Matthew 18:11-14; Luke 15:1-10
Matthew 18:11. For the Son of man cometh. Christ now employs his own
example in persuading his disciples to honor even weak and despised brethren;
for he came down from heaven to save not them only, but even the dead who
were lost. It is in the highest degree unreasonable that we should disdainfully
reject those whom the Son of God has so highly esteemed. And even if the
weak labor under imperfections which may expose them to contempt, our pride
is not on that account to be excused; for we ought to esteem them not for
the value of their virtues, but for the sake of Christ; and he who will
not conform himself to Christ’s example is too saucy and proud.
12. What think you? Luke carries the occasion of this parable still
farther back, as having arisen from the murmurings of the Pharisees and
scribes against our Lord, whom they saw conversing daily with sinners.
Christ therefore intended to show that a good teacher ought not to labor
less to recover those that are lost, than to preserve those which are in
his possession; though according to Matthew the comparison proceeds farther,
and teaches us not only that we ought to treat with kindness the disciples
of Christ, but that we ought to bear with their imperfections, and endeavor,
when they wander, to bring them back to the road. For, though they happen
sometimes to wander, yet as they are sheep over which God has appointed
his Son to be shepherd, so far are we from having a right to chase or drive
them away roughly, that we ought to gather them from their wanderings;
for the object of the discourse is to lead us to beware of losing what
God wishes to be saved. The narrative of Luke presents to us a somewhat
different object. It is, that the whole human race belongs to God, and
that therefore we ought to gather those that have gone astray, and that
we ought to rejoice as much, when they that are lost return to the path
of duty, as a man would do who, beyond his expectation, recovered something
the loss of which had grieved him.
Luke 15:10. There will be joy in the presence of the angels. If angels
mutually rejoice with each other in heaven, when they see that what had
wandered is restored to the fold, we too, who have the same cause in common
with them, ought to be partakers of the same joy. But. how does he say
that the repentance of one ungodly man yields greater joy than the perseverance
of many righteous men to angels, whose highest delight is in a continued
and uninterrupted course of righteousness? I reply, though it would be
more agreeable to the wishes of angels (as it is also more desirable) that
men should always remain in perfect integrity, yet as in the deliverance
of a sinner, who had been already devoted to destruction, and had been
cut off as a rotten member from the body, the mercy of God shines more
brightly, he attributes to angels, after the manner of men, a greater joy
arising out of an unexpected good.
Over one repenting sinner. The word repentance is specially limited
to the conversion of those who, having altogether turned aside from God,
rise as it were from death to life; for otherwise the exercise of repentance
ought to be uninterrupted throughout our whole life, and no man is exempted
from this necessity, since every one is reminded by his imperfections that
he ought to aim at daily progress. But it is one thing, when a man, who
has already entered upon the right course, though he stumble, or fall,
or even go astray, endeavors to reach the goal; and another thing, when
a man leaves a road which was entirely wrong, or only starts in the right
course. Those who have already begun to regulate their life by the standard
of the divine law, do not need that kind of repentance which consists in
beginning to lead a holy and pious life, though they must groan under the
infirmities of the flesh, and labor to correct them.
