PUBLIC-DOMAIN CHRISTIAN BOOK
Expository Thoughts on the Gospels — St. John — Volume 2
Ryle, J. C. (John Charles), 1816–1900 · 168,104 words · 353 reading sections
270 EXPOSITORY THOUGHTS.
them that weep, and rejoice with them that rejoice. Well would it be for the Church and the world if there were more Christians of this stamp and character ! The Church would be far more beautiful, and the world be far more happy. Notes. John XI. 30—37. 30. — [Nbio Jesus ivas not yet come, etc.'} The Greek word for "…
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[SJie goeth. .grave. ..weep there.'] We must suppose from this sentence, tha ; weeping at the grave of dead friends was a custom amoi g the Jews in our Lord's time. In estimating such a custom, which to most thinking persons may seem as useless as rubbing a wound, and very likely to keep up pain without healing, it is …
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Trapp remarks that the words of Mary in this verse and of Martha in the former one show that we are all naturally dis- posed to make too much of Christ's bodily presence. 83. — [When Jesus therefore saw hery etc.~\ This is one of those verses which bring out very strongly the real humanity of our Lord, and His power t…
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natural feelings by His Divine nature, or restrained His trouble, and in so doing was greatly disturbed. (d) Some, as Gomarus and Lampe, consider that our Lord was moved to holy sorrow and indignation at the sight of the unbelief even of Martha and Mary, (expressed by their immod- erate grief, as if the case of Lazaru…
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When all has been said, we must not forget that the phrase touches a very delicate and mysterious subject : that subject is the precise nature of the union of two natures in our Lord's Person. That He was at the same time perfect God and perfect Man is an article of the Christian faith ; but how far the Divine nature a…
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ture about raising him. In short, those who heard Him pub- licly ask this question would see that this was no prearranged and precontrived miracle. Quesnel remarks : " Christ does n *t ask out of ignorance, any more than God did when he said, 'Adam, where art thou ? ' " [They said.. .Lord, come and see.] Who they wer…
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We learn the great practical lesson, from this verse, that there is nothing unworthy of a Christian in tears. There is nothing unmanly, dishonourable, unwise, or feeble, in being full of sympathy with the afflicted, and ready to weep with them that weep. Indeed, it is curious to gather up the many instan- ces we have i…
506 wordsSECTION 248JOHN, CIIAP. XI.
277 Let us note that nothing will convince, or satisfy, or silence some wicked men. Even when Christ is before them, they are cavilling, and doubting, and finding fault. What right have Christ's ministers to be surprised if they meet with the same treatment ? Musculus remarks on the Satanic malice which this sentence…
94 wordsSECTION 249JOHN XL 38-46.
38 Jesus therefore again groaning in himself cometh to the grave. It was a cave, and a stone lay upon it. 39 Jesus said, Take ye away the — THione. Martha, the sister of him that was dead, saith unto him, Lord, by this time he stinketh : for he hath been dead four days. 40 Jesus saith unto her, Said I not unto thee,…
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said to those aiound Him, when he came to the place of burial, " Take ye away the stone." Now why did our Lord say this? It was doubtless as easy for Him to command the stone to roll away un- touched as to call a dead body from the tomb. But such was not His mode of proceeding. Here, as in other cases, He chose to giv…
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first fell sick. It may be meant to remind Martha that her Master had sent her word, " This sickness is not unto death, but for the gloiy of God." But it is perhaps more likely that our Lord desired to recall to Martha's mind the old lesson He had taught her all through His ministry, the duty of always believing. It is…
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between Him and His Father, in all that He did, as well as in all that He taught. Once more He would remind them that he did not come among them as a mere Prophet, but as the Messiah who was sent by the Father, and who was one with the Father. Once more He would have them know that as the words which He spake were the …
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world of spirits ! A soul that had left its earthly tene- ment was called back from Paradise, and joined once more to its owner's body. — Well may the Church of Christ main- tain that He who could work such works was " God over all blessed forever." (Rom. ix. 5.) Let us turn from the whole passage with thoughts of com…
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Ecolampadius and Musculus think that the unbelieving, sneering remark of the Jews in the preceding Terse is the reason why our Lord " again groaned." Bullinger thinks that the renewed emotion of our Lord was simply occasioned by the sight of the grave. {It was a cave, and a stone lay upon it.'] Graves among the Jews s…
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the crowd of lookers-on, that Lazarus had been dead four days, and was fast going to corruption. This we may well believe in such a climate as that of Palestine. (&) It proves, beyond a reasonable doubt, that there was no imposture, no collusion, no concerted deception, arranged be- tween the family of Bethany and our…
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[And Jesus lifted up his eyes, and said.] We now reach a point of thrilling and breathless interest. The stone had been re- moved from the mouth of the cave. Our Lord stands before the open grave, and the crowd stands around, awaiting anxiously to see what would happen next. Nothing appears from the tomb. There is no s…
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"Father, let this cup pass from Me." (Jolm. xii. 47, and Mark xxvi. 29.) It is, however, only fair to say that the first of these prayers is greatly qualified by the context, and the second by the words, " if it be possible." We may note here, as elsewhere, what an example of thank- fulness, as well as prayerfuluess, …
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publicly, for the benefit of this crowd of people standing by the grave, in order that they may see and believe for the last time that I do no miracle without Thee, and that I am the Messiah whom Thou hast sent into the world. I would have them pub- licly hear Me declare that I work this last great work as Thy Sent One…
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and a loud voice were necessary to summon it back." Euthymius suggests the same reason. This, however, seems an odd idea. On the other hand, Brentius, Grotius, and Lampe suggest that Jesus "cried with a loud voice," to prevent the Jews from saying that He muttered or whispered some magical form, or words of enchantmen…
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Very striking is it to remark how in the least minute particu- lars the objections of infidels and sceptics are quietly fore- stalled and met in Gospel narrative ! Thus Chrysostom remarks that the command to " loose him " would enable the friends who bore Lazarus to the grave, to know from the grave-clothes that it was…
506 wordsSECTION 261290 EXPOSITORY THOUGHTS.
Musculns observes what a wonderful example we have here of the sovereign grace of God, choosing some, and leading them to repentance and faith, and not choosing others. Here is the same miracle, seen under the same circumstances, and with the same evidence, by a large crowd of persons ; yet while some believe, others b…
419 wordsSECTION 262JOHN XI. 47—57.
47 Then gathered the chief priests and the Pharisees a council, and said, What do wo ? for this man doeth many- miracles. 48 If we let him thus alone, all men will believe on him : and the Romans shall come and take away both our placo and nation. 49 And one of them named Caiaphas, being the high priest that same yea…
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Let us beware of supposing that miracles alone have any power to convert men's souls, and to make them Christians. The idea is a complete delusion. To fancy, as some do, that if they saw something wonderful done before their ej-es in confirmation of the Gospel, they would at once cast off all indecision and serve Chris…
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short-sighted and erring judgment than this. They rushed madly on the path they had chosen, and the very thing they feared came to pass. They did not leave our Lord alone, but crucified and slew Him. And what happened then? After a few years, the very calamity they had dreaded took place : the Roman armies did come, de…
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purity of heart. Will-worship and ceremonialism may " satisfy the flesh," but the}*- do not tend to promote real godliness. The standard of Christ's kingdom must be sought in the sermon on the Mount : " Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God." (Matt. v. 8 ; Col. ii. 23.) Notes. John XI. 47—57. 47. — [T…
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put Him clown, — if we only dispute and reason and argue and cavil and denounce Hiin, but let Him have His liberty, let Him go where He pleases, let Hira do what He pleases, and preach what He pleases." " Thus " can only mean " as at present, and hitherto." [All men will believe on him.'] This means the bulk of the p…
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about to arise, and become a great leader, is mentioned by Roman historians. Bat there is no evidence that the Roman government ever showed jealousy of any one who was merely a religious teacher, like our Lord, and did not interfere with the civil power. The plain truth is, that this saying of the Pharisees looks like…
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they ought to have drawn. They willingly shut their eyes agaiust light. How miserably mistaken the policy of the Pharisees proved to be, it is needless to say. If they had let Jesus aloue, and allowed His Gospel to be received and believed, Jerusalem, humanly speaking, might have stood to this day, and the Jews might …
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Poole remarks : " After Herod's time tb^re was no regard to the family of Aaron, but the Romans made what high priests they pleased. Josephus tells us that the Jews had thirteen high priests from Aaron to Solomon, which was 612 years; eighteen from Solomon to the Babylonian captivity, which was 460 years; fifteen from …
480 wordsSECTION 270100 EXPOSITOKY THOUGHTS.
mitted on the ground of expediency. None are so likely to be tempted to commit such sins as rulers and governors. None are so likely to do things unjust, dishonest, aud oppressive, as a Government under the pressure of the spurious argument that it is expedient that the few should suffer, rather than the many should ta…
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Jewish high priest, in the time of our Lord, had any power of prophesying. I believe that the verses before us are very elliptical, and re- quire much to be supplied in order to convey the meaning of St. John. The only satisfactory sense I can put upon the passage will be found in the following free paraphrase. [This…
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with " that nation," or " the nation," as it would be more liter- ally rendered. The " gathering together in one," I believe to be that final gathering of all Christ's members which is yet to come at His second advent. (See Eph. i. 10; John xii. 32; Gen. xlix. 10.) Lightfoot says, the Jews thought the greatest work o…
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The conclusions of great ecclesiastical councils are seldom wise and good, and sometimes are wicked and cruel. Bold, forward, unscrupulous men, like Caiaphas, generally silence the quieter members, and carry all before them. 54. — [Jesus therefore walked. ..Jews.'] From this time our Lord found it necessary to give up…
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devoted the last few quiet days that remained before His cruci- fixion, to uninterrupted communion with the Father, and pri- vate instruction of His disciples, 55. — [And... Jews' passover...nigh at hand.'] This expression, like many others in John's Gospel, shows that he wrote for the Church generally, and for many r…
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one of the principal inquiries made by the Jews of one another. Our Lord, on a former occasion, had not come up to the pass- over. (See John vi.) They might, therefore, naturally feel doubtful whether He would come now. It is noteworthy that the question admits of being taken as one, or divided into two distinct ones.…
379 wordsSECTION 276JOHN XII. 1—11.
1 Then Jesus six days before the passover came to Bethany, where Laz- arus was which had been dead, whom he raised from the dead. 2 There they made him a supper ; and Martha served: but Lazarus was one of them that sat at the table with him. 3 Then took Mary a pound of oint- ment of spikenard, very costly, and 306 …
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coming out amoDg thern? So was the Lord Jesus seen by His disciples. — Did Lazarus take material food before the eyes of his friends? So did the Lord Jesus eat and drink before His ascension. — No one, in his sober senses, who saw Jesus take " broiled fish and a honeycomb," and eat it before several witnesses, would do…
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very moment she saw Lazarus, alive and well, sitting by her Master's side, — her own brother Lazarus, whom He had brought back to her from the grave. Greatly loved, she thought she could not show too much love in return. Having freely received, she freely gave. But there were some present who found fault with Mary's c…
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much for Christ, when he has no sense of debt to Christ. We must pity the blindness of our unkind critics, and work on. He who pleaded the cause of loving Mary, and said, " Let her alone/' is sitting at the right hand of God, and keeps a book of remembrance. A day is soon coming when a wondering world will see that eve…
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hand repeated kindnesses, be counted an Apostle, and yet prove rotten at heart in the end, all this at first sight appears incredible and impossible ! Yet the case of Judas shows plainly that the thing can be. Few things, perhaps, are so little realized as the extent of the fall of man. Let us thank God if we know an}…
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of Matthew xxiv. and xxv., and supped that night with Simon the leper. (5) On Wednesday He tarried in Bethany. (6) On Thursday He went to Jerusalem, ate the passover, appointed the Lord's Supper, and the same night was taken before the priests as a prisoner. (7) On Friday He was crucified. 2. — [There they made him a …
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wearing sandals are liable to suffer much from dryness and scorching. There was nothing, moreover, out of the common way in a woman doing this service. To " wash the saints' feet," St. Paul names among the good works of a Christian widow. (1 Tim. v. 10.) The motive of Mary, in doing what she did, was evidently strong …
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What the significance of Mary's wiping our Lord's feet with the hairs of her head may be, is a difficult question. Perhaps, from our ignorance of Eastern customs in the days of our Lord's earthly ministry, we are hardly qualified to give an opinion about it now. On points like these, where we are ignorant, it is wisest…
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Chrysostora remarks, that Jesus knew from the beginning that Judas was a traitor, and often rebuked him with such words as, " One of you is a devil." (John vi. 64.) Augustine also remarks that we must not suppose Judas never fell till he received money from the Jews. He was false from the begin- ning. He also says that…
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warm hearts, of all more or less conscious or unconscious cen« sures of the artless outgoings and acts of honest feelings, and of all narrow-hearted criticism of others according to our own mind and temper." 6. — [This he said not... cared for the poor.'} This is one of those parenthetical explanations or glosses, whi…
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a highsouled and noble-minded, though greatly erring man, and that his motive in betraying his Lord was to hasten His kingdom, and to cut short the period of his humiliation. I cannot reconcile this with the word "thief." Let us note here how far a man may go in Christian profes- sion without any inward grace. There i…
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this. I prefer the simple idea of " carrying about." It was the office of Judas to be the purse-keeper of the little company of disciples. The contributions in money and provisions of those friends who ministered to our Lord, such as "Joanna, Susanna, and many others," (Luke viii. 3,) were probably meant by the things …
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Calvin says : " Those are absurd interpreters who infer from Christ's reply, that costly and magnificent worship is pleasing to God. He rather excuses Mary, on the ground of her having rendered an extraordinary service, which ought not to be regard- ed as a perpetual rule for the worship of God." 8.— [For the poor alw…
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Zwingle observes that this sentence "excludes Christ's corporal presence from the Lord's Supper. According to His Divine nature, Christ is always present with His people. Ac- cording to His human nature, He is in one place in heaven, at the right hand of God." Most of the other reformers make the same comment. Bollock…
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321 age people will think for themselves, when God's truth comes into a land. Prisons and threats and penalties cannot prevent men thinking. Mind and thought cannot be chained. When ecclesiastical tyrants burn martyrs, aud destroy Bibles, and si- lence preachers, they forget there is one thing they cannot do. They can…
266 wordsSECTION 291JOHN XII. 12—19.
12 On the next day much people that were come to the feast, when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jeru- salem, 13 Took branches of palm trees, and went forth to meet him, and cried, Ho- sanna: Blessed is the King of Israel that cometh in the name of the Lord. 14 And Jesus, when he had found a young ass, sat thereo…
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stage of His earthly ministry, is very peculiar. It is unlike auy thing else recorded of Him in the New Tes- tament. Hitherto we have seen Him withdrawing as much as possible from public notice, retiring into the wilderness, and checking those who would have brought Him forward and made Him a king. As a rule He did not…
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It is impossible not to see in the history before us that our Lord had a mysterious influence over the minds tnd wills of all around Him, whenever He thought fit to use it. Nothing else can account for the effect which His approach to Jerusalem had on the multitudes which accompanied Him. The}' seem to have been carrie…
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suffer and die because He was vanquished by superior force, and could not help Himself, but because He loved us, and rejoiced to give Himself for us as our Substitute. He did not die because He could not avoid death, but because He was willing with all His heart to make His soul an offering for sin. Forever let us res…
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reverence. They show us that every word of Holy Scrip- ture was given by inspiration of God. They teach us to beware of the mischievous practice of spiritualizing and explaining away the language of Scripture. We must settle it in our minds that the plain, literal meaning of the Bible is generally the true and correct …
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self communicating it, or by His disciples learning it and telling others. This information would be carried back to the city by those who came from thence to Bethany on Saturday. Bethany, however, was on the direct road from Jericho to Jerusalem, and the tidings of our Lord's approach may have travelled before Him for…
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U.— [And Jesus.. .found.. .ass, sat thereon.'] That there was no chance or accident in the ass being found, we know from St. Matthew's Gospel, where we read that the disciples were sent to get the ass ready. (Matt. xxi. 7.) Every step of this tri- umphal progress into Jerusalem was prearranged. To ride upon an ass, we…
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lie did not quote from memory only, and so forget part; but he purposely only quoted that part of the prediction which was now especially fulfilled; viz., "the riding on the ass." The object of the prophecy, when it was first delivered, was to comfort the Jews in their low and decayed state, after their return from Bab…
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I And... they... done these things... him.'] The disciples found, long after the triumphant entry into Jerusalem, that they had been unconscious actors in a mighty accomplishment of Scrip- ture. This is a thought for us all. We have not the least idea, during the greater part of our lives, how much of God's great purpo…
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among such we may well believe that the report of Jesus com- ing in from Bethany would draw together many myriads of spectators to meet Him. The Greek words, " for this cause," here seem to refer for- ward to the latter part of the verse, and not backward to the preceding verse. Compare x. 17, where the same form of l…
474 wordsSource & rights
Public-domain historical edition (1857). Text from OCR of an original Internet Archive scan; OCR may contain recognition errors.
Project Gutenberg source record →
Historical Christian writing; not Scripture.