The Pulpit Commentary — Matthew — Volume 1 — Section 528

that is good, the more we see the necessary truth of his saying, " He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me." Let parents try to win their children to that permanent and eternal family in which the relationship lies not in the flesh, but in the deepest recesses of the spirit, and from which there are no banishments, no deaths, no separations. Death then. loses the greater part of its terrors-is, indeed, recognized as the apparently necessary means of purifying and deepening our natural affections. III. FROM THIS STATEMENT WE UNDERSTAND BETTER OUB OWN POSITION, IF WE BE DOING THE WILL OF Goo. 1. ,ve have claims on Christ superior to those which can be asserted even by his relatives. He wants to be trusted, confided in, counted on. If you would have counted it happy to be born in the same family, and would have expected from him, your own Brother, all the help he could give, you may still count on that help and with greater assurance. 2. Christ takes pleasure in us, if we are doing God's will, such as he finds in nothing else. We cannot understand his longing for hnman love and acceptance, but we know that even as God he loved human fellowship, and when he bee.a.me man we find him the same. To be closer to Christ than to father or mother, to be more truly at one with him than with any one besides, this is salva- tion. In his own day he could point to some and say, " Behold my mother and my brethren I" Surely there are among ourselves those who long above all things to be truly the brethren of the Lord Jesus Christ.-D. Vers. 1-S.-Ritual and morals. The Pharisaic Jews are, in the previous chapter, upbraided for their obstinate impenitence. We find the same people here condemning the disciples of Christ as sabbath-break:ers because they plucked ears of corn to satisfy their hunger. The manner in which Jesus defends his disciples shows- I. THAT RITUAL IS NO SUBSTITUTE FOR MOB.A.LS. 1. The Phmrisees were stringent ritualists. (1) Their formality was seen in their dress. In their observance of cere- monies. In their scrupulous tithing of mint and anise and cummin. (2) The ritual of sabbath observance in like manner ihey zealously respected. So far did they carry this, that they refused to defend themselves in the wars with Antiochus Epiphanes and the Romans on the sabbatb. It was through this superstition that Pompey was enabled to take Jerusalem. (3) The ritual of sabbath observance with them was intensified by the interpretations of the elders. Thus reaping was admitted to be a servile work; and so was threshing. But according to the rabbins plucking ears of corn was "a kind of reaping," and rubbing them in their hands was "a kind of threshing." 2. But they were Zar,; in morals. (1) It is common for men of corrupt minds to attempt to atone for the looseness of their morals by zeal for the outward services of religion. So the Pharisees "made void the commandment of God through their traditions." While they scrupulously paid tithe upon trifles, they " neglected the weightier matters of the Law-judgment, mercy, and truth." (2) So in their zeal for the externals of sabbath observance they missed its spirit of worship. '!'hey failed to see that the sabbath is truly observed in its spirit, which is the spirit of heaven, mercy and love justice and truth. (3) Thie spirit they violated in the harshness of their judgmen't. In condemning the action of the hungry disciples they would sacrifice mercy to ceremony. 3. They inverted the order of God. (1) The end of the Law is love. (2) RitUAl is instituted as a means to that end. (3) When ritual interferes with love it must give place. Hence when the law of commandments contained in ordinances ceased to point men to Christ the Saviour of sinners, it was abrogated as a useless burden. II. THAT RITUAL MAY GIVE WAY TO NECESSITY. 2. This principle was sanctioned by David. (1) Necessity was with him a sufficient reason for setting aside the letter of the law relating to the ehewbrea.d (cf. Lev. x. 10; xxiv. 5-9; 1 Sam. xxi. 1-6). (2) Note: Thie action of David was parabolic. '!'ha shewbread is admitted to have been a type of Christ, who ap~ars in the presence or God for t~e nourishment and life of the spiritual priesthood. !Since part of the frankincense put m the bread was burnt on the altar for a memorial, the merit of the sacrifice of Ohriet is represented. The hnnger of David and his men constituted their particular claim to set forth the verity that those who hunger after righteousness are the persons to be satisfied with the good- ness of God's house (cf. 1 Pet. ii 5; Rav. i. 6; v, 10; xx. 6). 2. This principle was ,anc- OH, XlI.1-60.] THE GOSPEL AICCORDING TO s·r. MATTHEW. 625