King's Business - 1923-07

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T HE K I N G ’S B U S I N E S S

Galilee (Jn . 2 :1 -11 ). The relation ­ ship between Jesus and His mother has almost eclipsed o ther in terests in the chapter. The idea of w anton in ter­ ference on th e p a rt of Mary and of sharp rebuke on th e p a rt of Jesus, is to be decisively rejected. The key to th e meaning of th is episode is to be found in four simple items. (1) In a crisis of need Mary tu rn s natu rally to Jesus as the one from whom help is to be expected. (2 ) She is entirely undisturbed by His reply, whatever its meaning may be. (3) She prepares the way for th e m iracle by h er directions to the servants. (4) Jesus does ac­ tu ally relieve th e situation by an exer­ cise of power. I t is enough th a t her spontaneous appeal to h er Son did not resu lt in disappointment. In Mt. 12:46 we are told th a t when His mother and His b reth ren came seeking Him, Jesus, in the, well known rem ark concerning His tru e relatives in th e kingdom of heaven, intended to convey a severe rebuke to His own household for an action which involved both unbelief and presumptuous in te r­ ference in His g reat life work. The explanation of th is incident is to be found in Mark’s account. He in te r­ rup ts his narrativ e of the arrival of th e relatives by th e account of th e ac­ cusation made by the scribes th a t the power of Jesus, over demons was due to Beelzebub. This goes a long way toward explaining th e anxiety felt by the relatives since the ungoverned en­ thusiasm of the multiude, which jjave Him no chance to rest, was matched contrariw ise by the b itter, malignant opposition of th e authorities, who would believe any malicious absurdity ra th e r th a n th a t H is power came from God. The v ital point is th a t th e a t­ tem pt by Mary to get possession of Jesus to induee Him to go into re tire ­ ment for a tim e was not due to cap­ tious, in terfering unbelief, but to lov­ ing anxiety. The words of Jesus have the undoubted ring of conscious au th o r­ ity and express the determ ination of one who wills th e control of his own life, bu t it is a serious m istake to read into them any fain test accent of satire. We tu rn to the exquisitely tender scene a t th e cross (Jn . 1 9 :25 ). This scene reveals th e tru e sp irit of th e Mas­ te r ’s home. Jesus could never have spoken as He did unless He had con­ sistently maintained th e position and performed the duties of an eldest Son.

Jesus could hand over His sacred charge to th e tru stw o rthy keeping of ano ther because He had faithfully maintained it Himself. The final passage which we need to consider is Acts 1 :14 ; im po rtan t be­ cause we discover Mary and her house­ hold a t home in th e m idst of th e Chris­ tian community, engaged w ith them in prayer. It is clear th a t Mary herself and the family, whatever may have' been th e ir earlier misgivings, never broke w ith th e circle of disciples, and p ersistently kept w ithin th e range of experiences which led a t last to full- orbed Christian faith. The fam ily of Jesus passed through the same cycle of experiences which punctuated the careers of th e whole body of disciples on th e way to faith. The story of Mary’s life and of her relationship to Jesus is consistent throughout, and touched w ith mani­ fold unconscious tra its of tru th . Such a n arrative could not have been feigned or fabled.— Dr. L. M. Sweet in In ter­ national Standard Bible Encyclopedia. The four Marys of the New Testa­ m ent were all women of deep sp irit­ uality. Mary of Bethany was highly commended by the Saviour for her choice of th e b etter DEVOTIONAX part. Mary th e wife COMMENT of Cleophas was the F . W. F a rr mother of Jam es the less. Mary Magdalene was th e first w itness of the resu rrec­ tion and the first hum an being to whom Rom. 10:9 could apply. The virgin mother however is pre-em inent among them. H er sp iritu ality is seen in the song of the Magnificat, Luke 1:46-55. I t is not a plagiarism of H ann ah ’s paean, 1 Sam. 2:1-10, bu t a kindred expression of rejoicing revealing the height of devotion which these noble women attained. “Poets oft have sung her story, P ain ters decked her brow witito glory, P riests h er name have deified.” There is no h in t of M ariolatry in Scripture. The last mention of Mary is in Acts 1:14. She is regarded as one of th e hundred and twenty believers in

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