The Pulpit Commentary — John — Volume 2 — Section 39

is from the spirit of the false ones I The prie8ts of superstition have to use every availnble menns to keep their dupes under control. II. THE BUCOESS OF TIIESE SPIRITUAL THREATENINGB. While we have to deplore the bindrnnces to the gospel which come from these erroneous instructions and tradi- tions, we must also rejoice at what good there is in evil. Tha.t is not utterly evil 1vhich proves the hold of the supernatural on mankind. III. 'l'HE FAILURE OF '.l'HESE SPIRITUAL THREATENINGS. Jn the ca..~e of the parents the tbrent wo.s successful; in the case of the son it failed. There will always be a few, nt all events, whom no possible inducement can keep back from faithfulness to truth. Fenr of losing their place in the true great as3embly is a mightier motive than that of keeping connection with nny visible ecclesiastical system.-Y. Ver. 25.-Tlie te.1timony of individual blessing. I. THE BEST ANSWER TO CRITICS OF JESUS. Here are the fitting representatives of that vast multitude who in all ages have striven to heap scorn on the Name of Jesus. "We know," they say. That wa..~ just the way Nicodemus talked when he came to Jesus. He came with patronage on his tongue-" We know thou art a Teacher come from God." Thus also we read concern- ing some of Jerusalem that they were sure Jesus could not be the Christ, for as to the Christ no one knew whence he would come; but as to Jesus, they knew whence he was. And the quondam blind man did well in not meeting argument with argument. Let the opponents of Jesus bring forth the knowledge in which they are so confident ; those give them their best answer who can point to some indubitable change in their own experience. Christianity is propagated by testimony rather than argument. Many people a.re quite capable of appreciating evidence who would be utterly bewildered at the very entrance of an argument. Controversy, which some are so fond of, has done little for the cause of Christ. But testimony has done a great deal, even such testimony as was here presented-testimony to the senses. He who used to be seen as a blind man is now seen with full power of vision. Here is a welcome change-a change that has to be accounted for, not as to the disposition producing it, but as to the power. It must be a kind and gracious power that gives sight to the man born blind. If the reverse had happened, if the seeing man had been struck blind, this would need explaining, even as really happens in the case of Elymas (Acts xiii. 11). There, of course, the explanation lies ready to hand in the judicial and admonitory. Happy those who, when specious and conceited arguments a.,a-ainst faith in Jesus are laid before them, can fall back on the testimony of their own experience. Something good has happened to them which they believe Jesus to have produced. II. '!'HE STRONGHOLD OF A CHRISTI.rn's FAITH. A Christian is under no compul- sion to answer the questions, the doubts, the arguments, of other people, llllless indeeu he has set himself the task of convincing them. If we would win people to Christ, we must be all things to them, and meet argument with argument, if that will do good. But questions and doubts may sometimes rise in our own minds, and the true answer to them is in getting down to fact, and observing how those who once were blind bav~ now come to see. A living Christianity, actual and manifest results of the gospel, these are our strongholds when the struggle comes. III. A QUESTION AS TO OUR OWN EXPERIENCE. All our intellectual conclusions con- cerning Jesus are in vain unless there has been a deep personal experience. No matter how careful the search, no matter how sound the reasoning, it is all in vain. Many have written to support Jesus as the Christ, but when we read between the lines, we see how all their talk is from the outside. They can recommend Jesus to others, but it is pretty plain they have not accepted him for themselves. Ilow can we truly know Jesus, bow can we be sure of our hold upon him, unless there has been some deep beneficial change in ours(,lves? A far deeper experience is possible for every one of us than this man went through. Of all those born natnrally blind, only a few have ever had natural vision added to them-the few, namely, that Jesus dealt with. But of those born spiritno.lly blind, i.e. all of us, it is the Di vine intent that we should all ~,1,y in due season, •• Whereas I was blind, now I see,"-Y,  EXPOSITION. CHAPTER X. pa.rencios " (Oodet), through whioh the Saviour's spiritual teaching poul'll ite own Vere.1-21.-5. Ohriiit t.h.e Shepherd of the ill11tniaation. They both alike differ from fk,ck of God. The disoouree which now fol- the " fable," a form of address in whioh lom WA.s the Lord's parabolic or allegoric personal characters and activities nre attri- reply to the conduot of the Phe.rise.io malig- buted (as in the apologue of Jothnm, eto.) ne.uts. These men, claiming to be infallible to the irrational or even to the inanimate guides of the ignorant, to be verit.able shep- creation. herds of the flock of God, he.d ignored the The first of the similitudes before us hna advent of the true e.nd good Shepherd, had more of the character of the pnro.ble proper, opposed the Divine call and snpreme claim because it does not at once oo.rry its own in- of the M.essie.h, had set themselves to dis- terpretation with it. Vere. 1-6 represent turb and dislocate the relations between in parabolic form the claims of those who him e.nd those who saw his glory and found aspired to provide o. " door," i.e. a sure and in him the Consolation of Israel. They had safe entrance to the theoere.tio fold. In vere. excommunicated the adoring disciple who 7-10 our Lord interprets e.nd expnnde the had passed out of lifelong darkness into first representation by giving special signift- marvellous light. They had exaggemted co.uce to the words he had already used, the faint glimmer of light whioh had broken adding something t.o their meaning, and upon their own blindness into true vision. contrasting his own position with that of They had ea.id, " We see," and thus shown all others. From the eleventh to the eigh- themsekes to be wilfully in the wrong. teenth verse he once more reverts to the Their sin abode upon them. The fold of original picture, e.nd claims to occupy e. God's sheep W&S something different from relation to the sheep of God's hand of far their own expect.ations aud definitions. more intimate and suggestive kind than Their wo.y into it proved that they did not what was connoted by the door into the know its true nature. To meet this crisis fold. He is "the good Shepherd." In the.t our Lord delivere a triad of rel!l.ted and cape.city he adds other e.nd marvellous feo.- pare.llel pictures, which differ from the ordi- tlues. The parabolic or allegorical language nary parable (,ra.pa./JoA.f,). The parable is e. passes away int.o vivid description of the picture which is complete initself,andinvites lee.ding fee.tares of his work. The parable tbereadertodiscoversomea.nsweringspiritnal at last glows into burning metaphor. truth. It consists of e. carefnl setting forth In the first pare.graph our Lord gives e. of some physical fact, some fragment of parabolic picture of flook and fold, door biography, some personal or domestic detail. and porter, robber and shepherd. In the It is true to life and experience, and em- second paragraph he emphasizes the rela- bodies some ethical principle or religious tion between the door and the fold, claim- emotion; and while it does notexplicitly tee.eh ing to be" the Door." In the third he illus- either, yet it suggests them to the inquiring trates the function and the responsibility of mind. The parables of the synoptic Gospels the true "Shepherd," e.nd the relo.tion of e.re not exclusive or rigid in their form. the shepherd to the flocl,, and he claims to The so-oalled parable of" the Pharisee and be the Shepherd of Isr11,el. the publican " e.nd that of "the good Sama- ritan " are e.t once transformable int.o pat- Vere. 1-6.-(1) The parable of the fold tel'D.13 or principles of action. The element and flock, the door and the porter, the robber of its own interpretation is o.Jso conepicuoUB and the shepherd. in that of " the rich man and Lazarus " Ver. 1.-Verily, verily, betokens the dc~p and "the rich fool." With these latter solemnity and importance of the. matter _m ha.nd, but not e. complete break; m the cu·- specimens of our Lord's teaching may be cumetancee-neither n. new o.udwucc nor 1.1 compe.red the allegoric illuetrations of the new theme. 1'he adoption by Jcremio.h present discourse. These pictw:es are "trans- (xxiii. l-4), by Ezekiel (xxxiv.), a.nu by mt. :l. 1-42.] nm (IOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. ,JOHN. 41