Why not on the Sabbath? How are we to understand this? Rest for God. Rest for the sake of prayer—that is understandable. But there is the vulnerability and fragility of a glass rose that lies there, lies there, lies there... and what if a car suddenly drives by and...
Why not on the Sabbath? How are we to understand this? Rest for God. Rest for the sake of prayer—that is understandable. But there is the vulnerability and fragility of a glass rose that lies there, lies there, lies there... and what if a car suddenly drives by and crushes it, reducing it to shards? Everything seems to pass: snowfall, wind, moonlight; the scenes in the sky replace one another. But the fragility of this rose is something special and precious. It seems to us that, since the rose has endured so much—wind, snowfall, and blizzard—nothing will happen to it over the Sabbath. But it is fragile; it is made of glass.
And so it is with every human soul: it seems to us that Jesus, our Lord, treats each soul just like a fragile glass rose which, once touched, must be warmed and placed somewhere safe so that no car will crush it—and that place is His hands. Once He has touched it... And what if it is the Sabbath? Prayer is breath.
2
2:13 All the multitude came to him - Namely, by the sea side. And he as readily taught them there as if they had been in a synagogue.
2:14 Mat 9:9; Luk 5:27.
2:15 Many publicans and notorious sinners sat with Jesus - Some of them doubtless invited by Matthew, moved with compassion for his old companions in sin. But the next words, For there were many, and they followed him, seem to imply, that the greater part, encouraged by his gracious words and the tenderness of his behaviour, and impatient to hear more, stayed for no invitation, but pressed in after him, and kept as close to him as they could.
2:16 And the scribes and Pharisees said - So now the wise men being joined by the saints of the world, went a little farther in raising prejudices against our Lord. In his answer he uses as yet no harshness, but only calm, dispassionate reasoning.
2:17 I came not to call the righteous - Therefore if these were righteous I should not call them. But now, they are the very persons I came to save.
2:18 Mat 9:14; Luk 5:33.
2:23 Mat 12:1; Luk 6:1.
2:26 In the days of Abiathar the high priest - Abimelech, the father of Abiathar, was high priest then; Abiathar himself not till some time after. This phrase therefore only means, In the time of Abiathar, who was afterward the high priest. Sa1 21:6.
2:27 The Sabbath was made for man - And therefore must give way to man's necessity.
2:28 Moreover the Son of man is Lord even of the Sabbath - Being the supreme Lawgiver, he hath power to dispense with his own laws; and with this in particular.