specimens of a healing power to be exercised on man's spiritual nature; and suggestive of its being so exercised. But the former were the first obscure hints, awakening the attention. Now he is repeating his miracles; and in this, more of that their typical meaning becomes apparent. He now begins to connect pointedly release from bodily infirmity, with a release from spiritual infirmity; thus leading his hearers to a reconsideration of his former miracles, as at once symbolically expressing the doctrine that he was the physician of men's souls, and confirming the truth of it, by the proof they afforded of God being with him. Observe, accordingly, that he first tells the man with the palsy, 'Thy sins be forgiven thee;' and then, when he cures him, expounds, as it were, the hint contained in his miracles of healing, by saying, '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?' JESUS CALLS LEVI, AND EATS WITH PUBLICANS AND SINNERS. Ver. 13-17. And he went forth again by the sea side; and all the multitude resorted unto him, and he taught them. And as he passed by, he saw Levi the son of Alphæus sitting at the receipt of custom, and said unto him, Follow me. And he arose and followed him. And it came to pass, that, as Jesus sat at meat in his house, many publicans and sinners sat also together with Jesus and his disciples: for there were many, and they followed him. And when the scribes and pharisees saw him eat with publicans and sinners, they said unto his disciples, How is it that he eateth and drinketh with publicans and sinners? When Jesus heard it, he said unto them, They that are whole have no need of the physician, but they that are sick: I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. Here is an instance of our Lord's teaching by reference to what was going on in the presence of his hearers, availing himself of something that occurred, or something said in his presence, either to introduce or to illustrate what he had to say. The Pharisees were expressing their surprise that a grave Rabbi should be sitting at a feast with publicans and sinners. Jesus, after reverting to the character of his miracles, observes, that he came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance; not meaning that the world. was divided into righteous and sinners, but that all were sinners before God. He so expressed this, apparently, because many were present who were accounted sinners before men also, and because of the remarks made by the Scribes and Pharisees respecting them. If these Scribes and Pharisees had carried their presumptuous arrogance further, and had claimed for themselves, as distinguished from others, the character of angels; he might in like manner have said, 'I came not to call angels but men.' It was an implied rebuke for their assuming a character which did not exist on earth, save in his own person-for all had gone astray, and there was none righteous, no, not one. JESUS ANSWERS THE QUESTION WHY HIS DISCIPLES DID NOT FAST. : Ver. 18-22. And the disciples of John and of the Pharisees used to fast and they come and say unto him, Why do the disciples of John and of the Pharisees fast, but thy disciples fast not? And Jesus said unto them, Can the children of the bridechamber fast, while the bridegroom is with them? as long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast. But the days will come, when the bridegroom shall be taken away from them, and then shall they fast in those days. No man also seweth a piece of new cloth on an old garment: else the new piece that filleth it up taketh away from the old, and the rent is made worse. And no man putteth new wine into old bottles: else the new wine doth burst the bottles, and the wine is spilled, and the bottles will be marred but new wine must be put into new bottles. Fasting is an expression of mourning and sorrow. In our Lord's first reply to the question, why his disciples did not fast, he speaks of it in this point of view, and uses the word as equivalent to mourning. Representing himself as a bridegroom and his disciples as the children of the bridechamber, or bridesmen, he says that it would be unseasonable and out of character for them to exhibit signs of mourning whilst they were in attendance on him. Their period of mourning would come when he should be taken. away from them. Compare with these words of our Lord, those recorded in John xvi. 20, 21, 22. Fasting is also a religious exercise. In his further reply, he speaks of it in this point of view. The disciples of John and of the Pharisees were bound, by the rules of their respective associations, to observe this practice. Jesus says that his body of disciples is one altogether new, and independent of all which had preceded it; and that to attempt to assimilate it to any body of disciples, such as that either of John Baptist, or of the Pharisees, would be like sewing new cloth on an old garment, or putting new wine into old bottles, i. e. old skins, such as were then used for keeping wine, and which were likely to burst as the new wine fermented. The questioners themselves would seem to have been, some of them disciples of John, some of them disciples of the Pharisees. The first part of his reply may be supposed to have been addressed especially to the former. He calls himself the bridegroom, and his disciples the children of the bridechamber. Under the same image John had spoken of him. hath the bride,' said John, 'is the bridegroom; but the friend of the bridegroom, which standeth and heareth him, rejoiceth greatly because of the bridegroom's voice; this, my joy, therefore is fulfilled.'* He that THE DISCIPLES PLUCK THE EARS OF CORN ON Ver. 23-28. And it came to pass that he went through the corn fields on the sabbath day; and his disciples began, as they went, to pluck the ears of corn. And the Pharisees said unto him, Behold, why do they on the sabbath day that which is not *John iii. 29. lawful? And he said unto them, Have ye never read what David did, when he had need, and was an hungred, he, and they that were with him? How he went into the house of God in the days of Abiathar the high priest, and did eat the shew-bread, which is not lawful to eat but for the priests, and gave also to them which were with him? And he said unto them, The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath: therefore the Son of man is Lord also of the sabbath. Jesus here connects a declaration of his being Lord of the sabbath with an event recorded in the Old Testament, of which the circumstances were somewhat similar. The passage, which will be found in the twenty-first chapter of the first book of Samuel, derives illustration from the twenty-fourth chapter of Leviticus, ver. 9. The declaration that the Son of man is Lord also of the sabbath,' was, or ought to have been, intelligible to those, who knew that the strict command of God was, 'Keep my sabbaths.' This property in God's sabbath was now claimed by Jesus, and accordingly his meaning appears to have been in some measure understood, for his enemies watched him closely, in order to observe whether he would give them ground for the charge eventually preferred against him of making himself equal with God. The frequent tests by which they tried his observance of the sabbath, and the importance attached to his most trifling violation of it, must be estimated by reference to this view. *See Chap. iii. |