Henceforth I will not talk much with you
Christ as a conversationalist
I. CHRIST’S GREATEST WORK WAS DONE BY CONVERSATION.
1. In the four Gospels there are but five discourses properly so called--that in the synagogue at Nazareth, that upon the Mount, that on the Bread of Life in the synagogue at Capernaum, that on the seashore, when He practically traced the future of His kingdom, and that at Jerusalem respecting His second coming. All the rest is conversation, sometimes drifting into monologue. It is significant that the two greatest teachers--Christ and Socrates--taught chiefly in this way.
2. Here is an open door for you all! You cannot write books or preach; but there is no better way into a human heart than by conversation. I write my article and send it to the newspaper. I know not who looks upon it. I stand here and talk, and look into your faces. Some of them answer me back. This is better work than that of the pen. But the best of all is conversation when you open your soul to me, and I open mine to you. In this lies the largest part of our influence. What might we not do with it!
II. Notice, as a characteristic of every good conversationalist, and preeminently of Christ, His QUICK AND CATHOLIC SYMPATHIES.
1. We open this Gospel and find Him talking on the same plane with a Jewish rabbi. We turn the page and behold Him condescending to the level of the depraved Samaritan. Further on we see Him in conversation with His enemies; and, lastly, here with His disciples--in every case alike in sympathy, in touch--what we call tact. What is tact? The touch of one soul with another. I can talk music a little with the musician, for I am fond of music; less of art with the artist, for I know less; about theology with the theologian if he is not too far removed from me theologically; but if I cannot talk with the car conductor, the day labourer, it is because my sympathies are narrow.
2. Christ’s sympathies were as quick as they were catholic. His soul was receptive as well as distributive. The musician plays on the keys of the organ. They are inert, and answer to his touch. But when the speaker plays on a human soul, he must be keys as well as fingers--he must respond as well as move. There is no flash of thought, question of perplexity, or sorrow anywhere that Christ does not instantly meet.
III. Because He had this quick and catholic sympathy HE DREW MEN OUT. He made them express themselves; oftentimes against their will--evoked their doubts, sins, difficulties. Witness His treatment of Philip, Thomas, and Jude in this conversation. This is rare power: worth more than eloquence or poetry. He knew what was in man; and more than once He saw them doubting among themselves, and phrased His answer to their doubting.
IV. HE HAD THE GIFT OF TURNING EVERYTHING TO ACCOUNT. He asks for a drink of water, and this suggests the water of life; He fed a multitude with bread, and then talked naturally about the bread of life. A friend of mine, on entering a train, asked the brakeman, “When shall we get to Albany?” “I do not know,” surlily replied the man, “there is nothing certain on a train.” “Nothing but death,” said my friend. “Well, that is so.” “Yes, and therefore we ought to be ready for it.” “That is a fact,” said the brakeman. If my friend had gone out of his way to preach he would not have got an answer.
V. CONVERSATION WITH CHRIST WAS ALWAYS THE INSTRUMENT OF DIVINE MINISTRY. Christ never declined an invitation; but wherever He went, He carried His message of love and goodness, and turned the least incidents into moral lessons, He was always master of the conversation. He was not carried by its drift, wherever it might go, but, like a skilful pilot with his hand on the helm, guided it in what direction He would have it go. (Lyman Abbott, D. D.)
We must prize our opportunities
Make we the best of our Christian friends while we have them: as we would do of a borrowed book or tool that we knew not how soon may be sent for by the right owner. (J. Trapp.)
Interruption
Christ thus closed the conversation to intimate to His disciples
I. THE VALUE OF WHAT HE HAD SPOON IN THE PAST.
1. As their rule of life. “If ye love Me, keep My commandments.”
2. As teaching them to draw instruction from every source.
3. As being the means of life.
II. THE NEED OF CONCENTRATION IN AN APPROACHING CONFLICT. a time of peace was followed by a time of trial. Christ was ready for it, and concentrated every faculty for a final struggle with the devil, who was worsted by Him in the wilderness, and left Him then for a season.
II. THAT THE CONSCIOUSNESS OF FREEDOM FROM THE CONDEMNATION OF SIN GIVES THE GREATEST POWER TO WITHSTAND THE ASSAULTS OF SATAN. There was no ledge in Christ on which the devil could stand, nothing at which he could clutch. Our weaknesses Satan knows too well. He has something in us. But we may rejoice in freedom from condemnation. Doubt as to this is what Satan loves to take hold of; and it is frequently a sincere Christian’s weakest point
IV. THAT HE HAS RESOLVED TO MAINTAIN PURITY. “Shall have.” Christ had no doubt about the issue: nor need there be any in those whom Christ upholds. “Resist the devil and he will flee from you.” Against the Church the gates of hell shall not prevail.
V. THAT THE DISCIPLES MIGHT LEARN MORE FROM SEEING THAN HEARING. It is not what a man says, but what he does, that influences others. Christ has said: “Whosoever taketh not up his cross,” etc. Did He shrink from taking it up Himself? Christ ceases to talk, and allows His life to speak.
VI. CHRIST’S SORROW THAT HIS INTERCOURSE WITH HIS DISCIPLES HAD TO BE INTERRUPTED. All are subject to all sorts of interruptions here. We must be prepared for breaks in life, gaps in the family, vacant chairs. Still we may, with Christ, take up the joyful life. Death possesses nothing permanent in us. (Homiletic Magazine.)
The prince of this world cometh and hath nothing in Me
The coming struggle
I. THE ENEMY--the prince of this world.
1. Of large dominions (Matthew 4:8).
2. Of many subjects (Ephesians 2:2).
3. Of great power (Ephesians 2:2; Ephesians 6:12).
4. Of subtle craft (Genesis 3:1; Revelation 12:9).
5. Of evil mind (1 John 2:13; 1 John 3:8; 1Jn 8:44; Revelation 12:10).
II. THE ONSET. The prince of this world cometh.
1. Its proximity. Judas was at hand, and in him Satan was drawing near.
2. Its violence. Quite an army had the devil put in force against the Saviour.
3. Its aim. It was directed against heaven’s purpose of redemption. It was meant by destroying Christ to confound the counsel of salvation.
4. Its skill. The campaign had on Satan’s side been planned with ingenuity. Judas, an apostle, had been persuaded to become a traitor. The ecclesiastical authorities had been turned against God’s Son. The Roman power had been secured to lend assistance in affecting His arrest. All signs augured well for the success of his infernal scheme.
III. THE DEFEAT. The prince of this world hath nothing in Me.
1. The seeming victory. Outwardly, Satan was to triumph. Yet it was not to be because of any power which Satan possessed; but to be of Christ’s free will (John 10:18).
2. The actual overthrow (Hebrews 2:14; Colossians 2:15).
Learn
1. That Christ is wiser than Satan.
2. That as He conquered so shall His people. (T. Whitelaw, D. D.)