The Pulpit Commentary — Matthew — Volume 1 — Section 485

Through the intellect God appeals to you in one way; and through sympathy in quite another way. How sweetly ~entle is electricity in the growth of lilies, a.nd in the generation of birds, bees, butterflies I But in cer~ain conditions it gathers itself up, &nd flashes in lightning, accompanied with terrible artillery. "Wisdom in John Baptist was ascetic ancl sincere; in Jesus it was freer, gentler, and sweetly social'' (Pulsford). \Ve can never fairly judge an agency until we see how it stands in its relation-what it does, what it is calculated to do. Then what seems insignificant and even unsuitable is plainly seen to be an inspiration of wisdom. II. WISDOM IB JUSTIFIED IN THE ADAPTATION OF ITS AGENCIES. Estimate fairly what John had to do, and his austerity and severity are fully justified. Estimate fairly what Jesus has to do, and his friendliness and readiness to enter into the common spheres of life are fully justified. Wisdom is justified in all her methods and changes. III. WISDOM ONLY FAILS TO JUSTIFY ITSELF TO A RIVAL WISDOM, "The children of pride and self-will justify Wisdom in no form. They puff up their own conceit by complaining of every mode in which she presents herself. John comes to them grave enough, earnest as life and death, smiting at the roots of their hereditary nature; but they say, ' What a gloomy fellow I' Jesus comes, bland and winning, ready to sit at table with every class of men; but they say, 'He is fond of a goocl dinner and his wine.' So that neither can John break them from their old ha.bits, nor Jesus attract them to the Divine-human life."-R. 'l', Ver. 25.-77ie Divine reserve. From some the higher truth is hidden; to some the higher truth is revealed. This cannot be explained by what is called the" sovereignty" of God; because we must think of God as acting on good judgment, though the materials of his judgment may be more than we can comprehend, or beyond our power to appreciate aright. Here the difficulty of the Divine reserve is not great. We can easily recognize the wisdom of leaving those who think themselves wise to their fancied wisdom; and bestowing gifts on those who aro conscious of their ignorance and want to be taught. I. GoD REVEALS TRU'l'H FREELY, BUT WITil DISCRIMINATION. Jesus spoke quite freely; anywhere, everywhere, on all occasions, he dropped the seeds of Divine truth; and yet he observed that only some of the seeds went into the soul, germinated, and brought forth fruit. This found expression in his parables. 'l'his wa~ sometimes a distress to him. Freely he had preached in Galilee, but the fickle people heard him for a while, and then turned against him. Capernaum saw his mighty works, but evil influences closed the avenues of faith, and the well-to-do, and the Pharisee proud of his religion, and the scribe proud of his learning, united to leave him alone to be the Friend of the poor, who "know not the Law." In the manner characteristic of the pious Jew, and eminently characteristic of himself, Jesus saw the workings of Divine wisdom in this. His rtlvelation of God was proving a touchstone; God was making the truth teU on somo, and fail in making its way to others. And apostles saw the gospel to be "a savour of life unto lifo, and of death unto death." Preached to all, the gospel is reserved from some. I!. 'l'HE DISCRIMINATION CONCERNS THE CHARACTER OF THE PROPOSED RECIPIENTS. Not their circumstances. Truth is not reserved for the poor only. The contrast presented by our Lord is between guiloful, self-satisfied man and simple, rt!ceptive child. He does but give expression to a recognized universal law of teaching. The man who thinks he knows will not learn. The man who feels that he does not know is glad to learn. But our Lord searchingly suggests, what we well know to be the case, that these two mon represent types of character. It is not that the one knows and the other does not know; it is that the one is guileful and conceited, and feels as if he knew; while the other is humble and diffident, and/eels as if he did not know. Christ's revelation of the Father, and the redemption, never co.u be interesting to any but simple, childlike souls.-R. T. Ver. 21.-The Son and the Father. It is remarkab!e that Jesus almost always used the term "Father" when he spoke of God. And be usetl the term so constantly that it may even be treated as the key-note of the revelation which he brought. He came to earth in order to bring to men "good news of God;" and the good nows may be MATTHEW, 2I 482 THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. MATTHEW. [ou. x1. 1---30.