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PULPIT COMMENTARY
EDITED BY THE
VERY REV. Hy D: M: SPENCE; D.D.
DEAN OF GLOUCESTER
AND BY THE
REV. JOSEPH S. EXELL, M.A.
ST. MARK
Exposition
By VERY REV. E. BICKERSTETH, D.D. bomiletics
By REV. PROF. J. R. THOMSON, M.A.
bomilies by Various Authors
REV. A. ROWLAND, B.A., LL.B. REV. PROF. J. J. GIVEN, D.D. REV. A. F. MUIR, M.A. REV. PROF. HE. JOHNSON, M.A. REV. R. GREEN
VOL. II
NEW EDITION
FUNK & WAGNALLS COMPANY LONDON AND NEW YORK
This Book Is Manufactured Under Wartime Conditions In Conformity With All Government Regulations Controlling the Use of Paper and Other Materials.
THE
GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. MARK.
Smee SG
EXPOSITION.
OHAPTER [X.
Ver. 1.—Till they see the kingdom of God geome with power. In St. Matthew (xvi. 28) the words run thus: “ Till they see the Son
‘of man coming in his kingdom.” In St. Luke (ix. 27), “ Till they see the kingdom of God.” All these evangelists connect their record of the Transfiguration with these pre- dictive words—a circumstance which must not be |» sight of in their interpretation. The question, therefore, is whether or how far the Transfiguration is to be regarded as @ fulfilment of these words. One thing seems plain, that the Transfiguration, if » fulfilment at all, was not an exhaustive ful- filment of the words. The solemnity of their introduction forbids us to limit them to an event which would happen within eight days of their utterance. But there was an event impending, namely, the destruction of Jerusalem, involving the overthrow of the Jewish polity, which, coming as it did within forty or fifty years of the time when our Lord esd shese words, might reasonably have been expected to take place within the lifetime of some of those then standing there. And that great catastrophe was fre- quently alluded to by our Lord as a type and earnest of the great judgment at the end of the world. What relation, then, did the Transfiguration hold to these two events and to the prediction contained in this verse? It was surely a prelude and pledge of what should be hereafter, specially designed to brace and strengthen the apostles for the aight of the suilerings of their Master, and to animate them to endure the toil and the trials of the Christian life. So that the Yransfiguration was an event, so to speak, parenthetiu to this prediction—a preliminary menifestation, for the special advantage of
MARE—H,
those who witnessed it; though given also “for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.” Such were the views of St. Hilary, St. Chrysostom, St. Ambrose, and others. “When our Lord was trans- figured,” says St. Jerome, “he did not lose his form and aspect, but he appeared to his apostles as he will appear at the day of judg- ment.” And elsewhere he says, “Go forth @ little out of your prison, and place before your eyes the reward of your present labour, which ‘the eye hath not seen, nor the ear heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of man.’”
Vers. 2, 3.—After six days. St. Luke (ix. 28) says, “About eight days after these sayings.” There is no real discrepancy here. There were six whole days that intervened between our Lord’s words and the Trans- figuration itself. Jesus taketh with him Peter, and James, and John. He chose these three, as the leaders amongst the disciples, and he showed to them his glory, because he intended sxlso to show them afterwards his bitter agony in the garden. This magnifl- cent splendour—this “excellent glory,” as St. Peter (2 Epist. i. 17) describes it—thie, together with the voice of the Father, “ This is my beloved Son,” would assure them that Christ was truly God, but that his essential Deity was hidden by the veil of the flesh; and that, although he was about to be cruci- fied and slain, yet his Godhead could not suffer or die. It was an evidence beforehand, @ prospective evidence, that he underwent -deatb, even the death of the cross, not constrained by infirmity or neceasity, but of his own will, for the redemption of man, It was plain that, since he could thus invest his body with this Divine glory, he could have saved himself from death if he had so willed. He taketh with him Peter, and James,
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