of friends — such was the daily tenor of our Lord's earthly ministry. And He " left us an example that we should follow His steps/' (1 Peter ii. 21.) Blessed indeed are those Christians who strive, however feebly, to imitate their Master !
Let us observe in these verses, how our Lord Jesus Christ was watched by His enemies. We read that " they watched Him, whether He would heal him on the Sab- bath day, that they might accuse Him."
What a melancholy proof we have here of the wicked- ness of human nature ! It was the Sabbath day, when these things happened. It was in the synagogue, where men were assembled to hear the word and worship God. Yet even on the day of God, and at the time of wor- shipping God, these wretched formalists were plotting mischief against our Lord. The very men who pre- tended to such strictness and sanctity in little things, were full of malicious and angry thoughts in the midst of the congregation. (Pro v. v. 14.)
Christ's people must not exjDect to fare better than their Master. They are always watched by an ill- natured and spiteful world. Their conduct is scanned with a keen and jealous eye. Their ways are noted and diligently observed. They are marked men. They can do nothing without the world's noticing it. Their dress, their expenditure, their employment of time, their con- not transgress, or maintain any transgression against any law of God. Wherefore it is to be held that all His speech here tended to nothing else but to convince the Pharisees of blindness and ignorance touch- ing the right keeping of the Sabbath according to the commandment, it being never required to rest so strictly as they thought." — Meyer's Commentary. 1631.