And upbraided them with their unbelief.
The departing Saviour
It cannot be a matter of indifference to the pious to know in what manner the blessed Saviour took final leave of His earthly Church. If we really love Him it cannot but interest us to understand how He conducted Himself, how He looked, and what were the last things He said and did. Upon these points the Scriptures are not silent; and the whole account is quite in keeping with what we would naturally expect.
I. Our departing Saviour’s chidings. Love itself gave birth to these upbraidings. There is nothing so subtle or so damaging to the peace of souls as the workings of unbelief. Faith is the great saving grace; where it is wanting there is misery, darkness, death. Therefore, because He loved them, and wished to have them take in and possess the true joys of faith, Christ upbraided His disciples with their unbelief. They deserved and required chiding, for their unbelief was due to their own hardness of heart, not to the want of evidence. The Lord’s valedictory admonition is repeated to us again today. We may not have doubted that He rose from the dead, but have we so believed as to take all the momentous implications of Christ’s resurrection home to our souls, and to have them living in our lives? (Romans 6:4-6; Colossians 3:1-2.)
II. Our departing Saviour’s commands. Another manifestation of His love. He would that all should be saved.
1. The gospel must be preached. This is a Divine work, and a binding obligation. No Christian is exempt from the duty, and none excluded from the privilege and honour of taking part in it, according to his sphere and measure.
2. The gospel must be heard.
3. The sacrament of baptism must be administered. Faith without obedience is nothing, and salvation is promised only to him “who believeth and is baptized.” It may seem to be a very small thing-a mere insignificant ceremony; but in whatever way men look upon it Jesus appointed it, and has connected with it all the sublime benefits of His mediation.
III. Our departing saviour’s promises (Hebrews 2:4; Acts 16:16-24; Acts 19:11-12). Many demons, also, of pride, covetousness, uncleanness, drunkenness, gluttony, ambition, lust, hatred, moroseness, and spirits of wickedness innumerable, did the apostles expel by their preaching, turning men from their idols to serve the living and true God (Acts 2:5-11; Acts 10:46; Acts 28:1-6; Acts 3:1-9; Acts 9:33-35; Acts 14:8-11). Time would fail to tell the works of healing wonder which the disciples wrought in the name of Jesus by prayer and the laying on of hands, in which the Master fulfilled His promise. Nor was the promise or the fulfilment of it confined to them alone. It is still outstanding, firm, and good; and always must hold good, as long as the gospel is preached, and men are found to believe it.
IV. The departure itself. No thunder, as at Sinai; no darkness, as at the crucifixion; no overpowering radiance, as at the transfiguration. Only the gentle lifting up of the hands to bless. (J. A. Seiss, D. D.)
Upbraided them
1. That He might keep them humble through the memory of their past weakness, and their readiness at all times to fall away from Him.
2. He reminds them of their incredulity and blindness of heart, so that they might be gentler in dealing with those who sinned, and who were unable to perceive and hold the truth.
3. He did so also for our sakes in order that we may not doubt, seeing that they so greatly doubted, and yet had all their doubts removed by the clear evidence of their own senses. Their faithlessness is the stimulus to our faith, and their doubt removes all ground of doubt from us. And in thus showing the littleness of their faith and their natural unaptness to be His messengers, Christ indicates the greatness of that gift which was able to overcome all natural disqualifications, and to make these doubting disciples the faithful ministers and stewards of His gospel. Those who had fled when no real danger existed he sends into the midst of a people thirsting for their blood; those who had not comprehended Him He chooses for the work of making others comprehend Him; those who had not believed in the very witnesses of His resurrection He sends forth as the witnesses themselves of this same truth, that so we might know that the promulgation of Christianity is the direct work, not of men, but of God. (W. Denton, M. A.)
Effects of uncertainty
If one should go into the Louvre at Paris, and see the Venus de Milo, and begin to have admiration for that highest conception of a noble woman held by the Greek mind, and his guide should whisper to him, “It is very uncertain whether this is the original statue; in the time of Napoleon it was stolen, and it is said that it was sent back; but many think that another was made in imitation of it, and put in its place, and that this is the imitation,” it would kill that man’s enthusiasm in a second; and he is not going to say, “I admire that countenance,” because it may not be that countenance. And the moment you introduce the element of uncertainty in regard to any substantial religious conviction, your doubt has taken away that enthusiasm which only goes out toward certainty. (Beecher.)