but soon after curing a demoniac, who perhaps was then standing before him." When one said to him, "Behold thy mother and thy brethren stand without, desiring to speak with thee;" he answered, "Who is my mother? and who are my brethren ?" "And he stretched forth his hands towards his disciples, and said, Behold my mother and my brethren. For whosoever shall do the will of my Father who is in heaven, the same is my brother, and sister, and mother." e Sir Isaac Newton, and many after him, have supposed that the parable of a sower going forth to sow was spoken during seed time, about the month of November: and the series of events does not contradict the supposition. When one of our Lord's disciples excused himself from becoming his immediate and constant attendant, by saying, Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father; [to wait for his death, which in the course of nature cannot be distant;] Jesus said to him, "Let the 'dead bury their dead:" [let the spiritually dead, thy brethren or thy kinsfolk, perform this office :] "but go thou and preach the kingdom of God." In allusion to the miracle of feeding a great multitude with five loaves and two fishes, and to the attendance of the multitude that their returning wants might be again supplied, our Lord said to the people the next day, "Labour not for the & meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto d Matt. xii. 47-50. Luke ix. 60. e Matt. xiii. 3, &c. 8 John vi. 27, 35, 51. f Matt. viii. 21. everlasting life, which the Son of Man shall give unto you." "I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst." And afterwards in the synagogue: "I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man cat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world." h * Immediately after the Pharisees had censured his disciples for eating with unwashen hands, our Lord, referring to Pharisaical ablutions and fear of outward defilement, thus solemnly taught the multitude a most instructive and seasonable moral lesson:" "Hear 'and understand: Not that which goeth into the mouth defileth a man; but that which cometh out of the mouth, this defileth a man.' The disciples having forgotten to take bread with them on crossing the lake of Tiberias, our Lord cautioned them against the leaven of the Pharisees, the Sadducees, and Herod; meaning their doctrine, hypocrisy, and subtle cruelty. At the feast of tabernacles the Jews filled a golden vessel out of Siloam, a fountain near mount Sion. When they came with it to the water gate of the temple, they sounded their trumpets, and sang, "With 'joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation :" and, "Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters." This traditionary custom of drawing water, and pouring it on the morning sacri h Mark vii. 2. iMatt. xv. 10, 11. * Matt. xvi. 6. fice, was said to signify the effusion of the Spirit; to be a symbol of the law; to be a commemoration of Moses's bringing water out of the rock in the wilderness; and to be offered that the rains of the year might be blessed, which began about the time when this feast was celebrated. It seems probable that, after the performance of this rite, "Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come to me and drink: He that believeth in me, as the scripture hath [in effect] said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water:" abundance of pure and perennial streams of spiritual grace and doctrine shall flow from him. When Jesus said to the Pharisees, "I am the light of the world; he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life;" it is thought probable that he spake this at sun rising, as the evangelist had observed that early in the 9 morning he came into the temple. r Sir Isaac Newton is followed by many in supposing that it was the Sabbatical year, and that several Jewish bond servants had been newly set free at the feast of tabernacles, when our Lord said, "If " ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; and ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free." Servants were manumitted in the seventh year of their servitude; and in the fif* of Jubilee, on the tenth day of that month S tieth year See Lightfoot, Schoettgen, and Wetstein in loc. and Bust. lex. Rabb. voc. J. "John vii. 37, 38. • Isai. xliv. 3. Joel ii. 28. P John viii. 12. 31, 2. 4 ib. v. 2. See Luke xxiv. 22. • Exod. xxi. 2. Deut. xv. 12. John viii * Lev. xxv. 9, 40. in which the feast of tabernacles was kept. But whether there was an actual manumission at this time is quite uncertain. The passage has sufficient force by referring to a common custom. W Immediately before Jesus restored sight to a man blind from his birth, he thus expressed himself: "As "long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world:" where the image of his being the light of the world in a moral sense was naturally suggested by the occasion. And when the man on whom the miracle was wrought believed in Jesus, and worshipped him, Jesus said, "For judgment I am come into this world; that they who see not might see; and that they who see might be made blind." By my coming into the world, the just judgments of God are displayed: plain and good men see the truth; wise and vicious men are judicially blinded. Then said the Pharisees, "Are we blind also ?" Jesus answered, "If ye were blind," if ye were incapable of religious light and knowledge, “ye should have no sin:" "but now ye say, We see," we have wisdom and understanding, "therefore your sin remaineth;" you pervert your faculties, and are guilty of criminal unbelief. It is ably suggested by Sir Isaac Newton that our Lord, during the feast of tabernacles, was near' folds in Jerusalem, which contained sheep for sacrifice, had a porter, and a certain height to obstruct the entrance of thieves; when he represented himself as the door of the sheepfold, as the good shepherd, as " John ix. 5. W. 39. * v. 40, 41. y John x. 1-16. having other sheep of a different fold, as knowing his sheep and laying down his life for them. * It appears that the feast of tabernacles was just ended, and that many were going from Jerusalem to their respective places of abode, when our Lord spake the parable which begins, " A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho :" and again, as he and many of the Jews were going up to the feast of dedication, he thu's lays the scene of another parable: "Two men a went up to the temple to pray." While Jesus was eating bread with one of the Pharisees on the sabbath, he spake three parables arising from the occasion: one, in censure of choosing the chief places; another, in praise of disinterested hospitality and beneficence; and a third, representing the gospel under the idea of a great feast, from which the Jews should be excluded on their refusal to partake of it, and to which the Gentiles should be earnestly and importunately invited. * The covetous Pharisees being present, he spake the parable of a certain rich man who had an unjust steward; exhorted men to make themselves friends of riches which are so often procured by unrighteousness, and so often administer to it; and distinguished between the precarious and dangerous riches of this life and the true heavenly treasures. The Pharisees deriding him on this account, he with great dignity added another parable, of one who was rich, and unfeeling to the distresses of his fellow 2 Luke x. 30. * Luke xviii. 10. This illustration is doubtful, as the phrase is applicable to inhabitants of Jerusalem. John vii. 14. Acts iii. 1. Luke xiv. 1-24. Luke xvi. 14. |