CO-OPERATION IN RELIGION
‘And behold, they brought to Him a man sick of the palsy, lying on a bed: and Jesus seeing their faith said unto the sick of the palsy; Son, be of good cheer; thy sins be for-given thee.’
St. Mark and St. Luke give a much fuller account of the healing of the sick of the palsy than does Matthew.
I. A ‘death in life.’—Paralysis has been aptly called ‘a death in life,’ ‘a living death’; and may we not trace its exact counterpart in man’s spiritual being? Are there not tens of thousands among ourselves who, from various causes, not always faults of their own, from ignorance or bad training, from corrupt environment and bad associates, quite as much as from innate indifference and love of vice, are spiritually ‘past feeling,’ impervious to the finer sense, and the higher life, of temperance, purity, and holiness? There are others in as bad a plight, and, alas! with far less excuse. There are among the educated, the wealthy, and the so-called ‘refined’ of the world, not simply a growing spirit of indifference to religion and a laxer view of morals, but an increase of those grosser forms of self-indulgence of which it is a shame even to speak. What is this but a tendency to be useless and unprofitable—paralytics in the sight of God? Or are there not many who profess to love and serve God, and, indeed, have done so for many a year, but who are conscious as they near mid-life of a sense of disappointment? These are dangerous signs indeed; they are signs of that spiritual ‘creeping paralysis,’ ‘the growing weary in well-doing.’ Truly did Dean Stanley say, ‘When the best men give up trying, the world falls back like lead.’
II. Religious co-operation.—Now, how shall we deal with those who are wholly or partly spiritually paralysed? We find the answer in the conduct of this poor paralytic’s friends. In one word, it is ‘co-operation,’ religious co-operation—the ‘working together of Christian men and women, in town or country village, for the glory of God and the good of their fellows, is the very superstructure of Christian effort. But for it to be of real and lasting use, internals must not be neglected or forgotten. Christian men of all degrees may and must unite to rescue their fellows who have fallen helpless, through sin, on life’s highway. Such co-operation must and will have its reward; it will invoke a double blessing—a blessing on him who gives, and on him who, perhaps involuntarily, takes.
—The Rev. E. F. Cavalier.
Illustration
‘Two neighbours, one blind and the other lame, were called to a place at a great distance. What was to be done? The blind man could not see, and the lame man could not walk! Why, the blind man carried the lame one; the former assisted by his legs, the other by his eyes. Say to none, then, “I can do without you,” but be ready to help those who ask your aid, and then, when it is needed, you may ask theirs.’
(SECOND OUTLINE)
HEALING FOR BODY AND SOUL
We may take this narrative to illustrate—
I. Man’s greatest misery.—Disease and sin both very closely allied. Palsy, with its terrible helplessness, speaks of the paralysis of will which sin produces (Romans 7:13-25).
II. Man’s greatest joy.—(1) Deliverance from sin. (2) Deliverance from disease—the latter signifying a perfect restoration to spiritual health, and a power to walk in God’s righteous ways.
III. Man’s greatest duty.—‘The multitude glorified God.’ Praise is our noblest privilege, and our most pressing duty.