The Pulpit Commentary — Mark — Volume 1 — Section 268

for him by his reputed father's choice. Often our work is so settled for us, and our plans and preferences are thus altered by others, or nither through them by him wh1> appoints for every man the bounds of his habitation. Sometimes, for example, a. young fellow has entered on the study of the law; but his father dies, a.nd leaves a. business on the continuance of which the livelihood of the widow and younger children depends. All the cherished prospects of life are then rightly sa.crificed upon the altar of love and duty, It would not be right to dissipate the work of another's life, especially if it wer.e that of one's own father; and if the business be one in which you could serve othel'S and serve God, let it be undertaken heartily and gladly. Let there be no department of life-work in which you would be unwilling to bend your back for the heaviest burden. All such occupations Christ has touched and sanctified and honoured, so that in them "whatsoever you do, you may do it heartily, as unto the Lord."-A. R. Vere. 3-5.-" They were offended in him." Wbether the narratives of the three synoptic evangelists refer to one visit to Nazareth or to two visits, is a question which bas been eagerly discussed. Give suggestions for the settlement of the dispute. Possibly such discrepancies were allowed to exist that we might care less for the material, and more for the spiritual element in the Gospels; that we might concern ourselves le3s with external incidents in the life of Jesus, and more with the Christ who liveth for evermore. 'l'hose who rejected our Lord at Nazareth have their followers in the preseut day, who are influenced by similar motives. Let us discover the reasons and the results of their conduct. J. INDIFFERENCE TO CHRIST SOMETIMES ARISES FROM FAlllILIARITY WITH HIS BURROTh"DINGS. The inhabitants of an Alpine village live for years under the shadow of a snow-clad mountain, or within hearing of a. splendid fall which comes foaming down its rocky bed; but they do not turn aside for a moment to glance at that which we have come many miles to see. This indifference, bred of familiarity, characterized the Nazarenes. They had known the great Teacher as a child, and had watched h.is growth to manhood. He did not come upon them out of obscurity, as a startling phenomenon demanding attention; but they knew the education he had received, the teachers at whose feet he had been sitting, the ordinary work he had done, etc. Jesus himself acknowledged the influence of this, when he said, "A prophet is not without honour, save in his own country, and among his own kin, and in his own house." We warn our hearers against similar peril; for there are many who have known their Bibles from childhood, who remember the old pictures which at first aroused some interest in it, who have attended public worship for years, and yet their Jives are pra.yerless, and it may be said of them, "God is not in all their thoughts," Beware of that familiarity with sacred things which will deaden spiritual sensibility, Most of nll, let us who think and speak and work for Christ pray that our hearts may ever be filled with light and love, and may be kept strong in spiritual power. lL CoNTEMPT FOB CHRIST SOMETIMES SPRINGS FROM ASSOCIATION WITH HIS FRIE~DS. "ls not this . . . the brother of James, and Joses, and of Juda, and Simon? and arn not his sisters here with us?" Possibly thare was nothing known about them which was in antagonism to the truth and purity Jesus proclaimed, but as there was nothing wonderful about them, it was the more difficult to believo there was anything Divine about him. Far more reasonably, however, does the world misjudge our Lord because of what is seen in us. Earthly, ordinary, and spiritually feeble as we are, we neverthe- less represent him. He speaks of truth, and is " the Truth,'' yet sometimes tho world asks concerning his disciples, "Where is their sincerity and transparency?" 'iVe pro- fess to uphold righteousness, yet in business, and politics, and home-life we sometimas swerve from our integrity. Let there be but living witnesses in the world such as by God's grace we might become, and through whom there should be the outgoings of spiritual power, and then society would be shaken to its very foundations. When the rulers a&w the boldness of Peter and John-the moral change wrought in these Galilean pcasants-"they took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus;" and "seeing the man who had been cured" standing beside them, as the result of thei.r work, "they could say nothing against it." IU. THE REJECTION OF CHRIST DRIN(]S ADOUT A WITHDRAWAL OF ms INFLUENCI!. "He could there do no mighty work," lie coulJ not. His power was omnipotent, bu.&  266 THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. MARK. [cu. v1. 1--50.