The Sabbath-School

Seventh-day Adventist Missionary Society · Oakland, Cal. · Feb 16, 1882

The Sabbath-School.

Lesson Notes.—February 25.

LUKE 12:41 TO 13:9.

WHEN Jesus closed his discourse, as recorded in the previous lesson, with the exhortation: "Be ye therefore ready also; for the Son of man cometh at an hour when ye think not," Peter asked: "Lord, speakest thou this parable unto us, or even unto all?" Jesus replied as follows:—

"And the Lord said, Who then is that faithful and wise steward, whom his lord shall make ruler over his household, to give them their portion of meat in due season? Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing. Of a truth I say unto you, that he will make him ruler over all that he hath. But and if that servant say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming; and shall begin to beat the menservants and maidens, and to eat and drink, and to be drunken; The lord of that servant will come in a day when he looketh not for him, and at an hour when he is not aware, and will cut him in sunder, and will appoint him his portion with the unbelievers. And that servant, which knew his lord's will, and prepared not himself, neither did according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes. But he that knew not, and did commit things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes. For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required; and to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more."

By this language he showed that the blessing was pronounced upon every one who had the light and had improved it as a faithful servant; and the threat was to those who, as Paul says, "profess that they know God; but in works they deny him." Titus 1:16; or to those who, having an opportunity to know, rejected the right. Both classes are equally guilty. Dr. Clarke has the following excellent comment on this passage:—

"The subject of the 47th and 48th verses has been greatly misunderstood, and has been used in a very dangerous manner. Many have thought that their ignorance of divine things would be a sufficient excuse for their crimes; and that they might have but few stripes, they voluntarily continued in ignorance. But such persons should know that God will judge them for the knowledge they might have received, but refused to acquire. No criminal is excused, because he has been ignorant of the laws of his country, and so transgressed them; when it can be proved that those very laws have been published throughout the land. Much knowledge is a dangerous thing, if it be not improved; as this will greatly aggravate the condemnation of its possessor. Nor will it avail a person, in the land of light and information to be ignorant, as he shall be judged for what he might have known, and, perhaps in this case, the punishment of this voluntarily ignorant man will be even greater than that of the more enlightened; because his crimes are aggravated by this consideration, that he refused to have the light that he might neither be obliged to walk in the light, nor account for the possession of it. So we find that the plea of ignorance is a mere refuge of lies, and none can plead it who has the book of God within his reach; and lives in a country blessed with the preaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ."

Christ then showed them what would be the result of his teaching in the words: "Suppose ye that I am come to give peace on earth? I tell you, nay; but rather division." Compare this with John 14:27, and James 3:18. His teaching would bring peace to those who would receive it; but would produce the opposite effect on those who rejected it. The truth, as taught by Christ, and seen in the life of his followers, condemns evil-doers. No man can live under a continual sense of condemnation; and, therefore he will endeavor to put away that which condemns him. The cases of Pharoah, Judas, and the unbelieving Jews are examples of how the same truth may produce opposite effects on the minds of different individuals. It is not the fault of the truth, that divisions come, but of depraved human nature.

"And he said also to the people, When ye see a cloud rise out of the west, straight-way ye say, there cometh a shower; and so it is. And when ye see the south wind blow, ye say, There will be heat: and it cometh to pass. Ye hypocrites, ye can discern the face of the sky and of the earth; but how is it that ye do not discern this time? Yea, and why even of yourselves judge ye not that which is right?" Scott remarks upon this: "When the people saw a cloud rise in the west, from the Mediterranean Sea, they had learned by constant observation to expect copious showers; and a south wind from off the sultry deserts was deemed a sure prognostic of heat. In such matters they were sagacious; but the exact accomplishment of types and prophecies, in the doctrine, miracles, and character of Christ, and in the time and circumstances of his appearance, did not suffice to convince them that he was their promised Messiah! In this, their hypocritical scribes and teachers were most faulty; and being blinded by their carnal prejudices, they used their whole influence to mislead the people. Yet, as the case was so very evident, why did not the people see with their own eyes; and judge for themselves what was right, or decide impartially and justly between him and his malicious opponents?"

On Luke 13:1-9 Geikie gives the following information:—

"The whole country rang with the story of a massacre of Galilæans by Pilate, at the last Feast of Tabernacles—perhaps, at the same tumult in which Joseph Barabbas was arrested as a ring-leader, to be afterwards freed instead of Jesus. Pilate was always ready to shed the blood of a people he hated, and the hot-blooded Galilæans, ever ready to take affront at the hated infidels, gave him only too many excuses for violence. They had a standing grievance in the sacrifices offered daily for the empire and the emperor, and at the presence of a Roman garrison and Roman pickets at the temple, during the feasts, to keep the peace, as Turkish soldiers do at this day, during Easter, at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. But Pilate had given special offense, at this time, by appropriating part of the treasures of the temple, derived from the temple tax levied on all Jews over the world, and amounting to vast sums in the aggregate—to defray the cost of great conduits he had begun for the better supply of Jerusalem with water. Stirred up by the priests and Rabbis, the people had besieged the government house when Pilate came up to the city at the feast, and with loud continuous cries had demanded that the works be given up. Seditious words against himself, the representative of the emperor, had not been wanting. He had more than once been forced to yield to such clamor, but this time determined to put it down. Numbers of soldiers, in plain clothes, and armed only with clubs, surrounded the vast mob, and used their cudgels so remorselessly that many, both of the innocent and guilty, were left dead on the spot. The very precincts of the temple were invaded by the legionaries, and some pilgrims who were so poor that they were slaying their own sacrifices, were struck down while doing so, their blood mingling with that of the beasts they were preparing for the priests, and thus polluting the House of God. It was an unprecedented outrage, and filled every breast in Judea and Galilee with the wildest indignation, though such brawls were of frequent occurrence. The excitement had even penetrated the palace at Tiberias, and kindled bitter ill-feeling in Antipas towards Pilate, for the men slain were Galilæan subjects.

"Another misfortune had happened in Jerusalem a short time before. A tower, apparently on the top of Ophel, near the Fountain of the Virgin opposite Siloam, had fallen—perhaps one of the buildings connected with Pilate's public-spirited steps to bring water to the Holy City—and eighteen men had been buried beneath it; in the opinion of the people, as a judgment of God, for their having helped the sacrilegious undertaking.

"The cry for a national rising to avenge the murdered pilgrims doubtless rose on every side, but Jesus did not sanction it for a moment. He saw the arm of God even in the hated Romans, and in the fall of the tower, and, instead of sympathizing with them for the one, and joining in a cry for insurrection for the other, told his astonished hearers that the same horrors were like to fall on the whole nation. 'Suppose ye,' he asked, 'that these Galilæans were sinners above all the Galilæans, because they have suffered such things? I tell you nay, but, except ye repent, ye shall all perish in like manner. Or those eighteen, upon whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them, suppose ye that they were sinners above all the men that dwell in Jerusalem? I tell you nay; but except ye repent, ye will all perish in the same manner.'

"'Israel,' He added, 'is like a fig-tree, planted by a man in his vineyard, which year after year bore no fruit. Wearied by its bareness, the householder was determined to cut it down, and it was now spared at the intercession of the vine-dresser, only for another year, to give it a last respite. After that, if it still bore no fruit, he would cut it down, as merely cumbering the ground. That year of merciful delay was the passing moment of his own presence and work among them.

"The nation had given itself up to a wild dream, that would end in its ruin. Led by the priests and Rabbis, it trusted that God would appear on its behalf, and by a political revolution overthrow the hated foreign domination. The fruits of repentance and faith, which God required, were still wanting. As the vine-dresser Jesus had done all possible to win them to a better frame. He had warned, besought, counseled; but they were wedded to their sins and their sinful pride. His peaceful kingdom offered them the only escape from ruin, here and hereafter; but as a nation, they were more and more turning towards the worldly schemes of their ecclesiastical leaders, and lent a deaf ear to all proposals of spiritual self-reform. Continuance in this course would bring the fate of those they now lamented on the whole race. If they rejected him, God would ere long destroy them as a people.'"