The Pulpit Commentary — Matthew — Volume 1 — Section 54

h<m1age of the heart., the reverential submission of the whole being, adoration full of wondering awe, full of grateful love. It is the occupation of heaven: • They rest not day o.nd night, saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which we.s, and is, and is to come." ,ve must learn to worship here; it is the training_ for the heavenly life. Worship is not merely prayer; it includes prayer, but it is more. It does not consii,t simply in asking for what we need to supply our own wants. It is unselfish; its end is the glory of God. They who are learning here the true and heavenly worship are learning to approach God, to seek the presence of God, not only for their own deep necessities-they must indeed seek him for that, but not for that only-they seek hie face for himself, because he is so great, so glorious, so holy, so gracious. He himself is the e:i.:ceoo.ing great Reward of his chosen. These Gentiles teach us Christians what so many of us forget, the duty of unselfish worship-simple, heartfelt adoration, II. THEIR RECEPTION AT JERUSALEM. 1. By Herod. They came to Jerusalem the city of the great King, but they found not there the King whom they sough~ Another king was reigning in Jerusalem, a stranger, an Edomite; a king in name, but a very slave of the evil one, now drawing near to the close of his wicked lire, in that miserable old age which is the necessary result of a youth spent in the unbridled indulgence of sinful appetites. (1) Herod was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him, The announcement of the King's birth was not good news to Herod. He felt that that King must be the expected Messiah, the Christ; but he thought only of his own selfish aims, he feared for bis crown. Strange that even in the immediate prospect of death, men should so cling to earthly things, which must pass away so very soon, and neglect frw one thing needful. But it is commonly so; as a man lives, so, as a rule, he will die. The selfish and avaricious in life are selfish and avaricious still, even in the presence of death. He was troubled, and all Jerusalem. A strange awe came over people. The expectation of a Messiah was almost universal. Now, they beard, he was coming; and it may be their thoughts shaped themselves into the words of the prophet, "Who may abide the day of bis coming? and who shall stand when he appeareth? •• That awe soon passed away; the visit of the Magians was soon forgotten; the warning was lost. Jerusalem knew not the time of her visitation. The Lord came unto hill own, and bis own received him not. Men are troubled in spirit when death seems near, when the thought of the jud,,ament is brought home to their souls. Alas I how often those solemn foeli.ngs bear no real fruit! Selfish fear is very different from con- version; fear passes away with the sense of danger; conversion is an abiding change. (2) He consults the priests and scribes. We see another strange inconsistency- strange, but very common-belief in the letter of Holy Scripture joined with practical unbelief. Herod's religion is simply superstition; he bas the Scriptures, he has the priests; be uses them as if they were heathen oracles, and priests of Jupiter or Apollo. Mere bibliolatry is little better than unbelief: "the letter killeth." The Bible is precious exceedingly to the faithful: "the Spirit giveth life;" but to men like Herod, who make use of religion merely for political or selfish purposes, it is a savour of death unto death. (3) He sends the Wise Men to Bethlehem. He goes not there himself; be will come, he says. He bids others search diligently ; he remains at home. So men put off the great work of life; they do not seek Christ now; they say they will do so; but the future recedes further and further; the end comes, they have not sought, and so they have not found. He will worship him, he says. He believes in a way, he half believes ; it is, at least it may be, the expected King. But he is a traitor; in bis intense wickedness be talks of worship while in his heart he is plotting death; he is ready to slay the King, the Messiah, if he can, rather than endanger the crown which be can wear so short a time. There is an awful warning in Herod's selfish hypocrisy. Be true, it says to us, be true to your convictions. While you have the light, believe in the light, and walk in the light. Be true in yourselves, true in your relations with God, true in your dealings with men. God is true; he seeth in secret. Hypocrisy is hateful in his sight; it is the death of the soul. 2. The chief priests and BC'T'ibes. They knew the Scriptures; they could answer Herod's question at once; they told him where the Christ should be born. But they were blind guides; they knew and did not. Their religion was a lifeless theology, a dead orthodoxy. They showed others the way to Christ; they sought him not themselves. '!'hey taught the Gentile Magians; the cisciplel! profited, the teachers were callous and unmoved. It is a sad thing whell 011. u. 1-23.] THE QOSPEL .ACCORDING TO ST. MATTHEW. 41