Expositions of Holy Scripture : St. Matthew Chaps. IX to XXVIIIMaclaren, Alexander
Religion
Expositions of Holy Scripture : St. Matthew Chaps. IX to XXVIII
Maclaren, Alexander
Bible -- Commentaries; Bible. Matthew IX-XXVIII -- Commentaries
We get there a glimpse into our Lord's attitude, measuring Himself
against the world and the forces that were in it. He knows that in
Him, the sole Representative, at the moment, of the kingdom of
heaven upon earth--because in Him, and in Him alone, the divine will
was, absolutely and always, supreme--there lie, for the time
confined to Him, but never dormant, powers which are adequate to the
transformation of humanity from a dead, lumpish mass into an
aggregate all-penetrated by a quickening influence, and, if I might
so say, fermented with a new life that He will bring. A tremendous
conception, and the strange thing about it is that it looks as if
the Nazarene peasant's dream was going to come true! But He was
speaking to the men whom He was charging with a delegated task, and
to them He says, 'There are but twelve of you, and you are poor,
ignorant men, and you have no resources at your back, but you have
Me, and that is enough, and you may be sure that the tiny morsel of
yeast will penetrate the whole mass.' Small beginnings characterise
the causes which are destined to great endings; the things that are
ushered into the world large, generally grow very little further,
and speedily collapse. 'An inheritance may be gotten hastily at the
beginning, but the end shall not be blessed.' The force which is
destined to be worldwide, began with the one Man in Nazareth, and
although the measures of meal are three, and the ferment is a scrap,
it is sure to permeate and transform the mass.
Therefore, brethren, let us take the encouragement that our Lord
here offers. If we are adherents of unpopular causes, if we have to
'stand alone with two or three,' do not let us count heads, but
measure forces. 'What everybody says must be true,' is a cowardly
proverb. It may be a correct statement that an absolutely universal
opinion is a true opinion, but what most people say is usually
false, and what the few say is most generally true. So if we have to
front--and if we are true men we shall sometimes have to front--an
embattled mass of antagonism, and we be in a miserable minority,
never mind! We can say, 'They that be with us are more than they
that be with them.' If we have anything of the leaven in us, we are
mightier than the lump of dough.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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