EPC Australia

Why did our Saviour send a message to "make ready for him?" It could not be from a principle of self-indulgence; he had blamed Martha for her too much serving when she entertained him. Neither was it for the purpose of show and ostentation. But it was from a motive of civility, not wishing to put them to trouble and confusion by his sudden arrival, especially as he travelled not alone, but with his disciples, and probably others; and also, as he purposed paying for the accommodation he ordered: it was to try their dispositions. Accordingly they were immediately discovered.

But why "would they not receive him?" There had always been an implacable aversion between them and the Jews. It appeared on all occasions, and even hindered, as we find in the answer of the woman at the well, the common offices of civil life. But to this ordinary dislike, something peculiar was here added. They knew that our Lord was a public teacher, and had heard of his miracles; but his services had been with their enemies. They also had their temple and their festivals, which were held at the same time with those of the Jews, and one of these was at hand. But they saw he was bound, not to mount Gerizim, but to mount Zion. Therefore "they did not receive him, because his face was as though he would go to Jerusalem."

Not far from this very place Elijah had punished Azariah's captains and companies, sent to take him. John and James therefore ask, "Lord, wilt thou that we command fire to come down from heaven to consume them, even as Elias did?" The very infirmities of good men are peculiar; they are the spots of God's children. Here was something excusable; yea, even commendable. Such was their acquaintance with Scripture, their applying to our Lord for his permission and approbation, their faith and confidence in his power, that if He willed the thing, it must take place, and their attachment to him; for they could not bear to see one so dear to them insulted, in being refused the common rights of strangers. But evil blended with the good. Their zeal was not according to knowledge. The punishment was also extreme: for though the people had shown their rudeness and prejudices, they had not offered them violence; yet they must be destroyed and sent down quick into hell in their sins — and all of them, though some might have been far less blameable than others. The cases, too, were not parallel. Elias had a call: the very impulse in him was supernatural, and was justified by the event; for fire from heaven would not have obeyed the dictate of private passion. He acted from a regard to the glory of God, and the welfare of Israel; but these men had no call, and were urged on by their own feelings.

He therefore rebukes them: "Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of." They little suspected how much their own tempers had to do in the proposal. When the Gadarenes besought him to depart out of their coasts, and when the Nazarenes took him to the brow of the hill to cast him down, these disciples did not call for such vengeance then. No; they were Jews, but these offenders are Samaritans. How insensibly does something of our selfish and carnal feelings creep in and assume a religious pretension. None of our passions justify themselves so much as anger; we think we do well to be angry, but the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God. We may offer strange fire on God's own altar, but it is not thereby sanctified. The Author of Peace and Lover of Concord requires us to "show out of a good conversation our works with meekness of wisdom. And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace."

How much does it become us to study our own spirits, and watch over the springs of our actions. A Jehu may say, "Come, see my zeal for the Lord," when he was only removing God's enemies to clear his own way to the throne. What do some mean by dealing faithfully, as they call it, with others, but indulging their dislike and insolence? Some professors of religion never reprove their servants and children, but in fretfulness and ill humour, and then their temper is discharged in a kind of spiritual scolding. Who can understand his errors? "Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts; and see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting."

Our Lord knew James and John better than they knew themselves, and, in further reproof, he refers to himself as their example: "For the Son of man is not come to destroy men's lives, but to save them." He came indeed to seek and to save the soul principally, but he did not overlook the body. He healed the diseased; he fed the hungry. And he has taught us to be merciful to the temporal wants of our fellow-creatures. And even in carrying on his own peculiar cause, and endeavouring to promote the religion of the Bible, he allows us not to employ force, or to impoverish, or imprison, or in any way persecute. The weapons of his warfare are not carnal, but spiritual. My kingdom, said he, is not of this world, else would my servants fight. Indeed they would. Yea, they have fought: men, women, children have fought; they have fought with more than the courage of heroes: they have prayed, and lived, and taught, and wept, and bled, and died!

Morning Exercises For Everyday In The Year
By Rev. William Jay