unto his disciples: Verily I say unto you, that a rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven. And again I say unto you, it is 24 easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God. When his disciples heard it, 25 they were exceedingly amazed, saying: Who then can be saved? But 26 Jesus beheld them, and said unto them: With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible.Then answered Peter, and 27 put to the proof, and found wanting in that spirit of self-sacrifice and renunciation required by Christianity. He might have an amiable and upright character, but the fountains of the great spiritual deep had not been opened in his soul. He did not yet see that the grand, towering, heavenly good of life consisted in supreme love to God and man, however fortunes might come or go. His great possessions were the grave of his spirit. He retires sorrowful, as we may suppose, with hanging head, and sad countenance, and slow and heavy steps, and heavier heart. No high promptings of the better nature can be resisted without sorrow. It is goodness, not selfishness, that is light-hearted and serenely happy. The so called gay life of folly and sin is the saddest of all lives, for the inner heart is cold and leaden. 23. Jesus converts the occasion into a lesson of warning against the moral dangers of riches.-A rich man. Explained in Mark by "them that trust in riches."-Shall hardly enter. Shall with difficulty enter. The rich are tempted to trust in their riches as the supreme good. They were therefore disinclined, more than the poor, from entering into the service of Christ on earth, and thence into the spiritual life of heaven. We read of only two rich men who became disciples of Jesus, and that, too, secretly; and the declaration of Jesus stands confirmed by the accumulated experi ence of centuries. Religion has scarcely any mightier foe to contend with than wealth and its naturat concomitants. Mat. xiii. 22. 1 Tim. vi. 9, 10. 24. Jesus here speaks yet more emphatically, and uses a proverb that signifies the greatest difficulty and improbability.-Easier for a camel, &c. A similar expression is found twice in the Talinud, with the substitution of the term elephant in the place of camel. An absolute impossibility is not, of course, meant, for some rich men became disciples of our Lord. The moral dangers of riches are, that they will engross time and the affections to the exclusion of nobler things, and lead to fraud, oppression, and covetousness in their acquisition, and in their possession and use engender pride, luxury, and dissipation, or congeal the whole man with a contracted, icy avarice. 25. Exceedingly amazed. Because they looked for a temporal kingdom, in which wealth would be an important element. 26. Jesus beheld them. A description of the mingled astonishment and earnestness of his manner as he look. ed on them.-Who then, i. e. what rich inan.-With God all things are possible. Surprised as you are at the strength of my assertion, impossible as it may seem to human apprehension, and as it concerns human power, yet by divine aid, by the motives of the Gospel, even the rich, with all their temptations to world said unto him: Behold, we have forsaken all, and followed thee; what 28 shall we have therefore? And Jesus said unto them: Verily I say unto you, that ye which have followed me in the regeneration, when the Son of Man shall sit in the throne of his glory, ye also shall sit upon 29 twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. And every one that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my name's sake, shall receive an hun liness, may be quickened in the spiritual life. 27. We have forsaken all, &c. Peter's question refers to verse 21. Jesus had directed the young man to go and sell all, to relieve the poor; and the inquiry naturally arises, What reward shall we have, who have left our houses, families, and callings, to follow you? It was an inquisitive, not a boastful spirit in the disciple. Their all was indeed but little, but it was their all to them, as much as if it had been the wealth of Croesus, or the crown of Alexander. 28. In the regeneration. The best critics place the comma before instead of after these words, for they relate not to the past, but to the future; not to their following Christ, but to their reigning with him in glory. Regeneration here refers not to the change in individual character, so much as to the moral reformation of the world at large, its new creation by Christianity.-Sit in the throne of his glory, &c. Said Jesus, This shall be your reward: you shall rank next to me in the kingdom of righteousness and truth which I am to establish on earth, and in the future world you shall inherit everlasting life and happi ness. But in expressing this idea, he enrobes it in a Jewish costume, and uses such material figures as were adapted to their ignorance and unspirituality, and as would array the splendid promise in the most brilliant, but really true colors, to their minds.-Twelve thrones. As that was the number of the Apostles.-Judging. Ruling, or exerci sing authority over, as the_word often signifies in Scripture.-Twelve tribes of Israel. After the Gospel dispensation, this appellation was given to the Christian world, as it had been before to the chosen people. James i. 1. This wonderful, but then so improbable prediction, has been gloriously fulfilled. The fame and doctrine of those obscure men have gone forth into all countries. That new religion, which is "the wonder, the beauty, and the glory of the earth," first spoke its divine accents abroad among the nations, through their "tongues of fire," and shone with the irradiations of their meekness and love. What influence of poet or philosopher can compare with the mighty impulses which they communicated to the hearts and lives of their own and all succeeding generations? What glory of monarch or warrior can be likened to the thrones of heavenly light in which those men have swayed the world, "who first fished for their living in the Sea of Galilee, and then were called to be Apostles of Christ"? They "shine as the brightness of the firmament, and as the stars forever and ever." 29. Jesus goes on to extend the promise of noble rewards, beyond the circle of the Twelve, to all who should strive and suffer in the Christian cause.-For my name's sake, i. e. as my disciple, or in behalf of my dred-fold, and shall inherit everlasting life.shall be last; and the last shall be first. CHAPTER XX. -But many that are first 30 The Parable of the Laborers, Request of James and John, and Cure of the blind Man. OR kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is an house Fholder, which went out early in the morning to hire laborers into religion. An hundred-fold. Mark adds, "with persecutions," intinating the conditions of suffering and death, on which they would secure these illustrious blessings. Rom. viii. 17, 18. 30. This verse has, by the illjudged division into chapters and verses, been separated from the following parable, to which it belongs; though it is found in Mark, where no parable succeeds it, and where we must suppose it connected with the preceding remarks, as we may conjecture it to be in some degree also in Matthew, for the conversation was continuous. It is a proverbial phrase, generally understood to apply to the reception of Christianity by the Gentiles, earlier than by the more favored Jews; but more likely, from its connection with foregoing remarks, designed to teach the disciples that the priority of time of their becoming followers of Christ would not entitle them to any higher rewards than later converts would receive, would not elevate them to loftier dignities, as they erroneously supposed, in the new kingdom. Character, not the time of conversion, would give them distinction one above another. CHAP. XX. 1. The parable of the laborers is connected with the last verse of the preceding chapter, as is indicated by the word for. The kingdom of heaven, or the dealings of God under the Christian dispensation, may be likened, said Jesus, to the treatment of his laborers by the owner of a vineyard. We have here a continuation of the conversation in the last chapter, and the parable can only be understood with reference to that. Peter had inquired respecting the rewards of discipleship. The Saviour replies, that the Apostles would attain the highest honors, next to himself, and that all other disciples would receive abundant rewards, both in this life, and in that which is to come. But, he adds, do not suppose that the earlier converts under the Gospel dispensation will on that account be any more meritorious, or better rewarded, than those who, being called later, manifest an equal fidelity and zeal. The virtue and acceptableness of the act consisted not in the time, but in the proniptitude and conscientiousness with which the call was obeyed, whenever it came. Yea, even the first, as to time and privileges, may become inferior to the last, and the last become first. This parable has been supposed generally to refer to the calling of the Gentiles, and the equality they would be put upon with the Jews; but the above interpretation covers that ground and much more, and is more consistent with the general strain of the conversation. It hardly need be stated, that it has not a particle of allusion to the individual age at which persons become Christians, nor furnishes one iota of encouragement for the efficacy of death-bed repentance. The successive hours corres 2 his vineyard. And when he had agreed with the laborers for a penny 3 a day, he sent them into his vineyard. And he went out about the 4 third hour, and saw others standing idle in the market-place; and said unto them: Go ye also into the vineyard; and whatsoever is right I 5 will give you. And they went their way. Again he went out about 6 the sixth and ninth hour, and did likewise. And about the eleventh hour he went out, and found others standing idle, aud saith unto them: 7 Why stand ye here all the day idle? They say unto him: Because no man hath hired us. He saith unto them : Go ye also into the vineyard; 8 and whatsoever is right, that shall ye receive. So when even was come, the lord of the vineyard saith unto his steward: Call the laborers, and give them their hire, beginning from the last, unto the first. 9 And when they came that were hired about the eleventh hour, they re10 ceived every man a penny. But when the first came, they supposed that they should have received more; and they likewise received every 11 man a penny. And when they had received it, they murmured against 12 the goodman of the house, saying: These last have wrought but one pond to different periods of the Christian dispensation, not to the seasons of human life.-An householder. A master of a family.Early in the morning, i. e. the first hour, at six o'clock.-Vineyard. The cultivation of the grape was an important part of Jewish agriculture. 2. A penny. The Roman denarius or penny is equal to the Grecian drachm; about fourteen cents. This was the usual pay of laborers and soldiers. Tobit v. 14. 3. Third hour, i. e. nine o'clock. -Idle in the market-place. Meaning unemployed. This was the usual place for persons to resort to in order to obtain hire, as well as to sell and buy goods. 4. Whatsoever is right. Or, reasonable. No specific agreement was made with those last hired. 5,6, Sixth-ninth-eleventh hour. At twelve, three, and five o'clock respectively. The different periods are here represented at which persons became the disciples of Jesus, according as they had oppor tunities of doing it.-Why stand ye here all the day idle? "The God of glory walks his round, From day to day. from year to year, And warns us each, with awful sound, No longer stand ye idle here!' Recall us to thy vineyard, Lord! And grant us grace to please thee there." 8. When even was come. Or, six o'clock.-Steward. The overseer of the domestic economy.-From the last, unto the first. This was done so that the first might not go away, but be present at the dialogue which followed. 9. The price may have been left unsettled with those who went last into the vineyard, that they might labor the more strenuously, by knowing that they would be paid according to the amount of work done, and not according to the time of labor. 11. The goodman of the house. The word is translated householder in verse 1. It is an old English term, now obsolete, to express the head of a family, without regard to moral quality. 12. Have wrought but one hour. hour, and thou hast made them equal unto us, which have borne the burden and heat of the day. But he answered one of them, and said: 13 Friend, I do thee no wrong; didst not thou agree with me for a penny? I will give unto this last even as 14 do what I will with mine own? Is 15 So the last shall be first; and the 16 Take that thine is, and go thy way. And Jesus, going up to Jerusalem, took the twelve disciples apart in 17 the way, and said unto them: Behold, we go up to Jerusalem; and the 18 Son of Man shall be betrayed unto the chief priests and unto the scribes; and they shall condemn him to death, and shall deliver him to the Gen- 19 As they were hired at the eleventh hour, or five o'clock, and left their work at even, or at six o'clock. Reference is made in this part of the parable, it would seem, to Peter's inquiry, in chap, xix. 27, made as if he and his associates expected a greater reward than others, who entered later into Jesus' service. 15. Thine eye evil. Or, envious. An evil eye is used as an emblem of envy. Art thou jealous and grudging, because I am good, or gracious and liberal, The master of the house performed his promise, and therefore wronged no one by his generosity to the last laborers. God will dispense his gifts according to his own pleasure and benignity, and deal justly with all, however some may murmur at their own, or envy the lot of others. He is no respecter of persons, and Gentiles, as well as Jews, will share in his impartial love. 16. So. According to the illustration now given. Not the first called, but the most zealous, would be the most approved. The period of becoming disciples would make no difference in the rewards. Many be called, but few chosen. A further proverbial expression, thought by some eminent critics to be an interpolation. An allusion is made, according to some, to the selection of soldiers for an army. Many shall be called to be disciples, but few shall be chosen, i. e. choice disciples. 17-19. Parallel to Mark x. 3234. Luke xviii. 31–34. 17. Going up to Jerusalem. This was his last journey towards the holy city. As many others were probably on their way to the festival of the passover, he withdraws his disciples apart to communicate something of the deepest interest. Mark says, that Jesus went before them, and that they followed him in amazement and fear, thinking perhaps that their safety and lives would be endangered at Jerusalem. The fearless bearing of their Master awed and astonished them. 18, 19. The Son of Man. See note on chap. xi. 19,—Shall be betrayed, &c. The minuteness of this prediction, and its exact fulfilment, is the clearest proof of the Saviour's prophetic and divine knowledge. This is the third time he spoke of the unwelcome subject.- Condemn him to death. The Jewish Sanhedrim could not pass a judicial sentence of death upon him, or carry it into execution, but they could judge him to deserve such a sentence. Mat. xxvi. 66, xxvii. 2.—To the Gentiles. They would even call in the aid of the Gentiles, whom they abominated, to help them in their bloody crime. All these particulars |