1276 sion w ith loving service. A pilgrimage is never necessary to find an oppor tunity. The apostles began in Je ru sa lem. The crusaders thought to find Christ by going to the Holy Land and taking His sepulchre from the Saracens. The sepulchre was an empty one. Christ was risen. God is not far from any one of us. We find H im not by a change of location, bu t by a change of heart. If we .carry our heads too high we shall fail to see the need, at our feet. Andrew brought his b ro th er to Christ before he tried to bring strangers and foreigners. Thè great burden of th e world’s salva tion rests upon th e h eart of God. We do not have to carry it. He only asks us to reach and serve th a t certain man whose need brings *him w ithin the length of our ability. The love of the Gospel does no t evaporate into senti ment. It crystallizes into action. v. 25. W hat shall I do? This lawyer implied th a t eternal life was to be ob tained by doing. Jesus told him some thing to do and th u s brought him to see he had not >MANY SOURCES done it and th a t if COMMENTS FROM he were to get K eith L. Brooks eternal life it could not be by anything he could do (Rom. 6:28; .Jn. 5:24; 3 :3 6 ). Jesus directed him to the Old Testament law, for he was not yet ripe for th e Gospel. The law must shu t a man’s mouth about doing before he is ready for the Gospel (Rom. 3:19, 20). — Torrey. I t indicates th a t th e ground upon which the man stood was intensely legal. There is a g reat difference be tween the question of th e lawyer and th a t of the Philippian jailer. The jailer •knew th a t he was lost and needed salva tion. The lawyer was self righteous, determ ined, if possible to ju stify him self, and so wanted to make a bargain for the life he needed.—Walker. v. 28. This do and th o u sh alt live. In Jn. 6:29 our Lord answers a sim ilar question by speaking of faith, b u t this lawyer was not prepared for th at. He must first be ta u g h t his fa ilu re .-3 || Schaff. Laying emphasis on “ th is” to indicate where th e real difficulty lay and thus nonplusing th e questioner
T HE K I N G ’ S B U S I N E S S him self.-B jam ieson. But how are we to get this divine life? We cannot manu facture it. We cannot love to order. Love is not a work, it is a fruit. Two people are much together and love is born. When we are in touch w ith the Lord we are w ith one who already loves us w ith an everlasting love, and when we tru ly come to Him every other kind of holy love will follow.—rJowett. v. 29. W illing to ju stify himself. He tries to get himself out of th e difficulty by throw ing on Jesus the definition of neighbor, which jew s in terp reted very narrow ly and technically.-r--Alford. Who is my neighbor? The lawyer is not sincere. He wishes to discuss definitions of terms.-—Burton. The very question involves a wrong condition of mind. He who asked, “Whom shall I love?” proved th a t he understood nothing of th a t love whose essence is th a t it has no lim it except in its own inability to proceed fu rther.— Trench. v. 30. Man w ent down from Je ru sa lem. The :“went down” is strictly ac curate for the road descends very rap idly from Jerusalem to the Jo rd an Val ley. The distance is 21 miles.— Cam,b. Bible. F ell among thieves. L iterally “ brigands’!;;; P alestine was notorious for these plundering Arabs. On this very road an English baronet, Sir F red erick H enniker, was stripped and m ur dered by Arab robbers. He was prob ably thinking of th e parable of the Sam aritan when th e assassin’s stroke laid him low.— P o rter. The main purpose of th is parable is to show th e lawyer how far off men may be and »yet be neighbors.—Maclaren. The parable con tains blessed Gospel tru th s. Jerusalem is th e city of God. Jericho represents the world. The traveler is a type, of humanity. Man has fallen helpless and hopeless in the road which leads down. The failure of priest and scribe illus trates th e inability of th e law to save men. The good Sam aritan is th e Lord Jesus. He came where the ■ lost were and He alone could have compassion. The wine typifies His precious blood. The oil is a type of th e Holy Spirit. The inn is typical of th e Church, where the Lord through His Spirit cares for His own. The promised coming again w ith a g reater rew ard is the Lord’s second coming.— Gaebelein.
- v. 31. By chance. This is not the exact expression of th e original. L it erally “ by coincidence” or “ sim ultane ously” . The word ‘‘chance” does not once occur in the New Testament. Chance is only God’s incognito, God’s HAVE YOU DONE YOUR PART TOWARDS GETTING
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