Il. How agE THEY TO BE OVERCOME? 1, The means. “ Prayer,” or, in the Authorized Version, “ prayer and fasting.” ‘here isa singularity about such a specific. A particular case of failure occurs, in apparently exceptional circumstances, and the remedy is not new or peculiar, but general. Could devils, then, come out by anything else than prayer, when man was the exorciser? It would almost seem as if the disciples had done their work hitherto by virtue of an external commission, using the name of Christ as a sors of talisman. This was sufficient for ordinary cases, but whenever one out of the usual occurred they were at a loss, 2. The reason for its necessity. The immediate occasion for the Master’s admonition probably was the increasing laxity of the disciples in
rsonal prayer, their outwardness, and their failure to grasp the essential principles of Se kingdom, But there was a more profound reason for the advice. The servant of
24 THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. MARK. [cs. m. 1—50
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God should be in complete sympathy and oneness with his Master, and that can only be cultivated by frequent acts of devotion and the exercise uf a constant faith. It is not in bis own strength that difficulties are to be met, but in Christ’s, But that can only be imparted through fellowship with his spirit, which depends for its efficiency and depth upon repeated acts of the spiritual nature. The disciple by this rule is called into conscious personal fellowship with God, whose power will only then be granted. One- ness with God is the secret of spiritual power. 3. The same principle applies to the whols life of the Christian. True success depends upon vital spiritual effort, upon con- scious co-operation with God, and consequent fasting from self. If we would not be taken at unawares we must be watchful, in constant actual exercise of faith, and unin- terrupted personal communion with God. We are in danger of making too much of the externa! and accidental element in religion; we can never make too much of him who “worketh in” and through “us to will and to do of his good pleasure” (Phil. ii. 13).—M.
Vers. 30—32.— The gospel @ source of sorrow and perplexity. Something very grand and pathetic in those rehearsals of the drama of redemption. The great heart of Christ yearning for sympathy, and yet shrinking from the kind that was evoked; wondering, meanwhile, at the “hardness of heart” of his disciples, who “ understood not the saying.” How inexplicable this failure to affect their moral nature! So far as words are concerned, it was the same gospel as that which woke the nations at Pentecost; yet it wos as if still-born; an abstraction; a mystery past finding out. It is a sad mono- logue; a recitative upon a minor key. Reasons for this failure and ineffectiveness—
{. Ir was not unDERsTOoD. From human standpoint all but incomprehensible; as it certainly could not have been originally conceived by man. A mood and sentiment too elevated for ordinary moral natures. An important consideration in determini the question as to who founded Christianity—Christ or his disciples. The “ prophet” must not discourse in an unknown tongue.
IL IT couLD Nor 8B UNDERSTOOD UNTIL IT WAS ACCOMPLISHED. Intelligence, moral perception, and spiritual illumination waited upon the finished work, It was, so tos # moral creation, which beforehand only the Author could comprehend, and afterwards still he alone perfectly. Each step in the evolution of it, up to a certain point, only deepened the mystery. When Christ realized his work of salvation in act, his people began to realize it in thought and experience.
Il]. AnD THEN ONLY COULD If BE UNDERSTOOD THROUGH THE SPIRITUAL LIFE FT OALLED FoRTH. Christ had to evoke the very faculty by which the plan and spirit of his work were to be discerned. It is “unto Jews a stumbling-block, and unto Gentiles foolishness ; but unto them that are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God” (1 Cor. i. 23, 24), The world by wisdom knew it not, “but we received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us by God, . . . Now the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness unto him; and he cannot know them, because they are spiritually judged ” (1 Oor. ii. 12—14). Itis not 4ntil we learn the true character of God, and, in the light of that, the nature of si that we can from the heart approve of the career of Jesus as “ the way of salvation.”—
Vers. 38—37.— Who shall be greatest? The selection of Peter, James, and John for exceptional association with Christ; the primacy of Peter suggested by the words of their Master on a certain occasion ; and the spirit of the sons of Zebedee, shown in the request made by their mother, a little later, on their behalf (ch. x. 35—41), were cir- cumstances that soon attracted the attention of the others, and gave rise to discussion az to relative superiority. In dealing with this unseemly dispute, our Saviour showed—
I, Tuat IT WAS A QUESTION THAT OUGHT NOT TO BE ASKED AMONGST CHRIST’S FOL Lowers. (Vers. 33, 34.) 1. His question elicited no reply. They were ashamed that he should have detected them. It was evidently contrary to his spirit, as they felt although they might be unable to explain. 2. That it is foreign to the genius of Christianity is further shown by the evils it has created within the Church. A vast percentage of the failures and scandals of Christians has arisen from this contention, whether carried on in silence or expressed, Nevertheless that it is deeply seated in
_ OB. rx. 1—50.] THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. MARK. 25
human nature is shown by its persistency from age to age. A motive of action we are ashamed to confess when a sense of Christ’s presence is upon us cannot be a right one, And in proportion as the presence of the Master’s spirit is felt, it is suppressed or destroyed.