The Pulpit Commentary — Mark — Volume 1 — Section 100

11piritual guidance of Christ. The contrast would, therefore, be very marked. A schism seemed to discover itself within the circle of the brethren. 2. The general life of the disciples of Ohri.st was not so ascetic as that of John's, and the traditional fasts o/ Jwlaism were not so strictly observed by them. The special occasion was only a striking instance of general divergence. In answering the question, then, the key would be given to the entire life which Christ desired men to lead. II. ITS SOLUTION. The answer was prompt and kindly, and it seemed to justify the question. It goes to the very root of the subject. No attention is given to the circum• stance of fasting being a positive or conventional enactment. Its meaning and purpose Bl'e at once referred to, as alone determining the validity or otherwise of its claims to being observed. 1. Subjective conditions and aims are stated to be of chief consequence ,~ regard to such a question. This was a new departure, a rationalizing of positive law and observance. Institutions and practices of religion are to stand or fall according to their spiritual adaptation to the needs of the human soul 2. Circumstances which d.etermine spiritual stat.es are, there/ore, decisive as to the obligation or otherwise of fasting. The Jews under the Law were without Christ; now he had come, and the spiritual experience of men who received him was wholly altered. Fasting would be out of keeping, because the mood of those who discerned and believed Uhrist (the Bridegroom) was festive and joyous. A feast rather than a fast was therefore the fitting ceremony. 3. .A fundamental distinction exists between Judaism and Ohr-is- twnity. The one was old and ready to vanish away; the other was new and instinct with fresh, vigorous life. Any confusion of them would therefore be mutually injurious. This distinctive character of each is represented in two illustrations, viz. (1) The old garment and the new piece of cloth. It would be foolish to employ Christianity merely t.o make good the defects of Judaism. The combination would not only be motley; it would be disastrous, because of the difference of spiritual force in the two systems. Judaism was antiquated, full of holes and rottenne~s, and ready to vanish away. To patch it up with the gospel would, therefore, only hasten its destruction. Fasting was representative of the legalistic or external rites of Judaism; Christianity was as new and " unfulled" cloth, which would shrink when put upon the old garment, and make the rent worse. This is one side of the truth; and in (2) the new wine and the old bottles, we have the other. Legal forms and observances are inadequate to contain and express the fresh, spiritual, ever-expanding life of the Christian. Spiritual truth and life mnst create their own ritual, and dictate their own ideal of morality.-M. Vers. 23-28.-The sabbath made/or man. I. THE PURPOSE 011' THE SABBATH 18 TO BE KEPT IN VIEW IN INTERPRETING ITS OBLIGATIONS. II. RDLES WHICH DO NOT HAVE REGARD TO THIS MAY VIOLATE WHAT THEY PROFESS TO PRESERVE. 1. The disciples were within the written permission of the Law. "'l'o pluck and rub with the hand ears from the field of a neighbour was allowed; Moses forbade only the sickle (Deut. xxiii. 25). But the matter belonged to the thirty-nine chief classes (fathers), each of which had its subdivisions (daughters), in which the works forbidden on the sabbath were enumerated. This was their hypocritical way, to make of triflincr thincrs matters of sin and vexation to the conscience" (Braune). 2. "Men see that° other~ neglect rules, when they see not their own violation of principles" (Godwin). Ill. TBE BEST INTEBEBTB 011' MAN ABE TO BE SERVED BY THE SABBATH. 1. "The s"'b"bath waa made for man, and not man for the sabbath." This is proved by an incident from the life of David. As they revered David, the allusion was an argumentum ad l.ominem as well as an illustration of a general principle. By that occurrence it was shown that even the sanctities of the temple were subordinated to the welfare of God's anointed and his followers. If, then, these things bent to the highest interests of man so must the sabbath. 2. " The Son of man is Lord of the sabbath." This is an infe:ence from the foregoing principle. For Christ claimed this authority not merely SB a man but as "the Son of man in his inviolable holiness, and in his mysterious dignity (intimated in Daniel) as the holy Child and Hea<l of humanity appearing in the name of God" (Lange). He summed up in his own person t.he highest interests of the race. And as Lord of the sabbath he uses it ever for the advancement of oolineas and the deve1'>pment of spiritul freolloru iu his eaints.-M. ll.S, 11. 1-28.J TUE GOSPEL ACCORDI~G TO ST. MARK. 97