The Pulpit Commentary — John — Volume 1 — Section 389

&1Lcro.mentnl. In the dnrlcest hour of men 1G; 3 John 14; eh. xiii. 32; and mn.ny other and Churches, in tho throes of persecution, posso.ges). The author of the 'Christian in tho furnace of tcmptntion, on n. million Yoar' has crmsecratcrl in sweet lines the dca.th-bcds, tho snmo voice has been heard. supposed ndclition to the mil'aclc-- His Divine PorsoD1Llity, his infinite power 1Lnd porfcd sympa.thy, tho conviction of his " Thou Framer of the light and do.rk, specia.lizod regard and veritable nearness (ll8 Steor through the tempest thine own ark.- we count ne1Lrncss), h!Lve scattered doubt and Amid the howlin.!s wintry sea, fcnr. We are in port, if we have theo." Ver. 21.-Then they were willing to receive him into the ship : and straightway the ship But there are so many ways in which this was at the land whither they were going. "strnightway" may be reconciled with an Some expositors, who find discrepancy ordinary disembarkation, that there is no between this statement and th11t of the necessity to regal'd it as implied in John's synoptists, say, " they were willing, but did narrative. John so often leaves "'aps unfilled in his chronology and horology that no great not do it," because the vessel is said by somo emphasis need be laid upon the annihilatic,n rem11rka.blcprocess to have been miraculously (save in his adoring thought) of the hour propelled to the shore ( so Liicke, Meyer). before the cla.wu. '!'here ure many passages, however, where a similar expression is used, and where no doubt arisca tho.t that which the actors were Vere. 22-59.-(3) The sequel of the signs. willing to do they uctually did (see Mark xii. The discussion which follows is closely 38; certainly scribes '.were not only willing linked with these two gTeat miracles of tp, but actually did, wear long robes). power and love. It naturally arises out of Oh.rysostom felt this difficulty, and actually proposed to read i\Mov instead of -fi9el\ov, them, and refers with great explicitness to which would remove the difficully; and ~ the former of them and to its true meaning. veritably contains this reading, but; it has The discussion does unquestionably alter its every appearance of an unauthorized correc- scope as it proceeds, and at vers. 41 and 52 tion. The imperfect tense implies o. length- "the Jews" take up a controversy which ened willingness supervening on fear and outcry- willingness or wish increased by had previously been conducted by a portion the sound of his voice, following his first of the crowd who witnessed his mighty action, his. apparent resolve to pass by them: works. Jesus declared (1) that he is him- and, still more, by the incident described in self the Bread of God-the Bread of life for M!Ltthew's Gospel, of Peter's desire to display a starving world: then (2) that his "flesh," the strength of hie faith and the eminence of his position nmongthe twelve. Thie occupied i.e: his wondrous humanity-the veritable time, during which the wind mny have been 1Lbode of the Word of God-will constitute bearing them briskly in their true direction. the food of man; (3) the.t the death of the They willed, wished, to to.ke him into the Divine humanity, the separation of his blood ship, and did so, and the calm supervened as and flesh, must he appropria.tecl by men ; (-1) described in Matthew o.nd Mark. Their wish is not frustrated by the fact now men- that only by this accepbnce and entire as- tioned, but o.ccompanied by it. " Stroight- similation-not only of his mission, but of his way," etc. Most expositors confess this to incarnation: not only of his inco.rnation, but be an o.dditione.l miracle, that the twenty of his sacrificial death-will men receive furlongs or thereabouts (two miles o.nd a him, or live because he lives. half) wero suddenly traversed o.nd miracu- lously 1Lbolished. There would be a greater Before the evangelist proceeds to relatEJ miracle in this than in the two events which this great discourse, he portrays the histo- preced~d. The annihilation of space and rico.l platform, the audience to which it is time is the oblitero.tion of the very categories addressed, nnd this in IL sentence which is of thought, and would, if conveyed by the unusunlly involved and perplexed in its statement, suggest a stupe11dou.s and, so far oonstrnction. The first clause with its verb, as we co.n see, a useless portent. It would strongly tempt us to accept the rationalistio fTliov, is not completed until two or three interpretation. Eb8,!c.,s does not always mean parenthetical ideas are introduced: n.nd then "inst1Lntaneomily,'' but simply that the next in ver. 24 the sentence is taken up or recom- thing to notice or observe was the fact de- menced, after which the main aflirmation ■oribed. Tuke M~k i. 21, 29. It does not follows, viz. i11e/J11trCY, etc. The whole seu- meo.n that any miraculous mpitlity oho.rao- terized the movement of Christ to the house tenoe is intended to explain the regathering of Siiuon o.ud Audrew (l\iP,rk iv. 17; Gnl. i. of the orowd on the seu-!!hore at Capernaum,  25G THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. JOHN. [en. vr.1-71.