Outline of the Gospel of Matthew - Part 3
The Bible Treasury, New Series
Volume 13 (1920)
When it was a question, at a
later day, of His
servant Peter, who, prompted by
Satan, had fallen
into human thoughts, and would
have dissuaded
his Master from the cross, He
does say, “Get
thee behind me.” For certainly
Christ did not
want Peter to. go away from Him
and be lost,
which would have been its
effect. “Get thee
[not hence, but] behind me,” He
says. He rebuked
His follower, yea, was ashamed
of him; and He
desired that Peter should be
ashamed of himself.
“Get thee behind me, Satan,” was
thus appropriate language then. Satan was
the source of
the thought couched in Peter’s
words. But when Jesus speaks to him
whose last trial
thoroughly betrays the adversary
of God and man,
i.e., the literal Satan, His
answer is not merely,
“Get thee behind me,” but, “Get
thee hence,
Satan.” Nor is this the only
mistake, as we
have seen, in the passage as
given in the authorised
version; for the whole clause
should disappear
from the account in Luke,
according to the
weightiest testimony. Besides,
the reason is
manifest. As it stands now, the
passage wears
this most awkward appearance,
that Satan,
though commanded to depart,
lingers on, For
in Luke we have another
temptation after this;
and of course, therefore, Satan
must be presented
as abiding, not as gone away. The truth of the matter, then,
is, that with
matchless wisdom Luke was
inspired of God to
put the second temptation last,
and the third
temptation in the second place.
Hence (inasmuch
as these words of the third
trial would be wholly
incongruous in such an inversion
of the historic
order), they are omitted by him,
but perserved by
Matthew, who here held to that
order. I dwell
upon this, because it
exemplifies, in a simple
but striking manner, the finger
and mind of
God; as it shows us, also, how
the copyists of
the scriptures fell into error,
through proceeding
on the principle of the
harmonists, whose great
idea is to make all the four
Gospels practically
one Gospel; that is, to fuse
them together into
one mass, and make them give out
only, as it
were, a single voice in the
praise of Jesus. Not
so; there are four distinct
voices blending in the
truest harmony, and surely God
Himself in each
one and equally in all, but,
withal, showing out
fully and distinctively the
excellencies of His Son.
It is the disposition to blot
out these differences,
which has wrought such exceeding
mischief,
not merely in copyists, but in
our own careless
reading of the Gospels. What we
need is, to
gather up all, for all is
worthy; to delight ourselves in every thought that the
Spirit of God has
treasured up—every fragrance, so
to speak, that
He has preserved for us of the
ways of Jesus.
Turning, then, from the
temptation (which we may hope to resume in another
point of view,
when the Gospel of Luke comes
before us and we
shall have the different
temptations on the moral
side, with their changed order),
I may in passing
notice, that a very
characteristic difference in
the Gospel of Matthew meets us
in what follows.
Our Lord enters upon His public
ministry
as a minister of the
circumcision, and calls
disciples to follow Him. It was
not His first
acquaintance with Simon, Andrew,
and the rest,
as we know from the Gospel of
John. They had
before known Jesus, and, I
apprehend, savingly.
They are now called to be His
companions in Israel,
formed according to His heart as
His servants here
below; but before this we have
a remarkable Scripture applied to our Lord. He
changes his place of
sojourn from Nazareth to
Capernaum. And this is
the more observable, because, in
the Gospel of
Luke, the first opening of His
ministry is expressly
at Nazareth while the point of
emphasis in
Matthew is, that He leaves
Nazareth, and comes
and dwells in Capernaum. Of
course, both are
equally true; but who can say
that they are the
same thing? or that the Spirit
of God had not
His own blessed reasons for
giving prominency
to both facts? Nor is the reason
obscure. His
going to Capernaum was the
accomplishment of
the word of Isaiah ix.,
specifically mentioned for
the instruction of the Jew, that
it might be fulfilled
which was spoken by Esaias the
prophet, saying,
“The land of Zebulun, and the
land of Nephthalim,
by the way of the sea, beyond
Jordan, Galilee of
the Gentiles. The people which
sat in darkness
saw great light; and to them
which sat in the
region and shadow of death,
light is sprung up.”
‘That quarter of the land was
regarded as the
scene of darkness; yet was it
just there that God
suddenly caused light to arise.
Nazareth was in
lower, as Capernaum was in upper
Galilee. But
more than this, it was the seat,
above all others in
the land, frequented by
Gentiles—Galilee (“the
circuit”) of the Gentiles. Now,
we shall find
throughout this Gospel that
which may be well stated here, and will be
abundantly confirmed
everywhere—that the object of
our Gospel is not
merely to prove what the Messiah
was, both
according to the flesh and
according to His own,
divine intrinsic nature, for
Israel; but also, when
rejected by Israel, what the
consequences of that
rejection would be for the
Gentiles, and this in a
double aspect—whether as
introducing the kingdom
of heaven in a new form, or as
giving occasion for
Christ’s building His church.
These were the
two main consequences of the
rejection of the
Messiah by Israel. Accordingly, as in chapter ii.
we found Gentiles
from the East coming up to own
the born King of
the Jews, when His people were
buried in bondage
and Rabbinic tradition—in
heartless heedlessness, too, while boasting of
their privileges; so
here our Lord, at the beginning
of His public
ministry, as recorded in
Matthew, is seen taking
up His abode in these despised
districts of the
north, the way of the sea, where
especially Gentiles
had long dwelt, and on which the
Jews looked down as a rude and dark spot,
far from the centre
of religious sanctity. There,
according to prophecy, light was to spring up;
and how brightly
was it now accomplished? Next,
we have the
call of the disciples, as we
have seen. At the end
of the chapter is a general
summary of the Messiah's
ministry and of its effects
given in these words:
“And Jesus went about all
Galilee, teaching
in their synagogues, and
preaching the gospel of
the kingdom, and healing all
manner of sickness and
all manner of disease among the
people. And His
fame went throughout all Syria;
and they brought
unto Him all sick people that
were taken with
divers diseases and torments,
and those which were
possessed with devils, and those
which were
lunatic, and those who had the
palsy; and He
healed them. And there followed
Him great
multitudes of people from
Galilee, and from Decapolis, and from Jerusalem,
and from Judea,
and from beyond Jordan.” This I
read, in order
to show that it is the purpose
of the Spirit, in the part of
our Gospel, to gather a quantity
of facts together under one
head, entirely regardless of the
question of time. It is evident,
that what is here described in a
few verses must have demanded a
considerable space for its
accomplishment. The Holy Ghost
gives it all to us as a
connected whole. The self-same principle applies
to the so-called
sermon on the mount on which I
am about to say
a few words. It is quite a
misapprehension to suppose that Matt. v.—vii. was
given all in a single
unbroken discourse. For the
wisest purposes, I
have no doubt, the Spirit of God
has arranged and
conveyed it to us as one whole,
without notice of
the interruptions, occasion,
etc.; but it is an unwarrantable conclusion for any
to draw, that our
Lord Jesus delivered it simply
and solely as it
stands in Matthew's Gospel. What
proves the fact
is, that in the Gospel of Luke
we have certain
portions of it clearly
pertaining to this very sermon
(not merely similar, or the same
truth preached at
other times, but this identical
discourse), with the
particular circumstances which
drew them out.
Take the prayer, for instance,
that was here set
before the disciples (chap.
vi.). As to this, we
know from Luke xi. there was a
request preferred
by the disciples which led to
it. As to other
instruction, there were facts or
questions, found
in Luke, which drew out the
remarks of the Lord,
common to him and Matthew, if
not Mark. If it be certain that the Holy
Ghost has been
pleased to give us in Matthew
this discourse and
others as a whole, leaving out
the originating circumstances found elsewhere, it
is a fair and interesting inquiry why such a method of
grouping with
such omissions is adopted. The
answer I conceive
to be this,—that the Spirit in
Matthew loves to present Christ as the One like
unto Moses, whom
they were to hear. He presents
Jesus not merely
as a legislating prophet-king
like Moses, but
greater by far; for it is never
forgotten that
the Nazarene was the Lord God.
Therefore it is
that, in this discourse on the
mountain, we have
throughout the tone of One who
was consciously
God with men. If Jehovah called
Moses up to
the top of one mount, He who
then spake the ten
words sat now upon another
mount, and taught
His disciples the character of
the kingdom of heaven
and its principles introduced as
2 whole, just
answering to what we have seen
of the facts and
effects of His ministry,
entirely passing by all
intervals or connecting
circumstances. As we had
His miracles all put together,
as I may say, in
the gross, so with His
discourses. We have thus
in either case the same
principle, The substantial
truth is given to us without
noticing the immediate
occasion in particular facts,
appeals, etc. What
was uttered by the Lord,
according to Matthew, is
thus presented as a whole. The
effect, therefore,
is, that it is much more solemn,
because unbroken,
carrying its own majesty along
with it. The Spirit
of God imprints on it purposely
this character
here, as I have no doubt there
was an intention
that it should be so reproduced
for the instruction
of His own people. The Lord, in short, was here
accomplishing one
of the parts of His mission
according to Isaiah
liii., where the work of Christ
is twofold. It is
not, as the authorised version
has it, “By His
knowledge shall my righteous
servant justify
many;” for it is unquestionable
that justification
is not by His knowledge.
Justification is by faith
of Christ, we know; and as far
as the efficacious
work on which it depends is
concerned, it is clearly
in virtue of what Christ has
suffered for sin and
sins before God. But I apprehend that the real
force of the passage is, “By His knowledge
shall my righteous
servant instruct many in
righteousness.” It is not
“justify” in the ordinary
forensic sense of the
word, but rather instructing in
righteousness, as
the context here requires, and
as the usage of the
word elsewhere, as in Dan, xii.,
leaves open. This
seems to be what is meant of our
Lord here. In the teaching on the mount He
was, in fact,
instructing the disciples in
righteousness: hence,
too, one reason why we have not
a word about
redemption. There is not the
slightest reference
to His suffering on the cross;
no intimation of His
blood, death, or resurrection:
He is instructing,
though not merely in
righteousness. To the
heirs of the kingdom the Lord is
unfolding the
principles of that kingdom—most
blessed and
rich instruction, but
instruction in righteousness.
No doubt there is also the
declaration of the
Father's name, as far as could
be then; but, still
the form taken is that of “instructing in righteousness.” Let me add, as to the
passage of Isa. liii.,
that the remainder of the verse
also accords with
this: not “for,” but, “and He
shall bear their
iniquities.” Such is the true
force of it. The one
was in His life, when He taught
His own; the
other was in His death, when He
bore the iniquities
of many. Into the details of the
discourse on the mount J
cannot enter particularly now,
but would just say
a few words before I conclude
to-night. In
its preface we have a method
often adopted by the
Spirit of God, and not unworthy
of our study. There
is no child of God that cannot
glean blessing from
it, even through a scanty
glance; but when we
look into it a little more
closely, the instruction
deepens immensely. First of all
He pronounces
certain classes blessed. These
blessednesses divide
into two classes. The earlier
character of blessedness savours particularly of
righteousness, the later
of mercy, which are the two
great topics of the
Psalms. These are both taken up
here: “Blessed
are the poor in spirit; for
theirs is the kingdom of
heaven. Blessed are they that
mourn: for they
shall be comforted. Blessed are
the meek; for
they shall inherit the earth,
Blessed are they
which do hunger and thirst after
righteousness:
for they shall be filled.” In
the fourth case
righteousness comes in
expressly, and closes that
part of the subject; but it is
plain enough that
all these four classes consist
in substance of
such as the Lord pronounces
blessed, because
they are righteous in one form
or another. The
next three are founded upon
mercy. Hence we
read as the very first—“Blessed
are the merciful
for they shall obtain mercy.
Blessed are the
pure in heart: for they shall
see God. Blessed
are the peacemakers: for they
shall be called the
children of God.” Of course, it
would be impossible
to attempt more than a sketch at
this time. Here,
then, occurs the number usual in
all these systematic partitions of Scripture;
there is the
customary and complete seven of
scripture.
The two supplementary
blessednesses at the end‘
rather confirm the case, though
at first sight they
might appear to offer an
exception. But it is
not so really, The exception
proves the rule
convincingly; for in verse 10
you have, “Blessed
are they which are persecuted
for righteousness’
sake;” which answers to the
first four. Then,
in verses 1 and 12, you have, “Blessed are ye
. . . . . for my sake;” which
answers to the
higher mercy of the last three.
“Blessed are ye,
there is thus a change. It is
made a direct
personal address] when men shall
revile you, and
persecute you, and shall say all
manner of evil
against you falsely for my
sake.” Thus it is the
very consummation of suffering
in grace, because
it is for Christ's sake. Hence the twofold persecutions
(10-12) bring
in the double character we find
in the epistles—
suffering for righteousness’
sake, and suffering for
Christ’s sake. These are two
perfectly distinct
things; because, where it is a
question of righteousness, it is simply a person
brought to a point. If
I do not stand and suffer here,
my conscience
will be defiled; but this is in
no way suffiring for
Christ’s sake. In short,
conscience enters where
righteousness is the question;
but suffering for
Christ’s sake is not a question
of plain sin, but of
His grace and its claim is on my
heart. Desire
for His truth, desire for His
glory, carries me out
into a certain path that exposes
me to suffering.
I might merely do my duty in the
place in which
I am put; but grace is never
satisfied with the
bare performance of one’s duty.
Fully is it
admitted that there is nothing
like grace to meet
duty; and doing one’s duty is a
good thing for a
Christian. But God forbid that
we should be
merely shut up to duty, and not
be free for the
flowing over of grace which
carries out the heart
along with it. In the one case,
the believer
stops dead short: if he did not
stand, there
would be sin. In the other case,
there would be a
lack of testimony for Christ,
and grace makes one
rejoice to be counted worthy of
suffering for His
name: but righteousness is not
in question. Such, then, are the two distinct
classes or groups
of blessedness. First, there are
the blessednesses
of righteousness, to which the
persecution for
righteousness’ sake pertains;
next, the blessednesses of mercy or grace. Christ
instructs in
righteousness according to
prophecy, but He does
not confine Himself to
righteousness, This never
could be consistent with the
glory of the person
who was there. Accordingly,
therefore, while
there is the doctrine of
righteousness, there is
the introduction of what is
above it and mightier
than it, with the corresponding
blessedness of
being persecuted for Christ’s
sake. All here is
grace, and indicates manifest
progress, The same thing is true of what
follows: “Ye
are the salt of the earth ”—it
is that which keeps
pure what is pure. Salt will not
communicate
parity to what is impure, but it
is used as the presetvative power according to
righteousness. But
light is another thing. Hence we
hear, in the 14th
verse, “Ye are the light of the
world.” Light is not
that which simply preserves what
is good, but is an active power, which casts its
bright shining into
what is obscure, and dispels the
darkness from
before it. Thus it is evident
that in this further
word of the Lord we have answers
to the differences
already hinted at. Much of the deepest interest
might be found in the discourse; only this is not
the occasion for
entering into particulars. We
have, as usual, righteousness developed
according to Christ, which
deals with man’s wickedness
under the heads of
violence and corruption; next
come other new
principles of grace infinitely
deepening what a
been given under law. (chap.
v.). Thus, in the
former of these, a word detects,
as it were, the
thirst of blood, as corruption
lies in a look or desire.
For it is no longer a question
of mere acts, but of
the soul’s condition. Such is
the scope of the
fifth chapter. As earlier
(verses 17, 18) the law is
fully maintained in all its
authority, we have
later on (verses 21-48) superior
principles of grace,
and deeper truths, mainly
founded upon the
revelation of the Father's name—the
Father
which is in heaven, Consequently
it is not merely
the question between man and
man, but the Evil
One on one side, and God Himself
on the other,
and God Himself, as a Father,
.disclosing and
proving the selfish condition of
fallen man upon the
earth. In the second of these chapters
(ch. vi) composing the discourse, two main
parts appear. The
first is again righteousness. “Take heed [He says]
that you do not your
righteousness before men.”
Here it is not “alms,” but
“righteousness,” as you
may see in the margin. Then the
righteousness
spoken of branches out into
three parts:—alms,
which is one part of it; prayer,
another part;
and fasting, a part of it not to
be despised. This
is our righteousness, the
especial point of which
is, that it should be not a
matter of ostentation,
but before our Father who sees
in secret. It is
one of the salient features of
Christianity. In the
latter part of the chapter, we
have entire confidence
in our Father's goodness to us,
counting upon His
mercy, certain that He regards
us as of infinite
value, and that, therefore we
need not be careful as
the Gentiles are, because our
Father knows what
we have need of. It is enough
for us to seek
the kingdom of God, and His
righteousness: our
Father's love cares for all the
rest. The last chapter (vii.) presses
on us the motives
of heart in our intercourse with
men and brethren,
as well as with God, who,
however good, loves that
we should ask Him, and earnestly
too, as to each
need; the adequate
consideration of what is due to
others, and the energy that
becomes ourselves; for
the gate is strait, and narrow
the way that leads
to life; warnings against the
devil and the suggestions of his agents, the false
prophets, who betray
themselves by their fruits; and,
lastly, the all-importance of remembering that
it is not a thing of
knowledge, or of miraculous
power even, but of
doing God’s will, of a heart
obedient to Christ's
sayings. Here, again, if I be
not mistaken,
righteousness and grace are
found alternating;
for the exhortation against a
censorious spirit is
grounded on the certainty of
retribution from
others, and paves the way for an
urgent call to
self-judgment, which in us
precedes all genuine
exercise of grace. (verses 1-4).
Further, the
caution against a lavishing of
what was holy and
beautiful on the profane is
followed by rich and
repeated encouragements to count
on our Father's
grace (vers. 5-11). Here, however, I must for the
present pause,
though one can only and deeply
regret being obliged
to pass so very cursorily over
the ground; but 1
have sought in this first
lecture to give thus far
as simple, and at the same time
as complete, a
view of this portion of Matthew
as I well could.
I am perfectly aware that there
has not been time
for comparing it much with the
others; but
occasions will, I trust, offer
for bringing into
strong contrast the different
aspects of the various
Gospels. However, my aim is also
that we should
have before us our Lord, His
person, His teaching,
His way, in every Gospel. I pray the Lord that what has
been put, however
scantily, before souls may at
least stir up enquiry
on the part of God’s children,
and lead them to
have perfect, absolute
confidence in that word
which is of His grace indeed. We
may thus
look for deep profit. For,
although to enter upon
the Gospels before the soul has
been founded upon,
the grace of God will not leave
us without a blessing,
yet I am persuaded that the
blessing is in every
respect greater, when, having
been attracted by
the grace of Christ, we have at
the same time
been established in Him with all
simplicity and
assurance, in virtue of the
accomplished work of
redemption. Then, set free and
at rest in our
souls, we return to learn of
Him, to look upon
Him, to follow Him, to hear His
word, to delight
ourselves in His ways. The Lord
grant that thus
it may be, as we pursue our path
through these
different Gospels which our God
has vouchsafed
to us. Chapter viii., which opens the
portion that comes
before us to-night, is a
striking illustration as well as
proof of the method which God
has been pleased to
employ in giving us the apostle
Matthew’s account
of our Lord Jesus. ‘The
dispensational aim here
leads to a more manifest
disregard of the bare circumstance of time than in any
other specimen
of these Gospels. This is the
more to be noticed,
inasmuch as the Gospel of
Matthew has been in
general adopted as the standard
of time, save
by those who have rather
inclined to Luke as
supplying the desideratum. To me
it is evident,
from a careful comparison of
them all, as 1 think
it is capable of clear and
adequate proof to an
unprejudiced Christian mind,
that neither Matthew
nor Luke confines himself to
such an order of events.
Of course, both do preserve
chronological order
when it is compatible with the
objects the Holy
Spirit had in inspiring them;
but in both, the
order of time is subordinated to
still greater
purposes which God had in view.
If we compare
the eighth chapter, for example,
with the corresponding circumstances, as far as
they appear,
in the Gospel of Mark, we shall
find the latter
gives us notes of time, which
leave no doubt
on my mind that Mark adheres to
the scale of
time: the design of the Holy
Ghost required it,
instead of dispensing with it in
his case. The
question fairly arises, Why it
is that the Holy
Ghost has been pleased so
remarkably to leave
time out of the question in this
chapter, as well
as in the next? The same
indifference to the
mere sequence of events is found
occasionally in
other parts of the Gospel; but
I have purposely
dwelt upon this chapter viii,
because here we have
it throughout, and at the same
time with evidence _
exceedingly simple and
convincing. The first thing to be remarked
is, that the leper
was an early incident in the
manifestation of the
healing power of our Lord. In
his defilement he
came to Jesus and sought to be
cleansed before the delivery of
the sermon on the mount. Accordingly, notice that, in the
manner in which the
Holy Ghost introduces it, there
is no statement
of time whatever. No doubt the
first verse says
that “when He was come down
from the mount,
great multitudes followed Him;”
but then the
second verse gives no intimation
that the subject
which follows is to be taken as
chronologically
subsequent. It does not say,
that “then there
came a leper,” or “immediately:
there came a leper.” No word whatever implies
that the
cleansing of the leper happened
at that time. It
says simply, “And, behold,
there came a leper and
worshipped him, saying, Lord, if
thou wilt, thou
canst make me clean.” Verse 4
seems quite adverse
to the idea that great
multitudes were witnesses
of the cure; for why “tell no
man,” if so many
knew it already? In attention to
this has perplexed many. They have not
seized the aim
of each Gospel. They have
treated the Bible
either with levity, or as too
awful a book to be
apprehended really; not with
the reverence of
faith, which waits on Him, and
fails not in due
time to understand His word. God
does not
permit Scripture to be thus used
without losing
its force, its beauty, and the
grand object for which
it was written. If we turn to Mark, chap. i.,
the proof of what I
have said will appear as to the
leper. At its
close we see the leper
approaching the Lord, after
He had been preaching throughout
Galilee and
casting out devils. In the
second chapter it says, “And again he entered
into Capernaum.” He had
been there before. Then, in
chapter ii., there are
notes of time more or less
strong. In verse 13
our Lord “goeth up into a
mountain, and calleth
unto him whom he would: and they
came unto
him. And he ordained twelve,
that they
should be with him, and that he
might send
them forth to preach.” To him
who compares
this with the sixth chapter of
Luke, there need
not remain a question as to the
identity of the
scene. They are the
circumstances
that preceded
the discourse upon the mount, as
given in Matt.
v.—vii, It was after our Lord
had called the
twelve, and ordained them—not
after He had
sent them forth, but after He
had appointed them
apostles—- that the Lord comes
down to a plateau
upon the mountain, instead of
remaining upon
the more elevated parts where He
had been before.
Descending then upon the
plateau, He delivered
what is commonly called the
Sermon on the Mount. Examine the Scripture, and you
will see for
yourselves. It is not a thing
that can be settled
by a mere assertion. On the
other hand it is
not too much to say, that the
same Scriptures
which convince one unbiassed
mind that pays
heed to these notes of time,
will produce no less
effect on others. If I assume
from the words
“set forth in order,” in the
beginning of Luke’s
Gospel, that therefore his is
the chronological
account, it will only lead me
into confusion, both
as to Luke and the other
Gospels; for proofs
abound that the order of Luke,
most methodical
as he is, is by no means
absolutely that of time.
OF course, there is often the
order of time, but
through the central part, and
not unfrequently
elsewhere, his setting forth in
order turns on another
principle, quite independent of
mere ‘succession
of events. In other words, it is
certain that in
the Gospels of Luke in whose
preface we have
expressly the words “set in
order,” the Holy
Ghost does in no way tie Himself
to what, after
all, is the most elementary form
of arrangement;
for it needs little observation
to see, that the
simple sequence of facts as they
occurred is that
which demands a faithful
enumeration, and
nothing more. Whereas, on the
contrary, there
are other kinds of order that
call for more profound
thought and enlarged views, if
we may speak now
after the manner of men; and,
indeed, I deny not
that these the Holy Ghost
employed in His own
wisdom, though it is hardly
needful to say He
could, if He pleased,
demonstrate His superiority
to any means or qualifications
whatsoever. He
could and did form His
instruments according
to His own sovereign will. It is
a question, then,
for internal evidence, what that
particular order
is which God has employed in
eaca different
Gospel. Particular epochs in
Luke are noted
with great care; but, speaking
now of the general
course of the Lord’s life, a
little attention will
discover, from the immensely
greater preponderance paid to the
consideration of time in the
second Gospel, that there we
have events from
first to last given to us in
their consecutive order.
It appears to me, that the
nature or aim of Mark’s
Gospel demands this. The grounds
of such a
judgment will naturally come
before us ere long:
T can merely refer to it now as
my conviction. If this be a sound judgment, the
comparison
of the first chapter of Mark
affords decisive evidence
that the Holy Ghost in Matthew
has taken the
leper out of the mere time and
circumstances
of actual occurrence, and has
reserved his case
for a wholly different service.
It is true that in
this particular instance Mark no
more surrounds the
leper with notes of time and
place than do Matthew
and Luke. We are dependent,
therefore, for
determining this case, on the
fact that Mark dues
habitually adhere to the chain
of events. But
if Matthew here laid aside all
questions of time,
it was in view of other and
weightier considerations
for his object. In other words,
the leper is here
introduced after the sermon on
the mount, though,
in fact, the circumstance took
place long before
it. The design is, I think,
manifest: the Spirit
of God is here giving a vivid
picture of the manifestation of the Messiah, of His
divine glory,
of His grace and power, with the
effect of this
manifestation. Hence it is that
He has grouped
together circumstances which
make this plain,
without raising the question of
when they occurred;
in fact, they range over a large
space, and, otherwise viewed, are in total
disorder, Thus it is
easy to see, that the reason for
here putting together
the leper and the centurion lies
in the Lord’s
dealing with the Jew, on the one
hand, and, on
the other hand, in His deep
grace working in the
Gentile’s heart, and forming his
faith, as well as
answering it, according to His
own heart. The
leper approaches the Lord with
homage, but with a most inadequate belief in
His love and readiness
to meet his need. The Saviour,
while He puts
forth His hand, touching him as
man, and yet
as none but Jehovah might dare
to do, dispels
the hopeless disease at once.
Thus and after
the tenderest sort, there is
that which evidences
the Messiah on earth present to
heal His people
who appeal to Him; and the Jew,
above all
counting upon His bodily
presence—demanding
it, I may say, according to the
warrant of prophecy,
finds in Jesus not merely the
man, but the God
of Israel. Who but God could
heal? Who
could touch the leper save
Emmanuel? A mere
Jew would have been defiled. He
who gave
the law maintained its
authority, and used it
as an occasion for testifying
His own power and
presence. Would any man make of
the Messiah
a mere man and a mere subject of
the law given
by, Moses? Let them read their
error in One
who was evidently superior to
the condition and
the ruin of man in Israel, Let
them recognize
the power that banished the
leprosy, and the grace
withal that touched the leper.
It was true that
He was made of woman, and made
under the law;
but He was Jehovah Himself, that
lowly Nazarene.
However suitable to the Jewish
expectation that
He should be found a man,
undeniably there was
that apparent which was
infinitely above the Jew’s
thought; for the Jew showed his
own degradation
and unbelief, in the low ideas
he entertained of
the Messiah. He was really God
in man; and
all these wonderful features are
here presented
and compressed in this most
simple, but at the
same time significant, action of
the Saviour—
the fitting frontispiece to
Matthew’s manifestation
of the Messiah to Israel. In immediate juxtaposition to
this stands the
Gentile centurion who seeks
healing for his servant.
Considerable time, it is true,
elapsed between the
two facts; but this only makes
it the more sure
and plain, that they are grouped
together with divine
purpose. The Lord then had been
shown such as He
was to wards Israel, had Israel
in their leprosy come
to Him, as did the leper, even
with a faith exceedingly short of that which was
due to His real glory
and His love. But Israel had no
sense of their
leprosy; and they valued not,
but despised, their
Messiah, albeit divine—I might
almost say because
divine. Next, we behold Him
meeting the
centurion after another manner
altogether. If
He offers to go to his house, it
was to bring out
the faith that He had created in
the heart of the
centurion. Gentile as he was, he
was for that
very reason the less narrowed in
his thoughts
of the Saviour by the prevalent
notions of Israel,
yea, or even by Old Testament
hopes, precious
as they are. God had given his
soul a deeper,
fuller sight of Christ; for the
Gentile's words prove
that he had apprehended God in
the man who was
healing at that moment all
sickness and disease
in Galilee. I say not how far he
had realized this
profound truth; I say not that
he could have
defined his thoughts; but he
knew and declared
His command of all as truly God.
In him there
was a spiritual force far beyond
that found in the
leper, to whom the hand that
touched, as well as
cleansed, him proclaimed
Israel’s need and state
as truly as Emmanuel’s grace. As for the Gentile, the Lord’s
proffer to go and
heal his servant brought out the
singular strength
of his faith. “Lord, T am not
worthy that thou shouldest come under my roof.”
He had only
to say in a word, and his
servant should be healed.
The bodily presence of the
Messiah was not needed.
God could not be limited by a
question of place;
His word was enough. Disease
must obey Him
as the soldier or the servant
obeyed the centurion,
their superior. What an
anticipation of the
walk by faith, not by sight, in
which the Gentiles, when called, ought to have
glorified God, when
the rejection of the Messiah by
His own ancient
people gave occasion to the
Gentile call as a
distinct thing! It is evident
that the bodily
Presence of the Messiah is the
very essence of the
former scene, as it ought so be
in dealing with
the leper, who is a kind of type
of what Israel
should have been in seeking
cleansing at His hands.
So, on the other hand, the
centurion sets forth
with no less aptness the
characteristic faith that
suits the Gentile, in a
simplicity which looks for
nothing but the word of His
mouth, is perfectly
content with it, knows that,
whatever the disease
may be, He has only to speak the
word, and it is
done according to His divine
will, That blessed
One was here whom he knew to be
God, who was to him the impersonation of
divine power and
goodness—His presence was
uncalled for, His
word more than enough. The Lord
admired
the faith superior to Israel's,
and took that occasion
to intimate the casting out of
the sons or natural
heirs of the kingdom, and the
entrance of many
from east and west to sit down
with Abraham,
and Isaac, and Jacob, in the
kingdom of the
heavens. What can be conceived
so perfectly
to illustrate the great design
of the Gospel of
Matthew? Thus, in the scene of the leper,
we have Jesus
presented as “Jevohah that
healeth Israel,” as
man here below, and in Jewish
relationships
still maintaining the law. Next,
we find him
confessed by the centurion, no
longer as the Messiah
when actually with them,
confessed according
to a faith which saw the deeper
glory of His person
as supreme, competent to heal,
no matter where,
or whom, or what, by a word;
and this the Lord
Himself hails as the
foreshadowing of a rich
incoming of many multitudes to
the praise of
His name, when the Jews should
be cast out.
Evidently it is the change of
dispensation that
is in question and at hand, the
cutting off of the
fleshly seed for their unbelief,
and the bringing
in of numerous believers in the
name of the Lord
from among the Gentiles.
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