If the household be too little for the lamb.
Too little for the lamb
I. The text reminds us of a primary privilege.
1. That each man of Israel ate the passover for himself; “every man according to his eating.” So do we feed upon Jesus, each one as his appetite, capacity, and strength enable him to do.
2. But this same delicious fare should be enjoyed by all the family--“a lamb for an house.” Oh, that each of the parents and all the children and servants may be partakers of Christ!
II. The text is silent as to a certain contingency.
1. The lamb was never too little for the family; and assuredly the Lord Jesus was never too little even for the largest family, nor for the most sinful persons.
2. There is no reason to stint our prayers for fear we ask too much.
3. Nor to stay our labours because the Lord Jesus cannot give us strength enough, or grace enough.
4. Nor to restrain our hopes of salvation for the whole family, because of some supposed narrowness in the purpose, provision, or willingness of the Lord to bless.
III. The text mentions a possibility, and provides for it.
1. One family is certainly too small a reward for Jesus--too little for the Lamb.
2. One family is too little to render Him all the praise, worship, service, and love which He deserves.
3. One family is too little to do all the work of proclaiming the Lamb of God, maintaining the truth, visiting the Church, winning the world. Therefore let us call in the neighbour next unto our house.
(1) Our next neighbour has the first claim upon us.
(2) He is the most easy to reach, and by each calling his next neighbour all will be reached.
(3) He is the most likely person to be influenced by us. At any rate this is the rule, and we are to obey it (see Luke 24:47; John 1:41; Nehemiah 3:28). If our neighbour does not come when invited, we are not responsible; but if he perished because we did not invite him, blood-guiltiness would be upon us (Ezekiel 33:8).
IV. The whole subject suggests thoughts upon neighbourly fellowship in the gospel.
1. It is good for individuals and families to grow out of selfishness, and to seek the good of a wide circle.
2. It is a blessed thing when the centre of our society is “the Lamb.”
3. Innumerable blessings already flow to us from the friendships which have sprung out of our union in Jesus.
4. Our care for one another in Christ helps to realize the unity of the one body, even as the common eating of the passover proclaimed and assisted the solidarity of the people of Israel as one nation. This spiritual union is a high privilege.
5. Thoroughly carried out, heaven will thus be foreshadowed upon earth, for there love to Jesus and love to one another is found in every heart. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Sharing religion with others
There are some things which can be shared with our neighbours, and some which cannot, in the religious life. In securing the “means of grace” we can go halves with our next-door neighbours; but not so in the great fact of personal salvation. We can join with a neighbour in taking a pew in church, or in getting a waggon to carry us to church, or in subscribing for a religious paper--and paying for it too; but we can share no neighbour’s seat in heaven; his team will never carry us there; the truths which benefit him from the weekly paper do not, because of their gain to him, do us any good. And if our nextdoor neighbour’s family is a household of faith, that doesn’t make ours so. The members of his family may be saved and ours lost. Neighbourliness is commanded and commended of God; but God doesn’t want you to leave your salvation in the hands of your next-door neighbour. The blood above your neighbour’s doorpost will not save your household from death. (H. C. Trumbull.)