The Joy of the Jesus Circle
A. B. Bruce, D. D. Matthew 9:15 And Jesus said to them, Can the children of the bridal chamber mourn, as long as the bridegroom is with them? but the days will come… "The children of the bride-chamber," how much this name tells us as to the spirit that reigns in the Jesus circle. Like a wedding party. This bliss was not an accident, or an affair of temperament. It was the natural effulgence of the new life imparted to those who joined the society of Jesus. Christ was a man of joy. He had(1) the joy of his vocation. (2) The joy of one whose religion is an original thing, a fountain of fresh intuitions of truth. Sweet after the routine of religious mechanism. Into these joys of Jesus the twelve more or less entered. 1. They had the joy of fresh religious intuitions. 2. The joy of spiritual freedom. (A. B. Bruce, D. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: And Jesus said unto them, Can the children of the bridechamber mourn, as long as the bridegroom is with them? but the days will come, when the bridegroom shall be taken from them, and then shall they fast. WEB: Jesus said to them, "Can the friends of the bridegroom mourn, as long as the bridegroom is with them? But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast.