Author: JC Ryle

These words of the Lord Jesus contain an expression which has often been misapplied. The command to “hear the Church” has been so interpreted as to contradict other passages of God’s Word. It has been falsely applied to the authority of the whole visible Church in matters of doctrine, and so been made an excuse for the exercise of much ecclesiastical tyranny. But the abuse of Scripture truths must not tempt us to neglect the use of them. We must not turn away altogether from any text, because some have perverted it and made it poison.

Let us notice in the first place, how admirable are the rules laid down by our Lord for the healing of differences among brethren.

The first thing that we are taught in these verses, is the necessity of conversion, and of conversion manifested by childlike humility. The disciples came to our Lord with the question, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” They spoke as men half-enlightened, and full of worldly expectations. They received an answer well calculated to awaken them from their day-dream. An answer containing a truth which lies at the very foundation of Christianity: “Except ye be converted and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.”

Let these words sink down deeply in our hearts. Without conversion there is no salvation. We all need an entire change of nature: of ourselves we have neither faith, fear, nor love towards God. We “must be born again” (John 3:8). Of ourselves we are utterly unfit for dwelling in God’s presence. Heaven would be no heaven to us if we were not “converted.” It is true of all ranks, classes and orders of mankind: all are born in sin and children of wrath, and all, without exception, need to be born again and made new creatures. A new heart must be given to us, and a new spirit put within us; old things must pass away, and all things must become new. It is a good thing to be baptized into the Christian Church, and use Christian means of grace, but after all, “are we converted?”

These verses contain a circumstance in our Lord’s history which is not recorded by any of the evangelists excepting St. Matthew. A remarkable miracle is worked in order to provide payment of the tribute money required for the service of the temple. There are three striking points in the narrative which deserve attentive observation.

Let us observe, in the first place, our Lord’s perfect knowledge of everything that is said and done in this world. We are told that “those who received tribute money came to Peter and said, ‘Doeth not your master pay tribute? he saith, Yes.” It is evident that our Lord was not present when the question was asked and the answer given; and yet no sooner did Peter come into the house than our Lord asked him, “What thinkest thou Simon of whom do the kings of the earth take custom or tribute?” He showed that He was as well acquainted with the conversation as if He had been listening or standing by.

We read in this passage another of our Lord’s great miracles. He heals a young man lunatic and possessed with a devil.

The first thing we see in these verses is a lively emblem of the awful influence sometimes exercised by Satan over the young. We are told of a certain man’s son, who was “lunatic and sore vexed.” We are told of the evil spirit pressing him on to the destruction of body and soul: “Oft-times he falleth into the fire and oft into the water.” It was one of those cases of Satanic possession which, however common in our Lord’s times, in our own day is rarely seen; but we can easily imagine that, when they did occur, they must have been peculiarly distressing to the relations of the afflicted. It is painful enough to see the bodies of those we love racked by disease: how much more painful must it have been to see body and mind completely under the influence of the devil! “Out of hell,” says Bishop Hall, “there could not be greater misery.”

These verses contain one of the most remarkable events in our Lord’s earthly ministry, the event commonly called the transfiguration. The order in which it is recorded is beautiful and instructive. The latter part of the last chapter showed us the cross; here we are graciously allowed to see something of the coming reward. The hearts which have just been saddened by a plain statement of Christ’s sufferings are at once gladdened by a vision of Christ’s glory. Let us mark this. We often lose much by not tracing the connection between chapter and chapter in the Word of God.

There are some mysterious things, no doubt, in the vision here described. It must needs be so. We are yet in the body. Our senses are conversant with gross and material things; our ideas and perceptions about glorified bodies and dead saints must necessarily be vague and imperfect. Let us content ourselves with endeavouring to mark out the practical lessons which the transfiguration is meant to teach us.

In order to see the connection of these verses we must remember the mistaken impressions of our Lord’s disciples as to the purpose of His coming into the world. Like Peter they could not bear the idea of the crucifixion. They thought that Jesus had come to set up an earthly kingdom; they did not see that He must needs suffer and die. They dreamed of worldly honours and temporal rewards in their Master’s service; they did not understand that true Christians, like Christ, must be made “perfect through suffering.” Our Lord corrects these misapprehensions in words of peculiar solemnity, which we shall do well to lay up in our hearts.

Let us learn in the first place from these verses, that men must make up their minds to trouble and self-denial if they follow Christ.

In the beginning of these verses we find our Lord revealing to His disciples a great and startling truth. That truth was His approaching death upon the cross. For the first time He places before their minds the astounding announcement that “He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer… and be killed”. He had not come on earth to take a kingdom, but to die. He had not come to reign and be ministered to; but to shed His blood as a sacrifice, and to give His life as a ransom for many.

It is almost impossible for us to conceive how strange and incomprehensible these tidings must have seemed to His disciples. Like most of the Jews, they could form no idea of a suffering Messiah. They did not understand that Isaiah 53 must be fulfilled literally; they did not see that the sacrifices of the law were all meant to point them to the death of the true Lamb of God. They thought of nothing but the second glorious coming of Messiah, which is yet to take place at the end of the world. They thought so much of Messiah’s crown, that they lost sight of His cross. We shall do well to remember this: a right understanding of this matter throws strong light on the lessons which this passage contains.

There are words in this passage which have led to painful differences and divisions among Christians. Men have striven and contended about their meaning till they have lost sight of all charity, and yet have failed to carry conviction to one another’s minds. Let it suffice us to glance briefly at the controverted words, and then pass on to more practical lessons.

What then are we to understand, when we read that remarkable saying of our Lord’s, “Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church?” Does it mean that the apostle Peter himself was to be the foundation on which Christ’s church was to be built? Such an interpretation, to say the least, appears exceedingly improbable.

In these verses we find our Lord assailed by the untiring enmity of the Pharisees and Sadducees. As a general rule these two sects were at enmity between themselves; in persecuting Christ, however, they made common cause. Truly it was an unholy alliance! Yet how often we see the same thing in the present day. Men of the most opposite opinions and habits will agree in disliking the Gospel, and will work together to oppose its progress. “There is no new thing under the sun” (Eccles. 1:9).

The first point in this passage which deserves special notice, is the repetition which our Lord makes of words used by Him on a former occasion. He says, “a wicked and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given unto it but the sign of the prophet Jonah.” If we turn to the twelfth chapter of this gospel and the thirty-ninth verse, we shall find that He had said the very same thing once before.

The beginning of this passage contains three points which deserve our special attention. For the present let us dwell exclusively on them.

In the first place, let us remark, how much more pains people take about the relief of their bodily diseases than about their souls.

We read that “great multitudes came to Jesus having with them those that were lame, blind, dumb, maimed and many others.” Many of them, no doubt, had journeyed many miles, and gone through great fatigues. Nothing is so difficult and troublesome as to move sick people. But the hope of being healed was in sight: such hope is everything to a sick man.