John Wesley

Then a cloud appeared and enveloped them, and a voice came from the cloud: “This is My beloved Son. Listen to Him!”

“There came a (bright, luminous) cloud, overshadowing them - This seems to have been such a cloud of glory as accompanied Israel in the wilderness, which, as the Jewish writers observe, departed at the death of Moses.”

He replied, “Elijah does indeed come first, and he restores all things. Why then is it written that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected?

“Elijah verily coming first restoreth all things: and how it is written - That is, And he told them how it is written - As if he had said, Elijah's coming is not inconsistent with my suffering. He is come: yet I shall suffer.”

So they brought him, and seeing Jesus, the spirit immediately threw the boy into a convulsion. He fell to the ground and rolled around, foaming at the mouth.

“When he saw him - When the child saw Christ; when his deliverance was at hand. Immediately the spirit tore him - Made his last grand effort to destroy him.”

But they did not understand this statement, and they were afraid to ask Him about it.

“They understood not the word - They did not understand how to reconcile the death of our saviour (nor consequently his resurrection, which supposed his death) with their notions of his temporal kingdom.”

“Do not stop him,” Jesus replied. “For no one who performs a miracle in My name can turn around and speak evil of Me.

“Jesus said - Christ here gives us a lovely example of candour and moderation. He was willing to put the best construction on doubtful cases, and to treat as friends those who were not avowed enemies.”

For everyone will be salted with fire.

“Everyone - Who does not cut off the offending member, and consequently is cast into hell, shall be, as it were, salted with fire, preserved, not consumed thereby whereas every acceptable sacrifice shall be salted with another kind of salt, even that of Divine grace…”

Salt is good, but if the salt loses its saltiness, with what will you season it? Have salt among yourselves, and be at peace with one another.”

“But as salt if it loses its saltness is fit for nothing, so ye, if ye lose your faith and love, are fit for nothing but to be utterly destroyed.”

will fail to receive a hundredfold in the present age—houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and fields, along with persecutions—and in the age to come, eternal life.

“He shall receive a hundred fold, houses, etc. - Not in the same kind: for it will generally be with persecutions: but in value: a hundred fold more happiness than any or all of these did or could afford.”

But to sit at My right or left is not Mine to grant. These seats belong to those for whom they have been prepared.”

“Save to them for whom it is prepared - Them who by patient continuance in well doing, seek for glory, and honour, and immortality. For these only eternal life is prepared.”

As they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage and Bethany at the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent out two of His disciples

“To Bethphage and Bethany, at the Mount of Olives - The limits of Bethany reached to the Mount of Olives, and joined to those of Bethphage.”

Seeing in the distance a fig tree in leaf, He went to see if there was any fruit on it.

“If we render the words, It was not the season of figs, that is, the time of gathering them in, it may mean, The season was not yet: and so (inclosing the words in a parenthesis, And coming to it, he found nothing but leaves)…”

“Have faith in God,” Jesus said to them.

“Have faith in God - And who could find fault, if the Creator and Proprietor of all things were to destroy, by a single word of his mouth, a thousand of his inanimate creatures, were it only to imprint this important lesson more deeply on…”

At this, the leaders sought to arrest Jesus, for they knew that He had spoken this parable against them. But fearing the crowd, they left Him and went away.

“They feared the multitude - How wonderful is the providence of God, using all things for the good of his children! Generally the multitude is restrained from tearing them in pieces only by the fear of their rulers.”

Now one of the scribes had come up and heard their debate. Noticing how well Jesus had answered them, he asked Him, “Which commandment is the most important of all?”

“Which is the first commandment? - The principal, and most necessary to be observed. The Lord our God is one Lord - This is the foundation of the first commandment, yea, of all the commandments.”

The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ No other commandment is greater than these.”

“The second is like unto it - Of a like comprehensive nature: comprising our whole duty to man. There is no other moral, much less ceremonial commandment, greater than these.”

When Jesus saw that the man had answered wisely, He said, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” And no one dared to question Him any further.

“Jesus said to him, Thou art not far from the kingdom of God - Reader, art not thou? then go on: be a real Christian: else it had been better for thee to have been afar off.”

In His teaching Jesus also said, “Watch out for the scribes. They like to walk around in long robes, to receive greetings in the marketplaces,

“Beware of the scribes - There was an absolute necessity for these repeated cautions. For, considering their inveterate prejudices against Christ, it could never be supposed the common people would receive the Gospel till these incorrigible blasphemers of it were brought to just disgrace.”

Jesus called His disciples to Him and said, “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put more than all the others into the treasury.

“I say to you, that this poor widow hath cast in more than they all - See what judgement is cast on the most specious, outward actions by the Judge of all! And how acceptable to him is the smallest, which springs from self-denying love!”

For those will be days of tribulation unmatched from the beginning of God’s creation until now, and never to be seen again.

“In those days shall be affliction, such as was not from the beginning of the creation - May it not be doubted, whether this be yet fully accomplished? Is not much of this affliction still to come?”

If the Lord had not cut short those days, nobody would be saved. But for the sake of the elect, whom He has chosen, He has cut them short.

“The elect - The Christians: whom he hath chosen - That is, hath taken out of, or separated from, the world, through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth. He hath shortened - That is, will surely shorten.”

No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.

“Of that day - The day of judgment is often in the Scriptures emphatically called that day. Neither the Son - Not as man: as man he was no more omniscient than omnipresent.”

It is like a man going on a journey who left his house, put each servant in charge of his own task, and instructed the doorkeeper to keep watch.

“The Son of man is as a man taking a far journey - Being about to leave this world and go to the Father, he appoints the services that are to be performed by all his servants, in their several stations.”

On the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, when the Passover lamb was to be sacrificed, Jesus’ disciples asked Him, “Where do You want us to prepare for…

“Go into the city, and there shall meet you a man - It was highly seasonable for our Lord to give them this additional proof both of his knowing all things, and of his influence over the minds of men.”

He said to them, “This is My blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many.

“This is my blood of the New Testament - That is, this I appoint to be a perpetual sign and memorial of my blood, as shed for establishing the new covenant, that all who shall believe in me may receive all its gracious promises.”

Truly I tell you, I will no longer drink of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it anew in the kingdom of God.”

“I will drink no more of the fruit of the vine, till I drink it new in the kingdom of God - That is, I shall drink no more before I die: the next wine I drink will not be earthly, but heavenly.”