Is it possible to discover the sentiments with which the Twelve listened to the parables? 1 er- haps they were too plain men to perceive their exquisite naturalness and beauty. In all their discussions concerning them not a word may have been spoken in praise of that perfect felicity \vhich secures for them an unequalled place m the litera- ture of the world. But they would at least per- ceive their appropriateness. How they must have lived in their memories and illuminated truth and duty ' Did the Twelve find any difficulty in under- standing the import of the parables ? Presumably their condition was just that of the diligent and devout reader of to-day. Some parables bcM- then- meanings, as it were, on their forehead. Nobody doubts what is the meaning of the parable of the Good Samaritan or of the Ten Virgins. It is true that there are questions connected with their inter- pretation which are still under discussion, but the lessons which they inculcate are obvious. But what of the parables which perplex expositors to-day 1 What of the Unjust Ste^^;ard .' W hat of the Labourers in the Vineyard? The same difti- cultics whicli occur to us must have occurred to the disciples But they had this immense advan- tage over us that tliey could ask their Master ques- tions as to His meaning, and we know that these questions were freely put. The interpretations of the parables of the Sower and of the Tares are said to have been replies made to the request of the disciples for an explanation. \Vhat strikes one in these answers is tfie point, depth, freshness of the meaning. These explanations have some- times been assigned to the Apostles themselves,
but the supposition is without probability. ^\ ere it sound it would form the most striking proof of the efl'ect on them of their intercourse with Jesus, for it is impossible to suggest juster or more suitable interpretations of the parables concerned. One peculiarly instructive sentence was spoken by our Lord in this connexion (Mt 13==). He had been expounding some of the parables to His disciples, and asked tf He had been understood When they replied affirmatively, He remarked that every teacher of the Law instructed regarding the king- dom of heaven was like a househo der who produced from his stores things new and old. The Apostles were the scribes of Jesus, taught to understand the nature, characteristics, and history of the King- dom of God, and hence capable of furnishing most profitable instruction to their hearers. The old and the new alike were at their command in their mutual relations and connexions. They did not desirise the one nor vaunt themselves concerning the other. The Law and the Gospel, prophecv and its accomplishment, the Law and i^ fulfil- ment, furnished them with the subjects which they could treat with knowledge and power.
After the Twelve had been some time with nnr Lord thev were sent forth on a missionary Zrney (misZn of the Apostles^ Mk 6', Mt 1U% Lk 9M The time at which the mission took place, the town from which they started, the duration of the mission, are uncertain. Two reasons pro- bably influenced our Lord iri despatching the Twelve on this enterprise. The first and most prominent was His profound sympathy for the condition of the people of Gali ee It was im- possible for Him to evangelize all Galilee, to say
nothing of the entire land ; others must share His labour?. This was one of the ends for which the Twelve had been chosen, and accordingly He sent them to announce everywhere that the Kmga?ni of God was nigh. A second reason was that He mi"ht in this way train them for their future career. The message which they were to proclaim corre- sponded with their own comparative immaturity on tie one hand, and with the spiritual state of their audiences on the other. To have declared the Messiahship of Jesus would have led to misunder- sUndfng, aSd have hindered rather than urthered the exp°ansion of the kingdom ; hence they were confineS to the assertion, so full of po^^f^ ^f^ liope, that the Kingdom was at hand. To assist them in discharging tlieir mission as the envoys of Jesus they were endowed with miraculous powers Thev were enabled to cure disease and to expel demons. These powers they were to exercise "gratuitously. This liberality was intended by 5esus to be an evidence of the nature of the king- dom, of which they announced the near approach. It was to be a kingdom of compassion, symijathy, tenderness. These endowments, besides serving to howX nature of the kingdom, were also a demonstration of the trutli of their message The Apostles were enjoined to make no special pro- vision for the mission on which they, were about to enter They were Ui start on it just as thev were They were to take neither money, nor food, nor clothinifor their journey. They were to rely fur their maintenance on the P.^o^^^e"'*"* <^°?' and on the liospitality which they were to seek. Sicause of the urgency of the case their attention was to be concentrated on the lost sheep of the house of Israel. It is, indeed, not probable that our Lord meant their mission to extend beyond Galilee, or even to the whole of the province the Greek-speaking cities being excluded The etlbrts of the Twelve were probably intended to be restricted to the homes of the people No refer^ ence is made in the instructions given them t« any appearance in the sjtiagogue or in the market-