PUBLIC-DOMAIN CHRISTIAN BOOK
The Pulpit Commentary — Mark — Volume 2
Edward Henry Bickersteth, 1825–1906 · 320,775 words · 302 reading sections
The Pulpit Commentary — Mark — Volume 2 — Section 1
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and John. St. Peter’s reference to the trans- figuration (just alluded to) shows what a deep and abiding impression it made on his mind. St. James, too, was there, as one who was to be amongst the first to die for his sake. St. John also was with them, who, having seen the glory of the Son of God, which is subje…
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eter, ‘It is good for us to be here;’ for it behoves us ever, whilst in the flesh, to be advancing, and not to remain in one stage of virtue and contemplation, but to pasa on to other degrees.” It is, perhaps, too curious a question to ask how the three disciples knew them to be Moses and Elijah. The same Divine…
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Vers. 10, 11.— Questioning among them- selves what the rising again from the dead should mean; that is, his own rising from the dead, of which our Lord had just been speaking. No doubt the general resurrec- tion at the end of the world was an article of faith with which the disciples were familiar. But they coul…
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This is the Greek word from which comes our “catalepsy,” the active form of “ epi- lepsy.” It teareth him (Sfoce.). This is doubtless the literal m g. But there ig much evidence to show that it means here “it striketh or throweth him down” Thig is the rendering of the Peshito Syriac, and of the Vulgate. The same…
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Ver. 30.—This verse informs us that our Lord and his disciples now left the neigh- bourhood of Caesarea Philippi. Their route would be across the Jordan above the Sea of Galilee, and so by the usual track through Galilee down to Capernaum. Our Lord now wished for privacy, that he might further instruct his disci…
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Ver. 388.—This verse, according to the best authorities, should begin simply, John said unto him—aslthough in St, Luke (ix, 49) they stand, “And John answered and said’”’—Master, we saw one casting out devils in thy name: and we forbade him, because he followed not us. The casting out of evil spirits was one of …
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These noisome accumulations were from time to time consumed by fire; and the things which were not consumed by fire were the prey of worms. Hence “ Gehenna” became the image of the place of eternal punish- ment, where “the worm dieth not and the fire is not quenched.” These terrible images are conclusive as to t…
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Vera. 2—13.— Transfiguration. Observe the crisis of our Lord’s ministry at which this marvellous and memorable incident took place. The period of novelty, of popu- larity, of prosperity, was past and gone; the period of hostility, of persecution, of endurance, was commencing. Already Jesus had forewarned his discipl…
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IIL Tux wirness BORNE TO CHRIST BY HIS FRIENDS AND APOSTLES. 1. It may be asked—Why was it appointed that the Transfiguration should be witnessed by so small and select a group, and in so secluded a spot? Why were not multitudes per- mitted to behold a spectacle so amazing in itself, and so fitted to bring convictio…
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Vers. 14—29.— The lunatic boy. In Raphael’s picture of the Transfiguration, which has often been called the greatest of all paintings, the foreground is occupied by a vivid representation of this marvellous miracle wrought by our Lord upon his descent from the mountain. The conjunction of the two incidents, which ar…
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Vers. 830—82.—Death foretold. The evangelists have recorded that on several distinct occasions our Lord foretold, in the gta of his disciples, what would be the close of his earthly career. It is evident, accordingly, that these predictions, though only partially comprehended at the time, nevertheless made a deep im…
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I, AMBITION AMONG THE FOLLOWERS OF CuRisT. 1. Noticeits occasion. It seems as if recent events gave rise to the desire for pre-eminence among the friends and disciples of Jesus. The special commendation of Peter which the Master had recently pronounced, and the selection of the same apostle, with James and John, to …
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Il. Onz TEsT OF DISCIPLESHIP IS THE SPIRIT IN WHICH MEN WORK FOR CHRIST. The stranger, to whom reference is made, is said to have done what he did in Christ’s Name, and the Lord declares that the presumption is markedly in the favour of one whose practice may be so denoted. What are we to understand by the expressio…
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III. On the other hand, wATCHFULNESS AND SEVERITY WITH SELF WILL ENSURE THE BLESSING OF THE ETERNAL LIFE, AND THE HONOURS OF THE HEAVENLY KINGDOM. Even supposing that self is denied and crucified, that pleasures are foregone, that privations are incurred,—is all this worth thinking of with regret when the recompense…
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confidence of believers. This was the “sign from heaven” vainly asked by the unbelieving Pharisees, and now granted to the three leaders of the apostles. And a corresponding revelation will take place in the experience of every true child of God, whereby his faith shall be confirmed, and he shall be “sealed unto the…
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I. How ARE WE TO EXPLAIN THE HOLD WHICH THE HARD SAYINGS OF CHRIST HAVE UPON THE DEVOUT MIND? Their “keeping” the saying was doubtless for the most part a voluntary thing, yet there was also a sense in which it was involuntary. The subject it concerned awed and interested them, and they could not, if they had wishe…
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IL Tuem MasTeR MADE THE DIFFIOULTY AN OCCASION FOR SPIRITUAL REBUKE AND INsTRUCTION. 1. 7’o the people, or generally. He laments their want of faith, and slowness to receive the things of God. They had the highest reasons for faith—~ his works and himself—in their midst, and yet would not believe. He gives vent to …
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I. THz possrpruitixs oF FaITH If not wholly dependent upon the actual ex- perience of the power of faith, the confidence of the believer is nevertheless greatly sustained and strengthened by it. Resting in the first instance upon the consciousness of One mighty to save, whose help is promised and assured, and concer…
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Il. How agE THEY TO BE OVERCOME? 1, The means. “ Prayer,” or, in the Authorized Version, “ prayer and fasting.” ‘here isa singularity about such a specific. A particular case of failure occurs, in apparently exceptional circumstances, and the remedy is not new or peculiar, but general. Could devils, then, come out b…
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Il. THE PRINCIPLE BY WHICH IT SHOULD BE SETTLED WHEM IT ARISES, (Ver. 35, “Tf any man would be first, he shall be last of all, and minister of all.” This is, an probably was meant to be, slightly enigmatical. Without altering the future of the sentence (“he shall be”) into the imperative (“let him be”), as some, wit…
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rofoundly the work of Christ was leavening the community. There were many ides his professed followers who were influenced by his spirit. (1) That they should be able to do these works (which were of a miraculous nature) showed that they must already be in communion with his spirit. To cast forth devils could not be…
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Vers. 49, 50.—Ohristian purity—its origin and influence. These verses have been the subject of much controversy. They are obscure and difficult; but the context is of great assistance, and a uniform interpretation of the term “salted” in the first and ‘second clauses of ver. 50 will do much to remove the hindrances …
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Il. Wuy pip THE CHILD ao To Jesus? He might have hesitated and said, “ He does not mean it;” or, “ The disciples are rough, and will push me back, or laugh at me;” or, “ Perhaps I had better wait a little, till I am older.” Instead of this, he went at once, and went as he was. There are reasons why you, as children,…
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IU. Tue seasons ror CHRISTIAN BENEVIORNOH are numerous, but we may mention one or two. 1. Ali we have is from God. His providence has made us to differ. Our birth, our inheritance, our education, our natural capacities,—these are in no sense the results of or own creation or choice, He who gave us these, demands tha…
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I. Gov’s TREATMENT OF SIN I8 BADICAL. We naturally shrink from the severe method indicated here. Who has not suffered an agony of pain rather than apply to the surgeon or dentist, although it must come to that at last? Nothing short of amputation of evil habit will save the life of the soul, Some are satisfied that …
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IL But, whatever purpose was answered in respect of Jesus himself, the revelation most assuredly was, in the highest degree, important to the disciples, and through them to the Church at large. 1. Here is beheld the harmony, the unity, of the Law and the prophets and the Christ. 2. Here, within the “bright cloud” wh…
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would experience “ the power of the Lord to heal.” It is at once the acknowledgment ef the human impotence, need, and receptivity ; it is the symbol of departure from all other and competing helpers; it is an acceptance of the Lord himself, and in and with him the germ of all healing, whether of body or soul.—G. Ve…
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mount” and behold “ his glory,” “ glory as of the only begotten from the Father.” He had also begun to show unto them that “‘he must suffer many things,” and “ be killed,” making them “exceeding sorry.” And he had spoken to them of the time “ when the Son of man should have risen again from the dead;” but “ what the…
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Il. Tue EQUALLY FAITHFUL PUNISHMENT OF ANY WHO SHALL CAUSE ONE OF THE LOWLigest—one “of the least of these little ones that believe on me”—TO STUMBLE. But a rude interference with any worker of good is an offence against that good Lord, from whom alone men have power to do good. Here not only were devils cast out, b…
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Tl. On THE OTHER HAND, STRONG FAITH 18 COMMUNICATIVE AND INSPIBING (J. H. Godwin). Tell an invalid he is looking ill, and you make him feel worse. Tell him he is improving, and his faith in his physical future will revive at the brighter picture, We are governed by imagination, and faith is a kind of imagination. It…
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Vers. 1—13, Parallel passages: Matt. xvii. 1—13; Luke ix. 28—36.—A glimpse of glory. I. Tae TRansFIGuRBATION. 1, Allusions to the Transfiguration. The scene described in the above parallel passages is as singular as solemn. There are, however, two allusions to it in other books of the New Testament. One is in St. Jo…
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* sermon on the mount. On a mountain in Galilee he manifested himself after his passion ; and from Olivet he ascended. And now he leads his disciples to that moun- tain apart; and so retirement, it would seem, was one ground of the selection of a mountain on this occasion. 2. The preparation. But more important than…
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IIL CHARACTERS CONCERNED. 1. Representative characters. In addition to the three favourite apostles, who were merely spectators but not actors, properly speak- ing, in this scene, we have Moses, Elijah, and Jesus, all of them in a representative character. Here were the Law-giver, the Law-restorer, and the Law-fulfi…
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IV. Cuanae pEscriBED. 1. The glory of his person. Here we are to notice, in the first place, the glory of his person, From eternity he had been in the form (uop¢f) of God. ‘This had been his original form, but in the fulness of time he took upon him the form of a servant. Now for a while he resumes the form which he…
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2. An tmmediate consequence. Another and immediate consequence was to reconcile the disciples to the sufferings of their Master, and sustain them amid their own. Then, as now, the Jews overlooked the first appearance of Messiah in weakness, through haste for his glorious second advent. Then, as now, their pride rebe…
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ably enough expect that it would be the beauties of heaven, with its gates of pearl, and streets of gold, and jupes wall, and foundations of precious stones; or the grandeur of its minstrelsy and melody of its songs; or the blessedness of the heavenly state and the ecstasies of its joys, or all the untold glories o …
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which patriarchs, and priests, and prophets, and pious persons under the old dispensa- tion looked and longed for; a death which not only fulfilled the predictions, but realised the typical institutions of the old economy; that death which was the complement of the legal economy and the consummation of the Jewish Ch…
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‘toil and turmoil of earth, from the business and bustle of the world, from the sorrows and sufferings of this mortal life and strife. There, too, was enjoyment of the unclouded sunshine and untroubled rest of heaven. There was a ravishing foretaste of the joys of heaven. No wonder, then, that Peter proposed to perp…
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Tif. A pousLe PersoNaALITy. The change of subject with respect to the verbs used in this description brings into view « startling fact and exhibits a strange complication, Two personalities, or two personal agencies, are here combined, and the union between them is so close and complete that the transition from the …
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V. APPLICATION OF THE DEMONIAC’S FATHER. To our Lord’s interrogatory, one of the multitude, or rather one out of (éx) the multitude, stepping forward, volunteers an answer. He felt that his child’s misfortune had given occasion to the altercation, in which the disputants had waxed warm, if not angry, and that it dev…
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mustard seed. Persuaded that his faith is too insignificant to satisfy the condition, he prays (1) for its increase ; in other words, he seeks to be helped against his unbelief. Another interpretation, though advocated by some good and great men, to the effect, (2) “ Help me, notwithstanding the weakness of my faith…
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as!” Especially should we travail, as in birth, till Christ is formed in their heart, and till by grace they are enabled to renounce the devil and all his works. 2. Great impor- tance attaches to the element of time. The demon got possession early of this sorely distressed boy, and the demoniac power seems to have g…
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him at one time returning to Galilee, and “ welking no more in Jewry, because the Jews sought to kill him.” Afterward, when Herod’s attention had been directed to him, and his abode even in Galilee had thus become somewhat insecure, we find him withdrawing to the more remote and less populous districts of that provi…
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IIL Previous INTIMITATIONS ON THE suUBJEOT. The previous intimations had been obscure. There had been the intimation of the Baptist when he pointed the Saviour out as “ the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world” (John i. 29), and in the repetition of part of the same at ver. 36. He had himself given se…
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V. WHY 18 THIS COMMENDATION omITTED By St. Marx? It has often been remarked that many things redounding solely to the honour of St. Peter are omitted by St. Mark; while at the same time his infirmities are fully and faithfully recorded by the same evangelist, extenuating circumstances being less noticed by this evan…
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duties, which are identical with the vectigal of the Romans. Further, let it be borne in mind that Peter’s confession of faith that Jesus was “the Christ, the Son of the living God,” had been made, being recorded in the sixteenth chapter, snd so had preceded the present conversation. Our Lord now argues from analogy…
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II]. THE 8AME SUBJECT VIEWED FROM A PRAOTIOAL STANDPOINT. The one text implies that men may take different roads to the same place, or reach the same point by different routes. This is true morally as well as gecgraphically. It condemns the narrowness that refuses to tolerate want of uniformity, and commends forbear…
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abont divorce was one which was much agitated in the time of our Lord. In the century before Christ, a learned rabbi, named Hillel, a native of Babylon, who afterwards came to Jerusalem, studied the Law with great success, and became the head of the chief school in that city. One of his dis- ciples, named Shamma…
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and the disciples, and our Lord’s seeing it. The parents were bringing the children, the disciples were rebuking them, Jesus was perceiving. He was much displeased (jyavdnrnoe); literally, he was moved with indignation. His words imply eagerness and earnestness: Suffer the little children to come unto me; forbid…
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bably supplied to him b senda express most vividly an earnest, ten- der, searching look. They seem, if it may be ssid reverently, to combine the Divine penetration with human sympathy and com- passion. The counsel of our Lord which follows was not a general command, but a particular precept, which the young rule…
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They were as those who had nothing, and yet were possessing all things.” Ver. 29.—St. Matthew (xix. 28) here in- troduces the great promise, to be fulfilled in the regeneration, that is, at the second coming of Ohrist—at the second birth of the world to a new and glorious state, It may be that St. Matthew was gu…
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er. 35.—And there come near unto him James and John, the sons of Zebedee, saying unto him, Master, we would that thou shouldest do for us whatsoever we shall ask of thee. St. Matthew (xx. 20) informs us that this request was made by Salome, “the mother of Zebedee’s children.” The two accounts are readily reconci…
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Vers. 43, 44.—In these words our Lord enjoins him who is raised above others to conduct himself modestly and humbly; so as not to lord it over those beneath him, but to consider for them and to consult their security and happiness, and so to con- duct himself that he may appear to be rather their minister and se…
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Vers. 1—12.— Marriage and divorce. Our Lord Jesus {s the great moral Legislator of humanity. His authoritative teaching applies to all classes and to all relationships of mankind. And it is to be noticed that he bases his commands and counsels both upon grounds of natural right and reason, and also upon the revealed…
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Ill. THE TWELVE, AND THEIR TREATMENT OF THE CHILDREN. It is instructive to observe that the very persons whose office it was to make Jesus known to men, and to introduce all the needy to his notice, and to commend them to his aid, should have on this occasion interfered with the approach of those whom Jesus would ha…
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him an ingenuous disposition, a thirst for truth, a reverence for goodness; doubtless looking back upon a pure and honourable life in che past, and forward to the bright possibilities of the future. What an insight we thus gain into the truly human nature of the Saviour! And are there not now those whom he looks upo…
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apostles, which was addressed from the throne of his glory by the triumphant Redeemer to his struggling soldiers upon earth. “ Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life.’ Many a faithful witness and warrior has been animated by the glorious prospect, and has learned joyfully to toil and patie…
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I. THE REQUEST OF AMBITION. There is scope in every position of human life for the display of this principle of human nature. The desire to be wiser and better and more influential for good than we are is to be commended ; but the desire to have more power and honour than our fellow-men ig bad, unless it be cherishe…
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Il. Tux REMEDY FOR AMBITION. Here, as everywhere, Christianity is Christ. Jesus never merely tells us what he would have us be; he first shows us this in his own Person, and then he supplies us with the Divine and all-sufficient motive in his own ministry and sacrifice. “For verily the Son of man came not to be,” et…
1,199 wordsSource & rights
Public-domain historical Pulpit Commentary. Text from OCR of an original historical scan; OCR may contain recognition errors.
Project Gutenberg source record →
Historical Christian writing; not Scripture.