They were amazed that their Lord should thus lead them into known danger. He had stayed away from the last Passover; and now He was going; yet He well knew that the chief priests had determined upon his death; since, by the raising of Lazarus from the grave, it had been fully proved that if "they let him alone, all men would believe on him."* Why was this? Why did He now of his own good-will go forward to meet those dangers He had shunned before? Jesus showed unto them why He did so, and if already they followed him in fear, what must their feelings have been, when,

LUKE Xviii. 31-34. "He took unto him the twelve, and said unto them, Behold we go up to Jerusalem, and all things that are written by the prophets concerning the Son of man shall be accomplished. For he shall be delivered unto the Gentiles, and shall be mocked, and spitefully entreated, and spitted on: And they shall scourge him, and put him to death: and the third day he shall rise again.”

More or less the apostles shared the ideas of their fellowcountrymen, respecting the promised Messiah. They looked for a great Deliverer; but they could not take in the view their Lord was ever setting before them, that the great deliverance He was come to give was to be brought about by his own sufferings and death. Their minds, so to speak, were not yet large enough to comprehend how very great this deliverance was to be; that those mighty enemies of man, death, the grave, hell itself were to be overcome, and all their power to harm to be completely taken away. These things were all yet wrapped in darkness. The apostles believed their Lord to be him of whom the prophets had spoken; they looked for a fulfilment of all the glorious promises spoken by them. They were willing to believe that by him Israel should be made "a crown of glory in the hand of the Lord, and a royal diadem in the hand of

John xi. 41.

God." They longed to hear the voice of Jesus in the words of the prophet. "Arise, shine, for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee:" to hear from his lips the assurance to Israel, that "the nation and kingdom that will not serve thee shall perish; " but like the rest of this nation, they understood not the great and solemn truth that, before the Israel of God could be delivered, the Messiah was to “ pour out his soul unto death," to be "numbered with the transgressors," and "to bear the sins of many," to be "stricken for the transgression of his people; " + therefore, though the Lord Jesus now spoke to them plainly of the sufferings and death that waited him at Jerusalem ;

Verse 34. "They understood none of these things: and this saying was hid from them, neither knew they the things which were spoken."

Is it not so with ourselves? How eagerly we cling to God's promises of eternal life! How slow we are to understand that it is through much tribulation we enter the kingdom of God! Yet, though through the weakness of our nature, we may, like the apostles, be dismayed and afraid when trouble comes upon us, let us follow Jesus still. He may lead,-He does lead to the cross, and the grave; but the time of trial is short. Even as He promised that, " on the third day He should rise again," so does He promise his people, that though they may lie down in weeping, they shall rise again in glory.

Our Lord was on his way to Jerusalem, and though some of his followers were afraid of what might happen to him; there were others among them who believed that in Jerusalem He should be crowned the Messiah King, so long expected in Israel. In the thoughts of all there was a strange mixture of truth and

error.

*Isaiah lxii. 3.

† Ibid. lx. 1-12; 1. 1—12,

VOL. III.

U

MATTHEW XX. 20, 21. “Then came to him the mother of Zebedee's children with her sons, worshipping him, and desiring a certain thing of him. And he said unto her, What wilt thou? She saith unto him, Grant that these my two sons may sit, the one on thy right hand, and the other on the left, in thy kingdom."

This mother of Zebedee's children, was Salome, one of those who followed Jesus, and ministered to him of her substance. Zebedee was the owner of one of the ships on the sea of Galilee. He could not have been a poor man, for we find that he had hired servants to whom John and James left the care of the vessel, when they departed to follow Christ. By and bye, we shall see that John was known to the high priest.† All these things make it likely that Salome looked upon her sons as of a better condition in life than their fellow-apostles, and she was anxious in good time to bespeak the best places for them in the coming kingdom of their Lord.

Verse 22. "But Jesus answered and said, Ye know not what ye ask. Are ye able to drink of the cup that I shall drink of, and to be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with? They say unto him, (the request was the sons' as well as the mother's), We are able."

They knew not their weakness. They knew not all that lay before them, between the present hour and the glory they hoped to win.

*Mark i. 20. Probably boatmen hired to help in the fishing as they were wanted. Mark x. 35.

John xviii. 16.

Verse 23. "And he saith unto them, Ye shall drink indeed of my cup, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with; but to sit on my right hand, and on my left, is not mine to give, but it shall be given to them for whom it is prepared of my Father."

:

It has been often asked whether in heaven there are different degrees of happiness? and this answer of Jesus seems to say that there are. He does not deny that there are such places as to sit on the right and left hand in his kingdom of glory; He only says that they are not his to give. How is this? Is He not the Lord of heaven? He who alone can give entrance there? He is but Salome came to him, as to an earthly prince, to make private interest for her sons; and He would teach her and them, that it is not his friendship, as a man, that can raise them to the high places in his kingdom of glory. James and John already enjoyed Christ's closest intimacy. They were of the three He had always with him, and John seems at table, always to have sat at his right hand; but He does not, for this, tell them that they shall certainly be in the highest places in the kingdom of heaven; these are of necessity filled by such as God the Father's wisdom knows most to be fitted for them. Jesus was on earth the Mediator between God and man. Perfect in his divine and in his human nature; as man, He interferes not with what, as God, He has determined shall be done. All that the mother has gained for her sons is the certainty that they shall drink of their Master's cup, and be baptized with his baptism. We know that she lived to see what that cup, that baptism was, for she † was one of those who, watching from afar, beheld the cross of Christ. Her amazement and her fear at this sad ending of her worldly hopes, held her at a distance. She durst not, with the mother of Jesus, and the other two devoted Marys, stand beside his cross; from afar she beheld + Ibid. xxvii, 56.

*Matt. vii. 21-23.

his baptism of blood, and then her heart must have trembled for her sons; but before the promise came to be fulfilled, she had learnt that the cross and the grave, which seemed the end of hope, was in truth but the beginning of glory.* Her sons, in some sort, may be said to have been given to sit on the right, and on the left hand of Christ, in his character of the suffering Messiah, for James was the first of the twelve apostles who was put to death for his sake,† and John remained the last of all, to suffer years after the others were gone to their rest.‡ Her anxieties must have long been hushed before her youngest son appeared in heaven to take that place which had been prepared for him. The lesson she had learnt slowly and painfully on earth, in heaven would become clear in the holy light of Almighty love, and then the mother and the children would rejoice together.

VERSE 24. "And when the ten heard it, (that is, heard of the petition made by Salome and her sons,) they were moved with indignation against the two brethren.”

They were offended that John and James should have tried to raise themselves above them; taking, as it were, advantage of the Lord's kindness. All had made equal sacrifices. Why were they to be preferred? Just such is the natural spirit of man. Each one seeking some better thing for himself; but such ought not to be the spirit of those who call Jesus, Lord. Kindly He shewed them how different a temper of mind they must have who belong to him.

*Mark xvi. 1.

† Acts xii. 2.

Rev. i. 9. The execution of St. James is dated A.D. 43, which is just ten years after the crucifixion of Christ, and the vision of St. John, in the island of Patmos, A,D. 96, 53 years later.

§ John xiv. 2.