The Pulpit Commentary — Matthew — Volume 1 — Section 402

is the real root of sickness. These men who brought their friend for healing, showed, by their devices and their energy, such faith in Jesus as a Healer of bodily diseases, that they were in a fit state of mind to receive the higher truth concerning him. "To him that bath shall more be given." I. THE POWER TO DEAL WITH SIN IS CrrRIST's SUPREME TRUST, •• The Son of man he.th power on earth to forgive sins." Our Lord's healing of bodily disease then took men's chief attention, and often prevented their heeding his spiritual work. This is true still. Jesus is now regarded as a. Friend of the suffering, and this is pushing out of view his real work as the Saviour of sinners. Miracle for healina- disease was not and is not, man's supreme need. God would not bow the heavens and come down to ;fl'ect merely that object. Genius, science, and skill suffice for effective dealing with such things. The Incarnation is relative to sin. The true miracle is the supernatural dealing with sin; tbe Divine removal of its penalties; the Divine restoration of the conditions it has broken up; the Divine deliverance from its power, Jesus has, the miraculous power to save men from their sins. II. THE POWER TO DEAL WITH THE CONSEQUENCES OF SIN IS CHRIST'S ILLUSTRATION OF HIS POWER TO DEAL WITH SIN ITSELF. The Jews connected suffering with sin as its cause. They were so far right, and only went wrong when they tried to explain individual cases. Christ never healed for the simple sake of healing; the influence of the act on his higher work in sonls was always in his mind.-R. 'I', Ver. 4.-The sin of thinking evil. "Wherefore think ye evil in your hearts?" 'l'hought-rea.ding may be made a plaything, and it may be developed into a science, It is a commonplace faculty which every one possesses, in greater or less degree, and which every one more or less efficiently cultivates by the practice and experience of life. The mother reads the thought of her child; the wifo the thought of her husband; and the friend often guesses, as we say, the thought of his friend. 'l'his ordinary power our Lord possessed, and the faces and movements of his disciples must often have suggested to him what was in their minds. This, however, may not bo felt to explain a.II the instances that are recorded, and we may well assume that our Lord had a Divine power of thought-reading, and it included not only the thought, but also the tone and character and quality of the thought. Here our Lord reproves the spirit of the thought rather than the thought; the suspicious temper, which prefers to light upon an evil explanation rather than a good one, and assumes that every one must mean to do the bad thing. The apostle makes a ~pecial point of "charity" that it "thinketh no evil" And the sin is so common that a familiar proverb ha.a been fashioned to warn us against it, 11 Boni soi qni mal y pense "-" Evil be to him. who evil thinks." The loving, trustful temper will ensure kindly thoughts, and the suggestion of good motives wherever possible. I. THINXING EVIL AS AN ACT. It is an a.et that Jesus here reproves. These scribes heard words which were strange to them, and found a claim made which they could not underst.a.nd. What, then, should they have done? Plainly they should have ta.ken the matter into quiet consideration; gathered up what might help to explain it, and formed a careful and wise judgment. What did they do? Thought too quickly; let bias and prejudice guide thought; encouraged the evil suggestion that ea.me; allowed themselves to feel pleasure in the assumption of bad motives. When a judgment bas to be ma.de of persons or of motives, it should never be made hurriedly; bees.use at first we seldom can get in to consideration the entire circle of grounds on which a judgment should be based. It is the easiest thing to II think evil;" it may be the right thing to "think good." If these scribes had thought more, they might have thought good. IL THunrnm EVIL .AB A. HA.BIT. This it readily grows to become. This involves distortion of the mental faculties. The soul sees through coloured glasses, and never sees the truth. Suspicion becomes a mood of mind; and with those who have fiud this habit, no man's character is safe.-R. T. Ver. 9.-Making swrrender for (Jlvriat'B salce. "And he arose, and followed him." It is necessary to examine the customs of the East in order to estimate fairly the nature of the surrender that Matthew made. We need not set before our minds a call 011, 1x. 1-38.J THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. MATTHEW. 399