r
82 EXFOsrroBY thouohts.
■
inclined to go back to the world. — " Are we about our Father's business P Are we walking in the steps of Jesus Christ?" — Such questions will often prove very hum- bling, and make us ashamed of ourselves. But such questions are eminently useful to our souls. Never is a Church in so healthy a condition as when its believing members aim high, and strive in all things to be like Christ.
Notes. Lukb n. 41 — 62.
42. — \TvDeloe yearn oU^ This age appears to have been regarded by the Jews as a kind of turning point out of the state of child- hood. Lightfoot quotes a saying from one of the Rabbinical writers : " Let a man deal gently with his son, till he comes to be twelve years old ; but from that time let him descend with him into his way of living, — that is, let him diligently keep him close to that way, rule, and act, by which he may get his living."
44. — [Company.] The word so translated is only used in this place. It specially means a company of persons on a journey.
[Supposing.,. went a day s journey.'] An explanation of this is given by Bede, in a passage quoted by Corderius. He says it was the custom in going to and returning from Jewish feasts, for the men to walk by themselves, and the women by themselves. In this way Joseph might easily "suppose" that Jesus was with Mary, and Mary " suppose " that He was with Joseph.
46. — [After three days.] Bishop Hall remarks, "Where wert thou, blessed Jesus, for the space of these three days? Where didst thou bestow thyself, or who tended thee, while thou wert thus alone in Jerusalem ? — Whether it pleased thee to exercise thyself thus early with the difficulties of a stranger, or to provide miraculously for thyself, I inquire not, since thou revealest not. Only this I know, that hereby thou intendest to teach thy parents that thou couldest live without them, and that not out of any indigency, but out of a gracious dispensation, thou wouldest ordinarily depend upon their care."
[Sitting in... midst of. ..doctors, <Be.] The common expression, " Christ disputing with the doctors," is utterly destitute of foun- dation in this passage. It conveys an improper and incorrect idea, and ought to be discouraged among Christians. There is not the slightest trace in the acooimt before us of any "dispute" at all.
LXTKE, CHAP. in. VEB. 1 — 6.
83
48. — [Why hast thou dealt with us thus."] There is eTidence of in- firmity in this language of the Virgin Mary to our Lord. She seems here, as on other occasions, to have shown herself to he like other holy women, — a heing who needed a Saviour herself, and therefore unahle to save others.
49. — [About my Father's business.] These words so translated would admit of heing rendered, " in my Father's house," aud many commentators are strongly in favoui of that sense heing given to them. But, on the whole, our own English translation seems the hest and most comprehensive. The proposed trans- lation cramps and limits our Lord's words, hy confining their application to one thing, " my father^s house." The translation "my father's husiness" embraces a far wider range of thought, and is more in keeping with the general depth and fulness of our Lord's sayings.
61. — [was subject.'] The words imply a continual habit during His residence at Nazareth, and not a single isolated act,
52. — [Increased in wisdom and stature.] A sentence from Poole's Annotations on this subject, is worth reading : "If any ask how He who was the eternal wisdom of the Father, who is the only one God, increased in wisdom, they must know that all things in Scripture which are spoken of Christ, are not spoken with respect to His entire Person, but with respect to the one or other nature united in that Person. He increased in wisdom, as He did in age or stature, with respect to His human, not His divine nature. And as God daily magnified His grace and favour towards Him, so He gained Him favour with the un- righteous and people of Galilee."
LUKE m. 1—6.
1 Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Crosar, Pontius Pi- late beinp^ goyemor of Judsea, and Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip tetrarch of Itursea and of the region of Trachonitis, and Lysanias the tetrarch of Abilene,
2 Annas and Gaiaphas being the High Priests, the word of God came unto John the son of Zacharias in the wilderness.
3 And he came into all the country about Jordan, preaching the baptism of repentance for the remission of
sms.
4 As it is written in the book of the words of Esaias the prophet, saying, The voice of one crying in the wil- demess. Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make ids paths straight.
6 Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be brought low ; and the crooked shidl be made straight, and the rough ways shall be made smooth :
6 And all flesh shall see the salva- tion of God.
These verses describe the beginning of the Gospel of Christ. It began with the preaching of John the Baptist.
84 BXPosrroBt tHOtreHTs.
The Jews could never say, that when Messiah oame, He oame without notice or preparation. He graciously sent a mighty forerunner before His face, by whose ministry the attention of the whole nation was awakened*
Let us notice first, in this passage, the wickedness of the times when Chrisfs Oospel was brought into the world. The opening verses ' of the chapter tell us the names of some who were rulers and governors in the earth, when the ministry of John the Baptist began. It is a melan- choly list, and full of instruction. There is hardly a name in it which is not infamous for wickedness. Tiberius, and Pontius Pilate, and Herod, and his brother, and Annas, and Caiaphas, were men of whom we know littie or nothing but evil. The earth seemed given into theiiands of the wicked. (Job ix. 24.) When such were the rulers, what must the people have been P — Such was the state of things when Christ's forerunner was commissioned to begpi preaching. Such were the times when the first foundation of Christ's church was brought out and laid. We may truly say, that God's way3 are not our ways.
Let us learn never to despair about the cause of God's truth, however black and unfavourable its prospects may appear. At the very time when things seem hopeless, Gbd may be preparing a mighty deliverance. At the very season when Satan's kingdom seems to be triumph- ing, the ''little stone, cut without hands," may be on the point of crushing it to pieces. The darkest hour of the night is often that which just precedes the day.
Let us beware of slacking our hands from any work of God, because of the wickedness of the times, or the number and power of our adversaries. ''He that observ-