March 1929
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servants ever be bringing the sick and the sinful to the attention of their Lord; intercession is our highest priestly duty (cf. 1 Tim. 2:1, spoken to Christian laity). 31— COMING, HE RAISED HER UP—She could not come to Him. First of all He must come through the Holy Spirit to the sinner ere there can be any hope of healing. TOOK HER BY THE HAND—Gr. krateo, to grasp firmly, and so to conquer or rule. It is by His firm grasp of us that we are risen up, not by our feeble grasp of Him. It is while He holds, and so rules, that sin in us is conquered. STRAIGHTWAY THE FEVER LEFT HER—typical of conversion, which is always a definite act (not a process) and' therefore always really instantaneous. SHE BEGAN TO MINISTER—at once! This is the purpose of our healing, that we may minister to our Lord and His brethren. Salvation is not primarily for our benefit, but His glory and the good of others. 32— WHEN IT WAS EVENING—Being the Sabbath, it was unlawful for them to carry the sick earlier; the statement therefore is a confirmation of the narrative. 33— THE WHOLE CITY WAS GATHERED—They sought Him because they thought they would benefit; we do not succeed in persuading the crowd today that He will benefit them—our picture of Him is evidently not sufficiently attractive. 34— SUFFERED THEM NOT TO SPEAK—Christ avoid ed rather than courted publicity, as had been prophesied of Him (cf. Isa. 42:2), partly that His popularity might not hinder His work, and partly as an example of humanity for us. 35— AND IN THE NIGHT etc.—Note the diligence and self-denial. The day before had been a long and heavy one, yet the night was given to prayer. If He needed prayer to help Him and His work, how much more do we. It is one of the greatest secrets of successful service. INTO A DESERT PLACE —that He might be alone and have communion with His Father: such secret communion is the source of strength and fitness. 36— PETER, etc.—Note how all the Gospels represent Peter as putting himself forward. This Gospel is said to have been dictated by Peter, and he was just the character that would mention self, while John would, and does, not. Another un designed coincidence tending to prove the truth of the history. PURSUED HIM CLOSELY—There is a hint of harass in the word; they could not let Him alone; they thought all that prayer a waste of time. Do we ever fall into the same error? 37— ALL MEN SEEK THEE—Why lose time like this? it would be better to be at work! So men judge too often today, but prayer itself is work, and no good work can be done without it. 38— INTO THE NEXT VILLAGE TOWNS—Not back to the place where all were seeking Him and waiting for Him ; the lure of popularity must be resisted. PREACH THERE ALSO—The disciples were thinking of His great reputation, He of His great work. The latter, not the former, should be the servant’s true concern. THEREFORE CAME I-—This, not reputation, was the purpose. In all our work for Him let, us ever keep the original purpose in view. 40— A LEPER—Leprosy is the most loathsome and deadly of all maladies, a corruption of the very life itself, for which there was no human cure. This was God's type of the corruption and deadly nature of sin, yet men dare to speak lightly of the latter. FELL ON HIS KNEES SAYING, etc,—There was humiliation, worship, and faith, all necessary if we are to be healed of the malady of sin. IF THOU WILT, THOU CANST— There was no doubt as to the power, there need have been none as to the will. It is our doubt as to the one or the other that so often robs us of blessing. 41— COMPASSION—i. e., co-suffering, which is true sym pathy. [“Touched with a feeling of our infirmities.”] He was the same tender God of whom it is said, “In all their afflictions He was afflitted.” It is well to remember this in these days when
men deny the identity in the Old and New Testaments. TOUCHED HIM—And so became defiled, by the Law of Moses, which was His own Law. He Himself “bare our sins,” “became sin” for us. Note that He did not shrink from contact with corruption; neither must we when the purpose is to save the corrupt. If we are to help to save men, we must be ready to touch them in their utmost vileness. I WILL! BE THOU CLEANSED—Note the assumption of authority and power: no one else would have dared to profess to cleanse the leper (cf. 2 Kings 5:7). 42— AS SOON AS HE HAD SPOKEN . . . THE LEP ROSY DEPARTED—The healing was complete and instan taneousChrist’s word of power is sufficient for the immediate salvation of the sinner or the cleansing of the soul. Salvation is not a gradual development, though the full results are gradual. 43— STERNLY CHARGING, HE DROVE HIM FORTH —He was not to start gossiping, lest he should forget his obli gations and offerings. 44— SHEW THYSELF TO THE PRIEST—That the Priest might attest the cure, as the Law provided. In this case the examination would repel the suggestion of fraud. AND OFFER . . . FOR TESTIMONY—A testimony (1) of grati tude for the deliverance; (2) against their unbelief; (3) that the person healed by Christ was still to keep the Divine Law of the moment. The first and the last reason need to be very carefully borne in mind by every delivered soul. 45— HE BEGAN TO PUBLISH—He found it impossible to hold his tongue, as all men do for whom Christ has really .done great things. The dumb devil is a sign of low spiritual experi ence. COMING FROM EVERYWHERE—Drawn not so much by His teaching as by His works. Not doctrine (though that is essential) but effects, are most powerful to attract man. The Perfect Conduct of Christ I N every other life than that of Christ, what imperfections, what inconsistencies! Where is the character that no opposition is sufficient to overwhelm? Where the individual whose conduct is never modified by event or circumstance, who never yields to the influences of the time, never accommodates himself to man ners or passions that he cannot prevail to alter? From first to last He is the same: always the same, majestic and simple, in finitely severe and infinitely gentle; throughout a life that may be said to have been lived under the public eye, Jesus never gives occasion to find fault; the prudence of His conduct compels our admiration by its union of force and gentleness. Everything in Him amazes me; His Spirit outreaches mine, and His will con founds me. Comparison is impossible between Him and any other being in the world. He is truly a being by Himself: His ideas and His sentimeiits, the truth that He announces, His man ner of convincing, are all beyond humanity and the natural order of things. His birth, and the story of His life, the profoundness of His doctrine which overturns all difficulties, and is their most complete solution, His gospel, the singularity of this mysterious being, His appearance, His empire, His progress through all cen turies and kingdoms—all this is to be a prodigy, an unfathomable mystery. I see nothing here of man. Near as I may approach; closely as I may examine, all remains great with a greatness that crushes me; it is in vain that I reflect—all remains unaccount-, able. —Napoleon.
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