The Pulpit Commentary — Luke — Volume 1 — Section 78

altar and ,,.Id on the mouth of Isaiah 1he nntl1ing lhe pee.sants conl,l do woultl arrest Jll"Opi,et (hll vi 6, 7). "With fire," writes tlw swift work or the dovouring llamo. All Biahor Wordsworth, "to purify, illumine, that is hero Mid of the eondomncd is that transform, inflllme with holy fervour and lh,,y will be destroyed from before the &Ml, and carry upwind, e.s Elijah was pro,,enoe of the great Hnslmndman with a aarried ~ to hoaven in a chariot of fire." swift, certain destruotion. If it points t.o Ver. I ,.-Who1e fan is in hie hand, and anything, the imagery here would hint e.i he will lhronghly purge hie floor, and will the total annihilation of lhe wicked; for the pther t.he wbeat into hie gamer. But not fie.me&, unquenchable while nny chaff re- only, taught John, was ll1et!Biah'e work to mained to be consumed. would, when the, mnsist in baptizing those v,ho sought his rubbish WBB burnt up, die quickly down, face with the mighty be.ptism of the Holy and 111, little heap of charred ashes would Ghost e.nd fire, there was another terrible alone mark the pla<'e of its burning. But aspect of hie mission. The useless, the ii is highly improbable that any deduction selfish, the oppressor, e.nd the false-hel\l'lcd, of this kind w&e intended to be drawn. -these were to be separated and then de- The Baptist's lesson iii severely simple. ■troyed. When will this separation e.nd Ver. 18.-And many other things in his subsequent destruction take place? The uhortation pree.ohed he unto the people. separation will begin in this life. The These words tell us that I.he above we.s 1iffect of the revelation of a Saviour would merely a "spe01men " of John the Baptist's be to intonsify e.t once the e.ntagoniam be- preaching, trenchant, fearless, practice.I, tween ito<>d !\lid evil Between the followers piercing tbe heo.rts of e.11 cluses and orders of Christ and the enemies of Christ would of the people who thronged to hear the e. sharp line of demarcation be speedily earnest, fiery appeals of the great desert drawn even here; but the real separation preacher. In this e.nd iu the next two would only tn.ke ple.oe on the great dny verses St. Luke onoe more gives us a little when l\le.-siah should judge the world; picture of the evonts which were sprce.,l then would the two cle.eses. the righteous over e. considerable area of time. It is here and the unrighteous, be gathered into two introduced out of its proper place to explain bands; condemnation, sweeping, irresistible, the abrupt termination of the popular career would hurry the he.pleas evil-doers into of John the Baptist. destruction, v.hile the righteous would be Ver. 20.-He shut up 1ohn in prison. It welcomed in his own blessed city. The did 11.ot enter into St. Luke's plan to write imagery used is rough, but striking. It was any detaiJ.ed account of the circumstanoea tal.en, e.e is so much of Oriental t.ee.ching, which led to the death of the DBptist. The from scenes from the everyday life of the story (related at length by St. Matthew) working world around them. The the,atre wns, no doubt, well known in nil the Gentile i~ one of those rough Ee.stem threshing- Churches. He simply mentions the act fioors on the top or side of a hill, so chosen which consigned the dauntless pree.oher to for the purpose of having the benefit of the the dungeons of Herod's palace-fortress, wind. The actor, a pee.unt employed in close to the Dead Sea; it we.s termed Ma.cha, winnowing. " Not far from the sit.e of or Ma.cluerns. In closing his little sketoh ancient Corinth," writes e. modern traveller of the work of his Master's great pioneer, in Greece, " where the peasants in many of St. Luke wishes to show that the fearleBS theil customs approach near to Oriental Baptist WBB no respector of persons. The ne.tioDB, I p8.BB8d a heap of grain which despised collector of Roman tribute, the some labourers were employed in winnow- rough free le.nee or mercenary, the nameless ing; they used, for throwing up the mingled legionary of Rome, was attacked for his wheat and chaff, e. three-pronged wooden evil life e.nd his wanton excesses, with no fork, having e. handle ihree or four feet greater hardihood than the prince who sat long. Like this, no doubt, WBB the Jan, or on the throne of the mighty Herods. True winnowing-shovel, which John the Baptist servant of his brave and patient Master, he represents Christ e.s bee.ring" (Dr. Hackett, paid the penalty of his splendid courage, qunl.ed by Dr. Morrison, on Matt. iii. 12). and, "like so many of earth'• great ones, '.!.'he fe.n thWl described would throw up he passed through pain and ngony to his against the breeze the mingled whe&t e.nd relit." cl,aff; the light particles would be wafted Vers. 21, 22.-'l'he baptism of Je11111, tu the Bide, wbile the grain would fall and Vere. 21, 22.-Now when all the people remain on the threshing-floor. With fire were baptized. This is the shortest account u.nquenohe.ble. This image in itself is e. of the first three Gospels of this event. terrible uce; still, it mWlt not be used in the Two circumstances reluted aro, however, quc11tion of eternity of punishment. The peculiar to St Luke-the fa.et that he fir~ is here term,,d "unqu,·nche.ble" because, ascended "praying" from the water, and wl,cn cnce tho w·y cho.lf Wi!-11 aai ou firo, tho opening w<Jrd11 of this verse, whiob en. 111. l-3A.J TUE GOSPEL ACCOl:DINO TO ST. LCKE. fi9 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ------ i,roh1Lhly ~ignify tlui& on thie dny J!'111e and B! h,, gl\zorl he eRw drs~Pn,l a "'Y or waltccl Ull tlio crowds who were in the glory, wldeh, dorn-liko, brooded abovo hia habit of cnmiag to Jnhn hrul been bnptiznl. l,~ud, nnrl then lighted np,1n him. This leeus also being be.ptizod. Th1·re ia n curious strange hrigl,t vision was seen, not only by a.,J,lition tu the 011spol nnrmtivcs nr the bap- l,iru, bot hy tl,e Raptist (J1ohn i. 32, 3:l). tism of the Lore] prcaervod by Jerome. He ThBt the form of a rlnve absolutely descender! tells us he e:i:tracLed it From the H~brew ond lighted apon Jesus sel'lnA unlikely; a Oo1pol used by the N nza.renea, e. copy of radiant i!lorious Som,,thing both ,Jesus and which in his day wns preserved at Cmsaree.. tlie Baptist saw descending. John oom- " Lo, the mother of the Lord and his brethren pttres it to a dove--this clonu of glory se.iling s"icl lo him, John the Baptut is baptizing tl,rough the r.lear heaven, then, bird-like, for the ,·emiasion of sins ; let 'UII go and be sinking, hovering, or Lroo,ling, over the betMi Imp/ ized /,y him. But he answered and aaid of the Sinless One, then lighting, as it were, 1t11lo them, In what have I sinned, that I upon him. In likening the ra<liant vision should go and be baptized by him f unlas, to a dou, probably John had heard of indeed, it be '1i ignomnCJJ that I ha11e said the rabbinical comment (it is in the Tal- what I have juat aaid." It is, no doubt, e. n,udJ on Gen. i. 2, tho.t the Spirit of God very ancient traditional saying, e.rnl is per- moved on the face of the we.tars like a dnoa. haps founded on some wcll-outbenticate<l Milton has reproduced the thought- oral tradition. If St. Luke knew of it, he " And with mighty wings outspl"0ad did not consider it of sufllcitnt importance DOfle-like sat'st brooding on the vast abyss." to incorporate it in his narrative. In St. (' Paradise Lost,' i. 2.0.) MaUhcw's account of the "boptism," John at first l'csists when asked to perform the John, for want of e. better simile, reproduced rile ou \,is kinsman Jesus. His knowle,lge the imnge which he had d,;ubtless henrd of Jesus at this time was evidently con- from his teacher in the Law, when he de- siderable. lie was ucquainted, of course, sired to represent in earthly language the with all thnt hod nlready huppened in his Divine Thing which in some bo<lily form "cousin's" life, and probably it ha<l been he he.cl seen. In the ee.rly Clrnrch tl:ere revealed to him, or told him by bis mother we.s a legend very commonly current-we (eh. i. 43), that in the Nazareth Car- finJ it in Justiu M,utyr (' Dialogue with penter, the Son of Mary, he was to look for Trypho,' 88), and also in the Apocryphal th6 promised Messiah, with whose life-story Gospels-that at the baptism of Jesu11 his was so closely bound up. The onswers o. fire was kindled in Jordan. This waa to the question, What was the rea.,on of doubtless another, thoogh a more confused Jesus' baptism 1 have been many. In this, memory of the glory-appearance which as in many things connected with the Johu saw falling on the Messiah. And a earthly life of our Lord, there ls mnch that voice came from heaven; better rendered, is mysterious, and we can never hope here out of heaven. We read in the Te.lmud that; to solve these difficulties with any complete- "on the death of the Inst prophets-Haggai, ness. The mystic comments of the Fathers, Zechariah, and Mula.chi-the Holy Spirit though not perfectly satisfactory, are, how- departed from Israel; but they (i.e. lsmel) ever, after all the best of the many notes were avuiling themselves of the daughter that have been made on this difficult ques- (echo) of a voice, Bath-Kol, for the recep- tion. Bishop Wordsworth sums them up tion of Divine communications" (' Tree.tise well in his words : " He came to baptize Yoma,' fol. 9, col. 2). lu the Gospels there wntcr, by' beiug baptized in it." Ignatius is a mention of the heavenly voice being (' Ad. Eph.,' 18, beginning of the second aguin heard at the Transfignra.tion (Matt. contury) writes, "He was bnptizcd th1tt, xvii. 5), and during the last week of the by his submission to the rite, he might earthly ministry (John xii, 28-30), In the purify the water." Jerome, in the surue story of Israel the Persons of the ever- strain, says, "He did not so much get blessed Trinity were pleused to me.ni feat cleansing from baptism, as impart cleansing themselves on various occll.l!ions to murto.l to it." It would soem that Jesus, in sub- eye and mortal ear. Very frequently lo the mitting to the rite himself, did it with the eye, in the visible glory of tne pillar of cloud intention of sanctifying the blessed sacru- and fire in the desert journeys; in the ment in the future. And praying. Peculiar glorious light which shone in the hnly of to St. Luke. This e\'Bngolist on eight other holies, first in the tabernncle of the wander- occnsions mentions the praying of Jesus. ings, then in the temple ; in the flame 11,11 in 'l'he heaven w11s opened, and the Holy Ghost the buruing bush, and in the visions of desoended . , . npon him. While he was pmy- Isaiah and Ezekiel; in appearances os in the ing nnd gl\zing up into heavsn, the deep blue meeting with Abraham an<l with Joshua. To vault wae ront asunder, und the Sinless Oue the ear the word of the Lord spoke, arnongat gazed far into the realms of etern11l light; others, to Abraham, Moses, Samuel, llnd ths  iO TITT: OOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. LUKE. [m. m. 1---,18.