3018. The True Lineage

A Sermon Published On Thursday, December 13, 1906.

And it came to pass, as he spoke these things, a certain woman of the company lifted up her voice, and said to him, “Blessed is the womb that bore you, and the breasts which nursed you.” But he said, “Yes rather, blessed are those who hear the word of God, and keep it.” {Lu 11:27,28}

For other sermons on this text:

   {See Spurgeon_Sermons No. 1920, “Believers as Blessed as the Blessed Virgin” 1921}

   {See Spurgeon_Sermons No. 3018, “True Lineage, The” 3019}

   Exposition on Lu 11:14-54 {See Spurgeon_Sermons No. 3018, “True Lineage, The” 3019 @@ "Exposition"}

   {See Spurgeon_SermonTexts "Lu 11:28"}

1. Was this a loving-hearted woman who had been moved by the dear Saviour’s discourse? Many, doubtless, had listened to the same gracious words; some of them with wrath, and others with stern complacency; but it may be that her soul began to swell with holy wonder at the marvellous things which proceeded out of his mouth, and her soul felt such an affection for the man from whom so much of grace proceeded that she cried, “Blessed is the womb that bore you!” Was it so? Perhaps it was an ignorant but passionate love breaking through all restraint. Sometimes, among our Primitive Methodist friends, we hear the same kind of thing; they are so carried away by the power of the truth which has just been stated that they cannot refrain from crying out, “Glory!” or “Hallelujah!” Throughout all Wales, this custom, which I am far from condemning, prevails the whole sermon through, often very much to the comfort of the speaker, enlivening him, and cheering him on, and making him rise to greater flights than otherwise he might have taken. Perhaps we may look at this interruption of the affectionate woman in that light.

2. Possibly, however, there was bold, blank ignorance rather than intense affection. Hers may have been a kind of vacant wonder at what she had heard; and, involuntarily, she betrayed it with her tongue. So I have noticed, sometimes, when I have been preaching the Word among our Primitive Methodist friends, that they have not always put the “Glory!” in at the right place, or the observation with which they have favoured us has been as inappropriate as it well could be. Though I have been glad, at times, to hear some emotional response when it seemed to come from true sensitivity, and was compatible with common sense, I have not been quite so gratified when ignorance has been the prompter. Perhaps it was so with this woman. Such, at least, is the opinion of many sound expositors, and Jesus does not appear to commend her at all. She was a poor ignorant soul, who perhaps had never listened to any preaching before, and certainly had never listened to such preaching as that of Jesus Christ, and so she cried out, in a kind of stupid wonder, “Blessed is the womb that bore you, and the breasts which nursed you.”

3. Anyway, whichever it might be, this woman was only an example of very many in her own age, and a representative of many millions in successive ages. She turned her admiration, you perceive, from the person of Christ to the person of his mother. There was some kind of tendency of this kind on other occasions in Christ’s life, and he rebuked it, as he did here; for, you will observe, though he says nothing disrespectful of his mother, yet he at once puts the extinguisher on everything like blessing her as though she were so highly-favoured above all other believers in him. On the occasion of the marriage in Cana of Galilee, Jesus answered his mother — I will not say roughly, — that was not possible for him, — but somewhat sternly, when he said, “Woman, what have I to do with you? My hour is not yet come.” He purposely discouraged what he must have perceived was the natural tendency of people’s minds to reverence his mother unduly; and it does seem marvellous, to any thinking man, that after such words as these of my text, Mariolatry should have prevailed in the Church of Rome to so frightful an extent as it has done, and as it still does. Why, for every prayer offered to Jesus Christ, I believe there are fifty, at the present moment, offered to the Virgin Mary. In any case, in the Romanist’s rosary, there are nine beads for the “Hail Mary” to every one for “Our Father.”

4. Observe, that she is to be held in profound respect, she is “blessed among women”; there should never come from the lips of any Christian a single word of disrespect for her; she was highly-favoured, she was a kind of second Eve, as Eve brought us sin, this woman, this second Eve, brought us the Lord who is our salvation. She does stand in a very high position; but, still, in no respect is she to be an object of worship; by no means is she to be lifted up and extolled as though she were immaculately conceived, and afterwards lived without sin, and were taken up, as the Papists declare, by a marvellous assumption into heaven, — an assumption, indeed, on their part, and nothing better than an assumption, without any foundation whatever in fact. No, brethren, the Virgin Mary was a sinner, saved by grace, as you and I are. That Saviour, whom she gave birth to, was a Saviour for her as much as for us. She had to be washed from sin, both original and contracted, in the precious blood of her own Child, “the Son of the Highest”; neither could she have entered heaven unless he had pronounced her absolution, and she had been, as we are, “accepted in the Beloved,” Yet I do not wonder that there was a tendency to exalt her unduly; however, I do marvel much that, after Christ has spoken so plainly and so expressly, men should have had the impudence, and the devil should have had the audacity, to delude millions of professing Christians into a worship of her, who is to be reverenced, but never to be adored.

5. If you look at the text, you will see that there is something very beautiful about it. This woman pronounced a blessing on the Virgin Mary; Christ lifts that off, and puts it on all his people. She said, “Blessed is the woman who gave birth to you.” “Yes,” said Jesus, “she is blessed; but (in the very same sense,) they are blessed who hear the Word of God, and keep it.” So, my brethren, whatever blessings pertain to Mary, pertain to you, and pertain to me, if we hear the Word of God, and keep it; whatever we may suppose to have been the mercies comprehended in her being so highly-favoured a person, those very same mercies are yours and mine, if, hearing the Word of God, we truly keep it.

6. I. It is supposed, and very naturally, by many, that it would have been a delightful thing to have been the mother of our Lord, BECAUSE, THEN, WE SHOULD HAVE HAD THE HONOUR OF THE CLOSEST ASSOCIATION WITH HIM.

7. To have seen that infant in his cradle, and nursed him on one’s knees, to have noted the maturing years of the Holy Child, to have heard his gracious words, his holy piety, his complete obedience to his parents, to have remained with him the thirty or so years which, doubtless, Joseph and Mary spent with their honoured, glorious Son, must have been a great blessing. The same spirit, you know, comes out in Mrs. Luke’s pretty hymn, such a favourite with our dear children, which all of us love to sing, — 

   I think, when I read that sweet story of old,

   When Jesus was here among men,

   How he called little children as lambs to his fold;

   I should like to have been with them then.

   I wish that his hands had been placed on my head,

   That his arms had been thrown around me;

   And that I might have seen his kind look when he said,

   “Let the little ones come unto me.”

8. Yes, many a mother might feel that, to be kissed with those little lips, to have had her neck surrounded by those blessed arms, to have had her eyes looked into with the love-flashing eyes of such a Child as that, would have been a blessing to be craved for every day. Well, so it looks, beloved; and yet, if we come to think properly about it, the illusion is quickly dispelled. It was a high privilege to be associated with Christ; but, unless spiritually sanctified, it was a solemn responsibility sinking the soul deeper in guilt, rather than raising it higher in sanctification. Let me venture to remind you of one, who had the very closest intimacy with Christ in the days of his public ministry; he was so trusted by the Saviour that he kept the little treasury in which Christ put, when there were any, the excessive gifts of charity; he was the treasurer of the little company, you know him, — Judas. He had been with Jesus almost everywhere; he had been his familiar friend and acquaintance, and when he dipped the bread with him in the sop, it was only an indication of the close association which had been preserved between the divine Master and a vile creature who was utterly unworthy of such a privilege. There was never such another “son of perdition” as Judas, the friend and acquaintance of Christ. Never has any other man sunk so low in the depths of divine wrath, with so huge a millstone around his neck, as this man with whom Christ took such sweet counsel, and went to the house of God in company. The same sun ripens the grain and the poppies. This man was ripened in guilt by the same external process that ripened others in holiness.

9. It is not, then, after all, so great a blessing, looked at as a natural blessing. But, whatever the blessing may be, it is available to every Christian spiritually. Beloved you may have an acquaintance with Christ, if you are his people, quite as near, and far more enduring than any acquaintance which his mother could have gained by merely dandling him on her knees, or supplying his needs from her breast. Today, you may talk with Jesus; you heirs of heaven, your Divine Elder Brother’s company is free to you; you only have to go to him, and he will bring you into his banqueting house, and his banner over you shall be love. His left hand is still under the head of his saints, and his right hand embraces them. There are dearer things than ever the infant Christ could give to his mother; there are kisses of his lips more sweet, more spiritual, than any which Mary received. You only have to long for them, and to pine after them; and, when you get them, you only have to prize them, and you shall have them every day. I trust, beloved, some of us need not cry with the spouse in the Song, “Oh that you were as my brother, that nursed the breasts of my mother! when I should find you outside, I would kiss you”; for we can say, “My Beloved is mine, and I am his … . Sustain me with flagons, comfort me with apples; for I am sick with love.” I say, then, that all the honour of associating with Christ may be had, at the present moment, by his people; the sweetest of fellowship can be enjoyed by us, in the highest and purest sense, so that the blessing which Mary had is ours, and we may say, with Christ, “Yes, rather blessed are those who hear the Word of God, and keep it.”

10. II. Again, it is naturally supposed, by some, that it must have been a sweet thing to be the mother of our Lord, BECAUSE, THEN, WE SHOULD HAVE BEEN BETTER ACQUAINTED WITH HIM, AND HAVE KNOWN MORE OF HIS HEART.

11. If he had any secrets, surely he would confide them to his mother. There must have oozed out, in his private life, some things which men did not see in public. Perhaps there may have been something which he could not very well unveil to the gaze of the million, which would be perceived by Joseph and by his admiring mother. She was behind the scenes; she had the benefit of looking into his very heart in a way in which we cannot do it. Well, there may be something in that; but I do not think there is much. I do not know that Mary knew more than others; what she did know, she did well to lay up in her heart; but she does not appear, from anything you read in the Gospels, to have been a better-instructed believer than any other of Christ’s disciples; and we have no indication of her having made any extraordinary advances in the spiritual instruction which her Son had given.

12. But it is certain that, whatever Mary may have found out, you and I may find out now, — not naturally, but spiritually. Do you wonder that I should say so? Here is a text to prove it: “The secret of the Lord is with those who fear him; and he will show them his covenant.” I remember also the Master’s words where he said, “Henceforth I do not call you servants; for the servant does not know what his lord does; but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you.” Indeed, so blessedly does this Divine Revealer of secrets tell us what is in his heart that he keeps back nothing which is profitable for us, and can say to us as he said to his disciples, “If it were not so, I would have told you.” Christ keeps nothing back from his chosen. Between the heart of a true saint and Christ there are no secrets; we pour our hearts into his heart, and he pours back his heart into ours. Does he not, today, reveal himself to us as he does not do to the world? You know that he does; and therefore you will not ignorantly cry out, as this woman did, “Blessed is the womb that bore you”; but you will intelligently bless God that, having heard the Word, and kept it, you have, first of all, as true a communion with the Saviour as the Virgin had, and you have, in the second place, as true an acquaintance with the secrets of his heart as she can be supposed to have obtained.

13. III. Further, perhaps a more common remark is this, “I wish that I had been Christ’s mother, so that I MIGHT HAVE NURSED HIM, AND SUPPLIED HIS NEEDS, watched him in his weakness, put him to bed, and heard the first lispings when he began to speak. Oh, it would have been something to have said, when I was in heaven, that I had nursed the One who is now exalted far above all principalities and powers, that I listened to the cry of his infancy, and relieved his needs.”

14. Well, that would be something; but let me say to you that you may have it, beloved, — every child of God should have it. Christ is still on earth, — not concerning his bodily person, but concerning his mystical person; and you may still nurse that mystical person. We, ministers of God, are we not nursing-fathers to the Church of God? And each of you, in your sphere, as you teach the ignorant, guide the wandering, and comfort those who are bowed down, are hearing the plaintive cry of a suffering Saviour, and you are, with the breasts of your consolation, supplying the needs of his yet infant Church. Perhaps it is better, and far nobler to have the honour of nursing Christ’s mystical body than it was to care for his physical body, because there is a much wider range here. It was only a little cup he needed, it was only a morsel and a drop the Saviour needed sometimes; but now his great body, stretched as it is from Japan to America, — his great body, found as it is in every part of this world, — his great body, found in those sick ones, in those poverty-stricken ones, requires vastly more, and therefore from your substance you may give more, yes, you may offer up your whole strength, so that you may feed him, and supply his spiritual needs. Whatever honour, then, the Virgin had in this respect, Christ’s pure virgins may still have if they will wait on his Church, and minister to it from their heart’s substance.

   Jesus, poorest of the poor!

   Man of sorrows! Child of grief!

   Happy they whose bounteous store

   Minister’d to thy relief.

   Jesus, though thy head is crown’d,

   Crown’d with loftiest majesty,

   In thy members thou art found,

   Plunged in deepest poverty.

   * * * *

   They who feed thy sick and faint

   For THYSELF a banquet find;

   They who clothe the naked saint

   Round THY loins the raiment bind.

15. IV. It may be very possible that some others have looked at it in another way. They have said, “Blessed is the womb that bore him, and the breasts that nursed him; for had it been our lot to be his mother, then we believe HE WOULD HAVE BEEN READY TO HEAR OUR CRY, for a son cannot surely resist the prayer of his own mother; and when a mother says, ‘My son, help me, I am sinful; I believe in you, help me’; when she cries out to him whom she had conceived, ‘Help me, blot out my sins,’ why surely Jesus would heed, with ready ear, and say, ‘Mother, your sins are forgiven you.’”

16. But, beloved, this is only our imagination, for Christ is just as ready to save any sinner in this place as he was to save his mother, for it is his greatest delight to see a sinner, with tears in his eyes, crying, “God be merciful to me a sinner.” If I had power to pardon you, I think you know how cheerfully I would do it. Oh, could I break your hearts, and bind them up again, God knows that I would not let this night pass without doing it; and do you think that my Lord and Master is less loving than I am? You feel, if he were here tonight, and you were his mother, that he would he sure to hear your cry, and answer you; but Jesus Christ said, on one occasion, as he looked at the crowd gathered together, when someone said to him, “Your mother and your brothers stand outside, desiring to speak with you”; — what did he say? “Who is my mother? and who are my brothers?” and then he stretched out his hand towards his disciples, and said, “Behold my mother, and my brothers! For whoever shall do the will of my Father who is in heaven, the same is my brother, and sister, and mother,” And you, if you put your trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, shall not stand second to his mother, indeed, shall I not say it? You shall even have the preference. Christ was preaching, and they said, “Here is your mother,” Did he stop to attend to his mother first? No, but first he would feed his disciples, first he would teach them; and so, sinner, you shall not be second to the mother of the Saviour. Only cry to him now. Oh, that the Holy Spirit might show you your lost state, reveal to you your need, and put a penitent cry into your mouth; for, when you can cry, “Jesus, pity me, and save me,” you may cry to him with the greatest confidence, for — 

   He is able, he is willing,

      Doubt no more.

You need not attempt to move his heart with many cries; for his heart is moved already. He loves the sons of men; his delights are with them. You cannot do him a greater service than by letting him save you. Submit yourself, with all your emptiness, to the fulness of his unspeakable compassion. Is there not a thought here that might woo some, — I am holding it now like a magnet, — is there no metal here that will be attracted by it? The love of Christ for his people, for poor sinners who seek him, is as great as any love he ever had for his mother, and even greater; you may come with boldness to him, though you never sought his face before.

17. V. Again, I think some have thought that, if they had been his mother, THEY COULD HAVE COME TO HIM WITH GREATER EASE.

18. “It is so easy to speak to one whom we know. We are not at all afraid to express our needs to one who has been so near to us as Christ was to his mother.” Yet I would have you remember that Christ, as the Son of God, was not the Son of Mary; Christ, the Divine Saviour, was no nearer to Mary than he is to us. Christ was merely the man Christ who was conceived in her womb, or who nursed at her breasts; and, therefore, in his divine person, he towers as much above her as he does above us. And then, though he was born of the substance of his mother, yet he was of our substance too, for he is bone of our bone, and flesh of our flesh, — a man, such as we are. If he were an angel, being of a different kind, we might be afraid to come to him; but he is a man, he has a man’s emotions, a man’s heart, a man’s compassion, a man’s love, and we need not be afraid to come to him. Even though he was not born of us, yet he is of us; though we are not his mother, yet we are his brothers. So let us come boldly to him. Sinner, you have as much right to come as Mary ever had. She had none except what grace gave her; you have the same. Did Christ ever cast away one sinner who came to him? Indeed, did he ever reject one who ever was brought to him? There was a woman taken in adultery, and she did not come willingly, but they brought her to him, thinking, “Surely, Christ will condemn her.” What was the result? After driving all her adversaries away, he said to her, “Go, and sin no more.” And so he will say to you if your doubts and tremblings and fears should bring you to him. When he casts one soul away, then let other souls be afraid to come to him; but while my blessed Master stands with open arms, and takes the foulest, and vilest, and poorest to minister to his love, please do not stand back through shame or fear. As much as if you were his mother, and he your Child, come to him, for he invites you to come, saying, “Come to me, all you who labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” With tearful eyes, he entreats you to come to him; and if you will not, he only relieves his heart by crying, “How often would I have gathered your children together, even as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you would not!”

19. VI. Perhaps, if you will think this over, you will see much more that is beautiful. I am sure there is no topic more consolatory than what my text contains. THE VERY BLESSING WHICH BELONGED TO THE VIRGIN MOTHER OF JESUS BELONGS TO EVERY SOUL THAT HEARS GOD’S WORD, AND KEEPS IT.

20. Now you hear it. Do you hear it with your inner ears, with the ears of your heart; and when you hear it, do you keep it in your memory? Do you keep it in your faith? Do you try to keep it in your obedience? And are you daily testifying to its truth? If so, all these blessings are yours; and let me say to any trembling, awakened, convicted sinner, all these blessings may be yours if you hear the Word of God, and keep it tonight. Here are one or two words of God that I want you to keep: “‘Come now, and let us reason together,’ says the Lord: ‘though your sins are scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall be as wool.’” Will you not come and reason with God, and talk this matter over? You have heard the Word, please keep it; that is, to obey it. Here is another message from the Word: “This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.” You have heard that, keep it; believe that, although you are a sinner, he came to save you; rest in it, trust in it. Here is one more, and please, as you hear it, keep it: “He who believes and is baptized shall be saved.” You have heard it; now keep it. To believe is to trust; trust Christ now; I pray God to constrain you to do it before you pass out of those doors. Fall flat on your face on Christ’s promise; as for your own righteousness, away with it to the dogs! No prayer, no tears, no vows, no sighs, of yours can do anything in the matter. Trust Jesus Christ entirely now; then, if you have heard that Word, and shall keep it, go your way, and let Satan say what he wills, and let the flesh make what noise it pleases, Christ has blessed you, and you are blessed; he has said to you, sinners as you are, “Blessed are those who hear the Word of God, and keep it.” When you and I get to heaven, may we find it to be so! May we glory there, and sing as loud a song as even Mary did, when she said, “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit has rejoiced in God my Saviour. For he has regarded the low estate of his handmaiden”; — for all generations may call that one blessed who has sought and found the Saviour. Oh beloved, even in heaven, that song of Mary shall make a sweet song for us all. May we begin to sing it here, and Christ shall have the praise. Amen.

Exposition By C. H. Spurgeon {Lu 11:14-54}

14, 15. And he was casting out a demon, and it was dumb. And it came to pass, when the demon was gone out, the dumb spoke and the people wondered. But some of them said, “He casts out demons through Beelzebub the chief of the demons.”

One would hardly have thought that they could have gone to such a length as that; but when men hate Christ, there is nothing they will not say against him. It is no subject of surprise when great heresies arise, for they are the natural outcome of human enmity against Christ and his truth. People in such a state of heart will say anything; they will give utterance to thoughts that you could not have imagined would have entered any human brain; it is the enmity of the heart to Christ that produces this blasphemy of the tongue.

16. And others, tempting him, sought from him a sign from heaven.

“You are working this work from beneath,” they said, “now do something that is really from above.” They must have known that the casting out of the demon was from heaven, for Satan would never cast out Satan.

17, 18. But he, knowing their thoughts, said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; and a house divided against a house falls. If Satan also is divided against himself, how shall his kingdom stand? Because you say that I cast out demons through Beelzebub.

That was a very good and sufficient answer to these critics. It is a comfort to us to know that error is very vulnerable; there is always a weak point about it. In this case, Christ permitted it to turn its sting on itself: — 

19. And if I by Beelzebub cast out demons, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore they shall be your judges.

For some of these men had sons, who either really did cast out demons, being disciples of Christ, or else professed to do so, being exorcists, pretending to have a power they did not possess. In either case, the argument was good against the objectors.

20-22. But if I with the finger of God cast out demons, no doubt the kingdom of God is come to you. When a strong man armed keeps his palace, his goods are in peace: but when a stronger than he shall come to him, and overcomes him, he takes from him all his armour in which he trusted, and divides his spoils.

This is how Christ drives out the devil, by sheer force of arms, he overcomes him, and drives him out. He does not cajole him, invite him, or persuade him to go; but he fights with him, exerts his omnipotent power against him, overthrows him, takes away his armour, and divides the spoil. Were you ever conscious of such a fight as that? If not, be afraid of your so-called reformation, for there is no true reformation, and no true conversion, in which there is no conflict between Christ and Satan.

23, 24. He who is not with me is against me: and he who does not gather with me scatters. When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, — 

This is the kind of “conversion” which is not genuine: “when the unclean spirit is gone out of a man,” — “gone out” of his own accord, — and he may do that; he may leave a man, for a while, with the evil purpose of getting him more completely into his power afterwards: “When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man,” — 

24. He walks through dry places, seeking rest; and finding none, he says, ‘I will return to my house from where I came.’

It was his house all the while; he left it voluntarily, he was not driven out by force; he simply left it for a time in order that he might return to it, and retain it all the more completely. Now he goes back to it.

25. And when he comes, he finds it swept and garnished.

There has been a reformation of a kind; the man has given up drunkenness, quit swearing, and become, in certain respects, a better man. The house is swept and garnished, but there is no new tenant of Mansoul, there is no Christ come to take possession of Heart Castle.

26. Then he goes, and takes with him seven other spirits more wicked than himself; and they enter in, and dwell there: and the last state of that man is worse than the first.”

It often happens that, when men make a profession of reformation, and then relapse into their former state, they become far worse than they were before. The so-called “reformation” is all of their own doing; or rather, the greater part of it is the devil’s doing. The demon within the man voluntarily went away, and now that he comes back, he brings with him “seven other spirits more wicked than himself”; and so the man is more than eight times worse than he was before the demon left him for a while.

27, 28. And it came to pass, as he spoke these things, a certain woman of the company lifted up her voice and said to him, “Blessed is the womb that bore you, and the breasts which nursed you.” But he said, “Yes, rather, blessed are those who hear the word of God, and keep it.”

The enthusiastic woman was so carried away with admiration for Christ that she thought his mother was a highly-favoured woman, and she called her “blessed.” “Yes,” said Christ, “she is blessed; but even more blessed are those who have the Word of God in their hearts, who regard it as their own, and keep it as a great prize.”

29. And when the people were gathered thickly together, he began to say, “This is an evil generation: they seek a sign;

Look back to the sixteenth verse: “Others, tempting him, sought from him a sign from heaven.” Christ had answered those who imputed his miraculous works to Satanic agency, now he answers these others.

29, 30. And there shall no sign be given it, but the sign of Jonah the prophet. For as Jonah was a sign to the Ninevites, so shall also the Son of man be to this generation.

Jonah rose, as it were, from the dead, for he was buried in the deep, in the belly of the great fish; and Christ was buried in Joseph’s tomb, yet he came back from the grave on the third day.

31, 32. The queen of the south shall rise up in the judgment with the men of this generation, and condemn them: for she came from the utmost part of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and, behold, a greater than Solomon is here. The men of Nineveh shall rise up in the judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: for they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and, behold, a greater than Jonah is here.

The resurrection would make Christ the most conspicuous sign of God’s presence among the people, it would be the testimony of God to his Son that he was indeed the Messiah.

33-35. No man, when he has lit a candle, puts it in a secret place, neither under a bushel, but on a lampstand, so that those who come in may see the light. The light of the body is the eye: therefore when your eye is good, your whole body also is full of light, but when your eye is bad, your body also is full of darkness. Take heed therefore that the light which is in you is not darkness.

If your religion is irreligion, if your hope is a false one, if your highest aspirations are untrue, what is your position in the sight of God? Where are you?

36, 37. May your whole body therefore be full of light, having no part dark, all of it shall be full of light, as when the bright shining of a candle gives you light.” And as he spoke, a certain Pharisee besought him to dine with him: and he went in, and sat down to eat.

It was often a matter of marvel to the onlookers that Christ went among tax collectors and sinners; but is it not a greater wonder that he went among Pharisees? If they asked him to their houses, it was usually because they hoped to entangle him in his talk; yet the condescension of our Master is so great that, again and again, “he went in, and sat down to eat.”

38. And when the Pharisee saw it, he marvelled that he had not first washed before dinner.

Not because Christ’s hands needed washing, but because it was the custom of the Pharisees to wash before eating, and our Lord broke through the custom, as he was accustomed to do, for he cared nothing for their inventions.

39, 40. And the Lord said to him, “Now you Pharisees make clean the outside of the cup and the platter; but your inward part is full of ravening and wickedness. You fools, did not he who made what is outside make what is inside also?

“One needs washing as much as the other. You are so careful concerning your hands; will you not be more careful concerning your hearts?”

41. But rather give alms of such things as you have; and, behold, all things are clean to you.

“When you are full of love for your fellow men, and make a practice of helping them, you have cleansed your heart from selfishness, and have really washed yourself then.”

42. But woe to you, Pharisees! For you tithe mint and rue and all kinds of herbs, and pass by judgment and the love of God; you ought to have done these, and not to leave the other undone.

How many, in these days, are very particular about very little things, but very careless about great things! They would not violate the law of their sect or party for the world, but the law of God is of little account to them.

43. Woe to you, Pharisees! For you love the uppermost seats in the synagogues, and greetings in the markets.

They loved to be called Rabbi, learned Doctors of the law. Any title that made them appear great was very sweet to them.

44. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like graves which do not appear, and the men who walk over them are not aware of them.”

No one but Christ knew how base they were. They were fair to look at, but he knew that they were villainously hypocritical, and he therefore denounced them. Ah, dear friends, the great matter is to have grace in the heart, — to have the divine light within, in the soul; and if we do not have this, vain is a fair profession, vain is everything that comes from man. If we are to be saved, we must have the grace that comes from God alone.

45. Then one of the lawyers answered and said to him, “Master, by saying this you reproach us also.”

There was no great difference between the scribes and Pharisees and the lawyers, as this man evidently perceived, and as our Lord also soon confirmed by pronouncing on them the same kind of “Woe” that he had pronounced on the other false teachers.

46. And he said, “Woe to you also, you lawyers! For you load men with burdens grievous to be borne, and you yourselves do not touch the burdens with one of your fingers.

Their regulations concerning moral and ceremonial observances were like huge logs or crushing burdens bound together, and made into an intolerable weight for any man to carry. Many of these rules by themselves were grievous enough; but altogether they formed a yoke that neither the people nor their forefathers could bear. The scribes, and Pharisees, and lawyers piled the great load on them; but neither helped them to sustain it, nor offered to relieve them of any portion of it. “You load men with burdens grievous to be borne, and you yourselves do not touch the burdens with one of your fingers.”

47, 48. Woe to you! For you build the sepulchres of the prophets, and your forefathers killed them. Truly you bear witness that you allow the deeds of your forefathers: for they indeed killed them, and you build their sepulchres.

They pretended to have such regard for the holy men of the past that, being unable to honour them in person, they would set up monuments to their memory, and adorn their resting-places with signs of respect.

Out of their own mouth our Lord condemned these hypocrites: “Truly you bear witness that you allow the deeds of your forefathers.” In effect, Jesus said to them, “You confess that you are the sons of the murderers of the prophets. That admission carries with it far more than you imagine. You are their sons, not only by birth, but also by resemblance; you are veritable children of those who killed the prophets. If you had lived in their day, you would have committed the crimes you pretend to condemn.”

49-51. Therefore also the wisdom of God said, ‘I will send them prophets and apostles, and some of them they shall slay and persecute’: so that the blood of all the prophets, which was shed from the foundation of the world, may be required of this generation; from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah, who perished between the altar and the temple: truly I say to you, it shall be required of this generation.

The destruction of Jerusalem was more terrible than anything that the world has ever witnessed, either before or since. Even Titus seemed to see in his cruel work the hand of an avenging God. Truly, the blood of the martyrs was amply avenged when the whole city became a veritable Aceldama, or field of blood. It was before that generation had passed away that Jerusalem was besieged and destroyed. There was a sufficient interval for the full proclamation of the gospel by the apostles and evangelists of the early Christian Church, and for the gathering out of those who recognised the crucified Christ as their true Messiah. Then came the awful end, which the Saviour foresaw and foretold.

52. Woe to you, lawyers! For you have taken away the key of knowledge: you did not enter in yourselves, and those who were entering in you hindered.”

This “Woe” is similar to that pronounced on the hypocritical scribes and Pharisees; and it was a terrible charge to be brought against them by him who could read their hearts, and who could truthfully say to them, “You have taken away the key of knowledge; you did not enter in yourselves, and those who were entering in you hindered.” They ought to have helped men into the kingdom; instead of doing so, they hindered those who were entering. Are there not false teachers, nowadays, who put stumbling-stones instead of stepping-stones in the way of those who are entering the kingdom of heaven?

53, 54. And as he said these things to them, the scribes, and Pharisees began to urge him vehemently, and to provoke him to speak of many things: laying wait for him, and seeking to catch something out of his mouth, so that they might accuse him.

So they proved the truth of the accusations that he had brought against them; but all their plots and traps were in vain until the appointed hour for his great sacrifice to be offered on Calvary.