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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/27349-8.txt b/27349-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..2b22570 --- /dev/null +++ b/27349-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,5302 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Personal Friendships of Jesus, by J. R. Miller + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Personal Friendships of Jesus + +Author: J. R. Miller + +Release Date: November 28, 2008 [EBook #27349] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PERSONAL FRIENDSHIPS OF JESUS *** + + + + +Produced by Al Haines + + + + + + + + + + +Personal Friendships + +of Jesus + + +BY + +J. R. MILLER, D. D. + + + + AUTHOR OF "SILENT TIMES," "MAKING THE MOST OF LIFE," + "THINGS TO LIVE FOR," "BLESSING OF CHEERFULNESS," ETC. + + + + One friend in that path shall be, + To secure my steps from wrong; + One to count night day for me, + Patient through the watches long, + Serving most with none to see. + BROWNING. + + + +New York + +THOMAS Y. CROWELL & CO. + +PUBLISHERS + + + + +COPYRIGHT, 1897, + +BY THOMAS Y. CROWELL & COMPANY. + +EIGHTH THOUSAND + + + + +PREFACE. + +George MacDonald said in an address, "The longer I live, the more I am +assured that the business of life is to understand the Lord Christ." +If this be true, whatever sheds even a little light on the character or +life of Christ is worth while. + +Nothing reveals a man's heart better than his friendships. The kind of +friend he is, tells the kind of man he is. The personal friendships of +Jesus reveal many tender and beautiful things in his character. They +show us also what is possible for us in divine friendship; for the +heart of Jesus is the same yesterday, and to-day, and forever. + +These chapters are only suggestive, not exhaustive. If they make the +way into close personal friendship with Jesus any plainer for those who +hunger for such blessed intimacy, that will be reward enough. + +J. R. M. + +PHILADELPHIA. + + + + +CONTENTS. + +CHAPTER + + I. THE HUMANHEARTEDNESS OF JESUS + II. JESUS AND HIS MOTHER + III. JESUS AND HIS FORERUNNER + IV. JESUS' CONDITIONS OF FRIENDSHIP + V. JESUS CHOOSING HIS FRIENDS + VI. JESUS AND THE BELOVED DISCIPLE + VII. JESUS AND PETER + VIII. JESUS AND THOMAS + IX. JESUS' UNREQUITED FRIENDSHIPS + X. JESUS AND THE BETHANY SISTERS + XI. JESUS COMFORTING HIS FRIENDS + XII. JESUS AND HIS SECRET FRIENDS + XIII. JESUS' FAREWELL TO HIS FRIENDS + XIV. JESUS' FRIENDSHIPS AFTER HE AROSE + XV. JESUS AS A FRIEND + + + + + All I could never be, + All men ignored in me, + This I was worth to God. + BROWNING. + + + But lead me, Man divine, + Where'er Thou will'st, only that I may find + At the long journey's end Thy image there, + And grow more like to it. For art not Thou + The human shadow of the infinite Love + That made and fills the endless universe? + The very Word of Him, the unseen, unknown, + Eternal Good that rules the summer flower + And all the worlds that people starry space. + RICHARD WATSON GILDER. + + + + +THE FRIENDSHIPS OF JESUS. + + +CHAPTER I. + +THE HUMANHEARTEDNESS OF JESUS. + + O God, O kinsman loved, but not enough, + O man with eyes majestic after death, + Whose feet have toiled along our pathways rough, + Whose lips drawn human breath; + + By that one likeness which is ours and thine, + By that one nature which doth hold us kin, + By that high heaven where sinless thou dost shine, + To draw us sinners in; + + By thy last silence in the judgment hall, + By long foreknowledge of the deadly tree, + By darkness, by the wormwood and the gall, + I pray thee visit me. + JEAN INGELOW. + + +There is a natural tendency to think of Jesus as different from other +men in the human element of his personality. Our adoration of him as +our divine Lord makes it seem almost sacrilege to place his humanity in +the ordinary rank with that of other men. It seems to us that life +could not have meant the same to him that it means to us. It is +difficult for us to conceive of him as learning in childhood as other +children have to learn. We find ourselves fancying that he must always +have known how to read and write and speak. We think of the +experiences of his youth and young manhood as altogether unlike those +of any other boy or young man in the village where he grew up. This +same feeling leads us to think of his temptation as so different from +what temptation is to other men as to be really no temptation at all. + +So we are apt to think of all the human life of Jesus as being in some +way lifted up out of the rank of ordinary experiences. We do not +conceive of him as having the same struggles that we have in meeting +trial, in enduring injury and wrong, in learning obedience, patience, +meekness, submission, trust, and cheerfulness. We conceive of his +friendships as somehow different from other men's. We feel that in +some mysterious way his human life was supported and sustained by the +deity that dwelt in him, and that he was exempt from all ordinary +limiting conditions of humanity. + +There is no doubt that with many people this feeling of reverence has +been in the way of the truest understanding of Jesus, and ofttimes +those who have clung most devoutly to a belief in his deity have missed +much of the comfort which comes from a proper comprehension of his +humanity. + +Yet the story of Jesus as told in the Gospels furnishes no ground for +any confusion on the subject of his human life. It represents him as +subject to all ordinary human conditions excepting sin. He began life +as every infant begins, in feebleness and ignorance; and there is no +hint of any precocious development. He learned as every child must +learn. The lessons were not gotten easily or without diligent study. +He played as other boys did, and with them. The more we think of the +youth of Jesus as in no marked way unlike that of those among whom he +lived, the truer will our thought of him be. + +Millais the great artist, when he was a young man, painted an unusual +picture of Jesus. He represented him as a little boy in the home at +Nazareth. He has cut his finger on some carpenter's tool, and comes to +his mother to have it bound up. The picture is really one of the +truest of all the many pictures of Jesus, because it depicts just such +a scene as ofttimes may have been witnessed in his youth. Evidently +there was nothing in his life in Nazareth that drew the attention of +his companions and neighbors to him in any striking way. We know that +he wrought no miracles until after he had entered upon his public +ministry. We can think of him as living a life of unselfishness and +kindness. There was never any sin or fault in him; he always kept the +law of God perfectly. But his perfection was not something startling. +There was no halo about his head, no transfiguration, that awed men. +We are told that he grew in favor with men as well as with God. His +religion made his life beautiful and winning, but always so simple and +natural that it drew no unusual attention to itself. It was richly and +ideally human. + +So it was unto the end. Through the years of his public ministry, when +his words and works burned with divine revealing, he continued to live +an altogether natural human life. He ate and drank; he grew weary and +faint; he was tempted in all points like as we are, and suffered, being +tempted. He learned obedience by the things that he endured. He +hungered and thirsted, never ministering with his divine power to any +of his own needs. "In all things it behooved him to be made like unto +his brethren." + +In nothing else is this truth more clearly shown than in the +humanheartedness which was so striking a feature of the life of Jesus +among men. When we think of him as the Son of God, the question +arises, Did he really care for personal friendships with men and women +of the human family? In the home from which he came he had dwelt from +all eternity in the bosom of the Father, and had enjoyed the +companionship of the highest angels. What could he find in this world +of imperfect, sinful beings to meet the cravings of his heart for +fellowship? Whom could he find among earth's sinful creatures worthy +of his friendship, or capable of being in any real sense his personal +friend? What satisfaction could his heart find in this world's deepest +and holiest love? What light can a dim candle give to the sun? Does +the great ocean need the little dewdrop that hides in the bosom of the +rose? What blessing or inspiration of love can any poor, marred, +stained life give to the soul of the Christ? + +Yet the Gospels abound with evidences that Jesus did crave human love, +that he found sweet comfort in the friendships which he made, and that +much of his keenest suffering was caused by failures in the love of +those who ought to have been true to him as his friends. He craved +affection, and even among the weak and faulty men and women about him +made many very sacred attachments from which he drew strength and +comfort. + +We must distinguish between Christ's love for all men and his +friendship for particular individuals. He was in the world to reveal +the Father, and all the divine compassion for sinners was in his heart. +It was this mighty love that brought him to earth on the mission of +redemption. It was this that impelled and constrained him in all his +seeking of the lost. He had come to be the Saviour of all who would +believe and follow him. Therefore he was interested in every merest +fragment or shred of life. No human soul was so debased that he did +not love it. + +But besides this universal divine love revealed in the heart of Jesus, +he had his personal human friendships. A philanthropist may give his +whole life to the good of his fellow-men, to their uplifting, their +advancement, their education; to the liberation of the enslaved; to +work among and in behalf of the poor, the sick, or the fallen. All +suffering humanity has its interest for him, and makes appeal to his +compassion. Yet amid the world of those whom he thus loves and wishes +to help, this man will have his personal friends; and through the story +of his life will run the golden threads of sweet companionships and +friendships whose benedictions and inspirations will be secrets of +strength, cheer, and help to him in all his toil in behalf of others. + +Jesus gave all his rich and blessed life to the service of love. Power +was ever going out from him to heal, to comfort, to cheer, to save. He +was continually emptying out from the full fountain of his own heart +cupfuls of rich life to reinvigorate other lives in their faintness and +exhaustion. One of the sources of his own renewing and replenishing +was in the friendships he had among men and women. What friends are to +us in our human hunger and need, the friends of Jesus were to him. He +craved companionship, and was sorely hurt when men shut their doors in +his face. + +There are few more pathetic words in the New Testament than that short +sentence which tells of his rejection, "He came unto his own, and his +own received him not." Another pathetic word is that which describes +the neglect of those who ought to have been ever eager to show him +hospitality: "The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have +nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head." Even the +beasts of the field and the birds of the heaven had warmer welcome in +this world than he in whose heart was the most gentle love that earth +ever knew. + +Another word which reveals the deep hunger of the heart of Jesus for +friendship and companionship was spoken in view of the hour when even +his own apostles would leave him: "Behold, the hour cometh, yea, is now +come, that ye shall be scattered, every man to his own, and shall leave +me alone." The experience of the garden of Gethsemane also shows in a +wonderful way the Lord's craving for sympathy. In his great sorrow he +wished to have his best friends near him, that he might lean on them, +and draw from their love a little strength for his hour of bitter need. +It was an added element in the sorrow of that night that he failed to +get the help from human sympathy which he yearned for and expected. +When he came back each time after his supplication, he found his +apostles sleeping. + +These are some of the glimpses which we get in the Gospel story of the +longing heart of Jesus. He loved deeply, and sought to be loved. He +was disappointed when he failed to find affection. He welcomed love +wherever it came to him,--the love of the poor, the gratitude of those +whom he had helped, the trusting affection of little children. We can +never know how much the friendship of the beloved disciple was to +Jesus. What a shelter and comfort the Bethany home was to him, and how +his strength was renewed by its sweet fellowship! How even the +smallest kindnesses were a solace to his heart! How he was comforted +by the affection and the ministries of the women-friends who followed +him! + +In the chapters of this book which follow, the attempt is made to tell +the story of some of the friendships of Jesus, gathering up the threads +from the Gospel pages. Sometimes the material is abundant, as in the +case of Peter and John; sometimes we have only a glimpse or two in the +record, albeit enough to reveal a warm and tender friendship, as in the +case of the Bethany sisters, and of Andrew, and of Joseph. It may do +us good to study these friendship stories. It will at least show us +the humanheartedness of Jesus, and his method in blessing and saving +the world. The central fact in every true Christian life is a personal +friendship with Jesus. Men were called to follow him, to leave all and +cleave to him, to believe on him, to trust him, to love him, to obey +him; and the result was the transformation of their lives into his own +beauty. That which alone makes one a Christian is being a friend of +Jesus. Friendship transforms--all human friendship transforms. We +become like those with whom we live in close, intimate relations. Life +flows into life, heart and heart are knit together, spirits blend, and +the two friends become one. + +We have but little to give to Christ; yet it is a comfort to know that +our friendship really is precious to him, and adds to his joy, poor and +meagre though its best may be--but he has infinite blessings to give to +us. "I call you friends." No other gift he gives to us can equal in +value the love and friendship of his heart. When Cyrus gave Artabazus, +one of his courtiers, a gold cup, he gave Chrysanthus, his favorite, +only a kiss. And Artabazus said to Cyrus, "The cup you gave me was not +so good gold as the kiss you gave Chrysanthus." No good man's money is +ever worth so much as his love. Certainly the greatest honor of this +earth, greater than rank or station or wealth, is the friendship of +Jesus Christ. And this honor is within the reach of every one. +"Henceforth I call you not servants ... I have called you friends." +"Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you." + +The stories of the friendships of Jesus when he was on the earth need +cause no one to sigh, "I wish that I had lived in those days, when +Jesus lived among men, that I might have been his friend too, feeling +the warmth of his love, my life enriched by contact with his, and my +spirit quickened by his love and grace!" The friendships of Jesus, +whose stories we read in the New Testament, are only patterns of +friendships into which we may enter, if we are ready to accept what he +offers, and to consecrate our life to faithfulness and love. + +The friendship of Jesus includes all other blessings for time and for +eternity. "All things are yours, and ye are Christ's." His friendship +sanctifies all pure human bonds--no friendship is complete which is not +woven of a threefold cord. If Christ is our friend, all life is made +rich and beautiful to us. The past, with all of sacred loss it holds, +lives before us in him. The future is a garden-spot in which all +life's sweet hopes, that seem to have perished on the earth, will be +found growing for us. + + + "Fields of the past to thee shall be no more + The burialground of friendships once in bloom, + But the seed-plots of a harvest on before, + And prophecies of life with larger room + For things that are behind. + + Live thou in Christ, and thy dead past shall be + Alive forever with eternal day; + And planted on his bosom thou shall see + The flowers revived that withered on the way + Amid the things behind." + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +JESUS AND HIS MOTHER. + + Sleep, sleep, mine Holy One! + My flesh, my Lord!--what name? I do not know + A name that seemeth not too high or low, + Too far from me or heaven. + My Jesus, _that_ is best! + * * * + Sleep, sleep, my saving One. + MRS. BROWNING. + + +The first friend a child has in this world is its mother. It comes +here an utter stranger, knowing no one; but it finds love waiting for +it. Instantly the little stranger has a friend, a bosom to nestle in, +an arm to encircle it, a hand to minister to its helplessness. Love is +born with the child. The mother presses it to her breast, and at once +her heart's tendrils twine about it. + +It is a good while before the child becomes conscious of the wondrous +love that is bending over it, yet all the time the love is growing in +depth and tenderness. In a thousand ways, by a thousand delicate arts, +the mother seeks to waken in her child a response to her own yearning +love. At length the first gleams of answering affection appear--the +child has begun to love. From that hour the holy friendship grows. +The two lives become knit in one. + +When God would give the world a great man, a man of rare spirit and +transcendent power, a man with a lofty mission, he first prepares a +woman to be his mother. Whenever in history we come upon such a man, +we instinctively begin to ask about the character of her on whose bosom +he nestled in infancy, and at whose knee he learned his life's first +lessons. We are sure of finding here the secret of the man's +greatness. When the time drew nigh for the incarnation of the Son of +God, we may be sure that into the soul of the woman who should be his +mother, who should impart her own life to him, who should teach him his +first lessons, and prepare him for his holy mission, God put the +loveliest and the best qualities that ever were lodged in any woman's +life. We need not accept the teaching that exalts the mother of Jesus +to a place beside or above her divine Son. We need have no sympathy +whatever with the dogma that ascribes worship to the Virgin Mary, and +teaches that the Son on his throne must be approached by mortals +through his more merciful, more gentle-hearted mother. But we need not +let these errors concerning Mary obscure the real blessedness of her +character. We remember the angel's greeting, "Blessed art thou among +women." Hers surely was the highest honor ever conferred upon any +woman. + + "Say of me as the Heavenly said, 'Thou art + The blessedest of women!'--blessedest, + Not holiest, not noblest,--no high name, + Whose height misplaced may pierce me like a shame, + When I sit meek in heaven!" + + +We know how other men, men of genius, rarely ever have failed to give +to their mothers the honor of whatever of greatness or worth they had +attained. But somehow we shrink from saying that Jesus was influenced +by his mother as other good men have been; that he got from her much of +the beauty and the power of his life. We are apt to fancy that his +mother was not to him what mothers ordinarily are to their children; +that he did not need mothering as other children do; that by reason of +the Deity indwelling, his character unfolded from within, without the +aid of home teaching and training, and the other educational influences +which do so much in shaping the character of children in common homes. + +But there is no Scriptural ground for this feeling. The humanity of +Jesus was just like our humanity. He came into the world just as +feeble and as untaught as any other child that ever was born. No +mother was ever more to her infant than Mary was to Jesus. She taught +him all his first lessons. She gave him his first thoughts about God, +and from her lips he learned the first lispings of prayer. Jewish +mothers cared very tenderly for their children. They taught them with +unwearying patience the words of God. One of the rabbis said, "God +could not be everywhere, and therefore he made mothers." This saying +shows how sacred was the Jewish thought of the mother's work for her +child. + +Every true mother feels a sense of awe in her soul when she bends over +her own infant child; but in the case of Mary we may be sure that the +awe was unusual, because of the mystery of the child's birth. In the +annunciation the angel had said to her, "That which is to be born shall +be called holy, the Son of God." Then the night of her child's birth +there was a wondrous vision of angels, and the shepherds who beheld it +hastened into the town; and as they looked upon the baby in the manger, +they told the wondering mother what they had seen and heard. We are +told that Mary kept all these things, pondering them in her heart. +While she could not understand what all this meant, she knew at least +that hers was no common child; that in some wonderful sense he was the +Son of God. + +This consciousness must have given to her motherhood an unusual +thoughtfulness and seriousness. How close to God she must have lived! +How deep and tender her love must have been! How pure and clean her +heart must have been kept! How sweet and patient she must have been as +she moved about at her tasks, in order that no harsh or bitter thought +or feeling might ever cast a shadow upon the holy life which had been +intrusted to her for training and moulding. + +Only a few times is the veil lifted to give us a glimpse of mother and +child. On the fortieth day he was taken to the temple, and given to +God. Then it was that another reminder of the glory of this child was +given to the mother. An old man, Simeon, took the infant in his arms, +and spoke of him as God's salvation. As he gave the parents his +parting blessing he lifted the veil, and showed them a glimmering of +the future. "This child is set for the fall and rising again of many +in Israel; and for a sign which shall be spoken against." Then to the +mother he said solemnly, "Yea, a sword shall pierce through thine own +soul also." This was a foretelling of the sorrow which should come to +the heart of Mary, and which came again and again, until at last she +saw her son on a cross. The shadow of the cross rested on Mary's soul +all the years. Every time she rocked her baby to sleep, and laid him +down softly, covering his face with kisses, there would come into her +heart a pang as she remembered Simeon's words. Perhaps, too, words +from the old prophets would come into her mind,--"He is despised and +rejected of men; a man of sorrows;" "He was bruised for our +iniquities,"--and the tears would come welling into her eyes. Every +time she saw her child at play, full of gladness, all unconscious of +any sorrow awaiting him, a nameless fear would steal over her as she +remembered the ominous words which had fallen upon her ear, and which +she could not forget. + +Soon after the presentation in the temple came the visit of the magi. +Again the mother must have wondered as she heard these strangers from +the East speak of her infant boy as the "King of the Jews," and saw +them falling down before him in reverent worship, and then laying their +offerings at his feet. Immediately following this came the flight into +Egypt. How the mother must have pressed her child to her bosom as she +fled with him to escape the cruel danger! By and by they returned, and +from that time Nazareth was their home. + +Only once in the thirty years do we have a glimpse of mother and child. +It was when Jesus went to his first Passover. When the time came for +returning home the child tarried behind. After a painful search the +mother found him in one of the porches of the temple, sitting with the +rabbis, an eager learner. There is a tone of reproach in her words, +"Son, why hast thou thus dealt with us? behold, thy father and I have +sought thee sorrowing." She was sorely perplexed. All the years +before this her son had implicitly obeyed her. He had never resisted +her will, never withdrawn from her guidance. Now he had done something +without asking her about it--as it were, had taken his life into his +own hand. It was a critical point in the friendship of this mother and +her child. It is a critical moment in the friendship of any mother and +her child when the child begins to think and act for himself, to do +things without the mother's guidance. + +The answer of Jesus is instructive: "I must be about my Father's +business." There was another besides his mother to whom he owed +allegiance. He was the Son of God as well as the son of Mary. Parents +should remember this always in dealing with their children,--their +children are more God's than theirs. + +It is interesting to notice what follows that remarkable experience of +mother and child in the temple. Jesus returned with his mother to the +lowly Nazareth home, and was subject to her. In recognizing his +relation to God as his heavenly Father, he did not become any less the +child of his earthly mother. He loved his mother no less because he +loved God more. Obedience to the Father in heaven did not lead him to +reject the rule of earthly parenthood. He went back to the quiet home, +and for eighteen years longer found his Father's business in the common +round of lowly tasks which made up the daily life of such a home. + +It would be intensely interesting to read the story of mother and son +during those years, but it has not been written for us. They must have +been years of wondrous beauty. Few things in this world are more +beautiful than such friendships as one sometimes sees between mother +and son. The boy is more the lover than the child. The two enter into +the closest companionship. A sacred and inviolable intimacy is formed +between them. The boy opens all his heart to his mother, telling her +everything; and she, happy woman, knows how to be a boy's mother and to +keep a mother's place without ever startling or checking the shy +confidences, or causing him to desire to hide anything from her. The +boy whispers his inmost thoughts to his mother, and listens to her wise +and gentle counsels with loving eagerness and childish faith-- + + "Her face his holy skies; + The air he breathes his mother's breath, + His stars his mother's eyes." + + +Not always are mother and boy such friends. Some mothers do not think +it worth while to give the time and thought necessary to enter into a +boy's life in such confidential way. But we may be sure that between +the mother of Jesus and her son the most tender and intimate friendship +existed. He opened his soul to her; and she gave him not a mother's +love only, but also a mother's wise counsel and strong, inspiring +sympathy. + +It is almost certain that sorrow entered the Nazareth home soon after +the visit to Jerusalem. Joseph is not mentioned again; and it is +supposed that he died, leaving Mary a widow. On Jesus, as the eldest +son, the care of the mother now rested. Knowing the deep love of his +heart and his wondrous gentleness, it is easy for us to understand with +what unselfish devotion he cared for his mother after she was widowed. +He had learned the carpenter's trade; and day after day, early and +late, he wrought with his hands to provide for her wants. Very sacred +must have been the friendship of mother and son in those days. Her +gentleness, quietness, hopefulness, humility, and prayerfulness, must +have wrought themselves into the very tissue of his character as he +moved through the days in such closeness. Unto the end he carried in +his soul the benedictions of his mother's life. + +The thirty silent years of preparation closed, and Jesus went out to +begin his public ministry. The first glimpse we have of the mother is +at the wedding at Cana. Jesus was there too. The wine failed, and +Mary went to Jesus about the matter. "They have no wine," she said. +Evidently she was expecting some manifesting of supernatural power. +All the years since his birth she had been carrying in her heart a +great wonder of expectation. Now he had been baptized, and had entered +upon his work as the Messiah. Had not the time come for +miracle-working? + +The answer of Jesus startles us: "Woman, what have I to do with thee? +mine hour is not yet come." The words seem to have in them a tone of +reproof, or of repulse, unlike the words of so gentle and loving a son. +But really there is in his reply nothing inconsistent with all that we +have learned to think of the gentleness and lovingness of the heart of +Jesus. In substance he said only that he must wait for his Father's +word before doing any miracle, and that the time for this had not yet +come. Evidently his mother understood him. She was not hurt by his +words, nor did she regard them as a refusal to help in the emergency. +Her words to the servants show this: "Whatsoever he saith unto you, do +it." She had learned her lesson of sweet humility. She knew now that +God had the highest claim on her son's obedience, and she quietly +waited for the divine voice. The holy friendship was not marred. + +There is another long period in which no mention is made of Mary. +Probably she lived a secluded life. But one day at Capernaum, in the +midst of his popularity, when Jesus was preaching to a great crowd, she +and his brothers appeared on the outside of the throng, and sent a +request that they might speak with him. It seems almost certain that +the mother's errand was to try to get him away from his exhausting +work; he was imperilling his health and his safety. Jesus refused to +be interrupted. But it was really only an assertion that nothing must +come between him and his duty. The Father's business always comes +first. Human ties are second to the bond which binds us to God. No +dishonor was done by Jesus to his mother in refusing to be drawn away +by her loving interest from his work. The holiest human friendship +must never keep us from doing the will of God. Other mothers in their +love for their children have made the same mistake that the mother of +Jesus made,--have tried to withhold or withdraw their children from +service which seemed too hard or too costly. The voice of tenderest +love must be quenched when it would keep us from doing God's will. + +The next mention of the mother of Jesus is in the story of the cross. +Ah, holy mother-love, constant and faithful to the end! At length +Simeon's prophecy is fulfilled,--a sword is piercing the mother's soul +also. "Jesus was crucified on the cross; Mary was crucified at the +foot of the cross." + +Note only one feature of the scene,--the mother-love there is in it. +The story of clinging mother-love is a wonderful one. A mother never +forsakes her child. Mary is not the only mother who has followed a son +to a cross. Here we have the culmination of this mother's friendship +for her son. She is watching beside his cross. O friendship constant, +faithful, undying, and true! + +But what of the friendship of the dying son for his mother? In his own +anguish does he notice her? Yes; one of the seven words spoken while +he hung on the cross told of changeless love in his heart for her. +Mary was a woman of more than fifty, "with years before her too many +for remembering, too few for forgetting." The world would be desolate +for her when her son was gone. So he made provision for her in the +shelter of a love in which he knew she would be safe. As he saw her +led away by the beloved disciple to his own home, part of the pain of +dying was gone from his own heart. His mother would have tender care. + +The story of this blessed friendship should sweeten forever in +Christian homes the relation of mother and child. It should make every +mother a better woman and a better mother. It should make every child +a truer, holier child. Every home should have its sacred friendships +between parents and children. Thus something of heaven will be brought +down to our dull earth; for, as Mrs. Browning says,-- + + In the pure loves of child and mother + Two human loves make one divine. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +JESUS AND HIS FORERUNNER. + + Where is the lore the Baptist taught, + The soul unswerving and the fearless tongue? + The much-enduring wisdom, sought + By lonely prayer the haunted rocks among? + Who counts it gain + His light should wane, + So the whole world to Jesus throng? + KEBLE. + + +The two Johns appear in many devotional pictures, one on each side of +Jesus. Yet the two men were vastly unlike. The Baptist was a wild, +rugged man of the desert; the apostle was the representative of the +highest type of gentleness and spiritual refinement. The former was +the consummate flower of Old Testament prophecy; the latter was the +ripe fruit of New Testament evangelism. They appear in history one +really on each side of Jesus; one going before him to prepare the way +for him, and the other coming after him to declare the meaning of his +mission. They were united in Jesus; both of them were his friends. + +It seems probable that Jesus and the Baptist had never met until the +day Jesus came to be baptized. This is not to be wondered at. Their +childhood homes were not near to each other. Besides, John probably +turned away at an early age from the abodes of men to make his home in +the desert. He may never have visited Jesus, and it is not unlikely +that Jesus had never visited him. + +Yet their mothers are said to have been cousins. The stories of their +births are woven together in an exquisite way, in the opening chapters +of the Gospels. To the same high angel fell the privilege of +announcing to the two women, in turn, the tidings which in each case +meant so much of honor and blessedness. It would have seemed natural +for the boys to grow up together, their lives blending in childhood +association and affection. It is interesting to think what the effect +would have been upon the characters of both if they had been reared in +close companionship. How would John's stern, rugged, unsocial nature +have affected the gentle spirit of Jesus? What impression would the +brightness, sweetness, and affectionateness of Jesus have made on the +temper and disposition of John? + +When at last the two men met, it is evident that a remarkable effect +was produced on John. There was something in the face of Jesus that +almost overpowered the fearless preacher of the desert. John had been +waiting and watching for the Coming One, whose herald and harbinger he +was. One day he came and asked to be baptized. John had never before +hesitated to administer the rite to any one who stood before him; for +in every one he saw a sinner needing repentance and remission of sins. +But he who now stood before him waiting to be baptized bore upon his +face the light of an inner holiness which awed the rugged preacher. "I +have need to be baptized of thee," said John; but Jesus insisted, and +the rite was administered. John's awe must have been deepened by what +now took place. Jesus looked up in earnest prayer, and then from the +open heaven a white dove descended, resting on the head of the Holy +One. An ancient legend tells that from the shining light the whole +valley of the Jordan was illuminated. A divine voice was heard also, +declaring that this Jesus was the Son of God. + +Thus it was that the friendship between Jesus and the Baptist began. +It was a wonderful moment. For centuries prophets had been pointing +forward to the Messiah who was to come; now John saw him. He had +baptized him, thus introducing him to his great mission. This made +John the greatest of the prophets; he saw the Messiah whom his +predecessors had only foretold. John's rugged nature must have been +wondrously softened by this meeting with Jesus. + +Brief was the duration of the friendship of the forerunner and the +Messiah; but there are evidences that it was strong, deep, and true. +There were several occasions on which this friendship proved its +sincerity and its loyalty. + +Reports of the preaching of John, and of the throngs who were flocking +to him, reached Jerusalem; and a deputation was sent by the Sanhedrin +to the desert to ask him who he was. They had begun to think that this +man who was attracting such attention might be the Messiah for whom +they were looking. But John was careful to say that he was not the +Christ. "Art thou Elias? ... Art thou that prophet?" He answered +"No."--"Who art thou, then?" they asked, "that we may give an answer to +them that sent us. What sayest thou of thyself?" + +This gave John an opportunity to claim the highest honor for himself if +he had been disposed to do so. He might have admitted that he was the +Messiah, or quietly permitted the impression to be cherished; and in +the state of feeling and expectation then prevailing among the people, +there would have been a great uprising to carry him to a throne. But +his loyalty to truth and to the Messiah whose forerunner he was, was so +strong that he firmly resisted the opportunity, with whatever of +temptation it may have had for him. "I am a voice," he +answered--nothing but a voice. Thus he showed an element of greatness +in his lowly estimate of himself. + +True, a voice may do great things. It may speak words which shall ring +through the world with a blessing in every reverberation. It may +arouse men to action, may comfort sorrow, cheer discouragement, start +hope in despairing hearts. If one is only a voice, and if there be +truth and love and life in the voice, its ministry may be rich in its +influence. + +Much of the Bible is but a voice coming out of the depths of the past. +No one knows the names of all the holy men who, moved by the Spirit, +wrote the wonderful words. Many of the sweetest of the Psalms are +anonymous. Yet no one prizes the words less, nor is their power to +comfort, cheer, inspire, or quicken any less, because they are only +voices. After all, it is a great thing to be a voice to which men and +women will listen, and whose words do good wherever they go. + +Yet John's speaking thus of himself shows his humility. He sought no +earthly praise or recognition. He was not eager to have his name +sounding on people's lips. He knew well how empty such honor was. He +wished only that he might be a voice, speaking out the word he had been +sent into the world to speak. He knew that he had a message to +deliver, and he was intent on delivering it. It mattered not who or +what he was, but it did matter whether his "word or two" were spoken +faithfully or not. + +Every one of us has a message from God to men. We are in this world +for a purpose, with a mission, with something definite to do for God +and man. It makes very little difference whether people hear about us +or not, whether we are praised, loved, and honored, or despised, hated, +and rejected, so that we get our word spoken into the air, and set +going in men's hearts and lives. John was a worthy voice, and his +tones rang out with clarion clearness for truth and for God's kingdom. +It was his mission to go in advance of the King, and tell men that he +was coming, calling them to prepare the way before him. This he did; +and when the King came, John's work was done. + +The deputation asked him also why he was baptizing if he was neither +the Christ nor Elijah. Again John honored his friend by saying, "I +baptize with water: but there standeth one among you, whom ye know not; +he it is, who coming after me is preferred be fore me, whose shoe's +latchet I am not worthy to unloose." John set the pattern for +friendship for Christ for all time. It is,-- + + "None of self, and all of thee." + + +It is pitiable to see how some among the Master's followers fail to +learn this lesson. They contend for high places, where they may have +prominence among men, where their names shall have honor. The only +truly great in Christ's sight are those who forget self that they may +honor their Lord. John said he was not worthy to unloose the +shoe-latchet of his friend, so great, so kingly, so worthy was that +friend. He said his own work was only external, while the One standing +unrecognized among the people had power to reach their hearts. It were +well if every follower of Christ understood so perfectly the place of +his own work with relation to Christ's. + +Another of John's testimonies to Jesus was made a little later, perhaps +as Jesus returned after his temptation. Pointing to a young man who +was approaching, he said, "Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away +the sin of the world." It was a high honor which in these words John +gave to his friend. That friend was the bearer of the world's sin and +of its sorrow. It is not likely that at this early stage John knew of +the cross on which Jesus should die for the world. In some way, +however, he saw a vision of Jesus saving his people from their sin, and +so proclaimed him to the circle that stood round him. He proclaimed +him also as the Son of God, thus adding yet another honor to his friend. + +A day or two later John again pointed Jesus out to two of his own +disciples as the Lamb of God, and then bade them leave him and go after +the Messiah. This is another mark of John's noble friendship for +Jesus,--he gave up his own disciples that they might go after the new +Master. It is not easy to do this. It takes a brave man to send his +friends away, that they may give their love and service to another +master. + +There is further illustration of John's loyal friendship for Jesus. It +seems that John's disciples were somewhat jealous of the growing fame +and influence of Jesus. The throngs that followed their master were +now turning after the new teacher. In their great love for John, and +remembering how he had witnessed for Jesus, and called attention to +him, before he began his ministry and after, they felt that it was +scarcely right that Jesus should rise to prosperity at the expense of +him who had so helped him rise. If John had been less noble than he +was, and his friendship for Jesus less loyal, such words from his +followers would have embittered him. There are people who do +irreparable hurt by such flattering sympathy. A spark of envy is often +fanned into a disastrous flame by friends who come with such appeals to +the evil that is in every man. + +But John's answer shows a soul of wondrous nobleness. He had not been +hurt by popularity, as so many men are. Not all good people pass +through times of great success, with its attendant elation and +adulation, and come out simple-hearted and lowly. Then even a severer +test of character is the time of waning favor, when the crowds melt +away, and when another is receiving the applause. Many a man, in such +an experience, fails to retain sweetness of spirit, and becomes soured +and embittered. + +John stood both tests. Popularity did not make him vain. The losing +of his fame did not embitter him. He kept humble and sweet through it +all. The secret was his unwavering loyalty to his own mission as the +harbinger of the Messiah. "A man can receive nothing, except it be +given him from heaven," he said. The power over men which he had +wielded for a time had been given to him. Now the power had been +withdrawn, and given to Jesus. It was all right, and he should not +complain of what Heaven had done. + +Then John reminded his friends that he had distinctly said that he was +not the Christ, but was only one sent before him. In a wondrously +expressive way he explained his relation to Jesus. Jesus was the +bridegroom, and John was only the bridegroom's friend, and he rejoiced +in the bridegroom's honor. It was meet that the bridegroom should have +the honor, and that his friend should retire into the background, and +there be forgotten. Thus John showed his loyalty to Jesus by rejoicing +in his popular favor, when the effect was to leave John himself +deserted and alone after a season of great fame. "He must increase, +but I must decrease," said the noble-hearted forerunner. John's work +was done, and the work of Jesus was now beginning. John understood +this, and with devoted loyalty, unsurpassed in all the bright story of +friendship, he rejoiced in the success that Jesus was winning, though +it was at his own cost. + +This is a model of noble friendship for all time. Envy poisons much +human friendship. It is not easy to work loyally for the honor and +advancement of another when he is taking our place, and drawing our +crowds after him. But in any circumstances envy is despicable and most +undivine. Then even in our friendship for Christ we need to be ever +most watchful lest we allow self to creep in. We must learn to care +only for his honor and the advancement of his kingdom, and never to +think of ourselves. + +So much for the friendship of John for Jesus. On several occasions we +find evidences of very warm friendship in Jesus for John. John's +imprisonment was a most pathetic episode in his life. It came from his +fidelity as a preacher of righteousness. In view of all the +circumstances, we can scarcely wonder that in his dreary prison he +began almost to doubt, certainly to question, whether Jesus were indeed +the Messiah. But it must be noted that even in this painful experience +John was loyal to Jesus. When the question arose in his mind, he sent +directly to Jesus to have it answered. If only all in whose minds +spiritual doubts or questions arise would do this, good, and not evil, +would result in every case; for Christ always knows how to reassure +perplexed faith. + +It was after the visit of the messengers from John that Jesus spoke the +strong words which showed his warm friendship for his forerunner. John +had not forfeited his place in the Master's heart by his temporary +doubting. Jesus knew that his disciples might think disparagingly of +John because he had sent the messengers with the question; and as soon +as they were gone he began to speak about John, and to speak about him +in terms of highest praise. It is an evidence of true friendship that +one speaks well of one's friend behind his back. Some professed +friendship will not stand this test. But Jesus spoke not a word of +censure concerning John after the failure of his faith. On the other +hand, he eulogized him in a most remarkable way. He spoke of his +stability and firmness; John was not a reed shaken with the wind, he +was not a self-indulgent man, courting ease and loving luxury; he was a +man ready for any self-denial and hardship. Jesus added to this eulogy +of John's qualities as a man, the statement that no greater soul than +his had ever been born in this world. This was high praise indeed. It +illustrates the loyalty of Jesus to the friend who had so honored him +and was suffering now because of faithfulness to truth and duty. + +There is another incident which shows how much Jesus loved John. It +was after the foul murder of the Baptist. The record is very brief. +The friends of the dead prophet gathered in the prison, and, taking up +the headless body of their master, they carried it away to a reverent, +tearful burial. Then they went and told Jesus. The narrative says, +"When Jesus heard of it, he departed thence by ship into a desert place +apart." His sorrow at the tragic death of his faithful friend made him +wish to be alone. When the Jews saw Jesus weeping beside the grave of +Lazarus they said, "Behold how he loved him!" No mention is made of +tears when Jesus heard of the death of John; but he immediately sought +to break away from the crowds, to be alone, and there is little doubt +that when he was alone he wept. He loved John, and grieved over his +death. + +The story of the friendship of Jesus and John is very beautiful. +John's loyalty and faithfulness must have brought real comfort to +Jesus. Then to John the friendship of Jesus must have been full of +cheer. + +As we read the story of the Baptist's life, with its tragic ending, we +are apt to feel that he died too soon. He began his public work with +every promise of success. For a few months he preached with great +power, and thousands flocked to hear him. Then came the waning of his +popularity, and soon he was shut up in a prison, and in a little while +was cruelly murdered to humor the whim of a wicked and vengeful woman. + +Was it worth while to be born, and to go through years of severe +training, only for such a fragment of living? To this question we can +answer only that John had finished his work. He came into the world--a +man sent from God--to do just one definite thing,--to prepare the way +for the Messiah. When the Messiah had come, John's work was done. As +the friend of Christ he went home; and elsewhere now, in other realms +perhaps, he is still serving his Lord. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +JESUS' CONDITIONS OF FRIENDSHIP. + + But if himself he come to thee, and stand + * * * + And reach to thee himself the Holy Cup, + * * * + Pallid and royal, saying, "Drink with me," + Wilt thou refuse? Nay, not for paradise! + The pale brow will compel thee, the pure hands + Will minister unto thee; thou shalt take + Of that communion through the solemn depths + Of the dark waters of thine agony, + With heart that praises him, that yearns to him + The closer through that hour. + _Ugo Bassi's Sermon._ + + +Every thoughtful reader of the Gospels notes two seemingly opposing +characteristics of Christ's invitations,--their wideness and their +narrowness. They were broad enough to include all men; yet by their +conditions they were so narrowed down that only a few seemed able to +accept them. + +The gospel was for the world. It was as broad as the love of God, and +that is absolutely without limit. God loved the world. When Jesus +went forth among men his heart was open to all. He was the patron of +no particular class. For him there were no outcasts whom he might not +touch, with whom he might not speak in public, or privately, or who +were excluded from the privileges of friendship with him. He spoke of +himself as the Son of man--not the son of a man, but the Son of man, +and therefore the brother of every man. Whoever bore the image of +humanity had a place in his heart. Wherever he found a human need it +had an instant claim on his sympathy, and he was eager to impart a +blessing. No man had fallen so low in sin that Jesus passed him by +without love and compassion. To be a man was the passport to his heart. + +The invitations which Jesus gave all bear the stamp of this exceeding +broadness. "Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I +will give you rest." "Him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast +out." "If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink." Such +words as these were ever falling from his lips. No man or woman, +hearing these invitations, could ever say, "There is nothing there for +me." There was no hint of possible exclusion for any one. Not a word +was ever said about any particular class of persons who might +come,--the righteous, the respectable, the cultured, the unsoiled, the +well-born, the well-to-do. Jesus had no such words in his vocabulary. +Whoever labored and was heavy laden was invited. Whoever would come +should be received--would not in any wise be cast out. Whoever was +athirst was bidden to come and drink. + +Some teachers are not so good as their teachings. They proclaim the +love of God for every man, and then make distinctions in their +treatment of men. Professing love for all, they gather their skirts +close about them when fallen ones pass by. But Jesus lived out all of +the love of God that he taught. It was literally true in his case, +that not one who came to him was ever cast out. He disregarded the +proprieties of righteousness which the religious teachers of his own +people had formulated and fixed. They read in the synagogue services, +"Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself," but they limited the word +neighbor until it included only the circle of the socially and +spiritually _élite_. Jesus taught that a man's neighbor is a +fellow-man in need, whoever he may be. Then, when the lost and the +outcast came to him they found the love of God indeed incarnate in him. + +At one time we read that all the publicans and sinners drew near unto +him to hear him. The religious teachers of the Jews found sore fault +with him, saying, "This man receiveth sinners, and eateth with them." +But he vindicated his course by telling them that he had come for the +very purpose of seeking the lost ones. On another occasion he said +that he was a physician, and that the physician's mission was not to +the whole, but to the sick. He had come not to call the righteous, but +sinners, to repentance. A poor woman who was a sinner, having heard +his gracious invitation, "Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy +laden," came to his feet, at once putting his preaching to the test. +She came weeping, and, falling at his feet, wet them with her tears, +and then wiped them with her dishevelled hair and kissed them. Then +she took an alabaster box, and breaking it, poured the ointment on his +feet. It was a violation of all the proprieties to permit such a woman +to stay at his feet, making such demonstrations. If he had been a +Jewish rabbi, he would have thrust her away with execrations, as +bringing pollution in her touch. But Jesus let the woman stay and +finish her act of penitence and love, and then spoke words which +assured her of forgiveness and peace. + + "She sat and wept, and with her untressed hair + Still wiped the feet she was so blest to touch; + And he wiped off the soiling of despair + From her sweet soul, because she loved so much." + + +This is but one of the many proofs in Jesus' life of the sincerity of +the wide invitations he gave. Continually the lost and fallen came to +him, for there was something in him that made it easy for them to come +and tell him all the burden of their sin and their yearning for a +better life. Even one whom he afterward chose as an apostle was a +publican when Jesus called him to be his disciple. He took him in +among his friends, into his own inner household; and now his name is on +one of the foundations of the heavenly city, as an apostle of the Lamb. + +Thus we see how broad was the love of Christ, both in word and in act. +Toward every human life his heart yearned. He had a blessing to bestow +upon every soul. Whosoever would might be a friend of Jesus, and come +in among those who stood closest to him. Not one was shut out. + +Then, there is another class of words which appear to limit these wide +invitations and this gracious love. Again and again Jesus seems to +discourage discipleship. When men would come, he bids them consider +and count the cost before they decide. One passage tells of three +aspirants for discipleship, for all of whom he seems to have made it +hard to follow him. + +One man came to him, and with glib and easy profession said, "I will +follow thee whithersoever thou goest." This seemed all that could have +been asked. No man could do more. Yet Jesus discouraged this ardent +scribe. He saw that he did not know what he was saying, that he had +not counted the cost, and that his devotion would fail in the face of +the hardship and self-denial which discipleship would involve. So he +answered, "The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; +but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head." That is, he +painted a picture of his own poverty and homelessness, as if to say, +"That is what it will mean for you to follow me; are you ready for it?" + +Then Jesus turned to another, and said to him, "Follow me." But this +man asked time. "Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father." +This seemed a reasonable request. Filial duties stand high in all +inspired teaching. Yet Jesus said, "No; leave the dead to bury their +own dead; but go thou and publish abroad the kingdom of God." +Discipleship seems severe in its demands if even a sacred duty of love +to a father must be foregone that the man might go instantly to his +work as a missionary. + +There was a third case. Another man, overhearing what had been said, +proposed also to become a disciple--but not yet. "I will follow thee; +but first suffer me to bid farewell to them that are at my house." +That, too, appeared only a fit thing to do; but again the answer seems +stern and severe. "No man, having put his hand to the plough, and +looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God." Even the privilege of +running home to say "Good-by" must be denied to him who follows Jesus. + +These incidents show, not that Jesus would make it hard and costly for +men to be his disciples, but that discipleship must be unconditional, +whatever the cost, and that even the holiest duties of human love must +be made secondary to the work of Christ's kingdom. Another marked +instance of like teaching was in the case of the young ruler who wanted +to know the way of life. We try to make it easy for inquirers to begin +to follow Christ, but Jesus set a hard task for this rich young man. +He must give up all his wealth, and come empty-handed with the new +Master. Why did he so discourage this earnest seeker? He saw into his +heart, and perceived that he could not be a true disciple unless he +first won a victory over himself. The issue was his money or +Jesus--which? The way was made so hard that for that day, at least, +the young man turned away, clutching his money, leaving Jesus. + +Really, a like test was made in every discipleship. Those who followed +him left all, and went empty-handed with him. They were required to +give up father and mother, and wife and children, and lands, and to +take up their cross and follow him. + +Why were the broad invitations of the heart of Jesus so narrowed in +their practical application? The answer is very simple. Jesus was the +revealing of God--God manifest in the flesh. He had come into this +world not merely to heal a few sick people, to bring back joy to a few +darkened homes by the restoring of their dead, to formulate a system of +moral and ethical teachings, to start a wave of kindliness and a +ministry of mercy and love; he had come to save a lost world, to lift +men up out of sinfulness into holiness. + +There was only one way to do this,--men must be brought back into +loyalty to God. Jesus astonishes us by the tremendous claims and +demands he makes. He says that men must come unto him if they would +find rest; that they must believe on him if they would have everlasting +life; that they must love him more than any human friend; that they +must obey him with absolute, unquestioning obedience; that they must +follow him as the supreme and only guide of their life, committing all +their present and eternal interests into his hands. In a word, he puts +himself deliberately into the place of God, demanding for himself all +that God demands, and then promising to those who accept him all the +blessings that God promises to his children. + +This was the way Jesus sought to save men. As the human revealing of +God, coming down close to humanity, and thus bringing God within their +reach, he said, "Believe on me, love me, trust me, and follow me, and I +will lift you up to eternal blessedness." While the invitation was +universal, the blessings it offered could be given only to those who +would truly receive Christ as the Son of God. If Jesus seemed to +demand hard things of those who would follow him, it was because in no +other way could men be saved. No slight and easy bond would bind them +to him, and only by their attachment to him could they be led into the +kingdom of God. If he sometimes seemed to discourage discipleship, it +was that no one might be deceived as to the meaning of the new life to +which Jesus was inviting men. He would have no followers who did not +first count the cost, and know whether they were ready to go with him. +Men could be lifted up into a heavenly life only by a friendship with +Jesus which would prove stronger than all other ties. + +Religion, therefore, is a passion for Christ. "I have only one +passion," said Zinzendorf, "and that is he." Love for Christ is the +power that during these nineteen centuries has been transforming the +world. Law could never have done it, though enforced by the most awful +majesty. The most perfect moral code, though proclaimed with supreme +authority, would never have changed darkness to light, cruelty to +humaneness, rudeness to gentleness. What is it that gives the gospel +its resistless power? It is the Person at the heart of it. Men are +not called to a religion, to a creed, to a code of ethics, to an +ecclesiastical system,--they are called to love and follow a Person. + +But what is it in Jesus that so draws men, that wins their allegiance +away from every other master, that makes them ready to leave all for +his sake, and to follow him through peril and sacrifice, even to death? +Is it his wonderful teaching? "No man ever spake like this man." Is +it his power as revealed in his miracles? Is it his sinlessness? The +most malignant scrutiny could find no fault in him. Is it the perfect +beauty of his character? Not one nor all of these will account for the +wonderful attraction of Jesus. Love is the secret. He came into the +world to reveal the love of God--he was the love of God in human flesh. +His life was all love. In a most wonderful way during all his life did +he reveal love. Men saw it in his face, and felt it in his touch, and +heard it in his voice. This was the great fact which his disciples +felt in his life. His friendship was unlike any friendship they had +ever seen before, or even dreamed of. It was this that drew them to +him, and made them love him so deeply, so tenderly. Nothing but love +will kindle love. Power will not do it. Holiness will not do it. +Gifts will not do it--men will take your gifts, and then repay you with +hatred. But love begets love; heart responds to heart. Jesus loved. + +But the love he revealed in his life, in his tender friendship, was not +the supremest manifesting of his love. He crowned it all by giving his +life. "I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for +the sheep." This was the most wonderful exhibition of love the world +had ever seen. Now and then some one had been willing to die for a +choice and prized friend; but Jesus died for a world of enemies. It +was not for the beloved disciple and for the brave Peter that he gave +his life,--then we might have understood it,--but it was for the race +of sinful men that he poured out his most precious blood,--the blood of +eternal redemption. It is this marvellous love in Jesus which attracts +men to him. His life, and especially his cross, declares to every one: +"God loves you. The Son of God gave himself for you." Jesus himself +explained the wonderful secret in his words: "I, if I be lifted up from +the earth, will draw all men unto me." It is on his cross that his +marvellous power is most surpassingly revealed. The secret of the +attraction of the cross is love. "He loved me, and he gave himself for +me." + +Thus we find hints of what Jesus is as a friend--what he was to his +first disciples, what he is to-day. His is perfect friendship. The +best and richest human friendships are only little fragments of the +perfect ideal. Even these we prize as the dearest things on earth. +They are more precious than rarest gems. We would lose all other +things rather than give up our friends. They bring to us deep joys, +sweet comforts, holy inspirations. Life without friendship would be +empty and lonely. Love is indeed the greatest thing. Nothing else in +all the world will fill and satisfy the heart. Even earth's +friendships are priceless. Yet the best and truest of them are only +fragments of the perfect friendship. They bring us only little cupfuls +of blessing. Their gentleness is marred by human infirmity, and +sometimes turns to harshness. Their helpfulness at best is impulsive +and uncertain, and ofttimes is inopportune and ill-timed. + +But the friendship of Jesus is perfect. Its touch is always gentle and +full of healing. Its helpfulness is always wise. Its tenderness is +like the warmth of a heavenly summer, brooding over the life which +accepts it. All the love of God pours forth in the friendship of +Jesus. To be his beloved is to be held in the clasp of the everlasting +arms. "I and my Father are one," said Jesus; his friendship, +therefore, is the friendship of the Father. Those who accept it in +truth find their lives flooded with a wealth of blessing. + +Creeds have their place in the Christian life; their articles are the +great framework of truth about which the fabric rises and from which it +receives its strength. Worship is important, if it is vitalized by +faith and the Holy Spirit. Rites have their sacred value as the +channels through which divine grace is communicated. But that which is +vital in all spiritual life is the friendship of Jesus, coming to us in +whatever form it may. To know the love of Christ which passeth +knowledge is living religion. Creeds and services and rites and +sacraments bring blessing to us only as they interpret to us this love, +and draw us into closer personal relations with Christ. + + "Behold him now where he comes! + Not the Christ of our subtile creeds, + But the light of our hearts, of our homes, + Of our hopes, our prayers, our needs, + The brother of want and blame, + The lover of women and men." + + +The friendship of Jesus takes our poor earthly lives, and lifts them up +out of the dust into beauty and blessedness. It changes everything for +us. It makes us children of God in a real and living sense. It brings +us into fellowship with all that is holy and true. It kindles in us a +friendship for Christ, turning all the tides of our life into new and +holy channels. It thus transforms us into the likeness of our Friend, +whose we are, and whom we serve. + +Thus Jesus is saving the world by renewing men's lives. He is setting +up the kingdom of heaven on the earth. His subjects are won, not by +force of arms, not by a display of Sinaitic terrors, but by the force +of love. Men are taught that God loves them; they see that love first +in the life of Jesus, then on his cross, where he died as the Lamb of +God, bearing the sin of the world. Under the mighty sway of that love +they yield their hearts to heaven's King. Thus love's conquests are +going on. The friendship of Jesus is changing earth's sin and evil +into heaven's holiness and beauty. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +JESUS CHOOSING HIS FRIENDS. + + He seeks not thine, but thee, such as thou art, + For lo, his banner over thee is love. + CHRISTINA G. ROSSETTI. + + If you loved only what were worth your love, + Love were clear gain, and wholly well for you. + Make the low nature better by your throes! + Give earth yourself, go up for gain above. + BROWNING. + + +Nothing in life is more important than the choosing of friends. Many +young people wreck all by wrong choices, taking into their life those +who by their influence drag them down. Many a man's moral failure +dates from the day he chose a wrong friend. Many a woman's life of +sorrow or evil began with the letting into her heart of an unworthy +friendship. On the other hand, many a career of happiness, of +prosperity, of success, of upward climbing, may be traced to the choice +of a pure, noble, rich-hearted, inspiring friend. Mrs. Browning asked +Charles Kingsley, "What is the secret of your life? Tell me, that I +may make mine beautiful too." He replied, "I had a friend." There are +many who have reached eminence of character or splendor of life who +could give the same answer. They had a friend who came into their life +at the right time, sent from God, and inspired in them whatever is +beautiful in their character, whatever is worthy and noble in their +career. + +We may not put our Lord's choice of his apostles on precisely the same +plane as our selecting of friends, as those men were to be more than +ordinary friends; he was to put his mantle upon them, and they were to +be the founders of his Church. Nevertheless, we may take lessons from +the story for ourselves. + +Jesus chose his friends deliberately. His disciples had been gathering +about him for months. It was at least a year after the beginning of +his public ministry that he chose the Twelve. He had had ample time to +get well acquainted with the company of his followers, to test them, to +study their character, to learn their qualities of strength or weakness. + +Many fatal mistakes in the choosing of friends come from unfit haste. +We would better take time to know our possible friends, and be sure +that we know them well, before making the solemn compact that seals the +attachment. + +Jesus made his choice of friends a subject of prayer. He spent a whole +night in prayer with God, and then came in the morning to choose his +apostles. If Jesus needed thus to pray before choosing his friends, +how much more should we seek God's counsel before taking a new +friendship into our life! We cannot know what it may mean to us, +whither it may lead us, what sorrow, care, or pain it may bring to us, +what touches of beauty or of marring it may put upon our soul, and we +dare not admit it unless God gives it to us. In nothing do young +people need more the guidance of divine wisdom than when they are +settling the question of who shall be their friends. At the Last +Supper Jesus said in his prayer, referring to his disciples, "Thine +they were, and thou gavest them me." It makes a friendship very sacred +to be able to say, "God gave it to me. God sent me this friend." + +In choosing his friends, Jesus thought not chiefly of the comfort and +help they would be to him, but far more of what he might be to them. +He did crave friendship for himself. His heart needed it just as any +true human heart does. He welcomed affection whenever any one brought +the gift to him. He accepted the friendship of the poor, of the +children, of those he helped. We cannot understand how much the +Bethany home was to him, with its confidence, its warmth, its shelter, +its tender affection. One of the most pathetic incidents in the whole +Gospel story is the hunger of Jesus for sympathy in the garden, when he +came again and again to his human friends, hoping to find them alert in +watchful love, and found them asleep. It was a cry of deep +disappointment which came from his lips, "Could ye not watch with me +one hour?" Jesus craved the blessing of friendship for himself, and in +choosing the Twelve expected comfort and strength from his fellowship +with them. + +But his deepest desire was that he might be a blessing to them. He +came "not to be ministered unto, but to minister;" not to have friends, +but to be a friend. He chose the Twelve that he might lift them up to +honor and good; that he might purify, refine, and enrich their lives; +that he might prepare them to be his witnesses, the conservators of his +gospel, the interpreters to the world of his life and teachings. He +sought nothing for himself, but every breath he drew was full of +unselfish love. + +We should learn from Jesus that the essential quality in the heart of +friendship is not the desire to have friends, but the desire to be a +friend; not to get good and help from others, but to impart blessing to +others. Many of the sighings for friendship which we have are merely +selfish longings,--a desire for happiness, for pleasure, for the +gratification of the heart, which friends would bring. If the desire +were to be a friend, to do others good, to serve and to give help, it +would be a far more Christlike longing, and would transform the life +and character. + +We are surprised at the kind of men Jesus chose for his friends. We +would suppose that he, the Son of God, coming from heaven, would have +gathered about him as his close and intimate companions the most +refined and cultivated men of his nation,--men of intelligence, of +trained mind, of wide influence. Instead of going to Jerusalem, +however, to choose his apostles from among rabbis, priests, scribes, +and rulers, he selected them from among the plain people, largely from +among fishermen of Galilee. One reason for this was that he must +choose these inner friends from the company which had been drawn to him +and were already his followers, in true sympathy with him; and there +were none of the great, the learned, the cultured, among these. But +another reason was, that he cared more for qualities of the heart than +for rank, position, name, worldly influence, or human wisdom. He +wanted near him only those who would be of the same mind with him, and +whom he could train into loyal, sympathetic apostles. + +Jesus took these untutored, undisciplined men into his own household, +and at once began to prepare them for their great work. It is worthy +of note, that instead of scattering his teachings broadcast among the +people, so that who would might gather up his words, and diffusing his +influence throughout a mass of disciples, while distinctly and +definitely impressing none ineffaceably, Jesus chose twelve men, and +concentrated his influence upon them. He took them into the closest +relations to himself, taught them the great truths of his kingdom, +impressed upon them the stamp of his own life, and breathed into them +his own spirit. We think of the apostles as great men; they did become +great. Their influence filled many lands--fills all the world to-day. +They sit on thrones, judging all the tribes of men, But all that they +became, they became through the friendship of Jesus. He gave them all +their greatness. He trained them until their rudeness grew into +refined culture. No doubt he gave much time to them in private. They +were with him continually. They saw all his life. + +It was a high privilege to live with Jesus those three years,--eating +with him, walking with him, hearing all his conversations, witnessing +his patience, his kindness, his thoughtfulness. It was almost like +living in heaven; for Jesus was the Son of God--God manifest in the +flesh. When Philip said to Jesus, "Lord, show us the Father, and it +sufficeth us," Jesus answered, "He that hath seen me hath seen the +Father." Living with Jesus was, therefore, living with God--his glory +tempered by the gentle humanity in which it was veiled, but no less +divine because of this. For three years the disciples lived with God. +No wonder that their lives were transformed, and that the best that was +in them was wooed out by the blessed summer weather of love in which +they moved. + +"He chose twelve." Probably this was because there were twelve tribes +of Israel, and the number was to be continued. One evangelist says +that he sent them out two and two. Why by two and two? With all the +world to evangelize, would it not have been better if they had gone out +one by one? Then they would have reached twice as many points. Was it +not a waste of force, of power, to send two to the same place? + +No doubt Jesus had reasons. It would have been lonely for one man to +go by himself. If there were two, one would keep the other company. +There was opposition to the gospel in those days, and it would have +been hard for one to endure persecution alone. The handclasp of a +brother would make the heart braver and stronger. We do not know how +much we owe to our companionships, how they strengthen us, how often we +would fail and sink down without them. + +One of the finest definitions of happiness in literature is that given +by Oliver Wendell Holmes. "Happiness," said the Autocrat, "is four +feet on the fender." When his beloved wife was gone, and an old friend +came in to condole with him, he said, shaking his gray head, "Only two +feet on the fender now." Congenial companionship is wonderfully +inspiring. Aloneness is pain. You cannot kindle a fire with one coal. +A log will not burn alone. But put two coals or two logs side by side, +and the fire kindles and blazes and burns hotly. Jesus yoked his +apostles in twos that mutual friendship might inspire them both. + +There was another reason for mating the Twelve. Each of them was only +a fragment of a man--not one of them was full-rounded, a complete man, +strong at every point. Each had a strength of his own, with a +corresponding weakness. Then Jesus yoked them together so that each +two made one good man. The hasty, impetuous, self-confident Peter +needed the counterbalancing of the cautious, conservative Andrew. +Thomas the doubter was matched by Matthew the strong believer. It was +not an accidental grouping by which the Twelve fell into six parts. +Jesus knew what was in man; and he yoked these men together in a way +which brought out the best that was in each of them, and by thus +blending their lives, turned their very faults and weaknesses into +beauty and strength. He did not try to make them all alike. He made +no effort to have Peter grow quiet and gentle like John, or Thomas +become an enthusiastic, unquestioning believer like Matthew, He sought +for each man's personality, and developed that. He knew that to try to +recast Peter's tremendous energy into staidness and caution would only +rob him of what was best in his nature. He found room in his apostle +family for as many different types of temperament as there were men, +setting the frailties of one over against the excessive virtues of the +other. + +It is interesting to note the method of Jesus in training his apostles. +The aim of true friendship anywhere is not to make life easy for one's +friend, but to make something of the friend. That is God's method. He +does not hurry to take away every burden under which he sees us +bending. He does not instantly answer our prayer for relief, when we +begin to cry to him about the difficulty we have, or the trial we are +facing, or the sacrifice we are making. He does not spare us hardship, +loss, or pain. He wants not to make things easy for us, but to make +something of us. We grow under burdens. It is poor, mistaken +fathering or mothering that thinks only of saving a child from hard +tasks or severe discipline. It is weak friendship that seeks only +pleasure and indulgence for a loved one. "The chief want in life is +somebody who shall make us do the best we can." + +Jesus was the truest of friends. He never tried to make the burden +light, the path smooth, the struggle easy. He wished to make men of +his apostles,--men who could stand up and face the world; men whose +character would reflect the beauty of holiness in its every line; men +in whose hands his gospel would be safe when they went out as his +ambassadors. He set for each apostle a high ideal, and then helped him +to work up to the ideal. He taught them that the law of the cross is +the law of life, that the saving of one's life is the losing of it, and +that only when we lose our life, as men rate it, giving it out in +love's service, do we really save it. + +It is not easy to make a man. It is said that the violin-makers in +distant lands, by breaking and mending with skilful hands, at last +produce instruments having a more wonderful capacity than ever was +possible to them when new, unbroken and whole. Whether this be true or +not of violins, it certainly is true of human lives. We cannot merely +grow into strength, beauty, nobleness, and power of helpfulness, +without discipline, pain, and cost. It is written even of Jesus +himself that he was made perfect through suffering. There was no sin +in him; but his perfectness as a sympathizing Friend, as a helpful +Saviour, came through struggle, trial, pain, and sorrow. Not one of +the apostles reached his royal strength as a man, as a helper of men, +as a representative of Jesus, without enduring loss and suffering. No +man who ever rises to a place of real worth and usefulness in the world +walks on a rose-strewn path. We never can be made fit for anything +beautiful and worthy without cost of pain and tears. Always it is true +that-- + + "Things that hurt and things that mar + Shape the man for perfect praise; + Shock and strain and ruin are + Friendlier than the smiling days." + + +How about ourselves? Life is made very real to our thought when we +remember that in all the experiences of joy and sorrow, pleasure and +pain, success and failure, health and sickness, quiet or struggle, God +is making men of us. Then he watches us to see if we fail. Here is a +man who is passing through sore trial. For many months his wife has +been a great sufferer. All the while he has been carrying a heavy +burden,--a financial burden, a burden of sympathy; for every moment's +pain that his wife has suffered has been like a sword in his own +heart,--burdens of care, with broken nights and weary days. We may be +sure of God's tender interest in the wife who suffers in the sick-room; +but his eye is even more intently fixed upon him who is bearing the +burden of sympathy and care. He is watching to see if the man will +stand the test, and grow sweeter and stronger. Everything hard or +painful in a Christian's life is another opportunity for him to get a +new victory, and become a little more a man. + +It is remarkable how little we know about the apostles. A few of them +are fairly prominent. Peter and James and John we know quite well, as +their names are made familiar in the inspired story. Matthew we know +by the Gospel he wrote. Thomas we remember by his doubts. Another +Judas, not Iscariot, probably left us a little letter. Of the rest we +know almost nothing but their names. Indeed, few Bible readers can +give even the names of all the Twelve. + +No doubt one reason why no more is told us about the apostles is that +the Bible magnifies only one name. It is not a book of biographies, +but the book of the Lord Jesus Christ. Each apostle had a sacred +friendship all his own with his Master, a friendship with which no +other could intermeddle. We can imagine the quiet talks, the long +walks with the deep communings, the openings of heart, the confessions +of weakness and failure, the many prayers together. We may be very +sure that through those three wonderful years there ran twelve stories +of holy friendship, with their blessed revealings of the Master's heart +to the heart of each man. But not a word of all this is written in the +New Testament. It was too sacred to be recorded for any eye of earth +to read. + +We may be sure, too, that each man of the Twelve did a noble work after +the Ascension, but no pen wrote the narratives for preservation. There +are traditions, but there is in them little that is certainly history. +The Acts is not the acts of the apostles. The book tells a little +about John, a little more about Peter, most about Paul, and of the +others gives nothing but a list of their names in the first chapter. + +Yet we need not trouble ourselves about this. It is the same with the +good and the useful in every age. A few names are preserved, but the +great multitude are forgotten. Earth keeps scant record of its +benefactors. But there is a place where every smallest kindness done +in the name of Christ is recorded and remembered. + +Long, long ages ago a beautiful fern grew in a deep vale, nodding in +the breeze. One day it fell, complaining as it sank away that no one +would remember its grace and beauty. The other day a geologist went +out with his hammer in the interest of his science. He struck a rock; +and there in the seam lay the form of a fern--every leaf, every fibre, +the most delicate traceries of the leaves. It was the fern which ages +since grew and dropped into the indistinguishable mass of vegetation. +It perished; but its memorial was preserved, and to-day is made +manifest. + +So it is with the stories of the obscure apostles, and of all beautiful +lives which have wrought for God and for man and have vanished from +earth. Nothing is lost, nothing is forgotten. The memorials are in +other lives, and some day every touch and trace and influence and +impression will be revealed. In the book of The Revelation we are told +that in the foundations of the heavenly city are the names of the +twelve apostles of the Lamb. The New Testament does not tell the story +of their worthy lives, but it is cut deep in the eternal rock, where +all eyes shall see it forever. + +On the lives of these chosen friends Jesus impressed his own image. +His blessed divine-human friendship transformed them into men who went +to the ends of the world for him, carrying his name. It was a new and +strange influence on the earth--this holy friendship of Jesus Christ +started in the hearts and lives of the apostles. At once it began to +make this old world new. Those who believed received the same +wonderful friendship into their own hearts. They loved each other in a +way men had never loved before. Christians lived together as one +family. + +Ever since the day of Pentecost this wonderful friendship of Jesus has +been spreading wherever the gospel has gone. It has given to the world +its Christian homes with their tender affections; it has built +hospitals and asylums, and established charitable institutions of all +kinds in every place where its story has been told. From the cross of +Jesus a wave of tenderness, like the warmth of summer, has rolled over +all lands. The friendship of Jesus, left in the hearts of his +apostles, as his legacy to the world, has wrought marvellously; and its +ministry and influence will extend until everything unlovely shall +cease from earth, and the love of God shall pervade all life. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +JESUS AND THE BELOVED DISCIPLE. + + My Lord, my Love! in pleasant pain + How often have I said, + "Blessed that John who on thy breast + Laid down his head." + It was that contact all divine + Transformed him from above, + And made him amongst men the man + To show forth holy love. + CHRISTINA G. ROSSETTI. + + +Love is regenerating the world. It is the love of God that is working +this mighty transformation. The world was cold and loveless before +Christ came. Of course there always was love in the +race,--father-love, mother-love, filial love, love for country. There +have always been human friendships which were constant, tender, and +true, whose stories shine in bright lustre among the records of life. +Natural affection there has always been, but Christian love was not in +the world till Christ came. + +The incarnation was the breaking into this world of the love of God. +For three and thirty years Jesus walked among men, pouring out love in +every word, in every act, in all his works, and in every influence of +his life. Then on the cross his heart broke, spilling its love upon +the earth. As Mary's ointment filled all the house where it was +emptied out, so the love of God poured out in Christ's life and death +is filling all the world. + +Jesus put his love into human hearts that it might be carried +everywhere. Instantly there was a wondrous change. The story of the +Church after the day of Pentecost shows a spirit among the disciples of +Christ which the world had never seen before. They had all things +common. The strong helped the weak. They formed a fellowship which +was almost heavenly. From that time to the present the leaven of love +has been working. It has slowly wrought itself into every department +of life,--into art, literature, music, laws, education, morals. Every +hospital, orphanage, asylum, and reformatory in the world has been +inspired by the love of Christ. Christian civilization is a product of +this same divine affection working through the nations. + +Perhaps no other of the Master's disciples has done so much in the +interpreting and the diffusing of the love of Christ in the world as +the beloved disciple has done. Peter was the mightiest force at the +beginning in the founding of the Church. Then came Paul with his +tremendous missionary energy, carrying Christianity to the ends of the +earth. Each of these apostles was greatest in his own way and place. +But John has done more than either of these to bless the world with +love. His influence is everywhere. He is likest Jesus of all the +disciples. His influence is slowly spreading among men. We see it in +the enlarging spirit of love among Christians, in the increase of +philanthropy, in the growing sentiment that war must cease among +Christian nations, all disputes to be settled by arbitration, and in +the feeling of universal brotherhood which is softening all true men's +hearts toward each other. + +It cannot but be intensely interesting to trace the story of the +friendship of Jesus and John, for it was in this hallowed friendship +that John learned all that he gave the world in his life and words. We +are able to fix its beginning--when Jesus and John met for the first +time. One day John the Baptist was standing by the Jordan with two of +his disciples. One of these was Andrew; and the other we know was +John--we know it because in John's own Gospel, where the incident is +recorded, no name is given. The two young men had not yet seen Jesus; +but the Baptist knew him, and pointed him out as he passed by, saying, +"Behold the Lamb of God!" + +The two young men went after Jesus, no doubt eager to speak with him. +Hearing their footsteps behind him, he turned, and asked them what they +sought. They asked, "Rabbi, where abidest thou?" He said, "Come, and +ye shall see." They gladly accepted the invitation, went with him to +his lodgings, and remained until the close of the day. We have no +account of what took place during those happy hours. It would be +interesting to know what Jesus said to his visitors, but not a word of +the conversation has been preserved. We may be sure, however, that the +visit made a deep impression on John. + +Most days in our lives are unmarked by any special event. There are +thousands of them that seem just alike, with their common routine. +Once or twice, however, in the lifetime of almost every person, there +is a day which is made forever memorable by some event or +occurrence,--the first meeting with one who fills a large place in +one's after years, a compact of sacred friendship, a revealing of some +new truth, a decision which brought rich blessing, or some other +experience which set the day forever apart among all days. + +John lived to be a very old man; but to his latest years he must have +remembered the day when he first met Jesus, and began with him the +friendship which brought him such blessing. We may be sure that as at +their first meeting the soul of Jonathan was knit with the soul of +David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul, so at this first meeting +the soul of John was knit with the soul of Jesus in a holy friendship +which brought unspeakable good to his life. There was that in Jesus +which at once touched all that was best in John, and called out the +sweetest music of his soul. + + "Thou shall know him when he comes + Not by any din of drums, + Nor the vantage of his airs; + Neither by his crown, + Nor by his gown, + Nor by anything he wears. + He shall only well-known be + By the holy harmony + That his coming makes in thee!" + + +John calls himself the "disciple whom Jesus loved." This designation +gives him a distinction even among the Master's personal friends. +Jesus loved all the apostles, but there were three who belonged in an +inner circle. Then, of these three, John was the best beloved. We are +not told what it was in John that gave him this highest honor. He was +probably a cousin of Jesus, as it is thought by many that their mothers +were sisters. This blood relationship, however, would not account for +the strong love that bound them together. There must have been certain +qualities in John which fitted him in a peculiar way for being the +closest friend of Jesus. + +We know that John's personality was very winning. He was only a +fisherman, and in his youth lacked opportunities for acquiring +knowledge or refinement. If Mary and Salome were sisters, the blood of +David's line was in John as well as in Jesus. It is something to have +back of one's birth a long and noble descent. Besides, John was one of +those rare men "who appear to be formed of finer clay than their +neighbors, and cast in a gentler mould." Evidently he was by nature a +man of sympathetic spirit, one born to be a friend. + +The study of John's writings helps us to answer our question. Not once +in all his Gospel does he refer to himself by name; yet as one reads +the wonderful chapters, one is aware of a spirit, an atmosphere, of +sweetness. There are fields and meadows in which the air is laden with +fragrance, and yet no flowers can be seen. But looking closely, one +finds, low on the ground, hidden by the tall grasses, a multitude of +little lowly flowers. It is from these that the perfume comes. In +every community there are humble, quiet lives, almost unheard of among +men, who shed a subtle influence on all about them. Thus it is in the +chapters of John's Gospel. The name of the writer nowhere appears, but +the charm of his spirit pervades the whole book. + +In the designation which he adopts for himself, there is a fine +revealing of character. There is a beautiful self-obliteration in the +hiding away of the author's personality that only the name and glory of +Jesus may be seen. There are some good men, who, even when trying to +exalt and honor their Lord, cannot resist the temptation to write their +own name large, that those who see the Master may also see the Master's +friend. In John there is an utter absence of this spirit. As the +Baptist, when asked who he was, refused to give his name, and said he +was only a voice proclaiming the coming of the King, so John spoke of +himself only as one whom the Master loved. + +We must note, too, that he does not speak of himself as the disciple +who loved Jesus,--this would have been to boast of himself as loving +the Master more than the other disciples did,--but as the disciple whom +Jesus loved. In this distinction lies one of the subtlest secrets of +Christian peace. Our hope does not rest in our love for Jesus, but in +his love for us. Our love at the best is variable in its moods. +To-day it glows with warmth and joy, and we say we could die for +Christ; to-morrow, in some depression, we question whether we really +love him at all, our feeling responds so feebly to his name. A peace +that depends on our loving Christ is as variable as our own +consciousness. But when it is Christ's love for us that is our +dependence, our peace is undisturbed by any earthly changes. + +Thus we find in John a reposeful spirit. He was content to be lowly. +He knew how to trust. His spirit was gentle. He was of a deeply +spiritual nature. Yet we must not think of him as weak or effeminate. +Perhaps painters have helped to give this impression of him; but it is +one that is not only untrue, but dishonoring. John was a man of noble +strength. In his soul, under his quietness and sweetness of spirit, +dwelt a mighty energy. But he was a man of love, and had learned the +lesson of divine peace; thus he was a self-controlled man. + +These are hints of the character of the disciple whom Jesus loved, whom +he chose to be his closest friend. He was only a lad when Jesus first +met him, and we must remember that the John we chiefly know was the man +as he developed under the influence of Jesus. What Jesus saw in the +youth who sat down beside him in his lodging-place that day, drank in +his words, and opened his soul to him as a rose to the morning sun, was +a nature rich in its possibilities of noble and beautiful character. +The John we know is the man as he ripened in the summer of Christ's +love. He is a product of pure Christ-culture. His young soul +responded to every inspiration in his Master, and developed into rarer +loveliness every day. Doubtless one of the qualities in John that +fitted him to be the closest friend of Jesus was his openness of heart, +which made him such an apt learner, so ready to respond to every touch +of Christ's hand. + +It would be interesting to trace the story of this holy friendship +through the three years Jesus and John were together, but only a little +of the wonderful narrative is written. Some months after the first +meeting, there was another beside the sea. For some reason John and +his companions had taken up their fishing again. Jesus came by in the +early morning, and found the men greatly discouraged because they had +been out all night and had caught nothing. He told them to push out, +and to cast their net again, telling them where to cast it. The result +was a great draught of fishes. It was a revealing of divine power +which mightily impressed the fishermen. He then bade them to follow +him, and said he would make them become fishers of men. Immediately +they left the ship, and went with Jesus. + +Thus John had now committed himself altogether to his new Master. From +this time he remained with Jesus, following him wherever he went. He +was in his school, and was an apt scholar. A little later there came +another call. Jesus chose twelve men to be apostles, and among them +was the beloved disciple. This choice and call brought him into yet +closer fellowship with Jesus. Now the transformation of character +would go on more rapidly because of the constancy and the closeness of +John's association with his Master. + +A peculiar designation is given to the brothers James and John. Jesus +surnamed them Boanerges, the sons of thunder. There must have been a +meaning in such a name given by Jesus himself. Perhaps the figure of +thunder suggests capacity for energy--that the soul of John was +charged, as it were, with fiery zeal. It appears to us, as we read +John's writings, that this could not have been true. He seems such a +man of love that we cannot think of him as ever being possessed of an +opposite feeling. But there is evidence that by nature he was full of +just such energy held in reserve. We see John chiefly in his writings; +and these were the fruit of his mellow old age, when love's lessons had +been well learned. It seems likely that in his youth he had in his +breast a naturally quick, fiery temper. But under the culture of Jesus +this spirit was brought into complete mastery. We have one +illustration of this earlier natural feeling in a familiar incident. +The people of a certain village refused to receive the Master, and John +and his brother wished to call down fire from heaven to consume them. +But Jesus reminded them that he was not in the world to destroy men's +lives, but to save them. + +We know not how often this lesson had to be taught to John before he +became the apostle of love. It was well on in St. Paul's old age that +he said he had learned in whatsoever state he was therein to be +content. It is a comfort to us to know that he was not always able to +say this, and that the lesson had to be learned by him just as it has +to be learned by us. It is a comfort to us also to be permitted to +believe that John had to _learn_ to be the loving, gentle disciple he +became in later life, and that the lesson was not an easy one. + +It is instructive also to remember that it was through his friendship +with Jesus that John received his sweetness and lovingness of +character. An old Persian apologue tells that one found a piece of +fragrant clay in his garden, and that when asked how it got its perfume +the clay replied, "One laid me on a rose." John lived near the heart +of Jesus, and the love of that heart of gentleness entered his soul and +transformed him. There is no other secret for any who would learn +love's great lesson. Abiding in Christ, Christ abides also in us, and +we are made like him because he lives in us. + +John's distinction of being one of the Master's closest friends brought +him several times into experiences of peculiar sacredness. He +witnessed the transfiguration, when for an hour the real glory of the +Christ shone out through his investiture of flesh. This was a vision +John never forgot. It must have impressed itself deeply upon his soul. +He was also one of those who were led into the inner shadows of +Gethsemane, to be near Jesus while he suffered, and to comfort him with +love. + +This last experience especially suggests to us something of what the +friendship of John was to Jesus. There is no doubt that this +friendship brought to John immeasurable comfort and blessing, enriching +his life, and transforming his character. But what was the friendship +to Jesus? There is no doubt that it was a great deal to him. He +craved affection and sympathy, as every noble heart does just in the +measure of its humanness. One of the saddest elements of the +Gethsemane sorrow was the disappointment of Jesus, when, hungry for +love, he went back to his chosen three, expecting to find a little +comfort and strength, and found them sleeping. + +The picture of John at the Last Supper, leaning on Jesus' breast, shows +him to us in the posture in which we think of him most. It is the +place of confidence; the bosom is only for those who have a right to +closest intimacy. It is the place of love, near the heart. It is the +place of safety, for he is in the clasp of the everlasting arms, and +none can snatch him out of the impregnable shelter. It was the darkest +night the world ever saw that John lay on the bosom of Jesus. That is +the place of comfort for all sorrowing believers, and there is +abundance of room for them all on that breast. John _leaned_ on Jesus' +breast,--weakness reposed on strength, helplessness on almighty help. +We should learn to lean, to lean our whole weight, on Christ. That is +the privilege of Christian faith. + +There was one occasion when John seems to have broken away from his +usual humility. He joined with his brother in a request for the +highest places in the new kingdom. This is only one of the evidences +of John's humanness,--that he was of like passions with the rest of us. +Jesus treated the brothers with gentle pity--"Ye know not what ye ask." +Then he explained to them that the highest places must be reached +through toil and sorrow, through the paths of service and suffering. +Later in life John knew what the Master's words meant. He found his +place nearest to Christ, but it was not on the steps of an earthly +throne; it was a nearness of love, and the steps to it were humility, +self-forgetfulness, and ministry. + +It must have given immeasurable comfort to Jesus to have John stay so +near to him during the last scenes. If he fled for a moment in the +garden when all the apostles fled, he soon returned; for he was close +to his Master during his trial. Then, when he was on the cross, Jesus +saw a group of loving friends near by, watching with breaking hearts; +and among these was John. It lifted a heavy burden off the heart of +Jesus to be able then to commit his mother to John, and to see him lead +her away to his own home. It was a supreme expression of +friendship,--choosing John from among all his friends for the sacred +duty of sheltering this blessedest of women. + +The story of this beautiful friendship of Jesus and John shows us what +is possible in its own measure to every Christian discipleship. It is +not possible for every Christian to be a St. John, but close friendship +with Jesus is the privilege of every true believer; and all who enter +into such a friendship will be transformed into the likeness of their +Friend. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +JESUS AND PETER. + + "As the mighty poets take + Grief and pain to build their song, + Even so for every soul, + Whatsoe'er its lot may be,-- + Building, as the heavens roll, + Something large and strong and free,-- + Things that hurt and things that mar + Shape the man for perfect praise, + Shock and strain and ruin are + Friendlier than the smiling days." + + +Our first glimpse of Simon in the New Testament is as he was being +introduced to Jesus. It was beside the Jordan. His brother had +brought him; and that moment a friendship began which not only was of +infinite and eternal importance to Simon himself, but which has left +incalculable blessing in the world. + +Jesus looked at him intently, with deep, penetrating gaze. He saw into +his very soul. He read his character; not only what he was then, but +the possibilities of his life,--what he would become under the power of +grace. He then gave him a new name. "When Jesus beheld him, he said. +Thou art Simon: ... thou shalt be called Cephas, which is by +interpretation, a stone." + +In a gallery in Europe there hang, side by side, Rembrandt's first +picture, a simple sketch, imperfect and faulty, and his great +masterpiece, which all men admire. So in the two names, Simon and +Peter, we have, first the rude fisherman who came to Jesus that day, +the man as he was before Jesus began his work on him; and second, the +man as he became during the years when the friendship of Jesus had +warmed his heart and enriched his life; when the teaching of Jesus had +given him wisdom and kindled holy aspirations in his soul; and when the +experiences of struggle and failure, of penitence and forgiveness, of +sorrow and joy, had wrought their transformations in him. + +"Thou art Simon." That was his name then. "Thou shalt be called +Cephas." That was what he should become. It was common in the East to +give a new name to denote a change of character, or to indicate a man's +position among men. Abram's name was changed to Abraham--"Father of a +multitude"--when the promise was sealed to him. Jacob's name, which +meant supplanter, one who lived by deceit, was changed to Israel, a +prince with God, after that night when the old nature was maimed and +defeated while he wrestled with God, and overcame by clinging in faith +and trust. So Simon received a new name when he came to Jesus, and +began his friendship with him. "Thou shalt be called Cephas." + +This did not mean that Simon's character was changed instantly into the +quality which the new name indicated. It meant that Jesus saw in him +the possibilities of firmness, strength, and stability, of which a +stone is the emblem. It meant that this should be his character by and +by, when the work of grace in him was finished. The new name was a +prophecy of the man that was to be, the man that Jesus would make of +him. Now he was only Simon--rash, impulsive, self-confident, vain, and +therefore weak and unstable. + +Some of the processes in this making of a man, this transformation of +Simon into Cephas, we may note as we read the story. There were three +years between the beginning of the friendship of Jesus and Simon and +the time when the man was ready for his work. The process was not +easy. Simon had many hard lessons to learn. Self-confidence had to be +changed into humility. Impetuosity had to be chastened and disciplined +into quiet self-control. Presumption had to be awed and softened into +reverence. Thoughtfulness had to grow out of heedlessness. Rashness +had to be subdued into prudence, and weakness had to be tempered into +calm strength. All this moral history was folded up in the words, +"Thou shalt be called Cephas--a stone." + +The meeting by the Jordan was the beginning. A new friendship coming +into a life may color all its future, may change its destiny. We never +know what may come of any chance meeting. But the beginning of a +friendship with Jesus has infinite possibilities of good. The giving +of the new name must have put a new thought of life's meaning into +Simon's heart. It must have set a new vision in his soul, and kindled +new aspirations within his breast. Life must have meant more to him +from that hour. He had glimpses of possibilities he had never dreamed +of before. It is always so when Jesus truly comes into any one's life. +A new conception of character dawns on the soul, a new ideal, a +revelation which changes all thoughts of living. The friendship of +Jesus is most inspiring. + +Some months passed, and then came a formal call which drew Simon into +close and permanent relations with Jesus. It was on the Sea of +Galilee. The men were fishing. There had been a night of unsuccessful +toil. In the morning Jesus used Simon's boat for a pulpit, speaking +from its deck to the throngs on the shore. He then bade the men push +out into deep water and let down their net. Simon said it was not +worth while--still he would do the Master's bidding. The result was an +immense haul of fishes. + +The effect of the miracle on Simon's mind was overwhelming. Instantly +he felt that he was in the presence of divine revealing, and a sense of +his own sinfulness and unworthiness oppressed him. "Depart from me; +for I am a sinful man, O Lord," he cried. Jesus quieted his terror +with his comforting "Fear not." Then he said to him, "From henceforth +thou shalt catch men." This was another self-revealing. Simon's work +as a fisherman was ended. He forsook all, and followed Jesus, becoming +a disciple in the full sense. His friendship with Jesus was deepening. +He gave up everything he had, going with Jesus into poverty, +homelessness, and--he knew not what. + +Living in the personal household of Jesus, Simon saw his Master's life +in all its manifold phases, hearing the words he spoke whether in +public on in private conversation, and witnessing every revealing of +his character, disposition, and spirit. It is impossible to estimate +the influence of all this on the life of Simon. He was continually +seeing new things in Jesus, hearing new words from his lips, learning +new lessons from his life. One cannot live in daily companionship with +any good man without being deeply influenced by the association. To +live with Jesus in intimate relations of friendship was a holy +privilege, and its effect on Simon's character cannot be estimated. + +An event which must have had a great influence on Simon was his call to +be an apostle. Not only was he one of the Twelve, but his name came +first--it is always given first. He was the most honored of all, was +to be their leader, occupying the first place among them. A +true-hearted man is not elated or puffed up by such honoring as this. +It humbles him, rather, because the distinction brings with it a sense +of responsibility. It awes a good man to become conscious that God is +intrusting him with place and duty in the world, and is using him to be +a blessing to others. He must walk worthy of his high calling. A new +sanctity invests him--the Lord has set him apart for holy service. + +Another event which had a marked influence on Simon was his recognition +of the Messiahship of Jesus. Just how this great truth dawned upon his +consciousness we do not know, but there came a time when the conviction +was so strong in him that he could not but give expression to it. It +was in the neighborhood of Caesarea Philippi. Jesus had led the Twelve +apart into a secluded place for prayer. There he asked them two solemn +questions. He asked them first what the people were saying about +him--who they thought he was. The answer showed that he was not +understood by them; there were different opinions about him, none of +them correct. Then he asked the Twelve who they thought he was. Simon +answered, "The Christ, the Son of the living God." The confession was +wonderfully comprehensive. It declared that Jesus was the Messiah, and +that he was a divine being--the Son of the living God. + +It was a great moment in Simon's life when he uttered this wonderful +confession. Jesus replied with a beatitude for Simon, and then spoke +another prophetic word: "Thou art Peter," using now the new name which +was beginning to be fitting, as the new man that was to be was growing +out of the old man that was being left behind. "Thou art Peter, and +upon this rock I will build my church." It was a further unveiling of +Simon's future. It was in effect an unfolding or expansion of what he +had said when Simon first stood before him. "Thou shalt be called +Cephas." As a confessor of Christ, representing all the apostles, +Peter was thus honored by his Lord. + +But the Messianic lesson was yet only partly learned. Simon believed +that Jesus was the Messiah, but his conception of the Messiah was still +only an earthly one. So we read that from that time Jesus began to +teach the apostles the truth about his mission,--that he must suffer +many things, and be killed. Then it was that Simon made his grave +mistake in seeking to hold his Master back from the cross. "Be it far +from thee, Lord: this shall never be unto thee," he said with great +vehemence. Quickly came the stern reply, "Get thee behind me, Satan: +thou art a stumbling-block unto me." Simon had to learn a new lesson. +He did not get it fully learned until after Jesus had risen again, and +the Holy Spirit had come,--that the measure of rank in spiritual life +is the measure of self-forgetting service. + +We get a serious lesson here in love and friendship. It is possible +for us to become Satan even to those we love the best. We do this when +we try to dissuade them from hard toil, costly service, or perilous +missions to which God is calling them. We need to exercise the most +diligent care, and to keep firm restraint upon our own affections, lest +in our desire to make the way easier for our friends we tempt them to +turn from the path which God has chosen for their feet. + +Thus lesson after lesson did Simon have to learn, each one leading to a +deeper humility. "Less of self and more of thee--none of self and all +of thee." Thus we reach the last night with its sad fall. The denial +of Peter was a terrible disappointment. We would have said it was +impossible, as Peter himself said. He was brave as a lion. He loved +Jesus deeply and truly. He had received the name of the rock. For +three years he had been under the teaching of Jesus, and he had been +received into special honor and favor among the apostles. He had been +faithfully forewarned of his danger, and we say, "Forewarned is +forearmed." Yet in spite of all, this bravest, most favored disciple, +this man of rock, fell most ignominiously, at a time, too, when +friendship to his Master ought to have made him truest and most loyal. + +It was the loving gentleness of Jesus that saved him. What intense +pain there must have been in the heart of the Master when, after +hearing Peter's denial, he turned and looked at Peter! + + "I think the look of Christ might seem to say,-- + 'Thou Peter! art thou then a common stone + Which I at last must break my heart upon, + For all God's charge to his high angels may + Guard my foot better? Did I yesterday + Wash thy feet, my beloved, that they should run + Quick to deny me 'neath the morning sun? + And do thy kisses like the rest betray? + The cock crows coldly. Go and manifest + A late contrition, but no bootless fear! + For when thy final need is dreariest, + Thou shalt not be denied, as I am here. + My voice, to God and angels, shall attest, + "Because I know this man, let him be clear."'" + +It was after this look of wondrous love that Peter went out and wept +bitterly. At last he remembered. It seemed too late, but it was not +too late. The heart of Jesus was not closed against him, and he rose +from his fall a new man. + +What place had the denial in the story of the training of Peter? It +had a very important place. Up to that last night, there was still a +grave blemish in Simon's character. His self-confidence was an element +of weakness. Perhaps there was no other way in which this fault could +be cured but by allowing him to fall. We know at least that, in the +bitter experience of denial, with its solemn repenting, Peter lost his +weakness. He came from his penitence a new man. At last he was +disinthralled. He had learned the lesson of humility. It was never +again possible for him to deny his Lord. A little later, after a +heart-searching question thrice repeated, he was restored and +recommissioned--"Feed my lambs; feed my sheep." + +So the work was completed; the vision of the new man had been realized. +Simon had become Cephas. It had been a long and costly process, but +neither too long nor too costly. While the marble was wasting, the +image was growing. + +You say it was a great price that Simon had to pay to be fashioned into +Peter. You ask whether it was worth while, whether it would not have +been quite as well for him if he had remained the plain, obscure +fisherman he was when Jesus first found him. Then he would have been +only a fisherman, and after living among his neighbors for his allotted +years, he would have had a quiet funeral one day, and would have been +laid to rest beside the sea. As it was, he had a life of poverty and +toil and hard service. It took a great deal of severe discipline to +make out of him the strong, firm man of rock that Jesus set out to +produce in him. But who will say to-day that it was not worth while? +The splendid Christian manhood of Peter has been now for nineteen +centuries before the eyes of the world as a type of character which +Christian men should emulate--a vision of life whose influence has +touched millions with its inspiration. The price which had to be paid +to attain this nobleness of character and this vastness of holy +influence was not too great. + +But how about ourselves? It may be quite as hard for some of us to be +made into the image of beauty and strength which the Master has set for +us. It may require that we shall pass through experiences of loss, +trial, temptation, and sorrow. Life's great lessons are very long, and +cannot be learned in a day, nor can they be learned easily. But life, +at whatever cost, is worth while. It is worth while for the gold to +pass through the fire to be made pure and clean. It is worth while for +the gem to endure the hard processes necessary to prepare it for +shining in its dazzling splendor. It is worth while for a life to +submit to whatever of severe discipline may be required to bring out in +it the likeness of the Master, and to fit it for noble doing and +serving. Poets are said to learn in suffering what they teach in song. +If only one line of noble, inspiring, uplifting song is sung into the +world's air, and started on a world-wide mission of blessing, no price +paid for the privilege is too much to pay. David had to suffer a great +deal to be able to write the Twenty-Third Psalm, but he does not now +think that psalm cost him too much. William Canton writes:-- + + "A man lived fifty years--joy dashed with tears; + Loved, toiled; had wife and child, and lost them; died; + And left of all his long life's work one little song. + That lasted--naught beside. + + Like the monk Felix's bird, that song was heard; + Doubt prayed, Faith soared. Death smiled itself to sleep; + That song saved souls. You say the man paid stiffly? Nay. + God paid--and thought it cheap." + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +JESUS AND THOMAS. + + I have a life in Christ to live, + I have a death in Christ to die; + And must I wait till science give + All doubts a full reply? + + Nay, rather while the sea of doubt + Is raging wildly round about, + Questioning of life and death and sin, + Let me but creep within + Thy fold, O Christ! and at thy feet + Take but the lowest seat. + PRINCIPAL SHAIRP. + + +There is no record of the beginning of the friendship of Jesus and +Thomas. We do not know when Thomas became a disciple, nor what first +drew him to Jesus. Did a friend bring him? Did he learn of the new +rabbi through the fame of him that went everywhere, and then come to +him without solicitation? Did he hear him speak one day, and find +himself drawn to him by the power of his gracious words? Or did Jesus +seek him out in his home or at his work, and call him to be a follower? + +We do not know. The manner of his coming is veiled in obscurity. The +first mention of his name is in the list of the Twelve. As the +apostles were chosen from the much larger company of those who were +already disciples, Thomas must have been a follower of Jesus before he +was an apostle. He and Jesus had been friends for some time, and there +is evidence that the friendship was a very close and tender one. Even +in the scant material available for the making up of the story, we find +evidence in Thomas of strong loyalty and unwavering devotion, and in +Jesus of marvellous patience and gentleness toward his disciple. + +We have in the New Testament many wonderfully lifelike portraits. +Occurring again and again, they are always easily recognizable. In +every mention of Peter, for example, the man is indubitably the same. +He is always active, speaking or acting; not always wisely, but in +every case characteristically,--impetuous, self-confident, rash, yet +ever warm-hearted. We would know him unmistakably in every incident in +which he appears, even if his name were not given. John, too, whenever +we see him, is always the same,--reverent, quiet, affectionate, +trustful, the disciple of love. Andrew appears only a few times, but +in each of these cases he is engaged in the same way,--bringing some +one to Jesus. Mary of Bethany comes into the story on only three +occasions; but always we see her in the same attitude,--at Jesus' +feet,--while Martha is ever active in her serving. + +The character of Thomas also is sketched in a very striking way. There +are but three incidents in which this apostle appears; but in all of +these the portrait is the same, and is so clear that even Peter's +character is scarcely better known than that of Thomas. He always +looks at the dark side. We think of him as the doubter; but his doubt +is not of the flippant kind which reveals lack of reverence, ofttimes +ignorance and lack of earnest thought; it is rather a constitutional +tendency to question, and to wait for proof which would satisfy the +senses, than a disposition to deny the facts of Christianity. Thomas +was ready to believe, glad to believe, when the proof was sufficient to +convince him. Then all the while he was ardently a true and devoted +friend of Jesus, attached to him, and ready to follow him even to death. + +The first incident in which Thomas appears is in connection with the +death of Lazarus. Jesus had now gone beyond the Jordan with his +disciples. The Jews had sought to kill him; and he escaped from their +hands, and went away for safety. When news of the sickness of Lazarus +came, Jesus waited two days, and then said to his disciples, "Let us go +into Judea again." The disciples reminded him of the hatred of the +Jews, and of their recent attempts to kill him. They thought that he +ought not to venture back again into the danger, even for the sake of +carrying comfort to the sorrowing Bethany household. Jesus answered +with a little parable about one's security while walking during the +day. The meaning of the parable was that he had not yet reached the +end of his day, and therefore could safely continue the work which had +been given him to do. Every man doing God's will is immortal till the +work is done. Jesus then announced to his disciples that Lazarus was +dead, and that he was going to waken him. + +It is at this point that Thomas appears. He said to his +fellow-disciples, "Let us also go, that we may die with him." He +looked only at the dark side. He took it for granted that if Jesus +returned to Judea he would be killed. He forgot for the time the +divine power of Jesus, and the divine protection which sheltered him +while he was doing the Father's will. He failed to understand the +words Jesus had just spoken about his security until the hours of his +day were finished. He remembered only the bitterness which the Jews +had shown toward Jesus, and their determination to destroy his life. +He had no hope that if Jesus returned they would not carry out their +wicked purpose. There was no blue in the sky for him. He saw only +darkness. + +Thomas represents a class of good people who are found in every +community. They see only the sad side of life. No stars shine through +their cypress-trees. In the time of danger they forget that there are +divine refuges into which they may flee and be safe. They know the +promises, and often quote them to others; but when trouble comes upon +them, all these words of God fade out of their minds. In sorrow they +fail to receive any true and substantial comfort from the Scriptures. +Hope dies in their hearts when the shadows gather about them. They +yield to discouragement, and the darkness blots out every star in their +sky. Whatever the trouble may be that comes into their life, they see +the trouble only, and fail to perceive the bright light in the cloud. + +This habit of mind adds much to life's hardness. Every burden is +heavier because of the sad heart that beats under it. Every pain is +keener because of the dispiriting which it brings with it. Every +sorrow is made darker by the hopelessness with which it is endured. +Every care is magnified, and the sweetness of every pleasure is +lessened, by this pessimistic tendency. The beauty of the world loses +half its charm in the eyes which see all things in the hue of +despondent feeling. Slightest fears become terrors, and smallest +trials grow into great misfortunes. Our heart makes our world for us; +and if the heart be without hope and cheer, the world is always dark. +We find in life just what we have the capacity to find. One who is +color-blind sees no loveliness in nature. One who has no music in his +soul hears no harmonies anywhere. When fear sits regnant on the +throne, life is full of alarms. + +On the other hand, if the heart be full of hope, every joy is doubled, +and half of every trouble vanishes. There are sorrows, but they are +comforted. There are bitter cups, but the bitterness is sweetened. +There are heavy burdens, but the songful spirit lightens them. There +are dangers, but cheerful courage robs them of terror. All the world +is brighter when the light of hope shines within. + +But we have read only half the story of the fear of Thomas. He saw +only danger in the Master's return to Judea. "The Jews will kill him; +he will go back to certain death," he said. But Thomas would not +forsake Jesus, though he was going straight to martyrdom. "Let us also +go, that we may die with him." Thus, mingled with his fear, was a +noble and heroic love for Jesus. The hopelessness of Thomas as he +thought of Jesus going to Bethany makes his devotion and his cleaving +to him all the braver and nobler. He was sure it was a walk to death, +but he faltered not in his loyalty. + +This is a noble spirit in Thomas, which we would do well to emulate. +It is the true soldier spirit. Its devotion to Christ is absolute, and +its following unconditional. It has only one motive,--love; and one +rule,--obedience. It is not influenced by any question of +consequences; but though it be to certain death, it hesitates not. +This is the kind of discipleship which the Master demands. He who +loves father or mother more than him is not worthy of him. He who +hates not his own life cannot be his disciple. A follower of Jesus +must be ready and willing to follow him to his cross. Thomas proved +his friendship for his Master by a noble heroism. It is the highest +test of courage to go forward unfalteringly in the way of duty when one +sees only personal loss and sacrifice as the result. The soldier who +trembles, and whose face whitens from constitutional physical fear, and +who yet marches steadily into the battle, is braver far than the +soldier who without a tremor presses into the engagement. + +The second time at which Thomas appears is in the upper room, after the +Holy Supper had been eaten. Jesus had spoken of the Father's house, +and had said that he was going away to prepare a place for his +disciples, and that then he would come again to receive them unto +himself. Thomas could not understand the Master's meaning, and said, +"Lord, we know not whither thou goest; and how can we know the way?" +He would not say he believed until he saw for himself. That is all +that his question in the upper room meant--he wished the Master to make +the great teaching a little plainer. It were well if more Christians +insisted on finding the ground of their faith, the reasons why they are +Christians. Their faith would then be stronger, and less easily +shaken. When trouble comes, or any testing, it would continue firm and +unmoved, because it rests on the rock of divine truth. + +The last incident in the story of Thomas is after the resurrection. +The first evening the apostles met in the upper room to talk over the +strange things which had occurred that day. For some reason Thomas was +not at this meeting. We may infer that his melancholy temperament led +him to absent himself. He had loved Jesus deeply, and his sorrow was +very great. There had been rumors all day of Christ's resurrection, +but Thomas put no confidence in these. Perhaps his despondent +disposition made him unsocial, and kept him from meeting with the other +apostles, even to weep with them. + +That evening Jesus entered through the closed doors, and stood in the +midst of the disciples, and greeted them as he had done so often +before, "Peace be unto you!" They told Thomas afterwards that they had +seen the Lord. But he refused to believe them; that is, he doubted the +reality of what they thought they had seen. He said that they had been +deceived; and he asserted that he must not only see for himself, but +must have the opportunity of subjecting the evidence to the severest +test. He must see the print of the nails, and must also be permitted +to put his finger into the place. + +It is instructive to think of what this doubting disposition of Thomas +cost him. First, it kept him from the meeting of the disciples that +evening, when all the others came together. He shut himself up with +his gloom and sadness. His grief was hopeless, and he would not seek +comfort. The consequence was, that when Jesus entered the room, and +showed himself to his friends, Thomas missed the revealing which gave +them such unspeakable gladness. From that hour their sorrow was +changed to joy; but for the whole of another week Thomas remained in +the darkness in which the crucifixion had infolded him. + +Doubt is always costly. It shuts out heavenly comfort. There are many +Christian people who, especially in the first shock of sorrow, have an +experience similar to that of Thomas. They shut themselves up with +their grief, and refuse to accept the comfort of the gospel of Christ. +They turn away their ears from the voices of love which speak to them +out of the Bible, and will not receive the divine consolations. The +light shines all about them; but they close doors and windows, and keep +it from entering the darkened chamber where they sit. The music of +peace floats on the air in sweet, entrancing strains, but no gentle +note finds its way to their hearts. + +Too many Christian mourners fail to find comfort in their sorrow. They +believe the great truths of Christianity, that Jesus died for them and +rose again; but their faith fails them for the time in the hour of +sorest distress. Meanwhile they walk in darkness as Thomas did. On +the other hand, those who accept, and let into their hearts the great +truths of Christ's resurrection and the immortal life in Christ, feel +the pain of parting no less sorely, but they find abundant consolation +in the hope of eternal life for those whom they have lost for a time. + +We have an illustration of the deep, tender, patient, and wise +friendship of Jesus for Thomas in the way he treated this doubt of his +apostle. He did not say that if Thomas could not believe the witness +of the apostles to his resurrection he must remain in the darkness +which his unbelief had made for him. He treated his doubt with +exceeding gentleness, as a skilful physician would deal with a +dangerous wound. He was in no haste. A full week passed before he did +anything. During those days the sad heart had time to react, to +recover something of its self-poise. Thomas still persisted in his +refusal to believe, but when a week had gone he found his way with the +others to their meeting. Perhaps their belief in the Lord's +resurrection made such a change in them, so brightened and transformed +them, that Thomas grew less positive in his unbelief as he saw them day +after day. At least he was ready now to be convinced. He wanted to +believe. + +That night Jesus came again into the room, the doors being shut, and +standing in the midst of his friends, breathed again upon them his +benediction of peace. Then he turned to Thomas; and holding out his +hands, with the print of the nails in them, he asked him to put the +evidences of his resurrection to the very tests he had said he must +make before he could believe. Now Thomas was convinced. He did not +make the tests he had insisted that he must make. There was no need +for it. To look into the face of Jesus, to hear his voice, and to see +the prints of the nails in his hands, was evidence enough even for +Thomas. All his doubts were swept away. Falling at the Master's feet, +he exclaimed, "My Lord and my God!" + +Thus the gentleness of Jesus in dealing with his doubts saved Thomas +from being an unbeliever. It is a great thing to have a wise and +faithful friend when one is passing through an experience of doubt. +Many persons are only confirmed in their scepticism by the well-meant +but unwise efforts that are made to convince them of the truth +concerning which they doubt. It is not argument that they need, but +the patience of love, which waits in silence till the right time comes +for words, and which then speaks but little. Thomas was convinced, not +by words, but by seeing the proofs of Christ's love in the prints of +the nails. + +We may be glad now that Thomas was hard to convince of the truth of +Christ's resurrection. It makes the proofs more indubitable to us that +one even of the apostles refused at first to believe, and yet at length +was led into triumphant faith. If all the apostles had believed +easily, there would have been no comfort in the gospel for those who +find it hard to believe, and yet who sincerely want to believe. The +fact that one doubted, and even refused to accept the witness of his +fellow-apostles, and then at length was led into clear, strong faith, +forever teaches that doubt is not hopeless. Ofttimes it may be but a +process in the development of faith. + +The story of Thomas shows, too, that there may be honest doubt. While +he doubted, he yet loved; perhaps no other one of the apostles loved +Jesus more than did Thomas. He never made any such bold confession as +Peter did, but neither did he ever deny Christ. Thomas has been a +comfort to many because he has shown them that they can be true +Christians, true lovers of Christ, and yet not be able to boast of +their assurance of faith. + +No doubt faith is better than questioning, but there may be honest +questioning which yet is intensely loyal to Christ. Questioning, too, +which is eager to find the truth and rest on the rock, may be better +than easy believing, that takes no pains to know the reason of the hope +it cherishes, and lightly recites the noble articles of a creed it has +never seriously studied. Tennyson, in "In Memoriam," tells the story +of a faith that grew strong through its doubting. + + You say, but with no touch of scorn, + Sweet-hearted, you, whose light-blue eyes + Are tender over drowning flies, + You tell me, doubt is devil-born. + + I know not: one indeed I knew + In many a subtle question versed, + Who touched a jarring lyre at first, + But ever strove to make it true: + + Perplext in faith, but pure in deeds, + At last he beat his music out. + There lives more faith in honest doubt, + Believe me, than in half the creeds. + + He fought his doubts and gathered strength; + He would not make his judgment blind, + He faced the spectres of the mind + And laid them: thus he came at length + + To find a stronger faith his own; + And power was with him in the night, + Which makes the darkness and the light, + And dwells not in the light alone, + + But in the darkness and the cloud, + As over Sinai's peaks of old, + While Israel made their gods of gold, + Although the trumpet blew so loud. + + +That which saved Thomas was his deep, strong friendship for Christ. +"The characteristic of Thomas," says Ian Maclaren, "is not that he +doubted,--that were an easy passport to religion,--but that he doubted +and loved. His doubt was the measure of his love; his doubt was +swallowed up in love." If friendship for Christ be loyal and true, we +need not look upon questioning as disloyalty; it may be but love +finding the way up the rugged mountain-side to the sunlit summit of a +glorious faith. There is a scepticism whose face is toward wintriness +and death; but there is a doubt which is looking toward the sun and +toward all blessedness. + +Thomas teaches us that one may look on the dark side and yet be a +Christian, an ardent lover of Jesus, ready to die for him. But we must +admit that this is not the best way to live. No one would say that +Thomas was the ideal among the apostles, that his character was the +most beautiful, his life the noblest and the best. Faith is better +than doubt, and confidence better than questioning. It is better to be +a sunny Christian, rejoicing, songful, happy, than a sad, gloomy, +despondent Christian. It makes one's own life sweeter and more +beautiful. Then it makes others happier. A gloomy Christian casts +dark shadows wherever he goes; a sunny Christian is a benediction to +every life he touches. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +JESUS' UNREQUITED FRIENDSHIPS. + + "Friend, my feet bleed. + Open thy door to me and comfort me." + I will not open; trouble me no more. + Go on thy way footsore; + I will not rise and open unto thee. + "Then it is nothing to thee? Open, see + Who stands to plead with thee. + Open, lest I should pass thee by, and thou + One day entreat my face + And howl for grace, + And I be deaf as thou art now. + Open to me." + CHRISTINA G. ROSSETTI. + + +There is a great deal of unrequited love in this world. There are +hearts that love with all the strength of purest and holiest affection, +whose love seems to meet no requital. There is much unrequited +mother-love and father-love. Parents live for their children. In +helpless infancy they begin to pour out their affection on them. They +toil for them, suffer for them, deny themselves to provide comforts for +them, bear their burdens, watch beside them when they are sick, pray +for them, and teach them. Parent-love is likest God's love of all +earthly affections. It is one of the things in humanity which at its +best seems to have come from the Fall almost unimpaired. Much +parent-love is worthily honored and fittingly requited. Few things in +this world are more beautiful than the devotion of children to parents +which one sees in some homes. But not always is there such return. +Too often is this almost divine love unrequited. + +Much philanthropic love also is unrequited. There are men who spend +all their life in doing good, and then meet no return. Men have served +their country with loyalty and disinterestedness, and have received no +reward--perhaps have been left to suffering, and have died in poverty, +neglected and forgotten; too often have lain in prison, or been put to +death, or exiled by the country which was indebted to their patriotism +and loyal service for much of its glory and greatness. Many hearts +break because of men's ingratitude. + +Jesus was the world's greatest benefactor. No other man ever loved the +race, or could have loved it, as he did. He was the divine messenger +who came to save the world. His whole life was a revealing of love. +It was the love of God too,--a love of infinite depth and strength and +tenderness, and not any merely human love, however rich and faithful it +might be, that was manifested in Jesus Christ. Yet much of his +wonderful love was unrequited. "He was in the world, and the world was +made by him, and the world knew him not. He came unto his own, and his +own received him not." A few individuals recognized him and accepted +his love; but the great masses of the people paid him no heed, saw no +beauty in him, rejected the blessings he bore and proffered to all, and +let his love waste itself in unavailing yearnings and beseechings. +Then one cruel day they nailed him on a cross, thinking to quench the +affection of his mighty heart. + +There are many illustrations of the unrequiting of the holy friendship +of Jesus. The treatment he received at Nazareth was one instance. He +had been brought up among the people. They had seen his beautiful life +during the thirty years he had lived in the village. They had known +him as a child when he played in their streets. They had known him as +a youth and young man in his noble strength. They had known him as a +carpenter when day after day he wrought among them in humble toil. + +It is interesting to think of the sinless life of Jesus all these +years. There was no halo about his head but the shining of manly +character. There were no miracles wrought by his hands but the +miracles of duty, faithful service, and gentle kindness. Yet we cannot +doubt that his life in Nazareth was one of rare grace and beauty, +marked by perfect unselfishness and great helpfulness. + +By and by he went away from Nazareth to begin his public ministry as +the Messiah. From that time the people saw him no more. The carpenter +shop was closed, and the tools lay unused on the bench. The familiar +form appeared no more on the streets. A year or more passed, and one +day he came back to visit his old neighbors. He stayed a little while, +and on the Sabbath was at the village church as had been his wont when +his home was at Nazareth. When the opportunity was given him, he +unrolled the Book of Isaiah, and read the passage which tells of the +anointing of the Messiah, and gives the wonderful outline of his +ministry. When he had finished the reading, he told the people that +this prophecy was now fulfilled in their ears. That is, he said that +he was the Messiah whose anointing and work the prophet had foretold. +For a time the people listened spellbound to his gracious words, and +then they began to grow angry, that he whom they knew as the carpenter +of their village should make such an astounding claim. They rose up in +wrath, thrust him out of the synagogue, and would have hurled him over +the precipice had he not eluded them and gone on his way. + +He had come to them in love, bearing rich blessings; but they drove him +away with the blessings. He had come to heal their sick, to cure their +blind and lame, to cleanse their lepers, to comfort their sorrowing +ones; but he had to go away and leave these works of mercy unwrought, +while the sufferers continued to bear their burdens. His friendship +for his old neighbors was unrequited. + +Another instance of unrequited friendship in the life of Jesus was in +the case of the rich young man who came to him. He had many excellent +traits of character, and was also an earnest seeker after the truth. +We are distinctly told that Jesus loved him. Thus he belongs with +Martha and Mary and Lazarus, of whom the same was said. But here, +again, the love was unrequited. The young man was deeply interested in +Jesus, and wanted to go with him; but he could not pay the price, and +turned and went away. + +It is interesting to think what might have been the result if he had +chosen Christ and gone with him. He might have occupied an important +place in the early church, and his name might have lived through all +future generations. But he loved his money too much to give it up for +Christ, and rejected the way of the cross marked out for him. He +refused the friendship of Jesus, and thus threw away all that was best +in life. In shutting love out of his heart, he shut himself out from +love. + +Of all the examples of unrequited friendship in the story of Jesus, +that of Judas is the saddest. We do not know the beginning of the +story of his discipleship, when Judas first came to Jesus, or who +brought him. But he must have been a follower some time before he was +chosen to be an apostle. Jesus thought over the names of those who had +left all to be with him. Then after a night of prayer he chose twelve +of these to be his special messengers and witnesses. He loved them +all, and took them into very close relations. + +Think what a privilege it was for these men to live with Jesus. They +heard all his words. They saw every phase of his life. Some friends +it is better not to know too intimately. They are not as good in +private as they are in public. Their life does not bear too close +inspection. We discover in them dispositions, habits, ways, tempers, +feelings, motives, which dim the lustre we see in them at greater +distance. Intimacy weakens the friendship. But, on the other hand, +there are those who, the more we see of their private life, the more we +love them. Close association reveals loveliness of character, fineness +of spirit, richness of heart, sweetness of disposition--habits, +feelings, tempers, noble self-denials, which add to the attractiveness +of the life and the charm of our friend's personality. We may be sure +that intimacy with Jesus only made him appear all the more winning and +beautiful to his friends. Judas lived in the warmth of this wondrous +love, under the influence of this gracious personality, month after +month. He witnessed the pure and holy life of Jesus in all its +manifold phases, heard his words, and saw his works. Doubtless, too, +in his individual relation with the Master, he received many marks of +affection and personal friendship. + +A careful reading of the Gospels shows that Judas was frequently warned +of the very sin which in the end wrought his ruin. Continually Jesus +spoke of the danger of covetousness. In the Sermon on the Mount he +exhorted his disciples to lay up their treasure, not upon earth, but in +heaven, and said that no one could serve God and mammon. It was just +this that Judas was trying to do. In more than one parable the danger +of riches was emphasized. Can we doubt that in all these reiterations +and warnings on the one subject, Judas was in the Master's mind? He +was trying in the faithfulness of loyal friendship to save him from the +sin which was imperilling his very life. + +But Judas resisted all the mighty love of Christ. It made no +impression upon him; he was unaffected by it. In his heart there grew +on meanwhile, unchecked, unhindered, his terrible greed for money. +First it made him a thief. The money given to Jesus by his friends to +provide for his wants, or to use for the poor, Judas, who was the +treasurer, began at length to purloin for himself. This was the first +step. The next was the selling of his Master for thirty pieces of +silver. This was a more fearful fruit of his nourished greed than the +purloining was. It is bad enough to steal. It is a base form of +stealing which robs a church treasury as Judas did. But to take money +as the price of betraying a friend--could any sin be baser? Could any +crime be blacker than that? To take money as the price of betraying a +friend in whose confidence one has lived for years, at whose table one +has eaten day after day, in the blessing of whose friendship one has +rested for months and years--are there words black enough to paint the +infamy of such a deed? + +All the participators in the crime of that Good Friday wear a peculiar +brand of infamy as they are portrayed on the pages of history; but +among them all, the most despicable, the one whose name bears the +deepest infamy, is Judas, an apostle turned traitor, for a few +miserable coins betraying his best friend into the hands of malignant +foes. + +This is the outcome of the friendship of Jesus for Judas; this was the +fruit of those years of affection, cherishing, patient teaching. Think +what Judas might have been. He was chosen and called to be an apostle. +There was no reason in the heart of Jesus why Judas might not have been +true and worthy. Sin is not God's plan for any life. Treachery and +infamy were not in God's purpose for Judas. Jesus would not have +chosen him for one of the Twelve if it had not been possible for him to +be a good and true man. Judas fell because he had never altogether +surrendered himself to Christ. He tried to serve God and mammon; but +both could not stay in his heart, and instead of driving out mammon, +mammon drove out Christ. + +This suggests to us what a battlefield the human heart sometimes is--a +Waterloo where destinies are settled. God or mammon--which? That is +the question every soul must answer. How goes the battle in your soul? +Who is winning on your field--Christ or money? Christ or pleasure? +Christ or sin? Christ or self? Judas lost the battle; the Devil won. + +A picture in Brussels represents Judas wandering about the night after +the betrayal. By chance he comes upon the workmen who have been +preparing the cross for Jesus. A fire burning close by throws its +weird light on the faces of the men who are now sleeping. The face of +Judas is somewhat in the shade; but one sees on it remorse and agony, +as the traitor's eyes fall upon the cross and the tools which have been +used in making it,--the cross to which his treason had doomed his +friend. But though suffering in the torments of a guilty conscience, +he still tightly clutches his money-bag as he hurries on into the +night. The picture tells the story of the fruit of Judas's sin,--the +money-bag, with eighteen dollars and sixty cents in it, and even that +soon to be cast away in the madness of despair. + +Unrequited friendship! Yes; and in shutting out that blessed +friendship, Judas shut out hope. Longfellow puts into his mouth the +despairing words:-- + + "Lost, lost, forever lost! I have betrayed + The innocent blood ... + * * * + Too late! too late! I shall not see him more + Among the living. That sweet, patient face + Will nevermore rebuke me, nor those lips + Repeat the words, 'One of you shall betray me.'" + +The great lesson from all this is the peril of rejecting the friendship +of Jesus Christ. In his friendship is the only way to salvation, the +only way of obtaining eternal life. He calls men to come to him, to +follow him, to be his friends; and thus alone can they come unto God, +and be received into his family. + +There is something appalling in the revealing which this truth +teaches,--the power each soul possesses of shutting out all the love of +God, of resisting the infinite blessing of the friendship of Christ. +It is possible for us to be near to Christ through all our life, with +his grace flowing about us like an ocean, and yet to have a heart that +remains unblessed by divine love. We may make God's love in vain, +wasted, as sunshine is wasted that falls upon desert sands, so far as +we are concerned. The love that we do not requite with love, that does +not get into our heart to warm, soften, and enrich it, and to mellow +and bless our life, is love poured out in vain. It is made in vain by +our unbelief. We may make even the dying of Jesus for us in vain,--a +waste of precious life, so far as we are concerned. It is in vain for +us that Jesus died if we do not let his love into our heart. + +Ofttimes the unrequiting of human love makes the heart bitter. When +holy friendship has been despised, rejected, and cast away, when one +has loved, suffered, and sacrificed in vain, receiving only ingratitude +and wrong in return for love's most sacred gifts freely lavished, the +danger is that the heart may lose its sweetness, and grow cold, hard, +and misanthropic. But not thus was the heart of Jesus affected by the +unrequiting of his love and friendship. One Judas in the life of most +men would have ended the whole career of generous kindness, drying up +the fountains of affection, thus robbing those who would come after of +the wealth of tenderness which ought to have been theirs. But through +all the unrequiting and resisting of its love, the heart of Jesus still +remained gentle as a mother's, rich in its power to love, and sweet in +its spirit. + +This is one of the great problems of true living,--how to keep the +heart warm, gentle, compassionate, kind, full of affection's best and +truest helpfulness, even amid life's hardest experiences. We cannot +live and not at some time suffer wrong. We will meet injustice, +however justly we ourselves may live. We will find a return of +ingratitude many a time when we have done our best for others. Favors +rendered are too easily forgotten by many people. There are few of us +who do not remember helping others in time of great need and distress, +only to lose their friendship in the end, perhaps, as a consequence of +our serving them in their need. Sometimes the only return for costly +kindness is cruel unkindness. + +It is easy to allow such unrequiting, such ill treatment of love, to +embitter the fountain of the heart's affection; but this would be to +miss the true end of living, which is to get good and not evil to +ourselves from every experience through which we pass. No ingratitude, +injustice, or unworthiness in those to whom we try to do good, should +ever be allowed to turn love's sweetness into bitterness in us. Like +fresh-water springs beside the sea, over which the brackish tide flows, +but which when the bitter waters have receded are found sweet as ever, +so should our hearts remain amid all experiences of love's unrequiting, +ever sweet, thoughtful, unselfish, and generous. + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +JESUS AND THE BETHANY SISTERS. + + Her eyes are homes of silent prayer, + Nor other thought her mind admits + But, he was dead, and there he sits, + And he that brought him back is there. + + Then one deep love doth supersede + All other, when her ardent gaze + Roves from the living brother's face, + And rests upon the Life indeed. + TENNYSON. + + +The story of Jesus and the Bethany home is intensely interesting. +Every thoughtful Christian has a feeling of gratitude in his heart when +he remembers how much that home added to the comfort of the Master by +means of the hospitality, the shelter, and the love it gave to him. +One of the legends of Brittany tells us that on the day of Christ's +crucifixion, as he was on his way to his cross, a bird, pitying the +weary sufferer bearing his heavy burden, flew down, and plucked away +one of the thorns that pierced his brow. As it did so, the blood +spurted out after the thorn, and splashed the breast of the bird. Ever +since that day the bird has had a splash of red on its bosom, whence it +is called robin-redbreast. Certainly the love of the Bethany home drew +from the breast of Jesus many a thorn, and blessed his heart with many +a joy. + +We have three glimpses within the doors of this home when the loved +guest was there. The first shows us the Master and his disciples one +day entering the village. It was Martha who received him. Martha was +the mistress of the house. "She had a sister called Mary," a younger +sister. + +Then we have a picture as if some one had photographed the scene. We +see Mary drawing up a low stool, and sitting down at the Master's feet +to listen to his words. We see Martha hurrying about the house, busy +preparing a meal for the visitors who had come in suddenly. This was a +proper thing to do; it was needful that hospitality be shown. There is +a word in the record, however, which tells us that Martha was not +altogether serene as she went about her work. "Martha was cumbered +about much serving." A marginal reading gives, "was distracted." + +Perhaps there are many modern Christian housekeepers who would be +somewhat cumbered, or distracted too, if thirteen hungry men dropped in +suddenly some day, and they had to entertain them, preparing them a +meal. Still, the lesson unmistakably is that Martha should not have +been fretted; that she should have kept sweet amid all the pressure of +work that so burdened her. + +It was not quite right for her to show her impatience with Mary as she +did. Coming into the room, flushed and excited, and seeing Mary +sitting quietly and unconcernedly at the Rabbi's feet, drinking in his +words, she appealed to Jesus, "Lord, dost thou not care that my sister +did leave me to serve alone? bid her therefore that she help me." + +I am not sure that Martha was wrong or unreasonable in thinking that +Mary should have helped her. Jesus did not say she was wrong; he only +reminded Martha that she ought not to let things fret and vex her. +"Martha, Martha, thou art anxious and troubled about many things." It +was not her serving that he reproved, but the fret that she allowed to +creep into her heart. + +The lesson is, that however heavy our burdens may be, however hurried +or pressed we may be, we should always keep the peace of Christ in our +heart. This is one of the problems of Christian living,--not to live +without cares, which is impossible, but to keep quiet and sweet in the +midst of the most cumbering care. + +At the second mention of the Bethany home there is sore distress in it. +A beloved one is very sick, sick unto death. Few homes are entire +strangers to the experience of those days when the sufferer lay in the +burning fever. Love ministered and prayed and waited. Jesus was far +away, but word was sent to him. He came at length, but seemed to have +come too late. "If thou hadst been here!" the sisters said, each +separately, when they met the Master. But we see now the finished +providence, not the mere fragment of it which the sisters saw; and we +know he came at the right time. He comforted the mourners, and then he +blotted out the sorrow, bringing back joy to the home.[1] + +The third picture of this home shows us a festal scene. A dinner was +given in honor of Jesus. It was only a few days before his death. +Here, again, the sisters appear, each true to her own character. +Martha is serving, as she always is; and again Mary is at Jesus' feet. +This time she is showing her wonderful love for the friend who has done +so much for her. The ointment she pours upon him is an emblem of her +heart's pure affection. + +Mary's act was very beautiful. Love was the motive. Without love no +service, however great or costly, is of any value in heaven's sight. +The world may applaud, but angels turn away with indifference when love +is lacking. "If I bestow all my goods to feed the poor ... but have +not love, it profiteth me nothing." But love makes the smallest deed +radiant as angel ministry. We need not try doing things for Christ +until we love him. It would be like putting rootless rods in a +garden-bed, expecting them to grow into blossoming plants. Love must +be the root. It was easy for Mary to bring her alabaster box, for her +heart was full of overmastering love. + +Service is the fruit of love. It is not all of its fruit. Character +is part too. If we love Christ, we will have Christ's beauty in our +soul. Mary grew wondrously gentle and lovely as Christ's words entered +her heart. Friendship with Christ makes us like Christ. But there +will be service too. Love is like light, it cannot be hid. It cannot +be shut up in the heart. It will not be imprisoned and restrained. It +will live and speak and act. Love in the heart of Jesus brought him +from heaven down to earth to be the lost world's Redeemer. Love in his +apostles took them to the ends of the earth to tell the gospel story to +the perishing. + +It is not enough to try to hew and fashion a character into the beauty +of holiness, until every feature of the image of Christ shines in the +life, as the sculptor shapes the marble into the form of his vision. +The most radiant spiritual beauty does not make one a complete +Christian. It takes service to fill up the measure of the stature of +Christ. The young man said he had kept all the commandments from his +youth. "One thing thou lackest," said the Master; "sell all that thou +hast, and give to the poor." Service of love was needed to make that +morally exemplary life complete. + +The lesson is needed by many Christian people. They are good, with +blameless life, flawless character, consistent conduct; but they lack +one thing,--service. Love for Christ should always serve. There is a +story of a friar who was eager to win the favor of God, and set to work +to illuminate the pages of the Apocalypse, after the custom of his +time. He became so absorbed in his delightful occupation that he +neglected the poor and the sick who were suffering and dying in the +plague. He came at last, in the course of his work, to the painting of +the face of his Lord in the glory of his second coming; but his hand +had lost its skill. He wondered why it was, and realized that it was +because, in his eagerness to paint his pictures, he had neglected his +duty of serving. + +Rebuffed and humiliated by the discovery, the friar drew his cowl over +his head, laid aside his brushes, and went down among the sick and +dying to minister to their needs. He wrought on, untiringly, until he +himself was smitten with the fatal plague. Then he tottered back to +his cell and to his easel, to finish his loved work before he died. He +knelt in prayer to ask help, when, lo! he saw that an angel's hand had +completed the picture of the glorified Lord, and in a manner far +surpassing human skill. + +It is only a legend, but its lesson is well worthy our serious thought. +Too many people in their life as Christians, while they strive to excel +in character, in conduct, and in the beautiful graces of disposition, +and to do their work among men faithfully, are forgetting meanwhile the +law of love which bids every follower of Christ go about doing good as +the Master did. To be a Christian is far more than to be honest, +truthful, sober, industrious, and decorous; it is also to be a +cross-bearer after Jesus; to love men, and to serve them. Ofttimes it +is to leave your fine room, your favorite work, your delightful +companionship, your pet self-indulgence, and to go out among the needy, +the suffering, the sinning, to try to do them good. The monk could not +paint the face of the Lord while he was neglecting those who needed his +ministrations and went unhelped because he came not. Nor can any +Christian paint the face of the Master in its full beauty on his soul +while he is neglecting any service of love. + +We may follow a little the story of what happened after Mary brought +her alabaster box. Some of the disciples of Jesus were angry. There +always are some who find fault with the way other people show their +love for Christ. It is so even in Christian churches. One member +criticises what another does, or the way he does it. It will be +remembered that it was Judas who began this blaming of Mary. He said +the ointment would better have been sold, and the proceeds given to the +poor. St. John tells us very sadly the real motive of this pious +complaining; not that Judas cared for the poor, but that he was a +thief, and purloined the money given for the poor. + +Jesus came to Mary's defence very promptly, and in a way that must have +wonderfully comforted her hurt heart. It is a grievous sin against +another to find fault with any sweet, beautiful serving of Jesus which +the other may have done. Christ's defence and approval of Mary should +be a comfort to all who find their deeds of love criticised or blamed +by others. + +"Let her alone; why trouble ye her? she hath wrought a good work on +me." The disciples had said it was a waste. That is what some persons +say about much that is done for Christ. The life is wasted, they say, +which is poured out in self-denials and sacrifices to bless others. +But really the wasted lives are those which are devoted to pleasure and +sin. Those who live a merely worldly life are wasting what it took the +dying of Jesus to redeem. Oh, how pitiful much of fashionable, worldly +life must appear to the angels! + +"She hath done what she could." That was high praise. She had brought +her best to her Lord. Perhaps some of us make too much of our little +acts and trivial sacrifices. Little things are acceptable if they are +really our best. But Mary's deed was not a small one. The ointment +she brought was very costly. She did not use just a little of this +precious nard, but poured it all out on the head and feet of Jesus. +"What she could" was the best she had to give. + +We may take a lesson. Do we always give our best to Christ? He gave +his best for us, and is ever giving his best to us. Do we not too +often give him only what is left after we have served ourselves? Then +we try to soothe an uneasy conscience by quoting the Master's +commendation of Mary, "She hath done what she could." Ah, Mary's "what +she could" was a most costly service. It was the costliest of all her +possessions that she gave. The word of Jesus about her and her gift +has no possible comfort for us if our little is not our best. The +widow's mites were her best, small though the money value was--she gave +all she had. The poor woman's cup of cold water was all she could +give. But if we give only a trifle out of our abundance, we are not +doing what we could. + +It is worthy of notice that the alabaster box itself was broken in this +holy service. Nothing was kept back. Broken things have an important +place in the Bible. Gideon's pitchers were broken as his men revealed +themselves to the enemy. Paul and his companions escaped from the sea +on broken pieces of the ship. It is the broken heart that God accepts. +The body of Jesus was broken that it might become bread of life for the +world. Out of sorrow's broken things God builds up radiant beauty. +Broken earthly hopes become ofttimes the beginnings of richest heavenly +blessings. We do not get the best out of anything until it is broken. + + "They tell me I must bruise + The rose's leaf + Ere I can keep and use + Its fragrance brief. + + They tell me I must break + The skylark's heart + Ere her cage song will make + The silence start. + + They tell me love must bleed, + And friendship weep, + Ere in my deepest need + I touch that deep. + + Must it be always so + With precious things? + Must they be bruised, and go + With beaten wings? + + Ah, yes! By crushing days, + By caging nights, by scar + Of thorns and stony ways, + These blessings are." + + +Even sorrow is not too great a price to pay for the blessings which can +come only through grief and pain. We must not be afraid to be broken +if that is God's will; that is the way God would make us vessels meet +for his service. Only by breaking the alabaster vase can the ointment +that is in it give out its rich perfume. + +"She hath anointed my body aforehand for the burying." I like the word +aforehand. Nicodemus, after Jesus was dead, brought a large quantity +of spices and ointments to put about his body when it was laid to rest +in the tomb. That was well; it was a beautiful deed. It honored the +Master. We never can cease to be grateful to Nicodemus, whose +long-time shy love at last found such noble expression, in helping to +give fitting burial to him whom we love so deeply. But Mary's deed was +better; she brought her perfume aforehand, when it could give pleasure, +comfort, and strengthening, to the Master in his time of deepest +sorrow. We know that his heart was gladdened by the act of love. It +made his spirit a little stronger for the events of that last sad week. +"She hath wrought a good work on me." + +We should get a lesson in friendship's ministry. Too many wait until +those they love are dead, and then bring their alabaster boxes of +affection and break them. They keep silent about their love when words +would mean so much, would give such cheer, encouragement, and hope, and +then, when the friend lies in the coffin, their lips are unsealed, and +speak out their glowing tribute on ears that heed not the laggard +praise. + +Many persons go through life, struggling bravely with difficulty, +temptation, and hardship, carrying burdens too heavy for them, pouring +out their love in unselfish serving of others, and yet are scarcely +ever cheered by a word of approval or commendation, or by delicate +tenderness of friendship; then, when they lie silent in death, a whole +circle of admiring friends gathers to do them honor. Every one +remembers a personal kindness received, a favor shown, some help given, +and speaks of it in grateful words. Letters full of appreciation, +commendation, and gratitude are written to sorrowing friends. Flowers +are sent and piled about the coffin, enough to have strewn every hard +path of the long years of struggle. How surprised some good men and +women would be, after lives with scarcely a word of affection to cheer +their hearts, were they to awake suddenly in the midst of their +friends, a few hours after their death, and hear the testimonies that +are falling from every tongue, the appreciations, the grateful words of +love, the rememberings of kindness! They had never dreamed in life +that they had so many friends, that so many had thought well of them, +that they were helpful to so many. + +After a long and worthy life, given up to lowly ministry, a good +clergyman was called home. Soon after his death, there was a meeting +of his friends, and many of them spoke of his beautiful life. +Incidents were given showing how his labors had been blessed. Out of +full hearts one after another gave grateful tribute of love. The +minister's widow was present; and when all the kindly words had been +spoken, she thanked the friends for what they had said. Then she +asked, amid her tears, "But why did you never tell him these things +while he was living?" + +Yes, why not? He had wrought for forty years in a most unselfish way. +He had poured out his life without stint. He had carried his people in +his heart by day and by night, never sparing himself in any way when he +could be of use to one of God's children. His people were devoted to +him, loved him, and appreciated his labors. Yet rarely, all those +years, had any of them told him of the love that was in their hearts +for him, or of their gratitude for service given or good received. He +was conscious of the Master's approval, and this cheered him,--it was +the commendation he sought; but it would have comforted him many a +time, and made the burdens seem lighter and the toil easier and the joy +of serving deeper, if his people--those he loved and lived for, and +helped in so many ways--had sometimes told him how much he was to them. + +All about us move, these common days, those who would be strengthened +and comforted by the good cheer which we could give. Let us not +reserve all the flowers for coffin-lids. Let us not keep our alabaster +boxes sealed and unbroken till our loved ones are dead. Let us show +kindness when kindness will do good. It will make sorrow all the +harder to bear if we have to say beside our dead, "I might have +brightened the way a little if only I had been kinder." + +It was wonderful honoring which Jesus gave to Mary's deed, when he said +that wherever the gospel should be preached throughout the whole world +the story of this anointing should be told. So, right in among the +memorials of his own death, this ministry of love is enshrined. As the +odor of the ointment filled all the room where the guests sat at table, +so the aroma of Mary's love fills all the Christian world to-day. The +influence of her deed, with the Master's honoring of it, has shed a +benediction on countless homes, making hearts gentler, and lives +sweeter and truer. + + +[1] For a fuller treatment of this incident, see Chapter XI. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +JESUS COMFORTING HIS FRIENDS. + + Not all regret, the face will shine + Upon me while I muse alone; + And that dear voice, I once have known, + Still speak to me of me and mine: + + Yet less of sorrow lives in me + For days of happy commune dead; + Less yearning for the friendship fled, + Than some strong bond which is to be. + TENNYSON. + + +A gospel with no comfort for sorrow would not meet the deepest needs of +human hearts. If Jesus were a friend only for bright hours, there +would be much of experience into which he could not enter. But the +gospel breathes comfort on every page; and Jesus is a friend for lonely +hours and times of grief and pain, as well as for sunny paths and days +of gladness and song. He went to a marriage feast, and wrought his +first miracle to prolong the festivity; but he went also to the home of +grief, and turned its sorrow into joy. + +It is well worth our while to study Jesus as a comforter, to learn how +he comforted his friends. For one thing, it will teach us how to find +consolation when we are in trouble. This is a point at which, with +many Christians, the gospel seems oftenest to fail. In the days of the +unbroken circle and of human gladness, the friends of Jesus rejoice in +his love, and walk in his light with songs; but when ties are broken, +and grief enters the home, the hearts that were so full of praise +refuse to take the consolation of the gospel. This ought not so to be. +If we knew Christ as a comforter, we would sing our songs of trust even +in the night. + +Another help that we may get from such a study of Jesus will be power +to become a true comforter of others. This every Christian should seek +to be, but this very few Christians really are. Most of us would +better stay away altogether from our friends in their times of sorrow, +than go to them as we do. Instead of being comforters to make them +stronger to endure, we only make their grief seem bitterer, and their +loss more unendurable, doing them harm instead of good. This is +because we have not learned the art of giving comfort. Our Master +should be our teacher; and if we study his method, we shall know how to +be a blessing to our friends in their times of loss and pain. + +Much of the ministry of Jesus was with those who were in trouble. +There was one special occasion, however, when there was a great sorrow +in the circle of his best friends. We may learn many lessons if we +read over thoughtfully the story of the way Jesus comforted them. + +It was the Bethany home. Before the sorrow came, Jesus was a familiar +guest, a close and intimate friend of the members of the household. He +always had kindly welcome and generous hospitality when he came to +their door. They did not make his acquaintance for the first time when +their hearts were broken. They had known him for a long time, and had +listened to his gracious words when there was no grief in their home. +This made it easy to turn to him and to receive his comfort when the +dark days of sorrow came. + +There are some who think of Christ only as a friend whom they will need +in trouble. In their time of unbroken gladness they do not seek his +friendship. Then, when trouble comes suddenly, they do not know how or +where to find the Comforter. Wiser far are they who take Christ into +their life in the glad days when the joy is unbroken. He blesses their +joy. A happy home is all the happier because Jesus is a familiar guest +in it. Love is all the sweeter because of his benediction. Then, when +sorrow's shadow falls, there is light in the darkness. + +There seems to be no need of the stars in the daytime, for the sunshine +then floods all earth's paths. But when the sun goes down, and God's +great splendor of stars appears hanging over us, dropping their soft, +quiet light upon us, how glad we are that they were there all the +while, waiting to be revealed! So it is that the friendship of Jesus +in the happy years hangs above our heads the stars of heavenly comfort. +We do not seem to need them at the time, and we scarcely know that they +are there; we certainly have no true realization of the blessing that +hides in the shining words. But when, one sad day, the light of human +joy is suddenly darkened, then the divine comforts reveal themselves. +We do not have to hasten here and there in pitiable distress, trying to +find consolation, for we have it already in the love and grace of +Christ. The Friend we took into our life in the joy-days stands close +beside us now in our sadness, and his friendship never before seemed so +precious, so tender, so divine. + +When Lazarus fell sick, Jesus was in another part of the country. As +the case grew hopeless, the sisters sent a message to Jesus to say, "He +whom thou lovest is sick." The message seems remarkable. There was no +urgency expressed in it, no wild, passionate pleading that Jesus would +hasten to come. Its few words told of the quietness and confidence of +trusting hearts. We get a lesson concerning the way we should pray +when we are in distress. "Your Father knoweth what things ye have need +of," and there is no need for piteous clamor. Far better is the prayer +of faith, which lays the burden upon the divine heart, and leaves it +there without anxiety. It is enough, when a beloved one is lying low, +to say, "Lord, he whom thou lovest is sick." + +We are surprised, as we read the narrative, that Jesus did not respond +immediately to this message from his friends. But he waited two days +before he set out for Bethany. We cannot tell why he did this, but +there is something very comforting in the words that tell us of the +delay. "Now Jesus loved Martha, and her sister, and Lazarus. When, +therefore, he heard that Lazarus was sick, he abode at that time two +days in the place where he was." In some way the delay was because of +his love for all the household. Perhaps the meaning is that through +the dying of Lazarus blessing would come to them all. + +At length he reached Bethany. Lazarus had been dead four days. The +family had many friends; and their house was filled with those who had +come, after the custom of the times, to console them. Jesus lingered +at some distance from the house, perhaps not caring to enter among +those who in the conventional way were mourning with the family. He +wished to meet the sorrowing sisters in a quiet place alone. So he +tarried outside the village, probably sending a message to Martha, +telling her that he was coming. Soon Martha met him. + +We may think of the eagerness of her heart to get into his presence +when she heard that he was near. What a relief it must have been to +her, after the noisy grief that filled her home, to get into the quiet, +peaceful presence of Jesus! He was not disturbed. His face was full +of sympathy, and it was easy to see there the tokens of deep and very +real grief, but his peace was not broken. He was calm and composed. +Martha must have felt herself at once comforted by his mere presence. +It was quieting and reassuring. + +The first thing to do when we need comfort is to get into the presence +of Christ. Human friendship means well when it hastens to us in our +sorrow. It feels that it must do something for us, that to stay away +and do nothing would be unkindness. Then, when it comes, it feels that +it must talk, and must talk about our sorrow. It feels that it must go +over all the details, questioning us until it seems as if our heart +would break with answering. Our friends think that they must explore +with us all the depths of our grief, dwelling upon the elements that +are specially poignant. The result of all this "comforting" is that +our burden of sorrow is made heavier instead of lighter, and we are +less brave and strong than before to bear it. If we would be truly +comforted we would better flee away to Christ; for in his presence we +shall find consolation, which gives peace and strength and joy. + +It is worth our while to note the comfort which Jesus gave to these +sorrowing sisters. First, he lifted the veil, and gave them a glimpse +of what lies beyond death. "Thy brother shall rise again." "I am the +resurrection, and the life: he that believeth on me, though he die, yet +shall he live: and whosoever liveth and believeth on me shall never +die." Thus he opened a great window into the other world. It is +plainer to us than it could be to Martha and Mary; for a little while +after he spoke these words, Jesus himself passed through death, coming +again from the grave in immortal life. It is a wonderful comfort to +those who sorrow over the departure of a Christian friend to know the +true teaching of the New Testament on the subject of dying. Death is +not the end; it is a door which leads into fulness of life. + +Perhaps many in bereavement, though believing the doctrine of a future +resurrection, fail to get present comfort from it. Jesus assured +Martha that her brother should rise again. "Yes, I know that he shall +rise again in the resurrection at the last day." Her words show that +this hope was too distant to give her much comfort. Her sense of +present loss outweighed every other thought and feeling. She craved +back again the companionship she had lost. Who that has stood by the +grave of a precious friend has not experienced the same feeling of +inadequateness in the consolation that comes from even the strongest +belief in a far-off rising again of all who are in their graves? + +The reply of Jesus to Martha's hungry heart-cry was very rich in its +comfort. "I am the resurrection." This is one of the wonderful +present tenses of Christian hope. Martha had spoken of a resurrection +far away. "I am the resurrection," Jesus declared. It was something +present, not remote. His words embrace the whole blessed truth of +immortal life. "Whosoever liveth and believeth on me shall never die." +There is no death for those who are in Christ. The body dies, but the +person lives on. The resurrection may be in the future, but really +there is no break in the life of a believer in Christ. He is not here; +our eyes see him not, our ears hear not his voice, we cannot touch him +with our hands, but he still lives and thinks and feels and loves. No +power in his being has been quenched by dying, no beauty dimmed, no +faculty destroyed. + +This is a part of the comfort which Jesus gave to his friends in their +bereavement. He assured them that there is no death, that all who +believe in him have eternal life. There remains for those who stay +here the pain of separation and of loneliness, but for those who have +passed over we need have no fear. + +How does Jesus comfort his friends who are left? As we read over the +story of the sorrow of the Bethany home we find the answer to our +question. You say, "He brought back their dead, thus comforting them +with the literal undoing of the work of death and grief. If only he +would do this now, in every case where love cries to him, that would be +comfort indeed." But we must remember that the return of Lazarus to +his home was only a temporary restoration. He came back to the old +life of mortality, of temptation, of sickness and pain and death. He +came back only for a season. It was not a resurrection to immortal +life; it was only a restoration to mortal life. He must pass again +through the mystery of dying, and his sisters must a second time +experience the agony of separation and loneliness. We can scarcely +call it comfort; it was merely a postponement for a little while of the +final separation. + +But Jesus gave the sisters true consoling besides this. His mere +presence brought them comfort. They knew that he loved them. Many +times before when he had entered their home he had brought a +benediction. They had a feeling of security and peace in his presence. +Even their inconsolable grief lost something of its poignancy when the +light of his face fell upon them. Every strong, tender, and true human +love has a wondrous comforting power. We can pass through a sore trial +if a trusted friend is beside us. The believer can endure any sorrow +if Jesus is with him. + +Another element of comfort for these sorrowing sisters was in the +sympathy of Jesus. He showed this sympathy with them in coming all the +way from Perea, to be with them in their time of distress. He showed +it in his bearing toward them and his conversation with them. There is +a wonderful gentleness in his manner as he receives first one and then +the other sister. Mary's grief was deeper than Martha's; and when +Jesus saw her weeping, and her friends who were with her weeping, he +groaned in the spirit and was troubled. Then, in the shortest verse in +the Bible, we have a window into the very heart of Christ, and find +there most wonderful sympathy. + +"Jesus wept." It is a great comfort in time of sorrow to have even +human sympathy, to know that somebody cares, that some one feels with +us. The measure of the comfort in such cases is in proportion to the +honor in which we hold the person. It would have had something--very +much--of comfort for the sisters, if John or Peter or James had wept +with them beside their brother's grave. But the tears of Jesus meant +incalculably more; they told of the holiest sympathy that this world +ever saw--the Son of God wept with two sisters in a great human sorrow. + +This shortest verse was not written merely as a fragment of a +narrative--it contains a revealing of the heart of Jesus for all time. +Wherever a friend of Jesus is sorrowing, One stands by, unseen, who +shares the grief, whose heart feels every pang of the sorrow. There is +immeasurable comfort in this thought that the Son of God suffers with +us in our suffering, is afflicted in all our affliction. We can endure +our trouble more quietly when we know that God understands all about it. + +There is yet another thing in the manner of Christ's comforting his +friends which is very suggestive. His sympathy was not a mere +sentiment. Too often human sympathy is nothing but a sentiment. Our +friends cry with us, and then pass by on the other side. They tell us +they are sorry for us, but they do nothing to help us. The sympathy of +Jesus at Bethany was very practical. Not only did he show his love to +his friends by coming away from his work in another province, to be +with them in their sore trouble; not only did he speak to them words of +divine comfort, words which have made a shining track through the world +ever since; not only did he weep with them in their grief,--but he +wrought the greatest of all his many miracles to restore the joy of +their hearts and their home. It was a costly miracle, too, for it led +to his own death. + +Yet, knowing well what would come from this ministry of friendship, he +hesitated not. For some reason he saw that it would be indeed a +blessing to his friends to bring back the dead. It was because he +loved the sisters and the brother that he lingered, and did not hasten +when the message reached him beyond the river. We may be sure, +therefore, that the raising of Lazarus, though only to a little more of +the old life of weakness, had a blessing in it for the family. This +was the best way in which Jesus could show his sympathy, the best +comfort he could give his friends. + +No doubt thousands of other friends of Jesus in the sorrow of +bereavement have wished that he would comfort them in like way, by +giving back their beloved. Ofttimes he does what is in effect the +same,--in answer to the prayer of faith he spares the lives of those +who are dear. When we pray for our sick friends, we only ask +submissively that they may recover. "Not my will, but thine be done," +is the refrain of our pleading. Even our most passionate longing we +subdue in the quiet confidence of our faith. If it is not best for our +dear ones; if it would not be a real blessing; if it is not God's +way,--then "Thy will be done." If we pray the prayer of faith, we must +believe that the issue, whatever it may be, is God's best for us. + +If our friend is taken away after such committing of faith to God's +wisdom and love, there is immeasurable comfort at once in the +confidence that it was God's will. Then, while no miracle is wrought, +bringing back our dead, the sympathy of Christ yet brings practical +consolation. The word comfort means strengthening. We are helped to +bear our sorrow. + +The teaching of the Scriptures is that when we come with our trials to +God, he either relieves us of them, or gives us the grace we need to +endure them. He does not promise to lift away the burden that we cast +upon him, but he will sustain us in our bearing of the burden. When +the human presence is taken from us, Christ comes nearer than before, +and reveals to us more of his love and grace. + +The problem of sorrow in a Christian life is a very serious one. It is +important that we have a clear understanding upon the subject, that we +may receive blessing and not hurt from our experience. Every sorrow +that comes into our life brings us something good from God; but we may +reject the good, and if we do, we receive evil instead. The comfort +God gives is not the taking away of the trouble, nor is it the dulling +of our heart's sensibilities so that we shall not feel the pain so +keenly. God's comfort is strength to endure in the experience. If we +put our life into the hands of Christ in the time of sorrow, and with +quiet faith and sweet trust go on with our duty, all shall be well. If +we resist and struggle and rebel, we shall not only miss the blessing +of comfort that is infolded for us in our sorrow, but we shall receive +hurt in our own life. When one is soured and embittered by trial, one +has received hurt rather than blessing; but if we accept our sorrow +with love and trust, we shall come out of it enriched in life and +character, and prepared for better work and greater usefulness. + +There is a picture of a woman sitting by the sea in deep grief. The +dark waters have swallowed up her heart's treasures, and her sorrow is +inconsolable. Close behind her is an angel striking his harp,--the +Angel of Consolation. But the woman in her stony grief sees not the +angel's shining form, nor hears the music of his harp. Too often this +is the picture in Christian homes. With all the boundlessness of God's +love and mercy, the heart remains uncomforted. + +This ought not so to be. There is in Jesus Christ an infinite resource +of consolation, and we have only to open our heart to receive it. Then +we shall pass through sorrow sustained by divine help and love, and +shall come from it enriched in character, and blessed in every phase of +life. The griefs of our life set lessons for us to learn. In every +pain is the seed of a blessing. In every tear a rainbow hides. Dr. +Babcock puts it well in his lines:-- + + The dark-brown mould's upturned + By the sharp-pointed plough-- + And I've a lesson learned. + + My life is but a field, + Stretched out beneath God's sky, + Some harvest rich to yield. + + Where grows the golden grain? + Where faith? Where sympathy? + In a furrow cut by pain. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +JESUS AND HIS SECRET FRIENDS. + + How many souls--his loved ones-- + Dwell lonely and apart, + Hiding from all but One above + The fragrance of their heart. + PROCTER. + + +Not all the friends of Jesus were open friends. No doubt many believed +on him who had not the courage to confess him. Two of his secret +friends performed such an important part at the close of his life, +boldly honoring him, that the story of their discipleship is worthy of +our careful study. + +One of these is mentioned several times; the other we meet nowhere +until he suddenly emerges from the shadows of his secret friendship, +when the body of Jesus hung dead on the cross, and boldly asks leave to +take it away, and with due honor bury it. + +Several facts concerning Joseph are given in the Gospels. He was a +rich man. Thus an ancient prophecy was fulfilled. According to +Isaiah, the Messiah was to make his grave with the rich. This +prediction seemed very unlikely of fulfilment when Jesus hung on the +cross dying. He had no burying-place of his own, and none of his known +disciples could provide him with a tomb among the rich. It looked as +if his body must be cast into the Potter's Field with the bodies of the +two criminals who hung beside him. Then came Joseph, a rich man, and +buried Jesus in his own new tomb. "He made his grave with the rich." + +Joseph was a member of the Sanhedrin. This gave him honor among men, +and he must have been of good reputation to be chosen to so exalted a +position. We are told also that he was a good man and devout, and had +not consented to the counsel and deed of the court in condemning Jesus. +Perhaps he had absented himself from the meeting of the Sanhedrin when +Jesus was before the court. If he were present, he took no part in the +condemning of the prisoner. + +Then it is said further that he was "a disciple of Jesus, but secretly, +for fear of the Jews." That is, he was one of the friends of Jesus, +believing in his Messiahship. We have no way of knowing how long he +had been a disciple, but it is evident that the friendship had existed +for some time. We may suppose that Joseph had sought Jesus quietly, +perhaps by night, receiving instruction from him, communing with him, +drinking in his spirit; but he had never yet openly declared his +discipleship. + +The reason for this hiding of his belief in Jesus is frankly +given,--"for fear of the Jews." He lacked courage to confess himself +"one of this man's friends." We cannot well understand what it would +have cost Joseph, in his high place as a ruler, to say, "I believe that +Jesus of Nazareth is our Messiah." It is easy for us to condemn him as +wanting in courage, but we must put ourselves back in his place when we +think of what he failed to do. This was before Jesus was glorified. +He was a lowly man of sorrows. Many of the common people had followed +him; but it was chiefly to see his miracles, and to gather benefit for +themselves from his power. There was only a little band of true +disciples, and among these were none of the rulers and great men of the +people. There is no evidence that one rabbi, one member of the +Sanhedrin, one priest, one aristocratic or cultured Jew, was among the +followers of Jesus during his life. + +It would have taken sublime courage for one of these to confess Jesus +as the Messiah, and the cost of such avowal would have been +incalculable. A number of years later, when Christianity had become an +acknowledged power in the world, St. Paul tells us that he had to +suffer the loss of all things in becoming a Christian. For Joseph, a +member of the highest court of the Jews, to have said to his +fellow-members in those days, before the death of Jesus, "I believe in +this Nazarene whom you are plotting to kill, and I am one of his +disciples and friends," would have taken a courage which too few men +possess. + +However, one need not apologize for Joseph. The record frankly admits +his fault, his weakness; for it is never a noble or a manly thing to be +afraid of man or devil when duty is clear. Yet we are told distinctly +that he was really a disciple of Jesus; though it was secretly, and +though the reason for the secrecy was an unworthy one,--fear of the +Jews. Jesus had not refused his discipleship because of its +impairment. He had not said to him, "Unless you rise up in your place +in the court-room, and tell your associates that you believe in me, and +are going to follow me, you cannot be my disciple, and I will not have +you as my friend." Evidently Jesus had accepted Joseph as a disciple, +even in the shy way he had come to him; and it seems probable that a +close and deep friendship existed between the two men. Possibly it may +have existed for many months; and no doubt Joseph had been a comfort to +Jesus in many ways before his death, although the world did not know +that this noble and honorable councillor was his friend at all. + +The other secret friend of Jesus who assisted in his burial was +Nicodemus. It was during the early weeks or months of our Lord's +public ministry that he came to Jesus for the first time. It is +specially mentioned that he came by night. Nicodemus also was a man of +distinction,--a member of the Sanhedrin and a Pharisee, belonging thus +to the class highest in rank among his people. + +A great deal of blame has been charged against Nicodemus because he +came to Jesus by night, but again we must put ourselves back into his +circumstances before we can judge intelligently and fairly of his +conduct. Very few persons believed in Jesus when Nicodemus first +sought him by night. Besides, may not night have been the best time +for a public and prominent man to see Jesus? His days were +filled--throngs were always about him, and there was little opportunity +then for earnest and satisfactory conversation. In the evening +Nicodemus could sit down with Jesus for a long, quiet talk without fear +of interruption. + +Then Nicodemus came first only as an inquirer. He was not then ready +to be a disciple. "Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from +God," was all he could say that first night. He did not concede Jesus' +Messiahship. He knew him then only by what he had heard of his +miracles. He was not ready yet to declare that the son of the +carpenter was the Christ, the Son of God. When we remember the common +Jewish expectations regarding the Messiah, and then the lowliness of +Jesus and the high rank of Nicodemus, we may understand that it +required courage and deep earnestness of soul for this "master in +Israel" to come at all to the peasant rabbi from Galilee as a seeker +after truth and light. It is scarcely surprising, therefore, that he +came by night. + +Then, at that time the teaching and work of Jesus were only beginning. +There had been some miracles, and it is written that because of these +many had believed in the name of Jesus. Already, however, there had +been a sharp conflict with the priests and rulers. Jesus had driven +out those who were profaning the temple by using it for purposes of +trade. This act had aroused intense bitterness against Jesus among the +ruling classes to which Nicodemus belonged. This made it specially +hard for any one of the rulers to come among the friends of Jesus, or +to show even the least sympathy with him. + +No doubt Nicodemus in some degree lacked the heroic quality. He was +not a John Knox or a Martin Luther. Each time his name is mentioned he +shows timidity, and a disposition to remain hidden. Even in the noble +deed of the day Jesus died, it is almost certain that Nicodemus was +inspired to his part by the greater courage of Joseph. + +Yet we must mark that Jesus said not one word to chide or blame +Nicodemus when he came by night. He accepted him as a disciple, and at +once began to teach him the great truths of his kingdom. We are not +told that the ruler came more than once; but we may suppose that +whenever Jesus was in Jerusalem, Nicodemus sought him under the cover +of the night, and sat at his feet as a learner. Doubtless Jesus and he +were friends all the three years that passed between that first night +when they talked of the new birth, and the day when this noble +councillor assisted his fellow-member of the Sanhedrin in giving +honorable and loving burial to this Teacher come from God. + +Once we have a glimpse of Nicodemus in his place in the Sanhedrin. +Jesus has returned to Jerusalem, and multitudes follow him to hear his +words. Many believe on him. The Pharisees and priests are filled with +envy that this peasant from Galilee should have such tremendous +influence among the people. They feel that the power is passing out of +their hands, and that they must do something to silence the voice the +people so love to hear. + +A meeting of the Great Council is called to decide what to do. +Officers are sent to arrest Jesus, and bring him to the bar of the +court. The officers find Jesus in the temple, in the midst of an eager +throng, to whom he is speaking in his gracious, winning way. That was +the day he said, "If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink." +The officers listen as the wonderful words fall from his lips, and +they, too, become interested; their attention is enchained; they come +under the same spell which holds all the multitude. They linger till +his discourse is ended; and then, instead of arresting him, they go +back without him, only giving to the judges as reason for not obeying, +"Never man spake like this man." + +The members of the court were enraged at this failure of their effort. +Even their own police officers had proved untrue. "Are ye also +deceived or led astray?" they cry in anger. Then they ask, "Have any +of the rulers or of the Pharisees believed on him? But this multitude +which knoweth not the law, are accursed." They would have it that only +the ignorant masses had been led away by this delusion; none of the +great men, the wise men, had accepted this Nazarene as the Messiah. +They did not suspect that at least one of their own number, possibly +two, had been going by night to hear this young rabbi. + +It was a serious moment for Nicodemus. He sat there in the council, +and saw the fury of his brother judges. In his heart he was a friend +of Jesus. He believed that he was the Messiah. Loyalty to his friend, +to the truth, and to his own conscience, demanded that he should cast +away the veil he was wearing, and reveal his faith in Jesus. At least +he must say some word on behalf of the innocent man whom his +fellow-members were determined to destroy. It was a testing-time for +Nicodemus, and sore was the struggle between timidity and a sense of +duty. The storm in the court-room was ready to burst; the council was +about taking violent measures against Jesus. We know not what would +have happened if no voice had been lifted for fair trial before +condemnation. But then Nicodemus arose, and in the midst of the +terrible excitement spoke quietly and calmly his few words,-- + +"Doth our law judge a man, except it first hear from himself and know +what he doeth?" + +It was only a plea for fairness and for justice; but it showed the +working of a heart that would be true to itself, in some measure at +least, in spite of its shyness and shrinking, and in spite of the peril +of the hour. The question at first excited anger and contempt against +Nicodemus himself; but it checked the gathering tides of violence, +probably preventing a public outbreak. + +We may note progress in the friendship of this secret disciple. During +the two years since he first came to Jesus by night the seed dropped +into his heart that night had been growing silently. Nicodemus was not +yet ready to come out boldly as a disciple of Jesus; but he proved +himself the friend of Jesus, even by the few words he spoke in the +council when it required firm courage to speak at all. "He who at the +first could come to Jesus only by night, now stands by him in open day, +and in the face of the most formidable opposition, before which the +courage of the strongest might have quailed." + +It is beautiful to see young Christians, as the days pass, growing more +and more confident and heroic in their confession of Christ. At first +they are shy, retiring, timid, and disposed to shrink from public +revealing of themselves. But if, as they receive more of the Spirit of +God in their heart, they grow more courageous in speaking for Christ +and in showing their colors, they prove that they are true disciples, +learners, growing in grace. + +The only other mention of Nicodemus is some months after the heroic +word spoken in the council. What has been going on in his experience, +meanwhile, we do not know. There is no evidence that he has yet +declared himself a follower of Jesus. He is still a secret disciple. +But the hidden life in his heart has still been growing. + +One day a terrible thing happened. Jesus was crucified. In their +fright and panic all his friends at first forsook him, some of them, +however, gathering back, with broken hearts, and standing about his +cross. But never was there a more hopeless company of men in this +world than the disciples of Jesus that Good Friday, when their Master +hung upon the cross. They did not understand the meaning of the cross +as we do to-day,--they thought it meant defeat for all the hopes they +had cherished. They stood round the cross in the despair of hopeless +grief. + +They were also powerless to do anything to show their love, or to honor +the body of their Friend. They were poor and unknown men, without +influence. None of them had a grave in which the body could be laid. +Nor had they power to get leave to take the body away; it required a +name of influence to get this permission. Their love was equal to +anything, but they were helpless. In the dishonor of that day all the +friends of Jesus shared. + +What could be done? Soon the three bodies on the crosses would be +taken down by rude hands of heartless men, and cast into the Potter's +Field in an indistinguishable heap. + +No; there is a friend at Pilate's door. He is a man of rank among the +Jews--a rich man too. He makes a strange request,--he asks leave to +take the body of Jesus away for burial. Doubtless Pilate was surprised +that a member of the court which had condemned Jesus should now desire +to honor his body, but he granted the request; perhaps he was glad thus +to end a case which had cost him so much trouble. Joseph took charge +of the burial of the body of Jesus. + +Then came another rich man and joined Joseph. "There came also +Nicodemus, he who at the first came to him by night, bringing a mixture +of myrrh and aloes, about a hundred pound weight. So they took the +body of Jesus, and bound it in linen cloths with the spices, as the +custom of the Jews is to bury." It certainly is remarkable that the +two men who thus met in honoring the body of Jesus had both been his +secret disciples, hidden friends, who until now had not had courage to +avow their friendship and discipleship. + +No doubt there were many other secret friends of Jesus who during his +life did not publicly confess him. The great harvest of the day of +Pentecost brought out many of these for the first time. No doubt there +always are many who love Christ, believe on him, and are following him +in secret. They come to Jesus by night. They creep to his feet when +no eye is looking at them. They cannot brave the gaze of their +fellowmen. They are shy and timid. We may not say one harsh word +regarding such disciples. The Master said not one word implying blame +of his secret disciples. + +Yet it cannot be doubted that secret discipleship is incomplete. It is +not just to Christ himself that we should receive the blessings of his +love and grace, and not speak of him to the world. We owe it to him +who gave himself for us to speak his name wherever we go, and to honor +him in every way. Secret discipleship does not fulfil love's duty to +the world. If we have found that which has blessed us richly, we owe +it to others to tell them about it. To hide away in our own heart the +knowledge of Christ is to rob those who do not know of him. It is the +worst selfishness to be willing to be saved alone. Further, secret +discipleship misses the fulness of blessing which comes to him who +confesses Christ before men. It is he who believes with his heart and +confesses with his mouth, who has promise of salvation. Confession is +half of faith. Secret discipleship is repressed, restrained, confined, +and is therefore hampered, hindered, stunted discipleship. It never +can grow into the best possible strength and richness of life. It is +only when one stands before the world in perfect freedom, with nothing +to conceal, that one grows into the fullest, loveliest Christlikeness. +To have the friendship of Christ, and to hide it from men is to lose +its blessing out of our own heart. + + "To lie by the river of life and see it run to waste, + To eat of the tree of heaven while the nations go unfed, + To taste the full salvation--the only one to taste-- + To live while the rest are lost--oh, better by far be dead! + + For to share is the bliss of heaven, as it is the joy of earth; + And the unshared bread lacks savor, and the wine unshared, lacks zest; + And the joy of the soul redeemed would be little, little worth + If, content with its own security, it could forget the rest." + + +In the case of Nicodemus and Joseph, Jesus was very gentle with +timidity; but under the nurture of his gentleness timidity grew into +noble courage. Yet, beautiful as was their deed that day, who will not +say that it came too late for fullest honoring of the Master? It would +have been better if they had shown their friendship while he was +living, to have cheered him by their love. Mary's ointment poured upon +the tired feet of Jesus before his death was better than the spices of +Nicodemus piled about his body in the grave. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +JESUS' FAREWELL TO HIS FRIENDS. + + "What meaneth it that we should weep + More for our joys than for our fears,-- + That we should sometimes smile at grief, + And look at pleasure's show through tears? + + Alas! but homesick children we, + Who would, but cannot, play the while + We dream of nobler heritage, + Our Father's house, our Father's smile." + + +At last the end came. The end comes for every earthly friendship. The +sweetest life together of loved ones must have its last walk, its last +talk, its last hand-clasp, when one goes, and the other stays. One of +every two friends must stand by the other's grave, and drop tears all +the hotter because they are shed alone. + +The friendship of Jesus with his disciples was very sweet; it was the +sweetest friendship this world ever knew, for never was there any other +heart with such capacity for loving and for kindling love as the heart +of Jesus. But even this holy friendship in its earthly duration was +but for a time. Jesus' hour came at last. To-morrow he was going back +to his Father. + +Very tender was the farewell. The place chosen for it was the upper +room--almost certainly in the house of Mary, the mother of John Mark. +So full is the narrative of the evangelists that we can follow it +through its minutest details. In the afternoon two of the closest +friends of Jesus came quietly into the city from Bethany to find a +room, and prepare for the Passover. All was done with the utmost +secrecy. No inquiry was made for a room; but a man appeared at a +certain point, bearing a pitcher of water,--a most unusual +occurrence,--and the messengers silently followed him, and thus were +led to the house in which was the guest-chamber which Jesus and his +friends were to use. There the two disciples made the preparations +necessary for the Passover. + +Toward the evening Jesus and the other apostles came, and found their +way to the upper room. First there was the Passover feast, observed +after the manner of the Jews. Then followed the institution of the new +memorial--the Lord's Supper. This brought the Master and his disciples +together in very sacred closeness. Judas, the one discordant element +in the communion, had gone out, and all who remained were of one mind +and one heart. Then began the real farewell. Jesus was going away, +and he longed to be remembered. This was a wonderfully human desire. +No one wishes to be forgotten. No thought could be sadder than that +one might not be remembered after he is gone, that in no heart his name +shall be cherished, that nowhere any memento of him shall be preserved. +We all hope to live in the love of our friends long after our faces +have vanished from earth. The deeper and purer our love may have been, +and the closer our friendship, the more do we long to keep our place in +the hearts of those we have loved. + +There are many ways in which men seek to keep their memory alive in the +world. Some build their own tomb: few things are more pathetic than +such planning for earthly immortality. Some seek to do deeds which +will live in history. Some embalm their names in books, hoping thus to +perpetuate them. Love's enshrining is the best way. + +The institution of the Last Supper showed the craving of the heart of +Jesus to be remembered. "Do not forget me when I am gone," he said. +That he might not be forgotten, he took bread and wine, and, breaking +the one and pouring out the other, he gave them to his friends as +mementos of himself. He associated this farewell meal with the great +acts of his redeeming love. "This bread which I break, let it be the +emblem of my body broken to be bread for the world. This wine which I +empty out, let it be the emblem of my blood which I give for you." +Whatever else the Lord's Supper may mean, it is first of all a +remembrancer; it is the expression of the Master's desire to be +remembered by his friends. It comes down to us--Christ's friends of +to-day--with the same heart-craving. "Remember me; do not forget me; +think of my love for you." Jesus' farewell was thus made wondrously +sacred; its memories have blessed the world ever since by their warmth +and tenderness. No one can ever know the measure of the influence of +that last night in the upper room upon the life of these nineteen +Christian centuries. + +The Lord's Supper was not all of the Master's farewell. There were +also words spoken which have been bread and wine, the body and blood of +Jesus, to believers ever since. To the eleven men gathered about that +table these words were inexpressibly precious. One of them, one who +leaned his head upon the Master's breast that night, remembered them in +his old age, and wrote them down, so that we can read them for +ourselves. + +It is impossible in a short chapter to study the whole of this +wonderful farewell address; only a few of its great features can be +gathered together. It began with an exhortation, a new +commandment,--"That ye love one another." We cannot understand how +really new this commandment was when given to the Master's friends. +The world had never before known such love as Jesus brought into its +wintry atmosphere. He had lived out the divine love among men; now his +friends were to continue that love. "As I have loved you, that ye also +love one another." Very imperfectly have the friends of the Master +learned that love; yet wherever the gospel has gone, a wave of +tenderness has rolled. + +Next was spoken a word of comfort whose music has been singing through +the world ever since. "Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in +God, believe also in me." Unless it be the Twenty-Third Psalm, no +other passage in all the Bible has had such a ministry of comfort as +the first words of the fourteenth chapter of St. John's Gospel. They +told the sorrowing disciples that their Master would not forget them, +that his work for them would not be broken off by his death, that he +was only going away to prepare a place for them, and would come again +to receive them unto himself, so that where he should be they might be +also. He assured them, too, that while he was going away, something +better than his bodily presence would be given them instead,--another +Comforter would come, so that they should not be left orphans. + +Part of the Master's farewell words were answers to questions which his +friends asked him,--a series of conversations with one and another. +These men had their difficulties; and they brought these to Jesus, and +he explained them. First, Peter had a question. Jesus had spoken of +going away. Peter asked him, "Lord, whither goest thou?" Jesus told +him that where he was going he could not follow him then, but he should +follow him by and by. Peter was recklessly bold, and he would not have +it said that there was any place he could not follow his Master. He +declared that he would even lay down his life for his sake. "Wilt thou +lay down thy life for my sake?" answered the Master. "Wilt thou, +indeed?" Then he foretold Peter's sad, humiliating fall--that, instead +of laying down his life for his Lord. + +After the words had been spoken about the Father's house and the coming +again of Jesus for his friends, Thomas had a question. Jesus had said, +"Whither I go ye know, and the way ye know." Thomas was slow in his +perceptions, and was given to questioning. He would take nothing for +granted. He would not believe until he could understand. "Lord, we +know not whither thou goest; and how can we know the way?" We are glad +Thomas asked such a question, for it brought a wonderful answer. Jesus +himself is the way and the truth and the life. That is, to know Christ +is to know all that we need to know about heaven and the way there; to +have Christ as Saviour, Friend, and Lord, is to be led by him through +the darkest way--home. Not only is he the door or gate which opens +into the way, but he is the way. He is the guide in the way; he has +gone over it himself; everywhere we find his footprints. More than +that; he is the very way itself, and the very truth about the way, and +the life which inspires us in the way. To be his friend is enough; we +need ask neither whither he has gone, nor the road; we need only abide +in him. + + "Thank God, thank God, the Man is found, + Sure-footed, knowing well the ground. + He knows the road, for this the way + He travelled once, as on this day. + He is our Messenger beside, + He is our Door and Path and Guide." + + +Then Philip had a question. He had heard the Master's reply to Thomas. +Philip was slow and dull, loyal-hearted, a man of practical +common-sense, but without imagination, unable to understand anything +spiritual, anything but bare, cold, material facts. The words of Jesus +about knowing and seeing the Father caught his ear. That was just what +he wanted,--to see the Father. So in his dulness he said, "Lord, show +us the Father, and it sufficeth us." He was thinking of a +theophany,--a glorious vision of God. Jesus was wondrously patient +with the dulness of his disciples; but this word pained him, for it +showed how little Philip had learned after all his three years of +discipleship. "Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou +not known me?" Then Jesus told him that he had been showing him the +Father, the very thing Philip craved, all the while. + +Jesus went on with his gracious words for a little while, and was +speaking of manifesting himself to his disciples, when he was +interrupted by another question. This time it was Judas who spoke. +"Not Iscariot," St. John is careful to say, for the name of Iscariot +was now blotted with the blotch of treason. He had gone out into the +night, and was of the disciple family no more. Judas could not +understand in what special and exclusive manner Jesus would manifest +himself to his own. Perhaps he expected some setting apart of Christ's +followers like that which had fenced off Israel from the other nations. +But Jesus swept away his disciple's thought of any narrow +manifestation. There was only one condition--love. To every one who +loved him and obeyed his words he would reveal himself. The +manifesting would not be any theophany, as in the ancient Shekinah, but +the spiritual in-dwelling of God. + +After these questions of his disciples had all been answered, Jesus +continued his farewell words. He left several bequests to his friends, +distributing among them his possessions. We are apt to ask what he had +to leave. He had no houses or lands, no gold or silver. While he was +on his cross the soldiers divided his clothes among themselves. Yet +there are real possessions besides money and estates. One may have won +the honor of a noble name, and may bequeath this to his family when he +goes away. One may have acquired power which he may transmit. It +seemed that night in the upper room as if Jesus had neither name nor +power to leave to his friends. To-morrow he was going to a cross, and +that would be the end of everything of hope or beauty in his life. + +Yet he quietly made his bequests, fully conscious that he had great +possessions, which would bless the world infinitely more than if he had +left any earthly treasure. One of these bequests was his peace. +"Peace I leave with you; my peace I give unto you." It was his own +peace; if it had not been his own he could not have bequeathed it to +his friends. A man cannot give to others what he has not himself. It +was his own because he had won it. Peace is not merely ease, the +absence of strife and struggle; it is something which lives in the +midst of the fiercest strife and the sorest struggle. Jesus knew not +the world's peace,--ease and quiet; but he had learned a secret of +heart-quietness which the world at its worst could not disturb. This +peace he left to his disciples, and it made them richer than if he had +given them all the world's wealth. + +Another of his possessions which he bequeathed was his joy. We think +of Jesus as the Man of sorrows, and we ask what joy he had to give. It +seemed a strange time, too, for him to be speaking of his joy; for in +another hour he was in the midst of the Gethsemane anguish, and +to-morrow he was on his cross. Yet in the upper room he had in his +heart a most blessed joy. Even in the terrible hours that came +afterwards, that joy was not quenched; for we are told that for the joy +set before him he endured the cross, despising the shame. This joy +also he bequeathed to his friends. "These things have I spoken unto +you, that my joy may be in you." We remember, too, that they really +received this legacy. The world wondered at the strange secret of joy +those men had when they went out into the world. They sang songs in +the darkest night. Their faces shone as with a holy inner light in the +deepest sorrow. Christ's joy was fulfilled in them. + +He also put within the reach of his friends, as he was about to leave +them, the whole of his own inheritance as the only begotten Son of God. +He gave into their hands the key of heaven. He told them they should +have power to do the works which they had seen him do, and even greater +works than these. He told them that whatsoever they should ask the +Father in his name the Father would give to them. The whole power of +his name should thus be theirs, and they might use it as they would. +Nothing they might ask should be refused to them; all the heavenly +kingdom was thrown open to them. + +These are mere suggestions of the farewell gifts which Jesus left to +his friends when he went away,--his peace, his joy, the key to all the +treasures of his kingdom. He had blessed them in wonderful ways during +his life; but the best and richest things of his love were kept to the +last, and given only after he was gone. Indeed, the best things were +given through his death, and could be given in no other way. Other men +live to do good; they hasten to finish their work before their sun +sets. God's plan for them is something they must do before death comes +to write "Finis" at the end of their days. But the plan of God for +Jesus centred in his death. It was the blessings that would come +through his dying that were set forth in the elements used in the Last +Supper,--the body broken, the blood shed. The great gifts to his +friends, of which he spoke in his farewell words, would come through +his dying. He must be lifted up in order to draw all men to him. He +must shed his blood in order that remission of sins might be offered. +It was expedient for him to go away in order that the Comforter might +come. His peace and his joy were bequests which could be given only +when he had died as the world's Redeemer. His name would have power to +open heaven's treasures only when the atonement had been made, and the +Intercessor was at God's right hand in heaven. + +There was one other act in this farewell of Jesus. After he had ended +his gracious words, he lifted up his eyes in prayer to his Father. The +pleading is full of deep and tender affection. It is like that of a +mother about to go away from earth, and who is commending her children +to the care of the heavenly Father, when she must leave them without +mother-love and mother-shelter among unknown and dangerous enemies. + +Every word of the wonderful prayer throbs with love, and reveals a +heart of most tender affection. While he had been with his friends, +Jesus had kept them in the shelter of his own divine strength. None of +them had been lost, so faithful had been his guardianship over +them--none but the son of perdition. He, too, had received faithful +care; it had not been the Good Shepherd's fault that he had perished. +He had been lost because he resisted the divine love, and would not +accept the divine will. There must have been a pang of anguish in the +heart of Jesus as he spoke to his Father of the one who had perished. +But the others all were safe. Jesus had guarded them through all the +dangers up to the present moment. + +But now he is about to leave them. He knows that they must encounter +great dangers, and will not have him to protect them. The form of his +intercession for them is worthy of note. He does not ask that they +should be taken out of the world. This would have seemed the way of +tenderest love. But it is not the divine way to take us out of the +battle. These friends of Jesus had been trained to be his witnesses, +to represent him when he had gone away. Therefore they must stay in +the world, whatever the dangers might be. The prayer was that they +should be kept from the evil. There is but one evil. They were not to +be kept from persecution, from earthly suffering and loss, from pain or +sorrow: these are not the evils from which men's lives need to be +guarded. The only real evil is sin. Our danger in trouble or +adversity is not that we may suffer, but that we may sin. The pleading +of Jesus was that his friends might not be hurt in their souls, in +their spiritual life, by sin. + +If enemies wrong or injure us, the peril is not that they may cause us +to suffer injustice, but that in our suffering we may lose the love out +of our heart, and grow angry, or become bitter. In time of sickness, +trial, or bereavement, that which we should fear is not the illness or +the sorrow, but that we shall not keep sweet, with the peace of God in +our breast. The only thing that can do us real harm is sin. So the +intercession on our behalf ever is, not that we may be kept from things +that are hard, from experiences that are costly or painful, but that we +may be kept pure, gentle, and submissive, with peace and joy in our +heart. + +There was a pleading also that the disciples might be led into complete +consecration of spirit, and that they might be prepared to go out for +their Master, to be to the world what he had been to them. This was +not a prayer for a path of roses; rather it was for a cross, the utter +devotion of their lives to God. Before the prayer closed, a final wish +for his friends was expressed,--that when their work on earth was done, +they might be received home; that where he should be they might be +also, to behold his glory. + +Surely there never has been on earth another gathering of such +wondrously deep and sacred meaning as that farewell meeting in the +upper room. There the friendship of Jesus and his chosen ones reached +its holiest experience. His deep human love appears in his giving up +the whole of this last evening to this tryst with his own. He knew +what was before him after midnight,--the bitter agony of Gethsemane, +the betrayal, the arrest, the trial, and then the terrible shame and +suffering of tomorrow. But he planned so that there should be these +quiet, uninterrupted hours alone with his friends, before the beginning +of the experiences of his passion. He did it for his own sake; his +heart hungered for communion with his friends; with desire he desired +to eat the Passover, and enjoy these hours with them before he +suffered. We may be sure, too, that he received from the holy +fellowship comfort and strength, which helped him in passing through +the bitter hours that followed. Then, he did it also for the sake of +his disciples. He knew how their hearts would be broken with sorrow +when he was taken from them, and he wished to comfort them and make +them stronger for the way. The memory of those holy hours hung over +them like a star in all the dark night of their sorrow, and was a +benediction to them as long as they lived. + +Then, who can tell what blessings have gone out from that farewell into +the whole Church of Christ through all the centuries? It is the holy +of holies of Christian history. The Lord's Supper, instituted that +night, and which has never ceased to be observed as a memorial of the +Master's wonderful love and great sacrifice, has sweetened the world +with its fragrant memories. The words spoken by the Master at the +table have been repeated from lip to heart wherever the story of the +gospel has gone, and have given unspeakable comfort to millions of +hearts. The petitions of the great intercessory prayer have been +rising continually, like holy incense, ever since they were first +uttered, taking into their clasp each new generation of believers. +This farewell has kept the Christian hearts of all the centuries warm +and tender with love toward him who is the unchanging Friend the same +yesterday and to-day and forever. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +JESUS' FRIENDSHIPS AFTER HE AROSE. + + "Our own are our own forever--God taketh not back his gift; + They may pass beyond our vision, but our soul shall find them out + When the waiting is all accomplished, and the deathly shadows lift, + And the glory is given for grieving, and the surety of God for doubt." + + +We cannot but ask questions about the after life. What is its +character? What shall be the relations there of those who in the +present life have been united in friendship? What effect has dying on +the human affections? Does it dissolve the bonds which here have been +so strong? Or do friendships go on through death, interrupted for a +little time only, to be taken up again in the life beyond? Surely God +will not blame us for our eagerness to know all we can learn about the +world to which we are going. + +True, we cannot learn much about this blessed life while we stay in +this world. Human eyes cannot penetrate into the deep mystery. We are +like men standing on the shore of a great sea, wondering what lies on +the other side. No one has come back to tell us what he found in that +far country. We bring our questions to the word of God, but it avails +little; even inspiration does not give us explicit revealings +concerning the life of the blessed. We know that the Son of God had +dwelt forever in heaven before his incarnation, and we expect that he +will shed light upon the subject of life within the gates of heaven. +But he is almost silent to our questions. Indeed, he seems to tell us +really nothing. He gives us no description of the place from which he +came, to which he returned, and to which he said his disciples shall be +gathered. He says nothing about the occupations of those who dwell +there. He satisfies no human yearnings to know the nature of +friendship after death. We are likely to turn away from our quest for +definite knowledge, feeling that even Jesus has told us nothing. Yet +he has told us a great deal. + +There is one wonderful revelation of which perhaps too little has been +made. After Jesus had died, and lain in the grave for three days, he +rose again, and remained for forty days upon the earth. During that +time he did not resume the old relations. He was not with his +disciples as he had been during the three years of his public ministry, +journeying with them, speaking to them, working miracles; yet he showed +himself to them a number of times. + +The remarkable thing in these appearances of Jesus during the forty +days is that we see in him one beyond death. Lazarus was brought back +to earth after having died, but it was only the old life to which he +returned. The human relations between him and his sisters and friends +were restored, but probably they were not different from what they had +been in the past. Lazarus was the same mortal being as before, with +human frailties and infirmities. + +Jesus, however, after his return from the grave, was a man beyond +death. He was the same person who had lived and died, and yet he was +changed. He appeared and disappeared at will. He entered rooms +through closed and barred doors. At last his body ascended from the +earth, and passed up to heaven, subject no longer to the laws of +gravitation. We see in Jesus, therefore, during the forty days, one +who has passed into what we call the other life. What he was then his +people will be when they have emerged from death with their spiritual +bodies, for he was the first-fruits of them that are asleep. + +As we study Jesus in the story of those days, we are surprised to see +how little he was changed. Death had left no strange marks upon him. +Nothing beautiful in his life had been lost in the grave. He came back +from the shadows as human as he was before he entered the valley. +Dying had robbed him of no human tenderness, no gentle grace of +disposition, no charm of manner. As we watch him in his intercourse +with his disciples, we recognize the familiar traits which belonged to +his personality during the three years of his active ministry. + +We may rightly infer that in our new life we shall be as little changed +as Jesus was. We shall lose our sin, our frailties and infirmities, +all our blemishes and faults. The long-hindered and hampered powers of +our being shall be liberated. Hidden beauties shall shine out in our +character, as developed pictures in the photographer's sensitized +plate. There will be great changes in us in these and other regards, +but our personality will be the same. Jesus was easily recognized by +his friends; so shall we be by those who have known us. Whatever is +beautiful and good in us here,--the fruits of spiritual conquest, the +lessons learned in earth's experiences, the impressions made upon us by +the Word of God, the silver and golden threads woven in our life-web by +pure friendships, the effects of sorrow upon us, the work wrought in us +by the Holy Spirit,--all this shall appear in our new life. We shall +have incorruptible, spiritual, and glorious bodies, no longer mortal +and subject to the limitations of matter; death will rob us of nothing +that is worthy and true, and fit for the blessed life. + + "We are quite sure + That he will give them back-- + Bright, pure, and beautiful. + * * * + He does not mean--though heaven be fair-- + To change the spirits entering there + That they forget + The eyes upraised and wet, + The lips too still for prayer, + The mute despair. + He will not take + The spirits which he gave, and make + The glorified so new + That they are lost to me and you. + * * * + I do believe that just the same sweet face, + But glorified, is waiting in the place + Where we shall meet. + * * * + God never made + Spirit for spirit, answering shade for shade, + And placed them side by side-- + So wrought in one, though separate, mystified, + And meant to break + The quivering threads between." + + +It is interesting, too, to study the friendships of Jesus after he came +from the grave. He did not take up again the public life of the days +before his death. He made no more journeys through the country. He +spoke no more to throngs in the temple courts or by the Seaside. He no +more went about healing, teaching, casting out demons, and raising the +dead. He made no appearances in public. Only his disciples saw him. +We have but few details of his intercourse with individuals, but such +glimpses as we have are exceedingly interesting. They show us that no +tender tie of friendship had been hurt by his experience of dying. The +love of his heart lived on through death, and reappeared during the +forty days in undiminished gentleness and kindness. He did not meet +his old friends as strangers, but as one who had been away for a few +days, and had come again. + +The first of his friends to whom he showed himself after he arose was +Mary Magdalene. Her story is pathetic in its interest. The traditions +of the centuries have blotted her name, but there is not the slightest +evidence in the New Testament that she was ever a woman of blemished +character. There is no reason whatever for identifying her with the +woman that was a sinner, who came to Jesus in Simon's house. All that +is said of Mary's former condition is that she was possessed of seven +demons, and that Jesus freed her from this terrible bondage. In +gratitude for this unspeakable deliverance Mary followed Jesus, leaving +her home, and going with him until the day of his death. She was one +of several women friends who accompanied him and ministered to him of +their substance. + +Mary's devotion to Jesus was wonderful. When the tomb was closed she +was one of the watchers who lingered, loath to leave it. Then, at the +dawn of the first day morning she was again one of those who hurried +through the darkness to the tomb, with spices for the anointing of the +body--last at his cross, and earliest at his tomb. Mary's devotion was +rewarded; for to her first of all his friends did Jesus appear, as she +stood weeping by the empty grave. She did not recognize him at once. +She was not expecting to see him risen. Then, her eyes were blinded +with her tears. But the moment he spoke her name, "Mary," she knew +him, and answered, "Rabboni." He was not changed to her. He had not +forgotten her. The love in his heart had lost none of its tenderness. +He was as accessible as ever. Dying had made him no less a friend, and +no less sympathetic, than he was before he died. + +Soon after Mary had met Jesus, and rejoiced to find him her friend just +as of old, he appeared to the other women of the company who had +followed him with their grateful ministries. They also knew him, and +he knew them; and their hearts suffered no wrench at the meeting, for +they found the same sweet friendship they thought they had lost, just +as warm and tender as ever. + +That same day Jesus appeared to Peter. A veil is drawn by the +evangelists over the circumstances of this meeting. The friendship of +Jesus and Peter had continued for three years. He had often given his +Master pain and trouble through his impulsive ways. But the +culmination of it all came on the night of the betrayal, when, in the +hall of the high priest's palace, Peter denied being a disciple of +Jesus, denied even knowing him. While for the third time the base and +cowardly words were on his lips, Jesus turned and looked upon his +faithless disciple with a look of grieved love, and then Peter +remembered the forewarning the Master had given him. His heart was +broken with penitence, and he went out and wept bitterly. But he had +no opportunity to seek forgiveness; for the next morning Jesus was on +his cross, and in the evening was in his grave. Peter's sorrow was +very deep, for his love for his Master was very strong. + +We can imagine that when the truth of the resurrection began to be +believed that morning, Peter wondered how Jesus would receive him. But +he was not long kept in suspense. The women who came first to the +tomb, to find it empty, received a message for "the disciples _and_ +Peter." This singling out of his name for special mention must have +given unspeakable joy to Peter. It told him that the love of Jesus was +not only stronger than death, but also stronger than sin. Then, +sometime during the day, Jesus appeared to Peter alone. No doubt then, +in the sacredness of love, the disciple made confession, and the Master +granted forgiveness. Several times during the forty days Jesus and +Peter met again. The friendship had not been marred by death. The +risen Lord loved just as he had loved in the days of common human +intercourse. + +One of the most interesting of the after resurrection incidents is that +of the walk to Emmaus. Cleophas and his friend were journeying +homeward with sad hearts, when a stranger joined them. His +conversation was wonderfully tender as he walked with them and +explained the Scriptures. Then followed the evening meal, and the +revealing of the risen Jesus in the breaking of bread. Again it was +the same sweet friendship which had so warmed their hearts in the past, +resumed by the Master on the other side of death. + +It was the same with all the recorded appearances of Jesus. Those who +had been his friends previous to his death found him the same friend as +before. He took up with each of them the threads of affection just +where they had been dropped when the betrayal and arrest wrought such +panic among his disciples, scattering them away, and went on with the +weaving. + +May we not conclude that it will be with us even as it was with Jesus? +His resurrection was not only a pledge of what that of believers will +be, carrying within itself the seed and potency of a blessed +immortality, but it was also a sample of what ours will be. Death will +produce far less change in us than we imagine it will do. We shall go +on with living very much as if nothing had happened. Dying is an +experience we need not trouble ourselves about very much if we are +believers in Christ. There is a mystery in it; but when we have passed +through it we shall probably find that it is a very simple and natural +event--perhaps little more serious than sleeping over night and waking +in the morning. It will not hurt us in any way. It will blot no +lovely thing from our life. It will end nothing that is worth while. +Death is only a process in life, a phase of development, analogous to +that which takes place when a seed is dropped in the earth and comes up +a beautiful plant, adorned with foliage and blossoms. Life would be +incomplete without dying. The greatest misfortune that could befall +any one would be that he should not die. This would be an arresting of +development which would be death indeed. + + "Death is the crown of life; + Were death denied, poor man would live in vain; + Were death denied, to live would not be life; + Were death denied, e'en fools would wish to die. + Death wounds to cure: we fall; we rise; we reign; + Spring from our fetters; hasten to the skies, + Where blooming Eden withers in our sight. + Death gives us more than was in Eden lost; + The king of terrors is the prince of peace." + + +There is need for a reconstruction of the prevalent thoughts and +conceptions of heaven. We have trained ourselves to think of life +beyond the grave as something altogether different from what life is in +this world. It has always been pictured thus to us. We have been +taught that heaven is a place of rest, a place of fellowship with God, +a place of ceaseless praise. The human element has been largely left +out of our usual conceptions of the blessed life. Not much is made of +the relations of believers to one another. That which is emphasized in +Christian hymns and in most books about heaven is the Godward side. +Much is made of the glory of the place as suggested by the visions of +St. John in the Apocalypse. In many of these conceptions the chief +thought of heavenly blessedness is that it is a release from earth and +from earthly conditions. There is no sorrow, no trouble, no pain, no +struggle, no toil, in the home to which we are going. We shall sit on +the green banks of beautiful rivers, amid unfading flowers, and sing +forever. We shall lie prostrate before the throne, and gaze and gaze +on the face of God. + +But this is not the kind of heaven and heavenly life which the +teachings of Jesus Would lead us to imagine. True, he speaks of the +place to which he is going, and where, by and by, he would gather all +his disciples, as "my Father's house." This suggests home and love; +and the thought is in harmony with what we have seen in the life of +Jesus during the forty days,--the continuance of the friendships formed +and knit in earthly fellowships. But the vision of home life thus +suggested need not imply a heaven of inaction. Indeed, no life could +be more natural and beautiful than that which the thought of home +suggests. We have no perfect homes on earth; but every true home has +in it fragments of heaven's meaning, and always the idea is of love's +service rather than of blissful indolence. + +We may get many thoughts of the heavenly life from other teachings of +Jesus. Life is continuous. Whosoever liveth and believeth shall never +die. There is no break, no interruption of life, in what we call +dying. We think of eternal life as the life of heaven, the glorified +life. So it is; but we have its beginnings here. The moment we +believe, we have everlasting life. The Christian graces we are +enjoined, to cultivate are heavenly lessons set for us to learn. If we +would conceive of the life of heaven, we have but to think of ideal +Christian life in this world, and then lift it up to its perfect +realization. Heaven is but earth's lessons of grace better learned, +earth's best spiritual life glorified. Therefore we get our truest +thoughts of it from a study of Christ's ideal for the life of his +followers, for it will simply be this life fully realized and +infinitely extended. + +For example, the one great lesson set for us, the one which includes +all others, is love. God is love, and we are to learn to love if we +would be like him. All relationships are relationships of love. All +graces are graces of love. All duties are parts of one great duty--to +love one another. All worthy and noble character is love wrought out +in life. All life here is a school, with its tasks, its struggles, its +conflicts, its minglings with men, its friendships, its experiences of +joy and sorrow, its burdens, its disappointments and hopes, and the +final education to be attained is love. Browning puts it thus in +"Rabbi Ben Ezra":-- + + Our life, with all it yields of joy or woe, + And hope and fear,--believe the aged friend, + Is just our chance o' the prize of learning love, + How love might be, hath been, indeed, and is. + + +What is this love which it is the one great lesson of life to learn? +Toward God, it may express itself in devotion, worship, praise, +obedience, fellowship. This seems to be the chief thought of love in +the common conception of heaven. It is all adoration, glorifying. But +love has a manward as well as a Godward development. St. John, the +disciple of love, teaches very plainly that he who says he loves God +must prove it by also loving man. If the whole of our training here is +to be in loving and in living out our love, we certainly have the clew +to the heavenly life. We shall continue in the doing of the things we +have here learned to do. Life in glory will be earth's Christian life +intensified and perfected. Heaven will not be a place of idle repose. +Inaction can never be a condition of blessedness for a life made and +trained for action. The essential quality of love is service--"not to +be ministered unto, but to minister;" and for one who has learned +love's lesson, happiness never can be found in a state in which there +is no opportunity for ministering. In heaven it will still be more +blessed to give than to receive; and those who are first will be those +who with lowly spirit serve most deeply. Heaven will be a place of +boundless activity. "His servants shall serve him." The powers +trained here for the work of Christ will find ample opportunity there +for doing their best service. Said Victor Hugo in his old age, "When I +go down to the grave, I can say, like so many others, 'I have finished +my day's work;' but I cannot say, 'I have finished my life.' My day's +work will begin again next morning. My tomb is not a blind alley, it +is a thoroughfare; it closes with the twilight to open with the dawn." + +Whatever mystery there may be concerning the life that believers in +Christ shall live in heaven, we may be sure at least that they will +carry with them all that is true and divine of their earthly life. The +character formed here they will retain through death. The capacity +they have gained by the use of their powers they will have for the +beginning of their activity in the new life. There can be no doubt +that they shall find work commensurate with and fitted to their trained +powers. + +So heaven will be a far more natural place than we imagine it will be. +It will not be greatly unlike the ideal life of earth. We probably +shall be surprised when we meet each other to find how little we have +changed. The old tenderness will not be missing. We shall recognize +our friends by some little gentle ways they used to have here, or by +some familiar thoughtfulness that was never wanting in them. The +friendships we began here, and had not time to cultivate, we shall have +opportunity there to renew, and carry on through immortal years. + +Even at the best, human friendships only begin in this life; in heaven +they will reach their best and holiest possibilities. There are lives +which only touch each other in this world and then separate, going +their different ways--like ships that pass in the night. There will be +time enough in heaven for any such faintest beginnings of friendship to +be wrought out in beauty. Friendships with Jesus here touch but the +shore of an infinite ocean; in heaven, unhindered, in uninterrupted +fellowship, we shall be forever learning more of this love of Christ +which passeth knowledge. + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + +JESUS AS A FRIEND. + + "Long, long centuries + Agone, One walked the earth, his life + A seeming failure; + Dying, he gave the world a gift + That will outlast eternities." + + +The world has always paid high honor to friendship. Some of the finest +passages in all history are the stories of noble friendships,--stories +which are among the classics of literature. The qualities which belong +to an ideal friend have been treated by many writers through all the +centuries. But Jesus Christ brought into the world new standards for +everything in human life. He was the one complete Man,--God's ideal +for humanity. "Once in the world's history was born a Man. Once in +the roll of the ages, out of innumerable failures, from the stock of +human nature, one bud developed itself into a faultless flower. One +perfect specimen of humanity has God exhibited on earth." To Jesus, +therefore, we turn for the divine ideal of everything in human life. +What is friendship as interpreted by Jesus? What are the qualities of +a true friend as illustrated in the life of Jesus? + +It is evident that he lifted the ideal of friendship to a height to +which it never before had been exalted. He made all things new. Duty +had a new meaning after Jesus taught and lived, and died and rose +again. He presented among men new conceptions of life, new standards +of character, new thoughts of what is worthy and beautiful. Not one of +his beatitudes had a place among the world's ideals of blessedness. +They all had an unworldly, a spiritual basis. The things he said that +men should live for were not the things which men had been living for +before he came. He showed new patterns for everything in life. + +Jesus presented a conception for friendship which surpassed all the +classical models. In his farewell to his disciples he gave them what +he called a "new commandment." The commandment was that his friends +should love one another. Why was this called a new commandment? Was +there no commandment before Jesus came and gave it that good men should +love one another? Was this rule of love altogether new with him? + +In the form in which Jesus gave it, this commandment never had been +given before. There was a precept in the Mosaic law which at first +seems to be the same as that which Jesus gave, but it was not the same. +It read, "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself." "As thyself" was +the standard. Men were to love themselves, and then love their +neighbors as themselves. That was as far as the old commandment went. +But the new commandment is altogether different. "As I have loved you" +is its measure. How did Jesus love his disciples? As himself? Did he +keep a careful balance all the while, thinking of himself, of his own +comfort, his own ease, his own safety, and going just that far and no +farther in his love for his disciples? No; it was a new pattern of +love that Jesus introduced. He forgot himself altogether, denied +himself, never saved his own life, never hesitated at any line or limit +of service, of cost or sacrifice, in loving. He emptied himself, kept +nothing back, spared not his own life. Thus the standard of friendship +which Jesus set for his followers was indeed new. Instead of "Love thy +neighbor as thyself," it was "Love as Jesus loved;" and he loved unto +the uttermost. + +When we turn to the history of Christianity, we see that the type of +friendship which Jesus introduced was indeed a new thing in the world. +It was new in its motive and inspiration. The love of the Mosaic law +was inspired by Sinai; the love of the Christian law got its +inspiration from Calvary. The one was only cold, stern law; the other +was burning passion. The one was enforced merely as a duty; the other +was impressed by the wondrous love of Christ. No doubt men loved God +in the Old Testament days, for there were many revealings of his +goodness and his grace and love in the teachings of those who spoke for +God to men. But wonderful as were these revelations, they could not +for a moment be compared with the manifestation of God which was made +in Jesus Christ. The Son of God came among men in human form, and in +gentle and lowly life all the blessedness of the divine affection was +poured out right before men's eyes. At last there was the cross, where +the heart of God broke in love. + +No wonder that, with such inspiration, a new type of friendship +appeared among the followers of Jesus. We are so familiar with the +life which Christianity has produced, where the fruits of the Spirit +have reached their finest and best development, that it is well-nigh +impossible for us to conceive of the condition of human society as it +was before Christ came. Of course there was love in the world before +that day. Parents loved their children. There was natural affection, +which sometimes even in heathen countries was very strong and tender. +Friendships existed between individuals. History has enshrined the +story of some of these. There always were beautiful things in +humanity,--fragments of the divine image remaining among the ruins of +the fall. + +But the mutual love of Christians which began to show itself on the day +of Pentecost surpassed anything that had ever been known in even the +most refined and gentle society. It was indeed divine love in new-born +men. No mere natural human affection could ever produce such +fellowship as we see in the pentecostal church. It was a little of +heaven's life let down upon earth. Those who so loved one another were +new men; they had been born again--born from above. Jesus came to +establish the kingdom of heaven upon the earth. In other words, he +came to make heaven in the hearts of his believing ones. That is what +the new friendship is. A creed does not make one a Christian; +commandments, though spoken amid the thunders of Sinai, will never +produce love in a life. The new ideal of love which Jesus came to +introduce among men was the love of God shed abroad in human hearts. +"As I have loved you, that ye also love one another" was the new +requirement. + +Since, then, the new ideal of friendship is that which Jesus gave in +his own life, it will be worth our while to make a study of this holy +pattern, that we may know how to strive toward it for ourselves. + +We may note the tenderness of the friendship of Jesus. It has been +suggested by an English preacher that Christ exhibited the blended +qualities of both sexes. "There was in him the womanly heart as well +as the manly brain." Yet tenderness is not exclusively a womanly +excellence; indeed, since tenderness can really coexist only with +strength, it is in its highest manifestation quite as truly a manly as +a womanly quality. Jesus was inimitably tender. Tenderness in him was +never softness or weakness. It was more like true motherliness than +almost any other human affection; it was infolding, protecting, +nourishing love. + +We find abundant illustrations of this quality in the story of the life +of Jesus. The most kindly and affectionate men are sure sometime to +reveal at least a shade of harshness, coldness, bitterness, or +severity. But in Jesus there was never any failure of tenderness. We +see it in his warm love for John, in his regard for little children, in +his compassion for sinners who came to his feet, in his weeping over +the city which had rejected him and was about to crucify him, in his +thought for the poor, in his compassion for the sick. + +Another quality of the friendship of Jesus was patience. In all his +life he never once failed in this quality. We see it in his treatment +of his disciples. They were slow learners. He had to teach the same +lesson over and over again. They could not understand his character. +But he wearied not in his teaching. They were unfaithful, too, in +their friendship for him. In a time of alarm they all fled, while one +of them denied him, and another betrayed him. But never once was there +the slightest impatience shown by him. Having loved his own, he loved +them unto the uttermost, through all dulness and all unfaithfulness. +He suffered unjustly, but bore all wrong in silence. He never lost his +temper. He never grew discouraged, though all his work seemed to be in +vain. He never despaired of making beauty out of deformity in his +disciples. He never lost hope of any soul. Had it not been for this +quality of unwearying patience nothing would ever have come from his +interest in human lives. + +The friendship of Jesus was unselfish. He did not choose those whose +names would add to his influence, who would help him to rise to honor +and renown; he chose lowly, unknown men, whom he could lift up to +worthy character. His enemies charged against him that he was the +friend of publicans and sinners. In a sense this was true. He came to +be a Saviour of lost men. He said he was a physician; and a +physician's mission is among the sick, not among the whole and well. + +The friendship of Jesus was not checked or foiled by the discovery of +faults or blemishes in those whom he had taken into his life. Even in +our ordinary human relations we do not know what we are engaging to do +when we become the friend of another. "For better for worse, for +richer for poorer, in sickness and in health," runs the marriage +covenant. The covenant in all true friendship is the same. We pledge +our friend faithfulness, with all that faithfulness includes. We know +not what demands upon us this sacred compact may make in years to come. +Misfortune may befall our friend, and he may require our aid in many +ways. Instead of being a help he may become a burden. But friendship +must not fail, whatever its cost may be. When we become the friend of +another we do not know what faults and follies in him closer +acquaintance may disclose to our eyes. But here, again, ideal +friendship must not fail. + +What is true in common human relations was true in a far more wonderful +way of the friendship of Jesus. We have only to recall the story of +his three years with his disciples. They gave him at the best a very +feeble return for his great love for them. They were inconstant, weak, +foolish, untrustful. They showed personal ambition, striving for first +places, even at the Last Supper. They displayed jealousy, envy, +narrowness, ingratitude, unbelief, cowardice. As these unlovely things +appeared in the men Jesus had chosen, his friendship did not slacken or +unloose its hold. He had taken them as his friends, and he trusted +them wholly; he committed himself to them absolutely, without reserve, +without condition, without the possibility of withdrawal. No matter +how they failed, he loved them still. He was patient with their +weaknesses and with their slow growth, and was not afraid to wait, +knowing that in the end they would justify his faith in them and his +costly friendship for them. + +Jesus thought not of the present comfort and pleasure of his friends, +but of their highest and best good. Too often human friendship in its +most generous and lavish kindness is really most unkind. It thinks +that its first duty is to give relief from pain, to lighten burdens, to +alleviate hardship, to smoothe the rough path. Too often serious hurt +is done by this over-tenderness of human love. + +But Jesus made no such mistakes in dealing with his friends. He did +not try to make life easy for them. He did not pamper them. He never +lowered the conditions of discipleship so that it would be easy for +them to follow him. He did not carry their burdens for them, but put +into their hearts courage and hope to inspire and strengthen them to +carry their own loads. + +He did not keep them secluded from the world in a quiet shelter so that +they would not come in contact with the world's evil nor meet its +assaults; his method with them was to teach them how to live so that +they should have the divine protection in the midst of spiritual +danger, and then to send them forth to face the perils and fight the +battles. His prayer for his disciples was not that they should be +taken out of the world, thus escaping its dangers and getting away from +its struggles, but that they should be kept from the world's evil. He +knew that if they would become good soldiers they must be trained in +the midst of the conflict. Hence he did not fight their battles for +them. He did not save Peter from being sifted; it was necessary that +his apostle should pass through the terrible experience, even though he +should fail in it and fall. His prayer for him was not that he should +not be sifted, but that his faith should not altogether fail. His aim +in all his dealings with his friends was to train them into heroic +courage and invincible character, and not to lead them along flowery +paths through gardens of ease. + +We are in the habit of saying that the follower of Christ will always +find goodness and mercy wherever he is led. This is true; but it must +not be understood to mean that there will never be any hardness to +endure, any cross to bear, any pain or loss to experience. We grow +best under burdens. We learn most when lessons are hard. When we get +through this earthly life, and stand on the other side, and can look +back on the path over which we have been led, it will appear that we +have found our best blessings where we thought the way was most dreary +and desolate. We shall see then that what seemed sternness and +severity in Christ was really truest and wisest friendship. One +writes:-- + + "If you could go back to the forks of the road-- + Back the long miles you have carried the load; + Back to the place where you had to decide + By this way or that through your life to abide; + + Back of the sorrow and back of the care; + Back to the place where the future was fair-- + If you were there now, a decision to make, + Oh, pilgrim of sorrow, which road would you take? + + Then, after you'd trodden the other long track, + Suppose that again to the forks you went back, + After you found that its promises fair + Were but a delusion that led to a snare-- + + That the road you first travelled with sighs and unrest, + Though dreary and rough, was most graciously blest, + With a balm for each bruise and a charm for each ache, + Oh, pilgrim of sorrow, which road would you take?" + + +Sometimes good people are disappointed in the way their prayers are +answered. Indeed, they seem not to be answered at all. They ask God +to take away some trouble, to lift off some load, and their request is +not granted. They continue to pray, for they read that we must be +importunate, that men ought always to pray and not to faint; but still +there seems no answer. Then they are perplexed. They cannot +understand why God's promises have failed. + +But they have only misread the promises. There is no assurance given +that the burdens shall be lifted off and carried for us. God would not +be the wise, good, and loving Father he is, if at every cry of any of +his children he ran to take away the trouble, or free them from the +hardness, or make all things easy and pleasant for them. Such a course +would keep us always children, untrained, undisciplined. Only in +burden-bearing and in enduring can we learn to be self-reliant and +strong. Jesus himself was trained on the battlefield, and in life's +actual experiences of trial. He learned obedience by the things that +he suffered. It was by meeting temptation and by being victorious in +it that he became Master of the world, able to deliver us in all our +temptations. + +Not otherwise can we grow into Christlike men. It would be unkindness +in our Father to save us from the experiences by which alone we can be +disciplined into robust and vigorous strength. The promises do not +read that if we call upon God in our trouble he will take the trouble +away. Rather the assurance is that if we call upon God he will answer +us. The answer may not be relief; it may be only cheer. We are taught +to cast our burden upon the Lord, but we are not told that the Lord +will take it away. The promise is that he will sustain us under the +burden. We are to continue to bear it; and we are assured that we +shall not faint under the load, for God will strengthen us. The +assurance is not that we shall not be tempted, but that no temptation +but such as man can bear shall come to us, and that the faithful God +will not suffer us to be tempted above that we are able to endure. + +This, then, is what divine friendship does. It does not make it easy +for us to live, for then we should get no blessing of strength and +goodness from living. How, then, are our prayers answered? God +sustains us so that we faint not; and then, as we endure in faith and +patience, his benediction is upon us, giving us wisdom, and imparting +strength to us. + +The friendship of Jesus was always sympathetic. Many persons, however, +misunderstand the meaning of sympathy. They think of it as merely a +weak pity, which sits down beside one who is suffering or in sorrow, +and enters into the experience, without doing anything to lift him up +or strengthen him. Such sympathy is really of very little value in the +time of trouble. It may impart a consciousness of companionship which +will somewhat relieve the sense of aloneness, but it makes the sufferer +no braver or stronger. Indeed, it takes strength from him by +aggravating his sense of distress. + +It was not thus, however, that the sympathy of Jesus was manifested. +There was no real pain or sorrow in any one which did not touch his +heart and stir his compassion. He bore the sicknesses of his friends, +and carried their sorrows, entering with wonderful love into every +human experience. But he did more than feel with those who were +suffering, and weep beside them. His sympathy was always for their +strengthening. He never encouraged exaggerated thoughts of pain or +suffering--for in many minds there is a tendency to such feelings. He +never gave countenance to morbidness, self-pity, or any kind of +unwholesomeness in grief. He never spoke of sorrow or trouble in a +despairing way. He sought to inculcate hope, and to make men braver +and stronger. His ministry was always toward cheer and encouragement. +He gave great eternal truths on which his friends might rest in their +sorrow, and then bade them be of good cheer, assuring them that he had +overcome the world. He gave them his peace and his joy; not sinking +down into the depths of sad helplessness with them, but rather lifting +them up to sympathy with him in his victorious life. + +The wondrous hopefulness of Jesus pervades all his ministry on behalf +of others. He was never discouraged. Every sorrow was to him a path +to a deeper joy. Every battle was a way to the blessing of +victoriousness. Every load under which men bent was a secret of new +strength. In all loss gain was infolded. Jesus lived this life +himself; it was no mere theory which he taught to his followers, and +had never tried or proved himself. He never asked his friends to +accept any such untested theories. He lived all his own lessons. He +was not a mere teacher; he was a leader of men. Thus his strong +friendship was full of magnificent inspiration. He called men to new +things in life, and was ready to help them reach the highest +possibilities in achievement and attainment. + +This friendship of Jesus is the inspiration which is lifting the world +toward divine ideals. "I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw +all men unto me," was the stupendous promise and prophecy of Jesus, as +his eye fell on the shadow of the cross at his feet, and he thought of +the fruits of his great sorrow and the influence of his love. Every +life that is struggling to reach the beauty and perfectness of God's +thought for it is feeling the power of this blessed friendship, and is +being lifted up into the likeness of the Master. + +This friendship of Jesus waits as a mighty divine yearning at the door +of every human heart "Behold, I stand at the door, and knock," is its +call. "If any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to +him, and will sup with him, and he with me." This blessed friendship +waits before each life, waits to be accepted, waits to receive +hospitality. Wherever it is received, it inspires in the heart a +heavenly love which transforms the whole life. To be a friend of +Christ is to be a child of God in the goodly fellowship of heaven. + + + + + Rev. Dr. Miller's Books + + + A HEART GARDEN + BUILDING OF CHARACTER + COME YE APART + DR. MILLER'S YEAR BOOK + EVENING THOUGHTS + EVERY DAY OF LIFE + FINDING THE WAY + FOR THE BEST THINGS + GLIMPSES THROUGH LIFE'S WINDOWS + GOLDEN GATE OF PRAYER + HIDDEN LIFE + JOY OF SERVICE + LESSON OF LOVE + MAKING THE MOST OF LIFE + MINISTRY OF COMFORT + MORNING THOUGHTS + PERSONAL FRIENDSHIPS OF JESUS + SILENT TIMES + STORY OF A BUSY LIFE + STRENGTH AND BEAUTY + THINGS TO LIVE FOR + UPPER CURRENTS + WHEN THE SONG BEGINS + WIDER LIFE + YOUNG PEOPLE'S PROBLEMS + + + Booklets + + BEAUTY OF KINDNESS + BLESSING OF CHEERFULNESS + BY THE STILL WATERS + CHRISTMAS MAKING + CURE FOR CARE + FACE OF THE MASTER + GENTLE HEART + GIRLS; FAULTS AND IDEALS + GLIMPSES OF THE HEAVENLY LIFE + HOW? WHEN? WHERE? + IN PERFECT PEACE + INNER LIFE + LOVING MY NEIGHBOR + MARRIAGE ALTAR + MARY OF BETHANY + SECRET OF GLADNESS + SECRETS OF HAPPY HOME LIFE + SUMMER GATHERING + TO-DAY AND TO-MORROW + TRANSFIGURED LIFE + TURNING NORTHWARD + UNTO THE HILLS + YOUNG MEN; FAULTS AND IDEALS + + + Thomas Y. Crowell & Company + + + + + + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Personal Friendships of Jesus, by J. R. Miller + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PERSONAL FRIENDSHIPS OF JESUS *** + +***** This file should be named 27349-8.txt or 27349-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/2/7/3/4/27349/ + +Produced by Al Haines + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. 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Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + https://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. diff --git a/27349-8.zip b/27349-8.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..76d5251 --- /dev/null +++ b/27349-8.zip diff --git a/27349.txt b/27349.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6cc69f3 --- /dev/null +++ b/27349.txt @@ -0,0 +1,5302 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Personal Friendships of Jesus, by J. R. Miller + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Personal Friendships of Jesus + +Author: J. R. Miller + +Release Date: November 28, 2008 [EBook #27349] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PERSONAL FRIENDSHIPS OF JESUS *** + + + + +Produced by Al Haines + + + + + + + + + + +Personal Friendships + +of Jesus + + +BY + +J. R. MILLER, D. D. + + + + AUTHOR OF "SILENT TIMES," "MAKING THE MOST OF LIFE," + "THINGS TO LIVE FOR," "BLESSING OF CHEERFULNESS," ETC. + + + + One friend in that path shall be, + To secure my steps from wrong; + One to count night day for me, + Patient through the watches long, + Serving most with none to see. + BROWNING. + + + +New York + +THOMAS Y. CROWELL & CO. + +PUBLISHERS + + + + +COPYRIGHT, 1897, + +BY THOMAS Y. CROWELL & COMPANY. + +EIGHTH THOUSAND + + + + +PREFACE. + +George MacDonald said in an address, "The longer I live, the more I am +assured that the business of life is to understand the Lord Christ." +If this be true, whatever sheds even a little light on the character or +life of Christ is worth while. + +Nothing reveals a man's heart better than his friendships. The kind of +friend he is, tells the kind of man he is. The personal friendships of +Jesus reveal many tender and beautiful things in his character. They +show us also what is possible for us in divine friendship; for the +heart of Jesus is the same yesterday, and to-day, and forever. + +These chapters are only suggestive, not exhaustive. If they make the +way into close personal friendship with Jesus any plainer for those who +hunger for such blessed intimacy, that will be reward enough. + +J. R. M. + +PHILADELPHIA. + + + + +CONTENTS. + +CHAPTER + + I. THE HUMANHEARTEDNESS OF JESUS + II. JESUS AND HIS MOTHER + III. JESUS AND HIS FORERUNNER + IV. JESUS' CONDITIONS OF FRIENDSHIP + V. JESUS CHOOSING HIS FRIENDS + VI. JESUS AND THE BELOVED DISCIPLE + VII. JESUS AND PETER + VIII. JESUS AND THOMAS + IX. JESUS' UNREQUITED FRIENDSHIPS + X. JESUS AND THE BETHANY SISTERS + XI. JESUS COMFORTING HIS FRIENDS + XII. JESUS AND HIS SECRET FRIENDS + XIII. JESUS' FAREWELL TO HIS FRIENDS + XIV. JESUS' FRIENDSHIPS AFTER HE AROSE + XV. JESUS AS A FRIEND + + + + + All I could never be, + All men ignored in me, + This I was worth to God. + BROWNING. + + + But lead me, Man divine, + Where'er Thou will'st, only that I may find + At the long journey's end Thy image there, + And grow more like to it. For art not Thou + The human shadow of the infinite Love + That made and fills the endless universe? + The very Word of Him, the unseen, unknown, + Eternal Good that rules the summer flower + And all the worlds that people starry space. + RICHARD WATSON GILDER. + + + + +THE FRIENDSHIPS OF JESUS. + + +CHAPTER I. + +THE HUMANHEARTEDNESS OF JESUS. + + O God, O kinsman loved, but not enough, + O man with eyes majestic after death, + Whose feet have toiled along our pathways rough, + Whose lips drawn human breath; + + By that one likeness which is ours and thine, + By that one nature which doth hold us kin, + By that high heaven where sinless thou dost shine, + To draw us sinners in; + + By thy last silence in the judgment hall, + By long foreknowledge of the deadly tree, + By darkness, by the wormwood and the gall, + I pray thee visit me. + JEAN INGELOW. + + +There is a natural tendency to think of Jesus as different from other +men in the human element of his personality. Our adoration of him as +our divine Lord makes it seem almost sacrilege to place his humanity in +the ordinary rank with that of other men. It seems to us that life +could not have meant the same to him that it means to us. It is +difficult for us to conceive of him as learning in childhood as other +children have to learn. We find ourselves fancying that he must always +have known how to read and write and speak. We think of the +experiences of his youth and young manhood as altogether unlike those +of any other boy or young man in the village where he grew up. This +same feeling leads us to think of his temptation as so different from +what temptation is to other men as to be really no temptation at all. + +So we are apt to think of all the human life of Jesus as being in some +way lifted up out of the rank of ordinary experiences. We do not +conceive of him as having the same struggles that we have in meeting +trial, in enduring injury and wrong, in learning obedience, patience, +meekness, submission, trust, and cheerfulness. We conceive of his +friendships as somehow different from other men's. We feel that in +some mysterious way his human life was supported and sustained by the +deity that dwelt in him, and that he was exempt from all ordinary +limiting conditions of humanity. + +There is no doubt that with many people this feeling of reverence has +been in the way of the truest understanding of Jesus, and ofttimes +those who have clung most devoutly to a belief in his deity have missed +much of the comfort which comes from a proper comprehension of his +humanity. + +Yet the story of Jesus as told in the Gospels furnishes no ground for +any confusion on the subject of his human life. It represents him as +subject to all ordinary human conditions excepting sin. He began life +as every infant begins, in feebleness and ignorance; and there is no +hint of any precocious development. He learned as every child must +learn. The lessons were not gotten easily or without diligent study. +He played as other boys did, and with them. The more we think of the +youth of Jesus as in no marked way unlike that of those among whom he +lived, the truer will our thought of him be. + +Millais the great artist, when he was a young man, painted an unusual +picture of Jesus. He represented him as a little boy in the home at +Nazareth. He has cut his finger on some carpenter's tool, and comes to +his mother to have it bound up. The picture is really one of the +truest of all the many pictures of Jesus, because it depicts just such +a scene as ofttimes may have been witnessed in his youth. Evidently +there was nothing in his life in Nazareth that drew the attention of +his companions and neighbors to him in any striking way. We know that +he wrought no miracles until after he had entered upon his public +ministry. We can think of him as living a life of unselfishness and +kindness. There was never any sin or fault in him; he always kept the +law of God perfectly. But his perfection was not something startling. +There was no halo about his head, no transfiguration, that awed men. +We are told that he grew in favor with men as well as with God. His +religion made his life beautiful and winning, but always so simple and +natural that it drew no unusual attention to itself. It was richly and +ideally human. + +So it was unto the end. Through the years of his public ministry, when +his words and works burned with divine revealing, he continued to live +an altogether natural human life. He ate and drank; he grew weary and +faint; he was tempted in all points like as we are, and suffered, being +tempted. He learned obedience by the things that he endured. He +hungered and thirsted, never ministering with his divine power to any +of his own needs. "In all things it behooved him to be made like unto +his brethren." + +In nothing else is this truth more clearly shown than in the +humanheartedness which was so striking a feature of the life of Jesus +among men. When we think of him as the Son of God, the question +arises, Did he really care for personal friendships with men and women +of the human family? In the home from which he came he had dwelt from +all eternity in the bosom of the Father, and had enjoyed the +companionship of the highest angels. What could he find in this world +of imperfect, sinful beings to meet the cravings of his heart for +fellowship? Whom could he find among earth's sinful creatures worthy +of his friendship, or capable of being in any real sense his personal +friend? What satisfaction could his heart find in this world's deepest +and holiest love? What light can a dim candle give to the sun? Does +the great ocean need the little dewdrop that hides in the bosom of the +rose? What blessing or inspiration of love can any poor, marred, +stained life give to the soul of the Christ? + +Yet the Gospels abound with evidences that Jesus did crave human love, +that he found sweet comfort in the friendships which he made, and that +much of his keenest suffering was caused by failures in the love of +those who ought to have been true to him as his friends. He craved +affection, and even among the weak and faulty men and women about him +made many very sacred attachments from which he drew strength and +comfort. + +We must distinguish between Christ's love for all men and his +friendship for particular individuals. He was in the world to reveal +the Father, and all the divine compassion for sinners was in his heart. +It was this mighty love that brought him to earth on the mission of +redemption. It was this that impelled and constrained him in all his +seeking of the lost. He had come to be the Saviour of all who would +believe and follow him. Therefore he was interested in every merest +fragment or shred of life. No human soul was so debased that he did +not love it. + +But besides this universal divine love revealed in the heart of Jesus, +he had his personal human friendships. A philanthropist may give his +whole life to the good of his fellow-men, to their uplifting, their +advancement, their education; to the liberation of the enslaved; to +work among and in behalf of the poor, the sick, or the fallen. All +suffering humanity has its interest for him, and makes appeal to his +compassion. Yet amid the world of those whom he thus loves and wishes +to help, this man will have his personal friends; and through the story +of his life will run the golden threads of sweet companionships and +friendships whose benedictions and inspirations will be secrets of +strength, cheer, and help to him in all his toil in behalf of others. + +Jesus gave all his rich and blessed life to the service of love. Power +was ever going out from him to heal, to comfort, to cheer, to save. He +was continually emptying out from the full fountain of his own heart +cupfuls of rich life to reinvigorate other lives in their faintness and +exhaustion. One of the sources of his own renewing and replenishing +was in the friendships he had among men and women. What friends are to +us in our human hunger and need, the friends of Jesus were to him. He +craved companionship, and was sorely hurt when men shut their doors in +his face. + +There are few more pathetic words in the New Testament than that short +sentence which tells of his rejection, "He came unto his own, and his +own received him not." Another pathetic word is that which describes +the neglect of those who ought to have been ever eager to show him +hospitality: "The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have +nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head." Even the +beasts of the field and the birds of the heaven had warmer welcome in +this world than he in whose heart was the most gentle love that earth +ever knew. + +Another word which reveals the deep hunger of the heart of Jesus for +friendship and companionship was spoken in view of the hour when even +his own apostles would leave him: "Behold, the hour cometh, yea, is now +come, that ye shall be scattered, every man to his own, and shall leave +me alone." The experience of the garden of Gethsemane also shows in a +wonderful way the Lord's craving for sympathy. In his great sorrow he +wished to have his best friends near him, that he might lean on them, +and draw from their love a little strength for his hour of bitter need. +It was an added element in the sorrow of that night that he failed to +get the help from human sympathy which he yearned for and expected. +When he came back each time after his supplication, he found his +apostles sleeping. + +These are some of the glimpses which we get in the Gospel story of the +longing heart of Jesus. He loved deeply, and sought to be loved. He +was disappointed when he failed to find affection. He welcomed love +wherever it came to him,--the love of the poor, the gratitude of those +whom he had helped, the trusting affection of little children. We can +never know how much the friendship of the beloved disciple was to +Jesus. What a shelter and comfort the Bethany home was to him, and how +his strength was renewed by its sweet fellowship! How even the +smallest kindnesses were a solace to his heart! How he was comforted +by the affection and the ministries of the women-friends who followed +him! + +In the chapters of this book which follow, the attempt is made to tell +the story of some of the friendships of Jesus, gathering up the threads +from the Gospel pages. Sometimes the material is abundant, as in the +case of Peter and John; sometimes we have only a glimpse or two in the +record, albeit enough to reveal a warm and tender friendship, as in the +case of the Bethany sisters, and of Andrew, and of Joseph. It may do +us good to study these friendship stories. It will at least show us +the humanheartedness of Jesus, and his method in blessing and saving +the world. The central fact in every true Christian life is a personal +friendship with Jesus. Men were called to follow him, to leave all and +cleave to him, to believe on him, to trust him, to love him, to obey +him; and the result was the transformation of their lives into his own +beauty. That which alone makes one a Christian is being a friend of +Jesus. Friendship transforms--all human friendship transforms. We +become like those with whom we live in close, intimate relations. Life +flows into life, heart and heart are knit together, spirits blend, and +the two friends become one. + +We have but little to give to Christ; yet it is a comfort to know that +our friendship really is precious to him, and adds to his joy, poor and +meagre though its best may be--but he has infinite blessings to give to +us. "I call you friends." No other gift he gives to us can equal in +value the love and friendship of his heart. When Cyrus gave Artabazus, +one of his courtiers, a gold cup, he gave Chrysanthus, his favorite, +only a kiss. And Artabazus said to Cyrus, "The cup you gave me was not +so good gold as the kiss you gave Chrysanthus." No good man's money is +ever worth so much as his love. Certainly the greatest honor of this +earth, greater than rank or station or wealth, is the friendship of +Jesus Christ. And this honor is within the reach of every one. +"Henceforth I call you not servants ... I have called you friends." +"Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you." + +The stories of the friendships of Jesus when he was on the earth need +cause no one to sigh, "I wish that I had lived in those days, when +Jesus lived among men, that I might have been his friend too, feeling +the warmth of his love, my life enriched by contact with his, and my +spirit quickened by his love and grace!" The friendships of Jesus, +whose stories we read in the New Testament, are only patterns of +friendships into which we may enter, if we are ready to accept what he +offers, and to consecrate our life to faithfulness and love. + +The friendship of Jesus includes all other blessings for time and for +eternity. "All things are yours, and ye are Christ's." His friendship +sanctifies all pure human bonds--no friendship is complete which is not +woven of a threefold cord. If Christ is our friend, all life is made +rich and beautiful to us. The past, with all of sacred loss it holds, +lives before us in him. The future is a garden-spot in which all +life's sweet hopes, that seem to have perished on the earth, will be +found growing for us. + + + "Fields of the past to thee shall be no more + The burialground of friendships once in bloom, + But the seed-plots of a harvest on before, + And prophecies of life with larger room + For things that are behind. + + Live thou in Christ, and thy dead past shall be + Alive forever with eternal day; + And planted on his bosom thou shall see + The flowers revived that withered on the way + Amid the things behind." + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +JESUS AND HIS MOTHER. + + Sleep, sleep, mine Holy One! + My flesh, my Lord!--what name? I do not know + A name that seemeth not too high or low, + Too far from me or heaven. + My Jesus, _that_ is best! + * * * + Sleep, sleep, my saving One. + MRS. BROWNING. + + +The first friend a child has in this world is its mother. It comes +here an utter stranger, knowing no one; but it finds love waiting for +it. Instantly the little stranger has a friend, a bosom to nestle in, +an arm to encircle it, a hand to minister to its helplessness. Love is +born with the child. The mother presses it to her breast, and at once +her heart's tendrils twine about it. + +It is a good while before the child becomes conscious of the wondrous +love that is bending over it, yet all the time the love is growing in +depth and tenderness. In a thousand ways, by a thousand delicate arts, +the mother seeks to waken in her child a response to her own yearning +love. At length the first gleams of answering affection appear--the +child has begun to love. From that hour the holy friendship grows. +The two lives become knit in one. + +When God would give the world a great man, a man of rare spirit and +transcendent power, a man with a lofty mission, he first prepares a +woman to be his mother. Whenever in history we come upon such a man, +we instinctively begin to ask about the character of her on whose bosom +he nestled in infancy, and at whose knee he learned his life's first +lessons. We are sure of finding here the secret of the man's +greatness. When the time drew nigh for the incarnation of the Son of +God, we may be sure that into the soul of the woman who should be his +mother, who should impart her own life to him, who should teach him his +first lessons, and prepare him for his holy mission, God put the +loveliest and the best qualities that ever were lodged in any woman's +life. We need not accept the teaching that exalts the mother of Jesus +to a place beside or above her divine Son. We need have no sympathy +whatever with the dogma that ascribes worship to the Virgin Mary, and +teaches that the Son on his throne must be approached by mortals +through his more merciful, more gentle-hearted mother. But we need not +let these errors concerning Mary obscure the real blessedness of her +character. We remember the angel's greeting, "Blessed art thou among +women." Hers surely was the highest honor ever conferred upon any +woman. + + "Say of me as the Heavenly said, 'Thou art + The blessedest of women!'--blessedest, + Not holiest, not noblest,--no high name, + Whose height misplaced may pierce me like a shame, + When I sit meek in heaven!" + + +We know how other men, men of genius, rarely ever have failed to give +to their mothers the honor of whatever of greatness or worth they had +attained. But somehow we shrink from saying that Jesus was influenced +by his mother as other good men have been; that he got from her much of +the beauty and the power of his life. We are apt to fancy that his +mother was not to him what mothers ordinarily are to their children; +that he did not need mothering as other children do; that by reason of +the Deity indwelling, his character unfolded from within, without the +aid of home teaching and training, and the other educational influences +which do so much in shaping the character of children in common homes. + +But there is no Scriptural ground for this feeling. The humanity of +Jesus was just like our humanity. He came into the world just as +feeble and as untaught as any other child that ever was born. No +mother was ever more to her infant than Mary was to Jesus. She taught +him all his first lessons. She gave him his first thoughts about God, +and from her lips he learned the first lispings of prayer. Jewish +mothers cared very tenderly for their children. They taught them with +unwearying patience the words of God. One of the rabbis said, "God +could not be everywhere, and therefore he made mothers." This saying +shows how sacred was the Jewish thought of the mother's work for her +child. + +Every true mother feels a sense of awe in her soul when she bends over +her own infant child; but in the case of Mary we may be sure that the +awe was unusual, because of the mystery of the child's birth. In the +annunciation the angel had said to her, "That which is to be born shall +be called holy, the Son of God." Then the night of her child's birth +there was a wondrous vision of angels, and the shepherds who beheld it +hastened into the town; and as they looked upon the baby in the manger, +they told the wondering mother what they had seen and heard. We are +told that Mary kept all these things, pondering them in her heart. +While she could not understand what all this meant, she knew at least +that hers was no common child; that in some wonderful sense he was the +Son of God. + +This consciousness must have given to her motherhood an unusual +thoughtfulness and seriousness. How close to God she must have lived! +How deep and tender her love must have been! How pure and clean her +heart must have been kept! How sweet and patient she must have been as +she moved about at her tasks, in order that no harsh or bitter thought +or feeling might ever cast a shadow upon the holy life which had been +intrusted to her for training and moulding. + +Only a few times is the veil lifted to give us a glimpse of mother and +child. On the fortieth day he was taken to the temple, and given to +God. Then it was that another reminder of the glory of this child was +given to the mother. An old man, Simeon, took the infant in his arms, +and spoke of him as God's salvation. As he gave the parents his +parting blessing he lifted the veil, and showed them a glimmering of +the future. "This child is set for the fall and rising again of many +in Israel; and for a sign which shall be spoken against." Then to the +mother he said solemnly, "Yea, a sword shall pierce through thine own +soul also." This was a foretelling of the sorrow which should come to +the heart of Mary, and which came again and again, until at last she +saw her son on a cross. The shadow of the cross rested on Mary's soul +all the years. Every time she rocked her baby to sleep, and laid him +down softly, covering his face with kisses, there would come into her +heart a pang as she remembered Simeon's words. Perhaps, too, words +from the old prophets would come into her mind,--"He is despised and +rejected of men; a man of sorrows;" "He was bruised for our +iniquities,"--and the tears would come welling into her eyes. Every +time she saw her child at play, full of gladness, all unconscious of +any sorrow awaiting him, a nameless fear would steal over her as she +remembered the ominous words which had fallen upon her ear, and which +she could not forget. + +Soon after the presentation in the temple came the visit of the magi. +Again the mother must have wondered as she heard these strangers from +the East speak of her infant boy as the "King of the Jews," and saw +them falling down before him in reverent worship, and then laying their +offerings at his feet. Immediately following this came the flight into +Egypt. How the mother must have pressed her child to her bosom as she +fled with him to escape the cruel danger! By and by they returned, and +from that time Nazareth was their home. + +Only once in the thirty years do we have a glimpse of mother and child. +It was when Jesus went to his first Passover. When the time came for +returning home the child tarried behind. After a painful search the +mother found him in one of the porches of the temple, sitting with the +rabbis, an eager learner. There is a tone of reproach in her words, +"Son, why hast thou thus dealt with us? behold, thy father and I have +sought thee sorrowing." She was sorely perplexed. All the years +before this her son had implicitly obeyed her. He had never resisted +her will, never withdrawn from her guidance. Now he had done something +without asking her about it--as it were, had taken his life into his +own hand. It was a critical point in the friendship of this mother and +her child. It is a critical moment in the friendship of any mother and +her child when the child begins to think and act for himself, to do +things without the mother's guidance. + +The answer of Jesus is instructive: "I must be about my Father's +business." There was another besides his mother to whom he owed +allegiance. He was the Son of God as well as the son of Mary. Parents +should remember this always in dealing with their children,--their +children are more God's than theirs. + +It is interesting to notice what follows that remarkable experience of +mother and child in the temple. Jesus returned with his mother to the +lowly Nazareth home, and was subject to her. In recognizing his +relation to God as his heavenly Father, he did not become any less the +child of his earthly mother. He loved his mother no less because he +loved God more. Obedience to the Father in heaven did not lead him to +reject the rule of earthly parenthood. He went back to the quiet home, +and for eighteen years longer found his Father's business in the common +round of lowly tasks which made up the daily life of such a home. + +It would be intensely interesting to read the story of mother and son +during those years, but it has not been written for us. They must have +been years of wondrous beauty. Few things in this world are more +beautiful than such friendships as one sometimes sees between mother +and son. The boy is more the lover than the child. The two enter into +the closest companionship. A sacred and inviolable intimacy is formed +between them. The boy opens all his heart to his mother, telling her +everything; and she, happy woman, knows how to be a boy's mother and to +keep a mother's place without ever startling or checking the shy +confidences, or causing him to desire to hide anything from her. The +boy whispers his inmost thoughts to his mother, and listens to her wise +and gentle counsels with loving eagerness and childish faith-- + + "Her face his holy skies; + The air he breathes his mother's breath, + His stars his mother's eyes." + + +Not always are mother and boy such friends. Some mothers do not think +it worth while to give the time and thought necessary to enter into a +boy's life in such confidential way. But we may be sure that between +the mother of Jesus and her son the most tender and intimate friendship +existed. He opened his soul to her; and she gave him not a mother's +love only, but also a mother's wise counsel and strong, inspiring +sympathy. + +It is almost certain that sorrow entered the Nazareth home soon after +the visit to Jerusalem. Joseph is not mentioned again; and it is +supposed that he died, leaving Mary a widow. On Jesus, as the eldest +son, the care of the mother now rested. Knowing the deep love of his +heart and his wondrous gentleness, it is easy for us to understand with +what unselfish devotion he cared for his mother after she was widowed. +He had learned the carpenter's trade; and day after day, early and +late, he wrought with his hands to provide for her wants. Very sacred +must have been the friendship of mother and son in those days. Her +gentleness, quietness, hopefulness, humility, and prayerfulness, must +have wrought themselves into the very tissue of his character as he +moved through the days in such closeness. Unto the end he carried in +his soul the benedictions of his mother's life. + +The thirty silent years of preparation closed, and Jesus went out to +begin his public ministry. The first glimpse we have of the mother is +at the wedding at Cana. Jesus was there too. The wine failed, and +Mary went to Jesus about the matter. "They have no wine," she said. +Evidently she was expecting some manifesting of supernatural power. +All the years since his birth she had been carrying in her heart a +great wonder of expectation. Now he had been baptized, and had entered +upon his work as the Messiah. Had not the time come for +miracle-working? + +The answer of Jesus startles us: "Woman, what have I to do with thee? +mine hour is not yet come." The words seem to have in them a tone of +reproof, or of repulse, unlike the words of so gentle and loving a son. +But really there is in his reply nothing inconsistent with all that we +have learned to think of the gentleness and lovingness of the heart of +Jesus. In substance he said only that he must wait for his Father's +word before doing any miracle, and that the time for this had not yet +come. Evidently his mother understood him. She was not hurt by his +words, nor did she regard them as a refusal to help in the emergency. +Her words to the servants show this: "Whatsoever he saith unto you, do +it." She had learned her lesson of sweet humility. She knew now that +God had the highest claim on her son's obedience, and she quietly +waited for the divine voice. The holy friendship was not marred. + +There is another long period in which no mention is made of Mary. +Probably she lived a secluded life. But one day at Capernaum, in the +midst of his popularity, when Jesus was preaching to a great crowd, she +and his brothers appeared on the outside of the throng, and sent a +request that they might speak with him. It seems almost certain that +the mother's errand was to try to get him away from his exhausting +work; he was imperilling his health and his safety. Jesus refused to +be interrupted. But it was really only an assertion that nothing must +come between him and his duty. The Father's business always comes +first. Human ties are second to the bond which binds us to God. No +dishonor was done by Jesus to his mother in refusing to be drawn away +by her loving interest from his work. The holiest human friendship +must never keep us from doing the will of God. Other mothers in their +love for their children have made the same mistake that the mother of +Jesus made,--have tried to withhold or withdraw their children from +service which seemed too hard or too costly. The voice of tenderest +love must be quenched when it would keep us from doing God's will. + +The next mention of the mother of Jesus is in the story of the cross. +Ah, holy mother-love, constant and faithful to the end! At length +Simeon's prophecy is fulfilled,--a sword is piercing the mother's soul +also. "Jesus was crucified on the cross; Mary was crucified at the +foot of the cross." + +Note only one feature of the scene,--the mother-love there is in it. +The story of clinging mother-love is a wonderful one. A mother never +forsakes her child. Mary is not the only mother who has followed a son +to a cross. Here we have the culmination of this mother's friendship +for her son. She is watching beside his cross. O friendship constant, +faithful, undying, and true! + +But what of the friendship of the dying son for his mother? In his own +anguish does he notice her? Yes; one of the seven words spoken while +he hung on the cross told of changeless love in his heart for her. +Mary was a woman of more than fifty, "with years before her too many +for remembering, too few for forgetting." The world would be desolate +for her when her son was gone. So he made provision for her in the +shelter of a love in which he knew she would be safe. As he saw her +led away by the beloved disciple to his own home, part of the pain of +dying was gone from his own heart. His mother would have tender care. + +The story of this blessed friendship should sweeten forever in +Christian homes the relation of mother and child. It should make every +mother a better woman and a better mother. It should make every child +a truer, holier child. Every home should have its sacred friendships +between parents and children. Thus something of heaven will be brought +down to our dull earth; for, as Mrs. Browning says,-- + + In the pure loves of child and mother + Two human loves make one divine. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +JESUS AND HIS FORERUNNER. + + Where is the lore the Baptist taught, + The soul unswerving and the fearless tongue? + The much-enduring wisdom, sought + By lonely prayer the haunted rocks among? + Who counts it gain + His light should wane, + So the whole world to Jesus throng? + KEBLE. + + +The two Johns appear in many devotional pictures, one on each side of +Jesus. Yet the two men were vastly unlike. The Baptist was a wild, +rugged man of the desert; the apostle was the representative of the +highest type of gentleness and spiritual refinement. The former was +the consummate flower of Old Testament prophecy; the latter was the +ripe fruit of New Testament evangelism. They appear in history one +really on each side of Jesus; one going before him to prepare the way +for him, and the other coming after him to declare the meaning of his +mission. They were united in Jesus; both of them were his friends. + +It seems probable that Jesus and the Baptist had never met until the +day Jesus came to be baptized. This is not to be wondered at. Their +childhood homes were not near to each other. Besides, John probably +turned away at an early age from the abodes of men to make his home in +the desert. He may never have visited Jesus, and it is not unlikely +that Jesus had never visited him. + +Yet their mothers are said to have been cousins. The stories of their +births are woven together in an exquisite way, in the opening chapters +of the Gospels. To the same high angel fell the privilege of +announcing to the two women, in turn, the tidings which in each case +meant so much of honor and blessedness. It would have seemed natural +for the boys to grow up together, their lives blending in childhood +association and affection. It is interesting to think what the effect +would have been upon the characters of both if they had been reared in +close companionship. How would John's stern, rugged, unsocial nature +have affected the gentle spirit of Jesus? What impression would the +brightness, sweetness, and affectionateness of Jesus have made on the +temper and disposition of John? + +When at last the two men met, it is evident that a remarkable effect +was produced on John. There was something in the face of Jesus that +almost overpowered the fearless preacher of the desert. John had been +waiting and watching for the Coming One, whose herald and harbinger he +was. One day he came and asked to be baptized. John had never before +hesitated to administer the rite to any one who stood before him; for +in every one he saw a sinner needing repentance and remission of sins. +But he who now stood before him waiting to be baptized bore upon his +face the light of an inner holiness which awed the rugged preacher. "I +have need to be baptized of thee," said John; but Jesus insisted, and +the rite was administered. John's awe must have been deepened by what +now took place. Jesus looked up in earnest prayer, and then from the +open heaven a white dove descended, resting on the head of the Holy +One. An ancient legend tells that from the shining light the whole +valley of the Jordan was illuminated. A divine voice was heard also, +declaring that this Jesus was the Son of God. + +Thus it was that the friendship between Jesus and the Baptist began. +It was a wonderful moment. For centuries prophets had been pointing +forward to the Messiah who was to come; now John saw him. He had +baptized him, thus introducing him to his great mission. This made +John the greatest of the prophets; he saw the Messiah whom his +predecessors had only foretold. John's rugged nature must have been +wondrously softened by this meeting with Jesus. + +Brief was the duration of the friendship of the forerunner and the +Messiah; but there are evidences that it was strong, deep, and true. +There were several occasions on which this friendship proved its +sincerity and its loyalty. + +Reports of the preaching of John, and of the throngs who were flocking +to him, reached Jerusalem; and a deputation was sent by the Sanhedrin +to the desert to ask him who he was. They had begun to think that this +man who was attracting such attention might be the Messiah for whom +they were looking. But John was careful to say that he was not the +Christ. "Art thou Elias? ... Art thou that prophet?" He answered +"No."--"Who art thou, then?" they asked, "that we may give an answer to +them that sent us. What sayest thou of thyself?" + +This gave John an opportunity to claim the highest honor for himself if +he had been disposed to do so. He might have admitted that he was the +Messiah, or quietly permitted the impression to be cherished; and in +the state of feeling and expectation then prevailing among the people, +there would have been a great uprising to carry him to a throne. But +his loyalty to truth and to the Messiah whose forerunner he was, was so +strong that he firmly resisted the opportunity, with whatever of +temptation it may have had for him. "I am a voice," he +answered--nothing but a voice. Thus he showed an element of greatness +in his lowly estimate of himself. + +True, a voice may do great things. It may speak words which shall ring +through the world with a blessing in every reverberation. It may +arouse men to action, may comfort sorrow, cheer discouragement, start +hope in despairing hearts. If one is only a voice, and if there be +truth and love and life in the voice, its ministry may be rich in its +influence. + +Much of the Bible is but a voice coming out of the depths of the past. +No one knows the names of all the holy men who, moved by the Spirit, +wrote the wonderful words. Many of the sweetest of the Psalms are +anonymous. Yet no one prizes the words less, nor is their power to +comfort, cheer, inspire, or quicken any less, because they are only +voices. After all, it is a great thing to be a voice to which men and +women will listen, and whose words do good wherever they go. + +Yet John's speaking thus of himself shows his humility. He sought no +earthly praise or recognition. He was not eager to have his name +sounding on people's lips. He knew well how empty such honor was. He +wished only that he might be a voice, speaking out the word he had been +sent into the world to speak. He knew that he had a message to +deliver, and he was intent on delivering it. It mattered not who or +what he was, but it did matter whether his "word or two" were spoken +faithfully or not. + +Every one of us has a message from God to men. We are in this world +for a purpose, with a mission, with something definite to do for God +and man. It makes very little difference whether people hear about us +or not, whether we are praised, loved, and honored, or despised, hated, +and rejected, so that we get our word spoken into the air, and set +going in men's hearts and lives. John was a worthy voice, and his +tones rang out with clarion clearness for truth and for God's kingdom. +It was his mission to go in advance of the King, and tell men that he +was coming, calling them to prepare the way before him. This he did; +and when the King came, John's work was done. + +The deputation asked him also why he was baptizing if he was neither +the Christ nor Elijah. Again John honored his friend by saying, "I +baptize with water: but there standeth one among you, whom ye know not; +he it is, who coming after me is preferred be fore me, whose shoe's +latchet I am not worthy to unloose." John set the pattern for +friendship for Christ for all time. It is,-- + + "None of self, and all of thee." + + +It is pitiable to see how some among the Master's followers fail to +learn this lesson. They contend for high places, where they may have +prominence among men, where their names shall have honor. The only +truly great in Christ's sight are those who forget self that they may +honor their Lord. John said he was not worthy to unloose the +shoe-latchet of his friend, so great, so kingly, so worthy was that +friend. He said his own work was only external, while the One standing +unrecognized among the people had power to reach their hearts. It were +well if every follower of Christ understood so perfectly the place of +his own work with relation to Christ's. + +Another of John's testimonies to Jesus was made a little later, perhaps +as Jesus returned after his temptation. Pointing to a young man who +was approaching, he said, "Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away +the sin of the world." It was a high honor which in these words John +gave to his friend. That friend was the bearer of the world's sin and +of its sorrow. It is not likely that at this early stage John knew of +the cross on which Jesus should die for the world. In some way, +however, he saw a vision of Jesus saving his people from their sin, and +so proclaimed him to the circle that stood round him. He proclaimed +him also as the Son of God, thus adding yet another honor to his friend. + +A day or two later John again pointed Jesus out to two of his own +disciples as the Lamb of God, and then bade them leave him and go after +the Messiah. This is another mark of John's noble friendship for +Jesus,--he gave up his own disciples that they might go after the new +Master. It is not easy to do this. It takes a brave man to send his +friends away, that they may give their love and service to another +master. + +There is further illustration of John's loyal friendship for Jesus. It +seems that John's disciples were somewhat jealous of the growing fame +and influence of Jesus. The throngs that followed their master were +now turning after the new teacher. In their great love for John, and +remembering how he had witnessed for Jesus, and called attention to +him, before he began his ministry and after, they felt that it was +scarcely right that Jesus should rise to prosperity at the expense of +him who had so helped him rise. If John had been less noble than he +was, and his friendship for Jesus less loyal, such words from his +followers would have embittered him. There are people who do +irreparable hurt by such flattering sympathy. A spark of envy is often +fanned into a disastrous flame by friends who come with such appeals to +the evil that is in every man. + +But John's answer shows a soul of wondrous nobleness. He had not been +hurt by popularity, as so many men are. Not all good people pass +through times of great success, with its attendant elation and +adulation, and come out simple-hearted and lowly. Then even a severer +test of character is the time of waning favor, when the crowds melt +away, and when another is receiving the applause. Many a man, in such +an experience, fails to retain sweetness of spirit, and becomes soured +and embittered. + +John stood both tests. Popularity did not make him vain. The losing +of his fame did not embitter him. He kept humble and sweet through it +all. The secret was his unwavering loyalty to his own mission as the +harbinger of the Messiah. "A man can receive nothing, except it be +given him from heaven," he said. The power over men which he had +wielded for a time had been given to him. Now the power had been +withdrawn, and given to Jesus. It was all right, and he should not +complain of what Heaven had done. + +Then John reminded his friends that he had distinctly said that he was +not the Christ, but was only one sent before him. In a wondrously +expressive way he explained his relation to Jesus. Jesus was the +bridegroom, and John was only the bridegroom's friend, and he rejoiced +in the bridegroom's honor. It was meet that the bridegroom should have +the honor, and that his friend should retire into the background, and +there be forgotten. Thus John showed his loyalty to Jesus by rejoicing +in his popular favor, when the effect was to leave John himself +deserted and alone after a season of great fame. "He must increase, +but I must decrease," said the noble-hearted forerunner. John's work +was done, and the work of Jesus was now beginning. John understood +this, and with devoted loyalty, unsurpassed in all the bright story of +friendship, he rejoiced in the success that Jesus was winning, though +it was at his own cost. + +This is a model of noble friendship for all time. Envy poisons much +human friendship. It is not easy to work loyally for the honor and +advancement of another when he is taking our place, and drawing our +crowds after him. But in any circumstances envy is despicable and most +undivine. Then even in our friendship for Christ we need to be ever +most watchful lest we allow self to creep in. We must learn to care +only for his honor and the advancement of his kingdom, and never to +think of ourselves. + +So much for the friendship of John for Jesus. On several occasions we +find evidences of very warm friendship in Jesus for John. John's +imprisonment was a most pathetic episode in his life. It came from his +fidelity as a preacher of righteousness. In view of all the +circumstances, we can scarcely wonder that in his dreary prison he +began almost to doubt, certainly to question, whether Jesus were indeed +the Messiah. But it must be noted that even in this painful experience +John was loyal to Jesus. When the question arose in his mind, he sent +directly to Jesus to have it answered. If only all in whose minds +spiritual doubts or questions arise would do this, good, and not evil, +would result in every case; for Christ always knows how to reassure +perplexed faith. + +It was after the visit of the messengers from John that Jesus spoke the +strong words which showed his warm friendship for his forerunner. John +had not forfeited his place in the Master's heart by his temporary +doubting. Jesus knew that his disciples might think disparagingly of +John because he had sent the messengers with the question; and as soon +as they were gone he began to speak about John, and to speak about him +in terms of highest praise. It is an evidence of true friendship that +one speaks well of one's friend behind his back. Some professed +friendship will not stand this test. But Jesus spoke not a word of +censure concerning John after the failure of his faith. On the other +hand, he eulogized him in a most remarkable way. He spoke of his +stability and firmness; John was not a reed shaken with the wind, he +was not a self-indulgent man, courting ease and loving luxury; he was a +man ready for any self-denial and hardship. Jesus added to this eulogy +of John's qualities as a man, the statement that no greater soul than +his had ever been born in this world. This was high praise indeed. It +illustrates the loyalty of Jesus to the friend who had so honored him +and was suffering now because of faithfulness to truth and duty. + +There is another incident which shows how much Jesus loved John. It +was after the foul murder of the Baptist. The record is very brief. +The friends of the dead prophet gathered in the prison, and, taking up +the headless body of their master, they carried it away to a reverent, +tearful burial. Then they went and told Jesus. The narrative says, +"When Jesus heard of it, he departed thence by ship into a desert place +apart." His sorrow at the tragic death of his faithful friend made him +wish to be alone. When the Jews saw Jesus weeping beside the grave of +Lazarus they said, "Behold how he loved him!" No mention is made of +tears when Jesus heard of the death of John; but he immediately sought +to break away from the crowds, to be alone, and there is little doubt +that when he was alone he wept. He loved John, and grieved over his +death. + +The story of the friendship of Jesus and John is very beautiful. +John's loyalty and faithfulness must have brought real comfort to +Jesus. Then to John the friendship of Jesus must have been full of +cheer. + +As we read the story of the Baptist's life, with its tragic ending, we +are apt to feel that he died too soon. He began his public work with +every promise of success. For a few months he preached with great +power, and thousands flocked to hear him. Then came the waning of his +popularity, and soon he was shut up in a prison, and in a little while +was cruelly murdered to humor the whim of a wicked and vengeful woman. + +Was it worth while to be born, and to go through years of severe +training, only for such a fragment of living? To this question we can +answer only that John had finished his work. He came into the world--a +man sent from God--to do just one definite thing,--to prepare the way +for the Messiah. When the Messiah had come, John's work was done. As +the friend of Christ he went home; and elsewhere now, in other realms +perhaps, he is still serving his Lord. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +JESUS' CONDITIONS OF FRIENDSHIP. + + But if himself he come to thee, and stand + * * * + And reach to thee himself the Holy Cup, + * * * + Pallid and royal, saying, "Drink with me," + Wilt thou refuse? Nay, not for paradise! + The pale brow will compel thee, the pure hands + Will minister unto thee; thou shalt take + Of that communion through the solemn depths + Of the dark waters of thine agony, + With heart that praises him, that yearns to him + The closer through that hour. + _Ugo Bassi's Sermon._ + + +Every thoughtful reader of the Gospels notes two seemingly opposing +characteristics of Christ's invitations,--their wideness and their +narrowness. They were broad enough to include all men; yet by their +conditions they were so narrowed down that only a few seemed able to +accept them. + +The gospel was for the world. It was as broad as the love of God, and +that is absolutely without limit. God loved the world. When Jesus +went forth among men his heart was open to all. He was the patron of +no particular class. For him there were no outcasts whom he might not +touch, with whom he might not speak in public, or privately, or who +were excluded from the privileges of friendship with him. He spoke of +himself as the Son of man--not the son of a man, but the Son of man, +and therefore the brother of every man. Whoever bore the image of +humanity had a place in his heart. Wherever he found a human need it +had an instant claim on his sympathy, and he was eager to impart a +blessing. No man had fallen so low in sin that Jesus passed him by +without love and compassion. To be a man was the passport to his heart. + +The invitations which Jesus gave all bear the stamp of this exceeding +broadness. "Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I +will give you rest." "Him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast +out." "If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink." Such +words as these were ever falling from his lips. No man or woman, +hearing these invitations, could ever say, "There is nothing there for +me." There was no hint of possible exclusion for any one. Not a word +was ever said about any particular class of persons who might +come,--the righteous, the respectable, the cultured, the unsoiled, the +well-born, the well-to-do. Jesus had no such words in his vocabulary. +Whoever labored and was heavy laden was invited. Whoever would come +should be received--would not in any wise be cast out. Whoever was +athirst was bidden to come and drink. + +Some teachers are not so good as their teachings. They proclaim the +love of God for every man, and then make distinctions in their +treatment of men. Professing love for all, they gather their skirts +close about them when fallen ones pass by. But Jesus lived out all of +the love of God that he taught. It was literally true in his case, +that not one who came to him was ever cast out. He disregarded the +proprieties of righteousness which the religious teachers of his own +people had formulated and fixed. They read in the synagogue services, +"Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself," but they limited the word +neighbor until it included only the circle of the socially and +spiritually _elite_. Jesus taught that a man's neighbor is a +fellow-man in need, whoever he may be. Then, when the lost and the +outcast came to him they found the love of God indeed incarnate in him. + +At one time we read that all the publicans and sinners drew near unto +him to hear him. The religious teachers of the Jews found sore fault +with him, saying, "This man receiveth sinners, and eateth with them." +But he vindicated his course by telling them that he had come for the +very purpose of seeking the lost ones. On another occasion he said +that he was a physician, and that the physician's mission was not to +the whole, but to the sick. He had come not to call the righteous, but +sinners, to repentance. A poor woman who was a sinner, having heard +his gracious invitation, "Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy +laden," came to his feet, at once putting his preaching to the test. +She came weeping, and, falling at his feet, wet them with her tears, +and then wiped them with her dishevelled hair and kissed them. Then +she took an alabaster box, and breaking it, poured the ointment on his +feet. It was a violation of all the proprieties to permit such a woman +to stay at his feet, making such demonstrations. If he had been a +Jewish rabbi, he would have thrust her away with execrations, as +bringing pollution in her touch. But Jesus let the woman stay and +finish her act of penitence and love, and then spoke words which +assured her of forgiveness and peace. + + "She sat and wept, and with her untressed hair + Still wiped the feet she was so blest to touch; + And he wiped off the soiling of despair + From her sweet soul, because she loved so much." + + +This is but one of the many proofs in Jesus' life of the sincerity of +the wide invitations he gave. Continually the lost and fallen came to +him, for there was something in him that made it easy for them to come +and tell him all the burden of their sin and their yearning for a +better life. Even one whom he afterward chose as an apostle was a +publican when Jesus called him to be his disciple. He took him in +among his friends, into his own inner household; and now his name is on +one of the foundations of the heavenly city, as an apostle of the Lamb. + +Thus we see how broad was the love of Christ, both in word and in act. +Toward every human life his heart yearned. He had a blessing to bestow +upon every soul. Whosoever would might be a friend of Jesus, and come +in among those who stood closest to him. Not one was shut out. + +Then, there is another class of words which appear to limit these wide +invitations and this gracious love. Again and again Jesus seems to +discourage discipleship. When men would come, he bids them consider +and count the cost before they decide. One passage tells of three +aspirants for discipleship, for all of whom he seems to have made it +hard to follow him. + +One man came to him, and with glib and easy profession said, "I will +follow thee whithersoever thou goest." This seemed all that could have +been asked. No man could do more. Yet Jesus discouraged this ardent +scribe. He saw that he did not know what he was saying, that he had +not counted the cost, and that his devotion would fail in the face of +the hardship and self-denial which discipleship would involve. So he +answered, "The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; +but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head." That is, he +painted a picture of his own poverty and homelessness, as if to say, +"That is what it will mean for you to follow me; are you ready for it?" + +Then Jesus turned to another, and said to him, "Follow me." But this +man asked time. "Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father." +This seemed a reasonable request. Filial duties stand high in all +inspired teaching. Yet Jesus said, "No; leave the dead to bury their +own dead; but go thou and publish abroad the kingdom of God." +Discipleship seems severe in its demands if even a sacred duty of love +to a father must be foregone that the man might go instantly to his +work as a missionary. + +There was a third case. Another man, overhearing what had been said, +proposed also to become a disciple--but not yet. "I will follow thee; +but first suffer me to bid farewell to them that are at my house." +That, too, appeared only a fit thing to do; but again the answer seems +stern and severe. "No man, having put his hand to the plough, and +looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God." Even the privilege of +running home to say "Good-by" must be denied to him who follows Jesus. + +These incidents show, not that Jesus would make it hard and costly for +men to be his disciples, but that discipleship must be unconditional, +whatever the cost, and that even the holiest duties of human love must +be made secondary to the work of Christ's kingdom. Another marked +instance of like teaching was in the case of the young ruler who wanted +to know the way of life. We try to make it easy for inquirers to begin +to follow Christ, but Jesus set a hard task for this rich young man. +He must give up all his wealth, and come empty-handed with the new +Master. Why did he so discourage this earnest seeker? He saw into his +heart, and perceived that he could not be a true disciple unless he +first won a victory over himself. The issue was his money or +Jesus--which? The way was made so hard that for that day, at least, +the young man turned away, clutching his money, leaving Jesus. + +Really, a like test was made in every discipleship. Those who followed +him left all, and went empty-handed with him. They were required to +give up father and mother, and wife and children, and lands, and to +take up their cross and follow him. + +Why were the broad invitations of the heart of Jesus so narrowed in +their practical application? The answer is very simple. Jesus was the +revealing of God--God manifest in the flesh. He had come into this +world not merely to heal a few sick people, to bring back joy to a few +darkened homes by the restoring of their dead, to formulate a system of +moral and ethical teachings, to start a wave of kindliness and a +ministry of mercy and love; he had come to save a lost world, to lift +men up out of sinfulness into holiness. + +There was only one way to do this,--men must be brought back into +loyalty to God. Jesus astonishes us by the tremendous claims and +demands he makes. He says that men must come unto him if they would +find rest; that they must believe on him if they would have everlasting +life; that they must love him more than any human friend; that they +must obey him with absolute, unquestioning obedience; that they must +follow him as the supreme and only guide of their life, committing all +their present and eternal interests into his hands. In a word, he puts +himself deliberately into the place of God, demanding for himself all +that God demands, and then promising to those who accept him all the +blessings that God promises to his children. + +This was the way Jesus sought to save men. As the human revealing of +God, coming down close to humanity, and thus bringing God within their +reach, he said, "Believe on me, love me, trust me, and follow me, and I +will lift you up to eternal blessedness." While the invitation was +universal, the blessings it offered could be given only to those who +would truly receive Christ as the Son of God. If Jesus seemed to +demand hard things of those who would follow him, it was because in no +other way could men be saved. No slight and easy bond would bind them +to him, and only by their attachment to him could they be led into the +kingdom of God. If he sometimes seemed to discourage discipleship, it +was that no one might be deceived as to the meaning of the new life to +which Jesus was inviting men. He would have no followers who did not +first count the cost, and know whether they were ready to go with him. +Men could be lifted up into a heavenly life only by a friendship with +Jesus which would prove stronger than all other ties. + +Religion, therefore, is a passion for Christ. "I have only one +passion," said Zinzendorf, "and that is he." Love for Christ is the +power that during these nineteen centuries has been transforming the +world. Law could never have done it, though enforced by the most awful +majesty. The most perfect moral code, though proclaimed with supreme +authority, would never have changed darkness to light, cruelty to +humaneness, rudeness to gentleness. What is it that gives the gospel +its resistless power? It is the Person at the heart of it. Men are +not called to a religion, to a creed, to a code of ethics, to an +ecclesiastical system,--they are called to love and follow a Person. + +But what is it in Jesus that so draws men, that wins their allegiance +away from every other master, that makes them ready to leave all for +his sake, and to follow him through peril and sacrifice, even to death? +Is it his wonderful teaching? "No man ever spake like this man." Is +it his power as revealed in his miracles? Is it his sinlessness? The +most malignant scrutiny could find no fault in him. Is it the perfect +beauty of his character? Not one nor all of these will account for the +wonderful attraction of Jesus. Love is the secret. He came into the +world to reveal the love of God--he was the love of God in human flesh. +His life was all love. In a most wonderful way during all his life did +he reveal love. Men saw it in his face, and felt it in his touch, and +heard it in his voice. This was the great fact which his disciples +felt in his life. His friendship was unlike any friendship they had +ever seen before, or even dreamed of. It was this that drew them to +him, and made them love him so deeply, so tenderly. Nothing but love +will kindle love. Power will not do it. Holiness will not do it. +Gifts will not do it--men will take your gifts, and then repay you with +hatred. But love begets love; heart responds to heart. Jesus loved. + +But the love he revealed in his life, in his tender friendship, was not +the supremest manifesting of his love. He crowned it all by giving his +life. "I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for +the sheep." This was the most wonderful exhibition of love the world +had ever seen. Now and then some one had been willing to die for a +choice and prized friend; but Jesus died for a world of enemies. It +was not for the beloved disciple and for the brave Peter that he gave +his life,--then we might have understood it,--but it was for the race +of sinful men that he poured out his most precious blood,--the blood of +eternal redemption. It is this marvellous love in Jesus which attracts +men to him. His life, and especially his cross, declares to every one: +"God loves you. The Son of God gave himself for you." Jesus himself +explained the wonderful secret in his words: "I, if I be lifted up from +the earth, will draw all men unto me." It is on his cross that his +marvellous power is most surpassingly revealed. The secret of the +attraction of the cross is love. "He loved me, and he gave himself for +me." + +Thus we find hints of what Jesus is as a friend--what he was to his +first disciples, what he is to-day. His is perfect friendship. The +best and richest human friendships are only little fragments of the +perfect ideal. Even these we prize as the dearest things on earth. +They are more precious than rarest gems. We would lose all other +things rather than give up our friends. They bring to us deep joys, +sweet comforts, holy inspirations. Life without friendship would be +empty and lonely. Love is indeed the greatest thing. Nothing else in +all the world will fill and satisfy the heart. Even earth's +friendships are priceless. Yet the best and truest of them are only +fragments of the perfect friendship. They bring us only little cupfuls +of blessing. Their gentleness is marred by human infirmity, and +sometimes turns to harshness. Their helpfulness at best is impulsive +and uncertain, and ofttimes is inopportune and ill-timed. + +But the friendship of Jesus is perfect. Its touch is always gentle and +full of healing. Its helpfulness is always wise. Its tenderness is +like the warmth of a heavenly summer, brooding over the life which +accepts it. All the love of God pours forth in the friendship of +Jesus. To be his beloved is to be held in the clasp of the everlasting +arms. "I and my Father are one," said Jesus; his friendship, +therefore, is the friendship of the Father. Those who accept it in +truth find their lives flooded with a wealth of blessing. + +Creeds have their place in the Christian life; their articles are the +great framework of truth about which the fabric rises and from which it +receives its strength. Worship is important, if it is vitalized by +faith and the Holy Spirit. Rites have their sacred value as the +channels through which divine grace is communicated. But that which is +vital in all spiritual life is the friendship of Jesus, coming to us in +whatever form it may. To know the love of Christ which passeth +knowledge is living religion. Creeds and services and rites and +sacraments bring blessing to us only as they interpret to us this love, +and draw us into closer personal relations with Christ. + + "Behold him now where he comes! + Not the Christ of our subtile creeds, + But the light of our hearts, of our homes, + Of our hopes, our prayers, our needs, + The brother of want and blame, + The lover of women and men." + + +The friendship of Jesus takes our poor earthly lives, and lifts them up +out of the dust into beauty and blessedness. It changes everything for +us. It makes us children of God in a real and living sense. It brings +us into fellowship with all that is holy and true. It kindles in us a +friendship for Christ, turning all the tides of our life into new and +holy channels. It thus transforms us into the likeness of our Friend, +whose we are, and whom we serve. + +Thus Jesus is saving the world by renewing men's lives. He is setting +up the kingdom of heaven on the earth. His subjects are won, not by +force of arms, not by a display of Sinaitic terrors, but by the force +of love. Men are taught that God loves them; they see that love first +in the life of Jesus, then on his cross, where he died as the Lamb of +God, bearing the sin of the world. Under the mighty sway of that love +they yield their hearts to heaven's King. Thus love's conquests are +going on. The friendship of Jesus is changing earth's sin and evil +into heaven's holiness and beauty. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +JESUS CHOOSING HIS FRIENDS. + + He seeks not thine, but thee, such as thou art, + For lo, his banner over thee is love. + CHRISTINA G. ROSSETTI. + + If you loved only what were worth your love, + Love were clear gain, and wholly well for you. + Make the low nature better by your throes! + Give earth yourself, go up for gain above. + BROWNING. + + +Nothing in life is more important than the choosing of friends. Many +young people wreck all by wrong choices, taking into their life those +who by their influence drag them down. Many a man's moral failure +dates from the day he chose a wrong friend. Many a woman's life of +sorrow or evil began with the letting into her heart of an unworthy +friendship. On the other hand, many a career of happiness, of +prosperity, of success, of upward climbing, may be traced to the choice +of a pure, noble, rich-hearted, inspiring friend. Mrs. Browning asked +Charles Kingsley, "What is the secret of your life? Tell me, that I +may make mine beautiful too." He replied, "I had a friend." There are +many who have reached eminence of character or splendor of life who +could give the same answer. They had a friend who came into their life +at the right time, sent from God, and inspired in them whatever is +beautiful in their character, whatever is worthy and noble in their +career. + +We may not put our Lord's choice of his apostles on precisely the same +plane as our selecting of friends, as those men were to be more than +ordinary friends; he was to put his mantle upon them, and they were to +be the founders of his Church. Nevertheless, we may take lessons from +the story for ourselves. + +Jesus chose his friends deliberately. His disciples had been gathering +about him for months. It was at least a year after the beginning of +his public ministry that he chose the Twelve. He had had ample time to +get well acquainted with the company of his followers, to test them, to +study their character, to learn their qualities of strength or weakness. + +Many fatal mistakes in the choosing of friends come from unfit haste. +We would better take time to know our possible friends, and be sure +that we know them well, before making the solemn compact that seals the +attachment. + +Jesus made his choice of friends a subject of prayer. He spent a whole +night in prayer with God, and then came in the morning to choose his +apostles. If Jesus needed thus to pray before choosing his friends, +how much more should we seek God's counsel before taking a new +friendship into our life! We cannot know what it may mean to us, +whither it may lead us, what sorrow, care, or pain it may bring to us, +what touches of beauty or of marring it may put upon our soul, and we +dare not admit it unless God gives it to us. In nothing do young +people need more the guidance of divine wisdom than when they are +settling the question of who shall be their friends. At the Last +Supper Jesus said in his prayer, referring to his disciples, "Thine +they were, and thou gavest them me." It makes a friendship very sacred +to be able to say, "God gave it to me. God sent me this friend." + +In choosing his friends, Jesus thought not chiefly of the comfort and +help they would be to him, but far more of what he might be to them. +He did crave friendship for himself. His heart needed it just as any +true human heart does. He welcomed affection whenever any one brought +the gift to him. He accepted the friendship of the poor, of the +children, of those he helped. We cannot understand how much the +Bethany home was to him, with its confidence, its warmth, its shelter, +its tender affection. One of the most pathetic incidents in the whole +Gospel story is the hunger of Jesus for sympathy in the garden, when he +came again and again to his human friends, hoping to find them alert in +watchful love, and found them asleep. It was a cry of deep +disappointment which came from his lips, "Could ye not watch with me +one hour?" Jesus craved the blessing of friendship for himself, and in +choosing the Twelve expected comfort and strength from his fellowship +with them. + +But his deepest desire was that he might be a blessing to them. He +came "not to be ministered unto, but to minister;" not to have friends, +but to be a friend. He chose the Twelve that he might lift them up to +honor and good; that he might purify, refine, and enrich their lives; +that he might prepare them to be his witnesses, the conservators of his +gospel, the interpreters to the world of his life and teachings. He +sought nothing for himself, but every breath he drew was full of +unselfish love. + +We should learn from Jesus that the essential quality in the heart of +friendship is not the desire to have friends, but the desire to be a +friend; not to get good and help from others, but to impart blessing to +others. Many of the sighings for friendship which we have are merely +selfish longings,--a desire for happiness, for pleasure, for the +gratification of the heart, which friends would bring. If the desire +were to be a friend, to do others good, to serve and to give help, it +would be a far more Christlike longing, and would transform the life +and character. + +We are surprised at the kind of men Jesus chose for his friends. We +would suppose that he, the Son of God, coming from heaven, would have +gathered about him as his close and intimate companions the most +refined and cultivated men of his nation,--men of intelligence, of +trained mind, of wide influence. Instead of going to Jerusalem, +however, to choose his apostles from among rabbis, priests, scribes, +and rulers, he selected them from among the plain people, largely from +among fishermen of Galilee. One reason for this was that he must +choose these inner friends from the company which had been drawn to him +and were already his followers, in true sympathy with him; and there +were none of the great, the learned, the cultured, among these. But +another reason was, that he cared more for qualities of the heart than +for rank, position, name, worldly influence, or human wisdom. He +wanted near him only those who would be of the same mind with him, and +whom he could train into loyal, sympathetic apostles. + +Jesus took these untutored, undisciplined men into his own household, +and at once began to prepare them for their great work. It is worthy +of note, that instead of scattering his teachings broadcast among the +people, so that who would might gather up his words, and diffusing his +influence throughout a mass of disciples, while distinctly and +definitely impressing none ineffaceably, Jesus chose twelve men, and +concentrated his influence upon them. He took them into the closest +relations to himself, taught them the great truths of his kingdom, +impressed upon them the stamp of his own life, and breathed into them +his own spirit. We think of the apostles as great men; they did become +great. Their influence filled many lands--fills all the world to-day. +They sit on thrones, judging all the tribes of men, But all that they +became, they became through the friendship of Jesus. He gave them all +their greatness. He trained them until their rudeness grew into +refined culture. No doubt he gave much time to them in private. They +were with him continually. They saw all his life. + +It was a high privilege to live with Jesus those three years,--eating +with him, walking with him, hearing all his conversations, witnessing +his patience, his kindness, his thoughtfulness. It was almost like +living in heaven; for Jesus was the Son of God--God manifest in the +flesh. When Philip said to Jesus, "Lord, show us the Father, and it +sufficeth us," Jesus answered, "He that hath seen me hath seen the +Father." Living with Jesus was, therefore, living with God--his glory +tempered by the gentle humanity in which it was veiled, but no less +divine because of this. For three years the disciples lived with God. +No wonder that their lives were transformed, and that the best that was +in them was wooed out by the blessed summer weather of love in which +they moved. + +"He chose twelve." Probably this was because there were twelve tribes +of Israel, and the number was to be continued. One evangelist says +that he sent them out two and two. Why by two and two? With all the +world to evangelize, would it not have been better if they had gone out +one by one? Then they would have reached twice as many points. Was it +not a waste of force, of power, to send two to the same place? + +No doubt Jesus had reasons. It would have been lonely for one man to +go by himself. If there were two, one would keep the other company. +There was opposition to the gospel in those days, and it would have +been hard for one to endure persecution alone. The handclasp of a +brother would make the heart braver and stronger. We do not know how +much we owe to our companionships, how they strengthen us, how often we +would fail and sink down without them. + +One of the finest definitions of happiness in literature is that given +by Oliver Wendell Holmes. "Happiness," said the Autocrat, "is four +feet on the fender." When his beloved wife was gone, and an old friend +came in to condole with him, he said, shaking his gray head, "Only two +feet on the fender now." Congenial companionship is wonderfully +inspiring. Aloneness is pain. You cannot kindle a fire with one coal. +A log will not burn alone. But put two coals or two logs side by side, +and the fire kindles and blazes and burns hotly. Jesus yoked his +apostles in twos that mutual friendship might inspire them both. + +There was another reason for mating the Twelve. Each of them was only +a fragment of a man--not one of them was full-rounded, a complete man, +strong at every point. Each had a strength of his own, with a +corresponding weakness. Then Jesus yoked them together so that each +two made one good man. The hasty, impetuous, self-confident Peter +needed the counterbalancing of the cautious, conservative Andrew. +Thomas the doubter was matched by Matthew the strong believer. It was +not an accidental grouping by which the Twelve fell into six parts. +Jesus knew what was in man; and he yoked these men together in a way +which brought out the best that was in each of them, and by thus +blending their lives, turned their very faults and weaknesses into +beauty and strength. He did not try to make them all alike. He made +no effort to have Peter grow quiet and gentle like John, or Thomas +become an enthusiastic, unquestioning believer like Matthew, He sought +for each man's personality, and developed that. He knew that to try to +recast Peter's tremendous energy into staidness and caution would only +rob him of what was best in his nature. He found room in his apostle +family for as many different types of temperament as there were men, +setting the frailties of one over against the excessive virtues of the +other. + +It is interesting to note the method of Jesus in training his apostles. +The aim of true friendship anywhere is not to make life easy for one's +friend, but to make something of the friend. That is God's method. He +does not hurry to take away every burden under which he sees us +bending. He does not instantly answer our prayer for relief, when we +begin to cry to him about the difficulty we have, or the trial we are +facing, or the sacrifice we are making. He does not spare us hardship, +loss, or pain. He wants not to make things easy for us, but to make +something of us. We grow under burdens. It is poor, mistaken +fathering or mothering that thinks only of saving a child from hard +tasks or severe discipline. It is weak friendship that seeks only +pleasure and indulgence for a loved one. "The chief want in life is +somebody who shall make us do the best we can." + +Jesus was the truest of friends. He never tried to make the burden +light, the path smooth, the struggle easy. He wished to make men of +his apostles,--men who could stand up and face the world; men whose +character would reflect the beauty of holiness in its every line; men +in whose hands his gospel would be safe when they went out as his +ambassadors. He set for each apostle a high ideal, and then helped him +to work up to the ideal. He taught them that the law of the cross is +the law of life, that the saving of one's life is the losing of it, and +that only when we lose our life, as men rate it, giving it out in +love's service, do we really save it. + +It is not easy to make a man. It is said that the violin-makers in +distant lands, by breaking and mending with skilful hands, at last +produce instruments having a more wonderful capacity than ever was +possible to them when new, unbroken and whole. Whether this be true or +not of violins, it certainly is true of human lives. We cannot merely +grow into strength, beauty, nobleness, and power of helpfulness, +without discipline, pain, and cost. It is written even of Jesus +himself that he was made perfect through suffering. There was no sin +in him; but his perfectness as a sympathizing Friend, as a helpful +Saviour, came through struggle, trial, pain, and sorrow. Not one of +the apostles reached his royal strength as a man, as a helper of men, +as a representative of Jesus, without enduring loss and suffering. No +man who ever rises to a place of real worth and usefulness in the world +walks on a rose-strewn path. We never can be made fit for anything +beautiful and worthy without cost of pain and tears. Always it is true +that-- + + "Things that hurt and things that mar + Shape the man for perfect praise; + Shock and strain and ruin are + Friendlier than the smiling days." + + +How about ourselves? Life is made very real to our thought when we +remember that in all the experiences of joy and sorrow, pleasure and +pain, success and failure, health and sickness, quiet or struggle, God +is making men of us. Then he watches us to see if we fail. Here is a +man who is passing through sore trial. For many months his wife has +been a great sufferer. All the while he has been carrying a heavy +burden,--a financial burden, a burden of sympathy; for every moment's +pain that his wife has suffered has been like a sword in his own +heart,--burdens of care, with broken nights and weary days. We may be +sure of God's tender interest in the wife who suffers in the sick-room; +but his eye is even more intently fixed upon him who is bearing the +burden of sympathy and care. He is watching to see if the man will +stand the test, and grow sweeter and stronger. Everything hard or +painful in a Christian's life is another opportunity for him to get a +new victory, and become a little more a man. + +It is remarkable how little we know about the apostles. A few of them +are fairly prominent. Peter and James and John we know quite well, as +their names are made familiar in the inspired story. Matthew we know +by the Gospel he wrote. Thomas we remember by his doubts. Another +Judas, not Iscariot, probably left us a little letter. Of the rest we +know almost nothing but their names. Indeed, few Bible readers can +give even the names of all the Twelve. + +No doubt one reason why no more is told us about the apostles is that +the Bible magnifies only one name. It is not a book of biographies, +but the book of the Lord Jesus Christ. Each apostle had a sacred +friendship all his own with his Master, a friendship with which no +other could intermeddle. We can imagine the quiet talks, the long +walks with the deep communings, the openings of heart, the confessions +of weakness and failure, the many prayers together. We may be very +sure that through those three wonderful years there ran twelve stories +of holy friendship, with their blessed revealings of the Master's heart +to the heart of each man. But not a word of all this is written in the +New Testament. It was too sacred to be recorded for any eye of earth +to read. + +We may be sure, too, that each man of the Twelve did a noble work after +the Ascension, but no pen wrote the narratives for preservation. There +are traditions, but there is in them little that is certainly history. +The Acts is not the acts of the apostles. The book tells a little +about John, a little more about Peter, most about Paul, and of the +others gives nothing but a list of their names in the first chapter. + +Yet we need not trouble ourselves about this. It is the same with the +good and the useful in every age. A few names are preserved, but the +great multitude are forgotten. Earth keeps scant record of its +benefactors. But there is a place where every smallest kindness done +in the name of Christ is recorded and remembered. + +Long, long ages ago a beautiful fern grew in a deep vale, nodding in +the breeze. One day it fell, complaining as it sank away that no one +would remember its grace and beauty. The other day a geologist went +out with his hammer in the interest of his science. He struck a rock; +and there in the seam lay the form of a fern--every leaf, every fibre, +the most delicate traceries of the leaves. It was the fern which ages +since grew and dropped into the indistinguishable mass of vegetation. +It perished; but its memorial was preserved, and to-day is made +manifest. + +So it is with the stories of the obscure apostles, and of all beautiful +lives which have wrought for God and for man and have vanished from +earth. Nothing is lost, nothing is forgotten. The memorials are in +other lives, and some day every touch and trace and influence and +impression will be revealed. In the book of The Revelation we are told +that in the foundations of the heavenly city are the names of the +twelve apostles of the Lamb. The New Testament does not tell the story +of their worthy lives, but it is cut deep in the eternal rock, where +all eyes shall see it forever. + +On the lives of these chosen friends Jesus impressed his own image. +His blessed divine-human friendship transformed them into men who went +to the ends of the world for him, carrying his name. It was a new and +strange influence on the earth--this holy friendship of Jesus Christ +started in the hearts and lives of the apostles. At once it began to +make this old world new. Those who believed received the same +wonderful friendship into their own hearts. They loved each other in a +way men had never loved before. Christians lived together as one +family. + +Ever since the day of Pentecost this wonderful friendship of Jesus has +been spreading wherever the gospel has gone. It has given to the world +its Christian homes with their tender affections; it has built +hospitals and asylums, and established charitable institutions of all +kinds in every place where its story has been told. From the cross of +Jesus a wave of tenderness, like the warmth of summer, has rolled over +all lands. The friendship of Jesus, left in the hearts of his +apostles, as his legacy to the world, has wrought marvellously; and its +ministry and influence will extend until everything unlovely shall +cease from earth, and the love of God shall pervade all life. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +JESUS AND THE BELOVED DISCIPLE. + + My Lord, my Love! in pleasant pain + How often have I said, + "Blessed that John who on thy breast + Laid down his head." + It was that contact all divine + Transformed him from above, + And made him amongst men the man + To show forth holy love. + CHRISTINA G. ROSSETTI. + + +Love is regenerating the world. It is the love of God that is working +this mighty transformation. The world was cold and loveless before +Christ came. Of course there always was love in the +race,--father-love, mother-love, filial love, love for country. There +have always been human friendships which were constant, tender, and +true, whose stories shine in bright lustre among the records of life. +Natural affection there has always been, but Christian love was not in +the world till Christ came. + +The incarnation was the breaking into this world of the love of God. +For three and thirty years Jesus walked among men, pouring out love in +every word, in every act, in all his works, and in every influence of +his life. Then on the cross his heart broke, spilling its love upon +the earth. As Mary's ointment filled all the house where it was +emptied out, so the love of God poured out in Christ's life and death +is filling all the world. + +Jesus put his love into human hearts that it might be carried +everywhere. Instantly there was a wondrous change. The story of the +Church after the day of Pentecost shows a spirit among the disciples of +Christ which the world had never seen before. They had all things +common. The strong helped the weak. They formed a fellowship which +was almost heavenly. From that time to the present the leaven of love +has been working. It has slowly wrought itself into every department +of life,--into art, literature, music, laws, education, morals. Every +hospital, orphanage, asylum, and reformatory in the world has been +inspired by the love of Christ. Christian civilization is a product of +this same divine affection working through the nations. + +Perhaps no other of the Master's disciples has done so much in the +interpreting and the diffusing of the love of Christ in the world as +the beloved disciple has done. Peter was the mightiest force at the +beginning in the founding of the Church. Then came Paul with his +tremendous missionary energy, carrying Christianity to the ends of the +earth. Each of these apostles was greatest in his own way and place. +But John has done more than either of these to bless the world with +love. His influence is everywhere. He is likest Jesus of all the +disciples. His influence is slowly spreading among men. We see it in +the enlarging spirit of love among Christians, in the increase of +philanthropy, in the growing sentiment that war must cease among +Christian nations, all disputes to be settled by arbitration, and in +the feeling of universal brotherhood which is softening all true men's +hearts toward each other. + +It cannot but be intensely interesting to trace the story of the +friendship of Jesus and John, for it was in this hallowed friendship +that John learned all that he gave the world in his life and words. We +are able to fix its beginning--when Jesus and John met for the first +time. One day John the Baptist was standing by the Jordan with two of +his disciples. One of these was Andrew; and the other we know was +John--we know it because in John's own Gospel, where the incident is +recorded, no name is given. The two young men had not yet seen Jesus; +but the Baptist knew him, and pointed him out as he passed by, saying, +"Behold the Lamb of God!" + +The two young men went after Jesus, no doubt eager to speak with him. +Hearing their footsteps behind him, he turned, and asked them what they +sought. They asked, "Rabbi, where abidest thou?" He said, "Come, and +ye shall see." They gladly accepted the invitation, went with him to +his lodgings, and remained until the close of the day. We have no +account of what took place during those happy hours. It would be +interesting to know what Jesus said to his visitors, but not a word of +the conversation has been preserved. We may be sure, however, that the +visit made a deep impression on John. + +Most days in our lives are unmarked by any special event. There are +thousands of them that seem just alike, with their common routine. +Once or twice, however, in the lifetime of almost every person, there +is a day which is made forever memorable by some event or +occurrence,--the first meeting with one who fills a large place in +one's after years, a compact of sacred friendship, a revealing of some +new truth, a decision which brought rich blessing, or some other +experience which set the day forever apart among all days. + +John lived to be a very old man; but to his latest years he must have +remembered the day when he first met Jesus, and began with him the +friendship which brought him such blessing. We may be sure that as at +their first meeting the soul of Jonathan was knit with the soul of +David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul, so at this first meeting +the soul of John was knit with the soul of Jesus in a holy friendship +which brought unspeakable good to his life. There was that in Jesus +which at once touched all that was best in John, and called out the +sweetest music of his soul. + + "Thou shall know him when he comes + Not by any din of drums, + Nor the vantage of his airs; + Neither by his crown, + Nor by his gown, + Nor by anything he wears. + He shall only well-known be + By the holy harmony + That his coming makes in thee!" + + +John calls himself the "disciple whom Jesus loved." This designation +gives him a distinction even among the Master's personal friends. +Jesus loved all the apostles, but there were three who belonged in an +inner circle. Then, of these three, John was the best beloved. We are +not told what it was in John that gave him this highest honor. He was +probably a cousin of Jesus, as it is thought by many that their mothers +were sisters. This blood relationship, however, would not account for +the strong love that bound them together. There must have been certain +qualities in John which fitted him in a peculiar way for being the +closest friend of Jesus. + +We know that John's personality was very winning. He was only a +fisherman, and in his youth lacked opportunities for acquiring +knowledge or refinement. If Mary and Salome were sisters, the blood of +David's line was in John as well as in Jesus. It is something to have +back of one's birth a long and noble descent. Besides, John was one of +those rare men "who appear to be formed of finer clay than their +neighbors, and cast in a gentler mould." Evidently he was by nature a +man of sympathetic spirit, one born to be a friend. + +The study of John's writings helps us to answer our question. Not once +in all his Gospel does he refer to himself by name; yet as one reads +the wonderful chapters, one is aware of a spirit, an atmosphere, of +sweetness. There are fields and meadows in which the air is laden with +fragrance, and yet no flowers can be seen. But looking closely, one +finds, low on the ground, hidden by the tall grasses, a multitude of +little lowly flowers. It is from these that the perfume comes. In +every community there are humble, quiet lives, almost unheard of among +men, who shed a subtle influence on all about them. Thus it is in the +chapters of John's Gospel. The name of the writer nowhere appears, but +the charm of his spirit pervades the whole book. + +In the designation which he adopts for himself, there is a fine +revealing of character. There is a beautiful self-obliteration in the +hiding away of the author's personality that only the name and glory of +Jesus may be seen. There are some good men, who, even when trying to +exalt and honor their Lord, cannot resist the temptation to write their +own name large, that those who see the Master may also see the Master's +friend. In John there is an utter absence of this spirit. As the +Baptist, when asked who he was, refused to give his name, and said he +was only a voice proclaiming the coming of the King, so John spoke of +himself only as one whom the Master loved. + +We must note, too, that he does not speak of himself as the disciple +who loved Jesus,--this would have been to boast of himself as loving +the Master more than the other disciples did,--but as the disciple whom +Jesus loved. In this distinction lies one of the subtlest secrets of +Christian peace. Our hope does not rest in our love for Jesus, but in +his love for us. Our love at the best is variable in its moods. +To-day it glows with warmth and joy, and we say we could die for +Christ; to-morrow, in some depression, we question whether we really +love him at all, our feeling responds so feebly to his name. A peace +that depends on our loving Christ is as variable as our own +consciousness. But when it is Christ's love for us that is our +dependence, our peace is undisturbed by any earthly changes. + +Thus we find in John a reposeful spirit. He was content to be lowly. +He knew how to trust. His spirit was gentle. He was of a deeply +spiritual nature. Yet we must not think of him as weak or effeminate. +Perhaps painters have helped to give this impression of him; but it is +one that is not only untrue, but dishonoring. John was a man of noble +strength. In his soul, under his quietness and sweetness of spirit, +dwelt a mighty energy. But he was a man of love, and had learned the +lesson of divine peace; thus he was a self-controlled man. + +These are hints of the character of the disciple whom Jesus loved, whom +he chose to be his closest friend. He was only a lad when Jesus first +met him, and we must remember that the John we chiefly know was the man +as he developed under the influence of Jesus. What Jesus saw in the +youth who sat down beside him in his lodging-place that day, drank in +his words, and opened his soul to him as a rose to the morning sun, was +a nature rich in its possibilities of noble and beautiful character. +The John we know is the man as he ripened in the summer of Christ's +love. He is a product of pure Christ-culture. His young soul +responded to every inspiration in his Master, and developed into rarer +loveliness every day. Doubtless one of the qualities in John that +fitted him to be the closest friend of Jesus was his openness of heart, +which made him such an apt learner, so ready to respond to every touch +of Christ's hand. + +It would be interesting to trace the story of this holy friendship +through the three years Jesus and John were together, but only a little +of the wonderful narrative is written. Some months after the first +meeting, there was another beside the sea. For some reason John and +his companions had taken up their fishing again. Jesus came by in the +early morning, and found the men greatly discouraged because they had +been out all night and had caught nothing. He told them to push out, +and to cast their net again, telling them where to cast it. The result +was a great draught of fishes. It was a revealing of divine power +which mightily impressed the fishermen. He then bade them to follow +him, and said he would make them become fishers of men. Immediately +they left the ship, and went with Jesus. + +Thus John had now committed himself altogether to his new Master. From +this time he remained with Jesus, following him wherever he went. He +was in his school, and was an apt scholar. A little later there came +another call. Jesus chose twelve men to be apostles, and among them +was the beloved disciple. This choice and call brought him into yet +closer fellowship with Jesus. Now the transformation of character +would go on more rapidly because of the constancy and the closeness of +John's association with his Master. + +A peculiar designation is given to the brothers James and John. Jesus +surnamed them Boanerges, the sons of thunder. There must have been a +meaning in such a name given by Jesus himself. Perhaps the figure of +thunder suggests capacity for energy--that the soul of John was +charged, as it were, with fiery zeal. It appears to us, as we read +John's writings, that this could not have been true. He seems such a +man of love that we cannot think of him as ever being possessed of an +opposite feeling. But there is evidence that by nature he was full of +just such energy held in reserve. We see John chiefly in his writings; +and these were the fruit of his mellow old age, when love's lessons had +been well learned. It seems likely that in his youth he had in his +breast a naturally quick, fiery temper. But under the culture of Jesus +this spirit was brought into complete mastery. We have one +illustration of this earlier natural feeling in a familiar incident. +The people of a certain village refused to receive the Master, and John +and his brother wished to call down fire from heaven to consume them. +But Jesus reminded them that he was not in the world to destroy men's +lives, but to save them. + +We know not how often this lesson had to be taught to John before he +became the apostle of love. It was well on in St. Paul's old age that +he said he had learned in whatsoever state he was therein to be +content. It is a comfort to us to know that he was not always able to +say this, and that the lesson had to be learned by him just as it has +to be learned by us. It is a comfort to us also to be permitted to +believe that John had to _learn_ to be the loving, gentle disciple he +became in later life, and that the lesson was not an easy one. + +It is instructive also to remember that it was through his friendship +with Jesus that John received his sweetness and lovingness of +character. An old Persian apologue tells that one found a piece of +fragrant clay in his garden, and that when asked how it got its perfume +the clay replied, "One laid me on a rose." John lived near the heart +of Jesus, and the love of that heart of gentleness entered his soul and +transformed him. There is no other secret for any who would learn +love's great lesson. Abiding in Christ, Christ abides also in us, and +we are made like him because he lives in us. + +John's distinction of being one of the Master's closest friends brought +him several times into experiences of peculiar sacredness. He +witnessed the transfiguration, when for an hour the real glory of the +Christ shone out through his investiture of flesh. This was a vision +John never forgot. It must have impressed itself deeply upon his soul. +He was also one of those who were led into the inner shadows of +Gethsemane, to be near Jesus while he suffered, and to comfort him with +love. + +This last experience especially suggests to us something of what the +friendship of John was to Jesus. There is no doubt that this +friendship brought to John immeasurable comfort and blessing, enriching +his life, and transforming his character. But what was the friendship +to Jesus? There is no doubt that it was a great deal to him. He +craved affection and sympathy, as every noble heart does just in the +measure of its humanness. One of the saddest elements of the +Gethsemane sorrow was the disappointment of Jesus, when, hungry for +love, he went back to his chosen three, expecting to find a little +comfort and strength, and found them sleeping. + +The picture of John at the Last Supper, leaning on Jesus' breast, shows +him to us in the posture in which we think of him most. It is the +place of confidence; the bosom is only for those who have a right to +closest intimacy. It is the place of love, near the heart. It is the +place of safety, for he is in the clasp of the everlasting arms, and +none can snatch him out of the impregnable shelter. It was the darkest +night the world ever saw that John lay on the bosom of Jesus. That is +the place of comfort for all sorrowing believers, and there is +abundance of room for them all on that breast. John _leaned_ on Jesus' +breast,--weakness reposed on strength, helplessness on almighty help. +We should learn to lean, to lean our whole weight, on Christ. That is +the privilege of Christian faith. + +There was one occasion when John seems to have broken away from his +usual humility. He joined with his brother in a request for the +highest places in the new kingdom. This is only one of the evidences +of John's humanness,--that he was of like passions with the rest of us. +Jesus treated the brothers with gentle pity--"Ye know not what ye ask." +Then he explained to them that the highest places must be reached +through toil and sorrow, through the paths of service and suffering. +Later in life John knew what the Master's words meant. He found his +place nearest to Christ, but it was not on the steps of an earthly +throne; it was a nearness of love, and the steps to it were humility, +self-forgetfulness, and ministry. + +It must have given immeasurable comfort to Jesus to have John stay so +near to him during the last scenes. If he fled for a moment in the +garden when all the apostles fled, he soon returned; for he was close +to his Master during his trial. Then, when he was on the cross, Jesus +saw a group of loving friends near by, watching with breaking hearts; +and among these was John. It lifted a heavy burden off the heart of +Jesus to be able then to commit his mother to John, and to see him lead +her away to his own home. It was a supreme expression of +friendship,--choosing John from among all his friends for the sacred +duty of sheltering this blessedest of women. + +The story of this beautiful friendship of Jesus and John shows us what +is possible in its own measure to every Christian discipleship. It is +not possible for every Christian to be a St. John, but close friendship +with Jesus is the privilege of every true believer; and all who enter +into such a friendship will be transformed into the likeness of their +Friend. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +JESUS AND PETER. + + "As the mighty poets take + Grief and pain to build their song, + Even so for every soul, + Whatsoe'er its lot may be,-- + Building, as the heavens roll, + Something large and strong and free,-- + Things that hurt and things that mar + Shape the man for perfect praise, + Shock and strain and ruin are + Friendlier than the smiling days." + + +Our first glimpse of Simon in the New Testament is as he was being +introduced to Jesus. It was beside the Jordan. His brother had +brought him; and that moment a friendship began which not only was of +infinite and eternal importance to Simon himself, but which has left +incalculable blessing in the world. + +Jesus looked at him intently, with deep, penetrating gaze. He saw into +his very soul. He read his character; not only what he was then, but +the possibilities of his life,--what he would become under the power of +grace. He then gave him a new name. "When Jesus beheld him, he said. +Thou art Simon: ... thou shalt be called Cephas, which is by +interpretation, a stone." + +In a gallery in Europe there hang, side by side, Rembrandt's first +picture, a simple sketch, imperfect and faulty, and his great +masterpiece, which all men admire. So in the two names, Simon and +Peter, we have, first the rude fisherman who came to Jesus that day, +the man as he was before Jesus began his work on him; and second, the +man as he became during the years when the friendship of Jesus had +warmed his heart and enriched his life; when the teaching of Jesus had +given him wisdom and kindled holy aspirations in his soul; and when the +experiences of struggle and failure, of penitence and forgiveness, of +sorrow and joy, had wrought their transformations in him. + +"Thou art Simon." That was his name then. "Thou shalt be called +Cephas." That was what he should become. It was common in the East to +give a new name to denote a change of character, or to indicate a man's +position among men. Abram's name was changed to Abraham--"Father of a +multitude"--when the promise was sealed to him. Jacob's name, which +meant supplanter, one who lived by deceit, was changed to Israel, a +prince with God, after that night when the old nature was maimed and +defeated while he wrestled with God, and overcame by clinging in faith +and trust. So Simon received a new name when he came to Jesus, and +began his friendship with him. "Thou shalt be called Cephas." + +This did not mean that Simon's character was changed instantly into the +quality which the new name indicated. It meant that Jesus saw in him +the possibilities of firmness, strength, and stability, of which a +stone is the emblem. It meant that this should be his character by and +by, when the work of grace in him was finished. The new name was a +prophecy of the man that was to be, the man that Jesus would make of +him. Now he was only Simon--rash, impulsive, self-confident, vain, and +therefore weak and unstable. + +Some of the processes in this making of a man, this transformation of +Simon into Cephas, we may note as we read the story. There were three +years between the beginning of the friendship of Jesus and Simon and +the time when the man was ready for his work. The process was not +easy. Simon had many hard lessons to learn. Self-confidence had to be +changed into humility. Impetuosity had to be chastened and disciplined +into quiet self-control. Presumption had to be awed and softened into +reverence. Thoughtfulness had to grow out of heedlessness. Rashness +had to be subdued into prudence, and weakness had to be tempered into +calm strength. All this moral history was folded up in the words, +"Thou shalt be called Cephas--a stone." + +The meeting by the Jordan was the beginning. A new friendship coming +into a life may color all its future, may change its destiny. We never +know what may come of any chance meeting. But the beginning of a +friendship with Jesus has infinite possibilities of good. The giving +of the new name must have put a new thought of life's meaning into +Simon's heart. It must have set a new vision in his soul, and kindled +new aspirations within his breast. Life must have meant more to him +from that hour. He had glimpses of possibilities he had never dreamed +of before. It is always so when Jesus truly comes into any one's life. +A new conception of character dawns on the soul, a new ideal, a +revelation which changes all thoughts of living. The friendship of +Jesus is most inspiring. + +Some months passed, and then came a formal call which drew Simon into +close and permanent relations with Jesus. It was on the Sea of +Galilee. The men were fishing. There had been a night of unsuccessful +toil. In the morning Jesus used Simon's boat for a pulpit, speaking +from its deck to the throngs on the shore. He then bade the men push +out into deep water and let down their net. Simon said it was not +worth while--still he would do the Master's bidding. The result was an +immense haul of fishes. + +The effect of the miracle on Simon's mind was overwhelming. Instantly +he felt that he was in the presence of divine revealing, and a sense of +his own sinfulness and unworthiness oppressed him. "Depart from me; +for I am a sinful man, O Lord," he cried. Jesus quieted his terror +with his comforting "Fear not." Then he said to him, "From henceforth +thou shalt catch men." This was another self-revealing. Simon's work +as a fisherman was ended. He forsook all, and followed Jesus, becoming +a disciple in the full sense. His friendship with Jesus was deepening. +He gave up everything he had, going with Jesus into poverty, +homelessness, and--he knew not what. + +Living in the personal household of Jesus, Simon saw his Master's life +in all its manifold phases, hearing the words he spoke whether in +public on in private conversation, and witnessing every revealing of +his character, disposition, and spirit. It is impossible to estimate +the influence of all this on the life of Simon. He was continually +seeing new things in Jesus, hearing new words from his lips, learning +new lessons from his life. One cannot live in daily companionship with +any good man without being deeply influenced by the association. To +live with Jesus in intimate relations of friendship was a holy +privilege, and its effect on Simon's character cannot be estimated. + +An event which must have had a great influence on Simon was his call to +be an apostle. Not only was he one of the Twelve, but his name came +first--it is always given first. He was the most honored of all, was +to be their leader, occupying the first place among them. A +true-hearted man is not elated or puffed up by such honoring as this. +It humbles him, rather, because the distinction brings with it a sense +of responsibility. It awes a good man to become conscious that God is +intrusting him with place and duty in the world, and is using him to be +a blessing to others. He must walk worthy of his high calling. A new +sanctity invests him--the Lord has set him apart for holy service. + +Another event which had a marked influence on Simon was his recognition +of the Messiahship of Jesus. Just how this great truth dawned upon his +consciousness we do not know, but there came a time when the conviction +was so strong in him that he could not but give expression to it. It +was in the neighborhood of Caesarea Philippi. Jesus had led the Twelve +apart into a secluded place for prayer. There he asked them two solemn +questions. He asked them first what the people were saying about +him--who they thought he was. The answer showed that he was not +understood by them; there were different opinions about him, none of +them correct. Then he asked the Twelve who they thought he was. Simon +answered, "The Christ, the Son of the living God." The confession was +wonderfully comprehensive. It declared that Jesus was the Messiah, and +that he was a divine being--the Son of the living God. + +It was a great moment in Simon's life when he uttered this wonderful +confession. Jesus replied with a beatitude for Simon, and then spoke +another prophetic word: "Thou art Peter," using now the new name which +was beginning to be fitting, as the new man that was to be was growing +out of the old man that was being left behind. "Thou art Peter, and +upon this rock I will build my church." It was a further unveiling of +Simon's future. It was in effect an unfolding or expansion of what he +had said when Simon first stood before him. "Thou shalt be called +Cephas." As a confessor of Christ, representing all the apostles, +Peter was thus honored by his Lord. + +But the Messianic lesson was yet only partly learned. Simon believed +that Jesus was the Messiah, but his conception of the Messiah was still +only an earthly one. So we read that from that time Jesus began to +teach the apostles the truth about his mission,--that he must suffer +many things, and be killed. Then it was that Simon made his grave +mistake in seeking to hold his Master back from the cross. "Be it far +from thee, Lord: this shall never be unto thee," he said with great +vehemence. Quickly came the stern reply, "Get thee behind me, Satan: +thou art a stumbling-block unto me." Simon had to learn a new lesson. +He did not get it fully learned until after Jesus had risen again, and +the Holy Spirit had come,--that the measure of rank in spiritual life +is the measure of self-forgetting service. + +We get a serious lesson here in love and friendship. It is possible +for us to become Satan even to those we love the best. We do this when +we try to dissuade them from hard toil, costly service, or perilous +missions to which God is calling them. We need to exercise the most +diligent care, and to keep firm restraint upon our own affections, lest +in our desire to make the way easier for our friends we tempt them to +turn from the path which God has chosen for their feet. + +Thus lesson after lesson did Simon have to learn, each one leading to a +deeper humility. "Less of self and more of thee--none of self and all +of thee." Thus we reach the last night with its sad fall. The denial +of Peter was a terrible disappointment. We would have said it was +impossible, as Peter himself said. He was brave as a lion. He loved +Jesus deeply and truly. He had received the name of the rock. For +three years he had been under the teaching of Jesus, and he had been +received into special honor and favor among the apostles. He had been +faithfully forewarned of his danger, and we say, "Forewarned is +forearmed." Yet in spite of all, this bravest, most favored disciple, +this man of rock, fell most ignominiously, at a time, too, when +friendship to his Master ought to have made him truest and most loyal. + +It was the loving gentleness of Jesus that saved him. What intense +pain there must have been in the heart of the Master when, after +hearing Peter's denial, he turned and looked at Peter! + + "I think the look of Christ might seem to say,-- + 'Thou Peter! art thou then a common stone + Which I at last must break my heart upon, + For all God's charge to his high angels may + Guard my foot better? Did I yesterday + Wash thy feet, my beloved, that they should run + Quick to deny me 'neath the morning sun? + And do thy kisses like the rest betray? + The cock crows coldly. Go and manifest + A late contrition, but no bootless fear! + For when thy final need is dreariest, + Thou shalt not be denied, as I am here. + My voice, to God and angels, shall attest, + "Because I know this man, let him be clear."'" + +It was after this look of wondrous love that Peter went out and wept +bitterly. At last he remembered. It seemed too late, but it was not +too late. The heart of Jesus was not closed against him, and he rose +from his fall a new man. + +What place had the denial in the story of the training of Peter? It +had a very important place. Up to that last night, there was still a +grave blemish in Simon's character. His self-confidence was an element +of weakness. Perhaps there was no other way in which this fault could +be cured but by allowing him to fall. We know at least that, in the +bitter experience of denial, with its solemn repenting, Peter lost his +weakness. He came from his penitence a new man. At last he was +disinthralled. He had learned the lesson of humility. It was never +again possible for him to deny his Lord. A little later, after a +heart-searching question thrice repeated, he was restored and +recommissioned--"Feed my lambs; feed my sheep." + +So the work was completed; the vision of the new man had been realized. +Simon had become Cephas. It had been a long and costly process, but +neither too long nor too costly. While the marble was wasting, the +image was growing. + +You say it was a great price that Simon had to pay to be fashioned into +Peter. You ask whether it was worth while, whether it would not have +been quite as well for him if he had remained the plain, obscure +fisherman he was when Jesus first found him. Then he would have been +only a fisherman, and after living among his neighbors for his allotted +years, he would have had a quiet funeral one day, and would have been +laid to rest beside the sea. As it was, he had a life of poverty and +toil and hard service. It took a great deal of severe discipline to +make out of him the strong, firm man of rock that Jesus set out to +produce in him. But who will say to-day that it was not worth while? +The splendid Christian manhood of Peter has been now for nineteen +centuries before the eyes of the world as a type of character which +Christian men should emulate--a vision of life whose influence has +touched millions with its inspiration. The price which had to be paid +to attain this nobleness of character and this vastness of holy +influence was not too great. + +But how about ourselves? It may be quite as hard for some of us to be +made into the image of beauty and strength which the Master has set for +us. It may require that we shall pass through experiences of loss, +trial, temptation, and sorrow. Life's great lessons are very long, and +cannot be learned in a day, nor can they be learned easily. But life, +at whatever cost, is worth while. It is worth while for the gold to +pass through the fire to be made pure and clean. It is worth while for +the gem to endure the hard processes necessary to prepare it for +shining in its dazzling splendor. It is worth while for a life to +submit to whatever of severe discipline may be required to bring out in +it the likeness of the Master, and to fit it for noble doing and +serving. Poets are said to learn in suffering what they teach in song. +If only one line of noble, inspiring, uplifting song is sung into the +world's air, and started on a world-wide mission of blessing, no price +paid for the privilege is too much to pay. David had to suffer a great +deal to be able to write the Twenty-Third Psalm, but he does not now +think that psalm cost him too much. William Canton writes:-- + + "A man lived fifty years--joy dashed with tears; + Loved, toiled; had wife and child, and lost them; died; + And left of all his long life's work one little song. + That lasted--naught beside. + + Like the monk Felix's bird, that song was heard; + Doubt prayed, Faith soared. Death smiled itself to sleep; + That song saved souls. You say the man paid stiffly? Nay. + God paid--and thought it cheap." + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +JESUS AND THOMAS. + + I have a life in Christ to live, + I have a death in Christ to die; + And must I wait till science give + All doubts a full reply? + + Nay, rather while the sea of doubt + Is raging wildly round about, + Questioning of life and death and sin, + Let me but creep within + Thy fold, O Christ! and at thy feet + Take but the lowest seat. + PRINCIPAL SHAIRP. + + +There is no record of the beginning of the friendship of Jesus and +Thomas. We do not know when Thomas became a disciple, nor what first +drew him to Jesus. Did a friend bring him? Did he learn of the new +rabbi through the fame of him that went everywhere, and then come to +him without solicitation? Did he hear him speak one day, and find +himself drawn to him by the power of his gracious words? Or did Jesus +seek him out in his home or at his work, and call him to be a follower? + +We do not know. The manner of his coming is veiled in obscurity. The +first mention of his name is in the list of the Twelve. As the +apostles were chosen from the much larger company of those who were +already disciples, Thomas must have been a follower of Jesus before he +was an apostle. He and Jesus had been friends for some time, and there +is evidence that the friendship was a very close and tender one. Even +in the scant material available for the making up of the story, we find +evidence in Thomas of strong loyalty and unwavering devotion, and in +Jesus of marvellous patience and gentleness toward his disciple. + +We have in the New Testament many wonderfully lifelike portraits. +Occurring again and again, they are always easily recognizable. In +every mention of Peter, for example, the man is indubitably the same. +He is always active, speaking or acting; not always wisely, but in +every case characteristically,--impetuous, self-confident, rash, yet +ever warm-hearted. We would know him unmistakably in every incident in +which he appears, even if his name were not given. John, too, whenever +we see him, is always the same,--reverent, quiet, affectionate, +trustful, the disciple of love. Andrew appears only a few times, but +in each of these cases he is engaged in the same way,--bringing some +one to Jesus. Mary of Bethany comes into the story on only three +occasions; but always we see her in the same attitude,--at Jesus' +feet,--while Martha is ever active in her serving. + +The character of Thomas also is sketched in a very striking way. There +are but three incidents in which this apostle appears; but in all of +these the portrait is the same, and is so clear that even Peter's +character is scarcely better known than that of Thomas. He always +looks at the dark side. We think of him as the doubter; but his doubt +is not of the flippant kind which reveals lack of reverence, ofttimes +ignorance and lack of earnest thought; it is rather a constitutional +tendency to question, and to wait for proof which would satisfy the +senses, than a disposition to deny the facts of Christianity. Thomas +was ready to believe, glad to believe, when the proof was sufficient to +convince him. Then all the while he was ardently a true and devoted +friend of Jesus, attached to him, and ready to follow him even to death. + +The first incident in which Thomas appears is in connection with the +death of Lazarus. Jesus had now gone beyond the Jordan with his +disciples. The Jews had sought to kill him; and he escaped from their +hands, and went away for safety. When news of the sickness of Lazarus +came, Jesus waited two days, and then said to his disciples, "Let us go +into Judea again." The disciples reminded him of the hatred of the +Jews, and of their recent attempts to kill him. They thought that he +ought not to venture back again into the danger, even for the sake of +carrying comfort to the sorrowing Bethany household. Jesus answered +with a little parable about one's security while walking during the +day. The meaning of the parable was that he had not yet reached the +end of his day, and therefore could safely continue the work which had +been given him to do. Every man doing God's will is immortal till the +work is done. Jesus then announced to his disciples that Lazarus was +dead, and that he was going to waken him. + +It is at this point that Thomas appears. He said to his +fellow-disciples, "Let us also go, that we may die with him." He +looked only at the dark side. He took it for granted that if Jesus +returned to Judea he would be killed. He forgot for the time the +divine power of Jesus, and the divine protection which sheltered him +while he was doing the Father's will. He failed to understand the +words Jesus had just spoken about his security until the hours of his +day were finished. He remembered only the bitterness which the Jews +had shown toward Jesus, and their determination to destroy his life. +He had no hope that if Jesus returned they would not carry out their +wicked purpose. There was no blue in the sky for him. He saw only +darkness. + +Thomas represents a class of good people who are found in every +community. They see only the sad side of life. No stars shine through +their cypress-trees. In the time of danger they forget that there are +divine refuges into which they may flee and be safe. They know the +promises, and often quote them to others; but when trouble comes upon +them, all these words of God fade out of their minds. In sorrow they +fail to receive any true and substantial comfort from the Scriptures. +Hope dies in their hearts when the shadows gather about them. They +yield to discouragement, and the darkness blots out every star in their +sky. Whatever the trouble may be that comes into their life, they see +the trouble only, and fail to perceive the bright light in the cloud. + +This habit of mind adds much to life's hardness. Every burden is +heavier because of the sad heart that beats under it. Every pain is +keener because of the dispiriting which it brings with it. Every +sorrow is made darker by the hopelessness with which it is endured. +Every care is magnified, and the sweetness of every pleasure is +lessened, by this pessimistic tendency. The beauty of the world loses +half its charm in the eyes which see all things in the hue of +despondent feeling. Slightest fears become terrors, and smallest +trials grow into great misfortunes. Our heart makes our world for us; +and if the heart be without hope and cheer, the world is always dark. +We find in life just what we have the capacity to find. One who is +color-blind sees no loveliness in nature. One who has no music in his +soul hears no harmonies anywhere. When fear sits regnant on the +throne, life is full of alarms. + +On the other hand, if the heart be full of hope, every joy is doubled, +and half of every trouble vanishes. There are sorrows, but they are +comforted. There are bitter cups, but the bitterness is sweetened. +There are heavy burdens, but the songful spirit lightens them. There +are dangers, but cheerful courage robs them of terror. All the world +is brighter when the light of hope shines within. + +But we have read only half the story of the fear of Thomas. He saw +only danger in the Master's return to Judea. "The Jews will kill him; +he will go back to certain death," he said. But Thomas would not +forsake Jesus, though he was going straight to martyrdom. "Let us also +go, that we may die with him." Thus, mingled with his fear, was a +noble and heroic love for Jesus. The hopelessness of Thomas as he +thought of Jesus going to Bethany makes his devotion and his cleaving +to him all the braver and nobler. He was sure it was a walk to death, +but he faltered not in his loyalty. + +This is a noble spirit in Thomas, which we would do well to emulate. +It is the true soldier spirit. Its devotion to Christ is absolute, and +its following unconditional. It has only one motive,--love; and one +rule,--obedience. It is not influenced by any question of +consequences; but though it be to certain death, it hesitates not. +This is the kind of discipleship which the Master demands. He who +loves father or mother more than him is not worthy of him. He who +hates not his own life cannot be his disciple. A follower of Jesus +must be ready and willing to follow him to his cross. Thomas proved +his friendship for his Master by a noble heroism. It is the highest +test of courage to go forward unfalteringly in the way of duty when one +sees only personal loss and sacrifice as the result. The soldier who +trembles, and whose face whitens from constitutional physical fear, and +who yet marches steadily into the battle, is braver far than the +soldier who without a tremor presses into the engagement. + +The second time at which Thomas appears is in the upper room, after the +Holy Supper had been eaten. Jesus had spoken of the Father's house, +and had said that he was going away to prepare a place for his +disciples, and that then he would come again to receive them unto +himself. Thomas could not understand the Master's meaning, and said, +"Lord, we know not whither thou goest; and how can we know the way?" +He would not say he believed until he saw for himself. That is all +that his question in the upper room meant--he wished the Master to make +the great teaching a little plainer. It were well if more Christians +insisted on finding the ground of their faith, the reasons why they are +Christians. Their faith would then be stronger, and less easily +shaken. When trouble comes, or any testing, it would continue firm and +unmoved, because it rests on the rock of divine truth. + +The last incident in the story of Thomas is after the resurrection. +The first evening the apostles met in the upper room to talk over the +strange things which had occurred that day. For some reason Thomas was +not at this meeting. We may infer that his melancholy temperament led +him to absent himself. He had loved Jesus deeply, and his sorrow was +very great. There had been rumors all day of Christ's resurrection, +but Thomas put no confidence in these. Perhaps his despondent +disposition made him unsocial, and kept him from meeting with the other +apostles, even to weep with them. + +That evening Jesus entered through the closed doors, and stood in the +midst of the disciples, and greeted them as he had done so often +before, "Peace be unto you!" They told Thomas afterwards that they had +seen the Lord. But he refused to believe them; that is, he doubted the +reality of what they thought they had seen. He said that they had been +deceived; and he asserted that he must not only see for himself, but +must have the opportunity of subjecting the evidence to the severest +test. He must see the print of the nails, and must also be permitted +to put his finger into the place. + +It is instructive to think of what this doubting disposition of Thomas +cost him. First, it kept him from the meeting of the disciples that +evening, when all the others came together. He shut himself up with +his gloom and sadness. His grief was hopeless, and he would not seek +comfort. The consequence was, that when Jesus entered the room, and +showed himself to his friends, Thomas missed the revealing which gave +them such unspeakable gladness. From that hour their sorrow was +changed to joy; but for the whole of another week Thomas remained in +the darkness in which the crucifixion had infolded him. + +Doubt is always costly. It shuts out heavenly comfort. There are many +Christian people who, especially in the first shock of sorrow, have an +experience similar to that of Thomas. They shut themselves up with +their grief, and refuse to accept the comfort of the gospel of Christ. +They turn away their ears from the voices of love which speak to them +out of the Bible, and will not receive the divine consolations. The +light shines all about them; but they close doors and windows, and keep +it from entering the darkened chamber where they sit. The music of +peace floats on the air in sweet, entrancing strains, but no gentle +note finds its way to their hearts. + +Too many Christian mourners fail to find comfort in their sorrow. They +believe the great truths of Christianity, that Jesus died for them and +rose again; but their faith fails them for the time in the hour of +sorest distress. Meanwhile they walk in darkness as Thomas did. On +the other hand, those who accept, and let into their hearts the great +truths of Christ's resurrection and the immortal life in Christ, feel +the pain of parting no less sorely, but they find abundant consolation +in the hope of eternal life for those whom they have lost for a time. + +We have an illustration of the deep, tender, patient, and wise +friendship of Jesus for Thomas in the way he treated this doubt of his +apostle. He did not say that if Thomas could not believe the witness +of the apostles to his resurrection he must remain in the darkness +which his unbelief had made for him. He treated his doubt with +exceeding gentleness, as a skilful physician would deal with a +dangerous wound. He was in no haste. A full week passed before he did +anything. During those days the sad heart had time to react, to +recover something of its self-poise. Thomas still persisted in his +refusal to believe, but when a week had gone he found his way with the +others to their meeting. Perhaps their belief in the Lord's +resurrection made such a change in them, so brightened and transformed +them, that Thomas grew less positive in his unbelief as he saw them day +after day. At least he was ready now to be convinced. He wanted to +believe. + +That night Jesus came again into the room, the doors being shut, and +standing in the midst of his friends, breathed again upon them his +benediction of peace. Then he turned to Thomas; and holding out his +hands, with the print of the nails in them, he asked him to put the +evidences of his resurrection to the very tests he had said he must +make before he could believe. Now Thomas was convinced. He did not +make the tests he had insisted that he must make. There was no need +for it. To look into the face of Jesus, to hear his voice, and to see +the prints of the nails in his hands, was evidence enough even for +Thomas. All his doubts were swept away. Falling at the Master's feet, +he exclaimed, "My Lord and my God!" + +Thus the gentleness of Jesus in dealing with his doubts saved Thomas +from being an unbeliever. It is a great thing to have a wise and +faithful friend when one is passing through an experience of doubt. +Many persons are only confirmed in their scepticism by the well-meant +but unwise efforts that are made to convince them of the truth +concerning which they doubt. It is not argument that they need, but +the patience of love, which waits in silence till the right time comes +for words, and which then speaks but little. Thomas was convinced, not +by words, but by seeing the proofs of Christ's love in the prints of +the nails. + +We may be glad now that Thomas was hard to convince of the truth of +Christ's resurrection. It makes the proofs more indubitable to us that +one even of the apostles refused at first to believe, and yet at length +was led into triumphant faith. If all the apostles had believed +easily, there would have been no comfort in the gospel for those who +find it hard to believe, and yet who sincerely want to believe. The +fact that one doubted, and even refused to accept the witness of his +fellow-apostles, and then at length was led into clear, strong faith, +forever teaches that doubt is not hopeless. Ofttimes it may be but a +process in the development of faith. + +The story of Thomas shows, too, that there may be honest doubt. While +he doubted, he yet loved; perhaps no other one of the apostles loved +Jesus more than did Thomas. He never made any such bold confession as +Peter did, but neither did he ever deny Christ. Thomas has been a +comfort to many because he has shown them that they can be true +Christians, true lovers of Christ, and yet not be able to boast of +their assurance of faith. + +No doubt faith is better than questioning, but there may be honest +questioning which yet is intensely loyal to Christ. Questioning, too, +which is eager to find the truth and rest on the rock, may be better +than easy believing, that takes no pains to know the reason of the hope +it cherishes, and lightly recites the noble articles of a creed it has +never seriously studied. Tennyson, in "In Memoriam," tells the story +of a faith that grew strong through its doubting. + + You say, but with no touch of scorn, + Sweet-hearted, you, whose light-blue eyes + Are tender over drowning flies, + You tell me, doubt is devil-born. + + I know not: one indeed I knew + In many a subtle question versed, + Who touched a jarring lyre at first, + But ever strove to make it true: + + Perplext in faith, but pure in deeds, + At last he beat his music out. + There lives more faith in honest doubt, + Believe me, than in half the creeds. + + He fought his doubts and gathered strength; + He would not make his judgment blind, + He faced the spectres of the mind + And laid them: thus he came at length + + To find a stronger faith his own; + And power was with him in the night, + Which makes the darkness and the light, + And dwells not in the light alone, + + But in the darkness and the cloud, + As over Sinai's peaks of old, + While Israel made their gods of gold, + Although the trumpet blew so loud. + + +That which saved Thomas was his deep, strong friendship for Christ. +"The characteristic of Thomas," says Ian Maclaren, "is not that he +doubted,--that were an easy passport to religion,--but that he doubted +and loved. His doubt was the measure of his love; his doubt was +swallowed up in love." If friendship for Christ be loyal and true, we +need not look upon questioning as disloyalty; it may be but love +finding the way up the rugged mountain-side to the sunlit summit of a +glorious faith. There is a scepticism whose face is toward wintriness +and death; but there is a doubt which is looking toward the sun and +toward all blessedness. + +Thomas teaches us that one may look on the dark side and yet be a +Christian, an ardent lover of Jesus, ready to die for him. But we must +admit that this is not the best way to live. No one would say that +Thomas was the ideal among the apostles, that his character was the +most beautiful, his life the noblest and the best. Faith is better +than doubt, and confidence better than questioning. It is better to be +a sunny Christian, rejoicing, songful, happy, than a sad, gloomy, +despondent Christian. It makes one's own life sweeter and more +beautiful. Then it makes others happier. A gloomy Christian casts +dark shadows wherever he goes; a sunny Christian is a benediction to +every life he touches. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +JESUS' UNREQUITED FRIENDSHIPS. + + "Friend, my feet bleed. + Open thy door to me and comfort me." + I will not open; trouble me no more. + Go on thy way footsore; + I will not rise and open unto thee. + "Then it is nothing to thee? Open, see + Who stands to plead with thee. + Open, lest I should pass thee by, and thou + One day entreat my face + And howl for grace, + And I be deaf as thou art now. + Open to me." + CHRISTINA G. ROSSETTI. + + +There is a great deal of unrequited love in this world. There are +hearts that love with all the strength of purest and holiest affection, +whose love seems to meet no requital. There is much unrequited +mother-love and father-love. Parents live for their children. In +helpless infancy they begin to pour out their affection on them. They +toil for them, suffer for them, deny themselves to provide comforts for +them, bear their burdens, watch beside them when they are sick, pray +for them, and teach them. Parent-love is likest God's love of all +earthly affections. It is one of the things in humanity which at its +best seems to have come from the Fall almost unimpaired. Much +parent-love is worthily honored and fittingly requited. Few things in +this world are more beautiful than the devotion of children to parents +which one sees in some homes. But not always is there such return. +Too often is this almost divine love unrequited. + +Much philanthropic love also is unrequited. There are men who spend +all their life in doing good, and then meet no return. Men have served +their country with loyalty and disinterestedness, and have received no +reward--perhaps have been left to suffering, and have died in poverty, +neglected and forgotten; too often have lain in prison, or been put to +death, or exiled by the country which was indebted to their patriotism +and loyal service for much of its glory and greatness. Many hearts +break because of men's ingratitude. + +Jesus was the world's greatest benefactor. No other man ever loved the +race, or could have loved it, as he did. He was the divine messenger +who came to save the world. His whole life was a revealing of love. +It was the love of God too,--a love of infinite depth and strength and +tenderness, and not any merely human love, however rich and faithful it +might be, that was manifested in Jesus Christ. Yet much of his +wonderful love was unrequited. "He was in the world, and the world was +made by him, and the world knew him not. He came unto his own, and his +own received him not." A few individuals recognized him and accepted +his love; but the great masses of the people paid him no heed, saw no +beauty in him, rejected the blessings he bore and proffered to all, and +let his love waste itself in unavailing yearnings and beseechings. +Then one cruel day they nailed him on a cross, thinking to quench the +affection of his mighty heart. + +There are many illustrations of the unrequiting of the holy friendship +of Jesus. The treatment he received at Nazareth was one instance. He +had been brought up among the people. They had seen his beautiful life +during the thirty years he had lived in the village. They had known +him as a child when he played in their streets. They had known him as +a youth and young man in his noble strength. They had known him as a +carpenter when day after day he wrought among them in humble toil. + +It is interesting to think of the sinless life of Jesus all these +years. There was no halo about his head but the shining of manly +character. There were no miracles wrought by his hands but the +miracles of duty, faithful service, and gentle kindness. Yet we cannot +doubt that his life in Nazareth was one of rare grace and beauty, +marked by perfect unselfishness and great helpfulness. + +By and by he went away from Nazareth to begin his public ministry as +the Messiah. From that time the people saw him no more. The carpenter +shop was closed, and the tools lay unused on the bench. The familiar +form appeared no more on the streets. A year or more passed, and one +day he came back to visit his old neighbors. He stayed a little while, +and on the Sabbath was at the village church as had been his wont when +his home was at Nazareth. When the opportunity was given him, he +unrolled the Book of Isaiah, and read the passage which tells of the +anointing of the Messiah, and gives the wonderful outline of his +ministry. When he had finished the reading, he told the people that +this prophecy was now fulfilled in their ears. That is, he said that +he was the Messiah whose anointing and work the prophet had foretold. +For a time the people listened spellbound to his gracious words, and +then they began to grow angry, that he whom they knew as the carpenter +of their village should make such an astounding claim. They rose up in +wrath, thrust him out of the synagogue, and would have hurled him over +the precipice had he not eluded them and gone on his way. + +He had come to them in love, bearing rich blessings; but they drove him +away with the blessings. He had come to heal their sick, to cure their +blind and lame, to cleanse their lepers, to comfort their sorrowing +ones; but he had to go away and leave these works of mercy unwrought, +while the sufferers continued to bear their burdens. His friendship +for his old neighbors was unrequited. + +Another instance of unrequited friendship in the life of Jesus was in +the case of the rich young man who came to him. He had many excellent +traits of character, and was also an earnest seeker after the truth. +We are distinctly told that Jesus loved him. Thus he belongs with +Martha and Mary and Lazarus, of whom the same was said. But here, +again, the love was unrequited. The young man was deeply interested in +Jesus, and wanted to go with him; but he could not pay the price, and +turned and went away. + +It is interesting to think what might have been the result if he had +chosen Christ and gone with him. He might have occupied an important +place in the early church, and his name might have lived through all +future generations. But he loved his money too much to give it up for +Christ, and rejected the way of the cross marked out for him. He +refused the friendship of Jesus, and thus threw away all that was best +in life. In shutting love out of his heart, he shut himself out from +love. + +Of all the examples of unrequited friendship in the story of Jesus, +that of Judas is the saddest. We do not know the beginning of the +story of his discipleship, when Judas first came to Jesus, or who +brought him. But he must have been a follower some time before he was +chosen to be an apostle. Jesus thought over the names of those who had +left all to be with him. Then after a night of prayer he chose twelve +of these to be his special messengers and witnesses. He loved them +all, and took them into very close relations. + +Think what a privilege it was for these men to live with Jesus. They +heard all his words. They saw every phase of his life. Some friends +it is better not to know too intimately. They are not as good in +private as they are in public. Their life does not bear too close +inspection. We discover in them dispositions, habits, ways, tempers, +feelings, motives, which dim the lustre we see in them at greater +distance. Intimacy weakens the friendship. But, on the other hand, +there are those who, the more we see of their private life, the more we +love them. Close association reveals loveliness of character, fineness +of spirit, richness of heart, sweetness of disposition--habits, +feelings, tempers, noble self-denials, which add to the attractiveness +of the life and the charm of our friend's personality. We may be sure +that intimacy with Jesus only made him appear all the more winning and +beautiful to his friends. Judas lived in the warmth of this wondrous +love, under the influence of this gracious personality, month after +month. He witnessed the pure and holy life of Jesus in all its +manifold phases, heard his words, and saw his works. Doubtless, too, +in his individual relation with the Master, he received many marks of +affection and personal friendship. + +A careful reading of the Gospels shows that Judas was frequently warned +of the very sin which in the end wrought his ruin. Continually Jesus +spoke of the danger of covetousness. In the Sermon on the Mount he +exhorted his disciples to lay up their treasure, not upon earth, but in +heaven, and said that no one could serve God and mammon. It was just +this that Judas was trying to do. In more than one parable the danger +of riches was emphasized. Can we doubt that in all these reiterations +and warnings on the one subject, Judas was in the Master's mind? He +was trying in the faithfulness of loyal friendship to save him from the +sin which was imperilling his very life. + +But Judas resisted all the mighty love of Christ. It made no +impression upon him; he was unaffected by it. In his heart there grew +on meanwhile, unchecked, unhindered, his terrible greed for money. +First it made him a thief. The money given to Jesus by his friends to +provide for his wants, or to use for the poor, Judas, who was the +treasurer, began at length to purloin for himself. This was the first +step. The next was the selling of his Master for thirty pieces of +silver. This was a more fearful fruit of his nourished greed than the +purloining was. It is bad enough to steal. It is a base form of +stealing which robs a church treasury as Judas did. But to take money +as the price of betraying a friend--could any sin be baser? Could any +crime be blacker than that? To take money as the price of betraying a +friend in whose confidence one has lived for years, at whose table one +has eaten day after day, in the blessing of whose friendship one has +rested for months and years--are there words black enough to paint the +infamy of such a deed? + +All the participators in the crime of that Good Friday wear a peculiar +brand of infamy as they are portrayed on the pages of history; but +among them all, the most despicable, the one whose name bears the +deepest infamy, is Judas, an apostle turned traitor, for a few +miserable coins betraying his best friend into the hands of malignant +foes. + +This is the outcome of the friendship of Jesus for Judas; this was the +fruit of those years of affection, cherishing, patient teaching. Think +what Judas might have been. He was chosen and called to be an apostle. +There was no reason in the heart of Jesus why Judas might not have been +true and worthy. Sin is not God's plan for any life. Treachery and +infamy were not in God's purpose for Judas. Jesus would not have +chosen him for one of the Twelve if it had not been possible for him to +be a good and true man. Judas fell because he had never altogether +surrendered himself to Christ. He tried to serve God and mammon; but +both could not stay in his heart, and instead of driving out mammon, +mammon drove out Christ. + +This suggests to us what a battlefield the human heart sometimes is--a +Waterloo where destinies are settled. God or mammon--which? That is +the question every soul must answer. How goes the battle in your soul? +Who is winning on your field--Christ or money? Christ or pleasure? +Christ or sin? Christ or self? Judas lost the battle; the Devil won. + +A picture in Brussels represents Judas wandering about the night after +the betrayal. By chance he comes upon the workmen who have been +preparing the cross for Jesus. A fire burning close by throws its +weird light on the faces of the men who are now sleeping. The face of +Judas is somewhat in the shade; but one sees on it remorse and agony, +as the traitor's eyes fall upon the cross and the tools which have been +used in making it,--the cross to which his treason had doomed his +friend. But though suffering in the torments of a guilty conscience, +he still tightly clutches his money-bag as he hurries on into the +night. The picture tells the story of the fruit of Judas's sin,--the +money-bag, with eighteen dollars and sixty cents in it, and even that +soon to be cast away in the madness of despair. + +Unrequited friendship! Yes; and in shutting out that blessed +friendship, Judas shut out hope. Longfellow puts into his mouth the +despairing words:-- + + "Lost, lost, forever lost! I have betrayed + The innocent blood ... + * * * + Too late! too late! I shall not see him more + Among the living. That sweet, patient face + Will nevermore rebuke me, nor those lips + Repeat the words, 'One of you shall betray me.'" + +The great lesson from all this is the peril of rejecting the friendship +of Jesus Christ. In his friendship is the only way to salvation, the +only way of obtaining eternal life. He calls men to come to him, to +follow him, to be his friends; and thus alone can they come unto God, +and be received into his family. + +There is something appalling in the revealing which this truth +teaches,--the power each soul possesses of shutting out all the love of +God, of resisting the infinite blessing of the friendship of Christ. +It is possible for us to be near to Christ through all our life, with +his grace flowing about us like an ocean, and yet to have a heart that +remains unblessed by divine love. We may make God's love in vain, +wasted, as sunshine is wasted that falls upon desert sands, so far as +we are concerned. The love that we do not requite with love, that does +not get into our heart to warm, soften, and enrich it, and to mellow +and bless our life, is love poured out in vain. It is made in vain by +our unbelief. We may make even the dying of Jesus for us in vain,--a +waste of precious life, so far as we are concerned. It is in vain for +us that Jesus died if we do not let his love into our heart. + +Ofttimes the unrequiting of human love makes the heart bitter. When +holy friendship has been despised, rejected, and cast away, when one +has loved, suffered, and sacrificed in vain, receiving only ingratitude +and wrong in return for love's most sacred gifts freely lavished, the +danger is that the heart may lose its sweetness, and grow cold, hard, +and misanthropic. But not thus was the heart of Jesus affected by the +unrequiting of his love and friendship. One Judas in the life of most +men would have ended the whole career of generous kindness, drying up +the fountains of affection, thus robbing those who would come after of +the wealth of tenderness which ought to have been theirs. But through +all the unrequiting and resisting of its love, the heart of Jesus still +remained gentle as a mother's, rich in its power to love, and sweet in +its spirit. + +This is one of the great problems of true living,--how to keep the +heart warm, gentle, compassionate, kind, full of affection's best and +truest helpfulness, even amid life's hardest experiences. We cannot +live and not at some time suffer wrong. We will meet injustice, +however justly we ourselves may live. We will find a return of +ingratitude many a time when we have done our best for others. Favors +rendered are too easily forgotten by many people. There are few of us +who do not remember helping others in time of great need and distress, +only to lose their friendship in the end, perhaps, as a consequence of +our serving them in their need. Sometimes the only return for costly +kindness is cruel unkindness. + +It is easy to allow such unrequiting, such ill treatment of love, to +embitter the fountain of the heart's affection; but this would be to +miss the true end of living, which is to get good and not evil to +ourselves from every experience through which we pass. No ingratitude, +injustice, or unworthiness in those to whom we try to do good, should +ever be allowed to turn love's sweetness into bitterness in us. Like +fresh-water springs beside the sea, over which the brackish tide flows, +but which when the bitter waters have receded are found sweet as ever, +so should our hearts remain amid all experiences of love's unrequiting, +ever sweet, thoughtful, unselfish, and generous. + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +JESUS AND THE BETHANY SISTERS. + + Her eyes are homes of silent prayer, + Nor other thought her mind admits + But, he was dead, and there he sits, + And he that brought him back is there. + + Then one deep love doth supersede + All other, when her ardent gaze + Roves from the living brother's face, + And rests upon the Life indeed. + TENNYSON. + + +The story of Jesus and the Bethany home is intensely interesting. +Every thoughtful Christian has a feeling of gratitude in his heart when +he remembers how much that home added to the comfort of the Master by +means of the hospitality, the shelter, and the love it gave to him. +One of the legends of Brittany tells us that on the day of Christ's +crucifixion, as he was on his way to his cross, a bird, pitying the +weary sufferer bearing his heavy burden, flew down, and plucked away +one of the thorns that pierced his brow. As it did so, the blood +spurted out after the thorn, and splashed the breast of the bird. Ever +since that day the bird has had a splash of red on its bosom, whence it +is called robin-redbreast. Certainly the love of the Bethany home drew +from the breast of Jesus many a thorn, and blessed his heart with many +a joy. + +We have three glimpses within the doors of this home when the loved +guest was there. The first shows us the Master and his disciples one +day entering the village. It was Martha who received him. Martha was +the mistress of the house. "She had a sister called Mary," a younger +sister. + +Then we have a picture as if some one had photographed the scene. We +see Mary drawing up a low stool, and sitting down at the Master's feet +to listen to his words. We see Martha hurrying about the house, busy +preparing a meal for the visitors who had come in suddenly. This was a +proper thing to do; it was needful that hospitality be shown. There is +a word in the record, however, which tells us that Martha was not +altogether serene as she went about her work. "Martha was cumbered +about much serving." A marginal reading gives, "was distracted." + +Perhaps there are many modern Christian housekeepers who would be +somewhat cumbered, or distracted too, if thirteen hungry men dropped in +suddenly some day, and they had to entertain them, preparing them a +meal. Still, the lesson unmistakably is that Martha should not have +been fretted; that she should have kept sweet amid all the pressure of +work that so burdened her. + +It was not quite right for her to show her impatience with Mary as she +did. Coming into the room, flushed and excited, and seeing Mary +sitting quietly and unconcernedly at the Rabbi's feet, drinking in his +words, she appealed to Jesus, "Lord, dost thou not care that my sister +did leave me to serve alone? bid her therefore that she help me." + +I am not sure that Martha was wrong or unreasonable in thinking that +Mary should have helped her. Jesus did not say she was wrong; he only +reminded Martha that she ought not to let things fret and vex her. +"Martha, Martha, thou art anxious and troubled about many things." It +was not her serving that he reproved, but the fret that she allowed to +creep into her heart. + +The lesson is, that however heavy our burdens may be, however hurried +or pressed we may be, we should always keep the peace of Christ in our +heart. This is one of the problems of Christian living,--not to live +without cares, which is impossible, but to keep quiet and sweet in the +midst of the most cumbering care. + +At the second mention of the Bethany home there is sore distress in it. +A beloved one is very sick, sick unto death. Few homes are entire +strangers to the experience of those days when the sufferer lay in the +burning fever. Love ministered and prayed and waited. Jesus was far +away, but word was sent to him. He came at length, but seemed to have +come too late. "If thou hadst been here!" the sisters said, each +separately, when they met the Master. But we see now the finished +providence, not the mere fragment of it which the sisters saw; and we +know he came at the right time. He comforted the mourners, and then he +blotted out the sorrow, bringing back joy to the home.[1] + +The third picture of this home shows us a festal scene. A dinner was +given in honor of Jesus. It was only a few days before his death. +Here, again, the sisters appear, each true to her own character. +Martha is serving, as she always is; and again Mary is at Jesus' feet. +This time she is showing her wonderful love for the friend who has done +so much for her. The ointment she pours upon him is an emblem of her +heart's pure affection. + +Mary's act was very beautiful. Love was the motive. Without love no +service, however great or costly, is of any value in heaven's sight. +The world may applaud, but angels turn away with indifference when love +is lacking. "If I bestow all my goods to feed the poor ... but have +not love, it profiteth me nothing." But love makes the smallest deed +radiant as angel ministry. We need not try doing things for Christ +until we love him. It would be like putting rootless rods in a +garden-bed, expecting them to grow into blossoming plants. Love must +be the root. It was easy for Mary to bring her alabaster box, for her +heart was full of overmastering love. + +Service is the fruit of love. It is not all of its fruit. Character +is part too. If we love Christ, we will have Christ's beauty in our +soul. Mary grew wondrously gentle and lovely as Christ's words entered +her heart. Friendship with Christ makes us like Christ. But there +will be service too. Love is like light, it cannot be hid. It cannot +be shut up in the heart. It will not be imprisoned and restrained. It +will live and speak and act. Love in the heart of Jesus brought him +from heaven down to earth to be the lost world's Redeemer. Love in his +apostles took them to the ends of the earth to tell the gospel story to +the perishing. + +It is not enough to try to hew and fashion a character into the beauty +of holiness, until every feature of the image of Christ shines in the +life, as the sculptor shapes the marble into the form of his vision. +The most radiant spiritual beauty does not make one a complete +Christian. It takes service to fill up the measure of the stature of +Christ. The young man said he had kept all the commandments from his +youth. "One thing thou lackest," said the Master; "sell all that thou +hast, and give to the poor." Service of love was needed to make that +morally exemplary life complete. + +The lesson is needed by many Christian people. They are good, with +blameless life, flawless character, consistent conduct; but they lack +one thing,--service. Love for Christ should always serve. There is a +story of a friar who was eager to win the favor of God, and set to work +to illuminate the pages of the Apocalypse, after the custom of his +time. He became so absorbed in his delightful occupation that he +neglected the poor and the sick who were suffering and dying in the +plague. He came at last, in the course of his work, to the painting of +the face of his Lord in the glory of his second coming; but his hand +had lost its skill. He wondered why it was, and realized that it was +because, in his eagerness to paint his pictures, he had neglected his +duty of serving. + +Rebuffed and humiliated by the discovery, the friar drew his cowl over +his head, laid aside his brushes, and went down among the sick and +dying to minister to their needs. He wrought on, untiringly, until he +himself was smitten with the fatal plague. Then he tottered back to +his cell and to his easel, to finish his loved work before he died. He +knelt in prayer to ask help, when, lo! he saw that an angel's hand had +completed the picture of the glorified Lord, and in a manner far +surpassing human skill. + +It is only a legend, but its lesson is well worthy our serious thought. +Too many people in their life as Christians, while they strive to excel +in character, in conduct, and in the beautiful graces of disposition, +and to do their work among men faithfully, are forgetting meanwhile the +law of love which bids every follower of Christ go about doing good as +the Master did. To be a Christian is far more than to be honest, +truthful, sober, industrious, and decorous; it is also to be a +cross-bearer after Jesus; to love men, and to serve them. Ofttimes it +is to leave your fine room, your favorite work, your delightful +companionship, your pet self-indulgence, and to go out among the needy, +the suffering, the sinning, to try to do them good. The monk could not +paint the face of the Lord while he was neglecting those who needed his +ministrations and went unhelped because he came not. Nor can any +Christian paint the face of the Master in its full beauty on his soul +while he is neglecting any service of love. + +We may follow a little the story of what happened after Mary brought +her alabaster box. Some of the disciples of Jesus were angry. There +always are some who find fault with the way other people show their +love for Christ. It is so even in Christian churches. One member +criticises what another does, or the way he does it. It will be +remembered that it was Judas who began this blaming of Mary. He said +the ointment would better have been sold, and the proceeds given to the +poor. St. John tells us very sadly the real motive of this pious +complaining; not that Judas cared for the poor, but that he was a +thief, and purloined the money given for the poor. + +Jesus came to Mary's defence very promptly, and in a way that must have +wonderfully comforted her hurt heart. It is a grievous sin against +another to find fault with any sweet, beautiful serving of Jesus which +the other may have done. Christ's defence and approval of Mary should +be a comfort to all who find their deeds of love criticised or blamed +by others. + +"Let her alone; why trouble ye her? she hath wrought a good work on +me." The disciples had said it was a waste. That is what some persons +say about much that is done for Christ. The life is wasted, they say, +which is poured out in self-denials and sacrifices to bless others. +But really the wasted lives are those which are devoted to pleasure and +sin. Those who live a merely worldly life are wasting what it took the +dying of Jesus to redeem. Oh, how pitiful much of fashionable, worldly +life must appear to the angels! + +"She hath done what she could." That was high praise. She had brought +her best to her Lord. Perhaps some of us make too much of our little +acts and trivial sacrifices. Little things are acceptable if they are +really our best. But Mary's deed was not a small one. The ointment +she brought was very costly. She did not use just a little of this +precious nard, but poured it all out on the head and feet of Jesus. +"What she could" was the best she had to give. + +We may take a lesson. Do we always give our best to Christ? He gave +his best for us, and is ever giving his best to us. Do we not too +often give him only what is left after we have served ourselves? Then +we try to soothe an uneasy conscience by quoting the Master's +commendation of Mary, "She hath done what she could." Ah, Mary's "what +she could" was a most costly service. It was the costliest of all her +possessions that she gave. The word of Jesus about her and her gift +has no possible comfort for us if our little is not our best. The +widow's mites were her best, small though the money value was--she gave +all she had. The poor woman's cup of cold water was all she could +give. But if we give only a trifle out of our abundance, we are not +doing what we could. + +It is worthy of notice that the alabaster box itself was broken in this +holy service. Nothing was kept back. Broken things have an important +place in the Bible. Gideon's pitchers were broken as his men revealed +themselves to the enemy. Paul and his companions escaped from the sea +on broken pieces of the ship. It is the broken heart that God accepts. +The body of Jesus was broken that it might become bread of life for the +world. Out of sorrow's broken things God builds up radiant beauty. +Broken earthly hopes become ofttimes the beginnings of richest heavenly +blessings. We do not get the best out of anything until it is broken. + + "They tell me I must bruise + The rose's leaf + Ere I can keep and use + Its fragrance brief. + + They tell me I must break + The skylark's heart + Ere her cage song will make + The silence start. + + They tell me love must bleed, + And friendship weep, + Ere in my deepest need + I touch that deep. + + Must it be always so + With precious things? + Must they be bruised, and go + With beaten wings? + + Ah, yes! By crushing days, + By caging nights, by scar + Of thorns and stony ways, + These blessings are." + + +Even sorrow is not too great a price to pay for the blessings which can +come only through grief and pain. We must not be afraid to be broken +if that is God's will; that is the way God would make us vessels meet +for his service. Only by breaking the alabaster vase can the ointment +that is in it give out its rich perfume. + +"She hath anointed my body aforehand for the burying." I like the word +aforehand. Nicodemus, after Jesus was dead, brought a large quantity +of spices and ointments to put about his body when it was laid to rest +in the tomb. That was well; it was a beautiful deed. It honored the +Master. We never can cease to be grateful to Nicodemus, whose +long-time shy love at last found such noble expression, in helping to +give fitting burial to him whom we love so deeply. But Mary's deed was +better; she brought her perfume aforehand, when it could give pleasure, +comfort, and strengthening, to the Master in his time of deepest +sorrow. We know that his heart was gladdened by the act of love. It +made his spirit a little stronger for the events of that last sad week. +"She hath wrought a good work on me." + +We should get a lesson in friendship's ministry. Too many wait until +those they love are dead, and then bring their alabaster boxes of +affection and break them. They keep silent about their love when words +would mean so much, would give such cheer, encouragement, and hope, and +then, when the friend lies in the coffin, their lips are unsealed, and +speak out their glowing tribute on ears that heed not the laggard +praise. + +Many persons go through life, struggling bravely with difficulty, +temptation, and hardship, carrying burdens too heavy for them, pouring +out their love in unselfish serving of others, and yet are scarcely +ever cheered by a word of approval or commendation, or by delicate +tenderness of friendship; then, when they lie silent in death, a whole +circle of admiring friends gathers to do them honor. Every one +remembers a personal kindness received, a favor shown, some help given, +and speaks of it in grateful words. Letters full of appreciation, +commendation, and gratitude are written to sorrowing friends. Flowers +are sent and piled about the coffin, enough to have strewn every hard +path of the long years of struggle. How surprised some good men and +women would be, after lives with scarcely a word of affection to cheer +their hearts, were they to awake suddenly in the midst of their +friends, a few hours after their death, and hear the testimonies that +are falling from every tongue, the appreciations, the grateful words of +love, the rememberings of kindness! They had never dreamed in life +that they had so many friends, that so many had thought well of them, +that they were helpful to so many. + +After a long and worthy life, given up to lowly ministry, a good +clergyman was called home. Soon after his death, there was a meeting +of his friends, and many of them spoke of his beautiful life. +Incidents were given showing how his labors had been blessed. Out of +full hearts one after another gave grateful tribute of love. The +minister's widow was present; and when all the kindly words had been +spoken, she thanked the friends for what they had said. Then she +asked, amid her tears, "But why did you never tell him these things +while he was living?" + +Yes, why not? He had wrought for forty years in a most unselfish way. +He had poured out his life without stint. He had carried his people in +his heart by day and by night, never sparing himself in any way when he +could be of use to one of God's children. His people were devoted to +him, loved him, and appreciated his labors. Yet rarely, all those +years, had any of them told him of the love that was in their hearts +for him, or of their gratitude for service given or good received. He +was conscious of the Master's approval, and this cheered him,--it was +the commendation he sought; but it would have comforted him many a +time, and made the burdens seem lighter and the toil easier and the joy +of serving deeper, if his people--those he loved and lived for, and +helped in so many ways--had sometimes told him how much he was to them. + +All about us move, these common days, those who would be strengthened +and comforted by the good cheer which we could give. Let us not +reserve all the flowers for coffin-lids. Let us not keep our alabaster +boxes sealed and unbroken till our loved ones are dead. Let us show +kindness when kindness will do good. It will make sorrow all the +harder to bear if we have to say beside our dead, "I might have +brightened the way a little if only I had been kinder." + +It was wonderful honoring which Jesus gave to Mary's deed, when he said +that wherever the gospel should be preached throughout the whole world +the story of this anointing should be told. So, right in among the +memorials of his own death, this ministry of love is enshrined. As the +odor of the ointment filled all the room where the guests sat at table, +so the aroma of Mary's love fills all the Christian world to-day. The +influence of her deed, with the Master's honoring of it, has shed a +benediction on countless homes, making hearts gentler, and lives +sweeter and truer. + + +[1] For a fuller treatment of this incident, see Chapter XI. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +JESUS COMFORTING HIS FRIENDS. + + Not all regret, the face will shine + Upon me while I muse alone; + And that dear voice, I once have known, + Still speak to me of me and mine: + + Yet less of sorrow lives in me + For days of happy commune dead; + Less yearning for the friendship fled, + Than some strong bond which is to be. + TENNYSON. + + +A gospel with no comfort for sorrow would not meet the deepest needs of +human hearts. If Jesus were a friend only for bright hours, there +would be much of experience into which he could not enter. But the +gospel breathes comfort on every page; and Jesus is a friend for lonely +hours and times of grief and pain, as well as for sunny paths and days +of gladness and song. He went to a marriage feast, and wrought his +first miracle to prolong the festivity; but he went also to the home of +grief, and turned its sorrow into joy. + +It is well worth our while to study Jesus as a comforter, to learn how +he comforted his friends. For one thing, it will teach us how to find +consolation when we are in trouble. This is a point at which, with +many Christians, the gospel seems oftenest to fail. In the days of the +unbroken circle and of human gladness, the friends of Jesus rejoice in +his love, and walk in his light with songs; but when ties are broken, +and grief enters the home, the hearts that were so full of praise +refuse to take the consolation of the gospel. This ought not so to be. +If we knew Christ as a comforter, we would sing our songs of trust even +in the night. + +Another help that we may get from such a study of Jesus will be power +to become a true comforter of others. This every Christian should seek +to be, but this very few Christians really are. Most of us would +better stay away altogether from our friends in their times of sorrow, +than go to them as we do. Instead of being comforters to make them +stronger to endure, we only make their grief seem bitterer, and their +loss more unendurable, doing them harm instead of good. This is +because we have not learned the art of giving comfort. Our Master +should be our teacher; and if we study his method, we shall know how to +be a blessing to our friends in their times of loss and pain. + +Much of the ministry of Jesus was with those who were in trouble. +There was one special occasion, however, when there was a great sorrow +in the circle of his best friends. We may learn many lessons if we +read over thoughtfully the story of the way Jesus comforted them. + +It was the Bethany home. Before the sorrow came, Jesus was a familiar +guest, a close and intimate friend of the members of the household. He +always had kindly welcome and generous hospitality when he came to +their door. They did not make his acquaintance for the first time when +their hearts were broken. They had known him for a long time, and had +listened to his gracious words when there was no grief in their home. +This made it easy to turn to him and to receive his comfort when the +dark days of sorrow came. + +There are some who think of Christ only as a friend whom they will need +in trouble. In their time of unbroken gladness they do not seek his +friendship. Then, when trouble comes suddenly, they do not know how or +where to find the Comforter. Wiser far are they who take Christ into +their life in the glad days when the joy is unbroken. He blesses their +joy. A happy home is all the happier because Jesus is a familiar guest +in it. Love is all the sweeter because of his benediction. Then, when +sorrow's shadow falls, there is light in the darkness. + +There seems to be no need of the stars in the daytime, for the sunshine +then floods all earth's paths. But when the sun goes down, and God's +great splendor of stars appears hanging over us, dropping their soft, +quiet light upon us, how glad we are that they were there all the +while, waiting to be revealed! So it is that the friendship of Jesus +in the happy years hangs above our heads the stars of heavenly comfort. +We do not seem to need them at the time, and we scarcely know that they +are there; we certainly have no true realization of the blessing that +hides in the shining words. But when, one sad day, the light of human +joy is suddenly darkened, then the divine comforts reveal themselves. +We do not have to hasten here and there in pitiable distress, trying to +find consolation, for we have it already in the love and grace of +Christ. The Friend we took into our life in the joy-days stands close +beside us now in our sadness, and his friendship never before seemed so +precious, so tender, so divine. + +When Lazarus fell sick, Jesus was in another part of the country. As +the case grew hopeless, the sisters sent a message to Jesus to say, "He +whom thou lovest is sick." The message seems remarkable. There was no +urgency expressed in it, no wild, passionate pleading that Jesus would +hasten to come. Its few words told of the quietness and confidence of +trusting hearts. We get a lesson concerning the way we should pray +when we are in distress. "Your Father knoweth what things ye have need +of," and there is no need for piteous clamor. Far better is the prayer +of faith, which lays the burden upon the divine heart, and leaves it +there without anxiety. It is enough, when a beloved one is lying low, +to say, "Lord, he whom thou lovest is sick." + +We are surprised, as we read the narrative, that Jesus did not respond +immediately to this message from his friends. But he waited two days +before he set out for Bethany. We cannot tell why he did this, but +there is something very comforting in the words that tell us of the +delay. "Now Jesus loved Martha, and her sister, and Lazarus. When, +therefore, he heard that Lazarus was sick, he abode at that time two +days in the place where he was." In some way the delay was because of +his love for all the household. Perhaps the meaning is that through +the dying of Lazarus blessing would come to them all. + +At length he reached Bethany. Lazarus had been dead four days. The +family had many friends; and their house was filled with those who had +come, after the custom of the times, to console them. Jesus lingered +at some distance from the house, perhaps not caring to enter among +those who in the conventional way were mourning with the family. He +wished to meet the sorrowing sisters in a quiet place alone. So he +tarried outside the village, probably sending a message to Martha, +telling her that he was coming. Soon Martha met him. + +We may think of the eagerness of her heart to get into his presence +when she heard that he was near. What a relief it must have been to +her, after the noisy grief that filled her home, to get into the quiet, +peaceful presence of Jesus! He was not disturbed. His face was full +of sympathy, and it was easy to see there the tokens of deep and very +real grief, but his peace was not broken. He was calm and composed. +Martha must have felt herself at once comforted by his mere presence. +It was quieting and reassuring. + +The first thing to do when we need comfort is to get into the presence +of Christ. Human friendship means well when it hastens to us in our +sorrow. It feels that it must do something for us, that to stay away +and do nothing would be unkindness. Then, when it comes, it feels that +it must talk, and must talk about our sorrow. It feels that it must go +over all the details, questioning us until it seems as if our heart +would break with answering. Our friends think that they must explore +with us all the depths of our grief, dwelling upon the elements that +are specially poignant. The result of all this "comforting" is that +our burden of sorrow is made heavier instead of lighter, and we are +less brave and strong than before to bear it. If we would be truly +comforted we would better flee away to Christ; for in his presence we +shall find consolation, which gives peace and strength and joy. + +It is worth our while to note the comfort which Jesus gave to these +sorrowing sisters. First, he lifted the veil, and gave them a glimpse +of what lies beyond death. "Thy brother shall rise again." "I am the +resurrection, and the life: he that believeth on me, though he die, yet +shall he live: and whosoever liveth and believeth on me shall never +die." Thus he opened a great window into the other world. It is +plainer to us than it could be to Martha and Mary; for a little while +after he spoke these words, Jesus himself passed through death, coming +again from the grave in immortal life. It is a wonderful comfort to +those who sorrow over the departure of a Christian friend to know the +true teaching of the New Testament on the subject of dying. Death is +not the end; it is a door which leads into fulness of life. + +Perhaps many in bereavement, though believing the doctrine of a future +resurrection, fail to get present comfort from it. Jesus assured +Martha that her brother should rise again. "Yes, I know that he shall +rise again in the resurrection at the last day." Her words show that +this hope was too distant to give her much comfort. Her sense of +present loss outweighed every other thought and feeling. She craved +back again the companionship she had lost. Who that has stood by the +grave of a precious friend has not experienced the same feeling of +inadequateness in the consolation that comes from even the strongest +belief in a far-off rising again of all who are in their graves? + +The reply of Jesus to Martha's hungry heart-cry was very rich in its +comfort. "I am the resurrection." This is one of the wonderful +present tenses of Christian hope. Martha had spoken of a resurrection +far away. "I am the resurrection," Jesus declared. It was something +present, not remote. His words embrace the whole blessed truth of +immortal life. "Whosoever liveth and believeth on me shall never die." +There is no death for those who are in Christ. The body dies, but the +person lives on. The resurrection may be in the future, but really +there is no break in the life of a believer in Christ. He is not here; +our eyes see him not, our ears hear not his voice, we cannot touch him +with our hands, but he still lives and thinks and feels and loves. No +power in his being has been quenched by dying, no beauty dimmed, no +faculty destroyed. + +This is a part of the comfort which Jesus gave to his friends in their +bereavement. He assured them that there is no death, that all who +believe in him have eternal life. There remains for those who stay +here the pain of separation and of loneliness, but for those who have +passed over we need have no fear. + +How does Jesus comfort his friends who are left? As we read over the +story of the sorrow of the Bethany home we find the answer to our +question. You say, "He brought back their dead, thus comforting them +with the literal undoing of the work of death and grief. If only he +would do this now, in every case where love cries to him, that would be +comfort indeed." But we must remember that the return of Lazarus to +his home was only a temporary restoration. He came back to the old +life of mortality, of temptation, of sickness and pain and death. He +came back only for a season. It was not a resurrection to immortal +life; it was only a restoration to mortal life. He must pass again +through the mystery of dying, and his sisters must a second time +experience the agony of separation and loneliness. We can scarcely +call it comfort; it was merely a postponement for a little while of the +final separation. + +But Jesus gave the sisters true consoling besides this. His mere +presence brought them comfort. They knew that he loved them. Many +times before when he had entered their home he had brought a +benediction. They had a feeling of security and peace in his presence. +Even their inconsolable grief lost something of its poignancy when the +light of his face fell upon them. Every strong, tender, and true human +love has a wondrous comforting power. We can pass through a sore trial +if a trusted friend is beside us. The believer can endure any sorrow +if Jesus is with him. + +Another element of comfort for these sorrowing sisters was in the +sympathy of Jesus. He showed this sympathy with them in coming all the +way from Perea, to be with them in their time of distress. He showed +it in his bearing toward them and his conversation with them. There is +a wonderful gentleness in his manner as he receives first one and then +the other sister. Mary's grief was deeper than Martha's; and when +Jesus saw her weeping, and her friends who were with her weeping, he +groaned in the spirit and was troubled. Then, in the shortest verse in +the Bible, we have a window into the very heart of Christ, and find +there most wonderful sympathy. + +"Jesus wept." It is a great comfort in time of sorrow to have even +human sympathy, to know that somebody cares, that some one feels with +us. The measure of the comfort in such cases is in proportion to the +honor in which we hold the person. It would have had something--very +much--of comfort for the sisters, if John or Peter or James had wept +with them beside their brother's grave. But the tears of Jesus meant +incalculably more; they told of the holiest sympathy that this world +ever saw--the Son of God wept with two sisters in a great human sorrow. + +This shortest verse was not written merely as a fragment of a +narrative--it contains a revealing of the heart of Jesus for all time. +Wherever a friend of Jesus is sorrowing, One stands by, unseen, who +shares the grief, whose heart feels every pang of the sorrow. There is +immeasurable comfort in this thought that the Son of God suffers with +us in our suffering, is afflicted in all our affliction. We can endure +our trouble more quietly when we know that God understands all about it. + +There is yet another thing in the manner of Christ's comforting his +friends which is very suggestive. His sympathy was not a mere +sentiment. Too often human sympathy is nothing but a sentiment. Our +friends cry with us, and then pass by on the other side. They tell us +they are sorry for us, but they do nothing to help us. The sympathy of +Jesus at Bethany was very practical. Not only did he show his love to +his friends by coming away from his work in another province, to be +with them in their sore trouble; not only did he speak to them words of +divine comfort, words which have made a shining track through the world +ever since; not only did he weep with them in their grief,--but he +wrought the greatest of all his many miracles to restore the joy of +their hearts and their home. It was a costly miracle, too, for it led +to his own death. + +Yet, knowing well what would come from this ministry of friendship, he +hesitated not. For some reason he saw that it would be indeed a +blessing to his friends to bring back the dead. It was because he +loved the sisters and the brother that he lingered, and did not hasten +when the message reached him beyond the river. We may be sure, +therefore, that the raising of Lazarus, though only to a little more of +the old life of weakness, had a blessing in it for the family. This +was the best way in which Jesus could show his sympathy, the best +comfort he could give his friends. + +No doubt thousands of other friends of Jesus in the sorrow of +bereavement have wished that he would comfort them in like way, by +giving back their beloved. Ofttimes he does what is in effect the +same,--in answer to the prayer of faith he spares the lives of those +who are dear. When we pray for our sick friends, we only ask +submissively that they may recover. "Not my will, but thine be done," +is the refrain of our pleading. Even our most passionate longing we +subdue in the quiet confidence of our faith. If it is not best for our +dear ones; if it would not be a real blessing; if it is not God's +way,--then "Thy will be done." If we pray the prayer of faith, we must +believe that the issue, whatever it may be, is God's best for us. + +If our friend is taken away after such committing of faith to God's +wisdom and love, there is immeasurable comfort at once in the +confidence that it was God's will. Then, while no miracle is wrought, +bringing back our dead, the sympathy of Christ yet brings practical +consolation. The word comfort means strengthening. We are helped to +bear our sorrow. + +The teaching of the Scriptures is that when we come with our trials to +God, he either relieves us of them, or gives us the grace we need to +endure them. He does not promise to lift away the burden that we cast +upon him, but he will sustain us in our bearing of the burden. When +the human presence is taken from us, Christ comes nearer than before, +and reveals to us more of his love and grace. + +The problem of sorrow in a Christian life is a very serious one. It is +important that we have a clear understanding upon the subject, that we +may receive blessing and not hurt from our experience. Every sorrow +that comes into our life brings us something good from God; but we may +reject the good, and if we do, we receive evil instead. The comfort +God gives is not the taking away of the trouble, nor is it the dulling +of our heart's sensibilities so that we shall not feel the pain so +keenly. God's comfort is strength to endure in the experience. If we +put our life into the hands of Christ in the time of sorrow, and with +quiet faith and sweet trust go on with our duty, all shall be well. If +we resist and struggle and rebel, we shall not only miss the blessing +of comfort that is infolded for us in our sorrow, but we shall receive +hurt in our own life. When one is soured and embittered by trial, one +has received hurt rather than blessing; but if we accept our sorrow +with love and trust, we shall come out of it enriched in life and +character, and prepared for better work and greater usefulness. + +There is a picture of a woman sitting by the sea in deep grief. The +dark waters have swallowed up her heart's treasures, and her sorrow is +inconsolable. Close behind her is an angel striking his harp,--the +Angel of Consolation. But the woman in her stony grief sees not the +angel's shining form, nor hears the music of his harp. Too often this +is the picture in Christian homes. With all the boundlessness of God's +love and mercy, the heart remains uncomforted. + +This ought not so to be. There is in Jesus Christ an infinite resource +of consolation, and we have only to open our heart to receive it. Then +we shall pass through sorrow sustained by divine help and love, and +shall come from it enriched in character, and blessed in every phase of +life. The griefs of our life set lessons for us to learn. In every +pain is the seed of a blessing. In every tear a rainbow hides. Dr. +Babcock puts it well in his lines:-- + + The dark-brown mould's upturned + By the sharp-pointed plough-- + And I've a lesson learned. + + My life is but a field, + Stretched out beneath God's sky, + Some harvest rich to yield. + + Where grows the golden grain? + Where faith? Where sympathy? + In a furrow cut by pain. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +JESUS AND HIS SECRET FRIENDS. + + How many souls--his loved ones-- + Dwell lonely and apart, + Hiding from all but One above + The fragrance of their heart. + PROCTER. + + +Not all the friends of Jesus were open friends. No doubt many believed +on him who had not the courage to confess him. Two of his secret +friends performed such an important part at the close of his life, +boldly honoring him, that the story of their discipleship is worthy of +our careful study. + +One of these is mentioned several times; the other we meet nowhere +until he suddenly emerges from the shadows of his secret friendship, +when the body of Jesus hung dead on the cross, and boldly asks leave to +take it away, and with due honor bury it. + +Several facts concerning Joseph are given in the Gospels. He was a +rich man. Thus an ancient prophecy was fulfilled. According to +Isaiah, the Messiah was to make his grave with the rich. This +prediction seemed very unlikely of fulfilment when Jesus hung on the +cross dying. He had no burying-place of his own, and none of his known +disciples could provide him with a tomb among the rich. It looked as +if his body must be cast into the Potter's Field with the bodies of the +two criminals who hung beside him. Then came Joseph, a rich man, and +buried Jesus in his own new tomb. "He made his grave with the rich." + +Joseph was a member of the Sanhedrin. This gave him honor among men, +and he must have been of good reputation to be chosen to so exalted a +position. We are told also that he was a good man and devout, and had +not consented to the counsel and deed of the court in condemning Jesus. +Perhaps he had absented himself from the meeting of the Sanhedrin when +Jesus was before the court. If he were present, he took no part in the +condemning of the prisoner. + +Then it is said further that he was "a disciple of Jesus, but secretly, +for fear of the Jews." That is, he was one of the friends of Jesus, +believing in his Messiahship. We have no way of knowing how long he +had been a disciple, but it is evident that the friendship had existed +for some time. We may suppose that Joseph had sought Jesus quietly, +perhaps by night, receiving instruction from him, communing with him, +drinking in his spirit; but he had never yet openly declared his +discipleship. + +The reason for this hiding of his belief in Jesus is frankly +given,--"for fear of the Jews." He lacked courage to confess himself +"one of this man's friends." We cannot well understand what it would +have cost Joseph, in his high place as a ruler, to say, "I believe that +Jesus of Nazareth is our Messiah." It is easy for us to condemn him as +wanting in courage, but we must put ourselves back in his place when we +think of what he failed to do. This was before Jesus was glorified. +He was a lowly man of sorrows. Many of the common people had followed +him; but it was chiefly to see his miracles, and to gather benefit for +themselves from his power. There was only a little band of true +disciples, and among these were none of the rulers and great men of the +people. There is no evidence that one rabbi, one member of the +Sanhedrin, one priest, one aristocratic or cultured Jew, was among the +followers of Jesus during his life. + +It would have taken sublime courage for one of these to confess Jesus +as the Messiah, and the cost of such avowal would have been +incalculable. A number of years later, when Christianity had become an +acknowledged power in the world, St. Paul tells us that he had to +suffer the loss of all things in becoming a Christian. For Joseph, a +member of the highest court of the Jews, to have said to his +fellow-members in those days, before the death of Jesus, "I believe in +this Nazarene whom you are plotting to kill, and I am one of his +disciples and friends," would have taken a courage which too few men +possess. + +However, one need not apologize for Joseph. The record frankly admits +his fault, his weakness; for it is never a noble or a manly thing to be +afraid of man or devil when duty is clear. Yet we are told distinctly +that he was really a disciple of Jesus; though it was secretly, and +though the reason for the secrecy was an unworthy one,--fear of the +Jews. Jesus had not refused his discipleship because of its +impairment. He had not said to him, "Unless you rise up in your place +in the court-room, and tell your associates that you believe in me, and +are going to follow me, you cannot be my disciple, and I will not have +you as my friend." Evidently Jesus had accepted Joseph as a disciple, +even in the shy way he had come to him; and it seems probable that a +close and deep friendship existed between the two men. Possibly it may +have existed for many months; and no doubt Joseph had been a comfort to +Jesus in many ways before his death, although the world did not know +that this noble and honorable councillor was his friend at all. + +The other secret friend of Jesus who assisted in his burial was +Nicodemus. It was during the early weeks or months of our Lord's +public ministry that he came to Jesus for the first time. It is +specially mentioned that he came by night. Nicodemus also was a man of +distinction,--a member of the Sanhedrin and a Pharisee, belonging thus +to the class highest in rank among his people. + +A great deal of blame has been charged against Nicodemus because he +came to Jesus by night, but again we must put ourselves back into his +circumstances before we can judge intelligently and fairly of his +conduct. Very few persons believed in Jesus when Nicodemus first +sought him by night. Besides, may not night have been the best time +for a public and prominent man to see Jesus? His days were +filled--throngs were always about him, and there was little opportunity +then for earnest and satisfactory conversation. In the evening +Nicodemus could sit down with Jesus for a long, quiet talk without fear +of interruption. + +Then Nicodemus came first only as an inquirer. He was not then ready +to be a disciple. "Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from +God," was all he could say that first night. He did not concede Jesus' +Messiahship. He knew him then only by what he had heard of his +miracles. He was not ready yet to declare that the son of the +carpenter was the Christ, the Son of God. When we remember the common +Jewish expectations regarding the Messiah, and then the lowliness of +Jesus and the high rank of Nicodemus, we may understand that it +required courage and deep earnestness of soul for this "master in +Israel" to come at all to the peasant rabbi from Galilee as a seeker +after truth and light. It is scarcely surprising, therefore, that he +came by night. + +Then, at that time the teaching and work of Jesus were only beginning. +There had been some miracles, and it is written that because of these +many had believed in the name of Jesus. Already, however, there had +been a sharp conflict with the priests and rulers. Jesus had driven +out those who were profaning the temple by using it for purposes of +trade. This act had aroused intense bitterness against Jesus among the +ruling classes to which Nicodemus belonged. This made it specially +hard for any one of the rulers to come among the friends of Jesus, or +to show even the least sympathy with him. + +No doubt Nicodemus in some degree lacked the heroic quality. He was +not a John Knox or a Martin Luther. Each time his name is mentioned he +shows timidity, and a disposition to remain hidden. Even in the noble +deed of the day Jesus died, it is almost certain that Nicodemus was +inspired to his part by the greater courage of Joseph. + +Yet we must mark that Jesus said not one word to chide or blame +Nicodemus when he came by night. He accepted him as a disciple, and at +once began to teach him the great truths of his kingdom. We are not +told that the ruler came more than once; but we may suppose that +whenever Jesus was in Jerusalem, Nicodemus sought him under the cover +of the night, and sat at his feet as a learner. Doubtless Jesus and he +were friends all the three years that passed between that first night +when they talked of the new birth, and the day when this noble +councillor assisted his fellow-member of the Sanhedrin in giving +honorable and loving burial to this Teacher come from God. + +Once we have a glimpse of Nicodemus in his place in the Sanhedrin. +Jesus has returned to Jerusalem, and multitudes follow him to hear his +words. Many believe on him. The Pharisees and priests are filled with +envy that this peasant from Galilee should have such tremendous +influence among the people. They feel that the power is passing out of +their hands, and that they must do something to silence the voice the +people so love to hear. + +A meeting of the Great Council is called to decide what to do. +Officers are sent to arrest Jesus, and bring him to the bar of the +court. The officers find Jesus in the temple, in the midst of an eager +throng, to whom he is speaking in his gracious, winning way. That was +the day he said, "If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink." +The officers listen as the wonderful words fall from his lips, and +they, too, become interested; their attention is enchained; they come +under the same spell which holds all the multitude. They linger till +his discourse is ended; and then, instead of arresting him, they go +back without him, only giving to the judges as reason for not obeying, +"Never man spake like this man." + +The members of the court were enraged at this failure of their effort. +Even their own police officers had proved untrue. "Are ye also +deceived or led astray?" they cry in anger. Then they ask, "Have any +of the rulers or of the Pharisees believed on him? But this multitude +which knoweth not the law, are accursed." They would have it that only +the ignorant masses had been led away by this delusion; none of the +great men, the wise men, had accepted this Nazarene as the Messiah. +They did not suspect that at least one of their own number, possibly +two, had been going by night to hear this young rabbi. + +It was a serious moment for Nicodemus. He sat there in the council, +and saw the fury of his brother judges. In his heart he was a friend +of Jesus. He believed that he was the Messiah. Loyalty to his friend, +to the truth, and to his own conscience, demanded that he should cast +away the veil he was wearing, and reveal his faith in Jesus. At least +he must say some word on behalf of the innocent man whom his +fellow-members were determined to destroy. It was a testing-time for +Nicodemus, and sore was the struggle between timidity and a sense of +duty. The storm in the court-room was ready to burst; the council was +about taking violent measures against Jesus. We know not what would +have happened if no voice had been lifted for fair trial before +condemnation. But then Nicodemus arose, and in the midst of the +terrible excitement spoke quietly and calmly his few words,-- + +"Doth our law judge a man, except it first hear from himself and know +what he doeth?" + +It was only a plea for fairness and for justice; but it showed the +working of a heart that would be true to itself, in some measure at +least, in spite of its shyness and shrinking, and in spite of the peril +of the hour. The question at first excited anger and contempt against +Nicodemus himself; but it checked the gathering tides of violence, +probably preventing a public outbreak. + +We may note progress in the friendship of this secret disciple. During +the two years since he first came to Jesus by night the seed dropped +into his heart that night had been growing silently. Nicodemus was not +yet ready to come out boldly as a disciple of Jesus; but he proved +himself the friend of Jesus, even by the few words he spoke in the +council when it required firm courage to speak at all. "He who at the +first could come to Jesus only by night, now stands by him in open day, +and in the face of the most formidable opposition, before which the +courage of the strongest might have quailed." + +It is beautiful to see young Christians, as the days pass, growing more +and more confident and heroic in their confession of Christ. At first +they are shy, retiring, timid, and disposed to shrink from public +revealing of themselves. But if, as they receive more of the Spirit of +God in their heart, they grow more courageous in speaking for Christ +and in showing their colors, they prove that they are true disciples, +learners, growing in grace. + +The only other mention of Nicodemus is some months after the heroic +word spoken in the council. What has been going on in his experience, +meanwhile, we do not know. There is no evidence that he has yet +declared himself a follower of Jesus. He is still a secret disciple. +But the hidden life in his heart has still been growing. + +One day a terrible thing happened. Jesus was crucified. In their +fright and panic all his friends at first forsook him, some of them, +however, gathering back, with broken hearts, and standing about his +cross. But never was there a more hopeless company of men in this +world than the disciples of Jesus that Good Friday, when their Master +hung upon the cross. They did not understand the meaning of the cross +as we do to-day,--they thought it meant defeat for all the hopes they +had cherished. They stood round the cross in the despair of hopeless +grief. + +They were also powerless to do anything to show their love, or to honor +the body of their Friend. They were poor and unknown men, without +influence. None of them had a grave in which the body could be laid. +Nor had they power to get leave to take the body away; it required a +name of influence to get this permission. Their love was equal to +anything, but they were helpless. In the dishonor of that day all the +friends of Jesus shared. + +What could be done? Soon the three bodies on the crosses would be +taken down by rude hands of heartless men, and cast into the Potter's +Field in an indistinguishable heap. + +No; there is a friend at Pilate's door. He is a man of rank among the +Jews--a rich man too. He makes a strange request,--he asks leave to +take the body of Jesus away for burial. Doubtless Pilate was surprised +that a member of the court which had condemned Jesus should now desire +to honor his body, but he granted the request; perhaps he was glad thus +to end a case which had cost him so much trouble. Joseph took charge +of the burial of the body of Jesus. + +Then came another rich man and joined Joseph. "There came also +Nicodemus, he who at the first came to him by night, bringing a mixture +of myrrh and aloes, about a hundred pound weight. So they took the +body of Jesus, and bound it in linen cloths with the spices, as the +custom of the Jews is to bury." It certainly is remarkable that the +two men who thus met in honoring the body of Jesus had both been his +secret disciples, hidden friends, who until now had not had courage to +avow their friendship and discipleship. + +No doubt there were many other secret friends of Jesus who during his +life did not publicly confess him. The great harvest of the day of +Pentecost brought out many of these for the first time. No doubt there +always are many who love Christ, believe on him, and are following him +in secret. They come to Jesus by night. They creep to his feet when +no eye is looking at them. They cannot brave the gaze of their +fellowmen. They are shy and timid. We may not say one harsh word +regarding such disciples. The Master said not one word implying blame +of his secret disciples. + +Yet it cannot be doubted that secret discipleship is incomplete. It is +not just to Christ himself that we should receive the blessings of his +love and grace, and not speak of him to the world. We owe it to him +who gave himself for us to speak his name wherever we go, and to honor +him in every way. Secret discipleship does not fulfil love's duty to +the world. If we have found that which has blessed us richly, we owe +it to others to tell them about it. To hide away in our own heart the +knowledge of Christ is to rob those who do not know of him. It is the +worst selfishness to be willing to be saved alone. Further, secret +discipleship misses the fulness of blessing which comes to him who +confesses Christ before men. It is he who believes with his heart and +confesses with his mouth, who has promise of salvation. Confession is +half of faith. Secret discipleship is repressed, restrained, confined, +and is therefore hampered, hindered, stunted discipleship. It never +can grow into the best possible strength and richness of life. It is +only when one stands before the world in perfect freedom, with nothing +to conceal, that one grows into the fullest, loveliest Christlikeness. +To have the friendship of Christ, and to hide it from men is to lose +its blessing out of our own heart. + + "To lie by the river of life and see it run to waste, + To eat of the tree of heaven while the nations go unfed, + To taste the full salvation--the only one to taste-- + To live while the rest are lost--oh, better by far be dead! + + For to share is the bliss of heaven, as it is the joy of earth; + And the unshared bread lacks savor, and the wine unshared, lacks zest; + And the joy of the soul redeemed would be little, little worth + If, content with its own security, it could forget the rest." + + +In the case of Nicodemus and Joseph, Jesus was very gentle with +timidity; but under the nurture of his gentleness timidity grew into +noble courage. Yet, beautiful as was their deed that day, who will not +say that it came too late for fullest honoring of the Master? It would +have been better if they had shown their friendship while he was +living, to have cheered him by their love. Mary's ointment poured upon +the tired feet of Jesus before his death was better than the spices of +Nicodemus piled about his body in the grave. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +JESUS' FAREWELL TO HIS FRIENDS. + + "What meaneth it that we should weep + More for our joys than for our fears,-- + That we should sometimes smile at grief, + And look at pleasure's show through tears? + + Alas! but homesick children we, + Who would, but cannot, play the while + We dream of nobler heritage, + Our Father's house, our Father's smile." + + +At last the end came. The end comes for every earthly friendship. The +sweetest life together of loved ones must have its last walk, its last +talk, its last hand-clasp, when one goes, and the other stays. One of +every two friends must stand by the other's grave, and drop tears all +the hotter because they are shed alone. + +The friendship of Jesus with his disciples was very sweet; it was the +sweetest friendship this world ever knew, for never was there any other +heart with such capacity for loving and for kindling love as the heart +of Jesus. But even this holy friendship in its earthly duration was +but for a time. Jesus' hour came at last. To-morrow he was going back +to his Father. + +Very tender was the farewell. The place chosen for it was the upper +room--almost certainly in the house of Mary, the mother of John Mark. +So full is the narrative of the evangelists that we can follow it +through its minutest details. In the afternoon two of the closest +friends of Jesus came quietly into the city from Bethany to find a +room, and prepare for the Passover. All was done with the utmost +secrecy. No inquiry was made for a room; but a man appeared at a +certain point, bearing a pitcher of water,--a most unusual +occurrence,--and the messengers silently followed him, and thus were +led to the house in which was the guest-chamber which Jesus and his +friends were to use. There the two disciples made the preparations +necessary for the Passover. + +Toward the evening Jesus and the other apostles came, and found their +way to the upper room. First there was the Passover feast, observed +after the manner of the Jews. Then followed the institution of the new +memorial--the Lord's Supper. This brought the Master and his disciples +together in very sacred closeness. Judas, the one discordant element +in the communion, had gone out, and all who remained were of one mind +and one heart. Then began the real farewell. Jesus was going away, +and he longed to be remembered. This was a wonderfully human desire. +No one wishes to be forgotten. No thought could be sadder than that +one might not be remembered after he is gone, that in no heart his name +shall be cherished, that nowhere any memento of him shall be preserved. +We all hope to live in the love of our friends long after our faces +have vanished from earth. The deeper and purer our love may have been, +and the closer our friendship, the more do we long to keep our place in +the hearts of those we have loved. + +There are many ways in which men seek to keep their memory alive in the +world. Some build their own tomb: few things are more pathetic than +such planning for earthly immortality. Some seek to do deeds which +will live in history. Some embalm their names in books, hoping thus to +perpetuate them. Love's enshrining is the best way. + +The institution of the Last Supper showed the craving of the heart of +Jesus to be remembered. "Do not forget me when I am gone," he said. +That he might not be forgotten, he took bread and wine, and, breaking +the one and pouring out the other, he gave them to his friends as +mementos of himself. He associated this farewell meal with the great +acts of his redeeming love. "This bread which I break, let it be the +emblem of my body broken to be bread for the world. This wine which I +empty out, let it be the emblem of my blood which I give for you." +Whatever else the Lord's Supper may mean, it is first of all a +remembrancer; it is the expression of the Master's desire to be +remembered by his friends. It comes down to us--Christ's friends of +to-day--with the same heart-craving. "Remember me; do not forget me; +think of my love for you." Jesus' farewell was thus made wondrously +sacred; its memories have blessed the world ever since by their warmth +and tenderness. No one can ever know the measure of the influence of +that last night in the upper room upon the life of these nineteen +Christian centuries. + +The Lord's Supper was not all of the Master's farewell. There were +also words spoken which have been bread and wine, the body and blood of +Jesus, to believers ever since. To the eleven men gathered about that +table these words were inexpressibly precious. One of them, one who +leaned his head upon the Master's breast that night, remembered them in +his old age, and wrote them down, so that we can read them for +ourselves. + +It is impossible in a short chapter to study the whole of this +wonderful farewell address; only a few of its great features can be +gathered together. It began with an exhortation, a new +commandment,--"That ye love one another." We cannot understand how +really new this commandment was when given to the Master's friends. +The world had never before known such love as Jesus brought into its +wintry atmosphere. He had lived out the divine love among men; now his +friends were to continue that love. "As I have loved you, that ye also +love one another." Very imperfectly have the friends of the Master +learned that love; yet wherever the gospel has gone, a wave of +tenderness has rolled. + +Next was spoken a word of comfort whose music has been singing through +the world ever since. "Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in +God, believe also in me." Unless it be the Twenty-Third Psalm, no +other passage in all the Bible has had such a ministry of comfort as +the first words of the fourteenth chapter of St. John's Gospel. They +told the sorrowing disciples that their Master would not forget them, +that his work for them would not be broken off by his death, that he +was only going away to prepare a place for them, and would come again +to receive them unto himself, so that where he should be they might be +also. He assured them, too, that while he was going away, something +better than his bodily presence would be given them instead,--another +Comforter would come, so that they should not be left orphans. + +Part of the Master's farewell words were answers to questions which his +friends asked him,--a series of conversations with one and another. +These men had their difficulties; and they brought these to Jesus, and +he explained them. First, Peter had a question. Jesus had spoken of +going away. Peter asked him, "Lord, whither goest thou?" Jesus told +him that where he was going he could not follow him then, but he should +follow him by and by. Peter was recklessly bold, and he would not have +it said that there was any place he could not follow his Master. He +declared that he would even lay down his life for his sake. "Wilt thou +lay down thy life for my sake?" answered the Master. "Wilt thou, +indeed?" Then he foretold Peter's sad, humiliating fall--that, instead +of laying down his life for his Lord. + +After the words had been spoken about the Father's house and the coming +again of Jesus for his friends, Thomas had a question. Jesus had said, +"Whither I go ye know, and the way ye know." Thomas was slow in his +perceptions, and was given to questioning. He would take nothing for +granted. He would not believe until he could understand. "Lord, we +know not whither thou goest; and how can we know the way?" We are glad +Thomas asked such a question, for it brought a wonderful answer. Jesus +himself is the way and the truth and the life. That is, to know Christ +is to know all that we need to know about heaven and the way there; to +have Christ as Saviour, Friend, and Lord, is to be led by him through +the darkest way--home. Not only is he the door or gate which opens +into the way, but he is the way. He is the guide in the way; he has +gone over it himself; everywhere we find his footprints. More than +that; he is the very way itself, and the very truth about the way, and +the life which inspires us in the way. To be his friend is enough; we +need ask neither whither he has gone, nor the road; we need only abide +in him. + + "Thank God, thank God, the Man is found, + Sure-footed, knowing well the ground. + He knows the road, for this the way + He travelled once, as on this day. + He is our Messenger beside, + He is our Door and Path and Guide." + + +Then Philip had a question. He had heard the Master's reply to Thomas. +Philip was slow and dull, loyal-hearted, a man of practical +common-sense, but without imagination, unable to understand anything +spiritual, anything but bare, cold, material facts. The words of Jesus +about knowing and seeing the Father caught his ear. That was just what +he wanted,--to see the Father. So in his dulness he said, "Lord, show +us the Father, and it sufficeth us." He was thinking of a +theophany,--a glorious vision of God. Jesus was wondrously patient +with the dulness of his disciples; but this word pained him, for it +showed how little Philip had learned after all his three years of +discipleship. "Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou +not known me?" Then Jesus told him that he had been showing him the +Father, the very thing Philip craved, all the while. + +Jesus went on with his gracious words for a little while, and was +speaking of manifesting himself to his disciples, when he was +interrupted by another question. This time it was Judas who spoke. +"Not Iscariot," St. John is careful to say, for the name of Iscariot +was now blotted with the blotch of treason. He had gone out into the +night, and was of the disciple family no more. Judas could not +understand in what special and exclusive manner Jesus would manifest +himself to his own. Perhaps he expected some setting apart of Christ's +followers like that which had fenced off Israel from the other nations. +But Jesus swept away his disciple's thought of any narrow +manifestation. There was only one condition--love. To every one who +loved him and obeyed his words he would reveal himself. The +manifesting would not be any theophany, as in the ancient Shekinah, but +the spiritual in-dwelling of God. + +After these questions of his disciples had all been answered, Jesus +continued his farewell words. He left several bequests to his friends, +distributing among them his possessions. We are apt to ask what he had +to leave. He had no houses or lands, no gold or silver. While he was +on his cross the soldiers divided his clothes among themselves. Yet +there are real possessions besides money and estates. One may have won +the honor of a noble name, and may bequeath this to his family when he +goes away. One may have acquired power which he may transmit. It +seemed that night in the upper room as if Jesus had neither name nor +power to leave to his friends. To-morrow he was going to a cross, and +that would be the end of everything of hope or beauty in his life. + +Yet he quietly made his bequests, fully conscious that he had great +possessions, which would bless the world infinitely more than if he had +left any earthly treasure. One of these bequests was his peace. +"Peace I leave with you; my peace I give unto you." It was his own +peace; if it had not been his own he could not have bequeathed it to +his friends. A man cannot give to others what he has not himself. It +was his own because he had won it. Peace is not merely ease, the +absence of strife and struggle; it is something which lives in the +midst of the fiercest strife and the sorest struggle. Jesus knew not +the world's peace,--ease and quiet; but he had learned a secret of +heart-quietness which the world at its worst could not disturb. This +peace he left to his disciples, and it made them richer than if he had +given them all the world's wealth. + +Another of his possessions which he bequeathed was his joy. We think +of Jesus as the Man of sorrows, and we ask what joy he had to give. It +seemed a strange time, too, for him to be speaking of his joy; for in +another hour he was in the midst of the Gethsemane anguish, and +to-morrow he was on his cross. Yet in the upper room he had in his +heart a most blessed joy. Even in the terrible hours that came +afterwards, that joy was not quenched; for we are told that for the joy +set before him he endured the cross, despising the shame. This joy +also he bequeathed to his friends. "These things have I spoken unto +you, that my joy may be in you." We remember, too, that they really +received this legacy. The world wondered at the strange secret of joy +those men had when they went out into the world. They sang songs in +the darkest night. Their faces shone as with a holy inner light in the +deepest sorrow. Christ's joy was fulfilled in them. + +He also put within the reach of his friends, as he was about to leave +them, the whole of his own inheritance as the only begotten Son of God. +He gave into their hands the key of heaven. He told them they should +have power to do the works which they had seen him do, and even greater +works than these. He told them that whatsoever they should ask the +Father in his name the Father would give to them. The whole power of +his name should thus be theirs, and they might use it as they would. +Nothing they might ask should be refused to them; all the heavenly +kingdom was thrown open to them. + +These are mere suggestions of the farewell gifts which Jesus left to +his friends when he went away,--his peace, his joy, the key to all the +treasures of his kingdom. He had blessed them in wonderful ways during +his life; but the best and richest things of his love were kept to the +last, and given only after he was gone. Indeed, the best things were +given through his death, and could be given in no other way. Other men +live to do good; they hasten to finish their work before their sun +sets. God's plan for them is something they must do before death comes +to write "Finis" at the end of their days. But the plan of God for +Jesus centred in his death. It was the blessings that would come +through his dying that were set forth in the elements used in the Last +Supper,--the body broken, the blood shed. The great gifts to his +friends, of which he spoke in his farewell words, would come through +his dying. He must be lifted up in order to draw all men to him. He +must shed his blood in order that remission of sins might be offered. +It was expedient for him to go away in order that the Comforter might +come. His peace and his joy were bequests which could be given only +when he had died as the world's Redeemer. His name would have power to +open heaven's treasures only when the atonement had been made, and the +Intercessor was at God's right hand in heaven. + +There was one other act in this farewell of Jesus. After he had ended +his gracious words, he lifted up his eyes in prayer to his Father. The +pleading is full of deep and tender affection. It is like that of a +mother about to go away from earth, and who is commending her children +to the care of the heavenly Father, when she must leave them without +mother-love and mother-shelter among unknown and dangerous enemies. + +Every word of the wonderful prayer throbs with love, and reveals a +heart of most tender affection. While he had been with his friends, +Jesus had kept them in the shelter of his own divine strength. None of +them had been lost, so faithful had been his guardianship over +them--none but the son of perdition. He, too, had received faithful +care; it had not been the Good Shepherd's fault that he had perished. +He had been lost because he resisted the divine love, and would not +accept the divine will. There must have been a pang of anguish in the +heart of Jesus as he spoke to his Father of the one who had perished. +But the others all were safe. Jesus had guarded them through all the +dangers up to the present moment. + +But now he is about to leave them. He knows that they must encounter +great dangers, and will not have him to protect them. The form of his +intercession for them is worthy of note. He does not ask that they +should be taken out of the world. This would have seemed the way of +tenderest love. But it is not the divine way to take us out of the +battle. These friends of Jesus had been trained to be his witnesses, +to represent him when he had gone away. Therefore they must stay in +the world, whatever the dangers might be. The prayer was that they +should be kept from the evil. There is but one evil. They were not to +be kept from persecution, from earthly suffering and loss, from pain or +sorrow: these are not the evils from which men's lives need to be +guarded. The only real evil is sin. Our danger in trouble or +adversity is not that we may suffer, but that we may sin. The pleading +of Jesus was that his friends might not be hurt in their souls, in +their spiritual life, by sin. + +If enemies wrong or injure us, the peril is not that they may cause us +to suffer injustice, but that in our suffering we may lose the love out +of our heart, and grow angry, or become bitter. In time of sickness, +trial, or bereavement, that which we should fear is not the illness or +the sorrow, but that we shall not keep sweet, with the peace of God in +our breast. The only thing that can do us real harm is sin. So the +intercession on our behalf ever is, not that we may be kept from things +that are hard, from experiences that are costly or painful, but that we +may be kept pure, gentle, and submissive, with peace and joy in our +heart. + +There was a pleading also that the disciples might be led into complete +consecration of spirit, and that they might be prepared to go out for +their Master, to be to the world what he had been to them. This was +not a prayer for a path of roses; rather it was for a cross, the utter +devotion of their lives to God. Before the prayer closed, a final wish +for his friends was expressed,--that when their work on earth was done, +they might be received home; that where he should be they might be +also, to behold his glory. + +Surely there never has been on earth another gathering of such +wondrously deep and sacred meaning as that farewell meeting in the +upper room. There the friendship of Jesus and his chosen ones reached +its holiest experience. His deep human love appears in his giving up +the whole of this last evening to this tryst with his own. He knew +what was before him after midnight,--the bitter agony of Gethsemane, +the betrayal, the arrest, the trial, and then the terrible shame and +suffering of tomorrow. But he planned so that there should be these +quiet, uninterrupted hours alone with his friends, before the beginning +of the experiences of his passion. He did it for his own sake; his +heart hungered for communion with his friends; with desire he desired +to eat the Passover, and enjoy these hours with them before he +suffered. We may be sure, too, that he received from the holy +fellowship comfort and strength, which helped him in passing through +the bitter hours that followed. Then, he did it also for the sake of +his disciples. He knew how their hearts would be broken with sorrow +when he was taken from them, and he wished to comfort them and make +them stronger for the way. The memory of those holy hours hung over +them like a star in all the dark night of their sorrow, and was a +benediction to them as long as they lived. + +Then, who can tell what blessings have gone out from that farewell into +the whole Church of Christ through all the centuries? It is the holy +of holies of Christian history. The Lord's Supper, instituted that +night, and which has never ceased to be observed as a memorial of the +Master's wonderful love and great sacrifice, has sweetened the world +with its fragrant memories. The words spoken by the Master at the +table have been repeated from lip to heart wherever the story of the +gospel has gone, and have given unspeakable comfort to millions of +hearts. The petitions of the great intercessory prayer have been +rising continually, like holy incense, ever since they were first +uttered, taking into their clasp each new generation of believers. +This farewell has kept the Christian hearts of all the centuries warm +and tender with love toward him who is the unchanging Friend the same +yesterday and to-day and forever. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +JESUS' FRIENDSHIPS AFTER HE AROSE. + + "Our own are our own forever--God taketh not back his gift; + They may pass beyond our vision, but our soul shall find them out + When the waiting is all accomplished, and the deathly shadows lift, + And the glory is given for grieving, and the surety of God for doubt." + + +We cannot but ask questions about the after life. What is its +character? What shall be the relations there of those who in the +present life have been united in friendship? What effect has dying on +the human affections? Does it dissolve the bonds which here have been +so strong? Or do friendships go on through death, interrupted for a +little time only, to be taken up again in the life beyond? Surely God +will not blame us for our eagerness to know all we can learn about the +world to which we are going. + +True, we cannot learn much about this blessed life while we stay in +this world. Human eyes cannot penetrate into the deep mystery. We are +like men standing on the shore of a great sea, wondering what lies on +the other side. No one has come back to tell us what he found in that +far country. We bring our questions to the word of God, but it avails +little; even inspiration does not give us explicit revealings +concerning the life of the blessed. We know that the Son of God had +dwelt forever in heaven before his incarnation, and we expect that he +will shed light upon the subject of life within the gates of heaven. +But he is almost silent to our questions. Indeed, he seems to tell us +really nothing. He gives us no description of the place from which he +came, to which he returned, and to which he said his disciples shall be +gathered. He says nothing about the occupations of those who dwell +there. He satisfies no human yearnings to know the nature of +friendship after death. We are likely to turn away from our quest for +definite knowledge, feeling that even Jesus has told us nothing. Yet +he has told us a great deal. + +There is one wonderful revelation of which perhaps too little has been +made. After Jesus had died, and lain in the grave for three days, he +rose again, and remained for forty days upon the earth. During that +time he did not resume the old relations. He was not with his +disciples as he had been during the three years of his public ministry, +journeying with them, speaking to them, working miracles; yet he showed +himself to them a number of times. + +The remarkable thing in these appearances of Jesus during the forty +days is that we see in him one beyond death. Lazarus was brought back +to earth after having died, but it was only the old life to which he +returned. The human relations between him and his sisters and friends +were restored, but probably they were not different from what they had +been in the past. Lazarus was the same mortal being as before, with +human frailties and infirmities. + +Jesus, however, after his return from the grave, was a man beyond +death. He was the same person who had lived and died, and yet he was +changed. He appeared and disappeared at will. He entered rooms +through closed and barred doors. At last his body ascended from the +earth, and passed up to heaven, subject no longer to the laws of +gravitation. We see in Jesus, therefore, during the forty days, one +who has passed into what we call the other life. What he was then his +people will be when they have emerged from death with their spiritual +bodies, for he was the first-fruits of them that are asleep. + +As we study Jesus in the story of those days, we are surprised to see +how little he was changed. Death had left no strange marks upon him. +Nothing beautiful in his life had been lost in the grave. He came back +from the shadows as human as he was before he entered the valley. +Dying had robbed him of no human tenderness, no gentle grace of +disposition, no charm of manner. As we watch him in his intercourse +with his disciples, we recognize the familiar traits which belonged to +his personality during the three years of his active ministry. + +We may rightly infer that in our new life we shall be as little changed +as Jesus was. We shall lose our sin, our frailties and infirmities, +all our blemishes and faults. The long-hindered and hampered powers of +our being shall be liberated. Hidden beauties shall shine out in our +character, as developed pictures in the photographer's sensitized +plate. There will be great changes in us in these and other regards, +but our personality will be the same. Jesus was easily recognized by +his friends; so shall we be by those who have known us. Whatever is +beautiful and good in us here,--the fruits of spiritual conquest, the +lessons learned in earth's experiences, the impressions made upon us by +the Word of God, the silver and golden threads woven in our life-web by +pure friendships, the effects of sorrow upon us, the work wrought in us +by the Holy Spirit,--all this shall appear in our new life. We shall +have incorruptible, spiritual, and glorious bodies, no longer mortal +and subject to the limitations of matter; death will rob us of nothing +that is worthy and true, and fit for the blessed life. + + "We are quite sure + That he will give them back-- + Bright, pure, and beautiful. + * * * + He does not mean--though heaven be fair-- + To change the spirits entering there + That they forget + The eyes upraised and wet, + The lips too still for prayer, + The mute despair. + He will not take + The spirits which he gave, and make + The glorified so new + That they are lost to me and you. + * * * + I do believe that just the same sweet face, + But glorified, is waiting in the place + Where we shall meet. + * * * + God never made + Spirit for spirit, answering shade for shade, + And placed them side by side-- + So wrought in one, though separate, mystified, + And meant to break + The quivering threads between." + + +It is interesting, too, to study the friendships of Jesus after he came +from the grave. He did not take up again the public life of the days +before his death. He made no more journeys through the country. He +spoke no more to throngs in the temple courts or by the Seaside. He no +more went about healing, teaching, casting out demons, and raising the +dead. He made no appearances in public. Only his disciples saw him. +We have but few details of his intercourse with individuals, but such +glimpses as we have are exceedingly interesting. They show us that no +tender tie of friendship had been hurt by his experience of dying. The +love of his heart lived on through death, and reappeared during the +forty days in undiminished gentleness and kindness. He did not meet +his old friends as strangers, but as one who had been away for a few +days, and had come again. + +The first of his friends to whom he showed himself after he arose was +Mary Magdalene. Her story is pathetic in its interest. The traditions +of the centuries have blotted her name, but there is not the slightest +evidence in the New Testament that she was ever a woman of blemished +character. There is no reason whatever for identifying her with the +woman that was a sinner, who came to Jesus in Simon's house. All that +is said of Mary's former condition is that she was possessed of seven +demons, and that Jesus freed her from this terrible bondage. In +gratitude for this unspeakable deliverance Mary followed Jesus, leaving +her home, and going with him until the day of his death. She was one +of several women friends who accompanied him and ministered to him of +their substance. + +Mary's devotion to Jesus was wonderful. When the tomb was closed she +was one of the watchers who lingered, loath to leave it. Then, at the +dawn of the first day morning she was again one of those who hurried +through the darkness to the tomb, with spices for the anointing of the +body--last at his cross, and earliest at his tomb. Mary's devotion was +rewarded; for to her first of all his friends did Jesus appear, as she +stood weeping by the empty grave. She did not recognize him at once. +She was not expecting to see him risen. Then, her eyes were blinded +with her tears. But the moment he spoke her name, "Mary," she knew +him, and answered, "Rabboni." He was not changed to her. He had not +forgotten her. The love in his heart had lost none of its tenderness. +He was as accessible as ever. Dying had made him no less a friend, and +no less sympathetic, than he was before he died. + +Soon after Mary had met Jesus, and rejoiced to find him her friend just +as of old, he appeared to the other women of the company who had +followed him with their grateful ministries. They also knew him, and +he knew them; and their hearts suffered no wrench at the meeting, for +they found the same sweet friendship they thought they had lost, just +as warm and tender as ever. + +That same day Jesus appeared to Peter. A veil is drawn by the +evangelists over the circumstances of this meeting. The friendship of +Jesus and Peter had continued for three years. He had often given his +Master pain and trouble through his impulsive ways. But the +culmination of it all came on the night of the betrayal, when, in the +hall of the high priest's palace, Peter denied being a disciple of +Jesus, denied even knowing him. While for the third time the base and +cowardly words were on his lips, Jesus turned and looked upon his +faithless disciple with a look of grieved love, and then Peter +remembered the forewarning the Master had given him. His heart was +broken with penitence, and he went out and wept bitterly. But he had +no opportunity to seek forgiveness; for the next morning Jesus was on +his cross, and in the evening was in his grave. Peter's sorrow was +very deep, for his love for his Master was very strong. + +We can imagine that when the truth of the resurrection began to be +believed that morning, Peter wondered how Jesus would receive him. But +he was not long kept in suspense. The women who came first to the +tomb, to find it empty, received a message for "the disciples _and_ +Peter." This singling out of his name for special mention must have +given unspeakable joy to Peter. It told him that the love of Jesus was +not only stronger than death, but also stronger than sin. Then, +sometime during the day, Jesus appeared to Peter alone. No doubt then, +in the sacredness of love, the disciple made confession, and the Master +granted forgiveness. Several times during the forty days Jesus and +Peter met again. The friendship had not been marred by death. The +risen Lord loved just as he had loved in the days of common human +intercourse. + +One of the most interesting of the after resurrection incidents is that +of the walk to Emmaus. Cleophas and his friend were journeying +homeward with sad hearts, when a stranger joined them. His +conversation was wonderfully tender as he walked with them and +explained the Scriptures. Then followed the evening meal, and the +revealing of the risen Jesus in the breaking of bread. Again it was +the same sweet friendship which had so warmed their hearts in the past, +resumed by the Master on the other side of death. + +It was the same with all the recorded appearances of Jesus. Those who +had been his friends previous to his death found him the same friend as +before. He took up with each of them the threads of affection just +where they had been dropped when the betrayal and arrest wrought such +panic among his disciples, scattering them away, and went on with the +weaving. + +May we not conclude that it will be with us even as it was with Jesus? +His resurrection was not only a pledge of what that of believers will +be, carrying within itself the seed and potency of a blessed +immortality, but it was also a sample of what ours will be. Death will +produce far less change in us than we imagine it will do. We shall go +on with living very much as if nothing had happened. Dying is an +experience we need not trouble ourselves about very much if we are +believers in Christ. There is a mystery in it; but when we have passed +through it we shall probably find that it is a very simple and natural +event--perhaps little more serious than sleeping over night and waking +in the morning. It will not hurt us in any way. It will blot no +lovely thing from our life. It will end nothing that is worth while. +Death is only a process in life, a phase of development, analogous to +that which takes place when a seed is dropped in the earth and comes up +a beautiful plant, adorned with foliage and blossoms. Life would be +incomplete without dying. The greatest misfortune that could befall +any one would be that he should not die. This would be an arresting of +development which would be death indeed. + + "Death is the crown of life; + Were death denied, poor man would live in vain; + Were death denied, to live would not be life; + Were death denied, e'en fools would wish to die. + Death wounds to cure: we fall; we rise; we reign; + Spring from our fetters; hasten to the skies, + Where blooming Eden withers in our sight. + Death gives us more than was in Eden lost; + The king of terrors is the prince of peace." + + +There is need for a reconstruction of the prevalent thoughts and +conceptions of heaven. We have trained ourselves to think of life +beyond the grave as something altogether different from what life is in +this world. It has always been pictured thus to us. We have been +taught that heaven is a place of rest, a place of fellowship with God, +a place of ceaseless praise. The human element has been largely left +out of our usual conceptions of the blessed life. Not much is made of +the relations of believers to one another. That which is emphasized in +Christian hymns and in most books about heaven is the Godward side. +Much is made of the glory of the place as suggested by the visions of +St. John in the Apocalypse. In many of these conceptions the chief +thought of heavenly blessedness is that it is a release from earth and +from earthly conditions. There is no sorrow, no trouble, no pain, no +struggle, no toil, in the home to which we are going. We shall sit on +the green banks of beautiful rivers, amid unfading flowers, and sing +forever. We shall lie prostrate before the throne, and gaze and gaze +on the face of God. + +But this is not the kind of heaven and heavenly life which the +teachings of Jesus Would lead us to imagine. True, he speaks of the +place to which he is going, and where, by and by, he would gather all +his disciples, as "my Father's house." This suggests home and love; +and the thought is in harmony with what we have seen in the life of +Jesus during the forty days,--the continuance of the friendships formed +and knit in earthly fellowships. But the vision of home life thus +suggested need not imply a heaven of inaction. Indeed, no life could +be more natural and beautiful than that which the thought of home +suggests. We have no perfect homes on earth; but every true home has +in it fragments of heaven's meaning, and always the idea is of love's +service rather than of blissful indolence. + +We may get many thoughts of the heavenly life from other teachings of +Jesus. Life is continuous. Whosoever liveth and believeth shall never +die. There is no break, no interruption of life, in what we call +dying. We think of eternal life as the life of heaven, the glorified +life. So it is; but we have its beginnings here. The moment we +believe, we have everlasting life. The Christian graces we are +enjoined, to cultivate are heavenly lessons set for us to learn. If we +would conceive of the life of heaven, we have but to think of ideal +Christian life in this world, and then lift it up to its perfect +realization. Heaven is but earth's lessons of grace better learned, +earth's best spiritual life glorified. Therefore we get our truest +thoughts of it from a study of Christ's ideal for the life of his +followers, for it will simply be this life fully realized and +infinitely extended. + +For example, the one great lesson set for us, the one which includes +all others, is love. God is love, and we are to learn to love if we +would be like him. All relationships are relationships of love. All +graces are graces of love. All duties are parts of one great duty--to +love one another. All worthy and noble character is love wrought out +in life. All life here is a school, with its tasks, its struggles, its +conflicts, its minglings with men, its friendships, its experiences of +joy and sorrow, its burdens, its disappointments and hopes, and the +final education to be attained is love. Browning puts it thus in +"Rabbi Ben Ezra":-- + + Our life, with all it yields of joy or woe, + And hope and fear,--believe the aged friend, + Is just our chance o' the prize of learning love, + How love might be, hath been, indeed, and is. + + +What is this love which it is the one great lesson of life to learn? +Toward God, it may express itself in devotion, worship, praise, +obedience, fellowship. This seems to be the chief thought of love in +the common conception of heaven. It is all adoration, glorifying. But +love has a manward as well as a Godward development. St. John, the +disciple of love, teaches very plainly that he who says he loves God +must prove it by also loving man. If the whole of our training here is +to be in loving and in living out our love, we certainly have the clew +to the heavenly life. We shall continue in the doing of the things we +have here learned to do. Life in glory will be earth's Christian life +intensified and perfected. Heaven will not be a place of idle repose. +Inaction can never be a condition of blessedness for a life made and +trained for action. The essential quality of love is service--"not to +be ministered unto, but to minister;" and for one who has learned +love's lesson, happiness never can be found in a state in which there +is no opportunity for ministering. In heaven it will still be more +blessed to give than to receive; and those who are first will be those +who with lowly spirit serve most deeply. Heaven will be a place of +boundless activity. "His servants shall serve him." The powers +trained here for the work of Christ will find ample opportunity there +for doing their best service. Said Victor Hugo in his old age, "When I +go down to the grave, I can say, like so many others, 'I have finished +my day's work;' but I cannot say, 'I have finished my life.' My day's +work will begin again next morning. My tomb is not a blind alley, it +is a thoroughfare; it closes with the twilight to open with the dawn." + +Whatever mystery there may be concerning the life that believers in +Christ shall live in heaven, we may be sure at least that they will +carry with them all that is true and divine of their earthly life. The +character formed here they will retain through death. The capacity +they have gained by the use of their powers they will have for the +beginning of their activity in the new life. There can be no doubt +that they shall find work commensurate with and fitted to their trained +powers. + +So heaven will be a far more natural place than we imagine it will be. +It will not be greatly unlike the ideal life of earth. We probably +shall be surprised when we meet each other to find how little we have +changed. The old tenderness will not be missing. We shall recognize +our friends by some little gentle ways they used to have here, or by +some familiar thoughtfulness that was never wanting in them. The +friendships we began here, and had not time to cultivate, we shall have +opportunity there to renew, and carry on through immortal years. + +Even at the best, human friendships only begin in this life; in heaven +they will reach their best and holiest possibilities. There are lives +which only touch each other in this world and then separate, going +their different ways--like ships that pass in the night. There will be +time enough in heaven for any such faintest beginnings of friendship to +be wrought out in beauty. Friendships with Jesus here touch but the +shore of an infinite ocean; in heaven, unhindered, in uninterrupted +fellowship, we shall be forever learning more of this love of Christ +which passeth knowledge. + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + +JESUS AS A FRIEND. + + "Long, long centuries + Agone, One walked the earth, his life + A seeming failure; + Dying, he gave the world a gift + That will outlast eternities." + + +The world has always paid high honor to friendship. Some of the finest +passages in all history are the stories of noble friendships,--stories +which are among the classics of literature. The qualities which belong +to an ideal friend have been treated by many writers through all the +centuries. But Jesus Christ brought into the world new standards for +everything in human life. He was the one complete Man,--God's ideal +for humanity. "Once in the world's history was born a Man. Once in +the roll of the ages, out of innumerable failures, from the stock of +human nature, one bud developed itself into a faultless flower. One +perfect specimen of humanity has God exhibited on earth." To Jesus, +therefore, we turn for the divine ideal of everything in human life. +What is friendship as interpreted by Jesus? What are the qualities of +a true friend as illustrated in the life of Jesus? + +It is evident that he lifted the ideal of friendship to a height to +which it never before had been exalted. He made all things new. Duty +had a new meaning after Jesus taught and lived, and died and rose +again. He presented among men new conceptions of life, new standards +of character, new thoughts of what is worthy and beautiful. Not one of +his beatitudes had a place among the world's ideals of blessedness. +They all had an unworldly, a spiritual basis. The things he said that +men should live for were not the things which men had been living for +before he came. He showed new patterns for everything in life. + +Jesus presented a conception for friendship which surpassed all the +classical models. In his farewell to his disciples he gave them what +he called a "new commandment." The commandment was that his friends +should love one another. Why was this called a new commandment? Was +there no commandment before Jesus came and gave it that good men should +love one another? Was this rule of love altogether new with him? + +In the form in which Jesus gave it, this commandment never had been +given before. There was a precept in the Mosaic law which at first +seems to be the same as that which Jesus gave, but it was not the same. +It read, "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself." "As thyself" was +the standard. Men were to love themselves, and then love their +neighbors as themselves. That was as far as the old commandment went. +But the new commandment is altogether different. "As I have loved you" +is its measure. How did Jesus love his disciples? As himself? Did he +keep a careful balance all the while, thinking of himself, of his own +comfort, his own ease, his own safety, and going just that far and no +farther in his love for his disciples? No; it was a new pattern of +love that Jesus introduced. He forgot himself altogether, denied +himself, never saved his own life, never hesitated at any line or limit +of service, of cost or sacrifice, in loving. He emptied himself, kept +nothing back, spared not his own life. Thus the standard of friendship +which Jesus set for his followers was indeed new. Instead of "Love thy +neighbor as thyself," it was "Love as Jesus loved;" and he loved unto +the uttermost. + +When we turn to the history of Christianity, we see that the type of +friendship which Jesus introduced was indeed a new thing in the world. +It was new in its motive and inspiration. The love of the Mosaic law +was inspired by Sinai; the love of the Christian law got its +inspiration from Calvary. The one was only cold, stern law; the other +was burning passion. The one was enforced merely as a duty; the other +was impressed by the wondrous love of Christ. No doubt men loved God +in the Old Testament days, for there were many revealings of his +goodness and his grace and love in the teachings of those who spoke for +God to men. But wonderful as were these revelations, they could not +for a moment be compared with the manifestation of God which was made +in Jesus Christ. The Son of God came among men in human form, and in +gentle and lowly life all the blessedness of the divine affection was +poured out right before men's eyes. At last there was the cross, where +the heart of God broke in love. + +No wonder that, with such inspiration, a new type of friendship +appeared among the followers of Jesus. We are so familiar with the +life which Christianity has produced, where the fruits of the Spirit +have reached their finest and best development, that it is well-nigh +impossible for us to conceive of the condition of human society as it +was before Christ came. Of course there was love in the world before +that day. Parents loved their children. There was natural affection, +which sometimes even in heathen countries was very strong and tender. +Friendships existed between individuals. History has enshrined the +story of some of these. There always were beautiful things in +humanity,--fragments of the divine image remaining among the ruins of +the fall. + +But the mutual love of Christians which began to show itself on the day +of Pentecost surpassed anything that had ever been known in even the +most refined and gentle society. It was indeed divine love in new-born +men. No mere natural human affection could ever produce such +fellowship as we see in the pentecostal church. It was a little of +heaven's life let down upon earth. Those who so loved one another were +new men; they had been born again--born from above. Jesus came to +establish the kingdom of heaven upon the earth. In other words, he +came to make heaven in the hearts of his believing ones. That is what +the new friendship is. A creed does not make one a Christian; +commandments, though spoken amid the thunders of Sinai, will never +produce love in a life. The new ideal of love which Jesus came to +introduce among men was the love of God shed abroad in human hearts. +"As I have loved you, that ye also love one another" was the new +requirement. + +Since, then, the new ideal of friendship is that which Jesus gave in +his own life, it will be worth our while to make a study of this holy +pattern, that we may know how to strive toward it for ourselves. + +We may note the tenderness of the friendship of Jesus. It has been +suggested by an English preacher that Christ exhibited the blended +qualities of both sexes. "There was in him the womanly heart as well +as the manly brain." Yet tenderness is not exclusively a womanly +excellence; indeed, since tenderness can really coexist only with +strength, it is in its highest manifestation quite as truly a manly as +a womanly quality. Jesus was inimitably tender. Tenderness in him was +never softness or weakness. It was more like true motherliness than +almost any other human affection; it was infolding, protecting, +nourishing love. + +We find abundant illustrations of this quality in the story of the life +of Jesus. The most kindly and affectionate men are sure sometime to +reveal at least a shade of harshness, coldness, bitterness, or +severity. But in Jesus there was never any failure of tenderness. We +see it in his warm love for John, in his regard for little children, in +his compassion for sinners who came to his feet, in his weeping over +the city which had rejected him and was about to crucify him, in his +thought for the poor, in his compassion for the sick. + +Another quality of the friendship of Jesus was patience. In all his +life he never once failed in this quality. We see it in his treatment +of his disciples. They were slow learners. He had to teach the same +lesson over and over again. They could not understand his character. +But he wearied not in his teaching. They were unfaithful, too, in +their friendship for him. In a time of alarm they all fled, while one +of them denied him, and another betrayed him. But never once was there +the slightest impatience shown by him. Having loved his own, he loved +them unto the uttermost, through all dulness and all unfaithfulness. +He suffered unjustly, but bore all wrong in silence. He never lost his +temper. He never grew discouraged, though all his work seemed to be in +vain. He never despaired of making beauty out of deformity in his +disciples. He never lost hope of any soul. Had it not been for this +quality of unwearying patience nothing would ever have come from his +interest in human lives. + +The friendship of Jesus was unselfish. He did not choose those whose +names would add to his influence, who would help him to rise to honor +and renown; he chose lowly, unknown men, whom he could lift up to +worthy character. His enemies charged against him that he was the +friend of publicans and sinners. In a sense this was true. He came to +be a Saviour of lost men. He said he was a physician; and a +physician's mission is among the sick, not among the whole and well. + +The friendship of Jesus was not checked or foiled by the discovery of +faults or blemishes in those whom he had taken into his life. Even in +our ordinary human relations we do not know what we are engaging to do +when we become the friend of another. "For better for worse, for +richer for poorer, in sickness and in health," runs the marriage +covenant. The covenant in all true friendship is the same. We pledge +our friend faithfulness, with all that faithfulness includes. We know +not what demands upon us this sacred compact may make in years to come. +Misfortune may befall our friend, and he may require our aid in many +ways. Instead of being a help he may become a burden. But friendship +must not fail, whatever its cost may be. When we become the friend of +another we do not know what faults and follies in him closer +acquaintance may disclose to our eyes. But here, again, ideal +friendship must not fail. + +What is true in common human relations was true in a far more wonderful +way of the friendship of Jesus. We have only to recall the story of +his three years with his disciples. They gave him at the best a very +feeble return for his great love for them. They were inconstant, weak, +foolish, untrustful. They showed personal ambition, striving for first +places, even at the Last Supper. They displayed jealousy, envy, +narrowness, ingratitude, unbelief, cowardice. As these unlovely things +appeared in the men Jesus had chosen, his friendship did not slacken or +unloose its hold. He had taken them as his friends, and he trusted +them wholly; he committed himself to them absolutely, without reserve, +without condition, without the possibility of withdrawal. No matter +how they failed, he loved them still. He was patient with their +weaknesses and with their slow growth, and was not afraid to wait, +knowing that in the end they would justify his faith in them and his +costly friendship for them. + +Jesus thought not of the present comfort and pleasure of his friends, +but of their highest and best good. Too often human friendship in its +most generous and lavish kindness is really most unkind. It thinks +that its first duty is to give relief from pain, to lighten burdens, to +alleviate hardship, to smoothe the rough path. Too often serious hurt +is done by this over-tenderness of human love. + +But Jesus made no such mistakes in dealing with his friends. He did +not try to make life easy for them. He did not pamper them. He never +lowered the conditions of discipleship so that it would be easy for +them to follow him. He did not carry their burdens for them, but put +into their hearts courage and hope to inspire and strengthen them to +carry their own loads. + +He did not keep them secluded from the world in a quiet shelter so that +they would not come in contact with the world's evil nor meet its +assaults; his method with them was to teach them how to live so that +they should have the divine protection in the midst of spiritual +danger, and then to send them forth to face the perils and fight the +battles. His prayer for his disciples was not that they should be +taken out of the world, thus escaping its dangers and getting away from +its struggles, but that they should be kept from the world's evil. He +knew that if they would become good soldiers they must be trained in +the midst of the conflict. Hence he did not fight their battles for +them. He did not save Peter from being sifted; it was necessary that +his apostle should pass through the terrible experience, even though he +should fail in it and fall. His prayer for him was not that he should +not be sifted, but that his faith should not altogether fail. His aim +in all his dealings with his friends was to train them into heroic +courage and invincible character, and not to lead them along flowery +paths through gardens of ease. + +We are in the habit of saying that the follower of Christ will always +find goodness and mercy wherever he is led. This is true; but it must +not be understood to mean that there will never be any hardness to +endure, any cross to bear, any pain or loss to experience. We grow +best under burdens. We learn most when lessons are hard. When we get +through this earthly life, and stand on the other side, and can look +back on the path over which we have been led, it will appear that we +have found our best blessings where we thought the way was most dreary +and desolate. We shall see then that what seemed sternness and +severity in Christ was really truest and wisest friendship. One +writes:-- + + "If you could go back to the forks of the road-- + Back the long miles you have carried the load; + Back to the place where you had to decide + By this way or that through your life to abide; + + Back of the sorrow and back of the care; + Back to the place where the future was fair-- + If you were there now, a decision to make, + Oh, pilgrim of sorrow, which road would you take? + + Then, after you'd trodden the other long track, + Suppose that again to the forks you went back, + After you found that its promises fair + Were but a delusion that led to a snare-- + + That the road you first travelled with sighs and unrest, + Though dreary and rough, was most graciously blest, + With a balm for each bruise and a charm for each ache, + Oh, pilgrim of sorrow, which road would you take?" + + +Sometimes good people are disappointed in the way their prayers are +answered. Indeed, they seem not to be answered at all. They ask God +to take away some trouble, to lift off some load, and their request is +not granted. They continue to pray, for they read that we must be +importunate, that men ought always to pray and not to faint; but still +there seems no answer. Then they are perplexed. They cannot +understand why God's promises have failed. + +But they have only misread the promises. There is no assurance given +that the burdens shall be lifted off and carried for us. God would not +be the wise, good, and loving Father he is, if at every cry of any of +his children he ran to take away the trouble, or free them from the +hardness, or make all things easy and pleasant for them. Such a course +would keep us always children, untrained, undisciplined. Only in +burden-bearing and in enduring can we learn to be self-reliant and +strong. Jesus himself was trained on the battlefield, and in life's +actual experiences of trial. He learned obedience by the things that +he suffered. It was by meeting temptation and by being victorious in +it that he became Master of the world, able to deliver us in all our +temptations. + +Not otherwise can we grow into Christlike men. It would be unkindness +in our Father to save us from the experiences by which alone we can be +disciplined into robust and vigorous strength. The promises do not +read that if we call upon God in our trouble he will take the trouble +away. Rather the assurance is that if we call upon God he will answer +us. The answer may not be relief; it may be only cheer. We are taught +to cast our burden upon the Lord, but we are not told that the Lord +will take it away. The promise is that he will sustain us under the +burden. We are to continue to bear it; and we are assured that we +shall not faint under the load, for God will strengthen us. The +assurance is not that we shall not be tempted, but that no temptation +but such as man can bear shall come to us, and that the faithful God +will not suffer us to be tempted above that we are able to endure. + +This, then, is what divine friendship does. It does not make it easy +for us to live, for then we should get no blessing of strength and +goodness from living. How, then, are our prayers answered? God +sustains us so that we faint not; and then, as we endure in faith and +patience, his benediction is upon us, giving us wisdom, and imparting +strength to us. + +The friendship of Jesus was always sympathetic. Many persons, however, +misunderstand the meaning of sympathy. They think of it as merely a +weak pity, which sits down beside one who is suffering or in sorrow, +and enters into the experience, without doing anything to lift him up +or strengthen him. Such sympathy is really of very little value in the +time of trouble. It may impart a consciousness of companionship which +will somewhat relieve the sense of aloneness, but it makes the sufferer +no braver or stronger. Indeed, it takes strength from him by +aggravating his sense of distress. + +It was not thus, however, that the sympathy of Jesus was manifested. +There was no real pain or sorrow in any one which did not touch his +heart and stir his compassion. He bore the sicknesses of his friends, +and carried their sorrows, entering with wonderful love into every +human experience. But he did more than feel with those who were +suffering, and weep beside them. His sympathy was always for their +strengthening. He never encouraged exaggerated thoughts of pain or +suffering--for in many minds there is a tendency to such feelings. He +never gave countenance to morbidness, self-pity, or any kind of +unwholesomeness in grief. He never spoke of sorrow or trouble in a +despairing way. He sought to inculcate hope, and to make men braver +and stronger. His ministry was always toward cheer and encouragement. +He gave great eternal truths on which his friends might rest in their +sorrow, and then bade them be of good cheer, assuring them that he had +overcome the world. He gave them his peace and his joy; not sinking +down into the depths of sad helplessness with them, but rather lifting +them up to sympathy with him in his victorious life. + +The wondrous hopefulness of Jesus pervades all his ministry on behalf +of others. He was never discouraged. Every sorrow was to him a path +to a deeper joy. Every battle was a way to the blessing of +victoriousness. Every load under which men bent was a secret of new +strength. In all loss gain was infolded. Jesus lived this life +himself; it was no mere theory which he taught to his followers, and +had never tried or proved himself. He never asked his friends to +accept any such untested theories. He lived all his own lessons. He +was not a mere teacher; he was a leader of men. Thus his strong +friendship was full of magnificent inspiration. He called men to new +things in life, and was ready to help them reach the highest +possibilities in achievement and attainment. + +This friendship of Jesus is the inspiration which is lifting the world +toward divine ideals. "I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw +all men unto me," was the stupendous promise and prophecy of Jesus, as +his eye fell on the shadow of the cross at his feet, and he thought of +the fruits of his great sorrow and the influence of his love. Every +life that is struggling to reach the beauty and perfectness of God's +thought for it is feeling the power of this blessed friendship, and is +being lifted up into the likeness of the Master. + +This friendship of Jesus waits as a mighty divine yearning at the door +of every human heart "Behold, I stand at the door, and knock," is its +call. "If any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to +him, and will sup with him, and he with me." This blessed friendship +waits before each life, waits to be accepted, waits to receive +hospitality. Wherever it is received, it inspires in the heart a +heavenly love which transforms the whole life. To be a friend of +Christ is to be a child of God in the goodly fellowship of heaven. + + + + + Rev. Dr. Miller's Books + + + A HEART GARDEN + BUILDING OF CHARACTER + COME YE APART + DR. MILLER'S YEAR BOOK + EVENING THOUGHTS + EVERY DAY OF LIFE + FINDING THE WAY + FOR THE BEST THINGS + GLIMPSES THROUGH LIFE'S WINDOWS + GOLDEN GATE OF PRAYER + HIDDEN LIFE + JOY OF SERVICE + LESSON OF LOVE + MAKING THE MOST OF LIFE + MINISTRY OF COMFORT + MORNING THOUGHTS + PERSONAL FRIENDSHIPS OF JESUS + SILENT TIMES + STORY OF A BUSY LIFE + STRENGTH AND BEAUTY + THINGS TO LIVE FOR + UPPER CURRENTS + WHEN THE SONG BEGINS + WIDER LIFE + YOUNG PEOPLE'S PROBLEMS + + + Booklets + + BEAUTY OF KINDNESS + BLESSING OF CHEERFULNESS + BY THE STILL WATERS + CHRISTMAS MAKING + CURE FOR CARE + FACE OF THE MASTER + GENTLE HEART + GIRLS; FAULTS AND IDEALS + GLIMPSES OF THE HEAVENLY LIFE + HOW? WHEN? WHERE? + IN PERFECT PEACE + INNER LIFE + LOVING MY NEIGHBOR + MARRIAGE ALTAR + MARY OF BETHANY + SECRET OF GLADNESS + SECRETS OF HAPPY HOME LIFE + SUMMER GATHERING + TO-DAY AND TO-MORROW + TRANSFIGURED LIFE + TURNING NORTHWARD + UNTO THE HILLS + YOUNG MEN; FAULTS AND IDEALS + + + Thomas Y. 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