March 1927
167
T h e
K i n g ’ s
B u s i n e s s
The next point in the narrative is the glad interview with the risen Jesus. The women had been at the grave but for a few moments. But they lived more in these than in years, of quiet. Time is very elastic., and five minutes or five seconds may change a life. These few moments changed a world. Haste, winged by fear which had no torment, and by joy which found relief in swift movement, sent them running, forgetful of conventional proprieties, towards the awakening city. Probably Mary Magdalene had left them, as soon as they saw the open grave, and had hurried back alene to tell the tidings. And now the crowning joy and wonder comes. How simply it is told—the intro ductory “Behold!” just hinting at the wonderfulness, and perhaps at the sud denness, of our Lord’s appearance, and the rest being in the quietest and fewest words possible. Note the deep significance of the name “Jesus” here. The angel spoke FqJi “the Lord,’”;but all the rest of the chapter speaks of “Jesus.” The joy and hope that flow from the resurrection depend on the fact of His humanity. He comes out of the grave, the same brother of our mortal flesh as before; It Was no phantom whose feet they clasped, and He is not with drawn from them by His mysterious ex perience, All through the resurrection histories-and the narrative of the forty days, the same emphasis attaches to the name, which culminates in the angel’s as surance at the ascension, that “this same Jesus,” in His true humanity, who has gone up on high our Forerunner, shall come again bur Brother and our Judge. “It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again;” but that triumphant assur ance loses all its blessedness, unless we say too, “Jesus died for our sins accord ing to the Scriptures, and . . . rose again the third day.” Note, too, the calmness' of His greeting; He uses the common form of salutation,’ as if He had but been absent on some common occasion, and met them in ordin ary circumstances. He speaks out of His own deep tranquility, and desires to im part it to their agitated spirits. He would- calm their joy, that it may be the deeper, like His own. If we may give any weight to the original meaning of the formula of greeting which He employs, we may see blessed prophecy in it. The lips of the risen Christ bid us all “rejoice.” ..His sal utation is no empty wish, but a command which makes its own fulfilment possible. If our hearts welcome Him, and our faith is firm in His risen power and love, then He gives us a deep and central gladness, which nothing “That is at enmity with joy Can utterly abolish or destroy.” The rush to His feet, and the silent clasp of adoration, are eloquent of a tumulL of feeling most natural, and yet not without turbid elements, which He does not wholly approve. We have not here the prohibition of such a touch which was spoken to Mary, but we have substantially the same substitution, by His command, of practical service for mere emotion. That carries a lesson always in season. We cannot love Christ too much, nor try to get too near Him, to touch Him with the hand of our faith. But there have been modes of religious - emotion, represented by hymns and popular books,
which have not mingled reverence rightly with love, and hâve spoken of Him, and of the emotions binding us to Him, in tones unwhojesomely like those belonging to earthly passion. But, apart from that, Jesus taught these women, and us through them, that it is better to proclaim His resurrection than to lie at His feet; and that, how ever sweet the blessedness which we find in Him may be, it is meant to put a mes sage into our lips, which others need. Our sight of Him gives us something to say, and binds us to say it. It was a blessing to the women to have work to do, in doing which their strained emotions might subside. It was a blessing to the mourn ful company in the upper room to have their hearts prepared for His coming by these heralds. It was a wonderful token of His unchanged lové,'and an answer to fears ahd doubts of how they might find' Him, that He sends the message to them as brethren. In the.- hurry of that Faster morning,’ they had no time to ponder on all that it had brought them. The resurrection as the demonstration of Christ’s divinity and of the acceptance of His ■perfect sacri fiée, or as the, pledge of their resurrec tion, or as the type of their Christian life, was for future experience to grasp. For that day, it was enough to pass from despair to joy, and to let the astounding fact flood them with sunny hope. We know the vast sweep of the conse quences and consolations of it far better than they did. There is no reason; in our distance from it, for its diminishing either in magnitude, in certitude, or in blessédnessHn our eyes. No fact'in the history of the world stands on such firm evidence as the resurrection of Jesus Christ. No age of the world ever needed to believe it more than this one dpes. It becomes us all to grasp it for ourselves with an iron tenacity of hold, and to echo, in the face of the materialisms and know- nothing philosophy of this day, the old ringing confession, “Now is Christ risen from the dead!” The Resurrection Matt. 28:1-10. B y M abel L / M errill Memory Verse: “He is not here: for He is risen, as He said.” Matt. 28:6. Approach: For the little folk of the Beginner and Primary Departments, ar range a miniature tomb and garden scene in sand table. It adds to the story, and
Lord Jesus had been crucified and His body laid away in the stone,grave or sep ulchre. Many of them were thinking of his wonderful' and helpful life among them, how he had cured their sick, and even raised the dead to life. Many of them had watched Him die the awful death on the cross, and even though He had told them’ He would die and rise again, they could not believe that they would see Him alive any more. Jesus has told us that He is coming back to this earth again as our Lord and King, and yet only a few people believe His word, and are ready to meet Him, Are you ready? Some of the women have gotten ready sweet spices and perfume to put upon His body. As they walk along the dark road, they are wondering how they are going to roll back'the big stone from the grave. .They are frightened when they arrive at the grave, for the stone is rolled back, and a-bright, shining angel is there with a face bright as lightning.. The soldiers who had been placed at the tomb to watch, be came so frightened,' they fell like dead men, Now, boys 'and girls, I want you to listen very carefuly - to the words •the angel spoke to the timid, frightened wo men. They not only brought hope and joy to the women but they mean hope and joy and everlasting life to all who belong to Jesps. The angel told them not to be afraid, for he knew they were looking for the body of Jesus. Here are his words: “He Is not here: for He is risen as' He said.” His tomb was empty. It needed no tombstone. Because, our Lord Jesus came out of. the tomb alive, we who be long to Jesus; are very happy today, for all who belong to Jesus, when they die will live,,;again also. So while death is an awful, enemy, it is only for a little while, for we shall live forever in our new bodies in heaven with our Lord and Saviour. That is why we have Sunday Schools and churches, and send missionaries to all parts of the world, that people may know of our Lord Jesus, and be saved. Easter is the hap piest day of all the year. Easter is far more than a day; Easter is a person, the Lord Jesus Christ, (John 11:25). 'Let us remember our Lord and Saviour is not a dead Saviour, but a living Saviour. He is in Heaven with His Father, and He is getting a place ready for every boy and girl, and every man and woman who are His. If we belong to Jesus, dying is. just closing our eyes inl^teep down here and waking up in Heaven. Do you belong to JesUs? (Prayer.) Let Him Be a Comrade It would, indeed, be sweet that Jesus should be,, unseen, our Companion in all we do; that He should fill our thoughts, not taking away any other needful or happy thought, but making them holy, and pure, and calm, and good, and happier far. But we become eager in all we do; our thoughts are taken up with it. We begin the day with some thought of Jesus, and then care follows care, and things of sense take us up, and those around us carry our thoughts away,,and so we are hurried on until the end of, the day, and too late, at night, we find we have been liv ing to ourselves, and not with Jesus, — F. IV. Faber.
makes it more real, to have a light in tomb as stone is rolled away. In the Junior a discussion of inscriptions on- tomb stones. Many of them start out with, “Here lies.” At, t h e Saviour’s tomb the angel said,
“He is not here.” His is an empty tomb. All pur hope hinges upon the resurrection. Lesson Story. (Review). When our loved ones and friends die, our hearts are sad and lonely for we can not see them nor hear them speak to us. In the begin ning of our beautiful story the disciples and friends, of Jesus were sad, for the
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