The Pulpit Commentary — Matthew — Volume 2 — Section 22

parable of the sower, the seed is the Word of God; here it is the children of the kingdom. But the seed is identical with the plant, The living seed pervades and takes into itsel_f ~he whole human nature. The principle of spiritual life which wus !!own by the D1vme Sower becomes the full-grown plant, the Ohristian living in the faith of the Son of God. "Not I, but Christ liveth in me." 'l'his identification is seen even in the parable of the sower. In vcrs. 20, 22, 23 the true translation is not "he that received seed," but "he that was sown." ( 4) The enemy. "God ~aw every thin a that he had made, and, behold, it was very good." It was not he who sowed the tares; it was the de,il. This parable brings out into clear light the personality of Satan, his malice, his intense hostility to Christ. Dark, perplexing questions rise in our minds. Our very children ask 118-Why did not God destroy the devil? We know that there is " eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels." He shall be cast into the bottomless pit, and deceive men no more. But in the mean time it seems to be necessar.v, for deep inscrutable reasons, that his malice should be counteracted, not by a direct act of almighty power, but by moral and spiritual forces. Such forces·radiate into the Church from the cradle of Bethlehem, from the cross of Calvary. "For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil." The enemy sowed the tares ; they are the children of the wicked one. 'l.'he evil seed h&S, through their own sinful compliance, so spread through their. nature that it has. made them like their father the devil, and the lusts of their father they do. It is an awful thought; but we know that though, in the natural world, tares can never become wheat, yet, in the spiritual world, they who were once under the power of darkness may by the grace of God be translated into the kingdom of his dear Son. A i:-rable cannot, from the nature of the case, correspond in all its minute details with the eternal verities which it is intended to shadow forth. (5) The tares a.re to remain till the end of the world. The servants were impatient. Christians have been so oft.en. "Whence then bath it tares?" is a question which has been asked in every age of the Church-which we often ask ourselres. The servants would have antici- pated the office of the heavenly reapers; but the Lord forbade. The time was not come. They had not the knowledge. They would do more harm than good, wheat and tares were so inextricably mingled. Christians must wait for the Lord in patience. In the visible Church the evil will be ever mingled with the good. Earthly power must not be used to exterminate religious errors. The tares must grow with the wheat, for such is the Lord's command. It is a saddening thought that the Church, the bride of Christ, which ought to be" a glorious Church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing," should be so rent asnnder by schism and heresies, so disfigured with the evil· liveB of many baptized men. But the Lord warned us that it would be so. We must live in patient hope, purifying ourselves even as he is pure, and seeking by his gracious help to infiuence for good all who come within our reach. (6) For the harvest cometh. It is the end of the world. "The Son of man shall send forth his angels." He seemed a man among men, as he said the words; but he was in truth the high Son of God. None other could dare to describe the angels of judgment as his messengers. The reapers are the angels; they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them that do iniquity. They were in the outward kingdom, the visible Church; they have no part in the kingdom of glory. The Lord hath prepared no place there for them. There remaineth only the furnace of fire, the wailing and gnashing of teeth. Most awful words! (7) The glory of the blessed. "Then shall the xighteous shine fortb as the sun in the kingdom of their Father." They were in his earthly kingdom; they had called him " Our Father." Now they are with him for ever in the everlasting glory. They shall shine forth. The glory which they had before, which Christ had given them (John xvii. 22), but which had been hidden in that inner life of holiness which is hid with Christ in God, shall be manifested then. 'l'hey shall shine as the sun. As the raiment of the Lord shone on the Mount of the Transfiguration, so shall ■hine the glorified bodies.of the blessed in the day when he shall change the body of our humiliation, that it may be like unto the body of his glory. Listen, the Lord says; hia words are of momentous importance. " Who hath ears to hea.r, let him hear." LESSONS. 1. The malice of the devil is hellish. You have renounced him and all his works; hate him and them with energetic hatred. 2. The.mustard seed will grow; the leaven will diffuse its influence. He who hath begun the good work will fulfil it. en. xm. 1-68,) THE GOSP]J:L ACOORDING TO ST. MATTHEW. 23