III. 20-30. CHAP. adopted by some of those described under the general title of brethren, and the growth of such a notion amongst them would probably give His mother almost as much uneasiness as the fear of His being illused by His enemies: it is not difficult to believe, that she wished to warn Him as much of the mistake of the one as of the malice of the other. S. Matt. xii. 24-32. S. Luke xi. 15-20. With regard to the conclusion itself, He is beside Himself, the first thought that strikes the mind is, how easy and convenient a solution of all difficulties this is! When S. Paul stood before Festus, and had produced a considerable effect upon his mind by his earnest account of himself and his doings, Festus told him he was made mad by much learning. The explanation is ready to hand for every one who cannot understand a teacher of unpleasant doctrines; of course it may sometimes be true, but the remembrance of the way in which it was applied in the case of Christ ought to make us cautious of using it, and warn us that the explanation of apparent folly in a teacher may sometimes be found in the dulness or hardheartedness of those, who come to him professing their desire to be taught. 22. And the Scribes which came down from Jerusalem said, He hath Beelzebub, and by the prince of the devils casteth He out devils. 23. And He called them unto Him, and said unto them in parables, How can Satan cast out Satan? 24. And if a kingdom be divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. 25. And if a house be divided against itself, that house cannot stand. 26. And if Satan rise up against himself, and be divided, he cannot stand, but hath an end. 27. No man can enter into a strong man's house, and spoil his goods, except III. he will first bind the strong man; and then he will CHAP. spoil his house. 28. Verily I say unto you, All sins 22-30. shall be forgiven unto the sons of men, and blasphemies wherewith soever they shall blaspheme: 29. But he that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost hath never forgiveness, but is in danger of eternal damnation: 30. Because they said, He hath an unclean spirit. against the S. Matthew, S. Mark, and S. Luke have all recorded Blasphemy our Lord's solemn speech concerning blasphemy against Holy Ghost. the Holy Ghost; there are however two or three points peculiar to S. Mark's report which may be worthy of notice. S. Matthew and S. Luke connect the charge of being in league with Beelzebub, and the Lord's solemn warning consequent upon the charge, with a miracle which He had just performed upon one possessed; S. Mark omits this miracle; it is perhaps hard to say why, for we might almost have guessed from internal evidence, I mean from the character of the charge made by the Scribes, that there had been some notable work just performed, which had called attention to the Lord's superhuman power and had led unbelievers to attribute it to an evil source. But if S. Mark is less particular in this point, he gives us immediately afterwards a valuable piece of information which is not found in either of the other Evangelists. He tells us that the objection concerning Beelzebub was made by Scribes which came down from Jerusalem; and it is not difficult to understand the spirit in which these Scribes would undertake to enlighten the rustic simplicity of the Galilæans; it is plain from the whole tenor of S. Mark's history that the Lord's fame had spread widely, and that the people of Galilee were well disposed to admit III. 22-30. CHAP. His claims, and if the Scribes from Jerusalem denied that He was a teacher sent from God, the Galilæans would reply, How then does He do such miracles? The Scribes undertook to get over this difficulty by their supposition concerning Beelzebub; it was an explanation worthy of men, who, in studying the letter, had lost the whole spirit of religion; plain practical men would have seen that the good fruits of the emancipation of men's bodies and spirits from the powers of evil could never have grown upon such a corrupt tree as the evil one himself. S. Matt. xii. 46-50. S. Luke viii. 19-21. The expression rendered eternal damnation is according to some copies eternal sin. Without endeavouring to determine which is the true reading, I cannot but remark that the latter is very strikingly emphatic. Eternal damnation, eternal punishment, eternal death, -call it what you will, it is all expressed by the phrase eternal sin; eternal, not (of course) in its commission, but in its consequences, because not wiped out by the blood of Christ. S. Mark alone adds the explanatory verse, Because they said, He hath an unclean spirit: an explanation which it is most important to bear in mind in considering the awful question of sin against the Holy Ghost.1 31. There came then His brethren and His mother, and, standing without, sent unto Him, calling Him. 32. And the multitude sat about Him; and they said unto Him, Behold, Thy mother and Thy brethren without seek for Thee. 33. And He answered them, saying, Who is My mother, or My brethren? 34. And He 1 On this subject I venture to refer to the last three sermons in my Third Series of Parish Sermons. looked round about on them which sat about Him, and CHAP. III. said, Behold My mother and My brethren! 35. For 31-35. whosoever shall do the will of God, the same is My brother, and My sister, and mother. I have remarked in commenting upon the parallel passage in S. Matthew's Gospel, that the attempt here made by the Lord's mother and His brethren to speak to Him while surrounded by the multitude is probably to be connected with the circumstance which has been already related by S. Mark, namely, that some of His friends thought Him mad. When things had come to this point, it cannot be matter of surprise that the blessed Virgin should have had her fears aroused, and that she should have sought to gain speech with her Son. Her motives however must remain in doubt, in consequence of the brief manner in which her visit is touched upon. lesson con mothers and Two points of interest arise from S. Mark's narrative. The Lord's In the first place observe that the whole story is intro- cerning duced apparently, and I think we may say certainly, brethren. for the sake of the lesson which the Lord hung upon it. The sword must now have begun to pierce the mother's soul; if she had an interview with her Son when the crowd was dispersed, it must have been one of a most affecting kind; and in an ordinary biography, a writer who was studying effect, and wished to move the feelings of his readers, would not have lost so good an opportunity of painting a most touching scene; but S. Mark does not even tell us whether Son and mother met; he only records that Christ declared human motherhood and brotherhood to be as nothing in comparison with that spiritual relationship to Himself, which is founded upon the doing of the will of God. CHAP. III. 31-35. In the second place, observe that this is the only mention which S. Mark makes of the mother of the Lord. Jesus appeared at once in this Gospel as the The Lord's Son of God of whom the prophets had spoken; His mentioned human pedigree was never mentioned; and even at the S. Mark. close of His life, where we read of other women follow mother not elsewhere by ing Him and ministering to Him, and in the case of the crucifixion itself, at which we know from other sources that His mother was present, S. Mark passes her over in silence. The one allusion to a human mother which S. Mark's Gospel contains is therefore one which receives its colour from the Lord's question, Who is My mother, and His own answer to that question. CHAP. S. Matt. xiii. 1-3. S. Luke viii. 4. The teaching by parables. CHAPTER IV. 1. And He began again to teach by the sea-side: and there was gathered unto Him a great multitude, so that He entered into a ship, and sat in the sea; and the whole multitude was by the sea on the land. 2. And He taught them many things by parables. We arrive now at a new stage in the history of the Lord's Ministry, namely, that in which He commenced the teaching by parables. Probably some interval of time divides the close of the preceding chapter from the commencement of this, though if the words the same day in the parallel place of S. Matthew are to be taken in their strict sense as referring to the day in which the |