one with
the king in the malicious cunning of their report.

"Behold, I cast out demons and perform cures to-day and to-morrow and the
third day I am perfected." Thus Jesus declared that his time and task were
divinely allotted; no king could shorten the time till the task was done.
When his work was complete, then in his death and resurrection the glory
and grace and power of Jesus would be made perfect. "Nevertheless I must
go on my way." Jesus was to leave Galilee and Perea, the realm of Herod,
not because he feared the king, but in fulfillment of his task which would
take him to Jerusalem. The explicit reference to Jerusalem was made in a
tone of solemn irony, "For it cannot be that a prophet perish out of
Jerusalem;" that city had a monopoly in murdering prophets; it would be
quite improper for Jesus to be killed in any other place.

However, the reference to Jerusalem led Jesus to pronounce a lament of
touching pathos over the city he truly loved. He saw that his rejection
and death would hasten the destruction of the city. He saw its doom
already hovering over it like a bird of prey. He gladly would have given
his divine salvation and protection, but his people would not accept him.
Now they would be left to their own defense, that is to say, to the ruin
which he alone could have averted. Henceforth they would not see him in
his saving power until as a suffering and repentant nation they would
finally welcome his return as that of their true Saviour and Lord. How
Jesus always yearns to bless and to deliver, and how often he is spurned
and rejected by those who need him the most!

3. Jesus as a Sabbath Guest. Ch. 14:1-24

1 And it came to pass, when he went into the house of one of the
rulers of the Pharisees on a sabbath to eat bread, that they were
watching him. 2 And behold, there was before him a certain man
that had the dropsy. 3 And Jesus answering spake unto the lawyers
and Pharisees, saying, Is it lawful to heal on the sabbath, or
not? 4 But they held their peace. And he took him, and healed him,
and let him go. 5 And he said unto them, Which of you shall have
an ass or an ox fallen into a well, and will not straightway draw
him up on a sabbath day? 6 And they could not answer again unto
these things.

7 And he spake a parable unto those that were bidden, when he
marked how they chose out the chief seats; saying unto them, 8
When thou art bi