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Lectionary 352 · Year I · Weekdays in Ordinary Time — Year I

Saturday of the 8th week in Ordinary Time

read on Sat · May 29, 2027

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DRC

No verses found for this reference.

CPDV

No verses found for this reference.

· commentary ·

first reading

The writer turns from thanksgiving (v. 17) to autobiography, and the verbs he chooses for his search are physical: I prayed for her before the temple (v. 19), my foot walked in the right way (v. 20), I bowed down my ear a little (v. 21), My soul hath wrestled for her (v. 25), I stretched forth my hands on high (v. 26). Haydock marks the change: "He now gives some account of himself, and exhorts all to seek for wisdom." Wisdom here is a fruit, flourishing as a grape soon ripe (v. 19), where the Greek reads "from the flower as of a ripening grape." Two other Greek readings shift the sense. At v. 22, I found much wisdom in myself, the Greek has "instruction for myself"; at v. 25, in doing it I have been confirmed, it has "in earnest."

Calmet places the passage in the writer's life: he was advanced in years when he fell into "the aforesaid danger," after his travels (chap. xxxiv). Worthington fixes on When I was yet young (v. 18): "Wisdom is most easily acquired, while a person is innocent." Calmet reads the prayer of v. 19, unto the very end I will seek after her, as the conviction "that prayer is requisite for the preservation and improvement of such a treasure," and points to 3 Kings iii. On wrestled he names the opponents, "pleasure, idleness, &c.," and concludes that the verse "shews how arduous a task it is to attain wisdom." The last verse ends in knowledge I found her (v. 27), where the Alexandrian Greek has "time of harvest" and Grabe "in purification," glossed in Haydock as "the practice of virtue" (Wisdom i. 4).

The sources resist two easy accounts of wisdom, as a gift that costs nothing and as a skill gained by effort alone. Calmet's wrestling and his insistence on prayer stand side by side, as the writer both wrestles for her and stretches his hands on high. The grape that ripens and the harvest of the Alexandrian text belong to the same picture: something sought from youth, prayed for, fought for, and gathered late.

DRC

8The law of the Lord is unspotted, converting souls: the testimony of the Lord is faithful, giving wisdom to little ones.9The justices of the Lord are right, rejoicing hearts: the commandment of the Lord is lightsome, enlightening the eyes.10The fear of the Lord is holy, enduring for ever and ever: the judgments of the Lord are true, justified in themselves.11More to be desired than gold and many precious stones: and sweeter than honey and the honeycomb.

CPDV

8The law of the Lord is immaculate, converting souls. The testimony of the Lord is faithful, providing wisdom to little ones.9The justice of the Lord is right, rejoicing hearts. The precepts of the Lord are brilliant, enlightening the eyes.10The fear of the Lord is holy, enduring for all generations. The judgments of the Lord are true, justified in themselves:11desirable beyond gold and many precious stones, and sweeter than honey and the honeycomb.

· commentary ·

responsorial psalm

Augustine reads the first line as a name rather than a description. The law of the Lord is unspotted — the law, therefore, "is Himself who came to fulfil the law, not to destroy it; an undefiled law, Who did no sin, neither was guile found in His mouth," one that converts souls to imitate him in liberty instead of oppressing them with the yoke of bondage. Where the Douay has unspotted, Calmet reports that the Hebrew and Septuagint both read "irreprehensible" — nothing in it a tribunal could fault. Converting souls is in Hebrew, on Menochius's account, "tranquillizing souls," which Haydock explains as keeping the passions under. And the little ones given wisdom are, in Menochius's transliteration, Pethi, "easily persuaded." Calmet notes that the word covers both the simple and the wicked: the law directs the one and keeps the other in awe by punishment.

Berthier counts eight characteristics praised here under eight names, and observes that some of them belong only to the evangelical law — the one that converts souls, and, Haydock adds, the one that lasts for ever (v. 10). Theodoret will not let that exclude the rest: the law of nature and of Moses are commended too, "inasmuch as the morality is always the same," and some faith in Christ, to come or already past, was required under every dispensation. Worthington makes the distinction the praise most needs. The law is "most pure in itself," Mosaic or evangelical; what makes its observers unspotted is not the reading but "the grace which the Holy Ghost communicates to them," and "all who barely read and know the law have no share in this happiness." The same care governs the treatment of the fear of the Lord is holy. Berthier takes it as filial, the fear a child has of displeasing his father; the Council of Trent is cited for the lower case: even servile fear, restraining a man from sin for dread of punishment, is a gift of God preparing the way for charity — though we must not stop there, "like Achab and Antiochus." Augustine describes the same two fears from the inside: not the distressing fear under the law, which dreads the withdrawal of temporal goods "by the love of which the soul commits fornication," but the chaste fear by which the Church, the more ardently she loves her Spouse, the more carefully takes heed of offending him. Which is why perfect love does not cast this one out. It endures for ever.

Berthier names the modern objection and refuses it its exit: infidels "acknowledge that the morality of the Gospel is excellent, but they reject the dogmatical part" — and would he who prescribed such noble rules of conduct lead the understanding astray by requiring belief in what is false? Calmet identifies the gold as Paz, the finest, from Uphan or from the Phison — probably, he thinks, the Phasis of Genesis ii. 11; the honey is not ordinary honey but what the Hebrew calls the dropping of the combs, St. Jerome's favum redundantem. Augustine names the competitor: the pomp of this world, by desire of which "the judgments of God are not desired, but feared, or despised, or not believed." And he ends on the comb itself. A man may already be honey, freed from the chains of this life and waiting for God's feast; or he may still be honeycomb, wrapped about with this life as with wax — not dissolved into it, but filling it — and in need of some pressure of God's hand, "not oppressing but expressing it," by which he may be strained out of temporal life into eternal.

DRC

27And they come again to Jerusalem. And when he was walking in the temple, there come to him the chief priests and the scribes and the ancients.28And they say to him: By what authority dost thou these things? And who hath given thee this authority that thou shouldst do these things?29And Jesus answering, said to them: I will also ask you one word. And answer you me: and I will tell you by what authority I do these things.30The baptism of John, was it from heaven or from men? Answer me.31But they thought with themselves, saying: If we say, From heaven; he will say, Why then did you not believe him?32If we say, From men, we fear the people. For all men counted John that he was a prophet indeed.33And they answering, say to Jesus: We know not. And Jesus answering, saith to them: Neither do I tell you by what authority I do these things.

CPDV

27And they went again to Jerusalem. And when he was walking in the temple, the leaders of the priests, and the scribes, and the elders approached him.28And they said to him: “By what authority do you do these things? And who has given you this authority, so that you would do these things?”29But in response, Jesus said to them: “I also will ask you one word, and if you answer me, I will tell you by what authority I do these things.30The baptism of John: was it from heaven or from men? Answer me.”31But they discussed it among themselves, saying: “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will say, ‘Then why did you not believe him?’32If we say, ‘From men,’ we fear the people. For they all hold that John was a true prophet.”33And answering, they said to Jesus, “We do not know.” And in response, Jesus said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.”

· commentary ·

gospel

The delegation asks the same thing twice — By what authority dost thou these things? And who hath given thee this authority? (v. 28) — and Bede insists the repetition is not rhetoric. The first question "doubts its being the power of God, and wish[es] it to be understood that what He did was the devil's work"; the second "evidently den[ies] that He is the Son of God, since they believe He works miracles, not by His own but by another's power." The catena puts the sneer in plainer words: "Who art thou that doest these things? Dost thou make thyself a doctor, and ordain thyself Chief Priest?" Theophylact supplies the occasion and the trap. They are angry "for having cast out of the temple those who had made it a place of merchandize," and the question has two jaws: "if He said, by mine own power, they might lay hold upon Him; but if He said, by the power of another, they might make the people leave Him, for they believed Him to be God."

The counter-question is therefore not a dodge, and Theophylact says so directly: the Lord asks about John "not without a reason, nor in a sophisticated way, but because John had borne witness of Him." Bede adds the tactical point — Christ "might indeed have confuted the cavils of his tempters by a direct answer, but prudently puts them a question, that they might be condemned either by their silence or their speaking" — and the catena narrates the collapse without pity: seeing that any answer trapped them, and "fearing to be stoned, they feared still more the confession of the truth." Pseudo-Jerome sharpens it into an image with a psalm behind it: "They envied the Lamp, and were in the dark," for "I have ordained a lamp for mine anointed; his enemies will I clothe with shame." Christ's Neither do I tell you is then a verdict rather than a retreat. Bede glosses it, "I will not tell you what I know, since ye will not confess what ye know," and makes a rule of it on two grounds: truth is withheld from an enquirer who "has not sufficient capacity to understand what he seeks for," and from one who "through contempt for the truth" is unworthy of having it opened to him.

Haydock's note opens from an unexpected direction, quoting Dr. Barrow that this "was a reasonable demand... tell us by what authority thou doest these things," and that Christ "did often avow" its reasonableness, "declaring, that if by his doctrine and works he had not vouched the divinity of his authority, it had been no sin to disbelieve or reject him." Rutter then turns the principle on the sixteenth century. Whence did the first Reformers "derive their mission? Who sent them to preach?" If extraordinary, why no credentials "stamped with the broad seal of heaven," that is, "clear and evident miracles, such as Christ and his apostles wrought"? If ordinary, from whom — not Protestants, since none can be named who commissioned them, and not Catholics, since the religion taught was "directly opposite" to theirs. The polemic is of its period, but the reductio Rutter reaches for has not aged: without some check, "every fanatic or enthusiast, following his own caprice, may pretend to a call from heaven; and, upon this foolish plea, preach up his own dreams for the pure word of God." That cuts at anyone who speaks in God's name on self-issued warrant. And the passage leaves the opposite failure standing beside it — a delegation that knew the answer, calculated the cost of saying it, and chose We know not.

USCCB ↗

First Reading · Sirach 51:12 cd-20

No verses found for this reference.

commentary

Responsorial Psalm · Psalm 19:8, 9, 10, 11

commentary

Gospel · Mark 11:27-33

commentary

· sources ·

The complete public-domain commentary this reading's note draws from, unabridged. Every claim in the note traces to a passage here.

Responsorial Psalm Psalm 19:8, 9, 10, 11

Expositions on the Psalms (Enarrationes in Psalmos), NPNF1-08 · Public Domain

Vulgate Ps 18:8

(ver. 7). The law of the Lord, therefore, is Himself who came to fulfil the law, not to destroy it; an undefiled law, "Who did no sin, neither was guile found in His mouth," not oppressing souls with the yoke of bondage, but converting them to imitate Him in liberty. "The testimony of the Lord is sure, giving wisdom to babes." "The testimony of the Lord is sure;" for, "no man knoweth the Father save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal Him," which things have been hidden from the wise and revealed to babes; for, "God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace to the humble."

9. "The statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart"

Vulgate Ps 18:9

(ver. 8). All the statutes of the Lord are right in Him who taught not what He did not; that they who should imitate Him might rejoice in heart, in those things which they should do freely with love, not slavishly with fear. "The commandment of the Lord is lucid, enlightening the eyes." "The commandment of the Lord is lucid," with no veil of carnal observances, enlightening the sight of the inner man.

10. "The fear of the Lord is chaste, enduring for ever"

Vulgate Ps 18:10

(ver. 9). "The fear of the Lord;" not that distressing fear under the law, dreading exceedingly the withdrawal of temporal goods, by the love of which the soul commits fornication; but that chaste fear wherewith the Church, the more ardently she loves her Spouse, the more carefully does she take heed of offending Him, and therefore, "perfect love casteth" not "out" this "fear," but it endureth for ever.

11. "The judgments of the Lord are true, justified together." The judgments of Him, who "judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son," are justified in truth unchangeably. For neither in His threatenings nor His promises doth God deceive any man, nor can any withdraw either from the ungodly His punishment, or from the godly His reward. "To be desired more than gold, and much precious stone"

Vulgate Ps 18:11

(ver. 10). Whether it be "gold and stone itself much," or "much precious," or "much to be desired;" still, the judgments of God are to be desired more than the pomp of this world; by desire of which it is brought to pass that the judgments of God are not desired, but feared, or despised, or not believed. But if any be himself gold and precious stone, that he may not be consumed by fire, but received into the treasury of God, more than himself does he desire the judgments of God, whose will he preferreth to his own. "And sweeter than honey and the honey comb." And whether one be even now honey, who, disenthralled already from the chains of this life, is awaiting the day when he may come up to God's feast; or whether he be yet as the honey comb, wrapped about with this life as it were with wax, not mixed and become one with it, but filling it, needing some pressure of God's hand, not oppressing but expressing it, whereby from life temporal it may be strained out into life eternal: to such an one the judgments of God are sweeter than he himself is to himself, for that they are "sweeter than honey and the honey comb."

12. "For Thy servant keepeth them"

Haydock Catholic Bible Commentary · Public Domain

Vulgate Ps 18:8

The law. As the sun gives light to the world, so the law serves to direct mankind, and is another most powerful motive for us to praise God. This raises our hearts and minds still more perfectly to him, recalling us from our wanderings, and confirming our knowledge. Light is necessary for the body, and the law for the soul. The prophet admires eight characteristics of this divine law, which he designates by different names; as in the 118th psalm, some thing relate only to the evangelical law, which converts souls, (Berthier) and lasts for ever, ver. 10. (Haydock) --- The law of nature and of Moses are nevertheless also commended, (Theodoret) inasmuch as the morality is always the same; and some faith in Christ, to come, or already past, is requisite under every dispensation. Hence he is called the Lamb slain from the beginning. [Apocalypse xiii. 8.] Implicit faith would suffice for the less informed, before our Saviour's coming; but now, under the light of the gospel, we must express our belief in his incarnation, as well as in the blessed Trinity. More is required of those to whom more has been given. [Luke xii. 48.] (Haydock) --- Unspotted. Hebrew and Septuagint, "irreprehensible." (Calmet) --- Who indeed could pretend to find any fault with it, since it comes from God? (Haydock) --- The laws of men are imperfect, and liable to change. Those of Draco were too sanguinary, and gave place to Solon's, which were deemed too mild, &c. How happy would all be if they would embrace the law of the gospel! (Berthier) --- Converting. Hebrew, "tranquillizing souls," (Menochius) by keeping the passions under. (Haydock) --- Testimony, declaring the will of God to men. --- Little ones. The simple, and the wicked; as both are so called. (Calmet) --- Pethi, "easily persuaded." (Menochius) --- It directs the former, and keeps the latter in awe by punishment. (Calmet) --- All, in general, must confess their ignorance, and want of the divine law, to reap any benefit from it. (Haydock) --- This is the first lesson which it imparts. (Berthier) --- The law is most pure in itself, whether we understand that given to Moses, or the gospel. But the latter makes the observers unspotted, by the grace which the Holy Ghost communicates to them, though all who barely read and know the law, have no share in this happiness. God is the author of salvation, sweetly inviting all by the perfections of his law, which confers light and gladness, to co-operate with grace, that they may obtain the promised reward, ver. 12., and 2 Timothy iv. 6. (Worthington) --- The like grace was offered from the beginning, so that none will ever be punished who has not deserved it, having had the means to perform his duty. (Haydock)

Vulgate Ps 18:9

Justices. The law displays what is just, and renders those who observe it agreeable to God, (St. Gregory of Nazianzus) filling their hearts with joy, by the testimony of a good conscience, and the prospect of felicity. (Calmet) (Proverbs vi. 23.)

Vulgate Ps 18:10

Fear; or "the law accompanied with fear;" of which he is speaking. This fear is filial and pure, such as a child must have of displeasing his father. (Berthier) --- Yet even servile fear, which restrains us from committing sin, lest we incur punishment, is a gift of God, and prepares the way for charity. (Council of Trent, Session xiv. 4.) But we must not stop here, like Achab and Antiochus. If we understand by fear, the moral law, it will subsist as long as there shall be men. --- Themselves. Septuagint, Greek: epi to oto, "by that very thing," that they are the judgments of the Lord, (Haydock) who cannot do wrong, Daniel ii. 27. (Calmet) --- Hebrew, "truth itself, is justified altogether." (Haydock) --- Infidels acknowledge that the morality of the Gospel is excellent, but they reject the dogmatical part. Would He, who has prescribed such noble rules of conduct, lead our understanding astray, by requiring us to believe what is false? (Berthier)

Vulgate Ps 18:11

Stones. So St. Jerome renders the Hebrew. Protestants, "than gold; yea, than much fine gold." Paz (Haydock) denotes the finest gold of Uphan, or of the Phison; which is probably the river Phasis, Genesis ii. 11. (Calmet) --- Yet many explain this word of the topaz or chrysolite, which is of a golden colour. The Vulgate expresses topaz, (Psalm cxviii. 127.) where the Septuagint have, "a precious stone." --- Honeycomb, as the English and German versions have it, though the Hebrew signify, "the dropping of the honeycombs;" which is the most excellent honey. (Berthier) --- This interpretation is inserted in the Protestant margin, and answers to St. Jerome's favum redundantem. Nothing can be more delicious, or more magnificent. (Haydock)

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary on the Whole Bible · Public Domain

19:7–14

7 The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul: the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple. 8 The statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart: the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes. 9 The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring for ever: the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether. 10 More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold: sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb. 11 Moreover by them is thy servant warned: and in keeping of them there is great reward. 12 Who can understand his errors? cleanse thou me from secret faults. 13 Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me: then shall I be upright, and I shall be innocent from the great transgression. 14 Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord , my strength, and my redeemer.

God's glory, (that is, his goodness to man) appears much in the works of creation, but much more in and by divine revelation. The holy scripture, as it is a rule both of our duty to God and of our expectation from him, is of much greater use and benefit to us than day or night, than the air we breathe in, or the light of the sun. The discoveries made of God by his works might have served if man had retained his integrity; but, to recover him out of his fallen state, another course must be taken; that must be done by the word of God. And here,

1. The psalmist gives an account of the excellent properties and uses of the word of God, in six sentences ( v. 7-9 ), in each of which the name Jehovah is repeated, and no vain repetition, for the law has its authority and all its excellency from the law-maker. Here are six several titles of the word of God, to take in the whole of divine revelation, precepts and promises, and especially the gospel. Here are several good properties of it, which proves its divine original, which recommend it to our affection, and which extol it above all other laws whatsoever. Here are several good effects of the law upon the minds of men, which show what it is designed for, what use we are to make of it, and how wonderful the efficacy of divine grace is, going along with it, and working by it. 1. The law of the Lord is perfect. It is perfectly free from all corruption, perfectly filled with all good, and perfectly fitted for the end for which it is designed; and it will make the man of God perfect, 2 Tim. iii. 17 . Nothing is to be added to it nor taken from it. It is of use to convert the soul, to bring us back to ourselves, to our God, to our duty; for it shows us our sinfulness and misery in our departures from God and the indispensable necessity of our return to him. 2. The testimony of the Lord (which witnesses for him to us) is sure, incontestably and inviolably sure, what we may give credit to, may rely upon, and may be confident it will not deceive us. It is a sure discovery of the divine truth, a sure direction in the way of duty. It is a sure foundation of living comforts and a sure foundation of lasting hopes. It is of use to make us wise, wise to salvation, 2 Tim. iii. 15 . It will give us an insight into things divine and a foresight of things to come. It will employ us in the best work and secure to us our true interests. It will make even the simple (poor contrivers as they may be for the present world) wise for their souls and eternity. Those that are humbly simple, sensible of their own folly and willing to be taught, shall be made wise by the word of God, Ps. xxv. 9 . 3. The statutes of the Lord (enacted by his authority, and binding on all wherever they come) are right, exactly agreeing with the eternal rules and principles of good and evil, that is, with the right reason of man and the right counsels of God. All God's precepts, concerning all things, are right ( Ps. cxix. 128 ), just as they should be; and they will set us to rights if we receive them and submit to them; and, because they are right, they rejoice the heart. The law, as we see it in the hands of Christ, gives cause for joy; and, when it is written in our hearts, it lays a foundation for everlasting joy, by restoring us to our right mind. 4. The commandment of the Lord is pure; it is clear, without darkness; it is clean, without dross and defilement. It is itself purified from all alloy, and is purifying to those that receive and embrace it. It is the ordinary means which the Spirit uses in enlightening the eyes; it brings us to a sight and sense of our sin and misery, and directs us in the way of duty. 5. The fear of the Lord (true religion and godliness prescribed in the word, reigning in the heart, and practised in the life) is clean, clean itself, and will make us clean ( John xv. 3 ); it will cleanse our way, Ps. cxix. 9 . And it endureth for ever; it is of perpetual obligation and can never be repealed. The ceremonial law is long since done away, but the law concerning the fear of God is ever the same. Time will not alter the nature of moral good and evil. 6. The judgments of the Lord (all his precepts, which are framed in infinite wisdom) are true; they are grounded upon the most sacred and unquestionable truths; they are righteous, all consonant to natural equity; and they are so altogether: there is no unrighteousness in any of them, but they are all of a piece.

II. He expresses the great value he had for the word of God, and the great advantage he had, and hoped to have, from it, v. 10, 11 .

1. See how highly he prized the commandments of God. It is the character of all good people that they prefer their religion and the word of God, (1.) Far before all the wealth of the world. It is more desirable than gold, than fine gold, than much fine gold. Gold is of the earth, earthly; but grace is the image of the heavenly. Gold is only for the body and the concerns of time; but grace is for the soul and the concerns of eternity. (2.) Far before all pleasures and delights of sense. The word of God, received by faith, is sweet to the soul, sweeter than honey and the honey comb. The pleasures of sense are the delight of brutes, and therefore debase the great soul of man; the pleasures of religion are the delight of angels, and exalt the soul. The pleasures of sense are deceitful, will soon surfeit, and yet never satisfy; but those of religion are substantial and satisfying, and there is no danger of exceeding in them.

2. See what use he made of the precepts of God's word: By them is thy servant warned. The word of God is a word of warning to the children of men; it warns us of the duty we are to do, the dangers we are to avoid, and the deluge we are to prepare for, Ezek. iii. 17 ; xxxiii. 7 . It warns the wicked not to go on in his wicked way, and warns the righteous not to turn from his good way. All that are indeed God's servants take this warning.

3. See what advantage he promised himself by his obedience to God's precepts: In keeping them there is great reward. Those who make conscience of their duty will not only be no losers by it, but unspeakable gainers. There is a reward, not only after keeping, but in keeping, God's commandments, a present great reward of obedience. Religion is health and honour; it is peace and pleasure; it will make our comforts sweet and our crosses easy, life truly valuable and death itself truly desirable.

III. He draws some good inferences from this pious meditation upon the excellency of the word of God. Such thoughts as these should excite in us devout affections, and they are to good purpose.

1. He takes occasion hence to make a penitent reflection upon his sins; for by the law is the knowledge of sin. "Is the commandment thus holy, just, and good? Then who can understand his errors? I cannot, whoever can." From the rectitude of the divine law he learns to call his sins his errors. If the commandment be true and righteous, every transgressions of the commandment is an error, as grounded upon a mistake; every wicked practice takes rise from some corrupt principle; it is a deviation from the rule we are to work by, the way we are to walk in. From the extent, the strictness, and spiritual nature, of the divine law he learns that his sins are so many that he cannot understand the number of them, and so exceedingly sinful that he cannot understand the heinousness and malignity of them. We are guilty of many sins which, through our carelessness and partiality to ourselves, we are not aware of; many we have been guilty of which we have forgotten; so that, when we have been ever so particular in the confession of sin, we must conclude with an et cetera—and such like; for God knows a great deal more evil of us than we do of ourselves. In many things we all offend, and who can tell how often he offends? It is well that we are under grace, and not under the law, else we were undone.

2. He takes occasion hence to pray against sin. All the discoveries of sin made to us by the law should drive us to the throne of grace, there to pray, as David does here, (1.) For mercy to pardon. Finding himself unable to specify all the particulars of his transgressions, he cries out, Lord, cleanse me from my secret faults; not secret to God, so none are, nor only such as were secret to the world, but such as were hidden from his own observation of himself. The best of men have reason to suspect themselves guilty of many secret faults, and to pray to God to cleanse them from that guilt and not to lay it to their charge; for even our sins of infirmity and inadvertency, and our secret sins, would be our ruin if God should deal with us according to the desert of them. Even secret faults are defiling, and render us unfit for communion with God; but, when they are pardoned, we are cleansed from them, 1 John i. 7 . (2.) For grace to help in time of need. Having prayed that his sins of infirmity might be pardoned, he prays that presumptuous sins might be prevented, v. 13 . All that truly repent of their sins, and have them pardoned, are in care not to relapse into sin, nor to return again to folly, as appears by their prayers, which concur with David's here, where observe, [1.] His petition: "Keep me from ever being guilty of a wilful presumptuous sin." We ought to pray that we may be kept from sins of infirmity, but especially from presumptuous sins, which most offend God and wound conscience, which wither our comforts and shock our hopes. "However, let none such have dominion over me, let me not be at the command of any such sin, nor be enslaved by it." [2.] His plea: " So shall I be upright; I shall appear upright; I shall preserve the evidence and comfort of my uprightness; and I shall be innocent from the great transgression; " so he calls a presumptuous sin, because no sacrifice was accepted for it, Num. xv. 28-30 . Note, First, Presumptuous sins are very heinous and dangerous. Those that sin against the habitual convictions and actual admonitions of their consciences, in contempt and defiance of the law and its sanctions, that sin with a high hand, sin presumptuously, and it is a great transgression. Secondly, Even good men ought to be jealous of themselves, and afraid of sinning presumptuously, yea, though through the grace of God they have hitherto been kept from them. Let none be high-minded, but fear. Thirdly, Being so much exposed, we have great need to pray to God, when we are pushing forward towards a presumptuous sin, to keep us back from it, either by his providence preventing the temptation or by his grace giving us victory over it.

3. He takes occasion humbly to beg the divine acceptance of those his pious thoughts and affections, v. 14 . Observe the connexion of this with what goes before. He prays to God to keep him from sin, and then begs he would accept his performances; for, if we favour our sins, we cannot expect God should favour us or our services, Ps. lxvi. 18 . Observe, (1.) What his services were—the words of his mouth and the meditations of his heart, his holy affections offered up to God. The pious meditations of the heart must not be smothered, but expressed in the words of our mouth, for God's glory and the edification of others; and the words of our mouth in prayer and praise must not be formal, but arising from the meditation of the heart, Ps. xlv. 1 . (2.) What was his care concerning these services—that they might be acceptable with God; for, if our services be not acceptable to God, what do they avail us? Gracious souls must have all they aim at if they be accepted of God, for that is their bliss. (3.) What encouragement he had to hope for this, because God was his strength and his redeemer. If we seek assistance from God as our strength in our religious duties, we may hope to find acceptance with God in the discharge of our duties; for by his strength we have power with him.

In singing this we should get our hearts much affected with the excellency of the word of God and delivered into it, we should be much affected with the evil of sin, the danger we are in of it and the danger we are in by it, and we should fetch in help from heaven against it.

Gospel Mark 11:27-33

The Great Biblical Commentary of Cornelius a Lapide · Public Domain

11:1–33

CHAPTER 11

1 Christ rideth with triumph into Jerusalem: 12 curseth the fruitless leafy tree: 15 purgeth the temple: 20 exhorteth his disciples to stedfastness of faith, and to forgive their enemies: 27 and defendeth the lawfulness of his actions by the witness of John, who was a man sent of God.

Ver. 10. Blessed be the kingdom of our father David that cometh. It means, blessed by the benediction and goodness of God, i.e., "let it be happy, propitious, flourishing, firm, and abounding in all good things, this kingdom of our father David, which is the kingdom of Israelthat kingdom which was most ample and flourishing under David and Solomon his son, and which fell to pieces at the Babylonian captivity, and subsequently. Now does that kingdom come. It returns, and is restored by this our Messiah, the Son of David, who shall restore it to its pristine glory and beauty, yea, who shall make it far more strong and flourishing."

Ver. 16. And He suffered not that any man should carry a vessel through the temple. Vessel, utensil, instrument, or furniture, for profane uses, such as basket, pot, ewer, or burden. Through the temple, i.e., through the outermost court of the temple, which was the court of the Gentiles, where the Gentiles might tarry and pray. For to those who wished to pass from the sheep-market, called Bethesda, or by corruption Bethsaida, to the upper city, or Solomon's palace, the nearest way was through this porch or court of Solomon's. For otherwise they would have to traverse the whole exterior boundary of this court. It was not surprising, therefore, that servants and children, who were carrying any burden, should take the nearer way through this court. But Christ forbade their doing so, both by His word and the gestures which He made with His hand, and compelled them to go back. What, then, would He have done with respect to the Holy Place itself? What with respect to our churches? (See Vilalpandus, tom. 2, in Ezek 50:3, c. Ezek 50:9.)

Ver. 22. Have faith, i.e., full and perfect faith. (Top)

Catena Aurea (Golden Chain) · Public Domain