The Pulpit Commentary — John — Volume 2 — Section 297

and tl'llnl!itory· preBC'D<'O, (!I) doparture to roll a stone to his eepulohre, and m&ke U the FBI.her and &biding preaenoe-form B ea sure Ra they oan, sealing the atone and gronp of ideM very difficult el"en for us now setting a watch. Phuise.lam will exult that to rel\lil'lll! cir "to """'~" fully what he saith. this demand for a higher righteousness th&.111 1'no DeC'd wonder tlrnt these dieciples should its own is for ever hushed; S11.dduceoiaot hRve b~n in doubt, sinoo one of their number will rejoice that thia troublesome witness t4 intimately acquainted with them and their unseen o.nd ctcrna.l things is ailenoed; th• ~tate of feolin1s 1'8COMB it of them? hierarchy will boast that now no danger Ver. 18.-Tha:, Hid, What ii this little prevails of the Romana taking awny their while whereof lie apeaketh, 1 (>.fy"; Vul- place and nation; the world will praise the J!Me. dt'm"t). (The R.'1'. and Westoott and Hort deed of blood; hut nil this rejoicing will invert the 'l"ovro and .,.4 and thus greatly last "a little while." Christ rea.ffirms their increal!e the simplicity of the pll.Sl'age.) grief, and even for "R little while" justifies Wl111.t are these two short periods of whioh it, so long as they can hear the jubilate of he speaks, so full of mysterious significance P the world over their personal burden of We know not whe.t he aaith (>.a.>.,,; Vnl- unutterable sorrow. He continues: Yon shall gatc. 1-oquitur). We do not apprehend the be sorrowful, but in R little while your wonderful interchange of vision and blank 10rrow llhall be ( l,ylv,,,.o Elr, Acts iv. 11; v. darkness - of presence and abeenoe and 86) turned into joy. Clearly becanee "you presence again ! shall see me." It co.unot be s11.id that Dill' Ver.19.-1l'ow 1 l811UB knew (perceived by Lord here positively asserts his resurrection; his Divine penetration of human thought but when we remember how "tho disciples here quickened by their anxious look and were glad when they saw the Lord," how Mary hurried whisperings) that they were wish- ran "with great joy to bring his disciples ing to question him, and he aaid to t:lem, word," wo feel that here was the simplo Are yon inquiring among yourselves oon- solution of the mystery, and that onr Lord's ceming thill that I aaid, A little while, etc.? intercourse with them in his resurrection• Iu his repetition he does not quote the body was the greRt preliba.tion of the method clawie which they had e.dded-i.e. added of his continnous abiding with them in the if the clause, ver. 16, is not genuine. He power of his Spirit and the glorification of proceeded to meet their difficul Lies. hie body-we oa.nnot doubt tha.t this was Ver. 20.-There is no exact or categoric his meaning and the purpose of the evange- reply to the very inquiry which he has heard list in recording it. and cited, but tharo is more of prophecy and Ver. 21.-'l'he next illustration is very help than if he had said, " To-morrow I die remarkable, and surely cannot be a simple e.nd shall be laid in the gmve, and on the analogy of the supervening of joy on sorrow. lhird day I she.II rise again." He had often The woman(the article does not poiut to any said this. and they refused to understand. special -yuvi/, but refers to a lllli.versal fact e. It was not merely resn1Tection of the body, and low of womanhood, cf. 6 ~oii>.or, oh. xv. bnt the glorification in the Father of his 15) when she is in travail bath sorrow, be- entire Personality, for which lie wished them oause her hour is come. . So now there are to be prepared. A Bimple restoration like the tl'llvail-pangs of the new humanity, the that of Le.mrus would not have secured him new theoora.cy, bitter and terrible. But as from the malioe of those who sought to put BOOIL BI she has brought forth the . child, Lazarus o.lso to death. Verily, verily, I say she remembereth no longer the anguish, for unto you, that weep and lament you Bhall, the joy that a man is born into the world. and the world shall rejoioe. Here is his The old prophets often compared the grief owu account of the effect upon them of that of Israel or her peril to tlie paugs of n he said, "A litl.le while," and you will Le- tre.vailing woman preluding deliverance hold mil, 8.6 you think, no more. The world (Isa. xxi. 3 ; l l vi. 17 ; l:r:vi. 6, 7 ; Hos. xiii. will rejoice, because w some extent it will 13) and even joy-the joy of b1inging be the world's doing, e.nd it will fancy for a manhood into the world and the new con- little while tLa.t it has got its way a.ud sciousness of maternity. Meyer and others succeeded eiccllently welL The world will rebel against any meaning beyond that of the following of joy upon sorrow ; but Tholuck, De Wette, Ebra.rd, and Moulton ' Tovro .,.[ 1t,-.,..,, is the reading of A, D, r, see here the obvious reference to those A, et.c., a.ad some versions, T.R., Tischendorf "travail-pangs of death" with which St. (8th edit.). Ti /u,,., Tovro is that of N, B, D, Peter (Acla iii. 24) said that the Holy One L, a.nd many other manwicripts and versions, could not be restrained, agonies in which for L&chmann, TregcilJ;a, R.T., and Westcott a. while every apostle must hove wept and and Hort. lamented, dying and being crucified with • O~ 6, omi.tt.ed by Tisebendorf (8th edit.) him, and to the glorious dell veranoe of all 11.ud R.T., with tt, B, D, L, l, SS. wh<J suffered witb. him, when they live agaiu oa, xvi. 1-33.J 'l'HE GOSPgL ACCOllDING 'l'O ST. ,JOHN. 307