Vers. 41-59.-The glories and respcmsi1nUtuB of tM Ohristian miniswy. The previous parable attracts Peter by reason of its glorious promise, and he according!} wonders if it can apply to all believers or to the apostles only. Havin~ asked OU> Lord, he receives light upon the responsibilities and glories of the ministerial office. From our Lord's words we learn- I. IT IS CBRIST'B WILL TlllmE SHOULD DE STEWARDS IN BIB CHtJRCH, WHOSE DUTY IT IB TO GIVE BIS PEOPLE MEAT IN DUE BEASON. (Vers. 42--44.) This is the grra\ design of the ministry-to feed the flock of God. All other duties are subsidiary to this. For souls need to be as regularly fed with truth as the body with food. To this end the Christian ministry should, therefore, direct all its effects, that the people may be fed. And need it be said that the truth which nourishes men's souls is the truth as it is in Jesus? When Jesus is presented in the glory of his Person and offices, then the famished souls are saved and satisfied. Now, our Lord declare~ that the ministry will continue for such a purpose unLil his advent. The household of God will always need the food furnished by the ministry. No time will come when the ministry shall be superseded. And the ministers who are diligently employed at their teaching and feeding of souls when our Lord comes will find themselves blessed (1) in their own experience, and (2) in the magnificent promotion a.waiting tbem. Christ promises the fo.ithful minister no less than universal irifluence. He is to be ruler over all he bas. Others may have some influence, but a faithful minister will, in the world made new, have universal sovereignty. Ministerial influence is often incomparably the grandest and widest exercised among men in this life : how muah moni in the life and order which will be ushered in by the advent I ll. Oun LORD AT HIS ADVENT WILL MAKE SHORT WOBX OF SPlRITUAL DESPOTS. (Vers. 45, 46.) Some in the ministry, it would seem, instead of living in expectation of the advent will live as if the long-delayed advent would never come. In such a CMe selfish t~anny over the people committed to them will soon m11.11ifost itself; and 1 Rougemont'e ' La Vie Humaine,' p. 279, 1 Cf. Gerok'e 'Pilgerbrod,' • 7{'.7; alao • AUi Ernster Zeit.,' 11. 10. 360 THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. LUKE. [CllI, xtr. 1-59,
upon tb<> Aelf'-indulg<>nt despot our Lord shall come enddenly, to appoint him hie portion with the nnbelio,·ers. A ministry that is not earnest, but self-indulgent and tna.nnic-al. h~s before it a. terrible doom.I • 111. HE ALBO ~HOWS THAT JIJDGMENT IN THE WORLD TO COME SRAT,L nJ>. GRADUATED Accorwnm TO DESE~T. (Vers. 47, 4-8.) 'l'he difficulties about the Divine judgment have bee11 part-ly owing to the forgetfnlnesA of the fact tha.t sinner~ a.re not to be cast; iudiscrimina.tely into some common recept..'\cle, but subjected to e. series of graduated pun1,hml•nts of the most carefully arljusted character. 'l'he rhapsodies which are so plentiful i:gainst any thoroughne~s in punishing the impenitent a.re based mainly upon the false Rssumption of indiscriminating punishment. According to a person'11 oppor- tunities will be his doom. IY. Oun Lonn DECLARES THAT ms PRESENT ADVENT MUST GENERATE OPPOSITION, (Ven-. 49-,~3.) The fire which our Lord came to kindle is that of spiritual enthusiasm; such a fire as burned in the disciples' hearts as he spoke to them on the wny to Emme.us; such a fire as we.s promised in the baptism with the Holy Ghost.• Such incendie.rism is jw;t the blesged commotion the world needs. But in the kin<lling of the holy fie.me our Lord w1U have to pass through a bloody baptism. He sees how inevitable this dread experience is, and yet he pants for the cross which is to crown his work e.nd revolutionize the world.1 The cross of Christ is really the great divider of mankind; by its instrumentality families are divided into different camps, and the battle of the truth begun. But the di\-ision Christ creates is infinitely better than the unity without him. Better far that we should have to fight for truth than that we should live, like lotus-eaters, through indifference towards or ignorance of it. The battle for Christ is wholesome exercise, and the victory e.t last is assured. \ . HE CHARGES THEM WITH lllISUNDERSTANDING TBB SIClNS 011' THE TIMES, WHILE THEY CAN APPRECIATE THE SIGNS OF THE WEATHER. (Vers. 54-56.) He is now speaking to the people, and not to the apostles. He points out how they ce.n anticipate shower and heat by certain signs on the face of nature. People become "weather- wille," and can often show wonderful predictive power. And yet the times were pro- videntially more significant than the weather. And before their eyes were hung the sign~ of a great contest between good and evil, between Christ and the world; and yet their hypocritical hearts would not allow them to appreciate the signs or te.ke the proper side. It is a curious fa.et that many will study the laws of physical nature with intense interest and success, and yet neglect utterly those laws of the Divine government which :nvolve the mightiest of revolutions. The hypocrisy of the heart is, our cavionr here says, the secret of such inconsistent apathy. VI. liE DECLA"'-ES THE URGENCY OJI' RECONCILIATION WITH GoD. (Vere. 57--59.) The adversary, magistrate, e.nd officer, are three individuals needful for the initiation aad execution of human judgrnent. But the context shows that Jesus here refers to the Divine judgment which these hypocrites are courting. In this case-as Godet, in loco observes--the adversary, judge, and officer are united in the Person of God. He is the 'Ad verse.ry to charge us with our defaults; he is the Judge to decide our guilt; he is the Officer to execute due ven"ee.nce on us in case we incur it. Christ consequently urges reconciliation with God without delay upon these hypocrites. To secure this be appeals to their conscience. They can surely come to this conclusion themselves, that, in opposing and persecuting him, they are not doing right. Their o~n inward monitor mus~ witneN to the guilt of their present course. Let them aee to 1t, then, that they are delivered from their doom. Only one we.y is open, e.nd that is by throwing them- selves upon his mercy manifested in Christ. In this appointed we.y our Lord leaves them without excuse. There is surely a hopeless air about the terms of this judgment. The payment of the last mite is surely impossible in the prison-house of eternity, and current remedial programmes about the future life are but "will-o'-the-wisps" to lure thoughtless mindl! onwards towards doom! May we calculate upon no poat-mortem reformation, but enter upon the pardon and s1,iritual progress Go<i offere to us now I -R.M.E. 1 Cf. Unick on • The Second Advent,' pp. 46, 47.
' CC. Tholuck's 'Werke,' band iii. s. 304. • Gf. Hu11'1 • Sermons proochod at King'■ Lynn,' vol. iii. p. 70. HOMILETICAL INDEX TO