Matthew 25
DODDMatthew 25:1-13
is exhortation to watchfulness by the parable of ten virgins. Mat. XXV. 1—13.
MAT. XXV. 1.
OUR Lord, in order to impress upon the minds of his hearers a concern about the great and awful day of future judgment, to which the latter part of his preceding discourse had so plainly referred, went on to represent it under a variety of most lively figures, and particularly by the following parable; saying, Then, or in that day of final account, when the faithful servant shall be rewarded, and the treacherous hypocrite so severely punished, shall the kingdom of heaven, or the state of things under the gospel dispensation, appear to be like the case of ten virgins, who, being invited to a marriage feast (which, according to the custom of this country, was to be celebrated in the night), took their lamps as soon as it begun to grow dark, and went out together to meet the bridegroom, and to light him to the house where the banquet was to be kept.
And it appeared by their conduct that five of them were prudent persons, and five of them were foolish and inconsiderate, who made no provision against an accident which might very
This whole parable ference to the custom ong the Jews then, ong many eastern natoms of the Jews and 41, (I seq.) The conduct his bride home light of lamps, which r shews, Observ. Vol. he Jews and Romans they were carried by
bridemaids, who used afterwards with them; and some tell us their must at least be ten. It seems, fro circumstances of this parable, that of the neighbours, besides those were directly invited, thought it their while to pay their respect new married couple, it was esteem decent piece of civility to admit the share in the bridal feast, if they made appearance at a proper time.
*The wise, who were ready, go in with the brid
naturally happen. They that were foolish, when they took their lamps, went forth with them lighted, but did not take any oil with them beside that which was at first poured in: Whereas the prudent maidens, considering that they might perhaps be obliged to wait some hours, took a reserve of oil with them in their vessels, which they carried with their lamps, to feed the flame when the former stock should be wasted.
But while the bridegroom for a long time delayed his coming, as they were sitting near the place from whence they expected him to come, they all of them slumbered, and at length fell fast asleep. And in the very middle of the night, there was a loud cry made in the street, Behold, the bridegroom is coming, go ye out immediately to meet him, and arise to attend the procession according to order.
Then all those virgins presently arose, and, to prepare for his reception, dressed their lamps, that they might shine as bright, and appear as clean, as possible. And the foolish damsels in great surprise said to the prudent, Give us some of your oil, for you seem to have a great stock with you; whereas our lamps are gone out, and all our oil is spent. But the prudent replied [We cannot do it], lest there should not be enough for us and you, and so we should all be left on a sudden without light, and the bridegroom be disappointed and affronted; but rather go ye to them that sell oil in the neighbourhood, and buy some for yourselves, as soon as possible, that ye may follow and join in the procession.
And while they went to buy it at that inconvenient time of night, the bridegroom and his retinue came; and those maidens that were ready to receive him joined the company; and
b In the middle of the night.] Perhaps the tradition, which Jerom mentions, that asserted Christ would come to judgment at midnight, might be borrowed from hence; though to be sure it is a very absurd one, since that can be the case only under one meridian at a time. A celebrated commentator has clouded this parable exceedingly, by attempting to explain it of the different effects Christ’s admonition concerning the destruction of the rusalem would have on different persons c Buy for yourselves.] This seems merely an ornamental circumstance; and it is strange that any Popish writers should consider it as favouring their doctrine of a stock of merits in the church, founded on works of supererogation; since, if it referred to them at all (which there is no reason to imagine), it would rather expose than encourage an dependance upon them.
he oolish came too late, and are shut out.
when they came to the bridal house, they went in with him to the marriage feast; and, to prevent disturbance, the door was shut and fastened.
And some time after the other virgins also came, and, knocking at the door, called with great importunity, saying, Sir, Sir, we desire you would open to us, who are also some of your guests, though by an unfortunate accident we are come a little too late. But he, being unwilling to be disturbed in the feast, and to open the door again, answered them, saying, Truly, I say unto you, I know you not whence you are:ᵈ my house is already furnished with guests, and I will admit no more. Thus these thoughtless creatures entirely lost both their labour and expense, meeting with nothing but disappointment and shame. And such will be your case if you content yourselves with a mere empty profession of religion, while you sink into a careless and negligent conduct, and remain destitute of that principle of real piety which ought to give lustre and vigor to it.
See to it, therefore, that you maintain a constant watch, not presuming on preparations to be made hereafter; for your removal may be much more sudden than you are aware, and ye know neither the day nor the hour in which the Son of man cometh to receive his prepared people to himself, and for ever to exclude the hypocrite and the sinner from the entertainments of his heavenly kingdom.
IMPROVEMENT.
LET us apply our hearts to the obvious instructions which this well known parable so naturally suggests. We are under a religious profession: our lamps are in our hands; and we go forth as those that expect to meet Christ; as those that desire and hope to be admitted to the marriage supper of the Lamb. But, alas, how few are there that are truly prepared for such a blessedness! Would to God there were reason to hope that the Christian church were so equally divided, that five of ten in it 2,3,
ᵈ I know you not.] This circumstance such a pretence might have been multiplied in the parable is not absurd; for nothing ed beyond all reason and convenience. At intimated a personal acquaintance with least its significancy in the application is them, and guests asking admittance with ver a arent and important.
Reflections on the parable of the ten virgins.
had the oil of Divine grace in their hearts, to render them burnclxiv. ing and shining lights!
ver. 5 Let even such as have it be upon their guard; for our Lord intimates that the wise as well as the foolish virgins are too apt to slumber and sleep, and carelessly to intermit that watch which 6 they ought constantly to maintain. There may be, at an unexpected time, a midnight cry. Happy the souls that can hear it with pleasure; being not only habitually but actually ready to obey the summons! Happy they that have their loins girded, and their lamps burning! (Luke xii. 35.)
8, 9 The foolish virgins saw their error too late: they applied to the wise; but their application was vain. And as vain will the hope of those be who trust to the intercession of departed saints, or any supposed redundancy of merit in them, while they are 10-12 themselves strangers to a holy temper and life. In vain will they cry, Lord, Lord, open to us. The door of mercy will be shut for ever, and the workers of iniquity utterly disowned. The day of grace has its limits; and for those that have trifled it away there remaineth nothing but the blackness of darkness for ever! (Jude, ver. 13.)
Matthew 25:14-30
Christ repeats the parable of the talents in a form something different from that in which he had before delivered it. Mat. XXV. 14—30.
MAT. XXV. 14.
JESUS, having delivered the preceding clxv. parable of the virgins, went on farther to Mat. illustrate the subject, by the repetition of a parxxv. able resembling one which he had used some 14 time before; (Luke xix. 12—27, sec. cxliv.) and said, Let me again remind you of the great importance of preparing for my coming by a diligent improvement of your gifts; for the time when [the Son of man] shall come, and the grand administration of judgment attending it [will be] as the proceedings of a man [who], going a long journey, called his servants togeth- 15 er, and delivered his effects to them. And to one of them he gave five talents,² and to another two, MAT. XXV. 14. FOR the kingdom of heaven is as a man travelling into a far country, who called his own servants, and delivered unto them his goods: 15 And unto one he gave five talents, to another two, and
² To one he gave five talents.] Accord- if silver, 2250 pounds. (See the Preface to ing to Dr. Prideaux’s calculation, if these his Connection, p 20.) And perhaps this were talents of gold, the value of the five great sum was chosen to intimate the value must have been 36,000 pounds sterling, and and importance of those capacities and op-
The parable of the talents.
and to another one ; to every man according to his respective capacity to manage the sum, and to the prospect there might reasonably be of his improving it : and immediately he went away, and set forward on his journey.
And he who had received the five talents, went and engaged in business, and traded with them in so diligent a manner during the absence of his master, that he doubled the sum, and produced five talents more. And in like manner he who [had received] the two, was so industrious in employing them to the best advantage, that he also gained two more. But he who had received but one talent, being displeased that he had been intrusted with no more, was seized with sullen indolence and servile fear, and went away directly, and attempted no improvement of it, but privately digged [a hole] in the earth, and hid his master’s money in it, till he should return home.
Thus the matter passed off for a while ; but after some considerable time the master of those servants comes home, and makes up his accounts with them, demanding from each the sum with which he had been intrusted, and inquiring what was the interest he had gained by it.
And he who had received the five talents came near, and brought other five talents with them, saying, Sir, thou wast pleased so far to intrust me, that thou didst deliver to me five talents, when setting out on thy journey ; and such is the improvement I have made of them, that behold, I have doubled the sum, and gained to them five talents more. And his master said unto him, Well done, thou good and faithful servant, thou hast been faithful in the management of a
And to every reasonable ally to every professing not lay any very great , because it is plain, the word παλαιον for small wedge of gold, of value than the price of [ver. 750, 751), so the among much later wri-inate. Well done, thou good and faithful vant.] The original word to has a pe force and energy, far beyond what exactly express in English. It was by auditors or spectators in any public cise, to express the highest applause any part had been excellently perf Bravely done ! comes something ne but is not equally elegant or forcible
The faithful servants are rewarded or improving them:
few things; and, having proved thee to be so in this lower trust, I will prefer thee to a higher, and set thee over many more valuable things than these: in the mean time, enter thou into the joy of thy master, and share with me in the banquet prepared for myself and my friends on this happy occasion of my return.
He also who had received the two talents came forwards, and said, Sir, thou wert so indulgent, that thou didst deliver to me at thy going hence two talents, which I have endeavoured to employ as carefully as I could; and behold, by trafficking with them I have gained two other talents to them. And his master said unto him, as he had done to the former, Well done, thou good and faithful servant, thy care and diligence is as agreeable to me as if thy trust had been greater; thou hast been evidently faithful in a few things; and I will in like manner prefer thee to a higher trust, and set thee over many more valuable things than these: in the mean time, come to the entertainment now prepared, and enter thou with thy companion into the joy of thy master.
But he also who had received the one talent, came and said, with a sullen and gloomy countenance, Sir, I knew thee, that thou art a severe man, and that it is a very difficult thing to please thee, since thou art so exact with thy servants, as even to think of reaping where thou didst not sow, and of gathering whence thou hadst not scattered any thing that could be taken up; requiring more in many instances than it is possible for them to do, be they ever so careful: And being terrified with this thought, I concluded that, if by any accident thy money should miscarry under my management, thou wouldst shew me no mercy; and therefore I went away, as soon as I had received it, and hid thy talent in the earth, in a place where it
He who had received the one talent.] This may intimate that we are accountable for the smallest advantages with which we are intrusted; but it cannot imply that they who have received much will ordinarily pass their account best; for it is too plain in fact, that most of those whose di-nit,
wealth, and genius, give them the great opportunities of service, seem to forge they have either any master in heaven t serve, or any future reckoning to expect; and many of them render themselves much more criminal than this wicked and slothfu servant who hid his talent in the earth.
slothful is condemned for his negligence.
has been very secure ; so that I have now aken it up, and behold, [there] thou hast thine own again, and wilt find it to be the full sum I received.
And his master answering, said unto him with just indignation, Thou wicked and slothful servant, what a false and scandalous excuse is this, and how easily may it be retorted upon thee! For if it were indeed, as thou maliciously sayest, and thou knewest that I was such a tyrannical and unreasonable man as thou hast described, even that I reap where I did not sow, and expect to gather something up from whence I had not scattered it, thou mightest certainly depend upon it that I should expect to reap where I had sowed, and to gather where I had scattered that which, in this instance, as well as the others, might have been an increasing seed. And therefore, if thou hadst been afraid to employ it in trade, as these my faithful servants have done, thou shouldst have put my money to the bankers upon sufficient security ; and thus when I came I might at least have received mine own with the common interest. And then, turning to the attendants, he said, Take ye therefore the talent which he has thus abused from him, and give it to him that has ten talents, as a farther token of my acceptance and favour. For I would have all my servants observe that I shall constantly make this a maxim in my behaviour, That to every one that hath, and diligently improves what he hath, more shall be given, and he shall have abundance ; but from him that hath not improved it to any valuable purpose, even what he hath shall be taken away. (Compare Mat. xiii. 12 ; Mark iv. 25 ; Luke viii. 18 ; xix. 26.) Such unfaithful creatures must expect to be stripped of all, and not imagine that I will perpetually suffer my trusts to be abused, and my business to be neglected. And, to deter others from such an idle and unfaithful conduct, cast ye the unprofitable servant, who has so wickedly abused my goodness, into the dreadful darkness which is without ; and there, instead of the delight and joy to which my faithful servants shall be introduced, there shall be nothing but weeping and gnashing of the teeth. Now this
Reflections on the duty of improving our talents.
horrible darkness, to which my parable refers, clxv. is no other than the dungeon of hell; to which every unfaithful servant must expect to be condemned in that approaching day of general acstat. count: fail not therefore to observe and report xxv. what I now say, that it may give the alarm to 30 all who need it.
IMPROVEMENT.
WHAT can excite us to a becoming care and activity in the duties of life, if we are deaf to those various and important motives which this excellent parable suggests? We have each of us xxv.15 received our talents, whether five, or two, or one; and if we be faithful, it matters not much under which of these classes we fall. Our acceptance and reward will be proportionable to our diligence; nor will any be blamed because he has not received five, though many will be condemned for neglecting one.
Yet a little while, and our Lord comes to reckon with us, and even now his eye is continually upon us. Let us ask our own souls, with what temper, with what courage, with what cheerfulness, shall we appear before him? Let us think of that appear- 24 ance with awe, but not with terror. Away with every unjust thought and reasoning (with whatever artifice it be excused, with whatever honourable name it be dignified) that would represent him as a rigorous and severe Master, and produce a servile dread, which would cut the sinews of industry, and sink the soul into a sullen negligent despair.
Whatever our particular snares in life may be, let us think of the doom of the slothful servant, to awaken our souls, and to deter us from every degree of unfaithfulness. And, on the other hand, let us often reflect on that unutterable transport which will overflow the breast of every real Christian, when his gracious Master shall condescend, in so honourable a manner, to commemorate his honest, though feeble, attempts of service; and 21, 23 shall say, Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful in a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy Lord! May that joy be the great object of our hopes and pursuits! and may our daily care in the improvement of every talent lodged in our hands be a token to us that it will be sure and great!
Christ gives a description of the last judgment.
Matthew 25:31
his important discourse with a plain and affecting the last judgment, and of the different sentences and executed on the righteous and the wicked. 31, to the end.
MAT. XXV. 31.
OUR Lord, having hitherto described his last coming in a parabolical manner, thought it proper to conclude his discourse with a plain account of it, which might serve as a key to many preceding passages; and he added, When that great and illustrious Person, whom you have so often heard of, and so well known, by the title of the Son of man, shall come in all his final glory,ᵃ in the most public honours of his mediatorial kingdom, to which all things shall then be completely subjected (1 Cor. xv. 25, 28); and all the holy angels, who have long been subjected to him as his ministering servants, shall come with him; then shall he set upon his glorious and majestic throne, conspicuous in the eyes of the whole world, as the universal Judge. And all the nations of men, who have lived on earth from the remotest ages of time, shall be assembled before him;ᵇ and he shall separate them from each other, according to their different characters, which he most perfectly knows, with as much ease as a shepherd separates the sheep which belong to his flock from the goats which may be mingled with them, and places them in distinct companies. And he shall set the sheep, that is, the righteous, whom he will own as such, and whose characters resemble the innocence, meekness, and usefulness of that animal, on his right hand, in token of his favour to them, and
ᵃ When the Son of man shall come in his glory.] If we observe the correspondence between these words and those in chap. xxiv 30, 31 (p. 375), it may seem probable that Christ intended to teach his disciples to conceive of his first coming to the destruction of Jerusalem as a kind of emblem of his final appearance to judgment; and consequently it will authorise us to use some of the texts in the former chapter when discoursing of that great and important day. I hope every reader will observe with what majesty and grandeur of Lord speaks of himself in this section,
which is one of the noblest instances of his true sublime that I have any where read and indeed few passages, even in the sacred writings themselves, seem to equal it. Methinks we can hardly read it without imagining ourselves before the awful tribunal it describes.
ᵇ All the nations shall be assembled before him.] Had the notion which prevails among some later Jews, that the Gentiles should have no part in the resurrection, been as old as our Lord’s time, it is easy to see these words might have been understood as a direct intended opposition to it.
He will reward the righteous for their kindness to him :
of the farther honours he will bestow upon them : but the goats, that is, the wicked, who are so offensive to him, that they may justly be represented by goats, he shall place on [his] left, to intimate his displeasure against them, and their final removal from amongst his people; nor shall the haughtiest and mightiest sinner be able to resist that appointment by which he is placed in this situation to avoid his sentence.ᶜ (Compare Ezek. xxxiv. 17, 18.)
Then, when by the ministry of the angelic attendants they are thus separated from each other, the great King of glory and of grace, who presides over this grand solemnity, shall, with the most condescending endearment, say to them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed and favourable people of my Father, approach yet nearer to me, that, having been assessors with me in what yet remains of this day’s awful proceedings (1 Cor. 2, 3), you may go in with me to inherit the kingdom of holiness, glory, and joy, appointed for your portion in the Divine purpose and decree, and prepared for you from the foundation of the world. And I am now descended to receive you to this kingdom with all these public marks of approbation and honour; for I well remember your good deeds in the days of your flesh, and felt my own bowels refreshed by them, when I was hungry, and ye gave me [food] to eat; when I was thirsty, and ye caused me to drink; when I was a stranger, and ye took me in like one of your own families; When [I was] naked, and ye clothed me; when I was sick, and ye looked after me;ᵈ when I was shut up in the solitude, confinement, and affliction of a prison, and ye came kindly to condole with me in my sufferings, and to relieve my necessities there.
ᶜ Nor shall the haughtiest sinner, [&c.] can imagine no more magnificent image in this; the assembled world distinguished with such unerring penetration, and distributed into two grand classes, with such ease as sheep and goats are ranged by a shepherd in different companies. The propriety with which our Lord speaks of himself in the following words, by the title of the King, is very observable; and it adds utterable beauty to the condescending words he is represented as speaking on great occasion.
ᵈ I was sick, and ye looked after me. This seems the exactest sense of εἰσύνην μί, which in general signifies to take the oversight and care of any thing that requires diligent inspection and attendance (compare Jam. i. 27, and Elsner. Observ. Vol. I. p. 117): and it strongly intimates that such an attendance on the poor in their illness is a very acceptable charity: and this is what many may have an opportunity of doing who have very little money to spare.
icked sha e punished for neglecting him.
Then shall the righteous, in humble amazement, be ready to answer him, and say, Lord, what service were we ever capable of doing thee, that we can deserve such notice from thee? When did we ever see thee hungry, and [thee]? or thirsty, and caused [thee] to drink? Or when did we ever see thee in the destitute condition of a stranger, and took [thee] in? or naked, and clothed [thee]? Or when did we ever see thee sick, or in prison, and came to thee for thy relief? We never saw thee, blessed Lord, in such circumstances of distress, nor ever had an opportunity of shewing any such kindness to thee, that thou shouldst now distinguish us in such a manner, and speak so honourably of the service we have done thee.
And the King, answering with renewed condescension from his exalted throne, shall not disdain to say unto them, I well know that ye abounded in such kind and compassionate actions to the necessitous and afflicted saints around you; and verily I say unto you, In as much as ye did [it] unto one of the least and poorest of these my dear brethren, who now stand with you in this happy company, ye in effect did [it] to me: and I declare in the face of all the world, That I take and reward it as if I had been relieved in person, and joyfully welcome you to that blessed world, where you shall be for ever reaping the harvest of these labours of love.
Then, when his faithful servants are thus acquitted and honoured, he shall turn and say also to them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed and detestable creatures, into the agonies of that everlasting and unquenchable re, which was originally prepared for the devil and his angels, whose companions you must for ever be in the regions of horror and despair. And ye cannot but know in your own
e Ye did it to me.] That almsdeeds should be remembered with peculiar regard in the day of judgment was a notion that early prevailed among the Jews, as appears by the Chaldee Paraphrase on Eccles. ix. 7, which bears a remarkable resemblance to these words of Christ, and might perhaps be an imitation of them. See Mede’s Works, p. 81.
f Prepared for the devil and his angels. There is a remarkable difference between our Lord’s expression here and in ver. 34. There the kingdom is said to have been prepared for the righteous from the foundation of the world; whereas here the everlasting fire is not said to have been prepared for the wicked, but for the devil and his angels. Compare Rom. ix. 22, 23.
What is done to his brethren he regards as do
consciences that ye well deserve it; for I was hungry, and ye did not give me so much as bread to eat; I was thirsty, and ye did not give me so much as water to drink; I was wandering among you as a poor helpless stranger, and ye did not take me in among your domestics and guests; I was naked, and ye did not clothe me; I was sick, and in prison, and ye did not look after me, or do any thing at all for my relief.
Then shall they also answer and say unto him, Lord, we are surprised at so strange a charge, and cannot apprehend ourselves liable to it; for when did we ever see thee hungry or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not to the best of our abilities minister to thee? If we had ever seen thee in distress, we would not have neglected to relieve thee; but we had never any opportunity of doing it.
And then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, and declare it in the most solemn manner, That inasmuch as ye did [it] not to one of the least of these once necessitous, though now triumphant saints, who dwelt among you on earth, and needed your assistance, ye did [it] not to me; and I justly thought myself neglected and injured when you shut up the bowels of your compassion towards them.
And so, to conclude all, these miserable wretches, notwithstanding all the excuses they can urge, shall go away into a most dreadful state of everlasting punishment; but the righteous, through the abundant grace of God manifested by his Son, shall enter into everlasting life: and thus the great scene shall close in the eternal happiness or misery of every human creature who has ever lived on the face of this earth.
§
then shall they also answer, &c.] Per- the number of those it may only intimate this shall be made! language of their hearts, which Christ living, will reply to it. I see no ne- life.] As the origin for supposing they shall actually same in both places, thus. Multitudes will no doubt re- to use the same wor- er they have often heard what reply to us; and miserable made to such a plea: God grant venture their souls on one who read it here ma be in ed duration in either.
Reflections on the sentence he will pass on the wicked:
IMPROVEMENT.
LET us now behold, with an attentive eye and a solicitous heart, the end of all the living; that awful scene, in which the various dispensations of God to mankind shall terminate in the solemn day, when the Son of man shall come in his glory, and sit on his magnificent throne. All nations and people shall be assembled before him, and we must make up a part of the assembly. The sheep and the goats must then be separated: and, O my soul, amongst which wilt thou then be numbered? Is there an inquiry, is there a care, of greater, of equal, of comparable importance?
Let us view the sentence we must shortly hear, as he who will himself pronounce it has been pleased to give us a copy of it. Can we conceive any thing more dreadful than that which shall be passed on those on the left hand? To be driven from the presence of Christ as accursed, and to be consigned over to a devouring fire! and this not only to the tortures of a moment, or an hour (as in some painful executions that have been known here), but to everlasting fire, yea, to fire prepared for the devil and his angels, where they will be perpetual companions, and perpetual tormentors! Should not the thought that he is in danger, in hourly danger, of being sealed up under this sentence, awaken the most stupid sinner, and engage him eagerly to cry out, What shall I do to be saved? And on whom is this sentence passed? Let us attentively observe it! Not merely on the most gross and abandoned sinners, but on those who have lived in an habitual neglect of their duty: not merely on those who have ravaged and persecuted the saints (though surely their furnace will be heated seven times hotter than that of others), but even on those who have neglected to relieve them.
On the other hand, let us seriously reflect what it will be to be owned by Christ before the assembled world; and to hear him saying, with a sweet smile, and with a voice of harmony and love, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. How infinite is the love that prepared that kingdom for us before we had a being! how rich the blood that purchased it! how overflowing the grace that bestows it on such mean, such undeserving creatures! Bless the Lord, O our souls, in the prospect of it! Let men curse, O Lord, if thou wilt thus bless. (Psal. cix. 28.) Let them load our names with infamy if thou wilt adorn them with such glory: let all the kingdoms of the earth, and all the pomp of them, be despised and trampled under foot, when offered as an equivalent for this infinitely more glorious kingdom.
Let us attentively observe the character of those who are to receive it. They are the useful and the benevolent souls: such
and on his favour to the righteous in the judgment day.
sert. clxvi. ver.40
as have loved the Lord Jesus Christ, not only in his name, and ordinances, and promises, but have loved him in his laws, and in his people too; and have known him in those humble forms in which he has been pleased, as it were by proxy, to appear among us. I was hungry, and ye fed me; thirsty, and ye gave me drink, &c. for in as much as ye did it to one of the least of these my brethren, ye did it unto me. Amazing words! that the meanest saint should be owned by the King of glory as one of his brethren! Irresistible argument to those that do indeed believe these words, to stir them up to abound in every good word and work! Under this impression, methinks, instead of hiding ourselves from those who should be to us as our own flesh by virtue of our common union to him, we should not only hearken to their entreaties, but even search them out in those corners to which modest want may sometimes retire, and cast about in our thoughts how we may secure any happy opportunity of relieving some poor saint, for their sakes, and for their Master’s, and even for our own. What if Christ came to us in person as a poor helpless stranger? What if we saw him destitute of food and raiment, or in want of any other necessaries of life? Should we not contend for it as an honour, which of us should receive him into our houses, which of us should entertain him at our table, which of us should even strip ourselves of our clothing to give it to him? And yet he tells us that he is in effect with us in his poor members; and we invent a thousand cold excuses for neglecting to assist him, and send our compassionate Saviour away empty. Is this the temper of a Christian? Is this the temper in which we should wish to be found at the judgment day?
44, 45 But we know not Christ in this disguise. Neither did these unhappy creatures on the left hand know him: they are surprised to be told of such a thing; and yet are represented as perishing for it. Away therefore with all those religious hopes (vainly so called) which leave the heart hardened, and the hand contracted from good works! If we shut up the bowels of compassion from our brethren, how dwelleth the love of God in us? (1 John iii. 17.) Or to what doth the love of Christ constrain us, if it be not to the exercise of gratitude to him, and the offices of cheerful and active friendship to those whom he now owns as his brethren, and whom he will not be ashamed to call so in the midst of his highest triumph? Blessed Jesus, how munificent art thou! and what a fund of charity didst thou lay up in the very words which are now before us! In all ages since they were spoken, how many hungry hast thou fed, how many naked hast thou clothed, how many calamitous creatures hast thou relieved by them! May they be written deep in our hearts, that the joy with which we shall finally meet thee may be increased by the happy effect of this day’s meditation!
passover was now within two days :