James Nisbet Commentary - Matthew 11:19 - 11:19

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James Nisbet Commentary - Matthew 11:19 - 11:19


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IN THE WORLD—NOT OF IT

‘The Son of man came eating and drinking, and they say, Behold a man gluttonous, and a winebibber, a friend of publicans and sinners. But wisdom is justified of her children.’

Mat_11:19

The question whether the faith of Christ permits us to enjoy the good things with which God has stored this beautiful world is one which often presents itself to the conscientious mind. In the world as God made it, it is quite possible to live for God and our fellow-creatures while living in the full rich stream of good homely thought and activity, and that is clearly what our Lord intended: ‘I pray not that Thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that Thou shouldest keep them from the evil.’ The mediæval Church held that the whole value and meaning of genuine Christianity lay in renunciation; and then, finding this an impossible ideal for the great mass of mankind, they declared that, while the monastic notion was the highest and best, there was a mild kind of Christianity, without this strict and severe ascetic principle, which was to be sufficient for ordinary people. This is, of course, wholly inconsistent, for no two such systems are revealed in the teachings of Christ.

I. In the world.—The contrast which our Lord draws between the reception of Himself and John the Baptist is fundamental in this respect, and of the highest importance. If the duty of renouncing the gifts of God were the true meaning of Christianity, we should find the disciples, who followed their Master in all things so closely, taking such a view of His character. They did nothing of the kind.

II. The spiritualising of life.—What are the leading ideas of Christ’s message? Trust in God as our Father, the Kingdom of Heaven, repentance, humility, the forgiveness of sins, the love of our neighbour. That is the sphere into which His teaching leads. Beside such glorious principles there is no room for a system of restrictions and abnegations. Our Lord came to fulfil and spiritualise the law, not merely to replace one set of difficult restrictions by another.

III. Three enemies.—What are the three enemies of the Christian life against which our Lord speaks most strongly? They are—

(a) The lust of money.

(b) Anxiety.

(c) Selfishness.

IV. The aim of life.—When the Son of Man came eating and drinking, and renounced not the world, nor lived in the desert, but in the kindly homes of His brother men,—in all this He had one abiding and permeating purpose—and that purpose was love, love for the souls of men, love for the welfare of men, love that healed their sicknesses, love that comforted their sorrows.

Archdeacon Sinclair.

Illustration

‘The common daily life is for most of us the life of struggle and poverty, and any example which can teach us how to feel a deeper trust, a gladder contentment, a lighter care, should be very precious to us. In this respect Luther, like other brave and holy men, had learned better than we do the meaning of our Lord and Master’s life. Ought we to consider poverty so great a curse, ought men to rebel against it so frantically, as though it were the worst of earthly evils, when we remember that it was this lot which Jesus Christ chose? Have the rich men done in this world one tithe of the good that has been done by poor men? When Martin Luther’s voice rang through the world, he had no income of his own. One suit of clothes served him for two years. For a whole year his bed was never made. “I was tired out,” he said, “with the day’s work, and lay down, and knew no more.” ’