CRITICAL NOTES
Matthew 4:12. Cast into prison.—Delivered up (R.V.). Galilee = a circle or circuit originally confined to a “circle” of twenty cities given by Solomon to Hiram, 1 Kings 9:11 (cf. Joshua 20:7). From this small beginning the name spread to a larger district, just as the name of Asia spread from a district near the Mæander, first to the Roman Province, then to a quarter of the globe. The Jews were in a minority in those parts. The population mainly consisted of Phœnicians, Arabs, and Greeks (Carr).
Matthew 4:13. Capernaum.—A town on the north-west shore of the Sea of Galilee. The exact site disputed. The Palestine Exploration Society has come to the conclusion that the modern Tell Hûm is the spot.
Matthew 4:14. Fulfilled.—The Evangelist had manifestly the greatest delight in tracing the radii of Old Testament prophecy into the great personal centre of Divine revelation—the Saviour (Morison).
Matthew 4:15. Galilee of the Gentiles.—See on Matthew 4:12. The whole territory described constituted an area that might be regarded as radiating out from Capernaum, so far as facilities of intercourse were concerned (Morison). When St. Matthew looked back on the change that had come over Capernaum in the arrival of the Prophet of Nazareth—a change extending to his own life—these words seemed the only adequate description of it (Plumptre).
Matthew 4:17. At hand.—A kingdom is not constituted out of one member, and so long as the Messiah stood alone the kingdom of God did not exist. It would come into existence through the fact of the Messiah assembling a society of other members of the kingdom (Wendt).
Matthew 4:18. Sea of Galilee.—About thirteen miles long, and in its broadest part six miles wide. The Jews were accustomed to call every considerable sheet of water a sea.
Matthew 4:19. Follow Me.— John 1:35-43 refers to a summons some months before.
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.— Matthew 4:12-22
An unobtrusive beginning.—We have just seen Jesus of Nazareth as a conqueror (Matthew 4:1-11). We are to see Him now as the light (Matthew 4:16). He is no longer in the wilderness, but in cities and towns. No longer exposed to the direct machinations of Satan, but ministering to mankind. In beginning to do this we are shown in this passage:
1. The kind of work He took up.
2. The kind of locality He fixed on.
3. The kind of helpers He chose.
I. The kind of work He engaged in.—In a general way it was that of “preaching” (Matthew 4:17). This, as we have seen, was the great work of His predecessor, the Baptist (Matthew 3:1). At this time, also, the message which Jesus delivered was almost identical with that with which John the Baptist began: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matthew 3:2; Matthew 4:17). It would almost seem, indeed, as though He only intended, at first, to supply that great preacher’s place. It was only, at any rate, after that first preacher had been silenced, that this other began; only after “Jesus had heard (Matthew 4:12) that John was cast into prison,” and so could speak openly no longer, that His speaking began. (Cf. Bengel, Decrescente Joanne crevit Christus.) So far, therefore, there is nothing especially novel about His proceedings and work. He is merely taking up the office—He is merely repeating the message—of one who has disappeared from the scene.
II. The kind of locality He fixed on. This is marked by various features of a distinguishing kind. In the first place, it was very “out of the way” and provincial. “He departed”—He retired (?) “into Galilee” (Matthew 4:12, cf. Mark 14:70; Acts 2:7). This seems very noteworthy. After being almost worshipped by so great a preacher as John the Baptist (Matthew 3:14); after receiving the open attestation of heaven itself (Matthew 3:16-17); after overcoming the adversary in chief in the wilderness (Matthew 4:1-10); who would have thought of this Prince of Israel settling down in “Galilee of the Gentiles”? (Matthew 4:15). We should rather have thought it the last place in that land—if not, indeed, the last upon earth—for His purpose. In the next place, the special city chosen was one exceedingly busy and populous. Not in the comparative leisure of Nazareth—not there where He would have about Him a certain number of relations and friends—but in the thronged streets of the important emporium and sea-side town of Capernaum does He begin. The Evangelist himself seems to speak of this with surprise—“Leaving Nazareth, He came and dwelt in Capernaum” (Matthew 4:13). In the last place, the whole neighbourhood appears to have been singularly unenlightened and dark. Its inhabitants are described as a “people” sitting in “darkness” (Matthew 4:16). The “region” is described also as that of “the shadow of death” (ibid.). Never before had any source of light arisen out of its borders. Such, at any rate, was what the boasted enlightenment of Jerusalem was accustomed to say of it; and that, moreover, without thinking it possible that anyone could gainsay them (John 7:52).
III. The kind of helpers He chose.—These were distinguished, principally, by being undistinguished in almost every respect. On the one hand there was nothing in their origin to mark them out from the general obscurity of the place. They were denizens of the neighbourhood—sons of the soil—Galileans in speech—probably in aspect as well (see supra). Of none of those mentioned here (in Matthew 4:18; Matthew 4:21) as being called by the Saviour, are we told anything else. “Simon called Peter and Andrew his brother,” “James the son of Zebedee and John his brother,” were just such men as you might find anywhere among the men of those parts. Neither was there anything, on the other hand, in their social position, to confer distinction upon them. By and by they were to become, so the Saviour told them, “fishers of men.” But at the time of their calling they were fishers only in the ordinary sense of the term; master fishers, it is true, in a small way, as we gather elsewhere; but working fishermen yet, for all that, and men labouring with their hands in the necessary duties of “casting” and “mending” their “nets” (Matthew 4:18-22; Mark 1:19).
In this account of the opening of the ministry of Jesus, we see:—
1. His singular meekness.—Choosing so obscure a sphere, engaging in so quiet a work, selecting such unknown friends. How He might have shone elsewhere we see from Luke 2:46. How completely He became identified with Galilee from Luke 23:6-7; John 7:41; John 7:52.
2. His singular mercy.—Just where the “darkness” was greatest—just where there were most souls in need of Him—just where that need was the greatest—did He carry His “light.” That is the place, those are the people, whom His heart of kindness prefers.
3. How both these things were foretold.—Long ago had prophecy spoken (Matthew 4:14-16; Isaiah 9:1-2) of this very land—this darkness—this light—this deliberate choice—this happy result. However strange, therefore, such a beginning may seem in our eyes, we see here that it was the kind of beginning which God had intended. Doubtless, therefore, it will lead in time to the kind of end He designs.
HOMILIES ON THE VERSES
Matthew 4:12. John imprisoned, Jesus departing.—
1. Faithful ministers must expect persecution.
2. All preachers of the gospel are not imprisoned at once, for when John is in prison, Christ is free.
3. Persecution of the ministers of the gospel is a forerunner of Christ’s departing from a land.—David Dickson.
Matthew 4:15-16. Darkness and light.—In this passage we have a description of the condition of the Galileans; but the description need not be restricted to them.
I. It applies to all that are living without God, and destitute of the knowledge of the gospel of Christ.—It applies to the past and present state of heathenism, and extends to all who have received no other light than that of nature to instruct them.
1.They are sitting in darkness; i.e. they are in utter ignorance of all those points with which it is most of all the concern of immortal beings to be acquainted. They know not whence, or for what end, they were originally created; how they may please God; what they have to expect beyond this present state of being; or where to apply for instruction respecting their most enduring interests.
2. They are not only in darkness, but in the region and shadow of death. Their hearts are as depraved, as their minds are unenlightened. They are destitute of any spark of spiritual life, and the gloom of present sinfulness and eternal misery hangs over them.
3. There are many who, it may be, think themselves comparatively in a state of great happiness, while they are themselves, if possible, still more melancholy instances of the potency of Satanic influence—they, who amidst all the advantages and external privileges of a gospel land, have despised and rejected the great salvation.
II. The gospel is here called “a great light.”—
1. Light upon our origin, condition and prospects.
2. If the gospel message be received it certifies assured peace and eternal glory to the receiver.—Henry Craik.
Matthew 4:16. Light in darkness.—Lord Byron and Mr. Hobhouse explored together a cavern in Greece. They lost themselves in its abysses, and the guide confessed in alarm that he knew not how to recover the outlet. They roamed in a state of despair from cave to cell. They climbed up narrow apertures, but found no way of escape. Their last torch was consuming, they were totally ignorant of their whereabouts, and all around was darkness. By chance they discerned through the gloom what proved to be a ray of light gleaming towards them. They hastened to follow it and arrived at the mouth of the cave. Blessed be darkness and despair if through them men discern the beams which shine from heaven and reveal salvation.—H. Batchelor.
The true light.—The Bible is like a lighthouse. It took fifteen hundred years to build it, stone upon stone. The lantern, the New Testament, is put in its place, and the cap, the epistles. There are four plate-glass sides to it, the Gospels; and inside there is one intense glow of light, and from that light there is a radiancy flashing all over the world. That one light is He who said: “I am the Light of the world.”—B. Waugh.
Matthew 4:17-25. The early welcome and the first ministers of the King.—This joyous burst of the new power, and this rush of popular enthusiasm, are meant to heighten the impression of the subsequent hostility of the people. The King welcomed at first, is crucified at last.
I. The King acting as His own herald (Matthew 4:17).
II. The King’s mandate summoning His servants.—Was this the same incident which St. Luke narrates as following the first miraculous draught of fishes? On the whole I incline to think it most natural to answer “no.” Accepting that view we may note how many stages Jesus led this group of His disciples through before they were fully recognised as Apostles. First, there was their attachment to Him as disciples, which in no degree interfered with their trade. Then, came this call to more close attendance on Him, which, however, was probably still somewhat intermittent. Then followed the call recorded by Luke, which finally tore them from their homes; and last of all, their appointment as Apostles. At each stage they “might have had opportunity to have returned.” Duty opens before the docile heart bit by bit. Christ’s call is authoritative in its brevity. Their prompt self-surrendering response is the witness of the power over their hearts which Jesus had won. “I will make you fishers of men.” That shows a kindly wish to make as little as may be of the change of occupation. Their old craft is to be theirs still, only in nobler form. The patience, the brave facing of the storm and the night, the observance of the indications which taught where to cast, the perseverance which toiled all night, though not a fin glistened in the net, would all find place in their new career. It was not as Apostles, but as simple disciples, that these four received this charge and ability. The same command and fitness are given to all Christians.
III. The triumphal progress of the King.—
1. Observe the reiterated use of “all,”—all Galilee, all manner of sickness and all manner of disease, all Syria, all that were sick. Matthew labours to convey the feeling of universal stir and wide-reaching, all-embracing welcome.
2. Observe, that the activity of Christ is confined to Galilee, but the fame of Him crosses the border into heathendom. The King stays on His own territory but He conquers beyond the frontier.
3. Note the contrast between John’s ministry and Christ’s, in that the former stayed in one spot, and the crowds had to go out to him, while the very genius of Christ’s mission expressed itself in that this Shepherd-king sought the sad and sick, and “went about in all Galilee.”
4. He first teaches and preaches the good news of the kingdom, before He heals. The eager receptiveness of the people, ignorant as it was, was greater then than ever afterwards. Therefore the flow of miraculous power was more unimpeded. But it may be questioned whether we generally have an adequate notion of the immense number of Christ’s miracles. Those recorded are but a small proportion of those done. These early ones were not only attestations of His claim to be the King, but illustrations of the nature of His kingdom. They were parables of His higher work on men’s souls, which He comes to cleanse from the oppression of demons, from the foamings of epilepsy, from impotence to good.—A. Maclaren, D.D.
Matthew 4:17. Christ preaching.—
1. When Christ’s gospel is opposed, and His servants persecuted, He can let forth His light and power so much the more, and can supply the lack of instruments.
2. Christ’s doctrine and the doctrine of His faithful servants, is all one in substance. Both John the Baptist and Christ preached, “Repent, for,” etc.
3. When the gospel cometh it findeth men under the tyranny of Satan, for the offer to bring them into the kingdom of God importeth this.—David Dickson.
The kingdom of heaven.—For the interpretation of the idea it is. necessary to understand its more distinctive qualities, aspects, and relations.
1. It is present.—An already existing reality, none the less real that it was unseen, undiscovered by the very men who professed to be looking for it (Luke 6:20; Luke 17:20-21; Matthew 20:1).
2. It is expansive.—Has an extensive and intensive growth, can have its dominion extended and its authority more perfectly recognised and obeyed (Matthew 6:10; Matthew 13:3-8; Matthew 13:19-23).
3. It does its work silently and unseen.—Grows without noise, like the seed in the ground, which swells, bursts, and becomes a tree great enough to lodge the birds of the air (Matthew 13:31-33). And its intensive is as silent as its expansive action. It penetrates and transforms the man who enters it. Its entrance into him is his entrance into it, his being born again, his becoming as a little child, the new citizen of a new State (Matthew 18:1-3; Luke 18:17; John 3:3-5).
4. It creates and requires righteousness in all its subjects.—To seek it is to seek the righteousness of God (Matthew 6:33; Matthew 5:19-20).
5. It is the possession and reward of those who have certain spiritual qualities.—(Matthew 5:3; Matthew 5:10; Matthew 18:4.)
6. It is without local or national character.—Can have subjects anywhere, has none for simply formal or hereditary reasons (Matthew 8:11; Matthew 21:31; Luke 13:29).
7. It is at once universal and individual.—Meant to be preached everywhere and to every one; to comprehend the race by pervading all its units (Matthew 24:14).
8. The universal is to be an everlasting kingdom.—To endure throughout all generations.—A. M. Fairbairn, D.D.
Beginning to preach.—This text invites us to look at two things:—
I. The Preacher.—“Jesus.” Who was He? Son of man, Son of God. As a preacher, Jesus supplied all the great conditions of supreme influence.
1. There was more human nature in Jesus Christ than was ever in any other man. Preachers must be intensely human if they would reach with good effect the hearts of men.
2. There was more intellectual ability and spiritual insight in Jesus Christ than ever distinguished any other preacher.
II. The subject of His preaching.—Repentance. Repent! This is one of the most solemnly suggestive words in all human language.
1. Repent—then men are in a wrong moral condition.
2. Repent—then there is a work which men must do themselves. One man can suffer, pay, work, even die for another—but never repent for another.
3. Repent—then until this special work is done everything else that is seemingly good is worthless. Inferences:
(1) If Jesus preached repentance, all true preachers will do the same.
(2) If Jesus urged men to repent, it is certain that repentance is vitally necessary for all mankind.
(3) If repentance is the first act needed, it is vicious and absurd to attempt to make religious progress without it. Repentance is not one complete and final act. It may be the exercise of a lifetime. We need to repent every day. Even after our prayers we may have to plead for forgiveness of the sin which has marred their purity. Repentance will not be concluded until death itself has been overthrown.—Joseph Parker, D.D.
The privilege of repentance.—
I. There are two different words used in the New Testament, both of which are translated into the English word repentance.—One of them conveys especially the notion of being sorry for having done wrong; the other conveys specially the notion of changing one’s mind as to things—seeing things in a different light, and then shaping one’s conduct accordingly—trying to mend one’s life. It is this second word which Christ used; which you can see is the fuller and larger word, including substantially the meaning of the first word too; taking in the being sorry for the wrong-doing and ashamed of it; coming to right views, beginning afresh, and trying to do better.
II. The religion Christ taught was the first which offered forgiveness without suffering, on the part of the penitent, or inflicted by the penitent.—All the suffering was borne, long ago, and once for all, that brought our salvation. And now, “if we confess our sins” (that is all), God “is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” Christ’s preaching starts from a fact; the fact that there is something wrong; the fact that men are sinners. Now repentance is just the right and healthy feeling of the awakened soul that sees its own sin. Once a man is made to see he is a sinner, then, if his mind be in any way healthy and true, the state of feeling which arises in it is what we call repentance.
III. Is it not strange that repentance should be so commonly thought a painful duty?—It is a grand and inexpressible privilege. There is nothing degrading in it; the degradation is all in the state it takes us out of. It is degrading to stay in sin, not to get out of it. That Christ’s gospel invites us to repentance just means that man is not tied down to go on in his wrong and misery. It means that he has not got into that miserable lane in which there is no turning.—A. K. H. Boyd, D.D.
Matthew 4:18-22. Christ’s call.—
1. In the calling of these Apostles may be seen the care which our Lord hath to provide ministers for His church. 2. None should intrude himself into the office.
3. Such as Christ doth call He doth furnish for the calling and promiseth unto them good success.
4. Such as are called to the ministry must neither refuse pains nor peril to save souls, but must go about their work with as great desire to convert men, and as great prudence to bring them in as fishers go about their work.
5. When Christ doth call His chosen instruments, He calls them with power of persuasion (Matthew 4:20).
6. His calling of them by couples, and those also brethren, giveth us to understand that the work of the ministry requireth concurrence and affection among the ministers.
7. His calling of so mean men as fishers, showeth the freedom of His grace in choosing instruments; the power of His kingdom, subduing the world by such weak means; and the depth of His wisdom, in so providing for His own honour that the instrument shall not carry away the glory of the work.—David Dickson.
Matthew 4:18-20. Christ’s choice of workers.—
I. Whence the Master obtained His workers.—He goes to the lake of Galilee and finds them on the sea-shore—a most unlikely place, as some would judge. He knows the sort of men that He wants; He knows the material out of which He can make fishers of men, and it is that prompts Him.
1. He wanted men who were inured to hardship and seasoned for service.
2. He wanted men who were bold and daring.
3. I think that Christ chose these fishermen, also, because they were men who had done business in great waters, and had there seen God’s wonders in the deep. Surely an acquaintance with nature and with nature’s God, had been some sort of preparation for the higher and nobler employ to which He was able to call them.
4. The Lord Jesus, when He is selecting disciples, goes amongst men of humble calling, for labour is honourable.
5. It was from earnest toilers Christ found His workers—men who were already hard at work.
6. He finds His preachers, too, amongst those who are already His disciples; for this was not the first time that Christ had spoken to Peter and to Andrew.
II. The nobler employment to which Christ called these men.—I am not disparaging labour when I tell you that the highest form of labour is work for Christ—the winning of souls. Though Christ called these brethren to a nobler employ, they were to be fishermen still. “I will make you fishers of men.” You shall go on fishing, only you shall have a new sea. You are still to have nets, but they are to be of a different sort. Do you not think there is for every labour under the sun a spiritual parallel and analogy? I began my life as an engraver on wood, preparing pictures for the illustrated papers; and I remember my dear father writing to me, “I am content, dear son, that you shall engrave on wood until God calls you to engrave on hearts.”
III. How did Christ transform these men from fishermen into fishers of men?—
1.He called them.
2.He moulded them, and fashioned them, and trained them. How? By precept, but principally by example.
3.He sent His Spirit, still to help them in the blessed work of catching men.—Thomas Spurgeon.
Matthew 4:19. Everything more than it seems.—There is something very singular and altogether unusual in the readiness with which these men seem to leave their business and go after Jesus. From the first He must have exercised over them a strange fascination. Their accepting the call immortalised them.
I. The suggestion of the way in which every calling in life is intended by God to prepare a man for something higher than itself is manifestly here in these words, “Come ye after Me, and I will make you fishers of men.” Here is a calling of the simplest kind—that of the fisherman. This Jesus of Nazareth sees in it more than these men who are pursuing it see. He sees in it an education for something higher than itself—an education for the highest of all conceivable callings. Every fisherman must have certain traits of character in order to succeed—among others, great adaptability and great patience, He must learn to wait as well as to labour. He must have a keen eye and no little of good judgment. Especially must he study the Labits of the fish, and adapt himself thereto. These elements of character are all needed in fishers of men. Taking all the utterances on this theme which are scattered up and down the New Testament, I think we may safely say that every good man doing good work is doing more than he thinks. Every man on earth is qualifying or disqualifying himself for other and higher work.
II. In order to translate the lower into the higher; in order to get the commonness and the “not-worth while” feeling out of our every-day life; in order that we may no longer be fishers of fish, but fishers of men one thing is needful: we must accept the invitation, “Come ye after Me, and I will make you”—what you are capable of being made. No one can teach us about life as Christ can. The one thing of all things we need to learn is how to live, i.e. how to use everything we find in ourselves to the best advantage.
III. The practical outcome of all this is that our every-day doings ought to become of most importance to us.—In the doing we are acquiring qualification or disqualification for something on a higher level.—Reuen Thomas, D.D.
Lessons from fisher-folk.—The disciples were fisher-folk. Jesus was himself a fisherman, “seeking and saving the lost.” Disciples had to become fisher-folk such as Jesus was.
I. Fisher-folk in many ways.—Single book. Many hooks on line. Wading out and throwing net. Big Seine net, etc.
II. Fisher-folk put skill into their ways.—So Christ’s fishermen must give His work skill, heart, and effort.
III. Fisher-folk are dependent on God’s blessing in their work.—Disciples toiled all night and took nothing; but when Jesus guided, they enclosed a shoal. If we work to catch others for Jesus, we must never forget our dependence on His help and blessing.—Weekly Pulpit.
The genius of Christianity.—What is the meaning for us of this precept “Follow Me?”
I. The principle that lies at the foundation of it is, that Christianity must be felt by its disciples as surpassing in worth all other things of life combined.—For a man’s strongest, deepest love, under all circumstances, rules his life. A man may be a religious hypocrite from all sorts of reasons; but he can be a Christian only when his love for Christianity surmounts every other love. This becomes still more clear and certain when we reflect that Christianity is a constant struggle—that nearly every principle held amongst men and every feeling of a selfish heart has to be subdued by it—that it has to engraft upon human life new habits, a fresh mode of transacting all our business and of dealing with our fellow men, in effecting which it must break through innumerable prejudices and trample down many low and sensual inclinations. It was on this principle, and not that Christ was ever unwilling to receive any disciple, that He sometimes put such severe tests to men. With the poor, the broken-hearted, the outcast, and the miserable, He never applied any test, asking only a loving faith in Himself. Having nothing else to love, already severed from outward delusions, the love that rested in Him was sure to triumph. But when men came to Him who had riches to care for, reputation to regard, and opposing inclinations to surmount, our Saviour applied very severe tests, such as would marvellously thin the ranks of the professing church in the present day.
II. The precept plainly implies the principle of progress.—No one can suppose that following Christ meant just walking about the country with Him. It meant discipleship, and that means a progressive introduction into Christ’s thoughts and purposes—into the spirit and intention of His life and work. I will proceed to specify more minutely the particulars of this discipleship or following of Christ.
1. A Christian at the outset may have few convictions and still fewer settled points of faith; all centres in devotion to Christ.
2. The disciple comes to Christ without any system of duties or virtues, save that one principle of love to God and man which is involved in loving Christ. Life is to be interpreted by Christ; and how Christian principle will guide a man’s steps is to be learnt only from the manner in which Christ acted.
3. It could not be expected of a young disciple that he would enter much into the grand designs of Christianity. But he grows up into the apprehension of these by discipleship.—S. Edger, B.A.
Every one has a place to fill in life.—That every one of us has his or her place to fill in life is beautifully illustrated by the great teacher Browning, in a little poem entitled, “The Boy and the Angel.” Theocrite was a poor boy, who worked diligently at his craft, and praised God as he did so. He dearly wished to become Pope, that he might praise God better, and God granted the wish. Theocrite sickened, and seemed to die. And he awoke to find himself a priest, and also in due time Pope. But God missed the praise which had gone up to Him from the boy-craftsman’s cell; and the angel Gabriel came down to earth and took Theocrite’s former place. And God was again not satisfied; for the angelic praise could not replace for Him the human. “The silencing of that one weak voice had stopped the chorus of creation.” So Theocrite returned to his old self, and the angel Gabriel became Pope instead of him. Such is the legend; and it has its lesson. The chorus of creation can never be perfect till each of us is in his place, singing his own part, which part none other can sing.—Reuen Thomas, D.D.
“Forsake all and follow Me.”—At first it may seem a hard requirement; but if we really think it so, it is from not attending sufficiently to the entire narrative. It was quite essential that they should evince a readiness to give up all for Christ, to the most literal and the fullest extent, since only by such abandonment of all other objects of interest could they be prepared for the new life Christ would breathe into them; but though the disciples were thus ready to sacrifice all the secular interests of life, such a sacrifice was not really made, for we find them again, through the whole history, at their old occupations. Not because they had grown less zealous in their devotion to the Master, but because the actual abandonment of their common pursuits was no part of their discipleship. Thus much we can see, that they were never too busy with their fishing or other secular pursuits to obey instantly the bidding of Christ. They had forsaken all in the highest sense, so as to be no longer enslaved by any pursuit; yet they might adhere to it, making it subservient to the claims of their higher calling.—S. Edger, B.A.
All for Christ.—The Rev. W. Hay Aitken tells us of a young lady who, though professedly a Christian, shrank from yielding herself fully to her Lord. When pleaded with, she said with outspoken honesty: “I don’t want to give myself right over to Christ, for if I were to do so, who knows what He might do with me? For aught I know, He might send me out to China!” Years passed, and then there came from her a deeply interesting letter, telling how her long conflict with God had come to an end, and what happiness and peace she now felt in the complete surrender of herself to her Lord; and, referring to her former conversation, she added: “And now I am my own no longer; I have made myself over to God without reserve, and He is sending me to China.”
Matthew 4:21-22. Christ’s call.—I. In Christ’s call there is a voice. In the days of His flesh He called men by His living voice. Christ still lives, and He calls us by His voice which speaks right to our hearts.
II. The voice of Christ brings a message.
III. That message brings an invitation.—One day a preacher visited a poor woman. He knocked, and again knocked, but got no answer from within. A few days afterwards he met the woman in the street, and said he was sorry that she was out when he called. She confessed that she had been in her house, but she was afraid that a creditor had come to demand payment of a debt. Christ’s knock, thus misunderstood, may frighten the heart. Some think that the religion of Christ is a sad and gloomy thing, and that it makes sad and gloomy people.
IV. Christ’s invitation is also a claim.—When He called Peter, Andrew, James, and John, He spoke in the gentlest tone of love, but He also spoke as one having authority. He had every right to call them, and they had no right to refuse. Christ commands when He invites. When Earl Cairns was a boy of ten, he heard a sermon in Belfast. Three of the preacher’s words startled him; they were, “God claims you.” These words kept ringing in his ears, and the thoughtful boy tried to understand them. “God claims me,” he said to himself, “and He has a right to claim me.” He resolved to yield to God’s claim. A living voice, a message, an invitation and a claim—add these four together, and you have the call of Christ.—Jas. Wells, M.A.
Matthew 4:21. Christ’s call, and our replies.—I. “No” was the reply of many in Christ’s day. There are many ways of saying “No.” Many to whom Christ appealed said “No” with politeness and regret; they had many excuses and apologies. Some said “No” to Him outright, bluntly and without phrases. What a strange power that is which we have of saying “No” to God and Jesus Christ! Each of us is like the young Hercules, the chief of the heroes and emblems of antiquity. As he was sitting at the cross-roads, two females came to him. The one, whose name was Pleasure, offered him a flowery path and every enjoyment; the other, whose name was Duty or Virtue, called him to a noble and unselfish life. He listened to the pleadings of both, and then made his choice, and his choice made him the hero he became. Mackay, the hero of Uganda, used to say, “Duty before pleasure, but duty is pleasure with me.”
II. “Yes and no,” was the reply of Judas, who betrayed his Master with a kiss. He said “yes” with his lips, but his lips lied; his heart and life told the truth.
III. “Yes, but not now,” is the reply of many whose hearts are touched by Christ’s appeals. Augustine, in his youth, often heard the call of Christ. He wished then to do two things—to enjoy heathen pleasures for awhile, and at last to become a Christian. He tried to halve the difference, and used to pray, “O Lord, save me, but not now.” Most keenly in his “Confessions” does he regret his foolish delays.
IV. “Yes,” is the only right reply. Perhaps the Apostles when called by Christ did not say one single syllable. Their whole after-life was just a saying “Yes” to Jesus. No one can say “Yes” for you. I have heard that the Red Indians who used to live near Niagara never heard the thunders of the waterfall, but they could hear the footfalls of a beast or an enemy a mile away. The will deafened the ear to one voice, and opened it to the other. They heard only what they wished to hear. In the very same way the ear of the soul can be trained to hear the voice of God amid earth’s stunning noises.—Jas. Wells, M.A.