Part 9 (1/2)
We make the same mistake. We have but a partial view of Christ, and need to get back to the Bible afresh, and study anew its comprehensive words; then we shall come to understand that the present is the time of the hiding of his power, the time of waiting, the time of the gentler ministries. Some day He will gird on his sword; some day He will winnow his floor; some day He will ride in a chariot of flame; some day He will sit upon the throne and judge those who oppress the innocent and take advantage of the poor. We have not yet seen the end of the Lord: we have not all the evidence. This is our mistake. But our Saviour is offering us every day evidences of his Divine and loving power. Last week I saw Him raise the dead; yesterday, before my eyes, He struck the chains from a prisoner; at this hour He is giving sight to the blind; to-morrow He will cast out demons. The world is full of evidences of his gracious and Divine power. They are not so striking and masterful as deeds of judgment and wrath might be--they need a quicker eye, a purer heart to discern; but they are not less significant of the fact that He liveth who was dead, and that He is alive for evermore. And these are sufficient, not only because of the transformations which are effected, but because of their moral quality, to show that there is One within the vail who lives in the power of an indissoluble life.
III. A NEW BEAt.i.tUDE.--”Blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in Me.” Our Lord put within the reach of his n.o.ble Forerunner the blessedness of those who have not seen and yet have believed; of those who trust though they are slain; of those who wait the Lord's leisure; and of those who cannot understand his dealings, but rest in what they know of his heart. This is the beat.i.tude of the unoffended, of those who do not stumble over the mystery of G.o.d's dealings with their life.
This blessedness is within our reach also. There are times when we are overpowered with the mystery of life and nature. The world is so full of pain and sorrow, the litany of its need is so sad and pitiful, strong hearts are breaking under an intolerable load; while the battle seems only to the strong and the race to those who, by some mysterious providence, come of a healthy, though not specially moral or religious, stock. And if the incidence of pain and sorrow on the world be explained by its unG.o.dliness, why does nature groan and travail? why are the forest glades turned into a very shambles? why does creation seem to achieve itself through the terrific struggle for survival?
G.o.d's children are sometimes the most bitterly tried. For them the fires are heated seven times; days of weariness and nights of pain are appointed them; they suffer, not only at the hand of man, but it seems as though G.o.d Himself were turned against them, to become their enemy.
The heavens seem as bra.s.s to their cries and tears, and the enemy has reason to challenge them with the taunt, ”Where is now your G.o.d!” The waters of a full cup are wrung out in days like these; and the cry is extorted, ”How long, O Lord, how long?”
You and I have been in this plight. We have said, ”Hath G.o.d forgotten to be gracious? Has He in anger shut up his tender mercies?” From our prison-cell we send up the appeal to our Brother in the glory: ”Help us; for if Thou leavest us to our fate, we shall question if Thou art He.” We are tempted to stumbling. We are like to fall over the mysteries of G.o.d's dealings with us. We are more able than ever before to appreciate the standpoint occupied by Job's wife, when she said to her husband, ”Curse G.o.d, and die.”
Then we have the chance of inheriting a new beat.i.tude. By refusing to bend under the mighty hand of G.o.d--questioning, chafing, murmuring--we miss the door which would admit us into rich and unalloyed happiness.
We fumble about the latch, but it is not lifted. But if we will quiet our souls like a weaned child, anointing our heads, and was.h.i.+ng our faces, light will break in on us as from the eternal morning; the peace of G.o.d will keep our hearts and minds, and we shall enter on the blessedness which our Lord unfolded before the gaze of his faithful Forerunner.
XII.
None greater than John the Baptist, yet...
(MATTHEW XI.)
”Search thine own heart. What paineth thee In others, in thyself may be; All dust is frail, all flesh is weak; Be thou the same man thou dost seek!
”Where now with pain thou treadest, trod The whitest of the saints of G.o.d!
To show thee where their feet were set, The light which led them s.h.i.+neth yet.”
WHITTIER.
Christ's Appreciation--His Independence--The Simplicity of his Life--His Place in the Devine Economy--The Spirit of Meekness--The Greatness of Humility
While John's disciples were standing there, our Lord said nothing in his praise, but as soon as they had departed, the flood-gates of his heart were thrown wide open, and He began to speak to the mult.i.tudes concerning his faithful servant. It was as though He would give him no cause for pride by what He said. He desired to give his friend no additional temptation during those lonely hours. We say our kind things before each other's faces; our hard things when the back is turned. It is not so with Christ. He pa.s.ses his most generous encomiums when we are not there to hear them. Christ may never tell you how greatly He loves and values you; but while you lie there in your prison, with sad and overcast heart, He is saying and thinking great things about you yonder.
I. THE TIME CHOSEN FOR THE LORD'S COMMENDATION OF THE BAPTIST.--It was when John had fallen beneath his usual level, below high-water mark, that Jesus uttered his warmest and most generous words of appreciation--”Among them that are born of women, there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist.”
”But, dost Thou really mean, most holy Lord, that this one is the greatest born of woman?”
”Certainly,” saith Christ, in effect.
”But he has asked if Thou art really the Messiah.”
”I know it,” saith the Lord.
”But how canst Thou say that he is to be compared with Moses, Isaiah, or Daniel? Did they doubt Thee thus? And how canst Thou say that he is not a reed shaken with the wind, when, but now, he gave patent evidence that he was stooping beneath the hurrying tread of gales of doubt and depression?”
”Ah,” the Master seems to say, ”Heaven judges, not by a pa.s.sing mood, but by the general tenor and trend of a man's life; not by the expression of a doubt, caused by accidents which may be explained, but by the soul of man within him, which is as much deeper than the emotions as the heart of the ocean is deeper than the cloud-shadows which hurry across its surface.”
Yes, the Lord judges us by that which is deepest, most permanent, most constant and prevalent with us; by the ideal we seek to apprehend; by the decision and choice of our soul; by that bud of possibility which lies as yet furled, and unrealized even by ourselves.
There is a remarkable parallel to this incident in the Old Testament.