Lukexviii. 31 — 34. Then he took unto him the twelve, and said unto them, Behold, we go up to Jerusalem, and all things that are written by the prophets concerning the Son of Man shall be accomplished, For he shall be delivered unto the Gentiles, and shall be mocked, and spitefully entreated,
and spitted on: and they shall scourge him, and put him to death: and the third day he shall rise again. And they understood none of these things: and this saying was hid from them, neither knew they the tilings which were spoken.
WE are informed respecting some of the heathen philosophers, that they had a doctrine for the vulgar, and a different doctrine for their own immediate disciples. Not so our blessed Lord ; he had the same doctrine for all : but he communicated some things more plainly to his select followers, because they had, by reason of their constant attendance upon him, a clearer conception of his meaning, and be- cause they were afterwards to become the instructors of the world. Hence we find that he explained to them in private what he had spoken to the public in parables : and in these private, no less than in his public, instructions, he was indefatigable ; embracing every opportunity, whether when sitting in the house, or when walking by the way. He was now walking with his Disciples towards Jerusalem ; and, as his death was speedily approaching, he judged it right to apprise them what they were to expect. He knew how great a stumbling-block his sufferings were likely to prove to those who did not understand the reason and necessity of them ; and therefore he determined once more to inform them, that the sufferings were not unexpected casualties, but events foreseen by him and fore-ordained by God.
In this passage there are two things to be noticed ; I. The minuteness of our Lord's prophecy —
We can scarcely conceive a prophecy to be more circumstantial than that before us : and in this view it reflects peculiar light on,
1 . His character as a man —
[The particular sufferings here specified are most terrible to flesh and blood : yet behold, he speaks of them with as much composure as if they were light and insignificant. But in regarding them with such indifference, he shewed how un- daunted was his fortitude ', how ardent his zeal, how unquench- able his love. Previous to his specifying these things, when he did but manifest a readiness to go up to Jerusalem, where the
d2