The Pulpit Commentary — Matthew — Volume 2 — Section 279

Ver. 2!1.-Ye 1blill indeed drink, etc. JGS11.1 prompted the request of the broth ere. Peter 11~cepte their venture of faith, l\nd prophesies does not appear prominently here, as guard- it@ fulfilment. St. Jl\mee first shared in ing the position which Rom11nists assign to- Christ's ba.ptism of blood, being murdered him. by Herod (Acte xii. 2). He W&S e. mf\rtyr in Ver. 25.-Ca.lled them unto him. The two will e.nd deed. St. John did not, indeed, un- had stood apart when they me.de their dergo e. violent death, but he stood by the request, but the ten had overheard it, or cross e.nd felt his Master's sufferings; be judged of its nature from Christ's answer lived a long life of pel'l!OOution, ba.nishment, and their own feelinga. Jesus now ge.thers- 11.nd distress; be saw e.11 his companions drop them e.ll rounrl him, e.nd gives them e. leBSon off one by one, till in extreme old age he which they all needed, first, oonoorning w11.11 left solitary, with nothing to comfort worldly greatness and pre-eminence, and- him but the memory of vanished years, and secondly (ver. 26), concerning Christian the hope of an eternal future. Truly he greatness and pre-eminence. Ye know. He- WBB a martyr in will, if not in deed. The appeals to common experience. Exeroise story that he was cast into a oauldron of dominion over them i i.e. over the Gentilel!. boiling oil by Nero's command. and that, K«Tarcup,eoloua-,v, lord it 011er--aignificant oi coming forth unhurt, he was afterwards an absolute and oppressive domination. banished to Patmos, is one which, except as Exeroise authority npou them j i.e. over the regards the banishment, has not been Gentiles (rc«n{oua-,d(oua-iv); use authority accepted by modern criticism. The event is hal'Shly and severely. The heathen, when meutioned by Tertullian (' De Prmscript.,' they are raised to pre-eminence, employ xn:vi.), JE1rome (' Adv. Jovin.,' i 26; and their power cruelly and in order to ge.m • Comm. in Matt.' xx. 27), and is com- their own enda e.nd purposes, and a.spire to memorated in the Church Calendar on superiority only with snch objects in view. May 6, under the title of "S. Joh. ante Such 11.mbition is essentially e. heathen. pe.s• Port. Lat. ; " bnt it appears to have been a sion,e.nd wholly a.lien from thespiritofOhrlst. legend the.t first appeared in Tertullian's Ver. 26.-It shall not be 10 amOILlf yon. work, and wa.s copied from him by other There is good authority for reading "is" writers without examin.a.tion. ls not mine instead of " she.11 be," The new order of to give, but it shall be given to them for things was already prepared. In Messiah'& whom (a.U' oTs) it ill prepared. The Autho- kingdom a contrary rule holds good. There rized Version inserts lio6fian"'; the Re- the governol'B rule solely for the good of vised, "But ii u j<Yr them for whom it the flock, with no self-seeking, and serving hath been prepared." The Vulgnte has, no private interests. Whosoever will be N""" eat meum dare TJobia, sed qut'btu paratum (&s ia,, el>,:p •.• .,,ev,116,11: whos0Bt1er .~ltl ut a Patre meo. Probably a.Ua here is fain become) great among you . . . DWll8ter eqnivalent io El p.¾,, e.s in oh. xvii 8 e.nd (li,d,covos). Taking for ~e.nted that. there Mark ix. 8, and means " except," "unless." will be ranks and gre.de.t1ons of office ID the The Lord doea not mean that he we.a not CLnrch Christ lays down the rule that men able to give it, if BO he thought fit, or the.t become 'governors therein in order the.t they the boon wae solely at Lis Fal.her's bestowe.I, me.y serve their brethren, be the ministers not his (which he might have said, speaking of those who a.re subject to them. So the in his human nature). What he a.ffirms is pope, in his offioie.l doouments, with a ver- this: The prize is a.warded, not by favour bally proper humility, terms himself, "Servus or on any earthly considerations, but by servorum Dei." absolute justice, and only to those who prove Ver. 27.-Whoaoever will be (6l>..p ••• themselvu worthy to receive it. Christ ,Iv«1) chief (first, 7rpiiiTos) .•• HJ'!~t (bond- assigns to the Father the revele.tion of 1ervant, liov>..os). The che.mctenstio of the my11teriea and the election to eternal life Christian ruler should be humility. Obrist (see eh. xL 26; xvL 17). 11 u prepared; enforces the tee.ching of the previous verse it J,,ath l,een prepared (eh. uv. 34), e.ccording more emphatically by altering the terms in to certain impartial laws ordained by God, which it we.s stated. "Great" now becomes who is no respecter of persons. " The "first; " •• minister,'' "slave." ;Of these two- throne," lil&YS St. Bem&rd, "i.s the price of le.st words the former would imply rather toili!, not e. grace granted to ambition; e. occasion11l service, to meet some temporary reward of righ'80W1nel!s, not the conceeei.on call; the latter, the regular business of a of a request." slave bound to his master at a.II times. We Ver. 24.-Were moved with indigna.tion do not gather from this pe.ssage the.t the agaiDBt (..-.pt); concerning. "The ambition Christian minister, called by God, is to te.ke of one crea.tea envy in others who partake his doctrine from his congregation, or to be of the eame feeling" (I. Willie.ms). The directed by them in his lab~urs; but he is di.t!pllllM!nre of the ten arose from th1oir to d<ivote time, talents, faculties, to t~e goo_d llha.ring ill the ambitio111 desires which he.d of his dock, to spend and be spent 1n theu en. u. 1-34.] THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. MATTHEW, 280