success of the Church go hand in hand, and re-act upon 
 each other. He can give meat to eat that the world 
 knows not of, but He would have us not only feast 
 with Him ; He proposes to feast with us, to see of the 
 travail of His soul, and take pleasure in the work of 
 which He honours us to be the instruments. The 
 scene was, in short, a prophetic picture of ordinary 
 Christian life and work, as it was to be after He left 
 the earth : of its contrasts and changes, its usual hard 
 work and its occasional joy, its humility and loftiness, 
 poverty and abundance, activity and rest, the times of 
 yearning for Him, and the other times of rejoicing in 
 His presence. 
 
 Some would carry the prophetic teaching of this pas- 
 sage still farther. So far we may safely go in regarding 
 it as a noble prophecy of the Church's future. It is 
 possible to go into a comparison of the first miraculous 
 draught of fishes with this its dupHcate. There are 
 some shades of difference undoubtedly suggestive, making 
 the first a fit picture of the Church now as she struggles 
 with the evils of earth ; the latter of the Church per- 
 fected in the glory of the last days. In the former 
 miracle, the cast was indifferent : the nets broke, the 
 boats were sinking, the quantity of the catch was 
 indefinite, and the quality not characterised. In this, 
 the duplicate miracle, the cast is made on the '' right 
 side," the net was not broken for all there were so 
 many, the fish were all landed, they are exactly num- 
 bered, and they were all great fishes. In the former 
 instance the Master was still on board among the 
 fishers. Here He was waiting on the shore. It would 
 not be profitable to carry out the explanation into all 
 these details. "Yet it seems impossible not to acknow- 
 
384 THE MIRACLES OF OUR LORD. 
 
 ledge a spiritual meaning in these variations which 
 consistently converge to distinct ends." * One can see 
 how, in general, the former represents a state of im- 
 perfection, of partial failure, of mixed good and ill ; the 
 latter a state of absolutely perfect and secured good — 
 a work accomplished and complete. In short, this was 
 an acted prophecy. No doubt as such the memory 
 of it cheered the hearts of the apostles after Jesus 
 departed from earth, as it has upheld His servants ever 
 since. We are in the ship ; He is on the land. He 
 sees all our work and oversees it. Dark though it be by 
 night, little though we seem at times to succeed. He 
 guides the casting of the net. He will secure the result 
 of glory and success. In the morning all shall be safely 
 brought to land. His number shall be complete. He 
 will lose nothing. What a surprise of joy to His toil- 
 worn servants when they gather round their Lord on 
 the eternal shore ! Oft had they said on earth, ^ Who 
 hath believed our report ? We have caught nothing.* 
 But lo ! His house is filled. His table furnished, His 
 guests are all there ! What a morning of joy after 
 nights of weeping ! What a harvest-home after the 
 sowing-time of tears ! 
 
 ■^ Westcott, Commentary on St. Joint's Gospel, in lac., who gives 
 most of these points of analogy from a well-known passage of Augus- 
 tine. For many ingenious patristic interpretations of the number of 
 fishes — 153 — see Westcott's " Additional Notes "' on chap. xxi. 
 
 ^ 
 
 y J. . Printed by Hazell, Watson, & Viney, Ld., Loudon and Aylesbury. 
 
Date Due 
 
BS2419.L185 
 
 Miracles of our Lord : expository and 
 
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