Then Jesus six days before the Passover.
--The following calendar of the Passover week is taken from Lightfoot (2.586):
NISAN IX; The Sabbath. Six days before the Passover, Jesus sups with Lazarus at the going out of the Sabbath, when according to the custom of that country their suppers were more liberal.
NISAN X; Sunday. Five days before the Passover, Jesus goes to Jerusalem on an ass, and in the evening returns to Bethany (Mark 11:11). On this day the lamb was taken, and kept till the Passover (Exodus 12:1-51), on which day this Lamb of God presented Himself, who was the Antitype of that ride.
NISAN XI; Monday. Four days before the Passover, He goes to Jerusalem again; curseth the unfruitful fig tree (Matthew 21:18; Mark 11:12); in the evening He returns again to Bethany (Mark 6:19).
NISAN XII; Tuesday. Three days before the Passover, He goes again to Jerusalem; His disciples observe how the fig tree was withered (Mark 11:20). In the evening going back to Bethany, and sitting on the Mount of Olives, He foretelleth the destruction of the Temple and city (Matthew 24:1-51), and discourses those things which are contained in Matthew 25:1-46.
NISAN XIII; Wednesday. This day He passeth away in Bethany. At the coming in of this night, the whole nation apply themselves to put away all leaven.
NISAN XIV; Thursday. He sends two of His disciples to get ready the Passover. He Himself enters Jerusalem in the afternoon. In the evening eats the Passover, institutes the Eucharist: is taken, and almost all the night had before the Courts of Judicature.
NISAN XV; Friday. Afternoon, He is crucified.
NISAN XVI; Saturday. He keeps the Sabbath in the grave.
NISAN XVII; The Lord’s Day. He riseth again.
Came to Bethany
The arrival of the Passover caravan
Coming into Bethany, the nearest point of the great road to Galilaeans’ Hill, the caravan broke up; the company dispersed to the south and north, some seeking for houses in which they could lodge, others fixing on the ground where they meant to encamp. Those marched round Olivet to the south, following the great road, crossing the Cedron by a bridge, and entering the Holy City by the Sheep Gate, near Antonio; these mounted by the short path to the top of Olivet, glancing at the flowers and herbage, and plucking twigs and branches as they climbed. Some families, having brought their tents with them from Galilee, could at once proceed to stake the ground; but the multitude were content with the booths called Succoth, built in the same rude style as those in which their father Israel had dwelt. Four stakes being cut and driven in the soil, long reeds were drawn, one by one, round and through them. These reeds, being in turn crossed and closed with leaves, made a small green bower, open on one side only, yielding the women a rude sort of privacy, and covering the young ones with a frail defence from both noontide heat and midnight dew. The people had much to do, and very little time in which it could be done. At sundown, when the shofa sounded, Sabbath would begin; then every hand must cease its labour, even though the tent were unpitched, the booth unbuilt, the children exposed, the skies darkening into storm. Consequently the poles must be cut, the leaves and branches gathered, the tents fixed, the water fetched from the wells, the bread baked, the cattle penned, the beds unpacked and spread, the supper of herbs and olives cooked before the sofa sounded from the Temple wall. But everyone helped. While the men drove stakes into the ground and propped them with stones, the women wove them together with twigs and leaves, the girls ran off to the springs for water, the lads put up the camels and led out the sheep to graze. In two or three hours a new city had sprung up on the Galilaeans’ Hill--a city of booths and tents--more noisy, perhaps more populous, than even the turbulent city within the walls. This Galilaeans’ Hill made only one field in a great landscape of booths and tents. All Jewry had sent up her children to the feast, and each province arrayed its members on a particular site. The men of Sharon swarmed over Mount Gideon, the men of Hebron occupied the Plain of Rephaim. From Pilate’s roof on Mount Zion the lines and groups of this vast encampment could be followed by an observer’s eye down the valley of Gihon, peeping from among the fruit trees about Siloam, dotting the long plain of Rephaim, trespassing even on the Mount of Offence, and darkening the grand masses of hill from Olivet towards Mizpeh. All Jewry appeared to be encamped about the Temple Mount. From sundown all was quiet on the hillsides and on the valley, only the priests and doctors, the Temple guards, the money changers, the pigeon dealers, the bakers of shewbread, the altar servants being astir and at their work. There was no Sabbath in sacred things. But everywhere, save in the Temple Courts, traffic was stayed, movement arrested, life itself all but extinct. (Hepworth Dixon.)
There they made Him a supper
Jesus honoured
I. BY IMPROMPTU ACTS. One of the plainest proofs of the inspiration of the Bible is its selection of facts for the world’s instruction. Its standard of utility is not ours. Acts to us unimportant are given a prominence that arouses our curiosity and lead to profitable study. Thus the single act in Jacob’s life, which is used as a proof of his faith in Hebrews 11:1-40, is his blessing the sons of Joseph on his dying bed. We should have selected the scene at Bethel. Nothing gives such a solemnity to the last judgment as the picture of the separation of good and bad. On what ground? Not on that of an intelligent and determined rejection of Christ’s claims or of pronounced and heroic service, but upon what we should call the waste and forgotten materials of life--things done so naturally and thoughtlessly that both cry out, “When saw we Thee,” etc. And so, according to the common standard, these two acts here of unpremeditated honour are given undue importance. The anointing was done in a few moments, yet Jesus selected that one act as a service never to be forgotten. The scene on the day following had no great utility. A modem reporter would have called it a simple outburst of popular enthusiasm. But Jesus needed these songs of welcome and prized them.
II. BY UNCALCULATED LOVE. Paul declares that without love we and our works are unprofitable, and John makes it the sum of all virtues. We live in times of great religious activity. The poor in body are with us--the poor souls of heathens are yonder. We do a good deal for both, and we do well. Yet because Christian work is so highly organized and reportable we need the lesson of Mary’s uncalculating love. We may be inside the great circle of Christian beneficence, and yet lack Mary’s “good part.” The institutions of Christianity open avenues to pride and ostentation never known before. The machinery of benevolence may exhaust the soul until all its sweetness and grace are wasted. We may shine in use and yet lack the ineffable charm and grace of a life hid with Christ in God. (Monday Club Sermons.)
Bethany and its feast
The house in which we find ourselves is that of Simon the leper (Matthew 26:1-75; Mark 14:1-72). The feast is a great one; but Christ is the centre, and gives to it and the guests all their significance. Let us consider the latter in their relation to Christ.
I. SIMON ENTERTAINING. He had known Christ before, probably first through his leprosy. Our first interview with Christ is respecting our moral leprosy. But Simon finds that he has much more to do with Jesus than merely for His cure: therefore he must have Him under his roof. So our acquaintanceship must be a companionship, and Christ must sit at our table. This is the sinner’s side of the gospel. Here it is, not Christ receiving the sinner, but the sinner Christ. We must not overlook either side.
II. LAZARUS FEASTING. What a feast, what a company! Simon healed, Lazarus raised, dipping into the same dish, drinking of the same cup with Christ the Healer and Raiser. How Lazarus first became acquainted with Christ we know not; but it was his death that had brought about the special closeness of contact--type now of risen saints who are to take their places at the marriage supper of the Lamb. What has Lazarus now but to gaze and listen? This is our true posture who have died and risen with Christ--listening, not bustling and talking. There is a time for both.
III. MARTHA SERVING. Her usual employment, lowly but not least blessed; like His who came to serve. Angels might covet service to Christ in any form, were it for nothing else than near contact with Him. “Inasmuch as ye have done it,” etc.
IV. MARY ANOINTING--not entertaining, feasting, serving, but doing what some would consider a useless thing. Yet her act gets most notice. Christ says nothing to Simon, etc. It is no labour, suffering, etc., that gets the fullest commendation but love. (H. Bonar, D. D.)
The supper at Bethany
Note
I. THE ABOUNDING PROOFS OF OUR LORD’S GREATEST MIRACLES. Here was Lazarus. No one could pretend that his resurrection was an optical illusion. The same proofs attend the mightier miracle of Christ’s resurrection (Luke 24:42). We do well to remember this in this sceptical age.
II. THE UNKINDNESS AND DISCOURAGEMENTS CHRIST’S FRIENDS RECEIVE. Mary thought nothing too great and good to expend on such a Saviour. Greatly loved, she thought she could not show to much love in return. But she was blamed by those who had lesser views than hers of the dignity of Christ’s person and of their own obligations to Him. There are only too many of the same spirit, who begrudge nothing to push trade or advance science, but count it waste to spend money on Christ’s cause. We must not allow ourselves to be moved from well doing by such. It is vain to expect men to do much for Christ who have no sense of debt to Him. We must pity them, but work on. He who pleaded the cause of Mary will not forget the “cup of cold water.”
III. THE DESPERATE HARDNESS AND UNBELIEF OF THE HUMAN HEART.
1. Unbelief in the chief priests (John 12:10-11), who would rather commit a murder than confess themselves in the wrong.
2. Hardness in Judas, who after this could betray Christ (1 Corinthians 10:12). (Bp. Ryle.)
The true Church
I. ITS INTERNAL ASPECT.
1. Christ as the central figure, “They made Him a supper.” Lazarus was conspicuous, but Christ was the centre of attraction. In the true Church Christ is in the “midst,” and in all things has the preeminence.
2. A variety of guests. Lazarus silent, Martha busy, Mary tender, Simon healed and grateful. The true Church embraces all shades of character.
3. The presence of an incongruous character. Judas partaking of the feast, but unsympathetic. He shows three base things
(1) A false estimate of property. Money is not wasted on Christ, but on houses, apparel, fare, etc.
(2) A hypocritical philanthropy--Judas cared little for the poor, as his history shows.
(3) A heartless intrusion. No man has a right to “trouble” another on account of his religious services. Iscariotism is very prevalent.
4. The display of genuine devotion. Mary’s act was
(1) Generous--the ointment was costly.
(2) Spontaneous. It was unsought.
(3) Open. It was done in the presence of all.
(4) Right
(a) In principle. She wrought a good work
(b) In extent. She did what she could.
(c) In reason--against the day of Christ’s burying.
II. ITS EXTERNAL INFLUENCE.
1. Some were attracted by curiosity (John 12:9). The wonderful fact on which the Church’s theology is founded, as well as the moral revolutions it is constantly effecting, have a natural tendency to rouse inquisitiveness. Hence the questions, criticisms, and discussions in society, public halls and literature.
2. Some men attracted by malice (John 12:10). The determination of the priests was
(1) Wicked.
(2) Foolish. Truth cannot be struck down by physical force. The true Church has always been the object of malice, (D. Thomas, D. D.)
Prodigality praiseworthy
In the practical working of good agencies, there must almost always be a certain prodigality. The light which illuminates this speck of a world is but a single beam in comparison with that immense body of light which passes off, to be lost, apparently, in endless space. Nature produces a hundred seeds for everyone which comes to maturity; and at every sculptor’s feet there is an unheeded pile of marble chips which have been sacrificed to the fulfilment of the artist’s design. If this is waste, then what the world wants is waste--waste of precious seed in sowing it, late and early, by the wayside, in thorny places, beside all waters. And what many a Sunday School wants is more waste like this--waste of money and time and effort over an apparently hopeless enterprise, waste of thought and speech and prayer in behalf of those for whom these seem to be spent in vain. (H. O. Trumbull, D. D.)
The fragrance of true piety
When I was in Paris, I used to rise early and sit at my open window. I always knew when the stores beneath me were open; for one was a flower store, and from its numberless roses, and heaps of mignonette, arose such sweet, sweet fragrance, that it proclaimed what was done. It seems to me that Christians should be as a flower store, and that the odour of sanctity should betray them wherever they are. Not that they should go about obtruding themselves and their actions on others, with the cant of usefulness, but that they should live the purity and joy of religion, so that men might see the desirableness of it, both for the sake of nobleness, and for the enjoyment both of this world and that which is to come. (H. W. Beecher.)
Power of perfumes
Lieutenant Conder, in his “Tent Work in Palestine,” mentions that the perfume of the orange groves is detected many miles from Jaffa. (H. O. Mackey.)
The lasting perfume of pious deeds
It has been shown that the odoriferous molecule of musk is infinitesimally small. No power has yet been conceived to enable the human eye to see one of the atoms of musk, yet the organs of smell have the sensitiveness to detect them. Their smallness cannot even be imagined, and the same grain of musk undergoes absolutely no diminution in weight. A single drop of the oil of thyme, ground down with a piece of sugar and a little alcohol, will communicate its odour to twenty-five gallons of water. Haller kept for forty years papers perfumed with one grain of ambergris. After this time the odour was as strong as ever. And so the perfume of this generous gift to Christ will last throughout all time, and be carried over the whole world.
The philosophy of beneficence
He who selfishly hoards his joys, thinking thus to increase them, is like a man who looks at his granary, and says, “Not only will I protect my grain from mice and birds, but neither the ground nor the mill shall have it.” And so, in the spring, he walks around his little pit of corn, and exclaims, “How wasteful are my neighbours, throwing away whole handfuls of grain!” But autumn comes; and, while he has only his few poor bushels, their fields are yellow with an abundant harvest. “There is that scattereth and yet increaseth.”
Motive for great gifts
A poor Protestant congregation in Lyons was trying to build a small house for their public worship. An old soldier brought all his three months’ earnings. “Can you spare so much?” asked the minister. “My Saviour spared not Himself,” he answered, “but freely gave His life for me; surely I can spare one quarter of a year’s earnings to extend His kingdom on earth.” Then saith one of His disciples, Judas Iscariot.
Here is
I. A FOUL INIQUITY gilded over with a specious pretence.
II. WORLDLY WISDOM passing censure on PIOUS ZEAL.
III. Charity to the poor made a colour for opposing an act of piety to Christ. (M. Henry.)
Mary’s offering: criticised and vindicated
I. THE BETRAYER’S CRITICISM OF MARY’S OFFERING. An eminent statesman once said that critics were men who had failed. What a lurid light this definition casts over the conduct of Judas at this hour! Moreover, criticism is too often the outcome of an utter incapacity to appreciate, arising from inferiority on the part of the critic. Judas, too, was not only too prosaic, but was also too official to be touched by the beauty of this deed. It is a hard thing for any man to be the treasurer of one society and maintain the breadth of his humanity. Judas felt that his “bag” had greater claims than his Saviour. Then, again, as a thief he could not understand that there are some offerings which cannot be sold, but which lose all their sacredness the moment you put them under the auctioneer’s hammer; that in this instance the alabaster box must be broken in the giving, and that there are offerings the value of which the giver never counts.
II. OUR LORD’S VINDICATION OF MARY AND HER OFFERING.
1. He bade Judas and the other disciples whom he had induced to repeat his cry (Matthew 26:8; Mark 14:4) to “let her alone.”
2. He not only vindicated the deed, but also explained its meaning. What a gracious construction He puts upon our poor services when they are prompted by love! That little child of yours wants to give you a present on your birthday. She buys it a week or so before the day. You notice some mysterious movements and looks, and there are little whispers heard all over the house. She confides in her little brother; and he, too, looks very wise and then very excited. At last the pressure is too great, the safety valve of speech gives way, and out comes the secret; then there is a rush out of the room and back again, and then the disclosure of a present which all the cupboards in the house could not conceal a moment longer. The present is thrust on your lap, and young eyes shoot light and love into yours. It has come before the proper date but it is all the better for that. Mary, on this occasion, was like that little child, she could keep her alabaster box of ointment no longer; and what had been intended for the dead body was now poured, in the prodigality and impatience of an overflowing love, over His living form. Jesus knew all, and rejoiced over a love which had ante-dated its purpose, and given to the living Lord what had been kept for His burial.
3. Having done this, He emphasized the urgency for such an act as compared with the duty to the poor, who would remain when He had vanished from their sight and this act would be no longer possible. What they desired to do to Him, whether it were Mary to anoint, or Judas to betray, must be done quickly. (D. Davies.)
The self-sacrificing woman and the covetous apostle
The self-seeking heart in the Church makes balsam into poison. It turns
I. A JOYOUS FEAST INTO AN HOUR OF TEMPTATION.
II. THE PUREST LOVE OFFERING INTO AN OFFENCE.
III. THE SACRED JUSTIFICATION OF FIDELITY INTO A MOTIVE FOR EXASPERATION.
IV. THE MOST GRACIOUS WARNINGS AGAINST DESTRUCTION INTO A DOOM OF DEATH. (J. P. Lange, D. D.)
Mary and Judas
The parts of Mary and Judas in respect to the death of Christ are brought into sharp contrast. Mary in her devotion unconsciously provides for the honour of the dead. Judas in his selfishness unconsciously brings about the death itself. (Bp. Westcott.)
Alabaster box and money box
Mark the striking contrast between the money box of Judas and the alabaster box of Mary, his thirty pieces of silver and her three hundred denaries, his love of money and her liberality, his hypocritical profession of concern for the poor, and her noble deed for the Lord, his wretched end and her noble deed for the Lord. (P. Schaff, D. D.)
Judas and the disciples
In the synoptists it is “His disciples” (Matthew). “Some” (Mark), who remonstrate. It seems that on this as on many other occasions, Judas played among his fellow disciples the part of the leaven which raises the flour. (F. Godet, D. D.)
Because he was a thief and had the bag
Judas and the bag
Why Jesus should have allowed Judas to carry the bag, when He knew that he could not resist the temptation to which it exposed him, is one of those mysteries which we shall only be able to answer when we understand why God allows any man to be exposed to temptation which He knows he will not be able to resist. It may be that Judas was first selected for this purpose, because he showed an aptitude for making such arrangements as were required for supplying the daily wants of the disciples, and for relieving the poor, and that the opportunity--the possession of the bag--had developed in him the hitherto latentfeeling of avarice. His sin consisted in appropriating to his own individual use some of the money which was given to him for the general good of Jesus and the disciples and the poor. That Judas was not an unblushing peculator, that he did not practise his thefts openly, but with the utmost secrecy, and with every outward appearance of upright dealing, is plain from the fact that the disciples do not seem to have suspected his motives on this occasion. They join with Judas in representing, that the value of the ointment might have been better spent in distributing to the poor, because they had not the slightest suspicion of his honesty. The fearful lesson, which the conduct of Judas teaches us, is the intimate relation which, in the nature of things, exists between appropriating to oneself the goods given to us in charge for Christ and His poor, and the betrayal of Christ Himself, between avarice and treason to Christ. The latter of these is the necessary consequence of the former, not the accidental but the moral consequence, not in Judas only, but in every man. Betrayal of Christ, in some form or other, follows the love of money as regularly and as certainly as night follows day. (F. H. Dunwell, B. A.)
Christ and utilitarianism
It is easy enough to give an ill name to that which lies beyond the range of our sense or our sympathies. Thus the refinement and culture which give a tone of ease and elegance to higher social circles are regarded by many with contempt. The rare and costly products of skilled labour, which our modern civilization demands, are despised as trivial luxuries. Education in whatever cannot be turned to account in a merchant’s office, or in passing an examination, is deemed superfluous, however much it may enlarge and ennoble the scholar’s mind. Even the moral delicacy of pure and sensitive natures is scorned as squeamishness. Men steeped in one class of religious ideas seem incapable of doing justice to those who hold other opinions. Mystical devotion sees profanity in thoughtful inquiry. The aesthetic ceremonial of a stately service is but mummery to those whose worship is of a simpler form. Of the purest, noblest, and most generous actions, which are veiled by their own grace, there is little comprehension by the world that toils and struggles all around for its daily bread. Its value in the market gave to the spikenard its only worth in the eyes of Judas. The manufacturer and retailer of it could be justified, for they made it only a means of gain; but not Mary, who poured it out like water in the mere gratification of sentiment. Yet surely if the dignity of human existence is recognized we may plead for a generous while just expenditure upon all that can sweeten and lend grace to life. Painting, sculpture, literature, architecture, have a rightful claim to be fostered. Foreign travel, social hospitality, instead of being forms of selfish indulgence, should enter into the education of whatever is best within us. Still more may we contend that the gifts of friendship, and the consecrated offerings of devotion, but fittingly express the reaching forth of the spirit after fuller and higher being. To value only what can be “sold” is to appreciate least what in nature and man is most glorious, and most capable of affording exquisite and perfect satisfaction. The gold and purple of the sunset, the flushing tenderness of the dawn, the rippling songs of birds, the full-voiced chorus of breaking billows, the pure air fresh with the fragrant breath of wild flowers, the rain pouring its living draught into every arid blade and leaf, are God’s free gifts to men. The innocent joy of childhood, the generous enthusiasm of youth, the strength of wisdom, the serenity of a holy trust in God--in what earthly market can these blessed things of the Spirit be bought or sold? With what coin can you purchase the tenderness of sympathy, the confidence of friendship, the devotion of love. The things that cannot be bartered, the price of which no merchant quotes, the value of which no figures can express, which no thief can steal, and no moth and rust corrupt, alone form the wealth of the soul. (J. R. S. Harrington.)
Utility not the highest test
The question cui bono, to what practical end and advantage do your researches tend? is one which the speculative philosopher, who loves knowledge for its own sake, can seldom hear without a sense of humiliation. He feels that there is a lofty and disinterested pleasure in his speculations which ought to exempt them from such questionings. The great minds of the past who thought and laboured for pure truth did not trammel themselves with the question of utility; yet many of the truths they discovered have, in after ages, found a use, and contributed even to man’s material progress. (Sir J. Herschell.)
Then said Jesus, let her alone.
Mary’s passionate love accepted
1. Christ often put aside enthusiasm. When men and women brought Him what looked like lovely flowers, He asked for sterner things. When the woman said, “Blessed is the womb that bare Thee”; when men brought Him a crown, and when the rich young man fell down and worshipped Him, He put their enthusiasm aside, chilled and damped. He would accept no sudden emotions and thoughtless impulses--flowers without roots soon to wither.
2. How different here. Who is to supply ice now? Judas the proper person. Jesus gathered this passion flower and put it forever into the garland of God--because
I. MARY HAD BEEN GROWING IN LOVE. At first what joy it was to her to sit at the Master’s feet; then when her brother came back, her joy and gratitude were overwhelming. She had good grounds for her love; and at last, with a fine impulse, she pours out her choicest gift at His feet. How many years had it been kept, too precious to be used!
II. MARY’S LOVE WAS HOLY. She had grown at His feet, and learned by His teaching. Now she could sit there no longer, she must render her tribute. To know what and how to give is one of the last achievements of good manners, one of the most delicate of tasks, and when successfully done, one of the most gracious of acts. It is also one of the greatest victories of the soul to properly receive a gift. Christ does not put by her gift. It is Judas who interferes now; and with his beggarly economics brings in the dirty scales of this world. “Let her alone,” said Christ, “she has done well.” Why? Because her whole soul was in it, and when the whole soul is in anything arithmetic has nought to do with it. When a little child offers its caresses to some cold-blooded woman, “There, there, there,” she says, “you have kissed me once, that’ll do.” So the little mouth is put back, and the little heart chilled. Yes: it will do for her, for a second kiss wasted on that icicle would freeze the heart from which it came.
III. MARY’S GIFT CAME LAST. She had been contemplative, had heard His word, sat at His feet, and last, not first, came the spikenard. Because this passion flower was rooted in the heart and conscience and intellect of the woman, Christ rebuked Judas. Of all things in the house, these are the saddest--greetings where no friendship is, honeyed words which everybody gets, the same welcome for every fool, everybody’s hand shaken alike. These things are hateful. But when the fair water lily, rising from the very bottom of the pool, deep rooted, slow climbing, at last reaches the light, and bursts forth into glory, Christ loves the flowers. Conclusion: What about the three hundred pence? The chances are that those who give to beggars do it without much heart interest; but to kiss those sacred feet, what were three hundred pounds! What has money to do here? Listen to the justification, “I am going to die: there will be no more chance for her. These are flowers thrown on My grave.” (G. Dawson, M. A.)
The recognition of a noble act
I. CHRIST’S MIND REGARDING HIS DEATH
1. He looked forward to it. It was never absent from His mind. Here it emerges in a scene, the last apparently that could have suggested it.
2. He looked forward to a life above it, and Mary’s act was grateful as revealing a love over which death had no power.
3. He had a pleasant view provided Him in regard to it. How cheered He must have been by this act with the cross imminent, and amid the murmuring and unbelief of His friends.
II. CHRIST’S MIND REGARDING OUR SERVICE.
1. The timeliness of service. A word spoken, an act done in season, how good it is I There is a time to speak and to be silent, to work and to be still. We need to pray for wisdom.
2. Christ’s recognition of our service. He knows what we do, and accepts the service, however trifling, because of the motive.
3. Christ’s defence of freedom in our service.
4. Christ’s loving construction to quicken our service. (J. Duthie.)
The poor always ye have with you
The claims of poverty
This word extorted by the rapacity of Judas teaches us that poverty has its claims upon us which we must not neglect. From our definition of “the poor” we exclude the systematic idler and professional beggar. The claims of the real poor are based on
I. THE POSSESSIONS OF A COMMON NATURE. “The rich and the poor the Lord is the Maker,” etc. A community of nature should
1. Awaken interest.
2. Stimulate sympathy.
II. THE RELATIONS OF HUMAN SOCIETY. St. Paul’s imagery of the body and the members (1 Corinthians 12:14-22) will illustrate this. The poor have their place in the social economy, and cannot be safely neglected.
III. THE RELATIONS OF CHRIST’S CHURCH
1. The Church is a body of which Christ is the Head.
2. The Church is indebted to the poor for some of the brightest testimonies to the power of Divine grace. It owes a debt in return.
IV. THE SANCTIONS OF HOLY WRIT. (Deuteronomy 15:11; Lev 23:22; 1 Samuel 2:7; Job 29:11-13; Psalms 41:1; Proverbs 14:31; Proverbs 17:5; Proverbs 20:2, Proverbs 21:31; Isaiah 25:4, Isaiah 58:7; Matthew 19:21, Matthew 25:36; James 2:14-16). The Bible is thus the poor man’s book. (Clerical World.)
The Church and the poor
When the deacon St. Lawrence was asked, in the Decian persecution, to show the Prefect the most precious treasures of the Church at Rome, he showed him the sick, the lame, the blind. “It is incredible,” said Lucian, the pagan jeerer and sceptic, “to see the ardour with which those Christians help each other in their wants. They spare nothing. Their first Legislator has put it into their heads that they are all brothers.” “These Galileans,” said Julian the Apostate, “nourish not only their own poor, but ours as well.” In the year 252 a plague raged in Carthage. The heathen threw out their dead and sick upon the streets, and ran away from them for fear of the contagion, and cursed the Christians.
St. Cyprian, on the contrary, assembled his congregation, told them to love those who cursed them; and the rich working with their money, the poor with their hands, never rested till the dead, were buried, the sick cared for, and the city saved from destruction. (Archdeacon Farrar.)
The poor represent Christ
A rich youth in Rome had suffered from a dangerous illness. On recovering his health his heart was filled with gratitude, and he exclaimed, “O Thou all-sufficient Creator I could man recompense Thee, how willingly would I give Thee all my possessions!” Hermas the herdsman heard this, and said to the rich youth, “All good gifts come from above; thither thou canst send nothing. Come, follow me.” He took him to a but where was nothing but misery and wretchedness. The father lay on a bed of sickness; the mother wept; the children were destitute of clothing and crying for bread. Hermas said, “See here an altar for the sacrifice; see here the Lord’s brethren and representatives.” The youth assisted them bountifully; and the poor people called him an angel of God. Hermas smiled, and said, “Thus turn always thy grateful countenance, first to heaven, and then to earth.” (J. Krummacher.)
A motive for care of the poor and depraved
A few miles above Montreal, the two great convergent rivers of British America, the St. Lawrence and the Ottawa, meet. The St. Lawrence is a pure stream, of a peculiar, light-blue colour: the Ottawa is dark, as if it were tinged by moss in its way. After their meeting the two rivers run side by side a few miles, each occupying its own half of one broad bed; but gradually the boundary line disappears, and all the waters are mingled in one vast homogeneous flood. Although the life of the inhabitants below depended on preserving the pure cerulean hue of the St. Lawrence, it could not possibly be preserved. All the might of man cannot prevent the Ottawa from tingeing the united waters with its own dark shads. Unless the darkness can be discharged from its springs, that great affluent will effectually dye the main river in all its lower reaches. Behold the picture of the process by which the neglected children of our unsaved brother, meeting our own at a lower point in time’s rolling current, will blot out the distinction which is now maintained. Behold the rod lifted up in our sight to prevent the neglect now, or punish it hereafter! The dark cellars in which ignorant, vicious, godless parents, now pen their hapless brood, are the springs which feed a mighty river. Our little ones rise in cleaner spots, and in the meantime a solid bank separates the streams. But that turbid river lies within the same basin, and by the laws of nature must converge towards the central channel of society. It is an affluent. We must accept the fact, for we cannot change it. We dread that dark stream which, at a little distance, is flowing parallel with our own. Over the embankments, now not very lofty, we hear sometimes the ominous gurgle of its rapid flow. There is only one way of subduing that terrible enemy. If we cower timidly in our own hiding place, the destruction which we thereby invite will quickly overtake us. In this warfare there is no armour for the back of the fugitive. Safety lies in facing the danger. The evil which in its issue is a deluge, may in its origin be success fully neutralized. Below you cannot keep the gathered volume out: above you may do muck to purify the rising spring. (W. Arnot, D. D.)
Me ye have not always
Christ absent and present
(For a Communion: text and Matthew 28:20):--Like many passages these seem in contradiction; but if we grasp their deeper meaning they harmonize. Christ has given us a memorial of Himself in the Lord’s Supper--a gem with two facets; on the one is written “Me ye have not always;” on the other, “Lo, I am with you alway.” They remind us that we have in Christ
I. ONE WHO IS HUMAN AND DIVINE.
1. “Me,” etc. There is something very human and touching in this farewell, which comes at first like a hint, and afterwards became more plain. And the absence of the personal Saviour from our Communion reminds us always of His death, and therefore of His true humanity. “Forasmuch as the children,” etc. Let not the thought of His Divinity take away from our view of Him a single fibre of His true humanity. In this memorial of His death, “Behold the sign.”
2. But “Lo,” etc., reminds us that we have a Saviour who is Divine. So in the memory of His death we must realize His Divinity. The promise is not completed in the continuance of His words, example, influence, death, memorials going down from age to age. It is the promise of a presence which implies an omnipresence: so that at every Communion He is Divinely repeating the words, “This is My body.” And if here, then everywhere--to protect, guide, comfort to the end.
II. ONE WHOSE DEATH AS OUR SAVIOUR IS ALL-IMPORTANT AND NOT LESS HIS LIFE.
1. His death is the first truth which meets us in the Supper, “Me,” etc. He instituted it that His death might be kept in memory, and the manner of it--broken body and shed blood--the memorials twice put into our handsthat by two witnesses every word might be established. It is impossible to account for this without believing that His death was of supreme importance. Nor can we read the Bible without seeing this. The Old Testament points forward, and the Apostles point back to this. The Incarnation may serve other ends, but the first end to us is that Christ was “made lower than the angels for the suffering of death,” etc.
2. But the other word must be spoken by one who is to be a complete Saviour. The Resurrection is connected with the death as the seal and assurance of its success. We have a monument of each--the Lord’s table and the Lord’s day, “Who was delivered for our offences,” etc.
III. ONE WHO PRESIDES OVER THE WORLD WHERE WE ARE GOING AND OVER THE WORLD IN WHICH WE NOW ARE. “It is expedient for you,” etc. Christ goes up before, that He may lead the way and say, Come; but He comes to guide and guard on the journey to the place He has gone to prepare. If we had a Saviour only in heaven, we might doubt if ever we should reach heaven. So we have Him there in the noonday, here in the twilight; there amid the palms of victory, here in the heat of battle. “For to this end Christ both died and rose,” etc. (J. Ker, D. D.)