And again He entered into Capernaum.
The general ministry of Christ
Christ’s apparent delays are only the maturings of time-the ripenings of opportunity. He will come, not when impatient men think best, but when His wisdom determines: neither too soon nor too late.
I. Where Christ is desired Christ comes. He visits with equal readiness every willing heart. In penitent and submissive natures He finds His favourite haunts.
II. Christ’s presence in the house cannot be concealed. Holy influences emanate from Him, freely as light from the sun.
III. Christ binds together all classes.
IV. Human limits are too narrow for Christ’s kingdom. God’s plans are expansive; let us beware of trying to contract them. We must enlarge our ideas, until they are commensurate with God’s truth; we must enlarge our sympathies until they embrace every human need.
V. Christ improves every occasion. Whatever is needed, He is ready to supply. Each individual in that crowd had some special want, but not one was making special application. But Christ could not be idle. His business was to minister. If they did not want a word of healing, they all wanted a word of instruction. (D. Davies, M. A.)
It was noised that He was in the house
I. Houses where Christ will dwell.
1. The human heart.
2. The Christian family.
3. A spiritual Church.
II. The chief glory of a Christian Church-not the building, nor the form of service, nor the social position of its members, nor the eloquence of the preacher, nor its past history-but the Christ who dwells within it.
III. The self-manifesting nature of true religion. If Christ be within the heart, the family, or the Church-the fact will be known abroad. Though the rose is not seen its fragrance is perceived. Its glitter betrays the presence of gold. Clouds cannot conceal the sun, for the daylight declares its ascendency.
IV. The chief drawing power of Christianity. If we would draw the multitude we must do it, not so much by eccentricities-advertisements, as by obtaining the presence of Jesus Christ. He will draw all men unto Him. Christ within will attract the multitude without. (L. Palmer.)
The king and his Court
Where the king is there is his Court. (Anon.)
A happy town
Happy town in such an inhabitant, and in this respect lifted up to heaven. Indeed, in this, heaven came down to Capernaum. (Trapp.)
Shiloh
Where Shiloh is there shall the gathering of the people be. (M. Henry.)
Christ in the house
I. When Christ may be said to be in the house.
1. When the Bible is there.
2. When a good man enters it and carries with him the savour of Christ.
3. When He dwells in the heart of anyone in the family-parent, child, servant, etc.
4. Into whatever house a Christian family enters, Christ enters with it, etc.
II. Some of the advantages of having Christ in the house.
1. If it be noised that Christ is in the house, good men will be drawn to it and bad men will keep away.
2. There will be a witness for God there.
3. There is a direct communication between it and the house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.
4. That house is under the peculiar protection of Divine Providence.
5. The sympathies of good men are drawn towards it. Conclusion: We should seek Christ on our own account; and we should seek Him on account of others. (G. Rogers.)
Jesus in the house: piety at home
How many are longing for grand spheres in which to serve God. They admire heroic men and women who have been bold for the truth, and wish they had some daring opportunity in which to exhibit Christian heroism and endurance. St. Paul says to such persons (1 Timothy 5:4), “I will tell you of a place where you can show forth all that is beautiful and glorious in the Christian character, and that place is the domestic circle; ““Let them first learn to show piety at home.” Indeed, if a man does not serve God on a small scale, he never will serve Him on a large one. (J. N. Natron.)
How Christ enters the house
Christ Jesus gains admission to the house in various ways. Sometimes it is through the sweet influence of a little child, who has heard of Him in the Sunday school. Sometimes Jesus finds His way into the house through the agency of a good book or a tract. Sometimes He leaves the fragrance of His example behind Him, after the visit of a friend. Jesus may only be present in the house in the person of the humblest servant, and yet the influence of that servant will be felt. (J. N. Natron.)
Family worship
Bishop Coxe, in the preface to his “Covenant Prayer,” gives this interesting narrative. “A few years ago I visited an old feudal castle in England. One of its towers dates from King John’s time; its outer walls bear marks of siege and damage from the guns of Cromwell. The young owner, lately married, was beginning his housekeeping aright, and when I came down into the old hall to breakfast, his servants were all assembled for prayers with the family. Though I was asked to officiate, I reminded my kind host that every man is a priest in his own household, and I begged him to officiate as he was used to do. So he read prayers and Holy Scripture, with due solemnity, and we all kneeled down. Happening to lift my eyes, I observed over his head, upon a massive oaken beam that spanned the hall, an inscription in old English:
“‘That house shall be preserved, and never shall decay,
Where the Almighty God is worshipped, day by day. A.D. 1558.’”
(J. N. Natron.)
Piety in the house proved by virtue in the children
If I am told in general terms of a mother, that she has gone to the studio of a photographic artist to obtain a portrait of herself, and if the question afterwards arise, did she sit alone, or did she group the children round her feet, and hold the infant on her knee? I do not know, for I was not there; but show me the glass which the artist has just taken out from a vessel of liquid in a dark room, and is holding up to the light. What figures are those that are gradually forming upon its surface? In that glass rises the outline of that maternal form; and the forms of the children come gradually in, variously grouped around her. Ah! I know now that this mother sat not alone when the sun in the heavens painted her picture in that glass. The character and condition of children, through all their after life, tell plainly who were closest to her heart, and whose names were oftenest on her lips, when the mother held communion with Jesus in the house. (Arnot.)
Christly influence in the home
Travelling on the Lake Lugano, one morning, we heard the swell of the song of the nightingale, and the oars were stilled on the blue lake as we listened to the silver sounds. We could not see a single bird, nor do I know that we wished to see-we were so content with the sweetness of the music: even so it is with our Lord; we may enter a house where He is loved, and we may hear nothing concerning Christ, and yet we may perceive clearly enough that He is there, a holy influence streaming through their actions pervades the household; so that if Jesus be unseen, it is clear that He is not unknown. Go anywhere where Jesus is, and though you do not actually hear His name, yet the sweet influence which flows from His love will be plainly enough discernible. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Christ in the house
I. That Christ in the house is an attraction-“Many were gathered together.”
II. That Christ in the house is an instruction-“He preached the word unto them.”
III. That Christ in the house is a benediction.
1. A benediction of healing.
2. A benediction of pardon.
1. That Christ is willing to dwell in the homes of men.
2. That when Christ dwells in the home it is visible to the world that He does so.
3. That the home life should be a perpetual but silent sermon. (J. S. Exell, M. A.)