Commentary on Matthew, Mark, Luke - Volume 2.pdf

<strong>Commentary</strong> on Matthew, Mark, Luke - Volume 2
I reap where I sowed not, and gather where I did would have demanded it with usury? 24. And to
not scatter: 27. Thou oughtest therefore to have those who stood by he said, Take from him the
given my money to the bankers, and, when I pound, and give it to him who hath ten pounds.
came, I would have received my own with usury. 25. And they said to him, Master, he hath ten
28. Take away then from him the talent, and give pounds. 26. For I say to you, That to him that
it to him who hath ten talents. 29. For to every hath it shall be given; but from him who hath not,
one that hath shall be given, and he shall abound; even what he hath shall be taken away. 27. But
but he that hath not, even that which he hath shall bring hither those my enemies, who refused that
be taken from him. 30. And cast out the I should reign over them, and slay them before
unprofitable servant into outer darkness, where me. 28. And, having said these things, he went
shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. before, to go up to Jerusalem.
Luke 19:11. While they were hearing these things. It was next to a prodigy that the disciples,
after having been so frequently warned as to the approaching death of Christ, flew aside from it to
think of his kingdom. There were two mistakes; first, that they pictured to themselves rest and
happiness without the cross; secondly, that they judged of the kingdom of God according to their
own carnal sense. Hence it appears how slight and obscure their faith was; for though they had
entertained a hope of the resurrection, yet the taste was too slight for forming a fixed and decided
opinion about Christ. They believe him to be the Redeemer who had been formerly promised, and
hence they conceive a hope that the Church will be renewed; but that knowledge immediately
degenerates into vain imaginations, which either overturn or obscure the power of his kingdom.
But the strangest thing of all was, that so many warnings should have passed away from their
recollection without yielding any advantage. At least, it was brutal stupidity that, though Christ
had lately declared, in express terms, that he was just about to undergo a bitter and ignominious
death, they not only remained unconcerned, but rushed forward, as if to a joyful triumph.
12. A certain nobleman. Matthew interweaves this parable with others, without attending to the
order of time; but, as his intention was, in the twenty-second chapter, to make a collection of Christ’s
latest discourses, readers ought not to trouble themselves greatly with the inquiry which of them
was delivered on the first, or the second, or the third day within that short period. But it is proper
to observe the difference between Matthew and Luke; for, while the former touches only on one
point, the latter embraces two. This point is common to both, that Christ resembles a nobleman,
who, undertaking a long journey for the sake of obtaining a kingdom, has entrusted his money to
the management of his servants, and so on. The other point is peculiar to Luke, that the subjects
abused the absence of the prince, and raised a tumult in order to shake off his yoke. In both parts
Christ intended to show, that the disciples were greatly mistaken in supposing that his royal authority
was already established, and that he was coming to Jerusalem, in order to commence immediately
a course of prosperity. Thus by taking away the expectation of an immediate kingdom, he exhorts
310
John Calvin