The parables of the Kingdom
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mystery the Divine Secret of the kingdom of God : but to those pointing to the crowds to the men ......
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THE PARABLES OF THE KINGDOM A COURSE OF LECTURES
DELIVERED BY THE LATE
HENRY BARCLAY SWETE D.D., F.B.A. REGIUS PROFESSOR OF DIVINITY IN THE UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE
REGIS
BIBL. MAT. COLLEGE
MACMILLAN AND CO., LIMITED ST. MARTIN S STREET, LONDON 1920
84539
COPYRIGHT
GLASGOW PRINTED AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS BY ROBERT MACI.EHOSK AND CO. LTD. :
PREFACE IN the Lent Term of 1908 Dr. Swete lectured on The Parables of the Kingdom in the course of his
The
ordinary professorial duties. large class of students,
After his
at the time. sider
the
possibility
drew a
lectures
and were greatly appreciated death we were asked to con
of
publishing them,
and the
encouragement received from those whom we con sulted and whose judgement we value, has led us to do
so.
The Swete
lectures s
form an excellent example
of
Dr.
teaching by which, during the twenty-five he strove to serve theological
years of his professoriate,
and in particular candidates for Holy the younger clergy. The attractiveness and Orders, of this teaching was due to the way in which he
students,
combined
in it his
maturity of learning and insight
with direct application to life, and clothed all in language at once graceful and simple. Such courses of lectures lesser
formed the material
books
;
and we
feel in
of
many
of Dr.
Swete
s
giving these lectures to
PREFACE
vi
a larger circle of readers that
it is
what he himself
might well have done had he lived longer among us. These lectures were left by Dr. Swete written out in full. Save for the removal of a few words or notes obviously meant solely for passing use in a lectureroom, they are here printed as he left them, and we
have made no attempt whatever to remove the traces of their having been intended for oral delivery.
We
acknowledge most gratefully the help of the Reverend Dr. W. Emery Barnes, Hulsean Professor of
Divinity,
added the
The St.
who Indices
read
and
a
the
proof-sheets
number
of
and
references.
extracts (Greek) from the Gospel according to
Mark
are printed from Dr. Swete s
of that Gospel.
the
has
own
edition
Other extracts from the Greek of
New Testament
are
made from
the text of Drs.
Westcott and Hort, which Dr. Swete himself habit
by the courteous permission Macmillan and Co.
ually used,
of Messrs.
M. B. K. H. G.
CONTENTS PAGE
THE PARABLES OF THE KINGDOM
INTRODUCTORY
:
-
i
THE GALILEAN PARABLES
I.
1.
THE SOWER
2.
THE SEED GROWING SECRETLY
3.
THE TARES
Mark
(St.
iv.
Matthew
(St.
xiii.
4.
THE MUSTARD SEED
5.
THE LEAVEN
6.
THE HIDDEN TREASURE
7.
THE PEARL OF GREAT PRICE
8.
THE DRAW-NET
(St.
Mark
(St.
Matthew
(St.
8
1-9) (St.
26-29)
-
6
22
33
30-32)
39
33)
(St.
xiii.
Matthew
xiii.
44)
xiii.
45, 46)
-
45
-
48
47-48)
52
SURVEY OF THE GALILEAN PARABLES
60
THE JUDAEAN PARABLES
II. T.
THE GREAT SUPPER
2.
THE MARRIAGE FEAST OF THE KING
Luke
(St.
xiv. 16-24) S
SON
66
-
(St.
Matthew
xxii. 2-14) 3.
THE FORGIVEN
4.
THE LABOURERS
Matthew
J
24-30)
Matthew
Matthew
iv.
iv.
xiii.
(St.
Mark
75
BUT
UNFORGIVING
DEBTOR
(St.
xviii. 23-35)
xix. 30-xx. 16)
IN
THE VINEYARD
84 (St.
Matthew 96
CONTENTS
viii
PAGE 5.
THE Two SONS
6.
THE UNFAITHFUL HUSBANDMEN
7.
THE VIRGINS
8.
THE TALENTS
9.
THE POUNDS
10.
(St.
Matthew
(St.
Matthew xxv.
(St. (St.
Luke
31-46)
:
Mark
14-30)
xix. 11-28)
THE SHEEP AND THE GOATS
-
109 xii.
i-n)
in
-
120
1-13)
Matthew xxv.
(St.
Matthew xxv.
xxi. 28-32)
-
131
-
134
THE JUDGEMENT
(St.
-
149
DISTRIBUTION OF THE PARABLES AMONG THE SYNOPTIC
GOSPELS
III.
-
158
THE TEACHING OF THE PARABLES OF THE KINGDOM
THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN THE ONLY
or
OF
GOD
SON, BRIDEGROOM, AND
THE PRESENT VISIBLE CHURCH
-
KING
162 -
-
-
-
171
179
THE INDIVIDUAL LIFE
-
180
HUMAN
-
181
-
184
-
190
RESPONSIBILITY-
THE PROBLEM OF EVIL
THE FINAL
ISSUES OF EVIL
FUTURE REWARDS
-
DIVINE FORGIVENESS
THE
-
"COMING"
-
-------
AND THE END
-
-
-
INDEX OF SUBJECTS INDEX OF PASSAGES OF SCRIPTURE
195 198
200 209
-
-
-
211
INTRODUCTORY The Parable
THE word 7rapa/3o\ri
has come to us from the Greek
parable
through the Latin versions of the Gospels
had parabola, though occasionally they translated the word by similitude. According to the etymology of the word 7rapa/3o\ri is the act of which
usually
by the side of another for the purpose them Thence, by an easy comparing together.
laying one thing of
transition,
it
comes to mean a comparison, a simili Testament TrapafioXrj
In the Greek of the Old
tude.
frequently represents mashal, a word which to cover
many
used
is
kinds of literary composition from the
proverb to the prophecy or poem. Balaam and Job are both said in the LXX to have taken up their par *
when a prophetic or didactic poem is attributed The Proverbs of Solomon are in Aquila s
able,
to them.
literal translation of
Even
the Old Testament HapafloXal.
*
now and
again used for a proverbial saying Ye will surely say unto me this parable, Physician, heal thyself; 1 or for short in the Gospels
parable
is
:
1
S.P.
Lc. iv. 23.
A
PARABLES OF THE KINGDOM
2
figurative utterances such as, // a
against itself,
that proceed out of the or,
Can
kingdom l
that kingdom cannot stand]
or,
be divided
The things
man are those that defile the man
the blind lead the blind
?
3
But by
2 :
far the
most usual acceptance of parable in the Gospels is that in which it stands for the longer comparisons which our Lord draws between the facts of Nature
and the things which concern of God with men.
or of our outer
life
our spiritual
and the dealings
life
The parables
of Christ possess a character
peculiar to themselves.
common
which
is
Myths, fables, allegories are
in literature ancient
and modern
no other collection of
in
comparison with those which we find
parables
Their extraordinary beauty
is
;
but there
that can be placed
is
in the Gospels.
recognized by
all
;
the intimate knowledge which they shew of Nature and of man is not less unique than their beauty. Yet it is not either their literary beauty or their
exact correspondence with the facts of life which That gives to the parables their supreme interest. interest lies in the knowledge that they constitute a very considerable part of the recorded teaching of our Lord. Both the method of teaching which they illustrate, and the actual instruction of which they are the vehicle, are heirlooms which cannot be prized
too much, especially by those
who
are themselves
to be teachers of Christian truth. 1
Me.
iii.
24.
2
Me.
vii. 15.
3
Lc. vi. 39.
INTRODUCTORY
3
Christ s Teaching by Parables
The use at
a
little
He
Him.
we can judge, s
His
life.
had excited strong opposition on the and was evidently
Pharisees and Scribes,
of
part
as far as
our Lord
in
particular juncture
earlier teaching
but
method began,
of this
understood by the crowds who followed could not cease from teaching, but He
and could change His manner of imparting truth 1 Mark St. he this He did. says, began to Again, ;
teach by the together
many
sea
him
to
.
:
.
and a very great multitude came and he proceeded to teach them
.
So
things in parables.
it
began
;
and the
exhaustible supply continued to the end of His
in life.
If we ask the purpose of this method, the question is answered by our Lord Himself in St. Mark iv. 1 1 ff.
To
He
you,
mystery but
said to the Twelve, has been given the
the Divine Secret
to those
of the kingdom of
pointing to the crowds
to the
God
:
men who
are without, the whole is done in parables, that beholding they hear,
may
behold,
and not
see,
and not understand.
not the explanation which
Lord
is
and hearing they may
This is
commonly represented
you are aware, Our ordinarily given. is,
as
as having
spoken these
exquisite similitudes with the view of helping the
common
people to understand His spiritual teaching whereas His own account of the matter is that He
;
PARABLES OF THE KINGDOM
4
meant by them to conceal rather than He taught. The German scholar,
pretation of Christ there
s
in truth a late inter
1 purpose, and a false one.
no substantial ground for
is
finds
Julicher,
he supposes these
this so impossible to believe that
words attributed to Christ to be
reveal the truth
But
this hypothesis
the very unexpectedness of the saying proclaims original
and
;
I
think that
The parables must
true.
we can
in fact
see that
it is
;
it
also
have veiled the truth
from those who were not ready to receive it in its naked simplicity, while at the same time they pre served it
it
in the
ever came,
For
us, to
memory,
in readiness for the time,
when men would be prepared
whom the
for
if
it.
Divine Secret has been given, the
parables throw ever growing light upon
an inexhaustible store
and are
it,
of spiritual teaching.
the teaching of the parables that I wish to 2 or rather to the your thoughts this term
It is to
direct
for the field teaching of a single group of parables We shall select what I have as a whole is too large. ;
called the
Parables of the
Kingdom
of
Heaven
;
and by this for our present purpose I mean those in which the Kingdom of Heaven or the Kingdom of God is
distinctly placed in comparison with the subject
of the parable.
They usually begin with the formula
The Kingdom of Heaven
is likened to,
1
A. Jiilicher, Gleichnisreden Jesu,
2
Lent Term, 1908.
i er
or,
So
Teil, 146-7.
is the
INTRODUCTORY Kingdom of God, or, How dom of God? or, To what
we
shall is
the
5 liken the
King Kingdom of God
*
like ?
by words which leave no doubt that our Lord intended them to have reference to the Kingdom. But this is not uni the very first and one of the versally the case Most
of them, that
are preceded
is,
:
the Parable of the Sower,
greatest of this series,
does not begin thus, and yet that
it
belongs to them.
sider these parables
about
teaching
first,
the
I
we can have no doubt
propose to read and con and then to collect their of
Kingdom
Heaven.
Our
examination must be rapid, and I must assume that the Greek text is fairly familiar to you, and almost limit myself to the interpretation.
The Kingdom of Heaven or of God
But
something must be said about the con
first
ception of
*
the
which underlies
Kingdom all
of
Heaven
or
of God,
these parables.
The whole teaching
of Jesus Christ, at least the
Galilean teaching, centres round three or four leading ideas,
and the foremost
of God. original
of these
is
that of the
Kingdom
was by no means what we should call an the corresponding Aramaic conception ;
or 6/xofa tvrlv 77 /Ja<riXea r&v ovpav&v, or, OUTWS tffriv rj TOV 0eou, or, TTWS o/j-outxrwufv rty ftaffiXeiav TOV 6eov ; or, rlvt. tariv T) fia<n\eia TOV deov ; ia
ofj.oia
It
PARABLES OF THE KINGDOM
6
phrase
l
frequent in later Jewish writers, and the
is
idea of a Divine Sovereignty over the world, but especially over
scarcely less prominent in
is
Israel,
the Old Testament than in the New.
when we speak
this
but in fact
cracy
;
than
in
And to
Jesus began
the Jews were under foreign
was by no means dead when
it
preach and
to say, 2
of the
Roman
meaning
;
but
Kingdom
if
not,
those
for the
;
who heard
foretell the
downfall
and the return
rule in Palestine,
That, as
Repent ye
To
kingdom of heaven is at hand. Him He must have seemed to old theocracy.
recognize
was never more firmly held
it
days when
government.
We
of the Jewish polity as a theo
of the
we now know, was not
what was
in this phrase
his
it ?
means Sovereignty rather
than the sphere in which the Sovereign reigns the Kingdom of God is the imperium of God and not ;
the area or the people over which
the
first
Gospel
it is
exercised.
the sovereignty of the heavens
substituted for the sovereignty of God.
usually
There
is little
meaning between the two expressions Jews used heaven for God, as in Dan iv. 26,
difference of
the later
In
is
The heavens do
;
but whilst of God, rov Oeov, calls attention to the Person of the Sovereign, of Heaven, TCOV
rule
;
ovpavwv, directs
it
the sovereignty would spiritual, not earthly.
to the quarter
come It
:
it
may
from which
would be heavenly, well have been that 2
Mt.
iv. 17.
INTRODUCTORY
7
our Lord usually preferred this phrase, since
struck
it
the keynote of His conception of the Divine Kingdom.
For
this
theocracy spiritual
hearts
human eignty
is
and
and
It
preaches.
by the Divine
is
men
s
TWV ovpavwv,
and yet
it
has
its
The kingdom of God, our Lord teaches,
within you, evros v/mwv
earriv.
1
This
is
the leading
I thought which the parables illustrate. anticipate what they will teach us about
shall see that simple
the idea
purely
over
This sover
it.
/3acri\eia
of the eternal order,
new
swaying the
Spirit
and co-operating with
a kingdom of heaven,
from above, seat in man. is
Christ
ethical, a sovereignty exerted
lives
spirit is
the distinctive character of the
which
may seem
and easy
to be,
it is
of
will
not
it.
We
comprehension as
really
complex
in the
highest degree, entering into all the departments of
human
life,
and reaching forth
into the
future. 1
Lc. xvii. 21.
most remote
THE GALILEAN PARABLES OF GROWTH, AND ISSUE
THE PARABLE OF THE SOWER
i.
I
PLACE
LIFE,
among
first
the parables of the
Kingdom
the great Parable of the Sower (Mt. xiii. 3 fi., Me. iv. Its typical character and great 3 ff., Lc. viii. 5 ff.).
importance are shewn by the circumstance that each of the Synoptists gives it, i.e. that both St. Matthew
and
St. Luke have thought it worth while to repeat a parable which they found given fully by St. Mark. As I have said, the Parable of the Sower does not
begin with any express reference to the Kingdom but it so clearly belongs to the same class as the next ;
parable in St.
Mark and
and growth which are be parables of the so regarding
Kcu OTKCLV
Kat
7ra/od
h
many words stated Kingdom that we are justified
fip^aro
rrjv
irpos
7rA.t<rros,
SiSa-
0d\ao-(ra.v.
wo-re
avrov OLVTOV
irXolov c(j,/3dvra KaOfjcrQai rjj
OaXda-a-y, 7r/jbs
/cat
TTU?
0aAaoro-av Tr)i>
to in
it.
o-vvayerai
oxA.cs 1?
TraXtv
to other parables of sowing
in so
6
ITTI
And
again he
began
teach by the sea side. there is gathered unto
to
And him a
very great multitude, so that he entered into a boat, and sat in the sea ;
and
all the
multitude were by the sea on
THE PARABLE OF THE SOWER land.
And
Kai 8i r^s yrys ycrav. avrovs tv TrapafioXals TroAAa,
the
them
many
Kai eAtyev avTots ev ry } I8ov e
ables,
and
his
teaching,
avrov A.KOVT.
Trereiva
Kat
by the way
Kai
aAAo
avro.
X
where
^avTtAev
/30?
LV
aj/TtAev 6 Kai
^rjpdvOr).
Sta TO /cat
y^s
6Ve
ryAtos c
TO
8ta
side, and the birds came and devoured it. And
other fell
OV/C
Kat ev^vs fir)
to
TO
CTTI
O7TOV
fir)
Kat
aAAo
7
avTo, Kai KapTrov OVK Kai aAAa eTreerci/ 15 T^V yrjv rr)V KaXrjv, Kat eStSov
and
other fell
rpiaKOvra Kai
eAeyev
among
fruit.
it,
And
fruit,
grew up, and it yielded no
others fell into
growing up and in ;
thirty/old,
"Os
and
and brought forth, and sixtyfold, and
a hundredfold.
Who him
Ev TV
-fj^pq.
l-rjffovs TT/S 6d\a<r<rav
PARALLELS. (Kelvri
ee\dwv
oiVfas ^KdOtjTo irapb
Kal
MATTHEW
6
On the
to
let
hear,
hear.
ST.
rty
And he said,
hath ears
St. 1
And
the thorns,
good ground, and yielded
creasing
CIS
away.
the thorns
choked
the
dvapaivovra Kai avAxvoy
Kai
on the rocky ground, had not much earth ;
withered
it
Ktti
it
and straightway it sprang up, because it had no deepness of earth : and when the sun was risen, it was scorched ; and because it had no root,
Tas aKdV0a?, Kai dve at aKav^at Kai
ct?
cts
:
sow : and it came to pass, as he sowed, some seed fell
080 v,
Tyv
ra
Hearken
Kai
O
6V
Trapa
taught things in par said unto them in
Behold, the sower went forth
/cat
o-TTtp(Di>
VTO
he
Mark
xiii
iv.
1
I-Q.
1-9.
day went Jesus out of house, and sat by the sea
side.
that
And
there were gathered
PARABLES OF THE KINGDOM
io
Mark
St.
Peter
take to be substantially St. St. Matthew s is very near to St. Mark s
s.
s
report
I
;
most part he copies St. Mark word for Luke, on the other hand, has some interest
in fact for the
word.
St.
he notes, for example, that the seed by the wayside gets trodden under foot by the passers-
ing variations
;
by, before the birds are
rapid withering of that
down upon
which
it
and
;
for the
on the footpath he St. got no moisture. fell
accounts by saying that it Luke, again, stands alone in mentioning only the highest rate of increase according to him the ;
produce was uniformly or on the average a hundred But these changes do not amount to much, fold.
and they suggest the hand
of the editor rather
than
a first-hand report. avrbv SxAot iroXXol,
u><rre
avrbv
TT\OLOV e/j.{3dvra Kadija-Oai, Kal o
#xXo5
Kal
rbv alyia\bv
tirl
e\a\-r}<rev
po\ats\tyii)i>
rov
ph
i<rr7j/cet.
TroXXa cv rrapa-
Idoi>e!;T)\6VQ<nreip(>}j>
Kal
<rirelpeiv.
avrbv a
at/rots
eis
TTCIS
ev
tirecrev
ry
cr-Trelpeiv
nrapa rty
686i>,
\66vra ra Treretpa Kartyaycv a\\a 8t tireffev tirl ra avra. Kal
OVK
tiirov ,
Kal
i>6t<t)s
flx ev
VTJ"
QavtreiXcv Sia
n*i ?x ei|f /Sa^os 7^5, i)\lov 5t dvareiXavros fKavfjiariadr) Kal Sta
r6
rb
HT)
$1
^x fiv
tireaev
a\\a i&p&vOii. ras dKarOas, Kal
P^av tirl
avt^Tlffav ai &Ka.v6ai Kal aTrtirvi.av
avra. TTJV
a\\a
8t tircaev
tirl
rty yrjv
/ca\V Kal tSlSov Kapirbv, 6
iv
unto him great multitudes, so that he entered into a boat, and sat
;
and
all the
multitude stood
on the beach. And he spake to them many things in parables, saying, Behold, the sower went forth to sow ; and as he sowed, some seeds fell by the way side, and the birds came and devoured them : and others fell upon the rocky places, where they had not
much
earth
:
and straightway
sprang up, because they had no deepness of earth : and when the sun was risen, they
they
were
scorched
;
and
because
they had no root, they withered away. And others fell upon
THE PARABLE OF THE SOWER The was
n
which the parable places before us, agricultural population, such as the
picture,
an
to
Galileans largely were, one of the utmost familiarity. at least possible that the process could be seen
It is
going forward on the hills above the lake at the time when our Lord was speaking. e Ic^ou Behold, the sower went forth ; and the thorns grew and choked them : and
the thorns
5e e
up,
others fell
upon the good ground, and yielded fruit, some a hun dredfold, some sixty, some thirty. He that hath ears, let him hear.
ST. ^
rdv Trpbi
6x\ov
Tr6\iv
/card,
avrbv
iri.iropfvofj.tv(av
5ta
elirej
6 ffTreipuv
E??\0ej
uirbpov airroC.
/cat
avrbv 8 ptv tweffev /cat
LUKE
TrapajSoX^s
rov Girelpai rbv ev
ry
airelpei.v
iraph. TTJV 656*
,
Kare-rraT^dr] /ecu TCI Treret^a rou
Zrepov Kar^Treffev /cat
avr6.
Kartyayev
ovpavov
eiri
Kal
TWV aKavOwv,
/cat
together,
at
and they of every
unto him, he spake by a parable : The sower went forth to sow his seed : and as he sowed, some fell by the way side
and it was trodden under and the birds of the heaven
;
foot,
rock
it
it.
;
And
Zirevev
thorns grew with
Kal 0u^v
67rot ?7(rej
TaTrXacrtoj
a
%
(av
.
& Ta
Kapirbv
TaOra
e/cctroi/-
\yuv
a-Kofeiv d/cou^rw.
<f>uvei
and the ; and choked
amidst the thorns
fell
rty yrjv r^v
it
it
&Kavdai airtirvi^av auro. et s
other fell on
and as soon as
withered away, because had no moisture. And other
grew,
<rvv<f>veicra.L
a great multitude
city resorted
the
repov Zirevev
/cai
t /c/x.dx.
And when came
devoured
TT]V
^^pavdtj Sia rb
(f)vev
viii. 4-8.
TToXXou Kal
it,
it. And other fell into the good ground, and grew, and brought As forth fruit a hundredfold.
he said these things, he cried, He that hath ears to hear, let
him
hear.
PARABLES OF THE KINGDOM
12 v
:
Mark and
so both St.
and though
iSov
appropriate
if
Matthew begin
St.
;
cannot be pressed, it was especially the crowd had but to raise their eyes
But
as Jesus pointed to the sower.
what
of course
mark was the
the audience was really called to
corresponding process which even as He spoke was going forward in their own lives. The Kingdom of
Heaven, the invisible power of God over them, was, even as He spoke, being exerted just in the same way as the powers of Nature are used by the sower who goes forth to sow.
A
simple act
it
is
to cast a
wheat upon the earth yet he who does so sets in motion a process by which, when multiplied indefinitely, men live and the world is what it is. grain of
;
The great Son
of
Man, during His ministry, was but His seeds were His words. A
a Sower of seed. seed
is
a thing of
propagating
had
life.
life in itself,
words
life,
inward and invisible
life, self-
Every saying that Christ let drop and the power to produce life The ;
that I have
spoken unto you are spirit, and are 1 But seed does not produce life of itself alone life. it needs soil. Here is a second mystery common to :
nature again. Human co-operation must assist the work of the Sower. The sayings of Christ Himself,
though life 1
spirit
and
life,
apart from the Jo. vi. 63.
rot
pri/j.aTa
have no
man
effect
himself
:
d dyw \c\d\i)Ka
upon a man
the vfjuv
soil
iri>evfj.d
s
has
its
IGTIV
KO.\
THE PARABLE OF THE SOWER Christ
part to do.
dom
was sowing the seed
13
of the
King
but were these people receiving it to any good purpose ? For the seed of the Kingdom, like ;
the natural seed,
may
purpose, and that in at Look, the Lord says,
fail of its *
more ways than one. what the sower in yonder
*
1
The seed
field is doing.
he drops falls now furrows on the footpath, or on a thin sprinkling
and then elsewhere than in the which crops up or again into a bed of
of earth overlying the native rock
here and there in the thorns.
In not
field,
one of these cases does
it
do
its
work
;
or it springs up does not spring up at all to die down again after a day or two of hot sunshine either
it
;
;
or
it
grows up choke and stifle its
till it is
to maturity.
life,
outgrown by
so that the fruit does not
Only the grains that
ploughed land bear
the thorns, which
fruit
;
fall
come
into the good
and even here there are
great differences in the rate of production,
bearing more than three times as according to the nature of the soil.
some grains
much
as others,
What
It is, is the main teaching of this parable ? the word whom the to of those think, responsibility of God comes for its failures to effect what it has I
come
to do
:
the fact that
man
has a part to do, and
that is not done, Christ s work so far is in The powers of the Kingdom of Heaven can no more work apart from human co-operation than
that
if
vain.
the grain of corn can put forth the
life
that
is
in it to
PARABLES OF THE KINGDOM
14
good effect unless it falls into good soil. can do no more than sow, so the Son but speak to the ears of men.
As the sower
penetrated the ears of the hearer
it
Man
could
as the
word
of
As soon
created a
new
So in St. Mark the parable, responsibility on his part. which began with Hearken ! ends (v. 9) He that hath ears
to hear, let
what he
him hear
let him attend and assimilate The parable follows the fortunes of
hears.
;
the seed which passed out of the sower
we
see
really
it
s
hands
;
lying on the surface of the memory, never
apprehended by the mind, and so presently or eagerly received, but not deeply
lost altogether
;
taken to heart, and so wasting itself in short-lived emotions or futile resolves or lastly, we see it taken ;
to heart, life,
and giving good promise
of
mature Christian
but as the days go by, checked and frustrated
by the growing preoccupations of the present life. All this means failure, and the Great Sower foresees and expects failure it is one of the mysteries of ;
life
the waste which
waste
is
and no everywhere more incomprehensible than that of the is
visible
good seed which might have borne
;
fruit
unto
life
eternal.
But there
another side to the picture, for there is a splendid optimism in our Lord s teaching, which while it recognizes the saddest facts of life never is
loses sight of the
good ground
is
immense balance
after all the
of good.
normal destination
The of the
THE PARABLE OF THE SOWER and the honest and good heart
seed,
*
KOI ayaQrf)
the
Kingdom
finds
is
lodgement
spoken. in the
And when
good
soil,
KaXrj
(KapSia
to be found wherever the
is
15
word
of
the good seed
good
fruit
is
the
result.
In the Parable of the Sower we see the Kingdom of Heaven entering human life through the Gospel, and the very mixed record of failure and success which it can shew. And we see also the cause of failure
the
;
soil,
is
it i.e.
and heart
not in the sower or the seed, but in
in the conditions
under which the mind
when he receives the Our Lord could see these conditions
of the hearer are
Divine word.
actually existing in the crowds before exist
they
to-day
Hence the Parable
in
all
of the
Him
;
and
large assemblies of men.
Sower can never be out
of
stands on the pages of the Gospels for the use of those who are called to sow the seed of the
date
;
it
Kingdom
to the end of time. J
Lc.
viii. 15.
PARABLES OF THE KINGDOM
i6
THE PARABLE OF THE SEED GROWING SECRETLY 2.
OR
OF THE AUTOMATIC ACTION OF THE SOIL NEXT comes
another parable of seed, which is peculiar It is short, but not altogether easy
to St. Mark.
Greek or the thought.
either as regards the
Kcu
eAeyci/
Oimos
korrlv
J3acri\eia TOV Oeov 7TOS J3a\.y TOV O~7TOpOV
u>s
17
avOpw7Ti
TTTJS
kingdom of God, as if a man should cast seed upon the
P\ao~T^ Kal nrjKvvrjTai, ws OVK
and should sleep and and day, and the seed should spring up and
oiSev auros.
grow,
yfjs KOL
KaOtvSy Kal
vvKTa Kal
rjfjicpav,
^)
t
Kal
yfj
f)
The
7T/3WTOV
orav
crra^vt.
6
KapTros,
TO 5/37ravov, 6
;
rise night
auTO/xar^
KapTTO(j>Opi,
TrapaSoi
earth
e*
on
he knoweth not how.
beareth fruit of herself ; first the blade, then the ear t then the full corn in the ear. But when the fruit earth
is ripe, straightway he putteth forth the sickle, because the harvest is come.
St.
This parable
is
Mark
peculiar to St. Mark,
iv.
i.e.
it
26-29.
has not
been adopted from St. Mark by St. Matthew or St. Luke, who seem to have felt that it was unnecessary to relate a second parable so similar to the Parable of
the Sower in view of the large parables
to
number
which they had access.
of
non-Marcan It
has been
THE SEED GROWING SECRETLY
17
suggested that St. Matthew has given us in the Parable of the Tares another report of St. Mark s but the only Parable of the Seed growing secretly ;
for this conjecture
ground
is
that there are
coincidences in the two records.
and
selves
The
some verbal
stories
their teaching are quite distinct.
them More
probably the Sower, the Seed, and the Tares formed originally a trilogy, delivered in that order, of
which
and
Mark has preserved the first and the second, Matthew the first and the third, St. Luke
St.
St.
keeping only the
To come now special point.
Sower
it
first.
to St.
In
Mark
common
s
parable.
Notice
its
with the Parable of the
begins with the picture of the process of is dismissed at once
But that process
sowing. it is the subsequent growth of the seed on which the :
parable turns. The sower sows, the reaper will reap but who takes care of the seed in the intermediate ;
months
?
who
sees to the sprouting, the maturing,
the fructification
by whom ?
?
How
The whole
are these things done
and
we can
see,
process, as far as
automatic, due to the spontaneous action of the soil, or the inherent vitality of the germ and plant. is
Through the hours of night and day, while men sleep and while they work, that silent mystery of growth goes
forward without
only
at
the beginning
instrumentality S.P.
is
human
intervention
;
it
is
and the end that human
employed. B
PARABLES OF THE KINGDOM
i8
Kingdom of God the laws of the invisible heavenly kingdom correspond here again with the laws of the kingdom of Nature. Let us see how this Take first the general history of the Kingdom is so. Sower after sower had sown the of God in the world. So
is the
;
Divine word in the old world
lawgivers, prophets,
:
Hebrew people psalmists among sophers in the Greek world. They the
the seed
this
a
;
passed, leaving
was only to sow it. In the time Jesus came, and He also sowed the His teaching in Galilee and Jerusalem was their concern
;
fulness of
word
poets, philo
;
all
and no more.
Kingdom
of
God
Men around Him clamoured to appear
;
the day of the Ascension, asked, time restore again the kingdom
to
for
the Eleven, even on
Wilt thou at this
Israel ?
x
Had
they
learnt the lesson of this parable, the lesson of the
they would have been ready to wait indeed they would have seen that the sowing was in
cornfield,
fact the
;
coming
of the
Kingdom.
In the
same
spirit
they looked for the Second Coming of the Lord in their own time. But they looked in vain and we ;
now
twentieth century. One generation has succeeded another one has fallen asleep, another are
in the
;
has risen in
its place,
and the process has been repeated But through the long night of
again and again. those who sleep, through the day of life, the work of God is going forwards. We can watch the stages of 1
Acts
i.
6.
THE SEED GROWING SECRETLY its
growth
;
and each
19
the history of the Church shews progress, age contributes something to the final
But we cannot hasten the end, and we must not anticipate it. Christ waits, and we must wait.
result.
*
Keep on sowing,
your part
God
leave the growth to
;
you know not how.
*
the parable teaches
;
that
is
will
come,
Thus the growing time
of the
;
it
parable corresponds to the whole period between the Ascension and the Coming (the Parousia), the whole dispensation
growth
will
of
the
The laws
Spirit.
work themselves out
silently
just as the laws of natural
growth do. in both it growth seems spontaneous to the immanent power of God. ;
So viewed the parable But Church History. need
is
due
really
There
life.
call
too, there
its is
Given the good soil of a heart loyal to God and welcomes His word, it will
is
not needing, or conventional helps, or the periodi of
bring forth fruit avro/mdrt]
cal
In both the
of patience.
which
that
spiritual
and unseen,
a key to what we course it has also
is
of
fulfilment in the individual
of
is,
artificial
excitements,
itself
;
such as the over-anxiety of
men
often provides for stirring up the grace of God within them, but by the silent and steady action of the
Holy
Spirit,
will in the
mysteriously co-operating with the
ordinary ways
of
life.
Thus
human
this parable
warns us against too close a scrutiny of the inner a watch over its growth, too curious life, too anxious
PARABLES OF THE KINGDOM
20
an examination cerns us
of its nature
to see that the
is
causes over which
growth
laws.
What
con
not suspended by that
is
ourselves have control,
that the blade not grieved or quenched the corn in the ear is and to the ear, advancing
the Spirit is
we
and
is
;
and
getting fuller as the season for growth advances
the harvest time draws nearer to our personal
life.
second parable of the Kingdom of God represents the way in which the Divine Sovereignty There asserts itself over men in history and in life.
Thus
this
have been
human
in history,
there are in
life,
times
when
instruments take a large and manifest part in
up the Kingdom on earth. Our Lord s own it was ministry was the supreme example of this par excellence a sowing time, and the Sower could be setting
;
seen going to and fro up and the
We
field.
meaning
see the
of all our
down
same thing to-day it is the life, of the work of our ;
Church
three orders of Bishops, Priests,
sacraments All this
and
is
and preaching
in the
privilege to
the furrows of
power do it.
;
and Deacons
;
of
of missionary energy.
man, and it is man s duty But there remains the vast
of
and mysterious process in the consciences and hearts of men which no man, Priest or Evangelist, can hasten, and in which even the Son of Man as such, in His earthly
life,
had no part
:
the apparently spontaneous
growth of the Divine life in men, which is the very end of all human ministries, and yet which those who
THE SEED GROWING SECRETLY minister cannot hasten.
The Kingdom
God
of
21 is
God Himself working through the laws of man s nature, moulding human wills and lives to Himself by the secret power of the Holy Spirit. We sow ;
the rest belongs to the Spirit. Lastly, this parable affords us a glimpse of the end.
The end comes
to a nation, or
an age, or the individual
when the fruit has yielded itself, TrapaSoi, i.e. when it is fully ripe or ready for reaping when a
life,
:
man
or peoples have reached the point
they
beyond which
grow no further, at least in their present When this point has been reached in a career
will
state.
we are no judges it rests with the Great Sower who is also the Reaper. With Him there are no real delays, and no premature ingathering When :
:
the
fruit
sickle,
is
ripe,
straightway
he putteth forth
because the harvest is come
TO SpeTTdvov,
on
the
evQvs airoa-reXXei
o 7rape(rTr]Kv 0piariu.6s.
PARABLES OF THE KINGDOM
22
THE PARABLE OF THE TARES
3.
OR
OF THE DARNEL IN THE WHEATFIELD NEXT
in order to the
Parable of the Seed
Parable of the Tares, which
St.
place the
I
Matthew only has
retained.
Another parable fore them, saying,
Aeytov #77
{3a(ri\ia
rj
a-Tre/3/xa
fv Se
TW
i>
ovpavwv
T(3i>
avTOV. ay/)a>
Ka^evSetv TOUS
ro>
TTOVS
^A#ev ai rou
KOI
7recr7rt/0i/
dv6pu>-
6
Kap-rrov
ra
/cat
8e
Kvpte,
ou^t kv
and sowed
tares also
and went away.
avrots
rovro
Trpocr-
TOU
C17TOV
KaAov
^t iaVia E^ ^pbs
^
6 Se
dvdp<D7ros
o
0eAet5
the blade
among sprang
up, and brought forth fruit, then appeared the tares also.
And the servants of the house came and said unto him, Sir, didst thou not sow holder
good seed in thy field? whence then hath it tares?
crw
eTTorjarev.
Aeyoixrtv
TOTC
SovAot
TW
seed in his field : but while slept, his enemy came
men
But when
^"t^ai/ta.
oSeOTTTOTOV
of heaven is likened unto a man that solved good
the wheat,
7ro6^(rj/,
ot
dom
dva.
ore Se e/^AaorT^crei/ o at
he be
^6p^
t.dvt,a
TOV crirov Kat
/xeorov
set
The king
And
he said unto them,
enemy hath done
this.
An And
the servants say
ov
avra TTOTC >y
Atyovres ra ^t^avta a/xa aurots TOI/ crtroi/
6 <ruA-
unto him, Wilt thou then that we go and gather them up ? But he saith, Nay; lest haply while ye gather ye root
up
the
up
the tares,
wheat with
THE PARABLE OF THE TARES <rvvavdvccr8ai
d^oTepa
rov
Qepio-fjLov-
KO.L
TOV
Otpivpov
/cat
avra
Srjo-aT
grow
to-
will
say
the
to
reapers,
up first the tares, and fond /7W w bundles to burn Gather
Kara/cawm
TO
TT/OOS
/
TO.
et?
them
TOV Se o-tTov o-vvdycTe
airra,
both
gether until the harvest : and in the time of the harvest
0pi-
TT/DWTOV
Let
them.
eo>?
Kaip$
TOCS
I/aw
2vAAeaTe
O-TCUS
kv
23
ZW/0
cis TI)V aTro^rJK^v /xou.
St.
but gather the wheat ^^rw.
:
my
Matthew
xiii.
24-30.
This parable evidently paints the darker side of the analogy between the cornfield and the Kingdom
and the question arises why this dark side of God should have been depicted so early in the course of ;
There was as
the Gospel. falling
away among
no fallen Peter
and Demases heard
of.
;
we know, no no traitor Judas,
yet, so far as
the disciples
:
while the Ananiases,
Sapphiras,
were as yet not I have Dr. Salmon,
of the Apostolic age I
writes
own,
felt it as
a problem demanding explanation,
always that our Lord should have dealt with this topic at so Dr. Salmon himself early a period of His ministry. suggests
Lord
s
what
is
doubtless the true answer, that our
prescience supplied the intimate knowledge of
He shews in this parable. But His men He knew, St. John says, 1 what
the future that of
knowledge was in man to lead
Him
in itself
would perhaps have sufficed must be a dark side
to foresee that there
to the operations of the 1
Jo.
Kingdom ii.
25.
of God.
It
could
PARABLES OF THE KINGDOM
24
not be otherwise, human nature being what it is. Even in the parable of the Sower there are intimations that in
many
cases the seed
is
sown
partial or even complete failure
But the Parable it is
of
work
of
;
that
the Tares carries us further
not simple failure that
liberate
in vain
to be expected.
is
we have
;
here, but a de
attempt to counteract and so to destroy the God.
one of the two parables which are explained our Lord Himself. According to St. Matthew by the explanation was given in the house to the Twelve This
is
for us
;
not from the boat, not to the crowds. St. Mark tells us that it was the Lord s habit at this time to follow up
His public teaching by a private instruction when He was alone with the Apostles x and two samples ;
are given
by some
St.
Matthew.
It is
quite arbitrary to
do, that these explanations were added a later by generation, and that they embody only the traditional interpretation of the first century; they are
say, as
ascribed to Jesus as distinctly as the parables
and have an equal claim to be regarded
selves,
How
then
is
this parable of the
them as His.
Tares interpreted
by Christ? Tore
d$is TOVS cis
rrjv
1
oifu av.
oxAovs
Kcu
Then he and went
left
the multitudes,
into
the
house
:
Me. iv. 33 f With many such parables spake he the word unto them, as they were able to hear it : and without a parable spake he not unto them : but privately to his own disciples he expounded all .
things.
THE PARABLE OF THE TARES avra avrov
rov
him, saying, Explain unto us the parable of the tares of the field. And he answered
rwv
TrapapoXrjv
TT)V
rjfj.lv
6
dypov.
O
s cnrev
Se
and
cnrtipiov
TOV
ay/oos eartv
T^S
OVTOt
eo-rtv 6 8ia/3oAos
ot Se
the good seed, these are
the
sons
and
the tares are the sons of
are
the
of
Kingdom and
so
parable,
:
end of
the reapers
xiii.
36-39.
interpreted,
the Devil,
of the Evil one,
in
rebellion
the lines are bold and broad the cosmos
sight,
Matthew
enemy
is the devil
and
;
i.e.
the
those
under the influence of the Divine Reign,
and those who are
time.
the
the harvest is the
Man and
the Son of
:
and
and
are angels.
antitheses
kingdom
sowed them
the world ;
sons of the
who
of the
that
St.
The
;
the field is the world ;
attoi/os
are striking
Son of man
and and
OepurTal ayyeAot
o-wreAeia
^/oto-/AO5 co-Til/,
6 Se
that soweth the
is the
the evil one ;
vtot
01
^^/obs o
irovrjpov, 6 Se
aura
T
^atrtAeias i(riv
{it^avta
TO
6 Kocrjuos
KttA^l/ CT7T|0/Xa,
vtot
o
dvdputirov
He
said,
good seed
TO vtos
came unto
is disciples
ot
Atacra^ryaov
Aeyovres
25
itself
What
;
against
it.
And
the field is the world, the harvest comes at the end of
a conception
is
;
here,
quite early in the Ministry,
and what an
in
into the world
wide, age-long destiny of the Gospel,
a conception is not fully
which even now, after nineteen centuries, realized
t
But there
is
more.
the course of history
;
The Lord not only anticipates He reveals what lies beyond
PARABLES OF THE KINGDOM
26 history,
when
the long
It
wound up and an apocalypse, which
has been
age
the harvest has come.
is
comes from Christ Himself.
As
ovv cruAAeyeTcu TO, KCU Trvpl /caraKcuVrat,
ticnrep
cma
V
CTTai
TOV atwi/os
gathered
TQ
fire ;
a7roa-T<Aci
6
man
KL
KO.I
01
Ka/xtvov
rrjv
<TTai
6 fipVyfJLOS
Tore tos
TOUS KOL
CLVOfAiaV,
7TD/3OS
be in the
send forth
shall
end
The Son of his
and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that cause stumbling, and them that do iniquity, and
O.VTOV TTO.VTO. TO. /cat
is
it
world.
angels,
rs
avrovs
up and burned with
so shall
of the
KCU
TTjV
therefore the tares are
shall cast
TOT)
TUV
BLKU.IOI
eKX
teeth.
of
Then
shall
the
righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their
1
e^cov
there shall be
:
weeping and gnashing
the
o rjXios ev ry ^SacriAci^ rov
Trarpos avruv.
them into the fur
nace of fire
6
wra
UKOlKTto.
Father. let
him
St.
He
that hath ears,
hear.
Matthew
xiii.
40-43.
an interpretation of the last verses of the parable, but one which we feel itself needs This
is
interpretation,
and
events
only
can
interpret
it
fully.
Let
me
say in passing a
lyptic in the Gospels.
little
about what
is
apoca
has been borne in upon us the discoveries and rediscoveries of recent years by that Apocalyptic held a very important place in the of moulding Jewish thought at the time of our Lord. It
THE PARABLE OF THE TARES One
after another of a great series of Jewish
27
Apoca
lypses has been published, and most of them in English, so that he who runs may read for himself.
We
have come to see that the Book
the Revelation of St. John
of the last of a chain of writings
and
of Daniel
are but the
first
and one
which reach from the
time of Antiochus Epiphanes to the
fall of
Jerusalem
and beyond it, all of which dealt in the same general manner with the unseen and the future. And the question
Lord
by
s
is
own
not unnaturally asked,
far
was our
teaching, or at least His language, affected
this literature
interesting
How
As to His language, there
?
example
this
in
is
an
parable of the Tares
:
the singular expression the end or consummation of the age or of the ages,
r\
a-vvreXeia TOU aiwvos or rcov
aiwvcov, occurs in several of the Apocalypses
;
and
if
the corresponding Aramaic phrase was actually used
probable that He used it as a form of words familiar to Him or to His generation through
by our Lord,
it is
the Apocalyptic literature.
on these subjects,
method
much
it is
as to His teaching
quite in accordance with His
what He found,
to start with
of the current
And
to adopt as
thought as contained elements and fuller meaning, but not
of truth, giving it a wider
rejecting the imperfect
Let
me
form
in
which
it
was clothed.
proceed to apply these principles to His
interpretation of the closing verses of the parable of
the Tares.
The language
there
is
cast in
the
PARABLES OF THE KINGDOM
28
The Son of of apocalyptic description. the glorified, exalted Messiah, is seen as
mould
usual
Man, now
the King in the Divine Kingdom, surrounded by His body-guard of Angels. They are sent forth to make the great and final separation between the evil and the former are cast into a burning fiery the good ;
furnace
the latter shine as the sun in the Father
;
Much
eternal
Kingdom. no doubt to the apocalyptic phraseology you
will find
somewhat
s
of this description belongs of the age
;
similar pictures of the future
not a few of the later Jewish writings. But underneath the phraseology there is Christ s own teaching, which perhaps we cannot altogether separate in
from what
is
symbolical, but which gives to the
bolism a value which
in
is
sym
such writings as
wanting Enoch, and the Apocalypse of Baruch, and the Fourth Book of Esdras. As we look at the imagery, the teaching begins to stand out from the background ;
and
its
chief point
approach
of
is
this.
an age when
true characters
when
;
all
all
The Lord
men
that
will
is
foretells
the
be seen in their
evil in
them must
be consumed like dross in the furnace, and all that is good must shine out and proclaim itself in their very faces when all the stumbling-blocks of life will be ;
taken out of the way, and
from the Church
Son
;
and when
all evil-doers
this
is
done, the
disappear
Kingdom
be merged in the Kingdom of the and God be all in all. Father,
of the
shall
THE PARABLE OF THE TARES
29
is to be the end of the sowing and the which make up the present history of the growing Kingdom of God. The harvest, to which the two
This, then,
now seen to And this, salvation. is
previous parables briefly pointed, bring destruction as well as
because the sowing and the growing have not all been of one sort. If the Son of Man has sown good wheat, the foeman, the Devil, has followed with a sowing of darnel. If the good seed has grown and
We know how
ripened, so also has the bad.
has been verified in Christian history
;
all this
and we do
not doubt that the sequel which for the present is clothed in symbolical form will be verified in good time.
Meanwhile the parable has a present practical teach ing which we must not overlook. The Lord fore knew, not only that the tares would appear with the wheat, but that the Church would be tempted, when they appeared, to try to root them out. And under the form of the parable He warns the Church, once
attempt nothing of the sort. Reasons have sometimes been given for
for
all,
to
are not given in the parable
itself
:
this
which
that the darnel
and the wheat, being more or less alike in form, the wheat may be mistaken for darnel or that the ;
darnel can be converted into wheat,
enough.
The
latter
is
of course impossible
long you let the darnel grow,
Nor
is
there
much
if it is
risk of the
it will
;
left
long
however
not become wheat.
one plant being mistaken
PARABLES OF THE KINGDOM
30
The parable
for the other.
the
command when
the tares, ye root
up
it
itself sufficiently
wheat
the
also.
And
this
is
you
will
will
Church
come with
danger which
after all the gravest
besets the exercise of
up
Pull up the darnel,
and the chances are that a wheat plant it.
explains
adds, Lest while ye gather
discipline.
Not that
mistake an Arius for an Athanasius, or a
saint for a hypocrite, but that in uprooting the pre
tender or the blasphemer, you
whom
may uproot also many circumstances have attached to him, but who
are at heart loyal subjects of the Divine
Our Lord
Kingdom.
direction, however, cannot be taken to prohibit the Church from all exercise of discipline s
;
the saying Whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained, serves to balance the
And the much to
command
latter saying
Let both grow together.
must be held
to apply not so
the public action of the Church as a body,
as to the conduct of individual Christians towards It condemns the ruthless severity of the Donatists in the fifth century, who, because the Church is a society of saints, would have no com
one another.
munion with the Catholic Bishops who did not expel those whom they regarded as sinners and it con demns also much of the austerity which we associate ;
with Puritanism, and the want of charity which only too in their
common among
is
religious people generally
conduct towards those who cannot pronounce
their shibboleth.
Suppose they are tares and suppose
THE PARABLE OF THE TARES you yourselves are good wheat,
them grow
let
still
by side with you in the Master s field, Master Himself divides. It is the lesson which
side
teaches the
Romans
servant of another?
You
will
:
art thou that judgest the
in this parable the
in the parable of the Seed, the
Kingdom Whereas
Kingdom
by which men
s
is
the action
hearts and lives
are gradually subjected to the Divine will and
ready for the Divine service, here the
come
to
mean
nearly
Paul
lord he standeth orfalleth. 1
passes from the abstract to the concrete.
of the spiritual laws
St.
the
own
how
observe
till
Who
his
to
31
what we
Kingdom has the
call
made
Church,
good and evil, and which is potentially
the visible Society in which men,
grow and ripen together, of the same extent as the world. parable
we already have a
cosmos. 2
field
is
the
form
eventually
vision of the Catholic
is
and conterminous with
will
it
The
in this early
bounded only by the world, and it is Christ s
Church, the Church which
field
Thus
a
Christ s
part
3 Kingdom, and
of
Father
the
s
4
Kingdom. It would be a mistake and a somewhat serious mistake to regard our Lord as speaking of the Church whenever He speaks 1
2 3 *
Rom.
xiv. 4.
<ri)
rt j e
in thy field : out of his Kingdom in the
Kingdom
of
of the
:
my
6
in
Kingdom of God,
Kpivuv d\\6Tptov oiK^rrjv
rrjs
;
as
ry
/SaaiXeias avrov.
Father
:
e
T$
jSao-iXefy
rou Trar/ios
if
the
PARABLES OF THE KINGDOM
32
two were altogether is
identical
;
the invisible rule of the Spirit
more generally it of God which seems
But there are parables where the Church comes clearly into view, and this is one to be in His mind.
very wonderful to see how exactly our Lord has foreseen the course which Church
And
of them.
it is
history would take, not indeed in detail, but in main features. The prescience which has seen
may
clearly its course so far, it
goes on to describe how
surely be trusted
all will
The
end.
its
so
when
eschat-
ology of the parable is confirmed by the fulfilment before our eyes of that part which relates to the past
and the present.
On
one detail in the eschatology
The Lord speaks
thing.
I
of the future
must say some
as being passed in the
Church Father
in
the
world
His
(*i
(rvvreXeta),
The
of His Father.
Kingdom is
that which
life,
beyond the consummation, the end
lies
Kingdom
;
and the
beyond, issuing out of it. This seems to be exactly what St. Paul has in mind when he writes, When all things (TO. Trdvra, the universe of things)
s
Kingdom
is
shall have
been subjected
then even the
Son
who
all
subjected
to
him
(the Son),
himself shall be subjected to
things
to
him, that
God may
him
be all
1
The Kingdom of God, or of Heaven, is, in its origin and end, the Kingdom of the Father Our Father, we pray, Thy Kingdom come. But the in
all.
:
1
1
Cor. xv. 28.
PARABLE OF THE MUSTARD SEED Kingdom Kingdom
come only through the the Spirit of God leads men to
of the Father can of the
Son
;
the Son, that through the Son they at last to the Father. this
beyond
present
There
means in
all
to
all.
something to come
beyond the
beyond even the com
world to Christ.
plete subjugation of the
be
is
be brought
may
of the Spirit,
life
history of the visible Church,
are a
All these
an end, and the end is that God may Of that final merging of all in the
of the Father, that subjection of the
Kingdom
33
Son
Himself to the Father, we can form no adequate idea but it is undoubtedly represented in the New Testa
ment
and missionary work and of the Holy
as the final issue of all saintly
work, even of our Lord
s
life
work, the supreme end for which
Spirit s
we
are to
and pray.
live
THE PARABLE OF THE MUSTARD SEED
4.
THERE
is
yet one more parable in which the vegetable
world with
process of growth and plant
its
life
is
used to represent the nature of the Divine Kingdom. It is the parable of the Mustard seed, which is found in all the Synoptists,
and it
as
in St.
we
IIws
Luke
find
but in slightly different forms, Let us take
a different context.
in St.
Mark.
How
we liken or ? God kingdom of
oftoioxrw/wei/ TTJV /3curi-
rov 6toV) S.P.
it
in
rj
ev rivi avrrjv
c
:
shall
the
in
PARABLES OF THE KINGDOM
34
irapa/SoXrj 6w(JLv crtvaTrcws,
forth
(TTrep/xaToov TWI/ CTTI TTJS yi/s
w(TT CTKLOLV
rrjv
TTCII/TOJI/
Trotet
/cat
VTTO
avrov ra
upon the earth,
great branches ; so that the birds of the heaven can lodge
Mark
St.
Matthew and
St.
1
PARALLELS.
ST.
MATTHEW
KdKKi;} (Tivdirebjs, 8v
iv
Zffireipev
5
ry
fUKphrepov
iravruv T&V
/j.v
8rav
<nrep/j.dT<i}V,
thereof. *
30-32.
to
have
like exaggeration
xiii.
31, 32.
The kingdom of heaven is like unto a grain of mustard seed, which a man took, and sowed in his field: which indeed is
0/ioi a
avrov
iv.
Luke seem
St.
endeavoured to remove what looked
&v0pb)iros
earth,
than all the
under the shadow
ovpavwv
it
yet when it is sown, groweth up, and becometh greater than all the herbs, and putteth out
rov ovpavov
Both
set it
when
the
upon
seeds that are
TOJV
we
a grain of
which,
seed,
it be less
though
K\doov<s
8vvaL<rdai
shall
is like
sown
is
Kal orav cnrapy, ava/^aiVet
KCU ytvcTou /zti^ov
It
?
mustard
[UKporepov 6V TravTwi/
rrys yr/s, TWI>
what parable
ws
;
os orav (Tirapy eVt
5^
than
less
all seeds ;
but
when
it
neiov T&V \axdvuv tariv Kal yiverai Sfrdpov, {bare fXdeiv ra
is
irereiva TOV ovpavov Kal KaraffK^volv
that the birds of the heaven come and lodge in the branches thereof.
av^tjdy
tv TOIS K\dSois avTov.
LUKE
ST. TUvL
6/Jioia
to-riv
TOV Qeov, Kai rLvi 6,aota
tarlv
\afi<jjv
eavrov,
Kal
Mvopov, ovpavov
6/iota?<rw
/c6x/cy
&J>6p<)iros
/3acriXe/a
i)
crivdirews,
<:j3a\ev
fjv^fffv
Kal Ta
avr-qv
ets
;
ov
KTJTTOV
Kal
and
herbs,
xiii.
greater than the becometh a tree, so is
it
18, 19.
Unto what
God
like ?
I liken
it 1
of mustard
is
the
kingdom of
and whereunto It
is like
seed,
shall
unto a grain
which a
man
and cast into his own garden ; and it grew, and became a tree y and the birds ofthe heaven took,
ireTeiva
KaTo~Kyvb)ffev
grown,
ev
TOV rots
lodged in the branches thereof.
PARABLE OF THE MUSTARD SEED Mark
in St.
s
writes simply
version of the parable.
When
has grown,
it
and becomes a
the herbs
and
tree,
it
St.
St.
35
Matthew than
is greater
Luke omits
all
and merely
reference to the smallness of the seed,
grew and came to be a tree. But the emphatic, popular, even extreme way (I borrow a word from Dr. Sanday) of putting a case is character says that
It
our Lord
istic of
s
Galilean teaching, and
doubt that the original St.
Mark
upon
s
Though
the earth
.
.
.
it
is
I
have
little
by
forcibly represented
be less than all the seeds that are
becometh greater than
all the herbs,
the sense being There is no other seed of its kind so small,
and no herb grows so proverbial for
its
The mustard seed was
tall.
compared with that
tiny size
other seeds which produce equally large plants
proverb occurs again in
Luke
xvii. 6, in the
St.
Matthew
Talmud and
in the
xvii.
of
the
;
St.
20,
The
Koran.
plant grows occasionally to a height of eight or even
twelve
and
is
Matthew
then, as St.
says, quite a tree, with strong branches on which a bird can feet,
and as a matter of fact it has been noticed perch that when the fruit ripens the birds do so in flights, ;
for the sake of the seeds.
therefore
nature
;
the picture
and
know
St.
Luke
is
As
it
stands in St.
on the whole
s effort
to
make
it
Mark
faithful
more
so
to
he
leads him to miss (as we shall see) one of the main points of the parable. At the outset you will notice that this parable
did not
Palestine so well
PARABLES OF THE KINGDOM
36
speaks not of many seeds (as the previous ones) but We have before us but a single of a single grain.
and the growth of one plant, not the ripening together of all. Our attention is object, not a multitude,
concentrated on a solitary seed, smallest, one proverbially small.
one of the very Let it be isolated,
and put into a field (Mt.), or better still a garden (Lc.) where it will have a chance of being undisturbed, and where it can be watched. And taken by
itself,
what do we
find
By an
?
indubitable law of growth
mounts up (avafiaivei, Me.), is soon many a plant from bigger seed, and grows it
Such, Christ teaches, in viewed as a unity saw in Himself and His :
is
the
its
than
into a tree.
of Heaven, such as men beginnings,
little
infinitesimally small to the
taller
Kingdom
band
of disciples, small,
outward
the band of Galilean peasants, headed
eye. Compare by a Carpenter
from Nazareth, with the great doctors of the law at with the empire and state of Augustus Jerusalem with all the pageant, over which the Lord s eyes
;
;
swept, of coming empires and kings
But the
the former seemed. Christ s followers life,
and
it
until
was
was
;
how
insignificant
insignificant
band
of
and the seed was a
as a seed,
of the nature of that life to
filled
the world.
grow and And the time would
grow come when the great ones of the earth would be glad to come and take shelter under the shadow of the Divine
it
Kingdom
as
it
manifested
itself in
the Church.
PARABLE OF THE MUSTARD SEED The
reference
to
is
had shadow under
The
Dan.
iv.
12,
and
the
fowls of the heavens dwelt
it,
beasts of the field
in the branches of it, where Nebuchadnezzar is
by a
described
37
s
greatness
like figure.
So interpreted,
this
parable
is
a picture of the
expansion of Christianity, the final domination of and it has been realized again and again Christianity ;
in
European I
In
history.
the
first
instance
think, as a warning to those
it
was
who heard our
meant, Lord not to despise the apparent smallness of the
work which Jesus was doing encouragement to under opposition. not, little flock ;
His
disciples
It is like it is
for
in Galilee,
not
and as an
succumb
to
that other saying Fear
your Father s good pleasure
1-
kingdom. Only the parable suggests that this is not a matter simply of an arbitrary Will, but of the working out of a natural law as the to
give
the
you
;
mustard seed must grow, so surely must the Kingdom of Heaven the principles that Jesus instilled cannot ;
fail
to spring up,
and must become a
tree of
life
to
mankind.
But
of course
what
is
true of the
in the world,
is
Kingdom
individuals.
in a
man
in
also true in its
are small
which was going on at the gift of the
Kingdom
of
God
measure of the same
The beginnings
of grace
whether you look at the work
;
in the hearts of the Twelve, or
new
birth in Baptism, a
^c.
xii.
32.
mere seed
PARABLES OF THE KINGDOM
38
dormant
in the soil of the infant
or at the
life,
first
desires in the baptized man or has been for years living without God. The beginnings in each case are small, even imper
better
of
stirring
woman who ceptible
the end,
;
eternal
suffered to grow,
is
man
restoration of the whole
the
life,
the seed
if
is
to
fellowship with God and the glory of God.
a first principle of the Kingdom of God, God s manner of acting and of ruling the world, that He begins with small things, and makes them It is in fact
of
great,
greater far than the greatest things
men.
You remember
St.
Paul in
I
Cor.
where we have a
i.
which God chooses and uses
:
weak
and
the base things,
things,
despised,
ra
TO,
/maopd,
a<r9evij,
TO,
list
which
are regarded
of things
the foolish things,
the
the things that are
ayevrj, TO. e^ovOevq/meva
ending at last with the things that are not, things
among
that magnificent paradox of
by men
ra
M ovra
as having
no
substantial existence (he does not say ra OVK ovra, the things
which have no real existence at
instrumentality
Divine for
too feeble for
is
Kingdom
there
is
God
;
all).
No
indeed, in the
an actual preference shewn
things that are feeble as a vehicle for Divine
It is the least of all seeds that power. produces the greatest of herbs it was the feeblest of all ;
beginnings,
preaching to simple folk in
province, preaching simple truths about
Father, ending
all
a
remote
God
as our
with the death of the Cross
it
THE PARABLE OF THE LEAVEN was from
39
this that the greatest of all religions, the
mightiest spiritual force in the world, took
its rise.
So the Gospel of the Kingdom corrects all our we learn from it that mere
estimates of things
false size,
;
strength, money-value, are of no weight in comparison
with goodness, righteousness, truth, the Kingdom of God in a man or in a system. For the latter have
them an inherent
within
must
but must grow for ever.
live
THE PARABLE OF THE LEAVEN
5.
IN St.
Matthew
parable of the
Leaven.
identical terms
It is
0/xoi a toriv
avTots ru>v
d\vpov
ovpav&v
ywrj
\aftova-a
17
u/x??,
hfKpv^v
o-ara r/ota
o?
ov
oAoj/.
1
ira\iv
the
Another parable spake he unto them
PARALLEL. Tha
ST.
6/x,ott6<rw
The kingdom of
;
heaven
is
which a
woman
like
unto leaven, and hid
took,
in three measures of meal,
was
all leavened.
Matthew
LUKE xiii. 20, And again
xiii.
33.
l
21.
he said,
Where-
dXet/pou ffdra rpta ^ws 08
unto shall I liken the kingdom of God ? It is like unto leaven, which a woman took and hid in
SXov.
three
paffiXetav tyfj.7],
ets
f.
given by both in almost
till it
tlirev
20
followed by the
is
St.
Kai
xiii.
:
TtapaftoX^v tXdXrj-
"AAAr/i/
Luke
33 and St.
xiii.
parable of the Mustard plant
0-cv
which not only
vitality
rov
0eou
;
6/j.oia
ty \apovffa yvvrj fapv-
was
measures oj meal, all
leavened.
till
it
PARABLES OF THE KINGDOM
40
Next
to the outdoor process of sowing, growth,
and harvest, there was no more universal spectacle in Palestine than the woman mixing and kneading up her yeast with the dough.
It is
the one great
distinctive sign of the Paschal Feast that no leaven was to be found for eight days in any Jewish house ;
was
at other times the practice
universal,
and could
be observed daily. It is such daily occurrences, such obvious object lessons that our Lord chooses
;
there
is
nothing recondite in His choice of similitudes
the
Kingdom
and
it
in
He
woman, is
to enter every
work
from that
just so in St.
of parables,
it
is
the
man his lost women as well
is
and not
interesting, life
of the
;
s life,
too,
of the Galilean
man.
The man woman at
a parable which answers to
Luke
xv., that other great chapter
woman
sheep.
man
enters,
in his field or garden, the
and there
;
It
it.
His scenes from the
as well as
her oven ;
is
remote from
selects
at his
each
Heaven
finds its analogies in the life
things
that
of
finds her lost coin,
It
is
evident,
I
as the
think,
that
men were among
that the Lord welcomed
the crowds, and them and purposely drew
some
from the surroundings
as
of His illustrations
of
each sex.
The uses
leaven, however, as
an
is
capable of two very opposite
illustration.
The
ancients
regarded fermentation as a species of corruption, and therefore made leaven a figure of moral evil, and it is so used
THE PARABLE OF THE LEAVEN New
both in the Old and
41
Under the
Testaments.
Law no
leaven was allowed in any offering made upon the altar, 1 doubtless for this reason; and the same perhaps, lay at the root of the prohibition
feeling,
Passover week.
of leaven in the
It is interesting to
find that a similar aversion to leaven exists in the
Roman
Old
tinguished Dialis,
religion
as
priestly officials, the
when
St.
recognizes
the
leaven,
wickedness* ingly
of
the
And
this
Know
Paul exhorts,
leaven leaveneth the whole leaven,
lump?
of
aspect
The
leaven,
ye not that a
little
Purge out the old
as he says below, of malice
and
our Lord Himself spoke deprecat-
leaven of the Pharisees
their pernicious doctrine. 4
meaning
Flamen
to eat leavened bread. 2
was forbidden
New Testament
that most dis
for example,
:
Roman
of
the prevalent view of leaven in the
and Sadducees, This
New
is
indeed
Testament.
Considered as a type of moral energy, its connotation is on the whole For this reason some decidedly bad.
have taken the Parable whole was corrupted
of the
Leaven
as a prophecy
through the Church until the
of the spread of evil
a very
:
much worse
version
of the teaching of the Parable of the Tares, for in the 1
2
Exod. xxxiv. 25; Lev. ii. n. Plutarch writes (qttaest. Rom.
Kal ytyovev 3
I
e/r <j>6opas
Cor. v. 6
^KKaQdpare rty 4
Mt. xvi.
ff .
<f>6pafji.a
.
.
.
:
fjuyvv/j^v-rj .
OVK ofSare #ri fJUKpa fi/jiw/ 8\ov rd Kadas Kal Trovrjplas.
TraXaiatJ fifyw/v
6, 12.
109, ed.Teubner)
auny, Kal Qdflpti rb
17
$t
PARABLES OF THE KINGDOM
42
is represented as merely mixed with the whatever proportions, whereas in the Leaven,
Tares evil good, in if
we hold
their view,
it
represented as finally
is
triumphant and universally disseminated, the whole Kingdom of God on earth being leavened by it. But that is very far from being the prospect which our
Lord holds out to His Church
may to
come,
evil is in the
conquer.
Hence
in
whatever dark ages
;
end to be conquered and not this
parable
we must not
press the idea of corruption which usually adheres to leaven, but think only of its characteristic power of
spreading through a mass far greater than changing it, making the rest like itself.
itself,
and
it is a The Kingdom of Heaven is like leaven principle endowed with a subtle power of spreading :
itself
through society and transforming
the process as
A woman
it is
Look
it.
at
exemplified in the case of leaven.
takes a small piece of leavened dough,
reserved from yesterday
s
baking, buries
it
in a great
all up and and teaching of the Incarnate Son were dropped into the mass of human society, and left to work and the leavening
lump
of the unleavened, then
leaves the leaven to work.
kneads
So the
it
life
;
process began which has gone forward from generation to generation, and will go forward till the whole is
leavened with the principles of the Divine life. This is far from being merely another way of representing the spread of the
Kingdom
of
Heaven
THE PARABLE OF THE LEAVEN
43
from small things to great which is foretold in the Parable of the Mustard Seed. The Mustard Seed, like the other parables of sowing, represents the
of
growth
spiritual
sense
as
common
it is
grow
;
makes
its
character
mass, changing
its
This
new view
and is
is
quite a
by a pervasive
Kingdom
Its
progress
is
also like
;
Heaven,
a spreading influence.
own
Kingdom grows by grows also by assimilating its
There was nothing
The
inherent vitality, but to itself that
hitherto been of a different nature it.
influence.
complementary to the former. but it that of a growing plant
that of a permeating,
to
alien
of
it is
like
in this
way through an
of the
law
and the
But the leaven does not
kingdom. it
to the vegetable
in
which has
and even
common
it
hostile
use which so
clearly illustrated this property as leaven
;
and
so,
bad reputation which leaven notwithstanding had in symbolism, the Lord did not hesitate to use it for His own purpose. Good, He would say, spreads the
as well as evil,
Law
the
nations,
if
Kingdom
not so of
fast.
In Israel under the
God had not spread
to other
even the Dispersion merely sought to
for
bring people of other nations over to the Israelite fold
;
there was no effort
made
to influence without
But the new Kingdom was not proselytizing them. to be such the men whom it dominated were to ;
remain in their own homes and influence those around them, until the whole Empire, the whole world, the
PARABLES OF THE KINGDOM
44
whole lump of humanity was leavened by the faith and moral teaching of Jesus Christ. This parable life.
may
Christianity
be applied also to the individual it is hidden deep in a man s
when
heart like leaven in dough, cannot it
spreads through
every power,
lie
inactive there
;
his entire being, gradually bringing
intellect, affections, will,
to Christ.
If this is
the leaven
lies
not
as yet
so,
under obedience
the reason must be that
on the surface
man
of the
s
once there, nature, and has not sunk into his heart it must work on to its goal, which is the sanctification ;
our whole nature, body, soul, and
of
The next two parables a pair, dealing with the individual
1
spirit.
Matthew again form Kingdom of Heaven in the in St.
They follow the interpretation of the Parable of the Tares, which was given to the disciples in the house, so that they were perhaps life.
but spoken not to the crowd but to the Twelve this must remain uncertain. Both are peculiar to ;
St.
Matthew.
Let us take the 1
1
first.
Thess. v. 23.
PARABLE OF THE HIDDEN TREASURE
6.
THE PARABLE OF THE HIDDEN TREASURE j
ovpavuv
aypa>,
cKpv\f/v,
TOV aypbi/
ov cv/owv Kcu a7rb
ex
is
happening,
daily
A
labourer,
which a
man found,
and hid ; and in his joy he g0^/i and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that field. St.
built
is
unto a treasure hidden in
the field;
licetvoi/.
THIS again lands.
like
KKpvfj<-
avroi wrayei KCU Kal ayopafet
oo-a
The kingdom of heaven
/Jao-tAaa
#?7(ravpu>
TO>
of
45
Matthew
xiii.
upon an incident which,
44.
if
not
uncommon in Eastern breaking up new soil, or going is
not
deeper than others have gone, strikes something hard, which rings under his pick-axe. He finds it to be
an old wine the seal
and
is
perhaps carefully sealed, but when broken, there comes out not wine, but gold jar,
silver coins of three or four centuries ago.
lands where banks were not yet and where
life
In
and
property were insecure, the owner of property was often at a loss how to dispose of it safely. A part of it was often buried in a place which the man did not
make known even
to wife or son
;
if
leaving his secret untold, the treasure might
the
soil for generations, till
he died lie
by a mere chance
under it
was
turned up by some peasant ploughing or digging. There were even people who spent their time in digging, up waste land on the mere chance of striking
REGIS
BffiL.
MAJ, "
COLLEGE
PARABLES OF THE KINGDOM
46
on such
treasures,
1
man
but the
seems
in the parable
have happened upon it by accident. But he does tell all the world of the treasure which he
to
not at once
has found, nor carry it to the nearest magistrate and He dissembles his joy, but it moves him it.
surrender
momentous
to take a just
to
He
step.
sells his little all
and the land
buy the
field, enough So he becomes possessor
all in it.
it is
;
is his,
with
and
of the treasure,
that done, cares nothing for the sacrifice he has made.
How
is
this parable to
seized are evidently,
it
and joyful discovery cheerful sacrifice of
own.
The
be interpreted first,
he has
all
s
points
unexpected
and then the
in order to
make
it
his
treasure answers of course to the spiritual
man through
believing
treasure hidden
till
the
life,
and
man
which comes to a
obeying
himself finds
were by the merest accident.
it
The
?
man
of the treasure,
riches, the fuller and higher
often as
the
Christ it,
a
;
and found
The man
is
simply digging as usual in his field, engaged in the ordinary work of
upon him
;
it
may
life,
be
when the discovery in a
flashes
sermon, or in a page of
the Gospels which he has read hundreds of times before, or even in the workings of his
the action of the Holy Spirit.
God comes thus
of
to a
man,
own mind under
When it
the
Kingdom sacrifice
compels
;
and dig Job iii. 21 speaks of those who long for death more than for hid treasures so Proverbs ii. 4, If thou seek wisdom as silver, and search for her as for hid treasures. 1
.
for it
;
.
.
PARABLE OF THE HIDDEN TREASURE it
may
costs,
done.
He
be, the sacrifice of everything.
new
in a
light
47
sees things
the treasure must be secured at
;
and he goes through with the business The Lord evidently has in view the
all
till it is
sacrifice
which He had called the Twelve, and was calling who followed Him. It is the teaching of that
to all
hard saying, Whosoever of you forsaketh not
all that
he
my disciple* and many more sayings the Galilean ministry to the same effect. Yet
of
hath cannot be
in
the Parable of the Hid Treasure, this great sacrifice is not imposed as a duty, but represented as an act inspired
by the very joy
joy thereof
how
.
.
.
he selleth
provident,
how
of the great discovery
:
For
And we see man s conduct much more than he lost. No all that
he hath.
businesslike, the
he gains very is doubt the ethics of his conduct are not beyond criticism, for he bought the field for far less than its really
real this
:
worth from an unsuspecting owner. But in parable, as in some others, we are not concerned
with
the
ethical
standard of the characters
:
in
deed doubtful ethics cannot help towards acquiring the heavenly treasure. All that has to be considered the greatness
is
he who counts
of
the sacrifice and
all things
its
wisdom
;
but loss for the excellency of
2 knowledge of Christ counts correctly, for so they are in the reckoning of eternity.
the
We
have then
in this Parable of the Treasure a
*Lc. xiv. 33.
2
Phil.
iii.
8.
PARABLES OF THE KINGDOM
48
what happened with
similitude of in the first
days
especial frequency
when men
the days
:
literally left
kindred and property and life itself for Christ s sake. Doubtless it was meant to prepare the Apostles and first generation of believers for the extreme sacrifices
which awaited them great that for
its
but
;
it
was so incomparably
sake they might well take joyfully 1 goods and even the loss of their
the spoiling of their lives.
parable
But even
in
our
own days the
holds good.
still
cover their faith for themselves, of
God comes upon them
itself in
the experience of
sacrifices
for
sacrifices for
7.
it it,
;
and
principle of the
Just in so far as as
the
men
dis
Kingdom
like hid treasure, revealing life,
make make they
they are ready to
in proportion as
the treasure becomes really theirs.
THE PARABLE OF THE PEARL OF GREAT PRICE
THE second of sacrifice,
parable of this pair strikes the same note
but the circumstances are partly
different.
IlaXiv o/xota TTIV 17 /?cwriAci a TWV ovpavuv e/wropa)
Again, kingdom of heaven is like unto a man
thrown KaAov?
that
papyapLTCis
fvpotv 8
ei/a
yaptrrjv
dircXQw
iro\vrtfwv /MapireirpaKtv
KCU rjyopao-tv
the
is
a merchant seeking
goodly pearls: and having one pearl of great
found
price, he
went and sold
and bought Matthew xiii. 45,
that he had, St. l
Heb.x.
34.
all
it.
46.
THE PEARL OF GREAT PRICE may seem
49
an exception to the rule that represent common facts and scenes for the Holy Land had no pearl fishery. But the Red Sea has beds of the pearl oyster, and the pearl This
to be
the parables
;
was
in high repute in Galilee and elsewhere in the East in our Lord s time Cast not your pearls before swine 1 was a proverb which appealed to those who :
heard the Sermon on the Mount fashion in St. Paul pearls,
s
Epistle
2
New
was
to be seen
woman
of
decks herself out with
gold and costly raiment
the
the
;
;
the gateways of
3 Jerusalem in St. John s vision are made of monster pearls. Doubtless the pearl merchant
on the great roads of
between Herod
s capital
and
Galilee, passing
Tiberias,
and the other
great cities of the North, Damascus, Sidon,
The merchant fine
and Tyre.
in the parable
sought goodly pearls, specimens, and with these he was content. But
one day he was offered a pearl far beyond all others in value, and he was determined to have it. As the peasant sold
all
that he had to buy the
field
where the
treasure lay hid, so the merchant parted with
stock in trade,
all
all his
the goodly pearls he had been at
such pains to acquire, for the sake of the one which excelled them all. Better be the owner of that one,
than of a whole sackful of inferior gems 1
Mt.
2
ii. 9 cf. Apoc. xvii. Apoc. xxi. 21.
3
S.P.
i
vii. 6.
Tim.
;
D
4.
!
PARABLES OF THE KINGDOM
50
This parable,
plementary
it
is
on the
lays emphasis
evident,
meant
is
com
to be
That
the parable of the Treasure.
to
upon the seeking
finding, this
that on the richness of the treasure found, this on
;
its
There is no reason why seeking and be combined in one experience, not should finding he in fact, it is normal for them to be combined superior beauty.
but
that seeketh findeth
often happens that one or
it
more prominent in particular lives. The merchantman seeking goodly pearls is one who has definite aims in life, and whose aims are high the
other
is
:
he
is
one with a high moral standard, or with great
intellectual ideals
pearls, the best of
but the goodly
life
and noble things
he seeks not only the pearls of
;
or heroism, philanthropy
honourable
on
all
.
.
.
just
.
.
.
whatsoever things are true
;
pure
.
.
.
lovely
these things he thinks,
one day his ambition goodlier pearl his path,
and
:
them, the bright
in art, poetry, philosophy, learning,
the
is
.
.
.
.
.
of good report
:
and he does
fired
Kingdom
all his spiritual
But
well.
the sight of a yet
by of
.
Heaven
and
cuts across
intellectual stock-
is as nothing in his eyes if he can gain it. Henceforth he seeks first the Kingdom and righteous
in-trade
ness of God,
and there
is
no
sacrifice
for the sake of acquiring them.
much The pearl
to sacrifice, far
parable,
if
And
he will not such a
make
man
has
more than the ordinary man.
we may
press
it,
suggests that the
merchant actually parts with
all
his
other
THE PEARL OF GREAT PRICE pearls to gain this
one.
Heaven
there
Kingdom
of
the spiritual merchant
But
them
may
the Christian
to the
artist,
the case of the
usually no such necessity
is
well
and noble things he already ordinates
in
51
has,
Kingdom
keep if
he
;
;
all
goodly only he sub
may become
philosopher, scholar, the
poet,
Christian hero or philanthropist
these things are
all
;
taken up into his Christian life and made a part of it. Still even in such a case there will be a sacrifice to be
made
for the sake of acquiring the precious pearl,
and there it
would
has in
no
is
not,
if
common
sacrifice
his
;
man who
needful, gladly make.
with the labourer,
who
ungifted Christian, silver coins
which the
finds the
but he has
has seen
This, then, he
the uneducated, hoard of gold and
i.e.
this over
and above, that
educated sense of beauty finds satisfaction in the
glory of his
new
acquisition.
The gold and
silver
appeals to the labourer, the pearl to the merchant.
So
quite
that the
Kingdom differently to men
it is
mental equipments
:
to
of
to the
To the
our Lord
latter
its
appeal
and
the converted coal-heaver
who appears on cultivated man who
or cobbler,
of value.
Heaven makes
of different capacities
a revivalist platform, and
has quite other standards the exquisite beauty of
it is
that appeals, or the correspondence whereas with the deepest needs of men Gospel the former is attracted by the sense of personal s
life
of the
salvation which he desires.
;
Neither of the two can
PARABLES OF THE KINGDOM
52
quite sympathize with the other
drawn to the one
they are both note
how
s
this great fact of the
and yet ask you to
standard
Christ.
I
;
many-sidedness of
winning and satisfying people of different views and even opposite tempera ments, and antecedents, was anticipated by our Lord its
Christianity,
power
of
;
was indeed part of His plan for the recovery of the world, and it finds a place in the teaching of these two parables, when they are compared together it
and we note how much they have yet
how
the circumstances
common, and
differ.
THE PARABLE OF THE DRAW-NET
8.
ST.
in
MATTHEW
S great
chapter of parables closes with
a parable, the seventh in his series, which represents the end of the present seeking and finding.
HdXiv A.ta
<rrlv
ofjioia
ovpavtav
TWI>
ts
fi\r)6ci,(TYi
rrjv
rjv
ore
dvafiL/3d(ravTs
Xov Kal ra KaXa ?a>
eirl
/cafli o-avTcs
ct?
crayrjvr)
Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a net,
cTrXrjpwOrj
was cast into the sea, and gathered of every kind s which, when it was filled,
TOV alyia-
they drew
(rvi/eXc^ai/
and
ayy^, ra
efiaXov.
/2a<ri-
0aAacro-av
Kal fK Travrbs yevovs yova-rj.
17
wvaya-
8e crcnrpa
that
As the
series
up on sat
the beach ;
down,
and
gathered the good into vessels, but the bad they cast away. St.
business of the
they
Matthew
xiii.
47, 48.
began with corn-growing, the prevalent hills round the Lake, so it ends with
THE PARABLE OF THE DRAW-NET a scene which must have been one of the most
mon on was
53
com
The western shore
the shores of the Lake.
the fishing ground of Palestine
;
the freshwater
numerous
fishes of Palestine are singularly
twentytwo species have been counted peculiar to the country and in the sunny hollow of the Sea of Galilee they
lie
Thus
in shoals.
it
came
to pass that
fishermen formed a large part of the population of all while the towns on the Lake and fish its chief food ;
at Taricheae, at the S.W. end, there
down
of salting
fish,
and the dried
was a
local trade
fish of
the Lake
Jerusalem and probably other countries. The fishing industry
were sold in the streets exported to
of
was carried on partly in boats from which the were caught in throw-nets (ajuiipiftXrja-Tpa), but partly from the shore by means or
*
seines,
two i.
as they call
them
of
still
draw-nets
also
(a-ayrjvai)
in Cornwall.
The
mentioned together in Habakkuk them in his net, and gather eth them
sorts of nets are
15:
He
catcheth
in his drag. 1
You
will notice the difference
the throw-net retained safely enough it,
fish
unless indeed
it
broke before
or brought to land, the
*
drag
it
all
:
while
that got inside
could be pulled up
or draw-net kept on
more and more, sweeping the bottom of the Hence the draw-net sea clean as far as it went. getting
would probably shew not only a larger
haul, but a
avrbv ev d^t/SXiyor/ay, Kal vvvriyayev avrbv tv rats
<rayr]t>ais
PARABLES OF THE KINGDOM
54
more varied
one,
fishing scenes of St.
the
Luke
that
throw-nets
In the
gathering of every kind.
are
and
v.
used
St.
John
here,
;
xxi.
for
it is
various
reasons which will appear, the Lord chooses the drawnet.
Few
scenes could have been
more familiar than the
sorting that followed the drawing in of the net. of us
know
of the great draw-net
the gradual contraction of
;
the semi-circle of corks which at
on the water, but then at
mass
All
the fascination of watching the incoming
is
at last
first floats far
drawn
out
in to the shore
;
comes up, the great seething leaping and struggling, as they are
last, as the net
of silver fish,
disgorged upon the bank. A ring of spectators gathers round, while the fish are hastily handled by the
squatting men the good, edible, sorts, fit for sale or for use, are collected in buckets, while the worthless, ;
undersized, inedible, are flung aside into the sea or at a distance on the shore.
counting
the
of
resurrection
result
when Jesus
:
Then
that
there
morning
is
a rapid
after
the
bid the seven cast the net
on the right side of the boat, the number was 153 large fish, and it was noted as wonderful that such a haul did not break the net but the net in the (SiKTvov)
;
Parable was the
much
larger seine
(crayijvr))
and the
take would be proportionally great. However, the sorting and counting soon come to an end, and then the fish
that
are
worth keeping are sent
off
tu
THE PARABLE OF THE DRAW-NET
55
Taricheae to be salted down, or to the fish markets of Tiberias and Capernaum, and the fishermen go tasks elsewhere.
off to their rest, or to fresh
And now
the interpretation.
It is
partly given
by
the Lord Himself, as in the case of the Parables of the Sower, and the Tares. OVTWS
ecrrai Iv rf)
rov cuaJvos
irovrjpovs
K
/zroi>
TUV SiKcuW
KCU paXova-iv avrovs Ka/itvoi/
6
TOV
TTv/oos-
KXavOfjios
TWV
KCU
shall
rovs
atfropLovcriv
6
ei s
Ki
rty
e<nr(u
/2/ovy/ios
the
two
last
there
is
come
be in the the
:
angels
and
forth,
end
sever
wicked from among the
and shall cast righteous, them into the furnace of fire : there shall
St.
last
it
world
be
the
and gnashing of
oSovTcov.
The
shall
of the
ol
tgcXeixrovTaL
ayyeXoi KOL
So
arwrtXeip
Matthew
weeping
teeth.
xiii.
49, 50.
two clauses are exactly the same as the
in the interpretation of the Tares,
nothing
in
the
Parable of
though
the Draw-net
which suggests the fiery furnace or the wail of suffer the refuse on the shore is not burnt, but carried ing ;
away by
the next storm.
It
may be that these clauses
were no part of the original report, but were added as a kind of refrain by the person who collected the parables together.
In
about these
words
you, and so
terrible I
will
have already said that I have to say to
any case all
I
not notice them now.
Enough
remains to give us a lead as to the purpose of the Parable of the Draw-net.
The Lord
sees a portion of the great sea of
life
PARABLES OF THE KINGDOM
56
enclosed by a net, the operation of which in
some way
answers to the Kingdom of Heaven this net re mains where it is to the end of the present order. It ;
not to see in the Draw-net
difficult
is
Christian
the
society,
the
great
which was already
Church,
we learn from St. Matthew xiii. 18 xviii. 17) indeed He knew Himself about to send it into all the world to draw men into the Kingdom. The Church by its very constitution as a Society, within His view (as
;
;
with visible bonds of union in the Sacraments, encloses men as in a net, from which they cannot wholly escape, though the spaces within her great circum
ference are so wide that
men may be and
often are
unconscious that they are not absolutely free. And the Church remains from the beginning to the end, amidst storms and calms, quietly engaged in the work of enclosing souls
;
so quietly that the world hardly
Yet
takes cognizance of the fact.
net it
up
as surely as the
in the waters, the fishermen will
is
and
;
as surely as the
Church
is
come
at her
to
draw
work
in
the world, there will come a day of bringing the results to light, of sorting those
the
sweep
of
her net.
who have As
in
Tares, the sorting belongs to the
works
Who
Son
of
Man, but He
by His angels the Divine Man, that is, the Head of the race, is the Supreme Judge
in it
is
ever been within
the Parable of the
human
:
and character, but His judgement is mediated by unseen forces which are at His command of
life
THE PARABLE OF THE DRAW-NET and which
the
day
will
again, the judgement
reveal.
1
between
is
57
both parables,
In evil
men and
good,
the test being worthlessness or worth, uselessness or
The
usefulness. of the
ground
tares are worthless,
mere cumberers
the fish that are thrown
;
are
away
not good for human food, bad sorts, or bad specimens of a good sort. Is it meet for the Master s use ? is the servant trustworthy or useless? 2 is the one question which as it seems will be asked in regard to each
has passed out of the enclosure of the Church, and been beached on the eternal shore. after
life,
The
it
clear
and
we may be
not,
final result of
sure,
an individual
be judged merely by
life will
its
output
of work, its charities, its labours, its achievements,
or even
its
but also and chiefly by the
work
for the
and sacramental
fastings, prayers,
of eternity.
fitness
which
Least of
all
acts,
has gained will the mere it
fact of having been enclosed in the net, of having
and died
lived
avail
ment
rather
;
certain
are sorted,
membership of the Church this fact which makes judge
in the full it is
just
it is
;
the fish that are in the net that
and not those that are
in the sea
;
and
Judgement, as St. Peter says, must begin at the house 3 of God.
1
Cf.
2
2
8
i
i
For
Cor.
Tim.
ii.
Peter
iii.
21
:
it is
the judgement of the Church that
13. etfx/nprros
iv. 17.
T
5e(nr<$T7/
;
Mt. xxv. 21, 30:
irurr&s
.
.
,
PARABLES OF THE KINGDOM
58
we of
witness in this parable
heathen
of Christian nations, not
;
of the baptized, not of the world.
;
The Parable
Draw-net, you will have observed, the general is a fellow-parable to that of the Tares is idea which runs through them the same, just as of the
:
the Parables of the Treasure and the Pearl have a
common
and
conception
But a
teaching.
closer
It inspection shews points of difference in the two. is not only the imagery which is different, but the
standpoint and the general purpose. In the Parable of the Tares the main thought is of the manifold presence
Church and
of evil within the
perplexity
which
fact
this
all
the scandal and
entails.
the
If
final
separation comes into sight, it is only as supplying an answer to the questions raised by the sight of the
But
tares all over the field.
in the Parable of the
Draw-net attention
is
but to the future.
While the net
directed not to the present,
cannot be seen whether the
bad till
;
the whole result
is
fish
is
within are good or
of the nature of a lottery
the time comes for drawing the net
the distinction between good and bad to
the bystander
;
who
it
in the sea, it
in.
Even then
is
not obvious
can only be determined by
moment what
good and what is worthless. So the judgement which the Parable of the Draw-net represents is of a very much expert judges,
see in a
is
more subtle and far-reaching kind than that of the It turns, as we have seen, upon
Tares and Wheat.
THE PARABLE OF THE DRAW-NET character rather than upon overt acts result of
are
all
its details. And it goes the Parable of the Tares
In
further.
there are but darnel,
two kinds
and there
or
condemned, the wheat
and
all
wheat and the
of grain, the
no testing of either
is
Parable of the Net there are closed,
on the general
;
rather than on
life,
very much
59
the tares
;
saved.
all
fish of
the
In
every sort en
are separately scrutinized
and accepted
or unfitness according for use. And there is a most important amplification the former parable. For it is a very crude and upon to
rejected
their
fitness
imperfect classification which divides a congregation, as some preachers used to do, into converted and
unconverted/ saints and sinners, and leaves out many gradations of character by which the
of sight the
one class shades
end there
off into
the other.
Doubtless in the
be found to be but two great classes of men, the good (/caXa) and the bad, the inedible of the Church s net but for the present they (a-cnrpd), will
;
are of every kind is
(e/c
hopelessly bad or
own
conditions of
varieties of
TTOLVTOS yei/ou?),
finally good.
life
known only
Every to God,
temperament, character,
constitution, there
is
and no one
sort
soul has
and
its
for all
intellect, spiritual
a place rot only here in the
net of the Church, but in the vessels (ayyeia) of the saved.
So the Parable
of the
Net points us
on,
even more
distinctly than the parable of the Tares, to the great
PARABLES OF THE KINGDOM
6o
End
of the Age. until the
time,
will
judgement
of all the facts,
bids us Judge nothing before the
It
Lord come
* ;
it
assures us that the
then be based on perfect knowledge on the result of life considered as a
preparation for the higher service of the Master and of humanity in a more spiritual sphere of being.
Survey of It is
the
time,
Matthew
Galilean Parables of the Kingdom.
now
that
we have reached of
the end of
parables of the
Kingdom heptad we add St. Mark s, the Seed growing secretly), to see how far they have carried us towards an understanding of what our Lord intended by that St.
(an octad,
s
if
For whether these parables were all spoken on one occasion or not, one cannot fail to great word.
perceive that there order,
is
and that the
history
of
the
a real sequence in St.
series does
Kingdom from
Matthew
s
seem to map out the first
to last.
First,
you observe, there are five parables which represent the beginnings and extension of the Kingdom by the
analogy of the process of vegetable growth. follow two parables, obviously a pair, taken
Then
from the ordinary
callings of
men, which have to do
with the entrance of the individual of the action of the forces of the lastly,
there
is
life
Kingdom.
a striking scene from 1
1
Cor. iv. 5.
within range
And
the fishing
SURVEY OF GALILEAN PARABLES
61
industry of the lake-side where our Lord preached,
which serves to turn attention to the certain end of all the progress
which the Kingdom is to make and their issue
in the world, the revelation of results, in the
more perfect order
of another age.
Let us look more closely at these several stages in First there is the incipient act on the their history. part of the Great Sower, whether He sows broad cast (as in the Parables of the Sower, the Seed growing secretly, and the Tares), or drops a single seed into the
ground (as in that of the Mustard Seed). There without seed, and no seed without a sower
life
so
all spiritual
movements
in the world,
is
no
and
;
among
the
nations or in the individual, are traced to the act of
God working through His Son and by Spirit in the
sowing
of the word.
That
is
the
Holy
the genesis
Kingdom. The seed carries its own inherent and capacity for growth, but these require the
of the life
automatic action of the ground to call them forth, and according as the ground is, so will be the growth and produce. So there comes into view the human factor in the progress of the
Kingdom God works upon :
man, and man co-operates with God, and the growth proceeds, silently at first and unseen, but afterwards
new life, according to the measure of the Divine gift and of man s response to it. But the wheat fields of Galilee shewed not revealed in the processes of a
only the young wheat in various stages of growth,
PARABLES OF THE KINGDOM
62
but the intrusion of a foreign and mischievous plant and the world-field, when growing with the wheat ;
has been claimed by the Kingdom of Heaven, and the Church and the world have become more or less it
identified in extent, will shew, the
similar anomaly.
Whence
Whence
Lord
foresees, a
the darnel in the wheat
the evil in the Church
?
?
Not from God,
but from His enemy not to be rooted out by man, but to be left for the judgement of God. Meanwhile no enemy can stop the progress of the ;
Kingdom. Its beginnings are the tiny grains from which will come the tree under whose shadow kings and peoples are to find shelter. Its unseen influence in the world had already entered on a course which
must continue
teaching of the Parable of
grow ing
itself,
its
still
more
surroundings.
Then from turns for a lives
and
invisibly, expanding and gradually dominating and assimilat
visibly,
within
was complete the the Leaven. It would
until its victory
by which
Kingdom
this picture of final victory, the
moment
are
Lord
to that entrance into individual
after all the
secured.
most
real
triumphs of the
there
a
pair of parables to illustrate the point, for one will not suffice to set
it
Again
is
The Labourer who finds without seek by mere accident, and the Merchant who
forth.
ing, as if
two widely both of which
finds in the course of his seeking, represent different types of Christian
life,
for
SURVEY OF GALILEAN PARABLES there
is
room
;
and the Treasure
and the goodly and
of the buried coin
priceless Pearl,
object of Christian enthusiasm
in
63
shew the one
two widely
different
corresponding to those different types of But both types have this in common that
aspects,
men.
whether
be treasure or pearl, the Kingdom is the one thing which, having once seen, they will not let it
them
Both their all to keep it. on the sacrifices required from parables lay emphasis those who seek the Kingdom of God, and on the more go,
it
though
cost
than equivalent return to be received when they have made it their own.
And now It is
there remains only the end to be depicted.
seen in the Net drawn to shore, the good collected,
the bad thrown away, or rather cast out
That simple
scene, to
my
mind,
tells
us
(eo>
/3a\ov).
more than the
apocalyptic language repeated from the interpreta If there should be those, and tion of the Tares.
undoubtedly there will be only too many, who can have no part in the glory of the next age, it is because they are unfitted by their past history to participate in it. They never had any real sympathy with the
Heaven, with the Divine Reign under which they nominally came as members of the Church. They were in the Church, but not of it and when
Kingdom
of
;
the end of the present order comes, they are cast out, because
it
has been
made manifest
that they are
not fitted for the work to which the Church
is
called.
PARABLES OF THE KINGDOM
64
Of
this
who
more remote
are cast out
future, or for
be reserved in the mercy of
may
God, we know nothing of the parable, because of the
Kingdom
of
God
what ends those
it
:
it
as
lies
lies
it is
beyond the scope
beyond the province
now
revealed.
So the long history ends, or rather, so the Eternal for all this has been only pre Kingdom begins ;
This note of incompleteness, of prepara in to be heard throughout the whole series
paratory. tion, is
;
the Sower, in the Seed growing secretly, in the Mustard
Seed and the Leaven, even in the Treasure and the Pearl until in the last Parable of the Draw-net, we stand beside the angel sorters on the eternal ;
shore,
and see the separation and the end.
II
THE JUDAEAN PARABLES OF THE KINGDOM PARABLES OF SOCIAL LIFE AND OF CONDUCT IN THE KINGDOM :
WE
come now
The
scenes are taken not from the outdoor
to
quite another type of parables. life
of
Nature, or the road-side or lake-side or the cottage
home, but from the of the
social life of the time, the relations
classes to the lower, the
upper slaves, the owner to guests.
The
tales
master to
his
the host to his
his labourers,
and more elaborate,
are longer,
belonging probably to a later period in the ministry
and
to
different surroundings.
Jesus
is
no longer
great mixed crowds of peasants and fishermen by the shore of the Lake. His Galilean
addressing
ministry, or
its earlier
stage,
consists of the Apostles
is
over,
and His audience
and other members
of His
inner group of disciples, or His fellow-guests at the tables
of
the
Jerusalem. circumstances
rich,
or
priests of
adapts Himself to the changed with that ease which makes Him
master of any company S.P.
and
the scribes
He
in
which He K
is
found.
More-
PARABLES OF THE KINGDOM
66 over,
He
now
has
the
of
growth
represented, so people, its
Kingdom much as
its spirit, its
issues.
significant
;
to
Kingdom
not the history of the beginning and
It is
portray.
other aspects of the
that
we
are
now
see
to
relation to the Jewish
its
ethical character, its requirements,
This advance in the teaching is very we shall feel as we go forward that we
are approaching the completion of this great series of instructions,
i.
I
and
of the
Lord
s
earthly ministry.
THE PARABLE OF THE GREAT SUPPER
BEGIN with what appears to he the oldest
of this
group parables, that of the Great Supper, in St. Luke xiv. 16 ff. of
The Lord was dining
in
and had spoken
Pharisee on the Sabbath, resurrection of the just, to
the house of a leading
when some
guest
improve the occasion exclaimed, Blessed
is
kingdom of God.
The
from Isaiah xxv.
In
shall the
6,
make unto
all
this
mountain
who came
he
shall eat bread in the
of hosts
the
of
who wished idea
LORD
peoples a feast of fat things, a
feast of wines on the lees, of fat things full of marrow,
of wines
on
the
passage was
Leviathan, and 1
T. B.
well
commonly
material way, 1
lees
of
interpreted
a banquet,
this
may
Doubtless
refined.
e.g.,
have been
Baba Bathra 74 ab
;
cf.
in
a
on the in the
Ps. Ixxiv. 14.
this
grossly flesh
of
mind
of
PARABLE OF THE GREAT SUPPER Our Lord
the guest.
great feast, and uses
it
T-Q
ay>a
rov
SovXov
TOV
SCLTTVOV
17TLV TOIS
he sent forth his servant at supper time to say to them that were bidden ,
Kai fipf-avTQ
aVo
Aypoi>
/xtas iravres
6 TT/JWTOS
7ra/>aiTicr0ai.
eT>
^yopatra KOL e^w tSciv
ore,
avroV
>(
avra*
epwrw
<rc,
Kai
efTTCV
01;
it :
I have
And
Sv
I
aTT
thee have
And
another said,
bought five yoke of
another said,
servant came, 6 oiKo5ccr7roT^s
cfTrei/
TW SovAw
avrov "E^cA^ renews ets ras 7rAaTtas Kai pv/xas T^S TroAetas, TTTW^OVS Kat arairct-
wSe.
SovAos
Kai
eurei/
me
pray
I
have
m-arried a wife, and therefore I cannot come. And the
KCU rrapayevofjievos
SovAos
now
oxen, and I go to prove them : I pray thee have me excused.
Fwai/ca
TOVTO
6ia
for all things are
him, I have bought a field, and I must needs go out and excused.
/txe
ere/Do?
;
And they all with ready. one consent began to make excuse. The first said unto
see TTCVTC Kai t
a
and he bade
;
many : and
Come
OTl
X(T0
man made
certain
y4
great supper
aTTcrreL\v
avrov
s
as a basis for a parable of the
crroUi Sciirvov
t
Kai
God
Heaven.
of
Kingdom
corrects his conception of
67
6
Kvpie, yeyovev 6 7TTa^as, Kai en TOTTOS carrtV. Kai crTrev o KV/OIOS ;r/oci? TOI/
and
told his
lord these things. Then the master of the house being
angry said
to
Go out quickly and lanes of
his
servant,
into the streets the city,
and
bring in hither the poor and maimed and blind and lame.
And
the servant said, Lord,
what thou didst command
is
PARABLES OF THE KINGDOM
68
EeA0e
1?
ras
tva y/Ar#j}
,
Aeyw Ttov
6Sov<$
eu ay/cao-ov
/cat
yap
//,ov
{>/Atv
(Ktivtav
avSpwv
6
ore TWI>
xov rov
and
done,
And
yet there is room.
the lord said unto the
Go out into the highways and hedges, and constrain them to come in, that servant,
house
my
be
may
filled.
For say unto you, that none of those men which were 1
bidden
shall
taste
Luke
xiv.
of
my
supper. St.
16-24.
The parable turns on the issue of a great number of invitations to the Kingdom of God, which precedes He who sits down at the the actual enjoyment of it. table of God will be a happy man, it had just been remarked
and the Lord
;
Yet many who
replies,
The in have been invited are refusing to come. had been issued by every prophet who had spoken of the Messianic kingdom and its feast of
vitations
good things.
by the days
call
The whole Jewish people were bidden of Messianic prophecy.
And
since the
Old Testament another
of the prophets of the
had come, and one which permitted no delay. John the Baptist had preached Repent ye ; for the
call
1 A little later Jesus, the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Son in the form of a slave, had taken up the call,
and made and
the
more imperative The time is fulfilled, God is at : hand kingdom of repent ye, and it
:
believe in the gospel x
Mt.
;
2
iii.
and the Apostles spread abroad i.
2
Mc.
i.
15.
PARABLE OF THE GREAT SUPPER the message. time are
to
to
say
now
69
So God had sent forth his slave at supper them that were bidden, Come ; for all things
But those who were
ready.
shewed
called
no readiness to come, now that the hour had struck. The Pharisees had stood almost wholly aloof from the Messianic movement.
Divine
call
;
There were
the signs of a
all
they could not deny them,
there were
was prophetic power, there was teach with authority such as had not been heard in ing Israel. Everything pointed to a new call from God, miracles, there
but the leaders of the nation hung back. represents the polite refusal
would make
in
common
cattle or land, or the
by excuses which people
life
duty
:
a recent purchase of
of attending to the newly-
The excuses which the
married wife.
The parable
Scribes
had
to
give for refusing the call of Jesus were appropriate to themselves, origin,
want
and so forth
;
of official verification,
Galilean
but excuses, nevertheless, which
their conscience could not have really allowed, and
which were not allowed by God.
The
defection of the heads of the nation opened the
an appeal to the masses. In the command Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city
way
for
we hear
the
commission under which our Lord
ministry
was
the ministry was
brief
Galilean
three years or one. city,
that
is,
carried
out.
Quickly
s
for
indeed, whether we allow Into the streets and lanes of the
amongst the crowds that thronged the
PARABLES OF THE KINGDOM
70
thickly populated towns of Galilee
man
to the
man
in the
in the street,
by-ways
we
as
and the south
say, yes,
and
but
the
of the slums,
still
:
to the
men
of
Israel, for as yet the
embargo against Gentile peoples
had not been taken
off.
ward God.
and
But the parable looks
to the extension of the call
for
beyond the City of
Presently the servant returns to his Master
That stage was reached was revealed to the Church that God had
reports, Yet there is room.
when
it
1 granted to the Gentiles also repentance unto life, and then came the first commission, Go out into the
roads and hedgerows
into
:
crossed Galilee carrying still
more marvellous
Rome had opened up Italy,
the great roads which
men
lines of
east
and west
into the
communication which
across Asia Minor, Macedonia,
wherever her proconsuls went, or her armies
penetrated
;
and into the hedgerows, the (^pay/mot, more probably, which guided
fences, loose stone walls
the traveller
when he
left
the highroad and sought
the remote villages and country towns.
The words
describe also with wonderful exactness the course
the Early Church in her progress through the heathen world. First, the great towns that lay upon of
the main roads were evangelized later, the Gospel penetrated to the interior, and farms and hamlets ;
sent their contribution of guests to the Great Supper of God. So the House of God was filled by willing 1
Acts
xi. 1 8.
PARABLE OF THE GREAT SUPPER who took
guests
the
The
originally bidden.
profiting
Paul
places
left
empty by those
Gentile world
is
regarded as
the self-exclusion of the Jews, as in St.
by
allegory of the grafted olive tree
s
71
;
but the
parable does not, like St. Paul, hold out the re-instatement of the Jews. For these men to whom our
Lord was speaking there probably was no recovery of what they had lost they could not hope now to taste of the blessings of the Kingdom they had ;
spurned. This I believe to have been the immediate purpose of this parable. It was spoken in the company of
men who under
the
mask
of friendship
were bitter
enemies of our Lord and of the Kingdom direct reply to the
smug
;
it
was a
piety of the Pharisaic scribes,
who
placed the Kingdom in future delights, and refused their present duty. They could say with
an
unctuous
sigh,
Blessed is he that shall eat bread
in the kingdom of God, call to
come
in
all
the while reject the
Such persons are not uncommon men whose religion consists
at once.
in all ages of the
and
world
the expectation
of
neglect present duty.
a future heaven while they Those,
Christ says,
men who can never know what means
;
for they
have no capacity
*
are the
heaven
for tasting
really
God
s
Supper. But the parable of the Great Supper is not a mere answer to enemies of the Kingdom, Jewish or
PARABLES OF THE KINGDOM
72
Christian.
full of
It is
teaching as to the nature of
Kingdom and its history. The Kingdom the Reign of God
the
then,
a feast
is
good things spread by the Great Master of the House for His invited guests. God is the giver of
of
the call
who
o /ce/cX^w?
are called
as calling
who
are those
oi /ce/cXv/xei/of,
God
ception of
men
;
are bidden,
This con
01 K\tjroi.
men, and
men
of
as called
by
one of the most persistent, as it is one of the earliest in Scripture. Even in Paradise immediately God,
is
LORD God LORD God called unto the man. 1 We speak of the call of Abram the call of Samuel, Here am I ; And Eli perceived that the thou me. calledst for LORD had called the child ; 2 the call of the Hebrew after the Fall they heard the voice of the
and
.
.
.
the
4
;
nation
when
:
out of Egypt.
Israel 3
in the
words
of
in the
words
of
end of
the
these
The God
was a
child
.
.
.
I called
servants
it
;
His Son our Lord
is
spoke above
:
God
.
life
;
and
is
it
good things which are here and now when 5 of the time came, God sent forth his Son. :
who from
Christian missionary,
1
Gen.
iii.
St.
carries the Gospel to the 8
f.
.
.
a
i
all
hath at
His
a Gospel, a call to good things
forgiveness, sonship, grace,
own
son
voice takes an audible sound s
days spoken unto us in his Son*
voice in Christ
our
my
Sam.
iii
5
8.
3
Hos.
Gal. iv. 4.
Paul
the fulness
And s
hedgerows
xi. i.
*
:
a call to
Heb.
the to
day
of the i.
i
f.
PARABLE OF THE GREAT SUPPER vacant places to
men
men
the voice of God, calling
is
world,
in
now
are
fill
the
His house and at His table, bringing
the invitation which
all things
to
73
still
is
good, Come, for
ready.
Meanwhile the Supper has already begun. The parable warns against the doctrine that the Kingdom of
Heaven
concerned with the future
is
Those who obey the
The
feast.
the
age
;
with
it
of
comes
Him
God
not deferred
is
in the
peace of
through Christ
rite of Christian
worship
eats
bread in
the end of the
till
God, and
in the Spirit. is
only.
at once to the
calling sit
blessedness of
Kingdom
down him who
life
in fellowship
The
central
a sacred meal, witnessing
to the fact that the baptized are called already to
keep the feast, as St. Paul says, of the life.
Christ,
new and
risen
our Passover Lamb, hath been sacrificed
us therefore keep the feast axrre eopraj^wjuei/. 1 for us; On the other hand, the attitude of the Jewish let
leaders
and the nation
whole towards the Kingdom every parish in Christendom
as a
finds its counterpart in
/
to-day.
%
/me
pray
thee
have is
TrapiiTtiiu.voi>,
me
excused
heard
on
all
Epwrw sides.
are,
Our
churches stand half empty, our altars draw but a fraction of the adult population. Our clergy are eating their hearts out with grief at the apathy of
the upper classes, the open refusal of the artisans.
Again the
call
seems to come to us to go out into the 1
1
Cor. v.
8.
74
PARABLES OF THE KINGDOM
streets
and lanes
the poor and
of our
own
maimed and
casts of society
social life
and bring
blind and lame, the out
or to go out into the highways
:
in
and
hedges of the heathen world, and constrain men to Both these forms of Christian into the Church.
come
work are remarkably
we
own age
characteristic of our
:
it, being done by College missions and the Church Army in our midst foreign mission-work, which is in this very year about
slum-work
as
such as
call
is
;
to be
made
the special study of the whole Anglican
What
communion. 1 and our
our educated
men and women
industrial classes are asking to be excused
from
accepting, our very poor and the heathen are stretch ing out their hands after, and God has put it into the hearts of his servants to give it to them.
So the inexhaustible words
of Christ, spoken to His own time, fulfil themselves to-day. The Kingdom of Heaven runs its course on the lines
the
men
of
marked out in their turn
;
when men
and goes on to another at last
God
in the
end to
first
called
great feast,
The
at the beginning.
house
s
fill
may or
refuse
call
it, it
comes to
passes
all
them by
another race, until There can be no failure
class or
is filled.
the places, though those
who were
count themselves unworthy of the prefer
to
it
their
paltry
gain
or
pursuits. 1 In the summer following the term in which these lectures were given, the Lambeth Conference and the Pan-Anglican Con gress were held.
MARRIAGE FEAST OF KING S SON
THE PARABLE OF THE MARRIAGE FEAST OF THE KING S SON
2.
I
75
TAKE next a parable which
is
closely
related
to
that of the Great Supper, viz. the Marriage of the
ovpavatv
oWis
follows
It is as
Son.
s
King
dv6pu>irii>
jScurtAci,
r$
ITTOOJO-CV ya//,ovs
vlu>
avTov.
KOI aTreo-TaAev TOVS
SovAovs
avTov
KaAeo-at
TraAiv
Kai OVK rj&Aov &0eiv.
aAAovs
aTreo-TctAev
EITTOTC
SovAovs
TO?S
KK\rj-
ISoV TO apKTTOV /XOV ot roJvpo i (J.ov Kat O-lTMTTa
aTrrJA^oi
ScVT
tS
Ot
(TttVTS
TOVS
SovAoVS
KO.I
dTTKTLVa.V.
vf3pi(TO.V
Ta
o"T/)aTv/xaTa
A0-V
TOVS
ttVTOV O Sf
avTov
C/>0^
ttVTWV
TTJV
TToAtV
TOT
avTov Acyet Tots SovAots eVot/oios
not
Again he sent forth other servants, o/^er sayng, Tell servants, saving. them
bidden, Be made ready my my oxen and my are killed, and all
are
that
hold, I have
dinner
:
the
marriage
made
one
farm, another
and
dise
:
on
his
:
come to Bui
feast.
light of it,
their ways,
AotTTOt
ttVTOV
marriage
come.
they
?rt
Se
feast
to the
and they would
:
things are ready
os f**v ets Tor iStov
Se dy/oo v, os
which made a marriage feast for his son, and sent forth his servants to call them that
fallings
Se
ot ,
Kttt
T#U/XVa,
TOt/Xa*
ydfiovs.
The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a certain king,
were bidden
TOVS
eis
:
to
to his
and went his own merchan
the rest laid hold
servants,
and
en
treated them shamefully\ and But the king killed them. he sent his and was wroth ; and destroyed those armies, burned their and murderers,
PARABLES OF THE KINGDOM O6
KK A,
<$
OVK
I/O I
?]<TdV
>;/.*
v
ras
ri
KO.I CKTOVS
as TOVS KOI
ya//ovs.
e^cX^ovrcs
SovAot tKeivot
ot
crwr/yayov iravras ovs KCU
KCU
re
Trovijpovs
O
L<T\6ii)V
KifJLV(J)V. fi(wi\v<s
dyaOovs
Wjuc^wv ava-
7r\rj(rOri 6
his
ready,
but
that
they
is
were
Go bidden were not worthy. unto the ye therefore part ings of the highways, and as many as ye shall find, bid to
ras
eis
Then saith he to The wedding servants, city.
Oeda-aorOai TOV? dva-
the
marriage
And
feast.
those servants went out into the highways,
and gathered
together all as
many
as they
Kct/xevov? eiSev CKCI avOp(t)7rov
found, both bad and good
OVK
and
eVSeSiyxei/ov eV5v/u,a ydfjiov
KOI Acyet 1(77]
X^cs
ya/zov
,
avTw aiSe
6 Se
6 /3a(TtA,VS
Eratpe, TTWS e^ojv evSvpa
fj.rj
TOTC
(^i/xw^>/.
i7Tl/
TroSas OLVTOV
t
(TKOTO? TO ctoTpO 6 K\avOfJibs Kal o f3pvyfj,o< o86vT<i>v.
TToAAot
yap
king came in guests, he
to
saw
behold the
there
a
man
which had not on a weddinggarment : and he saith unto
TOtS
nvrov
aATC
:
wedding was filled But when the with guests. the
him, Friend, how earnest thou in hither not having a wed
And
ding-garment ? tiviv
speechless.
Then
he
the
was king
Bind him and cast him
said to the servants,
hand and
foot,
out into the outer darkness
;
weeping and
there shall be the
gnashing of teeth.
For many
are called, but few chosen. St.
You likeness
Supper.
will
Matthew
xxii. 2-14.
observe at once certain broad points of this parable and that of the Great
between
Both describe a banquet, and an invitation
MARRIAGE FEAST OF KING S SON
77
repeated at supper time. Both speak of a deliberate rejection of the invitation by those to
it,
who
which
is
Both
again relate the second mission of the servants to the highways. So much received
it.
then the two stories have in common, but the rest is different. It is a small matter that the meal is a late one
the other
in
one tale and an early (apiarov) that may be merely a difference in
(Set-rrvov) ;
in
the translation of the original Aramaic word used by our Lord. But it is significant that in the
a festivity in honour of This imports into son. the second parable a whole train of ideas connected with the Divine Nuptials which is wholly absent from
second parable the meal
is
the marriage of the King
the
first
s
and points quite clearly to our Lord Son of God and the Bridegroom of
parable,
Himself as the
the future Church.
Again, since the affront
is
now
done to a King, the consequences are represented as
more
serious
;
the guests
who
turn their backs on
not simply excluded, but the royal marriage when they proceed to abuse and kill the King s are
messengers they are destroyed, and their city is burnt herein we may detect quite clearly a fore ;
cast of the
end
of
doom
the
added which parable all
who
from
of Jerusalem.
parable,
an
And towards
entirely
effectually distinguishes St.
Luke
s.
In
the
the
new scene is St. Matthew s Great Supper
accept the invitation and take their places
PARABLES OF THE KINGDOM
78 at
the
be approved
table appear to
who
those
turn
away
the King
Marriage Feast of
accept and obey the
call are
but comes
it
is
But
only in the
Son even those who
s
subjected to a scrutiny
the King not only destroys the murderers slaves,
;
that are rejected.
who killed
in to inspect the guests,
and
;
his
rejects
not suitably arrayed. And the clue to the interpretation with which the parable ends is
one who
is
Many Many are
not,
are called,
but few obey the call
chosen
but
;
-zroXXot
but,
few K\rjToi 6\iyoi Se e/cXe/cro/, words which lay emphasis on the possible rejection of many, even of most of those who are called, and of some even at the last. called,
To understand these parables we must attend in
which
they were
was addressed
to a
differences
.
.
.
between the two
to the different circumstances
spoken.
company
The Great Supper
at a Pharisee
s
house,
which was outwardly and ostensibly friendly to our Lord, and the attitude attributed in it to the leaders Jewish nation is one of polite refusal only. Up to this time their hostility to the Kingdom had hardly gone further. But the Marriage Feast of the of the
King
s
Son was spoken
the Tuesday in Holy
in
the Temple precincts on
Week
to
the
members
Sanhedrin who were already set on our Lord
and death of Christ,
:
murder was
and
His followers
the
s arrest
murder
in their hearts, the
in the future of
of
;
it
was
no longer a matter of simply turning away from their
MARRIAGE FEAST OF KING S SON own
And
salvation.
so the parable speaks in the murderers and their doom and
plainest terms of their city
and
s
doom
the
:
set fire to that
Roman
armies would come
part of the
very which the parable was uttered.
in
And
may
it
79
Temple buildings
be that the occasion accounts also for
the episode of the King coming in to see the guests.
For the end of the Ministry and earthly life is now so near that the Lord cannot but look forward beyond the near future to His coming again.
Supper He St.
Paul
In the Great
foresees the call to the Gentiles,
the obedience
calls,
l
of
their general response to the call.
Feast of the King of the Parousia,
s
Son,
when
He
the Gentiles,
i.e.
In the Marriage
looks further, to the
day
the King in the person of the
returning Christ, will pass under review
and
and what
all
who have
called, distinguish between guest and guest, choosing only such as have qualified themselves
been
for the
King
s
will
presence.
The
qualification is the wearing of an evfivjuLo. a wedding-garment, such as befits the occasion. yd/uLov, There is a somewhat similar parable to be found in
the Talmud, 2 in which the servants of a King having
been suddenly summoned to a royal banquet, some them came without changing their work-a-day
of
clothes,
and were condemned
the rest enjoy their supper. ,
xv. 18.
8
and watch
to stand
There seems to be no Shabbath 153
a,
PARABLES OF THE KINGDOM
8o
evidence that there was any particular dress known a wedding-robe (evSvjma yd/mov), or that such a
as
was provided
dress
and put on at
for every guest,
the door, as the commentators have supposed.
It
seems as though
all that is meant is that the guest the King in our parable rejects had not taken the trouble to prepare himself for the King s presence,
whom
had not perhaps expected that he would meet the King s eye, had hoped to pass muster among the rest.
Hence
word
to
himself
for
say
exactly just
;
The Kingdom
who
company of
God and
of those
God
s
who
have.
guests self-preparation.
ready for the presence
soul
for fellowship with
garment required, and it which converts the call
Him,
the wedding
is
the provision of this
is
the
into (ic\>j<ris)
(eKXoyv),
one
and makes the
(e/cXe/rro?).
called
of Christ, sacramentally in
the daily
(jfXipro?)
Later books of the
explain what this preparation
on
is
Heaven, then, demands on the
are
Whatever makes the of
sentence
the
and therefore cannot be permitted
in the
part of all
And
himself.
he had not a
;
he has not been at the trouble to make
ready,
remain
to
when detected
his confusion
is
:
New Testament it
the putting
is
Baptism,
of practical godliness, 2
life
choice
a chosen
1
actually
by
through which
the soul gradually acquires the character of Christ or of renewed 1
Gal. hi. 27.
a
humanity Rom.
xiii.
3
3
14.
words
as in the
;
Eph.
iv.
24
;
Col.
iii.
of the 10, 12.
SUPPER AND MARRIAGE FEAST
81
Apocalypse, the fine linen in which the Bride is arrayed and the guests too (for the guests are only the Bride
under another aspect) is the righteous acts of the saints (TO. StKaiw/mora TWV ayiwv}, that sanctification without which no
man
1 shall see the Lord.
The want
from the higher does so even here, but men
of this preparation involves exclusion
of the
life
can
Kingdom.
their loss
;
of all losses in,
It
on here without God and be unconscious of
live
whereas in the world to come this greatest is realized, and that darkness of soul sets
which the parable likens to the blackness
made
night
There, in the realized sense of the loss of
cast out. all
is
by
of a
the lights of the great banquet
from which the unprepared guest has been
ing hall
God,
visible
that answers in the inner
life
of
men
to
the bitter weeping and fruitless self-pity of the world the weeping and gnashing of teeth. 2
Now
let
what we Lord
s
us take the two parables together, and see
learn from
them
teaching about the
in
combination as to our
Kingdom of Heaven
or of
God.
We
them the Divine Kingdom represented the preparing on God s part of a great feast of
as 1
2
see in
Apoc. xix. 8
;
Heb.
xii. 14.
has already 65<Wwv, a phrase which Mt. and which may have been added to these parables by those through whom they were handed down, or by
in
6 K\avd(j.fo y 6
viii.
12
;
/3/>iry/n6j
xiii.
T&V
42, 50,
the editor of the Gospels. s.p.
F
PARABLES OF THE KINGDOM
8a
good things for mankind, and the sending forth of a succession of messengers to invite first
men
to
it.
The
messengers are sent to a chosen few, a limited of guests, who however, when the time
number
excuse themselves, and end by making away with the messengers. They receive the due
comes,
first
reward
of
these
deeds.
Then
the
invitation
is
gradually widened in the city, then to the passers-by on high road or these come in, filling field path in the open country :
first, to the lowest of the people
;
the
empty
hall.
Lastly,
when
all
the guests are
assembled, the King Himself inspects the company, singles out a man who has entered in his working
and
dress,
who
is
forthwith sent out into the night, and
the banquet proceeds. In the earlier invitation of selected guests
it
is
impossible not to see, and those to whom the parable was spoken doubtless saw, the call of the chosen
people of Israel
was no
limit,
;
and
in the latest, to
we can now easily detect The King s scrutiny
Gentile world.
which there
the call of the indicates that
acceptance of the call is not the only part which men have to fulfil in the service of the Divine Kingdom. Faith,
if it
has not works,
answer to their creed.
demands on the part
is
dead
;
The Divine of those to
men
s lives
call in
whom
it
must
the Gospel
comes not
merely a passive acceptance or obedience, but a life-long personal effort, through the Holy Spirit,
AND MARRIAGE FEAST
SUPPER
83
prepare for the right use of God s gifts. To forgo this effort is to forfeit the gift to which we were to
There
called.
which
is
the
something beyond a high calling
needful to eternal
and His choice
choice,
both
is
and
calling
s
final
sure. 2
Read
together,
double warning to the time, a warning not to refuse
s
the voice that called
them
:
to the feast of
who have been
Gentiles,
namely God
a
Pharisees of our Lord
us,
life,
on those who have made
election
contain
parables
falls
1
God
;
to
called in their place, a
warning not to forget the scrutiny which will precede the final selection of the guests. 1
Phil.
2
2
iii.
Pet.
14. i.
10.
(nrovSdffare fiepaiav V/JLUV rty
K\^<jiv
/ecu
tK\oy})t>
PARABLES OF THE KINGDOM
3.
THE PARABLE OF THE FORGIVEN BUT UN FORGIVING DEBTOR
WE NOW
in
St.
to
go back to pick up an earlier parable Matthew, which was passed over in order
bring together the two kindred parables of St.
and
xiv.
St.
Matthew
xxii.
Aia
TOVTO
wfJLOUo9ri
TWV
fiacriXeia
rj
dv-
ovpavcov
os rjOeXrja-tv
f3aa-i\.l
OpuyTrut
Aoyov
crui/a/oat
SovXiov avrov
T&V
/zero,
a/)a/tei/ov Se
avrov crvvatptLV Trpcxr^^Orj es aura) /XV/HWV raXdvo<j)L\(rr)<s
[*rj
avrov
Se
\ovro<s
KeAV(Tl/ O.VTOV 6
yvvaiKa
ocra
Ofjvai.
e
unto
brought
owed talents.
he had not wherewith his lord
KOLL
aTroSo-
be sold,
ovv o
SovXos
children,
TOV 8ovXov
saying, Lord, have patience with me, and I will pay thee
And
U^KCV avTw
all.
0wv
SovXos
servant,
cry^ovwv avrw
KpaT^o*as
avroi os
Ifcarov Srjvdpta,
avrbv
ATToSoS
pay,
and payment to be made. The servant therefore fell down and worshipped him,
TO SOLVLOV
eva TWV
to
commanded him to and his wife, and and all that he had,
Ma-
7rpoa-KVVt avrw Aeywv
Se o
which
him,
him ten thousand But forasmuch as
Kat
a-6tl$
would
which
king,
rrjv
xei,
Trecrwi/
certain
make a reckoning with his servants. And when he had begun to reckon, one was
TKva
ra
Kal
Therefore is the kingdom of heaven likened unto a
Kal
irpaOfjvai
Trai/ra
Luke
return to the parable
Unmerciful Servant.
of the
ro)V.
We
C? Ti
liri
0</)l
iycv ActS.
the
being
compassion,
lord
of that
moved with
released
him,
and forgave him the debt. But that servant went out, and found one of his fellow-
FORGIVEN BUT UNFORGIVING OVV 6
7T<T(Ul/
7ra/DKcfA,t
<7t
CTT
KpoOvfJurjcrov
aTroSaxru) rj^eAei/,
airov
OLVTOl
l>8ouAoS
Ma-
avrov Aeywi/ e/xot,
Kat
Se
ov/c
o
o~ot.
aAAa aVfA^wv e/3a\V
ets
<f>v\aKr)v
TO 6tf)L\6fJiVOV.
ews
aVoS<
iSoi/TCS OU1/ Ot
avrov
TO,
ytvojjieva
Kal
\-
which owed him a
servants,
hundred pence : and he laid hold on him, and took him, by the throat, saying, Pay what
So his fellow down and be sought him, saying, Have patience with me, and 1 Ihou owe st.
will
ra
cast
him
And
thee.
pay
would not Travra
-
servant fell
he
went and
but
:
into prison,
he
till
should pay that which was 6
Kvpios
CLVTOV
So when his fellow servants saw what was done, due.
Aeyet
AovAe
Kai
ere eAcvJcrai
6
jue*
OTJK e Sei
TOV frwSoDAdv
<re
T^Ae^cra
KvpLos
;
/cat
avrov
.VTOV rots /^atravtcr-
rats
ews
ov
o<aAo/zevov.
Trar
a7ro8o>
OVTWS
Kai
TO 6
Trarrjp /xov 6 ovpdvios 7rotryo~et
vxtv
eai>
z,?
a
auTou VfJLWV.
were
they
CKCIVTJV
TrapcKa. Accra?
7rct
-
aTro
exceeding sorry, told unto their
and came and lord
was
that
all
Then
his
lord
done.
called
him
unto him, and saith to him, Thou wicked servant, I for
gave thee all that debt, be cause thou besoughtest me : shouldest not thou also have
had mercy on thy fellowservant, even as I had mercy on thee ? And his lord was wroth,
and
delivered
the tormentors,
pay shall
all
him
my
to
he should
was due.
that
also
till
So
heavenly
Father do unto you, if ye forgive not every one his brother from your hearts. St.
Matthew
xviii. 23-35.
PARABLES OF THE KINGDOM
86
The connexion context
is
of this parable with the preceding
disciples,
greater (than the rest)
what
i.e.
order
to ask the question
His
Who
is
kingdom of heaven ? be in the new
in the
social gradations will there
Mark puts
St.
?
The Lord was with
interesting.
who had come
it
differently
the disciples
:
had been by the way discussing this question, and Jesus anticipates what they wished, but were perhaps In either case
ashamed, to ask. to
them
He was
led to speak
of social relations in the Divine
and then proceeded
Kingdom
;
upon the need of rever
to dwell
ence for the scruples and weaknesses of their brother disciples and of the right way of dealing with a brother
who
offends
confesses
:
it,
him
Tell
forgive
about the privileges congregation.
his fault privately,
of
the
But Peter
s
and
if
he
Something was added
him.
the Christian
eK/c\>7<r/a,
thoughts were
still
occu
pied with the treatment of the offending brother
was
it
to be repeated
was there
to be to such reconciliation
Then came shall
my
Peter,
thee,
and said
?
him, Lord, how
to
brother sin against me,
until seven times ?
;
ad infinitum, or what limit
oft
and I forgive him ?
Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto
Until seven times
;
but,
Until seventy times seven.
The precise phrase comes from Gen. iv. 24, // Cain shall be avenged sevenfold, truly Lamech seventy and 1
sevenfold ; 1
LXX
.
i.e.
if
the
eTrrd/ctj ^/c5c5t/c77rat e /c
man who Kdiy,
e/c
slays Cain
5e Ad/xex
is
pro-
(3do/j.r)KovTd.Kis eTrrd.
FORGIVEN BUT UNFORGIVING tected
87
fear of the sevenfold vengeance, the
by the
threat of a seventy-times-seven vengeance protects
Lamech.
Jesus,
contrasting the spirit of the Old
Testament, teaches that the disciple of the Kingdom is to exercise a seventy-times-sevenfold forgiveness.
While Peter call
upon
aghast at this practically unlimited the Lord justifies it by this
is still
his charity,
immortal parable. of
giveness
for
one of the laws which the
is
wrongs
unlimited
since
Therefore
Kingdom
of
Heaven imposes on
Therefore
the
kingdom of heaven
all
is
its
subjects
likened to
the
scene that follows.
And what
is
the picture
We
?
see
an oriental
King, possessing despotic power, whose ministers and courtiers are his slaves, since he has absolute control
over their persons and property. the great King are manifestly high of state entrusted
King
is
his
own
These slaves of officials,
ministers
The
with huge sums of money.
Chancellor of the Exchequer, and
possesses the right to call to account every official
One day
serves under him. it
is
the King
s will
to
it
who
becomes known that
examine the books,
to cast
up the accounts (arwapai \dyov) and balance them. Se avrov He had but begun his work (ap^a/mevou
(TvvaipeLv),
when an
royal presence against
debt
IO,OOO talents.
240, this gives
official
was conducted
to
the
whom was
proved an enormous Reckoning the talent as worth
2,400,000
;
and
this minister
must
PARABLES OF THE KINGDOM
88
have embezzled the taxes of the whole country. When detected he had resort to the abject self-
abasement
of the Oriental,
monarch
feet of the
CLVTW),
(irpoo-eKvi/ei
Bear with me
for time
and lay grovelling at the
(juLaKpoOu/mtjcrov)
asking only long enough,
and every penny shall be repaid. It was impossible and absurd, but the King was touched by the spectacle of this great vizier s utter humiliation,
him not forbearance not time to
(a c^eor*?),
but forgiveness deficit, but
(naKpoOv/uLia),
make good
and granted
the
absolute release from the debt, wiping off millions at a word.
So ends the
first
We
act of the drama.
are left to
imagine the proper expressions of gratitude on the part of the minister, as he went out of the royal In the second act the
presence.
same person
finds
himself the creditor and a subordinate his debtor.
The debt at p|d.,
part of
by
this
is
it
only loo denarii
amounts
to
3
taking the denarius
;
193.
2d.,
an infinitesimal
what he had owed the King. The plea urged creditor is exactly what he himself had urged
he can pay if time is allowed him and in this case with good reason, for 100 denarii could be made even ;
by the mere labourer the King
s
in four
months.
You expect
what had occurred but he would The debtor was seized by
servant, remembering
to himself, to forgive the debt at once
;
not even hear of delay. the throat and carried off to prison, where he might
FORGIVEN BUT UNFORGIVING have
lain for the rest of his
life,
89
but for the inter
The
vention of the other ministers of the King.
King, iniormed of the facts, recalled his act of mercy and treated him as he had
to the unmerciful creditor,
own
treated his
him
:
he
is
Nay, a far worse fate
debtor.
handed over
the jailer only, but the
not
(/Baa-avia-rai) ,
was
befalls
prison to the tormentors
in
officials
Eastern prisons to elicit the truth by the rack and other instruments of tor There the curtain falls upon him, and he is ture.
whose business
it
in
without hope of release till the gigantic debt is He had asked for time to pay it, and he shall paid.
left
have time, but
it will
avail
him nothing
;
it
will
but
prolong his misery.
And now of the
King
dealings
of
between the conduct
for the resemblance
Eastern story, and the
in this typically
God
with
men
in
the
Kingdom
of
Heaven.
At the root that is
human
life
of the parable there lies the
with
thought
powers and responsibilities God and under God, and that
all its
held by each of us for
God may be expected
to call
which has been committed
men
to account for that
to them.
ever, the final reckoning of the
It is not,
Day
of
God
how
that
is
view here, but a reckoning in foro conscientiae, when under the strain of illness or loss, or in fear of in
death the individual
is
brought
to stand face to
PARABLES OF THE KINGDOM
90
face with His Maker,
and
himself or frittered
away
how he has
to see
spent upon
the years that were
God
s,
so that he can give no good account of the revenues
committed
The enormous debt named
to him.
in
not really excessive for the purpose of the similitude, for it emphasizes the impossibility the parable
of
is
making good by any
which
due to God.
is
on our part the debt viewed as a wasting of
effort
Sin,
powers which partake of the nature of the infinite, an embezzlement to our own use of that which belongs to
God and should have been
laid out in
implies
a debt which
brought
face to face with this
for time illness,
the
;
and
I
pay Thee
infinite.
view of
Let
first feeling is
will
but
all
is
His service,
me
life,
recover from this
But that
all.
Sinners,
ask only
is
not the
which God works, and for the reason that He knows that no man can pay the debt of his sins.
principle on
The Kingdom
of
Heaven brings a
and
full
free
pardon
a forgiveness of sins (cu^ecn? afjt-apTiwv), and not simply an exercise of forbearance (/maKpoOu JULIO).
of the past
:
The forbearance
men
of
God
is
shewn
His waiting for
in
but when they repent it is exchanged for compassion (a-7r\ayxyi(r/jL6$) and mercy (cXeo?), as we see in the parable. The Lord s Prayer asks to repent
Forgive rjfjiwv
debts,
us
not
1
;
our
debts,
imaKpo8v/ULri(rov 1
Cf.
i
rj/Jiiv
e(f)
Tim.
TU
?//n> <^>e?
Have forbearance with
i.
16
;
or
us
CTTI
2 Pet.
d^e/Xv/xara or
TO?? o
iii.
9.
*
with our
FORGIVEN BUT UNFORGIVING
91
not a delay of judgement which the Gospel but a full remission of sins, or, as St. Paul It is
offers,
calls
it,
comes not at the end beginning. 4
I
borne
conveyed one Baptism
in
this remission
of the Christian life
It is
believe in
It is
And
justification of the sinner.
but at the
sacramentally at the font
:
for the remission of sins.
upon the heart
by the very
first
act of
the Church our daily morning and evening prayer of Remission Sins where or the Absolution by placing ;
she does, teaches that the whole service of Christian
prayer and praise rests upon the sense of a foregoing These are among the elements forgiveness of sins. of the Gospel,
but they are by no means generally
understood or believed
men
;
try to
giveness, instead of working from
work up
it,
to for
or they hope
make amends for their sins instead of starting upon a new course with the assurance that the past has been to
blotted out by the infinite the parable
testifies,
such
of God. But, as not the method of the
mercy
is
Divine Kingdom on earth. debt, because we desire it of
God
forgives us
Him
in the
all
Name
of
that
His
We go from the Presence, where our sin has been penitently confessed, absolved and free. So far the parable speaks of the Divine forgiveness. Son.
Then
in terrible contrast
unmercifulness of man.
with
Let
it
placed the be observed that the
it
In the eye of
is
was not formally the law he was justified in
action of the unmerciful servant unjust.
there
PARABLES OF THE KINGDOM
92
demanding payment and refusing to grant time when he was besought to do so, and also in casting the debtor into prison till the debt was paid. The thing was done every day, and done under the sanction the law.
of
might be thought sharp practice, but
It
it
human justice. But our Lord, as is His wont, puts a new construction on human conduct by comparing with it the Divine. Look, He says, did not violate
at your dealings with one another in the light of
God
s dealings
with yourself.
The Gospel preaches But the doctrine carries
a Divine forgiveness of sins. it as a necessary corollary the duty of forgiving one another as surely as we turn to God day by day
with
;
we bind
by asking and accepting God
ourselves
pardon to forgive our debtors,
done
us, or
Thus even
i.e.
those
whom we suppose to have done us, in the
Lord
s
s
who have a wrong.
Prayer, which seems to have
been given to the disciples quite early in the ministry, this principle had been clearly laid down. 1 Its reasonableness
now placed beyond doubt by the What would any of us think of a servant who went straight from the master who had forgiven him an is
parable before us.
the conduct of
presence
a
of
enormous debt, and exacted
who sought
servant
daily prayer for forgiveness 1
Mt.
vi.
d<priKafjLv)
forgive,
,
Ko.1
12 (forgive Lc. xi. 14 f. .
;
*yap avrol
his dues
his forbearance
.
.
as 4
d<f)[ou.ev}
we
is
from a fellow-
The
Christian s
a daily guarantee that
also have forgiven, ws
(forgive .
?
.
.
.
for
we
/cat
tyuels
ourselves also
FORGIVEN BUT UNFORGIVING he means to forgive his hands.
consistency requires this at
;
But the parable goes much servant
who
93
in his turn
further.
The
forgiven
is
not only
is
unforgiving self-condemned, but loses the mercy he has received
;
the Divine forgiveness in his case is cancelled, and the debt reimposed indeed, his condition is worse ;
than before, for he is not only thrust into prison till the debt is paid, but delivered to the tormentors, whereas the original sentence was no more than that he should be sold for a bond-slave.
But what are we
make
to
of this undoing of a
Divine act, this
recalling of a
Once
not a
forgiven,
we not say own pardon
is
man
Divine absolution
always forgiven
King who
that the act of the
?
?
Must
cancels his
only to the imagery of the parable, and not to the innermost truth of things ? But our Lord s own words which follow the parable belongs
seem intended ovrwg
/cat
Father
do
his brother
carry further
the
to
as this
unto
guard against
King you,
from your teaching
view
did, so also shall
if
ye forgive
hearts.
of
this
the
than we might have
:
So
my
not
also
heavenly
every
one
In fact, these words
parable
many
supposed
it
steps to
go,
for they stipulate that the torgiveness shall be not only formal but from the heart, with the full consent
inmost personality. Thus when men say that they forgive but cannot forget, that is, that
of
the
PARABLES OF THE KINGDOM
94
the reconciliation does not go beyond outward acts
they do not really exonerate themselves from the charge of belonging to the category of the Unmerci ful Servant. God not only forgives, but forgets Their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more
:
l :
so even the Old Testament speaks.
But
in
what sense can
tions are revocable
at
through
is
be held that God
s
In this, no doubt, that
?
and not
present conditional
forgiveness
it
A
final.
absolu all
are
state
of
a state of renewed fellowship with God whatsoever breaks in the Spirit
Christ
;
that fellowship brings back the estrangement from
God which with their
is
the penalty of
sin.
own hands when they
they refuse to forgive
ment they
from
But men break fall
from
their hearts
love,
it
when
the punish
;
upon themselves by an unforgiving is than any they can inflict upon an greater spirit offending brother. They lose the power to pray inflict
;
the Spirit of
and the end
God is
gradually withdraws His presence spiritual death and the torments of ;
an awakened conscience.
make Yet
their in
own
prison
The
and are
unforgiving, in short, their
one point the parable
own
fails.
tormentors.
It
seems to
represent the position of the unforgiving as hopeless. but the Atonement, It is so, while he remains such ;
of
which our Lord could not speak
Passion,
has
opened 1
Heb.
a
x. 17;
freely before the
door of escape for every cf.
Jer. xxxi. 34.
FORGIVEN BUT UNFORGIVING penitent.
a servant of
If
95
God is to forgive his fellowGod Himself will certainly
servant seventy times seven,
not refuse forgiveness as often as it is sincerely On the other hand it must not be forgotten sought. that an unforgiving spirit tends to become chronic,
and so penitence becomes impossible. In our complex modern life difficulties often
arise
with regard to the application of our Lord s rule. For example, it may be asked whether in any circumstances
can be right for a Christian, in view of the teaching of this parable, to prosecute, or to claim legal damages, it
or in
any way to procure the punishment who has committed an offence against
of a person
himself,
or
even to recover a debt by process of law ? The consensus of the best Christian opinion leaves no doubt on the matter in
which
it
is
it
;
allows that there are circumstances
not only permissible, but a duty to Only, in such cases the
prosecute and to punish.
prosecutor or person who punishes must make it a matter of conscience to ascertain that he is not
actuated by a vindictive or an unforgiving spirit. It is the animus of the servant in the parable which is forbidden, not the In simple recovery of a debt. the same way, the parable does not require in private life the resumption of intimate relations with a person
who has shewn
himself unworthy of them.
There
ex animo forgiveness of a wrong, and no sense whatever of soreness or ill-will towards personal
may
be
full
PARABLES OF THE KINGDOM
96
the offender, and yet
common
sense and the desire
to avoid future occasion of friction
dictate a
may
As long as among men on earth,
policy of aloofness for the time to come.
the
Heaven
of
Kingdom
and the
is
human
such limitations to
effort to ignore
fellowship are inevitable,
them
is
Utopian
but
;
possible for the true subjects of the
always
it is
Kingdom
whom
to forgive from their hearts even those with
they cannot freely associate. God does not ask the Christian rule impossibilities from His servants :
well given
is
as in you
with
by
Paul
reference
Forgiving each
:
:
//
it
to
men
l :
and
fellow- members
other,
much
be possible, as
be at peace with all
lieth,
special
Church
St.
even as
again, of
God
th e
also in
Christ forgave you. 2
THE PARABLE OF THE LABOURERS VINEYARD
4.
IN
THE
WE
now proceed to the consideration of another Parable of the Kingdom which is of wide interest ;
it is
found
IIoXA.ot Se
Kai
yap 1
*
Rom. Eph.
xii.
iv.
Matthew
in St.
roi/Tcu Trptaroi
a-\aroL TT/)WTOI. <TTIV
18.
32.
r)
/JacriXcta
et
dwarbv,
xx.
But many that are first
are
last.
;
For
shall
be
last
and
first that
the
kingdom
TO $f vfM&v yuera iro-vrwv
THE LABOURERS rutv
ovpavwv
otKooV
dvdpioTTii)
(TTrory OCTTIS f^rjXBfv a/xa Trpan ets
cpydras
THE VINEYARD
IN
TOI>
TWV
/xTa
Srjvapiov
i/
rry
e/c
epyarwv
a.trk-
rj/jiepav
is like unto a man a householder, which
o/ heaven that is
went out early in the morning to
c
97
hire
labourers
his
into
And when he had vineyard. agreed with the labourers
(TTClAcV aUTOVS CIS TOV a/U,7T-
for a penny a day, he sent
Awva
them into his vineyard. And he went out about the third
avTOu.
ev rr/
e<TTWTas
/cat
o eav 8e
u>pav
Sg
vfjiiv
irtp
e^cA^wv
e^SeKaTyyv
IcrTWTag,
Ti
T^V
(SSc
dpyoi
Aeyei currots
^/xas e/ii(r^(o(raTO
.
}
ouSets
auT(J>
Kat
Kat
f<rrr]Ka.Te
rfftepav "0
X.eyov<riv
Se
7rdX.iv
fTroiria-ev (ixravTW?.
aAAovs
vyuet?
is
rbv
d^ias 8e
Aeyct 6 Kvptos TOV
TOVS cpydras Kal diroSos TOV a?rb
cw? Se
TWI>
ot
cv8KaTr;v wpai/ Srjvdptov.
Kat
fVOflLVOLV
hour,
and saw
others stand
ing in the marketplace idle ; and to them he said, Go ye
a.7rfj\Qov.
Aeyet avTots oAryv
dyopy. dpyovs
^ SLKOUOV 8w(rw
Tryv
V/oei/
aAAovs
carcv
eKLvoi<s
ol
t^tA&ui/ Trept
fiSev
wpav
Tpirrjv
Kal
/cat
TWI/
TT/OWTWV. Trepi
ZXafiov eA^oi/Te? OTt
also into the vineyard,
and
whatsoever
will
give
you.
their
way.
is
I
right
And
they went Again he went
and
out about the sixth
he went out,
standing them,
and found
others
and, he sailh unto
;
Why
stand ye here all
day idle ? They say unto him, Because no man hath the
He
hired
us.
them,
Go ye
unto
saith
also
into
vineyard.
And when
was come,
the
lord
the
even
of the
vineyard saith unto his stew
Tr)i/
ard, Call the labourers,
dva
pay them
ot
the
ninth hour, and did likewise. And about the eleventh hour
ning from first.
their hire,
and
begin
the last unto the
And when
they
came
PARABLES OF THE KINGDOM /cat
Kal TCS
Se
\aj3oi>To
avroi.
OLKoSecnroTov Aeyovrej ot eo~xaTot /cat ticrous
fuav ibpav avrovs
every
man
OUTOI
when
the
7TOLrj(rav,
/cat
avrwv
a8t/CW
OV/C
O-
crvve<juovr](rais
TO 8e
TOVTW
/cat
o-or
o-oi/
/cai
vTraye
T^) eo-^aTO)
more
and they
;
like
man
And when
penny.
they
would
they
a
they re
OV^t
ceived it, they murmured against the householder, say
/Aot
ing,
0eA,w
but one hour,
cTirev
Sovvai
tos
These
last
have spent
and thou hast
made them equal unto
us,
which have borne the burden
oi5/c J/
TOt?
crov
irovrjp<s
aya^os
OUT cos
6
And
came,
first
wise received every
TOV /caTxruva.
Se aTTOKptdels evl
they received
a penny. that
supposed receive
TOIS /?ao-Tao~ao-t TO
^e/oas
eleventh hour,
TOV
Kara
tyoyyvfov
dva
Xaj36v-
ot
TTyOWTOt /Cat Ot TT/OWTOt
et/xt
& \aroi O"^(aTOt.
of the day and the scorching heat. But he answered and said
one of them, Friend,
to
I do thee no
penny
my
last,
didst
for a
Take up that which and go thy way ; it
?
is thine, is
:
me
wrong
not thou agree with
will to give unto this
even as unto thee.
Is
not lawful for me to do what I will with mine own ? it
or is thine eye evil, because I
am good? So be first, St.
and
the last shall
the first last.
Matthew
xix. 3O-xx.
In the Galilean parables corn-growing
are the predominant employments.
other hand which were spoken on the
and
1
6.
fishing
Those on the
way
to Jerusalem
THE LABOURERS
THE VINEYARD
IN
when they speak
of
or at
Jerusalem,
make
the cultivation of the vine and the
chief feature
*
vegetation,
the
fig
Samaria and Judaea these fruit trees, and
for the hills of
;
were largely planted with
husbandry consisted
Judaea at
99
their
in
the
growth,
hills
of
least affording little soil suitable for the
of cereals.
growth
The owner
of a vineyard
might either work
to a farmer (yewpyo?)
self,
or let
The
latter case
it
is
who
(Mt. xxi. 33
This owner farms his
own
him
Parable of the
in the
contemplated
Wicked Husbandmen
it
paid in kind.
the former here.
ff.),
land, not of course that he
usually works the vineyard with his
own
hands, but
he himself engages the labourers (epyaral) and pays their wages, taking the whole of the proceeds. He finds his labourers in the ayopd,
Jewish towns and the larger answered to the Greek agora.
in
i.e.
the open space
which partly
villages,
Here the labourers
stood ready to be hired and hither the vineyard owner goes in search of them five times in the course ;
and 9
of the day, at 6
at
With the
5.
to sunset he
first
made
for the day.
It
and again batch who came from sunrise a.m., at noon, at
one
the usual terms
was the
paid by Tobit, 1 2
Mt. xx.
Tobit
cod.
.
i
ff.
;
and
as such
xxi. 28-32
v. 14 [15].
ty(i)
;
ffoi
33
silver denarius
traditional daily
Palestine, for its equivalent, the 2
3,
ff.
it ;
is
Lc.
wage
of
Greek drachma,
is
accepted without xiii.
diSujju fucrdbv rr\v
6
fit.
ij^pav dpaxv-fy (so
PARABLES OF THE KINGDOM
ioo
reluctance.
With the
rest
no
bargain
only that they should receive whatsoever
made
is
;
which
is right,
would probably be understood to mean the aliqicot part of a denarius. So the men worked through the day, or their several portions of
then
the
overseer
eirirpoTro?
it,
till
sunset,
whom
under
worked, summoned them to receive the day He had been instructed to begin with hired,
and these to
s
and they
wages.
the
last
their surprise instead of receiving
the twelfth of a denarius received
same thing happened
to those
full
pay.
The
who had spent but
a
quarter or a half or three-quarters of the day at work. This generosity was resented by the men who had been hired first yet had been paid no more, though they had undergone twelve hours of toil and exposure to the heat. Superficially, their complaint was not without reason, and it was patiently heard by the For master yet he did not take back his decision. ;
having agreed to work for a denarius, the men could not legally demand more, nor complain if others Yet we cannot be surprised that received more. they felt the master s generosity to the others illand the question arises, How can this some timed ;
what
arbitrary proceeding on the part of the master
of the vineyard be said to resemble the
Heaven
God
the
Kingdom
men
in the Christian dispensation
Now we
of
must notice
of
first of all
s
methods
dealing
of
with
?
the purpose of the
THE LABOURERS parable,
as
it
In passing let
which you
is
IN
shewn
THE VINEYARD in
St.
Matthew
101
context.
s
me warn you find in
will
against an assumption, some recent commentaries.
Do
not suppose that the editor of the first Gospel has placed those parables which are peculiar to himself and are derived no doubt from the Logia
any context which they seemed to him to suit, that the context in which they stand now
in
so is
no real guide to their original purpose and aim.
That view appears to me to be purely arbitrary, and I prefer the perfectly natural assumption of the earlier writers that the parable belongs in
to its context, that
is,
each case
that the editor found
it
in
a certain sequence or setting, and has preserved that
sequence in his narrative. What then is the connexion in which this parable stands in St. Matthew ? Like the Parable of the
Unmerciful Servant St. Peter.
it
arose out of a remark
made by
Reflecting on the incident of the rich
man who went away
sorrowful
when he was
young called
to part with his great possessions, St. Peter exclaimed
with self-satisfaction, Lo, we (}/x?) have followed thee
any
disciple
;
to
had
left
all
and
which the Lord replied that sake should be abundantly all
that
left for his
But many shall be last that are The words were evidently are last.
repaid, adding however, first,
and first
that
but what they warned Peter and the rest against does not appear from
of the nature of a warning, St.
PARABLES OF THE KINGDOM
loa
Mark
St.
cleared
So
s
up
Matthew, however, found it Logia by this parable, which ends be first, and the first last meaning,
account.
the last shall
This
is
will set
St.
in the
:
which the Kingdom way the last first, and the first last/ the
in
of
Heaven
It is this
principle which the parable must be taken
chiefly
to illustrate.
Now when we made the
first
first
turn to the parable
by being treated
made
last
then shall
we have
?
x
find the last
as equal to the
and
What
Peter had asked,
St.
must surely be some
there
superlative reward in the coming Messianic for the first disciples
first,
as the last in regard
by becoming
the great reward.
to
we
who had made
Kingdom
the great venture
days when He was not in favour, and had left their homes at Bethsaida, and even their fishing on the lake, or, like Levi, their of casting in their lot with Jesus in
books and receipts. The Lord replies, Yes, but, in the last resort, no other than what every labourer
who is
did the
over,
When
shall have.
and the labourers are
it
will
and
last.
wage, first
work
the day
s
work
called to receive their
be found to be one and the same for In eternal
life
there can be neither less
nor more, for it is the Presence and Possession of God. But can it be that in that day when the great reward is
given, there will be found those
the
Owner
of the vineyard, 1
Mt. xix. 27.
who murmur against
because they have received rl
&pa
&mu
ijpTv
;
THE LABOURERS
THE VINEYARD
IN
103
no more than, let us say, the penitent thief, who repented and believed at his last hour ? or that if there could be such, they would nevertheless receive
reward
their
Surely not, for such a spirit would be
?
wholly inconsistent with the fitness for the inheritance
without which
of the Saints
those
who
murmured
thus
it
could not be theirs
against
;
brethren
their
and against God would not only receive no more, but would lose all. This part of the parable then cannot an exact counterpart
find
but
it
shew
serves to
in the
to St. Peter
Kingdom and
the latent folly and wrong of the question,
we have
shall
that
spirit,
and shew
What
and above others
then
For
?
could remain unchecked to the end,
it
if
over
i.e.
of God,
his generation
itself in its
true colours then, would produce
discontent on the very threshold of
Heaven
;
its
tendency seen in the murmuring, the yoyyva-fiw, of the first-called labourers, and in the evil eye, the real
is
towards
jealousy
his
him
was
self-seeking in the ripe fruit
it
warned, and
in
as soon as
it
doubt that which we
;
with
germ which might be crushed and he is solemnly gained strength
as yet but a
at once before
it
whose
in
St. Peter,
own mean it
brother-workers,
In their they ought to have rejoiced. if he had eyes to see, could discern
well-being
conduct
their
him
;
his generation
appeared.
is
warned, to crush
In fact there can be
little
in this parable as well as in the next, to
shall presently
come, the Lord wished to
PARABLES OF THE KINGDOM
104
correct in His disciples an evil tendency which they shared with other Jews of their time. The later Judaism based all its hopes of future blessedness on
human
merit which was the opposite of the Gospel of the Kingdom. So much merit, the Rabbis held and taught, so much reward and merit
a doctrine of
;
meant the sum
performances which a
of legal
able to accomplish in his lifetime.
It
was
which our Lord denounced, and St. Paul and it was this which lay at the heart of question,
What
then shall
man was
this
system
after St.
Him,
Peter
s
we have ? But whether such
merit was propounded by Scribe or was fatal to any right view of the relation of
a doctrine of Apostle,
man
and
to
any true interpretation
God rewards human
life.
is
it
to God,
of grace
and not
of debt.
labour,
of
human
but the reward
The Lord
in this
parable
teaches the Apostles this great lesson.
But besides
this lesson for the first generation, the
much instruction for the later Church. we must not overlook the Old Testa ment retrospect which is implied when the vineyard
parable has In the
first place,
used as the scene of the work of the Kingdom of Heaven. For the vineyard is a commonplace of
is
the prophets of Israel
when they wished
God
s dealings
yard
of the
men
of Judah his pleasant plant.
to represent
with His ancient people. The vine of hosts is the house of Israel, and the
LORD
1
Is. v. 7.
So the
first
Isaiah
1 ;
THE LABOURERS and again .
.
A
.
my
portion under foot
a desolation*
I the
.
That
this
and
:
do keep
they shall
it
fill
.
:
vineyard, they have
my .
LORD
105
So again Jeremiah
world with fruit.*
shepherds have destroyed
Many
trodden
Lord
.
and bud
Israel shall blossom
.
THE VINEYARD
vineyard of wine
the face of the
it
IN
They have made
.
was indeed
so
in
our
time the account which the Gospels give us
s
makes
of the Pharisaic Scribes
But
evident.
in the
ministry of Jesus the vineyard of the Lord was begin ning to revive ; the Messianic Kingdom was to be a
new
return of the old theocracy under
an extension
The
world.
of
the Lord
Israel of
s
God would
sway, blossom and bud and with the fruit of the Holy
which
lies
Then
on the surface
:
fill
indeed, under
the face of
That
Spirit.
its
the world is
a truth
of the parable.
a second point which is highly in the method of working the vineyard. We
there
structive
conditions,
portion to the Gentile
is
owner superintending, the overseer manag the labourers at work through the long day of
see the ing,
twelve hours.
Work, personal labour,
is
seen to be
a law of the Divine Kingdom, and the condition on which the rewards of the Kingdom are gained the ;
future joys of the Messianic reign are
upon
it,
so that
from
this point of
made
to
depend view they are
as the labourer is represented in the light of wages worthy of his hire* so is the worker in the Divine ;
1
Is. xxvii. 2, 3, 6.
z
Jer. xii. 10
f.
3
Lc. x.
7.
PARABLES OF THE KINGDOM
io6
Kingdom, although the not wages gift of
itself
but a free
(d\J/-o>wa),
God, that
hire
is
gift (^apia-juta).
in the future life
is,
except upon those
who have used
His service, or so
the earthly
life
was
left to
them when the Divine
here
we
in
1
gratuitous,
The
not bestowed
is
the short day of
much
call
of
came.
it
as
And
that no
catch a glimpse of the complementary truth service that we can render deserves the
infinite
reward
;
the labourers
who were
called at
the eleventh hour certainly had not deserved full pay, and yet they received
on the part
it,
of the householder,
In fact, this
was so
out of pure bounty
and at
his discretion.
in the case of all the labourers
except those who were first called, with whom there was a bargain struck, because the gratuitous character
wages could not be shewn on the face of the the ordinary story without destroying its probability labourer does not of course receive a gratuity, but of their
;
just
what
his labour
is
worth.
But does the parable teach that there will be perfect equality
in the life to
among
come
the servants of
enjoying the same blessedness, all possessing the same faculties and powers for future service ? Certainly a superficial study of this parable the Kingdom,
all
might suggest this. But if it did, the would be corrected by other parables impression such as those of the Talents and the Pounds. The taken by
itself
1
Rom.
vi. 23.
THE LABOURERS fact
is
THE VINEYARD
IN
107
that no single similitude can represent the
whole truth
which
to
it
corresponds,
just
human
portrait can give the whole of the
as
no
face, or a
landscape the country side from every point of view. So that there is need of a complementary parable, or of
more than
one, to set forth aspects
So
which the
first
with this
parable necessarily overlooks. It illustrates the great Parable of the Labourers. principle that service dition of reward
in
God
s
is
Kingdom
the con
only partially represents the principle that all Divine rewards
;
but
complementary and not
are of grace
is
it
it
of debt.
It illustrates
the further
principle that the Divine rewards all run up ultimately into the one grant of eternal life, and that this belongs
equally to
all
who have worked
in
God
whether for a short time or a longer.
s
vineyard,
But
it
does
not in any way recognize the complementary principle that the gift of eternal life is of greater or less signifi cance to the individual according as he has prepared himself to use it. As the uneducated ear cannot appreciate exquisite music, nor the uneducated eye the merits of a great painting, nor the uneducated mind the masterpieces of literature, so the untrained soul, that
has but at the eleventh hour entered on
the service of God, cannot,
it
may
be argued, com
prehend or enjoy the revelations of the life to come as those souls can who have spent a lifetime here in the work of the Lord.
Nor can such persons be
PARABLES OF THE KINGDOM
108
entrusted in the next order with responsibilities so great or services so enthralling as fall to the share
who have been long accustomed in this world serve God in Church or State. We shall come again this side of things when we study the Parable of
of those to
to
the Talents.
Meanwhile,
it
is
the Parable of the Labourers as
it
shews us the Christian
to note that
enough
incomplete in so far reward only from the
is
s
point of view which was necessary for one particular purpose, that of correcting St. Peter
s
mistaken idea
that the reward depends on mere length of service
work done. one and the same for
or the quantity of the
the reward
is
the last and the alike in the
life,
all
true workers
;
through the mercy of God, fare of
Kingdom
than eternal
Two
first,
In point of fact
God
none
;
will
have
less
and none can have more.
other parables of the Vineyard follow in St.
Matthew
;
prefixed to
and though they have not definitely them any reference to the Kingdom of
Heaven, they are so near of kin to the Parable of the Labourers in the Vineyard that they must be con Both were spoken in the Temple Court sidered here.
on the
Day
Sanhedrin, priests
and
these for once shewed a
prove
Him
scribes
?
to
members
and
common
with the question,
thou these things 1
and
of Questions,
elders
front,
By what
and came
fr irolq.
tov<rlq.
ravra
all
to
authority doest
1
Mt. xxi. 23.
;
of the for
irotets
;
THE PARABLE OF THE TWO SONS
109
After the question had been met by another which they could not or would not answer, He had recourse
which were too pointed to miss
to these parables, their aim,
and more
likely to
arrest the attention
crowds who were within hearing than a direct exposure of His enemies would have been. of the
THE PARABLE OF THE TWO SONS
5.
Tt 8f vfiiv SOKCI
e?rre>
TT/OWTO)
j
TCKVOV, viraye V TO)
Cpydfov 6
B
KVpiC
a.vOp(oiro<s
6
and 8e
Ov
TtS
said,
6
I^crovs
OTL ol
(3a(TL\iav
yap
Aeycu vfj.lv Kal at Tropvat
Afj.r)V
T\<avat
Trpodyowriv
v/xas
rov
at
is
ryv
6cov.
Iwavrjs Trpbs v/zas
SiKaLocrvwrjs, KOU <To.T
;
Acyct
vcrTepos.
<riv
auT^)*
Tropvai
said,
OIK
ot Be TcA-wi/at /cat
7TtcrTixrav
;
to-day in
And he I will
to the second,
wise.
TO OkXr^ia rov 7raT/)os
sons
the
answered not:
but
afterward he repented him And he came self, and went.
vcrrepov 6fV.
work
ye? A and he and said^
think
to the first^
vineyard.
KOi OVK
tiTrev
came
Son, go
Ct7TOK/[H0lS
wcravTws
But what man had two
And I go,
and
said like
he answered
and
and went
not.
sir:
Whether of the twain did the will of his father ? They say, The first. Jesus saith unto them, Verily
I say
unto
you, that the publicans and the harlots go into the king
dom of God
before you.
For
John came unto you in the way of righteousness, and ye but the believed him not :
PARABLES OF THE KINGDOM
no
u/ucts 6e iSovrcs ovSf /j.Tfji\rj-
v&Tepov TOV TTtcTTcwrat
6rjT
and the harlots him : and ye, when
publicans believed
ye saw it) did not even repent yourselves afterward^ that ye might believe him.
O-VTM.
St.
IN the two sons society
:
we
Matthew
xxi. 28-32.
two opposite classes the Pharisaic scribes on the one see
in
Jewish
side,
sinners as the outcasts of society on the other.
and The
one class professed obedience to the Divine will, the but those who it
other had hitherto flatly refused
;
professed to obey, were in fact disobedient to the call
God by John Baptist and the Messiah, whereas those who began by refusing, had in many cases of
repented and obeyed, and thus had got the start of the professedly religious class in entering the Kingdom TOV 6eov). will see that in this parable also the law of
(7rpodyov(Ttv
You the it is
v/u.a$ els Ttjv
Kingdom
of
Heaven
there
is
in the
hired
a
,
that
all its
work
subjects
s
teaching,
in the
But :
Vineyard, the labourers are
here they are sons, and the father to suffice without
;
in St.
a subtle difference between the parables
Labourers
;
ought
faith
is
any more than without works that avails.
not in our Lord
James
/3a<ri\eiav
hope
command
s
The father
of reward.
does not hire his sons to work, nevertheless he looks to
them
refuse,
to
do
so.
Still
they are not slaves
he does not compel
;
obedience
is
;
if
they
voluntary
HOUSEHOLDER AND HUSBANDMEN in and not a matter further light
dom
thrown on the constitution
if they serve, This was so with Israel the
they serve as sons.
was God
nation if
this relation
fully
realized
Paul
insists,
bondage
.
.
I is
scribes
;
(re/c^a) of
to continue, nay, to be
the Messianic
received not
cry,
and publicans,
the
Ye,
the
baptism)
(at
received
Kingdom.
God.
more St.
spirit of
of adoption,
spirit
Abba, Father*
turn to the second supplementary parable. It the three We will take given by Synoptists.
Mark
St.
in
was
but ye
.
whereby we
they
6.
;
*
son
s
they were Jews, were alike children
And
here yet of the King is
labourers are free men, and
its
:
There
of necessity.
account, comparing the other two where
s
differ.
THE PARABLE OF THE HOUSEHOLDER AND THE UNFAITHFUL HUSBANDMEN Kou
ripgaro avrois
XaXeiv
/3o\ai<s
ei/
Trapa-
A/x7rcXwva K<H
<f>vTWv,
av0/><t>7ros
KCU <j>payfj.bv
v KOI wVoSo-
vvpyov, KCU egeSero avrbv yeeopyots, KCU aTre&j /nj<rtv.
KCU 1
aTreoTTctXev
Exod.
iv.
22
;
7iy>o$
Hosea
And
he began to speak unthem in parables. A man planted a vineyard, and set to
a hedge about
it,
and digged
a pit for the winepress, and built a tower, and let it out to
husbandmen,
and went
into another country. xi. i.
z
Rom.
viii. 15.
And
PARABLES OF THE KINGDOM
ii2 rovs
y(Dpyovs
ywv
#
rip
iva Trapa
SovXov,
oVo TWV
Aa/2>7
he
TOV ajUTTcAtoyos /cat Aa/3oi/TS avrov eSet/oav /cat aVeoTeiAav aVeCTTetAcV
/cat TTttAtV
/CefoV.
aAAov
avrovs
TT/obs
KOLKCIVOV
SouAov* /cat
K<f>a.\l(DCraV
/cat
jjrifiatrav.
aAAov aVe-
KOLKCLVOV aTTCKTetVaV,
<TT.l\V
KCU vroAAovs aAAovs, ovs /xev OUS Se aT
<$/3OVTS
avrov os
avrovs
6
him
away he
again
empty. unto
sent
and him ; wounded in the they head, and handled shamefully. And he sent another ; and him they killed, : and many others ; beating some, and some. He had yet killing a beloved son last
L7rav ort Oiiros
ecrrti/
Stvre
avTov,
diro-
/<at
T^/AWV
Kdl
K^pOVOfJiia. aTTCKTCtvav
Aa/3ovTS
avrov Tt
/cat
us
is kill
inheritance
the
And
ours.
they
him, and killed him, and cast him forth out of the
took
eAev-
TOVS TOI/
OvSc T^V
aTrcSoKi/xacrai/
let
come,
be
Scucret
This
themselves,
and
What therefore vineyard. will the lord of the vineyard do ? he will come and destroy the
Tavrrjv aveyi/core
Aidov ov
among
the heir ;
shall
;
aAAots.
t
him,
aTroAetrct /cat.
he sent
They will reverence my son. But those husbandmen said
TOU
7TOt(Tt
TOV a/xTreAwi/os
:
unto them, saying
avroV, ea>
And them
another servant
one,
1^
ypa<f>r)V
And they took
him, and beat him, and sent
him
KXajpovo/Jios
trerat
the vineyard.
the
the fruits of
Trpo?
ot
KTiVa)/xev (TTa6
might rective from
husbandmen of
yew/ayot
Se
cavrovs
Ev-
vlov
to the
servant, that
/zov.
rbv
Tpa7rri<TOVT(u
Ktvofc
on
Aeycoi/
season he sent
//i^
husbandmen a
ru>v
ot
husbandmen,
and
will
give the vineyard unto others. Have ye not read even this
scripture
The
;
stone
which
builders rejected,
the
HOUSEHOLDER AND HUSBANDMEN oSros yvq6rj
els
K<fra\r)v
113
The same was made head of the corner
Trapa Kvpiov eyevero avrrj Kal kv OavfJLacrTr] t
TTti>
the :
This was from the Lord,
And
is
it
marvellous in
our eyes ?
Mark
St.
THERE
xii.
i-n. 1
a noteworthy difference between this parable and the Parable of the Labourers to which I have is
1
A\\rjv
PARALLELS.
ST.
fy
*Av0pu)iros
oiKoSeo-irbTrjs
Kal
d/U7reXcDj>a
MATTHEW
xxi. 33-45.
Hear another parable : There was a man that was a house
TrapafioXTjv
which planted a vine
holder,
and set a hedge about it, and digged a winepress in and built a tower, and let it, it out to husbandmen, and went
yard, \t)vbv Kal
irtipyov,
(j}Ko86fj.T]<rev
avrbv ycwpyocs,
auroO
XajS6vres ol
avrov
airto-reiKev roi)r 5oi5-
yewpyovs Kal
avrov.
KapTTobs
dov\ov$
TOI)J
yeupyol
jjikv
&t>
roi)s
Trpd?
TOI)S
\aftelv
Kal aire-
&re dt tfyytaev 6 Kaipbs
.
T&V Kapir&v, Xous
Kal
gSeipav,
&v 8
airt-
ira\iv
.
another
when
the
drew near, he sent his servants to the husbandmen, to receive his fruits. And the husband
men
took his servants,
and
one, T<av
irp&TWv, Kal
axrai^TCOj.
irpfo
ttrolrjcrav
avrois
8
vffrepov
EvrpairriffovTat
ok yewpyol
eavrois
i
rbv
vl6v
first
fj.ov.
05r6s tffTw
b K\rjpov6fji.os
Sevre airoKTeivw/Jiev avrbv Kal /j.ev
TT]v
K\f)povofJilav
Xa^vrej avrbv dfJ.TT\(ovos
odv rt
Kal
airo\<ret.
S.P.
o"x<3-
avrov
%fia\ov
Kal
^w
air^KTCivav.
\Qri b Kvpios
TOV
orav
like
beat
more than the and they did unto them in manner. But afterward he servants
:
sent unto them his son, saying, They will reverence my son.
But saw
husbandmen, when they among them selves, This is the heir ; come, let us kill him, and take his the
the son, said
inheritance.
TOV
and
another, and Again, he sent
And they took
him,
/ca/ccos
him forth out of the vineyard, and killed him. When
avrovs, Kal TOV d/x7reXcDva
therefore the lord of the vineyard
7ronJ<rei
\yov(riv
ol
56vres rbv vlbv elirov ev
killed
stoned another. other
avrovs rbv vibv avrov
And country. season of the fruits
into
and
TO?S yewpyots
avrtf
Ka/coi)s
cast
PARABLES OF THE KINGDOM
ii4
already referred. There the owner works his own here he is an absentee proprietor, and does vineyard ;
AXXots yewpyou, o lrives
ex5t6<rerai
avr$
roi)s Kapirobs tv
rois /ccupots avruv,
X^yei avrols o
airoftuffovffiv
Ovdtirore dveyvwre
KlQov bv
v rats
direSoKtfJLaa a.i oi oi/coSo-
/J.OVl>T$
o6ros
^yevrjdi}
ets
Ke<f>a\r)i>
ywvlaf
h
what will he do unto
husbandmen
unto
him,
He
?
They say
will
miserably
destroy those miserable men, and will let out the vineyard unto
husbandmen, which shall
other
render him the fruits in their seasons. Jesus saith unto them, Did ye never read in the scrip tures,
irapa Kvplov gytvero avrr}, Kal ZITTIV davjj.affT T)
shall come,
those
The
6<pda\-
stone which the builders
rejected, dta TOVTO
d0 /cat
i)
f3a<TL\ela
5o#77<reTcu
Wvzi
Kal
Kapirovs avTTJs.
TOV \idov rovrov
&v
tfi dv 5
Kai
d/coi/o ai
rov
TTOLOVVTI
\iKfJ.Ti(rei
And
e?ri
avrbv.
TrapajSoXas
avrov
avruv \tyei.
the he
:
This was from the Lord, it is marvellous in our
TOI)S
6 Trea wj
Tes oi dp^tepets Kal oi
6 rt Trept
of the corner
0eov
eyes ?
ffvv6\a<rdrj<reTCU
Tr^a-rj
rets
Jtaptcratbt
Zyvuaav
The same was made
v/juv art
\yn)
v/j.&v
Therefore
say
I
unto
you,
The kingdom of God shall be taken away from you, and shall be given to a nation bring ing forth the fruits thereof. A nd
he that fall eth on this stone shall
broken
be
whomsoever scatter
him
to
pieces
:
but
on
shall fall, it will as dust. And when it
the chief priests and the Phari sees heard his parables, they
perceived that he spake of them. ST. "Hp^aro J
5e Trpos TOJ/ Xaov X^-yeii/
irapa(3o\Tjv ravTtjv
avrbv
LUKE. xx.
yewpyois,
"Avdpuiros
Kal
Kal Xpbvovs LKavovs. ffTi\ev Trpos roi)s yewpyovs iVa OTTO TOU Kapirov TOV d/j.Tre\wvos
9-18. he began to speak unto
And
the people this parable : A man planted a vineyard, and let it out to husbandmen, and went into another country for a long
And at the season he sent unto the husbandmen a servant,
time.
HOUSEHOLDER AND HUSBANDMEN
115
not even come in person to demand his rent in kind, but sends his slaves, and eventually his son. His own o yeoipyo afobv deipavTes Kev6v. Kal Trpoatdero frepov Trtfj.\(/ai dov\ov T(p
KCLKCIVOV delpavTes Kal cm/id-
5
oi
ffavTes
Kcvdv.
%air<TTti\a.v
ol 3
Trpoo-6eTo rplrov Tr^u^at.
TOVTOV eiTrev
T
3
TpavpaTiffavTcs 6 Kvpios TOV
iroiriffb)
;
f<rws
Z56vres
ir^ffovTai.
Kal
e&fiaXov. d/x7reXu>j
Trfyi^w TOV
TOV dyairi)T&V
Kal
vlbv
p.ov
TOVTOV tvTpa5^ avTov ol
yewpyol die\oyiovTO Trpbs a\\ir)\ovs 6 ko"riv K\r)po\4yovTfs OCros
that they should give him of the fruit of the vineyard : but the husbandmen beat him, and sent
rl oftv woi /iffei
dtr^KTeivav.
6 Kijptos TOV afJ.Tre\&vo$
Kal
TOV
d&ffet
a.Kotiffai>Tes
S
&\\ots.
dfJiweXuva elirav
6 8t ^/i^SX^^as ai/rots
Mrj ytvotTo. elireit TL o$v
tvrlv TO yeypa/nfM^vov TOVTO
Aldov ov
direSoKi/J-affav ol oiKoSo-
and him also they wounded, and him forth. And the lord of the vineyard said, What shall I I will send
do
?
it
may
be
jras 6
els
tyevrjQ-ri
irevuv
C TT
ffvvd\affd f)ffT(n
K(pa\T)i>
iKeivov rbv \idov
ov 5
my beloved son
:
they will reverence
But when
the
men saw him,
they
inheritance
may
husband
reasoned one with another, saying, This is the heir : let us kill him, that
And
be
ours.
him forth out of the vineyard, and killed him. What therefore will the lord of they cast
do unto them ? come and destroy these husbandmen, and will give the the
He
vineyard
will
vineyard oCros
him him
cast
the
,
Kal aTro\^crfL TOI)S yebipyovs TOIJTOVS,
he sent
shamefully, and sent him away empty. And he sent yet a third :
him. /Sa\6cTes avrov ^|w rou
And
him away empty.
yet another servant : and also they beat, and handled
unto
others.
And
when they heard it, they said, God forbid. But he looked upon them, and said, What then is this that is written,
<f>
The stone which
the builders
rejected,
The
same
was
made
the
head of the corner ? Every one that falleth on that stone shall be broken to pieces ; but on whomsoever it shall fall, it
will scatter
him
as dust.
PARABLES OF THE KINGDOM
n6 coming to
reserved for the ultimate step which has
is
be taken,
re-letting the farm.
becomes
It
parable proceeds that Christ holder
clear as the present
means by the house
His
oiKoSe&TroTris)
(6
murderers and
that of ejecting the
Father.
Heavenly
What then was the analogy between the relation of God at this time to the Jewish people and that of an absentee landlord to those who farmed his vineyard ? What is this absence, this aTro^yuta, of God ? I have no doubt that existed
actually
represents the distance which
it
between the
and the God them to be the
Israel
of Israel, a distance
to
result of His
own withdrawal from Him
;
with their lips
Troppw aire-^ei air of
;
This people honour eth
;
but their heart is far 1
e/uLov.
from me
So that while the Parable
in his real relation to
in the
due to their
in truth
Owner
the Labourers shews the Divine
Vineyard
which seemed
what the Lord elsewhere
describes in the words of Isaiah
me
of
withdrawal into the
was
furthest heaven, but which
leaders
religious
it,
of the prophets to call
rising
men
of
the
up early as it, and all
into
days through the long day interesting Himself the Parable of the Husbandmen shews
in
His work,
Him
He appeared to those whose hearts were far from Him they mistook their own departure from Him for a as
;
departure on /a),
His side from them
which was 1
Is.
xxix. 13
really theirs, ;
Mt. xv. 8
;
Me.
;
the
seemed vii. 6.
absence to
them
HOUSEHOLDER AND HUSBANDMEN to be His
;
they thought
Him
far off
117
from them be
cause they were in fact far off from Him. Yet even they must recognize that He had not forgotten them ;
that
He had
sent His servants to them, and
the last His Son and Heir, to claim from
now
at
them His due.
No
one who heard the parable could fail to under stand our Lord s reference to Himself as the Beloved
That He should have spoken of Himself in these terms, and that in the presence of the members
Son.
of the
Sanhedrin and the people of Jerusalem
startling
fact.
We
remember
given to the disciples, not far
the
short
from the end
Galilean ministry, that they should not
known
is
a
charge of the
make Him
But now He makes Himself
as the Christ.
known, before His enemies, and in the most public and sacred of all places. The time had come for the open proclamation of His Messiahship, now on the eve of His death. The Voice which in the Baptism proclaimed Him the Beloved Son must now be made
They were about to they did so it must be with
to reach the very Sanhedrin.
condemn Him, and
if
the responsibility of full knowledge. The Lord knew that they would accept the re sponsibility, and what the consequences would be to
themselves
come
and
their
at last in person
;
children.
The
Owner
will
there will be a terrible visita
tion of the Divine Vengeance husbandmen. This had been
:
He even
will destroy
more
the
plainly
PARABLES OF THE KINGDOM
n8
expressed in the Parable of the Marriage Feast, when the murderers are not only destroyed but their city is burnt. 1 But the Parable of the Husbandmen has
a feature of
more
own which touched the hearers even He will give the vineyard to others. the fenced protected life of God s own
its
closely
:
The vineyard,
from Jewish to Gentile hands. It was this prospect which called forth the fervent /my yevoiro, God forbid, of that intensely Jewish Yet it came to pass, as we know, and a audience. is
possession,
new
Israel
holds It
it
to pass
was put
in possession of the
Vineyard and
still.
must not be thought, however, that
this parable
has no message except for the Jews. No people, no nation or Church, has any permanent right to the Vineyard of God. It is in possession of the Vineyard for only so long a period as
When
the Owner.
s
It is
be done the Vine
husbandmen.
dealings with nations
be seen in operation history.
renders the fruits to
this ceases to
will pass to other
yard law of God
it
all
This inexorable
and Churches can
along the course of Christian
natural for each Church, each people,
to think itself the solitary exception for instance, conceive of
and the Church.
come
;
it
will
be
Yet if
so
it
may
the Church
function of rendering to 1
;
we
cannot,
England without the Gospel
God
Mt.
be, in generations to
fails to fulfil
her proper
the fruits of the Spirit.
xxii. 7.
THE LAST MATTHEAN GROUP The Kingdom
Heaven
of
creates responsibilities
does not only bestow blessings so are also
its
ONE more follows
xxiv.
last time,
demands.
great group of parables in St.
of the
He had
Temple, which
his four senior Apostles,
James, and John, came to Tell us,
gifts are great,
if its
;
and
Matthew
upon the Apocalyptic discourse of chapter As the Lord sat on the Mount of Olives in
view
full
119
when
Him
left for
Peter,
the
Andrew,
with the question,
shall these things [the fall of the
Temple, which He had just spoken] be ? and what is the sign of thy coming and of the consummation of the of
age
?
1
The
three
introduce
Synoptists
here
an
eschatological instruction of great length, which in St.
Mark and
St.
Luke
is
the history of the Passion. this discourse
immediately followed by St.
Matthew
and before the narrative
the parables of the
places after
of the Passion
Ten Virgins and the
Talents,
and
the description, almost a parable in form, of the Last
This group stands alone as containing the only purely eschatological parables in the Gospels. They take us almost wholly away from the present.
Judgement.
The
the wholly concerned with the future first and second though they rise out of the present This key find their centre of interest in the future.
note
third
is
is
;
struck 1
when
Mt. xxiv.
3
the ;
Me.
first xiii.
3
parable begins, ;
Lc. xxi.
7.
not
PARABLES OF THE KINGDOM
120 1
The Kingdom of Heaven is like (6/uLola carriv or but Then shall the Kingdom of Heaven be
a)/j.oia>6rj)
likened
,
(rare
6juLoiu>Or}(reTai)
t
that
;
this
is,
is
a
similitude the full significance of which will not be
understood
the Parousia,
till
been made
to
which reference had
the preceding discourse,
in
has been
realized.
7.
Tore Aeia
ofjLOL(i)6r)arTai
TU)V
rj
of heaven be likened unto ten virgins, which took their
aiVives
lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom. And
avrwv
a/,7Taas
five of /cat
7Ti/T
ou
(f>p6vifJLOi
yap
ra?
lavTtuj/ cAaiov*
cAa/?ov lAatov
rots ayyei ot? eavrwi/.
TOV
Now
while
ISov
o
their the
slept.
is
a
But
bridegroom ! meet him.
ai
TOT
their lamps.
ras ai
8e
etTrav
Aa/X7ra8as [juopal
Aore
rai<s
T^/AIV
K
midnight Behold the
Come
virgins arose,
7rap$i/oi
slumbered
at
cry,
to
lamps.
bridegroom,
all
they
tarried,
there
rrjcriv.
the
they took their
with
vessels
and ytyovev
For
wise.
when
lamps, took no oil with them : but the wise took oil in their
Aa/ATraStov Se
them were foolish, and
were
five
foolish,
at Se <i/
kingdom
/^e
fiaa-i-
ovpavdv
?evots,
ras
THE PARABLE OF THE VIRGINS
ye forth
Then all those and trimmed
And the foolish
said unto the wise, Give us of your oil ; for our lamps are
going
out.
But
the
wise
THE PARABLE OF THE VIRGINS on
cAatov
rov
at
Se
r^jilv
Kat
caimxts.
dyopd<ra.r
V\
o
*
)
0vpa. va-repov
/cat
AoiTrat
at
Kv/)te
yovo-at
O
8e
rrjv
feast
marriage
was
shut.
come
also
the
But he Lord, open to us. answered and said, Verily I say unto you, I know you not.
17TV oiSa
rrjv
the
to
the door
Ac-
avot,ov
OVK
otSarc
him and
other virgins, saying, Lord,
8t a7TO/C/)l^tS vfj.lv,
:
ep^ovrai
irapOkvoi
Tprjyoptire
OVK
with
avrov
Afterward
Kvpic,
Aeya)
they that were ready went in
at
/cat
cis TOT;S ya/xovs, fj
p
eia-ffXdov
croifjioi
/
/cat
sell,
And
yourselves.
away to buy, bridegroom came ; and
the
ayopacrai
ww<iios
be
go
:
while they went
a7T/>
y
auTtuv
o
and buy for
TOVS TTtoAoiWaS
7T/OOS
/
dp-
/AT)
not
enough for us and you ye rather to them that
iroptveo dc
vjj.iv
Perad-
answered, saying, venture there will
cf>povip.oi.
Acyowat M^TTore ov
/cat
at
o-ftevvvvrcu.
Aa/i7raSes
121
Watch therefore, for ye know not the day nor the hour.
on
ovv,
ypepav ovSe
St.
Matthew xxv.
1-13.
&pav.
AGAIN, as in the parable of the Marriage
the
of
King s Son, we find ourselves in a nuptial scene. But here it is not to the banquet or the guests that attention
is
turned, but to a procession of maidens
which meets the bridegroom and enters the banquetThe male friends of the bride ing-hall with him.
groom title
are mentioned in St.
the
John 1
2
the friend
oi viol
Jo
19)
(ii.
1 ;
rov fu/t0wi
iii.
29.
6
of the os,
(f>l\os
the TOV
bridegroom
Trapavv/j.(pioL vvp.(f>lov.
of
2 ;
under the
one who was
attendance on the bridegroom
specially in St.
Mark
sons of the bride-chamber
is
called
and
it
Greek writers.
by was
PARABLES OF THE KINGDOM
122
who formed the bodyguard of the bridegroom. seems surprising to find a body of maidens, who were naturally the companions of the bride, attaching these It
themselves
the
to
bridegroom
s
The
procession.
bridegroom, however, went forth to the bride s house to claim and receive her, and it would be on his way
from the bride
s
house, after she was in the company,
Hence
that the maidens would join the procession.
the addition to the
by some Western 2
original
parable,
only,
authorities, even is
doubtless
the bride,
if
made
not part of the
true
to
fact
:
the
meet not the bridegroom and his but the bridegroom and the bride,
maidens went friends
and
first verse,
1
to
and to accompany both to the bridegroom s house where the banquet was to follow. The procession took place at night, and the maidens were therefore provided with torches. Aa/xTra? may 3 undoubtedly in late colloquial Greek mean a lamp, *
but
it is
possible to keep to the usual
meaning here by
the word a torch fed from a small
understanding by round the flame which
socket
either case the supply slightest foresight
of oil
contained
oil.
In
was so small that the
would have suggested the carrying oil can, from which
of an ayyefoi/, a portable small 1
i.
v.
sponso *
Of
8
Cf
.
et
-f/ou
rrjs
v6/juf>i)s
DX*i*alSyr sin -P
sh
armvg
(obviam
sponsae).
this I
am
Judith
myself by no means sure.
x. 22.
irpodyovffat. avrov.
trj\6ev
[
OXoftpvys]
Kal
\a/A7rd5ej
apyvpai
THE PARABLE OF THE VIRGINS the light could be fed.
But young maidens are not their forethought, and among
always remarkable for these ten (a round number) half were
and only
less,
about them.
half It
more than once
made
is
in
123
(ppovi/uioi,
thought
jmcopai,
wise, with
their wits
worth while to remember that the Gospels
to be
is
(frpovifjios
the criterion of fitness for the service of God.
The man who hears
Christ s sayings
and does them
is
likened to a wise man, avSpl (ppovi/Lup* the servants of Christ are to be wise as serpents, w? ol (ppovijmoi 2
wise,
ocfrei?,
(fipdvifjLoi,
as well as trustworthy,
and He complained that The sons of their
own
Trio-rot
world are for
this
generation wiser than the sons of the
(ppovi/mwrepot
virep
TOV$ viovs TOV
3 ;
(pcDros*
light,
It
was
thoughtlessness which cost these maidens their place at the marriage banquet, but a thoughtlessness which lasted
till
the very end
delayed, there
was
still
for while the
;
abundance
rectified the original mistake.
of the
effort
When
the hard fact
approaching failure of the lamps
recalled
them
then
to their senses,
made
it
bridegroom have
of time to
was too
(a-ftevvwrai)
late,
did not avail as an excuse.
and the There
certainly the appearance of churlishness in the
is
more thoughtful maidens to share their with the unfortunates prudent people are not
refusal of the oil
;
and the bridegroom who always very generous refuses to open the door and investigate the case of ;
1
Mt.
vii. 24.
2
Mt.
x. 16.
Mt. xxiv. 45.
Lc. xvi.
8.
PARABLES OF THE KINGDOM
124 the
may seem
excluded
These
over-stern.
perfections belong to the exigencies of the story
im and
when we come to interpret it. The Bridegroom of the parable without a doubt
disappear
represents our Lord in His relation to the Church.
When
the Pharisees complained
our Lord
Thy
disciples fast not,
answer was, As long as they have
s
the bride
1 groom with them, they cannot fast, plainly identifying
bridegroom. He is the King s Parable of the Marriage Feast, Himself, has made a nuptial feast at
Himself with
the
Son
in the
for
whom, God
the King,
heavenly state. Men are feast while they are on earth, and they
His house, that called to this fill
is,
in the
God by becoming members
the house of
of the
Church.
Still the banquet has not actually begun, and cannot begin till the Parousia. The Parousia is from this new point of view the coming of the Bride
groom
to fetch His Bride.
The Bride
of Christ
is
not mentioned in the Synoptic Gospels, for the time had not come when she could be identified but ;
2 and St. Johannine writings speak of her he does use not the word Paul, though vv/uupr], bride,
the
;
leaves us in no doubt as to the interpretation
bands, love the the
:
church
.
.
.
he
that
might present unto himself
church in glory? 1
Me.
Hus
your wives, according as Christ also loved
ii.
19.
*
Jo. 3
iii.
29
Eph.
;
Apoc. xxi.
v. 25, 27.
2
;
xxii. 17.
THE PARABLE OF THE VIRGINS But
if
the Bride
that go forth to
Let us turn for
believe that
are the maidens
meet the Bridegroom and the Bride ? a clue to an early Christian presenta
tion of the Parousia
we
who
the Church,
is
which we find
in
I
Thess.
iv.
14
//
:
Jesus died and rose again, so also will God
bring with Jesus those that fell asleep through
For
125
Lord himself
him
.
.
.
from heaven with a an with the voice shout, of archangel, and with the trumpet-blast of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise then we who are alive, who are left on earth, first the
shall descend
:
shall together with
them be caught up in
meet the Lord, into the Christian
early
Lord
s
parable.
the clouds, to
In several respects this
air.
conception answers closely to the The Lord brings with Him the great
majority of those who are His, all who up to the the moment of His coming have fallen asleep ;
generation which is yet Him at His coming. cnrdvTrjcnv
rou
be modelled on
the
Lord, to
groom,
?
e*V
viravrrjo-iv
TOV
on
The
the
KeXevo-yua,
phrase
Kvpiou,
might to
vv]u.(f)iov.
even
meet
meet
meet
the
the
seem bride
Even the mid
its
be the dead
and the maidens who go forth quick,
to
to
equivalent in the which will wake the dead. At
this rate, then, the Bride will
groom the
rises
words
night cry of the parable has shout,
earth
to
in Christ,
meet the Bride
as they are called in the creed
the last generation of the living Church. But as every generation while its time endures is the last,
PARABLES OF THE KINGDOM
126
we may see in the by all Christian :
Virgins each generation as souls
which are
still
it
passes
in this world.
have gone forth to have been sent forth from the they each with the lighted torch of faith and hope
All Christian souls in this world
meet the Lord font,
and
love,
comes.
which they must keep
In the old after
immediately priest
;
put
Sarum the
threefold
tuum,
et
serua
irreprehensibilem
mandata,
ut
nuptias, possis ei occurrere celesti
;
cum
almost
immersion,
an instant into the hand
for
the Lord
till
ritus baptizandi,
a lighted taper with the words
ardentem
alive
the
of the child
Accipe lampadem
:
custodi
uenerit
una cum
baptismum
Dominus ad
sanctis in aula
Receive a torch burning and irreproachable that
the
commandments, guard thy baptism, keep the Lord cometh to the wedding, thou mayest be able meet
Him
;
when to
together with the Saints in the heavenly home.
That symbolical action had obvious inconveniences its disuse by our Reformers, but it was
which led to
surely a valuable piece of realism, and as far as
went a true interpretation in the parable.
Life
is
of the
maidens
it
torches
for all baptized Christians
a going forth through the darkness with a torch lit by God the Holy Spirit at the font, and with a definite
meet the Bridegroom, to join His great procession, and enter with it His Father s It is this House, where there are many mansions. goal,
which
lighted torch
is
to
and
this definite
end which distinguishes
THE PARABLE OF THE VIRGINS the
from
of a Christian
life
lives
127
which are not
dis
tinctively Christian, or definitely non-Christian.
Thus the parable
refers to the baptized only
who maintain
those of the baptized
and
their Christian
But even among these there
profession to the end.
a vital difference as the parable proceeds to shew.
is
The Bridegroom was long in coming (xjooy/^oi/ro? 1 ). At least the time seemed long, because of the darkness and the monotony He was not perhaps really
of the night,
dark.
of waiting in the
But
after time. 2
broader outlook of the parable the sense of delay may be taken to refer to the whole tendency of human nature to treat the last things as infinitely in the
remote.
more our
Children,
of death
own
it is
said,
than the old
age, so far
;
think or at least speak and it is certain that
advanced
in the
world
s life,
is
be eschatological than was the the end, if there is to be one, as
far less disposed to
We
first.
put
far as possible
groom
off
we say
;
tarrieth
is
who nod over
their
1
Cf. Mt. xxiv. 48
2
Cf.
xp ov %ct
:
Heb. x. 37 also The Lord is not :
6
*
The
bride
Meanwhile
grow drowsy like work (evvcrral^ov) and even to
,
not represented as in any
is
peculiar to the thoughtless
way
;
the Lord says
to
A101 o *
epx^evos
slack ... as
ijei
/ecu
ov
xP ov iffC
^
an<
some men count slackness
document, written when the hope imminent Advent had been abandoned (2 Pet. iii. 9).
in 2 Peter, a second century
of an
vv/uL<pio$.
tempted
This
to sleep outright.
our hearts 6
xpovRfcet
at times the Church
people
in
PARABLES OF THE KINGDOM
128 all,
is
Watch, be wakeful, yprjyopelre^iQr He knows what man and expects slumber. The most vigilant
in
life
is
His sight broken by intervals of spiritual as one who is on guard starts up again
in
drowsiness
and
;
again, finding himself
efforts, so
At midnight groom cometh.
had
overcome
all
are roused
by the
cry,
or at cock-crowing, or at early
age when He
2
dawn
must not be taken here
Lord
lord of the house
the
cometh, whether late in the evening, or
night
The Bride
In the preceding discourse the
Ye know not when
said,
in spite of his
with even the best of Christians.
it is
as
:
at
midnight,
so that
referring
mid
to the
particular come, but only as denot ing that the waiting had been long and that darkness still reigned. In the early Church there was a notion,
perhaps
will
partly founded on
these words,
that the
Coming would be at midnight on some dark and stormy Easter Eve, and the faithful used to spend the night before Easter in the churches, watching till the dawn came. But such realism is quite absent from
the Lord
s
when men
He
will
teaching
;
and the sense
are saying or thinking
not come
to-night,"
"it
the
is is
rather
just
too late now,
Coming
will
take
place.
At the cry torches.
In
rose at once
all
this
action
special preparation for 1
Me.
xiii. 37.
and trimmed
we recognize
easily
their
the
death and judgement which 2
Me.
xiii.
35.
THE PARABLE OF THE would
souls
all
recollection,
desire
prayer,
to
Holy
VIRGINS
129
make the selfCommunion without ;
which no well-instructed Christian would willingly But such pass into the immediate presence of God. preparation,
it
if
is
to be of
any
avail, implies that
the soul has lived in a state of grace
and above the grace the grace with which
;
that
it
has, over
Baptism and Confirmation, started on its course, that
of it
habitual indwelling of the Holy Spirit which able for the time of need
buy
to trim their
for themselves,
is
avail
the vessel as well
Those who have not
as in the torch.
more than
oil in
:
this,
need to do
they must go and
lamps and that at a moment when time ;
running short. We who have been parish priests have seen this only too often in actual life the rude is
:
awakening with which souls are roused at the last to find their light going out just when its full brightness is
most needed
the eager hurry with which they seek
;
to repair the neglects of the past years
the
into
broken
intervals
which
by crowding
sickness
allows
preparation that ought to have been continuous the terrible suspicion that after all they will hear the ;
voice
Too
We
late
have seen
!
too late
ye cannot enter now.
!
this in actual life
you
will see it in
days to come, when you are in charge of parishes. And the Lord seems to teach in this parable that
what takes place occasionally S.P.
I
in
our
own
experience
I
PARABLES OF THE KINGDOM
3o
will
occur on a great scale in the day of His last
appearing.
Exclusion from the joys of the Messianic Kingdom in this parable traced back to nothing worse than thoughtless folly. There lies the infinite pathos of
is
the scene.
Those who
and those who are shut
enter,
out, are alike friends of the Bride of the
world
s
worst vices
;
waiting for the Bridegroom alight
when His
cry
:
virgins, innocent
their torches are
heard.
is
:
to the last they have been still
They represent
re
ligious people, Church-people, people
who
found at the Altar, people who to the
last are sincere
in
their profession of the
are to be
Christian faith,
as
may
be seen from the pains they are at to prepare for death. The clergy are called to visit hundreds of persons whose case
is
far
worse
or openly hostile
:
;
their last breath, or
who are absolutely indifferent who defy God and Christ with at least make it evident that their
hopes and desires are bounded by the present life. These, if ever they went forth to meet the Bride their lamps, groom, have long since turned back But the virgins of the if ever lit, have gone out. parable are not such, and it is perhaps only at the last ;
that they discover themselves to be in danger of falling short of the great reward.
They have never
matter or taken any steps seriously thought about it, till thought, or at least action, has become of the
well
nigh impossible.
Failures in the_ religious
life
THE PARABLE OF THE TALENTS
131
are perhapsjtnpst frequently .ttogtowant of thpughjj too late it is not realized till that want of thought in the things of the
want
Kingdom
of
God means
a culpable
of thoroughness, of personal religion, of readiness
for the purely spiritual
The conditions
life
of the world to come.
our modern Christianity lend them selves with great ease to such thoughtlessness, and of
therefore invite special attention to this very far-
reaching parable.
From
Ten Virgins
the
St.
Matthew goes on without
break or preface to the Talents, which must therefore be taken to be another parable of the Kingdom.
THE PARABLE OF THE TALENTS
8.
TOVS
KaA.e<rv
SovXovs KOL irapfStoKev TO,
KCU
$
vTrdpxovra avrov,
Svo-
cv^cws
TO, irevre
ra.Xa.vra.
aXXa
ra Svo o
d.7r\6<ov
8
irkvre
fKcpSrjcrtv
TO
<5/ov^i/
ev
as when a man,
own
called his
servants,
and
delivered unto them his goods.
And
unto one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one
;
to
each according
his several ability; and he went on his journey.
to
Straightway he that received the five talents went and
aXXa
traded with them, and
Xa/3a>v
-yr\v
it is
going into another country,
wcrav-
KOLI rjpydcraro kv avrois
Kfp8-rja-ev
T(os 6
>,
rrjv i8tav 8vva-
aTreSri/A^o-ev.
6 A,a/3a>i>
Sc <J
Kara /cat
8vo
<5e
(J
TTCVTC
eSo>Kv
fiev
ra.Xa.vr a
For
avO pwTros
yap
Kal
In
made like
other five
talents.
manner he
also that received
*
-
PARABLES OF THE KINGDOM
132
TO
Kpv{//V
TOV
dpyvpiov
//je ^z;o
But
gained other two.
TTO\VV
he that received the one went
\povov ep^erat 6 Kvpws TWV
away and digged in the earth, and hid his lord s money.
Kvpiov avrov.
8ov\(av
Aoyov
/Aera
KOI o-vva.ipL
Kiv<j)v
avrwv.
/ACT
6
8<
*ai
7TVT
T<i
TT/JOCT-
TaAai/Ttt
aAAa
7rpoo-rjVyKV TaAaVTtt Acy
i>
7T6l>T
7TVT TaXavra
aAAa
tSe
Kat
curry
n-i
TTtffTe,
oAtya
TroAAwi/
7rt
d
SouAe
Ev,
TTWTTOS,
raAavra
And
ere
Kara-
/cat
6
(TOV.
7r/DO<TA0tl)l/
ra 8vo raAai/ra
e?7rcv
Kv/3te, 8uo TaAavra /xot Trape8o)Kas* tSe aAAa Suo raAavra
Kp8rycra.
6<^>ry
CLVTOV
Eu,
7Tt(TT,
CTTt
7Tt
avry
SovAe
aya$
oAiya ^S
7TOAA(OV
6 Kvpios /cat
TTtCTTOS,
me
/
Kvpiov crov. jrpoo~eX.6(i)V Kal 6 r5 ei/ raAavTOV ?7TV
<^o^Tf]di<i
TaXavTov ?Xi5 TO
faithful servant
:
thou hast
a few faithful I will thee set over things, been
over
many
thou
enter
:
things
And
into the joy of thy lord.
he also that received the two talents
came and
said, Lord,
:
lo,
me
two
have gained
I
His lord
other two talents.
Well done, ;
thou hast been faithful over
Stea/co/DTrtcras*
eV
0*0^.
Krios avrou
di
a few
Kai
direX.6a)v CKpv\j/a
crov
lo,
good and faithful servant
CT7rct/Das
ycov o^i/ ov
:
Well done, good and
said unto him,
av
OTTOV OVK
6
Se
Kvpie, fT
talents
five
thou deliveredst unto
CT
and
I have gained other five ta lents. His lord said unto
talents
o~K\r)po<5
came
brought other five talents, say ing, Lord, thou deliveredst
him, TOU KVplOV
he that received
talents
five
unto ijs
a long time the
and maketh a reckoning with the
Trevre
after
lord of those servants cometh,
them.
/xoi
f<>i]
avrou
Now
T-Q
yy
Kat
TO i8t
over
I will
things,
many
things
set. :
thee
enter
thou into the joy of thy lord.
And
had received came and said,
he also that
the one talent
Lord, 1
knew
thee that thou
THE PARABLE OF THE TALENTS SovA
on
ySeis
KCU OTTOV
6epi(a
(nripa KOL crvi/ayw oOev e Sei
TO,
pyvpid aV
apart ov*
TOKOJ.
TO
TO
TaAavTOV
OVK ov
o~e
ovv
fiov
rots
air*
Kttt
TO>
SovXov TO CTKOTOS TO 6
and
and Thou wicked
lord answered
slothful
servant,
thou
knewest that I reap where 1 sowed not, and gather where
O
I
avrov.
and I was : and went away and
scatter
But his
TravTt
)(OVTOS
not
afraid,
said unto him,
SOT
Ta SeKa TaAa^Ta*
art a hard man, reaping where thou didst not sow, and gathering where thou didst
hid thy talent in the earth : thou hast thine own. lo,
eyxov OTT*
/cat
133
Kail
K/2aAeT
!djT/OOV KAav^xos Kut 6
rov eis
Kl
did
not
scatter ;
ought est therefore to
thou
have put
my money to the bankers, and at my coming I should have mine own with Take ye away
received back interest.
therefore the talent
and
give
hath
the
it
ten
from him, unto him that talents.
For
unto every one that hath shall be given, and he shall have
abundance
:
but
from him
that hath not, even that which he hath shall be taken away.
And
cast ye out the unprofit
able
servant
into
the
outer
darkness: there shall be the
weeping and gnashing of teeth. St. Matthew xxv. 14-30.
Like the Marriage of the King s Son, this parable has its double in St. Luke, the Parable of the Pounds ;
PARABLES OF THE KINGDOM
34
and the
between them
likeness
even closer than
is
that between the Marriage of the King
Great
whatever
there
Nevertheless
Supper.
for treating
them
as
s
Son, and the
no
is
ground
two versions or recen
sions of a single parable spoken
by Christ
to
;
do so
should not our Lord have
wholly arbitrary, for why used the same general conception twice, modifying it only so far as might be necessary to suit the circum
is
stances
Let us read the second parable.
?
THE PARABLE OF THE POUNDS
9.
avrwy ravra
Se
CITTCV irapafioXrjV 810.
eo/cu
as they heard these he added and spake a things, he was nigh because parable, to
/AAa rov Qeov ouv
Jerusalem,
they supposed
f)
dom
ai>a<cuvr#
of
God was immediately
v
TIS
Av#/HD7ros cts
^u>pav
vru)
/?acriA.iai>
SovXovs eavrov
avrov<$
e SwKev
Kal
[MVaS
Ot
B
7T/30S
cv <p
TroAirai avrov
/x,t(rovv OLVTOV, Ko.1
Trpcvfieiav
Kat
avrols
tlTTtV
7rpa"Yfj.arcvcraa-Oa.L
e/o^o/xat.
yovres
/AaK/oav
KaAecras Sc Se/ca
v7ro(TTpe\f/ai.
SeKtt
tvyevrjs
O7rra>
aTreaTetAav
avrov
Or OkXo^v ^>
TO>
i^/ias.
Ae-
rovrov
Kai
to
He
appear.
fore,
and because that the king
A
said there
certain
nobleman
went into a far country, to receive for himself a kingdom,
and to return.
And he called
ten servants of his, them ten pounds,
unto them, with
till
Trade ye here
I come.
citizens hated him,
an
ambassage
saying,
man
We
and gave and said But and
after
his sent
him,
will not that this
reign over us.
And
it
THE PARABLE OF THE POUNDS \af36vTa. rrjv
Kat
/3a<rtAetav
avrw
CITTCV <f>wr]0rjva.i
TOVS
SovAovS
u/a yvol Trapc-
Ste7r/QayjuaTv<rayTO.
6
Se
^
O?
TOUTOVS
SeSioKa rb dpyvpiov, TI
again, having received the kingdom, that he
commanded unto
whom
Aeywv
money,
^iva O-QV Se/ca
TT/OOGT-
that he
Kat
etTrev
77/oydVaTO
TT/JWTOS
/xyas.
135
aya0e SovAe, ort
these
servants,
he had given the
to be called to him, might know what they
had gained by trading. And the first came before him, saying, Lord, thy pound hath made ten pounds more. And
he said unto him, Well done, thou good servant : because thou wast found faithful in
Kat
TOVTW 7TVT
7ravw
<ri)
TToAcWl/.
Ktti
6
a
very
have
little,
authority
over
ten
thou cities.
And the Thy
/xva
t8oi>
second came, saying, pound, Lord, hath made
pounds. And he said unto him also, Be thou also
five
yap
And another
over five cities.
TTO?
came, saying, Lord, behold, .
avrw EK TOU
Aeyet
crov Kpivut
on
*
jjiSets
Trjpos
ere,
Trov^pe
cyw
t/xt,
ai/-
a.Lp<av
o
OVK WT^KO. Kat Oepifov o OVK eor7rct/3a ; Kat Sta TI OVK
<5eoKas
/zov
rb dpyvpiov
Kayw
eA^wi/
f7rpaa.
<rvv
CTTI
rpaTre^av
;
TOK^J av avrb
Kat rots Tra/oeo-Takrtv
A/oar e aV avrov T^V Kat Sore T^5 ras 8e C
XOVTI.
tat ewrav au
here is thy pound, which I kept laid up in a napkin :
for I feared thee, because thou art an austere man :
thou
takest
up
that
thou
layedst not down, and reapest He that thou didst not sow. saith unto him,
own mouth
Out of thine
will I judge thee,
thou wicked servant.
Thou
am an
austere
knewest that I
man, taking up
that I laid
PARABLES OF THE KINGDOM
136
Kv/cne, e ^ei
OTl
VfJLlV
SeKa
Aeyco
TTttVTt
T<
arrb
OVS
TOVS TOVS
TOU
Se
gavest thou not my money into the bank, and I at my
o e^et
/cat
\6povs
//,>)
fjiov
rov-
^A^cravras
/xe
avrovs ayayere wSe KCU KaTaa-<^a^aT avrovs
l3a.<rL\evcrai
cfMTrpocrOtv
ravra
ITT
Kat
/xov.
eTropei cro
dva/JcuVcov
wo^ down, and reaping that I did not sow ; then wherefore
CITTWV
fJLTTpo(r6ev
coming should have required with
it
interest ?
And
he
said unto them that stood by,
Take away from him pound, and give that
hath
the
it
ten
the
unto him
pounds.
And
they said unto him, Lord, he hath ten pounds. 1 say unto you, that unto
i
every one that hath shall be
given ; but from him that hath not, even that which he
hath
shall
be
taken
away these from mine enemies, which would Howbeit
him.
not that 1 should reign over
them, bring hither,
and slay
them before me.
And when
he
had thus
spoken, he went on before,
going up St.
to
Jerusalem. xix. 11-28.
Luke
THE
Parable of the Pounds was spoken on the way to Jerusalem, in fact near Jericho, and we are told by St.
Luke what
It was spoken and because they Jerusalem, Kingdom of God was immediately
its
because he was nigh
supposed that to
appear
;
the
its
purpose was. to
aim was, that
is,
to discourage the
THE POUNDS (THE TALENTS)
137
expectation of an immediate Messianic reign, to push it still distant future to the Return or Parousia, before which there was much that must happen.
on to a
The nobleman
in this
Lucan story
about to take
is
journey into a distant country for the special
his
purpose of claiming, as Archelaus did from Augustus, title of king. But he is followed by ambassadors
the
who
protest against his claim, and refuse to accept
him
as their king.
on
However he
his return, in the true spirit of
his first act
is
Of
kingdom.
Matthew
successful,
and
an oriental prince,
men who had
to destroy the
his right to the
is
there
all this
disputed is not a
Parable of the Talents, which fixes our attention solely on the servants and their trace in St.
fulfilment
purpose
the
of
is
not,
s
trust
like the
committed
them.
to
Its
Parable of the Pounds, to
Kingdom was
dispel the notion that the Messianic
about to appear immediately, and that the Parousia at hand, but simply the practical aim of putting
was
before
all disciples of
Christ the necessity for a strenu
ous fulfilment of their responsibilities. differences in detail are
In the
manipulation.
Luke
is
whereas in
only
St.
not far from property,
numerous and considerable,
than can possibly have been due to editorial
far greater
St.
Besides, the
TO.
first
place the
in all ten minas,
Matthew
it is
money
let
left
us say
in
40
;
eight talents, let us say
2000, in fact the
VTrap^ovTa avrov.
man
s
whole available
Then
in
St.
Luke
PARABLES OF THE KINGDOM
138
the
money
a single mina five or
two
equally divided, each slave receiving
is
;
whereas
Lastly, the rate of increase St.
Matthew, they receive
in St.
talents or one, according to their ability.
and another
five,
quite different, for in
is
Luke one servant makes
pound ten pounds, Matthew each exactly
of his
whereas in
St.
doubles what he has received.
Evidently service
is
regarded in the two parables from distinct points of the one is intended to shew what different
view
:
results
same
can be produced by men who start with the advantages, and the other how men s
initial
opportunities of service are their
made
power very marked feature which
to correspond to
however, one common to the two
There
them.
of using
is
is,
stories, namely, the folly of the slothful servant,
in
both deliberately
lets
his
lord s
money
lie
who idle
through a wrongheaded and unjust suspicion, and so incurs the penalty of having the deposit taken from
The repetition of this part of the story, almost word for word, must have made a deep impression on the Twelve, and doubtless was meant him
to
in the end.
have
this effect.
We may now
come
to St.
Matthew
s parable,
the
Parable of the Talents, and examine it in detail. As in the Parable of the Husbandmen, the master goes abroad (aTro^yueF) and stays there for months But the Master is here in the Pounds or years. quite
clearly,
and
here
with
practical
certainty
THE TALENTS (THE POUNDS)
139
the Son of Man, the Messiah
(Lc, xxiv. 44)
therefore the absence,
and
;
has reference, not
cnroSrj/uiia,
as in the former parable, to the Jewish nation, but to
His withdrawal, for centuries as it has proved, from the world of phenomena, into that unseen order, which however near us as it may the Church.
It
is
must always seem to us while we are here very He was even now, as He spoke, aTro^yuow, off. *
be,
far
setting out
on His journey
rection, the Ascension,
the Passion, the Resur
:
three stages were
its
taken within the next six weeks. going back to the Father
Himself in their position, the world
goes,
it
his
not, of course, his lands
loose
was a going away from
ra vTrdpxpvra. and hereditaments, but all property
cash and regular income of the estate.
Only three of the slaves are mentioned, but the entrusted to them are large
was put
in
charge of
received in trust a talent
is
was
and He puts
the Master calls his slaves, and
hands over to them
the
to be
itself.
He
Before
it
To Him
to them,
:
all
about
sum
;
he
240
;
sums
who
received least
he
who had most
The 1200. equivalent to minimum rather than the
here taken as the
mina, because the purpose of this parable is to shew the high estimate of the spiritual powers and gifts committed to them. It is no slight misfortune that,
through a perverse misinterpretation of this parable, talent and talents have come to mean in popular
I4
PARABLES OF THE KINGDOM
o
*
English
Such
singular natural gifts.
spond rather to the
gifts
corre
of the recipients
several ability
than to the talents entrusted to them by the departing
The
lord.
talents of the parable are (primarily at
not natural
least) spiritual to
come,
1
gifts, the
powers of the world
the gifts of the Holy Ghost, which the Spirit
of Christ distributes to every will.
But the
seem
to
distribution
is
man not,
severally as
though
it
He
may
but nicely proportioned to each man s power to use the gifts. There are in Christ s service men of very small mental capacity
on
whom
arbitrary,
be,
it
would be a waste
bestow high they
may
in
of spiritual
power
to
the greater ministries, though
gifts for
lower ranks of service do excellent work
In the Parable of according to their own measure. the Talents, where our Lord is speaking to the Twelve only, even the man with the least capacity receives
a whole talent, in
itself
a large sum, because
He
is
dealing here with those in office or in high position in the
Church
where
all
whereas in the Parable of the Pounds, receive the uniform and moderate trust of ;
a single mina, the rank and file of the Church are in view, the great majority of Christian men and women
who
are called to live uneventful lives,
whom
there
is little
discernible difference of capacity.
But even among those who hold or are distinguished
and between
office in
the Church
by unusual powers there are wide 1
Heb.
vi. 5.
THE TALENTS (THE POUNDS) differences, corresponding to the differences
trusts of five talents,
we
are
bound
two
talents,
141
between
one talent
;
due to accident, but to the wise disposition Spirit of Christ
who has
of the
discovered in each a natural
fitness for the use of the
measure
which he has imparted. 1 In two of the cases described
But the one
vindicated.
and
to believe that these differences are not
of spiritual gifts
this discretion
is
fully
talent fails entirely of
its
purpose, and this point requires our close attention. What does it mean r First, let us see
what
The man does not
occurs.
waste or embezzle the money, like the Unfaithful Steward. Nor is he altogether heedless of his trust ;
he realizes that he must give an account of it, and that it must be kept safe, and he does his best to keep it ;
large he buries it in the earth, as people often did with treasure 2 in the Pounds, where the sum is
if it is
;
It might small, he wraps it in a cloth for safety. even be said that he took more care of the money
entrusted to him than the other two had done, for
they speculated with theirs, while he kept his un touched. Only that was not the purpose for which it was given him. In the Pounds this is stated dis
he said unto them, Trade ye herewith
tinctly, that
I
come
eiirev 3 ;
1
Cf.
i
in
Cor.
irpos
avrov?
the Talents
xii.
i-n.
2
Mt.
Trpay/uLarevcracrOaL it
is
xiii.
implied, 3
44.
for
w
till
w
why
Lc. xix. 13.
PARABLES OF THE KINGDOM
142
otherwise were the servants given sums varying accord
Kara
their several ability
to
ing
Their attitude towards the
iSiav
rtjv
Svvafuv?
the Spirit was to
gift of
be active, and not passive only the law of the Kingdom of Heaven demands not simply the preserva ;
tion of
what we
This
seen in
is
receive
from God, but
its
increase.
the parables of vegetable growth
all
:
the seed must be committed to the ground, and die, and so bring forth some thirty-fold, some sixty-fold,
some a hundred-fold, but
every case a multiple So the one talent ought to be in
of the original.
creased to two, in charge of
it
his talent that
if
in
not more
must incur he
;
but to do
responsibility,
may make
duty
to Christ
he
;
is
man
and lay out
The
more.
it
use of opportunities or powers of our
this the
active
an essential part
who simply
keeps what he
has, really betrays his trust, as he will one
day
dis
cover to his sorrow and perhaps to his great surprise. In this
unhappy
result of a
for the
wasted
Church
life
there
is
a
but rather for the
timely warning Church of these latter days than for the Christians of the first century.
;
In the age of the Apostles, in
the age of persecution that followed, for a
man
Many,
of
0"7roi$j
was
difficult
threw their trust away, but few St. Paul indeed has the warning 1 oKvtjpol, In diligence be not slothful,
course,
perhaps buried Tfl
it
to keep his faith without strenuous effort.
/jLrj
it.
1
Rom.
xii.
n.
THE TALENTS (THE POUNDS)
143
but slothfulness must have been in most Christian
communities
a
comparatively rare fault. In our time, on the contrary, it is one of the commonest ;
nothing
is
than to
easier
which as
drift into a state of spiritual
were keeps its talent buried or wrapt away safely enough, but turns it to no present purpose. There is, it is true, a vast amount of re inactivity,
ligious zeal
and
another
what
is
and the two
irreligious,
work
?
it is
among
;
two
other
great, but
is
number
in this
yielding another five,
yielding
equally distributed
not
see the five
around us
the one yielding
of our time
a large
we can
life
man
talents of one of
it
all
but
;
The not,
meanwhile,
you consider
Christians
of Church-people
activity
religious if
who
;
are certainly
but who are taking no part whatever the Church. And when our Lord
of
*
likens inactive Christians to
the servant to
one talent was committed and who buried
He
it,
there are
whom it,
has
not put His finger upon the real causes of religious ? There is first the very mistaken notion that
sloth
activity in religious matters
have marked
spiritual
powers
is
;
only for those who that those who are
just ordinary Christians cannot aspire to do
more than
own
faith, without attempting to influence others or to take any part in Christian work. But,
retain their
as both the parables suggest, the certain
activity faith
;
is
end of
in
that such persons in the end lose their own that hath not for what we do not use
From him
PARABLES OF THE KINGDOM
144 is
even that which he hath (or
practically not ours
to have) shall be taken away. It is an inevitable law for the spiritual life which works itself out in many lives before our eyes, and may have yet graver But there is a second issues in the world to come.
seems
worse error which accounts for religious a wrong view of God and inactivity in some cases of Christ, as a hard and exacting taskmaster. Not
and
still
:
a few shrink from religious acts because they entail
and thus
responsibility, of the
account which they
really increase the
burden
have to render
to their
will
The most
familiar example is the extra which the men, especially but not only amongst our working classes, have of Holy Com munion. It is a commonplace among the parochial
Judge.
ordinary fear
clergy that, especially in villages, they cannot induce
the working not, will
men
to
communicate.
am
The reason is these same men
persuaded, indifference come, at great cost, to other services and to I
sermons.
;
But
their
minds
are
possessed
by
St.
by an unhappy translation of St. Paul s words, about the danger of unworthy communion, and they see behind the Sacrament of Paul
s
words, or rather
Love an angry God ready to condemn them if they go to His altar and afterwards fall away. God, Christ, is
to these a severe, ovcAj^oo?, a stern
man, avtrnjpoy
as some earthly masters they have avOpwTros, such known, only immeasurably more powerful and they ;
THE TALENTS (THE POUNDS) are afraid, and bury through a long
life
that one most
precious talent of theirs, the privilege of Holy
with
the
all
munion, which it contains.
This
which
tendency to
of
possibilities is
Com
spiritual
life
but one instance of the
but
I refer,
145
it is
a crucial one, and
one which we encounter on a large scale. The conception of God, even of Christ, as a severe, exacting, master ought, in strict logic, as the parables
but in practice shew, to make men the more diligent it has the It is love and not fear opposite effect. ;
that inspires
work
;
the happy reward, and not the
expectation of punishment. Of the rewards of the good and faithful servant
both parables speak. In the Pounds the Lord says Well done, thou good servant : because thou
to him,
wast found faithful in a very
little,
ey eXa^/o-rw,
have thou
authority over ten cities (or five according to his
In the Talents, Well done, good
done). servant
;
many
things
enter thou into the joy of thy lord.
you
latter
it
observe,
aspects, as
same
for
the reward
all
S.P.
is,
CTTL
TroXAwi/
:
In the former,
graduated, in the
we all,
;
the Vineyard, the two views representing different
saw, of eternal
life,
which
but must vary widely
to individual character
There
is
eirl
as in the Labourers in
is,
the same for
the
faithful
thou hast been faithful over a few things,
oAfya, / will set thee over
will
and
work
is
in itself
in fact according
and capacity.
however, one quite new feature K
in these
PARABLES OF THE KINGDOM
146
for they speak of the reward of eternal under the figure of a position of command or
parables, life
This belongs in part to the scenery of authority. the parable and varies accordingly the cities over ;
which authority
given in the Pounds are suggested which the Master is gone to receive,
is
by the Kingdom and the many things over which the in the Talents
larger trusts
faithful servants
are set are no doubt
drawn from the Master
But the two presentations have
in
s
more
talents,
unlimited wealth.
common
a principle
which belongs, we cannot doubt, to the innermost truth of things. office, of
bring
its
The
right use of
any powers, of any any opportunities which we have here, will reward
in increased,
extended, permanent
God is through powers, ministries, opportunities His servants use of these capacities preparing them :
for the far greater services of the future world.
To
give only two examples from the number of those Who can doubt that who have lately left us.
a
great
Christian
like
scientist
has before him in the ages to fields
of
investigation
and
Lord
Kelvin
1
come ever-growing
discovery
or
?
that
Howard bishop like George great Christian Wilkinson 1 will find there new and wider fields of
a
pastoral oversight
?
And
so
on
;
but
I
will
not
pursue the tempting but overbold course of following 1 Lord Kelvin had died on Dec. lyth, 1907, and Bishop Wilkinson of St. Andrews on Dec. loth, 1907, shortly before the
delivery of these lectures.
THE TALENTS (THE POUNDS) the greater servants of of
God
into their bliss.
more personal importance
to us
right use of the single mina, the very of
Christian
opportunity
to see
is
little,
to
brings
147
What is how the
eXd-^icrrov,
any ordinary
Christian worker the promise of a larger field of
work
congenial
the
in
too has his Well donel
Messianic
his evye,
Thyatira,
He
his
new
authority,
We may
epvaria, suited to his powers.
message to
and
He
Kingdom.
that
compare the overcometh, and he
my works unto the end, to him will I give It is a prospect which is authority over the nations* not limited to people of great natural or spiritual that keepeth
ability
;
and we try
in vain to see
how
it
to be
is
be that wonderful power which realized, simple goodness has, even here, to influence and control natures which are not to be moved by any other force. unless
The
full
power
seen and
felt in
There
is
it
of Christian holiness remains to be
another order.
one more point, a
parable, on which
I
in the
difficult point,
must say a word.
How
are
to understand the giving of the talent or mina,
we
which
had been taken from the unfaithful servant, to him who already had ten ? To the bystanders it seemed they exclaimed, he has ten minas : why add another ? But the Master s act was quite de
unfair
:
liberate,
Sir,
and he
justifies it in the
that hath shall be given 1
:
words To every one
the right use, that
Apoc.
ii.
26.
is,
of
what
PARABLES OF THE KINGDOM
148
we have not only
secures
an added measure but
of
continuance, but brings
its
That
grace.
is
intelligible
;
the good servant represented as being why enriched by the ruin of the bad ? It reminds us of is
what
St.
Paul says about the Gentile taking the
place abandoned
by the Jew, and of the warning in the message to Philadelphia, Hold fast that which thou no one take thy crown. 1 It would seem as there were a law in the spiritual world, that that
hast, that if
which one
forfeits
to another,
through his own sin or
the Church loses nothing in
common
folly passes
so that though the individual suffers,
life
;
;
and certainly we see
others soon step in to
fill
this
up places
we vacate, so that the loss is only our own. And it must be remembered that the added mina means added responsibility and added work, is
ior the
pound
to be laid out for the Master, not for the benefit of
the
man who
work, but is
receives
does not
it.
If
a
man
refuses
God
s
through because of his cowardice, laid on one who has shewn by what he has
it
fall
already done that he can and will do that which the other has in fact declined.
When we compare
the Parable of the Talents with
that of the Ten Virgins which immediately precedes it, we see that they represent the Christian life under
two complementary aspects as a life of watching and of active work. In the Virgins we see the need :
1
Apoc.
iii.
ii.
THE SHEEP AND THE GOATS of vigilance
and
alertness of spirit
in the
;
149
Talents^
the need of activity and the fearless taking up of our
whatever they may be. It is the these two sides of life in Christ which makes
responsibilities,
union of
the union of vigilance with activity, of a keen outlook into the future with a deep interest
true discipleship
in the
work
;
of the present, of other-worldliness
this-worldliness,
of
watching
with
working.
with
The
and parables of our Lord s Ministry this double note, and it is one which we shall be continually proclaiming for a life which
last instructions
are full of
do well to
:
fails either in thoughtfulness or in practical activity falls
short of Christ s standard, and loses something
of the
reward.
full
10.
THE SHEEP AND THE GOATS OR
THE JUDGEMENT 25th chapter of St. Matthew ends with another narrative which is perhaps hardly to be called a
THE
speaks quite plainly of the Son of Man in His glory, and the nations of the earth standing before Him. Nevertheless, the whole narrative is parable, for
clearly a
it
drama
of the
Judgement, not to be taken as
has at least parabolic elements, and may, think, be rightly taken as the crowning glory of the Parables of the Kingdom.
literally
true I
;
it
PARABLES OF THE KINGDOM
ISO
8e
"Gray
Opovov
Travra
6
TO,
KCU
#1/77,
aV
TWV
Trpofiara diro
ra /AV
o-n}crei
/cat
aAA^Xtoj TTOL^V d<opifei ra
d<f>opi<Ti
awrrrep
/XCT*
avrov,
auroi S
?
avrov
ayyeAot
SOT;S
avrov
rov
vlo<s
86y
rrj
ot
TraVrcs
i
6
\0y
ev
OpuTTov
,
e/oi^xuv,
Kat
7rpo/3ara
K
tw
his glory : and before him shall be gathered all the na tions : and he shall separate
them one from another, as
the
shepherd separateth the sheep from the goats : and he shall set
the
left.
sheep on his right but the goats on the
Then
shall
the
King
tta^ avrou
say unto them on his right
tvXoyrjfitvoi
TOV
hand, Come, ye blessed of my
vfAiv
J3a-
/cara^oAs
KOCT-
ots
/<
ot
g/0ry, an^f
^^
angels with him, then shall he sit on the throne of a//
hand,
Acvre,
Sow c/ man
/zfs
Father, inherit the kingdom ,cvr)v
crtA.iai/ *
aTrb
7Tftva(ra -yap Kat
<^ayiv,
c
eStyrjcra KCU CTrort-
fcvos
/ie,
yeTC
^u,,
eTrecrKe^atr^c tffJLrjv
TOT
/AC,
KCU
ij/x^v
Kat
yv/xvbs
cf
(f>v\aKy
for I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat : I was thirsty
and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in; naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited
Ot
me : I was in prison, and ye came unto me. Then shall the
Kvpte, TTOTC
righteous answer him, saying,
Kai
^A.#are Trpos aTTOKpt^O-OVTat aVT(
StKatot Aeyovres
prepared for you from the of the world :
foundation
/ute.
when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee ? or athirst, and gave thee drink ? And when saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in ? or naked, and clothed thee ? And when saw we thee sick, Lord,
\j/a.fj.v, <rafj,v
TI ;
^cvov yvfj.vov
(v
St^covra Kat CTTOTITTOTC
Se
ere
Kai
Kat
(f>v\a.Ky
Kat
Trpos
THE SHEEP AND THE GOATS CTC
Kai a7TOK/3l0eiS 6
;
fpi avTois
/?acriAci>S
A/ATp Acyw v/uv,
ocrov
e>i
TUJV
TOIS
/cat
epei
TO
asmuch as ye did
^TOLfJ.a(TfJifVOV
T& CUWVIOV
TW
Sia/3oA(f>
Kai TOIS ayyeAois avTov
7Tt-
vcura ya/3 /cat ov/c ISwKaTe /cat <t>a.yiv,
fjioi
ISt^o-a Kat OVK Kat ov Kttl
6V
TOTC Tot
AcyovTcs
cvoi>
^
o~ot
TI
Kai ;
TTOTC
Kv/)ic,
yvfJLVov
<f>vXa.Krj
a&Oevf)
r}
ov
Acyw
v/xiv,
evi
aTwv, Kai
e^>
De
me, ye cursed, into
which
pared
for the devil
angels
:
for I
is
pre
and
his
was an hungred
t
and ye gave me no meat : I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink : 1 was a stranger, and ye took me not in ; naked, and ye clothed me not ; sick, and in prison, and, ye Then shall visited me not. also
answer,
saying,
when saw we or
thee
athirst,
minister unto thee P
e/x,ot
OVTOI
even
unto me.
or
an a
stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not
cts
KoAao-tv atomov, ot Se SLKO.LOL cts
it
the left hand,
the eternal fire
hungred, c
TOVTWV TWV
ovSc
unto one
it
brethren,
shall he say also unto
part from
Lord,
oVov OVK
aVcAcvo-oi>Tat
Then
them on
they
TOTC
Acywv o*aTC
my
these least, ye did
c/xov
7TV/>
shall
King
eAa-
of these
TO
CIS
fJLWOl
and came unto the
TOTC
c
aV
Tloptvttrde
And
answer and say unto them, Verily 1 say unto you, In
TOVTCOV
eoiyyo-aTC.
e/xoi
or iw prison, thee ?
151
Then
answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, In
shall he
asmuch as ye did
it
not unto
one of these least, ye did it And these not unto me. shall go
away
into
eternal
but the right eous into eternal life.
punishment St.
:
Matthew xxv. 31-46.
PARABLES OF THE KINGDOM
152
Perhaps nothing
else
in
the Gospels, or even in
New
Testament, has made so deep and general an impression upon the world as this Parable, if it may the
be so called, of the Last Judgement. But for that very reason it needs careful consideration, for what is
very familiar
The scene
apt to be misunderstood.
is
is
laid as it
were on the morrow of the
The Lord had come
Parousia.
at last (orav e A0#).
He had
already judged His own servants, excluding from the joys of the Messianic Kingdom those who
were not ready (xxv. 12), taking away positions of trust from those who had not turned them to good
He had judged also His determined enemies, those who had deliberately rejected His sovereignty (Lc. xix. 27). And now He proceeds to use (xxv. 28).
judge the rest of mankind. set up on earth, and before
ra
nations of the world as His hearers
We
eOvt],
all
the
the Gentile nations,
would understand the word, without
distinction of race or creed. will
see a glorious throne
are marshalled
it
Even among these He
discover abundant materials for exercising His
judicial authority, as the sequel shews.
whole countless multitude, as by an unerring intuition, into two homogeneous His
flocks.
first
act
He
is
to part the
does this as easily as a shepherd parts
sheep and goats
;
their
are as clear to His
moral and spiritual differences
mind
that strike the shepherd
s
as the visible differences eye.
It is like
the parting
THE SHEEP AND THE GOATS wheat and
of the
darnel,
which
is
153
far too intricate
a task to be attempted in this tangled world, but will be simple enough even for angels to accomplish when the harvest
So here:
come.
is
the right or to the
to
all
the nations are sent
of the Judge,
left
without
Flame judges infallibly, Eye merely making visible distinctions which had always existed invisibly in character and life. evidence taken
the
:
of
Next, the King turns to the right and addresses this
flock.
destined
come
received His s
inherit
their
(Lc. xix.
and
heirs,
15),
pre
God and
of
the Lord has returned,
;
Kingdom
children
to
called
The Kingdom
kingdom.
Christ has
Father
are
They
of
having His
arid these,
His co-heirs, are now to It has been prepared
enter on possession with Him. 1
them from the beginning of the creation and before for God lays up in store for His children from the it, first more than men can understand (i Cor. ii. 9). for
2
But why have these on the
How been test
?
has their sonship, their right to the inheritance, demonstrated ? One and only one crucial
is
during the rest
are
They
employed.
known by
their attitude
And how are and heirs of God ?
to the Only-begotten Son.
life
By
right been singled out
known
not to be children
the lack of any such attitude towards Jesus Christ.
From both 1
Cf.
i
sides there
Pet.
ii.
2
9
;
comes a protest
Rom.
Eph.
i.
4
viii. ;
17
Apoc.
;
Apoc. xvii. 8.
i.
;
neither the
6; xxii. 5.
PARABLES OF THE KINGDOM
154
one nor the other had ever seen the King in any such case as He describes, or come to His relief. Then the
Lord explains that He counts
services
which were
rendered to His brethren as rendered to Himself, and that by the presence or absence of such
acts
of
devotion to Him, in the persons of His members all men, even those who are outside the fold of the Church, are to be judged.
Nothing
is
more noticeable
in all
our Lord
antici
s
pations of the Judgement than His appeal to practical tests of
high
human character. great
office,
conduct
is
nothing
opportunities
everything.
applied here is
is
Professions go for nothing
nothing
;
;
But the particular method
remarkable
like it in
go
for
in the last degree
;
there
other pictures of the Judgement.
In the first place our
Lord makes conduct towards
Himself the supreme test. This is not altogether new, for even in Galilee He had insisted that to confess
Him
before
men was
to be confessed before
the Angels of God, and to deny
that every one
who
Him was to
be denied
;
forsook father or mother, home,
and the Gospel s, This was to place the
or children, or lands for His sake
would
find a sure reward.
highest value on personal devotion to Himself is
evident that
He
;
lays a similar emphasis here.
these Gentile nations,
and
it
But
what opportunities could they
have had of rendering such acts of service, even if they knew His name, which to many among them
THE SHEEP AND THE GOATS
155
would have been unknown
their unfeigned
when He
either devotion
surprise
or
He
neglect.
credits
? Hence them with
explains
that
He
takes
services
rendered to His brethren as rendered to Himself, and neglect of His brethren as neglect of Himself.
But who
are His brethren
Whosoever shall do
And
brother.
least His first
possible
for
;
?
In Me.
iii.
the will of God, the
35
He
same
says,
is
my
probably His meaning here, or at meaning. But there is another which is this
He
is
is
the Son of Man, the
Head
of the
race and as such He may well account every man His brother, and we may see Christ, the Image of God, in every one who bears the human form. And ;
so
it
may
be that our Lord recognizes love to Himself
not only in the love of the brethren, properly so called, the <pi\aSe\<pla of the Epistles, but in all philanthropy, in all real enthusiasm for humanity. And thus this Parable of the Judgement
genuine
opens a door to the hope that among non-Christians, heathens before and after Christ, Moslems, even
among
the
many who, having known
from childhood, themselves of
Lord
its truth,
there
may
be those
Kingdom
the
on His right hand and welcome to the while, on the other hand, there must be
;
tried
by
their
conduct to their fellow-men,
will utterly fail to find a place there. is
whom
will set
many who, it
Christianity
have not been able to convince
love,
unselfish,
self-sacrificing
And love,
after all
and not
PARABLES OF THE KINGDOM
156
creed which draws the real dividing line between
and
sheep
goats,
minded
of
St.
and undefiled visit
and
the
man and man, though
between
can infallibly
only Christ
James
discover
One
it.
Pure
declaration,
before our God and Father
fatherless
and
widows in
the
religion
is
their
to
re
is
this,
to
affliction,
world. 1
If keep himself unspotted from a heathen did this, he did it by the Spirit of Christ, and will be acknowledged by the Christ at His coming.
At the same
time, Christ does not teach that a
mere
profession of charitable gifts, or the role of a public
benefactor,
or
even the gratification of a natural is an equivalent for faith
kindliness of disposition,
and
holiness of
That
life.
is
a
modern heresy which
cannot be too strongly opposed.
It is
only a genuine
love of the brethren, a real spirit of self-sacrifice, the true interest and sympathy in the needs and
sorrows of men, that proclaims a man vitally in harmony with the mind of Christ, and therefore one of those for
from
A
the
whom
foundation
the
Kingdom has been prepared
of the world.
few words as to the
last
sentence of the chapter.
These shall go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous
(shall
go)
into
eternal
life.
That
is,
the
general tenor of their lives in this world, as they are seen in the light of a perfect love, will decide their 1
Jac.
i. ,
27.
6pT)<TKela
Ka6apdi
/rat d/j.iavros irapa.
iriffKtirrccrda.i dp<t>avoi>s
dir6 TOV
nal
xfy a *
*v
r<p
TV
0ey
/cai
irarpl
THE SHEEP AND THE GOATS Another aeon
157
is
to follow
the consummation of this one, and that
new aeon
condition
the next.
in
can only be one of painful discipline to those who have not learnt the lessons of the present life
:
I
discipline,
say,
in
corrective rather than retribu
punishment, for the word used is discipline, 1 chastisement, /coXao-i?, and not retribution, Ti/uicopia. tive
Those, on the other hand,
and
to serve enter into for
pared are
*
it
here.
who have
life,
*
Both
learnt to love
have been pre life and discipline
for they
aeonian
they belong (icoXa<n$, ^a)}, aicbvtos) not to our present conditions of existence, but to ;
unknown
others which are as yet quite
have *
no
the
4
aeon,
we
word
;
weeks
ing
;
at all to import into life in the next our conceptions of time measured by days discipline there, is not right
aeonian
or
to us
and
or
months or
even
Hence
years.
as
eternal,
usually
everlast
understood,
impart an element of duration into future rewards and punishments which is alien from the New Testament conception.
Both are eternal
in the sense that
they
belong to the next aeon, to which no limit is fixed in Scripture, and where, indeed, time is not as we
measure 1
fcoXcum
it.
is
properly corrective and not retributive punish 10. plv yap 17) says expressly:
ment, as Aristotle (Rhet. A. K6Xci(ns TOU irdffxovTos freKd
eanv,
-f]
ij
d
rifj-upia
ment is for the sake of, for the welfare but retribution, of him that inflicts it.
TOU TTOIOVVTOS, chastise
of,
him who
suffers it
:
1
PARABLES OF THE KINGDOM
58 It is
the mysterious absence of
all
the conditions
we know which gives that coming age its vast solem nity, and we only lower the appeal it makes to human hopes and fears, if we bring into it the idea of endless It is enough that for those who live loveless time. lives the
next age has only
correction, sharp discipline
love Christ life,
the
and
full
/coXao-t?,
chastisement,
whereas for those who
;
their brethren for His sake,
it
has only
joyous use of the matured powers of In that kingdom of life and light
conscious being.
they will reign, as St. (xxii. 5), for ages
John says
of ages
(et?
in
the Apocalypse
TOV$ aiwva? TWV alwvwv).
For as age succeeds to age in that boundless future, there is no prospect of their falling away from God ;
nothing that can rob them of the life of love for evil has been finally shut out of the Kingdom of God, and their union with God through Christ in there
is
His Holy Spirit
;
is
at length complete.
The Distribution of
the Parables
among
the
Synoptic
Gospels.
have now led you through the Parables of the Kingdom, i.e. those which are expressly said to be I
such, or which, from their close connexion or affinity
with parables that are so described, may properly be classed with them. We have considered eighteen such parables,
falling
naturally
into
two groups
:
DISTRIBUTION
AMONG THE
GOSPELS
the seven parables of St. Matthew with the kindred parables of St. Mark (i)
of
which seem
Galilee
;
and
either on the
xiii.,
iv.
159
together 26-29, a U
Lord s ministry in ten parables, spoken, as it seems,
to belong to our
(2)
to Jerusalem or in Jerusalem
way
itself,
during the latter months or at the very end of the Ministry, most of them in fact on the eve of the Passion.
Before parables notice.
passing
among Twelve
the
on,
the
distribution
Synoptic
Gospels
of
these
demands
of the eighteen are peculiar to St.
Matthew, and three more are shared by St. Matthew with one or both of the other Synoptists. Only two Luke, only one to St Mark. St. the chief contributor to our stock
are peculiar to St
Matthew, then,
is
Kingdom. St. Mark has but three St. Luke is rich in parables, parables of any kind but they are nearly all of another type. St. Matthew s of Parables of the
;
parables, on the other hand, are of this class without ex
any explanation of this circumstance? place, it seems clear that we owe the
ception. Is there
In the
first
preservation of the parables generally not to the
Marcan or Petrine discourses usually
tradition,
known
but to the collection of
as the Logia,
i.e.
an Aramaic
collection of Sayings of our Lord, perhaps identical with that ascribed by Papias to the Apostle Matthew, but in any case made by some member or members
PARABLES OF THE KINGDOM
160
the early Palestinian Church, from which both
of
first and third Gospels drew material for their accounts of the teaching of our Lord. But why did the editor of our first Gospel generally fix upon
our
parables which are expressly said to be similitudes of the Kingdom of Heaven ? Again the answer is not far to seek.
For our
may have
been,
conception
of a
is
for
him above
Evangelist, whoever he
first
was plainly saturated with the Messianic all
Kingdom. things the Son
scion of the royal house of Judah.
Jesus Christ of David,
At His
the
birth
magi come from the East, asking Where is he that is ? It is the aim of his whole
born king of the Jews
Gospel to shew that, notwithstanding to the contrary, Jesus
all
appearances
was the promised King, and
to
His teaching in such a way as to make it converge upon the idea of a Divine Kingdom, and Yet the editor of the first Gospel holds centre in it. present
all
no brief for Jewish predominance of
Messianic
the
and world-wide.
Kingdom If
the
;
his conception
is
eminently spiritual Gospel begins with the
genealogy which endeavours to shew our Lord to have been the lineal descendant of all the Jewish ends with the great commission Go, make It is the kingdom of heaven disciples of all the nations. a kingdom which is that our St. Matthew preaches
kings,
it
:
not of this world, a new spiritual order which has for its end the setting up of the reign of God over the
AMONG THE
DISTRIBUTION hearts of men. full,
and
Of
our
this idea
GOSPELS
first
161
Evangelist
is
and he found parables in the Logia which enforced and he pressed into the service illustrated it ;
we
We
he found.
of his Gospel all
are grateful to
Luke
are grateful to St.
him
it, having saved for us those parables of the grace of God which are
as
for
the
of
characteristic
third
for
Gospel.
Each
of
the
Synoptic Gospels has its special contribution to make to the fulness of Christian thought, and the special
made by
contribution
Matthew
is
character
;
Kingdom Kingdom
that it
it
is
but
it
is
pre-eminently the Gospel of the The conception of a Divine
of
Heaven.
is,
it
is
and no other note
the Gospel called after St.
exhibits the Christ in His royal
true, is
common
to all the Gospels,
struck so often by the Synoptists, while the in St. Matthew
most frequent
:
expression occurs fourteen times in St. Mark and thirty-three times in St. Luke, St. Matthew uses either the
Kingdom
of
God
or the
Kingdom of Heaven
thirty-seven times in all, and with rare exceptions he prefers the expression the Kingdom of Heaven.
He seems
to
task
of
the
Messianic
have
felt
that he was entrusted with the
correcting
Kingdom was
impression
that
the
political or racial, while at
the same time he laid emphasis on the fact that Jesus had indeed come to fulfil the highest hopes of the prophets of Israel by setting up a Divine
Kingdom over S.P.
all
the world. L
Ill
THE TEACHING OF THE PARABLES OF THE KINGDOM WISH now
what these parables have taught us about the Kingdom of Heaven as our Lord conceived it. We shall get by this means I
to gather together
a compact and,
hope, serviceable body of Christian
I
mind and
teaching, straight from the
lips of Christ
For if any sayings attributed to Christ are and unmistakably His, such surely are these certainly they bear the parables in all their main features Himself.
;
mind and cannot by any
mark
of the
bility
be placed to the account of the Evangelists or
Master
of the sources
s
they used.
possi
we
In the parables,
hear,
without any doubt, the very voice of Jesus Christ, teaching the mysteries of the
Kingdom
l
to those
who
have ears to hear.
The Kingdom of Heaven or of God.
And
to begin,
have said of
God.
earlier
some way what I about the Kingdom of Heaven or
I
must repeat
The phrase did not Mt.
xiii. ii.
in
originate
with
our
THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN *
Lord
163
the corresponding Aramaic phrase is common Jewish writings, and the Old Testament
;
in the later
speaks freely of a cxlv. II
;
Dan.
territory governed rule or reign,
iv. 3,
44;
God
of
Kingdom
ii.
17.
by God, but God
whether over
as in Pss.
The sense s
ciii.
is
19
;
not a
sovereignty, His
Israel, as the theocratic
and the world by His inherent Jews realized this latter sense, and
people, or over nature right.
The
later
expected a time to come when the reign of God would extend to all the nations of the world. All nations, it was held, would one day submit to the Divine power.
But
it
was
far
from
their desire to concede to the
Gentile nations the privileges of the theocracy.
The
Jew was still to retain his place in the Divine favour and the Gentile was either to submit or be subdued. Our Lord, Sovereignty
then,
found
this
view
of
everywhere accepted by
the Divine
His
Jewish
contemporaries, and He adopted the phrase and made it the symbol of a conception which was all His own.
became
His teaching a spiritual To the Jew the as opposed to an earthly dominion. theocracy meant national prosperity, victory over In the
first place, it
in
the enemies of Israel, liberation from alien control,
predominance among the nations. Here is an account of the Messianic Kingdom from the Psalms of Solomon, a Pharisaic book written about half a century before the birth of our Lord 1
:
See above pp.
5, 6.
PARABLES OF THE KINGDOM
164
Lord, and raise
Behold,
son of David
the
Thy
servant
;
.
.
.
and gird
that
Him
up unto them
He may
their
Purge Jeru
salem from the heathen that trample her down .
.
He
.
shall
destroy
He may
with strength that
break in pieces them that rule unjustly.
her
King,
reign over Israel
to
destroy
ungodly nations with
the
word of His mouth, and He shall gather together a holy people, and shall judge the tribes of the people that and the hath been sanctified by the Lord His God the
.
sojourner and
the
shall dwell with
stranger
them no
(TrdpotKo?
He
more.
KCU
.
.
a\\oyevfo)
shall judge the
nations and the people with the wisdom of His right
eousness
heathen shall
;
to
and He serve
the nations
shall possess
Him
beneath His yoke,
purge Jerusalem and make
it
That was,
to see
in its
.
.
of the
and He
holy, even as it
in the days of old, so that the nations
ends of the earth
.
may
was
come from
the
His glory*
most
spiritual form, the idea
the Pharisees had formed
of the Divine
which
Reign on earth
;
and such was the mission which the people, taught by them, expected the Messiah to fulfil. But it was not the mission upon which our Lord had come and while accepting the current term, which was good ;
in itself,
content
;
He set about the task of giving it a new He made it the business of His Ministry to
teach the true meaning of the
And,
first,
Kingdom
of
God.
our Lord at once raised the conception 1
Psalms of Solomon,
xvii. 23-34.
THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN
165
<
Divine Kingdom or Sovereignty out of the
of the
the
sphere into
political
spoke of
commonly, according to
it
and
spiritual
Matthew
s
rather than the
Now
of God.
17
Pao-tXela
r<av
no doubt equivalent to rj /Sao-iXcta rov Oeov, Jews used the heavens for the Holy Name
is
ovpavwv
Kingdom of Heaven
parables, as the
Kingdom
Matthew, and which lie behind
St.
probably also according to the Logia St.
He
ideal.
for the later
;
thus in Daniel the heavens do rule means God rules*
and the Mishnah uses the Name of the Heavens, the fear But of the Heavens for the Name, the fear of God. while
/3aari\ia rov Seov
rj
might be understood
political sense, of non-subjection to
Rome,
in a
} /8a<nAez
rwv ovpavwv naturally turns attention to the supramundane character of the Kingdom of God, that it belongs to a higher order, is wholly independent of earthly and transitory politics
what
positively just
;
in
fact
it
asserts
Christ stated negatively
when
He
said to Pilate My Kingdom is not of this world] not of this world, because of Heaven, belonging to the 2 unseen, eternal order of things. I
am
disposed to
think that in St.
Matthew
s
Kingdom of the Heavens we have the Greek equivalent of the
Aramaic expression which our Lord usually
employed when He spoke
He
called
it
WJSth
of the
W^?8,
Kingdom the
of
Reign,
God
;
the
Sovereignty of the Heavens, with the express purpose 1
Dan.
iv. 26.
a
Jo. xviii. 36.
PARABLES OF THE KINGDOM
166 of
attention to the spiritual,
calling
non-mundane character
which
of that
non-political,
He came
to
preach.
And
in the earlier parables, those of the Galilean
ministry,
we
find that stress
this aspect of the
Kingdom.
is
uniformly laid upon
The Lord seems,
in all
these parables, purposely to avoid any mention of royal state or splendour, even of the of society,
classes
kingdom of heaven
life
of the
or of courts and capitals. is
likened unto a
man
upper The sowed
that
good seed, or to a grain of mustard seed, or to leaven
which a
woman
the labourer finding treasure,
took, or to
or the pearl merchant trading on the highway, or a
fisherman
casting
similitudes Galilean,
are used.
are
a
net
taken
into
the
from the daily
these
All
sea.
life
of
the
and that
is, no doubt, one reason why they But there is another they all represent ;
Heaven as something quite removed Kingdom from earthly greatness and power as analogous not to the magnificence of kings, but to the simple and the
of
;
yet really grander processes of nature and
life,
as a
hidden power working invisibly and with no outward show of strength, and yet working surely to a certain Five of these eight parables are borrowed from the vegetable kingdom they shew the immanent end.
;
power
of
God
at
work
in the processes of vegetable
where man has hardly any part to play of sowing and reaping that and they teach beyond growth,
:
THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN* <
167
us to expect a similar process in the spiritual world, in the inner
and
man,
human thought
a process as silent, as apparently insignificant,
life,
as marvellous,
For,
in the evolution of
and
as sure.
secondly, while Christ thus emphasizes the
spiritual
character of
the
Divine Sovereignty,
He
upon living power and certain triumph. Even in these earlier parables this is clearly seen. The mustard seed becomes a tree the leaven hidden insists
its
;
in the
meal works on
till
the whole
net gathers of every kind. sure to prevail because
outward
pomp
it
show
or
leavened
is
The Kingdom works
is
;
no
the less
invisibly, without
the later
In
of power.
parables this factor becomes predominant.
Having
in
His earlier teaching fully established the spirituality of the Divine Reign, the Lord is free to dwell upon the greatness of
its
operations.
Head
Its
now
is
He represented as a great landowner or a king issues His invitations to high and low He dispenses His wealth in vast sums to His servants He can wipe out a debt of millions, and be no poorer He has ;
;
;
;
armies at His command, which can destroy those who murder His representatives, and burn their cities.
The power but
is
invisible, it
works
works
silently
and unseen,
the King of the heavenly effectively can enforce kingdom can reward and can punish it
;
:
His will at pleasure and the latest parables suggest that His sphere of influence is wider than that of any ;
PARABLES OF THE KINGDOM
168
earthly empire, extending to world,
whom He
and order
And
as
can
He
the
thirdly,
essential powers,
time.
the nations of the
before
Him and
of
in Galilee,
Kingdom
there
Heaven,
work
actually at
;
to our own.
Its
and
sowing parables
;
by
in all its
in this present
when it
Christ
from that time
operations are represented
the
of
growing
sowed
has been working,
of the parables clearly shew,
many
control
fit.
Kingdom
is
was working
It
the word of the as
summon
thinks
all
early
by the
agricultural
the vineyard and the labourers, the sons,
the servants, in the later ones.
represented as going
on
These operations are
in the world, in the Church,
human
but also as having for their seat the individual All that in the Epistles of St. Paul spirit.
is
nected with the work of the Holy Spirit, parables assigned to the Kingdom of God.
All the
work
is
con
in the
Church, her parochial and organizations, her missionary enterprise, her administration of Word and Sacraments, is also
external
of
the
diocesan
The Kingdom of Heaven as represented the Parables of the Kingdom is to be identified
included. in
not with the Church on the one hand, nor with indi vidual religion on the other rather it is the working ;
of the Divine power, will, in
both.
us to pray, \6aT(t)
r\
the fulfilment of the Divine
In the Lord s Prayer Christ has taught
Thy kingdom come. /3a<ri\eia
<rov,
Thy
yevrjOJTco
will be done,
TO
OeXrjfjid
crov.
THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN <
That is a much
169
and more inclusive prayer than a Church or of the Gospel
larger
petition for the spread of the
or of the Christian
embraces
life
but
in individuals
would
be.
It
embraces also the purpose of the fulfilment of the Will of God. In some all this,
it all, i.e.
ancient authorities
I
it
instead of
Thy kingdom come we
find a
May thy Holy prayer for the Holy Spirit eX0era> TO come us and us Trvevpd Spirit upon purify crov TO dyiov ecj) ^/xa? KOI KaOapKrdrw jj/ua?. This is :
indeed a good prayer, but it falls short of the prehensiveness of that which Christ taught disciples.
Ghost. 2
.
His
The Holy Spirit comes to establish us in of God The kingdom of God, as St. Paul
the reign says, is
com
;
.
.
righteousness
But
it
is
and peace and joy in
more than
this
;
it
process of the gradual subjection of
heaven and earth to the Will the
sanctification
of
the
Holy
is
the whole
all
things in
God, of which our but a part. This
by Spirit immense work, the reconciliation of all things to God in Christ and by the Spirit, is the work of this age, reaching from the
second
;
and
it is
first
is
coming
for the
of our
Lord
accomplishment
of
to the it
that
we pray day by day Thy kingdom come, and it is of this that the Parables of the Kingdom speak. Fourthly, the Parables of the Kingdom treat quite as clearly of the future as of the present. Though only two or three parables, spoken at the end of the J
Lc. xi.
2,
*Rom.
xiv. 17.
PARABLES OF THE KINGDOM
170
Ministry, are purely eschatological, and refer to the
future only, there
nearly
all.
more or come.
is
more or
of
less
eschatology in
All the parables of sowing look forward
harvest which has not yet The interest of the Parable of the Draw-net is less distinctly to a
centred in the drawing in and examination of the haul
The Parables
of fishes.
Marriage Feast, of the of the
men,
of the Great Supper and the Labourers and the Husband
Pounds and the Talents,
well in view.
It is
all
and just now
eschatological element in the parables, it is
in
the fashion to do so.
due course
;
but
keep the end
quite possible to exaggerate the
I
I
shall
come
now
ask you
to this point
to note only that
the Parables of the
Kingdom recognize quite distinctly that the present work of the Kingdom of God is leading to a very definite end, that the existing order of things
has a is
limit,
and that towards that
limit every
day
carrying us forward, though no man, not even the
great Son of Man,
knows when
it
will
be reached.
These then are the four great facts about the Kingdom of Heaven which these parables teach us. It
is
spiritual,
independent of It is
invisible,
supra-mundane,
human governments and
nevertheless a power of
immense strength and
unlimited activity, able to subdue it
works
in silence
wholly politics.
all
things to
and unseen.
itself,
Again, it is a power which is actually at work around us and within us, in the heart, in the Church, in the world.
although
THE WORKING OUT OF THE END And,
all its
lastly,
present
work
will
leading up to a
an order of things
single end, the attainment of
which the Will of God
is
171
be done on earth as
in
it is
heaven.
in
The Only Son, Bridegroom, and King. In the next place, we proceed to learn what answer these parables give to the question, Who are they who work out the great end ?
The parables
rarely speak of the
the heavenly kingdom. in
depict,
Supreme King They make no attempt
of to
apocalyptic fashion, the majesty of the
Heavenly King
;
nothing,
for
instance,
like
the
Court of Heaven in Apoc. iv. description If God is represented in the parables at all, it is under of
the
an earthly similitude consistent with the story of the parable He is an avOpcoTro? /SacnAeu?, a man that is a :
King, or an householder, otKoSea-Trorrjs.
But usually
He
does not appear, and there is no mention of His the parables limit themselves presence or activity ;
to the
work
of the
Kingdom on
effort to set forth the Invisible
earth, making no Power that is behind,
or the heavenly order from which the Sovereignty
emanates.
Their subject
is
the
Kingdom
of
Heaven
on earth, and they tell only of earthly persons and things by which and in the midst of which it is at work.
PARABLES OF THE KINGDOM
172
Jesus Christ Himself.
On the other hand Christ frequently appears in own parables. He is the Sower and Reaper in the first three of the first group He is the Bride He is the in the Parable the of Ten groom Virgins His
;
;
King
in the
Judgement scene
Particularly as the
King
Matthew xxv.
of St.
and
s Son,
only and
the
Beloved Son.
the second group of parables that Jesus
It is in
He is the King s the and Marriage Feast, Only and Beloved
speaks of Himself more distinctly.
Son
in the
Son
and
men
Heir
(Mt. xxi.).
in
and the Owner
of the
clearly represent
God
Lord
Parable
the
Husband
the
of
Since the King in the one parable,
Vineyard
the Father,
in these parables
in the other, it is
both
clear that our
put forth a deliberate claim Son of God. He had
to be, in a unique sense, the yet one,
a beloved Son
en
eva el^ev viov ayaTTJjrov.
So runs the parable of the Husbandmen in St. Mark. 1 Beloved Son, wo? ayaTr^ro?, is practically equivalent to
Son upon
whom
He
is
a
the Father looks with a love which
is
uto?
Only begotten Son/
fjiovoyevfo
:
unique, because He has none other. Such a Son 2 Jesus had been declared to be at the Baptism, and 1
xii. 6.
2
Me.
i.
ii
;
Mt.
iii.
17
;
Lc.
iii.
22.
THE BELOVED SON <
173
His claim public, adding that He is Heir, in a sense as peculiar to Himself as
He now makes the Father
s
that in which
He
the Only Son.
and and
all
is
Son
It is
of
if children, then heirs
We
:
;
are children of
and
heirs of God,
<rvyK\vjpov6iJLoi
ness our Lord
the only Heir because
true that St. Paul says of himself
other Christians
with Christ, 1
God
Se -^purrou
;
God
:
joint-heirs
but
in strict
the Only Son and the only Heir, as Him to be. No one else could
is
the parable represents
2 say All things whatsoever the Father hath are mine of no one else could it have been said, All things have ;
been created through him and unto him fV
I
avrov).
Lord
in the
cannot see that
3
avrov KOI (<V
made by our short in any way
this claim
Synoptic parables falls made on His behalf in the Fourth
of the claims that are
Gospel, or
by
St.
Paul
in the Epistles to the Philip-
It is indeed said pians, Ephesians, and Colossians. that Son of God, and even the Beloved and Only Son,
Heir, are merely Messianic
the
titles,
and that by
assuming them our Lord claimed only to be the it may be that promised Messiah. That may be so ;
when Caiaphas
frequent
1
?
name
for the Messiah in Jewish writings,
was suggested by the Second Psalm and it perhaps more likely that the High Priest referred to
though is
Son of
4
he really meant no more by the second than by the first. But Son of God is not a
the Blessed title
asked, Art thou the Christ, the
Rom.
it
viii. 17.
;
2
Jo. xvi. 15.
3
Col.
i.
16.
*Mc.
xiv. 61.
PARABLES OF THE KINGDOM
174
our Lord
s
personal claim to be the Son of
God than
But be that
to the Divine Sonship of the Messiah.
may, it is clear that to Jesus Himself the name Son of God meant very much more than a mere title as
it
We
of office.
discover this
:
need not go to the Fourth Gospel to it appears from many of His sayings
in the Synoptists,
what
and even from the Parables.
For
the meaning of the immense distance
else is
which He puts between Himself and
God
other messen
all
They, Prophets of the Old Testament, were but servants, slaves, SovXoi, the absolute property of the Eternal Father He alone of
gers
the
?
;
was Son and Heir. sons
;
Israel
All
men
God
are in a sense
was His son by a
special adoption
;
s
but
compared with Jesus Christ even the prophets of Israel were but slaves. Does it not follow that He was Son not by adoption, as they, but as the Church afterwards expressed sion of a Divine life
;
by generation, by the posses that He was God of God, 0eo?
it,
CK Oeov, the pre-existent, co-essential
As Once only
the
Son
?
King.
in these parables
our Lord
calls
Himself
King. In the final picture of the Judgement of the world we read, Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, the
inherit the
Kingdom prepared 1
for you.
Mt. xxv. 34.
1
There can
THE KING
175
be no question but that it is the King s Son of the Marriage Feast who thus speaks as the King. And the reason
is
when He
will
is
that
we
going,
to receive
He
is
speaking there of a future time
have come into His inheritance.
He
are told in the parable of the Pounds,
for himself a kingdom,
and
to
return
;
and
in this Parable of the Judgement, He has returned, and the Kingdom is His. Moreover, when seated on the judgement-throne He represents the Father,
who has given honour
judgement to Him,
all
the Son, even as they
honour
that all
the Father. 1
may And
yet in this future reign of Jesus Christ, the Son and
Heir of God, there
no eclipse of the supreme glory
is
On
of the Eternal Father.
of Christ as soon as will
of
be merged, as
God
;
it is
all
shall the that
St.
may
glorified in
things have been
Son
us, in the
end that the Son be
Kingdom
fully realized at His
Paul teaches
for this
that the Father
When
it is
the contrary the
subjected
to
Kingdom
is
Him
coming
glorified, ;
and so
Christ, then
also himself be subjected to the Father,
God may
be all in
all.
2
That consummation
indeed lies beyond the scope of the parables, but it should be borne in mind. The Kingdom of Heaven is
the
in
which we
Kingdom live
God, and the Kingdom of Christ and which will be perfected at the
of
Parousia, in other words, the Christian dispensation
with
its
ordinances and institutions, 1
Jo. v. 22
f.
3
1
is
Cor. xv. 28.
temporary
PARABLES OF THE KINGDOM
176
and preparatory,
to be
merged at
and disappear which is the goal
last
in that final restoration of all things
of creation.
As One other
He
able that this title
Bridegroom.
our Lord in these parables requires
title of
special notice.
the
It is remark Bridegroom. was not only claimed by our Lord
the
is
was even given to based on the Old
quite early in His ministry, but
Him by the Forerunner. Testament but there is ;
It
is
remarkable difference
this
between the Old Testament use use
by
the Baptist and
of the figure
Testament the Bridegroom is the God of His covenant relation with Israel His whereas
in the Gospels,
generally,
the
identified
with
other
certain
and
its
is
quite
This
Christ.
Old Testament
Israel in
people,
1
New Testament
in the
Bridegroom Jesus
and
by our Lord, that in the Old
titles
persistently
holds of
true
God.
of
For
example, while the Psalmist says plainly JAHWE is 2 my shepherd, our Lord says with no less distinctness
am
3 The Christ, in other words, good shepherd. assumes the relations which in the Old Testament
/
the
God
belong to JAHWE, the 1
Cf. e.g.
Is. liv. 5
:
Hosea ii. 19 Thy Maker is
of Israel.
Thus our Lord
7 will betroth thee unto
:
thy husband
;
the
LORD
name. 2
Ps. xxiii.
i.
3
Jo. x. ii.
s
me for ever ; of hosts is his
<
BRIDEGROOM AND BRIDE <
177
be the Bridegroom, is not less amazing than His claim to be the Only Son, and it would be simply intolerable on any merely humanitarian view claim to
of
His Person.
He
the Bridegroom, who is the Bride ? Doubtless in the mind of John the Baptist and of
But
the
if
is
first disciples of Christ,
was
the Bride
Israel
still
;
Jesus had come to espouse the ancient people of God, and raise them to the throne from which they had been
deposed by their enemies. But in the thoughts of Jesus, probably from the first, certainly as His ministry advanced, a
an
old,
Israel
languages
new
composed
who should He
commandments.
Israel
took the place of the
men
of
believe on this
calls
of all nations
Him and
and
keep His
new people
of
God
His Congregation as contrasted with the congregation / will build, He says, my the ancient Israel
of
:
Our English word
ecclesia^
gestive as
it
is,
*
Church,
sight of the reference to
loses
good and sug
obscures His meaning here, for
which
lies in
as Dr.
Hort has shewn
the Greek
word
in
it
the Old Testament
For
KK\*i<ria.
KK\tjcria,
The Christian Ecclesia*
is
in
the Greek Old Testament from Deuteronomy onwards the i-tthe usual rendering of the Hebrew /Hj^,
gathering or congregation of the people of
Now when Christ tion,
He
speaks of
My Ecclesia, My Congrega
clearly distinguishes Mt: XVK
S.P.
between the old 2p P
?8,
M
Israel.
.
4-7-
Israel
178
PARABLES OF THE KINGDOM
and a new
Israel
which
the continuity of the
is
word which had
choice of a
sented the old.
What
His,
while setting forth old by the very
new with the in the
Christ
Greek Bible repre
s Israel,
Christ
s
Congre
gation or Church was to be, we learn as His teaching advances before the Passion He speaks of this Gospel :
of the
ciples
for a testimony unto all
Kingdom being preached 1
the nations
to
:
after the Resurrection
make
the same thing
disciples is
taught
Supper and the Marriage
He
sends His dis
over the world.
And
in the Parables of the
Great
all
of the
King
s
Son, where the
servants are sent into the highways and hedges of the open country and bidden to call as many as they and the wedding is pre could find to the wedding ;
sently furnished with guests.
Here we have quite
plainly the call of the Gentiles and the formation of
a Catholic or universal Church, no longer limited to Israel.
In
these
parables
indeed
the
bidden
are
the the guests of the Bridegroom and not the Bride Bride herself does not appear in the Parables of the ;
Kingdom, if we except the doubtful reading in St. Matthew xxv. I and later in the New Testament, ;
where she
mentioned, it is with reference to the Second Coming of the Lord. For the Bride is the is
is being made ready not the Church in her present out ward organization, but the sum of those within her
spiritual invisible
for the Parousia
Church which
:
1
Mt. xxiv.
14.
THE who
CHURCH
VISIBLE
are preparing themselves for the Lord
and are being gathered generation into His Presence.
179 s
coming
after generation
When He
comes, all these will with the addition of all these, like souls that are still on earth, will be the acknow
come with Him, and
ledged Spouse of Christ.
The Present
Visible Church.
But does not the present visible Church, with its order and its ministries, find a place in the Parables of the
Kingdom
them.
The Catholic Church
?
Certainly, is
and
in not a
few
of
to be seen in the world
where wheat and tares grow together to the harvest in the net thrown into the sea of life
wide
field
;
which encloses a great multitude of fishes, good and bad in the supper-chamber into which men are ;
called
work
;
in
Vineyard in which they labour. Its the world is symbolized by the sowing of
in the
the seed, the leavening of the lump, the casting of the net, the calling of the guests, the hiring of the labourers, the doing business with the
pounds or the
watching of the virgins. The expansion Church and its growing importance as a factor the history of the world is seen quite plainly in
talents, the
of the in
the Parable of the Mustard seed of unspiritual
and
evil
their intermingling with
men
;
the rapid growth
within the Church and
good and spiritual Christians,
PARABLES OF THE KINGDOM
i8o
a necessary consequence of the Church s progress in the world, is quite obviously described in the Parable The of the Tares, the darnel among the wheat.
outpouring of the Holy Spirit endowment with spiritual
her
on the Church and gifts
is
as evidently
while the more secret and depicted in the Talents work the of personal Spirit is foreshadowed in the ;
growth of the seed, in the spreading of the leaven through the lump, in the oil in the vessel ready to feed the lighted torch of the wise virgin soul. silent
The Individual Life in
Christ.
And
not the Church only but the individual life in The man who Christ is here in its many varieties.
comes upon the treasure without seeking who, while seeking for goodly
pearls,
it,
the
man
finds one of
complementary types of Christian character, both of which are needful to the complete great price,
are
ness of the
Body
of Christ.
In the Parable of the
Sower we see the various measures
of fruitfulness
which distinguish individual lives, while the Pounds shew how the same gifts may be turned to more or less It is
advantage, according to individual character. evident that our Lord contemplated no mono
tonous uniformity in His Church, but the free play of personal life and yet how in the midst of much ;
diversity there are certain features which are
common
HUMAN
RESPONSIBILITY
and mark them as His there same inner and unseen growth and
to all genuine disciples,
are in all the
;
outward manifestation there are in
181
of
the fruit of the Spirit
;
the sense of Divine forgiveness and the exercise of the spirit of forgiveness towards fellow-
servants
;
all
there are in
two aspects
all,
in
more
or less degree, the
conduct which are symbolized
of Christian
by the watching of the Virgins and the doing business with the Pounds or Talents a contemplative, ascetic, side of the religious experience, and a side which is occupied by the active work of each
Human And
man
s calling.
Responsibility.
another important and far-reaching subject in connexion with the individual life upon which the Parables of the Kingdom have much to there
is
It is the question of human responsibility. You might suppose that the idea of a Kingdom or Sovereignty of God would suggest a rigid deter
tell us.
minism, a one-sided, unbalanced representation of the Divine predestination of men, as if it excluded personal freedom, and left them the subjects of an arbitrary exercise of the of the of
Supreme
Will.
Kingdom magnify
the Heavenly King,
But while the Parables
the power and the mercy
they represent with every
variety of imagery the responsibility of man, and the freedom of his will to accept or reject the Divine
1
PARABLES OF THE KINGDOM
82
The growth and produce
offer.
of the wheat-grain
depend not only on the inherent vitality of the seed, but also on the nature of the soil that receives it. Indeed, in St.
Mark
bear of
said to
its
s
accord, airro/uar^, as
shew how much depends upon will
the soil
singular parable,
own
remember, represents the
and emotions, and above
all,
it
;
and the
human
the
soil,
And
is
to
you
mind,
heart,
will.
if
to take
another class of parables, in the case of him who accidentally finds the hidden treasure, as well as in that of him
who
deliberately seeks goodly pearls, a
great effort of the will
has to
make
is
needed
in order to obtain
which has been found
possession of that
each
;
man
a supreme sacrifice, or he gains nothing
Great Supper and the Marriage Feast, the freedom of the will is clearly the King spreads the feast and invites the seen
by
his
discovery.
the
In
;
but the guests can refuse or accept as they it is they who really determine their own please, guests,
and
so through
destiny.
It
down
the end.
to
is
all
The goats
these later parables are not
condemned
because they are goats, or the sheep approved because they are sheep, but each is approved or condemned because he has done or
left
undone duties
to
which
he was clearly called. Everywhere we are met by within the the doctrine of human responsibility ;
Kingdom and without
men make
their
own
it
there
future.
is
And
the same law that so far from lessen-
HUMAN
RESPONSIBILITY
183
ing or destroying responsibility the Sovereign Grace of
God
increases
many
it
multiplies
it,
times
for
;
every act of Divine forgiveness, every gift of Divine
men
Grace, lays upon
We
service.
can see
a fresh duty, a fresh
call to
the parables, and
all this in
it
does not present to our minds the same hopeless puzzle which the study of predestination and freewill in in
the abstract presents.
human
life
These two great factors
are seen in the parables working quite
harmoniously together
:
we
recognize, but we are not much good seed is wasted rock or among thorns or
perplexed by the fact that
through falling on the
by the fact that
;
men can and do
God s best earthly much more out of
gifts,
or that
reject or misuse
some men make
so
their advantages than others do,
or that thoughtlessness or sluggishness bring punish
ments that seem to
the
to be altogether out of proportion
magnitude
of
the
offence.
The parables
remind us that such things are going on, as a matter of fact, in our outward earthly life and yet men are practically
free.
life
spiritual
;
It
is
so,
our Lord says,
Kingdom, does not so control the deprive bility,
the
human
will as to
of its proper function, its great responsi
it
of deciding for itself.
problem presented by not enter
in
the Sovereignty of God, the Divine
;
He
solve problems.
Into the metaphysical
this state of things Christ does
did not come,
He was
not sent to
But He recognizes the
facts
and
84
1
PARABLES OF THE KINGDOM
bids us recognize
them
;
just as
we cannot
necessitarian principles in the things of
act
upon
common
life,
we cannot act upon them in the things of the spirit or if we do so in either case, we must expect disaster. In things spiritual as in things temporal we must act as if all depended upon ourselves, although we know that if it did, we should certainly be undone. This
so
is
;
the practical teaching of the Parables of the King
dom, and
it is teaching to which attention can hardly be called too often.
The Problem of Evil and
of a Personal
Power of
Evil.
There is another grave problem on which the Parables have something to say the problem of But they approach it only on the practical Evil. :
and only in its relation to the Kingdom of God. The darnel would not have received any notice, had
side
it
among the wheat. What was it How came it there ? The puzzle was
not appeared
doing there
?
too great for the servants, but the Master knew, and
His answer
is
quite explicit.
It
had not come there
by accident, nor was it there because its seeds were in the soil, but it had been sown by the direct and deliberate act of a malicious
TOVTO
e-TTOiVrei/,
An enemy
enemy
:
hath done
e^Opo? avQpwiro? this.
The same
seems, has been committed within a genera crime, tion or two in India, and nearer home, in Ireland. it
THE PROBLEM OF EVIL
185
The farmer
s
or the corn
had been sown, and while the soil was still he scattered the seeds of some noxious
receptive
;
enemy came by
night, just after the rice
weed over the surface of the rice field or the furrows. This is what has been done, the Lord says, in God s
by God
field
name
of the
s
enemy, and
enemy
them (the tares)
in the interpretation the
given
:
is the Devil.
the interpretation doubtless
is
Christ s
is
The enemy that sowed And whether or not
regarded as Christ
meaning
own, this is throughout His
for
;
teaching a personal Devil or Satan
is
s
assumed
to be
Look in opposition to God. ances as I beheld Satan fallen as lightning from heaven. at such utter
working
Behold,
I have given
you authority
.
1
power of the enemy (rov e-^Opov) which is prepared for the devil and his wheat*
The
have you
to
that he
last petition of the
.
over
the
j
Satan asked
.
2
might s
the
eternal fire
Behold,
angels.
Lord
all
sift
you as
Prayer should
probably be translated, Deliver us from the Evil One. So many Christians now deny that there is any personal Devil that it is worth while to labour this point a
little.
First as to the
names
:
devil
is
of course
merely (W/3oAo?, which means one who SiafiaXXei, one who accuses, maligns Satan, the Hebrew JtD&? Aramaic &OpD, Greek (N.T.) a-aravas, is merely an ;
adversary,
enemy. 1
the parable translates it, e^Opcs, an the Satan, 6 o-aravas, the Devil, singles
or, as
But
Lc. x. 18, 19.
2
Mt. xxv. 41.
8
Lc. xxii. 31.
PARABLES OF THE KINGDOM
186
out a particular person Adversary, the Accuser 1
John
says,
is
pre-eminently the
is
the
person who, as St. commonly called Devil and the Satan
is
mentioned only
;
KOI
Am^oXo?
(6 KaXovjuevo?
who
in the later post-exilic
Old Testament, and by name only Zechariah
iii.,
Job
natural inference
i.,
is
and
name
I
books
of the
in three passages,
Chronicles xxi.;
and the
that this conception of the Satan
or personal adversary of this
This person
Zarai/a?).
God and men
was a somewhat
late
at least under
importation into
Jewish theology, possibly as some say of Babylonian Into that question I need not origin.
or Persian
now go
in
;
any case
common
article of
accepted, as
it
The question
is
it
belief
was
Lord
in our
among
s
time an
the Jews, and was
seems, by our Lord in His teaching.
whether, this being so, it is binding on Christians, or rather whether it is to be taken as ex
pressing a great and tremendous fact in the spiritual
world.
Now
it is clear,
I
think, that our
Lord did accept
current terms, and even current beliefs, so far as
it
was possible
to do this consistently with essential
truth.
characteristic of His teaching to start
It is
with what people believed, and to use their own You see expressions and terms so far as He could. this in
His use of the word Gehenna, and Paradise, and
Abraham
s
Bosom, and perhaps also Apoc.
xii. 9.
in
much
of
what
THE PROBLEM OF EVIL He
says about demons
that the boy from
;
for instance,
whom He
it
cast out a
187
seems evident
demon
(Me.
ix.)
was subject to what we should now call epilepsy and that when Jesus rebuked the deaf and dumb spirit,
;
He used popular language just as He did when He rebuked the raging winds and sea, as if they had been But His constant acceptance of the a that principle personal evil power presides over all that antagonism to the good will of God which we can living things.
work
seems to me, far too grave a matter to be treated as a mere concession to popular belief. Even in the case of possession it may be plainly see at
is,
as
it
suspected that there is very much more of truth in the current belief than many moderns suppose. But
whatever
be thought of the connexion of alien with certain diseases such as epilepsy, will-power there is nothing in science which can disprove the
may
existence of a central personal force of evil such as the
New Testament and
the teaching of our Lord Himself
am not prepared to I presuppose. assert that the existence of a personal Devil is an And though
article of the Christian faith, to in the ecclesiastical sense, I
deny the existence
decry which
am bound
of a personal Devil
is
heresy
to say that to
seems to intro
duce a grave element of uncertainty into the teaching and of the Apostles for of what can we feel
of Christ
sure
ing
if
is
;
very fundamental question that teach, not to be taken seriously ?
on
this
PARABLES OF THE KINGDOM
i88
Our Lord and the Apostles, and that
is
then, certainly taught,
why we
should hesitate
from teaching, the existence of a personal
to refrain
Power
sufficient reason
of Evil, the Evil One, 6 the Trovrjpo?,
and
o e"xQpos,
this
is
teaching
Enemy,
enshrined
in
the
Parables of the Kingdom. The Enemy sows tares among the wheat. Consider what this means :
that like Christ and His servants he sows seed, but
seed which
is
not good, and that he sows this seed just
where Christ has sown the good. Seed is religious teaching possessing vitality and producing life ;
and as
the
Good Seed
is
which the Devil sows
is
which
into
fruits
finds its
way
Word
the
the Devil
men
s
of God, so the seed
word
s
;
it is
teaching
hearts and produces
which are noxious, destructive
prejudicial to the interests of the
to spiritual
Kingdom
life,
of God.
then by false teaching that the Devil works he circulates within the field where God s truth has It is
;
been sown, beliefs, opinions, ideals, which are its he leaves them to bear fruit, and the result opposite ;
seen in lives which are essentially opposed to the I am not speaking only or even chiefly life of Christ. is
of
what
are
called
teaching about the Christ, or the
far as
it
Work
heresies
faith,
;
about
of Christ,
is
though (e.g.)
all
false
the Person of
certain to bring, so
takes root and grows, a corresponding falling
off in Christian life.
standards of
life,
But
I
refer chiefly to the false
the ideals which are, at bottom,
THE PROBLEM OF EVIL not Christ
but the world
189
the misrepresentations of Christian belief and Christian practice which are so s
common among
people
s,
who ought
know
to
better.
we
believe Christ, these opinions and views of life which are so widely disseminated in Christian lands If
are
all in
fact to be traced to that terrible will-power
which has
oppose God and Christ. These apparently harmless little seeds which are scattered in
set itself to
conversation,
in
periodical
books
in
literature,
otherwise praiseworthy, may ultimately be traced to the Devil, as all seeds of truth and good living are to
be traced to Christ. does as he wills
;
Outside the Church the
Enemy
within the Church in Christian lands
good society he comes by night, not openly but No one detects quite as truly, and sows his seeds. in
the mischief that
is
being done
till
the blade and the
an unhealthy state of appear the public opinion, prevalence of beliefs and practices which are not according to Christ, the neglect of fruit
;
such
fruit
as
Christian ordinances and duties, an open antagonism to the revealed will of God.
Why
the
Enemy
permitted to do
is
this,
how
this
came to set itself into opposition to the It is Will of the Creator, the Lord does not say. great Will
enough all
for us to
sowing
seminate,
know
of evil seed.
by word
of
which do not make
that the It
mouth
is
Enemy
s
hand
is
in
Devil s work to dis
any ideas which make
or in print,
for righteousness,
PARABLES OF THE KINGDOM
190
against faith and spiritual
such seeds are
If
life.
dropt into your mind by what you read or hear, destroy if you can but at least do not
or eradicate them,
;
communicate them to another
it
To have the
soul.
seed sown in you, is a misfortune to retain and let it grow, is a sin to scatter it abroad, is
Devil
s
;
;
diabolical.
about
That
the essence of our Lord
is
Evil.
have a yet graver subject to deal with
issues of evil, as
Let us
:
the final
they are depicted in these parables. the imagery, which is remarkably
first collect
varied and suggestive. burnt.
teaching
Church.
evil in the
The Final Issues of I
s
The Bad,
The Tares
inedible
Fish
are gathered
are thrown
and
away.
The Guest who has not provided himself with a wedding-garment
is
cast out into the darkness outside
the brightly lighted hall
;
and so are the Virgins who
have not provided themselves with oil for their lamps. The man who has not done business with his Pound, or his Talent, has cast out.
it
taken from him
Those on the
left
hand
have not used their opportunities
;
and he
of the
also
is
Judge who
of well-doing, go
away into eternal punishment. The forgiven Servant who is unforgiving has his pardon cancelled, and is thrown into prison and delivered to the tormentors till
such time as he has paid his debt in
full.
All
THE FINAL
ISSUES
OF EVIL
191
these
punishments are connected in the parables with the end of the age, represented under different
The Tares
figures.
are not gathered and burnt
the harvest has come, nor till
pelled
the house
is
is filled,
till
the Wedding-guest ex or the Servant who has
buried his talent deprived of it till his master returns. the end, thus variously depicted, is no doubt the
And end
the present
of
Matthew
St.
calls
age,
J
en/i/reXeta
TOV
aiwvo?,
as
using the Greek equivalent of
it,
an Aramaic phrase probably used by Christ the inflicted reaches into the new order on punishment ;
which
then begin, and nothing is said as to any ending it, unless indeed there should also be an end, as in the Parable of the Unmerciful Servant it is dimly will
of
hinted, of the sin which
On
the other hand
punishments are very
is
it
the cause of the punishment.
seems clear that some of the
much
lighter
The
than others.
extreme examples are those of the Tares and the Goats for the tares are burned, which means (we are ;
told
in
the interpretation)
others to stumble or the
furnace of
those on the
fire,
left
who e*9
1
that those who make
do iniquity shall be cast into and Ttjv KCLJUUVOV TOV Trvpos :
hand are bidden
to go into the eternal
2 Others prepared for the Devil and his angels. suffer only exclusion from the light and joy of the
fire
heavenly state, or the loss of privileges which they have failed to use. All this seems to indicate a 1
Mt.
xiii.
42.
2
Mt. xxv. 41.
i
PARABLES OF THE KINGDOM
92
graduated scale of future punishments corresponding to the nature of the offence, and it agrees with what is
said elsewhere about one servant being beaten with
few and another with
many
1
And
stripes.
this
a
is
consideration which removes to a great extent the sense of unfairness which
makes many
doctrine of future punishments as
revolt
it
is
from the
sometimes
preached, a doctrine which condemns to one and the
same
some
hell
most wicked It
is
of the
of great
most upright and some
human
of the
of the
race.
importance to have a clear under
standing as to the use of the English
*
word
hell
and the various Hebrew and Greek words which represents in the Bible.
*
Hell
more than the unseen world Sheol
That
is
of the
it is
Old English
Hades
is
Creed,
have descended into
said to
even
no
of the Greeks.
of course its sense in the Apostles
also its sense
is
it
of departed spirits, the
Hebrews, the
where our Lord
and
in
in St.
Luke
xvi. 23,
Hell,
where
our Authorised Version gives In hell he (Dives) lift up his eyes meaning not in the place of torment, :
but simply spirits.
ey
a^,
TO>
in
the
state
of
departed
But from Wiclif onwards the word has
also
New been employed by Testament to translate Gehenna, yeevva, which is used several times by our Lord, with or without the our English translators in the
addition
of
fire,
rov 1
And though
Trvpos. Lc.
xii.
47
f.
this
word
HELL HADES GEHENNA
193
or this phrase does not occur in the parables, there can be no doubt that it was in His mind when He
spoke of the tares being cast into
the
furnace of fire,
and the goats going away into the eternal fire prepared for the Devil and his angels. The notion of the evil being cast into fire connects itself with the Jewish doctrine of a future Ge-Hinnom. As the Valley of
Hinnom, below the southern walls of Jerusalem, had in the days of Manasseh blazed with sacrificial fires in which children were offered to Moloch, and as in after
days according to Jewish tradition
it
became
the customary place for burning refuse of all kinds, smoke and blaze of constant fires were to
so that the
be seen there
come had
to
:
so in the Jewish imagination the world
Valley of Hinnom, its Gehenna, in which the foulness and rubbish of life was to be finally its
Our Lord adopted
this figure of speech
to express the spiritual process
by which in a future had survived would
destroyed.
life
after the
Judgement
evil that
be consumed, the process through which must pass after the Judgement.
Here again
it is
evil
men
not to be believed that Jesus Christ and opinions without intending to
uses current terms
convey by them some substantial truth. fire is, of course, not to be thought of
A ;
material
but some
analogue to the scorching, disintegrating, sub purifying, power of fire to which those must be
spiritual
jected
who have
carried
with
them
to
the
very
i
94
PARABLES OF THE KINGDOM
judgement-seat of Christ a will
still
in rebellion against
If it be asked the good and perfect will of God. whether this fire is purgatorial, a purgatory however
which, unlike the mediaeval conception, will follow the last Judgement, or whether it is just to consume or annihilate, or whether again,
it
will neither purify
nor destroy, but is simply punitive, no very certain answer can be given, and I would deprecate any dogmatic assertion and even any speculation on the 1
our Lord teaches, an aicoviov irvp^ an aeonian fire, a fire that cannot be quenched, an but He does not, as far as I can judge, aarf$e<TTov irvp]
subject.
It
is,
say whether or not souls may, in God s mercy, win their way through it, and come forth with their dross only consumed. All that we know definitely and certainly is that evil cannot dwell in the Kingdom of the Father, or in the
Kingdom
of the Son,
when
all
things shall have been subjected to Him, and that the means of purification which are now open to us through the Sacrifice of the Cross and the gift of the Spirit are limited in their operation to the present
age which ends with the Second Coming of the Lord. If there is still a way of escape, it must be so only
by passing through fire. But if we refuse to dogmatize on
this
future punishments, let minimize the seriousness of Christ
s
awful subject us not in our teaching
of
1
See p. 157
f.
words upon
it.
FUTURE REWARDS
195
we may not add to His words, neither may we take away and it is particularly necessary at the present If
;
time to guard against the latter temptation, because there
is
a very general and dangerous tendency to and the consequence of sin. And it is
belittle sin
of the
very essence of Christ s teaching, without which and death would be meaningless, to represent sin as the greatest misery which man can suffer His
life
:
and that except
it
is
and forgiven, the the world to come must be as
repented of
misery of the sinner in much greater than his present misery, as the spiritual and eternal is greater than the temporal and material.
Future Rewards.
But the parables speak to these
I
gladly turn.
and they are is
We
find
and
them everywhere same abundance j
illustrated with the
of similitude as the
Wheat
also of future rewards,
punishments of the sinner. The where it is hence
gathered into the barn,
forth kept safe for the Master
s
use.
The Treasure
and the Pearl become the permanent possession of the man who sells all to obtain them. The Guests
who
and the Virgins who are ready, the enter banqueting hall and are in the presence of the are prepared
Bridegroom and the Bride. The Servants who have turned to profit their Lord s money, even though it be a single pound, are promoted to places of authority
PARABLES OF THE KINGDOM
196
His
Kingdom, where they can exercise their powers in wider and more responsible fields. Those who have given but a cup of cold water to a disciple in
of Christ for Christ s sake, shall in
reward
;
eternal
these
no wise
them
a place will be found for
No attempt
Kingdom. parables
righteous
;
there
approaching
describe
to
the
is
the
made
future
lose their all
in life
in the
any of the
of
nothing in the Gospels at
is
visions
of
all
Our
the
Apocalypse. could have spoken of heavenly things, chooses to limit Himself almost entirely to earthly Lord,
who
things* that
Heaven
is,
to such things of the
Kingdom
of
and experienced in this present life. When He comes to that which is beyond present experience, He does not have recourse to apocalyptic symbols, gorgeous and magnificent, but as can be realized
and unimaginable
necessarily fantastic to place a check all
Christians
went beyond present
He seems
Being the Master
upon Himself.
He knew
:
of
that any words of His which
might easily be a
realization
source of vain disputing, or idle conjecture in the time to come. For this reason, perhaps, it is that
He
practises a wise reserve in speaking of the future
bliss of
the Saints.
And
Church.
How many
yet there
most
parables to excite the
lively
a working
and inspired by the ambition 1
Jo.
iii.
is
enough
hopes has been cheered
life
of hearing 12.
in these
of the future
one day from
AWARDER
197
the words Well done;
enter thou
CHRIST THE the Master
s
lips
What
Lord!
into the joy of thy
a wealth of works of
charity has been stimulated
His Inasmuch as ye did even these
hidden
it
ye did
least,
by the anticipation of unto one of these my brethren unto
it
Me
How many
!
a
with temptation, without a word of counsel or help, without even the cognizance of another human being, has been upheld by the of struggling
life
promise, Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the Kingdom of their Father / There is nothing in this to excite or to feed curiosity,
all
but there
is
to invigorate and support the Christian in times of stress or strain.
enough
Who is ment fell
from the
lips
to this question.
of
Man
more
I
it,
end
of His life
it
is
of
Man who
;
sits
angels,
in the
it
and
all things that :
so
is
who
the
they shall
cause stum
much we
of the Tares.
the Bridegroom
Pounds and Talents and punishes
His
that do iniquity
from the interpretation Virgins
The answer becomes The Son approaches.
myself."
His Kingdom
and them
?
Deliberately, calmly, consistently,
shall send forth
gather out of bling,
Christ could have been
"
clearer as the
No
that
life
who heard Him than His answer
to those
He answered
of
of eternal chastise
word
eternal
or
(/coXao-f?)
amazing
Award
to decide the great
But
excludes
;
learn
in
the
in the
Master who rewards
Sheep and Goats
it is
the Son
on the throne of judgement and parts
PARABLES OF THE KINGDOM
198
with
And
unerring
one from the other.
the
certainty
in the last case the
judgement
is
not limited to
the Church, but extends to the world.
The Lord,
few hours to stand before His judges in the court of the Sanhedrin, and before the Roman about
in a
and
Procurator,
be
to
Himself gathering
condemned by both,
nations before His
all
ment-seat, and determining the destiny, aeon, of every
sees
own judge for the next
human soul. If we need an explana we shall find it in the Fourth Gospel,
tion of this scene
where Jesus
says, Neither doth the Father judge
man, but
He
He He
gave
Him
is the
Son of Man. 1
authority
Man who
but by the the
hath given
Word made
all
judgement unto the Son
to
.
.
.
execute judgement, because
Man
is
to be judged
by Man,
represents the race, and
Flesh.
any
But
if
who
is
the key to the mystery
is to be found in St. John, the mystery is already revealed in the Synoptic Gospels, and in the parables, where the Lord quite openly, as His death draws near,
proclaims Himself the future- Judge of men.
Divine Forgiveness.
Only one giveness. is
of these parables speaks of Divine
It is in
found only
doctrine
finds
For
another group of parables, which
Luke, that this great Christian
in St.
exposition. 1
The Matthean parable
Jo. v. 22, 27.
DIVINE FORGIVENESS
199
of forgiveness deals rather with the responsibilities
the forgiven than with forgiveness itself. Yet the act of forgiveness is represented, and we see both the enormous extent of the debt which the sinner of
owes
God, and the unconditional fulness of the remission which he receives. This remission of sins, to
me remind
is not postponed to the day of to the end of life it is given even Judgement, nor on God s part at the beginning of our Christian life
let
you,
:
and during
its
course
at the font, in the absolutions
;
answer to the daily prayer Forgive us our trespasses. But it is not absolute or final, while we are here it may be cancelled, it will be cancelled of the Church, in
;
if
our conduct
of
God
shews that we have not the love
The
in us.
final
the judgement-seat cvye,
And
Well done
\
of
absolution
Christ
;
it
is
is
reserved for
the
Master
s
His Come, ye blessed of my Father. it will be based on an
that will be final because
unerring
judgement
record of each
man
formed
s life,
upon the completed and because it will corre
spond with a character matured, proved by tempta its measure tion, refined by suffering, and after perfected and capable of being fixed in goodness, conformed to the image of the sinless Son of Man
Who
is
also
Son
of
God.
Present absolutions have
their use in laying the foundation of such a character for it is only in the sense of for it on and
helping
;
giveness and acceptance that we can
live
and work
PARABLES OF THE KINGDOM
200 for
The
God.
final
absolution of Christ will confirm
and complete the absolutions of this life, and those who have received it enter at once into life eternal.
The It will
*
Coming
and
the
End.
be quite clear from what has been said that
what our Lord meant by
the
Kingdom
of Heaven
largely a present reality, a Sovereignty of
was
God which,
He
preached, was asserting itself in the world, and would, as time went on, assert itself yet more and more, both in individual lives and in national
even as
and
racial
life.
Jesus looks beyond His come He sees the
time, to generations to filling
the
world,
He
;
sees
the
own
life
Kingdom
messengers of the
Kingdom going out into all lands, He sees the long day of work in God s vineyard. But He also foresees an end to
all
this
;
the harvest
growth and ripening have ceased are no longer issued, for the house is has
fallen,
come
come, for the
is
the invitations
;
full
and the labourers lay down
to receive their wages.
And
;
the evening
their tools,
and
the end cannot
be simply explained as the day of each man s death, it is distinctly connected with
for in several parables
the completion of a whole aioov or long period of time or succession of generations. It is quite clearly so connected, for instance, in the Parable of the Tares, in the Parable of the Net, in the Parable of the
THE COMING AND THE END <
And
Sheep and the Goats.
a coming of Jesus Christ
201
with this end of the age
The
as clearly linked.
is
servants are bidden to do business with the pounds, while the Lord is coming and when He has received the :
Kingdom which He went to claim, He comes back The midnight cry which wakes the Virgins again. is,
Behold, the Bridegroom cometh
When
Him. and
all the
the
Son of
Man
shall
;
go ye out
to
meet
come in His Glory He sit on the
angels with Him, then shall
throne of His glory,
and
before
Him
shall be gathered all.
But what Coming, what End, is to be understood ? For we read of more than one Coming of the Lord. The Fourth Gospel represents our Lord as coming again by the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost and Church. / will not leave you
in the after life of the
orphans
:
I will come
effect in St.
John
to
you,
xiv-xvi,
is
and much to the same
shewn by the context
to refer either to the Resurrection or to the Pentecost,
perhaps chiefly to the latter. Then, again, He came in another way in the Roman armies which destroyed Jerusalem, and that coming may well have served to the Jewish Christians of the
end
of the age
begin when
;
who
escaped as the prelude for in truth a new order did
the Temple and
and the ancient people
of
its ritual
God was broken
in the apocalyptic chapters,
Mark
xiii,
St.
Luke
tion of Jerusalem
came
St.
to
an end,
up.
Hence
Matthew
xxiv, St.
xxi, the prophecies of the destruc
and the end
of the
age or world are
PARABLES OF THE KINGDOM
202
so closely intertwined that
crux
has always been the
it
which belong to one There is little doubt
of interpretation to decide
event and which to the other. that the it
first
became
crisis
made no such
generation
clear that our
enough from a comparison xxiv. 3
its
This
we have
original form, Tell us,
seen plainly
is
Mark
4 with St. Mark, written before the
of St.
in St.
;
Fall of Jerusalem,
;
Lord had used the one great
as a type of the other.
Matthew
distinction
xiii.
the Apostles
when
question in
shall these things (the
ruin of the Temple) be ? and what shall be the sign these things are all about to be accomplished
when
? in
St.
Matthew, written after the Fall, the latter part of the Tell us what shall question takes another form .
:
be the sign of the
Thy coming (TW
accomplishment of
that the editor of the distinct
from that
of
<njf
.
.
Trapovcrlas)
,
and of
The change suggests Gospel looked for a Coming the last days of Jerusalem, and the age
?
first
interpreted the question and the discourse accordingly. In the first generation or two, however, the Lord
was expected to come in a few years. There are signs in St. Paul s earlier Epistles that this hope of a speedy Parousia was
by are
being
no
entertained, perhaps even
Thus when he writes
himself.
extant Epistle,
in his earliest
in
still
left
wise
unto
the
1
i
that are alive, that
coming of
those
precede
to the Thessalonians
We
Thess.
that iv. 15.
the
are
Lord, shall l
asleep
(i.e.
THE COMING AND THE END it
dead),
the Lord tion
clear
is
that he thinks
Coming may
s
it
find himself
203 that
possible
and
his genera
the Second Epistle, indeed, he contemplates some delay the Day of the Lord will not be the and except falling away come still
In
alive.
;
first,
the
man
1
of sin be revealed
j
and
this will take time.
he probably thought to the end of his life of the Coming, both of Antichrist and of Christ, as im
Still
the Lord is pending about the year sixty.
at hand, 2
he writes from
Rome
was long before the that the Advent was imminent died out.
belief
children, St.
more
;
John
It
after the Fall of Jerusalem,
it is
the last
know
It is
not
that
the last hour. 3
it is
Little
writes, perhaps thirty years or
till
hour
we
.
.
we
.
reach the
late 2 Peter, written in all probability in the
second
century, that the apparent delay of the Advent accounted for on the ground that With the Lord a thousand years are as one day*
.
But there
is .
.
no reason to think, as some have thought, that our Lord Himself either suggested or shared the expectation of an immediate Parousia.
On
is
the contrary
He spoke the
Parable of the Pounds
for the express purpose of discouraging such an idea, 5
and He of the
laid great
epoch in 1
emphasis on our entire ignorance
day and the hour, or even the season
human
2 Thess. 4
ii.
history) 2
3.
2 Pet.
iii.
8.
(the
when He should come, an
Phil. iv. 5. 6
3
i
Lc. xix. ii.
Jo.
ii.
18.
PARABLES OF THE KINGDOM
204
ignorance which
Of
day or
that
that
in heaven,
angels
But
He
declared that
Himself shared
hour knowetk no one, not even neither
He knew, and
this
He
the
Father. 1
but the
Son,
:
the
has plainly taught us in these
parables, that the whole course of history, the whole work of converting the world to the faith, the whole
preparation of the Bride,
must precede the end, and
sanctification of the elect,
therefore
delay with the end.
But what Lord, as self
it
Book
to the
itself
must beware,
realistic descriptions in
the
He
which
Parousia
connects
the nature of this future Coming of the
presented
We
?
is
the
the disciplining and
i.e.
I
mind
of Christ
Him
think, of
unduly pressing which our Lord either quotes
forms of speech familiar to the Jews through other late writings such as the Book of Enoch. When, for example, He says to of Daniel, or uses
the High Priest, Ye shall see the Son of Man coming on 2 (or with) the clouds of heaven,
words that
of
He
Dan.
vii. 13,
and
expected them
it is
He
clearly adopts thfe
unnecessary to suppose
to be literally fulfilled in His
own case. Allowance must probably be made, to a much greater extent than has been usual among Christians, for the use of symbolical
and traditional
language of this kind in prophecies of entirely 1
beyond human experience.
Mc.
xiii.
32.
*
Mt. xxvi. 64
an event so
Just as ;
Me. xiv.
we do
62.
THE COMING OF THE LORD 1
<
205
not look for a bridal procession such as that which the Parable of the Virgins depicts, or a glorious
human Form seated on a great white throne, so, I we are not bound to think that our Lord
conceive
expected or taught a visible descent in the clouds. such descriptive phrases may belong to the symbolism, and not to the inner reality, of the ParAll
ousia.
It
would be as unwise
to press
them on the
acceptance of persons who cannot receive them, as would be to refuse to use them in our intercourse
it
whom
with simple folk to
they still convey the only which Coming they can comprehend, or with intelligent people who understand that these idea of the
details are
view we
symbols of grave truths.
may
But whatever
take of the descriptions of the Parousia, we hold fast
essential that as Christian teachers
it is
by the hope
of the
Lord
s
Coming, and connect
as Christ did, with a final
transition
of
it,
men, and a
judgement from the present order to the next, the
beginning of a new age. This much at least our Lord without a doubt held and taught, and if so, His disciples cannot let it go. There is a time coming, it
may
will
be near or far
off,
God only knows, when
there
be a great manifestation of the Incarnate Risen to the whole world, and that manifestation of
Lord
God
in
Man
will
be the
final
Judgement of the world, was judged when He
just as in less degree the world
came
in
the flesh
;
whenever
it
comes, there will
PARABLES OF THE KINGDOM
206
come with
men, and parting to character, which on a small scale In goes forward now wherever Christ is preached. that great flash of spiritual light which the final that sorting of
it
all
them according
revelation of Jesus Christ will bring,
men will
all
stand
revealed even to themselves, and henceforth they will
take their places accordingly. So much, at least, lies behind the symbolism of the Parousia (the Advent) so much, at least, we must think, our Lord meant ;
when He spoke
to teach
of the
Son
of
Man coming
His Father to judge all the nations of the earth. How much more in His teaching may find its fulfilment in fact, how much belongs to the in the glory of
apocalyptic language of the age, possible to say
words we find to
shew
you
is
:
in the Gospels, leaving
What
that they mean.
all
the minimum, yet
enthralling.
is
it
the
In
perhaps im
meanwhile we do well to use the
it is
light
I
it
to the event
have
set before
magnificent, tremendous, of
the
Coming we
see
ourselves daily approaching the judgement-seat of Christ.
This
life
and our place
is
deciding our place in the next,
in the
next will be revealed by the
The
manifold Presence of the Lord. Presence,
shine
the
X-ray
of
every
life
through
the purposes of
men
the
spiritual
and
as well
heart,
as
their
actions, piercing, as the writer to the 1
Heb.
iv. 12.
light of that
world,
laying
will
bare
most secret
Hebrews
1
says,
COMING WITH JUDGEMENT even
to
the
of soul
dividing
and
spirit.
207
So
at
the
the judgement of our lives, have come together with the Coming of our
length will
Kpi<ris,
Lord. I
We
stop here.
have by no means exhausted the
teaching even of these Parables of the Kingdom.
But we have gone
enough to see how
far
they are of instruction no less necessary for our own time than for the generation to which they were spoken.
Men need
full
1 to-day, as in the days of His flesh, to be
initiated into the mysteries of the
Kingdom which the
Parables of the
Kingdom at once conceal and reveal. we shall be able to lead them we have been initiated into them our
Into these mysteries just so far as selves.
Hence the need
to
struggle
by personal
meditation and prayer, with the inner meaning of the parables which
we would
They must them
give to men.
yield their treasures to us before they will yield
We
through us to others. ourselves
first,
afterwards. ledge
Into
we can
must be
guides into the this
initiated,
truths,
preparation
acquire, and above
fjLvo-Taywyol,
the
all all,
juLvarrai,
know
the growing
experience of life, will enter lengthening years, instead of exhausting, will add to the resources of the ;
Parables.
The Parables
will bring to us,
fore to others through us, little or
to
what we bring
to them. 1
Heb.
v. 7.
and there
much, according
PARABLES OF THE KINGDOM
208
When
the Lord had finished the seven Parables
Matthew
He
reported by the Evangelist as having asked His disciples, Have ye understood all of St.
these things
He
Lord,
been
so
is fit
man
disciple to the
who has heard both
and to
that is
also
of Heaven
Kingdom the
wisdom
be a teacher in the Church) is like unto a householder, which bringeth forth out old.
leave these words with you to-day.
bles of Jesus Christ
we have
it
delight,
TraXatd
will to
we
Para
serve the priest
be our business, and
bring forth things
In the
a treasure committed
to us, out of which, as long as office,
(i.e.
of the
the secrets of the Kingdom,
of his treasure things new and I
Yea
eagerly replied
answered, Therefore every scribe that hath
made a
older order,
a
is
And when they
?
every disciple
and
xiii,
it
new and
may old
s
be our
Kaiva KCU
the old truths, even the old stories, and yet
these truths, these stories, Spirit in us, ever new.
by the alchemy
of Christ s
INDEX OF SUBJECTS Absence Absolution
of God, 116, 139. (in B.C.P.), 91.
Gehenna, 193. Greek words and phrases
Apocalyptic phraseology, 26 f. Archelaus, king of Judaea, 137.
ApiffTov, 77.
Aristotle cited, 157. Arius. 30.
Seiirvov, 77.
rdv 656vTUv, 81.
Ppvy/j-bs
,
177.
ydfj,ov,
Baptism (Sarum Bride Call
rite),
of Christ,
and
126.
124.
Christ s prescience, 32, 200. Christianity and Culture, 50
i} ffvi>Tt\eia
TOV cu wi/os, 27.
I57*
Heavens ff .
(for
God
),
165.
Hell (Hades), 192. History of the Church, 19, 36.
discipline, 30.
Claims of our Lord, 173. Coming, Christ s, 200 f. Current terms used by Lord, 27, 186 f.
9-
f.
53
ffay^vv},
Christians, inactive, 143.
Church
88,
/j,aKpo0v/m.la,
Divine, 82 f. Call into the Kingdom, 72. Call of the Gentiles, 79. Chastisement, 157.
79-
157. 122.
\ajJLirds,
The
Choice,
:
Christ
Judgement,
s
test
in,
154*.
our
Judgement
of non-Christians,
155Jiilicher, A., cited, 4.
Distribution of the Parables, 159 f. Divine Sovereignty, 20 f Donatists, The, 30. .
Easter Eve, supposed date of our Lord s Return, 128. Enoch, Book of, 28, 204. Fisheries of Palestine, 53
Flamen
Dialis, 41.
Forgiveness, 90
ff .
f.
Kelvin, Lord, 146. Kingdom of the Father (Son),
32
f.
Kingdom 5
ff.,
of
86, 162
Heaven f.
Leaven, 41. Leviathan, 66. Logia, The, 159.
Lord 209
s
Prayer, 90, 168.
(God),
INDEX
2IO Messiahship
announced
by
Christ, 117.
Psalms 163
of
Solomon
Prescience, our Lord
Nebuchadnezzar,
cited,
f.
s,
32, 200.
37.
Other-worldliness, 149.
Responsibility, Human, 14, 181 Retribution, 157.
Parable denned, 1,2. Parabolic narrative (Mt. xxv.
Salmon, Dr., cited, 23. Sanday, Dr., cited, 35.
31
Satan, 184
149-
ff.),
Parabolic
teaching,
Purpose
Son
.
ff.
of God,
173!
of, 3. 4-
Parousia, 79 124 f. Peter, St., the authority for a
Talmud, Baba Bathra, cited, 66. Talmud, Shabbath, cited, 79.
parable, 10.
date of 2 Peter, 127, 203. Pharisees, The, 69, 164. Plutarch cited, 41.
Wedding garment, 79 f. Wilkinson, Bp. G. H., 146. Women in the Parables, 40.
PASSAGES OF SCRIPTURE OLD TESTAMENT.
INDEX
212 Me.
iv.
i,
INDEX
213
PAGE
Jac.
i.
27,
PAGE
156
153 ii.
1
Pet.
ii.
iv. 17,
2 Pet.
i.
8,
9,
Jo.
ii.
GLASGOW
:
-
18,
-
-
-
n,
xii. 9,
-
10,
iii.
i
iii.
9,
26,
83 203 90, 127 -
H7 I
48
186
xvii. 4,
49
8,
153
xix. 8, xxi. 2,
81
21, xxii. 5,
203
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MAGAZINE." An
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THE APOCALYPSE OF
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JOHN. and
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