We must There is This is not achieved without much discipline of the promptings of our nature. Surely the Apostles believed that they were moved by righteous zeal, and yet they were wrong. examine all our motives if we would be God-like. great danger of self-deception in this affair. Unless our discernment be free from any pride and egotism we shall often persuade ourselves that what is most pleasing to our corrupt nature is that which is right. By an honesty of heart aided by God's grace we may purify our motives, and aim at the true goal of perfection. MATT. VIII. 19—22 19. Καὶ προσελθὼν εἰς γραμ ματεὺς, εἶπεν αὐτῷ: Διδάσκαλε, ἀκολουθήσω σοι, ὅπου ἐὰν ἀπέρχη. 20. Καὶ λέγει αὐτῷ ὁ ̓Ιησοῦς: Αἱ ἀλώπεκες φωλεοὺς ἔχουσιν, καὶ τὰ πετεινὰ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ κατασκη νώσεις: ὁ δὲ Υἱὸς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου οὐκ ἔχει ποῦ τὴν κεφαλὴν κλίνῃ. 21. Ἕτερος δὲ τῶν μαθητῶν εἶπεν αὐτῷ: Κύριε, ἐπίτρεψόν μοι, πρῶτον ἀπελθεῖν, καὶ θάψαι τὸν πατέρα μου. 22. Ὁ δὲ Ἰησοῦς λέγει αὐτῷ: Ακολούθει μοι, καὶ ἄρες τοὺς νε κροὺς θάψαι τοὺς ἑαυτῶν νεκρούς. 19. And there came a scribe, and said unto him: Master, I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest. LUKE IX. 57-62 57. Καὶ πορευομένων αὐτῶν ἐν τῇ ὁδῷ, εἶπέν τις πρὸς αὐτόν: ̓Ακολουθήσω σοι ὅπου ἐὰν ἀπέρχη. 58. Καὶ εἶπεν αὐτῷ ὁ ̓Ιησοῦς: Αἱ ἀλώπεκες φωλεοὺς ἔχουσιν, καὶ τὰ πετεινὰ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ κατασκη νώσεις: ὁ δὲ Υἱὸς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου οὐκ ἔχει ποῦ τὴν κεφαλὴν κλίνῃ. 59. Εἶπεν δὲ πρὸς ἕτερον: Ακολούθει μοι: ὁ δὲ εἶπεν: Κύριε, ἐπίτρεψόν μοι πρώτον ἀπελθόντι θάψαι τὸν πατέρα μου. Αφες 60. Εἶπεν δὲ αὐτῷ: τοὺς νεκροὺς θάψαι τοὺς ἑαυτῶν νεκρούς: σὺ δὲ ἀπελθὼν διάγγελλε τὴν βασιλείαν τοῦ Θεοῦ. 61. Είπεν င်း καὶ ἕτερος: Ακολουθήσω σοι, Κύριε: πρῶτον δὲ ἐπίτρεψόν μοι ἀποτάξασθαι τοῖς εἰς τὸν οἶκόν μου. 62. Εἶπεν δὲ ὁ Ἰησοῦς: Οὐδεὶς ἐπιβαλὼν τὴν χεῖρα ἐπ ̓ ἄροτρον, καὶ βλέπων εἰς τὰ ὀπίσω, εὔθετός ἐστιν τῇ βασιλεία τοῦ Θεοῦ. 57. And as they went in the way, a certain man said unto him: I will follow thee whither soever thou goest. 58. And Jesus said unto him: The foxes have holes, and the birds of the heaven have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head. 59. And he said unto another: Follow me. But he said: Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father. 60. But he said unto him: Leave the dead to bury their own dead; but go thou and publish abroad the kingdom of God. 61. And another also said: I will follow thee, Lord; but first suffer me to bid farewell to them that are at my house. 62. But Jesus said unto him: No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God. We are persuaded that the same events are here described by Matthew and by Luke, but there is great difficulty in fixing their exact place in the life of Christ. Matthew seems to join the passage closely to the events narrated in his eighth chapter; and Luke in no less positive way makes it an episode of the journey to the Feast of Tabernacles in Jerusalem. Luke is the only one who essays to preserve an historical order in the events of Christ's life. But it may have been that in certain cases he was unable to find the right order of events, and that he inserted certain events in convenient places, having failed to fix their place in the series. We are therefore at a loss to say when the events here recorded occurred, but we have chosen the order of Luke, since he is more faithful to chronological sequence than the other synoptists. This portion of the Gospels clearly illustrates the true and the false following of Jesus. The true followers of Jesus renounce all things and follow in the way of the cross; the mere nominal disciples follow in the hope of emolument and honor. The offer of the first man here spoken of seems generous. He would follow the Lord whithersoever he should go. Many writers accuse this man of avarice, that he made this offer in the hope of the temporal advantages that should accrue from being associated with such a great leader. This seems a little too rigorous judgment. We content ourselves with saying that he had not considered what it really was to become a disciple of Jesus Christ. He was not prepared for the renunciation of everything to be like the Messiah. He was a representative of a numerous class of men who feel moved to aspire after good, but who are deterred from pursuing after it by the arduousness of the achievement. They would like to make the most of this world and of the next, whereas Jesus calls to sacrifice this world for the next. Jesus saw the state of this man's soul, that it was not prepared to give up everything for his service, and in pathetic earnestness he portrays the poverty of his life. To overcome the world's difficulty in believing that the Word was made flesh, Jesus calls himself the Son of Man. That God should appear in the semblance of a man was not so hard to believe; but that God should be born of a woman, this "teased men out of thought." Hence Christ repeatedly asserts the reality of his Incarnation. It has been computed by Keil that in the Gospels Christ calls himself the Son of man seventy-eight times. As some of these passages are parallel, the number might perhaps be reduced to fifty. This is a proof that Christ wished to put this truth forever beyond the reach of doubt. The words of Jesus here are too clear and beautiful to be commented upon. They steal into the heart of man like a mother's cry to a wayward son. They startle us who profess discipleship, and who yet have money, and who aim at posts mainly for the emolument they afford. How terrible is this message to the priest who has converted all the high functions of his office into a mechanical way of getting money! Who prays from the lips out; who says his paid masses as one would turn a prayer-wheel; and who drives the poor out of the Church through the lust of gold! Jesus turns to another man and invites the man to follow him. Here again we see the power of the καρδιογνώστης. Jesus read the heart of this man, and saw his fitness for discipleship. The man asks only to perform one of the most sacred offices of filial piety, to bury his father. Jesus grants not the man's request. He plays on the word "dead." The man's father had died the natural death of the body, but the whole world was dead in sin. Christ came to give life to that dead world. The man's kinsfolk belonged to that dead world. These kinsfolk could attend to the burial of the man's father; the dead world had a greater need that men should equip themselves to impart to the world the life that comes through believing in Jesus Christ. This event is not intended to teach that the following of Christ always demands that a man shall leave to others such offices of duty to a parent; simply an extreme case is taken to show us that, whenever any human interest conflicts with the Master's work, we are to leave all for Jesus and his cause. There is no bound, no limitation. The burial of a father was considered by the men of that day as one of the most sacred obligations of human life. And Jesus makes of the event a precedent to teach the world that the work of God holds absolutely the first place in human life, and yields to nothing. In the ordinary service of Jesus, such offices as here specified are fully compatible with perfect service; but yet the disposition of mind should be always there, if the heroic sacrifice were demanded, to leave everything for the following of Jesus. The third candidate for discipleship is only mentioned by St. Luke. In offering himself to Jesus he only asks to be allowed to take leave of those of his home. The request seems very reasonable. When Elisha was called by Eliah to be his disciple and successor, Elisha asked and obtained of Eliah leave to kiss his father and mother before devoting his life to the prophetic career. And yet the Lord refused this seemingly reasonable request. In denying the man's petition the Lord employs a simile from the occupation of the ploughman. If the ploughman keeps not his eyes in the direction whither his furrow extends, his furrow is very liable to become crooked. The ploughman who turns often to gaze behind him, and whose attention is on the things behind him, will execute a very unsightly furrow. (9) Gosp. III. Here again Christ takes an extreme case as a precedent. A man who turns his attention to home ties or family interests, when the cause of Christ urges to action, is unfit for the eternal priesthood of Christ. In the present case, the cause of Christ was urgent, because Christ called then and there to immediate discipleship, and Christ wished the man to make the sacrifice of home and friends for the sake of the kingdom of Heaven. The example is an extreme case, because it is intended to illustrate one of the great requisites of those who enter the new priesthood. Christ wishes no half-hearted service. Christ must be first in everything. The man who looks back regretfully upon the world, which he has left, and who sighs for its pleasures, may wear the livery of the disciples of the Lord, but he is not a disciple. A man may elude the vigilance of bishops and superiors, and may receive the power of orders and of jurisdiction, but he cannot deceive God. His life must square with the principles illustrated by these three examples before Christ will acknowledge him as worthy of his calling. LUKE X. I—12 I. Now after these things the Lord appointed seventy others, and sent them two and two before his face into every city and place, whither he himself was about to come. 2. And he said unto them: The harvest is plenteous, but the laborers are few: pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he send forth laborers into his harvest. 3. Go your ways: behold, I send you forth as lambs in the midst of wolves. 4. Carry no purse, no wallet, no shoes: and salute no man on the way. Ι. Μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα ἀνέδειξεν ὁ Κύριος ἑτέρους ἑβδομήκοντα δύο, καὶ ἀπέστειλεν ἀνὰ δύο δύο πρὸ προσώπου αὐτοῦ, εἰς πᾶσαν πόλιν καὶ τόπον, οἱ ἔμελλεν αὐτὸς ἔρχεσθαι. 2. Ἔλεγεν δὲ πρὸς αὐτούς: Ὁ μὲν θερισμὸς πολὺς, οἱ δὲ ἐργάται ὀλίγοι: δεήθητε οὖν τοῦ Κυρίου τοῦ θερισμοῦ, ὅπως ἐργάτας ἐκβάλῃ εἰς τὸν θερισμὸν αὐτοῦ. 3. Υπάγετε: ἰδοὺ, ἀποστέλλω ὑμᾶς ὡς ἄρνας ἐν μέσῳ λύκων. 4. Μὴ βαστάζετε βαλλάντιον μὴ πήραν, μὴ ὑποδήματα: καὶ μηδένα κατὰ τὴν ὁδὸν ἀσπάσησθε. 5. Εἰς ἣν δ ἂν εἰσέλθητε οἰκίαν, πρῶτον λέγετε: Εἰρήνη τῷ οἴκῳ τούτῳ. |