THE KING’ S BUSINESS
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to the poor is often used as a place to rob the poor. All the things which Jesus found in the temple and banished from the temple were connected in some way wth worship, bHt, although all this was osten sibly in the name,of God, it was really for the sake o f private gain, and Jesus cast it all out. They were greatly enraged at His interfering with their money-getting schemes and sought to destroy Him. They were held back by the multitude, who approved both His action and His doctrine. Sunday, February so. Luke so: 1 - 8 . Mere ecclesiastics are always ready to slander any one who is doing a real work for God unless he has their official endorse ment. I t is not enough for them that a man is doing things, they want to know by what authority he does them, and who gave him this authority. Jesus, instead of answering the questions o f the Ecclesias tics, convinces them out o f their own mouths o f their own unfitness to deal with vital questions. He made them confess that they could not tell whether the bap-' tism o f John was from heaven or from men, and thus showed them that they had no right to ask upon what authority a man did a-thing, .for they were utterly incompe tent to judge whether a teacher and his demands were from heaven or from men. Monday, February si. ' Luke ¿0:9- 15. This parable was spoken to “the people,” and the form o f the parable was suggested by Old Testament imagery (Ps. 80:8-11; Isa. 5:1, 2 ; Jer. 2:21). In the Old Testa ment the vineyard is Israel. Here the vine yard is the kingdom o f God, which is no longer identified with Israel, but taken away from Israel and given to the Gentiles (Matt. 21:43). The man who planted the vineyard represents God. Matthew gives the details o f what the householder did for his vineyard, i. e., what God did for Israel, with far more fullness o f detail than Luke: The husbandmen of- the parable represent the people-of Israel. Today God commits the charge o f His vineyard to believers in
g f our calmer religious people of today. It did shock a certain class in that day, “ the Pharisees" (v. 39), but it did not shock the Lord Jesus. On the contrary, He said to the carping critics, “ I tell you that if these shall hold their peace, the
stones will cry out.” Friday, February 18 . Luke 19 : 41 - 44 .
The Lord Jesus did not join in the joy and enthusiasm o f the occasion. He Him self wept while other? shouted. He esti mated the enthusiasm at its real value, and He estimates the “enthusiasm” o f many modern conventions at its real value. Fur thermore, He saw the cloud o f coming doom that was hanging over the city. He saw clearly that the city was utterly blind to the things which really belonged to their peace, and therefore that there were days o f awful judgment ahead. What our Lord said o f doomed Jerusalem then, He doubt less is saying today o f many modern cities, “ If thou had known in this day, even thou, the things that belong unto peace, but now they are hidden from thine eyes.” So He weeps over the cities today. W e marvel at their grandeur and their wealth, but He weeps over their certain, coming doom. W e live in a day when that doom seems to be fast hurrying on. It was an awful doom that He predicted for Jerusalem, but His prediction was fulfilled to the very letter. All this ruin came upon Jerusalem because it knew not the time o f its visita tion. God had visited; it in the coming of His Son, but they would not have Him, so they must have doom and desolation.- m Saturday, February 19 . Luke 19 : 45 - 48 - - As our Lord looked, upon the temple, the building that had been dedicated to God, transformed from a “ house of prayer” into “ a den o f robbers,” His anger waxed hot. His angef waxes hot, today when He looks upon a building dedicated to be a house of God transformed from a “ house o f prayer” into “a den o f robbers,” but He not infre quently sees it so in. our day, A house dedicated to preaching the W ord o f God
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