The Pulpit Commentary — Luke — Volume 1 — Section 327

EXPOSITION', OHAPTER XII. ye have 11}1 lli:811 In da.rkne~• shall be heard in the lighT. The day would come when his Vere. 1-59.-The Lo-rd, after lea'Ving ~ estimate of this now popular ten.chi11g of Pharisee's house, ,peaks at great length to a the Pharisees would be found to have been numerou, oro,od waiting for him, addressing correct. Its real nature, now hid, wou Id be l,i, toords principally to his own disc-iples. revealed and fully known and discredited; The foregoing scene (eh. xi.). when the while, on the other hand, the words and teaching of his disciples, now listened to Master addressed his bitter reproaches to but by few, and those of seemingly littlo the learned and cnltiv..ted of the great account, would become widely and generally Ph11riseo party, took pince in a private kno1vn and listened to. Upon the house- house bolouging to an apparently wealthy tops. These were flat, terrace-like ro,,fs, member of this, the dominant class. The and, the houses generally being low, or.e who spoke from them would eusily be heard name of the large village or provincial town in the street beneath. "These words hav~ where all this ho.ppened is unknown. The a strong Syrian colouring. The Syrian crowd who had been listening to the great house-top (in Matt. x. 27 and here) presenui 'l'eo.cher before he accepted the Pharieee's an image which ho.s no sense in Asia. Minor, invitation still lingered around the house. or Greece, or Italy, or even nt Antioch. 'l'he flat roofs ceas'e at the mouth of ti,e Many from the adjoining villages, hearing Oruntes; Antioch itselr bus sloping roofs" that Jesus wo.s in this place and was publicly (Renno,' Les Evangiles,' p. 2ti2, note I). tca.ehiug, had arrived; so, when the LorJ Ver. 4.-And I say unto you my friends, came out from the guest-chamber into the Be not afraid of them that kill the body, and street or market-place, he found a vast e.fter that have no more that they can do. All this the l\le.ster knew was true anJ crowd-litero.lly, myriads or the multitude would shortly happen. His wor,ia were -waiting for him. The words descriptive verified beforo fi:'ty years had p:1Ssed. Ti.ie of the crowd in ver. 1 indicate that a vast trinmphant success of th~ gre"t C,,ristian concourse was gathered together. His fame preachers and the discruHeJ cunJiriou of then was very great, though his popufority the old rabbinic schools is testilied to bv such words o.s we find iri St. Paul's lette~. was on the wane. "Where is the "ise? where is the scriuc?" Ver. 1.-Bewe.re ye of the leaven of the (1 Cor. i. 20). llut this sm-cess ti,e :i\fastcr Phariaees, whioh is hypocrisy. In dwelling well knew would lie accumpanied with on this and similar expressions used by our mo.ny o. suffering on the part of the heralds Lord in respect to the life and work of this of his wessage. Persecution in its many famous section of the people who were gene- dreary formo would dog their foot.it,,ps ; a. rally so bitterly hostile to him o.nd his death of agony and shame not unfrequeutly teaching, we must not condemn their whole would be their guerdon. It was, for instance, character with a condemnation more swel'p- we know, the earthly recognition of that ing than the Master's. Utterly mistaken in de1•oted servant of tne Lord (Paul) who, we their views of life and in their estimate of believe, guided the pen of Luke here. This God, whom they professed to know, our painful way, which his disciples must surely Lord here scar~ely charges them with deli- tread, had already been inJicated in uo bemte hypocrisy. These mistaken men obscure lauguage by the lUa,;ter (" smne of dreame<l that they possessed a holiucas them "-my apostles-" they shall slay 1>nd wl.iieh WLIS never theirs; unconscious hypo- persecute," eh. xi. 49). A triumph, greater crites they doublles. were, without possibly than o.uy which had ever been given to the even suspeotiug it thornsel vos. sous m lllen, would surely be theirs, but tbn Vora. 2, 3.-For there is nothing oovered, !\faster woul,l not cnnc,•al the «irthly pri<-o that she.II not be revealed; neithor hid, that which l,is ch,,sc,1 scrrnnts wn,t pay for thi~ 1illlil not be known. The1·e!ure whateoevor spkuul<l SU()~~-.;. There· W~5 a pull.It, huw- 332 THE GOSPEL A(',CORDJNG TO ST, LUKE. [on. xn. 1-59,