There are times when truth bursts through all that hides it, and declares itself as the sun through a rent cloud. So is it hera. Without restraint the children of Israel proclaim their King as did Pilate when he wrote, “The King of the Jews.” ‘True, Pilate did not believe, nor did the shouting crowd at the gates of the city for long together. The same walls soon heard the ery, “Orucify him! crucify him]” But for the time the truth prevails. It is uppermost. As in the Transfiguration, the hidden glory is revealed. Perhaps unconsciously, these voices bear witness to the truth. It is a scene to carry in the eye, to be engraven on the heart. Let us learn—
J. THAT TRUE ROYALTY NEEDS NOT THE SYMBOLS OF AUTHORITY. It is not con- stituted or upheld by them; it is not destroyed by their absence. Christianity is independent of external support.
Il, THAT IMMUTABLE TRUTH WILL S800NER OB LATER ASSERT ITSELF. Yea, though it may be rejected, it will leave its testimony for following ages of faith and unbelief to ponder according to their respective needs.
Ill. THaT THE REAL AND PERMANENT RULER IS HE WHO COMETH IN THE NAME OF THe Lorp. Other kings and other kingdoms will rise in a temporary prevalence of power, and fall into dark oblivion and disgrace. But the true will quietly assume its rightful place, whether men accept or reject. Jesus is a King. ‘To this end have I been born.” Jesus is “ King of the Jews,” though their priests cry aloud, “ We have no king but Cesar.” Jesus is the King of kings. But the kingdom is “not of this world,” nor will it pass away as the kingdoms of this world. It abideth for ever. And happy is the man who is a true and faithful subject under this heavenly reign.—@.
Vers. 11—25.—The barren fig tree. How changed is the scene! The great King entered into the royal city, and the great High Priest into the holy temple. Then—O significant words!—“ he looked round about upon all things.” Alas, what scenes caught those calm eyes! In the eventide he left Jerusalem, accompanied only by the twelve. On the morrow, returning again to Jerusalem from Bethany, where he had ypent the night, “he hungered.” A mere touch of the pen discloses a link of connection between him and every one who in hunger seeks and has not his daily bread. Buta “fig tree having leaves” trom “ afar” attracts his keen sight, and “he came, if haply he might find anything thereon,” as the leaves which usually appear after the fruit promised, Alas, his hope is mocked! “ He found nothing but leaves.” Then he, who giveth nature its greenness, who maxeth the fig tree to blossom, and hangeth the fruit on the vine and the olive, uttered his “curse” in prohibiting it to minister any more to the wants of man. The morrow finds it “withered away.” ‘I'here were watching disciples for whose ase this and the other trees grew in the great garden, and this must be used for their highest good. By it he will impress upon their hearts a solemn truth. It is ¢
ox. x1. 1—33.] THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S‘f. MARK. 139
parable enacted. But the parable goes unexpounded, while a great lesson on faith in God is given. By common consent, this withered tree conveys a deep teaching on immature professions. Following so immediately alter the jubilant cry of yesterday, it seems to speak in condemnation of that all too hasty and untrustworthy demon- stration. those shouts of welcome to the King of Jerusalem which would be so soon exchanged for the cry of repudiation, “ We have no king but Cesar.” The strength of the tree is exhausted in the immature foliage. This seems to point to the immature haste of profession made by them who cried “ Hosanna!” and who would show how vain the hopes would be that relied upon that cry, for in a few days it would be exchanged for “ Crucify him!” It was the one visible curse of him who in reality curses everything that is false and pretentious. Significantly it is related, “and his disciples heard it.” The morrow declares that the Lord’s word is a word of power, as the drooping leaveg and dried-up branches and trunk, even “from the roots,” declare. Peter’s exclamation draws forth from the Master a profound reply, which seems designed to lead tht thoughts of the disciples away from all that is false, unreal, and untrue, on which they may not place their hope, to him who is worthy of their faith, and who never dis- appoints them that trust in him. Henceforth this fig tree stands before us as—
L A SYMBOL OF INBINCERITY, or of that uncultured strength which is presumption.
II. A SIGN OF THE DELUSION AND DISAPPOINTMENT WHIOH MUST FOLLOW FROM TRUST IN EMPTY, UNNATURAL BOASTS AND PROMISES. Many are dependent upon, or at least influenced by, the professions of others. There are weak souls that lein upon stronger ones for support, who are comforted and strengthened by their fidelity, or led astray by their dejection.
Il. Therefore this must be A SOLEMN WARNING AND ADMONITION TO ALL TO TRUST IN THE TRUSTWORTHY. And in this case, perhaps, not to commit themselves to the frail, unworthy cry of an excited multitude, but to have calm faith in God, who can sweep away the false and delusive, the weak and fruitless fig tree, and with equal ease the firmly rooted mountain from its place. The “mountain” may have found its antitype in the firmly fixed power that waged its opposition to the world’s Redeemer, and would soon hang him on a tree. That which could not satisfy the hunger, and that which could crush and overwhelm the King, were equally amenable, as is every mountain and every deceitful thing to the mighty power of God, invoked by a faith held in a true
spirit.—G.
Vers. 15—18.—The cleansing of the temple. Jesus came to “bear witness unto the truth.” One truth was the sanctity of that “house of prayer” which was opened for “all the nations.” But have the rightful guardians of that house preserved for it this sacredness, that the feet of the wearied and the heart of the sorrowful of ali nations might be allured within its hallowed walls, where in humble penitence and prayer, and with strong cries to the God of heaven and earth, they might find rest and
and shelter? Nay, verily. Cruel covetousness has let out the sacred enclosure