Ver. 33.—We know not. They had seen the life of John. They had heard his holy and Divine teaching. They were witnesses to his death for the truth ; and yet they lie. They might have said, “ We think it impru- dent or inexpedient to say ;” but for this they had not sufficient moral courage. Neither tell I you by what authority I do these things. You will not answer my question; neither will I therefore answer yours; because your answer to mine is the answer to your own. “He thus shows,” says St. Jerome, “ that they knew, but would not answer; and that he knew, but did not speak, because they were silent as to what they knew.” Our Lord did thus but mete out to them the measure
was the Messias.” (See John i. 20; x. 41.) | which they meted to him. Answer me. This is characteristic of St HOMILETICS,
Vers. 1—11.—The triumphal entry. Christ was a King, but this royalty was mis- understood during his ministry upon earth. The devil had offered him the kingdoms of this world, and he had refused them. The people would have taken him by force and have made him a king, but he had hidden himself from them. Yet it was right and meet that he should in some way assume a kingly state and accept royal honours, The triumphal entry interests us, because it was the acknowledgment and reception of Jesus with the joyful homage due to him as King of Israel and King of men.
L. THE ocoasIon OF THIS HOMAGE. Our Lord Jesus knew well what was to be the issue of this his last visit to the metropolis. He foresaw, and he had foretold in the hearing of his disciples, that he was about to be put toa violent death. Notwith- standing his clear perception of this his approaching sacrifice, he had come cheer- fully to the city where he was to share the fate of the prophets. It is absurd to draw from this narrative the inference that Jesus was now looking for popular and national acceptance ; he was not so misled. But it is remarkable that he should choose to receive the homage of the multitude almost upon the eve of his betrayal and condem- natn. In his apprehension, the Priesthood and the Kingship of the Messiah were most closely connected. And to our minds there is no discordance between the sorrows.
on. xt 1—33.] THE GOSPEL ACCORDING To wT. MARK. 125 ee eee Se AE ee BY
Jesus was about te endure and the honours he now consented to accept. The occasion was well chosen, and brings before us our Lord’s independence of all human standards and preconcepticns. Ours was a King whose royalty suffered no tarnishing of its splendour when ie rode in majesty, although he rode to death.
IL Tue song or THis HoMaGE. 1. It was the scene of his ministry. In and near Jerusalem many of Christ’s mighty works had been wrought, many of his discourses had been delivered, many of his disciples had been made. It was becoming that for once, in this scene of his labours, his claims should be publicly recognized and his honour publicly displayed. 2. It was to be the scene of his martyrdom and sacri- fice. It has often been noted, as a witness to human fickleness, that the same roads and public places should within a few days resound with the incongruous shouts, “ Hosanna!” and “ Crucify him!” How true was the language of Pilate—they cru- cified their King! On the one hand, it could not be that a prophet should perish out of Jerusalem; on the other hand, it was fitting that the city of David should openly welcome and acknowledge David’s Son and David’s Lord, and the establishment of the predicted kingdom.
IIL THE oFFERERS OF THIS HOMAGE. There were, amongst those who welcomed Jesus, his own attendants and disciples, the villagers from Bethany, the citizens of Jerusalem, and the Galilean pilgrims who had come up to the feast. The multitude was a very varied and representative crowd, including Israelites of many classes, and doubtless differing from one another in the measure of their knowledge of Jesus and their appreciation of his character and his claims. As is often the case when Christ ig extolled and praised, some were drawn into the general enthusiasm and rejoicing by the force of example and under the inspiration of feeling. The general welcome was an anticipation of the honour which shall be rendered to Jesus, when “every tongue shall acknowledge him to be Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
IV. By wHaT ACTIONS THIS HOMAGE WA8 EXPRESSED, The simple circumstances of this entry, a0 natural and almost childlike, are all significant of our Saviour’s dignity and majesty. In the bringing of the ass’s colt for him to ride, there was a fulfilment of an ancient prediction; and the act itself, according to the usage of the Hast, was becoming to royalty. In the spreading of their garments upon the foal’s back, the strewing the road with their clothes and with the branches of trees, there was a pic- turesque, if very simple, expression of their admiring reverence and loyalty.
VY. THE LANGUAGE IM WHICH THIS HOMAGE WAS UTTERED. The unpremeditated shouts and exclamations with which Jesus was greeted were an expression of fervid, popular sentiment. Yet they were also to some extent a confession of Jesus’ Measiah- ship and an acknowledgment of his royalty. 1. Notice the character in which they hailed him: he came “in the Name of the Lord ;” he brought in “ the kingdom of David.” Drawn from Hebrew prophecy, these appellations could not be used without a very special significance. 2. Notice the joyous language in which they hailed him. They called him “ Blessed!” they greeted him with the cry, “ Hosanna in the highest ies It was enthusiastic and lofty language; but meaner terms would have been inappropriate,
unworthy, and unjust.
Vers, 12—=14, 19—25.—The frutt of the freitless fig tres. This action of our Lord Jesus is one of the very few he is recorded to have performed to which exception has been taken. It has been objected that the “cursing ” of the fig tree was a vindictive act, and unlike and unworthy of the gracious and beneficent Redeemer. In answer to this objection, s distinction must be drawn between a vindictive and a judicial pro- ceeding ; the latter having no element of personal irritation or ill feeling. It must not be forgotten that the Lord Jesus was and is the Judge, and this symbolical action was a picture of his judicial function in exercise. It has also been objected that the doom pronounced and carried into effect was unjust, inasmuch as the season for figs had not yet come, and Jesus looked for what, in the nature of things, it was not reasonable to expect. In answer to this, it must be remembered that trees have no consciousness, and no capacity for senticnt suffering; and that, m the analogous case of the barren professor of religion, no sentence of condemnation is pronounced except as the consequence of moral culpability. Tais passage has two distinct movements, each containing its own spiritual lesson impressively conveyed, ;