[ p. 132 ]
THE TWELVE AND THE MULTITUDE
Lk. xi. 1-13 ; Mt. vi. 9-15 (Mk. xi. 25, 26), vii. 7-11. Mt. xiii. 1-52 ; Mk. iv. 1-34; Lk. viii. 4-18, x. 23, 24, xiii. 18-21.
It is very noteworthy that the beginning of the second year of our Lord’s ministry witnessed a change in His method. Throughout the first year He busied Himself with the multitude, teaching them in the synagogue or on the shore of the Lake and healing their diseases. All the while, however, He was forming His company of Apostles, observing the men whose hearts He had won and, whenever He found one qualified, claiming him for the high service. And from that day when He ordained the Twelve on the hillside, they were His chisf concern. He held aloof, so far as might be, from the enthusiastic multitude and the carping rulers, and conversed with the Twelve, ever and anon quitting Capernaum and retreating with them to some solitude— the upland behind the town, the eastern shore of the Lake, or the far north—that He might be alone with them and instruct them in the things of His Kingdom. The reason was not that He had despaired of the multitude and had no longer any care for them. Rather was it that the time was short. He was the Saviour of the world, but His errand was not to win the world. He had come to purchase redemption by His infinite Sacrifice. This was His task, and the task of proclaiming the salvation which He should win was reserved for the men whom He had chosen to [ p. 133 ] continue His work when He was gone. And therefore His supreme business meanwhile was their preparation for this so great a service.
One evening He retired with them, probably to His hillside oratory, and gave Himself to prayer until the break of day. It was no novel employment for Him. The Twelve had often seen Him so engaged ; and this had constantly surprised them—that He had never vouchsafed them instruction in the holy art which He so largely practised. They were the more surprised since several of them had been disciples of the Baptist, and he had not only enjoined his disciples to pray but furnished them with forms of prayer. One of these has been preserved—a prayer for the Messiah’s advent:
“O Father, show us Thy glory :
O Son, cause us to hear Thy voice :
O Spirit, sanctify our hearts for evermore. Amen.”
The Lord had given them no form of prayer, nor had He, save by His example, inculcated the blessed exercise. They had often wondered at the omission, and now, when He rose from His knees, they appealed to Him. One of them, perhaps as on another Cf j 0> xiii> occasion John, the disciple whom He loved, 23 > 24 * acted as spokesman. “Lord," he said, “teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples.”
He promptly responded. First Fie gave them a form or rather a model of prayer. “Thus pray :
‘ Our Father in Heaven
Hallowed be Thy name ;
Thy Kingdom come ;
Thy will be done, as in Heaven, on earth also. [ p. 134 ]
Our bread for the approaching day give us to-day ;
And forgive us our debts as we also have forgiven our debtors ;
And bring us not into temptation, but rescue us from the Evil One’”
It is a morning prayer; and the petition for “bread for the approaching day " was most fitting for men like the Twelve who had left all to follow Him and often knew not when they awoke where they would find the day’s bread. But truly it befits us all inasmuch as everything we have is God’s gift, not merely the bread we eat but our health to enjoy it. Who ever knows when he awakes what loss the day may bring, what temptation, what trial, what perilous ordeal ? And therefore it surely becomes us each morning to pray that, if it be God’s will, we may be spared the ordeal, or if we must face it, He may grant us the aids of His heavenly grace to bring us through it scatheless and undishonoured.
There is nothing in the prayer which was not plain to the Twelve ; and the Lord made no comment on any of its petitions save one—the fifth : “Forgive us our debts as we also have forgiven our debtors.” And His comment was not an explanation but an emphatic reaffirmation : “If you forgive men their trespasses, your Heavenly Father will forgive you also ; but if you forgive not men, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.” It was no novel doctrine. Had it not been written of old that “the Lord turned the captivity of Job, when he prayed for his friends” ? (Job xiii. 10) And in the most beautiful of all the apocryphal books, one which Jesus loved as appears [ p. 135 ] from frequent echoes of it in His teaching, another Jesus, the Son of Sirach, had said :
“Forgive thy neighbour the hurt that he hath done thee ; And then thy sins shall be pardoned when thou prayest.”(Ecclus. xxviii. 2.)
It was not because it was an unfamiliar doctrine that our Lord emphasised it, but because it is a truth which we are apt to forget. And indeed it is supremely important.
“ Tis not enough to weep my sins ;
Tis but one step to Heaven :
When I am kind to others, then
I know myself forgiven.”
There is no forgiveness for an unforgiving soul.
What makes us remiss in prayer is generally its apparent uselessness.
“If a flower
Were thrown you out of heaven at intervals,
You’d soon attain to a trick of looking up.”
But why should we keep looking up when, as it seems, nothing ever comes ? This is an ancient and abiding perplexity, and it vexed the Twelve even as it vexes us still. And how did the Lord answer it ? He began with a stroke of that homely humour which He loved in His private intercourse, telling how a belated traveller presented himself, weary and hungry, at a friend’s door at midnight, and his host found to his dismay that his cupboard was empty. He hastened to the house of a neighbour and knocked till he awoke and without rising inquired what was ado. “Lend me three loaves,” said the visitor. “A friend has just [ p. 136 ] arrived, and I have nothing to set before him.” “Don’t bother me!” was the impatient response. “The door is now locked, and my children and I are abed. I can’t get up to give you anything.” But the suppliant would take no denial. He kept on knocking and beseeching until his neighbour, just to be rid of him, rose and gave him all he needed.
See, means our Lord, what comes of persistence. And if a selfish neighbour yields thus to importunity, will the Heavenly Father refuse His children’s entreaties ? He always answers their prayers. Often indeed He withholds what they crave, but the reason is that it is foolish and harmful; and His withholding of it is in truth a merciful response. If a child asked for a stone, thinking it was bread, or a serpent, thinking it was a fish, would his father give it ? “If then you, evil as you are, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in Heaven give good things to those who ask Him !”
It had surprised the Twelve that their Master had never taught them how to pray, but still more surprising is the sort of lesson which He at length vouchsafed them at their request. He taught them nothing new, nothing which they did not already know, nothing which was not inculcated by the Jewish teachers. Beautiful and abidingly precious as it is, His model prayer is no more than a series of petitions from the Jewish Liturgy, particularly the Morning Service ; and its sole originality lies in their felicitous selection. In truth it is not a distinctively Christian prayer. As it was given, it ended abruptly, since the familiar conclusion “For Thine is the Kingdom and the Power and the Glory for ever. Amen” is an early liturgical [ p. 137 ] addition. Even this is a mere Jewish doxology, and the prayer lacks that distinctive note of truly Christian prayer—the all-prevailing plea “in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord.”
And what is the explanation ? He furnished it in the Upper Room on the eve of His betrayal when in bidding them farewell He told them of the jo.xvi.23, blessed difference which His atoning sacrifice 24< would make. “Verily, verily I tell you, if you ask any thing of the Father, He will give it you in My name. Hitherto you have asked nothing in My name : ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be complete.” Here is the essential distinction of Christian prayer : it is offered in the name of Christ, pleading the merit of His infinite redemption ; and until that redemption had been achieved on Calvary, Christian prayer was impossible.
It was thus that our Lord taught the Twelve. And what meanwhile of the multitude ? He was in no wise neglectful of them in devoting Himself to the paramount task of training His Apostles for their future mission ; but in discoursing to them He adopted a new method. Thenceforward, it is written, “He spoke to the multitudes in parables (Mt. xiii. 34), and without a parable He would speak nothing to them.” It was an old and familiar method, very congenial to the oriental mind with its naive fondness for stories and largely employed by the great Rabbis in their interpretation of the Law. [1] And in its proper use it was no mere comparison of heavenly things with [ p. 138 ] earthly but the recognition of a profound relationship between the earthly and the heavenly, the seen and the unseen, as it is written in the Book of Ecclesiasticus (Ecclus. xxxiii. 15, xlii. 24):
“Thus look upon all the works of the Most High ;
Two and two, one against another.”
‘All things are double one against another :
And He hath made nothing imperfect.”
The Eternal World is the real world, and the world of sense is but its shadow ; and we know the Eternal World by its dim and broken adumbrations. This is the principle of our Lord’s parabolic teaching.
“For, nowise else,
Taught He the people ; since a light is set
Safest in lanterns ; and the things of Earth
Are copies of the things in Heaven, more close.
More clear, more near, more intricately linked,
More subtly, than men guess. Mysterious,—
Finger on lip,—whispering to wistful ears,—
Nature doth shadow Spirit.”
Would you know God ? Then think of human fatherhood, and recognise there the shadow of the Heavenly Father. Or would you know Heaven ? Then think of your earthly home, and recognise there the shadow of the Heavenly Home, “our Father’s House.”
His adoption of the parabolic method in His popular teaching was a new departure, and the Twelve remarked it and wondered at it. “Why,” they asked Him, “are you speaking to them in parables ?” And He told them the reason. It was that the multitude had shown themselves so incapable of understanding “the [ p. 139 ] mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven.” He had presented Himself as the Messiah, the Promised Redeemer ; and they had construed His claims in terms of their crude ideal of the Messiah as a secular king who should re-establish the ancient throne of David, and, encouraged by His miracles, were eagerly anticipating the day when He would display His hidden majesty and “manifest Himself to the world” in regal splendour (Cf. Jo. vii. 4). It was, as the final issue proved, a perilous delusion, and to continue speaking openly of the Kingdom of Heaven were simply to encourage it. “It is for this reason,” said He, “that I am speaking to them in parables, because, seeing, they do not see and, hearing, they do not hear nor comprehend.” The Twelve had understood, and to them He would still talk plainly of His Kingdom ; but to the multitude He would thenceforth present its mysteries in dark sayings, liable to no mischievous perversion but intelligible to understanding minds. And even His parabolic teaching would serve the supreme end of the training of the Twelve (cf. Mk.iv. 33,34); for always after discoursing publicly He would talk privately with them and unfold to them the significance of the parables which they had just heard.
He began His parabolic teaching, according to St. Matthew, on the very day of His sharp encounter with the Pharisees. It would be toward evening, and He had gone out of doors and seated Himself on the shore of the Lake. He desired repose, but a crowd gathered round Him, so large and eager that, after His wont, He got into the boat to address them.
“Look you,” He began, pointing to the broad Plain of Gennesaret whence the ripe harvest had lately been [ p. 140 ] gathered, “the sower went out to sow.” As he scattered his seed broadcast, some of it fell on the beaten path, the right-of-way which ran through every cornfield ; and the birds swooped down and devoured it. Some fell on patches of thin soil where the rocky substratum lay near the surface ; and it quickly shot up and as quickly withered beneath the blazing sun, since the soil was shallow and afforded its roots no nourishment. Some, again, fell on ground which, though deep and rich, was unweeded ; and when it sprouted, the tender shoots were choked by a rank growth of thistles. The rest fell on soil soft and deep and clean, and it grew and ripened and yielded a plenteous harvest, here an hundredfold, there sixtyfold, and elsewhere only thirtyfold, since even the good ground varied.
As He afterwards interpreted it to the Twelve, the parable was a retrospect of His first year’s ministry and an estimate of its results He had sowed the good seed of the Word far and wide, and oftentimes, like the seed on the beaten pathway, it had fallen on unreceptive souls and never taken root; oftentimes, like the seed on the shallow soil, on emotional souls quickly responsive but as quickly discouraged ; and oftentimes, like the seed on the unclean ground, on souls where the roots of unholy passions and worldly ambitions clung and soon choked the tender growth by their rank luxuriance.
Had this been all, it had been a sorry tale of disappointment and failure; but there remained the abundant harvest which the good ground had borne. There had been much in His ministry to discourage, but there had been more to cheer; and He added a [ p. 141 ] series of instructive parables regarding the progress of the Kingdom of Heaven.
Husbandry is a business requiring patience and faith. The harvest does not follow the sowing immediately. The sower casts his seed upon the ground and leaves it there. He has done his part (Cf. Ja. v. 7), and he can do no more ; but all the while day and night God is doing His part silent and unseen. The seed germinates, and by and by the shoots appear ; but still the harvest is far off: first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain, and at long last the harvest. “So is the Kingdom of God.” His operation is ceaseless, independent of our feeble efforts. “So giveth He,” says the Psalmist, “unto His beloved in sleep” (Ps. cxxvii. 2 marg.); or, as the ancient proverb has it, “while the fisherman sleeps the net is catching.” Sow your seed, shoot your net, and leave the issue to God with a quiet heart.
And His Kingdom has ever small beginnings. It is like a grain of mustard—so small that it was proverbial in the East for a very minute thing, yet shooting up to quite a tree where the birds may nest. And its growth is gradual and imperceptible, like the working of the leaven in the mass of dough.
Thus alike in Nature and in Grace God’s operations are slow, unresting yet unhasting ; and moreover they are liable to malignant opposition. A husbandman tilled his field and sowed his seed, and when the blades sprang up, rank weeds appeared among them. An enemy had sowed these. What should the husbandman do ? If he rooted out the darnel, he would uproot the wheat too. Better let both grow together until harvest, and then separate them. Even so a net [ p. 142 ] catches good fish and bad, and the fisherman waits till it is dragged ashore and then casts the bad away. Thus should we work on in the service of the Kingdom, enduring opposition and awaiting God’s final judgment.
In such homely but pregnant parables the Lord discoursed to the multitude that evening by the Lake ; and then on getting home with the Twelve He unfolded their significance. “Have you understood all this ?” He inquired ; and when they answered “Yes,” He exhorted them to diligence in learning the mysteries of His Kingdom,(cf. Mt. v. 14-16) remembering that, as He. had told them at their ordination, they were called as His Apostles to be a light to the world. They were to be in the new order what the Scribes had been in the old—interpreters of God. Only they must not be, like the Scribes, mere retailers of a dead tradition but prophets of the Eternal, at once faithful to the heritage of the past and open to the larger truth which the Holy Spirit is ever bringing to light. “Every Scribe taught in the school of the Kingdom of Heaven is like a householder who brings forth from his store things new and things old.”
Cf. Edward Collins’ The Wisdom of Israel in “The Wisdom of the East” series (John Murray, London)—a delightful collection of Rabbinical parables from the Babylonian Talmud and Midrash Rabboth. ↩︎