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8. THE OPENING OF THE EYES OF TWO

BLIND IN THE HOUSE.

MATT. ix. 27-31.

E have here the first of those many healings of the blind recorded (Matt. xii. 22; xx. 30; xxi. 14; John ix.) or alluded to (Matt. xi. 5; Luke vii. 21) in the Gospels; each of them a literal fulfilment of that prophetic word of Isaiah, concerning the days of Messiah: Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened' (xxxv. 5). Frequent as these miracles are, there yet will not one of them be found without distinguishing features of its own. That they should be so numerous is nothing wonderful, whether we regard the fact from a natural or a spiritual point of view. Regarded naturally, their number need not surprise us, if we keep in mind how far commoner a calamity is blindness in the East than with us.' Regarded from a spiritual point of view, we need only remember how constantly sin is contemplated in Scripture as a moral blindness (Deut. xxviii.

1 For this there are many causes. The dust and flying sand, pulverized and reduced to minutest particles, enters the eyes, causing inflammations which, being neglected, end frequently in total loss of sight. The sleeping in the open air, on the roofs of the houses, and the consequent exposure of the eyes to the noxious nightly dews, is another source of this malady. A modern traveller calculates that there are four thousand blind in Cairo alone; and Palgrave, writing of the diseases of Arabia (Journey through Arabia, vol. ii. p. 34) has these observations: 'Ophthalmia is fearfully prevalent, and goes on unchecked in many instances to the worst results. It would be no exaggeration to say that one adult out of every five has his eyes more or less damaged by the consequences of this disease.' In Syria, it is true, the proportion of blind is not at all so great, yet there also the calamity is far commoner than in western lands; so that we find humane regulations concerning the blind, as a class, in the Law (Lev. xix. 14; Deut. xxvii. 18).

29; Isai. lix. 10; Job xii. 25; Zeph. i. 17), and deliverance from sin as a removal of this blindness (Isai. xxix. 18; xlii. 18; xliii. 8; Ephes. i. 8; Matt. xv. 14); at once to perceive how well it became Him who was 'the Light of the world' often to accomplish works which symbolized so well that higher work of illumination which He came into the world. to fulfil.

'And when Jesus departed thence-from the house of Jairus, Jerome supposes; but too much stress must not be laid on the connexion in which St. Matthew sets the miracle, nor the conclusion certainly drawn that he intended to place it in such immediate relation of time and place with that other which he had just told- two blind men followed Him, crying and saying, Thou Son of David, have mercy on us.' In that Son of David' they recognize Him as the promised Messiah (Matt. xxi. 9; xxii. 42; cf. Ezek. xxxiv. 23, 34). But their faith must not stop short in this mere confession of Him; it must be further tried; and the Lord proceeds to try it, though not so rudely as

He tried that of

the Syrophoenician woman at a later day. Not all at once do they obtain their petition; the Lord seeming at first rather to withdraw Himself from them, suffering them to cry after Him, and for a while paying no regard to their cries. It is only when He was come into the house,' and 'the blind men came to Him' there, so testifying the earnestness of their desires and the faith of their hearts, that He yields to them the blessing which they sought.' He must obtain too, ere that may be, a further confession from their own lips: Believe ye that I am able to do this?' And it is only after they, by their 'Yea, Lord,' have avouched that they had faith to be healed, that the blessing is theirs. Then indeed 'He touched their eyes,' and that simple touch was enough, unsealing as it did for them the closed organs

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1 Calvin: Re igitur et verbis examinare voluit eorum fidem: suspensos enim tenens, imo præteriens quasi non exaudiat, patientiæ ipsorum ex, erimentum capit, et qualem in ipsorum animis radicem egerit fides.

of vision (cf. Matt. xx. 34). On other occasions He uses as conductors of his power, and helps to the faith of those who should be healed, some further means, the clay mingled with spittle (John ix. 6, 7), or the moisture of his mouth alone (Mark viii. 23). We nowhere read of his opening the blind eyes simply by his word, although this of course lay equally within the range of his power. The words which accompany the act of grace, According to your faith be it unto you,' are instructive for the insight they give us into the relation of man's faith and God's gift. The faith, which in itself is nothing, is yet the organ for receiving everything. It is the conducting link between man's emptiness and God's fulness; and herein is all the value which it has. It is the bucket let down into the fountain of God's grace, without which the man could never draw water of life from the wells of salvation; for the wells are deep, and of himself man has nothing to draw with. It is the purse, which cannot of itself make its owner rich, and yet effectually enriches him by the treasure which it contains.1

'And Jesus straitly charged them, saying, See that no man know it' (cf. Mark v. 43; Matt. xvii. 9). But they, when they were departed, spread abroad his fame in all that country.' It is very characteristic, and rests on very profound differences between Roman Catholics and ourselves, that of these interpreters almost all—I am aware of no single exception-applaud rather than condemn these men for not adhering strictly to Christ's command, his earnest, almost threatening, injunction of

1 Faith, the pyarov ATTɩkév, nothing in itself, yet everything because it places us in living connexion with Him in whom every good gift is stored. Thus on this passage Chemnitz (Harm. Evang. 68): Fides est instar haustri gratiæ cælestis et salutis nostræ, quo ex inscrutabili et inexhausto divinæ misericordiæ et bonitatis fonte, ad quem aliter penetrare non possumus, haurimus et ad nos attrahimus quod nobis salutare est. Calvin (Inst. iii. 11, 7): Fides etiamsi nullius per se dignitatis sit, vel pretii, nos justificat, Christum afferendo, sicut olla pecuniis referta homi.. nem locupletat.

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Ενεβριμήσατο αὐτοῖς. Suidas explains ἐμβριμᾶσθαι = μετὰ ἀπειλης

silence; that the teachers in that Church of will-worship see in their disobedience the irrepressible overflowings of grateful hearts, which, as such, should be regarded not as a fault, but a merit. Some, alas! of the ancients, Theophylact, for instance, do not shrink from affirming that the men did not disobey at all in publishing the miracle; that Christ never intended them to observe his precept about silence, but gave it out of humility, being the better pleased that it was not observed.' But of the interpreters of the Reformed Church, whose first principle is to take God's Word as absolute rule and law, and to worship Him not with self-devised services, but after the pattern which He has shown, all stand fast to this, that obedience is better than sacrifice, even though the sacrifice be intended for God's special honour (1 Sam. xv. 21). They see, therefore, in this publishing of the miracle, despite of Christ's word to the contrary, a blemish in the perfectness of their faith who thus disobeyed; a fault which remained a fault, even while they recognize it as one which only grateful hearts could have committed.

ἐντέλλεσθαι, μετ ̓ αὐστηρότητος ἐπιτιμᾶν. See more on this word in a note on the raising of Lazarus.

1 Thus Aquinas (Summ. Theol. 2a 2, qu. 104, art. 4): Dominus cæcis dixit ut miraculum occultarent, non quasi intendens eos per virtutem divini præcepti obligare; sed sicut Gregorius dicit 19 Moral., servis suis se sequentibus exemplum dedit, ut ipsi quidem virtutes suas occultare desiderent, et tamen ut alii eorum exemplo proficiant, prodantur inviti, Cf. Maldonatus, in loc.

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9.

THE HEALING OF THE PARALYTIC.

MATT. ix. 1-8; MARK ii. 1-12; LUKE v. 17-26.1

HE account of St. Luke would leave us altogether in ignorance where this miracle of healing took place; but from St. Matthew we learn that it was in his own city,' by which we should understand Capernaum, even if St. Mark had not named it, for as Bethlehem was the birthplace of Christ, and Nazareth his nursing-place, so Capernaum his dwelling-place. We have then here one of the mighty works' with which at a later day He upbraided that greatly favoured but impenitent city (Matt. xi. 23). And it came to pass on a certain day as He was teaching, that there were Pharisees and doctors of the law sitting by, which were come out of every town of Galilee, and Judæa, and Jerusalem.' It may have been a conference, more or less friendly upon the part of these, which had brought together as listeners and spectators a multitude so vast that all avenues of approach to the house were blocked up; there was no room to receive them, no, not so much as about the door; "2 and thus for later comers no opportunity, by any ordinary way, of near access to the Lord. (cf. Matt. xii. 46, 47). Among these were some bringing

1 Chrysostom (in Matth. Hom. 29) warns his hearers against the confounding of this miracle of healing with that of the impotent man at Bethesda, and then finding discrepancies. between the one narrative and the other. The confusion, one would think, is so little likely to occur as hardly to be worth the complete refutation which he gives it. It is found, however, in the apocryphal Evangelium Nicodemi (see Thilo, Cod. Apocryph. vol. i. p. 556).

2 Τὰ πρὸς τὴν θύραν, scil. μέρη = πρόθυρον, vestibulum, atrium.