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‘And I say unto you, That many shall come from the east and west, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven. But the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’
The force of our Lord’s declaration is hammered into us, day by day. Out there, in what we call ‘the world,’ we encounter, over and over again, such wonderful moral soundness, such high purpose, such fine spiritual insight. And then the reverse of the picture is being made vividly and hideously true to us all. We of the kingdom, in possession of all the privileges, in touch with all the means of grace, fed from our first childhood on the blessed sacramental powers—we after all that has been done for us, do, again and again, fall helplessly below the spiritual standards set us by those others who arrive from without.
I. Our Lord foretold it.—Let us take heart of grace from the mere fact that our Lord knew and foretold this very trouble. Merely to know that it was foreseen relieves the strain for us. Our Lord saw that it would happen, and yet went straight on with His purpose. Evidently, then, the purpose is not defeated. It still stands, and will survive this blow. His whole soul was still set on founding and building the kingdom. This was his mission and most deliberate purpose here on earth, and He never for a moment let that intention waver. Moreover, we may notice another suggestion made to us by His vivid imagery. Those outsiders from afar come to the kingdom themselves at last. They sit down inside, in company with the traditional chiefs, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. What does this imply, but that they finally discover that the hidden interpretation of their unaccountable goodness lay within the kingdom itself?
II. What is the kingdom?—It comes down from heaven; it does not rise out of earth. It comes to men. It arrives from elsewhere. That is the whole heart of the matter. That is the Gospel. That is Christianity. That is the secret of Jesus. The New Jerusalem descends from heaven as a bride. ‘My kingdom is not of this world.’ It does not take its origin here. It is not a growth from below. Of course, it comes to meet an upward movement; to respond to it; to carry it higher; to crown it. But there is an inner law of human nature, that it cannot complete itself wholly from within; it cannot achieve its own coronation. It moves towards it; it aspires to it; it suggests it; it prophesies of it; it is for ever nearing it. But it never can attain it. It never can succeed in putting on its own crown with its own hands. That is the inherent story of all developments from our side. And it is only because this conclusion has been finally reached that the significance of Jesus Christ is made manifest. Down from above, in Him, there enters to meet and to rescue this human effort, the force which releases, the act which redeems. To have missed this truth is to have missed everything. That is the Gospel of Jesus Christ. And this is what for ever forbids us to believe in a Church which the world develops out of itself, in a growth upward of the world itself, out of its own inner resources, into the kingdom. Christ came in the flesh to proclaim that this is impossible.
III. What this Parable suggests.—What this parable suggests, in picturing those outside heroes and saints of the faith coming at last to take their seats inside the kingdom, must be that, however remote from the visible frontiers of grace they had been in their earthly lives, however unconscious they had been of the secret source of their virtue, now, in the end, with eyes open, they recognise that it had all sprung out of that entry of the Divine deliverance upon the human arena; out of the redemptive action by which and through which humanity won its capacity to attain its consummation. That action reached them by underground channels; but, without it, they could not have done what they did. The entire body of humanity was brought under the one law, received its new value, found its freedom, in the perfect flesh and blood. So the thrill passed everywhere, and, in every place, dry bones came together, and men stood upon their feet, they knew not how, they knew not why. Only, now, at the Judgment Day, when all is clear, they see and know that it was the kingdom, it was the Christ. They bear their witness, now, to it. They sit down with Abraham.
Canon H. Scott Holland.
(SECOND OUTLINE)
THE HEAVENLY BANQUET
Our Lord speaks of ‘sitting down with’ Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The imagery is common enough in Scripture, and it suggests one or two ideas which are wanting, perhaps, in some of the other and nobler scriptural representations of the future state.
I. It suggests the idea of rest.—After the labours of the day are over, the toilers, putting off their garments of labour, and putting on their garments of festivity, meet together for the warrantable enjoyment of a well-appointed banquet. In one sense, the true disciple has entered into rest, even whilst living here on earth. But for all that, we cannot hope to be free from conflict, although that conflict does not reach and touch the centre of the soul. The rest is in the future.
II. Another idea is that of social equality.—Here below there are distinctions which divide men from one another: the peasant is not permitted to sit down at table with the prince. It cannot be otherwise now. But hereafter, the barriers which divide man from man, and class from class, will be thrown down. Character—not rank, nor wealth, nor birth, nor even gifts of intellect—will be the key which opens the door of the banqueting hall.
III. A third idea is that of social intercourse.—The persons described by our Lord not merely sit down at the banquet; but they sit down with the magnates, the grandees of the kingdom, with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. What a vista this opens into the depths of the bright hereafter! We shall be brought into company with the greatest minds and noblest hearts of all the successive generations of the human race.
IV. The Centre of all.—Christ is the centre of this enormous system of happiness; the fountain of light from which every ray of joy and brightness flows. The crown of all is His loving presence; and without Him darkness would fall upon the scene, and all would become instantaneously a blank (Revelation 7:17).
Prebendary Gordon Calthrop.
(THIRD OUTLINE)
THE OBLIGATION OF PRIVILEGES
The Jews were quite right in believing that God had chosen them out of the world. ‘We are God’s elect,’ they said, ‘His holy people, we cannot fall, we are His predestined ones—His chosen race.’ Then they found their birthright taken from them and given to those Gentiles whom they had condemned.
The moment we who belong to God’s Holy Catholic Church begin to boast of our corporate Christianity, and say, ‘We only are members of God’s Church,’ we then begin to look down with contempt on those who have been less happily taught than we have, who have not the same means of grace which are ready to our hands.
I. Privilege and responsibility.—Just as God has favoured us with greater privileges and means of grace for our help, so much the greater are our responsibilities. We have been trusted with ten talents; from us ten talents will be demanded. Instead of being lifted up with pride and haughtiness at your advantages, instead of looking with contempt on those who have been less favoured, say, ‘Lord, how can I best discharge this great trust Thou hast given me, how can I best use the talents Thou hast provided me with?’
II. An account required.—Again, we find ourselves trusting in our corporate Christianity, when forgetting that every one of us has to give an account for the things he has done in his own body. You know that when united in large bodies persons will do things they would not attempt individually. National sins against family life, against the will of God, would never have been committed if the persons who voted for or agreed with them had been required to take the responsibility on their own shoulders. We forget that each one of us has to stand before the judgment seat of Christ. There are, without doubt, countless and priceless privileges and blessings gained by belonging to that great body which God has founded and endowed with such marvellous gifts. But they increase, rather than lessen the personal and individual responsibility of its members.
III. The penalty of neglect.—The children of the kingdom shall be cast into outer darkness, there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth—because they used not their talents in the service and for the glory of God, but kept them for their own satisfaction and self-indulgent pursuits. As God has given to all, so He will exact. He that knew not his Master’s will and did it not shall be beaten with few stripes; but he that knew it and did it not shall be beaten with many. And those who knew it and did it shall sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob at the marriage supper of the Lamb.
—The Rev. Dr. Littledale.
Illustrations
(1) ‘Many a one, especially amongst very young people, gets hold of some Nonconformist, one perhaps much better than himself, more self-denying, more willing to learn, more capable of serving God with devotion after his own fashion; and they begin to argue about the general merits of their different religious systems. In the course of his argument our Churchman shows so much evil temper, pride, lack of true religion, such a hard spirit, such a confined appreciation of everything but the externals of religion, that, instead of making a convert, he hardens the Dissenter in his attachment to his own creed, and inspires him with increased dislike to the system which our Churchman had desired to point out to him as one of exquisite beauty and unspeakable attractiveness.’
(2) ‘Spiritual graces are very much like those india-rubber bands you procure in stationers’ shops for holding papers together. Use them every day, twist them about, pull them, strain them continually, and they are always serviceable; but lock them up in a drawer untouched for some months, and you will find on attempting to use them that they are rotten and will give way and snap directly. That is exactly the way God deals with our souls. If we put our graces by to take them out only on one day of the week, they will just have had time in the six days to get rotten and will snap on Sunday. The more you work them about and bring them into common daily use, the more useful and ready they will be. But put them aside and lay them up and they will break.’