THE K I N G ’S BUS I NES S wisdom which was given Him. There is only one way to account for the unique wisdom which Jesus spoke (Jn. 7:16).—Torrey. v. 3. Is not this the carpenter? What right has this man whom we have known for years to all these gifts? No other person ever left the village as a carpenter and came back as a rabbi, working miracles. They cannot deny His powers but they all know about Him and His family and they will not believe that He has any divine mission. —Plummer. We owe to Mark alone the notice th a t Jesus actually wrought a t Joseph’s handicraft. How many weary arms have grasped their tools with new vigor and contentment when they thought of Him as their pattern in the narrow toils.—Maclaren. The son of Mary. I t is remarkable that Mark does not say “son of Joseph and Mary.” Joseph was probably dead and Jesus had become the carpenter, and this may be the reason why Joseph is not mentioned here. But Mark may purposely have avoided saying th a t Je sus was Joseph’s son in the same sense that He was Mary’s son.—Camb. Bible. Jn. 5:17. My F ather worketh. From the fall to the incarnation God worked. From the incarnation to the cross Christ worked. From Pentecost to the pres ent the Holy Spirit works.—Colt. These words enunciate a new ideal of the Sab bath. The rest of God after the crea tion, which the Sabbath typifies, is-not mere inertia but activity in doing good. So man’s true Sabbath rest is not in activity but leisure for work of a higher character; the worship of God and the works of mercy. The wor'ds also imply our Lord's deity, for He claims that God is His Father in a unique sense, “My Father,” not “our Father,” and He co-ordinates His own work with God’s. Dummelow. I work. The “I” is em phatic. He practically said, “The cre ative and conservative activity of my Father has known no Sabbath cessa tion from the beginning until now, and that is the law of my working.”— Jamieson. 2 Thess. 3:7. We behaved not dis orderly. We did not spend our time idly, in idle visits, in idle talk, in idle sport.—Henry. v. 8. Might not be chargeable. The earnest evangelist is ever anxious to clear his work from the taint of self seeking. How little does the world ap preciate its greatest benefactors, and yet no unselfish act is without its re-
369 compense. The action is not unblessed. To exchange, as Christ did, the temple for Nazareth, the F ather’s house for the carpenter’s shop, the joy of preaching for irksome toil, is a great advance in spiritual obedience and nobility of char acter.^—Barlow. We wrought with, labor. In both Epistles they state that they maintained themselves by labor but in this second Epistle they do so in order to offer themselves herein as an ex ample to the idle, whereas in the first their object was to vindicate themselves of all imputation of mercenary motives in preaching th e Gospel. (See 1 Thess. 2:5, 9).—Edmunds. v. 9. Make ourselves an ensample. Idleness was spreading in the church. If anyone could have been excused for declining to .labor on the ground that he was preoccupied with religious du ties and interests, it was Paul. - More than this, the Lord had ordained that they who preached the Gospel should live by the Gospel and on th a t ground alone he was entitled to claim mainten ance from those to whom he preached. But though he was careful to. safeguard this right of the Christian ministry, he was as careful, as a rule, to refrain from exercising it. All this was an example for the Thessalonians to imitate, and we can understand the severity with which the apostle treats that idleness which urges in its defense the strength of its interest in religion.—-Exp. Bible. v. 10. If any would not work. A stern but necessary and merciful rule the neglect of which makes charity de moralizing. It is parasitism which is condemned.—Findlay. Christianity is the Gospel of work. It gives to work meaning, purpose, dignity, and exalts drudgery into a blessedness. Its found er and first apostles were giants in la bor and their example animates the world today with a spirit of noblest ac tivity. It is not the drone but the Worker who blesses the world.—Horn. Com. Produce, produce, were it but the pitifullest fraction of a product, produce it in God’s name. Is it the utmost thou hast in thee? Out with it then. Up, up, whatever thy hand find- eth to do, do it with thy might.—Car lyle. Those who worked not at all overworked attending to the business of other people. The only way to keep anyone from being a busybody (v. 11) is to keep his body busy.—Torsey. v. 11. Busybodies. Idle bodies are usually busybodies. If the devil catches a man idle he will set him to work.—
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