hem, so that
they exclaimed in disgusted surprise, "How knoweth this man letters,
having never learned?" (John 7:15.)

(3) They opposed him bitterly, on account of _the company that he
kept_. In contempt they said, "This man receiveth sinners, and eateth
with them" (Luke 15:2). And they continually complained that he was a
friend of hated publicans and sinners. They could not understand at
all that the very grandeur of his mission consisted just in this, that
he came to call sinners to repentance. Their complaint, as given in
Luke 15:2, called forth from him three of the grandest parables that
we have, namely, those of the lost silver, the lost sheep, and the
lost son. Especially were they angered because he had taken into the
number of his disciples the hated Matthew, the tax-gatherer.

(4) They opposed him again because of his _failure to observe the
Sabbath_ in the manner prescribed by themselves. They had made the day
one of weariness to the flesh, and had passed by deeds of mercy and
helpfulness. So when he healed the man at the Pool of Bethesda and the
man born blind, on the Sabbath, they took counsel how they might
destroy him. While they themselves would pull out a sheep or an ox
from the pit on the Sabbath, they criticized him for healing men on
that day. This brought forth from him stern condemnation, which, of
course, did not mollify their feelings toward him.

(5) Furthermore, they opposed him because he _declined to observe_
certain minute regulations of the law concerning washing of hands and
the like. These regulations they had laid on men's shoulders, but
they were not at all Divine ordinances. This is why he said, in his
denunciation of them, "they bind heavy burdens and grievous to be
borne, and lay them on men's shoulders, but they themselves will not
move them with their finger" (Matt. 23:4). (Read the whole of Matt.
23, and you will understand better who and what these men were who
were opposing the Master.) Once more, they opposed him because he had
made such friends of the common people and had not in any way bowed
down to them, as the leaders of the people. The common people heard
him gladly, and that angered them. "This multitude who knoweth not the
law are cursed" (John 7:49). They were furious because the whole world
seemed to have gone after him, while they themselves were left in the
background. This was galling to their innate pride.

(6) What made their opposition all the worse was tha