Author: JC Ryle

We learn, for one thing, from these verses, how keenly our Lord Jesus Christ observes the things that are done upon earth. We read that “He looked up and saw the rich men casting their gifts into the treasury. And He saw also a certain poor widow casting in thither two mites.” We might well suppose that our Lord’s mind at this season would have been wholly occupied with the things immediately before Him. His betrayal, His unjust judgment, His cross, His passion, His death, were all close at hand; and He knew it.–The approaching destruction of the temple, the scattering of the Jews, the long period of time before His second advent, were all things which were spread before His mind like a picture. It was but a few moments ago he spoke of them.–And yet at a time like this we find Him taking note of all that is going on around Him! He thinks it not beneath Him to observe the conduct of a “certain poor widow.”

Let us observe in this passage, what striking testimony to Christ’s divinity the book of Psalms contains. We read that after patiently replying to the attacks of His enemies, our Lord in turn propounds a question to them. He asks them to explain an expression in the hundred and tenth Psalm, where David speaks of the Messiah as his Lord. To this question the Scribes could find no answer. They did not see the mighty truth, that Messiah was to be God as well as man, and that while as man He was to be David’s son, as God He was to be David’s Lord. Their ignorance of Scripture was thus exposed before all the people. Professing themselves to be instructors of others and possessors of the key of knowledge, they were proved unable to explain what their own Scriptures contained. We may well believe that of all the defeats which our Lord’s malicious enemies met with, none galled them more than this. Nothing so abashes the pride of man, as to be publicly proved ignorant of that which he fancies is his own peculiar department of knowledge.

We see in these verses what an old thing unbelief is. We are told that “there came to our Lord certain of the Sadducees, who deny that there is any resurrection.” Even in the Jewish Church, the Church of Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob,–the Church of Moses, and Samuel, and David, and the prophets,–we find that there were bold, avowed, unblushing sceptics. If infidelity like this existed among God’s peculiar people, the Jews, what must the state of heathenism have been? If these things existed in a green tree, what must have been the condition of the dry?

We must never be surprised when we hear of infidels, deists, heretics and free-thinkers rising up in the Church, and drawing away disciples after them. We must not count it a rare and a strange thing. It is only one among many proofs that man is a fallen and corrupt being. Since the day when the devil said to Eve “ye shall not surely die,” and Eve believed him, there never has been wanting a constant succession of forms of unbelief.–There is nothing new about any of the modern theories of infidelity. There is not one of them that is not an old disease under a new name. They are all mushrooms which spring up spontaneously in the hot-bed of human nature. It is not in reality an astonishing thing that there should rise up so many who call in question the truth of the Bible. The marvel is rather, that in a fallen world the sect of the Sadducees should be so small.

Let us mark, for one thing, in this passage, the cloak of goodness under which some of our Lord’s enemies approached Him. We read that they “sent forth spies, which should feign themselves just men.” We read further that they attempted to trick Him by flattering words: “We know that thou sayest and teachest rightly, neither acceptest thou the person of any, but teachest the way of God truly.” These words sounded well. An ignorant bystander would have said, “These are sincere inquirers after truth!” But all was hollow and unreal. It was the wolf putting on the sheep’s clothing, under the vain idea of deceiving the shepherd. “Their words were smoother than butter,” yet there was “war in their hearts.” (Psalm 55:21)

The true servant of Christ must expect to meet people of this description, as long as the world stands. There never will be wanting those, who from interested or sinister motives will profess with their lips to love Christ, while in heart they deny Him. There will always be some, who “by good words and fair speeches,” will attempt to deceive the heart of the simple. The union of “burning lips and a wicked heart,” is far from uncommon. There are probably few congregations which do not contain some of those whom Solomon likens to “potsherds, covered with silver dross.” (Rom. 16:18. Prov. 26:23)

The parable we have now read, is one of the very few which are recorded more than once by the Gospel writers. Matthew, Mark, and Luke, all give it at full length. This three-fold repetition is alone sufficient to point out the importance of its contents.

The parable, no doubt, was specially intended for the Jews to whom it was addressed. But we must not confine its application to them. It contains lessons which should be remembered in all churches of Christ as long as the world stands.

In the first place, the parable shows us the deep corruption of human nature. The conduct of the wicked “husbandmen” is a vivid representation of man’s dealings with God.–It is a faithful picture of the history of the Jewish church. In spite of privileges, such as no nation ever had, in the face of warnings such as no people ever received, the Jews rebelled against God’s lawful authority, refused to give Him His rightful dues, rejected the counsel of His prophets, and at length crucified His only-begotten Son.

Let us notice, firstly, in this passage, the demand which the chief Priests and scribes made upon our Lord. “Tell us,” they said, “by what authority thou doest these things? and who gave you this authority?”

The spirit which prompted this demand is too evident to be mistaken. These men hated and envied Christ. They saw His influence increasing. They saw their own power waning. They resolved, if possible, to stop the progress of this new teacher; and the point on which they made their assault was His authority. His mighty works they ought to have examined. His teaching they ought, in all fairness, to have compared with their own Scriptures. But they refused to take either one course or the other. They preferred to call in question His commission.

We learn, firstly, from these verses, how great is the tenderness and compassion of Christ towards sinners. We are told that when He came near Jerusalem for the last time, “He beheld the city and wept over it.” He knew well the character of the inhabitants of Jerusalem. Their cruelty, their self-righteousness, their stubbornness, their obstinate prejudice against the truth, their pride of heart were not hidden from Him. He knew well what they were going to do to Himself within a very few days. His unjust judgment, His delivery to the Gentiles, His sufferings, His crucifixion, were all spread out distinctly before His mind’s eye. And yet knowing all this, our Lord pitied Jerusalem! “He beheld the city and wept over it.”

Let us mark, for one thing, in these verses, the perfect knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. We see Him sending two of His disciples to a village, and telling them that they would find at the entrance of it, “a colt tied, whereon yet never man sat.” We see Him describing what they would see and hear, with as much confidence as if the whole transaction had been previously arranged. In short, He speaks like one to whom all things were naked and open,–like one whose eyes were in every place,–like one who knew things unseen as well as things seen.

The occasion of our Lord speaking the parable before us, is clear and plain. It was intended to correct the false expectations of the disciples on the subject of Christ’s kingdom. It was a prophetical sketch of things present and things to come, which ought to raise solemn thoughts in the minds of all professing Christians.

We see, for one thing, in this parable, the present position of our Lord Jesus Christ. He is compared to “a certain nobleman, who went into a far country, to receive for himself a kingdom, and to return.”

These verses describe the conversion of a soul. Like the stories of Nicodemus, and the Samaritan woman, the story of Zacchaeus should be frequently studied by Christians. The Lord Jesus never changes. What He did for the man before us, He is able and willing to do for any one of ourselves.

We learn, firstly, from these verses, that no one is too bad to be saved, or beyond the power of Christ’s grace. We are told of a wealthy publican becoming a disciple of Christ. A more unlikely event we cannot well imagine! We see the “camel passing through the eye of a needle,” and the “rich man entering the kingdom of God.” We behold a plain proof that “all things are possible with God.” We see a covetous tax-gatherer transformed into a liberal Christian!