063. Chapter 4 - A Chapter of Broken Hearts

Chapter 4 - A Chapter of Broken Hearts Matthew 11:2-30;Luke 7:18-35 The Sermon The eleventh chapter of Matthew is a chapter of broken hearts. Where else in the literature of the world may one find a sermon of such towering proportions? It is filled with the majesty of heaven. It climbs the heights of stormy eloquence and closes with the wistful tenderness of the great invitation. It is of such bewildering beauty that one hesitates to attempt analysis lest a crude touch mar and obscure. What powerful outbursts of righteous indignation! How the lightning flashes of withering sarcasm cause one to shrink back! What peals of thunder shake the world with dreadful warnings of the fate of the defiant and rebellious! From the doubt and despair of John’s dungeon cell it lifts to the joyous, glorious light of heaven.

John’s Anguish The heart of John the Baptist was broken. He was no coward. He was not afraid to die. Deeper anguish than this tortured his soul in the dungeon cell at Machaerus. It must not have been too great a shock for him when he was arrested and thrown into prison by Herod Antipas. John was quite familiar with the fate of the Old Testament prophets. We do not know whether his blistering denunciation of Herod and his vile way of life had been delivered at court in the very presence of Herod and his mistress Herodias and her daughter Salome, or had been heard at court from more distant reports of John’s preaching to the nation from the Jordan Valley. But it had angered Herod and set Herodias afire with rage. The fierce flames of her wrath would not abate until she had achieved the murder of John.

Machaerus

One of the very few historical facts pertinent to the New Testament account but recorded only by secular historians is the statement of Josephus that John was imprisoned and beheaded at the castle of Machaerus on the eastern shore of the Dead Sea. Fascinated by the wild, eerie surroundings and scenery, Herod had built here a castle-fortress which was his winter palace. The ruins have been definitely identified by archaeologists. One may wander amid the crumbling remains and wonder in which of these dungeon cells John was imprisoned. The historical imagination is deeply stirred, and one seems to see the tortured form of John kneeling in prayer on the stone floor as filtering through the narrow slit in the masonry high up on the side the setting sun casts the shadow of a rude cross upon the floor. One can see John leap to his feet and pace the cell crying out in agonized, fierce utterance, “If they so much as touch a hair of His head!” Here was the secret of John’s broken heart.

Stark Tragedy

Many readers gloss over the stark tragedy of John’s fate by thinking of him as a man of long life, now grown old in the service and rich in the harvest of years of achievement. Lovers of noble music are moved to tears over the early death of Mozart and Schubert in the very midst of their sublime creations, but John was scarcely more than a year older than they were when he was cut down. A little more than thirty years of age when he began his tremendous campaign which shocked the nation out of its lethargy and worldly living, he came to the end of his earthly service in what seems to have been about three years of incessant, fruitful labor for God. A Court Preacher In prison John continued to store in his soul the stormy messages he would fain shout from the housetops to the nation. And he did have the amazing opportunity to preach during his imprisonment. With a curious fascination Herod summoned John into his court to preach to him. Mark 6:20 reads, “And when he heard him, he was much perplexed; and he heard him gladly.” Following a different manuscript reading, the a.v. has, “And when he heard him, he did many things, and heard him gladly.” This suggests partial repentance to meet John’s bold denunciations. But he would not go all the way and give up Herodias. The reading “he was perplexed” suggests that the demands of John’s sermons and the entanglement with Herodias left him in a state of bewildered indecision. That such a wicked king should have “heard gladly” so fearless a preacher fits with the preceding verse which declares, “For Herod feared John, knowing he was a righteous and holy man, and kept him safe.” There was that quality of unshrinking courage in John which excited Herod’s admiration and forced grudging admissions. One wonders whether Herod summoned his entire court to hear John preach on these occasions. Were Herodias and Salome present? What were John’s topics and texts? Was there ever another such “court preacher” as this?

What mighty plans still filled his soul of what he would accomplish to assist the Son of God in establishing the kingdom of heaven! And now suddenly he finds himself in a lonely dungeon facing martyrdom. Life seemed just beginning when “the sun went down with a flaming ray.”

Rehearsal The question of doubt which John sent to Jesus by two of his disciples (Luke 7:18) was not so much an appeal for help as it was a desperate call for Jesus to change His course and program. Those two disciples, still faithful to their first great teacher and thankful that at least they had access to him in the prison cell, must have rehearsed outbursts of wrath as they traveled north along the Jordan River on their mission. Surely they would with this message from John be able to stir Jesus to more decisive action against the villains who corrupted and defiled the life of the nation from their high places. John, their beloved teacher, was about to be killed. A single word of miraculous power from the lips of Jesus could set John free, destroy the wicked leaders, and bring in the kingdom of God. How they must have planned what and how they would speak as they delivered John’s message! The Critical Moment When the two disciples of John finally found themselves in the presence of the Son of God, they discovered that their mission was supremely difficult. As they stood in the outskirts of the vast multitude and watched with awe the mighty miracles which Jesus performed in casting out demons, restoring the sick from all manner of disease, and giving sight to the blind (Luke 7:21), and listened to the heavenly grandeur of His messages to the people, they found it was not going to be an easy task to stand up before such an assembly and say what they had been told by John. A bucket of ice water hurled suddenly into a flaming furnace could hardly be expected to produce more steam. And it would come from many directions as both the bitter foes of Jesus and His devoted followers would hear John’s question. The accounts of both Matthew and Luke indicate that it took these two disciples of John some time to carry out their mission after they had arrived in the midst of the crowd. As they worked their way to the front, they had opportunity to see and to hear the mighty works and words of Jesus.

Impact of the Question When they finally reached the front circle of the vast crowd and, in the democratic procedure of Jesus which constantly permitted questions and comments from the listeners, found opportunity to speak, this is the question they asked. Coming from the very prophet who had prepared the way for Christ and had announced His presence, what more deadly thing could have been introduced into the discussion than the question, “Art thou he that cometh, or look we for another?” Some slight intimation of the impact of this question might be secured from supposing that in the midst of a devout service in a thronged auditorium today someone in the crowd would rise and ask the respected minister whether he was really a messenger of God or only a mountebank. It was John the Baptist who sent this message asking whether they were going to have to wait for someone else to come and do the work the Messiah was supposed to do; and whether, after all the prodigious pronouncements John had made concerning Jesus, it was not now becoming questionable that He was really the Christ. Imagine the shocked, amazed delight of the Pharisees and scribes as they rubbed their hands in glee at this unexpected turn.

What indignation and perplexity must have filled the hearts of the devoted disciples of Jesus. Even though they themselves were also deeply troubled because Jesus had not moved to use His miraculous power to free John from prison and bring to an end the vicious misrule of the wicked in the high places, they must have felt indignation against John as they fought in their hearts a battle with pity and sympathy for him. At least John could have instructed his disciples to ask such an embarrassing question as this in private! Did not Jesus have enough abuse and shameful mistreatment accorded Him on all sides without having to endure such an insulting question from His own forerunner? If they had such thoughts, they missed the whole purpose of John in this bold move.

John did not really doubt so much as he was determined to prod Jesus and to put such tremendous pressure upon Him that He would be forced to make a decisive change in His campaign. The question asked in private would not have produced such pressure. It must be asked publicly in the very presence of both friend and foe that all might hear and that Jesus might be forced to answer in the presence of all. The explosion that resulted has echoed down through the ages in this mighty sermon.

Divine Patience

If ever there was a time for the patience of Jesus to be exhausted and a display of temper to be in evidence, this was the time. Yet see how gentle and kind is His response to these two disciples and to John, and how tremendous in power. He had one simple reply to John. He told the disciples to go back and tell John what they had just seen and heard. Some of the mighty miracles to which Jesus referred undoubtedly were heard from other witnesses, but their firsthand knowledge from this personal experience in the throng sufficed to authenticate all the rest, “the blind receive their sight, and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have good tidings preached to them” (Matthew 11:5).

What an anticlimax for the ears of a fuming incendiary in a prison cell! He wants a change of procedure that will bring violent overthrow of the enemies of God, and he is given the assurance that “the poor have good tidings preached to them!” But wait, examine the indisputable evidence, the mighty miracles which show that this is the will of God. And go back to examine what the Old Testament prophets had predicted the Messiah would do. Jesus quotes Isaiah in answer to John, thus summoning John to renewed study of the Old Testament. The predictions of the first and the second comings had not been distinguished in the Old Testament. They had been purposely veiled by God to allow the Messiah to reveal Himself and make known the meaning of the predictions.

John was too excited to see the Messiah coming on the clouds of heaven in flaming fire to bring destruction upon the wicked and to bring succor to the noble. He had not been willing to tarry with the Messianic predictions of humble service, mighty miracles, and sufferings and death for the sins of the world. He himself had declared, “Behold the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world.” But he had not enjoyed contemplating the unsolved mystery in this inspired utterance. Like the Old Testament prophets who bowed their heads in perplexity and anguish of soul over the meaning of the very predictions of the death of the Messiah they had been instructed to make (1 Peter 1:10, 1 Peter 1:11), John the Baptist had predicted that Jesus would be the Lamb of God sacrificed for the sins of the world. But like Peter at Caesarea Philippi, John in great agony was crying out with horrified protest, “Be it far from thee, Lord: this shall never be unto thee” (Matthew 16:22). The Father in heaven Himself had made to Peter the grand revelation of the deity and Messiahship of Jesus, but he still had to learn the tragic secret of what “Christ” meant. So with John.

Life’s Darkest Hour

If, after the fashion of ubiquitous modern newspaper reporters interviewing celebrities, one should have questioned John as to the great moment in his career, without doubt John would have said the hour in which He met Jesus in the waters of Jordan and at His insistence had baptized Him “to fulfill all righteousness.” For a second great moment of his life John probably would have set forth the very hour in which he overcame the temptation to the silence of cowardice and security, and boldly denounced Herod Antipas for his flagrant sins. If questioned as to the low point of his great career, John certainly would have named this hour in the dungeon when he fashioned this question of doubt to send to Jesus. It was an hour of downfall, but it was not so great as that of Peter in the trial hall of the high priest. And both had made the good confession before they descended into the slough of despair. Each had a definite, though mistaken, purpose in what he did in the “darkest hour.” Peter had been determined to play the role of a spy and discover at all odds what happened to Jesus. John had made up his mind to make this one, last, desperate appeal to Jesus to change His program and act with decision. A Beatitude of the Dungeon

Jesus, instead of sending John a bitter, harsh word of condemnation because of his hour of weakness, sent him a beatitude — a word of blessing to help him in his perplexity and distress. “Blessed is he whosoever shall not he offended in me.” The Greek word for “offended” (skandolidzo — the English word scandalize comes directly from it) means to put a stumbling block or an impediment in the way so that a person falls over it. John was finding it very dark in the dungeon cell. The sun was going down, or so it seemed, and he found himself stumbling over the fact that he was about to meet the fate of the Old Testament prophets and that Jesus seemed to be walking the same path of tragedy.

How many people have found Jesus a stumbling block because they refused to open their eyes and see His deity, or repent of their sins and realize that He is the Savior, or change their attitude toward life and understand that it is not by worldly power or might, but by God’s Spirit that we may conquer. The gate to life is narrow and the way straitened. The very mystery of the person of Christ and of the divine plan of redemption which He brought to mankind helps to make the gate narrow. The nobility of Christian living and the sacrificial service which are set before us help to make the way straitened. The Miracles

Surveying this sermon, the reader finds that the defense of Jesus is based on a discrimination between the first and the second comings. This is implicit in the arguments and declarations. it is not clearly stated. Jesus could not as yet speak to the nation openly concerning His second coming. Until He could tell them plainly of His death and departure, references to a second coming would remain obscure. Jesus offered two propositions in defense of His ministry; both of them gave complete answers to the criticism John was making in his question. The first was the fact that Jesus was actually working prodigious miracles. This could only be with the power and approval of God. God was sealing with His high favor the course Jesus was following. John’s impatience was not justified. God is ever more loving and merciful than man. The Humble Life of Service The second proposition was not stated, but it is implied — the fact that the Old Testament prophets had predicted the Christ would do just such things as Jesus was accomplishing. This is made clear by quoting from the Old Testament when He describes His own ministry. Isaiah 61:1 had been quoted by Jesus on another memorable occasion when He was facing vicious unbelief at Nazareth. It was the basis for His first recorded sermon. The people of Nazareth were justifying their rejection of Jesus on this same sort of argument that He was not the kind of Messiah predicted in the Old Testament. In picturing the Messiah as proclaiming good news to the poor, Isaiah was predicting the utmost in humility and lowly service.

Future Fulfillment

After defending His own course by the miracles themselves and by the prophecies, Jesus turned to defend John’s expectations of what the Messiah must do. In language fearful in its awesome content He pictured the day when the Messiah would lay hold of the ax and cut down the worthless trees. He would take up the winnowing fan and separate the wheat from the chaff. The doom of the wicked is declared in the most solemn warnings. The acts of judgment which the Old Testament had also predicted the Messiah would do and which John longed to see Jesus undertake now, would finally be brought to pass by the Messiah. But this would come at a later time. This is clear to us as we analyze the sermon with the entire New Testament in our hands. Those first hearers would only understand that at some future date, in the day of judgment, Jesus would give final reward to the righteous and final doom to the wicked. He had already declared that He would thus judge the world (Matthew 7:21-23). When the Dead Raised?

Listed among the miracles Jesus declares He had worked is “the dead are raised up” (Matthew 11:5; Luke 7:22). This introduces the problem as to whether the Gospel narratives are in chronological order. Matthew has already recorded the raising of Jairus’ daughter (Matthew 9:18-26). it is evident that Matthew has arranged his narrative in topical rather than chronological order. This is a justifiable and effective arrangement of a biography, unless the author has declared he is following the order of time. None of the four evangelists does so declare.

John is of the greatest assistance in helping us to understand the passage of time by his citation of various feasts. Matthew arranges his material in groups of miracles, sermons, controversies, and events. Mark and Luke show that the raising of Jairus’ daughter occurred after the sermon in parables, the stilling of the tempest, and the healing of the Gadarene demoniac. Having already recorded these miracles, Matthew, when he records the sermon in parables, proceeds immediately to the death of John and the return of the apostles from their missionary campaign at the very time that the news of John’s death arrives (Matthew 14:12.). If we knew how long the missionary campaign lasted or how much time elapsed between this question sent to Jesus and the death of John, we could speak with more assurance. evidently there is a poor chapter division the scholars of the Middle Ages made at this point in Matthew, as Matthew 11:1 belongs as the close of Matthew 10:42. Both the a.v. and the a.s.v. show this by making a separate paragraph out of Matthew 11:1. Matthew is making a new beginning at Matthew 11:2 in his topical arrangement. It is Luke who gives us the information that Jesus had raised from the dead the son of the widow of Nain. He records this miracle just before the messengers arrive from John. The evidence must have been fresh in the minds of all.

Popularity and Luxury

Jesus shows by the exalted emotional stress of this sermon that His heart is broken over the rejection and unbelief He faces. But first He speaks in defense of John. He could understand John’s heart in the dungeon. He could look forward and see John’s death in the near future. Any of those in the multitude who were now inclined to condemn John for the question he has sent are sharply challenged. “But what went ye out into the wilderness to behold? a reed shaken with the wind?” (Matthew 11:7). In America instead of speaking of a reed, we might cite a horseweed — tall, slender, pithy, pliable, top-heavy. What a contemptible messenger for God is such a preacher. Lange says that John was not “a reed shaken by the wind, but a mighty oak half-uprooted by the storm.” Observe how Jesus strikes out at two of the most deadly weaknesses of preachers — the popularity craze and the lust for riches and luxury. The reed, because it has not sufficient stamina to withstand the elements, yields to every wind that blows. Many preachers are like this; they bend in every direction of the compass as pressure is applied by flattery or by threats. And what a contrast between the dreadful severity of John’s manner of life and the luxurious ease of the king’s palace! The coarse, scratchy cloth woven of camel’s hair was the very opposite of soft raiment. What searing scorn Jesus pours upon the praise of men and the riches of the world as ultimate objectives. Can any preacher read this portion of the sermon and not feel his conscience deeply stirred? A Prophet

They had gone to the desert not to see a weakling or one given to luxurious living, but a prophet. They were correct in this estimate, but their evaluation was not high enough. John was more than a prophet. The Old Testament prophets held their high office with the grand goal of the final coming of God’s supreme Messenger — His Son. But they saw Him only from a great distance. John was the immediate forerunner sent to prepare the way. Again Jesus quoted the prophets (Malachi 3:1). Here was further proof of His Messiahship and deity, as it was justification of John’s ministry. A little one in the kingdom, when it will be established, will be greater than John because John was never in the kingdom and the relationship of a little one in the kingdom is still closer to Christ than John’s had been. The Kingdom The demand of John for decisive action against the wicked would have stirred a most sympathetic chord in the Zealots in the crowd. This was the very thing which they were demanding of Jesus — action against Rome. Jesus turns at this point in His sermon to rebuke them: “...the kingdom of heaven suffered violence, and men of violence take it by force” (Matthew 11:12). This was the constant effort of the Zealots to seize the movement of Jesus and turn it to their violent, military ends. The coming of John had presaged the ending of the Law and the prophets, for the Christ was now at hand (Matthew 11:13). The Pharisees had been arguing that Jesus could not be the Christ, for Elijah must first come and he had not come (Matthew 17:10). Jesus turns to give rebuttal to this argument at this point in the sermon by declaring that John is the fulfillment of the prediction of Malachi 4:5. The Contrary Generation The climax of the sarcasm of the sermon comes in the comparison of the unbelieving generation to contrary children in the market place who refuse to play either a wedding or a funeral. The two groups of children are playing the mimicry of charades. One group holds up to their ups imaginary pipes with which they propose to play wedding music, but the contrary group only gives a sullen refusal to dance to the rhythm of the imaginary music. Then the cordial group changes their proposal and offer to wail and weep, but the contrary children refuse to beat their breasts in imitation of a funeral. Thus it is with this contrary, unbelieving generation. John had come in the solemn, somber aspect of a funeral “neither eating nor drinking” in the ordinary enjoyment of social life. They had not only rejected his leadership, but they had added the insult that he was not really a prophet of God — he was possessed of a demon. Jesus had come “eating and drinking.” He had entered into the homes of those who had invited Him and had shared good fellowship with them. But the wicked leaders of the nation not only scorn Jesus, they hurl blasphemous slander at Him by charging He is “a gluttonous man and a winebibber.” One of the most powerful strokes in a sermon is seen just here as Jesus does not even attempt to defend Himself against this infamous charge. It was too low, too infamous, too doomed to fall of its own weight in the presence of His actual life. “A friend of publicans and sinners” He had indeed shown Himself to be, but not after the manner of their insinuation. He had not shared the wicked ways of the publicans, and had rather won them to repentance and noble living. Jesus closed His defense of John with the cryptic declaration, “Wisdom is justified by her works” (Matthew 11:19). Luke reports, “...is justified of all her children” (Luke 7:35), which indicates that we have in these reports a summation of a longer sermon. The results of John’s ministry proved the wisdom of the course he had followed, just as the results of Jesus’ ministry were proving the wisdom of His different course.

Denunciation of Unbelief The full force of Jesus’ blazing condemnation now was delivered against the unbelievers of Chorazin, Bethsaida, and Capernaum. In Capernaum and these two suburbs, Chorazin and Bethsaida, Jesus had performed so many mighty works that even such pagan cities as Tyre and Sidon, notorious for their wickedness, would have repented if they had seen such miracles and heard the preaching that accompanied the miraculous proof. As there were no punctuation marks in the oldest Greek manuscripts, the a.v. and the a.s.v. offer alternate translations of Matthew 11:23. Both are possible and attractive. The a.v. makes it a declaration, and following a different manuscript reading translates as present tense “Thou Capernaum, which art exalted unto heaven” by the presence, the preaching, and the miraculous proof of the miracles of Jesus, hut they had failed to realize or to admit it! The a.s.v. renders with a question mark and has a future tense, “Thou, Capernaum, shalt thou be exalted unto heaven?” This is sarcasm. “This is your conceited estimate of yourself and your future glory? You are sadly mistaken.” The a.v. makes the mistake of failing to discriminate between “Hades” and “hell.” The word used here is not gehenna, but Hades. Hades has two meanings (this is the reason the translators transliterated the word into a new English word, instead of translating it and giving its meaning): (1) the grave, irrespective of the character or fate of the dead; (2) the intermediate place of punishment where the wicked are kept until the final judgment. Thus it is possible to give the meaning to the a.s.v. translation that fire, earthquake, or war’s desolation will bring Capernaum down from her present lofty height to utter ruin. This indeed has been the fate of Capernaum. But the entire context shows clearly that Jesus is speaking of the doom of the wicked at death or in the final judgment and is using Hades in the sense of the place of punishment. Thus the a.v. went directly to the heart of the meaning, even though rendering loosely the Greek word Hades.

Degrees of Punishment This declaration of Jesus makes very clear there will be degrees of punishment for the wicked. Since Sodom was so extremely wicked that God had to destroy the city by a destruction notable in the history of the world; and, since there can be no salvation after death, it is plain that the more tolerable sentence at the final judgment does not mean entrance into heaven. It is rather that Capernaum will receive greater punishment. This does not mean two standards of judgment. There is one standard — the basis of opportunity. Man is responsible for what it has been possible for him to know. A man cannot claim ignorance as an excuse when his ignorance is the result of his deliberate refusal to acquire the saving knowledge which has been sent to him by God.

John’s Gethsemane

Jesus’ answer to John’s question had been epigrammatic in brevity and power. He had closed His message with a beatitude which offered to John a divine blessing. His whole manner had been gentle and sympathetic. Facing a cruel death because of his fidelity to God, John was in dire need of help. He knew where to find surcease for his breaking heart. “I must tell Jesus all my trials.” If John had sent this shocking question to the Pharisees and had asked help from the enemies of Jesus, then the problem would indeed have been insoluble. But John knew where to go for succor. The answer Jesus sent hack satisfied his Soul. No more questions of doubt came from the dungeon.

Jesus’ Defense

After the messengers of John had departed with their message to John, Jesus turned to the critical defense of Himself before the multitude. John had asked the shocking question, “Who art thou?” Jesus began His defense by showing who John was. On the great day of questions when His enemies demanded His identity and authority, Jesus also referred them to the baptism of John — “from Heaven or of men?” The answer as to who John was would prove who Jesus was. In analyzing the ministry of John, Jesus pointed out the magnificent courage and the complete dedication of John. But the climax of His tribute was John’s miraculous inspiration. John was more than a prophet; he was the forerunner of the Christ. Because of this relationship Jesus could say that a greater than John had not been born of woman. He could also say that even a little one actually in the kingdom, when it should be established, would be greater than John.

Jesus’ identification of John as the forerunner of the Christ had been couched in the language of the Old Testament prophets, Isaiah and Malachi. The prophets had foretold the deity of Christ. Even the very passage Jesus quotes here affirms it; the Lord is to walk the highway that the forerunner is to prepare.

Jesus then turned to answer the proposition as to how John could now ask such a question if he had been the forerunner inspired and sent of God. Why was Jesus not doing the things that John had predicted? The answer is found in the element of time. The Messiah indeed will finally judge the wicked even as He now grants rescue and salvation to the righteous. But it will be at the final judgment. For the present He must continue His humble ministry of service. The Joy of Jesus The woes which Jesus pronounced upon the unbelieving cities remind one of the breaking heart of our Lord as He wept over Jerusalem at the triumphal entry. But out of the very midst of His grief Jesus bursts forth in a prayer of joyous thanksgiving and ends the sermon with an invitation so majestic and tender that it is called “The Great Invitation.” Some have suggested that Matthew 11:25 indicates a new beginning and shows that this is not really one sermon, but various bits pieced together. This is the customary pattern of dissection used by the radicals. The phrase at that time means rather at that very moment of extreme grief and of incredible rejection, Jesus thanked God for the divine pattern of redemption offered to man. Thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent” in the sense that God has established the principles, but man makes the fateful choice. God burns a man S hand in the sense that God has given fire for man’s use and established the principle that its abuse will be destructive. Man is the one who is guilty of the folly of thrusting his hand into the fire. Man blindfolds himself by his bitter prejudice, and God hides from him the truth because of man’s stubborn refusal to see.

It was a proper subject of rejoicing that God had revealed the truth to “babes” — obscure, untrained, eager, earnest souls ready and willing to hear and obey the Christ. How wonderfully this thanksgiving was vindicated at Pentecost and following. The great movements of history for the renovation of society always come from the bottom up and not from the top down. We can but wonder whether the apostles were present and listened with awe to this thanksgiving as Jesus pronounced this gracious word of praise and glorious prediction of their future. They are not mentioned as being present. One might conclude they were away on their missionary tour from the arrangement of Matthew’s account, but Luke appears to give the chronological order. This would mean that they were present. A Thanksgiving for the Hour of Trial

We are accustomed to being grateful and having a song of thanksgiving when the products of our labor seem abundant and the joys of victory fill our hearts. But when the hour of trial comes, we are apt to complain and to cry out against our fate or even to complain against God. This is all because we are following Christ afar off. We need to come closer and share His suffering, His tasks, His joy. This was a time for Jesus to have become outraged and disgusted with the weakness and folly of men, when He had to face a question of doubt from even the forerunner John. But just as Jesus had a beatitude to send to the dungeon cell, so He has a thanksgiving to God for every humble soul who believes and trusts in Him. “The wise and prudent” went on their presumptuous, selfish ways of rejection and disobedience. But, at least, as “the poor have the gospel preached to them,” those of humble and contrite heart understood the majesty of God when they saw and heard, and they cried, “O Lamb of God, I come.” In the closing paragraph of the sermon Jesus offered surcease to the brokenhearted of all the world. We are facing a dreadful hour of trial in human history. It is easy to grow bitter and morose over the wickedness of the world, the growing power and might of the ungodly, the severity of the suffering which the righteous must endure because of horrors of war and rumors of war. We are tempted to complain and cry to God, “O Lord, how long?” Out of the midst of this flaming utterance of Jesus shall we not carry upon our lips a humble thanksgiving for the harvest? For every soul who has yielded obedience to God and who walks in the way of life with Jesus, we should be thankful The disobedience and truculence of the high and mighty make it hard to bear, but in the midst of every hour of trial Christ can put a song of thanksgiving in our hearts.

“I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that thou didst hide these things from the wise and understanding, and didst reveal them unto babes.” The sudden, wistful turn from fierce condemnation to heartbroken pleading to repent even yet and to be saved is one of the most touching moments in the life of Christ. Jesus was facing scorn, derision, callous indifference, and unbelief; John the Baptist was about to be murdered; the day of His own crucifixion was coming closer; yet Jesus found ground for humble thanksgiving to God as He looked into the faces of the faithful disciples before Him. Not all had rejected; not all had proved themselves unworthy of eternal life; not all had sought the pleasures of this world rather than the blessedness of heaven; not all had been so saturated with selfishness that they could not thrill at the presence of the Messiah and His spiritual campaign. The Deity of Christ The Great Invitation was preceded by such a tremendous affirmation of His deity and authority as preceded the giving of the Great Commission. There were many other times that Jesus affirmed His divine authority, but these two are most notable. The radicals charge that it is only John who gives records of such tremendous affirmations of deity and authority. But it is immediately seen that both of these most famous affirmations of authority are in the Gospel of Matthew. There is not a scintilla of evidence against the genuineness of Matthew 11:27. We have here precisely the same declarations of deity that we see in the Gospel of John.

“The Man Nobody Knows” was really the statement of Christ Himself as He affirmed, “No man knoweth the Son, but the Father.” The mystery of the incarnation is so deep that man cannot fathom it, not even with the full Gospel in his hands. He must still say, “I believe,” when he comes to mysteries which he cannot understand. And the revelations of God seen in nature and found in man’s reasonings, yea, even the revelations of God in the prophets had been insufficient when compared to the full and final revelation of the Father in the Son. “He to whomsoever the Son will reveal him” is the one who answers the invitation “Whosoever will may come.” A Supreme Quotation The Shakespearean actor Thomas Keene was once being entertained at a banquet in his honor by a large group of admirers. Someone at the banquet table suggested that each person present should stand and quote his favorite passage from the literature of the world. A buzz of excited whispers went around the table as all tried to speculate what Mr. Keene would quote. Some felt sure it would be something from Hamlet, As You Like It, or King Lear. But when Thomas Keene arose he quoted with simplicity and humility these matchless words, “Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” Even amid the gay life of the theater Thomas Keene had found critical need for Christ, and he had found the all-sufficient answer to his needs in Christ. It is difficult to select a supreme quotation from the lips of our Lord. There are so many incomparable sayings. It depends upon the mood and the hunger of the soul as to which one appeals most to us at any particular time. But certainly we have here one of the most precious declarations of Christ. The Divine Authority The affirmation of deity and universal authority with which this invitation begins is inherent in all that is contained in the invitation itself. Who else but God could invite all the world? The invitation seems at first to be limited, “all ye that labor and are heavy laden,” but sooner or later every human being finds himself in this group. We do not invite all because our homes are too small. During a wild winter storm homes opened to rescue the stranded travelers on the highway are stretched to the utmost, but a house that could only afford standing room to fifty could not intelligently issue an invitation to five thousand. When Jesus invited the uncounted millions of the ages, He declared His deity. “In my Father’s house are many mansions….I go to prepare a place for you” (John 14:2). There will be no housing shortage in heaven. We do not invite even all the people we know because our hearts are too small. We do not want some of them. How the love of God shows itself in the divine heart of His Son. These last words of the sermon are directed to the broken hearts of all mankind lost in sin and facing death.

Peace This is not an invitation to inactivity. The rest which Jesus offers is the peace of God, which the world cannot understand or receive unless it turns in humble obedience to the Son of God. It offers the joy of labor and accomplishment. Only those willing to share the yoke of Jesus and learn of Him the way of life may find this heavenly peace. John had brought about this tremendously exciting scene and sermon by demanding why Jesus had not asserted His divine power in majestic fashion to overthrow and punish the enemies of God. Jesus closes His defense with the sublime declaration, “I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” Here is the solution for all of life’s perplexities, frustrations, and sufferings. In the glorious light of heaven “the toil of the road will seem nothing when we get to the end of the way.” The broken hearts will be made to rejoice. The heavenly peace is offered to all who will give all.