The Pulpit Commentary — Luke — Volume 2 — Section 154

make it a place for distinguishing ourselves, or for advertising our respectability, or for gaining enjoyment which is wholly unspiritual. II. 'rHE HOME. When that which should be the abode of peace, of love, of purity, of fellow8hip, of tenderness, of gracious ministry, of quiet growth and joy, is turned into a scene of bitterness, of recrimination, of estrangement, of deterioration, of unhappiness. IIL THE PLACE OF BUSINESS. That might be a sphere where valuable virtues and most accept11ble graces are manifested and are strengthened-truth, equity, courtesy, honour, courage, sagacity; too often it is nothing better than a sphere in which deceit, low cunning, dishonesty, a mean and miserable selfishness, are sown and reaped bountifully. IY. THE HUMAN BODY, In our treatment of this bodily frame, so skilfully and so wonderfully made, so nicely adjusted to receive and convey impressions from and to the out.side world of man and nature, we may and we should act as if we were dealing with a very sacred thing. By cleanliness, by moderation, by purity ; by entertaining through the ear and the eye God's own truth and wisdom; by employing the tongue to speak his love and to sing his praise ; by letting the graces of Christi::m character write them- selves, as they will, in lineaments of beauty upon our countenance ; by letting our bodies be, as they may be, the very temples of the Holy Ghost (1 Cor. vi. 19),-we may make them worthy and sacred in the sight of God. But when we regard them as mere instruments of gratification, and make them the ministers of sinful and even shameful pleasure, how great is such desecration before God ! V. HUMAN LIFE. It is here that the Holy One most often sees with Divine regret a pitiful desecration. He gave us our life that it might be spent, through all its stages, in sacred service, in spiritual growth, in elevating joy, in excellent preparation for the larger and fuller life beyond. How grievously is it desecrated when it is turned into a time for mere pecuniary acquisition, or for mere fleshly enjoyment, or for mere emptiness and aimlessness of existence 1 1. What a pitiful waste is this I and h(!)W it will one day be deplored as absolutely irreparable I 2. How perilous to form such evil habits of the soul., every day becoming more fixed I how wise to hear the Master's voice summoning us to noble liervice, "Why stand ye :ill the day idle? go, work in my vineyard " 1-C. Ver. 48.-0hrist's poptdarity. That Jesus Christ, as a Teacher, had no small share of popularity is beyond all question. "The people were astonished at his doctrine; for his word was with power;" "He taught them as one that had authority." His hearers wanted to know" whence hath this Man this wisdom?" The officers of the Sanhedrin declared that "Never man spake like this Man." His enemies' purpose was defeated: "They could not find what they might do: for all the people were very attentive to hear him." Large companies of men and women flocked to hear him; he had not to seek an audience; he had to seek shelter from their curiosity and intrusion, " Whence had this Mann this popularity? What was the source and the secret of it ? '!'here were--- L THREE THINGS IN SPITE OF WHICH HE WAB POPULAR WITH THE PEOPLE, 1. The d,epth of his doctrine. Many gain a ready audience with tbe people by carefully restricting themselves to those truths which their hearers can easily understand: superficialities are generally acceptable. Not so with the great Teacher. He struck far below the surface, and was frequently annc,uncing and enforcing truths which the majority of his hearers must have found "hard to be understood." Many of ~is utterances were" hard sayings" (John vi. 60). 2. The height of his purpose. Chnst would have "got on" with the multitude much further and faster if he had but brought down his teaching to the level of their national aspirations. But when_ they were thinking of something as shallow and as transitory as a political rev?lut10~, he was laying broad and deep the fo~dations of a spiritual, unive:sal, everlas~mg kmg?o~ of God. His lofty purpose was high as the heavens above their hopes. His and tl e1r ~uns were altogether diverse and incon3istent with one another. 3, ',!'he str~ngth and straight- ness of hiB charge. "Do you suppose these men were extra.ordinary smners? I tell you, Nay; but except ye repent," etc.; "Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye cannot enter the kingdom;" " Except your righteousness exceed the righteowu:ie,s of the scribes," etc. (eh. xiii, 2, 3; }fatt. xviii. 3; v. 20), err. xu. 1-48.] THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. LUKE. 161