And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people.
Ver. 23. And Jesus went about all Galilee] Not (as the Circumcelliones of old) to make show of their holiness; nor as the Jesuits (into whom the Pharisees have fled and hidden themselves) to gain proselytes and passengers that go right on their ways, Proverbs 9:15; but "he went about doing good," saith St Peter, Acts 10:38. The chiefest goods are most active; the best good a mere act. And the more good we do, the more God-like we are, and the more we draw nigh to the heavenly pattern. Religion is not a name, goodness a word; but as the life of things stands in goodness, so the life of goodness in action. So much we live, as we do. "O Lord, by these things men live," saith Hezekiah, "and in all these things is the life of my spirit," Isaiah 38:16. And he that keepeth my commandments shall live in them, as the lamp lives in the oil, the flower in the earth, the creature by food. Nos non eloquimur magna, sed vivimus, said the ancient Christians. And holy Bradford accounted that hour lost wherein he had not done some good with tongue, pen, or hand. God hath set us our time and our task, Job 14:5,6. David is said to serve out his time; and John Baptist, to finish his course,Acts 13:25. Up, therefore, and be doing, that ye be not taken with your task undone. Fruitless trees shall be cut down: short shooting loseth many a game. The master is an austere man, and looketh for his own with usury. (Dies brevis est, et opus multum et operarii pauci, et paterfamilias urget. Rab. Simeon.) It is an easy thing when the candle is out, and all still without din, to fall a napping: which will prove to your cost when God shall send forth summons for sleepers.
Teaching in their synagogues] Houses dedicated to the worship of God, wherein it was lawful (and usual) to pray, preach, and dispute, but not to sacrifice, Acts 15:21. The temple at Jerusalem was the cathedral church; the synagogues as petty parish churches belonging thereunto. There were 480 of them in Jerusalem, as Manahen the Jew reporteth.
And preaching] Which is a further matter than teaching, and is therefore set after it here as an addition. It signifieth to publish, and (as a herald, κηρυττειν) to deliver a matter in the hearing of a multitude with greatest majesty, constancy, fidelity, and liberty of speech; not budging or balking any part of the truth; not huckstering the word of God or handling it deceitfully, but as of sincerity, as of God, in the sight of God, speaking in Christ. καπηλευοντες , 2 Corinthians 2:17 ; corrupting, as men do by their false wares, or mixed wines.
And healing all manner of sickness and disease] Both acute and chronic. None came amiss to this Jehovah Rophe, the Lord that healeth, as he styleth himself; this "Sun of righteousness, that hath healing under his wings." (μαλακια proprie significat ignaviam stomachi. Νοσος, morbum vehementiorem et intensiorem,Exodus 15:26 ; Mal 4:2) To an Almighty Physician, saith Isidore, no disease can seem incurable. (Omnipotenti medico nullas insanabilis occurrit morbus.) He healeth with a wet finger (as we say) such patients as all the physicians in the country cast their caps at, and could not tell what to say to.