The Pulpit Commentary — Matthew — Volume 2 — Section 288

was to rise again the third day. He had raised others already from the dead: he himself would rise, for he is the Resurreotion and the Life; it was not possible that he could be holden of the grave. It was now the third warning ; yet, St. Luke tells us, the apostles " understood none of these things; and this saying was hid from them, neither knew they the things which were spoken." It seems strange ; but is it not much the same now? In spite of warnings, men will not understand that their own death is at hand; they think all men mortal but themselves; they will not speak of death; they carefully avoid the subject. Christ teaches us a different lesson. We should often think of death, we should often speak of it, of our own coming death, and that calmly, with the Christian's hope of a blessed resurrection. LESSONS. 1. Mark the awe and reverence with which the apostles regarded the Lord, though they loved him so well. Reverence becomes the true Christian. 2. How often, when we look for joy, there comes great sorrow I Let us be prepared. 3. Think much of the cross of the Lord Jesus; it cannot be too much in the Christian's thoughts. Vers. 20-28.-Balome and her sons. L THEm CONVERSATION WITH CHRIST. 1. The request. Salome was one of the Lord's most faithful followers; she was present at the cross; perhaps she was his mother's sister. Her sons had been admitted into the innermost circle of the apostles; they with Peter were the three nearest to the Lord. But even the chosen three could not receive the Lord's predictions of his death. Their hearts were so preoccupied with thoughts of the kingdom, the twelve thrones, the coming glories, that they seemed quite unable to take the thought of the cross into their minds. They had seen the grandeur of the Transfiguration; like Peter, they recoiled in horror from the prospect of the cross. They could not think that the.Ii height of glory and that depth of shame could meet in one Person; they could not believe it at all; and, as men do still, or try to do, they put away such distressing thoughts. And now Salome came, doing lowly reverence to Jesus as to the King Mes- siah, and me.king her request. She prayed, not for herself, but with a mother's love for her sons, that they might sit, the one on the Lord's right band, the other on the left, in his kingdom. 2. The Lord's r,rply. "Ye know not what ye ask." They thought of an earthly kingdom. He knew what they would not know, though be had told them thrice. Salome would soon see, on<l at least of her sons would see, the Lord not sitting on a royal throne, but hanging on the cross. They would see on the right hand and on the left not two great officers, two ministers of state, but two crucified malefactors. We often know not what we ask when we seek in our folly great things for ourselves. We do not know the fnture; we do not know ourselve!!. The best prayer is the Lord's own prayer, "Not my will, but thine, be done." "Not my will." We wish for this or that honour, this or that post of pre-eminence for ourselves, for our children, for those nearest and dearest to us. We know not what we ask ; we do not rightly estimate our own powers; we do not think of the dangers and. temptations which lie before us, the envies and the jealousies which we provoke. Ambition is rash always; most perilous is its rashness when it aspires to the highest places in the Church. "Are ye able to drink of the cup that I shall drink of?" None can tread safely in those places save those who can drink of the Saviour's cup; none can endure those tremendous responsibilities save those who have been baptized with his baptism. And that cup is the cup of self-denial, and that baptism is the baptism of blood, the blood of Jesus Christ which cleanseth from all sin, which maketh those only white and clean who have come out of great tribulalion, the spiritual tribulation of contrition and self-abasement, if not the outward tribulation of suffering for the sake of Christ. "We are o.ble," said the sons of Zebedee. They were true and faithful; it was not a mere vulgar ambition which prompted them; they were i.levotoc.l, heart and soul, to the service of their Lord. They were ready to follow him through danger and through suffer• ing, though now they failed to understand the meaning of that kingdom which was so much in their thoughts. 'fhe Lord recognized their truth o.nd loyalty; they had the high courage which they professed; they should be united very closely with him by the sacraments of suffering o.ud mo.rtyrdom in deed or in will. But those highest places in the kingdom of glory wero not to be given by partial love, at the request of mother or of sons ; they were to be bestowed according to the eternal election of God the Father upon those who were nearest to the Lord in lowliness and entire self-sacri- t92 THE GOSPEL ACOORDING TO ST. MATTHEW. [oH, xx.1-84.