The Pulpit Commentary — Luke — Volume 1 — Section 337

But now thou muat enter on a new phase of thy ministry• henceforth the iHsues tow&l'd■ which thou hut been looking will be hutened. ' • Bide on, ride on in majesty I The wingM squadrons of the airy Look down with sad and wondering eyea To 1ee the approaching aacri.ftce." •In the mean time," whilst the dinner with it11 tumultuol18 conversation Is proceeding, the cruwd has so accumulated that " many thousands are gathered together." They are so eager to hear the Prophet that some persons are trodden down. To this seething mllllll Christ comes forth, his heart stirred by the controversy, vehement and provocative, which single-handed he had sustained. Most nature.I, in view of the cir-. oumste.nces related, is the discourse which follows, addressed immediately to his fol- lowers, but reaching the ear of" the many thousands." 1. First, there is the word as to "the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy" (vers. 1-3). Hypocrisy was the evil which permeated and vitiated their action. What is meant by hypocrisy? The hypocrite is " the man who has to play a part, to maintain a reputation, to keep up a respectable position, to act consistently with the maxims of the party to which he is allied, or the profession to which he belongs." As thus interpreted, is not the "beware I "of the afternoon long ago, e. " beware!" for this day as well ? " Pharisee" and "Sadducee" are words which no longer distinguish classes; but when the classes which they once designated are studied, it is found that, for what was most charac- teristic of each, there are correspondents among us. Let it not be supposed that the Pharisee was nothing else than e. sanctimonious charlatan, a mere pretentious formalist. He was the representative of the more earnest religious spirit. The Sadducee was generally a wealthy man, one belonging to the ruling order. Content with easy and low standards, the worldly or rationalistic Jews belonged to the party comprehended by the name. The Pharisee disowned such a conception of religion. He would not have any fellowship with such latitudinarianism. To him the Law was the Law of God, and he was bent on keeping it to its minutest point. In over-zeal he even added, to the observances enjoined, observances which r:iight be inferred or which had been added by rabbins. The traditions of the elders were, in his view, a sup- plement to the Law and the prophets. "It is needless," as has well been observed, "to show that there was something in Pharisaism worthy of admiration, for this is implied in the charge brought against the Pharisees of our Lord's time. They were accused of being hypocrites, of not being what they pretended to be; in which it is implied that, if they had really been what they seemed, they would have desP,rved the praise they claimed. And doubtless there were some whose goodness was more than outside show, both in the first original of the sect, and in those later times when. Phari- saic culture prepared the soil on which the seeds of the gospel most readily flourished; for to this sect belonged the majority of the first converts, and the many thousands who believed a.re a.II described as 'zealous for the Law.'" 1 Any one playing the hypo- crite will prefer the Pharisee type. The scanty clothing of the Sadducee will not suit; the fitting dress is the long robe and the well-phylacteried garment of the Pharisee. The devil's homage to truth, which hypocrisy has been declared to be, is r:iore becomingly rendered in such a. garb. A part-actor I Ah 1we need to be reminded that this is a character still to be found in the religious world. Bunyan introduces us to persons who a.re not mere fictions-My Lord '!'um-about, my Lord Fair-speech, Mr. Smooth- man, Facing-both-ways, the parson Mr. Two-tongues; the points in which all agree being" that they never strive against wind and tide, and that they are always most zealous when religion g(1es in his silver slippers." A part-actor I Al.most uncon- sciously, we play a. part which marks an excess of what we have ourselves verified-a. pa.rt beyond, if not covering, the very thought of the soul. " Beware of the leaven!" Milton describes hypocrisy as "the only evil the.t walks invisible except to God a.lone." 'l'o be real, not to be a Mr. Facing-both-ways, is one of the gree.t lesson~ of the !ifs of Christ. In any diagnosis of human ne.ture, we must remember_ the mixt~e to btl found in character. Few persons intend, deliberately and systematically, to lie to God 1 • Non-Mimoulous Christie.nit:r,' pp. 263, 264, by Professor S&!l!l')n, D.D., of Dublin.  TTTF. GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST, LOKE, [ea, n1. 1-69.