Category: Devotions

In these verses we find our Lord assailed by the untiring enmity of the Pharisees and Sadducees. As a general rule these two sects were at enmity between themselves; in persecuting Christ, however, they made common cause. Truly it was an unholy alliance! Yet how often we see the same thing in the present day. Men of the most opposite opinions and habits will agree in disliking the Gospel, and will work together to oppose its progress. “There is no new thing under the sun” (Eccles. 1:9).

The first point in this passage which deserves special notice, is the repetition which our Lord makes of words used by Him on a former occasion. He says, “a wicked and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given unto it but the sign of the prophet Jonah.” If we turn to the twelfth chapter of this gospel and the thirty-ninth verse, we shall find that He had said the very same thing once before.

The beginning of this passage contains three points which deserve our special attention. For the present let us dwell exclusively on them.

In the first place, let us remark, how much more pains people take about the relief of their bodily diseases than about their souls.

We read that “great multitudes came to Jesus having with them those that were lame, blind, dumb, maimed and many others.” Many of them, no doubt, had journeyed many miles, and gone through great fatigues. Nothing is so difficult and troublesome as to move sick people. But the hope of being healed was in sight: such hope is everything to a sick man.

Another of our Lord’s miracles is recorded in these verses: the circumstances which attend it are peculiarly full of interest; let us take them in order, and see what they are. Every word in these narratives is rich in instruction.

We see in the first place, that true faith may sometimes be found where it might have been least expected.

There are two striking sayings of the Lord Jesus in this passage. One respects false doctrines, the other respects the human heart. Both of them deserve the closest attention.

Respecting false doctrine, our Lord declares, that it is a duty to oppose it, that its final destruction is sure, and that its teachers ought to be forsaken. He says, “Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted shall be rooted up. Let them alone.”

We have in these verses a conversation between our Lord Jesus Christ and certain scribes and Pharisees. The subject of it may seem, at first sight, of little interest in modern days; but it is not so in reality. The principles of the Pharisees are principles that never die. There are truths laid down here which are of deep importance.

We learn for one thing, that hypocrites generally attach great importance to mere outward things in religion.

The history contained in these verses is one of singular interest. The miracle here recorded brings out in strong light the character both of Christ and His people. The power and mercy of the Lord Jesus, and the mixture of faith and unbelief in His best disciples, are beautifully illustrated.

We learn, in the first place, from this miracle, what absolute dominion our Saviour has over all created things. We see Him “walking on the sea,” as if it was dry land. Those angry waves, which tossed the ship of His disciples to and fro, obey the Son of God and become a solid floor under His feet. That liquid surface, which was agitated by the least breath of wind, bears up the feet of our Redeemer, like a rock. To our poor, weak minds, the whole event is utterly incomprehensible. The picture of two feet walking on the sea, is said by Doddridge to have been the Egyptian emblem of an impossible thing; the man of science will tell us that for material flesh and blood to walk on water is a physical impossibility. Even for us to know that it was done. Enough for us to remember that to Him who created the seas at the beginning, it must have been perfectly easy to walk over their waves when He pleased.

These verses contain one of our Lord Jesus Christ’s greatest miracles: the feeding of “five thousand men, besides women and children” with five loaves and two fishes. Of all the miracles worked by our Lord, not one is so often mentioned in the New Testament as this. Matthew, Mark, Luke and John all dwell upon it. It is plain that this event in Lord’s history is intended to receive special attention. Let us give it that attention, and see what we may learn.

In the first place, this miracle is an unanswerable proof of our Lord’s divine power.

We have in this passage a page out of God’s book of martyrs: the history of the death of John the Baptist.

The wickedness of King Herod, the bold reproof which John gave him, the consequent imprisonment of the faithful reprover, and the disgraceful circumstances of his death are all written for our learning. “Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints” (Ps. 116:15)

The story of John the Baptist’s death is told more fully by St. Mark than by St. Matthew. For the present it seems sufficient to draw two general lessons from St. Matthew’s narrative, and to fasten our attention exclusively upon them.

The first thing which we ought to notice in these verses is the striking question with which our Lord winds up the seven wonderful parables of this chapter: He said, “Have ye understood all these things?”

Personal application has been called the “soul” of preaching. A sermon without application is like a letter posted without a direction: it may be well written, rightly dated and duly signed; but it is useless, because it never reaches its destination. Our Lord’s inquiry is an admirable example of real heart-searching application: “Have ye understood?”

The parables of the “treasure hidden in a field,” and the “merchant man seeking goodly pearls,” appear intended to convey one the same lesson. They vary, no doubt, in one striking particular: the “treasure” was found of one who does not seem to have sought it; the “pearl” was found of one who was actually seeking pearls. But the conduct of the finders, in both cases, was precisely alike: both “sold all” to make the thing found their own property; and it is exactly at this point that the instruction of both parables agrees.

These two parables are meant to teach us, that men who are really convinced of the importance of salvation will give up everything to win Christ and eternal life.