Jews by Pilate, with permission to judge Him according to their law, it is wonderful that He was not stoned. But all was done that the Scriptures might be fulfilled."
34. — [They understood none, rfc] The blindness of the disciples about our Lord's crucifixion and sufferings is, at first sight, very extraordinary. But we must remember that they were all Jews, and trained from their infancy to expect a Messiah in glory and m^esty, but not in suffering and humiliation. The influence of early training, and incessant indoctrinating with one set of ideas, is exceedingly great.
Pellican has a clever and 'ingenious note on this passage, in which he shows how the disciples would probably interpret our Lord's predictions of His own suffiBrings, and explain away a sense which was ofi^Busive and painful to their own feelings.
He thinks that they would call to mind the many figurative and parabolical expressions which our Lord used in His teach- ing, such as " eating His flesh and blood," — " taking heed of the leaven of the Pharisees," — and would persuade themselves that His strong language about His own death might yet receive some figurative fulfilment without their Master really dying.
After all, we have no right to wonder at the disciples being slow to understand the first advent of Christ in humiliation, when we see how many Christians refuse to acknowledge the second advent in glory, although the texts about Messiah's glory are far more numerous than those about his sufferings. Above all, we have no right to wonder when we see how many, even now, are utterly in the dark about the true purpose of Christ's death upon the cross.
LUKE XVin. 36—43.
S6 And it came to pass, that as he ■Boome nigh unto Jericho, a certain blind man sat by the way side begging :
36 And hearing the multitude pass ff^f he asked what it meant.
37 And they told him, that Jesus c(f Jifasueth passeth by.
3S And he cried, saying, Jesus, thou Son of David, have mercy on me.
39 And they which went before re- ImjMd him, that he should hold his pcyrft : but he cried so much the more, TTI^Hf Son of David, have mercy on
40 And Jesus stood, and commanded him to be brought unto him : and when he was come near, he asked him,
41 Saying, What wilt thou that I shall do unto thee? And he said, Lord, that I may receive my sight.
42 And Jesus said unto nim, Re- ceive thy sight : thy faith hath saved thee.
43 And immediately he received his sight, and followed him, glorifying God : and all the people, when they saw ity gave praise unto God.
miracle described in these yerses is rich in instruction.
284 EXPOSITORY TfiOUOHTS.
It was one of the great works which witnessed that Christ was sent of the Father. (John y. 36.) But this is not all. It contains also some lively patterns of spiritual things which deserve attentive study.
We see, for one thing, in this passage, the importance of diligence in the use of means. We are told of "a certain blind man who sat by the way-side begging." He sought the place where his pitiful condition was most likely to attract notice. He did not sit lazily at home, and wait for relief to come to him. He placed himself by the road-side, in order that travellers might see him and give him help. The story before us shows the wisdom of his conduct. Sitting by the way-side, he heard that " Jesus was passing by." Hearing of Jesus he cried for mercy, and was restored to sight. Let us mark this well ! If the blind man had not sat by the way-side tiiat day, he might have remained blind to the hour of his death.
He that desires salvation should remember the ex- ample of this blind man. He must attend diligently on every means of grace. He must be found regularly in those places where the Lord Jesus is specially present. He must sit by the way-side, wherever the word is read and the Gospel preached, and God's people ass^nble together. To expect grace to be put into our heartai, if we sit idling at home on Sundays, and go to no place of worship, is presumption and not faith. It is true that " God will have mercy on whom He will have mercy ; " — but it is no less true that He ordinarily has mercy on those who use means. It is true that Christ is sometimes ''found of those who seek Him not ; " — ^but it is also true that He