The Jews' religion forbade them to meddle any more than needs must with graves and dead bodies. Or rather, (2.) Come and see how good it is to draw near to God. Accordingly, he here makes prompt payment of the legacy: Peace be unto you. This chapter is a prayer, it is the Lord's prayer, the Lord Christ's prayer. 3. Christ was now ascending to appear as an advocate with the Fatherwith his Father, and therefore we may hope he will prevail for any thingwith our Father, and therefore we may hope he will prevail for us. 2. Peter is blessed in his faith, because flesh and blood have not revealed it to him, Matt 16 17. Observe, I. Those that have lost Christ have cause to weep; she wept at the remembrance of his bitter sufferings; wept for his death, and the loss which she and her friends and the country sustained by it; wept to think of returning home without him; wept because she did not now find his body. Copyright 2023, Bible Study Tools. At another, that day seven-night, when Thomas was with them, ver 26-31. I. They had not only the satisfaction of seeing him look with the same countenance, and hearing him speak with the same voice they had been so long accustomed to, Sic oculos, sic ille manus, sic ora, ferebatSuch were his gestures, such his eyes and hands! Those that recorded the resurrection of Christ were not put to fish for evidence, to take up such short and scanty proofs as they could find, and make up the rest with conjecture. Not to see and yet to believe argues greater industry in searching after truth, and greater ingenuousness of mind in embracing it. What Christ said to them he says to all true believers, Receive ye the Holy Ghost, Eph 1 13. Secondly, To encourage our faith, and invite us to believe. Their purity and holiness. She came to the sepulchre, to wash the dead body with her tears, for she went to the grave, to weep there, and to anoint it with the ointment she had prepared. Matthew 17:20; JOSEPH PARKER. The former salutation was to still the tumult of their fear, that they might calmly attend to the proofs of his resurrection; this was to reduce the transport of their joy, that they might sedately hear what he had further to say to them; or, Secondly, To encourage them to accept of the commission he was giving them. What is related here is mostly what was omitted by the other evangelists. [1.] [2.] John 20 Commentary - Matthew Henry Commentary on the Whole - The Bible Their compassionate enquiry into the cause of Mary Magdalene's grief (v. 13): Woman, why weepest thou? Surprising comforts are the frequent encouragements of early seekers. Christ owns Thomas a believer. Probably the disciples met here for some religious exercise, to pray together; or, perhaps, they met to compare notes, and consider whether they had sufficient evidence of their Master's resurrection, and to consult what was now to be done, whether they should keep together or scatter; they met to know one another's minds, strengthen one another's hands, and concert proper measures to be taken in the present critical juncture. The Old Testament spoke of the resurrection of the Messiah; they believed him to be the Messiah; he himself had often told them that, according to the scriptures of the Old Testament, he should rise again; but they had not presence of mind sufficient by these to explain the present appearances. The description of the persons she saw. The sign he used to assure them of, and affect them with, the gift he was now about to bestow upon them: He breathed on them; not only to show them, by this breath of life, that he himself was really alive, but to signify to them the spiritual life and power which they should receive from him for all the services that lay before them. [2.] Those that diligently enquire after Christ while it is yet dark shall have such light given them concerning him as shall shine more and more. St. Mark tells us that Christ appeared first to Mary Magdalene (Mark 16 9); that appearance is here largely related; and we may observe. III. He commends the faith of those who believe upon easier terms. 5 And he stooping down, and looking in, saw the linen clothes lying; yet went he not in. If he be imprisoned for our debt, and lie by it, we are undone, 1 Co. 15:17 . The method of proof is such as gives abundant satisfaction to those who are piously disposed to receive the doctrine and law of Christ, and yet leaves room for those to object who are willingly ignorant and obstinate in their unbelief. He is therefore justly blamed for laying so much stress upon this. John 17 Bible Commentary - Matthew Henry (concise) - Christianity 2. The preface to their commission, which was the solemn repetition of the salutation before: Peace be unto you. How Christ discovered himself to this good woman that was seeking him in tears (v. 16): Jesus saith unto her, Mary. We should not grudge any pains we take for the succouring and comforting of the weak and timorous followers of Christ. His kind and familiar salutation of his disciples: He said, Peace be unto you. So that Christ here insinuates, "As he is my God, and hath therefore raised me, so he is your God, and will therefore raise you, and be your God, Rev 21 3. Note, Sense of Christ's love to us, kindling love in us to him again, will make us to excel in virtue. She supposed our Lord Jesus to be the gardener, perhaps because he asked what authority she had to be there. What passed between Christ and Thomas at this meeting; and that only is recorded, though we may suppose he said a great deal to the rest of them. Upon the first day of the week, as soon as ever the sabbath was gone, longing, not to sell corn and to set forth wheat (as Amos 8 5), but to be at the sepulchre. Bible Text Commentaries by Matthew Henry - Blue Letter Bible not to do his own will, but the will of him that sent him? Matthew - Matthew Henry's Commentary - Bible Gateway We must take off our regards from all creatures, even the brightest and best, to fix them upon Christ, from whom nothing must divert us, and with whom nothing must interfere. He stooped down, and looked in. How he did at first conceal himself from her. See here what use we should make of the experience and observations of others. Speaking of that inexhaustible spring of light, life, and bliss, he says, He is my Father, and our Father; my God, and your God. IV. As before his death, so now after his resurrection, he still harps upon this, that he was going away, was no more in the world; and therefore they must look higher than his bodily presence, and look further than the present state of things. See Job 19 25, etc. Introduction John 1 John 2 John 3 John 4 John 5 John 6 John 7 John 8 John 9 John 10 John 11 John 12 John 13 John 14 John 15 John 16 John 17 John 18 John 19 John 20 John 21 This is the third . Thirdly, When we arise from the death of sin to the life of righteousness, we must leave our grave-clothes behind us, must put off all our corruptions. A vast difference indeed there is between the respective foundations of the relation; he is Christ's Father by eternal generation, ours by a gracious adoption; yet even this warrants us to call him, as Christ did, Abba, Father. Christ's gracious condescension to Thomas, v. 27. Commentary: Henry's complete commentary is six volumes. (2.) 2. [2.] That he might put a rebuke upon Thomas for his incredulity. See how Peter's boldness encouraged John; now he took heart and ventured in (v. 8), and he saw and believed; not barely believed what Mary said, that the body was gone (no thanks to him to believe what he saw), but he began to believe that Jesus was risen to life again, though his faith, as yet, was weak and wavering. That Thomas was with them; though he had withdrawn himself once, yet not a second time. This they said to Thomas, (1.) He could not be sure that the print of the nails, which the apostles told him they had seen, would admit the putting of his finger into it, or the wound in his side the thrusting in of his hand; nor was it fit to deal so roughly with a living body; yet Thomas ties up his faith to this evidence. Nay, but is it indeed?" Moses could not give his Spirit, God did it (Num 11 17); but Christ did it himself. (2.) Why Matthew Henry is a Good Commentary - Best Bible Commentaries IV. How Christ at length made himself known to her, and, by a pleasing surprise, gave her infallible assurances of his resurrection. I. Mary Magdalene, coming to the sepulchre, finds the stone taken away. To inform him: "We have seen the Lord, and we wish thou hadst been here, to see him too, for thou wouldest have seen enough to satisfy thee." The summary of the new covenant is that God will be to us a God; and therefore Christ being the surety and head of the covenant, who is primarily dealt with, and believers only through him as his spiritual seed, this covenant-relation fastens first upon him, God becomes his God, and so ours; we partaking of a divine nature, Christ's Father is our Father; and, he partaking of the human nature, our God is his God. We should have said, "Let his ignominious death be private, and his glorious resurrection public." 1. We must be willing to go through the grave to Christ; that way he went to his glory, and so must we. They were two angels in white, sitting (probably on some benches or ledges hewn out in the rock) one at the head, and the other at the feet, of the grave. (2.) The judgment of Christ upon the whole (v. 29): "Thomas because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed, and it is well thou art brought to it at last upon any terms; but blessed are those that have not seen, and yet have believed." Matthew 17 Commentary; JOHN PIPER. (2.) If we cannot see God's face and live, better die than never see it. Because it was upon this the performance of his undertaking for our redemption and salvation did depend. He instructs us in the design of recording what we do find here (v. 31): "These accounts are given in this and the following chapter, that you might believe upon these evidences; that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, declared with power to be so by his resurrection.". Was he sent, not to be ministered to, but to minister? All rights reserved. Observe the posture in which he found things in the sepulchre. Peter and John, having come to the sepulchre, prosecute the enquiry, yet improve little in the discovery. Article Images Copyright 2023 Getty Images unless otherwise indicated. The less sensible the evidence is the more does the work of faith appear to be the Lord's doing. 7 Short but Mighty Lessons from the Book of James, When it Comes to Miracles, God Does it His Way. [2.] 3 And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus. And therefore enemies were most solicitous to stifle the notice of this, because it was put on this issue, and, if he be risen, they are not only murderers, but murderers of the Messiah. 3. We ought thus to bear the infirmities of the weak, Rom 15 1, 2.
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john 20:17 matthew henry commentary