extent to which calling names is carried by Oriental people, even in the present day, is something far greater than in this coun- try we can imagine.
"When the Jews called our Lord " a Samaritan," they meant much the same as saying that He was no true Jew, and little better than a heathen. "The Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans." (John iv. 9.) When they said, "Thou hast a devil," I think it meant rather more than "thou art mad," as in John vii. 20, if we observe the following verse. It probably implied, " Thou actest and speakest under the influence of the devil. The power Thou hast is from Satan, and not from God."
Let us learn here how little cause Christians have to be sur- prised, if hard names and insulting epithets are applied to them. It is only what was done to their Master, and is no ground for discouragement in doing God's work.
49. — [Jesus answered, I have not a devil, etc."] Our Lord's answer to the coarse invective of His enemies amounts to this : " In saying that I have a devil you say that which is not true. I am simply honouring My Father in heaven by delivering His mes- sage to man, and you by your violent language are dishonouring Me, and in effect dishonouring and insulting my Father. Your insults do not strike Me only, but my Father also."
Let us note our Lord's calmness and equanimity under insult. A solemn denial of the blasphemous charge laid against Him, and an equally solemn reminder that He was honouring the God whom they themselves professed to worship, are the only reply He condescends to make. £0. — [And I seek not mine own glory.'] This sentence seems to arise out of the last verse.—" Ye dishonour Me; but you do not move or hurt Me, for I did not come to seek my own glory, but the glory of Him that sent Me. I receive not honour from men." (See John vii. 18 and v. 41.) Here, as elsewhere, our Lord points to the great principle, " that a true messenger from heaven will never seek his own glory, but his Master's."
[ There is one that seeketh and judgeth.] There is a very solemn warning in these words. They mean, "There is One, however, even my Father in heaven, who does seek and desire my glory; and not only seeks, but judges the conduct of all who dishonour Me, with deep displeasure, and will punish it at the last day."
There is comfort here for all Christ's members as wrell as for their Head. Though they may not think of it, there is One in heaven who cares deeply for them, sees all they go through, and will one day plead their cause. The latent thought seems the same as in Eccles. v. 8 — "He that is higher than the highest regardeth." A believer may cheer himself with the thought, " There is One that judgeth. There is One that sees all, that cares for me, and will set all right at the last day."
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Euthymius remarks on this verse that we should not heed things said against ourselves, but should vindicate the honour of God if things are said against God.
61. — [Verily.. .if a man keep my saying... never see death.] The mighty promise contained in this verse seems intended to wind up the whole conversation. All that our Lord had said had pro- duced no effect. He therefore closes His teaching for the pres- ent by one of those mighty sayings which tower above every- thing near them, and of which St. John's Gospel coutains so many. — " Whether you will hear or not, whether you choose to know Me or not, I solemnly tell you that if any man receives, believes, and keeps My doctrine, he shall never see death. Despised and rejected as I am by you, life or death, heaven or hell, blessing or cursing, depend and hinge on accepting the message I proclaim to you. I am the way, the truth, and the life." — It is like Moses taking leave of Israel and saying, " I call heaven and earth to record against you, that I have set before you life and death." (Deut. xxx. 15, 19.) Just so our Lord seems to say, " I tell you once more, for the last time, that to keep My saying is the way to escape death."
The expression is parallel to the one our Lord uses in the synagogue of Capernaum. There He says, " He that believeth in Me, hath everlasting life." Here it is " shall never see death." (John vi. 47.)
We should notice here, as elsewhere, that when our Lord uses the expression, "Verily, verily, I say unto you," which is familiar to all careful readers of St. John's Gospel, He is always about to say something of peculiar gravity and solemnity. See John i. 51; iii. 3, 5, 11; v. 19, 24, 25; vi. 26, 32, 47, 53; viii. 34, 61, 58; x. 1, 7; xii. 24; xiii. 16, 20, 21, 38; xiv. 12; xvi. 20, 23; xxi. 18.
The expression " keep my saying," means " receive into his heart, believe, embrace, obey, and hold fast the doctrine or message which I am commissioned to teach." — The phrase " my saying," means much more than the " words I am speaking at this moment." It is rather the whole doctrine of My Gospel.
The expression " never see death " cannot be taken literally. Our Lord did not mean that His disciples would not die and be buried like other children of Adam. We know that they did die. The meaning is probably threefold: (1) "He shall be completely delivered from that spiritual death Of condemnation under which all mankind are born ; his soul is alive and can die no more : (2) He shall be delivered from the sting of bodily death; his flesh and bones may sink under disease and be laid in the grave, but the worst part of death shall not be able to touch him, and the grave itself shaL give him up one day : (3) He shall be delivered entirely from the second death, even eternal punishment in hell; over him the second death ehall have no power."