The Pulpit Commentary — John — Volume 1 — Section 246

erer use the one avaihtble mean8. It will attack the walls of Jericho with ram's horns, ~0 forth Ri;rninst the giant with a shepherd's sling, and cle:i.r the temple with e. scomgo of small cords. 'l'he intensely earnest man is never idle for want of suitable weapons. 4. It 1·s heroically courageou~. It carries its possessor away to attack foes who from a human point of view he can never hope to vanquish. w·hat was Jesus to the mighty opposition he confronted? He had: (1) 'l'he opposition of interested person.,. 'l'hose in the trade-the host of dealers in oxen, etc. (2) The opposition of interested patrons. 'l'he rulers of the people and the governor of tho temple. (3) 'l'he opposition of a con- senting and benefited public.. 'l'he crowd who would be more likely to sympathize with the aristocracy of the place than with the carpenter's Son of Nazareth. But this combined opposition he fearlessly confronted, and commenced his task almost alone. Holy zeal is ever courageous, and makes its possessor, if not beside himself, far beyond and abo'l'e himself. 5. This zeal is entirely self-sacrificing. Liberty, personal safety, and even life is set at nought. It was so with Jesus now. He puritied his temple at the risk of his life, and at last he gave himself as a sacrifice, not to the fury of his foes, but to the flames of his burning zeal. "The zeal of thy house," etc. And those under its influence are ever ready to sacrifice even lire to their master passion and purpose. IV. WE HAVE THIS ZEAL GLORIOUSLY TRIUMPHANT. Our Lord drove out the merchants and their merchandise with scarcely any opposition; and did, as one has said, what a powerful army could not do so quickly and completely. How did this zeal triumph, and how must it ever triumph? 1. By its own inherent strength. It is powerful in itself, even when it has only comparatively weak men as its instruments; out how much more powerful when swaying great and well-balanced souls, such as Luther, Wickliffe, Paul, and especially our Lord, who is the Son of God as well as Son of man I In such as these, its voice is thunder, its deeds are lightning, its words are two-edged swords, and its chariots and horses are of fire. Its march is majestic, its consciousness of success is supreme, and, should a cloud apprar in its firmament, it must soon vanish before its dazzle. It ever goes forth conquering and to conquer, and in its own energy and majesty is terrible. 2. By the strength and justice of its cause. Its demands are ever reasonable, and its cause is just. Jesus was right, and theso merchants aud their patrons were wrong, and, in the presence of holy enthusiasm, they felt it. He had a scourge of small cords, but he had a more terrible scourge than this -he made a scourge of their guilty consciences, and with it whipped them out. They writhed under the lashes; and corruption slunk away before the majesty cf burning holiness; and the unrighteous practice gave way before the heat of embodied justice on fire. Right is ever stronger than wrong, good than evil, and truth than error. Let true principles blaze in the lives and actions of their adherents; they must be trium- phant. 3. By its ever-accompanying Divinity. Jesus was a Divine Person, and hh1 act in the temple was miraculous. True; but is not God ever against evil, and on the side of good? Holy zeal is ever accompanied with Divine authority and power; it is really the natural expression of all virtue, the burning presence of holiness, and the flaming manifestation c,f God's holy nature, who is a consuming Fire. The act of Christ in the temple was symbolic. God _is eve~ on the ~id? of purity and oi:der, and !he feeblest voice raised for them and agamst evil. God 1s m that v01ce, and 1t must tnumph. LESSONS. L Our Lord was a Reformer. One of his first acts was to reform the worship of the temple. His followers should be the same; the disciples should follow their Master, and the motto of their li1·es should be reform. 2. Before we can be true refornv.rs, we must be inspired wit~ holy and_ bur'!'-fng zeal: This is an essen~ial ele!llent of a reformer, as the revealer of evil and the mspmng motive of attack. Without 1t we cannot see as Jesus Faw, we cannot act as he acted; but with it we shall be truo reformers. Jesus will have true representatives, holiness will have a voice, and iniquity a scouro-e. 3. WI= lwly zeal becomes absorbing and universal, a.buses and evils in the Chu~h and the world must retire, and the Church and even the earth will indeed be the house of God and the gate of heaven.-B. T. Ver. 11.-~ 'beginning of mirades. I. THE occAsroN. It is possible, of course, to Jay too much stress on the circumsta_nc_es and nature of the first sign .!esu~ ga~e respecting Lis awn character and mission; but 1t 1s better to go to the extrtme m this d1rect1on than to pretend thnt this beginuing has no significance at all. Nothing would have been easier en. u. 1-25.) 'l'HE GOSPEL ACCORDING 'l'O ST. JOHN. 10!)