The Pulpit Commentary — Matthew — Volume 2 — Section 59

which he only rented, or perhe.ps only worked in as a labourer. He comes casually on the sign of e. buried tree.sure; but ho dares not touch a thing. So he covers up the signs, and sets all his heart and effort on gaining possession of that field. He counts no sacrifice too great if it helps to realize his aim. '!'his parable deals with the indi- vidual man and personal religion. I. TRUE RELIGION JS A MATTEB 011' INDIVIDUAL 0ONCEBN. Christ came to redeem the h_uman race from sin; but he does it by redeeming them "one by one." Illustrate our Lord's dealing with individuals, as Nicodemus or woman or Samaria. It is easy to rest in a mere connection with Christianity; to belong to a Christian country, or a Christian family, or a Christian society. But the gospel singles the individual out, and says, "Thou art the man "-the sinner that needs Christ the Saviour. II. TBUE RELIGION IB A MATTER OF DinECT PERSONAL RELATIONS. This man may know of the hid treasure, but that does not satisfy him. He must have that treasure for his very own. We know of the great salvation, but that does not make it ours. Christ says, "Come unto me;" have personal dealings with me. The apostle says, "He that hath the Soo," in the grip of his own persona.I trust and love, "hath life." Here so many fail. There must be personal appropriation. We must be able to say, "Who loved me, and gave himself for me." III. TBUE RELIGION REQUIRES A MAN TO MAKE PERSONAL SACRIFICE. This man gave up all else to gain possession of this treasure. Everything that is worth possessing is hard to win. Illustrate by the friends seeking healing for the paralytic, and break- ing up the roof in order to get to Jesus; also by the persistency of the Syro-Phreoician woman. The forms of effort and sacrifice demanded depend on the age and the dis- position. 1. Intellectual pride may have to be lowered. 2. Ensnaring talents (artistic or scientific) may have to be put aside. 3. The common sneer at all who are in real earnest in spiritual religion may have to be borne. 4. All forms of self-confi- dence and self-reliance have to be broken down. So many entrench themselves behind their own moral goodness, and fail to get the hid treasure, because they cannot make full sacrifice of that moral goodness.-R. T. •Vers. 45, 46.-Satisfied only with the best. The general truth taught in this and in the preceding parable. is that he who would be a follower of Christ must be prepared to sacrifice everything for the kingdom of God. The difference between the two parables is that in the one case the man found accidentally, but in the other case he sought deliberately. "The one parable illustrates the eagerness of a poor man, who lights upon the treasure apparently by accident; the other illustrates the eagerness of a rich man, whose finding of the pearl of price is the result of carefully studied and long- sustained search" (Dods). I. SouL-BEEKING. What does a soul seek? Man seeks the trne and the beautiful. Souls seek the good ; and this is but a way of saying they seek God. "Man feels that he was not made in vain, there must be a centre of peace for him, a good that will satisfy all the cravings of his soul, a!ld he is determined not to rest until it is found." II. UNSATISFIED SOUL-SEEKING. No ordinary pearls content the man. 'fhe human seeker often fancies for a time that he has found rest in things-art, science, literature, or human love. The soul never deludes itself or permits any delusions. Short of God it never rests; it cannot. Illustrate by the hopeless wail of disappointment with which Solomon closes his life-quest; or by the delusion of the mirage in the desert regions. III. SATISFIED SOUL-SEEKING, Only reached when the soul gets full possession of, and calls its very own, the "Pearl of great price." To the unsatisfied soul there pre- sently comes the voice, "None is good save one, that is God." He is good. All good is but some ray from that 11un. And then the soul snys, "Can I find him, can I get him, can I possess him as my own ? " He can. When he does, he may sa.y as the poet, who uses another figure-:- " Now I have found the ground wherein Sure my soul's anohor may remain." Can the soul find full satisfaction? It is not away in heaven, to be joumeyetl for. n is not in the deep, to be searched for. It is close nigh to every one of us. He who i8 60 THE GOSPEL ACCORDING ·ro ST. MATTHEW. LoH. XIII. 1--58. the eoul's satisfaction ie nigh. It is Jesus of Nazareth. It ie God manifest in the flesh, who can be appropriated and possessed by our trust and our love.-R. T. Ver. 48.-Th~ final sorting-time. Those who have watched the banlina0 in of the great seine-net on our shores, the rapid sort.ing of its contents, the tbrowina of the bad away, and the noisy auction on the sands, will fully realize every point ir our Lord's illustration. The net represents the gospel message, the good news of God the Saviour. It is like a net; it will catch and bold men. Put into words it is this: "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at band." Jesus "is able to eave unto the uttermost all that come unto God by him." The gospel net is given in charge to the Church. The Church must work freely and constantly at casting the net in the wide sweep of th& sea of humanity. I. THE GOSPEL NET ENCLOSES ALL SORTS OF PEOPJ,E. From all sorts of motives, and with very different degrees of earnestness and sincerity, men accept the gospel message, and make Christian profession. Several parables teach that the Church is a very mixeQ, body. Mere standing in a Church is no more guarantee of acceptance with Christ than presence in the net shows the goodness of the fish. II. THE PEOPLE CANNOT BE SORTED WHILE THEY ARE IN THE NET. Some of the fish would escape if sorting were attempted while the net was being dragged through the water. Illustrate from the parable of the tares. UL WHEN THE NET IS DRAWN ASHORE SORTING WORK CAN BE DONE. A revealing day, a testing day, must come for us all. But no imperfect human judgment will do the great sorting work. God himself will superintend the severing of the righteous from the wicked. We will not venture to describe the wicked. We can safely describe the good, They are such as (1) receive Christ with meekness; (2) bring forth the fruits of righteousness; (3) patiently continue in well-doing. So Christ's gospel, like a great net, is to be sent out into all the world, that it may, if possible, gather all men in. So the contents of the gospel net, when gathered in at last, will need, and will ?eceive, a final sifting.-R. T. Ver. 55.-Unexpected learning i,. a carpenter, son. "Whence hath this Man this wisdom, and these mighty works? Is not this the carpenter's son?" The Jews never despised handicrafts, and this expression must not be explained as scorning Jesus because be was a carpenter's son, or a carpenter. What is in the minds of these scorners is that he was nothing but a carpenter; he had received no traicing whatever in the rabbinical schools. He was no educated and authorized rabbi, and that they knew very well Hillel, tbe greatest rabbi of the same age as Joseph, though he was a descendant of David, spent most of his life in the deepest poverty as a common workman. I. A SURPRISE THAT PROPERLY EXCITED THOUGHT. ,Jesus certainly wa.s an unusual Teacher. He dealt with unusual subjects in an unusual way, and with an unusual attractiveness and authority. There were no such subtle distinctions ae exhibited the great learning of the rabbis; but men had skill enough to recognize unusual and extra- ordinary intellectual as well as moral power in Christ. It was quite right for them to think about such a strange fact aud phenomenon. It is quite right for us to think about it. We may well say to one another, " What think ye of Christ? Whose Son is he?" II. A SUllPRISE THAT RECEIVED MISTAKEN EXPLANATIONS. Exactly how they explained the fact they admitted we are not told; but it is quite clear \bat prejudice blinded their eyes, and prevented their getting any true ideas of Obrist. No doubt they accused him of conceited self-assertion. He was pushing himself to the front, and talking big, as if he were better than his brothers and sisters. They wero offended at him, and thought unkind things of him. Illustrate by the things pre- judiced men say of Christ now. IIL A BUBPBIBE THAT CAN HAVE A BATIBFAOTORY EXPLANATION". This man was taught of God; was a Prophet of God who received Divine messages; nay, was the Son of God revealing the things of the Father-God to men. Never mind about remembering him when he was a boy. Never mind about bis never having gone to e. school of the rabbis. Never mind his having toiled at the carpenter's bench. Fill thought on what he is-the divinely taught Teacher and Saviour of men.-R. T. cs, uv.1-30.] 1'IIE GOSPEL ACCOIWING TO ST. MATTHEW. 61