III. Gov’s REQUIREMENT AND DEMAND UPON MEN, BY HIS MESSENGERS AND BY HIS Son. Our Lord appeals to us both by the Law and by the gospel. The teaching of his Word brings before us his rightful claims, and shows us how much it is for our highest advantage that we should not be unmindful of them. He summons us by the lessons of his providence, and by the counsels of our Christian friends, to a religious life. Yet there is no appeal so powerful, so persuasive, as that which God makes to us by his own “dear Son.” Christ comes to us with authority ; he comes to us with grace. He comes from the Father, and he comes with the deepest interest in our condition, anxious to overcome our rebelliousness, and to lead us to a holy and grateful obedience, The gospel of Jesus Christ is the one great, Divine appeal to the hearts of men. It is the method which infinite Wisdom and Mercy have devised of winning our confidence and love, and securing our ready obedience and loyal service. Those who have rejected other messengers of Heaven may justly be enjoined to receive with reverence the Son of God.
IV. Tue PENALTIES OF FRUITLESSNESS AND REBELLION. These are described in this passage in the most affecting terms. Privileges are removed from the unfaithful. The negligent and rebellious are punished and cast out. The advantages which they have spurned are transferred to others.
V. THE REWARD OF FRUITFULNESS AND LOYALTY. 1, Christis glorified, even though there may be those who reject and contemn him. Christ himself quotes a passage of Scripture, in which this great truth is set forth, though by a change of figure. “The stone which the builders rejected is become the Head of the corner.” The purposes of God are accomplished, and cannot be frustrated by the guilt of man, 2. Other hus — bandmen are found who will deal more faithfully with the sacred trust. These shall offer the fruits of obedience, which shall be acceptable to the Lord of the vineyard. They shall be confirmed in their occupation, shall be blessed in their work, shall enjoy the Master’s favour, and shall live in the light of their Master’s glory.
Vers. 13—17.—Ceesar’s due, There could not have been a more decisive proof of the duplicity and hypocrisy of the Jewish leaders than that furnished by this incident. It is certain that they were opposed to the Roman sway, that they nursed in their hearts hopes of Jewish independence, that they would have eagerly welcomed such a Messiah as they looked for—one who should deliver them from the yoke of foreign bondage. Yet, in their malignity, they were ready to denounce Jesus to the Roman governor should he express an opinion adverse to the paying of tribute, just as they were ready to deliver him up to the fury of the populace should he formally approve and sanction the rights of the empire over the Jewish people. Thus—
I. A JUST BUT INSINCERE COMPLIMENT VEILS A MALIGNANT DESIGN. It isan astounding instance of duplicity, this method of approaching the Lord Jesus. These Pharisees and Herodians make admissions which they would never have made except as the means to an evil end. They address the Master with the acknowledgment that he is “true ”—in this a striking contrast to themselves; that he is impartial, caring not for any one, nor regarding the person of men; that he taught the way of God. This was not empty, complimentary language ; it was just. Whether in their hearts they believed it to be so, we cannot say; but Christ’s enemies were often unintentional witnesses, both to his virtues and to his Divine authority and mission. Their only aim was to con- ciliate him, so that, in an unguarded moment, he might, with natural frankness, commit himself to some judgment which they might use to his harm.
TI, A ORAFTY ALTERNATIVE, AN INSIDIOUS SRARE, IS WISELY BLUDED. “ Is it lawful to give tribute unto Casar, or not?” A categorical answer either way would have been immediately and effectively used to his injury; he could not, after so answering, both
ow.’xu. 1—44.] THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. MARK. 161
stand well with his countrymes and remain free from the imputation of disloyalty to the then supreme power of Rome. Tho alternative was fairly evaded, and the snare was escaped, by the method in which Jesus dealt with the question propounded. There was something picturesque and impressive to the popular mind in his asking for the denarius, and pointing to the emperor’s image and superscription. There was manifest reasonableness in yielding to Cesar what was so obviously his own; yet it was pointed ssc this might be loyally done without detriment to the higher obligations of religion.
Ill. A PRINCIPLE OF ACTION IN THE SEVERAL DEPARTMENTS OF HUMAK LIFE I8 ONCE FOR ALL ASSERTED. 1, We have here a recognition that civil government is of Divine authority. It does not follow from this that every government deserves approval, or even that under no circumstances is it lawful to resist constituted authority. But our Lord teaches, and his apostles teach, as a general principle, that civil governors are to be obeyed, that “the powers that be are ordained of God.” 2, An implication that there is a province into which civil governors may not intrude, that there are obligations which take precedence even of the duties we owe to the earthly sovereign. There are claims which the Divine Lord himself prefers, and which he regards as supreme. The apostles clearly grasped this principle, and put it into practice when the rulers interfered with their discharge of what they held to be their religious duties. When a conflict occurs between the allegiance due to the civil ruler and that due to the supreme King, our Lord’s words warrant the preference of the Divine to the human law. in times of persecution especially, the principle of our Lord’s words has often guided the wavering and sustained the feeble. “ Whether it be right to obey God rather than man, judge ye!” We may say that the modern privilege of religious liberty has grown out of this incident in our Lord’s ministry, these words from our Lord’s lips. And to the same source we may attribute the growing tendency on the part of secular powers to with- draw from the province of religion, and to allow free scope to the action of conscience and full liberty for the profession and for the rites of religion. There is a province into which no earthly authority may intrude, and where the Creator reigns supreme and alone.