41 And Jesus answered and said unto her, Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things: 42 But one thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her. CHAPTER XI. 1 Christ teacheth to pray, and that instantly: 11 assuring that God so will give us good things. 14 He, casting out a dumb devil, rebuketh the blasphemous Pharisees: 28 and sheweth who are blessed : 29 preacheth to the people, 37 and reprehendeth the outward shew of holiness in the Pharisees, scribes, and lawyers. 1 AND it came to pass, that, as he was praying in a certain place, when he ceased, one of his disciples said unto him, Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples. 2 And he said unto them, When ye pray, say, "Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in heaven, so in earth. 3 Give us day by day our daily bread. 4 And forgive us our sins; for we also forgive every one a Matt. vi. 9. and table would, in all likelihood, have gone on as well or better had not Martha given herself up to chafing, restless, and distracting cares. No defect of real duty is implied in the case of Mary; but excess of solicitude and bustle is certainly implied in the reproof administered to Martha. Yet was Martha a good woman, loved by her Lord, and, as a proof of that, reproved by him. She had a dangerous habit of indulging an anxious mind; this was her weakness and her source of danger; but this reproof probably cured the evil. In the account we have of St. John, she appears before us as a woman of a noble and most exalted faith. Let all who have the natural fault of Martha, be corrected by the reproof which our Lord administers to them through her; for, as Mr. Baxter truly, though quaintly, remarks, "preferring things unnecessary, though good, and troubling ourselves about NEED-NOTS, is a common fault, even of religious persons." Which shall not be taken away from her. *Or, for the day. -She hath made choice of an imperishable good, the effects of which will endure to eternity. Mary therefore wisely regu lated her cares by the true measure and proportion of things; and gave up her whole affection only to those objects which were spiritual and enduring. There is one good which we, through the mercy of God, can command, and but one. That is THE CHIEF GOOD. Every other may be taken away by time, accident, by the power of man, by the stripping and impoverishing hand of death. But this is above all such accidents, it is a "life hid with Christ in God." Of this truth several of the heathen sages some notion. "The true good," says one, "is something strictly belonging to and within ourselves, and that cannot easily be taken from us;" and another makes it a characteristic of virtue that "it cannot be taken away," aρηTMη avapaiрETOV. had CHAPTER XI. Verses 1-4. Our Father which art in heaven.-See the notes on Matt. vi. 9—13. The doxology, “For that is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil. 5 And he said unto them, Which of you shall have a friend, and shall go unto him at midnight, and say unto him, Friend, lend me three loaves; 6 For a friend of ;; mine in his journey is come to me, and I have nothing to set before him? 7 And he from within shall answer and say, Trouble me not: the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot rise and give thee. *Or, out of the way. thine is the kingdom," &c., is wanting in St. Luke. It is evident, however, that the prayer as it here stands is a shortened form of that prescribed in the sermon on the mount, and taught on a different occasion. The full form is therefore to be sought in the longer discourse; and we act right in always using this divinely composed prayer with the doxology, which leaves the heart fixed upon God, as its first petition elevates it to him. The Jewish doctors taught their disciples short forms of prayer. This was a wellknown practice; and it is to be gathered from the text that John the Baptist gave to his disciples also a form suited to his peculiar and transitive dispensation. Perhaps the disciple who made this request, did not know that he had already given a form of prayer in his sermon on the mount; or, as that was given in the presence of the multitude, he might think that the disciples had not been sufficiently distinguished, and that they ought to have a prayer peculiar to themselves like those of the Baptist. If the latter was the reason of the request, our Lord, by repeating the same prayer he had before taught, intimated that it was sufficiently adapted to their case; and this affords a reason why he does not repeat it at full, since he intended only to bring it to the remembrance of the disciple who made the request. Verses 5, 6. Which of you shall have a friend, &c.-This is one of several parables which our blessed Lord at different times uttered to encourage importunity, and repeated application in prayer. His form of prayer contains not many petitions, but they are most comprehensive and important: and he teaches not so much to vary and multiply our petitions, as though prayer were an exercise of intellectual or imaginative ingenuity; but to plead them before our heavenly Father with an earnestness and importunity suitable to the greatness of the blessing asked. For, although he knows what we want; and needs not exciting to bestow his gifts upon us, yet it is necessary that we also should know our wants, should enter by deep and serious consideration into their nature, and that we should seek them with fitting desires, which we must stir up vigorously within our hearts. The great point to be remembered is, that we MUST attain the blessings we ask, or perish; and if, therefore, God should sometimes hear us instantly and with no delay, and at others should seem to disregard, we are to continue in prayer," and knock till the door is opened to us. At midnight.-Journeys in the east are often performed in the night, on account of the heats of the day. The arrival of a friend at midnight was therefore no unusual occurrence. Three loaves were not a large supply of bread, as they were but three cakes. Verse 7. My children are with me in bed. That is, asleep on mattresses in the same room, according to the custom of those countries. He urges it as a reason why he should not rise, lest he should awake the young children. 8 I say unto you, Though he will not rise and give him, because he is his friend, yet because of his importunity he will rise and give him as many as he needeth. b 9 And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you. 10 For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened. 11 If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone? or if he ask a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent? 12 Or if he shall ask an egg, will he offer him a scorpion? 13 If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him? b Matt. vii. 7. Verses 8, 9. Because of his importunity. -It is supposed that the applicant, disregarding all the excuses of his neighbour, continues knocking and urging his request, until, from no other motive than merely to escape his importunity, which would take no denial, he grants the request. The argument to encourage earnest perseverance in prayer derives its force from contrast: if a churlish man will yield to importunity, how much more shall the blessed God himself, who is perfect benevolence, and delights in bestowing his benefits upon the needy, answer the reiterated requests of those that call upon him? The whole tends to impress us with the necessity of obtaining the fulfilment of our petitions, and thus to guard against a common and fatal evil, that of resting in prayer as an END, with out regarding it but as a MEANS of obtaining the petitions we present. How many rest here! They have done a duty, that is enough! which is a fatal infatua tion. If we have not received what we ask, hitherto we have prayed in vain; and we are at once reminded that the end of praying is receiving, and encouraged to repeat our requests by the assurance that they must be ultimately c Matt. vii. 9. successful. Hence our Lord adds, Ask, and it shall be given you, &c. See the notes on Matt. vii. 7-11. This is an instance of another portion of the sermon on the mount being spoken on quite a distinct occasion. Verse 13. Give the Holy Spirit.—In St. Matthew it is "give good things;" and the variation here is important, as we are taught that among those good things is included that sum of all moral and spiritual good to man, the Holy Spirit. Nor is it to be confined to the first disciples, since it is as extensive as the duty of importunate prayer, which our Lord had been urging. If the duty be therefore universal, then is the promise universal, and every one who importunately prays shall receive the Holy Spirit. It follows therefore that the miraculous endowments of the Holy Spirit, such as some, but by no means a large proportion, of the primitive Christians were endowed with, could not be intended. These were always partial in extent, and we know, in fact, that they were temporary in duration; and yet the duty of prayer is binding upon all, in all ages, and the promise of the Holy Spirit still stands as our encouragement to that exercise. His gracious in 14 ¶ And he was casting out a devil, and it was dumb. And it came to pass, when the devil was gone out, the dumb spake; and the people wondered. 15 But some of them said, a He casteth out devils through Beelzebub the chief of the devils. 16 And others tempting him, sought of him a sign from heaven. 17 But he, knowing their thoughts, said unto them, Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; and a house divided against a house falleth. 18 If Satan also be divided against himself, how shall his kingdom stand? because ye say that I cast out devils through Beelzebub. 19 And if I by Beelzebub cast out devils, by whom do your sons cast them out? therefore shall they be your judges. 20 But if I with the finger of God cast out devils, no doubt the kingdom of God is come upon you. d Matt. ix. 34; xii. 24. fluence upon the mind must therefore be astonishment of the people at the casting out of devils by our Lord, which rendered them so favourably disposed to his doctrine. They were miracles of the most impressive kind. The affliction relieved was the greatest conceivable one to which human beings could be subject; the torments inflicted were of the most frightful kind, the evil was apparently further than any out of the reach of human relief, whilst the frequency of the occurrence of these possessions, in those times, served to indicate that the kingdom of darkness was making constant aggression upon them, so as to bring both the souls and bodies of men into captivity. Great therefore was the wonder, and great the joy, of the unsophisticated people, when they saw the armed strong man bound and cast out by one stronger than himself; and they were ready to hail our Lord universally as the Messiah, when the scribes and Pharisees, with malignant subtilty, invented and spread abroad the aspersion, and enforced it by all the weight that their reputed wisdom and And the people wondered.—It was the sanctity gave them among the people, 21 When a strong man armed keepeth his palace, his goods are in peace: 22 But when a stronger than he shall come upon him and overcome him, he taketh from him all his armour wherein he trusted, and divideth his spoils. 23 He that is not with me is against me: and he that gathereth not with me scattereth. e 24. When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through dry places, seeking rest; and finding none, he saith, I will return unto my house whence I came out. 25 And when he cometh, he findeth it swept and garnished. 26 Then goeth he, and taketh to him seven other spirits more wicked than himself; and they enter in, and dwell there: and the last state of that man is worse than the first. 27 And it came to pass, as he spake these things, a certain woman of the company lifted up her voice, and said unto him, Blessed is the womb that bare thee, and the paps which thou hast sucked. e Matt. xii. 43. that he cast out devils by Beelzebub, the chief of the devils, and that these very iniracles were therefore "lying wonders," to lead them astray from the law of God, which they represented Jesus as aiming to destroy. It was this that ensnared and perverted a people who were at one time 'prepared for the Lord," and blasted all the blooming prospects of usefulness which opened to our Lord throughout the whole region of Galilee. They neither entered the kingdom of heaven themselves, nor suffered them that were at one time well disposed to do so. See notes on Matt. xii. 22-32. Verses 21, 22. When a strong man armed, &c. These words were designed to show both that Christ was stronger than Satan, and that he was hostile to him, instead of being in league with him, as the Pharisees insinuated. Had there been such a league, in fact, then the goods of Satan would have been in peace, his possessions would have been undisturbed; but the very fact that they were not at peace, that the strong castle had been assailed and taken, the spoil seized, and the captives liberated, was sufficient to prove that a state of most vigorous warfare had been commenced, and that there could be no "concord between Christ and Belial." The language is military: to come upon, is to attack; and the stripping of the armour, and the division of the spoils, are according to the ancient treatment of conquered enemies. Verse 23. He that is not with me, &c.See the notes on Matt. xii. 28-30. Verse 24. When the unclean spirit, &c. -See the notes on Matt. xii. 43—45. Verse 27. Blessed is the womb, &c.— A form of expression which occurs in Greek writers, and was very common among the Jews when great admiration was felt. "Blessed is she that bore him," is the complimentary phrase used of celebrated Rabbins. |